Almost everyone has their own podcast these days, or so the joke goes — and that observation isn't new. Also tried and tested: the idea that every news headline is likely destined to get the true-crime treatment at some point in the future. When it comes to both of these statements, comedy-meets-mystery series Only Murders in the Building doesn't pretend otherwise. In fact, the latest addition to Disney+ firmly leans into these two notions. Here, three New York neighbours who don't think they have anything at all in common initially bond over their favourite true-crime podcast — and then, when someone in their building turns up dead, they start their own. The wannabe Sarah Koenigs? Actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), who used to play a detective on a long-running 90s television show; theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!), who is better known for his big flops than his hits; and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die), who had a penchant for Hardy Boys books when she was a kid. They first cross paths during an elevator ride, where they hear banker Tim Kono (Julian Cihi, The Tick) berating someone over the phone. The same evening, the unlikely trio are forced out of their apartments by a fire alarm, reluctantly share a table at the downstairs restaurant, then realise they're all hooked on the same podcast (with Only Murders in the Building's true-crime podcasting guru called Cinda Canning, and played by Tina Fey). When Charles, Oliver and Mabel all return home that night, they then discover that Tim has been murdered. From there, these new pals are determined to do three things: find out who killed Tim, record their sleuthing and release the results in audio form. They all have different stakes in their quest; Charles is lonely, and likes having something to fill his days other than auditions, while Oliver is hoping it'll be a big financial success and Mabel secretly has personal connections to the case. They're new acquaintances, too, so they're investigating each other in a way — asking questions and getting to know one another, because that's how all friendships starts — as they're trying to track down the killer. And, plenty of that to-and-fro gets recorded. The name of their podcast: Only Murders in the Building, naturally. As created by Martin with actor-turned-screenwriter John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie), Only Murders in the Building keeps leaning in again and again — to its upbeat satire of true-crime obsessions, podcasting's pervasiveness and the intersection of the two, and also to everything else it fits within its frames. It lets its main trio all play exactly the kind of characters you think they will, especially in Short's case. It mines their mismatched vibe, particularly with Gomez, with hearty affection. It adores its single-setting Agatha Christie-lite setup, and also loves peppering in highly recognisable co-stars and guest stars such as Fey, Nathan Lane (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels), Amy Ryan (Late Night) and even Sting. With the latter, it isn't above making puns about not standing so close to him, or just serving up jokes on that level in general. On paper, so much about Only Murders in the Building hits all the expected notes — and yet, everything about the series is also joyously entertaining. Indeed, the show initially seems like it shouldn't work as well as it does, yet quickly proves immensely easy to keep binging (even if you only originally plan to watch just one episode). The fact that it's made with a breezy spirit, ample charm and an astute awareness of its many targets couldn't be more crucial. That it takes the time to flesh out its characters within its 30-minute episodes, and to keep its central whodunnit twisting and turning amidst the jokes, also helps. And, Only Murders in the Building also embraces two inescapable facts that long precede the true-crime podcast boom: that we all like knowing what's going on around us, and that we tend to love the sound of our own voices as well. Another key facet: spot-on casting. Again, it doesn't initially seem as though Martin, Short and Gomez will be stretched by their parts, as likeable as all three usually are on-screen. But settling into comfortable grooves also gives the trio room to play around with everything that makes Charles, Oliver and Mabel tick — and Only Murders in the Building does love getting playful. It makes gags about Charles' old TV show, Oliver's stage bombs (Splash! The Musical is one of them) and Mabel's secrets, and makes plenty of them. And yet, it's also written and acted with enough depth to pair relatable character insights with its bubbly, clownish fun. If Knives Out was a sitcom, and also a little goofier, it'd turn out like this — and that's a delight, obviously. Check out the trailer for Only Murders in the Building below: The first three episodes of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream now via Star on Disney+, with new episodes dropping weekly. Images: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Thanks to social distancing restrictions, we're having to take a break from some of our favourite food experiences right now, from mimosa-matched bottomless brunches, to sit-down dinners at actual restaurants. But at least in the meantime, you can get your culinary fix delivered via soundwave, by tuning into one of the many podcasts dedicated to life's tastiest of pleasures — food. Whether you're hungry for some fun food history facts, or fancy tucking into an interview with one of Australia's hospitality legends, we've pulled together a menu of food podcasts to satisfy all your culinary cravings. And, unlike a visit to your favourite fine diner, these won't require you to change out of your trackies. Get downloading and whet your appetite with a few of these audio gems. DEEP IN THE WEEDS For an especially timely, locally focused food fix, try this new podcast headed up by restaurant critic and food journalist Anthony Huckstep. A real no-holds-barred look at the impact COVID-19's had on the Australian hospitality industry, Deep In The Weeds is dishing up honest conversations with a range of chefs, restaurateurs, producers and other hospo folk who are riding the storm. You'll get insight into the many issues currently facing our venues and their staff, and learn about the creative plays being made in an effort to help keep things afloat, sitting down with names like Jacqui Challinor (Nomad), Rockpool's Neil Perry, Attila Yilmaz (Pazar Food Collective) and Colin Fassnidge (4Fourteen, Banksia). HOME COOKING WITH SAMIN NOSRAT Born in response to the world's newfound passion for kitchen projects — thanks, COVID-19 — Home Cooking is the new podcast from chef Samin Nosrat (star of Netflix's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) and producer Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder). As the name suggests, it's designed to be the ultimate companion to your home cooking adventures, no matter where your skill levels are (or aren't) at. These affable hosts will help you whip up culinary success with whatever random ingredients you've got lying in the pantry, turning the everyday basics into inspired food creations. You might learn how to transform those tinned beans into something fab, or find an unexpected use for that less-than-fresh loaf. Best of all, Nosrat and Hirway are even taking audience requests for upcoming episode topics. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING HUNGRY Aussie food journalist Lee Tran Lam hosts this largely Sydney-centric podcast, where each episode features a sit-down with a different local food legend, the program ranging from star chefs to renowned restaurateurs. You'll hear tales from the industry frontline, behind-the-scenes goss and plenty of colourful personal back stories, interspersed with hot tips on all the city's (and Melbourne's) best spots for eating and drinking. Seafood maestro Josh Niland (Saint Peter), celebrated chef Monty Koludrovic (Icebergs Dining Room, The Dolphin) and croissant queen Kate Reid of Lune are just some of the high-profile names to be found among this rich back catalogue. A worthy antidote for anyone who's missing dining out. RADIO CHERRY BOMBE A big ol' celebration of the boss ladies that have helped make our food scene what it is. Radio Cherry Bombe is an audio spin-off of the US magazine of the same name, now with over 270 episodes under its belt. That juicy back catalogue is brimming with inspiring stories about the industry's clever, creative female talent, starring guests ranging from chefs and cookbook authors, to food stylists and gutsy entrepreneurs. Get up close and personal with the likes of best-selling writer and activist Yasmin Khan, Canadian cake queen Lyndsay Sung (Coko Cake Land), cereal artist Jessica Siskin (aka Misterkrisp) and loads more. And if you tune in to recent episodes, you'll get the low-down on how some of our female hospo heroes are handling the global pandemic. GASTROPOD What kind of food crops might we one day be able to grow in outer space? How did liquorice become England's first branded candy? What the heck are blue raspberries and where did they come from? They're the kind of quirky questions you'll find answers to over at long-running podcast Gastropod, which aims to sate your inner foodie, history buff and science nerd, all at once. Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley take listeners on a series of fun, investigative journeys, with each of the fortnightly episodes diving into the often surprising science and history behind a different food-related topic. Listen in for a treasure trove of cool facts you can throw around at your next dinner party. THE SPLENDID TABLE A spin-off of the acclaimed debut book from food writer and cooking teacher Lynne Rossetto Kasper, The Splendid Table began life as a public radio show way back in the 90s. These days, it's a weekly podcast hosted by renowned food writer Francis Lam, continuing the same mission of celebrating the countless ideas and stories of our global food culture. Sharpen your skills with expert cooking tips, catch sit-downs with top international food heroes, explore the history of your favourite ingredients and dishes, and get acquainted with a smorgasbord of cuisines from all across the globe. One week, you might find yourself hearing René Redzepi chat all things fermentation, while the next, you're reigniting your passion for dairy with tales from a team of international cheese experts. RACIST SANDWICH A food podcast served up within a slightly different context, Racist Sandwich dives into the politics behind what you're eating, and why. It's hosted by a pair of American writers, with (mostly) fortnightly episodes that explore the various ways in which concepts like race, gender and class intersect with the big wide world of food. Prepare to catch a diverse spread of insightful investigations and guests, from one food justice advocate's mission to preserve Salvadoran culture through its recipes, to an interview with a French prisoner and Instagram food star who's whipping up culinary magic behind bars. Make yourself a cuppa and settle in to score some fresh perspectives. EATER'S DIGEST Famed food publication Eater backs up its online feed with this weekly podcast serving up all the tastiest news morsels from the culinary world, both across the USA and further abroad. Join Amanda Kludt and Daniel Geneen as they dissect food trends, unearth new hot-ticket dining destinations, celebrate favourite cuisines and touch base with a swag of big-name hospitality heroes. You could tune in to a discussion about the world's new obsession with food TV, learn some unexpected secrets from a top restaurant critic, or get taken through a definitive list of all the very worst dining-out habits, as revealed by New York hospo staff. Right now, Eater's Digest is also dishing up plenty of honest insight into how COVID-19 is affecting the restaurant game as we know it.
Sydney's clubbing scene farewelled a bona fide giant in March when ARQ, the longstanding LGBTQIA+ nightclub that anchored the Oxford Street nightlife landscape, closed its doors for the final time. For 26 years, the Darlinghurst darling was at the forefront of Sydney's queer nightlife scene, with DJs and performers from around the world taking to the stage over its lifetime, including a still-talked-about surprise gig by Lady Gaga in 2011. But this June, the Flinders Street spot will be reborn as AURA, an inclusive, multi-genre, multi-room nightlife destination that promises a stacked lineup of local and international DJs, immersive productions and themed events several nights a week. It's being brought to life by a team of Sydney nightlife heavyweights, including Dave Auld (SEADECK Sydney), brothers Ricardo and Umberto Monfardini (Movement), Bryan Ro (Puzzles Records) and Justin Muscat (ALLFRIENDS), who are promising to "honour the past, celebrate the present and set a new standard for Sydney nightlife". Regular visitors might notice some significant cosmetic changes in the new space. AURA will feature new-look decor, upgraded lighting systems and more seating than ARQ, to encourage comfort and connection. One key element that the new owners are keen to maintain, though, is ARQ's management team, to provide a sense of continuity for both patrons and promoters alike. "We're not here to wipe the slate clean," says Auld. "We're here to build on a foundation of loyalty, passion, and culture, evolving it for a new generation, while honouring the community that made this place iconic." [caption id="attachment_681185" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Katje Ford[/caption] A huge part of what made ARQ "iconic" was, of course, the music, and AURA will be coming in hot with a huge weekly, multi-night program of performers and events. It kicks off with the colourful Carnivàle Thursdays, where you can expect Latin-inspired music and performances. Friday nights will be reserved for a rotating mix of events by a range of promoters, while Saturdays will see the venue make full use of its two floors, with upstairs pumping out melodic, afro and commercial house, while the notorious basement will host DJs playing deep house and minimal tech, backed by a new state-of-the-art lighting rig. And if you're looking for somewhere to take a time out, you don't need to default to the smokers' — AURA will also boast a secluded sensory retreat space, inspired by legendary Ibiza lounge Café del Mar. "ARQ has always been an impressive venue, it's a purpose-built nightclub that's lasted the test of time," says Auld. "Twenty-six years is an incredible run and we acknowledge that legacy with great respect. But like most things, it's time for evolution. AURA is our next chapter, one that celebrates the heritage while pushing the boundaries of what a modern nightclub can be." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aura Nightclub (@aura.club.sydney) AURA is slated to open in June 2025 at 16 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst. For more information, head to the venue's website. Top image: Katje Ford.
Kate Nash won fans with her piano-driven pop songs and cockney-accented lyrics on her first album, the platinum-selling Made of Bricks, and now she's back with a new album, a new look and a nostalgic 60s sound. If her first album won acclaim (and a Brit Award) for its keen observation of confusing romances and what Pitchfork calls a 'just-a-girl power-pop blast', then her second album, My Best Friend Is You delivers plenty of Motown-inflected brass and handclaps, jangly surf-guitar and coordinated girl group dance moves alongside the usual key-thwacking intensity. Making an appearance at the Metro Theatre just before playing at Playground Weekender, you can expect grungy pop, catchy hooks and humorous lyrical narrative delivered with typical aplomb. And, fingers crossed, maybe something a little like the video below. https://youtube.com/watch?v=OqV-embx_tA
It's happening again, awards fans. 2024 has already delivered one Emmys ceremony, after Hollywood's 2023 TV accolades were delayed until January due to last year's strikes, and now it's time for the official 2024 event. With the nominees freshly announced on Thursday, July 18 Australian and New Zealand time, absent are some of the shows that notched up big wins or nominations last time around, such as Succession, Beef, The Last of Us and The White Lotus. In their place, Shōgun, True Detective: Night Country and Baby Reindeer have earned a whole lot of affection — plus returnees The Bear and Only Murders in the Building, of course. The Bear is sure to feature when 2025 nominees come around as well, because 2024's contenders span the hit culinary dramedy's second season, not its just-dropped third season. So, it might make history again next year, as it has this year. Who now holds the record for the most amount of nominations by a comedy in a single year? This stellar series with 23, beating 30 Rock with 22 in 2009. Historical Japanese drama Shogun — one of the year's best new TV show so far — topped the full list of nominations with 25, with Only Murders in the Building notching up 21, the long-awaited True Detective: Night Country picking up 19 and The Crown nabbing 18. Mere months after getting the world obsessed with its true tale, Baby Reindeer collected 11 nominations. Other shows tallying up plenty of love include The Morning Show and Mr & Mrs Smith in the drama fields; Abbott Elementary and Hacks among the comedies; and Fargo, Lessons in Chemistry and Ripley from the limited series. After finishing up with its third season in 2023, the sublime Reservation Dogs finally received the Emmys' attention in the Best Comedy category, with D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai also nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy. Lily Gladstone and Kali Reis' nominations for Under the Bridge and True Detective: Night Country, respectively, saw them become the first Indigenous women recognised in the acting categories by the awards. Other standout noms include Matt Berry for What We Do in the Shadows, Walton Goggins for Fallout, Slow Horses picking up its first nods, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig for not only Loot and Palm Royale but for guest-hosting Saturday Night Live, Ryan Gosling for the same gig, Bowen Yang for his cast role on the famous sketch series, True Detective: Night Country's Jodie Foster and John Hawkes also collecting nominations, and Robert Downey Jr recognised for playing multiple roles in The Sympathizer. On the Australian front, Elizabeth Debicki and Naomi Watts picked up nods for The Crown and Feud: Capote vs The Swans. Downey Jr, like Da'Vine Joy Randolph for Only Murders in the Building, scored Emmy affection just months after each winning Oscars for Oppenheimer and The Holdovers. Sadly, because not all excellent shows win gongs — or even noms — Poor Things' Emma Stone hasn't done the same with The Curse. But that omission sparks the usual reminder: if a show is excellent, as the also-ignored Tokyo Vice is, shiny trophies are just a bonus. The 2024 Emmy winners will be revealed on Monday, September 16, Australian and New Zealand time, so you've got a couple of months to predict who'll emerge victorious. Here's a rundown of the nominations in the major categories: Emmy Nominees 2024: Outstanding Drama Series The Crown Fallout The Gilded Age The Morning Show Mr & Mrs Smith Shōgun Slow Horses 3 Body Problem Outstanding Comedy Series Abbott Elementary The Bear Curb Your Enthusiasm Hacks Only Murders in the Building Palm Royale Reservation Dogs What We Do in the Shadows Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series Baby Reindeer Fargo Lessons in Chemistry Ripley True Detective: Night Country Outstanding Television Movie Mr Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Quiz Lady Red, White & Royal Blue Scoop Unfrosted Lead Actor in a Drama Series Idris Elba, Hijack Donald Glover, Mr & Mrs Smith Walton Goggins, Fallout Gary Oldman, Slow Horses Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun Dominic West, The Crown Lead Actress in a Drama Series Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age Maya Erskine, Mr & Mrs Smith Anna Sawai, Shōgun Imelda Staunton, The Crown Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Matt Berry, What We Do in the Shadows Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Reservation Dogs Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri, The Bear Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Maya Rudolph, Loot Jean Smart, Hacks Kristen Wiig, Palm Royale Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Matt Bomer, Fellow Travelers Jon Hamm, Fargo Tom Hollander, Feud: Capote vs The Swans Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer Andrew Scott, Ripley Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country Brie Larson, Lessons in Chemistry Juno Temple, Fargo Sophia Vergara, Griselda Naomi Watts, Feud: Capote vs The Swans Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Tadanobu Asano, Shōgun Jon Hamm, The Morning Show Mark Duplass, The Morning Show Billy Crudup, The Morning Show Takehiro Hira, Shōgun Jack Lowden, Slow Horses Jonathan Pryce, The Crown Supporting Actress in a Actor in a Drama Series Christine Baranski, The Gilded Age Nicole Beharie, The Morning Show Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Greta Lee, The Morning Show Lesley Manville, The Crown Karen Pittman, The Morning Show Holland Taylor, The Morning Show Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Lionel Boyce, The Bear Paul W Downs, Hacks Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear Paul Rudd, Only Murders in the Building Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live Supporting Actress in a Actor in a Comedy Series Carol Burnett, Palm Royale Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary Meryl Streep, Only Murders in the Building Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers Robert Downey Jr, The Sympathizer Tom Goodman-Hill, Baby Reindeer John Hawkes, True Detective: Night Country Lamorne Morris, Fargo Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry Treat Williams, Feud: Capote vs The Swans Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Dakota Fanning, Ripley Lily Gladstone, Under the Bridge Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer Aja Naomi King, Lessons in Chemistry Diane Lane, Feud: Capote vs The Swans Nava Mau, Baby Reindeer Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series Néstor Carbonell, Shogun Paul Dano, Mr & Mrs Smith Tracy Letts, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses John Turturro, Mr & Mrs Smith Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series Michaela Coel, Mr & Mrs Smith Claire Foy, The Crown Marcia Gay Harden, The Morning Show Sarah Paulson, Mr & Mrs Smith Parker Posey, Mr & Mrs Smith Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Jon Bernthal, The Bear Matthew Broderick, Only Murders in the Building Ryan Gosling, Saturday Night Live Christopher Lloyd, Hacks Bob Odenkirk, The Bear Will Poulter, The Bear Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Olivia Colman, The Bear Jamie Lee Curtis, The Bear Kaitlin Olson, Hacks Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Only Murders in the Building Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live The 2024 Emmy Awards will take place on Monday, September 16, Australian time. For further details, head to the Emmys' website.
Some of the biggest names in Australian comedy will take part in coast-to-coast benefit gigs this month in order to draw attention to a very unfunny problem. For one night only on Friday, October 14 in capital cities across the country, local stand-ups will stand up for the victims of domestic violence. In Sydney, the event will be headlined by Celeste Barber at the Harold Park Hotel in Forest Lodge; in Melbourne, Dave Thornton at the Athenaeum Theatre in the CBD; and in Brisbane, Anne Ferguson-Howe at the Kedron-Wavell Services Club in Chermside. Each city will also feature a number of supporting acts, as well as smatterings of live music and other surprises. Tickets to each gig cost $49, with all proceeds being used to pay for the funerals of women who have lost their lives to domestic violence. Image: Oscar Keys.
Like karaoke? Fond of singing along to well-known songs, especially with a drink in your hand? Happy to belt out a tune in a crowd? If you answered yes to all of the above questions, then it's time to up your crooning game during Pub Choir's new Australian tour — aka the boozy sing-along that's all about giving your lungs a workout between sips. Since early 2017 in Brisbane, Pub Choir has been amassing brew-loving music fans in venues around the Queensland city. The regular event asks its attendees to learn a particular song in three-part harmonies, with talented professionals on hand each time to show everyone the ropes and lead the way. Every evening then culminates in a big boozy singing session, with the event making its way to bigger Brissie locations over the years, as well venturing around the country. Now, it's hitting up every Aussie capital across January and February 2022. The vibe: a far more organised version of exactly what happens whenever someone puts 'Wonderwall' or 'Weather With You' on the pub jukebox. And, now that communal singing in public is back after all the various pandemic-related restrictions that've come our way over the past two years, you can expect this tour to feel particularly celebratory, too. Pub Choir was a big hit during lockdowns, and as life started to return to normal as well; you might've taken part in Couch Choir in 2020, or watched the Australia's Biggest Singalong special on SBS earlier in 2021. Run by Astrid Jorgensen and Waveney Yasso, its IRL events are mighty popular, too — unsurprisingly — with tickets getting snapped up very quickly each time. So if you're keen to sing and drink with a theatre full of people, you'll want to book asap. PUB CHOIR CHEAP THERAPY 2022 TOUR: Tuesday, January 11 — The Kambri Precinct, Canberra Wednesday, January 12 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Monday, January 17 — Astor Theatre, Perth Tuesday, January 18 — Freo Social, Fremantle Wednesday, January 19 — Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide Thursday, January 20 — Darwin Entertainment Centre, Darwin Tuesday, January 25 — Odeon Theatre, Hobart Thursday, January 27 — The Palais Theatre, Melbourne Tuesday, February 1–Wednesday, February 2 — The Tivoli, Brisbane Pub Choir's Cheap Therapy tour runs from January 11–February 2, 2022. For further details or to book tickets, head to the Pub Choir website. Top image: Jacob Morrison.
UPDATE: JUNE 28, 2019 — Well, the time has come. Route 66 will close its King Street doors this Saturday, June 29. Pop by and say bye — and make a final purchase — before then. In the summer of 1988, a vintage emporium opened on Crown Street with a retro cowgirl (Miss Completely) painted on the building's side. And it's been there ever since. For 30 years, Route 66 has been a top-notch second-hand clothing destination and neighbourhood gem — and now it's closing its Darlinghurst doors and heading to Newtown. Opening first in Melbourne (the store has since closed), Route 66 is the child of Tina Lowe and Ross Waddington. After a trip through America's heartland, the couple wanted to encourage a lifestyle of "anti-fashion" in Sydney and create a hub for like-minded folk. Now run by Tina and Leroi Waddington (actual human child of Tina and Ross), the shop continues to stock some of Sydney's best quality denim, vintage boots, pomades and rare clothing. "I'm amazed I've been here for this long too," says Lowe. https://www.instagram.com/p/BwQeyHgB41d/ "Is it sad to leave the neighbourhood?" Lowe says, echoing our question. "Of course it is. I know we shouldn't be afraid of change and development and all those things but at the same time they're just homogenising the whole neighbourhood and Sydney. It's hard for people who are trying to do something different to have their own space." The move comes out of pre-emptive necessity due to local council approving a development application to build office blocks and carparks on the Crown Street block. If the build goes ahead, it will also impact the beloved The Record Store below — and most of the block, according to the vinyl haunt's co-owner Stephan Gyory. For now, The Record Store is holding its ground, but if the build goes ahead, it will have to move like its neighbour. "We looked around for a while and [Newtown] seems to be the only place that suits what we're doing," says Tina. "I think it'll be good. I'm excited about the space we found. And it's time for change." Taking over the former retro furniture shop Collectika, which is relocating to Burleigh Heads, Route 66 will make Newtown its new home sometime in June. According to the owners, much will be the same, just a bigger shop and a new postcode. Route 66's Crown Street location is slated to close son Saturday, June 29 and will reopen at 2/82 Enmore Road, Newtown soon after. We'll keep you updated with an exact date.
Something delightful has been 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 back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, 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. IN THE HEIGHTS Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the first lyricist to pen tunes so catchy that they get stuck in your head for years (yes, years), but his rhythmic tracks and thoughtful lines always stand out. Miranda's songs are melodic and snappy, as anyone who has seen Hamilton onstage or via streaming definitely knows. The multi-talented songwriter's lyrics also pinball around your brain because they resonate with such feeling — and because they're usually about something substantial. The musical that made his name before his date with US history, In the Heights echoes with affection for its eponymous Latinx New York neighbourhood. Now that it's reverberating through cinemas, its sentiments about community, culture, facing change and fighting prejudice all seem stronger, too. To watch the film's characters sing about their daily lives and deepest dreams in Washington Heights is to understand what it's like to feel as if you truly belong in your patch of the city, to navigate your everyday routine with high hopes shining in your heart, and to weather every blow that tries to take that turf and those wishes away. That's what great show tunes do, whisking the audience off on both a narrative and an emotional journey. Miranda sets his words to hip hop beats, but make no mistake: he writes barnstorming songs that are just as rousing and moving, and that've earned their place among the very best stage and screen ditties as a result. Watching In the Heights, it's hard not to think about all those stirring tracks that've graced previous musicals. That isn't a sign of derivation here, though. Directing with dazzling flair and a joyous mood, Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M Chu nods to cinema's lengthy love affair with musicals in all the right ways. His song-and-dance numbers are clearly influenced by fellow filmic fare, and yet they recall their predecessors only because they slide in so seamlessly alongside them. Take his staging of the tune '96000', for instance. It's about winning the lottery, after word filters around that bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, a Hamilton alum) has sold a lucky ticket. Due to the sweltering summer heat, the whole neighbourhood is at the public pool, which is where Chu captures a colourful sea of performers expressing their feelings through exuberantly shot, staged and choreographed music and movement — and it's as touching and glorious as anything that's ever graced celluloid. Of course, $96,000 won't set anyone up for life, but it'd make an enormous difference to Usnavi, In the Heights' protagonist and narrator. It'd also help absolutely everyone he loves. As he explains long before anyone even hears about the winning ticket, or buys it, every Heights local has their own sueñitos — little dreams they're chasing, such as his determination to relocate to the Dominican Republic. And that's what this intoxicating, invigorating, impassioned and infectious captures with vibrant aplomb. Read our full review. TALL POPPY — A SKATER'S STORY When skateboarding makes its debut as an Olympic sport in Tokyo this winter, it'll do so with Poppy Starr Olsen flying the flag for Australia. A world champion since her teens, she first hit the Bondi Skate Park at the age of eight, and proclaimed at the time that she'd like to spend her adult life carving, ollieing, flipping and grinding — one of those childhood wishes that, in this case, has proven more than just a kid's outlandish fantasy. Audiences know about this youthful exclamation because it was caught on camera. Yes, Tall Poppy — A Skater's Story belongs in the camp of documentaries that are inescapably blessed by the constant lens through which many of our lives have been captured since video cameras became a household gadget and then a standard mobile phone feature. Accordingly, making her first feature-length doco, filmmaker Justine Moyle has ample material to draw upon as she weaves together a portrait of Olsen's life from pint-sized bowl-rider to Australia's best female skater, the fourth best woman on a board in the world and an Olympian, all by the age of 21. This isn't just a film compiled from home videos, though, although the feature. In front of Dane Howell's (Without a Tracey) lens as she has grown up, Olsen is candid, open and relaxed as she literally comes of age before the camera, and her skateboarding skills are just as riveting to watch. You can tell much about Olsen by just seeing her in the bowl or on the park, no matter her age, wherever she happens to be at the time, or if she's competing, practicing or just skating for fun. It hardly comes as a surprise that she takes to the pastime because it feels so freeing; as she rolls up and down in Bondi after first giving skateboarding a try, she may as well be flying. Tall Poppy — A Skater's Story captures the rollercoaster ride from there, as she's eager and enthusiastic at both local and international competitions, visibly nervous at her first X Games, and also a little disillusioned once she's put on an Olympic path. She's a teenager, in other words, and her emotional ups and downs mirror those on the board. This is a film about resilience, perseverance and taking on the world on your own terms, however, as Olsen works out who she wants to be and how that ripples through in her skateboarding. She's already a role model, whether or not you want to follow in her footsteps. Here, she's doubly so for her personal ebbs and flows, including through COVID-19, as much as her professional achievements. Tall Poppy — A Skater's Story is an affectionate movie, of course. Its release is also impeccably timed, it's as deservedly loving towards female skaters as the fictional Skate Kitchen and its TV spinoff Betty, and it shows the beauty in every commonplace and exceptional skateboarding trick. But Olsen's presence, passion and prowess drive this rousing documentary above all else. THREE SUMMERS Not to be confused with the 2017 Ben Elton-directed Australian rom-com of the same name, Brazilian drama Three Summers takes its title literally: in writer/director Sandra Kogut's (Campo Grande) film, the action takes place across a trio of consecutive Decembers. In the first chapter, set in 2015, the lively Madá (Regina Casé, The Second Mother) flits around the opulent condominium that she oversees on behalf of the wealthy Edgar (Otávio Müller, Silence of the Rain) and his wife Marta (Gisele Fróes, Edge of Desire) — a space that's soon a hive of activity due to the family's Christmas party. She keeps her staff bustling as her employers, their relatives and their friends relax, all so that she can work towards her own dream of opening a roadside kiosk. For the latter, she needs Edgar, who agrees to buy her the land she needs. He's also more interested than anyone should be in her out-of-date pre-paid mobile phone, which ties into the changed state of play come summer 2016. By then, the family has fallen from grace. Only Edgar's elderly and kindly father Lira (Rogério Fróes, Magnífica 70) remains alongside Madá, her staff, and the police who show up to search the house in the wake of a corruption scandal. Next, in 2017, the housekeeper has adapted to the new normality, teaming up with Lira to rent out the condo on Airbnb. Largely confining the action to her chosen setting, Kogut hasn't quite made a savage eat the rich-style indictment of Brazil's class disparities — but she does have a probing eye for what the country's chasms between the haves and the have nots means for the latter. Madá goes from being reminded that she couldn't pay for the condo's decor in a lifetime to hustling to turn the space to her advantage; in a world where everyone is either striving to make more money or just enough, trying to make the most of every opportunity is as much the domain of the working class as the well-to-do. For those just attempting to get by, it's a necessity, though. For their bosses, it's all about greed, power and status. Three Summers saves its sympathies for Madá and her colleagues, and never for Edgar and his family, although it doesn't always have the bite the story, subject matter and real-life situations it parallels call for. Still, this is an involving character study of a woman continually placed at the mercy of others, and just as constantly battling to retain what control she can over her own destiny. And, as she was in The Second Mother, Casé is superb, this time playing a talkative, determined but haunted everywoman who is always trying to make the best of whatever she's saddled with. THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD Someone involved with The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard must really love paperwork; that's the only reason anyone could've given its script the go-ahead. Perhaps Australian filmmaker Patrick Hughes, who also directed 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard, likes nothing more than keeping his documents in order. Maybe returning screenwriter Tom O'Connor (The Courier) falls into that category, or his debuting co-scribes Phillip and Brandon Murphy — they all made the subject the focus of their screenplay, after all. Whoever fits the bill, their attempt to force audiences to care about bodyguard licensing falls flat. So does the misguided idea that the certification someone might need to unleash their inner Kevin Costner would ever fuel an entire movie. Instead, what was already a needless sequel to a terrible action-comedy becomes even more of a dull and pointless slog, with this by-the-numbers follow-up showing zero signs that anyone spent more than a few seconds contemplating the story. A significant plot point here: that Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds, The Croods: A New Age) has lost his official tick of approval. He's no longer triple A-rated after a mishap in the line of duty, and he isn't coping well. To be fair, no one watching The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard will handle that news swimmingly either, but only because they're made to hear about it over and over, all as Bryce rekindles his begrudging association with assassin Darius Kincaid (Samuel L Jackson, Spiral: From the Book of Saw) and the latter's con artist wife Sonia (Salma Hayek, Bliss). When Darius gets snatched up by nefarious folks during his belated honeymoon with Sonia, only Bryce can help — or so says the angry Mrs Kincaid. She interrupts the latter's vacation with swearing, shouting and shootouts, because that's the kind of feisty Mexican wife that Hayek plays. From there, Reynolds primarily complains, Hayek sticks with stereotypes and Jackson attempts to exude his usual brand of couldn't-care-less cool; however, even more than in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, he's on autopilot. As also seen in Jackson's last big-screen appearance, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard insists on reminding its audience about its stars' better movies. You don't cast both Hayek and Antonio Banderas (who plays a European tycoon plotting the world's demise) if you don't want to bring Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico to mind (and Frida and even Spy Kids 3, too). Thinking about the pair's shared past highlights is far more enjoyable than enduring their current collaboration, unsurprisingly. Making fun of accents is considered the height of comedy here, women can only be hot-headed nags and manchild daddy issues get almost as much love as paperwork. The jokes aren't just scattershot; they're non-existent. The messy, incoherent and over-edited action scenes fare just as badly. None of the above is likely to save us from a third movie, though, which'll probably be called The Hitman's Wife's Baby's Bodyguard's Lost Birth Certificate. BUCKLEY'S CHANCE When a film saddles Bill Nighy with an Aussie twang and has him threaten to throw someone into a billabong, it isn't a great sign. When the same movie makes a big deal about a kangaroo less than three minutes in and stresses the dangers of dingoes just as quickly, it's clear that it has only been made with overseas viewers in mind. The dingoes don't eat anyone's babies, but it must've taken quite the self-restraint on Canadian writer/ director Tim Brown (Treasure Hounds) and screenwriter Willem Wennekers' (From the Vine) parts to leave that plot development out. They definitely haven't held back on the hackneyed and banal inclusions otherwise, though. The pair seems to have seen the Crocodile Dundee movies, The Simpsons' much-mocked Australian episode and the Red Dog films, then decided that they had all the tools they needed to make a outback adventure-thriller in the mould of Wake in Fright, Razorback and every other flick about overseas arrivals confronting the Great Southern Land's vast expanse — but in family-friendly packaging. From that dubious starting point, Brown and Wennekers are only interested in trading in Aussie cliches. In other words, they're only making a Down Under-set flick for audiences anywhere but here. That's why Nighy is stuck struggling with an unconvincing accent and roaming around in the dust: he's a recognisable, big-name star known the world over who'll help entice eyeballs, and he's also an outsider who wouldn't instantly grimace at every overdone stereotype. Here, the title has it — because there really is Buckley's chance that local viewers, even children, will find much to enjoy. Relocating to the titular property with his recently widowed mother Gloria (Victoria Hill, The Secrets We Keep), 13-year-old New Yorker Ridley (feature first-timer Milan Burch) doesn't think he'll discover much to his liking either. He certainly doesn't warm to his grandfather Spencer (Nighy, Minamata), even before he's forced to accompany the no-nonsense station owner on an overnight wander through the surrounding outback. That camping trip does see the boy save and befriend a dingo, at least. And, when he's later lost in the desert after spying a couple of dimwitted locals (Top of the Lake's Ben Wood and Packed to the Rafters' Anthony Gooley) trying to burn down his grandpa's property over a land feud — and then hides in the back of their ute, gets caught and is forced to escape their bumbling clutches — said canine becomes Ridley's trusty offsider. Every turn that Buckley's Chance takes steers it into been-there, done-that territory. Every film this stale retread resembles did it better, too, including last year's crims-and-kids comedy A Sunburnt Christmas. The one shining light, in a movie with few high points and largely monotonous performances: Kelton Pell (The Heights). Playing Spencer's righthand man, he's the only actor who plays anything approximating an engaging character, even in his brief screentime. RHAPSODY OF LOVE Her best friend Ben (Benjamin Hanly, Janet King) is getting married, she's the best man, and she's running late — so much so that she's doing her hair and makeup while chatting on the phone with her sister Jade (Joy Hopwood, also the film's writer and director). She also finishes getting dressed in the car to the ceremony, too, while asking her driver to get her there as speedily as possible. That's how Rhapsody of Love introduces Sydneysider Jess Flowers (Kathy Luu, The Script of Life), in one of those pure rom-com scenes that aims to make all the chaos seem charming and whimsical rather than disorganised and messy. Indulging in romantic comedy tropes is this film's glue, and it pastes those well-worn cliches around everywhere it can. At the wedding, the stereotypically bubbly Jess meets photographer Justin (Damien Sato, At First Hello), and of course sparks fly over awkward then flirty banter. The PR whiz also finds a new friend and client in baker Victoria (Lily Stewart, Ascendant), who has whipped up the cake for Ben and his bride Natasha (Jessica Niven, Dirt Music), and is also instantly attracted to waiter Hugh (Tom Jackson, Bloom). Unbeknownst to Jess, though, Victoria happens to be Justin's long-term girlfriend — resulting in several waves of personal and professional pandemonium. In a tongue-in-cheek scene partway through the film, the Flowers sisters try to pick a rom-com to watch one evening. They're both fans, obviously. Among the DVDs scattered across Jade's floor: the wholly fictional Sleepless in Sydney and Crazy Middle Class Asians. Even from just their monikers, those two faux flicks say plenty about Rhapsody of Love — that's exactly how it pitches itself, after all, and with more enthusiasm than the over-the-top zeal oozing from Luu's performance. Adding an Asian Australian focus to the nation's small and hardly diverse collection of romantic comedies is a welcome and important feat. Leaning on all the genre's hallmarks, especially when sporting a tone that oscillates between winking and earnest, tempers the film's impact, though. Even when a formulaic new entry in an overpopulated genre splashes much-needed diversity across the screen, coats on its eagerness just as thick and is visibly warm to look at, there's no escaping the by-the-numbers air. Rhapsody of Love's wooden performances don't do it any favours, either, and neither does the rote dialogue, or the predictable complications that blight not only Jess and Justin's path to true love, but Ben and Natasha's, Victoria and Hugh's, and Jade and her new trainer Phil's (Khan Chittenden, Book Week) as well. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29; May 6, May 13, May 20 and May 27; and June 3, June 10 and June 17. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda, Supernova, The Dissident, The United States vs Billie Holiday, First Cow, Wrath of Man, Locked Down, The Perfect Candidate, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Ema, A Quiet Place Part II, Cruella, My Name Is Gulpilil, Lapsis, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Fast and Furious 9 and Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks.
With the latest easing of restrictions bringing the return of dance floors, many of Sydney's favourite dance parties and music nights are returning. Sosueme, Beach Road Hotel's midweek night of live music and DJ sets, is just one. The weekly eastside party will return this week, on Wednesday, March 31. And it's coming back with a huge lineup of local talent busting out live performances and flexing their skills behind the decks. Leading the lineup is beloved electronic trio Art vs Science, who will be taking to the stage for a live set full of hits like 'Parlez Vous Francais' and Magic Fountain'. Joining them on the lineup is Reuben Styles of Peking Duk, Hugo Gruzman of Flight Facilities and Tom Tilley, all jumping behind the decks for DJ sets throughout the night. An unannounced special guest has also been touted for this week's grand relaunch of the dance party — but you'll have to head along to Beach Road to find out who it is. Entry is free and, in the coming weeks, Sosueme will return each Wednesday with a fresh batch of musicians. In the coming weeks, you can catch the likes of Owl Eyes, Yolanda Be Cool, Danny Clayton and Kristina Jaman.
If films that span the unconventional and provocative are what get you in front of the screen, the return of Fantastic Film Festival Australia (FFFA) is a must-see. Pushing boundaries again in 2026 with an audacious program, the festival is bringing its biggest and boldest experience yet, promising a kaleidoscopic showcase of genre, arthouse and alternative cinema that makes for three weeks of wild screenings. Running from Thursday, April 23–Friday, May 15 across cinemas in Sydney and Melbourne, this year's program is stacked for your viewing pleasure. Spanning 37 feature-length films, expect six premiere local features, 14 new international features and 17 iconic classics and restorations. Plus, there are 22 short films ready to give visitors the inside word on the next generation of fearless storytellers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMC8kkwbIQQ Kicking things off is the Australian premiere of Hokum, a supernatural horror starring Adam Scott (Severance) from the mind of Caveat (2020) and Oddity (2024) director Damian McCarthy. For another Aussie premiere, Obsession is director Curry Baker's feature debut, where a cringe-inducing teen rom-com turns into a gore-fest. Bound to make headlines soon, Focus Features recently acquired the horror-thriller for $15 million. On the local front, FFFA 2026 closes with Penny Lane is Dead, Mia'Kate Russell's rip-roaring punk-horror debut. Bringing a distinctly Australian twist to the slasher genre, expect a healthy dose of incisive social satire on internalised misogyny and toxic masculinity. For even more insight, catch Russell as part of a post-film Q&A. Meanwhile, FFFA 2026 also introduces its inaugural Fantastic Film Prize, with four local genre films — Cruel Hands, Lenore, Squids, and Wolf Cat Fever — vying for a $10,000 cash prize. This year's festival also includes two retrospective strands. The first — FLESH//GHOST//MACHINE: Japanese Nightmares — delves into J-Horror's distinctive legacy, featuring defining cinematic moments from the 1960s to the millennium. Think 4K restorations of Ichi the Killer, Dark Water, and Demons. Yet if blood-sucking is more your vibe, the Vampire Weekend retrospective serves up cult films like Let the Right One In, The Lost Boys, and Nosferatu the Vampyre, Werner Herzog's 1979 homage to the silent film. Ready to dive in? In Sydney, the Fantastic Film Festival 2026 is happening at Ritz Cinemas, Randwick, while Melbourne cinema buffs can catch the flicks at Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn, Thornbury Picture House in Thornbury and Brunswick Picture House in Brunswick. Adult tickets are $25, with five- and ten-film festival passes available for $90 and $165, respectively. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2nDyQWBOU Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.
The end of the year is fast approaching, and with it the time to start making lists. 2017 has been a tough one on a number of fronts, but fortunately we've had movies to see us through. Over the past 12 months out critics have sat through hundreds of hours of motion picture magic, from blockbuster space operas to critically acclaimed indies, surprising local gems and more. After much reflection, they've put together the following list of the ten best films to hit screens in Australia since January. If you missed them in theatres, make it your mission to seek them out. If you've seen them already...well, see them again. 10. THE BEGUILED With The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola won a directing gong at Cannes, making her the first woman in more than 50 years to do so. After catching the film ourselves, it's easy to understand why. An immaculately shot Southern gothic thriller, the movie takes place in an all-girls boarding school during the dying days of the American Civil War, where life is suddenly thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a wounded Yankee soldier. Seething with sexual tension, and surprisingly funny, The Beguiled also benefits from an absolutely stellar cast, with Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Colin Farrell all operating at the top of their game. – Tom Clift 9. GOD'S OWN COUNTRY God's Own Country isn't a film that romanticises the Yorkshire countryside where it takes place. Rather, it's a film that gets down to the nitty gritty, the blood and the sweat, the rain and the isolation. It's also a film that leaves your heart hurting: a love story between a young farmer Johnny and a visiting worker from Romania. Johnny is an angry, binge drinking man who hasn't come to terms with his sexuality — but when Gheorghe arrives, this all changes. In his directional debut, Francis Lee has made a film which captures beautifully the minutiae of falling for someone (sharing a cup of noodles, making each other laugh), as well as Johnny's painful internal struggle at letting something good into his life. This movie will have you wanting to hug someone, hard. – Kat Hayes 8. THOR: RAGNAROK In a movie-going year — hell, a movie-going decade — that has been defined by the adventures of caped crusaders, one superhero movie in 2017 stood out above all the rest. Helmed by New Zealand indie director Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok was an unexpected curveball from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one that was long overdue. Yes it's got the action and the super-powered team-ups and the vague, ominous references to Infinity Stones. But the thing that makes this movie such a delight is Waititi's quirky, self-deprecating, distinctly Kiwi sense of humour. Chris Hemsworth gets the chance to work out his comedic muscles, while Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston and universe newbie Tessa Thompson are at the tops of their games as well. This is the kind of film you get when studios are willing to take risks with their flagship franchises. Let's hope the rest of Hollywood was paying attention. – Tom Clift 7. WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES At a glance, War for the Planet of the Apes might seem like little more than another monsters-versus-men, CGI-driven blockbuster. Instead, what it delivers is a sensitive, intelligent and profoundly moving war drama to round out one of the most surprising and imaginative trilogies of all time. In the vein of Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, this is a film about the quieter dimensions of combat; the internal conflicts, family tragedies and moral ambiguities that can harden and darken the soul. Boasting special effects of extraordinary realism, the film's leads – all of them computer generated – are no less human than the humans they fight, allowing us to wholly indulge in a Shakespearean saga full of heartache, betrayal, courage and redemption. – Tom Glasson 6. THE FLORIDA PROJECT If every filmmaker looked at the world in the same way as Sean Baker, we'd be living in a much kinder and more empathetic place. In The Florida Project, his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Tangerine, the director heads to the spot most commonly associated with Disney World, only to turn his focus to the families living day-to-day in the low-rent hotels nearby. When rebellious six-year-old Moonee (impressive child actress Brooklynn Prince) isn't running around the purple-hued Magic Castle she calls home — and cheekily annoying manager Bobby (an awards-worthy Willem Dafoe) in the process — she's watching her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) do whatever it takes to get by. Clear-eyed in its depiction of their troubles and struggles, yet affectionate and exuberant as well, this chaotic kid's-eye view of life on the margins is tender, tragic, humorous and openhearted all at once. – Sarah Ward 5. THE BIG SICK If you haven't already, put your pajamas on and snuggle up on the couch to watch The Big Sick. It's a cute, tight, funny film that follows an intimate narrative between two star-crossed lovers. Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) and things look great, until life throws two fairly significant hurdles in the way. The first: the expectations of Kumail's religious parents. The second: a mysterious illness that threatens Emily's life. We won't give too much more away, other than to say that what follows is both funny and genuinely sweet. Moreover, the story is based on Kumail's real-life romance with his wife. Nawww. A rare rom-com that was a hit with viewers and critics alike, this movie has it all: cross-cultural romance, modern dating scenarios, and probably the best performance of Ray Romano's career. – Imogen Baker 4. ALI'S WEDDING Part of what makes Ali's Wedding so enjoyable is the fact that it's all just a little bit silly. But to be clear, we mean that in a good way. Writer-actor Osamah Sami's take on the rom-com from an Australian-Muslim perspective is a bit ridiculous, yes, but it's also warm-hearted, deceptively smart, and hits you right in the feels. Playing on that near-universal desire to live up to our parents' expectations, the film is as incisive and important as it is funny and fun, while the whole cast does a great job (although Don Hany and Helana Sawires are the undeniable highlights). Once you get to the scene where they perform a musical about Saddam Hussein at their Melbourne mosque, you won't look back. You're along for the ride, and a surprisingly touching one at that. – Kat Hayes 3. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME It's easy to fall in love with Call Me By Your Name on sight. Full of the kind of sumptuous visuals that director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) is known for, the 80s-set effort proves a gorgeous piece of filmmaking from its opening frames. That said, it's the movie's sun-dappled dalliance that will really make you swoon, as Guadagnino follows the blossoming romance between 17-year-old Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer) over the course of a sweltering Italian summer. A seductive and sensual queer romance, and a pitch-perfect account of yearning and desire — one that features an emotionally intricate turn from Chalamet in particular — Call Me By Your Name is the film that stories about first love will be judged against for many years to come. – Sarah Ward 2. MOONLIGHT No wait, we meant La La Land! Actually, no, Moonlight. Warren Beatty's debacle notwithstanding, this was absolutely the deserving winner of the most recent Best Picture Oscar. A sensitive, imaginative and deeply affecting coming-of-age tale set in the poor neighbourhoods of Miami, Barry Jenkins' film tells the story of a boy becoming a man and discovering his sexuality in three distinctive chapters – each of which boasts a performance of extraordinary nuance by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes respectively. With sumptuous cinematography by James Laxton, Moonlight delivers an almost impossible fusion of visual splendour and unsparing emotion, in a film that lingers long in the memory after the credits have rolled. – Tom Glasson 1. GET OUT There's no denying that Jordan Peele's Get Out was one of the most unexpectedly provocative and entertaining films of 2017. A white woman (Allison Williams) takes her black boyfriend (Daniel Kaluuya) upstate to meet her parents for the first time. It's a ripe setup that paves the way for a tense and twisting mix of genuinely terrifying horror, savage dark comedy, and timely social commentary. Its technical credentials are similarly impressive: it's beautifully shot, phenomenally acted and boasts a genuinely satisfying ending. Not to mention the fact that Williams' involvement gave us a chance to exorcise some of our Girls-related rage. – Imogen Baker
A Turner Prize nominee, filmmaker and painter, British artist Tacita Dean is one of the biggest names in the contemporary art world. In a Sydney exclusive, you can experience the largest exhibition of Dean's work ever seen in the southern hemisphere at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia until Sunday, March 3, 2024. [caption id="attachment_931792" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tacita Dean, The Wreck of Hope, 2022, credit Zan Wimberley, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2023, image courtesy the artist[/caption] Tacita Dean is part of the Sydney International Art Series this summer, which brings works by internationally renowned artists to museums in Sydney every year (and also includes a major Kandinsky retrospective and a comprehensive showcase of works by Louise Bourgeois). Curated by MCA Director Suzanne Cotter and Senior Curator of Exhibitions Jane Devery, the exhibition features new and recent works, including many previously never seen Down Under. Tacita Dean showcases the artist's diverse practice and artistic range, encompassing film, drawing, photography, printmaking and collage across themes such as chance, memory, history and time. Touching down from Paris for the first time in Australia is Dean's film installation Geography Biography, described by the artist as an 'accidental self-portrait.' This significant new work sits alongside monumental chalk drawings The Wreck of Hope and Chalk Fall, which delve into climate change and the fragility of our planet. Another notable highlight is a group of works that resulted from the artist's designs for The Dante Project — a collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Thomas Adès for The Royal Ballet in London. Central to this presentation is Paradise: a mesmerising 35mm Cinemascope film shown in the ballet's final act. [caption id="attachment_930082" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tacita Dean, Paradise (film still), 2021, with music, Paradiso by Thomas Adès, 35mm colour anamorphic film, image courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris and Los Angeles, © the artist[/caption] Suzanne Cotter shares, "Tacita Dean is undoubtedly one of our greatest living artists and truly an artist that speaks to our contemporary moment. Aesthetically seductive and scintillating in its intelligence, her work is a profound and poetic response to the world as visual sensation and as a metaphor for time – a historical, geological and phenomenal – and the interconnectedness of people, places and things." Tickets are $25 for adults, $18 for concession and free for those 17 and under. Or, if you want to explore the expansive exhibition for free, hit up the MCA on Wednesday, January 31. The gallery is waiving the entry fee for everyone for this one day. Just head over to Circular Quay between 10am–5pm — no booking required. The exhibit was made possible with the support of the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. Buy tickets and find out more at the MCA's website. Top images: Tacita Dean, The Wreck of Hope, 2022, credit Zan Wimberley, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2023, image courtesy the artist; Tacita Dean, Geography Biography, 2023, Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, 2023, image courtesy Pinault Collection, © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Niney et Marca Architectes, agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier, photograph credit: Aurélien Mole; Tacita Dean, Sakura (Jindai II), 2023, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2023, image courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London © the artist, photograph credit: Zan Wimberley; Installation view, Tacita Dean, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2023, image courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris and Los Angeles © the artist; Tacita Dean, Paradise (film still), 2021, with music, Paradiso by Thomas Adès, image courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris and Los Angeles, © the artist; Tacita Dean, Geography Biography, 2023, installation view, image courtesy Pinault Collection, © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Niney et Marca Architectes, agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier, photograph credit: Aurélien Mole
Spike Lee. Denzel Washington. They're two of the biggest names in America cinema, and they're back in business together, teaming up for Highest 2 Lowest. Premiering at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the latest Lee-directed joint not only sees two icons reunite, but also reimagines the work of another. With their new collaboration, the two Oscar-winners (Lee for BlacKkKLansman's screenplay, Washington for Glory and Training Day) are reinterpreting 1963 crime thriller High and Low from Akira Kurosawa. If you've forgotten where else Lee (American Utopia) and Washington (Gladiator II) have joined forces before, the just-dropped teaser trailer for Highest 2 Lowest offers a reminder, starting by running through their past flicks together: Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man. "There's more to life than just making money," utters Washington as the film titles flash up on the screen. "There's integrity. There's what you stand for. There's what you actually believe in," he continues. In the New York City-set flick, Washington plays a music mogul who is about to navigate quite the chaos. "Can you handle the mayhem?" Highest 2 Lowest's star also asks in the movie's debut sneak peek, which is set to James Brown's 'The Big Payback'. His character is renowned for having the "best ears in the business", then is saddled with a ransom plot. "Can you handle the money? Can you handle the success? Can you handle the failure? Can you handle the lovers? Can you handle the memes? Can you handle everything that there is in-between?" he also queries. While this is Lee and Washington's fifth time working together in 35 years, it's their first collab in 19 years, since Inside Man released in 2006. It's also Lee's first film at all since 2020, when both feature Da 5 Bloods and concert movie American Utopia released. Washington's Highest 2 Lowest costars include Jeffrey Wright (The Last of Us), Ice Spice and A$AP Rocky (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You). After premiering at Cannes, the movie has a date with US cinemas from Friday, August 22, 2025, but details of a Down Under big-screen release haven't been revealed. Whether or not it hits picture palaces in Australia and New Zealand, viewers will be able to watch Highest 2 Lowest via Apple TV+ from Friday, September 5, 2025. Check out the first teaser trailer for Highest 2 Lowest below: Highest 2 Lowest opens in US cinemas from Friday, August 22, 2025 and doesn't yet have a Down Under big-screen release date, but screens via Apple TV+ from Friday, September 5, 2025.
Next time you're on the hunt for something tasty that won't break the bank in Circular Quay, head to Belles Hot Chicken's third and most impressive Sydney outpost. Here the cult-favourite Nashville-style fried chicken chain (among our contenders for the best fried chicken in Sydney) is swapping takeaway boxes for table service with a 130-seat flagship restaurant. Open in the Quay Quarter Tower, Belles Hot Chicken Circular Quay brings the expected hallmarks of the chain to an expansive new space with views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Belles' vintage Americana style is delivered in spades. Architectural studio Ewert Leaf has collaborated with Belles' Design Director Vicki Punch to create a warm, welcoming space tricked out with neon signs, vintage tiling and vending machines, plus an entirely chrome ceiling and cork detailing. On the menu, things stick close to the other locations, with an elevated and varied drinks menu to complement the eats. Pair tenders, drumsticks, wings and buffalo cauliflower — all available in heat levels ranging from chicken salt to Really F**king Hot — with Belles Original Draught, orange wines and house cocktails like spiked iced tea. Spicy chicken sandwiches and loaded fries also feature, with a highlight-reel set menu available for $40 per person if you want the decisions taken out of your hands. Some of the more extravagant drinks include Old Rip Van Winkle 15-year bourbon, Louis Roederer Cristal Brut (who doesn't want to pair champagne and fried chicken?), and the canned rakija and tonic RTDs that are the result of an inspired collab between Baba's Place and DNA Distillery. Rounding out the vibrant energy of this outpost is a set of vinyl turntables ready for a DJ to take hold and spark a party at any point in time. With enough champagne and spiked iced tea, it's very likely to happen.
Go on, get feasting in one of Sydney's newest tunnels. Nigella Lawson wants you to. Either part of the Vivid Sydney Dinners series setup — the unique location or the famous chef curating the menu — is reason enough to head along. Combine the two and you have one of the key events of Vivid 2025. The setting: Martin Place's Muru Giligu pedestrian tunnel. The spread: whatever takes Lawson's fancy. And to make a great event, or three, even better, a light and sound experience will work its magic on the tunnel while you dine. "Visitors cram themselves into Sydney in summer, but for me the magical time is in winter, during Vivid Sydney," said Lawson about her collaboration with the Harbour City's annual midyear arts, lights, ideas and food festival. "And having loved it for years, it is the hugest thrill to be part of the Vivid Food program this year. I'll be curating an exclusive menu for the three Vivid Sydney Dinners, and it is simply a dream come true. I mean, you know me: there can never be too many fairy lights! See you there!" As announced in 2024, Vivid 2025 runs from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14, celebrating its 15th year with all things dreams its theme. A bucket list-type meal overseen by Lawson? Well that's a dream inclusion. So are Tangerine Dream and Anohni and the Johnsons on the music lineup, an immersive Stranger Things experience at Luna Park, and the fact that the entire Vivid Light Walk is free. In fact, more than 75 percent of the entire just-dropped program won't cost you a cent to enjoy. On the Vivid Light Walk, that includes installations and 3D projections spanning across new backdrops, such as the Museum of Sydney, The Bond in Barangaroo and Challis House in Martin Place. At those locations and beyond — at the Argyle Cut in The Rocks and the CTA Building in Martin Place, too, to name just a couple of other spots — this lit-up reason for scenic stroll will feature swings, seesaws, animation activated via voice, a tennis match made out of light and 150 pieces a week designed by patrons. Still on the broader Vivid Light strand, Sydney Opera House's sails will boast work by the late David McDiarmid, Vincent Namatjira will take over the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia's facade and House of Romance, hailing from fashion label Romance Was Born, has a date with Customs House. Alongside German electronic-music icons Tangerine Dream at City Recital Hall and Anohni and the Johnsons at the Opera House, the Vivid Music bill includes Sigur Rós performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Portishead's Beth Gibbons , Japanese Breakfast, Marlon Williams, Soccer Mommy, RONA, Ravyn Lenae and Pete & Bas. On the lineup as well: Heartbreak High star Ayesha Madon, Prince's former bass player MonoNeon, V-pop via Mỹ Anh and Chi Xê, Winston Surfshirt, Grammy-winner Dobet Gnahoré, Mall Grab, Ngaiire, Skegss and more. The Upside Down has come to Sydney before, but Stranger Things: The Experience will make its first trip — and add a must-attend event to the Vivid Ideas portion of the program. Get ready to visit 1986, and Hawkins, of course, in what promises to be an immersive and interactive stint of Stranger Things-loving fun. Locations from the show are part of the event, as is a supernatural mystery. Vivid Ideas is also bringing TIME Magazine Creative Director DW Pine this way to deliver the keynote 'Where Do Ideas Come From?', tasking scientist Professor Matthew Walker with diving into why we sleep, amassing First Nations storytellers at Barangaroo Reserve each week and getting Sydney's Legs on the Wall performing new theatre work Endling. And, it's why Haus of Horror screenings of Poltergeist and Edward Scissorhands are on offer, too. At Vivid Food, Vivid Fire Kitchen will be back at The Goods Line; Vivid Chef Series will enlist Jean-Philippe Blondet, James Lowe and Brent Savage teaming up with Sydney eateries; Maryanne Street is becoming the festival's Spice Lounge; and Golden Age Cinema, Hollywood Hotel and The Soda Factory will feature in food and gig trails in the Hollywood Quarter in Surry Hills. The Carriageworks Night Market returns, and so does eating on the Sydney Harbour Bridge's southeast pylon thanks to Luke Mangan. This year's Vivid is focused on five zones, spanning Circular Quay and The Rocks, Barangaroo, Martin Place and CBD, Darling Harbour, and The Goods Line and the inner city, with each hosting Light, Music, Ideas and Food events. "Dreaming is as old as time and as universal as life itself. Dreams can be prophetic, life changing and inspirational, as well as trivial, hilarious or terrifying. These interactions are evident in every aspect of Vivid Sydney's program this year," said Vivid Sydney Festival Director Gill Minervini, announcing the lineup. "Captivating light installations and 3D projections for everyone, thought-provoking and enlightening experiences, awe-inspiring performances from the world's best musicians, along with cutting-edge culinary collaborations and dinners in unexpected places: it can all be found at Vivid Sydney. In 2025, the festival celebrates creativity, innovation and connection in one of the best cities in the world." [caption id="attachment_994734" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anna Pollack[/caption] [caption id="attachment_994726" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacquie Manning[/caption] Vivid Sydney 2025 runs from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14 across Sydney. Head to the festival website for further information.
Executive chef and owner Ben Varela — whose culinary credits include The Collaroy and Bistro Moncur — has realised his Miami-inspired dreams at the Sunset Diner. Located three minutes' walk from Avalon Beach, this pink-and-peach striped hideaway serves up burgers and griddle dogs with boutique wines and craft beers — and OTT sundaes. Take a seat on a millennial pink chair inside or, if you're travelling with your pup, in the pet-friendly outdoor courtyard, and prepare to feast. Among the burgers are The Double ($18), with double beef patty, double cheese, double bacon, pickles and Sunset Sauce and the Five AM Catch ($15) with beer-battered fish, cheese, herb-and-cabbage slaw and pickled jalapeños. Meanwhile, the trio of griddle dogs includes the Smoked Brisket ($12) packed with a signature frank, smoked brisket, mustard, pickle relish and onion. You'll find a match in a cocktail, local beer or wine from the substantial list. From there, it's way too easy to lean into a sundae. If you've had an afternoon of surf and sand ahead, dig into the Caramel Pretzel ($8) a mountain of caramel sauce, salted peanut butter pretzels and toasted peanuts. Equally tempting is the old-school Banana Split ($8) a merry (and enduring) meeting of banana, white chocolate fudge and chocolate sauce. Images: Kitti Gould.
Queensland-born cult burger joint Betty's Burgers has launched its second Sydney outpost in Castle Hill. Since opening the Shake Shack-style burger shop back in 2014, founder David Hales has turned his humble Noosa business into an Australian-wide favourite — having opened up shop in Melbourne, Brisbane and its first Sydney store in the ICC in 2017. Compared with the Darling Harbour shack, which is a small 46 seater (20 indoor and 26 outdoor), the Castle Towers joint has a considerably larger capacity, seating 85. You can expect the same menu of the Angus beef classic, southern fried chicken, pork belly and crispy fried mushroom burgers, along with Betty's signature 'concretes'. For the uninitiated, these are frozen custard shakes with your choice of mix-ins, including peanut butter brittle, hot fudge doughnut and lemon raspberry cheesecake. The opening of Betty's Burgers is part of the Castle Towers' new food and entertainment precinct. It's home 14 recently opened bars and eateries, including a collaboration between Holey Moley and Strike Bowling, a 350-seat outpost of The Bavarian, Malaysian hawker-style eatery PappaRich, Korean fried chicken and beer joint Gami and Sydney's second over-the-top Nutella-filled Tella Balls Dessert Bar.
As most visitors to the city will notice, Tokyo is home to many unique and wonderful quirks, from specialised bars to subcultures within subcultures. Tokyo's food scene is no different; however one of the city's most interesting dining experiences actually comes from Australia. Meet OUT, the concept restaurant that was conceived in Australia, inspired by Italy and executed in Japan. Built with the aim to create a carefully curated moment of complete gastronomic and sensory satisfaction, OUT is a truffle and pasta bar that serves one dish of buttery truffle covered pasta, one type of red wine and plays music by one artist, Led Zeppelin. This full-body culinary experience was created by Melbourne restaurateur David Mackintosh, entrepreneur Tom Crago and Tokyo-based gastronomic consultant Sarah Crago. "The idea started as a joke during a boozy dinner party back in Melbourne," says Sarah, who decided to take the gag one step further. Now, just a few years later, she finds herself running the popular Tokyo dining spot. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWuQw82Addy/?taken-by=outrestaurant Why choose Tokyo out of every city in the world? Given the sheer ubiquity of high-quality eating establishments already scattered throughout the city, it seems like a competitive scene. "We could only do something like this in Tokyo," Sarah explains. "Tokyo is all about pursuing true craftsmanship and perfecting technique." Opening in Shibuya in June this year, and seating 13, the restaurant has already welcomed a wide range clientele interested in trying the OUT experience. "We get all different people in," says Sarah, "but we do have regulars." As the seasonal ingredients change, many of them notice the subtle differences. "Some of them even noticed when we changed the shape of our pasta." "I moved to Japan two and a half years ago to start the project and it's been hard," Sarah shares. "Because we're completely independent, we don't have any Japanese companies propping us up, so everything has been a lot more difficult." That hard work has paid off, and lucky patrons can now find the eatery up and running six nights a week until late. If you find yourself in Tokyo, it's a fascinating way to dine. Find OUT at 〒150-0002 Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Shibuya, 2 Chome−7−14, Vort Aoyama 103, Japan or visit www.out.restaurant.
After a somewhat traumatising 2020, there aren't many people in Sydney's hospitality scene that would dream of launching a restaurant that's only open for business once a week. For chefs Grace Chen (ex-Poly) and self-dubbed "Big" Sam Young (ex-Lotus) — the timing couldn't be better. The duo launched a private dining business last year after COVID saw the temporary closure of both venues. Business boomed, and the pair have since flown around Australia to curate luxe culinary experiences for clients, with their catering calendar booked out on Saturdays until September. [caption id="attachment_811115" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A menu collaboration at Juicy Banana, by Wesley Nel.[/caption] Juicy Banana is their latest brainchild, a Sunday-only lunchtime restaurant out of the old Storehouse at Vibe Hotel in Rushcutters Bay. From Sunday, May 2, Juicy Banana will be inviting special guest chefs each week, with the likes of Toby Stansfield (of Fabbrica) on Sunday, May 16 and Alex Yu (of Sokyo) on Sunday, May 23. PS40 owner-bartender Michael Chiem and front-of-house manager Alessandro Ponzoni (ex-LuMi restaurant manager) complete the permanent Juicy Banana roster. Young says the pop-up restaurant gives himself, Chen and guest chefs the opportunity to collaborate and "create once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our guests". "We as chefs often have limitations on what we have to cook in the restaurant that we work at," Young explains. "This is an opportunity for chefs to come to our kitchen and cook whatever they want — no boundaries, just delicious shit." [caption id="attachment_811117" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Juicy Banana, by Wesley Nel.[/caption] The formula behind Juicy Banana's weekly shared-style menu is simple: if Young loves the food, and it's delicious — he'll serve it. The bright venue is delightfully suited to leisurely Sunday lunches, bathed in natural afternoon sunlight along with elegant navy and white accents. Set lunch prices will range between $105–$140. For those interested in a more casual experience, Juicy Banana's bar is taking walk-ins and serving casual snacks with cocktails every Sunday. Drink options include a Basque-style old fashioned; a salted cucumber and habanero margarita; and a macerated strawberry spritz with dry sherry, Hendrick's gin, apple ribbon and dill. A curated selection of wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks will also be available. At the moment, the Juicy Banana team plan to stick to a one-day-a-week trade. "After COVID disrupted the whole hospitality industry, there is room for chefs and bartenders to be owning their own spaces," Chiem says. "But we just want to do Sundays, and do Sundays well." You can book a table and keep up-to-date with all of Juicy Banana's collaborations at their website via By Experience. Pre-payment is required.
If American bourbon is your drink of choice, one of the finest distillers in the business, Maker's Mark, is giving you a feel-good reason to raise a glass until Sunday, August 31, 2025. The Kentuckian bourbon distiller has collaborated with Australian honey producers Beechworth Honey for a delicious rendition of The Gold Rush: a cocktail that celebrates the brilliant flavour pairing of honey and bourbon served with freshly squeezed lemon juice — a sweet and sour combo served on ice that can brighten up any cool evening. In addition to a focus on craft, sustainability is one of the pillars of the Maker's Mark brand. In fact, it is the largest distillery in the world to achieve B Corp certification. And in a bid to further its efforts to make bourbon that's better for the world, Maker's Mark is teaming up with some of Sydney's best bars to donate $2 from every Gold Rush cocktail sold to the Wheen Bee Foundation. Next time you're heading out for cocktails, make your way to one of these venues and order a Gold Rush, and you'll be making a contribution to a foundation dedicated to protecting and conserving the Australian honey bee simply by enjoying a very good drink. Participating venues: Fortunate Son in Newtown Palomino Lounge in Enmore Old Mates Place in the CBD The Roosevelt in Potts Point The Duke of Clarence in the CBD Earl's Juke Joint in Newtown Double Deuce Lounge in the CBD Charlie Parker's in Paddington Bar Demo in Newtown J&M in the CBD Chuck & Sons in St Peters The Cumberland in Manly If you're down in Canberra, you can hit up Hippo Co, or if you're in Wollongong, Howlin' Wolf, La La La's and Black Cockatoo Bar are also participating
Watching Bangarra Dance Theatre light up the stage isn't something that's easily forgotten. Seeing David Gulpilil grace the silver screen falls into that category, too. Australia's pioneering Indigenous dance company and the country's biggest acting legend have something else in common as well: they've both been the subject of excellent documentaries that've hit cinemas in 2021. The first, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, steps through the titular dance company's formation, history and impact. Of course, it can't recount Bangarra's origins, evolution, aims and achievements without also telling the tale of Stephen, David and Russell Page, who've become its most famous names over the past three decades. The film that results is a potent portrait of an Aussie arts powerhouse, as well as an important history lesson about the factors that gave rise to the company — and that it continues to address through its performances. The second movie, My Name Is Gulpilil, is a rare treasure — because it gives audiences the chance not only to look back at its namesake's now five-decade career (complete with roles in everything from Walkabout and Storm Boy to Goldstone and Cargo), but also to spend time with him as he reflects upon his life and achievements. He tells his story in his own words and, although he celebrates his successes, he doesn't overlook the struggles. Making the film all the more meaningful: the fact that director Molly Reynolds shot it while Gulpilil battled stage-four lung cancer. Thankfully, he's outlasted his initial prognosis, which allowed Reynolds to spend even longer recording his thoughts. Both of these docos have enjoyed their slots on the big screen. Both are exceptional films, too. Now, to celebrate NAIDOC Week, the ABC is both screening and streaming them — so, whether you missed them in cinemas or you'd like to see them again, you'll be able to do so at home, and for free. Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra screens first, airing at 8.30pm on Tuesday, July 6 and hitting ABC iView at the same time. Come Sunday, July 11, My Name Is Gulpilil will do the same. There's your viewing sorted for the week — with the ABC also showing Bangarra's Dubboo: Life of a Songman, and adding a NAIDOC Week collection of films and TV shows to iView as well. Check out the trailers for Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra and My Name Is Gulpilil below: Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra screens on ABC and hits ABC iView on Tuesday, July 6 — and My Name Is Gulpilil does the same on Sunday, July 11. Top image: Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, Daniel Boud.
The Sydney Opera House's First Nations dance competition will return for its sixth year in 2020. Starring more than 350 performers from all over the country, with different generations, nations and groups all represented, Dance Rites will be broadcast free online — which means, for the first time, all of Australia can join in on the festivities. Close to 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance groups will compete in this year's festival, including Djakapurra Dancers, led by Djakapurra Munyarryun (Songman for the Sydney 2000 Olympics); Mornington Island Dance Group, who performed for the opening of the Opera House in 1973; Dyiraamalang, an all-female group; and Luurnpa Dancers, led by acclaimed artist and senior law man Jimmy Tchooga. The first wave of performances will take place each night from Wednesday, November 11 through Saturday, November 14 (coinciding with NAIDOC Week). Then the finals will air the following week on Saturday, November 21. Each group will perform two dances — one traditional and one 'wildcard' dance. The judges' assessment is based on on authenticity, reclamation work, fusion of language and music and use of costumes, crafts and cultural materials. The winners will receive a cool $20,000, with additional prizes also up for grabs. [caption id="attachment_789029" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brolga Dance Academy[/caption] Top image: Anna Kucera
If you're looking to visit a Hong Kong dai pai dong without leaving Sydney (and we recommend you do), look no further than Chan Kun Kee in Rhodes. The vibrant casual diner is the first international outpost for a Hong Kong team that's been serving up flavour-packed eats for over 40 years. Sydney's Chan Kun Kee opened in 2023 and the local iteration brings all the charm of its original institution to the Inner West. You'll find a variety of specialty small plates on offer ranging from stir-fries and fried noodles to loaded seafood dishes and hot pot. The must-try menu item is the claypot fish-flavoured eggplant — the best in Australia according to the team. But the menu is expansive with plenty to discover. There's spicy shredded chicken with crab roe, pork belly in a Sichuan broth, deep-fried oysters with wasabi sauce, stir-fried XO squid and a tom yum soup loaded with clams. The lunch menu — available 11am–2pm Tuesday–Sunday — refines your options, opting for more personal serving sizes. For $18, take your pick of the mains, including wasabi pork chops, stir-fried clams and a curry beef brisket, all of which are served with rice and a drink. Pair your meal with a $7 Tsingtao or Asahi, a herbal tea, or one of the housemade beverages, including the barley, lemon, yuzu and honey combination. Great Cantonese food at extremely affordable prices? What's not to love.
There are haunted houses, and then there's the Winchester Mystery House. Forget the occasional swinging door and creaky floorboard – in this sprawling abode, things go bump both day and night. That's the story, anyway, one spooky enough to establish the San Jose residence as a popular tourist attraction for almost a century. The seven-storey building dates back to 1884, contains 161 rooms and was under construction for nearly 40 years. It's also said to be full of ghostly inhabitants. No wonder Hollywood came knocking. Indeed, in another life, the history of the mansion could've come with an M. Night Shyamalan-style twist, or become one of Guillermo del Toro's gothic playgrounds, with both filmmakers once interested in turning it into a movie. Instead, the spirits of their unrealised projects join the many things haunting Winchester, not the least of which is squandered potential. Try as they might, Australian directors Peter and Michael Spierig (Daybreakers, Jigsaw) just can't capitalise on their real-world premise – and that's despite their convincing command of genre fundamentals and an against-type Helen Mirren as their star. The beloved British actress plays the widowed Sarah Winchester, heir by marriage to the Winchester firearms-manufacturing firm. Mourning the loss of her husband and infant daughter, Sarah has dedicated much of her life to building her enormous home — all while basing its unconventional, ever-changing design on otherworldly instructions. That doesn't please the company's board, who enlist psychiatrist Dr. Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to attest to her diminished capacity. Addicted to laudanum, the good doctor is haunted by demons of his own, and soon discovers there's more than a well-paying job waiting for him at Winchester manor. If prowling around an eerie house was all it took to make an effective horror flick, Winchester would be primed for success. Once again building upon their growing genre resume, the Spierigs prove up to the task both visually and tonally, conjuring up an unnerving mood and ensuring the maze-like setting is as creepy as it should be. They're a little too fond of jump-scares, but at least they make enough of them count. Sadly, the same can't be said for the movie's obvious plotting and terrible dialogue, with the twin writer-directors — along with co-scribe Tom Vaughan (Unstoppable) – making every expected choice and saddling their characters with some truly awful lines. That said, enlisting Mirren and Clarke, along with Sarah Snook (Predestination) and Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks: The Return) does help lift the film's fortunes somewhat. Specifically, there's plenty of fun to be had watching Mirren jump into another unexpected genre after she popped up in The Fate of the Furious just last year. The veteran actress turns in a committed performance filled with quiet resolve — all while decked out in gorgeously gothic outfits. She can't make an average movie great or even good, but at least she helps keep it from being totally forgettable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfzDq6-vCZc
Almost a quarter-century has passed since Keanu Reeves uttered four iconic words: "I know kung fu". The Matrix's famous phrase was also the entire movie-going world's gain, because watching Reeves unleash martial-arts mayhem is one of cinema's purest pleasures. Notching up their fourth instalment with the obviously titled John Wick: Chapter 4, the John Wick flicks understand this. They couldn't do so better, harder, or in a bloodier fashion, in fact. Directed by Keanu's former stunt double Chad Stahelski, who helped him look like he did indeed know wushu back in the 90s, this assassin saga is built around the thrill of its star doing his violent but stylish best. Of course, The Matrix's Neo didn't just know kung fu, but gun fu — and Jonathan, as The Continental proprietor Winston (Ian McShane, Deadwood: The Movie) still likes to call him, helps turn bullet ballet into one helluva delight again and again (and again and again). The John Wick movies — the first blasting into cinemas in 2014, John Wick: Chapter 2 hitting the target in 2017, John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum shooting straight in 2019, and now this striking four years later — seem like they should be oh-so simple. Slip Keanu into a black suit, let his 90s grunge-style hair frame his face, get him next to an array of dazzling backdrops, let him raise hell against whoever is thrown his way: that's the basic formula. And, wanting nothing more than a quiet life with the dog left to him by his deceased wife, then the pets that've replaced that pooch since, the eponymous Wick doesn't like to overcomplicate anything. Witnessing a John Wick film, though, means seeing how much stunning action choreography, energetic cinematography, lightning-fast editing and stellar production design goes into making these pictures flow so smoothly. Reeves is so in his element that he'll always be remembered as John Wick (and Neo, Bill & Ted's Theodore 'Ted' Logan and Point Break's Johnny Utah), but the John Wick movies are spectacular technical achievements. All that gun-fu mastery spins through a story — one that is similarly straightforward, but also meticulously constructed to look and play that way. Initially, the happily retired but recently widowed John got dragged back into the hitman life over that aforementioned puppy and a full-hearted quest for revenge. Since then, that move keeps sparking consequences in an action franchise that mixes the western genre's gunslingers and crusades for vengeance, plus their strong, silent types and scenic use of backgrounds, with a musical's rhythm, steps and set pieces. So, Jonathan tried to stay out of the game. Then, he endeavoured to escape the death-for-hire business after its powers-that-be, aka the High Table, started meting out punishment for breaking their rules. Summing up the situation brings another epic crime saga's words to mind: "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!". Picking up where its immediate predecessor left off, John Wick: Chapter 4 saddles its namesake with the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård, Barbarian), the High Table's emissary, as his new adversary. After Wick puts the assassin realm's head honchos on notice during an early trip to the Middle East, the series' latest nefarious figure wants rid of him forever, wasting no time laying waste to the few things left that John loves. The Marquis has company, too — seeking a big payday in the case of the mercenary known as Tracker (Shamier Anderson, Son of the South), who has his own devoted dog; and due to a familiar deal with Caine (Donnie Yen, Mulan), a martial-arts whiz who is blind, and an old friend of John. That said, Wick has pals in this clash between the hitman establishment and its workers, which doubles as an eat-the-rich skirmish, including Winston, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne, All the Old Knives), and the Osaka Continental's Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada, Bullet Train) and Akira (Rina Sawayama, Turn Up Charlie). Retaliating against the High Table, and just trying to stay alive, involves jumps to Japan, Berlin and Paris — starting from New York, naturally — and shooting, stabbing, slicing and battling through hotels, nightclubs, apartment blocks and more. In the latter category sits two of the saga's most ambitious locations yet, where two of its most glorious fight scenes take place: the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe and the 222 steps up to Montmartre's Sacré-Coeur Basilica. Indeed, with Stahelski a four-film John Wick veteran, cinematographer Dan Laustsen (Nightmare Alley) up to three, and editor Nathan Orloff (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) dropping in seamlessly as a newcomer, all 169 minutes of John Wick: Chapter 4 is an action marvel. More John Wick has long been a good thing, whether more movies or more in those movies; the last hour here, as Wick and the Marquis' conflict sprawls across Paris, is the franchise's pièce de résistance. With frenetic frays such a focus, and so expertly and inventively executed — doorbell sensors and bulletproof vests have significant parts, gun fu becomes car fu, and filming flats from above is mesmerising — it'd be easy for anyone new to the ways of John Wick to assume that the plot is secondary. Or, that screenwriters Shay Hatten (returning from Chapter 3) and Michael Finch (American Assassin) have built John Wick: Chapter 4's narrative around the onslaught of carnage, not vice versa. These are lovingly crafted films, however — and layered and thoughtful, as seen when Winston name-drops Ned Kelly and his supposed last words "such is life". The John Wick series is deeply steeped in its own mythology, which swirls around John aka the Baba Yaga, the High Table's workings and love of retro tech, the various Continentals, and all the regulations that underscore the to-ing and fro-ing that leads to such a massive body count, so referencing an IRL figure also steeped in myth is a smart and knowing move. Casting has always worked comparably, drawing upon McShane's Deadwood standing, Lance Reddick's The Wire pedigree, Franco Nero's history as the OG Django in Chapter 2 and Skarsgård's time as Pennywise, for instance. No one is as immaculately cast in the John Wick universe as Keanu, who continues to invest everything into his stoic-faced character by playing it just right — never adding anything superfluous, never undercooking his performance, and always dancing through the franchise with the weight and agility it needs. Still, Yen is his absolute equal, to zero astonishment given that he's Donnie Yen. Physical feats so fleet that they stand out even in this highly physical flick, charm and wit in spades, pitch-perfect doses of comedy: they're all on show. Yen also delivers a gleaming Point Break nod, and owns John Wick: Chapter 4's debt to Japan's swordplay-heavy Zatoichi pictures (a homage he knows well thanks to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but he's not repeating himself). No matter how a John Wick movie finishes, it ends with viewers wanting more — and this is no exception, including more of Yen as Caine alongside Keanu.
Over seven years in the making, Bondi Pavilion's massive transformation is finally set to be unveiled next Wednesday, September 21. To celebrate the return of The Pav, Waverley Council is putting on a free reopening party featuring live music, exhibitions, talks, workshops and an array of community activities. "There is such growing excitement in the community about the reopening as more and more of the building and our world-class restoration works are revealed," Mayor of Waverley Paula Masselos said. First announced way back in 2015, the pavilion's multimillion-dollar revamp has been a long-running project of the Waverley Council. The rejuvenated space will feature an art gallery, cultural spaces, a new area called the Bondi Story Room, a pottery studio, a theatre, new amenities and an expansive public courtyard. [caption id="attachment_868860" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pottery Studio[/caption] As the name suggests, the Bondi Story Room will be a space dedicated to the history of the bustling beachside suburb. For example, longstanding Bondi lifeguard Lawrie Williams will be giving talks — followed by a tour of Bondi — at the story room on September 24, October 1 and October 8, where he'll be sharing his wealth of knowledge and Bondi-centric stories with attendees. [caption id="attachment_869305" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Art Gallery[/caption] Another space for storytelling at the pavilion will be the Yalagang Room. On Saturday, September 24, there will be a set of Dharawal Language workshops for children and families in this space, followed by the event Deep Listening: Dharawal language with the Chairman of the Gujaga Foundation Ray Ingrey. The nearly century-old building was first built in the 1920s, replacing the Bondi Surf Sheds with the Turkish and Hot Sea Water Baths in 1929. The current renovations have uncovered the bathhouse's original signage, which has been restored and is ready for the pavilion opening. There are also a host of food and retail tenants moving into the pavilion. The team behind Circular Quay's new multi-level venue Hinchcliff House is set to open an all-day cafe, bakery and bistro called Bondi Promenade. The restaurant will serve coffee and freshly-baked goods to beachgoers while offering a casual bistro dining experience featuring charcoal seafood and vegetables, with something available "for everyone and at every price point", according to Brown. Light healthy breakfast options, pizza-style flatbreads and seasonal fruit gelatos designed for a summer's day are all planned for the venue's menu. Other tenants at the building include clothing brand Between the Flags, previous tenant Surfish Cafe and Glory Days Bondi, a sister venue of North Sydney's Glory Days from the owners of Glorietta and Woolpack Hotel. The opening night event is free but you're required to register to ensure your spot on the night. If you want to check out all the exciting things happening across the first month of the Bondi Pavilion head to the What's On page of its website. The Bondi Pavilion is reopening on Wednesday, September 21.
If you've been enjoying someone else's Netflix subscription to get your Stranger Things, Squid Game and Wednesday fix, or work your way through its hefty slate of movies, the streaming platform has been promising bad news for a few years now: ending password sharing, so users can no longer login by borrowing a pal or family member's login details. The feature is being trialled in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica, and is officially on its way to the rest of the world by the end of March. And, if you're wondering how it might work, the service has revealed the details. At present, Netflix's help centre outlines its current rules around sharing the platform with someone who doesn't live with you, noting that "people who do not live in your household will need to use their own account to watch Netflix". Right now, in most places in the world, if a device outside of your home signs in, you might be asked to verify it — but you won't be charged if the service thinks that you are sharing your password. In a change to the help centre that went up temporarily — and, reportedly accidentally — details of Netflix's procedures when the password-sharing crackdown comes into effect were listed. Still archived via The WayBack Machine, the changes first state that users will need to log into Netflix via the app or website on your device when it's connected to the wifi at your primary location, and to do so for at least once every 31 days. That'll make Netflix see whatever you're watching the service on as a "trusted device", so you can use it even when you're away from home. The help centre also noted that "devices that are not part of your primary location may be blocked from watching Netflix", but still says that Netflix won't automatically charge you for share your account with someone who doesn't live with you. That said, the new password-sharing block is being called "paid sharing" by Netflix in a letter to shareholders, so that's in the works. The platform has also recently unveiled an ad-supported subscription package, too. "Today's widespread account sharing (to 100 million-plus households) undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business," the company states in that shareholder letter, which is dated January 19, 2023. "While our terms of use limit use of Netflix to a household, we recognise this is a change for members who share their account more broadly. So we've worked hard to build additional new features that improve the Netflix experience, including the ability for members to review which devices are using their account and to transfer a profile to a new account. As we roll out paid sharing, members in many countries will also have the option to pay extra if they want to share Netflix with people they don't live with." Of course, logging into your Netflix account from a network outside of your wifi doesn't automatically mean you're sharing your password. You might be travelling and still want to get your streaming fix. "If you are away from your primary location for an extended period of time, your device may be blocked from watching Netflix," the Help Centre says. The workaround for this will frustratingly require requesting a temporary access code — one that also annoyingly also only works for seven days. Given that Netflix has taken down these rule changes from its help centre in most markets, these processes might be tinkered with before they are rolled out to the rest of the world. As per The Guardian, the service advised that "for a brief time yesterday, a help centre article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, went live in other countries. We have since updated it". Netflix's password-sharing block is set to come into effect worldwide sometime before the end of March — we'll update you when more details are announced.
Brisvegas is living up to its (much-loved) nickname and will play host to not one, but three music festivals in September. The annual Brisbane Festival will run alongside industry pioneer BIGSOUND and newcomer Sweet Relief! to form the Brisbane Music Trail. For those further down south who aren't blessed enough to live in perpetual sunshine, there's never been a better time to visit Queensland's capital as international music icons Groove Armada will be joined by Aussie stars The Avalanches, Paul Kelly and Cut Copy, along with up-and-comers from across the country. The first Sweet Relief! will take place on Saturday, September 16 at outdoor entertainment venue Maritime Green. Groove Armada and The Avalanches will headline, with performances from Ladyhawke, Cut Copy and DJs Nina Las Vegas, Latifa Tee and YO! MAFIA. Festival-goers can also register to participate in a dress-up contest judged by media personality Osher Günsberg and drag diva Jimi The Kween, which could see them win over $10,000 in prizes, including a four-day getaway to Far North Queensland. From Tuesday, September 5 to Friday, September 8, all eyes will be on BIGSOUND: one of the country's biggest music industry gatherings. For over 20 years, BIGSOUND has launched music careers and brought together a community of tastemakers and industry leaders. Past artists who have been discovered there include Flume, Gang of Youths, Tash Sultana, Ball Park Music and Thelma Plum. This year is no exception, with a lineup that includes rising stars 1tbsp, Izy, POOKIE, FELIVAND, KUZCO and Khi'leb, and attendees from Roc Nation, SXSW, Paramount, CAA and Interscope Records. Brisbane Festival will run from Friday, September 1 to Sunday, September 23 with a packed program of free events, family-friendly experiences, art installations, theatre shows and cultural performances. Musical acts include Paul Kelly, the Soweto Gospel Choir and Gretta Ray. Don't miss the kick-off on Saturday, September 2, as the fireworks spectacular, Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, sets the sky alight above Brisbane River. Get your tickets and find out more at the Queensland Music Trails website.
"Eventually, I've come to realise that there are bad guys," says Julia Louis-Dreyfus (You Hurt My Feelings) as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the just-dropped teaser trailer for Thunderbolts*. "And there are worse guys," she continues, "and nothing else". So goes the setup for one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's next big-screen releases — and it plays with a familiar template. Banding together a disparate group of characters is MCU 101. Teaming up antiheroes to take on worse folks as mandated by the government is also how Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad from DC have played out. The Thunderbolts* version hits cinemas in May 2025 Down Under, also starring Florence Pugh (Dune: Part Two), David Harbour (Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story), Sebastian Stan (Dumb Money), Wyatt Russell (Night Swim), Olga Kurylenko (Paradox Effect) and Hannah John-Kamen (Breaking Point) in their Marvel returns. Pugh is back as Yelena Belova after Black Widow and Hawkeye, while Harbour again plays Red Guardian, Stan returns as Bucky Barnes and his The Falcon and the Winter Soldier co-star Russell is back as John Walker. Kurylenko played Taskmaster in Black Widow, too, while John-Kamen's Ghost was part of Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is a flick with a bit of homework, then, if you're keen to know the ins and outs of every character before they get thrust together in Thunderbolts*'s storyline, becoming a band of misfits and going on missions. The film marks the 36th in the MCU, and will follow fellow 2025 release Captain America: Brave New World into picture palaces. Behind the lens on Thunderbolts*: director Jake Schreier, who has helmed episodes of Beef, Minx, the Russell-starring Lodge 49 and more, plus films Paper Towns and Robot & Frank. Marvel has had a light year on the silver screen in 2024, with just Deadpool & Wolverine releasing. That definitely won't be the case in 2025, however, with not only Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* slated to drop, but also The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Check out the first teaser trailer for Thunderbolts* below: Thunderbolts* releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Images: courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.
Supply Store has been dishing up some of the best streetwear from niche and lesser-known labels since throwing open its doors in 2002. A few years after opening, the brains behind Supply Store decided it was time to upgrade, which lead them to the current location and a second outpost in Melbourne. Championing both global and local brands — visvim, Supreme and PAM, for example — is Supply Store's M.O and the selection online is extensive. But if you prefer to touch and feel the goods before you buy, or are looking for a more curated collection of apparel (read: you want the tough decisions made for you), then heading in-store to the flagship Darlinghurst location is a no-brainer.
Another one down: in a year that keeps bringing bad news for music lovers and festivalgoers, Spilt Milk has joined the long list of events that aren't going ahead in 2024. In 2023, the touring event announced its lineup in July. As the month draws to a close this year, it has revealed that there'll be no Spilt Milk again until 2025 rolls around. The festival advised of its 2024 cancellation via social media, in a brief and informal post on Friday, July 26. "Sorry pookies, we couldn't get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year," the announcement begins. "Sooo imma dip for a bit and come back when I can make all ur dreams come true. i miss u xx," it continues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Spilt Milk (@spiltmilk_au) Last year, Post Malone, Dom Dolla, Latto, Tkay Maidza and Aitch led the Spilt Milk lineup, hitting up a fest that plays Canberra, Gold Coast, Ballarat and Perth. Talent details hadn't yet been advised for this year, unlike two other big festivals that also haven't taken place as normal. Both Groovin the Moo and Splendour in the Grass dropped lineups, then scrapped this year's fests mere weeks later. Australia's music festival scene has been suffering of late, with Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also ditching its plans. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo took a breather this year — and Mona Foma, the summer fest also held by Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, advised that its 2024 event was its last ever. Yours and Owls has postponed its next fest until 2025, too, but is hosting a pre-party in October this year. [caption id="attachment_851187" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] Originally only popping up in Canberra, then expanding to Ballarat, then the Gold Coast and finally also to Perth, multi-city one-dayer Spilt Milk had cemented its spot as a must-attend event on the annual Aussie calendar, including for its lineups — and for its food offering as well, which spanned bites to eat from Chebbo's Burgers, 400 Gradi, Chicken Treat, and the BBQ and Beer Roadshow in 2023. Flume, Stormzy and The Wombats were named as headliners in 2022 — the first Spilt Milk since the pandemic began — although Stormzy subsequently dropped out and cancelled his Australian tour. Khalid and Chvrches topped the bill in 2019, and Childish Gambino did the honours in 2018. [caption id="attachment_851188" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] [caption id="attachment_674160" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cole Bennetts[/caption] [caption id="attachment_674158" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pat Stevenson[/caption] Spilt Milk isn't taking place in 2024, and instead plans to return to Canberra, Ballarat, the Gold Coast and Perth in 2025. Head to the festival website for more information. Top image: Billy Zammit.
There's no putting a happy face on this news: Joker: Folie à Deux has been named one of the worst movies of 2024 by the 45th Golden Raspberry Awards. While the first Joker film earned Joaquin Phoenix (Napoleon) an Oscar, now he's up for Worst Actor instead. Lady Gaga (House of Gucci) is included in the Worst Actress field for her performance as Harleen Quinzel, and the picture's two leads share a nod in the Worst Screen Combo category. The flick also popped up in the Worst Screenplay, Worst Director (for Todd Phillips, War Dogs) and Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel camps. 2025's Razzies, which will announce its winners on Sunday, March 2, 2025 Australian and New Zealand time, weren't fond of comic-book characters making the leap to the screen. Madame Web also collected a heap of nominations — six in total, including for Worst Picture and in three of the acting fields. Cinema's least-coveted gongs didn't have any love for video game-to-film adaptation Borderlands, either, another flick with a big showing, including in the top field. Also up for Worst Picture: Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis and political biopic Reagan. The five-film group covers all of the most-nominated titles for 2025's awards, with Joker: Folie à Deux up for seven, then Madame Web, Borderlands, Megalopolis and Reagan each up for six. From there, although they weren't featured in the Worst Picture field, the Jerry Seinfeld-directed Unfrosted picked up four nods, Kraven the Hunter scored three and the remake of The Crow starring Bill Skarsgård (Nosferatu) nabbed two. Everything from Argylle (for two of its performances) to Mufasa: The Lion King (for Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel) are now Razzie nominees. Among the big-name stars recognised this year, Seinfeld earned two (for Worst Actor and Worst Director), while Jack Black received three (for Worst Actor for Dear Santa, Worst Supporting Actor for Borderlands and for the latter again for Worst Screen Combo — for any two obnoxious characters, but especially Jack Black). Whichever films emerge victorious in March, they'll follow on from 2024's winners, with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey nominated in five categories and winning all five — and Expend4bles collecting two awards. The year before, Morbius, Blonde and Elvis tied for the most accolades with two apiece. Check out the full list of Razzie nominees below: Golden Raspberry Nominees 2025 Worst Picture: Borderlands Joker: Folie à Deux Madame Web Megalopolis Reagan Worst Actor: Jack Black, Dear Santa Zachary Levi, Harold and the Purple Crayon Joaquin Phoenix, Joker: Folie à Deux Dennis Quaid, Reagan Jerry Seinfeld, Unfrosted Worst Actress: Cate Blanchett, Borderlands Lady Gaga, Joker: Folie à Deux Bryce Dallas Howard, Argylle Dakota Johnson, Madame Web Jennifer Lopez, Atlas Worst Supporting Actor: Jack Black, Borderlands Kevin Hart, Borderlands Shia LaBeouf, Megalopolis Tahar Rahim, Madame Web Jon Voight, Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land and Strangers Worst Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, Argylle and Kraven the Hunter Leslie Anne Down, Reagan Emma Roberts, Madame Web Amy Schumer, Unfrosted FKA Twigs, The Crow Worst Screen Combo: Any two obnoxious characters (but especially Jack Black), Borderlands Any two unfunny "comedic actors", Unfrosted The entire cast of Megalopolis Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Joker: Folie à Deux Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller, Reagan Worst Director: SJ Clarkson, Madame Web Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis Todd Phillips, Joker: Folie à Deux Eli Roth, Borderlands Jerry Seinfeld, Unfrosted Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel: The Crow Joker: Folie à Deux Kraven the Hunter Mufasa: The Lion King Rebel Moon 2: The Scargiver Worst Screenplay: Joker: Folie à Deux Kraven the Hunter Madame Web Megalopolis Reagan The Golden Raspberry Awards will be announced on Sunday, March 2, 2025 Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
When one bar closes, hopefully another one opens — and, thankfully, that's proving the case at the former Hazy Rose site on Sydney's iconic Stanley Street. Adding a dash of film noir moodiness to Darlinghurst, The Long Goodbye is the kind of joint even Humphrey Bogart would approve of. Think old-school charm to match the Raymond Chandler novel and subsequent movie it's named after, plus classic cocktails, and live jazz and blues on Thursdays. Old-fashioned service and taking inspiration from old flicks might be in order here, but not everything harks back to years gone by. In a thoroughly modern move, bar manager and owner Flynn McLennan, of Zeta Bar, has brought along an in-house chemist to develop his range of house-made liqueurs. The mixologist has used an ultrasonic machine to create a host of unique flavours, including a duck fat washed apricot brandy, strawberry balsamic shrub and chilli bitters. And to help bring home the DIY feel, you'll find their beverage list hand-typed on a vintage typewriter. Thanks to elaborate homages to the post-World War II era, the new hangout will make you feel like you're in classic noirs from the '40s (when Chandler's big hit The Big Sleep reached screens) through to the '70s (when Robert Altman's movie adaptation of The Long Goodbye made it to cinemas) in no time, lending cocktail-lovers a dark, brooding atmosphere. Candelabras, antique artworks, leather chesterfield lounges and ornate chairs help The Long Goodbye look the part, with McLennan and co-owner Dennis Jen finding the bar's furniture and glassware from local markets and Newtown's Chris On King vintage shop.
Melburnians, you're a mere three hours away from a weekend filled with epicurean adventure in the Victorian High Country. Grab your car keys, because you're going on a road trip out of the dense city and into the wide-open spaces of north-east Victoria — which at this time of year, is tinted a vivid gold as the leaves change colour with the onset of a proper, country autumn. SATURDAY MORNING: BEECHWORTH Your exploration of the High Country starts in the historic town of Beechworth. Grab a country-style breakfast from Beechworth Bakery to set you up for the day, then pick up some of the area's most famous produce from The Honey Shop. After that, it's time to explore the mineral-rich hills around Beechworth, which are home to more than two-dozen vineyards. One-hundred-and-fifty years of wine-growing history in the region have birthed diverse styles, grape varieties and wineries. Visit young guns Vignerons Schmölzer and Brown and Sentio Wines, whose winemakers have worked at prestigious producers both domestically and abroad before striking out on their own to create some of the most exciting drops in the region. Then there's the iconic producers Castagna, who specialise in biodynamically grown fruit, and Sorrenberg, whose iconic Gamay sells out in record speeds every year (their Chardonnay is also worth picking up). Most of the wineries and cellar doors in Beechworth are by appointment only, so book a tour through Beechworth Barrel Tours, who will liaise with your chosen wineries and create a custom itinerary for your morning adventure in wine country. Autumn is a great time to visit, as it is post-vintage when the winery is a little quieter, giving guests the opportunity to taste the wines that are currently fermenting in oak and out of tank. AFTERNOON: BEECHWORTH TO RUTHERGLEN The short half-hour drive between Beechworth and Rutherglen is the perfect opportunity to check out some of the local haunts of the winemakers in the region. Tessa Brown (from Vigneron Schmölzer and Brown) is a fan of Provenance in Beechworth. Built in 1856 (during the height of the gold rush era) this two-hatted restaurant creates contemporary food from quality regional produce with a focus on seasonal awareness. If you want to drive straight through to Rutherglen, your first stop needs to be All Saints Winery and Terrace Restaurant to have one of the best-value meals from a one-hatted restaurant (three courses with matching wines from their estate for only $110 per person). For those wanting something a little more relaxed (and to take advantage of those last warm rays of autumn sunshine), stop in at Campbells Wines. Pick up an iconic Rutherglen fortified wine, along with a locally sourced vineyard platter (featuring cheeses, antipasto and terrines) to feast on at one of the great picnic spots on the banks of Lake Moodemere. For late-afternoon tipples, check out local winemaker Simon Killeen's (from Simao and Co) favourite wine bar, Thousand Pound, for the best wines the region has to offer (plus some classics from further afield). RUTHERGLEN But where to rest your head after a full day of vinous activities? Rutherglen offers you the best of both worlds. Grapevine Glamping at Cofield Estate allows you to stay in the midst of a real working winery and vineyard while enjoying all the comforts of home. The king-size-bed canvas bell tent (complete with split system heating and cooling) comes with wine and the option to cook your own meal in the fully equipped camp kitchen or order up a vineyard platter to feast on while you enjoy the fire pit just outside your tent. For those who like their accommodation with a side of luxury and history, Mount Ophir boasts 360-degree views of Rutherglen, including the Murray River Basin and the Victorian Alps to the east from its incredible 'tower room'. Here you stay over three floors in a French provincial-styled tower, with a spiral staircase that leads to the private sitting room on the second floor and a luxurious bedroom suite and marble bathroom on the top floor. SUNDAY MORNING: MILAWA Here is your chance to work off all the food from Saturday's gluttony. Cycle through the autumnal foliage and pass cellar doors and farms on the Milawa Gourmet Ride (the morning hours of autumn are the perfect time of year to cycle around, as it's not too hot). Hire a bike in town or borrow one from Brown Brothers Winery and stop in at their fantastic cellar door for a morning coffee and a couple of bottles of their Patricia sparkling wine to go. Grab yourself a map and take the leisurely 10-kilometre ride through the region, stopping in to see as many cellar doors, farm gates and gourmet food stores as you like before ending up at self-confessed cycling addict Sam Miranda's joint, the Sam Miranda Winery at Oxley. AFTERNOON: KING VALLEY AND PROSECCO ROAD Complete your journey along the King Valley's 'Prosecco Road' after Brown Brothers and Sam Miranda in the morning with an afternoon visit to Pizzini Wines. The Pizzini family are passionate about family, friends, food and wine. Their vineyards are a mosaic of Italian varietals (like Prosecco, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese), all of which can be enjoyed in their cellar door. You can even try your hand at making some traditional Italian dishes to accompany the wine at Katrina Pizzini's A Tavola cooking school. Then head to Chrismont for inspiring architecture, more Prosecco and an Italian long lunch on the terrace. EVENING: KING VALLEY Stay the night on the homestead where Australia's prosecco vines were first planted (and your last stop on the Prosecco Road), Dal Zotto Cellar Door and Accommodation. Immerse yourself in all things Prosecco by taking part in their 'pick your own Prosecco' adventures. During autumn is when you can witness the drying of the Prosecco grapes to be made into Otto Dal Zotto's 'natural' Prosecco (or 'Col Fondo' style, as they call it). Taste your way through their five different styles of Prosecco at the cellar door before picking your favourite to take back to your accommodation for a nightcap with house-made antipasto and charcuterie. Autumn scenery and produce won't last — to plan your full itinerary in the High Country and explore more of regional Victoria this season, visit the Wander Victoria website.
Complaining that you don't have anything to watch is impossible in the streaming age. Spending too much time trying to pick something because you're spoiled for choice? That's the current dilemma. With every new online platform, your viewing options expand — especially when Pluto TV has finally hit Australia with more than 50 streaming channels. Up and running in the US for almost a decade, this streaming service is completely free to watch — and, after announcing that it was heading our way, it launched Down Under in late August. To view Pluto TV, all you need to do is head to Network Ten's 10 Play platform, with its new channels built into the existing platform. (Just make sure that you've updated your 10 Play app to access it.) The catch: Pluto TV is a FAST service, aka free ad-supported streaming television. So, just like in the days before anyone had even dreamed up Netflix and the like, or pay TV, you won't pay a cent to watch; however, you will have to see commercials. As well as the cost — or lack thereof — Pluto TV's big drawcard is delivering its smorgasbord of content via channels, rather than just having audiences scroll through hundreds or thousands of shows and movies to decide what to watch. Basically, it replicates the linear TV experience on free-to-air, but via streaming. You'll still need to do some choosing, though, given that there's a lengthy roster of themed channels to pick from. Fancy only viewing South Park? I Love Lucy? Happy Days? Dynasty? MTV's reality shows? Nickelodeon classics? They all now have their own channels. Nickelodeon and MTV fans, you're particularly well-served. If you're keen on the former, you've got six channels to flick between: Nick Classics, Nick Jr, Nick Movies, Nick Rewind, NickTeen and NickToons. For the latter, there's eight: MTV Biggest Pop, MTV Dating, MTV Drama, MTV Entertainment, MTV Love, MTV Reality, MTV Retro and MTV The Shores. Accordingly, tuning into Pluto TV can mean watching non-stop Daria, Pimp My Ride, Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Two of the MTV channels — MTV Biggest Pop and MTV Love — are also filled with music videos. Prefer Baywatch all day? The OG Beverly Hills 90210? Getting eerie with The Twilight Zone? There's now a dedicated channel for all of them as well. The list also includes The Brady Bunch, Hawaii Five-O, Merlin, Becker, Matlock, Mission: Impossible (the TV show, not the movies), The Drew Barrymore Show, The Graham Norton Show, America's Next Top Model, Survivor and Survivor US, MasterChef, and classic The Bold & The Beautiful episodes. Also, Moviesphere is your destination for flicks, Haunt TV is on hand for scares, True Stories serves up exactly that, and both Nature Time and Xtreme Adventure are as self-explanatory as they sound. Already up in running in more than 35 markets before it arrived in Australia, Pluto TV draws from the Los Angeles-based company's partnerships with 400-plus international media outfits. This is clearly a great time to be fond of Nickelodeon in particular — Network Ten also recently added a free-to-air channel devoted to the brand, the first in Australia outside of pay TV, separate to Pluto TV's online options. Pluto TV's channels are now available to stream in Australia via 10 Play.
Brookvale locals have a new early morning go-to thanks to Barrel One Coffee Roasters, which has just opened a cafe inside its six-year-old roasting warehouse. The New York-style cafe is open from 6am Monday through Friday and 7am on Saturdays, making it ideal for commuters and all-around early risers. For the fit-out, founder Daniel Agapiou was inspired by a recent trip to Brooklyn. The result is a sleek design that highlights the warehouse feel with a polished concrete bar and floors, bare timber high tables and a letter board menu, all accented by lush greenery and a hanging plant garden. Barrel One is all about ethically sourced coffee — supporting farmer co-ops and trading with independent producers — so you know you're getting a (morally) good cuppa here, available in both single origin and blends. Non-coffee options range from organic sodas and fresh pressed juices ($6 each) to coconut hot chocolates and turmeric almond milk lattes ($4.7 each) Apart from the drinks, the succinct food menu is New York diner-themed and includes two types of grilled cheese toasties stuffed with produce from Melbourne's Maker and Monger ($12-13) — choose from swiss, gruyere, smoked ham and mustard or cheddar, jalapeño, roasted capsicum and cornichons varieties. Other specialties include the smoked reuben by Manly's Pastrami Kings ($14); avocado on rye with pastrami or smoked trout ($12 each); and bagels and schmear by Brooklyn Boy Bagels ($8–$12), with cashew cheese also up for grabs. It's simple comfort food at it's finest.
If you're scouting for a tranquil spot to enjoy a relaxing coffee, Jezve Coffee in Lyne Park is the perfect escape. Embracing Rose Bay's vibrant waterside culture, the cafe showcases exquisite harbour views, surrounded by the serenity of Lyne Park and the bay. [caption id="attachment_779895" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yaya Stempler[/caption] Having opened in 2016, the cafe is the place to come for an authentic Turkish coffee experience — a tradition that dates back to the 15th century. Grab your coffee or a fresh juice to go and take a walk along the water, or settle in at one of the outdoor tables for a lazy breakfast. Here, typical cafe favourites are given a Turkish twist, so you can enjoy smashed avo topped with sumac, dukkah and pomegranate dressing or poached eggs with garlic yoghurt, baby spinach, sujuk and chilli butter. Images: Yaya Stempler
Dark Mofo is back for another devilish year where truly anything can happen. The annual winter festival is one week in for 2023, and it has already served up a slate of highlights delighting the senses of festivalgoers and local Hobart residents. Whether you were on the hunt for packed dance floors into the early hours of the morning, unbeatably fresh feeds around a firepit or hedonistic masquerade balls, there's been no shortage of sinister activations so far to prove why the festival is such a must-attend event — and, if you haven't made it along yet, to show why it should be at top of your hit list. As the fest's second week kicks off with even more debauchery — including A Divine Comedy, an Australian premiere and an Aussie exclusive that reimagines Dante's classic examination of hell, purgatory and paradise; Soda Jerk's Hello Dankness, which compiles samples into a 70-minute survey of American politics circa 2016–21; and performances from Molchat Doma, HEALTH, RVG and Moktar — here's a look at seven standouts from the first week of Dark Mofo 2023. [caption id="attachment_905439" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rosie Hastie[/caption] THE BLUE ROSE BALL BROUGHT TOGETHER CHILDLIKE JOY AND LYNCHIAN CHAOS Hidden among the haunting grounds of Dark Park at the base of Ryoji Ikeda's awe-inspiring light beam Spectra, The Blue Rose Ball unofficially opened Dark Mofo 2023's festivities the night before things well and truly got underway. A mysterious masquerade ball with nods to David Lynch and his television classic Twin Peaks, the event seamlessly paired debauchery with unbridled glee. Dressed to the nines and faces covered, guests were met with a hedonistic ballroom encouraging them to indulge in their every desire. While wandering around the ball, attendees discovered eerie dancing teddy bears; tables piled high with lollies, cheese and charcuterie; a fairy floss machine; hidden rooms with NSFW performances; a brief interlude from a fully functional soft serve van; and a central stage with surprise sets from artists like The Huxleys — plus an open bar, of course. [caption id="attachment_905440" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Remi Chauvin[/caption] THE GATHERING KICKED THINGS OFF — AND BARKAA WAS IMMENSE After The Blue Rose Ball acted as a curtain-raiser, the ribbon was officially cut with The Gathering, a celebration of First Nations artists featuring Tasman Keith, dameeeela, Denni, Uncle Dougie Mansell and Madelena. While the night was a hit from start to finish, BARKAA brought the house down with a headlining performance that cements her as one of the nation's best and most important live performers. The dynamic set was a certified rollercoaster of emotions, seamlessly switching from heartwrenching explorations of pain to moments of love, joy and laughter — sometimes within the same song. The power of BARKAA's performances comes from her willingness not to shy away from making non-Indigenous audience members uncomfortable while celebrating the strength of the First Nations community, before bringing everyone back together to dance, sing and have an all-around great time. When she brought out her friend and collaborator Dobby to perform their 2020 track 'I Can't Breathe' together, the audience was already in the palm of BARKAA's hand. It was a momentous performance that set the tone for the next 14 days. [caption id="attachment_905437" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford[/caption] THE FESTIVAL'S INTERNATIONAL ACTS DELIVERED THE GOODS While many people head down to Dark Mofo to immerse themselves in the wonders of Hobart as the chaos descends, the event also pulls some impressive big-name acts to headline the festivities. Week one of the 2023 fest saw Thundercat take to the stage to perform winding ten-plus-minute versions of his tracks, inserting long jam sessions into fan favourites like 'Them Changes' and 'Dragonball Durag'. Earlier that same night, Sleaford Mods provided a you-had-to-be-there kind of moment. The group's producer Andrew Fearn pressed play on his laptop and bobbed about, while vocalist Jason Williamson shouted tales of working-class England accompanied by erratically dance moves — all of which whipped the crowd into a euphoric frenzy. Punk legends Black Flag were in town for an Australian exclusive set and rolled out the classics, running through the band's influential catalogue of 80s and 00s heavy hitters. Max Ritcher popped up for two sombre orchestral performances of his piece VOICES, which was broadcast live across the entire city during Saturday night's performance, soundtracking people's journeys between that night's festivities. And despite bringing in a much-younger audience than the other global acts, "next big thing" singer-songwriter Ethel Cain felt squarely at home on the Dark Mofo lineup, blending dark religious imagery with her tales of small-town America — the anthemic choruses gliding over the screams of her rabid cult-like fanbase. All of this proved a Dark Mofo wonder without a mention of the likes of Squarepusher, Witch, Eartheater and Drab Majesty, who also peformed over the first week. [caption id="attachment_905450" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rosie Hastie[/caption] TRANCE PROVIDED A WILD, UNIQUE AND FULLY IMMERSIVE UNIVERSE FOR 36 HOURS Berlin-based Chinese artist Tianzhuo Chen's TRANCE offered Dark Mofo attendees the opportunity to drop in and out of an all-encompassing performance space for 36 hours across three days. Depending on when you arrived and how much time you spent in MAC2, you might've had a vastly different experience to someone else. Some audience members may have discovered a full-on rave with bass-heavy techno and screamed vocals, while others would have stumbled upon a delicate moment of dance and ambient music. A grand heavy-metal set, an intimate communal dinner, a hip hop dance circle, noisy experimental R&B, a downpouring of rain: they all featured throughout each of the three 12-hour performances, which were set in an otherworldy space filled with colourful larger-than-life characters and dream-like set designs. After wowing audiences in Asia and Europe, TRANCE found itself in the sleepy town of Hobart but couldn't have felt more right at Dark Mofo, asking attendees with an open mind and an affinity for the strange to let themselves be transported into Chen's one-of-a-kind world. [caption id="attachment_905441" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford[/caption] NIGHT MASS TOOK OVER AN ENTIRE HOBART BLOCK, CREATING A DEBAUCHEROUS ARTS PRECINCT Spread across four nights over the two weeks of Dark Mofo, this year's Night Mass has taken over an entire block of downtown Hobart, filling every stage, street, alleyway, bar and theatre with music and art between 10pm–4am. The festival's centrepieces, these debaucherous six-hour parties encourage you to wander through the different spaces and stumble upon something that you've never experienced before. On entry, there's a set of burning cars manned by performance artists that look straight out of Mad Max. Wander around the corner to discover a three-storey-tall teddy bear standing over a stage serving up deep electronic tunes and uplifting ballads of friendship (you can even livestream footage from a camera in the bear's face throughout the festival). Journey across the dozens of performance spaces at Night Mass and you'll find dimly lit dens, seated shows, multi-storey house parties, DJs perched on fire escapes and heaving dance floors. There's really not much else like it. [caption id="attachment_905434" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford[/caption] THE WINTER FEAST PUT ALL OF AUSTRALIA'S OTHER FOOD FESTIVALS ON NOTICE Always a highlight of Dark Mofo, the Winter Feast once again served up a showcase of the best Tasmanian food and drink. From Bruny Island oysters, top-notch local wines, truffle-topped pizza and winter warmers like mulled negronis to the headlining collaborative kitchen between Chef's Table alum Ana Roš and The Agrarian Kitchen, this culinary night market shows up its interstate rivals with the most diverse and produce-focused array of stalls of any Australian food festival. Adding to the ambience is the hall's famous cross-filled ceiling, firepits to congregate around and a constant lineup of musicians to soundtrack your meals. There were even some surprise sets from musicians on the festival lineup, with Ugandan Afrofuturist-punk collective Fulu Miziki popping up to close out the festivities with a late-night Sunday-night set that had everyone hitting the dance floor with squid on a stick and a local Moo Brew in hand. [caption id="attachment_905438" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rosie Hastie[/caption] HOBART SHOWED WHY IT IS AUSTRALIA'S MOST UNDERRATED CITY While Dark Mofo served up plenty of standouts and surprises, the backdrop for the entire festival is the beauty of Hobart. MONA remains one of the country's best galleries, serving up weird, wonderful and thought-provoking art in its stunning subterranean space; the city's pubs, bars and restaurants remain top-tier for anyone looking for quality seafood, beers, wines, whisky and produce-driven meals; and the surrounding harbour and mountains make for a spectacular backdrop for your adventures around town. In winter, just be sure to pack plenty of warm clothes. Dark Mofo 2023 runs from Thursday, June 8–Thursday, June 22 in Hobart, Tasmania. Still looking for Dark Mofo inspiration? Check out our wholesome-to-hedonistic guide, which'll help you stack your festival itinerary based on the level of chaos you're after — and our last-minute picks, too. Top image: Jesse Hunniford. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
If a comet was hurtling towards earth on a collision course that'd wipe out all life as we currently know it, you'd think that humanity would react — and fast. But in the trailer for Netflix's new disaster comedy Don't Look Up, only two people really care: astronomy professor Dr Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and his grad student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence, X-Men: Dark Phoenix). To everyone else, the impending end of the world isn't really something to worry about. The President (Meryl Streep, The Prom) and her son and Chief of Staff (Jonah Hill, The Beach Bum) barely seem to mind, the media definitely doesn't, and neither does the general public. Instead, Kate goes viral for screaming about the apocalypse as she and Randall embark on a media tour to try to convince the planet that being obliterated — in less than six months, and by a Mount Everest-sized comet that's orbiting our solar system — really is kind of a big deal. Forget Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck endeavouring to save the world from an asteroid, because that's so 1998. The former "king of the world" and Katniss Everdeen teaming up to stop a comet from eradicating earth is the firmly 2021 version. And, after first being announced at the beginning of the year — as part of Netflix's lengthy list of new flicks heading its way before 2022 hits — and then dropping a teaser trailer back in September, Don't Look Up now has a full trailer so you can catch a glimpse of how that'll all play out. The film thankfully isn't a sequel to the aforementioned Armageddon. Instead, it's the latest movie from The Big Short and Vice director Adam McKay — and it's set to hit both cinemas and the streaming platform in December. As well as its two high-profile leads, Don't Look Up also stars basically every other actor you can think of, including Timothée Chalamet (Little Women), Cate Blanchett (Where'd You Go, Bernadette), Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Tyler Perry (Those Who Wish Me Dead), Ron Perlman (Monster Hunter), Himesh Patel (Tenet), Melanie Lynskey (Mrs America), Kid Cudi (Bill & Ted Face the Music) and Ariana Grande. The film will hit Netflix just in time for your Christmas break, dropping on Friday, December 24. It'll also screen in some cinemas from Thursday, December 9, if you'd like to see it on the big screen. And if you're wondering how Don't Look Up will fare tonally, McKay looks like he's in The Big Short and Succession mode, rather than harking back to his Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers days. That said, Blanchett does play a TV host, so maybe the filmmaker will have audiences thinking about Anchorman as well. Check out the full trailer for Don't Look Up below: Don't Look Up will be release in select Australian cinemas on Thursday, December 9, and will be available to stream via Netflix on Friday, December 24. Images: Nico Tavernise/Netflix.
We all know how boring wet weather is. Now, two women have developed a way to cure that boredom with an umbrella that makes 8-bit sounds when it is hit by rain. Alice Zappe and Julia Läger used 12 sensors, 2 speakers and an Arduino minicontroller to enable their umbrella to create sounds. The intensity of the rain changes the sound, surely making for an interesting compilation in a torrential downpour. Although the umbrella doesn't produce actual songs it could easily be modified to play pre-recorded tunes. It's a bit of fun while you are walking in the rain and will most definitely put some smiles on otherwise glum faces in the rainy street.
Across his two-decade filmmaking career, Bong Joon-ho has explored Korea's first serial murders, grappled with a creature feature, sunk his teeth into a twisted maternal tale, stranded the last remnants of humanity on a train, and followed the exploits of a young girl and her superpig. Now, the applauded South Korean director can add a prestigious and historic accolade to his resume — not only taking out this year's Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his latest movie, Parasite, but becoming the first Korean filmmaker to win the coveted gong in the fest's 72-year run. Bong's seventh feature after Barking Dogs Never Bite, Memories of Murder, The Host, Mother, Snowpiercer and Okja, Parasite follows a family of four that is struggling through rough times. Led by his regular star Song Kang-ho (The Host, Snowpiercer), they're all unemployed; however, that situation might just be about to change. Son Ki-woo has been offered a lucrative tutoring gig and, although he doesn't have the required university degree for it, his sister Ki-jung is quite the forger. Once he has his foot in the door, he discovers that his wealthy new employers might be the solution to his family's money woes in more ways than one. As well as widespread acclaim, the film has been earning comparisons to last year's Palme d'Or winner, Shoplifters — but darker, more mysterious and twisty and with a tense and satirical edge. In other words, it sounds like classic Bong. That said, if his diverse resume has proven anything — other than his supreme talents behind the lens — it's that he never makes the same movie twice. Parasite's win comes after his previous movie, Okja, was part of Cannes' Netflix controversy — after Okja screened in competition in 2017 just over a month before landing on the streaming platform (and alongside other Netflix titles), the famous French film festival announced that it would no longer screen the company's movies from 2018 onwards. Other Cannes 2019 award winners include Mati Diop's Atlantics, which took out the Grand Prix and also made history as the first feature by a black female filmmaker in the festival's competition; Young Ahmed, which nabbed Two Days, One Night filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne the best director prize; and Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which took out the best screenplay gong. Antonio Banderas won best actor for Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory, British talent Emily Beecham won best actress for Little Joe, and the movie that everyone was talking about — Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — went home empty-handed. If you're wondering when you can see Parasite, it'll have its Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16. Expect it to pop up at other local festivals as well, with a general Australian release planned for a yet-to-be-confirmed date later this year. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_0KJAzyUJc Parasite screens at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16, with a general Australian release slated for a yet-to-be-confirmed date later this year.
Hitting the indoor mini-golf course for a few holes of pop culture-themed fun and a few rounds of delightfully named beverages isn't just something capital city kids should enjoy. Holey Moley Golf Club has officially landed in Wollongong. Crown Street is now home to 18 holes of club-swinging antics. The bar is known for its creativity when it comes to creating courses, and this venue is no exception. Wollongong locals can tap, tap, tap their way through rooms dedicated to The Simpsons and Game of Thrones. Plus, everyone will be able to break out into song at the same time, with karaoke part of the antics. If you choose to work your way through the Happy Gilmore soundtrack, no one will stop you (at least not any of the staff). Images: Tom Wilkinson.
"I find that it takes a while for people to return to themselves after the film." For anyone who's seen The Stranger, writer/director Thomas M Wright's observations might sound like an understatement. For those who haven't yet watched the actor-turned-filmmaker's second feature behind the lens, after 2018's Adam Cullen biopic Acute Misfortune, it may come across the same way. In Australia in particular, the fact that the Joel Edgerton- (Thirteen Lives) and Sean Harris (Spencer)-starring crime-thriller is based on the 2003 abduction and murder of Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe has garnered attention. The Stranger takes its cues from that monstrous real-life case, adapting Kate Kyriacou's non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer; however, it doesn't recreate the crime. It also doesn't depict the victim, or refer to him by name. Everyone has been fictionalised, and there's no violence in the film. Instead, it tracks the enormous police effort to capture a culprit using a criminal gang as a ruse, in what's known as the 'Mr Big' technique. Edgerton plays the incognito cop tasked with befriending the suspect, while Harris is relentlessly perturbing in the latter part. It was Edgerton, also The Stranger's producer, who optioned Kyriacou's text, saw Acute Misfortune and proposed the feature to Wright. The director was initially reluctant, but sticking to the above stipulations was the only way that he could approach the picture, and was willing to. "Those decisions about a complete unwillingness to represent any violence, to represent the victim, to represent those that cared for them — and to centre the film on a fictionalised version of a police operation like the one used in that particular case — those aren't thin acknowledgements," Wright explains. "They're deeply layered considerations that've been placed at the centre of the entire film." In every second, The Stranger feels as carefully and meticulously constructed as Wright's framework suggests — and, by design, dictates. It also feels not just tense but tough, as it should given the story it's interrogating. Debuting at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, the feature received a seven-minute standing ovation. Now, it plays Aussie cinemas from October 6 before reaching audiences globally via Netflix on October 19. "It's an undeniably different experience," Wright notes of watching The Stranger at home versus on the big screen. "It's an intensely discomforting and very powerful film to invite into your home. For the two hours that the film lasts, I think it will take people into a completely different mindset, into a different psychological realm," he continues, while chatting us through making a movie that's both unshakeably potent and personal. ON WORKING OUT THE BEST APPROACH TO A HORRIFIC REAL-LIFE CASE "Kate Kyriacou's book The Sting, which Joel had optioned, is a non-fiction work of investigative journalism about that specific case. It goes into personal details about the victim, those affected, the other suspects — and I felt that I had no right to represent the victim, that any attempt to represent them would only diminish them and all of their infinite possibilities, and that I couldn't presume to know anything about what that family and those who cared for him went through. So early on, the initial terms for me were: there'll be no representation of the victim of any sort, there'll be no representation of the people who cared for them, there'll be no violence whatsoever in this film. There's an unconscionable way of making this film. There's a morally unforgivable way of making this film. It would not be difficult to create tension in a film about the physical vulnerability of a child, and I wasn't interested to use that space, which is sacred to those real people, for the ease of making a film. So I began to think about these strangers, and that stranger of the title could refer to the perpetrator and that archetypal fear of the stranger in our society — but actually we are a society of strangers. It could also refer to the victim, to their family. Or, to that central figure and all those undercover operatives in the film whose real names we never learn. Or, to all those nameless people, the detectives and searchers at the end of the film who provide resolution for those strangers for them, that family and the victims who've they've never met. It clearly became to me this idea of connection as a society, and of empathy, as the gravity that is going to bind film together. At the time that I was writing it, I live in the inner north in Melbourne, it's where I grew up, it's where my family lives, and there were a whole series of murders of women by strangers, by people they've never met. And it shook the entire foundation of the society — and every state and territory has their own version of these cases that totally shift our perception of safety and of the social contract. They make it feel like a lie or something weak, and it had such an effect on the community down there. It was an outpouring of empathy. And these are just the cases also that have created headlines and achieved large police commitments, and where there has been public recognition. There are so many people out there, and so many crimes that take place, where there is none of that. We still have a woman a week dying of incidences of domestic violence in Australia, and many of those victims go unacknowledged. Of course, I'm not setting out to make a public service announcement in this film, but there are individuals who have to be the first person there, and who give years of their lives, and their mental and physical health, to trying to resolve those incidences of violence." ON FINDING PERSONAL REASONS TO MAKE THE FILM "When we began work on the film, I told everybody that I worked with that I wanted them to find their own reason for making this film — and I wanted them to find a personal reason to make this film. I do think it was a very personal film for all of us who worked on it. Joel said the other day that it was the quietest set he has ever worked on. It was a very tense set because of the seriousness of the material that we're dealing with, and the moral responsibility we felt, and the focus it required of us. For me, it absorbed every waking and dreaming moment of my life for three years, and I felt a tremendous moral responsibility to get it right and make something that we could all stand behind — and that didn't let any of my collaborators down. I'm not talking about the Academy Award-winning producers. I'm talking about the sound recordist and production designer and assistant editors, and everyone with whom you make a film. And also because of the presence my son in the film, because I wrote it for my son to portray Joel's son in the film. In the process of filming, Joel found out that he was going to be a father. That made it intensely personal and emotional for him also, and I watched it change him and shift his entire being. Both Joel and Sean were transformed by the process of making this film. Sean's wife actually saw the film after we'd finished and said that there was nothing of him left in that character, that he was completely absent. She didn't recognise him, and I think she found that really overwhelming and very powerful. I can attest to that as the person that was there beside them the entire time — this was a tense, difficult film to make that just took those central cast, and I include here Jada Alberts in particular, into a place where they really weren't their selves anymore." ON MAKING THE FILM PERSONAL FOR AUDIENCES "Cinema has always been a collective experience, and when films really work, we're simultaneously aware that they're a shared experience but they're also deeply personal. This film, for people who respond to it — obviously not for everybody — gets itself into a very personal place. I think it does that by making itself physical and physically felt. That's why breath was such a key part of the film to me. I wanted to begin with something that made an audience active, even in the most subtle, underlying way, because every part of the film asks that the audience be active in that physical, subjective experience of what Mark [Joel Edgerton's character] is going through. You're trying to tune people to the frequency of the film, to the psyche of the people working on this kind of case. There's a hyper-alertness. It's a film partly about trauma more generally — a film about the fact that those of us who reach adulthood, we come into the world and at some point in time we become aware of the darkness and the unknowable things within it. We have to find a way to be able to reconcile that and continue to move forward and find meaning, because the thing about violence is that it threatens to strip things of their meaning. It renders things meaningless. So you're dealing with a hyper-alert psychology. It's certainly something that we were actively trying to encourage in the audience. When you set out to make a film, you are trying to show people something they haven't seen before, to get them to feel something they haven't seen before — and, to relate to the film in a different way while understanding it's part of an impossibly deep lineage of stories, and these kinds of modalities of storytelling that are well-established now in cinema." ON AUSTRALIA'S OBSESSION WITH CRIME STORIES — AND STANDING OUT "Even though the film is part of a strong lineage of Australian crime cinema, I just think it sits outside a lot of that work in its intentions. A lot of these kind of films are more realist depictions of people, and head toward a kind of final emphatic act of violence, which often takes place off-screen. That's certainly the case in Snowtown. It's the case in Nitram. It's the case in a film like The Boys. Even though the reason for The Stranger is violence, it's not its subject… It begins in the aftermath of that violence. It's an attempt to make meaning and to reconcile the after-effects of violence on individuals and by extension on society. I think there's a reason that that this genre and these ideas are so prevalent in Australian thinking. It's certainly not limited to Australian film. When you look at our most prominent authors — Richard Flanagan, Chloe Hooper, Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Patrick White — this is a subject that has been grappled with. And in our visual art, and in our music. We return to it over and over again. I think that has to do with an unreconciled relationship to violence in this country, a landscape that has been marked by violence, and that we know that. We can intuit it, but for the main, we don't have a way to unpack that — and it remains there, unresolved." The Stranger releases in Australian cinemas on October 6, then streams via Netflix from October 19. Read our full review.
In great news for your wanderlust, flight sales aren't rare. Still, a round of discounted flights that starts at $26 isn't an everyday occurrence. The reason for the super-cheap fares: Jetstar is hosting its latest member-only sale. If you're a Club Jetstar member — already or if you now sign up — you've got two days to nab a bargain. Pack your suitcases for getaways to the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Tasmania, Byron Bay and more, with flights to and from all of the above from some Australian cities coming in at the $26 price. That cost will get you from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, Melbourne to the Gold Coast, Brisbane to Hobart, Melbourne to Launceston, Melbourne to Ballina/Byron Bay, Melbourne to Adelaide and Sydney to Brisbane, or vice versa, all one-way and without checked baggage. [caption id="attachment_976496" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Darren Tierney[/caption] Other fares include Sydney to Hervey Bay from $39, Brisbane to the Whitsunday Coast from $49 and Melbourne to Uluru from $79. Or, there's flights from Perth to Adelaide from $119, Sydney to Margaret River from $129 and Darwin to Sydney from $149. The sale kicks off at 9am AEDT on Monday, October 21, running through until 11.59pm AEST on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 — or until sold out, if snapped up earlier. Accordingly, if you're keen for a holiday at reduced prices, you'll want to get in quick. In total, 26,000 discounted flights are on offer. Travel periods vary, with late-July–early-September 2025 among them. Again, you'll pay extra for checked baggage if you need it, or you'll want to travel super light. Club Jetstar membership costs $65 a year, which you can join online while making a flight booking, and also gives you 20-percent off checked bags and seat selection. [caption id="attachment_928567" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tasmania, Luke Tscharke[/caption] The Club Jetstar member-only sale runs from 9am AEDT on Monday, October 21–11.59pm AEST on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 — or until sold out, if snapped up earlier. Top image: Jesse Shaw Photography. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Looking for an excuse to start making holiday plans? A massive flight sale with one million discounted fares on offer will do the trick. For a week, Qantas is slinging cheap tickets across its domestic network, spanning 60-plus routes — and prices start at under $150 one-way on more than 30 of them. Getaway dates vary, but winter is the ideal time to make a booking for one inescapable reason: when we're all spending more time rugged up indoors to escape the chillier weather, who isn't dreaming of their next break away from their own four walls? The sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Sunday, June 30, 2024, but the usual caveat applies: you'll want to get in quickly to nab a bargain (and, as always, if fares sell out earlier, you'll miss out). Whether you're a Sydneysider thinking about a Gold Coast jaunt, a Melburnian keen to finally hit or return to Tasmania or a Brisbanite eager to make a date with The Whitsundays, you have options. Indeed, you can get from Sydney to the Gold Coast for $109, Brisbane to the Whitsunday Coast from $129 and Melbourne to Hobart from $149. Other routes and fares include Adelaide to Melbourne from $139, Launceston to the Gold Coast from $199, Sydney to Cairns for the same price, and Sydney to Perth for $339. Business class flights are on sale as well, if your budget can stretch that far. Trips to and from Ballina, Newcastle, Mildura, Albury, Coffs Harbour, Kangaroo Island, Townsville, Tamworth, Rockhampton, Port Macquarie, Alice Springs, Uluru and Darwin are also on the sale list. Inclusions-wise, the sale covers fares with checked baggage, complimentary food and beverages, wifi and seat selection. Qantas' one million seat sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Sunday, June 30, 2024, or until sold out. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
If you're the kind of person who picks their getaway spots based on great travel prices, then we come bearing important news: you're going to Australia's Red Centre. That's a worthy holiday destination regardless of whether or not you can nab a deal, but Webjet's current flight sale is likely to get you packing your bags ASAP. Until 11.59pm AEST on Thursday, August 18, the travel site is slinging one-way flights to the Northern Territory from just $15 one-way — at a discount of up to $200 off in total on some fares. Of course, that first figure is just the starting point, so you mightn't score such a cheap flight depending on which day you're planning to travel, but there are still some mighty cheap prices available. The sale covers trips to Uluru and Alice Springs, for travel between September 2022 — yes, next month — through to March 2023. Fancy a spring jaunt to the middle of the country? Making summer plans to help cope with the last of the winter chill? Know that you'll be craving an early-autumn break next year? They're all options. One key caveat: the discounted prices are available for inbound flights only, so you won't receive the same discount to come home. [caption id="attachment_773731" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NT by Tourism Australia[/caption] As always, the prices vary depending on where you're leaving from, too — but, at the time of writing, $16 tickets from Sydney to Uluru, $15 from Melbourne and $17 from Brisbane are available on select dates. A variety of airlines are covered, too. Wondering what to do once you get there? Uluru's incredible Field of Light installation is a permanent recommendation — and you can also check out our guide to visiting the Red Centre. [caption id="attachment_773730" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Field of Light by Tourism Australia[/caption] Webjet's Red Centre sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Thursday, August 18.
Two words immediately spring to mind while taking a detour through Learning to Drive: modest pleasures. They’re what the film's characters seek, whether they're sitting behind the wheel or walking along the footpath. They’re what the amiable, affectionate and earnest movie does as well. A later-in-life attempt to hit the road gets the feature gently motoring along, with Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) the initially unlicensed party in question. The Manhattan-dwelling literary critic hadn’t previously had a reason to join the commuting masses; however, separating from her adulterous husband (Jake Weber) and seeking to visit her college-age daughter (Grace Gummer) inspires her to reassess her priorities — you're never too late to try something new, and all that. Enter the kindly Darwan (Ben Kingsley), an Indian Sikh working as both a taxi driver and a driving instructor. He has his own personal problems, including his desire for matrimonial happiness with his arranged bride (Sarita Choudhury), as well his efforts to avoid the prejudice that follows his every move. Of course, he's also the wise teacher Wendy needs, even if she doesn't yet know it. That this odd couple will cross paths isn’t a surprise in this introspective effort, nor is the friendship that reluctantly but eventually springs. Wendy and Darwan find commonality despite their differences, learn some obvious life lessons from each other and gain an appreciation of the little things that make their days worth enduring. In fact, everything about Learning to Drive screams standard — and yet it's warm, sweet but never too saccharine too. Director Isabel Coixet, who has worked with both her leads before on the 2008 film Elegy, enjoys spending time in predictable yet thoughtful territory while contemplating well-fleshed-out characters. There's a reason she has enlisted Clarkson and Kingsley again for this task, as based on an autobiographical New Yorker article by essayist Katha Pollitt. As often proves the case in most things either pops up in (witness this year's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Self/Less, for example), they're a pleasure to watch. The former is gifted a role with more shades of complexity than the latter, but both offer rounded portrayals that span well beyond their alternatingly tentative and playful banter. Though plenty of their dialogue serves up road references that cheesily double as nuggets of general life advice — reading the signs, taking in everything around you, and so on — their performances help brighten up a film that's largely confined within a car (and as visually constrained as that sounds). The scenery isn't the point, but the people looking at it. Yes, that's just another of Learning to Drive's modest pleasures.
