Never in history has the topic of sustainability been a more popular or important topic of conversation. Saving the environment is on the immediate to-do list of individuals and organisations across the world, but will governments go as far as to grant legal rights to Mother Nature herself? The answer is shockingly, but quite possibly, yes. Today, the United Nations will propose Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth, based on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, in an attempt to lead the world into a new age of conservation of natural resources and a strict reduction of pollution. The treaty includes four articles and, if passed, would grant the environment 11 legal rights, including the right to life and to exist, the right to continue processes free from human disturbance, the right to pure water and clean air, the right to balance, the right not to be polluted, the right to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that negatively affect ecosystems and the local inhabitants and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. Does this mean no cutting down trees? It's hard to determine whether the proposal is silly or a solution. Although it is highly unlikely that the UN will approve the treaty any time soon, the truth is that especially in the suffering environment of Bolivia, Mother Nature isn't in the best shape right now. It remains to be seen whether granting a bill of rights to flora and fauna is the best way to restore her to her former glory. [Via The Guardian]
When The Duffer Brothers, the siblings who brought the world Stranger Things and gave Netflix its biggest hit yet in the process, announced that their obsessed-over and adored series was returning for a fourth season — a reveal made all the way back in 2019, just months after the third season released — they did it in the only way they know how. "We're not in Hawkins anymore", the video heralding the news advised. Even when dropping 45-second videos comprised solely of graphics and moody tunes, the Duffers' fondness for filtering their show through classic pop-culture references remained firmly intact. So it is that Stranger Things 4 ventures beyond its trusty small-town setting, and in several directions. It keeps those nods and winks to flicks and shows gone by streaming steadily as well. This fourth go-around, seven episodes of which arrive on Friday, May 27, ambitiously expands in other ways, too — not quite so many that you'd need seven Dungeons & Dragons dice to count them, but enough that it's noticeable. It's bigger and longer, with no episode clocking in at less than an hour, one in the first batch running for a feature-length 98 minutes, and the final two not set to release until Friday, July 1. Its teenage stars are bigger and taller as well, ageing further and faster than their characters. The show has matured past riffing on early-80s action-adventure movies, such as The Goonies; now, it's onto slashers and other horror films, complete with new characters called Fred and Jason. And with that, Stranger Things also gets bloodier and eerier. It's still the show that viewers have loved since 2016, when not even Netflix likely realised what it had unleashed — and no, that doesn't just include the demogorgon escaping from the Upside Down. But growing, as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, Godzilla vs Kong), her boyfriend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard, Ghostbusters: Afterlife), and their pals Will Byers (Noah Schnapp, Waiting for Anya), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo, The Angry Birds Movie 2), Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink, Fear Street) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin, Concrete Cowboy) all visibly have, comes with a few pains. The Duffers give fans more this time around, entertainingly so; however, the flow of the season's super-sized episodes and sprawled-out narrative threads is often askew. But that's hardly the worst problem to have — and pressing "next episode" instantly when each set of credits rolls remains as easy as ever. Eleven and company all do have worst woes to deal with. Six months after the battle of Starcourt, Eleven lives in Lenora Hills, California, with Will, his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton, The Souvenir Part II) and their mother Joyce (Winona Ryder, The Plot Against America). There, the weather is sunny yet little is rosy. The former government test-subject writes otherwise in letters back home, but high school is an onslaught of mean-girl bullying, which spills out violently when Mike visits over spring break. Eleven's powers have also vanished, and she's haunted by the loss of Jim Hopper (David Harbour, Black Widow) — as is Joyce, who now sells encyclopaedias from home. Life isn't any better in Indiana. More accurately, it's terrifying and insidiously grim. A pre-holiday Mike has joined the high school D&D club with Dustin, as run by metal-loving outcast Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn, Small Axe). So has Lucas, but he's also on the basketball team, trying to work his way up the social ladder. Haunted by her brother Billy's (Dacre Montgomery, The Broken Hearts Gallery) death in season three, Max refuses to fit in anywhere, but needs the gang's help when a new form of evil seeps out of the Upside Down and starts leaving a body count. Also ready to assist: Steve Harrington (Joe Keery, Free Guy) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke, Fear Street), who've graduated to working in the Hawkins' video store, plus the school newspaper's new star reporter Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer, Things Seen & Heard). And, in Russia — because that Hopper is alive and definitely isn't in Hawkins was revealed between seasons — frosty bleakness is status quo. But the stranded Hawkins Police chief remains as stubborn as ever, even shackled in a Soviet gulag. Obviously, he's determined to regain his freedom. Stranger Things 4 is many things: a reminder that high school is hell, and just being a teenager is torturous, too; a musing on trauma and the way it carves through hearts and souls, as slasher flicks tend to be; an escape caper; an enormous love letter to horror master Wes Craven, a wonderful stab of casting included; and another book in the show's superhero story. One of its most frustrating aspects: the way it throws around that S-word, because everything has to be a superhero tale these days (see also: the clearly Stranger Things-influenced Firestarter remake). This series has always been at its best when it's embracing two other genres, sci-fi and horror. Ramping up the latter, and using it to explore the chaos of being caught between childhood and adulthood, is season four's savviest touch. While it isn't particularly new or inventive, it cuts deep, mining the pain of making mistakes, being forever changed by life's ups and downs, and grappling with the realisation that some wounds truly are forever. As a result, for all of its efforts to roam beyond its original setting, Stranger Things' fourth season feels more like itself on familiar ground, unsurprisingly. That sensation helps give Sink one of the season's best performances so far — its weightiest and most textured, too — complete with a stunningly deployed 'Running Up That Hill' by Kate Bush as her personal soundtrack. It's also in Hawkins where the stakes are greater, the plot tighter and the diversions funnier, in no small part thanks to Matarazzo's still-stellar timing, Keery leaning as hard on Steve's comedic vibe as he has since season two, and Hawke making every Robin moment an utter delight. There's no place like home, after all, including when that town is a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sunnydale and Twin Peaks. Although they're both 90s references, rather than hailing from the Duffers' beloved decade prior, the blood of Buffy and Twin Peaks have long pumped through Stranger Things' veins. That feels especially the case in season four, which is also the most melancholic yet — but with a clearly vast budget, as made plain by the special effects that the Duffers and fellow directors Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and Nimrod Antal (Predators) have at their disposal. And, with all that dripping 80s nostalgia, of course, because it wouldn't be Stranger Things without it. The expected but never derivative winks and callouts to the decade's screen touchstones keep coming, naturally, like they too are spilling out of the Upside Down. Also flowing faster than Dustin's one-liners, Steve's glorious locks, Eleven's steely stares, Joyce's nervous energy and the horrors of season four's new Lovecraft-esque big bad? The can't-stop-watching thrill of having Stranger Things back, slinking into its darker trip — ups, downs, occasional awkwardness and all — and binging compulsively. The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season four hit Netflix at 5pm AEST / 7pm NZST Friday, May 27, with the remaining two set to follow on Friday, July 1. Images: Courtesy of Netflix © 2022.
The kids are all right: in Future Council, the third feature-length documentary directed by Australian actor-turned-filmmaker Damon Gameau after That Sugar Film and 2040, children are brimming with enthusiasm to act to solve the inescapable problem facing every single person on earth right now. There's no avoiding the fact that the earth is in the midst of an eco-crisis, and that challenges to fix it linger at every turn. The young environmentalists in front of Gameau's lens know this deeply. They're distressed and angry about it. They're also driven to act, to bring about change and to do whatever they can to stop the planet's plight from continuing to worsen. When That Sugar Film became a sensation in 2014 — it's in the top five Australian documentaries of all time at the local box office, and sparked many among its audience to rethink the role of the movie's titular substance in their lives — it did so through a particular approach. Gameau, then best-known as an actor in the likes of The Tracker, Thunderstruck, Love My Way, Razzle Dazzle, Underbelly, Balibo, Patrick, Charlie's Country and Puberty Blues (he also played an Australian backpacker on an episode of How I Met Your Mother), put himself and his eating habits at the centre of the film. Think: Super Size Me, but Aussie and about the sweet stuff. Accordingly, Gameau physically charted the consequences of a high-sugar diet. The viewer response, as the cinema takings show, was phenomenal. Gameau wasn't thinking at the time that he'd discovered the blueprint for his approach as a filmmaker, aka documentaries with both a personal and an activist angle. "Upon reflection, I didn't know it at the time," he tells Concrete Playground. "I certainly just wanted to tell stories and thought that there weren't enough stories that, I guess, could enlighten or educate and inspire people. And so I thought that was the goal of making that. And then obviously seeing the impact that had, even in influencing policy in some countries — that kind of lit the fuse, I guess, of like 'oh, there's something really potent about storytelling'." "So much of our storytelling has been used for distraction and other means, and they're perpetuating values that maybe we don't need in this moment," Gameau continues. "So, how could we tell better stories that actually give people a bit more hope and show that there's a different part of humanity, rather than just conflict and competition and really base values around things — you think of those reality shows. So I just got inspired, I think, to tell more stories and try to encourage other storytellers, artists, whatever, to use their platform to maybe highlight the best of us as opposed to other values." Next on his behind-the-camera filmography — after more on-screen stints in Secrets & Lies, Gallipoli, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Barracuda and The Kettering Incident — came 2019's 2040. In a film that world-premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, follows in An Inconvenient Truth's footsteps and is in the top ten Aussie docos of all time at the box office, Gameau retained the same documentary style but changed subjects. His topic: climate change and ways to combat it. The personal element came via packaging his plea to the world to act as a letter to his then-four-year-old daughter, then travelling the globe to delve into potential solutions. Again, it was a massive success. Just as That Sugar Film helped put Gameau on the path to 2040, the latter did the same with Future Council. The environment is again the focus and the writer/director appears on-camera once more, but eight kids — Australian Ruby Rodgers, Joseph Wijaya from Bali, Norfolk Islander Hiva Tuki Grube, Karla Albjerg from Uganda, The Netherlands' Joaquin Minana, Clemence "CC" Currie from Scotland, Wales' Skye Neville and Aurvi Jain from Singapore — are the true stars of the show. Each was selected after a callout for children to accompany Gameau across Europe on a biofuel-powered school bus to both examine options for tackling the planet's predicament and speak with the leaders of companies contributing to the issue. The film's name doesn't just apply to their actions in the doco, either, with the kids making the child-led Future Council a real and ongoing organisation that's advocating for genuine action to save the earth. Gameau isn't merely giving voice to the frustration of the next generation about humanity's current handling of the climate crisis, then, but is helping them in their efforts. One result so far, almost a year before the film reached Australian cinemas in general release on Thursday, August 7, 2025 (but after world-premiering at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival): Ruby, Joseph, Hiva, Karla, Joaquin, CC, Skye and Aurvi appearing at, screening the feature for and meeting with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024. Their deeds, plus Future Council as an off-screen initiative, are inspiring both fellow children and adults — as also chronicled in a movie that's well aware of adult-washing but never earns that description itself, even while ensuring the film is accessible, and also balancing the seriousness of the environmental situation with a sense of joy, play and empowerment. Future Council, the film, is as much a celebration of unique personalities and children following their passions, too — and proves as heartening in that element as well. With Gameau, we also explored that key aspect of the documentary, his show-don't-tell approach to factual filmmaking in general, the path from 2040 to Future Council and the difficult task of getting CEOs to speak with the movie's eight kids, plus his own journey from when he was starting out as an actor and more. On the Show-Don't-Tell Approach Resonating Across Gameau's Documentaries "I think particularly, in this film, I think it could have failed really, really dramatically if it had felt preachy, if the kids were too precocious or pretentious, if it felt like I was steering them in any way and it was a sort of manipulation. That's a careful dance to do and it does take some crafting. I guess I don't think about it too overtly, but I think I know what I don't want it to be. And I see films where it does feel preachy and I think that's really off-putting, and people don't want that. They're craving authenticity in the current state of the world. They want people to be real. And I think that's what the children bring in spades." On How 2040 Put Gameau on the Path to Making Future Council "I took 2040 around the world and a lot of the releases did school visits, and I did lots of classrooms — and the questions were often better than any adult would ask in the Q&As. The kids really knew their stuff. And I just realised that I've projected my own childhood onto these children sometimes and forgotten that they just have access to so much information now. And the ones that are passionate about sustainability just go super-deep on these subjects — and they can online now. So they often know far more than most adults do. So it really felt like 'well, this is their moment. They deserve a platform. How do we connect them together so they don't feel like their only avenue is to protest on the streets? What if they could actually come together meaningfully, collaborate with organisations, businesses, their schools, and actually actively shape and design their own future?'. And I think we've got the opportunity with our tech now, their knowledge, their awareness, to do that, and so that just felt like a good fit for the Future Council." On Whether Gameau Expected the Huge Response That 2040 Received Around the World "I don't think so. I mean, you probably know it yourself, but I think there's a default in any artist that is self-sabotaging and doesn't think we're much good at anything, really. So it's always a little bit of a surprise when something does well. And I guess I was a bit spoilt with Sugar in that that was just such a bizarre, extraordinary takeoff that I didn't expect. That was always going to be hard to match. So I just, yeah, I was surprised. But I think 2040 came at a time when people were looking for solutions and, strangely, that narrative hadn't been told very much — which was a real surprise to me, that we weren't focusing all the great things that people were doing. And so I can see now why it resonated, but of course, yeah, anytime you make something and put it out in the world, you kind of assume that no one is going see it. And it means something to you, but might not connect. So it's always a lovely bonus when people do support it." On Gameau Not Worrying About Falling Into the Adult-Washing Trap By Making Optimistic and Empowering Environmental Documentaries for All Ages "No, I think it's the very thing we need. I think this whole particular movement has got bogged down in so much graphs and analysis and data that what it needs is humanity. It needs a burst of heart. And there's a great quote by an English academic, Louisa Ziane, and she says that 'if you want to change the world, you've got to throw a better party'. And I think that that's what these children bring. Even though, as you saw in the film, they're really processing deep grief, they still find a way to be children, and to play and have fun and find the best moments in in their life. And I think there's great lessons in that for all of us that, yeah, times are incredibly tough right now — we need to be honest about — but when we are honest about it and we give ourselves a good cry like the kids do, you do free up some space to also find the joy and be grateful for the things that are still happening in our lives. And that's the thing that's going to sustain us. If we all get too bogged down in the way of the world, we're no good to anyone, and I can relate to that. I know the state I get in when I'm too serious. So the children really taught me and inspire me to make sure I stay in my heart, and to make sure I still find the moments of joy and the slices of light among these dark times. They do still exist. There are people doing extraordinary things in the face of this adversity, trying to come up with new solutions right now, find the best and be the best humans they can be. So we need to focus on that just as much as we're focusing on the things we don't want." On Whether the Children Setting Up a Real-Life Future Council Was Always the Aim for the Film "It was always in the back of the mind there was a potential that could happen. But again, I was so careful to not steer this or lead the kids on in any way. And that sort of started to happen midway through the film. That's when the children went 'oh, we can see that we've got something to say here. We can see we're valuable and we are having an impact in these boardrooms — what if we did actually start extending this out?'. So it was an idea we talked about halfway through filming. And then subsequently, we've developed that together. We've run every decision through them — 'okay, from everything from branding, what would this look like? How would you want it to run? What don't you want it to be?'. And so now we have a functioning Future Council entity with a COO and board members, and it's all kicking off. And there's now an invitation to children right around the world — which is what this film will do as we take it around the world, is recruit children that want to sign up and join. And then it'll be child-led. So all the decisions go through the children. But we've got the adults that want to support the children with the more-complex stuff and the logistics and the governance, all those sort of things. But the idea is to really make sure that the children feel like they're making the decisions and it is coming from them. They're not being told by their teachers or someone else. Because they do know their stuff, and they do have a chance to really make change — and let's let them drive it." On How Future Council's Children Are Inspiring Adults "Every screening, something magical happens. Like, someone from somewhere reaches out. Some adult wants to join up some organisation. We've got people who just — one woman just gave every child $10,000 to support their initiatives. They are doing something. There's a magic that they have together, and I think it is that humanity. There's a lot of emotion in the screenings. There's people being very, very — it's sort of unlocking parts of them they haven't confronted for a while. So there's just — I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's a magic that's coming out of the tailpipe of this bus as it cruises around, and I'm just sitting back, watching it all, I'm observing, and I'm incredibly excited by what's forming and the people from right around the world that are coming in to support this. I think it's just one of those stories that's come at the right time. The children are taking this conversation to a deeper level that it needed to go to." On Getting Representatives From Large Corporations to Meet with the Children "Yeah, that was a challenge. And I guess the framing was that we wanted to make sure that we — it wasn't about just telling them they're wrong, that it was an invitation to some of these groups to say 'these kids have some really good ideas, and I think you'd be crazy not to access some of their creativity'. I think the children learned that as it went along, that, as you saw, when we started with Nestle, they did go in with quite an activist bent — and it was a much more aggressive take. Then they reflected on that and thought 'you know what, I don't know that that worked entirely'. So they tried and pivoted to a slightly different approach with ING — and by the time we got to Decathlon, which is the world's biggest sporting goods retailer, they were so collaborative. 'Right, how can we work?'. And that, I think, is when they discovered their superpower, and that's why they then wanted to turn this into something much bigger. So it was a really interesting journey. But as I said, to their credit, these companies did say yes. A lot said no. And it was a very, very difficult challenge to get the children in there, to be honest, and I was very lucky that I had some people that were supportive of my previous work in 2040 and were able to open the doors there. But yeah, full credit to those CEOs that did front up and listen to, as you saw, what were some pretty awkward questions and difficult conversations for them. But they were willing to lean in, not shut the film down, not try to edit or cancel — which they could have done. So in the end, we're grateful for the conversations we were able to have." On How Pivotal It Is for Future Council to Celebrate the Unique Personalities of the Kids in the Film — and to Make Children Feel Included for Whatever It Is That They're Passionate About "I obviously really love these kids and they do have their own uniqueness — and that's what's beautiful about it. And Ruby said it on a Q&A — what she learned was that some people feel like they can't do enough or 'who am I to do anything?' or 'I'm not doing enough?', but we all have our own unique way to contribute to this problem right now. And that's, I think, what the kids brought. Ruby found herself that she didn't think she was of any value, and then realised that her art is the thing that people need. And now she's got a record deal and now she's singing live, and all this stuff is happening because she's expressing her grief through her music Whereas Hiva, for example, is just obsessed with birds. And I've watched him give a TED talk now and bring a whole room to its knees because he channels these birds and tells people how important they are to our ecosystem. So they've all got their different superpower. And then they came together as this incredible force. And I think that's the metaphor, isn't it? That's the great example of what we need to do as humans, as a whole, is that no matter what field we're working in, no matter what area of interest we have or our passions, when we actually come together and reknit that fabric that's been torn apart from us by this system, that we can achieve extraordinary things. And I think that's the best takeaway — and my favourite scene in the film is that last scene where the kids are all coming together, they're all acknowledging what they learned from each other and the best that they see in each other. Whoa — what a what a lesson that is for adults right now and how we're going to fix some of these problems we're facing." On Whether Making Inspiring Documentaries Was Gameau's Aim Back When He Was Starting Out as an Actor "No. God no. No, I was way too self-obsessed back then. That was very much sort of, I guess, trying to forge my own path. 'What am I doing in life?'. I hadn't really understood — I always never felt quite happy. I was lucky enough, obviously, to do a film like The Tracker or Balibo, and those felt very, very rich and deep, and felt really fulfilling. But other than that, I always felt a little bit frustrated and not comfortable. And I was lucky enough, obviously, to work with people like Rolf [de Heer, who directed Gameau on The Tracker and Charlie's Country] and Rob Connolly [Balibo's filmmaker], and they showed me how powerful storytelling can be. And I decided that I wanted to start telling my own stories. I thought I had something to say and I wanted to find the courage to be able to say that. And that took a long time to find that courage. I had a lot self-doubt that so many people do, and I was really my worst enemy in that sense. So it's taken me a long time, and I'm still on that journey of really believing this. But I see it now. I can see the impact of what these stories have done and I'm just so grateful. It's been a magical experience. And this one even more so. I feel like it's less about me, this one — the others were quite focused with me at centre, but this again is a shifting in my own journey, to give a platform to these eight kids and then these other kids around the world. So yeah, it's just I've seen it. I just think storytelling is our most-potent tool for change and it is so underutilised and undervalued. And I think it's the only way we're going to get through. I really want to call out to all artists, whether they're musicians or artists or storytellers, whatever it might be, that this is our moment. This is our time. Terence McKenna had this great quote, he said that 'the role of the artist is to save the soul of mankind and anything else is a dithering while Rome burns. If the artist can't find the way, then the way cannot be found'. And I just think whoa, what a moment right now, given everything we're facing — let's unite as artists and tell a new story." Future Council opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from February's haul. Brand New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Mr & Mrs Smith 2005 movie Mr & Mrs Smith isn't the first time that title adorned a spy caper about a literally killer couple. That honour goes not to the Brad Pitt (Babylon)- and Angelina Jolie (Eternals)-starring, Brangelina-sparking film, but to a 90s TV series. No one remembers 1996's Mr & Mrs Smith, where Scott Bakula (who was not long off Quantum Leap at the time) and Maria Bello (Beef) took on the eponymous parts. It didn't last, with just nine episodes airing and a further four made but left unseen. But its existence gives 2024's Mr & Mrs Smith a full-circle vibe, with Donald Glover (Atlanta) and Maya Erskine's (PEN15) now both adopting the monikers and ushering the premise back to episodic storytelling. Bakula and Bello's Mr & Mrs Smith didn't inspire Pitt and Jolie's; however, the latter did give rise to Glover and Erskine's — and any history isn't mere trivia. Instead, it speaks to a concept that's so appealing that it keeps being reused, whether coincidentally or knowingly, and to an idea that's now being given its full Mr & Mrs Smith due, in line with True Lies and The Americans: that relationships are mysteries, missions and investigations. The backstory behind Glover and Erskine bringing glorious chemistry to John and Jane Smith doesn't stop there, because Mr & Mrs Smith circa 2024 has been in the works for three years. When announced in February 2021, it was with Atlanta-meets-Fleabag hopes, with Glover co-starring and co-creating with Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). Then creative differences with Glover saw Waller-Bridge — who also co-wrote the No Time to Die screenplay and created Killing Eve — leave the project within six months. While it's impossible to know how that iteration of Mr & Mrs Smith would've turned out, whether with more overt comedy, talkier or boasting a darker tone, Glover's interpretation with fellow Atlanta alum Francesca Sloane lives up to the promise of two creatives from one of the 21st century's best dramedies turning their attention to espionage and romance. There's an intimacy, a lived-in feel and hangout charm to this Mr & Mrs Smith, even as it swaps Brangelina's already-wed pair discovering that they're assassin rivals for a duo only tying the knot for the gig. Mr and Mrs Smith streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Shōgun Casting Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4), Cosmo Jarvis (Persuasion) and Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as its three leads is one of Shōgun's masterstrokes. The new ten-part adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel — following a first version in 1980 that featured Japanese icon and frequent Akira Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune — makes plenty of other excellent moves, but this is still pivotal. Disney+'s richly detailed samurai series knows how to thrust its viewers into a deeply textured world from the outset, making having three complex performances at its centre an essential anchoring tactic. Sanada plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who is among the political candidates vying to take control of the country. Jarvis is John Blackthorne, a British sailor on a Dutch ship that has run aground in a place that its crew isn't sure is real until they get there. And Sawai is Toda Mariko, a Japanese noblewoman who is also tasked with translating. Each character's tale encompasses much more than those descriptions, of course, and the portrayals that bring them to the screen make that plain from the moment they're each first seen. As Game of Thrones and Succession both were, famously so, Shōgun is another drama that's all about fighting for supremacy. Like just the former, too, it's another sweeping epic series as well. Although it's impossible not to see those links, knowing that both battling over who'll seize power and stepping into sprawling worlds are among pop culture's favourite things right now (and for some time) doesn't make Shōgun any less impressive. The scale is grand, and yet it doesn't skimp on intimacy, either. The minutiae is meticulous, demanding that attention is paid to everything at all times. Gore is no stranger from the get-go. Opening in the 17th century, the series finds Japan in crisis mode, Toranaga facing enemies and Blackthorne among the first Englishmen that've made it to the nation — much to the alarm of Japan's sole European inhabitants from Portugal. Getting drawn in, including by the performances, is instantaneous. Shōgun proves powerful and engrossing immediately, and lavish and precisely made as well, with creators Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rachel Kondo (on her first TV credit) doing a spectacular job of bringing it to streaming queues. Shōgun streams via Disney+. Read our full review. American Fiction Here's Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison's (Jeffrey Wright, Rustin) predicament when American Fiction begins: on the page, his talents aren't selling books. Praise comes the Los Angeles-based professor's way for his novels, but not sales, nor attendees when he's part of writers' festival panels. And even then, publishers aren't fond of his latest manuscript. Sick of hearing that his work isn't "Black enough", and also incensed over the attention that fellow scribe Sintara Golden (Issa Rae, Barbie) is receiving for her book We's Lives in Da Ghetto, he gets a-typing, pumping out the kind of text that he vehemently hates — but 100-percent fits the stereotype of what the world keeps telling him that Black literature should be. It attracts interest, even more so when Monk takes his agent Arthur's (John Ortiz, Better Things) advice and adopts a new persona to go with it. Soon fugitive convict Stagg R Leigh and his book Fuck are a huge hit that no one can get enough of. Because of the story spun around who wrote the bestseller, too, the FBI even wants to know the author's whereabouts. Deservedly nominated for five 2024 Oscars — including for Best Picture, Best Actor for Wright and Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K Brown (Biosphere) as Monk's brother Clifford — American Fiction itself hails from the page, with filmmaker Cord Jefferson adapting Percival Everett's 2001 novel Erasure. Wright is indeed exceptional in this savvy satire of authenticity, US race relations and class chasms, and earns his awards contention for his reactions alone. Seeing how Monk adjusts himself to a world that keeps proving anything but his dream is an utter acting masterclass, in big and small moments alike. As the film dives into the character's personal chaos, that's where Brown's also-fantastic, often-tender performance comes in, plus Leslie Uggams (Extrapolations) as Monk's mother and Tracee Ellis Ross (Candy Cane Lane) as his sister, and also Erika Alexander (Run the World) as a neighbour who is a fan of his — not just Stagg R Leigh's — work. Don't discount how excellent American Fiction is beyond its literary hoax setup, in fact; as a character study, it's equally astute. American Fiction streams via Prime Video. The Vince Staples Show It was true when Seinfeld made a series about a real-life standup comedian playing a fictionalised version of himself one of the world's biggest sitcoms in the 90s. It remained accurate when Larry David started riffing on his own existence in Curb Your Enthusiasm — and also when Pete Davidson leapt from making his life movie fodder in The King of Staten Island to turning it into TV in Bupkis. Donald Glover wasn't directly referencing his own career in Atlanta, and neither The Other Two nor Girls5eva bring exact replicas of real-life figures to the screen, but the same idea pumps through them as well: fame or proximity to it doesn't stop anyone from grappling with life's frustrating minutiae. Add The Vince Staples Show to the list, with the five-part series featuring its namesake as a take on himself. Whether or not you know who he is is part of the show's joke. On- and off- screen, he's a rapper and actor. Staples' very real single 'Norf Norf' gets quoted to him in the TV comedy. The fact that he's been in Abbott Elementary is referenced in the debut episode. But just attempting to have an ordinary day doing everyday things in an average way — driving home, heading to the bank, attending a family reunion, visiting an amusement park and returning to his old school — is as impossible for him as it is for us all. Sometimes, Staples' celebrity complicates matters in The Vince Staples Show. It also never helps. Usually, he's stuck navigating Murphy's law, so asking for a loan ends up with him caught up in a robbery, while endeavouring to source something decent to eat at a theme park takes him on an absurdist odyssey that winks at David Lynch and the Coen brothers. Having an entertainment career doesn't stop him from being confused for someone else by the police (Killing It's Scott MacArthur, You People's Bryan Greenberg and The Menu's Arturo Castro) — the same cops who ask for free tickets to his shows while they're locking him up — or ensure that cashiers treat him politely. If it assists with anything, it's with giving Staples a deadpan acceptance that anything and everything might come his way. Twice asked if something interesting happened during his day by his girlfriend Deja (Andrea Ellsworth, Truth Be Told), his reply is "not really", even though viewers have just witnessed the exact opposite in both instances. The Vince Staples Show streams via Netflix. Read our full review. Orion and the Dark Learning to face life's chaos, or even just recognising that life is chaos, has a particular term when Charlie Kaufman is making movies and audiences do the confronting. Describing something as Kaufmanesque sprang from the screenwriter and filmmaker's stunning run at the end of the 90s and beginning of the 00s — the Spike Jonze (Her)-helmed Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, plus the Michel Gondry (Microbe & Gasoline)-directed Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — and it's stuck ever since. Joining the trio of Synecdoche, New York, Anomalisa and I'm Thinking of Ending Things as well, all three of which he penned plus helmed, is new family-friendly animation Orion and the Dark. A Kaufmanesque kid-appropriate flick? It exists, and it's wonderful. Feature first-timer Sean Charmatz (TV movie Trolls Holiday in Harmony) directs, and Emma Yarlett's 2014 children's book provides the source material; however, this account of a boy afraid of the dark who then meets the literal Dark (voiced by The Afterparty's Paul Walter Hauser) is a Kaufman affair through and through. Also, iconic German filmmaker — and one-time Parks and Recreation star — Werner Herzog (The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft) pops up. Loaned the vocal tones of Jacob Tremblay (The Little Mermaid) as a child and Colin Hanks (The Offer) as an adult, Orion is petrified of sleeping without the lights on. And, just like the kids in Monsters, Inc that are scared of creatures in their cupboards, Orion and the Dark's protagonist is frightened of something real. Dark exists and, alongside Orion's parents (The Fall of the House of Usher's Carla Gugino and Bull's Matt Dellapina), is exasperated by the boy's response to nighttime. He can't help taking it personally, in fact, then offers to assist. For one 24-hour period, as darkness falls around the world, he gets Orion to accompany him on his travels with friends Sleep (Natasia Demetriou, What We Do in the Shadows), Insomnia (Nat Faxon, Our Flag Means Death), Quiet (Aparna Nancherla, The Great North), Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel, Bridgerton) and Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) to demonstrate that being distressed is unfounded. It isn't just Herzog's involvement and a joke about David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest that prove that this is a movie as much for adults as kids; amid its gorgeous animation, its understanding of existential dread is also that astute. Orion and the Dark streams via Netflix. Dario Argento: Panico Filmmakers love filmmakers, so much so that new documentaries about directors arrive all the time. Paying tribute to the creative forces behind everyone's big-screen obsessions: what's not to love? With Dario Argento: Panico, there's plenty to adore, including the considerable participation of the Italian master of giallo himself. A film about the man behind Suspiria, Inferno and Tenebrae was always going to be a portrait of his influence upon his chosen genre. Accordingly, who better to take viewers through it? He begins the doco unhappy about the location of the latest hotel that he's decamping to to write, as has been his custom for decades, but he's a fascinating interviewee, especially when he's reflecting upon his work and his processes in his own words. For company, he's joined among Dario Argento: Panico's talking heads by his sister Floriana, daughters Fiore and Asia, ex-wife Marisa Casale, and collaborators such as Franco Ferrini (who co-penned screenplays such for Phenomena, Trauma, Dark Glasses and more) and Claudio Simonetti (the composer, also of the band Goblin, who has been so instrumental) in giving the filmmaker's movies their sound. And to unpack his impact both in general and on their work, Guillermo del Toro (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio), Nicolas Winding Refn (Copenhagen Cowboy) and Gaspar Noé (Climax) all feature as well. Noteworthy quotes and links abound from the documentary's chats beyond its titular figure, such as when del Toro notes that "everything in Argento's movies is trying to kill you", Refn admits that Tenebrae's synth-heavy score is responsible for the tunes in his own features and the fact that Noé had Argento star in his drama Vortex. Simonetti's reflections on Goblin's role in helping Argento's work have such resonance, and the ripples that his film's scores have enjoyed across the industry since, are also riveting — and accurate. And for an understanding of who Argento is personally, Asia (who has acted in her father's flicks since making her debut at ten) is particularly enlightening. Simone Scafidi also deftly weaves in clips from Argento's movies, plus behind-the-scenes footage and archival materials, to ensure that audiences have a burning yearning stirring while watching: the need to see everything featured, whether for the first time or again. He knows how to make this kind of movie, after all, given that he did the same with 2019's Fulci for Fake, about fellow giallo talent Lucio Fulci. Dario Argento: Panico streams via Shudder. The Greatest Night in Pop One of the biggest songs of the 1980s was largely recorded in one night. 'We Are the World' wasn't just huge on the charts, either. When it came to people buying the single, it was massive — it's still the ninth biggest-selling physical single ever — but the list of talent making it happen was just as hefty. Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Bob Geldof, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, Smokey Robinson, The Pointer Sisters: they're just some of the names involved. Even Kenny Loggins, fresh from 'Footloose' being a hit, joined in. This roster of names and more teamed up in 1985 as supergroup USA for Africa, taking cues from Band Aid and 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', to raise funds for African famine relief. Belafonte had the idea. Richie and Jackson wrote the tune. The whole thing came together on the night of that year's American Music Awards, with everyone going from the ceremony to the studio. The Greatest Night in Pop tells this tale, and adds another entertaining music documentary that's also a blast from the past to Netflix's catalogue (WHAM! in 2023 similarly fit the bill). Regardless of whether the song itself suits your taste in music, or whether it's before your time and so you haven't heard of it, this behind-the-scenes look at its creation is illuminating — especially if you're interested in the recording process, how it works when there's so many figures involved and simply what it was like to have all those people in the one room. Accordingly, The Greatest Night in Pop is the kind of documentary that thrives thanks to its archival material. Putting audiences in the space with all those famous faces as they navigate who sings what when, and how, and also their various personalities, is can't-look-away viewing. A number of the talents involved also reflect upon the experience now, and the notion that some didn't want it to end at the time echoes through in both recent and decades-ago glimpses. Watching along, it's easy to understand why. The Greatest Night in Pop streams via Netflix. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week Constellation If a great getaway to a beach, island or faraway city can be life-changing, what does a journey to space do? So ponders Constellation, among other questions. Inquiries are sparked instantly, from the moment that a mother in a cabin in northern Sweden, where there's snow as far as the eye can see but a frost infecting more than just the temperature, leaves her pre-teen daughter to follow a voice. The screams that she seeks out are yelling "mama!" — and what they mean, and why she's abandoning one girl to find another, is just one of the matters that Constellation interrogates. The woman is Jo Ericsson, as played by Noomi Rapace with the maternal devotion that also marked her turn in Lamb, plus the protective instincts that were key in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as well — and the fierceness that helped bring her to fame as Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films. Jo, an astronaut, is Europe's representative on the International Space Station when Constellation jumps backwards from its opening icy horror to a different kind of terror. Not long out from returning back to earth, she FaceTimes with her nine-year-old daughter Alice (Rosie and Davina Coleman, The Larkins) and husband Magnus (James D'Arcy, Oppenheimer). Then, something goes bump in the sky. Trauma leaves people changed, too; what if this incident, during which setting foot on our pale blue dot again is anything but assured, isn't the only distressing facet of travelling to the heavens? On the at-risk ISS, on a spacewalk to locate the source of the collision, Jo finds the mummified body of what looks like a 60s-era Russian cosmonaut. There'll soon be another astronaut dead inside the station, destroyed infrastructure, the first escape pod shuttling her three remaining colleagues back to terra firma and Jo left alone trying to repair the second so that she herself can alight home. Where both Gravity and Moon spring to mind in Constellation's initial space-set scenes, plus Proxima in the show's focus on mother-daughter connections (Interstellar, Ad Astra and First Man have dads covered), it's the earthbound Dark that feels like a touchstone once Jo is back among her loved ones. There's a similar moodiness to this series, which also features Nobel Prize-winning former Apollo astronaut Henry Caldera (Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul), who has had his own incidents in space — and there's a feeling that characters can't always trust what they think is plainly apparent to the show, too, plus a certainty that nothing is simply linear about what's occurring. Constellation streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review, and our interview with Jonathan Banks. Curb Your Enthusiasm A quarter of a century is a long time to spend with Larry David, even with gaps along the way. Friends and acquaintances of the fictionalised version seen in Curb Your Enthusiasm might have some not-so-positive things to say about investing that chunk with TV's great curmudgeons. If you're a fan of the satirical series that's been airing since 2000, however, 12 seasons isn't enough. But David has called time on his second small-screen smash. CYE won't beat Seinfeld's episode count, but it has been on-screen on and off for far longer than the famous show about nothing. And with its ending in sight, of course the inimitable force behind both starts Curb Your Enthusiasm's final season with the series' version of Larry going where Seinfeld's characters closed out their story: jail. He's there not due criminal indifference, though, but rather thanks to the opposite. In Atlanta to attend a rich fan's (Sharlto Copley, Beast) birthday party, on a paid gig courtesy of the success of Young Larry — CYE's in-show show about David's childhood — he gives a bottle of water to Leon's (JB Smoove, Office Race) Auntie Rae (Ellia English, Blood Pageant) while she's in line to vote. That's illegal, the cops pounce immediately and one of the season's key threads is born. Larry being Larry, of course he wasn't really trying to make a stand against ridiculous voter-suppression laws. Larry still being Larry, he's also content to capitalise upon being seen as a hero, complete with droves of media attention. And, Larry never able to be someone other than Larry, he's still his petty normal self regardless of how much praise flows from Bruce Springsteen. Before Beef was winning Golden Globes, Emmys and other awards for trivial squabbles, David got there first — and before The Rehearsal and The Curse's Nathan Fielder was inspiring cringing so vigorous that you can feel it in your stomach, David was as well. The show's swansong season so far is vintage Curb Your Enthusiasm, including when a lawyer who looks like one of David's many enemies, overhearing golfing lessons, throwing things at CODA Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur, getting disgruntled over breakfast menus cutting off at 11am and bickering with the late, great Richard Lewis (Sandy Wexler) are involved. As always, it continues to be fascinated with whether someone as set in his ways as David, who was the inspiration for George Constanza, can and will ever change. He won't, and watching why that's the case will only stop being comedy gold yet when the ten-episode 12th season says farewell. Curb Your Enthusiasm streams via Binge. The New Look The New Look, Apple TV+'s ten-part series about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, hasn't chosen its points of focus because they were frequently in each other's company; as depicted here, at least, they weren't. Instead, it's a portrait of rivals, but it isn't that concerned with why the two Parisians might be adversaries beyond their shared field. That said, they're tied by more than both being French fashion figures who were working at the same time, made pioneering haute couture choices and started labels that retain household recognition today. And, when the show opens in 1954, it does so with Chanel (Juliette Binoche, The Staircase) offering harsh words about Dior (Ben Mendelsohn, Secret Invasion) to the press as she's about to unveil her first post-war collection. Her chatter is crosscut with his at the Sorbonne, where he's being honoured — and asked by students why he kept working during the Second World War while Chanel closed her atelier. Dior's answer: that such a description of the two designers' actions during WWII is the truth, but that there's also more truth behind it. Unpicking the reality — and stitching together Dior and Chanel's plights at the same time — is the series' mission. The garments that its two couturiers make might be pristine in their stylishness, but neither's history can earn the same term. Creator Todd A Kessler (Damages, Bloodline) makes a drama about choices, then. Again, it isn't fuelled by the pair being in close physical proximity, which only happens twice in the show — or even acrimony between them — but by comparing and contrasting the moves that Dior and Chanel each made during Nazi-occupied Paris and immediately afterwards. The New Look also takes its overarching perspective from the notion that haute couture's impact in assisting to revive French culture following the war was revolutionary and "helped humanity find beauty and the desire to live again". That said, with Dior and Chanel's prowess treated as a given, the bulk of its frames, handsomely shot as they are, hone in on the personal. The New Look streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. Recent and Classic Movies to Finally Watch — or Revisit The FP, The FP 2: Beats of Rage, FP3: Escape From BAKO and FP4: EVZ Part-dance movie, part-dystopian comedy, The FP is a rare beast of a movie. It's an instant classic that feels both alluring familiar and completely its own creation, and that immediately sears every frame into your brain. Given the premise, none of the above should come as a surprise. This low-budget 2011 flick is set in a time when gangs fight over control of their home turf, aka Frazier Park, by dance-fighting it out while playing a Dance Dance Revolution-style game called Beat-Beat Revelation. Basically, if Footloose was set in a post-apocalyptic future, it would look something like this. As, yes, it would look rather amazing. Indeed, that's The FP from start to finish. That isn't where it ends, however. After becoming a true cult-favourite, it has spawned three sequels over the years since: 2018's The FP 2: Beats of Rage, 2021's FP3: Escape From BAKO and 2023's FP4: EVZ. This isn't the kind of saga that's blown up and sold out, either — every single entry feels like you can see the filmmaker's fingerprints on every frame. That writer and director is Jason Trost, who also stars as well. Beyond The FP movies, he was last seen in Foo Fighters-driven horror effort Studio 666, with his mere presence there showing the huge gap between the kind of midnight movie that flick wanted to be and the real thing. Trost plays JTRO, who starts The FP franchise training to defeat a rival — but that's only the beginning of a storyline across four films that needs to be experienced by going in as fresh as possible. In a different world, the OG movie and its sequels would get The Room treatment, returning to cinemas regularly. In Australia, big-screen sessions have been rare. That makes being able to settle in and watch all four at once via Brollie quite the treat, and a unique way to spend some couch time. Wanting to play Dance Dance Revolution also comes with the territory. The FP films stream via Brollie. Yuni Again and again in Yuni, a heartbreaking clash echoes. Its sounds stem from schoolyard gossip, superstitious tut-tutting, ultra-conservative demands and reminders that its titular character shouldn't steal anything purple that she sees. In the third feature from Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen), Yuni (Arawinda Kirana, Angkringan) is a 16-year-old in a Muslim society where agreeing to an arranged marriage is the only thing truly expected of her. When the movie begins, a proposal from construction worker Iman (Muhammad Khan, Memories of My Body) already lingers. After she declines, her classmates chatter. Then another offer comes from the much-older Mang Dodi (first-timer Toto ST Radik), who is looking for a second wife. Yuni knows the accepted myth that any woman who refuses more than two proposals will never wed, but she's also keen to make her own choices. She has a crush on teacher Mr Damar (Dimas Aditya, Satan's Slaves), and spends time with the younger and infatuated Yoga (Kevin Ardilova, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash). She's also the smartest student at her school, with dreams of attending university. Andini's film is full of specifics, diving into the minutiae of Yuni's life — surveying Indonesian society and its customs, the roles thrust upon women from their teenage years, and enormous gap between the path that she's supposed to follow and the yearnings of her heart. This is a movie where scenes of its protagonist hanging out with her friends, whether kicking back on the grass talking about boys or dressing up with her beautician pal Suci (Asmara Abigail, Satan's Slaves 2: Communion), could be scenes from almost any teenage girl's life. Of course, then the reality sinks in, be it in discussions about husbands, babies and virginity tests, or in the teary worries about horrific power imbalances. The ability of poetry to capture everything that can't be easily uttered otherwise also floats through Andini's deeply moving picture, so it should come as no surprise that Yuni is both naturalistic and lyrical. It's precise and universal, follows an easily foreseeable path and yet proves full of surprises, and is astutely directed as well — and Kirana is a star. Yuni streams via SBS On Demand. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January this year, and also from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from November. NEW STUFF TO WATCH NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=emb_logo PALM SPRINGS It wasn't the first movie to play with temporal trickery; however, Groundhog Day has a lot to answer for. Films about folks stuck in a loop, repeating the same day or events over and over, now almost comprise their own genre — but, wearing its allegiance to the aforementioned Bill Murray-starring comedy on its sleeves, Palm Springs is one of the best of them. Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg plays Nyles, who has ventured to the titular location with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn) to attend a friend's nuptials. He gets drunk, makes a speech and a scene, befriends fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Modern Love) and disappears into a cave, warning the latter not to follow. When dawn breaks, it's the same day again. Then variations on the same events happen once more, and they just keep repeating over and over. Also featuring an initially intense JK Simmons (21 Bridges) as another ceremony attendee, Palm Springs has a wealth of fun with its concept, and becomes one of the year's most enjoyable movies in the process. Produced by Samberg alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, directed by feature first-timer Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, it also finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Palm Springs is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-Mb4vTxj0 WE ARE WHO WE ARE Two on-screen tales about American teenagers in Italy. Two floppy-haired male leads oozing with uncertainty and yearning. One filmmaker. After Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino returns to familiar territory with HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are — and if its star Jack Dylan Grazer reminds you of the now ultra-famous Timothée Chalamet, that's completely unsurprising; in 2018's Beautiful Boy (not directed by Guadagnino), the former even played a younger version of the latter's character. But don't go mistaking Guadagnino's eight-part TV show for a mere or lazy rehash of the director's past work. Following two neighbouring 14-year-olds who live on a US army base with their enlisted parents, including Grazer's newly arrived loner, We Are Who We Are once again taps into universal themes about finding one's own identity and place in the world, and navigating affairs of the heart as well, but it definitely has its own story to tell. Also starring first-timer Jordan Kristine Seamón, plus Chloë Sevigny (Queen & Slim), Alice Braga (The New Mutants), Scott Mescudi (aka Bill & Ted Face the Music's Kid Cudi), Francesca Scorsese (daughter of iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese) and Tom Mercier (Synonyms), this patient yet involving series once again boasts Guadagnino's eye for gorgeous and revealing imagery, though, with every intoxicating shot (and every camera angle and placement used for each shot) luring viewers in. We Are Who We Are is available to stream via SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN 2019's I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson was the best sketch comedy of that year. In 2020, the equivalent title goes to Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun. If you're familiar with Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna, then you'll know what to expect. Writers and performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, director and writer Sam Lingham, filmmaker Max Miller and composer Tom Armstrong have been treating audiences to absurdist gags, satire, wordplay and songs since forming in 2011 — but now the group has channelled all of its silliness and surreal gags, and its astute ability to make fun of daily life in a smart yet ridiculous way, into a six-part Netflix series. Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane star as themselves, and housemates. Each episode revolves around a theme, starting with the search for a fourth member of their household when they decide to turf their annoying talking dishwasher (voiced by Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal). There's nothing too over-the-top for Aunty Donna, or too trivial, including treasure hunts, an out-there recreation of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, a pitch-perfect takedown of trendy barber shops to a parody of male posturing when the guys turn their house into a bar. And there's little on offer in the extremely binge-able show that doesn't deliver just the dose of side-splitting absurdity that this hectic year needs. Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FXjdKxgrA LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST First, a word to the wise: if you haven't already seen The Exorcist, you'll want to give it a whirl before checking out this new Shudder documentary. And even if you've watched the iconic horror movie so many times that you've memorised every crucifix and spinning head, revisiting it is never a bad idea; this in-depth examination of the 1973 hit by the filmmaker behind it will certainly make you want to as soon as possible. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is as straightforward as its title intimates. For the movie's 104-minute running time, the director also responsible for The French Connection, Sorcerer and Killer Joe chats through the feature he's best known for, explaining both behind-the-scenes and on-screen details. Expect an insight into the battles to even get The Exorcist to the screen, anecdotes about the quest to find the exact right stars for this unsettling tale of demon possession and insider recollections about the now-85-year-old Friedkin's wide-ranging career in general. Indeed, it's impressive just how wide a range of topics and themes this doco covers, proving absolute catnip for cinephiles. Leap of Faith's own filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe is known for diving deep into great screen works, as seen in 78/52 (about Psycho) and Memory: The Origins of Alien (about, well, Alien), after all. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEv0xy7p5Rg GANGS OF LONDON When crime kingpin Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney, Seberg) is killed unexpectedly after a 20-year reign over London's illicit dealings, the city's underworld is forced to react. The first order of business: find out who ordered the assassination, which is Finn's brooding, grieving and quick-to-react son Sean's (Joe Cole, One of These Days) only priority, and one he's determined to pursue at any cost. At first, it seems as if Gangs of London's nine-episode debut season is simply charting familiar territory — because many a movie and TV show about mobsters has focused on shock hits, succession scrambles and bloody fights over turf. But this British series has a particular strength that none of its genre compatriots can boast, aka filmmaker Gareth Evans. He's the director behind The Raid and its 2014 sequel The Raid 2: Berandal. If you've seen those two movies, that should be all you need to know. Here, Evans' penchant for balletic brutality and exquisitely shot and choreographed action scenes is on full display once again. He doesn't just rely upon intense, ultra-violent fights to keep viewers interested in this contemporary-set gang epic, though, plotting out an intricate world filled with meaningful, memorable and menacing characters (and just as impressive performances). Gangs of London's first season is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she demands that orphanage janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive), she earns a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part miniseries proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados; however, it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4X9fQsiAOQ FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS Werner Herzog could make a documentary about absolutely any topic and, as long as the great filmmaker narrated it himself in his inimitable tones and with his lyrical, observational prose, it'd be worth checking out. As his on-screen acting roles in the likes of Jack Reacher, Parks and Recreation and The Mandalorian have shown, listening to his voice is one of life's purest joys — and, in Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, he spends his time talking about a riveting topic. Reuniting with University of Cambridge professor Clive Oppenheimer, who he worked with on the volcano-focused Into the Inferno, Herzog turns his attention to meteors. As well as searching for sites where they've fallen from the sky and made a literal impact, his new doco surveys experts from around the world, explores meteors in both ancient and recent times, and looks at the subject from a scientific, historical, archaeological and anthropological basis as well. From the Norwegian jazz musician who collects micrometeorites to the way that rocks descending from the heavens have played a part in Indigenous Australian culture, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is never anything less than fascinating. And, it also sees Herzog describe one part of the globe as "so godforsaken it makes you want to cry", which just might be one of his best turns of phrase yet. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is available to stream via Apple TV+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc HIS HOUSE Stories about fleeing persecution are innately horrifying, but His House makes viewers confront the scenario in a visceral and purposefully confronting way. That's what happens when you pair an unsettling real-world situation that's distressingly common with the horror genre — using the latter to augment and emphasise the terror of the former, as His House does commandingly. The first feature from writer/director Remi Weekes, this British-set movie follows Bol (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, the aforementioned Gangs of London) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku, Lovecraft Country) from war-torn South Sudan, across the Mediterranean by boat, into detention in the UK and finally to a home on the edge of London. They're thrilled to have made the journey safely, albeit at a significant personal cost that neither can shake, and they're initially excited to have a place to call their own. But, after their case worker Mark (Matt Smith, Official Secrets) gives them the keys, the couple's new abode turns into a nightmare. It doesn't help that Bol is certain that they need to farewell everything about their own culture to show the government that they deserve to stay, while Rial is rightly resistant to that idea. The pair are quite literally haunted, though, as Weekes manifests in eerie detail in a movie that cleverly and compellingly (and creepily, too) interrogates the refugee experience. His House is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiH_526qhY THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN Never let anyone tell you that SpongeBob SquarePants is just for kids. The long-running show about the absorbent, yellow and porous sea critter has always proved otherwise, but his big-screen adventures wholeheartedly make the case — because when you have Keanu Reeves playing a talking sage tumbleweed that's also a sage that dispenses wisdom, that pitch-perfect piece of casting is 100-percent aimed at adults. Yes, that's something that happens in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and more often than you might expect. Yes, it's delightful. There are more surreal and absurd gags where that came from, too, which has always been SpongeBob's appeal for older viewers. Story-wise, the movie — SpongeBob's third, after 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — sees everyone's favourite Bikini Bottom resident leave his pineapple under the sea in search of his kidnapped pet snail Gary, with the vain King Poseidon (as voiced by What We Do in the Shadows star and Sponge Out of Water alum Matt Berry) the culprit. It's silly, it's sweet, it's chaotic and, although the flashbacks to SpongeBob's childhood are just a blatant way to promote a new TV spinoff, it's supremely entertaining. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is available to stream via Netflix. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xENt3xZqA THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Add this show about a west Philadelphia teen's life-changing move to Los Angeles to the list of classic series making a comeback in 2020. The Will Smith-starring sitcom hasn't returned in the proper sense. It is actually getting a reboot, in a darker, more dramatic form, because everything old is new again, but that was just announced a few months back and hasn't arrived just yet. Still, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's surviving original cast members have all come together for a brand new reunion special — which Stan now has available to stream alongside each and every one of the 148 episodes that initially aired between 1990–96. Accordingly, if you'd like to while away more than a few hours, days and weeks seeing where Smith's on-screen career kicked off, laughing at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's fish-out-of-water premise and feeling mighty nostalgic for times gone by, now you can. You'll obviously be treated to a hefty array of 90s fashions, because that comes with the territory. And, you'll be certain to get the series' famed theme tune stuck in your head (if you haven't already while reading this paragraph, that is). Every season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is available to stream via Stan. Top images: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Paramount Animation; The Queen's Gambit, Phil Bray/Netflix; His House, Aidan Monaghan/Netflix.
Whatever she's in, and whether she's the star of the show or a supporting player, Chloë Sevigny's face always tells a tale of its own. That's been true in everything from Kids and Boys Don't Cry through to Big Love and We Are Who We Are, and it remains that way in The Girl From Plainville — the new eight-part true-crime miniseries led by The Great's Elle Fanning that's based on the death of Massachusetts teenager Conrad Roy III in 2014. Here, Fanning plays Conrad's long-distance girlfriend Michelle Carter. It's due to the her actions that the situation has been known as "the texting suicide case" for almost a decade — garnering not just local but international attention, and earning a HBO documentary, I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs Michelle Carter, back in 2019. Fanning is fantastic in what proves an eerie character study, but the looks that Sevigny, as Conrad's mother Lynn, shoots her way scream rather than simply speak volumes. If you've ever wondered what facial expression could sum up grief, horror, sorrow, anger, disbelief, hurt, despair and utter bewilderment all at once, the always-excellent Sevigny frequently has the answer. Inspired by Jesse Barron's Esquire article of the same name, The Girl From Plainville tells a tough tale. Streaming in Australia via Stan, with three episodes available now and the rest following weekly, it starts with Conrad's (Colton Ryan, Dear Evan Hansen) suicide in his truck in a Kmart parking lot. It was his second attempt to take his life, although he'd promised Lynn that he wouldn't do it again — and when his death was investigated, police discovered text messages sent to him by Michelle, including a plethora of words encouraging him to take his own life. In 2015, she was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter for "wantonly and recklessly" assisting the suicide. In 2017, her trial took place. The outcome is now a matter a history, which The Girl From Plainville builds up to while also unpacking Michelle and Conrad's relationship. Accordingly, in two intertwined narrative threads, Michelle is a bereaved girlfriend who inserts herself into the Roy family's mourning wherever she can, even though Lynn and her ex-husband Co (Norbert Leo Butz, another Bloodline alum) didn't know she existed until after their son's death — and she's also a lonely high-schooler who meets a boy from a neighbouring town while vacationing in Florida, then keeps up a romance afterwards via text. In both, she's clearly a troubled young woman with body-image issues, struggles making and keeping friends, and a yearning for attention, which The Girl From Plainville unpacks without excusing her actions. Indeed, Sevigny's piercing gaze aside, this is a show about questions rather than answers, because some things can't ever truly be resolved. It's a series about feelings, too, including the many faces we wear to weather them. Michelle sports plenty: devoted, manipulative, heartbroken, rebellious, insecure, domineering and needy being a mere few. The Girl From Plainville's first episodes are full of jaw-on-the-floor moments, all stemming from Michelle's behaviour. The way that she ingratiates herself into the Roys' lives is disturbing and infuriating in equal measure — and a scene where the Glee-obsessive mimics one of the show's big emotional numbers is nothing short of chilling. The more details that are revealed, the more perturbing her conduct proves, including the fact that she was playing the victim and claiming that Conrad had been missing for days to her friends while she was actually texting him encouragement to go through with his suicide. That's what sparks local detective Scott Gordon (Kelly AuCoin, Billions) and then assistant district attorney Katie Rayburn (Aya Cash, The Boys) to dig deeper, even though they're in unprecedented territory legally. When the show turns into a courtroom drama, it still weaves through blasts from Michelle and Conrad's relationship past. In the former, the tone is understandably stark and grim; in latter, which includes reimagining the onslaught of text messages the pair shared as face-to-face conversations, it's almost dreamy. Creators Liz Hannah and Patrick MacManus know that they're making another entry in the ever-growing scandal-to-screen canon — Hannah also executive produced The Dropout, and MacManus did the same on Dr Death — but their focus on inner turmoil is both compassionate and haunting. And, it does what a straightforward retelling might've missed, giving Conrad a space to be himself and to be a main character, rather than just a casualty in someone else's story. Ryan might be playing his second suicidal adolescent in as many projects, but he's heartbreaking here as Conrad navigates unshakeable social anxiety and the traditional expectations placed upon masculinity. There's nuance in Ryan's every scene, and layers to each aspect of his sensitive performance — traits that Sevigny and Fanning also display, all to The Girl From Plainville's benefit. In fact, it's that texture, subtlety and complexity that makes Fanning's portrayal something exceptional, especially when tasked with inhabiting such a difficult character. Whether she's playing Michelle as seemingly sweet but desperate to be liked and loved, overbearing and demanding in her determination to be the centre of Conrad's death, or solemn and shaken during her trial, she's always a whirlwind of competing — and compelling-to-watch — aims and emotions. Giving room to all these shades, and to the unanswerable queries they inspire, is what gives this ripped-from-the-headlines series weight and depth beyond its attention-grabbing premise. True-crime dramas are firmly having their moment right now — see also: Pam & Tommy, Inventing Anna, The Dropout and WeCrashed in the first quarter of 2022 alone — but The Girl From Plainville is complicated, captivating and gripping. Check out the trailer for The Girl From Plainville below: The first three episodes of The Girl From Plainville are available to stream via Stan, with new instalments dropping weekly. Images: Steve Dietl/Hulu.
If you've ever raised an eyebrow at the idea of peanut butter and whiskey in the same sentence, you're not alone. But Skrewball — the Original Peanut Butter Whiskey — is full of cocktail-compatible surprises… and that's what makes it so damn good. Created in the US as a blend of American whiskey and natural peanut butter flavour, it's smooth, nutty and often the number one choice for bartenders who want to go a little wild. One of those bartenders is Sav Harrison, Skrewball's AU & NZ brand ambassador, who thinks too many people box it in before they've had a proper taste. "A lot of people get either caught up in the whiskey side or the peanut butter side and forget that we created a whole new category," Harrison says. "Don't just go for an old fashioned and manhattan. Skrewball is an opportunity to create something new altogether. Go nuts!" For Harrison, Skrewball cocktail creation starts with asking herself: what won't work? "Nothing is off the table with this bad boy," she says. "Recently I just discovered that Mumm Premium Sparkling Wine and Skrewball work when paired with raspberry and lemon." [caption id="attachment_1018328" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Finley Jones[/caption] And when it comes to serving up your delicious concoction, she recommends a rocks glass or coupe. "Nothing beats a Skrewball on the rocks and the versatility of a rocks glass means you can make anything from a margarita to an old fashion. With the occasional jump to a coupe glass [because] it's fun, playful and can do anything." Here are three of Harrison's standout recipes, each designed to show off what peanut butter whiskey can actually do in the right hands. The Nutty Sparkler Think PB&J, but fizzy. The raspberry plays into Skrewball's nutty sweetness, while the lemon juice cuts through with a tart edge. The Mumm gives it a lift, making the whole thing lighter and more refreshing than you'd expect. What's in it: 45ml Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 15ml Raspberry Liqueur (like Chambord, or a homemade raspberry syrup for less sweetness) 10ml Fresh Lemon Juice (to cut through the richness) Chilled Mumm Premium Sparkling Wine Garnish: Fresh raspberries and a lemon twist Ba Ba Bramble The classic 1980's bramble combines gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. To give it a remix, swap the gin for Skrewball's natural sweetness, add in blackberries for a fruity twist and Chartreuse for a herbal note and extra kick. What's in it: 1½ parts Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey ½ parts Green Chartreuse ½ parts Lemon Juice 5 parts Blackberries Mint & Blackberries for Garnish Skrewball Old Fashioned If you're still suspicious of flavoured spirits, this is an easy entry ramp. The rye whiskey keeps things grounded, while the Skrewball adds a hit of smooth sweetness that'll keep you coming back for more. What's in it: 1½ parts Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey ¾ parts Rye Whiskey 4 dashes Angostura Bitters The bottom line? Creating a Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey cocktail can be as fun as you want it to be. "Every time I decide to play around with cocktails and Skrewball, I find out there's so much to Skrewball almost anything works," Harrison says. Find Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey at Dan Murphy's, BWS and Liquorland and start Skrewing around with cocktails at home. Explore more Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey recipes on the website. Skrewball is classified as a flavoured liqueur in Australia. Please enjoy responsibly.
When caped crusaders team up on the page or the screen to battle a threat to the world or galaxy, there's probably no such thing as too many superheroes. For audiences, however, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been testing exactly how many spandex-heavy capers get everyone switching off. It hasn't been stretching the limits specifically to answer that question; Disney has just been releasing a hefty amount of Marvel movies and TV shows. If you've been feeling MCU fatigue as a result, the Mouse House hears you. Going forward, fewer new Marvel films and television series will arrive each year. "We've been working hard with the studios to reduce output and focus more on quality — that's particularly true with Marvel," advised CEO Bob Iger on Disney's second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, May 7. "We're slowly going to decrease volume and go to about two TV series a year, instead of what had become four — and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two or a maximum three," Iger continued. [caption id="attachment_925151" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ©Marvel Studios 2023. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] The move comes in what's set to be a quieter Marvel year in cinemas anyway. Picture palaces in 2024 are only welcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, which releases in July. The streaming slate might be busier, after Echo hit Disney+ in January — and with WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, plus the animated Eyes of Wakanda and Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, yet to get air dates — but there'll definitely be fewer MCU tales hitting screens in total. In contrast, 2023 was huge Marvel for viewers, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels on the big screen, plus Secret Invasion, Loki and What If...? on screaming. 2022 was also massive, thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. And in 2021, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, and the first Loki and What If...? seasons all dropped. [caption id="attachment_899279" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2023 MARVEL.[/caption] Marvel has already floated spacing out its releases so that its schedule in cinemas and on streaming isn't as jam-packed, and then pushed back a few titles during 2023's Hollywood strikes. Now, it's sticking to a strategy that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Entertainment Weekly about last year, saying that "the pace at which we're putting out the Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine". Right now, audiences will see Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts on the silver screen in 2025 — the first in February and the second in May. The new Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us)-, Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon)-, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear)-starring Fantastic Four is also dated to arrive next year, in July. 2025 is meant to welcome Blade back to the screen, too, as led by Moonlight and Green Book Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, but that'd make four films in one year. So, if Iger is sticking to three movies or less in a year, that could change. From there, just two new Avengers flicks are locked in with release dates at the moment, one in 2026 and the other in 2027. On the small screen, Daredevil: Born Again is due in 2025, while Ironhart, Marvel Zombies, Wonder Man and Vision Quest don't yet have dates. From Marvel's upcoming slate, only Deadpool & Wolverine has a trailer — check it out below: For more information about Marvel's upcoming slate of films and TV shows, head to the company's website. Images: Disney.
Touring to Australia for the first time in more than five years for your first Aussie festival headlining slot since 2011 is one way to celebrate 35 years as a band. The group: Tool. The fest: Good Things. First, Good Things confirmed that it would be back in 2025, and also announced its dates. Then came the next key detail: where the festival is heading this year. Finally, it's now lineup time, starting with Maynard James Keenan and company, and also including Weezer and Garbage among the event's big names. [caption id="attachment_1016515" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Scott Moran[/caption] Get ready to hear 'Sober', 'Forty Six & 2', 'Buddy Holly', 'Island in the Sun', 'Vow' and 'Only Happy When It Rains' like it's the 90s and early-00s again — all on the festival's three annual stops in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The rest of the bill includes All Time Low, Machine Head and The All-American Rejects, as well as Knocked Loose, Lorna Shore, Refused, New Found Glory and Make Them Suffer. And, you can catch Dayseeker, James Reyne, Kublai Khan TX, Cobra Starship, Goldfinger, Tonight Alive and more. In the Victorian capital, Flemington Racecourse is again playing host to Good Things. In the Sunshine State, Brisbane Showgrounds is doing the honours again, too. Sydneysiders are hitting up Sydney Showground in 2025 instead of Centennial Park, in a move made to increase capacity, shelter, transport options and accessibility. As it has in past years, the fest is playing all three cities across one huge weekend. So, mark Friday, December 5 in your diaries for Melbourne, then Saturday, December 6 in the Harbour City and Sunday, December 7 in Brisbane. Good Things 2025 Dates and Venues Friday, December 5 — Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne Saturday, December 6 — Sydney Showground, Sydney Sunday, December 7 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane Good Things 2025 Lineup Tool Weezer Garbage All Time Low Machine Head The All-American Rejects Knocked Loose Lorna Shore Refused New Found Glory Make Them Suffer Dayseeker James Reyne Kublai Khan TX Cobra Starship Goldfinger Tonight Alive Bad Nerves Civic Dead Poet Society Fever 333 Gwar High Vis Inertia Palaye Royale Scene Queen South Arcade Wargasm Windwaker Yours Truly Good Things plays Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in December 2025, with pre-sale tickets from 10am AEST on Tuesday, August 19 and general sales from 10am AEST on Thursday, August 21 — head to the festival website for more information. Good Things images: Kane Hibberd.
Every last trilby-wearing tween celebrity, former President's daughter and your smug, smug US-based friends will be rubbing their paws together after this afternoon's Coachella festival lineup announcement. Running over two weekends from April 12–21, the Californian festival has delivered their usual jaw-dropper of a lineup — including Australia's own Tame Impala headlining both Saturdays. Kevin Parker and his touring bandmates have big-name company, of course. Childish Gambino hasn't rescheduled his cancelled 2018 Australian dates yet, but he will be leading the charge on Coachella's two Fridays sessions. As for the Sunday shows, Ariana Grande doing the honours. Elsewhere, a bonafide metric fucktonne of squealworthy acts fill out the rest of the bill — Janelle Monae, Solange, Weezer, Aphex Twin, Khalid, Diplo, CHVRCHES, Jaden Smith, Idris Elba and Aussies Rüfüs Du Sol, to name a few. Anyway, let's be honest, you haven't truly read any of those words — you'll be wanting this: Coachella runs over two weekends, from April 12-14 and 19-21 in Indio, California. Tickets go on sale at 11am PST on Friday, January 4. For more info, visit coachella.com.
If you know only one thing about Singapore, it's most likely its reputation for fantastic food. And it's not just the cuisine that's earned high esteem with foodies around the world. Alongside the world-class eats, the city's bars are making waves on the global cocktail scene. There's no quicker way to unravel the complexities of Singapore's cultural heritage than by eating your way through the city, from Michelin-starred European fine-dining to humble hawker centres selling affordable but delicious dishes. Then there's the drinking, which ranges from quirky speakeasies to opulent cocktail dens. To showcase the depth of Singapore's drinking and dining, we've partnered with the Singapore Tourism Board to present some of the city's can't-miss experiences. From art deco bars and urbane craft breweries to authentic Peranakan restaurants and French fine dining, these are the places to bookmark for your next visit. ATLAS If you try only one cocktail bar in Singapore, make it Atlas — previously featured on the World's 50 Best Bars list. First, you'll be blown away by the grand art deco space with its vaulted (and frescoed) ceilings. Then you'll be awed by the lofty bronzed gin tower that requires bartenders to scale a ladder to access the more than 1,300 gins (though the extensive menu also includes seriously fine wines, champagnes and whiskies). Going beyond the booze, there's a European-inspired food menu, a lavish afternoon tea service, and the must-try #SundaysAtAtlas which includes free-flowing cocktails, champagne and nibbles. Reservations are essential. [caption id="attachment_864471" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Singapore Tourism Board[/caption] JIGGER & PONY Singapore has speakeasies aplenty but there's no finer example than Jigger & Pony. The proof? It landed on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The buzzy spot, located at the Amara hotel, is swanky yet relaxed but shakes up a serious cocktail. Jigger & Pony's drinks list — cheekily titled "A Decent Menu" — elevates 24 classic cocktails with clever twists. Think yuzu whisky sours, black pepper sazeracs and sakura martinis. Pair your tipple with a next-level bar snack — we're looking at you, black truffle macaroni and cheese — and go home with some of the bar's bottled cocktail selection to enjoy another day. [caption id="attachment_864481" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mindy Tan (Singapore Tourism Board)[/caption] KENG ENG KEE Zi char is a term derived from the Chinese Hokkien dialect that translates to 'cook and fry' and refers to casual home-cooked Chinese food meant for sharing. Third-generation zi char restaurant Keng Eng Kee has been firing its woks since the 1970s and has truly perfected its craft. The food here is largely of the Hainanese and Cantonese influence, with popular dishes including the chilli and black pepper crabs, coffee pork ribs and Marmite chicken. The late Anthony Bourdain was a fan, as is feted British chef James Martin, and that's good enough for us. [caption id="attachment_864482" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Afur Wong (Singapore Tourism Board)[/caption] LEVEL33 Singapore may be the home of Tiger Beer, but LeVeL33 is the place to go for a brew with a view. Known as the world's highest urban microbrewery, this award-winning concept serves up freshly shucked oysters, lobster bisque, and pasture-fed Australian steaks, while brewmaster Gabriel Garcia whips up everything from lagers and pale ales to stouts and Bavarian-inspired wheats. Order a tasting paddle for the full experience. The beer menu pairs expertly with LeVeL33's views of the Singapore skyline as well as the "contembrewery dining" of elevated pub grub like baby back ribs and Wagyu beef chunks. [caption id="attachment_864485" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Singapore Tourism Board[/caption] NATIONAL KITCHEN BY VIOLET OON France may have Alain Ducasse but Singapore has Violet Oon, the doyenne of authentic Peranakan cuisine. Oon's flagship is an elegant, colonial-inspired space of dark woods and Straits Chinese tiles tucked into the grand National Gallery of Singapore — but it's the authentic plates infused with fine, fresh ingredients that'll thrill. Dig into refined takes on popular local dishes like kueh pie tee, beef rendang and the signature dry laksa, all of which are full of flavour and beautifully presented. There's also a dedicated plant-based menu that features meat-free takes on classics. Round off the experience with a selection of locally inspired cocktails for a sophisticated Singapore meal. [caption id="attachment_864487" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Danny Santos (Singapore Tourism Board)[/caption] MAXWELL FOOD CENTRE Hawker centres are a quintessential Singapore experience. And while the well-known Lau Pa Sat and Newton are on every tourist's hit list, insiders head straight for Maxwell. This go-to destination began life in 1929, but its current iteration opened in 1987. Inside you'll find a smorgasbord of popular food stalls so this is very much a choose-your-own foodie adventure. There's rich laksa at Old Nyonya, Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded chicken rice at Tian Tian and traditional sweets at Heng Heng tapioca cake stall. And that's before you get to the rare culinary finds like the alluring Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake and DIY China Street Fritters. [caption id="attachment_864493" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Singapore Tourism Board[/caption] ODETTE Three Michelin stars? Step into Odette and it's easy to see why this is among Singapore's most lauded restaurants. Named after chef Julien Royer's grandmother, Odette delivers dishes inspired by Royer's French farming heritage and Asian culinary experiences, all laced with high-quality luxury ingredients handled with impeccable technique. Expect plates like the signature organic egg with ibérico chorizo, Normandy brown crab with wasabi oil and nashi pear, and kampot pepper-crusted pigeon. All of this is served in a graceful, elegant dining room and paired with polished service and a curated wine list. [caption id="attachment_864497" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Singapore Tourism Board[/caption] MANHATTAN It might be located at the Conrad Singapore Orchard but Manhattan isn't your average hotel bar. Drawing on old New York glamour for its art deco-esque interiors and artisanal spirits for elevated cocktails, Manhattan is one of the city's best drinking dens. The onsite rickhouse produces exquisite liquid like solera-aged negronis and barrel-aged spirits, while the menu brings together classic and forgotten cocktails that revive Golden Age drinking. There's even a collection of over 150 rare American whiskies and tipples inspired by New York personalities like Whoopi Goldberg and Andy Warhol. Did we mention it's ranked 21st on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2024? [caption id="attachment_866128" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Supplied[/caption] BURNT ENDS When Aussie chef David Pynt ran his Burnt Enz pop-up in London, he probably didn't know it was going to evolve into Burnt Ends, a modern Australian barbecue restaurant that currently holds one Michelin Star and is on the list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Pynt translates his love of flame cooking (found while working with Victor Arguinzoniz of renowned Spanish restaurant Asador Etxebarri) into a daily menu of grilled delights. You might find items like flatiron steak with burnt onion and bone marrow or grilled leeks with hazelnut and black truffle, all complemented by a convivial, unpretentious atmosphere and boutique wines. For more incredible ways to experience Singapore, head to Singapore Tourism Board's website. Top image: Nauris Pukis (Unsplash)
Following its local premiere last year, Love Actually? The Musical Parody is set for an encore run — with dates confirmed for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The NSW premiere lands first at Sydney's Darling Quarter Theatre from November 27, before the production heads south to Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from December 5, then up to Brisbane Showgrounds from December 11. The show, based on the famous hit 2003 Christmas film, will return to Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from December 5, after its NSW premiere at Sydney's Darling Quarter Theatre from November 27, and a Queensland premiere season playing at Brisbane Showgrounds from December 11. The musical follows "nine quirky couples seeking love across the pond, the cheeky show delivers all the awkward meet-cutes, over-the-top grand gestures, and side splitting moments that fans crave." "This show is like Christmas dinner after a few too many champagnes — loud, ridiculous, and way too much fun. Whether you're obsessed with Love Actually, love to hate it, or just want some musical theatre laughs, Love Actually? The Musical Parody is pure festive chaos: outrageous jokes, over-the-top romance, and songs that'll have you humming into New Year," promoter Ashley Tickell said. "It takes all the bits you secretly giggle at in the movie and dials them up to 100. Grab your mates, a date, or your mum — this is a night out that you'll actually love! It's like wrapping yourself in tinsel and good vibes." Love Actually? The Musical Parody will boast all local casts, with auditions already underway. Tickets are on sale now. Images: Supplied.
In 2018, it was the book that everyone was talking about. In 2020, it was the TV adaptation that we all watched in one sitting. That'd be Normal People, with Irish author Sally Rooney enjoying a big couple of years thanks to her dramatic romance — even co-writing the screenplay for the television series. If you've been enjoying all this time spent singing Normal People's praises, but also wondering what's next for Rooney, it's time to rejoice — because 2021 has the answer. In great news for fans of not only of her most popular work, but of her 2017 debut Conversations with Friends as well, the writer will be releasing her third book later this year. Beautiful World, Where Are You is set to hit shelves on September 7, Rooney's UK publisher Faber has announced. Readers can expect another tale about complicated relationships, this time focusing on novelist Alice. She meets warehouse worker Felix, and asks him to travel to Rome with her — while her Dublin-based best friend Eileen is flirting with Simon, who she has known since she was a kid, to help get over a breakup. "Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young – but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart," says the official synopsis for the book. "They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?" it continues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Faber Books (@faberbooks) That's just one of two new Rooney-related projects to put on your radar, too, with Conversations with Friends following in Normal People's footsteps and getting the TV treatment. It's being adapted as a 12-episode mini-series, with Normal People co-director Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer Alice Birch leading the charge behind the scenes. Just when it'll hit screens hasn't yet been revealed — but you can obviously rebinge Normal People while you're waiting for it to land. Beautiful World, Where Are You will be published on September 7, 2021. For further details, head to the book's website. Top image: Normal People.
Colin Farrell's recent hot streak continues. After a busy few years that've seen him earn Oscar and BAFTA nominations for The Banshees of Inisherin, notch up a Gotham Awards nod for After Yang, steal scenes so heartily in The Batman that TV spinoff The Penguin is on the way and pick up the Satellite Awards' attention for The North Water, Apple TV+'s Sugar now joins his resume. The Irish actor's television credits are still few — and, until his True Detective stint in 2015, far between — but it's easy to see what appealed to him about leading this mystery series. There's much to entice viewers, too, including an alluring slipperiness that spans past the sleuth-focused premise from creator Mark Protosevich (whose last screen credit is scripting and co-producing the American Oldboy remake). From the moment that Los Angeles-set noir Sugar begins — in Tokyo in black and white, in fact, covering a situation that involves a yakuza gangster's kidnapped grandson — it drips with intrigue. Farrell's John Sugar, the show's namesake, is a suave private detective whichever city that he's in. Upon his return to the US, he takes a big Hollywood case against his handler Ruby's (Kirby, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) recommendation. She thinks that he needs rest instead. She's adamant that the gig isn't for him. But once he signs on, he's swiftly plunged into sinister City of Angels chaos, bringing The Big Sleep, Chinatown, LA Confidential and Under the Silver Lake to mind, and loving movie history beyond the show sharing the same genre as said flicks. Softly spoken, always crispy dressed in Savile Row suits, understandably cynical, frequently behind the wheel of a blue vintage convertible as it drives down neon-lit streets and also narrating his experiences via voiceover, Sugar, the PI, is a film fan. The series bakes that love and its own links to cinema history into its very being through spliced-in footage and references elsewhere. To watch Sugar, the series, is to take a voyage through the gumshoe stories, LA visions, accounts of duplicity and other thematically connected flicks that've blazed across the silver screen before (The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil, The Night of the Hunter, The Third Man and The Thing are just a few that pop up). At the same time, with its wholehearted embrace of movies, the show also foregrounds the idea that illusions — aka what Tinseltown so eagerly sells via its celluloid dreams — are inescapable in its narrative. Twists come, some relating to Sugar's current assignment and some bigger — and suspense stacks up like crystalline cubes along the way — but his new task is at the show's centre for its eight-episode first season. The gig: endeavouring to track down Olivia Siegel (Sydney Chandler, Don't Worry Darling), a member of Hollywood royalty who has vanished to the immense concern of her grandfather and legendary film producer Jonathan (James Cromwell, Succession). She's also the daughter of less-worried (and less-renowned) fellow producer Bernie (Dennis Boutsikaris, Better Call Saul); half-sister of former child star David (Nate Corddry, Barry), who is on the comeback trail; and ex-stepdaughter of pioneering rocker Melanie (Amy Ryan, Beau Is Afraid). Each one is a person of interest in Sugar's quest to ascertain Olivia's whereabouts — and each has their secrets. If locating a missing person was simple, it wouldn't fuel film and TV narratives. Trying to find Olivia inspires heated and dangerous opposition from every angle, which directors Fernando Meirelles (The Two Popes) and Adam Arkin (The Night Agent) — collaborating with cinematographers César Charlone (also The Two Popes) and Richard Rutkowski (Masters of the Air) — reflect visually. In its own imagery, when the four-strong editing team aren't cutting in snippets of classic pictures, askew placements, shots peering through doorways and frequently obscured positioning are rarely far from sight. Sugar isn't just about a film buff, and doesn't merely weave in movie clips and take its cues from beloved cinema genres; it also values a big-screen look within its meticulously poised small-screen frames. Even with a cinephile for a protagonist, Sugar clearly isn't here to ignore the entertainment industry's unseemly side. Also sparked as it slinks through the clash of Tinseltown's glow and shadows: an excellently cast series that splashes around its affection for film noir and LA movies gone by wherever it can, but a show that's never afraid to be its own thing as well. Accordingly, Protosevich and his co-scribes Donald Joh (Invasion), Sam Catlin (Preacher) and David Rosen (Hunters) simultaneously probe, revere and swerve. Then arrives a bold and brilliant move that reframes everything that precedes it — one with its own winks at specific movies, of course — and ensures that Los Angeles' status as a new home for anyone chasing its gleaming sense of opportunity sprinkles on another layer. Farrell as a private eye in a hardboiled neo-noir crime drama is the stuff that detective-genre fantasies are made of. Getting Farrell leading Sugar into the rest of its concept is also a savvy decision. Investigations, as the series shows, are as much about the right pieces falling into the right places at the right time as they are about determination, instinct and gumption — and Sugar itself equally embodies that truth. Sincere yet world-weary, earnest but clear-eyed, tender but pragmatic, suave but haunted, sorrowful and vulnerable but hopeful, and decent in a place and a world that rarely recognises let alone rewards such a trait, the show's titular role isn't a straightforward one. Indeed, that's so much the case that it feels as if Farrell was born to play the part, and that the series might've crumbled without him proving magnetic yet restrained at its core. Any sleuth story is built from one-on-one exchanges; that's how interrogations work. Farrell's perfect-for-the-role skills don't only apply in fleshing out Sugar as a character, maintaining an enigmatic air even as viewers peer into his soul, but in the dynamics with Kirby, Ryan, Cromwell and his fellow co-stars — Anna Gunn (Physical) as David's protective mother and another of Olivia's stepmothers among them. Whatever the plot throws his way, and whoever else, Farrell has audiences investing in the journey, the clue-chasing, the cross-examinations, the connections and the searching, Olivia-driven and existential alike. If a second season follows, he'll also be a key reason to tune in for what'll likely be a very different program. Check out the trailer for Sugar below: Sugar streams via Apple TV+.
Get excited, cinephiles. One of the biggest film festivals in the world just wrapped up for another year, after unveiling a wealth of new movies from around the globe over a jam-packed 11-day period. And even if you weren't at this year's 69th Berlin International Film Festival — enjoying the brisk but not unbearably frosty German winter, and sneaking in a few schnapps and schnitzels while rushing between cinemas — this huge, high-profile annual fest always brings good news. Between February 7–17, the highlights were many, especially for anyone looking to add a whole heap of flicks to their must-see list. Among the official competition titles sat everything from blistering dramas to topical real-life tales, as judged by the likes of Juliette Binoche, Toni Erdmann actor Sandra Hüller and A Fantastic Woman filmmaker Sebastián Lelio. Elsewhere, the stars and stories kept flowing, including Jonah Hill's first stint as a feature film director, Tilda Swinton sharing the screen with — and getting outshone by — her daughter, and an essential music documentary finally seeing the light of day. And it wouldn't be a Berlinale without a few controversies, including the last-minute withdrawal of Zhang Yimou's Cultural Revolution drama One Second and the grim reception received by Fatih Akin's serial killer flick The Golden Glove, which earned a hefty amount of walkouts. After emerging from Berlin's many, many picture palaces, that's just the short version. Here's the long round-up — aka the ten movies that'll hopefully be headed to Australian screens. These are the films that stuck in our head beyond the hustle and bustle. Fingers crossed that they'll be hitting a local cinema sometime soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Al2nC0vzY THE SOUVENIR With The Souvenir, another Swinton becomes an acting powerhouse. Honor Swinton Byrne stars in this 80s drama about aspiring filmmaker Julie and her older boyfriend Anthony (Tom Burke) — and while Tilda Swinton also features as her kindly mother, this is the younger Swinton's show. Struggling to pursue her passion and falling hopelessly for someone who's not quite who he seems, Julie's tale might seem familiar. And yet, with writer/director Joanna Hogg turning her own life into this stunning fictional effort, and unafraid to take aim at love, life, ambition and middle-class privilege, the film becomes a deeply moving adult coming-of-age story. Elegantly and insightfully scripted, lensed and performed, The Souvenir also acts as its own memento, leaving an imprint that lingers long after its frames have stopped rolling. [caption id="attachment_710369" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © Guy Ferrandis / SBS Films[/caption] SYNONYMS A highly worthy winner of Berlinale's Golden Bear, the festival's top prize, Synonyms refuses easy categorisation. It's a fish-out-of-water affair, following young Israeli Yoav (Tom Mercier) upon his arrival in Paris, but it's also a savvy take on today's fragmented world, a blistering character study about a man who refuses to be pinned down, and a ruminative reflection upon the difficulties of starting life anew, even by choice. Yoav is eager to put his Tel Aviv days behind him as quickly as possible, renouncing his homeland, refusing to speak another word of Hebrew and doing whatever it takes to become French; however, his transition is far from straightforward. Mercier is electrifying in his first acting role, while filmmaker Nadav Lapid draws upon his own experiences to cement his spot as a rising directorial star. [caption id="attachment_710361" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © BBP LOML[/caption] LIGHT OF MY LIFE The world mightn't necessarily need a Casey Affleck-written and directed survivalist movie about a father, his pre-teen daughter and a post-apocalyptic world otherwise absent of women. It mightn't seem to need a mash-up of Leave No Trace, Children of Men and The Handmaid's Tale either. But that's exactly what the Manchester By the Sea Oscar-winner delivers in his first fictional helming effort (although mockumentary I'm Still Here almost counts), and Light of My Life lives up to its concept and the obvious comparisons it inspires. Thoughtful and heartfelt from start to finish, Affleck's feature uses its dystopian premise to ponder the struggles of parenting a child who'll eventually need to make their own way in life. On screen, the actor-turned-filmmaker is at his nuanced best playing a man trying to protect his curious offspring (Anna Pniowsky) from the harsh reality of her existence, while his young co-star brightens up the movie in a manner wholly befitting its title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywE77VYpWc BY THE GRACE OF GOD Exploring sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, By the Grace of God was always going to prove both topical and sorrowful, regardless of its timing. Based on a real-life French case, the film's ripped-from-the-headlines storyline has recently seen two figures portrayed within its frames take legal action, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block its release. In Australia, the movie arrives hot on the heels of high-profile local legal proceedings; however, the anger, dismay and empathy the Silver Bear recipient inspires is all its own. Focusing on three men (Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud) who were inappropriately taken advantage of by the same priest (Bernard Verley) as children, this is a measured, moving, sensitive and sobering picture from filmmaker François Ozon, who ventures worlds away from previous efforts such as Swimming Pool and Young & Beautiful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6avRMFGSQ MID90s Thanks to all-girl flick Skate Kitchen and Oscar-nominated documentary Minding the Gap, the past year has ushered in a new golden age for teen-focused skateboarding films. Mid90s falls happily in the middle of both — exploring the exploits of a group of kick-flipping guys in a way that's both dreamily nostalgic and tenderly clear-eyed — and firmly belongs on the list. Marking Jonah Hill's first full-length solo effort as a writer and director, it follows 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic). The shy kid wants nothing more than to ollie his way around LA with his new older pals Ray (Na-Kel Smith), Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin) and Ruben (Gio Galicia), despite the wishes of his worried single mum (Katherine Waterston). As well as getting devastatingly naturalistic performances out of his cast, Hill directs this blast from the past exactly as it demands, with every inch feeling like the product of someone who's been there and seen it, even if he hasn't strictly lived through it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylJrxh-4MG8 VARDA BY AGNES Two years after gifting the world Faces Places, her delightful and insightful documentary about placing oversized portraits of villagers around the French countryside, Agnès Varda returns with another factual effort that's just as wonderful. While the cinema legend co-directed her last movie with much-younger artist JR, this time around she's back on her own, as the 90-year-old has been for much of her 65-year filmmaking career. Indeed, her lengthy life behind the lens is the subject of Varda by Agnes, with the inimitable figure taking viewers through her career as only she can. Spanning from her French New Wave beginnings to her adoption of digital technology, this is a self-portrait, a celebration and a masterclass — and, as always, it's an absolute pleasure spending time in Varda's company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPdqXdN-Xtg AMAZING GRACE Told on screen via text, the story behind concert documentary Amazing Grace is worth its own movie. Over two nights in January 1972, Aretha Franklin recorded her best-selling gospel album of the same name at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, with the Southern California Community Choir as backing singers, and with filmmaker Sydney Pollack on hand to capture the whole thing. But, due to both technical and legal issues — including Franklin suing to stop the movie's belated release before her death — the end result hasn't made it to the big screen until now. 47 years is a long time to wait; however, this doco is worth it. Amazing Grace is joyous for many reasons, from witnessing the Queen of Soul's talent, to paying tribute in an intimate fashion, to seeing the effect of faith and artistry on the on-screen audience. And when Franklin sings the title track for 11 minutes, its a moment no one will forget in a hurry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTWLFlWJEWs GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY There's an alluring mood to this French-Canadian film, which isn't quite a horror flick but certainly isn't a standard drama either. An atmospheric kindred spirit to the Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara-starring A Ghost Story from 2017, of sorts, Ghost Town Anthology enters the remote Quebec village of Irénée-les-Neiges, population 215. Suddenly, after an accident, that number drops to 214, and the townsfolk don't know how to cope. Grief is an immensely difficult feeling to convey on screen, but Denis Côté's haunting movie does a stellar job of capturing the deep-seated yearning to reunite with lost loved ones — and the unnerving impact when mysterious figures start popping up around the tiny locale. The grainy effect of shooting on 16mm certainly enhances Ghost Town Anthology's ethereal tone, as does its willingness to let images and actions speak louder than words. SKIN It has been 19 years since Jamie Bell danced his way into audience's hearts in Billy Elliot, with his character escaping a harsh home life and a narrow view of masculinity through ballet. In Skin, the British actor is covered in tattoos and sports a shaved head as real-life figure Bryon Widner — and while the American white supremacist doesn't take to dance, he's similarly trapped in a restrictive environment and subconsciously yearning to break free. Widner's path changes when he meets a single mother (Danielle Macdonald), turns away from the right-wing scene and tries to say goodbye to his hate-spewing pseudo parents (Vera Farmiga and Bill Camp). Directed by Oscar-winning short filmmaker Guy Nattiv, Skin might be blunt as it charts Widner's journey; however, thanks to a potent performance from Bell and his co-stars, it's always effective. [caption id="attachment_710366" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © Rafael Winer[/caption] BUOYANCY In recent years, Australian filmmakers have explored the plight of refugees and immigrants in a variety of compelling ways — in hard-hitting documentary Chasing Asylum, in the more meditative Island of the Hungry Ghosts, and now in Buoyancy. Shot in Cambodia and Thailand, and spoken in Khmer, Thai and Burmese, this Aussie drama examines human trafficking, with 14-year-old Chakra (Sarm Heng) leaving life on the rice fields in search of something more, but finding himself tricked into slave labour on a fishing trawler. Informed by real-life experiences, Rodd Rathjen's feature debut doesn't pull its punches, as Chakra's time at sea proves bleak and brutal to say the least. Indeed, every moment and frame is designed to immerse viewers in the boy's despairing, a feat that the film achieves.
Call this 'The One with Familiar But Still Exciting News': Friends! The Musical Parody is bringing its comedic, song-filled take on a certain 90s sitcom to Australia in 2022. Yes, this announcement has been made before, and more than once. The show has even opened its umbrellas in some parts of the country already. But we all know how the past two years have turned out — so the fact that the production is doing the rounds again should still make your day, week, month and even your year. This time around, Friends! The Musical Parody will kick off its tour in Adelaide in May, before being there for audiences in Hobart, Wollongong, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. So, wherever you live, get ready to spend time with the show's versions of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe — hanging out at their beloved Central Perk, of course, and sitting on an orange couch, no doubt. The musical starts with caffeinated catch-ups, but then a runaway bride shakes up the gang's day. From there, you'll get to giggle through a loving, laugh-filled lampoon that both makes good-natured fun of and celebrates the iconic sitcom. Yes, no one told you that being obsessed with the Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer-starring show about six New Yorkers would turn out this way — with on-stage skits and gags, recreations of some of the series' best-known moments, and songs with titles such as 'How you Doin?' and 'We'll Always Be There For You'. And no, no one told us that being a Friends aficionado would continue to serve up so many chances to indulge our fandom 17 years after it finished airing, either. FRIENDS! THE MUSICAL PARODY AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2022: May 4–15: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide May 20–21: Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart May 26–28: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong June 10–18: Riverside Theatres, Parramatta July 13–15: The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra July 20–24: The Tivoli, Brisbane September 9–11: Regal Theatre, Perth November 23–December 17: Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne Friends! The Musical Parody tours the country from May–December 2022. For further details, and to buy tickets, visit the production's website.
Talk about going out on top: Sky Safari, a mainstay of Sydney's Taronga Zoo since 1987, is saying farewell. The sky-high cable car — the Harbour City's only cable car, in fact — has been a beloved part of a trip to the animal-filled tourist attraction for a huge 35 years. But, once February 2023 arrives, it's retiring in its current guise. That means that Sydney locals and visitors alike have until Tuesday, January 31 to go for a last spin, which includes views of the Sydney Harbour, peering down at Taronga's Asian elephants as they play and attempting to see squirrel monkeys. But, hopefully, this is just a goodbye-for-now situation, with an upgrade already planned — pending final approval. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taronga Zoo (@tarongazoo) "The current Sky Safari is an ageing asset and has reached the end of its workable life with Taronga," explained the zoo's team announcing the news. "Plans are underway for an exciting new experience. While we are in early stages of planning, the revitalised Sky Safari will feature additional larger and accessible gondolas, extend along an expanded route, and provide greater access to the zoo for guests of all ages and abilities," the statement continues. [caption id="attachment_830238" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] Last upgraded in 2000, and even carrying the Olympic Torch for the Sydney Olympics that same year, the Sky Safari has carried more than 20 million passengers over its lifetime, helping ferry zoo-goers around the 28-hectare site. In its absence, there'll be extra buses in holiday and peak periods to move patrons to Taronga's top entrance. When 2025 hits, that's when the new Sky Safari is aiming to start operating, as part of a major investment by the New South Wales Government that'll also help future-proof it as much as possible — and Taronga itself. Announced back in April 2022, Sky Safari 2.0 is set to gain more gondolas than the 21 currently used, and larger and more accessible ones at that. At the moment, it can't accommodate guests in bigger wheelchairs, which is something that's set to be addressed The revamped Sky Safari will also head along an expanded route, complete with new terminals. That'll connect to fellow upgrades that are in the works at the Taronga Zoo Wharf — and, thanks to those extra gondolas, increase Sky Safari's daily capacity. And, Taronga visitors will also gain additional ways to view the venue's inhabitants from a lofty perch. At the time of writing, the makeover proposal is still in the planning stage, and accepting community feedback. Ideally, a development application will be lodged in 2023, with construction starting before the year is out. Taronga Zoo's Sky Safari will take its last ride in its current form on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. Head to the zoo's website for further details, and for bookings before the end of the month.
Venture down to the southernmost point of King Street and you'll find hot pinsa romana emerging five days a week from Newtown's newest Italian restaurant, Casa Mia Osteria. Pinsa romana is a contemporary reinvention of ancient Roman pizza that is growing in popularity across Italy — the fluffy oval-shaped pizzas have a distinctly different appearance from their circular Naples-style cousins, but that's not the most important distinguishing factor. That would be the flour and dough. Dough at Casa Mia combines three different types of flour, including rice and soy flour, and the team uses a ratio of 900 millilitres of water per one kilogram of flour. It means that the dough rises more when cooking compared to the Naples-style pizza base Sydneysiders are familiar with, and results in the pinsa romana's signature light and crunchy bases. Casa Mia Osteria comes from duo Andrea Nazzari and Valerio Boncompagni, who are passionate about bringing a fresh take on traditional Italian flavours to Sydney's inner west. The pair worked at Michelin star restaurants in their hometowns of Rome and Milan before moving to Sydney and meeting while working at Baccomatto in Surry Hills. From there, a friendship blossomed which would eventually give birth to Casa Mia Osteria. "It's our baby," Boncompagni tells Concrete Playground. "That's why it's called Casa Mia. Casa Mia means my home and this is going to be our home." When it comes to what's on top of the dough, the restaurant will have a new seasonal menu every few months. Currently, you can find a four-cheese and pear combo ($22), a puttanesca pinsa ($27) with cetara anchovies, olives, capers and stracciatella on a tomato base, or a zuvvhinem black olives and sundried tomatoes vegetarian option ($23). "When you go to an Italian restaurant you always find almost the same thing. You always find the caprese, the carbonara, the cacio pepe," says Boncompagni. "When we decided to open this restaurant, we decided to offer to our customers a different type of real Italian cuisine." "We're obviously doing something different from the rest of the pizza places," Nazzari adds. And the fun doesn't stop with the pinsa. An exciting mix of antipasti including garlic or rosemary focaccia ($10) and marinated mushrooms ($6), and a reserved pasta list featuring a beef and pork lasagna ($24) is accompanied by a collection of Italian and Australian wines. "We believe in a small wine list with good quality," says Nazzari, explaining that he is excited to introduce Sydneysiders to unique Italian wines. "Like the food, I want to give the people something different. Always try to surprise the customer." As well as its dinnertime menu, Casa Mia also offers lunch specials on Saturdays and Sundays. Swing by during the day and you'll find a spread of Italian treats ready to brighten what might otherwise be a gloomy lockdown weekend. You'll find a selection of baked goods including bomboloni, cakes and cannoli, plus fresh bread, cook-at-home lasagnas, bottled cocktails and mini lunch pizzas. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Pizza in Sydney
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
Do you adore greenery, wish your house could be filled with blossoming petals and gorgeous leaves, but don't have the greenest of thumbs? That's a hugely relatable predicament. Now, a second question: do you firmly think that you never grow out of Lego, and also find building with the plastic bricks peaceful? The toy brand's latest range has answers to both queries. At the beginning of 2021, Lego unleashed its new Botanical Collection — part of its growing range for adults, because we're all well past pretending that Lego is just for kids. Back then, it boasted a flower bouquet and a bonsai, letting you add both to your home without worry about care, water, wilting or the expiry date that always comes with cut florals. Or, they made great gifts to your nearest and dearest for all of the same reasons. The two latest items in the range also tick those boxes. If you're terrible with keeping greenery alive, they're ideal for you, too. And no, even you can't kill these succulents or orchids — from under- or overwatering, not enough sun or too much, or the usual long list of things that can go wrong when you become a plant parent. The 771-piece succulent kit features nine different Lego cacti and the like in different shapes, sizes and hues, all in their own separate containers. Connect them together for one striking piece, or keep them apart and place them in different spots — the choice is obviously yours. As for the 608-piece orchid set, it'll see you build a towering bloom with six large flowers and two newly opened flowers, all in a blue fluted vase. And it really isn't small, measuring 39 centimetres in height. Available now in Australia and New Zealand, both kits are customisable, and also based on actual plants — so they look as lifelike as Lego succulents and orchids can. Sure, fake flowers exist, but they're nowhere near as engaging to put together as this build-your-own low-maintenance option. As well as catching the eye and adding some splashes of green to your decor, Lego's newest products are designed to help you destress and get mindful — something that the brand has been promoting for adults for a few years now. Both kits cost $89.99 each in Australia and $99.99 each in New Zealand. And if you're keen on more, the original two sets are still available, as is a bird of paradise in a pot, plus small sunflower, rose and tulip kits. For more information about Lego's new Botanical Collection, including the flower bouquet and bonsai tree kits, head to the company's website.
Some things are just so stunning that they need to be seen multiple times, and getting to walk through Vincent van Gogh's dazzling artworks at multi-sensory experience Van Gogh Alive is clearly one of them. So, the extremely (and unsurprisingly) popular exhibition is heading back to Sydney again, ready to come alive this summer. Finished making your own Lego version of The Starry Night? Now, you can walk through the iconic painting projected large across The Grand Pavilion at Entertainment Quarter. The experience will kick off its return on Thursday, December 8, just in time to pair the sunny days with some sunflowers — and it's bringing plenty more, including both familiar and new parts of the exhibition. The big two will be back, of course — aka two of van Gogh's most popular works transformed into vivid new guises. Again, when you see The Starry Night, you'll actually be walking through it. Love Sunflowers (the painting, as well as the plant)? Then get ready for the immersive Sunflower infinity room. The project is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Grande Exhibitions, which, for more than a decade and a half now, has hosted immersive exhibitions and gallery experiences in over 150 cities across the world. The company also owns and operates Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. A family-friendly experience, Van Gogh Alive creates the sensation of walking right into the Dutch artist's paintings — and you definitely won't feel like you're just standing in an ordinary gallery. Attendees encounter van Gogh's world-famous works in fine detail thanks to Grande Exhibitions' state-of-the-art technology, which uses 40 high-definition projectors. A classical musical score accompanies the vibrant colours, too, as presented in cinema-quality surround sound. This new Sydney season of Van Gogh Alive will pop up in The Grand Pavilion's huge 70 metre by 25 metre bespoke marquee, which also includes a themed bar and cafe space. And if you're wondering how popular the experience has proven so far, more than 8.5 million people have visited it in 80-plus cities worldwide. Van Gogh Alive will run from Thursday, December 8 at The Grand Pavilion, The Entertainment Quarter. Tickets will go on sale from Thursday, August 4 — for further details, head to the event's website. Images: Morgan Sette / Miles Noel Photography / Grande Experiences.
A magical-realist coming-of-age tale, a clear-eyed family drama, a twisty crime and detective thriller, a time capsule of Brisbane in the 80s: since first hitting the page in 2018, Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe has worn its happy flitting between different genres and tones, and constant seesawing from hope to heartbreak and back again, as confidently as readers have long envisaged Eli Bell's wide grin. That hopping and jumping, that refusal to be just one type of story and stick to a single mood, has always made sense on the page — and in the excellent seven-part Netflix adaptation that now brings Australia's fastest-selling debut novel ever to the screen from Thursday, January 11, it also couldn't feel more perfect. As played by the charmingly talented Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom), Eli's smile is indeed big. As scripted by screenwriter John Collee (Hotel Mumbai), directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Man Who Invented Christmas) with Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) and Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket), and with Dalton and Joel Edgerton (The Stranger) among the executive producers, the miniseries version of Boy Swallows Universe embraces its multitudes wholeheartedly. Like style, like substance: a semi-autobiographical novel penned by a writer and journalist who lived variations of plenty that he depicts, learned and accepted early that everyone has flaws, and patently has the imagination of someone who coped with life's hardships as a child by escaping into dreams of an existence more fanciful, Dalton's tome and every iteration that it inspires has to be many things in one bustling package. Its characters are, after all. Seeing people in general, parts of a city usually overlooked, and folks with complicated histories or who've made questionable choices — those forced in particular directions out of financial necessity, too — in more than just one fashion flutters at the centre of Boy Swallows Universe. In the Australian Book Industry Awards' 2019 Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year and Audio Book of the Year, and now on streaming, Eli's nearest and dearest demand it. So does the enterprising Darra-dwelling 12-year-old boy who knows how to spy the best in those he loves, but remains well-aware of their struggles. His older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley, The Heights) hasn't spoken since they were younger, instead drawing messages in the sky with his finger, but is as fiercely protective as elder siblings get. Doting and dedicated mum Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin, Babylon) is a recovering heroin addict with a drug dealer for a partner. And Lyle Orlik (Travis Fimmel, Black Snow), that mullet-wearing stepfather, cares deeply about Eli and Gus — including when Eli convinces him to let him join his deliveries. Slim Halliday (Bryan Brown, Anyone But You), the boys' sometimes babysitter and frequent source of wisdom, endured a lengthy stretch in the infamous Boggo Road Gaol for a murder that he's adamant he didn't commit. He's at peace with doing that time, but he also broke out (and he's based on an IRL person, name and all). Eli and Gus' biological father Robert (Simon Baker, Limbo) is an alcoholic and agoraphobic bookworm more comfortable with novels than people, initially estranged from his sons when Boy Swallows Universe begins, yet devoted to them in his affections. And Eli himself is all precocious charisma and keen curiosity mixed with unflinching nerve, whether being picked on at school, standing up to criminal thugs, breaking into a prison or talking his way into a job. Unsurprisingly, that's a combination that lands him in as many jams as it gets him out of. In all takes so far (the stage in 2021 among them), Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli as Lyle's illicit profession has consequences, Frankie is incarcerated and Robert re-enters his sons' lives. There's a bouncy air to the TV series as it works through its plot, with Eli doing everything that he can to make sure his mum is okay and get to the bottom of a disappearance, as continues when the show jumps forward to find him as a 17-year-old (then played by Totally Completely Fine's Zac Burgess). Again, the approach and atmosphere apes Boy Swallows Universe's protagonist, who can rarely be anywhere fast enough. This is a tale of darkness and violence — of addiction, murder, bullies, trauma, drugs, lopped-off limbs, loss, domestic assault, gang wars, jail, PTSD and fiendish plans — while also a story about working towards the best even in what seems to be the most dire of circumstances. Of course Eli keeps leaping towards brighter possibilities, then being pulled back into the shit (sometimes literally). A simple journey towards better days, this isn't, however. As its irrepressible central figure kicks around his neighbourhood, tags along with Lyle, writes letters to his prison penpal (Briggs, Get Krack!n), goes to school with a wannabe drug lord (Zachary Wan, Never Too Late) and endeavours to befriend The Courier-Mail's young star crime reporter (Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me), there's no shying away from the harsh realities surrounding Eli and almost everyone that he knows. Boy Swallows Universe doesn't revel in despair, though, but commits to seeing things as they are with no judgement — and zero traces of fatalistic certainty that nothing more will ever spring. That type of candour is as rare as spotting the areas of Brisbane that the narrative is set in on-screen. For locals, there's no mistaking that this is the River City, especially when there's no trace of Boggo Road, the Story Bridge or Brisbane City Hall in sight. Even as flying cars, red phones with mysterious voices on the line, eerie predictions and secret lairs factor into the plot, every second looks and feels lived in, turning an ace Brisbane book into an ace Brisbane-shot series. Tenderness and diligence linger in Collee's handling of Dalton's tale, and in Nalluri, Moorhouse and Mordaunt's attentiveness as directors. That said, if their efforts weren't matched by stellar casting, Boy Swallows Universe could've started to unravel the moment that it kicks off with Lyle being dragged away by nefarious heavies. The main adult cast members are superb, specifically in delivering unvarnished explorations of complex characters with a plethora of clashing — and realistic, and relatable — traits. Fimmel conveys Lyle's relentless attempts to take care of his family with both love and wildness in his every move. Tonkin is as resolute as she is adoring, while never sanding away the knocks she keeps taking. Baker turns in his second exceptional performance in the space of the year, and Brown perfects the role of a no-nonsense yet supportive mentor that it instantly seems he was born to play. Boy Swallows Universe's younger stars are equally as impressive. Expressive in their own ways — one in energy and movement, the other via quiet glances — Cameron and Halley know that they're the heart and soul of the show, and more than live up to the task. The former is missed when Eli ages up, but Burgess brings a deep-seated yearning to the part as someone who has spent his years approaching adulthood striving for so much that's constantly out of his grasp, despite still appreciating what he has. As with almost every detail seen and heard, that sense of absence when Eli gets older couldn't be more apt. This account of coping with day-to-day life at its most brutal and most fantastical doesn't only refuse to be just one thing, or stay with just one version of Eli, but wouldn't contemplate giving its audience anything other than the full emotional universe. Check out the full trailer for Boy Swallows Universe below: Boy Swallows Universe streams via Netflix from Thursday, January 11, 2024. Images: courtesy of Netflix © 2023.
2023 marks 65 years since Australia's film and television industry first started recognising its best work of the year with accolades. Back then, the gongs were called the AFI Awards. When the Australian Film Institute created the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts in 2011, the awards changed names to the AACTAs. The country's standout flicks and TV highlights are still rewarded with shiny trophies, though — and, since making the switch in monikers in 2012, the big winners paint quite the picture of Australia's screen output. Red Dog, The Sapphires, The Great Gatsby, The Babadook, The Water Diviner, Mad Max: Fury Road, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion, Sweet Country, The Nightingale, Babyteeth, Nitram and Elvis have all been anointed Australia's top movie. Among the small-screen recipients, Best Drama has gone to East West 101, Puberty Blues, Redfern Now, The Code, Glitch, Wentworth, Top of the Lake: China Girl, Mystery Road, Total Control, The Newsreader and Mystery Road: Origin. They all now have company, with the 2024 awards looking back on 2023's highlights announced on Saturday, February 10. Talk to Me was named Best Film, while The Newsreader claimed Best Drama again. The AACTAs are known to concentrate the love towards a few titles each year. 2024 is different, however. The list of winners goes on, and makes an ace must-see lineup of top-notch Aussie movies and TV shows to catch up on or revisit from the past year. Here's 13 that you can watch now: Movie Must-Sees Talk to Me An embalmed hand can't click its fingers, not even when it's the spirit-conducing appendage at the heart of Talk to Me. This is an absolute finger snap of a horror film, however, and a fist pump of a debut by Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou. As RackaRacka, the Adelaide-born pair have racked up six-million-plus subscribers on YouTube via viral comedy, horror and action combos. As feature filmmakers, they're just as energetic, eager and assured, not to mention intense about giving their all. Talk to Me opens with a party that's soon blighted by both a stabbing and a suicide. It segues swiftly into a Sia sing-along, then the violent loss of one half of the Aussie coat of arms. A breakout hit at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it sparked a distribution bidding war won by indie favourite A24, it's constantly clicking, snapping and ensuring that viewers are paying attention — with terror-inducing imagery, a savvy sense of humour, both nerve and the keenness to unnerve, and a helluva scary-movie premise that's exceptionally well-executed. The picture's outstretched mitt is the Philippous' Ouija board. That withered and scribbled-on paw is also a wildly unconventional way to get high. In a screenplay penned by Danny with fellow first-timer Bill Hinzman, but based on Bluey and Content executive producer Daley Pearson's short-film concept — yes, that Bluey — shaking hands with the distinctive meat hook is a party trick and dare as well. When the living are palm to palm with this dead duke, in flows a conjuring. A candle is lit, "talk to me" must be uttered, then "I let you in". Once heads are kicking back and the voices start, no one should grasp on for more than 90 seconds, as Hayley (Zoe Terakes, Nine Perfect Strangers) and Joss (Chris Alosio, Millie Lies Low) explain. But, as she navigates the anniversary of her mother's death, Mia (Sophie Wilde, Boy Swallows Universe) is up for going as far as she can. Here, being consumed by sinister spirits, not consuming booze, is an escape. That, and filming whatever twisted chaos happens when you connect with the otherworldly. It isn't all fun and frights and games, though; when her best friend Jade's (Alexandra Jensen, Joe vs Carole) 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird, First Day) takes part, traumatic consequences spring. AACTAs Won: Best Film, Best Direction (Danny and Michael Philippou), Best Lead Actress (Sophie Wilde), Best Editing, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Sound. Where to watch it: Talk to Me streams via Netflix, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Danny Philippou. Limbo When Ivan Sen sent a police detective chasing a murdered girl and a missing woman in the Australian outback in 2013's Mystery Road and its 2016 sequel Goldstone, he saw the country's dusty, rust-hued expanse in sun-bleached and eye-scorching colour. In the process, the writer, director, co-producer, cinematographer, editor and composer used his first two Aussie noir films and their immaculately shot sights to call attention to how the nation treats people of colour — historically since its colonial days and still now well over two centuries later. Seven years after the last Jay Swan movie, following a period that's seen that character make the leap to the small screen in three television seasons, Sen returned with a disappearance, a cop, all that inimitable terrain and the crimes against its Indigenous inhabitants that nothing can hide. Amid evident similarities, there's a plethora of differences between the Mystery Road franchise and Limbo; however, one of its simplest is also one of its most glaring and powerful: shooting Australia's ochre-toned landscape in black and white. Limbo's setting: Coober Pedy, the globally famous "opal capital of the world" that's known for its underground dwellings beneath the blazing South Australian earth, but reimagined as the fictional locale that shares the film's name — a place unmistakably sporting an otherworldly topography dotted by dugouts to avoid the baking heat, and that hasn't been able to overcome the murder of a local Indigenous girl two decades earlier. The title is symbolic several times over, including to the visiting Travis Hurley (Simon Baker, Boy Swallows Universe), whose first task upon arrival is checking into his subterranean hotel, rolling up his sleeves and indulging his heroin addiction. Later, he'll be told that he looks more like a drug dealer than a police officer — but, long before then, it's obvious that his line of work and the sorrows he surveys along the way have kept him hovering in a void. While he'll also unburden a few biographical details about mistakes made and regrets held before the film comes to an end, such as while talking to the missing Charlotte Hayes' brother Charlie (Rob Collins, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and sister Emma (Natasha Wanganeen, The Survival of Kindness), this tattooed cop with wings inked onto his back is already in limbo before he's literally in Limbo talking. AACTAs Won: Best Indie Film. Where to watch it: Limbo streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Ivan Sen and Simon Baker. The New Boy Warwick Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: name a better Australian quintet. The director of Samson & Delilah and Sweet Country, the two-time Oscar-winner and Tár tour de force, the local screen mainstay, and the Bad Seeds bandmates and seasoned film composers all combine not for the ultimate Aussie dinner party, but for The New Boy. None are debuting in their jobs. All are exceptional. They're each made better, however, by the luminous and entrancing Aswan Reid. As well as playing the titular part, the 11-year-old first-time actor lives it among such a wealth of acclaimed and experienced talent — and he's such a find in such excellent company, while saying little in words but everything in every other way, that Thornton's third fictional feature owes him as much of a debt as its applauded and awarded household names. There's a spark to Reid from the moment that he's first spied grappling with outback law enforcement under blazing rays as Cave and Ellis' (This Much I Know to Be True) latest rousing score plays. His sun-bleached hair couldn't be more fitting, or symbolic, but it's the confident way in which he holds himself as New Boy, plus the determined look on his face, that sears. Wily and wiry, the feature's eponymous figure is toppled by a boomerang, then bagged up and transported to the remote Catholic orphanage doted on by Sister Eileen (Blanchett, Nightmare Alley) in the 1940s. The cop doing the escorting notes that the kid is a bolter, but the nun is just as fast in her kindness. She sees what Thornton wants his audience to see: a boy that beams with his presence and through his sense of self, even though he's been snatched up, taken from his Country and forced into a Christian institution against his will. Sister Eileen is as drawn to him as the movie, but — and not just due to the red wine she likes sipping and the subterfuge she's keeping up about the resident father's absence — she isn't as certain about what to do. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in Film (Aswan Reid), Best Supporting Actress (Deborah Mailman), Best Cinematography, Best Production Design. Where to watch it: The New Boy streams via Binge, Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, and our interview with Warwick Thornton. John Farnham: Finding the Voice There's no need to try to understand it: John Farnham's 1986 anthem 'You're the Voice' is an instant barnstormer of a tune. An earworm then, now and for eternity, it was the Australian song of the 80s. With its layered beats, swelling force and rousing emotion, all recorded in a garage studio, it's as much of a delight when it's soundtracking comedy films like the Andy Samberg-starring Hot Rod and the Steve Coogan-led Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa as it is echoing out of every Aussie pub's jukebox. Making a noise and making it clear, 'You're the Voice' is also one of the reasons that Farnham's 1986 album Whispering Jack remains the best-selling homegrown release ever nearing four decades since it first dropped. But, as John Farnham: Finding the Voice tells, this iconic match of track and talent — this career-catapulting hit for a singer who'd initially tasted fame as a teen pop idol two decades prior — almost didn't happen. Whispering Jack also almost didn't come to fruition at all, a revelation so immense that imagining Australia without that album is like entering Back to the Future Part II's alternative 80s. Writer/director Poppy Stockwell (Scrum, Nepal Quake: Terror on Everest) and her co-scribe Paul Clarke (a co-creator of Spicks and Specks) know this, smartly dedicating a significant portion of Finding the Voice to that record and its first single. The titbits and behind-the-scenes anecdotes flow, giving context to a song almost every Aussie alive since it arrived knows in their bones. Gaynor Wheatley, the wife of Farnham's late best friend and manager Glenn, talks about how they mortgaged their house to fund the release when no label would touch the former 'Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)' crooner. Chris Thompson, the English-born, New Zealand-raised Manfred Mann's Earth Band musician who co-penned 'You're the Voice', chats about initially declining Farnham's request to turn the tune into a single after the latter fell for it via a demo. AACTAs Won: Best Documentary. Where to watch it: John Farnham: Finding the Voice streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Shayda Whether or not Noora Niasari was ever explicitly told to write what she knew, the Iranian Australian filmmaker has taken that advice to heart. Her mother listened to the same guidance first, even if it was never spoken to her, either. The latter penned a memoir that has gone unpublished, but helped form the basis of the powerful and affecting Shayda. This account of a mum and her daughter attempting to start anew in a women's shelter doesn't entirely stick to the facts that writer/director Niasari and her mother lived through. The Sundance-premiering, Melbourne International Film Festival-opening, Oscars-entered feature — it was Australia's contender for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, but wasn't nominated — isn't afraid to fictionalise details in search of the best screen story. Still, the tale that's told of courage, resilience, rebuilding lives and finding a new community is deeply and patently personal. Perhaps even better, it's inescapably authentic. Niasari peers back at being barely of primary-school age and making a new home. Fleeing to a women's shelter is the only option that the film's eponymous figure (Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2022's Cannes Best Actress-winner for Holy Spider) has to get away from the abusive Hossein (Osamah Sami, Savage River), whose controlling nature is matched by that of their patriarchal culture. So, Shayda leaves with six-year-old Mona (debutant Selina Zahednia). As she waits for her divorce proceedings to go through — a complicated task under Iranian law and customs — she seeks refuge at a secret site overseen by the caring Joyce (Leah Purcell, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart). Even surrounded by kindness and filled with desperation for a better future, every iota of Shayda's decision is fraught and tense; Niasari starts the film with Mona at an airport being told what to do if she's ever there with her father, should he try to take her not only away from her mum but also back to Iran. AACTAs Won: Best Casting. Where to watch it: Shayda streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Noora Niasari. Carmen Breaking down a classic tale best known as an opera, rebuilding it as a lovers-on-the-run drama set across the US–Mexico border and making every moment burst with emotion, Benjamin Millepied's Carmen is a movie that moves. While its director is a feature debutant, his background as a dancer and choreographer — he did both on Black Swan, the latter on Vox Lux as well, then designed the latest Dune films' sandwalk — perhaps means that the former New York City Ballet principal and Paris Opera Ballet Director of Dance was fated to helm rhythmic, fluid and rousing cinema. His loose take on Georges Bizet's singing-driven show and Prosper Mérimée's novella before it, plus Alexander Pushkin's poem The Gypsies that the first is thought to be based on, is evocative and sensual. It's sumptuous and a swirl of feelings, too, as aided in no small part by its penchant for dance. And, it pirouettes with swoon-inducing strength with help from its stunningly cast leads: Scream queen and In the Heights star Melissa Barrera, plus Normal People breakout and Aftersun Oscar-nominee Paul Mescal. When Mescal earned the world's attention in streaming's initial Sally Rooney adaptation, he had viewers dreaming of fleeing somewhere — Ireland or anywhere — with him. Carmen's namesake (Barrera) absconds first, then has PTSD-afflicted Marine Aidan (Mescal) join her attempt to escape to Los Angeles. Carmen runs after her mother Zilah (flamenco dancer Marina Tamayo) greets the cartel with thunderous footwork, but can't stave off their violence. Aidan enters the story once Carmen is smuggled stateside, where he's a reluctant volunteer border guard in Texas alongside the trigger-happy Mike (Benedict Hardie, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson). As the picture's central pair soon hurtle towards California, to Zilah's lifelong friend Masilda's (Rossy de Palma, Parallel Mothers) bar, they try to fly to whatever safety and security they can find. That may be fleeting, however, and might also be in each other's arms. AACTAs Won: Best Costume Design. Where to watch it: Carmen streams via Stan, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Benjamin Millepied. The Giants Nature documentaries rarely simply spy the earth's wonders, point cameras that way and let the planet itself do the talking. Instead, films such as 2017's The Ancient Woods are by far the exception rather than the rule. And yet, the best footage within any movie about our pale blue dot makes viewers wish that more favoured the "a picture is worth a thousand words" approach. Take The Giants, for instance. When it includes talk, which is often, it's no lesser a feature. The conversation and commentary offered is illuminating, in fact. But when it wanders through Tasmania's colossal foliage within the Styx Valley, Southern Forests and the Tarkine, which is also regularly, it feels like it barely needs to utter a single thing. This isn't merely a factual affair about flora, with environmental campaigner and pioneering former Greens senator Bob Brown firmly at its core, but The Giants knows that paying tribute to both is best done by staring at leafy surroundings as much as it can. It's no everyday feat to get a movie-watching audience admiring the natural world while peering at a screen, even if the frequency with which David Attenborough's docos arrive has helped everyone both think and expect otherwise. Indeed, notching up that achievement is a mammoth accomplishment on the part of The Giants' filmmakers Laurence Billiet (Freeman) and Rachel Antony, plus cinematographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh (Carbon — The Unauthorised Biography). Crucially, it assists what was always going to be a fascinating ode to bloom as much as any plant that it waters with attention. When you're crafting a documentary that intertwines a love letter to Australia's ancient native forests and their ecosystems with a powerful portrait of a hefty figure who has devoted much of his life to fighting for them, showing all the green splendour it possibly can is equally a must and a masterstroke. AACTAs Won: Best Cinematography in a Documentary. Where to watch it: The Giants streams via DocPlay, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story Post-viewing soundtrack, sorted: to watch Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is to take a trip down memory lane with the Australian music industry and hear homegrown standouts from the past five decades along the way. Unsurprisingly, this documentary already has an album to go with it, a stacked release which'd instantly do its eponymous figure proud. His tick of approval wouldn't just stem from the artists surveyed, but because Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story's accompanying tunes comprise a three-disc number like Mushroom Records' first-ever drop, a 1973 Sunbury Festival live LP. To tell the tale of Gudinski, the record executive and promoter who became a household name, is to tell of Skyhooks, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Yothu Yindi, Bliss n Esso, The Temper Trap, Gordi and Vance Joy, too — and to listen to them. Need this on-screen tribute to give you some kind of sign that the Gudinski and Mushroom story spans a heap of genres? Both the film and the album alike include Peter Andre. Any journey through Michael Gudinski's life and career, from his childhood entrepreneurship selling car parks on his family's vacant lot to his years and years getting Aussie music to the masses — and, on the touring side, bringing massively popular overseas artists to Aussies — needs to also be an ode to the industry that he adored. The man and scene are inseparable. But perhaps Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story plays as such an overt love letter to Australian music because it's an unashamed hagiography of Gudinski. Although the movie doesn't deliver wall-to-wall praise, it comes close. When it begins to hint at any traces of arrogance, moodiness or ruthlessness, it quickly does the doco equivalent of skipping to the next track. Australian Rules and Suburban Mayhem director Paul Goldman, a seasoned hand at music videos as well, has called his feature Ego and there's no doubting his subject had one; however, the takeaway in this highly authorised biography is that anything that doesn't gleam was simply part of his natural mischievousness and eager push for success. AACTAs Won: Best Sound in a Documentary. Where to watch it: Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Small-Screen Standouts Deadloch Trust Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, Australia's favourite Kates and funniest double act, to make a killer TV show about chasing a killer that's the perfect sum of two excellent halves. Given their individual and shared backgrounds, including creating and starring in cooking show sendup The Katering Show and morning television spoof Get Krack!n, the pair unsurprisingly add another reason to get chuckling to their resumes; however, with Deadloch, they also turn their attention to crime procedurals. The Kates already know how to make viewers laugh. They've established their talents as brilliant satirists and lovers of the absurd in the process. Now, splashing around those skills in Deadloch's exceptional eight-episode first season lead by Kate Box (Stateless) and Madeleine Sami (The Breaker Upperers), they've also crafted a dead-set stellar murder-mystery series that ranks among The Kates' best work in almost every way. The only time that it doesn't? Not putting the tremendous pair on-screen themselves. Taking place in a sleepy small town, commencing with a body on a beach, and following both the local cop trying to solve the case and the gung-ho blow-in from a big city leading the enquiries, Deadloch has all the crime genre basics covered from the get-go. The Tasmanian spot scandalised by the death is a sitcom-esque quirky community, another television staple that McCartney and McLennan nail. Parody requires deep knowledge and understanding; you can't comically rip into and riff on something if you aren't familiar with its every in and out. That said, Deadloch isn't in the business of simply mining well-worn TV setups and their myriad of conventions for giggles, although it does that expertly. With whip-smart writing, the Australian series is intelligent, hilarious, and all-round cracking as a whodunnit-style noir drama and as a comedy alike — and, as Box's by-the-book Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and Sami's loose and chaotic Darwin blow-in Eddie Redcliffe are forced to team up, it's also one of the streaming highlights of the past year. AACTAs Won: Best Acting in a Comedy (Kate Box), Best Casting in Television, Best Editing in Television, Best Original Score in Television, Best Screenplay in Television. Where to watch it: Deadloch streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart In The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, blooms are rarely out of sight and petals never evade attention. Adapted from Holly Ringland's 2018 novel, the seven-part Australian miniseries is set on a farm that cultivates native flora. It dubs the women who tend to them, an ensemble from various backgrounds largely seeking refuge from abusive pasts, "flowers" as well. Whether stem by stem or in bunches, its characters use florets as their own secret language. And yet, as much as bouquets linger, getting all things floral on the mind, star Sigourney Weaver burns rather than blossoms. Fire is another of the show's strong recurring motifs, so it's still fitting that its biggest name is as all-consuming as a blaze. She needs to be that scorching: this is a story about endeavouring to survive while weathering woes that ignite everything in their path. Weaver also draws upon almost five decades of thriving before the camera, often playing steely, smart and sometimes-raging women. Her on-screen career began sparking with Alien, the film that made her an instant icon. Since then, everyone has heard her performances scream — and, in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, she's again dazzling. Flowers frequently surround Weaver's June Hart far and wide. With a carefully selected cutting, the shotgun-toting matriarch of Thornfield Flower Farm can say all she needs to. That's what the eponymous Alice (Ayla Browne, Nine Perfect Strangers) quickly learns about her grandmother when she arrives at the property following a tragedy, becoming one of the farm's flowers after losing her pregnant mother Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Hotel Mumbai) and violent father Clem (Charlie Vickers, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a tale about traumas, secrets and lies that lurk as deeply as the earth — about the choices and cycles that take root in such fraught soil, too. When nine-year-old Alice relocates fresh from hospital, the determined June, her doting partner Twig (Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and their adopted daughter Candy Blue (Frankie Adams, The Expanse) aim to shower the girl with sunlight to blaze away her horrors. You can't just bury problems, however, then hope that something vivid and colourful will grow over the top. Dedicating its first half to Alice's childhood and its second to 14 years later, when she's in her early twenties (Alycia Debnam-Carey, Fear the Walking Dead), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart understands this immutable fact in its core. AACTAs Won: Best Miniseries, Best Cinematography in Television, Best Production Design in Television, Best Sound in Television. Where to watch it: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Colin From Accounts A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. AACTAs Won: Best Narrative Comedy Series. Where to watch it: Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. The Newsreader Aspiring Australian actors, take note: modelling your career after Anna Torv's so far is highly recommended. She's among the lengthy list of Aussies to call The Secret Life of Us one of her launch pads (another: Joel Edgerton). For five seasons and 100 episodes, she led fantastic US sci-fi series Fringe opposite Joshua Jackson (Fatal Attraction). The Daughter and Force of Nature: The Dry 2 in cinemas, plus Secret City, Mindhunter and The Last of Us on TV: they're also on her resume, which boasts both Hollywood and homegrown standouts. In the latter category, so is The Newsreader. Debuting with a six-episode first season in 2021, returning for the same stretch in 2023 and with another half-dozen on the way in 2024, it casts Torv as Helen Norville, News at Six's first-ever female newsreader. With the show set in the 80s, that gig isn't easy as misogyny and sexism run rife in the media industry — and as major real-life events, including the Challenger explosion, the Azaria Chamberlain case, Chernobyl and the 1987 federal election, are weaved in, all requiring news coverage. Torv is unsurprisingly excellent as Helen, and also in great company. As Dale Jennings, who starts the series as a budding reporter, Sam Reid is every bit up to the task. (He'a also someone whose own filmography is impressive both at home and abroad, thanks to past parts in The Railway Man, Belle, '71, Prime Suspect 1973, Lambs of God, The Drover's Wife the Legend of Molly Johnson and the Interview with the Vampire TV series.) The Newsreader isn't just anchored by two stellar leads, however, or guided by a cast that also includes Robert Taylor (Scrublands), William McInnes (NCIS: Sydney), Michelle Lim Davidson (After the Trial), Marg Downey (Jones Family Christmas), Chum Ehelepola (Preppers) and Stephen Peacocke (Five Bedrooms). It's textured at the character level, and also enthralling in its newsroom antics and glance backwards at Australia's past. Indeed, it's no wonder that more seasons keep coming. AACTAs Won: Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Anna Torv), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Hunter Page-Lochard), Best Costume Design in Television, Best Direction in Drama or Comedy. Where to watch it: The Newsreader streams via ABC iView. Love Me Add Love Me to the list of Aussie dramas set in Melbourne and featuring starry casts, alongside The Secret Life of Us, Tangle and Offspring. In this one, which first arrived in 2021, then returned in 2023, the ensemble runs deep — starting with Hugo Weaving (The Royal Hotel) and Bojana Novakovic (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)). Bob Morley (In Limbo), Celia Pacquola (Utopia), Heather Mitchell (Jones Family Christmas), William Lodder (Bali 2002) and Shalom Brune-Franklin (The Tourist) also feature. Kim Gyngell (The Artful Dodger), Eryn Jean Norvill (Preppers) and Frank Woodley (The Ex-PM) each pop up as well. Given that this is a series about a family and their complicated romantic relationships, the who's who-esque roster of familiar Aussie talent is particularly fitting. The show steps inside the Mathieson clan's amorous ups and downs, in this Aussie adaptation of Sweden's Älska mig, and with such superb casting instantly creating a sense of intimacy in an effort that marked Binge's first local series when it initially debuted. Weaving's Glenn is the father of Novakovic's Clara and Lodder's Aaron. They quickly have death to deal with, as well as love; that life is messy thrums through the series from the outset. What stands out isn't always every minute detail in the plot, as universal and relatable as the storylines are, but the folks navigating it. That, again, is a testament to such savvy casting. Of course, putting Weaving is anything is usually reason enough to press play, especially when he's in thoughtful and layered mode as an everyman grappling with the fact that existence brings pain as well as joy. Amid the scenic vision of Melbourne roved over by helmers Emma Freeman (The Newsreader) and Bonnie Moir (Foe's second-unit director), this series brings characters to the screen with deeply engaging performances that feel layered and lived-in, and worth spending time with. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in a Drama (Hugo Weaving), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Heather Mitchell). Where to watch it: Love Me streams via Binge.
Enchanting bathhouses are springing up all over Sydney, with the North Shore getting in on the wellness boom with the fresh arrival of Escape Bathhouse. Bringing an undeniable sense of tranquillity and relaxation to Roseville's heritage-listed Seymour Building, this brand-new sanctuary comes from the same team behind luxe Mudgee glamping retreat Sierra Escape. Spread across two levels of the striking, Spanish Mission-style building built in 1929, the 320-square-metre space offers a blend of traditional and modern therapies. Downstairs, you can dip into a hot mineral pool and unwind at the zero-alc bar, while upstairs houses steam rooms, infrared saunas, ice baths and massage treatment rooms. "We've always been passionate about creating spaces where people can truly reconnect — with themselves, with their partners, and with their friends," say Co-Founders Cameron and Tasch D'Arcy about the urban sanctuary. "After the success of Sierra Escape, we knew we wanted to bring that experience to a broader audience." Spanning the headline two-hour Escape Bathhouse experience, guests are invited to complete a hydrothermal circuit, combining a 37-degree mineral pool with chilly ice baths for restorative contrast therapy. Then, an infrared sauna and steam room deepen detoxification. During the circuit, guests can pause at the Placebo Bar to sip back non-alc refreshments and herbal tonics. "The North Shore is the perfect location for us to create a sanctuary where wellness and connection are at the forefront, allowing our guests to reset, rejuvenate, and experience the power of self-care in a social and intimate environment," Tasch says. With the North Shore still largely untapped when it comes to dedicated bathhouse experiences, this launch feels like a well-timed arrival. Alongside the bathhouse experience, restorative treatments deliver all-around renewal. The signature treatment, Nunyara, plays on its Indigenous meaning — "to be made well again" — with a two-hour ritual featuring breathwork, full-body exfoliation, therapeutic hot-stone massage and rose-quartz facial rollers. Perfect for weekend pamper sessions and post-gym recovery, Escape Bathhouse is another stellar spot to hit the pause button. Escape Bathhouse is now open Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday from 7am–8pm and Friday–Saturday from 7am–10pm in the Seymour Building, 989 Pacific Highway, Roseville. Head to the website for more information.
In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she pulls up a chair in the basement of the orphanage she calls home and demands that janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, The New Mutants), she plays whenever she's able, earning a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part Netflix miniseries firmly proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados. But it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen, whether projecting imagined matches onto the ceiling or peering down on competitive bouts directly from above. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. Indeed, from its very first moments, the series peppers all that chess gameplay throughout a knotty coming-of-age tale — because, while this is definitely a show about chess that serves up an underdog sports narrative, it's really a story about Beth's journey. After a family tragedy, she arrives at a Kentucky orphanage as a defiant slip of a girl. Forced to navigate a stern and strict environment, she finds solace in the tranquillisers that are handed out to the children like lollies, and in the game that instantly piques her curiosity from the moment that she spies Mr Shaibel playing it. Both will change her life, not only during her stint in institutionalised care, but when she's later adopted by the lonely Alma Wheatley (Marielle Heller, who is best-known for directing The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) and her frequently absent husband (Patrick Kennedy, Peterloo). By the time that Beth is busing around the US and jetting around the world to compete with the game's most formidable players, however, she's also leaning on alcohol as a coping mechanism. Taylor-Joy has had a busy 2020 — or, to be more accurate, audiences Down Under have been spoiled for opportunities to see her on-screen this year. The New Mutants finally reached cinemas after hefty delays, Radioactive just arrived locally after debuting overseas in 2019, and Emma released back before the pandemic changed 2020 forever. But The Queen's Gambit is her best role of the year and, alongside 2014's The Witch, her best work yet. Playing a teen and then a young woman who is constantly changing from moment to moment, and making that reality feel authentic and relatable, she's one of the key reasons that the series is so compelling. She's also crucial to all those chess scenes, with her determined stare and the gleam in her eyes the source of much of the show's weight and tension. She's in excellent company, too, not only thanks to Heller and Camp but also first-timer Moses Ingram as Beth's fellow orphanage resident and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones, Love Actually) as the cowboy hat-wearing reigning US chess champ; however, she's always the most pivotal piece on the board. Before his death in 2008, Heath Ledger had been preparing to bring The Queen's Gambit to cinemas. It would've marked his directorial debut, and he would've co-starred alongside Ellen Page as Beth. We'll never know how that might've turned out, but this tale works exceptionally well as a miniseries, with the longer duration giving it room to breathe and affording its central character and the themes she's grappling with the space they need to ferment. The Queen's Gambit also benefits from arriving post-Mad Men, a show that it shares a time period with, and visually resembles again and again. And it now reaches viewers at a time when more stories about women fighting their way through male-dominated realms are being made; Frank himself was also behind Netflix's seven-part western Godless, for example. When you start dreaming about chess after watching a single episode, you'll know you're hooked. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Top image: Phil Bray/Netflix.
When Josh and Julie Niland announced in 2024 that they're launching their debut Queensland restaurant this year, with Hamilton Island their destination, it was huge news. As the venue gets closer to welcoming patrons in the door — from Thursday, April 24, in fact — it remains one of the big culinary openings of 2025. You'll find the pair's first Sunshine State eatery at The Sundays, a brand-new hotel that's launching on the same date. But Catseye Pool Club, as the Nilands' venture is called, stands out from the pair's other restaurants. There's the location, of course — and eating here does indeed mean dining at an oceanfront spot in The Whitsundays. Then there's the fact that Catseye Pool Club isn't a seafood joint. Whenever Josh and Julie's names come up, it's usually in the same breath as their preferred form of protein. Acclaimed Sydney restaurants, award-winning cookbooks, global kudos, a sustainable seafood restaurant in Singapore: championing a fin-to-tail approach to the ocean's finest, their footprint spans all of the above. Whole-fish cookery remains a feature at Catseye Pool Club, though, but it's just one part of the menu. The plan is to hero Australian ingredients and celebrate shared dining, with dishes designed to be tucked into communally. Taking your time in the sun, making the most of the fact that you're on an island and relaxing in general are also key aspects of the vibe — and the pool club part of the restaurant's name says plenty. Yes, it the eatery is by the pool, too, so you'll be peering at water from multiple sources. "Whilst 'family-style' or 'share-style' dining is very much a way restaurants have operated for many years, the Catseye Pool Club approaches its menu with each item very much designed to be enjoyed as a whole table, with all the trimmings coming with each dish," explains Josh. "The menu is still undergoing final deliberation, but guests can expect beautiful fresh pastries made by the team, 'CPC' spanner crab royale, and coconut and verjuice honey bircher." The Nilands have released a sample menu, to give a further idea of the types of dishes that might be on offer. Think: eastern rock lobster with white bread rolls and tarragon mayonnaise; roasted chicken for two and four, paired with slow-cooked zucchini, chicken-fat roast potatoes, and tomato and grilled bread salad; grass-fed beef rib eye for four, accompanied by boiled greens and house fries; hard line-caught coral trout in salt pastry, again for four; and a neapolitan sundae for dessert. Catseye Pool Club will also serve up breakfast just for hotel guests — and you'll be able to enjoy its range of meals if you're hanging out by the pool rather than sitting at a table. "It's about creating an atmosphere where everyone can detach, unplug and simply enjoy being together. We will also extend our hospitality offering to the guest's pool and sun loungers, with a Queensland ingredient-focused cocktail menu curated by Sam Cocks, the Saint Peter Bar Director," explains Josh. While The Sundays is a luxury boutique hotel, being family friendly is part of the point of difference for the 59-room venue at Catseye Beach's northern end. That mindset applies to the new restaurant, too, with catering to family holidays a guiding principle. At a hotel run by Hamilton Island Enterprises, which is also behind qualia, guests can also look forward to that oceanfront swimming pool surrounded by private cabanas, alongside a pickleball court and tropical gardens. Room options include balcony and terrace, plus interconnecting family rooms, all decked out in calming hues. Find Catseye Pool Club at The Sundays, Catseye Beach, Hamilton Island, from Thursday, April 24, 2025. Head to the hotel's website for more details in the interim. Images: Hamilton Island Photography, Sharyn Cairns, Adam Rikys, Nick Leary.
We should all be well aware of the vast benefits that recycling brings to us individually, to our communities, and, of course, to the environment, and many of us make an effort to contribute as much as we can to this vital movement. Yet, some more than others have taken this dedication to reusing and recycling to an entirely new level. Artists and architects around the world have, over recent years, come up with ingenious creations made completely from recycled paper and cardboard. Buildings constructed using recycled paper are not only incredibly environmentally friendly but also cheap, lightweight, and easy to assemble. The structures can also be particularly distinguishable and aesthetically pleasing thanks to the creative methods needed to make use of the renewable materials. Here are seven of the most eco-friendly and remarkable structures made entirely from recycled paper. Dratz&Dratz Architekten's Office After passing by a recycling station and being inspired by the unexpected durability and functionality of recycled paper, Ben and Daniel Dratz of Berlin constructed this unique 2045 square foot workspace made from 550 bales of compressed recycled paper. The duo funded the project through a $200,000 grant from Essen's Zollverein School of Management and Design to build this pioneering 'paper house' on the grounds of a former mining complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The duo stacked and designed the building so that it could withstand several days of rain and then dry in the sun. Not only is this a wondrous architectural feat but it is also a mysterious construction with countless scraps of information and hidden secrets embedded deep within its walls. Shigeru Ban's Takatori Catholic Church One of the most famous paper structures from one of the world's most famous paper architects, the Takatori Catholic Church is not only an unfathomable achievement in architectural design, but it is also an incredibly important construction, which helped rebuild the spirit and unity of the Takatori community following the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Paper tubes were used as the structural elements of the rescue base and church — hence its nickname, 'Paper Dome' — and in 2005 these were then transferred to Taiwan to help the victims from the 921 Earthquake before being reused as a place of worship. Mode:lina Architekci's TRIWA Pop-up Store Nine hundred cardboard tubes were required to pull off this distinctive store for the up-market Swedish watch brand TRIWA. Aside from wanting to gain an alternative edge over their competitors, the company wanted low-cost, renewable materials that could quickly and easily be erected and which would increase their global brand awareness. The store is located in Poznan Plaza Shopping Mall in Poznan, Poland and consists of cabinets made from chunky chipboard panels, placed upon stacks of cardboard tubes made from OSB wood panels. Zouk Architect's Paper Tube Office Zouk Architects decided to adopt some eco-friendly methods for the construction of their very own open-plan office. Rather than simply discarding the unwanted moving waste when relocating their office, they decided to take full advantage of the cheap and highly structural materials to create an avant-garde office with a modern and renewable twist. Sumer Erek's Newspaper House In 2007, artist Sumer Erek made a call-out to the people of London to collate the newspapers lying inside their homes and scattered on the streets and add them to his creation, made entirely of 120,000 rolled newspapers. The transformative art- and think-piece is aimed to alter the perceptions of how Londonites, and everyone the world over, view rubbish and the mess we all contribute to. In an attempt to address the growing issue of free papers littering the streets of England, Erek wanted to reinforce the idea of 'reduce, reuse, recycle' and make the public realise that everyone is part of the problem, as well as the solution. Erek's expressive project was revealed in March 2008 and has since toured around England and various parts of Europe. Masahiro Chatani's Origamic Architecture On a slightly smaller scale, Masahiro Chatani's origamic architecture demonstrates the ways reused paper can be (re)used to create amazingly detailed and accurate depictions of famous buildings from around the world. Chatani invented the art of cutting paper simply using a knife to produce complex and beautiful paper structures in 1981 and since then many other artists have taken up the trend and added their own flair to it. Shigeru Ban's Tea House This tea house made entirely from recycled paper is another awe-inspiring creation from the hands of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, yet with a slightly more commercial edge. Ban wants to send out a message to the world, as many of these architects do, to stress the importance of reusing and recycling in order to save our planet from the heavy burdens we place upon it through the never-ending mounds of waste we continually create. Following true Japanese tradition, this 5-metre-long construction is complete with a table and four chairs as well as a waiting area with a bench — the perfect environmentally friendly location to sit back and enjoy a rejuvenating green tea.
"Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination" if you're dining at one of the restaurants across Sydney operated by star chef Luke Mangan this spring. The golden star of that menu is Luke's Golden Chocolate Bar, available as a dessert on the à la carte menu in each of Mangan's restaurants from now until October, and ten lucky diners will find a prize attached to their order. Inside the hand-painted golden exterior is chocolate mousse, a wafer and a gloriously oozy salted caramel core, making a treat that's as theatrical as it is tasty. "We want people to feel joy, surprise, and anticipation like a kid again, but in the best grown-up way," says Mangan. "That moment of cracking the bar is meant to be shared, photographed, and remembered. It's about creating moments that spark connection and conversation." [caption id="attachment_1018479" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] "Like many people, we grew up watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, dreaming of what might happen if we unwrapped a bar and found a golden ticket inside," continues Mangan. "We wanted to recreate that thrill for adults, but in a way that's luxe and elevated, whilst maintaining that essential fun factor that makes dining memorable." The aforementioned prizes are ten golden tickets (in the form of scratch cards underneath the plate) and are available across three of Luke Mangan & Company venues — Luke's Kitchen, at Kimpton Margot Hotel, Luke's Bistro & Bar in the Sydney Domestic Qantas Terminal, and Luc-San in Potts Point — with each ticket offering different and extremely limited experiences. The highest-tier prizes include a four-day cruise with Carnival Cruise Line Australia and two $10,000 superyacht dining experiences for ten, hosted by Luke Mangan. That could see you and nine guests enjoying Sydney Harbour with the maximum style possible, and fantastic food to boot. Other prizes include a three-course dinner for two at Luke's Kitchen, with a welcome drink, or a bottle of Luke Mangan wine to enjoy at home. Prize or not, it's worth trying out the Golden Chocolate Bar before it's gone in late October, or after all ten tickets have been claimed.
In Stay of the Week, we explore some of the world's best and most unique accommodations, giving you inspiration for your next trip. In this instalment, we set the compass to regional Victoria and take a trip to Sorrento for a special stay at the newly renovated Hotel Sorrento. [caption id="attachment_899023" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Rising High Media[/caption] WHAT'S SO SPECIAL? Here, in a buzzy pocket of the Mornington Peninsula, Hotel Sorrento has sat for nearly 150 years boasting enviable bay vistas. Now, the historic sandstone building is welcoming a massive expansion including a soon-to-come 30-metre pool and rooftop yoga studio. At the moment, Hotel Sorrento boasts five separate bars, two restaurants, newly refurbished accommodation rooms as well as private dining areas. It's an all-in-one destination escape just over an hour from Melbourne's CBD. THE ROOMS There are plenty of rooms to choose from at Hotel Sorrento, starting from $325 a night. Contemporary and light-filled, rooms are accented with a variety of deep European oak, natural limestone and marble. Heritage Balcony Rooms are the crowning jewel of this hotel, boasting private balconies with exclusive vistas overlooking the bay. [caption id="attachment_899027" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Threefold Social[/caption] FOOD AND DRINK Hotel Sorrento has recently overhauled its food and drink offering, helmed by George Calombaris. "The goal is to create dishes that not only satisfy the palate but tell a story of the region and the community's rich history," George Calombaris says. Shihuishi is the newest addition to the Hotel Sorrento family, nestled in the original, grand Hotel Sorrento ballroom. Head chef Junlin (Jerry) Yi (ex-Red Spice Road) is unafraid to stray from tradition, from prawn crackers paired with crème fraîche; to spanakopita dumplings that marry whipped feta and dill. Deeper into the menu, patrons will discover Australian-Canto cuisine that nods to the Chinese restaurant that stood onsite back in the 1980s. A prawn, lap cheong and onion stir-fry is a crowd-pleaser, along with duck pancakes and black pepper beef, served on a sizzling plate. Other classics run to the likes of steamed barra with soy, ginger and spring onion, or the ever-popular pork and prawn shumai. Otherwise, if you fancy a short but sweet wander, head across the road to the Conti for a slew of venues including a public bar, beer garden, speakeasy and fine diner. Luxe speakeasy Barlow is our pick for a pre-evening tipple. Sorrento institution Stringers has also recently been revamped by The Darling Group (Higher Ground, Kettle Black, Top Paddock), turning the corner store and cafe into an all-day restaurant, pizzeria, bar and providore. THE LOCAL AREA Sorrento is a much-loved spot for both Mornington Peninsula locals and regular holiday blow-ins, due to its accessibility from Melbourne. In warmer months, swimming, snorkeling and water activities at Sorrento Beach is a must-do. If you're looking to sidestep the crowds, Diamond Bay is a popular spot for both families and couples. A range of short, all-weather walking tracks are stunning year-around, including Coppins Track which finishes at the clifftop of Diamond Bay. The cliffside Millionaires Walk is named as a nod to the lavish private residences that line this path, or try the 7km Sorrento Circuit Walk, which hits all of this town's main attractions. THE EXTRAS Hotel Sorrento is looking to install a new 30-metre pool alongside a pool-friendly bar, rooftop yoga studio and gym by the end of 2023. If you're looking for a staycation special, Hotel Sorrento's winter escape package includes overnight accommodation for two, dinner for two at Shuihuishi and a bottle of local Pinot Noir for your room. Feeling inspired to book a truly unique getaway? Head to Concrete Playground Trips to explore a range of holidays curated by our editorial team. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips in destinations all over the world. Images: supplied.
More so than any other in recent memory, this summer is going to be all about socialising. And, whether you've got a special occasion to celebrate or looking for places to have those overdue catch-ups, you can't beat a private dining room if you want to go all out. We've teamed up with Hennessy to highlight six impressive private rooms in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for your next baller night (or day) out. Round up your crew, get the Henny flowing and your night is set.
Hoping that 2022 proves brighter than the last couple of years? Aren't we all — and, in Sydney, it's set to do exactly that in one particularly eye-catching way. After cancelling its 2020 and 2021 events due to the pandemic, Vivid will be back with its citywide celebration of creativity, innovation and technology (and luminous lights) from Friday, May 27–Sunday, June 18, and the festival has just revealed the first must-sees on its lineup. Words like dazzling, glowing, radiant and vibrant get thrown around a lot when describing Vivid, but there's a great reason for that: its installations and events — and especially its art displays and light projections — really are spectacular. 2022's bill looks to live up to the hype, too, based on the four inclusions revealed from first-time Festival Director Gill Minervini's program so far. Get ready to see plenty of Sydney in a whole new light, naturally. At The Goods Line at Central Station, Convergence will surround Sydneysiders in an immersive light-and-sound experience — all in the disused Goods Line railway tunnel, which'll be used for the first time ever. It'll actually be Vivid's largest-scale laser exhibition ever, too, if you need any more convincing. Next, over at Customs House at Circular Quay, none other than famed Aussie artist Ken Done will be joining forces with Sydney-based projection specialists Spinifex Group to deliver a work called For Sydney With Love. Yes, it's a love letter to the city, and it spans everything from Sydney's landmarks to its natural environment, which Done will bring to life. Also a highlight: Earth Deities, which'll set up at Hickson Road Reserve in The Rocks. It's the work of Western Sydney-raised artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, who is known for making large-scale sculptural forms out of compacted earth, steel and paint. Here, Nithiyendran will craft what's been dubbed as a "multi-limbed avatar", which'll come complete with animated fire and electricity. And, spanning an eight-kilometre continuous stretch from Sydney Opera House to Central Station, Future Natives will guide folks along Vivid's Light Walk. You'll find your way along thanks to sculptures along the route, including a flock of 200 Sydney bird species created by Sydney artist Chris Daniel. [caption id="attachment_843269" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Future Natives, Chris Daniel[/caption] The full Vivid 2022 lineup will be announced mid-March, but you can also look forward to spending time elsewhere in the Sydney CBD, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Barangaroo and Darling Harbour, and at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, MCA and Customs House. Can't wait? You have to, sorry, but because Wednesday, February 16 marked 100 days till Vivid 2022 kicks off, the event has also stationed countdown clocks designed by artist Elliott Routledge — who'll also feature in the full festival program — outside the Queen Victoria Building at Town Hall and at Gateway Plaza at Circular Quay. So, you'll always know how many days are left until Sydney gets brighter for a few wintry weeks. [caption id="attachment_843267" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dallas Kilponen / DestinationNSW[/caption] Vivid Sydney 2022 will run from Friday, May 27–Sunday, June 18. We'll update you with the full lineup when it's announced in mid-March — and for further information in the interim, visit the event's website. Top images: Convergence, Mandylands / Earth Deities, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Jessica Maurer, Kane-Sullivan.
For the past few months, Netflix has been drip-feeding The Crown fans sneak peeks of the show's fourth season. By now, you've probably watched the first teaser, which gave a brief 46-second snippet of the royal drama's latest ups and downs. And you've likely also viewed the longer trailer, which sported quite the heavy mood. If you can't wait for more, however, a new glimpse at the series' next batch of episodes has just hit — just over a fortnight before you'll be able to watch the entire thing, too. Of course, it has been a huge year for The Crown all round, even before the show started dropping teasers and trailers. At the beginning of 2020, Netflix announced that it would end the royal drama after its fifth season. Then it had a change of heart, revealing it would continue the series for a sixth season. That's quite the drama — and, obviously, there's more to come on-screen. This season focuses on two showdowns. Firstly, as shown in some detail in the new trailer, Queen Elizabeth II (Oscar-winner Olivia Colman) and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (The X-Files icon Gillian Anderson) don't quite see eye to eye. Also, with Prince Charles' (God's Own Country's Josh O'Connor) marriage to Lady Diana Spencer (Pennyworth's Emma Corrin) a big plot point, the latter clashes with the entire royal establishment. When season four hits Netflix on Sunday, November 15, it'll be the last chance for fans to see the current lineup on talent. The series' fifth and sixth seasons — which are expected to follow the Queen in the 1990s and 2000s — will switch out its cast again, as it did after seasons one and two. This time, after season four, Downton Abbey, Maleficent and Paddington star Imelda Staunton will don the titular headwear, and Princess Margaret will be played by Staunton's Maleficent co-star and Phantom Thread Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville. Also, Game of Thrones and Tales from the Loop's Jonathan Pryce will step into Prince Philip's shoes and Australian Tenet, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Widows star Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana. Check out The Crown's latest season four trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiXEpminPms The Crown's fourth season will hit Netflix on Sunday, November 15. Image: Ollie Upton / Netflix
Yesterday afternoon, Melbourne hosted a climate change rally and knocked it out of the park. Upwards of 60,000 people attended the march through the CBD, which according to organisers would make it the largest rally of its kind in Australian history. The demonstrators marched from the State Library to Parliament House, and were joined by the likes of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Greens Senator Richard Di Natalie and national treasure Paul Kelly, who led the crowd in a rendition of 'From Little Things, Big Things Grow.' The People's Climate March in Melbourne was the first of many set to take place around the country this weekend, with Australian's calling on their leaders to take a strong stand against climate change ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris next week. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, a further 10,000 people marched through Brisbane this morning, while there's a demonstration scheduled for Sydney tomorrow afternoon. Here's hoping they can amass even bigger numbers. If there was ever a time to put the ol' Sydney-Melbourne rivalry to good use, this would have to be it. To find the closest People's Climate March near you, go here. And if you want to feel good about humanity, we've gathered some of the best social media reactions from the Melbourne rally, below. "Coal- don't dig it! Leave it in the ground, it's time to get with it!" Huge crowds at Melb #peoplesclimate march! pic.twitter.com/IHRG8mLm1L — Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) November 27, 2015 'The largest climate change rally we have ever seen in Australian history' #peoplesclimate #COP21 #melbourne https://t.co/Rcs2IjuU58 — CAHA Inc (@healthy_climate) November 27, 2015 That's a great view #Melbourne #peoplesclimate march @Peoples_Climate 50,000 pic.twitter.com/MPAXtslZgo — Samantha Dunn (@SamanthaDunnMP) November 27, 2015 Pics from the #peoplesclimate march in Melbourne this evening. Organisers think they have 30,000. #PeoplesMarch pic.twitter.com/IA1zFib0om — Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) November 27, 2015 Pretty sure this guy just won #peoplesclimate (via @350Australia) pic.twitter.com/dAN3TSEjjO — GetUp! (@GetUp) November 27, 2015
As far as the team at WOHA is concerned, green cities are the future. Their latest project, Singapore's Park Royal Hotel, is evidence of how it's done. As a result of the building's construction, the site's capacity for natural growth has doubled. Comprised of twelve storeys that overlook Singapore's CBD, the Park Royal is not just a hotel, it's an oasis - not merely another building, but a kind of extension of the adjacent park. Elevated gardens, filled with palm trees, frangipanis and rambling tropical flora, extend from every fourth level. Inside, the green theme continues, with plants and water features forming an inherent part of the interior design. On the top floor, the Hotel's club lounge offers panoramic views, and on the fifth, the spa area features an expansive pool and a 300-metre long botanic 'strip'. All rooms are northward facing, looking over the elevated gardens and/or the park. Energy efficiency is prioritised throughout, with maximised natural lighting, self-shading, harvesting of rainwater, thorough recycling systems and motion-stimulated sensors. Where much of Singapore's architecture tends towards the insipid, faceless and generic, WOHA's bold, environmentally aware design represents a mighty gesture. In the view of architectural photographer and writer, Patrick Bingham-Hall, '...finally the city has a uniquely expressive landmark that reinterprets and reinvigorates its location...The Park Royal on Pickering is a purely commercial development...But as with many of WOHA's projects built throughout Asia over the last decade, the hotel performs unambiguously as a public building...proposing that commercial architecture must respond to the city as its civic duty.' Previously, WOHA has won three Green Good Design Awards from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies - for the Sanya Intercontinental Hotel, China; the Hansar Rajdamri, Bangkok, Thailand; and the Wilkie Edge, Singapore. [Via Inhabitat]
Whatever lengths you think you'd go to in order to watch your favourite sporting team, the Wellington residents that inspired big-screen comedy Red, White & Brass have you beat. In 2011, New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup. As part of the competition's games in the Aotearoa capital, Tonga was set to play France. Understandably, the local Tongan community was thrilled — and, amid painting the town red and white, also determined to go along. The avid fans at one particular Wellington church hit a snag, however: with tickets to attend the match both expensive and popular, they didn't end up with seats. Then, they lucked into a unique opportunity. If they said they were a brass marching band, exaggerating their experience with instruments — which was largely zero — they could perform on the field before kickoff, and sit down to watch their heroes afterwards. It's the kind of story that sounds like a pure Hollywood concoction, but it genuinely happened to Halaifonua (Nua) Finau and his family. Now, it's exactly the tale at the heart of NZ comedy Red, White & Brass. Not only stepping through this wild IRL twist of fate, but celebrating Tongan pride and māfana in the process, the resulting movie is an instantly heartwarming crowd-pleaser. It has also proven a big hit, both at home where it premiered in March, and now that it's both doing the film festival circuit — complete with a stop at the Sydney Film Festival — and opening in general release in Australian cinemas. Nua co-wrote the script, and also produces, with first-time feature director Damon Fepulea'i and on-screen movie debutant John-Paul Foliaki taking on a daunting task. How do you turn someone's real-life experience into a movie with them right by your side? That was Fepulea'i's job as both Red, White & Brass' helmer and co-scribe. How do you play the person that's there on set with you, including with his parents as your character's parents? That was Foliaki's gig as fictionalised on-screen ringleader Maka, in his first-ever acting credit after coming to fame as a NZ Popstars personality. With Red, White & Brass now screening in Australia, Fepulea'i and Foliaki chatted with Concrete Playground about their Red, White & Brass journey, including discovering the true story at the movie's core, working with Nua and his family, making a love letter to the Tongan community and the response so far. ON WORKING WITH A STORY THAT'S SO WILD THAT IT CAN ONLY BE TRUE Damon: "Writer and producer Halaifonua (Nua) Finau, it's basically his story, his family's experience. So he's an actor and a producer, and he's was just sort of telling people the story — and everyone was like, 'oh man bro, this is a really great story, you've gotta turn this into a film'. And him being like the real-life Maka, he basically just shopped the idea around and then ended up getting the film made. So when I was brought on, he told me the story and I was really connected to it as well, and we worked together and wrote the script." JP: "Honestly, when I got the script, when I got that audition — when I got the audition and when we did that first table read — that was something special. That's the first time I'd heard about it properly, and knew the story as based on a true story, and also got an insight to how special the project was going to be." ON TURNING REAL-LIFE EVENTS INTO A MOVIE WITH THE PERSON WHO LIVED IT Damon: "I think Nua and I had a really good chemistry when we were writing, because I think I had more experience as a screenwriter, but Nua is such a natural, gifted storyteller. So he would come in and yeah, lots of stories. Whether they're true or not, who knows?" JP: "Yeah!" Damon: "But actually, he would just tell stories, and we would talk and I'd ask him questions. I have a documentary background as well, so I'm always genuinely interested — and me being non-Tongan, a lot of it was just like 'what makes Tongans Tongan?'. So we explored that during the writing process — and it was actually, looking back, it was really quite a joy because we I think we complemented each other in terms of me being more kind of structure-focused, having experienced writing feature-length films, but also him bringing the truthfulness and the just the funny stories. He just would talk and he wouldn't even know he's being funny. It would just be like 'oh bro, tell this' — he'd go on these long stories and it'd be like 'oh, that's a scene'." JP: "It's like the real-life Maka and Veni from the movie." ON STEPPING INTO NUA'S IRL SHOES WHILE HE WAS THERE WATCHING JP: "I think at first I had a lot of doubts about myself being able to do good job of the role. But I think also just having him on set, yeah, I did feel like 'oh, man, I need to bring my A game'. But it was also super helpful, and he was really supportive — and he was definitely open to Maka being my own interpretation, and to bringing someone to life that I could relate to as well. And also just asking him questions when I wanted to. And his mum and dad in real life played Maka's parents in the film, so they were there and I could ask them lots of questions. We all have that type of cousin. To be honest, I'm that type of cousin to a lot of my cousins — so that was good. I had multiple sources that I could pull from." ON HAVING NUA'S PARENTS PLAYING MAKA'S REAL PARENTS JP: "For me, I think it was the kind of thing that — priceless may be the wrong word, but I think what I'm trying to say is that's the kind of thing that you almost can't cast or you can't wish for. Or, you wouldn't even think that's possible that they're writing the story about this family and the real parents from that family are going come play the parents. You know, no acting experience, Tongan through and through. They are part of the older generation of Tongan parents where they would think that this kind of thing is a joke, and you just do it when you're mucking around, or you do it for Sunday church productions and things like that — but it's nothing too serious. So to have them support their son and his story, and their family story, but also to be on the set, yeah, it meant a lot. It was sometimes really hard because it reminded me a lot about of my parents and my grandparents, and the journey that we took to get there, and all those themes of migration and having limited resources, and reaching an end goal and not worrying about what people say about you. And, that constant battle between church culture and family. Those themes are able to be brought to life — one, because of the cast, but also because the parents from the real story were there actually on set as well." Damon: "Yeah, they brought that authenticity that you just couldn't get from actors, I think. I don't know if there was actually that much acting going on — it's just them being themselves. Sometimes, in terms of directing, it'd just be like 'oh, what would you say to Nua? And how would you say it?'. And they just do it. It's just how they how they'd say things. It was an amazing blessing to have them." JP: "I was so proud of them, too. Because I'd see them highlighting their lines, learning their lines — and one of them forgets their lines, and the other one is trying to correct them. And they're talking to each other on Tongan on set, and it's so funny. They did such a good job." ON MAKING A LOVE LETTER TO THE TONGAN COMMUNITY Damon: "It was always meant to be a feel-good film right from the start. The game plan was always to capture that Tongan energy and the extraness. And the film explores what it means to be Tongan — and the way that Tongans go to these great lengths in showing the amount of pride that they have for their country and for their family. It's really about capturing that and the energy to go with it." JP: "A love letter to the community — that's such a good way to put it. I think when you think about being Tongan and and all the things that you love about being Tongan, a lot of that is displayed through the film. And not even just the things you love about being Tongan, but also the many challenges that we go through being New Zealand-born Tongans, or Tongans that, obviously, a lot of us have migrated to Australia, New Zealand, America and beyond. So all those challenges that we face, it was so cool to be like 'man, regardless of where we've moved overseas, we all share this and have this shared experience, and we can make a good movie out of it'." ON THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT COMES WITH SUCH A STRONG ODE TO TONGAN CULTURE Damon: "It was really important for us right from the start that we wanted to tell the story as authentically as possible, and also to represent Pacific culture as real as possible, and to not make it feel like it was like we were pandering to an audience, or taking out things just to make it easier to watch for non-Tongans. We always wanted to make sure the Tongan language was in there, and it was realistic, and that all the details from the costumes to the props were also all there. We really wanted to make sure that we got it right — and for me being a non-Tongan, I wanted to make sure that what I was doing represented Tonga in a good way as well." JP: "I think from an artist perspective or performance-wise, Tongans, we support 100-percent over and above — and we let it be known to the whole world that something is Tongan or something's happening that has to do Tonga. But when they don't like something, they also come out in full force as well. So I was very nervous about that. It was my first official acting role and I really just wanted to do the role justice, and make my family and my country proud, because I could see after our first reading and getting the script that it truly was going to be something special. And you don't know until you see the final cut, so I'm really happy that translated well and that we were able to do that." ON THE FILM'S SUCCESS — AND THE RESPONSE FROM TONGAN VIEWERS Damon: "It's been surreal, I have to say. We had the world premiere in Wellington, and that was in the Embassy Theatre, which is Peter Jackson's theatre. It was pretty much just full of Tongans, and they were waving flags— and it was probably the best screening experience I've ever had. It was just so much fun. It feels like we've just been on this whirlwind since then as well — it's been kind of surreal as well. It's sometimes hard to believe like 'oh, we made a film' and 'oh, people are watching it'. So yeah, it's still a lot of 'pinch me' moments." JP: "It's been incredible. I think a lot of people have shown a lot of love, and I think it's the whole idea of being able to see themselves on-screen and carrying out the themes that we know so well as Tongans, and the life that we live in our churches and our communities and our families. And having so many different versions of our cousins on the screen, but then also having universal messages and themes throughout the film. So Tongans have been very supportive — but honestly a lot of people, regardless of their ethnicity, have shown a lot of love." Red, White & Brass is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review.
When any and every film festival rolls around, plenty of numbers get mentioned. With the 2022 Sydney Film Festival now fast approaching, the Harbour City's annual cinema showcase is no different. This year will mark the fest's whopping 69th event, as well Festival Director Nashen Moodley's 11th time bringing the latest and greatest flicks to the glorious State Theatre and other Sydney picture palaces — and, if its first 22 movies are anything to go by, it's set to be another winner. There's no such thing as a bad SFF, of course, because its program always spans so far and wide — and how you watch your way through it is always dictated by personal choice. But 2022's event already has a new Aussie horror standout that proved a hit at SXSW, the latest from freshly minted Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, multiple Sundance award recipients, and the new comedy from inimitable Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy and In Fabric filmmaker Peter Strickland. Yes, we're already spoiled for choice. Taking place between Wednesday, June 8–Sunday, June 19 — back in its usual timeslot after moving to November in 2021 due to lockdowns and restrictions — SFF 2022 will show some local love to Sissy, the aforementioned Australian horror film. Starring The Bold Type's Aisha Dee, it follows a successful social media influencer who gets stuck in a remote cabin with her old high-school bully. Also in the homegrown camp: street dancing documentary Keep Stepping, car-bound docudrama The Plains and the music fest-focused 6 Festivals, with the latter about three friends who decide to hit up as many live gigs as possible after one is diagnosed with brain cancer, and also featuring cameos by the likes of Bliss n Eso and Peking Duk. Hailing from further afield are the Chastain-starring The Forgiven, which also marks the latest movie by Calvary and War on Everyone's John Michael McDonagh; Strickland's Flux Gourmet, which sees the director reteam with Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie; 80s-set, Charlotte Gainsbourg-led Parisian drama The Passengers of the Night; and genderqueer musical Please Baby Please, which follows a 50s couple in Manhattan who witness a violent incident and undergo a sexual awakening. Or, there's also Sundance Film Festival-winning doco The Territory, which follows an Indigenous fightback over rainforest land seized for farming; Yuni, the latest coming-of-age tale by Indonesian The Seen and Unseen filmmaker Kamila Andini; We Met in Virtual Reality, a documentary filmed entirely inside the world of VR; and Incredible But True, a time-travel caper from Deerskin and Rubber's Quentin Dupieux. Other titles of interest include Bootlegger, which stars Reservation Dogs' Devery Jacobs; doco A House Made of Splinters, another Sundance winner that was filmed in pre-invasion Ukraine; Sirens, about the Middle East's first all-female, queer death metal band; and Gentle, which stars real-life bodybuilder Eszter Csonka. As for what'll join them — among a lineup that usually spans hundreds of films — that'll be revealed on Wednesday, May 11. You can already start getting ready to spend most of June in a cinema, though, obviously. The 2022 Sydney Film Festival will run between Wednesday, June 8–Sunday, June 19. Check out the event's just-announced titles by heading to the festival website. The full program will be released on Wednesday, May 11 — head back here then for the rundown.
For most folks, starring in one of the best new shows of 2022 so far would be the highlight of their resume for the year. But, of course, most folks aren't Taika Waititi. After getting streaming viewers swooning over warm-hearted pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, he's about to unleash a little movie called Thor: Love and Thunder upon cinemas. And, based on the just-dropped first teaser trailer for his second contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a director, the goofy vibes, old-school rock tunes and delight that is Chris Hemsworth firmly in comedic mode are all back this time around. In fact, if you watched Thor: Ragnarok, laughed along heartily, lapped up the looser mood and instantly wanted more of Waititi's take on the MCU, you're in luck — because he also co-wrote the script for Thor: Love and Thunder with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Sweet/Vicious). In the trailer, that results in a comic look at Thor (Hemsworth, Extraction) dealing with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame by reassessing his future and opting for retirement. But, if that was all there was to the story, it wouldn't be a Marvel movie. As shot in Australia, Thor: Love and Thunder sees its namesake come up against Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari), a galactic killer with a world-changing plan: eradicating the gods. So, Thor has to give up his search for inner peace, and call upon help from King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, Passing) and Korg (Waititi, doing triple duty) — and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, Vox Lux), who is now in possession of Mjolnir. Thor: Love and Thunder marks Portman's return to the MCU after appearing in the first Thor flick back in 2011, but sitting out the rest. Given the path her character has taken, it's easy to see why she's back. As set to the sounds of Guns 'N Roses' 'Sweet Child 'O Mine', the trailer makes the most of her new ownership of the god of thunder's magical hammer — understandably. Also popping up in the initial sneak peek for the fourth Thor flick: the Guardians of the Galaxy crew (as played and/or voiced by Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel), and a lightning-bolt wielding figure who it's safe to expect is Russell Crowe (Unhinged) as Zeus. When it hits cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 7, following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in early May, Thor: Love and Thunder will mark the 29th MCU movie overall. And, it mightn't be the last big-screen release Waititi has for us this year, either, with his documentary-to-feature adaptation of soccer story Next Goal Wins also in the pipeline. Check out the teaser trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder below: Thor: Love and Thunder opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 7.
Known for its minimalist design, Japanese home goods giant MUJI made a sizeable leap back in 2015, adding houses to its range. As well as selling items to fill your home with, it started selling prefabricated homes as well. Compact but functional — and, perhaps most importantly, affordable — the new additions understandably garnered plenty of attention. But, while the company also released a tiny hut in 2017, it hasn't expanded its house lineup since. Until now, that is. And while MUJI's first three flat-pack houses were all multi-storey abodes made for city living, it has just designed its first one-storey version. Called Yano-no-ie, it's a response to customer demand — and its designed to adapt to different living requirements. Thanks to sliding doors that open out onto a deck, it's also the result of a concerted effort to combine indoor and outdoor living. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2atw0eHEUu/ Taking over 73 square metres of floor space, with a total construction area of 91.50 square metres, Yano-no-ie's standard configuration features a bedroom, living area, combined kitchen and dining room, bathroom and outdoor area — so, as you'd expect, it keeps things simple. That said, its spaces are meant to be multifunctional. The bedroom features furniture that can be used throughout the day as well, for example, with the company suggesting that you can deploy it as a place for reading or using a computer throughout the day, and to have a drink in of an evening. Designed in a box shape, Yano-no-ie is fashioned out of wooden siding made from Japanese cedar. Linking in with MUJI's existing products, it's made to accommodate the brand's storage range in its kitchen — and, in the bathroom, it features the same type of wash basin used in MUJI's hotels. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3wNEt9HMkc/ Like MUJI's existing prefab homes, it's also far more economical than your average house, starting at 15.98 million yen or around AU$211,000. Alas, although the company has stores in Sydney and Melbourne — including its first Australian MUJI concept store — the houses aren't available to buy outside of Japan as yet. Via: MUJI.
Haymarket hole-in-the-wall Mr Chen Beef Noodle is serving up steaming hot bowls of Lanzhou-style, hand-stretched noodles and Shanghai-style dumplings on the daily. Apart from the signature beef noodle — which comes topped with sliced radish, green garlic and coriander — you can choose from a heap of other versions, too. One is topped with pickled cabbage, another is filled with pork and chicken wontons and a third is served with slow-cooked beef brisket and fresh chilli. They arrive with your choice of five freshly made noodle types, which range from extra thin to super thick biang biang-style. Mr Chen sells plenty of well-trodden Chinese dishes, too — including numerous varieties of fried rice and heaps of stir-fried veggies, plus mapo tofu, sweet and sour pork and kung pao chicken.
If this isn't a golden ticket to a great night on the couch, then we don't know what is: the delightful Willy Wonka prequel starring Timothée Chalamet (Bones and All) and directed by the Paddington films' Paul King is now spreading its sweetness to your couch. Although it's still playing in cinemas after opening in mid-December 2023, Wonka has been fast-tracked to digital so that you can get chocolate cravings at home. And you will be have a hankering for desserts as Chalamet sings, twirls around an umbrella, and talks about making weird and wonderful treats — and as a childhood favourite gets a prequel. Our tip: choose your movie-watching snacks accordingly. Otherwise, your stomach will start grumbling amid the songs, dancing and Hugh Grant (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) stealing scenes as an Oompa-Loompa. Wonka hitting digital helps add to any pre-Dune: Part Two Timmy C marathons that you might be planning before the latter film reaches the big screen at the end of February. With King writing and directing, the first with co-scribe Simon Farnaby, this new stint with Roald Dahl's chocolatier gives the character an origin story starring the actor who has had his heart broken during a lusty Italian summer, romanced Saoirse Ronan in a Greta Gerwig film not once but twice, spiced up his life in a sci-fi saga and sported a taste for human flesh. Here, Chalamet croons his way through a whimsical world of sugar and pure imagination. First gracing the page almost six decades back, in 1964 when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory initially hit print, Willy Wonka has made the leap to cinemas before with Gene Wilder playing the part in 1971, then Johnny Depp in 2005. The difference this time: not just Chalamet, but a film that swirls in the details of Wonka's life before the events that've already been laid out in books and filled those two movies. The picture's main man has a dream — and, after spending the past seven years travelling the world perfect his craft, he's willing to get inventive to make it come true. Starting a chocolate business isn't easy, especially when the chocolate cartel doesn't take kindly to newcomers, selling choccies at an affordable price and sharing their wares with the masses. From there, brainwaves, optimism, determination, Wonka inventions and life-changing choices all spring, plus big vats of chocolate, chocolate that makes you fly and Willy's dedication to making the greatest chocolate shop the world has ever seen. Beyond Chalamet and Grant, Wonka's cast is as jam-packed as a lolly bag, with the pair joined by Farnaby (The Phantom of the Open), as well as Olivia Colman (Heartstopper), Sally Hawkins (The Lost King), Keegan-Michael Key (The Super Mario Bros Movie), Rowan Atkinson (Man vs Bee), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey: A New Era) and Natasha Rothwell (Sonic the Hedgehog 2). And the magical tone sprinkled throughout Wonka doesn't just fit the tale — it's exactly what King and Farnaby spun when they were celebrating a marmalade-loving bear. King helmed and penned both Paddington movies, while Farnaby also did the latter on the second (and acted in each). The duo worked together on wonderful and underseen 2009 film Bunny and the Bull as well, and on The Mighty Boosh, of which King directed 20 episodes. Check out the trailer for Wonka below: Wonka is available to stream via platforms such as YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. It's also still showing in cinemas Down Under. Read our review.
This article is part of our series on the diverse highlights of NZ's Canterbury region, from city to snow. To book your snow trip, visit the 100% Pure New Zealand website. As someone with little-to-no coordination and balance, the prospect of skiing for the first time in my life was pretty terrifying. I honestly couldn't think of a sport that’s scarier for beginners — and I tried, multiple times — or a situation where I wouldn't be hurtling down a vertical run into a tree and/or small child. That's why I’ve always thought it lucky that, for me and every other Adult Who Can't Ski, snow sports are generally pretty easy to avoid. But with the ski season ramping up — and snow weekends already being floated by my seasoned snow bunny friends — I thought it was time to see if I would sink or swim on snow. With myself as sacrifice, and some words of wisdom from Mt Hutt's media coordinator and resident snowboarder Georgie Boyd, we headed across to one of New Zealand's most renowned ski areas (and, as it turns out, biggest mountains) to find out how to slide down a slope without losing a limb — or your dignity. Don't forget your gloves Preparation is key when it comes to skiing, mostly because it involves a lot of stuff. This is no spontaneous sport. If you don't own any snow clothes and can't borrow any from a similarly sized friend (your boyfriend's oversized pants probably won’t make things any easier, just saying), you should look at hiring proper, waterproof clothing. Mt Hutt hire out snow pants and jackets as well as boots and helmets — all of which you'll probably need as a beginner. What they don't have, though, are gloves and goggles, so make sure you you've got that covered before you get up on the mountain. Freezing fingertips don’t make for fun times. Image thanks to arquera via photopin The things you think are the easiest are actually the hardest Here's the thing: no one tells you that walking in ski boots will feel like your shin is snapping in half (which it isn't, but I still have the bruises to say that it came pretty close). Those things are painful, but they say it gets better. Apparently getting on and off the lift gets less terrifying too, but maybe that comes later. And think you can sling your skis over your shoulder like they do in the movies? Think again, noob. There's a particular trick to carrying your skis out to the snow that involves sliding them together and holding onto one of the brakes, but I'll let the ski staff show you that one. Image thanks to Paxson Woelber via photopin Don't think you don't need a lesson Sure, head up to the top of the slope with your friends and be left side-stepping up the mountain while they pass you as they go up and down the run. It's enough to ruin friendships, so heed this: experienced skiers and beginners don't match. Don't underestimate the power of getting a lesson. "The action of skiing and snowboarding isn't always common sense," says Georgie. "Taking a lesson gets you on the right track straight away and will speed up the zero-to-hero process." Contrary to popular misconception, there are plenty of functioning adults who also don't know how to ski — you'll be in a class with them, not four-year-olds (who can probably ski better than you, anyway). Image thanks to Nick J Webb via photopin It's actually not that scary Only after you've strapped on your skis and are successfully standing on a flat lay of snow will you start to feel like maybe this skiing thing isn't so terrifying. Like Georgie says, the most intimidating part for learners is the fear of going too fast and the chairlifts. Once you've mastered slowing down in a lesson (it doesn't matter how long your lesson is, even an hour or two makes a difference), then you can tackle the chairlift. "There are always lifties at the top of the lift to ensure that everyone is getting off the lift safely,” Georgie says. And to make things even easier, Mt Hutt's beginner’s area even has a conveyor belt 'magic carpet', which is the pre-chairlift training to the real deal. Image thanks to Mt Hutt, NZSki Ltd. and Patrick Fallon. It's all about pizza Not the pizza pie kind (well, maybe it can be afterwards — hell, you will have deserved two pizzas by then), but the pizza slice made by the shape of your skis. That's how you stop. For snowboarders, Georgie recommends digging in your heel-side edge will slow you down and safely control an exit off a ski lift. Best you get that one down before you take off down the slopes. Image thanks to FredrikF via photopin What not to do Whatever you do, don't look down. Even though you'll want to look down and make sure your skis are doing what you want them to, it's important that you look at what’s in front of you. There are a lot of obstacles — they're called people. On the subject of people, don't use them as props. Seriously, you grab someone on the way down and no one will look at you the same again. Image thanks to radloff via photopin Any time's a good time The best thing about being a beginner is that you don’t need a lot of snow to have a good time. While all the pros are complaining about lack of snowfall, you'll have all the snow you need. So basically, any time's a good time to start skiing, so just do it already. Image thanks to laszlo-photo via photopin Remember, there is hot chocolate and/or a good story waiting at the end of it Like this one. Image thanks to PunkJr via photopin. Feature image courtesy of Mt Hutt, NZSki Ltd. and Miles Holden.
For the first time since it launched in 2000, World Pride is heading to the Southern Hemisphere. And it's not just heading anywhere — the world's largest LGBTQI+ celebration is coming to Sydney. Taking over the city's streets, bars, clubs, galleries and theatres between February and March 2023, the World Pride event will coincide with the 45th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The decision to host the international pride celebration in Sydney was announced overnight with members of InterPride — the organisers of World Pride — voting between Sydney, Montreal (Canada) and Houston (Texas). The Aussie state capital came out on top with a whopping 60 percent of the votes. Of the host city, World Pride Committee Chair Robyn Kennedy said, "InterPride has recognised how far Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come since 1978, and now the world will march with us down Oxford Street to celebrate our community and support our region." Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018 and this year hosted over 100 parties, shows, and late-night shindigs for the annual event. The State Government usually relaxes the lockout laws in the surrounding areas for the local Mardi Gras, but in 2023 they could be gone altogether in the CBD and on Oxford Street. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced plans to repeal the lockout laws in those areas by the end 2019 — they will, however, remain in place in Kings Cross for now. We'll keep our fingers crossed that they'll be wound back by 2023 there, too. https://www.instagram.com/p/B31TjkcD0qZ/?igshid=x6c9d4q0ay1w As the Sydney World Pride will be also be the first in the Asia Pacific, it's expected that the celebration will also have a focus on communities and cultures from across the region. In Sydney's bid for the event, organisers said: "it's an opportunity to focus the world's attention on LGBTQI rights, communities and culture in our Asia-Pacific Region. Many of our closest neighbouring countries do not have the same level of equality and human rights as we do." While Australia finally passed a marriage equality bill in late 2017, the same rights do not exist in many countries in the surrounding region — in fact, same-sex relations are still illegal in some Asia-Pacific countries. The 2023 World Pride will help raise awareness about these issues and help fight for equality for LGBTQI+ people across the region. For the Sydney event, expect, also, the biggest, most fabulous celebration of pride the city has ever seen, with parades, parties, and more to take over the city. It's expected 25–40 percent more than the usual 1.2 million Mardi Gras visitors will be heading to Sydney for the 2023 event — so it's going to be big, loud and colourful. World Pride 2023 will take place across Sydney in February and March. Top image: Jeffrey Feng
When you step inside an IKEA superstore, it feels as though you have been transported to a different world entirely. Endless floors filled with endless shelves, filled with endless minimalistic, cost-effective products. It's planet IKEA. And now we might not be too far from the real-life version. Not long after launching fully furnished IKEA homes, IKEA has published plans to build a private neighbourhood. Set to start construction next year, the neighbourhood will cover 11 hectares of land in London to be named 'Strand East'. It will incorporate 1,200 homes and apartments, all owned by the Swedish furniture company. “We are in keeping with the IKEA philosophy: we don’t want to produce for the rich or the super-rich; we want to produce for the families, for the people,” says Harald Müller, the head of LandProp, the property-development branch of Inter IKEA, told The Globe and Mail. IKEA promises that the all-rental homes will appeal to a variety of income levels, and 40% will be large enough to house a family. The neighbourhood will be peppered by condominiums and offices, and will include a hotel as well. Underneath it all will lie an underground parking lot to avoid cars cluttering the interior streets. It all sounds rather Utopian, but does a furniture company really have what it takes to manage 6,000 residents? “We’d have a very good understanding of rubbish collection, of cleanliness, of landscape management,” Andrew Cobden, the project manager, says. “We would have a fairly firm line on undesirable activity, whatever that may be. But we also feel we can say, okay, because we’ve kept control of the management of the commercial facilities, we have a fairly strong hand in what is said in terms of the activities that are held on site.” Mr. Müller says that IKEA will act much like a municipal government to its neighbourhood, organising community events and creating a "sense of place". Looks like IKEA execs have had a lot more on the brain than "Ektorp" sofas and Swedish meatballs. Welcome to Ikea-land. [via PSFK]
As a movie, it's a masterpiece. As a stage musical, it's one of the most famous there is. And when it returns to Australia for the first time in almost 20 years with Sarah Brightman starring as Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard is going to be big. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony-winner, which first took the leap from the screen to the stage in 1993 — and picked up Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, and awards for leading actor, leading actress and featured actor for its efforts, among more — is bringing its Hollywood story Down Under again in 2024. The production will kick off its new Aussie run in Melbourne in May, debuting at the Princess Theatre, then move to the Sydney Opera House from August. As Desmond, Brightman will make her global debut in the part, taking on her first theatre role in over three decades. She'll also add to a spectacular career that includes originating the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera back in the 80s. Here, she's taking on a part that saw Gloria Swanson nominated for an Oscar in 1951 and Glenn Close win a Tony in 1995. Debra Byrne played the part in Australia back in 1996, while Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls is doing the same in West End right now. "I am so delighted to be returning to Australia after many years, and to be marking my return to the stage in a musical after so long. It is only fitting for it to be with such an exquisite production as Sunset Boulevard," said Brighton. "I have always admired Andrew's work on this musical and I very much look forward to exploring the incredible score and also the iconic character of Norma Desmond. Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up!'." As Billy Wilder's 1950 film first covered in a feature that's been influential not just in inspiring stage adaptations, but on every other movie about Tinseltown since, Sunset Boulevard follows silent star Desmond. With her career getting small with the advent of the talkies, she dreams about making a comeback. The movie famously starts with a man's body floating in a swimming pool, then flashes back to Desmond's time with screenwriter Joe Gillis, her latest attempts to reclaim her success and the events that bring about that watery end. On the stage, Sunset Boulevard will echo with tunes such as 'With One Look', 'The Perfect Year' and 'As If We Never Said Goodbye' as it tells the above tale. GWB Entertainment and Opera Australia are behind Sunset Boulevard's latest Aussie stint — and if you're wondering who'll star alongside Brightman, the casting process has just begun. For audiences outside of Melbourne and Sydney, details of possible stops in other cities are yet to be announced. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @sunsetmusicalau SUNSET BOULEVARD 2024 DATES: From May 2024 — Princess Theatre, Melbourne From August 2024 — Sydney Opera House, Sydney Sunset Boulevard will play Melbourne from May 2024 and Sydney from August 2024, with Melbourne pre sales from Tuesday, October 10 and general sales from Friday, October 13. To join the ticket waitlist and for more information, head to the musical's website. Sarah Brightman images: Simon Fowler.
Since launching around the country back in 2013, the British Film Festival keeps standing out for three reasons. Yes, it ranks among Australia's most obvious cultural film fests; however, it's also a star-studded affair, and a popular one. If you're keen not only for a slice of Old Blighty, but to watch well-known talents do what they do best, then prepare to spend a few weeks staring at the big screen. 2018's lineup keeps hitting those same marks. Why mess with a good thing? Running in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra until November 14, this year's program includes Kiera Knightley's latest star turn, a four-film tribute to Michael Caine that'll blow the bloody doors off, and Star Wars' Daisy Ridley in a playful take on Hamlet — plus these, our five must-see picks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfWIfwKJ7vA ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE Anna and the Apocalypse is a zombie movie. It's a high-school comedy. It's a Christmas flick. And, it's also a musical. Just when you thought you'd seen every take on the undead available, this all-singing genre mash-up pops up to prove you wrong. A crowd-pleaser at overseas festivals, it's based on the BAFTA-winning short Zombie Musical — and, story-wise, follows the eponymous Anna (Ella Hunt) as she reacts to the rather inconvenient fact that her Scottish hometown of Little Haven is now filled with the shuffling masses hankering for brains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItW6evHbE8 YARDIE After coming to fame with to The Wire, Idris Elba is no stranger to sprawling crime dramas that chart the next generation's involvement in the drug trade. With Yardie, however, he's stepping behind the camera rather than appearing in front of it. The actor's feature directorial debut hops between Jamaica and London, and between the 70s and 80s, at it charts the path of Denis. As a boy (Antwayne Eccleston), he watches his brother get gunned down on the streets of Kingston. As a young man (Aml Ameen), he finds himself selling cocaine in the UK and seeking revenge. The result is a film with vibrant style, that knows what it wants to be and knows when it's hitting familiar beats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj5h1kKjVYc PETERLOO Whenever Mike Leigh has a new film, it's reason enough to rush to the cinema. The great director has seven Oscar nominations to his name for the likes of Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky and Another Year, and tends to alternate between character-based and historical-leaning dramas. With his latest, Peterloo, he's operating in the latter camp, examining a momentous event in Britain's past. The feature is named after and explores a massacre in Manchester in 1819, when 700 working folks were injured — and 15 killed — during a peaceful pro-democracy gathering. Yes, it sounds more than a little relevant today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE5xbDTkzQQ STAN & OLLIE To the world, they were Laurel and Hardy — one lean and English, the other rotund and American, and both funnier and more famous when they were hitting the stage and screen together. Starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, Stan & Ollie delves into the story behind the fame, when the comedians were approaching the end of their career. The film arrives in Australia fresh from premiering at the London Film Festival, and closes out BFF with the promise of laughs, love and excellent performances. Indeed, when it comes to spot-on casting, it's already a winner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8YiltlZGB0 THE HAPPY PRINCE Another blast from the past in the BFF program, another look at a well-known figure past their heyday, and another well-known actor making their filmmaking debut, too. With the dreamily tragic The Happy Prince, Rupert Everett steps into Oscar Wilde's shoes — and it's a role that he was born to bring to the screen. Writing and directing as well, Everett approaches Wilde's dying days in a rundown Parisian hotel room with both passion and sorrow, two traits that the poet and write knew well. It's a hardly a happy portrait, despite the name, which riffs on one of Wilde's works. That said, interweaving flashbacks to fonder times and co-starring Colin Firth, it does Wilde justice. The 2018 British Film Festival tours Australia until November 14, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinemas from October 23 to November 14; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay and The Astor Theatre from October 25 to November 14; Brisbane's Palace Barracks and Palace Centro from October 24 to November 14; and Perth's Cinema Paradiso, Raine Square Cinemas, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinema from October 25 to November 14. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
Just about everyone has a friend or relative who would describe themselves as a "struggling artist". For this most beleaguered of professions, the frustrations of the world's most competitive and highly lucrative industry often turns "struggling artists" into "failed artists". Pippin Barr, one such dejected artist, has found a most unusual way of channelling his grievances and disillusionment with the art world: a part-personal, part-satirical, and entirely addictive online video game, Art Game. The monochromatic, 8-bit game takes place in the cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world of the New York City visual art scene. Players choose between three contemporary artists as their avatar: minimalist painter Cicero Sassoon (with his reference-heavy name), Russian sculptor Alexandra Tertanov, and video artists William Edge and Susan Needle. Within a style of gameplay modelled on the classic video games of Snake, Tetris, and Space Invaders, your task is then to create a piece of art worthy of display in an upcoming show at New York's legendary Museum of Modern Art. Your path to artistic glory is a far from smooth one, however, as before you can have your work showcased you must get past the deliciously snooty MoMA curator. The curator's selection of which of your artworks (if any) make the cut seems to be based on a fairly arbitrary and even random set of criteria, in a quite pointed dig at how "good art" is selected and endorsed within the art scene, with decisions handed down in a series of cliche-enriched tirades (another beautiful touch from Barr). The game is filled to the brim with knowing references to the art scene, from the inane chatter of the MoMA visitors to the stereotypical studio apartments of the artists. It is these details that transform the game from not simply being a form of light-hearted procrastination but also a very clever and totally unique piece of satire. The surprisingly heartbreaking experience of being told that your work is not up to scratch provides a fresh understanding of just how brutal and controlled the art scene can be. To see if you have what it takes to be counted amongst New York's artistic elite, click here to play Art Game. Via Hyperallergic.
For more than six decades, fans of Disney have been able to step into the Mouse House's wonders IRL, thanks to a theme park empire that started in the 1950s with Disneyland. For even longer, touring your way through Universal Studios' wares — first during lot visits, then theme parks as well — has also been a reality. While Japan's beloved Studio Ghibli joined in back in 2001 via its Ghibli Museum, now it has launched its very own theme park. Get ready to get spirited away, and to skip around a sprawling place that's both gorgeous and magical. The venue at Aichi Prefecture Expo Park has been in the works since back in 2017, and has also been through a few delays over that five-year period — but as of Tuesday, November 1, it's finally and officially open to animation lovers. If that's you, Ghibli Park is welcoming in fans to wander its 200-hectare expanse in Nagoya's Aichi Prefecture, around a three-hour train trip from Tokyo, with the space's first three stages launching on opening day. Ghibli has been dropping early glimpses at the park over the past few months — even if its recent Hayao Miyazaki-directed cat train trailer was solely animated (but still wonderful) — and there's plenty of store for visitors. Part of the first phase is a space that's been dubbed Ghibli's Great Warehouse, aka the park's main area. Think of it like a fair within the overall attraction, featuring a video exhibition room, three special exhibition rooms, plus shops and cafes all in one space. Many movie lovers' first stop should be Orionza, a cinema that sets 170 patrons and screens ten Ghibli shorts — all of which have only previously been seen at the studio's existing museum in Mitaka, a city on the western outskirts Tokyo. The easy highlight: the 13-minute-long sequel to My Neighbour Totoro, which is an absolute delight, unsurprisingly. Fancy entering one of Ghibli's films? The park also includes recreations of 13 famous scenes from the company's cinematic catalogue that you can step into, including becoming Spirited Away's Chihiro by sitting next to Kaonashi on a mysterious train by the sea. Or, another exhibition focuses on Ghibli's knack for drawing delicious-looking food, and is certain to make you hungry. And, if you're curious how Ghibli's works — such as posters, videos, music and books — appear overseas, there's an exhibition about that as well. Because you'll want souvenirs, the Ghibli's warehouse store sells Ghibli goodies galore, including items specific to the park. Expect two things: to want to purchase everything, so much so that you'll contemplate whether it's worth getting another suitcase to take home with you; and plenty of company while you're browsing and buying. For a bite or a drink, the Great Warehouse's cafe and milk stand both take their cues The Wind Rises. One slings sandwiches and pizzas, while the other focuses on sips to drink — and a sweet made of red bean paste between two pieces of castella, as seen in the movie. Yes, it all truly does resemble the Japanese animation house's glorious frames in real life — as that aforementioned Studio Ghibli museum already does as well. Also open in the first stage: gardens, including the antique shop and verandah from Whisper of the Heart, plus Satsuki and Mei's house from My Neighbour Totoro. The latter was already a part of Aichi Prefecture Expo Park, but that doesn't make it any less stunning. Indeed, there's a reason that Ghibli Park was initially described as having a My Neighbour Totoro focus. Also slated to feature across the whole park: a life-sized version of Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's home from Kiki's Delivery Service, a village area that pays tribute to Princess Mononoke, nods to the cat from Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns, buildings with design elements that take their cues from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and a super-sized garden that'll make you feel like you're one of the tiny characters in Arrietty. If you're now planning a Ghibli-centric holiday, Japan reopened its borders to individual international tourists, and ditched its visa and package tour requirements, back in October — which, yes, is handy timing. A note re ticketing: like Ghibli's museum, Ghibli Park opens for bookings one day per month, working months ahead. On Monday, November 14, for instance, you'll be able to buy tickets for January visits. Ghibli Park is now open at Aichi Expo Memorial Park, 1533–1 Ibaragamama Otsu, Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: © Studio Ghibli.
Australia's touring all-inclusive music and arts festival Summer Camp is returning in December — and it's just dropped the full lineup of over 100 artists, as well as info on its new venues. Following Summer Camp's inaugural run in 2022 which combined great tunes and LGBTQIA+ pride, the blockbuster event will be hitting St Kilda Marina on Saturday, December 2 and the Wentworth Park Sports Centre in Sydney on Sunday, December 3. Leading the latest lineup announcement is viral sensation Rebecca Black who has had a major career revival since 2021, releasing a slate of acclaimed pop projects ten years after achieving global infamy for her so-bad-it's-good track 'Friday'. Heaven will be a place on earth at the Sydney edition of Summer Camp with Belinda Carlisle joining the lineup, while Ultra Naté will be exclusively hitting St Kilda with her catalogue of hits including the iconic dance cut 'Free'. [caption id="attachment_919632" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matto Lucas[/caption] Also gracing both Summer Camp lineups: Brooke Candy, Kito, Meg10, The Illustrious Blacks and Tom Aspaul alongside a stacked program of local musicians, DJs, dancers and performance artists comprising more than 100 acts. The BEAT stage will be dedicated to thumping house, disco and techno tunes. Sydney will also be treated to Club Love — a haven for cheesy singalongs and big emotions, while Melbourne's Summer Camp will host a cutting-edge Rave Cave. [caption id="attachment_919633" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matto Lucas[/caption] The huge program will be headlined by previously announced headliners Jessie Ware and Trixie Mattel. Ware teased that she was playing the festival back in May, advising that she'd be appearing on an episode of her podcast Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware before confirming her place on the lineup in July. It's been a long time between Australian visits for the UK disco-pop queen. The last time she graced our shores was for Laneway Festival all the way back in 2013. In the period since, she's released four albums, including the immensely critically acclaimed What's You Pleasure in 2020 and its equally vibrant recent follow-up That! Feels Good!. But now Ware's drought of Aussie appearances is officially coming to an end. [caption id="attachment_899478" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] The St Kilda edition will be taking place as part of the huge 17-day ALWAYS LIVE program that's hitting the state throughout November and December. The massive program also includes performances from Christina Aguilera, Jai Paul and Eric Prydz. As for the new location in Sydney, the festival has decided to head to an indoor-outdoor facility after facing issues with flooding at Centennial Park last year. SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2023 LINEUP: Jessie Ware Trixie Mattel Brooke Candy Kito Meg10 Rebecca Black The Illustrious Blacks Tom Aspaul Sydney Only: Belinda Carlisle Abby & Tyrone Akala Newman Atomic Blond & Dutch Kiss Ballroom Australia Baschoe Charlie Villas Chic Coach Cleo Rapture Club Chrome Dads Mayo Dan Azzo Diva Cups Dyan Tai Feta James Fried Pork Chop Half Queen Jackie Daniels Jane Jason De Cox Jimi the Kween Karlee Misi King C*ntessa Lady Fur Matt Vaughan Never Enough DJs (Dunny Minogue x Estèe Louder) Rosie Rivette Melbourne Only: Ultra Naté Alex Morris Ballroom Australia Bathesba Crescendoll Daws Dilonce' Disco Daddies DJ Gay Dad Ecterera Ecterrea x Art Simone Fragile Future House of Buffet Jesse Boyd Kat Zowthabag Kween Kong Mz Risk Nick Spurway Saint Eve Sal Simple Sovblkpssy Stone Motherless Cold Sullivan The Huxleys Tilly Capulet Tyoow Vb Unicorns Yo Mafia Summer Camp will be hitting Sydney and Melbourne in December 2023. For further details or to nab tickets, head to the festival's website. Top image: Matto Lucas
Whether you're a big nature nerd or err on the indifferent side to the science of it all, chances are you've seen at least some of Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth. The BBC nature documentary series — narrated by the man himself and accompanied by an epic score from Hans Zimmer — first aired back in 2006, and its follow-up second season, Planet Earth II, was released just two years ago. But the bits you've seen on TV or YouTube are sure to be belittled when the BBC brings the live show to Australia this April. Like the performances of Harry Potter and Star Wars we've seen in recent months, Planet Earth II Live in Concert will see the documentary screened in all its glory accompanied by a live orchestra. And it's a big sore. The music for Planet Earth II was composed by none other than Hans Zimmer (responsible for epics like The Lion King, Gladiator, The Dark Knight Rises and Inception) alongside Jacob Shea and Jasha Klebe. In Australia, the score will be performed by four of the country's leading orchestras with conductor Vanessa Scammell and, in lieu of Attenborough, Eric Bana will be narrating in real time. The show will travel around Australia from April 27 until May 4, visiting Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney for just four shows all up. Tickets go on sale next week. In the meantime, you can watch ehe first season of Planet Earth on Netflix. PLANET EARTH II LIVE IN CONCERT TOUR DATES April 27 — Perth Arena (with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra) April 29 — Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (with the Melbourne Pops Orchestra) May 1 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre (with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra) May 4 — International Convention Centre, Sydney (with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra) Planet Earth II Live in Concert will tour Australia from April 27 – May 4, 2018. Presale tickets will go on sale at 10am tomorrow, Friday, February 16. The rest will go on sale at 3pm on Tuesday, February 20. For more info, visit ticketek.com.au.
It's now easy to get your hands on Berkelo's crowd-pleasing breads and baked goods thanks to the beloved bakery's newer sites in Mosman, Mona Vale and Manly. Having clocked up two years in its original Brookvale space, owners Tom Eadie and Matt Durrant have taken an even bigger bite out of Sydney's northern beaches. The Mosman store is on bustling Military Road and is open daily. The space is built around that same passion for simple, healthy fare that's made its sibling such a hit. It's slinging a range of revamped breakfast classics and seasonal lunch dishes, most of them starring Berkelo's legendary, long-fermented sourdough breads. Think, smashed avo with fermented vegetables, and duck served with mushrooms, onion jam and potato focaccia. You'll also find freshly baked croissants, a daily-changing lineup of generous sandwiches, and coffee made using Single Origin beans. And of course, there's plenty of that beloved Berkelo bread available to go, all naturally leavened and crafted with all-Aussie, unbleached stone-ground flours.
