We're two weeks into summer (and one week from Christmas), but Sydney is preparing itself for another hefty downfall. And maybe even some flooding. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the city — and much of the state — is expected to be hit with a heap of rain this Wednesday, December 16, and there's a chance of some thunderstorms, too. The BOM has just released a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall across large swathes of NSW, and says residents of Lismore, Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Wollongong, Armidale, Orange, Canberra, Goulburn, Tamworth, Moree, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga should prepare for some potential flash flooding "over the next several hours". The warning was released at 1.44pm, with an update scheduled for 4.45pm. https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1339040008624345090 If you've been watching the weather up north, the rain shouldn't come as a surprise. Southeast Queensland and northeast NSW have been battered by heavy rain, gale-force winds and high tides over the past few days, which has led to towns being evacuated and the major coastal erosions of some Byron Bay beaches. As usual with flooding, the state's State Emergency Service recommends you steer clear of creeks and storm drains; don't walk, drive or ride your bike through flood water; and stay indoors and away from windows. If you need to head out, don't forget to pack your umbrellas and raincoats — and keep an eye on the warnings. To keep an eye on Sydney's weather forecasts and warnings, head to the Bureau of Meteorology website.
If you didn't know that Jordan Peele was involved with HBO series Lovecraft Country, it really wouldn't take you long to guess. As based on the novel of the same name, the horror-drama steps back to 50s-era America, to a time of segregation, and into the life of Atticus 'Tic' Freeman (Jonathan Majors). He has returned from the Korean War, is trying to track down his missing father (Michael K Williams), and soon finds himself surrounded by monsters of the fantastical and very real kind. Yes, as he did so impressively in Get Out and Us, Peele once again examines the historical and current treatment of Black Americans through an unflinching and unsettling genre lens. He's Lovecraft Country's executive producer, rather than taking on writing or directing duties, but this is another exceptional, thematically powerful and visually engaging addition to his resume.
It made stars out of Adam Brody, Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton and Ben McKenzie. It made everyone want to visit Orange County. And, in perhaps its longest-lasting effect, it also ensured that everyone would always sing the word 'California' in their heads in exactly the same way as the show's earworm of a theme tune (as you are right now after simply reading this sentence). We're talking about The OC, of course, which sits alongside Beverly Hills, 90210, Dawson's Creek and Gossip Girl as a teen TV drama all-timer. The 2003–7 show might've only run for four seasons, but its culture clash-driven setup — sparked by the adoption of a troubled teen by a wealthy family — and heightened adolescent antics had a hefty impact. If you've ever celebrated Chrismukkah, you know what we're talking about.
From June 1, life is going to be a little more normal for Sydneysiders. As well as being able to head on a regional holiday — as announced last night, Tuesday, May 19 — we'll be allowed to, once again, visit many of the city's cultural institutions. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced this morning that from the first of next month, art galleries, museums and libraries can reopen. Similarly to restaurants and cafes, they'll need to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines and will be allowed one visitor per four square metres. The Premier has also encouraged the institutions to have dedicated opening times for the city's most vulnerable, like supermarkets. "Many of our cultural institutions — our art galleries, museums, libraries — will be able to open their doors. But again, they'll have special qualifications," the Premier said this morning. "It may involve having a special time to allow the most vulnerable to use the facilities. It does mean booking ahead, but making sure you leave a record if you are visiting one of places, if something happens unexpectedly, if there's a case, we can follow up quickly." [caption id="attachment_770817" align="alignnone" width="2000"] White Rabbit 'And Now' by Kimberley Low[/caption] The reopening of these cultural institutions — and the restarting of regional travel — coincide with the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend. So, you can start planning exactly what you're going to do with your three days of (slightly more) freedom. To help you get started, we recommend checking out this exhibition of greatest hits at Chippendale's White Rabbit gallery and planning a trip to one of these ten NSW country towns. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: White Rabbit 'And Now' by Kimberley Low
If you've visited The Lord Gladstone in Chippendale, you've probably had one of its espresso martinis on tap. Well, you've probably had a couple of schooners of Resch's, then decided that you'd love a fancy Kahlua espresso martini on tap. While you can't go and drink either of those inside the pub at the moment, with the government's current closure of non-essential indoor venues in place, you can swing by and pick up both to enjoy at home. The longstanding Chippo pub, which was bought by its OG bar team early last year, is currently closed to the public, but it's getting by, like many Sydney hospo venues, by offering takeaway. As well as offering its kitchen menu to-go — including its burgers, wings, schnitties and $10 steak and chips on Thursdays — it's also selling takeaway booze. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_bi9AYDIrQ/ If you have a growler you can go and get refills of the pub's tap beers, including Resch's. If you have anything from a jar to an empty wine bottle, you can go and get it filled with espresso martini for the bargain price of $5 per 100 millilitres. While one commenter was told they could, in fact, bring a hat to fill with espresso martini, we recommend bringing something that transports slightly better. The takeaway espresso martini is available while stocks last, so keep an eye on the pub's Instagram to see when it sells out. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_gflzpDLbS/ If and when you do go outside to pick up food or booze, remember to follow the NSW Government's public gathering and social distancing rules. The Lord Gladstone is located at 115 Regent Street, Chippendale and open for takeaway only from 12–3pm and 5–8pm Monday–Sunday. To order, call (02) 9310 1483.
Every winter, the streets and laneways of Circular Quay and The Rocks are filled with food, wine and art for the annual Bastille Festival. This year, the festival has been postponed — with the hope of going ahead in October — but you don't have to forego the French celebration entirely. The organisers of the Bastille-inspired celebration have launched Revolution Boxes, filled with wine, cheese and cured meats, which will bring some of the festival fun to you. Out of the four boxes on offer, two in particular piqued our interest. 'Why?', you ask — two words: melted cheese. With nights getting longer and days cooler, we're switching our focus from refreshing spritzes to warmer winter comforts. Revolution Boxes is helping in that department with its DIY raclette and fondue. The French Raclette Feast Box ($95) comes with a whopping 500-gram wedge of cheese, a bottle of Alsace white wine and all the edible accoutrements: 300 grams of charcuterie — salami, ham and prosciutto — potatoes, pickles and baguette. Supposedly, that's enough to feed three-to-four adults, but we think it's really the perfect amount for two. Also on offer is the Fondue Feast Box ($105), which is filled with everything you need to make fondue savoyarde, including not one but three French cheeses, two bottles of wine (one for 'cooking'), baguettes, garlic and a small bottle of Kirsch (cherry liquor). Both boxes come with tasting notes and cooking instructions, thankfully. Revolution Boxes are available to order now, with delivery across Sydney for $10. We'll let you know when dates for Bastille Festival in October are announced.
It's footy season and we've got the ultimate prize for sports fans. We've teamed up with the Sydney Swans to give away two double passes to the Sydney Swans VS. St Kilda Saints Pride game on Thursday, June 8 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The prizes don't end there. Not only will each winner get to watch the action from their own reserved seats at the SCG, but they'll also score their own Sydney Swans pride scarves to show their true colours and get amongst the atmosphere. We can't have the winners celebrating on an empty stomach. Merivale, the official food supplier for the Sydney Swan's home, has teamed up with the Swans to sweeten the prize pool. One lucky winner will receive $250 worth of food gift cards to use inside the SCG — we're talking Queen Chow dumplings, cheeseburger spring rolls, Jinny's Falafel, sushi and even pizza. The other lucky winner? They'll receive a $250 dining gift card to use at the Merivale venue of choice across the city (valid until June 2024). Whether you're a Swans' superfan or haven't watched a game since Buddy kicked his 1000th goal, this is one prize you won't want to miss. This Pride game is happening at the SCG — Thursday, June 8. Thursday is pretty much the weekend after all, enter the competition and be in the shot for the perfect footy night. [competition]902231[/competition]
A Lego forest pops up in Martin Place. Read more It’s been a strange week here in Sydney, what with fires in Chippendale and wet weather blooms in Martin Place. Stranger still, I’m briefly stepping through the wild and lawless place that is this newsletter, and despite the rain, transport chaos and looming winter months, I’m looking forward to a killer week. If you were with us on Sunday for screen disappearances or chilled wine tastings, you’re probably feeling a little peaked by now. Not to worry, even as you recuperate, the week is drawing us ever onward towards quiet reflection or maybe just some music by the beach. Whatever your plans, waking up to a quiet ANZAC Wednesday this week, you may find yourself filled with a plethora of unusual questions. Is it too late to catch the dawn service? Where would we be without three years of the Rattler? Where do Iplay handball on ANZAC day? And will the Sydney Comedy Festival leave me with a crushing, Poppins-like fear of infectious laughter? Only time will tell. Sydney Comedy Festival 2012 The details: Tuesday, April 24 - Saturday, May 12 @ Various venues Catch internet sensation the Axis of Awesome performing their Tour of 2006, well-established UK acts Akmal and Jimeoin, sketch comedy stars of Edinburgh and Montreal Idiots of Ants, oddball storyteller Daniel Kitson, 30 Rock's Judah Friedlander and many more. Find out more Dimension Crossing The details: Wednesday, April 18 - Saturday, May 26 @ Performance Space at CarriageWorks Welcome to a state of being where you will be rained upon, whispered at and witness work between life, death and virtual reality. Find out more Van She The details: Wednesday, April 25 @ Beach Road Hotel Summer may be over, but that doesn't mean you should leave your smile and good vibes in the sand. Find out more Lord of the Flies The details: Tuesday, April 10 - Saturday, May 12 @ New Theatre Teenage boys try to replicate civil society on a desert island. Should be a cinch. Find out more The Red Rattler's 3rd Birthday Party The details: Friday, April 27 @ Red Rattler Once upon a time, the dream of a legal DIY, warehouse-style performance venue was just a glint in the Rats' eyes. Find out more Cafe de Flore The details: Wednesday, April 25 - Tuesday, May 22 @ Various cinemas Two seemingly distinct stories about love join together in the most surprising of ways in this French film starring Vanessa Paradis. Find out more Wool Modern Exhibition The details: Wednesday, April 25 - Tuesday, May 1 @ Pier 2/3 Upstage your thick winter socks with top notch design, in wool. Find out more Battleship The details: Thursday, April 12 - Wednesday, May 9 @ Various cinemas Just like the board game, assuming the board game cost $200 million and was dumb. Find out more
The Sydney Theatre Company has announced its 2013 season, the final one from Sydney's favourite theatre couple, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, as co-artistic directors. It's a season of weighty productions, but one stands out for sheer fun, and that's Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with Tim Minchin and Toby Schmitz in the title roles. Minchin's been away for ages selling out stadiums and racking up successes like Matilda, and we're too charmed by Schmitz to give him leave from Sydney stages at all, so this is an exciting pairing of wits. That other absurd duo, Vladimir and Estragon of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, will be played in 2013 by Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh, whom it was decided were destined for the parts during their turn in 2011's Uncle Vanya. They'll be joined by that play's director, Tamas Ascher, having together earned a whole year's worth of acclaim for the internationally touring production. Cate and Andrew, meanwhile, will team up for Jean Genet's The Maids, in a new translation by Upton and director Benedict Andrews. They're embracing the Frenchness of the play, apparently, as they'll be welcoming French actor Isabelle Huppert to the stage to be a murderous sister alongside Blanchett. Otherwise, the season is characterised by its engagement with the greats of Australian writing, featuring new plays by John Doyle and Joanna Murray-Smith as well as adaptations of Colin Thiele by Tom Holloway and of Kate Grenville by Andrew Bovell. Cult-statured Melbourne collective Sisters Grimm will inject some anarchy into proceedings with their Little Mercy (not their only show in Sydney in 2013), while the National Theatre of Great Britain's One Man, Two Guvnors, which had seven Tony nominations and one win in 2011-12, fills this year's (always must-see) international slot. It's an elegant and ambitious 2013 on the cards at STC, a fitting mark to be left by the departing Blanchett. Upton will continue on solo for the next three-year term, so we'll see a continuity of their long-term goals for the company. Full details of the 2013 season can be seen at the STC's website. Tickets are on sale from Friday, September 7, at 9am. Image: Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving for Waiting for Godot. Photo by Ingvar Kenne.
Saturday night on the town in the Sydney CBD sans a hefty cover charge, long line, burly bouncers and under-agers? The Morrison is your answer. And if you've not yet indulged the place - which sits at The Rocks end of George Street - let us set the scene. Enter and you're greeted by an industrial chic interior complete with exposed brick, mosaicked tables, concrete pillars and greenery aplenty. It's New York loft meets French bistro. Atmosphere bustles as wine and cocktail aficionados sprawl across the venue and kick on well into the night. To celebrate the birth of the late, great Jim Morrison from The Doors (who the bar was named after), The Morrison is hosting a party replete with dancing, drinks and DJ-spun tunes this weekend that will set the scene for their regular late night Saturday nights as guests are welcomed to stay, cocktail in hand, until the early hours. The Morrison is giving Concrete Playgrounders the chance to win an incredible Saturday night out on the town. To win one of ten prize packs comprising drinks and nibbles for ten people for two hours from 9pm this Saturday, December 8, just subscribe to Concrete Playground (if you haven't already) then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au
Earlier this year, we loved Cathode Ray Tube's The Great Lie of the Western World, which took us into a inner-city Sydney home with a tenuously satisfied couple and their couchsurfing, pot-stirring mate. The independent theatre collective have written and produced three such original works since 2009, becoming known for a distinctive style that makes naturalism seem exciting. So when we heard they were coming back with a new production, we were keen to find out more of their story. Writing a whole new play in three months is nigh impossible, so this time they're mixing it up by going outside the group for the script, A Steady Rain by US writer Keith Huff; the director, Owen Trevor (BBC's Top Gear); and the co-star Sam O'Sullivan (Punk Rock). "I wanted to act, do something real badass," says Cathode Ray Tube's Michael Booth, "I was keen to do some Pinter. But this play is better." The critically acclaimed original production starred Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in the roles of two cop buddies affected by a horrible crime (it's the show where they berated a guy in the audience to answer his ringing phone), so Booth and O'Sullivan have big, tough guyish shoes to fill. It will also be fun for the group to take a theatrical travel away from Sydney, where all their work is made and set. "Sydney is everything to the content of our work," says Booth. "We love this city. We write about the streets we know, the restaurants, the history, the people. Maybe not directly, but the culture is unconsciously imbedded in the dialogue. "Also, living in Sydney keeps us poor. It seems impossible to get funding, so we write when we can, because we have to. We asked Booth to share his five favourite spots in Sydney that are a little off the beaten path. Look out for possible veiled references to them in future Cathode Ray Tube shows. 1. A bench on Darling Point Road Corner Loftus Road. It's the best view of the city. Has a lovely foreground with the yachts of Rushcutters Bay. They should make a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of this view. It's good to sit and contemplate the city and all its beauty and wickedness. 2. Petty Cash Cafe, Marrickville Incredible poached eggs. Ditto coffee. Very pram-friendly. There's a nice park to look at, too. 68 Victoria Rd, Marrickville, NSW 2204; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Petty-Cash-Cafe/163033108963 3. Rozelle Particularly the outlook that faces back to the city. Oh, the topography! I visited Owen [Trevor, director of A Steady Rain] and his gorgeous wife when their little man was a bub. I think I could live there when I have a family. 4. Not Just Coffee, Paddington Are we mentioning too many cafes? (Never. -ed) Sam [O'Sullivan, Booth's co-star in A Steady Rain] said this one is good. 264 Oxford St Paddington, NSW 2021; http://www.notjustcoffee.com.au/ 5. Bungan Beach Drive there by the Roseville Bridge. Did I mention topography? Oh, my! Bungan on a stormy day makes me feel like Jim Hawkins. A Steady Rain plays at the TAP Gallery from November 20 to December 8. Tickets are $30 on Thu/Fri/Sat and $22 on Tue/Wed, while the previews on November 20 and 21 are just $17. Book here.
Florian Rivière, an 'urban hackivist', wants to inject a little fun into the urban mundane. Whether the 'fun' involves a spontaneous game of soccer or a curbside beer depends on whichever of Rivière's masterpieces you stumble across. His installations, or interventions if you will, convert the material of Strasbourg, France into a humourous spattering of playthings. Benches become recliners, a meter-maid becomes a bottle-opener, and an ironing board is stationed as a diving board. By cheekily altering the everyday objects one may pass on the street everyday, Riviere transforms the city into a giant jungle gym. [via Architizer]
It's nice to see vegetarian meals getting a little love, and the Garden Goodness at Grill'd is an all-round winner with a quality veggie patty, succulent beetroot, avocado, salad, relish, tasty cheese and herbed mayo. Proud of its fresh produce and friendly staff, Grill'd's shining feature among earth-loving kin, however, is arguably the Local Matters jars; donating $500 a month to worthwhile causes, chosen by you.
When Great Southern Nights is set to take to the stage, you should expect big things to happen. This statewide music festival is all about heroing local musical talent and is doing so with hundreds of gigs in regional hubs of NSW — including the Central Coast — between Friday, March 21 and Sunday, April 6. From Erina to Doyalson and beyond, some of the festival's headline acts will be sprinkled all throughout the area. The main venues joining in on the fun are The Sunken Monkey in Erina, Wyong's The Art House, Warners Bay Theatre, Doyalson RSL and Drifter's Wharf in Gosford. As to the lineup — there are legends of the Aussie music industry like Baby Animals, Troy Cassar-Daley and Marcia Hines, plus plenty of newer faces like The Rions, Ngaiire, Telenova and more. Events range from free entry to ticketed, so you'd best visit the Great Southern Nights website to start planning or check out our guide for tips on how to enjoy your time on the Central Coast.
Rounding out Boxing Day with an unforgettable clash, the Sydney Sixers take on the Melbourne Stars in one of the Big Bash League's most heated rivalries. Dubbed 'The Biggest Bash', world-renowned cricket stars Moises Henriques and Glenn Maxwell will duke it out with the bat and ball to see who comes out on top. Held at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a packed house will scream their hearts out as all the high-octane event unfolds under the lights. If that's not enough drama for you, Aussie rap legend Baker Boy will be performing live at the match, serving up straight fire with his cultural beats.
The Central Coast is a playground for nature lovers. With maritime destinations, dense national parks and beaches aplenty, local residents go to great efforts to ensure the region's natural beauty is preserved for future generations. It's plain to see at the annual Woytopia Sustainable Living Festival, which takes place at Woy Woy South Public School on Sunday, October 13. This all-day festival is all about encouraging attendees to look after the Central Coast peninsula with sustainable practices and conscious reductions of their carbon footprint. You can pick up some healthy new habits with green talks, gardening workshops, bushtucker classes and wildlife shows. There will also be 50+ artisan stalls selling organic food and eco-friendly products, free kids entertainment, yoga classes and more from 9am to 4pm.
Catch the last of summer's warmth with a pair of garden parties at Chiswick. Held Sunday, February 23 and Sunday, March 2, these floral get-togethers bring together fresh ingredients from the restaurant's kitchen garden to assemble a special snack menu. Conceived for easy-breezy fun, all you have to do is turn up from 4pm. While there's no shortage of new flavours to encounter, some much-loved Chiswick dishes like its barra-masalata and slow-cooked lamb will be reimagined in snack and sandwich form. Meanwhile, other bite-sized delights include white anchovy with toasted focaccia and tomato butter, Sydney rock oysters with apple mignonette, and sweet potato scallop with green goddess mayo. Of course, the sunny vibes wouldn't be complete without some fruity and fragrant spritzes. A series of four Hendrick's Gin creations will keep you refreshed throughout the day. While each sounds delicious, give the Lilly Pilly Collins a taste for a local treat. Featuring Lilly Pilly Hendrick's Gin and old-fashioned lemonade, this special-edition tipple was made using fruit growing just around the corner at Woollahra Public School. Alongside a line-up of local musical talent, Chiswick will also roll out a garnish-your-own station. Decorated with aromatics picked fresh from the kitchen garden by resident green thumb Pete Hatfield, you can add a little more mint, basil or cucamelons to your drink to achieve the perfect blend.
Keen for a boogie, a bite and a bev? Saint Cloche Gallery has got you covered. As part of PADDO(collective)'s week-long live music stint, the local art venue is set to host a casual event in partnership with family-owned Mediterranean eatery Omeio. Head over to MacDonald Street from 5.30pm–7.30pm on Thursday, May 2, and you'll find a low-key gig with enticing eats, live music and curated art. The two-hour event will feature an array of deli bites supplied by the Omeio crew, as well as chilled sets by local DJ JNRSTAX — all of which can be enjoyed from a picnic area located on the corner of the gallery's verandah and MacDonald Street. To top things off, the gallery will be featuring Charlotte Swiden and Natalie Synnott's latest exhibition, Wonder Machine. Plus, the event is BYO, so you can pair the chill tunes and tasty treats with your favourite sips near the breezy Paddington space.
Easter in Sydney doesn't just mean chocolate, hot cross buns and whatever other sweet treats the city's eateries happen to come up with at this time of year — it also means the Sydney Royal Easter Show. And, while you won't find the latter at El Camino Cantina's Tex-Mex joints around town, the chain is getting into the spirit of the event with its returning limited-edition margarita menu, which it has dubbed The Greatest Rita Show in 2024. For its latest batch of creative flavours, El Camino Cantina is serving up cream'n soda, sour lemonade, bubblegum, sour grape cloud, cherry bomb and chilli triple-buttered popcorn versions, too. The six showbag-inspired ritas are on offer from Monday, March 18–Sunday, April 7, in both 15-oz and 24-oz glasses — and they also come with new drunken bears, which are gummy bears infused with tequila and Grand Marnier. [caption id="attachment_697456" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tom Ferguson[/caption] If you'd like to pair your sips with tacos, you'll find The Greatest Rita Show food menu on offer as well. Ever had a puffy taco? It's also a fresh limited-time addition, features a puffed-out taco shell, and comes filled with your choice of steak, marinated prawns, brisket, pulled pork and grilled chicken. To round out the bites, banana fritters are your dessert choice. In Sydney, you'll find The Greatest Rita Show tempting your tastebuds at El Camino in The Rocks, Entertainment Quarter, Manly and Miranda.
Easter is right around the corner, which means it's time to get ready for everyone's favourite rabbit to hop into town — and we're not talking about Peter, Roger or Bugs. If you're looking for a way to celebrate Easter right up to the weekend itself — all without leaving the city — hit up the Ingenia Holiday Parks Sydney Family Show this March. The annual event runs from Saturday, March 23, to Monday, April 1, at the Entertainment Quarter Showring. Here you can check out the action-packed motorcycle and bike stunt show, work out some energy on the Monster Jump obstacle course, turn yourself upside down on carnival rides, cuddle furry friends in the animal nursery and, of course, take home a showbag or two on your way out. This year, the show also features high-octane oinks in the form of pig racing, a special day for dogs on Sunday, March 24, a rabbit hopping competition on Good Friday, and a dedicated easter zone open daily. Tickets are $30 per person for adults and $15 for kids aged 3–15, or you can grab a family pass for $70 for four people. Score access to your fill of rides with 24 coupons for rides and games or a three-hour unlimited rides wristband for $50. Prebook your tickets online to avoid any disappointment at the door. The Ingenia Holiday Parks Sydney Family Show is happening at the Entertainment Quarter from Saturday, March 23, to Monday, April 1. For more information and to grab tickets, visit the website.
Godzilla is finally an Oscar-winner. It's about time. But the septuagenarian reptile didn't score Hollywood's top trophy for curling up in the Colosseum for a snooze, rocking electric-pink spikes, thundering into Hollow Earth — the world literally within our world where titans spring from — and teaming up with King Kong to take on a rival giant ape that rides an ice-breathing kaiju and uses a skeletal spine as a rope. Japan's exceptional Godzilla Minus One, which took home 2024's Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, wasn't that kind of monster movie. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which hails from the American-made Monsterverse, definitely is. Reaching cinemas in the same month as one of its titular figures received such a coveted filmmaking accolade, this sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs Kong is patently from the goofily entertaining rather than deeply meaningful brand of Godzilla flicks. Yes, there's room for both. It might seem a hard job to follow up one of the best-ever takes on the nuclear-powered creature with an action-adventure-fantasy monster mash that also features a Hawaiian shirt-wearing veterinarian dropping in via helicopter to do dental work on King Kong, the return of the Monsterverse's resident conspiracy-theorist podcaster and a mini Kong called Suko — plus, in its very first minutes, several other animals being ripped apart by Godzilla and Kong. When he took on the gig of helming pictures in this franchise, however, You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch and Death Note filmmaker Adam Wingard chose fun chaos. His two entries so far aren't dreaming of competing for thoughtfulness with the movies coming out of the country that created Godzilla. Rather, they're made with affection for that entire legacy, and also Kong's, which dates back even further to 1933. Getting audiences relishing the spectacle of this saga is the clear aim, then — and Wingard's attempts put exactly that in their sights above all else. It may also appear difficult for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire to arrive so swiftly after related streaming series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters achieved a feat that hasn't been easy in the Monsterverse: delivering human drama that leaves an imprint. Godzilla vs Kong couldn't. 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Kong: Skull Island and 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters seesawed in their efforts (some admirably, some woefully). The small screen continues to reign supreme, but Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire values its people. There's fewer of them than in its predecessor, with just four at its core. Dumping exposition or acting as comic relief stay among their tasks, respectively, and yet Rebecca Hall (Resurrection) and Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) are treated better by the material in their saga comebacks. As the aforementioned monster zoologist, Dan Stevens (Welcome to Chippendales, and also from Wingard's The Guest) knows exactly the type of part and flick he's in; he's the bulk of the film's mood personified. As the orphaned teenager tied to Kong, and similarly cast out from her home as he has been, Kaylee Hottle (Magnum PI) capably remains the feature's human heart on what also becomes a coming-of-age journey. Doing the scripting, Godzilla vs Kong screenwriter Terry Rossio (also The Amazing Maurice), Wingard's regular collaborator Simon Barrett (You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch), plus Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight) — all working with a story by Rossio, Wingard and Barrett — can't be accused of putting people first in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. It's a low bar to say that they don't play as an afterthought, but it's an improvement from the last movie. The storyline's quest: to show how its eponymous beings are managing to co-exist, then must join forces to protect the world. Initially, they're like a divorced couple still sharing the same abode. Godzilla has taken over the planet's surface, while Kong is swinging around in Hollow Earth. The Skar King can't be quickly vanquished, though, requiring their combined might to try to stop his maliciousness wreaking havoc upwards as well as down. Around the simple but welcome Godzilla + Kong = titan siblings-in-arms saviours equation, and before pop culture's biggest lizard and monkey pal around, the humans-driven aspect of the narrative is likewise as straightforward. Kong's troubled tooth, odd signals from below and visions seen by her adopted daughter Jia (Hottle) have Dr Ilene Andrews (Hall) pondering what's happening beneath the planet's crust. Still as obsessive as ever, whistleblower-turned-blogger (and documentarian wannabe) Bernie Hayes (Henry) is one of her ports of call for assistance. The Ace Ventura-esque Trapper (Stevens) is another. Also, Jia's shared time on Skull Island with Kong as one of the landmass' indigenous Iwi tribe, alongside the fact that the teen, who is deaf, can communicate with the simian using sign language, keeps proving relevant. By throwing away the obligation to dig thematically below any surfaces, akin to a beast disposing of the carcass of its last meal — apart from knowing that its namesakes are guardians, and the blunt Jia and Kong connection — Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire revels in animals being animals. Painting Godzilla and Kong empathetically, and as more than fright-inducing monsters, has always been Wingard's angle, even when they were going claw to paw; Andrews is the Jane Goodall of Kong, after all. Here, the movie's main pair are basically towering pets, including while clambering around, snatching some rest, needing medical attention and securing their territory. As the film hops to Cairo, Paris, Gibraltar and Rio de Janeiro as well — and does ample exploring in Hollow Earth, where the Skar King has an army obeying his commands, but Suko sides with Kong — it's no wonder, then, that the good doctor and company are left endeavouring to react and respond as best they can. Cat owners especially can relate. Although Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's VFX crew likely won't nab the same Oscar as Godzilla Minus One, this CGI-heavy affair has a vibrant look to it. Nothing matches the neon-lit Hong Kong throwdown of Godzilla vs Kong but, amid 80s needle drops, that isn't Wingard's mission. Instead, he enjoys putting iconic landmarks in peril and going all Journey to the Centre of the Earth — and his splashes of pink, purple-topped mountains, crystals, other eye-catching titan and animal designs, and the swirling cinematography by fellow returnee Ben Seresin (The Mother). Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the cheese to Godzilla Minus One's chalk, clearly, as it fittingly tells of a chalk-and-cheese twosome, but always eagerly and happily.
Movies don't have pores, but How to Have Sex might as well. Following a trip to Greece with three 16-year-old best friends who want nothing more than to party their way into womanhood — and to get laid, too — this unforgettable British drama is frequently slick with sweat. Perspiration can dampen someone when they're giddily excited about a wild getaway, finishing school and leaving adolescence behind. It can get a person glistening when they're rushing and drinking, and flitting from pools and beaches to balconies and clubs. Being flushed from being sozzled, the stickiness that comes with expending energy, the cold chill of stress and horror, the fluster of a fluttering heart upon making a connection: they're all sources of wet skin as well. Filmmaker Molly Manning Walker catalogues them all. Viewers can see the sweat in How to Have Sex, with its intimate, spirited, like-you're-there cinematography. More importantly, audiences can feel why protagonist Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce, Vampire Academy) is perspiring, and the differences scene to scene, even when she's not quite sure herself. How to Have Sex also gets those watching sweating — because spying how you've been Tara, or her pals Em (debutant Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake, Halo), or lads Badger (Shaun Thomas, Ali & Ava) and Paddy (Samuel Bottomley, The Last Rifleman) in the neighbouring resort unit, is inescapable. Walker has been there herself, with parts of her debut feature as a writer and director drawn from her own time as a Tara, Em or Skye while also making the spring break and Schoolies-like pilgrimage from England to the Mediterranean. When the movie doesn't lift details directly from her own experience, it shares them with comparable moments that are virtually ripped from western teendom. One of the feature's strokes of genius is how lived-in it proves, whether Tara and her mates are as loud and exuberant as girls are when their whole lives are ahead of them, its main character is attempting to skip her troubles in a sea of strobing lights and dancing bodies, or slipping between the sheets — but not talking about it — is changing who Tara is forever. If a film called How to Have Sex had arrived in cinemas in the 80s, 90s or 00s, viewers would've known exactly what was in store from its title. Indeed, more than a few teen comedies of the era, American Pie especially, could've adopted the non-Google-friendly moniker. But Walker's picture isn't those flicks, despite starting with Tara and company almost dizzy with euphoria about wrapping up their exams, farewelling secondary schooling and dashing eagerly into their vision of adulthood. Rather, How to Have Sex is a portrait of the details that don't typically get seen and definitely aren't stressed when garnering laughs about coursing hormones is the aim of the game. As it unpacks consent and coercion in a real and raw way, Walker's feature is steeped in the confusion, the hurt, the quiet "yeah" that isn't a hearty yes, the peer pressure and rivalries, and the fact that sex is almost everywhere — in one based-on-reality sequence, oral sex is a basically a contest in front of a vast crowd — but any genuine and considered "how to" is far from everyone's thoughts. In its first half, there's a woozy buzz to How to Have Sex that matches the slinky outfits, glittery faces, neon lights and constant chase for the best holiday ever. Tara, Em and Skye are in Malia, Crete, but there's no time for sightseeing when there's shots after shots to down, dance floors to cut loose on, splashes to be had, and Badger and his crew to pursue. "Oi, smokeshow" is how the bleached-blonde fellow Brit first greets Tara from across their balconies. There's a goofiness to him that pairs well with her bubbliness; her "angel necklace" and his "hot legends" neck tattoo also appear to match. But Skye doesn't approve, in the way that besties who don't always want what's best for their friends can nix someone's crush because they're thinking about themselves. After dubbing Badger a clown, she suggests with forcefulness that Tara set her sights on the supremely confident Paddy instead. If you're not aware going into the movie that Walker is also a cinematographer, it's evident in every frame of a film that she doesn't actually shoot herself. Nicolas Canniccioni (A Respectable Woman) takes on that gig, but How to Have Sex is made with a meticulous sense of colour and light, as Walker's lensing on the also-visually expressive Scrapper similarly possessed. While the in-the-moment flavour to the imagery thrusting Tara's plight to the screen doesn't subside, the hues and the gleam reflect the delicate tonal rollercoaster her story takes. In its second half, then, all that shines, fluoresces and fizzes isn't shimmering with exhilaration. After Paddy takes her to the beach alone, and Tara drunkenly loses the virginity her mates have been just as adamant that she can't go home with, nothing looks or feels the same. How Tara regards herself, not clocking the myriad of reasons why her situation has been so many other teen girls' situation and the societal underpinnings behind that truth, also shifts shatteringly. The before, the after, the seesaw from hedonistic bliss to gutwrenching discomfort, the sensitive lack of judgement shown to both How to Have Sex's women and men, the utter unwillingness for the feature to never stop being frank: with them all, Walker beams as brightly as a glowstick that she's an exceptionally talented, perceptive and compassionate filmmaker. At the centre of the booze and the horniness, so does McKenna-Bruce; that they've both been collecting accolades and awards attention, including Cannes' Un Certain Regard Award and BAFTA nominations for Walker, plus the British Independent Film Awards' Best Lead Performance and BAFTA Rising Star prize for her main actor, is deeply deserved. Calling this a launching pad for McKenna-Bruce isn't accurate, though, because her How to Have Sex performance should always be mentioned whenever her name comes up from now on out. Brassy, energetic, vulnerable, insecure, disoriented, regretful, dread-filled, let down by a fantasy of growing up that's never real, still picking herself back up: her stunning portrayal has it all, and she shouldn't ever want to soar away from it. It isn't just teen-comedy antics that How to Have Sex eschews; this story would never be easy to tell or witness, and nor should it, but Walker clearly doesn't pour it into the standard dramatic template. As much as it brings them both to mind at times, her film isn't Aftersun-meets-Spring Breakers, either — two excellent pictures themselves — but it's as honest and potent, and also as intensely immersive. Charlotte Wells' tender father-daughter trip played like a haunting memory and desperate attempt to hold onto someone lost. Harmony Korine's bacchanalian crime-comedy jaunt to Florida was rendered with a dreamlike air. How to Have Sex stares unblinkingly, knowing how many women have stood in Tara's shoes, how many men in Paddy's, and how a definitive resolution where everything falls where it should is a rarity. Sweat is far from the only aspect, then, that's messily real.
Join the celebration of Japan's Sakura Festival at Surry Hills' Goros. The Japanese restaurant/late-night venue is teaming up with Bombay Sapphire to bring you Cherry Bomb, a six-week sensory pop-up experience until Saturday, May 18. Coinciding with the cherry blossom season in Japan, Goros is putting together a cherry blossom-inspired menu. Think pink, as in pink sushi, pink drinks and pink mochi. Bombay Sapphire has a curated selection of delicious pink cocktails, including the Sapphire martini with wild strawberries and flowers. For food, you can opt for the all-you-can-eat skewers or the Moto package, with a 90-minute feast of food and cocktails for $89 per person. Or, head in on a Friday for $1 dumplings. Enjoy a whimsical pink installation adorned with neon cherry blossom lights, creating the perfect ambience on the always-lively dance floor, with live DJs playing every week. If you are looking for a more intimate celebration, be sure to book in a private karaoke room. Entry is free, but rally the crew and book a spot to avoid missing out.
The National Indigenous Art Fair will return to the Sydney Harbour foreshore this July to showcase creations from First Nations artists, designers and makers for its fourth annual art market. And, it's arriving just in time for NAIDOC Week 2023. Over Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2, the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks will be filled with art by Indigenous creatives from some of the nation's most remote places. Arrive just before 9:45am to witness the Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony, before the fair officially kicks off at 10am. Along with the visual art, there will be live performances, panel discussions, bush food and a communal weaving circle, all aligned with this year's NAIDOC Week theme — For Our Elders. [caption id="attachment_903679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Basket weaving with May Grace Johnson, Destination NSW[/caption] At the ethical marketplace, there'll be stallholders aplenty from remote art centres and Sydney's Blak Markets, where you can purchase art, handmade jewellery, homewares, food and more. Even better: all proceeds go directly back to the artist and First Nations communities. You can also check out cooking demonstrations (with a celebrity guest chef or two), participate in workshops and enjoy the live music and dance performances. Check out the lineup here. Entry is via gold coin donation to support remote artists attend the event. And you can expect to have company, with more than 10,000 people heading along over the two days in 2022. [caption id="attachment_903682" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Djiriba Waagura Dance Group[/caption] The National Indigenous Art Fair will take place from 10am–5pm on Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2. For more information, visit the NIAF website. Top images: Edith Richards, Walkatjara Art (third); Elvis, Anindilyakwa Arts (fourth); Kaltukatjara Arts Workers, Beryl Bell and LeonieBennett, Rosie Frecheville courtesy of Tjarlirli Art (sixth); Artists of Ampilatwatja, Betty, Minnie, Colleen and Beverley (seventh); Gabadu Music, Djina Yilaga Choir, Destination NSW (eighth).
Teenagers are savage in The Boogeyman, specifically to Yellowjackets standout Sophie Thatcher, but none of them literally take a bite. Grief helps usher a stalking dark force to a distraught family's door; however, that malevolent presence obviously doesn't share The Babadook's moniker. What can and can't be seen haunts this dimly lit film, and yet this isn't Bird Box, which co-star Vivien Lyra Blair also appeared in. And a distressed man visits a psychiatrist to talk about his own losses, especially the otherworldly monster who he claims preyed upon his children, just as in Stephen King's 1973 short story also called The Boogeyman — but while this The Boogeyman is based on that The Boogeyman, which then made it into the author's 1978 Night Shift collection that gave rise to a packed closet full of fellow movie adaptations including Children of the Corn, Graveyard Shift and The Lawnmower Man, this flick uses the horror maestro's words as a mere beginning. On the page and the screen alike, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian, Boston Strangler) seeks therapist Will Harper's (Chris Messina, Air) assistance, reclining on his couch to relay a tragic tale. As the new patient talks, he isn't just shaken and shellshocked — he's a shadow of a person. He's perturbed by what loiters where light doesn't reach, in fact, and by what he's certain has been lurking in his own home. Here, he couldn't be more adamant that "the thing that comes for your kids when you're not paying attention" did come for his. And, the film Lester has chosen his audience carefully, because Will's wife recently died in a car accident, leaving his daughters Sadie (Thatcher) and Sawyer (Blair) still struggling to cope. On the day of this fateful session, the two girls have just returned to school for the first time, only for Sadie to sneak back when her so-called friends cruelly can't manage any sympathy. Whether you call it the boogeyman, boogie monster or bogeyman IRL, the titular creature doesn't need naming; everyone knows the concept. Movie buffs definitely do, thanks to 1980's The Boogeyman, and its sequels in 1983 and 1994 — plus the unrelated 2005 release Boogeyman, as well as its own 2007 and 2008 follow-ups. None of those past pictures have anything to do with King, making this one, which arrives 50 years after his unnerving prose first hit print, the only one to do the honours. Its main figures are just as familiar with the mythic entity with a penchant for petrifying young souls in the black of night from beneath their beds and in their cupboards, but purely as fiction, with ten-year-old Sawyer unable to sleep without lights on, her wardrobe checked and under her mattress given a thorough once-over. Indeed, early in The Boogeyman, Will asks Sawyer how she manages to slumber each night beneath such a glow. While her answer is standard for any precocious kid, the question itself hangs heavily in the air. Her bedroom twinkles from several sources of light — one of which is a giant lit-up globe that she sleeps with, and can also handily roll along bright corridors when the need arises, which it will — but the scene is noticeably far from radiant. It's a sight that says plenty about The Boogeyman, albeit unintentionally. The studio debut of Host and Dashcam director Rob Savage, the film is so concerned with evoking an unsettling mood in its look, tone and emotions first and foremost that it doesn't flinch for a second when what a character is saying contrasts so glaringly with what's being shown. Scary movies are about feeling, of course. At the core of the horror genre is the need to work through the things that go bump and jump in the evening, usually in our hearts and minds, and springing from existential woes about mortality — plus the chilling sensation that can't be shaken when what gets our hairs standing on end isn't at all logical. Accordingly, while the way that The Boogeyman handles Sawyer's bedroom doesn't prove so bright in multiple senses, Savage is a convincingly atmospheric filmmaker here (a trait he also demonstrated with his 2020 breakout Host, only for it to vanish without a trace in 2021's awful and obnoxious Dashcam). With cinematographer Eli Born (Hellraiser) consistently infusing every room with bleakness, Savage knows how to let dread and terror permeate. That's what navigating mourning is like, after all, as sits at the core of the emotionally astute script by A Quiet Place and 65's Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, alongside Black Swan and The Skeleton Twins' Mark Heyman. A feature can be as layered as strings upon strings of fairy lights and equally as conventional as a regular incandescent bulb, though. The Boogeyman, with its generic title, swings between both extremes. It understands how unshakeable the pain of losing someone is, and how bereavement seeps into every space it can. As Smile did in 2022, it also appreciates hurt and torment as a contagion as it spills from one household to the next. The Boogeyman is well-versed in the mechanics of jump scares, but those jolts also become routine quickly. Its high school bullies can't hold a candle to Carrie, it haunted houses aren't on The Shining's level and there's a touch of Stranger Things to its glimpses of its long-limbed, sharp-clawed namesake. And, yes, Thatcher brings Yellowjackets to mind, the whole premise gets The Babadook bubbling up, and the family-in-peril setup brings up Bird Box alongside Beck and Woods' A Quiet Place. Whether The Boogeyman is resonating with earned and earnest emotion or leaning overtly into genre tropes, it's a smartly hushed affair with expert sound design; in life's worst moments, sometimes only whispers echo no matter how loudly you want to scream. Savage's intriguing- and involving-enough mixed bag is also a better film thanks to its three key cast members, even working with thinly written characters. As her breakout TV role has already demonstrated, Thatcher is a talent on the rise. She's particularly skilled at portraying complicated teens forced to weather unspeakable horrors, then find a way to persevere. Although her panicked face fills the screen often, Blair's Sawyer is never just an alarmed avatar for the audience or a reminder of their own childhood fears, while the always-watchable Messina makes a shrink dad with trouble processing his own trauma feel believable.
Naturally at Darling Quarter is bringing a deliciously immersive experience to the harbourside locale just in time for Vivid Sydney. While Sydney shines brightly all over in winter — thanks to the beloved annual creative festival — the Darling Quarter precinct has got all you need: free live concerts, illuminated art pieces and dining venues dishing up strictly limited menus until Saturday, June 17. Let's start with the food. There's a spectacularly delicious lineup of spots to eat at here throughout the year, but we've got some honourable mentions while Naturally at Darling Quarter is on. There's Doodee Noodle with its slurp-ready bowls of fiery noodles, as well as MuMian and its wok-fried scallops dressed up with dragonfruit. Ichoume is celebrating our oceanic treasures with tender slices of sashimi, and Kürtősh— the purveyors of traditional Hungarian 'chimney cakes' — has a decadent dessert: a feather-light sponge with macadamias and a squeeze of lime. Our top recommendation? Braza Churrascaria's exclusive cocktail (pictured above). The hazy smoked-raspberry sip will warm you up quite nicely, a pre-requisite for all your after-dark explorations. Onto the standout sounds and bright lights: Tumbalong Nights is the free live music event taking over Tumbalong Park. Cruise down to the area, fuel up on the above and then find a spot to get your groove on. Friday, June 2 brings a celebration of Triple J's Unearthed High, which has been bringing our teen sensations to radio waves for 15 years. There's the ARIA-winning Dan Sultan on Saturday, June 10 and Emma Donnovan and The Putbacks on Friday, June 16 — and plenty more. From Friday, May 26 till Saturday, June 17, two light installations will shine. Night Walkers brings supersized amphibians to the mix, and Spectrum of Happiness will have all-ages swinging on a rainbow-powered swing set, which only gets more brilliant the more you interact with it. If you're looking for the ideal spot to base your Vivid Sydney trip, or a locale that brings together lights, music and culinary treats, Naturally at Darling Quarter is the destination for you. Naturally at Darling Quarter runs from Friday, May 26 until Saturday, June 17. To plan your visit, head to the website.
When Pixar is at its best and brightest, the animation house's gorgeous and heartfelt films flow across the silver screen. They glow with colour, creativity, sincerity and emotion. In movies such as WALL-E, Inside Out, Soul, Toy Story 4, Up and Ratatouille, the Disney-owned company's work floats beyond the ordinary as it flickers — and yet, it's also grounded in genuine feelings and insights, even while embracing the now Pixar-standard "what if robots, playthings, rats and the like had feelings?" setup over and over. Accordingly, it makes sense that the studio's Elemental draws upon the sensations that its features usually inspire. It seems like something that was always destined to happen, in fact. And, it's hardly surprising that its latest picture anthropomorphises fire, water, air and earth, and ponders these aspects of nature having emotions. What's less expected is how routine this just-likeable and sweet-enough film is, with the Pixar template lukewarm instead of an inferno and hovering rather than soaring. Elemental also treads water, despite vivid animation, plus the noblest of aims to survey the immigrant experience, opposites attracting, breaking down cultural stereotypes and borders, and complicated parent-child relationships. The Captain Planet-meets-Romeo and Juliet vibe that glinted through the movie's trailers proves accurate, and also something that the feature is happy sticking with exactly as that formula sounds. Although filmmaker Pete Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) draws upon his own upbringing as the son of Korean expats growing up in New York City and its distinctive neighbourhoods — that his family ran a grocery store is worked in as well — and his own marriage, his second stint as a director is too by-the-numbers, easy and timid. Elemental looks like a Pixar film, albeit taking a few visual cues from Studio Ghibli in some character-design details (its bulbous grassy creatures noticeably resemble Totoro), but it largely comes across like a copy or a wannabe. Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis, Nancy Drew), the feisty fire sprite at the picture's centre, has footsteps to follow in herself: not just William Shakespeare's most famous couple without the tragedy given that this is an all-ages-friendly Pixar release, but also her father Bernie's (Ronnie del Carmen, Soul). With her mother Cinder (Shila Ommi, Tehran), he left their homeland behind for better opportunities, worked hard to overcome prejudice and discrimination, and started The Fireplace, which sparked Element City's whole Firetown district — and, since she first started simmering, he has always told his daughter that it was all for her. But Ember's temper is heated. It's prone to boiling over with frustrating customers, which doesn't bode well for a convenience-store proprietor. So, while she's spent her whole life preparing to take over the terracotta- and iron-filled shop when her dad retires, he's never been convinced that she's ready. Bernie adores Ember, has put his entire flame into the family business and is as passionate about only one other thing, apart from Cinder. Due to the xenophobia and unkindness that greeted him when he first arrived in Element City, he's scorchingly certain that fire and other elements don't and shouldn't mix. Sohn and screenwriters John Hoberg (American Housewife), Kat Likkel (also American Housewife) and Brenda Hsueh (Disjointed) set out to extinguish that belief, which is where Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie, Archive 81) comes in. When H2O streams into The Fireplace via a busted pipe, it brings in the water element, who is also a municipal inspector. To save the store, the explosive Ember teams up with the go-with-the-flow, freely emotional Wade to work out what's caused the leak — and, although she's initially reluctant about him and leaving Firetown, romance gushes, as does an appreciation of burning beyond her comfort zone. As it lays its scene, Elemental also brings Pixar's 2022 highlight Turning Red to mind, which doesn't do the studio's new film many favours. That exuberant straight-to-streaming effort focused on a boyband-worshiping teen rather than a dutiful young woman who's a whiz at blowing glass (an advantage of being constantly and literally fiery). It honed in on its protagonist's relationship with her mother, rather than father-daughter bonds. But both movies are about struggling with balancing cultural traditions passed down through generations, and the strict expectations that can come with them, as kids try to become their own people and remain true to their own, heroes, dreams, desires and personalities. Sohn's film just combines those notions with an element-crossed lovers rom-com — Pixar's take on Moonstruck, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Sick and other multicultural romances. With everything that Elemental endeavours to ape — which is clearly a lengthy list — this 27th Pixar feature trickles from a lesser stream. That the flick's four different types of elements are thinly sketched out and lean on simplistic cliches dampens its impact, too, all uncharacteristic moves for the usually deeply thoughtful Mouse House outfit, and never more glaring than with the Lumens. With the director also receiving a story credit, there's again no faulting Sohn and his scribes' intentions in exploring societal inequality, decrying racism, and conveying a statement about inclusion and diversity at viewers young and old. Still, the film is at its most shimmering emotionally and narratively when it gets specific rather than broad. The more kindling that it adds to Ember, the stronger it beams. The more that it relies upon its familiar tropes and plot components, the more it recedes. Two parts of Elemental are perennially buoyant, however: the imagery and voice cast. Fire isn't easy to animate, let alone fire beings, but Ember is especially dazzling. She's always blazing, but those flames can grow and fade based on mood, be doused completely by water, get radiant in the dark and change hues depending on her surroundings — and, as a result, she's an expressive marvel. Also stunning: the world of Element City that's conjured up around her, as tinted with a dreamy palette and watercolour look, which its leads walk and talk through like they're in one of the Before movies. As they chat and swoon, and in general, Lewis matches her character's fire. Athie makes a suitably cruisy Wade, while Catherine O'Hara (Schitt's Creek) is an unsurprising delight as his mum Brook. And yet, Elemental also feels like Pixar is taking its titular term to heart in the worst way, making for rudimentary rather than particularly ravishing or resonant viewing.
Thanks to Keith Courtney, Australians have already enjoyed a walk through a huge house of mirrors in the past few years. And, also with his help, moseying through an eerie and endless labyrinth of doors became a reality, too. The Melbourne installation artist isn't done setting up massive mazes just yet, however — and his latest, which is designed to resemble a huge human-sized kaleidoscope, is finally coming to Sydney in 2023. Called Kaleidoscope, fittingly, this installation isn't small. It's a 700-square-metre expanse of glass, steel, mirrors and moving prisms that features a labyrinth of corridors decked out in a revolving showcase of lights and colours. Originally debuting in Melbourne in 2022, then hitting Brisbane and Geelong among six Australian stops so far, it'll start shimmering and luring Harbour City residents at Powerhouse Ultimo for just over a month between Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10. Like both House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors, Kaleidoscope has been crafted to be immersive as possible. From 2–9pm Wednesday–Sunday, expect to have your senses disoriented while you're strolling through, including both motion and gravity. Expect to see plenty of shifting illusions among the ever-changing array of light and colour as well, and to be drawn in by the installation's soundscape in the process. "No two people will have the same experience in Kaleidoscope. This is a multi-sensory and physical experience where the visitor is completely submerged in sound and light — a vortex of serenity," explains Courtney. "Their experience is entirely personal, and I think that's what I'm most proud of with this artwork. It makes my heart sing knowing that each person can walk through and create their own feeling of magic." In bringing the massive piece to life, the artist has teamed up with visual artist Ash Keating, composer Tamil Rogeon and artist Samantha Slicer, plus a team of highly skilled technicians. [caption id="attachment_858144" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Ian Laidlaw[/caption]
It's a tale as old as time, again — but in an escape room-meets-scavenger hunt way. An interactive IRL game based on Beauty and the Beast will have fans running around the streets of Sydney in 2023. This new pastime hails from CluedUpp, which has already busted out CSI, Jack the Ripper, and witchcraft and wizarding-themed activities around Australia — plus Alice in Wonderland games, too. Here, the company wants you to be its guest to get sleuthing. Its Beauty and the Beast game involves roaming around outdoors on an adventure that takes its cues from the classic 18th-century fairy tale that's earned such a following, as combined with a whodunnit-style mystery. Beloved story? Tick. Inserting fans into said narrative? Tick again. Working in the ever-popular genre that is the whodunnit? Tick once more. Throw in the whole escape room and scavenger hunt elements, and it does sound like something that an algorithm would come up with — and a lot of fun. Hitting Sydney on three Saturdays — July 8, August 5 and September 2 — this spin on Beauty and the Beast starts with the latter getting cursed again. Forget love — this time, there's challenges to complete, clues to crack and fairy tale characters for you and your mates to interrogate. Participants get involved in teams of up to six, roaming around outdoors with their phones to help. And yes, if you want to dress up to fit the theme, you can.
The idea behind The Lume was always a stunner, giving Australia its first permanent digital-only art gallery. When the Melbourne venue started welcoming in patrons in 2021, it lived up to its immersive, multi-sensory promise, initially with a spectacular Van Gogh exhibition that let visitors feel like they were walking right into the artist's work, and then with the French impressionism-focused Monet & Friends Alive. The latest showcase set to grace the site's agenda has those past shows beat, however, heroing First Nations art and music. On display from Friday, June 23, Connection features more than 110 Indigenous visual and musical artists in a dazzling fashion. At this Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre gallery, the art gracing its walls towers over patrons, with the space filled with large-scale digital pieces. And Connection is full thanks to more than 550 works — digitals and originals alike. Earning some love: art by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Tommy Watson, Anna Pitjara, Lin Onus, Sarrita King, Kate Constantine, Wayne Qulliam, Clifford, Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, and many more, in a walk-through exhibition that presents its pieces through the themes of land, water and sky Country. Their work is scored a soundtrack by Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Emily Wurramara, Gurrumul, Alice Skye, Baker Boy and others, plus composers such as William Barton. Grande Experiences, the company behind The Lume and its touring exhibitions — Van Gogh Alive made its way around Australia, plus Monet in Paris from June — says that Connection boasts the largest representation of First Peoples art and culture ever assembled. It spans over 3000 square metres, and its remit is just as sizeable: highlighting pieces by past and present artists, and surveying the entire country and Torres Strait. Shining a spotlight on emerging talents while showing their work alongside their inspirations is another key mission. If it sounds familiar, that's because a smaller version premiered at the National Museum of Australia in 2022, with Grande Experiences joining forces with the Canberra gallery. Connection also benefits from an advisory panel featuring Constantine, Quilliam, King, Aboriginal art specialist Adam Knight, the National Museum's lead Indigenous curator and academic Margo Ngawa Neale, arts executive Rhoda Roberts AO, and designer and film producer Alison Page. Updated: Thursday, October 12.
So many movies, so little time. That's film festival life, including across Sydney over the past 12 days. The 2023 Sydney Film Festival showcased hundreds of movies in cinemas across the city — and, if you weren't able to fit all your viewing into its main run, you now have four extra days to head along. As it usually does, SFF is hosting a Back by Popular Demand program in the days after the fest's official close. In 2023, those bonus screenings will hit Dendy Newtown and Palace Norton Street between Monday, June 19–Thursday, June 22. No, you're not done spending your nights in darkened rooms just yet. There's 13 films to pick from and, as the name makes plain, they're all flicks that've been proving a hit with crowds so far. That includes straight-from-Cannes titles May December, starring Natalie Portman (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Julianne Moore (Sharper); Perfect Days, with German filmmaker Wim Wenders (Submergence) heading to Japan; and Anatomy of a Fall, a drama about an author (Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann) accused of her husband's murder, which just won French director Justine Triet (Sibyl) the Palme d'Or. Also on the list: whistleblower docudrama Reality, starring Euphoria and The White Lotus' Sydney Sweeney; the obviously film-loving I Like Movies; environmentalist tale How to Blow Up a Pipeline; and kaijus via Shin Ultraman, which springs from the creators of Shin Godzilla and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Or, there's Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, a documentary about an Estonian log-cabin sauna; fellow doco A Storm Foretold, focusing on Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone; and Beyond Utopia, about a family of five trying to escape from North Korea. Plus, Scrapper won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic), Riceboy Sleeps follows a Korean single mother and her son as they start a new life in Canada in the 90s, and Sunflower spins a coming-of-age tale in the Melbourne suburbs. Some films have multiple sessions, while others are returning for just one — but, either way, your time at SFF for this year definitely isn't over yet.
Screenlife films such as Missing should be the last thing that moviegoers want. When we're hitting a cinema or escaping into our streaming queues, we're seeking a reprieve from the texts, chats, pics, reels, searches, and work- and study-related tasks that we all stare at on our phones and computers seemingly 24/7. (Well, we should be, unless we're monsters who can't turn off our devices while we watch.) There's a nifty dose of empathy behind thrillers like this, its excellent predecessor Searching, and the similar likes of Unfriended and Profile, however, that relies upon the very fact that everyone spends far too much time living through technology. When an on-screen character such as Missing's June (Storm Reid, The Last of Us) is glued to the gadget on their desk or lap, or in their hand — when they're using the devices that've virtually become our new limbs non-stop to try to solve their problems and fix their messy existence, too — it couldn't be more relatable. As Missing fills its frames with window upon window of June's digital activities, cycling and cascading through FaceTime calls, Gmail messages, WhatsApp downloads, Google Maps tracking, TikTok videos, TaskRabbit bookings, plain-old websites and more, it witnesses its protagonist do plenty that we've all done. And, everything she's undertaking feels exactly that familiar — like the film could be staring back at each member of its audience rather than at an 18-year-old who starts the movie unhappy that her mother Grace (Nia Long, You People) is jetting off to Colombia with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung, Old). That sensation remains true even though Missing's viewers have likely never had their mum disappear in another country, and their life forever turned upside down as a result. We've all experienced the mechanics behind what writer/directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson (who make their feature debut in both roles after editing Searching) are depicting in our own ways, with only the vast power of the internet able to help. As an opening video set 12 years earlier explains, plus folders of medical info and farewells over a move from Texas to California, June is far from thrilled about Grace and Kevin's getaway due to its timing. She isn't fussed about her mum's rules for while they're away and repetitive reminders to empty her voice messages, either, but they'll be gone over the weekend of Father's Day, a difficult occasion given that June's father James (Tim Griffin, True Detective) passed away when she was a kid. To fill her time home alone, she makes sure that she's not really home alone, throwing parties she's not supposed to, avoiding tipping off her mum's lawyer pal Heather (Amy Landecker, Your Honor) — who's on check-up duties — and hanging out with her bestie Veena (Megan Suri, Never Have I Ever). But when June heads to Los Angeles airport to collect Grace and Kevin upon their return, her situation gets worse. She waits. She holds up a playful sign. She films the whole thing as well. But no one shows. Five years have passed since Searching became one of the best screenlife movies yet while making stellar use of John Cho (Cowboy Bebop) as a dad desperate to find his absent daughter. With that flick's writer/director Aneesh Chaganty and co-scribe Sev Ohanian getting a story credit, Missing flips the setup, having a kid looking as far and wide as technology currently allows for a parent instead. With some assistance from FBI Agent Park (Daniel Henney, Criminal Minds), but not enough — plus on-the-ground sleuthing by Cartagena local Javi (Joaquim de Almeida, Warrior Nun), thanks to an outsourcing service — June gets investigating, and also increasingly frantic about what's happened, why, where Grace might be and how to get her home. The film also gets pacier than Searching, reflecting not just half a decade's worth of tech advancements, but a teenager's innate, always-on comfort with the online landscape as a digital native. June doesn't just hop from app to app, program to program, chat to chat and call to call quickly — and, conveniently for the film, keep her webcam running in-between so viewers see the stress expand across her face as she does so. As she scours and worries, worries and sours, she's as creative as she is determined with her detective skills. Indeed, Missing doubles as both stalker 101 and a cybersecurity warning. If you're already concerned about the surveillance-heavy times that we live in, expect your Black Mirror-style anxieties to only expand while watching. Missing is so relatable in what it's showing, rather than the tale it's using all those computer windows to show, that it's also a double-edged sword: we've all been June, inseparable from our MacBooks and the like; can our online lives be so easily picked through, as Grace does to Kevin as her suspicions heighten, as well? As Searching did, Missing has its audience playing gumshoe along with its characters. As Unfriended and Profile did — all four movies share Russian Kazakh filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov as a producer, and he also directed Profile — it keeps everyone on high alert via a tense, propulsive and immersive affair. Viewing screenlife flicks, which also includes the unconnected Host and We're All Going to the World's Fair (and the less-convincing Spree, and downright grating Dash Cam), means constantly seeking clues as to where the next twist, revelation or crucial detail will spring from. They're an involving experience, especially when there are people to find and crimes to solve, and Missing is as on-edge, nail-biting and as attention-demanding as they come. Amid the sea of clips, conversations and text on-screen — and some wild leaps in logic — the nerves and vigilance here aren't June's alone. Missing knows how folks watching will engage, even if it obviously isn't interactive in the way that film-meets-game Isklander — screenlife IRL, basically — is. It knows that it exists in a world obsessed with true-crime, smartly commenting on the pervasive and persistent fascination with other's misdeeds — and overtly linking back to Searching in the process — while asking how much anyone can ever truly know their nearest and dearest. That's another relatable source of the thriller's distress. It's where Reid proves devastatingly effective, compellingly shifting from a teen annoyed at her mum's overprotectiveness to the point of virtually ignoring her, to a concerned daughter willing to do whatever it takes, to questioning everything that she's ever been told. Long also plays her panicky matriarch part with potency, but the riveting Missing is right on target at grounding its nerves and thrills alike in all that can be uncovered, endured and experienced with your fingers on a keyboard and your eyes staring at your chosen rectangle.
It's been half a century since The Rocky Horror Show first brought its musical blend of sci-fi, horror and comedy to the stage, and the cult hit itself has the perfect phrase to describe those quickly passing years. Yes, time is fleeting when you're singing about a college-aged couple getting a flat tyre, wandering over to an old castle to ask for help, and finding an extra-terrestrial mad scientist from the galaxy of Transylvania — plus his staff and his Frankenstein-style experiments — awaiting. Yes, the show itself is astounding, too. To celebrate this big anniversary, a new Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show is currently touring the country, starting in Sydney then moving to Adelaide and Melbourne. And, for one night only, the Sydney season is beaming one of its shows into cinemas as well — live as it's all happening at the Theatre Royal Sydney. Movie-goers can do the 'Time Warp' in Sydney cinema aisles from 7.15pm on Thursday, March 30, which is when the Richard O'Brien-created production will be broadcast from the stage to the screen. In the process, The Rocky Horror Show will notch up a first. For Trafalgar Releasing, who is behind a heap of event cinema-style sessions like this, this is the first time that it has presented a live event from an Aussie venue to cinemas across the nation. Folks hitting up big screens around the country will want to listen closely, and watch, as Jason Donovan as Frank N Furter puts his hands on his hips, then brings his knees in tight. The glorious madness will take its toll with help not only from Donovan — fresh from popping back up in Ramsay Street to farewell Neighbours before it was renewed again — but also from Spicks and Specks' Myf Warhurst as The Narrator. Also featuring: Ellis Dolan (School of Rock) as Eddie/Dr Scott, Darcey Eagle (Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical) as Columbia, Ethan Jones (9 to 5 The Musical) as Brad, Deirdre Khoo (Once) as Janet, Loredo Malcolm (Hamilton) as Rocky and Henry Rollo (Jagged Little Pill the Musical) as Riff Raff. Of course, this tale is no stranger to cinemas thanks to 1975's iconic big-screen release The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Since first premiering in London in June 1973, The Rocky Horror Show has played in more than 30 countries, with over 30 million people seeing songs like 'Science Fiction/Double Feature', 'Dammit, Janet!', 'Sweet Transvestite', 'Over at the Frankenstein Place' and 'Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me'. If you haven't been before and can't make it to the current theatre tour, this is your turn to join in. Images: Daniel Boud.
Since its conception in 2004, Sydney clothing brand Jac + Jack has created stunning additions to your wardrobe that ride the line between sleek modern style and casual comfort. Entrenched in soft natural tones, the brand's range covers everything from tees and tanks to dresses and knitwear, with both masculine and feminine lines on offer. If you're looking to add some new pieces to your style roster as we head into Autumn, this is your perfect opportunity, with Jac + Jack throwing a massive end-of-summer sale at its Surry Hills outlet. The boutique brand has rolled out one-off samples and treasures from past season's clothes, slashing the prices on them dramatically. You'll be able to stock up on garments for the chillier weather, with items going for up to 80-percent off. The sale is on until Monday, March 13, running 10am–4pm Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday, as well as 10am–6pm Thursday. You can reserve a spot via Eventbrite.
Enmore Country Club, BTB Kirribilli and DOOM JUICE are joining forces to host a huge dinner party on Friday, April 28 — and you are invited. Inspiration for the night struck BTB Executive Chef Cam Voltano after some cheeky Chiantis and a screening of Stanley Tucci's Big Night. With the creative juices flowing, this hospitality trio unanimously decided to host an unforgettable dinner party. Head to the BTB's North Shore home, found directly under the Harbour Bridge, for a night of authentic Italian cuisine with a native twist, the Enmore Country Club's signature cocktails and glasses of Doom Juice wine. Voltano will bring his passion for native Australian ingredients to traditional Italian recipes, creating a uniquely BTB menu for the night. On offer, you may spot pepperberry cacio e pepe arancini, purslane-infused caesar salad, house-made focaccia and a truly giant meatball — potentially Sydney's biggest, according to the chef. To round out the night, a native-heavy take on neapolitan ice cream will be available, experimenting with a trio of wattleseed, davidson plum and Geraldton wax flavours. The hits start coming and they don't stop coming – alongside a stacked food menu, you will also be able to nab 70s and 80s-inspired cocktails by the Enmore Country Club. You can sip the night away with these re-imagined classics, or opt for the venue's famous boozy cherry cola. And to top it all off, Zac Godbolt — DOOM JUICE's Creative Director, the Enmore Country Club's Dynn Szmulewicz and Dan McBride, plus BTB's very own Adam Brcic will be on bartending duties. Whether you are after an inventive cocktail or a DOOM JUICE rouge, this triad of talent has got you covered. The dinner party starts at 7pm sharp, so don't be late. Head here for the tickets — they are limited so be sure to get in quick, or check out the Enmore Country Club's Instagram page to keep up to date with event details.
Easter in Sydney doesn't just mean chocolate, hot cross buns and whatever other sweet treats the city's eateries happen to come up with at this time of year — it also means the Sydney Royal Easter Show. And, while you won't find the latter at El Camino Cantina's Tex-Mex joints around town, the chain is getting into the spirit of the event with its returning limited-edition margarita menu, which it has dubbed 'the Royal Rita Show'. For its latest batch of creative flavours, El Camino Cantina is serving up Jelly Belly, Warhead, Chupa Chup and Rainbow Nerd margs. There are Trolli Lolli and fairy floss versions, too. Basically, it's the candy and booze combination you obviously didn't know you'd someday want when you were a kid. These lolly-flavoured ritas are on offer from Monday, April 3–Sunday, April 30, in both 15-oz and 24-oz glasses. [caption id="attachment_697456" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tom Ferguson[/caption] And if you'd like to pair them with tacos, you'll find a Royal Rita Show food menu on offer as well; think tacos with popcorn chicken, chorizo and potato hash, slow-cooked barbecue brisket, and prawns with bacon. In Sydney, you'll find both the margs and tacos tempting your tastebuds at El Camino in The Rocks, Entertainment Quarter, Manly and Miranda.
Bouncing across the screen with charm, energy and an 80s sheen, Air says one name often: Michael Jordan. This film spins an origin story so closely linked to the NBA all-timer that the true tale simply wouldn't and couldn't have happened without him; however, it isn't actually the six-time championship-winning former Chicago Bulls player's own. Instead, Ben Affleck turns director again for the first time since 2016's Live By Night to recount how Jordan also became an icon in the footwear game. Think shoes, and everyone knows the word that usually follows this flick's title. Think Air Jordans, and Nike also springs to mind. Those sneakers are still being made almost four decades after first hitting stories — in fact, the brand is now notching up $5 billion in annual revenue, $150 million of which is going to its namesake — so Air answers the question no one knew they had until now: how did it initially happen? Sports endorsement deals mightn't sound like compelling cinema, but neither did scouting, signing and trading in the right baseball players before Moneyball demonstrated otherwise. Working with a script by screenwriting first-timer Alex Convery — who is also one of Air's co-producers — Affleck turns the quest to sign a then just-drafted Jordan by a struggling shoe company into infectiously entertaining viewing. The actor and filmmaker might be nearly as famous for Sad Affleck and Bored Affleck as he is for movies, but he knows how to please a crowd. Forget his facial expressions when he's unhappy talking about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or being at the 2023 Grammys with Jennifer Lopez; as Argo demonstrated back in 2012 to the tune of three Academy Awards including Best Picture, behind-the-lens Affleck is a feel-good wiz with lively and irresistible true tales. Indeed, give the Good Will Hunting screenwriting Oscar-winner an IRL event filled with tension and twists, and populated by vivid characters, then get him to replay it smoothly and at a snappy pace (and with ample talk): that's now not just a one-off Affleck formula. He's been helming films since 2007's Gone Baby Gone. He's up to five now, and he's also starred in them all since 2010's The Town. Also featuring Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Viola Davis and Chris Tucker on-screen, Air is one of Affleck's own greats as a director. Even from just the trailer, it's easy to see that he's in Argo mode again — welcomely so, as the end product shows. Somehow, we're currently living through a golden time for genuinely engaging pictures about corporate manoeuvring that could've just been expensive ads in lesser hands; see also: recent streaming release Tetris, which also stacked the right blocks into place. Air similarly heads back to the 80s, to 1984, when Jordan was a 21-year-old college standout newly in the NBA and facing a life-changing decision. Damian Young (Prom Night Flex) plays the basketball GOAT, but this is a movie about the making of a legend — so the pivotal character gets all the flick's admiration and praise while bounding into the boardroom wheeling and dealing. Crucially, Air doesn't block out Jordan. Rather, it pays tribute to his talent even without staging on-court scenes, and to the shrewd wrangling and negotiating that his no-nonsense mother Deloris (Davis, The Woman King) did on his behalf. The ultimate outcome is clearly well-known, because if there was no agreement, there'd be no Air Jordans and therefore no movie (and the Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike would still be best known for jogging shoes). But the slam dunk this endorsement proved for giving athletes their financial dues when their talents make bank for sponsoring companies is no minor matter, and nor is it treated as such. Working for founder and CEO Phil Knight (Affleck, Deep Water) four years after Nike went public, in-house basketball expert Sonny Vaccaro (Damon, The Last Duel) really just has one job: find the footwear outfit the right NBA name to tie their fortunes to, help them seem cool among the basketball crowd and get customers a-buying. His colleague Rob Strasser (Bateman, Ozark) wants three players, thinking that the company is already priced out of the market on top draft picks — and unalluring due to their paltry share of the market compared to Adidas and Converse. The stakes are high, albeit not Argo-level life-or-death high. The word is that Nike's basketball division will be scrapped if the next endorsement deal doesn't deliver. So, Sonny makes a bold suggestion. Instead of a trio of ballers, he's all-in on Jordan, certain that he's the future of the game and about to be its biggest-ever star. The latter's manager David Falk (Messina, Call Jane) won't entertain the prospect, though, which is what leads Sonny to courting Michael's parents Deloris and James (Julius Tennon, also The Woman King, as well as Davis' real-life husband). Sonny is a gambler, detouring to Las Vegas when he's scoping out college up-and-comers. On Jordan, he bets big. And, although Affleck ticks all the boxes that helped Argo become the hit and award-winner it is, Air isn't afraid to take its own chances. There's zero risk in the movie's spot-on aesthetic, which cinematographer Robert Richardson (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) roves over lovingly. (Commercials from the era are also spliced in). There's also no flukes in the period-appropriate soundtrack, which is as obvious as they come yet also still works. But Air is as much about what it means to leave a legacy and be remembered as it is about the ins and outs of teaming up Nike and Jordan — and crafting the kicks that became must-wear apparel (Hello Tomorrow!'s Matthew Maher plays designer Peter Moore) — a choice that might've been a long shot or even a miss if it didn't sail meaningfully but still breezily through the hoop. Actually, don't forget Affleck's facial expressions after all — he's having a blast on-screen as the grape-coloured Porsche-driving Knight, especially in his scenes with Damon. It's been more than a quarter-century since Good Will Hunting, that script collaboration and them apples, plus more than three decades since they were both in School Ties before that, and they remain a dynamic duo to watch simply bicker and banter. Including Tucker (Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk) as fellow Nike employee Howard White and Marlon Wayans (Respect) as George Raveling, a 1984 Olympics assistant coach when Jordan was first on the US team, Air's cast is a dream, but Davis unsurprisingly gives the swishest of performances. This is always a film about showing the money to the greatest to ever do it rather than just using him as a corporate asset, too, and in a movie that earns its audience's cheers, she's the face of that important battle.
In The Virgin Suicides, in a role for Sofia Coppola that he'll always be known for, Josh Hartnett played the dreamy high schooler who had Kirsten Dunst swooning. A quarter-century later, as his then-director is fresh from a Priscilla Presley biopic and his former co-star just snapped America's divisiveness at its potential worst as a photojournalist in Civil War, he's now jumped from Trip Fontaine to Trap, still with his appearance and its impact upon others a key factor. Cooper Adams, Hartnett's latest character, likely was a teen heartthrob, too. Now he's a kindly firefighter who dotes on his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue, Wolf Like Me) to the extent that he's her chaperone at the Taylor Swift-esque Lady Raven's (first-timer Saleka Night Shyamalan) Philadelphia concert. His politeness wins over people quickly, such as the merchandise-slinging Jamie (Jonathan Langdon, Run the Burbs), who's soon doing him a favour. But Trip wasn't completely the charmer that he seemed, and Cooper isn't just a nice dad doing parenting well — he's Trap's killer. It was true in The Sixth Sense of Bruce Willis (Assassin), in Unbreakable with Samuel L Jackson (Argylle), of James McAvoy (His Dark Materials) in Split and with Dave Bautista (Dune: Part Two) in Knock at the Cabin: M Night Shyamalan knows how to draw a gripping turn out of his leads. With well-known names in front of his lens, including Hartnett (The Bear), he's just as aware of how to riff on existing audience understanding and expectations. Not everyone who acts for the Glass, The Visit and Old filmmaker receives the same treatment — but when the approach works, it's worth building an entire movie around. Trap is one such flick, clueing viewers in early that Hartnett has taken a Dexter-esque step into a murderer's shoes. Then, it observes the disconnect between the perceptions of everyone around Cooper and his homicidal urges, all as the cops stage a sting at the gig to catch someone they know solely as The Butcher. When he arrives at the stadium with Riley, Cooper has no idea that attempting to capture him will be the real production of the day. He promised his giddily excited kid that she'd see her favourite singer if she earned good grades and he's delivered; that she's fallen out with her friends and needs something a distraction also factors in. Then Shyamalan, who writes and directs, draws attention to the hordes of police filtering in, plus the profiler (Hayley Mills, Death in Paradise) calling the shots. Cooper equally notices. It's all a ploy, Jamie shares without realising who he's talking to, and there's only one route out. Already juggling checking on his current detainee (Mark Bacolcol, Night Is Limpid) via webcam and being drawn into the schoolyard feud by a fellow parent (Marnie McPhail, Dream Scenario) with ensuring that Riley is having the time of her life, he's now desperately trying to stop his normal-guy facade from crumbling. The famously twist-loving Shyamalan isn't bashful about Cooper's lethal tendencies. Accordingly, that isn't among the movie's surprises. As Trap's protagonist endeavours to stay ahead of his pursuers in a cat-and-mouse game — they've no idea what he looks like, which assists immensely — and reassure Riley when she starts thinking that he's acting weird, plot shocks remain in store, but so does convenience. Frequently staring intimately at Harnett's face especially when it's wearing a loaded smile, the film aligns its perspective with Cooper's whatever-it-takes efforts to stay avoid handcuffs, yet luck has as much as sway on his path as smarts. As he does with dad jokes and awkwardness, Harnett sells every clever choice and stroke of fortune alike, and compellingly gets audiences into the killer's head, though, in a standout role for the Penny Dreadful, Wrath of Man, Black Mirror and Oppenheimer actor; Trap would struggle without his transfixing commitment. Even with opportune turns constantly coming Cooper's way, Shyamalan doesn't have a tension problem, in no small part because watching one of his films means inherently being on edge for the next twist, then the next, then the next again — and he gleefully toys with that fact. But he does have a third-act issue, especially when he branches beyond his solid setup. While that choice brings in a welcome supporting performance from Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) as Cooper's wife and Riley's mother Rachel, it plunges the feature into Lord of the Rings-style too-many-endings territory. Also too often, Trap's decisions feel like Shyamalan simply thinking that something would be nifty. Enlisting Mills given her The Parent Trap background, Kid Cudi's (Silent Night) winking cameo, giving Saleka such prominence: some hit the target, others wish they did. What lengths will a dad go to for his daughter? That's one of this picture's threads on- and off-screen. In a year that's seen Trap's filmmaker produce the directorial debut of one of his children, with Ishana Night Shyamalan's The Watchers reaching cinemas mere months before his own latest release, he's now penned and helmed a flick that features another of his kids as a pop sensation and has the real-life singer's own music weaved in prominently. As he has long enjoyed doing in his own movies, the Shyamalan patriarch also pops up on camera, this time to praise Saleka's Lady Raven. He's pitched Trap as a Swift gig meets The Silence of the Lambs, but it's as much about wanting to give your children everything, build them up and, when you've got other demands on your focus, still doing your best to be there for them. Aided by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (who shot Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria and Challengers for Luca Guadagnino, plus Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Memoria for Apichatpong Weerasethakul) alongside editor Noemi Katharina Preiswerk (Knock at the Cabin, Servant), Shyamalan doesn't take his gift to Saleka lightly. The concert-film elements aren't window dressing. He revels in them, sometimes savvily juxtaposing the show's massive scale with Cooper's life-or-death predicament, sometimes with the indulgence of a dad giving his kid a vehicle for her dreams. The Eras tour boasts many things, a date with screens among them, but it isn't also a psychological thriller; mix that with Grand Piano and Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation's opera scene, and that's Trap's template as well. When Hartnett sings, albeit not literally, so does the film. Donoghue also does her utmost and leaves an impression. But, while engrossing, the picture they're in often plays like a warmup for a big gig that hasn't pulled off everything that it wants to.
Faces carve deep impressions in Longlegs, in both their presence and their absence. As Agent Lee Harker, Maika Monroe (God Is a Bullet) does so with a clenched jaw, permanently on-edge eyes and mere bursts of words, aka the guise of a woman who'll never stop being vigilant in every moment but doesn't always know exactly why. As the movie's namesake, as announced in the opening credits, Nicolas Cage (Dream Scenario) has audiences straining to catch whatever glimpse they can whenever they can — and when a full look comes, it's scorching and haunting in tandem in the stare alone. Blair Underwood (Origin) gives Harker's boss Carter a weary gaze, but with fully rounded life experience beyond his FBI gig evident behind it. Alicia Witt (Switch Up) plays Ruth Harker, mother to Lee, as distance and struggle personified. As she relays a tale as survivor Carrie Anne Camera, Kiernan Shipka (Twisters) demonstrates how disconnected a grim reality can be from a dream. For his fourth feature following 2015's The Blackcoat's Daughter, 2016's I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and 2020's Gretel & Hansel — the first of which also starred Shipka — writer/director Osgood Perkins has clearly assembled an excellent cast for his unease-dripping, get-under-your-skin, torment-your-nightmares serial-killer thriller. Another face leaves an imprint beyond his actors, however. Bill Clinton's portrait assists with setting the scene as it adorns bureau offices, with the majority of the movie taking place in the 90s. Think the FBI and three decades back, and there's no lack of pop-culture touchstones. The Silence of the Lambs is one. Monroe's portrayal as a newly minted operative tracking a murderer is every bit as layered, complex and unforgettable — and awards-worthy — as Jodie Foster's (True Detective: Night Country) Oscar-winning performance was. Twin Peaks and The X-Files, Point Break, even Cage's own Face/Off: they all also hail from the 90s and spin stories around the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This lineage is impossible not to ponder every time that Perkins reminds Longlegs viewers of the period that he's working with via Clinton's likeness — and it's a bold move. Getting your audience recalling other films and TV shows can simply spark the wish that they were watching those titles instead, especially when the list is as glorious as the aforementioned flicks and series. But the filmmaker who first started out in horror as a child actor walking in his father's footsteps — Anthony Perkins played Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho; Osgood was young Norman in Psycho II — makes good on the gambit. No one with their peepers glued to Longlegs would rather be ingesting anything else, no matter how equally exceptional, as it weaves its hypnotic spell. Longlegs bedevils and bewitches early, and earlier than its main era. The pristine snow that surrounds a young girl (Lauren Acala, Motherland: Port Salem) in her yard is a visual blank slate, soon darkened in shadow when Longlegs arrives with happy birthday wishes — and the mood, as thrumming through in feature first-timer Andres Arochi's cinematography, plus Graham Fortin (Ari's Theme) and Greg Ng's (Allegiance) editing, is as thick as the white blanket across the ground with apprehension and tension. When the movie hops forward, already festering is the feeling of an innocent state sullied. That's before learning about Harker and Carter's case, with a string of murder-suicides resembling each other garnering their attention. Families perish, fathers attacking before turning their violence upon themselves, which might be open and shut if there weren't a spate of such incidents over decades, if questions about motive weren't glaring, if a compulsive force — supernatural or otherwise — hadn't earned some thought and if letters in code signed by Longlegs weren't also found at the scenes. There's more than a tightly wound ball of anxiety to Harker, who sports a surname that brings being pursued and toyed with by Dracula — who Cage played in 2023's Renfield — to mind. (Longlegs is the second 2024 horror film to nod to Bram Stoker in its characters' monikers, after Ishana Night Shyamalan's The Watchers.) The movie's lead is also a source of intuition and perhaps clairvoyance, which the FBI is keen to capitalise upon. Indeed, that's why she's been assigned to the Longlegs investigation. She's as dedicated as dedicated comes when sifting through the analogue array of clues, too, with paper and tape amid dimly lit, cabin-esque interiors adding to the tactile sensation. As terse phone calls with her mum illustrate, there's nothing distracting her from her gig, either. Via framing, frequently with symmetry, Perkins conveys that Harker isn't just consumed by chasing down Longlegs — it might be the on-screen fate of ample detectives, including in Se7en and Zodiac, two David Fincher masterpieces that are also patent influences, but the hunt is consuming her back. With the fellow chillers that beat Longlegs to existence, and with elements as familiar in horror as serial killers, the occult, crime-solving procedural crusades, fixated sleuths and all-encompassing disquiet — to name just a few genre go-tos plastered across Perkins' cinematic mood board — the approach is fondness-meets-the filmmaker's own interpretation. That's the picture's guiding principle everywhere, including in Monroe and Cage's immense contributions, each of which is among their respective career highlights. All of Longlegs' key parties know that viewers have seen plenty of these same pieces before in a myriad of ways, and possess a single-minded resolve to avoiding serving up the same. Monroe does this with It Follows and The Guest on her filmography, the 2014 one-two punch about evil lurking among the ordinary and safe spaces terrorised. Cage does it with four decades of efforts that've solidified him as not just a singular actor but the singular actor, and ceaselessly able to surprise. Perkins crafts Longlegs as a dollmaker might, with the utmost of care apparent in each and every component, all building a creation that feels like it's staring piercingly back at you. He isn't afraid of a surreal Lynchian vibe, showing that waking life can immerse you in as much of a frightscape as the worst that your brain can conceive while slumbering — perhaps the most-alarming realisation that there is — but, again, as run through his own filter. He also isn't scared of using sound design to burrow that agitation deep into the audience's subconscious, so that Longlegs is distressing your soul before you, like Harker, are even aware. Chief among the film's strokes of genius is how inescapable its intense dread is, regardless of which traditional horror symbols taunt those watching or how much of Cage as Longlegs can be seen. In an instant classic, all of its pivotal faces are mirrors, then, reflecting the viewer's own.
Think watching a movie under the stars is a summer activity? Think again. Braving the elements to catch a film in winter comes with its own rewards: snuggling up next to your nearest and dearest, enjoying the brisk night air and sipping hot mulled wine, for example. As part of the broader Bastille Festival, Cadmans Cottage will become a pop-up openair movie theatre again in 2024. That means settling in for a flick with a view not just of the screen, but vantages out over the Opera House and Sydney Harbour as well. Screening ten sessions over four days between Thursday, July 11–Sunday, July 14 for $2 a ticket, Le Mulled Wine Cinema lets attendees get cosy in chairs (with blankets, of course), and offers up a glass of mulled wine to complete the outdoor film-watching experience. As for what you'll be watching, if the movies aren't French, they have ties to France in some way. Think: Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, the Audrey Tatou-starring Amelie, more Tatou in Coco Before Chanel, Pixar's Ratatouille, Marion Cotillard's Oscar-winning performance in La Vie En Rose and 2024 standout The Taste of Things.
People worldwide seem to fear Australian wildlife. And we get it — most of what the internet sees is venomous snakes slithering into boots and dinner plate-sized huntsmans. In reality, Australia is home to a beautiful and varied range of wildlife, and you can see it all like never before at Creatures of Australia. This interactive cinematic experience will take over the Fever Pavilion in Sydney Showground from Friday, July 5 to Friday, August 23. Split across six distinct digital 'environments', it's not only a celebration of native wildlife but the people who've dedicated their lives to protecting them and their homes. The Creatures Gallery contains ten massive screens, each playing close-up, slow-motion footage of koalas, echidnas, sulphur cockatoos and saltwater crocodiles. You'll watch and listen to stories from the handlers and researchers who work tirelessly to protect our wildlife. You'll also find a series of interactive environments, like the Wild Walk, a space with a reactive habitat underfoot, and Spotlight on Conservation, where you can admire endangered species up close while hearing real-world conservation stories. Finally, you can end with a restful immersion in audio from the Australian wild. If you have any junior zoologists in your life, or if you want to ditch the next episode of Planet Earth for something more immersive, this is the perfect event for you. Creatures of Australia runs from Friday, July 5, to Friday, August 23, at Fever Pavilion. For more information or to book tickets, visit the website.
You don't need to like taking walks in the rain to be a fan of piña coladas, although given Sydney's persistent La Niña downpours, a penchant for precipitation might not be such a bad thing right now. Regardless of the weather, Australia is set to celebrate a national day dedicated to the world's favourite rum-spiked tropical cocktail on Wednesday, July 10, and the team at The Lansdowne Hotel is marking the occasion with one of the biggest drink giveaways Sydney's ever seen. In partnership with Master of Mixes, The Lansdowne's in-house taco shack, The Happy Mexican, will be giving away a whopping 10,000 free piña coladas. For three days, between Wednesday, July 10–Friday, July 12, free cocktail vouchers will be handed out at Broadway Shopping Centre — which you can redeem just across the street at The Lansdowne — from midday–6pm. There will also be free one-litre bottles of Master of Mixes' piña colada mixer up for grabs. This can be transformed into the ultra-creamy coconut and pineapple tipple by simply adding it to a blender, along with some rum and ice. Clearly, the Happy Mexican crew feel three days is simply not long enough to honour such a legendary beverage. So until the end of July, they'll be slinging $10 piña coladas and $5 pastor tacos, filled with juicy marinated pork, a sweet-and-sour salsa and grilled pineapple — the ultimate side snack for your cocktail, come rain or shine.
Joining the slew of newly launched cheap lunch deals from Hinchcliff House venues are two of the precinct's best-loved joints, Lana and Martinez. For the entire month of June, you can score 30 percent off of your entire bill when opting to dine at either of these CBD venues for lunch. You can only score the limited-time discount from Monday to Friday at Martinez and on Thursday and Friday at Lana. There are no limitations to this offer menu-wise, however, so you can opt for a hefty swordfish dish or a gruyère- and maple bacon-topped wagyu burger on Martinez's luxe rooftop, or even an Australian Bay lobster with risotto al salto and chilli crab butter from Lana at 30 percent off. There's only one caveat — you must book a lunch reservation through the links at Lana and Martinez's 'What's On' pages in order to gain access to the offer. Once you're in, feel free to order whatever your heart desires and you're guaranteed a very healthy discount.
Break out the waffles: Amy Poehler is coming to Australia. If you're a Parks and Recreation fan, nothing less than eating breakfast foods non-stop between now and the end of May will do to celebrate. The actor behind Leslie Knope — and Saturday Night Live legend, and voice of Joy in both Inside Out and Inside Out 2 — has a date with Vivid Sydney, heading to the Harbour City for an in-conversation event that'll see her chat through her career. Inside Out 2 releases in cinemas in mid-June, so it'll receive plenty of focus when Poehler gets talking — so much so that the Sydney Opera House evening that'll be moderated by Zan Rowe will include a 30-minute first-look at the film. But her work spans far and wide beyond the animated Pixar franchise, including to films such as Baby Mama and Sisters, writing the hilarious Yes Please and unforgettable Golden Globe hosting gigs with Tina Fey. [caption id="attachment_793108" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC[/caption] Poehler's session will take place on Monday, May 27, making it one of the early highlights of the festival. It comes after 2023's Vivid Sydney also featured a massive screen-focused in-conversation session, welcoming The White Lotus' Jennifer Coolidge and Mike White.
Love, Tilly Devine is no stranger to a collab, and the beloved Darlinghurst bar — number two of our 25 best bars in Sydney — is kicking off 2024 with another exciting team-up. The hidden laneway venue will be inviting the expertise of Pizza Oltra and Frankly, This Wine Was Made By Bob on Tuesday, January 16 for a night of cheesy rounds and natty wines. Ben Fester and Drew Huston of Pizza Oltra will be in charge of the food for the evening, while father-son duo Tom and Bob Colman of Frankly Wines will be bringing a collection of interesting drops directly from their Blue Mountains winery. For $55 per person, you'll be treated to a shared menu featuring smoked buffalo mozzarella, a fish finger pizza, and garlic prawn and chimichurri flatbread. If you want to sample your way through some funky vino created with organic and biodynamic grapes, you can add a four-glass wine flight to your meal for $60. The journey through Frankly's drops will include skin-contact sauvignon blanc, verdelho and chardonnay, alongside a red blend. You can also purchase an extra glass or a bottle of each of the wines if one particularly tickles your fancy. The night will kick off at 5pm and it will inevitably book out so make your booking at Love, Tilly Devine to secure a spot. [caption id="attachment_923448" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Josh Bentley[/caption] Top image: Nikki To
Antenna Documentary Film Festival returns for 2024 from Friday, February 9–Monday, February 19, with 52 titles on its lineup. Opening the event: The Gullspång Miracle, which won an award at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, and focuses on a family unexpectedly brought back together via the purchase of an apartment. If you need an example to demonstrate how fact is always stranger and wilder than fiction, Antenna is kicking off with exactly that. While the bulk of the event's screenings will take place at Dendy Newtown and the Ritz in Randwick, the festival is making a trip to the Sydney Opera House for another of 2024's big standouts. Ryuichi Sakamoto|Opus covers the final recorded concert by the late, great The Revenant composer, who passed away in March 2023, and will screen in Antenna's closing slot. No stranger to Werner Herzog's docos, the fest also boasts the German filmmaker's Theatre of Thought on its lineup. This time, the Into the Inferno, Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds and The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft director explores the human brain. Still among the big-name helmers, Antenna will screen Wang Bing's Youth (Spring), Claire Simon's Our Body and Alex Gibney's In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, with the latter joining the Oscar-winning director's resume alongside everything from Taxi to the Dark Side and We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks to The Armstrong Lie and Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief. Other on-screen highlights include the Oscar-shortlisted 20 Days in Mariupol, with journalists Mystlav Chernov, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Evgeniy Maloletka in the Ukrainian city immediately after Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation"; Thank You Very Much, about comedian Andy Kaufman; and A Still Small Voice, hailing from Midnight Family director Luke Lorentzen and following a chaplain-in-training at New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital. There's also Samsara, which aims to take the audience through the Buddhist concept of birth, life, death and rebirth; Knit's Island, which is shot entirely in the DayZ video game (and from 963 hours spent in it); and Sundance-winner Kokomo City, which is also on the 2024 Mardi Gras Film Festival lineup. Plus, John Wilson from HBO TV show How to with John Wilson is coming to Antenna in-person to present a selection of films that proved instrumental in shaping his work. In 2023, he did the same at New York's Anthology Film Archives, with Sydney scoring a version of the same series, as well as a masterclass about his approach. Antenna's DocTalk day of chats is also back, which is where Wilson will get chatting. Heading to the State Library of NSW on Monday, February 12 for a day of discussion about the documentary form — spanning covering Indigenous topics, ways of viewing culture and sound design for docos.
