Many a traveller to the Blue Mountains doesn't get beyond the Three Sisters and the Scenic Skyway. These things are worth a good gawk, but, if you're seeking more adventure, then skip over Katoomba for less obvious nearby destinations like Leura, Blackheath and Mount Victoria. As the Great Western Highway winds deeper and higher into the mountains, the villages become tinier and less touristy. Along the way, you'll come across a mechanic's garage that's been turned into an eco-friendly restaurant, a 19th-century terrace fit for a great novelist and a cinema from the 1930s. Add internationally awarded cider made from locally grown apples and a glow worm tunnel — among other surprises — and you've got one hell of a weekend. From pristine beaches and bountiful wine regions to alpine hideaways and bustling country towns, Australia has a wealth of places to explore at any time of year. We've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your road trips, weekend detours and summer getaways so that when you're ready to hit the road you can Holiday Here This Year. While regional holidays within NSW are allowed from June 1, some of the places mentioned below may still be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check websites before making any plans. [caption id="attachment_675546" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Leura Garage[/caption] EAT AND DRINK If you're making tracks from Sydney, then your first stop should be Leura (around two hours west of the CBD), known for its cherry blossom-filled main drag and cute boutique shops. In 2007, restaurateur James Howarth bought a mechanic's business here and transformed it into a clean, green eatery called Leura Garage. We're talking a ten-kilowatt solar power system, a 22,000-litre rainwater tank and a composter that can chew through 200 kilograms of waste per week. Plus, instead of bringing in fancy furniture, Howarth used what was already about, transforming the car hoist into a bar and a bunch of tyres into a dividing wall. Locally sourced produce features in share plates — such as 12-hour braised lamb shoulder with pomegranate glaze, confit garlic and rosemary — and mains, including the pork sausage wheel with crispy potatoes, caramelised onion and sauerkraut. The wine list is big on drops from Orange and Mudgee. [caption id="attachment_651879" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Hill, Deep Hill Media[/caption] Drive west for another ten minutes to reach the Hydro Majestic Hotel in Medlow Bath. Set up in 1904 by eccentric businessman Mark Foy as a glamorous health retreat, the heritage-listed Hydro is famous for its unusual blend of art deco and Edwardian architecture, as well as its casino dome, which travelled to Sydney from Chicago over sea, before being loaded onto a bullock train and dragged to its current position. During the past decade, a $30-million revamp by the Escarpment Group has restored much of the hotel's former fanciness. It's easy to spend several hours on high tea in The Wintergarden restaurant, where expansive windows look over Megalong Valley. Alternatively, pop into the Boiler House Restaurant for pizzas and burgers or sink into a plush couch in the Salon du The for a cuppa. Rather than heading home the way you came, turn your journey into a loop, by taking the Bells Line of Road, which returns to Sydney via the northwestern suburbs. That way, you'll get to visit Bilpin, a rural town, well-known among foodies for being home to a farm belonging to Sean Moran (of Sean's Panaroma on Bondi Beach) and for its delicious apples. Here, third-generation farmer Shane McLaughlin and his partner Tessa have been making Hillbilly Cider since 2007, using local fruit — and local fruit only. Head into the shed, prop yourself up at the bar or grab a chair overlooking the orchard and run through a tasting, beginning with the too-easy-to-drink apple cider, which won bronze at the 2015 International Cider Challenge, and finishing with Sweet Julie, the only cider on the planet made from the Julie apple, a variety discovered on the property. If you're looking for a bite to eat in Bilpin, pop into Bilpin Afire for hearty dishes driven by local produce, such as woodfired pizzas and Lithgow lamb dishes. Meanwhile, just ten minutes east, in Kurrajong, there's Lochiel House, where you'll find classics with an Asian twist, including salt and szechuan pepper squid, barramundi in a green curry sauce and steak tartare with prawn crackers and fried shallots. [caption id="attachment_771046" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wentworth Falls via Destination NSW[/caption] DO Any weekender in the Blueys should involve a walk. For a classic experience, stroll from Leura Cascades to Echo Point along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, passing several exhilarating lookouts on the way. Even more spectacular vistas are at Evans Lookout in Blackheath, which is the starting point for a three-kilometre clifftop walk to Govetts Leap. Or, to add some history and art to your visit, have a wander around Hartley Historic Village, where you can sleepover in a 19th-century sandstone cottage and watch sculptor Ron Fitzpatrick transform metal and glass into dazzling creations at Talisman Gallery. To see his works in a different environment, pay a visit to Everglades, a 5.2-hectare garden created in the 1930s by Danish-born gardener Paul Sorensen. Like many grand European gardens, it's a dreamy maze of winding pathways, tranquil pools and idyllic picnic spots under majestic trees. But, unlike many European gardens, it affords extraordinary views of Australian wilderness. By far and away the best way to get to and from Everglades is in an open-topped 1920s car with Blue Mountains Vintage Cadillacs. Come nightfall, it's glow worm time. To meet a bunch without having to put up with noisy crowds, book an adventure with Blue Mountains Glow Worm Tours. Your tour guide will meet you at a private property, then lead you along a rustic track, across footbridges and over boulders, before descending into a cool, mossy canyon. As soon as you catch your breath, you'll see that you're absolutely surrounded by glow worms. Along the way, learn all about how the little critters work — including why you shouldn't shine a torch in their faces — and, if you're lucky, see one up close. Another option is catching a film at Mount Vic Flicks, a 1930s-style cinema in the village hall. Local couple Kirsten Mulholland and Adam Cousins bought this magical, nostalgic business in 2014 to save it from extinction. Films vary from classics to new releases, the choc tops are homemade and steaming mugs of soup are served throughout winter. [caption id="attachment_650084" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bank House[/caption] SLEEP Just around the corner from Mount Vic Flicks is Bank House, a beautiful, three-storey Victorian terrace, which owner Jeff Jones spent a year and a million bucks restoring and renovating. Think crackling open fireplaces, claw-foot baths, antique writing desks, private libraries and hardwood beds covered in top-quality linen. The feel is authentic and cosy, yet fresh and new. Plus, a bunch of conveniences are in place to connect you with the 21st century, including Nespresso machines, state-of-the-art sound systems and televisions with Netflix. If you don't feel like going anywhere (from our experience, you won't), Jones will cook you dinner and brekkie, and deliver it to your door. In warm weather, eat on the back deck, which overlooks landscaped gardens, complete with gazebo, fire pit and barbecue. Meanwhile, in Blackheath, there's Parklands Country Gardens and Lodges. Book a Garden Suite and you'll spend your weekend lolling about in an ultra-comfy king-sized bed, pottering around a private garden patio in a luxe bathrobe, blissing out beneath a rainforest shower and warming up before a gas fireplace. Buffet breakfast is served in a light-filled dining room and there's a day spa with freestanding hot tubs overlooking Parklands' 28 acres of landscaped beauty through floor-to-ceiling windows. Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Top image: Leura Garage
The food and drink revolution of Circular Quay continues with a new venue from the Hinchcliff House team opening just across the road from the OG. Only a few days after the bustling waterfront suburb welcomed Lotus Dining Group's sleek new Cantonese restaurant Pearl, an expensive new Mediterranean-inspire terrace has arrived at Quay Quater Tower from House Made Hospitality. Martinez Terrace is the first element of a two-pronged new offering from the acclaimed hospitality team. The colourful 160-person outdoor bar will be joined by the vibrant Martinez dining room on Thursday, October 12. For now, the attention is all on the openair watering hole, which you'll find slinging spritzes and oysters at the end of a quick elevator ride up from Young Street. "We want Martinez to capture the relaxed style of drinking and dining that is synonymous with holidays on the Mediterranean coast, and for the Terrace Bar to give you memories of drinking the afternoon away in a seaside spot," says House Made Hospitality Director Scott Brown. House Made Hospitality's producer-led approach to wine continues at Martinez, with a selection of drops that the team has had a hand in making themselves sitting alongside a variety of Australian and European whites, reds and rosé. The terrace is also the kind of venue that encourages you to just get the bottle to share with your friends. There's even a whole page of the extended drinks list dedicated exclusively to magnums of wine. As a little opening celebration, the bar is encouraging you to make a group booking and go big, offering a rotating selection of rosé magnums for $99 a bottle until 4pm Monday–Saturday throughout October. Elsewhere on the beverage selection, you'll find a wide variety of craft beers and five signature cocktails on tap — including a vodka, coconut and mango spritz primed for warm afternoons out on the terrace. To partner with your magnum of wine, the food menu is also designed to be shared. Executive Chef Alex Wong (Lana) suggests the baguette with cultured butter and caper salt, sesame seed fougasse, whipped roe with bottarga, LP's saucisson and Ortiz anchovies with seaweed persillade butter on a Grana baguette. Chilled mussels with Yarra Valley roe, duck terrine and a next-level ham, mustard and fennel sandwich are among the other highlights on the snack side of Martinez's menu — while there are a few heftier options including steak frites and grilled swordfish. Emilie Delalande of Etic (Barangaroo House) has led the design work across the venue, with both the terrace and the dining room containing odes to artist residencies in the south of France. The bar is designed to facilitate any occasion — there are intimate two-person tables and long benches designed for group catch-ups. And if you're lucky, you might even nab a spot with views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Martinez Terrace is now open at Quay Quarter Tower, 50 Bridge Street, Circular Quay. Its adjoining restaurant is set to open on Thursday, October 12. For more information head to the Martinez website. Images: Steven Woodburn and Jason Loucus.
Boom, boom, boom, boom: Vengaboys want Down Under audiences in a whole heap of rooms when the 90s Dutch Eurodance favourites return to Australia and New Zealand on their latest nostalgic tour. The Vengabus has headed this way for similar throwback gigs in 2019 and 2023, because this group likes to party — and it'll be back again in 2025. Pull out that old Discman, break out the cargo pants and start practising your smoothest dance moves from three decades back — you've got 90's Mania to prepare for. Vengaboys, aka Cowboy Donny, Captain Kim, PartyGirl D'Nice and SailorBoy Robin, will be busting out all of their well-known favourites, such as 'We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)', 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom', 'We're Going to Ibiza' and 'Up & Down', when they headline a series of shows that'll also feature DJ SASH!, Alex Party and Livin' Joy. All four acts will play at every one of the tour's nine Down Under dates in January 2025, starting on Friday, January 17 at Metro City in Perth. From there, 90's Mania will make its way around Australia, hitting up Sydney's Enmore Theatre, Waves in Wollongong and Southern Cross Club in Canberra, before pulling into Wrest Point Entertainment Centre in Hobart, Festival Hall in Melbourne and Brisbane's Eatons Hill Hotel. In NZ, Christchurch and Auckland's respective town halls will be jumping to close out the month. Yes, you'll now have Vengaboys tunes stuck in your head just from reading this — and likely DJ SASH!'s 'Encore Une Fois', 'Ecuador', 'Stay' featuring La Trec, 'Mysterious Times' featuring Tina Cousins, 'Move Mania' and 'La Primavera' as well (plus 'Wrap Me Up', 'Don't Give Me Your Life', 'Read My Lips', 'Saturday Night Party' and 'Cause I Can Do It (Right)' from Italy's Alex Party, alongside 'Dreamer', 'Don't Stop Movin', 'Where Can I Find Love', 'Something Beautiful' and 'Follow the Rules' from Livin' Joy). In all Australian stops except Melbourne, Nick Skitz is also on the bill. And in the Victorian capital only, Mark Pellegrini and Joanne join the lineup. 90's Mania 2025 Dates Friday, January 17 — Metro City, Perth Saturday, January 18 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Sunday 19 January — Waves, Wollongong Wednesday, January 22 — Southern Cross Club, Canberra Thursday, January 23 — Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart Friday, January 24 — Festival Hall, Melbourne Saturday, January 25 — Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane Tuesday, January 28 — Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch Wednesday, January 29 — Auckland Town Hall, Auckland 90's Mania 2025 Lineup Vengaboys DJ SASH! Alex Party Livin' Joy Australia only, excluding Melbourne: Nick Skitz Melbourne only: Mark Pellegrini Joanne 90's Mania tours Australia and New Zealand in January 2025, with presale tickets from 12pm local time on Monday, November 4 and general sales from the same time on Thursday, November 7. Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Sven Mandel via Wikimedia Commons.
When Dexter wrapped up its blood-splattered run back in 2013, it left plenty of fans wanting more. By now, the fact that almost every beloved TV show arises from the dead at some point is hardly new news — see also: Gossip Girl, Saved By the Bell, Twin Peaks and the upcoming Sex and the City small-screen sequel series, just to name a few — but resurrecting television's mild-mannered forensics expert by day, serial killer by night feels particularly fitting. So, get ready to watch your way through Dexter: New Blood, which sees Michael C Hall (Shadowplay) return as Dexter Morgan. The series wouldn't be worth it without him, obviously. He leads a ten-episode limited series that's due to hit the US on Sunday, November 7 and then arrive Down Under via new streaming platform Paramount+, although exactly when it'll start streaming locally hasn't yet been revealed. Hall isn't the only familiar face making a comeback, either, with Jennifer Carpenter (Dragged Across Concrete) set to return as Dexter's sister Debra. If you're wondering how that works because you remember how the original series ended, the just-dropped full sneak peek for the Dexter revival gives a few more details. John Lithgow (Perry Mason) is also coming back as the Trinity Killer — presumably in flashbacks, given the character's fate the first time around. As both the show's first teaser trailer and this new glimpse demonstrate, eight years have passed when Dexter: New Blood kicks off, just as they have for audiences. Accordingly, the series finds its namesake living a quiet life in the small town of Iron Lake, New York, and trying to forgo his murderous urges. He's going by the name Jim Lindsay, which nods to author Jeff Lindsay, who penned the series of novels the show was initially based on — and he seems happy in his new life. But then Dexter's new hometown is rocked by unexpected events, and his old ways start calling again. As fans saw over and over in Dexter's original eight-season run, resisting picking up a knife isn't all that easy for the program's protagonist. Both trailers feature plenty of blades, all within its namesake's vicinity. And if you're wondering what else to expect, the cast also includes Julia Jones (The Mandalorian), Alano Miller (Sylvie's Love), Johnny Sequoyah (Believe), Jack Alcott (The Good Lord Bird) and Clancy Brown (Promising Young Woman). And, this new trailer comes with a big surprise at the end as well. Check out the latest Dexter: New Blood trailer below: Dexter: New Blood is set to stream in Australia via Paramount+. The new series will start airing in the US from Sunday, November 7; however, an exact streaming date Down Under hasn't been announced as yet — we'll update you when it is.
A quarter of a century is a long time to spend with Larry David, even with gaps along the way. Friends and acquaintances of the fictionalised and heightened version in Curb Your Enthusiasm might have some not-so-positive things to say about investing that chunk with one of TV's great curmudgeons. If you're a fan of the satirical series that premiered in 2000, however, 12 seasons isn't enough. But David has called time on his second small-screen smash. While CYE hasn't beaten Seinfeld's episode count, going out with 120 instalments versus 180, it stayed on-screen on and off for far longer than the ultimate show about nothing — and, right up until its final moments, it didn't avoid for a second the fact that Seinfeld was always going to cast a shadow. Streaming in Australia via Binge and New Zealand on Neon, Curb Your Enthusiasm isn't Seinfeld 2.0 for a lengthy number of reasons that'd get anyone saying "yada, yada, yada". But in riffing on David and his life, playing with his fame for co-creating one of the all-time sitcom hits has been baked into the premise from day one. Cue appearances from Seinfeld cast members, also as themselves. Cue dedicating a season focusing on making a Seinfeld reunion special as well. Accordingly, when CYE's ending first came into sight, of course the inimitable force behind both shows began the last season with the series' iteration of Larry going where Seinfeld's characters closed out their tale: jail. In season 12's debut episode of ten, he isn't incarcerated due to criminal indifference. Rather, Larry's stint behind bars comes about thanks to the opposite. In Atlanta to attend a rich fan's (Sharlto Copley, Beast) birthday party, on a paid gig courtesy of the success of Young Larry — CYE's in-show show about David's childhood, in the style of Young Rock and Everybody Hates Chris — he gives a bottle of water to Leon's (JB Smoove, Música) Auntie Rae (Ellia English, Blood Pageant) while she's in line to vote. That's illegal in the state of Georgia. The cops pounce immediately. So, with the nudging and winking — and reshaping and tinkering — that Curb Your Enthusiasm does exquisitely well, one of the season's key threads is born. Larry being Larry, he wasn't really trying to make a stand against ridiculous voter-suppression laws. Larry still being Larry, he's also content to capitalise upon being regarded as a hero, complete with droves of media attention. And, Larry never able to be someone other than Larry, he's his petty normal self regardless of how much praise flows from Bruce Springsteen — or ire, because getting to know Larry even when he's being commended and congratulated doesn't always mean actually liking him, as the plot strand involving The Boss, his final Los Angeles gig, COVID-19 and whose drinking cup is whose screams. Before Beef was winning Golden Globes, Emmys and other awards for trivial squabbles, David got there first. Before The Rehearsal and The Curse's Nathan Fielder was inspiring cringing so vigorous that you can feel it in your stomach, David was as well. Almost anything can happen and has happened to Larry, and being argumentative and awkward, holding grudges and rarely having his foot out of his mouth in response is a constant. Since season one, whatever has come his way has usually involved his manager and best friend Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin, Never Have I Ever), alongside the latter's perennially suspicious wife Susie (Susie Essman, Hacks). Initially as his spouse and then as his ex, Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines, The Flight Attendant) has frequently weathered the fallout in his vicinity. So have his friends, such as Ted Danson (Mr Mayor) and the late, great Richard Lewis (Sandy Wexler) as themselves from the get-go, plus the aforementioned Leon Black, who moved in with Larry when the Davids took in his sister Loretta (Vivica A Fox, Bosco) after Hurricane Katrina. The show's swansong season is vintage Curb Your Enthusiasm, including when a lawyer who looks like one of David's many enemies, overhearing golfing lessons, throwing things at CODA Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur, getting disgruntled over breakfast menus cutting off at 11am and shirking reading scripts for old colleagues are involved. Season 12 also sees Larry try to date Sienna Miller (Extrapolations), sponsor Lori Loughlin (Blessings of Christmas) to join his country club and attempt to befriend Conan O'Brien (Conan Without Borders) when he moves into the same neighbourhood. He learns the Gettysburg Address while urinating, conditioning himself to feel the urge when he hears it afterwards. He's suspected of drawing penises on billboards. Also on his list: conjuring up schemes to ditch his girlfriend Irma (Tracey Ullman, Death to 2021) that he despises and get out of looking after an acquaintance's daughter if he passes away. From its premiere at the turn of the century to its farewell now, Curb Your Enthusiasm has been fascinated with whether someone as set in his ways as David — who was the inspiration for George Constanza — can and will ever change. He doesn't, and watching why that's the case only stopped being comedy gold when the credits rolled on the very last episode. That goodbye is named 'No Lessons Learned'. David gives voice to the idea, too: speaking to a young boy being told how to behave by his mother, he's unrepentantly Larry, telling the child "I am 76 years old and I have never learned a lesson in my entire life". As he bickers with a flight attendant about turning off his phone on the plane to Atlanta, gets crude hand signals from a driver who won't let merge on the highway and questions something about an ex-girlfriend of Richard's that's never normally spoken about (because when would that stop Larry?), his own words keep ringing true. When season 12 sent Larry to jail early, echoing how Seinfeld ended, it was always working towards more overt nods in its predecessor's direction. Cycling through legal representation (Will & Grace's Sean Hayes plays one attorney), Larry has been bound for court ever since. Airing grievances, all coming from folks who believe that they've been wronged by him over the years, was the natural — and gloriously, gleefully intertextual — path for Curb Your Enthusiasm's climax, then. David has learned lessons, though, since penning the end of Seinfeld. How that pans out, and CYE's conclusion overall, is pretty, pretty, pretty perfect. Check out the trailer for Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 below: Curb Your Enthusiasm streams via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Images: HBO.
If you've ever had a coffee at Cuckoo Callay, a Middle Eastern brunch at Nour or a charcoal chicken feast at Henrietta, you'll find Lilymu familiar. There's pink neon on the walls, hibiscus in the cocktails and friendly staff on the floor. But, it's also markedly different to any of Ibby Moubadder and Jorge Farah's other restaurants. To start: it's not on Crown Street. In fact, it's on the other side of the city, in Parramatta Square. And it's not Middle Eastern. This time, the duo is, with the help of ex-Mr Wong chef Brendan Fong, serving up contemporary takes on Chinese and Southeast Asian dishes. As you'd expect from Fong, the dumpling are great. So good, we suggest ordering a round of the tom yum prawn dumplings swimming in bright refreshing soy, lime and chilli dressing as soon as you sit down. While you're ordering entrees, the crispy fried quail. This crispy golden bite-sied bird is bursting with enough flavour to put your favourite fried chicken joint to shame. [caption id="attachment_792832" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Black garlic mie goreng[/caption] Larger dishes continue with pipis in XO sauce (market price), beef cheek massaman with the requisite kipfler potatoes and roasted duck with Laos sausage. But the dish you've likely heard the most about (and seen pop-up regularly on the 'gram) is the mie goreng. Coming loaded with black garlic and bean sprouts, and topped with an egg yolk, it's rich and indulgent. It'll also leave you almost too full for dessert — almost. You can round out your meal with mascarpone parfait, coconut sorbet or one of the liquid desserts, including a Lilymu espresso martini and an affogato martini with vanilla ice cream. Those who prefer their cocktails slightly more savoury — and earlier on in the meal — will find solace in the spiced margarita or the sour plum negroni, made with Four Pillars' always-popular Bloody Shiraz Gin. [caption id="attachment_787138" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] Images: Nikki To Updated Friday, March 31, 2023. Appears in: The Best Restaurants in Sydney The Best Degustations Under $100 in Sydney
Peering at Yayoi Kusama's work doesn't just mean being surrounded by dots, pumpkins and tentacles; stepping inside her infinity rooms; and spying mirrors, balls, flowers and rainbow hues aplenty. It also means relishing every moment with her immersive art. One trip to a Kusama showcase, whether at her own Tokyo museum or elsewhere, is never enough. However long an exhibition's season runs for, it's not long enough, either. Melbourne's NGV International, the host of Australia's largest-ever Kusama retrospective, understands this — and it is giving art lovers more chances to enjoy the artist's wonders. Yayoi Kusama, as the current exhibition is called, opened on Sunday, December 15, 2024 and runs until Monday, April 21, 2025. That end date isn't being delayed, sadly, but the gallery is extending its hours instead across the showcase's final weeks. Revealed on Friday, March 21, the news was unveiled a day before a significant occasion: Kusama's 96th birthday on Saturday, March 22. Of course, this'd be exciting no matter when it was announced. From Saturday, April 5–Wednesday, April 16, the exhibition will operate from 8am–6pm. Melburnians, if you fancy exploring Kusama's work before or after the nine-to-five grind, this is your chance. Over the Easter long weekend, you'll have even longer to head by, which is also great for visitors from elsewhere making the trip to Melbourne for the break. From Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21, the exhibition will be open from 8am–midnight daily. The National Gallery of Victoria's spectacular tribute to Kusama includes the Japanese icon's brand-new Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light among its ten immersive installations, breaking the world record for the number of such pieces by the artist assembled in one spot. In total, there's 200 pieces on display, taking over the St Kilda Road gallery's entire ground floor with a childhood-to-now survey of its subject's creative output. Across the eight decades of art on display, some pieces have never been seen Down Under until now. Some are sourced from private collections, and others from Kusama's own personal stash. Here's yet one more drawcard: the NGV is throwing Friday-night parties as part of the exhibition, too, running until Friday, April 18. Kusama's five-metre-tall dot-covered Dancing Pumpkin sculpture in NGV International's Federation Court, the artist's Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees wrapping the trunks of 6-plus trees in pink-and-white polka-dotted material: they're also key elements of one of the most-comprehensive retrospectives devoted to the artist to be staged globally. Other highlights include NGV International's glass waterwall going pink, but with black rather than white dots; Kusama's new version of Narcissus Garden, which dates back to 1966 and features 1400 30-centimetre-diameter silver balls this time around, sitting in front of the waterwall and in parts of Federation Court; and the yellow-and-black spheres of Dots Obsession hanging over the Great Hall. Then there's the artist's sticker-fuelled, all-ages-friendly The Obliteration Room, where audiences young and old pop coloured dots everywhere — 'obliterating', as Kusama calls it — to cover an apartment interior that's completely white otherwise. Flower Obsession is another participatory piece, returning from the 2017 NGV Triennial. Again, you're asked to add to the work. Here, red flowers are applied to a domestic space — and again, obliterating it is the mission. If you adore the artist's way with mirrors, you'll want to see 2016's Chandelier of Grief, which features baroque-style chandelier spinning within a hexagon of mirrors; 2013's Love Is Calling, where tentacles in different colours spring from both the floor and the ceiling; and 2017's The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, which gets viewers peering at glowing pumpkins as far as the eye can see through a small peephole. In Invisible Life, convex mirrors line a twisting and multi-hued corridor. With its six-metre-tall tendrils — which are covered in polka dots, naturally — the yellow-and-black The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe from 2019 is striking without using a looking glass (or several), and has made its Australian premiere. Prefer flowers instead? Set within a dotted space, All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever from 2013 sees a trio of giant tulips loom over audiences. Overall, Yayoi Kusama steps through the artist's 80-plus years of making art via a thematic chronology. While a number of pieces hail from her childhood, others are far more recent. Her output in her hometown of Matsumoto from the late 30s–50s; the results of relocating to America in 1957; archival materials covering her performances and activities in her studios, especially with a political charge, in the 60s and 70s; plenty from the past four decades: they all appear. Yayoi Kusama displays at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until Monday, April 21, 2025 — including from 8am–6pm between Saturday, April 5–Wednesday, April 16, and from 8am–midnight between Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21. NGV Friday Nights: Yayoi Kusama runs each Friday until Friday, April 18, 2025. Head to the NGV website for more details and tickets. Images: Visitors and artworks in the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV International, Melbourne until 21 April 2025. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photos: Danielle Castano, Sean Fennessy, Tobias Titz and Kate Shannassy.
Your dog-child shuns the common doghouse you expect it to live in, and this leaves you feeling hurt and confused. But luckily Dogchitecture, a new exhibition in Mexico City, is presenting revolutionary doghouse proposals by ten design firm to help dogs feel at home. It must have been interesting getting inside the mind of man's best friend to create these functional and visually intriguing puppy palaces. Inspired by Kenya Hara's Architecture for Dogs project, which paired designers with a particular breed for all kinds of unexpected results, the firms exhibiting in Dogchitecture include BNKR Arquitectura, Rojkind Arquitectos, Broissin, PRODUCTORA, a-001, Taller 13, PMS Arch Buro, ROW Studio, Laboratorio Arquitectura Básica and ESOS. Polyforum Siqueiros in Mexico City hosts the exhibition until August 18 2013, when it goes on the road. Below is a look at some of the proposals on offer to tempt the fastidious chihuahua in your life. Productora 'Pencil House' PRODUCTORA's 'Pencil House' aims to please the eye. a-001 'Tangle Nest' a-001's Tangle Nest looks fun and interactive, like those alarming foam pits you used to be forced to leap into during gym class. ESOS 'El Wokdog' This ESOS doghouse is called "Wok" by day, cosy "Igloo" by night. BNKR BNKR Arquitectura channels dogs' enjoyment of burrowing and chasing their own tails. Broissin Broissin's proposal bypasses functional concerns and opts for aesthetic bewilderment, befitting the more esoteric dog. Beneath One Fern And here is Beneath One Fern, hosted by Zach Galifianakis. Via PSFK
When is a food court not a food court? When it's Regent Place, the bright arcade surrounded by shops but serving up lively food in restaurants with character. The shops aren't really the attraction, either, and with the arcade tucked away in the nebulous area below Town Hall and above Chinatown, it's not a place you're likely to stumble into without instruction. So we're here to instruct. Recently developed, Regent Place is like a cool offshoot of Chinatown — or the new J-Village, as it's sometimes known. Level one is a neon-bright Tokyo mirage, while in the basement is the jumble of Senyai Thai, a Misschu hut and AstroTurfed cocktail bar Assembly. The developers have succeeded in giving it a really transporting feel, like its own closed-off world, and it's an approach it would be great to see others borrow from. Next time you're in the city shopping, seeing a movie at Event Cinemas or a catching a gig at the Metro, duck off George Street and into one of these six stellar Regent Place establishments. Yebisu Izakaya Settle in for a long, congenial night of grazing on Japanese share plates and sake. Yebisu Izakaya has a gargantuan menu; with more than 100 dishes, the focus is on dizzying quantity rather than A-class quality, and that's fine when your meal is as fun and reliable as this. It's perfect for a party, really, as all tastes are accounted for, whether you fancy regional rarities such as dried skate fin ($8.80) and vinaigrette tuna skin ($10.80), dependables of the sushi or yakitori variety or just giving up on the world and going for fried mixed cheese ($14.80). The iPad menu system means you can order course by course if you want to, and there's no awkward sitting around trying to get the waitstaff's attention. Sake and shochu are a specialty at Yebisu, and you'll also be visited by an attendant with sake trolley and plenty of recommendations to share. Lunch Mon - Sun noon - 3pm, Dinner Sun - Thu 5pm - 11pm, Fri - Sat from 5pm-midnight; (02) 9266 0301 Assembly From the team responsible for Pocket Bar, the Assembly team have done their best to counter the shopping hub feel and ensure the bar itself is a departure from its surrounds. The bar itself is far from sparkling tiles and polished steel - it has the atmosphere of an adult's treehouse. Dividers built from wooden pallets, milkcrate tables, bunker-style lights, slightly creepy mannequins and one of the cleverest dumb waiters we've ever seen, made from the repurposed mechanism of a garage door. The drinks from mixologist/general manager Ben Taouss are almost as intelligent, and most definitely as playful. Our picks are the Lavender Hill Cappuccino ($17), a martini with Pop Rocks and an apple foam; or the Earl Negroni ($18), Hendricks, Campari and Antica formula with orange marmalade, served up in a teacup. If you'd prefer, there's a shifting range of fairly standard beers and a moderate wine list also on offer. Mon - Fri 12pm - 12am, Sat 5pm - 12am; (02) 9283 8808; www.assemblybar.com.au Tenkomori Ramen House Ramen is king at Tenkomori. Every kind of ramen dish comes in three types of broth: shoyu, miso and tonkotsu. The pork kakuni ramen with tonkotsu broth ($7.30) is certainly indulgent. The pork belly falls apart at the slightest pressure with the spoon and when slurped down with noodles and the soup, you just can't wait for the next spoonful. If you want egg, pickled mustard green and bamboo that'll be an extra $2.50. Pick up a piece of karaage chicken for $2 a pop, or fried tofu for $1.50 and although they are both deep-fried, they're not dripping in oil. The kaarage chicken bowl ($4.50) has fried chicken sitting on top of rice, with generous lashings of Japanese mayo. If you don't feel like a noodle soup, try the Ontama chilli pork ($8.90) with a choice of hot or cold ramen, chilli pork, bean sprout and topped with an egg. It's fresh and packs a punch with the chilli. The pace at Tenkomori is fast and crowds continually flock to Tenkomori for a cheap fix of noodles and deep-fried goodness. Mon - Sun 11am - 10pm; (02) 9266 0660; www.facebook.com/TenkomoriRamenHouse/ Senyai A laneway eatery resembling what one might expect to find in Bangkok's steamy back streets, Senyai is as close to Thai authenticity as you can get. Start with a serve of miang kham ($6) — betel leaves topped with diced lime, red chilli, dehydrated prawns, nuts, red onion, and coconut sauce. Next try the po pia jaan ($12) — crispy prawn pancakes covered in layers of super-fine deep-fried rice paper, with an almost spongy inner texture. Another for those seeking out something hefty is the khao kha moo ($18) — incredibly slow-braised pork hock cooked in cinnamon and star anise (with veggies and rice). Somtum Thai ($16), a traditional Thai green papaya salad with all the extras, is your go-to when looking to cleanse the palette. The roti grob ($6) are sweet, Thai pancakes that are simple, light, and perfect for a crisp finale to your meal. Mon - Sun 11am - 10.30pm; (02) 9283 8686; www.senyai.com.au Miss Chu The queen of rice papaer rolls continues her expansion across Sydney with her latest tuckshop opening it's shutters here in Regent's Place. The usual suspects are all here. Get an order of the tasty Satay Chicken ($7.50) or Roast Duck ($9) rice paper rolls; a serve of succulent dumplings ($7) and if it's pay day, $13 will get you the melt-in-your-mouth Sashimi Tuna. This should leave you with just enough room for a Peking Duck Pancake ($3.50). Sit at the tuckshop window or at one of the street-style wooden ironing-board tables nearby. Or if you're feeling really lazy, make use of their bike-basket delivery service. Mon - Sun 11am - 9pm; (02) 9283 0357; www.misschu.com.au Chanoma Cafe The team running this Japanese cafe are known as the Matcha Masters because their traditional green tea powder is some of the best in Sydney. There's matcha lattes, floats, frappes and parfaits that are sure to give you your daily green tea fix. Try the Oreo matcha frappe ($6.50) to balance out your naughty and nice. To curb your hunger the Japanese style hot dogs are most definitely not your ordinary dogs. Slathered with Japanese mayo and with soft and crunchy textures these hot dogs are often deep fried and usually sprinkled with seaweed flakes. Try the deep fried Tonkatsu dog ($6.20) or the creamy shrimp croquette dog ($6.20) for a walk on the wild side. (02) 9266 0667 By the Concrete Playground team.
Following the success of its lively Surry Hills restaurant, Li'l Darlin has launched a northern Sydney sibling, serving inventive cocktails and share plates to a whole new side of Sydney. With a formula that has been fine-tuned for over a decade, the Crows Nest bar and restaurant has brought the same playful yet affordable vibes to a different side of the bridge. Just like its inner-city senior, Li'l Darlin's second location is doing $12.50 happy hour offers. Here, you'll also find Taco Tuesday on the menu, where patrons can grab $12 margaritas and $6 tacos; Wine Down Wednesdays, with $7 wines and beers plus $12.50 tapas; and Clocked Off Thursdays, complete with $12.50 negronis, espresso martinis, Aperol spritzes and old fashioneds. Keeping things wallet-friendly is the name of the game at Li'l Darlin, aiming to provide a night out that won't break the bank. Experienced Surry Hills patrons will recognise some familiar items on the handcrafted cocktail list, like the oh-so-popular Fairy Floss Martini. New drinks have been added to the menu, however, including Gin There Done That (with gin, lychee, kiwi, prosecco and lemon), Better the Devil You Know (tequila, coconut, chilli schnapps, lime and a chilli-salted rim) and It Takes 2 to Mango (spiced rum, mango, lemon and mango sorbet). The venue is also hosting cocktail masterclasses and bottomless brunches. Li'l Darlin's Crows Nest food menu focuses on communal plates and tapas. Order a burrata and prosciutto plate, arancini balls or Peking duck pancakes for the group, or go with sizzling chilli prawns and pizzas. Located near the new Crows Nest Metro station — which was one of the inspirations for doubling Li'l Darlin's footprint — the North Sydney venue also boasts a larger space for parties and other celebrations, catering to 60–80 guests, with a further expansion planned.
Few designers working today create pieces so idiosyncratic and fanciful they may as well be art. One is Romance Was Born, the Australian label started in 2005 by Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. So it's perfectly fitting, really, that for this year's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, they're smashing out a full, multi-sensory exhibition that is more guided acid trip than runway show. Collaborating with them on Reflected Glory is artist Rebecca Baumann, a technicolour master of her own with a practice spanning kinetic sculpture, photography, performance, digital animation and installation. She also happens to have won a Visual Arts SOYA the same year Plunkett and Sales won for fashion. Together, they're translating the never-boring design of Romance Was Born into a truly unwearable work of art, opening at Carriageworks on April 8. The promo video, released this morning by Carriageworks, shows the exhibition will be a kaleidoscope that plays off the unique light and space of the industrial venue. "We're really inspired by nightclubs and lighting and the feeling of when you see something sparkling in all its glory [and] it just has this fully beautiful, uplifting feeling," says Plunkett. Don't expect mere retrospective or showcase; the exhibition represents a completely new approach for the duo. "It's not like a collection of work; it's kind of just one big work, so the whole thing just feels like one immersive experience," says Sales. Reflected Glory opens at Carriageworks on April 9 and runs until May 11.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. COUSINS Early in Cousins, lawyer Makareta (Briar Grace Smith, The Strength of Water) walks Wellington's streets, chatting to her cousin Missy (Rachel House, Baby Done) by phone about the latest threat to appropriate their family's land to build a highway. As they talk, a woman with a shrub-like bob of hair and a well-worn green coat almost crosses Makareta's path — and, unbeknownst to her, it's her long-lost cousin, Mata (Tanea Heke, Waru), that she's spent most of her years desperately looking for. In another movie, this near miss would be cutesy, convenient, and spark an onslaught of superficial wisdom about opportunities, coincidences and connections. Cousins isn't that film, thankfully. Here, Makareta and Mata come oh-so-close to finding each other because that's what life entails for a Māori woman who was taken from her family as a child. Stolen away by her white father, left with an uncaring guardian and schooled in a grim home for desolate children, Mata has spent too long at arm's reach from her nearest and dearest, as the film's fractured timeline loops back to explain. She's never all that far away physically — indeed, when she's allowed to stay with her relatives during one youthful summer, a much-younger Makareta (Mihi Te Rauhi Daniels) is shocked to learn that her cousin has been living locally — but by being stripped of her culture, her ties to the past and even the name her mother gave her, Mata may as well have been sent to the other side of the world. Based on Patricia Grace's 1992 book of the same name — and brought to the screen with exceptional performances, including from House, both Keyahne Patrick Williams and Hariata Moriarty (Savage) as younger versions of Missy, and Te Ao Marama Baker, Te Raukura Gray and Ana Scotney (The Breaker Upperers) as Mata at various ages — Cousins explores how Mata's removal from her family leaves a permanent mark. Following her years in institutionalised care and the abhorrent way she's treated by her guardian (Sylvia Rands, Top of the Lake) as well, it's a story and film about colonial trauma, systemic racism and the ills of history that have affected too many First Nations people in too much of the world, and it's a heartbreakingly moving and compelling piece of cinema. Co-directing as well as acting, Grace-Smith teams up with fellow Māori woman and Waru collaborator Ainsley Gardiner to tell a tale that's intimate, impassioned and unflinchingly brought to the screen. Cousins dives headfirst into the pain that removing Indigenous people from their land and culture sparks, and doesn't ever downplay how that hurt, loss, isolation and alienation causes ripples that never subside. And yet, with its calm gaze, as well as its penchant for lingering over brief but vibrant pops of colour and greenery, this is also a movie about fighting for what matters, valuing what you can when you can, and remaining both adaptable and resilient out of both necessity and unyielding fortitude. JOSEE, THE TIGER AND THE FISH With its eye-catching pastel hues and soul-stirring affinity for water, it'd be easy to accuse Josee, the Tiger and the Fish of following in Weathering With You, Children of the Sea and Ride Your Wave's footsteps — or in Ponyo's as well. But this charming and moving Japanese delight finds its origins in a 2003 live-action film of the same name, which itself was adapted from author Seiko Tanabe's short story. The new Josee, the Tiger and the Fish still slides in seamlessly beside its aforementioned anime peers, though. That isn't a criticism by any means. These movies aren't otherwise overtly connected, but Japan's affection for gorgeously animated tales of the heart, of hope and of H2O keeps giving rise to features that may as well be different volumes in a beloved series. Present here, too, is a clear sense of melodrama as two twentysomethings literally collide — physically, more than once, in fact — and try to work out what their futures might hold. Tsuneo (Taishi Nakagawa, Samurai Marathon) has always dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, while Josee (Kaya Kiyohara, Wish) has rarely been given room to think of anything other than the present. Once the pair's paths intertwine, though, they begin to find themselves in far more similar circumstances than either could ever have foretold. The meet-cute here is really a crash-cute: thanks to Josee's hurtling wheelchair and its speedy decline down a hilly Osaka street, she goes flying into his arms. Her grandmother (Chiemi Matsutera) invites him home, and then to join them for a meal — and while Josee is unhappy about the arrangement to the point of being outwardly rude, Tsuneo soon finds himself with a job offer to be her part-time caregiver. He also works in the local dive shop, as part of his studies and quest to earn a scholarship to Mexico. But even with his friend and coworker Mai (Yume Miyamoto, The Misfit of Demon King Academy) pining for him quietly, he's drawn to the impudent Josee. The film strands its titular character in her wheelchair, in peril and in need of help more than once, but Tsuneo is adamant that she needn't ignore her dreams or resign herself to escaping the world around her. Directing his first feature after credits on TV series such as Negima! Magister Negi Magi and Noragami, filmmaker Kôtarô Tamura tells not only a love story, but a tale about embracing life's chaos. His film celebrates the importance of understanding perspectives other than your own, and of fighting for your own choices. Add it to the list of sweet, charming, empathetic and heartwarming anime doing the same — although not one of them simply wades in familiar waters. HEROIC LOSERS Thanks to the vagaries of fate — and, of late, the havoc that the pandemic has played on cinema releases — films with similar elements sometimes brighten up the big screen at the same time. Heroic Losers is one of two movies debuting in Australian cinemas this week that unites a group of small-town locals around a shared cause (the other: Dream Horse; see below). It's also one of two features out this week that pits ordinary hardworking folks against the overwhelming forces making their lives more difficult (the second: Percy vs Goliath; again, see below). Heroic Losers also boasts much in common with the treasure trove of heist flicks that have come before it. Writer/director Sebastian Borensztein (Chinese Take-Out) even includes clips of 1966's How to Steal a Million, and has the 55-year-old classic influence some of its characters' antics, too. But, premiering in Argentina almost two years ago before hopping its way around the festival circuit, including at Australia's Spanish Film Festival, this affable movie ranks among the best kind of formulaic fare. It makes you remember what you love about the genres it warmly falls into, as well as the pictures it fondly recalls — and it never leaves its viewers merely ticking through all of its standard-issue inclusions, then wishing they were watching one of those other pictures instead. The ever-reliable, always charming Ricardo Darín (Everybody Knows) plays Fermín Perlassi, a retired ex-footballer who wants to reopen a grain storage cooperative that stumbled in his small-town home of Villa Alsina a decade earlier. It's 2001, and he manages to encourage his pals and locals to support his dream. Alas, just days after Fermín deposits their life savings — and is manipulated into putting them into an account, rather than in a safe deposit box —Argentina's financial crisis sees the country's banks and their funds all frozen. This isn't the last crisis involving their money, but the group comes up with a plan. Again, as mentioned above, How to Steal a Million helps. So does the eagerness of Fermín and his gang — including Verónica Llinás (So Long Enthusiasm) as his wife, Darín's own son Chino (The Queen of Spain) as his son, and Luis Brandoni (You Only Live Once), Rita Cortese (Wild Tales) and Marco Antonio Caponi (Nobody's Watching) as well — to take their destinies into their own hands. Unravelling their heist antics, Borensztein helms a lively and likeable film that pairs its affection for their efforts with a matching affinity for the characters themselves. It all turns out as anyone can predict, but the good-natured journey is rarely anything less than pleasant. DELIVER US FROM EVIL Whether he's on screenwriting duties or he's behind the camera, a film that involves Hong Won-chan is always worthy of attention. The South Korean filmmaker penned the scripts for Na Hong-jin's gripping The Chaser and The Yellow Sea, then made his directorial debut with the entertainingly savage Office — and now, both as a writer and a helmer, he's added engaging action-packed gangster thriller Deliver Us From Evil to his growing resume. A big box office hit on home turf, this kinetic, frenetic and exceptionally choreographed affair charts the failed last hurrah of cop-turned-hitman In-nam (Hwang Jung-min, The Wailing). In Tokyo, he pulls off his final job without a hitch, but it turns out that his yakuza target has an unhinged brother that his bosses forgot to mention. And, as well as being unhappy about this turn of events to the point of seeking bloody and ruthless revenge, said sibling Ray (Lee Jung-jae, The Housemaid) shares a past with In-nam. That's enough to derail the latter's plans to live the good life in Panama for the rest of his days; however, it's not the only drama that pushes him off course. In Bangkok, his ex-girlfriend has been killed in a bungled kidnapping and extortion scheme, but her nine-year-old daughter Yoo-min (Park So-yi, Pawn) still needs rescuing. Deliver Us From Evil isn't short on plot, but it isn't needlessly overcomplicated or convoluted, either. As a storyteller, Hong has always been efficient above all else. Indeed, when multiple storylines weave through his scripts — as they usually do — they're always unfurled with exactly the flair and detail each needs and deserves. Here, he threads together In-nam's search for Yoo-min and his attempts to evade Ray, and does so with the same precision his two main characters show in their gruesome work. In this 108-minute movie, not a scene or second is wasted, in fact. While much of the minutiae, narrative-wise, hardly reshapes Hong's chosen genre, he firmly knows the difference between blandly sticking to a formula and deploying familiar elements in their best and most spirited forms. His keen eye for dynamic, slick but never mindlessly over-the-top action helps, including in frenzied chase scenes and brutal fist-to-fist battles. His willingness to let the camera linger upon its person of focus a beat longer than usual — whether In-nam, Ray or the transgender Korean woman, Yui (Park Jeong-min, Time to Hunt), In-nam teams up with to locate Yoo-min — also gives the movie its own pace. And, in its casting, Deliver Us From Evil is first-rate. Lee gets the more cartoonish role, but no scene featuring his menace, Hwang's blend of determination and desperation, or both, could ever wear out its welcome. DREAM HORSE Life-changing conversations can happen in bars — as Jan Vokes well and truly knows. Played in Dream Horse by Toni Collette (I'm Thinking of Ending Things), the Welsh supermarket employee and pub barmaid overheard Howard Davies (Damian Lewis, Billions) chatting about his past success as a racehorse owner. In his beer-fuelled boasting, he doesn't discuss how it almost left him bankrupt and divorced, but Jan is still inspired to both follow his lead and enlist his help. Having bred whippets and racing pigeons before, and won prizes for doing so, she decides she'll turn her attention to horses. Husband Brian (Owen Teale, Game of Thrones) isn't initially convinced, but soon she's studying guides, finding a mare and then a stallion, and convincing her friends and neighbours to put away a tenner a week to pay for this little endeavour. The syndicate's focus: a foal they name Dream Alliance, who spends his early days being raised on the Vokes' allotment, and eventually ends up with racing hotshot Philip Hobbs (Nicholas Farrell, The Nevers) as its trainer. Dream Horse wouldn't exist if success didn't follow, and it leaves no doubt that that's the case; however, director Euros Lyn (The Library Suicides) and screenwriter Neil McKay (Mad Money) chart lows as well as highs, and always ensure their characters are their primary focus. Dream Alliance was always going to gallop into cinemas, of course — and not just via 2015 documentary Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance. His is a story too crowd-pleasing for filmmakers to ignore, especially given the UK's penchant for against-the-odds tales about motley crews of struggling salt-of-the-earth characters who band together over an unusual but swiftly shared interest that ends up revitalising their lives in more ways than one. That's the template Dream Horse plays to, even though it's based on a true tale and an actual horse. The Full Monty, Calendar Girls and similar feel-good flicks provide as much inspiration here as the actual real-life details, in fact. Accordingly, this is a movie that's easy to get caught up in. It's almost impossible not to, really. That said, it's also a film that wears its warmth, sentimentality and shameless heartstring-pulling as a badge of honour. As a result, it's also impossible to ignore the buttons the movie keeps gleefully pushing, and the parts of the tale that must've been smoothed out to elicit the desired cheer-inducing response — even around Collette's committed performance. But this happily mawkish feature and its characters are all doing it for the "hwyl", a Welsh term that means "emotional motivation and energy", and neither is willing to let that mission dwindle even for a second. PERCY VS GOLIATH Not once but twice in Percy vs Goliath, snippets of news footage utter the three words that no one needs to speak aloud. Given its title, no one needs to spell out that seed-saving Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser (Christopher Walken, Wild Mountain Thyme) is locked in a David vs Goliath battle with agriculture and agrochemical behemoth Monsanto. By the time the biblical face-off is first mentioned in this underdog drama, it's well and truly clear that this is the case — whether or not you're familiar with the real-life story, or you've seen the 2009 documentary Percy Schmeiser — David Versus Monsanto. But actor-turned-director Clark Johnson (Juanita) and screenwriters Garfield Lindsay Miller (The Devil You Know) and Hilary Pryor (Moosemeat & Marmalade) go there anyway. They make a plethora of choices that are just as blatant and unnecessary, and it robs their film of its potency. Unexpectedly accused of stealing Monsanto's Roundup-resistant canola seeds, and determined to do whatever it takes to demonstrate his innocence and fight for the rights of his fellow farmers, Schmeiser's tale is rousing enough without needing to resort to obvious cliches. Undoubtedly, his quest was described in such terms by media at the time, and definitely would've been since as well, but Percy vs Goliath's viewers don't need to be spoon-fed so forcefully to understand why his battle matters. Thankfully, this by-the-numbers movie has Walken at its centre, which is usually a smart choice. The veteran actor might've been poorly served by his past two big-screen roles — his Irish accent in Wild Mountain Thyme is awful, and the less said about the never-funny all-ages exploits in War with Grandpa, the better — but he's reliably compelling here as Schmeiser. His character's troubles begin when he's sent a letter demanding $15,000 in payment for his supposed unlicensed use of Monsanto's patented technology. Schmeiser's wife (Roberta Maxwell, Hungry Hearts) is initially sceptical about enlisting legal help, his son (Luke Kirby, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel) is steadfastly against it and even their chosen lawyer (Zach Braff, The Comeback Trail) recommends settling; however, this farmer doesn't take kindly to being told he's a thief when he isn't, or being bullied by the big end of his industry. He initially isn't too fond of the environmental activist (Christina Ricci, Around the Block) who pops up to crowdfund for his cause, either, but sometimes he needs her bigger-picture thinking. Yes, everything in Percy vs Goliath unravels as expected, and Johnson, Miller and Pryor's choices emphasis that unmissable truth. The film didn't need to be as routine and drama-free as it is, but Walken gives it far more spirit than it possesses otherwise. THE MEDDLER In The Meddler, it doesn't take long for German Cabrera to admit the obvious: he has an addiction. By day, the Guatemala City resident works as a mechanic, a trade he's keen to teach to his four sons. By night, he leaves his family at home while he trawls the streets until dawn, doggedly searching for whichever splashes of blood, crime and drama that he can capture with his always-recording camera. Cabrera is compelled to document the city's chaos so that he can expose it, he explains. As the block of text that opens the film notes, 2100 homicides were reported in Guatemala City in 2013, making it the 12th most violent place in the world. Cabrera records everything that he can — nightly fights, drunken behaviour, medical emergencies and dead bodies alike — with TV networks airing his footage, and even eventually dedicating an entire segment called The Night Watcher to his visuals. He's proud about the fact that he doesn't get paid for his efforts. As The Meddler watches him as he watches on, he seems to enjoy what he's seeing, too. In fact, Cabrera takes his role as a self-appointed observer to heart, simply standing by camera in-hand while scenes and events scream for someone's intervention, and often just recording anyone who happens to stumble into his view. Directed by feature first-timers Alex Roberts and Daniel Leclair, The Meddler has charged itself with a complicated task — because its subject and his actions and motivations are equally complex. When the documentary spends time driving around with Cabrera, peers at him while he's on the road and hears him talk about his desires to better the city, it purposefully brings Taxi Driver to mind. When it spies his eagerness to voyeuristically seek out and shoot Guatemala City's nocturnal chaos night after night, it summons up Nightcrawler as well. Neither comparison paints Cabrera in a favourable light, or a straightforward one. The Meddler thrusts him to the fore and its filmmakers don't interject in his monologues, question his statements or try to explain his choices; however, the doco's aesthetic and editing choices don't wholly land on his side, either. Indeed, this is a knotty character study that appreciates Cabrera's stated quest, and also acknowledges all of the thorniness that comes packaged with him and his after-dark hustle. When the film uses his footage, it's chilling and unsettling. When it forces viewers to contemplate his presence in the night and accompanying penchant for sensationalistic imagery, it's just as eerie. GREAT WHITE When a giant shark chomps its way through the cinematic ocean, audiences are meant to side with its scared human prey. But some creature features give viewers multiple reasons to do the opposite — and to find their own way to liven up a dull and formulaic movie. Perhaps the film's non-fish characters are woefully one-note or unlikeable, or both. Maybe the script is so simplistic, even in a well-worn genre, that a shark munching random keys on a typewriter probably could've written something better. Or, it could be that every plot development, performance, visual, and score choice is so overwhelmingly predictable that tension is as rare as a vegan great white. Actually, there's no maybes about any of the last three statements when it comes to horror's latest shark-centric outing, which turns Queensland's waters into a buffet for a ravenous critter. Great White marks the feature debut of director Martin Wilson, and only the second movie script for screenwriter Michael Boughen (Dying Breed); however, that its producers have 2010 Aussie shark film The Reef and its now-in-production sequel The Reef: Stalked on their resumes — plus homegrown 2007 crocodile flick Black Water and its 2020 sequel Black Water: Abyss — will surprise absolutely no one. Great White's setup will be familiar to anyone who has even heard of a shark movie before, let alone watched one. The twist: despite reassurances by marine biologist-turned-seaplane pilot Charlie (Aaron Jakubenko, Tidelands) that the time just isn't right for teeth-gnashing ocean predators to fill their empty stomachs, climate change seems to have changed the titular species' habits. So, on a lucrative charter gig that'll help keep his business financially afloat, Charlie, his girlfriend Kaz (Katrina Bowden, 30 Rock), their cook Benny (Te Kohe Tuhaka, Love and Monsters), and their paying customers Joji (Tim Kano, Neighbours) and Michelle (Kimie Tsukakoshi, The Family Law) find themselves under threat. They've headed to a remote island of personal significance to Michelle, and Joji is clashing with Benny before they even spot the resident great white's last victim. To ramp up the stakes, Kaz is telling Charlie that she's pregnant, too. Quickly, the quintet become the creature's next targets, including while cast adrift in a life raft that could use Life of Pi's Richard Parker for company. Just as speedily, Great White's audience will wish that something — anything — that hasn't previously graced Jaws, The Shallows, 47 Metres Down or even The Meg's frames would happen in this thrill-free bob into been-there, done-that waters. SPIRIT UNTAMED The first time that a Kiger Mustang named Spirit cantered across the silver screen, it was in 2002's Oscar-nominated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Back then, the film marked just the sixth theatrical feature that Dreamworks Animation had brought to cinemas — following Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run and Shrek — and if anything stood out, it was the movie's hand-drawn animation. Almost two decades later, Spirit Untamed returns the energetic and determined horse back to theatres. The movie he's in still looks gorgeous, even if computers have replaced pencils in bringing him to life. That said, this isn't actually the franchise's second step, with Netflix series Spirit Riding Free also telling the apple-loving animal's story across 78 episodes since 2017. In both look and feel, Spirit Untamed has more in common with its streaming counterpart than its big-screen predecessor, unsurprisingly. It's happy to primarily court the show's young audience, too. Indeed, while voice work by Jake Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Julianne Moore (Lisey's Story), Walton Goggins (Fatman), Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Eiza González (Godzilla vs Kong) is designed to appeal to adults, there's little else but scant traces of nostalgia and pastel-hued imagery to keep anyone past their teens interested. Her vocals stem from a different actor — with Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) doing the honours — but Fortuna Esperanza "Lucky" Prescott still sits at the heart of Spirit Untamed. Like Spirit Riding Free, the new film tells of Lucky's arrival in the frontier town of Miradero, her connection with Spirit and her efforts to save him from wranglers (led by Goggins). Also covered: her budding friendship with fellow horse-lovers Pru (voiced here by Little's Marsai Martin) and Abigail (Mckenna Grace, Annabelle Comes Home). They're the pals she needs when Spirit and his wild companions are snatched up by the nefarious rustlers, who plan to ship the horses off and sell them. Together, the pre-teen trio then sets off across the dangerous plains, determined to save the galloping animals and do the right thing. There's an obvious but still welcome and powerful message in Lucky's story, as she ignores her worried dad's (Gyllenhaal) warnings and her doting aunt's (Moore) fussing, choosing to follow her own heart and path instead. (Her father frets because her mother, voiced by González, worked as a horse-riding stunt performer and died during a show.) Similarly pleasing, even if the movie basically just remakes the TV show's first episode: that this all-ages wild west tale heroes women, although it pales in comparison to the recent Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29; May 6, May 13, May 20 and May 27; and June 3. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda, Supernova, The Dissident, The United States vs Billie Holiday, First Cow, Wrath of Man, Locked Down, The Perfect Candidate, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Ema, A Quiet Place Part II, Cruella, My Name Is Gulpilil, Lapsis and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
UPDATE, October 23, 2020: On the Rocks is available to stream via Apple TV+. Not once, not twice, but three times now, Sofia Coppola has given the Bill Murray-loving world exactly what it wants. One of the great comedic talents of the past half-century, the Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day star is also a greatly charismatic talent — and, understandably, viewers want to spend more time in his inimitable company. In Lost in Translation, Coppola found a way to take this idea literally, in a fashion. With Scarlett Johansson's unhappy twenty-something doubling as the audience's on-screen surrogate, everyone watching was able to vicariously pal around with Murray's character, a high-profile actor, while taking in quite the tour of Tokyo. In 2015 Netflix special A Very Murray Christmas, the filmmaker let Murray play himself, get jovial and ooze charm. And now in On the Rocks, he steps into the shoes of a debonair playboy art dealer who is determined to help his New York-dwelling adult daughter discover if her husband is being unfaithful. On the Rocks' premise really isn't far removed from Lost in Translation. The film's female protagonist is a decade older this time, her romantic troubles are complicated by both marriage and children, and another bustling city provides the backdrop, but the basic idea remains mostly the same. With Murray as the lively Felix and Rashida Jones as his overstressed offspring Laura, the movie takes them hopping around NYC as they endeavour to ascertain if the latter's workaholic other half, Dean (Marlon Wayans), is cosying up to his attractive young colleague (Jessica Henwick) while Laura is raising their two young daughters. In the process, Felix and Laura chat about anything and everything, covering topics both important and trivial. They eat and drink, and do so in luxe spaces while Felix naturally captivates everyone in his orbit and turns everything into an adventure. Over the course of their investigative escapade, Felix helps Laura work through her struggles, too — although here, their own complicated relationship is actually one of them. There's an immense sense of joy to Murray and Jones' pairing, and not just for Parks and Recreation fans pleased to see the sitcom's Ann Perkins and Mayor Gunderson share screentime (Jones also featured in A Very Murray Christmas as well). Felix and Laura's father-daughter bond has endured years of ups and downs, and nothing between them is perfect, but the actors' rapport makes every warm exchange and awkward moment feel authentic. That's one of the key aspects of On the Rocks, a film that serves up an instant-classic Murray performance on a platter, but never forgets that its story actually belongs to its female protagonist. Viewers spend time with Felix, and therefore Murray, because the movie's main character does — and enjoying the ebbs and flows of the duo's time together, whether cracking open caviar on a stakeout in a convertible or downing cocktails where Humphrey Bogart once proposed to Lauren Bacall, is all the more engaging because it's a back-and-forth tête-à-tête rather than a one-man show. Another way to describe the central dynamic here: lived-in. As proved the case with Lost in Translation, that's as much a credit to Coppola as not only a screenwriter, but as a perceptive creative willing to strip bare her own life experiences, fictionalise them, and create something both thoughtful and moving. The daughter of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now's Francis Ford Coppola, she clearly knows a thing or two about flitting around town with a father with the world at his feet, and it shows — and she's not afraid to admit that she's been cast in her own dad's shadow. When Laura watches on as Felix is pulled over by the police, sweet-talks his way out of a ticket and even enlists their help giving his vintage Alfa Romeo a push-start, in fact, it's easy to imagine the real-life Coppola family equivalent. Of course, this isn't the first time that the younger Coppola has drawn upon what she knows. Lost in Translation took ample cues from her experiences, including time spent feeling listless in Japan, plus the strain with her then-husband Spike Jonze. And, the Los Angeles-set Somewhere's focus on a Hollywood star and his pre-teen daughter found inspiration in her own childhood. Accordingly, On the Rocks follows their lead by tapping into rich personal depths. It may initially seem to tell a slight story, but that appearance is deceptive. The filmmaker is famously fond of relaying tales about comfortable lives and their corresponding problems — see also: Marie Antoinette and The Bling Ring — but she has always been savvy to the ways that women are forced to respond to the men and the world around them. The Virgin Suicides and The Beguiled make this point more forcefully; however, even with a wavering ending, it still lingers here as well. On the Rocks is a film with layers of resonance and insight, but it is also a caper — and a sparkling, banter-filled, often screwball one at that. In other words, it's a delight that blends intimate truths with entertaining moments, and finds poignancy and comedy in daily routines, idle chats with other mothers (including with fellow Parks and Rec alum Jenny Slate), low-key spy antics and sudden getaways to Mexico alike. Murray's general Bill Murray-ness and all-round presence is crucial, obviously. So is the affectionate, glimmering lensing by Philippe Le Sourd (The Beguiled) that makes New York seem like a playground, and the upbeat but still contemplative soundtrack by Phoenix. Indeed, combine all of the above, and this is a Sofia Coppola movie through and through. It's a big call, but if she was ever going to remake the great German father-daughter film Toni Erdmann, this just might be the end result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4p0vjj_C8s
It could've been stickier than a marmalade sandwich. After directing the first two Paddington movies so delightfully, and either writing or co-writing both 2014's Paddington and 2017's Paddington 2 as well, filmmaker Paul King opted to dance with another beloved pop-culture character instead of making a third date with a certain adored Peruvian-in-Britain bear. Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), as the chocolatier, was also a gem. With Dougal Wilson making his feature helming debut, Paddington in Peru has turned out charmingly as well. Wilson has been behind the lens for decades on music videos, short films and advertisements. If you've seen the clips for 'Fit But You Know It' by The Streets, 'Take Me Back to Your House' by Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal's 'Dream', Jarvis Cocker's 'Don't Let Him Waste Your Time', 'Psyche' by Massive Attack, Goldfrapp's 'Happiness' and 'Life in Technicolor II' from Coldplay — among other vids — then you've seen his work. He's received Grammy, MTV Europe Music Awards and UK Music Video Awards nominations for his efforts, but taking over a big bear hug of a cinema franchise that's adored by audiences of all ages (and, in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, by the one and only Nicolas Cage) is quite a task. Was it daunting? How did Wilson approach it, knowing how much viewers have warmed to all things Paddington on the silver screen over the last decade — and knowing, of course, the character's history on the page, where the Michael Bond-created critter first popped up in 1958, too? "You try not to make the pressure make you have a nervous breakdown, really," he tells Concrete Playground with a laugh. While he was new to the series, he was "surrounded by a very good team who all worked on the previous films", which assisted. "I had the same cinematographer, Erik Wilson [who also lensed Better Man], as the first two films. Same producer, Rosie Alison [Wonka], who is fantastic. Mark Burton [an Aardman Animations veteran, including Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl] was one of the writers who worked on the first two films. And James and Jon, two of the other writers, Jon Foster and James Lamont [the creators of animated series The Adventures of Paddington], they'd also contributed to some of the writers' rooms on the first two films. Then I had the director of animation Pablo Grillo [The Little Mermaid], who was a huge part the first two films." "So I had a really good team to help me, who could, if not reassure me — because it's not something you should be reassuring yourself, but it's hard to work on that, and you just have to chip away and keep working and craft it as best you can — but they had been there before, so they were a great team to work with," Wilson continues. For the franchise's third instalment, Wilson, his veteran Paddington colleagues, plus a cast still led by Ben Whishaw (Black Doves) turning in a lovely and lively vocal performance, all have new terrain to traverse. Although Paddington hails from Peru, he's one of London's most-famous animal residents, and so the first two movies largely set their narratives in the UK. With a roster of actors that's added Emily Mortimer (The New Look) as Mrs Brown, taking over from Sally Hawkins (The Lost King) in the first two pictures, and also enlisted Olivia Colman (Wicked Little Letters) as the singing Reverend Mother at the Home for Retired Bears and Antonio Banderas (Babygirl) as riverboat captain Hunter Cabot, the third film unfurls as an adventure in the South American jungle. Paddington and the Browns (including The Agency's Hugh Bonneville, Houdini and Doyle's Samuel Joslin and Man Down's Madeleine Harris) arrive to visit Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget), then find themselves searching for her — and El Dorado. The job for Wilson, then, wasn't just stepping into a heartwarming saga that King had established and then furthered so wonderfully — it was also upping the stakes, playing with a new location, taking inspiration from Buster Keaton and Werner Herzog, and more. We also chatted with the filmmaker about how he came to make his feature directorial debut with a Paddington flick, what excited him most about the job, balancing the slapstick and emotionally resonant elements of the movie (and others), the importance of Whishaw's voicework, the cast's new big names, how his music-video background assisted and more. On How Wilson Came to Make His Feature Directorial Debut with a Paddington Movie "Well, I was quite happy doing short things. They're great fun and they're very distracting. I had made various attempts to start on a longer-form thing, but I'd always haver about whether I got the story right or get paranoid that it wasn't. And then another short thing would come along and it would be more of a delay before the long thing ever got made. But I was working on another thing — a much-smaller long thing. Then this opportunity came up and I thought 'well, unlike other attempts I was making with features, I knew this would definitely happen' — because they really wanted to make a third film. And while it wasn't what I anticipated the first thing I would maybe try to do in long-form, I realised it was a great opportunity, and as did lots of my friends. They said 'oh, it's Paddington, you've got to do that'. Also I really admired what Paul had done on the first two films. Paul was off doing Wonka, so wasn't going to do the third one. And I really admired the style. I thought the way he told those stories, the way he coordinated the world and created the character Paddington himself, and the tone of the scriptwriting was so good. And that the humour was great. It had this lovely, quite unique modern-British comedic sense. And, despite being a family franchise, he'd really made it quite smart, and you could be any age to enjoy it. So I admired all these things and I thought 'well, I should probably take this opportunity'. But I was really scared because the first two films are really cherished and really good — and very well done. And I was under no illusion that this would be easy. We had to work on the script quite a lot with the writers as well, and develop that. And then it's a real technical challenge — and we were taking Paddington out of the environment in the first two films and taking him somewhere completely new, where he'd only been fleetingly in the first two films. So yeah, it was terrifying. But I felt I had to try." On What Excited Wilson the Most About Diving Into Paddington's World "I find the first two films really funny, but also quite emotionally powerful, and I was excited to try — I guess, as well as being terrified, I was excited to try to create something that if it was at least half as good as those two films, then I felt like I would have been really happy. So that was exciting knowing that we were aspiring to make something that could be good. Specifically, I was very excited by the mixed-media approach that Paul had started in the first two films. Using animation for some parts, I loved that in my short-form work. I was really excited about how intricately and brilliantly the action sequences were done in the first two films. I was keen to get my teeth into the slapstick sequences in this film. I was very excited by the approach to the design of the cinematography and the heightened style which we were going to try to continue. It's challenging because we were in London, and London is a big character in those first two films. And it does really, the locations and buildings in London really contribute to the style. But we are obviously in a natural environment in Peru. So it was a challenge, but I was also excited to try to continue the style of the first two films in an environment that was novel to them. We tried to that by setting it within an Incan labyrinth that sort of became our stand-in for how the National History Museum works in the first film, or Hunter's riverboat becomes the same as the train in the second film. It was just trying to find proscenium arches for certain scenes that continued he style of the first two films in a way that was as fun and as intricate as they did." On the Juggling Required to Make a Warmhearted, Globe-Crossing, Treasure-Hunting Mystery Adventure That's Also About Identity, Acceptance and Kindness "If you don't have both, then it will feel quite one-dimensional. So while Paddington will always mess things up or get himself in quite serious spots of bother, it's all because he means well and it's all because he's trying to do the right thing. So that does guide you in the script-development process. Also, we were completing the circle of the trilogy, which was basically the story of an immigrant who's looking for a home, who's trying to find their home — and then in the second film, someone who becomes part of a wider community but loses that place and has to fight to get it again, and in doing so finds out finds out a bit more about himself. And in the third film, it's about the experience of an immigrant who has to ask themselves where their home really is and what home means. So there was a deeper theme lying behind all the fun and the action, and we had to bear that in mind the whole time. And it obviously comes into focus towards the end of the film where Paddington finds out something about how he ended up in that river in Paddington 2 and where he might really be from. So there was always the undercurrent of that guiding us, and Paddington's outlook on life guides us. Even in the smallest details, like there's a scene where he tries to drive the boat and ends up — spoiler alert — ends up sinking the boat by accident, and that's all just because he wants to help. He wants to do the right thing. And so it often steers you, his outlook on life. It's not gags for the sake of gags. It's gags because he's trying to do the right thing at that moment." On the Scene in Paddington in Peru, Amid the Film's Many Visually Imaginative Sequences, That Wilson Is Most Pleased About "There's a few, but the one I thought was very ambitious but hopefully we carried it off was the finale chase at the end of act three — where Paddington's being pursued by the character Hunter, played by Antonio Banderas, around an Incan labyrinth by an Incan citadel, which is very inspired by Machu Picchu. During the research and location-scouting phase of the project, I went to South America for two months and I saw a lot of Incan architecture. And I went to Machu Picchu twice and explored those ruins, and I realised that would be a great place for a chase and for all sorts of interesting physical comedic moments to develop. In the same way as Paul drew on Chaplin in Paddington 2, I'm an enormous fan of Buster Keaton, and we worked in some Buster Keaton — there's a literal homage to the famous moment where the wall falls on Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr within this chase. Then there's references to Raiders of the Lost of the Ark. There's nods to Aguirre, Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo. But that particular chase around the Incan ruins, that was really fun to do because we had to work out a sequence of comedic moments within a chase that we could then apply to an Incan citadel, and it just felt like a very good expression and condensation of the idea of Paddington in Peru. It's like, let's take Peru and put Paddington inside and hopefully fun will ensue." On Not Really Needing to Guide Ben Whishaw's Vocal Performance — or Imelda Staunton's as Aunt Lucy "They're somewhat old hands at this now, because they've both done two films already. And they're also just brilliant actors. So I often don't really have to tell them really much to do. I just, we get the first few performances, we might develop it, get some options — because sometimes you also don't quite know in the recording session with them exactly what will feel right within the edit, until you get the recordings back to the edit suites and then play those performances off against the other cast or the particular cut you have. But no, they really inhabit those characters. Ben is the heart and soul of Paddington. And when you hear his voice — because we didn't have his voice right at the start, we started just with scratch dialogue. You do a read-through with stand-ins. And often in the edit, it's sometimes my voice doing Paddington's voice, just because we needed Paddington to say something in particular we don't happen to have as a recording. So in the later stages of the edit, we start doing the voice sessions with Ben and with Imelda, and then those voices go in. And also, you don't have Paddington's animation to begin with. You just might have some — again, sometimes it's my incredibly crude drawings, which my editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle [Young Woman and the Sea] had to up with. She had to do chase sequences where it's just this frozen awful drawing of Paddington. But then when you put Ben's voice on it, somehow it absolutely comes alive and the emotion sings through. And the same with Imelda. I think we got her voice quite late in the day and suddenly the scene just came alive when we put it on. I don't have to tell them to do very much. It's very, very easy with those actors because they are just so expert." On How Crucial Whishaw's Voice Is as Paddington, Especially Given That Colin Firth Was Initially Cast for the First Film "There's a magic to Ben's performance and it just shows you that it's very difficult to put your finger exactly on what it is that that really works when you see that animation combined with that voice. And I think it was very hard thing to predict. He wasn't originally the voice of Paddington, and it was switched during the editing of the first film, I believe — and then once you hear it, you think 'well, how could that ever have been a different choice?'. I think the fact that it maybe wasn't obvious when Paul and his team were making the first film, who Paddington's voice should be, is part of the magic of why Ben works. And it's quite hard to articulate why he works. He just has this — there's an element of wisdom to his voice, but there's also an element of childish innocence to his voice. It's a lovely, subtle, slightly contradictory combination. And there's a real intimacy to his performance. And also you really believe the character and you believe he cares. That's just something interwoven in the fabric of Ben's performance. What exactly, how exactly he does that, I don't know. That's the magic." On Adding Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas to the Cast "We needed an amusing British nun who just felt like she was in a Paddington film. And as soon as someone mentioned Olivia Colman, we couldn't really think of anyone else, so that just seemed to click together. Then we sent her the script and asked if she wanted to do it, and within the same day we got a response: 'love to, I'm already learning the guitar'. So that was it. It was pretty simple. Antonio was equally keen on the project. We needed a charming Spanish riverboat captain who was quite swashbuckling, and of course your mind immediately turns to Antonio Banderas. So they just seemed the right, obvious choices for two archetypal roles. And luckily, they were very, very into it." On the Sense of Responsibility That Comes with Making a Heartwarming, Joyous Film That Offers Viewers an Escape — But Also Have Some Darkness in It "It's a big responsibility. And it's lovely to see the reactions of people who've seen the film and have found joy in it and found their spirits lifted by it. That's a wonderful thing to do. Obviously they're joyful, but you have to have the dark moments as well in order for the joy to work. And also you can't slap the joy on in too saccharine a manner, otherwise they won't feel authentic. But yes, they have a very positive outlook on the world and that all just emanates from Paddington's character, which he has an optimistic view of the world. He always looks for the good in people, and he always believes that if we are kind and polite, the world will be right. So the joy from the films, I think it all emanates from Paddington's worldview and his ability to change people. He often doesn't change that much himself, but he can change other people for the better. He'll find the good in people and change them." On Why the Paddington Films Have Struck Such a Chord with Audiences "I think basically because Paul got it right. He managed to get the character right, managed to get the tone of the humour right and managed to get the execution right. It could have been done differently, but it was just very, very smartly done. And again, you mentioned Ben Whishaw — Ben Whishaw just inhabits Paddington. And then the animation, the director of animation on all the films has been a brilliant guy called Pablo Grillo, and the combination of the way Paddington is designed and moves and animates and emotes with Ben's voice is just something, there's something magical there, and it was to the credit of all the team on the first two films that they just managed to make that resonate. So, I can't take the credit for that myself. I think that's just something that I inherited and I did my best to continue." On How Wilson's Background in Music Videos Helped with Directing His First Feature "That format of filmmaking, short-form, especially short-form set to music, is — well, the way I've done it, is there's a lot of attention to detail because you only get a short amount of time to show stuff. I also try to put stories into these pieces of videos. And I love it when the pieces are as packed as possible and as intricate as possible. So I really enjoyed applying that to the sequences in Paddington. I also thought, for the first two films, they do feel very carefully crafted and every moment seems to count. So it didn't seem too different a style for this film. Although, story is king and the story comes from the script, so I very much had to respect the scenes where the actors have to deliver a story — but I love trying to entwine that with style and design, and how it was directed and how the shots slotted together. Then it really came into its own when I was doing an action sequence or a slapstick sequence, or even a musical sequence, obviously when the Reverend Mother sings a song. So it really helped, but it was also a good new experience to do long scenes with actors performing and delivering great performances. That was maybe something that I hadn't experienced as much when I did short-form of stuff, but I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed attacking that sort of scene as well." Paddington in Peru released in Australian and New Zealand cinemas on Wednesday, January 1, 2025.
Australia should've given rise to The Moogai before 2024, and prior to the SXSW Midnight Shorts Grand Jury Award-winning short of the same name four years earlier as well. An Aussie horror film born out of the Stolen Generations where the monsters of colonisation, White Australia policies and attitudes since remain inescapable, and where Indigenous children today are also snatched away by a literal monster, is a brilliant idea — one that instantly feels as if it needed to have been made decades back. But writer/director Jon Bell and his stars Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt appreciate how deeply that this is a movie for now. Indeed, The Moogai doesn't just explore the direct ramifications of the Stolen Generations; it proves as clear-eyed about the reality for First Nations Australians today. This is not the only recent Australian film to grapple with the nation's past. Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, The New Boy, The Furnace and High Ground have all stepped into the same terrain. The Mystery Road franchise, including the initial movie's big-screen sequel Goldstone and then three seasons of TV, feels the echoes that the country's history has now and, when the saga jumps backwards, not that long ago. Making his first feature after creating The Gods of Wheat Street, developing Cleverman, and also penning episodes of Redfern Now, Black Comedy, Mystery Road and more, Bell was sparked by the inhumanity of taking children away from their parents — not only when forced child removals were the abhorrent policy in Australia, but as the trauma from that practice remains a presence. The Moogai begins on the Red River Aborigines Mission in 1969, where two sisters (debutants Aisha Alma May and Precious Ann) attempt to avoid being separated from their family by white men, only for one to be spirited away instead by the picture's namesake. When it jumps to half a century later, the film spends its time with Indigenous couple Sarah (Sebbens, The Office) and Fergus (Wyatt, Strife). A lawyer and a carpenter, and parents to six-year-old Chloe (newcomer Jahdeana Mary) with a new baby on the way, they each possess different ties to their heritage. Sarah was taken from her birth mother Ruth (Tessa Rose, Firebite) not long after her first breath, then adopted by white parents (While the Men Are Away's Tara Morice and Plum's Nicholas Cassim). Newly reconnected with the woman that gave her life, she's cautious, while Fergus heartily welcomes his mother-in-law. When the Moogai enters Sarah and Fergus' lives, Sarah's fears of the malevolent force impact her every moment. Her agitated state is dismissed by doctors, however, who think that she's simply struggling after a difficult birth. Painting anything but the portrait of a perfect family also immediately earns attention from anyone watching on, medical professionals, Chloe's teachers and the police included. Alongside Australia's history that constantly demands confronting, Bell was inspired by his and his wife's anxieties when his grandchildren were born, knowing how quickly that judgements can be made in a hospital situation. Australia's past haunts its present on- and off-screen, then, in this powerful picture — a movie that was labelled "Australia's Get Out" when it made its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, ahead of charting the Aussie fest circuit, then hitting local cinemas in general release on Halloween. "It is a good comparison, because Jordan Peele, through his sketch-comedy career, too, the amount of story you have generate to be able to do that sort of stuff — no wonder Get Out was such a success and so on-point," Bell tells Concrete Playground. "And so in those terms, that's a good touchstone for us, because we're certainly trying to bridge those same audiences: people who are going to come see something, and see that it's got something to say, but it's also going to give you the genre stuff that you need. There's scares in this, but it's not grotesque and gruesome. There are also some laughs in there, which Get Out has as well. And I think there's a message in there, too, and there's a lot of heart." "I think as an artist, I don't particularly love comparisons in that way, but I absolutely understand why they're useful for audiences and for people to grasp onto something and have a quick point of reference," notes Sebbens, who also starred in the short alongside Wyatt. "But I will say it's a valid comparison and that it's Jon very much writing from a place of culture, very much writing from a place of Blackness — and employing elements of comedy. I wouldn't call this a comedy-horror by any means, but it is a psychological horror with just moments of comedy peppered throughout, and I totally understand why it reminds people of something like Jordan Peele's Get Out. Also, I'm like, man, if you're going to be compared to any director, that's the one," she tells us. Wyatt advises that he's excited about "what indigenous people will think about the film here in Australia, particularly, because I think it's a film for them in a lot of ways." He continues: "Aboriginal people love horror films, and there's a lot of humour in there as well. And I think there's something that you can claim and take ownership of, being that Jon is the writer and the director, Mitchell Stanley's the producer, Shari and I are acting, and Tessa Rose. It's got a cast of Indigenous filmmakers, this is one of our stories that we can tell and it has been authored by First Nations people." We also chatted with Bell, Sebbens and Wyatt about the fact that the film's premise feels like it should've been explored before, their journey with The Moogai from short to feature and ensuring that it comments on today's reality as much as the past — and more. On How Writing the Short as Proof of Concept for the Feature Helped Shape The Moogai Jon: "It's a good process to go through. I'd encourage anybody to do that, because trying to tell your story in different lengths really highlights structure in a lot of ways. It also gives the feature, if there's any flab, that will get cut off. Because with the short, you're so focused on everything having to earn its place because you've got very little time. And then with the feature, I think this is certainly under 90 minutes — I think it might be 86 or 87. And in trying to get that narrative drive, the script at a certain point, I think it might have got up to 114 pages, and then I cut it down before we started shooting. Then we just cut, cut, cut to try and get narrative pace, because these days people don't give too much time to anything. It's not even change the channel, they can just click off so easily. So you've got to get an audience and you've got to keep them. And writing the two lengths brought some of those issues into sharp focus." On Sebbens and Wyatt Both Starring in the Short as Well as the Feature — and How the Former Helped Them Prepare for the Latter Shari: "Definitely as an actor, you secretly hope, but it's also so completely out of your control. And I know that that's something that Meyne and I'm just so thankful for, is a chance to come back and play in the feature. Because it's really rare, actually, that actors get to be involved in the proof of concept in the short and then make it to the big screen. So it's definitely a hope that we were holding out on. But you can't ever say it out loud. I don't know, you probably can say it out loud — there probably are actors that go 'I want to be in this'. But I guess there's also an element of still being blackfullas, we're a bit ashamed to do that stuff. But it was definitely something we both really wanted. And when it came about, we were just over the moon. It's a dream come true to get to follow the story from that concept size all the way to its full fruition. Meyne: "For me, if it was offered to me, I was always going to go from the short to the feature. But I don't know how Jon feels about it or the production house. What was in the short was a good encapsulation of the feel of what the feature is and where the film gets to go. And I think I certainly jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the feature because I feel like Fergus, in particular, had been fleshed out in a very nuanced and interesting, juicy role that had come to life in the feature. So I was always excited to be involved. And I think that the short is probably a different film to the feature in some ways. One gives you the feeling and then the next, I think they're telling a different story. And I think that's a good thing. You're able to explore something in the feature that in short-form storytelling you won't be able to, and that was always an exciting thing to jump into." Shari: "I think the biggest thing was I've never done genre before. I've never done horror before as a as a genre specifically. So it was a great exercise in knowing the mental and emotional stamina it takes to maintain a taught psychological wire for an extended period of time, but still look after yourself, and still be able to exit and enter a process every day as an artist. It also just meant that we had a really great understanding of how to work with Jon, what he wanted to say and what he wanted to do. We had a shorthand with him, which was really useful for us on set." On How the Concept for the Film Came About for Bell Jon: "Part of the initial inception, the first time I had some of those ideas was when my oldest grandson, he's a teenager now, but when he was born, me and my missus throughout all of our grandkids, when they were born we were nervous about hospitals making a judgement — as we've worked with DoCs trying to reunite families. We had seen how easily from the government's point of view reports and judgments could be made. And then we also had our own experiences, our own family experiences with close calls, and I had an uncle who was part of Stolen Generations and stuff. So we had some personal experience. But when the grandkids came along, that was another thing that brought it into sharp contrast again, because one would think that we were past this in our history, but the fear that was inside us and the way, not anxiety, but the way we were just on our toes — we were on our toes the night before, for perceptions and judgments. We were just very aware of that stuff, and we didn't want any of our grandkids to be in the system. As soon as you're in the system, then another government department pulls something up and then bam, all the stuff comes up. So we were super watchful. In a lot of ways, that was probably the initial idea. That fear just followed us. It didn't matter how many generations deep we were, this fear just followed us." On The Moogai's Premise Instantly Standing Out Shari: "I say this a lot, but I came across Jon's writing in 2012 when we did The Gods of Wheat Street together, and I was like 'oh my god, who is this person writing such rich, incredible tapestry of black lives and family on screen, and on top of that, black women?'. I was convinced that a woman had written The Gods of Wheat Street, actually. And so when I found out it was a man, I was like 'what? This brotherboy's got such a beautiful respect and understanding of women'. And so when I came across that Jon was doing a horror, and he had such great ambition and vision for it — I've trusted this man and admired this man's work for years, of course I want to be a part of that. He's someone that pushes his boundaries and his own abilities, and what he thinks he's capable of himself, so I knew that this was going to be an ambitious project and actually be — I think I'm safe in saying this — the first Aboriginal-produced directed horror film, and will stand as the first in what I hope is a long line, a huge canon of horror works to come from First Nations artists. But just the fact that it was Jon who had written it is what absolutely drew me to it in the first place. And we're very close with Mitchell Stanley, one of the co-producers as well. So it felt immediately that there was a group of Black people that wanted to reach and try something new that traditionally we've been kept out of. Because yeah, people love gritty Indigenous drama in this country, like contemporary gritty indigenous drama, and that has a place, absolutely, to speak to who we are here and now as a nation. But there's no reason why we shouldn't get to play with form and genre and style as well, like every other artist." Meyne: "One, it's a genre film, so that was always exciting. And I think that's a rare opportunity to in Australia, I think, to be involved — and particularly a First Nations genre film, a horror, psychological thriller. That was always exciting. I think what Jon's able to do is Trojan horse this social commentary. You think it's one thing and then there's something else going on entirely. I think going away with the audience, coming up with their interpretation of what's going on, and showing people rather than knocking them on their head — it's allowing you to go away and have those conversations with the people that you go 'what about that bit?'. I feel like those are always the films that I enjoy and I'm entertained by, so I always wanted to be a part of a film that allowed for that opportunity. And in the same token when you talk about Get Out, those social thrillers, horrors, it's in the social consciousness at the moment, and they are all touching on something that's saying two things at once. And I think in an Australian context, I feel like this is the right time to do it. Like you were saying before that it should have been a film that had been made — but I don't think it would have been made until Jon, a First Nations writer/director, could make that film. That was always an exciting thing to have the privilege to be involved in." On Whether There's a Sense of Responsibility in Making a First Nations Film That Treads New Ground Shari: "Oh big time. Yeah, it's something that, to be honest, it's something that you're all-too-keenly aware of every time you're taking on a role as an Aboriginal actor, because you're so aware that no matter what you do, you are seen to be representing your entire people. And it's an impossible weight and an impossible job. You can't represent every blackfulla. So I think in terms of Jon and Meyne and Mitchell, all the Aboriginal creatives around it, it's a responsibility and a weight that we were all familiar with. It wasn't a new experience to us to feel that. But I think you turn that fear into excitement, and you turn that into a challenge, and you turn that into 'well, how can we keep pushing boundaries and showing people that not one person can be responsible for an entire race of people and a representation of entire people, but that a group of us working together will bring complexity and nuance that is so often afforded to non-Indigenous stories and artists?'." On the Importance of the Movie's Connection Between Past and Present Jon: "That was one of the things that was very important to me. After Kevin Rudd made his apologies, it feels like that people are just being like 'okay, well he said sorry, can we just move on now?'. No. People are still living with this pain. And those kinds of White Australia policies, they are, probably under the United Nations definition, they are in fact genocide. Those are genocidal practices. Just trying to wrap your head around that, that's of vital importance. But at the same time, I think that this film is very much a horror film, and the horror or fear that plagues your family can absolutely be a universal thing. We've all got stuff in our past —that saying 'you don't grow out of your childhood, you escape it' — we've all got stuff that we're probably hanging on to, all of the things that have affected us. So in that sense, it's very much a universal story. You could say that the Moogai for someone else means a different thing. But in terms of where I was coming from, it was absolutely there." Shari: "I think there's no way to tell it without that, without being truthful to what the reality is for us mob, for our families, for our communities. I think there would have been absolutely — I'm just spitballing and projecting onto Jon — but I imagine for a writer/director, there are moments where it's like 'well, yeah, how much do I delve into Fergus' moment with the police?'. I think for Jon, I imagine it's what I feel, which is if your projects don't have an element of reality in them — I guess that's the scariest thing about the horror, is that the reality and the history and the current situation for so many Black people is far scarier than what you can put on-screen ever. But I think he would probably feel a bit inauthentic if that scene with Fergus and the police wasn't in there, just because that's Jon's experience as a Black man. It's Meyne's experience as a Black man. It's so many people's experience as Black people in this country. It's not saying that you have to always put these things in there as a political statement, but actually the personal is political in that way. So what they're really doing — what we're all doing — is just trying to recount things in an authentic, genuine way to get people to understand what the hell is still happening here." On Sebbens Playing Someone Who Is Devoted to Her Family, But Also Cautious About Her Heritage — And Navigating Coping with a New Baby While Also Certain that the Moogai Is Taunting Her Shari: "It's mad when you say it all out straight like that. It's like 'oh yes, that is a lot of things, isn't it, to happen to someone'. Jon and I would talk a lot, Meyne and I would talk a lot, about backstory and history — and certainly for Sarah, that's on the screen. The history of her Aboriginality that she has been denied through government policy, and that she has also denied herself because of adopted ways of thinking and shame and, I guess, internalised racism. But also Sarah is someone that wants to deeply belong, which I think is why she seeks out an Aboriginal partner in Fergus. And so in that sense, we could load ourselves up — and I did load myself up with all this history and backstory — but at the end of the day, also you just have to let it go and play what's on the page, and be present with those words and those scenes. All that work hopefully informs the weight that you bring into scenes, and it informs choices you make. But for me particularly, I was just like 'if I keep getting bogged down on this, I'm going to try and play all of those things at once'. And actually, if I just play what's on the page, it felt like the clearest way through for me." On Wyatt Stepping Into the Role of the Worried Husband and Father Who Wants to Believe Sarah, But Is Also Concerned with How She's Coping Meyne: "I think Fergus is, at one point, he should be the perspective of the audience. And you should be concerned and worried about what's going on with Sarah. There's a fine balance with him that he has to believe her, but then there has to be that skepticism. And I think he makes some decisions that are questionable and maybe problematic, but I think that's nuanced character. With Jon, there were conversations about trying to find that balance with Fergus and making sure that he's being supportive, but also touching on the trope of being the husband that isn't quite believing the wife — and as a horror film, making sure you're ticking off those boxes and those touchstones, but making sure that he isn't a complete arsehole and that it's coming from a real place, and this is a real person and it's nuanced. And someone who possibly doesn't know how to deal with, one, a malevolent spirit, but two, mental health — and not having the tools to be able to deal with somebody. I think that can always be trying for anybody, having that for the first time, especially a loved one, because it's a delicate line you're toeing." The Moogai released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 31, 2024. Images: Elise Lockwood / Sean Ryan.
By now, you've probably had an absolute gutful of your house, backyard, neighbourhood and city. You've probably spent much of the past 13 months daydreaming about getaways, too. Well, wannabe jetsetters with a vacation-shaped hole in your life, it turns out this is your lucky week, because a mammoth travel sale is hitting the internet tonight. The bargain-filled Click Frenzy Travel sale returns for a 53-hour online shopping riot, kicking off at 7pm (9pm NZT) on Tuesday, April 20. And it's chock full of airfare, accommodation, tour and holiday package deals, for all kinds of budgets. Obviously, international travel isn't back to normal yet — the trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand only just opened this past weekend — but there are plenty of bargains to be found if you're keen to either stay local or plan well ahead. Virgin Australia is offering up to 25 percent off a range of domestic journeys, with prices starting from just $75. You can nab ten percent off flights with Air New Zealand, too. And, if you're thinking further afield in the hope that borders will reopen sooner rather than later, Qatar is doing up to ten percent off flights to places such as the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Spain. Obviously, you'll need to take into the consideration the fact Aussies can't currently leave the country for holidays anywhere other than NZ at the moment while you're booking. Staying close to home, Wotif is offering up to 25 percent off Aussie hotels, Park Regis and Leisure Inn hotels are doing up to 40 percent off, and Ascott Australia is taking up to 30 percent off their hotels and apartments in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart and Perth. Oaks Hotels, Resorts and Suites is offering the same 30 percent discount, but at select locations in Australia and NZ if you stay for two nights or more. Fancy seeing the country by road? Greyhound Australia is taking 20 percent off all tickets and passes if a leisurely bus trip — complete with free wifi — sounds like your idea of a great holiday. If you're in need of a few travel essentials for your next getaway, Click Frenzy also does 99 percent off deals on some items, such as GoPros for $5, Beats headphones for $2, Weber barbecues for $3 and beach umbrellas for $2. Dust off that suitcase and start plotting your annual leave — it's holiday time, finally. The Click Frenzy Travel sale runs from 7pm (9pm NZT) on Tuesday, April 20, until midnight on Thursday, April 22. You can find it and all the tasty travel bargains on the Click Frenzy website.
We've all heard the term 'airport novel', which refers to fast-paced, easy-to-devour fiction that's perfect to read when you're on a long flight and you've watched everything on the onboard entertainment system — or, to flick through while you're waiting to hop on the plane. If you're the kind of traveller who always starts your trip with a visit to the airport newsagency to pick up new reading material to help while away the hours, then you probably have a stash of paperbacks that fit the bill. And, because its name and premise are oh-so-perfect for the genre, you might even have The Flight Attendant on that pile. Chris Bohjalian's novel was first published in 2018. Two years later, at a time when we'd all love to be flying far more than we've been able to of late, it makes the leap to the screen as an eight-part miniseries. On the page and on streaming platform Binge, The Flight Attendant unfurls a pulpy, twisty tale that starts high in the sky, bounces around the globe and delivers a hectic murder-mystery — all with the eponymous Cassie Bowden (The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco) at its centre. Cassie likes sipping mini bottles of booze as much as she likes pouring them for the travellers on her flights — and she also loves her jet-setting lifestyle. When she's at home in New York between trips, she parties away her time in bars and via her vodka-packed fridge. When she's stopping over in overseas cities between legs, she's known to do the same. In Bangkok, though, she does something that she's not supposed to. After flirting with first-class passenger Alex Sokolov (Game of Thrones' Michiel Huisman) throughout the flight, she makes an excuse to ditch drinks with her coworkers and takes up his dinner offer. The next morning, she feels the repercussions. Also, she finds herself confronted by a dead body, trying to outsmart the authorities both in Thailand and back in the US, and endeavouring to work out just what's going on. The Flight Attendant's many ups and downs are best discovered by watching, of course, with the series aligning viewers with Cassie as she embarks upon a very turbulent ride. Her life in general fits that bill — it's chaotic and, in depicting that reality as Cassie slowly begins to explore why she's so drawn to her job and to boozy benders, the show itself is as well. Think sudden revelations and reversals, multiple points of interest playing out across a split-screen setup, and cliffhangers to end every episode (and keep viewers keen to watch more). Also noticeable, and crucial: the fact that Cassie is unreliable in general, and was blackout drunk on the night in question so she can't remember what happened. This is a tightly and glossily made whodunnit; however, it's also a thorny thriller that tasks its key figure with scrambling around not only trying to investigate the case, but also to work out her role within it. In topic, themes and tone, Cuoco leaves The Big Bang Theory far behind. She's still engagingly erratic as Cassie, though — but in a different and deeper way. As the character's personality, background and present situation calls for, she finds the fine line between messy and likeable, and poignant and even slapstick on occasion. Cassie makes so many terrible decisions that they become her defining trait but, thanks to Cuoco in career-best form, she never feels like she's just being driven by the plot's many machinations. The always-charming Huisman gets more screen time than viewers might initially expect, too, and the series is better for it. Plus, post-Girls, Zosia Mamet is also a welcome inclusion as Cassie's steely, no-nonsense best friend and lawyer Annie, who eventually calls out her pal on her baggage. Airport novels frequently require readers to simply go with the flow. As a slick, swift-moving TV series that knows exactly the kind of story it's telling and goes for broke, The Flight Attendant is no different. The fact that it's filled with intrigue, often of the implausible and even ridiculous yet still instantly addictive type, will surprise no one — it's what such tales are supposed to serve up, after all. But there's darkness, weirdness, pathos and plenty of twisty comedy on offer here as well. It's easy to get immersed in, and to be entertained by. And, it'll help vicariously indulge your wanderlust and plunge you into a bingeworthy mystery at the same time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rWnlXbnQLk&feature=youtu.be The Flight Attendant is available to stream via Binge — with the first seven episodes online now, and the series finale available from the evening of Thursday, December 17. Images: Phil Caruso, HBO.
There are many, many great things about Nicolas Cage. But if you could only pick one, the sheer erratic nature of his almost four-decade-long filmography has to top the list. He has an Oscar to his name, for 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, but he can also be seen getting goofy in madcap comedies, crooning tunes in David Lynch movies and swapping faces with John Travolta — and playing a deluded literary agent who thinks he's a vampire, yearning over Cher, trying to keep a plane full of criminals in check and grappling with escaped wild animals on a boat. For his latest role, Cage is battling space ninjas. That isn't the type of sentence that you get to write or read every day but, to be honest, it's also a surprise that it hasn't come up multiple times in the actor's career. The reason for the martial arts face-off with aliens: new action flick Jiu Jitsu, which has just dropped its suitably over-the-top first trailer. If you're a Cage fan, you're probably already sold. Watching Cage at his most Cage-esque really shouldn't need much convincing. But if you need more details, the actor also wears a headband, sports flowing locks, dispenses words of wisdom, talks about alien politics, proclaims that he's crazy and claims that he can fly. Of course he does. Story-wise, Jiu Jitsu follows an ancient order of experts in the eponymous martial arts style, who are forced to fight alien invaders for control of earth every six years. Humanity has always won, but when that changes, Wylie (Nicolas Cage) has to help fallen hero Jake Barnes (Alain Moussi) prepare for one last showdown with these violent visitors from a distant gallery. As well as Cage and Kickboxer: Retaliation's Moussi, the film stars The 100's Marie Avgeropoulos, Avengers: Endgame's Frank Grillo, Alita: Battle Angel's Rick Yune, Wu Assassins' JuJu Chan, and Ong Bak and xXx: Return of Xander Cage's Tony Jaa. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywhTeWg8970 Jiu Jitsu releases in the US via video-on-demand on November 20 — we'll update you with release details Down Under when they come to hand.
If bliss to you means peering at infinite reflections in lit-up mirror rooms, wading through brightly coloured ball pits and having pillow fights — plus hanging out in digital forests, watching tales told via shadows and hopping over musical tiles, too — then prepare to beam with joy when Dopamine Land arrives Down Under. The latest multi-sensory experience that's hitting Australia, it's being pitched as an interactive museum. Inside, you'll find themed spaces that you can mosey through, engage with their contents and, ideally, bask in nothing but pure happiness. With a name like Dopamine Land, it's immediately clear that contentment, glee, merriment and exuberance is the aim of the game here. So is evoking those feel-good sensations through nostalgia, because this is another kidulting activity — it's all-ages-friendly as well — and it's making its Aussie debut in Brisbane from Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Brisbanites, and anyone keen for a Sunshine State trip to revel in more than the sun's glow, can look forward to wandering around Dopamine Land at Uptown in the River City's Queen Street Mall. Locals know that the site was previously the Myer Centre — and, decades back, was home to a dragon-themed rollercoaster. So, it's a fitting venue to get everyone channeling their inner child, unleashing their imagination and, yes, hitting each other with cushions. Heading this way direct from London, the experience combines optical illusions, engaging soundscapes and more across its ten themed rooms. The ball pit is self-explanatory, but also takes its cues from Miami in the 80s, complete with a pina colada scent, an electro soundtrack and LED lights that pulse to mirror waves. The pillow-fight space also doesn't need much explaining; however, the decor is inspired by marshmallows and boxes of lollies, Mexican wrestling is also an influence and you can win the pillow-fighting championship. Fancy seeing stories play out via shadows? There's a room for that featuring a big top-style roof. If you try your hand at the musical tiles — well, your feet, to be more accurate — you'll create a melody as you jump around, with the lights changing as you go as well. And if getting as serene as possible is your aim, head to the Keep Calm Forest, which artificially recreates a woodland via LED trees, mirrors and sounds to match. There's even a room dedicated to the autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, which goes big on projections and animations by Australian digital artist Cassie Troughton.
Casa Esquina is simply one of the best al fresco dining experiences that Balmain and the surrounding peninsula suburbs currently have on offer. The restaurant sprawls across multiple levels in the former Efendy site which has been completely reimagined with the beautiful front courtyard and its two camphor laurel trees as the showpiece of the street front. If you have the means to 'lunch', this is a pretty bloody good setting for it. Casa Esquina arrived in Balmain courtesy of the team behind two of Sydney's best Mexican restaurants — Tequila Mockingbird and Esteban — but this time the team turned their attention further south to Argentina as the inspiration for the food, wine and approach to hospitality. [caption id="attachment_942994" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The hanger steak with chimichurri[/caption] The menu from Head Chef Will Quartel is intended for sharing (although it definitely doesn't have to be) and the kitchen's huge open-flame Parrilla grill is the star of the show. As you'd expect from any Argentinian-inspired menu, beef is one of the lineup's heroes. The Tajima wagyu hanger steak is juicy, perfectly charred and is delicious with or without the accompanying chimichurri. You could go for the 1kg Angus 5+ribeye or an entire suckling pig (which you need to have ordered ahead of time) if you're dining with a group and really want to get the kitchen flexing with that Parrilla. But non-carnivores are catered for, with blackened mahi mahi or a whole grilled fish also coming off the grill in the main section of the menu and plenty of options in the sizeable 'entrada' section. Speaking of the starters, begin with Quartel's take on the classic vitello tonnato done with wagyu beef tongue pastrami instead of the traditional veal. Then get a selection of the empanadas (the kangaroo and maraschino cherry is far more approachable than it might read), the delicate raw kingfish served with a red piquillo pepper dressing, and the insanely good pork chicharrón. The drinks program comprises a generous selection of great cocktails (highly recommended are the 'I've Gochu Now!' and the 'In a Pickle'), as well as a strong wine list heavily featuring South American producers alongside ample Australian and New Zealand entries. [caption id="attachment_942993" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The 'In a Pickle' cocktail at Casa Esquina[/caption] The food and drinks are being done at a high level but what's going to bring you back to Casa Esquina is vibe. A genuinely delightful service team and the indoor-meets-outdoor architecture creates an atmosphere that is infectiously lively and fun. A cracking spot for a long group lunch or a buzzy weeknight date. Image credit: Steven Woodburn
After spending two seasons giving viewers a glimpse at life when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Prehistoric Planet is getting icy with its just-announced third run. When the acclaimed natural-history series returns in November 2025, it's saying goodbye to Tyrannosaurus rex and its fellow dinos, and hello to woolly mammoths and snow sloths instead — and hi to sabre-toothed tigers and three-feet-tall dwarf elephants as well. Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age is also giving its megafauna-filled trip to the past a new voice. Just a few years ago, no one knew that they needed to hear David Attenborough talk about dinosaurs while watching spectacular photo-realistic recreations of the planet's ancient creatures — and then this series arrived. Attenborough returned for the second season, too. Next up, however, Tom Hiddleston (Loki) is loaning his vocal tones to narrating Prehistoric Planet's third go-around. This docuseries, which proved one of 2022's best new shows when it premiered, has always worked a particular type of magic: letting viewers peer backwards in time to the planet's past thanks to its impressive photorealistic special effects. Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age is deploying its approach to a frozen world, to spend time with the animals of its titular period, including across a variety of terrain, and through the big freeze and the big melt. While there's no Attenborough, Hans Zimmer is still providing the original score, aided by Anže Rozman and Kara Talve from Bleeding Fingers Music. And filmmaker Jon Favreau — who has used the same type of visuals on The Jungle Book and The Lion King — remains an executive producer, as does BBC Studios Natural History Unit's Mike Gunton. While audiences only had to wait a year between the first and second seasons of Prehistoric Planet, more than two-year gap will have passed between season two and Ice Age when the latter starts streaming its five-episode stint via Apple TV+ from Tuesday, November 26, 2025. In 2024, Prehistoric Planet Immersive also added to the franchise with two short episodes of five minutes and under, but only via Apple Vision Pro. There's no trailer yet for Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, but check out the sneak peeks for season one and season two below: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age will hit Apple TV+ from Tuesday, November 26, 2025. Read our full reviews of Prehistoric Planet season one and Prehistoric Planet season two, as well as our interview with executive producer Mike Gunton and series producer Tim Walker.
It's happening again: Dune, the sci-fi epic with a tumultuous on-screen history, is stuck in another cinematic sandstorm. There's always a feeling of déjà vu around Dune chaos, after David Lynch's 80s version became one of the most unfairly maligned sci-fi films ever crafted, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's take sadly didn't make it to screens (see: excellent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune). For filmmaker Denis Villeneuve's (Blade Runner 2049) two-part vision of Frank Herbert's 1965 book, off-screen events keep stopping it from reaching picture palaces when planned — initially COVID-19, and the latest setback coming during the writers' and actors' strikes. Pop culture's spiciest sci-fi saga went through this before a few years back, with Dune: Part One delayed considerably in the pandemic's early days, jumping from Boxing Day 2020 to early December 2021. Now, as expected since SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on strike in mid-July, Dune: Part Two is pushing back its release date from November 2023 to March 2024. The film's Twitter account (now X) now states "only in theatres March 15", which is the US date. Because films open on a Thursday Down Under, Dune: Part Two should now release in Australia and New Zealand on March 14. Variety reports that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will also move release dates from mid-March to mid-April 2024 — and shifts back are also still being considered for Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and The Colour Purple. Already, Force of Nature: The Dry 2 has been delayed, with no new date announced as yet; and so have Kraven the Hunter, the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, tennis flick Challengers, the Ethan Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) solo-directed Drive-Away Dolls and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, all either to 2024 or with no date confirmed so far. Villeneuve's first Dune scored ten Oscar nominations and six wins, but only told part of the novel's story. Cue Dune: Part Two to keep the tale going when it now hits the silver screen next year. As seen in not one but two trailers so far, war has arrived on the franchise's spice-laden planet, and Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet, Bones and All) and the Fremen are ready to fight. The former doesn't just want to face off against the folks who destroyed his family, but for the sandy celestial body, with Zendaya's (Euphoria) Chani at his side. The first film had Paul head to Arrakis because his dad Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight) had just been given stewardship of the planet and its abundance of 'the spice' — aka the most valuable substance in the universe — and then get caught up in a bitter battle with malicious forces over the substance. It also saw Paul meet the population of people known as the Fremen, including Chani, plus Javier Bardem's (Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) Stilgar, which is who he and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson, Silo) are with in Dune: Part Two. Expansive desert landscape, golden and orange hues (again, Villeneuve helmed Blade Runner 2049), sandworms, the director's reliable eye for a spectacle and Hans Zimmer's (The Son) latest likely Oscar-winning score: they've all shown up in the new film's two glimpses so far. So have some of the franchise's new players, with Austin Butler ditching his Elvis locks as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, the nephew of Stellan Skarsgard's (Andor) Baron Harkonnen. Christopher Walken (Severance) and Florence Pugh (The Wonder) also join the saga as Emperor Shaddam IV and his daughter Princess Irulen. From the first film, Josh Brolin (Outer Range), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Beau Is Afraid) and Charlotte Rampling (Benedetta) return, while Léa Seydoux (Crimes of the Future) is another fresh addition to the cast. Off-screen, Villeneuve has brought back not just Zimmer, but Oscar-winning Australian director of photography Greig Fraser (The Batman), Oscar-winning production designer Patrice Vermett (Vice), Oscar-winning editor Joe Walker (The Unforgivable), Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert (First Man) and Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (Song to Song). Hollywood's actors are on strike to fight against diminishing residual payments for performers, and to establish firm rules about the future use of artificial intelligence in the industry, among other improvements to working conditions. When they took action in mid-July, SAG-AFTRA's members joined their counterparts in the Writers Guild of America, who've been striking since May. Check out the latest Dune: Part Two trailer below: Dune: Part Two will now release in cinemas Down Under on March 14, 2024. Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter.
If you're a fan of Mariah Carey, then this is a vision of love and also a sweet, sweet fantasy come true, baby: 11 years after she last toured Australia, the iconic singer is returning in 2025 to headline Fridayz Live. First, the festival announced its big comeback this year, plus its dates and venues. Now comes the lineup, led by the music megastar. If all you wanted for an early Christmas is this, it's quite the gift. Mariah is celebrating 20 years since her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi released — and based on recent set lists, get ready to hear everything from 'Emotions', 'Dreamlover' and 'Hero' to 'Without You', 'Always Be My Baby', 'Honey' and 'Heartbreaker'. She'll have company on the Fridayz Live bill, because this event's blend of R&B, hip hop and nostalgia always brings a heap of big names our way. For 2025, Pitbull, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Jon, Eve, Tinie Tempah and Jordin Sparks are also on the lineup. 'Give Me Everything', 'Timber', 'Fireball', 'Black and Yellow', 'See You Again', 'Young, Wild and Free', 'Get Low', 'Turn Down for What', 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind', 'Who's That Girl', 'Girls Like', 'Miami 2 Ibiza', 'No Air', 'One Step at a Time': expect to hear them all too, then. Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are on the fest's itinerary in 2025. This year's Fridayz Live run will kick off on Friday, October 17 at Brisbane Showgrounds, then head to Sydney's ENGIE Stadium on Saturday, October 18. The following weekend, Perth's Langley Park will welcome the fest on Friday, October 24. The final stop: Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Saturday, October 25. The last time that Fridayz Live was on the concert calendar Down Under, it also went to Adelaide; however, a visit to the South Australian capital hasn't been announced for 2025. [caption id="attachment_1005605" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Kelly[/caption] Fridayz Live 2025 Lineup Mariah Carey Pitbull Wiz Khalifa Lil Jon Eve Tinie Tempah Jordin Sparks Fridayz Live 2025 Dates Friday, October 17 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane Saturday, October 18 — ENGIE Stadium, Sydney Friday, October 24 — Langley Park, Perth Saturday, October 25 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Fridayz Live is touring Australia in October 2025, with ticket presales from Monday, May 26 and general sales from Monday, June 2. Head to the festival's website for more information. Mariah Carey images: Raph_PH via Flickr.
White apartment walls are so blah. Make them so yesterday with one (or all five) of these simple do-it-yourself art projects. Relatively easy, cheap, and removable, these projects are ideal for the broke, rent-paying tenants out there, and could fool anyone into thinking you're an interior designer. 1. Paint Sample Wall Designs Ever left the hardware store with a stash of these in your pockets? The paint sample wall is hard to resist, with its enticing, color-organized array of shades. If you don't want to commit to four whole walls of 'Pacific Pine' or 'Blackberry Harvest', simply trim each sample to a desired size and arrange in a design of your choice. 2. Wallpaper Transfer Bust out the old trusty Sharpie and mimic the artistically sketched wallpaper designs by the likes of Marimekko. Craft blog Curbly shows you how. 3. Coffee Stirrer Wall Art Surely Starbucks won't mind if you 'borrow' a few extra coffee stirrers. Follow Make & Do Girl's tutorial to create these fabulously tactile, wooden pieces of art. Simply paint, arrange, and glue. What could be easier (or cheaper)? 4. CD-Case Frames The advent of the iPod certainly rendered CDs obsolete. But before you designate all of those clear jewel cases to the rubbish, reconsider. With just a little effort from you, they may be transformed into the perfect picture frames for that poster you've been meaning to hang. 5. Custom Colour Wall Calendar Inject a little fun into your daily scheduling by creating your own custom colour wall calendar. Chalkboard-finish paints are available in traditional shades in stores, but if you use this Martha Stewart formula, you can concoct your own hue. [via GOOD]
Swapping Saturday Night Live for an entertainment-parodying sitcom worked swimmingly for Tina Fey. Since 2019, it's also been going hilariously for Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Not just former SNL writers but the veteran sketch comedy's ex-head writers, Kelly and Schneider have been giving the world their own 30 Rock with the sharp, smart and sidesplitting The Other Two. Their angle: focusing on the adult siblings of a Justin Bieber-style teen popstar who've always had their own showbiz aspirations — he's an actor, she was a ballerina — who then find themselves the overlooked children of a momager-turned-daytime television host as well. Cary (Drew Tarver, History of the World: Part II) and Brooke (Heléne York, Katy Keene) Dubek are happy for Chase (Case Walker, Monster High: The Movie). And when their mother Pat (Molly Shannon, I Love That for You) gets her own time in the spotlight, becoming Oprah-level famous, they're equally thrilled for her. But ChaseDreams, their little brother's stage name, has always been a constant reminder that their own ambitions keep being outshone — and in a first season that proved one of the best new shows of 2019, a second season in 2021 that was just as much of a delight and now a stellar third go-around that streams from Thursday, May 4 via Binge, they've never been above getting petty and messy about it. Back in that debut run, Kelly and Schneider made a simple but savvy choice: naming each instalment around whatever Chase was doing, whether he was getting a girlfriend or a nosebleed, turning 14 or dropping his first album. The series may be called The Other Two, but even the episode titles put Cary and Brooke to the side, fitting in an extra running joke about their brother coming first. Season two kept the trend going; however, it split most of its monikers between Chase and Pat as the latter's success eclipsed her son's. So, Pat connected with her fans, became number one in the daytime market and, with Chase, all-round killed it. Then a big realisation dropped, with Brooke's work as an entertainment manager — first to Chase, then to Pat — and Cary's thespian quest becoming just as much of an everyday reality. What's season three to do now that the titular other two aren't just hanging around with stars in their eyes and resentment in their hearts? The better question, as Kelly and Schneider know, is what will Cary and Brooke do? They've spent the past few years constantly comparing themselves to Chase, then to Pat, but now they're successful on their own — and still chaotic, and completely unable to change their engrained thinking. Forget the whole "the grass is always greener" adage. No matter if they're faking it or making it, nothing is ever perfectly verdant for this pair or anyone in their orbit. Still, as Brooke wonders whether her dream gig is trivial after living through a pandemic, she starts contemplating if she should be doing more meaningful work like her fashion designer-turned-nurse boyfriend Lance (Josh Segarra, The Big Door Prize). And with Cary's big breaks never quite panning out as planned, he gets envious of his fellow-actor BFF Curtis (Brandon Scott Jones, Ghosts). Striving, seeming like you're thriving but still diving: that's The Other Two's three-season arc. The series has always been as acerbic about getting to the top as yearning for it — Chase has never been all that fussed with his fame, including now that he's 18 — and it doesn't waver in its latest splash. Outlandish situations, grounded insights and emotions: that's The Other Two's realm, too. Pat is at the owning-her-own-network stage of Oprah-dom, but pines for the easy pleasures of a family dinner at Applebees that can only happen through movie magic. Brooke is so obsessed with doing something worthy that she can't see what her nearest and dearest are truly worth. And Cary is both unhappy in a relationship with a more-famous actor (Fin Argus, Queer as Folk) who never slips out character and desperate to do anything himself to stay relevant. Even more so in season three, The Other Two isn't afraid of getting existential, or dark. It's still as cutting about everything from social-media trends and celebrity fixations to ridiculous filler reality shows, however — and as gleefully absurd and surreal. One episode revolves around the quest to drive a photo of Chase's armpit across America because it's his first snap as an adult and it's that coveted. Another sees Brooke literally disappear at a glitzy party when she decides she's ditching the industry. And when Cary craves attention for his straight-to-streaming flick Night Nurse, which was back in action when season two ended and premiering when this season begins, he spends half a day on public transport to get to an interview with TheBrooklynBuritto.com. This time around, The Other Two also finds room for lengthy satires of Pleasantville, Romeo + Juliet, Love, Victor and Angels in America, all via gags that are as inspired as they are amusing. Wes Anderson's penchant for symmetry gets a delicious jibe, and Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Kiernan Shipka, The White Lotus' Lukas Gage and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Simu Liu make game guest stars. The one-liners keep dropping with 30 Rock-esque speed, while the writing is as piercing and astute as Barry at its best. Reliably, Ken Marino and Wanda Sykes remain in vintage form as Chase's manager Streeter and record-label executive Shuli; thanks to Party Down and Curb Your Enthusiasm, both are veterans at skewering show business. Indeed, with York, Tarver, Shannon, Segarra and Jones as well, The Other Two has one of the best casts on TV. The funniest comedy on television deserves to. The show's stacked roster of talent is just as outstanding when season three gets dramatic, including when calling Cary and Brooke out on their egotism, having the ever-charming and -chill Lance get tired of being pushed aside and seeing Pat glean what all this chasing dreams has cost — always with just as much riotous laughs as feeling, of course. Check out the trailer for The Other Two's third season below: The Other Two streams via Binge from Thursday, May 4.
This isn't new news to anyone, but 2020 has been a big year for television. With everyone spending more time indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TV has been a trusty go-to to help while away the hours, days and months — whether it's beamed into your home the old-fashioned way or streamed to your chosen device. If you've spent the past few months bingeing your way through a dark superhero tale, stepping back to 50s and 60s-era New York and watching a media mogul's personal and professional dramas, it seems that this year's Emmy Awards are on the same wavelength. Announcing the nominees for the 2020 ceremony, the Television Academy showered plenty of love on Watchmen, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Succession, which notched up 26, 20 and 18 nods respectively. Also doing well was Ozark, which scored 18 nominations — while The Mandalorian, Saturday Night Live and Schitt's Creek all earned 15 nods apiece. From there, everything from The Crown, Westworld and The Handmaid's Tale to Unorthodox, What We Do in the Shadows and even Tiger King earned a mention. It's worth noting that the Emmys hand out a hefty number of awards, with its full nominee list spanning 61 pages — and Netflix picking up a huge 160 nominations across the entire spectrum — so odds are that your favourite show popped up somewhere. Notably for talent from Down Under, Hugh Jackman was recognised for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie, for Bad Education; Cate Blanchett received a nomination for Outstanding Actress in the same category for Mrs America; and Toni Collette nabbed a Outstanding Supporting Actress nod, also in the same field, for Unbelievable. Plus, Succession's Sarah Snook earned a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Hannah Gadsby's Douglas picked up noms for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, and Taika Waititi scored an Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance nod for The Mandalorian. Both on the local front and in general, there were snubs, too. It wouldn't be a list of newly revealed award nominees without them. Russell Crowe's performance in last year's The Loudest Voice went unrewarded — and the fact that Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn and Jonathan Banks were ignored for their exceptional work isn't just surprising, but astonishing. This year's nominations did recognise The Good Place's Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper, though, as well as Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andre Braugher. So, like all awards nominations from all awards bodies every single time they're announced, it's a mixed bag. [caption id="attachment_756726" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Succession[/caption] The 72nd Emmy Awards will take place on Monday, September 20, Australian time. Here's a rundown of the major nominations — and you can check out the full 61-page list of nominees on the Emmys' website: EMMY NOMINEES 2020 OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES Better Call Saul The Crown The Handmaid's Tale Killing Eve The Mandalorian Ozark Stranger Things Succession OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES Curb Your Enthusiasm Dead to Me The Good Place Insecure The Kominsky Method The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Schitt's Creek What We Do in the Shadows OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES Little Fires Everywhere Mrs America Unbelievable Unorthodox Watchmen OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE American Son Bad Education Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: These Old Bones El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Jason Bateman, Ozark Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us Steve Carell, The Morning Show Brian Cox, Succession Billy Porter, Pose Jeremy Strong, Succession OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show Olivia Colman, The Crown Jodie Comer, Killing Eve Laura Linney, Ozark Sandra Oh, Killing Eve Zendaya, Euphoria OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Anthony Anderson, Black-ish Don Cheadle, Black Monday Ted Danson, The Good Place Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek Ramy Youssef, Ramy OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Christina Applegate, Dead to Me Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek Issa Rae, Insecure Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Jeremy Irons, Watchmen Hugh Jackman, Bad Education Paul Mescal, Normal People Jeremy Pope, Hollywood Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Cate Blanchett, Mrs America Shira Haas, Unorthodox Regina King, Watchmen Octavia Spencer, Self Made Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid's Tale Billy Crudup, The Morning Show Mark Duplass, The Morning Show Nicholas Braun, Succession Kieran Culkin, Succession Matthew Macfadyen, Succession Jeffrey Wright, Westworld OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Laura Dern, Big Little Lies Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown Samira Wiley, The Handmaid's Tale Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve Julia Garner, Ozark Sarah Snook, Succession Thandie Newton, Westworld OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine William Jackson Harper, The Good Place Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Mahershala Ali, Ramy Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live Daniel Levy, Schitt's Creek OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Betty Gilpin, GLOW D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place Yvonne Orji, Insecure Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live Annie Murphy, Schitt's Creek OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Dylan McDermott, Hollywood Jim Parsons, Hollywood Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen Jovan Adepo, Watchmen Louis Gossett Jr, Watchmen OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Holland Taylor, Hollywood Uzo Aduba, Mrs America Margo Martindale, Mrs America Tracey Ullman, Mrs America Toni Collette, Unbelievable Jean Smart, Watchmen Top image: Watchmen, Mark Hill/HBO
Good news, everyone: TV networks and streaming services keep thawing out Futurama. The small screen's powers that be love pressing defrost on the animated sci-fi series, and viewers should love watching the always-funny results. Not once but twice in the past quarter-century, Matt Groening's other big sitcom has been cancelled then respawned years later, with Disney-owned platform Hulu the latest doing the reviving. It was true back in 2007 when the show was first reanimated, and it's true again from Monday, July 24 on Disney+: whenever Futurama flies across the screen after a stint in stasis, it feels like no time has passed. Groening first spread his talents beyond The Simpsons back in 1999, riffing on Y2K excitement and apprehension, and also leaping forward in time. Futurama's 20th-century pizza delivery guy Philip J Fry (voiced by Billy West, Spitting Image) didn't welcome the 21st century, however; he stumbled into a cryogenic chamber, then awoke 1000 years later to greet the 31st. After tracking down Professor Hubert J Farnsworth (also voiced by West), his only living relative, he was soon in the delivery game again — but for intergalactic cargo company Planet Express, in a show that that satirises every vision of the future previously committed to fiction, and with one-eyed ship captain Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal, Dead to Me) and shiny-metal-assed robot Bender Bending Rodríguez (John DiMaggio, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) by his side. Futurama's initial run lasted four seasons, four years and 78 episodes. Before every pop culture title imaginable started coming back from the dead, this one reappeared in 2007 as a direct-to-DVD movie, followed by three more, which were then turned into episodes for the show's fifth season. Alas, another trio of seasons later, Futurama said goodbye again. Thankfully, when a series not only peers at and parodies the next millennia, but takes an anything-goes approach that's brought everything from robot Santas and soap operas to human-hating alien news anchors and talking celebrity heads in jars, there's always room for a new spin — with Hulu committing to 20 new episodes, calling this comeback season 11. Getting the Planet Express soaring yet again does pose one difficulty from the outset: how do you undo a perfect finale? When the prior season ended in 2013, it wrapped up Fry and Leela's on-again, off-again romance in a smart, sweet and widely loved bow. The new instalments pick up exactly where that swansong left off, then unleash a "massive disruption in the flow of time" to move everyone to 3023, then restore the usual status quo. So, Fry, Leela, Bender, the Professor, Jamaican accountant Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr, Craig of the Creek), Martian intern Amy Wong (Lauren Tom, Dragons: The Nine Realms) and lobster-esque alien doctor Zoidberg (also West) resume their workplace sitcom antics, although Fry gives himself a time-wasting goal first: trying to watch every show that's ever been made. The latest season's opening instalment dives into the streaming era, and digs in. "It feels like we got rebooted," Hermes notes, with the show itself unfurling a flurry of jokes about the topic. The timing is likely purely coincidental and the statement unintentional but, amid the gags about extreme binge-watching and having more TV than anyone could view in several lifetimes available at the press of a button, comes commentary on television talents being replaced by machines. Skewered with clear purpose in later episodes: the bitcoin mining rush, NFTs, plus ever-expanding corporations that exploit their workers (and listen in on people's houses) yet still seem to control everything. Futurama has always excelled not just at the specific, but the general. Sometimes, the show's laughs are intricately linked to events and trends; sometimes, it chuckles at life's recurring patterns. The new season's second episode does the latter astutely well, while also nodding to season four's opening instalment. Twenty years back in 2003 when Futurama's 55th chapter overall aired, Amy's boyfriend Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche, Rick and Morty), the amphibious 4th Lieutenant to self-obsessed starship captain Zapp Brannigan (West again), got pregnant and gave birth. Amy wasn't ready for motherhood, but didn't need to be, because Kif's tadpole-style spawn required two decades in a swamp to mature. The show's writers now make good on that promise, all while finding multiple ways to spoof attitudes to parenting. Robot Santa (also DiMaggio), Zapp, Kif, scheming company owner Mom (Tress MacNeille, The Simpsons), the pet-like Nibbler (Frank Welker, Animaniacs), melodramatic acting robot Calculon (also LaMarche): to the delight of long-running fans, they're all back. So are newsreaders Morbo and Linda van Schoonhoven (LaMarche and MacNeille), Planet Express janitor Scruffy (David Herman, The Bob's Burgers Movie), the head of Richard Nixon (West), the Professor's clone Cubert (Kath Soucie, Rugrats), Hypnotoad and more. Indeed, Futurama circa 2023 doesn't just feel like it never left, but acts like it, jam-packing in scene-stealing supporting characters, whip-smart and gleefully silly jokes alike, and zany setups. A Dune sendup? Shooting lasers in the Old West? Waging war on Christmas? That all happens, too. "We're back, baby" isn't merely something that the ever-sidesplitting Bender says, clearly. Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be directed at the new Futurama is that this new run slides in so easily with past episodes, and so comfortably, that future binges will feel seamless. Not every comeback manages such a feat. Some, like David Lynch's phenomenal Twin Peaks revival, actively and gloriously don't want to. This one joins Party Down and That '90s Show in 2023 as returns that hit the bullseye, getting the rest of the dominoes falling like a house of cards — checkmate! Time may make fools of us all, and milk, but it's been keeping Futurama in vintage form. Check out the trailer for Futurama's new season below: Futurama season 11 streams via Disney+ Down Under from Monday, July 24.
May has the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, June boasts the Delta Aquariids and December welcomes the Geminids. In November, however, it's Leonids time. Arriving at the end of spring in Australia and New Zealand, the Leonids may not be quite as well known as some of its counterparts, but it's still a shower worth looking up for. And it's famous for one impressive reason: its spectacular meteor storms. It can feature more than 1000 meteors per hour, but it only occurs around every 33 years — and, sadly, the most recent occurred in 2001. Still, while you won't spy that kind of intense onslaught in 2020, you will still see meteors. The Bureau of Meteorology predicts there'll be around five per hour hurtling across the heavens on average. At its peak, timeanddate.com predicts 15 per hour. In good news for those Down Under, the Leonids can be seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it runs from Friday, November 6 until Monday, November 30, it's best detected between Saturday, November 14 and Friday, November 20 — and it's expected to be at its peak between Tuesday, November 17 and Wednesday, November 18. Like many astronomical shows, catching an eyeful after midnight is recommended (aka when the moon has set and its light will not interfere). Named for the constellation of Leo, which is where it appears to radiate from in the sky, the Leonids aren't just renowned for its huge showers approximately three times each century, but also for its place in history. During the storm of 1833, it has been estimated that more than 100,000 meteors streamed across the sky per hour — and, as a result, the Leonids helped play a part in the formulation of the first theory about the origin of meteors, NASA notes. The Leonids stem from the Comet Tempel–Tuttle, which was actually first officially recognised after the famous meteor shower of 1833 — in 1866, in fact. And, if you're wondering why the Leonids' storms only hit every 33 years or so, that's because that's how long it takes for the comet to orbit around the sun. [caption id="attachment_751114" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] The peak of the 2009 Leonids meteor shower. Image: Navicore via Wikicommons.[/caption] For your best chances of getting a glimpse, the usual advice applies. Get as far away from bright lights as possible — this could be a good excuse to head out of the city to a clear-skied camping spot — and pray for no clouds. And, given that the Leonids originate from the Leo constellation, that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. To locate Leo, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). The Leonids meteor shower is best detected between Saturday, November 14 and Friday, November 20. Top image: Mike Lewinski via Flickr.
We thought it was pretty cool when we found out you can rent a cave off Airbnb. We got pretty excited when 'Van Gogh' put up his room for rent in Chicago, and we were a little horrified (and, y'know, curious) to know that beds were up for grabs in the Catacombs. But Airbnb have taken their farfetched ideas on where to spend a night to a whole new terrifying level — they're holding a competition to win a night's sleep surrounded by sharks. Blending two things that most of us don't ever want to associate with each other — sharks and sleep — Airbnb are offering three lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) winners and their guests the chance to spend the night in the Aquarium de Paris. They will sleep in a suspended circular room inside the tank, meaning they will be literally surrounded by 35 circling sharks all night long. Who even needs nightmares? Naturally, the listing for the night at the aquarium has a few house rules. Guests are advised to refrain from taking selfies, avoid seeing Jaws in the nights prior to the visit and to "keep heads and feet in the bedroom at all times". The Airbnb host is freediver and underwater photographer Fred Buyle (we checked out his profile, and he seems legit). He'll introduce the guests to their neighbours for the night, take them on a tour of the aquarium and even get in the tank and "dance" with the sharks. The best news about all of this is that Airbnb will fly the winners to Paris from anywhere in the world. To enter, you've just got to tell Airbnb a little about yourself, where you live and why you belong with the sharks for a night in 550 words of less. Enter here by 11.59pm CET on April 3. Let's hope your Airbnb reviews are good ones.
You've probably noticed times are tough for hospo venues, especially those of the live music variety. However, until the end of June, you can do them a small favour with the help of purpose-driven, non-alc beer brewing legends, Heaps Normal. When the time comes to replenish your non-alcoholic beer stocks at home, online customers have the option to send a free case of Heaps Normal to their favourite venue. No strings attached — your local watering hole just gets a free case of beer to sell at their pleasure. "Aussie hospo venues – particularly live music venues – have been doing it tough lately and we're keen to give back. We figured the best way to do that was to let our community decide where the good karma should flow," says Heaps Normal's Chief Brand Officer Tim Snape. This good deed might just be the right move for you as well. Rather than waking up with a splitting headache after a big night out, the brand's tasty brews won't leave you with a hangover that stretches long into next week. "All you need to do is purchase a case of Heaps Normal for yourself and let us know which local watering hole you want to shower with a little good Karma (Case). We'll even throw a handwritten love letter from you in there, too," says Snape. When you're ready to bank that karma, you're welcome to gift any case from Heaps Normal's core range, from the down-to-earth Another Lager to the newly released Third IPA. Then, it's just a matter of your choice arriving at your go-to venue's door, ready to satiate thirsty customers keen to sidestep tomorrow's agony. Heaps Normal's Karma Cases campaign runs until the end of June. Head to the website for more information.
Start your engines, RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under fans — come Saturday, July 30, the Australian and New Zealand version of the hit series will return to Stan in Australia and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand for a second season. RuPaul is back playing host, of course. Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson also return as judges, too. And, based on the just-dropped trailer, the challenges are taking the whole Down Under part extremely seriously. Well, one challenge is. Just as everyone in Australia will start paying an extra dollar for their Bunnings sausage sizzles — a price increase that NZ has been spared — Drag Race Down Under is throwing some snags on the barbie. Yes, there's a sausage sizzle photo shoot, as well as all the puns that you'd expect. Obviously, it looks glorious. Competing for the title of 'Down Under's Next Drag Superstar' this time around: three contenders from Aotearoa and seven from Australia. Aubrey Haive hails from Timaru in NZ, and will be representing the country alongside Spankie Jackzon from Palmerston North and Yuri Guaii from Auckland. In the Aussie contingent, Brisbane's Beverly Kills, Adelaide's Kween Kong and Newcastle's Molly Poppinz will be doing the honours alongside Sydney's Faúx Fúr, Hannah Conda, Minnie Cooper and Pomara Fifth. This fierce roster of queens will don eye-catching outfits, navigate plenty of dramas and vie for glory — and endeavour to follow in the footsteps of Kita Mean, who took out RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under's first season. The second season's lineup of celebrity guests hasn't been revealed, however, after 2021 saw Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue and Taika Waititi all pop up. If you're a fan, you already know the show's format, which spans fashion challenges, workroom dramas and lip sync battles aplenty. If you're a newcomer to all things Drag Race, you'll watch these new Australian and NZ competitors work through a series of contests to emerge victorious, and join the likes of Mean and US contenders Jinkx Monsoon, Sasha Velour and Sharon Needles in being crowned the series' winner. Before it made the leap Down Under last year, the US version of RuPaul's Drag Race had already been on the air for more than a decade, first premiering in 2009 — and wholeheartedly embracing its mission to unearth the next drag superstars ever since. The original US series just aired its 14th season this year, so this is a program with proven longevity. It has also spun off international iterations before, including in the UK — where it's also hosted by RuPaul — plus in Thailand, Holland, Chile and Canada. Check out the Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under season two trailer below: RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under will return for a second season in 2022 on Stan and TVNZ from Saturday, July 30.
In the time since Sydney's lockout laws came into effect, many venues in the lockout zone have closed — but quite a few have found new life too. Club 77 was resurrected in early 2016, The Flinders reopened under new management and Flamingo Lounge took over the old Hugos space late last year. Now, Kit & Kaboodle has been given a revamp. The bar — located on level two of the old Sugarmill Hotel, which became the Potts Point Hotel under new ownership last year — is set to open this month as Boogie Mountain, a self-indulgent venue dedicated to rock and roll. The bar takes its name from a commune set in 1970s Arizona desert and boasts a passion for the hedonistic. Think luxe red velvet lounges and hidden timber-panelled nooks, plus magnums of rosé and decadent lobster poutine. "The introduction of Boogie Mountain is about creating something unique, where patrons can relate to the venues offerings," says owner John Duncan. "We are very excited to give the space a new lease on life, with Boogie Mountain adding a great new option to Sydney's late night scene." It's open Thursday through Saturday only, with weekend hours offering lock-in until 3.30am (as long as you're inside by 2am, of course). Thursdays will see vinyls on the turntable and all-you-can-eat poutine specials on offer, too. You can expect non-stop tunes all night, with the rock soundtrack including the likes of Talking Heads and Iggy Pop. When you're not getting your boogie on, it's got classic American cocktails, an all-Australian wine list and craft beer tinnies to accompany those aforementioned magnums. For food, the poutine menu is joined by share plates like saffron risotto 'disco balls' and cheese boards, along with a post-midnight snacks menu of burgers, fries and apple pie. "We wanted to create a space that celebrated what Sydney was always about — a youthful loss of innocence, a sense of adventure, simple pleasures and free spirit," says designer Byron Georgouras. Boogie Mountain will open on April 20 on level 2 of the Potts Point Hotel, 33 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point. It'll be open Thursday 6pm until late, Friday 8pm until 2am and Saturday 8pm until 2am (with lock-in until 3.30am). For more info, visit boogiemountain.com.au.
If you're a fan of the Apple iPad be sure to pencil March 7, 2012 into your diaries. According to tech site iMore.com, this is the day that Apple will unveil the iPad 3 — or iPad HD. These predictions are in sync with AllThingsD's earlier report that the iPad 3 will be announced in the first week of March. In addition, Apple insider, Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, has indirectly accepted this rumoured announcement date with a solid "Yep." Citing "sources who have been reliable in the past", iMore suggests that features of the next-gen iPad are to include 4G LTE networking, a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display and a quad-core A6 processor. These are considerable upgrades when considering the current iPad 2's specs. Other circulating rumours anticipate an improved camera (either 5 or 8-megapixels), a HD front camera and the possibility of a mini 7" iPad. Considering Apple's world domination in the business of technology, one thing that's for certain is that you'll have to fight off a hoard of iPad-loving vultures before you can get your hands on Apple's newest edition to the iPad family.
Every year is a good year for movies. Every year delivers must-see highlights, flat-out masterpieces and films so good that they become your instant favourites. The flicks change — the names, stars and plots, too — but there's simply no such thing as a bad year for cinema. Because so many titles get released each year, there's always going to be a big batch of gems brightening up the big screen. There'll be terrible movies as well, but that just comes with the territory. 2021 is only halfway through, and it's already a good year for movies. It's a great, excellent and downright stellar year, in fact. Plenty of the films that've made their way to cinemas across the past six months came out last year overseas, but that doesn't matter — a fantastic movie remains just that no matter when it reaches viewers. Some of this year's cinematic highlights so far have already won shiny trophies for their efforts. Others just might in the future. Either way, here's the 12 overwhelming exceptional films that've proven 2021's best already. If you haven't seen them all, consider this your must-watch list for before the year is out. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Promising Young Woman would've made an excellent episode or season of Veronica Mars. That's meant as the highest compliment to both the bubblegum-hued take on the rape-revenge genre and the cult-status private detective series. Writer/director Emerald Fennell clearly isn't blind to the parallels between the two, even casting Veronica Mars stars Max Greenfield (New Girl) and Chris Lowell (GLOW) in her feature debut. Don't go thinking the Killing Eve season two showrunner and The Crown actor is simply following in other footsteps, though. At every moment, the brilliant and blistering Promising Young Woman vibrates with too much anger, energy and insight to merely be a copycat of something else. It's a film made with the savviest of choices, and provocative and downright fearless ones as well, in everything from its soundtrack to its weaponised pastel, peppy and popping Instagram-friendly imagery. You don't include Italian quartet Archimia's orchestral version of Britney Spears' 'Toxic', Paris Hilton's 'Stars Are Blind' and an abundance of vibrant surface sheen in a movie about a woman waging war on the culture of sexual assault without trying to make a statement — and Fennell succeeds again and again. She has also made the smart decision to cast Carey Mulligan, and to draw upon the acclaimed actor's near-peerless ability to express complex internalised turmoil. Mulligan's fierce lead performance scorches, sears and resounds with such burning truth, and so does the feature she's in as a result. When Mulligan's character, Cassie Thomas, is introduced, she's inebriated and alone at a nightclub, her clothing riding up as she slouches in her seat. Three men discuss women over beverages by the bar, and notice Cassie while talking, with one commenting, "they put themselves in danger, girls like that". No woman brings sexual assault upon themselves, with this whole intelligent and astute revenge-thriller rebuffing the bro-ish bar guy's early observation in every way possible, and meting out punishment to those who think similarly. As viewers see in the film's opening sequence, Cassie is offered help by one of the chatting guys, Jerry (The OC's Adam Brody), who is concerned she could be taken advantage of by men who aren't as nice as him — but then takes her home, makes sexual advances, and learns that the medical school dropout-turned-coffee shop employee he's trying to bed has a lesson for him. Colour-coded names and tallies scrawled in a notebook illustrate this isn't a first for Cassie. The script drip-feeds details about its protagonist's motivations for her ritualistic actions; however, the specifics aren't hard to guess. Cassie's central vigilante quest is forced to adapt after she hears news about someone from her past, and the movie takes her to bold places, boasting a relentlessness that mirrors the persistence of grief and pain after trauma. Promising Young Woman never lets its protagonist's rage subside, proving furious from start to finish — and sharing that feeling even in the film's most overt setups and obvious scenes (which are also some of its most entertaining) is a foregone conclusion. Read our full review. FIRST COW Gone are the days when every image that flickered across the screen did so within an almost square-shaped frame. That time has long passed, in fact, with widescreen formats replacing the 1.375:1 Academy aspect ratio that once was standard in cinemas, and its 4:3 television counterpart. So, when a director today fits their visuals into a much tighter space than the now-expansive norm, it's an intentional choice. They're not just nodding to the past, even if their film takes place in times gone by. With First Cow, for instance, Kelly Reichardt unfurls a story set in 19th-century America, but she's also honing her audience's focus. The Meek's Cutoff, Night Moves and Certain Women filmmaker wants those guiding their eyeballs towards this exquisite movie to truly survey everything that it peers at. She wants them to see its central characters — chef Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz (John Magaro, Overlord) and Chinese entrepreneur King-Lu (Orion Lee, Zack Snyder's Justice League) — and to realise that neither are ever afforded such attention by the others in their fictional midst. Thoughtfully exploring the existence of figures on the margins has long been Reichardt's remit, as River of Grass, Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy have shown as well, but she forces First Cow's viewers to be more than just passive observers in this process. There's much to take in throughout this magnificently told tale, which heads to Oregon as most of Reichardt's movies have. In its own quiet, closely observed, deeply affectionate and warm-hearted fashion, First Cow is a heist movie, although the filmmaker's gentle and insightful spin on the usually slick and twist-filled genre bucks every convention there is. Initially, after watching an industrial barge power down a river, First Cow follows a woman (Alia Shawkat, Search Party) and her dog as they discover a couple of skeletons nearby. Then, jumping back two centuries and seeing another boat on the same waterway, it meets Cookie as he's searching for food. Whatever he finds, or doesn't, the fur-trapper team he works with never has a kind word to spare. But then Cookie stumbles across King-Lu one night, helps him evade the Russians on his tail, and the seeds of friendship are sown. When the duo next crosses paths, they spend an alcohol-addled night sharing their respective ideas for the future. Those ambitious visions get a helping hand after the Chief Factor (Toby Jones, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom) ships in the region's highly coveted first cow, with Cookie and King-Lu secretly milking the animal in the dark of night, then using the stolen liquid to make highly sought-after — and highly profitable — oily cakes. Read our full review. EMA Before 2021 comes to an end, Pablo Larraín will have given the world Spencer, a new biopic about Princess Diana featuring Kristen Stewart as the royal figure. Also on his hit list this year: the just-released Lisey's Story, a Julianne Moore-starring TV adaptation of a Stephen King book that has been scripted for the screen by the author himself. But with Ema, he's already gifted viewers something exceptional — and something that'll be hard to beat. A new project by Larraín is always cause for excitement, and this drama about a reggaeton dancer's crumbling marriage, personal and professional curiosities, and determined quest to become a mother rewards that enthusiasm spectacularly. In fact, it's a stunning piece of cinema, and one that stands out even among the Chilean director's already impressive resume. He's the filmmaker behind stirring political drama No, exacting religious interrogation The Club, poetic biopic Neruda and the astonishing, Natalie Portman-starring Jackie — to name just a few of his movies — so that's no minor feat. For the first time in his career, Larraín peers at life in his homeland today, rather than in the past. And, with his now six-time cinematographer Sergio Armstrong (Tony Manero, Post Mortem), he gazes as intently as he can. Faces and bodies fill Ema's frames, a comment that's true of most movies; however, in both the probing patience it directs its protagonist's way and the kinetic fluidity of its dance sequences, this feature equally stares and surveys. Here, Larraín hones in on the dancer (Mariana Di Girólamo, Much Ado About Nothing) who gives the feature its name. After adopting a child with her choreographer partner Gastón (Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle), something other than domestic bliss has followed. Following a traumatic incident, and the just as stressful decision to relinquish their boy back to the state's custody, Ema is not only trying but struggling to cope in the aftermath. This isn't a situation she's simply willing to accept, though. Ema, the movie, is many things — and, most potently, it's a portrait of a woman who is willing to make whatever move she needs to, both on the dance floor and in life, to rally against an unforgiving world, grasp her idea of freedom and seize exactly what she wants. Di Girólamo is magnetic, whether she's dancing against a vivid backdrop, staring pensively at the camera or being soaked in neon light. Bernal, one of the director's regulars, perfects a thorny role that ties into the film's interrogation of Chile's class and cultural divides. And Larraín's skill as both a visual- and emotion-driven filmmaker is never in doubt. Indeed, this film's imagery isn't easily forgotten, and neither is its mood, ideas, inimitable protagonist, or stirring exploration of trauma, shock and their impact. Read our full review. MINARI Although they can frequently seem straightforward, films about the American dream aren't simply about chasing success. The circumstances and details change, but they're often movies about finding a place to call home as well. Such a quest isn't always as literal as it sounds, of course. While houses can signify achievement, feeling like you truly belong somewhere — and that you're comfortable enough to set your sights on lofty goals and ambitions that require considerable risks and sacrifices — transcends even the flashiest or cosiest combination of bricks and mortar. Partly drawn from writer/director Lee Isaac Chung's (Abigail Harm) own childhood, Minari understands this. It knows that seeking a space to make one's own is crucial, and that it motivates many big moves to and within the US. So, following a Korean American couple who relocate to rural Arkansas in the 80s with hopes of securing a brighter future for their children, this delicately observed and deeply felt feature doesn't separate the Yi family's attempts to set up a farm from their efforts to feel like they're exactly where they should be. The result is a precise, vivid, moving, and beautifully performed and observed film told with honest and tender emotion — so much so that it was always bound to be equally universal and unique. When Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun, Burning) introduces his wife Monica (Yeri Han, My Unfamiliar Family), pre-teen daughter Anne (first-timer Noel Cho) and seven-year-old son David (fellow newcomer Alan S Kim) to their new 50-acre plot, he's beaming with pride. He's bought them "the best dirt in America," he says. It might only span a trailer, a field and a creek, but he's certain that it will revolutionise their lives. Although both Jacob and Monica still spend their days in a chicken sexing factory to pay the bills, Jacob is confident his agrarian dream will reap rewards. The path he's chosen isn't a glossy fantasy, though. From trying to work out where best to build a well to provide water for his crops, to endeavouring to convince stores to buy his wares, Jacob weathers more than his fare share of struggles. Monica's worries about their isolation, and about money, also weigh heavily, as she'd rather live in a larger city as part of the Korean diaspora. Also joining their daily woes in a movie that eschews overt conflicts for everyday dramas: Anne and David's attempts to fit in, the latter's heart murmur and the change that sweeps through the family when Monica's mother Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung, Sense8) comes to live with them. Read our full review. GUNDA Move over Babe, Piglet, Porky and Peppa. Thanks to monochrome-hued documentary Gunda, cinema has a brand new porcine star. Or several, to be exact; however, other than the eponymous sow, none of the attention-grabbing pigs in this movie are given names. If that feels jarring, that's because it breaks from film and television's usual treatment of animals. Typically on-screen, we see and understand the zoological beings we share this planet with as only humans can, filtering them through our own experience, perception and needs. We regard them as companions who become our trustiest and most reliable friends; as creatures who play important roles in our lives emotionally, physically and functionally; as anthropomorphised critters with feelings and traits so much like ours that it seems uncanny; and as worthy targets of deep observation or study. We almost never just let them be, though. Whether they're four-legged, furry, feathered or scaly, animals that grace screens big and small rarely allowed to exist free from our two-legged interference — or from our emotions, expectations or gaze. Gunda isn't like any other movie you've seen about all creatures great and small, but it can't ignore the shadow that humanity casts over its titular figure, her piglets, and the one-legged chicken and paired-off cows it also watches, either. It's shot on working farms, so it really doesn't have that luxury. Still, surveying these critters and their lives without narration or explanation, this quickly involving, supremely moving and deeply haunting feature is happy to let the minutiae of these creatures' existence say everything that it needs to. The delights and devastation alike are in the details, and the entire movie is filled with both. Filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky (Aquarela) looks on as Gunda's namesake gives birth, and as her offspring crawl hungrily towards her before they've even properly realised that they're now breathing. His film keeps peering their way as they squeal, explore and grow, and as they display their inquisitive, curious and sometimes mischievous personalities, too. Sometimes, this little family rolls around in the mud. At other times, they simply sleep, or Gunda takes the opportunity to enjoy some shut-eye while her piglets play. Whatever they're doing, and whenever and where, these pigs just going about their business, which the feature takes in frame by frame. In one of the documentary's interludes away from its porcine points of focus, the aforementioned chook hops about. Whether logs or twigs are involved, it too is just navigating its ordinary days. In the second of the movie's glimpses elsewhere, cattle trot and stand, and their routine couldn't seem more commonplace as well. Read our full review. ANOTHER ROUND Even the most joyous days and nights spent sipping your favourite drink can have their memory tainted by a hangover. Imbibe too much, and there's a kicker just waiting to pulsate through your brain and punish your body when all that alcohol inevitably starts to wear off. For much of Another Round, four Copenhagen school teachers try to avoid this feeling. The film they're in doesn't, though. It lays bare the ups and downs of knocking back boozy beverages, and it also serves up a finale that's a sight to behold. Without sashaying into spoiler territory, the feature's last moments are a thing of sublime beauty. Some movies end in a WTF, "what were they thinking?" kind of way, but this Oscar-winning Danish film comes to a conclusion with a big and bold showstopper that's also a piece of bittersweet perfection. The picture's highest-profile star, Mads Mikkelsen (Arctic), is involved. His pre-acting background as an acrobat and dancer comes in handy, too. Unsurprisingly, the substances that flow freely throughout the feature remain prominent. And, so does the canny and candid awareness that life's highs and lows just keep spilling, plus the just-as-shrewd understanding that the line between self-sabotage and self-release is as thin as a slice of lemon garnishing a cocktail. That's how Another Round wraps up, in one the many masterstrokes poured onto the screen by writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (Kursk) and his co-scribe Tobias Lindholm (A War). The film's unforgettable finale also expertly capitalises upon a minor plot detail that viewers haven't realised had such significance until then, and that couldn't typify this excellent effort's layered approach any better. But, ending with a bang isn't the movie's only achievement. In fact, it's full of them. The picture's savvy choices start with its premise, which sees the quiet and reserved Martin (Mikkelsen) and his fellow educators Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen, Veni Vidi Vici), Peter (Lars Ranthe, Warrior) and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang, The Commune) all decide to put an out-there theory to the test. Motivated by real-life Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, they conduct an experiment that involves being permanently sauced. Skårderud has hypothesised that humans are born with a blood alcohol deficit of 0.05 percent, so, with some cajoling needed on Martin's part, the quartet work that idea into their daily lives. Ground rules are established, and the shots, sneaky sips and all-hours drinking swiftly begins — and so splashes a tragicomic look at coping with mundane lives and the realities of getting older in an extreme fashion that's frank, unflinching, and yet also warm and sometimes humorous. Read our full review. COLLECTIVE We can only hope that one day, likely in a far distant future, documentaries will stop doubling as horror films. That time hasn't arrived yet — and as Collective demonstrates, cinema's factual genre can chill viewers to the bone more effectively than most jump- and bump-based fare. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards (only the second time that's ever happened, after last year's Honeyland), this gripping and gut-wrenching Romanian doco starts with a terrible tragedy. On October 30, 2015, a fire broke out at a metal gig in Bucharest, at a club called Colectiv. Twenty-seven people died in the blaze, and 180 people were injured as they tried to escape via the site's lone exit; however, that's just the beginning of the movie's tale. In the four months afterwards, as burn victims were treated in the country's public hospitals, 37 more passed away. When journalist Cătălin Tolontan and his team at The Sports Gazette started investigating the fire's aftermath and the mounting casualty list, they uncovered not only widespread failures throughout Romania's health system, but also engrained corruption as well. This truly is nightmare fuel; if people can't trust hospitals to act in their patients' best interest after such a sizeable disaster, one of the fundamental tenets of modern society completely collapses. Early in Collective, director, writer, cinematographer and editor Alexander Nanau (Toto and His Sisters) shows the flames, as seen from inside the club. When the blaze sparks from the show's pyrotechnics, hardcore band Goodbye to Gravity has just finished singing about corruption. "Fuck all your wicked corruption! It's been there since our inception but we couldn't see," the group's singer growls — and no, you can't make this up. It's a difficult moment to watch, but this is a film filled with unflinching sights, and with a viscerally unsettling story that demands attention. Nanau occasionally spends time with the bereaved and angry parents of victims of the fire, even bookending the documentary with one man's distress over the "communication error" that contributed to his son's death. The filmmaker charts a photo shoot with Tedy Ursuleanu, a survivor visibly scarred by her ordeal, too. And yet, taking an observational approach free from narration and interviews, and with only the scantest use of text on-screen, Collective's filmmaker lets much of what's said rustle up the majority of the movie's ghastliest inclusions. Read our full review. THE NEST Before watching The Nest, you mightn't have imagined Jude Law playing Mad Men's Don Draper. He didn't, of course. But this new 80s-set psychological thriller about a corroding marriage brings that idea to mind, because it too follows a man who spends his days selling a dream, thinks he can talk and charm his way into anything, and may have unleashed his biggest spin upon himself. More often than not, Law's character here has used his charisma to get whatever he wants, and to evade whichever sticky personal and professional situations he's plunged himself into. Indeed, stock trader Rory O'Hara slides easily into Law's list of suave on-screen roles, alongside the likes of The Talented Mr Ripley and Alfie. But there's also a tinge of desperation to his arrogance, as the actor showcased well in miniseries The Third Day. A Brit who relocated to New York and married horse trainer Allison (Carrie Coon, Widows), Rory looks the picture of Reagan-era affluence but, when he suddenly wants to return to London to chase new work opportunities, the cracks in his facade start widening. As directed with a heightened sense of dread by Martha Marcy May Marlene filmmaker Sean Durkin, The Nest busts open those fractures, with Allison, her teenage daughter Sam (Oona Roche, Morning Wars) and her son Ben (Charlie Shotwell, The Nightingale) all weathering the repercussions. While it's obvious from the outset that trouble is afoot, Durkin isn't in any rush to unleash The Nest's full nightmare. He wants his viewers to linger in it, because his characters must. Allison is forced to live with the knowledge that little is right, but the way she chain-smokes hurriedly illustrates that she also knows how far her fortunes could fall. Every move Rory makes is driven by his need to paint a gleaming portrait of himself, and he knows that it's a reverse Dorian Gray situation: the shinier and flashier he makes everything seem to anyone who'll listen, the more he rots inside. Durkin doesn't just rely upon an exacting pace and a festering mood of gloom, though. Reuniting with cinematographer Mátyás Erdély (Son of Saul) after 2013 miniseries Southcliffe, he gives every second of The Nest an eerie look — whether staying a few beats longer than normal on its opening shot, lensing vast rooms to emphasise their emptiness, repeatedly peering at the film's characters through glass or breaking out the most gradual of zooms. All that tension and unease conveys not only Rory and Allison's domestic discontent, but also the false promises of chasing capitalism-driven fantasies. And, with Coon as essential as Law and Durkin, it drives an excellent thriller that knows how how gut-wrenching it feels to realise that the life you don't even love is a sham. Read our full review. SYNCHRONIC Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead made a significant splash in genre circles with 2014's horror-romance Spring and 2017's excellent cult thriller The Endless, but they aren't currently household names. If the duo keep writing and directing mind-bending sci-fi like Synchronic, though, they will be sooner rather than later. The pair actually appear destined to become better known via Marvel. They're slated to helm one of the MCU's many upcoming Disney+ TV series, the Oscar Isaac-starring Moon Knight, in fact. But, they've already worked their way up from the US$20,000 budget of their 2012 debut Resolution to making movies with Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan. Here, with Marvel's own Falcon and Fifty Shades of Grey's leading man, they play with time, relativity, fate and brain-altering substances. They ponder the shadows that the past leaves on the present, the way that progressing through life can feel far more like a stumble than following a clear path, and how confronting loss and death can reframe your perspective on living, too. Those temporal jumps and existential themes aren't new, of course, and neither is the film's steely look and feel, and its willingness to get dark. That's the thing about Benson and Moorhead, however: few filmmakers can twist familiar parts into such a distinctive, smart and engaging package in the same way, and with each and every one of their movies. Synchronic shares its title with a designer drug. In the film's vision of New Orleans, the hallucinogen can be bought in stores — and plenty of people are doing just that. Shift after shift, paramedics Steve Denube (Mackie) and Dennis Dannelly (Dornan) find themselves cleaning up the aftermath, as users keep overdosing, dying in unusual ways and getting injured in strange mishaps. And, these aren't your usual drug-fuelled incidents. One, involving a snakebite, happens in a hotel without even the slightest sign of slithering reptiles. That's enough to arouse the world-wearied Steve and Dennis' interest, and to give them something to talk about other than the former's attachment-free life and the latter's marriage. Then Dennis' teenage daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides, Into the Badlands) goes missing, and the two EMTs are instantly keen to investigate any links that the popular pill might have to her disappearance. Cue a film that initially drips with tension, dread and intensity; uses every tool at its disposal to take viewers on a trippy journey; and grounds its surreal imagery and off-kilter atmosphere in genuine emotions. Each of Benson and Moorhead's four films so far are strikingly shot and astutely written, and rank among the best horror and sci-fi efforts of the past decade, but they're also as thoughtful and resonant as they are intelligent and ambitious — and that's an irresistible combination. Read our full review. THE FATHER Forgetting, fixating, flailing, fraying: that's The Father. Anthony's (Anthony Hopkins, Westworld) life is unravelling, with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman, The Crown) springing the sudden news that she's about to move to Paris, and now insistent that he needs a new carer to replace the last home helper he's just scared off. He also can't find his watch, and time seems to jump suddenly. On some days, he has just trundled out of bed to greet the morning when Anne advises that dinner, not breakfast, is being served. When he brings up her French relocation again, she frostily and dismissively denies any knowledge. Sometimes another man (Mark Gatiss, Dracula) stalks around Anthony's London apartment, calling himself Anne's husband. Sometimes the flat isn't his own at all and, on occasion, both Anne (Olivia Williams, Victoria and Abdul) and her partner (Rufus Sewell, Judy) look completely different. Intermittently, Anthony either charms or spits cruel words at Laura (Imogen Poots, Black Christmas), the latest aide hired to oversee his days. She reminds him of another daughter, one he's sure he had — and preferred — but hasn't heard from for years. When he mentions his other offspring, however, everyone else goes silent. More than once, Anthony suspects that someone has pilfered his beloved timepiece, which just keeps disappearing. Largely, The Father remains housebound. For the bulk of its 97 minutes, it focuses on the cardigan-wearing Anthony as he roams around the space he calls home. But this is a chaotic film, despite its visual polish, and that mess, confusion and upheaval is entirely by design. All the shifting and changing — big and small details alike, and faces and places, too — speak to the reason Anne keeps telling Anthony they need another set of hands around the house. His memory isn't what it used to be. In fact, it's getting much worse than that. Anthony knows that there's something funny going on, which is how he describes it when his sense of what's happening twists and morphs without warning, and The Father's audience are being immersed in that truth. Anthony has dementia, with conveying precisely how that feels for him the main aim of this six-time Oscar-nominated stage-to-screen adaptation. As overwhelming as The Father can be as it wades through Anthony and Anne's lives, its unflinching and unsparing approach is anchored in kindness and compassion, which novelist and playwright turned first-time director Florian Zeller has brought to the screen in a stunning fashion from Le Père, his own play. Read our full review. MARTIN EDEN The last time that one of Jack London's books made the leap to cinema screens — just last year, in fact — it wasn't a pleasant viewing experience. Starring Harrison Ford and a CGI dog, The Call of the Wild forced viewers to watch its flesh-and-blood lead pal around with a needlessly anthropomorphised canine, to groan-inducingly cheesy results. Martin Eden is a much different book, so it could never get the same treatment. With his radiant imagery, masterful casting and bold alterations to the source material, writer/director Pietro Marcello (Lost and Beautiful) makes certain that no one will confuse this new London adaption for the last, however. The Italian filmmaker helms a compelling, complicated, ambitious and unforgettable film, and one that makes smart and even sensuous choices with a novel that first hit shelves 112 years ago. The titular character is still a struggling sailor who falls in love with a woman from a far more comfortable background than his. He still strives to overcome his working-class upbringing by teaching himself to become a writer. And, he still finds both success and scuffles springing from his new profession, with the joy of discovering his calling, reading everything he can and putting his fingers to the typewriter himself soon overshadowed by the trappings of fame, a festering disillusionment with the well-to-do and their snobbery, and a belief that ascribing worth by wealth is at the core of society's many problems. As a book, Martin Eden might've initially reached readers back in 1909, but Marcello sees it as a timeless piece of literature. He bakes that perception into his stylistic choices, weaving in details from various different time periods — so viewers can't help but glean that this tale just keeps proving relevant, no matter the year or the state of the world. Working with cinematographers Alessandro Abate (Born in Casal Di Principe) and Francesco Di Giacomo (Stay Still), he helms an overwhelmingly and inescapably gorgeous-looking film, too. When Martin Eden is at its most heated thematically and ideologically, it almost feels disquieting that such blistering ideas are surrounded by such aesthetic splendour, although that juxtaposition is wholly by design. And, in his best flourish, he enlists the magnetic Luca Marinelli (The Old Guard) as his central character. In a performance that won him the Best Actor award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Marinelli shoulders the eponymous figure's hopes, dreams and burdens like he's lived them himself. He lends them his soulful stare as well. That expression bores its way off the screen, and eventually sees right through all of the temptations, treats and treasures that come Eden's way. Any movie would blossom in its presence; Martin Eden positively dazzles, all while sinking daggers into the lifetime of tumult weathered by its titular everyman. IN THE HEIGHTS Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the first lyricist to pen tunes so catchy that they get stuck in your head for years (yes, years), but his rhythmic tracks and thoughtful lines always stand out. Miranda's songs are melodic and snappy, as anyone who has seen Hamilton onstage or via streaming definitely knows. The multi-talented songwriter's lyrics also pinball around your brain because they resonate with such feeling — and because they're usually about something substantial. The musical that made his name before his date with US history, In the Heights echoes with affection for its eponymous Latinx New York neighbourhood. Now that it's reverberating through cinemas, its sentiments about community, culture, facing change and fighting prejudice all seem stronger, too. To watch the film's characters sing about their daily lives and deepest dreams in Washington Heights is to understand what it's like to feel as if you truly belong in your patch of the city, to navigate your everyday routine with high hopes shining in your heart, and to weather every blow that tries to take that turf and those wishes away. That's what great show tunes do, whisking the audience off on both a narrative and an emotional journey. Miranda sets his words to hip hop beats, but make no mistake: he writes barnstorming songs that are just as rousing and moving, and that've earned their place among the very best stage and screen ditties as a result. Watching In the Heights, it's hard not to think about all those stirring tracks that've graced previous musicals. That isn't a sign of derivation here, though. Directing with dazzling flair and a joyous mood, Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M Chu nods to cinema's lengthy love affair with musicals in all the right ways. His song-and-dance numbers are clearly influenced by fellow filmic fare, and yet they recall their predecessors only because they slide in so seamlessly alongside them. Take his staging of '96000', for instance. It's about winning the lottery, after word filters around that bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, a Hamilton alum) has sold a lucky ticket. Due to the sweltering summer heat, the whole neighbourhood is at the public pool, which is where Chu captures a colourful sea of performers expressing their feelings through exuberantly shot, staged and choreographed music and movement — and it's as touching and glorious as anything that's ever graced celluloid. Of course, $96,000 won't set anyone up for life, but it'd make an enormous difference to Usnavi, In the Heights' protagonist and narrator. It'd also help absolutely everyone he loves. As he explains long before anyone even hears about the winning ticket, or buys it, every Heights local has their own sueñitos — little dreams they're chasing, such as his determination to relocate to the Dominican Republic. And that's what this intoxicating, invigorating, impassioned and infectious captures with vibrant aplomb. Read our full review.
The Whitsundays are a tropical paradise. Travellers generally head to these islands to spend days roaming along the white sandy beaches, snorkelling around the Great Barrier Reef and escaping their hectic lives...until screaming kids ruin the peace. That's why so many people book themselves into adults-only resorts — especially for parents who just need a well-deserved break — when seeking the ultimate Whitsundays holiday. And you don't even need an entire hotel or resort to yourself — many places have large sections dedicated to adults, leaving the kids to hide away on the other side of the property. Here are our favourites in The Whitsundays. QUALIA It doesn't get much more luxurious than Qualia — and the world certainly knows it, with the five-star resort scooping up dozens of tourism awards since it opened in 2008. Qualia is based on Hamilton Island's northernmost tip and boasts world-class dining, a spa and 60 pavilions filled with top-notch amenities — including some with their very own plunge pool and outdoor shower. The resort offers a number of unforgettable experiences, like private charters around The Whitsundays, helicopter flights over the Great Barrier Reef and guided food and wine tastings at the Long Pavilion fine diner. Every aspect of Qualia, from its design to its services, is shaped to encourage relaxation. As such, the entire resort is not only 18-plus but is also only accessible to guests. We've teamed up with Qualia to offer readers an exclusive package via Concrete Playground Trips. Enjoy four nights in an ocean-view pavilion, daily breakfast, a gourmet dinner, VIP transfers and chauffeur service around Hamilton Island, a full-day helicopter tour and more. Book now from $8795 for two. BEACH CLUB HAMILTON ISLAND This luxury beachfront hotel is entirely adults-only. That means no children in the hallways, infinity pool or restaurant, so you can holiday peacefully. But, the kid-free aspect of Beach Club Hamilton Island isn't the only drawcard of this accommodation. Each of the 57 modern rooms also faces Catseye Beach and has its own private balcony. There's plenty to see and do on Hamilton Island, but if you want to stay in your adults-only oasis, then feel free to order from the club's restaurant and eat and drink by the pool all day long. You also have access to catamarans, paddleboards, windsurfing gear and tennis courts — included in the price of your room. INTERCONTINENTAL HAYMAN ISLAND RESORT This is not strictly adults-only accommodation, but InterContinental's Hayman Island Resort boasts a huge new section of the island, entirely free of children. To access this part of the resort, you'll have to book into one of the impressive beachfront pavilions (which overlook a beach where kids aren't allowed). Each standalone room has a generous living area, a plush king bed and a private deck that leads right to the beach — take a few steps across the lawn, and you're right there. When you're looking to go further afield and see the rest of what The Whitsundays offer — think flights over the Great Barrier Reef, island wildlife tours, snorkelling, diving and fishing trips — the world-class team here will organise it all for you. ELYSIAN RETREAT Looking for somewhere to really get away from it all? Make tracks to Long Island's Elysian Retreat. Not only is this resort full of luxe amenities and experiences, but it also puts sustainability at its core as the Whitsunday's first 100-percent solar-powered resort — all the while being exclusively adults only. Seclusion is guaranteed at this expansive resort. It's located in its private cove and only hosts a maximum of 20 guests. That's a rarity in The Whitsundays, where enormous accommodation complexes tend to dominate the luxury scene. But there's still a full range of experiences here — you can join a yoga class, snorkelling and kayaking tour or indulge in a spa treatment. Elysian also works with several local touring companies, organising special trips to nearby islands and the Great Barrier Reef. The fact that the only way to get to this island is via a short helicopter ride from Hamilton Island is undoubtedly one more thing to add to the list of reasons to visit. WATERFRONT WHITSUNDAYS RETREAT It's not just the islands of The Whitsundays that are home to private, adults-only digs — the mainland also has some great options. Our pick: Waterfront Whitsundays Retreat. This Airlie Beach spot only has five rooms available, making for a far more low-key stay. There's no need to get up early to shotgun a poolside lounge chair, nor do you need to worry about crowds of people getting to the retreat's barbecue area and private garden before you do. Here, you can relax and take advantage of the on-site offerings at your own pace, all while you soak up the impressive views of the Coral Sea. Feeling inspired to book a getaway unlike anything else out there? Only through Concrete Playground Trips, our new travel booking platform, can you now purchase holidays specially curated by our writers and editors. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips at destinations all over the world. Top images: Elysian Retreat
Pick up a new pair of kicks, show your favourite band some love and help Aussie communities recovering from devastating floods: yes, just by adding some shoes to your wardrobe, you can do all of the above. If you're a Dune Rats fan, you'll already be mighty excited about the Brisbane band's just-launched Volley collection — but the fact that both Volley and Dune Rats are donating funds from each pair of sneakers to flood relief helps make a great thing even better. First, the shoes. Two different styles are available: a black pair of hightops decked out with the Dunies' logo, which'll set you back $99.99; and a white pair of heritage-style sneakers with red and yellow touches, which cost $74.99. Whichever you choose, $10 will be donated to folks in need after the catastrophic weather across Queensland and New South Wales, via both the Red Cross Flood Appeal and GIVIT. "We would normally be so stoked to announce a partnership with such an iconic brand as Volley (we are very proud of this collab), but what is happening right now in our home city of Brisbane and neighbouring towns down in the northern rivers has been devastating," said the band on Facebook. "To do help do our part, Volley is donating $5 from each pair of shoes sold to the Red Cross Flood Appeal and we will match that dollar for dollar ($10 a pair). We ask everyone to do what you can to help these communities. The music industry over the last two years has been decimated, but pales in comparison to loss these great communities are going through. Our hearts are with you," the statement continued. If you're keen to green light some new Dunies shoes for your cupboard right now, and do a great deed in the process, the limited-edition Dune Rats x Volley range also spans three different types of socks ($19.99 each) — including a black pair with lightning strikes — and a Dunies backpack ($69.99). And, this is just the first drop, with the band and brand launching an ongoing partnership. For more information about Dune Rats' Volley range, or to buy a pair of shoes, socks or a backpack online, head to the Volley website.
Playing ice hockey isn't a regular part of growing up Down Under, but watching a ragtag team of underdogs try their best on the ice has been a childhood staple since the 90s. The reason: the Mighty Ducks franchise. The three Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson-starring films hit screens between 1992–6, and have remained nostalgic favourites ever since. The trio of movies also spanned an animated show back in 1996; however, that's not the franchise's only leap into television. Because everything old is new again — including making that observation, because it just keeps proving relevant — Disney+ is bringing Mighty Ducks back courtesy of new series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. If Karate Kid can live on via the small screen, then so can this other beloved sports-focused saga, it seems. And like Cobra Kai, Game Changers is bringing back a familiar face when it debuts its ten-episode first season on Friday, March 26. That'd be Estevez, who reprises his role as Coach Gordon Bombay. Sadly, Jackson isn't involved this time around — but Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham will feature as the mother of a hockey-loving boy who helps him create his own team. Aimed at all ages — so at kids just discovering Mighty Ducks for the first time, and adults with fond memories — the show looks set to follow the underdog formula established in the films, as the first teaser trailer illustrates. It's set in Minnesota, where the Mighty Ducks are now a big deal, 12-year-old Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) gets cut from the team, and he and his mom (Graham) bring together their own crew in response — with the help of Bombay, of course. Check out the teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zryz5mHXtw&feature=youtu.be The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers starts airing on Disney+ from Friday, March 26. Top image: Disney+.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from November's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL CAUSEWAY Trauma is a screenwriter's best friend. If on-screen characters didn't have past stresses to overcome or new hardships to cope with — usually both — then dramatic scripts would barely last a few pages. Neither would horror flicks, or thrillers, or plenty of comedies; however, few films are happy to sit with trauma in the way that (and as well as) Causeway does. Starring Jennifer Lawrence (Don't Look Up) as a military veteran sent home from Afghanistan after being blown up, working her way through rehab and determined to re-enlist as soon as she has medical sign-off, this subtle, thoughtful and powerful movie grapples with several stark truths. It knows that some woes do genuinely change lives, and not for the better. It's well aware that many miseries can't be overcome, and completely alter the person experiencing them. It's keenly cognisant that that simply existing can be a series of heartbreaks, and escaping that cycle can be the most powerful motivator in the world. And, when Atlanta and Bullet Train's Brian Tyree Henry enters the picture as a New Orleans mechanic with his own history, it sees the solace that can be found between people willing to face their tough realities together. When Causeway begins, Lawrence's Lynsey is freshly out of hospital, and learning how to walk, dress, shower, drive and do all other everyday tasks again. Even then, she still wants to redeploy. Directed by feature first-timer Lila Neugebauer (The Sex Lives of College Girls), and penned by fellow debutants Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel and Elizabeth Sanders, the film spies the determination in its protagonist's eyes — and the pain she's trying to bury after she goes home to stay with her mother (Linda Emond, The Patient), gets drawn into old unhealthy dynamics, but finds a friend in Henry's kind, eager but haunted James. There's no cross-country drive with a canine, if the similarly themed Dog comes to mind, but rather a willingness to steep in Lynsey and James' complicated emotions. Neugebauer has the perfect central duo for the movie's key parts, too; neither Lawrence nor Henry's resumes are short on highlights, acclaim or award nominations, but their respective textured, naturalistic and deeply felt performances in Causeway ranks among each's best work. Causeway streams via Apple TV+. CALL JANE Whenever Call Jane peers Elizabeth Banks' way, the look on her face doesn't just speak a thousand words — it screams a million of them, even while she's silent. That said, although first-timer filmmaker Phyllis Nagy (who last penned Carol's screenplay) directs the lens towards her star often, there's nothing quite like Banks' expression in an early pivotal scene. The Charlie's Angels and Brightburn star plays Joy, a happy Chicago housewife with a 15-year-old daughter (Grace Edwards, American Crime Story) and a baby on the way, until she learns that her pregnancy is causing a heart condition. If she remains in the family way, there's a 50-percent chance that she mightn't survive; however, this is 1968 in America, before the Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion. In the scene in question, Joy is the only woman in the room, and yet the men around her talk about her life and potential death like she isn't even present. Worse: most of those male doctors are only concerned about whether the baby might make it to term. Joy seethes with pain, anger and heartbreak, then secretly takes a path that'll be familiar to viewers of 2022 documentary The Janes, contacting a clandestine service that helps women in such circumstances. As played with charm, warmth, depth and potency by Banks, Joy does more than merely pick up the phone. Soon, she's helping other women cope, alongside a team of ladies led by Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as Virginia. The latter is also canny casting, bringing both gravitas and understanding to the role — and the rapport between Call Jane's two central figures helps convey not only the urgency driving and importance behind the hotline's existence, but the crucial camaraderie. Still at home venturing decades into the past on-screen, Nagy and cinematographer Greta Zozula ensure that every second looks the rich, authentic period part, and a well-chosen soundtrack adds to the time-capsule feel. Of course, Call Jane isn't merely a look back. It'd be moving, sensitive and inspiring if the situation in the US hadn't changed this year via a Supreme Court ruling, once again putting women in Joy's situation, but now it acts as a cautionary tale as well, not to mention a reminder about banding together to fight back. Call Jane streams via Prime Video. WEDNESDAY It's a truth that Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday and Pugsley would treasure: nearly a century might've passed since The Addams Family first graced the pages of The New Yorker in the 1930s, but this creepy, kooky, mysterious and ooky brood will never die. America's first macabre family keeps entrancing and enchanting audiences, luring them in with their unflinching embrace of the eerie, the gothic, and the all-round dark and twisted. Forget bumps, jumps, screams and shrieks, however; this off-kilter crew might pal around with a severed limb and adore graveyards, but they also delight in a gloriously eclectic, eccentric, embrace-your-inner-outcast fashion, as the 1960s TV show, 1991's live-action film The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values, and now new Netflix series Wednesday understands and adores. The Addams Family's latest go-around arrives stitched-together as so much is of late. Netflix's algorithm has accurately gleaned that viewers love cartoonist Charles Addams' horror-influenced creations. It knows that people like mysteries and teen coming-of-age tales, two of the platform's favourite genres. And, the service is well-aware that already-beloved big names are a drawcard. Throw in Tim Burton directing like it's his 80s and 90s heyday, current scream queen Jenna Ortega sporting the trademark plaits, 90s Wednesday Christina Ricci returning in a new part, and a supernatural school for unusual children complete with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children-meets-Hogwarts vibes, and Wednesday's various pieces are as evident as the sewn-on limbs on Frankenstein's monster. And yet, while seeing why and how Netflix has crafted this series, and which levers it's pulling to electrify its experiment, is as easy as getting a killer glare from Wednesday's teenage protagonist, enjoying every second because it's astutely, knowingly and lovingly spliced together is just as straightforward — especially with Scream, Studio 666 and X star Ortega leading the show so commandingly and convincingly. Wednesday streams via Netflix. Read our full review. 1899 Before the Titanic collided with an iceberg, became one of modern history's most famous tragedies and inspired one of cinema's biggest box-office hits, a different cross-Atlantic liner sailed into chaos. So says Dark's Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, with the German pair's new — and wholly fictional — Netflix series 1899 taking place onboard the steamship Kerberos 13 years before the sinking that everyone knows about. This vessel is travelling from England to America with 1400 crew and passengers, filling everywhere from stately rooms to jam-packed halls. Among its number: Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham, The Pursuit of Love), a rare female doctor at the time; Kerberos' captain Eyk Larsen (Dark alum Andreas Pietschmann); and everyone from French newlyweds hardly in the throes of married bliss to a devoutly religious Danish family. Then the ship receives word of a missing craft. Owned by the same company, the Prometheus took the same route four months prior, and was thought to have disappeared without a trace until that distress signal beckons. Friese and bo Odar love a mystery, and 1899 has a hefty one right from the outset. Friese and bo Odar also love making labyrinthine puzzle-box shows that keep dropping clues, twists, and philosophical ideas about the meaning and point of existence in aid of the bigger picture — aka an approach that made 2017–20 German-language effort Dark such a massive and deserving success. Here, they ensure that sparks ignite twice by diving even deeper into their favourite themes, tactics and flourishes, and delivering a boatload of thrills, suspense and intrigue. With Friese and bo Odar pulling the strings, Dark and now 1899 instantly grab attention with their riddles, nightmarishly brooding mood and — as one series put right there in its name — their willingness to get and stay dark. Throw in the pair's penchant for existential musings, trippy setups and premise-shattering revelations, and both shows are catnip for mystery lovers. 1899 streams via Netflix. Read our full review. THE ENGLISH It tells of gold rushes, of brave and dusty new worlds, and of yellow frontiers stretching out beneath shimmering and inky blue skies; however, the true colour of the western is and always will be red. This isn't a genre for the faint-hearted, because it's a genre that spins stories about power and its brutal costs — power over the land and its Indigenous inhabitants; power-fuelled in-fighting among competing colonialists; and power exercised with zero regard for life, or typically for anyone who isn't white and male. It's a rich and resonant touch, then, to repeatedly dress Emily Blunt (Jungle Cruise) in crimson, pink and shades in-between in The English, 2022's best new TV western. She plays one instance of the show's namesakes, because the impact of the British spans far beyond just one person in this series — and the quest for revenge she's on in America's Old West is deeply tinted by bloodshed. In her first ongoing television role since 2005, in a stunning and powerful series from its performances and story through to its spirit and cinematography, Blunt dons such eye-catching hues as Lady Cornelia Locke. With a mountain of baggage and cash in tow, she has just reached Kansas when The English begins, seeking vengeance against the man responsible for her son's death. But word of her aims precedes her to this remote outpost's racist hotelier (Ciarán Hinds, Belfast) and, with stagecoach driver (Toby Jones, The Wonder), he has own mission. That the aristocratic Englishwoman arrives to find her host torturing Pawnee cavalry scout Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer, Blindspot) is telling: the plan is to blame her end on him. Before the first of this miniseries' episodes ends, however, Cornelia and Eli have rescued each other, notched up a body count and started a journey together that sees them each endeavouring to find peace in a hostile place in their own ways — and started their way through one helluva show. The English streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. DEAD TO ME When Dead to Me's ten-episode first season came to an end back in 2019, it was with secrets being exposed, plus a growing list of both woes and deaths. In season two, which dropped another ten episodes in 2020, Jen Harding (Christina Applegate, Bad Moms 2) and Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini, Hawkeye), the chalk-and-cheese pair at the show's centre, had worked through the fallout. There's been plenty to deal with, including the hit and run that left Laguna Beach real-estate agent Jen widowed, Judy's tale about the loss of her fiancé Steve Wood (James Marsden, Sonic the Hedgehog 2) and the truth behind both — as well as the reality of having Steve's kinder, cornier twin brother Ben (also Marsden) around. This is a show about cycles and circles, so when its second outing finished, it was with another accident, this time with Jen and Judy as its victims. That's where season three's ten episodes pick up, with the two women in hospital weathering yet another aftermath to a significant event with yet another round of life-changing consequences. Finding solace in complicated bonds, the strength to confront life's challenges, and the savviness to know when to appreciate the small wins and big delights: that's Dead to Me season three's arc. It's the series' in general, and was long before it was announced that it would finish after a third and final run. Of course, now that it's coming to an end — a fitting one, that keeps recognising the gifts, shocks, joys and sorrows that greet everyone — farewells and heightened feelings frequently go hand in hand. Cue unexpected diagnoses, meddling cops (returnees Diana Maria Riva, Kajillionaire, and Brandon Scott, Goliath), sleuthing federal agents (series newcomer Garrett Dillahunt, Where the Crawdads Sing), old flames (Natalie Morales, The Little Things) and frustrating neighbours (Suzy Nakamura, Avenue 5). And, cue creepy rooms filled with twin dolls, plus outlaw names: Bitch Cassidy and Judy Five Fingers (who chooses which is obvious) as well. Yes, Dead to Me goes all in on as many more plot swings as it can fit in as it rides off into the sunset. In the process, the show's swansong evokes as many emotions as it can, too. Dead to Me streams via Netflix. Read our full review. THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY HOLIDAY SPECIAL Two words: Kevin Bacon. That's the festive gift that The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special gives audiences, aka the gift that always keeps on giving. Viewers of this ragtag crew's big-screen adventures so far — including 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — know that Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt, Jurassic World Dominion) loves the Bacon. Rightly so, too. Accordingly, in what's an obvious but also delightful move, the gang's first small-screen special celebrates the holiday season by trying to give the iconic Footloose, Friday the 13th, Apollo 13 and Wild Things star as a present. New to Christmas and its significance to humans, and knowing that Quill is struggling after a big loss, Mantis (Pom Klementieff, Westworld) and Drax (Dave Bautista, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) think that their plan is perfectly acceptable, but chaos ensues, including when the two discover Christmas decorations. The second of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's straight-to-streaming specials in 2022, and the second that's occasion-themed as well — following the Halloween-targeted Werewolf by Night — The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is Marvel at its silliest and fluffiest. Getting gleefully goofy, and retro, has always been Quill and company's vibe, but this 44-minute affair takes that tone to another level. There's no missing how slight it all is, how much heavy lifting Bacon does just by being Bacon in an on-screen realm that worships Bacon, and the fact that it's a piece of marketing timed just when merchandise sales could double as gifts. Nonetheless, the gang's usual writer/director James Gunn (The Suicide Squad) still heartily embraces his brief. A big highlight, other than the vibe, the fun and poignancy that spring, and teenage Groot (Vin Diesel, Fast & Furious 9), is the range of alternative Christmas songs on the soundtrack — starting with The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York' and including Julian Casablancas and The Smashing Pumpkins' merry contributions. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special streams via Disney+. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK WELCOME TO CHIPPENDALES Scandals are to the true-crime genre like loose bills are to erotic dancers: virtually essential. On-screen stories about real life can exist without getting into ripped-from-the-headlines territory, of course, and performers who disrobe onstage can do their job without crumpled notes being thrust their way. Still, some synergies just work. In 2022, TV writer and producer Robert Siegel has happily mined sordid chapters of the past for two new streaming series, and how — first with the instantly watchable and engrossing Pam & Tommy, and now with the just-as-easy-to- Welcome to Chippendales. The second sees him survey the eponymous male stripping business, of course, showers of dollar notes and all. And for viewers who don't already know the details behind the world-famous touring dance troupe and its West Los Angeles bar origins, as started by Somen 'Steve' Banerjee back in the 70s and earning ample attention in the 80s, the full rundown has far more than scantily clad guys aplenty, lusty women, and bumping and grinding to an era-appropriate soundtrack. Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals) plays Steve, who rustles up the cash to start his own backgammon club by working in a service station for years. His dream place: cool, suave and sophisticated, and somewhere that Hugh Hefner might want to hang out. When a rush of patrons doesn't eventuate, the male dancer idea springs after a night at a gay bar with club promoter Paul Snider (Dan Stevens, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities) and his playboy model wife Dorothy Stratten (Nicola Peltz Beckham, Holidate). But as business partners change, choreographer and Emmy-winning producer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett, Physical) gives the troupe its crowd-pleasing moves, Steve kinds a kindred spirit in accountant Irene (Annaleigh Ashford, American Crime Story) and costume designer Denise (Juliette Lewis, Yellowjackets) comes on board, this twists into a tale of money, envy, squabbles over power and ultimately murder. And yes, both Nanjiani and Bartlett are riveting to watch — as are the dance routines De Noia conjures up. Welcome to Chippendales streams via Disney+. MYTHIC QUEST Starring in short-form ABC iView and YouTube series Content back in 2019, Charlotte Nicdao played a wannabe influencer who hoped that her online antics would bring her fame. Nicdao's career dates back almost two decades now, including past roles on The Slap, Please Like Me and Get Krack!n, but the Australian actor has certainly catapulted to stardom after her #Flipgirl days. In Mythic Quest, her character Poppy Li has also been seeking the spotlight. A gifted coder, as well as the technical force behind the hit video game that gives the series its name, she wants recognition and respect more than celebrity status, however. Three seasons in, she also wants her own hit title, rather than just always being stuck in creative director Ian Grimm's (Rob McElhenney, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) shadow. So, they've branched out on their own, away from their big success, in what's supposed to be a true 50/50 partnership — if they can get it together. On-screen, this season is about breaking out of one's comfort zones and embracing new challenges, even if Ian and Poppy are just on a different floor of the same building as Mythic Quest's regular crew — such as neurotic executive producer David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby, Good Girls), his brusk assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis, The Flight Attendant) and disgraced ex-finance head (Danny Pudi, Community). The series itself isn't quite in the same situation, though, because it's still finding new depths to explore by focusing on its characters' relationships with each other. Throwing a motley crew together, watching them bounce around, seeing how they change and grow — if the characters in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were capable of significant change and growth, McElhenney's two shows would have plenty in common. They still do, including an incisive ability to satirise and reshape the genre they're each in, aka the workplace sitcom. As Mythic Quest keeps going, it also keeps getting sharper and funnier. Mythic Quest streams via Apple TV+. FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE The title doesn't lie: when Fleishman Is in Trouble begins, its namesake is indeed struggling. He's also perfectly cast. If you're going to get an actor to play an anxious, unravelling, recently divorced man in his forties who's trying to navigate the new status quo of sharing custody of his kids, having a high-powered ex, and being initiated into the world of dating apps and casual hookups, it's Jesse Eisenberg. If his Zombieland character lived happily ever after until he didn't, or his Vivarium character was trapped into a different type of domestic maze, this book-to-screen series would be the end result. Fleishman Is in Trouble has Eisenberg play Toby, a well-regarded hepatologist who is passionate about being able to help people through medicine, but has spent more than a decade being made to feel inferior by Upper East Siders because his job hasn't made him rich enough. His theatre talent agent wife — now former — Rachel (Claire Danes, The Essex Serpent) had the exact same attitude, too, until she dropped their kids off at his place in the middle of the night, said she was going to a yoga retreat and stopped answering his calls. Written to sound like a profile — something that journalist, author and screenwriter Taffy Brodesser-Akner knows well, and has the awards to prove it — Fleishman Is in Trouble chronicles Toby's present woes while reflecting upon his past. It's a messy and relatable story, regardless of whether you've ever suddenly become a full-time single dad working a high-stakes job you're devoted to in a cashed-up world you resent. As narrated by the ever-shrewd Lizzy Caplan (Truth Be Told) as Toby's old college pal-turned-writer and now stay-at-home-mum Libby, Fleishman Is in Trouble dives into the minutiae that makes Toby's new existence such a swirling sea of uncertainty. At the same time, while being so specific about his situation and troubles, it also ensures that all that detail paints a universal portrait of discovering that more of your time is gone, your hopes faded and your future receded, than you'd realised. Everything from class inequality and constant social hustling to the roles women are forced to play around men earns the show's attention in the process, as layered through a show that's both meticulously cast and evocatively shot. Fleishman is indeed in trouble, but this miniseries isn't. Fleishman Is in Trouble streams via Disney+. THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS That Chalamet family is everywhere. In cinemas, Timothée is currently taking a bite out of another yearning-filled romance — his specialty — in Bones and All. On streaming, The Sex Lives of College Girls starring his sister Pauline (The King of Staten Island) has just returned. After ranking among 2021's new highlights, this university-set comedy gets its second season off to just as charming and energetic a start, and with just as healthy a lashing of the kind of comedy that series co-creator Mindy Kaling is known for. If you watched The Office, The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever and the TV Four Weddings and a Funeral remake, you know the vibe — but focused on four 18-year-olds navigating their freshman year at a prestigious Vermont college. And, while each one of that key quartet fits a type to begin with, including studious, sporty, posh and funny (yes, they're one short of the full Spice Girls), unpacking those first impressions sits firmly at the heart of the series. This time around, scholarship student Kimberly Finkle (Chalamet), aspiring comedy writer Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur, The D Cut), star soccer player Whitney Chase (Alyah Chanelle Scott, Reboot) and the wealthy Leighton Murray (theatre star Reneé Rapp) know what to expect on campus. When season two starts, however, they're persona non grata among the fraternities after season one's events. As well as humorously observing the antics of teenage girls discovering who they are, The Sex Lives of College Girls loves unfurling and interrogating obvious but loaded contrasts, like why its four smart protagonists feel drawn to the frat party scene to begin with. Also earning the show's focus in its latest batch of episodes, as examined with the same warmth, insight and hilarity as its first go-around: income inequality, busting preconceptions, coming out, relationship double standards and starting a comedy magazine. The Sex Lives of College Girls streams via Binge. 2022 CINEMA HIGHLIGHTS WORTH CATCHING UP WITH AT HOME PETITE MAMAN Forget the "find someone who looks at you like…" meme. That's great advice in general, and absolutely mandatory if you've ever seen a Céline Sciamma film. No one peers at on-screen characters with as much affection, attention, emotion and empathy as the French director. Few filmmakers even come close, and most don't ever even try. That's been bewitchingly on display in her past features Water Lillies, Tomboy, Girlhood and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, any of which another helmer would kill to have on their resume. It's just as apparent in Petite Maman, her entrancing latest release, as well. Now 15 years into her directorial career, Sciamma's talent for truly seeing into hearts and minds is unshakeable, unparalleled and such a lovely wonder to watch — especially when it shines as sublimely and touchingly as it does here. In Sciamma's new delicate and exquisite masterpiece, the filmmaker follows eight-year-old Nelly (debutant Joséphine Sanz) on a trip to her mother's (Nina Meurisse, Camille) childhood home. The girl's maternal grandmother (Margot Abascal, The Sower) has died, the house needs packing up, and the trip is loaded with feelings on all sides. Her mum wades between sorrow and attending to the task. With melancholy, she pushes back against her daughter's attempts to help, too. Nelly's laidback father (Stéphane Varupenne, Monsieur Chocolat) assists as well, but with a sense of distance; going through the lifelong belongings of someone else's mother, even your spouse's, isn't the same as sifting through your own mum's items for the last time. While her parents work, the curious Nelly roves around the surrounding woods — picture-perfect and oh-so-enticing as they are — and discovers Marion (fellow newcomer Gabrielle Sanz), a girl who could be her twin. Petite Maman streams via Stan. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows so far as well — and our best 15 new shows from the first half of this year, top 15 returning shows over the same period and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies up until June.
Dom Dolla just keeps making history. Back in December 2023, the Australian DJ and producer notched up a hefty achievement, playing his biggest-ever hometown show in Melbourne at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Then, come 2024, his national tour became the largest ever by an Australian electronic artist, selling 170,000-plus tickets in four cities. What does 2025 hold, then? Oh, only the Grammy-nominee doing his first-ever Aussie stadium show and biggest headline gig ever. He's played Coachella, Lollapalooza, Wildlands, Spilt Milk and more — including soldout Madison Square Garden gigs with over 30,000 attendees, plus Ultra Miami and EDC Las Vegas. When Europe's summer hits, he's doing a ten-week residency at Hï Ibiza. Then, on Saturday, December 20, 2025, Dom Dolla will head home in a massive way, headlining Sydney's Allianz Stadium. The three-time ARIA-winner (and 16-time ARIA-nominee) also has something else sizeable to add to his resume in 2025: with 'No Room for a Saint' featuring Nathan Nicholson, he's making his film soundtrack debut. The movie: the Brad Pitt (F1)-starring F1. Also this year, Dom Dolla has released two other tracks: 'Dreamin' featuring Daya and 'Forever' with Kid Cudi. On his 2024 Aussie tour, the venues weren't small, given that he played Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse, Sydney's Domain, Brisbane's Riverstage and Perth's Wellington Square. But making the leap to a headline stadium gig is no minor feat. Only the sole Allianz Stadium show has been announced, so if you're keen to head along and you're outside of the Harbour City, you'll also want to make travel plans. Dom Dolla is playing Allianz Stadium, Sydney on Saturday, December 20, 2025. You can sign up for ticket presales from 11am AEST on Monday, May 19, then buy presale tickets from the same time on Thursday, May 22, with general sales from 12pm on Friday, May 23. Head to Dom Dolla's website for more details. Images: shevindphoto / Beyond the Valley, Chloe Hall.
On your next weekend getaway to the Blue Mountains, you can spend the day exploring many cafes and hiking tracks, and the night exploring the sky, thanks to a new stargazing tour. Taking place at the Wentworth Falls picnic area and hosted by Dr Dimitri Douchin — who has a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics, no less — the 90-minute tour will see you ogling the likes of the Milky Way, the Orion Nebula, shooting stars (if you're lucky), Mars and Venus through a professional-grade telescope. You'll also learn about the history of the Blue Mountains and how to identify stars and constellations with your naked-eye. Plus, the $85 ticket includes a vegan hot chocolate — particularly important on the chillier nights. The nighttime tours run Thursday through Sunday most weeks, depending on weather. To see the full list of dates, head over here. If you plan on making a weekend out of the tour, we've also rounded up a list of 20 of the most enchanting getaways in the Blue Mountains, which include an Airbnb inside an actual clifftop cave. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Despite what governmental and mainstream media outlets may have you believe, Australia isn't the only nation where people are desperately seeking asylum. Europe's currently in the middle of a very real refugee crisis, with the civil war in Syria leaving over four million Syrians displaced and looking for a new, safe home. That's an absolutely unfathomable amount of people. And while most of us have gawked and sat around wondering what we can do to help refugees, three Dutch twenty-somethings have actually gone and done something about it, creating a new non-profit accommodation platform for refugees. Refugee Hero essentially works like Airbnb. It looks a lot like it too. The website allows people to advertise their spare room to refugees looking for a place to stay when they arrive in a new country. It's geared around people putting up rooms available in their residential homes, but organisations are encouraged to open up their facilities, such as churches, mosques, schools and universities as well. And the best part is, the service 100 percent free. In that regard, it's more like Couchsurfing than Airbnb — but with hosts that are socially conscious legends with hearts of gold. The Netherlands-based startup was founded by Germaine Statia, Jamal Oulel, and Ayoub Aouragh, who are all aged 23-25. "We want to give back humanity to mankind," says Germaine Statia on their website. Since launching in September last year, Refugee Hero has rooms listed everywhere from Bulgaria to Johannesburg to Maryland in the States. And while there aren't any Australian listings yet, we can't see any reason why you can't get involved. Hop to it! Via PSFK.
French cuisine has a track record of being reserved for fine-dressed diners with deep pockets and fancy palates, but this fancy-yet-approachable venue in Rozelle is setting out to change the stereotype. Having opened its doors in the harbourside suburb in November, Chez Blue is set to become a hotspot for French cuisine in Sydney. Based in The Sackville Hotel and with Mark Williamson (former chef at Bistro Moncur) in charge of the kitchen, Chez Blue offers a certain French flair previously not available at the local institution. On the menu you can play it safe with the classics (steak frites, croque monsieur, chicken leg roulade and snapper fillet with clams) or veer off the well-tasted path with adventurous items like chicken liver pâté with a brûléed top to crack, a scallop tartare and a fried tripe dish. Or, bring a hungry group to tackle larger items like the one-kilogram O'Connor rib eye served with béarnaise sauce. On the drinks front, it's as good as you'd hope. An exceedingly French wine list is joined by an equally luxe cocktail list — picture sipping on the Delicious Sour, made with Calvados, Pommeau de Normandie, peach wine and a splash of citrus, or the specialty croissant-washed martini, made with Four Pillars gin that is croissant-washed in-house then combined with vermouth, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice oil. And, on Tuesday, you can save a few dollars by bringing your own favourite bottle of wine. The BYO deal is only available from 5pm and includes $25 corkage. Chez Blue is a part of the Solotel family, so event hosting is its bread and butter (second only to its actual bread and butter). Check the website to get the details on its hosting capacities, but it's a fine choice for any special occasion. Images: Steven Woodburn
An Aussie riff on the izakayas of Japan and bars of Korea, Surry Hills' Tokki is a fun, relaxed spot primed for dinner, drinks and everything in between. As you'd expect, Japanese and Korean flavours star throughout the food and drink menus. A raw bar is plating options like salmon sashimi and a kingfish ceviche teamed with white soy-infused vinaigrette, while the small plates might see you tucking into the likes of Korean-style pork or miso butter-glazed roasted cauliflower. There are fluffy bao and a trio of Korean fried chicken (KFC) options, including one lathered in spicy Korean chilli paste. Or, you can go large with plates like the wagyu short rib with wild berry umeshu and miso butter prawns. A couple of feed me menus will save you the decisions. As Tokki is run by David Bae of Market City's Kogi Korean BBQ, you'd assume the Surry Hills restaurant would have some barbecued meets on the menu. And it does. We suggest you order the Tokki BBQ tray — a hefty mix of beef rib, pork belly, gochujang chicken and baby pork ribs. The matching drinks lineup spans a strong selection of Japanese whisky and sake, Korean soju and a concise wine list that focuses on minimal-intervention Aussie drops. You'll also find a mix of imported brews and local craft beers, and you can have a bit of fun with cocktails like the Merry Soju — a fresh blend of yuzu, soju, Suze, St. Germain and lavender — and a smoky bourbon number dubber Oboolau. Located on the corner of Foveaux and Belmore streets in Surry Hills — you'll spot the four bright light boxes through the large front windows — Tokki's isn't the only izakaya in the area. It's a two-minute walk from the long-standing Tokyo Bird and three minutes from the raucous Goros, so we suggest you hit them all up and make a bar crawl out of it.
A decadent spot deserves a decadent bar to match — or a couple. That's the case at Sydney's 120-year-old Queen Victoria Building, which has taken things up a notch with with the launch of not one, but two new luxurious bars. When you're not sipping Champagne at Reign at the QVB, you can combine beverages with a meal at bar-restaurant Esquire Drink + Dine. Open late every night, Esquire is the place to head if you're looking for more of a sit-down meal. The opulent level-one venue takes its cues from the supper clubs of New York, with an old-world fit-out of oak, leather and parquetry flooring. It's a moody, dapper backdrop for settling in with a fittingly expansive offering of whisky, cocktails and wine. From the kitchen comes a sophisticated spread of reimagined comfort food. Think gruyere-stuffed jaffles with fries and a pork jowl schnitzel sided with mustard, radish and burnt lemon. You can also choose from four cuts of steak and a whole roast chicken for two, which is used across two courses. Both Esquire and Reign are overseen by a team of hospitality guns, including Matthew Beaumont as Group General Manager of Beverage (The Star, Merivale), Damien Worthington (QT Hotels, The Winery) in the role of Executive Chef and Fabio Nistrio (Sokyo at The Star, Bambini Trust Restaurant & Wine Room) heading up the tightly curated drinks program. Esquire is open from 11am each day, surely to cater to post-shopping snacks and business lunches. And as far as kicking on late, it's open for eats and drinks right up until 2am Thursday through Sunday. Images: Damian Flanagan.
For the past nine months, The Lume has dazzled Melburnians with an immersive, multi-sensory exploration of the works of Van Gogh. Now, the digital art gallery is gearing up to launch its second exhibition, swapping the giant projections of Sunflowers and The Starry Night for a showcase of iconic works from the French Impressionist era. Announced today, Monet & Friends Alive is the next dynamic art experience set to take over the gallery's lofty spaces, kicking off Wednesday, October 26, in the site's permanent home at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). Taking visitors back in time to 19th-Century Paris, it'll celebrate the paintings of Impressionist icons from Monet to Renoir, and Cézanne to Manet. As with its predecessor, the exhibition will display its artworks via supersized projections splashed across its sprawling surfaces, and paired with a curation of tastes, aromas and sounds. Here, that means you'll be able to wander over a bridge and right into a recreation of Monet's famed 1899 work, Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies. Other interactive experiences will include a studio space where visitors can have a go at creating their own replicas of Monet's best-known paintings. Further tapping into the French bohemian spirit will be The Lume's own take on a 19th-Century Parisian cafe, Cafe Lumiere, which will be serving up a menu of small bites, share plates and desserts to enjoy after your artistic adventures. The Lume is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Grande Experiences, which, for the past 15 years, has hosted immersive exhibitions and gallery experiences in over 130 cities across the world. The company also owns and operates Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. You've still got a few more weeks to catch Van Gogh at The Lume before it wraps up on Sunday, October 9, making way for Monet & Friends Alive to take over. 'Monet & Friends Alive' will launch on October 26, with tickets available from August 26. Head to the website for more details.
They're doing more than just jamming: actors Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch and James Norton, plus writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green, that is. Teaming up for Bob Marley: One Love, the first major biopic about its namesake — and a film driven by Marley's family, with wife Rita producing with children Ziggy and Cedella, plus their sibling Stephen the music supervisor — this quartet knows that their task is formidable and important. Anyone wondering whether the feature's focal point, a Jamaican icon and the initial person that anyone instantly thinks of when reggae is mentioned, could be loved is pondering a pointless question. Ben-Adir, who stars as Bob fresh from playing one of Barbie's Kens — and steps into another real-life figure's shoes again after giving One Night in Miami its Malcolm X and TV's The Comey Rule its Barack Obama — is among Marley's fans. He has company on the movie; of course, everyone should be. "He was an artist first, and one of the great, great songwriters. I don't know if there's anyone who can write songs [like him]. Like, he's top five, but my number one," he tells Concrete Playground. So for him, his job "was always about trying to understand him as an artist, and as a father, as a man," Ben-Adir explains. "Here's a musician who dedicated his life to writing songs that we now all get to enjoy. Understanding what that meant, to play the guitar and to write that many songs, that many albums, in that ten-year period, it was just incredible." Bob Marley: One Love arrives after documentaries have already had the sun shining on Marley's impact and legacy. A birth-to-death filmic biography isn't its aim or approach, then. The man, the music, the message: that's the movie's trinity as it hones in Bob in the late 70s, specifically around the making and touring of his 1977 album Exodus. The record was named the best album of the 20th century by TIME magazine; however, it's not just its contents but the political context in Jamaica that brought it to fruition that speaks volumes about the man behind it. "That was a period of time of musical genius, musical creation. Bob created Exodus, which was one of the greatest albums of the 20th century — and after the assassination attempt on his life in 1976, [and the] political turmoil in Jamaica, it was just such a rich period of time," says Green. The filmmaker both directs and co-writes, in his first feature since fellow biopic King Richard. "And also, he had made several albums that we can pull from. The backbone of the story is the music. So it felt such like a rich period of time in Bob's life, before he obviously gets sick — it just felt like a really prime time in his life that that captured the essence of who the man was," Green continues. [caption id="attachment_940714" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Antony Jones/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] This isn't just a story of one person, either. Turning in the picture's other powerful main performance, Captain Marvel, No Time to Die and The Woman King's Lynch is Rita to Ben-Adir's Bob. It's as much her tale as well. "Frankly, if her voice wasn't as present as it is in the movie, if she wasn't as dynamic a character as she is in the movie, I wouldn't have taken the role," Lynch advises Concrete Playground. "Because I knew from afar before I had the role who she is, what she represents, how respected she is in Jamaica, in Ghana, in different countries over the world — that if it wasn't going to be that, then I don't have any business lending my voice to that." As for Happy Valley, Nowhere Special and Little Women star Norton, another veteran of playing real-life figures after Mr Jones and Rogue Agent, he brings influential record producer and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell to the screen. "It is daunting," he advises. "Especially if they're alive, because you know they're going to watch it — well, they might watch it one day — and there's only one person who's going to give you the full appraisal of your work: it's the person who you just played." With Bob Marley: One Love releasing in cinemas Down Under on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, we also chatted with Ben-Adir, Green, Lynch and Norton about the importance of finding the right person to play Bob, plus making a Bob Marley movie with his family so heavily involved — as well as why a Bob Marley biopic hasn't reached screens before and learning about the singer while working on the film. On Finding the Right Actor to Play Bob Marley — and Being That Actor Reinaldo: "We looked at thousands of tapes from everywhere, everywhere we could find. It's just hard. It's Bob Marley. You're looking for a needle in the haystack — and we're talking really good actors — that it just was really hard to find it. So when I saw Kingsley's tape, it was the first time that I thought it was possible. He had a look. He had an enigma. He had a vulnerability. He had a charisma. And his tape, it was pulling me closer to him. I was leaning in in a way that I hadn't leaned into any of the other tapes, and so I knew that there was a baseline. Obviously I wanted to meet him immediately. I didn't know Kingsley or Kingsley's work — or I didn't remember 'oh, that was the guy that played that'. And so it was interesting to find it and say 'oh, okay, he was a chameleon in those movies, he was able to disappear'. And there was something quite special about that. There was obviously a level of intelligence that I was looking for, somebody that was going to put in the work and be able to make an interpretation of Bob, rather than mimic Bob. So the tape gave me so much excitement that it was possible to even attempt to make a movie about Bob, and from that moment we went on the journey of discovering who the man was." Kingsley: "When the audition came through, I was told that as soon as you get the tape to us, the family will see it within 24 hours. So that's a good motivation to get your shit together and prepare something meaningful or worth sharing. That's what I always do when there's a big audition or interesting audition or something that feels substantial, you just take three to four days — you just need a bit of time to wrap your head around, in this case, Bob. I spent some time really watching him and watching him in concert and listening to some of his interviews. And yeah, I guess when I got the call saying that Ziggy had approved and wanted me to fly over and meet him, it was a pretty special feeling. I didn't have the job, but I was going over to meet Bob's child, which is really surreal." On Making a Movie About Bob Marley with the Help of Bob Marley's Family Kingsley: "Ziggy remembers a lot about him. He was in Zimbabwe with his dad. He was in Jamaica. What was so amazing was that the process of building the character was with Bob's friends and family. So I read all the books, but after a while you just go 'don't need those, I can just call people who knew Bob — I can just call people who were there in London with Bob, I can call people who are on stage with him'. It's really incredible, looking back. It was work, there was a lot to find out and there was a lot of work to do, but I loved working with Ziggy. All throughout the prep, we would message and talk, and then he was there with us every day on set, which was just game-changing. Neville Garrick [Bob Marley's art director] and Ziggy were with us every day from the beginning. And I mean, there wasn't a morning where Ziggy wasn't on set first. He was always there. Any questions? Anytime. And so my process was really our process — it was really a communal thing." Lashana: "You read everything. You read her book — thank god she wrote one. You watch everything. And then you hope that it makes sense. And it did, to a certain extent, until I called for some time with her. Then after I met her, I thought I could just throw away all the information, to be honest. It's really helpful to have facts, but it's more the types of beings that Mrs Marley and that Bob are and were at the time for everybody, is so intricate and so beautiful, that it requires a tapping in of their level of spirituality in order for me to even portray any of her. There needs to be a spiritual connection there. So I ensured that the energy was right, and whenever I didn't feel like I was approaching her well, I had to just take a beat with myself and remember who she is and what she deserves. And thankfully, this production knew that we had the children's support and guidance throughout the shoot. That helped us really get to those sweet spots in the movie." Reinaldo: "It was quite special obviously to meet Ziggy for the first time, and to understand why they were making this movie — and why me, and just try to try to get an understanding of that. Ziggy had seen a short film of mine called Stone Cars. It wasn't even the King Richard Oscar [attention] — he was talking about my short film, which I shot in South Africa, and I thought that was really interesting because I shot that film with no money, with no lights, all natural light. And it was raw, and I think that's what he was after. He was after something raw. He was after something pure. And once I knew that, I knew that he wanted to make something quite special. So that was just a connection. It was an immediate connection, somebody's valuing your short film work as a filmmaker. Since then I had learned a lot, so I was like 'okay, I can take what I learned from my short films and bring that to that'. I can bring that kind of energy. I can bring a City of God energy to this film in a way that maybe we hadn't seen on the screen, or I was hoping that that what we were trying to achieve was something different — not necessarily a musical biopic; a movie like City of God or Black Orpheus, something that felt organic and pure and raw. We were aligned right away when it came to that, to the visuals in the film, and what I wanted to look and feel like. I'm very grateful to him for that, and that was the start to a three-year-long journey." On the Process of Stepping Into Such Influential Figures' Shoes Kingsley: "What was really exciting about it originally, he's an icon and a hero and everyone knows Bob, and there's a huge pressure around that and the family are involved, but really when I started working, it was about understanding the musician — and understanding the meaning of his songs, and understanding what it was that Bob was trying to do. And my mind was just blown. I'd spend a few days on an album, then I'd move on to another one, then I'd get stuck on a song, then I'd be on that song for four weeks. And Cedella, Bob's daughter, sent me some files that only the family have. There were a number of interviews that are not available on YouTube or anywhere. I was listening to them and transcribing them all the way through, even when we were shooting. It was just amazing to get to listen to Bob talk over a 12-year-period so extensively about his religious beliefs, about writing, about life, about everything." Lashana: "I wanted to make sure that she was authentically portrayed, and that she was given the light and the flowers that she deserves — and that her spirit and her energy was in the film. So it was important for me to be able to rest firm in that at the beginning, and then be able to impart, I guess, the wisdom and the information that I gained from meeting her into the script and onto set. I think that the most-daunting thing at the very beginning was the fact that I have a responsibility to Jamaica. I represent Jamaica to the fullest. I'm of Jamaican heritage. My parents were born there. And also this is one of the queens of our country. So I knew that the responsibility was going to be big and that this had to be right. Once I saw how weighty that responsibility was, I just threw it away and decided to just focus on Mrs Marley, because she's who has the voice here and she's who people are going to remember — whether they're learning more about her because they know her already, or they don't know her and they're learning her for the first time. I wanted her portrayal to be balanced." James: "Chris Blackwell was a legend in his own right. In terms of music producers through the ages, there's no one really like him. As people have said, he's more one to introduce reggae to the world than anyone. And if you look at his roster of talent that he's represented and careers that he's launched, his taste is immaculate and he's clearly brilliant at his job. Also, the way that he kind of cross-pollinated, the way that he brought Junior Marvin into The Wailers because he knew the sound it would bring, which is nodded to in the movie — the guy's a genius. I think most music producers would say that there's only been one Chris Blackwell and there only will be one. So it was a responsibility to get him right. It was a pleasure and a privilege to learn about him. It was a privilege to meet him in Jamaica when we premiered the film, and I got to shake his hand — and I think he was approving of my portrayal. He didn't seem too upset, which is which is a relief." On Why a Bob Marley Biopic Hasn't Reached Screens Before Reinaldo: "I think time. Time wasn't right. I know they tried to make it for 30 years. Neville Garrick, who was our consulting producer on the film, told me I think he had tried to make it for 25 years. I had heard names like Oliver Stone and Scorsese, and many, many directors at some point, because everybody loves Bob. I just think time wasn't on their side. Time was on my side. It was the family's time. I think it was hopefully finding the right filmmaker. I think there's a time for everything and for whatever reason, this was our time. And we had to run with it. And also part of it was discovering who was going to play Bob. I think for so long it was trying to find who could carry the weight, who could carry that burden in in a lot of ways. Fortunately for us, it was Kingsley." On Learning More About Bob Marley by Making the Film James: "I was a fan, but like a lot of people, my life as a fan was limited to legend. I think probably when I was a teenager I was given or I brought that compilation, and I gorged on it. It became really, genuinely an important part of my teenage years and my 20s. He provided an apt soundtrack to those periods: the upbeat, celebratory moments; the crashes; the lower, more-pensive moments with 'Redemption Song' or whatever it might be. So I listened to his music and I didn't really know much about the context. And this is why I think this film for me and for hopefully the audience is going to be so important, because you realise that his message is so much bigger than his music. As there's a line in the film, the message and the music can't be separated. But it's been a real journey, a real revelation to me, to understand more about the man and where that message came from — and the fact that it came from struggle. Reinaldo: "I was definitely a fan. Grew up with the music in my household. My dad named me Reinaldo Marcus Green after Marcus Garvey [the Jamaican political activist], who Bob had studied, and so there were all these kismet signs that I was somehow supposed to be the person that helped bring this story to life. And I resisted it like I resist everything. 'Why me? It's too much. It's too hard. This is crazy. This is Bob Marley!'. But it was something about Bob in particular. He's a superhero. He's really unlike any other musician. He's like Peter Parker — he's a common man who then puts on a cape at night and rescues us with his music. It's a fantasy, and it's amazing when you see somebody that has that ability to transform our lives with his music. I mean, it's very rare to get that. You see the face, you see the image on the T-shirts and it's like 'who is that? Who is that man?'. I think we always we always feel that. He's a revolutionary, his spirit, what he was singing for. So going on that discovery was amazing. I only knew the tunes, right? Very rarely do you dissect lyrics. And that was the quest for me in this film, was really trying to understand where the music was coming from. I wasn't so well-versed in Jamaican politics, what was happening at that time, what was really going on — and Jamaica's rich history, and colonialism, and what was happening in politics. And so it was a great way for me to rediscover that period of time and do it through his music. I was hoping that we can weave the film in a way that the music comes out in a very organic way in the film that feels part of the fabric of how we made the movie; it's the DNA, it's the backbone, but it's not a musical." Bob Marley: One Love releases in cinemas Down Under on Wednesday, February 14, 2024. Read our review.
2023 already marks Australia's last chance to be in the room where it happens. Until winter, it's now every Aussie muggle's final opportunity to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child pick up its wands as well. Currently running as a condensed single-night play rather than the original two-part version, this onstage follow-up to the page and screen Harry Potter franchise has announced that it'll wrap up its Melbourne season on Sunday, July 9 — and then leave our shores. Unlike other big shows such as Hamilton, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and The Book of Mormon in recent years, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child isn't jumping elsewhere around the nation after its stint in the Victorian capital. So, when the curtain falls on its lengthy stay at Melbourne's Princess Theatre after four years, that'll be the end of its magic Down Under. That gives theatregoers five months to book in a date with the hit wizarding production, which picks up 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and its abominably cheery epilogue on Platform 9 3/4. Here, Harry is now an overworked Ministry of Magic employee, with the play focusing on both him and his youngest son Albus Severus Potter as they grapple with the past and future. Since debuting in London in July 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has won a swathe of awards (including nine Olivier Awards and six Tonys) and proven a repeated sellout — in the West End, on Broadway and in San Francisco, too. In its Melbourne run, it has become the most successful play in Australian history, including attracting 326,500 people in its first year. Four years on from first opening in Australia in February 2019, and after navigating the pandemic during that time, the local season has sold more than a million tickets and hosted over 1300 performances. "We are extremely proud of our Melbourne production and to be the longest-running play in the history of Australia is an extraordinary achievement," said producer Sonia Friedman CBE, announcing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's Aussie end date. "Opening our production here has been one of the highlights in the life of our groundbreaking, astonishing show and we look forward to an amazing final five months in this glorious city." Muggles, if you want to see The Cursed Child, you'll need to accio yourself along before July — with more tickets released on Monday, February 6. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child plays Melbourne's Princess Theatre until Sunday, July 9. For more information and to buy tickets, head to the play's website. Images: Michelle Grace Hunder.
