Some of Sydney's best foodmasters are joining forces to take over The Unicorn on Oxford Street. Mary's owners Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham are teaming up with Bodega/Porteno's Elvis Abrahanowicz and Young's Henrys' Oscar McMahon are teaming up as a Sydney supergroup to revamp the Paddington pub. Yeah, holy crap. It's not going to be a Mary's in the eastern suburbs, it's not going to be a craft beer pub, and it's not going to be the dreaded buzzword: a gastropub. According to Australian Gourmet Traveller, it's going to be a "pub-pub", somewhere the lads themselves would like to drink. Location is key, being outside the lockout, so this could be your new go-to for 2am kick-ons. Speaking of tipples, the dranks in this establishment will be largely and wonderfully local, with a totally Australian wine list — some of South Australia's top South Australian winemakers (think Tara Ochota, James Erskine and Tom Shobbrook) are already armed with wine for the new pub. Obviously Young Henrys will have plenty of goodies behind the bar, but there'll also be a round-up of Australian beers represented. With the minds behind Mary's and Porteno behind this, what of the nosh? Abrahanowicz is in charge of the menus, and apparently, the horizon is pub food done well, going back to basics instead of doing any fancy schmany modern twists — AGT is talking of roast chicken, both "cheap and fancy steak" and generous sangas with cheese, chutney and glazed ham cut right off the bone. Obviously, there'll be Mary's burgers on the menu too. This will hopefully be a long and happy new chapter for The Unicorn, who just closed their doors a few months ago — along with the closure of '70s basement bar Easy Tiger. Redesigned in March 2014, after a disastrously Westfield-like renovation of Fringe Bar in 2012, The Unicorn seemed to have found its Paddington groove once more. But after closing up shop, here's hoping the Mary's, Young Henrys and Porteno crew can see The Unicorn ride again. The Unicorn will reopen at 106 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW. Details TBC. Via Australian Gourmet Traveller.
Seminal '90s grunge band Nirvana's album Nevermind turns 20 this year. You might have heard about it. It was kind of a big deal. Nirvana are widely recognised to be one of the most important bands to emerge over the past couple of decades. Even though I was a kid when they were playing I still remember them very fondly, and have vivid memories of my mother weeping when she heard that Kurt Cobain had died. For that reason, Nirvana only ever made it out to Australia once. But for everyone who was either too young or too slow in getting tickets twenty years ago, CinemaLive are here to help. To celebrate Nevermind's 20th anniversary, Australia's largest network of satellite-linked cinemas will be presenting a one-off screening of the never before seen Live At The Paramount. Recorded at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, the concert marked Nirvana's first big homecoming show in the midst of the hype surrounding Nevermind, and has since become the only known live Nirvana concert ever recorded on film. Hosted by triple j's Richard Kingsmill, this will be the first and only screening of the film in Australia. The event also launches CinemaLive's Set List program which will beam live music events to cinemas around Australia. Tickets will set you back $35 and also include a 20th anniversary deluxe edition of Nevermind featuring 40 tracks, including rarities, studio out-takes and live recordings. Screenings will take place all over the city at nineteen different cinemas. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ckQOotKob6E
Yirrkala artist Naminapu Maymuru-White has brought her captivating style of painting and love of the arts to her first solo exhibition since 2007. Coming from a strong family of Yolŋu artists, Maymuru-White has made waves for decades by presenting the artistic methods of the Yirrkala community while carving out her own way of expressing herself. Now open at free Zetland gallery Sullivan+Strumpf, Milngiyawuy—The River of Heaven and Earth unveils a significant body of work from Maymuru-White featuring 26 individual pieces taking up both floors of the exhibition space. Included in the exhibition are larrakitj (memorial poles), bark paintings and the acclaimed artist's largest work to date, spanning 2.5 square metres. The pieces displayed tell stories of the Milky Way and its spirits. The stars in the works represent souls of two Guwak men and Maymuru-White's ancestors past, present and future. Milngiyawuy, The River of Heaven and Earth is running until Saturday, March 12 and entry is free. The Sullivan+ Stumpf gallery is open 10am–5pm Tuesday–Saturday. If you can't make it to the gallery, you can also view the exhibition on the gallery's website. Top image courtesy the artist, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, Yirrkala and Sullivan + Strumpf
The year of the pig is almost here and, to celebrate, the Sydney Fish Market is staying up late once again to host its second Chinese New Year night market on Friday, February 8. Done up with red hanging lanterns, the boardwalk will become a bustling hub of activity after-dark. Traditional red envelopes and special fortune cookies will be passed around — the former of which are meant to bring happiness and prosperity, and latter of which will include "fishy puns" for the new year. This will all go on from 4–10pm amidst the madness of the fish market, which will include a parade of lion dance performers and a laser light show. The licensed restaurants will also have the requisite yum cha and other traditional Chinese dishes to feast on. The market's expecting over 100,000 visitors throughout the week, so it's sure to be one helluva celebration of 2019.
Can’t make friends? There’s an app for that. Do you find you’re too busy checking in and tweeting to meet actual people? Help is at hand. Agora, created at the first foursquare Hackathon by Pierre Valade, will find like-minded folk for you. The app finds people who are checked in near you, and then works out if you have common interests based on your Twitter feeds. It then sends you both a tweet suggesting you meet up, with a link to each other’s Twitter accounts so you can check if the algorithm’s compatibility score is on the money. Ingeniously, since the matching is done through Twitter, it can introduce you to people who don’t have the app themselves. Of course, it does mean you’ll have to stop posting all those ironic tweets about Justin Bieber’s haircut, otherwise you’ll end up being introduced to a busload of tweens. [via PSFK]
If your idea of a perfect evening out of the house involves staying in a hotel, lounging around in comfy robes and tucking into plenty of dessert, then you might want to make a date with QT Sydney's latest addition. For an entire month, the Market Street site is devoting one of its suites to Tim Tams. Yes, it's theming the room after the beloved chocolate biscuits — and, yes, eating them while you're there is definitely on the menu. From Tuesday, February 16–Tuesday, March 16, QT Sydney's Tim Tam suite will welcome in dessert fiends for an indulgent night away from home. Some of the usual amenities will be Tim Tam-themed, so you'll be thinking about bikkies when you pop on your robe, slippers and sleep mask. You might want to pay close attention to the wall art, too, as one piece will emit a chocolate scent. Because you'll obviously be feeling more than a little peckish, you can also order as many Tim Tams from the room service menu as you like — and they're complimentary. Or, bust out your wallet and take your pick from a custom-designed in-room menu filled with Tim Tam-inspired sweet treats, which specifically take their cues from the biscuit brand's current 'Crafted Collection' range. It includes coffee crumpets with coffee ice cream and crumble; mango parfait with macadamia, white chocolate crumble and passionfruit; and another mango dish that combines mango sabayon cheesecake, white chocolate and vanilla bavarois, fresh mango and shards of yoghurt meringue crisp. If you opt for the 'Tim Tam Tira Misu', you'll get layers of coffee Tim Tam, Kahlua-soaked savoiardi sponge, macerated strawberries, mascarpone cream and pieces of couverture chocolate. Head down to the onsite spa, and you can also have a coffee wrap treatment inspired by Tim Tams as well. The suite is available to book for the month, or you can enter a competition to win a night there, as run by Arnott's and QT Hotels. Five folks will score an overnight stay, which also includes travel credits to get to Sydney if you don't live locally, plus $250 to use on dessert and amenities during your hotel visit. You'll need to be available between March 8–12, and you'll need to explain why you want to stay in the suite in 25 words or less as part of your entry (which, let's be honest, really shouldn't be difficult). And if you're wondering why the Tim Tam suite has come about, it's part of a promotion tied in with the aforementioned new Tim Tam range. Also, February 16 is National Tim Tam day, because there really is a day for everything. To book a night in QT Sydney's Tim Tam Suite — which is available between Tuesday, February 16–Tuesday, March 16 — head to the QT Hotels website. To enter the competition to win an overnight stay in the suite, hop over to the Arnott's website.
You may have already heard, indeed the internet has been speaking of nothing else, but Stereosonic will not be returning in 2016. They announced on Facebook that the festival will be back and bigger than ever in 2017 which, tbh, just sounds like a gentle breakup. Why would a beloved festival, a cornerstone event in the calendars of both gym bros and dinger slingers alike, clock out for a whole year? Organisers Totem Onelove say it's because they're committed to bringing fans the best festival experience possible. It may also be attributed to the tragic deaths of two patrons in 2015, or that the American company who own Totem Onelove, SFX, recently filed for bankruptcy. All hypotheticals, all 'could be's. It could be that the Year of the Monkey is just not their year. It could just be a sign of the times. Future Music was cancelled in early 2015 because it doesn't make "financial sense"; Soundwave soon followed due to poor ticket sales (although to be fair, their version of poor ticket sales was around 20k at $170 a pop – about $3.4 million revenue. And now Stereosonic has folded and the big three festival that defined the Aussie festival scene are done and dusted. The real shame here is without a big festival, and the big budgets they bring, there's one less drawcard to get the big acts out to Australia and put on sideshows. It's pretty good news for people who would rather bathe in urine than step foot into a gym-bro festival because at the same time, as you've probably noticed, boutique festivals are going boom — it's been a killer few years for the likes of Sugar Mountain, Secret Garden Festival, Strawberry Fields, Let Them Eat Cake, Inner Varnika, OfftheGrid, Dark Mofo and Meredith to name only a handful. In the place of the massive one-size-fits-all festival giants come hundreds of smaller, niche events. The democratisation of festival culture can only be a good thing right? See ya Stereo. You'll be missed, like the lost revenue from many, many Australian gym memberships this year. Image: Stereosonic.
As other festivals fall by the wayside, St. Jerome's Laneway Festival just keeps on keeping on. Just a couple of weeks ago Laneway debuted in Detroit, bringing that Melbourne laneways vibe to the Motor City, and now we are thrilled to announce the 2014 lineup for Australia. As we've come to expect from Laneway, it's an intriguing mix of established names, up-and-comers and best-kept secrets, as well as a number of crowd favourites from previous Laneways making a return appearance. The organisers have also forecast a bunch of tweaks to all the venues so that you can get from the mosh to a gozleme in record time, and grab a cider on the way back from the toilets without missing half the festival. Laneway has gone from strength to strength over its 11 years, adding dates in New Zealand and Singapore as well as Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth from its humble beginnings in the back of a bar in Melbourne. It's a festival that knows exactly what it is trying to do, and who its audience wants to see, and I reckon this lineup is going to blow a few minds. In alphabetical order: Adalita Autre Ne Veut Cashmere Cat Cass McCombs Chvrches Cloud Control (no sideshows) Danny Brown Daughter Dick Diver Drenge Earl Sweatshirt Four Tet Frightened Rabbit Haim (no sideshows) Jagwar Ma Jamie XX King Krule Kirin J Callinan Kurt Vile Lorde (no sideshows) Mount Kimbie MT Warning Parquet Courts Run The Jewels (EL-P & Killer Mike) Savages Scenic The Growl The Jezabels (no sideshows) Unknown Mortal Orchestra (no sideshows) Vance Joy Warpaint XXYYXX Youth Lagoon TICKETS PRESALE: Laneway Festival fans with Visa Credit, Debit or Prepaid cards can get tickets first through Visa Entertainment. Visa Entertainment presale starts noon on Monday, 30 September, through to noon on Tuesday, 1 October (local time), or until tickets sell out at www.visaentertainment.com.au. Visa presale: Noon, Monday, 30 September – Noon, Tuesday 1 October (local time) GP on sale: Thursday, 3 October, 9am (local time) Saturday 25 January 2014 SINGAPORE The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay Monday 27 January 2014 AUCKLAND Silo Park Friday 31 January 2014 BRISBANE RNA, Fortitude Valley Saturday 1 February MELBOURNE Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC) and the River’s Edge Sunday 2 February SYDNEY Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), Rozelle Friday 7 February ADELAIDE Harts Mill, Port Adelaide Saturday 8 February FREMANTLE Esplanade Park and West End
He turned the world's most famous shipwreck into one of biggest movies in history and reinvented 3D filmmaking to make another box office behemoth — and now James Cameron is bringing the ocean's depths to Sydney. Making its world premiere at Sydney's Australian National Maritime Museum from May 29, 2018 until January 30, 2019, James Cameron: Challenging the Deep will dive deep into the Titanic and Avatar director's rather expensive hobby: deep-sea exploration. When you make a movie about a necklace called the Heart of the Ocean, becoming obsessed with the sea is understandable, and Cameron has quite the array of artefacts, specimens, underwater recordings, inventions, cinema-scale projections, and film props and costumes to prove it. They'll all be on display, in a showcase that examines the filmmaker's passion for understanding and wading through our oceans. According to the The Sydney Morning Herald, Cameron himself will be in attendance to open the exhibition — taking a break from making four (yes, four) Avatar sequels. And if you're wondering why he's launching his latest project here, it could have something to do with his custom-built Deepsea Challenger submersible, which was made in Sydney. Back in 2012, Cameron piloted the vessel to the Mariana Trench, a cool 10,994 metres below the sea and also the deepest part of the ocean, becoming the first person to venture there solo. You might've seen a documentary about his efforts, 2014's Deepsea Challenge 3D, which is just one of the many movies to chart his fascination with what lurks beneath. After kicking things off with 1989's The Abyss, he not only sent Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio running around the RMS Titanic, but made his own documentary about exploring its real-life ruins, aka 2003's Ghosts of the Abyss. Expect The Abyss and Titanic to feature heavily in the exhibition. Image:NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island via Wikimedia Commons.
As the final production of the year, Uncle Vanya is the glittering angel atop the very strong boughs of the Sydney Theatre Company's immensely watchable 2010 season. It's a classic text heaving under the weight of its all-star cast, so you'll have to fight to secure a ticket. Chekov's script is beautiful, and this translation has been painstakingly wrought by Andrew Upton (in cahoots with various experts), although it seems a skeleton relative to the meat these actors hang upon it with their intensely studied mannerisms and expressions. Hungarian director and Chekov-pro Tamas Ascher has crafted a Vanya that is unfussy but balanced and full of wit, and the grandiosely naturalistic set (Zsolt Khell) perfectly suits the proceedings. Our antihero Vanya (Richard Roxburgh) is bitter, blunt, prone to ranting and derailing well-intentioned small talk, and rueing his wasted life at 47. You could have no better guide through this rural Russian summer, but Chekov's Uncle Vanya is a rare play generous enough to set up each of its characters to steal the show. Local doctor Astrov (Hugo Weaving) matches his friend in contrariness but raises him brawn, detached charm and a lifetime of public service. It's a formula that attracts the two young women of the house, plain and hard-working Sonya (Hayley McElhinney) and listless beauty Yelena (Cate Blanchett), the wife of famed, sheltered old scholar Serebryakov (John Bell). Each of the few lines given to Telegin (Anthony Phelan) contains a blazing and endearing patheticness, and Marina (Jacki Weaver), their 'Nanny', is a rock, which is fortunate, as technical matriarch Maria (Sandy Gore) leaves her kin adrift. In the background a labourer (Andrew Tighe) works while the principals get sucked into a season of boozing, bonding and idling, and the tipsy, sprawling conversations of the second act draw you into the house with them. Although it was written in 1897 and this staging, with its radios and refrigerators (but no Communism), sets it in a vague time after that, Uncle Vanya strikes a resounding, gut-wrenchingly modern note. One must conclude that with his characters' self-involvement and malaise and his tone of slow-burning, HBO-suited dramedy, Chekov was remarkably prescient. The story is old, but getting drunk, it seems, is timeless.
If you'd like to respectfully (and deliciously) celebrate Cinco de Mayo, head down to Tequila Mockingbird on Saturday, May 5. The Paddington eatery will be slinging $5 tacos and $10 margaritas right up until 5pm. Pretty good considering they usually come in at $14 and $19, respectively. The place specialises in Latin American nosh, and if you haven't eaten there already, the Mexican day of celebration is a good reason try it out. It's got a nice little terrace that's been converted into a dining area, and a long bar leading into a warm space with wooden floors, hanging plants and gorgeous black and white line drawings of tropical fish and cacti. And if those tacos and margaritas don't fill you up, you can also order snacks like eggplant nachos or a couple of chicken and mushroom empanadas off the menu. And get stuck into the tequila-heavy cocktail list — the bar stocks 27 types, as well as a couple of top-notch mezcals.
Sydney boy Jack Milas left home for Brooklyn about three years ago, armed with a guitar, a killer falsetto and a head full of tunes. Six months later, his friend and musical collaborator, Oli Chang, followed on his heels. At the time, the two had completed just one song together, the original version of which, according to Milas, "no one will ever hear'". This summer they're returning as High Highs, with a pile of flashy reviews from the likes of NME and The Guardian under one arm and a management deal with Elton John's Rocket Music under the other. Their folksy and lyrical yet grounded combination of honeyed harmonies, subtly arranged synths and dashes of acoustic rock has been garnering quite a following both in New York and online. Apart from a handful of early gigs at the now sadly boarded-up Hopetoun Hotel, High Highs "haven't really played a proper show in Australia". They'll certainly be making up for it this visit, as they drop their debut LP just days before appearances at the Laneway Festival and satellite shows in Sydney and Melbourne. https://youtube.com/watch?v=iiVIB_W-MSw
Last year, the Sydney Theatre Company sketched a new tradition when it programmed the hugely acclaimed August: Osage Country from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of its otherwise locally produced Main Stage season. It's a carefully allocated slot that goes not just to an exemplary piece of theatre but a definitive telling that would lose some of its particular magic if packaged in any other way. This year the equivalent play is Terminus, courtesy of the company that first put it on, Ireland's Abbey Theatre, and directed by its writer, Mark O'Rowe. That's where the equivalence ends; Terminus is the near opposite of August: Osage County's three-storeyed, talky family soap opera, magnificent as it was. There is no set, and although the narrative is ultimately interwoven, the action is all carried in monologic verse by three actors alternately caught in a precise beam of light on an ink-black stage. There's one bit of pageantry, bracing and effective, just after the house lights go down, but otherwise you're on your own with these three isolated busts, this one void room. A (Olwen Fouere) is a briny, middle-aged schoolteacher, vying to save her troubled students and quell the bubbling guilt of her own bad motherhood; B (Catherine Walker) is a young woman driven to solitude by life's betrayals, who falls from the top of a crane when it deals her another; and C (Declan Conlon), well, C made a pact with the devil in exchange for an exalted singing voice but, too socially phobic to use it, has become a merciless serial killer instead. On one fateful night, they kill, die, brawl, save lives, steal a truck and soar through the air in the arms of a demon composed of worms but shot through with human desires. The question you may be asking at this point is, why would you go to see three people doing what basically amounts to spoken word poetry when you could go to see a play, you know the thing, with maximalist production, a set dressed in literal and symbolic value and characters who talk to each other. The answer is all that's left — the writing and its delivery — which in Terminus are dizzyingly, unforgettably good. O'Rowe weaves together fantasy and reality, high culture and low in blindsiding ways, so fantastical, religious, near-redemptive imagery mixes with eye gouging and the ritual of watching Beaches. When you're entranced by the steady yet surprisingly unrestricted metre, charmed by rhymes that toy with your expectations and deprived of your visual sense, the words alone become visceral and moving. At one high point, B's breathless recount of the memories that flash before her eyes at her death rewires your understanding of this familiar trope. It's otherworldly and shaking and reaches through the dark to make a human connection.
Bartenders are the new rockstars — if their touring habits are anything to go by, anyway. In the past few years, more and more cocktail bars and their helmsmen have joined musicians for fly-in, fly-out visits to Australia — but instead of touring records, they're touring killer drinks lists. Last year saw Asia's best bar 28 Hongkong Street and hidden New York City jaunt Attaboy both do a quick stops in Melbourne and Sydney, while Mace popped up at Sydney's PS40 just the other week and PDT was in town a little while back too. And now another NYC bar is making its way to our shores for a cheeky cocktail pop-up. The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog will come to Australia for three nights only, spreading its shaking skills across the east coast with one night at Melbourne's Black Pearl, one night at Sydney's Baxter Inn and one night at The Gresham in Brisbane. Dead Rabbit will be sending their finest drink makers to work in collaboration with the host bars to create a one-night-only menu that will showcase their skills and signature drinks and food items (like their Scotch egg). Their cocktail menu is pretty extensive, but we're hoping they bring their Hong Kong Phooey with them — it blends rum with Aquavit, grapefruit, pistachio and avocado. Although we've had a few bars pass through our major cities by now, this one's pretty special as Dead Rabbit, which is permanently located in lower Manhattan, took out the top spot on last year's World's 50 Best Bars list. So if you can't get to the Lower East Side anytime soon, this is your next best option. Tickets to the pop-up have already sold out in Melbourne for April 18, but are still available in Brisbane on April 19 and Sydney on April 23. Tickets are a little pricey at $40 (plus booking fee) — that includes a cocktail on arrival and one of Dead Rabbit's signature Scotch eggs. You'll then be able to purchase extra drinks on top of that.
UPDATE, September 4, 2020: High Life is available to stream via Stan, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Another unique, distinctive and thrilling film by a stellar director. Another movie so impressive, it's instantly among the decade's standouts. And, another exceptional Robert Pattinson performance. We'd say that it's becoming a welcome trend, however this pattern has been recurring since RPatz stopped wearing sparkly makeup and fake fangs. Complain all you like about the Twilight series — we don't have much that's positive to add — but the vampire romance saga gave two of today's best young actors an enormous platform, as well as the currency to choose their next roles wisely. So both Pattinson and Kristen Stewart keep doing just that, and cinema is all the better for it. In the former's case, see the likes of Cosmopolis, The Rover, The Childhood of a Leader, The Lost City of Z, Good Time and now High Life. With his latest film, Pattinson rockets into space under the guidance of director Claire Denis, which proves a match made in movie heaven. In recent years, the future Batman star has increasingly cornered the market on existential yearning, a feat that the inimitable French auteur has also been pursuing since she first stepped behind the camera thirty years ago. There's a philosophical angle to both Pattinson and Denis' work, not just depicting the quest for purpose that drives us all, but delving into the intricacies and horrors of searching and struggling — as explored across multiple settings, stories and genres. Of course, there's no more apt a place than a spaceship to grapple with life's meaning, or lack thereof. Perhaps that's where Pattinson and Denis, either together or apart, were always headed. As their vessel charts a course for a black hole, Monte (Pattinson), Tcherny (Andre Benjamin), Boyse (Mia Goth) and the ship's other inhabitants bide their time doing what they're told. They're prisoners jettisoned into the great beyond in the name of punishment, redemption and science, although resident doctor Dibs (Juliette Binoche, star of Denis' last release Let the Sunshine In) has her own plans for the captives. That's the bulk of High Life's narrative, in a broad and linear sense. The film begins with Monte roaming the halls with just a baby named Willow for company, and pressing buttons every 24 hours to stay alive, adding a palpable sense of hellish foreboding to its already moody, brooding atmosphere. Also amplifying the movie's tone is its carnal obsession, and not just in the name of necessary procreation (a room dubbed the 'Fuck Box' is also onboard). With scripting assistance from both credited and uncredited co-scribes, including novelists Nick Laird and Zadie Smith, writer-director Denis teases out High Life's tale. Sometimes, the film gets caught in the minutiae of Monte and Willow's monotonous but happy-enough lives. Sometimes, it flashes back to the ship's busier, darker, more populous and tumultuous times. Sometimes, it ventures into memories on firm soil — recollections so steeped in nature, including thriving plant-life and scurrying animals, that the otherwise space-bound film always retains an earthy feel. Of course, it's that juxtaposition that sits at the heart of this immensely intelligent, ambitious and rewarding movie. To wrestle with human existence, and with our very purpose, is to realise that we're all careening forward in a state of constant chaos, hurtling towards inescapable darkness, all while trying to grasp onto whatever we can. Quiet moments spent chatting and contemplating in the ship's own garden; lustful encounters, both alone and with others; the need to connect, whether by sex, violence or love: as they each pop up on screen, they illustrate High Life's point. 'Illustrate' is a key word when it comes to Denis' work, as she has proven across her French-language career. High Life may be the director's first film in English, but her visuals have always transcended dialogue with their probing, patient stare — as well as the sensation that they're scrutinising everything in sight as deeply and carefully as possible. Here, clinical, institutional surfaces say so much when contrasted with babbling streams and sprouting leaves. They say even more when placed opposite bodies and fluids in all of their icky, sticky glory, and against ruminative faces with furrowed brows and eyes all a-flicker as well. While the movie boasts other acting highlights, including a no-holds-barred Binoche in her steeliest guise yet, it won't come as a surprise that Pattinson's restless gaze provides the film's favourite canvas. That said, Denis and her cinematographers Yorick Le Saux (Personal Shopper) and Tomasz Naumiuk (Nina) don't simply glare, but rather stalk, circle and glide around the picture's leading man. Denis's movie doesn't do much that similar science-fiction fare has, would and will, for that matter. But while shooting into the stratosphere to ponder what it all means has become a genre of its own, High Life proudly stands in its own space boots. Perhaps that's why both the film and Pattinson seem like such a perfect fit, and why the final product both soars high and burrows deep: you won't catch either meekly treading where everyone else has before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZeIHrx7Oyc
If you're guilty of assuming the so-called 'rock star lifestyle' is one of grandeur, dolla dolla bills and Nyan Cat-emblazoned Purraris, or have ever accused a band of 'selling out' for working alongside a commercial brand, you might want to see this. The Truth About Money in Music is a brand new mini-doco featuring the likes of Remi, James from Violent Soho, Hey Geronimo, Millions, KLP, The Cairos and many other Australian artists who are doing tremendous work on minimal budgets. Brisbane-based film director, Dan Graetz, is at the helm of this operation. The idea came to life after Graetz pitched the idea to Jack Daniels, who were looking to support creative music projects. "I pitched this documentary around musicians, brands and honesty," says Graetz. "It was great they liked it and even better that they gave me the freedom to stay true to the concept. This is the result." https://youtube.com/watch?v=XR-RA-vpm8s Graetz knows the musician's financial struggle all too well, not only through working closely with artists on music videos but also through his own creative pursuits. "In creating music videos over the past four years, my team and I have made fireworks, gutted cars, cloned humans and more — usually on a shoestring — to help new talent stand out against cute kittens, dancing babies and big budgets," Graetz says. The film interestingly sees artists like Kate Miller-Heidke talk about her move from a major label and the restrictions that came from it, in comparison to working with brands who facilitate collaboration and creative possibilities. The overarching message seems to be that if a company wants to back you because they like what you're about as you are, then why the hell not let them give you a hand. Obviously, no one was born yesterday and a JD-shaped product is being plugged here, but it's hardly 'selling out' when the bigwigs don't want you to change a thing. This is just the first chapter for the Jack Daniels Future Legends project. Expect to see the likes of Bloc Party's Kele Okereke, Sable, Motorik, The Griswolds, and The Cairos feature in instalments further down the track. JD is encouraging trailblazers and creative to get in touch if they have a bold and independent music idea that needs support. Pitch your project in 300 words or less to jackdaniels.au@gmail.com. For now, watch The Truth About Money in Music right here and hold off on those rants: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MgZJFu3SHVs
The sunny shores of Newcastle will play host to the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship as it comes to a climactic boiling point for its grand finale. Held across November 23–25 at the Coates Hire Newcastle 500, one of Australia's most renowned street races, Round 16 represents the ultimate showdown in racing. Even when the engines aren't on, there's plenty happening across the weekend to keep you occupied. You'll have the opportunity to watch the teams prepare for the finale with a pit lane walk and meet the drivers at dedicated autograph sessions, if that's your jam. Meanwhile, the off-track entertainment is some of the most exciting in recent years with pop-up bars, live music and a LEGO play zone for the little ones. Headlining the festivities is Scottish band Simple Minds, who'll take to the stage on Saturday night for an exclusive Australian show with support from much-loved Aussie rockers Birds of Tokyo and The Delta Riggs. And good news: the concert is included in the cost of your Saturday race ticket. As the drivers race from the eastern end of Newcastle CBD, along Nobbys Beach and through Newcastle Harbour, the picturesque surrounds will provide the perfect send off for fan favourite Craig Lowndes, who is taking part in his last race as a full-time driver. Grandstand passes have already sold out but there is still space trackside with tickets starting at $59 for one day or $131 for the full weekend. To purchase tickets, head to Ticketek.
When it comes to short-lived pop-up outlets, there aren't really any official rules. Yet it seems that Poepke must be breaking a few with their Archives pop-up, returning this June. Firstly, the Paddington boutique plans to host the temporary vendor within the four walls of their existing store. "Does that even count as a pop-up?" I hear you cry. "Isn't it just like having the same store, but with a different name?" Well, not quite, since part of the deal is that they'll be selling your stuff for you. That's right, you can submit items for consideration before Sunday, June 22 (dry cleaned, of course), from labels Peopke has carried or is currently carrying. Then they'll sell them on a consignment basis, and you'll pocket the cash. It's like a giant community garage sale, but instead of scoffing neighbours pretending they're from Antiques Roadshow, they'll just be other Poepke fans hungry for that silk shawl you snapped up last winter. It's part op-shop, part stocktake sale, part elusive event. Whatever it actually is, you'll be able to turn up and nab both unworn and pre-loved clothes, shoes and accessories. The pop-up opens on June 28, and will continue running over the coming months.
If there's any way to exorcise 2021's demons after all that time spent in lockdown, staring at your own four walls and getting far too comfy on your couch, it's farewelling the year by dancing in a park at a huge New Year's Eve music festival. Thankfully, Camperdown's NYE in the Park is back on the agenda on Friday, December 31 — and it has just dropped its impressive lineup. Forget your usual party playlist, Sydneysiders; instead, you'll be seeing Pnau, Illy, The Presets and Spacey Jane to see out the year. And, with dancing now allowed again — effective just two days ago, since Monday, November 8, in fact — get ready to unleash your best moves with all of your people to What So Not, Mashd N Kutcher, George Alice and more, too. The event returns to Victoria Park once again for another music-filled NYE — spanning everything from electronic and dance to hip hop and indie pop tunes — with Poof Doof Drag Jamboree on hosting duties. Also on offer: gourmet street food to keep up your sustenance, pop-up bars because all that dancing is thirsty work, and a VIP garden experience if you're keen to fork out more for a closer spot to the stage, your own private viewing garden, and access to a curated cafe and cocktail bar. And yes, it's shaping up to be a big few months for music festivals across NSW. NYE in the Park's return follows Yours and Owls' confirmation that it'll be back in Wollongong next April, as well as the announcement of new touring pride fest Summer Camp that'll hit Sydney in February. Best get your sneakers ready. NYE IN THE PARK 2021 LINEUP Pnau Illy Spacey Jane The Presets What So Not Chase Zera Dena Amy George Alice Jim the Kween Kinder Mashd N Kutcher Sumner Thandi Phoenix Yo! Mafia Poof Doof Drag Jamboree NYE in the Park will hit up Victoria Park, City Road, Camperdown on Friday, December 31. Pre-sale tickets are available from 12pm on Thursday, November 11, ahead of general ticket sales at 6pm on November 11. For more information or to sign up for pre-sales, head to the festival website. Images: Jordan Munns.
Among the nimble riot of the Hip Hop Festival next door, the Anna Schwarz Gallery has filled one of the CarriageWorks' concrete bays with glowing windows and ethereal frames of light. Perth native Brendan Van Hek's solo exhibition Some Kind of Love Story is a collection of sculpture made mostly from neon bulbs. The exhibition takes its cues from an Arthur Miller play of the same name, which laid two stock characters across a hard-boiled detective story. For Van Hek, the two-tone mismatch of the play's lovers are reflected in the skewiff colours and shapes that make up his sculptures. The pieces are spread out over the gallery's expansive floor. In the centre sit spare metal frames hung with coloured fluorescent tubes. It feels like someone was halfway through setting up a spartan and very clean laboratory. The frames get lost in the grey and gravel floors, while the light hangs in the air, waiting for the room to come to life again. Along the left-hand wall, pairs of neon-lit portholes shimmer and burn. Each is arranged in a duet of colours — white and beige, pale and deeper blue, cheek-pink and red, yellow and yolk-yellow, sea-Green and sky-blue, purple and flamingo. Given that the exhibition explores mismatched relationships, it's not out of place that Some Kind of Love Story sits slightly crookedly in its surroundings. Anna Schwarz is good gallery space, but extraordinarily large. The metal frames seem to get lost in this vastness, and it would have been good examine Van Hek's lights in more intimate surrounds. Nonetheless, the sculptures don't lose their strange mechanic, and the lights still own that eery, super-real feel that neons do. There may be a lot of space between them, but Van Hek's pieces are worth ambling around. Image by krossbow.
Is there such a thing as genius? Or is it just ordinariness that little bit out of sync with its time? In the throes of idolatry, will we rush to elevate even the malformed drafts of a sometimes poet? Do creative acts redeem destructive lives? When an outsider is constantly surrounded by people, is he still alone and untouched? He. How often do we let it be a she? These are among the questions posed by Baal, the canonically outlying first play of a 20-year-old Bertolt Brecht, as well as a current of literature on the poetic outsider (often nicer, fluffier, more romantic) to which the play responds. The great thing about seeing Baal on the stage now is being reminded that something we may think of as a phenomenon of the now — the egotistic, hedonistic or self-destructive pursuit of transcendental expression, and the hangers-on that surround it — is not new at all. While we're bandying about the 'genius' tag, we may as well let it rest on director Simon Stone's decision to adapt this 93-year-old play to a modern world of rock 'n' roll. It's a perfect graft. The new Baal (Thomas M. Wright) looks like an evil Angus Stone, prostrates over his guitar to pick out a feedback-drowned dirge and systematically, callously pushes against everything that wanders into his path. He's beset by fawning PR women, groupies and bandmates, and he fucks or fights them all. With the few select symbols of stubbies and skinny jeans, amps and rain, Baal is resonant and hyper-real, which is, after all, still a kind of real. You may catch glints of people you've known in its labyrinth, it may be confronting or affecting, but Baal won't exactly be enjoyable. The production is purposely distancing, heightening Baal's isolated and nightmarish world and matching Brecht's eventual devotion to engaging rational rather than emotional responses. So there's a wide moat between the performance space and audience, characters communicate obtusely and over some distances when they're not tangled up in each other's bare limbs, and it all plays out in a series of distorted fragments. Be prepared. The flipside of this formal exercise is some stunning, visceral and epic moments of theatre. Intense lighting, several varieties of stage rain (each green, we're told), all kinds of nudity and a swift collapse are used, to breathtaking effect. Stone, who adapted this with Tom Wright, has real vision, skill and bravado, which is why he's gone from the Hayloft Project to Belvoir resident director (where he did the impressive Wild Duck) and generally in-demand in four short years. You may not like all his decisions, but it's something of a joy to witness them.
The dreamy indie pop duo from Baltimore will bring the sounds of their latest album Bloom to our fair country come January. Yep, we're going to be inundated with a lot of awesome tunes this summer, so it might be time to have a word to your credit card now. Alex Scally (guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and Victoria Legrand (lead vocals, keyboards) have been recording and performing their beautiful, heady, emotive tunes since 2004 now, so if you haven't seen them live yet, here's your chance. They're heading here for Falls Festival, but will afterwards stop over in Sydney for a show at the Enmore Theatre. Beach House are known for their rather inventive videos (think exploding eggs and parallel universes in Lazuli and whatever you'd like to believe is going on in Lover of Mine's backyard fight party), and they also put on on one hell of a live show to complement those powerful waves of organ, guitar, percussion and voice. Until then we suggest enjoying their latest album with a few cold ones and, if you can facilitate it, a comfy backyard hammock. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWc3ToDHg
It's supposed to be the happiest time of the year, but Christmas sure does require everyone to make a whole heap of decisions. You need to select which gifts to buy your nearest and dearest, all the ways you're going to celebrate with your loved ones and where to spend any time you get off over festive break, for starters. You also have to pick how many seasonal-themed events to attend across December, and which dishes to make and/or eat. And, you need to choose something to drink — on several occasions over the whole period. Need something to pour into your next festive-themed cocktail, or to sip with pudding on the big day itself? Bass and Flinders has just released a limited-edition spiced Christmas brandy that's designed for both — or just to drink neat over ice when you're saying a jovial cheers to your friends and family if you prefer. The idea: to basically make a brandy that tastes like Christmas pudding in a bottle (because why just eat dessert when you can drink it, too?). Head distiller Holly Klintworth took inspiration from her family's own Christmas pudding recipe, in fact, which has been passed down through four generations. If you're wondering what you'll be knocking back, Bass and Flinders' spiced Christmas brandy uses chardonnay grapes from a Victorian vineyard, which have been distilled and matured to into an Aussie-made spirit. Then, the distillery steeped it with Christmas fruits and spices for ten days — with dried currants, cranberries and apricots; spices such as nutmeg, clove and cardamom; and also citrus rind, frankincense and myrrh. Golden amber in hue, and smelling like all of the aforementioned ingredients, the tipple is now available to purchase for $125 for a 700-millilitre bottle. And if you're after a few cocktail ideas, Bass and Flinders has also come up with a spiced brandy eggnog recipe on its website. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bass & Flinders Distillery (@bassandflinders) Bass and Flinders' spiced Christmas brandy is available to purchase now — for more information, head to the brand's website.
Maybe viewing old episodes of Aerobics Oz Style helped you stay active during 2020's first long lockdown. Perhaps you've been obsessed with the now-iconic Key & Peele aerobics meltdown sketch for years, as everyone should be. Or, you might've watched the excellent Kirsten Dunst-starring On Becoming a God in Central Florida and got bitten by the water aerobics bug. Whichever fits — or even if none of the above applies to you — leotards, exercise and all things 80s haven't been far from our screens in recent years. And, they'll feature again in a big way in Apple TV+'s new ten-part dark comedy series Physical. Set in the decade that's always going to be synonymous with leg warmers, Physical sees Rose Byrne make the leap from hanging out with talking CGI rabbits in terrible book-to-screen adaptations to getting hooked on aerobics. She plays Sheila Rubin, a San Diego housewife with a husband that's running for California's state assembly. While playing her dutiful part as expected, she struggles with her self-image. Then, the only form of exercise that TV shows and movies seem to think that anyone did back in the 80s suddenly enters her life. Cue a journey that brings Sheila success, and turns her into a lifestyle guru. Obviously, she won't be posting about her daily life on social media — but this show is set in the peak VHS era, so expect videotapes to play a part in the story. Physical is set to start streaming on Friday, June 18, and will drop its first three episodes in one hit before releasing the rest weekly afterwards. Naturally, big hair and spandex abound in the just-dropped, supremely 80s trailer for the series. Alongside Byrne, the show stars Rory Scovel (I Feel Pretty), Dierdre Friel (Second Act), Della Saba (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story), Paul Sparks (The Lovebirds) and Ashley Liao (Fuller House). Desperate Housewives and Suburgatory's Annie Weisman created, wrote and executive produced Physical, and serves as its showrunner, while I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie, Dead to Me's Liza Johnson and Love Life's Stephanie Laing all enjoy stints in the director's chair. Check out the teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQaHAy7r660 Physical starts streaming via Apple TV+ on Friday, June 18.
Nothing in pop culture every truly dies, and that includes teen-oriented late 80s and early 90s-era sitcoms about high schoolers. Yes, more than three decades since it first hit the air, Saved by the Bell is returning to screens. Sure, you're now past the point of being able to watch it after school each day — but if you want to stream it when you get home from work, that'd be fitting. After initially running from 1989–1993, Saved by the Bell has actually popped up in several guises since. Two spinoffs arrived shortly after the original show, thanks to 1993–94's Saved by the Bell: The College Years and 1993–2000's Saved by the Bell: The New Class. And, it also gave rise to two TV movies: 1992's Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and 1994's Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. Now comes a new series that's simply called Saved by the Bell, and also features some of the show's original cast members. That makes it a revival and a sequel, rather than a reboot or remake — although there's a new bunch of teens navigating high school, obviously. And while the likes of Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen all reprise their characters, they're either the parents or teachers of the series' new kids. Comedy veteran John Michael Higgins also features as Principal Toddman and, if you saw his last sitcom appearance, that's particular good news. Actually, it's a reunion with his Great News costar and that show's creator Tracey Wigfield, who is also doing the latter on the resurrected Saved by the Bell. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0uCr5-5p5Q&feature=emb_title Saved by the Bell starts streaming via Stan in Australia from Thursday, November 26. Details for New Zealand are still to be announced.
Let Chippendale barbecue experts LP's and Haverick's take care of your Sunday lunch. Well, after they teach you a few things. If you're interested in nose-to-tail cooking and butchery, this is the event for you. Have you ever wondered how LP's get their sausages and cured meats to be so amazing? They'll tell you how at Sunday lunch. You'll also learn how to break down a whole black Berkshire pig before enjoying a long meaty lunch. For bookings call (02) 8399 0929 or email enquiries@lpsqualitymeats.com. This event is one of our top ten picks of Good Food Month 2015. Check out the other nine.
Haunted house films tend to follow an obvious formula: things go bump in the night, people get scared, and an escalating array of supernatural hijinks ensue. If you've seen one, you probably feel like you've seen them all — and The Conjuring 2 isn't going to change that. Thankfully, it isn't going to make horror fans abandon building-based scares either. Given that the latest movie — based on the exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren — is a sequel, a certain amount of predictability is to be expected. Still, knowing how the follow-up to 2013 surprise hit The Conjuring will play out doesn't render its creaking floors, slamming doors and ghostly visions any less effective. Both frights and fun can be found as an English family attempts to break free from a malicious force, with the former largely springing from sudden noises and ghastly faces, and the latter resulting from the screams they inspire. Six years after Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farming) helped the Perrons through the events of the first film — and a year after the Amityville case that still remains their biggest claim to fame — the Hodgsons of Enfield need their expertise. Trying to raise four children alone, single mother Peggy (Frances O'Connor) is already doing it tough before spooky occurrences start targeting her 12-year-old daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe). When the Warrens are called in, they're not just asked to assist; they're also tasked with determining whether the otherworldly infestation is real. Of course, relishing the chilling ordeal inflicted upon the bewildered Hodgson clan is the film's primary focus, rather than exploring the hoax side of the story or even spending too much time with the evangelical exorcist and psychic assessing the situation. And as easily foreseeable as the jumps and jolts that follow prove, they're also teeming with tension thanks to the film's other significant presence: director James Wan. After kicking off the Saw and Insidious franchises, Wan did the same for The Conjuring, investing what could've been a routine horror movie with the right amount of vintage thrills and visual flair. Returning to the series after an action-packed stint at the helm of Fast and Furious 7, he does the same again, even if lightning doesn't exactly strike twice. Whether you've heard of the Enfield poltergeist before or you've simply seen The Exorcist, there's no escaping the been-there, seen-that status of The Conjuring 2. Thankfully, Wan's fondness for letting the camera prowl around the house in question, and his precise sense of timing when it comes to both the unexpected and the lingering, ensures that familiarity doesn't breed contempt. Instead, it's the length of the film, and the raft of repetitive scenes that help pad it out to 133 minutes, that may end up stretching your patience. Accordingly, the Hodgsons aren't the only ones fated to think that everything goes on too long — and the last thing horror viewers want is to feel bored and anxious at the same time. Luckily, when the movie works, it really works, a versatile performance by Wolfe at the centre of the sinister proceedings included.
If commuter suits and skycycle paths, have yet to get you psychled (i.e. psyched about bikes), the latest in two-wheeling news should. Taylor Square’s former seedy nightclub T2 is about to be transformed into an Amsterdam-esque bike hub. The 1,200 committed pedallers who sweat past on a daily basis will soon be able to stop for a coffee, chat with fellow cyclists and even pop in for a film screening or two. The building will feature a collection of spaces including a cafe, meeting places, public lecture rooms, multimedia facilities and shops. Plus, there’ll be bike-specific services on site including a workshop, repairs and even bikes for hire. The icing on the cake? An accessible rooftop terrace and garden, which you and your bike can visit via lift. Together. A long-time crusader for a more bike-friendly Sydney, Lord Mayor Clover Moore is super excited. "Bike hubs exist around the world," she says. "We want to create a place for people riding to and from work with places to park their bike and grab a coffee. It will also help tourists and families wanting to hire a bike or people looking for safety lessons." City of Sydney Council bought the building in 2009 and — after extensive research — approved of the concept last month. Further detailed designing and planning has been set in motion, with construction set to start around this time next year. "Research showed a bike hub could help reactivate the daytime economy in Oxford Street and make the area around Taylor Square safer," Moore explains. "The building sits on a major intersection for bike riders connecting Woolloomooloo, Waterloo, Paddington and the inner city. The building, at the intersection of all three major cycle routes, is a central gathering space for pedestrians and bike riders... The flexible studio spaces that form part of the new design will be available for use by a range of groups including start-ups, GLBTI advocacy groups and other community groups.” Since 2010, there’s been a 113 per cent increase in the number of bike journeys undertaken in Sydney. A recent National Cycling Participation Survey revealed that 26% per cent of Sydney-siders had cycled in the previous month and nearly 20% had ridden in the previous week.
A carbon neutral city in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, is emerging. Masdar City is a leading sustainable development project designed by Foster & Partners. Buildings take inspiration from traditional Arab architecture and feature undulating curves. Alternative energies power the city, like solar roof panels which capture the noonday sun. Last week 8,000 visitors flocked to get a first glimpse of the city as part of the Organic Market launch event. “The event aimed at creating awareness among the UAE community, highlighting the benefits of sustainable living at one of the world’s most environment-friendly urban developments,” said Ahmed Baghoum, Director of City Zone, Masdar City. [Via PSFK]
Apparently public speaking is everyone's greatest fear. But what about being forced to spell out words like 'antediluvian' and 'xanthosis' in front of a public who's come along to laugh at you? Okay, err, wow. The team behind The Chaser recently opened Cleveland Street venue Giant Dwarf, because — in their own words — they decided they "want to fail in yet another artistic venture they know nothing about". Another art they're set to fail in is spelling, as the 25th Annual Giant Dwarf Spelling Bee will be anything but serious. Put on by Sydney Uni's home of comedy, Project 52, this particular bee will be something of a warm-up to the main event, on at the Sydney Comedy Festival. Michael Hing will host while comedians Alex Lee and Pat Byrnes judge the evening. Aaron Cheng, Patrick Magee, Susie Youssef, Mark Sutton, Jennifer Wong and Sam Campbell will be the ones forced to spell out big words you can't define, fathom or possibly even recall hearing in your life before. And if you remember frantically memorising how to spell words like 'antidisestablishmentarianism', 'onomatopoeia' or even 'isosceles' throughout your school careers, you'll know how nail-bitingly competitive the spelling world can get. I once put an 'e' on the end of 'mosquito' in year five; I've never lived it down. Head to Giant Dwarf on Tuesday, April 22, at 8pm for the chance to laugh at someone else for the same mistakes. Sounds like fun.
Warwick Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: name a better Australian quintet. The director of Samson & Delilah and Sweet Country, the two-time Oscar-winner and recent Tár tour de force, the local screen mainstay, and the Bad Seeds bandmates and seasoned film composers all combine not for the ultimate Aussie dinner party, but for The New Boy. None are debuting in their jobs. All are exceptional. They're each made better, however, by the luminous and entrancing Aswan Reid. As well as playing the titular part, the 11-year-old first-time actor lives it among such a wealth of acclaimed and experienced talent — and he's such a find in such excellent company, while saying little in words but everything in every other way, that Thornton's third fictional feature owes him as much of a debt as its applauded and awarded household names. There's a spark to Reid from the moment that he's first spied grappling with outback law enforcement under blazing rays as Cave and Ellis' (This Much I Know to Be True) latest rousing score plays. His sun-bleached hair couldn't be more fitting, or symbolic, but it's the confident way in which he holds himself as New Boy, plus the determined look on his face, that sears. Wily and wiry, the feature's eponymous figure is toppled by a boomerang, then bagged up and transported to the remote Catholic orphanage doted on by Sister Eileen (Blanchett, Nightmare Alley) in the 1940s. The cop doing the escorting notes that the kid is a bolter, but the nun is just as fast in her kindness. She sees what Thornton wants his audience to see: a boy that beams with his presence and through his sense of self, even though he's been snatched up, taken from his Country and forced into a Christian institution against his will. Sister Eileen is as drawn to him as the movie, but — and not just due to the red wine she likes sipping and the subterfuge she's keeping up about the resident father's absence — she isn't as certain about what to do. The path that any new arrival at the monastery is supposed to follow is preordained: uniforms, a dorm bed, porridge, helping in the fields, obedience and church. New Boy barely subscribes, donning only shorts, sleeping on the floor and cutting in front in the food line, which Sister Eileen permits. The abbey's two other adults, the nurturing Sister Mum (Mailman, Total Control) and farmhand George (Wayne Blair, Seriously Red), are welcoming yet know the reality that's facing all of the boys in their care, particularly the First Nations kids. In the priest's name, Sister Eileen might write letters to the government urging them not to send her charges away when they're considered old enough to work — the endgame to the state, especially with the Second World War impacting labour — but Sister Mum and George are lived proof that acquiescing and assimilating is the only outcome that will be accepted. There's a spark to the new boy, too, and literally. He's meant to pray away his Indigenous spirituality in the name of dutiful conformity, and in favour of Christianity, but the faith and culture that's as old as Australia's Traditional Owners glows. He's curious, though, including about the ornate, life-sized wooden cross that's sent from France for safekeeping during the war. He wants to undo its nails, free Jesus from crucifixion and give it the property's snakes as gifts. As Thornton peppers in religious imagery, New Boy displays more in common with its carved figurine than Sister Eileen knows how to handle. This is a tale of survival and, while always its namesake's story first and foremost, it also sees two sides to it: the First Nations lad ripped away from all he knows, as well as the nun that's gone renegade within a system that sees her as lesser because she's a woman. Writing and directing — as he did with Samson & Delilah, but not Sweet Country — Kaytetye man Thornton takes inspiration from his own experience as a child sent to a missionary boarding school ran by Spanish monks. In the process, he makes a moving and needfully blunt statement about the clash that's too often been enforced upon the country's First Peoples since colonisation. Indeed, simmering with anger but also hope, The New Boy is a clear, unshakeable rebuttal of the perennially ridiculous idea that only one faith, culture or way of life can exist. And, crucially, it feels as personal as Thornton's work gets; he isn't in front of the lens as he was with the also-remarkable The Beach, where he charted his own escape away from the incessant hustle and bustle of modern life, but the sensation that emanates from the screen is overwhelmingly the same. Thornton works as his own cinematographer on The New Boy, another trademark touch — see also: anthology film The Darkside, documentary We Don't Need a Map, plus the episodic Mystery Road and Firebite — which allows him to load every inch of every immaculate frame with deep and blistering emotion. There's no such thing as a passive image anywhere in any film by any director, but Thornton's beautifully shot movies ensure that his viewers can't evade the landscape that's been forever changed by white settlement. Here, he roves over the plains outside of South Australia's Burra, where every structure for the feature was erected from scratch, and where shimmering yellow fields of wheat grow atop the ochre earth that's been inhabited by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. He sees how the terrain has been reshaped, but never forgets who was there first. With his oh-so-perceptive eye, Thornton's visuals stunningly do what New Boy does: expresses everything with little speaking necessary. In her first on-screen role in a solely Australian film since 2013's The Turning, Blanchett talks, of course. Where much of the picture around her bubbles with loaded patience, and Reid's innate naturalism, The New Boy's biggest star is the storm amid the deceiving calm. Consumed by her struggles with her own faith while tasked with instilling it into her charges, and also now challenged by the new boy that defies her sense of logic, Sister Eileen rarely stops moving, fretting, surveying, asserting, preaching and confessing — and Blanchett is magnetic to behold. That said, it's a performance with a needed counterbalance. Without Reid's serenity, Blanchett might've come on too strong. Without Reid, too, the fact that the eponymous character's quest to endure is tinged with hard-won optimism amid its palpable fury mightn't have shone through. No matter what happens, or how rarely he's accepted for who he is, New Boy always persists.
At the state's daily COVID-19 press conference on Saturday, August 14, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced two significant pieces of news: that NSW has recorded 466 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and that a number of tighter lockdown restrictions will be put in place. Effective Monday, August 16, stay-at-home orders will be amended to implement stricter conditions around leaving the house, leaving the region and having singles bubbles. Bigger fines will also apply to folks breaching those rules. Since the end of July — more than a month into Greater Sydney's now seven-week-long lockdown — people in the Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions have only been able to travel ten kilometres from their homes to go shopping. That distance requirement has applied to exercising for this entire lockdown, too; however, it'll now be reduced to five kilometres across the board if you're heading outside of your own Local Government Area to shop or exercise. If that sounds familiar, that's because that shorter radius is already in effect in 12 parts of the city deemed LGAs of concern. Those areas must still stick to a strict five-kilometre zone, even within their LGA. And, if you're living in a hotspot LGA and you're leaving your house for exercise, you really must be working up a sweat. The health orders are being tightened around the word 'recreation' so that "exercise means exercise", the Premier said. NSW recorded 466 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/upkDjjj6YO — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 14, 2021 Also changing come Monday: the rules regarding leaving the lockdown area to go into regional NSW, even for allowed purposes. You'll have to get a permit to make the trip, regardless of whether you're considered an authorised worker, you're inspecting real estate or you're travelling to a second home. At present, several regional areas in NSW are also under lockdown — including in Byron Bay and Northern Rivers, Armidale, Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook, Cessnock, Dubbo, Tamworth, Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine, Walgett and Warren — due to cases spreading from Greater Sydney. And, specific to the parts of Greater Sydney dubbed LGAs of concern — which currently spans the Bayside, Strathfield, Burwood, Parramatta, Georges River, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Blacktown and Cumberland LGAs, and in 12 suburbs in the Penrith LGA — the singles bubble rules are changing as well. You'll now need to officially register with the authorities to note who your singles bubble buddy is. No matter where you live, your singles bubbly buddy will also need to reside within five kilometres of you, too. In what's being called 'Operation Stay At Home' by NSW Police, new fines will come into effect from 12.01am on Monday, August 16 as well, increasing the state's lockdown enforcement mechanisms. There'll be $5000 on-the-spot fines for quarantine breaches (an increase from $1000), and $5000 on-the-spot fines for lying to a contact tracer (which is already a criminal offence). You'll also get a $3000 on-the-spot fine for breaching the two-person exercise rule in any way, and the same amount will apply for flouting the rules regarding visiting regional NSW from Greater Sydney. Obviously, all the current overarching stay-at-home restrictions also remain in place. So, as has been the case since late June, everyone can still only leave the house for four specific essential reasons: to work and study if you can't do it from home; for essential shopping; for exercise outdoors; and for compassionate reasons, which includes medical treatment, getting a COVID-19 test and getting vaccinated. Visitors aren't permitted, and masks are required when you're out of the house. Also, only businesses deemed "critical retail" are permitted to remain open. If you need supplies, only one person from each household can go out shopping each day to buy essential items — and browsing is prohibited, too. Carpooling is still off the cards, unless you're in a vehicle with members of your own household. And, you can still only exercise in groups of two outdoors — or as a household. Announcing the new changes to lockdown rules, the Premier noted that "what we ask our citizens to do has been the most difficult decision of my life, and the most difficult decision our government will ever have to make. But it is to keep our community safe. I appreciate the community also understands the changing nature of the Delta strain and our ability to move with it and get in front of it. The case numbers overnight are quite concerning — extremely concerning — and we cannot see this trend continue. And while the vast majority of people are doing the right thing, too many are not and that will have devastating consequences because the Delta variant leaves no room for error." Speaking about what will be in store for Greater Sydney in the coming months, the Premier also advised that "I want to foreshadow the most difficult thing for us as a team in New South Wales, for us as citizens of our state, will be living through September and October and keeping everybody safe." Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour remain in lockdown until at least 12.01am on Saturday, August 28, with new lockdown rules coming into effect from 12.01am on Monday, August 16. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
This year hasn't been easy for anyone, but it has been extra tough for folks in Melbourne. The city's residents went into lockdown earlier in 2020, when the rest of the country shut down — and, when cases in the state started to increase again mid-year, they endured new Melbourne-specific stay-at-home restrictions that have only been easing since mid-September. From tonight — at 11.59pm on Tuesday, October 27, to be specific — Melburnians will be allowed to drink brews at bars, pubs and restaurants again. Understandably, the city's residents and venues are rather excited about that development. But if you're located in the rest of Australia and you'd like to help make this development as cheery as possible, you can help out by shouting a Victorian a drink. If you're located in Victorian or even Melbourne and you want to spread the love to everyone else who just navigated the past few months, that's on the cards too. If you'd like to send this link to your interstate friends to nudge them in the right direction, that's obviously an option as well. When it comes to donating, anyone can take part in the #ShoutAVicADrink campaign started by The Otter's Promise in Armadale. It's really as simple as it sounds. Via the craft beer bar and bottle shop's website, you can pledge $10, which'll be used to to buy a random Victorian a drink at the bar. You can choose to donate more than $10, of course, which'll be used for multiple drinks. And it will be random, based on whoever is in the bar — and no, you can't specify who your shout goes to. If you're a Melburnian who lives within 25 kilometres of The Otter's Promise, obviously that's as good a reason as any to stop by when it reopens from midday on Thursday, October 29. The venue is hoping that other Melbourne joints will join the campaign, too, turning #ShoutAVicADrink into a city-wide campaign. To shout a Victorian a drink, head to The Otter's Promise's website. To visit The Otter's Promise, head to 1219 High Street, Armadale from midday on Thursday, October 29.
At the risk of sounding a little anti-social, I can admit to remembering a time when I was sitting at a pub with a bunch of friends who were all busily tapping away at their iPhones (myself included). It's a sight that at first seems inappropriate for the pub but, in the age of the smartphone, probably one that won't disappear anytime soon. Untappd is an app that will have you doing more of the above. Released last week, the app is a social network for lovers of beer. And unlike checking your Facebook, using Untappd at the pub is a little more socially acceptable because you actually have to be at the pub drinking beer to use it. The app combines all the familiar social networking features such as check-ins, friending and rating. So if you're familiar with those things (via Fourquare, Facebook and Yelp) you'll understand the concept behind this beer-drinking app. It allows you to share what you're drinking and where you're drinking it, as well as your rating to earn some creds for drink choices. And for those who wish they could track 'life stats' like this guy, it does that too. If you ask me, it's probably a good way to keep busy during those awkward standing-alone-while-friend-goes-to-the-bathroom moments at the pub.
When Re opened in Sydney's growing South Eveleigh precinct back in April with hospitality stars Matt Whiley (Scout) and Maurice Terzini (Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Ciccia Bella) at the helm, it did so with a bold and important mission. It's aim: to create less waste, have less of an impact on the environment and forge a blueprint for other venues to follow. It's Australia's first no-waste bar, in fact, and its menu reflects that ethos. Here, Sydneysiders can sip drinks made with excess, salvaged and foraged ingredients — but still with plenty of flavour. Fast favourites include melon and wasabi negronis, yuzu and matcha margaritas, and cherry ripe old fashioneds — and, even though Sydney is currently in lockdown, they're still on offer. Adjusting to the current situation, Re has launched the Re Up Bottle Shop for takeaway and delivery orders. And, if you're not located in the Harbour City, it's also delivering these pre-bottled cocktails nationally. Ten different types of tipples are available in both 100-millilitre ($18) and 500-millilitre ($85) sizes. If you'd fancy more than one, you can opt for a four-pack ($65 for the smaller bottles / $320 for the larger serves). And if you're wondering what other kinds of cocktails are on the menu, other highlights include the 50 Shades of Gruyere, which is made with mushroom cognac, sweet vermouth, gruyere and bloody shiraz — and an old fashioned that goes heavy on seeds and grains, including toasted pumpkin seeds, red rice and fermented black barley. A small selection of wine, beer and spirits is also available to purchase, as is Re and Mr Black's recycled coffee liqueur collaboration — which uses recycled coffee grounds to give you a boozy and caffeinated hit. The Re Up Bottle Shop is open every day except Sunday for pick ups, and delivers in Sydney from Thursday–Saturday (yes, just in time for the weekend). For interstate folks now feeling mighty thirsty, it does next-day delivery outside of Sydney as well. Sydneysiders can find the Re Up Bottle Shop at 2 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh — open 12–5pm Monday–Tuesday and 12–8pm Wednesday–Saturday for pick ups. For online orders anywhere in Australia, head to the bar's website.
You know those muggy, dusky nights in the height of summer when all you can hear is cicadas? The heat of the day's subsided but something about it lingers, and relief only sets in when the massive southerly that hits after dark raises goosebumps on your skin, and weirdly you find yourself reaching for a jumper. Well, Sport for Jove are about to launch into their sixth season of outdoor summer theatre, with a double bill of magic and the spirit world that seizes that summer twilight feeling and runs with it, through the foreboding setting of the 200-year-old Bella Vista Farm. Susanna Dowling directs Shakespeare's cautionary fairy story A Midsummer Night's Dream. The characters — young lovers and dreamers — enter a forest world between sleep and waking, on the shortest night of the year. The fragile bonds of family, friendship and love are broken, while the Fairy Kingdom is upended and entangled with the human world in a war over a mortal child. And with Arthur Miller's parable of mass hysteria, The Crucible, director Damien Ryan creates a haunting site-specific production of the modern classic, entirely within the old farm shed. Drawing a parallel between the Salem witch hunt of 1692 and the McCarthyism griping the US in the '50s, this play is a timeless (and timely) reminder of the evils of ignorance, and the deadly combination of hatred and power. If the season trailer's anything to go by, this will be some seriously edge-of-your-seat, immersive, electric-as-the-summer-evening-air theatre.
No one in Australia expects to feel cold in January. Summer is in full swing, after all. It's prime beach and pool season, obviously — and, even though the festive period is over and everyone is settling back into the year after the holidays, thoughts of lazing around by or splashing around in a body of water aren't ever too far from anyone's minds. Whether you're fond of cooling down with a refreshing dip, or you prefer to escape to the vicinity of the nearest fan or air-conditioner, you might want to put those plans into action across the rest of this week. From today, Thursday, January 21, temperatures are expected to be mighty hot all around the nation, according to the Bureau of Meteorology's latest major cities forecast. As per BOM's city-specific forecasts, some of those temps are due to stick around a bit longer than that, too. After an expected top of 27 degrees on Thursday, Sydneysiders can expect a few sweaty days, with temps staying at 30 or above from Friday until mid-next week. Still in NSW, Newcastle will hit 34 on Sunday, while Wollongong will get to 31. That isn't as warm as Canberra in the ACT, though — with the Australian capital forecast to hit 38 on Sunday and 39 on Monday. Sunday and Monday will be warm in Melbourne, too, with tops of 35 and 37 forecast. They'll come after a 31-degree Thursday, then expected maximums of 26 and 27 on Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, a drop to 22 is forecast for Tuesday. https://twitter.com/BOM_Vic/status/1351781371715477504 Brisbane will get to 27 on Thursday, 29 on Friday, and 30 from Saturday–Monday, and 33 on Tuesday and Wednesday — so it'll be warm, but also usual summer weather. In Adelaide, the mercury will rise to 35 on Thursday, dip down to 32 on Friday, then soar to 39 on Saturday and a whopping 41 on Sunday. Also in the centre of the country, Alice Springs can expect its maximum temperature to stay between 35–39 degrees for four days from Thursday, while Darwin's will sit at 32-33 across the same period. In Perth, it'll actually get a tad cooler over the weekend — starting with a 34-degree maximum on Thursday, then going up to 36 degrees on Friday, before dropping to 26 on Saturday and Sunday. And down in Hobart, a top temperature of 27 is forecast for Sunday, with 30 expected on Monday — following other maximums of 22, 23 and 25 in the days prior. Of course, while these are BOM's forecasts as issued at 6.05am on Thursday, January 21, conditions may change — so keep an eye on the Bureau's website for the most up-to-date information. For latest weather forecasts, head to the Bureau of Meteorology website.
Update Friday, October 27: Shadow Baking officially opens from 8am today. You can find it at 243 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. Get down early as it's sure to sell out fast. 2023 has been a big year for Gelato Messina so far, with the opening of its huge Marrickville HQ and the return of the brand's gelato degustation. While these new openings, plus the gelato mainstay's continued commitment to creating inventive new flavours, would have kept the team busy, three of the brand's head chefs have added even more to their plates — teaming up and turning their attention to baked goods. Shadow Baking is the new project of Messina's chefs Tom Mitchell, Florian Fritsch and Remi Talbot. The trio linked up in 2022 to start working on flakey, buttery snacks to serve at The Cannery's monthly markets in their off-time from the Messina kitchen. And, things have been going so well since that they're now set to open a standalone bakery in Darlinghurst. The exact details of the bakery are yet to be announced, but you can expect it to open next to the OG Gelato Messina site sometime this year. Some of the showstopping creations the team has produced for the market stall include macadamia and mandarin croissants, custard tart danishes, reuben croissant sandwiches, and pandan and coconut brioche. You can also expect some collaborations between the team and Gelato Messina at the Darlinghurst site. Until then, they're pairing up at Messina HQ on Saturday, September 16. Shadow Baking is hosting a one-day iteration of the Messina Eats car park parties that have previously welcomed in Baba's Place, Hoy Pinoy and Ricos Tacos. The pop-up bakery will boast a special one-off kouign-amann custard gelato sando that the trio have created in collaboration with Messina. If you want to get your hands on a next-level pastry before the Darlinghurst bakery opens, this is your chance. The food-focused festivities 1 Rich Street, Marrickville will be going down for one day only, from 8am until sold out. Shadow Baking is set to open in Darlinghurst later in 2023. To stay up to date, head to the bakery's Instagram.
Sydney based singer, songwriter, arranger and composer, Sarah Belkner kicks off the first month long residency at the Newsagency — a boutique, BYO and art space specialising in acoustic and up-and-coming music. Regularly featuring one local artist's set (and a surprise duet, which is recorded and released online), the Newsagency Sessions are set to be music to your ears, quite literally. The release of her much loved and lauded new single, 'With You' will be celebrated not only tonight, but for the next month at the Newsagency. But this isn't just your regular residency. These sessions will be available for streaming online thanks to Concert Window — an online portal where musicians and fans come together via webcam. Tonight's gig tickets (and the online stream) can be purchased or watched here. THE NEWSAGENCY SESSIONS: **all available to stream online via Concert Window Wed 19 Nov — Sarah with special guest Emma Swift Wed 26 Nov — Sarah with special guest Jack Colwell Wed 3 Dec — Sarah with special guest Abby Dobson Wed 10 Dec — Sarah with secret guest soon to be revealed
Midweek dinners couldn't get any cheesier. After a successful run last year, Handpicked Cellar Door is bring back its raclette dinners, devoting Tuesday and Thursday nights every week to piping hot, melted cheese. From 5.30pm–10pm, the team will warm a mammoth wheel of raclette before your eyes, then slice it straight onto your plate. For $24, you'll be eating the raclette alongside premium pancetta, pickles and potatoes, with a vegetarian option also available ($20). And, before you ask, there's of course the option of matching wines as well. Just 25 bucks will buy you a 'swipe right' four-wine flight, made up of Mornington Peninsula chardonnay, two types of shiraz (one from Heathcote and one from the Barossa Valley) and Margaret River cab merlot. Their Tinder joke, not ours. If this doesn't get you off your couch on a chilly winter night then nothing will.
Winter is here, and while unfortunately, we will have to wait another whole year for the finale series of Game of Thrones, there is an event coming for Sydney that will tide fans over (at least temporarily). Call your banners and get ready for a medieval-style banquet in the vein of GoT from the team behind Beyond Cinema. If, like Jon Snow, you know nothing, Beyond Cinema aims to create larger than life, immersive cinema experiences, notably entering the scene with its debut production The Titanic Experience, which happened on an actual ship with a crowd of 1000 people. But you can forget steamy car windows and any kind of dainty romance, as the collective's next offering is an immersive medieval-style banquet replicating the fascinating and often terrifying world of HBO's hit series that so many have come to depend on for meaning in life. While many details of the event are still shrouded in mystery (much like the eventual outcome of the series), we can be assured that Beyond Cinema's usual flair will ensure a night of gruff entertainment. There are rumours there will be knights, a performing jester, medieval music, a meal fit for a king and many tankards of hearty ale. Seeing as it's ominously titled the Red Wedding Banquet, we may also assume there will be some recreations of scenes from George R. R. Martin's saga. Here's hoping there's no regicide at this one. The Red Wedding banquet will happen in Sydney sometime this year. We'll let you know when tickets go on sale or you can sign up for updates here.
If Life of Pi has had you pondering life’s big questions, here's your chance to pursue your ideas in the flesh with some live theatre. Performance Space is hosting another instalment of Nighttime, its popular evening of short dramatic works curated by a local artist, this time to tie in with the provocative Matters of Life and Death program. Eddie Sharp (the Late Night Library series, Some Film Museums I Have Known) will be curating this round, titled NightTime: Live and Let Die. A bunch of independent artists will bring their most surreal imaginings, terrifying nightmares, and outlandish black humour to the stage for one night. Those featured include Lucinda Gleeson, who'll present Walter Burley Griffin Has a Lot to Answer For; Karli Munn with Raining Blood; and Julian Day with The Regret Tree. Whether you've spent your life sitting under a tree contemplating Hamlet repeatedly or drinking your way into oblivion so as to avoid turning your mind to mortality at all, this show is bound to leave you with something to think about. Also included in Performance Space's Matters of Life and Death program of Aussie and international works is dance piece Performance Anxiety, macabre foodie event The Last Supper, not-so-funhouse Unsettling Suite, and the Death Knocks Supper Club of impolite dinner table conversation. Read what the artists had to say in our feature 'Seven Positive Ways to Think About Death at Performance Space'.
Back in 2021, news arrived that Round the Twist was joining The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, Starstruck and Moulin Rouge! in making the leap from Australia's screens to its theatres as a stage musical. If you've ever, ever felt like you needed to see the classic 90s and early 00s Aussie children's TV series with singing and dancing, the end result finally has a debut date. Your destination if you want to catch it first: Brisbane, with Round the Twist The Musical making its world premiere as part of Queensland Theatre's 2024 season. The homegrown gem is going the screen-to-stage route in a production that hasn't yet unveiled its cast, but already has the entire country well-acquainted with its characters. It'll hit QPAC's Playhouse from Tuesday, November 12–Sunday, December 1, closing out Queensland Theatre's 2024 run. We bet you're now more excited right now than a Twist family member in a lighthouse. Airing for two seasons between 1990–93, then another two from 2000–01, Round the Twist adapted Paul Jennings' popular books into an offbeat fantasy series. If you were the right age, it was must-see TV — and now it's your next must-see musical. Here's hoping that the new stage production not only does justice to the show that absolutely every Aussie kid watched in the 90s and 00s, and more than once, but that it taps into its balance of humour, strangeness and scares. There's definitely a big lighthouse involved, because of course there is. Obviously, we all know which song absolutely has to be included — and multiple times, ideally. Yes, it's the theme tune by Andrew Duffield that you've now got stuck in your head and will keep singing to yourself for the rest of the week. (And no, we're not sorry for putting it there.) Writer/composer Paul Hodge and director Simon Phillips (Muriel's Wedding: The Musical, Ladies in Black) are guiding the show, which will focus on single father Tony Twist; his children Pete, Linda and Bronson; and their efforts to save their home from the Gribble family while also attempting to solve a 200-year-old mystery. Expect haunted spaces, ghosts, smelly feet and a crystal ball as well, and songs. "Round The Twist The Musical is iconically Australian and it is our absolute pleasure to bring these characters, these stories and these songs to the stage for the first time ever," said Queensland Theatre Artistic Director Lee Lewis, announcing the 2024 program. "This has been a giddy labour of love for all of us here at Queensland Theatre for years now, and we're beyond excited to finally see this production come to life." Where Round The Twist The Musical will play after its Brisbane debut hasn't yet been announced, if you're hoping to see the production elsewhere around the country. Back in the Queensland capital, Queensland Theatre will also stage versions of Gaslight and Medea in 2024, the latter by Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks. Football drama 37 will enjoy its world premiere, while Pulitzer Prize-winner Cost of Living and the Veep-style POTUS, Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive will make their Australian debuts. If you need something Round the Twist-related to watch until November 2024 hits, all four seasons of the show are streaming on Netflix. You can also check out the trailer for Round the Twist's first season below: Round the Twist The Musical will premiere at the QPAC Playhouse, South Bank, Brisbane from Tuesday, November 12–Sunday, December 1, 2024 as part of Queensland Theatre's 2024 season — head to Queensland Theatre's website for further details. Top image: Round the Twist filming location Split Point lighthouse, Natalie Maguire via Wikimedia Commons.
Had two COVID-19 vaccinations? Been enjoying life out of lockdown, and all the eased rules that've been in place for double-jabbed Sydneysiders since mid-October? Then the past few weeks have probably felt like a dream compared to the almost four months under stay-at-home conditions immediately before it. And, come Monday, November 8, things for double-vaxxed New South Wales residents are going to get even better. Under NSW's existing roadmap out of lockdown, the state's restrictions were set to ease again when summer hit. But today, Tuesday, November 2, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced that that next stage of relaxed rules is being brought forward by almost a month — but only for the double-vaccinated. So, if you've rolled up your sleeves twice already, you'll soon be able to do more things in more places with more people. Feel like dancing to celebrate the news? That'll be permitted again, actually. For the double-vaxxed, there'll also be no more limits on at-home gatherings — or on outdoor gatherings up to 1000 people. And in venues, for the double-jabbed, density caps will move to one person per two-square-metres both inside and outdoors. That'll apply everywhere, including restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes, as well as theme parks, zoos, aquariums, stadiums, showgrounds and other major recreation facilities. And, it'll also cover entertainment and information facilities such as cinemas, theatres, musical halls, concert halls, dance halls, drive-in cinemas, art galleries and museums. Indoor pools can reopen for all purposes for double-vaxxed patrons as well. We're bringing forward our reopening roadmap for the double-vaccinated. From next Monday, it means more friends and family at home, more capacity for hospitality venues, more people at events - more enjoying what makes NSW great. pic.twitter.com/qM1DD4aQMv — Dom Perrottet (@Dom_Perrottet) November 2, 2021 "I want to thank everybody across New South Wales for the effort they have made in getting vaccinated," said the Premier, revealing the news. "We said from the outset that this was the key to be able, for our state to open up safely — and an extraordinary effort from every person across New South Wales has today allowed us to bring a number of changes forward from the roadmap from December 1, initially set out." Perrottet's announcement comes after NSW's most recent set of eased restrictions were also brought forward and kicked in earlier, and after the state reopened for regional travel just yesterday, Monday, November 1. But the Premier also advised today that the plan for unvaccinated NSW residents is changing. Relaxed conditions were initially set to kick in for the unvaxxed on Wednesday, December 1; however, they've now pushed back to either Wednesday, December 15 or when the state hits the 95-percent double-jabbed mark, whichever comes first. The current rules around masks will still apply to everyone as well — double-vaxxed and unvaccinated — until that same December date, too. Today's announcement comes as revealed that 173 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, November 1. For more information about New South Wales' reopening roadmap, head to the NSW Government website. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Parker Blain.
Sydney’s top Italian restaurateurs are bringing their own brand of Euro disco to Carriageworks during Vivid Sydney's Modulations. Combining a love for music, food and the motherland, the Italo Dining and Disco Club is a collaboration between the guys from Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta, Fratelli Paradiso and 10 William St. They promise to transport you to a different time and place with an immersive dining and dance experience. “We know how to throw a great party,” says Giovanni Paradiso, co-owner and manager of 10 William St and Fratelli Paradiso. “We all have a great vibe in our restaurants, you just don’t want to leave ... we want to get people's conceptions of dining and entertainment to change. You don’t need to go to seven venues to have a good night out, you can just go to one all-rounder.” With exclusive performances from Grace Jones, Pharoah Sanders and Bill Drummond (plus a Kooky party) running concurrently with the disco at Carriageworks, you'll be able to take a holistic approach to your night and get dinner at the club, go see Grace Jones, and head back to Italo to continue to party the night away under the influence of for-real European disco legends like Beppe Loda. Which is good, considering you'll probably have consumed a fair few carbs from the Italian menu. Paradiso's partner in this project is Maurice Terzini from Icebergs and Da Orazio, whose spit-roasted pig and 48-hour pizza dough are often on our minds. Terzini grew up in Pescara on the Adriatic coast, so has a very firsthand reference point for the kind of party they want to create. “We’re doing natural wine out of barrels," says Paradiso. "You’ll be able to order it by the glass, by the half litre ... Maurice will be doing some of his Ciroc things with paired cocktails, and there will obviously be jugs of spritzers. "Food-wise it is going to be pretty much our favourites from Fratelli Paradiso, 10 William St, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar and Da Orazio.” He boasts of a festival vibe and street food set to tempt. Paradiso encourages people to bring their families along early on in the night for a great Italian dining experience. "We know there’s going to be great food and great music,” he says, cheekily adding, “and pretty much you do the rest. You bring the fun.” With the success of the similar food-culture fusion Wild Porteno at Vivid Festival last year, Italo Dining and Disco Club certainly has some big shoes to fill; however, by taking a snapshot of Italy in its disco heyday and putting their own spin on it, Paradiso is confident they will transport club-goers into a simpler time when discos were more about a combination of great food and dance in the one location. "[What’s important is to] take a bit from a great movement, the '70s and '80s, and turn it into something pretty cool and pretty modern,” he says The Italo Dining and Disco Club runs from 5pm till late on May 31 to June 2 and June 5–7. Entry is free and all ages are welcome.
UPDATE, April 24, 2021: The Witches is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. What's the one thing that every movie remake has in common? No matter how it turns out, the original film still exists. So, if the latest version doesn't cast a spell, you can return to the old one — revisiting it, appreciating it anew and steeping yourself in nostalgia in the process. Of course, film remakes aren't supposed to inspire viewers to flock back to their predecessors. While that possibility is a silver lining for movie buffs, it isn't the outcome intended by filmmakers. But, it's exactly what The Witches circa 2020 delivers. Writer/director Robert Zemeckis has everything from Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit to Castaway and The Polar Express to his name, and he co-wrote the screenplay here with Black-ish and Girls Trip's Kenya Barris and Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro; however, their main achievement with The Witches is reminding everyone just how great the 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl's book still is. No one should need a new movie to jog their memories; since hitting screens three decades ago, the Anjelica Huston-starring version of The Witches has been a creepy, dark and weird children's (and kidults') favourite. And it's definitely all of those things, as it should be — and not just because it's about witches who hate children to the point of attempted genocide. The Witches tells a tale about kids realising that all isn't what it seems in the world, and that danger, trouble and pain can lurk around any corner. It tears open the idea that life is always safe, happy and fun like it's ripping off a bandaid. This happens in a child-friendly away, of course, but it's meant to be unsettling, unnerving, upsetting and strange. On the page and in every screen adaptation, The Witches does start with a boy losing his parents in a car accident and being uprooted to a new place and a new life as a result, after all. This fresh iteration kicks off that way, too, as narrated by Chris Rock as the older version of the film's unnamed young protagonist (Jahzir Bruno, The Christmas Chronicles 2). It's 1968, and the boy in question moves to Alabama to live with his grandmother (Octavia Spencer, Onward), who struggles to coax him out of his grief-fuelled fog. But they bond over her shocking revelation: that witches exist, they're everywhere, they despise children and she has experience with them. Also, once a witch sets their sights on a kid, it never lets up. That's why, after one crosses the boy's path, grandma whisks him off to "the swankiest resort in Alabama", where she's certain they'll be safe among rich white folks. Of course, she couldn't have predicted that the group of women that have taken over the Grand Orleans Imperial Island Hotel's ballroom — the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, apparently — are all witches. Or, that the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway, Dark Waters) is in attendance, unveiling a plan to turn every kid in the world into a rodent via a potion called 'Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker'. Much that has endeared The Witches to readers and viewers over the years remains in the latest film — but tinkering with the details and tone makes an unfortunate impact. Brimming as it is with bright colours and overdone CGI, the new iteration of The Witches favours gloss and shine over chills and potential nightmares. It's the cosy and smooth version of the story, and the lack of sharp edges is noticeable. Zemeckis and company try to add scares in various ways, yet struggle with every attempt. The film's villains, especially the Grand High Witch, are given over-sized Joker-esque smiles teeming with jagged teeth, for example, but they just look cartoonish. At every turn, if there's a way to make something more blatant while also less disconcerting, The Witches always takes that choice. Its reliance upon special effects — to levitate the Grand High Witch, and for its talking children-turned-mice — also speaks volumes. Everything here is overt to an in-your-face extreme, and also far less intricate and much more bland. See also: the two significant narrative shifts, as designed to bring weight to the tale. This remake is set in the US, in the south and in the 60s, and its two lead characters are Black Americans. Via these changes, Zemeckis, Barris and del Toro endeavour to tap into historical horrors, as part of Hollywood's current reckoning with America's past. Alas, this slick film doesn't have anything much to say about either decision. Racism is a part of the on-screen world, and it's noticeable that the hotel's staff are all people of colour while its guests are almost exclusively white; however, rather than making an important point, these elements just seem like a calculated effort to make the movie more topical. Indeed, The Witches pokes fun of the portly Bruno Jenkins (Codie-Lei Eastick, Holmes & Watson), the other boy staying at the hotel, far more than it attempts to serve up even a cursory exploration of its grandmother-grandson central duo's experiences due to their race. It might be unfair to think that some remakes only eventuate because a studio executive thought it was time to wring some more cash out of a beloved story, but that's how The Witches feels. It's simultaneously broader and tamer — including Hathaway's over-the-top performance, although she does appear to be enjoying herself immensely — and it radiates big pantomime energy. Spencer and Bruno give the movie a hefty dose of heart, even when the latter is lending his voice to a critter with a tail. Stanley Tucci, Hathaway's The Devil Wears Prada co-star, is suitably amusing at the hotel's put-upon manager. But there's a lack of overall magic in The Witches, either of the twisted or charming type — unless sending viewers clamouring to find wherever the original is currently streaming counts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ekw85OqJck
Some of the best visual artists in the world are about to be let loose on The Galeries in Sydney's CBD. Preceding the launch of art book Curvy 7 at Lo-Fi, artists from the collection will be hanging their art in the Galeries' steep, vertical alleys. Curvy is an annual collection of works from the best female visual artists around the world. Co-curated this year by street-artist Fafi, and Sarah Lerfel (of ecclectic, cool-hunting storefront Colette, Paris), previous editions are much sought after and occaisionally reprinted. Running from Friday the 19th of November, Curvy artists in the exhbition will include the surgical Kaitlin Beckett, Breakbot animator Irina Dakeva, human-animal hybridiser Melissa Haslam and Aussie ex-pat Rilla Alexander — whose work has included beautiful, stylised animal artwork for Spain's Museo del Prado from Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly delights. Art will be suspended mid-air, will be for show and sale in shops below, and for three Thursdays — the 9th, 16th and 23rd of December — will be created live in a texta-only art battle from 6-9pm. So if you like your shopping with a serve of kick-ass art, Curvy at The Galeries is the place to be. Fafi sticker image by Mindsay Mohan.
Notoriously exclusive event of the Australian fashion calendar year, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, has wrapped up for one more year. The high-profile editors and shiny-haired bloggers of the fash pack have packed their bags and upped and left. But Fashion Week isn’t over yet — and any style tragic worth their Instagram follower count knows that at the end of the week comes the weekend. Enter MBFWA Weekend Edition. It’s two days of open-to-all access to some of the best of Fashion Week, featuring previews of SS15/16 collections from designers such as Ellery, Romance Was Born and Alice McCall. A day pass (available in Gold, Silver or Bronze) gets you access to one Best of #MBFWA Runway Show, plus all-day access to the Fashion Hub (they have free canapes!) and as many Style Sessions — run by the likes of MAC make-up artists and Redken hair directors — as you please. Then mingle with the models on a backstage tour, or take a fashion photography masterclass that’ll have you testing out your newfound skills from the media riser at the top of the runway. So pick out the coolest outfit you own and pack your portable phone charger. It’s time to see the fashion world like an insider.
The Royal Botanic Garden is known for its serenity and breathtaking scenery during the day. But there's a spookier side to the garden that people rarely get to see. Twice a month, Ghostly Garden will open up the gates after hours for an exclusive night of frights. Prepare yourself for creepy tales of the garden's past as you walk through the eerie grounds. After the sun goes down, a guide will take you on an adventure through the garden and tell you about the spirits that haunt your surroundings. BYO torch. This is a rare chance to see the Royal Botanic Garden in another light — or lack of. Ghostly Gardeners will meet at the Woolloomooloo Gates where they'll start a twilight journey with the ghosts of the garden. And we suggest comfy shoes so you're ready for any amount of walking through — or running away on — uneven terrain. Updated: June 22, 2019.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures will do that, and so will plenty of people staying home because they aren't well — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Perhaps you've been under the weather. Given the hefty amount of titles now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are nine that you can watch right now at home. REALITY Sydney Sweeney is ready for her closeup. Playwright-turned-filmmaker Tina Satter obliges. A household name of late due to her exceptional work in both Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sweeney has earned the camera's attention for over a decade; however, she's never been peered at with the unflinching intensity of Satter's debut feature Reality. For much of this short, sharp and stunning docudrama, the film's star lingers within the frame. Plenty of the movie's 83-minute running time devotes its focus to her face, staring intimately and scrutinising what it sees. Within Reality's stranger-than-fiction narrative, that imagery spies a US Air Force veteran and National Security Agency translator in her mid-twenties, on what she thought was an ordinary Saturday. It's June 3, 2017, with the picture's protagonist returning from buying groceries to find FBI agents awaiting at her rented Augusta, Georgia home, then accusing her of "the possible mishandling of classified information". Reality spots a woman facing grave charges, a suspect under interrogation and a whistleblower whose fate is already known to the world. It provides a thriller of a procedural with agents, questions, allegations and arrests; an informer saga that cuts to the heart of 21st-century American politics, and its specific chaos since 2016; and an impossible-to-shake tragedy about how authority savagely responds to being held to account. Bringing her stage production Is This a Room: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription to the screen after it wowed off-Broadway and then Broadway, Satter dedicates Reality's bulk to that one day and those anxious minutes, unfurling in close to real time — but, pivotally, it kicks off three weeks earlier with its namesake at work while Fox News plays around her office. Why would someone leak to the media a restricted NSA report about Russian interference in getting Donald Trump elected? Before it recreates the words genuinely spoken between its eponymous figure and law enforcement, Reality sees the answer as well. Reality is available to stream via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE There's nothing small about Hollywood's superhero obsession, with its 30-movies-deep-and-counting cinematic universes, competing caped-crusader realms, ever-growing spread across screens big and small, and determination to enlist every actor ever (and some actors more than once). That decades have passed, many spandex-clad characters have cycled through a few faces now, and reuniting past and present versions of beloved crime-fighters is the current trend: none are minor matters, either. And yet, when 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took pop culture's favourite web-slinger back to its animated roots, it made those flesh-and-blood flicks and shows, as well as the expensive special effects behind them, look positively trivial and cartoonish. Five years later, the first sequel to the deservedly Academy Award-winning masterpiece plasters around the same sensation like a Spidey shooting its silk. Give this latest take on Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's iconic character by directors Joaquim Dos Santos (The Legend of Korra), Kemp Powers (Soul) and Justin K Thompson (Into the Spider-Verse's production designer) 2024's Best Animated Feature Oscar immediately. All the money in the world can't make people in tights standing against green screens as visually spectacular and emotionally expressive as the Spider-Verse films. If it could, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and now Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse wouldn't be so astonishing and exhilarating, look so stunning and feel so authentic. Spider-Man's eight stints in theatres with either Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland behind the mask — and all of the latter's pop-ups in other Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, too — have splattered around plenty of charm, but they'll now always swing far below their animated counterparts. Indeed, when Spider-Man: No Way Home tried to emulate the Spider-Verse by pointing its fingers into the multiverse, as Marvel's live-action world is now fixated upon, it paled in comparison. And, that isn't just because there was no Nicolas Cage-voiced 30s-era spider-vigilante Spider-Man Noir, or a spider-robot, spider-pig, spider-car or spider-saur; rather, it's because as the Spider-Verse movies tell of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld, Hawkeye), Peter B Parker (Jake Johnson, Minx), Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight) and more, they truly do whatever a Spider-Man movie can. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. JOY RIDE Before it busts out licking lucky cats, K-pop-style Cardi B covers, cocaine enemas, threesome injuries and intimate tattoos, Joy Ride begins with a punch. For most of the movie, Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park, Beef) and Lolo Chen (Sherry Cola, Good Trouble) are nearing 30, travelling in China and going on a wild journey in a gleefully raucous comedy. In the 1998-set prologue in White Falls, Washington, though, they're five-year-olds (debutants Lennon Yee and Milana Wan) first meeting, being taunted by a racist playground bully and responding with the outgoing Lolo's fist. Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon screenwriter Adele Lim uses her directorial debut's opening scene not just to start a fast and firm friendship, but to establish the film's tone, sense of humour and, crucially, its willingness to fight. Joy Ride will ultimately get sentimental; however, this is a movie that beats up cultural prejudices and stereotypes by letting its four main female and non-binary Asian American characters grapple with them while being complicated and chaotic. Hollywood should be well past representation being such a noteworthy factor. That should've happened long before Bridesmaids and Bachelorette gave The Hangover's template a ladies-led spin more than a decade ago, and prior to Girls Trip spending time four Black women on a raucous weekend away six years back. Reality proves otherwise, sadly, so Joy Ride openly addresses the discrimination and pigeonholing slung Audrey, Lolo, and their pals Kat (Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu) and Deadeye's (comedian and movie first-timer Sabrina Wu) ways — and in Audrey's case, after being adopted as a baby by the white Sullivans (The Recruit's David Denman and Bridesmaids' co-writer Annie Mumolo), internalised. With its booze- and sex-fuelled antics, Lim's film could've simply been formulaically entertaining, just with Asian American characters in Asia. It certainly doesn't hold back with its raunchy setpieces. But it's a better and more thoughtful feature because it engages with the diasporic experience; "I'm just a garbage American who only speaks English," Audrey chides herself, which the picture she's in unpacks. Joy Ride is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. NO HARD FEELINGS Has Jennifer Lawrence entered her Jennifer Coolidge era? With the spirit of American Pie lingering over No Hard Feelings like unpaid property taxes — a pivotal part of the movie's plot — the Silver Linings Playbook Oscar-winner and Winter's Bone, Hunger Games, X-Men and mother! star is flirting with that direction and loving it. No one sticks their genitalia in a warm home-baked dessert or talks about band camp in Lawrence's latest film, but it is a sex comedy about an inexperienced teenager that includes parents giving clumsy advice. It also involves getting lucky with an older woman; while Lawrence is only 32 and plays it here, an age gap — as well as the chasms between millennials and zoomers, and with the generations prior — is essential to the narrative. The spirit of Coolidge, a game Lawrence, gags about Hall & Oates' 1982 earworm 'Maneater' — a storyline that somewhat riffs on its lyrics, in fact — and battles over class, generational differences and gentrification: that's No Hard Feelings. Based on a real-life Craigslist ad, it's also the next movie from filmmaker Gene Stupnitsky, who penned Bad Teacher and made his feature directorial debut with Good Boys. Where the latter took a Superbad-esque setup but swapped 17-year-olds out for sixth graders, his second flick as a helmer tells a coming-of-age tale on two levels. Percy Becker (Andrew Barth Feldman, White Noise) is the introverted brainiac whose helicopter parents (Daybreak's Matthew Broderick and Life & Beth's Laura Benanti) want to live a little before he hits Princeton University, while Maddie Barker (Lawrence, Causeway) is the bartender and Uber driver who's been in a state of arrested development ever since giving up her plans to surf California's beaches when her mother got sick. No Hard Feelings is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ELEMENTAL When Pixar is at its best and brightest, the animation house's gorgeous and heartfelt films flow across the silver screen. They glow with colour, creativity, sincerity and emotion. In movies such as WALL-E, Inside Out, Soul, Toy Story 4, Up and Ratatouille, the Disney-owned company's work floats beyond the ordinary as it flickers — and yet, it's also grounded in genuine feelings and insights, even while embracing the now Pixar-standard "what if robots, playthings, rats and the like had feelings?" setup over and over. Accordingly, it makes sense that the studio's Elemental draws upon the sensations that its features usually inspire. It seems like something that was always destined to happen, in fact. And, it's hardly surprising that its latest picture anthropomorphises fire, water, air and earth, and ponders these aspects of nature having emotions. What's less expected is how routine this just-likeable and sweet-enough film is, with the Pixar template lukewarm instead of an inferno and hovering rather than soaring. Elemental also treads water, despite vivid animation, plus the noblest of aims to survey the immigrant experience, opposites attracting, breaking down cultural stereotypes and borders, and complicated parent-child relationships. The Captain Planet-meets-Romeo and Juliet vibe that glinted through the movie's trailers proves accurate, and also something that the feature is happy sticking with exactly as that formula sounds. Although filmmaker Pete Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) draws upon his own upbringing as the son of Korean expats growing up in New York City and its distinctive neighbourhoods — that his family ran a grocery store is worked in as well — and his own marriage, his second stint as a director is too by-the-numbers, easy and timid. Elemental looks like a Pixar film, albeit taking a few visual cues from Studio Ghibli in some character-design details (its bulbous grassy creatures noticeably resemble Totoro), but it largely comes across like a copy or a wannabe. Elemental is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE LITTLE MERMAID For anyone without a scaly tail, communing with the ocean can be a routine dip, a refreshing splash or a sail into choppy waters. In Disney's latest dance with merpeople and the humans that its main mythical sea creature yearns for (and desperately wants to learn more about), all three prove true. The next in the Mouse House's long line of live-action remakes — albeit with ample CGI helping to bring its sea-dwelling characters to life, but no hand-drawn animation — the new The Little Mermaid from director Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) is often content to wade where its beloved 1989 predecessor went before. That's the Disney do-over standard. Sometimes, though, this new effort is its own delightful paddle; when 'Under the Sea' echoes against a literal sea of colour, movement, creatures and energy, it's a dazzling Golden Age Hollywood-esque spectacular. There's no escaping the movie's bloat when it's not merrily floating, however, due in no small part to inflating the storyline from the original's 83 minutes to a hefty 135 minutes. This day at the cinematic beach — glowing highs and waterlogged lows included — keeps the same basic narrative that viewers loved 34 years ago, as loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 19th-century fairy tale of the same name. A quote from that text opens the film as Alan Menken's revisited Oscar-winning score starts to swell, advising "but a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more". The curious and adventurous Princess Ariel (Halle Bailey, Grown-ish) cries through her siren's song instead, lamenting the strict no-humans rule enforced by her father King Triton (Javier Bardem, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile). And, in rebellious teen-style, she acts out by sneaking off to scour the ocean floor's shipwrecks with her fish best friend Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay, Luca), even when Sebastian the crab (Daveed Diggs, Snowpiercer) is tracking her every move, and stashing trinkets from the world on land in a secret cave. The Little Mermaid is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. JOHN FARNHAM: FINDING THE VOICE There's no need to try to understand it: John Farnham's 1986 anthem 'You're the Voice' is an instant barnstormer of a tune. An earworm then, now and for eternity, it was the Australian song of the 80s. With its layered beats, swelling force and rousing emotion, all recorded in a garage studio, it's as much of a delight when it's soundtracking comedy films like the Andy Samberg-starring Hot Rod and the Steve Coogan-led Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa as it is echoing out of every Aussie pub's jukebox. Making a noise and making it clear, 'You're the Voice' is also one of the reasons that Farnham's 1986 album Whispering Jack remains the best-selling homegrown release ever nearing four decades since it first dropped. But, as John Farnham: Finding the Voice tells, this iconic match of track and talent — this career-catapulting hit for a singer who'd initially tasted fame as a teen pop idol two decades prior — almost didn't happen. Whispering Jack also almost didn't come to fruition at all, a revelation so immense that imagining Australia without that album is like entering Back to the Future Part II's alternative 80s. Writer/director Poppy Stockwell (Scrum, Nepal Quake: Terror on Everest) and her co-scribe Paul Clarke (a co-creator of Spicks and Specks) know this, smartly dedicating a significant portion of Finding the Voice to that record and its first single. The titbits and behind-the-scenes anecdotes flow, giving context to a song almost every Aussie alive since it arrived knows in their bones. Gaynor Wheatley, the wife of Farnham's late best friend and manager Glenn, talks about how they mortgaged their house to fund the release when no label would touch the former 'Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)' crooner. Chris Thompson, the English-born, New Zealand-raised Manfred Mann's Earth Band musician who co-penned 'You're the Voice', chats about initially declining Farnham's request to turn the tune into a single after the latter fell for it via a demo. John Farnham: Finding the Voice is available to stream via 7plus, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR Horror franchises like their doors to stay open: years may pass, stars and filmmakers may come and go, but every popular series eventually waltzes back onto screens. That's been true of Halloween, Scream, Candyman, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Friday the 13th and more. It's also accurate of Insidious, which is up to five features in 12 years and returns after its longest gap to-date. For viewers, half a decade has elapsed since this supernatural saga last hit cinemas in 2018's underwhelming Insidious: The Last Key, one of two prequels alongside Insidious: Chapter 3 (because that was the only way to keep bringing back MVP Lin Shaye). For Insidious' characters, though, Insidious: The Red Door takes place nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2. That flick was the last until now to focus on Josh (Patrick Wilson, Moonfall) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne, Platonic), plus their haunted son Dalton (Ty Simpkins, The Whale) — and it's their tale the franchise leaps back into. Not only starring but debuting as a director, Wilson makes Insidious: The Red Door an answer to the question that no one, not even the most dedicated horror fans, has likely asked: how are the Lamberts doing after their demonic dalliances? The portrait painted when the movie begins is far from rosy, with Josh and Renai divorced, Dalton resenting his dad, and something niggling at both father and son about their past. Neither the Lambert patriarch nor his now college-bound boy can remember their experiences with unpleasant entities in the astral plane, however, thanks to a penchant for handy hypnotism. So, Insidious: The Red Door poses and responds to another query: what happens when that memory-wiping mesmerism stops working? Insidious: The Red Door is available to stream via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS In the breakout movie of 2022, Michelle Yeoh was everything and everywhere. Multiverses are like that. Now, the Oscar-winner voices a space-robot peregrine falcon in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and viewers should wish that this only existed in Everything Everywhere All At Once's kaleidoscope of realities. Alas, in this very realm, the newest Transformers film is indeed flickering through projectors. The toy-to-screen series it belongs to is now seven live-action entries in and — apart from 2018 spinoff-slash-prequel Bumblebee — largely still as dull as a smashed headlight. Set in 1994, the current instalment is a sequel to the last 1987-anchored franchise flick, which focused on the yellow-hued mechanised alien that can morph into a car, and also a prequel to 2007's saga-spawning Transformers. It draws upon the Transformers: Beast Wars animation, comics and video games, too, and feels in every frame like a picture that purely exists to service intellectual property that does big box-office business (2011's Transformers: Dark of the Moon and 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction each made over a billion dollars). Michael Bay, Hollywood's go-to director for maximalist action carnage, might've been enthusiastic about Transformers when he started the silver-screen series nearly two decades back — the Ambulance filmmaker was definitely devoted to crashing together pixels replicating chrome in all five titles he helmed, including 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight — but these movies can't be anyone's passion projects. They show zero feeling, and seem to keep rolling out because the saga assembly line has already been established. New faces and a new guiding force behind the lens (director Steven Caple Jr, Creed II) can't dislodge that sensation with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The five-person team responsible for the script give no signal that they even wanted to. The feature's latest two leads (In the Heights' Anthony Ramos and Swarm's Dominique Fishback) do resemble people better than most flesh-and-blood characters in the Transformers world, welcomely, although one gets a sick-kid backstory and another a bad boss. Were the Transformers themselves asked to write the most cliched screenplay they could? Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June and July, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies of 2023 so far
