With Game of Thrones finishing its run a few months back, there's currently a huge fantasy-shaped hole in the TV and streaming landscape. Of course, the beloved show is set to go on thanks to its own prequel; however plenty of networks and platforms are trying their hands at the genre in the interim — and giving television buffs plenty to watch. Amazon is hoping to fill the gap with its forthcoming Lord of the Rings series, although it isn't due until 2021. HBO's next contender arrives this month, courtesy of its adaptation of His Dark Materials. And, while Netflix already has its Dark Crystal prequel, which launched back in August, it'll soon drop new series The Witcher as well. In fact, the Henry Cavill-starring show will arrive on Friday, December 20, just in time for some Christmas break binge-viewing. As seen in both the initial trailer and the just-released new sneak peek, the witcher of the title is Geralt of Rivia (Cavill, sporting long blonde locks), a monster hunter who prefers to work — aka slay beasts — alone in a realm called The Continent. But life has other plans for the lone wolf, forcing him to cross paths with powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra, Netflix's Wanderlust) and young princess Ciri (newcomer Freya Allan). The latter harbours a secret, because of course she does, with the series blending plenty of fantasy staples such as magic, royalty, fighting factions, battling hordes, fearsome creatures, a heap of sword-swinging and many a scenic location. After stepping into Superman's shoes and facing off against Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, The Witcher marks Cavill's return to TV a decade after starring in regal period drama The Tudors. As well as Chalotra and Allan, it also features Jodhi May (Game of Thrones), MyAnna Buring (Kill List), Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards) and Australian actor Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks). Behind-the-scenes, the show's eight-part first season is created, executive produced and co-scripted by Lauren Schmidt, who has everything from The West Wing, Parenthood and Power to Daredevil, The Defenders and The Umbrella Academy to her name. If the series' name sounds familiar, that's because The Witcher is based on the short stories and novels of writer Andrzej Sapkowski — and, as well as being turned into comics, it was adapted the video game series of the same name. A Polish film and TV show also reached screens back in the early 2000s, although they were poorly received. Check out the latest trailer for Netflix's The Witcher below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndl1W4ltcmg The Witcher will hit Netflix on Friday, December 20. Image: Katalin Vermes.
UPDATE: June 5, 2020: Judy & Punch is available to stream via Stan, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Sometimes, a film lives and thrives thanks to its casting, benefiting from stellar actors who melt into their roles. That's the case with Judy & Punch, with Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman breathing life, depth and a roguish attitude into characters best known as wood, string and fabric. As the title makes plain, they're playing Punch and Judy, the puppet-show figures that date back more than three centuries. Still, while writer/director Mirrah Foulkes tasks her stars with fleshing out the marionettes' wholly fictional origin story, she doesn't rely on the duo to do all of the movie's heavy lifting. Her interpretation of the tale — the bold, subversive directions she takes it in, and the feisty, cheeky vibe the film adopts in the process — makes as much of an impact. Jumping behind the camera after acting in Animal Kingdom, Top of the Lake, The Crown and Harrow, Foulkes ensures that her filmmaking debut isn't the kind of feature that lights up screens often. The movie starts with two versions of Punch and his other half: one cavorting on stage, the other pulling the strings behind the curtain. The crowd roars as the perpetually drunken Punch (Herriman) and the long-suffering Judy (Wasikowska) manoeuvre and manipulate their inanimate counterparts, with the pair packing in shows in Judy's insular (and curiously inland) hometown of Seaside. Judy is actually the more dexterous and talented of the two, but Punch gets all the fame and acclaim — partly, reflecting his brutish personality, by making their puppet show literally "punchier". He makes their daily life punchier as well, and thinks nothing of treating Judy and their infant daughter with contempt, whether he's seeing another woman, complaining whenever Judy says a word or showing that he's the world's worst father. With the real-life Punch and Judy famously based on the former's slapstick violence towards the latter, you can be forgiven for feeling cautious about how a live-action version will play out. It sounds strange and inappropriate, but Foulkes is keenly aware of the material she's working with. In her hands, Judy & Punch takes puppet-show savagery and lets it loose in live-action, then rightfully questions why it's considered entertainment. And to really hammer home her point, she needs to unleash a flurry of physical and metaphorical blows. The filmmaker isn't subtle, but neither is a guy bashing his wife and child, which has happened in P&J since the 1600s. So, when Judy is the only person in the town to speak out against the communal stoning of women deemed witches — and, later, when a tragic turn of fate sees her seek solace among the local female outcasts, then plot her revenge — it's thoroughly designed to make a statement. Kudos to Foulkes for not only reclaiming P&J's problematic narrative for Judy, calling out Punch's boorishness and asking why women have so often been treated so poorly — by their partners, by complicit communities and by mobbish societies as a whole — but for clearly having fun while she's doing so. Where this year's thematically comparable and similarly excellent fellow Australian film, The Nightingale, leaned into bleakness and pain, Judy & Punch veers the other way. The movie is styled like a gothic fairytale, with its crumbling castle, sprawling woods and Elizabethan-era costuming, and it takes that look and feel to heart. Dark, fanciful, perceptive, often comic — this mix of elements mightn't sound like a natural fit on paper, but it works. Judy & Punch's tone definitely wavers, although that's on purpose too. And when François Tétaz's percussion-heavy score keeps echoing, it constantly reminds viewers of the thuds, shoves and worse that have long been baked into Judy and Punch's abusive romance, while also proving audibly playful. Given all of the above, you can excuse Judy & Punch for including a big speech at its climax; again, Foulkes isn't doing anything by halves. Nor is her cast, including the likes of Benedict Hardie (Upgrade), Tom Budge (Bloom) and Gillian Jones (Mad Max: Fury Road), who all help populate Seaside's chaotic masses. Wasikowska and Herriman are dream leads, though. She draws upon an ever-growing resume filled with fascinating and formidable women (Jane Eyre, Stoker, Tracks, Madame Bovary, Piercing… the list goes on), while he's having quite the malevolence-dripping year after stepping into Charles Manson's shoes in both Mindhunter and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Judy & Punch firmly tells Judy's story, so this is Wasikowska's film, but it highlights both of its main characters for a good reason. This thoroughly feminist hero doesn't just give a historic narrative a much-needed update and champion a timely cause — with their dynamic back-and-forth, she endeavours to cut Herriman's misogynistic weasel down to size, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63NAagrKOcc
Hear it on the grapevine in the Hunter Valley this December. For one day only, Pokolbin's Roche Estate is pairing its very best drops with a music lineup that'll make your head spin. The Wombats, Client Liaison, Miami Horror, Young Franco and Tkay Maidza are just some of the acts tapped for Grapevine Gathering 2018, the latest shindig from the team behind Hot Dub Wine Machine. While the wine-filled fiesta visited the Yarra Valley in 2017, this is the first year it'll be taking place in NSW. In addition to the tunes, punters will have access to an array of first-rate food options, including gourmet burgers, woodfired pizzas and slow-cooked smoked treats. And that's to say nothing of the drinks list, which will feature craft beers, cocktails, a wide array of wines and summery beverages. The festivities kick off at 1pm, and to help make commuting to-and-from Pokolbin a little easier, the festival has organised return buses from Sydney Central Station, Newcastle and Gosford. You'll just need to add a (slightly pricey) bus pass to your ticket, which you can purchase here.
After introducing its cookie pies to the world last month, followed by serving up an OTT red velvet one, Gelato Messina is bringing the decadent dessert back again. This time, though, it's filled with a gooey choc-hazelnut spread the gelato chain calls Messinatella. Hang on, a cookie pie? Yes, it's a pie, but a pie made of cookie dough. And it serves two–six people — or just you. You bake it yourself, too, so you get to enjoy that oh-so-amazing smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through your kitchen. These pies are available for preorder from Monday, June 8 — so if you missed out last time, here's your chance to get yourself a piece of the pie. On its own, the indulgent choc chip pie will cost $20. But to sweeten the deal, the cult ice creamery has created a few bundle options, should you want some of its famed gelato atop it. You can add on a 500-millilitre tub for $28, a one-litre tub for $34 or a 1.5-litre tub for $39. To get your pie to your oven, you will have to peel yourself off the couch and head to your local Messina store between Thursday, June 11 and Sunday, June 14 to pick it up. Once you've got the pie safely home, you just need to whack it in the oven for 10-15 minutes and voila. You can preorder a Messina cookie pie from Monday, June 8 to pick up from all NSW, Vic and Queensland Gelato Messina stores (except The Star and Coolangatta) from June 11–14.
Ever wondered if it was safe to go back into the water? You have Jaws to thank. When the killer shark flick swam into cinemas in 1975, it didn't just become Hollywood's first blockbuster — it also sparked phobias that have lingered for generations. Almost everyone has seen the eerily effective creature feature. Too many movies since have wanted to be it, too. Even if you somehow haven't watched the famed horror film, you still know of it, and you likely get creeped out whenever you heard just a few notes from its oft-deployed score. But if it weren't for Australian spearfisher and diver-turned-oceanographer and filmmaker Valerie Taylor and her husband Ron, Jaws may not have become the popular culture behemoth it is. It mightn't have had beachgoers thinking twice about taking a dip in the sea for the past 46 years, either, or had the same bite — or success — overall. Steven Spielberg directed Jaws, but the Taylors shot its underwater shark sequences — off the coast of Port Lincoln in South Australia, in fact. And, when one of the animals they were filming lashed out at a metal cage that had held a stuntman mere moments before, the pair captured one of the picture's most nerve-rattling scenes by accident. As everyone who has seen the huge hit has witnessed, Jaws benefits significantly from the Taylors' efforts. Indeed, before Peter Benchley's novel of the same name was even published, the duo was sent a copy of the book and asked if it would make a good feature (the answer: yes). Helping to make Jaws the phenomenon it is ranks among Valerie's many achievements, alongside surviving polio as a child, her scuba and spearfishing prowess, breaking boundaries by excelling in male-dominated fields in 60s, and the conservation activism that has drawn much of her focus in her later years. Linked to the latter, and also a feat that many can't manage: her willingness to confront her missteps and then do better. The apprehension that many folks feel when they're about to splash in the ocean? The deep-seated fear and even hatred of sharks, too? That's what Valerie regrets. Thanks to Jaws, being afraid of sharks is as natural to most people as breathing, and Valerie has spent decades wishing otherwise. That's the tale that Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks tells as it steps through her life and career. Taking a standard birth-to-now approach, the documentary has ample time for many of the aforementioned highlights, with Valerie herself either offering her memories via narration or popping up to talk viewers through her exploits. But two things linger above all else in this entertaining, engaging and insightful doco: the stunning archival footage, with Ron Taylor credited first among the feature's five cinematographers; and the work that Valerie has spearheaded to try to redress the world's fright-driven perception of sharks. The remarkable remastered clips shot by Ron make for astonishing and affecting viewing. Seeing the Taylors switch from chasing sharks to playing with and saving them does as well. Filmmaker Sally Aitken understands this and, helming her second big-screen documentary about an Aussie icon in the past four years — following 2017's David Stratton: A Cinematic Life — builds the bulk of her film around these decades-old materials. That choice also helps underscore Valerie and Ron's change of heart. Both were successful spearfishers, but Valerie is candid about the impact that killing a nurse shark in her line of work had. Helping to make 1971 documentary Blue Water White Death and then Jaws, the pair became committed to shooting with cameras rather than spears. Watching their footage, it's easy to see why. Valerie was known for her fearlessness (Ron even nicknamed her "give-it-a-go Valerie"), and her willingness to get up close and personal with the types of underwater critters most of us have nightmares about results in breathtaking imagery. Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques, is one of Playing with Sharks' other talking heads — and his dad wasn't envious of the Taylors' work, he should've been. All that footage should turn David Attenborough green-eyed as well; it brings him to mind more than once, actually. Playing with Sharks keeps its focus on Valerie — she isn't presented as a supporting player to her late husband, or appreciated here solely because she was once one of the rare woman working in her chosen fields — but the film's archival visuals also spark the kind of wonder and awe that's synonymous with Attenborough's documentaries. Some of the coral reefs dived by the Taylors no longer exist, but audiences can see them here. As images of her underwater frolics with sharks and other marine life fill the screen, Valerie speaks of the sheer abundance of critters she waded among, and the misguided 60s-era perception that that'd never change. The footage shot by the Taylors acts as a time capsule, harking back to a very recent stage in the earth's history that'll likely never be repeated. Even if it wasn't combined with Valerie's life story and reflections, these clips would still prove inspiring, especially when it comes to rethinking prevailing opinions about sharks — including great whites — and fighting for their conservation. Shark haters, consider this a warning: Playing with Sharks will have you reassessing your opinion. Any movie could've laid out the facts regarding shark behaviour, unpacked the hysteria or chronicled Valerie's impact, but her enthusiasm and passion are infectious here — including when the now 85-year-old pops a red ribbon in her hair again, slips her aching shoulder into her pink wetsuit, goes for a dive in Fiji and beams about how a shark just hit her. This isn't just a biographical doco about someone known for working with sharks; like last year's David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, 2017's Jane Goodall documentary Jane and underwhelming 2021 Oscar-winner My Octopus Teacher, it's a movie about being profoundly changed by the natural world and all of its splendour. Aitken doesn't take any risks with her format, and noticeably so — but given Valerie's powerful story, she doesn't need to.
When The OA arrived on Netflix in December 2016, inspiring many a binge-watch and just as many conversations, four words came to mind: like story, like show. In the sci-fi mystery series, an enigmatic young woman told a strange, sometimes creepy tale to a willing audience, demanding their faith and trust in return — and the eight-episode first season did exactly the same with streaming viewers. Now the show is back, with The OA: Part II due to arrive on March 22. Across another eight installments, the series will once again delve into the plight of Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling), a blind woman who went missing for seven years, returned suddenly with restored sight, and started calling herself The OA. In the first season, she would only relay the details to a group of followers — and both her story and its retelling featured near-death experiences, Russian oligarchs, tinkering with space and time, and interpretative dance moves. In the second season, The OA finds herself in an alternative dimension where Barack Obama has never been president. Meanwhile, a private detective tries to track down a missing teen and The OA's original pals once again try to work out what's going on. Marling created the series with director Zal Batmanglij, with both co-writing several episodes as well — and their pre-The OA filmography gives an idea of the kind of space the pair likes to play in. Festival circuit flicks Sound of My Voice and The East each delved into close-knit groups with charismatic leaders and murky conspiracies, the former in a cult with a ringleader who claims to be from the future, and the latter in an eco-activist group. Whatever The OA: Part II has up its sleeves, it won't be straightforward, but it'll likely inspire plenty of out-there sci-fi theories. Check out the trailer below — and start pondering just what's going on in the show's weird vision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlSXDaRR2bw The OA: Part II hits Netflix worldwide on Friday, March 22.
Australia has a long and illustrious history of banning, restricting or causing an almighty fuss over perfectly reasonable things. The newest incident is the banning of American director Travis Mathews' film I Want Your Love, which was brought to national attention this week when James Franco filmed himself sitting on a sofa in a Hawaiian shirt, declared the banning as "really silly" and posted it to YouTube. I Want Your Love, which was due to screen at both Brisbane and Melbourne's Queer Film Festivals was rubber stamped with the letters RC — Refused Classification — by the Australian Classification Board. The reasons for the board's decision were the film's depictions of explicit gay male sex. But the film is not pornographic, or extreme. Mathews explains that he "sought to capture honest and intimate depictions of modern gay life with everyday men". A film gets given an RC rating if it depicts scenes "in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults". Yet the Australian Classification Board can be wildly inconsistent in what they see as morally offensive. Last year, a documentary called Donkey Love screened at Sydney and Melbourne's Underground Film Festivals about the special love between Colombian men and their donkeys. Within the first five minutes, a man was having sex with a donkey. It wasn't refused classification. The board maintains that they don't censor, they classify. While this is true, it remains a fact that when the board gives a film, publication, or game an RC rating it cannot be distributed in Australia, effectively censoring it. In what follows, we walk you through some of the most infamous incidences of head-shaking and pearl-clutching in Australia's censorship history. Ern Malley In the 1940s, Sydney poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart wrote a series of poems and submitted them to the journal Angry Penguins under the name Ern Malley. The poems were written to embarrass the journal and 'prove' that modernist poetry was nonsensical. But in the meantime, the police had impounded editions of Angry Penguins and the poems, on the grounds that they were obscene. So commenced the most ridiculous obscenity trials Australia has ever seen. The police took issue with the poem Night Piece, for instance, because "apparently someone is shining a torch in the dark, visiting through the park gates. To my mind they were going there for some disapproved motive ... I have found that people who go into parks at night go there for immoral purposes." Lady Chatterley's Lover Many of the best pieces of 20th-century literature were banned in Australia, including — but by no means limited to — Ulysses, Portnoy's Complaint, Lolita, and everything ever written by Henry Miller, Jean Genet, and William S. Burroughs. One of the most infamous banned books was D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, which describes scenes of explicit sex and delights in its use of the word 'cunt', seen as likely to cause the good ladies of Mosman and Toorak to collapse in a faint. In fact, not only was Lady Chatterley's Lover banned, but the book about censoring the book, The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover, was also banned. Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom In 1975 Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini released Salò, a film inspired by the Marquis de Sade. Due to scenes of extreme sexual violence and sadism, the film was immediately banned in Australia, as well as many other countries. The cult arthouse film became a cause celebre for Australia's anti-censorship campaigners and was eventually deemed suitable for screening in 1993. Then, five years later, in the early years of the Howard government, the ban was reinstituted. It was only in 2010 that Salòwas given an R18+ classification and made available on DVD. Grand Theft Auto It was only at the start of 2013 that video games could be given an R18+ classification in Australia. Before, anything that exceeded MA15+ was automatically banned. Grand Theft Auto was continually subject to this problem. In 2002, Grand Theft Auto III was withdrawn because it allowed players to have virtual sex with virtual prostitutes, and then violently murder them. It was re-released when the ability to solicit sex was removed, but players were still perfectly free to violently murder prostitutes if they so wished. Explicit sex also caused the Vice City and San Andreas editions of the series to be withdrawn. Ken Park In 2003, Ken Park, an American arthouse film, was refused classification by the board. The film, which had been due to screen at that year's Sydney Film Festival, was banned because it portrayed real-life sex scenes involving characters that were supposed to be minors (the actors weren't actually minors). In defiance of the ban, Ken Park was given a public screening at Balmain Town Hall, but it was shut down by the police. Among those arrested was Margaret Pomeranz. They arrested Margaret Pomeranz. Need anything more be said? The Peaceful Pill Handbook In 2007 pro-euthanasia campaigners Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart published The Peaceful Pill Handbook, intended to give the elderly and seriously ill information about the legal and moral aspects of suicide as well as how-to instructions for painless and non-violent suicide methods. After an appeal by Right to Life, the book was pulled from the shelves. While The Peaceful Pill Handbook is available in other countries, there remains a ban on both importing and distributing the book in Australia. Bill Henson While Bill Henson's photography wasn't banned, the mainstream media gave it a red-hot go in 2008. The scandal occurred when the police shut down an exhibition at Sydney's Roslyn Oxley9 gallery after accusations that the images of young girls displayed in the exhibit were pornographic. Henson was cast as a paedophile by the likes of Miranda Devine and had Kevin Rudd declare the photographs "absolutely revolting". Despite the uproar, the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the case after Henson's images were declared "mild and justified" and given a PG rating by the board, in one of the most sensible decisions they ever made. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-3rbDIsT4f0
UPDATE, March 25, 2022: The Worst Person in the World is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. When Frances Ha splashed a gorgeous portrait of quarter-life malaise across the screen nearly a decade back — proving neither the first nor last film to do so, of course — its titular New Yorker was frequently running. As played by Greta Gerwig, she sprinted and stumbled to David Bowie's intoxicating 'Modern Love' and just in general, while navigating the constantly-in-motion reality of being in her 20s. It takes place in a different city, another country and on the other side of the globe, but The Worst Person in the World's eponymous figure (Renate Reinsve, Phoenix) is often racing, too. (Sometimes, in the movie's most stylised touch, she's even flitting around while the whole world stops around her.) Norwegian writer/director Joachim Trier (Thelma) firmly understands the easy shorthand of watching someone rush — around Oslo here, but also through life overall — especially while they're grappling with a blatant case arrested development. Capturing the relentlessly on-the-go sensation that comes with adulthood, as well as the inertia of feeling like you're never quite getting anywhere that you're meant to be, these running scenes paint a wonderfully evocative and relatable image. Those are apt terms for The Worst Person in the World overall, actually, which meets Julie as she's pinballing through the shambles of her millennial life. She doesn't ever truly earn the film's title, or come close, but she still coins the description and spits it her own way — making the type of self-deprecating, comically self-aware comment we all do when we're trying to own our own chaos because anything else would be a lie. The Worst Person in the World's moniker feels so telling because it's uttered by Julie herself, conveying how we're all our own harshest critics. In her existence, even within the mere four years that the film focuses on, mess is a constant. Indeed, across the movie's 12 chapters, plus its prologue and epilogue, almost everything about Julie's life changes and evolves. That includes not just dreams, goals, fields of study and careers, but also loved ones, boyfriends, apartments, friends and ideas of what the future should look like — and, crucially, also Julie's perception of herself. As the ever-observant Trier and his regular co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt track their protagonist through these ups and downs, using whatever means they can to put his audience in her mindset — freezing time around her among them — The Worst Person in the World also proves a raw ode to self-acceptance, and to forgiving yourself for not having it all together. They're the broad strokes of this wonderfully perceptive film; the specifics are just as insightful and recognisable. Julie jumps from medicine to psychology to photography, and between relationships — with 44-year-old comic book artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie, Bergman Island), who's soon thinking about all the serious things in life; and then with the far more carefree Eivind (Herbert Nordrum, ZombieLars), who she meets after crashing a wedding. Expressing not only how Julie changes with each shift in focus, job and partner, but how she copes with that change within herself, is another of The Worst Person in the World's sharp touches. At one point, on a getaway with friends more than a decade older than her, Julie is laden with broad and trite generalisations about being her age — which Trier humorously and knowingly counters frame by frame with lived-in minutiae. A place, a person, the chaos that is being an adult (and, with the latter, the truth rather than the stereotypes): across three thematically connected films, spanning 2006's Reprise, 2011's Oslo, August 31st and now The Worst Person in the World, that's been Trier's formula. Calling it a pattern or recipe does the trio an injustice, though, because each feature is as individual as any person. Here, Trier is clearly aware of how romantic dramedies like this typically turn out, and ensures that his movie never simply parrots the obvious — unless it's unpacking the chasm between the standard big-screen story we've all seen too many times and the tangled reality. This isn't the usual cliche-riddled affair, and that commitment to transcend tropes, and to truly contemplate what growing up, being an adult and forging a life is really like (including at both the sunniest and the most heartbreaking extremes), both feeds and enables Reinsve's astonishing work. Sometimes, a performance just flat-out shakes and startles you — and Reinsve's falls into that category. That's meant in the greatest of ways; she won the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award for her efforts, and turns in a complex, layered and no-holds-barred portrayal that's one of the finest of the year. She could've waltzed into the film straight out of any twentysomething's circle of friends. She plays her part with exactly that air, and she's magnificent. In a movie that proves a discerning and disarming character study above all else, and a masterpiece of one, her performance soars with heart and soul when Julie is at her best, sparkles with chemistry with both Danielsen Lie and Nordrum — both of whom are terrific, too — and seethes with both pain and growth in the character's hardest moments. It shouldn't come as a surprise given how much bobbing around it does — between chapters and the parts of Julie's life they cover, between all the things earning her attention at any given moment, and within Reinsve's multifaceted performance — but The Worst Person in the World is also a tonal rollercoaster. Again, that's a positive thing. As a snapshot of an age and life stage, Trier helms a film that's canny and incisive, also perfects the sensation of constantly zipping onwards even when it seems as if you're stuck, and knows how to find both joy and darkness in tandem. That kind of duality also graces the screen visually, in a feature that can be both slick and naturalistic, which is another deft touch. There's an enormous difference between telling viewers what it's like to be Julie and showing them — and The Worst Person in the World makes sure its audience not only feels it, but feels like they're running through it with Julie as well.
Old hat, new whip. No, that isn't Dr Henry Walton 'Indiana' Jones' shopping list, but a description of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. While the fifth film about the eponymous archaeologist is as familiar as Indy films come, it's kept somewhat snapping by the returning Harrison Ford's on-screen partnership with Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge. When this 15-years-later sequel to 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull begins — swinging into cinemas after 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, too — Indy's trademark fedora and strip of leather have already enjoyed ample action. So has the George Lucas-created franchise's basic storyline. If you've seen one Indy outing in the past 42 years, you've seen the underlying mechanics of every other Indy outing. And yet, watching Ford flashing his crooked smile again, plus his bantering with Waller-Bridge, is almost enough to keep this new instalment whirring. Across the quintet of Indy flicks — a number contractually locked in at the outset, even if it took almost half a century to notch them all up — a trinket always needs recovering. Whether it's a relic, stone, cup, carving or, as here, a device by Ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher and inventor Archimedes that might facilitate time travel, nefarious forces (typically Nazis) always want said item as well. Also, only antics that've influenced the likes of Tomb Raider, National Treasure and Jungle Cruise can ensure that whatever whatsit is at the heart of whichever picture stays out of the wrong hands. The object in question falls into those mitts at some point, of course. Indy goes globetrotting and cave diving to save it, and skeletons and creepy-crawlies tend to get in his way. Reliably, he has female company. Frequently, there's a young offsider tagging along. A constant: the whole escapade bounding to the tune of John Williams' rousing theme, which is now acoustically synonymous with adventure. Lucas didn't come up with the story for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, though, in a first for the saga that he conjured up as a new version of 30s and 40s movie serials. Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) similarly steps away from directing, which is also uncharted Indy territory. But Logan and Ford v Ferrari filmmaker James Mangold knows the drill, as do his co-screenwriters Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (both alumni of the helmer's latter title), plus David Koepp (Kimi). To be fair, everyone knows the drill: see above. It isn't hard, then, for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to surpass the woeful Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which it does. Still, it isn't easy for it avoid playing like a copy of Lucas and Spielberg at their much-earlier Indy best, something that it can't manage. Mangold and company's initial step is to start by pretending that they're making an Indy flick decades back with a younger Ford. Hollywood's digital de-aging technology gets its latest workout in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's opening sequence — and a more-than-passable one — where it's 1944 and Nazis lurk. World War II is waning. Hitler is in his bunker. His underlings are scrounging up all the antiquities they can. Enter Indy spying with his British friend Basil Shaw (Toby Jones, Tetris); physicist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) being certain that he's found part of the Archimedes Dial, aka the Antikythera; and showdowns on a loot-filled train to get the titular object away from the Third Reich. From there, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's bulk takes place in 1969. The film reteams with Indy as a moon-landing party wakes up the about-to-retire professor from a whisky-ushered, underwear-clad slumber in his armchair — and he isn't happy. Ford in cranky and cantankerous mode, but with tenderness inside, remains a gem to watch. It worked in TV series Shrinking earlier in 2023 (one of his two recent TV roles, alongside Yellowstone prequel 1923), and it would've been the heftiest surprise that the Indy movies have delivered if it didn't also shine in his current big-screen franchise revival of late (after Blade Runner and Star Wars, obviously). Ford bickering gruffly is equally gleaming, which is where Waller-Bridge fits in as Helena Shaw, Basil's daughter and Indy's goddaughter, who wisecracks back, can hold her own in a fray and car, and says she wants help locating the entire Antikythera. If everyone could be taken at their word, this wouldn't be an Indy entry, just like if the MacGuffin was simple to source and protect, travelling by map didn't feature and, since Raiders of the Lost Ark, well-loved faces stopped resurfacing. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ticks all those boxes and always feels as if it's making a show of ticking them — regularly, gleefully, less gracefully and convincingly digging into the franchise's past Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens nod-and-reuse style. There's the old hat again, no matter what's atop Ford's head. Lacking Spielberg's knack for memorable action, many of the chases and puzzles have an urgent, immediate yet been-there-done-that air (and the setpieces keep coming, involving horse-and-motorcycle pursuits, subway tunnels, tuk tuks, underwater jaunts, eels, tombs and more). Mangold tries to patch over the boilerplate plot, but those efforts are as flimsy as anything that's ever threatened Indy's world-saving goals. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny didn't need to stretch out this latest go-around to the series' longest running time yet — 154 minutes — but with Ford and Waller-Bridge at the movie's core, understanding that choice isn't difficult. Although they're better than the material again and again, as is Short Round replacement Teddy (Ethann Isidore, Mortel), it's entertaining to bask in the pair's back-and-forth as Indy and Helena zip through the franchise-standard challenges. There's the new whip, because Ford and Waller-Bridge are that crucial to giving Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny any spark and charge. While the five-film promise is now fulfilled and this has been dubbed the saga's star's last ride, a tighter and bolder follow-up with them at the centre wouldn't be unwelcome if there have to be more Indy movies, which money dictates there'll have to be. And if not, passing the satchel and leather jacket to Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, marking his return after making his acting debut in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, would be one of the Indy franchise's most cracking moves.
He's directed a mockumentary about sharehouse-dwelling vampires in Wellington, one of the most offbeat and adorable fugitive films there is, and the best big-budget blockbuster about a certain cape-wearing, hammer-wielding Norse god- turned-superhero that's reached screens so far. Now, after winning hearts and laughs with not only What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok, but New Zealand comedies Eagle vs Shark and Boy too, Taika Waititi has turned his attention to making fun of Hitler. His latest movie is called Jojo Rabbit, with the beloved filmmaker not only writing and directing, but starring as the Nazi. It's a satire, obviously, following a bullied but nationalistic young German boy called Jojo (newcomer Roman Griffin Davis) who discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace) in their attic. He doesn't quite know what to do, so he asks the obvious person for help: his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler. World War II-set films are a very common sight on the big screen, so if you feel like you've seen every possible take on that period of history, Jojo Rabbit is here to change your mind. As the movie's initial teaser and its just-released full trailer both show, this isn't your usual grim, serious war flick. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, and based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, it's being badged as an "anti-hate" comedy, should you need more of an idea of the tone that Waititi is going for. As well as the writer/director himself, the film co-stars the high-profile likes of Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant and Alfie Allen. It's not the only project that Waititi has in the works — it was just announced last week that he'll be directing the next Thor film, Thor: Love and Thunder — but it is the only one where he gets Hitler to call himself a lunatic and a psycho. Check out the new trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4McUzXfFI Jojo Rabbit releases on December 26 in Australia.
UPDATE, November 11, 2020: Goldstone is available to stream via Stan, Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Australian cinema has a new hero — or heroes, to be exact. In case 2013's neo-western crime thriller Mystery Road didn't make that apparent, Goldstone shouts it across the outback. On screen, Indigenous police detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) stalks through another remote desert town searching for the truth. Behind the camera, writer-director Ivan Sen guides another insightful examination of race, prejudice, inequality and exploitation inextricably linked to the Australian landscape. Indeed, across their two features to date, both the character and the filmmaker confront not only the challenging reality of present day Australia, but the deep scars left by the past. Accordingly, as much as Goldstone is a follow-up, it's also far more than just a narrative sequel to Mystery Road. Instead, the companion piece expands upon its predecessor's themes to explore a host of different topics, including human trafficking and the government-sanctioned mining of resources, in order to further push Sen's ongoing cinematic conversation about the state of his country today. Swan isn't quite the same no-nonsense cop viewers will remember from the previous film. When he's first spied driving drunk on the outskirts of the titular mining community, local officer Josh Waters (Alex Russell) is surprised to find a police badge stashed amongst his belongings. Reports of a missing Chinese woman, possibly linked to the town's brothel, have sparked Swan's visit, but he's hardly given a warm welcome. Josh is reluctant to help, mayor Maureen (Jacki Weaver) oozes malice behind her big smile, and goldmine boss Johnny (David Wenham) is clearly unhappy about strangers rolling into town. Given all that, it's hardly surprising when bullets start flying in Swan's direction. With the narrative also exploring Swan's links to his heritage via Aboriginal elder Jimmy (David Gulpilil), as well as the dynamic between a madam (Cheng Pei-pei) and her reluctant workers, Goldstone dives into complex territory. And yet, with Pedersen always front and centre as the unflappable Swan, the film filters its many threads through a confident, commanding central presence. Amidst an excellent cast, Pedersen demonstrates why he's one of the country's most talented actors, in a portrayal that conveys more through glances and body language than most say with words. His is a performance of quiet determination, and of breaking through pain to find a way forward. In fact, Pedersen is so convincing that Sen's decision to drop back into Swan's story after significant unseen turmoil feels completely natural. And just as the character refuses to give up, the writer-director (who also serves as producer, editor, cinematographer and composer) refuses to underestimate the audience's ability to piece the necessary parts together. Some of the dialogue is a little bit blunt, but sometimes both force and nuance are required to make a strong statement. It's how Sen balances the two that's pivotal. As it alternates between intimate close-ups and vast aerial shots, punctuating a contemplative pace with expertly choreographed gun battles, Goldstone proves a masterclass in maintaining that balance.
With every Australian state and territory doing its own thing regarding borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, travelling around the country isn't a simple feat in 2020. But, if you're planning ahead, you might want to add Western Australia's Kalbarri National Park to your must-visit list — especially given that it has just opened a 100-metre-high skywalk perched atop Murchison Gorge, complete with mighty impressive views. Welcoming the public since mid-June this year — just WA residents so far, with the state's border currently closed to residents of the rest of Australia — the Kalbarri Skywalk features two cantilevered platforms over the 80-kilometre-long gorge. When you're standing on either of the two lookouts, you'll also be located 100 metres above the ground, with cliffs falling beneath you. The pair of platforms are within easy walking distance of each other, too, with one jutting out 17 metres from the cliffside and the other reaching out 25 metres. Built as part of a $24 million project, the Kalbarri Skywalk is also accompanied by an environmentally friendly kiosk that's designed to operate off the grid on low to no emissions, shade shelters, toilets and parking, as well as 22 kilometres of park roads, plus upgrades to existing tourist sites at Meanarra Hill and Z Bend. Also onsite: recognition of the region's Nanda Traditional Owners, their culture and stories, including via an entry sign emblazoned with 'kaju yatka' — the Nanda words for 'sky' and 'to walk' — and other artistic elements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZK7MtyuZNs&feature=emb_logo Located 150 kilometres north of Geraldton and almost 600 kilometres north of Perth, Kalbarri National Park welcomed more than 450,000 visitors in 2019 — so, when the rest of the country is permitted to enter WA again, expect to have company. If you're wondering about finding your way around the park, the WA Parks Foundation has just added Kalbarri National Park to its Smart Park mapping program, too, which allows you to download a park map, then navigate through the area offline and in real time. Find the Kalbarri Skywalk in the Kalbarri National Park, Kalbarri, in Western Australia's mid-west region. For further details, visit the park's website. Top image: Shem Bisluck/Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
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There's never a bad time to be in Brisbane. Year-round sunshine, a booming cultural scene and plenty of excellent things to eat, drink, see and do make the river city one of the most exciting places in the country. We've teamed up with Hennessy and the W Hotel to give you the perfect reason to head there — or, if you're a Brisbane local, the perfect excuse for a staycation. You and a lucky plus one can escape to the sunny state with an overnight stay in a Marvellous Suite at the five-star W Brisbane. Set in the heart of the city on the banks of the Brisbane River, it's the perfect spot to soak up the best of the city thanks in no small part to the incredible views you'll get from your room. [caption id="attachment_831071" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marriott International Hotel[/caption] Wake up in the laps of luxury and indulge in breakfast for two in the hotel's signature restaurant, Three Blue Ducks, before spending the day chilling out on the jazzy pool deck. Later, you can glam it up for an evening with Hennessy cocktails in the Living Room Bar (pictured above). That's a $1000 stay – and you won't have to pay a cent. To be in the running, enter your details below. [competition]831077[/competition]
Just over 12 months ago, in January 2023, Danny and Michael Philippou's Talk to Me screened at the Sundance Film Festival. From there, it was picked up by A24, released to hefty crowds and fanfare midyear, and collected 11 nominations from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards. Now, at the Aussie organisation's night of nights, the homegrown horror hit has won eight accolades, the most of any movie — including Best Film of 2023, plus Best Director for the RackaRacka YouTubers-turned-filmmakers. It's official: Talk to Me is the top Australian flick of the past year, a huge feat not only for a horror movie but for the Philippou brothers' first feature. In the film categories, it had company from Warwick Thornton's The New Boy, which picked up four awards from 12 nominations. A heap of other pictures collected a prize each: Noora Niasari's Shayda, with one win from nine nods; The Rooster, with one from four; Ivan Sen's Limbo, Carmen and John Farnham: Finding the Voice, each with one from three; and Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story and The Giants, with one from two apiece. That's an impressive spread, including the Best Actress accolade going to Talk to Me's Sophie Wilde, Best Actor to The New Boy's Aswan Reid, Best Supporting Actress to Deborah Mailman for the latter film and Best Supporting Actor to The Rooster's Hugo Weaving. The AACTAs aren't just about the big screen, however, also rewarding the year's best TV efforts. There, The Newsreader and Deadloch each picked up five awards — including Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan nabbing Best Screenplay in Television for writing Deadloch. Across the small-screen fields, they were joined by fellow big winners Colin From Accounts, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Love Me. The hefty affair, which was held on Saturday, February 10 on the Gold Coast for the first time amid a four-day AACTA Festival, also found more than one way to give Margot Robbie and Barbie some love. Cue Robbie receiving the annual Trailblazer Award, plus the Audience Choice Award for Favourite Actress. Also among the public's picks was Barbie for Favourite Film. And, the list of gongs goes on — for Robbie and Barbie, and in general, with International Awards also handed out. Succession, The Bear, Oppenheimer, Poor Things: they all earned a shiny trophy or two as well. Here's the full rundown: AACTA Nominees and Winners 2024: Film Awards: Best Film Of an Age Shayda Sweet As Talk to Me — WINNER The New Boy The Royal Hotel Best Indie Film A Savage Christmas Limbo — WINNER Monolith Streets of Colour The Rooster The Survival of Kindness Best Direction Jub Clerc, Sweet As Kitty Green, The Royal Hotel Noora Niasari, Shayda, Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou, Talk to Me — WINNER Goran Stolevski, Of an Age Warwick Thornton, The New Boy Best Lead Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Shayda Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Sweet As Cate Blanchett, The New Boy Julia Garner, The Royal Hotel Sarah Snook, Run Rabbit Run Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me — WINNER Best Lead Actor Elias Anton, Of an Age Simon Baker, Limbo Thom Green, Of an Age Phoenix Raei, The Rooster Aswan Reid, The New Boy — WINNER Osamah Sami, Shayda Best Supporting Actress Alex Jensen, Talk to Me Deborah Mailman, The New Boy — WINNER Tasma Walton, Sweet As Mia Wasikowska, Blueback Ursula Yovich, The Royal Hotel Selina Zahednia, Shayda Best Supporting Actor Mojean Aria, Shayda Eric Bana, Blueback Wayne Blair, The New Boy Rob Collins, Limbo Zoe Terakes, Talk to Me Hugo Weaving, The Rooster — WINNER Best Screenplay Kitty Green, Oscar Redding, The Royal Hotel Noora Niasari, Shayda Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman, Talk to Me — WINNER Goran Stolevski, Of an Age Warwick Thornton, The New Boy Best Cinematography Carl Allison, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism Sherwin Akbarzadeh, Shayda Aaron McLisky, Talk to Me Katie Milwright, Sweet As Warwick Thornton, The New Boy — WINNER Best Editing Dany Cooper, Carmen Katie Flaxman, Sweet As Geoff Lamb, Talk to Me — WINNER Michelle McGilvray, Matt Villa, Courtney Teixera, Scarygirl Nick Meyers, The New Boy Best Casting in Film Run Rabbit Run Shayda — WINNER Sweet As The New Boy The Royal Hotel Best Costume Design Blueback Carmen — WINNER Seriously Red The New Boy The Rooster Best Original Score Blueback Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism Suka Talk to Me — WINNER The Big Dog Best Production Design Carmen Scarygirl The New Boy — WINNER The Portable Door True Spirit Best Sound Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism Scarygirl Seriously Red Talk to Me — WINNER Three Chords and the Truth Best Short Film An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It Ashes Finding Addison — WINNER Jia Mud Crab Not Dark Yet Documentary Awards: Best Documentary Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story Harley & Katya John Farnham: Finding the Voice — WINNER The Dark Emu Story The Giants The Last Daughter This Is Going to Be Big To Never Forget Best Cinematography in a Documentary Australia's Wild Odyssey Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival The Dark Emu Story The Giants — WINNER This Is Going To Be Big Best Editing in a Documentary Because We Have Each Other Folau Harley & Katya Queerstralia The Australian Wars — WINNER Best Original Score in a Documentary John Farnham: Finding The Voice Kindred Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey The Dark Emu Story — WINNER Under Cover Best Sound in a Documentary Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story — WINNER John Farnham: Finding The Voice Kindred Memory Film — A Filmmaker's Diary The Dark Emu Story Television Awards: Best Drama Series Bay of Fires Black Snow Bump Erotic Stories Love Me The Newsreader — WINNER Best Narrative Comedy Colin From Accounts — WINNER Deadloch Fisk Gold Diggers Upright Utopia Best Miniseries Bad Behaviour In Our Blood Safe Home The Clearing The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart — WINNER While The Men Are Away Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama Tim Draxl, In Our Blood Travis Fimmel, Black Snow Joel Lago, Erotic Stories Sam Reid, The Newsreader Richard Roxburgh, Bali 2002 Hugo Weaving, Love Me — WINNER Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama Kate Box, Erotic Stories Aisha Dee, Safe Home Bojana Novakovic, Love Me Teresa Palmer, The Clearing Anna Torv, The Newsreader — WINNER Sigourney Weaver, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Best Acting in a Comedy Celeste Barber, Wellmania Kate Box, Deadloch — WINNER Patrick Brammall, Colin From Accounts Harriet Dyer, Colin From Accounts Kitty Flanagan, Fisk Nina Oyama, Deadloch Helen Thomson, Colin From Accounts Julia Zemiro, Fisk Best Comedy Performer Tom Gleeson, Hard Quiz Jim Jefferies, The 1% Club Luke McGregor, Taskmaster Australia Rhys Nicholson, RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under Nina Oyama, Taskmaster Australia Charlie Pickering, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering Natalie Tran, The Great Australian Bake Off Cal Wilson, The Great Australian Bake Off — WINNER Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama Alycia Debnam-Carey, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Marg Downey, The Newsreader Michelle Lim Davidson, The Newsreader Heather Mitchell, Love Me — WINNER Leah Purcell, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Brooke Satchwell, Black Snow Best Supporting Actor in a Television Drama Tim Draxl, Erotic Stories Alexander England, Black Snow William McInnes, The Newsreader Bob Morley, Love Me Hunter Page-Lochard, The Newsreader — WINNER Guy Pearce, The Clearing Best Direction in a Drama or Comedy Ben Chessell, Deadloch (episode one) Emma Freeman, The Newsreader (episode four) — WINNER Glendyn Ivin, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode one) Matt Moore, Colin From Accounts (episode six) Trent O'Donnell, Colin From Accounts (episode three) Best Direction in Non-Fiction Television Katie Bender Wynn, Matildas: The World at Our Feet (episode two) Stamatia Maroupas, Queerstralia (episode one) Josh Martin, Adam and Poh's Great Australian Bites (episode one) Rachel Perkins, Dylan River, Tov Belling, The Australian Wars (episode one) — WINNER Henry Stone, Aaron Chen: If Weren't Filmed, Nobody Would Believe Best Screenplay in Television Patrick Brammall, Colin From Accounts (episode six) Harriet Dyer, Colin From Accounts (episode three) Kate McCartney, Kate McLennan, Deadloch (episode one) — WINNER Adrian Russell Wills, The Newsreader (episode four) Lucas Taylor, Black Snow (episode one) Best Cinematography in Television Sam Chiplin, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode one) — WINNER Earle Dresner, The Newsreader (episode four) Aaron Farrugia, Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe (episode one) Tania Lambert, Erotic Stories (episode two) Katie Milwright, Deadloch (episode one) Best Editing in Television Peter Bennett, Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe (episode one) Danielle Boesenberg, Colin From Accounts (episode three) Angie Higgins, Deadloch (episode one) — WINNER Angie Higgins, The Newsreader (episode four) Deborah Peart, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode one) Deborah Peart, Dany Cooper, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode six) Best Entertainment Program Dancing with the Stars Eurovision Song Contest 2023 — WINNER Lego Masters: Grand Masters Mastermind The 1% Club The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition Best Comedy Entertainment Program Hard Quiz — WINNER RocKwiz Taskmaster Australia Thank God You're Here The Cheap Seats The Weekly with Charlie Pickering Best Factual Entertainment Program Alone Australia Gogglebox Australia Kitchen Cabinet Old People's Home for Teenagers — WINNER Take 5 with Zan Rowe Who The Bloody Hell Are We? Best Documentary or Factual Program Matildas: The World at Our Feet Ningaloo Nyinggulu Queerstralia The Australian Wars — WINNER War on Waste Who Do You Think You Are Best Children's Program Barrumbi Kids Beep and Mort Bluey — WINNER Crazy Fun Park The PM's Daughter Turn Up the Volume Best Standup Special Aaron Chen: If Weren't Filmed, Nobody Would Believe Celeste Barber: Fine, thanks Hannah Gadsby: Something Special — WINNER Jim Jefferies: High & Dry Lizzy Hoo: Hoo Cares!? Rhys Nicholson's Big Queer Comedy Concert Best Lifestyle Program Adam and Poh's Great Australian Bites Gardening Australia — WINNER Grand Designs Australia Love It or List It Australia Selling Houses Australia The Great Australian Bake Off Best Reality Program Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains FBOY Island Australia Hunted Australia MasterChef Australia — WINNER Real Housewives of Sydney RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under Best Casting in Television Colin From Accounts Deadloch — WINNER Safe Home The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart The Newsreader Best Costume Design in Television Ten Pound Poms (episode one) The Claremont Murders (episode one) The Clearing (episode one) The Newsreader (episode four) — WINNER While the Men Are Away (episode two) Best Original Score in Television Bad Behaviour (episode one) Deadloch (episode one) — WINNER Fisk (episode four) In Limbo (episode one) RFDS (episode five) Best Production Design in Television Beep and Mort (episode two) Black Snow (episode one) Deadloch (episode one) Gold Diggers (episode three) The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode one) — WINNER The Newsreader (episode four) Best Sound in Television Black Snow (episode six) Last King of the Cross (episode four) The Clearing (episode one) The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (episode six) — WINNER The Newsreader (episode six) Best Online Drama or Comedy Appetite Latecomers — WINNER Me & Her(pes) Monologue The Disposables The Future of Everything AACTA Audience Awards: Audience Choice Award for Favourite TV Show Ginny & Georgia — WINNER My Life with the Walter Boys Outer Banks The Kardashians The Summer I Turned Pretty Young Sheldon Audience Choice Award for Favourite Film Barbie — WINNER Mean Girls Saltburn Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Wonka Audience Choice Award for Favourite Actress Jenna Ortega Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Lawrence Margot Robbie — WINNER Millie Bobby Brown Sydney Sweeney Audience Choice Award for Favourite Actor Adam Sandler — WINNER Chris Hemsworth Jacob Elordi Ryan Gosling Timothėe Chalamet Vin Diesel Audience Choice Award for Favourite Australian Media Personality Abbie Chatfield Chloe Hayden Em Rusciano Jimmy Rees Shameless Podcast Sophie Monk — WINNER Audience Choice Award for Favourite Australian Digital Creator Anna Paul @anna..paull Bridey Drake @brideydrake Georgia Productions @georgia Indy Clinton @indyclinton Kat Clark and family @katclark — WINNER Luke and Sassy Scott @lukeandsassyscott Maddy MacRae @maddy_macrae_ Sofia Ligeros @sofialigeros Audience Choice Award for Favourite Australian Sporting Moment AFL: Carlton reach the finals AFL: Grand Final Collingwood vs Brisbane F1: Daniel Ricciardo returns to F1 Netball: Australian Diamonds win Netball World Cup NRL: Grand Final Panthers vs Broncos Soccer: Matilda's World Cup run — WINNER AACTA International Awards: AACTA International Award for Best Drama Series Beef Succession — WINNER The Crown The Last of Us Yellowjackets AACTA International Award for Best Comedy Series Only Murders in the Building Sex Education Ted Lasso The Bear — WINNER The Marvellous Mrs Maisel AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series Kieran Culkin, Succession Matthew Macfadyen, Succession Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us Jeremy Strong, Succession Jeremy Allen White, The Bear — WINNER AACTA International Award for Best Actress in a Series Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Helen Mirren, 1923 Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us Sarah Snook, Succession — WINNER Ali Wong, Beef AACTA International Award for Best Film American Fiction Barbie — WINNER Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer Poor Things AACTA International Award for Best Direction in Film Greta Gerwig, Barbie Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon Bradley Cooper, Maestro Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer — WINNER Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things AACTA International Award for Best Lead Actor in Film Bradley Cooper, Maestro Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer — WINNER Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction AACTA International Award for Best Lead Actress in Film Cate Blanchett, The New Boy Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon Carey Mulligan, Maestro Margot Robbie, Barbie — WINNER Emma Stone, Poor Things AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actor in Film Matt Damon, Oppenheimer Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer Jacob Elordi, Saltburn Ryan Gosling, Barbie — WINNER AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actress in Film Penélope Cruz, Ferrari Vanessa Kirby, Napoleon — WINNER Julianne Moore, May December Rosamund Pike, Saltburn Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay in Film Cord Jefferson, American Fiction Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer, Maestro Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer Tony McNamara, Poor Things — WINNER The 2024 AACTA Awards were announced on Saturday, February 10. For further details, head to the awards' website.
How do you make a concert film when no concerts can be held to film? Australian director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, Killing Them Softly) and his now two-time subjects Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have the answer. How do you create a personal documentary that cuts to the heart of these Aussie music icons when, whether stated or implied in their vibe, both are hardly enamoured with having their lives recorded? Again, see: Dominik's new Cave and Ellis-focused This Much I Know to Be True. Performances in cavernous empty British spaces fill the movie's frames but, via stunning lighting, staging and lensing, they're as dazzling as any IRL gig. The interludes between tunes are brief, and also intimate and revealing. The result: a phenomenal doco that's a portrait of expression, a musing on an exceptional collaboration and a rumination upon existence, as well as a piece of haunting cinematic heaven whether you're an existing Cave and Ellis devotee, a newcomer or something in-between. Dominik, Cave and Ellis initially teamed up when the latter duo scored the former's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Later this year, when upcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde hits screens, the same arrangement will provide its soundtrack. But in the middle sits 2016 doco One More Time with Feeling and now This Much I Know to Be True, as entrancing a pair as the music documentary genre has gifted viewers. The first factual flick found Cave and Ellis recording the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, as Cave also grappled with the death of one of his sons. Here, its follow-up is shaped by the first performances of Cave and Ellis' latest albums — the Bad Seeds 2019 release Ghosteen, and Cave and Ellis' 2021 record Carnage — plus the pandemic and the lingering effects of grief. Chatter precedes tunes to begin This Much I Know to Be True — talk, a revelation and a mini art exhibition, in fact. To the camera, Cave quips that he's "retrained as a ceramicist, because it's no longer viable to be a musician, a touring artist". He's joking about giving up music, of course, but serious about his foray into porcelain. Donning a white lab coat, he walks the audience through his workshop, sharing a series he's dubbed The Story of the Devil in 18 Figurines. That'd make a phenomenal title for one of his tracks, but it isn't. One piece's individual moniker, The Devil's Last Dance, also sounds like a song title. Unsurprisingly, Cave unfurls the same kinds of tales while explaining his ceramics — about a figure he's clearly long been fascinated with, and about choices, family, loss, redemption and mourning — as he always has behind the microphone. This attention-grabbing introduction serves several purposes, from pointing out the English government's patently ridiculous advice to artists during COVID-19 to setting the film's tone. There's always been a bewitching blend of the ethereal, mysterious and dark to Cave's music, and a sense of poetic preaching to his lyrics; his early musings here about the devil at various moments in his life earn the same description, and establish the movie as a type of spiritual experience. Fans of any star are guilty of seeing their hero's work in that light. It's especially true of musicians, who innately turn concert venues into altars for their disciples to worship their output. Still, when This Much I Know to Be True hones in on Cave at his piano, or behind the mic, spotlights casting him in a hypnotic glow while bathing his surroundings in blackness, that feeling couldn't be more blatant — and earned. This Much I Know to Be True takes its name from lyrics from Cave and Ellis' 'Balcony Man', the final track on Carnage — their first-ever solo record together beyond their many film-score collaborations — and ponders belief, gratitude and acceptance. Those same themes flicker through the movie, but largely while immersing viewers in Cave and Ellis' songs rather than addressing that trio of notions directly. And what performances they are, stripped back and gloriously theatrical at once, with Dominik, extraordinary cinematographer Robbie Ryan (C'mon C'mon, Marriage Story, The Favourite) and lighting designer Chris Scott crafting a mesmerising visual experience. Watching the camera circle, bulbs pop and dim, and shadows and shine make Cave's distinctive face look like a spectacular work of art, it's impossible not to surrender to the film's thrall. Layer in Cave and Ellis' grand sounds, as backed by singers, a string quartet and a brief appearance by Marianne Faithfull, and it's simply transcendent. Faithfull also gets the film's funniest line: "did he just call you Waz?". Usually seen prowling around Cave as he croons — conducting, playing instruments and sometimes singing himself — Ellis explains Australia's fondness for shortening words in such a fashion, and also happily becomes the film's scamp, a part he's obviously enjoyed for decades with his long-standing creative partner. While This Much I Know to Be True isn't short on standout moments, including whenever Cave and Ellis perform, the separate but intercut discussions between Dominik and the pair about their working relationship is a delightful highlight. Ellis is mischievously candid about his disdain for order. Cave is frank about the chaos that happens between them in the studio. He's also a game interviewee about Ellis' growing influence; "he took a subordinate role and slowly, one by one, took out each member of the Bad Seeds," Caves notes. "I'm the next to go. He's singing a lot more, I've noticed." There's tenderness and openness in these conversations; introspection, existential musings, bold self-insights and joy, too, and tussling with simply getting on with each day as it comes. Moviegoers and music aficionados alike haven't lacked chances to see Cave in cinemas recently — including in 2014 docudrama 20,000 Days on Earth and 2020 concert film Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace — but there's a particular perceptiveness and poignancy pulsating through This Much I Know to Be True. Cave captures it when he talks through his responses to his The Red Hand Files website and emails, where anyone can ask him anything. The questions he receives cut deep and, advising that he has to force himself to consider them carefully and with empathy, his answers do as well. He approaches them not as a star, musician or writer, but as a person, husband, father and friend who makes stuff, which is also how he now prefers to describe himself, he says. As much as anything else — and this sublime, vivid and potent doco is many things — This Much I Know to Be True is a heartfelt ode to that truth. Top image: Nick Cave Productions.
With filmmaking in her blood, Alice Englert makes her directorial debut with a movie about a mother and daughter with cinema similarly pumping through their veins. The creative force behind Bad Behaviour is the offspring of Oscar-winner Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) and fellow helmer Colin Englert (The Last Resort), but here focuses on actor Lucy (Jennifer Connelly, Top Gun: Maverick) and stunt performer Dylan (Englert herself). There's a knowing, winking vibe to this New Zealand-shot dramedy, then, including in the Labyrinth-starring Connelly playing a former child star, as she is; Campion popping up for a memorable cameo; and Bad Behaviour's writer/director taking on the progeny-to-a-household-name part. The internet ensures that avoiding Englert's family ties is impossible, so she wryly leans into everywhere that life can and does inspire art; however, this bold and involving spiritual retreat-set feature isn't about nudges and nods, or even built on them. When there's evident parallels between what's on-screen and reality, a question springs: take all those links away and does the film still hit its marks? The answer for Englert's first stint behind the camera after acting in Ginger & Rosa, Beautiful Creatures, Campion's Top of the Lake, Them That Follow, Ratched, You Won't Be Alone and more is a resounding yes that could be shouted from the mountaintops. Bad Behaviour savvily satirises the wellness and enlightenment industry with the look of the also Aotearoa-made Nude Tuesday, but with a finely balanced understanding of its indulgences and its meaning to attendees. There's a glorious slice of The Lobster to the picture's tone, and not just because Ben Whishaw (Women Talking) features in both. Englert also constructs two phenomenal character studies, all while never being afraid to take wild turns that push everyone out of their comfort zones on- and off-screen. Open to splashing cash but closed to almost everything except her own pain, Lucy is Loveland Ranch's latest arrival, hitting the Oregon venue seeking what everyone is paying for: bliss, peace, reassuring words, kindly ears, shoulders to lean on, a renewed sense of self and the knowledge that all is well. If Lucy also decamps to the remote spot amid towering ranges to escape her own complications, that won't be on the itinerary. A phone call en route teases what loiters elsewhere, with strain echoing down the line as she tells Dylan — who is in NZ working on a big film — where she's going. It takes time and a shocking-but-earned twist to get Lucy and Dylan in the same space in Bad Behaviour's second half, when they're each weathering their own mayhem while also sifting through shared baggage, and the tension and anxiety between them seethes with a lifetime's worth of fractures and fraying. At Loveland, new-age sessions run by guru Elon Bello (Whishaw) are meant to get spiky, process trauma and demand hard work. That's even more true with its latest attendee, her dripping cynicism and her immediate distaste for self-obsessed model Beverly (Dasha Nekrasova, Succession). Everyone lapping up Elon's teachings has woes to wade through, with Lucy's distress at the path her life has taken since her heyday — she mentions a "warrior princess" role — just one problem put to the group. She's trying yet she's also igniting in a place where platitudes are doled out as wisdom and no one truly wants to do anything but hog the limelight. That the camp insists on silence between therapy chatter is an astute comic touch from Englert: the facility's customers gleefully believe that it'll help, purchasing the privilege of being told so and also struggling to comply; as scripted and portrayed, they'd also genuinely benefit from stopping to think through rather than natter about their emotions. As Lucy is stuck in agonising mother-baby role-play classes that go as well as anyone would expect — although in Englert's hands, nothing plays out as anyone could anticipate — Dylan is on set. There, plying her trade, getting bruises for her efforts and sporting a crush are her daily minutiae. Penned with precision, both of Bad Behaviour's threads tease out details about its two central women, whether unpacking Lucy's unhappiness, guilt and contempt, or exploring why Dylan seeks peril professionally and personally alike. A mother-daughter reckoning is always coming, though. Englert not only makes the build-up and the fallout equally knotty, revelatory and compelling — she commandingly establishes the ins and outs of her two protagonists beyond the most important relationship in their lives. More than four decades after her first-ever screen credit and two since winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, Connelly remains a reason to seek any project out. While she isn't Bad Behaviour's sole highlight, she's that good. Of late, she's been stellar in the TV version of Snowpiercer as well (also navigating uneasy parental bonds), but this film boasts one of her next-level performances. Stepping into Lucy's shoes is a go-for-broke effort to dive into the character's many complexities and conflicts, and Connelly is not only excellent but rivetingly raw and deeply resonant. She's also delightfully funny in the film's wry way. Englert has cast herself well, too, showing off her wit and empathy as an actor in a feature with no weak on-screen links, Whishaw, Ana Scotney (Millie Lies Low), Beulah Koale (Dual) and Marlon Williams (Sweet Tooth) among them. References to Englert and Connelly's pasts aren't all that Bad Behaviour wears proudly, clearly; thorniness is embraced just as strongly and ambition gleams bright. There's no doubting that this picture is the product of someone who knows what she wants to dig into, shower around, contemplate, excavate, call out and laugh at — and that it's made by a filmmaker who is as certain of how she wants her feature to look and feel at every moment. As cinematographer Matt Henley (Coming Home in the Dark) takes in the surroundings, it isn't difficult to spot New Zealand standing in for Bad Behaviour's American half, although there's a fitting air to that to that move in this movie. Perspective is a core part of this emotionally lingering flick, as is seeing intricacies in multiple lights as Englert shines the torch.
Opera Australia is going back to where it all began for their annual outdoor opera extravaganza. What was first seen as a bold, expensive experiment in 2013, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour has now become an international tourist icon, drawing crowds from all over the world to experience the grandeur of opera in the grandest of locations. Georges Bizet's famous opera Carmen is the perfect fit for such a lavish spectacle — love, treachery, civil war and two of the best-known of all opera arias, portrayed with a realism and intensity that remains affecting and bracing nearly 150 years after it was written. On-stage a world-class cast of singers, dancers and physical performers (plus a nine-metre-high Hollywood-style sign spelling CARMEN) will bring to life the torrid world of Franco-era Spain, accompanied by a full chorus and orchestra (and, at times, fireworks). The offstage offerings only add to the spectacle, with five dining areas, including a tapas bar, a paella bar, a Spanish cantina and The Platinum Club, where you can book in for a sit-down three-course meal. They'll host some 3000 audience members, who will come from far and wide to see a highlight of Sydney's cultural calendar in its sixth year each night. Image: Prudence Upton.
OK Democracy, We Need to Talk is Campbelltown Art Centre's response to the recent election. The exhibition brings together 12 newly commissioned works by local artists, who posed interventions on ideas of democracy and were encouraged to talk to journalists on how tokens of the free world can be presented to its inhabitants. The pieces include a series of works by Deborah Kelly that both pay homage to John Lennon and Yoko Ono and make statements on Australia's environmental politics, and Lara Thoms' video portrait of Harper Nielsen, the nine-year-old that caused a stir among politicians when she refused to stand for the national anthem at her school in 2018. Western Sydney's own Abdullah MI Syed has even created a series of garments out of real bank notes. In addition to the exhibition, the gallery will host a free day-long symposium on July 27. Developed by UNSW Art and Design lecturer Simon Hunt — perhaps better known for his 1990s satirical character Pauline Pantsdown — the day will include panels, workshops and performances that further explore topics from the exhibition.
Get lost in an immersive and inflatable installation called Harbour Garden this winter. Located by the water at the Australian National Maritime Museum, the pop-up artwork is inspired by what lingers under the sea. Expect to encounter ocean creatures big and small as you explore the artwork. It's been designed by Studio A, an organisation that supports artists living with intellectual disability, and Goldberg Aberline Studio, which has created large-scale sculptures for the likes of Sculpture by the Sea and Mardi Gras. In a big win for those with light pockets, you can explore Harbour Garden without spending a cent, too.
There is no doubt Guy Ritchie has stamped his mark upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic Sherlock Holmes. Ritchie's now trademark temporal jumps, bare-knuckled fighting and fraternal banter is all well translated into late 19th Century London. Cobbled streets and carriages may have replaced Ritchie's previous preoccupation with the modern gangster, but this slower pace suits him well. Indeed the Holmes stories provide the filmmaker with the crime caper he is so fond of, but one pared back to a much simpler, linear and more accessible storyline. And a familiar one at that; given the black magic plot, Sherlock Holmes borrows (or is that reclaims?) a lot from Harry Potter, even down to a wand, of sorts. This tale sees Holmes (Robert Downey Jnr.) and his exacerbated partner in solving crime Dr. Watson (Jude Law) packing up shop after solving their final case, only to find Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) has cheated death to pursue his sinister, imperialistic plans. This revelation distracts Watson from his engagement to the spirited Mary (Kelly Reilly), while also bringing femme fatale Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) back into Holmes' orbit. Convoluted powers of deduction, disguises and energetic fight scenes ensue. Though the final act drags, some of the set pieces feel too contrived and Downey Jnr's precocious interpretation of the famed detective may well rankle purists, it's very hard not to enjoy spending time with Holmes and Watson. Downey Jnr. and Law revel in their roles as the bickering couple; theirs is a love far more compelling than their (underused) female partners, and it's an absolute delight to watch. The film leaves the casebook wide open for a sequel featuring Holmes' arch nemesis Professor Moriarty (rumoured to be Brad Pitt), so one presumes Ritchie is just itching for the chance to delve back into the annals of Britain's greatest detective. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nZvKvrLXP30
Walk into this coastal boutique and you'll find it packed with one-of-a-kind homewares, all ethically sourced from Africa. This is because Africanologie's owner Dael Lane was born in Zimbabwe and brought her passion for African arts and crafts — and love for her home — Down Under in 2004. Naturally, the store champions makers and creatives from all over the continent, selling everything from handcrafted artefacts and gifts to artworks, unique furniture, lights and bespoke pieces. Africonologie has a buyer based in South Africa, ensuring the store is constantly sourcing and commissioning new products. The team prides itself on working closely with the artists and helping to support their local communities. And, if you'd like some guidance on styling your pad, Africanologie offers an interior styling service.
When you see a flag flapping in the wind, do you feel pride? Ownership? Oppression? Throughout this year's Sydney Festival, there'll be a large-scale art installation of 250 flags representing Australians' diverse views on land and country, belonging and possession. The free artwork at Barangaroo Reserve is just the beginning, as the festival is asking participants to submit their own images of their connection to land via an online portal.
Sydney-based queer comedian Cleo is back for another year of Bondi Feast, and this time she's brought her queens (sorry, kweens). Holding court in the Parlour Tent for one night only will be the likes of Axis of Awesome singer Jordan Raskopoulos, the acerbic 2018 Raw Comedy Winner Bec Melrose, legendary drag kings Dazza and Keif (who will, fair warning, be talking quite a bit about their 'crown jewels') and the eternally enigmatic Hey Puss Puss. The Kweens are promising a 'cosy night of laughter', but you'd be a fool not to expect some daggers to fly as well. You don't get to be royalty without stepping over a few bodies. Kweens of Comedy is happening on Tuesday, July 16 as part of Bondi Feast 2019. For more information and to purchase tickets, head this way.
UNSW Galleries has finally reopened to the public, and it has done so in a big way — by unveiling a major LGBTQIA+ exhibition. Running until Saturday, November 21, Friendship as a Way of Life celebrates LGBTQIA+ visibility, intimacy, collaboration, sex and knowledge. Curated by the UNSW Galleries Director José Da Silva and Deputy Director Kelly Doley, the exhibition features more than 20 artists — including ALOK, Camilo Godoy, and Gavin Kirkness and the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt project, along with material from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. A highlight: the re-staging of a major work by American artist Macon Reed, titled Eulogy for the Dyke Bar 2016. The installation recreates the interior of a lesbian bar and acts as a community space for performances, conversations and socialising. This 'bar' will host a full program of events come October and November, including a performance by Australian musician June Jones. [caption id="attachment_776611" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Macon Reed, Eulogy for the Dyke Bar 2016. Installation and programming series. Installation view: UNSW Galleries, Sydney. Courtesy of the artist[/caption] Several new works are also featured, like the photographs by Helen Grace, which document Amazon Acres, an all-female community in northern NSW. Then there's Ella Sutherland's new prints, which pay tribute to Australia's lesbian erotic magazine Wicked Women. And collaborative duo Parallel Park will present a a new performance video that explores interpersonal relationships. International works by Scandinavian duo Elmgreen & Dragset's The Incidental Self 2007 will be on display too — with this installation spanning hundreds of photos that are making their Australian premiere. Alongside the physical exhibition is the online series Forms of Being Together, which will share weekly talks, conversations and digital projects from the exhibiting artists and other local creatives. New content will be shared each week, with highlights including live talks on the history of Australia's gay motorcycle groups with leather historian Timothy Robert, the importance of QPOC (Queer People of Colour) party spaces by DJ Sezzo, and a discussion on queer parenting and surrogacy with First Nations writer and activist Nayuka Gorrie. Also, an online video commission by Nikos Pantazopoulos will explore the history of Sydney's Oxford Street — by focusing on two homoerotic paintings salvaged from Midnight Shift prior to its closure in 2017. And DJ Gemma has curated a special mix of music that captures Sydney's underground queer dance scene. Friendship as a Way of Life runs until Saturday, November 21. The exhibition is open to the public free-of-charge every Tuesday–Saturday from 10am–5pm. Images: UNSW Galleries. Installation views: Friendship as a Way of Life. Photography: Zan Wimberley.
Spring has finally sprung. What better way to enjoy the warmer and brighter evenings than by toasting the change of seasons at Darlinghurst stalwart East Village Hotel? In collaboration with Roku Gin, East Village is hosting 'Spring Nights' on its rooftop terrace. From Tuesday to Sunday from 4pm onwards, guests can enjoy bespoke Roku Gin cocktails — only available on the rooftop bar — and a special bar snack menu. For the event, the three-tiered pub has transformed its rooftop terrace into a sakura springtime wonderland, with fairy lights and cherry blossoms adorning trellises and the bar. There are three cocktails to choose from: Some Other Spring (with Roku Gin, dry vermouth, yuzu, peychauds and orgeat, garnished with cucumber ribbons), Kitsuka (Roku Gin, elderflower, orange blossom, citrus and soda, garnished with a fresh orange slice and flowers) and the aptly named The Golden Hour (Roku Gin, umeshu and orange bitters in a Nick and Nora glass). East Village is also slinging three bar snack plates to enjoy with the cocktails: citrus-cured salmon on crispy rice cake, chicken tsukune skewers and housemade vegetarian gyoza with ponzu dipping sauce. There's even an offer for two plates and two cocktails for a special price. In Japanese, Roku means "six". As part of Roku's commitment to shun — a Japanese practice of enjoying food and drink in its proper season — each of its six botanicals (sakura leaf, sakura flower, sencha tea, gyokuro tea, sansho pepper and yuzu) is harvested at the peak of its maturity. The cocktails crafted by East Village attempt to showcase the botanicals while also being an ideal choice for sunset drinks after work on the terrace. Roku Gin Spring Nights at East Village Hotel is on from Tuesday, September 19 until Tuesday, October 31, from 4–10pm. Walk-ins are accepted, but bookings can be made on the East Village website. Images: Brooke Zotti
A lively Korean barbecue restaurant, where traditional food philosophies meet contemporary flair, has made its home in Haberfield's historic post office building. It's a buzzy spot, where neon glows cheerfully from the walls, the soundtrack is one of sizzling meat and eating is always a communal affair. Diners get a chance at playing chef, barbecuing their own selection of meat on the grills set into the middle of each table. There's swag of plain and marinated protein options, from beef prime rib and gochujang-coated pork belly, to thinly sliced brisket and pork neck, all in 200-gram portions primed for mix-and-match group feasts. To round out your feed, there are traditional Korean stews made to long-held family recipes, noodles, stir fry dishes and a range of snacks, including plenty of cracking fried chicken. And at dinner, find classic Korean pancakes stuffed with the likes of kimchi or seafood, and hearty hot pots loaded up with meats, veggies and noodles.
Brett Whiteley is considered one of the most prominent Australian artists of the 20th century. So it's a little surprising to learn that there has never been an exhibition specifically dedicated to his drawing — until now. Across summer, the Art Gallery of NSW is hosting a retrospective solely focused on this element of Whiteley's work and the pivotal role it played in his wider practice, titled Brett Whiteley: Drawing is Everything. You'll get to experience rarely seen works dating from the early days of his career through to his later years as one of Australia's most beloved and internationally successful artists. With an impressive 116 pieces on display, expect to see an amazing variety of drawings, ranging from portraits and nudes to interiors, lyrical landscapes and abstracts. The exhibition also showcases some of Whiteley's most significant paintings and sculptures, aiming to highlight the way in which drawing — which Whiteley once described as an "un-rehearsable and unrepeatable visual truth" — habitually planted the seed for his broader artistic practices. As always at the Art Gallery of NSW, there's a bunch of related workshops, talks and special events to get involved in. Over weekends during February and March, you can hop on a free shuttle between the Gallery, the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills and Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden in Lavender Bay (if you've never been, you're in for a treat.) Plus, when you visit the exhibition, you'll be given a pencil and drawing booklet so you can record your own creative response. Even if you're not much of a drawer, give it a go and don't overthink it. In Whiteley's own words, "It is better to have drawn and lost than never to have drawn at all." Brett Whiteley: Drawing is Everything is open at the Art Gallery of NSW until Sunday, March 31. For more information on the associated public programs and to purchase tickets, visit the website. We also have five double passes to the exhibition to give away. Enter with your details below. [competition]705901[/competition]
When it comes to musical families it doesn’t get much more talented than Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham. This sibling trio's live shows cover everything from R&B, swing, jump blues, country and western, blues, Hawaiian, and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll, so get ready to fly from one genre to the next. On top of this, the Durhams are multi-instrumentalists, who easily move between guitar, piano, banjo, lapsteel guitar, harmonica, double bass, ukulele, drums, trombone, xylophone and accordion throughout their sets. Singles ‘No Action’ and ‘Don’t Make A Fool Out Of Me’ are straight-up excellent tunes to get sassy to, so do yourself a favour and drop in on these guys while they’re in town for Splendour.
This editorial is sponsored by our partner, King Street Wharf. King Street Wharf is an often overlooked section of Sydney's waterfront when it comes to finding a place for lunch. We often forget that there are a string of restaurants lining the Darling Harbour foreshore offering thoroughly decent dining options. But King Street Wharf, tucked away between Barangaroo and Pyrmont, is now arguably one of the best places to find lunch in Sydney's CBD. Until June 13, the precinct — including I Thai, La Cita, Cargo Bar and Wharf Teppanyaki — will host a special lunchtime menu designed for time-poor office workers. The restaurants are offering special menus priced between $10 and $20, with many offering takeaway options, in the interests of providing Sydneysiders with good food and a waterfront view without needing a long, luxurious lunch break. Because there's nothing more spirit-crushing than spending your precious half-hour of freedom trapped in the depths of a CBD food court. Below, we present you with our pick of the best meals under $20 available at King Street Wharf. 1. Seafood Okonomiyaki from Wharf Teppanyaki Wharf Teppanyaki has a great array of $20 meal options, including a wagyu burger and wafu chicken piccata, but we’re quite fond of the seafood okonomiyaki. The meals are served with a choice of garlic fried rice, egg fried rice, seasonal salad, red and white miso soup and Teriyaki chat potatoes, so it’s also guaranteed to keep you full until dinner. 2. Duck Noodle Soup from I Thai A plastic take-away box full of pad thai or mee goreng is a lunchtime staple, and while I Thai have those things on offer as well, you can also find something extra special. For something rich and warm to keep the chills away as autumn rolls in, you can't go past their duck noodle soup. 3. Quesadillas from La Cita La Cita does quintessential Spanish and Latin American fare — you can even salsa dance there at night-time if you fancy. But at lunch, the best thing to do is take them up on their quesadilla special — a two-course meal of quesadillas with a choice of chicken thigh, rump steak or tandoori lamb, served with chips and salad. 4. Bento Box from Kobe Jones The Bento Box from Kobe Jones isn't like the regular dry rice topped with fish you get at sushi hole-in-the-walls. King Street Wharf's answer to Japanese cuisine offers a $20 bento box including one of the chef's signature entrees, a selection of beef, chicken or vegetarian pieces, red and white miso soup, steamed nishiki rice and a dessert of the day. 5. King Prawn and Fennel Risotto from Vessel Italian & Bar Vessel is a big sprawling space with both a restaurant, a bar and a cafe serving up quality Italian meals. For only $15 you can score a risotto of king prawn and fennel guaranteed to keep you full and warm for the rest of the afternoon.
"I'm lost already," said my partner about a minute after we'd turned left (or was it right?) past yet another steel cluster of hutches otherwise known as the residences of Zetland. Some minutes later, we entered a mall across the road from an Audi dealership and were seated inside the Zetland edition of the Darlinghurst legend Lucio Pizzeria. Believe it or not, it's not (pure) snobbery that wonders how the cosy, brusque bustle of the Darlinghurst restaurant would translate here. The clientele are different. They are both younger and older than the Darlinghurst mob and also include the lunchtime business crowd (selling cars is hard work). It was good thinking then, on the part of owner/chef Lucio De Falco not to attempt a direct translation of his original Italian masterpiece but rather to reinterpret it. And that reinterpretation includes some fine additions that bring the food of the south of Italy to the fore. Before I go any further, I will confirm that after sampling the 'Lucio' ($20), a half calzone half margherita combination, the famous pizza is here in all its silky, blistered glory. But if I can tear you away from the pizza for even a moment, you must, I mean must try the lasagne ($22.50). Unlike its northern counterpart, this one has no bechamel, very little cheese and pulled beef instead of mince. It arrives with a prettily charred edge like a the lacy hem of a gypsy's skirt, a tomato sauce richer and more velvety than a cardinal's cloak, and silky sheets of handmade pasta that slip and slide with an unctuousness that is more satisfying than any bechamel. Also wonderfully southern is the thoughtful selection of mozzarella and accompanying cured meats that make up the 'mozzarella bar' part of the menu. An excellent waiter isn't hesitant about recommending a burrata ($14) accompanied by prosciutto ($12.50). Good on him. The neat little white cloud of burrata that hails from the Caserta region of Campania gives out at the pull of a fork, breaking and tearing into sublimely subtle, milky wisps of cheese. The southern beauty that closes is the Pastiera Napoletana ($12.50). A cake made of ricotta and cooked wheat grains, its flavour is made bright and warm with the addition of orange (not far off the spiced fruitiness of panettone) and a flaky shortbread base. As we leave, we notice two young fellow diners heading home across the street, clutching their leftovers in a box. I look a little harder into the greys of the steel hutches and see the odd pot plant, soft toys suctioned to windows and curtains filtering the glow of bulbs. After a meal that so firmly referenced its home, even if it was eaten opposite a car dealership, such tiny signs are proof enough that no matter the place, home is where there is heart.
One of the most significant fashion designers of the past century is the subject of one of Australia's most significant fashion exhibitions, with the National Gallery of Victoria dedicating its big summer blockbuster show to the late, great Alexander McQueen. For fans of pioneering, boundary-pushing threads, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse's four-month season promises to be better than Christmas — complete with more than 120 garments designed by the icon, plus artworks, sketches, videos and photographic works that inspired him. First revealed back in May, and now on display from Sunday, December 11, 2022—Sunday, April 16, 2023, Mind, Mythos, Muse has taken over the NGV International. Inside the Melbourne cultural institution, fashion devotees will find walls and halls filled with a stunning display, as created in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). All things McQueen first graced LACMA, and now it's Australia's turn. While the LA venue organised the exhibition, drawing upon more than 60 garments and accessories from its own holdings, it contacted NGV about both contributing and running its own season. That's where 50 designs by McQueen from the NGV Collection come in, plus other artworks from each institution. The NGV has been hoping to put an exhibition like this together ever since the designer first made a splash in the early 90s, and Mind, Mythos, Muse does indeed venture back that far. The showcase features McQueen-designed items dating back to 1994, and 25 different seasonal collections — with 20 seasons covered from its the NGV's own holdings alone. Accordingly, attendees can check out examples from the autumn-winter 1995–1996 Highland Rape collection, the autumn-winter 2006–2007 The Widows of Culloden range, and spring-summer 2010's Plato's Atlantis, McQueen's final complete collection before his death in February 2010. Various sections of the exhibition dive into McQueen's oeuvre in different ways. With Mythos, for example, three collections inspired by mythological and religious belief systems sit together. Then, in Fashioned Narratives, four collections that showcase his knack for world-building are in the spotlight. Next comes Evolution and Existence, which hones in on his interest in life cycles and the human condition — and Technique and Innovation, which is rather self-explanatory. Finally, Dangerous Bodies is all about early collections with a focus on eroticism and empowerment. Helping pull together all of the above are behind-the-scenes snaps by photographer Robert Fairer, taking audiences backstage at McQueen's shows — because his parades were an event and an art — and 80-plus historical artworks spanning painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts and works on paper, all hailing LACMA and NGV's collections.
While the rest of Sydney spends its summer on the white sands of Bondi Beach, do one better, and slip away to The Pacific Club on Campbell Parade for kombucha coladas in the sun and freshly shucked rockies from the dedicated raw bar. The art deco 'sandcastle', propped just opposite Bondi's golden shores, has made the most of its million-dollar waterfront space with a luxe fit-out by Michael McCann from Dreamtime Australia Design, the studio behind Mr Wong, The Argyle and Felix. Cash has well and truly been splashed ($2 million, to be exact) with grand timber columns, marble slabs and shiny brass fixtures brightening up the soft, cream-coloured space. We wouldn't recommend waltzing in with a surfboard, sandy feet and dripping natural dreads. Heading up the kitchen is executive chef Bret Cameron (ex-Four in Hand and Harvest Newrybar) who has put together an outback-inspired menu, peppered with bush foods and native goodies. Breakfast impresses, even in this part of town, with woodfired crumpets ($15) — their bubbly, burnished centres just begging to be spread with the house-churned wattleseed butter, whipped white chocolate and a drizzle of bush honey. The campfire theme continues with an upmarket egg in a hole ($23), paired with smoked belly bacon and a kangaroo and bush tomato banger. A serve of smashed avo ($15) is given an eastern suburbs makeover, starting with a feathery crumbed charcoal bread lathered with a luscious macadamia ricotta, avocado slices and zesty pops of finger lime caviar. Just one slice feels a little stingy, but that's the seaside surcharge for you. As the sun moves further across the sky, The Pacific Club's raw bar comes to life with freshly shucked oysters ($4.50 each) and ceviche bathed in buttermilk, fresh apple and dill fronds ($23). Sourced from Ballina, giant prawns are torched on the open hearth, their white bellies basted with kelp butter and picked sea lettuce. Still here? In the evening, a brass fire pit at the entrance is lit up, Survivor-style, the flames fuel the night time party vibes. Pretty young things gather around the floating bar, clutching kombucha coladas, native strawberry gum spritz and other alcoholic tonics. All that's needed is an outdoor area to truly bring the beach club theme to life. From what we understand, council approval is already on the way. Images: Caroline McCredie
Crank up Hozier — you're heading to church for dinner on your next trip to Bathurst. Well, it's not church, exactly, but a former church schoolhouse. Known as Church Bar, this candlelit hideaway serves up cocktails and woodfired pizzas. It's got over 20 types of pie, including two dessert ones: the Rose ($20) with white chocolate, mixed berries and homemade crumble and the Charlotte ($20) with melted milk chocolate, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, bananas and choc fudge sauce. But, before you get your sugar hit, try the Russel ($23), with sautéed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, a poached egg and parmesan cheese, drizzled with white truffle oil. Or, there's the spicy Piper ($21) with spicy chorizo, capsicum, jalapeño and chilli, one wih slow-cooked lamb shanks, sweet potato, rosemary and feta ($25) or the simple (but delicious) Vale ($17) with Napolitana sauce, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. For drinks, expect classic such as a caipiroska ($16), french martini ($17), bloody mary ($17) and espresso martini ($18) alongside the bar's signature cocktails.
You could probably make a mildly amusing SNL skit out of the idea behind The House. A full-length movie? Not so much. It's safe to say that no one wins big in this decidedly unfunny comedy, which marks the directorial debut of Bad Neighbours writer Andrew Jay Cohen. Not stars Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Nick Kroll and Jason Mantzoukas, and definitely not the audience. Poehler and Ferrell play Kate and Scott Johansen, proud parents to college-bound teen Alex (Ryan Simpkins) — until a town-sponsored scholarship falls through, that is. When their recently-separated gambling addict pal Frank (Mantzoukas) suggests turning his home into an illegal casino to cover Alex's tuition fees, they're wary. But helping their daughter pursue her dreams soon wins out, even with a suspicious local cop (Rob Huebel) and city councillor (Kroll) wondering just what it is they're up to. As anyone who's ever seen Parks and Recreation knows, Poehler is a comedic treasure, who frankly should be on our screens much, much more often. Ferrell's movie track record mightn't be stellar as of late, but when he's at his Ron Burgundy best, it's easy to forget his less successful efforts like Get Hard and Daddy's Home. Kroll and Mantzoukas, meanwhile, were both great on The League. The point is, if you're a fan of any of these funny folks, you'd have hoped that together they could deliver at least a handful of chuckles. On paper, it doesn't seem like much of a gamble. Sure, watching middle-aged suburbanites behaving badly doesn't sound particularly new or exciting, but skilled performers can make anything better, right? Yet, in a breezy, montage-heavy flick that thinks overt nods to Casino, The Sopranos and Terminator 2 are enough to garner giggles, there's little they can do. A hip hop heavy soundtrack can't liven things up, and neither can YouTube-like sketches or a big-name cameo in the final act, no matter how much the movie tries to prove otherwise. At one point in The House — immediately after the main trio ponders "what if we were the house?", in case the premise wasn't already clear — a character makes a speech about clichés. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything to make the ones in the film any less obvious or infuriating. It's never a good sign when a movie's best moments come during the obligatory over-credits blooper reel, as viewers are left to wonder why the stuff that did make the cut was so routine and uninspired. Maybe the producers made a bet that they could squander their cast with as bland a so-called comedy as possible? If that's the case, then they've really hit the jackpot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx9s-jbSG2s
Being careful what you wish for sits at the heart of most superhero movies. As advice for Spider-Man, Stan Lee even penned an oft-quoted adage about that very notion. Shazam! Fury of the Gods' caped crusaders all know that using their super skills wisely is a duty — yes, with great power comes great responsibility — and they're aware that doing just that comes with struggles. They aren't great at unleashing their magical talents, however, earning the nickname "the Philadelphia Fiascos". But the folks truly realising they should've been more cautious with their dreams are this Shazam! sequel's viewers. Another riff on Big, The Goonies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Ghostbusters in DC Extended Universe packaging like its 2019 predecessor sounds a heap better than the forgettable superheroes-versus-gods fare that's eventuated — a movie that isn't that fussed with the powers it has and sports zero responsibility for barely managing to be average. Shazam! Fury of the Gods hasn't completely moved on from nodding to beloved 80s flicks, though, or from referencing other films in general. Early on, it gives 'Holding Out for a Hero', which was originally recorded for the OG Footloose, a perfunctory spin. And, where the first Shazam! instalment was earnest and enthusiastic around all those winks and all that pilfering, this second effort uses E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial's Reese's Pieces product placement as a guide for shoehorning in a Skittles commercial. When it isn't having someone yell "taste the rainbow", it also likes name-dropping titles owned by Warner Bros, which owns DC Studios — or movies connected to its on- and off-screen players. So, in a picture that's about kids and teens transforming into spandex-wearing saviours when they say "shazam!", then fighting the mythical Daughters of Atlas, audiences are subjected to clunky, self-conscious Game of Thrones shoutouts and Fast and Furious gags (a dragon sparks the former, and star Helen Mirren and co-screenwriter Chris Morgan's experience with Vin Diesel's high-octane saga revs up the latter). Speaking of F&F, Shazam! Fury of the Gods also goes all-in on family — but Billy Batson (Asher Angel, High School Musical: The Musical — The Series) and his pals are too young to knock back Coronas. Also, Shazam! Fury of the Gods isn't much concerned with Billy in his normal guise, giving his Shazam self (Zachary Levi, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) the bulk of the character's screentime. The time for origin stories has been and gone here, but largely ditching Angel robs this franchise-within-a-franchise of one of its main points of difference in the DCEU. None of the series' other flicks are about awkward adolescents learning to grapple with power, and understanding that their wildest dreams aren't as easy as they'd always hoped. Shazam! Fury of the Gods still manages to hit some of those notes thanks to a bigger focus on Billy's best friend and fellow foster kid Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer, We Are Who We Are), a person with disability, but sidelining the teenager who turns into Shazam is clumsy and noticeable. Similarly plain as day from scene one: that Shazam! Fury of the Gods got as lucky as any superhero movie can with its new cast members. The film opens at the Acropolis Museum in Greece, where two of Atlas' offspring are determined to get back the Wizard's (Djimon Hounsou, Black Adam) broken staff and reclaim their dad's magic — and those two daughters, Hespera and Kalypso, come in the form of Mirren (1923) and Lucy Liu (Strange World). Despite splashing around the film's fondness for dim lighting and dull CGI early, this introductory sequence lets its big-name talents make more of an imprint standing around in their costumes and looking formidable than much that follows. Indeed, whenever Mirren and Liu are on-screen, and West Side Story's Rachel Zegler as well, Shazam! Fury of the Gods makes a case for pushing aside not just Billy, but Shazam and everyone else. This is still a Shazam! movie, of course, and not solely a vehicle for Mirren, Liu and Zegler to play goddesses and have fun. So, returning director David F Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation) and screenwriters Morgan (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) and Henry Gayden (Earth to Echo) have motions to go through. Cue Billy aka Shazam, Freddy aka Captain Everypower (Adam Brody, Fleishman Is in Trouble), and their foster siblings Eugene (Fresh Off the Boat's Ian Chen, then 13 Reasons Why's Ross Butler as a superhero), Pedro (Snowfall's Jovan Armand and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series' DJ Cotrona), Darla (This Is Us' Faithe Herman and Harlem's Meagan Good) and Mary (Fall's Grace Caroline Currey as both versions of the character) trying to save Philly. And, in the process, cue their efforts to work out how to be careful with their fantastical abilities. Amid the bland jokes, The Avengers get a callout. Rather than being cheeky or funny, that quip among many flat quips acts as a glaring reminder that caped-crusader team-ups are oh-so familiar. Marvel's and DC's superhero franchises both include several, with Shazam! Fury of the Gods hardly distinguishing itself from any apart from its magic utterances. The pixel-frenzy battle scenes definitely don't dazzle, whether or not they involve Skittles. That said, some might've if the monster menagerie conjured up by Hespera and Kalypso had boasted a Ray Harryhausen-style approach. Yes, there's a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda about the Shazam! films' second outing, which might be its last depending on what new DC Studios heads James Gunn (the director of The Suicide Squad) and Peter Safran (a producer on the same flick, and on this, the first Shazam! and Aquaman) summon up. New head honchos, new era: that's where the DCEU currently stands, with Gunn and Safran taking up their jobs in late 2022. Changes have sprung swiftly, including badging what'll come after 2023's The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom as just the DC Universe. Henry Cavill has been scrapped as Superman, but the Man of Steel will get a new flick helmed by Gunn. Also, more Black Adam is off the cards. The Batman will score a sequel, but there'll also be a Batman who isn't played by Robert Pattinson (and not just because The Flash co-stars Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton). It's little wonder then that Shazam! Fury of the Gods doesn't just feel routine — rarely has a big-budget franchise entry felt like it matters less. At least it gave us Mirren, Liu and Zegler, a trio that everyone should wish for, livening up a by-the-numbers affair.
Nature's Energy offers relaxing indulgent experiences to make you feel as wonderful as you truly are. Alongside its well established bathhouses in Balmain and Newtown, the Glebe day spa is the largest of the three featuring 16 treatment rooms, a wet room, steam and sauna. There are a number of treatments to choose from including hair, massage therapy, acupuncture, facials and many others to help you look and feel relaxed and radiant. The spa also caters to hens parties and offers workshops in tarot reading for treatments that are a little outside the box.
Fancy prancing through fields laced with the charm of provincial France? It's just casual summer weekendery when So Frenchy So Chic is in town. The ever-popular one-day French festival is waltzing back to Bicentennial Park in Glebe for its sixth year running on Saturday, January 19. If you haven't been before, expect an entire afternoon of French-inspired niceties, including (but not limited to) gourmet picnic hampers, tartlets and terrines, offensively good wine and croquet all to a chill French soundtrack. So Frenchy hinges around a solid lineup of eclectic artists you may be yet to meet — and this year, they're all female. Parisian solo artist — and former Nouvelle Vague frontwoman — Camille will top the lineup, returning to Australia for her first shows since 2011. Her most recent album was recorded in a 14th century monastery, which might give you a bit of an idea of what to expect from her otherworldly live set. Don't miss electronic pop trio Yelle, either — the group has performed at Coachella three times and its music is played in venues across France. Other on the lineup is up-and-comer Clara Luciani and jazz pop artist Cleéa Vincent. If you're not the most organised of picnickers, So Frenchy is putting on the works again with fancy picnic boxes and cheese plates. Filled with stuffed baguettes, niçoise salads, mini créme brûlées and goose egg meringues, the picnic boxes are one to preorder if you don't want to miss out. But So Frenchy won't let you go hungry; there'll be a huge banquet of seafood, charcuterie, crepes and more available on the day. And of course, there'll be plenty of Laurent Perrier Champagne, French beer, and rosé, red and whites whines as well. Early bird tickets are now on sale for $82 a pop. If you've got kids, you'll be happy to know that the whole thing is very family friendly, and children under 12 can get in for free.
Chronicling encroaching maturity: it's the ambit of so many coming-of-age features that the idea has become its own cliche. With Boyhood, writer/director Richard Linklater takes the concept a step further — and though his method isn't unique, even to his own work courtesy of his Before trilogy, the film that results is. His portrait of growing up charts twelve years, shooting over the same period. Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is introduced staring at the sky, a six-year-old bundle of daydream-fuelled introversion and mischievous curiosity. He spars with his older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), traverses the life dictated by the choices of his mother (Patricia Arquette) and wishes for more time with his father (Ethan Hawke). The years pass, and over the movie's 165 minutes, Mason evolves from a child into a man. Most movies mark the process of becoming an adult through major milestones, but Boyhood reflects upon quieter moments. Linklater doesn't follow an overarching narrative, apart from Mason's ageing and his mother's romantic and career changes. The big developments are largely inconsequential, excised in favour of everyday ephemera. It is in the spaces between — as Mason tests boundaries and forms his own identity, whether playing in the park, camping with his dad, passing notes with a pretty girl, having his first drink or finding an affinity for photography — that the film lingers. That's the key to Boyhood — the minutiae of getting older, by virtue of avoiding the usual contrivances of impending adulthood, always feels authentic and relatable. Mason's tale isn't just his own but belongs to everyone who was once a child navigating difficulties mundane in their ordinariness but influential in their individual impact, whether recently or remembered in a wave of nostalgia. In keeping with his layered storytelling, Linklater's filmmaking is unobtrusive, stitching together the familiar with finesse — pop culture references and all. His camera is enamoured with Mason, and though divorcing the time-conscious technique from the story is impossible, every image does more than capture a character ambling towards the age of 18. The intimate and unembellished slices of a young life each visual offers appear aesthetically and narratively drawn from reality, even as the constructed nature of the film remains apparent. Coltrane, of course, is the centerpiece of Boyhood, the figure upon which everything hangs. Calling his performance naturalistic states the obvious, but his ability to convey Mason's blossoming into a smart, sensitive young adult cements the film as truly special. Linklater took a risk on an ambitious way to relate an oft-told tale, and in his newcomer lead and career-best turns from Arquette and Hawke, he succeeds. And then there's another feat that can't be overlooked — starting a film with Coldplay's 'Yellow' and still making a masterpiece. https://youtube.com/watch?v=b70esOwsOf4
Established in 2009 to discuss difficult issues, push boundaries and inspire debate, Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas has spent a decade exploring provocative topics — and it's celebrating its tenth anniversary in the same fashion. This year's event will tackle the theme 'dangerous realities', focusing specifically on racism, surveillance and climate change. After postponing its weekend-long Town Hall event in April due to the government's ban on non-essential gatherings over 500 people, FODI has decided to return next month with a succinct digital program for 2020. It's called FODI Digital, aptly — and fans will be happy to hear that headliner Edward Snowden is still on the docket. The whistleblower will — of course — examine the reality of mass governmental surveillance system. As expected, he was always planned to appear via livestream rather than in person, so not much has changed. The one-hour conversation will take place on Thursday, September 24 from 7pm. Alongside Snowden, the program features Professor Marcia Langton AM on Thursday, September 10 and Journalist David Wallace-Wells on Saturday, October 11. Langton will discuss the truth about racism in relation to Australia's Indigenous people, as well as our society's resistance to accepting our racist past. Meanwhile, Wallace-Wells will dissect the climate crisis in a conversation titled The Uninhabitable Earth. As all events will be live-streamed, tickets will cost just $10 for Langton and Wallace-Wells and just $15 for Snowden — or nab tickets to all three for $30. FODI is presented by The Ethics Centre, who co-founded the fest with the Sydney Opera House, then partnered with UNSW for the 2018 version of the event on Cockatoo Island. While this year's digital season is decidedly different from past iterations, it still boasts the fest's usual high-calibre range of speakers — so another eyeopening FODI season awaits. FODI Digital will take place across three separate online conversations on Thursday, September 10; Thursday, September, 24; and Saturday, October 11. For tickets, visit the festival's website. Top image: Jodie Barker
The long-standing and much-loved Newtown branch of Berkelouw Books is set to close in the week commencing September 8. Despite being currently advertised as a "relocation" on the Berkelouw website, the branch is closing down permanently with no set relocation destination at this point in time. Berkelouw Newtown has been a familiar face on the inner-west literary block for many years and even though it survived the Great Gentrification of King Street and Surrounds in the late-noughties, the bookstore has failed to make the cut this financial year and will be shut by early September. As hard as this news is to swallow for bibliophiles everywhere, you will have a chance to pay your final respects at the 'relocation sale', beginning on Saturday, August 17, where you can find up to 50 percent off all new and secondhand books, stationery and gifts. As the store boasts a collection of over 50,000 used and rare books, the sale is a delicious invitation to broaden your belletristic horizons. While the vindictive among us may want to draw a correlation between this unfortunate termination and the sudden meiosis of frozen yoghurt franchises in Newtown recently, it may be comforting to take respite in the ongoing resilience of Gould's, Elizabeth's and Better Read Than Dead. Lest we forget.
From its corner perch in Taylor Square, the restaurant, neighbourhood bar and creative space that is Cafe Freda's does its usual thing five days a week. On Sundays from May 2, however, it's introducing a new series of pop-ups. Each will run as a one-off event, and bring the food — and the energy and vibe — of top-notch local chefs to the venue. Kicking things is Hugh Piper, with his Sunday pop-up dubbed the Buena Vista Ceviche Club. From 12–10pm for that one day only, diners can tuck into a South American-style menu, including oysters a la chalaca, crudités with huancaina sauce and lamb belly seco (or stew) with potato and salsa criolla. The lineup goes on, and also includes pisco sours on the drinks list. Walk-ins are welcome, or you can book — and, in terms of influences, Piper is taking his cues from the Peruvian side of his family, his time working at Astrid y Gaston and his passion for adapting Peruvian food to Australia. [caption id="attachment_810052" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Marco Fanuli[/caption]
Phillip Island's ever-popular little penguin residents have scored themselves an upgrade, with the new-look, revamped Penguin Parade visitor centre opening its doors this week. The colony of tiny birds and their waterfront digs have long been one of Victoria's iconic tourist destinations, with the sunset penguin viewings pulling over 700,000 visitors each year. Now, with the help of $48.2 million funding from the Labor Government — along with an extra $10 million from the not-for-profit Phillip Island Nature Parks — the world-leading penguin research precinct has had a long-awaited makeover. In good news for its pint-sized inhabitants, the mammoth infrastructure project has restored over six hectares of penguin habitat, reclaiming the site of the former visitor centre building to create extra homes for up to 1400 breeding penguins. As for the new centre built in its place, it boasts a state-of-the-art theatre, a suite of interactive activities and educational installations, along with a selection of retail and dining options. Here, you'll be able to browse a range of commissioned penguin-themed designs, from bamboo tumblers to tea towels, along with a line of sustainability-focused products including reusable veggie bags and stainless steel straws. An onsite restaurant will be dishing up plates like slow-cooked lamb shanks and a classic chicken parma, while the cafe is your go-to for sandwiches, sushi and pies. On the educational side of things, you'll find a realistic habitat space offering a penguins-eye view of the world, a range of penguin statues for those selfie snaps and a display sharing the story of the Summerland Peninsula's historic buy-back scheme and restoration of the penguin habitat. You'll also score a close-up glimpse of the penguin life cycle, as told through the journeys of resident birds Pudding, Ava, Peter and Flynn. The interactive installation allows you to see what's likely happening in penguin world during various seasons and months. The building's design has also earned some serious street cred, being named as a winner at the recent 2019 International Architecture Awards. And, in a win for those penguins, the building is especially environmentally friendly, featuring 666 rooftop solar panels, low-carbon building materials throughout and a water filtration system that recycles rainwater for non-potable use. While the visitor centre is entirely new, the program of penguin-viewing experiences remains the same — including the popular underground viewing platform and the ranger guided tours. You can find the new Penguin Parade Visitor Centre at 1019 Ventnor Rd, Summerlands.
More dogs. That's it, that's our wish list. There can never be enough dog-friendly bars, dog-centric events, creative food for dogs, doggo movie screenings or just good ol' dog parks, and there never will be. Also, as the ABC's new Tony Armstrong-hosted three-part doco series A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong clearly realises, there can't be too many shows about these four-legged cuties either. Netflix already gave us two seasons of the docuseries Dogs, recent big-screen release Stray spent time with puppers in Istanbul and there's even a whole streaming platform made for woofers — as every pooch owner knows, they like to watch TV, too — but none of them enlist the former AFL player turned ABC News Breakfast sports presenter to explore the world of canines. Obviously, given its title, A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong definitely does. Across the three-part series, he won't just be surrounded by canines, but will also interview top canine researchers, step into the evolution of dogs, explore their senses and help provide advice for your own barking bestie. "When I was approached about the possibility of being involved in A Dog's World, I don't even think I got to the end of the email before I was agreeing to take part," says Armstrong. "It was amazing being involved in the project, I learned a lot and I hope everyone who watches enjoys it as much as we enjoyed making it!" The ABC has just dropped a trailer for the series and, yes, it looks as super-cute as it sounds. The dogs featured even just in the 100-second sneak peek firmly fit that description. If you're keen to watch, add 8.30pm on Tuesday, March 22 to your diary — which is when A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong will start airing on ABC TV and streaming via ABC iView. Check out the trailer for A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong below: A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong will be available to watch via ABC TV and ABC iView on Tuesday, March 22.
UPDATE, October 27, 2022: Bodies Bodies Bodies is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iView and Prime Video. The internet couldn't have stacked Bodies Bodies Bodies better if it tried, not that that's how the slasher-whodunnit-comedy came about. Pete Davidson (The Suicide Squad) waves a machete around, and his big dick energy, while literally boasting about how he looks like he fucks. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova plays the cautious outsider among rich-kid college grads, who plan to ride out a big storm with drinks and drugs (and drama) in one of their parents' mansions. The Hunger Games and The Hate U Give alum Amandla Stenberg leads the show as the gang's black sheep, turning up unannounced to zero fanfare from her supposed besties, while the rest of the cast spans Shiva Baby's Rachel Sennott, Generation's Chase Sui Wonders and Industry's Myha'la Herrold, plus Pushing Daisies and The Hobbit favourite Lee Pace as a two-decades-older interloper. And the Agatha Christie-but-Gen Z screenplay? It's drawn from a spec script by Kristen Roupenian, the writer of 2017 viral New Yorker short story Cat Person. All of the above is a lot. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a lot — 100-percent on purpose. It's a puzzle about a party game, as savage a hangout film as they come, and a satire about Gen Z, for starters. It carves into toxic friendships, ignored class clashes, self-obsessed obliviousness, passive aggression and playing the victim. It skewers today's always-online world and the fact that everyone has a podcast — and lets psychological warfare and paranoia simmer, fester and explode. Want more? It serves up another reminder after The Resort, Palm Springs and co that kicking back isn't always cocktails and carefree days. It's an eat-the-rich affair alongside Squid Game and The White Lotus. Swirling that all together like its characters' self-medicating diets, this wildly entertaining horror flick is a phenomenal calling card for debut screenwriter Sarah DeLappe and Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn (Instinct), too — and it's hilarious, ridiculous, brutal and satisfying. Forgetting how it ends is also utterly impossible. The palatial compound where Bodies Bodies Bodies unfurls belongs to David's (Davidson) family, but it's hurricane-party central when the film begins. That said, no one — not David, his actor girlfriend Emma (Wonders), the no-nonsense Jordan (Herrold) or needy podcaster Alice (Sennott), and definitely not Greg (Pace), the latter's swipe-right older boyfriend of barely weeks — expects Sophie (Stenberg) to show as they're swigging tequila poolside. She hasn't responded to the group chat, despite claiming otherwise when she arrives. She certainly hasn't told them, not even her childhood ride-or-die David, that she's bringing her new girlfriend Bee (Bakalova) along. And Sophie hasn't prepared Bee for their attitudes, all entitlement, years of taken-for-granted comfort and just as much mouldering baggage, as conveyed in bickering that's barely disguised as banter. When the weather turns bad as forecast, a game is soon afoot inside the sprawling abode. Sharing the movie's title, the fake murder-mystery lark is this crew's go-to — but, even with a hefty supply of glow sticks (handy in the inevitable power outage), it doesn't mix too well with booze, coke and Xanax. The essentials: pieces of paper, one crossed with a X; everyone picking a scrap, with whoever gets the marked sliver deemed the perpetrator; and switching off the lights while said killer offs their victim, which happens just by touching them. Then, it's time to guess who the culprit is. That's when the mood plummets quickly, because accusing your friends of being faux murderers by publicly checking off all their shady traits will do that. It gets worse, of course, when those bodies bodies bodies soon become literal and everyone's a suspect. "It gets worse" could be a life motto for Sophie and her clique; they're at that stage of adulthood where their whole lives are supposed to await — until Bodies Bodies Bodies, the game, happens — and yet a whirlwind of disappointment and uncertainty lingers. Their friendships are stormy yet stagnating, old scores and misdeeds clattering down, secrets spilling, and past romantic entanglements still causing hail. Tension and unhappiness rains over their fragile arguments about grudges and jealousies, hate-listening and the word 'gaslight', and why 40-year-old Greg is even there as well. No one is making great decisions, or wants to be making decisions at all, and insular couldn't describe better the atmosphere that greets the quiet, reserved, clearly-not-as-wealthy Bee. Initially blissfully head-over-heels in that newly smitten, six-weeks-in way, "it gets worse" also starts to echo for her as the dynamic with Sophie unsurprisingly changes. As the kills keep coming, twentysomething malaise, mania and stupidity gets worse, too — and Bodies Bodies Bodies relishes it all. The dialogue is as sharp as a blade, and yet also like eavesdropping on any cohort of potential horror-movie victims trying to stay alive when they're being picked off one by one in a fancy abode; again, by design. Yes, there's much in the screenplay that's easy to spot. Toying with those formulaic pieces is the other game within the feature's fast-paced and tightly wound game, however, as bloody mayhem ensues sans internet, electricity, sobriety, trust and common sense. Capitalising upon the sense that everything is in a hurry, plus the careening cinematography by Jasper Wolf (Monos) that stalks and roams around the house, to mirror Sophie and her friends' inner chaos is a shrewd touch. That's Bodies Bodies Bodies all over, with Reijn utilising every shot, claustrophobic use of torches and lit-up mobile phone screens to light scenes, mischievous note in Disasterpiece's (Triple Frontier) score, obvious plot inclusion and buzzword-heavy line to irreverently rip into the film's many genres and targets. Bodies Bodies Bodies unpacks us all, to be fair; who isn't a few unexpected shocks away from bedlam, from their flaws being exposed and their worst instincts kicking in (especially without wifi as a crutch, the film jokingly/half-jokingly posits)? This romp of a slasher-comedy shreds almost everything in sight but takes care not to tear its characters down — we've all stumbled, fumbled and fought to survive in our own ways, and life is uneasy for all of us. The cracker of a punchline conclusion is full of heartily dark laughs, not terrors, which is Bodies Bodies Bodies' entire approach to parodying and slicing everything it can. Managing all of the above with a killer cast, too? Especially with Stenberg playing it loose and mesmerising, Bakalova pitch-perfect as the wary but enterprising newcomer, Davidson doing his usual charismatically goofy thing, and Sennott and Pace stealing every moment they can with her lively ditziness and his hanger-on swagger, Bodies Bodies Bodies slays slays slays.
Any night of the week, you're guaranteed a good feed in Sydney. But during Sydney Solstice, the city's dining scene is taking things up a notch. The new two-week event is taking over more than 200 bars, restaurants, art galleries and live music venues across multiple suburbs for a series of magical feasts, devilish dinners and food-filled street parties. Running from Tuesday, June 8 till Sunday, June 20, the event series will feature a midnight feast at CBD dumpling master Mr Wong, a wine series with Opera House views at Aria and a free beer fest at Pyrmont's Terminus Hotel — and that's just the start. We've teamed up with NSW Government via Destination NSW to round up nine Sydney Solstice experiences to lap up this winter if you, like us, are always thinking about food and booze.
Jiro is an idealistic young man obsessed with the concept of flight. His poor eyesight means he can never be a pilot, so he becomes an engineer, designing planes that go as fast as is humanly possible. As Japan finds itself embroiled in the Second World War, Jiro falls in love with Naoko, and is torn between his desire to be with her, and his duty to his masters. Japanese animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki — best known for classics such as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo — creates what may be his final film ever. (Miyazaki has announced his retirement many times in the past, and did so in the lead-up to this film. There are claims that he has backtracked this one as well.) If it is his last, it's a fitting coda. It's not difficult to see Miyazaki in Jiro: a single-minded focus with an artistic endeavour to the point of obsession. Despite being based upon a true story, a significant amount of creative licence is taken. This is, counter-intuitively, a good thing. Often, the more reverential a biopic attempts to be, the less interesting a film it is. This is a film about artistic passion, and there are more important truths about life during wartime that are illuminated in a way that a simple recounting of events would not. The film studiously avoids the cliches one would expect from this setup. It refuses to shy away from the questionable decisions made by Japan during wartime, but nor does it allow the idea of the country as the destined defeated to overwhelm what is ultimately a tale of human passion and endeavour. It's hard to think of a more measured film about non-violent people in wartime. Much of the controversy surrounding the film has focused on the fact that the protagonist is developing planes that will eventually becomes those that attacked Pearl Harbour. But that is the exact position of the myopic Jiro, who at one point expresses frustration that the planes must carry weapons and bombs, for they will slow down his masterpieces. And that's the point of the film: that the purity of artistic endeavours are often destroyed by those more concerned with conflict and battle. Madman Entertainment is releasing the film in both English and Japanese with English subtitles. You'll have to check to see which version your local cinema is playing, but if you have a choice, the Japanese language one is always preferable. There's something about the formality and manner of Japanese speech that doesn't translate well into English vocals, and even the most careful redubs often sound silly and awkward. Moments of sincerity can often sound funny, so exercise discretion. On the other hand, the English version has Werner Herzog as a German spy, so you can't really go wrong either way. It's a bold, unapologetic film that is not always completely successful, but there is a confident vision at play, and that is always welcome. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RzSpDgiF5y8
Some films are just fun. They don’t have to be particularly good, and can even be so enjoyably bad as to become 'guilty pleasures'. Consider 2012’s Battleship. It’s an unbelievably stupid movie, so devoid of plot that the two-page instruction manual for the board game contains better exposition, but if it’s on, you can bet I’ll end up watching it. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is almost one of these films. It’s fun, definitely, but not quite enough to feel like it will satisfy the ‘re-watchability test'. Like Mission Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is based on a '60s television spy series, and in fact owes several of its key characters to Ian Fleming (who only withdrew from production once EON became worried it might impact upon his Bond films). The concept revolved around two agents, one an American named Napoleon Solo (played here by Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill) and the other a Russian named Illya Kuryakin (The Social Network’s Armie Hammer), who together took on the amusingly named T.H.R.U.S.H. Organisation. The forced partnership of antipodes has often proved a fertile device in storytelling, from Lethal Weapon's pairing of a black cop with a white one in 1980s LA during a period of tense race relations to that of a male spy with a female one in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. The original Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted less than two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, making the undercurrent of Cold War cooperation both radical and remarkably progressive, as well as contributing significantly to its combined critical and popular success. Today, it carries a lot less weight, meaning The Man From U.N.C.L.E. feels particularly low in chemistry and tension, especially since the East/West clash is scarcely addressed. After some early (and excellent) bickering between Solo and Kuryakin, the unwilling companions never again wrangle over anything more substantial than the use of pet names for each other — ‘Cowboy' and 'Red Peril' — robbing the film of perhaps its only source of weighty antagonism. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is, of course, just the latest in a series of, well, series that have been adapted for the big screen, only in this case there are two key distinctions. For one, it remains in the era of its progenitor, meaning the film is every bit swinging '60s, with its swanky costumes and groovy soundtrack matched by direction from Guy Ritchie that makes frequent use of split screens and transition wipes. Secondly, it’s not a parody. There are no in-jokes or tips of the hat to the original series, as per other recent offerings such as The A-Team, 21 Jump Street or Charlie’s Angels. That The Man From U.N.C.L.E. plays it straight makes for a refreshing change, but — just as was the case with 1998’s The Avengers and 2013’s The Lone Ranger — its attempt to recapture the charm of the original series unfortunately falls short of the mark, and its US-PG status renders it a particularly tame outing for someone like Ritchie at the helm. It feels more like Ritchie doing Soderbergh doing Mad Men, and while that may make it more child-friendly, it dulls the film for anyone who might actually remember the TV show. The cast, too, while aesthetically perfect, somehow fails to quite hit the mark. Cavill looks and sounds impossibly smooth (think Patrick Bateman minus the psychosis), while Hammer sports a cartoonish Russian accent and plays it with all the charisma of a turnip. Alongside them, Alicia Vikander somehow feels absent despite loads of screen time, Australian Elizabeth Debicki has fun as the unflappable villain, and Hugh Grant puts in the film’s best performance, making his cameo a tempting substitute for the lead should the film ever actually progress to the sequel it unashamedly sets up at its close.
More than most games, Dungeons & Dragons thrives or dies based on the people rolling the dice, creating their own characters and casting spells. Whether Stranger Things' demogorgon-slaying teens are hunched over a table imagining up their fantasy dreams, or flesh-and-blood folks who aren't just part of a TV series find themselves pretending that they're fighters and clerics, an adventure or campaign is only as good as the party at its core. Writer/directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley understand this. The latter definitely should: the one-season TV great Freaks and Geeks, which gave him his start as an actor when he was just a kid, threw D&D some love, too. As filmmakers, Goldstein and Daley jump from Game Night to Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves with a clear mission: making the swords-and-sorcery flick's cast its biggest strength. This game-to-screen flick sports a stacked roster, starting with Chris Pine (Don't Worry Darling) as Edgin Darvis, a bard and former member of the Harpers who turned petty thief — complete with a Robin Hood-esque attitude — after his wife passed away. Since his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman, Avatar: The Way of Water) was a baby, he's been co-parenting with his gruff best friend Holga Kilgore, a stoic exiled barbarian, who is played with exactly the stern look that Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious 9) was always going to bring to the part. When Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves opens, however, Edgin and Holga have been in prison for almost two years thanks to a job gone wrong. Brought out of their dank dungeon to plead for their release, Edgin and Holga are determined to get free by any means necessary. And, once they're out, they're equally as committed to reuniting their makeshift family. Yes, a dungeon is indeed sighted within seconds of the film starting. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves doesn't skimp on dragons when it's their turn to arrive, either. But there's more cast members to bring into the fray — and, handily, Edgin and Holga had a whole gang back in their escapade-heavy days. Rogue and con artist Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) was one such party member. Simon Aumar (Justice Smith, Sharper), a sorcerer with hefty confidence issues, was another. These days, Forge has turned nefarious, seized guardianship of Kira, become Lord of Neverwinter, and gotten far too friendly with the fierce, fearsome and necromancy-loving Red Wizard of Thay Sofina (Daisy Head, Wrong Turn). Simon is still trying his magical luck, which is quickly needed, alongside help from tiefling druid Doric (Sophie Lillis, IT and IT: Chapter Two) and paladin Xenk Yendar (Regé-Jean Page, The Gray Man). As Dungeon Masters — co-scripting with Michael Gilio (Jolene), and working with a story by him and The Lego Batman Movie's Chris McKay — Goldstein and Daley thrust their various figures together, then shape a story around them. So, it's all classic D&D, just on-screen with copious amounts of special effects (some overdone in the usual CGI-dripping fantasy blockbuster fashion, some pleasingly looking more tangible, such as reanimated corpses voiced by Aunty Donna Down Under) rather than sitting around a board. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves' tale couldn't be more straightforward, or fittingly episodic — with actions to complete, skills called upon and combat unleashed. There's no 20-sided die, but there is said bard and barbarian, and the sorcerer, druid and paladin with them, battling a rogue and wizard. And, straight out of the Monster Manual, owlbears, displacer beasts, red dragons and gelatinous cubes all make an appearance. Whether they first had everyone moving miniatures or mashing buttons, games are having a heap of big- and small-screen moments in 2023. The Last of Us is one of the year's very best new TV shows, a film about getting Tetris out of Russia and to the masses makes for a tense and entertaining streaming thriller, and The Super Mario Bros Movie gives the Nintendo favourite the animated treatment. A question lingers over all of them, though, and for fans and newcomers alike: would it be more engaging, and more fun, just to play? Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves answers by giving the act of watching the feel of playing regardless of whether you're a level zero or level 20 with its mythology — in its light, jovial and energetic tone, with the film taking itself earnestly but never grimly seriously; and in no small part thanks to its array of faces. Stranger Things has been helping broaden D&D's influence for nearing a decade now, but everything from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Futurama and Community to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The IT Crowd and Gravity Falls have nodded its way, too — and Goldstein and Daley also understand this. Their take on the game is welcomely accessible, while appropriately loving and still packed with nudges and references. That said, it's also padded and repetitive the more that it goes goes on. And Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves does go on, clocking in at 134 minutes. Some lengthy films make the time fly by — see: John Wick: Chapter 4, which could've lasted forever — but this one doesn't quite realise when a good time becomes an overly formulaic one. The fights and confrontations, the quips and character beats, the beasts and underground cells: after a while, a fantasy-101 feeling sinks in, especially in these days of ample worshipping thrown Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, The Witcher and company's ways. Mostly, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is enough of a romp — a romp with clear franchise-starting ambitions, even though there's already been three D&D movies dating back to 2000, but a romp nonetheless. Take out Pine and his on-screen pals, though, and it would've been all over the map. His charm is breezy, and his rapport with Rodriguez gives the film a likeable chalk-and-cheese duo. Page is as smooth as ever — yes, Bridgerton-level smooth — and Grant is visibly having a blast of a time getting villainous Paddington 2-style. Head, daughter of Buffy and Ted Lasso's Anthony Stewart Head, frequently shows up the pixel wizardry with just her glare and makeup. Yes, Dungeons & Dragons is all about the folks playing both on- and off-screen, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves' bunch makes viewers want to play along with them.
