A 90s-era Blockbuster Video might play a prominent role in the next big superhero movie headed to cinemas, Captain Marvel, but in Australia, the chain and its bricks-and-mortar outlets will soon be a mere nostalgic memory. The country is currently home to one last Blockbuster outlet in Western Australia, and one of only two remaining on the planet; however the store's owners have just announced that they're shutting up shop. As reported by Community News, Blockbuster Morley in Perth will close its doors at the end of March, with locals able to head in and say farewell for the rest of the month. Speaking with AAP, owner Lyn Borszeky said that the rise of streaming services had impacted the business. "We knew change was coming but were a bit surprised how quickly it affected our customer base once Netflix hit the Australian market." [caption id="attachment_710127" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Blockbuster Morley[/caption] When the Morley shop says goodbye, just one Blockbuster will remain worldwide. Located in Oregon in the US, Blockbuster Bend earned the title of America's last outlet back in July 2018, when a fellow store in Alaska closed up. It's a far cry from the brand's glory days, aka the late 90s and early 00s, when it had more than 9000 stores worldwide. In Australia, the first Blockbuster store opened in Melbourne in 1991. For Perth folks who haven't completely replaced their physical media collection with a never-ending streaming queue, the Morley shop will also be throwing a closing down sale — the bittersweet part of any video store's last moments. For everyone else, hold on to those memories of spending way too long walking up and down video store aisles, picking movies based on their cover artwork, and taking home towers of plastic cases during school holidays and sleepovers. Scrolling through Netflix isn't quite the same, and doesn't throw up anywhere near as many old gems that you wouldn't have come across otherwise. Via Community News.
A bustling little corner of lunchtime and late-night activity in Bondi, Mamasan is Moulin Rouge-meets-1920s Shanghai. Pull up a plush seat in your very own Bondi opium den and start ogling the menu, a tempting fusion of Taiwanese street food and Japanese deliciousness — the chef grew up in Taiwan before living in Japan. Alternatively, you can perch at the bar and let the bartenders talk you through the excellent sake, whisky and Japanese plum wine lists. Try them straight or in a signature cocktail. Like the Jap Dak, a twist on the daiquiri, with Okinawa Rum Rebellion Shochu, cloudy Aragoshi Umushu plum wine and fresh lime juice; or the Japanese Penicillin, with 12-year-old Yamasaki whisky, ginger, lemongrass and honey. Drop by on Sundays for the Mamasan markets, where Asia-inspired artists and designers put their wares on display. And keep an ear out for live jazz gigs, which happen every now and again.
Fashion fanatics, listen up: an internationally acclaimed Gucci exhibition has arrived in Australia for the first time, coming to the Powerhouse Museum Ultimo for a two-month run. Gucci Garden Archetypes has unveiled a series of maximalist campaigns created by the recently stepped-down Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele, all of which can be discovered at the Powerhouse until Sunday, January 15. First opened in Florence last year, the exhibition celebrates Gucci's 100-year anniversary and has previously enthralled visitors during pop-ups in Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. "I thought it was interesting to accompany people in these almost eight years of adventure, inviting them to cross the imaginary, the narrative, the unexpected, the glitter. So I created a playground of emotions that are the same as in the campaigns, because they are the most explicit journey into my imagery," says Michele. The immersive multi-sensory exhibition includes a network of themed spaces, such as a scented flower room; a graffitied corridor reminiscent of the Pre-Fall 20218 Gucci campaign; a floor-to-ceiling display of cuckoo clocks, ceramics and Marmont handbags; a mirrored labyrinth; and a recreation of an LA subway carriage like that used in Michele's first campaign, Fall Winter 2015. "Alessandro Michele never fails to push us forward into diverse, contemporary visual worlds that we have yet to imagine. Powerhouse is thrilled to partner with Gucci to present the exclusive Australian premiere of Gucci Garden Archetypes," says Powerhouse Museum Chief Executive Lisa Havilah. Tickets are free but should be booked through the Powerhouse website. Images: Tyrone Branigan
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from January's haul. Brand New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Boy Swallows Universe A magical-realist coming-of-age tale, a clear-eyed family drama, a twisty crime and detective thriller, a time capsule of Brisbane in the 80s: since first hitting the page in 2018, Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe has worn its happy flitting between different genres and tones, and constant seesawing from hope to heartbreak and back again, as confidently as readers have long envisaged Eli Bell's wide grin. That hopping and jumping, that refusal to be just one type of story and stick to a single mood, has always made sense on the page — and in the excellent seven-part adaptation that now brings Australia's fastest-selling debut novel ever to the screen, it also couldn't feel more perfect. As played by the charmingly talented Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom), Eli's smile is indeed big. As scripted by screenwriter John Collee (Hotel Mumbai), and with Dalton among the executive producers, the miniseries embraces its multitudes wholeheartedly. Like style, like substance: a semi-autobiographical novel penned by a writer and journalist who lived variations of plenty that he depicts, learned and accepted early that everyone has flaws, and patently has the imagination of someone who coped with life's hardships as a child by escaping into dreams of an existence more fanciful, Dalton's tome and every iteration that it inspires has to be many things in one bustling package. Its characters are, after all. Seeing people in general, parts of a city usually overlooked, and folks with complicated histories or who've made questionable choices — those forced in particular directions out of financial necessity, too — in more than just one fashion flutters at the centre of Boy Swallows Universe. In the Australian Book Industry Awards' 2019 Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year and Audio Book of the Year, and now on streaming, Eli's nearest and dearest demand it. So does the enterprising Darra-dwelling 12-year-old boy who knows how to spy the best in those he loves, but remains well-aware of their struggles. His older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley, The Heights) hasn't spoken since they were younger, instead drawing messages in the sky with his finger, but is as fiercely protective as elder siblings get. Doting and dedicated mum Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin, Babylon) is a recovering heroin addict with a drug dealer for a partner. And Lyle Orlik (Travis Fimmel, Black Snow), that mullet-wearing stepfather, cares deeply about Eli and Gus — including when Eli convinces him to let him join his deliveries. Boy Swallows Universe streams via Netflix. Read our full review, and our interview with Bryan Brown. Society of the Snow It was meant to be a fun trip to Chile with friends and family for a game. When the Old Christians Club rugby union team boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in Montevideo on October 13, 1972, destination Santiago, no one among them knew what would happen next. The plane didn't make it to its destination, as 1976 Mexican film Survive!, 1993 American movie Alive and now Spanish-US co-production Society of the Snow each cover. All three features boast apt titles, but only the latest sums up the grim reality and existential dilemma of crashing in the Andes, being stranded for 72 days in snowy climes with little resources against the weather — or for sustenance — and attempting to endure. Taken from the memoir by Pablo Vierci, aka La sociedad de la nieve in Spanish, only this phrase adorning JA Bayona's (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) picture encapsulates the tremendous effort that it took to find a way to persist, as well as the fact that trying to remain alive long enough to be rescued meant adapting everything about how the survivors approached each second, minute, hour, day, week and month — and also links in with how a catastrophe like this banded them together, doing whatever it took to find a way off the mountains, while reshaping how they contemplated what it meant to be human. Society of the Snow isn't just a disaster film detailing the specifics of the flight's failed trip, the immediate deaths and those that came afterwards, the lengthy wait to be found — including after authorities called the search off — and the crushing decisions made to get through. Bayona, who also helmed the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami-focused The Impossible, has made a weighty feature that reckons with the emotional, psychological and spiritual toll, and doesn't think of shying away from the most difficult aspects of this real-life situation (including cannibalism). This is both gruelling and meaningful viewing, as crafted with technical mastery (especially by Don't Breathe 2 cinematographer Pedro Luque, plus Cinco lobitos' Andrés Gil and Cites' Jaume Martí as editors), built upon brutal candour, and paying tribute to resilience and then some. Its feats extend to its hauntingly acted performances from a cast that includes Enzo Vogrincic (El Presidente), Agustín Pardella (Secrets of Summer) and Matías Recalt (Planners), all contributing to an account of camaraderie and sacrifice that deserves its Best International Feature Film Oscar nomination. Society of the Snow streams via Netflix. The Tourist Same cast, new location, similar-enough scenario: that's the approach in The Tourist's second season, which brings back what was meant to be a once-off series from 2022. In its debut run, Jamie Dornan's (A Haunting in Venice) Elliot Stanley awoke in the Aussie outback with zero memory and his life in danger. When the first six episodes ended, he'd uncovered who he was, complete with a distressing criminal past, but was en route to starting anew with Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald, French Exit), the constable who helped him get to the bottom of his mystery. After the show worked so swimmingly to begin with, swiftly earning its renewal, screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams (Baptiste, The Missing, Liar) switch part of their initial setup for its next spin. The story moves to Elliot's homeland, while Helen is the tourist (as is her grating ex Ethan, as played by Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe's Greg Larsen). Remaining in the compellingly entertaining thriller-meets-dramedy's return is the lack of recollection about Elliot's history, even as he actively goes looking for it. The Tourist first rejoins its main couple on a train in southeast Asia. While not married, they're firmly in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. But the now ex-cop has a revelation: Elliot has received a letter from one of his childhood pals who wants to meet. Quickly, off to the Emerald Isle they go. Trying to shave off his bushy holiday beard in a public toilet leads to Elliot being kidnapped, plus Helen playing investigator again. As he attempts to flee his captors (Outlander's Diarmaid Murtagh, Inspektor Jury: Der Tod des Harlekins' Nessa Matthews and The Miracle Club's Mark McKenn), she seeks help from local Detective Sergeant Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), but any dreams that The Tourist's globe-hopping couple had about happy reunions or relaxing Irish getaways are sent packing fast. Disturbing discoveries; feuding families led by the equally formidable Frank McDonnell (Francis Magee, Then You Run) and Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré, The Northman); again bringing Fargo and TV adaptation to mind: they're all influential factors in The Tourist's easy-to-binge (again) second season. The Tourist season streams via Stan. Read our full review. Echo With its ninth live-action streaming series on Disney+, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has broken out a new label:" Marvel Spotlight". It's now being applied to anything that's apparently less about ongoing MCU continuity and sports a greater emphasis on character. The idea is that watching shouldn't feel like homework, with no prior viewing required. Echo has also dropped its entire five-episode span at once, another MCU first. The focus on badging this Hawkeye spinoff about Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox, who made her acting debut in the earlier series) as something different because it isn't just connecting Marvel dots and setting up more to come is a curious choice, though. It's also the wrong point to stress. Echo isn't worth watching thanks to a lack of constant MCU winking, nudging and future nods. In fact, given that Avenger Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner, Mayor of Kingstown), Matt Murdoch/Daredevil (Charlie Cox, Kin) and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio, Dumb Money) appear, that "no knowledge necessary" claim isn't accurate. What makes Echo a must-see, rather, is its protagonist, the authenticity with which it explores her story as an Indigenous woman who is deaf and has had a limb amputated, its cast and the potency that gathers across its run. By deviating from its standard release pattern — where it usually launches with a few episodes at once, then doles the rest out weekly — and unveiling the full series in one go, Disney isn't dumping Echo. If anything in the MCU's streaming catalogue demands a one-sitting binge, it's this. As created by Marion Dayre (Better Call Saul), and directed Sydney Freeland (Reservation Dogs) plus Catriona McKenzie (the Australian filmmaker behind 2012's Satellite Boy), Echo's power resounds with more strength the longer that it continues. The show takes time to step into Maya's backstory, explore her Choctaw community in Oklahoma, see how Kingpin's criminal enterprise reverberates through her family and thread its elements together. The three prologues that kick off the first three episodes, each telling of one of Maya's foremothers, start painting the full picture: this is an MCU TV entry made with careful attention to and affection for the cultural heritage that it depicts, and ensures that that's a genuine and crucial part of the narrative, even if Marvel also still being Marvel comes with the territory. Echo streams via Disney+. Read our full review. The Kitchen He has an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Judas and the Black Messiah. He was nominated for all of the above accolades for Get Out, and should've won them all then, too. His resume spans Skins, one of Black Mirror's most-memorable episodes, plus Sicario, Widows, Black Panther, Queen & Slim and Nope as well. But The Kitchen marks a first for Daniel Kaluuya: his first movie as a director. Hopefully more will follow. Co-helming with Kibwe Tavares — who also notches up his feature debut behind the lens after shorts including Jonah and Robot & Scarecrow, which both starred Kaluuya — and co-penning the screenplay with Calm with Horses' Joe Murtagh, the actor makes a stunning arrival as a filmmaker. The Kitchen's setup: in the year 2044 in London, with class clashes so pronounced that not being rich is basically treated as a crime, a man (Top Boy's Kane Robinson, aka rapper Kano) living in the titular housing development crosses paths with a 12-year-old boy (newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman) who has just lost his mother, with the pair discovering that they have no one but each other as they endeavour to find a way to survive. Robinson's Izy has bought into the social-climbing dream when The Kitchen begins. He'll do so literally if he can come up with the cash for an apartment in a swankier tower away from everything he's ever known within 21 days, a dream that he's been working towards at his job selling funerals. It's at the latter that he meets Bannerman's Benji, who has nowhere to live after his mother's death and no one else to turn to for help. The film's scenario is pure dystopia, reflecting the inequities, oppressions and realities of today as all great sci-fi should. Its intimate emotional core hones in on people attempting to persist and connect, as the genre's best always does as well. Accordingly, this is an impassioned and infuriated portrait of society's gaps as everyone watching can recognise, a nightmarish vision of what might come and a thoughtful character study. As directors, Kaluuya and Tavares excel at world-building, at bringing such rich detail and texture to the screen that viewers feel like they could step straight into its social realist-leaning frames, and at guiding affecting performances out of both Robinson and Bannerman (who adds to the feature's impressive first efforts). The Kitchen streams via Netflix. Prosper Prosper is the Australian TV series that was always bound to happen. Now that it exists, it's also easy to predict remakes of this involving drama popping up elsewhere in the world. Hillsong very likely inspired the eight-part show, which turns the angling within a Sydney-based megachurch's hierarchy into a Succession riff within religious confines, but the underlying story of power, corruption, and the complicated bonds of family and faith is universal. Richard Roxburgh knows what it's like to lead an Aussie effort that gets a US spin, thanks to Rake — and here he turns in another mesmerising performance. This time, the star of Elvis, The Crown, Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe, Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Go!, Fires and Bali 2002 in just the past four years alone plays Cal Quinn, a charismatic pastor whose belief in himself is just as strong as his devotion to the almighty. The fact that scandals keep raining down upon U Star, the name for the mix of worship and song he's trying to spread around the world with his wife Abi (Rebecca Gibney, Back to the Rafters) and their offspring, doesn't dent his certainty. The Quinns have big dreams to conquer the US, and also just-as-hefty chaos at home to deal with. Eldest son Dion (Ewen Leslie, The Clearing) wants to be more than just his dad's right-hand man, but has a fraying relationship with his wife Taz (Ming-Zhu Hii, La Brea) that's troubling him. Daughter Issy (Hayley McCarthy, Sylvie's Love) and her husband Benji (Jordi Webber, In Limbo) have their eyes on the American expansion, too. Cal and Abi are desperate to do anything that's necessary to bring Jed (Jacob Collins-Levy, The Witcher: Blood Origin), who left the church to work with the unhoused in the community, back to the fold. Throw in youngest child Moses (Alexander D'souza, Angry Indian Goddesses), a high schooler eager to understand who he truly is — and also family lawyer Eli Slowik (Jacek Koman, Faraway Downs), who knows everyone's secrets — and there's ample fuel for a rollercoaster-ride of a thriller. But as Prosper unpacks the Quinns' lives and lies, it also works in eager parishioner Rosa (Brigid Zengeni, The Artful Dodger) and her skeptical daughter Juno (Andrea Solonge, Class of 07), plus star US singer Maddox (Alex Fitzalan, Chevalier), who claims that he wants to be saved. Prosper strams via Stan. Good Grief Grief is a frequent filmic theme, but also a difficult one. Movie-of-the-week weepies have built their own set of cliches. The worst of the worst use someone's illness to try to claim that dying isn't worse than being by a person's ailing side. Dramedy Good Grief knows that the subject that's right there in its name is tricky, however — and that there's no one-size-fits-all experience of mourning. It also manages a complex task, focusing on a man who becomes a widower when his husband is killed suddenly, following his plight as he realises that not everything about their relationship was as idyllic as he thought, but never using someone losing their life solely as fodder to make its protagonist more interesting or tragic (or both). The directorial debut of Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy, who also pens his first feature screenplay, this sincere grappling with mortality and love cares about its characters deeply. It sees their intricacies and their flaws. This is also a film about the messy space that awaits when everything you thought your future holds crumbles, and then all that you're holding onto feels like it's floating away. Levy also stars as Marc, adding to a busy past year that's also seen him in The Idol, Haunted Mansion and Sex Education. When his character throws a Christmas party with his husband Oliver (Luke Evans, Nine Perfect Strangers), the only thing that doesn't seem rosy is the fact that the latter has a business trip to Paris that's taking him away mid-shindig. But the evening turns heartbreaking, leaving Marc lamenting the perfection he's lost — until he learns that there's more to Oliver's jaunts to France. Accompanied by his best friends Sophie (With Negga, Passing) and Thomas (Himesh Patel, Black Mirror), a visit to the City of Love himself awaits, where the stark discoveries keep coming in tandem with earnest soul-searching. Levy helms and pens this like he's lived it, especially in the honest dialogue. He unfurls the story with humour, too, and soulfulness. And he also never lets the inescapable truth that grief never disappears — and that its evolution never ends, either — fade from view. Good Grief streams via Netflix. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week True Detective Even when True Detective had only reached its second season, the HBO series had chiselled its template into stone: obsessive chalk-and-cheese cops with messy personal lives investigating horrifying killings, on cases with ties to power's corruption, in places where location mattered and with the otherworldly drifting in. A decade after the anthology mystery show's debut in 2014, True Detective returns as Night Country, a six-part miniseries that builds its own snowman out of all of the franchise's familiar parts. The main similarity from there: like the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led initial season, True Detective: Night Country is phenomenal. This is a return to form and a revitalisation. Making it happen after two passable intervening cases is a new guiding hand off-screen. Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López directs and writes or co-writes every episode, boasting Moonlight's Barry Jenkins as an executive producer. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto remains in the latter role, too, as do McConaughey, Harrelson and season-one director Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die); however, from its female focus and weighty tussling with the dead to its switch to a cool, blue colour scheme befitting its Alaskan setting, there's no doubting that López is reinventing her season rather than ticking boxes. In handing over the reins, Pizzolatto's police procedural never-standard police procedural is a powerhouse again, and lives up to the potential of its concept. The commitment and cost of delving into humanity's depths and advocating for those lost in its abyss has swapped key cops, victims and locations with each spin, including enlisting the masterful double act of Jodie Foster (Nyad) and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) to do the sleuthing, but seeing each go-around with fresh eyes feels like the missing puzzle piece. López spies the toll on the show's first women duo, as well as the splinters in a remote community when its fragile sense of certainty is forever shattered. She spots the fractures that pre-date the investigation in the new season, a cold case tied to it, plus the gashes that've carved hurt and pain into the earth ever since people stepped foot on it. She observes the pursuit of profit above all else, and the lack of concern for whatever — whoever, the region's Indigenous inhabitants included — get in the way. She sees that the eternal winter night of 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle come mid-December isn't the only thing impairing everyone's sight. And, she knows that not everything has answers, with life sometimes plunging into heartbreak, or inhospitable climes, or one's own private hell, without rhyme or reason. True Detective streams via Binge. Read our full review. Criminal Record It was accurate with side-splitting hilarity in The Thick of It, as dripping with heartbreak in Benediction and in the world of Doctor Who in-between: Peter Capaldi is one of Scotland's most fascinating actors today. Criminal Record uses his can't-look-away presence to excellent effect, casting him as DCI Daniel Hegarty, one of the eight-part series' two key detectives. By day, the no-nonsense Hegarty is a force to be reckoned with on the force. By night, he moonlights as a driver, seeing much that lingers in London as he's behind the wheel. In his not-so-distant past is a case that brings DS June Lenker (Cush Jumbo, The Good Fight) into his orbit — a case that she's certain is linked to a distressed emergency call by a woman trying to flee domestic abuse, and who says that her partner has already committed murder, gotten away with it and sent another man to prison for the crime in the process. Hegarty contends otherwise, and gruffly, but Lenker is determined to discover the truth, find her potential victim, ascertain whether someone innocent is in jail and learn why every move she makes to dig deeper comes with professional retaliation. This is no odd-couple cop show. It's largely a two-hander, however — and saying that it couldn't be better cast is an understatement. Capaldi is already someone who makes every moment that he's on-screen better. So is Jumbo, which makes watching them face off as riveting as television gets. Passive aggression oozes from the frame when Hegarty and Lenker first confront each other. Tension drips throughout the series relentlessly, but do so with particular vigour whenever its key cops are in close proximity. Criminal Record doesn't waste time keeping audiences guessing about who's dutifully taking their role as part of the thin blue line and who's part of policing at its most corrupt; instead, it lets those two sides that are both meant to be on the upstanding end of the law-and-order divide clash, surveying the damage that ripples not just through the fuzz but also the community. While twists and mysteries are also layered in, they regularly come second to Criminal Record's extraordinary performances, plus its thematic willingness to tear into what policing should be, can be and often is. Criminal Record streams via Apple TV+. Expats Adapting Janice YK Lee's 2016 novel The Expatriates, Lulu Wang's first major stint behind the lens since The Farewell has been dubbed Expats as a miniseries. The six-parter marks a shift in location to Hong Kong and a splinter in focus to three protagonists for its guiding force — with Wang creating the show, executive producing, helming all six episodes and writing two — but she's still plunging deep into bonds of blood, deceptions amid close relationships, grappling with grief and tragedy, and being caught between how one is meant to carry on and inescapable inner emotions. It too sees not only people but also its chosen place. It's a haunting series and, albeit not literally in the horror sense, a series about women haunted. And it's spectacularly cast, with Nicole Kidman (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), Sarayu Blue (A Million Miles Away) and Ji-young Yoo (The Sky Is Everywhere) each stellar as its three main characters, all who've relocated for love, work or new beginnings, then make each other's acquaintance. The year is 2014, and Margaret Woo, her husband Clarke (Brian Tee, Chicago Med) and their family aren't new Hong Kong arrivals — but their past 12 months have been under a shadow ever since their youngest son Gus (debutant Connor James) went missing. No one is coping, including elder children Daisy (Tiana Gowen, True Love Blooms) and Philip (Bodhi del Rosario, 9-1-1). But while Margaret refuses to give up hope of finding her three-year-old boy, there are still lives to lead and, to help start Expats, a 50th birthday party for Clarke to host. In the lift at The Peak, the towering symbol of wealth inhabited by plenty who give the show its title, she's also insistent that her friend, downstairs neighbour and fellow American Hilary Starr (Blue) attend the shindig. The frostiness that fills the elevator also stems from Gus' disappearance, and accusations made against Hilary's recovering-alcoholic husband David (Jack Huston, Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches). When the soiree takes place, Mercy (Yoo) is there working one of her gig-economy jobs. Indeed, the lives of the privileged aren't solely this show's domain — because while this is a tale of three Americans adrift with their sorrows, where and the reality that surrounds them is equally as important as how and why. Expats streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Death and Other Details There's no doubting that Death and Other Details loves whodunnits, or that it's made with a murderers' row of them in mind. Playing "spot the nod" is one of this ten-part series' games. Sleuthing along with its plot is the other, obviously. So, as an odd couple with an age discrepancy team up to attempt to solve "a classic locked-room mystery" — the show even calls it such — among the preposterously wealthy on holiday, and on a boat at that, where everyone has a motive and a battle over who'll seize control of a family business is also taking place, gleaning what creators and writers Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss (who also worked together on Stumptown) have been reading and watching isn't a puzzle. Nudges and references are regularly part of the murder-mystery genre anyway; here, recalling Agatha Christie's oeuvre and especially Death on the Nile, as well as Only Murders in the Building, Knives Out, Poker Face, The White Lotus and Succession, is part of sailing into a tale that's also about what we remember and why. Indeed, when other films and shows earn a wink here, Death and Other Details also digs into the purpose behind the minutiae that sticks in our memories. It's a savvy yet risky gambit, getting viewers ruminating on how they spy patterns and filter their perspectives, too, while chancing coming off as derivative. Mostly the series bobs in the first direction; however, even when it sways in the second, it still intrigues its audience to keep watching. Its seemingly mismatched pair: Imogene Scott (Violett Beane, God Friended Me) and the Hercule Poirot-esque Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin, Homeland), with the second regularly dubbed "the world's greatest detective". Most folks might believe that label, but Imogene does not. The duo shares a history spanning two decades, from when she was a child (Sophia Reid-Gantzert, Popular Theory) mourning the shock killing of her mother that he couldn't solve. Back then, Rufus was on the case at the behest of the wealthy Colliers, who work in textiles, employed Imogene's mum as a personal assistant to patriarch Lawrence (David Marshall Grant, Spoiler Alert) and took the girl in when she had no one else. Now, both Rufus and Imogene are guests on a cruise chartered by them — she's there as basically a member of the family; he's accompanying the Chuns, with whom the Colliers are in the middle of a billion-dollar business deal — when bodies start piling up. Death and Other Details streams via Disney+. Read our full review. One of the Best Films of 2023 That You Absolutely Need to Watch — or Rewatch Killers of the Flower Moon Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon quickly. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon often. While Martin Scorsese will later briefly fill the film's frames with a fiery orange vision — with what almost appears to be a lake of flames deep in oil country, as dotted with silhouettes of men — death blazes through his 26th feature from the moment that the picture starts rolling. Adapted from journalist David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with the filmmaker himself and Dune's Eric Roth penning the screenplay, this is a masterpiece of a movie about a heartbreakingly horrible spate of deaths sparked by pure and unapologetic greed and persecution a century back. Scorsese's two favourite actors in Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Robert De Niro (Amsterdam) are its stars, alongside hopefully his next go-to in Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs), but murder and genocide are as much at this bold and brilliant, epic yet intimate, ambitious and absorbing film's centre — all in a tale that's devastatingly true. As Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation in Grey Horse, Oklahoma, incomparable Certain Women standout Gladstone talks through some of the movie's homicides early. Before her character meets DiCaprio's World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart — nephew to De Niro's cattle rancher and self-proclaimed 'king of the Osage' William King Hale — she notes that several Indigenous Americans that have been killed, with Mollie mentioning a mere few to meet untimely ends. There's nothing easy about this list, nor is there meant to be. Some are found dead, others seen laid out for their eternal rest, and each one delivers a difficult image. But a gun fired at a young mother pushing a pram inspires a shock befitting a horror film. The genre fits here, in its way, as do many others as Killers of the Flower Moon follows Burkhart's arrival in town, his deeds under his uncle's guidance, his romance with Mollie and the tragedies that keep springing: American crime saga, aka the realm that Scorsese has virtually made his own, as well as romance, relationship drama, western, true crime and crime procedural. Killers of the Flower Moon streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review, and our interview with Martin Scorsese. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
When an awards body has spent almost a century handing out high-profile gongs in a field that garners plenty of attention, it really should be past the point of smashing records and making history. But the Academy Awards hasn't been particularly inclusive or diverse over its 93-year run to-date — which is why 2021's big winner is still breaking boundaries. When Chloé Zhao was nominated for this year's Best Director Oscar for Nomadland, she already achieved an immense feat. Only five female filmmakers had ever even made it to the awards ceremony in the coveted field before 2021, and she joined Promising Young Woman's Emerald Fennell among this year's candidates. This marked the first time ever that two women had received recognition in the same year in the category, too, because when it comes to realising that yes, women are filmmakers, the Academy's track record has been nothing short of abysmal. Now, with the awards handed out and winners anointed, Zhao has become the first woman of colour to ever emerge victorious in the field. She's only the second woman to ever win as well. Zhao ended up with two awards, because Nomadland won Best Picture and she was one of the film's producers. But the importance of her win for Best Director really can't be understated. Zhao joins The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow, who nabbed the prize in 2009, as the only two women who've ever scooped the field. And, with their nominations, both Zhao and Fennell joined Bigelow, Lina Wertmüller (for Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (for The Piano), Sofia Coppola (for Lost in Translation) and Greta Gerwig (for Lady Bird) as the only women to even get the chance to win Best Director on Hollywood's night of nights. [caption id="attachment_796213" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Director Chloé Zhao filming Nomadland. Image: Searchlight Pictures.[/caption] Nomadland is Zhao's third film, after 2015's Songs My Brothers Taught Me and 2017's The Rider — and viewers can already look forward to watching her fourth later this year. Her next movie will see the director head into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Eternals focusing on an immortal alien race, and starring Angelina Jolie (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil), Kumail Nanjiani (Stuber), Salma Hayek (Like a Boss), Barry Keoghan (Calm with Horses), Gemma Chan (Captain Marvel), Brian Tyree Henry (Superintelligence) and Game of Thrones co-stars Richard Madden and Kit Harington. Zhao will be working on a far bigger scale than seen in her filmography so far; however, there's a sense of empathy and a knack for observation to her features that'll hopefully make the much-needed jump to superhero territory. If you're wondering who else emerged victorious at this year's Oscars, the full list of nominees and winners in every category is below. You can also check out our in-depth overview of ten of this year's winners that are worth watching ASAP. OSCAR NOMINEES AND WINNERS 2021 BEST MOTION PICTURE The Father Judas and the Black Messiah Mank Minari Nomadland Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7 BEST DIRECTOR Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg Mank, David Fincher Minari, Lee Isaac Chung Nomadland, Chloé Zhao Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman Frances McDormand, Nomadland Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Anthony Hopkins, The Father Gary Oldman, Mank Steven Yeun, Minari PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy Olivia Colman, The Father Amanda Seyfried, Mank Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7 Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami Paul Raci, Sound of Metal LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Judas and the Black Messiah, Will Berson, Shaka King, Will Berson, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas Minari, Lee Isaac Chung Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell Sound of Metal, Darius Marder, Abraham Marder and Derek Cianfrance The Trial of the Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern The Father, Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller The Mauritanian, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani and MB Traven Nomadland, Chloé Zhao The White Tiger, Ramin Bahrani BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Da 5 Bloods, Terence Blanchard Mank, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Minari, Emile Mosseri News of the World, James Newton Howard Soul, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste BEST ORIGINAL SONG 'Fight For You', Judas and the Black Messiah (HER, Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas) 'Hear my Voice', The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite) 'Husavik', Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson) 'Io Si (Seen)', The Life Ahead (Diane Warren and Laura Pausini) 'Speak Now', One Night in Miami (Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth) BEST FILM EDITING The Father, Yorgos Lamprinos Nomadland, Chloé Zhao Promising Young Woman, Frédéric Thoraval Sound of Metal, Mikkel EG Nielsen The Trial of the Chicago 7, Alan Baumgarten BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM Another Round Better Days Collective The Man Who Sold His Skin Quo Vadis, Aida? BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Onward Over the Moon A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Soul Wolfwalkers BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Collective Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution The Mole Agent My Octopus Teacher Time BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Judas and the Black Messiah, Sean Bobbitt Mank, Erik Messerschmidt News of the World, Dariusz Wolski Nomadland, Joshua James Richards The Trial of the Chicago 7, Phedon Papamichael BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN The Father, Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Mark Ricker, Karen O'Hara and Diana Stoughton Mank, Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale News of the World, David Crank and Elizabeth Keenan Tenet, Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Love and Monsters, Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox The Midnight Sky, Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins Mulan, Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram The One and Only Ivan, Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher Tenet, Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher BEST COSTUME DESIGN Emma, Alexandra Byrne Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Ann Roth Mank, Trish Summerville Mulan, Bina Daigeler Pinocchio, Massimo Cantini Parrini BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Emma, Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze Hillbilly Elegy, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson Mank, Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff Pinocchio, Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti BEST SOUND Greyhound, Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman Mank, Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin News of the World, Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett Soul, Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker Sound of Metal, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT Colette A Concerto is a Conversation Do Not Split Hunger Ward A Love Song for Latasha BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Burrow Genius Loci If Anything Happens I Love You Opera Yes-People BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Feeling Through The Letter Room The Present Two Distant Strangers White Eye Top image: Frances McDormand and Chloé Zhao on the set of Nomadland. Image: Searchlight Pictures. © 2020, 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved
From start to finish, Challengers plunges into a tennis match. Holding the racquets: Art Donaldson (Mike Faist, West Side Story) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor, La Chimera). The pair were childhood roommates and best friends, then doubles partners on the court. Meeting Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, Dune: Part Two), a ruthless tennis prodigy destined for big things, changed everything when they were teens — and now 13 years after first crossing her path, Art and Patrick are facing off at a competition that's basically a warm-up for the former, a multiple grand slam-winner is now married to Tashi and also coached by her, but represents Patrick's best route to a chance at big-time professional success. The bout that bounces back and forth throughout Challengers isn't the movie's only bit of tennis, of course. The latest film by Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria and Bones and All director Luca Guadagnino flits between moments in its main trio's life leading up to the pivotal bout, too, games included. So, as Art and Patrick compete in the movie's showcase showdown, years of complexity are batted back and forth alongside the ball — mentally and emotionally for the pair, and for Tashi as she watches on, seeing her husband and her ex-boyfriend do battle, and wishing that her career hadn't been ended by injury; plus literally for viewers quickly hung up on every serve and return. "I felt like we were just shooting this sequence for so long. And you're like 'dang, did we, what day is it? Wait, how is the character feeling at this point?'. Because you're still wearing the same outfits and it's supposed to be one game, but it's like the next week," explains Zendaya in Sydney, where she visited in late March on a promotional tour for Challengers accompanied by O'Connor and Faist. "I remember we had a storm, some weather issues, which ended up prolonging the process and all these kinds of things, but it was really special and cool. Sometimes I'd feel left out because I was sitting on the side watching them play and I was like 'hey guys'. But it was fun." Both in that match and whenever else Tashi, Art and Patrick are donning white and standing on green, tennis isn't just tennis in Challengers, though. "The tennis is the sex scene," notes O'Connor about a film that brings one word to mind over and over: sexy. This is a movie about three athletes in a complicated love triangle who are yearning to connect as much as they're lusting for tennis glory, as set to a propulsive and slinky electronic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Oscar-winners for Soul). Saying that Guadagnino laces the feature with desire is an understatement — and as anyone who has seen his work, especially both Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All starring Zendaya's Dune and Dune: Part Two co-star Timothée Chalamet, will know, it's also one of his talents. [caption id="attachment_951455" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Caroline McCredie[/caption] The result: one of 2024's must-sees, no matter how you feel about tennis going in. It's also a flick with much to discuss, as Zendaya, O'Connor and Faist did when they made the trip Down Under to screen the film, and also get talking at a press conference. Similarly covered: Zendaya doing double duty as a producer on Challengers, the complexity of Tashi as a character, playing such competitive parts, the picture's love triangle and queer themes, its immersive cinematography by Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria's Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, if KC Undercover helped Zendaya prepare for her performance and making "codependency the movie", as she dubs it — and more. On Zendaya's Working Relationship with Luca Guadagnino as an Actor as Well as a Producer Zendaya: "It was really, really special. Producing is something that I'm definitely not new to, but for me it's always been a way to be creative in a different sense. I was always a shy kid, and so the more I do this, the more I love moving behind the camera. I love being able to learn from people and and grow from different directors, whether I'm a producer or not. I just like being on sets and learning and asking questions —and problem-solving and figuring out how things work. And then also I think it's being able to have — I learned quite early, I think, when I was younger, being able to have a real title allows you to be able to protect yourself in a lot of different spaces. It allows for you to be like 'actually, this is what's happening and I can be part of this conversation'. So it also allows me to protect my work and myself and people around me." On Tashi's Complexity and What Zendaya Was Most Looking Forward to Tackling in the Part Zendaya: "I guess the obvious thing to read — I mean, many things these characters do, but to read Tashi, you'd be like 'she's unlikable'. You judge her immediately. You're like 'she's too much'. It's messy. It's whatever. And so I think my job was trying to find her gooey centre, and trying to find her empathy, and why she makes the decisions and what pain it's coming from. And I think ultimately while she's ruthless, which I love, there is something to her that is — I think it's grief, I think it's grief over a career and a life that she never got to live. And I think her true love, her one true love, was always tennis. And she is trying whatever she can to be close to it, to touch it, to do it. And so she uses people to get that feeling, because she can't do it anymore on her own. And she's never really had a moment to just sit with it, and I think that she's never allowed herself a moment to feel bad for herself. She's just like 'moving on, what's next?'. [caption id="attachment_951462" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Warner Bros[/caption] I think we're watching that become a very real thing for her once her tangibility or her closeness to tennis is threatened by the fact that her husband's ready to be done. And she's like 'what? What do you mean?'. So these people are lifelines for her. It's her holding herself up and keeping herself alive. So yeah, I think it was figuring out her nuance and not just make her just bitchy, because I don't think she is. I think there's a reason behind everything she does, I hope." On the Competitive Nature of the Film's Lead Trio Josh: "I think the competitiveness is also out of an obsession with each other. At the beginning of this film, in terms of the competitiveness, when they're younger that's there but — I don't want speak to their characters, but Art is is on the way of falling out of love with tennis. And I think Patrick is just desperate for connection. I think all three of them are desperate for connection, whether it's Art seeking to restore the the love in his marriage or Tashi to restore this three-way love affair. I think Patrick, likewise, the tennis to him is the the utmost connection. He's always searching for that with Art, and with Tashi, too. And so I think the competitiveness comes secondary to that. But then also there's…" Zendaya: "We're so competitive with each other." Josh: "We are very competitive, but when it comes to tennis, not that competitive because we can't compete. But we were competitive between takes in things like Rock, Paper, Scissors and mini tennis, which I'm actually…" Mike: "Very good." Josh: "…Phenomenal at. That was very competitive." [caption id="attachment_951456" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Caroline McCredie[/caption] On Whether This is a Film About Love, Tennis or the Love of Tennis Mike: "It's kind of this weird thing, because I think we naturally as humans bring whatever thing that we're trying to get out of our work — we fall in love with whatever we do, whether that's storytelling in what you guys do or storytelling in what we do. And we can't help but put a piece of ourselves into that, and we're trying to get something out of that as well at the same time. And so there is this kind of bleeding of lines of that. And so it's probably both, is the truth of the matter." Zendaya: "We say it's 'codependency the movie'. I think that's what it's about. I also think it's about a million things, and I think tennis is the metaphor in which they use, or we use, to express that. What I think is really enjoyable, I think people, I've watched it with family and people who are not tennis people or don't really understand how tennis work, and they still feel like they're like 'ohhhhh' inside the match. And there's something alive in them, they still like they can follow it and it makes sense to them. While hopefully people who do really care about tennis will not be distracted by any of our imperfect forms, and will also be able to enjoy it and feel connected in their own personal way. So I hope it's for everyone." [caption id="attachment_947834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Euphoria, Eddy Chenn, HBO.[/caption] On Which of Their Previous Roles Helped the Cast Prepare for Challengers Zendaya: "KC Undercover. No, I'm kidding. No, listen, the Disney stuff really does — it's a good training ground." Josh: "I did one sports film a long time ago, very early in my career. I had like one scene with dialogue and then one scene cycling. It was called The Program. Stephen Frears [The Lost King] is the director, it was Ben Foster [Finestkind] playing Lance Armstrong. I did no training, and I was cycling up, I think it's called the 21 turns in the Alps. And I got two turns in, and I always remember Stephen Frears was in a golf buggy going past, and all the other actors had been training for months, like Jesse Plemons [Civil War] and all these guys, and they were way ahead of me. And I was like [gasps] dying, and I was supposed to be one of the best ones. So, that doesn't answer your question, because that didn't prepare me at all." Zendaya: "That trauma." Josh: "Exactly, the trauma, I guess it taught me that I do have to prepare if I'm playing a sports person." [caption id="attachment_951463" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Caroline McCredie[/caption] On Getting Into the Win-at-All-Costs Mindset Mike: "The thing is, that what drew me to the character of Art was this idea of falling out of love with your craft. It's kind of this thing, is this idea I think when you're in your twenties, at least for me, I can speak to myself, is that I'm I moved to New York to become an actor. And I'm just grinding. All you're doing is just working, working, working, working. You're hustling, hustling, hustling. And then you finally get to a place of somewhat success and you've kind of achieved what you thought was the thing, and then you're of left with that idea of 'well, now what?'. And it's that thing — you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's almost a curse, almost, that thing when you achieve that monumental moment of success. You start to wonder just for yourself 'well, where else can I actually go from here? What else is there in life? Is this all of who I am? What else does compile a life of a human?'. There's a lot of questions and existentialism that goes within that. And that's honestly what I just connected with, is the truth." [caption id="attachment_951457" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Warner Bros[/caption] On the Way That Guadagnino Portrays Romance and Desire On-Screen, Including Through Tennis Josh: "Luca's always had this eye for, or an instinct to push that desire, and how to tell desire in ways that are less than obvious — and intriguing. I feel like that's just the responsibility of cinema generally, is how do you show something that is going to resonate in a new way, in a way that we haven't seen before? And yet also, Luca displays really classic, inspired-from-classics ways of telling love as well. At the same time, he references other films a lot. And so, he's always pushing it that one step further, I think. It feels exciting. Yesterday we were asked in an interview about the sex scenes. And Z was like 'there aren't any'. It wasn't a stupid question. It was a reasonable question, because it feels so on the edge of that at all times — and actually the tennis is the sex scene. That's their intimacy, and when they're vulnerable." Zendaya: "I do want to chime in real quick and say for someone who had really no idea about tennis and how it worked — because I remember all of us sitting around, and Luca was like, 'wait, so what do the lines, where do they stand like, what is this?'. And we would write out little maps and be like 'okay, so it goes here, and the ball goes here, and what does that mean?'. So for someone who really started, he really, I think, very quickly understood how to capture the the game — really did it in a way that felt very emotional as well. We never are disconnected from any one of these characters throughout their match, and I think it was very exciting how he made us feel like we were sometimes the character. You know, sometimes the camera is the player, sometimes the camera is the ball, and you just feel immersed inside of this this game. You can feel the sweat and you can feel their heartbeat. I think that that was really, really special to watch him map out, really map out shot by shot — it was a long shot list — and figure out how to take an audience on a journey visually, but also emotionally, somehow too." On How the Film Tells Its Tale Visually Thanks to Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom Zendaya: "Sayombhu is amazing. He's such a lovely presence to be around. I think also he's got such a calmness to him, and you can watch him, he'll sit down in his chair and he just looks around, and he's checking the light. Then he'll get up and he'll test something. He'll look, he'll fix it. Then he'll just go sit back down. He's so calm, and and masterful at what he does. Obviously, his previous work, we can see that. I know this is stupid to say, but like I felt like very, I don't know, like I felt like the light kind also played so much into how our characters — it's not stupid to say, I take that back — it played into our characters. He somehow gave us some kind of youthful glow, somehow, and was able to like make us look younger through his lights, and make us feel like we were in a different part of our life with the way that. He illuminated our, I don't know, our skin or colour. I'm not sure the specific technique in which he did so, but I felt like I could see a difference in tonality with the way he chose to to light us when we're younger versus when we're older. And I never actually asked him if he did anything different, or if that was a choice by any means, but I felt it at least watching it. Something feels like when they're younger, the colours feel richer or something, like there's just like the exuberance, and then something he did, he gave us, he contributed, I think, a lot that emotional arc of where the characters go." Josh: "He's also really like such a gift for a cinematographer to allow space, so that when you — it sounds really obvious, but it's actually such a talent, to make you feel like there's not a camera there. He was really good at that creating that environment. So Sayombhu, we saw him a lot in rehearsals, and he was the sweetest, most gentle guy. And then during filming, you just see him run past and be like 'what's he doing? He's doing some magic.'. But really, apart from in the tennis match with the cameras in your face, it generally really felt like we were in our world and left to it, if that makes sense." On Exploring the Film's Love Triangle and Queer Angles Josh: "In some ways, those conversations were never needed to be had, because really it's very apparent from the beginning that love and attraction and lust they have for each other is just unanimous. The point is that the three of them are bound together from the start. The three of us were talking about the first, one of the early scenes when Zendaya comes — oh, Tashi comes — to the hotel room and the three of them are sat there on the floor, which is such a teenage feeling. I think that's captured so well. But it's really funny as well. And I think from that moment on, the three of them are bound. And so that scene where it's a sort of three-way kiss, and then Tashi's enjoying the observation of the two of them, of Art and Patrick, I just think that puts them in this this tornado together — which allows for them to be incredibly nasty to each other, and act badly and act brilliantly, and compete and push each other. And so the undertones of relationships between all three of them go up and down at all times. So it's sort of unspoken, but yeah, I can see that that's that's very much there." Zendaya: "I agree. Also, just Luca is brilliant, and he knows how to carve things out that he wants more of, and nuance. And so much is done in things that I think aren't even on the page. You know, there's the scene that's on the page, and then there's another one that the characters aren't speaking, but they're saying to us and we can all very clearly read what they're saying. I think that's where he's so masterful. I mean, he knows what he's doing. So there's such a trust in in his taste, and what his vision is, also, for the characters. And that was apparent when I had my first meeting with him. He really understood them and their connection and their love and their lust and their everything in a deeper way than was just purely on paper. So yeah, it's definitely there." On Playing Someone Who Exudes Power — and Whether Zendaya Relates Zendaya: "I guess in some ways. I think she enjoys power in a way that I don't think I would ever be comfortable with. I think to me, I have an uncomfortable relationship with that idea. But her, I think it's very clear, I think, from when we first meet her that she's completely unafraid of her power and wielding it over other people, and playing with it and and toying with it, which is what I appreciated about it. It didn't take her injury to turn into this ruthless power whatever. She was like that as a teenager. She was already going into the game like this. She was like 'I'm a winner and I know that, and I know how to control people, through whatever'. It's clear from the beginning, so I appreciated that we weren't trying to reason her personality or trying to apologise for how she is. She just is this way, and we just see her, like I said, we see that strong veneer fall apart. The the decision-making gets a little messier, because I think it's now — when she was younger, it was fun, and now it's for survival. Before she was just toying with them because it was fun. And now it's like, 'no, this is my life now'. So I think the stakes became different. I don't want to relate too much to her now. But I say don't judge them, because I find that upon first viewing, you'll have an opinion — and then you watch it again and I guarantee that opinion will change. And then you watch it again, and it might change again. I feel like every time I watch it, I'm like 'ooh, Tashi girl, what are you doing?'. And then the next thing I'm like 'actually, she didn't do anything wrong and it was Art all along'. And then I'm like 'actually, Patrick, should have never said that'. So every time I'm angry at a different character, or I feel more passionate about a different character. I feel heartbroken for — it constantly changes. So I say don't judge because I feel like your opinions will change every time you watch it. And that's the fun part about the film. You just never really have the answers you want, and that makes you question everything and question yourself. And like 'who do I feel like?' It's just one of those those pieces. That was not to promote or anything — I genuinely mean it, every time I've watched it." Josh: "But also go at least three times. But, seriously, go four times." Challengers opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Read our review. Challengers stills: Niko Tavernise / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This week sees the premiere of the latest effort from renowned indie filmmaker, Spike Jonze, and it's as spectacularly bizarre as you would expect: a stop-motion animated short film that ends with two felt skeletons having sex all over the bookshelves of Paris' Shakespeare & Co. Mourir Auprès De Toi (roughly translated as 'to die by your side') reveals the filthy, filthy things that happen at night when all the world's booksellers are innocently sleeping. After the lights have been turned off, Macbeth, voiced by Jonze, a sprightly skeleton, unstitches himself from the cover of his book with the aim of reaching the bed of the doe-eyed redhead in a nightgown across the shelf, ostensibly Dracula's Mina (voiced by French singer Soko, famous for threats of murder). On the way he's waylaid by the malevolent whale from Moby Dick, forcing Mina to tear a slit in her nightgown and set out to rescue him. The film concludes with the aforementioned skeleton sex, a little post-coital cigarette smoking and a baby. It's amazing. Mourir Auprès De Toi is the product of the collaboration between Jonze and Olympia Le-Tan, a French accessories designer with a penchant for creating literary bags. Le-Tan channelled her talents into hand-crafting the 3000-odd felt parts that make up the books lining the shelves of Shakespeare & Co., Paris' infamous English-language bookshop and haunt of luminaries such as Ernest Hemingway and William S. Burroughs. While the film premiered in May of this year at La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes, it had its official online premiere this week.
I'm of the firm belief that travelling somewhere new is best enjoyed with some local intel. As the resident writer hailing from Tropical North Queensland at Concrete Playground, I feel it is my duty to share my go-to ways to enjoy a balmy (and palmy) break in the tropics. And, if you feel like you missed out on some of your summer fun this year, this is your sign to book a holiday in the tropical north where summer lives on. Full disclosure: I'm based in Sydney now, however, I did spend the first 18 years of my life in this part of the world and head back to the truly idyllic region as often as I can to visit friends and family. So, if you're looking for a holiday that's brimming with immersive nature experiences, scenic drives and spectacular views, I've got you.
2023 marks five decades since one of the scariest movies ever made first hit screens, with The Exorcist never losing its eerie power since. But whether you first got creeped out by it at home, have caught retro big-screen showings — including the director's-cut version — or somehow have never been spooked by the William Friedkin-helmed flick's unnerving wonders, seeing it in an old jail is set to be a whole new viewing experience. Where's the best venue to host a special session of such a horror-movie giant? To put on a night of cinema that'll make heads spin? That location: Parramatta Gaol, which is turning into a picture palace just for one evening for the occasion, with horror event fiends Haus of Horror behind it all. Clearly, the idea is for the night — which has been dubbed 'The Exorcist in a Haunted Gaol' — is to be as immersive as possible. Parramatta Gaol already hosts ghost tours, and is reportedly haunted by its former inmates if you believe in that kind of thing. It's certainly a site with history; constructed from sandstone and slate, it was built in the 19th century and operated until 2011. It followed Parramatta's first jail in 1796, which was damaged in a fire before the 1800s hit, rebuilt, and then had its prisoners transferred to the new facility in 1842. So, if you dare, that's where you'll be watching The Exorcist — aka the story of a young girl (Linda Blair, Landfill) possessed by a demon, and the efforts of two priests (Rudy's Jason Miller and Game of Thrones' Max von Sydow) to save her at the urging of her mother (Ellen Burstyn, Pieces of a Woman). It scored ten Oscar nominations, something that's still ridiculously rare for horror movies, and emerged victorious in one field: for Best Adapted Screenplay, for author William Peter Blatty's script based on his own book. Held in conjunction with Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council, Haus of Horror's screening takes place at 6pm on Saturday, March 11, and includes two hours for attendees to explore Parramatta Gaol's morgue, cell blocks and showers. Whether or not you'll see someone spiderwalking is yet to be revealed. Also on the agenda: a bar serving beer and wine, vegan and non-vegan bites to eat, a live DJ spinning tunes while the sun sets, and an interactive photo booth that'll be set up like a scene from the film. The movie will play at 8pm on a grassy field inside the site, showing outdoors under the stars — and picnics are welcome. Tickets cost $39, or $59 if you'd like to book a large bean bag to sit on. Check out the trailer for The Exorcist below: The Exorcist in a Haunted Gaol takes place at Parramatta Gaol, corner O'Connell and Dunlop streets, North Parramatta from 6pm on Saturday, March 11 — head to the Haus of Horror website for tickets and further details.
It's that time again, film and television fans: awards season. Shiny trophies are given to deserving actors, directors, writers, producers and more, and the best and brightest movies and TV shows get the recognition that they deserve. Each year, it all starts with the Emmys in September — aka Hollywood's night of nights for everything that airs on a screen that's small, rather than big. If you really love your TV, then you probably react to the annual gongs like Leslie Jones when Regina King won Best Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie at today's ceremony. Or, maybe you're as joyous and shocked as Jen Svendsen, the girlfriend of Glenn Weiss, when the latter proposed to her during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for his work directing the Oscars. Hosted by Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost and Michael Che, the night saw Che give out reparation Emmys to black talents who were overlooked in previous years, Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen took everyone through the history of the awards, and #MeToo earned more than a few mentions. Trophy-wise, a number of long-term hits picked up gongs — yes, Game of Thrones won Best Outstanding Drama — while newcomers and overlooked favourites did, too. Of course, some series were cheated. We'll never forget the fact that the third season of Twin Peaks barely received any nominations, or that David Lynch didn't win best director. But, regardless, we've all still got plenty to add to our must-see list. Hope your couch is comfy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxxnqStVbk BARRY What it's about: Assassins are people too in Barry. Actually, the eponymous post-traumatic stress-afflicted sniper turned hitman-for-hire is also an aspiring actor trying to take classes in Los Angeles, after stumbling upon his new calling during a job. He's also attempting to cope with his disorder, and hoping to get out of the murdering game. Bill Hader has never been better than in this dark comedy, which he also co-created, co-wrote and directed episodes of — with Henry Winkler also memorable as Barry's acting coach. Won: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Bill Hader), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Henry Winkler). Where to watch it: Foxtel Now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOmwkTrW4OQ THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL What it's about: In New York City in 1958, Miriam 'Midge' Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) has become accustomed to waiting in the wings while her husband tries his hand at stand-up comedy. Then she takes to the stage herself, and this blend of comedy and drama follows the revolutionary aftermath. Picking up best comedy or musical TV series and best lead actress in a comedy or musical TV series at the Golden Globes, too, it's the latest show from Gilmore Girls and Bunheads mastermind Amy Sherman-Palladino. Won: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Rachel Brosnahan), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Alex Borstein), Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Amy Sherman-Palladino), Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Amy Sherman-Palladino). Where to watch it: Amazon Prime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgTtyfgzGc0 BLACK MIRROR What it's about: What isn't Black Mirror about, really? Dreaming up creepily dystopian futures based on society's ever-increasing dependence on technology, the Charlie Brooker-created anthology series has touched upon everything from social media to drones to political scandals to bringing back the dead, and that's just a handful of topics. In its fourth season, it specifically explored toxic fandom in Emmy-winning episode U.S.S. Callister, which looks like a comic take on Star Trek but delves into much darker — and also funnier — territory. Won: Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special (William Bridges, Charlie Brooker). Where to watch it: Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7vrC95RwB8 AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE What it's about: It's all there in the name with the second series of anthology effort American Crime Story, which turns real-life crimes into on-screen dramas under the guidance of Glee and American Horror Story executive producer Ryan Murphy. Where the first season covered the OJ Simpson case and won a heap of Emmys, this time around it's the 1997 shooting of fashion designer Gianni Versace that's in the spotlight, with a cast that includes Édgar Ramírez as Versace, Ricky Martin as his long-term boyfriend, Penélope Cruz as his sister Donatella and Darren Criss as the man responsible for a tragic killing spree. Won: Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Ryan Murphy), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Darren Criss). Where to watch it: Foxtel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMUiRYoc76A GODLESS What it's about: In the town of La Belle, New Mexico, most of the men have been killed in a mining accident, leaving the women to hold the fort, hold firearms and just generally hold their own. Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery and Nurse Jackie's Merritt Weaver do just that, while Jeff Daniels plays a gun-toting outlaw and Skins' Jack O'Connell co-stars as the partner he's trying to hunt down. Set in the 1880s, and produced by Steven Soderbergh, clearly this is a western — and a seven-episode mini-series as well. Won: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Jeff Daniels), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Merritt Wever). Where to watch it: Netflix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIn_MH8_2ig THE AMERICANS What it's about: Spanning six seasons and finishing up earlier in 2018, The Americans takes viewers into the thick of the Cold War during the early 1980s. Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) seem like the perfect ordinary couple, with two kids to match and a life in suburbia, but they're actually KGB officers living undercover and spying on the US for Russia. Drama ensues, clearly, in a period-set series that was a critical hit across its entire run. Spy twists, turns and thrills aren't relegated to the big screen, after all. Won: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Matthew Rhys), Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Joel Fields, Joseph Weisberg). Where to watch it: Foxtel Now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLRcgftdh3w WESTWORLD What it's about: Imagine a theme park that takes you to another world (and no, regular amusement parks don't count). At Westworld, attendees feel like they've stepped back to America's wild west, all thanks to a completely immersive park filled with human-like androids that talk, shoot, drink and do plenty of other things as well. It's a fantastic premise, which proved the case when author Michael Crichton turned it into a movie back in 1973, and still remains true now. And with Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton and James Marsden among the robots — or 'hosts' — wandering around, HBO's take on Westworld also comes with a stacked cast. Won: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Thandie Newton). Where to watch it: Foxtel Now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME2umFQ_xBA THE CROWN What it's about: It's the biographical show that made everyone interested in the royal family again, not only thanks to its behind-the-scenes dramas, but courtesy of its stellar cast. Across the first two seasons of this period drama, Claire Foy transforms into a young Queen Elizabeth II and Matt Smith into her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, starting with their marriage in 1947 and covering their lives until the early 1960s. Foy dedicated her award to her fellow actors, who have all been replaced for the series third and fourth seasons, with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies taking on the central roles. Won: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Claire Foy). Where to watch it: Netflix.
There have been a lot of Darling Square openings in the past 12 months, but, still, Steam Mill Lane has welcomed a new Japanese izakaya. Nakano Darling is now slinging highballs, karaage and gyoza to CBD dwellers. It's the latest by the team behind the lower north shore's favourite hole-in-the-wall Yakitori Yurippi and tiny standing bar Tachinomi YP, both of which are located in Crows Nest. Nakano Darling is the team's first venture into the CBD and it's keeping things simple by specialising in just a few things — which is typical of the way hospitality venues function in Japan. At Nakano Darling, those specialties include its special recipe karaage chicken and gyoza. To accompany these izakaya favourites, punters can order simple cold or hot sides, including vegetarian fried udon, octopus karaage and stir fried wagyu. Drinkswise, it's all about the highball here. Traditionally made with whisky, soda water and lemon, the drink has expanded to include a variety of flavour profiles — with coke and ginger options specifically present on the Nakano Darling menu. You can also sip a wide range of shochu, sake and umeshu plum wine. The fit-out offers a number of spaces for your eating (and drinking) pleasure, from nibbles at the bar to relaxed vibes in the tatami room, as well as a private space that offers bottomless fried chicken to larger parties. However, the best time to hit Nakano is during its weekday happy hour. When you order a tap beer between 5–6pm Monday to Thursday or 4–6pm on Friday, you'll get a serve of the karaage chicken for free. Yep, free. It'll go down pretty well with your schooner of Orion, Asahi or Suntory Premium Malt.
Surry Hills was a very different place in 1985. The grime was starting to wash away and a shiny new cosmopolitan suburb was taking shape. And it was here that a young Brett Whiteley purchased a humble warehouse just off Crown Street and converted it into a studio, where he lived and worked until his death in 1992. Two decades on, the Brett Whiteley Studio continues to be a much-loved part of Sydney's art scene. Alongside exhibitions that showcase the artist's best work, the preservation of his studio and living area provides fascinating insights into his personal and professional life. Having spent his early years on Sydney's leafy North Shore and attending boarding school in Bathurst, Whitely had a strong affinity to natural landscapes. From treacherous bushland to sparkling seascapes, he crafted a unique view of Australia's moody countryside and its flora and fauna. There is a deep sensuality that marks Whiteley's style. His characteristic use of line is pervasive, continually seen in rolling hills, tumbling waves and curvaceous rock formations. Although his work is rooted in an Australian identity, it also represents a montage of global influences, reminiscent of the extensive time Whiteley spent abroad. For example, there is a prominent Asian aesthetic of perspective that infiltrates his landscapes (he was captivated by Chinese and Japanese art and Japonism).
Birthdays come and go, but you'd be silly not to do something special for your 125th trip around the sun. In 2026, the Lord Roberts Hotel is ringing in this massive milestone by winding back the years and paying tribute to everything that has made this storied corner pub a go-to local spot for one generation after the next. To do so, the Bob (or to some, the Lord Rob, or even the LoRo) has put together a throwback menu, available for one month from Wednesday, April 8. Presented as a retro riff on the venue's immense history, guests are invited to tuck into Bunnings-style snag tacos, an elevated chicken kiev and a fairy bread sando. Plus, this nostalgic selection is rounded out by a Golden Gaytime-inspired cocktail. With each creation bringing a modern-day twist to a time-honoured favourite, the menu's prices start at $10. Not quite as cheap as a threepence in 1901, but plenty good for 2026. Then, you can sip back schooners of Tooheys New or Old for $12.50 throughout the month. Alongside this culinary tribute to the pub of old, the Lord Roberts is also undergoing a significant refresh for its birthday. With the bones of the place still solid, a ground-floor renovation builds upon the venue's enduring character, bringing a burgundy-and-mustard palette and framed walls showcasing sporting memorabilia, famous locals and moments from Darlinghurst's history. You'll also see playful new branding that heroes Lord Bob himself, aka 19th-century military figure, Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts. What's more, the pub's outdoor spaces are also refreshed, featuring lush greenery curated by local plant shop, cafe and bar, Stanley Greens. Then, running alongside Stanley Street, guests will find new picnic tables, with new umbrellas also added to the rooftop, providing extra shelter on a sun-soaked day. For sports fans, Lord Rob also installed two 100-inch screens, and the bottle shop's range has been updated. "The concept has always been simple — be the best local pub in Darlinghurst," says co-owner Lewis Barnes. "The Lord Roberts is a pub for everyone: the CBD crowd drifting in after work, the couple grabbing a BYO before Bar Reggio, sports fans settling in for the big game, tradies knocking off, families settling in for an easy dinner, dogs parked happily under the table, and the local who's been pulling up a stool here for decades." This rejuvenation extends beyond the pub's walls, too. With the broader Stanley Street precinct on the road to re-establishing itself as a leading Darlinghurst dining and nightlife destination, recent statement openings include the Claret Club and Bones Ramen. Set to begin in 2027, the City of Sydney is also embarking on a $5 million streetscape upgrade, ensuring the Bob is well-positioned to make even more history in the decades ahead. The Lord Roberts Hotel is open at 64 Stanley St, Darlinghurst, operating from Sunday–Wednesday from 10am–midnight and Friday–Saturday from 10am–1am. Head to the website for more information. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox. Images: Trent van der Jagt.
Dog owners have to roll the dice one too many times when it comes to property. What if your furry companion doesn't take to the space? Is it pet-friendly by design or by legal requirement? It makes a big difference, and our pets deserve to be just as comfortable at home as we are. It's an ethos at the heart of HOME Parramatta — Sydney's first renter and pet-friendly apartments that are so dog-friendly, they can even come to the inspections. In Parramatta, 42 percent of households own a dog, but only one in six Sydney rental properties allow pets. This Parramatta property is HOME's first in NSW, but with 2500 residents and 300-plus pets in Victoria's Docklands, Southbank and Richmond developments, the brand is looking to bring its blend of comfort, wellness and elevated amenities to two and four-legged residents in Sydney's second CBD. [caption id="attachment_1054116" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Hugo Agency[/caption] The Doggy HOME Tours are the first taste of that, inviting prospective residents to explore the built-to-rent property with their dog in tow (or the other way around, if the dog is really enjoying it). Accompanying pooches will also get to visit the rooftop lawn, enjoy some pampering at the on-site pet spa, pick their own pet perfume, and sample some of the finest treats for the best boys and girls — joint supplement chews from Dog Years. HOME Parramatta is a 1932 square metre property, built of 435 residences, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. You might have seen the 48-storey tower when passing through, and residents inside can see as far as the city to the east and the Blue Mountains in the west. Human amenities (because you're living there too) include an indoor pool, gym, spa, coworking space, and a landscaped lawn with an outdoor projector screen. [caption id="attachment_1054117" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Hugo Agency[/caption] Should you choose to join the community, there'll be more special offers to come for you and your dog. In FY25, HOME hosted over 250 events for residents, many of which were pet-friendly, along with a dedicated program of pet events — including pet obedience tips, a pet cartoonist, meet-ups at local parks, and pet treat sampling opportunities. HOME Parramatta is located at 116 Macquarie Street, Parramatta. For more information or to book a tour, visit the website.
Located in the ground floor of a heritage building (that was the former headquarters of Red Cross Australia), Cross Eatery has been offering up healthy eats and superb coffee since 2016. And with former-Mecca barista Marcelo Sota heading operations, it's easy to see why it's so popular. Early birds can start their day with a coffee and brekkie from 6.30am every Monday through Friday. Plus, there's kombucha and cold-press juice on-tap. The chalkboard menu changes seasonally but reliably features healthy dishes from breakfast through to lunch. Currently on offer is the broccolini, Frekeh and goats chevre salad from the salad bar, a house-cured salmon and horseradish tartine, and a breakfast bowl packed with veggies, slaw and a poached egg. Or, you can grab one of its signature Cross brekkie rolls, made with ham, poached egg and brussel slaw. With communal tables and a bright, minimalist aesthetic, Cross Eatery is a hotspot for health-conscious city folk.
The Sydney Comedy Festival has always been an event that could be considered huge, with comedians from across the country and the world flocking to venues all over the city to dial the laughter up to 11. Well, the just-released program for the 2026 run is taking the "huge" part literally — in fact, it's going to be the festival's biggest run yet. First are the celebrity guests. At the top of the bill are Emmy and Grammy-winning US comedian Tiffany Haddish, and the creator and star of Netflix's runaway hit of the 2024 watercooler chat, Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd. Haddish will appear at the State Theatre and Enmore Theatre on April 25 and 26, respectively, while Gadd will host a one-night-only in-conversation special at the Opera House on Monday, May 11. On the events program, a newcomer will join the festival in 2026 in the form of the Sydney Harbour Comedy Cruise, while the returning comedy crawl will expand into six separate crawl events in Manly, The Rocks, Rozelle and Oxford Street. Also confirmed on the returning bill this year is the popular whodunnit play, "CLUEDO," the Theatresports Allstars, Aboriginal Comedy All Stars, and the Sydney Comedy Festival Gala. And the other comedians? The stacked lineup includes the likes of Zachary Ruane, Dave Hughes, Geraldine Hickey, Felicity Ward, Neel Kolkhatar, Blake Pavey, Guy Williams, Josh Thomas, Mandy Scotney, Nick White, Jimmy Rees, Wankernomics, The Umbilical Brothers and many, many more. "With almost 400 shows over five massive weeks of comedy, we are pleased to welcome you to the biggest Sydney Comedy festival program ever," Sydney Comedy Festival General Manager, James Declase, said, "Get ready to laugh, Sydney, we have many surprises in store for you!" Minister for Jobs and Tourism Steve Kamper added: "The Sydney Comedy Festival is celebrating its 21st birthday this year and is bringing big laughs to the party. It's their biggest program yet with global comedy superstars, Australian legends and the best emerging standups, all showcasing why Sydney is the nation's premier destination for world-class cultural experiences and hilariously fun times. With more than 850 performances across Sydney, this year's festival will energise the city's venues and entertainment precincts like never before." For the full program or to buy tickets, visit the Sydney Comedy Festival website. Images: supplied This article first appeared on Variety Australia.
Sydney has just joined the likes of Bangkok, Hainan, Hanoi, Shanghai and Singapore as a home to the luxury hotel group Capella. The award-winning accommodation provider officially opened Capella Sydney today, Wednesday, March 15, bringing 192 luxury rooms to a historic inner-city building. Housed within the sandstone Department of Education Building on the corner of Bridge Street and Loftus Street just across from Macquarie Place Park, the expansive hotel adds another dose of lavish luxury to Sydney's hotel scene. The restoration and reimagination of the century-old building took seven years in the hands of the Pontiac Land Group. The nine-storey building has been transformed with a glamourous interior brought together by muted tones of white and brown giving the hotel both a vintage and timeless quality. "Pontiac Land has always been passionate about creating meaningful developments that contribute and help shape their communities. Capella Sydney was an ideal opportunity for us to sensitively repurpose this culturally significant landmark in the heart of downtown Sydney and transform it into a more public offering as a leading luxury hotel for everyone to be able to experience," says Pontiac Land Group Chief Executive Officer David Tsang. Guests are greeted with a flurry of acquired and commissioned art within the lobby including works from the likes of Judy Watson and Otis Hope Carey, as well as a robotic light installation titled Meadow from Dutch art duo DRIFT. Once you've navigated the lobby, you'll find elegant guestrooms fitted with Italian Frette linen, a standalone bathtub and sustainable vegan amenities created in partnership with Haeckels. And, there's plenty to love outside your room as well. There are two shared spaces for guests to unwind in, a spa offering relaxing rejuvenation treatments, a fitness centre, a heated 20-metre indoor pool and two dining areas. The first is the more laidback McRae Bar. While this hotel bar is still overflowing with luxury, boasting gold trimmings and a hefty cocktail menu, it's hard to compete with the sheer exuberance of Brasserie 1930. This European-influenced dining room comes from the acclaimed hospitality crew behind Bentley Restaurant and Bar, Monopole, Yellow and Cirrus, offering the likes of oysters, brown-butter scallops, beef tartare, Eastern rock lobster, whole roasted duck and three different steak options ramping up to the $110 Coppertree Farm rib eye. To mark the opening, Capella is kicking things off with a special Capella History Journey package. The $1500 experience for two includes a night's stay in a deluxe guestroom, breakfast at Brasserie 1920, a bespoke welcome amenity, a Capella Culturist experience that will take you on a curated journey through the history of the building and Sydney's Sandstone Precinct, 24-hour access to the fitness centre and valet parking. The package is bookable until Friday, June 30. Capella Sydney is now open at 35–29 Bridge Street, Sydney. Feeling inspired to book a truly unique getaway? Head to Concrete Playground Trips to explore a range of holidays curated by our editorial team. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips in destinations all over the world.
Do you often find yourself neglecting your morning run in favour of the snooze button? Or do you define a 'gym session' as the walk between your fridge and couch? If fitness just isn't your forte and workouts feel more like work then these ten awesome fitness apps could be the perfect starting block for refreshing and renewing your fitness regime. Whether you're a budding Olympian or just hoping to slash a couple of excess pounds, this list offers something for just about everyone, with apps ranging from running trackers to fitness games to workout incentives to yoga on-the-go. And to celebrate the release of the new adidas adistar Boost running shoes, where you receive extra energy from the shoe’s boost technology to keep you running longer, we've compiled a list of our top ten apps to help out. So check out The Athlete's Foot, don those fluoro shorts, pump up the Jay-Z and check out the list, because these apps have the potential to transform even those with the most avid of workout aversions into fully fledged gym junkies. 1. Zombies, Run! Oh yes, this is exactly what you think it is. It's your real-life version of 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead, transforming the stress and strain of your next gym sesh into a post-apocalypic zombie chase. The story itself is pretty simple: civilisation has fallen into zombie-infested ruin and it is up to you to rebuild society. As you run you automatically collect medicine, food, ammo and other critical supplies to replenish your base, but in order to evade those pesky zombie hordes you have to keep up with your customised zombie speeds. Choose from over 30 different missions, crank up your favourite playlist and the twists and turns of the zombie saga will be revealed to you between tracks. 2. Fitocracy Fitocracy does what many a gym, PT and exercise playlist have often tried and failed to do: taken the 'work' out of 'workout'. By applying the addictive quality of video games — of having to reach the next level and beat your own and your friends' top scores — Fitocracy actually manages to make fitness into the physical equivalent of Call of Duty: fun and strangely addictive. Starting at level one, you are awarded points for completing increasingly difficult workouts, which can then be shared on the Fitocracy social network. 3. Jefit Jefit isn't designed for your casual jogger or backyard footballer, but for the most hardcore and dedicated of fitness freaks: bodybuilders and gym junkies. The app allows you to track your body statistics with everything from fitness graphs to progress photographs, create custom workout routines and discover new exercises and workout techniques with Jefit's massive exercise database. The app's two-way sync technology allows you to sync all this information with an online profile and store all your fitness data on the Jefit server, making this the perfect companion for any trip to the gym. 4. Pocket Yoga Perhaps the most common excuse for giving up on a gym membership or even on the whole concept of staying fit is the simple reason of time poorness. If you are someone who prefers the downward facing dog and the crane pose to chin-ups and dumbbells, then time poorness is no longer a viable excuse, thanks to this super-handy app that allows you to practice yoga anytime, anywhere. The Pocket Yoga app includes on-the-go yoga classes and a comprehensive pose dictionary that shows proper positioning and the benefits of each contortion. 5. Cardiio The Cardiio app allows users to become their own personal GP with the world's most easy-to-use stethoscope. There are no straps, no finger clips and no scary add-ons; simply look into your iPhone camera and the app will tell you your heart rate. From this simple piece of information Cardiio can then provide you with a wealth of information about your health, from raw fitness level to life expectancy to how you compare to the general population — or, if you felt so inclined, how you compare with Tiger Woods or even a horse. Use this app everyday after your daily workout and Cardiio will tabulate your results to show you just how fit you are actually getting. 6. RunKeeper While the purpose and function of RunKeeper is fairly clear from its name, what is less clear is just how awesome this app is. Not only does the RunKeeper app track the distance, speed and times of your morning run, walk or bike ride, but it also provides users with a detailed and interactive picture of their exercise regime and fitness levels. RunKeeper allows you to set and measure goals, keep track of milestones and PBs, get on-the-go coaching and collate and share all this data on runkeeper.com. So make sure you cross off the checklist before you go for your next run: a pair of perfectly fitted trainers from The Athlete's Foot and a copy of the RunKeeper app. 7. Charity Miles If shedding those few excess pounds or tightening up those abs isn't sufficient motivation to get you up and exercising, then perhaps Charity Miles can help you out. This free app encourages you to get off the couch by rewarding every mile you run, walk or ride with a donation of 10c for bikers or 25c for runners and walkers to a charity of your choosing. What's awesome about this app is just how easy it is to make a tangible difference to a worthwhile cause. Charity Miles as well helps you to push through the pain of exercise, with regular updates as to what sort of difference each mile you travel will have for your chosen charity. 8. Obstacles XRT By combining the Obstacles XRT (Extreme Reality Training) app with a little bit of imagination you can transform your living room into a virtual obstacle course complete with tires to skip through, quicksand to hop over and fences to dive under. The Obstacles XRT app is basically a workout video for the iPhone era, replacing Richard Simmons and gratuitous quantities of spandex with army commander voiceovers and high intensity obstacle courses. Every command of "jump as high as you can" and "jab to the left" is specifically designed to workout your major muscle groups, and with the app's Calorie Burn Dashboard, you can watch in real time as you burn off the calories. 9. Endomondo While the app store is rife with sports trackers that can measure the duration, distance, speed and even calorie burn of your morning jog, few of them offer the sort of versatility and all-purposeness of the Endomondo Sports Tracker. Of particular note, the Endomondo app is able to not only track running and cycling but just about any distance-based sport — from skiing to kayaking to rollerblading. The app includes an incredible range of features from heart monitors to audio coaching to route generators, but perhaps most unique to the Endomondo app is its capacity to pit you against your friends by competing with their best times and even sending them pep talks. 10. GymPact GymPact are upping the stakes for those of us who have been known to miss the occasional gym session. Petty excuses are no longer good enough because if you fail to meet your weekly workout targets you have to pay up. And if you meet your targets then GymPact will pay you. All you have to do is make a pact of how many times you'll work out in a week and set yourself a price. If you you fall short of your target, then your wager helps pay everyone else in the GymPact community that had a successful week. Don't think you can cheat the system either, as with GPS tracking and the RunKeeper app, GymPact makes sure you stick to your weekly pact. Get onto GymPact, and thanks to this brilliant little incentive, missed workouts may soon become a thing of the past. Once you've downloaded your favourite app, make sure you get yourself a double boost with a pair of awesome new runners. Check out the adidas adistar Boost available now at The Athlete’s Foot (limited release only).
Each year, an Adelaide beach is taken over by the Nude Games — which is exactly what it sounds like. Maslin Beach was declared Australia's first nudist beach back in 1974, and now the locals embrace this history with a day full of naked fun, hosted by nearby nudist community Pilwarren. Expect three-legged, potato sack and baton races, frisbee and raw egg throwing, doughnut eating competitions and even best bum contests. Soft drinks, bottled water, a sausage sizzle and souvenir stubby holders will be available, with proceeds going back into running the games. While participants are required to come dressed in their birthday suits, spectators are also encouraged to come as nature intended. If heading out in public without a stitch of clothing on sounds like a nightmare, never fear — nakedness is not mandatory, and everyone is invited to enjoy the day at the beach however they feel comfortable.
On a chilly winter's day, it can be mighty tempting to just spend it wrapped up in blankets on the couch. But we've done enough of that recently. Instead, spend that free time exploring friendly pubs with crackling fireplaces, cosy cafes with comforting winter dishes, dramatic sunsets and brisk walks. When the time's right, wrap yourself in your warmest winter coat, crank up the car's heater and escape to the country. If you've only a day to spare, fret not. These ten pretty, winter-embracing towns are only a hop, skip and jump away. For hot mineral springs, top-notch restaurants and cool climate wines, head inland to the Southern Highlands or the Blue Mountains. Or, for whale watching and sparkling ocean vistas — without the hassle of summer crowds — make tracks to the coast. From pristine beaches and bountiful wine regions to alpine hideaways and bustling country towns, Australia has a wealth of places to explore at any time of year. We've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your road trips, weekend detours and summer getaways so that when you're ready to hit the road you can Holiday Here This Year. While regional holidays within NSW will be allowed from June 1, some of the places mentioned below may still be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check websites before making any plans. [caption id="attachment_679241" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] BERRIMA, SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS Dotted with sandstone buildings and, some say, haunted by ghosts, this historical village lies a short drive from Sydney in the Southern Highlands. Start with a coffee and baked goodie at Gumnut Patisserie, before heading to Eschalot for hatted fare made with local produce from the onsite kitchen garden. Alternatively, you'll find hearty pub classics and two fireplaces at the Surveyor General Inn. Opened in 1834, it's the oldest continuously licensed pub in Australia. Also worth exploring are the Berrima River Walk (look out for platypuses), Harper's Mansion and Berrima's many independent shops. How far? A two-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_693681" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Peppers Cragieburn via Destination NSW[/caption] BOWRAL, SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS Another Southern Highlands settlement that isn't shy of winter is Bowral: a 13,000-person town on the Mittagong River that's surrounded by rolling farmland and wineries. On arriving, refuel with a coffee at Rush or Flour Water Salt, before strolling around town checking out Dirty Janes' epic collection of antiques and vintage clothing, as well as Browns Bookshop and the Bowral Art Gallery. Come lunchtime, settle in for a feast at The Mill. For an afternoon wine or coffee beside a roaring fireplace, check out Briars, Peppers Craigieburn or Bendooley (home to Berkelouw Books and a massive second-hand book collection). How far? A two-hour drive from Sydney MOUNT VICTORIA, BLUE MOUNTAINS Of the many indulgences that make winter worth enduring, a long soak in hot mineral springs is one of the best. You can do exactly that at the Japanese Bath House in South Bowenfels, a two-hour drive west of Sydney. Once you're completely relaxed, make tracks to Mount Victoria, which is about 15 minutes away. Here, you can catch a film at a 1930s cinema, while slurping up homemade soup (and homemade choc tops), before swinging by Mount Victoria Manor for a craft beer by the fire. This heritage-listed mansion was built in 1876 by John Fairfax, founder of the Sydney Morning Herald. If you're keen to hang around and catch a wintry sunset, drive to Sunset Rock Lookout, which you'll find at the end of Beaufort Avenue. How far? A two-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_679213" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Carrington[/caption] KATOOMBA, BLUE MOUNTAINS To experience a Blue Mountains winter without travelling as far as Mount Victoria, stop at Katoomba, which is 90 minutes' drive west of Sydney. Make your first destination Yellow Deli, where you can rest among handcrafted wooden furniture and an open fire. Just be aware that the cafe is run by a cult. If you'd prefer to avoid, grab a butterscotch latte and miso pumpkin toastie from Frankly My Dear. Next up, stretch those stiff legs with a bracing walk along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, which journeys along cliff tops taking in incredible views for seven kilometres, before reaching Leura. The best spot in town for lunch is Leura Garage — its warming winter menu includes 12-hour braised lamb shoulder with pomegranate glaze, confit garlic and rosemary. Catch the train back to Katoomba for a fireside wine in The Carrington's grand 19th-century bar. How far? An hour-and-a-half drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_664841" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Potager Mount Tomah[/caption] BILPIN, BLUE MOUNTAINS Located along the Bells Line of Road, which runs to the Blue Mountains from Sydney's northwest, this idyllic village is famous for its apple-growing powers. They're not the only fruit that flourishes here, however, and if you're keen to get all 'country' you can pick your own fruit at Bilpin Fruit Bowl. Alternatively, find out how local apples taste when transformed into cider at Hillbilly, then grab a burger for lunch from Maggie Lou's Bite. Another cosy spot, ten minutes' drive away in Kurrajong, is Lochiel House, which serves up Asian-influenced creations. Before returning to the big smoke, be sure to take a wintry stroll around Blue Mountains Botanic Garden and grab an apple-charged treat from The Potager Mount Tomah. How far? A two-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_679302" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mulla Villa[/caption] WOLLOMBI, HUNTER VALLEY This cute village, found two hours' drive north of Sydney, is the gateway to both the Hunter Valley and World Heritage-listed Yengo National Park. Begin your adventure with a comforting brekkie at Mulla Villa in the form of french toast with cinnamon sugar, whipped cream and berry coulis — then take a wander around Wollombi's historical buildings or get your bearings at Finchley Lookout, with 360-degree views over Yengo's rugged wilderness. Meanwhile, at the Wollombi Tavern, you'll find friendly folks and a fireplace. Just seven kilometres down the road is Laguna, where the Great Northern Trading Post serves up generous fare packed with local produce and hosts live gigs to spoken word performances and artisanal markets. How far? A two-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_769222" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] MORPETH, HUNTER VALLEY In the Hunter Valley's northeast corner is Morpeth, a picturesque 1500-person village on the banks of the Hunter River that's filled with 19th-century buildings. One of the tastiest, winter-friendly brekkies in town is at Common Grounds, where offerings include house-made spicy beans with black sesame crusted avocado. After that, take a relaxing walk along the river bank or check out Campbell's Store, home to 15 independent shops dedicated to various arts and crafts. Among the town's other warming experiences are the Australian Alpaca Barn and Mortels Sheepskin Factory, where you can learn all about the making of ugg boots. Finish up with a fireside brew at The Commercial or venture into the Hunter Valley for wine tasting galore. How far? A two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_678638" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Settlers Arms Inn[/caption] ST ALBANS, HAWKESBURY Half the fun of day-tripping to St Albans is getting there. So don't rush. For the most part, you'll be travelling along the Old Northern Road, which leaves Sydney at Dural before making its way through rolling farmland and national parks. Next comes the cable ferry crossing at Wisemans Ferry, followed by the twists and turns of pretty Macdonald River. The main attraction at St Albans is the Settlers Arms Inn, a Georgian coaching inn — and pub — built by convicts and backdropped by mountains. While away the afternoon eating and drinking beside the open fireplace before gearing up for the drive home — or stay the night. How far? A two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney [caption id="attachment_679290" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] KIAMA, SOUTH COAST When cooler weather rolls around, beach-going folks swap swimming, surfing and sunbathing for the wonder of whale watching. From late-May to July and September to November, Australia's east coast hosts a continual spectacle of breaching, blowing humpbacks. For a day trip that involves splendid views of these magnificent creatures drive to Kiama, a 90-minute trek south of Sydney. The best vantage points are Blowhole Point, Bombo Headland and Marsden Headland. Should you work up an appetite, visit Flour Water Salt for coffee and freshly baked goods, Penny Whistlers for cafe fare with a coastal view or The Hungry Monkey for burgers. How far? An hour-and-a-half drive from Sydney PORT STEPHENS, NORTH COAST Another top-notch location for whale watching is Port Stephens, on the mid-north coast. You'll have to get up early for this one, though, as it's a 2.5-hour drive from Sydney. Warm up with a steep, 45-minute walk to the summit of Tomaree Head, where you'll be rewarded with sweeping views — and maybe spot a few whales. To see them close up, book an eco-tour with Imagine Cruises, whose trusty craft Envision holds just 22 people. Re-energise with a feast at one of Port Stephen's many cracking eateries, be it Little Beach Boathouse for premium seafood overlooking Nelson Bay, The Point Restaurant for Asian-inspired bites, or The Little Nel Cafe for its outstanding terrace that's perfect for soaking up winter sunshine. How far? A two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Top image: Leura Garage, Katoomba
In this age of seemingly endless streaming platforms — with newcomers vying for your eyeballs every week, or so it seems — there's never a shortage of things to watch. New movies hit the likes of Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and DocPlay all the time, as well as the plethora of other online viewing services, all ready to be watched and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs. With such an ongoing onslaught of content fighting for everyone's attention, it's easy to miss the highlights. Or, to put a new film in your queue, then keep watching Tiger King and completely forget all about it. To help, we round up the best streaming highlights each and every month. But, in case you've missed any of our movie picks, we've also compiled a list of the standout flicks we've recommended over the past year that are still available for you to stream — and are well worth your attention — this very moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfJp2Ts9X8 UNCUT GEMS The best film of 2020, based on Australian release dates, might only screen on Netflix on our shores. That might seem a big call, but the anxiety-dripping, riveting Uncut Gems is a stone-cold masterpiece, complete with one of the greatest performances of Adam Sandler's career (alongside Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)). Far, far removed from his Netflix comedies of late, the actor is all hustle and bustle as Jewish American diamond-district jeweller Howard Ratner. A compulsive gambler who is deeply in debt, about to get divorced and being shaken down by a loan shark (Eric Bogosian) he's related to by marriage, he's always trying to lure in high-profile clientele. When he comes into possession of a rare black opal — the uncut gem of the title — basketballer Kevin Garnett becomes interested, sparking a wild chain of events. Writer/directors Josh and Benny Safdie last worked their gritty, vivid and relentlessly tense magic with the Robert Pattinson-starring Good Time to exhilarating and mesmerising effect, and this uncompromisingly chaotic thriller and all-round exceptional character study is even better. Uncut Gems is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5GFfMAvtg THE REPORT One of 2019's late highlights is based on a US Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. No, that's not a sentence that comes up very often. Directed by Contagion, Side Effects and The Laundromat screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, The Report recreates the experiences of real-life Senate staffer Daniel Jones, who, from 2009–2015, delved into the scandalous treatment of terrorist suspects by America's key intelligence agency. It mightn't sound riveting on the page, but as Jones dives deeper into a dark part of recent American history, weathers hefty opposition and dedicates himself to ascertaining the truth, The Report makes for gripping viewing. Adam Driver serves up his latest stellar performance as the committed investigator and, while the film belongs to its star and its subject matter, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall and Corey Stoll also leave an imprint. The Report is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9YEKRJ4TA4 I LOST MY BODY Forget the latest version of The Addams Family — the best movie to feature a detached hand scrambling around on its own five fingers is French animation I Lost My Body. A deserved winner of the Critics' Week Grand Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Jérémy Clapin's rich and textured picture adapts a novel by Amelie screenwriter Guillaume Laurant's and intertwines two narrative threads. Imbued with a bittersweet mood, the film charts the efforts of pizza delivery pizza Naofel (Hakim Faris) to earn the attention of young librarian Gabrielle (Victoire Du Bois), while also following the exploits of the aforementioned autonomous appendage as it roams around town. The imagery, including visuals framed from the hand's perspective, is sumptuous. The emotional journey, complete with thrills, spills and ample melancholy, finds the balance between whimsical and weighty. Poetic, ruminative and entertaining, this is the best animated movie of the year. I Lost My Body is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td0oBCWO_I4 THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE Talk about perfect casting. If you're going to make a movie about a meek, mild-mannered accountant who spends the bulk of his time alone, doesn't fit in with his frat boy co-workers and is struggling to cope with being violently attacked — and you're making a black comedy that firmly and sharply skewers toxic masculinity, too — then you want Jesse Eisenberg as your lead. Drawing upon experience in the likes of The Social Network and the Zombieland films, he's pitch-perfect as the aforementioned Casey, including when he seems to find solace in the teachings and classes of a local karate dojo. Also starring Imogen Poots (Eisenberg's co-star in Vivarium), and written and directed by filmmaker Riley Stearns (Faults), this smart blend of satire, statement and thrills never makes the obvious choice; however it does drum up plenty of laughs. The Art of Self-Defense is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JLUn2DFW4w EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE Six years after he was last seen driving off into the night, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) finally made a comeback. That's how long it was for Breaking Bad fans; however, for the character, absolutely no time passed. Picking up where the show's grim finale left off, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie explores what comes next for Walter White (Bryan Cranston)'s former meth-cooking partner. The cops are on his trail, but Skinny Pete (Charles Barker) and Badger (Matt Jones) are on hand to help. As Jesse tries to find a way forward, plenty of flashbacks also flesh out and reshape his story. While El Camino might be superfluous — Jesse didn't really need this lap of honour, and viewers didn't really need such a definitive conclusion — it's still an immense pleasure to return to the Breaking Bad realm, especially with series creator Vince Gilligan at the helm. Of course, Better Call Saul has been letting audiences do that since 2015, but every BB aficionado has a soft spot for Jesse, his love of saying "yo", and his fondness for science and magnets. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBcWHY9lN4 ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE It's a little unfair to say that Always Be My Maybe is worth watching for Keanu Reeves. He's not the film's star, with those honours going to writers and comedians Ali Wong and Randall Park; however, he's an unmissable force of nature not only playing the man who could thwart the movie's central romance, but also playing a heightened, exaggerated, ultra sensual version of himself. Yes, it's as glorious as it sounds. Always Be My Maybe is never as entertainingly chaotic when Reeves isn't around, but it's a charming, topical rom-com from start to finish, albeit one that hits familiar genre beats. A little charisma goes a long way, however, and Wong and Park (and Reeves, obviously) have it in spades in a movie that also marks the film directorial debut of Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23's Nahnatchka Khan. Always Be My Maybe is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMfyueM-ZBQ TOGO As moving a dog-focused movie as you're ever likely to see, Togo tells an extraordinary true tale. You might've already heard of Balto, the sled dog who came to fame for running 53 miles in a snow storm to help fetch diphtheria anti-toxin for a small Alaskan town back in 1925. That canine is clearly a hero — but another Siberian Husky named Togo actually led the pack that ran the bulk of the distance, covering a huge 260 miles over ice and snow. So, this heartfelt and action-packed movie tells the latter's story. Starring Willem Dafoe as his owner Leonhard Seppala, it's endearing from start to finish. In earnest mode, Dafoe is typically excellent, while the cute pooch acting is first-rate as well. And while director Ericson Core did a terrible job of 2015's needless Point Break remake, he does exactly what he needs to here. Togo is available to stream via Disney+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q57D6kF5B1k THE PERFECTION With Get Out and now The Perfection, Allison Williams appears to have an on-screen type, playing ambitious women who'll do whatever it takes to get what they want, including getting their hands dirty. But this Netflix horror film doesn't just throw the Girls star into familiar territory and ask her to follow in her own footsteps, even if that's how it initially seems. Williams plays cello prodigy Charlotte Willmore, who, after her career is cut short, befriends her replacement Lizzie (Logan Browning) during a trip to China. Where the narrative twists and turns from there is best discovered by watching, but filmmaker Richard Shepard has made a feistily immersive genre piece with thrills, body horror and a timely statement. The Perfection is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Vm_Awe3bw MINDING THE GAP When Free Solo took out this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, it was a thoroughly deserving winner, as anyone who's sweated through the true rock-climbing tale can attest. If the trophy had been handed to Minding the Gap instead, however, the Oscars wouldn't have made a mistake. Directed by Bing Liu and also featuring the filmmaker on-screen, this intimate doco steps into the lives of three Illinois residents as they cope with life's stresses, endeavour to find solace in skateboarding, and wrestle with society's expectations of them as young men. While every kickflip and ollie looks and feels equally raw and astonishing, the action footage has nothing on the film's real rollercoaster ride: the film's three subjects and their stories of domestic and substance abuse, living on the margins, and trying to navigate both economic and racial oppression. Minding the Gap is available to stream via DocPlay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEoJuTRZDjk EARTHQUAKE BIRD After exploring the life of writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in last year's Keira Knightley-starring biopic Colette, British writer/director Wash Westmoreland jumps from late 19th- and early 20th-century France to Tokyo circa 1989. That's where Swedish expat Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander) lives, works and starts to date Japanese photographer Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi). And, with the film framed through a police interrogation, that's where she also becomes a suspect in a missing persons case that could also be a murder. Based on Susanna Jones' 2001 novel of the same name, Earthquake Bird charts the fallout after American Lily Bridges (Riley Keough) arrives in town, befriends Lucy and then disappears — after getting close to Teiji. The film takes its time to solve its central mystery, but that patient approach comes packaged with sumptuous visuals, appropriately contrasting portrayals by its female stars (Vikander is icy and restrained, Keough is lively and vibrant), and a considerable command over its slow-burn thrills and tension. Earthquake Bird is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQm70Q9hKI GUAVA ISLAND Last year, when Coachella hit, Donald Glover delivered audiences everywhere a treat — whether you were at the Californian festival or not. The artist also known as Childish Gambino teamed up with his Atlanta director Hiro Murai, his screenwriter brother Stephen Glover, Black Panther's Letitia Wright, Game of Thrones' Nonso Anozie and, oh, none other than Rihanna, for a new film called Guava Island. Filled with Glover's music (naturally), it premiered at a specially built theatre at the fest to tie in with Glover's headlining set, and it's also available to stream via Amazon's streaming platform. The thoughtful and delightful film follows Deni Maroon (Glover), a Cuban musician trying to put on a festival on the titular island, all while battling his tyrannical employer. Guava Island is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT4bnfULz2s THE KING Since he came to widespread fame in Call Me By Your Name, Timothée Chalamet has become cinematic royalty. In The King, he embraces that status. Stepping into both historical and Shakespearean territory, he plays Hal, aka King Henry V, in a slow-building but astute drama based on the Bard's Henriad plays. Perfectly content never to take 15th-century England's top job, Hal nonetheless finds himself donning the crown — and, thanks to a war with France, following in his father's (Ben Mendelsohn) footsteps in more ways than one. Directed by Australian filmmaker David Michod and co-written with his Animal Kingdom star Joel Edgerton, The King plays up the internal and external conflict, tones down the language and, when it comes to political manoeuvring, finds much to muse on. Michod and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw particularly revel in the film's battle scenes, while, cast-wise, the sight of Chalamet facing off against a long-haired, French-accented, almost-comedic Robert Pattinson is the stuff that the internet's dreams are made of. Edgerton, Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible – Fallout ), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace) and Lily-Rose Depp all also make an impact. The King is available to stream via Netflix.
So you've got your hot little hands on the Sydney Festival 2020 program and you're experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, from do-I-need-sleep-in-January? to #overwhelmed. There's so much good stuff to choose from — including more than 70 new and diverse events — so where do you start? What you need is a friendly hand on your shoulder to point you in the direction of this year's festival highlights. Good news, we've done the hard yards to bring you a list of the 11 events you should circle with a highlighter and spend your hard-earned cash on to ensure you don't experience festival FOMO come January 8–26.
The team behind Bacon Brewfest, Wolli Creek's Discovery Markets and the Brewery Yard Markets at Central Park are bringing a new monthly food extravaganza to Sydney. Truckstop! will take over the carpark of Rosebery's Saporium on the first Thursday of every month, starting June 1 from 5pm. The evening will feature some of Sydney's best food trucks in a night of eats, drinks, live music and art. Food will include Brazilian churrasco by MEET Restaurant, yakitori and gyoza from Shiso Fine, freshly shucked oysters from The Shuck Truck, Americana diner classics from The Nighthawk Diner and vegan sundaes from Over The Moo, along with one special guest food truck that will be revealed closer to the event. DJs will be spinning the beats while Work-Shop runs live street art demonstrations. If you fancy a Thursday bevvy, Rosebery neighbours Archie Rose Distillery will be slinging cocktails made using their local spirits and a Coors Australia bar will offer beer and cider — though we're not sure why they're not spruiking a beer made closer to home. The carpark will be decorated with long communal tables, white marquees and fairy lights to create a cosy midweek market atmosphere.
The clown prince of crime is dancing all the way to the Oscars, with Joker topping the pool at this year's Academy Award nominations. It's the second year in a row that a comic book film has featured among the most prolific nominees, after Black Panther earned seven nods in 2019. As well as being the most-nominated movie in 2020 with 11 nominations, Joker is now the most-nominated superhero flick of all time — with the Joaquin Phoenix-starring movie beating the eight received by The Dark Knight, including Heath Ledger's posthumous Best Supporting Actor statuette for playing the same character. Remember when, back in 2018, the Oscars wanted to introduce a new Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film? When that was announced, the backlash was fast and furious, causing it to be scrapped — and if Joker's prominence this year and Black Panther's last year prove anything, it's that such a category really isn't needed. Plenty of other popular films sit alongside Joker in the 2020 nominations, with The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and 1917 each nabbing ten apiece, and Little Women, Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit earning six each. Also ratcheting up a half-dozen: the best movie of 2019, aka Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Film Editing and Production Design, Parasite's big showing is historic — amazingly, it's the first South Korean movie to ever earn a nomination in the Oscars' 92-year history, including in the foreign-language category. Alas, while the film's recognition might seem like an important step forward, much of this year's major categories show little in the way of diversity among their nominees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AST2-4db4ic When the winners are announced on Monday, February 10, Australian and New Zealand time, no female filmmaker will be crowned the year's best director thanks to the field's all-male nominees. As Issa Rae noted as she read the nominations alongside John Cho, "congratulations to all those men". Greta Gerwig's Little Women apparently directed itself, for example, although the actor-turned-filmmaker did receive a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay. And, when the acting prizes are handed out, it's highly likely that they'll be given to a white performer. While the nominees don't quite repeat the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of four years ago, when no people of colour were recognised, only two earned nods this year: Antonio Banderas for his sublime performance in Pain and Glory, and Cynthia Erivo for biopic Harriet. Fancied contenders such as Hustlers' Jennifer Lopez, The Farewell's Golden Globe-winner Awkwafina, Us' Lupita Nyong'o and Dolemite Is My Name's Eddie Murphy were all shut out — as was The Farewell in general. Plus, while there was plenty of love of Parasite, that didn't extend to any of the movie's actors. Of course, the Oscars always serve up snubs and surprises. Another big shock: Adam Sandler missing out on a Best Actor nomination for fantastic thriller Uncut Gems. Sandler and the Academy Awards mightn't seem like obvious bedfellows, but the actor is in career-best form as a diamond jeweller and compulsive gambler. On the local front, Aussie Margot Robbie scored a nod for Best Supporting Actress for Bombshell, playing a reporter caught up in the sexual harassment scandals at Fox News, while New Zealander Taika Waititi received a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Jojo Rabbit. The 92nd Academy Awards will take place on Monday, February 10, Australian time. Here's the full list of nominations: OSCAR NOMINEES 2020 BEST MOTION PICTURE The Irishman Ford v Ferrari Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women Marriage Story 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite BEST DIRECTOR Martin Scorsese, The Irishman Bong Joon Ho, Parasite Sam Mendes, 1917 Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Todd Phillips, Joker PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story Saoirse Ronan, Little Women Charlize Theron, Bombshell Renee Zellweger, Judy Cynthia Erivo, Harriet PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Adam Driver, Marriage Story Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Laura Dern, Marriage Story Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit Margot Robbie, Bombshell Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell Florence Pugh, Little Women PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes Al Pacino, The Irishman Joe Pesci, The Irishman Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 1917 Marriage Story Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Knives Out BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women The Irishman The Two Popes BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Joker Little Women Marriage Story 1917 Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker BEST ORIGINAL SONG I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away, Toy Story 4 (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman I'm Standing With You, Breakthrough Into the Unknown, Frozen 2 Stand Up, Harriet BEST FILM EDITING Ford v Ferrari The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Parasite BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM Corpus Christi (Poland) Honeyland (North Macedonia) Les Miserables (France) Pain and Glory (Spain) Parasite (South Korea) BEST ANIMATED FEATURE How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World I Lost My Body Klaus Missing Link Toy Story 4 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE American Factory The Cave The Edge of Democracy For Sama Honeyland BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY The Irishman Joker The Lighthouse 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN The Irishman Jojo Rabbit 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Avengers: Endgame The Irishman The Lion King 1917 Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker BEST COSTUME DESIGN The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women Once Upon a Time in Hollywood BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Bombshell Joker Judy Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 1917 BEST SOUND MIXING Ad Astra Ford v Ferrari Joker 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood BEST SOUND EDITING Ford v Ferrari Joker 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT In the Absence Learning to Skateboard In A Warzone Life Overtakes Me St Louis Superman Walk Run Cha-Cha BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Dcera (Daughter) Hair Love Kitbull Memorable Sister BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Brotherhood Nefta Football Club The Neigbour's Window Saria A Sister
When you're watching Blade Runner 2049, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Creator, or playing Cyberpunk 2077 and Saltsea Chronicles, possible futures unfurl before your very eyes. As these imaginings play out in cinemas and on televisions, how prophetic will they prove? No one can know for certain what tomorrow will bring; however, the tales told on screens big and small, and through games and comics as well, have delivered plenty of visions of what might come. At The Future & Other Fictions, these peering-forward works are in the spotlight. Will androids dream of electric sheep? Will a Keanu Reeves (John Wick: Chapter 4)-voiced rock star and terrorist make their presence known? Will Afrofuturist technologies transform life as we know it? These are some of the potential scenarios conjured up by beloved pop-culture titles — and they're all part of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image's world-premiere exhibition as well, which is filled with 180-pieces, such as artworks, sets, costumes and props, as well as scripts, clips and original design materials. Open since Thursday, November 28, 2024 and running until Sunday, April 27, 2025, this is a love letter to and deep dive into futuristic storytelling, including pondering the significance of humanity's thoughts about what could be in store. It's also the Melbourne screen museum big summer showcase. "Film, TV, videogames and art spark our imagination and help shift our thinking about how the future might, or should, be. The crafts of screen culture — visual effects, costume design, character creation and model building — are powerful tools that bring future visions to life," explained ACMI Director and CEO Seb Chan. "The Future & Other Fictions asks us to consider some of the worlds we're familiar with and imagine the worlds we'd like to see." "For thousands of years cultures have shared ideas through storytelling. It is an extraordinary common language. I hope a key takeaway of the exhibition is the importance of sharing stories about the futures we want to live in — be they greener, more sustainable, more harmonious or more diverse. Stories are products of culture and in turn produce it. As we write stories, we write the world," added director and artist Liam Young, who co-curated The Future & Other Fictions with ACMI's Amanda Haskard and Chelsey O'Brien. Before he was just Ken, Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy) starred in the 35-years-later sequel to Blade Runner — and before he brought Dune and Dune: Part Two to the screen, Denis Villeneuve directed Blade Runner 2049. The Future & Other Fictions lets attendees follow in their footsteps via miniature sets, which are one of the exhibition's definite must-sees. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gets the nod thanks to Academy Award-winning costumes by Ruth E Carter, while sketches from comic series NEOMAD also features — as does concept art showing The Creator and Cyberpunk 2077's cityscapes, plus more from Saltsea Chronicles. As it celebrates how screens imagine the years ahead, The Future & Other Fictions also features a film season focusing on Björk, complete with Björk: Biophilia Live on the lineup. Within the exhibition's halls rather than in ACMI's cinema, the Icelandic icon also pops up via the dress and headpiece from her music video for 'The Gate'. This showcase isn't just about well-known renderings of the future, though, thanks to work by Olalekan Jeyifous, Osheen Siva and Tāgata Moana art collective Pacific Sisters. Plus, via new commissions, DJ Hannah Brontë has her own take, and so do Young and Natasha Wanganeen (Limbo). The first, Birth of Dawn, is all about the circle of life. After the End, the second, muses on a future without fossil fuels. On The Future & Other Fictions' events program, visitors can look forward to four days of short films in February that highlight Australian cinema's future, a video-game showcase focused on emerging developers, the return of ACMI's annual symposium, and talks on topics as varied as artificial intelligence and pop-culture predictions. Fancy making your sci-fi movie — or, to be accurate, playing a text-based choose-your-own-adventure game about that very scenario? That's part of the exhibition, too, via INT. SPACESHIP — NIGHT, which you can access for free via the QR code in the ACMI foyer. The Future & Other Fictions is on display at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne, from Thursday, November 28, 2024–Sunday, April 27, 2025. Head to the venue's website for more details. Images: Eugene Hyland.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've had a close-contact run-in. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 18 that you can watch right now at home. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Imagine living in a universe where Michelle Yeoh isn't the wuxia superstar she is. No, no one should want to dwell in that reality. Now, envisage a world where everyone has hot dogs for fingers, including the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon icon. Next, picture another where Ratatouille is real, but with raccoons. Then, conjure up a sparse realm where life only exists in sentient rocks. An alternative to this onslaught of pondering: watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, which throws all of the above at the screen and a helluva lot more. Yes, its title is marvellously appropriate. Written and directed by the Daniels, aka Swiss Army Man's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, this multiverse-hopping wonder is a funhouse of a film that just keeps spinning through wild and wacky ideas. Instead of asking "what if Daniel Radcliffe was a farting corpse that could be used as a jet ski?" as their also-surreal debut flick did, the pair now muses on Yeoh, her place in the universe, and everyone else's along with her. Although Yeoh doesn't play herself in Everything Everywhere All At Once, she is seen as herself; keep an eye out for red-carpet footage from her Crazy Rich Asians days. Such glitz and glamour isn't the norm for middle-aged Chinese American woman Evelyn Wang, her laundromat-owning character in the movie's main timeline, but it might've been if life had turned out differently. That's such a familiar train of thought — a resigned sigh we've all emitted, even if only when alone — and the Daniels use it as their foundation. Their film starts with Evelyn, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's Short Round and The Goonies' Data) and a hectic time. Evelyn's dad (James Hong, Turning Red) is visiting from China, the Wangs' daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) brings her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel, The Carnivores) home, and IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween Kills) is conducting a punishing audit. Then Evelyn learns she's the only one who can save, well, everything, everywhere and everyone. Everything Everywhere All At Once is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE LOST CITY Sometimes, they do still make 'em like they used to: action-adventure rom-coms in this case. Drive a DeLorean back to 1984, to the year before Robert Zemeckis made DeLoreans one of the most famous types of movie cars ever, and the director's Romancing the Stone did huge box-office business — and it's that hit that The Lost City keenly tries to emulate. This new Sandra Bullock- and Channing Tatum-starring romp doesn't hide that aim for a second, and even uses the same broad overall setup. Once again, a lonely romance novelist is swept up in a chaotic adventure involving treasure, a jungle-hopping jaunt and a stint of kidnapping, aka exactly what she writes about in her best-selling books. The one big change: the writer is held hostage, rather than her sister. But if you've seen Romancing the Stone, you know what you're in for. As penned by writer/director duo directors Aaron and Adam Nee (Band of Robbers) with Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat) and Dana Fox (Cruella) — based on a story by Baywatch director Seth Gordon — The Lost City's plot is ridiculously easy to spot. Also, it's often flat-out ridiculous. Anyone who has ever seen any kind of flick along the same lines, such as Jungle Cruise most recently, will quickly see that Loretta Sage (Bullock, The Unforgivable), this movie's protagonist, could've written it herself. Once she finds herself living this type of narrative, that truth isn't lost on her, either. First, though, she's five years into a grief-stricken reclusive spell, and is only out in the world promoting her new release because her publisher Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The United States vs Billie Holiday) forces her to. She's also far from happy at being stuck once again with the man who has been sharing her limelight over the years, Fabio-style model Alan (Tatum, Dog), who has graced her book's covers and had women falling over themselves to lust-read their pages. And Loretta is hardly thrilled about the whole spectacle that becomes her latest Q&A as a result, and that makes her a distracted easy mark for billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, Guns Akimbo) afterwards. The Lost City is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MEMORIA When Memoria begins, it echoes with a thud that's not only booming and instantly arresting — a clamour that'd make anyone stop and listen — but is also deeply haunting. It arrives with a noise that, if the movie's opening scene was a viral clip rather than part of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's spectacular Cannes Jury Prize-winning feature, it'd be tweeted around with a familiar message: sound on. The racket wakes up Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton, The Souvenir: Part II) in the night, and it's soon all that she can think about; like character, like film. It's a din that she later describes as "a big ball of concrete that falls into a metal well which is surrounded by seawater"; however, that doesn't help her work out what it is, where it's coming from or why it's reverberating. The other question that starts to brood: is she the only one who can hear it? So springs a feature that's all about listening, and truly understands that while movies are innately visual — they're moving pictures, hence the term — no one should forget the audio that's gone with it for nearly a century now. Watching Weerasethakul's work has always engaged the ears intently, with the writer/director behind the Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and just-as-lyrical Cemetery of Splendour crafting cinema that genuinely values all that the filmic format can offer. Enjoying Memoria intuitively serves up a reminder of how crucial sound can be to that experience, emphasising the cavernous chasm between pictures that live and breathe such a truth and those that could simply be pictures. Of course, feasting on Weerasethakul's films has also always been about appreciating not only cinema in all its wonders, but as an inimitable art form. Like the noise that lingers in his protagonist's brain here, his movies aren't easily forgotten. Memoria is available to stream via SBS On Demand. Read our full review. AFTER YANG What flickers in a robot's circuitry in its idle moments has fascinated the world for decades, famously so in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. In writer/director/editor Kogonada's (TV series Pachinko) After Yang, one machine appears to long for everything humans do. The titular Yang (Justin H Min, The Umbrella Academy) was bought to give Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith, Queen & Slim) and Jake's (Colin Farrell, The Batman) adopted Chinese daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, iCarly) a technosapien brother, babysitter, companion and purveyor of "fun facts" about her heritage. He dotes amid his duties, perennially calm and loving, and clearly an essential part of the family. What concerns his wiring beyond his assigned tasks doesn't interest anyone, though, until he stops operating. Mika is distressed, and Kyra and Jake are merely inconvenienced initially, but the latter pledges to figure out how to fix Yang — which is where his desires factor in. Yang is unresponsive and unable to play his usual part as the household's robotic fourth member. If Jake can't get him up and running quickly, he'll also experience the "cultural techno" version of dying, his humanoid skin even decomposing. That puts a deadline on a solution, which isn't straightforward, particularly given that Yang was bought from a now-shuttered reseller secondhand, rather than from the manufacturer anew. Tinkering with the android's black box is also illegal, although Jake is convinced to anyway by a repairman (Ritchie Coster, The Flight Attendant). He acquiesces not only because it's what Mika desperately wants, but because he's told that Yang might possess spyware — aka recordings of the family — that'd otherwise become corporate property. After Yang is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. AMBULANCE Following a high-stakes Los Angeles bank robbery that goes south swiftly, forcing two perpetrators to hijack an EMT vehicle — while a paramedic tries to save a shot cop's life as the van flees the LAPD and the FBI, too — Ambulance is characteristically ridiculous. Although based on the 2005 Danish film Ambulancen, it's a Michael Bay from go to whoa; screenwriter and feature newcomer Chris Fedak (TV's Chuck, Prodigal Son) even references his director's past movies in the dialogue. The first time, when The Rock is mentioned, it's done in a matter-of-fact way that's as brazen as anything Bay has ever achieved when his flicks defy the laws of physics. In the second instance mere minutes later, it's perhaps the most hilarious thing he's put in his movies. It's worth remembering that Divinyls' 'I Touch Myself' was one of his music-clip jobs; Bay sure does love what only he can thrust onto screens, and he wants audiences to know it while adoring it as well. Ambulance's key duo, brothers Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Matrix Resurrections) and Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal, The Guilty), are a former Marine and ostensible luxury-car dealer/actual career criminal with hugely different reasons for attempting to pilfer a $32-million payday. For the unemployed Will, it's about the cash needed to pay for his wife Amy's (Moses Ingram, The Tragedy of Macbeth) experimental surgery, which his veteran's health insurance won't cover — but his sibling just wants money. Will is reluctant but desperate, Danny couldn't be more eager, and both race through a mess of a day. Naturally, it gets more hectic when they're hurtling along as the hotshot Cam (Eiza González, Godzilla vs Kong) works on wounded rookie police officer Zach (Jackson White, The Space Between), arm-deep in his guts at one point, while Captain Monroe (Garrett Dillahunt, Army of the Dead), Agent Anson Clark (Keir O'Donnell, The Dry) and their forces are in hot pursuit. Ambulance is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT "Nic fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Cage." That's how the man himself utters his name in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and he knows what he's about. Now four decades into his acting career to the year — after making his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High under his actual name Nicolas Coppola, playing a bit-part character who didn't even get a moniker — Cage is keenly aware of exactly what he's done on-screen over that time, and in what, and why and how. He also knows how the world has responded, with that recognition baked into every second of his his latest movie. He plays himself, dubbed Nick Cage. He cycles through action-hero Cage, comically OTT Cage, floppy-haired 80s- and 90s-era Cage, besuited Cage, neurotic Cage and more in the process. And, as he winks, nods, and bobs and weaves through a lifetime of all things Cage, he's a Cage-tastic delight to watch. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent does have a narrative around all that Cage as Cage, as penned by writer/director Tom Gormican (Are We Officially Dating?) and co-scribe Kevin Etten (Kevin Can F**K Himself). Here, the man who could eat a peach for days in Face/Off would do anything for as long as he needed to if he could lock in a weighty new part. The fictionalised Cage isn't happy with his roles of late, as he complains to his agent (Neil Patrick Harris, The Matrix Resurrections), but directors aren't buying what he's enthusiastically selling. He has debts and other art-parodies-life problems, though, plus an ex-wife (Sharon Horgan, This Way Up) and a teen daughter (Lily Sheen, IRL daughter of Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen). So, he reluctantly takes a $1-million gig he wishes he didn't have to: flying to southern Spain to hang out with billionaire Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal, The Bubble), who is such a Cage diehard that he even has his own mini museum filled with Cage memorabilia, and has also written a screenplay he wants Cage to star in. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE SOUVENIR: PART II In showbusiness, nepotism is as inescapable as movies about movies. Both are accounted for in The Souvenir: Part II. But when talents as transcendent as Honor Swinton Byrne, her mother Tilda Swinton and writer/director Joanna Hogg are involved — with the latter working with the elder Swinton since her first short, her graduation piece Caprice, back in 1986 before Honor was even born — neither family ties nor filmmaking navel-gazing feel like something routine. Why this isn't a surprise with this trio is right there in the movie's name, after the initial The Souvenir proved such a devastatingly astute gem in 2019. It was also simply devastating, following an aspiring director's romance with a charismatic older man through to its traumatic end. Both in its masterful narrative and its profound impact, Part II firmly picks up where its predecessor left off. In just her third film role — first working with her mum in 2009's I Am Love before The Souvenir and now this — Swinton Byrne again plays 80s-era filmmaking student Julie Harte. But there's now a numbness to the wannabe helmer after her boyfriend Anthony's (Tom Burke, Mank) death, plus soul-wearying shock after discovering the double life he'd been living that her comfortable and cosy worldview hadn't conditioned her to ever expect. Decamping to the Norfolk countryside, to her family home and to the warm but entirely upper-middle-class, stiff-upper-lip embrace of her well-to-do parents Rosalind (Swinton, The French Dispatch) and William (James Spencer Ashworth) is only a short-term solution, however. Julie's thesis film still needs to be made — yearns to pour onto celluloid, in fact — but that's hardly a straightforward task. The Souvenir: Part II is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. RRR The letters in RRR's title are short for Rise Roar Revolt. They could also stand for riveting, rollicking and relentless. They link in with the Indian action movie's three main forces, too — writer/director SS Rajamouli (Baahubali: The Beginning), plus stars NT Rama Rao Jr (Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava) and Ram Charan (Vinaya Vidheya Rama) — and could describe the sound of some of its standout moments. What noise echoes when a motorcycle is used in a bridge-jumping rescue plot, as aided by a horse and the Indian flag, amid a crashing train? Or when a truck full of wild animals is driven into a decadent British colonialist shindig and its caged menagerie unleashed? What racket resounds when a motorbike figures again, this time tossed around by hand (yes, really) to knock out those imperialists, and then an arrow is kicked through a tree into someone's head? Or, when the movie's two leads fight, shoot, leap over walls and get acrobatic, all while one is sat on the other's shoulders? RRR isn't subtle. Instead, it's big, bright, boisterous, boldly energetic, and brazenly unapologetic about how OTT and hyperactive it is. The 187-minute Tollywood action epic — complete with huge musical numbers, of course — is also a vastly captivating pleasure to watch. Narrative-wise, it follows the impact of the British Raj (aka England's rule over the subcontinent between 1858–1947), especially upon two men. In the 1920s, Bheem (Jr NTR, as Rao is known) is determined to rescue young fellow villager Malli (first-timer Twinkle Sharma), after she's forcibly taken by Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson, Vikings) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody, Beaver Falls) for no reason but they're powerful and they can. Officer Raju (Charan) is tasked by the crown with making sure Bheem doesn't succeed in rescuing the girl, and also keeping India's population in their place because their oppressors couldn't be more prejudiced. RRR is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. THE DUKE Back in 1962, in the first-ever Bond film Dr No, the suave, Scottish-accented, Sean Connery-starring version of 007 admires a painting in the eponymous evil villain's underwater lair. That picture: Francisco Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington. The artwork itself is very much real, too, although the genuine article doesn't appear in the feature. Even if the filmmakers had wanted to use the actual piece, it was missing at the time. In fact, making a joke about that exact situation is why the portrait is even referenced in Dr No. That's quite the situation: the debut big-screen instalment in one of cinema's most famous and longest-running franchises, and a saga about super spies and formidable villains at that, including a gag about a real-life art heist. The truth behind the painting's disappearance is even more fantastical, however, as The Duke captures. The year prior to Bond's first martini, a mere 19 days after the early 19th-century Goya piece was put on display in the National Gallery in London, the portrait was stolen. Unsurprisingly, the pilfering earned plenty of attention — especially given that the government-owned institution had bought the picture for the hefty sum of £140,000, which'd likely be almost £3 million today. International master criminals were suspected. Years passed, two more 007 movies hit cinemas, and there was zero sign of the artwork or the culprit. And, that might've remained the case if eccentric Newcastle sexagenarian Kempton Bunton (played here by Six Minutes to Midnight's Jim Broadbent) hadn't turned himself in in 1965. As seen in this wild caper from filmmaker Roger Michell (My Cousin Rachel, Blackbird), Bunton advised that he'd gotten light-fingered in protest at the obscene amount spent on Portrait of the Duke of Wellington using taxpayer funds — money that could've been better deployed to provide pensioners with TV licenses, a cause he had openly campaigned for (and even been imprisoned over after refusing to pay his own television fee). The Duke is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. WASH MY SOUL IN THE RIVER'S FLOW A silent hero and a rowdy troublemaker. That's what Ruby Hunter calls Archie Roach, her partner in life and sometimes music, then characterises herself. She offers those words casually, as if she's merely breathing, with an accompanying smile and a glint in her eyes as she talks. They aren't the only thoughts uttered in Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, which intersperses concert and rehearsal clips with chats with Hunter and Roach, plus snippets of biographical details from and recollections about their lives as intertitles, and then majestic footage of the winding Murray River in Ngarrindjeri Country, where Hunter was born, too. Still, even before those two-word descriptions are mentioned, the film shows how they resonate within couple's relationship. Watching their dynamic, which had ebbed and flowed over three-plus decades when the movie's footage was shot in 2004, it's plain to see how these two icons of Australian music are dissimilar in personality and yet intertwine harmoniously. Every relationship is perched upon interlocking personalities: how well they complement each other, where their differences blend seamlessly and how their opposing traits spark challenges in the best possible ways. Every song, too, is a balance of disparate but coordinated pieces. And, every ecosystem on the planet also fits the bill. With Hunter and Roach as its focus, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow contemplates all three — love, music and Country — all through 2004 concert Kura Tungar — Songs from the River. Recorded for the documentary at Melbourne's Hamer Hall, that gig series interlaced additional parts, thanks to a collaboration with Paul Grabowsky's 22-piece Australian Art Orchestra — and the movie that producer-turned-writer/director Philippa Bateman makes of it, and about two Indigenous stars, their experience as members of Australia's Stolen Generations, their ties to Country and their love, is equally, gloriously and mesmerisingly multifaceted. Wash My Soul in the River's Flow is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLIND AMBITION From fleeing Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe to taking their nation's first-ever team to the World Wine Blind Testing Championships in Burgundy, Joseph, Tinashe, Marlvin and Pardon have quite the story to tell. The quartet met in South Africa, where they each individually made their home long before they crossed paths. They all also found themselves working with wine, despite not drinking it as Pentecostal Christians — and, in the process, they discovered a knack for an industry they mightn't have even contemplated otherwise. That's the tale that Blind Ambition relays, and it's a rousing and moving one. Indeed, it won't come as a surprise that the movie won Australian filmmakers Warwick Ross and Rob Coe (Red Obsession) the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary. Blind wine testing is a serious business; the first word isn't slang for inebriation, but describes how teams sample an array of wines without knowing what they're drinking. Then, they must pick everything from the country to the vintage to the varietal within two minutes of sipping. As stressed both verbally and visually throughout the doco, there's a specific — and very white — crowd for this endeavour. Accordingly, Team Zimbabwe instantly stands out. Heralding diversity is one of their achievements; their infectious joy, pride and enthusiasm for the field, for competing at the Olympics of the wine world, for the fact that their plight has taken them from refugees to finding a new calling, and for opening up the world to African vino, is just as resonant. Blind Ambition is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE What a difference Mads Mikkelsen can make. What a difference the stellar Danish actor can't, too. The Another Round and Riders of Justice star enjoys his Wizarding World debut in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, taking over the part of evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's Johnny Depp — who did the same from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them's Colin Farrell first, albeit in a scripted change — and he's impressively sinister and engagingly insidious in the role. He needs to be: his fascist character, aka the 1930s-set movie's magical version of Hitler, wants to eradicate muggles. He's also keen to grab power however he must to do so. But a compelling casting switch can't conjure up the winning wonder needed to power an almost two-and-a-half-hour film in a flailing franchise, even one that's really just accioing already-devoted Harry Potter fans into cinemas. Nearly four years have passed since The Crimes of Grindelwald hit cinemas, but its successor picks up its wand where that dull sequel left off. That means reuniting with young Albus Dumbledore, who was the best thing about the last feature thanks to Jude Law (The Third Day) following smoothly in Michael Gambon and Richard Harris' footsteps. And, it means explaining that Dumbledore and Grindelwald pledged not to harm each other years earlier, which precludes any fray between them now. Enter magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals. Well, most of them. Newt's assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates, Call the Midwife), brother Theseus (Callum Turner, Emma), No-Maj mate Jacob (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead), Hogwarts professor Lally (Jessica Williams, Love Life) and Leta Lestrange's brother Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam, Stillwater) are accounted for, while former friend Queenie (Alison Sudol, The Last Full Measure) has defected to Grindelwald. As for the latter's sister Tina (Katherine Waterston, The World to Come), she's spirited aside, conspicuously sitting Operation Avoid Muggle Genocide out. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. NOBODY HAS TO KNOW Before Belgian actor and filmmaker Bouli Lanners started gracing screens big and small — writing and directing projects for the former as well — he trained as a painter. If you didn't know that fact, it'd be easy to guess while watching Nobody Has to Know. He helms and scripts, as he did 2011 Cannes award-winner The Giant, plus 2016's The First, the Last. He acts, as he has in everything from A Very Long Engagement and Rust and Bone to Raw and Bye Bye Morons. But it's the careful eye he brings to all that fills Nobody Has to Know's frames that immediately leaves an impression, starting with simply staring at the windswept Scottish scenery that provides the movie's backdrop. It's picturesque but also ordinary, finding visual poetry in the scenic and sweeping and yet also everyday. That's what the feature does with its slow-burning romantic narrative, too. On a remote island, Philippe Haubin (Lanners) has made a humble home. Working as a farmhand, he stands out with his arms covered in tattoos and his accent, but he's also been welcomed into the close-knit community. And, when he's found on the beach after suffering a stroke, his friends swiftly rally around — his younger colleague Brian (Andrew Still, Waterloo Road), who spreads the word; the latter's aunt Millie (Michelle Fairley, Game of Thrones), who ferries him around town; and her stern father Angus (Julian Glover, The Toll), who welcomes him back to work once he's out of hospital. But Phil returns with amnesia, which unsurprisingly complicates his daily interactions. He doesn't know what Brian means when he jokes about Phil now being the island's Jason Bourne, he has no idea if the dog in his house is his own, and he has no knowledge of any past, or not, with Millie. Nobody Has to Know is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MORBIUS Jumping into the Sony Shared Universe from the DCEU — that'd be the DC Extended Universe, the pictures based around Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad and the like (but not including Joker or The Batman) — Jared Leto plays Morbius' eponymous figure. A renowned scientist, Dr Michael Morbius has a keen interest in the red liquid pumping through humans' veins stemming from his own health issues. As seen in early scenes set during his childhood, young Michael (Charlie Shotwell, The Nest) was a sickly kid in a medical facility thanks to a rare disease that stops him from producing new blood. There, under the care of Dr Emil Nikols (Jared Harris, Foundation), he befriended another unwell boy (debutant Joseph Esson), showed his smarts and earned a prestigious scholarship. As an adult, he now refuses the Nobel Prize for creating artificial plasma, then tries to cure himself using genes from vampire bats. Morbius sports an awkward tone that filmmaker Daniel Espinosa (Life) can't overcome; its namesake may be a future big-screen baddie, but he's also meant to be this sympathetic flick's hero — and buying either is a stretch. In the overacting Leto's hands, he's too tedious to convince as a threat or someone to root for. He's too gleefully eccentric to resemble anything more than a skit at Leto's expense, too. Indeed, evoking any interest in Morbius' inner wrestling (because saving his own life with his experimental procedure comes at a bloodsucking cost) proves plodding. It does take a special set of skills to make such OTT displays so pedestrian at best, though, and that's a talent that Leto keeps showing to the misfortune of movie-goers. He offers more restraint here than in Suicide Squad (not to be confused with The Suicide Squad), The Little Things, House of Gucci or streaming series WeCrashed, but his post-Dallas Buyers Club Oscar-win resume remains dire — Blade Runner 2049 being the sole exception. Morbius is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 It was true in the 90s, and it remains that way now: when Jim Carrey lets loose, thrusting the entire might of his OTT comedic powers onto the silver screen, it's an unparalleled sight to behold. It doesn't always work, and he's a spectacular actor when putting in a toned-down or even serious performance — see: The Truman Show, The Majestic, I Love You Phillip Morris and his best work ever, the sublime Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — but there's a reason that the Ace Venture flicks, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber were some of the biggest movies made three decades back. Carrey is now a rarity in cinemas, but one franchise has been reminding viewers what his full-throttle comic efforts look like. Sadly, he's also the best thing about the resulting films, even if they're hardly his finest work. That was accurate in 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog, and it's the same of sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — which once again focuses on the speedy video game character but couldn't feel like more of a drag. The first Sonic movie established its namesake's life on earth, as well as his reason for being here. Accordingly, the blue-hued planet-hopping hedgehog (voiced by The Afterparty's Ben Schwartz) already made friends with small-town sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden, The Stand). He already upended the Montana resident's life, too, including Tom's plans to move to San Francisco with his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter, Mixed-ish). And, as well as eventually becoming a loveable member of the Wachowski family, Sonic also wreaked havoc with his rapid pace, and earned the wrath of the evil Dr Robotnik (Carrey, Kidding) in the process. More of the same occurs this time around, with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 taking a more-is-more approach. There's a wedding to ruin, magic gems to find and revenge on the part of Robotnik. He's teamed up with super-strong echidna Knuckles (voiced by The Harder They Fall's Idris Elba), in fact, while Sonic gets help from smart-but-shy fox Tails (voice-acting veteran Colleen O'Shaughnessey). Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. DEADLY CUTS The Full Monty wasn't the first to do it, and it definitely hasn't been the last. But for the quarter century since that crowd-pleasing comedy became an enormous worldwide hit, British movies about underdogs banding together to save their livelihoods and communities have no longer been scrappy battlers themselves. Irish film Deadly Cuts is the latest, joining an ever-growing pile that also includes everything from Calendar Girls to Swimming with Men — and first-time feature writer/director Rachel Carey knows the formula she's playing with. Each such picture needs to be set in a distinctive world, follow a close-knit group, see them face an apparently insurmountable task and serve up a big public spectacle that promises redemption, and every step in that recipe is covered here. But a movie can stick to a clear template and still boast enough spirit to make even the creakiest of plot inclusions feel likely and entertaining enough, and that's this low-budget affair from start to finish. It does raise a smile that AhhHair, the glamorous hairdressing contest that Deadly Cuts' main characters want to enter and win, is all about innovation in its chosen form. The movie itself would never emerge victorious at such a competition, but it's filled with broad, blackly comic fun along the way, even if it boasts about as much subtlety as a mohawk. The setting: Piglington, Dublin, an as-yet-ungentrified corner of the Irish capital, where the titular salon is a mainstay. The aim: saving the shop from being torn down and replaced with shiny new apartments. The wholly predictable complications: the determination of corrupt local politician Darryl Flynn (Aidan McArdle, The Fall) to forge ahead with the development, which'll boost his bank account; and the suburb-scaring thugs led by the overbearing Deano (Ian Lloyd Anderson, Herself), who throw their weight around at every chance they get. Deadly Cuts is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. IT SNOWS IN BENIDORM Forty-four years have passed since Timothy Spall first graced the silver screen — and what a gift he's given both cinema and television since. He won Cannes Best Actor prize for Mr Turner, earned five BAFTA nominations in five years between 1997–2002, popped up in lively Aussie crime flick Gettin' Square, stole every scene he was in in The Party and recently proved formidable in Spencer. He has everything from multiple Harry Potter movies to playing Winston Churchill in The King's Speech on his resume, too, and also routinely improves whatever he's in with his presence alone. In fact, he does exactly that with It Snows in Benidorm, which'd be a mere wisp of a film otherwise. Following a just-made-redundant bank employee to Spain, this meandering drama by Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (Elisa & Marcela) frequently mistakes mood for depth — and while Spall can't polish away its struggles, he's always the key reason to keep watching. A fan of the weather and little else, Spall's Peter Riordan has given decades of his life to his employer, and is so settled into the routine he's fashioned around his job that it's as natural and automatic to him as breathing. Accordingly, when he's unceremoniously let go, he finds it difficult to adjust. He's told that being freed from the monotony of his work is a gift, allowing him to retire early — so in that spirit, he heads off to the Mediterranean coast's tourist mecca to spend time with the brother he otherwise rarely talks to. But upon his arrival, Peter finds his sibling conspicuously absent. He still stays in his high-rise apartment, but what was meant to be a family reunion-style holiday now becomes a detective quest. Helping him is Alex (Sarita Choudhury, And Just Like That...), who worked with Peter's shady club-owning brother, might know more than she's letting on about his whereabouts, and also welcomes her new pal's tender companionship the more that they spend time together. It Snows in Benidorm is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. OFF THE RAILS In need of a bland and derivative friends-on-holidays flick that's painted with the broadest of strokes? Keen to dive once more into the pool of movies about pals heading abroad to scatter ashes and simultaneously reflect upon their current lot in life? Fancy yet another supposedly feel-good film that endeavours to wring humour out of culture clashes between English-speaking protagonists and the places they visit? Yearning for more glimpses of thinly written women getting their grooves back and realising what's important on a wild Eurotrip? Call Off the Rails, not that anyone should. Coloured with every cliche that all of the above scenarios always throw up, and also covered from start to finish in schmaltz, the debut feature from director Jules Williamson is a travel-themed slog that no one could want to remember. A grab bag of overdone tropes and treacly sentiment, it also doubles as an ode to the songs of Blondie, which fill its soundtrack — but even the vocal stylings of the great Debbie Harry can't breathe vibrancy into this trainwreck. Once close, Kate (Jenny Seagrove, Peripheral), Liz (Sally Phillips, Blinded by the Light) and Cassie (Preston, Gotti) now just call on big occasions — and even then, they're barely there for each other. But when fellow pal Anna dies, they reunite at her funeral, and are asked to carry out her final wish by her mother (Belfast's Judi Dench, in a thankless cameo). The task: catching a train across Europe, through Paris to Girona, Barcelona and Palma in Spain, to recreate a backpacking jaunt the four took decades earlier. Specifically, they're headed to La Seu, a cathedral with stained-glass windows that look particularly spectacular when the sun hits at the right time (the film calls it "god's disco ball"). Anna already bought their Interrail passes, and her 18-year-old daughter Maddie (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips, Fortitude) decides she'll join the voyage, too. Off the Rails is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows, or check out the movies that were fast-tracked to digital in January, February, March, April and May.
Filmmakers frequently trade in dreams and reality, plus the space where the two meet, clash and contrast. Directing a movie that's steeped in the daily actuality of being a woman in Mumbai, Payal Kapadia does exactly that with her first fictional feature. In All We Imagine as Light, three nurses go about their lives in India's most-populous city — big-smoke existences that appear independent, but are dictated by patriarchal societal norms, class and religious stratifications, and the growing gentrification of the nation's financial capital. Making the leap from documentary to narrative films after 2021's A Night of Knowing Nothing, Kapadia sees her characters' plights with clear eyes. Her 2024 Cannes Grand Prix-winning picture isn't afraid to embrace their hopes and desires, however, or to be romantic and poetic as well as infuriated and impassioned. Head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti, Maharani), her younger colleague and roommate Anu (Divya Prabha, Family), and their elder co-worker Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam, Snow Flower) all seem to be enjoying their own paths. In everything from where they live to who they love, though, their choices aren't completely their own. Hailing from Kerala, Prabha is married to a husband that she barely met before they wed, and who now works abroad in Germany. As she tends to the wounds and helps with the woes of others, the life that she so desperately wanted has failed to come to fruition. While fellow Malayali nurse Anu is carefree and in love, her boyfriend Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon, Mura) is Muslim, so their romance plays out in secret — and simply finding somewhere to be intimate is a constant mission. Maharashtrian Parvaty faces moving back to her Ratnagiri village due to Mumbai's changing skyline, with her chawl earmarked for demolition in favour of a high-rise, and her rights to her home given little consideration. For spending time with Prabha, Anu and Parvaty in this character- and mood-driven rather than story-driven gem — for juxtaposing the perceptions and the truths about their existences, too, and of women who head to Mumbai to forge their careers in general — Kapadia cemented herself as one of 2024's cinematic revelations. Awards and nominations have kept following. When it received Cannes' second-most prestigious annual prize after the Palme d'Or, so coming in behind Anora, it did so after becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to play in the renowned festival's official competition. From there, All We Imagine as Light earned two Golden Globe nods, with its guiding force a Best Director nominee. Oscar buzz lingers, even if the film wasn't selected by India as its submission for the Best International Feature category. Another tick of approval, among many, came when Kapadia's picture was named as one of Barack Obama's ten favourite movies for 2024. Is this response all that the writer/director dared to imagine when All We Imagine as Light first sprang to mind as a student project? "No, of course not," Kapadia tells Concrete Playground. "I took some time to raise the funding for this film. It was raised using a lot of funds from public institutions all over Europe, so it was a long process that they have there, and you just want to be able to make the film. That's your main priority. So we were just slowly, slowly building the budget to be able to shoot it. For us, everything has come as such a bonus — the making of the film itself was such a great, great thing for us that we, at points, would think 'are we going to be able to do it?'. Because it really takes time and that's fine. I appreciate the process. But you don't really think of what will happen. You hope, of course, that it'll do well and people will see it. But this was quite unexpected, I have to say." "I'm really so grateful," Kapadia also advises, while recognising that the fact that she's still just one of two women contending for the Best Director Golden Globe at 2025's ceremony — alongside The Substance's Coralie Fargeat — should be a relic of the past, as should cinema's poor history of appreciating female filmmakers. "And it's not just about women and a gender thing, but representation in all ways. There is diversity that needs to be there in representation, which is people of all races and castes and class. If selection committees were more diverse, I think this problem would not exist," Kapadia notes. All We Imagine as Light isn't just helping to push diversity in filmmaking accolades to the fore, but also the diversity of Indian cinema with audiences outside of the country itself. "I think in India, we have a very self-sustained ecosystem of cinema." Kapadia says. "I think that the West needs to start looking more at Indian cinema and accepting that there are different ways. There are different ways of acting. There are different ways of performance. We come from a very theatrical, sometimes melodramatic background, and that is also a way. So I think that the diversity of Indian cinema is not restricted to Bollywood. There is Tamil cinema, which is absolutely incredible; Malayalam cinema, which is really doing very avant-garde stuff; and, of course, Telugu cinema has now travelled with RRR and things like this." What did it mean for All We Imagine as Light to break a three-decade drought for Indian films in Cannes' competition? How did the film evolve from an idea for a graduation film? Kapadia also chatted with us both — as well as what influenced the movie's narrative elements, and inspires the filmmaker in general; the many layers to the script, and how to balance what is told visually versus what's conveyed in dialogue; how the writer/director's non-fiction filmmaking background had an imprint; bringing a different vision of Mumbai to the screen; and more. On All We Imagine as Light Being the First Indian Film to Play in Competition at Cannes in 30 Years "I think it was really great that we were in competition. It's also a bit scary, because it's your first fiction movie and it's competing with all these big directors who you've admired and who you studied at film school. So you're a bit nervous, like 'oh my god, what is it going to be?'. So I think for for me it was a lot of nerves, and I was a bit like 'will I be, will it …', about standing up to all these expectations of this thing about 30 years. But the truth is that in India, we do have — like this year, there was an Indian film in every section in Cannes. And that's really great because I think that having not having a film in 30 years is a bit of a disappointment for us as Indian filmmakers. I think that Indian films have been doing really well in other festivals. And a lot of competitions, in Venice and Locarno, there's more or less always an Indian film. So I think this 30-year pressure was a bit overdue, in that it should have had more Indian films. But yeah, I was nervous that I hoped that the film would be accepted and wouldn't feel like it was not worthy of being there." On the Movie's Evolution From Student Project to Earning Global Attention and Accolades "I had to make my what we call a diploma film at the Film and Television Institute of India. I had a very two-page thing about two two women who are friends, roommates, but have two different ideas of morality, and this was the starting point. But it was a very short 20-minute thing. And I had already thought that they should be nurses. So I was spending a lot of time trying to do more research about nursing. That's when I realised that I couldn't have done this in 20 minutes. I knew nothing. I needed more time to to think about all these things, to really explore this subject. I felt that 20 minutes was not enough. So I put it aside. But at that time I already got in touch with Kani Kusruti, to play the younger nurse at that time because it was eight years ago. And then I stopped the project and I did something else for my diploma. And I had put it aside for some time, and then I thought I should get back to it. A few years later, I got back to it and I started doing more research, meeting more people, spending a lot more time working on the details of the script. I was also making another movie at the same time, A Night of Knowing Nothing. So it was an on-off thing that I was doing, coming back to this film from time to time. And as I met more people, I got more stories that made it into the film, with all the interviews that I did and all of the young women I spoke to — and some part of myself, growing older also, because I went from being from the younger nurses age to the older nurse's age in the span of all this time. And I think that as you grow older, your perception of things also changes, of course. So my gaze also began to change a bit. And finally, this is the film that you see." On Where the Movie's Main Narrative Elements Sprang From, Including Focusing on Three Women Across Generations, Classes and Languages "I was thinking a lot about this question of friendship, and how certain friendships are very big city-driven. These people probably couldn't or wouldn't have met, or wouldn't have been friends, if it wasn't for Mumbai. For example, when you live in a city like Mumbai, you have to have a roommate — because it's really expensive, and sometimes you just have the roommate because you need to fill up the slot of the bed next to you because you need somebody to pay half the rent. So that's an odd kind of relationship, because you might not get along with this person. You don't want to be their friend. But now you're stuck with them for the 11-month lease. So that's a unique friendship. So Prabha's Anu's boss, in a way. She's the head nurse. But now she's stuck with this girl who is very different from her — and they are age-wise also different from each other, and their perspectives to life are very different. I was interested in this juxtaposition of two people who are so different in their way of thinking, but have to share a room, and what could come out of this relationship. And even Parvaty, who works with Prabha now, she's Maharashtrian and she speaks a different language. And they would not have met if it wasn't for Mumbai, because she would never have gone to Kerala. And there's nowhere else that Prabha would have probably gone. So that friendship is also unique because, again, it's a very Mumbai friendship between a Maharashtrian woman and a Malayali nurse. So I wanted to kind of have these unique friendships, which are, for me, very Mumbai friendships, in the film. And the character of Parvaty wasn't really that important when I started writing the film, but as I began to do more research into the housing situation — which for me was something that I had seen, but I hadn't delved into in a big way — I felt that it was something that I had to really address in the film." On Layering the Impact of Societal Expectations, Cultural Clashes and Gentrification Upon the Film's Characters Into the Script "It was quite a balancing act, because if you have three different trajectories, it's always a bit difficult to balance. And what we shot was a lot more than than you see in the film, of course. But I think we had a good editor, and along with him, we were finding that balance between the three stories and how they reflect on each other. How Parvaty doesn't feel lonely, even if she doesn't have a family — she doesn't want to go live with her son. While Prabha is somebody who's been so obsessed with the idea of a family, of a husband, and how that reflects on her — and how Prabha sees how free Anu is. And Anu is just a young girl, and she just wants to have sex with her boyfriend. It's a very fundamental thing. And the city doesn't really allow that. So I was thinking of it that it's not individual stories, but how they reflect on each other and what they gain from each other's interactions with them. It was a difficult thing — and I also feel sometimes that I could have had a longer film, but my producer was like 'two hours is good enough'." On Drawing Upon Kapadia's Background in Non-Fiction Filmmaking "The way that we shot the film has a lot of non-fiction process to it. When I was writing the script, my same cinematographer shot my previous movie also, which was the documentary. So while I was writing the script, we would go out into the city and we would both shoot. Then we would come back and we would analyse what we chose to shoot, as if we were making a documentary — because in a documentary you can shoot a lot, and then you can come back and edit it, but in fiction, everything is fixed. So we have to understand how we want to look. So we did a lot of tests of how our gaze should be towards the city. How do we feel about the lensing, and the camera movement, the feeling of space? So we thought a lot about these things, and that came from documentary, because we were shooting like documentary in our research. And we also, I spoke to a lot of people at this time, like 100, 200 people, at least. Some people, I thought I will cast them in the film, so I would call them for screen tests, but then that ended up just being long conversations and no possibility of acting, but just conversations in the afternoons. So I wanted to keep some sense of that in the film, those interactions somehow, to keep them as well. So we came up with this thing of putting a small, short documentary-like footage in the beginning and in the middle of the film — and giving it a sort of sense of a city symphony. And just talk about how diverse Mumbai really is. It's a city that is made by people who come from outside. There was nothing there. It was a bunch of islands. Only the Koli people lived there, and the British came and they reclaimed the land, and invited people to come to live and work there to create a new port. So the fundamental idea of this city is that it's made up of people who are not from there, and I wanted to highlight that somehow." On What Was Most Crucial for Kapadia to Convey About the City That She Was Born in, Then Came Back to as an Adult After Going to School Elsewhere "The multilingual quality of the city. And also one of the things that is very important to me was the trains. Because it's what you end up seeing the most, because you spend a lot of time in the transport. And they become a space for a lot of different interactions — or relationships of the ladies compartment, where you make friends. You see the same people, you don't know them but you always nod because you know you'll see them tomorrow. And you try to think about their life outside of that compartment. But for those two hours, you are in that journey together. And all these things, I think a lot about. Maybe I'm too romantic about it, but I don't know, it's how I feel. Also this question of gentrification was important to me, and the right to people owning property, and who has this right. I feel I could have made another whole film about it, because it's so complicated and there is so much anger that one feels towards this situation. I wanted to also in a visual way talk about that. So you always see the buildings and then also the smaller houses and the slum area all together in a frame, and I wanted to give a visual sense of what the city is." On Knowing What to Convey Visually and Where to Let Dialogue Tell the Story "This is a real struggle. It's something that, as a filmmaker, you think about a lot because you don't have the visuals exactly on paper. You can't exactly say what they will be. And you have to rely a bit on the writing of the visuals and of the dialogue for the person who's giving you the grant to be able to understand it. But for me, I can put an image of the city and I know what I'm thinking. So this is a big, big issue for me, about finding that balance. And finally, when I'm editing, it's when I actually realise the balance and I can let go of a lot of information — which is being, I hope, conveyed visually and it doesn't need to be told in lines. But its a big balancing act and I hope to get better and better at it because sometimes I feel — it's complicated, I have a complicated relationship with this." On the Guidance That Kapadia Gave Her Cast When They're Tasked with Revealing Complicated Characters Via Actions and Expressions as Much, If Not More, Than Dialogue "We we did a lot of rehearsals before shooting. For three weeks, we we all stayed together. We did it like a theatre workshop. So we worked on each of the characters' body language, on how silences are — and we did a really fun exercise, which was that we did many scenes where the actors would play the characters, but between dialogues say what the character is thinking. So if there was silence, you would hear what Anu's mind is going on, thinking to herself about — let's say how she's planning something or how she's bored or whatever. So we would do these exercises where the thoughts were all spoken out, so we all know how to think about it. And the actors are really, really great, and they brought in a lot of their own thoughts about this, and I think it was way beyond what I had even thought. It was really collaborative and rich process for me." On What Inspires Kapadia as a Filmmaker "Everything inspires me. I think that that's the privilege of being a filmmaker, that life seems more interesting than cinema, and I want to make films about everything all the time. It's crazy. I feel, I think just being in the world and seeing the world around you, really everything is so inspiring. And for me, my films are also about very daily things, so that is why daily life for me is is my inspiration." On the Importance of Conveying Prabha, Anu and Parvaty's Ongoing Fights for Agency "It was really what you're saying, that it is these tentacles of this patriarchal society that still hold you down, and in spite of being financially independent and physically away from the family, it is something that is for me, certainly, a real pity. It's a matter of genuine anger. Because I've seen it in people in my family as well, and girlfriends around me, and it's something that always just makes me very frustrated. So I wanted to bring out that frustration in the film and say that at least if this society is failing us in so many ways, if we could find some utopian-like space where we could all connect, at least in a way that is beyond our immediate identity and beyond our immediate morality, to at least be supportive of one another — it's a small move, but it's, for me, a big one." On How the Film's Sometimes-Romantic, Sometimes-Clinical Aesthetic Adopts Its Characters' Different Gazes "I wanted to shoot the film from the gaze of the characters. So for Anu, whenever we see her and Shiaz, the city seems very nice. They're walking through the Mohammed Ali Road and eating kebabs and the beautiful lights, and the smoke coming out. Because I think cities are better when you are with a friend or when you are with a lover. If you are in that mood, then somehow things look better. They might not be, but it's how it is. You don't mind sitting in a really crowded public bus — you don't mind that there is traffic because it means you'll have a little bit more time together. And these very normal things that would annoy you suddenly become okay. So I wanted to have that kind subjectivity to the film, whenever we are with Anu and Shiaz, then we also feel delighted at everything. And if you see the city through the wet droplets, that all looks so. Then with Prabha, it's more about the daily grind. She's not going to look at how beautiful it is, but just go from one place to the other, and it's a functional look. And for Parvaty, there is a sense of this complete injustice, feeling that she's going to be thrown out of a place that she's been calling home for 22 years. So I was trying in some senses to have a different gaze to the city, because I think it is all these things. It is a place of freedom for a lot of young women. It is a place of anonymity and that anonymity gives freedom. But it's also a harsh reality and a difficult city. So I was hoping that through these different gazes these layers came out." All We Imagine as Light opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024.
The Central Coast has just gained a massive new hospitality precinct thanks to Australian entrepreneur extraordinaire John Singleton. He's done much to develop the high-end hospitality scene on the Central Coast, with his ventures include the award-winning Pretty Beach House and Bells at Killcare Boutique Hotel. But the latest spot to receive the Singleton treatment is Gosford's 14-storey Bonython Tower, a luxury waterfront mixed-use building at Point Frederick. Singleton has transformed the building into a six-in-one venue, The Bon Pavilion — and it opens today, Friday, April 12. Longtime hospitality partners Brian and Karina Barry (Pokolbin Hunter Valley Resort) are in on the action, having also joined Singleton on Bells at Killcare, Pretty Beach House and the Bluetongue Brewery. In the kitchen is celebrity executive chef Sean Connolly, who is best known locally as the man behind The Morrison Bar and Oyster Room, but also operates highly lauded venues in Byron Bay, Auckland, Adelaide and Dubai. Connolly is all about ethically sourced produce and simple food done well, which will of course be on display across Bon Pavilion's many offerings. And we mean many. The enormous pavilion is split between six 'zones', each with a distinct offering. First up there's Bonfire, the venue's main dining room, which is open for lunch and dinner. Think freshly shucked oysters, seasonal fish and premium cuts of steak, plus an extensive wine list with a strong focus on Hunter Valley drops. For even more wine, head to the Bon Vin cellar door, which offers up premium wines from around the globe — including Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain and South America — with bottles ranging from $38 to a whopping $750. Then there's Bon Bar, open from midday until midnight, and slinging Australian and international craft beer on tap, a wide range of spirits and seasonal cocktails, plus late-night bar snacks. The public bar will be a more casual affair, open each day as well. For more casual fare, Bon Bon Espresso offers breakfast and lunch, along with a selection signature cocktails and house wines — a clear theme across the board. There's also separate private dining and function rooms for booking. Speaking of a many hats, Connolly is also the space's creative director and is also responsible for the fit-out, alongside design practice Alexander & Co. The impressive interior features a palette of burnt orange and sea greens, and diners will be joined by a huge mural by Lisa King of Biripi Nation woman Elsie Stuart. Worth a trip up the coast this weekend — especially as it's only an hour and a half away, both in the car or on the train. The Bon Pavilion is now open at 159 Mann Street, Gosford. The espresso bar will open from 6.30am daily, and the other venues will open from midday. Images: Jacs Powell Photography.
Big moments deserve a little something extra — and with American Express Plan It® Instalments, you can make it happen*. Plan It lets you divide your purchase or even your statement balance into three, six or 12 equal monthly instalments — with no interest, just a monthly fee. You can even create multiple plans at once and cancel anytime, so you stay fully in control while building up those sweet rewards points along the way. Even if it's just for a weekend, sometimes the best way to recharge is by checking into a hotel that feels worlds away. Add world-class dining, buzzy rooftop bars or a spa treatment or two, and you've got yourself the ultimate mini-escape. Here are some of our favourite city escapes around the country that tick all the boxes. The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne Rising high above the Hoddle Grid with sweeping views of the city and beyond, The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne, is, in more ways than one, the pinnacle of luxury. There are plenty of ways to take in those views, too, whether from your in-room bathtub, the stunning 24-hour infinity pool or hatted fine-diner Atria. Complete the experience with a visit to The Ritz-Carlton Spa, where tranquil spaces and restorative treatments make it easy to forget you're in the middle of the city. Crown Towers It's big, it's bold, it's flashy — and there's simply nothing else quite like it in Melbourne. Inside, you'll find oversized rooms and suites with marble-accented bathrooms, world-class dining at restaurants like Nobu, Rockpool and Silks (not to mention the long-standing Conservatory, still home to one of Melbourne's very best buffets), and one of the city's most renowned spas. Crown might just be Melbourne's ultimate choose-your-own-adventure — as long as you're in the mood for pure indulgence. Jackalope Set among rolling vineyards on the Mornington Peninsula, Jackalope pairs avant-garde design with a deep sense of place. Dine on hyperlocal produce at on-site fine-diner Doot Doot Doot, sip wines surrounded by vineyards, or unwind with a spa treatment that draws on the property's surrounds. It's a one-of-a-kind experience that will stay with you long after you check out, whether it's a romantic weekend or a solo escape. Capella Sydney Behind a heritage sandstone façade in the heart of the CBD, Capella Sydney brings a new level of contemporary luxury to the Harbour City. The nine-storey property features 192 elegant rooms with Frette linen and standalone bathtubs, alongside destination dining at the opulent Brasserie 1930. The indulgence continues at Auriga Spa, where timber-lined interiors, greenery and a considered menu of treatments will help you truly disconnect. The Eve You might be mistaken for thinking the above pool deck is located on a faraway island — but it's actually in the thick of Surry Hills. And it's the cherry on the very top of The Eve, the 102-room hotel set within the expansive Surry Hills Village. Downstairs, the vibrant Wunderlich Lane precinct is home to a curated (and extensive) mix of dining and bars, from vibey rooftop Mexican diner Lottie to the sleek omakase of R by Raita. The options might feel overwhelming, but don't spend too long deciding where to dine — the pool awaits, after all. Sofitel Sydney Wentworth With its mix of 1960s jet-set glamour and contemporary French-inspired luxury, Australia's first-ever five-star hotel continues to set the standard for luxury city stays nearly 50 years after it welcomed its first guests. Following a top-to-bottom $70-million makeover unveiled in 2024, the 436-room hotel now boasts four new dining and bar venues curated by House Made Hospitality, including the expansive terrace lounge Wentworth Bar, Vietnamese-French fine diner Delta Rue and the elegant Bar Tilda. If you like your stays a little gourmet, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth delivers. [caption id="attachment_973394" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Calile James St, Cieran Murphy[/caption] The Calile, Brisbane There isn't much that hasn't already been said about The Calile, Fortitude Valley's oh-so-stylish resort-style hotel that's twice been named the very best hotel in Oceania by the World's 50 Best. Its 175 rooms and suites combine chic, pared-back interiors with private balconies that overlook the stunning openair pool deck, where poolside cabanas set the scene for weekend lounging at its finest. Beyond the pool, dining options abound — from breezy all-day Greek at Hellenika or punchy contemporary Thai at the impressive sAme sAme — while a curated retail precinct makes for a leisurely shopping experience. If relaxation is on the cards, the Kailo Medispa provides a range of rejuvenating treatments, while the hotel's library offers a serene space to read or work. W Brisbane W Brisbane might just be one of the city's most eye-catching hotels. The design-forward property offers 312 rooms and suites with panoramic views of the Brisbane River and beyond, while the rooftop WET Deck, tranquil AWAY Spa and 24-hour gym are ready and waiting for however you choose to unwind. You won't have to head too far to refuel, either — start with a pre-dinner drink and snack at the sleek Living Room Bar, indulge in caviar bumps and fire-grilled steaks at New York-style brasserie The Lex, and head up to the pool deck for a nightcap overlooking the city skyline. Crystalbrook Vincent With over 500 prints by acclaimed Australian artist Vincent Fantauzzo, Crystalbrook Vincent is a bold, art-infused hotel perched right on the edge of the Brisbane River. This boutique stay fuses sustainability and style with 100-percent waste-free bathrooms and no single-use plastics anywhere on site, while plush king beds and rainforest showers in every room bring the luxe factor. Food-wise, all-day diner Mews offers seasonal menus that champion local produce, buzzy rooftop bar Fiume might just be one of the city's most picturesque spots for a sundowner, while Howard Street Wharves and James Street are but a proverbial stone's throw away. For more information about Amex Plan It, head to the Amex website. A fixed monthly fee and T&Cs apply. *Plan It Terms and Conditions: You can create an Instalment Plan as long as your account is in good standing. We may withdraw this offer, prevent you from creating any new Instalment Plans or cancel any of your existing Instalment Plan(s) at any time if your Card Account is overdue, or if you do not comply with your Card Conditions. The minimum Plan amount is AUD$100. We may also limit the amount that can be transferred to an Instalment Plan. You will be charged a Monthly Plan Fee for each Instalment Plan created. This fee will be charged each month your Instalment Plan is active and will be disclosed to you at the time of creating your Instalment Plan. Each Instalment Plan will begin from the date it is successfully created, as communicated to you in your Online Account. Payment of your first Monthly Instalment will be due in your next payment cycle. You may request to cancel your Instalment Plan(s) at any time through your Online Account or the Amex App. Any billed Monthly Plan Fees will remain payable, but no further Monthly Plan Fees will be billed after cancellation is effective. As cancellation can take 24-48 hours to process ("Processing Time"), you may be charged a further monthly plan fee after cancellation if the Processing Time occurs on your payment date. View the full Plan It ® Instalment Terms and Conditions here. Top image: Jackalope
From the thriving food and drink hub Llankelly Place to the high-end boutiques of Macleay Street, Potts Point is an inner city suburb with lots of personality. If you're here in the day, it has a village-like community feel, where independent shop owners greet each other, and their customers, warmly and with pride. At night, it's lively with visitors to its well established bars and restaurants. One of the charming things about the area is the number of long-standing small businesses. It's full of incredible bookshops, boutique stores and beloved eateries, which makes shopping here a special experience. We've teamed up with American Express to bring you a list of six retailers that are well worth seeking out. You can shop small for paperbacks, local coffee and fresh flowers here with your Amex Card.
The infectious energy buzzing through the Masters of Modern Art from the Hermitage exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is almost palpable. Walking among the 65 spine-tingling works by late 19th- and early 20th-century European modern masters, it's as if the creative power, joyous imagination and sheer guts it took to create them is seeping out of the paintings themselves. Basically, it's the artistic equivalent of downing a triple espresso. Visiting from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg until Sunday, March 3, the show is a rare opportunity to come face-to-face with iconic paintings that heralded in a new way of seeing. From Monet to Picasso, these artists abandoned realism to embrace the subjective, the abstract and the internal — sparking a defining moment in art history. There's certainly a lot to take in at this bold, colourful and exciting exhibition. So, to help you plan your arty escapade, we've rounded up five of the groundbreaking artists whose work you must see in the flesh this summer. Run, don't walk. [caption id="attachment_679090" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Henri Matisse 'Game of bowls' 1908, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg © Succession H Matisse/Copyright Agency, 2018. Photo: The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg 2018, Vladimir Terebenin.[/caption] HENRI MATISSE A leader of the fauvism art movement. You may know him for his use of vibrant colour. More than two-thirds of the paintings you'll see in this exhibition are drawn from the jaw-dropping collections of just two people: Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. These Russian businessmen were passionate champions of the French modern masters — and obviously had super deep pockets. For Shchukin, the cream of the arty crop was Henri Matisse, whose paintings Shchukin called "a festival of exultant colours" — yeah, we'll pay that. A pioneer of fauvism, Matisse liberated colour from its traditional use of representing real life and used it to convey mood, emotion and personal expression instead. At the exhibition, you'll get to see works like The Luxembourg Gardens (1901) with its bold zones of colour recalling Gauguin (another master of colour), the intriguingly simple Woman on a Terrace (1906) and A Game of Bowls (1908), which was painted during a time when Matisse was fascinated with primitive art and mankind's prehistoric past. Hot tip: Don't miss the immersive video installation by artist Saskia Boddeke and British filmmaker Peter Greenaway. The piece explores the relationship between Shchukin and Matisse, detailing the massive impact ol' Henri's work had on young Russian artists and the importance of Shchukin's public collection. [caption id="attachment_697066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pablo Picasso 'Woman with a fan' 1908, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg © Pablo Picasso/Succession Pablo Picasso/Copyright Agency 2018. Photo: The State Hermitage Museum 2018, Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets and Yuri Mololkovets.[/caption] PABLO PICASSO One of the most influential artists of last century. You may know him for his cubist works. If you're one of those people who just doesn't get the fuss around Pablo Picasso, you're not alone. Apparently, Sergey Shchukin felt the same way. At first, at least, then Shchukin went on to find himself possessed "as if through hypnosis or magic" by the co-founder of cubism. In fact, all eight Picassos in the exhibition are from Shchukin's collection, so it's reasonable to assume he understood the progressive Spanish artist was doing something radically significant. Gallery goers can move through the years — from the blue period with Woman's Head (Portrait of Genevieve) (1902/3) to the complex geometry of Woman with a Fan (1908) to the surprise of Fruit Bowl, Cut Pear and Bunch of Grapes (1914) — and get a sense of how Picasso's style developed from a symbolism-inspired approach to the radical innovation of cubism. Those with a penchant for sketching should head along to the Drawing Picasso workshops (February 2 and 16); the sessions give you a chance to draw cubist masterpieces before seeing the exhibition, with a little help from an expert eye. [caption id="attachment_679092" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Claude Monet France 'Poppy field' 1890/91, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photo: The State Hermitage Museum 2018, Pavel Demidov and Konstantin Sinyavsky.[/caption] CLAUDE MONET The father of impressionism. You may know him for his water lilies and dappled garden paintings. Responsible for giving the impressionist movement its very name, Claude Monet broke away from the artistic shackles of the prestigious and regimented Salon de Paris and was all about plein air paintings that conveyed the nuanced qualities of the natural world. He worked quickly, painting the same scene multiple times to capture the influence that time, light, atmosphere, even season, could have on the environment. Monet's wonderfully loose brushstrokes and gorgeous use of colour are on fine display in this exhibition, which includes works like the dazzlingly Poppy Field (1890/91) with its overlapping brushstrokes and scarlet poppies that, well, pop against a striking blue sky and Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Fog (1903), which boasts iridescent lilacs and dreamy, marshmallow-hued fog (it's quite possibly the most beautiful depiction of pollution ever painted). If you're feeling inspired, you can head along to a Modern Makers workshop and create your own mini Monet-inspired artwork. The workshops are taking place Wednesday evenings on November 14, 21 and 28, materials and chill beats provided. [caption id="attachment_697070" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wassily Kandinsky 'Landscape: Dünaberg near Murnau' 1913, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photo: The State Hermitage Museum 2018, Vladimir Terebenin.[/caption] WASSILY KANDINSKY A pioneer of avant-garde art. You may know him for his colourful, abstract watercolours. Moscow-born Wassily Kandinsky was originally intended for a career in law and economics and didn't commit seriously to art until he was 30 years old. (He's since become the patron saint of all lawyers who quit their jobs to study painting.) While he might've been a bit of a late bloomer, it's hard to imagine the birth of abstract art without him. A deeply spiritual man, Kandinsky saw painting as an alternative pathway to a spiritual reality. It wasn't about representing the visible world, but the inner world. To him, painting was a kind of prophecy that could transcend physical and cultural barriers. We like your style, Kandi. Stand in front of the incredible Sketch for 'Composition V' (1911) and allow yourself to respond emotionally not intellectually, to the colours, shapes and lines — odds are you'll think of music. Kandinsky himself sensed this emotional kinship, stating "the artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul". If that idea strikes a chord (pun intended), you might want to sign up for Art in Mind: Modern Art and Music — a two-part course taking place at the gallery in February that combines music and mindfulness to heighten your sensory appreciation of the artworks. [caption id="attachment_696096" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kazimir Malevich 'Black square' c1932, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photo: The State Hermitage Museum 2018, Vladimir Terebenin.[/caption] KAZIMIR MALEVICH An artist at one point banned from making art. You may know him for his highly abstract work. When you're standing in the final room of the exhibition, admiring Kazimir Malevich's famous Black Square (c1932), there's a chance that a small child, who's already seen 64 paintings and is ready for a nap, will shout "it's just a square and it's boring". Well, yes, it is just a square, but it's certainly not boring. Painted in 1915, during the turbulent period between the outbreak of WWI and the Russian Revolution, the original incarnation of Black Square (the one you're seeing is the fourth and final version) was the most radically abstract painting people had ever seen. And, the piece still provokes conversation today. Banned from making art and briefly imprisoned under Stalin's government, Malevich's square is also a reminder of the subversive power of the artist — how something so seemingly simple, even "boring", can be revolutionary. What will you see in the work? A window? A symbol of endless possibility? A void you feel like you could almost fall into? Maybe, you'll just see a black square on a white canvas. That's cool, there's no right answer. Malevich believed that "the significant thing is feeling" and within his suprematist movement, he created art that wasn't about painting something but about the painting itself. Forget reality, this is about the supremacy of pure emotion. Masters of Modern Art from the Hermitage will run at Art Gallery of NSW till Sunday, March 3. Tickets are $28 and can be purchased online or at the door. For the full program of events around the exhibition, head here.
If you've seen even the trailer for Hossein Amini's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Two Faces of January, you've probably thrown out your mediocre wardrobe by now. Following the deep dark secrets of a highly affluent, fashion-savvy couple (Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) and their newfound tour guide friend (Oscar Isaac) in 1962, Amini's wonderfully stylised, Hitchcockian thriller (based on Patricia Highsmith's post-The Talented Mr Ripley novel) is a bonafide feast for fashion enthusiasts and Lovers of Pretty Things alike. Vintage Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga — the old fashion houses of Paris literally line up on screen thanks to costume designer Steven Noble, the man who vintage shops with Kirsten Dunst. Finding a contemporary freshness in a '60s-set film through modern, bespoke costuming, Noble and Amini successfully create a realm where anachronistic detail actually captures the essence of a period more successfully than sticking to historic accuracy. With The Two Faces of January causing wardrobe envy in cinemas nationwide, we thought we'd get to the bottom of those disarmingly stylin' costumes with their Noble maker. Modernising the '60s Set in 1962, The Two Faces of January finds itself existing in an era brimming with elegant fashion icons; from Rita Hayworth to Audrey Hepburn. But Noble's designs don't seem like a fusty old historic costume, the characters look contemporary, feel modern and dress with a present-day fashionability. "It was something that Hoss said to me in the very beginning, that I tended to agree with. Obviously we wanted to keep an essence of the period, but we just wanted to make it look a little bit more contemporary for a younger, contemporary audience," says Noble. "So we've made something fresh to look at, but it still takes you back to Europe in 1962." Kirsten 'Well Media-Trained' Dunst ever-eloquently told Vogue that "the film looks like an old postcard that feels fresh." Back to the French Fashion Houses In his quest to find the perfect European aesthetic for the film, Noble looked to the dominant French fashion houses of the '60s — we're talking Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, Nina Ricci; gang's all here. "I took inspiration from so many different genres and elements of the period, you know, the original holiday stuff, tourists. And then the magazines and films of the period — I watched the films of the late '50s early '60s." You can bet Roman Holiday was in the stack. Chanel forms a large part of the inspiration for Noble's bespoke creations, as well as his existing picks. Dunst's character Colette MacFarland dons some pretty ballin' pearls in a very tense dinner table scene; modern Chanel revisualisations of a late 1920s style. "With Kirsten's character, the backstory was that they'd been to Paris so Chester had bought her a new wardrobe," says Noble. "So that was all sort of, high end designers like Chanel and Nina Ricci and Dior and the designers at the time." Noble had a pretty high-stress responsibility on set: guard the treasure. "[There] was nearly half a million pounds of diamonds and pearls which we had to carry around with us," he says. "They either had to be on me personally at any time, or on Kirsten. If they weren't on Kirsten then they had to be in the safe." Vintage Shopping with Kirsten Dunst Dunst has led a long career of adorable costuming, prompting It Girl squeals press-wide over her lengthy Hollywood existence. The Two Faces of January is no exception, with the 32-year-old making every scene feel like a Vanity Fair shoot. Evoking every inch the Hitchcockian blonde Amini could ask for, Noble's costumes make an Eva Marie Saint of Dunst's character, Colette MacFarland, in a snap. "I guess I did take cues from the Tippi Hedrens of that period," says Noble. "Also with Daniel [Phillips], hair and make-up designer, they worked very closely together and obviously with Kirsten's input too, we'd come up with how she ends up in the film. It's a very organic process. "Patricia Highsmith in the book details the silhouette of Colette, wearing pencil skirts and she knows what she likes," he says. "With Kirsten we had a two-day trying on period at Elstree Studios and we just created this wonderful sort of vintage world in the dressing room. We pulled in clothes from around the world from all these different costume houses, and fabrics from all over the place and just had a really fun time trying things on." Dressing Hollywood Actors Noble tries to involve his actors as much as possible in the early planning stages of his costume development, with every piece for the three leads Dunst, Mortensen and Isaac made bespoke. "I find it a very organic process ... working closely with the actors and coming up with their character and the concept behind the scenes or characters through their clothing," says Noble. "All three of [the leads: Mortensen, Dunst and Isaac] were a dream to work with. I was allowed to lead them, and obviously if there was something they absolutely thought was completely wrong then if I felt strongly about it I would try to make them wear it in a diplomatic way. "It's very hard to say how much input they have. Because I'll have had an original idea when I first see the script — because it's my job — and then you sort of have a period of prep where you start designing, researching and sketching, fabrics and that sort of thing. You try to have a conversation [with the actors] very early on; if they're not available face-to-face then I'll try and get them on the phone as early as possible to talk about their character. Then it's just a matter of trying on." The contemporary Cary Grant Tailored and worthy of a Hitchcock hero, Mortensen's suits as the seemingly infallible Chester MacFarland are a Savile Row lover's dream. Paired against Isaac's fedora-wearing, polo shirt-preferring role as newfound acquaintance Rydal, Noble's male costumes transcend fifty shades of holiday beige. Noble doesn't separate techniques for designing male and female character costumes, seeing the art in both without consciously seeking a gendered difference. "You know, obviously there's different techniques involved, I mean, with the men's tailoring; it's quite an art," he says. "The people who made [Mortensen's] suits are incredibly talented. But I haven't really thought about it to be honest, it sort of just happens." From affluent to penny-pinching, ladylike to roguish romantic hero, The Two Faces of January fronts a unified aesthetic through basic thematic means, particularly in the opening scene of the film — the sunwashed, crumbling ruins of the Acropolis paired with Mortensen's cream three-piece suit, Isaac's beige polo get-up and Dunst in That Yellow Dress. Changing it Up, Keeping it Fresh Along with the classic, contemporary '60s pieces created for The Two Faces of January, Noble boasts an eclectic CV. Having already designed the costumes for 2010's multi-award winning sci-fi drama Never Let Me Go, the 2011 teen angst-fuelled 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights and Scarlett Johansson's 2013 sci-fi jaw-dropper Under the Skin, Noble's not one to pigeonhole his art. "Versatility is what keeps it exciting or fresh," he says. "You don't know what script you're going to get in next, where it's going to take you. You know, you'll do a period piece for one month and then six months later you're doing a space age thing. It's so diverse. Obviously the script's the main thing — we've all worked on some duds in our time. But the diversity and the challenges are what keep you surviving in the industry." So the final question on fashion fiend minds: does Noble get to keep the wardrobe? "The studio keeps everything," says Noble. "I will ask if I can keep certain key pieces, but in general it's the property of the studio so what happens to it I don't know — there's obviously some graveyard." Shovels at the ready. The Two Faces of January is now showing in selected cinemas.
Motel Mexication has arrived at Henley's, transforming King Street Wharf into a Mexican-inspired pop-up. This bright and bubbly fiesta brings the colours, spice and vibrancy of Mexico all the way to Sydney's harbourside. On the cards is a feast of Mexican-inspired dishes from tacos to loaded nachos created by Executive Chef Jason Roberson, who's put together a menu inspired by Tex-Mex street food classics. The hero is definitely the Trashcan Nachos – a tower of corn tortilla chips, melty cheese, guacamole, jalapeños and your choice of beef or mixed beans – all delivered to your table in a fun, miniature trash can. Another must-try is the DIY Taco Platter, offering barbacoa beef, fried prawns or braised shiitake mushrooms, along with all the bells and whistles you need for the perfect build-your-own taco extravaganza. You're no doubt thinking about margaritas by now. Head in on Mondays for $15 margs all day. Or, if (one or two) clearly isn't enough, book in for a Bottomless Margarita package, available daily from midday. You'll get your pick of passionfruit, watermelon, strawberry, mango and classic – plus all the corn chips, guacamole and salsa you can eat.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from March's haul. Brand-New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Girls5eva One of the funniest TV comedies of the 2020s is back with its third season, and as hilarious as ever. So what are you waiting five? If that question doesn't make any sense, then you clearly haven't yet experienced the wonder that is Girls5eva. It starts with a numerical pun-heavy earworm of a theme tune that no one should ever skip, then bounces along just as catchily and sidesplittingly in every second afterwards. A move to Netflix for season three — after streaming its first and second seasons via Peacock in the US and Stan in Australia — might just see the Tina Fey-executive produced music-industry sitcom switch from being one of the best shows that not enough people are watching to everyone's latest can't-stop-rewatching comedy obsession. In other words, this a series about a comeback and, thanks to its swap to the biggest player in the streaming game, now it's making a comeback itself. If it becomes a Netflix smash, here's hoping that it'll be famous at least one more time. Two years have passed for longterm fans since Girls5eva last checked in with Dawn Solano (Sara Bareilles, Broadway's Waitress), Wickie Roy (Renée Elise Goldsberry, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and also a Hamilton Tony-winner), Summer Dutkowsky (Busy Philipps, Mean Girls) and Gloria McManus (Paula Pell, Big Mouth), but the gap and the change of platforms haven't changed this gem. Consider the switch of streamer in the same way that Dawn and the gang are approaching their leap back into their girl group after two decades: as an all-in, go-hard-or-go-home, whatever-it-takes relaunch. Now firmly reunited, the surviving members of Girls5eva have taken to the road. So far, however, their big Returnity tour has been happy in Fort Worth. In the Texan city, their track 'Tap Into Your Fort Worth' keeps drawing in crowds, even if that's all that concertgoers want to hear. Also, the Marriott Suitelettes for Divorced Dads has become their home away from home, but resident diva Wickie isn't content just playing one place. Always dreaming huge, massive and stratospheric, she sets the band's sights on Radio City Music Hall, booking them in for a gig at a fee of $500,000. Cue a six-month timeline to sell it out — a feat made trickier by the fact that the show is on Thanksgiving — or risk ruin. Girls5eva streams via Netflix. Read our full review. 20 Days in Mariupol Incompatible with life. No one should ever want to hear those three devastating words. No one who is told one of the most distressing phrases there is ever has them uttered their way in positive circumstances, either. Accordingly, when they're spoken by a doctor in 2024 Oscar-winner 20 Days in Mariupol, they're deeply shattering. So is everything in this on-the-ground portrait of the first 20 days in the Ukrainian port city as Russia began its invasion, with the bleak reality of living in a war zone documented in harrowing detail. Located less than 60 kilometres from the border, Mariupol quickly segues from ordinary life to an apocalyptic scene — and this film refuses to look away. Much of its time is spent in and around hospitals, which see an influx of patients injured and killed by the combat, and also become targets as well. Many of in 20 Days in Mariupol's faces are the afflicted, the medics tending to them in horrendous circumstances, and the loves ones that are understandably inconsolable. Too many of the carnage's victims are children and babies, with their parents crushed and heartbroken in the aftermath; sometimes, they're pregnant women. Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, and narrated by him with the grimness and soberness that can be this movie's only tone, 20 Days in Mariupol even existing is an achievement. What it depicts — what it immerses viewers in with urgency, from shelled hospitals, basements-turned-bomb shelters and more of the city destroyed day after day to families torn apart, looting, struggling to find food and bodies of the dead taken to mass graves — needs to be viewed as widely as possible, and constantly. His footage has also featured in news reports, but it can and must never be forgotten. Doctors mid-surgery demand that Chernov's camera is pointed their way, and that he shows the world the travesties taking place. The Ukrainian reporter, who has also covered Donbas, flight MH17, Syria and the Battle of Mosul for the Associated Press, does exactly that. He's doing more than ensuring that everyone bears witness, though; he makes certain that there's no way to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, which shows the vast civilian impact and casualties, and see anything but ordinary people suffering, or to feel anything other than shock, anger and horror. 20 Days in Mariupol streams via DocPlay. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces To do justice to Steve Martin's life, career and impact requires more than just one movie. So, the engagingly and entertainingly in-depth, intimate, affectionate and informative STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces explores the comedian and actor's existence in a pair of parts. The first is subtitled 'Then', honing in on his childhood and early stand-up days. The second, aka 'Now', jumps in when he made the leap to movies in the late 70s, which is where The Jerk, Pennies From Heaven, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood and LA Story comes in — and, of course, includes his tours with his ¡Three Amigos! co-star Martin Short, as well as their murder-mystery-comedy TV hit Only Murders in the Building. The initial half gets Martin narrating, sharing reflections personal and professional as accompanied by archival footage aplenty (and ample tapes of his stints in front of audience). The latter section treats him as an interviewee, with his wife Anne Stringfield, Short, Jerry Seinfeld (who has had Martin as a guest on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee) and Tina Fey (who also co-starred with Martin in Baby Mama) among the talking heads. Behind it all is documentarian Morgan Neville, an Oscar-winner for 20 Feet From Stardom, as well as a filmmaker who is clearly taking his stylistic cues from his subject. That's noticeable in STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces' moniker, for starters — it throws caution to the winds of grammar and title formats just as Martin has to comedy rules, as the two-part film makes plain again and again. No matter how well-acquainted you are with Martin, insights flow freely in this fascinating way to spend three hours surveying the ways that he's made people laugh over decades upon decades, beginning with doing magic tricks and working at Disneyland on his school holidays in the 50s. Revelations bound through about Martin as a person, too; more than once, he notes that his life has felt as if it has played out backwards, and not just because he only first became a father in his 60s. Clips of his stand-up act, and the response to it in the 60s and 70s, are gold. Hanging out with the man who originally was only going to create Only Murders in the Building, not star in it, when he's bantering with Short are as well. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces streams via Apple TV+. Spaceman Should astronaut become a dictionary-certified synonym for melancholy? Cinema believes so. Its latest case in point comes via Spaceman, where life temporarily lived above and beyond the earth replaces gravity with loneliness and disconnection for Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah). He's six months into a solo trip past Jupiter to investigate an eerie phenomenon in the heavens when this adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's 2017 sci-fi novel Spaceman of Bohemia kicks off. His quest is both time-sensitive and celebrated. South Korea is in close pursuit, he's frequently being told by Peter (Kunal Nayyar, Night Court), his contact at ground control — and Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini, Cat Person) happily keeps dialling him in for PR opportunities. As he soars through a strangely purple sky, however, endeavouring to fulfil his mission while pleading for maintenance approval on his crumbling ship, all that's really on his mind is his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan, Maestro). Pregnant and left at home alone, she's no longer taking his fast-as-light-speed phone calls. Then Hanus (Paul Dano, Mr & Mrs Smith) scurries in beside Jakub, demanding attention — as a giant spider in space is always going to. For the best part of a decade now, seeing a live-action movie starring Sandler has meant heading to Netflix. In Australia, even Uncut Gems, his greatest-ever performance, arrived via the streaming platform. Alongside The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Hustle, add Spaceman to the list of such features that give their star worthy parts and would've made welcome cinema releases. It isn't new news that Sandler is an excellent actor in dramatic and/or weightier roles, or that his career is more than the Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore-style comedies that he first became known for. Spaceman director Johan Renck (Chernobyl) has cast him expertly, in fact, in this tale of isolation, arrested development, otherworldly arachnids and amorous entanglements. Sending Sandler on an Ad Astra-, First Man- and Solaris-esque trip proves contemplative and empathetic — and, amid spider's-eye flashbacks to his complicated childhood in the Czech Republic, time spent with Lenka on the ground and floating around the film's claustrophobic main setting, also brimming with raw and resonant emotion. Spaceman streams via Netflix. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Who needs facts when you can have a ball with irreverently riffing on history? It worked for Blackadder, then with The Great and Our Flag Means Death, and now does the same for The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. It was evident from the concept when it was announced, and the trailer afterwards as well: this series is firmly in the same mode as the pirate comedy that gave streaming two wonderfully funny and heartfelt seasons, then was cancelled. The similarities don't stop being apparent now that Noel Fielding's latest stint of silliness is here with its six-instalment first season. Accordingly, viewers looking for something to help with their Our Flag Means Death heartbreak have somewhere to turn. Everyone who loves The Mighty Boosh's Fielding when he's getting surreal — something that his The Great British Bake Off hosting gig can't quite offer, even with his outfits — is also catered for. Awaiting in The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is an entertaining jaunt that's exactly what anyone should expect given its premise, star, his fondness for whimsy and flamboyant outfits, plus Britain's love of parodying its own past. Fielding co-writes and executive produces, alongside leading — and his brother Michael is among the fellow The Mighty Boosh alum on-screen. Dick jokes abound, because who could pass up the opportunity given its protagonist? A who's who of English comedy also features. The year is 1735. The place is the UK, obviously. The subject is a real-life highwayman. If Dick Turpin isn't familiar, he's the son of a butcher, he was his father's apprentice, but then took on a different career as part of the Essex gang. In reality, he was executed by hanging at the age of 33. In The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, standing on the gallows provides the opening. From there, the series steps through his time as a thief after being a vegan pacifist didn't gel with the family business. The key things that Dick takes with him when he leaves home, when his father John (Mark Heap, Significant Other) quickly replaces him with his cousin Benny (Michael Fielding, Merry Little Batman): eye-catching purple boots and a sewing machine. Soon enough, he has a crew by his side — and an instantly amusing revisionist history about Britain's equivalent of Ned Kelly is the result. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. 3 Body Problem How do you follow up Game of Thrones? So asks one of the biggest questions in pop culture over the past decade. HBO's hit adaptation of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series ended five years ago, but the network behind it, the TV industry in general, and everyone involved in it on- and off-screen has been grappling with that query since the series became a worldwide smash. For the cable station that made it, more Game of Thrones shows is the answer, aka House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight and other floated spinoffs. For Hollywood, leaning in on fantasy franchises has been a solution. And for David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners on the Westeros-set phenomenon, bringing another complex book saga to the small screen is the chosen path. Those novels: Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, which arrives as 3 Body Problem, with 2008 book The Three-Body Problem as the basis for its eight-episode first season. Invasions, feuds, jumping timelines, a hefty cast of characters: they're all still in place. So are John Bradley (Marry Me), Liam Cunningham (Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter) and Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) among the cast, answering the "what comes next?" question for three Game of Thrones actors. Also, that composer Ramin Djawadi (Jack Ryan) is on music duties again isn't difficult to notice. With 3 Body Problem, which sees Benioff and Weiss team up with True Blood and The Terror's Alexander Woo to bring Cixin's text to the screen, sprawling high fantasy gives away to time- and space-hopping hard sci-fi, however. The danger to global stability still springs from a battle for supremacy, but one where countdowns start dancing in front of some people's eyes, particle accelerators stop functioning properly, other folks can't be seen in security footage, scientists seem to be killing themselves and aliens linger. The series begins with a physics professor being beaten to death in front of a crowd containing his daughter during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Then, it flits to London today to watch the entire sky wink, gleaming helmets spirit whoever dons them into a complicated and intricate virtual-reality game, and what lurks beyond the earth — and who — play a significant part. 3 Body Problem streams via Netflix. Read our full review. Road House It's a brave actor who tries to follow in Patrick Swayze's footsteps. The late, great star was one of a kind, other than the fact that the 80s and 90s screamed out for him to team up with Kurt Russell on-screen. But folks persist in attempting to take his lead, including Diego Luna (Andor) in the also Swayze-starring Dirty Dancing prequel Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Édgar Ramírez (Dr Death) in the terrible 2015 Point Break remake and now Jake Gyllenhaal (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) in Road House, another do-over of a Swayze hit. Gyllenhaal fares best in a film that isn't its predecessor in a swathe of ways — there's less sleaze to the titular establishment, and in general; less heat to its central romance; less zen about its protagonist; and no throats being ripped out — but is aided immensely by its key casting. No one needed a Road House remake, let alone one where its cooler is a former UFC fighter who has fallen on troubled times in and out of the octagon. Surely no one wanted to witness a strutting Conor McGregor make his acting debut, and so gratingly, as one of the new Road House's villains. But Gyllenhaal leaning into eccentricity as Dalton works a charm. The plot remains largely the same, albeit shifted to Florida, which sees director Doug Liman (Chaos Walking) also take a few stylistic cues from Miami Vice. In the eponymous venue, Dalton — Elwood, not James — is recruited to take over security by Frankie (Jessica Williams, Shrinking), with her bar suffering from a violence problem. Thugs keep smashing up the place, and patrons. Also, bouncers are constantly leaving the job. There's a cool, calm and collected air to Dalton's quest to clean up the joint, which contrasts with his inner turmoil. Soon, though, he's being threatened in an attempt to run him out of town. Daniela Melchior (Fast X) co-stars as the doctor that becomes his love interest, Billy Magnussen (Lift) as the drug-peddling nepo-baby baddie with designs on The Road House's land, Arturo Castro (The Vince Staples Show) as a motorcycle-gang henchman who genuinely appreciates Dalton's approach and Hannah Love Lanier (Special Ops: Lioness) as a bookshop-running teenager, but Road House circa 2024 is Gyllenhaal's show. This isn't the first attempt to capitalise upon the original Road House's success — even if it was nominated for five Razzies — thanks to 2006's Road House 2. Being better than that is a low bar, but this Road House clears it. Road House streams via Prime Video. Apples Never Fall On the page and on the screen, audiences know what's in store when Sydney-born and -based author Liane Moriarty's name is attached to a book or TV series. Domestic disharmony within comfortable communities fuels her tales, as do twisty mystery storylines. When they hit streaming, the shows adapted from her novels add in starry casts as well. Indeed, after Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, it might come as a shock that Nicole Kidman (Expats) is nowhere to be found in the seven-episode Apples Never Fall. The Australian actor will be back in another version of Moriarty's tomes, also with a three-word title, with The Last Anniversary currently in the works. Fresh from an Oscar nomination for Nyad, Annette Bening is no mere stand-in right now. Also, where Kidman has co-starred with Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show), Laura Dern (The Son) and Alexander Skarsgård (Mr & Mrs Smith), and also Melissa McCarthy (The Little Mermaid), Michael Shannon (The Flash) and Luke Evans (Good Grief), Bening is joined by Sam Neill (The Twelve), Alison Brie (Somebody I Used to Know) and Jake Lacy (A Friend of the Family). If Lacy's involvement brings The White Lotus to mind, he's again at home playing affluent and arrogant — but no one is on holiday in Apples Never Fall. Rather, in West Palm Beach, the tennis-obsessed Delaney family finds their well-off existence shattered when matriarch Joy (Bening) goes missing, leaving just a banged-up and blood-splattered bicycle, a strewn-about basket of apples and her mobile phone behind. Her adult children (Lacy, Brie, Thai Cave Rescue's Conor Merrigan Turner and The Speedway Murders' Essie Randles) are worried, while husband Stan (Neill) first advises that his spouse is merely ill, a choice that does nothing to stop suspicion rocketing his way. In addition to charting the search for Joy, the Queensland-shot Apples Never Fall bounces through ample backstory. After its introductory instalment, each episode focuses on one of the family; across them all, the timeline is split into "then" and "now". It soon becomes apparent that the doting Joy and determined Stan were talented players, then established the Delaney Tennis Academy when his aspirations were cruelled by injury, and she sidelined hers to support him and have their kids. Another person looms large over the narrative, too: Savannah (Georgia Flood, Blacklight), who graces the Delaneys' doorstep in its flashbacks, fleeing from domestic abuse — or so she claims. Apples Never Fall streams via Binge. Read our full review. Breeders Sitcoms about raising a family are almost as common as sitcoms in general, with the antics of being married with children up there with workplace shenanigans as one of the genre's go-to setups. Thanks to the OG UK version of The Office, Martin Freeman knows more than a little about employment-focused TV comedies. Courtesy of The Thick of It and Veep, actor-turned-director Chris Addison and writer Simon Blackwell also fall into that category. But Breeders, which the trio created and thrusts them into the world of mining parenting for laughs, isn't your standard take on its concept. As became immediately evident when the British series began in 2020, and remains the case now that it's wrapping up with its current fourth season — which aired overseas in 2023 but is only hitting Down Under in 2024 — this show does't subscribe to the rosy notion that being a mother or a father (or a son or daughter, or grandmother or grandfather) equals loveable chaos. There's love, of course. There's even more chaos. But there's also clear eyes, plus bleakness; again, this is largely helmed and scripted by alumni of two of the best, sharpest and most-candid political satires of the 21st century, and always feels as such. Season four begins with a time jump, with Breeders' overall path tracking Paul Worsley (Freeman, Secret Invasion) and Ally Grant's (Daisy Haggard, Boat Story) journey from when their two kids were very young — including babies, via flashbacks — to their teenage and young-adult years now. Consequently, five years on in the narrative from season three, another set of actors play Luke (Oscar Kennedy, Wreck) and Ava (debutant Zoë Athena) in this farewell run as the first is moving in with his girlfriend and the second explores her own love life, as well as grappling with the inescapable reality that her elder brother's ups and downs have always monopolised her family's attention. Paul and Ally also have the ailing health of Paul's parents Jim (Alun Armstrong, Tom Jones) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon, Benediction) to manage, in addition to the ebbs and flows of their own often-fraught relationship, plus just dealing with getting through the days, weeks, months and years in general (Ally turning 50 is one of this season's plot points). That this all sounds like standard life is part of the point; watching Breeders is like looking in a mirror, especially in its unvarnished and relatable all-you-can-do-is-laugh perspective. Freeman's knack for swearing will be especially missed. Breeders streams via Disney+. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week Palm Royale More things in life should remind the world about Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, 2021's wonderfully goofy (and just wonderful) Florida-set comedy starring Kristen Wiig (MacGruber) and Annie Mumolo (Barbie), plus Jamie Dornan (The Tourist) singing to seagulls. The also Wiig-led Palm Royale is one such prompt. Thankfully, watching the page-to-screen dramedy doesn't cause audiences to wish that they were just viewing Barb and Star, though. The two share the same US state as a locale, too, alongside bright colour schemes, a bouncy pace and a willingness to get silly, especially with sea life, but Palm Royale engages all on its own. Adapting Juliet McDaniel's Mr & Mrs American Pie for the small screen, this 60s-set effort also knows how to make gleaming use of its best asset: Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters alum Wiig. In its ten-episode first season, the show's storyline centres on Maxine Simmons. A former beauty-pageant queen out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, she thinks nothing of scaling the wall to the titular country club, then breezing about like she's meant to be there — sipping grasshoppers and endeavouring to eavesdrop her way into a social-climbing friendship with Palm Beach's high-society set — and Wiig sells every second of the character's twist-filled journey. Even better: she heartily and entertainingly conveys the everywoman aspects of someone who has yearning for a better life as her main motivation, and isn't willing to settle for anything less than she thinks that she deserves, even in hardly relatable circumstances. There's no doubting that Maxine is both an underdog and an outsider in the milieu that she so frenziedly covets. When she's not swanning around poolside, idolising self-appointed bigwig Evelyn Rollins (Allison Janney, The Creator) and ambassador's wife Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb, About My Father) among the regulars — their clique spans widow Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy, Christmas with the Campbells) and mobster spouse Raquel Kimberly-Maco (Claudia Ferri, Arlette) — and ordering her cocktail of choice from bartender Robert (Ricky Martin, American Crime Story), she's staying in a far-from-glamorous motel. Funding for her quest to fit in with the rich and gossip-column famous comes via pawning jewellery owned by her pilot husband Douglas'(Josh Lucas, Yellowstone) comatose aunt Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett, Better Call Saul), the plastics and mouthwash heiress who ruled the scene until suffering an embolism. Palm Royale streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. High Country The role of Andie Whitford, the lead part in High Country, was written for Leah Purcell. It's easy to understand why. There's a quiet resolve to the character — a been-there-seen-that air to weathering tumult, too — that's long been a part of the Indigenous Australian star's acting toolkit across a three-decade career that started in 90s TV shows such as GP, Police Rescue and Water Rats, and has recently added The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Shayda to her resume (plus much in-between). Andie is a seasoned police detective who takes a job back in uniform overseeing the town of Broken Ridge, which is located in the mountainous Victorian region that gives the mystery series its name. A big reason for the move: stability and work-life balance, aka relocating for the sake of her personal life with spouse Helen (Sara Wiseman, Under the Vines) and daughter Kirra (Pez Warner, making her TV debut). An existence-resetting tree change is meant to be on the cards, then. But her arrival, especially being installed as the new police chief, doesn't earn the sunniest of welcomes. Then there's the missing-person cases that swiftly start piling up, some old, some new, some previously explained by pointing fingers in specific directions. High Country's framework, down to its character types, is easily recognisable. Creators Marcia Gardner and John Ridley, who worked with Purcell on Wentworth, know what everyone does: that a great story can make any whodunnit-driven procedural feel different. So, also part of the series are Andie's retiring predecessor (Ian McElhinney, The Boys in the Boat), who is fixated on a past disappearance; the former teacher (Henry Nixon, The PM's Daughter) he's certain is responsible, who has become the town outcast; a local ranger (Aaron Pedersen, Jack Irish), one of the few other Indigenous faces in town; the financially challenged proprietor (Linda Cropper, How to Stay Married) of a haven for artists; cop colleagues of varying help and loyalty (Romance at the Vineyard's Matt Domingo and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse's Luke McKenzie); and rabble-rousing siblings (Boy Swallows Universe's Nathaniel Dean and The Clearing's Jamie Timony). Crucially, where the show takes them always feels like its own journey. This might also be the second Aussie effort in two months to use this part of the country as a backdrop, following Force of Nature: The Dry 2, but High Country is similarly no mere rehash there. High Country streams via Binge. The Regime After past wins for Mildred Pierce and Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet might just add another Emmy to her mantle for The Regime. When the British actor turns her attention to TV for HBO, she unveils spectacular performances — something that she does everywhere anyway (see also: the 30-year-old Heavenly Creatures, 20-year-old Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and more-recent Ammonite, for instance), but this working relationship has been going particularly well for her. Winslet's latest small-screen stint for the US network takes her into the realm of satire, and to a Central European country under authoritarian rule. Nothing for the nation's current leadership is quite going to plan, though. This is a place where Chancellor Elena Vernham singing 'If You Leave Me Now' to open an official dinner, keeping her deceased father in a glass coffin, and overhauling the palace that she calls home due to fears of moisture and black mould are all everyday occurrences. Each of the above happens in The Regime's first episode, as does hiring a soldier linked to a scandal involving the deaths of protestors at a cobalt mine — with his new gig initially requiring him to monitor the air quality in every room that the Chancellor enters. Winslet (Avatar: The Way of Water) is mesmerising as Vernham, who takes her cues from a range of IRL world leaders — it's easy to glean which — in a show that's as captivating as its lead performance. She has excellent company, too, spanning the always-ace Matthias Schoenaerts (Amsterdam) as said military man-turned-Vernham's new advisor, Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as her regular offsider, plus everyone from Hugh Grant (Wonka) to Martha Plimpton (A Town Called Malice) popping up and making the most of their supporting parts. The Regime's creator Will Tracy wrote The Menu and also episodes of Succession, so he has experience being scathing; his time on the staff of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver also shows its influence. If he'd been watching Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin while dreaming up this (including nabbing Riseborough from the cast), that wouldn't come as a surprise, either. With Stephen Frears (The Lost King) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown) behind the camera, The Regime is a probingly directed effort as well as it works through its six chapters. The Regime streams via Binge. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January and February this year, and also from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
Adapting The Narrow Road to the Deep North was always going to require a dream cast and crew. More than that, any attempt to bring Richard Flanagan's acclaimed 2013 novel to the screen was always set to demand a roster of creatives dedicated to doing the book justice, and to honouring the very real history that the work of fiction draws upon. The author didn't spin a true tale on his pages; however, much is shared with reality. Flanagan's text is steeped in the experience of Australian POWs during World War II, specifically those forced to work on the Burma Railway by the Japanese military. IRL, his own father was one of them. A cream-of-the-crop lineup is the aim for every screen project, of course, whether it's destined to grace cinemas or television. Streaming via Prime Video from Friday, April 18, 2025, The Narrow Road to the Deep North's talents should make other TV shows envious, Australian and international alike. For the first time in his career, filmmaker Justin Kurzel plies his skills on the small screen. For the five-part miniseries, he adapts a Booker Prize-winning novel again, as he did with True History of the Kelly Gang. Kurzel collaborates with screenwriter Shaun Grant once more, and unpacks complicated Aussie history again in the process as well, as the pair previously navigated with their take on Ned Kelly, plus Snowtown beforehand and Nitram afterwards. Standing before the lens for the duo: Jacob Elordi (Oh, Canada) on a rare return Down Under, Odessa Young (My First Film) falling into the same category, plus everyone from Irish great and Belfast Oscar-nominee Ciarán Hinds, as well as Japan's Shô Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice), through to the Aussie likes of Olivia DeJonge (Elvis), Thomas Weatherall (Heartbreak High), Simon Baker (Boy Swallows Universe), Heather Mitchell (Love Me) and Essie Davis (One Day). In one of only five Australian texts to ever claim the prestigious literary award — Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark, DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little, and Peter Carey's aforementioned True History of the Kelly Gang and Oscar and Lucinda are the others — Flanagan charts the path of Dorrigo Evans. Before the Second World War, he has a future in medicine calling. Afterwards, he carves out a career as a respected surgeon. The Narrow Road to the Deep North jumps between the two, as well as his ordeal while being held captive as a prisoner of war. Elordi plays the younger Dorrigo in the series' 40s-era sequences. Hinds steps into the character's shoes in its 80s-set segments. The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a character study, as well as an exploration of multiple sides of war. It delves into culture clashes, interrogates heroism and steadfastly stresses the importance of remembering horrors gone by so that they aren't repeated. It's as much a love story, and a portrait of a long-lasting marriage, though — and yet those two aren't quite one and the same. As a young man, Dorrigo's future is also tied to Ella (DeJonge), whose family have ties back to drafting the Australian constitution. Decades later (played by Mitchell), she remains by his side. But before shipping out, before his medical prowess is needed in Syria, before being transported like cattle through Thailand to the jungle and before the compulsory strenuous labour that will claim the life of some of his friends, Dorrigo spends a summer embarking upon a secret affair with Amy Mulvaney (Young), the wife of his uncle Keith (Baker). It's this romance that he thinks of as he endures war's cruelties, and that also stays with him long afterwards. Casting Elordi and Young as the youthful Dorrigo and Amy are the best choices that The Narrow Road to the Deep North's guiding forces could've made for the two roles. For both actors, it also brought them home. Since 2018's Swinging Safari marked Elordi's first film, he's largely been busy overseas, meaning that Australian projects have been rarities his your resume. With Young, since The Daughter and Looking for Grace each made a splash in 2015, the same has also proven true. On the path from there to The Narrow Road to the Deep North, the pair have amassed an array of credits: The Kissing Booth trilogy, The Mortuary Collection, Deep Water, The Sweet East, Saltburn and Priscilla among them for Elordi; Sweet Virginia, A Million Little Pieces, Shirley, The Stand, Mothering Sunday, The Staircase (with DeJonge), Manodrome and more for Young. They also each have Sam Levinson projects to their name; as the world knows, Elordi is one of Euphoria's stars, while Young led the film Assassination Nation. "There couldn't be a better opportunity to come home," Elordi tells Concrete Playground about The Narrow Road to the Deep North. In fact, he responded so strongly to Flanagan's novel when Kurzel sent it his way that he started advising his family that the book was the key to understanding him, a statement that "I kind of regret saying", he also notes now. The Macbeth and Assassin's Creed filmmaker's involvement was crucial for him, too, as "an enormous fan of his work for my whole conscious movie life". [caption id="attachment_1000037" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Graham Denholm/Getty Images for Prime Video[/caption] That's similarly the case for Young, who reteams with Kurzel for the second time in two years, after featuring alongside Jude Law (Skeleton Crew) and Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu) in the director's excellent 2024 crime-thriller The Order. "I would do anything that he asked me to do. I would love to work with him for the rest of my life, because I believe that he makes me a better performer," she shares. In our chat with Elordi and Young, we also dug into why Elordi felt such a powerful connection to The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and how infrequent that reaction is for him; Kurzel's penchant for difficult stories; and how Elordi and Young built chemistry together, as characters that Flanagan has compared to stars exploding in galaxies in real time. Covered as well: Elordi and his co-stars' commitment to authenticity in the POW scenes, and the sense of responsibility to the real-life men who worked on the Burma Railway that came with it — and what the two make of their respective journeys from starting out at home to overseas success, then coming back for a series they're clearly both proud of. On Why The Narrow Road to the Deep North Was the Right Project to Bring Both Elordi and Young Home After Their International Successes Jacob: "For me, it was Justin Kurzel. I've been an enormous fan of his work for my whole conscious movie life. So it was just the opportunity to be able to work with him." Odessa: "Yeah, me too. Sorry to copy." Jacob: "No, no, no. But of course, then you double down when it's Richard Flanagan's text. It's just there couldn't be a better opportunity to come home and try to make some cinema." On Elordi's Strong Reaction to the Novel, So Much So That He Told Family Members That the Book Was the Key to Understanding Him Jacob: "I kind of regret saying that now, because if you read the book, like it doesn't remind me of myself at all." Odessa: "You've changed." Jacob: "I think there's so many parts, there so many bits of him that are so inherently Australian, that it reminded me so much of a lot of the men in my life and the people that I know, and things like that. But it is a rare thing — but I feel like those things always happen for a reason. The right thing does find you at the right time, and you read it at a moment in time when it speaks to you. And that's always such a great treat." On Young Working with Justin Kurzel on Two Projects in a Row, with The Narrow Road to the Deep North Following The Order Odessa: "I think sometimes you just meet directors who make you a better actor, and he's one of them. I feel like I got a really lovely introduction to him working on The Order, because for me it was a low-pressure environment. I kind of got to be a bit of the relief from the very, very difficult story. He likes difficult stories, does Justin. And it was lovely. We just got to know each other under really low-pressure circumstances. And I just really, really love the way he works. It feels very natural to me. I would do anything that he asked me to do. I would love to work with him for the rest of my life, because I believe that he makes me a better performer." On the Importance of the Series Being Many Things, Including a Love Story, a Character Study, a Look at Multiple Sides of War, an Interrogation of Heroism and a Reminder Not to Forget Past Horrors Jacob: "I think that's what makes for great cinema, is all of those human elements and the minutiae in those moments. I think all of them compounded, especially in a piece about memory — it is what cinema is about. It's a whole life compressed and contained and examined and looked at and explored. And I think having them all is what makes it such a complete piece." On Building the Type of Chemistry That Author Richard Flanagan Compared to Stars Exploding in Galaxies in Real Time Odessa: "I think we just both probably sensed in each other quite early on in the rehearsal process that we were both ready to just put it all there. And, I don't know, we were just going to take it seriously. We're going to give as much as we could. Sorry, I'm using like sports terminology. Leave it all on the field." Jacob: "Full credit to the other side." Odessa: "Yeah, everyone was a great player today. No, but I think we got very lucky. I think we have just a natural understanding and trust in each other. You never know if that's going to work out that way, but it did." Jacob: "Yeah." Odessa: "And I think that for me — I won't speak for you, but I do sense this in you — there's no point in doing it if you're not doing it fully." Jacob: "Yeah." Odessa: "And I think we're both that kind of actor." Jacob: "Which is really just — it's either casting from Justin or just some profound luck." On Committing to Authenticity in the Series' Prisoner-of-War Scenes, and the Sense of Responsibility to the Real-Life Men Who Went Through It That Comes with It Jacob: "It would probably be the most-important thing. We're talking about real men, and we're talking about Richard Flanagan, the writer's, father — and Shaun Grant's grandfather. These are real people and the history, it's still there. And the trauma of it lives on generationally. So it's not about entertainment. It's not about shooting guns and making some great spectacle. It's about telling the truth and immortalising something as best that you can." On What Elordi and Young Make of the Journeys That They've Each Taken Since Their Early Australian Breakthrough Roles Odessa: "It's hard to characterise it. I think it's actually helpful not to think about it, and not to try to maybe intellectualise — at least for me — why I've chosen the things that I have. I think so much of the course of a career happens on instinct, and some of it's also dumb luck. But I feel incredibly proud and incredibly lucky, and I guess I haven't done so bad if I'm here celebrating this." Jacob: "It's an immense amount of luck — and I would say probably shared with a deep love for movies. And if you love movies and you love cinema, it's not so deliberate but you seek out the things that hopefully move you and mean something to you in that moment." The Narrow Road to the Deep North will stream via Prime Video from Friday, April 18, 2025. Images: Prime Video.
Birthdays come around so fast, don't they? It is incredibly tough to try to figure what to do every single year. Dinner? Old as the tale of time. Drinks at a bar? Done to death. So, what else does your city have to offer in the way of birthday celebrations? Turns out there are loads of ways to have a whale of a time on your special day, from the luxurious and creative to the thrill-seeking and downright spooky. Plus, with Suncorp's Platinum Credit Card*, you can earn extra points for every dollar you spend on the celebration of your existence — from the decadent birthday cake (you deserve it) to the candles on top. Read on to discover some of the absolute best group activities you can plan in Sydney (and beyond) and bookmark this for when your next trip around the sun rolls around. Planning your next birthday — sans the stock standard dinner or drinks — will be a total breeze. [caption id="attachment_715194" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paesanella Cheese.[/caption] TAKE A CHEESY ROAD TRIP If you and your best mates are ready and raring to go on a classic long weekend road trip, you might want to consider the fabulously tailored Great Aussie Cheese Trail. Created by agri-tourism gurus McIntosh & Bowman, this trip (conveniently preset in Google Maps) will lead you on heavenly car trip throughout New South Wales from cheese farm to cheese farm. You'll get to try the stunning buffalo mozzarella at Paesanella in Marrickville, the mouthwatering goats cheese varieties at Jannei in Lidsdale and all sorts of cow milk yoghurt, kefir and mountain cheese at Marrook Farm in Elands. Be warned, this trip isn't for the casual cheese fan. If you follow the full route, you'll be visiting 15 different dairy farms and clock just under 18 hours of driving — so make sure you only invite your most cultured, cheese fanatical friends. HEAD UPWARDS ON A CLIMBING ADVENTURE If you're more into adrenaline-inducing, action-filled group activities, Skypeak Adventures is a great choice for your birthday bash. Between the treetop swings, barrel runs and bungee leaps, hanging out (literally) with your mates while clipped to an aerial adventure park will definitely get your blood pumping. You get to pick the aerial crossings you want to do, so you can choose a challenging route — which features monkey bars, slacklines, and balance beams — or the 'just for fun' option, which is much more relaxed. Skypeak also has party packages so you don't have to worry about anything — the crew will provide the food and drink for a 'suspended picnic' and they'll also let you choose the playlist while you all clamber around high up in the air. [caption id="attachment_732583" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] GO GLAMPING ON COCKATOO ISLAND Spending a night or two in a luxurious tent with your nearest and dearest and waking up to gorgeous harbour views sounds just like an activity you'd want to save for a special occasion. On Cockatoo Island, you can book yourself (and your crew) into a huge lush tent right on the waterfront, so you can take in the beautiful views of Sydney from dusk 'til dawn. The deluxe package includes all amenities, including a pre-erected tent and bedding, plus deck lounges for sunset gazing. All you need to bring is the goods for an opulent island birthday picnic or a good ol' fashioned barbie — and don't forget to throw in some marshmallows to toast over the fire pit. Cockatoo Island has a bunch of interesting tours to go on while you're there, too. If you're amped for a night of being spooked, we recommend checking out the 90-minute haunted history night tour. [caption id="attachment_652785" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] LEARN A WEIRD NEW SKILL AT WORK-SHOP If you'd prefer to spend your birthday learning something new rather than deleting brain cells with booze, then Work-Shop is definitely for you. This innovative space is all about community, craft and learning some niche new skills — like how to make your own natural skincare, perfume, cheese or sourdough bread. You could also become an expert in serial killers, tantric sex or Japanese shibori dyeing, or learn the basics of hula hooping, indoor plants or taxidermy. There are endless options, so have a browse through its list of available classes and book you and your friends in. You'll have a fun and unique birthday and take some new knowledge home with you. Win, win. HAVE A STARGAZING BUSH SLEEPOVER IN A BUBBLE Less than three hours drive from Sydney is one of the most incredible getaway spots our sunburned country has to offer — camping in a see-through bubble tent, overlooking the second biggest canyon in the world. Bubbletent Australia is the way to go if you'd like to spend your birthday with your partner or best friend, stargazing and soaking in the beautiful scenery of the gorgeous Capertee Valley. This is not the camping you experienced as a kid — this is the OTT bush experience of your dreams. The bubble tents each feature a lush queen-size bed and a separate bathroom, plus they're stocked with lavish amenities including a fridge, wireless speakers, iPad and a gas burner, so you can cook up an evening feast while staring blissfully at the brilliant night sky. REVISIT YOUR CHILDHOOD AT AN ARCADE Remember the kid at school that always had the best birthday parties? Well at Archie Bros Cirque Electriq, that kid can now be you. Yep, you can have the childhood party of your dreams, complete with dodgem cars, arcade games, bowling, laser tag, cinematic gaming and virtual reality experiences. Archie Bros even has birthday packages, so you can invite a huge group of friends and enjoy everything this crazy arcade has to offer, complete with food and drink packages so you can keep your energy up to fit in even more activities. The menu here is exactly what you craved on your childhood birthdays too — sugary, colourful and way OTT (including the cocktails). CHANNEL YOUR INNER VIKING AND THROW SOME AXES For those who enjoy the added element of an adrenaline rush on their birthday, look no further than this: axe throwing. Maniax offers group sessions so you and your mates can receive one-on-one coaching and target practice to get your axe-wielding skills up to scratch. Then, the games begin. You'll all take part in a wild tournament to see who among you is the king or queen of the mighty axe. This is a bonding exercise like no other, so be prepared for you and your mates to get really competitive, but also wildly supportive when you eventually hit your first bullseye. Seize the day, make your everyday moments count and get rewarded all the while with Suncorp. *Issued by Citigroup Pty Limited ABN 88 004 325 080 AFSL No. 238098 Australian credit licence 238098. Top Image: Cole Bennets.
Thanks to Keith Courtney, Australians have already enjoyed a walk through a huge house of mirrors in the past few years. And, also with his help, moseying through an eerie and endless labyrinth of doors became a reality, too. The Melbourne installation artist isn't done setting up massive mazes just yet, however — and his latest, which is designed to resemble a huge human-sized kaleidoscope, is finally coming to Sydney in 2023. Called Kaleidoscope, fittingly, this installation isn't small. It's a 700-square-metre expanse of glass, steel, mirrors and moving prisms that features a labyrinth of corridors decked out in a revolving showcase of lights and colours. Originally debuting in Melbourne in 2022, then hitting Brisbane and Geelong among six Australian stops so far, it'll start shimmering and luring Harbour City residents at Powerhouse Ultimo for just over a month between Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10. Like both House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors, Kaleidoscope has been crafted to be immersive as possible. Expect to have your senses disoriented while you're strolling through, including both motion and gravity. Expect to see plenty of shifting illusions among the ever-changing array of light and colour as well, and to be drawn in by the installation's soundscape in the process. "No two people will have the same experience in Kaleidoscope. This is a multi-sensory and physical experience where the visitor is completely submerged in sound and light — a vortex of serenity," explains Courtney. "Their experience is entirely personal, and I think that's what I'm most proud of with this artwork. It makes my heart sing knowing that each person can walk through and create their own feeling of magic." In bringing the massive piece to life, the artist has teamed up with visual artist Ash Keating, composer Tamil Rogeon and artist Samantha Slicer, plus a team of highly skilled technicians. "I'm humbled that Sydney will finally experience this incredibly ambitious work, truly befitting of such a majestic city," continued Courtney. "Sydney is a place of captivating light and reflection, bouncing across the water, the sandstone, the skyscrapers. Kaleidoscope is my expression of a shimmering, ephemeral sensory experience, and I think it will resonate strongly with Sydneysiders and their environment." Find Kaleidoscope at Powerhouse Ultimo from Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10 — open from 2–9pm from Wednesday–Sundays — with tickets on sale now.
It's been seven years in the making, but Sydney's new Metro line, connecting Sydenham in the city's southeast to Chatswood in the north, is now set to welcome passengers from Sunday, August 4. In addition to platforms at existing stations like Martin Place and Sydney Central, six new stations have been constructed along the line, but these transport hubs will offer more than just access to trains. To take advantage of the influx of Sydneysiders using the Metro, placemaking plans are in the works to develop precincts in and around new stations. The first to be unveiled is in Barangaroo, where new footpaths, over 200 trees and plants, 38 new streetlights and new bike parking facilities, as well as pleasant seating areas, taxi ranks and bus stops have been installed. Travellers leaving the station via the Nawi Cove entrance will find a fascinating monument marking the spot where the Barangaroo Boat was discovered. The well-preserved 200-year-old remains of a vessel were unearthed in November 2018 during the Metro station's excavations and it is believed to be the oldest colonial-era Australian-built craft to ever be fully excavated, recorded and raised. A dramatic, rusting iron inlay, depicting a nine-metre-long, three-metre-wide overview of the boat as it was found buried in the soft harbourside earth, has been etched into the pavement. The craft would most likely have been used to ferry cargo around Sydney Harbour during the earliest days of European settlement. Other areas of the precinct have yet to be completed but they should be accessible to the public by the end of the year. These areas will feature upgraded roads leading to the Dalgety Bridge and a major new car park at 25 Hickson Road as well as a pedestrian footpath and bicycle path on the eastern edge of Hickson Road. Not only will the new Barangaroo precinct service the new Barangaroo ferry hub and the eateries and bars around Crown Towers, Cockle Bay and Darling Harbour, but it will also offer better access to the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct and Roslyn Packer Theatre, which is currently difficult to reach using public transport. Impressive as the Barangaroo precinct may be, there is arguably an even more astonishing feat of infrastructure hiding beneath Sydney's streets just a few blocks away. The Martin Place superhub, also set to open on Sunday, August 4, will feature 3,000 square-metres of retail and dining space spread over three levels encircling a cavernous atrium where escalators will deliver passengers to the station's platforms. For more details on the Sydney Metro's City and Southwest Line head to the Sydney Metro website. Images: Transport for NSW
This weekend, a whole heap of Sydney's best chefs are joining forces — 30 of 'em, to be exact — and it's all in the name of bushfire relief. Cooks for the Bush will take over Nomad's temporary Surry Hills digs on Sunday, January 12 for one serious fundraising brunch and bake sale. While the brunch sold out in record time, the takeaway bake sale will see tasty treats created by the likes of Aria's Joel Bickford, Butter's Julian Cincotta, Kitchen by Mike's Mike McEnearney, Continental Deli's Michael Nicolian, Fred's Danielle Alvarez, Icebergs' Nic Wong and Alex Prichard and Alex Prichard and, of course, Nomad's own Jacqui Challinor. Head chefs from Rockpool, Biota Dining and Cho Cho San are also involved, as is Duncan Welgemoed from Adelaide's famed Africola. And this is just to name a very few. You can check out the full list below. All chefs and suppliers are giving their time and produce for free, so 100 percent of proceeds on the day will be donated to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal. Also coming up is a silent auction, with many of the participating restaurants donating gift vouchers for special dining experiences. The auction page is still in the works, so keep an eye on the Nomad website. https://www.instagram.com/p/B692rQKJKQ2/ Image credit: Nomad Up the Road by Petrina Tinslay
It was a sad day in March when Ramen Ichibandori, one of Sydney's most loved ramen shops, closed its Neutral Bay restaurant. Now, having just wrapped up a pop-up at Gateway's Tokyo Laundry, the brand is officially closed for business. But Owner Libras Ting and Chef Hideto Suzuki have already moved on to their next venture, and it's fast becoming a lower north shore favourite. The initial idea for Sekka Dining was to showcase regional Japanese cooking, with a specific focus on Suzuki's hometown in the far north of Honshu island, near Hokkaido. But, with the hospitality scene the way it is at the moment, Suzuki has instead moved toward a simple izakaya set up. Ting and Suzuki do not plan to remain 'just another ramen shop', though, and expect to offer yakitori and à la carte dining in the coming months. For now, Sekka focuses on two main types of ramen broth — chintan (light and clear) and paitan (thick and cloudy) — split across five options: shoyu, shio, tonkotsu, black garlic tonkotsu and a vegan tomato ramen. Each comes topped with classic pork chashu and an umami egg. The tonkotsu varieties are offered in limited quantities and have been selling out each night, so be sure to get in early if you can. [caption id="attachment_777059" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Leigh Griffiths[/caption] To accompany the ramen, there are traditional izakaya snacks like karaage chicken with yuzu-chilli mayo, pork gyoza with house-made XO dipping sauce, smoked edamame and lotus chips. For drinks, the focus is on beers and highballs, with the former including Asahi, Hitachino Nest and Tassie's Moo Brew, and the latter ranging from the classic whisky version to an Aperol and bitter lemon spritz and an ume-groni. Sake, shochu and wine lists also make the cut. The interior is still in its humble beginnings, as the team is more focused on staying operational than the on the fit-out. Instead, they're using the top-notch food offering and Japanese hospitality to create the vibe. It seems to be working so far, with the restaurant's 30 seats currently booking out for dinner every night since the restaurant opening four weeks ago. More seating will become available as governmental restrictions continue to ease, too. Suzuki and Ting are holding off planning too far ahead, as COVID-19 keeps the industry on its toes, but down the line, expect to see a yakitori menu, along with one-off collaborations and Sekka-branded products to boot. Images: Leigh Griffiths
When it comes to sunset drinks, Hotel Palisade's rooftop is hard to beat — the split-level cocktail bar, Henry Deane, in Millers Point offers near 360-degree views of Sydney, including lots and lots of harbour. Making it even more appealing this season is the arrival of the Chandon S Lounge. For the next few weeks, you'll be able to sink into some of the comfiest seats in town, while sipping a glass ($12) — or bottle ($59) — of Chandon S (Chandon's popular sparkling wine infused with orange bitters) and staring for hours at tranquil water, pretty parks and spectacular skyline. Should you get peckish, you can feast on dishes from the menu. Making the most of the Palisade's brilliant location, the Chandon S Lounge is open every day from midday — but we suggest heading up between 4–8pm to soak up the last rays of afternoon. Things are set to wrap up on Monday, December 10, so get your skates on. To make a booking, visit Hotel Palisades website.
Comprising 100 spa locations in Australia, Endota is one of the largest companies offering pampering treatments across the country. At its Crows Nest spa, you can book in for relaxation, remedial or deep tissue massages on any day of the week. Its team uses certified organic products across all its facials, massages and beauty treatments, and if you're rushed for time they offer express appointments, too, starting from 30 minutes for a facial ($95). But you should plan in some time to truly relax. Endota Spa at Crows Nest has six treatment rooms all up, plus two double treatment rooms with luxury spa baths — perfect for sharing the experience with a loved one. Simply here for some crucial maintenance? You can also get manis, pedis, waxing and spray tans. Image: Andrea Piacquadio
First, the obvious fact: everyone watched plenty of films over the past year. We all ploughed through our streaming queues, checking out everything and anything that each and every platform served up — and we did it for the bulk of 2020. What we didn't do, however, is spend as much time watching big-screen blockbusters. Cinema closures and postponed release dates will do that. Accordingly, unless Tenet whips up a huge box office windfall across the rest of December or Wonder Woman 1984 does hefty business when it releases at the end of the month, 2020's top movie moneymakers worldwide will end up being Chinese action epic The Eight Hundred and, from way back in January, the abysmal Bad Boys for Life. In one rare pleasant side effect of 2020, the lack of supersized Hollywood flicks has meant that a plethora of smaller movies have reached audiences since cinemas reopened Down Under. Some of them might've hit the silver screen anyway, but some wouldn't have — and there are gems in both categories. Alas, even with more on-screen real estate available for these type of films, they didn't all draw crowds. There are many reasons for that, because this hasn't been an ordinary year. But if you're wondering which absolute must-sees you didn't catch in 2020 but should've — including titles released both before and after the pandemic changed this year forever — we've run through the ten best flicks that didn't set the box office alight, but you should add to your catch-up viewing list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRMPdhQBlWs QUEEN & SLIM No one knows how a Tinder meetup will eventuate, but the events that unfurl in Queen & Slim don't fit into anyone's idea of a dream date. One of the points of this crime drama — which also doubles as a romance and a road movie — is that, for Black Americans, being hassled by the police for no reason isn't an unlikely outcome of a simple night out. After an unnamed criminal defence attorney (Jodie Turner-Smith, Jett) and a Costco employee (Daniel Kaluuya, Widows) chart the above path, they're forced to go on the run across the US, with law enforcement on their trails. The debut feature from music video director Melina Matsoukas (a Grammy-winner for her work on Rihanna's 'We Found Love' and Beyonce's 'Formation'), Queen & Slim knows that it's leads will always evoke comparisons to Bonnie and Clyde. In fact, the script by Master of None star Lena Waithe namechecks the figures in its dialogue. But as its titular characters' lives change drastically, this potent film combines a powerful message, dynamic performances and intoxicating imagery into one supremely stylish, textured and outrage-filled package. It'd be nice to say that Queen and Slim's world changes, too; however, they've always been forced to inhabit a space where their very existence was precarious due to racism, prejudice and police brutality, as every second of this haunting movie stresses. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qn70iqo-4Q MONOS Set in a camp of teen guerrillas, Alejandro Landes' Sundance's Special Jury Award-winning third film Monos follows gun-toting rebels that have barely said goodbye to childhood, but are still tasked by their unseen leaders with holding an American woman (The Outsider's Julianne Nicholson) hostage. Unsurprisingly, even with nothing around but fields, jungle, a cow to milk and occasional enemy fire, little goes according to plan. The relentlessness of modern life, the ongoing unrest in Colombia, and the ceaseless trials and tribulations that plague all teens facing adulthood — they all sit at the centre of this stunning South America-set thriller. Echoes of William Golding's Lord of the Flies are evident (and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the book that inspired Apocalypse Now, too), but Monos firmly tells its own story. Engagingly lingering between a dark fairytale and a psychological treatise on war, combat and humanity's dog-eat-dog nature, the result is one of the definite standouts of recent years (of 2019, when it premiered overseas and did the rounds of the local festival circuit, and of 2020, when it finally released in Aussie cinemas). That status is assured thanks to everything from the eye-popping landscape cinematography to the needling tension of Mica Levi's (Under the Skin) score and the commanding performances from the young cast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHUTtV4K40 IN FABRIC Anyone can make a movie about a haunted house, as many a filmmaker has shown. Peter Strickland could, too — but a feature about an eerie piece of clothing is far more intriguing, fascinating and entertaining. Viewers should expect nothing less from one of cinema's inimitable auteurs, of course, with the lauded British writer/director not only conjuring up narratives that no other helmer ever would or could, but also consistently bringing them to the screen with a distinctive sense of style and mood. It was true of his last two festival circuit hits, Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy. That observation remains just as accurate with In Fabric, aka his haunted dress flick. In London clothing store Dentley & Sopers, bank teller Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Fatman) finds the perfect red dress for her first blind date. It both fits and looks a dream; however, despite her initial delight, she discovers that the fabulous frock has quite the dark side. Fashion items can live many lives, so that's just the start of In Fabric's story — and, also starring Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie, I, Daniel Blake's Hayley Squires and The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt, this sartorial-focused horror-comedy is a lurid, imaginative and mesmerising gem. It's also the kind of movie you haven't seen before, and won't again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atKsEdLKPLo&feature=emb_logo THE WOMAN WHO RAN Combine alcohol, conversation and a scene-stealing cat in one equally melancholy and charming movie, and not only is South Korean great Hong Sang-soo firmly in his element, but he delivers exactly the type of film that has won him a legion of fans. Given how prolific the director is, it'd be easy to assume that he'll soon run out of ways to combine his usual trademarks. Or, to expect that he'll eventually exhaust all of his ideas. But Hong's features never stop finding new ways to twist his favourite touches, themes and inclusions together (see also: Hill of Freedom, Right Now, Wrong Then and Yourself and Yours). In The Woman Who Ran, booze flows freely. Drinking plenty of it is Gamhee, as played by Hong regular Kim Min-hee (On the Beach at Night Alone). She's enjoying her first time away from her husband in five years, visiting friends around Seoul while he's off on a business trip. In Hong's typical fashion, much of The Woman Who Ran unfurls as the characters simply chat — about their lives, hopes, dreams, problems and, with a pesky neighbour in the movie's funniest moment, about feeding stray felines. His penchant for long takes, playful repetition and expertly timed crash-zooms are all used to winning effect, in a movie that slots perfectly into his busy oeuvre and yet always feels uniquely insightful. Also, and it cannot be stressed enough, look out for one helluva kitty. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srPas4PqCkw BEATS Beats knows how to start with a bang, letting the sounds of Ultra-Sonic's 'Annihilating Rhythm Part 1' echo from the screen in its opening moments. It's a savvy move — if viewers are going to understand just what electronic music means to the film's protagonists, early 90s-era Scottish teenagers Johnno (Cristian Ortega, One of Us) and Spanner (Lorn Macdonald, Shetland), then they need to not only see and hear it, but feel it deep in their souls. The delight on the duo's faces as they listen to the song down the phone to each other says more than swathes of dialogue ever could. Whether you're a fan of the same kind of tunes or not, you'll instantly be brought into the moment and the elation with them. And, from there, you'll ride every up and down this black-and-white film delivers, as the stage-to-screen adaptation from filmmaker Brian Welsh (The Rat Pack) peers into the broader scene just as the UK government was passing legislation to effectively ban raves. Johnno and Spanner are desperate to attend the very events the powers-that-be are trying to stamp out and, when they get their chance to head to what might be their first and last dance music festival, they go for it. Featuring a thumping soundtrack of old-school tracks, Beats serves up an insightful exuberant coming-of-age film from there, as well as a as a thoughtful and reflective social-realist drama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYl1DVIgbAg SHIRLEY Elisabeth Moss has had a great year. While the Mad Men and The Handmaid's Tale star has enjoyed a fantastic past decade, she turned in two of her best performances yet in 2020. First came The Invisible Man, which twisted the classic horror tale in modern directions, including exploring gaslighting and the lack of willingness to believe women. Then, in Shirley, she stepped into the shoes of horror and mystery novelist Shirley Jackson. This is a movie by Madeline's Madeline director Josephine Decker, though, so it as never going to be a standard biopic about the The Haunting of Hill House author. Indeed, Shirley is drawn from a fictional novel by Susan Scarf Merrell, focusing on Jackson's home life with her husband Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name) during a 1964 period when teaching aide Fred Nemser (Logan Lerman, Hunters) and his wife Rose (Australian The Daughter star Odessa Young) come to stay. An agoraphobic, Jackson's routine is unsettled by her new houseguests, although an unexpected connection springs with unlikely kindred spirit Rose. In telling this story, Decker is far more interested in capturing the essence of Jackson and her sensibilities than slavishly sticking to facts, and her film all the better for it. Indeed, this subjective and engaging character study is daring, disarming, dark and, unsurprisingly, anchored by a pitch-perfect lead performance. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMB7SpEvxOI RIDE YOUR WAVE When 19-year-old surfer Hinako (voiced by former Japanese pop idol Rina Kawaei) frolics around a seaside spot with her boyfriend Minato (fellow local pop star Ryota Katayose), it's a scene that's familiar from many a film. In the picturesque Japanese city of Chiba, the pair chat, laugh, stroll and see the sights, as plenty of couples have in similar situations. Actually, this duo does so twice. The first time plays out exactly as expected but, occurring well into Ride Your Wave, the lovestruck duo's repeat romantic rendezvous has a twist. In the kind of image that can only really be brought to the screen via animation, Hinako isn't spending time with Minato in the flesh the second time around — instead, she's dragging around an inflatable porpoise filled with water that, when she hums the pair's favourite song, manifests her boyfriend's spirit from beyond the grave. While Ride Your Wave hails from a different filmmaker to big Japanese hits Your Name and Weathering with You, this Masaaki Yuasa-directed film falls in the same heartfelt, gorgeously animated, emotionally sweeping realm. It clearly also has an element of the supernatural to it, focuses on a star-cross'd romance, and delves into love and loss as well. Sweet, charming, sensitive and a joy to look at, it's especially thoughtful when it ruminates on the latter, tackling tough emotional terrain with unflinching, heart-swelling honesty Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hroo3-sKc0w HONEY BOY Following a child star's journey both as a 12-year-old actor (The Undoing's Noah Jupe) in a hit TV show and as a young man (Waves' Lucas Hedges) grappling with his time the industry, Honey Boy boils down easily to a one-sentence description — but this isn't an easy or straightforward film. Just what its protagonist Otis experiences at both ages, and how his youthful time with his ex-rodeo clown and Vietnam veteran dad James Lort (Shia LaBeouf, The Peanut Butter Falcon) leaves an imprint, proves complex, messy and resonant in this intimate feature. It feels personal, too, because it should. LaBeouf isn't just playing any father figure. He's stepping into the shoes of a version of his own dad. And, he's starring a movie that he wrote, that's based on his own journey from Even Stevens to Transformers and beyond. Brought to the screen by first-time feature director Alma Har'el, Honey Boy is raw, reflective and expressive as it wanders through LeBeouf's heart and soul, and it's an intense but rewarding work from everyone involved. This isn't an idealised, nostalgic look backwards, or a work of unfettered anger. Honey Boy, like LaBeouf himself, pinballs between multiple extremes. It should come as no surprise that this frank and sincere movie was penned while LaBeouf was in rehab himself — where Otis heads as well — and that it always feels like he's confronting issues he knows will never completely be resolved. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZvrlkF4TjM&feature=emb_logo LUCKY GRANDMA Lucky Grandma might be the second American-produced film about a Chinese grandmother in as many years, but no one should mistake Sasie Sealy's feature debut for The Farewell. Both offer up something special, and their similarities are truly only superficial. Here, the titular elderly woman (Tsai Chin, Now You See Me 2) is first seen chain-smoking and glaring her way through a fortune teller's appointment. When Grandma Wong is told that luck is coming her way on a specific day, she's quickly on the bus to Atlantic City. And when she spies a hefty stash of cash in the bag belonging to the gentleman sitting next to her on the return ride home, she barely hesitates. This string of events comes with consequences, however, with local Red Dragon gangsters soon following her every move. To cope, the feisty senior enlists the help of their rivals, and pays the towering Big Pong (Hsiao-Yuan Ha) to stick by her side as her bodyguard. Chin, who has featured in everything from You Only Live Twice to The Joy Luck Club, is such a gruff, no-nonsense treasure to watch in Lucky Grandma — and Sealy smartly lets audiences peer her way closely and regularly. Sometimes, Lucky Grandma is a drama about a widowed woman trying to make the most of what's left of her life. Sometimes, it's a crime caper that's hopping around Chinatown with glee. In Sealy's hands, that combination always works. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLmvs9Wrem0 COLOR OUT OF SPACE If you're going to task anyone on this earth with finding a blazing rock that has plummeted from the heavens and crashed down at a remote New England property — and in a big-screen adaptation of a short story by horror and sci-fi writer HP Lovecraft at that — you may as well give the job to Nicolas Cage. If you're going to ask any actor to run an alpaca farm and profess their love for the animals, too, you also know that he's just perfect. Thanks to its story about the fallout from said meteor, which turns the sky an otherworldly shade, unleashes both radiation and shape-shifting aliens, and sparks quite the wave of strange events, a film version of Color Out of Space would always garner interest. Cage has made some out-there and seemingly intentionally terrible movies in his career, especially over the past two decades, but this weird and wonderful effort doesn't fall into that category. It's bettered by his presence, because no one does unhinged and manic quite like the Vampire's Kiss, Face/Off and Mandy actor; however, filmmaker Richard Stanley (The Island of Doctor Moreau) turns this wild tale into an off-kilter, hallucinatory, kaleidoscopic, vibrantly pink and purple-hued spectacle. It occasionally lets it get a little too lost in its own delirium and can threaten to become a bit weighed down, but letting Color Out of Space's gleefully bonkers sights, sounds and story developments wash over you is all part of the experience. Read our full review.
Pocket Pizza pays homage to New York's Little Italy, with red-and-white gingham tablecloths, exposed brick walls, vintage NYC photos and a hip-hop playlist to boot. This home of Italo-American pizza on the Northern Beaches has recently relocated to a new, larger spot on Pittwater Road. As well as boasting a new look, the corner restaurant also has an updated menu. For starters, there's burrata with basil oil ($11) and imported tinned sardines with toast ($12). Pasta mains include veal and pork ragu pappardelle with butter milk, ricotta and basil ($23), while dessert offers espresso tiramisu ($12) and negroni panna cotta ($14). But the 12 hand-tossed pizza pies are the star of the show here ($21–$27) — most of which come topped with fior di latte and all of which are given punny titles. There's the Netflix & Chilli (spicy 'nduja, ricotta, chilli flakes and honey), the Baraccoli Obama (spring cream base, broccolini, silverbeet, ricotta and lemon), the Gordon Hamsey (double smoked ham, pineapple, pickled jalapeño and red onion) and the Prawnhub.com (garlic prawns, buffalo mozzarella, capers and prawn oil). Gluten-free bases (add $3) and vegan cheese (add $2) are available for all pizzas, as is a very American ranch dipping sauce for the crust (add $2). On the bar side of things, expect a range of Italian wines by the glass ($8–$13), house draught beer ($8) and Birra Moretti on tap ($9) and three spritzes I th— one combines gin, limoncello and fresh passion fruit, and another is tequila with blood orange and Italian bitter orange ($16 each). There are also classic cocktails that serve two ($24), including a negroni and an old fashioned. The full menu is available for delivery and takeaway, as are the handful of packaged Italian products on display. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Pizza in Sydney
Though running errands is a necessary part of life, it isn't really an ideal use of your precious leisure time. And, if you've saved up quite a few stops on a single day, it can easily lead to hanger. But you can't always stop for a full refuel in the middle of your personal admin day. Luckily, Sydney is full of quality grab-and-go eats. We've teamed up with American Express to bring you our picks of eateries to hit when you're running errands and need a good feed to keep you going. At these, you can tap your American Express Card, stuff your face with some seriously satisfying (yet incredibly quick) eats and recharge for more errand mania.
For those travelling to and from Sydney's eastern suburbs, hefty wait times could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a stack of new Bondi bus services. It was announced in August that route 333 —travelling North Bondi to City via Bondi Junction — will become a high frequency service from September 23, with passengers being able to pretty much turn up and go. Additional services will see buses running every three minutes between Bondi Beach and Circular Quay during peak times, making it one of the country's most frequent transport services. Outside of weekday peak hours, the wait times for 333 buses will still be manageable, with services running every six minutes during the day and every ten minutes at night, seven days a week. A new overnight 333N bus — which will run from 11pm–6am, and replace the current 380 — will run all stops between the CBD and North Bondi. During peak hour, the 333 bus will no longer travel to Dover Heights, terminating at North Bondi instead, with those wanting to get to Dover Heights able to change to routes 323 or 380. [caption id="attachment_682918" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Current 333 bus route, via Transport NSW[/caption] The move is expected to allow for thousands more passengers to use the popular route each week — a win both for weekday commuters and anyone heading beachside on the weekends. Updated: September 27, 2018.
Now that the Sydney Opera House is back in action after 2020's COVID-19 shutdown, the iconic site has filled its 2021 program with musicals, operas, comedy gigs, circus shows, family-friendly fare and more. Keen to head along, but watching your budget? The venue has just announced the perfect special for anyone who loves a bargain: $21 tickets to select performances until the end of March. Here's how it works: at midday each and every day, $21 tickets will go on sale for a performance, event or experience that's on the following day. You just need to hop onto the venue's website when 12pm hits to nab your tickets. It's a first-come, first-served affair, with tickets available until sold out. You can grab four in one transaction, and you won't pay any booking fees with your purchase. If you haven't already booked yourself in to see Rent, this could be your chance. If you'd like to giggle at Sam Simmons or Lano and Woodley, or catch Circa's Peepshow, cross your fingers they're on the cheap tickets list, too. Cabaret The Choir of Man and operas Tosca and Bluebeard's Castle are also on the bill over the next three months, so keep your eyes peeled for them among the specials. [caption id="attachment_788316" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Daniel Boud[/caption] Top image: Hamilton Lund
