The dusty expanse of a post-apocalyptic world. Life before everything changed forever. Bunker existence. Giant robotic suits. All of the above are set to feature in Fallout season two — as they did in the show's first season — and Prime Video has just dropped a series of first-look images to give viewers a glimpse at what's in store. After premiering in 2024 and becoming one of the platform's top-three most-watched shows ever, notching up more than 100-million viewers globally, the game-to-screen hit is returning for its second season in December 2025. There's no exact release date yet, and there isn't a trailer so far either, but you can get a peek via the new pictures from upcoming episodes. Yes, this is a blast — as was the news earlier in 2025 that Fallout has already been renewed for a third season. Clearly, if you bring a massively beloved video game to TV in the right way, as season one did, then viewers will come flocking. We all know that that worked for The Last of Us as well, with its second season already airing this year and a third also in the works. For season two of Fallout, audiences can look forward not only to picking up where season one's finale left off, but to venturing through the Mojave wasteland to New Vegas — and to more time spent with stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Walton Goggins (The White Lotus) and Aaron Moten (Emancipation) as Lucy, The Ghoul and Maximus, respectively. When it dropped its initial eight episodes in 2024, Fallout took its cues from the games that first debuted on computers back in 1997, with three released sequels, a fourth on the way and seven spinoffs all following. The live-action television iteration follows Lucy, a lifelong vault-dweller, who leaves her cosy underground digs to navigate the irradiated wasteland that earth has remained for two centuries after the nuclear apocalypse. Crossing her path: bounty hunter The Ghoul, who has ties to life before the devastation; and Maximus, an aspiring soldier with the Brotherhood of Steel, who don those huge mechanical outfits. In this nightmarish future, a hellscape filled with mutants, wild west vibes and plenty of violence awaits beyond the bunker that the optimistic Lucy, daughter of Hank (Kyle MacLachlan, Overcompensating), who oversees Vault 33, has always called home. Bringing the chaos to life is a behind-the-scenes team featuring Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, as well as Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) as writers and co-showrunners. And yes, Bethesda Game Studios has a hand in it as well. There's no trailer for Fallout season two yet, but you can check out the trailer for season one below: Fallout streams via Prime Video. Season two will arrive in December 2025 — we'll update you with an exact release date when one is announced. Read our review of season one, and our interview with Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten. Images: courtesy of Prime Video.
The all-new Sydney Boat Show is cruising into Sydney Olympic Park — and it's a boat lover's dream. From Thursday, August 14 to Sunday, August 17, the massive marine expo will transform Sydney Showground into a playground of boats, marine innovation, fishing gear, food, live demos and family-friendly fun. Across the four-day event, you can watch seafood get grilled by celeb chefs, catch casting tips from fishing expert Michael 'Cookie' Cook at the Berkley Supertank and get stuck into paddleboarding sessions and safety workshops. Charismatic Aussie chef Miguel Maestre will light up the main stage with his signature flair during a live cooking demo of his legendary fish and chips, made with a splash of his very own craft beer, Rubia. Afterwards, you can head to the relaxed Riverina Ave & Garden Bar to try the dish for yourself. Throughout the show, Miguel will also be roaming the exhibition floor, meeting fans and hosting lively Q&A sessions. It's a rare opportunity to learn top cooking tips from one of Australia's most loved culinary stars. Outside, you'll also find an openair showcase of live music, a kids' fun zone and a huge range of marine and lifestyle brands. General admission is $19 plus booking fee, and kids under 16 get in free when accompanied by a paying adult. As a bonus, all tickets include free travel on trains, metro and light rail. Plus, if you buy your tickets before July 31, you'll get a shot at winning $5,000 in 'Boat Show Dollars' to spend with any exhibitor on site. Whether you're in it for the thrill of the latest boating tech, the fishing hacks, the seafood or just a laidback day out, it's shaping up to be a boatload of fun. See the full program details and grab your tickets at the Sydney Boatshow website. By Jacque Kennedy
The holiday festive season may have passed, but if you think there's nothing on for the first few weeks of January, you're wrong. Loosen your belts and get some sunscreen ready, because Sydney's biggest Greek Orthodox Festival is returning to Carss Bush Park this Sunday. Epiphany Greek Festival, held annually to coincide with the global celebrations of the Greek Orthodox Epiphany, is expected to bring upwards of 40,000 visitors to Sydney's south, making the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia-organised event one of the largest Greek cultural festivals in the country — with food, music, dance and celebrations held by the Georges River for one day only. Starting at 11am and running until 9pm, the festival will see over 80 stalls set up in the park, serving souvlaki, loukomades and other traditional Greek treats. You'll be able to browse a mix of Greek-made goods as well, edible and otherwise, while a busy cultural program takes care of the entertainment. For the families, you'll find a ferris wheel, amusement rides, face painting, children's entertainment — plus plenty of spots to sit down and catch your breath. On the cultural front, there'll be live performances from DJs, musicians and local dance groups, Greek Orthodox celebrations, including the Great Blessing of the Waters, and a fireworks display to close out the day.
Sydney fine-diner nel doesn't do anything by halves. When it shows its love for Disney, Moulin Rouge!, Australian native ingredients, British food or KFC on its plates, Nelly Robinson's restaurant goes all in with decadent multi-course degustations. The same applies to Christmas, with the eatery's festive end-of-year spreads a seasonal culinary highlight. But who wants to get jolly just once a year? Not most of us, and not this Wentworth Avenue spot. In 2024, nel is jumping on the Christmas in July trend with Sunday roasts every week. Of course, nel's take on anything it sets its ingredients to is never like anyone else's. So, your winter lunches can now include a nel spread with lamb shoulder, smoked salmon with caviar and dill, and sticky toffee pudding among the dishes — and that's just part of it. This is a four-time-only affair for this year, because there are four Sundays this July, with the festive offering kicking off on Sunday, July 7. You'll pay $85 for your taste of merriment, and you'll also need your wallet for any beverages on top. Bookings are essential. Christmas jumpers are optional (but you know that you want to wear one anyway).
Owned by award-winning hospo veteran Jules Bouillon (NOLA, Love Fish and Mr. Wong), the 50-seat Pistou draws inspiration from France and the Mediterranean. The all-day Newtown eatery takes the deli counter concept and adds in a dine-in aspect, with a large share table at the centre of the space. But, the best seats in the house look out through the floor-to-ceiling front window and onto bustling King Street. In the kitchen, former Glorietta head chef Katie Morris is serving up a weekly changing selection of seasonal share plates, cheese and charcuterie. Expect the likes of olive fougasse with smoked tomato butter ($11), pickled octopus with pistou (a Provençal pesto-like sauce made from garlic, basil and olive oil) and borlotti beans ($25), salmon gravlax with cured cucumber ($23) and burrata with anchovies and vine leaves ($20). Then there's the huge selection of cheese and charcuterie, currently spanning 12 of each. You can settle in with 18-month-old jamón ($15) and wagyu bresaola ($17), enjoy a plate of burrata ($10) and decadent Cremeux de Bourgogne ($16) or skip the decision making and go for a cheese ($28/53) or charcuterie ($28/53) plate. [caption id="attachment_801722" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] On the drinks side of things, Tilly Sawrey (Buffalo Dining Club) has created a succinct wine list that focuses on minimal-intervention wines and includes a mix of Australian and international labels. Elsewhere behind the bar, an ever-rotating list of just three cocktails — an offering that changes almost daily — features options like the Short and Strong (gin, peach liqueur and bitters), the Tall and Refreshing (a choice of spirit with freshly squeezed juice) and a St Germain spritz. Designed by Amy McLeod (The Paddington, The Newport), the fit-out feels homey, with lots of timber and earthen tones, plenty of plants and wine bottles and jars lining the walls. Whether you stop by for takeaway, wine and nibbles or weekend brunch, it's walk-in only for small groups and bookings for groups of six and more — so round up some friends or be prepared for a wait. Images: Cassandra Hannagan
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.
All hail the new kid on the block — Chaotic Social is here to shake things up. If your current adult life has begun to feel monotonous, uneventful or (dare I say) lonely — or if it has simply been lacklustre for some time now — here's your chance to change that. As the name suggests, this social club aims to add some creative flare and organised fun to your current schedule. Founded by Sydney's former 'Sausage Queen', Chrissy Flanagan, the vibrant organisation hopes to not only forge new friendships between attendees, but also to spruce up social calendars everywhere. Previously the co-owner of The Sausage Factory restaurant and the Queens Of Chaos brewery, Chrissy has taken to this new venture which was birthed from her personal frustrations with the difficulty of forming new friendships as an adult. "It's often said Sydney is a particularly tricky place to make friends as an adult," Chrissy said. "If you miss out on doing any of the big four — high school, uni, work, kids — locally or at all, it's hard to bridge the gap, leaving many of us lonelier than we would like." She continues: "As adults, we're embarrassed or too self-conscious to use modern tools such as friend networking apps to solve this problem. Chaotic Social is seeking to bridge that gap, in the form of classes and panels on weird crafts, mad skills and naked ambition, where you're encouraged to roll solo and go home with a few new mates in your phone." At its core, Chaotic Social aims to solve the struggle of making new friends in adulthood by hosting a bunch of fun events in a safe space. From creepy doll-making classes and 'speed mating' parties to sausage classes (naturally) and an online book club, you'll find activities that, at the very least, pique your interest. Head over to Petersham and you'll be greeted with the bold neon sign out front, before entering a room completely enveloped by orange. Whether you choose to hit up the event of your choice solo or in a group, you are guaranteed a good time — and your future self will thank you for it. Do keep in mind that participation in activities is not optional — no spectators! So if you're planning to attend, be prepared to get involved. You can find Chaotic Social at 256 Stanmore Road, Petersham. If you're keen to head in and check it out, take your pick from the social club's upcoming events at their events page.
With every endeavour, there comes a time when you're faced with difficult decisions. Whether it's scaling back, making a major change or trying something different, it's important to know when and how to make a tough call that just might benefit you in the long run. So how do you know when you're making the right choice? There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but we sought out some advice from two Sydney venues who have become beloved local fixtures in the industry, in partnership with Square. Good Ways Deli started slinging sandwiches in Redfern in 2021 and quickly developed so much of a following that they opened a second outpost in Alexandria the following year. The Barber Shop is a fair bit older, having opened in 2013. The city speakeasy is known for its extensive collection of 700-plus gins and has been voted Australia's Best Gin Bar by Australian Bartender Magazine four times. The Barber Shop's co-owner Mike Enright and Good Ways' co-founder Jordan McKenzie share their wisdom on making big changes, unexpected surprises and what they've learnt along the way. [caption id="attachment_960054" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Credit Cassandra Hannigan[/caption] The Barber Shop on Closing the Actual Barbershop The Barber Shop was, aptly, concealed behind a fully operational barbershop that served clients during the day. However, after consistent losses from that portion of the business, the team decided to shut down the front of the venue. "We closed our actual barbershop at the front of the bar. The barbers are a completely different business to hospitality. It was taking up too much time and we barely broke even post-covid," said co-owner Mike Enright. "It meant that we could focus on the bar and not have our bottom line suffering by the losses it was making." When asked whether it was a tough call, Enright answered: "We had to make a few redundancies, but it was a smooth transition." He elaborated, "We tried hard and long to keep that part of the business operating and I didn't want to let it go, but it was the best decision in the end." Did it work? "The space is now a prop for the bar. It still looks like a barbershop but with no cutting hair, which is a shame. It used to be a great business pre-covid." But, Enright added, "It turned out exactly as planned — the losses and the stress of trying to run two businesses disappeared." Another benefit of closing the barbershop was that Enright was able to devote more attention to producing events, which he says are "another source of additional income for us and great promotion for the brand." Thanks to Square, these events, whether on or off-site, can go off without a hitch. "The Tap-To-Pay on iPhone is super useful," Enright shared. "We always have a device to take payments on." Good Ways Deli on Choosing to Bake Their Own Bread Good Ways Deli had been making their own bread for about a year when they made the decision to commit to baking on a bigger scale. "We started to think about what made Good Ways what it is and how we could double down on that. Baking bread in house is a labour of love for a sandwich shop, and we needed a way to make it worthwhile and differentiate us from the market," shared co-founder Jordan McKenzie. McKenzie recalled when they shut down the store to renovate the space. "To make this change we had to close the shop for four days — we ripped apart the bar and benches, and rebuilt them in a way that left more space for a deck oven and a bigger mixer. Our trades came in and upgraded the services to account for the new equipment. It was an ambitious feat in the timeframe we gave ourselves and sleep wasn't really factored into the equation, but we got it done!" So how did they make this decision? "We looked at our business plan and what we'd done up until now, and what would take it to the next level. You can't do everything you want to do when you first open, so change is inevitable," said McKenzie. "We knew that quality, healthy and sustainably minded food were core values for us, and the health benefits of slowly fermented sourdough breads were a big draw in a growing sandwich scene." Once the decision has been made, it can be another challenge entirely to get the staff and customers on board. "We have regular staff meetings to communicate our values and why we have them, but people who come to work at Good Ways can see what we do and it really resonates. There is strong buy-in." As for the customers, "we have some messaging on the website and through social media, but for the most part, we try to let our actions speak. The fact that you can see the bread being made as soon as you walk in really helps," explained McKenzie. Was it a success? "I don't know if I'd pin it as the game-changer, but it's definitely been a step forward for us in this long walk." McKenzie added, "The fact that not only Tom and I, but all of the team are still excited to eat a sandwich for lunch every day after four years is testament to that." McKenzie's additional piece of advice was: "Cafes and restaurants are well-oiled machines that rely on repetition to hone efficiency, so whenever you make changes there will always be teething issues. You can't have business without problem-solving though, so get on with it!" He went on to say, "Ask people smarter than you for advice, plan well and crack on. When you find the problems, fix them." Find out how Square can kickstart your business at squareup.com.
When Jamie Campbell wore a dress to his high school dance, he couldn't have known what would come next. In 2011, his story hit the small screen thanks to TV documentary Jamie — Drag Queen at Sixteen. In 2017, it became an acclaimed West End stage musical, nabbing five Olivier Award nominations in the process. And in 2020, the show is finally heading to Australia for a huge national tour. Premiering at the Sydney Opera House in July before hitting up Western Sydney, Wyong, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide between September 2020–February 2021, Everybody's Talking About Jamie tells Jamie's coming-of-age tale, complete with an upbeat pop score by The Feeling's Dan Gillespie Sells. Drawn from reality but universal in its emotions and resonance, it's a story of friendship, being yourself and overcoming obstacles such as bullies and prejudice. Here, Jamie New is a 16-year-old living in a council estate in Sheffield in Northern England. He's teased about his sexuality by his classmates, but dreams of attending prom in drag. And, despite the taunting and the small-minded attitudes around him — except from his supportive mum and his loyal friends — he's determined to make that dream a reality. In the Australian production, Fan Girls' James Majoos will play Jamie and Helen Dallimore will play his mother, with the rest of the cast including Simon Burke, Elise McCann, Shubshri Kandiah, Christina O'Neill and Harry Targett. The musical's Aussie run couldn't be better timed, too, with a movie adaptation of Everybody's Talking About Jamie due to hit local cinemas in early December. EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE 2020-21 AUSTRALIAN SEASON Sydney — Saturday, July 18–Sunday, August 30, Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House Western Sydney — Friday, September 4–Sunday, September 13, Sydney Coliseum Theatre, West HQ Wyong — Monday, September 28–Sunday, October 4, The Art House Melbourne — Friday, October 9–Sunday, October 25, Arts Centre Melbourne Brisbane — Friday, November 13–Sunday, November 29, QPAC Canberra — Friday, December 11–Sunday, December 13, Canberra Theatre Centre Perth — Friday, January 22–Sunday, January 31, 2021, His Majesty's Theatre Adelaide — Friday, February 5–Sunday, February 14, 2021, Her Majesty's Theatre Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3mjSUeOg5g&feature=youtu.be Everybody's Talking About Jamie's Australian season will premiere at the Sydney Opera House's Drama Theatre between Saturday, July 18–Sunday, August 30, before touring to Western Sydney from Friday, September 4–Sunday, September 13; Wyong from Monday, September 28–Sunday, October 4; Melbourne from Friday, October 9–Sunday, October 25; Brisbane from Friday, November 13–Sunday, November 29; Canberra from Friday, December 11–Sunday, December 13; Perth from Friday, January 22–Sunday, January 31, 2021 and Adelaide from Friday, February 5–Sunday, February 14, 2021. To join the ticket waitlist, visit the production's website — with Sydney ticket pre-sales starting at 9am on Wednesday, March 11 before general public sales open at 9am on Tuesday, March 17. Top images: Alistair Muir / Johan Persson.
NSW has now gone two weeks with no cases of community transmission of COVID-19. As a result more restrictions are easing. As well as gyms and tattoo parlours reopening this Saturday, June 13, Sydneysiders will be allowed to have gatherings of up to 20 people in their homes and outside. While hospitality venues have been allowed to have up to 50 people since June 1, gatherings in homes have been restricted to five visitors, with outdoor gatherings limited to ten. At a press conference this morning, Thursday, June 11, Premier Gladys Berejiklian made the announcement, saying despite the lack of community transmission Sydneysiders should not yet let their guards down. "We cannot forget the virus is still among us, the virus is deadly, it's contagious and while these restrictions are being eased let's be vigilant." As well as allowing Sydneysiders to have 20 guests in their homes and gather in groups of up to 20 outside, from Saturday, food courts will also be allowed to reopen for diners "in a socially-distanced" way, the Premier said. The Premier also hinted to more restrictions being eased "imminently". "We'll have a whole lot more to say in the next few days — in the next week — about what July looks like," the Premier said. When gyms open on Saturday, class sizes will be restricted to ten people, with a maximum of 100 people per venue, and tattoo and massage parlours will be allowed to have up to ten clients at a time. Indoor pools and saunas will be able to reopen with restrictions, too, following the reopening of outdoor pools and ocean pools back on May 15. As announced yesterday, adult — and kid — community sport is set to kick off again on July 1, but the government is yet to outline restrictions for spectators. For more information about what you can and can't do in NSW under current COVID-19 restrictions, head to the NSW Government website. CORRECTION: JUNE 11, 2020 — This article previously stated that gatherings in homes are currently limited to ten, but this is incorrect. You may currently have up to five visitors in your home — outdoor gatherings are limited to ten. It has since been updated.
Holidaymakers love staying in them. TV shows sing their praises. Everyone has wondered what their days would be like if they lived the tiny house life. Expect to explore that train of thought at the National Gallery of Victoria until April 2025, all thanks to the latest temporary addition outside the NGV International on St Kilda Road in Melbourne: Home Truth, the NGV's Architecture Commission for 2024. How big does the average Australian home need to be? How many tiny houses could fit in the space that a standard Aussie abode takes up? These mightn't be the normal questions that anyone tends to ponder when they visit an art gallery, but it's the query that Home Truth wants everyone to contemplate right now. First, you'll see and enter a standard-sized Aussie house. Inside, you'll then find an abode of much smaller size — and you'll notice the difference between the two. Each year, the NGV unveils a site-specific pop-up construction that experiments with design concepts while musing on subjects of public importance. This year's pick is a tiny house — which wouldn't sound out of the ordinary if it wasn't a pint-sized abode within the frame of the average Australian home, and if drawing attention to the contrast wasn't its aim. Created by Melbourne-based architecture and design studio Breathe, Home Truth continues the firm's focus on sustainable architecture that'll endure and has a purpose — and, since Wednesday, November 13, it's getting NGV visitors walking through a house-within-a-house labyrinth. The larger building represents the average 236-square-metre Australian residence. Nestled within it, the smaller-scale home is designed to spark conversations about alternative modes of housing. To get from one to the other, visitors enter via the larger house's garage door, then wander through rooms and hallways. When you reach the tinier home, you'll feel like you've hit the centre of a maze. Attendees will notice two different materials distinguishing each abode, too, with the bigger spot constructed from framing pine and the smaller house from the waste-made and silver-hued saveboard — offering up a comment on how homes are currently built in Australia as well. "Through its clever play on scale and materials, this thought-provoking work of architecture sparks a fascinating conversation about housing and sustainability in this country," explained NGV Director Tony Ellwood when he announced the 2024 Architecture Commission back in September . "Home Truth speculates that overconsumption of space and materials translates into ecological and social consequences — for both us and the planet. But importantly, it offers a provocative vision of a new way of thinking about building — seeing the value of living in spaces that are of smaller scale — a vision that prioritises people and planet," added Ewan McEoin, NGV's Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture. Home Truth follows 2023's stunning pick (This is) Air, a giant inflatable sphere that breathed, as created by Australian architect Nic Brunsdon with Sky Castle, Airship Orchestra, Cupid's Koi Garden and Lost Dogs' Disco' ENESS. The 14-metre-high piece did indeed expand with air, then release it — so, yes, it inhaled and exhaled all day — to get everyone thinking about humanity's need for and relationship to air, how essential it is, how dependent we all are upon the element, how finite it is and how its quality is being impacted. In the past, NGV's Architecture Commission has also seen a colourful mini Parthenon, a bright pink pool to wade through, a bamboo garden with its own deck and an unforgettable pink carwash pop up, all as part of an initiative that started in 2015. 'Home Truth' by Breathe is on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until Sunday, April 27, 2025 — head to the NGV website for further details. Images: installation view of the 2024 NGV Architecture Commission: Home Truth by Breathe. on display from 13 November 2024 until April 2025 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Derek Swalwell.
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.
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.
If you have plans to visit the Blue Mountains sometime soon, here's a culinary activity to add to your itinerary. Megalong is an elegant 50-seat bistro offering up elegant dining paired with panoramic 360-degree views of scenic bushland and escarpment of the Megalong Valley. Executive chef Colin Barker (formerly of The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay) has led the charge on the venue's kitchen and food concept, ensuring that Megalong's produce-forward menu honours the ingredients sourced from its adjoining 600-hectare farm, Lot 101. Megalong's farm-to-table approach pushes the envelope on sustainability within restaurant practices. Almost all of the produce used in the kitchen is grown onsite, hence Executive chef Colin Barker's mission to do justice to the fresh ingredients when crafting seasonally-inspired and ever-changing menus. When dining in, expect to find a similar structure to your experience. While the service plan and portions may remain similar, you'll rarely encounter the same dining experience twice. The gist of dining at Megalong follows the structure of a 'moveable feast' consisting of five to six courses for either a lunch or dinner service. To start, there will be a trio of snacks on arrival, with meat and fish plates paired with a vegetable side to follow. Then, to round out the meal, a fruity dessert course alongside petit fours. And the menu is subject to change daily. At Megalong Restaurant, you get to combine in the indoors with the outdoors, combining the best of the Blue Mountains' vistas and produce with a warm dining experience worthy of the journey.
Like most major cities, there are some well-known must-dos when you visit Canberra for the first time. The Australian War Memorial? Check. The National Gallery of Australia? Obviously. A paddleboat on Lake Burley Griffin? Of course. But once all those major attractions are ticked off the list, what's next? Well, there is more to Canberra than meets the eye. The capital is teeming with hidden gems — think social enterprise cafes, farmers markets and teeny tiny galleries — that locals love to frequent on their days off. And now you can, too. Make the most of your next Canberra adventure with this list of lesser-known spots. Please stay up to date with the latest ACT Government health advice regarding COVID-19.
Luxury spas and wellness clubs are popping up all over Australia right now, but more affordable alternatives are a little more difficult to find. Most of us can't fork out hundreds of dollars a month to relax our stressed-out minds and restore our tired bodies. Enter P3 Recovery, a not-so-spenny Queensland-based wellness brand that's got big expansion plans across the country's east coast. It currently has four locations — two in Brisbane, one on the Gold Coast and now, one in Port Melbourne — but there are over ten more in the works, in big cities and regional towns all along the eastern seaboard. No venue is exactly the same, but you'll likely find infrared saunas, hyperbaric chambers, hot and cold baths, and a range of therapy treatments — from compression therapy and IV therapy to breathwork classes and contrast therapy. These are available to those recovering from injuries, training to be fitter or simply looking to unwind. Compared to the luxury spas that dominate this kind of comprehensive wellness scene, weekly memberships and individual sessions are somewhat cheaper — but prices do vary from site to site. The entry-level memberships give you access to wet therapy spaces (from about $25–$35 a week), while the incrementally more expensive options let you try more and more of the technologies available — these can get a lot pricier. You can also just book a one-off session if that's more your jam, either by yourself or with mates. P3 isn't as swish as the best spas in Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney, but you don't necessarily need all the bells and whistles when seeking that self-care life. Current P3 Recovery wellness centres can be found in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne, with plenty more locations to come. For more information, head to the brand's website.
Decked out in a nostalgic pastel colour palette and service up exciting twists on cafe classics, Cafe Bondi is the newest beachside brekkie spot to open in the eastern suburbs. The Sydney spot is offering up a fresh breakfast and lunch menu full of favourites seven days a week. Head up from the surf and browse the menu, which spans smashed avo ($19), acai bowls ($17) and buttermilk hotcakes ($22). If you're looking to shake up your first meal of the day, you can also order zucchini fitters ($22) with avo salsa, grilled chorizo and watermelon radish — or a vegan turmeric tofu scramble ($21) with eggplant, sautéed spinach, cherry tomatoes avocado and house salsa. From 12pm, lunch is served. Among the menu highlights: a schnitzel sandwich ($18), a vegan bowl with crispy chickpeas and sauteed kale ($22), and the Cafe Bondi burger ($26) — which is made with a tajima beef patty, cheddar , bacon, tomato, lettuce, pickles and onions. If the food isn't a big enough draw card for you to beeline to Cafe Bondi after your next morning swim, the menu also includes a series of breakfast cocktails including watermelon mimosas ($14) and bloody marys ($16). The cocktails sit beside an extensive beer and wine list ideal for your next boozy brunch. Images: Kimberly Low.
One of the reasons that it's so easy to lose yourself at teamLab Borderless, the acclaimed and hugely popular Tokyo digital art gallery that should be at the top of every visitor to Japan's must-visit list, is the way that its stunning sights keep moving around you. No one just looks at art here — they're truly immersed in it. At RISING 2025, expect that same sensation. When Melbourne's annual winter arts festival returns, expect to step into a field of red beams, too. Whether you're a local or hitting up the Victorian capital just for the fest, expect to never see The Capitol the same way again as well. After first announcing that it'd be getting swinging in 2025 — at mini golf, that is, courtesy of an art exhibition that's also a nine-hole mini-golf course that's taking over Flinders Street Station Ballroom — RISING has unveiled its full program. Hailing from teamLab alum Shohei Fujimoto, intangible #form is a massive highlight. The Japanese artist's free installation will take over The Capitol each evening complete with all of that crimson lighting, which'll respond to your movement. Sparking the feeling losing yourself in its beams and hues is 100-percent the piece's aim. With 65 events featuring 327 artists on RISING's 2025 lineup between Wednesday, June 4–Sunday, June 15, intangible #form is just one of the fest's standouts this year. Another comes courtesy of Suki Waterhouse playing her first-ever Aussie shows, which you can only see in Melbourne at the fest. After proving a drawcard in 2024, Yasiin Bey is returning to RISING in 2025, this time joined by Talib Kweli. Still on tunes, Portishead's Beth Gibbons, Aotearoa favourite Marlon Williams, septuagenarian grime stars Peter Bowditch and Basil Bellgrave, Black Star, RONA, Soccer Mommy and Japanese Breakfast are also on the bill — as is the return of eight-hour music fest-meets-block party Day Tripper, with DIIV, Mount Kimbie, Annie and the Caldwells, Bktherula, Paul St Hilaire and Bad Vacation taking to the stage. If you haven't seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch before, this is your chance to redress that gap in your theatregoing, with this new Australian production of the rock musical starring Filipino Australian singer Seann Miley Moore. And if you've ever wondered if you could manage to sit still — completely — for 90 minutes, Woopsyang's "do nothing" challenge is part of RISING, and asking festival attendees to participate. Or, catch the Australian premiere of Olivier-winning hip-hop dance work BLKDOG by Botis Seva — and then grab a seat for The Wrong Gods, a new piece by S Shakthidharan, the playwright behind RISING 2024's Counting and Cracking. Celebrating Divinyls legend Chrissy Amphlett via cabaret, hearing sound artist Sara Retallick dive deep into The City Baths as a composition space, dancing again at the return of SHOUSE's Communitas, spotting Melbourne Art Trams' latest iteration rolling around town, embracing a playful stage musing on heartbreak with the appropriate soundtrack: that's all on offer, too. Also on the agenda: peering at large-scale projections that champion Yorta Yorta ancestral connections as they flicker across Hamer Hall, all thanks to Moorina Bonini; discovering what happens when time and sound bend in the void beneath Federation Square; watching six performers work through 36 Shakespeare plays using household objects; and another date with the Bard, with Hamlet staged by a neurodiverse cast. BLOCKBUSTER, also at Fed Square, looks set to live up to its name, giving RISING a free ode to South Asian culture. Think: street food, Pakistani R&B, Punjabi rap, art trucks, workshops and more. To similarly feel spoiled for choice while hitting up just one part of the festival's program, head to Night Trade, which is again part of the program, bringing street, karaoke and microbars to a late-night art market between Capitol Arcade and Howey Place. The list goes on — including Soda Jerk switching from bringing TERROR NULLIUS and Hello Dankness to the big screen to designing a mini-golf hole for the aforementioned Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf. [caption id="attachment_994700" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Woopsyang[/caption] Top images: Mandy Wu, Mathieu Bitton, Eugene Hyland, Katsuyuki Seki, Steven Marr, Ryan Cara, Netti Habel and Remi Chauvin.
From Friday, May 1, 2020 a maximum of two adult Sydneysiders can visit a second household, so you can start planning small dinner parties. Remember, though, that you need to continue to follow the rest of the social distancing and public gathering restrictions. If, like us, you've suddenly realised that you go to bed before 10pm, enjoy a fair slosh of milk in your tea and your ankles crack inexplicably when you stand up or sit down, you might be feeling like you're getting too old for places like 'the club'. Well, we say embrace it; start doing grown-up things like having dinner parties instead. Trust us, you're probably not the only one in your crew who'd much rather be at home on the couch, sipping G&Ts with mates and in bed by a wholesome hour. The days of nice cheese, top-shelf (or close to) alcohol, decent home cooking and adult conversations about the state of the world (you'll need the drinks for this) have arrived. So your dinner party is as successful as it can be, here are some tips. Start by buying some matching crockery, teach yourself to make a good roast and move on down this list. [caption id="attachment_731075" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] THE APERITIF Luckily this one is easy. Well, it can be. You can throw together a refreshing G&T — this timeless combination of gin and tonic water isn't to be sneered at — whip up a spritz or get fancy with something slightly more complicated, like a negroni (which is just equal parts Campari, gin and sweet vermouth). If you want go even fancier, we've wrapped up some recipes for run tipples, such as sangria, a basil collins and le grand fizz — over here. [caption id="attachment_689382" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould.[/caption] THE NIBBLES Proven over the centuries, the Italians know what to do with their savoury pre-dinner snacks. So, get your head, heart and stomach around the bellissimo antipasti game. Head to a proper Italian food store to stock up on the goods, because if there's something worth spending most of your week's pay on it's a really, really good pecorino and some deluxe salumi. Try the truly hallowed halls of Mediterranean Wholesalers in Melbourne's Brunswick, the storied Paesanella Food Emporium in Sydney's Marrickville or New Farm Deli in Brisbane's New Farm, which has been operating since 1975. You can also check out our Gin List for some recipe ideas for your pre-dinner eats — and what's more, each one comes with a gin cocktail pairing to try. You're welcome. THE TABLE SETTING Being an adult is all about putting in the effort — think making bread from scratch, remembering to send birthday cards or, you know, finally graduating from the sharehouse vibes and hanging art on the walls. The same thing goes for when you're hosting a dinner party: why not put in just a smidge more effort? Look up how to properly set a table, invest in some cloth serviettes (it's an eco-friendly decision, too) and make place cards for your guests. (Pinterest has approximately 200 million ideas to inspire you.) For the final touch, find every candle and candleholder you may own and scatter them across the table. Just no scented candles, please. You don't want those Glasshouse fragrances clashing with the meal you've thoughtfully prepared. THE LIGHTING Nothing can make a dinner party more uncomfortable than glaring fluorescent lights or the sun setting mid-meal making it almost impossible to see the food on your plate. Ease your way into the darkening evening with soft, warm lighting a la the candle collection above— or just throw a scarf over a lamp and call it décor. Whatever floats your lantern. If you're sitting outside for the evening, set up some candles early on to light once the sun dips beneath the horizon. Oh, and a string or two of fairy lights never goes amiss. THE MEAL It's the pièce de résistance of the evening, the opportunity to impress your friends with your cooking prowess (be it newly learned or well-honed). What you'll serve to eat should come with careful decision. Do any of your guests have dietary requirements? How much time do you have to prep and cook? Does your current salary afford a full roast to feed ten guests? When you've considered all these factors, then it's time to scour Google for the best-rated recipes. We've also delved into our archives to find you some past recipes we've scored from the likes of Sydney's Thievery, Porteño, Big Poppa's and Three Blue Ducks. THE PLAYLIST The first knock or ring of your doorbell may alert you of the fact that you have no music playing yet. Your mind has been kept busy prepping and cooking and primping that the evening's soundtrack hasn't even yet registered. Don't panic — we're here to help. Grab your phone and just chuck this smooth dinner party playlist on for the evening. Erykah Badu and Toto will help you chase away the nerves and comfortably settle into the evening (G&T in hand — you deserve it). https://open.spotify.com/user/concreteplayground/playlist/6SBK5b5pwaqhyGo8scJnQl
The crew behind the beloved pizza shop My Mother's Cousin is carving out a claim to be the go-to hospitality group for anything dough-related in Sydney's south. Not content with running one of the area's best pizzerias, the team is back with another standout venue in the form of Self Raised Bread Shoppe. Decked out in retro signage and awnings accompanied by a chequered lino floor and wood panelling, this welcoming cafe and bakery has just arrived on Jubilee Avenue in the Sydney suburb of Carlton. After perfecting the art of pizza dough at My Mother's Cousin, the team has brought their skills ten minutes further south to this bustling street just down from Jubilee Stadium. On the counter, you'll find a sizeable glass cabinet with that day's baked wares for sale. Expect kouign-amanns, croissants, filled doughnuts, tarts and cinnamon buns all ready to satisfy your carb-centric morning cravings. Those with less of a sweet tooth can opt for focaccia topped with tomato and ricotta, sausage rolls or a selection from the made-to-order sandwich menu. If you're heading in before 10.30am and on the hunt for something hot and hearty you have two choices. The first is the egg, cheese and potato hash on a milk bun with your choice of peppered ketchup or the specialty house sauce plus the optional addition of sausage — a perfect combo for a Sunday morning after a big night. The other option is your classic sourdough grilled cheese with mushroom as an optional added extra. From 10.30am until close, the sandwich selection expands to include mortadella, turkey, ham, and salami hoagies; tuna sandwiches loaded with dill, onion, cheese and pickles; a vegetarian delight that loads up ciabatta with artichoke, onion, rocket, parmesan and mayo; or a classic panko-crumbed schnitzel sambo on white bread. The final element of this hub for all things tasty is a four-door fridge and a set of shelves loaded up with deli good and refreshing drinks. Hot sauces, cold meats, sardines, olives, burrata, eggs, coffee beans and cans of iced tea — whatever you're on the hunt for, Self Raised is stocked up for your smallgoods needs. Self Raised Bread Shoppe is located at 45 Jubilee Avenue, Carlton. It's open 7am-2.30pm Wednesday–Saturday and 8am–2pm Sunday. Images: Melanie Colwell
Sydney has just scored another stunning boutique hotel, in welcome news for both locals and travellers alike. 202 Elizabeth is the sleek new 38-room accommodation spot that's just joined the likes of The Ace Hotel and Paramount House Hotel in Surry Hills. Each of the guest rooms spread across this refined six-level hotel is uniquely designed, providing an elegant accommodation option in the heart of bustling Surry Hills — and just a few minutes walk from Central Station as well. Hotel owner Diana Ren and designer Lisa Madigan have created a relaxing space filled with organic hues and constructed with sustainability in mind; it's built using cross-laminated timber, a carbon-negative structural material. Each room at 202 Elizabeth is brought to life by playful wallpaper from Kingdom Home Design. On arrival, guests will find a complimentary welcome tea waiting for them in their room. From there, patrons can discover a series of simple pleasures around each room, including robes from Australian designer Piyama, toiletries from Hunter Lab, and a mini bar stocked up with complimentary organic sodas and snacks (both sweet and savoury). Shared spaces around the hotel include a rooftop hangout spot boasting views of the surrounding inner-city streets, a ground-floor courtyard, and a soon-top-open new outpost for Handpicked Wines that will allow you to head in for a wine tasting and take a bottle back to your room or up to the rooftop. The sky-high space will also welcome in locals for morning neighbourhood yoga sessions, ensuring that Surry Hills residents get the opportunity to soak in its panoramic views. Plus, a stay at 202 Elizabeth won't mean leaving Fido or Spot at home. The accommodation is dog friendly, with General Manager Adam Males' french bulldog Sochi appointed the official Director of Pet Relations at the hotel. Puppy turn-down treats will be on hand for any four-legged guests, and Soci has ensured the staff know where all of the best dog-friendly cafes and restaurants are in the area. 202 Elizabeth is now open at 202–210 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Raise a glass to your next four must-visit vino spots: the winners of the 2022 Wineslinger Awards. Every year since 2018, these hospitality gongs have singled out the best places to get sipping, including via a Top 50 list and handing out four trophies. And for this year, ready to help shape your bar choices for 2023, all of the above is now here. Wineslinger isn't actually about vino itself, or bars in general. As the name makes plain, it's focused on watering holes that specialise in wine. Only four awards are handed out each year, covering the best Wineslinger, Best New Haunt, the Maverick prize for venues that push the limits and the People's Choice gong. While the first three awards are voted on by more than 100 industry experts, the latter stems from vino aficionados at home. [caption id="attachment_623526" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] Nabbing the big prize this year: Sydney's Dear Sainte Éloise, which was recognised for its focus "on organic and biodynamic producers who work with as little winemaking intervention as possible", as well as its hefty 550-plus wine list. "Over the last five years, owners Matt Swieboda and Nate Hatwell have firmly cemented a new institution to pair with their legendary wine bar, Love, Tilly Devine," said the Young Gun of Wine team, which runs Wineslinger, announcing the win. "There's a by-the-glass list of about 25 – plus saké and fortifieds – with new or featured wines chalked up daily. There's also a low-waste, sustainable undercurrent to the venue that extends to the menu where whole beasts are sourced to utilise every last piece of the animal. And the produce, like the wine, is organic or biodynamic, except for the rare exception." [caption id="attachment_623522" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] The Potts Point spot took out the gong after Melbourne's Embla nabbed it in 2021, and the Carlton Wine Room in 2020. In 2022, Victoria's wine spots made a showing courtesy of the Best New Haunt prize, a rather self-explanatory field, which went to Bar Merenda in Daylesford. In the Maverick category, Perth's Tetsun emerged victorious, marking the second year in a row that the award has gone to a venue in the Western Australia capital. It got the nod for being "a wine bar that steps away from rigid formality to add a splash of fun," the awards advised. "Styling itself as a neo-Italian neighbourhood osteria, the room has a lively, loud and rambunctious atmosphere, which made an immediate impact since opening in the heart of inner-Perth nightlife hub Mount Lawley in mid-2022." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Young Gun of Wine (@younggunofwine) And, the People's Choice went to an Adelaide venue, also for the second year running. The winner: bottle shop and tasting room Bowden Cellars. Just like in 2021, all four winners hailed from different cities. The Wineslinger Awards were created by Rory Kent, who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards. Where the latter prize aims to recognise stellar up-and-comers, the former is all about excellent and innovative places where vino lovers can enjoy an ace drop. Wineslinger also releases a list of top places to drink wine across the country each year, with 2022's rundown revealed back in November. The 50 spots span everywhere from Sydney's 10 William Street, Monopole and Poly to Melbourne's Bar Liberty, Old Palm Liquor and Public Wine Shop — plus Brisbane's La Lune Wine Co, Maeve and Wineism as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Young Gun of Wine (@younggunofwine) For further details about the 2022 Wineslinger Award winners, visit the awards' website. Top image: Dear Sainte Eloise, Nikki To.
If you're after a hearty meal to keep you toasty on a cool night, look no further than Shubhakamana. Its selection of curries, momos, noodles and rice dishes can keep you and your achingly cold bones company. Hailing from Rockdale, Shubhakamana has become a local hotspot for Nepalese cuisine and is known for giving a home-cooked touch to the nation's most renowned dishes. A meal here absolutely must include a plate of momos — we recommend ordering the platter so you can try a few of the different styles. These Nepalese-style dumplings come stuffed with spicy chicken or buffalo mince and, regardless of whether they're steamed, fried or doused in a tangy sauce (or all three), they're served with a super spicy tomato dipping sauce. Elsewhere on the menu, you'll find hearty curries, Chinese-style chow mein noodles, thali (a platter featuring black lentil soup, veggies, papadums and rice), biryani and thukpa (a Nepalese-style vegetable noodle soup). Images: Cassandra Hannagan
Want to get back to nature without actually having to rough it? Lucky for you, you can now take in the rolling hills of Mudgee in New South Wales, with the region's first ever luxury glamping service. Now taking guests, Sierra Escape is located 20 minutes drive from Mudgee's town centre, some 260 kilometres north-west of Sydney. The 280-acre property boasts spectacular views and is home to wildlife including kangaroos, deer and a variety of native birds. So yeah, basically it's paradise. The $350 per night tent — if you can even call something this opulent a tent — includes floor-to-ceiling windows, a king-sized bed, a camp stove and fridge, an ethanol fireplace and a separate bathroom complete with freestanding bath, shower and flushing toilet. It's insulated for all seasons, and there's even a deck out front where you can kick back and watch the sunset. "Sierra Escape aims to provide off-the-grid accommodation for those who love the outdoors but still enjoy the comforts of a luxury hotel," said co-owners Cam and Tasch D'Arcy. "Sierra is close to wineries and restaurants, but far enough from it all that it's the perfect retreat. We're excited to share Sierra with visitors to the area and hope their glamping experiences inspire a new way of travelling." For more information visit www.sierraescape.com.au.
Each year, thousands of travellers from near and far make their way down to the bottom of Australia to get a taste of gorgeous locations — the type that Tasmania just seems to have an endless supply of. And while it's nice to experience many of them under the sun, winter offers a whole new perspective that visitors will love just as much. From wild ancient forests with awe-inspiring frozen lakes and waterfalls to rocky mountainsides that take on a thick coat of snow, Tasmania's landscape offers something that'll warm everyone's cockles. So, here are six beautiful sights that seem to get even better once the winter chill grabs hold of the scenery. Pack a beanie and scarf and start planning your wintry escape. [caption id="attachment_718788" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Russell Falls by Tourism Tasmania and Michael Walters Photography.[/caption] MOUNT FIELD NATIONAL PARK Mount Field National Park is Tasmania's first and oldest national park, and many consider it to still be the best. If you're looking to get the most out of the Tasmanian winter, then this rugged landscape might just fulfil all your hopes and dreams. Across this sprawling region, there are plenty of highlights to choose from. But don't look past Russell Falls and its alluring tiered cascades, which are widely considered the centrepiece of the entire park. Elsewhere, Lake Dobson's shimmering waterfront can be taken in from many a great nearby hike. And at just over 90 minutes from Hobart, Mount Mawson takes on a brilliant cover of snow that offers skiers and snowboarders a challenging but worthwhile experience — to get to the summit, you'll need to hike 30-minutes uphill through alpine forest then jump on a rope tow. We promise, it's worth it. [caption id="attachment_720512" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ben Lomond National Park by Tourism Tasmania and Brooke Saward.[/caption] BEN LOMOND NATIONAL PARK Located in Tasmania's northeast, Ben Lomond National Park towers above the landscape, reaching up an imposing 1500 metres. The rugged landscape features sharp cliff faces and sheer drops that make it appear almost insurmountable. But once winter arrives, the mountain comes to life with skiers making the most of the steep scenery — and the variety of exciting downhill skiing routes that come with it. If you're not much of a skier, you can also drive up Jacobs Ladder, Ben Lomond's winding ascent, and experience the wonderful alpine plateau from its summit. Up here, you'll catch quite the surreal sight as you peer out upon the distant countryside — looking down on the rocky mountainside and its dramatic outcrops makes you feel completely mesmerised. [caption id="attachment_718784" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cradle Mountain by Jason Charles Hill.[/caption] CRADLE MOUNTAIN There's never a bad time to visit the famed Cradle Mountain, but winter is when this incredible spot truly comes into its own. Part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the mountain and its surrounds feature ancient rainforests and grasslands that sweep across its boundaries, as well as some remarkable glacial lakes and bubbling creeks that careen between the nearby mountaintops. While exploring, keep your eyes peeled as the surrounding Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is full of native wildlife, including wombats, echidnas, wallabies, quolls and pademelons. Don't forget about the low-lying lakes here either — in particular, Dove Lake, which is circled by an easy-to-access six-kilometre walking track. You might recognise it from photos (like the above) but, in real life, it's something else. As you wind your way around the lake, the trees get denser and the lookouts get quieter, and you'll feel like you've left the country for a European retreat. On a clear day you'll be able to see right across the lake; on a stormy one you'll be able to watch the sky do its thing. If you're lucky, you'll get to visit twice and see both. [caption id="attachment_718789" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arthur River by Jess Bonde.[/caption] THE TARKINE As the second largest cool-temperate rainforest in the world, The Tarkine should be at the top of the rugged adventurer's list. Set in Tasmania's northwest, the scenery here is largely varied and only becomes more extreme and breathtaking in the winter months. Start your adventure at the Edge of the World (actual name) and look out over the Arthur River — the water here is intense as it's where it meets the Southern Ocean. Or head inland and find shelter by venturing deep into the rainforest at the upper end of the river and discover the spectacular multi-tiered Philosopher Falls. [caption id="attachment_718786" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mount Wellington lookout by Tourism Australia and Graham Freeman.[/caption] KUNANYI / MOUNT WELLINGTON PARK Just a 20-minute drive from Hobart, kunanyi / Mount Wellington is probably the easiest way to immerse yourself in Tasmania's most beautiful sights. kunanyi /Mount Wellington Park showcases more than 18,000 hectares of remarkably picturesque scenery and links Hobart's outer reaches with world-class native bushland. You can drive right up to the Pinnacle, or take the challenge to walk to the summit. Do the whole 14 kilometres from Hobart — stopping at the Cascade Brewery along the way — or choose one of the smaller loop routes to conquer. On the way, you'll be able to enjoy sub-alpine flora and fauna that dots the towering landmass's upper reaches. Winter is a particularly special time to visit as the mountaintop is often dusted in snow (making it prime for snowball fights). Afterwards, warm yourself up with something hot at the Lost Freight Cafe, a shipping container coffee spot halfway up the mountain at The Springs. [caption id="attachment_718785" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Currie Lighthouse on King Island by Andrew Wilson.[/caption] KING ISLAND Set halfway between Tasmania and Victoria, King Island is a hidden gem. Which means you'll be able to nab the island's best (and most secluded) spots all to yourself. Currie is the island's main hotspot. Here you can explore the historic lighthouse built in the 1870s and wander the seaside town's quaint streets. It may be too cold to have a picnic outdoors, but you can do one indoors at the Boathouse. Described as a restaurant with no food, this stunning waterfront dining room if free for you to use as your own — you just have to bring your own nosh. Step things up a notch and see King Island from one of the country's most impressive saunas at Porky Beach Retreat. You'll be able to look out over the beach, wine in-hand, from the warmest spot on the island. King Island is only accessible by plane — but with flights coming in from Melbourne multiple times a day, it's an easy and rewarding place to visit. Top image: Cradle Mountain by Emilie Ristevski.
It was once a thriving hospitality empire with giant doughnuts on seemingly every corner, pink-hued ice cream parlours slinging hip hop-themed desserts, over-the-top cakes tempting tastebuds, and everything from luxe hotels to cruisy bars lining the streets (and sometimes the same block) of Brisbane. And, as far as those round, doughy iced sweet treats were concerned, Damian Griffiths' footprints spread right throughout Sydney and Melbourne too. Now, however, the mogul's string of businesses have faltered. Given how prominent Doughnut Time's heaving presence proved across the east coast — rapidly expanding to 30 locations in the three years between 2015 and 2017, plus its own food truck at one point — the brand's demise has been impossible to miss. After a tumultuous few months, where its pastel green-coloured hole-in-the-wall outlets once littered Brissie, Sydney and Melbourne's streets, empty stores painted stark white now sit. But Doughnut Time is just the tip of the iceberg — Griffiths has been caught up in bankruptcy proceedings, liquidation, attempted sales and more since late 2017. Hundreds have lost their jobs (some reportedly without payment) and there's been a huge cloud of uncertainty around what this means for the slew of venues that operate under Griffiths' name, particularly in Brisbane. If you're wondering what the situation means for some of your former favourites, here's a rundown. DOUGHNUT TIME The doughnut chain has been splashed across the headlines in recent weeks, and for good reason. Reports include failing to pay staff, breaching rental contracts and racking up huge debts, which ultimately led to a potential sale to former Doughnut Time CEO Dan Strachotta. When that fell through, the company went into liquidation and promptly closed all of its stores. There's now no salvaging the business — as reported by the ABC, liquidator Michael Caspaney has noted that "there is no money anywhere". Staff owed backpay and superannuation can seek compensation through the Australian Government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee, but only if they're an Australian citizen or permanent resident. MISTER FITZ While Doughnut Time has monopolised attention of late, Mister Fitz's apparent demise has flown under the radar — but visit one of its three former Brisbane sites and you'll find empty stores. Indeed, East Brisbane has been closed for at least a month, pre-dating the shuttering of Doughnut Time next door. Over at South Bank, where it also shared space with Doughnut Time, a sign advises "our lease has ended and we are planning bigger and better things." And, at the original Mister Fitz site in the Valley, a sign states "we are taking a little holiday while we undergo renovations" — with the confusing addition of "but don't worry, you can still find us at South Bank". LES BUBBLES Opening in 2015, Les Bubbles courted controversy from the outset. When you launch a bar and steakhouse in a site that was once Bubbles Bathhouse, a seedy underground casino and 'massage parlour' back in the late 80s, then you're clearly asking for attention. The Wickham Street joint got it — not just via its neon sign announcing "we regret to inform you we are no longer a brothel", but courtesy of a wind-up application from the ATO in November 2017, then administration this year. At present, it's still trading, after being sold to a business owned by Strachotta last year. CHESTER STREET BAKERY Les Bubbles wasn't the only Griffiths business in trouble in 2017. Around the same time that the ATO was pursuing the Valley joint, Chester Street Bakery was collapsing. The Griffiths-owned KTG Bakeries went under in November, with CSB's once-bustling Newstead store now sitting empty — with not a towering, rainbow-coloured piece of cake in sight. THE LIMES The original jewel in Griffith's hospitality crown, The Limes is up for sale, under the instruction of the receivers charged with managing the business at present. Expressions of interest close in April, but this isn't the first time it's been in this position, with an attempted sell-off in 2015 failing to come to fruition. The Limes is currently still taking bookings. ALFRED & CONSTANCE Alfred & Constance is also up for sale — separately from The Limes, but under the same instructions — with expressions of interest also closing in April. The Valley hangout has also garnered news headlines in the past few months after unexpectedly shutting up shop over the Christmas period, and failing to open for a planned New Year's Eve party, despite selling tickets (and not even bothering to notify patrons). Amidst questions about the venue's future given Griffiths' situation, it reopened in February and continues to trade. On-site restaurants Kwan Bros and Alf's Place remain closed, however. A&C and Kwan Bros have also been put up for sale previously, back in 2016.
It's 2am, it's Chinatown, you're bleary-eyed and hungry at the weekend ... you have no doubt ended up in front of a glass wall of crabs and prawns at the Golden Century. This stalwart of Chinese dining has been rattling the pots and pans for decades so the Star, in not much of a gamble, invited the owners to become part of the casino's food mafia. It's not a gamble due to a built-in clientele and a reputation of authentic cooking, with some Hong Kong oomph in the interior design, courtesy of young guns Paring Onions. A great wall of 89,000 chopsticks and upended tea cups as lighting are quirky and clever without screaming obviousness, and the bank of fish tanks greets diners on arrival. The owners are sensitive to what to expect from a Chinese restaurant – communal round, white table-clothed seating, private rooms with head-swimming carpets, noisy, chatty ambience – but there's also smaller, private "sun rooms" looking on to Pyrmont that offer more intimacy. The menu, to be honest, has been imported wholesale from the Golden Century, so there's familiarity in unfamiliar surroundings, and there's nothing wrong with that. Starters run the palate amok with san choy bow (two serves for $10) and sauced eggplant cubes ($7), before very traditional serves of Peking duck ($40 for four half serves, $73 for eight), which come as a shock due to the lack of fusion confusion imported by Sydney's newer upstarts. Seafood is the zinger here, especially the pippis, abalone and crab. On this occasion, the recommended dish is the braised mud crab with diced pork and vermicelli hot pot (price varied on weight, average $70) – messy but satisfying. Forget desserts, that's not on The Century's agenda. There's no concessions to tricky modern cuisine, on the menu at least. It's a family affair, and to their credit the prices are incredibly reasonable for the Starry location. Especially at 2am. Images: Trent van der Jagt.
Australia's toast game just levelled up with a little help from our neighbours across the ditch. If you're a fan of slathering nut butters across slices of heated bread, then you've likely heard of cult-favourite Wellington brand Fix & Fogg — and instead of stuffing your suitcases with their products when you're coming back from a New Zealand holiday, you can now head to Woolworths to pick up ten different types. Woolies already stocked two Fix & Fogg products: Everything Butter, which combines a bit of everything as the name suggests (aka hemp, chia, sesame, sunflower, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and almonds), plus granola butter (which is made with toasted South Island oats, cashew nuts, coconut, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and peanuts). Joining them are multiple types and sizes of peanut butter, plus a range of other creative flavours. Peanut butter and jelly in a jar, anyone? If you're all about the OG peanut butter by itself, you can go smooth or crunchy in either 375-gram and 750-gram jars. Or, there's the chilli and paprika-spiced Smoke and Fire peanut butter in 275-gram containers, as well as choc berry and almond-heavy versions of the Everything Butter. In Australia, you'll now find the ten Fix & Fogg varieties at all 990 Woolies locations nationwide from today, Monday, August 15. For folks new to Fix & Fogg, it makes the type of nut butters that you'll easily want to eat by the spoonful, sans toast — which is one of the reasons that the company has evolved from selling its wares at Wellington markets to picking up a huge homegrown and now international following. Fix & Fogg's expanded presence at Woolies comes after the brand hit the US in a big way in 2021, getting stocked at 3500 Whole Foods stores around the country. Find ten of Fix & Fogg's nut butters on Woolworths shelves from Monday, August 15.
Voila! The Four Horsemen are hitting Australia, in magical news if you like illusionists and the Now You See Me film franchise. Back in 2018, it was announced that the Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)-, Woody Harrelson (Last Breath)-, Dave Franco (Together)- and Isla Fisher (Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy)-starring cinema saga was making its way to the stage — and while that's proven the case elsewhere since, the IRL production is making its first trip to Australia before 2025 is out. Now You See Me Live doesn't feature the cast of the films, but gets real-life illusionists demonstrating their skills instead. Their Aussie stop: the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall across Friday, December 19, 2025–Saturday, January 3, 2026. Audiences will see Adam Trent from the US, Enzo Weyne from France, Andrew Basso from Italy and Gabriella Lester from South Africa step into the Four Horsemen's shoes. From Trent, expect plenty of sleight of hand, while Weyne specialises in large-scale magic. Basso prefers death-defying acts and Lester is a master of Houdini's upside down straight-jacket escape. The ensemble have taken to the stage for residencies on Broadway and in Las Vegas, and also in hundreds of other cities. Now, it's Australia's turn. 2025 is a big Now You See Me year: a new movie in the franchise hits cinemas, too, with Now You See Me: Now You Don't releasing in Aussie picture palaces on Thursday, November 13, 2025.
First, the bad news: if you don't already have a ticket to Laneway Festival 2025 in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to see Charli XCX, Djo, Beabadoobee, Clairo, Barry Can't Swim, Remi Wolf and more, they've completely soldout. Now, some good news: in each of the three east coast cities, Laneway has just announced official afterparties. The small club shows will feature STÜM, RONA. and Fcukers, plus others, with the lineup varying per location — and it's your next chance to get in on the Laneway action. The dates for the three shindigs are obviously the same as the Laneway dates in each destination. Accordingly, Brisbane's turn comes on Saturday, February 8, then Sydney's on Sunday, February 9 and Melbourne's on Friday, February 14. As for venues, River City revellers are headed to The Brightside, Harbour City residents to Oxford Art Factory and folks in the Victorian capital have a date with The Night Cat. In Brissie, STÜM, DJ Ivan Berko, nate sib and Cyber DJs will be taking to the stage. Sydney's gig features RONA., Fcukers doing a DJ set, DJ Ivan Berko popping up again, and both Loosie Grind and BEMAN. And in Melbourne, RONA. and DJ Ivan Berko are back, as is nate sib, alongside Laneway Festival's own DJs. Tickets are limited — so, like all things Laneway, getting in fast is recommended. As for the festival itself, if you've been lucky enough to nab tix, its lineup also features BICEP doing their CHROMA AV DJ set, Olivia Dean, Eyedress, Skegss, Hamdi, Joey Valence & Brae, 2hollis, Ninajirachi, Julie, Girl and Girl, and more. For its 2025 season, the event started by Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio in the mid-00s is also headed to Bonython Park in Adelaide and Wellington Square in Perth in Australia — but without afterparties. Laneway Festival 2025 Afterparties Saturday, February 8 — The Brightside, Brisbane, with STÜM, DJ Ivan Berko, nate sib and Cyber DJs Sunday, February 9 — Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, with RONA., Fcukers, DJ Ivan Berko, Loosie Grind and BEMAN Friday, February 14 — The Night Cat, Melbourne, with RONA., DJ Ivan Berko, nate sib and Laneway Festival's DJs Laneway Festival 2025 Dates and Venues Thursday, February 6 – Western Springs, Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau Saturday, February 8 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane / Turrbal Targun Sunday, February 9 — Centennial Park, Sydney / Burramattagal Land & Wangal Land Friday, February 14 — Flemington Park, Melbourne / Wurundjeri Biik Saturday, February 15 — Bonython Park, Adelaide / Kaurna Yerta Sunday, February 16 — Wellington Square, Perth / Whadjuk Boodjar [caption id="attachment_975321" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Harley Weir[/caption] Laneway Festival 2025 Lineup Charli XCX Beabadoobee Clairo Barry Can't Swim BICEP present CHROMA (AV DJ set) Djo Remi Wolf Olivia Dean Eyedress Skegss STÜM RONA Hamdi Joey Valence & Brae 2hollis Fcukers Ninajirachi Julie Girl and Girl + Triple J unearthed winners [caption id="attachment_975961" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Guido Gazzilli[/caption] St Jerome's Laneway Festival is touring Australia in February 2025. Head to the festival's website for further details and tickets. Afterparties are being held at the fest's east coast stops — with tickets on sale for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane's events now. Laneway festival images: Charlie Hardy / Daniel Boud / Maclay Heriot / Cedric Tang.
If you're the type of person that loves getting into heated pop-culture debates with friends, then you'll definitely want to get on board with this Kickstarter project. Part card game, part ridiculous debate, the Metagame asks players to consider questions like 'Which feels like first love: Pride and Prejudice or Hungry Hungry Hippos?' and 'Which should be required in schools: Dungeons and Dragons or the Bible?' The game comes with two decks of cards: one set of discussion cards with questions like 'Which will save the world?' or 'Which best represents America?', and one set of culture cards, which feature various works of art and pop culture, like Helvetica, the Rubik's Cube and 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)'. There isn't really a set way of playing, but the makers include a few game suggestions and encourage players to invent their own. Most of the suggested games involve players choosing culture cards that best answer the question and debating their choices. The Metagame was created by Local No. 12, a game design collective made up of Eric Zimmerman, Colleen Macklin and John Sharp. While the original Metagame focused on video games, the trio decided to release 'Metagame: The Culture Edition' following numerous requests for music and film versions. The game is still in prototype form, but it's already attracting praise from Filmmaker Magazine and Attract Mode, and the original Metagame was also an official selection of the 2013 IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games. The project has raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter — nearly double their original target of $25,000. Potential backers have the option of donating anything from $1 (which gets you early access to a print-and-play PDF version) to $500 or more (which gets you your own version of the Metagame, where you pick the rules).
It has been over three years since Australia's most ambitious outdoor cinema held its first pop-up, letting movie lovers catch a flick under the stars while getting cosy in one of its beds (yes, beds). After four fast-selling seasons in Sydney, Mov'In Bed has announced its first national tour, bringing its comfy setup to three other capital cities. Cinephiles in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria, it's your time to hop into one of 150 beds and stare up at the silver screen. Mov'In Bed will make its way around the nation this year, going to Perth and Brisbane before making its Melbourne debut at St Kilda Beach in January and February 2020. It'll return to Sydney for a summer season at the Entertainment Quarter, too, from January till March. While the film program hasn't been announced yet, audiences in each city can expect the same experience — the same number of beds, around 30–50 screenings, and just generally grabbing a buddy you're comfortable to share a blankie with (or make a bold first date move) for a unique night at the movies. In Sydney across previous seasons, Mov'In Bed has hosted themed and party nights too, so here's hoping that's also on the agenda. The outdoor cinema also features the usual range of movie snacks — beer, lollies and popcorn, of course — and has seen Burger Project and Fratelli Fresh bring food directly to Sydneysiders' beds. If you don't want to shell out for a bed (which have ranged from $40 for a single person to $74 for a couple in the past), it also lets patrons bring a picnic blanket and chill out on the grass. MOV'IN BED 2019–20 SEASON Perth, Ozone Reserve — October 18 – December 8, 2019 Melbourne, St Kilda Beach — January 3 – February 23, 2020 Sydney, Entertainment Quarter — January 17 – March 8, 2020 Mov'In Bed will pop up from October 2019, and tickets will go on sale later this year. For more information, keep an eye on movinbed.com.au. Updated: September 3, 2019.
Despite living in cities teeming with exciting events and activities all around us, it seems way too easy to fall into the same old routines when another weekend rolls around. We are, after all, creatures of habit. Given this, we've teamed up with Truly Hard Seltzer to bring you seven weekend activities to try if you're looking to add a little extra flavour to your weekend. Don't worry, we'll never suggest switching up your always-necessary morning coffee. [caption id="attachment_793358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Boud[/caption] INSTEAD OF SEEING A MOVIE, JOIN A DANCE CLASS Going to the flicks is generally a guaranteed good time — even if the movie isn't great, there are always snacks. Given all the streaming we've been doing over the past two years, why not step away from the screen when you've got some downtime and hit up with a dance class to get your blood flowing? Who knows, you might just unlock a hidden passion and discover you're a natural at the cha-cha. There are plenty of places that offer casual classes in a range of styles and for all experience levels. In Sydney, you could live out your childhood ballerina or Broadway fantasies at Sydney Dance Company; give Bollywood dancing a go via Class Bento; or learn to salsa or cha chat with Move Dance Studios. In Melbourne, give afrobeats a go with The Space; go retro with a jazz class at Dance Factory; or throw on the tap shoes for a class at Dance World. INSTEAD OF A COASTAL WALK, PLAY A GAME OF BEACH VOLLEYBALL OR TAKE YOURSELF TRAIL RUNNING Instead of embarking on your usual oceanside stroll this weekend, try something a little more active by running along a coastal trail. That way you can still get in some of the refreshing ocean air while getting the heart pumping and and your body primed for a post-workout lunch by the sea. In Sydney, try taking on the scenic Bondi to Coogee run or heading inland to do a loop of the Narrabeen Lagoon. In Melbourne, the popular Bay Trail is your best bet, especially when you add in a pit stop at the St Kilda Sea Baths, while inland tracks can be found along both the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers. If it's a group activity you're after, add some friendly competition to the mix with a game of beach volleyball. In Sydney, you can hire a net at Manly or Maroubra, while in Melbourne you and your crew can dig and spike your way to glory on St Kilda or Altona beaches. INSTEAD OF WATCHING NETFLIX, HIT UP AN ARCADE Put down the remote — your streaming queue can wait another day. Instead, head to an arcade to revel in some nostalgia from your younger years and give your brain (and maybe body) a bit of a workout. It's also a great way to get bragging rights over mates — as long as you win, that is — and enjoy some quality snacks and bevs. Don't know where to start? Archie Brothers hosts adults-only circus and cocktail events once a month in its Melbourne and Sydney locations, while B. Lucky & Son's Entertainment Quarter and Melbourne Central outposts offer some serious prizes — think Google Home speakers, vintage Chanel bags and more. INSTEAD OF THE GYM, GO BOULDERING A good sweaty gym session is a weekend staple, but consider another heart-pumping activity like bouldering — the more strategic cousin of rockclimbing — instead. As a super social activity that's all about cheering each other on, it's a great one to do with your mates, too. Given the sport's increasing popularity, there are plenty of bouldering gyms to check out across Melbourne and Sydney, too. In its Port Melbourne and Marrickville sites, BlocHaus cleans and resets four sectors a week, meaning there's a new wall to tackle on just about every visit. Elsewhere in Victoria, Urban Climb in Collingwood (and coming soon to Blackburn) offers a range of boulder and rope climb experiences, as well as fitness and yoga classes to ensure a well-rounded workout. In Sydney, 9 Degrees has — you guessed it — nine different levels of difficulty to try out at its gyms in Waterloo, Lane Cove, Alexandria and Parramatta. INSTEAD OF DOOM SCROLLING, DISCONNECT IN A FLOAT TANK Unfortunately, falling into a doom scrolling cycle is far too easy to do in the modern day. So, if you want to zone out but avoid the traps of TikTok and Insta, turn your phone off for a few hours and head to a flotation tank instead. Chill out in the saltwater, take a break from the real world and enjoy a bout of meditation while relieving some stress. Sydneysiders looking for some time away from the screen can head to Brookvale or Darlinghurst's Sydney Float Centre, which boasts state-of-the-art zero-gravity tanks, or even book into a private floatation room at City Cave, which has locations spanning from Mona Vale to Minchinbury to Campbelltown. For Melburnians, Northcote's Gravity Float and Wellness offers a range of holistic therapies ranging from flotation tanks to multi-day retreats, while the well-appointed Resthouse Float Centre in Hampton East and Water Temple Flotation in Armadale offer flotation memberships for those looking for regular offline time. [caption id="attachment_659517" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Laura at Pt Leo Estate, Jason Loucas[/caption] INSTEAD OF THE PUB, HEAD TO AN OUT-OF-TOWN CELLAR DOOR Want to get a little fancy this weekend? Press pause on the pub plans (your parma can wait until Wednesday night) and venture a little further to an out-of-town cellar door. Both Sydney and Melbourne are within easy reach of a number of world-class wine countries, so the only question you'll have is where to begin. We've done the research for you though with these excellent cellar doors that are worth the day trip from both Sydney and Melbourne. Before you know it, you could be sipping a preservative-free drop at Hungerford Hill in Pokolbin, or enjoying a degustation at Pt Leo Estate's illustrious fine diner Laura in the Mornington Peninsula. INSTEAD OF ORDERING TAKEAWAY, JOIN A COOKING CLASS After a long work week, it can be pretty tempting to outsource the weekend cooking for a bit of a splurge. This time, get on the tools (tongs) yourself by joining a cooking class, where you can learn some new tricks that you can impress your mates and fam with. Class Bento offers nationwide cooking classes for master chefs and disaster chefs alike, with workshops ranging from sushi-making to cake-decorating. Elsewhere, Sydney Cooking School offers a year-round calendar of classes and state-of-the-art equipment from its Neutral Bay headquarters, while in Melbourne, Moonee Ponds' Gourmet Kitchen offers weekend classes perfect for home cooks looking to add a new dish or two to their repertoire. Add extra flavour to your weekend with Truly Hard Seltzer, available at local bottle shops now in watermelon and kiwi or lime flavours. For more info, check out the website. Top image: Archie Brothers, Zennieshia Butts
If you're one to picnic on Australia Day, this one's for you. Load up your basket with Tim Tams, Caramello Koalas and a possibly-homemade-probably-not pavlova and head for Sydney's sandstone waterfront park for roving performers, floating concerts and one heck of a sunset. See the demolition of Sydney Festival's Ephemeral City in the Cutaway, catch the end of the Ferrython under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then ooh and aah at the Tall Ships. There'll be floating concert barges cruising past all day, then you'll be front and centre to see one of Sydney’s most spectacular sunsets at Nawi Cove.
What do Borat, Nicole Kidman, Homer Simpson and the creepy 'Red Light, Green Light' doll from Squid Game all have in common? At different points over the past year or so, they've all popped up in Sydney in a big way. First came giant statues and giant billboards, which is all well and good and normal. Now, The Rocks is temporarily home to a 4.5-metre, three-tonne recreation of Squid Game's eerie animatronic figure with laser eyes. If you've seen the hit Netflix series, you'll know why this towering short-term addition to the city is so unnerving. If you've noticed what time of the year it is right now, you'll know why it has set up shop now, too. Yes, it's just your ordinary, everyday, super-unsettling Halloween installation — one that recreates a savage South Korean TV show about people competing in childhood games and getting killed right by Sydney Harbour. Already donning your finest green tracksuit? (Or your best red number, if that's what you'd prefer?) You'll find the doll at Circular Quay W, The Rocks, from today, Friday, October 29, through until Monday, November 1. And yes, this IRL version is animated and moves — its head even turns — for maximum effect. You will need to be double-vaccinated to add some Squid Game chaos to your Halloween weekend, and the pop-up is only for over 16s. Patrons are asked to play safe, not to run and to abide by the one person per two-square-metres density rule — or they'll be eliminated. This isn't really Squid Game, though, so you'll just be asked to leave. Maybe steer clear of anyone playing ddakji in a train station on the way there and back, though. And if you decide to get caught up in a game of tug of war or marbles, that's on you. Find Squid Game's 'Red Light, Green Light' doll at 4 Circular Quay W, The Rocks, from Friday, October 29–Monday, November 1.
Sports have been bringing people together for hundreds of thousands of years now, and for a new country, Australia does its best to catch up — and pretty damn well at that. We've got our fingers in numerous pies like AFL, NRL, the cricket and soccer, plus we have women's leagues across the country in most of these (about time, right?) If you're a diehard Collingwood supporter, live and breathe Brisbane Roar or want to see some serious boss lady power on the field, chances are you'll want a little pre-game session to get you pumped before the match. We've got you. In partnership with Hahn, we've cross-checked top pre-drink venues with some of the biggest sporting venues to bring you our list of convenient pre-game watering holes. There's also nothing wrong with visiting these spots for a cheeky post-game drink, either. SYDNEY: THE LIGHT BRIGADE HOTEL FOR THE SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND Pre-game into your best self before a thumper of a match at Sydney Cricket Ground. The Light Brigade in Paddington is a pub drenched in history, full of art deco charm and it's only about a kilometre away from the SCG. There's a bunch of levels to accommodate your pre-drinks vibe with a restaurant on level one, cocktail bar on level two and a rooftop terrace bonanza up the top. By the time you've hit all three, it'll be time to move on to the game — though we'd suggest just grabbing a beer and heading straight to the rooftop for that view. MELBOURNE: THE CORNER HOTEL FOR THE MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND Tried and true, there'll be something at The Corner Hotel in Richmond for everyone. If it isn't a crowded gig on a Thursday night, perhaps it's trivia on Wednesdays, lunch in the rooftop beer garden or you've missed the last train and you just want to have a drown-your-sorrows pint. During the AFL season, The Corner is on to a very good, meaty thing, bringing fans of every team together with $10 barbecue hotdogs before every game. Have a couple of bevs, smash down a dog then cruise along with the rest of the crowd to the MCG to catch a solid showdown. [caption id="attachment_636204" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Facebook / The Paddo.[/caption] BRISBANE: THE PADDINGTON TAVERN FOR SUNCORP STADIUM Brisbane Roar is Brissie's offering to A-League soccer, so when Roar fans ready themselves for a big season, it's also a big season of pre-drinking. The Paddington Tavern (aka The Paddo) is your go-to for a big plate of pub grub that'll keep you going through both halves of the game. It also does late night dining for a post-match feed, and — most importantly for your pre-drinking needs — the pub holds three different bars to get your round of drinks sorted. SYDNEY: THE GREENS FOR NORTH SYDNEY OVAL The Greens in North Sydney is full of bowls club charm, with live music and a pretty outlook. There are also quirky weekend additions like a petting zoo on Sundays, and it expands its sporting pedigree with yoga classes on Monday mornings. Consider hitting up The Greens before you run off to catch a match at the neighbouring North Sydney Oval. Play a game of bowls if you need to get yourself in the bowling mood pre-game, or just enjoy some drinks in the sun in their vast beer garden. BRISBANE: THE PINEAPPLE HOTEL FOR THE GABBA For your pre-match drinks within a few blocks from the Gabba, The Pineapple Hotel is your go-to. They're known for their steaks — tuck into an eye fillet, a wagyu rump or a T-bone with some ace sides for a good dose of protein — the pub features an extensive, ever-changing beer list, and its aptly named Park Bar offers up outdoor seating with views overlooking the neighbouring Raymond Park. Before the game, give yourself some time to work your way down the steak menu and sideways along the fifteen beer taps. [caption id="attachment_636203" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Instagram / Royal Saxon.[/caption] MELBOURNE: ROYAL SAXON FOR AAMI PARK For any big game at AAMI Park, we'd suggest kicking back in preparation for the match. If you start things off in Richmond, it'll just be a short stroll down to the big game (or a $5 Uber). The Royal Saxon on Church Street does hearty Italian grub to line your tums and give you enough energy to yell about onside and offside all day. They also have a comprehensive wine list, a whole slew of bottled and draught beers and their negroni is pretty great, too. Mark your calendars for when your team is playing, and plan to head out for a pre-game Hahn or two.
By this point in Netflix's lifespan, and in its history of releasing original series, viewers know what marks the streaming service likes to hit. It's mostly fond of well-known faces, twisty tales and unfurling stories at a fast pace. It also likes ending each jam-packed episode with a big reveal or a new mystery — yes, a cliffhanger — so that you'll keep watching the next one straight away. We don't call these kinds of series 'clickbait', because serialised TV has been leaning on all of these elements since before the term was around, and far longer than we've been streaming television shows via internet platforms, too. But that word is apt when it comes to Netflix's latest eight-part limited series, which is Clickbait by both name and nature. The setup is designed to lure viewers in quickly. The casting is as well. And, they're both meant to be buzzy enough to keep you watching after you've clicked the buttons on your TV remote or laptop, then clicked them again — another task that's easily achieved. Here, the day after a tumultuous family dinner ends with Nick Brewer (Entourage's Adrian Grenier) telling his sister Pia (Zoe Kazan, The Big Sick) that he wants her out of his life, he can't be found. Worse: a video has popped up on the internet featuring him looking bloody, dishevelled and unhappy, and making a shocking claim. In the clip, he holds a card that says "I abuse women. At 5 million views, I die." People start clicking, because of course they do. While attending to a patient at work, nurse Pia sees it and understandably freaks out. Quickly, she starts doing anything she can to try to find and save her brother. So too does Nick's distressed wife Sophie (Betty Gabriel, Get Out), teenage sons Kai (Jaylin Fletcher, Snowpiercer) and Ethan (Camaron Engels, R#J), and detective, Roshan Amiri (Phoenix Raei, Stateless), who has been assigned to the case — and seeing how a situation like this spirals out, looping in more and more people as they watch, chase leads, share information, search online and offer their two cents' worth, is all part of the drama. Playing fictional movie star Vincent Chase for eight seasons — and in the forgettable (and terrible) Entourage movie, too — Grenier got rather comfortable playing someone who was constantly in front of the camera. It's his most famous role, and audiences know it. Clickbait leans upon that awareness, but thankfully not via any overt winks or nods. The series casts him as a man thrust into the spotlight unwittingly. It tracks how his nearest and dearest handle the situation without him, given that he's missing. In multiple ways, it flips the situation that viewers have associated with Grenier for almost two decades now, and plays it for pulpy, tensely directed thrills (as helmed by Hounds of Love's Ben Young, The Newsreader's Emma Freeman, Beirut's Brad Anderson and Thank God He Met Lizzie's Cherie Nolan). Across eight episodes, Clickbait follows the efforts to locate Nick, and to discover why the kidnapping, video and everything it sparks have come about — all by switching between different characters' perspectives. As conveyed through performances a tad weightier than the narrative, the nervy, flighty Pia kicks things off, before the ambitious, promotion-chasing Roshan gets his time in the spotlight, and then the shocked but slightly aloof Sophie. Next comes other figures, including some only revealed as the story dives deeper. The show's structure teases and taunts, and strings out the detail a little longer than it should, but it also remains bingeable. This is a detective tale, with almost everyone on-screen either sleuthing or proving a suspect — among a cast that also spans Daniel Henshall (A Sunburnt Christmas), Abraham Lim (The Boys), Ian Meadows (Dead Lucky) and Jessica Collins (Free State of Jones) — and, even after just an episode or two, viewers get invested enough to want to learn the outcome. Created by Australian filmmaker Tony Ayres (Stateless, Cut Snake) with screenwriter Christian White (Relic) — both of whom pen several instalments — Clickbait also aims to make larger statements, including about the big, important and constantly relevant intersection between our identities and our increasing use of social media. Just how our online and real-life selves can differ, and what types of behaviours we might indulge virtually that we wouldn't IRL, is only going to continue to garner the world's attention. So, this Melbourne-shot series attempts to tap into the conversation, and to make other broad nods towards issues such as racism and sexism. It's less successful in its pondering than in its puzzling, including when it thinks it's making giant swerves in unexpected directions to stress various points about the repercussions of our digitally mediated existence. As the name makes plain. Clickbait is still slick, suspenseful and very easy to keep devouring, though. Check out the trailer below: All eight episodes of Clickbait are available to stream via Netflix. Top images: Ben King/Netflix.
We love a bit of alliteration, especially when tacos are involved. Thankfully, so does Mexican restaurant Chica Bonita. Kicking off on September 10, Head Chef Alejandro Huerta will be welcoming some of his chef mates into his CBD kitchen to serve up some next-level taco creations each Tuesday. What kind of next-level creations, you ask? Chef Jack New (Icebergs, Gorgeous George) will be creating golden salmon sushi taco with gochugang, a wagyu tartare variety with anchovy and chilli, and two vegetarian options: koji-roasted celeriac and edamame, pecorino and black garlic. New is also whipping out a sweet option — a cheesecake tostado for $7. Every week, you'll be able to eat four limited-edition tacos for just $30, with the most popular taco making it onto the restaurant's specials menu for the rest of the week. Other chefs stepping up to the grill include Jason Staudt (Barangaroo House), Toby Wilson (Bad Hombres, The George) and Pablo Vargas (Carbón Bondi), with more names set to be announced in the coming weeks. Walk ins are welcome, but if you're determined not to miss out, you can book here. Taco Tuesdays will run weekly from September 10. Chica Bonita image: Kitti Gould.
While festivals and concerts around the world have been cancelled and postponed (Bluesfest, Dark Mofo, gigs at the Sydney Opera House and Splendour in the Grass to name a few), a bunch of Sydney mates have created their own virtual gig: Room 2 Radio. Dubbed Sydney's first online nightclub, this party is letting you get your groove on even if you're stuck at home. Bringing the club to your bedroom, this online boogie kicked off in March and sees local DJs perform on your screens every Friday. This week, the night is aptly dubbed Pretty over it and will see the likes of Johnny Lieu playing early 2000s garage and bassline bangers, DJ, R&B artist and FBi Radio host Latifa Tee and eclectic Sydney-based selector Papi Chulo. So, expect more than just a video of someone hitting play on Spotify. Room 2 Radio is scheduled to run every week until further notice, with each week's program being announced via Facebook. To add to the good times, there'll be disco lights, drink recommendations and a live chat going so you can socialise with other partygoers. Room 2 Radio even played a sneak peak set to get things started, which you can check out here. Is this the future of nightlife? Who knows in these wild times, but at least for now we can party together, at home. To check out upcoming programs, head here. Updated, July 31, 2020.
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.
If any Sydney neighbourhood was going to change the perception of something from unattainable to accessible, it would be Oxford Street. It's where you'll find Izy.Aki, a far cry from the dimly lit, luxe restaurants you might first think of when you hear the word omakase. Visible for passerbys, its bright lights, exposed brick walls, open kitchen and 18-seat marble countertop paint a welcoming picture. While this is still an upscale destination, it's homely. Izy.Aki is what's called a kappo omakase. Kappo is a culinary experience defined by an intimate space and chef-diner interaction, while omakase is a dining experience where the menu is left up to the chef. The final result? A relaxed, informal take on your typical omakase experience, packed full of honest interactions with the chef as they take you through your meal. The guides on this journey will make you feel right at home. Chefs Darren Templeman (Atelier, O Bar and Dining) and Bonnie Yu, alongside bartender, host and sommelier Aurelian Jeffredo, work hard to create an experience that feels more like being welcomed into a friend's home than a booking at a high-end restaurant. Every dish and drink is explained when served, and Jeffredo is more than happy to recommend drinks for each guest to accompany the dishes and match your preferences. The food here is set — it is omakase after all — so each booking is either a six-course or ten-course meal, decided by the chefs and your dietary requirements. As such, what you could be dining on is often in flux, but there are some house specialties. Chief among them is The Egg: a hen egg filled with white onion puree, foie gras, smoked eel and a topping of trout roe. You'll also find a wide range of grilled offerings, including yakiniku-style meats and 9+ Australian wagyu. The drinks menu stars cocktails, alongside Japanese spirits, beers and plenty of sake to keep the thirst at bay as the courses flow.
Tim Burton's obsessively anticipated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland finally hits cinemas in all its three-dimensional glory. Burton has transformed Lewis Carroll's Alice Kingsley into a 19-year-old dreamer (played by Australian Mia Wasikowska), who flees a claustrophobically staged engagement to follow one of her flights of fancy and ends up falling down the proverbial rabbit hole. This is not to say that Alice is a stranger to Wonderland; indeed, she dreams of it constantly, though remains unaware of her childhood adventure to 'Underland'. And so Alice and the audience are reintroduced to all the old favourites: the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the trippy Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman). While Burton and screenwriter Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast) do a laudable job reinventing the literary heroine, they don't quite manage to breathe new life into her. In fact, apart from a spirited scene or two, Alice is a rather flat, meek character who literally sits on the sidelines of scenes to allow Depp and Bonham Carter to dish up their quirk. That his muse and his wife would run away with the production was always going to be the risk of Burton's Alice; if they do just manage to restrain themselves, Burton isn't able to convert this into a winning emotional journey for his heroine. Despite these distracting characterisation flaws, Alice in Wonderland is a well-paced, beautifully crafted visual spectacle that makes good use of 3D for a cracking cinematic experience. Alice's costumes are particularly delectable, and, as ever, Burton's signature gothic stamp is a resplendent, atmospheric addition to this latest world he's set his sights on. https://youtube.com/watch?v=9POCgSRVvf0
Sorry Jamie and Nigella, every other cookbook is now irrelevant. Based on the actually genius blog that we've somehow only just discovered, Thug Kitchen gives you the full rundown on clean eating with a satisfyingly foul mouth. These are recipes for newbies to healthy living; people like us who need a proper kick in the arse to finish our plate of kale or quinoa. Though the book itself doesn't hit our shelves until next month, the trailer has just been released. And wow, it is so many types of great. Ringing a little too true for those of us scoffing our faces with two-minute noodles and artery-clogging burgers, this idea is crazy enough to actually work. Who knew profanity would pique our interest in healthy food so quickly? And here's the kicker: the food is actually pretty great. Their recipes online include Pina Colada ice cream, peach pancakes (presented in comic form) and dishes so tasty they threaten to completely "change the noodle game". Putting an end to those "sugar shakes" and "meat sweats" you've become so familiar with, the Thug Kitchen cookbook will only be available in the UK, Canada and Australia next month. Because of course we'd be interested in something that swears this much. Remember What the Fuck Should I Make For Dinner? We basically lived off that. Keep an eye on the Thug Kitchen Facebook page for a specific release date but until then, here are a few bits and pieces to get you in the right mindset. Time to get your shit together, Australia.
You might want to be sitting down for this: up in Victoria's High Country, there's a stretch of land entirely devoted to prosecco. For any fans of a post-work glass of extra-dry bubbles, this news may be life changing. And for the mere prosecco-curious, a visit to this pretty part of the world will probably want to make you get better acquainted. You see, the High Country's King Valley is the spitting image of mountainous north-east Italy — at least climactically speaking. It's that observation that led Italian immigrants to introduce the region's famous prosecco vines to King Valley nearly three decades ago. Now there are five key producers who have banded together to create the King Valley Prosecco Road, a cellar-door hop with a little extra sparkle. Autumn is one of the best times to visit, so you can enjoy its full spectrum of wine tastings, dining experiences and outdoor adventures. THE MAKING OF PROSECCO ROAD Prosecco grape varieties hail from the north-eastern regions of Italy. They came to our Australian shores via the many farmers of Italian heritage who moved here in the mid-20th century. The pioneer of prosecco in this region is Otto Dal Zotto, who was determined to see the grapes of his homeland grown in Australia. Recognising the climactic and cultural similarities between his home of Valdobbiadene and the King Valley, he sourced cuttings and planted the country's first prosecco vines in 2000. Now, 180 acres of prime King Valley land is planted with prosecco — that's 64 percent of all prosecco plantings in Australia. To celebrate some of the best prosecco being bottled in this country, five King Valley producers (Brown Brothers, Dal Zotto, Chrismont, Pizzini and Sam Miranda) collaborated to create the prosecco Road, a food and wine trail focused on prosecco in all its styles. As well as wine tastings, the trail is home to dining experiences, cooking and cocktail classes, hot-air ballooning, guided walks and pedal-to-produce cycling routes. PROSECCO ROAD STOP #1: DAL ZOTTO WINES When you drink prosecco in the King Valley, you're drinking history, and to really understand that history your first stop on the road should be Dal Zotto Wines, which released the very first Australian prosecco in 2004. Autumn is mid-harvest in the vineyard and the perfect time to visit the winery and be involved with drying the grapes for Otto Dal Zotto's 'natural' Col Fondo prosecco (just like he used to make as a young boy in Valdobbiadene). You can also get molto Italian by attending one of the winery's Salami Sessions, where you'll learn how to cure meats (with a glass of wine in your hand of course). PROSECCO ROAD STOP #2: BROWN BROTHERS The Dal Zottos aren't the only ones in the region steeped in history, Brown Brothers Milawa vineyard is only a short drive away and the family has over 120 years of experience of making wine in Victoria. Founded in 1889, the company (which now has vineyards all over Australia) has their cellar door in their Milawa vineyard, which has always been considered the birthplace of the Brown Brothers company. Ever wanted to try your hand at blending your own wine? Brown Brothers gives you the opportunity to be a winemaker (for an hour anyway) in their Blending Masterclass. Taste the diverse flavours of each individual grape varietal and experiment with different combinations to create your own unique blend of wine. Consider a wine-matched lunch while you're here — restaurant Patricia's Table has previously held a hat from Fairfax's Good Food Guide. PROSECCO ROAD STOP #3: PIZZINI You may have noticed that the wineries are a bit of a family affair in the King Valley. Pizzini is no exception. Alfred Pizzini and his family all work for the company, in roles ranging from winemaking and viticulture to sales and marketing to hosting classes at the cellar door. Their offering during the autumn months reflects their Italian heritage and family focus. At Katrina Pizzini's cooking school, novices can learn age-old techniques for making gnocchi and pasta, while the Journey with the Maker tour lets guests go behind the scenes and see how a wine goes from grape to bottle. The experience will have you tasting wines straight out of tanks and barrels, learning about the fermentation and maturation process, and getting a guided tasting of the finished wines in bottle. To top it all off, you get to enjoy a two-course picnic hamper in the vineyards, admiring the autumn foliage and the vines mid-harvest. PROSECCO ROAD STOP #4: SAM MIRANDA WINES Right in the heart of the Prosecco Road lies the most architecturally impressive and award-winning cellar door. Entry to Sam Miranda Wines is via a subterranean passage that leads to the cellar door, lit by way of a 40-foot light tower. Sam is a self-confessed cycling addict (who jokingly says he makes wine 'on the side' and seriously organises an annual race through the King Valley), so get into the spirit by hiring a bike to explore this part of the King Valley. You can rent a ride in Milawa and do the Milawa Gourmet Trail, or borrow one from neighbouring Brown Brothers. How else are you going to burn off all the Italian homemade pasta, salami and wine you've ingested over this trip? PROSECCO ROAD STOP #5: CHRISMONT Need a place to rest your head after all this excitement? Well, your last stop along the Prosecco Road is where you want to finish. Chrismont winery features elegant guesthouse accommodation set among the vines, making it an idyllic place to restore, relax and rejuvenate (and each room comes stocked with bottles of their signature prosecco). Those who haven't had their fill of prosecco can take part in their daily Prosecco Masterclass with Chrismont winemaker Warren Proft. Showcasing the full range of prosecco styles, the session includes wines, tasting notes and wine production information. Finish with a classic Italian dinner at the Chrismont Restaurant and Larder — tagliatelle and a tiramisu will set you on the path to a sweet night's sleep. To get prepped for your trip to the King Valley Prosecco Road or to plan further frolics through the autumn leaves of the High Country, visit the Wander Victoria website.
At the end of a long, arduous day, is there any meal more satisfying than a big hunk of steak, charred on the outside, rosy in the middle, swimming in a pool of its own delicious juices? For those nights when you can't be bothered shopping, cooking, cleaning or fiddling around with a meat thermometer, it's good to know that somewhere in Sydney a steak night is happening. Whether it's Monday, Tuesday, Friday or Sunday, someone, somewhere, is tucking into a rump, downing a craft ale and getting change from a twenty. If this sounds like where you'd like to be in life, we've teamed up with the folks from American Express to round up seven top steak nights happening in the city. What's more, you can even tap your American Express® Card to cover the bill so you can up that point balance while you slowly descend into a beef coma. So, tuck in your napkin and sharpen the serrated knives, here's where to find A-grade steaks every day of the week. Got yourself in another dining situation and need some guidance? Whatever it is, we know a place. Visit The Shortlist and we'll sort you out.
Glebe Point Road is a continually evolving strip of international cuisine. You can get anything you want, without having to pay high fine dining prices. But this street also doesn't have the clout of hotter spots in the city. It also has a fair share of clever Latino restaurants. The newest on the strip is Despana, a Spanish tapas joint that's open from breakfast to 11pm, which is quite a stretch of time. Perhaps there's a siesta for staff in the middle of the day? The set-up is fairly simple: a few red lights, a few bulls' heads on the wall in case you didn't know where you are, a wall of wooden logs, and a small bar. The impression is that the concentration is on the food. A tapas place rises and falls on the speed of the dishes served, and the timing. The plates come out thick and fast from a sharing menu of five tapas for $21 per person, from safe bets like patatas bravas to a small collection of croquettes, chorizo, and manchego on one plate with lemon aioli. Rounded off with chorizo in cider, veal and pork meatballs, and chicken skewers marinated with lemon, thyme, and pepper, it's a neat little evening meal. Actually, the centrepiece is the sangria, brewed for four hours, and dynamite in a jug, followed by churros and a hot chocolate dip. There's obviously also expected dishes such as paella on an evolving menu, with plenty of room to manoeuvre.
"We can all see the same night sky, but we impose different interpretations on the elements we see within it," says Cara Pinchbeck, senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and co-curator of Under the Stars — a free exhibition that brings together artworks with a shared fascination of the night sky. "Here in Sydney, the Dark Emu exists within the dark spaces between the stars. In a predominantly European perspective, people look to the stars and don't see the emu. So even though we can be looking at the same thing, we might see things completely differently," says Pinchbeck. The exhibition marks 250 years since Captain Cook landed at Kamay (Botany Bay), in which one of his missions was to document the transit of Venus. Co-curators Pinchbeck and Jackie Dunn took inspiration from this stargazing mission to create an exhibition that highlights the "deep knowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have of the night sky that predates Cook by tens of thousands of years." The exhibition honours the way First Nations farmers, sailors, scientists and storytellers have looked to the night sky for centuries. By bringing together artworks by Indigenous artists with those made in many different eras by many different cultures, Under the Stars seeks to question what we know — and to celebrate what we share. Here are five artworks to seek out on your next visit. [caption id="attachment_778109" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Katie Paterson, 'Earth-Moon-Earth (Moonlight Sonata reflected from the surface of the moon)' (2007) Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins[/caption] A SONATA REFLECTED FROM THE SURFACE OF THE MOON One of the first pieces you might notice is a piano, seemingly playing a ghostly tune all by itself. Though the piano itself is not the artwork. "We don't actually own the piano as part of the work," says Pinchbeck. "Because it hadn't been displayed yet within the Gallery, we thought it was a really exciting moment to realise the work within the Gallery's space." The 2007 artwork 'Earth-Moon-Earth' is a sonic work by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, who translated Beethoven's Moonlight sonata into Morse code before sending it to the Moon. "It is such an evocative idea — this sonata is sent to the Moon, received back, and a loss of sound, or shift in translation, happens in that process," says Pinchbeck. As messages are received back to Earth via a radio-like transmission, information is 'lost' in the Moon's craters, which, when re-translated back into music produces a gap in sound. [caption id="attachment_778116" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Boyd, still from video 'History is made at night' (2013), courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © Daniel Boyd[/caption] A PORTAL OF DOTS DESIGNED TO QUESTION WHAT WE KNOW 'History is made at night' is both a video artwork and series of paintings by artist Daniel Boyd. The artwork looks at recent science relating to dark matter to question if our understanding of history can ever be fully understood — as our knowledge of space and time is constantly changing. "He's looking at the fact that we will never really know the truth about what has happened historically, because so much is lost over time," says Pinchbeck. The paintings refer to artefacts that show how people in the Pacific navigated using the stars and knowledge of the currents. "It points to connections between people from Australia to other locations that aren't widely spoken of. So, in some ways, it's questioning why we always go back to Cook and we don't also talk about these other connections that people within Australia had to other places around the world." [caption id="attachment_778974" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gail Mabo, 'Tagai' (2020), courtesy of the artist, with thanks to the staff of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences & Microscopy Australia, The University of Sydney © Gail Mabo[/caption] A NEW ARTWORK WITH INTIMATE HISTORY Renowned artist Gail Mabo created a new artwork for the exhibition; 'Tagai', commissioned for Under the Stars, is an intricate star chart made using bamboo grown by her father — land rights pioneer Eddie Koiki Mabo — at James Cook University. It also uses 3D-printed stars to define the shape of Tagai, a constellation that is important to Torres Strait Islander people and is used for navigation and harvesting. When his spear points to the horizon, it's time to harvest. "Gail planned the work and made the work in the Gallery space, so she only saw the work herself when it went up onto the wall the day before the exhibition opened, which was pretty amazing," says Pinchbeck. "Gail's generosity in embracing many ideas across the exhibition led to the creation of 'Tagai', which is an extremely personal work, but it also refers to a bigger idea about how we all have our own journey in life, and Tagai is there to guide us, but we're all going to see him and be guided by him differently." [caption id="attachment_778104" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shaun Gladwell, video still of 'Planet and stars sequence: Barrier Highway' (2009), Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Peter Lin and Harry John Wilson 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program © Shaun Gladwell[/caption] A CYCLICAL VIDEO WORK OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION Sydney-born artist Shaun Gladwell created a series of works in 2001, and one part of that series is 'Planet and stars sequence: Barrier Highway', which takes up an entire wall in the exhibition. You watch as Gladwell kneels beside the highway in remote New South Wales (80 kilometres east from Broken Hill), ready to create an image of planets and stars using an aerosol can and a white card, only to destroy it with a layer of black paint. "For me, it speaks to that constant cycle of the world, how things are appearing, disappearing, being created again," says Pinchbeck. "It has some connections with other works nearby that relate particularly to the Moon, and how it is constantly reborn each month, and then goes through its phases until it disappears and comes to life again. [caption id="attachment_778972" align="alignnone" width="1920"] An installation view from the exhibition 'Under the Stars' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins[/caption] SEVEN SISTERS THAT SHOWS CENTURIES-OLD CONNECTIONS Artist Gulumbu Yunupingu lived and worked in North East Arnhem Land, and there are two bark paintings of hers within the exhibition. "She used to speak about how we all look up and see the stars and so we're all connected as people," says Pinchbeck. There is also a series of prints that Gulumbu created with her six sisters. "There's a narrative connected to her country, which relates to the [star cluster] Seven Sisters, also known as Pleiades. It tells of the travels of a group of sisters to various islands off the coast of North East Arnhem Land, and one of those islands is Djakapurra (Singapore). It's really interesting because it points to people navigating and travelling via the stars. But it potentially speaks of connections between Aboriginal people and people in Asia that may go back centuries — and we don't necessarily appreciate that as much as we could." 'Under the Stars' runs until 2021 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It is free to attend. Top image: An installation view from 'Under the Stars' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins.
Appeteaser is the latest collection from Lucy Folk, and boy, is it tempting. This season Folk has used sterling silver, rose and yellow gold vermeil, freshwater pearls, powder-coated steel, 22 carat gold, rubies, white and black diamonds, tsavorite garnets, ceylon sapphires and a playful bout of colour in a series of pieces designed to make you look delicious. Some of the old favourites are back, but with a twist. There's gold corn chip necklaces, peppercorn earrings and mini-taco-adorned friendship bracelets. But expect an element of decadence with this seasons offerings, as elegant pearls and precious jewels are added in subtle ways. A couple of examples we are loving from this collection include the silver and rose gold ‘Caviar Rings’ dotted with sapphires and diamonds to add some sparkle to the seduction. Anchovy cuffs for your wrists and your ears add an intriguing texture to staple pieces, and the peppercorn and pearl earrings are delicate and divine. Probably the standout piece of the collection, however, is the Appeteaser Aphrodisiac necklace. A shucked freshwater oyster shell in either sterling silver or rose gold — with a pearl in the centre, of course — it is sure to make you the topic of conversation at any dinner party. At $750 (silver)/$850 (rose gold) a pop, you might be dining out on the cheap for a while, but if you feel like treating yourself to something scrumptious, you’d be hard pressed to beat this beauty. The Lucy Folk Appeteaser collection hits stores today and is also available online. Check out the saucily tongue-in-cheek campaign video for a little more amuse(-bouche)ment.
If you want to catch a bus in Sydney, the Opal card has been the main way to pay for your trip for a while now. But that's about to change. After rolling out card payments on light rail and ferries back in March last year, and on trains in November, Transport for NSW has announced that contactless card payments — and devices that have the service enabled — will be rolled out across all Sydney buses this August. Yep, you can leave your Opal in your wallet/on your desk/down the side of the couch — with this new technology, you can just tap your card or phone (Visa, Mastercard and American Express are all accepted in credit or debit) right onto the regular Opal scanners. Doing this will charge you for an Adult Opal single trip ticket, and if you use the same card each time you travel, the daily, weekly and Sunday caps will automatically be applied to your fare. It's expected that all buses will be able to accept credit and debit cards by the end of September. In another win for commuters, other fare discounts will now be available on all credit card transport payments for the first time, too. Which means if you transfer between services, travel off-peak, usually qualify for the Weekly Travel Reward (where, after eight trips in a week, you get half-price fares) you'll get those discounts on your credit card across the train, light rail, ferry and bus network (when the latter is rolled out, of course). Moving away from dedicated transport cards — or adding other payment options — will make things easier for tourists and travellers (and people who, god forbid, leave their Opal at home), who shouldn't have to buy a new piece of plastic just to catch a bus or train (or pay extra for a paper ticket if they don't) when they're visiting. However, if we're moving towards a contactless future, ensuring the new system remains accessible for anyone that doesn't have a smartphone, smartwatch or bank card remains a concern. Contactless and credit card payments will be rolled out across Sydney buses from August, and it's expected all buses will accept it by the end of September. Top image: Stephen Rees via Flickr. Updated: August 29, 2019.
