Here's something to add a little cinematographic pizazz to your mid-week lunch break. Moonlight Cinema, who you may be acquainted with from picnic-rugged movie nights under the stars of summers past, are officially announcing their 2014/2015 season program next Wednesday, November 19 — and they're doing it in in the guise of a pop-up CBD lunchtime picnic, complete with glistening astro turf, and — because it wouldn't be Sydney in 2014 without one — a food truck. Plan to take a sneaky extra-long lunch break and head down to Martin Place to nab your spot on the fake grass. And rope a workmate or two in. One of you will need to stake out your territory while someone else joins the line for wagyu beef cheeseburgers, Southern-fried chicken burgers, shrimp tacos, pulled pork nachos, Cobb salad, and New Yorker chilli cheese dogs. The food truck will be dishing these out from 12pm to 2pm. Moonlight will be playing the trailers of every single one of the films in their new season — which they're promising will be a healthy and bound-to-please curation of advanced screenings, new releases, and cult favourites. As a guide for what to expect, last year's season included big Boxing Day releases, and much-loved romps of an older vintage, including The Castle and Monty Python's The Life of Brian. CBD workers looking to take it a little easy on a Wednesday will also be able to purchase tickets for the season at exclusively discounted prices and enter competitions to win season passes or tickets for the Gold Grass section — that’s the fancy bit of the park with bean bags, and waiters. And, if all the astro turf and picnic rugs weren't enough, you can use the onsite Instagram printer to print snaps of yourself with your tacos, for extra twee points. If you have actual work to do, you could probably also just check their website on the day for program details. Moonlight Cinema's 2014/2015 season will run from December 11 to March 9, and films screen in the Belvedere Amphitheatre in Centennial Park.
Maybe all the Halloween activities and events are just too much. Maybe you just want to get dressed up and get down. If this is the case, in might be worth heading over to Freda's on Saturday night. The Chippo hot spot will be hosting local and international DJs like Mancunian producer Earl Grey, plus their own house band will be taking the stage to bust out the tunes. Don't forget to keep in step with the theme and don your creepiest attire, so you can freak people out while you get your freak on.
UPDATE, Tuesday, June 18, 2024: Priscilla is available to stream via Stan, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Yearning to be one of the women in Sofia Coppola's films is futile, but for a single reason only: whether she's telling of teenage sisters, a wife left to her own devices in Tokyo, France's most-famous queen, the daughter of a Hollywood actor, Los Angeles high schoolers who want to rob, the staff and students at a girls school in the American Civil War, a Manhattanite worried that her husband is being unfaithful or Priscilla Presley, as the writer/director has across eight movies to-date, no one better plunges viewers into her female characters' hearts and heads. To watch the filmmaker's span of features from The Virgin Suicides to Priscilla is to feel as its figures do, and deeply. The second-generation helmer is an impressionistic great, colouring her flicks as much with emotions and mood as actual hues — not that there's any shortage of lush and dreamy shades, as intricately tied to her on-screen women's inner states, swirling through her meticulous frames. Call it the "can't help falling" effect, then: as a quarter-century of Coppola's films have graced screens, audiences can't help falling into them like they're in the middle of each themselves. That's still accurate with Priscilla, which arrives so soon after Elvis that no one could've forgotten that the lives of the king of rock 'n' roll and his bride have flickered through cinemas recently. Baz Luhrmann made his Presley movie in Australia with an American (Austin Butler, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Elvis and an Aussie (Olivia DeJonge, The Staircase) as Priscilla. Coppola crafted hers in North America with a Brisbanite (Jacob Elordi, Saltburn) in blue-suede shoes and a Tennessee-born talent (Cailee Spaeny, Mare of Easttown) adopting the Presley surname. The two features are mirror images in a hunk of burning ways, including their his-and-hers titles; whose viewpoint they align with; and conveying what it was like to adore Elvis among the masses, plus why he sparked that fervour, compared to expressing the experience of being the girl that he fell for, married, sincerely loved but kept in a gilded cage into she strove to fly free. For the leads playing their titular parts, the two Presley portraits of the 2020s far are also star-making pictures. If Spaeny becomes her director's new muse, it's much-deserved based on her turn as an excited and longing teen, then the isolated high-school senior and stuck-at-home girlfriend who's so controlled that she's instructed to dye her hair the same black that Elvis sports (by him), then the wife and mother virtually living a separate life. In fact, she was recommended by Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), Coppola's muse since her debut feature, aka Spaeny's co-star in 2024's upcoming Civil War. Although finding someone who could take the role across a decade and a half, and be as genuine as a smitten teen, a fed-up woman deciding to claim her own life and everything in-between wouldn't have been easy, Priscilla's Venice International Film Festival Volpi Cup for Best Actress-winning choice is sublime. Priscilla Beaulieu is just 14 when she's invited to a party at Elvis' home in West Germany, where she's an army brat with a strict dad (Ari Cohen, Fargo) in the service and he's a 24-year-old donning the uniform solely because he's been drafted. Asked if she likes Elvis by one of his pals, her response is: "of course, who doesn't?". She subsequently can't help falling, as is to be expected of a girl being paid attention by one of the biggest stars on the planet. In the giddy aftermath of their first meetings, during their early courtship and when Elvis heads back home, Coppola gets her The Beguiled and On the Rocks cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd roving over fabrics and handwriting, two staple details in her work, to assist in showing the heady passion that pulsates through Priscilla. As her films keep demonstrating, you can glean much about someone by the textures that they surround themselves with, the way they communicate via the written word, and the care they take with each. Here, you can tell how Priscilla's namesake initially feels like she's living in a fantasy come true. As witnessed through Priscilla Presley's eyes — as adapted by Coppola from Priscilla's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, and boasting an also-brilliant Elordi as the brooding and volatile Elvis — this romance is never a fairy tale, however. She swoons. She pines. She begs her parents (with Succession's Dagmara Dominczyk as her mother) to let her visit Graceland, and then to move there. She does what Elvis says, and shapes herself by his wishes and whims. She acts in the 50s-trained mould, with its firmly defined gender roles, as he also does. Priscilla spies the period, its expectations and demands, but it also spots the imbalance in power that goes beyond social norms. Leaving Elvis' music off the Phoenix-supervised soundtrack wasn't the original plan, after Coppola sought permission from his estate and was denied, yet it has a potent effect: as tunes other than his echo, and not only from the time — a Ramones cover of 'Baby, I Love You' and Dan Deacon's 2007 track 'The Crystal Cat', for instance — the film divorces itself from his perspective, and from what was accepted in the era. From the moment that it starts with red toenails upon shag carpeting, then, until it closes with swinging gates and one of the greatest songs that Dolly Parton has ever written (and a sentiment that never rings false), Priscilla is what many Coppola flicks are: an account of a woman trying to discover herself in restrictive circumstances where her existence is defined by a man. The picture's protagonist is The Virgin Suicides' siblings cooped up in their home, and Lost in Translation's left-behind spouse. She's Marie Antoinette's partner to royalty, complete with an unhappy bedroom life — the Presleys' romance is chaste when Priscilla is younger, then Elvis remains largely uninterested when she's older — and Somewhere's adoring youth in a star's shadow as well. Coppola sees the limits placed upon the women before her camera, the abodes they're trapped in and how they pass the time. In a revelatory fashion, she's well-aware that so much of Priscilla's life with Elvis was filled with just that as he went on tour, made movies in Los Angeles, and had gossip all aflutter about affairs with Speedway's Nancy Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas' Ann-Margret: Priscilla on her lonesome passing the time. While Coppola has never made a feature that's less than excellent, Priscilla is among her most-accomplished. Every inch always means something in the director's oeuvre, and proves immaculate and intimate. Such truths from her filmography resound again here to perfection, with exquisitely ravishing aesthetics — also thanks to costume designer Stacey Battat, who has worked on every one of the helmer's pictures since Somewhere, as well as Nightmare Alley production designer Tamara Deverell — helping to amplify the picture's emotional intensity. Coppola's little-less-conversation approach finds its action in glances and stares, and in being all shook up by what's not uttered. It's absorbing and mesmerising, heartbreaks, hardships and all. Priscilla herself wouldn't want anyone aching for her experience, but she'd surely hope for the crucial feat that Priscilla overwhelmingly achieves: ensuring that viewers feel as if they've lived it.
As a certain Christmas carol has told us all for our entire lives, decking the halls with boughs of holly is a one way to mark the jolliest season of the year. As the festive period rolls around for 2020, Cocktail Porter has another suggestion: trimming your tree with baubles filled with ready-to-drink cocktails. They ornaments look like tiny bottles of booze, because they are tiny bottles of booze. So, you won't mistake them for something else. Each is filled with the equivalent of 1.5 standard drinks, and they'll give you something to say cheers to (and with) while you're standing around the tree. Four different types of cocktails are included — and, given that they come in either four-piece ($99) or five-piece ($109) sets, you'll either just get one of each or also score two of a particular variety. And they've been given festive names, but you'll already be familiar with negronis, gimlets, martinis and old fashioneds. In the 'Rudolf's Negroni', you'll be sipping sweet vermouth, Italian bitters, Tanqueray London dry gin and blood orange. As for the 'Santa's Old Fashioned', it features Bulleit Bourbon, honey, sea salt and orange oils. If you'd prefer the 'Elf-flower Gimlet' (with elderflower, Ketel One Vodka, fortified wine and lime) or 'Gin-gle Bells Martini' (with Tanqueray London dry gin and French Vermouth), they're actually supposed to be served cold — so you'll need to plan ahead and pluck them from the tree before cocktail hour. For more information about Cocktail Porter's cocktail baubles — or to order them for delivery Australia-wide — visit the service's website.
One of Eddie the Eagle's many training montages is set to the toe-tapping refrains of Hall & Oates' 'You Make My Dreams'. For an '80s-set film about a sporting wannabe trying to achieve Olympic glory, it's an appropriate choice in a multitude of ways. It's also rather clichéd. Still, it fits — and the feature knows that it's obvious, making it even more apt. That's Eddie the Eagle in a nutshell: a bit cheesy but completely aware of that fact, and utterly warm and enjoyable as a result. Those who aren't up to date on their British sporting history might be surprised to discover that Eddie Edwards (Taron Egerton) changed the face of the nation's ski jumping team. Actually, he was the face of the nation's ski jumping team. After struggling to become a downhill skier, the good-natured lad turned his attention to soaring not only down the snowy slopes but through the frosty air as well. England didn't have any other competitors in the field that year. In fact, they'd never had any competitors in the field in any year. But with his dad (Keith Allen) far from impressed, his coach (Hugh Jackman) a heavy-drinking, washed-up former athlete, and his own experience severely lacking, Eddie's Olympic quest wasn't exactly easy. Eddie the Eagle is a crowd-pleaser through and through — and while the term can sometimes have not-so-flattering connotations, that isn't the case here. Indeed, much of the film's success springs from director Dexter Fletcher's happy embrace of the tried-and-tested sports movie formula. While plenty of liberties have been taken with the truth to bolster the film's feel-good credentials, they all suit the story. If only sticking to the inspirational underdog playbook was always this entertaining. Fletcher seems to be following a specific train of thought: if it worked for Cool Runnings, which told of another against-the-odds story at the exact same Winter Olympics, then it can work here too. The actor-turned-filmmaker even nods to the Jamaican bobsled team, and to his own background around the same time, courtesy of a brief appearance from one of his late '80s Press Gang co-stars. Accordingly, his feature isn't just lazily throwing together the usual elements and hoping that something sticks. It's doing so knowingly with a wink, a nod and a smile, and while wearing its retro style and upbeat cheer on both sleeves. A number of other factors assist the all-round amiable effort enormously, including broad but winning performances by Egerton and Jackman in vintage earnest protégé and reluctant mentor mode, respectively. Add a canny splash of visual spectacle, a well-earned sense of genuine tension during the jumping scenes, and other time- and theme-appropriate tunes on the soundtrack, and Eddie the Eagle soars.
The 90s were great. That shouldn't be a controversial opinion. Whether you lived through them or have spent the last couple of decades wishing you did — aka binging on 90s pop culture — this shindig at the Oxford Art Factory will indulge your retro urges. Drinks, tunes, fashion — expect all of the above at the No Scrubs: 90s and Early 00s party from 9pm on Friday, October 18. Of course, it's up to you to make sure the clothing side of thing is covered, and to get into the spirit of the party. If you want to use Mariah Carey as a style icon, it'd be fitting. Expect to unleash your inner Spice Girl and Backstreet Boy too. TLC, Destiny's Child, Savage Garden, Usher, Blink-182, No Doubt — we'd keep listing artists, but you all know what you're getting yourselves into. Entry costs $20, with the fun running through until 3am. Image: Destination NSW.
If you're a fan of beats in this drop-loving city, you'll probably be across the names Spice, Motorik and LOST. If you're new to the build-ups and breakdowns, these crews are your go-to partymakers, constantly churning out some of Sydney's biggest (and most wonderfully chaotic) shindigs around town — from the well-known Spice Cellar to mystery warehouse spots citywide. This weekend, the three are teaming up for a space odyssey of an interstellar get-together, with some of the city's favourite beatmakers on the space-themed bill (previous themes have seen LOST on the Trans Siberian, in the Blitz and in the Underworld). For the past five years, founder Tim Kean has cranked out some pretty epic dance events after years working with Modular and Kaos Music. This Saturday, August 2 is no different, with the location still a mystery and thousands of guests guessing where the big ol' throwdown will be held. Headlining the event is ARIA award-winners Art vs. Science, with Sydney d-floor favourite Jensen Interceptor in tow. Motorik Vibe Council will front up their particular brand of beat slinging goodness, while Robbie Lowe, Cassette, Bondi House DJs, Wordlife, Sosueme DJs, Pink Lloyd, Sam Fransisco, Simo, Jericho and Obi-Wan-Keithnobi make up one hell of a pounding lineup. “People are looking for an authentic experience, something off the grid. Once they find LOST Events, they protect it, then endorse it by recommending it to people they trust in a process we call assisted discovery," says Kean. "Space is such a broad theme and we would love to say the sky is the limit, but that would be too restrictive. Anyone or anything that can be dreamt up, created, conspired or confabulated. That which exists, or could exist within the cosmos could make its way into this secret space station." Guess we'll just roll with that one. The secret Sydney location will only be revealed on the day of the event (tomorrow) and the official afterparty is happening at El Topo Basment in Bondi Junction until 4am (with free buses from the party and a first in, best dressed door policy). LOST in Space is happening this Saturday, August 2 at a mystery Sydney location. For more info, tickets, tips on sartorial space trends and sweet knowledge on what dancetronaunts prefer to drink at the space bar, head over here. Image via Motorik.
At Concrete Playground it is our professional imperative to pay attention to where great hospitality experiences are being served around the city — and in the past couple of years Sydney's hotels have been noticeably picking up momentum as destinations to eat delicious things and drink wonderful drinks. And not just for visitors, but for locals too. The Kimpton Margot on Pitt Street has a dining program helmed by one of Australia's most enduring food superstars in Luke Mangan — so his impact has been well on our radar ever since getting on board. And now this lovely partnership sees the hotel and Mr Mangan launching an exclusive new dining experience for lovers of champagne. Raid The Cellar is an event series which sees Mr Mangan curate a four-course fine dining experience with his selects from the collection of Taittinger Champagne. A preview of the gorgeous menu includes lobster ravioli and venison. The entire experience is led by Luke and, with only 12 seats, each guest will get to chat to him about the food and, of course, the cellar.
This Friday Belles Will Ring will bring their new single, Come North With Me Baby, Wow to The Gaelic Hotel. Equal parts the blameless blues of Morphine and the retro-quirk of Belle and Sebastian, these Blue-Mountaineers know how to make your memory pine for places it never went. Featuring distorted guitar lines and a dusty mariarchi brass section, Come North With Me Baby, Wow is evocative and deftly nostalgic, with the dreamy drone-pop edge that made 2007's debut, Mood Patterns, and 2008's mini-album, Broader Than Broadway, perfect soundtracks for summer. Recorded in the Blue Mountains with frontman Liam Judson presiding once again over the production controls, the single is accompanied by a remix of Come To My Village by Cloud Control's Alister Wright. It includes a lush B-side beauty, Old Man Tomorrow, with Lauren Crew on lead vocals for the first time. Come North With Me Baby, Wow is pastoral psych-pop styling at its best, and with support from acousmatics Guineafowl and new-wavers Magnetic Heads, Belles Will Ring promise to entertain at The Gaelic — or, if nothing else, provide an otherworldly backdrop to your night of whimsical drinking. https://youtube.com/watch?v=c_7AwkXZa_w
Lucas Grogan is a white artist who paints pictures that people assume are by an Aboriginal man. He adopts cross-hatching styles employed by artists from Arnhem Land and depicts stylised figures on irregular, bark-shaped boards. His intent is not to bastardize Indigenous artistic and cultural expression. Though his work has caused considerable uproar in the sanitised art scene, Grogan is "acutely aware of the hypocrisies of Australia's current cultural modalities". He believes that through incorporating elements derived from Indigenous cultural heritage, artists engage with the traditional custodians of this land and, in doing so, enhance cross-cultural understanding. Iain Dawson Gallery in Paddington is Sydney’s newest contemporary art gallery and committed to showcasing artists who provoke public thought, feeling and debate. Grogan certainly does all three, and his new show, Black + Blue, will impassion gallery-goers until March 6.
What began as a joke between a couple of mates has burgeoned into a successful annual festival, now in its fifth year. On Saturday, February 9, hundreds of locals and visitors will pour into the inner west, filling empty spaces with music, visual art, and live performance, for what organisers say is the final Reclaim the Lanes in its current incarnation. Reclaim the Lanes is all about celebrating community, diversity, and creative innovation. You can expect spontaneous improvisation sessions between local musicians, the sudden appearance of art in unexpected places, picnics in hidden spaces, games, dancing, and activities for children. Organiser Chris Lego has described the festival as "a celebration of doing things just because we can, and a display of what is possible with duct tape and community spirit". If you want to be a part of the action, get yourself, your friends, and family along to Peace Park at 2pm.
Sofia Coppola is not the first director that comes to mind when you think Disney. In fact, with her consistent focus on complicated and dreamy sadness — see Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Somewhere — she seems like the perfect buzzkill to all the joy and greatness that Sebastian the crab worked for all those years ago. Nonetheless, this divisive filmmaker is currently in negotiations to direct a live-action adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale. Deadline reports that the script has already gone through multiple drafts from Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) and Abi Morgan (Shame) and is currently in the hands of Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands). With that in mind, it's safe to assume the film will in fact be a darkly sexual story that may or may not feature either Johnny Depp in BDSM gear or Michael Fassbender in no clothes. Although this will Coppola's first feature where she didn't write the screenplay, it's easy to see how her brand of 'beautiful and bothered young things' will work seamlessly with the original story. Ariel is, after all, a girl with problems. She's besotted with a boy she can't have, she's split between two worlds, and the story finishes with her taking the less than lovely form of sea foam (I'd warn for spoilers but, hey, you've had over 100 years to read it). As ridiculous as it first sounds, we're actually excited by the news. Now all that's left is to decide whether Kirsten Dunst or Scarlett Johansson would make the better hipster Ariel.
Last time these guys battled against the teen-pop industry, David Finnigan ended up stripping, wrapping his head in sticky tape and raving about his own imaginings of making out with a pick-pocketing Enya. Now they're back for another iteration dubbed Bondi Feast vs Teen Makeouts, a spoken word night where disgruntled or nostalgic writers verbally spit and spew on the costs and idols of teenagerhood. The event, part of the Bondi Feast festival, is a sort of argument about what teens should be enjoying instead of becoming zombified into a gyrating mass by hysterical thrusty beats. Writers including Jessica Bellamy, David Finnigan and Adam Hadley let their inhibitions relax and their gripes lead. It's not entirely clear what will actually happen but expect to hear terrible things about every teenage idol or pop star to spout about love or parties over the past five years. Image: Bondi Feast.
Live performers, dancers, DJs, artists and chefs will all converge on Carriageworks on Thursday, September 13 for the opening party of Sydney Contemporary, Sydney's biggest contemporary art fair. For one glorious evening, immerse yourself in a world made entirely of art, music and food (is anything else even necessary?). So what can you expect from this special night? A collaboration between the Sydney Dance Company and visual artist Mel O'Callaghan will lead the program. O'Callaghan is a master weaver of film, video, performance, painting and installation, whose Ensemble, 2013, was recently acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria. Also on the agenda are pyrotechnic performances from Emily Parsons-Lord, music by Mazy and solo act Jaala and other surprise guests. Between performances, journey through the fair to discover a truly international extravaganza, featuring works by more than 300 artists representing over 30 nations and more than 80 galleries. Meanwhile, keeping you well fuelled and hydrated will be Eric Koh's (Mr Wong, Queen Chow) pop-up dim sum bar Work in Progress, a Handpicked Wines Art Bar and a Beluga Vodka Bar. Sydney Contemporary's Opening Night is one of the most popular arty parties on the city's calendar. And, if you're keen to kick on post-opening party, you'll want to check out the Nightcap event hosted by yours truly at The Royal Hotel Darlington. We've also secured a 20 per discount on both opening night and adult day tickets for Concrete Playground readers. Just be sure to use this link to book and do so quick — the offer expires at 11.30pm on Wednesday, September 12. Images: Jacquie Manning.
If spending more time at home has made your indoor plant collection grow, you're not alone. After all, picking up new green babies is a surefire way to brighten up your home, including the WFH office. To help fuel your greenery obsession even further is same-day plant delivery service Natures Colours, which has everything from flowers to foliage and fruit trees. What started as a humble nursery in Dural back in 2009 now has over 100 different plants, which you can order with a click of a button. Head online and you can get yourself a fiddle leaf fig, devil's ivy, monstera deliciosa, hard-to-kill succulent or even a citrus tree without the hassle of carrying it home on the bus. All plants are hand-potted in durable, pretty pots, made with up to 80 percent recycled plastic, as well as ceramic pots and patterned planter bags. Each plant comes with a care guide, so even if you don't have a green thumb (yet), your bundles of greenery are sure to thrive. If you're not sure what kind of frond you're looking for, you can search by size, care-level, light-level and environment, plus ones that are pet friendly. If your home is already looking more like a greenhouse, Natures Colours' plants make great gifts, too. All gift plants include a printed card, plant care guide and gift bag. You can also add presents such as candles, tea, a cactus-shaped propagation station, handmade chocolate and an oyster mushroom growing kit. Same-day delivery is available across Sydney for a wide range of plants, which you can check out here, with costs starting from $19. Orders must be placed before 11am, otherwise next-day delivery is available for all other orders. Natures Colours delivers across a heap of Sydney suburbs, with same-day and next-day delivery available for a wide range of plants and gifts. To see what's on offer — and to order — head to the website.
Those planning a trip across the Tasman can rejoice today as the quarantine-free travel bubble between New South Wales and New Zealand has reopened. Flights between NSW and NZ were given permission to resume from 11.59pm (AEST) on Sunday, May 9 following a two-day pause. The temporary travel ban was in response to two new cases of COVID-19 identified in Sydney last week. While the travel bubble has reopened, anyone who visited a COVID-19 exposure site during specified times must not travel to New Zealand within 14 days from attending the location of concern. As more exposure sites are continually revealed, anyone who does enter New Zealand who has been to a location of concern in the previous 14 days, will have to immediately self-isolate and call the New Zealand Healthline on 0800 611 116 for advice on self-isolating and getting tested. "I am pleased with the way the response process has been managed this week," COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hopkins said. "It has been determined that the risk to public health in New Zealand remains low." When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the two-way trans-Tasman bubble back in April, she noted that it could and would be paused if and when outbreaks occur. This latest pause in quarantine-free travel is the second of its kind since the bubble opened, after NZ suspended flights from Western Australia at the beginning of May in response to Perth's recent cases. Flights between NZ and WA were given the all-clear to resume just a day later. https://twitter.com/covid19nz/status/1391204649672183813 While no new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 have been reported in NSW in the past 48 hours, the state's restrictions on dancing, masks and gatherings have been extended until Monday, May 17 as health officials continue to search for the 'missing link' between an overseas traveller and the locally acquired cases. Under the current restrictions, a 20-person cap is in place for gatherings in homes in Greater Sydney; drinking while standing up, singing and dancing are no longer allowed at pubs, clubs and restaurants; and masks must be warn in some indoor public locations. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Every year for the past century, the Archibald Prize has recognised exceptional works of portraiture by Australian artists. In 2021, from a field of 52 finalists, the coveted award has gone to Melbourne-based artist Peter Wegner for Portrait of Guy Warren at 100. A unanimous decision by this year's judges, Wegner's portrait of the centenarian and fellow artist obviously won the gong in a fitting year. "Guy Warren turned 100 in April — he was born the same year the Archibald Prize was first awarded in 1921," Wegner said. "This is not why I painted Guy, but the coincidence is nicely timed." Wegner's win came after an equal number of works from both male and female artists made the finalists list for the first time in Archibald history — and plenty of these pieces are now on display at the Art Gallery of NSW. Until Sunday, September 26, Sydneysiders can head to the gallery to scope out the best portraits from this year's entrants, as well as entries and winners for the Wynne and Sir John Sulman prizes, too. Yolŋu painter and printmaker Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu took out the former this year, with the Wynne Prize awarding the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figure sculpture. The artist won for Garak – night sky, a piece represents Djulpan, the Seven Sisters star clusters that are also known as Pleiades. [caption id="attachment_814782" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Winner Wynne Prize 2021. Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu. Garak – night sky. © the artist. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling.[/caption] The Sir John Sulman Prize goes to the best mural, subject or genre painting, and was this year awarded to Georgia Spain for Getting down or falling up. Limbs feature heavily in the piece, which was selected as the winner from 21 finalists by fellow artist Elisabeth Cummings. Across the three prizes, 2144 entries were received this year — the second-highest number ever after 2020. And, the three prizes received the highest-ever number of entries from Indigenous artists. If you don't agree with the judges, you can cast your own vote for People's Choice, which will be announced on Wednesday, September 1. Top image: Winner Archibald Prize 2021. Peter Wegner, Portrait of Guy Warren at 100. © the artist. Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter.
Five days, more than 100 features, documentaries and shorts, and all of the weird and wonderful cinema delights a movie buff could ask for. Add them together, and that's the 2017 Sydney Underground Film Festival in a twisted nutshell. Celebrating its 11th year from September 14 to 17, this alternative film fest knows how to venture beyond the mainstream. It's the perfect follow-up to Sydney Film Festival. Take this year's opening and closing efforts, for example. When SUFF kicks off, it'll be with a treasure trove of unearthed VHS finds that you literally won't see anywhere else — and to close things off, it'll bring a flick that sparked walkouts at Sundance to its long-term home at Marrickville's Factory Theatre. The former comes courtesy of the Australian debut of the live comedy and commentary-filled Found Footage Festival, while the latter is the post-apocalyptic, stomach-churning, Hannibal Buress and Tim Heidecker-starring Kuso, and they're set to provide quite the festival bookends. In between, SUFF will venture from the mind-bending cult thrills of The Endless — a destined-to-be cult movie about a cult — to one-take Aussie effort Watch the Sunset and the maternal mayhem of Prevenge, where being pregnant brings murderous messages from the unborn. Michael Cera pops up in Lemon and Nick Offerman in Infinity Baby, two American indies demonstrating humanity's social deficiencies in very different ways. Slasher satire Tragedy Girls, ultra-violent Japanese cyberpunk comedy Meatball Machine Kodoko and a tribute screening of George A. Romero's The Crazies help up the horror quota. From the documentary slate, the festival goes heavy on music thanks to factual explorations of L7, The Melvins, ambient house pioneers The Orb, British DIY duo Sleaford Mods and the family members of late American extreme punk musician GG Allins, and also gives cinephiles an extra thrill via Dawson City: Frozen Time, which journeys through a once-lost nitrate film collection. Real-life exorcisms in Liberami also prove a highlight, as does docu-fiction consumerism takedown Drib and the search for a fake rock in Where is Rocky II? If that's not enough, SUFF will also host a soiree dedicated to 16mm cinema, the return of the breakfast cereal cartoon party (and a new late-night session as well). The 2017 Sydney Underground Film Festival runs from September 14 to 17 at The Factory Theatre, Marrickville. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
Sydney-based writer, psychotherapist and multidisciplinary artist Noula Diamantopoulos has a new show and it's all about L-O-V-E. In a series of poetic neon artworks, Agape asks what it means to fall in love, whether we can accurately define love, and why love can hurt so much sometimes — ultimately arguing that it shouldn't. An artist known for exploring universal emotion and human feeling, Diamantopoulos recently completed a public art commission as part of the 'Love Shouldn't Hurt' domestic violence campaign. You might have seen the massive mural depicting domestic violence survivor Felicity Cook at 182 George Street, crafted from 20,000 jar lids? That was her. In this latest exhibition, each work features a Greek word or poetic phrase — in Diamantopoulos's own handwriting — that refer to various facets of love, plus a single abstract drawing piece full of symbolic imagery. Look closely and you might see the double helix of the DNA sequence, or maybe even the muscles and arteries of the human heart. Image: Noula Diamantopoulos, Agapo mou, 2017, neon, acrylic sheet, unique edition, 45cm x 80cm.
If the stunning view from Tweed Regional Gallery is anything to go by, Murwillumbah is an amazing place to get your art fix. And there's no better time to go there than this autumn. Murwillumbah Art Trail is back for its fourth year, turning the town into a gallery itself to celebrate the best of the region's art and artists. This year the event responds to the 2017 flood, which devastated the town and left hundreds homeless, with the theme Moving On. Visual art, performance, sculpture, film and dance will be shown and staged in interesting places, turning the town into an enormous gallery for the ten-day event. It will be a celebration of the community's resilience and generosity in the wake of the disaster, too. The ability of art to heal will be reflected in pop-up galleries, street events, a sculpture park, interactive workshops and, of course, brilliant local food and wine.
Among the English language's best phrases, 'all you can eat' ranks up there with the best of them. It'd sound great in any language, of course, and you might hear it in German over the weekend of Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30 — aka 'so viel du essen kannst'. Specifically, you might hear either version at Munich Brauhaus, The Bavarian and the Bavarian Beerhaus, which are all offering an appropriate stuff-your-face deal. For a two-hour sitting, you can tuck into as many schnitzels as you can stomach. Served on a platter, there are three varieties on offer: the uber schnitzel, which is decked out with rocket, semi-dried tomato and parmesan; the jager schnitzel, topped with wild mushroom ragu; and the good ol' parmigiana, which obviously comes with melted mozzarella, tomato sauce and ham. Talk about good schnit. The special costs $39 per person, also includes unlimited mashed potato and potato salad — yep, both hot and cold spuds — and is available for bookings of at least two people. You do need to book, however, so gather the gang, get planning, and make a date with the Munich Brauhaus in The Rocks, Beerhaus on York Street or one of the Bavarians scattered around, including in Bondi, Manly, Chatswood. The only one not included is the Bavarian in the Entertainment Quarter.
What do films about bickering neighbours, wannabe heavy metal bands and a boy wandering through the forest all have in common? They're on this year's Scandinavian Film Festival bill. While the annual event always surveys the cinema output of a variety of countries — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, namely — it also dives into movies on a range of topics. Case in point: one title explores the college exploits of a teenager with supernatural abilities, but it's definitely not the kind of movie that you're thinking of, and another tracks youths trying to survive a mass shooting. They're some of the highlights of the 2018 fest, which tours Australia between July 10 and August — and if you'd like to hear more, keep reading. The full lineup includes everything from border patrol officers and Saint Bernards to icy westerns and an extremely different take on capitalism-drive class clashes. From all of the above and more, here are our six must-sees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJghTR5y9U0 UNDER THE TREE It sounds like a storyline on any routine soap opera: two neighbouring families get into a turf war over the most ordinary of issues. And yes, as the title suggests, it's a tree. Overhanging branches aren't the only things casting a shadow over these particular lives, however, as marital woes, Ikea, family pets and more become involved in this bleak but hilarious study of bad behaviour. One side acts, the other retaliates, and the film's various spats escalate, although the emotions at the movie's core always remain believable and relatable. As well as featuring a number of impressive performances by Icelandic talents, especially from veteran Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Under the Tree represents another winning effort from writer/director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson. Like his earlier feature Either Way, which was remade as Prince Avalanche, don't be surprised if this gets the English-language treatment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi2N-DFfe7Q THELMA The best super-powered film of the past year doesn't involve Wonder Woman, Black Panther or any other Marvel or DC characters. We're not saying that the big end of town hasn't turned out some great caped crusader flicks (and some terrible ones, too) over the last 12 months or so, but Thelma plays with extraordinary abilities in a completely different manner. The latest work from Oslo, August 31st and Louder Than Bombs' filmmaker Joachim Trier, it's a thriller about a college freshman (Eili Harboe) who copes with her new Oslo surroundings — and adjusts to her new bond with fellow student Anja (Kaya Wilkins) — in ways that surprise, astonish and truly cut to the heart of being a confused, anxious soul in a troubling world. Part sci-fi, part horror, part coming-of-age effort, the end result is a piercing exploration of identity that looks as impressive as it feels. HEAVY TRIP They're the world's first symphonic, post-apocalyptic, reindeer-grinding, Christ-abusing, extreme war pagan, Fennoscandian metal group, as they describe themselves, but these four Finnish villagers don't quite know how to chase their dreams. After 12 years of rehearsing in a slaughterhouse basement, the twenty-somethings finally record their own song — and after accidentally drenching a Norwegian festival promoter with a barrel of blood, Turo (Johannes Holopainen) starts telling everyone that they've scored a huge first gig. What happens next both follows the expected path and throws in plenty of unexpected incidents, altercations and antics, with the comedy caper including everything from a love triangle to grave-robbing to sailing on a viking ship. Still, even when it veers into silly territory, Heavy Trip remains inventive, heartfelt and very amusing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2WRsAyC-K4 VALLEY OF SHADOWS The gothic horror tradition is alive and well in moody, brooding Norwegian effort Valley of Shadows, which proves as haunting and gorgeously gloomy as its title suggests. The film might send a youngster trampling through creepy surroundings, but it carves its own path away from the current Stranger Things-inspired trend and its various offshoots. In fact, anything that seems familiar in the narrative is soon eclipsed by this confident and unnerving movie's commanding tone, as well as its eye-catching 35mm-shot images. Story-wise, the debut by writer/director Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen follows a six-year-old's (Adam Ekeli) foray into a nearby forest in search of his runaway dog, and the folklore-like events that eventuate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0RaGwzqLBE WINTER BROTHERS Danish drama Winter Brothers has won multiple awards for its cinematography, and it's immediately easy to see why — shot on 16mm film and casting its lens over snowy landscapes, remote homes, dark mines and the general inner workings of industrial settings, it's never less than striking to look at. As a study of masculinity left to fester in an isolated environment, it's also an emotionally powerful piece, winning Best Picture at the Danish Academy Awards for its troubles. Examining the lives of two miner siblings (Elliott Crosset Hove and Simon Sears) as they engage in a spat with their neighbours (yes, that seems to be a theme this festival) and make moonshine, this tense, textured movie knows exactly how it wants its viewers to feel. Helping perfect the ideal unsettling mood is a score that knows when to drone with ominous purpose, and knows when silence says everything it needs to. U — JULY 22 There's nothing new about recreating a harrowing real-life event from the perspective of those who were there, and giving audiences an on-the-ground view of their horrifying experiences. There's nothing new about adopting that approach when it comes to mass shootings either, or just generally unravelling a tense and terrifying situation in a single shot. Still, Norwegian effort U — July 22 finds the best way to plunge viewers into the thick of one of the most traumatic incidents in the country's history. On the eponymous date in 2011, a right-wing extremist gunned down 69 of the 500 attendees at a youth summer camp on the island of Utøya, with filmmaker Erik Poppe following one 19-year-old's efforts to survive. Lead actress Andrea Berntzen is fantastic as the desperate young woman searching for her sister, and for a way to make it out alive, in a feature that's never easy to watch but remains heartbreakingly engrossing — and important — from start to finish. The Scandinavian Film Festival tours the country between July 10 and August 5, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona and Palace Central from July 10–29; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay and Palace Westgarth from July 12–29; and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from July 19 to August 5. For the full program, visit the festival website.
Patience is somewhat of a virtue with The Forgiven. It would be in it, too, if any of its wealthy white characters hedonistically holidaying in Morocco were willing to display the trait for even a second. Another addition to the getaways-gone-wrong genre, this thorny satirical drama gleefully savages the well-to-do, proving as eager to eat the rich as can be, and also lays bare the despicable coveting of exoticism that the moneyed think is an acceptable way to splash plentiful wads of cash. There's patently plenty going on in this latest release from writer/director John Michael McDonagh, as there typically is in features by the filmmaker behind The Guard, Calvary and War on Everyone. Here, he adapts Lawrence Osborne's 2012 novel, but the movie that results takes time to build and cohere, and even then seems only partially interested in both. Still, that patience is rewarded by The Forgiven's stellar lead performance by Ralph Fiennes, playing one of his most entitled and repugnant characters yet. Sympathies aren't meant to flow David Henninger's (Fiennes, The King's Man) way, or towards his wife Jo (Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye). Together, the spiky Londoners abroad bicker like it's a sport — and the only thing fuelling their marriage. Cruelty taints their words: "why am I thinking harpy?", "why am I thinking shrill?" are among his, while she counters "why am I thinking high-functioning alcoholic?". He's a drunken surgeon, she's a bored children's author, and they're venturing past the Atlas Mountains to frolic in debauchery at the village their decadent pal Richard (Matt Smith, Morbius) and his own barbed American spouse Dally (Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram) have turned into a holiday home. Sympathy isn't designed to head that pair's way, either; "we couldn't have done it without our little Moroccan friends," Richard announces to kick off their weekend-long housewarming party. But when the Hennigers arrive late after tragically hitting a local boy, Driss (Omar Ghazaoui, American Odyssey), en route, the mood shifts — but also doesn't. The wicked turns of phrase that David slings at Jo have nothing on his disdain for the place and people around him, and he doesn't care who hears it. His assessment of the desert vista: "it's very picturesque, I suppose, in a banal sort of way". He drips with the prejudice of privilege, whether offensively spouting Islamophobic remarks or making homophobic comments about his hosts — and he doesn't, nay won't, rein himself in when Richard calls the police, reports the boy's death, pays the appropriate bribes and proclaims that their bacchanal won't otherwise be disturbed. The arrival of Driss' father Abdellah (Ismael Kanater, Queen of the Desert), and his request that David accompanies him home to bury his son, complicates matters, however. While David begrudgingly agrees, insultingly contending that it's a shakedown, Jo helps keep the party going, enjoying time alone to flirt with hedge fund manager Tom (Christopher Abbott, Possessor). John Michael McDonagh hasn't ever co-helmed a feature with his filmmaker brother Martin, but actors have jumped between the duo's respective works, with Fiennes — who starred in Martin's memorable In Bruges — among the latest. The siblings share something else, too, and not just a knack for assembling impressive casts; they're equally ace at fleshing out the characters inhabited by their dazzling on-screen cohorts via witty and telling dialogue. The Forgiven plays like it's in autopilot, though, but having Fiennes, Chastain, Smith and Jones (who appeared in Martin's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) utter its lines is a gift. Indeed, here it's the attitudes captured while they're speaking, and the behaviours and mannerisms made plain in how they're speaking, that add layer upon layer to this murky affair. That'd ring true even if Driss, Abdellah and the tense journey with the latter to inter the former weren't even in the narrative. That's one of the issues with The Forgiven: although David and Jo's lives inescapably change due to the accident, it and everything that it sparks almost plays as an aside. The aftermath is given ample attention, more so than the party, but the film frequently feels as David unshakeably does, like it too would rather be immersed in the revelry. Of course, that's much of the point, especially in Jo's parts of the story from there — and Richard, Dally and Tom's, plus everyone else still living it up (including Jack Ryan's Marie-Josée Croze as a French photographer, Operation Mincemeat's Alex Jennings as a British Lord and Old's Abbey Lee as an Australian party girl, complete with a Coles shopping bag holding her belongings). The Forgiven keeps skewering this fact, with McDonagh attempting to do just that every which way he can, but some of his efforts to mirror what's occurring on-screen through the feature's tone just don't land. When The Forgiven does hit its marks, it's weighty and knotty, and given depth and heft by Fiennes — and, during David's trip with Abdellah, by the powerful Kanater, plus the charismatic Saïd Taghmaoui (John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum) as the grieving patriarch's offsider and intermediary. It's savvy as a satire, too, albeit obvious, but when the balance tips the better, more compelling, more meaningful way, it's a far more potent picture. Empathising with David still isn't the tale's point, thankfully, and neither is a simplistic life lesson-filled pilgrimage that sees an affluent man learn the error of his oppressive tendencies against the less fortunate. Unsurprisingly, The Forgiven is at its best when it's as complex as its desert-swept cinematography (by The Guard and Calvary's Larry Smith) is gleaming. It's not quite right to say that McDonagh brings all of the movie's pieces together in the end — again, it's not exactly accurate to say that he always seems to want to — but Fiennes brings the film home. This is one of his finest performances, which is no small feat given the array of excellent portrayals that dot his resume, including his Oscar-nominated work in Schindler's List and The English Patient, as well as his awards-worthy turn in The Grand Budapest Hotel. It's no minor achievement given the loathsome, boozy, reckless and curmudgeonly figure he's playing, either. The rest of the feature's big names leave an imprint, from the well-cast Chastain playing it sharp but loose, to the appropriately shadowy Smith and catty scene-stealer Jones, but never with the same film-defining impact.
Melbourne multi-instrumentalist Mark Zito, better known as Fractures, fell and fractured his neck last year — a pretty unfortunate (dare we say ironic?) incident given he was due to set off on his debut live tour at the time. (It probably hurt a bit, too.) Fortunately, Zito has made a full recovery and kicked off a short string of EP launch shows with an appearance at Splendour last week. Fractures' sounds are delicate, emotive, swoonworthy. Take a listen to his first single 'Twisted', or his most recent, the hypnotic, caramel-vocaled 'Won't Win'. Zito's is a pretty classic, oldie-but-a-goodie formula: the five-piece band, the quiet haunting melodies, plenty of emotion and an aesthetic comparable to Justin Vernon's (comparisons to Bon Iver really shouldn't be purely musical) — but one which earned him a couple of sold-out Sydney and Melbourne shows earlier this year. Zito will launch his Fractures EP at The Vanguard on August 8. (Fingers just crossed he doesn't fracture anything else first.) https://youtube.com/watch?v=q809aWGOsrY
Northern Beaches hotel Manly Pacific is set to unveil the result of a $30-million transformation this November. The extensive revamp is just a few weeks away from completion and will feature a new set of wellness-focused suites for tourists looking for a luxurious beach stay or Sydneysiders looking to get out of the city for a staycation. Two major elements of the renovations include the introduction of nine new rooms overlooking Manly Beach that will be fitted out with premium amenities and have access to wellness services, plus the new rooftop hotel pool for guests to enjoy between ocean swims and Northern Beaches adventures. "Whether you're here after work, or on a weekend getaway, from the moment you step into our hotel, you'll feel calm, rejuvenated and connected to the ocean," says Manly Pacific General Manager Dylan Cole. "Manly has always had a magical feel to it that can wash away the bustle of the city. At Manly Pacific, we've added a touch of beachside vibrance that amplifies the feeling of being above and away from it all." The Manly Pacific team has enlisted the help of Australian design firm Coco Republic to create a space that reflects the picturesque setting of Manly and its beaches. The refurbished hotel features natural materials and blue-grey tones throughout, evoking the coastal energy of its surrounds. The new features will join Manly Pacific's existing offerings, which include two in-house restaurants, Bistro Manly and Tokyo Joe. The hotel also offers specific work-from-hotel packages that help facilitate working staycations, including a study table, unlimited coffee, complimentary room service lunches and a knock-off cocktail at 5pm. Manly Pacific is located at 55 N Steyne, Manly. The hotel's $30 million renovation will be unveiled in November.
"I kneel before no one," says Teth-Adam, aka Black Adam, aka the DC Comics character that dates back to 1945, and that Dwayne Johnson (Red Notice) has long wanted to play. That proclamation is made early in the film that bears the burly, flying, impervious-to-everything figure's name, echoing as a statement of might as well as mood: he doesn't need to bow down to anyone or anything, and if he did he wouldn't anyway. Yet the DC Extended Universe flick that Black Adam is in — the 11th in a saga that's rarely great — kneels frequently to almost everything. It bends the knee to the dispiritingly by-the-numbers template that keeps lurking behind this comic book-inspired series' most forgettable entries, and the whole franchise's efforts to emulate the rival (and more successful) Marvel Cinematic Universe, for starters. It also shows deference to the lack of spark and personality that makes the lesser DC-based features so routine at best, too. Even worse, Black Adam kneels to the idea that slipping Johnson into a sprawling superhero franchise means robbing the wrestler-turned-actor himself of any on-screen personality. Glowering and gloomy is a personality, for sure, but it's not what's made The Rock such a box office drawcard — and, rather than branching out, breaking the mould or suiting the character, he just appears to be pouting and coasting. He looks the physical part, of course, as he needs to playing a slave-turned-champion who now can't be killed or hurt. It's hard not to wish that the Fast and Furious franchise's humour seeped into his performance, however, or even the goofy corniness of Jungle Cruise, Johnson's last collaboration with filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra. The latter has template-esque action flicks Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter on his resume before that, and helms his current star here like he'd rather still directing Liam Neeson. That said, Black Adam, the character, has much to scowl about — and scowl he does. Black Adam, the film, has much backstory to lay out, with exposition slathered on thick during the opening ten minutes. As a mere human in 2600 BCE in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq, its namesake was among an entire populace caught under a cruel ruler hungry for power, and for a powerful supernatural crown fashioned out a mineral called 'eternium' that said subjects were forced to mine. Now, 5000 years later, Black Adam is a just-awakened mortal-turned-god who isn't too thrilled about the modern world, or being in it. Bridging the gap: the fact that back in the day, one boy was anointed with magic by ancient wizards to defend Kahndaq's people (the word "shazam!" gets uttered, because Black Adam dwells in the same part of the DCEU as 2019's Shazam! and its upcoming sequel), but misusing those skills ended in entombment until modern-day resistance fighters interfere. The above really is just the preamble. Black Adam is freed by widowed professor Adrianna (Sarah Shahi, Sex/Life), who is trying to fight the Intergang, the mercenaries who've been Kahndaq's new oppressors for decades — and, yes, Black Adam gets caught up in that battle. But being out and about, instead of interred in a cave, gets the attention of the Justice Society. The DCEU already has the Justice League and the Suicide Squad, but it apparently still needs another super-powered crew. Indeed, Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, The First Lady) even shows up to help put this new gang together. That's how Hawkman (Aldis Hodge, One Night in Miami), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan, The Misfits), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell, Voyagers) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo, the To All the Boys movies) don their caped-crusader getup and try to stop Black Adam, or convince him to stop himself. Another blatant act of kneeling on this film's part: its new team. The Justice Society isn't new on the page, and some of its number pre-date their patent Marvel counterparts — but reaching the screen now, after the MCU and the X-Men movies, makes this bunch seem like a rehash. Wings like the Falcon, seeing the future like Dr Strange, controlling the weather like Cyclone, changing size like Ant-Man: that's all covered here, and it's impossible not to make comparisons. That Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone and Atom Smasher are also given little personality doesn't help. The cast behind them visibly commit, and there's a better flick to be made with far more Brosnan waving around a golden helmet in it (a welcomely sillier one, too), but character development clearly wasn't high among screenwriters Adam Sztykiel (Scoob!), Rory Haines (The Mauritanian) and Sohrab Noshirvani's (also The Mauritanian) priorities. As often proves the case in this genre, because superhero movies have been their own genre for years, the main aim of Black Adam is laying the groundwork for more to come. The titular figure gets an origin story, then an entryway into the broader DCEU, then sets up future franchise appearances, then teases the next step via the obligatory post-credits sting — stop us when this doesn't sound familiar. It's little wonder, then, that everyone around Black Adam feels like filler, including Adrianna's son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui, The Baby-Sitters Club), as well as the villain of the piece. And it's hardly surprising that any attempts at thematic relevance or resonance are thinner than Black Adam's smile. This tries to be a picture about the great responsibility that comes with great power (yep, again), choosing to do the right thing, and the thorniness of being an anti-hero, and also about the merits (or not) of throwing American force around (or not) in other countries; 'tries' is the key word. Collet-Serra does give Sabongui the best action sequences, though, all involving sneaking out of, skateboarding around and skirting attacks in his apartment/building. There's a tactile sense to these moments — as lively and as lived-in as the film gets, too — that's thoroughly absent in the bland, generic look and feel elsewhere. That Black Adam kneels before and could simply be mashing up parts of 300, Clash of the Titans and Tomb Raider for much of its running time, especially visually, just makes a dull movie duller (the DCEU really can't move on from Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League director Zack Snyder, so it seems). When the feature busts out The Rolling Stones' 'Paint It Black', because of course it does, it's both as obvious a choice as there is and a rare dose of energy. And when it shows iconic spaghetti western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on a TV screen, wishing you were watching that instead comes swiftly — or watching Aquaman's gleeful ridiculousness, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'s rampant flair, or the non-DCEU weightiness of Joker or The Batman, actually.
An international supper club series is bringing LP's Quality Meats' beloved restaurant back for one night only. Pizza-oven brand Gozney has just launched a global lineup of secret supper clubs taking over yet-to-be-announced venues in LA, New York, London, Utah and Sydney between May–November, with the Harbour City edition bringing together two powerhouses of the LP's kitchen for a reunion on Thursday, November 16. LP's and Bella Brutta owner Luke Powell will be joined by Swillhouse Head Chef and former LP's superstar Isobel Little in the kitchen for the one-off feast. The menu will throw back to favourites from the Chippendale restaurant that closed last year, all cooked in Gozney's outdoor ovens. "When the restaurant at LP's closed its doors in late 2022, we thought this would be the last time that Isobel and I would cook together professionally," says Powell. "Thankfully, the exciting partnership with the Gozney Secret Supper Club series has enabled us to collaborate again for one night only!" "Guests can expect some familiar flavours from LP's but also something different from what we have been working on, and get immersed in cooking with fire." Powell also describes the setting for the dinner as "an unbelievable secret location", with the night closing out the seven-month world tour that the supper club is embarking on. Elsewhere, stars of the kitchen like Brad Leone and Frank Pinello will be taking part in the series, bringing their signature style to unexpected locations. Tickets for the Sydney night are $95 and include a multi-course dining experience, a welcome beverage and wine pairings. You can register your interest now as tickets don't go on sale until Thursday, October 5. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gozney | Outdoor Pizza Ovens (@gozney) Top image: Luke Powell by Kitti Gould
Unearthed by triple j in 2011 and claiming number 57 on the Hottest 100, familial four-piece indie rock outfit The Rubens are on the up and up. Their modern soul and blues-drenched sound, typified in radio hit 'Lay It Down', has been enjoyed by the nation's ears for just over a year now. And now our eardrums can be blasted live in Sydney at the Metro Theatre. Debuting their new single 'My Gun', these boys are touring Australia, taking to the road with many more of their popular and much-loved tunes. Traversing the nation over September and October, this is your chance to experience their new and addictive songs if you haven't already — or if you can't wait to get another hit from last time's high. And make sure to check out the boys' self-titled debut album coming out September 14th. Preferably before the gig so, you know, you can sing along to all the words and stuff. https://youtube.com/watch?v=wJk-E0A6nxw
Cast your mind back to the Winter Olympics earlier this year. Aside from all of the mind-boggling feats that you'd never dare to try, you may also remember watching in envy as the pros celebrated victory with loads of Champagne. And soon you too can get a taste of this feeling after a day on the slopes — no placing necessary. The master of après festivities is back for its fifth poolside party to make you feel as golden as the experts do. On August 10 and 11, Mumm Champagne will transform the Thredbo Poolside Terrace into a confetti-clad party place for Red Sash Sets. You'll be grooving the afternoon away with the finest entertainment, as multi-faceted Sweet Mix Kids kicks off festivities at 4.30pm on Friday and 2pm on Saturday. After the DJ duo's Saturday set, Adelaidean producer Motez will take the stage at 5pm, followed by electro-dance act Hayden James at 6pm. If you do want to watch the masters of the trails do their thing, start your day at Thredbo's Top 2 Bottom downhill ski competition (with Champagne, of course) before heading to the Saturday session. Bus rides to and from Jindabyne will be provided for party-goers for $5 — we recommend pre-booking.
2022's best new TV shows spanned everything from mind-benders like Severance to culinary must-sees such as The Bear, plus the best Star Wars series yet in Andor and Irish black-comedy murder-mystery Bad Sisters. Also among them: feminism, penises and 70s porn for women in Minx. The Los Angeles-set HBO comedy jumped back five decades to follow an aspiring magazine editor as she finally scored her dream job — but for a pornography publisher. What's a Vassar graduate and country club regular to do? If she's Minx's Joyce Prigger, she eventually embraces the opportunity, sees a chance to give women something they've been missing and start a conversation about female desire, and turns the whole enterprise into something special. That's the tale that the series' first season charted, as starring Ophelia Lovibond (Trying) and Jake Johnson (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), created by Ellen Rapoport (Clifford the Big Red Dog) and executive produced by Paul Feig (Last Christmas). What's a pioneering, uproar-causing fictional magazine to do after it's already caused a stir? That's where season two comes in. From Friday, July 21, Minx will return to Stan for a second run, with the earnest Joyce and enterprising Bottom Dollar Publications proprietor Doug Renetti (Johnson) dealing with the mag's success, and how that affects their lives. Also impacted, because this is a workplace comedy as well: Bottom Dollar's former model Bambi (Jessica Lowe, Miracle Workers), Doug's ex-secretary Tina (Idara Victor, Shameless), photographer Richie (Oscar Montoya, Final Space) and Joyce's sister Shelly (Lennon Parham, Veep). As the trailer for season two shows, Joyce, Doug and the crew are back in business; the rest of the media is interested in Minx's rise; and Joyce gets the chance to ask a crowded room if any man knows where the clitoris is. Expansion plans, male strippers, padding junk in the name of stagecraft, Minx billboards: they all pop up as well. Getting Minx back on-screen has been quite the tale itself, after the show was renewed for season two back in May 2022 following season one, then cancelled by HBO Max in December during production. Thankfully, US network Starz then stepped in to save the day, picking up the second season. Check out the trailer Minx season two below: Minx season two will start streaming via Stan from Friday, July 21.
As fear grows that our professions are soon to be wrestled from us by robots, it's interesting to consider other staples of the human experience that our technological leaps are changing. Love, for instance. Griffin Theatre's final play of the year is a turbulent and madcap exploration of romantic connection — what it asks of us and what, in the current day and age, we're prepared to give. Kimberly prides herself on her self-control — she's not usually one to be sideswiped by love. So, when she meets Miles and falls completely into his thrall, several parts of her life start to catch fire at an alarming pace. This isn't a story about sweet head-over-heels love; it's an eye-opening lesson on the danger of infatuation and the importance of finding your voice. The premise is a familiar one, but writer Nick Coyle has given it more than a couple of twists and turns. Barging through genre and style boundaries, there are very few places The Feather in the Web will not go to critique society's continued obsession with coupling. See it with your partner, by all means, but be warned that you may leave alone. Feather in the Web will run from October 5–November 17 at SBW Stables Theatre. Tickets can be purchased via the Griffin Theatre website.
When it comes to succulent pieces of poultry, Australia boasts plenty, but you know what they say: you can't get too much of a good thing. Trying to help make that case is newcomer 4Fingers, the Singaporean fried chicken favourite that's just brought their crispy chook to our shores. Setting up their first two stores in Melbourne's Bourke Street and at Brisbane's new food precinct at Westfield Chermside (and another set to open on Albert Street in Brisbane soon), 4Fingers is all about farm-to-fork free-range chicken served up in their signature crispy style. It's hand-brushed and prepared to order in wingettes, drumettes and legs. Sure, that's what other greasy chook place offers, but why mess with a winning formula? If you're eager for something different, it's 4Fingers' extra bits and pieces that might motivate you to hop on in. Fancy a katsu sandwich with daily-fermented kimchi coleslaw, crispy chicken chops or chicken, garlic and button mushrooms on an artisanal charcoal bun? You do now. Wings and legs with rice, a selection of seafood and three types of salad are also on the menu. 4Fingers is now open at 189-191 Bourke Street, Melbourne and at Westside Chermside, corner Gympie and Hamilton Streets, Chermside in Brisbane. Another store is set to open at 108 Albert Street, Brisbane soon. For more information, keep an eye on their website and Facebook page. Updates: July 3, 2017.
UPDATE, September 24, 2021: Minari is available to stream via Stan, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Films about the American dream aren't simply about chasing success. The circumstances and details change, but they're often movies about finding a place to call home as well. Such a quest isn't always as literal as it sounds, of course. While houses can signify achievement, feeling like you truly belong somewhere — and that you're comfortable enough to set your sights on lofty goals and ambitions that require considerable risks and sacrifices — transcends even the flashiest or cosiest combination of bricks and mortar. Partly drawn from writer/director Lee Isaac Chung's own childhood, Minari understands this. It knows that seeking a space to make one's own is crucial, and that it motivates many big moves to and within the US. So, following a Korean American couple who relocate to rural Arkansas in the 80s with hopes of securing a brighter future for their children, this delicately observed and deeply felt feature doesn't separate the Yi family's attempts to set up a farm from their efforts to feel like they're exactly where they should be. When Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun, Burning) introduces his wife Monica (Yeri Han, My Unfamiliar Family), pre-teen daughter Anne (first-timer Noel Cho) and seven-year-old son David (fellow newcomer Alan S Kim) to their new 50-acre plot, he's beaming with pride. He's bought them "the best dirt in America," he says. It might only span a trailer, a field and a creek, but he's certain that it will revolutionise their lives. Although both Jacob and Monica still spend their days in a chicken sexing factory to pay the bills, Jacob is confident his agrarian dream will reap rewards. The path he's chosen isn't a glossy fantasy, though. From trying to work out where best to build a well to provide water for his crops, to endeavouring to convince stores to buy his wares, Jacob weathers more than his fare share of struggles. Monica's worries about their isolation, and about money, also weigh heavily, as do Anne and David's attempts to fit in, the latter's heart murmur and the change that sweeps through the family when Monica's mother Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung, Sense8) joins them. "Grandma smells like Korea," the curious and precocious David complains about his newly arrived grandparent — and it's a telling line of dialogue. When Jacob and Monica talk about their promises when they first got married, remembering how they said they'd "move to America and save each other", their words are just as revealing. Minari doesn't spin a broad culture-clash narrative, but it does intricately and intimately explore what it means to be pulled in two directions. It's well aware that leaving one's homeland isn't the same as surrendering one's heritage, and that anyone who hasn't been through the same experience can't always spot the difference. Born in US, David and his sister don't have the same connection to Korea as their parents; however, they're reminded of how they stand out in American's heartland on a daily basis. Jacob and Monica have different visions of what their life should entail, and how to maintain ties to the past — he wants to grow Asian vegetables to sell to markets who cater to other immigrants, while she wants to live in a larger city as part of the Korean diaspora — but they're constantly navigating the same push and pull. Fellow recent American-made releases Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell also traversed comparable thematic territory, but through US-based Chinese American women who made eye-opening trips abroad — to meet their partner's relatives or visit their ailing grandmother. By contrast, Minari devotes every second to the Yi family's American lives. Rather than being driven by a homecoming, the film focuses on turning that soil that Jacob gushes over into the Yis' home. The power that radiates from Chung's choice here can't be underestimated. Nor can his decision to frame much of the movie from David's perspective, and to eschew overt conflicts for everyday dramas. Through a pitch-perfect blend of all three, Minari sees Arkansas as both a challenge and a playground. Starting anew here isn't easy, even with everything from overgrown grass to dutiful church visits taking on a larger-than-life feel from David's wide-eyed viewpoint, but Minari, Jacob and his loved ones are all committed to taking the bad with the good. In the Yis' case, setbacks come their way, adjustments are necessary and tense moments abound, but their dedication to calling their farm home manages to survive tough reality checks. The film's overall story can be summarised neatly — a Korean American family moves to middle America — but Minari's charms and triumphs aren't ever simplistic. As movies influenced by personal real-life tales can be at their best, this is a gorgeously and thoughtfully detailed picture, with Chung realising that trading in specific minutiae is far more resonant, compelling and relatable than opting for sweeping generalisations. Lensed by cinematographer Lachlan Milne (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), the feature's visuals operate in the same fashion, offering exacting slices of life that also shimmer with a shared, nostalgic mood. Indeed, this precise and vivid film is told with such honest and tender emotion that it was always bound to feel equally unique and universal. Minari isn't Chung's first feature, thanks to 2007's Munyurangabo, 2010's Lucky Life and 2012's Abigail Harm, but it's the kind of heartfelt yet meticulous movie that instantly cements him as a filmmaker to watch. Young Kim does take his debut leap into cinemas, and makes just as strong an impact, stealing every scene he's in. Considering that the child actor stars opposite the always-magnetic Yeun, who turns in his latest excellent performance and may well receive an Oscar nomination for his efforts, that's no minor feat. Han, Youn and Cho are just as stellar, though, as is Will Patton (Halloween) as a devout but kindly Korean War veteran who virtually becomes another member of the family. The way that Minari's cast comes together so exceptionally couldn't be more apt, actually. They each find the space to explore hard-earned dreams, and feel like they're taking viewers home with the Yis in the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbE96sCJEjo
Every meal is a happy meal at Queenies. But returning next month is the happiest meal of all: Queenies' Annual Stoner Dinner. The second such dinner in as many years, it's themed 'MacQueenies' and pays homage to that ever-reliable late-night institution that we will always have a soft spot in our hearts for: McDonald's. For $50 a pop, you'll forget what munchies even are with a finger-lickin' good seven-course MacMenu, including an obligatory double dessert (!!). The kitchen is putting a highly creative spin on your Golden Arches faves, serving up courses like Ditched Pickles with mustard salt and cheese fondue, a Little Big Feast, a Rib Mac Patty made from jerk pork parts and 'Smoked Chicken Nuggets' with "all the sauces". But how can Queenies beat Macca's desserts? With French Fries Ice Cream shot through with cookie swirl, that's how. And, leaving the Granny Smiths at home, the MacQueenies Deep Fried Pie combines drool-inducing guava, custard apple and jerk custard. Promising more satisfied bellies than ever, Queenies' Stoner Dinner is a tradition you'll want to make a habit. Give in to your wildest cravings and book it. To reserve a spot email bookings@queenies.com.au or call (02) 9212 3035.
It's been one of the top spots for New Year's Eve for an age, and this year it's turning itself into a big ol' beach party. Opera Bar, with its front row harbourside seat and recently tszujed fitout, has announced plans for one heck of a NYE party. Sitting front and centre for the multimillion-dollar fireworks, Opera Bar's NYE party involves palm trees, beach chairs and more canapes than you can poke a glow stick at. The whole party is beach-themed; think beach balls, beach huts, cabanas, umbrellas, kombi vans and an astroturf dancefloor. Yep, you read that correctly, an openair, astroturf dancefloor. While you're making halfhearted new year's resolutions over flutes of bubbly, you can enjoy a five-hour canape package — yep, five hours of canapes. Think you can tear yourself away from the nosh to throw a few shapes beside Sydney Harbour? There'll be live music from Sydney's unpindownable cover-lovin' crew Furnace & the Fundamentals, producer and R&B artist Alphamama and DJ Natural Selector. Plus, the party's beachy theme will see roaming entertainment in the form of random surf lifesavers, sharks (sharks?!), retro bathers, the whole shebang. Tickets are $390+BF per person and includes express VIP entry to Sydney Opera House (so you don't have to join that huge line with the public) and that hectic five-hour canape package. Importantly, drinks aren't included in the ticket price, so bring bubbly money. Doors open at 6pm and the event runs to 3am — now that's a solid party. New Year's Eve at Opera Bar is happening on December 31 from 6pm. Tickets ($390+BF) go on sale from 9am on Tuesday, October 6 from Opera Bar's website. Over 18s only, sorry kids.
So you've enjoyed movies in drive-ins and mystery locations? Well, what about movies on an island? And if you so desire, you can even camp there. Woah, that's in-tents! Ferry yourself over to the first ever Cockatoo Island Film Festival between October 24-28. This tasty festivity comprises compelling films, chatworthy panels, a bunch of speakers (all the big wigs of the screen industry), and free Adobe wizardry workshops — all packed into the largest international film program in Australia. With a whopping 200 local and international features, documentaries, and short films, there are too many highlights to detail here. The opening night film, The Master, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, looks a good bet, having attracted a lot of attention already for drawing inspiration from the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) plays a World War II veteran struggling with alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder who meets charismatic religious leader Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Next stop: Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, a throwback to his short film in the 1980s that has been turned into a 3D black-and-white stop-motion comedy horror feature. It's all about a morbid little boy, Victor, who decides to play Frankenstein and bring his canine pal, Sparky, back to life via a kooky science experiment. Don't try this at home, kids. For the sexmantics, The Sessions, directed by Australian Ben Lewin and winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance, tells the story of Mark (John Hawkes), a poet who is paralysed from the neck down and has spent most of his life in an iron lung. At the age of 36, he decides he would like to finally lose his virginity. Through seeking advice from his therapist and his priest, he discovers Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a super-sweet soccer mum who happens to be a professional sex surrogate. A must-see for kids and kiddults alike: Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope, the latest from Morgan Spurlock. Originally a niche comic book convention, Comic-Con is now the sci-fi, pop culture event of the year with over 140,000 attendees. The doco even features special appearances by Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Matt Groening, Seth Rogen, and Eli Roth. To the nifty-minded individuals who can simultaneously eat popcorn and think about their career, check out the insider knowledge sessions with international B-movie extraordinaire Larry Cohen and the creative duo behind the Bondi Hipsters, Christiaan Van Vuuren and Nicholas Boshier. Yes, those guys are actually Internet famous now. Remember that camping mention? You can go BYO, stay in a pre-fab tent, or go nuts with the glamping package (including a sunbaking chair). If it's a portmanteau, it's got to be good. The main ferry service departure point is King St Wharf down at Darling Harbour. There are a few suburban harbourside wharves as well, so check out the old faithful 131500.com.au. Swimming there out of sheer enthusiasm is understandable but not condoned. https://youtube.com/watch?v=mnFbUxX9S6g
Today, the NSW Government announced which festivals would be impacted by its strict new music festival licensing regime — and four of the 14 named are where young people died from suspected drug overdoses. As well as Defqon.1, Lost Paradise, FOMO and Knockout Games of Destiny — where five festivalgoers died during the past six months — the list includes Laneway, Electric Gardens, Subsonic and Rolling Loud. You can check out the full list below. While the regime will not be officially introduced until March 1, the 'interim guidelines' have already led to the cancellation of two NSW festivals: Mountain Sounds and Psyfari. The festivals highlighted the "newly imposed safety, licensing and security costs" and the inability to pull together an estimated $200,000 to cover 45 police working across a 24-hour period as reasons for the cancellations. Byron Bay's Bluesfest — whose festival director sent a scathing letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying, "Will the last festival to leave NSW please turn out the light of culture in this soon to be barren state?" — was not included on the list. In the statement released today by the NSW Government, Minister for Racing Paul Toole said that only the 14 festivals listed would be impacted by the new licensing regime, but that the list would also be "regularly reviewed". "The NSW Government wants music festivals to thrive – but serious drug related illnesses and deaths have demonstrated that we need to help make a small number of them safer," Mr Toole said in the statement. The licensing regime has already been widely criticised for its lack of transparency and failure to consult with industry bodies, and this latest announcement has only heightened this. The Australian Festival Association said in a statement that the organisers of the 14 festivals were notified "by SMS last night" of their 'high risk' status, saying "the process has lacked integrity and transparency — and there are just as many questions left unanswered by the government's latest announcement". This latest move from the NSW Government follows, the Don't Kill Live Music rally on Thursday, Friday 21, when thousands of Sydneysiders — as well as bands and big-name members of the live music industry — descended on Hyde Park to defend the city's live music scene. Despite increasing calls for pill-testing the NSW Government has refused to consider it as a harm-minimisation technique at festivals. Canberra's Groovin' the Moo, however, has just been given the go-ahead to host Australia's second-ever pill-testing trial. LIST OF HIGHER RISK FESTIVALS Days Like This — Victoria Park, March 2019 Transmission — Sydney Olympic Park, March 2019 Up Down — Newcastle, March 2019 Defqon.1 — Castlereagh, September 2019 Subsonic — Monkerai, November 2019 This That — Newcastle, November 2019 Knockout Games of Destiny — Sydney Olympic Park, December 2019 Lost Paradise — Glenworth Valley, December 2019 FOMO — Parramatta Park, January 2020 Electric Gardens — Centennial Park, January 2020 HTID — Sydney Olympic Park, January 2020 Rolling Loud — Sydney Olympic Park, January 2020 Laneway — Callan Park, February 2020 Ultra — Parramatta Park, February 2020 Image: Laneway, Maclay Heriot
Kaiju: Japanese word meaning, literally, 'strange creature'. Jaeger: German word for "hunter". Del Toro: Spanish for "of the bull"; a creative visionary and comic-book-loving movie director. Pacific Rim is a big movie. Really big. Big across the board. As a blockbuster it had a budget of just under $200 million, and as an experience it's practically off the scale. It's one of those films where IMAX almost seems too small a screen. That's because Pacific Rim is, in simplest terms, a giant battle royale between robots (Jaegers) and monsters (Kaiju) that in size both easily dwarf earth's largest structures. To give an example, during one especially destructive rock 'em sock 'em session, a Jaeger uses something akin to the Exxon Valdez as a baseball bat. Written and directed by by Guillermo del Toro, this is a film far closer to his Blade II and Hellboy days rather than his dark, art-house fantasy pieces like Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. Set in the 2020s, earth finds itself united against a common enemy: an alien race known as the Kaiju. Instead of coming from the skies, the Kaiju have opened a portal deep within an ocean trench and periodically emerge from within to lay waste to our cities. In response, humans built the Jaegers: enormous weaponised robots standing 100m tall — an unwieldy juggernaut not unlike Iron Man, except, well, 100m tall. They're Robert Downey Jrs with some serious platform lifts and, just like the Iron Man, are piloted from Rangers within. The difference is that two (and sometimes three) pilots are required to handle the enormous strain placed on the brain, with each pilot responsible for one of the Jaeger's cerebral hemispheres. They're literally 'left brain/right brain' people and, to complicate things further, must 'meld' their minds so that they act as one. That's why the best teams are comprised of relatives: brother to brother, father to son. Del Toro openly acknowledged that he wanted Pacific Rim to be more of a fun spectacle than the recent spate of dark and gritty blockbusters, but in this case that's an explanation not an excuse. Yes, it's more pop than penetrating, but unlike Transformers there's some substance behind the pop. Chiefly responsible for this is The Wire's Idris Elba, whose performance as the Jaegers' commander Stacker Pentecost imbues the film with a touch of class and a touching backstory. The film's hero is played by Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame, and while he seems a little out of his depth as the lead, he's surrounded by a strong supporting cast that includes Ron Perlman, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi — the latter bringing some much needed gender equality to end-of-the-world heroism roles. There are also two Australian pilots, played by British actor Robert Kazinsky and American Max Martini. Apparently in Hollywood, Aussie actors represent the Kaiju and everyone else has to band together to defeat them with accents so laughable even the Simpsons cast would wince. Visually, Pacific Rim packs a massive punch and the design of both the Kaijus and Jaegers is spectacular. It does at times suffer from the Transformers 1 problem of frenetic action to the point of confusion, with the entangled scrappers merging into a singular incoherent mess of metal and skin. On the other hand, though, the direction of the action is far more consistent than Michael Bay's epileptic-fit-inducing approach, allowing you to at least track where the action's going even if you can't immediately see who's got the upper hand. And when the clarity does find its way into the battles, the experience is surprisingly exhilarating. Seeing a giant lizard get an upper-cut from a skyscraper-sized happy meal toy is far more satisfying than you'd think. This is a big, fun (and pretty dumb) movie, but it's hard not to feel that the most compelling part of Pacific Rim is dispensed with during the film's prologue, detailing how, when the first Kaiju arrived, earth's conventional military might was exposed as blunt and ineffectual. Because of this, the entire film feels like the climactic final battle of a story that's yet to be told. It's perfect fodder for a prequel, but begs the question why Del Toro skipped the 'pre' and jumped straight to the quelling. https://youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag
What do you get if you combine some of the world's most influential and controversial speakers, philosophers, journalists, authors and more, sparking debate and raising critical issues from Australia and around the world? Well, more than just polite chatter that's for sure. And the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, held at the Sydney Opera House in late September, delivers on that promise. This year marks the fourth anniversary of the festival, and with a host of over 40 modern-day thinkers and intellectual icons, 2012 is set to be more thought-provoking and inspiring than ever. One of the highlights of the festival is the fiery feminist icon Germaine Greer. She will be tackling the topic of genital cutting with medical researcher Brian Morris and in collaboration with author and model Tara Moss and feminist activist Eva Cox discussing whether 'All Women Hate Each Other'. Other highlights include neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris opening the festival with his postulation on 'The Delusion of Free Will', a suite of authors and experts panelling a debate on China-US relations, and American journalist Tim Harford enlightening us on why we need to 'Make More Mistakes'. A huge array of other contentious issues will be raised and delved into, ranging from Africa to playing God to sexual behaviour. So if you want to have your say or see what the experts have to say, book soon to avoid missing out. Tickets go on sale on Monday, July 30.
Partway through The High Note, lifelong music buff and aspiring producer Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) sits in a recording studio with the up-and-coming musician, David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr), she's certain will be the next best thing. He's singing while she's listening, but the latter doesn't like what she hears — so she slides into the booth with him, spins an inspiring story designed to get him both excited and comfortable, and coaxes out his smooth, melodic, possible hit single-worthy best. It's one of those exchanges that only exists in the movies, and in cinema's fantasy vision of the creative process. It also sparks an obvious train of thought among the film's audience. There's much that's likeable about this overtly formulaic feature, but The High Note always feels like it could've used a bit of coaxing and massaging itself — and a confidence boost to help it serve up some unexpected beats. After first crossing David's path in a grocery store, via a meet-cute that involves arguing over the merits of Phantom Planet's The OC theme 'California' while buying ice blocks, Maggie convinces him to let her produce his first record. But that's actually her after-hours job. By day, every day (and often at night, too), she's a committed and overworked personal assistant to 11-time Grammy-winning R&B superstar Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross). That's a demanding gig, albeit for a legend; however Maggie dreams of more than merely ferrying her idol around town, picking up her dry cleaning and administering enemas on tour. With Grace's latest string of shows wrapping up, a live greatest hits album in the works and no new music released for some time, the singer herself also wants more, but her long-time manager Jack (Ice Cube) is trying to push her towards the easy money of a ten-year Las Vegas residency. With 2019's Late Night, filmmaker Nisha Ganatra stepped inside the world of television, contrasting the journeys of a hardworking woman just starting out and a celebrated but stern female veteran of the field who is unsure of what she wants for the future. Switch the setup to music, then swap Mindy Kaling's smart Late Night screenplay for a thoroughly by-the-numbers affair by first-timer Flora Greeson, and The High Note is the end result — but without any of the resonant commentary that made its predecessor as clever and savvy as it was amusing and affecting. The fact that it isn't easy being a woman in music isn't ignored here, but it's pointed out via generic lines of dialogue that simply sound like throwaway soundbites. The reality that both ageism and racism blight the industry too, and that a hugely successful Black woman over 40 still gets ignored by those calling the shots, receives the same cursory treatment. Instead, The High Note is more content to keep any statements as superficial and easy as a disposable pop song, and to deliver as standard a feel-good fairy tale-style film about chasing one's dream as an algorithm would probably spit out. Also ranking among The High Note's struggles: a blatant, not-at-all surprising soap opera-esque twist that takes the plot into cringe-worthy territory, and a self-parodying cameo by Diplo as an autotune-loving remix specialist that overstays its short duration. Then there's the manoeuvring needed to get all the movie's main players — plus Bill Pullman as Maggie's widowed radio DJ dad, who has a thing for covers — to Catalina Island for a big climactic moment. This all smacks of a feature that could've used another few passes before making it to the screen, but tries to bop along by being be glossy and breezy. And The High Note most definitely is visibly slick and shiny, as well as light and upbeat in tone. While that isn't enough to significantly boost its fortunes, the film does benefit from a rousing soundtrack that spans both new tracks and vintage hits (including an appealing singalong to TLC's 'No Scrubs', and Harrison Jr crooning 1957 classic 'You Send Me' by the king of soul Sam Cooke). The High Note's best asset is its cast, of course, who constantly make you wish that they were working with better material. The movie's two female leads both follow in their famous mothers' footsteps — with Johnson's mum, Melanie Griffith, playing a put-upon lackey in 80s comedy Working Girl, and Ellis Ross easily sliding into the shoes of a fierce diva like her mum, Diana Ross — and yet neither ever feels as if they're merely going through the motions. After turning in such a forceful and powerful performance in Waves, Harrison Jr is all laidback charm here, and he's just as watchable. Ice Cube also adds texture to his thinly written part, but it's the fate of two supporting actors that completely sums up the movie. The comically gifted June Diane Raphael (Long Shot) steals every scene she's in as Grace's vain, self-obsessed housekeeper, while Eddie Izzard possesses both bite and spark as another veteran singer — and, although they're barely in the film, it would've hit far higher notes if it had spent more time with either instead of with its bland main storylines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxtH_xwlnM Top image: ©2020 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Library. Late night. Huh? Yes, these words have decided to start hanging out together and meet regularly at the Surry Hills Library. And they don't want to just hang out chatting to the books, they want to see some film screenings, storytelling, performances, workshops and some interesting peeps giving talks. Not that they have anything against just the books; they just like all that other stuff, too. These adults-only (yes, they can be a little bit naughty at times) events are held on the first Thursday of every month (at 8.30pm), and there are rumours of wine and cheese. This season of Late Night Library will again be curated by Mr Eddie Sharp, and that means they'll be controversial, just a little bit unpredictable, and very, very colourful. Last year's effort got the FBI Radio SMAC Award nomination for Best Arts Event and a NSW Public Library Award for programming, which is certified good times. What exactly is on offer, you ask? Well, Dr Kenzie Larsen will fill you in on the ancient art of making friends (on Thursday, November 1), and then Teen Diary Readings (Thursday, December 6) will make you squirm. Zoe Norton Lodge (NYWF, Project 52), Niki Aken (Underbelly), and others will read about their first sexy times, their teen crushes, and how their parents were ruining their lives. So head to the land of books to see some of Sydney's writers, performers, and artists. Just remember to RSVP to nab your free spot.
Explore a different side of Sydney at the Paramatta Opening Party. Music highlights here include Australian music legend Paul Kelly in his collaborative project The Merri Soul Sounds (featuring Dan Sultan, Clairy Browne, Kira Puru and Vika & Linda Bull), The Stiff Gins, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Fez Hamadcha and Rattlin’ Bones Blackwood. Stages are scattered around Town Hall and Civic Place, as are eats and arts. The Soul of Sydney crew are throwing their famous block party or the flickering Fire Garden installation behind the library. Think old-school Festival First Night, just a little way out of the city centre.
Indigenous photojournalist Barbara McGrady has a new exhibition opening November 3 at ACP. Curated by Sandy Edwards as part of the Carte Blanche Program, Always Will Be showcases McGrady's unique ability to document the community she knows and loves with uncompromising truthfulness. A Kamilaroi woman from Mungindi in northwest NSW, McGrady embraces photography as a tool with the ability to increase shared knowledge and foster social change. Particularly concerned with the contemporary urban issues affecting Indigenous Australians, her work typically explores human rights, community events, arts and culture, politics and sports (for the last three years McGrady has photographed the NSW Koori Rugby League Knockout). Capturing diverse subjects ranging from Anthony Mundine training at his local Redfern gym, to Indigenous ceremonial performances at Sydney Opera House, to a portrait of legendary activist and historian Gary Foley, this latest exhibition offers an opportunity to "learn about what it means to be kooris in Sydney and First Nations in the new millennium" through the lens of a passionate photographer at the top of her game. Image: Barbara McGrady, Sista Girls Mardi Gras 2017, courtesy and © the artist.
Music has a long and dynamic history when it comes to inspiring support for social causes, from the Civil Rights Movement to anti-war protests and the African AIDS crisis. On February 1, Sydney based music management and touring company Astral People is intending to raise some serious cash for beyondblue, The National Depression Initiative that has been pulling out all stops to raise community awareness of mental health issues since October 2000. Astral People has lined up a bunch of local and international acts, impressive not only for their established talent but also for their willingness to donate their time. Mark Pritchard (Harmonic 313), Tuff Sherm, Preacha, Templar Soundsystem, Cliques, Ben Fester and the Compound DJs will all be working gratis. beyondblue will receive every single cent raised on the night. It’s time to dust off those dancing shoes!
If you're in Sydney's CBD and can hear helicopters overhead, that's because Barack Obama is in town. According to 7 News, the former president of the United States touched down at Sydney Airport around 1pm and has since made his way — as part of a motorcade — up Oxford Street and into the CBD. .@barackobama at @SydneyAirport. The former U.S. President will be speaking at the @ArtGalleryofNSW tonight. https://t.co/0rfycPrrqA #7News pic.twitter.com/FJgJVxgpi3 — 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 23, 2018 Obama is in Sydney for an exclusive private event hosted by the New Zealand United States Council at the Art Gallery of NSW tonight, Friday, March 23. He comes via Auckland, where he spoke last night. At the moment, it doesn't look like there will be any road closures or changes to traffic. Unfortunately the talk is not open to the public, but if you head to the AGNSW, you might be able to get an IRL sighting of the former president. Although you may not be able to get very close — security will be understandably tight.
Cancel your trick-or-treating plans. Spend Halloween at an epic, immersive party overnight in a secret rainforest location instead, with a swimming pool, live performers, DJs and a bunch of otherworldly surprises. Dubbed The Afterlife and curated by Have You Heard (Camp Unknown, The Yacht Social Club), this event will transport you deep into a mysterious rainforest, just over an hour's drive from Sydney. For 24 hours, you'll be immersed in an alternative universe, where bad and good, dark and light, and nightmares and dreams collide. While your soul is wrestling with its opposing inclinations, you'll be kept well entertained with a cracking lineup of Sydney-based DJs, including Bondi House, Simo, Nicc Johnson, vonAudio and Start Cue, as well as an array of circus, burlesque and fire-eating performers. Plus, as you'd know well, if you've previously kept company with Have You Heard, you can expect all manner of weird and wonderful happenings. The first three ticket releases have sold out, but there is a fourth on the boil, which you can avail yourself of right here. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
There was once a time when fashion photography was about trying to get a clear, objective, crinkle-free shot of a garment. Now we know it as creating an atmosphere, telling a story and selling an identity. The latter style originated, as these things do, in Europe, but it was pioneered in Australia by Bruno and Hazel Benini. Italian-born Bruno was a photographer with a wonderful sense of narrative, painterly composition, drama and light. Hazel — a Kiwi, artist and shop window stylist — could put together a Sportsgirl display that would draw crowds of office girls when it was unveiled on a Thursday afternoon. Uniting in the 1950s, they had chemistry to last over 40 years of creative and marital partnership, and their photography, which she styled and he snapped, remains extraordinarily expressive. The museum recently acquired the personal archive of Bruno Benini, and its curators have assembled this remarkable exhibition on their first sifting. With Sydney Design on around it and Frock Stars alongside, Creating the Look goes even further toward proving that the Powerhouse approach isn't just for kids; it will enrapture and challenge at any age, and the weekend crowd testifies to this mix. Here, crisp photographic prints are not just hung on the wall but given meaning through artefacts, sound bites, rooms that re-create the studio and (most impressively) the dark room and an interpretive, immersive installation by contemporary artist Jean-Francois Lanzarone. The tail end of the exhibition reflects on the Benini legacy through the prism of contemporary fashion photographer Juli Balla, extreme stylist Edward Coutts Davidson, street style maven Fernando Frisoni and the current trend for viral video. Some Benini photographs have iconic staying power (a gun-toting, shoe-stroking model in niqab, for one), while others pluck at pedestrian '50s nostalgia. They invariably drip with glamour even when advertising mere Sportscraft dresses and Wittner shoes and work a charm even now. Fashion photography is all about creating mystery; the Powerhouse Museum is about stripping it away. The resulting collaboration means letting slip some of the mystique to gain a sense of the impulse of style, the ingenuity of craft and the beauty in the everyday — a fair trade, I'd say. Catch talks by Fernando Frisoni on Wednesday, August 4, at 12.30pm and Juli Balla on Sunday, August 8, at 2pm.
At long last, Band of Horses, the gentle, bearded rockers from South Carolina, have dropped their fifth album, Why Are You OK?. Staying true to form, even the meaner songs sound a bit like Neil Young if he hadn't discovered anger. Now, as part of this year's Splendour sideshows, the denim-clad daydreamers are descending on the Opera House. Billed as a "transformative display of pure guitar-driven anthems", the Concert Hall seems an ideal location for the band to let loose their hazy, swirling, laidback ballads. For those overdue for a 'Casual Party', book. Book now. There's more Splendour sideshow action where this came from. Check out our list of sideshows with tickets still available.
Australia's stunning flower festival Floriade is back for another colourful year. Hosted in Canberra's Commonwealth Park from September 15 to October 14, the festival will this year be themed around 'pop culture'. Festival-goers will get up-close to an intricate array of retro-inspired flowerbeds showcasing many of our icons from music, film and literature, including Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe. And entry is free. The headline event is NightFest, Floriade's after-dark experience which, for five special nights from September 26–30, sees the park come to life with dazzling illuminated flowerbeds. To match, there's an exciting cultural program with food and drink stalls, an open-air cinema and stand-up comedy from the likes of Arj Barker and Akmal Saleh, not to mention a host of live music performances including Caiti Baker and Bowie Unzipped, featuring Jeff Duff and Kate Miller-Heidke. Tickets to the after-dark event will set you back $31.70 a pop. For dog-lovers, October 14 sees the return of the popular Dog's Day Out, which this year wants you to deck yourself, and your pup, out like the superhero your furry friend thinks you are. Meanwhile, green thumbs can refresh their skills at The Greenhouse, which hosts a range of creative gardening workshops, including kokedama and terrarium making classes. And for those looking to just have a tranquil layabout in the park, Sundays are your chance with the 'Jazz in the Park' sessions providing a peaceful soundtrack to the serene surrounds.
Back in March, which feels like eons ago, the Australian Government announced a ban on non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people — leading to the cancellation of thousands of events across Australia. Everything from Vivid to Bluesfest was scrapped as the country's COVID-19 restrictions got progressively stricter. Thankfully, we're now on the other side, and restrictions everywhere are easing. In New South Wales, this means the state's events calendar is slowly filling up once more. One thousand gigs are happening as part of the State Government-run Great Southern Nights; stadiums can have up to 10,000 fans in the stands; and theatres, concert halls and cinemas have been given the go-ahead to host events of up to 1000 people. In the latest win for the state, the Government has this week announced that regional events of up to 5000 people will be allowed to happen this summer. In a statement released on Wednesday, November 4, Minister for Regional NSW and Deputy Premier John Barilaro said that regional towns can start planning shows for summer 2021, with the newly allowed large-scale events kicking off with the Bowral Show on Saturday, January 9. "This is really exciting news for regional communities because country shows play a vital role in promoting agriculture and injecting money into local economies," Barilaro said in the statement. "I encourage everyone from the city to get out there and immerse yourself in a country show and get a valuable insight into life in the bush." With regional shows given the go-ahead from early next year, you might be wondering about Sydney's version: the Sydney Royal Easter Show, which was one of the many events forced to cancel in 2020. There's no call just yet, but the NSW Government has advised that it is also working with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW to explore options for next year. [caption id="attachment_710789" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Sydney Royal Easter Show[/caption] Shows will be required to have social-distancing rules, controlled entry point and capacity limit of one person per four square metres. At the moment, the new rules only apply to regional shows and not other types of events, but it's an encouraging sign. Hopefully it's not too long until punters will be able to head along to a (COVID-safe) music festival. With last year's devastating bushfire season leading to the cancellation of many out-of-town festivals, it's been a long time between bush doofs. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW and current restrictions, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Sydney Royal Easter Show, Riley Durkin.
