Australia loves an underdog, so the interest and anticipation surrounding the new home of beleaguered celebrity chef Justin North comes as no surprise. With its stylish leather couches and armchairs, attractive angular lamps and impressive collection of wall-mounted photos (including an almost life-sized nude Kate Moss from the Kate Garner series currently showing in Paris), the Hotel Centennial exudes the brightness and warmth of a friend's dining room, and the refined elegance that makes it clear that friend shops at Coco Republic. There's a buzz to the place, with its jazzy, big-band soundtrack, bustling open kitchen, roaring wood-fired oven and army of well-dressed waitstaff milling about the grand wooden tables. The food is pretty as a picture. Grass fed steak tartare rests with a pickle upon a slender slice of rye ($6), while pink pieces of marinated tuna are lifted by the freshness of green tea soba noodles and scattered with black sesame seeds ($26). The flavours are pleasant, if not punchy, and make for an enjoyable preamble for the richer mains, like the wintery shepherd's pie ($26) which pairs soft pieces of lamb shank and shoulder with a flavoursome mash and toasted breadcrumbs. The wine list is impressive and accessible, with carefully curated categories ranging from 'zippy, zesty fresh whites' to 'big, bold, brash reds'. Our Argentinian Mi Terruno 'Uvas' Malbec ($10/$49) makes a happy companion for our meaty mains. Unusually for a pub, dessert is where it's at. A rich slice of chocolate ale cake ($14) makes clear that combining beer with chocolate can in fact be a thing, marrying the bitterness of the stout with sweetness from dashes of treacle, dollops of chocolate mousse and a creamy quenelle of salted caramel ice cream. Taking its cue from Table for 20 and Farmhouse, the Hotel Centennial is also experimenting with communal dining. Mondays through Wednesdays, you can join the High Table, a long, communal space that seats up to 30 diners for a main announced by noon each day on the High Table Tumblr. $24 includes one course (with $2 donated to the Holdsworth Foundation), and for an extra $10 you also get a coffee or tea and one of those fabulous desserts. Offering comfort food in striking surroundings, the Hotel Centennial is where you take the folks for an upmarket weekend meal. Following this first, measured return to the kitchen, we'll be watching to see what North does next. Images: Katje Ford.
87. Just hold onto that number for a moment. We’ll come back to it. In the meantime, some science, for it is in the science of Concussion where this movie shines brightest. Science, and specifically statistical analysis, is not a precise art. It recognises that there will always exist the possibility of chance being the driving factor behind any set of results. Accordingly, for a theory to gain credence, it must first secure what is known as statistical significance – a minimum threshold above which results are deemed to be more than coincidence. But what if the only way for you to meet that threshold – the only way to prove to the world that you were right – was for people to die? Such was the fascinating (if also deeply disturbing) dilemma facing Nigerian-born American forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu in 2002. Omalu had been called upon to autopsy a beloved former NFL player named Mike Webster, and concluded that the cause of Webster's death was cognitive disfunction resulting from repeated and severe blows to the head – a condition Omalu ultimately named chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Put another way, Omalu theorised that playing NFL was akin to almost guaranteeing some form of brain damage. Webster’s case alone, however, was not enough to prove CTE’s existence. Omalu needed a minimum of three, and since CTE could only be established post-mortem, he had to wait for more NFL players to die in order to test it. Of the many tragedies outlined in Concussion, perhaps the most confronting is quite simply how little time Omalu had to spend waiting. Concussion, then, is to football what The Insider was to cigarettes, with the National Football League playing the role of Big Tobacco. The Outsider, in fact, would have made an equally appropriate title for this film, because if being Nigerian in America wasn’t already hard enough on Omalu, the NFL’s attempts to brand him 'the man who wants to kill football' rendered him about as un-American as could be imagined. And yet he persisted, and such is the substance of this tale. As already indicated, the science of Concussion is compelling and extraordinary, matched only by the performance of its leading man, Will Smith. Sporting a disarming smile and an impressively consistent accent, Smith puts in his best performance in years – a fine accomplishment made all the more impressive given the less-than-spectacular script he had to work with. Concussion, in its efforts to render this a one man vs the world saga, spends far too much time dealing with Omalu’s home life and not nearly enough grappling with the two biggest questions raised by his research: how much did the NFL know, and how long did they know it? For a film about the extreme, even fatal impacts in NFL, Concussion lands an unreasonably soft blow against the corporation that kept these dangers a secret from its players. Which brings us back to the number 87. That’s where the count now stands in terms of deceased former players who’ve tested positive for CTE. Even more shockingly, that’s 87 out of a total of 91 tested – a statistical return of 96%. Concussion tells merely the opening stages of a story that is still alive and well to this day. Tragically, that's more than can be said of many of the characters who’ve taken part in its telling. As such, while the film is undoubtedly confronting, it's not nearly critical enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6hPdC41RM
Keen for an overseas holiday as soon as you can possibly take one? Aren't we all — and Australians can now add Singapore to their list of international destinations. A quarantine-free travel arrangement between the two countries was first floated back in March, and it'll finally kick in on Monday, November 8. At present, this'll be a one-way setup, allowing double-vaccinated Australians to enter Singapore without quarantining. Dubbed a 'vaccinated travel lane (VTL)' by Singaporean authorities, it'll commence just a week after Australia's international border restrictions ease to once again permit Aussies to leave the country for holidays. Here's how the VTL will work: if you've had two jabs, you can enter Singapore without quarantining, although you will need to undergo COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. If you're travelling with kids aged 12 years and under who aren't vaxxed, they'll be allowed to enter Singapore, too — as long as you're double-vaccinated. Obviously, double-vaxxed Aussies will be allowed to return back to Australia after their Singapore trips; however, Australia isn't opening up to overseas holidaymakers as yet — which is why it's a one-way arrangement Singapore has already established VTLs with a range of countries, including Germany, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the US. Switzerland will also join the arrangement on November 8, with South Korea following on November 15. When it was first suggested at the beginning of 2021, the Australia–Singapore arrangement was expected to start in July, but that clearly didn't happen. Then, in June, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, with the pair releasing a joint statement affirming that they were working towards the travel arrangement. Singapore follows countries such as Fiji and Thailand in revealing when they're reopening to holidaying Australians. If you're currently thinking about booking flights, Qantas has already announced fares from Sydney from Tuesday, November 23. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Stay tuned. More information coming soon.
An expanding arts and cultural phenomenon in the heart of Austin, Texas, each year South by Southwest hosts thousands of musicians, showcases the latest innovations in technology and introduces some of the year's most intriguing movies to the world. Amongst the most buzzed about films of SXSW 2014 was an Australian production named The Infinite Man, a low-budget, sci-fi rom-com about a man who attempts to give his girlfriend the perfect romantic weekend, only to accidentally trap her in a never-ending time loop. In the wake of its world premiere in Austin, with a release date set for the middle of the year, we spoke with producers Kate Croser and Sandy Cameron about the process of getting the movie made, the story's biggest influences, as well as the rapturous reception that saw the film listed by Time, Indiewire and The Hollywood Reporter as one of the most exciting movies of the festival. WORKING ON A BUDGET Financed through Film Lab, an initiative of the South Australian Film Corporation that offers funding to Australian scripts that can be produced on a limited budget, The Infinite Man was written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Hugh Sullivan, who Cameron first met at university. "When Film Lab was announced, it forced us to start thinking," Cameron recalls. "We came up with a bunch of ideas … and it quickly emerged that that was the one that would work." Low-budget filmmaking can be tricky, but the producers had high praise for their writer-director's work ethic. "I think he really enjoyed it, but at the same time it was very challenging," says Croser. "We promised the crew we wouldn't work any overtime, because we couldn't afford to. So as soon as we finished for the day, whatever was left over, Hugh and the director of photography would just go out and [film] themselves … they were working much longer hours than anyone else." INSPIRING SCI-FI Naturally, The Infinite Man is far from the first time that romance and science fiction has been mashed together. "A touchstone for us was always Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," asserts Croser. "It's not time travel, but it's got a similar sensibility and tone, and it's also a love story like ours … for us, the time travel is secondary to the exploration of the relationship and the characters." Cameron, meanwhile, makes a comparison that was also made by several critics, to Shane Curruth's cheaply made, highly convoluted time travel drama Primer. "Something that can be done on that low budget, that can get across that complexity of ideas, that was an inspiration, to a degree," says Cameron. "People were giving feedback in Austin saying 'this is like the funny Primer.'" HEADING SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST For the producers, getting into SXSW was always the goal. "A big part of our plans was to get a big festival to launch the film, because being such a small film, you need to get that exposure somehow," says Croser. "The SXSW audience is exactly the audience for the film." "The most exciting experience for us was the world premiere", she continues. "We got there and saw the name of the film up in lights, which was really exciting, and then we saw a line around the block. We sat down in the cinema with the audience and from the moment the film started, people were laughing, and the room felt so warm, and the response really felt genuine … that was just the best feeling."
If you thought yoga retreats were all silence and brown rice, Yoga Cucina invites you to reconsider. Initiated by a trio of yoga instructors — and wine drinkers — it's a brand new kind of yoga-inspired getaway. Gear up to spend a weekend practising your salutes to the sun and downward dogs, in between sampling several drops, feasting on Italian fare, playing darts and swimming beneath waterfalls. "We want it to be an adventure, rather than a retreat," says Aly Clarke, who's organised the project alongside friends Rebecca Lockyer and Claire Blackwood. "It's not about people dressing in white and wearing patchouli." The idea came about at 1am, over a year ago. "We'd been to yoga together and were starving," Aly says. "Claire's husband, Marco [Gobbo] and his best friend Luca [Faccin] are both chefs, so they cooked up some risotto. There we were, eating and drinking wine and rum, and playing poker. We started thinking, other people must want to do this." And so, Yoga Cucina was born. The first adventure will be held over three nights, from September 29 to October 2 in The Pill Factory, a 19th century sandstone building in NSW's Southern Highlands. Think Chesterfields, open fireplaces and secretive nooks. "On the first night, we'll meet for a pre-dinner drink, then sit down to a big, family feast," Aly explains. Marco and Luca, who are both Michelin star trained, will be taking care of that. Come morning, you'll wake up to a two-hour yoga session, soundtracked by hip hop, before partaking in a barbecue lunch. Then it'll be off to a local national park for swimming under waterfalls and back to The Pill Factory for a pasta-making class, followed by another epic dinner and an evening in the games room, playing pool, darts and board games. Days two and three offer similar eclecticism, including a meeting with a monk at nearby Sunnataram Theravada Buddhist Monastery. A weekend at the retreat will set you back $880-935 per person, which includes all activities and brunch, dinner and snacks. Space is strictly limited to 26 and there are rooms for singles, doubles and groups. "The building is really big, so there's heaps of space for people to spread out and do whatever they want, Aly says. "We want them to feel free to do as little — or as much — as they'd like." After the first adventure is completed, the Yoga Cucina team will look further afield. When we chatted with them, they were scoping out venues in Tasmania. Image: Leeroy Te Hira.
Held weekly on a Friday in Warriewood, The Beaches Market is one of the most popular farmers and fresh produce markets in Sydney with over 100 quality stalls. The majority of the produce is organic, home grown and hand picked, and arrives fresh from the farm that day. While you stroll through the markets selecting your fresh produce for the week, have a chat to some of the passionate and hard working farmers and tradespeople. You can also pick up local honey, speciality cheese, olive oil, bread, fish, meat, plants and flowers. There's also a selection of stalls selling homewares, fashion, jewellery and handmade items, as well as live music to soundtrack your wholesome shopping experience.
Moore Park's Entertainment Quarter is set to score a brand new pub, with the newly named Watson's taking over the much-loved former site of Irish bar PJ Gallagher's. Following a multimillion-dollar renovation, the new venue will feature a modern look with a fully renovated indoor and outdoor dining space plus a fresh lineup of pub feeds and tap beers. PJ Gallagher's was a go-to spot for pre or post-match drinks and feeds for games at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Sydney Football Stadium, which is currently under construction. Punters heading into and coming from the Hordern Pavilion, Max Watts and the Royal Hall of Industries would also be familiar with the longstanding Irish pub. Now, Watson's promises to slot back into this role as the Entertainment Quarter's neighbourhood favourite with an enhanced dining experience. Included in the upgrades is the opening of the upper level of the pub, two al fresco decks and a courtyard bar with a four-metre screen ideal for watching sport. The deck is shrouded by three fairy light-lit Moreton Bay fig trees and will feature acoustic live music alongside all the sports action. A new tallowwood and Rivera stone top bar has been installed inside the pub which will serve a selection of 32 tap beers. On the menu at Watson's, you'll find a classic range Australian pub meals including schnitzels, fish and chips and salads, with a few inventive twists. Think buttermilk chicken tenders served with fries, gravy, corn-on-a-cob and a dinner roll, or the pub's take on a dinner party classic — the French onion cob loaf served with celery and carrots for dipping. There is also a selection of steaks and cuts of meat including a one-kilogram cut of Ranger Valley black onyx grain-fed rib eye which is served on the bone with charred lemon and red wine jus. Accompanying mains is a dessert menu with tiramisu and sticky date pudding, and a vast drinks list featuring spritzes, espresso martini on tap and cocktail carafes made with vodka, T2 rose tea, lemon juice and lemonade. Watson's is located at 1 Bent Street, Moore Park in the Entertainment Quarter. It will open following the rolling back of venue restrictions in Greater Sydney.
A voodoo-inspired, jungle-walled cocktail bar that can tempt you from any dinner plans with popcorn and a glass (or several) of absinthe, Papa Gede's is owned, designed and run by a trio of seasoned hospos: husband-and-wife team Lara Dignam (ex-Red Lantern) and Michael Dhinse (ex-Grandma's), and their friend Joshua Ng (ex-Rover). The cocktail list is a generous mix of classics and signatures, including a Zombie that promises to resurrect the dead. Some bizarre names dominate the menu, like the titillating Centrefold (a golden glass of marigold vodka, passionfruit, lemon, cucumber and coconut water soda with a topping of 'champagne' jelly), or the hopefully not prophetic Double Demerits (a surprisingly sharp mix of cognac, triple sec, guava cryo-concentrate, lemon and pomegranate, finished with a dusting of toasted fennel seeds). The one thing that sets Papa Gede's apart from the rest of Sydney's small bar scene? Its range of international and homegrown absinthes. The proprietors welcome newcomers to the absinthe game. "What I really like about it is that absinthe has this really terrible reputation... [We are] giving people the opportunity to do it in a new fashion," says Dignam. The added theatre of the absinthe ritual — featuring ornate glassware, four-tapped absinthe fountains and burning sugar cubes — will elevate your post-work drinks to a whole new level. Although ostensibly a cocktail bar, including a selection of aged cocktails — matured for one month and stirred upon request — vinophiles aren't left behind, with a generous wine list featuring local and foreign drops. In the fridge, there is also a range of local brews to choose from. As a venue that worships at the altar of history's greatest party animal, Papa Gede — who also happens to be the embodiment of death, a fan of cheap cigars, apples, and top hats — it's little wonder that music is also a big deal here. Expect live music sets from top local blues, jazz, reggae, soul and R&B artists. Images: Cassandra Hannigan
In March this year, Lin-Manuel Miranda's game-changing musical Hamilton made its way to Australia. Yes, finally. Until then, local fans had to be content with obsessing over the 11-time Tony-winning show from afar — or, since mid-2020, enjoying the filmed version of its Broadway production. But thankfully that all changed when the blockbuster production hit the Sydney Lyric Theatre, where it has been unfurling its tale of 18th-century American politics for a few months now. That's obviously a great situation for Sydneysiders, and for anyone willing to make the trip to the New South Wales capital for a night of rousing theatre. If you're in those two categories, you can currently be in the room where it happens. But if you're a Melburnian, it looks like even better news is coming. Sometime in 2022 — perhaps as early as March — Melbourne residents might get their shot to see Hamilton on home turf. Although an official announcement hasn't yet been made, the production is expected to make its way to Victoria next year, The Age is reporting. If it does debut in March as suggested, it'll do so a year after it premiered in Sydney, with Her Majesty's Theatre its likely home in Melbourne. It's anticipated that official word will come soon — possibly by the end of this month, in fact. If you're up to date on the Australian theatre scene's recent announcements, though, you might've anticipated this news. Other big musicals, such as The Book of Mormons, have toured the country after their big local premiere seasons. Also, earlier this week, it was announced that the Mary Poppins musical would float into the Sydney Lyric Theatre from May next year — and obviously the venue can't host two shows at once. Haven't become a Hamilton obsessive yet? Not quite sure why it has been one of the most-talked about theatre shows of the past six years? The critically acclaimed hip hop musical, for which Miranda wrote the music, lyrics and the book, is about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as well as inclusion and politics in current-day America. As well as its swag of Tony Awards, which includes Best Musical, it has nabbed a Grammy Award and even a Pulitzer Prize. This won't be Miranda's first musical to come to Melbourne, with his take on the classic 2000s film Bring It On: The Musical hitting the city in 2018. In the meantime, Melburnians can watch the filmed version of Hamilton with the original Broadway cast on Disney+ — and yes, it's as phenomenal as you've heard. Sydneysiders, if you haven't yet booked yourself in to see the musical, you might want to get in quickly. And Brisbanites, start crossing your fingers that Hamilton plans a move up north after its Melbourne season. Hamilton is expected to stage a Melbourne season in 2022. We'll update you with further details if and when they're announced — and you can keep an eye on the musical's website in the interim. Via: The Age. Images: Hamilton, Broadway. Photos by Joan Marcus.
Sydney is notorious for its streets that bend like tangled shoelaces, its laughable town planning that left our Town Hall facing the wrong direction (the original front faces the QVB) and a public transport system about as efficient as underground solar panels. But Sydney is also home to a sunny harbour framed by two of the 20th Century’s most impressive architectural feats, parks that feel like paradise, some of the world’s greatest outdoor city festivals and a legacy of elegant colonial buildings that bring us into conflict with our Aboriginal heritage. Public Sydney: Stop, Look, Live is an exhibition presented by the Historic Houses Trust, inspired by Philip Thalis and Peter John Cantrill’s newly released book Public Sydney: Drawing the City. It’s a good starting point for anybody interested in Sydney’s design and offers a basic architectural and social history of iconic public sites including Bennelong Point, the Museum of Sydney, Hyde Park, Central Station and Town Hall. There are some cool old photographs that remind us we weren’t always a hip cosmopolitan metropolis, historical artifacts including a two-ton canon and even an impressive to-scale drawing of the Opera House along one wall. There are videos that chart each site’s history, including vox pops of people waiting for friends at Town Hall steps (not just Goths and tourists it turns out!) and along the Opera House forecourt. There’s also a great photo essay including images of the skaters who spend sun dappled afternoons sharing the tricks of their trade by the Pool of Reflection in Hyde Park and the bike couriers who hang out on the steps near the GPO at Martin Place. But further than eating sandwiches on steps and strolling through tree-lined parks (all excellent and valid activities), Public Sydney washes over one of the most powerful ways in which we have shaped these public spaces. That is, through political and civic engagement. Other than a black-and-white photograph of a rally at Town Hall, this exhibition steers well clear of our political engagement with Sydney’s public spaces. How have we, the public, used these marvelously designed sites for protests, rallies, celebrations and other mass forms of civic engagement? What do these buildings, parks and street corners mean if they haven’t been shaped throughout history by ideological, cultural and humanitarian displays of expression and debate? It is these elements that really inform how a public engages with, experiences and shapes a city. Without them, Sydney is no more than a shiny shell inhabited by a benign and somewhat flaccid public. Public Sydney’s saving grace in this respect is that it offers you, the public, the opportunity to share your own stories – both in the exhibition and online. What are the hidden public histories layered within these spaces? How do you spend your time in the Pearl of the Pacific? Help set the record straight. Local zine maker and master of urban detail Vanessa Berry will be running a parallel blog as part the exhibition.
In 2019, Taco Bell returned to NSW following failed attempts in 1981 (when it was to taken to court by Sydney store Taco Bell's Casa) and 1997. And, where the US Tex-Mex chain is concerned, it seems that the third time is indeed the charm. It opened two more stores in 2020, and now it's slated to add another this year — from Tuesday, May 4 in Green Square. Yes, Sydney is finally getting its second Taco Bell, so Blacktown will no longer be the closest place to get your fix (with the company's other spots located at Newcastle, Albion Park and Ballina). The new eatery will be part of the Infinity by Crown Group retail precinct and sit above Green Square train station. So, you can pick up a Cheesy Chipotle Burrito or Crunchy Taco before you hop on or off public transport — or on your way to or from the new aquatic centre or still-recent library. If the chain's past menus are anything to go by, you can assume that quesadillas, burritos, Crunchwraps, nachos, power bowls and, of course, tacos (including the Gordita Crunch with both a crunchy and soft tortilla) will all be the lineup. It'll be doing dine-in, takeaway and delivery, with the latter particularly great news if you live in the area. Patrons can also expect a dedicated entrance just for picking up deliveries, a self-serve music kiosk and a street-art inspired interior by graffiti artist Simon Murray. And, to celebrate the opening, it'll be doing merchandise giveaways on launch day. Taco Bell still has plenty more stores in the works, too, with the chain saying it'll open a minimum of 40 locations across NSW and the ACT in the next three years — we'll let you know when other spots are announced. Find Taco Bell at Infinity by Crown Group, Green Square, 301–303 Botany Road, Zetland from Tuesday, May 4 — open daily from 10am–10pm.
A new cooking class is coming to Paddy's Market, thanks to the folks behind Filipino Food Movement Australia — a non-profit organisation aiming to bring the country's food and culture into the limelight. The series will showcase the Philippines' diverse cuisine, which varies from island to island (and there are over 7000 islands in total). Each workshop will feature a different recipe and be hosted by Filipino Australians from a range of food-focused backgrounds, including chefs, restaurant owners, cookbook authors and food writers. The first cooking class will take place on Saturday, February 29 and champion adobo. This national dish consists of meat, seafood or vegetables simmered in a marinade of equal parts vinegar and soy sauce, plus heaps of garlic and whole black peppercorns. It'll be hosted by the Australian non-profit's founder Anna Manlulo. She'll create four versions of adobo, all of which you'll get to feast on after the class. All of the ingredients and produce will be sourced from Paddy's, too, so you know these recipes will be easy to replicate — and you'll be sent home with recipe cards, so you don't need to worry about forgetting the technique, either. The two sessions will take place from 11am—1pm and 2—4pm, and each costs just $20. More in this event series will be coming up in the following months as well, so keep an eye on the website. Image: Jerome Sicat
Cinemas and choc tops go together like movies and superheroes — these days, you can't have one without the other. But if you don't eat animal products, pairing a frosty (and readily available) dessert with your film-going isn't usually on the menu. Until now. Much to the delight of vegan cinephiles, Event Cinemas has launched a new vegan ice cream range. In Sydney and Brisbane, the chain is now slinging two flavours of vegan choc tops from its snack provider Parlour Lane. Instead of dairy, these cones are filled with coconut-based ice cream that's been handmade by Aussie dairy-free producer Over The Moo. There will be two flavours to choose from — chocolate and salted caramel — that are both topped with vegan chocolate. The choc tops are $6.50 for the moment, and are only available at selected sites — so NSW residents should make a movie date with the big screens at Bondi Junction, Glendale, Miranda, George Street, Macquarie and Tuggerah, while Queenslanders should head to Chermside, Pacific Fair, Robina and Kawana. If you're fond of cruelty-free, dairy-free ice cream, you can add these to the growing list of vegan dessert options. Just this year, vegan Magnums, Cornettos and Weis Bars, plus four new dairy-free Ben & Jerry's tubs, hit supermarket and convenience store freezers. Lord of the Fries also added to its vegan lineup, expanding from meat-free burgers, hot dogs and yes, fries, to include a new range of vegan ice cream sandwiches. Now we just need a gluten-free option and all the dietary requirements of cinema-goers will be covered. Parlour Lane's vegan choc tops are now available for $6.50 at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction, Glendale, Miranda, George Street, Macquarie and Tuggerah in New South Wales, and at Chermside, Pacific Fair, Robina and Kawana in Queensland.
Warehouse parties are great. Secret Mexican holiday-inspired, neon-drenched, immersive warehouse experiences are even better. Curated by a group of Mexican visionaries and artists, Day of the Dead 3.1. promises to be one heck of a Burning Man-channeling spectacle you'll want to lock down tickets for — on sale this Saturday, August 15 at 12.30pm. And with the demand already high, this event is expected to sell out within hours, so your crew had better be ready. For hundreds of years, El Dia de los Muertos has been one of the biggest parties in Mexico honouring the dead. The 4000 year-old tradition's history can be traced back to Mexico's indigenous beliefs of the afterlife — that death is only the beginning. Now it's Australia's turn to delve into the underworld, as The Day of the Dead finds its way to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this spring, in secret locations within each city. Expect interactive art installations, light projections, extravagant costumes, murals created by renowned street artists and an exclusive lineup of local and international DJs and musicians — including one big ol' festival favourite headliner. The lineup will be released closer to the day, so stay tuned. Pop-ups by a handpicked bunch of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane's go-to local Mexican eateries, like Playa Takeria, have been selected to create Dia de los Muertos menus. Plus, there'll be Mexican cervezas and tequila/mezcal cocktails to provide you with enough sustenance to dance the night away. With instructions being sent to ticket holders just one week before the event, this is secret warehouse party business at it's best. Each city's locations are more closely guarded than an abuela's special mole sauce ingredient and will only be released one day before the party. Get ready to nab a ticket and start preparing your best Dia de los Muertos outfit. Day of the Dead will visit Sydney on October 24, then Melbourne on October 31 before ending in Brisbane on November 7. Tickets are $75 and go on sale here on Saturday 15 August at 12.30pm and are expected to sell out super fast. Don't stall on this one, it'll be the death of you.
Across the past eight years, Sydney's All About Women festival has featured sessions on everything from hip hop and toxic masculinity to the post-#MeToo era — and, for its ninth iteration in 2021, it's once again presenting an exciting and eclectic program. When the event returns on Sunday, March 7, it'll feature talks, panels, workshops and films about the evolution of the feminist movement, its limitations, the gendered nature of household responsibilities, misogynistic online communities and the judgements built into artificial intelligence. There's also a session about coping with doomscrolling, because that topic couldn't be more relevant after the past 12 months. Once again, the fest will take place around International Women's Day — happening the day before, though, so it can still be held on a weekend. And while AAW has always covered a huge array of bases each and every year, there is a particular focus on power structures that limit the female experience in 2021. That subject will come through in sessions about identity, sexuality and resilience, and others that explore technology, entrenched inequalities and feminist futures. Talks about sex work and mindfulness are also on the bill, too. Leading the lineup of speakers is writer Isabel Allende, who'll be discussing her 2021 memoir The Soul of a Woman — which explores her role in the feminist movement across continents, cultures, and centuries. She's joined on the program by How to Be A Woman and More Than a Woman author Caitlin Moran, who'll examine the realities of of middle-aged life; Koa Beck, the ex-Jezebel editor-in-chief who penned White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind; and Laura Bates, author of Everyday Sexism and Men Who Hate Women and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project — with the ways in which the individual is often valued over the community and the corners of the internet swaying the mindsets of boys and young men all on the agenda. [caption id="attachment_797616" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Isabel Allende. Image: Lori Barra[/caption] For folks interested in AI, researcher and professor Kate Crawford will chat about machine classification and its role in entrenching inequality. Covering completely different subjects, one panel session will examine the often-complicated relationship between sex work and feminism, too, while another talk will help participants learn to cope with uncertainty in today's COVID-afflicted world. Or, attendees can head to workshops about making zines, weaving baskets — as led by Yorta Yorta woman Tegan Murdock and her mum Margaret Murray — and using music to help let go of the past. Unsurprisingly given the state of Australia's international borders, speakers from overseas will appear via video, rather than in-person. For those who can't attend AAW in person — including those located outside of Sydney — some sessions will be live-streamed as well, and made available to watch on-demand afterwards. The jump to online also includes AAW's film component. Two documentaries, Brazen Hussies and Coded Bias, will screen at the Opera House — and they'll also be available to stream online, alongside a lineup of short documentaries from female Australian filmmakers. Top image: Prudence Upton
Genuine medical condition or convenient excuse for bad behaviour? Sex addiction has become a controversial affliction, but Thanks for Sharing comes firmly down on the former side of the argument. The directorial debut of Stuart Blumberg, who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for The Kids Are All Right, explores the travails of a number of sufferers linked by their attendance at a sex addicts support group. The youngest member of the group is Neil (Josh Gad), who ruins his promising career as an emergency room doctor when he is caught filming up the skirt of his supervisor. After he appears in court on sexual harassment charges, he is directed to attend the support group for his addiction, where he meets the slick, charismatic Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and the group's de facto leader, the somewhat smug Mike (Tim Robbins), a middle-aged man who has battled multiple addictions and come out the other side with a beatific demeanour and a gentle cynicism. Low on self-esteem and fond of lying and defensive wise-cracking, Neil initially struggles to complete the work prescribed by the group, but is forced to confront the truth of his situation when he is adopted as something of a mentor to a new recruit to the group, the self-destructive Dede (Pink, credited as Alecia Moore). Meanwhile, Adam starts seeing the driven Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), but is reluctant to reveal his past after she tells him her last relationship disintegrated because her ex was an alcoholic. Adam seeks guidance on this new development from Mike, whose estranged son Danny (Patrick Fugit), is suddenly back in town. Danny has battled a drug addiction but views the group therapy with suspicion and even hostility, leading to an uneasy truce with Mike, who suspects his son may not be as rehabilitated as he claims. Not everything in Thanks for Sharing works — a subplot involving Adam's ex-girlfriend Becky (Emily Meade) is a melodramatic misfire. It also has a curiously dated look and an often daggy sense of humour at odds with the potentially edgy material. Yet there's much to admire here, including the strong central storyline and the committed performances. Josh Gad, recently the only good thing in the disastrous Jobs, is again terrific, while pop star Moore is an absolute revelation, bringing both a convincing toughness and a poignant vulnerability to the role of Dede. While Thanks for Sharing doesn't shy away from the potentially life-wrecking consequences of its characters compulsions (a scene where Mark Ruffalo fights his urges in a hotel room is particularly effective), ultimately this is a much softer film than the similarly themed Shame. That's not a failing however; more a reflection that Blumberg's film is just as interested in the makeshift community that forms amongst the addicts as the often harrowing details of their addictions. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1jg6oroeg7s
It's time for another madcap, star-studded, pastel-hued adventure with Wes Anderson. Hooray! The follow-up to Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel follows Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a manager at the swanky eponymous establishment and his devoted lobby boy, Zero Moustafa. The suave Gustave is a hit with the mature lady guests, and when one of them dies, he is suspected of murder and theft. So he and his precious sidekick make a run for it, and the story unfolds into the whirlwind of adventure, mystery, romance and, of course, comedy that captivate us with Anderson's films. It looks like Anderson won't be abandoning his colourful, dreamy sets; dry, poker-faced humour; and eccentric characters anytime soon. The usual suspects in the cast include Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Tilda Swinton, Jude Law and Saoirse Ronan are also thrown in, making The Grand Budapest Hotel one Anderson's most dynamically cast films yet. The Grand Budapest Hotel is is in cinemas on Thursday, April 10, and thanks to Twentieth Century Fox, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk
If spending a couple of sunny days immersed in live tunes at Falls Festival is part of your summer ritual, we come bearing sad news: the end-of-year music fest won't take place over the 2023–24 season. The event's organisers have announced that they're sitting out this year after a chaotic period — including the festival's pandemic cancellations between 2019–2021, returning in a big way at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023, and also hosting a Melbourne edition. While the fest's team has announced the event's hiatus as "a year off", whether it will return for the summer of 2024–25, what the festival might look like and where it will take place hasn't yet been revealed. "The past few years has seen unprecedented change in the live music space, both front of house and behind the scenes. While Falls' reboot in 2022–23 was full of amazing moments and we were thrilled to reconnect with our Falls fam, our team needs a break, so this year we'll take time off to enjoy the holiday period and allow some space to re-imagine how Falls will look in the future," said Secret Sounds co-CEO and Falls producer Jessica Ducrou, announcing the news. "We send huge love and appreciation to all our patrons for their ongoing support and for the great vibes they brought to the 2022–23 events. You really are the heart and soul of Falls and we look forward to updating you with our plans when the time is right." "We also want to send our love and thanks to our extended Falls team including staff, contractors, volunteers, sponsors, partners, suppliers, stakeholders and key agencies that we work with each year, for their enduring passion, dedication and support" Ducrou continued. Falls Festival has spent 28 years celebrating each new year with a hefty array of acts, including Arctic Monkeys, Lil Nas X, Peggy Gou, Jamie xx, Chvrches and The Wiggles to see out 2022 and welcome 2023. For its 2022–23 run, Falls took place in Pennyroyal Plains in Colac in Victoria, North Byron Parklands in Yelgun in New South Wales and Fremantle Park in Fremantle. It's been an eventful few years for the fest beyond the pandemic mayhem, too; back in 2021, Falls announced that it was saying goodbye to its usual Tasmanian leg in Marion Bay after 17 years, and also moving from Lorne in Victoria after a 27-year stint. Falls Festival won't return over the 2023–24 summer season. We'll update you when the event's comeback plans are announced. For more information in the interim visit the festival's website. Images: Charlie Hardy / Ash Westwood.
In news as certain as Han Solo's swagger, C-3P0's disapproval and Leia Organa proving the fiercest princess in the entire galaxy, another round of orchestra-scored Star Wars screenings is making its way across Australia — and this time, Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will be unleashing the force. What was originally the final flick in George Lucas' space saga is headed to Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019. While Brisbane details have yet to be announced, we'd expect them to arrive soon. If you've been hiding out on Tattooine and aren't quite sure what's in store, this climactic instalment features a second Death Star, a tribe of Ewoks on Endor, Han Solo imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt, plenty of family baggage and one heck of a father-and-son battle — so, classic Star Wars thrills. And, it's all set to John Williams' iconic score, which each city's symphony orchestra will recreate right in front of attendees' eager eyes and ears. As always, we've got a good feeling about this mix of movies and music, which should help fill the gap between this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story and next year's Star Wars: Episode IX. Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will screen at Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, with tickets now available — and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019, with tickets on sale from Wednesday, September 26. Details of a Brisbane session have yet to be announced.
After an ambitious three-year-long restoration, Sydney's historic Hotel Morris is just about ready to reopen. Come late January 2023, guests will get to see how this space has been returned to its former glory — all the while sneaking in a few Australiana features for good measure. When Hotel Morris opened back in 1929 in an eye-catching Italian renaissance building, it was the tallest hotel in Australia and known for wonderfully exemplifying Palazzo architecture. Buildings in this style were inspired by the ornate palaces built by wealthy Italians back in the Renaissance. In other words, they are loud, inside and out. The Accor team, who now operate the property, have made sure this grand Sydney landmark keeps this old-school feel with a more modern twist. Inside, it feels tastefully gaudy — an oxymoron, we know. It's very 'eleganza extravaganza' as the design team has carefully clashed several marble finishes with all kinds of other textiles. Within spaces like Bar Morris, many different coloured tiles sit alongside stucco wooden floorboards, brass and stone finishes and more marble. Works by Aussie artists have also been hung throughout. But they strongly focus on earthy tones, making it all work together. Our Italian grandmothers would love this over-the-top design. And we live for it too. While little has been said of the drinking and dining options at Bar Morris, we do know that the day-to-night menu will focus on simple, seasonal produce infused with Italian influences. Start with coffee and pastries, move on to deli-style small plates of food and eventually get into the Italian and Australian wines curated to work alongside heartier dinner options. It seems as if simple food will be served within these glam surrounds. Now, moving up the tall building, there are 82 rooms. Fortunately, for a greater sense of calm, they have gone down a different design route up here. Art Deco reigns supreme up in these rooms, ensuring Hotel Morris keeps that European feel — but in an altogether more understated way. Expect warm golden mustard tones with custom furniture, brass detailing and some earthy stone finishes. It reflects the rich features that have been preserved on the outside of the heritage building. The prominent ghost signage on the side of the building has also been revived, bringing some history and character back to central Sydney's streetscape. Hotel Morris, located at 412 Pitt Street, is set to welcome guests from late January 2023. Head to the website to see more updates before its opening.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from March's haul. Brand-New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Girls5eva One of the funniest TV comedies of the 2020s is back with its third season, and as hilarious as ever. So what are you waiting five? If that question doesn't make any sense, then you clearly haven't yet experienced the wonder that is Girls5eva. It starts with a numerical pun-heavy earworm of a theme tune that no one should ever skip, then bounces along just as catchily and sidesplittingly in every second afterwards. A move to Netflix for season three — after streaming its first and second seasons via Peacock in the US and Stan in Australia — might just see the Tina Fey-executive produced music-industry sitcom switch from being one of the best shows that not enough people are watching to everyone's latest can't-stop-rewatching comedy obsession. In other words, this a series about a comeback and, thanks to its swap to the biggest player in the streaming game, now it's making a comeback itself. If it becomes a Netflix smash, here's hoping that it'll be famous at least one more time. Two years have passed for longterm fans since Girls5eva last checked in with Dawn Solano (Sara Bareilles, Broadway's Waitress), Wickie Roy (Renée Elise Goldsberry, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and also a Hamilton Tony-winner), Summer Dutkowsky (Busy Philipps, Mean Girls) and Gloria McManus (Paula Pell, Big Mouth), but the gap and the change of platforms haven't changed this gem. Consider the switch of streamer in the same way that Dawn and the gang are approaching their leap back into their girl group after two decades: as an all-in, go-hard-or-go-home, whatever-it-takes relaunch. Now firmly reunited, the surviving members of Girls5eva have taken to the road. So far, however, their big Returnity tour has been happy in Fort Worth. In the Texan city, their track 'Tap Into Your Fort Worth' keeps drawing in crowds, even if that's all that concertgoers want to hear. Also, the Marriott Suitelettes for Divorced Dads has become their home away from home, but resident diva Wickie isn't content just playing one place. Always dreaming huge, massive and stratospheric, she sets the band's sights on Radio City Music Hall, booking them in for a gig at a fee of $500,000. Cue a six-month timeline to sell it out — a feat made trickier by the fact that the show is on Thanksgiving — or risk ruin. Girls5eva streams via Netflix. Read our full review. 20 Days in Mariupol Incompatible with life. No one should ever want to hear those three devastating words. No one who is told one of the most distressing phrases there is ever has them uttered their way in positive circumstances, either. Accordingly, when they're spoken by a doctor in 2024 Oscar-winner 20 Days in Mariupol, they're deeply shattering. So is everything in this on-the-ground portrait of the first 20 days in the Ukrainian port city as Russia began its invasion, with the bleak reality of living in a war zone documented in harrowing detail. Located less than 60 kilometres from the border, Mariupol quickly segues from ordinary life to an apocalyptic scene — and this film refuses to look away. Much of its time is spent in and around hospitals, which see an influx of patients injured and killed by the combat, and also become targets as well. Many of in 20 Days in Mariupol's faces are the afflicted, the medics tending to them in horrendous circumstances, and the loves ones that are understandably inconsolable. Too many of the carnage's victims are children and babies, with their parents crushed and heartbroken in the aftermath; sometimes, they're pregnant women. Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, and narrated by him with the grimness and soberness that can be this movie's only tone, 20 Days in Mariupol even existing is an achievement. What it depicts — what it immerses viewers in with urgency, from shelled hospitals, basements-turned-bomb shelters and more of the city destroyed day after day to families torn apart, looting, struggling to find food and bodies of the dead taken to mass graves — needs to be viewed as widely as possible, and constantly. His footage has also featured in news reports, but it can and must never be forgotten. Doctors mid-surgery demand that Chernov's camera is pointed their way, and that he shows the world the travesties taking place. The Ukrainian reporter, who has also covered Donbas, flight MH17, Syria and the Battle of Mosul for the Associated Press, does exactly that. He's doing more than ensuring that everyone bears witness, though; he makes certain that there's no way to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, which shows the vast civilian impact and casualties, and see anything but ordinary people suffering, or to feel anything other than shock, anger and horror. 20 Days in Mariupol streams via DocPlay. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces To do justice to Steve Martin's life, career and impact requires more than just one movie. So, the engagingly and entertainingly in-depth, intimate, affectionate and informative STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces explores the comedian and actor's existence in a pair of parts. The first is subtitled 'Then', honing in on his childhood and early stand-up days. The second, aka 'Now', jumps in when he made the leap to movies in the late 70s, which is where The Jerk, Pennies From Heaven, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood and LA Story comes in — and, of course, includes his tours with his ¡Three Amigos! co-star Martin Short, as well as their murder-mystery-comedy TV hit Only Murders in the Building. The initial half gets Martin narrating, sharing reflections personal and professional as accompanied by archival footage aplenty (and ample tapes of his stints in front of audience). The latter section treats him as an interviewee, with his wife Anne Stringfield, Short, Jerry Seinfeld (who has had Martin as a guest on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee) and Tina Fey (who also co-starred with Martin in Baby Mama) among the talking heads. Behind it all is documentarian Morgan Neville, an Oscar-winner for 20 Feet From Stardom, as well as a filmmaker who is clearly taking his stylistic cues from his subject. That's noticeable in STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces' moniker, for starters — it throws caution to the winds of grammar and title formats just as Martin has to comedy rules, as the two-part film makes plain again and again. No matter how well-acquainted you are with Martin, insights flow freely in this fascinating way to spend three hours surveying the ways that he's made people laugh over decades upon decades, beginning with doing magic tricks and working at Disneyland on his school holidays in the 50s. Revelations bound through about Martin as a person, too; more than once, he notes that his life has felt as if it has played out backwards, and not just because he only first became a father in his 60s. Clips of his stand-up act, and the response to it in the 60s and 70s, are gold. Hanging out with the man who originally was only going to create Only Murders in the Building, not star in it, when he's bantering with Short are as well. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces streams via Apple TV+. Spaceman Should astronaut become a dictionary-certified synonym for melancholy? Cinema believes so. Its latest case in point comes via Spaceman, where life temporarily lived above and beyond the earth replaces gravity with loneliness and disconnection for Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah). He's six months into a solo trip past Jupiter to investigate an eerie phenomenon in the heavens when this adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's 2017 sci-fi novel Spaceman of Bohemia kicks off. His quest is both time-sensitive and celebrated. South Korea is in close pursuit, he's frequently being told by Peter (Kunal Nayyar, Night Court), his contact at ground control — and Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini, Cat Person) happily keeps dialling him in for PR opportunities. As he soars through a strangely purple sky, however, endeavouring to fulfil his mission while pleading for maintenance approval on his crumbling ship, all that's really on his mind is his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan, Maestro). Pregnant and left at home alone, she's no longer taking his fast-as-light-speed phone calls. Then Hanus (Paul Dano, Mr & Mrs Smith) scurries in beside Jakub, demanding attention — as a giant spider in space is always going to. For the best part of a decade now, seeing a live-action movie starring Sandler has meant heading to Netflix. In Australia, even Uncut Gems, his greatest-ever performance, arrived via the streaming platform. Alongside The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Hustle, add Spaceman to the list of such features that give their star worthy parts and would've made welcome cinema releases. It isn't new news that Sandler is an excellent actor in dramatic and/or weightier roles, or that his career is more than the Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore-style comedies that he first became known for. Spaceman director Johan Renck (Chernobyl) has cast him expertly, in fact, in this tale of isolation, arrested development, otherworldly arachnids and amorous entanglements. Sending Sandler on an Ad Astra-, First Man- and Solaris-esque trip proves contemplative and empathetic — and, amid spider's-eye flashbacks to his complicated childhood in the Czech Republic, time spent with Lenka on the ground and floating around the film's claustrophobic main setting, also brimming with raw and resonant emotion. Spaceman streams via Netflix. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Who needs facts when you can have a ball with irreverently riffing on history? It worked for Blackadder, then with The Great and Our Flag Means Death, and now does the same for The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. It was evident from the concept when it was announced, and the trailer afterwards as well: this series is firmly in the same mode as the pirate comedy that gave streaming two wonderfully funny and heartfelt seasons, then was cancelled. The similarities don't stop being apparent now that Noel Fielding's latest stint of silliness is here with its six-instalment first season. Accordingly, viewers looking for something to help with their Our Flag Means Death heartbreak have somewhere to turn. Everyone who loves The Mighty Boosh's Fielding when he's getting surreal — something that his The Great British Bake Off hosting gig can't quite offer, even with his outfits — is also catered for. Awaiting in The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is an entertaining jaunt that's exactly what anyone should expect given its premise, star, his fondness for whimsy and flamboyant outfits, plus Britain's love of parodying its own past. Fielding co-writes and executive produces, alongside leading — and his brother Michael is among the fellow The Mighty Boosh alum on-screen. Dick jokes abound, because who could pass up the opportunity given its protagonist? A who's who of English comedy also features. The year is 1735. The place is the UK, obviously. The subject is a real-life highwayman. If Dick Turpin isn't familiar, he's the son of a butcher, he was his father's apprentice, but then took on a different career as part of the Essex gang. In reality, he was executed by hanging at the age of 33. In The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, standing on the gallows provides the opening. From there, the series steps through his time as a thief after being a vegan pacifist didn't gel with the family business. The key things that Dick takes with him when he leaves home, when his father John (Mark Heap, Significant Other) quickly replaces him with his cousin Benny (Michael Fielding, Merry Little Batman): eye-catching purple boots and a sewing machine. Soon enough, he has a crew by his side — and an instantly amusing revisionist history about Britain's equivalent of Ned Kelly is the result. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. 3 Body Problem How do you follow up Game of Thrones? So asks one of the biggest questions in pop culture over the past decade. HBO's hit adaptation of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series ended five years ago, but the network behind it, the TV industry in general, and everyone involved in it on- and off-screen has been grappling with that query since the series became a worldwide smash. For the cable station that made it, more Game of Thrones shows is the answer, aka House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight and other floated spinoffs. For Hollywood, leaning in on fantasy franchises has been a solution. And for David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners on the Westeros-set phenomenon, bringing another complex book saga to the small screen is the chosen path. Those novels: Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, which arrives as 3 Body Problem, with 2008 book The Three-Body Problem as the basis for its eight-episode first season. Invasions, feuds, jumping timelines, a hefty cast of characters: they're all still in place. So are John Bradley (Marry Me), Liam Cunningham (Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter) and Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) among the cast, answering the "what comes next?" question for three Game of Thrones actors. Also, that composer Ramin Djawadi (Jack Ryan) is on music duties again isn't difficult to notice. With 3 Body Problem, which sees Benioff and Weiss team up with True Blood and The Terror's Alexander Woo to bring Cixin's text to the screen, sprawling high fantasy gives away to time- and space-hopping hard sci-fi, however. The danger to global stability still springs from a battle for supremacy, but one where countdowns start dancing in front of some people's eyes, particle accelerators stop functioning properly, other folks can't be seen in security footage, scientists seem to be killing themselves and aliens linger. The series begins with a physics professor being beaten to death in front of a crowd containing his daughter during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Then, it flits to London today to watch the entire sky wink, gleaming helmets spirit whoever dons them into a complicated and intricate virtual-reality game, and what lurks beyond the earth — and who — play a significant part. 3 Body Problem streams via Netflix. Read our full review. Road House It's a brave actor who tries to follow in Patrick Swayze's footsteps. The late, great star was one of a kind, other than the fact that the 80s and 90s screamed out for him to team up with Kurt Russell on-screen. But folks persist in attempting to take his lead, including Diego Luna (Andor) in the also Swayze-starring Dirty Dancing prequel Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Édgar Ramírez (Dr Death) in the terrible 2015 Point Break remake and now Jake Gyllenhaal (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) in Road House, another do-over of a Swayze hit. Gyllenhaal fares best in a film that isn't its predecessor in a swathe of ways — there's less sleaze to the titular establishment, and in general; less heat to its central romance; less zen about its protagonist; and no throats being ripped out — but is aided immensely by its key casting. No one needed a Road House remake, let alone one where its cooler is a former UFC fighter who has fallen on troubled times in and out of the octagon. Surely no one wanted to witness a strutting Conor McGregor make his acting debut, and so gratingly, as one of the new Road House's villains. But Gyllenhaal leaning into eccentricity as Dalton works a charm. The plot remains largely the same, albeit shifted to Florida, which sees director Doug Liman (Chaos Walking) also take a few stylistic cues from Miami Vice. In the eponymous venue, Dalton — Elwood, not James — is recruited to take over security by Frankie (Jessica Williams, Shrinking), with her bar suffering from a violence problem. Thugs keep smashing up the place, and patrons. Also, bouncers are constantly leaving the job. There's a cool, calm and collected air to Dalton's quest to clean up the joint, which contrasts with his inner turmoil. Soon, though, he's being threatened in an attempt to run him out of town. Daniela Melchior (Fast X) co-stars as the doctor that becomes his love interest, Billy Magnussen (Lift) as the drug-peddling nepo-baby baddie with designs on The Road House's land, Arturo Castro (The Vince Staples Show) as a motorcycle-gang henchman who genuinely appreciates Dalton's approach and Hannah Love Lanier (Special Ops: Lioness) as a bookshop-running teenager, but Road House circa 2024 is Gyllenhaal's show. This isn't the first attempt to capitalise upon the original Road House's success — even if it was nominated for five Razzies — thanks to 2006's Road House 2. Being better than that is a low bar, but this Road House clears it. Road House streams via Prime Video. Apples Never Fall On the page and on the screen, audiences know what's in store when Sydney-born and -based author Liane Moriarty's name is attached to a book or TV series. Domestic disharmony within comfortable communities fuels her tales, as do twisty mystery storylines. When they hit streaming, the shows adapted from her novels add in starry casts as well. Indeed, after Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, it might come as a shock that Nicole Kidman (Expats) is nowhere to be found in the seven-episode Apples Never Fall. The Australian actor will be back in another version of Moriarty's tomes, also with a three-word title, with The Last Anniversary currently in the works. Fresh from an Oscar nomination for Nyad, Annette Bening is no mere stand-in right now. Also, where Kidman has co-starred with Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show), Laura Dern (The Son) and Alexander Skarsgård (Mr & Mrs Smith), and also Melissa McCarthy (The Little Mermaid), Michael Shannon (The Flash) and Luke Evans (Good Grief), Bening is joined by Sam Neill (The Twelve), Alison Brie (Somebody I Used to Know) and Jake Lacy (A Friend of the Family). If Lacy's involvement brings The White Lotus to mind, he's again at home playing affluent and arrogant — but no one is on holiday in Apples Never Fall. Rather, in West Palm Beach, the tennis-obsessed Delaney family finds their well-off existence shattered when matriarch Joy (Bening) goes missing, leaving just a banged-up and blood-splattered bicycle, a strewn-about basket of apples and her mobile phone behind. Her adult children (Lacy, Brie, Thai Cave Rescue's Conor Merrigan Turner and The Speedway Murders' Essie Randles) are worried, while husband Stan (Neill) first advises that his spouse is merely ill, a choice that does nothing to stop suspicion rocketing his way. In addition to charting the search for Joy, the Queensland-shot Apples Never Fall bounces through ample backstory. After its introductory instalment, each episode focuses on one of the family; across them all, the timeline is split into "then" and "now". It soon becomes apparent that the doting Joy and determined Stan were talented players, then established the Delaney Tennis Academy when his aspirations were cruelled by injury, and she sidelined hers to support him and have their kids. Another person looms large over the narrative, too: Savannah (Georgia Flood, Blacklight), who graces the Delaneys' doorstep in its flashbacks, fleeing from domestic abuse — or so she claims. Apples Never Fall streams via Binge. Read our full review. Breeders Sitcoms about raising a family are almost as common as sitcoms in general, with the antics of being married with children up there with workplace shenanigans as one of the genre's go-to setups. Thanks to the OG UK version of The Office, Martin Freeman knows more than a little about employment-focused TV comedies. Courtesy of The Thick of It and Veep, actor-turned-director Chris Addison and writer Simon Blackwell also fall into that category. But Breeders, which the trio created and thrusts them into the world of mining parenting for laughs, isn't your standard take on its concept. As became immediately evident when the British series began in 2020, and remains the case now that it's wrapping up with its current fourth season — which aired overseas in 2023 but is only hitting Down Under in 2024 — this show does't subscribe to the rosy notion that being a mother or a father (or a son or daughter, or grandmother or grandfather) equals loveable chaos. There's love, of course. There's even more chaos. But there's also clear eyes, plus bleakness; again, this is largely helmed and scripted by alumni of two of the best, sharpest and most-candid political satires of the 21st century, and always feels as such. Season four begins with a time jump, with Breeders' overall path tracking Paul Worsley (Freeman, Secret Invasion) and Ally Grant's (Daisy Haggard, Boat Story) journey from when their two kids were very young — including babies, via flashbacks — to their teenage and young-adult years now. Consequently, five years on in the narrative from season three, another set of actors play Luke (Oscar Kennedy, Wreck) and Ava (debutant Zoë Athena) in this farewell run as the first is moving in with his girlfriend and the second explores her own love life, as well as grappling with the inescapable reality that her elder brother's ups and downs have always monopolised her family's attention. Paul and Ally also have the ailing health of Paul's parents Jim (Alun Armstrong, Tom Jones) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon, Benediction) to manage, in addition to the ebbs and flows of their own often-fraught relationship, plus just dealing with getting through the days, weeks, months and years in general (Ally turning 50 is one of this season's plot points). That this all sounds like standard life is part of the point; watching Breeders is like looking in a mirror, especially in its unvarnished and relatable all-you-can-do-is-laugh perspective. Freeman's knack for swearing will be especially missed. Breeders streams via Disney+. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week Palm Royale More things in life should remind the world about Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, 2021's wonderfully goofy (and just wonderful) Florida-set comedy starring Kristen Wiig (MacGruber) and Annie Mumolo (Barbie), plus Jamie Dornan (The Tourist) singing to seagulls. The also Wiig-led Palm Royale is one such prompt. Thankfully, watching the page-to-screen dramedy doesn't cause audiences to wish that they were just viewing Barb and Star, though. The two share the same US state as a locale, too, alongside bright colour schemes, a bouncy pace and a willingness to get silly, especially with sea life, but Palm Royale engages all on its own. Adapting Juliet McDaniel's Mr & Mrs American Pie for the small screen, this 60s-set effort also knows how to make gleaming use of its best asset: Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters alum Wiig. In its ten-episode first season, the show's storyline centres on Maxine Simmons. A former beauty-pageant queen out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, she thinks nothing of scaling the wall to the titular country club, then breezing about like she's meant to be there — sipping grasshoppers and endeavouring to eavesdrop her way into a social-climbing friendship with Palm Beach's high-society set — and Wiig sells every second of the character's twist-filled journey. Even better: she heartily and entertainingly conveys the everywoman aspects of someone who has yearning for a better life as her main motivation, and isn't willing to settle for anything less than she thinks that she deserves, even in hardly relatable circumstances. There's no doubting that Maxine is both an underdog and an outsider in the milieu that she so frenziedly covets. When she's not swanning around poolside, idolising self-appointed bigwig Evelyn Rollins (Allison Janney, The Creator) and ambassador's wife Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb, About My Father) among the regulars — their clique spans widow Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy, Christmas with the Campbells) and mobster spouse Raquel Kimberly-Maco (Claudia Ferri, Arlette) — and ordering her cocktail of choice from bartender Robert (Ricky Martin, American Crime Story), she's staying in a far-from-glamorous motel. Funding for her quest to fit in with the rich and gossip-column famous comes via pawning jewellery owned by her pilot husband Douglas'(Josh Lucas, Yellowstone) comatose aunt Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett, Better Call Saul), the plastics and mouthwash heiress who ruled the scene until suffering an embolism. Palm Royale streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. High Country The role of Andie Whitford, the lead part in High Country, was written for Leah Purcell. It's easy to understand why. There's a quiet resolve to the character — a been-there-seen-that air to weathering tumult, too — that's long been a part of the Indigenous Australian star's acting toolkit across a three-decade career that started in 90s TV shows such as GP, Police Rescue and Water Rats, and has recently added The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Shayda to her resume (plus much in-between). Andie is a seasoned police detective who takes a job back in uniform overseeing the town of Broken Ridge, which is located in the mountainous Victorian region that gives the mystery series its name. A big reason for the move: stability and work-life balance, aka relocating for the sake of her personal life with spouse Helen (Sara Wiseman, Under the Vines) and daughter Kirra (Pez Warner, making her TV debut). An existence-resetting tree change is meant to be on the cards, then. But her arrival, especially being installed as the new police chief, doesn't earn the sunniest of welcomes. Then there's the missing-person cases that swiftly start piling up, some old, some new, some previously explained by pointing fingers in specific directions. High Country's framework, down to its character types, is easily recognisable. Creators Marcia Gardner and John Ridley, who worked with Purcell on Wentworth, know what everyone does: that a great story can make any whodunnit-driven procedural feel different. So, also part of the series are Andie's retiring predecessor (Ian McElhinney, The Boys in the Boat), who is fixated on a past disappearance; the former teacher (Henry Nixon, The PM's Daughter) he's certain is responsible, who has become the town outcast; a local ranger (Aaron Pedersen, Jack Irish), one of the few other Indigenous faces in town; the financially challenged proprietor (Linda Cropper, How to Stay Married) of a haven for artists; cop colleagues of varying help and loyalty (Romance at the Vineyard's Matt Domingo and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse's Luke McKenzie); and rabble-rousing siblings (Boy Swallows Universe's Nathaniel Dean and The Clearing's Jamie Timony). Crucially, where the show takes them always feels like its own journey. This might also be the second Aussie effort in two months to use this part of the country as a backdrop, following Force of Nature: The Dry 2, but High Country is similarly no mere rehash there. High Country streams via Binge. The Regime After past wins for Mildred Pierce and Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet might just add another Emmy to her mantle for The Regime. When the British actor turns her attention to TV for HBO, she unveils spectacular performances — something that she does everywhere anyway (see also: the 30-year-old Heavenly Creatures, 20-year-old Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and more-recent Ammonite, for instance), but this working relationship has been going particularly well for her. Winslet's latest small-screen stint for the US network takes her into the realm of satire, and to a Central European country under authoritarian rule. Nothing for the nation's current leadership is quite going to plan, though. This is a place where Chancellor Elena Vernham singing 'If You Leave Me Now' to open an official dinner, keeping her deceased father in a glass coffin, and overhauling the palace that she calls home due to fears of moisture and black mould are all everyday occurrences. Each of the above happens in The Regime's first episode, as does hiring a soldier linked to a scandal involving the deaths of protestors at a cobalt mine — with his new gig initially requiring him to monitor the air quality in every room that the Chancellor enters. Winslet (Avatar: The Way of Water) is mesmerising as Vernham, who takes her cues from a range of IRL world leaders — it's easy to glean which — in a show that's as captivating as its lead performance. She has excellent company, too, spanning the always-ace Matthias Schoenaerts (Amsterdam) as said military man-turned-Vernham's new advisor, Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as her regular offsider, plus everyone from Hugh Grant (Wonka) to Martha Plimpton (A Town Called Malice) popping up and making the most of their supporting parts. The Regime's creator Will Tracy wrote The Menu and also episodes of Succession, so he has experience being scathing; his time on the staff of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver also shows its influence. If he'd been watching Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin while dreaming up this (including nabbing Riseborough from the cast), that wouldn't come as a surprise, either. With Stephen Frears (The Lost King) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown) behind the camera, The Regime is a probingly directed effort as well as it works through its six chapters. The Regime streams via Binge. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January and February this year, and also from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
Located in Chatswood Place, this outpost of Fresh City Fruit & Vegetables is particularly welcoming. It's open daily (and until 8pm on Thursdays), so is a go-to any day of the week, as well as for a quick, after-work pick-up. You can go for a full on shop here, or just swing by for last minute ingredients or one-off dinners. The expansive shop offers heaps of unpackaged fruit for the sustainably minded shopper, and the prices are hard to beat, too. The best part is you can do all of your fruit and veg shopping in one place, and know it's going to be fresh as. [caption id="attachment_751206" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] Top image: Leigh Griffiths
No one makes neon-lit, red-hued, emotion-dripping tales of yearning and loneliness like Wong Kar-Wai, as everyone who has seen 2000's In the Mood for Love knows. It isn't the Chungking Express, Happy Together, 2046, Ashes of Time: Redux and The Grandmaster filmmaker's only masterpiece, but the 1960s Hong Kong-set romantic drama is utterly unforgettable as it unfolds its love story against a backdrop of festering societal tension. Viewers have fallen for the film for almost a quarter of a century now. Sydney Opera House clearly feels the same way. Back in 2020, it hosted and livestreamed dreamy song cycle In the Mood — A Love Letter to Wong Kar-Wai & Hong Kong, which delivered exactly what its title promised. Come 2025, the venue will also welcome in the Australian premiere of In the Mood for Love in Concert. As everything from Batman, Back to the Future, Home Alone and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to The Lion King, The Princess Bride, Black Panther and Star Wars films has in the past — and plenty more — the iconic movie will return to the big screen while an orchestra brings its score to life. In this case, the film will flicker across Sydney Opera House's HD silver screen as conductor Guy Rundle leads a 39-piece group of musicians playing live. Ready to get audiences swooning, In the Mood for Love in Concert has locked in two shows on the one date, at 2pm and 7pm on Saturday, March 22. The BAFTA-nominated and César-winning film — which also picked up two awards at Cannes, including Best Actor — stars the great Tony Leung (Hidden Blade) and Maggie Chen (Better Life) as Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen. In a complicated time and place, the two neighbours are drawn together when they begin to suspect that their partners are not only being unfaithful, but that they're having an affair with each other. While In the Mood for Love is rightly acclaimed for its affecting performances and evocative direction, as well as its gorgeously lush cinematography, its score is just as exceptional. Indeed, the filmmaker has called it "a poem itself". This is a stellar opportunity to find out why — and to discover why this movie, and Wong Kar-Wai, keep proving so influential. Check out the trailer for In the Mood for Love below: In the Mood for Love in Concert plays Sydney Opera House's Concert Hall at 2pm and 7pm on Saturday, March 22, 2025, with ticket presales from Tuesday, November 5, 2024 and general sales from Thursday, November 7, 2024 — head to the Sydney Opera House website for more details.
Ignoring the short, dark days is easy at Salty's Bondi, where the summer vibes never seem to stop. In fact, July feels especially light and breezy at this SoCal-inspired spot, with the return of its annual Margarita Month helping guests get through the cool season. Now in its fourth year, this special occasion offers $16 signature margaritas, with eight Altos Tequila creations to explore. Featuring much-loved inventions like the Aperol Marg and Salty's Espresso, you're invited to sip for a great price all day, every day throughout the month. Plus, live DJs and disco beats will give the venue an energetic atmosphere until late. To help ramp the feel-good mood up even further, Salty's has given its interiors a cheeky Palm Springs makeover, playing on nostalgic beach days and sun-drenched surf and skate culture. There's even a spinning wheel offering daily prizes both in-venue and when booking online. Free margaritas, food and merch are up for grabs, so take a turn on the wheel to see if fortune favours you. Plus, there's a major prize you won't want to miss. Valued at $1400, the Surf & Sip Package rewards one lucky winner with a Surf Culture Surfboard and a Salty's Bottomless Margarita Package. Keep an eye on Salty's socials for entry details.
Grab the glitter (eco-friendly, please), let your rainbow flag fly and get ready for the Sydney Mardi Gras 2019 festivities to begin. To properly celebrate this year's LGBTQI+ festivus, Merivale and Absolut have come together to join the Mardi Gras party with a nonstop party at The Beresford, running till Monday, March 4. The pub welcomes one-and-all to embrace equality with festivities aplenty; think laneway parties, Sunday sessions, movie nights, brunches, bingo and even a dog show. Apart from the jam-packed lineup of events, there'll be special Absolut offers on each day, too. This year's featured cocktail is the Absolut Yasss Queen — a fruity concoction of Absolut lime, watermelon and citrus — and it'll only set you back $12 a pop. Plus, $2 from every drink will be donated to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia's oldest HIV charity. And for when you're not partying at The Bero, you'll be able to find the Absolut Yasss Queen at the ivy Pool Club, Ms.G's, Vic on the Park, El Loco Excelsior, The Fish Shop and Queens Hotel. To help you start planning your Mardi Gras outings, we've rounded up some of the best ways to show your pride all while enjoying a few blow-out bashes while you're at it. [caption id="attachment_708573" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Will Salkeld.[/caption] ABSOLUT BERESFORD SUNDAY Kick off your Mardi Gras celebrations with a big ol' party at Upstairs Beresford. It's all going down on Sunday, February 24 when the UK's famed DJ Neil Singleton will be spinning some sweet, sweet tunes. Hailing from London, he'll play a mix of funky, high-energy beats that'll put you in a dancing mood. This Sunday session is hosted by beloved Sydney drag queen Decoda and will feature other guest DJs, too. The festivities will run all arvo, with plenty of bevvies and eats from the kitchen to keep you fueled. Sunday, February 24 MOVIE NIGHTS When you need a bit of chill, head to The Bero's courtyard for a movie night. The first will take place on Monday, February 25 with a screening of A Beautiful Thing — a 1990s coming-of-age drama from the UK that follows two teenage boys exploring their sexuality. The following Monday, March 4 will see a necessary screening of the cult hit, Rocky Horror Picture Show — featuring unforgettable performances by Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. Each screening will start at 8pm, with the kitchen slinging pub classics and pizzas to snack on during the movie. The screenings are free, but be sure to get in early to nab a good seat. Monday, February 25 and Monday, March 4 PASSPORT PARTY The annual passport party will again take over the pub on Thursday, February 28 with a lineup of international DJs taking the stage. Expect a blow-out bash, with beats from the likes of DJ Wayne G from the US, DJ Neil Singleton from the UK and DJ French Kiss from, well, France. Plus, Sydney's much-loved drag queen Decoda will again take the stage for a special sky-high performance — this time with her 'air hostess stewards' Rhys and Heath in tow. The night will take place at Upstairs Beresford from 7pm–1am, with free entry for all and free Absolut drinks on arrival for the first 100 partiers. This is your chance to show these foreign DJs how to party Straya-style. Thursday, February 28 MARDI GRAS PARADE The pinnacle of the week is, of course, the Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, March 2. But, if crowds aren't your thing, The Beresford has you covered. From 7pm, the pub will be live streaming the parade in the courtyard so you can see all the action up close without standing on your tiptoes or getting an accidental elbow in the tum. Plus, you'll be able to watch it all happen with a cocktail in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other — no risk of hanger here. Entry is free and open to all, but, as you can imagine, you'll want to get in early to nab a table for you and your mates. Saturday, March 2 LANEWAY PARTY To recover from a week-long of partying, sometimes it's best to cap it off with just one more. What started out as a small street gathering among friends has become a long-standing tradition and the best way to farewell another successful Mardi Gras. The party will take over not just the laneway adjacent to the pub, but also the entire Beresford and the surrounding streets from 2pm on Sunday, March 3. Expect DJs and surprise guest performances throughout the arvo, plus expansive indoor and outdoor party spaces to choose from. Tickets will cost you $75 — you can nab them here — but they're going fast. VIP tickets have already sold out. Sunday, March 3 MARDI GRAS BRUNCHES No matter how hard you go, these boozy brunches are here to help you dust off the night and get back in the partying spirit. Brunches will take place on Sunday, February 17 and 24 from 11am–1pm, plus there'll be a final recovery brunch on Monday, March 4 from noon to 3pm for all those chucking a sickie the weekend after the parade. Each brunch features drinks on arrival, one Absolut cocktail during brunch and one of five mains — all for just $40 per person. For arrival drinks, you can choose from a peach mimosa or the Absolut Citron bloody mary. And during the meal, there'll be three more cocktails to choose from, including the Absolut Summer (Absolut Lime, St Germain, lime juice and mint), the KamiKaze (Absolut Lime with Cointreau and lime juice) and an espresso martini (Absolut, Kahlua and coffee). If you want another drink or two to wet your whistle, cocktails are only an additional $10 a pop till 3pm. For eats, expect falafel with grilled spicy chorizo, a fried egg and haloumi topped with tahini sauce; a bacon and egg roll with dry-aged bacon, buffalo mozzarella, avocado and tomato relish on ciabatta; and smoked salmon with crispy kale, kipfler potatoes and pumpkin seeds topped with a horseradish créme fraiche. Sunday, February 17 and 24 and Monday, March 4 Celebrate Mardi Gras to the fullest and check out the full program of events taking place at The Beresford here.
Empire of the Sun are back, proving that video making is still an art; Owl Eyes are telling golden lies; and Bastille are taking full advantage of the acoustics properties of a museum corner to give you the perfect Sunday song. 1. 'ALIVE' - EMPIRE OF THE SUN Empire of the Sun dropped their much-awaited new track 'Alive' just the other week. Tuesday saw the release of the accompanying video, and the apt word is wow. It almost looks like a futuristic Game of Thrones scene and it proves that Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore just know how to do epic. They also prove that despite the dwindling numbers tuning into MTV, the music video is still a valid art form. It also helps that the track is incredibly catchy. We should give a warm welcome back to the absurdly dressed duo. 2. 'GET LUCKY' - DAUGHTER And so the covers of the best song so far this year begin. Daft Punk's heralded return track has been covered here by brooding British band and anticipated Splendour act Daughter and is a surprisingly excellent cover, perhaps because they have taken such a different path to the French gods of electronica. Hopefully any other covers that follow are up to this quality. 3. 'YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL' - LANA DEL REY Anything to do with the upcoming movie The Great Gatsby gets me excited, mainly as everything is so secretive. The soundtrack is promising to be as epic as the film itself, with Jay-Z, Florence and the Machine and Sia just some of the artists who recorded for the film. For a long time we only heard snippets of sound, but now full tracks are starting to leak out. Lana Del Rey dropped this treat and, like all things Gatsby, it is suspenseful, epic and beautiful. Enjoy at will. 4. 'GOLDEN LIES' - OWL EYES Owl Eyes are telling us golden lies and I don't mind what truth they are covering up so long as it keeps sounding as good as this. 'Golden Lies' is one of the twelve dance-inducing tracks from Nightswim, Owl Eyes' debut album released just last week. Do yourself a favour and put this on repeat. 5. 'POMPEII' - BASTILLE These British boys were invited to perform 'Pompeii' at the opening of the British Museum's Pompeii exhibit, and we should all be very glad that Bastille accepted, as it turns out that the corner of a museum is the perfect place for a haunting voice, a guitar and three pairs of hands percussively beating thighs to make perfectly serendipitous music. Excellent for that relaxing Sunday afternoon.
UPDATE, Friday, November 10: The Killer screens in select cinemas from Thursday, October 26, and streams via Netflix from Friday, November 10. A methodical opening credits sequence that's all about the finer points, as seen in slivers and snippets, set to industrial strains that can only stem from Trent Reznor, with David Fincher and Andrew Kevin Walker's names adorning the frame, for a film about a murderer being chased. In 1995, Se7en began with that carefully and commandingly spliced-together mix — and magnificently. Fincher and Walker now reteam for the first time since for The Killer, another instantly gripping thriller that starts in the same fashion. It also unfurls as a cat-and-mouse game with a body count, while sporting an exceptional cast and splashing around (exactingly, of course) the full scope of Fincher's filmmaking mastery. This movie's protagonist is detail-obsessive to a calculating degree, and the director bringing him to cinematic life from Matz's graphic novels of the same name also keeps earning that description. The Fight Club, The Social Network and Mank helmer couldn't be more of a perfectionist about assembling The Killer just so, and the feature couldn't be more of a testament to his meticulousness. Fincher's love of crime and mysteries between Se7en and The Killer has gifted audiences The Game, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and Mindhunter, which have always felt like different books from a series rather than a director flipping through the same tome over and over. So it is with Michael Fassbender's long-awaited return to the screen after a four-year absence — X-Men: Dark Phoenix was has his last credit before this — which sees Fincher and his star aping each other in an array of ways. As well as being oh-so-drawn to minutiae, as the eponymous character reinforces in his wry narration, this duo of filmmaker and fictional assassin-for-hire are precise and compulsive about refashioning something new with favourite tools. For The Killer, it's fresh avenues to fulfill his deadly occupation. For the man who kicked off his feature career with Alien³ and now collaborates with a Prometheus and Alien: Covenant alum, it's plying his own trade, too. As Le Samouraï and Haywire have before this — Fassbender also appeared in Haywire, aptly — plus the John Wick franchise, The Killer finds someone in a shadowy line of work getting even murkier folks literally gunning for their demise. But first The Killer meets its namesake in Paris, camping out in an abandoned WeWork office, sleeping, people-watching, working through complicated yoga poses and grabbing a meal from McDonalds while dressed to resemble a German tourist, who he's certain that the French will avoid. Also on his to-do list: listening to every well-known song by The Smiths there is throughout the course of the film, because heaven knows he'll be miserable when his City of Light gig goes awry. And, as he waits, he coolly and calmly talks viewers through his highly disciplined, runs-like-clockwork, empathy-free approach to both life and death. It all goes smoothly for the hitman until it doesn't, however. The Killer quotes Popeye to say "I am what I am" about his way of making a living and his penchant for it, but fellow tautophrase "it is what it is" also comes to mind when a painstakingly lined-up shot from afar doesn't hit its target. His reaction: "WWJWBD?" or "what would John Wilkes Booth do?", he opines. Really, the screen's latest contract killer hops continents, countries and cities in an existential and mortal bind not just because he's flubbed a job, but because he's soon tracking down the other villains who've made cleaning up his misfire brutally personal. So, while his first port of call from Paris is the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, Florida and just outside of New York are among the destinations that follow. Most folks that The Killer crosses paths with get a similarly succinct moniker, including The Lawyer (Charles Parnell, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One), The Brute (Sala Baker, Jungle Cruise), The Expert (Tilda Swinton, Asteroid City) and The Client (Arliss Howard, Mank). When Fassbender was once in everything everywhere for most of a decade, he too tinkered with many of the same traits that he's called upon to roll out in The Killer, from unrelenting in Hunger and single-minded in Shame to literally soulless in his Alien franchise stints and utterly consumed in Macbeth. His portrayal here is all killer, no throwbacks or filler, and it slays. He's as deadpan as he's ever been, as Fincher needs, but he's also exceptional as someone forced to realise that his rigid facade and detached air hides more than an all-business executioner inside. It's a mesmerisingly layered performance with fastidious subtleties, and that says as much without a word as all of those voiceover words. And, crucially, Fassbender knows and owns the tone: sardonic, and gleefully so. It isn't just the mix of Reznor and Atticus Ross' latest ominous Fincher score — their first, for The Social Network, won them an Oscar — with Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce's lyrical 80s yearning but anti-yearning that's funny in The Killer. And whether 'How Soon Is Now?', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' or 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out' is echoing, there's no doubting the humour behind the movie's main music choice as it helps bring viewers into the mercenary's mind (American Psycho's use of Huey Lewis and the News tapped its toes in the same territory, but The Killer isn't asking anyone if they like The Smiths). Fincher and Walker litter comedic touches everywhere, from aliases straight out of classic sitcoms to pointed statements about well-known brands. It's there in the sly internal monologue that their central figure keeps uttering around "stick to the plain", "anticipate, don't improvise" and other rules; the cycle of repetition that comes with it; altercations and their corresponding commentary; and, unshakeably and purposefully, the bigger picture. In look and efficiency, The Killer is also sharing what Swinton is selling in her scenes; both are icy, particular and sleek, with the film never wasting an emotion or moment. Fincher's frames glean as crisply as Swinton's blonde-topped David Bowie-channelling aesthetic, with help from Mank and Mindhunter cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt. The Killer is unsurprisingly rigorously pieced together as well, aided by the director's now six-time film editor Kirk Baxter (since The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Welcomely stripped back, this a focused picture that's eager to be as streamlined as possible in a field, aka hired-gun flicks, where it's anything but a lone hand. Standing apart amid the murder-for-money masses is what The Killer wants, too, despite blending in being a professional must. As Fincher hones in on an assassin and the conscience that he says he doesn't have — including when noting that the amount of births and deaths each day means that his contribution to mortality rates barely registers — this riveting, reflective, slinkily engaging, expertly and finely pared thriller hits the bullseye in leaving an impression.
Sydney will be graced with the presence of the inimitable Grace Jones, the vocal talent and dynamic diva who has been stirring up the music world since the 1970s, with hits like 'Warm Leatherette' and 'Pull up to the Bumper'. In her return to Australia this April, she's bringing her jaw-dropping Hurricane tour with her. Jones has been deemed 'amazing Grace' for her ability to effortlessly switch from her natural contralto tone to soprano, a skill that she only seems to improve upon every time she takes the stage. Her performing prowess, androgynous finesse and outrageous costumes will have you in awe. In fact, she's known for breaking tradition and pushing the limits. "I've always been a rebel," Jones wrote on her website, The World of Grace Jones. "I never do things the way they're supposed to be done. Either I go in the opposite direction or I create a new direction for myself, regardless of what the rules are or what society says." Grace Jones is an force of nature not to be reckoned with, but has a voice that shouldn't go unheard. https://youtube.com/watch?v=oTm9gDwwMZk
Glebe Liquor is a second generation family-run business near the Blackwattle Bay end of Glebe Point Road. It's a local bottle-o with a lot of soul. Wines are helpfully sorted based on price, under headings like Struggle Street, Easy Street, Suburbia and Nob Hill, so you can cut straight to the chase and find a vino at the exact price point you're after. The friendly staff will help you find the right brew to suit the occasion, whether that's Just Got Fired, Just Got Hired, or My Life's A Mess, But What Harm Is A Bottle Of Red?. Images: Kitti Smallbone.
Sydney's dining scene is not only well-known across Australia, it has a reputation around the world as being one of the best. And that's, in part, thanks to a handful of legendary dishes. Our fair city is home to pancakes regularly eaten by the Japanese Prime Minister and a dessert The New York Times described as "the world's most Instagrammed cake". With the help of American Express, we've rounded up the dishes that helped put Sydney on the map — and still hold up today. Bookmark this list and start ticking them off.
Zaffi is a multi-level dining and party space on Little Hunter Street that's arrived in Sydney right as the city is in the swing of a late-night revival. Joining the likes of The Abercrombie, Club 77 and Pleasure Club on the list of new and revamped venues pushing Sydney's nightlife into the early hours of the morning, Zaffi is a versatile space boasting a 42-seat ground-floor restaurant and a 122-capacity basement bar that's committed to keeping the party rolling until 4am on weekends. Owner Chady Khouzame has enlisted the help of ex-Chin Chin and Rockpool chef Graeme Hunt to create a refined Australian-Lebanese menu for the street-level dining room. It's a sharing affair at Zaffi, with plenty of mezze options including dips and veggies paired with mains like Aleppo pepper roast prawns and char-grilled spatchcock. The two banquets menus are highly affordable, with the $60 option bringing a table-covering feast of saj, hummus, baba ganoush, eggplant fatteh, labneh, haloumi, kofta, cauliflower, spatchcock, pickles and chips — or, for an extra $29 per person, you can basically sample the entire array of eats on offer, with the addition of pan-fried snapper, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, panna cotta and cheesecake. Downstairs in Zaffi's party bunker, you'll find pink velvet-cushioned booths, neon lighting, communal tables and upbeat tunes encouraging late-night revellers to stay well past midnight. The snacks also keep coming, with highlights from upstairs including kofta, dips, chips and grilled honey and za'atar halloumi all available on the after-hours menu. Appears in: Sydney's Best Underground Bars for 2023
Since long before holidaying in our own backyards and socialising outdoors as much as possible became the status quo, Sydney has been a mighty fine city to see via foot. You can mosey around in general, or you can put one foot in front of the other near the water — and now you can also stroll the entire 11 kilometres that makes up the Barangaroo foreshore walk, too. Being able to wander along this part of the harbour isn't new, but it has just received a pivotal upgrade thanks to the opening of a just-added 300-metre walkway. Launched this week, on Monday, April 12, it's the very last piece of the walk. So, you can now meander from Woolloomooloo to the Anzac Bridge without stopping. You'll also be stepping along a spot that was once completely inaccessible to Sydneysiders. The new curved path hugs the harbour, spans 15 metres in width and turns the new section into a tree-lined boulevard, with landscape architect Peter Walker — who also worked on Barangaroo Reserve — behind the design. Completing the lengthy walk, the new stretch of path follows last year's new amphitheatre-style boardwalk at Waterman's Cove — which extended the Wulugul Walk that runs along The Streets of Barangaroo's 13 eateries. Come late 2022, the Waterman's Cove part of Barangaroo foreshore will also welcome a pavilion made from recycled Sydney oyster shells, which'll make quite an eye-catching addition to your future strolls, jogs and bike rides. The full Barangaroo foreshore walk is now open, stretching from Woolloomooloo to the Anzac Bridge. For more information about the area, head to the Barangaroo website.
You and a mate can co-captain a canoe through the tempestuous rapids of the Nymboida River when you sign up for a high-octane wilderness excursion with Exodus Adventures. The backdrop of lush forest hideaways and soaring escarpments is a splendid contrast to the heart-thumping experience of navigating through fast-flowing rapids that'll bring you to tranquil pools and corners of the region only accessible via the river systems. Whether you're a weather-beaten paddler or new to canoeing, the team at Exodus will blaze a trail to suit your experience level. You can spend a day gliding and bumping along the river (from $235 per paddler) or make it a multi-day excursion, which involves camping under the forest canopy (from $405 per paddler). Food and nearby transfers are included.
Of the many pies that Succession's Roy family had their fingers in, pharmaceuticals wasn't one of them. For virtually that, Mike Flanagan gives audiences The Fall of the House of Usher. The horror auteur's take on dynastic wealth gets a-fluttering through a world of decadence enabled by pushing pills legally, as six heirs to an addiction-laced kingdom vie to inherit a vast fortune. Flanagan hasn't given up his favourite genre for pure drama, however. The eponymous Usher offspring won't be enjoying the spoils of their father Roderick's (Bruce Greenwood, The Resident) business success, either, in this eight-parter that streams from Thursday, October 12. As the bulk of this tale is unfurled fireside, its patriarch tells federal prosecutor C Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly, SWAT) why his children came to die within days of each other — and, with all the gory details, how. As with The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor before it, plus The Midnight Club as well, Flanagan's latest Netflix series finds its basis on the page. The author this time: Edgar Allan Poe, although The Fall of the House of Usher isn't a strict adaptation of the iconic author's 1840 short story of the same name, or just an adaptation. Character monikers, episode titles and other details spring from widely across Poe's bibliography. Cue ravens, black cats, masks, tell-tale hearts, pendulums and a Rue Morgue. What if the writer had penned Succession? That's one of Flanagan's questions — and what if he'd penned Dopesick and Painkiller, too? Hailing from the talent behind the exceptional Midnight Mass as well, plus movies Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, the series that results is a gloriously creepy and involving modern gothic horror entry. The Poe minutiae is everywhere, as constantly thumping whenever someone's name is mentioned. Alongside Roderick and his twin sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell, Veronica Mars), everyone of importance harks back to one piece of prose or another. Dupin was Poe's fictional investigator, a role that still applies here to a man that's spent much of his life trying to bring Roderick to justice. Indeed, he's as close as he's ever been to that feat via a trial when the kids start dropping in gruesome ways. Each one earns an episode, from smarmy eldest Frederick (Henry Thomas, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines), Goop-style wellness entrepreneur Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan, Minx) and ruthless medical engineer Victorine (T'Nia Miller, The Peripheral) to games designer Napoleon (Rahul Kohli, iZombie), family publicist Camille (Kate Siegel, The Wrath of Becky) and wannabe bar owner Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota, The Midnight Club). Greed, violence, paranoia: as happened in Poe's pages, all three bubble through The Fall of the House of Usher. So does death, obviously, including loss, decay and the deceased haunting the living, as Roderick's children do in macabre jolts. Applying Poe's favourite themes to the affluent and privileged is a satisfyingly entertaining touch, even if it's never subtle. The same proves true of the show's twisted dive into a Sackler-style realm. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed's Nan Goldin hasn't achieved such comeuppance in her war on money and influence amassed through the opioid crisis, and therefore through other people's suffering and lives, but Flanagan channelling Poe imagines quite the visually ravishing and narratively riveting undoing. Roderick's empire is Fortunato Pharmaceuticals' empire, as built upon peddling a highly addictive painkiller that's been spruiked as the exact opposite. As he and Dupin sit on a midnight dreary in a crumbling home that's as dilapidated as the Ushers' souls — well, most of them — he shares that story as well. In addition to the tightly wound how's-it-going-to-happen suspense of each child's demise, The Fall of the House of Usher flits back to Roderick (Zach Gilford, Criminal Minds) and Madeline's (Willa Fitzgerald, Reacher) early days at the company. How early sins become inescapable coffins is teased out, inevitability dripping through the series stronger than blood, of which there's no shortage of. Eating the rich is on the menu, as is carving into the avarice-fuelled lust for power and prosperity at any cost under capitalism. Rich applies to much about The Fall of the House of Usher. The treasure trove of Poe nods and borrowings fit the description, of course, but that's just the beginning. With his regular cinematographer Michael Fimognari, Flanagan splashes around an alluringly opulent look whether the show is glistening or getting grisly, or — as is frequently the case — achieving both at once. He's also a master of unrelenting tension, especially leading up to each gratifyingly inventive brought-it-on-themselves death. Setpieces abound, one as lushly staged and riveting as the next — and as grim. The outcome of a masquerade dance party that also owes Eyes Wide Shut a debt is particularly retina-searing. A bounty of jewels resides in Flanagan's plotting, passion, love of lyrically penned monologues and melodrama, too, and his cast of familiar faces. He isn't just piecing together Poe elements and playing with them. As his resume attests, he's long adored doing the same with his actors. So, almost everyone boasts ties to the filmmaker's past works, and often several. The Fall of the House of Usher's stars nail the current brief as well, from Lumbly (and The Fugitive's Malcolm Goodwin as the younger Dupin) as the picture of earnestness in the pursuit of what's right to the entitlement glistening across Thomas and company in every way possible, plus the nerve-shredding mystery that Carla Gugino (Gunpowder Milkshake) slinks through the show in an enigmatic part. Star Wars legend Mark Hamill is a Flanagan newcomer as get-things-done Usher family lawyer Arthur Pym, but slides right in like he's always been telling horror stories with his co-stars. (Whatever comes next for the writer/director and his favourite talents, don't be surprised if Hamill goes with them.) Flanagan's Netflix shows repeatedly get remotes pressing "next episode" with can't-stop-watching urgency. It's hardly surprising, then, that The Fall of the House of Usher joins the auteur's The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass as the kind of compulsive viewing that audiences can easily lose a day to. Ending most episodes with an extravagantly staged offing helps; however, as wicked downfalls plague a brood that's made its own bleak fate, this dark, operatic and gleefully OTT affair never stops being a delight. Here's hoping that the house of Flanagan horror never falls. Check out the trailer for The Fall of the House of Usher below: The Fall of the House of Usher streams via Netflix from Thursday, October 12. Images: Eike Schroter / Netflix.
In the middle of Pyrmont, beyond The Star and behind Blackwattle Bay, you'll find family-run Pioik Bakery. Inside? Breads, cakes, meringues, pastries, tarts and any other baked good you can think of. The Harris Street bakehouse and cafe is a local favourite, with the large shopfront window brightening up the exposed brick interior. Sit at the wooden communal table for a coffee and you'll feel like you're in someone's home in an instant. But, you're coming here for the food, so we'll skip right ahead. Pioik started off with the mission to create simple, great food. There are flatbreads topped with veggies and egg sandwiches alongside sweet treats like flaky croissants, cinnamon scrolls and orange cake. The bread alone is worth the visit. First up, there's Epooro (The King) which is two kilograms of organic whole wheat dough. The Aftonf is a classic sourdough, Kemo is a dark rye style, there's a fruit loaf dubbed Owtah and The Etyoo has five grains: organic sprouted rye grain, fermented whole oats, whole spelt, freekeh and pearl barley. Plus, there are baguettes, focaccia and gluten free loaves. Appears in: The Best Bakeries in Sydney for 2023
Whether you're treating yourself to a staycation or travelling further afield, no one likes going on holiday without their four-legged best friend. That adorable pooch isn't just your trusty companion at home, but in general — and, as every dog lover knows, those barking cuties like doing everything you do (and 100-percent think they can, too). At QT Hotels & Resorts across Australia and New Zealand, your dog can now come for a luxurious sleepover with you, with the chain going pet-friendly. Book yourself and your pupper in for a night, and you won't be the only one ordering off the dine-in menu or scoping out the mini-bar, either. Now on offer at all of QT's sites, the chain's Pup Yeah! fur-friendly stays include a night's accommodation for you and your doggo, an in-room menu specifically for woofers, a pooch-friendly mini bar offering and designer canine bedding. The doggy food range is overseen by the brand's head of treats — Nic Wood in Australia and Jiwon Do in NZ — and includes steak tartare with raw beef, mushrooms and egg yolk; bone marrow risotto with bone broth and crispy pigs ears; and chicken livers and pork necks on wholemeal toast with chicken gravy. Fancy a pupper dessert? There's also a bacon ice cream sandwich, made from bacon ice cream, dried liver and oat biscuits. If your canine has dietary requirements, QT also has appropriate options thanks to Eden Bondi — including vegetable terrine, sweet potato meatballs, and pupcakes with watermelon. And, in the mini-bar, there are also treats from pet bakery Woof Gateau for Aussie dogs, while NZ pooches can snack on bites from Wellington dog bakery Smack Bang. Bedding-wise, in Australia your pupper will be reclining in comfort thanks to a Nice Digs sleep set — and Wolves of Wellington is doing the honours in NZ. Some QT sites are even doing dog treatments at their onsite spas, such as pedicures, mud masks and blow dries. If you're now thinking of planning an indulgent getaway with your pooch, you'll just need to make sure it weighs less than 20 kilograms. Packages start at $450 per night, which includes bedding, a water bowl and a dish for your doggo from the in-room menu. For more information about QT Hotels & Resorts' Pup Yeah! dog sleepovers — and to book a stay — visit the chain's website.
Lightning Ridge's arid outback climate makes it the perfect spot for Bevan's Cactus Nursery, one of the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Founded in 1966, the nursery is home to approximately 2500 cacti varieties of all shapes and sizes, with the oldest plant nearly 150 years old. Head along to view the incredible species on display — just watch where you put your hands. Bevan's Cactus Nursery is also home to a supremely rare collection of opals, including speckled black, crystal and white gems that are bound to catch your attention. Head to the website to plan your trip. Image: Andy Peyton, Flickr
He's an Australian treasure, he's one of Hollywood's recent villainous go-tos and he definitely isn't in Voyagers. That'd be Ben Mendelsohn, who comes to mind anyway while watching this sci-fi thriller. In a softer mode, the Rogue One and Ready Player One star could've played Colin Farrell's part here. That's not why Voyagers makes him pop into viewers' heads, though. Rather, it's because his brand of slippery menace still slinks through this space-set flick, all thanks to its most vivid performance. Should an upcoming movie ever need a fresher-faced version of Mendelsohn's latest bad guy or next morally complicated figure, Dunkirk, The Children Act and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch's Fionn Whitehead needs to be on speed dial. He channels Mendo perfectly as Zac, one of 30 test tube-bred teenagers who are rocketed into the heavens as humanity's last hope for survival. In the latter half of the 21st century, Earth is near-uninhabitable, so he's on an 86-year mission to a newly located planet. The young Humanitas crew's main purpose is to beget the next generations who'll colonise their new home — but, after learning that he's being drugged into obedience, Zac decides not to play nice. Ten years in, when the quieter Christopher (Tye Sheridan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix) realises that the drink they all call 'blue' contains an unidentified compound, the decision is easy. First Christopher, then Zac, then the rest of their shipmates all stop sipping it and start letting their hormones pump unfettered for the first time in their intricately designed and highly controlled lives. Richard (Farrell, The Gentlemen), the lone adult and the closest thing any of the crew have ever had to a father, is suddenly treated with suspicion. Christopher and Zac begin testing boundaries, indulging desires and flouting rules, too — and realising that they're both attracted to dutiful Chief Medical Officer Sela (Lily-Rose Depp, Crisis). Then an accident changes the dynamic, with the two pals challenging each other while fighting to lead. Factions are formed, chaos ensues and the very folks entrusted with saving the species are now simply trying to outlast each other. The fact that Whitehead's performance recalls Mendo as strongly as it does is fitting; almost everything about Voyagers brings another movie or story to mind, actually. When it comes to warring youths, Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner all get a nod. In the space film genre, Solaris, Passengers and High Life do as well. The list goes on, increasing with each of Voyagers' foreseeable twists and turns. When the infighting starts revolving around a potentially mysterious presence, for instance, the feature nudges its audience to think about Alien and Prometheus. In spacewalking beyond the Humanitas, Gravity and The Midnight Sky get a look in (among a hefty roster of past flicks that've also stepped into the inky sky, of course). When the picture simply lingers within the spaceship's stylish but restrictive walls and ripples with unease, 2001: A Space Odyssey casts a shadow. And, in its musings on parenthood, Interstellar and Ad Astra spring to the fore. Still, as it shuffles, jumbles and reassembles much of its bulk from recognisable parts pilfered from elsewhere, a number of interesting ideas sit at the heart of Voyagers. Yes, they've been tackled in various ways before, but they still leave an imprint. Writer/director Neil Burger has both Limitless and Divergent to his name, so he's no stranger to big-thinking science fiction flicks that contemplate intriguing ideas while also following in other footsteps. Here, he wonders not just if life has any meaning, but if there's any genuine meaning to life when a person's function in the bigger picture has already been determined from their first breath right up until their last. He also ponders exactly what humans have spent our entire existence as a species surviving: whatever external forces have come our way, or the ongoing, never-ending repercussions of our very worst impulses? It doesn't offer up any new answers to these trains of thought, or give themes and topics like paranoia, claustrophobia, toxic masculinity, nature versus nature and free will a particularly fresh spin, but Voyagers remains resonant enough. It has a timely relevance, arriving after the globe has spent a year indoors trying to stay alive, and its picture of easy self-destruction is both undeniably blunt and unmistakably effective. Films like this keep hitting screens because we're all aware that humanity's worst enemy is itself. That's a truth we'll never stop grappling with, in fact. As a result, predictability always comes with the territory — because humans have proven such predictable creatures. Accordingly, it isn't the least bit surprising that Voyagers sticks to the familiar, and doesn't provide much of a different take on the age-old realisations at its core (even as Zac tries to lie, bully and manipulate his way to power in a manner reminiscent of recent world leaders). Nonetheless, the feature's ruminations still hit home, even amid all of its winks to other movies. Also convincing is the film's set design, which weaponises its grey surfaces and seemingly endless corridors, transforming every corner and passage into a maze literally of humankind's own making. Voyagers' gleaming overall look wavers between sterile and slick, in another canny touch — this is a movie about finding middle ground between lives of unthinking compliance and primal hedonism, after all. And, cast-wise, Sheridan, Depp and Farrell do what they need to with their straightforward parts. Like Whitehead, Sheridan also helps sum up the movie overall, too. He already faced off against the real Mendo in Ready Player One, so he leaves viewers enjoying his calmly commanding efforts and remembering other flicks. In a picture that's both derivative and engaging, that seems to be Voyagers' chosen mission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadWJ8tPmnU
Sydney mightn't be known for its ice and snow; however, that doesn't mean you can't slide across a frozen surface in the centre of the city. From Saturday, September 26 to Sunday, October 11, the ICC forecourt will become a winter wonderland thanks to the Darling Harbour Frozone. Popping up for two weeks in winter, the Frozone is back for the school holidays — but it's not just for littl'uns. In fact, it's open till 9pm, which means it's the perfect date-night idea for when you want to do more than just grab a drink. So don your warmest winter woollies, grab your bestie, date or fam, and head to the Harbour. The rink is open to the public every day, with 45-minute sessions costing $22 for adults and less for kids ($18 for a child, $10 for a toddler). Walk-ups are welcome, but you can also pre-book tickets on line over here. Darling Harbour Frozone is open from 10am–9pm daily.
Bill Murray. Zombies. As movie-goers learned ten years ago, it's a winning combination. But Zombieland is no longer the only way to see the beloved film star enter the realm of the shuffling undead. Thanks to upcoming comedy The Dead Don't Die, Murray dwells in a world of re-animated corpses once more — and it's now his job to fight them. The latest flick from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, this zom-com spends time with a trio of small-town cops (Murray, Adam Driver and Chloë Sevigny), who discover that their new case has quite the twist. As the movie's first trailer tells us, "in this peaceful town, on these quiet streets, something terrifying, something horrifying is coming". Yes, that something is zombies, the undead or ghouls, as Driver's character explains. Cue plenty of comic battles against brain-munching foes, as well as plenty of appearances by famous folks — including Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Sara Driver, Selena Gomez and Carol Kane, plus Iggy Pop, RZA and Tom Waits. Murray (Coffee and Cigarettes, Broken Flowers), Driver (Paterson), Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive) and Buscemi (Mystery Train) have all worked with Jarmusch before, as has the movie's trio of musicians, but don't go expecting something familiar here. As all of the above flicks have shown, and Night on Earth, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and documentary Gimme Danger too, the writer/director has never been fond of making the same film twice. The Dead Don't Die will hit Aussie cinemas on October 24. But if you're in Sydney, you can catch it at this year's Sydney Film Festival, where it will screen over three sessions on June 14, 15 and 16. There are still tickets available to them, so we recommend booking them in now. In the interim, prepare for a wacky yet deadpan addition to the zombie fold, complete with Murray hanging out in a cemetery and Swinton playing a sword-wielding mortician. Check out the deadly trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5ZOcU6Bnw The Dead Don't Die will hit Australian cinemas on October 24, 2019. It will also screen at Sydney Film Festival on June 14, 15 and 16. You can get those tickets here. Updated: May 20, 2019.
Back in 2011, Ben Quilty won the Archibald Prize for one of his most striking pieces — a portrait of fellow Australian artist Margaret Olley. Befitting his usual style, it fashions her likeness out of heavy yet purposeful brushstrokes and visible, tangible smudges of paint, bringing not just colour to the painting, but discernible texture, movement and vibrancy as well. When the octogenarian Olley sat for Quilty, it wasn't the first time that the pair had crossed paths. She presented him with the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship in 2002, and a friendship blossomed. While Olley passed away in the same year that Quilty's portrait nabbed Australia's top art prize, the two titans of the local art scene once again sit side by side at the Gallery of Modern Art's latest dual exhibitions — with Margaret Olley: A Generous Life focusing on her prosperous career and Quilty highlighting two decades of his work. On display until Sunday, October 13, the two free showcases are filled with standout pieces, spanning delicate sketches of Brisbane from times gone by, striking still lifes, mesmerising Rorschach-style landscapes, contemplative portraits and creative sculpture, among other works. With more than 170 items decking the walls across both exhibitions, each one is worth your time; however it you're wondering which paintings to look out for, here are our six tips. MARGARET OLLEY: A GENEROUS LIFE [caption id="attachment_730009" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Victoria Bridge (1966), Margaret Olley. From the Moreton Bay Regional Council (Caboolture Art Gallery) Collection.[/caption] VICTORIA BRIDGE Living in the city on and off for much of her life, Margaret Olley turned many of Brisbane's streets and sights into art. Several pieces comprise an entire section of A Generous Life, not only offering a snapshot of the artist's work, but a time capsule of the city from five decades ago. Perhaps because it's such a crucial part of the CBD, or perhaps because it has changed significantly since Olley's 1966 work, her rendering of Victoria Bridge makes a splash. Linking the north and south sides of the river in the CBD, the overwater roadway is a functional crossing rather than anything spectacular to look at; however, in a simple inner-city landscape that combines pen and watercolour, this vivid piece will make you think otherwise. It actually depicts the previous version of the bridge, which was replaced by the current structure in 1969. [caption id="attachment_730007" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] The banana cutters (1963), Margaret Olley. Purchased 2014 with funds from Drs Philip and Lenna Smith through the Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA. [/caption] THE BANANA CUTTERS At GOMA's exhibition, separate areas are devoted to Olley's still-life paintings and her Indigenous portraits. Many straddle the divide — although, amidst bright pieces with eye-catching flowers and colourful fruit, The Banana Cutters stands out. Like her paintings of Brisbane as well, the piece captures Queensland history, showing a trio of the state's Indigenous workers plying their trade in the early 1960s. From a technical standpoint, it also achieves a significant feat as a detailed figure painting. There's much to marvel at in the intricate vision of three men making a living, as well as the window into the past that they represent. [caption id="attachment_730006" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Portrait in the mirror (1948), Margaret Olley. Gift of the artist 2001, © Estate of Margaret Olley. Photo: Diana Panuccio, AGNSW.[/caption] PORTRAIT IN THE MIRROR Olley, like many artists, wasn't afraid of using her own reflection as inspiration, as A Generous Life makes plain. Several of her self-portraits grace GOMA's walls, offering an evolution of her style in a microcosm — an overview within an exhibition already designed to provide an overview, all by focusing on Olley's own form. And just as her eyes were drawn to her own guise over and over again, attendees will be drawn to 1943's Portrait in the Mirror, which features the artist surrounded by chosen belongings. Many will be instantly recognisable to those who've wandered through the preceding pieces, given that fruit and flowers feature prominently. QUILTY [caption id="attachment_730010" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Margaret Olley (2011), Ben Quilty. Image courtesy of the Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] MARGARET OLLEY While it sits on the A Generous Life side of GOMA's ground floor, rather than across the wide hallway in his own section, Ben Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley is the centrepiece of both exhibitions — a fitting status for a work that won the 2011 Archibald Prize. When he emerged victorious, it was a case of seventh time lucky for the artist. When you take in his painting, it's easy to understand why. Here, the piece gets its own wall, as well as its own space to shine. Making the most of its placement, spending time with it and truly peering at every inch is recommended. You'll not only stare into the eyes of a woman rightfully celebrated as a great of Australian art, but, through his thick, almost sculptural globs of paint, you'll see her through Quilty's affectionate but unsentimental gaze. [caption id="attachment_730005" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Fairy Bower Rorschach (2012), Ben Quilty. Purchased with funds provided by the Patrick White Bequest Fund, 2012, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Courtesy the artist.[/caption] FAIRY BOWER RORSCHACH Comprised of eight panels and taking over an entire wall, this Rorschach-style piece recreates a scenic landscape. Instead of an ink blot, Quilty uses heavy paint, a mirrored composition, and soothing hues of green and blue to depict a picnic spot in Victoria. But the place and the image both hide a darker secret, with the spot reputedly the sight of a massacre in 1834, with Aboriginal Australian women and children killed. That's why Fairy Bower Rorschach doesn't just seem peaceful, but foreboding — and why its central waterfall can't wash away that feeling. A word of warning: it's one of several paintings in the exhibition to use the visual technique, and it's easy to lose track of time while you're standing before them. [caption id="attachment_730004" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ben Quilty. Top row: Reza (2016), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Reza; Omid Masoumali (2016), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Omid Masoumali; Omid Ali Avaz (2016), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Omid Ali Avaz. Second row: Ali Jaffari (2017), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Ali Jaffari; Mohammad Nazari (2017), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Mohammad Nazari; Khodayar Amini (2017), Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in memory of Khodayar Amini.[/caption] LIFE VESTS Sometimes, the simplest things make the biggest statement. For a person searching for refuge in Australia, making the perilous journey across the globe by boat and putting their very existence at risk, a life jacket isn't a simple item; however, to the rest of the world, its symbolism is now well-understood. Known as an Australian leader in activist art, Quilty's series of 12 life vests draws attention to the country's asylum seeker policy. More than that, it dedicates each image to the memory of someone who didn't survive the process, all after making it to the border and enduring what came next. Placed next to each other, this dramatic dozen is disarming by design and demands attention. It shouldn't escape notice that, while they're all grouped together, each vest sits alone in a separate piece, which is how the people who inspired them must've felt at the end of their lives. Margaret Olley: A Generous Life and Quilty are both free and on show at the Gallery of Modern Art, Stanley Place, South Brisbane until October 13. Top images: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life exhibition views at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane. Images courtesy the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Photographs: Natasha Harth / Chloe Callistemon, QAGOMA.
For home-style cooking that'll transport you to a family dining table in Lebanon, look no further than Baba Ghanouj. The Parramatta outpost of this restaurant (which has sibling venues in Dural, Castle Hill and Kirrawee) boasts a broad menu of traditional plates, desserts and imported drinks. The warm space is ideal for group outings, with large tables set among dramatic arches and chandeliers. Even more charming is the outdoor dining area where you can enjoy your next date night on a tree-lined street under draped strings of fairy lights. The menu is divided into cold and hot mezza, small pans, salads, mashawi (grilled skewers) and wraps (available until 4pm). For the mains, choose from plates such as chilli prawns with tahini, red capsicum, onion and vermicelli rice; pan-fried barramundi with coriander, lemon, paprika and garlic; or slow-braised lamb with spices, rice, nuts and yoghurt dip. Banquet options are available for couples or groups, which include 9–12 mezza and three meats. If that's still not enough and you can't find your favourite Lebanese dish on the menu, have a chat to the kitchen and they'll prepare it for you. Baba Ghanouj is open mornings every day and until 11pm on Tuesday–Sunday, so you can drop in for breakfast, lunch or dinner and satisfy any cravings between meals.
Bondi can have a bit of reputation for pretension. But you won't get any of that kind of BS at bRU Coffee. What you will get, however, is a few laughs and a killer coffee. Serving out of a hole-in-the-wall in North Bondi, this unassuming joint is all about what matters in life: doing things well, doing things right and enjoying yourself along the way. Especially when the sun's shining. You can grab an Allpress and hotfoot it to Sam Fiszman Park or you can hang about and get to know the friendly, occasionally eccentric regulars. On top of coffee, there are cold-pressed juices and powerhouse smoothies packed with protein and green goodness, as well as a solid brekkie and brunch menu. A generous brekkie bowl is hard to go past, crowded with fruit salad, yoghurt, granola and acai. And then there are all the classics, from croissants and banana bread to the green eggs: a dish of boiled egg, spinach, avocado, pesto, green tomato and chutney.
Last summer might only just be behind us, but it's never too early to start making plans for the next one — and for the festival fun that comes with it. Indeed, when the toasty weather returns at the end of 2022, it'll also herald another comeback, with music, art and food festival Spilt Milk locking in three events for this year. Originally only held in Canberra, then expanding to Ballarat, and now heading to Queensland as well — to the Gold Coast to be specific — the beloved event will return in November and December. First stop: its ACT home, of course, on Saturday, November 26 at Exhibition Park. It'll hit up regional Victoria next, on Saturday, December 3 at Victoria Park, before wrapping things up on Sunday, December 4 at Doug Jennings Park in the Sunshine State. The multi-city one-dayer has cemented its spot as a must-attend event for a heap of reasons — and tickets have sold out in under 30 minutes every year, including in a record nine minutes one year, to prove it. So, expect this to be one of the most anticipated returns of 2022, whoever is on the lineup. That bill won't be announced until Thursday, April 28; however, in the past, Spilt Milk has played host to Khalid, CHVRCHES, Juice Wrld, Channel Tres, BENEE, Lorde, Gang of Youth, Dom Dolla, Tones & I and more. This year, it's promising "a mega line-up with some of the most in-demand names on the scene". Start your guesses now, folks. Whoever tops the lineup — and whoever else helps fill the fest's stages — that musical roster will have impressive company, because the rest of the program always spans visual art, tasty eats and pop-up bars. Again, the details haven't yet been revealed, but it's worth blocking out your calendar now. SPILT MILK 2022 DATES: Saturday, November 26 — Exhibition Park, Canberra Saturday, December 3 — Victoria Park, Ballarat Sunday, December 4 — Doug Jennings Park, Gold Coast Spilt Milk will hit Canberra, Ballarat and the Gold Coast in November and December 2022. The full lineup will be announced on Thursday, April 28 — head back here then for further details — with pre-sale tickets go on sale from Tuesday, May 3 and general sales from Thursday, May 5. Head to the festival website for more info and to register for pre-sales. Images: Jordan Munns and Billy Zammit.
This post is sponsored by our partners, lastminute.com.au. It's hard to fathom how to tackle our nation's biggest state. Flights to Perth are easy enough, but what to do from there? The seemingly uncharted wilderness is huge and menacing, and you don't even remember how to apply mosquito repellant, let alone set up a tent. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Whether you're going for just the weekend or the better part of a month, here's the low-down on everything from swimming with whale sharks to kicking back in a brewery. If you're spending the weekend If you're only around for a couple of days it's going be hard to get too far out of Perth. This is by no means a bad thing though! For great cafes and kindred spirits, check out Leederville, Subiaco or Northbridge, and if ever in doubt, make a beeline straight to Fremantle. While there, you can catch the Fremantle Dockers play a game on home soil, and follow it up with a trip to the Little Creatures Brewery. After you've eased your way into the local custom, your next stop is the beaches. Just a short drive west of the CBD, Cottesloe is one of the best beaches in the entire country — why not take advantage with some swimming or paddle boarding? Once you've lounged around there for awhile, it'll be time to stretch your legs out to Rottnest Island. Bikes are your best bet for getting around, and if you've still got some energy by the end of it all, take advantage of that clear water with some snorkelling. Extending it to a week If you've seen all Perth has to offer and you're curious about the rest, the first pitstop is Exmouth. This place is so surreal you will think the two-hour flight from the city has transported you to an alternate dimension. Fittingly, your first task is to swim with some whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef. This World Heritage Listed marine park stretches over 300 kilometres and is home to more than 500 species of fish, as well as turtles, dugongs, dolphins and humpback whales — most of which you are welcome to swim with. Who knew the sea could be so much better than Seaworld? After Exmouth, we recommend hiring a car and driving to Monkey Mia. It'll take ten hours and there is the option to fly, but again, the coasts of WA are a destination in themselves. The coast at Monkey Mia is particularly excellent because it has the added benefit of being populated by dolphins. Each morning, hundreds of bottlenose dolphins come right up to the shoreline and say hi, and you'll definitely want to be there when they do. Alternatively, if sealife just ain't your thing, head to the Pinnacles — one of the many geographical wonders WA is naturally blessed with. In for the long haul All this is only brushing the surface. If you really want to have the full WA experience, jump in for more than a week. When a state is the size of Queensland and New South Wales combined, you need a bit of time to get your head around it. You'll also need some extra time to venture up to Broome. Here, you'll find a beautiful little community and an endless summer, but more importantly, camel rides on the beach. If that's not dramatic enough, check out the Kimberley — Baz Luhrmann's inspiration for Australia. Get grubby in the outback with a day trip to Karijini National Park, Koolpin Gorge or the Bungle Bungle Range, then balance it out the next day with a sojourn to Margaret River. Known best for its wineries, this south-west gem will have you eating and drinking all day with some of Australia's premier winemakers, and expending your leftover energy with leisurely bike rides. Last, but certainly not least, make time for the sightseeing. Whether it be an amazing natural sediment formation such as Wave Rock, or a city that's a spectacle in itself. The town of Esperance will take you straight along WA’s South Coast Highway — the perfect position for spotting whales and wildflowers, and an opportune place to pop off to the beach and rest your muscles in the sparkling water. This is a holiday after all. Book your next WA escape now at lastminute.com.au.
A group of 88 writers and editors, including The Slap author Christos Tsiolkas, Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee, Miles Franklin award-winning author Anna Funder, The Family Law writer Benjamin Law and Meanjin editor Zora Sanders, have written an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Minister for the Arts George Brandis published in The Guardian, outlining their "dismay" at "the many proposed changes to health, education and welfare support announced in the 2014 budget" and their objections to "the reduction in arts funding". On May 13, Hockey revealed a $28.2 million cut to Australia Council funding, a $38 million cut to the Screen Australia budget and a $120 million cut to the ABC and the SBS over the next four years. "This decrease in federal support will be devastating to those who make art of any kind in this country," the letter states. "Many important works, works that would inform national debate and expand the horizons of Australia and its citizens, will simply never be made. Ultimately, these cuts will impoverish Australian culture and society." However, the argument doesn’t stop at moral, emotional and intellectual wealth. The writers point out that in 2008-09, the arts were responsible for adding 7% (or $86 billion) to the national GDP, and in 2011 cultural industries kept 531,000 individuals employed, while creating another 3.7 million jobs. Meanwhile, "it is worth noting that the mining sector only provides $121bn to the GDP, and employs fewer workers (187,400 directly, 599,680 indirectly), yet receives far more government financial support at federal and state levels." Moreover, they continue, the budget not only affects major organisations such as Australian Ballet (which has actually seen a hefty $1 million top up from the government for its budget) but also the threatened international touring capacity of regional companies like Bangarra Dance Theatre. Also affected will be the ability of "decades-old publications continue to foster a love of literature, finding and supporting new writers who will become tomorrow’s great Australian authors." "The loss of funding will devastate these smaller organisations and practitioners, robbing Australia of a whole generation of artists, writers, publishers, editors, theatre makers, actors, dancers and thinkers," they conclude. "Crucially, it will deprive people, particularly in rural and regional areas and in remote communities, of the opportunity to create, educate, learn and collaborate. These proposed funding cuts endanger us intellectually, artistically and severely damage our reputation internationally. Moreover, we fear the prospect of a world of culture and art that is unaffordable to the majority of Australians." Read the full letter here. Via The Guardian.
Positioned less than a 100 metres from Mona Vale beach, Armchair Collective is a local favourite for its quirky style and the seamless way it blends eating, drinking and shopping. The cafe's menu honours simple, honest dishes that make it a perfect place to sink into one of its namesake armchairs for brekkie and a cup of Single O coffee, lunch and vinos, or tea and cake. Meanwhile, the back of the space is full to the brim with collectable art, books, furniture and homewares that will give your sanctuary from the world some chic coastal vibes. Images: Trent van der Jagt.
The second season of House of the Dragon might've come to an end, but HBO has plenty more must-sees on the way to fill your viewing schedule until its third round of Targaryen feuds arrives. The Last of Us season two, The White Lotus season three, fellow Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, IT prequel series Welcome to Derry: they're just some of the shows that'll have you hearing the US network's famous static-filled intro again. Can't wait for another wander through a world infected with Cordyceps? To see a seemingly idyllic holiday prove anything but again? For more time in Westeros? To be creeped out by an evil clown once more, too? Sadly, none of the above series are due to premiere imminently — they're all set for 2025 — but HBO has dropped a new trailer with footage from all of them. The American station does this periodically — back in December 2023, it also unveiled a glimpse at its 2024–25 slate — but this one includes the first new scenes from some of its keenly anticipated hits. With The Last of Us, not just Pedro Pascal (Drive-Away Dolls) and Bella Ramsey (Catherine Called Birdy) but also new cast member Catherine O'Hara (Argylle) make an appearance, for instance. And with The White Lotus — which stars Walton Goggins (Fallout), Carrie Coon (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Jason Isaacs (The Crowded Room), Michelle Monaghan (MaXXXine), Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale) and Parker Posey (Mr & Mrs Smith) — in its third season — "what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand", viewers are told. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes to the screen from George RR Martin's novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg, and has been talked about for a few years. The story follows knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they wander Westeros a century before the events of GoT, when the Targaryens remain on the Iron Throne and everyone still remembers dragons. As for Welcome to Derry, it returns to Stephen King's go-to Maine town, stepping through the locale's scares before the terror that viewers have already seen. HBO's new trailer also spans 2024 releases The Penguin, Dune: Prophecy, The Franchise and documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, alongside the third seasons of Industry and The Sex Lives of College Girls, plus the fourth of My Brilliant Friend. From its 2025 slate, look out for more And Just Like That... and The Gilded Age as well, plus newcomers The Pitt with ER veteran Noah Wylie and Duster with Lost's Josh Holloway. Watch HBO's latest 2024–25 roundup trailer below: The Last of Us season two doesn't yet have a release date, other than sometime in 2025. When it returns, it'll stream via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. Read our review of the first season. Images: HBO.
