Market City's Asian food hall, 1909 Dining Precinct, has gained some great international eateries since opening in March — including global hot-pot chain The Dolar Shop, famed Chongqing noodle bar Mr Meng and DIY Korean barbecue joint Kogi. These are now joined by a 160-seat Northern Chinese eatery, Beijing Impression. It's the second Sydney outpost for the brand, with the first located in Ashfield and much loved by locals. Founded in Beijing in 2014 by Tong Han, the restaurant chain has since expanded to 21 locations across China, Japan and Sydney. True to its Beijing roots, the Peking duck is the go-to dish here. It takes two days to prep and is served three ways: whole roasted with crispy skin, in a duck and vegetable soup with glass noodles or as duck pancakes with sweet bean sauce, sliced spring onion and cucumber. Other traditional dishes include the vinegary braised boneless pork feet and honeycomb briquette — fried black rice soaked in fruit and brandy, which is lit on fire at the table. The new restaurant will have CBD-exclusive menu items, too, including fish head juice pancakes and Catch the Five Heads, a sweetened pudding shaped like mahjong tiles. The fit-out falls in line with the brand's existing venues and takes its inspiration from Beijing in autumn. Think warm timber accents, deep tones and foliage aplenty — including real pomegranate and maple trees at the entrance. For larger gatherings, there are also six rooms that accommodate up to 12 people each. Beijing Impression offers a legit taste of the Chinese capital and is a welcomed addition to this budding precinct. Images: Anna Kucera
Doughnuts after dark, anyone? Grumpy Donuts has just launched a brand-new nighttime concept called Night Shift, a build-your-own-doughnut experience that's making Friday and Saturday nights a whole lot sweeter. At Night Shift — which takes place at Grumpy Donuts' St Peters site — you can customise your doughnut from a selection of 30 different fillings and toppings, allowing for endless combinations. You'll get to pick a doughnut (prices start at $8.50), which will then be cut open and stacked with your filling and two toppings of choice. Fillings include custard, marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, passionfruit curd, peanut butter, jam and Nutella, while toppings range from colourful sprinkles to crushed waffle cones, fresh fruits, cereals, nuts, gummy bears and even bacon, for those who enjoy a savoury edge to their dessert. The first filling and two toppings are included in the price of the doughnut, and extra fillings can be added for $1 each. Grumpy Donuts founders Elise Honeybrook and Scott Clark created Night Shift in response to customer demand for late-night sweet treats. "Having Grumpy Donuts open at night has been something that we find is consistently demanded," says Clark. "We feel this concept is a great opportunity to finally make this a reality, plus we now get the opportunity to give people a little something extra, so why not let them pick exactly what they want." For those who might feel overwhelmed by the selection, the team can provide suggested flavour combinations to inspire creativity. Elise recommends a vanilla glaze donut topped with whipped cream, Nutella, strawberries and crushed waffle cone, while Scott's go-to is a cinnamon donut paired with peanut butter, jam, banana, pretzels and a soft serve on the side. The launch of Night Shift also coincides with some cosmetic changes to the St Peters venue, including a new indoor dining area and a refreshed outdoor area, which now features tabletops made from recycled plastic as well as display layouts sourced from vintage Australian bakery cabinets in charming pink and cream. Grumpy Donuts' Night Shift takes place at their St Peters venue, located at 379B Princes Highway, St Peters, on Friday and Saturday nights, from 5pm–9pm. For more info, head to the Grumpy Donuts website.
It's a marriage of the ultra trendy and timeless style. Italian label Superga has collaborated with 'it girl' Alexa Chung's eponymous fashion line to create an exclusive shoe collection of chunky, retro, yet elegant kicks. Trading in Superga's iconic canvas for suede and velvet, the limited edition range reboots the oldie, but goodie bowling shoe with thick soles, as well as the Italian label's sports training styles — a model from the brand's over-100-year-old history books. Now, it's all too often these sort of collaborations are only available to our mates in the northern hemisphere, but Superga and Alexa, being the inclusive types they are, will launch the Superga x ALEXACHUNG collaboration in Australia this week. And we've secured two spots for you and your plus one at the exclusive launch party happening in Sydney this Friday. While we won't know the location until the day of, we do know that Alexa Chung will be there in the flesh. So along with partying with Sydney's style set at this secret (waterside) location, you'll be rubbing shoulders with one of the fashion industry's biggest names. Whether you'll be fangirling/boying or not, it's a party you'll certainly want to secure an invite to just for the killer Sydney views, Aperol spritzes, flutes of Perrier Jouet Champagne and canapes like seared scallop with spicy shellfish vinaigrette and crackling, orecchiette puttanesca and goat's curd and tomato tartlets with black olive — what a way to kick off the weekend. Plus, on top of all that, we've secured two pairs of Supergas for you and your favourite friend. You'll be able to slip into those crisp white kicks just in time for the arrival of warmer days. The Superga x ALEXACHUNG capsule collection launch will take place this Friday, September 21 in the evening at a secret location. To secure an RSVP, as well as some Superga kicks for you and a plus one, enter your details below. [competition]689242[/competition]
Sydney's only theatre in a pub basement, the Old Fitzroy Theatre has been a beloved stalwart of the independent scene in this city — and that's a position its new artistic management, Red Line Productions, are determined to return it to. They've announced the first six months of their 2015 season, with plans involving a roster of established indie talent, revisits of plays that had their premieres at the Old Fitz, and a late-night slot that will be made available to artists for the rarely seen price of free. "Sydney needs a well-run, intimate small theatre venue. The Fitz is so damn special,” said Andrew Henry, one third of Red Line Productions, who took over the venue from Sydney Independent Theatre Company and were involved with this year's popular Howie the Rookie. First on their slate is the return of Charlie Garber and Gareth Davies' absurd Masterclass, about the greatest actor of all time, Gareth Davies. In February, Workhorse Theatre Company will be presenting Cock, a much-acclaimed relationship drama by UK playwright Mike Bartlett, and in March, a revival of 1999 Old Fitz hit Freak Winds, written by and starring Marshall Napier. Best known for his acting, Anthony Gooley will be directing Orphans in April, while Anthony Skuse visits Latin America with The House of Ramon Iglesia and Kate Gaul returns to Ireland with Enda Walsh's Misterman. In the late slot you'll find more experimental, improvisational or DIY-spirited works, making do on the sets of the regular 7.30pm shows. It's free to use the space, which is great news for artists, and cheaper to buy tickets to, which is great news for us. Already programmed are Kate Walder and Penny Greenhalgh's Bad (which has either not been written yet or just has an admirably vague blurb), Cameron Lukey's Playing Rock Hudson, improv show Holly and Ado Get It On! and Kate Box in Dolores, a play about domestic violence and sisterhood from New York writer Edward Allen Baker. Running since 1997, the Old Fitz is a sweetly dingy favourite among Sydney's theatre crowd, with superfan Toby Schmitz recently telling the Sydney Morning Herald, "The Old Fitz is one of my great loves. When I did Brendan [Cowell's] Men there [in 2000], my life changed." Audiences at the Old Fitz over the last couple of years were less often privy to life-changing theatre, however, as the programming fell below expectations. It's early days yet, but we're optimistic about the new Old Fitz, which seems to wrap its arms around both indie royalty and riff-raff (often the more fun to watch). With the recent closure of the theatre upstairs at the Tap Gallery, and the general dearth of independent theatre venues in Sydney, it's a bit of good news putting a spring in the step of board-treaders. For more information on the Old Fitzroy season, see the Red Line Productions website.
Australia should've given rise to The Moogai before 2024, and prior to the SXSW Midnight Shorts Grand Jury Award-winning short of the same name four years earlier as well. An Aussie horror film born out of the Stolen Generations where the monsters of colonisation, White Australia policies and attitudes since remain inescapable, and where Indigenous children today are also snatched away by a literal monster, is a brilliant idea — one that instantly feels as if it needed to have been made decades back. But writer/director Jon Bell and his stars Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt appreciate how deeply that this is a movie for now. Indeed, The Moogai doesn't just explore the direct ramifications of the Stolen Generations; it proves as clear-eyed about the reality for First Nations Australians today. This is not the only recent Australian film to grapple with the nation's past. Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, The New Boy, The Furnace and High Ground have all stepped into the same terrain. The Mystery Road franchise, including the initial movie's big-screen sequel Goldstone and then three seasons of TV, feels the echoes that the country's history has now and, when the saga jumps backwards, not that long ago. Making his first feature after creating The Gods of Wheat Street, developing Cleverman, and also penning episodes of Redfern Now, Black Comedy, Mystery Road and more, Bell was sparked by the inhumanity of taking children away from their parents — not only when forced child removals were the abhorrent policy in Australia, but as the trauma from that practice remains a presence. The Moogai begins on the Red River Aborigines Mission in 1969, where two sisters (debutants Aisha Alma May and Precious Ann) attempt to avoid being separated from their family by white men, only for one to be spirited away instead by the picture's namesake. When it jumps to half a century later, the film spends its time with Indigenous couple Sarah (Sebbens, The Office) and Fergus (Wyatt, Strife). A lawyer and a carpenter, and parents to six-year-old Chloe (newcomer Jahdeana Mary) with a new baby on the way, they each possess different ties to their heritage. Sarah was taken from her birth mother Ruth (Tessa Rose, Firebite) not long after her first breath, then adopted by white parents (While the Men Are Away's Tara Morice and Plum's Nicholas Cassim). Newly reconnected with the woman that gave her life, she's cautious, while Fergus heartily welcomes his mother-in-law. When the Moogai enters Sarah and Fergus' lives, Sarah's fears of the malevolent force impact her every moment. Her agitated state is dismissed by doctors, however, who think that she's simply struggling after a difficult birth. Painting anything but the portrait of a perfect family also immediately earns attention from anyone watching on, medical professionals, Chloe's teachers and the police included. Alongside Australia's history that constantly demands confronting, Bell was inspired by his and his wife's anxieties when his grandchildren were born, knowing how quickly that judgements can be made in a hospital situation. Australia's past haunts its present on- and off-screen, then, in this powerful picture — a movie that was labelled "Australia's Get Out" when it made its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, ahead of charting the Aussie fest circuit, then hitting local cinemas in general release on Halloween. "It is a good comparison, because Jordan Peele, through his sketch-comedy career, too, the amount of story you have generate to be able to do that sort of stuff — no wonder Get Out was such a success and so on-point," Bell tells Concrete Playground. "And so in those terms, that's a good touchstone for us, because we're certainly trying to bridge those same audiences: people who are going to come see something, and see that it's got something to say, but it's also going to give you the genre stuff that you need. There's scares in this, but it's not grotesque and gruesome. There are also some laughs in there, which Get Out has as well. And I think there's a message in there, too, and there's a lot of heart." "I think as an artist, I don't particularly love comparisons in that way, but I absolutely understand why they're useful for audiences and for people to grasp onto something and have a quick point of reference," notes Sebbens, who also starred in the short alongside Wyatt. "But I will say it's a valid comparison and that it's Jon very much writing from a place of culture, very much writing from a place of Blackness — and employing elements of comedy. I wouldn't call this a comedy-horror by any means, but it is a psychological horror with just moments of comedy peppered throughout, and I totally understand why it reminds people of something like Jordan Peele's Get Out. Also, I'm like, man, if you're going to be compared to any director, that's the one," she tells us. Wyatt advises that he's excited about "what indigenous people will think about the film here in Australia, particularly, because I think it's a film for them in a lot of ways." He continues: "Aboriginal people love horror films, and there's a lot of humour in there as well. And I think there's something that you can claim and take ownership of, being that Jon is the writer and the director, Mitchell Stanley's the producer, Shari and I are acting, and Tessa Rose. It's got a cast of Indigenous filmmakers, this is one of our stories that we can tell and it has been authored by First Nations people." We also chatted with Bell, Sebbens and Wyatt about the fact that the film's premise feels like it should've been explored before, their journey with The Moogai from short to feature and ensuring that it comments on today's reality as much as the past — and more. On How Writing the Short as Proof of Concept for the Feature Helped Shape The Moogai Jon: "It's a good process to go through. I'd encourage anybody to do that, because trying to tell your story in different lengths really highlights structure in a lot of ways. It also gives the feature, if there's any flab, that will get cut off. Because with the short, you're so focused on everything having to earn its place because you've got very little time. And then with the feature, I think this is certainly under 90 minutes — I think it might be 86 or 87. And in trying to get that narrative drive, the script at a certain point, I think it might have got up to 114 pages, and then I cut it down before we started shooting. Then we just cut, cut, cut to try and get narrative pace, because these days people don't give too much time to anything. It's not even change the channel, they can just click off so easily. So you've got to get an audience and you've got to keep them. And writing the two lengths brought some of those issues into sharp focus." On Sebbens and Wyatt Both Starring in the Short as Well as the Feature — and How the Former Helped Them Prepare for the Latter Shari: "Definitely as an actor, you secretly hope, but it's also so completely out of your control. And I know that that's something that Meyne and I'm just so thankful for, is a chance to come back and play in the feature. Because it's really rare, actually, that actors get to be involved in the proof of concept in the short and then make it to the big screen. So it's definitely a hope that we were holding out on. But you can't ever say it out loud. I don't know, you probably can say it out loud — there probably are actors that go 'I want to be in this'. But I guess there's also an element of still being blackfullas, we're a bit ashamed to do that stuff. But it was definitely something we both really wanted. And when it came about, we were just over the moon. It's a dream come true to get to follow the story from that concept size all the way to its full fruition. Meyne: "For me, if it was offered to me, I was always going to go from the short to the feature. But I don't know how Jon feels about it or the production house. What was in the short was a good encapsulation of the feel of what the feature is and where the film gets to go. And I think I certainly jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the feature because I feel like Fergus, in particular, had been fleshed out in a very nuanced and interesting, juicy role that had come to life in the feature. So I was always excited to be involved. And I think that the short is probably a different film to the feature in some ways. One gives you the feeling and then the next, I think they're telling a different story. And I think that's a good thing. You're able to explore something in the feature that in short-form storytelling you won't be able to, and that was always an exciting thing to jump into." Shari: "I think the biggest thing was I've never done genre before. I've never done horror before as a as a genre specifically. So it was a great exercise in knowing the mental and emotional stamina it takes to maintain a taught psychological wire for an extended period of time, but still look after yourself, and still be able to exit and enter a process every day as an artist. It also just meant that we had a really great understanding of how to work with Jon, what he wanted to say and what he wanted to do. We had a shorthand with him, which was really useful for us on set." On How the Concept for the Film Came About for Bell Jon: "Part of the initial inception, the first time I had some of those ideas was when my oldest grandson, he's a teenager now, but when he was born, me and my missus throughout all of our grandkids, when they were born we were nervous about hospitals making a judgement — as we've worked with DoCs trying to reunite families. We had seen how easily from the government's point of view reports and judgments could be made. And then we also had our own experiences, our own family experiences with close calls, and I had an uncle who was part of Stolen Generations and stuff. So we had some personal experience. But when the grandkids came along, that was another thing that brought it into sharp contrast again, because one would think that we were past this in our history, but the fear that was inside us and the way, not anxiety, but the way we were just on our toes — we were on our toes the night before, for perceptions and judgments. We were just very aware of that stuff, and we didn't want any of our grandkids to be in the system. As soon as you're in the system, then another government department pulls something up and then bam, all the stuff comes up. So we were super watchful. In a lot of ways, that was probably the initial idea. That fear just followed us. It didn't matter how many generations deep we were, this fear just followed us." On The Moogai's Premise Instantly Standing Out Shari: "I say this a lot, but I came across Jon's writing in 2012 when we did The Gods of Wheat Street together, and I was like 'oh my god, who is this person writing such rich, incredible tapestry of black lives and family on screen, and on top of that, black women?'. I was convinced that a woman had written The Gods of Wheat Street, actually. And so when I found out it was a man, I was like 'what? This brotherboy's got such a beautiful respect and understanding of women'. And so when I came across that Jon was doing a horror, and he had such great ambition and vision for it — I've trusted this man and admired this man's work for years, of course I want to be a part of that. He's someone that pushes his boundaries and his own abilities, and what he thinks he's capable of himself, so I knew that this was going to be an ambitious project and actually be — I think I'm safe in saying this — the first Aboriginal-produced directed horror film, and will stand as the first in what I hope is a long line, a huge canon of horror works to come from First Nations artists. But just the fact that it was Jon who had written it is what absolutely drew me to it in the first place. And we're very close with Mitchell Stanley, one of the co-producers as well. So it felt immediately that there was a group of Black people that wanted to reach and try something new that traditionally we've been kept out of. Because yeah, people love gritty Indigenous drama in this country, like contemporary gritty indigenous drama, and that has a place, absolutely, to speak to who we are here and now as a nation. But there's no reason why we shouldn't get to play with form and genre and style as well, like every other artist." Meyne: "One, it's a genre film, so that was always exciting. And I think that's a rare opportunity to in Australia, I think, to be involved — and particularly a First Nations genre film, a horror, psychological thriller. That was always exciting. I think what Jon's able to do is Trojan horse this social commentary. You think it's one thing and then there's something else going on entirely. I think going away with the audience, coming up with their interpretation of what's going on, and showing people rather than knocking them on their head — it's allowing you to go away and have those conversations with the people that you go 'what about that bit?'. I feel like those are always the films that I enjoy and I'm entertained by, so I always wanted to be a part of a film that allowed for that opportunity. And in the same token when you talk about Get Out, those social thrillers, horrors, it's in the social consciousness at the moment, and they are all touching on something that's saying two things at once. And I think in an Australian context, I feel like this is the right time to do it. Like you were saying before that it should have been a film that had been made — but I don't think it would have been made until Jon, a First Nations writer/director, could make that film. That was always an exciting thing to have the privilege to be involved in." On Whether There's a Sense of Responsibility in Making a First Nations Film That Treads New Ground Shari: "Oh big time. Yeah, it's something that, to be honest, it's something that you're all-too-keenly aware of every time you're taking on a role as an Aboriginal actor, because you're so aware that no matter what you do, you are seen to be representing your entire people. And it's an impossible weight and an impossible job. You can't represent every blackfulla. So I think in terms of Jon and Meyne and Mitchell, all the Aboriginal creatives around it, it's a responsibility and a weight that we were all familiar with. It wasn't a new experience to us to feel that. But I think you turn that fear into excitement, and you turn that into a challenge, and you turn that into 'well, how can we keep pushing boundaries and showing people that not one person can be responsible for an entire race of people and a representation of entire people, but that a group of us working together will bring complexity and nuance that is so often afforded to non-Indigenous stories and artists?'." On the Importance of the Movie's Connection Between Past and Present Jon: "That was one of the things that was very important to me. After Kevin Rudd made his apologies, it feels like that people are just being like 'okay, well he said sorry, can we just move on now?'. No. People are still living with this pain. And those kinds of White Australia policies, they are, probably under the United Nations definition, they are in fact genocide. Those are genocidal practices. Just trying to wrap your head around that, that's of vital importance. But at the same time, I think that this film is very much a horror film, and the horror or fear that plagues your family can absolutely be a universal thing. We've all got stuff in our past —that saying 'you don't grow out of your childhood, you escape it' — we've all got stuff that we're probably hanging on to, all of the things that have affected us. So in that sense, it's very much a universal story. You could say that the Moogai for someone else means a different thing. But in terms of where I was coming from, it was absolutely there." Shari: "I think there's no way to tell it without that, without being truthful to what the reality is for us mob, for our families, for our communities. I think there would have been absolutely — I'm just spitballing and projecting onto Jon — but I imagine for a writer/director, there are moments where it's like 'well, yeah, how much do I delve into Fergus' moment with the police?'. I think for Jon, I imagine it's what I feel, which is if your projects don't have an element of reality in them — I guess that's the scariest thing about the horror, is that the reality and the history and the current situation for so many Black people is far scarier than what you can put on-screen ever. But I think he would probably feel a bit inauthentic if that scene with Fergus and the police wasn't in there, just because that's Jon's experience as a Black man. It's Meyne's experience as a Black man. It's so many people's experience as Black people in this country. It's not saying that you have to always put these things in there as a political statement, but actually the personal is political in that way. So what they're really doing — what we're all doing — is just trying to recount things in an authentic, genuine way to get people to understand what the hell is still happening here." On Sebbens Playing Someone Who Is Devoted to Her Family, But Also Cautious About Her Heritage — And Navigating Coping with a New Baby While Also Certain that the Moogai Is Taunting Her Shari: "It's mad when you say it all out straight like that. It's like 'oh yes, that is a lot of things, isn't it, to happen to someone'. Jon and I would talk a lot, Meyne and I would talk a lot, about backstory and history — and certainly for Sarah, that's on the screen. The history of her Aboriginality that she has been denied through government policy, and that she has also denied herself because of adopted ways of thinking and shame and, I guess, internalised racism. But also Sarah is someone that wants to deeply belong, which I think is why she seeks out an Aboriginal partner in Fergus. And so in that sense, we could load ourselves up — and I did load myself up with all this history and backstory — but at the end of the day, also you just have to let it go and play what's on the page, and be present with those words and those scenes. All that work hopefully informs the weight that you bring into scenes, and it informs choices you make. But for me particularly, I was just like 'if I keep getting bogged down on this, I'm going to try and play all of those things at once'. And actually, if I just play what's on the page, it felt like the clearest way through for me." On Wyatt Stepping Into the Role of the Worried Husband and Father Who Wants to Believe Sarah, But Is Also Concerned with How She's Coping Meyne: "I think Fergus is, at one point, he should be the perspective of the audience. And you should be concerned and worried about what's going on with Sarah. There's a fine balance with him that he has to believe her, but then there has to be that skepticism. And I think he makes some decisions that are questionable and maybe problematic, but I think that's nuanced character. With Jon, there were conversations about trying to find that balance with Fergus and making sure that he's being supportive, but also touching on the trope of being the husband that isn't quite believing the wife — and as a horror film, making sure you're ticking off those boxes and those touchstones, but making sure that he isn't a complete arsehole and that it's coming from a real place, and this is a real person and it's nuanced. And someone who possibly doesn't know how to deal with, one, a malevolent spirit, but two, mental health — and not having the tools to be able to deal with somebody. I think that can always be trying for anybody, having that for the first time, especially a loved one, because it's a delicate line you're toeing." The Moogai released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 31, 2024. Images: Elise Lockwood / Sean Ryan.
Well-known for his visual distinctive style and fondness for symmetry across films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson is now playing museum curator. Alongside his partner, set designer and illustrator Juman Malouf, he's put together an exhibition for Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum: Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures. The creative couple were given a task that plenty would envy: trawling through the Kunsthistorisches Museum's more than four million objects, and selecting their favourites from the incredibly broad collection of in-house artifacts. The end result includes items from all 14 of the museum's collections, which span old master paintings, Greek and Roman antiquities, Imperial coins and more. Think pieces like historical musical instruments, suits of armour, foreign antiques, carriages and sleighs, plus a fully illustrated catalogue. If you're wondering what inspired Anderson, he explains in the exhibition catalogue that, with Malouf, he harbours "the humble aspiration that the unconventional groupings and arrangement of the works on display may influence the study of art and antiquity in minor, even trivial, but nevertheless detectable ways for many future generations to come". And if you're not planning to be in Austria before April 28, 2019 — or in Italy afterwards, with the exhibition set to travel to the Fondazione Prada in Milan at a yet-to-be-announced date — here's a look at what's on offer. [caption id="attachment_703302" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Exhibition view. © KHM-Museumsverband[/caption] Exhibition view. © KHM-Museumsverband [caption id="attachment_703299" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Exhibition view. © KHM-Museumsverband[/caption] Exhibition view. © KHM-Museumsverband Exhibition view. © KHM-Museumsverband Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures exhibits at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum until April 28, 2019. Images: © KHM-Museumsverband.
If you've ever wanted to care less about all the things that really don't matter — and, honestly, don't we all — then you've probably read Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. If you're really devoted to the idea, you're probably keen to get stuck into the author's latest book as well, aka Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope. When the first book hit, it was everywhere. Approachable, brutally honest, not-quite self-help advice will have that effect. It's not about not giving any f*cks. It's about giving the right number of f*cks about the right things. After all, there are only so many one has time to give. You should obviously give a f*ck about Manson's upcoming Australian tour, of course, with the author coming to Sydney on Sunday, July 21. See the blogger-turned-bestselling writer share his thoughts and insights at the City Recital Hall — and leave giving the number of f*cks that you need to. Tickets go on sale at 12pm, Tuesday, May 21, with pre-sales from 10am on Monday, May 20.
Hotel Ravesis, the legendary Bondi establishment where locals and tourists alike have had many a memorable night out, enters a new chapter with the opening of Spanish restaurant Alzado on the first floor. With Bondi Beach as a backdrop and lively energy from its customers seeking good times, Ravesis is a prime location for Alzado's vibrant, easy-going holiday vibes. The new Spanish coastal diner arrives by way of collaboration between Ravesis owner Aya Larkin, executive consultant chef Pablo Tordesillas, and head chef MJ Olguera. Larkin says, "There's always been a rhythm between the beach, the Bondi village, and its end-of-day sunset dining culture. We wanted Alzado to capture that — creating a space where people can wander up straight from the sand and find themselves staying all afternoon. It's elevated, yes, but not formal — it's about a shared table full of great food and ice-cold drinks, and those moments where lunch effortlessly rolls into the evening. We're excited about this new chapter for Hotel Ravesis and to give this magnificent dining space its time in the sun once again." Spanish-born Todesillas (ex Merivale executive chef) and Olguera's menu is designed for long, boozy lunches, apertivo afternoons, and bustling dinners that stretch long into the evening. There are plenty of easy-eating snacky options that pair perfectly with a glass of featured dry sherry or vermouth on ice. Spain's deceptively simple favourite pan con tomate is served with a tin of anchovies or Jamón Ibérico. There's whitebait with aioli, patatas bravas with salsa brava, and grilled sardines with saffron. The sun-soaked wrap-around balcony is primed for another round of oyster martinis — made with oyster shell-infused vodka, and served with a Sydney Rock oyster — with a selection of small plates such as preserved tuna with the pickled goodness of onions, chilis and olives, and potato crisps piled high and layered with Jamón Ibérico and pickled peppers. For mains, opt for seafood rice, lamb belly ribs, fresh grilled market fish, or a hefty one-kilogram ribeye. Todesillas says, "Alzado is about distilling the essence of coastal regional Spain into a Bondi setting. When you eat in Spain, the best meals are often the simplest — a piece of fish grilled on the plancha, a plate of peppers with nothing more than olive oil and sea salt, a glass of something cold alongside. That approach — letting produce speak, cooking with heart, and keeping flavours true — is what we've brought to Alzado. It's food designed to be shared, to linger over, and to always feel generous." Images: Parker Blain.
Inner-city hospitality hub 25 Martin Place has quickly cemented a reputation as one of the most reliable dining go-tos in the CBD, but for the past few months, one-half of this multi-venue complex has been conspicuously dormant. New Zealand steakhouse chain Botswana Butchery, which occupied the expansive three-storey east wing of the site, announced in April that it was entering voluntary administration and given the economic uncertainties that have forced a rash of similar closures across Sydney in recent months, it was unclear if or when a new tenant would be able to take up residence. Now, one of the city's most successful hospitality companies, Point Group, who also operate the ever-popular Shell House, has announced ambitious plans to launch not one but three venues in the former Botswana Butchery digs, creating a new hospitality hub within a hospitality hub. The International will feature a wine bar, a fine diner and a rooftop watering hole showcasing a worldly array of culinary experiences that celebrate the cultural diversity that is so essential to Sydney's identity. [caption id="attachment_974166" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jonny Valiant[/caption] "We're excited for The International to become the cultural cornerstone of this lively and engaged part of the city," Point Group CEO Brett Robinson said. "Our approach will be simple: if it's fun, delicious and exciting, it's on the menu. Our team has had the opportunity to pull together this new project with total creative freedom and without limitations to define a new standard of big-city dining. The International is not just a restaurant; it will be a social and culinary destination where the only rule is that the food, the wine and the hand-crafted beverages must be delicious and of exceptional quality and the service dedicated, inspired and authentic." Sydney already has an excellent pedigree when it comes to pyro-powered cuisine, championed by the likes of Neil Perry at Rockpool, Lennox Hastie at Firedoor and Corey Costelloe at 20 Chapel. The Grill will join this impressive list of woodfired fine diners with culinary director Joel Bickford delivering a menu driven by provenance, high-quality produce, seasonality and simplicity. [caption id="attachment_974167" align="alignnone" width="2560"] The Grill[/caption] Custom mid-century furniture and bespoke joinery will create an atmosphere that is both luxurious and comfortable. Guests will enter through a glossy walnut bar where they can enjoy artisanal martinis or a flute of chilled champagne. The dining room will feature striking geometric marble flooring and a cold bar showcasing local seafood, complemented by an open kitchen where licks of open flame will catch the attention of diners. Bickford envisions The Grill as a destination for celebrating special moments while also being somewhere guests can enjoy everyday pleasures through exceptional food and wine. "Ultimately, it's about the food; provenance, best-in-class produce, seasonality and simplicity with absolutely no cutting corners, delivered by the very best chefs in the city working to deliver a unique perspective on classic traditions, internationally renowned preparations and worldly perspectives," he said. [caption id="attachment_974168" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Wine Bar[/caption] The Wine Bar will deliver a more casual (yet no less refined) offering, with a menu by Executive Chef Danny Corbett leaning on small plates inspired by worldwide cuisines. The venue will comprise three distinct spaces: a 60-seat piazza-style courtyard restaurant with an outdoor bar, perfect for all-day dining and socialising; an intimate 40-seat wine bar with a terrace overlooking Martin Place and an open kitchen featuring a Marana Forni pizza oven; and a 60-seat circular dining room with plush decor, ideal for special occasions and wine tastings. In addition to the food offering, there will, of course, be an extensive wine list, including generous by-the-glass options, curated by sommelier Alex Kirkwood. Finally, The Panorama Bar on the top floor of The International will be a vibrant social hub, made for sun-soaked lunches, golden hour drinks, and after-dark get-togethers. The bar will offer all-day dining and late-night drinking. Culinary Director Joel Bickford and Executive Chef Danny Corbett have created a menu of sharing plates and bar snacks, including cold bar options and Japanese bites prepared over Hibachi grills. Guests can enjoy a seasonal drinks list curated by award-winning bartender Josh Reynolds, including signature cocktails and an extensive champagne and chablis selection, perfect for a summer thirst-quencher. With views of the art deco architectural masterpieces of Martin Place and the bustling courtyard at the foot of Harry Siedler's iconic skyscraper, the outdoor terrace of the aptly named The Panorama Bar will channel a glamorous yet playful vibe. Fire pits, comfortable loungers and leafy planting will set an enticing tone while live DJ sets in the evening will pump up the party atmosphere. [caption id="attachment_974169" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Panorama Bar[/caption] The International will open at 25 Martin Place in the CBD in November.
It's omurice time. Some dishes are as straightforward as they sound, and this one — aka omelette rice — is among them. It's an omelette made with fried rice, then typically topped with sauce. Clearly it's an easy concept to get around. And Motokichi Yukimura from Kichi Kichi Omurice in Kyoto keeps visiting Down Under to whip it up. Not all iterations of this western-influenced Japanese eggs-plus-rice staple are made equal, which is why Kichi Kichi Omurice's version might be on your travel bucket list. Chef Motokichi Yukimura's viral-famous take on the dish has made him an internet star — the term "Japan's most-famous omurice chef" has been used — and seen his eatery become a tourist destination. Sometimes, however, he brings his omurice to Australia, as he's set to again in March 2025. If you'd like the Kichi Kichi Omurice experience without the airfares, you can make that a reality in Sydney, Broadbeach and Brisbane. And if this sounds familiar, that's because Yukimura headed this way twice in 2024. He's again visiting Harajuku Gyoza to show why the dish he's been making for over 45 years is such a smash. The chef is doing 'meet and eat' events in all three cities, cooking everyone who attends his specialty — and putting on a show, complete with his Kichi Kichi Omurice song and dance. Folks in Sydney are headed to Harajuku Gyoza Darling Harbour across Tuesday, March 18–Thursday, March 20. For Brisbanites, your destination is Harajuku Gyoza South Brisbane from Sunday, March 23–Tuesday, March 25. And on the Gold Coast, Harajuku Gyoza Broadbeach is your destination on Saturday, March 22. Tickets cost $170 per person, with sittings for both lunch and dinner. That price covers tucking into Yukimura's omurice, as made at your table, plus a range of Harajuku Gyoza signature dishes — and meeting the chef. Alongside removing the need to book a flight to Japan, this is an easier way to enjoy the Kichi Kichi experience for another reason. As of January 2024, the Kyoto eatery is no longer doing bookings in advance. Now, diners are only able to make reservations on the same day they're eating, and need a password that's placed on the restaurant's door each morning to lock in their seating. Kichi Kichi at Harajuku Gyoza — March 2025 Tuesday, March 18–Thursday, March 20 — Harajuku Gyoza Darling Harbour, Sydney Saturday, March 22 — Harajuku Gyoza Broadbeach, Gold Coast Sunday, March 23–Tuesday, March 25 — Harajuku Gyoza South Brisbane, Brisbane Motokichi Yukimura will be at Harajuku Gyoza Darling Harbour, Broadbeach and Brisbane in March 2025. Head to the eatery's website for further details and bookings.
Ever get sick of beer and find yourself yearning for an ice-cold schooner of Vodka Cruiser? Of course you do. The iconic alcoholic beverage has been constricted to the glass bottle for years now but — finally! — it is now available on tap in selected venues. One such venue is Newtown's The Marlborough Hotel and the team is throwing a party to celebrate. The Marly will be hosting a free Vodka Cruiser On Tap Launch Party on Friday, November 10 to mark the addition of the colourful bevs to its tap list. Expect plenty of guava Cruiser schooeys to be downed throughout the night. And if the pure sight of that bright pink liquid emerging from The Marly's tap wasn't enough to convince you, Murray Cook the original red Wiggle will also be in attendance, taking over the DJ decks to provide the soundtrack for the night. This is not a drill. [caption id="attachment_866427" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Murray Cook[/caption] If you get peckish throughout the night, you can pair your Cruiser with a bite from the pub's Fat Belly Jack's. Burgers are the name of the game here, and the fried chicken burgers are good enough to compete with Sydney's best. Our suggestion: the Fat Belly Burger which features Nashville hot chicken that will seriously blow your socks off.
Ever wondered what goes on deep under the ocean, after dark? This month, you'll get a taste of exactly that, when Sea Life Sydney Aquarium keeps its doors open late for an after-dark session, uncovering all the murkiest of deep-sea secrets. Running on Wednesday, June 26, from 6–8pm, the event will show off the aquarium's Jellyfish Garden in a whole new light (or lack thereof). While you'll have access to the full aquarium — so you can get up close and personal with all the turtles, sharks, dugongs, fish and penguins — there'll be a special focus on its luminous, venomous and gelatinous residents. Marine experts will chat about the many facts (and myths) circulating around jellyfish, discussing mortality, painful stings, antidotes and urine. You'll also get to meet everything from blubber jellies to moon jellies and even upside jellyfish. The talk will run from 6.45–7.45pm, with the doors opening at 6pm for aquarium exploring. The $40 ticket includes aquarium entry, an alcoholic beverage and snacks. You'll be able to purchase more drinks (and more snacks) on the night, too, if you please.
"It wasn't so much about antagonising Nicolas Cage, for me," Julian McMahon tells Concrete Playground. "It was more about getting him to face his demons — to truly look at himself and evaluate who he has been in life, who he is now and who does he truly want to become?" That's how the Australian actor describes his task in The Surfer, in which he stars opposite the inimitable Cage (Longlegs) in the latest film to ride the Ozploitation wave. The two portray men caught in a battle at a scenic Australian beach. Cage's eponymous figure is an Aussie expat returning home after living in the US since he was a teen, and is fixated upon purchasing his old childhood house as the ultimate existence-fixing dream. McMahon (The Residence) is Scally, the local Luna Bay surf guru who decrees who can and can't enjoy the sand and sea, complete with a band of dedicated disciples enforcing his decisions — and who doesn't give the besuited, Lexus-driving, phone-addicted blow-in a warm welcome. It was true when the trailer for The Surfer arrived and it remains that way after watching the full film: Wake in Fright-meets-Point Break parallels flow easily. Director Lorcan Finnegan (Nocebo) and screenwriter Thomas Martin (Prime Target), both Irish, are purposefully floating in the former's wash, adding a 2020s-era Ozploitation flick with an outsider perspective to the Aussie-set canon, just as Canada's Ted Kotcheff did with his 1971 masterpiece — and as British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg similarly achieved with Walkabout the same year (the two premiered within days of each other in competition at Cannes). With Point Break, though, if the OG version was instead about a middle-aged man returning home rather than an FBI agent chasing bankrobbers, and if that character found himself taunted by rather than accepted into the crew that rules its specific coastal turf, then that'd be The Surfer's starting point. Adding to a resume that's seen him use jiu-jitsu against alien invaders (Jiu-Jitsu), voice a prehistoric patriarch (The Croods: A New Age), battle demonic animatronics (Willy's Wonderland), hunt down the folks who kidnapped his porcine pet (Pig), step into his own IRL shoes (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), get his gunslinger on (The Old Way), give Dracula a comic bite (Renfield), don Superman's cape (The Flash), pop up in people's dreams (Dream Scenario), face the end of the world (Arcadian) and turn serial killer (Longlegs) in the 2020s so far alone — alongside more roles — Cage begins The Surfer waxing lyrical about the pull and power of the waves, including their origins, plus the result when you attempt to conquer them. "You ever surf it or you get wiped out," the film's protagonist, solely credited as The Surfer, tells his high school-aged boy (Finn Little, Yellowstone) as they approach his preferred patch of oceanside paradise. "Locals only" is the response from Scally's gang, however, when the father-son duo head to the water, but that isn't a viewpoint that The Surfer can roll with. The Yallingup, Western Australia-shot movie, which itself debuted at Cannes in 2024, is then firmly a Finnegan flick as its namesake gets caught in a nightmare under the blazing sun courtesy of a few simple decisions, and equally thrust into an experience that questions reality. The director has made four features in nine years: 2016's Without Name, 2019's Vivarium, 2022's Nocebo and now The Surfer. In every one, the lead is plunged into a type of purgatory or hell. The first also sets its protagonist against the elements at times. Trying to buy a house equally turns surreal in the second. The past haunts, too, in the third. All four have more than a little time for peering at the trees as well. Asked what interests him about making psychological thrillers in this mould, Lorcan responds "good question: is there something wrong with me?". He continues: "I think it arrives, from a filmmaking point of view, because it allows a lot of creative freedom — because if you're delving into somebody's mind and their experience and their interpretation of events and reality from a very subjective point of view, it really allows a certain amount of elasticity in terms of visualising that and interpreting that for the audience, and for the audience to almost feel like the character feels entering into that world. Particularly with this film, because it's such a subjective experience for Nic Cage's character. And the audience goes on that journey with him and discovers what he discovers and feels what he feels — and starts tripping out when he's tripping out. So it's a weird experience." McMahon was familiar with Finnegan's output when he signed on for The Surfer. What appealed to him about this project? "I think, in this particular case, it was how well-written the entire piece was," he advises. "That, accompanied with Lorcan's previous films, is a recipe for a well-earned match; they fit each other perfectly. And regarding his approach to psychological thrillers, I was intrigued by his novel and unique vision of this piece. His movies are like something I've never seen before, and that is inspiring." Did Finnegan's penchant for toying with reality influence how McMahon tackled portraying Scally — a character who is so key in the feature's querying of what's genuine and what's all in The Surfer's head? " I think you leave that up to the filmmaker," he notes. "Play your part and allow him, Lorcan, to create the sense of reality." In 2025, audiences are witnessing McMahon at two different extremes when it comes to portraying Australian characters — first as the Aussie Prime Minister in Netflix murder-mystery dramedy The Residence, and now as Scally here, with The Surfer in local cinemas since Thursday, May 15 before heading to streaming via Stan from Sunday, June 15. "I'm looking for variety. I'm looking for characters that allow me to feel challenged, maybe even a little uncomfortable," he shares. Only The Surfer brings him back to Aussie films for the first time since 2018's Swinging Safari, though, after spending much of his career working internationally (see: Profiler, Charmed, Nip/Tuck, the two 00s Fantastic Four movies, the FBI franchise and plenty more). "I love working in Australia; however, it's more about the piece and the characters I'd like to play," McMahon reflects. An American star who couldn't be more unique on-screen, an Australian actor with decades of overseas success, two Irish friends and filmmakers layering an outsider vantage onto Aussie localism, nodding to Ozploitation classics, taking inspiration from 1968 American great The Swimmer, digging into masculinity and materialism alongside identity and belonging: it all adds up to mesmerising viewing. Somehow, as prolific and wide-ranging as Cage's filmography is, putting him in this beachside scenario wasn't already on his resume, but he gives it the full glorious Cage treatment. His energy is pivotal to the movie, as it was to McMahon and Finnegan as his co-star and director, respectively — which we also chatted to the pair about, plus everything from trapping characters and humanity's yearning to belong to quintessential Aussie beaches and recurring themes in Australian cinema. On Why Being Just One or Two Decisions Away From Getting Stuck in Your Own Purgatory, Losing Everything or Both Fascinates Finnegan Lorcan: "I suppose we're all like that, really. We're all a couple of steps away from losing it. And I think a lot of the time, the characters in my films are trapped in some way, whether that's in a physical place or mentally, or in their behaviours or relationships, whatever. It's something universal, though, that we all feel we're trapped in some way — whether that's with our routine or jobs or lives or physically inside, like a fleshy trap of meat and the only release is death. I suppose all of that is quite existential and fascinating. And in some ways, films are a reflection of our subconscious. Stories reflect our inner fears, and going crazy and all that kind of thing. So, to me, it's just fascinating to explore all that." On What Excited McMahon About Collaborating with Nicolas Cage — and About Stepping Into Scally's Shoes Julian: "I've been an admirer of Nicolas' since as long as I can remember. His work is always entertaining, inspiring and unique. I also really love the energy that he puts into everything that he does. And I was excited to develop a character that would fit well with his on-screen persona as The Surfer. There's a few things you need to accomplish in fulfilling the character of Scally. You need to fill the requirements of the movie itself, and what it is asking from your particular character, and as an entire piece. You need to develop the relationship between Nicolas' character, as well as all the other characters. And then you need to be sure that you are filling the requirements of who Scally truly is. With Scally, there was no room to waiver — the more definitive he was, the more strength he had. And I thought that was particularly important." On Why Taking Inspiration From The Swimmer and Ozploitation, Then Digging Into Ideas of Masculinity, Materialism, Belonging and Identity — in Australia, as an Irish Filmmaker with an Irish Screenwriter — Appealed to Finnegan Lorcan: "When I read the outline, what struck me was it was going to be about this man of a certain age, at a certain point in his life, where he'd amassed success, I suppose — what would be deemed success. He has a nice car. He has his suits. He's got some money. And he wants this one last thing, to buy back his family home, and then that will fix all of the problems that are manifesting over the years. So his relationship with his wife has fallen apart. His son has no interest spending any time with him. But he still thinks 'if I just have this one thing, if I can just buy this house, that will fix everything'. But then, of course, over the course of a few days he loses everything bit by bit — all his material wealth, his watch, his phone, his shoes, his suit, his car. And it's like he needed to shed all of that in order to actually, almost like therapy or something, to actually find what it is that he needs as opposed to what he believed he wanted. So that just fascinated me as a way into a story. And then both Tom and I have a love of New Wave Australian film. And then we were talking about the tradition of non-Australians, with Ted Kotcheff being Canadian and Nic Roeg being British, non-Australian filmmakers making a film in Australia as the outsider view — and this could be a continuation of that, because there hadn't been, from our point of view, there hasn't really been any of those kinds of films in a long time coming out of Australia. So we wanted to go and make one. And this was the perfect vehicle, basically." On Making a 2020s-Era Take on Exploitation with an Outsider Perspective, as 70s Greats Wake in Fright and Walkabout Did Half a Century Ago Julian: "This story could take place in many locations around the world. It could also be embedded in many different types of developed societal cultures. It could be California, could be Hawaii, could be the UK and places around Europe. I think what's interesting to note is that this particular surf culture can be found, almost identical, anywhere in the world." Lorcan: "All of the themes around identity linked to place — and also Cage's character being an outsider, that was sort of our way in, really, or my way in, particularly in terms of thinking about how to direct a film like this. Because he's an outsider returning to a place that he hasn't been in over 40 years. He's lost his accent, and he's got this weird, nostalgic, rose-tinted-glasses view of the place from his childhood. So it's almost like he remembers it from the 70s. So that was the way of making it, the look and feel of the place, that it's all from his weird point of view. Ozploitation films from that period, there would always be these very masculine men drinking beer, Broken Hill-style. So we were updating all of that, though, to show the surf community. But they're not just like Point Break surfers. These guys are all the doctors, hedge-fund managers, wealthy yuppies. Julian McMahon's character, he plays this guy Scally, who's almost like a weird shaman version of a Joe Rogan or Jordan Peterson kind of guy, who's lecturing these younger guys on masculinity — and they could be tribal and animalistic down below on the beach, but when you're up above, you behave differently. So all of that felt like perfect updates of previous themes around masculinity in these Australian films from the 60s and 70s, and even 80s — to update it now in a much more contemporary way, talking about masculinity, but it is still classic examination of it in a way." On Why Nicolas Cage Was The Surfer's Eponymous Figure to Finnegan — and Getting Him Onboard Lorcan: "I remember reading the script through from beginning to end before we offered it to him, imagining him in every scene. And I just thought he'd perfect, because there's not that many people who can play drama, action, comedy, all of these things, and have this physicality to the performance that Nic can do. So once he came onboard, it made The Surfer's character come to life, in a way. Also, as we were shooting it, we were finding that we were seeing the humour of these scenes bubbling up, too — which is good fun, because Nic's funny. He'd seen the previous film of mine, Vivarium, which he liked. And so when he got the script, he was already familiar with the filmmaker, which was helpful. And then he loved the title The Surfer, he told me recently — that was one of the things, because he grew up in California and he's familiar with surf culture, and thought that was intriguing. And he read the script and he just really liked the material. He thought it had a kind of Kafka-esque kind of vibe to it, and the character would be very challenging to play. And then he also loved the idea of going off to a little town Australia to make this film, the adventure that would bring." On McMahon Approaching Scally and His Offsiders in Terms of Them Trying to Find Their Way — and How Else He Built the Character On-Screen Julian: "I wanted to let Scally evolve in his own manner. And so while I was developing the character, I put no restrictions, thoughts or preconceived ideas that I might usually put into the development of a character, and let it come to me. It was an interesting approach, and what it allowed for was development right up until the end of shooting. Most of Scally was developed on set, in the environment, with all the other players present, your director and, of course, the largely influential location. I decided to not research anything, to just allow the character to speak to me from the written word on the page. I gave myself no limitations, no boundaries and the ability to feel comfortable with not really knowing exactly what I was doing all the time. I wanted to be more willing to allow the time and space of the moment to fill the development of the character." On the Energy That You Get From a Nicolas Cage Performance When You're Working with Him — Both as an Actor and as a Director Julian: "That is one of the reasons I looked at this as a great opportunity to challenge my own concept of performance. I love the energy that Nicolas brings to his work. And now the question is 'how do I contrast that energy, that delivery, that performance, so that when we see the two of them on screen, we know that we are dealing with two completely different individuals? And then let that play?'. Lorcan: "A lot of it is in conversation before shooting. We talk about scenes, we talk about what point he's going to — his character changes, his voice changes at certain points in the film, and he's hobbled at certain points of film, then his foot gets a little better, all those sort of things were tracked in prep. And then, when we're shooting, in terms of directing, a lot of the time it was just Nic — so we could do silent movie-style directing. The scene where he completely breaks down and he's crying, sobbing, and then that turns into rage — shooting that, we're shooting on the long lens, slowly zooming in on him. And then I'd be saying 'you've lost everything, you're crying, everything's falling apart, you're never going to get the house'. And you're like 'and now you're starting to get angry, you're getting angrier, you snap'. And he loves that actually, being directed off-camera, and he can just give that performance and time it to the movement of the camera then as well. So all that was really good fun. But I think there was an element of trust between us as well, that he trusted that I just use all the best pieces to put it together in the edit, which allowed him the freedom to give a few different types of performance throughout the film — that we would just use the best of." On Finding a Balance of Charisma and Menace for Scally — and Digging Into Humanity's Yearning to Belong, and the Rules and Hierarchies That We're Willing to Enforce and Abide to, Along the Way Julian: "There may not be a perfect balance — and I believe, quite definitively, that there is no real way to play charisma, and then perhaps menace. He is who he is and he does what he does, and it's up to the viewer's discretion as to how that should be interpreted. Being present to each moment would be my only way to find balance. Scally has his own discomforts, and he is very much still finding his way. Even though he would never expose that side of himself, he knows he's a work in progress. Scally's position is one of such that if he waivers, it is very likely that he will lose the love and devotion of those who see him as someone worth listening to, someone worthy of following." On Finding the Exact Right Quintessential Australian Beach for the One-Location Film Lorcan: "That was the biggest challenge. And actually, although it might seem like it — and I thought the same, 'oh yeah, there will there be loads of them' — it was really hard to find a car park that's raised quite high above the beach with a view down, and the beach being a certain scale, and all that kind of thing. We settled on Western Australia early on, which is obviously, as you know, it's gigantic — it's not exactly a small place. And we scouted north of Perth, as far as Kalbarri, I think. And then we scouted south of Perth. And, actually I think Yallingup was the last place we stopped when we were going south. And as soon as I saw it — I first saw the beach, and I thought it looked perfect, that kind of crystalline turquoise water which is very evocative of memories and dreams. And this golden sand. And then the car park above it was perfect size, and surrounded by bush. There's a national park area right behind it. And then it has a great vantage point, like a viewpoint down to the beach. So it has all the elements. So we're trying to match the staging of the script to the location. And then once we found the location that was perfect for the film, we tweaked the script to match it better as well. But it's harder than you think to find this sort of car park that is perched above a beautiful beach‚ with good surf as well. Nice breaks. And Western Australia, as well, has these amazing sunsets, that you get this really long twilight kind of lighting, which we took advantage of as well." On Why Localism, Plus the Manifestations of Masculinity and Aggression That Can Come with It, Are Common Themes in Australian Cinema Julian: "That's a tricky one to answer. I guess the simplest answer would be that Australian cinema is still challenged by those concepts, and is perhaps looking for a way to flush that out and understand it. That said, if you've read anything from Thomas Martin, he very specifically notes that his ideas and concepts were developed in many places. Californian surf culture was a heavy influence, as an example." Lorcan: "I suppose Western Australia, anyway, still has a very masculine kind of energy to it. I think it's because it's a lot of mining, a lot of very physical jobs that men perform there. And they can also make a lot of money very quickly, and then also lose it very quickly. It's one of the most-remote cities of the world — the most-remote city in the world — Perth, isn't it? And so I think although Australia has changed a lot since the 70s, in terms of becoming more liberal, I suppose, and less chaotic, there's still elements of that. And it was interesting to see the culture between, even from Perth down to Margaret River. Margaret River is a beautiful wine region and everyone was actually really welcoming — and there's a winery called Bacchus Family, who invited the entire crew up to their estate, their vineyard, and wined and dined us. And I suppose, this is similar to Ireland, in a way. Ireland has sort of grown in parallel with Australia, in terms of we used to be very Catholic, and there was a very kind of patriarchy in Ireland, that still exists but has evolved over the years. And I feel like it's the same with Australia. But there's still interesting things — like the way that masculinity has evolved over the years has almost come full-circle. Now there's these guys who are lost and looking for something, looking for belonging. And that whole male cult is forming around the world, I think, not even just Australia." The Surfer released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 15, 2025, then streams via Stan from Sunday, June 15, 2025. Images: David Dare Parker / Radek Ladczuk.
Godzilla might loom over a hotel and cinema complex in Tokyo, and Studio Ghibli might be one of the happiest places in the country; however there's more to Japanese filmmaking than giant lizards and heartwarming animation. To demonstrate that fact, every year the Japanese Film Festival rounds up a diverse array of the nation's latest movies, sends them Australia's way and tours the country. Running this November and December in Sydney and Melbourne, this year's festival couldn't make that case with a more eclectic range of offerings, with everything from historical martial arts epics to creepy murder mysteries to cats — always cats — on the lineup. Picking just one flick to see from is always a struggle, so we're here to help. Add these six to your must-see list, pair your movie with a bowl of ramen, and you're in for quite the Japanese feast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxKD1bhf4Y SNOW WOMAN Japan might be known for thrilling fare that American filmmakers can't stop remaking, but this interpretation of ghostly folklore isn't your usual J-horror affair. Moody, purposeful and graceful with its deliberate pacing, non-linear narrative and black-and-white imagery, Snow Woman tells of a hunter's altercation with a mysterious spirit, his promise to never breathe a word and the identical-looking beauty who soon arrives in his village. He's entranced, they're entranced — and so will everyone watching director Kiki Sugino's hypnotic film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUFEm55DLg BEFORE WE VANISH From directing Japanese horror effort Pulse, to helming Cannes prize-winning ghostly romance Journey to the Shore, filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa might be drawn to haunting stories — but he never makes the same film twice. After last year's one-two punch of bad neighbour flick Creepy and French-set Gothic tale Daguerrotype, he's tussling with aliens in Before We Vanish. In this invasion-focused movie, no one actually notices the extra-terrestrials gathering information while hiding out among humanity, in a They Live-like concept that speaks to the busy, self-absorbed nature of modern life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQYrbqO0d48 HER LOVE BOILS BATHWATER Of the plethora of flicks Japan could've chosen to represent the country at next year's Oscars, it went with Her Love Boils Bathwater. Whether it'll progress in the hotly contested best foreign-language film category is yet to be seen, but it's a moving contender — and a fine example of the nation's dramatic chops. At the centre of the movie sits a dying single mother trying to make sure her bullied adolescent daughter will be able to cope without her, and resurrecting her family's bathhouse in the process. Delicately handled, with both keen insights and warm humour oozing through, this isn't mere movie-of-the-week territory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lDMdzwMm6c NEKO ATSUME HOUSE How many hours have you spent playing the addictive cat collecting game that is Neko Atsume? There's only two answers: too many to count (for avid fans), or every waking moment from this point forward (for anyone just discovering this time-filler right now). Well, Neko Atsume House turns all that fun into a movie. Enough said, really; however if you want more details, it follows a struggling novelist who gets his groove back after not only encountering a cat, but subsequently transforming his backyard into the kind of space any kitty — plenty of kitties, in fact — would go crazy for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNtnTCAK5-w KISEKI - SOBITO OF THAT DAY Dentists by day, pop group by night — it sounds like something straight out of an offbeat, upbeat, larger-than-life movie, doesn't it? While the story of Japanese band GReeeeN has been turned into a flick in Kiseki - Sobito of That Day, it's actually a true story. Yes, really. The chart-toppers formed in dental school a decade ago, sung their way to success and managed to maintain their fame by doing something very dentist-like: not showing their faces in public. They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and this tale definitely proves that statement and then some. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kczb7IJJg0g IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD Think Japanese animation, and Studio Ghibli instantly comes to mind thanks to their gorgeous visuals, expert handling of story and emotion, and all-round enchanting vibe. In This Corner of the World isn't a Ghibli film, but saying that it feels like one really is the highest praise we can muster. Indeed, writer/director Sunao Katabuchi was an assistant director on Kiki's Delivery Service, however, his latest effort is all his own. Exploring the life of a teenager wed to a young naval clerk in Hiroshima, the World War II-set movie is as poetic as it is perceptive as it combines a coming-of-age tale with a personal account of times of combat. The 2017 Japanese Film Festival screens at Sydney's Event Cinemas George Street from November 16 to 26, and Melbourne's Hoyts Melbourne Central from November 23 to December 3. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
In the 90s classic that is Point Break, some Southern California surfers don't take too kindly to Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves, Sonic the Hedgehog 3) hitting the waves on their turf. In 70s Australian masterpiece Wake in Fright, a new arrival in the outback — the fictional Bundanyabba, with the film shooting Broken Hill — isn't greeted warmly, either. Combine the two and The Surfer might be the end result, at least based on the Nicolas Cage-starring Aussie movie's just-released full trailer. If Cage said "I want my surfboard" to you, you'd take notice. But in The Surfer, that request doesn't go as planned for his character. Instead, a group of local surfers just laugh and tell him that it isn't his board — as audiences also caught a glimpse of back in 2024 when the Australian-made psychological thriller initially dropped its first clip. [caption id="attachment_931569" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Radek Ladczuk[/caption] It was before that, in 2023, that word arrived that the inimitable actor was hopping from playing himself in 2022's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and then Dracula in 2023's Renfield to becoming an Australian surfer in a film called, fittingly, The Surfer. Then came first-look image of the actor from late in 2023, that aforementioned initial clip and a debut at Cannes 2024. Next stop: playing US cinemas from early May 2025. After that, Cage's Aussie stint will make its way to picture palaces in Australia from Thursday, May 15, 2025. Stan, which is behind the movie, will then stream it locally, naming it on the platform's 2025 slate and locking in a Sunday, June 15, 2025 small-screen release. [caption id="attachment_956101" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Radek Ladczuk[/caption] Slotting into Cage's resume alongside everything from crooning Elvis songs in David Lynch's Wild at Heart to having everyone see him when they slumber in Dream Scenario and getting murderous in Longlegs, The Surfer sees him star as an Australian expat returning home from America, then getting in a beach battle with that local gang of wave riders. The actor's titular character makes the trip Down Under after years in the US, only to get humiliated by other surfers in front of his teenage son. Cue a turf war, plus Cage's protagonist refusing to leave the beach. Cue the stakes escalating and the movie's namesake having his sanity tested, too. The film shot in Yallingup in Western Australia, just in the single location, with director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) helming and working with a script by screenwriter Thomas Martin. Featuring alongside Cage: an Aussie cast that spans Julian McMahon (FBI: Most Wanted), Nicholas Cassim (The Messenger), Miranda Tapsell (The Artful Dodger), Alexander Bertrand (Australian Gangster), Justin Rosniak (Mr Inbetween), Rahel Romahn (Here Out West), Finn Little (Yellowstone) and Charlotte Maggi (Summer Love). Check out the trailer for The Surfer below: The Surfer releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 15, 2025, then streams via Stan from Sunday, June 15, 2025. UPDATED: Friday, February 28, 2025.
Zach Cregger knows how to keep audiences guessing. The films that viewers think they're sitting down to see when he's behind the lens as a solo director aren't the movies that end up unfurling across the screen — in the most-thrilling way possible. Perhaps that element of surprise is fitting, given that Cregger's career has also enjoyed its own big twist. Before he wrote and directed 2022's Barbarian and now 2025's Weapons, he started out as an actor, debuting in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Next, he helped form comic troupe Whitest Kids U' Know, which took its sketches to TV for five seasons. Comedy flicks College, Miss March and The Civil War on Drugs, the latter two of which he co-helmed and co-penned with fellow WKUK founder Trevor Moore, are also on his resume, as are Love & Air Sex and Date and Switch. Ahead of making two of the 2020s' best horror movies so far, Cregger also featured in sitcoms Friends with Benefits, Guys with Kids, About a Boy and Wrecked. He doesn't necessarily agree that Weapons fits that surprise setup, however. "Is that true? I don't know," Cregger tells Concrete Playground. "Definitely, I understand that for Barbarian, but I think I take issue with that for Weapons. I think Weapons is a relatively consistent movie. It's just we don't know what the answer is, but it never really seems to change to me." He continues: "to me, it does seem like it maintains a tone throughout. We just don't know where it's going to go". The mastermind behind the enthralling Josh Brolin (Outer Range)- and Julia Garner (Fantastic Four: The First Steps)-starring film — which deserves to be one of this year's most-talked about trips to the cinema — notes that Weapons "doesn't radically shift genres or anything like that, does it?". He's spot on. But even audiences that've seen the movie's trailers, obsessed over them thanks to their Barbarian affection and know the opening premise won't predict where this wild horror ride takes its story. "Well, it's a mystery. That should be the case," says Cregger, smiling. Sending viewers on an unexpected trip is exactly his aim as a filmmaker. In both Weapons' sneak peek and the film itself, a child's voice sets the scene. "This is a true story," it starts with, although this is a fictional tale. Those youthful tones and that five-word phrase are where Cregger himself began writing — and also with the idea of a kid telling a campfire story. Initially, he too didn't know where the narrative would then venture. The rundown from that voice, as told with unnerving calm: "so this one Wednesday is like a normal day for the whole school, but the day was different. Every other class had all their kids, but Mrs Gandy's room was totally empty. And do you know why? Because the night before at 2.17 in the morning, every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs and into the dark — and they never came back". In her second horror flick of 2025 after Wolf Man, Garner plays Justine, the Maybrook Elementary teacher mentioned. When 17 children in her class disappear, blame comes her way — both fast and furiously. Brolin portrays Archer Gaff, the angry father of one of the missing kids, who is desperate for answers, quick to embrace the catharsis of pointing fingers wherever he can and also a constant presence at the local police station, because he's adamant that not enough is being done on the investigation. From there, Weapons' cast also spans Alden Ehrenreich (Ironheart) as Paul, one of the small town's cops, who has a link to Justine; Benedict Wong (Bad Genius) as Marcus, the school principal; Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives) as Alex, the only child in the class in question who doesn't run out into the night; and Austin Abrams (Wolfs) as the looking-for-a-fix James. Each one, like Justine and Archer, earns their own chapter. As he did in Barbarian, Cregger demonstrates a strong, engaging and devilishly clever command of Weapons' disquieting tone from its first moment till its last, including through its imagery. He's astute and smart about interrogating humanity's suspicious nature as well — of anyone we can hold responsible for our misfortune, or who doesn't meet our societal standards; of strangers; of anyone who calls us out — as he also was in his debut horror movie. He's also sharp and probing about weaponising mistrust. That digging also shines through in his ensemble's excellent array of performances. And, while he's made another picture dripping with unease, that rattles nerves and unsettles — a mood that bubbles up immediately and simmers constantly from there — he also splashes in moments of humour. There's an element of the Lynchian to Weapons, too, as it takes its can't-look-away journey. We also spoke with Cregger about a number of these aspects of the movie — and chatted with him about the film's inspiration, following the death of Moore, but not just adding another grief- and trauma-fuelled entry to the horror genre. If you've spotted that Barbarian began with strangers discovering something distressing in someone else's house, while Weapons commences with 17 children fleeing their own homes, we also talked with him about that swerve, alongside scaling up from one film to the next. On Whether Veering From Sinister Events Happening in Other People's Houses in Barbarian to 17 Children Leaving Their Own Homes in Weapons was a Purposeful Move "No. No, I try not to do anything purposefully when I'm writing, honestly. It's just for me, writing is a process of discovery, and I try and be as careless as possible. And so no, I certainly don't think about what I did before or anything like that when I'm writing." On the Inspiration for Weapons, After the Writing Process Started with the First Sentence Heard in the Film and with a Child Telling Audiences a Story "Well, I was dealing with grief. A very, very dear friend of mine died. And so I was feeling the absence of someone dear to me. And so the idea of writing about a community that is reckoning with the absence of something precious felt easy for me to access. And I was able to of funnel a lot of the emotion into these characters and let them just speak authentically. And so that's where it comes in. By the way, that was not like a conscious thought — like 'oh, I miss my friend, and so I'll [do this]'. It's just that's what subconsciously wanted to come out. And so my whole job as a writer, honestly, is to try to just turn my brain off as much as I can and become an antenna to my subconscious, and let it out and try to stay out of the way. And so this is the story that came out." On Loss, Grief and Mortality Being Common in Horror — But Using Them as a Starting Point Instead "It's so boring. Genuinely — it's like I'm so tired of horror movies as a metaphor for trauma and grief. It's just like 'can we turn the page already and make a horror movie that's just fun?', you know? And hopefully, that's what Weapons is supposed to be. It's just a fun rollercoaster ride. I do not have anything new to say about grief and trauma, and I don't pretend to. That's just the jumping off point." On Making Horror Films That Are Also Mysteries — and If Taking Audiences on a Ride and Keeping Them Guessing Is Important to Cregger "I don't know. It's not if it's important to me or not. It's about — I write only for an audience of one: for me. So I'm writing, my process is 'can I entertain myself?'. Because I am so ADD, and I'm so bored all the time. Especially when I'm watching movies, I'm so frequently bored. It's hard for me to finish any movie, mostly, because I just bail. So I want to write something that's going to hold my attention. And so I never — that's why I like to write not knowing where it's going to go and what's going to happen, and I try and keep myself engaged. So that, to me, is my only kind of barometer. I think I sounded a little asshole-ish when I just said that, but I don't mean to be throwing shade on other movies." On Whether Cregger Is Particularly Interested in the Weaponisation of Suspicion and Mistrust — Especially If Someone Else Can Be Blamed for Our Misfortunes "I suppose so. That's definitely human nature, right? We other-ise so easily. And I'm sure I've been on both sides of that many, many times in my life — and it's fertile ground for conflict, misreading other people and all of the all of the sabre-rattling that we see in modern culture, especially in America. It seems like all we do is just get worked up about other people that we don't understand, so I think that's very accessible as a writer." On What Inspires Cregger's Haunting, Lingering Horror Imagery "I have no idea what inspires it. I wish I had a good answer for that because I'd be able to do it more often, but I don't know. It's a case-by-case thing. It's a circumstantial thing. I have to think of something in the moment for what the character is facing. So I don't have any catalogue of creepy shit that I'm able to access — I just kind of, as the scene requires, try to do my best to think of what would be the scariest thing there. There's the people sitting on the couch not moving, which I think it's just bizarre that they would hear the sound — then who sits on their couch in the living room with the lights off? It's just — something's wrong. So that felt fun. The kids running with their arms out — it just feels like anytime you can just do something simple that implies there's a screw loose, that's fun to do. You want to create the maximum disconnect with the least amount of effort. But yeah, I don't know — I wish understood where those things can come from better, because I think I'd be a better writer." On Layering Humour Into a Film That Is Expertly Disquieting From Start to Finish "I think the lesson I learned in Weapons is that there are a few jokes I wrote in there that I thought were really funny. I wrote them in. And they didn't work. When I let the characters have their authentic reaction to bizarre situations, sometimes the humour just naturally appears. And that's what I try to encourage. But I've learned on this never to try to be clever and write a joke, because they're all on the cutting room floor and nobody liked them. So I guess that's my only kind of philosophy, is 'let it come from a real place. Don't try and be funny'. For me, by the way — that's just for me." On Working with a Cast That Includes Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong and More "I feel like a kid on Christmas every day. Watching these people who are so extremely good at what they do, leaning into making this story — I can't believe how lucky I am. Honestly, once I cast them, I really don't have a whole lot of credit to take. I kind of stand back and let them just do their thing. I just try to make sure that we're all making the same movie. They're so talented, they can go anywhere, and my job is to just make sure that we all have the same parameters. But yeah, I have had an amazing stroke of luck with everyone in this movie. They're all great." On Scaling Up From Barbarian to Weapons "Well, you never feel like you're on easy street. And I think if the budget was $200 million for this movie, I still would have felt the pinch. Because 'the lizard will grow to the size of its cave' is that an expression someone said to me once that I really like — where you just never feel like you have enough time and enough money to make it the way it wants to be made. And I think that's just filmmaking. I don't think that's unique to me. So, as fun as it was to be able to take a bigger swing and shoot bigger setpieces and have more stars in the movie — and all of that's great — you're still panicked that you're not going to get the shot before the sun goes down. That's just inevitable. And I don't mean to complain. I felt the bigger scale, don't get me wrong. But you still always feel like your back is against the wall." Weapons screens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
Surfers Paradise is known for many things — sun, surf, sand, Schoolies and tourists, mainly — but there's one thing that the Gold Coast strip hasn't had for more than 20 years. That's a cinema, after Hoyts shut up shop back in 1995. Local cinephiles and holidaying movie buffs can rejoice, however, with Palace announcing plans to open a 12-screen complex later this year. Coming to the corner of Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Elkhorn Avenue as part of the X Galaxy Centre redevelopment, the cinema will feature multiple lounge and bar areas, plus views over the city, all a mere block away from the beach. It'll form part of an extensive retail and dining precinct, and will be serviced by the light rail system. Patrons can expect the usual array of Palace bar offerings when the cinema opens — with an exact date yet to be announced — plus the chain's mix of art house and mainstream titles. Other than the Home of the Arts cinema (formerly known as the Arts Centre Gold Coast), the area is underserved when it comes to anything other than blockbuster and multiplex fare, making Palace a welcome addition. The Surfers site will bring the company's Queensland locations to three, with Palace operating 22 in total across Australia. They're certainly busy — as well as opening a 13-screen, pink-hued cinema in Sydney's Chippendale last year, new sites in Double Bay and Melbourne's Old Pentridge Prison and Moonee Ponds are also in the works.
According to one urban myth, Sydney's jacarandas are the work of an unknown hospital matron who sent every new mother home with a seedling. Another states that soldiers brought the trees home as gifts on their return from World War II. The problem is that there's no evidence for either. So no one really knows how Sydney came to have so many. What we do know, though, is that, come late October, the city begins to transform into a vision of purple, as hundreds of jacarandas bloom. But they don't hang around for long — the flowers are expected to peak in mid-November and usually disappear by early December. So, if you're keen to see them, it's time to start planning a day out. Here are a few spots — both in and near Sydney — where you can get your jacaranda fix this spring. [caption id="attachment_692359" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Circula Quay, Destination NSW[/caption] CIRCULAR QUAY AND THE ROCKS The Rocks' heritage-listed sandstone provides another striking backdrop. Turn your adventure into a lovely walk by starting at the Royal Botanic Gardens and following the Harbour shore line to The Rocks. PADDINGTON Paddington's most famous jacarandas line Oxford Street, just outside Victoria Barracks. But you'll find plenty more among the suburb's back streets and parks — especially around Five Ways. LAVENDER BAY To see a purple sea against the brilliant blue of the Harbour, head to Lavender Bay on the lower north shore. Other spots to check out nearby include Wollstonecraft, Waverton and Kirribilli's famous (and always packed with photo-takers) jacaranda 'tunnel' on McDougall Street. HUNTERS HILL While you're on the north shore, head a little west to take a stroll through Hunters Hill. For a local's perspective, jump on board a walking tour with the Hunters Hill Trust. CAMDEN Found an hour's drive southwest of the Sydney CBD, Camden's town centre transforms into a blaze of purple, thanks to 39 trees planted way back in the 1920s. The town hosts its own annual Jacaranda Festival, too, which this year falls on the weekend of November 22–24 . Images: Destination NSW.
If you didn't see The Fall Guy, Twisters, Deadpool & Wolverine, Challengers, Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, The Substance, Kneecap, It Ends with Us or Despicable Me 4 on the big screen already in 2024, here's the perfect way to catch up with them: under the stars, while sprawled out on a picnic blanket or sat on a bean bed, at the latest season of Moonlight Cinema. And if watching Christmas films is one of your festive traditions, here's a scenic way to do that, too, with this annual opportunity to enjoy a movie outside packing its just-dropped first lineup for this year with seasonal flicks. As it does every summer, Moonlight Cinema is returning for another run of films in the open air, locking in its dates, venues and first program details for its 2024–25 stints in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. While the outdoor picture palace is synonymous with the warmest season of the year, it kicks off at the end of spring in most cities, and runs through to the end of the first month of autumn in some as well. The projector will start rolling in Brisbane first, with the River City's season taking place across Thursday, November 21–Sunday, February 16 in Roma Street Parklands. Next up is Sydney, in Centennial Parklands from Friday, November 22–Sunday, March 30. Then comes Adelaide and Melbourne a week later, the former from Thursday, November 28–Sunday, February 16, 2024 in Botanic Park and the latter across Friday, November 29–Sunday, March 30 in Royal Botanic Gardens. Perth movie lovers can get their fix in Kings Park and Botanic Garden from Thursday, December 5–Sunday, March 30. Lineup specifics always vary per location, so not all of the aforementioned titles — or the ones below — show in every city. But the program still gives patrons a mix of recent, new and classic fare wherever they're sitting on the grass while soaking in the evening, the fresh air and a movie. Among the brand-new titles, Gladiator II and Wicked are also on the bill, as are advanced screenings of the Hugh Grant (Unfrosted)-starring horror film Heretic and Robbie Williams biopic Better Man. When Paddington in Peru gets the same treatment, you'll want marmalade sandwiches in your picnic basket. The OG version of Mean Girls will grace Moonlight Cinema's screens, too, as will 2023's smash-hit Barbie. And for a merry time at the movies — a jolly one as well — the roster of Christmas fare spans the new Red One, as well as classics Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. If you're wondering what else Moonlight will show across its full season, it now drops its program month by month, so watch this space for more announcements. As always, the films and the setting are just two parts of the cinema's experience. Also on offer: the returning Aperol spritz bar. Nosh-wise, the event will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks (no alcohol in Brisbane, though), but the unorganised can enjoy a plethora of bites to eat onsite while reclining on bean beds. There'll also be two VIP sections for an extra-luxe openair movie experience, a platinum package with waiter service in Sydney and Melbourne only, and a beauty cart handing out samples. Plus, dogs are welcome at all sites except Perth — there's even special doggo bean beds. Moonlight Cinema 2024–25 Dates Brisbane: Thursday, November 21, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025 in Roma Street Parklands Sydney: Friday, November 22, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Centennial Parklands Adelaide: Thursday, November 28, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025, 2024 in Botanic Park Melbourne: Friday, November 29, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Royal Botanic Gardens Perth: Thursday, December 5, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Kings Park and Botanic Garden Moonlight Cinema kicks off in November 2024, running through until March 2025. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the cinema's website — and we'll update you with further program details when they're announced.
Bodega has been cooking up tapas in its Commonwealth Street digs for 13 years. Now, it's shaking things up. Next month, owners and hospo legends Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate (Porteño, Bodega 1904) are moving the restaurant into sister venue Wyno Bar and Shop just around the corner. "Since [2017] when we acquired 121BC — which is now Wyno — it was always the plan for us to move Bodega there," says Abrahanowicz. "It's something we've been thinking about for a few years now and we were really just waiting for the right time." Come August, the Wyno dining room will become Bodega 2.0. The 27-seat venue will be transformed to feel (and look) a bit more like Bodega, the space opened up and a brand new kitchen installed, too. "We've been changing the space slowly over time and will add in a few more bits and pieces before reopening," says Abrahanowicz. "As it's small there's not too much you can do, but we're definitely bringing in that Bodega feel, so you'll 100 percent know you're at Bodega." [caption id="attachment_731763" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bodega[/caption] As far as the food goes, the focus will still be on Spanish and South American tapas, but the seasonal menu will now change weekly. Two beloved Bodega dishes will remain regulars, though: the fish fingers (raw kingfish on charred toast, topped with cuttlefish and salt-cured tuna) and the banana split (a cake layered with flan and banana marshmallow, then sprinkled with salted peanuts and served with dulce de leche ice cream). Wine drinkers will be happy to know that, while the bar will close, the Wyno bottle shop isn't going anywhere. That means you'll have plenty of top-notch bottles to choose from when making your tapas selection, too. And Bodega fans won't need to go without for long — the restaurant will reopen on Holt Street just four-to-five days after closing down on Commonwealth Street. As for the existing space, it has been snapped up by the team behind Tokyo Bird and Osaka Trading Co. They're planning to open a new Japanese concept called Nikkei — but details on that one are still under wraps for now. We'll update you with more when the time comes. Bodega Tapas Bar will closing its doors on Saturday, August 17. It's slated to reopen at 50 Holt Street, Surry Hills on Wednesday, August 21. Top image: Wyno by Katje Ford
The Taika Waititi school of acting gave Julian Dennison one of his first-ever roles in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and James Rolleston his debut in Boy. Seven years after the former and 13 since the latter, the two play brothers in another coming-of-age effort: Uproar. That cheerworthy casting is joined by Our Flag Means Death co-stars Rhys Darby and Minnie Driver in a film that's not only warmhearted, but always feels as if it's practising one of the messages that it's preaching. Set amid 1981's infamous Springbok tour of New Zealand — with South Africa's rugby union team playing games across the nation, and inspiring protests against both apartheid and Aotearoa's treatment of its Māori population as it went — this is a movie about a cultural awakening, and about finding and embracing community. Behind the lens, Uproar's directors have teamed up, too, with Hamish Bennett helming his second feature after 2019's also-heartfelt Bellbird and Paul Middleditch back in the chair for the first time since 2013's Rapture-Palooza. When it told of a father and son struggling to connect, and just struggling, after the loss of the family matriarch who bound them together, Bellbird traded in the same kind of poignancy that seeps through in this engaging charmer. With its sports-meets-politics narrative, there may be few doubts about where Uproar is headed; however, Bennett and Sonia Whiteman's (The Disposables) script — as based on a concept by Middleditch and first-timer Mark Turnbull, a screenplay by Keith Aberdein (The Last Tattoo) before that, and boasting additional writing by Mario Gaoa (We Are Still Here) and actor Rachel House (Heartbreak High) — knows that reality and movies alike can follow a familiar path and be no less affecting and resonant. In another memorable addition to his resume that shows his emotional depth, especially in a potent late monologue, Dennison plays Josh Waaka, 17-year-old son to British-born widow Shirley (Driver). He's dutifully in St Gilberts School for Men's 2nd XV when the 1981 tour comes to Dunedin, but largely because much about his existence is dutiful. His father was a local rugby star. His older brother Jamie (Rolleston) was a former Junior All Black before his career was cut short by injury. To make ends meet, Shirley cleans at the school — and imposing Principal Slaine (Mark Mitchinson, Evil Dead Rise) ensures that the Waakas feel grateful. In fact, when Slane requests that Jamie help coach the 1st XV, he's hardly asking. And when Shirley says that he will, she gets the reluctant Josh a spot on the higher team as part of the arrangement, telling him that it'll set him up for life. Staying out of the public debate about the Springboks is also expected of the St Gilberts' cohort, in a place that's against taking a stand against discrimination yet fine with Josh spending his lunch break alone in the library to avoid his openly racist classmates. But that isn't the community that he wants as his own even before he crosses paths with the marching Samantha (Erana James, Bad Behaviour) while delivering catalogues with his best friend Grace (debutant Jada Fa'atui), and gets a reminder that her Māori heritage is his as well. And, being surrounded by books and silence soon isn't his only option between lessons. English teacher Brother Madigan (Darby) spies a potential actor in Josh, who needs encouraging to join the drama group, then wows his way into auditioning for NIDA in Sydney becoming an option. Outrage frequently makes its presence known in Uproar's crisply lensed frames: in Samantha decrying the country putting sports above equality in any way that she can, in the engrained prejudice that festers against NZ's Indigenous inhabitants daily, in clashes on the street and even within activist meetings, where saying that you're an ally isn't the same as truly understanding having one's land taken. The film's name also comes into play another way, though, as Josh's existence erupts in chaos. As tales about teens becoming adults often do, Bennett and Middleditch's movie tells of change rippling through almost everything that its protagonist thought that he knew. New causes to champion, new connections to his culture, new dreams to chase, new friends, new futures, a new purpose in life that echoes among his nearest and dearest: compared to the pre-tour status quo, this is indeed an impassioned uproar against just getting by, settling and never speaking up. Since his time as Ricky Baker, Dennison has enjoyed big-budget stints in Deadpool 2 and Godzilla vs Kong — and in the festive The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two — but this is his best role since getting stranded in the wilderness for Waititi. The likeable pluck and wit that endeared him to audiences then is layered with searing determination and angst here, while never forgetting humour as well. As Jamie is pushed to rediscover more than just his room and his disappointment at fate, Rolleston is also stellar, as he similarly was in The Dead Lands, The Rehearsal and The Breaker Upperers. The subtlety of Darby's kind and caring performance doesn't go unnoticed, either, and nor does the quiet fortitude of Driver's turn. At the heart of Uproar's key characters, which includes Samantha and Grace, is that other recognisable high-school feeling: being an outsider. That isn't purely an adolescent experience, of course. It hasn't avoided the star player now unable to take to the field, the woman whose marriage wasn't embraced by two families in two countries or the teacher who doesn't fit in — and it certainly hasn't evaded an entire culture that's been made to feel like its home wasn't its own for centuries thanks to the ongoing impact of colonisation, or other First Nations people with similar stories. As it sees and unpacks each of these layers, Uproar sees why living up to its moniker is so important, and also how. It spies the many methods of pushing back and sparking a ruckus. It knows the power of fighting for what's right, just and decent communally. And it wouldn't be as moving without its cast, but that's what coming together means.
For the second year in a row, one of Australia's filmmaking icons has joined the Sydney Film Festival's program: George Miller, the director responsible for all things Mad Max and Furiosa. In 2024, he hit the Harbour City festival to chat about his work, including the dystopian saga that he has gifted Aussie cinema, but his 2025 discussion will span further. Not only is Miller taking to the stage, but he'll be joined by Hideo Kojima. One is the man responsible not just for a big Australian movie franchise, but for the big Australian movie franchise. He's also followed a pig in the city, made penguins dance, gotten witchy and granted wishes, too. The other is the creator of both the DEATH STRANDING and Metal Gear Solid video-game series, and heads to Sydney just before DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH releases at the end of June. This is a world-exclusive in-conversation session, taking place on Saturday, June 14 at Sydney Town Hall's Centennial Hall — so consider it one of the ace ways to help see out this year's cinema celebration, which runs from Wednesday, June 4–Sunday, June 15. Miller and Kojima will not only dig into how they each approach their fields, plus their respective visionary approaches, but also explore how movies and video games overlap, alongside cinematic storytelling in gaming. Greats in their own rights, the duo are also recent collaborators — Miller portrays himself in the Australia-set DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH.
Just like that, Beck has announced he'll be playing a surprise show in Sydney this Friday, February 23. It'll be happening at the Factory Theatre and tickets will be strictly limited to just 500. So, as you can imagine, fans are ready to pull teeth to lay their hands on one. In order to stop these rowdy masses from losing all control, promoters Secret Sounds and Live Nation are making tickets available by ballot only. And you have until midday today — Wednesday, February 21 — to register. You'll be told via email whether or not you scored a ticket by 5pm. Beck is making just three other appearances in Australia, one at the inaugural Sydney City Limits festival taking place at Centennial Park this Saturday, as well as two headline shows in Sydney and Canberra. Image: Lauren Dukoff.
Spending two days surrounded by sport-crazed fans in Sydney's big gun stadium might not sound like your typical weekend. But if an international carnival of music, booze and killer costumes is your thing, clear February 6 and 7 in your calendar right now. Across two days this February, Allianz Stadium will play host to one of Rugby’s iconic annual events, the HSBC Sevens World Series. Bringing together revellers from 16 nations around the globe, Sydney 7s promises a perfect mix of partying and cracking sporting performances. With visitors flocking in everywhere from Fiji to South Africa, this is set to be an action-packed weekend not to be missed. Best of all, this year’s theme of ‘Go Global’ sees spectators encouraged to dress up and show some colourful international pride. Dust off that long forgotten costume and head along to see some knock out sporting talent hit the pitch. Sydney 7s will take place at Allianz Stadium from February 6 to 7. Single day or weekend ticket passes can purchased from Ticketek. Image: Nick Malouf.
If you're a Harry Potter fan keen to relive the wonder of your favourite book-to-film series, you don't need to cast a spell or wind your time turner to get some wizarding fun. Pottermore, Fantastic Beasts spinoffs and The Cursed Child might've followed the original franchise, but JK Rowling's boy-who-lived and his pals are never far away from a big screen — or a concert hall. After doing the honours with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it's hardly surprising that this piece of prime movie and music magic for muggles has now turned its wand to the third flick in the series. From April 2018, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will be heading to the Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to screen the film while the score is played live by each city's symphony orchestras. Prepare for John Williams' Oscar-nominated music to echo through your ears as you watch Harry, Hermione, Ron and company meet Sirius Black, realise that they shouldn't believe every dark tale they hear, learn something new about their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and tussle with Peter Pettigrew. That means dogs, wolves, rats and Dementor's Kisses are all part of the action, plus Buckbeak the hippogriff, and trips to The Leaky Cauldron and the Shrieking Shack. It's arguably the best movie in the series, as directed by a pre-Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, and it's certain to prove even more enchanting with live music. We've said it before and we'll say it again — will sell like pumpkin pasties, so get in quick or spend eternity griping about it like some Moaning Myrtle-type character. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert teams up with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House from 18 - 20 April 2018, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for two shows on 19 May 2018, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 8 - 9 November 2018. For more information, head to the SSO, QSO and MSO websites.
Don't dig pickles on your burger? Well, that's one thing you've got in common with rap sensation The Kid LAROI. How do we know? Because the award-winning artist has just revealed to the world his go-to Macca's meal, teaming up with the fast-food giant on the first-ever Aussie edition of its Famous Orders collaboration series. It means that for a limited time, you can rock up to any McDonald's in the country, make like a celeb and order The Kid LAROI special — a cheeseburger without pickles, plus medium fries, a medium frozen Coke and a six-piece McNuggets with barbecue sauce. Hitting the menu from Thursday, May 26, the Famous Orders meal will also be available via the MyMacca's app and McDelivery. The launch of the pickle-free feed comes as The Kid LAROI returns Down Under for his sold-out Aussie tour. The Sydney-born artist and proud Kamilaroi man has made huge waves overseas in the past couple of years, thanks to a slew of chart-topping songs, including collaborations with Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. While this marks the first local Famous Orders release, Macca's already has a swag of international versions under its belt. This time last year, the series saw famed K-pop group BTS touting their signature order — fries, a large soft drink and a 10-piece chicken McNuggets with sweet chilli and Cajun dipping sauces. The Kid LAROI Famous Order will be available at McDonald's stores nationwide, from May 26, for a limited time.
Prepare to spend more time scrolling through streaming queues from this November onwards — that's when Apple's new film and television platform will arrive. Called Apple TV+, announced earlier this year and just revealing that it'll launch on November 1, the new subscription service will feature a heap of new original television shows, movies and documentaries. They'll all be available ad-free and on demand, with access via the company's existing Apple TV app and the Apple TV+ website. The platform will debut just a few weeks before Disney's new streaming service, Disney+. And, like the Mouse House's foray into the world of online viewing, Apple TV+ will come relatively cheap. Australian viewers will be able to subscribe for $7.99 per month, while New Zealanders can sign up for $8.99 per month. While Apple doesn't have its own decades-old library of content to draw upon, like its sizeable competitor, it is investing a heap of cash into new shows. The company has revealed a sizeable lineup of new original series it hopes will attract your TV-loving eyeballs — and plenty of stars to go with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVsM4gvkQXo Fancy watching Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell navigate the world of morning television in the appropriately titled drama series Morning Wars? Jason Momoa in a new sci-fi show called See, which is set in a world where humans are born blind? A reboot of 90s kids favourite Ghostwriter? A new docu-series from Oprah — and the return of her book club? They're all on the way, and will be available from the outset. Most series will premiere with three episodes, then roll out one new instalment per week afterwards — although some will drop full seasons at once. At launch, the above shows will also be joined by Dickinson, with Hailee Steinfeld playing poet Emily Dickinson, plus Snoopy in Space, a new Peanuts production about the beagle's desire to become an astronaut. Or, you can look forward to documentary The Elephant Queen, exploring the animal species and their proximity to extinction, and For All Mankind, which'll ponder what could've happened if America was still literally reaching for the stars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rg0y7NT1gU Down the line, Apple TV+ will also be home to Servant, a new psychological thriller from M. Night Shyamalan; Truth Be Told, which is based on a novel about true crime podcasts and features Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul; and Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie-starring flick The Banker, about two African American entrepreneurs trying to make it in the 50s. The list goes on, spanning a revival of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories anthology series; crime thriller Defending Jacob, starring Chris Evans; and a TV remake of Terry Gilliam's film Time Bandits, with a pilot directed by Taika Waititi. There's also a comedy set in a video game development studio from the folks behind It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a yet-to-be-named CIA undercover agent series starring Brie Larson, and new series from La La Land director Damien Chazelle. As well as being available on iPhones, iPads, Apple TV and the iPod touch, the Apple TV app is accessible via select Samsung smart TVs, and will hit Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and VIZIO platforms sometime in the future, too. Apple TV+ is set to launch on November 1. For more details, or to sign up for future updates, visit the streaming platform's website.
Eiffel 65's 1998 hit 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)' doesn't play over the first trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water, but you're forgiven if you get it stuck in your head anyway. The 97-second clip comes with a sweeping score by composer Simon Franglen (a veteran of the first film) that's designed to set an ethereal and epic mood — but blue really is the colour of all that it wears. If you saw James Cameron's initial entry in this sci-fi franchise back in 2009 — and given that the original Avatar quickly became the highest-grossing film of all time, it's highly likely that you did, because seemingly everyone did — then all those shades of blue won't come as a surprise. They're splashed across the movie's CGI-filled waters, skies and Na'vi people, and across the first look at its long-awaited sequel as well. Yes, 13 years after the first flick became such an enormous hit, there really is evidence that the long-floated follow-up will reach cinemas this year. Avatar: The Way of Water is one of those movies that you might only truly believe exists once you're sat in a theatre watching it, though, because it has been in the works for that long. It's currently set to reach the silver screen Down Under this December, stepping back into the story of the Sully family, aka Jake (Sam Worthington, Fires), Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, The Adam Project) and their children, on the habitable moon Pandora. This time around, staying safe and alive remains a focus — and, from the just-dropped trailer, it looks like more battles are a-coming. The initial clip, which started screening in cinemas with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but has only just made its way online, doesn't spell out much in the way of plot, however. Given that Avatar wowed viewers mainly due to its imagery and special effects (and definitely not its "Dances with Wolves but in space"-style narrative), that too is hardly astonishing. Also set to feature amid all those pixels: Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Stephen Lang (Don't Breathe 2), Cliff Curtis (Reminiscence), Joel David Moore (Bones), CCH Pounder (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown) and Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement. And, obviously, James Cameron is back in the director's chair. If the sneak peek has you excited about re-entering Avatar's blue-heavy world, get ready for more where that came from. A third movie is due in 2024, a fourth in 2026 and a fifth in 2028. Also, the original Avatar will return to cinemas in September, in the lead-up to Avatar: The Way of Water. (And no, there's no word yet whether a team-up with The Smurfs, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Blue Man Group might ever be in the works.) Check out the trailer below: Avatar: The Way of Water releases in cinemas Down Under on December 15. Images: Photos courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
If there are seven basic plots in literature, one of them must be, 'woman has sex, everyone dies'. At least, it seems to be so among the English Renaissance dramatists. Recently in Sydney, we've seen Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, great tragedies where incest seems to be its own genre, punishing women for their sexuality is the norm, and grotesquery reigns. Shakespeare may even be the cheeriest of his contemporaries. For theatre-makers putting on these plays today, it's imperative that they do something with the contained misogyny (Benedict Andrews dealt with Shakespeare's 'problem play' Measure for Measure, the plot of which turns on a woman's virginity, by making it madly implode — that was something) and find a relatable note for modern audiences. Bell Shakespeare's The Duchess of Malfi, adapted by Hugh Colman and Ailsa Piper from the original tragedy by John Webster, gets much closer than most, mainly because the Duchess gets to be a full character. Though she may be admired for her "noble virtue", Lucy Bell (daughter of John Bell, who directs) plays her as a self-assured woman with a humanistic moral code, a sense of humour that spans the wry and the silly, and, yes, sexuality she owns. When her brothers, the manipulative Cardinal (David Whitney) and creepily in-love-with-her Judge (Sean O'Shea), forbid the young widow to remarry, she secretly weds Antonio (Matthew Moore), steward of her household and a man widely regarded as being "too honest". Unfortunately, word is destined to get back to the brothers eventually, because they've stationed spy and assassin Daniel de Bosola (Ben Wood) at her door. Wood puts in a great performance as the hulking, ocker-toned Bosola, who gets all the best lines. The way he can pick up all the other cast members on stage is a sheer joy. Still, as much as he's an engaging character and in many ways our guide through this version of the play, he also remains frustratingly impenetrable, required to be both mercenary and bleeding heart. Trimmed down to a svelte 110 minutes without interval, this Duchess is overall a dark, insidious, and thrilling concentrate. Its minimal, nightclubby set, studded with quiet doors and ensnaring lights, facilitates the fluid way in which characters move in the text, assembling and reassembling in various permutations. The sense of doublecrossing and deceit is white hot as this punished woman and everyone she's touched go to their inevitable end. https://youtube.com/watch?v=bgy-GkSQ7Mk
Last year the State Government announced some ambitious (and unprecedented) plans to expand Melbourne's rail network — ones that we were, admittedly, unsure whether to get too excited about. But it's happening. The long-debated $11 billion Metro Tunnel project has been funded and the Andrews Government has just revealed who will design and build the project, along with a first look at what it will all look like. Just to catch you up, the Metro Tunnel will see two new nine-kilometre twin tunnels and five underground train stations added to Melbourne's inner city. These new stations will be located in Parkville, North Melbourne, CBD North, CBD South and the Domain, and create a new path into the city that doesn't rely on (but connects to) the City Loop. The idea is that it will ease congestion in the City Loop and allow more trains to be getting in and out of the city. In a media release published yesterday, the Andrews Government announced that, after an extensive tender process, they've created the Cross Yarra Partnership to build and design the tunnel and stations. This partnership will involve a number of companies, led by Lendlease Engineering, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital. Along with the announcement, the first station designs have been been revealed too. They look a hell of a lot different to the inside of Melbourne Central, with first renders showing a preference for arches and what most underground stations lack: natural light. At street level, some of the new stations will also add public space. Here's a quick look at the five stations. ARDEN If you're travelling via Footscray, you'll bypass North Melbourne to get onto the Metro Tunnel, and this will be your first stop. This new station will be located in the largely industrial area of North Melbourne on Laurens Street and will service the growing residential population there. Plans for Arden show lots of natural light and bike parking at street level. PARKVILLE This station will provide an easy connection to the Royal Melbourne, Children's and Women's Hospitals, as well the University of Melbourne — at present, people looking to get here either have to get a bus from North Melbourne Station or a tram from the CBD. Parkville Station will sit on Grattan Street. CBD NORTH Located at the north-end of Latrobe Street, this new station will provide an alternative for Melbourne Central, but will still be linked via underground walkways if you do need to change lines. The new entrance at Franklin Street will also include this new green space. CBD SOUTH CBD South Station will be located just near Flinders Street Station, and you'll be able to access it from City Square, Federation Square, Swanston Street and the Degraves Street underpass. If you need to access Flinders Street Station, you'll apparently be able to do so through an underground connection. Lots of white arches planned for this one DOMAIN This station will be a gamechanger for anyone who currently has to deal with the mayhem that is changing trams at Domain Interchange. And all with a floating timber canopy on top of it. Trains from here will continue to Pakenham and Cranbourne. Construction on all this is expected to begin next year and the target completion date is 2026. We'll keep you updated on any new plans for the Metro Tunnel. Images: Metro Tunnel.
We hope you're hungry for more kitchen chaos: after dishing up stellar viewing in its first, second, third and fourth seasons, The Bear is returning for a fifth serving. What does this mean for the restaurant that shares the show's name? For Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw)? And for fellow chef Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2), too? You should hopefully find out in 2026. The news of The Bear's renewal for season five comes just days after season four dropped its full ten-episode run, ready for prime winter viewing. So, if you've binge-watched your way through it and were left with questions about what happens after its season finale, answers are indeed on the way. "The Bear continues to be a fan favourite worldwide, and their response to this season — as seen through incredibly high viewership ‚ has been as spectacular as any of its previous seasons," advised John Landgraf, Chairman of FX, the US network behind the series. "Year in and year out, Chris Storer, the producers, cast and crew make The Bear one of the best shows on television, and we are excited that they will continue to tell this magnificent story." There's no word yet on any specifics beyond The Bear's locked-in fifth season, including timing, storyline, and returning and guest cast members. But expecting to get watching mid-2026 is completely reasonable, given that each of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning show's four seasons so far have all arrived in winter Down Under. In season four, Carmy's days running his dream restaurant were potentially numbered. In fact, a literal clock put on the business by The Bear's key investor Cicero (Oliver Platt, Chicago Med). As time ticked down, pondering the future became a theme not just for Carmy and Syd, but among the rest of the crew — including Carmy's sister Natalie (Abby Elliott, Cheaper by the Dozen), the Berzatto family's lifelong pal Richie Jerimovich Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Hold Your Breath), and the eatery's staff Marcus (Lionel Boyce, Shell), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, Cat Person), Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson, Unprisoned) and Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson). Check out the trailer for The Bear season four below: The Bear streams via Disney+ Down Under — and we'll update you with more details on season five when they're announced. Read our reviews of seasons one, two and three. Images: courtesy of FX Networks and Hulu.
When Inside popped up on Australia's film festival circuit in 2024, including at the Melbourne International Film Festival, SXSW Sydney Screen Fest and Brisbane International Film Festival, it was instantly one of the must-see homegrown titles doing the rounds. If you didn't catch it then, the Guy Pearce (The Clearing)-, Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun)- and Toby Wallace (The Bikeriders)-starring thriller should be at the top of your to-watch list in 2025 when it hits local cinemas in February — and it has just dropped its trailer to demonstrate why. Fresh from earning a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for The Brutalist — and likely on track for an Oscar nomination for the same role, too — Guy Pearce (The Clearing) leads the prison-set film as Warren Murfett, an inmate on the cusp of parole. As he's preparing for potentially earning his freedom, he's asked to take Mel Blight (Vincent Miller, Plum) under his wing after the latter is transferred from juvenile detention to adult prison. Also giving the newcomer a guiding hand is the infamous and widely despised Mark Shepard (Cosmo Jarvis, Shōgun). Inside doesn't just bring the three men together in a powderkeg of a location; it immerses them in a violent plot that could change each of their lives forever, all while thoughtfully and empathetically pondering choices, repercussions, and the impact of inherited damage and trauma. Also among the cast: Toby Wallace (The Bikeriders), Chloé Hayden (Heartbreak High) and Michael Logo (Colin From Accounts), with the film boasting impressive names on- and off-screen. Inside marks the feature debut of writer/director Charles Williams, who won the 2018 short film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for the also-excellent All These Creatures. The Stranger and Acute Misfortune filmmaker Thomas M Wright is onboard, too, as an executive producer. "Inside is a movie that's been with me in some form or another for the better part of a decade. I wanted to make the kind of film that resonated with me growing up. Movies that you could get lost in, often uncovering very specific worlds and complicated characters," explains Williams. "They felt very real but also oddly transporting and almost spiritual — while still being visceral, cinematic experiences for the big screen. It's been such an honour to collaborate with this incredible cast and crew to bring Inside to life." Check out the trailer for Inside below: Inside releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, February 27, 2025. Images: Mathew Lynn.
Fresh from being named the Festival of the Year for the fourth time at the 2025 Queensland Music Awards, The Big Pineapple Festival has announced the news that every fan of dancing in the shadow of a giant piece of tropical fruit wants to hear. Come spring, the beloved event will return. Not only has the fest locked in its date, but organisers have also revealed that this'll be a big tenth-anniversary celebration. Diaries out: Saturday, November 1, 2025 is when you'll be hitting Pineapple Fields in Woombye. There's no lineup details as yet, or an exact timeline outlining when the fest's acts will be announced, but The Big Pineapple Festival crew is promising a "blockbuster event" — and its usual Aussie focus. "When we started this festival years ago, our goal was to put Australian artists front and centre, and create an unforgettable experience for fans," said Mark Pico, The Big Pineapple Festival's Founder and Festival Director. "To be here over a decade later with the festival stronger than ever and even earning industry awards again ... is incredibly humbling. It's a testament to the amazing community of artists, attendees and partners who have believed in The Big Pineapple Festival from the start." On Australia's list of big things, the Big Pineapple is among the most famous. It's big. It's a pineapple. It's heritage-listed Queensland icon. It's surrounded by pineapple fields. Basically, what's not to love? It's not merely a reason to head to Nambour to gawk at over-sized fruit, though. Back in 2013, it also became home to a music festival, which ran annually until taking a break in the early years of the pandemic — as every similar fest did. The Big Pineapple Festival's COVID-19 hiatus came to an end in 2024, with help from The Amity Affliction, Tones And I, Bliss n Eso and Peking Duk. In years prior, everyone from Violent Soho, The Veronicas, Rufus Du Sol, Hayden James, Example, Alison Wonderland, Birds of Tokyo and Grinspoon have taken to the event's stage, as have Vera Blue, Ball Park Music, Illy, Dune Rats, John Butler Trio and Ocean Alley. While waiting for this year's lineup, fans can start getting excited now about one new part of the fest in 2025: a performance by whoever wins the Rising Star award at this year's debut Sunshine Coast Music Awards. The Big Pineapple Festival will return on Saturday, November 1, 2025. We'll update you with more details when they're revealed — keep an eye on the fest's website, Facebook and Instagram in the interim. Select images: Claudia Ciapocha / Charlie Hardy.
Another race week in Melbourne has zoomed past like a McLaren. The highly-anticipated race week always carries a certain buzz: packed trams, streets humming with excitement and pubs around the city overflowing with devoted fans. To celebrate, Jack Daniel's brought the hype (and noise) off-track with a bunch of racing experiences across the city. Here's what went down. The Hub of Middle Park With the race track situated in Albert Park, the next-door suburb of Middle Park became a hub of fan activity. Local pub, Middle Park Hotel, was the destination for catching all of the race week action. There was a festival-like energy all weekend, with fans spilling out of the circuit and into the surrounding events. Jack Daniel's took over the entire venue, with replica McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team uniforms and helmets on display throughout the hotel, along with games, competitions, and prizes. Outside, the Jack Daniel's Marquee became a natural meeting point for racegoers, offering a place to regroup after the track action while staying immersed in the buzzing atmosphere. With screens broadcasting the action live, fans never missed a moment, and the mix of music, conversation and post-race excitement kept the crowd's energy high and rolling well into the evening. On Thursday, there was a race warm-up party inside the marquee with a surprise appearance from Melbourne's own racing star, Oscar Piastri. It gave fans a memorable race week moment to talk about long after the weekend wrapped. Jack's Bus Goes VIP Also in Middle Park was Jack's Bus. Parked out the front of Middle Park Hotel, Jack's Bus was decked out in race paraphernalia and offered punters a more elevated experience within the chaos of race weekend. Guests could learn about Jack Daniel's, try whiskey tastings and enjoy the cool, air-conditioned bus. Watching the festival-like atmosphere unfold from the bus gave it a VIP feel (without the price tag). Live Music at Jack's Garage The live music highlight of the weekend came via Jack's Garage, the four-night gig series that took over the Gershwin Room at St Kilda institution, The Espy. Fans got to see four legendary Australian acts across the weekend: The Presets, Slowly Slowly, Anna Lunoe and Keli Holiday. The combination of racing fans and music lovers created an exciting crossover crowd and heightened the race week hype felt across the city. Even after a full day spent at the track, the audience clearly had plenty left in the tank for each act. Conversations about lap times and overtakes easily gave way to sing-alongs and packed dance floors, with the live sets becoming a natural continuation of the race-week energy. Karaoke Time Also held in St Kilda was Jack Daniel's karaoke competition. In The Espy's Engine Room, participants were encouraged to step up and grab the mic in a high-stakes competition, with $5K in cash on the line. The audience got behind their favourite performers with the crowd reactions and sing-alongs turning into one of the most unexpectedly entertaining parts of the race weekend. Across the weekend, Jack Daniel's blended racing culture with Melbourne's exciting city buzz. From live music and watch parties to karaoke and surprise driver appearances, the whole weekend was a nonstop celebration that kept fans immersed in the energy of race week. Let's do it all again next year. Image Credit: Laura Du Vue
It's a problem that everyone can relate to: your stomach is grumbling, but your tastebuds are craving two completely different types of food. You could make the hard choice and pick between them — or, if you happen to be hankering for mac 'n' cheese, pepperoni pizza and dumplings, you could make a beeline to Harajuku Gyoza. From Thursday, March 5, the Australian gyoza chain is serving up a new menu that turns the aforementioned dishes into gyoza. Come for the mac 'n' cheese variety, which stuffs deep-fried dumplings full of cheesy macaroni, then drizzles them with mayo — and stay for the pepperoni pizza version, which is "filled with all the flavours of a pepperoni pizza", and features pepperoni chips and oregano sprinkled on top. You can also tuck into a plate of buffalo chicken wing gyoza — another type that's "filled with all the flavours" of the relevant dish, and served with with blue cheese sauce and celery sticks. Harajuku Gyoza is also serving up two old favourites: cheeseburger gyoza, which is stuffed with burger pieces, aged cheddar, onion, pickles, mustard and tomato sauce; and mozzarella gyoza, which is filled with the obvious, then deep-fried and sprinkled with Twisties salt. Available for a limited time, the whole range has the cringe-worthy name of 'sumo dude food'. Of course, if you've always wondered what a dumpling-mac 'n' cheese combo would taste like — or if you're suddenly desperate to know now you've heard of this Frankenstein's monster-like food mashup — you won't care what it's called. Harajuku Gyoza's 'sumo dude food' range is currently available at all Australian stores — at Darling Harbour in Sydney; at South Bank, the CBD and Indooroopilly in Brisbane; and in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast — for a limited time.
Revving up the bikie drama genre and ramping up the bloodshed and brutality, 1% is a shiny new ride made from familiar parts. It's ostensibly Australia's big-screen answer to Sons of Anarchy, with that comparison both a curse and a blessing. The two share so much in common narrative-wise that, if you've seen the American TV series, it's impossible not to think about it while you're watching 1%. That said, Stephen McCallum's directorial debut still offers an engaging West Australian-set and -shot take on leather-clad brotherhood — one that never feels like its motoring down a new path, and yet never feels like it's blindly sticking to the expected route either. The story falls firmly into the first camp, but the film's energy falls into the second. Dwelling in Perth's seedier side, 1% steps into the world of the Copperheads Motorcycle Club. For the past three years, vice president Paddo (Ryan Corr) has overseen the gang with his ambitious girlfriend Katrina (Abbey Lee), trying to steer the club down a legitimate road. He wants to stop the outlaw life and start making cash they're actually able to splash around, but two things threaten to derail his plans. Firstly, his brother Skink (Josh McConville) gets on the wrong side of a rival motorcycle gang, with its leader (Aaron Pedersen) demanding that the two crews start laundering money together — or there'll be deadly consequences. Secondly, Copperheads president Knuck (Matt Nable) is released from prison and, helped by his wife Hayley (Simone Kessell), is quick to throw his weight around. Both within the club and within WA's broader gangland underbelly, conflict roars louder than a two-wheeled chopper down an open highway. So too does a term that's often bandied about when bikie battles get serious on-screen: Shakespearean. Across its seven seasons, Sons of Anarchy moulded its mayhem in Hamlet's image, throwing in a bit of Macbeth for good measure. Each rears their heads here as well — and while nodding to the Bard can signal that a film or TV series is trying to bulk up otherwise routine material, 1%'s violent clashes, grim power struggles and testosterone-soaked atmosphere all prove suitably tense and tragic. Also adding bulk is the film's cast, a roster of talent that fires on all cylinders. Bringing depth, nuance and authenticity to characters that might've seemed one-note in the hands of other actors, Corr and Nable are memorable as two leaders striving for the same thing in different ways, while McConville fleshes out Skink to become more than merely a plot device. Lee and Kessell ensure that 1% isn't just a boy's club, even if the idea of scheming women standing behind their men is far from a new one. Indeed, if there's a disappointment in this department, it's a matter of screen time rather than performance. One of Australia's best contemporary talents, Pedersen makes his presence known, however his part falls firmly in the supporting category. Nable also wrote the script, his second after jumping from playing rugby league to making movies. Perhaps he's the Sons of Anarchy fan? Or perhaps he's simply fond of a genre that has enjoyed plenty of entries, including 1970s Aussie classic Stone. Either way, exploring male-dominated realms has proven his recurrent fascination — whether featuring in front of the camera in Underbelly, Son of a Gun and Hacksaw Ridge, or penning 2007's The Final Winter, which was set in and around a football club. Given visual grit by McCallum, Nable's latest story fits his usual mould, and does enough to leave an impression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nva4s76JW_o
Head Chef Ali Snoubar brings his decades of culinary experience and expertise from award-winning restaurants the world over to this Syrian eatery in Merrylands. Those familiar with Middle Eastern cuisine will know it's all about sharing, so the more, the merrier. Here, choose from a selection of hot and cold mezze, such as the fried pumpkin kibbeh, then move on to the likes of a chicken shawarma plate with rice or hot chips. The $115 'family deal' features a combination of dishes and drinks, while three banquet options each offer a selection of skewers, dips, salads and meat, to suit groups of all sizes and appetites. Images: Al Shami
Gallery Brave, Sydney's newest art gallery, is wrapping up the year with a delightfully chaotic festive project: the Naughty Nice Emporium, a pop-up Christmas store that blends art, mischief and a twisted take on holiday gift giving. Instead of stressing over the perfect present, visitors can hand the choice over to Santa's moral compass. Just pick a mystery box — priced at $70, $50, $20 or $10 — and find out whether you've been deemed naughty or nice only when you crack it open. The project continues the ethos behind Gallery Brave, which opened recently inside Surry Hills' storied Hibernian House — a building long cherished by Sydney's street-art community. More than a traditional gallery, the space is designed as a "street-facing creative playground" where art, design and culture collide. Founded by agency Today the Brave, the gallery was created to liberate creativity beyond just advertising and give artists a platform to make not just art, but music, merch, publications and more. Recommended for mature audiences only, and perfect for last-minute Kris Kringle hunters, playful gift-givers or anyone wanting to lean into the joyful chaos of December, the Naughty Nice Emporium taps into that same community-driven, tongue-in-cheek spirit. Expect whimsy, surprises and plenty of festive mayhem.
Sydney's much praised Ume Burger has extended its repertoire to Japanese-inspired hot dogs, having launched Ume Dogs at Melbourne's HWKR food hall last month. Now, owner Kerby Craig will bring it back home to give Sydneysiders a taste for one day only on Friday, September 28. The pop-up will take over Edition Coffee Roasters' new Haymarket digs from 5.30pm, where Craig will be slinging his wood-smoked pork frankfurts alongside snacks by the Edition team. Dogs include the classic Ume (wagyu mince sauce, kewpie mayo, minced onion and cheese) and the Kansai (pickled wakame, kewpie, tonkatsu sauce, snow crackers and bonito flakes). Plus kimchi dogs with crunchy noodles and curry dogs with red pickles. Edition's coffees will of course be up for grabs, too, and beats by DJ Andrew Levins will add party vibes to the food offering. After the pop-up, Ume Dogs will only be available down in Melbourne for now — so best nab a taste while you can.
Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival, one of Australasia's largest one-day dance music festivals, is returning on Saturday, March 21, 2026. The grass parklands of the Pukekawa Auckland Domain will transform into a high-energy open-air dance floor, backed by the power of a full and live orchestra. Known for pushing the boundaries of live performance, SYNTHONY blends global dance anthems and New Zealand's rich culture with the power of a live orchestra, DJs, vocalists, and immersive visuals. As the sun sets over the Pukekawa Auckland Domain, the energy builds into a night designed for music lovers seeking something bigger and bolder than a standard concert, and it serves as the perfect catalyst for a New Zealand holiday. This year's lineup brings serious weight. SYNTHONY No.7 returns with a brand new set list while UK electronic music act, Faithless, is headlining the night. Other DJs and musicians on the lineup include Peking Duk, Shapeshifter, Hot Dub Time Machine, Kaylee Bell, Made You Look, The Black Seeds, and The Exponents. Taking place across two stages, the festival also features food and beverage villages, entertainment activations, and rides. The festival kicks off from 3.00pm NZDT for a celebration of live music, New Zealand culture, dancing and festivities. What to do in Auckland The Pukekawa Auckland Domain is located just minutes from the CBD, making SYNTHONY the perfect reason to book a weekend escape in the New Zealand city. Nearby accommodation options include Cordis Hotel, Auckland, a comfortable city base with an easy run to and from the Pukekawa Auckland Domain. If you're looking for a group accommodation option, Pullman Auckland Hotel & Apartments is a luxury 5-star hotel located close to Albert Park and the city centre, helping you to see the most of Auckland. Beyond the festival, Pukekawa Auckland Domain's central location gives you plenty of daytime options to explore the city. Auckland War Memorial Museum sits within the same parkland, making it an easy post-festival activity. The nearby Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki also offers a creative, city-centre cultural stop that balances the high-energy night with something distinctly Auckland before you head home. Use the Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival as your excuse to head to New Zealand and explore all that Auckland has to offer. Buy SYNTHONY tickets here. Discover Auckland Image credit: Supplied
Maybe you first saw Mad Max: Fury Road in a cinema, with engine roars echoing through the theatre, and cars racing and crashing across the big screen. Perhaps you initially watched the exceptional Aussie flick — the best action movie of this century, and the best Australian film of the same period as well — at home. So, you felt all that revving reverberating through your lounge room. Whichever fits, there's no way that you can ever forget the experience. Fury Road arrived after three decades of anticipation, and it well and truly delivered beyond everyone's wildest dreams. There's zero chance that you've forgotten its many vehicles, either, because this is a film that knows how to get fast and furious (yes, even more so than that other franchise). Can't get those cars out of your head? Love movie history, and keen to own a piece of it? Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers have just the thing for you, then, with 13 vehicles from Fury Road going under the hammer. Yes, if you need new ride that's all shiny and chrome, you can get your hands on the Nux car, the Doof Wagon, the War Rig, the Pole Car, the Fire Car and more. Read those names, and you already know which vehicles we're talking about. When the great George Miller, Fury Road's director — and the filmmaker behind the entire Mad Max franchise — dreamed up these sets of wheels, he truly came up with movie cars for the ages. Obviously, the Fury Road vehicles aren't going to come cheap. But if you somehow have the necessary cash, they'll be up for auction across the weekend of Saturday, September 25–Sunday, September 26 — and, as they're part of a tender, you'll need to submit an expression of interest first. Clearly, they're the best things to drive if you find yourself in a desertscape that's part of a post-apocalyptic wasteland — or if you want to pretend that's the case. And, they're something Mad Max-related to get pumped about until the next movie in the franchise, Furiosa, hits cinemas. Need a reminder of just how all the vehicles look in the film? Check out the Fury Road trailer below: Thirteen cars from Mad Max: Fury Road will be up for auction across the weekend of Saturday, September 25–Sunday, September 26. For further information, head to the Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers website.
Dig out those once-a-year novelty gumboots, Groovin the Moo has unveiled its 2018 lineup. Taking the large-scale music festival out of the city and into regional centres for another year, GTM will kick things off on Friday, April 27 in South Australia and travel through Maitland, Townsville, Bendigo and Canberra before finishing up in Bunbury on May 12. This year sees local talent new and established taking the stage, with the lineup spanning up-and-comers like Alex Lahey, Baker Boy and Winston Surfshirt right through to favourites Flight Facilities and Australian legend Paul Kelly. International talent like Portugal. The Man, Royal Blood and Duke Dumont will make their way to the Moo too. Here's the full lineup. GROOVIN THE MOO 2018 LINEUP Alex Lahey Aminé (USA) The Amity Affliction Baker Boy Ball Park Music Claptone (Ger) Confidence Man Cosmo's Midnight Dean Lewis Duke Dumont (UK) Flight Facilities Grinspoon Lady Leshurr (UK) Mallrat Ocean Alley Paul Kelly Portugal. The Man (USA) Public Service Broadcasting (UK) Royal Blood (UK) Sampa The Great Skegss Superduperkyle (USA) Tkay Maidza Vera Blue Winston Surfshirt Image: Daisy Hofstetter.
An old-school oyster, cocktail and piano bar is on its way to Bayswater Road from the mind behind two of Kings Cross's most beloved small bars — Piccolo Bar and Vermuteria. David Spanton, a passionate advocate for the area and Sydney's nightlife will open The Hook in May this year. His most ambitious bar to date, the venue is taking over impressive space previously occupied by the Potts Point outpost of Harajuku Gyoza before briefly being run as Izgara before its CBD move. The new spot will form what Spanton describes as a "Bermuda Triangle of bars", with The Hook, Vermuteria and Piccolo Bar all just a few hundred metres from each other. Together they make up a core part of Kings Cross and Potts Point's small bar revival, with other exciting newcomers like Snack Kitchen and Caravin arriving in the area alongside local mainstays Dear Sainte Eloise, Jangling Jacks and Chester White. [caption id="attachment_831936" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Piccolo Bar[/caption] Sporting 250 metres of space, this is by far the biggest of the three venues. The centrepiece will be the oyster bar, taking over the curved bar used for Izgara's open kitchen. Here you can take a seat and watch your oysters be shucked before ordering them natural, kilpatrick, mornay or rockefeller. "I fell in love with this Horseshoe shape," Spanton told Concrete Playground. "I just don't know of any kind of horseshoe bars in Sydney that aren't pubs." [caption id="attachment_860684" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The exterior of 15 Bayswater Road when it was Izgara, Scott Ehler[/caption] Accompanying the briny delights of the oyster bar will be some heartier eats like cheeseburgers, classic cocktails, a retro New Orleans-inspired fit-out and a piano by the window where performers will provide the soundtrack for the night. A flood of reds, greens and browns will be found throughout the venue, with vintage photographs on the wall and antique beer lights illuminating guests The aforementioned cocktails will find a balance between the tried and true menu of Piccolo and Vermuteria's focus on aromatised wine. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that the drinks pair well with the oysters, with ice-cold martinis, red snappers (a gin take on a bloody mary) and black velvets (a mix of Guinness and champagne) just some of the standards and throwbacks you can expect. The Hook is expected to open at 13-15 Baywater Road, Kings Cross in early May. Follow along with its progress at the bar's Instagram.
Waverley's Wholegreen Bakery is the only place in Sydney that you can get gluten-free croissants, fruit danishes, eclairs and sausage rolls alongside gluten-free baguettes and loaves of olive and rosemary sourdough. The bakery's goods can be tracked down outside of the eastern suburbs, too — at some cafes, and at Carriageworks Farmers Market and the North Sydney Produce Market — but most gluten-free Sydneysiders make the journey to Waverley to pick up a haul. However, soon they might be able to load up on their lunch break, when Wholegreen opens a second gluten-free cafe in the CBD. The venue — which is due to open on Clarence Street in early March — will, like its Waverley counterpart, be 100 percent gluten-free. This is important because those that suffer from coeliac disease have a sensitive reaction to even a small trace of gluten and, this way, there is no chance for cross-contamination. But, unlike the original cafe, this one will be way bigger with room for 60 diners. While it's all gluten-free, Wholegreen will be catering to all city workers as a place to grab a coffee and something to eat. It'll be baking all of its bread and pastries each morning, meaning that you'll be able to get your hands on one of its golden croissants, pain au chocolats or even a loaf of sourdough to take home. The bakery also does a wide range of cakes and sweets, including lemon tarts, banana bread and frangipane tarts. Plus, there will be some dairy-free, vegan and sugar-free options. It'll also pump out some lunch items worthy of walking a few blocks for, including spinach and feta pasties, sausage rolls, toasties and fresh rolls stuffed with ham and salad. It'll also be licensed, so wines and gluten-free beer will be on the menu if you're eating in. Cherie Lyden, Wholegreen's owner, got into gluten-free when her daughter was diagnosed as coeliac and needed to eliminate gluten from her diet. She quickly found she was "disappointed with what was available on the market" and, in an effort to lift the — sometime dismal — standards of gluten-free products, she started doing what no one else was doing at the time: making actually good gluten-free bread. She's operated the wholesale side of the business for six years now, and the Waverley cafe for four. Both cafes are 100 percent gluten-free, and are currently in the process of getting accreditation from Coeliac Australia. Wholegreen Bakery's new CBD venue is set to open on Clarence Street in early March, 2020, and will be open Monday to Saturday. We'll keep you updated when we know more details.
For three weeks this winter, Sydney's Palace Cinemas Verona, Palace Norton Street and Palace Central will turn extra frosty — on their big screens, that is. Running from Tuesday, July 9 to Wednesday, July 31, and marking the event's sixth year, the Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival returns with a suitably wintery showcase of cinema from Europe's coldest climes, featuring 21 films from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland. Whether you're keen on irreverent comedies, dark dramas or Nordic noir, they're all on the lineup. If you're a fan of Denmark's most popular film series or one of Sweden's hugely successful crime authors, they're on the program too. Sci-fi, rom-coms, character studies, award-winners, festival hits — the list goes on, because Scandinavian cinema is a diverse realm. The 2019 festival kicks off with laughs, as all good things should, thanks to Danish comedy Happy Ending. Next, it heads to Iceland with direct-from-Cannes drama A White, White Day — the latest film from Hlynur Palmason, the director of SFF 2018's Winter Brothers. Also on the bill: the Stellan Skarsgård-starring, Norwegian-made, Berlinale Silver Bear winner Out Stealing Horses; the spaceship-set futuristic Swedish flick Aniara; and, from Finland, the SXSW hit Aurora, about a party girl who befriends an Iranian refugee. Definite highlights also hail from the thriller domain, as Scandi-loving cinephiles would expect. If you saw the first three page-to-screen Department Q instalments at previous festivals, you can see how the series ends with The Purity of Vengeance, which is now the highest-grossing Danish film ever. For those who've read, re-read and watched everything Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-related, make a date with documentary Steig Larsson: The Man Who Played with Fire, which delves into the late author and journalist's archives. As an added bonus, it's screening alongside a retrospective of the original Swedish Millennium Trilogy films, starring Noomi Rapace. Images: Department Q; A White, White Day; Happy Ending; Out Stealing Horses; Sonja.
Early in We Live in Time — early in the film's running time for watching audiences, but not early in its central romance thanks to the movie's non-linear storytelling — Florence Pugh's Almut reacts to significant news about her health by delivering her own to Andrew Garfield's Tobias. Years after a meet-cute involving a hospital (and also a car accident, with her behind the wheel and him lightly struck by the car), they're again at one. Their relationship has never been much of a stranger to them, in fact. This time, however, as the chef and the Weetbix employee stand in the carpark after an appointment, they ponder a question that lingers over everyone but never as much as those forced to reckon with the knowledge that their future might not be guaranteed: is life best lived for quantity or quality? Charting a decade in its characters' existence, from a surprise encounter to falling in love, weathering heartbreak, starting a family, pursuing professional dreams, navigating challenges and facing mortality, We Live in Time isn't a strict two-hander in terms of casting. Still, it's so intimately a double act between Pugh (Dune: Part Two) and Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven) that it feels like one. See: this crucial moment, which conveys everything about Almut and Tobias' dynamic. She speaks carefully but passionately. He listens devotedly. Nothing else could be more important to either of them. Pugh's performance simmers with raw emotion. This interaction isn't about him, but Garfield turns in some of cinema's most-moving reaction work as Tobias takes in what he's being told. Asked how important that scene is for him, Garfield is quick and decisive: "very pivotal," he tells Concrete Playground. It also cuts to the core of exactly what helps make We Live in Time so affecting. This is a heartfelt romance dealing with the fleeting nature of life — and in other hands than Garfield and Pugh's, and director John Crowley (Brooklyn) and screenwriter Nick Payne's (The Last Letter From Your Lover), it'd risk being dismissed as a weepie — but it's always about who Almut is regardless of anything that she can't control. It's about how people endure, create a life together and cherish their time together, while the hourglass empties, too. The impact that a person has beyond just being someone's parent, someone's partner or someone's child also sits at the centre of the film as much as Almut and Tobias' relationship. And, as it delves into weighty topics for its genre while stepping through Almut and Tobias' tale, We Live in Time firmly never falls into the common trap of heroing what Tobias is going through over Almut's experience — as a person, not just as someone with an unwanted diagnosis. It doesn't dream of defining her or them through the worst thing that they'll ever confront, either. In some features, letting time jump around can be a gimmick, but here it is done with touching purpose. As the movie flits between the duo's first weeks and months together, one specific day spent in the bathroom of a service station and also their well-established romance, the non-linear structure ensures that the full wave of life and love — not specific pieces of news, or coping with their aftermath — are always pushed to the fore in an immensely well-rounded narrative. For Garfield, Tobias is the role that brings him back to the screen. 2025 marks 18 years since his film debut in Boy A, another empathetic and sensitive film directed by Crowley — as well as a feature that earned its star a BAFTA TV award — and he's rarely been far away the viewers' gaze since, until 2022. Before half a decade had passed from his first movie, he'd made an imprint in three-time Oscar-winner The Social Network opposite Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) and slung webs in a comic-book blockbuster in The Amazing Spider-Man. Another five years later, he had his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for Hacksaw Ridge. Before, in-between and afterwards, Garfield kept adding interesting projects to his resume, the page-to-screen Red Riding crime saga, dystopian romance Never Let Me Go, housing-crisis drama 99 Homes, the Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)-helmed Silence, LA-set neo-noir Under the Silver Lake and Lin-Manuel Miranda's (Hamilton) Jonathan Larson biographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom! — the source of his second round of Best Actor love from the Academy Awards — among them. Two more stints as Peter Parker also eventuated, including in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, after television's Under the Banner of Heaven, he took some time off. One of the things that made We Live in Time a must-star for him: a memorable birth scene that Garfield likens to an action sequence. What did it mean to join forces with Crowley again after the filmmaker gave him his initial movie role? And to dive into the meaning of life and what truly matters in We Live in Time — and to create such a deep sense of intimacy with Pugh, too? Over a cup of tea, we chatted with Garfield about all of the above, the film's efforts to avoid the tearjerker label and two key instances, one off- and the other on-screen: the "this is it!" moment that made him know he wanted to make this movie, and that carpark scene. On Reteaming with John Crowley on We Live in Time After Boy A — and Collaborating with the Director on Empathetic and Sensitive Films "It's quite natural because John is naturally that, and I think I'm quite naturally that, and I think it just works. There's nothing better than on a film set feeling like you have room to take ownership over a moment, to breathe as the character, to not feel like you have to get it right — and it's an important thing for me to feel when I'm on a set. John is one of those filmmakers that provides that for his actors. He creates a lot of space for breath. He creates a lot of space for exploration and nuance, and interior life and subtlety, and for life to unfold. I felt that when I was first working with him and then it's remained now." On Diving Into Weighty Notions Such as How People Create a Life, Cherish Their Time Together and Have an Impact in a Romantic Drama "I love these ideas and I think that you said it perfectly — they are weighty and they are about the meaning of life, and they are about what matters and what doesn't, and how we keep our attention and our hearts trained on that which is nourishing and that which is mysterious and meaningful. So I love these ideas, and I love being able to hang out in them and to ask questions within them, within the question. And to explore these themes with great artists and collaborators is a dream, and with such great writing. I think that these are the questions that I ask myself on a daily basis anyway. So it felt very natural to slide into this character's skin, and all of the difficulty and beauty of the experience he was having." On What Excited Garfield About Starring in We Live in Time as His First On-Screen Project Since 2022's Under the Banner of Heaven "I think while I was reading the script, and I was reading how this dynamic was unfolding and how it built particularly to the birth scene, I thought 'my gosh, this is such an epic action sequence in domesticity'. I thought: 'oh, man, I want to see this, and how this plays out'. And there were a few scenes of just deep beauty and tenderness, and funny — they were just so sweetly funny within such pain. And I thought 'that just feels like a balm'. It feels like a balm for me, as a person that's been through his own grief. But also it will feel like a balm for other people in the audience who are going through their own version of what these people are going through in this film. So it felt like an act of service. It felt like a real act of service to make this film for myself, but also for an audience, hopefully." On Building Deep Intimacy with Florence Pugh as Tobias and Almut "So the writing is very good. The writing was the jumping-off point and thank god it was a great script, otherwise I don't think we'd be talking — I don't think the film would have been made. So that was the beginning. And then it was me and Florence just finding this natural trust and depth of intimacy and nakedness and vulnerability together. And joy and play together. We can go from being feeling like two childhood friends to feeling like parents. That's a really important thing, I think, for this film. That was rather easy for us to find together. I think we're both just up for it. We're both just two actors and two people who are just like 'what are we doing today, and how do we make it as fun and as silly and as real and as deep as possible?'. That's what we came into every day looking for — and not just for ourselves, but for the other, too. We were two actors who really, really loved being a part of the other person flying. And that's a really special thing." On Ensuring That The Film Tells a Well-Rounded Story That Reflects Life and Is Never a Weepie, Even as It Deals with Love and Mortality "We didn't want it to feel sentimental or saccharine. We didn't want it to feel imbalanced. We didn't want it to feel manipulative. We wanted it to feel, as you say, like life. We wanted it to be very, very rich, diverse experience that felt like watching life unfold for these two people — in all of the agony and all of the ecstasy and all of the complication. What's amazing about Florence's character is she's not this lionised, idealised survivor/victim. And I think the same thing with Tobias, he's not some overly soppy, wet, sympathetic, sentimental character. They both have flaws. They both have fallibility. And they're both deeply human. So that was very, very important for us to keep our eye on." On What Garfield Was Hoping to Express in the Movie's Pivotal Carpark Scene "I was hoping to convey just an impossible contradiction in impulses. I think there's no easy path in that moment for these two characters. And for Tobias, I wanted to convey a thousand things at once. I wanted to convey overwhelm. I wanted to convey being unable to offer anything concise or rational or useful. I wanted to convey deep understanding of where she was while also wanting to kick and scream — and I wanted to convey, on top of that, 'all I've got to do right now is not make this about me. I've just got to listen and I've just got to support and let this moment be this moment, not have an answer'. Just the humility of 'I don't have anything to say here and I'm not going to force it' — like I think most of us want to do in those situations, we want to have a fix-it answer. We want to have some kind final solution. But I think Tobias, in that moment, is humble enough or overwhelmed enough to be able just to stand there, not having anything to offer apart from comfort." We Live in Time opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, January 16, 2025 and in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
