If striking blue water set among rock formations and beach caves are your (and your dog's) thing, look no further than Currarong Beach. Located just under three hours' south of Sydney, this coastal beauty offers sheltered swimming (or kayaking) for you and your pup. It's off-leash at different times depending on the season, so check the Shoalhaven website before letting Fido roam free. On the way down south, don't forget to stop off at Shoalhaven Heads, which has its own 24-hour off-leash areas along the expansive Seven Mile Beach — it spans 12 kilometres and is located about 45-minutes north of Currarong. Image: Destination NSW
If you didn't already get goosebumps walking past Paddington's mysterious Reservoir Gardens at night, you sure will now. The rejuvenated public park has been bathed in a light installation that makes it look like its full of water, complete with a single swimmer. This is Top5Feet, an intervention of light, glass, sound and projection that playfully nods to the history of the Paddington Reservoir. For local residents, the Paddington Reservoir Gardens are a serene pocket of green sunk beneath busy Oxford Street, but there once was a time when the eponymous reservoir served as a water source for a growing Sydney. Unfortunately, the reservoir's use was limited by a design flaw that meant only the top five feet of catchment could run to nearby properties. It's this quirk that gave inspiration to Australian artist and architect Dale Jones-Evans, who collaborated with Axolotl Art Projects in the creation of Top5Feet. “The artwork references the reservoir’s original purpose and emphasises its shortcomings," says Jone-Evans, “reflective lighting from the lower floor will create an illusion that the reservoir is full of water, while lighting of the upper arches will help create a beautiful, ethereal atmosphere." Visitors to the Gardens will share this space with a ghostly, lone swimmer who laps continuously from one end of the pool to the other. Art & About is famous for its springtime art installations across Sydney. This is the first time the festival is presenting artworks outside of its traditional schedule, aiming to reach and delight a wider audience throughout the year. Top5Feet is free to visit and will start each day at dusk until May 24.
Next up at COMMUNE is Rae Begley's new solo exhibition And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. Through a series of exquisite studies of glaciers and landscapes captured at Nepal's Ngozumpa Glacier and Gokyo Lake last year, the show explores the sacred quality of the mountain landscape, its spiritual significance to the local people and its vulnerability in the face of evident environmental decline. Begley explains that during her visit in 2016 "the breathtaking beauty of the landscape was scarred with the tragedy of human interference and the subsequent impact of climate change". Combining film photographs (all shot handheld with the intention of large-scale, in-person viewing), video, ambient sound and installation works, her exhibition aims to both celebrate the majestic glory of the Himalayas and "evoke a sense of urgency from the viewer" in light of worrying evidence that that the region is experiencing glacial melt. The show has a short run: you only have from November 2 to 5 to head along. And prospective buyers take note: Begley will donate a percentage of sales to The Ice Stupa Project in support of their work fighting climate change and melting glaciers. Image: Rae Begley, The End (2016).
Transform your long weekend into a bucolic adventure in a pecan orchard on the Central Coast. The Pecan Lady is opening her idyllic property to the public, so you can spend Saturday, Sunday or Monday picking pecans from 9am to 4pm. You'll find her in Somersby, a pretty, rural locality between Brisbane Waters National Park and Strickland State Forest, about an 80-minute drive north of Sydney. Her pecans are particularly small and sweet because they're of the Witchita and Western Schley varieties. Plus, they're grown organically and fed by nutrient-rich spring water. Entry is free, while any pecans you pick will cost $8 per kilo or $30 a bucket. While you're there, you'll be treated to a tree-shaking demonstration, which, as the name suggests, involves shaking a tree's branches, so it allows any ripe nuts tumble to the ground.
The year: 1943. The place: America. The sport: baseball. Misty faces: apparently not allowed. Yes, there's no crying in baseball, again — and yes, after proving a hit on the big screen back in 1992, A League of Their Own is back as an eight-part streaming remake with those firm thoughts about waterworks still intact. That said, in both versions, there definitely are tears in the sport. Someone proclaims there shouldn't be, although Tom Hanks doesn't do the honours the time around. And, when it arrives in Prime Video's series, which is streaming its first season in full from Friday, August 12, that line isn't code for the entire perspective that A League of Their Own is rallying against: that the bat-swinging pastime isn't for women anyway. The new A League of Their Own's characters are still forced to deal with that abhorrent view, however. The same storyline, and the same societal journey — starting with horrified newspaper editorials about the masculinisation of women, then building to excited crowds embracing the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — slides through the show's frames, too. Indeed, much is familiar, including a small-town star catcher chasing her lifelong dream while her husband serves in the Second World War, a ragtag group of other women living their fantasies as well, a world that sees them as a joke and a male manager who used to be a major star but is only in this gig to restart his own career. But Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, who leads, co-writes and co-created this A League of Their Own, helps ensure that the series broadens its playing field. Bringing the show to fruition with Mozart in the Jungle's Will Graham, she anchors a do-over that covers a far wider range of bases. In the original Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell-starring film — which did initially spark a short-lived TV spinoff in 1993, continuing the movie's story but without its best-known stars — a pivotal moment happens early. Alas, it lasts mere seconds and doesn't go anywhere. At the Chicago AAGPBL tryouts, a Black woman (DeLisa Chinn-Tyler) tosses back an overthrown ball, and it's clear that she isn't permitted to be a part of this realm. A League of Their Own circa 2022 takes this idea and keeps lobbing it, dedicating half of its time to Max Chapman (Chanté Adams, Voyagers). While an immensely talented pitcher, she isn't allowed to audition, let alone play, due to her race. Back home in Rockford, she can't get a game either because she's a woman, even when she takes a job at the town screw factory in the hopes of joining the company team. Max's attempts to even get on the mound, a quest that's supported by her comic book-loving best friend Clance Morgan (Gbemisola Ikumelo, The Power) but frowned upon by her salon-owning mother Toni (Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Better Call Saul), are as much a focus as the Rockford Peaches' on- and off-field exploits. That's the team that the anxious Carson Shaw (Jacobson) is recruited to alongside lifelong pals Greta Gill (D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place) and Jo De Luca (Melanie Field, The Alienist) — plus everyone from non-nonsense pitcher Lupe Garcia (Roberta Colindrez, Vida) and the similarly dedicated Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack, George & Tammy) through to fellow teammates Esti González (Priscilla Delgado, Julieta), Maybelle Fox (Molly Ephraim, Perry Mason) and Shirley Cohen (Kate Berlant, Search Party). Just as in the OG movie, the Peaches' path to baseball success is bumpy. A chaperone (Dale Dickey, Palm Springs) oversees their every move, enforcing rules about drinking, dating and not wearing pants in public — and manager Dove Porter (Nick Offerman, The Resort) mightn't be the drunk that the film's equivalent was, but he also doesn't take the team seriously. Deportment lessons and makeovers are more important to the higher-ups than gameplay, and the whole league just a way for a candy bar mogul (Kevin Dunn, King Richard) to sell tickets to his baseball field while male baseballers are off at war. That's A League of Their Own's overall framework, which tweaks specific character beats but sticks to the same general match plan as its predecessor. Fleshing out the details couldn't be more important, thankfully, including exploring the reality of being a queer woman in the era. Again, that's a glaring omission in the 1992 feature — a beloved sports comedy by director Penny Marshall (Big) that's warm, spirited and charming, yet only nods to queer players via subtext. The new series is determined to redress that gap, exploring same-sex relationships across both Carson and Max's halves of the show, and painting a clear portrait of how fraught life was at the time if you were anything other than a straight, white, married and stereotypically feminine homemaker. Being more inclusive and honest can't lift a remake all on its own; however, it gives this batch of A League of Their Own characters more depth and emotional resonance. In all of its guises, this has always been a story about finding and owning your own park, and surveying the wide array of obstacles in these women's ways — not just sexism, but racism and homophobia as well — is crucial in providing the full picture. Making A League of Their Own today but keeping 1990s or 1940s sensibilities would've been pointless, of course. In what proves a worthy extra innings, there's never any doubt that the new series is firmly a 2022 creation, as echos through in its dialogue. Rather than feeling anachronistic, even in big speeches that encourage the team to make things epic, it helps build the sense that Carson, Max, their respective pals and their individual plights weren't ever allowed to fit in neatly at the time. It also befits a show that reconsiders as much as it remakes its source material, and that has more than a little in common with another unrelated streaming effort about women finding themselves while navigating a traditionally male-dominated sport: the cancelled-too-soon wrestling-focused Netflix gem GLOW. A League of Their Own's gorgeous ladies of baseball span an impressive cast — so much so that the series deserves a second season to bring them all back. Jacobson's first starring role after Broad City isn't a stretch, but her brand of awkwardness and uncertainty also wasn't a twenty-first century invention, something else this show implicitly acknowledges. A separate program could've been made around Adams and the scene-stealing Ikumelo, even without the A League of Their Own brand attached. And Carden continues to improve everything she's in, including when it's already excellent (see also: The Good Place, naturally, and also Barry and her one-episode part in Killing It). Colindrez, McCormack, Dickey, Berlant: they hit it out of the park, too. Being glad that A League of Their Own has a heartfelt show of its own with them in it, and roving fresh eyes over the past, is as easy as cheering for a home run. Check out the trailer for A League of Their Own below: A League of Their Own streams via Prime Video from Friday, August 12.
On another one of these hot sticky days that keep exhausting us Sydney-siders, we traipse down to the dimly-lit people-packed Brown Sugar. A café-by-day, a bistro-by-night, our 7.30pm table will be for the latter fare. Sitting on Bondi's Curlewis Street it is a perfect spot for a post-dip bite. However, the chances of one stumbling across a free table are slim. We are thankful Brown Sugar takes bookings. In an attempt to relieve myself from the stifling heat I order the special of beetroot cured ocean trout with green tahini, baby radish and fresh herbs. The beetroot curing makes the ocean trout taste more earth than ocean, yet it is sweet and refreshing. For the main I go down the other path, for with all the rich exotic possibilities on the menu, how can one simply graze on the light things. The duck confit is served atop an orzo pilaf with dates and fresh figs. There are bitter bites of preserved lemon and crunches of almonds sprinkled throughout the rice shaped grains of pasta. Huge bunches of green rest upon it, leaving me to not-so-elegantly fight my way through the coriander stalks. During the meal we have befriended our neighbours - an inevitability considering our close proximity. When it comes time to leave I politely ask them to reshuffle their wine glasses – it is the only way I can leave my seat. I have an inkling that the entry was not so challenging, but, even if the succulent duck was the cause of the increased difficulty, there is no doubt that it was worth every mouthful.
"You know you're like the tenth guy to try this, right? It never works out for the dipshit in the mask." So scolds TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox, Shining Vale) in the latest trailer for Scream VI, saying what everyone that's ever watched this slasher franchise has long known. But, if bad past outcomes for fellow Ghostfaces were going to stop the next killer in the horror-film saga from getting stabby, there wouldn't even be a new flick to begin with. If you like scary movies, then you've likely watched a Scream film or five over the last quarter of a century. And, across that period — ever since the OG feature became a box-office smash in 1996, then delivered 1997's Scream 2, 2000's Scream 3, 2011's Scream 4 and 2022's Scream, plus TV spinoff Scream: The TV Series — you've seen the saga's mask-wearing killer Ghostface slash his way through the fictional Californian town of Woodsboro multiple times, as well as a college in Ohio and then Hollywood. This time, however, he's following in The Muppets' footsteps and making a date with Manhattan. In both the initial Scream VI teaser trailer from back in 2022 and the just-dropped full sneak peek, New York City has an unwanted guest — and the current person donning a Ghostface mask is more than a little obsessed with their task. Early in the clip, there's even a shrine to the franchise so far, taking a trip down memory lane through the saga's history. There's also another familiar face: Hayden Panettiere (Nashville), returning to the fold as Kirby Reed following Scream 4. She joins Cox as Weathers, the last Scream's Melissa Barrera (In the Heights) and Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) as sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets) as the siblings' film-obsessed pal Mindy among the existing franchise players making a comeback to get stalked by Ghostface once again. Or, make that Ghostfaces. In the two trailers so far, it's clearly Halloween, and costumes abound on a NYC subway. Among all that spooky attire: more than one black-clad person in a Ghostface mask, making Sam, Tara and Mindy more than a little distressed. Ghostface also whips out a gun in a convenience store, slinks around New York's streets and gets Gale on the phone. Does the latter signal an end to one of the series' original characters? Amid references to other horror movies, and to the franchise's own past, that's how those kinds of scenes usually play out. Whatever's in store for Gale, Kirby and company — and whether Kirby might be the killer this time around, because this series does love links when it comes to Ghostface's identity — will be revealed in early March, when Scream VI hits cinemas. Ready or Not's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return to direct, as they did with 2021's Scream. Also involved, featuring on-screen: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and The Other Two's Josh Segarra, Servant and The Grand Budapest Hotel's Tony Revolori, and Australian Nine Perfect Strangers and Ready or Not star Samara Weaving, plus Dermot Mulroney (Umma) and Henry Czerny (another Ready or Not alum). Check out the full Scream VI trailer below: Scream VI releases in cinemas Down Under on March 9. Images: Philippe Bossé.
Shanghai Night on Liverpool Road is one of Sydney's oldest Shanghainese restaurants. The brightly lit, loud eatery remains one of the best spots to eat in Ashfield — a suburb known for its top-notch Chinese cuisine. So, that's saying something. Just don't confuse it for New Shanghai Nights, located a mere two doors down. Settle in for piled-high plates of pan-fried pork dumplings ($8.80), steamed chicken and shiitake mushroom dumplings (from $9.80), and Shanghai-style mini pork and crab buns ($10.80). If you're in need of a heartwarming bowl of wonton soups, it's got plenty of those, too, plus a heap of mains, including king prawns with eggplant ($29.80), shredded pork in Sichuan sauce ($18.80), and crispy skin duck ($18.80).
Urban wineries are a popular facet of European and New Yorker lifestyles, but winemaker Alex Retief's new cellar door, Urban Winery Sydney, is the first of its kind in Australia — it's the only large-scale, working winery in Sydney's inner suburbs. Launching in St Peters, the urban winery then located to Moore Park in mid-2018. Retief has owned his label, A.Retief Wines, since 2008 and has seen much commercial success, especially with his 2013 – 2015 collaborations with Bourke Street Bakery. The born and bred Aussie spent the early 2000s in Bordeaux where much of his inspiration for an urban winery took root. "In France, everyone knows about wine — how it's made, where it's produced," he says. "They all have such a passion for their local wine that it's almost like the love of a futball team it's so ingrained in them." Retief hopes to bring a bit of this European culture to Sydney — his wines have a strong focus on locality, the vineyard and the origin and type of grape used for each wine. The A.Retief Shiraz is sourced from his parent's biodynamic vineyard in the Gundagai wine region just outside of Wagga Wagga. "I have a deep passion for NSW wines and want to bring that to Sydney," says Retief. "People want to see where things are made more and more and we're happy to be able to bring that to them," he adds. The space is housed in the Entertainment Quarter, with neighbours like El Camino Cantina, B Lucky and Sons and Brent Street dance studio. Heading east situates the winery considerably closer to the CBD and the SCG, and the EQ also offers a larger space for all that wine. The walls of French oak barrels are not just for show and are accompanied by shiny, shiny winemaking pumps, presses, syphons, filtration systems — all things you might get to understand a whole lot better with Reitef's planned future classes. "We really want people to get involved with the winemaking process — to get to come down and squash grapes, or blend their own wines and understand why they like what they like." The tasting bar is now open seven days a week, with the winery also doing tours, blending classes and the occasional chef's dinner. Updated November, 2019
'Jazz' is a term that's never been easy to define. Its evolution has depended on the constant challenging of conventions. Even some of the world's most iconic jazz musicians question the label altogether — Louis Armstrong once famously quipped, "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song." The Sydney scene is defined by a tendency to push musical boundaries, jazz often meeting rock, world music, folk or roots. Artists such as Darren Percival, Thirsty Merc's Rai Thistlethwayte and Hermitude's Luke Dubber were all well known on the jazz circuit before reaching a mainstream audience. What's more, the NSW Government's 2009 relaxing of the PoPE laws has led to a diversification of staging opportunities, putting the intimate wine bar experience firmly back on the map. Our guide takes you through ten of Sydney's favourite jazz venues. 505 Where: 280 Cleveland St, Surry Hills When: Monday to Saturday nights, 8.30pm Cover: Free-$20 Established in 2004, 505 has transformed from an ‘underground’ space into one of the city’s most important venues. Super-comfy couches, quirky decor and a 100 percent performance-focused sensibility are its defining characteristics. Jazz and her many cousins, from roots to groove to world music, comprise the programme, with high quality being the unifying element. The menu caters to the whole spectrum of tastes and budgets, and whiskey lovers certainly won't mind sampling the top shelf. SIMA @ THE SOUND LOUNGE Where: Cnr Cleveland St and City Rd, Chippendale When: Friday and Saturday nights, 8.30pm Cover: $10-$20 If you enjoy your jazz with a dash of sophistication and an emphasis on the listening experience, the Seymour Centre's Sound Lounge is the place to visit. The cream of the crop appears here on Friday and Saturday nights. Hosted by SIMA (the Sydney Improvised Music Association), the programme features emerging artists, seasoned veterans and innovative projects. Global touring musicians are often on the bill — 'International Season' occurs every May/June, in conjunction with the Melbourne Jazz Festival. Recent renovations, including new sound and lighting systems and a heightened ceiling, have given the room a fresh resonance. Light refreshments are available at the bar. DOME BAR Where: 1/598 Crown St, Surry Hills When: Tuesday to Thursday nights Cover: Free on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; $10 on Tuesdays With its French chandeliers, commodious red leather furniture and Baroque-style mural, Dome Bar offers a jazz experience that’s at once glamorous and relaxing. The choice is yours: sit close to the band and listen intently or kick back and enjoy a cocktail with a friend. Tuesdays feature new instrumental collaborations; every Wednesday there’s a jam session; and Thursdays see the city’s finest jazz vocalists matched up with various all-star bands. Legendary drummer Andrew Dickeson is the man behind the programme. JAZZGROOVE @ 107 Projects Where: 107 Redfern St, Redfern When: Tuesday nights, 7.30pm Cover: $15/$8 (members) Jazzgroove was started in 1998 by a group of young improvising musicians who wanted to inject some vitality into Sydney's live music scene. Apart from running a record label, an annual festival and the prestigious JARA Award, the collective hosts a Tuesday night gig, which moved to 107 Projects in February. Each week is witness to exciting, original, unpredictable projects. Cushion-covered benches and couches are the seating options, and it’s BYO. No need for arguments if you're down to the last beer, though — the Tudor Hall pub is just across the road. COLBOURNE AVENUE Where: Cnr Colbourne Ave and St Johns Rd, Glebe When: Thursday nights, 8pm Cover: $20/$10 (conc.) Checking out a gig at Colbourne Avenue is a bit like watching a private concert in your lounge room. The couches are so comfortable, you’d most likely fall asleep, were the music not so good. The only trick is, you have to be there early if you want to secure yourself a cosy spot close to the band. Organised by keys player Barney Wakeford, the room features an excellent piano and that rare asset — great acoustics. Noise levels are kept to a minimum because there’s no bar — glasses are provided, but, like 107, it's BYO. Glebe Point Road has plenty of bottle shops and a nearby Thai restaurant is on-call for food deliveries. BLUE BEAT Where: 16 Cross St, Double Bay When: Various nights Cover: Various Blue Beat is one of those rare venues in which everything seems to sit just right. That probably shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, given that it is run by two of Sydney’s live music gurus — Christopher Richards, who managed and booked The Basement for four decades, and Nicholas Rice, an expert promotions and venue consultant. The room has the feel of a classic jazz club, but with a classy, contemporary edge. A Steinway Grand graces the stage and the sound is always crystal-clear. Big name touring artists, like Mike Stern and Trombone Shorty, often appear on the bill. THE BASEMENT Where: 7 Macquarie Place, Sydney When: Various nights Cover: Various If you were to compile a list of all the artists to have appeared on The Basement stage, it would read like a Who’s Who of Australian, if not international, jazz. Dizzie Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Art Pepper are just some of the names you’d see. For years, the famous club was more or less exclusively devoted to improvised music; however, these days it forms just one part of a multifaceted programme. When jazz does happen at The Basement, it’s usually of a high calibre, involving the likes of Vince Jones, The Necks and James Morrison. Securing a table close to the band usually requires a dinner reservation, but even if you’re standing, you’re always very close to the action. STARFISH CLUB @ CLOVELLY BOWLO Where: 1 Ocean St, Clovelly When: First Monday of every month, 7pm Cover: $20 Kate Ceberano reading poetry, Jon Stevens performing the Stax repertoire, and Renee Geyer making a live ABC broadcast are just a few of the surprises that Starfish Club audiences have been treated to over the past 15 years. On the first Monday of every month, bassist/composer extraordinaire Jonathan Zwartz puts together an evening of live music that sees some of Australia’s finest musicians in action, often breaking out of their usual artistic confines. Clovelly Bowlo’s ocean views form the backdrop, delicious food is on the menu, and under-18s are welcome, as long as they’re accompanied by grown-ups. JAMES VALENTINE SUPPER CLUB @ THE GOLDEN SHEAF Where: 429 New South Head Rd, Double Bay When: Tuesday nights, 7pm Cover: Free Apart from pursuing a successful career as a broadcaster and writer, James Valentine has been playing jazz and rock saxophone for decades. In the early '80s he played with the likes of Jo Camilleri, Kate Ceberano and the Models. Every Tuesday, he takes his quartet to the Sheaf for a weekly Supper Club. A different special guest joins them on each gig, guaranteeing some unpredictable and exciting dynamics. Entry is free and dinner is available. MR FALCON’S Where: 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe When: Wednesday nights Cover: Free Visiting Mr Falcon's feels a bit like wandering into some Bohemian bar in a Parisian back street. That's especially the case on Wednesday nights, when Gadjo Guitars bring their scorching gypsy jazz to the floor. Bar snacks are available, or you can have a meal delivered from Mengen Sofrasi Turkish Kitchen, which is just across the road. As far as alcohol goes, the cocktail menu is extensive. It's hard to resist the hot apple cider, served with spicy rum or bison grass vodka.
Turn it back up to 11: 41 years after the members of Spinal Tap were first immortalised on film, David St Hubbins (Michael McKean, The Diplomat), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, The Simpsons) and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, Mascots) are scoring their second big-screen moment. As announced in 2022, iconic 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap is getting the sequel treatment. And if this felt like one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" follow-ups, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues has just dropped its first trailer ahead of hitting cinemas Down Under this spring. Filmmaker Marty DiBergi is also back to chronicle the group's latest antics — which means that IRL director Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men) is as well, both playing the fictional part on-camera and helming Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. As the sneak peek shows, he's pointing the camera at a reunion concert and its preparations, including efforts to find a new drummer, merchandising ideas and waxing lyrical about Spinal Tap's journey so far. Elton John, Questlove and Paul McCartney are also sighted in the first glimpse at the new film, as Spinal Tap's estranged bandmates reform, grapple with their past and contemplate their mortality — and ponder how the latter might help bring in fans. Viewers will be able to watch along with their efforts from Thursday, September 25, 2025. If you're new to all things Spinal Tap, the fictional English heavy metal band initially debuted on American TV in 1979; however, it was This Is Spinal Tap that made them legends. With this trio, there is indeed a fine line between stupid and clever. The group behind 'Lick My Love Pump', 'Sex Farm' and 'Hell Hole' have reformed in reality a number of times, too, and released albums. This Is Spinal Tap isn't just an 80s comedy gem that everyone needs to see at least once, and actually several times more than that. Every music documentary since for the past four decades has followed in its footsteps, straightforward and satirical alike. Also, Spinal Tap's name has become shorthand for OTT bands who take themselves too seriously. The OG film is also hitting picture palaces in 2025, re-releasing in 4K from Thursday, August 7. Check out the trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues below: Spinal Tap II: The End Continues releases Down Under on Thursday, September 25, 2025. Images:Bleecker Street & Authorized Spinal Tap LLC.
When Bridgerton initially premiered on Netflix at the end of 2020, becoming the platform's most-watched original show ever at the time, did it get you dreaming of stepping into its world? If so, you've been in luck ever since thanks to a flurry of events themed around the series, including unofficial balls, garden brunches and more. Your next opportunity arrives soon, and also requires venturing out of Australia's capital cities. Your destination: Bowral in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. Bridgerton season three is on its way, dropping four episodes in May 2024 and then four more in June this year — and to celebrate, Netflix is bringing the series into real life. This is the streaming service that set up public toilets based on Squid Game, Heartbreak High and Emily in Paris back in February, after all. In the past, it has also opened a Stranger Things rift on Bondi Beach, unleashed the Squid Game Red Light, Green Light doll by Sydney Harbour and a had pop-up Heartbreak High uniform shop slinging threads in Newtown, too. This time, it's giving a regional town a makeover. Head to Bowral between Tuesday, April 16–Tuesday, April 23 and you'll see what this patch of Australia looks like when it's harking back to the regency era. A number of spots around town will receive the Bridgerton treatment, with local businesses joining in on the fun. The idea is to make you feel like you're getting the full ton experience. If you want to dress up to fit the part, that's obviously up to you. While the bulk of the details are still vague, a few specifics have been revealed already, including the fact that there'll be a garden party at Milton Park to close out the week. To score tickets, you'll need to channel your inner Lady Whistledown — because noting what would be written about you in the series' gossip sheet in 25 words or less is how you'll enter to nab a spot at the shindig. Also, Bowral's Empire Cinemas will be hosting four free screenings of the first episode of Bridgerton's third season across Monday, April 22–Tuesday, April 23, letting you see it weeks before it makes its way to Netflix on Thursday, May 16. If you're going to treat yourself to a getaway this April, you can now make it a Bridgerton-loving getaway. And if you're a Bridgerton obsessive who lives in Bowral, prepare for plenty of company. Check out sneak peeks at Bridgerton season three below: The town of Bowral will get a Bridgerton-themed makeover from Tuesday, April 16–Tuesday, April 23. For more information, keep an eye on the event's website. Bridgerton season three will stream via Netflix in two parts, with four episodes on Thursday, May 16, 2024 and four on Thursday, June 13, 2024. Images: Liam Daniel/Netflix.
The Cambridge Markets team behind the Ryde Wharf Markets and the Entertainment Quarter Markets is introducing a newcomer to their happy family of fresh produce providers – in the CBD, no less. Just a stone's throw from the Circular Quay ferry terminal and train station, the Quay Quarter Lanes will be adding this new Market to their already expansive dining precinct (of two city blocks and a 49-storey tower), opening for the first time on Wednesday, November 9. You might be familiar with the Customs House/Quay Quarter precinct as a food festival venue (the Bastille day market in particular), but this is the debut of a fresh produce market in Sydney's CBD. The recently-renovated Loftus Lane creates a buzzy enclosed setting where you can get up close and personal with the markets' 40 stalls and vendors. Speaking of vendors, look for Quay Quarter locals like Zini Gelato, Adora Chocolates, Grana and Bubble Nini Teas; joined by market mainstays such as Farmer and Son produce, Berliner Bakery, Stephen Hodges Fish, Savannah Estate Winery, Brother Mountain Macadamias, Le Saucier pasta sauces and Bacca cured meats. Plus, calorie-intensive delights from Jeery's Tacos and Thicc Cookies. Starting on Wednesday, November 9, the Quay Quarter Lanes Market will take place outside Customs House and stretch out and back to Loftus Lane on the second Wednesday of every month. See the website for more information.
Hankering for a schnitty? Here's where you can score a free one. Chargrill Charlie's is landing in the heart of the Inner West, and to celebrate, its brand-new Marrickville location will be slinging freebies. This Saturday, July 13th, you'll want to be one of the first 700 to head to the outpost on Victoria Road between 12 and 1pm — the locale will be giving away 700 free chicken schnitzel rolls, and it'll operate on a first-come-first-served basis. If you do miss out on the freebies, there'll still be plenty on offer, most notably its flame-grilled chook, crisp fries coated in Chargrill Charlie's house-recipe chicken salt — which you can also purchase for your own kitchen — and one of the three of sauces on offer, a must-try combo. Or, opt for one of its coveted burgers for the full experience. There is also a wide-spanning menu of sides, from mac and cheese to pad thai, sweet treats and a rotating salad bar, so you'll be spoilt for choice each time you visit the spot. And the festivities don't stop there — to celebrate its opening, the new outpost will also be throwing a party kicking off with live music and face painting stalls from 10.30am. Plus, you'll even have the chance to score some newly-launched merch from Charlie himself. Winner winner.
Randwick has just scored a new food precinct as the curtains lift on the first phase of its much-hyped lifestyle hub, Newmarket Dining. Inside, four new hospitality venues have already opened their doors, including a second outpost for Redfern's ever-popular ramen joint RaRa, with a stack more to come. Decked out with lush gardens, al fresco dining areas and plenty of public space for barbecuing and picnicking, the fairy light-lit precinct has made its home in the heart of the suburb on Barker Street. And visitors are already met with a pretty diverse spread of food options, right from the get go. RaRa's second eatery takes its ramen every bit as seriously as its sibling, boasting real-deal noodle-making machines imported from Japan. They're churning out fresh, springy noodles to star in the bowls of signature ramen and you can even watch all the magic unfold behind glass in the 'noodle room'. Larger than the original, the space nods to the izakayas of Tokyo, complete with bar seating and a healthy dose of glowing neon. Baccomatto Osteria is the Italian of the bunch, moving into Randwick from its original Surry Hills digs, with its own strong following. Here, it's dishing up its legendary handmade pasta, with fan favourites starring alongside new Roman-style specials. Think, rigatoni with lamb ragu and artichokes, and a chargrilled pork cutlet matched with cannellini beans. It's also serving up Roman-style pizza by the slice, topped with the likes of bresaola, buffalo mozzarella and mushrooms. Family-owned Cafe Mckenzie is brewing coffee alongside a Middle Eastern-inspired food offering, while a new outpost from cold-pressed juice crew Cali Press is your go-to for nutritious eats like smoothies and salad bowls. An unconventional barbershop for guys and girls called Barber Signature is the precinct's first non-food offering. The full lineup of Newmarket Dining's residents will be unveiled in March. Find Newmarket Dining at 154 Barker Street, Randwick. Check individual restaurant websites for opening hours.
Bourke Street Bakery is a legend. Its croissants are super buttery, its lamb and harissa sausage rolls are addictive and its sandwiches and toasties are perfect for any grab-and-go occasion. We especially love the smoked ham, cheese and dijonnaise toastie ($7.50) and the corned wagyu beef sandwich — it's a reuben knock-off piled with swiss cheese, sauerkraut and pickles ($9.50). Plus, here you can combine your errands with your takeaway eats, since the bakery offers some of the best sourdough loaves in the city and is absolutely the bread you should be purchasing for this week's grocery shop.
There's this feeling sometimes in Sydney that's not unlike the vast nothing inside atoms. Despite the apparent solidity of its sandstone buildings, vertical offices, parks and sunny lanes, the city hides a labyrinth of empty spaces waiting to be filled. Throughout the year festivals, small bars, casual cafes and delivery vans cram in to try to top up those voids with dance, food or clever art. Graffiti aside, though, few things focus as much on filling up Sydney's quiet corners as the public art festival, Art & About. This year's season opens with an invitation to explore all the art's debut evening on the streets at Friday Night Live, with acts like Paul Mac and Fourplay accompanying your ramble, and museums staying up late with you. Laneway Art returns with a distinct lounge vibe, hosting bike-wheeled cinema-screens, outdoor furniture and some tricks with mirrors. City street banners will be co-opted for What If?, while Michael Landy's meditation on public civility will also lay itself across the CBD in Acts of Kindness. The giant images of annual outdoor photography exhibition Sydney Life are joined in Hyde Park this year by its junior counterpart Little Sydney Lives. Circus Maximus' audience-hugging horns, House's foray into the dark art of the Historic Houses Trust and an expedition to the Paris of 1911 help round out the month-long season, as part of the Festival's extensive list of umbrella events. Large or small, there's plenty in this year's Art and About there to electrify an empty day. Photograph of Australia Square by Brent M V Wintstone.
Australian Fashion Week, the southern hemisphere's biggest fashion event, has been part of the international fashion calendar for nearly three decades. The 2024 iteration, which runs from May 13-17, promises to be one of the biggest yet. Its five-day program features emerging designers alongside established names and culminates in the final night runway show. It's not just catwalks. There are panels discussing burning fashion topics like gender diversity, club culture, and sustainability. While it may not have the reputation of London or Paris, the Carriageworks event still pulls in 33,000 attendees annually and has been the launchpad for big names in the industry, like Anna Quan and Bec + Bridge. Perhaps most interesting, however, is AFW's selection of Changemakers: an exclusive group of industry luminaries pushing fashion forward and getting the privilege of impacting the week's programming. This year's chosen few include Rumbie Mutsiwa, a Chippendale-based hairdresser specialising in curly and afro hair, and James Bartle, whose Outland Denim brand provides jobs for women affected by human trafficking. Plenty of the events during the week are open to the public, but you'll need to purchase tickets in advance, so get in quick.
She's back. Sydney summer in all her glory has returned, and this year there's a thirst to soak up every drop of daylight and make the most of the long, languid days with that special someone. With the help of Captain Cook Cruises, we've put together the perfect summer date night itinerary so you can take advantage of the extra sunshine hours and stretch out the fun for as long as possible. [caption id="attachment_787118" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lindy Lee, 'Listening to the Moon' (2018), installation view, 'Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop', Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2020. Image courtesy the artist and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Photo: Anna Kucera[/caption] 2PM — GO SEE LINDY LEE'S EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART We think every date should start with a thought-starter; something to talk about as you continue on with your day. Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop is the MCA's blockbuster exhibition right now, which has the largest collection of works ever shown by the Australian Chinese artist and showcases the breadth of her long and brilliant career. The show is a meditation on what it means to belong and draws on the philosophies of Daoism and Buddhism — the name of the exhibition is a nod to the writings of the Zen philosopher Dogen. The striking stainless steel sculpture at the bottom of the MCA steps on the Circular Quay forecourt is a fitting taste of what's to come once you step inside. 3.30PM — VISIT HARBOUR BAR & RESTAURANT FOR PRE-DINNER DRINKS From the MCA, mosey on over to Circular Quay where you can board Captain Cook Cruises' new hop-on, hop-off Harbour Bar & Restaurant. There's live music and plenty of top-notch cocktails to choose from — the most difficult thing to decide on is which direction to cast your eye. Unlike most bars, the view here changes as the boat moves around the harbour, so you can tick off the hit list of attractions together as you go: Opera House? Check. Harbour Bridge? Check. Luna Park? Check, check, check. [caption id="attachment_793003" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] 7PM — DINE AT SMOKE, BARANGAROO HOUSE You can choose to dine aboard the Harbour Bar & Restaurant, however if you choose to disembark with your beau at Darling Harbour, head to Smoke at Barangaroo House for dinner in the clouds. Smoke sits atop the spaceship-shaped, three-tiered building. The wrap-around balcony offers panoramic views of the harbour, with the city sitting pretty as a backdrop. The menu is designed to share so it's a good thing you've got company. Think smoky chicken skewers with lemon and a kick of cayenne or puffed beef crackers with spiced tomato salt. Better yet, get the cheese plate for two to fill up on fromage with the one you love. [caption id="attachment_714472" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kimberley Low[/caption] 8.30PM — HEAD TO CANTINA OK! FOR A SPICY MARGARITA After you tear yourself away from the view at Smoke, make your way up the hill to Cantina OK! for a cocktail that will put a fire in your belly. This diminutive laneway mezcal bar in the CBD more than makes up for its size with the skill of its cocktail makers. Put yourselves in the very capable hands of the bartenders, who'll delight you both with their latest concoction. Or, if you're feeling traditional (which, here, is no bad thing), stick to a margarita made the OK way with half tequila and half mezcal. They're so good you'll want to stay for one more last one. Whether you're keen for a cocktail cruise or dinner date, you can find out more about the Harbour Bar and Restaurant, here. Top image: Captain Cook Cruises
Sydneysiders love a market — especially one that specialises in top-notch pre-loved clothing. There's nothing like finding a quality item at a clothing market. There's the thrill of searching through the racks to stumble upon the piece, plus shopping secondhand and upcycled clothing is more sustainable than buying your clothes new. If this all sounds entirely relatable, Second Life Markets are a must-visit for you. Usually, this hub of independent designers and secondhand clothing stalls pops up in Sydney once a season; however, with its autumn edition scheduled in May, it has just announced a one-off sundowner market on King Street in collaboration with Newtown favourite So Familia. Known for its 2000s-style pre-loved and deadstock clothing and accessories, So Familia is a go-to in the Inner West for those looking towards naughties-era Paris Hilton and Nicole Scherzinger for fashion inspo. Over 30 stalls are lined up to take place as part of the mini market which, will run from 3–8pm on Sunday, April 2 at 426 King Street. There will also be pizza, drinks and tunes, ensuring the markets are a vibrant Sunday afternoon experience. Plus, it's dog-friendly, so make sure to bring along your fluffiest companions so they can stretch their legs before you head back to work for the week. Entry is $5 and, in the sustainable spirit of the market, you're asked to bring your own reusable shopping bag(s) with you on the day. The Second Life Markets run successful quarterly events across Sydney, Perth and, as of October, Melbourne. The seasonal events bring together local sellers and independent designers, as well as a heavy dose of good vibes. You can stay up to date with when each new city's next market is arriving at the Second Life Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Second Life Markets (@secondlifemarkets)
Since first appearing on-screen back in 1997, Borat Sagdiyev has always stood out. In 2006 mockumentary Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which sees Sacha Baron Cohen's fictional Kazakh journalist head to the "US and A" and chat with ordinary Americans across the country, that's a big part of the point. And in surprise 14-years-later sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, that also remains the case — even if he has to don over-the-top disguises because he's now quite famous in the US. Before Borat Subsequent Moviefilm starts streaming globally from Friday, October 23 via Amazon Prime Video, Borat is standing out in another way, too: via a towering statue of the character that has been helicoptered into Bondi Beach for 24 hours. As Borat would say, "very excite!". It's a promotional move for the film, obviously, but if you've ever wanted to stare up at a giant version of the moustachioed figure — who is scantily dressed, even in sculpture form — then here is your chance. Sydneysiders can find the six-metre statue at Marks Park until 11am tomorrow, Friday, October 23, featuring a reclining Borat clad only in an American flag. The very nice sculpture was unveiled today as part of a press conference which featured a streamed appearance by the character, a big display of Kazakh flags and a parade of Borat look-alikes wearing nothing but maskinis — yes, they're face masks turned into mankinis, because of course they are. As for the movie itself, it's exactly what you'd expect of Borat's return visit to the US — especially during an election year, as American politics seems more polarised than ever, and as COVID-19 affects the country. While last time he travelled across the nation after falling in love with Pamela Anderson, now he's trying to gift his daughter to Vice President Mike Pence (or "vice pussy grabber", as Borat calls him). His aim: to get Kazakhstan's own leader into President Donald Trump's good graces, and specifically his "strong man club", which refers to Trump's penchant for promoting his ties with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Along the way, Borat tries to kill the coronavirus by hitting it with a frying pan, dresses up like Trump to infiltrate a conservative conference and struggles with the daughter he previously didn't even know he had. As he always does, Baron Cohen also uses his time back in the character's grey suit to expose plenty of engrained, overt and unpleasant viewpoints and prejudice among those he meets. And, he also has a run-in with Rudy Giuliani that's been garnering plenty of news headlines over the past day. Check out the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rsa4U8mqkw&feature=youtu.be The Borat sculpture is on display at Marks Park, Bondi Beach until 11am tomorrow, Friday, October 23. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will be available to stream via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, October 23.
Let's face it, you can't buy a whole lot for 50 cents in 2022. But on one day — Wednesday, April 6 to be exact — you can consider that little dodecagonal coin your best friend. That's all you'll need to grab a cheeseburger at McDonald's on that date, with the fast-food giant treating the whole country to 50-cent burgs. If this sounds familiar, that's because Macca's has dished up this deal a few times now. On this current occasion, which coincides with the launch of McDonald's new chicken range, there are 350,000 50-cent cheeseburgers available Australia-wide. So, you'll want to get in early to get this classic combo for pocket change — beef, bun, onion, pickles, ketchup, cheese and all — because that cheap price will apply on a first-in, first-served basis. To claim your 50-cent burger, you'll first need to download the MyMacca's app via the Apple Store or Google Play. Then, log on, check the My Rewards section and boom — Ronald's your uncle. Unfortunately, there's a limit of one 50-cent cheeseburger per customer, which probably isn't enough to make a meal of. But we're sure there are a few other Macca's menu items that might tempt your tastebuds while you're there. Because you have to use the MyMacca's app, you'll only be able to get your cheap burg via takeaway, drive-thru or in-store — not through McDelivery. McDonald's 350,000 50-cent cheeseburgers are available on Wednesday, April 6 until sold out via the MyMacca's app.
Gelato Messina loves a creative ice cream flavour, and an inventive dessert in general. It also adores something else almost as much: collaborations. Messina lube, sunscreen, festive treats, craft beer spiders, sneakers, body washes and balm all either do exist or have existed, to name just a few of the brand's team ups in the past couple of years. Next on the list: FELLR seltzers that taste like Messina's sorbets. If you like the dessert chain's yuzu, blood orange, and salted coconut and mango sorbets to lick in a cone or from a cup, and you like boozy seltzers, then we're betting you'll be keen on the FELLR x Messina Sorbet Series. Those three flavours will be available to sip from Friday, December 1 thanks to a new range that'll hit bottle-os such as BWS and Dan Murphy's, plus selected venues and festivals. For drinking at home, at parties, on picnics and the like, you'll be getting your sorbet-inspired tipples in a ten pack. Messina and FELLR's advice: get in quick because these are limited-edition beverages. The seltzers are launching with a series of festivities, too, whether you like dessert or drinks. Firstly, three new specials will arrive in Messina's cabinets at all stores for a week, or until stocks last: custard gelato with blood orange gel, baked sponge and whipped cream (from Thursday, November 30); mango and coconut gelato with salted coconut fudge and coconut biscuits (from Friday, December 1); and yuzu cheesecake gelato with baked cheesecake and dulce de leche (from Saturday, December 2). You can also enjoy yuzu sorbet from Friday, December 1–Thursday, December 7. The seltzers are also getting a Bondi launch party from 5pm on Friday, December 15 at Beach Road Hotel, with help from The Lazy Eyes and Gully Days. And, a heap of pop-ups are on their way across Australia's east coast, with FELLR and Messina heading to Manly Beach's New Brighton Hotel, Victoria's Brighton Beach Hotel, Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane and Miami Tavern on the Gold Coast — with dates set to drop via FELLR and Messina's socials. The FELLR x Messina Sorbet Series hits BWS, Dan Murphy's, and selected venues and festivals on Friday, December 1.
The UN Women's annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign soon comes to a close, with the Inner West rounding out this year's call to action with a special free event — Consent Laid Bare with Chanel Contos. Offering a fascinating discussion from two leading lights, it builds upon the global campaign's call to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. Centred around the activist and author's new book, Consent Laid Bare, Contos will take to the stage in conversation with renowned writer and broadcaster Lucinda Price, aka Froomes. Together, the pair will discuss how entrenched cultural norms continue to shape experiences of gender, sexuality and consent, while exploring what, if anything, has changed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YIAGA (@yiaga.au) "Violence against women is a national emergency, and the responsibility to end it rests with all of us," says Inner West Deputy Mayor Chloe Smith. "Council is proud to host this important conversation during the 16 Days of Activism. Chanel Contos and Lucinda Froomes are powerful advocates whose work continues to shift attitudes and inspire change." Held at the Balmain Town Hall from 6.30–7.30pm on Wednesday, December 10, Contos will also delve into her work for Teach Us Consent — the headline-grabbing movement she created, which saw her receive the 2021 Australian Human Rights Commission Young People's Medal. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YIAGA (@yiaga.au)
Last year the books went burlesque with saucy story-telling and thought-provoking debates. Onlookers were aghast: they're doing what? At the library? Now the Late Night Library series serves up the same dose of adults-only content but with a dash of Monty Python humour. Debuting at Newtown Library, Never Not Funny at Late Night Library promises to split your sides with the best and brightest acts of alternative and emerging comedy. Expect to giggle loudly, clap your hands, indulge in some vino, and not be told to hush — it's your local library but not as you know it. In November and December 2012, expect to see musical comedy duo Smart Casual re-creating their childhood on stage and Cameron James' Variety Nite Live.
Much might be changing at the Museum of Old and New Art in 2024, including giving Dark Mofo a rest for the year and farewelling summer festival Mona Foma for good. But having a party in winter is still on the cards, as the Tasmanian venue confirmed a few months back. The lineup of events keeps growing, in fact, as part of what's now being dubbed a 'Dark Mofo presents' program. On offer from Thursday, June 13–Sunday, June 23: Winter Feast, the Nude Solstice Swim, both Genesis Owusu and Marlon Williams playing live, the Mona Gala, a new exhibition, a multi-storey nightclub and late-night tunes that begin the next morning. [caption id="attachment_950174" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rosie Hastie, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Dark Mofo 2022, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] "I know we said Dark Mofo would stay quiet, but winter wouldn't feel the same without the chance to feast and frolic during the long Tasmanian nights," said the fest's Artistic Director Chris Twite. "As the chill of winter creeps in, I know we are already longing to feast, dance and swim together. So we're really excited to be able to present these beloved pillars of the festival this June for Tasmanians and all our dedicated Dark Mofo pilgrims." [caption id="attachment_950181" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sam Stewart. Courtesy of Dark Mofo / DarkLab, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia[/caption] If you're keen to eat your way around a huge midyear food festival on the Apple Isle, Winter Feast will be serving up plenty to tempt your tastebuds. Vaughan Mabee, the Executive Chef of New Zealand's Amisfield in Queenstown, is the the guest chef, teaming up with Mona's own Vince Trim. They'll hero unorthodox ingredients, such as Tasmanian deer and wallaby, wakame furikake, wattleseed and long-spined urchin, in an outdoor pavilion that'll be custom-built for the event. The meats will be fire-roasted onsite, then sliced to order. For dessert, deer also proves pivotal via deer milk ice cream, a signature dessert from Mabee. You won't forget it — it comes shaped like antlers, served in a real deer skull, then topped with 'deer blood' caramel. [caption id="attachment_950183" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Vaughan Mabee and Dark Mofo / DarkLab, Nipaluna Hobart, Lutruwita Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] Also set to be at Winter Feast: 80 stallholders, spanning not only returning favourites, but also 25 new joints from around the state. Standout dishes to look out for include spit-roast pork buns, crispy-fried southern rock lobster sliders, neo-Nepalese goat curry, arancini filled with beef ragu and mozzarella, and mortadella cruller choux pastries, as well as milk and honey doughnuts, mulled wine and smoked beetroot vodka. Yula (mutton bird) will also be back on the menu, while a Tasmanian sparkling wine bar is new for the year. Another change for 2024: making Winter Feast entry free on Sundays. [caption id="attachment_950175" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dark Mofo/Rémi Chauvin. Courtesy Dark Mofo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia[/caption] If you're most excited about taking a swim sans clothes to celebrate the winter solstice, the Nude Solstice Swim at Long Beach will have a larger capacity than in the past. Elsewhere, Owusu and Williams are each playing gigs at Odeon Theatre on successive nights; the Mona Gala will get everyone partying for the opening of exhibition Namedropping, which showcases 200-plus artistic works about status, perception and trying to look good for others; and Dark Mofo 2021's Night Shift is making a comeback so that you can hit the dance floor, get debauched and make the absolute most of the early hours. Slow Burn, a brand-new event for 2024, is also about staying up late, only opening at midnight at Odeon Theatre's Mezz Bar. At the In the Hanging Garden precinct, Winter in the Garden will get DJs spinning tunes earlier, and also host food and drink pop-ups. [caption id="attachment_950177" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of the artist.[/caption] Dark Mofo will return in 2025 as the full usual shebang, but better than ever — not that there's anything usual about the event. "Dark Mofo has established itself as a beacon of artistic exploration and challenging ideas for a decade, immersing audiences in the depths of darkness and the heart of winter," said Twite earlier in 2024. "This year, by taking a fallow year, we are taking a crucial step in ensuring that Dark Mofo continues to be a catalyst for artistic innovation, cultural dialogue, and shared experiences for many years to come." [caption id="attachment_950178" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dark Mofo/Jesse Hunniford. Courtesy Dark Mofo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_950182" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_950176" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dark Mofo/Jesse Hunniford, 2021. Courtesy Dark Mofo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_950180" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rémi Chauvin. Courtesy of DarkLab, March 2023.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_950179" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford. Courtesy of the artists and Mona, Tasmania, Australia[/caption] Dark Mofo Presents: Winter 2o24: Thursday, June 13–Sunday, June 16 — Winter Feast week one Thursday, June 13–Sunday, June 23 — Winter in the Garden Friday, June 14 — The Mona Gala Saturday, June 15 — Genesis Owusu Saturday, June 15–Sunday, June 16 — Slow Burn Saturday, June 15, 2024–Monday, April 21, 2025 — Namedropping exhibition Sunday, June 16 — Marlon Williams Thursday, June 20–Sunday, June 23 — Winter Feast week two Friday, June 21 — Nude Solstice Swim Friday, June 21–Saturday, June 22 — Night Shift The Dark Mofo Presents lineup takes place at Mona from Thursday, June 13–Sunday, June 23, 2024. Head to the festival's website for further details, and for tickets on Tuesday, April 16 — from 10am for subscribers and 12pm for everyone else. Top image: Rosie Hastie, 2022. Courtesy of Dark Mofo 2022.
The once-industrial area of Alexandria has experienced a revolution in recent years. While many of the old warehouses and factories remain, inside, the machinery has been swapped out for vintage collectables, designer homewares and trendy cafes that pump out smashed avo on toast and single origin espresso to the slow-moving brunch crowds. Then in the evening, the suburb picks up the pace as young professionals and creative types head out to the many neighbourhood wine bars and restaurants to let off steam. Navigating your way around streets that fluctuate between factory-lined and suburban with little warning can be tricky. But, once you enter this rabbit warren, you'll discover plenty of hidden gems — and that's where we come in. Along with City of Sydney, we've found ten spots that you need to hit when you're in the area. A word of advice: best go on an empty stomach.
Don't have the time or cash to jet-set around the globe visiting the best cocktail bars? The good news is that some of the world's most acclaimed shakers and stirrers are making tracks for Sydney. Running across April 7-13, the third edition of the Maybe Cocktail Festival showcases an incredible array of bartending talent, with representatives from 12 venues on the World's 50 Best Bars list flying into town. Bringing an abundance of creative ideas and powerful concoctions, this international affair will feature leading figures from Argentina, Indonesia, Spain, the UK, the USA, Italy, Japan and Mexico. Naturally, this diverse collective will ensure keen drinkers experience their fair share of global cocktail culture, from little-known spirit makers to inspired ingredients that give classic tipples an inventive twist. "Maybe Cocktail Festival is about bringing the best drinking experiences from around the globe to Sydney," says festival director Stefano Catino. "We're talking top-tier bartenders serving up world-class cocktails without anyone needing to clear customs." The line-up is still to be announced, but these acclaimed names will take up residence in some of Sydney's most happening cocktail bars for five days of events, collaborations and exclusive experiences. And there's no shortage of stellar venues getting involved in the fun. For instance, Maybe Sammy's 1950s Hollywood glamour landed at number 26 on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2024, while Dean & Nancy on 22 was named Hotel Bar of the Year at the 2024 Australian Bar Awards. Also playing host is El Primo Sanchez with tequila cocktails, Maybe Frank with Italian-inspired aperitivos and digestifs, Little Cooler with punchy dive bar drinks and lush Latin American creations at Hacienda. So, whether you're a cocktail aficionado or just excited for a big night out, finding the ideal spot to indulge in an experimental drink is made easy. "With the cost of living and the sheer distance of Sydney from so many of the world's great drinking destinations, it's not always easy to visit these bars in person. But for one week, they're right here in our backyard. The lineup is stacked, the drinks will be flowing and we can't wait to see Sydney turn it on once again," says Catino. [caption id="attachment_990037" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Credit: Steven Woodburn[/caption] [caption id="attachment_990043" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] [caption id="attachment_990046" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Credit: Steven Woodburn[/caption] Maybe Cocktail Festival runs from April 7-13 at various venues across Sydney. Head to the website for more information.
To get an idea of the sheer range of goods on offer at Becker Minty's flagship store, just visit their website and look at the head-spinning array of categories: art, furniture, lighting, fashion, jewellery, gift ideas and more. Owner and chief buyer Jason Minty loves nothing more than scouring the globe to bring the best in international goods to Australia. That's not to say everything will be outside your price range, though. Becker Minty stocks both the aspirational and the affordable. It all means that it's potentially a one-stop shop to turn an empty property with bare wardrobes into a chic, furnished pied-à-terre stocked with the latest in worldwide trends and fashions. Images: Kitti Smallbone.
Winter is coming, as Game of Thrones has been telling us for years — but the show's final season is coming first. Before the weather turns cold again in the southern hemisphere, fans of the epic HBO series will be able to discover how the popular series wraps up, with the eighth and final season hitting the small screen at 11am on Monday, April 15. That's next week, friends. Prepare the snacks. And with the final season, will come the death of many more cherished characters. As George RR Martin has shown us, over and over and over again, no one is safe from his murderous pen (or keyboard) — any character's death is fair game. The list of deaths in the first seven seasons is long — longer than even Arya Stark's list — and the fallen are being commemorated in an eery new Game of Thrones cemetery, which has popped up today in Centennial Park. Yes, right here in Sydney. Eight giant graves as well as numerous tombs have been created by Foxtel, ahead of next week's series premiere, in the sprawling inner city park, and each is inscribed with names of who lays inside. There are the fallen Starks: Eddard, Benjen and Rickon; the Baratheons (or should we say, Lannisters): King Tommen and Robert; and the Stark direwolves: Shaggy Dog, slain by Smalljon Umber in S06E09, and Summer, mauled by wights in S06E05. We'll never forget who else died in that latter episode — 'The Door' — either: Hodor. With the final season promising a huge final battle between the living and the White Walkers, we think this cemetery, which features hands and animals emerging from the graves, may also be ominously hinting to something else: we're going to see the return of many favourite fallen characters — as wights. In the offical trailer, dropped last month, you see Arya running through the halls of Winterfell — could she be running from something, newly reanimated, in the crypts? Then, there's this Crypts of Winterfell teaser. We'll let you continue speculating for yourselves, but expect one helluvan emotional Walking Dead-style murdering-of-fallen-friends battle to go down this season. Prepare many boxes of tissues. The cemetery is currently a bit of a work in progress, but we'll update you as soon as it's complete. It's not the first IRL teaser for the new season, either, a Iron Throne scavenger hunt took place earlier this month, with six sworded seats popping up around the globe. Images: Lauren Vadnjal.
More than seven years in the making, Bondi Pavilion's massive transformation is finally complete, and the waterfront hub's retail and dining tenants are now swinging open their doors. Glory Days Bondi has already brought a big dose of waterfront brunch to the pavilion. Now House Made Hospitality, the team behind Circular Quay's luxurious multi-level venue Hinchcliff House, has also arrived with Promenade. Opening on Wednesday, March 8, this all-day cafe, restaurant and bar brings Lana's affection for ethically sourced seafood right to the beach, serving up picked mud crab and snapper curry to a dining room soundtracked by the sound of the waves crashing just outside. But, the menu expands far past just seafood, accommodating takeaway coffee, light snacks, quick drinks and lavish lunches, all within a breezy space that complements the new-look pavilion. There are several defined areas within Promenade. The kiosk is on hand for on-the-go morning coffee. Inside, there's a 67-person dining room perfect for a long lunch or celebratory dinner. If you want to soak in the sea breeze, you can nab a spot on the al fresco verandah. There's a 140-person walk-in-only terrace that's designed to accommodate quick and casual visits. Or, if you're after something a little more secluded, there are several private dining areas including 12-seat space The Grotto — which offers water views and a semi-private terrace. "The venue needed to be light and airy to complement the relaxed daytime vibes of the beach, but still cosy enough for an evening experience," says House Made Hospitality Director Scott Brown. "The other primary focus for us was ensuring Promenade Bondi Beach appealed to locals. We want it to be somewhere locals are proud of, they feel comfortable eating at regularly and want to show off to visiting friends and family." House Made Hospitality Culinary Director Stephen Seckold has pulled together the menu with the help of incoming Executive Chef Chris Benedet (Cirrus Dining, Yellow, Monopole, Rockpool), who will head up the kitchen from mid-March. Alongside the aforementioned mud crab and curry, there's toothfish skewers, wagyu rib eye, lamb shoulder, and a collection of pasta dishes such as squid-ink calamarata with pippies and XO jamon. There's plenty on offer for vegetarians too, with Turkish peppers paired with tarragon mayonnaise, potato galette with black garlic, charred zucchini, and roasted cauliflower all making appearances on the menu. Once Benedet arrives, diners can expect him to put his stamp on the offerings, making tweaks or adding some of his culinary favourites. The menu differs over at the expansive Front Yard, the more laidback 400-square-metre, 140-person outdoor dining area. Here, among the native plants and olive trees, you can order a nostalgic Sunnyboy Spritz made with strawberry, ginger, Aperol and white wine, alongside beachside classics like flatbread topped with garlic king pawns and crumbed fish burgers. The Apollonia negroni has also made its way over from Hinchcliff House and landed on the drinks list. It sits side by side with a collection of frozen cocktails for those hot summer days, as well as Bondi Brewing Co beers and an expansive wine list featuring a range of drops handpicked by the team as the House Made selections. Promenade Bondi Beach opens on Wednesday, March 8 at Shop 4, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach. The kiosk will open 7am–3pm Monday–Sunday, while the rest of the venue will be open 11.30am–11pm Wednesday–Saturday and 11.30am–10pm Sunday. Images: Jiwon Kim.
UPDATE, March 31, 2021: Bill & Ted Face the Music is available to stream via Stan, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. When it comes to goofy and sweet movie concepts handled with sincerity, the Bill & Ted franchise has always proven most triumphant. In 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the big-screen comedy series introduced the world to Californian high schoolers Bill S Preston, Esq (Alex Winter) and Ted 'Theodore' Logan (Keanu Reeves), who are apparently destined to write the rock song that unites the universe — if they can first pass their history exam by travelling back in time in a phone booth to recruit famed past figures like Beethoven and Socrates to help, that is. The idea that Bill & Ted's affable, air guitar-playing slackers would become the world's salvation was a joke that the film itself was in on, and the movie struck the right balance of silliness, earnestness and affection as a result. So, the end product was joyous. How could a flick that makes the absolute most of Reeves exclaiming "whoa!" multiple times, tasks its titular characters with spreading a message of kindness and sends Napoleon to a water park called Waterloo be anything but giddy fun? Actually, Excellent Adventure was something else: the reason that 1991's even loopier but still entertaining Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey exists, complete with evil robot versions of the eponymous duo and Twister games with Death (William Sadler) in hell. Now, almost three decades after that first sequel, the franchise has spawned a third entry — and Bill & Ted Face the Music delivers yet another dose of warm-hearted lunacy. Bill (Winter) and Ted (Reeves) are back, obviously. They're older, definitely not wiser, and yet again take a few leaps through time. The fate of life as everyone knows it is still at stake, of course. And, as always, the loveable pair's clear motto — "be excellent to each other" — is pivotal. Bogus Journey told viewers that Wyld Stallyns, Bill and Ted's band, would achieve the success that futuristic emissary Rufus (George Carlin) had promised since the beginning of Excellent Adventure. When Face the Music returns to the duo, they've enjoyed the spoils of fame and subsequently crashed back into obscurity, gigs on cheap taco night, and combining a theremin with throat singing in the world's least romantic wedding song. Settled into suburban San Dimas life with their wives and children — medieval princesses Joanna (Glee's Jayma Mays) and Elizabeth (Medical Police's Erinn Hayes), and chip-off-the-old-block daughters Theadora (Ready or Not's Samara Weaving) and Wilhelmina (Atypical's Brigette Lundy-Paine) — they're still certain they'll write the tune the changes the future. Well, they're still trying to. But when they're given a 77-minute deadline by Rufus' daughter Kelly (The Last Man on Earth's Kristen Schaal), Bill and Ted decide to jump forward and steal the fabled track from themselves after they've already penned it. There's a purposeful sense of familiarity to Face the Music's main plot; watching Bill and Ted hurtle through time is what this franchise is all about, after all. Teaming up with director Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest), returning original writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon triple down on the setup, however, with Thea and Billie also leaping through history — and their unhappy mothers, who can't quite convince Bill and Ted not to be so codependent, similarly riding the circuits of time on their own trip. Layering all of the above gives Face the Music an overt excuse to rehash many of the franchise's beloved aspects, including bringing Bill and Ted face to face with themselves again and again, and sending the younger B and T on a mission to collect music icons like Mozart, Jimi Hendrix and King Cudi. And yet, while anyone who has seen Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey will spot the easy nods — even extending to a new robot (Barry's Anthony Carrigan) sent to foil the current plans — Face the Music isn't merely trying to relive past glories. In fact, the very idea that some dreams don't come true — or, to the benefit of everyone, they evolve and get passed along — sits at the core of this tender and loving movie. That's its best feature, and it's far from bogus. Naturally, it's a delight to see Winter and Reeves reprise their roles. They step back into Bill and Ted's shoes with ease, expertly conveying the characters' lingering immaturity, middle-aged malaise and ever-present kindness. They're also clearly having a blast as different versions of the duo, and their enthusiasm is infectious. As the next generation, both Weaving and Lundy-Paine are spot-on as well (the latter couldn't channel late 80s/early 90s-era Keanu more convincingly), while Carrigan steals every scene he's in. But without thoughtfully pondering what it truly means to be excellent to each other, showing that in action and demonstrating the impact that pulling together communally can have, Face the Music could've felt like it was just strumming the same hit notes again. They're also known for spouting "party on!" with frequency, but Bill and Ted's most famous catchphrase has never simply served up empty words. No one can escape the straightforward piece of advice, because "be excellent to each other" is uttered often, but it also means something. Indeed, Bill and Ted approached their lives with goodwill and consideration back in Excellent Adventure as a method of coping with their troubles — with the former's sleazy dad marrying one of their classmates, and the latter's stern father constantly threatening him with military school — and, here, they continue to illustrate the merits of their optimistic and warm mindset. It's no wonder, then, that Face the Music feels like such a nice hug of a movie. It's silly, because that's a given. It relies upon a template, but knows how to twist it in new directions. It occasionally feels repetitive, and a tad unintentionally chaotic. The heartfelt happiness it brings, though, is 100-percent excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hAL7emClFM
Get ready to groove; RAFI Records is back from March 8, bringing bottomless beats to your Saturdays. North Sydney's beloved vinyl session is serving up free-flowing drinks, delicious food and laidback vibes, all from just $120 per head. This year, it's all about DJ Foxy Fuzz, who's taking over the decks with her signature fusion of Latin rhythms and soul. It's the ideal soundtrack to shake off the week and get the good times rolling. The day kicks off with the A Side from 12pm; an easygoing afternoon of smooth tunes. When 2:30pm hits, the B Side brings all the energy with more party-happy beats. On the menu is silver trevally with caviar, avocado, green apple and jalapeño; crispy chickpea and green chilli hummus; and grain-fed flat iron with black garlic butter. Plus there are plenty of vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options in the mix, as well as dessert for just $8. And the drinks? Sip on mimosas, NV Applejack Be Present, 2024 Palmetto Rosé, Freshwater Crisp Lager and a standout sauvignon blanc from Adelaide Hills. RAFI Records is the ultimate Saturday session – music, eats, and all-round excellent vibes. Let the good times spin.
If you've got a mate in your circle with a weakness for vintage fashion, don't spend any more time trawling through eBay. You'll get the right old-school pressie at Route 66. Among the plethora of well-loved objects here are cowperson belts etched with names like 'Cherry' and 'Dub', leather fringe jackets, bandanas, floral skirts and loads of denim. Route 66 started life in 1988, on Crown Street, Surry Hills, before moving to King Street, Newtown, earlier this year. It's now open seven days a week — making it perfect for last-minute gift buying panic attacks.
The Entertainment Quarter's multi-storey live music venue is set for a huge transformation with the Mary's Group taking over operations at the Moore Park spot. Formerly Hi-Fi and Max Watt's, the 1200-capacity hall will be renamed Liberty Hall and taken under the wing of burger bros, Mary's founders Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham. Located across from the Hordern Pavillion and the Entertainment Quater's new pub Watson's, Hi-Fi quickly became a Sydney mainstay for midsized gigs in the early 2010s. It was then renamed Max Watt's House of Music in 2015. Now, with Smyth and Graham at the helm, the venue will host gigs ranging from local acts finding their feet and club nights to tours with big international acts. "We are humbled at another opportunity to take the reins of yet another fallen live music venue and pour energy and hard work into creating an exciting creative space for Sydney's arts community," Graham said. Liberty Hall will swing its doors open from late October with initial lineups and shows set to be announced over the next couple of months. View this post on Instagram A post shared by George Kostopoulos (@gm.kosto) "Today's announcement is another great step forward in the renaissance of Sydney's live music scene," NSW 24-Hour Economy Commissioner Michael Rodrigues said. "This new venue will give a platform for creative talent from Sydney and beyond, whilst also helping to revitalise the Entertainment Quarter precinct. It's a big shot in the arm for our city's 24-hour economy and I can't wait to experience its first performances." The live music venue will be accompanied by a new Mary's restaurant next door, serving up the team's signature burgers and fried chicken. The burger joint will become the group's fifth Sydney location, joining Newtown, Castelraigh Street, Circular Quay and the recently opened Castle Hill outpost. This won't be the team's first foray into live music programming. Below the Circular Quay location, you'll find another salvaged space, the underground gig space Mary's Underground. Previously known as The Basement, Mary's resurrected the venue a year after it was forced to close. Smyth and Graham also ran gigs out of The Lansdowne for over half a decade before stepping away from the venue in February. Thankfully for the city's live music junkies, the beloved City Road pub has been saved by the Oxford Art Factory team. [caption id="attachment_747991" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mary's by Kitti Gould[/caption] Liberty Hall will be located at Building 220, 116-122 Lang Road, The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park. It will open in late October. Images: Tom Wilkinson
There's a brand new pop-up coming to Oxford Street this month and it's teeming with testosterone. Curated by Clara Ho (founder of Burton Metal Depository), presented by the Design Residency and supported by the City of Sydney's Creative Spaces initiative, The Man Cave is a brand new pop-up shop filled with Man Things — fashion, accessories, furniture, grooming tools and more — all created by emerging Australian talent with a penchant for dude-focused design. Importantly, you don't need a penis to walk through the door of this pop-up shop. Everyone's welcome, chromosome combinations aside. With Father's Day coming up, it's pretty excellent one-stop-shop for something a little eclectic for your pappy. There'll be a leather monogramming service on-site, as well as bespoke suit fittings and custom jewellery consultations. They're kicking things off on August 20 with a big ol' opening night with whiskey tasting from the crew at Balvenie Whiskey. The pop-up will also be open during Vogue's Fashion Night Out and City of Sydney's Fashion Saturday, with guest DJs, bespoke cocktails and grooming tips. Everyone loves a little beard-trimming advice with an Old Fashioned in hand, right? The Man Cave is one part of a series of pop-ups presented by the Design Residency. The next residency will be Innovators from September 16, then Local Design from October 7. The Man Cave opens on Thursday, August 20 at 72 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst. Opening night runs 6-9pm, where you can have tipple, meet the designers and nab the best things first. Images: Lena Barridge.
When you've scored the gig of playing Karate Kid: Legends' new titular character — the first part of the movie's moniker, not the second — stepping into shoes previously worn by Ralph Macchio (The Deuce) in three 80s films, then by Hilary Swank (Yellowjackets) in the 90s and Jaden Smith (Entergalactic) in 2010, is indeed a daunting prospect. That's the reality for American Born Chinese and Mean Girls star Ben Wang, and he's well-aware of what putting on the gi in the Miyagiverse means. "It's terrifying," he tells Concrete Playground. "I know how many people love these movies, so I want to make sure that we get it right." Wang isn't just merely familiar with the fact that people are fond of 1984's The Karate Kid and its four other follow-ups before his film (on the small screen, streaming series Cobra Kai also amassed a devoted following across its six-season run between 2018–25). His journey with a saga that made "wax on, wax off" one of cinema's most-famous phrases, then added "jacket on, jacket off" in the 21st century, actually commenced as a fan himself. Securing the part of Karate Kid: Legends' fresh-faced martial-arts prodigy Li Fong involved being up for a battle to begin with, given that he was among more than 10,000 actors who auditioned. It also required someone with existing fighting skills, which Wang boasts after being inspired by The Karate Kid circa 2010. As Li, he's following in iconic footsteps, clearly. He's also entering a film and TV universe with personal significance to him. And, he's doing all of that while starring beside The Karate Kid's OG teen in Macchio — and also alongside Jackie Chan (A Legend), who debuted as kung fu shifu Mr Han opposite Smith in the flick that Wang grew up with. There's an extra layer to his casting, too, that can now be called a theme across his career. For Wang, Karate Kid: Legends is another project that partly connects to his own experience. His role in American Born Chinese with Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winners Michelle Yeoh (Wicked) and Ke Huy Quan (The Electric State) reflected his own childhood as the only Asian kid in his class for years. Now, Li mirrors the move that he made from China to America when he was young. While Wang relocated from Shanghai to Minnesota, his Karate Kid: Legends character is whisked from Beijing to New York when his mother (Ming-Na Wen, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai) accepts a new job. [caption id="attachment_1008321" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dave Allocca/StarPix for Sony Pictures[/caption] Viewers know going in that karate kids tend to find themselves training for a showdown. Thanks to the Five Boroughs Tournament, Li is no different. Also a recognisable staple that's present here: a nemesis that needs facing with flying fists and feet. Consequently, Karate Kid: Legends pits its protagonist against Conor Day (Aramis Knight, Ms Marvel), the aggressive ex-boyfriend of Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley, Cruel Summer), one of Li's new NYC friends. Yes, Han's expertise is called upon as his former student prepares. Macchio's Daniel LaRusso is also enlisted to assist, making the trip from California. Their job: to help Li combine kung fu and karate. That said, Karate Kid: Legends recognises that its main character already has skills by getting him doing his own teaching first, showing Mia's pizzeria-proprietor dad Victor (Joshua Jackson, Doctor Odyssey) — a former boxer — some moves so that he can try to hop back into the ring to settle his debts. Six years since his first-ever screen role in The Untamed, after also popping up in MacGyver and The Last OG — plus episodes of Launchpad and Search Party as well, and also featuring in movies Sex Appeal, Chang Can Dunk, Sight, Good Egg and Isle Child — Wang is on both sides of the Karate Kid Universe's beloved sensei-student dynamic, then. In a likeable addition to the franchise that knows how to hits its marks, he's visibly getting a kick out of everything that portraying Li demands. The thrill of being cast, the links to his own experiences, mentorship off-screen, shaking up who's doing the guiding: when we chatted with Wang, we also discussed all of the above. On the Excitement of Becoming the New Karate Kid (and Kung Fu Kid) While Starring Alongside the OG in Ralph Macchio The joys of being chosen to play Li are many for Wang. "I mean, I feel like if you tell any kid that he's going to get to fight Jackie Chan, they'd get pretty excited about it," he notes. "These are movies that I've been a fan of myself since I was a kid. I saw the Jackie Chan remake — that came out when I was in elementary school, and I saw it in a theatre. And I loved it. It's one of the reasons why I started doing martial arts in the first place." "And Ralph's films were passed down to me by my aunt. They were her favourite films. So I understand how much love there is for this franchise and for these characters." "So getting to be a part of it, after I've been a fan of it for so long, is a bit surreal. But it's fun." And yes, facing off against Chan is both enjoyable and tough, Wang advises. "Fighting, doing a fight scene with Jackie Chan, is as fun and as hard as you think it is." On the Personal Links with Wang's Experiences and Both Karate Kid: Legends and American Born Chinese A three-year stretch that spans scoring a lead TV role and then becoming the next Karate Kid star is a fantasy for an actor. Wang's gleaming current run looks set to continue via Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk opposite Mark Hamill (The King of Kings), reuniting with that film's director Frances Lawrence for 2026's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, plus a Jon Hamm (Your Neighbours and Friends)-starring and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer)-directed comedy. The type of affinity with his characters and their experiences that he's been finding in Karate Kid: Legends and American Born Chinese are also dream — and rare — developments. That's purely been good fortune. "I mean, I've just been lucky," Wang reflects. "Both American Born Chinese and this film, and a lot of other films I did, I'm not for this and for that. I wasn't at a point in my career yet where I was able to make choices about what I was taking." "I just got lucky that the projects that existed and wanted me to be a part of them also had in them these great characters that so reflected my own experience. So it's a point of luck and it's also a point of pride for me to have been able to bring these characters to life." On How the Film's Theme of Mentorship Translated Off-Screen with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan When learning from experienced veterans and guiding new generations is a core component of a film or TV show's plot, does it translate among the cast when the cameras aren't rolling? In streaming's new Owen Wilson (Loki)-led golfing comedy Stick, the answer was yes according to its cast, for instance. For Wang with Macchio and Chan on Karate Kid: Legends, he describes it as "kind of a watch-and-learn sort of thing". "These guys are, they're amazing at what they do. Jackie has been making movies since he was six-and-a-half years old. He's made, I think, somewhere around 20 million films," Wang continues. "And Ralph has been the karate kid — this character, he's been dedicated to this character in this storyline, for 40 years. So he's the Pliny the Elder of Karate Kid. He keeps the books." "So it's really just as long as you're open, you're going to absorb some things, and that's just what I tried to do." On What It Means That Wang's Karate Kid Isn't Just Soaking in Wisdom From Everyone Else, But Is Also Passing on His Own Skills Under director Jonathan Entwistle (I Am Not Okay with This) and screenwriter Rob Lieber (Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween), that Karate Kid: Legends lets Li instruct as well as absorb isn't a minor detail — and its importance isn't lost on Wang, either. "Yeah, it's a great play on the formula of the franchise. I think it's a great way to expand the theme that you're talking about, of mentorship," he says. "What does it mean to be a good teacher? What does it mean to have a good teacher? And who can be a teacher and who can be a student?": for Wang, they're the movie's thoughtful questions as a result. Karate Kid: Legends opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 5, 2025 and opens in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, June 26, 2025.
It's a great time to be a fan of Neve Campbell-starring 90s horror movies. The Scream franchise is coming back again with Campbell onboard, but that isn't the only spooky film from the era that she's known for. Also leaving an imprint was The Craft, with its tale of four high school outcasts who decide to get witchy. And, 24 years later, it's now getting a sequel. Called The Craft: Legacy, this second effort appears to not only follow on from the original, but to also borrow its main storyline. A teenage girl moves to a new town, gets tormented at school and then buddies up with three similarly unpopular classmates, who initiate her into their coven. Soon, they're using their abilities against their peers, and learning that their powers have consequences. As the just-dropped first trailer for the film shows, this description applies as much to the new movie as it does to its predecessor. Also evident in the teaser: plenty of famed moments from the first flick getting a do-over, so prepare to start chanting "light as a feather, stiff as a board". And yes, when an adult tells this new gang of girls to be wary of strangers, they do indeed reply with "we are the weirdos". Devs, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Bad Times at the El Royale's Cailee Spaeny plays Lily, the new girl in town, while Gideon Adlon (Blockers), Lovie Simone (Selah and the Spades) and Zoey Luna (Pose) also feature as her dark magic-loving pals. And, because Lily needs a reason for showing up, that comes in the form of her mother, played by Michelle Monaghan (Saint Judy), who moves their two-person family to a new town to live with her boyfriend, played by The X-Files' David Duchovny. Written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (Band Aid), and adding to Blumhouse's growing slate of sequels and remakes — think Halloween, Black Christmas, Fantasy Island and The Invisible Man — The Craft: Legacy is headed to cinemas Down Under at the appropriate time of year. It'll hit screens on October 29, aka just before halloween. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxZ774gziwU&feature=youtu.be The Craft: Legacy releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 29.
Encouraging humanity to live reduce our impact on the planet, stylish and inventive architectural designs, the ability to make almost any place your backyard: yes, the tiny house movement has it all. And if you've been dreaming about leaving regular old bricks-and-mortar living behind for the freedom of a small, cute, mobile cottage, the latest model to hit the market isn't going to change that. Meet the Escape One and its upsized version, the Escape One XL — aka a two-storey wood cabin on wheels. You'll forget any caravan comparisons when you're walking through timber-clad interiors, gazing out multiple levels of large windows, making between 25 and 36 square metres of space your own. Throw in a multi-purpose first floor that can be used as a dining area, office, bedroom and living room, plus a second floor that's similarly flexible in function, and you'll be in pint-sized abode heaven. Like all the best miniature houses, living a compact life doesn't mean skimping on the essentials. Both models boast a tub and shower, designer sink and bathroom storage, plus optional flatscreen TVs and blu-ray players, while the XL comes with a maple cabinet-filled kitchen with appliances and an under-counter fridge/freezer. Alas, for those culling their belongings and packing their bags, these currently these tiny mobile homes are only available in the US, and they don't come cheap — starting at US$49,800. Via Dezeen. Image: Escape.
Before SXSW Sydney made its debut in 2023, movie lovers in the Harbour City — and those keen to travel there for a getaway spent in darkened rooms — had one major film festival to look forward to each and every year. Now, there's two. While Sydney Film Festival showcases the latest and greatest in cinema from around the globe each winter, SXSW Sydney's Screen Festival does the same in spring. Last year's The Royal Hotel-opened lineup was impressive. Revealing more program details for 2024, with plenty still to drop before the event's Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20 dates, 2024's already is as well. SXSW Sydney has been unveiling the films on its roster for a few months, but this is its biggest lineup announcement for 2024 yet, with over 20 new movies added to the bill. Cults, cat-loving animation and Christmas carnage: they're all included. So are a heap of titles that've had festivals around the world buzzing — and an array of homegrown highlights. Azrael sports an Aussie link courtesy of actor Samara Weaving (Scream VI), who stars in a post-apocalyptic tale about a woman's attempt to escape from mute zealots. For feline fanciers and Japanese animation fans alike, Ghost Cat Anzu follows a girl with a phantom mouser for a guardian. And, the Yuletide mayhem comes courtesy of Carnage for Christmas, with a true-crime podcaster in the sights of a psychotic killer. Among the pictures continuing to do the festival rounds, mom-com Babes is led by Ilana Glazer (The Afterparty) and helmed by Pamela Adlon (Better Things); Audrey features Jackie van Beek (Nude Tuesday) as a mother who steals the identity of her teenage daughter, who is in a coma; DiDi unpacks Californian adolescence for the Asian American son of immigrants circa 2008, and won two awards at Sundance; and Grand Theft Hamlet sees out-of-work thespians stage one of Shakespeare's most-famous plays in a video game during lockdown. Or, there's two different stints of incarceration: the maximum-security prison-set Sing Sing boasts Colman Domingo (Drive-Away Dolls) at its centre; and Inside, which stars Guy Pearce (The Clearing), Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun) and Toby Wallace (The Bikeriders), is directed by Charles Williams, who won the 2018 short film Palme d'Or for All These Creatures. Other standouts span Pavements, which sees filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell) focus on the band Pavement via an experimental blend of documentary, narrative, musical and more — and, still on tunes, the 2009-set mockumentary Rap World, about friends trying to make a rap album in one evening. Plus, doco Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird spends time with At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, while Teaches of Peaches goes on tour with its namesake. In a roster of flicks that has a little bit of everything, Lucy Lawless (My Life Is Murder) moves behind the camera for the first time to direct documentary Never Look Away about CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth, Peter Dinklage (Unfrosted) and Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets) lead western-thriller The Thicket, dark Australian comedy A Grand Mockery will make its world premiere, The Gesuidouz brings a slice of Japanese horror, and Witches digs into the connection between maternal mental health and society's depiction of witchcraft. Even sports graces the bill, with Aussie documentary Like My Brother charting the journey of four aspiring AFLW players from the Tiwi Islands, and Queens of Concrete following three skateboarders trying to balance being teens with attempting to score an Olympics berth. The above movies — and more — boost a lineup that already features documentary The Most Australian Band Ever! about the Hard-Ons; S/He Is Still Her/e: The Official Genesis P-Orridge, which is executive produced by Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace; Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara, about thrash metal in the Māori language; and, after That Sugar Film and 2040, Australian actor-turned-filmmaker Damon Gameau's Future Council, chronicling a cross-Europe trip with eight young minds to explore climate change solutions. There's also Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts, the latest documentary from Barbecue and We Don't Deserve Dogs' Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker, who are no strangers to SXSW in Austin — with the Australian-born, Brooklyn-based duo exploring the US today through former Pizza Hut buildings. SXSW Sydney's Screen Festival includes a hefty lineup of speakers as well, which is where attendees can look forward to hearing from Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton (The New Boy), Aussie composer Jed Kurzel (Monkey Man), Barbie executive producer Josey McNamara, Brave co-director Mark Andrews and Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire composer AR Rahman — and Lawless, too. [caption id="attachment_971937" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Focus Features / Talking Fish Pictures, LLC. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.[/caption] SXSW Sydney 2024 runs from Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20 at various Sydney venues. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for further details.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures will do that, and so will plenty of people staying home because they aren't well — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Perhaps you've been under the weather. Given the hefty amount of titles now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 11 that you can watch right now at home. SALTBURN Sharp, savage and skewering, plus twisted in narrative and the incisive use of genre tropes alike: as a filmmaker, Emerald Fennell certainly has a type. With the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman and now Saltburn, the Barbie and The Crown actor-turned-writer/director takes aim, blazes away giddily and blasts apart everything that she can. When she made a blisteringly memorable feature debut behind the lens — giving audiences one of 2021's's best Down Under releases, in fact, and deservingly earning a place among the Academy Awards' rare female Best Director nominees in the process — she honed in on the absolute worst that a patriarchal society affords women. Now, after also pointing out the protection provided to the wealthy in that first effort as a helmer, Fennell has class warfare so firmly in her gaze that Saltburn is named after a sprawling English manor. With both flicks, the end result is daringly unforgettable. This pair of pictures would make a killer double, too, although they enjoy neighbouring estates rather than frolic across the same exact turf. On her leaps from one side of the camera to the other, Fennell also keeps filling her features with such spectacular casts that other filmmakers might hope to fall into her good graces to bask in their glow — a fate that sits at the heart of Saltburn, albeit beyond the movie world. Fresh from nabbing his own Oscar nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin, Barry Keoghan adds yet another beguiling and astonishing performance to a resume that's virtually collecting them (see also: The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dunkirk, American Animals, The Green Knight and Calm with Horses), proving mesmerisingly slippery as scholarship student Oliver Quick. Usually standing in his sights, Euphoria's Jacob Elordi perfects the part of Felix Catton, aka that effortlessly charismatic friend that everyone wishes they could spend all of their time with. And as Felix's mother Elspeth, father Sir James and "poor dear" family pal Pamela, Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time), Richard E Grant (Persuasion) and Carey Mulligan (Fennell's Promising Young Woman star, also an Academy Award nominee for her work) couldn't give more delicious line readings or portraits of the insular but shambolic well-to-do. Saltburn streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon quickly. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon often. While Martin Scorsese will later briefly fill the film's frames with a fiery orange vision — with what almost appears to be a lake of flames deep in oil country, as dotted with silhouettes of men — death blazes through his 26th feature from the moment that the picture starts rolling. Adapted from journalist David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with the filmmaker himself and Dune's Eric Roth penning the screenplay, this is a masterpiece of a movie about a heartbreakingly horrible spate of deaths sparked by pure and unapologetic greed and persecution a century back. Scorsese's two favourite actors in Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Robert De Niro (Amsterdam) are its stars, alongside hopefully his next go-to in Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs), but murder and genocide are as much at this bold and brilliant, epic yet intimate, ambitious and absorbing film's centre — all in a tale that's devastatingly true. As Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation in Grey Horse, Oklahoma, incomparable Certain Women standout Gladstone talks through some of the movie's homicides early. Before her character meets DiCaprio's World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart — nephew to De Niro's cattle rancher and self-proclaimed 'king of the Osage' William King Hale — she notes that several Indigenous Americans that have been killed, with Mollie mentioning a mere few to meet untimely ends. There's nothing easy about this list, nor is there meant to be. Some are found dead, others seen laid out for their eternal rest, and each one delivers a difficult image. But a gun fired at a young mother pushing a pram inspires a shock befitting a horror film. The genre fits here, in its way, as do many others as Killers of the Flower Moon follows Burkhart's arrival in town, his deeds under his uncle's guidance, his romance with Mollie and the tragedies that keep springing: American crime saga, aka the realm that Scorsese has virtually made his own, as well as romance, relationship drama, western, true crime and crime procedural. Killers of the Flower Moon streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Martin Scorsese. THE ROYAL HOTEL Anyone who has spent time in an outback Australian pub will recognise The Royal Hotel's namesake watering hole, even if they've never seen this particular bar before. The filming location itself doesn't matter. Neither do the IRL details of the actual establishment that stands in for the movie's fictional boozer. What scorches itself into memory like the blistering sun beating down on the middle-of-nowhere saloon's surroundings, then, is the look and the feel of this quintessentially Aussie beer haven. From the dim lighting inside and weather-beaten facade outside to the almost exclusively male swarm of barflies that can't wait to getting sipping come quittin' time, this feature's setting could be any tavern. It could be all of them. That fact is meant to linger as filmmaker Kitty Green crafts another masterclass in tension, microagressions and the ever-looming threats that women live with daily — swapping The Assistant's Hollywood backdrop and Harvey Weinstein shadow for a remote mining town and toxic testosterone-fuelled treatment of female bartenders. Making her second fictional feature after that 2019 standout, and her fourth film overall thanks to 2013 documentary Ukraine Is Not a Brothel and 2017's Casting JonBenet before that, Green has kept as much as she's substituted between her two most recent movies. Julia Garner stars in both, albeit without breaking out an Inventing Anna-style drawl in either — although comically parroting the Aussie accent does earn a brief workout. Green's focus remains living while female. Her preferred tone is still as unsettling as any scary movie. The Royal Hotel is another of her horror films, but an inescapable villain here, as it was in The Assistant, is a world that makes existing as a woman this innately unnerving. This taut and deeply intelligent picture's sources of anxiety and danger aren't simply society; however, what it means to weather the constant possibility of peril for nothing more than your sex chromosomes is this flick's far-as-the-eye-can-see burnt earth. The Royal Hotel streams via Binge. Read our full review, and our interview with Kitty Green. MAESTRO When a composer pens music, it's the tune that they want the world to enjoy, not the marks on a page scribbling it into existence. When a conductor oversees an orchestra, the performance echoing rather than their own with baton in hand and arms waving is their gift. In Maestro, Bradley Cooper (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) is seen as Leonard Bernstein in both modes. His portrayal, especially in an unbroken take as the American great conducts Mahler's Resurrection Symphony at England's Ely Cathedral in 1973, is so richly textured and deeply complex that it's the career-best kind of astonishing. But Cooper as this movie's helmer, co-writer and one of its producers wants Maestro's audience to revel in the end result, not just in his exceptional on-screen contribution to bringing this virtuoso feature to fruition. And if he wants the love showered anyone's way first, it's towards Carey Mulligan (Saltburn), who the second-time director (and second-time director of a music-fuelled film, since his debut behind the lens was A Star Is Born) gives top billing for stepping so astoundingly into Felicia Montealegre Bernstein's shoes. Symphonies should erupt for Mulligan's awards-worthy turn, which deserves to claim her third Oscar nomination (after 2010's for An Education and 2021's for Promising Young Woman) at a minimum. As the Costa Rican actor — a talent herself, of the stage and small screen — hers is similarly a never-better performance. It's a chalk-and-cheese partner to Cooper's, too; his is all about playing someone whose entire reason for earning a biopic is his effort and what it wrought, while she makes everything from the screwball-esque early sparks of connection to soul-aching pain feel natural. When she says "you don't even know how much you need me, do you?", the words melt, and the moment with it. When she beams by Cooper's side during a TV interview about Leonard's achievements, the practicalities of spending your life with someone have rarely felt as giddying. When Maestro's main pair quarrel on Thanksgiving, away from their family and as the parade trots along outside the window, each word is a cut. Every scene with Mulligan lays its emotions bare so thoroughly, yet never forcefully or showily, that she virtually spirits the audience into Felicia's footwear with her. Maestro streams via Netflix. Read our full review. LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND Call it the one with Julia Roberts playing the mother of a Friends-obsessed 13-year-old girl who hasn't clocked that someone closely resembling her mum pops up in the sitcom's second season. Call it writer/director Sam Esmail still ruing humanity's technological reliance and seeing only dystopian outcomes after Mr Robot became such a small-screen success. Call Leave the World Behind an effectively unnerving psychological thriller about a mysterious communications blackout striking while one New York family holidays at another's palatial Long Island vacation home, too. Down Under, badging it the horror version of Australia's November 2023 Optus outage also fits — just with a home-invasion angle that can be read two ways; Hitchcockian suspense, sharp writing and baked-in bleakness; Barack and Michelle Obama as executive producers; and Roberts (Ticket to Paradise) starring alongside Ethan Hawke (Reservation Dogs), Mahershala Ali (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Myha'la Herrold (Dumb Money) and Kevin Bacon (The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special). In her second chaotic getaway in two successive movies, Roberts plays Amanda Sandford, an advertising executive who prides herself on being able to read people and situations. But her professor husband Clay (Hawke) is surprised to awaken one morning to news that their brood is going away for a few days, thanks to a humanity-escaping misanthropic urge and a last-minute online booking. He and the couple's kids — the older Archie (Charlie Evans, Everything's Gonna Be Okay) and younger Rose (Farrah Mackenzie, United States of Al) — aren't complaining about the break, though. Then problems after eerie problems occur. First, an oil tanker runs ashore on the beach. Next comes the late-night knock at the door from their holiday home's owner GH Scott (Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Herrold), who've driven in all dressed up from a night at the symphony. In a movie that isn't afraid of M Night Shyamalan-esque setups on its route to potential societal collapse, a power, phone and internet outage follows, plus oddly behaving wildlife and disquieting developments from above. Leave the World Behind streams via Netflix. Read our full review. TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR Just like a great music documentary, an excellent concert film isn't solely about existing fans. That's still true when a movie arrives in a sea of friendship bracelets, focuses on one of the biggest current singers in the world, and perhaps the largest and most devoted fandom there is can be seen screaming, dancing and crying joyfully in its frames in a 70,000-plus drove. As the shows that it lenses were, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was a financial success before any Swifties experienced their version of heaven. Swift's onstage journey through 17 years of tunes sparked ticketing mayhem both as a concert and a cinema release that captures close to every moment. The Eras tour is a billion-dollar entity, with the self-produced film that's spreading it further than packed stadiums a box-office bonanza since it was announced. The 169-minute-long movie is also a dazzling spectacle that neither dedicated Swifties nor casual viewers will be able to easily shake off. When Swift told the world that she never misses a beat and she's lightning on her feet in possibly her best-known pop song, everyone should've believed her. Long before 2014 earworm 'Shake It Off' gets a spin in the 1989 segment of The Eras Tour, she's proven those words true in an indefatigable onstage effort. "Can't stop, won't stop moving" describes her efforts and the film, which is as energetically directed by Sam Wrench (Billie Eilish Live at the O2) and edited by a six-person team (with Max Richter's Sleep's Dom Whitworth as its lead) as it is performed. And, for anyone that's sat through Valentine's Day and Cats and found them hardly purring, it gives Swift the screen presence that she's been trying to amass here and there — The Giver and Amsterdam are also on her resume — for over than a decade. Watching The Eras Tour doesn't just feel like watching a concert, but a musical spectacular in its vast grandeur, complete with the lead to match. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. DUMB MONEY It couldn't have been hard to cast Pete Davidson as a stoner in Dumb Money, but getting the Bupkis star playing a part that barely feels like a part on paper is perfect in this ripped-from-the-headlines film. He doesn't give the movie's top performance, which goes to lead Paul Dano (The Fabelmans), but he's satisfyingly great as the DoorDash driver who's often trolling his brother online and in-person. He's also an example in Cruella and I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie's entertaining feature of one of the ideas that this true tale heartily disproves. Viewers know what they're going to get from Davidson, and he delivers. Wall Street thought it knew what it was in for when small-time investors splashed their cash on stock for US video-game store chain GameStop, too, but the frenzy that resulted demonstrated otherwise. It was in 2019 IRL when DeepFuckingValue aka Roaring Kitty aka Keith Gill first posted on subreddit r/wallstreetbets that he'd bought stock in GameStop, the Texas-born brand that had been struggling but he thought was undervalued. Dumb Money tells this story from Keith's digital enthusiasm through to the impact upon the financial markets, plus the worldwide attention that followed. In 2021, the GameStop situation wasn't just news. It was a phenomenon, and one of the great modern-day David-versus-Goliath scenarios. There's a reason that this recent chapter of history been turned into a movie, and not just because it's an easy candidate to try to emulate The Big Short: the big end of town kept pulling its usual strings, the 99 percent played their own game instead and the status quo was upended — temporarily. Dumb Money streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. THEATER CAMP If you've ever wanted to turn your childhood into a movie, Theater Camp is the latest film that understands. It's also happy to laugh. Unlike Minari, Belfast, The Fabelmans, Aftersun and Past Lives, this isn't a drama, with Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin and Nick Lieberman making a sidesplittingly funny mockumentary about a place that's near and dear to them. What happens when four friends reflect upon their formative years, when they all fell in love with putting on a show? Theater Camp is the pitch-perfect answer. Looking backwards can be earnest and nostalgic, as Gordon and company know and embrace. Going for Wet Hot American Summer meets Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind, they're just as aware that it can be utterly hilarious. Watching Theater Camp means stepping into Gordon, Platt, Galvin and Lieberman's reality. None are currently camp counsellors, but the realm that they parody genuinely is personal. The film's core quartet initially came into each other's lives via youth theatre. With Gordon and Platt, the picture even boasts the receipts — aka IRL footage of the pair performing as kids — from a time when they were appearing together in Fiddler on the Roof at age four and in How to Succeed in Business at five. This team was first driven to bring their shared experiences to the screen in an improvised 2020 short also called Theater Camp. Now, they flesh out that bite-sized flick to full length as enthusiastically as any wannabe actor has ever monologued. All four co-write, while Booksmart and The Bear star Gordon directs with fellow first-time feature helmer Lieberman. Gordon, Dear Evan Hansen stage and screen lead Platt, plus Galvin — who similarly portrayed that Broadway hit's title role — act as well, playing three of the adults at AdirondACTS. Theater Camp streams via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES When children from Panem's first 12 districts are chosen to fight to the death, each year's unlucky kids conscripted into the bloodthirsty fray that gives The Hunger Games franchise its title, they aren't simply battling for survival. In this dystopian saga stemming from Suzanne Collins' novels, they're brawling to entertain the wealthy residents of the ruling Capitol — they're forced to submit to a display of power and control, too, and to demonstrate humanity's innate cruelty — all while waging war against perishing into nothingness. Arriving eight years after the series' last page-to-screen adaptation, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a swung sword, flung spear, hurled hatchet and jabbed knife in the same type of skirmish. This is a blockbuster franchise, but 2012's The Hunger Games, 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 and 2015's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 have long faded from the big screen, which virtually means no longer existing to Tinseltown, other than as fuel to relight the flame. So kicks in the "sequels, prequels, spinoffs, continuations, TV shows, remakes, reboots, reimaginings or perish" motto that may as well be etched onto the Hollywood sign. Why The Hunger Games' battle royales exist, and what their purpose and substance are, prove topics of conversation more than once in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. A tale that features the person who created the games and the mind overseeing them — that'd be Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage, Cyrano) and Dr Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis, Air) — ought to ponder such notions. A jump back in time in a now five-entry franchise, and a chapter that runs for 157 minutes at that, couldn't leave it out. But a sense of nothingness still swirls around this Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid)- and Rachel Zegler (Shazam! Fury of the Gods)-led picture about Coriolanus Snow's origin story, even if Collins did actually write a novel with a plot that justifies the movie's existence (unlike comparable shenanigans over in the Wizarding World, aka the Fantastic Beasts films). There's an insignificant air to this return trip to YA bleakness, as smacking of chasing cash and keeping IP bubbling in the popular consciousness was bound to inspire; this doesn't feel like a return or a bonus, but an optional extra. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S Nicolas Cage is sorely missed in Five Nights at Freddy's, not that he was ever on the film's cast list. He starred in 2021's Willy's Wonderland, however, which clearly took its cues from the video-game franchise that this attempt to start a corresponding movie series now officially adapts. Willy's Wonderland wasn't great, but a near-silent Cage battling demonic animatronics was always going to be worth seeing. Unsurprisingly, he's mesmerising. In comparison, the actual Five Nights at Freddy's feature stars Josh Hutcherson (Futureman) deep in his older brother phase, bringing weary charm to a by-the-numbers horror flick that's as routine as they come no matter whether you've ever mashed buttons along with its inspiration — which first dropped in 2014 and now spans nine main games, a tenth on the way and five spinoffs — or seen everyone's favourite Renfield, Pig and Color Out of Space actor give an unlicensed take a go. Writer/director Emma Tammi (The Wind), the game's creator Scott Cawthon (Scooby Doo, Where Are You? In... SPRINGTRAPPED!) and co-screenwriter Seth Cuddeback's (Mateo) movie iteration of Five Nights at Freddy's doesn't just arrive after a Cage film got there first; it hits after season 16 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia wreaked havoc on a comparable setting already in 2023. If you're looking for a pitch-black comedic skewering of eateries in the style of Chuck E Cheese, the IRL pizzeria-meets-arcade chain that Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is patently based on, that's the best of the year. So, the Five Nights at Freddy film lingers in multiple shadows. There's symmetry on- and off-screen as result: shining a torchlight around in the movie uncovers sights that its characters would rather not see, and peering even just slightly through recent pop culture shows that this picture isn't alone, either. Five Nights at Freddy's streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. THANKSGIVING Edgar Wright's Don't and Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS must be on their way to the big screen soon. With Thanksgiving's arrival, three of the five films teased as trailers in 2007's Grindhouse — and at the time only conceived to exist as those faux trailers — have come to full-length feature fruition. So, the double of Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof didn't just give the world biochemical zombies and a murdering stuntman, but Machete, Hobo with a Shotgun and now Eli Roth's turkey-holiday slasher horror. In this first stint behind the lens since 2021 documentary Fin, plus 2018's vastly dissimilar Death Wish and The House with a Clock in Its Walls before that, the Cabin Fever and Hostel filmmaker knows the right mood: when you're plating up a film that began as a gag ad, leaning into both tropes and a knowing vibe is the best choice for carving a path forward. There's a downside to the joke beginning and happy winking now, though: Thanksgiving sure does love sticking to a tried-and-tested recipe. Roth and screenwriter Jeff Rendell, both returning from 16 years back and sharing a story credit, have taken to the whole "Halloween but Thanksgiving" approach with the utmost dedication — because it's as plain as a roasted bird centrepiece that that's what they've purposely cooked up. The mood, the nods, the derivation: they don't add up to a new masterpiece, however, genre-defining, cult or otherwise. But there's something to be said for a film that commits to its bit with this much relish, so bluntly and openly, and with the tongue-in-cheek attitude that was baked into the Grindhouse package slathered on thick. And yes, the image that no one has forgotten for almost two decades returns, alongside other signature shots from Thanksgiving's proof-of-concept sneak peek. Thanksgiving streams via Apple TV and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November, too. We've kept a running list of must-stream TV from across the year, complete with full reviews. We also rounded up 2023's 15 best films, 15 best straight-to-streaming movies, 15 top flicks hardly anyone saw, 15 best new TV series of 2023, another 15 excellent new TV shows that you might've missed and 15 best returning shows as well.
Good Food Month's Night Noodle Markets have officially kicked off. This year you'll find the expected — dumplings, bao and noodles — and the unexpected: phorritos (yes, that's a pho and burrito mashup), chichi (kimchi) fries and the famed raindrop cake, plus all of these tasty eats have been expertly paired with refreshing brews from Beer The Beautiful Truth. Dig into a sampling of House of Crabs' loaded fries with lobster gravy, devour one of Indu's smoked goat dosas or sit back with a Korean barbecue taco from Poklol. And if you have a sweet tooth, you'll want to leave room for the many desserts on offer: that raindrop cake as seen on Instagram from Harajuku Gyoza, Black Star Pastry's beloved cakes (they've unveiled their new mango cake here this year) and an unreal offering from Gelato Messina — they've made a 'katsu' ice cream sandwich. Yep. See all that's in store for you at the markets in the gallery, figure out which food stalls you'll hit first with our top ten dishes and plan to head out — preferably tonight — to make your way through all the culinary treats on offer. Hungry for more? Feed all your cravings at the Sydney Night Noodle Markets with these ten dishes and expert beer pairings presented by Beer The Beautiful Truth from October 5–22.
If a trip to SXSW has always been on your bucket list, here's an alternative much closer to home: Australia's own — and first — huge five-day technology and music festival. Called Sound West, the new event is headed to Sydney's west in early 2022, and will combine a two-day conference at CommBank Stadium with three days of live music events. Networking, workshops, mentoring, big tech brands and music industry leaders, performances by local, national and international talent — that's all on the bill. Mark Wednesday, March 30–Sunday April 3 in your diary, as that's when Parramatta will play host to an event that's been three years in the making — after the team behind Sound West conceived of giving Greater Western Sydney its own landmark fest. The end result will take over venues large, small and unique, bring together the music and tech industries, and both recognise and develop the next generation of talent in the two fields. Exactly what'll be on the entire lineup won't be revealed until February — which is when tickets will also go on sale — but Dylan Alcott OAM, L-Fresh The Lion, Khaled Rohaim and Serwah Attafuah will all pop up among Sound West's presenters and performers. Alcott will chat about his accessibility-focused music festival Ability Fest, L-Fresh The Lion will collaborate on a number of singer-songwriter initiatives, Rohaim will discuss his work with Rihanna, Ty Dolla $ign and The Kid Laroi (including working from his western Sydney bedroom), and Attafuah will cover her moves in the NFTs and their relevance to the music industry. [caption id="attachment_831234" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Khaled Rohaim[/caption] The program will also feature keynote addresses, panels, one-on-one sessions, live podcasting and interactive activations. SXSW has been known to get creative in the latter space, so fingers crossed that proves the same at Sound West. And, brand-wise, plenty of big music and tech names will be represented, such as NEC Australia, TikTok, Shopify, Warner Music, Universal Music Australia, Live Nation, Apple Music, ARIA and APRA AMCOS. "This region is going from strength to strength through industry development, investment in research and innovation, and a rich cultural foundation that makes for a dynamic city to live, work, visit and host events," said Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Tourism and Western Sydney, announcing the festival. "Sound West is the first of its kind in Australia and will bring together brilliant minds, industry leaders and music enthusiasts to share ideas, network and enjoy the creativity of home-grown artists." Sound West Technology and Music Festival will run from Wednesday, March 30–Sunday April 3, 2022, in Parramatta. The full event lineup will be revealed in February — we'll update you with further details then.
In an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 across Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an indefinite ban on non-essential organised gatherings of more than 500 people from Monday, March 16. The decision was made this afternoon at a meeting of Council of Australian Governments, which is made up of the PM and state and territory First Ministers, on the recommendation of Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy. Schools, universities, public transport and airports will not be impacted by the ban, but the government is recommending Australians reconsider all non-essential overseas travel, regardless of their age, health or destination. Large sporting games, concerts and food festivals will all be impacted by the ban and it's possible venues with a capacity of over 500 people will, despite not falling under the banner of 'organised events', also decide to close. We'll let you know if and when these are announced. While the ban does not come into place until Monday, many large-scale events across the country have taken precautionary measures and already cancelled or postponed, including Melbourne's Meatstock, Parramasala in Sydney's west and Brisbane's Paniyiri Greek Festival. Australia's ban follows a similar one introduced in New York yesterday, as well as the closure of large swathes of cinemas in China, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Italy and France, and theme parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo. We've also seen the cancellation of Texan music and film festival South by Southwest and postponement of Coachella. More locally, Tasmania's Dark Mofo and the Grand Prix in Melbourne have both been cancelled. The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced early this week that COVID-19 is a pandemic. As at 11am on Friday, March 13, Australia has 156 cases confirmed cases of COVID-19. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TG-Mxzl88Q LOCKED DOWN Sparked by the pandemic, lockdown films aren't just an exercise in adapting to stay-at-home conditions — or a way to keep actors, directors and other industry professionals busy and working at a challenging time. The genre also provides a window into how the creatives behind its flicks view everyday life and ordinary people. Arising from a global event that's placed many of the planet's inhabitants in similar circumstances, these features tell us which stories filmmakers deem worth telling, which visions of normality they choose to focus on and who they think is living an average life. With Malcolm & Marie, a hotshot young director and an ex-addict were the only options offered. In Language Lessons, which premiered at this year's virtual Berlin Film Festival, a wealthy widower and a Spanish teacher were the movie's two choices. Now Locked Down directs its attention towards a CEO and a courier, the latter of which stresses that he's only in the gig because his criminal record has robbed him of other opportunities. Yes, these films and their characters speak volumes about how Hollywood perceives its paying customers. That's not the only thing that Locked Down says. Directed by Doug Liman (Chaos Walking) and scripted by Steven Knight (Locke), this romantic comedy-meets-heist flick is verbose to a farcical degree — awkwardly rather than purposefully. The repetitive and grating misfire is primarily comprised of monologues, Zoom calls and bickering between its central couple. Well-off Londoners Linda (Anne Hathaway, The Witches) and Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Old Guard) are weeks into 2020's first lockdown, and their ten-year relationship has become a casualty. Whether chatting to each other or virtually with others, both commit a torrent of words to the subject. Linda has decided they're done, which Paxton has trouble accepting. She's also unhappy with her high-flying job, especially after she's forced to fire an entire team online, but gets scolded by her boss (Ben Stiller, Brad's Status) for not telling her now-sacked colleagues they're still like family. Tired of driving a van, Paxton is willing to do whatever his employer (Ben Kingsley, Life) needs to climb his way up the ladder. That said, he's still tied to the road, with the ex-rebel's decision to sell his beloved motorbike — a symbol of his wilder youth, and its fun, freedom and risks — hitting hard. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GC--RZ3jOo THE PERFECT CANDIDATE With 2012's Wadjda, Haifaa al-Mansour became the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia to make a full-length movie. Fittingly, she achieved the feat via a powerful tale about a girl breaking boundaries — by fighting to ride a bicycle in the street, an activity that's by no means routine in the Middle Eastern country. A hopeful yet truthful film that depicts the present-day reality for Saudi women, while also remaining committed to dreaming of a different future, al-Mansour's directorial debut marked the first-ever feature shot entirely in her homeland, too. Accordingly, she smashed barriers in multiple ways, including both on- and off-screen. Nine years later, she demonstrates the same spirit again with The Perfect Candidate. After exploring another female trailblazer in 2017 biopic Mary Shelley, then pondering the beauty standards imposed upon women in 2018 rom-com Nappily Ever After, al-Mansour delivers the ideal companion piece to her applauded first picture — this time focusing on a young Saudi doctor who tackles her town's misogynistic and patronising attitudes by running for local council. No matter the day or situation, the ambitious Maryam (debutant Mila al-Zahrani) is repeatedly reminded that women aren't considered equal in her community. In one of The Perfect Candidate's early scenes, an elderly male patient writhes in agony, but is more upset about the fact that she'll be treating him — until Maryam's condescending boss proclaims that male nurses can easily step in and do the job for her. When her recently widowed musician father Abdulaziz (Khalid Abdulraheem) goes away on tour, she attempts to fly to Dubai for a medical conference and subsequent job interview that would see her move to Riyadh. Alas, she's stopped from departing because her dad hasn't updated her travel permit, and she can't leave unless he rectifies the paperwork. A male cousin (Ahmad Alsulaimy) in a role of authority within the government might be able to assist, but even the bonds of blood aren't enough to get her through the door to his office. He's interviewing and approving candidates for the municipal election, so Maryam puts her name forward just to progress past his secretary. That still doesn't help her make her flight, but it does send her in a different direction. While already struggling to convince her employers to pave the road to the town's emergency medical clinic, she decides to run to fix that specific problem — and the more backlash she receives for putting herself in contention, the more determined she is to campaign for change. The Perfect Candidate is currently screening at Sydney's Randwick Ritz cinema, and will play at ACMI in Melbourne from May 13–25. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv72JDeSaXY DE GAULLE Paris' international airport is named after him, so even if you know nothing else about Charles de Gaulle, you know that his chapter in French history turns out well enough to be immortalised in one of the country's most pivotal sites. The new biopic that also shares his name endeavours to help explain why by focusing on a specific period during the Second World War — the few weeks in June 1940 when France's powers-that-be were contemplating kowtowing to Germany rather than continuing to lose men in their battles against the Nazis. As Prime Minister Paul Reynaud (Olivier Gourmet, The Midwife) attempts to decide how to proceed, de Gaulle (Lambert Wilson, The Translators) ranks among the government's key voices. But support for capitulating to their enemy keeps growing stronger, including via Philippe Pétain (Philippe Laudenbach, Ad Vitam), who would become the Chief of State of Vichy France shortly afterwards. Trying to thwart his nation's submission to and collaboration with the Germans, the movie's eponymous figure heads to London to meet with Winston Churchill (Tim Hudson, A Very English Scandal). Swiftly, and while causing ire at home, he becomes a driving force behind the Free France movement — which would lead the resistance against occupation during the remainder of the war. De Gaulle's audience doesn't need to have an intimate awareness of France's involvement in WWII before they start watching this sombre drama, with writer/director Gabriel Le Bomin (Our Patriots) and his co-scribe Valérie Ranson-Enguiale (who also co-wrote his 2008 short film L'occupant) routinely demonstrating their fondness for using dialogue to deliver exposition. Indeed, much of the feature is dedicated to talk describing the situation — as intertwined with glimpses of de Gaulle's home life, and of the efforts of his wife Yvonne (Isabelle Carré, Moving On), elder children Elisabeth (Lucie Rouxel, Rascal) and Philippe (Félix Back, Black Tide), and younger daughter Anne (debutant Clémence Hitten), who has Down Syndrome, to flee France as the Nazis invade. The end result, while never short on intrigue, always seems more interested in explaining history than depicting it. The ceaselessly worshipping tone doesn't help flesh out the movie's subject as a person, either; again, viewers already know that he's worthy of celebration going in. And, while De Gaulle's urgent efforts to save his country and his family's quest to escape should be tense and suspenseful, much of the feature feels like a by-the-numbers mashup of Second World War film tropes. Wilson's performance is solid, and the period detail catches the eye, but De Gaulle is never more than standard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXn0ryXxfak JUNE AGAIN The third film about dementia to reach Australian cinemas in little over a month, June Again starts as The Father did: with its elderly protagonist losing time, and her sense of her place within it, as moments, days and life in general all seem to rush by. The titular June (Noni Hazlehurst, Long Story Short) barely greets her daughter Ginny (Claudia Karvan, Bump) or grandson Piers (Otis Dhanji, Aquaman) when they visit the aged care centre she has lived in for five years, rarely passes her doctor's (Wayne Blair, Rams) cognitive tests and constantly feels disoriented due to vascular dementia that's been caused by a series of strokes. But, one otherwise ordinary morning, she wakes up lucid, annoyed, and wondering where she is and why. So, as Supernova did, this Aussie feature then follows June's quest to make the most of the time she has left as herself. Here, however, that involves trying to set right the many wrong choices she thinks her adult children have made, and also attempting to snatch a last grasp at happiness. Dramas ensue, with Ginny thrilled to have her mum back as she once was, but frustrated with her meddling — and her sibling Devon (Stephen Curry, Mr Love) mainly falling into the latter category. But June's window of clarity doesn't simply allow her to be herself again; it lets her address her mistakes, follow paths not taken, and try to become the woman that life and raising a family never her let her be. For 23 years on Play School, Hazlehurst helped guide young minds and teach pre-schoolers about the world that they were only just beginning to explore. Accordingly, there's a feeling of synergy about her role in June Again. Playing a woman slipping out of a world that she's navigated for a lifetime, she tackles a condition unlikely to have been directly experienced by many of the viewers who grew up peering through square, diamond, round and arched windows with her — and looking at rocket and flower clocks, too — but might now be touching those that watched with them. And, alongside fellow familiar faces Karvan and Curry, Hazlehurst is one of the best things about June Again. First-time feature writer/director JJ Winlove keeps things comfortable and predictable in his warm-hearted narrative and warm-hued stylistic choices, but every scene, emotional moment, and insight into life, love, loss, ageing, forgetting and farewelling those dearest to us is improved by his all-star cast. That's never more accurate than when Hazlehurst is cherishing June's renewed lease on life, reminding viewers how delightful she always is on-screen, and selling the film's sentimental but heartfelt message about the importance of chasing what you love in the time you're given. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=civOp5c5GM0 FATALE Only 14 women have ever won more than one Academy Award for Best Actress, and Hilary Swank is one of them. When she earned the Oscars double for 1999's Boys Don't Cry and 2004's Million Dollar Baby, she beat both Meryl Streep and now three-time recipient Frances McDormand to the feat — but her career hasn't brought the coveted accolade her way again since. Fatale isn't going to change that recent trend. It hasn't earned Swank a Razzie either, but she could've easily been in the running. Playing a Los Angeles cop who has a one-night stand in Las Vegas with an ex-college basketball star turned high-profile player manager, then starts stalking her way through his life while also trying to intimidate her politician ex-husband into giving her back access to her young daughter, she has one mode here: stern-faced yet unbalanced. Even when her character, Detective Valerie Quinlan, is first seen flirting, Swank plays her as if something isn't quite right. That's accurate, plot-wise, but it robs Fatale of any semblance of tension it might've possessed. The film is meant to be an adultery-focused thriller in the Fatal Attraction mould — with even its title blatantly nodding that way — but it just ends up recycling tired, simplistic, overused cliches about unhinged women into a monotonous and unnecessarily convoluted package. Valerie and Derrick (Michael Ealy, Westworld) hit it off at a Vegas bar, then get physical; however, the next morning, he heads home to his wife Tracie (Damaris Lewis, BlacKkKlansman), who he actually suspects of being unfaithful herself. Before Derrick can meaningfully process either his infidelity or his fears about his crumbling marriage, his swanky home is broken into one night — and, because director Deon Taylor (Black and Blue) and screenwriter David Loughery (The Intruder) are content to hit every expected beat there is (and because they've seen every 80s and 90s erotic thriller ever made, too), Valerie is the investigating officer. Despite being woefully predictable from the outset, Fatale doesn't dare have fun with its cookie-cutter narrative. It doesn't evoke thrills, bring anything more than surface style or prove particularly sexy, and it never gets its audience invested in its obvious twists, one-note characters or rote dialogue. And, although having its badge-toting stalker use excessive force and exploit her power to target a person of colour could've been a choice that said something about America's current reckoning with law enforcement, race and police brutality, Fatale doesn't even contemplate anything other than clunky formula. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda, Supernova, The Dissident, The United States vs Billie Holiday, First Cow and Wrath of Man.
Every year is a good year for movies. Every year delivers must-see highlights, flat-out masterpieces and films so good that they become your instant favourites. The flicks change — the names, stars and plots, too — but there's simply no such thing as a bad year for cinema. Because so many titles get released each year, there's always going to be a big batch of gems brightening up the big screen. There'll be terrible movies as well, but that just comes with the territory. 2021 is only halfway through, and it's already a good year for movies. It's a great, excellent and downright stellar year, in fact. Plenty of the films that've made their way to cinemas across the past six months came out last year overseas, but that doesn't matter — a fantastic movie remains just that no matter when it reaches viewers. Some of this year's cinematic highlights so far have already won shiny trophies for their efforts. Others just might in the future. Either way, here's the 12 overwhelming exceptional films that've proven 2021's best already. If you haven't seen them all, consider this your must-watch list for before the year is out. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Promising Young Woman would've made an excellent episode or season of Veronica Mars. That's meant as the highest compliment to both the bubblegum-hued take on the rape-revenge genre and the cult-status private detective series. Writer/director Emerald Fennell clearly isn't blind to the parallels between the two, even casting Veronica Mars stars Max Greenfield (New Girl) and Chris Lowell (GLOW) in her feature debut. Don't go thinking the Killing Eve season two showrunner and The Crown actor is simply following in other footsteps, though. At every moment, the brilliant and blistering Promising Young Woman vibrates with too much anger, energy and insight to merely be a copycat of something else. It's a film made with the savviest of choices, and provocative and downright fearless ones as well, in everything from its soundtrack to its weaponised pastel, peppy and popping Instagram-friendly imagery. You don't include Italian quartet Archimia's orchestral version of Britney Spears' 'Toxic', Paris Hilton's 'Stars Are Blind' and an abundance of vibrant surface sheen in a movie about a woman waging war on the culture of sexual assault without trying to make a statement — and Fennell succeeds again and again. She has also made the smart decision to cast Carey Mulligan, and to draw upon the acclaimed actor's near-peerless ability to express complex internalised turmoil. Mulligan's fierce lead performance scorches, sears and resounds with such burning truth, and so does the feature she's in as a result. When Mulligan's character, Cassie Thomas, is introduced, she's inebriated and alone at a nightclub, her clothing riding up as she slouches in her seat. Three men discuss women over beverages by the bar, and notice Cassie while talking, with one commenting, "they put themselves in danger, girls like that". No woman brings sexual assault upon themselves, with this whole intelligent and astute revenge-thriller rebuffing the bro-ish bar guy's early observation in every way possible, and meting out punishment to those who think similarly. As viewers see in the film's opening sequence, Cassie is offered help by one of the chatting guys, Jerry (The OC's Adam Brody), who is concerned she could be taken advantage of by men who aren't as nice as him — but then takes her home, makes sexual advances, and learns that the medical school dropout-turned-coffee shop employee he's trying to bed has a lesson for him. Colour-coded names and tallies scrawled in a notebook illustrate this isn't a first for Cassie. The script drip-feeds details about its protagonist's motivations for her ritualistic actions; however, the specifics aren't hard to guess. Cassie's central vigilante quest is forced to adapt after she hears news about someone from her past, and the movie takes her to bold places, boasting a relentlessness that mirrors the persistence of grief and pain after trauma. Promising Young Woman never lets its protagonist's rage subside, proving furious from start to finish — and sharing that feeling even in the film's most overt setups and obvious scenes (which are also some of its most entertaining) is a foregone conclusion. Read our full review. FIRST COW Gone are the days when every image that flickered across the screen did so within an almost square-shaped frame. That time has long passed, in fact, with widescreen formats replacing the 1.375:1 Academy aspect ratio that once was standard in cinemas, and its 4:3 television counterpart. So, when a director today fits their visuals into a much tighter space than the now-expansive norm, it's an intentional choice. They're not just nodding to the past, even if their film takes place in times gone by. With First Cow, for instance, Kelly Reichardt unfurls a story set in 19th-century America, but she's also honing her audience's focus. The Meek's Cutoff, Night Moves and Certain Women filmmaker wants those guiding their eyeballs towards this exquisite movie to truly survey everything that it peers at. She wants them to see its central characters — chef Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz (John Magaro, Overlord) and Chinese entrepreneur King-Lu (Orion Lee, Zack Snyder's Justice League) — and to realise that neither are ever afforded such attention by the others in their fictional midst. Thoughtfully exploring the existence of figures on the margins has long been Reichardt's remit, as River of Grass, Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy have shown as well, but she forces First Cow's viewers to be more than just passive observers in this process. There's much to take in throughout this magnificently told tale, which heads to Oregon as most of Reichardt's movies have. In its own quiet, closely observed, deeply affectionate and warm-hearted fashion, First Cow is a heist movie, although the filmmaker's gentle and insightful spin on the usually slick and twist-filled genre bucks every convention there is. Initially, after watching an industrial barge power down a river, First Cow follows a woman (Alia Shawkat, Search Party) and her dog as they discover a couple of skeletons nearby. Then, jumping back two centuries and seeing another boat on the same waterway, it meets Cookie as he's searching for food. Whatever he finds, or doesn't, the fur-trapper team he works with never has a kind word to spare. But then Cookie stumbles across King-Lu one night, helps him evade the Russians on his tail, and the seeds of friendship are sown. When the duo next crosses paths, they spend an alcohol-addled night sharing their respective ideas for the future. Those ambitious visions get a helping hand after the Chief Factor (Toby Jones, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom) ships in the region's highly coveted first cow, with Cookie and King-Lu secretly milking the animal in the dark of night, then using the stolen liquid to make highly sought-after — and highly profitable — oily cakes. Read our full review. EMA Before 2021 comes to an end, Pablo Larraín will have given the world Spencer, a new biopic about Princess Diana featuring Kristen Stewart as the royal figure. Also on his hit list this year: the just-released Lisey's Story, a Julianne Moore-starring TV adaptation of a Stephen King book that has been scripted for the screen by the author himself. But with Ema, he's already gifted viewers something exceptional — and something that'll be hard to beat. A new project by Larraín is always cause for excitement, and this drama about a reggaeton dancer's crumbling marriage, personal and professional curiosities, and determined quest to become a mother rewards that enthusiasm spectacularly. In fact, it's a stunning piece of cinema, and one that stands out even among the Chilean director's already impressive resume. He's the filmmaker behind stirring political drama No, exacting religious interrogation The Club, poetic biopic Neruda and the astonishing, Natalie Portman-starring Jackie — to name just a few of his movies — so that's no minor feat. For the first time in his career, Larraín peers at life in his homeland today, rather than in the past. And, with his now six-time cinematographer Sergio Armstrong (Tony Manero, Post Mortem), he gazes as intently as he can. Faces and bodies fill Ema's frames, a comment that's true of most movies; however, in both the probing patience it directs its protagonist's way and the kinetic fluidity of its dance sequences, this feature equally stares and surveys. Here, Larraín hones in on the dancer (Mariana Di Girólamo, Much Ado About Nothing) who gives the feature its name. After adopting a child with her choreographer partner Gastón (Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle), something other than domestic bliss has followed. Following a traumatic incident, and the just as stressful decision to relinquish their boy back to the state's custody, Ema is not only trying but struggling to cope in the aftermath. This isn't a situation she's simply willing to accept, though. Ema, the movie, is many things — and, most potently, it's a portrait of a woman who is willing to make whatever move she needs to, both on the dance floor and in life, to rally against an unforgiving world, grasp her idea of freedom and seize exactly what she wants. Di Girólamo is magnetic, whether she's dancing against a vivid backdrop, staring pensively at the camera or being soaked in neon light. Bernal, one of the director's regulars, perfects a thorny role that ties into the film's interrogation of Chile's class and cultural divides. And Larraín's skill as both a visual- and emotion-driven filmmaker is never in doubt. Indeed, this film's imagery isn't easily forgotten, and neither is its mood, ideas, inimitable protagonist, or stirring exploration of trauma, shock and their impact. Read our full review. MINARI Although they can frequently seem straightforward, films about the American dream aren't simply about chasing success. The circumstances and details change, but they're often movies about finding a place to call home as well. Such a quest isn't always as literal as it sounds, of course. While houses can signify achievement, feeling like you truly belong somewhere — and that you're comfortable enough to set your sights on lofty goals and ambitions that require considerable risks and sacrifices — transcends even the flashiest or cosiest combination of bricks and mortar. Partly drawn from writer/director Lee Isaac Chung's (Abigail Harm) own childhood, Minari understands this. It knows that seeking a space to make one's own is crucial, and that it motivates many big moves to and within the US. So, following a Korean American couple who relocate to rural Arkansas in the 80s with hopes of securing a brighter future for their children, this delicately observed and deeply felt feature doesn't separate the Yi family's attempts to set up a farm from their efforts to feel like they're exactly where they should be. The result is a precise, vivid, moving, and beautifully performed and observed film told with honest and tender emotion — so much so that it was always bound to be equally universal and unique. When Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun, Burning) introduces his wife Monica (Yeri Han, My Unfamiliar Family), pre-teen daughter Anne (first-timer Noel Cho) and seven-year-old son David (fellow newcomer Alan S Kim) to their new 50-acre plot, he's beaming with pride. He's bought them "the best dirt in America," he says. It might only span a trailer, a field and a creek, but he's certain that it will revolutionise their lives. Although both Jacob and Monica still spend their days in a chicken sexing factory to pay the bills, Jacob is confident his agrarian dream will reap rewards. The path he's chosen isn't a glossy fantasy, though. From trying to work out where best to build a well to provide water for his crops, to endeavouring to convince stores to buy his wares, Jacob weathers more than his fare share of struggles. Monica's worries about their isolation, and about money, also weigh heavily, as she'd rather live in a larger city as part of the Korean diaspora. Also joining their daily woes in a movie that eschews overt conflicts for everyday dramas: Anne and David's attempts to fit in, the latter's heart murmur and the change that sweeps through the family when Monica's mother Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung, Sense8) comes to live with them. Read our full review. GUNDA Move over Babe, Piglet, Porky and Peppa. Thanks to monochrome-hued documentary Gunda, cinema has a brand new porcine star. Or several, to be exact; however, other than the eponymous sow, none of the attention-grabbing pigs in this movie are given names. If that feels jarring, that's because it breaks from film and television's usual treatment of animals. Typically on-screen, we see and understand the zoological beings we share this planet with as only humans can, filtering them through our own experience, perception and needs. We regard them as companions who become our trustiest and most reliable friends; as creatures who play important roles in our lives emotionally, physically and functionally; as anthropomorphised critters with feelings and traits so much like ours that it seems uncanny; and as worthy targets of deep observation or study. We almost never just let them be, though. Whether they're four-legged, furry, feathered or scaly, animals that grace screens big and small rarely allowed to exist free from our two-legged interference — or from our emotions, expectations or gaze. Gunda isn't like any other movie you've seen about all creatures great and small, but it can't ignore the shadow that humanity casts over its titular figure, her piglets, and the one-legged chicken and paired-off cows it also watches, either. It's shot on working farms, so it really doesn't have that luxury. Still, surveying these critters and their lives without narration or explanation, this quickly involving, supremely moving and deeply haunting feature is happy to let the minutiae of these creatures' existence say everything that it needs to. The delights and devastation alike are in the details, and the entire movie is filled with both. Filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky (Aquarela) looks on as Gunda's namesake gives birth, and as her offspring crawl hungrily towards her before they've even properly realised that they're now breathing. His film keeps peering their way as they squeal, explore and grow, and as they display their inquisitive, curious and sometimes mischievous personalities, too. Sometimes, this little family rolls around in the mud. At other times, they simply sleep, or Gunda takes the opportunity to enjoy some shut-eye while her piglets play. Whatever they're doing, and whenever and where, these pigs just going about their business, which the feature takes in frame by frame. In one of the documentary's interludes away from its porcine points of focus, the aforementioned chook hops about. Whether logs or twigs are involved, it too is just navigating its ordinary days. In the second of the movie's glimpses elsewhere, cattle trot and stand, and their routine couldn't seem more commonplace as well. Read our full review. ANOTHER ROUND Even the most joyous days and nights spent sipping your favourite drink can have their memory tainted by a hangover. Imbibe too much, and there's a kicker just waiting to pulsate through your brain and punish your body when all that alcohol inevitably starts to wear off. For much of Another Round, four Copenhagen school teachers try to avoid this feeling. The film they're in doesn't, though. It lays bare the ups and downs of knocking back boozy beverages, and it also serves up a finale that's a sight to behold. Without sashaying into spoiler territory, the feature's last moments are a thing of sublime beauty. Some movies end in a WTF, "what were they thinking?" kind of way, but this Oscar-winning Danish film comes to a conclusion with a big and bold showstopper that's also a piece of bittersweet perfection. The picture's highest-profile star, Mads Mikkelsen (Arctic), is involved. His pre-acting background as an acrobat and dancer comes in handy, too. Unsurprisingly, the substances that flow freely throughout the feature remain prominent. And, so does the canny and candid awareness that life's highs and lows just keep spilling, plus the just-as-shrewd understanding that the line between self-sabotage and self-release is as thin as a slice of lemon garnishing a cocktail. That's how Another Round wraps up, in one the many masterstrokes poured onto the screen by writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (Kursk) and his co-scribe Tobias Lindholm (A War). The film's unforgettable finale also expertly capitalises upon a minor plot detail that viewers haven't realised had such significance until then, and that couldn't typify this excellent effort's layered approach any better. But, ending with a bang isn't the movie's only achievement. In fact, it's full of them. The picture's savvy choices start with its premise, which sees the quiet and reserved Martin (Mikkelsen) and his fellow educators Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen, Veni Vidi Vici), Peter (Lars Ranthe, Warrior) and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang, The Commune) all decide to put an out-there theory to the test. Motivated by real-life Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, they conduct an experiment that involves being permanently sauced. Skårderud has hypothesised that humans are born with a blood alcohol deficit of 0.05 percent, so, with some cajoling needed on Martin's part, the quartet work that idea into their daily lives. Ground rules are established, and the shots, sneaky sips and all-hours drinking swiftly begins — and so splashes a tragicomic look at coping with mundane lives and the realities of getting older in an extreme fashion that's frank, unflinching, and yet also warm and sometimes humorous. Read our full review. COLLECTIVE We can only hope that one day, likely in a far distant future, documentaries will stop doubling as horror films. That time hasn't arrived yet — and as Collective demonstrates, cinema's factual genre can chill viewers to the bone more effectively than most jump- and bump-based fare. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards (only the second time that's ever happened, after last year's Honeyland), this gripping and gut-wrenching Romanian doco starts with a terrible tragedy. On October 30, 2015, a fire broke out at a metal gig in Bucharest, at a club called Colectiv. Twenty-seven people died in the blaze, and 180 people were injured as they tried to escape via the site's lone exit; however, that's just the beginning of the movie's tale. In the four months afterwards, as burn victims were treated in the country's public hospitals, 37 more passed away. When journalist Cătălin Tolontan and his team at The Sports Gazette started investigating the fire's aftermath and the mounting casualty list, they uncovered not only widespread failures throughout Romania's health system, but also engrained corruption as well. This truly is nightmare fuel; if people can't trust hospitals to act in their patients' best interest after such a sizeable disaster, one of the fundamental tenets of modern society completely collapses. Early in Collective, director, writer, cinematographer and editor Alexander Nanau (Toto and His Sisters) shows the flames, as seen from inside the club. When the blaze sparks from the show's pyrotechnics, hardcore band Goodbye to Gravity has just finished singing about corruption. "Fuck all your wicked corruption! It's been there since our inception but we couldn't see," the group's singer growls — and no, you can't make this up. It's a difficult moment to watch, but this is a film filled with unflinching sights, and with a viscerally unsettling story that demands attention. Nanau occasionally spends time with the bereaved and angry parents of victims of the fire, even bookending the documentary with one man's distress over the "communication error" that contributed to his son's death. The filmmaker charts a photo shoot with Tedy Ursuleanu, a survivor visibly scarred by her ordeal, too. And yet, taking an observational approach free from narration and interviews, and with only the scantest use of text on-screen, Collective's filmmaker lets much of what's said rustle up the majority of the movie's ghastliest inclusions. Read our full review. THE NEST Before watching The Nest, you mightn't have imagined Jude Law playing Mad Men's Don Draper. He didn't, of course. But this new 80s-set psychological thriller about a corroding marriage brings that idea to mind, because it too follows a man who spends his days selling a dream, thinks he can talk and charm his way into anything, and may have unleashed his biggest spin upon himself. More often than not, Law's character here has used his charisma to get whatever he wants, and to evade whichever sticky personal and professional situations he's plunged himself into. Indeed, stock trader Rory O'Hara slides easily into Law's list of suave on-screen roles, alongside the likes of The Talented Mr Ripley and Alfie. But there's also a tinge of desperation to his arrogance, as the actor showcased well in miniseries The Third Day. A Brit who relocated to New York and married horse trainer Allison (Carrie Coon, Widows), Rory looks the picture of Reagan-era affluence but, when he suddenly wants to return to London to chase new work opportunities, the cracks in his facade start widening. As directed with a heightened sense of dread by Martha Marcy May Marlene filmmaker Sean Durkin, The Nest busts open those fractures, with Allison, her teenage daughter Sam (Oona Roche, Morning Wars) and her son Ben (Charlie Shotwell, The Nightingale) all weathering the repercussions. While it's obvious from the outset that trouble is afoot, Durkin isn't in any rush to unleash The Nest's full nightmare. He wants his viewers to linger in it, because his characters must. Allison is forced to live with the knowledge that little is right, but the way she chain-smokes hurriedly illustrates that she also knows how far her fortunes could fall. Every move Rory makes is driven by his need to paint a gleaming portrait of himself, and he knows that it's a reverse Dorian Gray situation: the shinier and flashier he makes everything seem to anyone who'll listen, the more he rots inside. Durkin doesn't just rely upon an exacting pace and a festering mood of gloom, though. Reuniting with cinematographer Mátyás Erdély (Son of Saul) after 2013 miniseries Southcliffe, he gives every second of The Nest an eerie look — whether staying a few beats longer than normal on its opening shot, lensing vast rooms to emphasise their emptiness, repeatedly peering at the film's characters through glass or breaking out the most gradual of zooms. All that tension and unease conveys not only Rory and Allison's domestic discontent, but also the false promises of chasing capitalism-driven fantasies. And, with Coon as essential as Law and Durkin, it drives an excellent thriller that knows how how gut-wrenching it feels to realise that the life you don't even love is a sham. Read our full review. SYNCHRONIC Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead made a significant splash in genre circles with 2014's horror-romance Spring and 2017's excellent cult thriller The Endless, but they aren't currently household names. If the duo keep writing and directing mind-bending sci-fi like Synchronic, though, they will be sooner rather than later. The pair actually appear destined to become better known via Marvel. They're slated to helm one of the MCU's many upcoming Disney+ TV series, the Oscar Isaac-starring Moon Knight, in fact. But, they've already worked their way up from the US$20,000 budget of their 2012 debut Resolution to making movies with Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan. Here, with Marvel's own Falcon and Fifty Shades of Grey's leading man, they play with time, relativity, fate and brain-altering substances. They ponder the shadows that the past leaves on the present, the way that progressing through life can feel far more like a stumble than following a clear path, and how confronting loss and death can reframe your perspective on living, too. Those temporal jumps and existential themes aren't new, of course, and neither is the film's steely look and feel, and its willingness to get dark. That's the thing about Benson and Moorhead, however: few filmmakers can twist familiar parts into such a distinctive, smart and engaging package in the same way, and with each and every one of their movies. Synchronic shares its title with a designer drug. In the film's vision of New Orleans, the hallucinogen can be bought in stores — and plenty of people are doing just that. Shift after shift, paramedics Steve Denube (Mackie) and Dennis Dannelly (Dornan) find themselves cleaning up the aftermath, as users keep overdosing, dying in unusual ways and getting injured in strange mishaps. And, these aren't your usual drug-fuelled incidents. One, involving a snakebite, happens in a hotel without even the slightest sign of slithering reptiles. That's enough to arouse the world-wearied Steve and Dennis' interest, and to give them something to talk about other than the former's attachment-free life and the latter's marriage. Then Dennis' teenage daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides, Into the Badlands) goes missing, and the two EMTs are instantly keen to investigate any links that the popular pill might have to her disappearance. Cue a film that initially drips with tension, dread and intensity; uses every tool at its disposal to take viewers on a trippy journey; and grounds its surreal imagery and off-kilter atmosphere in genuine emotions. Each of Benson and Moorhead's four films so far are strikingly shot and astutely written, and rank among the best horror and sci-fi efforts of the past decade, but they're also as thoughtful and resonant as they are intelligent and ambitious — and that's an irresistible combination. Read our full review. THE FATHER Forgetting, fixating, flailing, fraying: that's The Father. Anthony's (Anthony Hopkins, Westworld) life is unravelling, with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman, The Crown) springing the sudden news that she's about to move to Paris, and now insistent that he needs a new carer to replace the last home helper he's just scared off. He also can't find his watch, and time seems to jump suddenly. On some days, he has just trundled out of bed to greet the morning when Anne advises that dinner, not breakfast, is being served. When he brings up her French relocation again, she frostily and dismissively denies any knowledge. Sometimes another man (Mark Gatiss, Dracula) stalks around Anthony's London apartment, calling himself Anne's husband. Sometimes the flat isn't his own at all and, on occasion, both Anne (Olivia Williams, Victoria and Abdul) and her partner (Rufus Sewell, Judy) look completely different. Intermittently, Anthony either charms or spits cruel words at Laura (Imogen Poots, Black Christmas), the latest aide hired to oversee his days. She reminds him of another daughter, one he's sure he had — and preferred — but hasn't heard from for years. When he mentions his other offspring, however, everyone else goes silent. More than once, Anthony suspects that someone has pilfered his beloved timepiece, which just keeps disappearing. Largely, The Father remains housebound. For the bulk of its 97 minutes, it focuses on the cardigan-wearing Anthony as he roams around the space he calls home. But this is a chaotic film, despite its visual polish, and that mess, confusion and upheaval is entirely by design. All the shifting and changing — big and small details alike, and faces and places, too — speak to the reason Anne keeps telling Anthony they need another set of hands around the house. His memory isn't what it used to be. In fact, it's getting much worse than that. Anthony knows that there's something funny going on, which is how he describes it when his sense of what's happening twists and morphs without warning, and The Father's audience are being immersed in that truth. Anthony has dementia, with conveying precisely how that feels for him the main aim of this six-time Oscar-nominated stage-to-screen adaptation. As overwhelming as The Father can be as it wades through Anthony and Anne's lives, its unflinching and unsparing approach is anchored in kindness and compassion, which novelist and playwright turned first-time director Florian Zeller has brought to the screen in a stunning fashion from Le Père, his own play. Read our full review. MARTIN EDEN The last time that one of Jack London's books made the leap to cinema screens — just last year, in fact — it wasn't a pleasant viewing experience. Starring Harrison Ford and a CGI dog, The Call of the Wild forced viewers to watch its flesh-and-blood lead pal around with a needlessly anthropomorphised canine, to groan-inducingly cheesy results. Martin Eden is a much different book, so it could never get the same treatment. With his radiant imagery, masterful casting and bold alterations to the source material, writer/director Pietro Marcello (Lost and Beautiful) makes certain that no one will confuse this new London adaption for the last, however. The Italian filmmaker helms a compelling, complicated, ambitious and unforgettable film, and one that makes smart and even sensuous choices with a novel that first hit shelves 112 years ago. The titular character is still a struggling sailor who falls in love with a woman from a far more comfortable background than his. He still strives to overcome his working-class upbringing by teaching himself to become a writer. And, he still finds both success and scuffles springing from his new profession, with the joy of discovering his calling, reading everything he can and putting his fingers to the typewriter himself soon overshadowed by the trappings of fame, a festering disillusionment with the well-to-do and their snobbery, and a belief that ascribing worth by wealth is at the core of society's many problems. As a book, Martin Eden might've initially reached readers back in 1909, but Marcello sees it as a timeless piece of literature. He bakes that perception into his stylistic choices, weaving in details from various different time periods — so viewers can't help but glean that this tale just keeps proving relevant, no matter the year or the state of the world. Working with cinematographers Alessandro Abate (Born in Casal Di Principe) and Francesco Di Giacomo (Stay Still), he helms an overwhelmingly and inescapably gorgeous-looking film, too. When Martin Eden is at its most heated thematically and ideologically, it almost feels disquieting that such blistering ideas are surrounded by such aesthetic splendour, although that juxtaposition is wholly by design. And, in his best flourish, he enlists the magnetic Luca Marinelli (The Old Guard) as his central character. In a performance that won him the Best Actor award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Marinelli shoulders the eponymous figure's hopes, dreams and burdens like he's lived them himself. He lends them his soulful stare as well. That expression bores its way off the screen, and eventually sees right through all of the temptations, treats and treasures that come Eden's way. Any movie would blossom in its presence; Martin Eden positively dazzles, all while sinking daggers into the lifetime of tumult weathered by its titular everyman. IN THE HEIGHTS Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the first lyricist to pen tunes so catchy that they get stuck in your head for years (yes, years), but his rhythmic tracks and thoughtful lines always stand out. Miranda's songs are melodic and snappy, as anyone who has seen Hamilton onstage or via streaming definitely knows. The multi-talented songwriter's lyrics also pinball around your brain because they resonate with such feeling — and because they're usually about something substantial. The musical that made his name before his date with US history, In the Heights echoes with affection for its eponymous Latinx New York neighbourhood. Now that it's reverberating through cinemas, its sentiments about community, culture, facing change and fighting prejudice all seem stronger, too. To watch the film's characters sing about their daily lives and deepest dreams in Washington Heights is to understand what it's like to feel as if you truly belong in your patch of the city, to navigate your everyday routine with high hopes shining in your heart, and to weather every blow that tries to take that turf and those wishes away. That's what great show tunes do, whisking the audience off on both a narrative and an emotional journey. Miranda sets his words to hip hop beats, but make no mistake: he writes barnstorming songs that are just as rousing and moving, and that've earned their place among the very best stage and screen ditties as a result. Watching In the Heights, it's hard not to think about all those stirring tracks that've graced previous musicals. That isn't a sign of derivation here, though. Directing with dazzling flair and a joyous mood, Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M Chu nods to cinema's lengthy love affair with musicals in all the right ways. His song-and-dance numbers are clearly influenced by fellow filmic fare, and yet they recall their predecessors only because they slide in so seamlessly alongside them. Take his staging of '96000', for instance. It's about winning the lottery, after word filters around that bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, a Hamilton alum) has sold a lucky ticket. Due to the sweltering summer heat, the whole neighbourhood is at the public pool, which is where Chu captures a colourful sea of performers expressing their feelings through exuberantly shot, staged and choreographed music and movement — and it's as touching and glorious as anything that's ever graced celluloid. Of course, $96,000 won't set anyone up for life, but it'd make an enormous difference to Usnavi, In the Heights' protagonist and narrator. It'd also help absolutely everyone he loves. As he explains long before anyone even hears about the winning ticket, or buys it, every Heights local has their own sueñitos — little dreams they're chasing, such as his determination to relocate to the Dominican Republic. And that's what this intoxicating, invigorating, impassioned and infectious captures with vibrant aplomb. Read our full review.
Whenever Kmart drops a new homewares range — be it beachy and boho or colourful and cosy — it inspires a Pokémon-style response. If there's new linen, trinkets and furniture to buy, you've gotta deck out your house with them all. The Australian department store's latest must-buy pieces will spark the same reaction, too, all while heroing Wiradjuri artist Judith Young. She has teamed up with the retailer on the just-dropped Waluwin collection, the latest in the company's First Nations program. Waluwin is the Wiradjuri word for healing and good health, which Young is keen to highlight in the range of wooden bowls, serving platters, eucalyptus-scented candles, cotton quilt sets and more. Customers can also purchase other pieces of serving ware, tea towels, candles, decorative pots and a canvas art print. On sale since Monday, March 6 online and in-store, the collection keeps everything affordable — $10 gets you a reusable stainless steel tumbler, while queen bedding tops the price list at $65. Whatever you opt for, you'll see a leaf design that's "symbolic of the Waluwin way, and each leaf represents something different," Young explains. "Many Aboriginal people around this country will all have different varieties of plants and trees that they use to make them well, and that is part of the diverse story we have as Aboriginal people." We are all different, our artwork and stories are different, and each has deep significance, just as my markings have meaning to me and my family." For the Waluwin collection, Young drew upon her family's history, with her parents growing up along the Murrumbidgee River in Narrandera in New South Wales. Her mother Judith Williams (nee Johnson) was a watercolour artist, while her father Kevin Williams was a boomerang and artefact maker. Accordingly, watercolour painting and burning techniques both feature. So do lines representing tree carvings, dots that are all about mob coming together, circles that symbolise water holes, and plants such as wattle and tea tree. The collaboration with Kmart appealed to Young because "a lot of our mob positively connect and shop at Kmart around Australia," she notes. "So to have the opportunity to work with them on this collection will have an impact on family across Victoria, regional NSW, Sydney, Darwin and Adelaide. The deeper reason is that I felt that it was the right thing to do, from the first meeting the atmosphere in the head 0ffice with the design team set the flow for the entire collection." Together, Young and Kmart's design team worked through themes and topics within her artwork, including family traditions, and what various colours and markings mean. The aim: to ensure that each design has a story that connects to the land, and that exactly that came through in the finished products. "It was a new experience for me, working with a big company, and a challenge at first. The design team had respect not just for the image but the story and helped make it an easier process, as I did have some challenges with trust and getting out of my comfort zone — but to see how they were really careful when considering each marking, colour and every component was incredible. I felt respected and know that my story and that of my family has been honoured," Young continued. "From this collection, I want people to know my work is about health, healing, joy and peace, speaking to the importance of healthy minds, bodies and spirit. This comes from connecting with Country, eating well and listening to your surroundings. The collection is about covering yourself in a healthy way of living, from what you eat, drink, wear, and sleep under." Kmart and Judith Young's Waluwin collection is on sale online and in-store now.
Before you ever watched your first horror movie, you probably learned one of the genre's undying truths: that, by turning out the lights, things instantly get spookier. That idea also proves accurate at The House After Dark, which sees the Sydney Opera House opening its doors for late-night tours. Returning for a new season between Thursday, May 19–Thursday, June 30 — after a successful couple of runs in 2021 — the tour marks one of the rare occasions that you'll be able to explore the Opera House when all of its performers, patrons and staff have gone home. And, if that isn't eerie enough — because wandering through big public spaces when they're free from crowds is always a little disconcerting, as the pandemic has taught us — you'll also hear ghost stories, learn secrets about the site and discover all the mysterious occurrences that have taken place in the famed venue's halls. And, you'll mosey through hidden tunnels and passageways, too. Tickets cost $55 per person, and you've got six chances to head along: on Thursday, May 19; Friday, May 20; Sunday, May 22; Thursday, June 23; Friday, June 24; and Thursday, June 30. Each session kicks off at 10pm, with arrivals at the State Door at 9.45pm. There's a maximum of ten people per tour, so you won't have much company. And, when tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday, April 27, getting in quick is recommended — as the first round of tours sold out quickly. [caption id="attachment_797498" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Trent Parke[/caption] Top image: Hamilton Lund.
If Vincent van Gogh can do it, and Claude Monet and his contemporaries like Renoir, Cézanne and Manet as well, then Frida Kahlo can also. We're talking about being the subject of huge, multi-sensory art exhibitions — the kind that takes an artist's work and projects it all around you so you feel like you're walking into their paintings. First came Van Gogh Alive, which has been touring the country for the last few years. On its way next is Monet & Friends Alive, launching at Melbourne's digital-only gallery The Lume at the end of October. And, after that, Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon is heading to Sydney as part of the hefty and just-announced Sydney Festival program for 2023. Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon will make its Australian premiere in the Harbour City — and display only in the Harbour — from Wednesday, January 4, 2023. For two months, it will celebrate the Mexican painter's life and work, taking over the Cutaway at Barangaroo Reserve with holography and 360-degree projections. The aim: turning a biographical exhibition about Kahlo into an immersive showcase, and getting attendees to truly understand her art, persistence, rebellion and skills — and why she's an icon. Visitors will wander through seven spaces, and get transported into the artist's work — including via virtual reality. That VR setup will indeed let you step inside Kahlo's pieces as much as VR can, although the entire exhibition is designed to cultivate that sensation anyway, with digital versions of Kahlo's paintings expanding across every surface. The showcase hails from Spanish digital arts company Layers of Reality, alongside the Frida Kahlo Corporation, and will feature historical photographs and original films as well — and live performances of traditional Mexican music. As part of the interactive component, attendees will also be able to make their own flower crowns, and turn their own drawings into Kahlo-style artworks. And, you'll be able to immortalise the experience in souvenir photos, too. For Sydneysiders, Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon is one of the most exciting announcements in Sydney Festival's massive 2023 lineup. For folks residing elsewhere, it's a mighty good reason to make a date with Sydney this summer. The exhibition comes to Australia after touring Europe and the US, and also displaying in Canada, Puerto Rico, Israel and Brazil. Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon will run from Wednesday, January 4–Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at The Cutaway at Barangaroo Reserve, 1 Merriman Street, Barangaroo. For more information, or to book tickets, head to the Sydney Festival website.
If the end of the world comes, or a parasitic fungus evolves via climate change, spreads globally, infests brains en masse and almost wipes out humanity, The Last of Us will have you wanting Pedro Pascal in your corner. Already a standout in Game of Thrones, then Narcos, then The Mandalorian, he's perfectly cast in HBO's latest blockbuster series — a character-driven show that ruminates on what it means to not just survive but to want to live and thrive after the apocalypse. In this game-to-TV adaptation, he plays Joel, dad to teenager Sarah (Nico Parker, The Third Day), but consumed by grief and loss after what starts as an ordinary day, and his birthday, changes everything for everyone. Twenty years later, he's a smuggler tasked with tapping into his paternal instincts to accompany a different young girl, the headstrong Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Catherine Called Birdy), on a perilous but potentially existence-saving trip across the US. Starting to watch The Last of Us, or even merely describing it, is an instant exercise in déjà vu. Whether or not you've played the hit game since it first arrived in 2013, or its 2014 expansion pack, 2020 sequel or 2022 remake, its nine-part TV iteration — which screens and streams via Foxtel and Binge in Australia, and on Neon in New Zealand, from Monday, January 16 — ventures where plenty of on-screen fare including The Road and The Walking Dead has previously trodden. The best example that springs to mind during The Last of Us is Station Eleven, however, which is the heartiest of compliments given how thoughtful, smart, empathetic and textured that 2021–22 series proved. As everything about pandemics, contagions and diseases that upend the world order now does, The Last of Us feels steeped in stone-cold reality as well, as spearheaded by a co-creator, executive producer, writer and director who has already turned an IRL doomsday into stunning television with Chernobyl. That creative force is Craig Mazin, teaming up with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also wrote and directed The Last of Us games. The worst thing that can be said about their new television creation is that fans of the original PlayStation title already know where it's headed, but that doesn't mean that there aren't surprises along the way. As a show, The Last of Us builds in backstories for some game characters only seen or spoken about. It introduces new faces. It toils to create not just one man and one girl's tale — plus the direct figures linked to their quest — but a portrait of life when normality as we all know it ceases to be. It devotes significant chunks of its time to people endeavouring to endure exactly as Joel and Ellie are amid an infestation that's turned the afflicted into not only zombies but monsters. In its 2003-set opening, Joel, his younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna, Terminator: Dark Fate) and Sarah try to outdrive the sprawling infection, only to learn swiftly, brutally and heartbreakingly how the earth's population responds when a mass-extinction event is upon them. If The Last of Us enjoys the kind of viewer success that earns a second season and then a prequel, and it deserves to, exploring the immediate aftermath from here would be a smart and gripping move for that jump backwards. That isn't the game or this first season's narrative, though, which then finds Joel with the resourceful Tess (Anna Torv, Mindhunter) in Boston's quarantine zone, making plans to go looking for the absent Tommy. They're in survival mode. Noticeably wearied, they've long avoided anything beyond remaining alive. But escorting the 14-year-old Ellie will require a broader mindset. From the outset, but also episode by episode, Mazin and Druckmann excel at world-building. Many will come to The Last of Us' week-by-week instalments having mashed buttons directing Joel and Ellie through their mission, but familiarity with the game is far from a pre-requisite for being whisked away by the series. Indeed, one of the thrills of the television show is its attention to detail in its rendering of a decaying planet, and also its appreciation for the little things that make persisting and persevering in such difficult times worth it. It revels in greenery and rays of light, in moments and sights that offer a rare cosy blast from the past for everyone who remembers the before times, and in discoveries with fresh eyes for the post-apocalyptic generation. It values poignant exchanges and intimate connections, too. Although firmly made for the small screen, The Last of Us looks and feels cinematic from season one's first frames till its last, as Mazin's Chernobyl also did. Perhaps the second-worst thing that can be said about the series, and an observation that was always inevitable, is that it's plain to see how the story works on a console. That applies to surveying spaces, locating supplies, evading or dispensing with threats, seeking paths forward, navigating the mutated Cordyceps-contaminated creatures known as clickers, making new allies, and moving from place to place — aka completing various chapters. Thankfully, just like fleshing out The Last of Us' vision of tainted life, Mazin, Druckmann, and their fellow writers and directors make the gameplay mechanics feel organic as well, using their source material merely as a starting point. When the show sticks close to the exact reason that it even exists, it recreates the video game's specifics carefully, dutifully, but with watching rather than playing in mind. When it expands further, it turns something that's immediately compelling and engaging into something even more special. To go a level further, The Last of Us is spectacular — as a video game adaptation, instantly becoming the best yet, and in general. A key reason: its devotion to people and their relationships over the dangers that lurk everywhere and anywhere, not that it ever ignores the latter. In its take on life, death, and why living and breathing is worth treasuring, getting to know the determined, fiercely loyal Joel and the curious, outspoken Ellie is of the utmost importance. Understanding how they interact and react, what ties them together beyond their shared mission, and what they come to mean to each other, is what makes their troubles and struggles — and our watching — worthwhile. In varying degrees, the same applies to other pivotal characters, including Boston resistance leader Marlene (Merle Dandridge, The Flight Attendant), Kansas City rebel Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets), and brother duo Henry (Lamar Johnson, Your Honor) and Sam (debutant Keivonn Woodard). As fantastic, committed and absorbing as Pascal and Ramsey are, him stoic and protective, her soaking in everything she can experience, and both weighed down by the pain and sorrow that Joel and Ellie each carry with them with on every step, The Last of Us' best first-season episode mostly focuses elsewhere. Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) plays Frank and Nick Offerman (The Resort) is Bill — one no longer defecating in suitcases in swanky surroundings, the other well-versed in all things survivalist after Parks and Recreation. Their involvement in this tale is as tender as the show gets, and as vital a reminder about what it is that everyone is fighting to live for. To be among the last of humanity should mean cherishing everything you can while you can, and with who you can, and this stellar game adaption wholeheartedly understands that. Check out the trailer for The Last of Us below: The Last of Us screens and streams via Foxtel and Binge in Australia, and on Neon in New Zealand, from Monday, January 16.
