Apologies to your usual streaming queue — and to everything from the past month you're still trying to catch up with, too — but if you're a horror fan, there's only one acceptable way to spend your viewing time during October. Filling every spare second with unnerving flicks new and old is what the lead up to Halloween is all about. Scary movies work all year round, of course, but this is their season. Here's one to add to your list for your next couch session: Jordan Peele's Nope, the comedian-turned-filmmaker's third stint behind the camera, and a movie that's just as great as his Oscar-winning Get Out and equally exceptional Us. Yep, when it comes to making the leap from an iconic sketch comedy series to helming horror fare — and having a hand in bringing everything from BlacKkKlansman and the ace latest Candyman flick to Hunters and Lovecraft Country to our eyeballs, too — the former Key & Peele has been having a helluva time of it. Nope only hit cinemas in mid-August, and it's actually still showing on the big screen — so it joins the list of films that've been fast-tracked to digital while still gracing picture palaces. That's no longer a rarity, given that everything from Dune, The Matrix Resurrections, Spencer and West Side Story through to Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Elvis have done the same thing this year. Still, the timing of this digital release couldn't be better, especially if you've spent the first few days of October working out which chilling movies you're going to enjoy all month. The film reteams Peele with Get Out star and Judas and the Black Messiah Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, with the latter playing Haywood's Hollywood Horses trainer OJ. His family ranch is proudly run by the only Black-owned horse trainers in show business (with Hustlers' Keke Palmer as his sister Emerald), with their connection to the industry dating back to the very birth of cinema. But their remote patch of inland California soon becomes home to a disturbing discovery — and the fact that everyone spends a fair amount of time either looking up in horror or running away from something chilling in the sky in the trailers says plenty. Emerald decides that they need to capture what's happening on film, which is where Michael Wincott (Veni Vidi Vici) and Brandon Perea (The OA) come in — one charged with standing behind the lens, the other selling tech equipment. And, the Haywoods aren't the only California residents seeing this uncanny presence in the sky, with neighbour, rodeo cowboy and former child star Ricky 'Jupe' Park (Steven Yeun, The Humans) also peering upwards. As with all of Peele's celluloid nightmares so far, the less you know going in, the better. Get ready for a whirlwind of unsettling imagery, though, including fields of colourful inflatable tube men waving in the breeze, the creepiest of clouds and shadows, and a big leap into X-Files territory. Check out the full trailer for Nope below: Nope is currently screening in Australian cinemas (and NZ cinemas), and is also available to stream online via video on demand — including via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video in Australia, and Neon, Google Play and iTunes in NZ. Read our full review.
Australia's toast game just levelled up with a little help from our neighbours across the ditch. If you're a fan of slathering nut butters across slices of heated bread, then you've likely heard of cult-favourite Wellington brand Fix & Fogg — and instead of stuffing your suitcases with their products when you're coming back from a New Zealand holiday, you can now head to Woolworths to pick up ten different types. Woolies already stocked two Fix & Fogg products: Everything Butter, which combines a bit of everything as the name suggests (aka hemp, chia, sesame, sunflower, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and almonds), plus granola butter (which is made with toasted South Island oats, cashew nuts, coconut, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and peanuts). Joining them are multiple types and sizes of peanut butter, plus a range of other creative flavours. Peanut butter and jelly in a jar, anyone? If you're all about the OG peanut butter by itself, you can go smooth or crunchy in either 375-gram and 750-gram jars. Or, there's the chilli and paprika-spiced Smoke and Fire peanut butter in 275-gram containers, as well as choc berry and almond-heavy versions of the Everything Butter. In Australia, you'll now find the ten Fix & Fogg varieties at all 990 Woolies locations nationwide from today, Monday, August 15. For folks new to Fix & Fogg, it makes the type of nut butters that you'll easily want to eat by the spoonful, sans toast — which is one of the reasons that the company has evolved from selling its wares at Wellington markets to picking up a huge homegrown and now international following. Fix & Fogg's expanded presence at Woolies comes after the brand hit the US in a big way in 2021, getting stocked at 3500 Whole Foods stores around the country. Find ten of Fix & Fogg's nut butters on Woolworths shelves from Monday, August 15.
The Spanish word duende is hard to translate. The director of Live: An Intimate Video Study of the Art of Performing — Jasmin Tarasin — feels that modern venues lack it, as concerts and arenas leave you pushed too far away from the breathing, perspiring pure voice and understated rhythms of one-on-one, casual performance. Too much gets lost in the translation from solo artist to stage or screen. Duende roughly means 'possessed inspiration' — this, she says, is what she was looking to bring to audiences in her installation at the Festival this year. Live is made of two long rooms bunted in black curtains and white neon light. Four big screens sit down one wall of the first room. The second has four black booths — each with a vertical screen shining black and white videos of singers from hips to head, slightly larger than life. The same videos run in the first room. Four sing at any one time, and you choose channels on your wireless headphones to decide who to listen to from screen to screen. They belt out songs like little gods, looking down at you from a taller place. Though there's an obvious progression from the big screen to small, the little black booths are so good that the first room seems almost superfluous. Martha Wainwright explodes on guitar, Julian Hamilton sings acapella, Juliette Lewis does some surprisingly ballsy blues and Warren Ellis is ragged and well tuned. The black and white photography works well, bringing each performer to occupy the same abstract white space. But they perform to camera. Looking into the middle distance, spit and sibilants get lost to electric backing and headphone glitches, pushing you further away from the moment. But although it doesn't quite hand you duende on a plate Live makes for good music, and good art. Live will be closed January 18.
You don't become a first-generation winemaker without a passion for all things vino, which Simall's Simon Hall clearly possesses. Since 2013, he's been crafting locally made drops on the New South Wales South Coast. And, since early 2020, the company has been doing tastings and takeaway sales from its urban cellar door, The Wine Hub, in Wollongong. While Simall's range spans a number of labels, Take a Gander tops the list. It also has both a community focus and a community following. A regular feature at nearby markets and festivals, Take a Gander specialises in easy-drinking tipples, as you'd expect given the region — which is great news for lovers of shiraz cabernet, sauvignon blanc, rosé and pinot grigio. Located on Victoria Street, The Wine Hub also serves up wine by the glass, platters heavy on local produce and wine cocktails — because who says spirits drinkers get to have all the fun?
Some voices could utter anything and make it sound interesting, and David Attenborough's is one of them. That said, that's not why the iconic British broadcaster has become such a trusted and beloved figure in the nature documentary world. His involvement in any project that roves over, probes and ponders the planet we all live on is the ultimate stamp of approval. Whether he's narrating Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, their sequels, a stampede of other series or film David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, his participation always means more than merely his vocal tones echoing across exceptional imagery — it means astute science-backed insights paired with a first-rate spectacle. When it initially arrived in 2022, becoming one of the year's best new shows and giving nature doco fans the five-episode series they didn't know they'd always wanted — and simultaneously couldn't believe hadn't been made until now — Prehistoric Planet followed that formula perfectly. And it is a formula. In a genre that's frequently spying the wealth of patterns at the heart of the animal realm, documentaries such as The Living Planet, State of the Planet, Frozen Planet, Our Planet, Seven Worlds, One Planet, A Perfect Planet, Green Planet and the like all build from the same basic elements. Jumping back 66 million years, capitalising upon advancements in special effects but committing to making a program just like anything that peers at the earth today was never going to feel like the easy product of a template, though. Indeed, Prehistoric Planet's first season was stunning, and its second is just as staggering. Again, Prehistoric Planet 2 streams via Apple TV+. Again, it's also dropping its five instalments over five nights, this time screening across Monday, May 22–Friday, May 26. And, each chapter again heroes a different environment and the ancient creatures that called it home. This second go-around starts with the inhabitants of earth's islands during the Cretaceous age, then moves to the badlands, primarily focusing on areas with volcanic activity. Next, hopping between continents, the show gets swampy. After that comes a dive into the oceans, followed by a journey to one particular patch of terrain: North America. The catch, in both season one and this return trip backwards: while breathtaking landscape footage brings the planet's terrain to the Prehistoric Planet series, the critters stalking, swimming, flying and tumbling across it are purely pixels. Filmmaker Jon Favreau remains among the show's executive producers, and the technology that brought his photorealistic versions of The Jungle Book and The Lion King to cinemas couldn't be more pivotal. Seeing needs to be believing while watching, because the big-screen gloss of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World sagas, the puppets of 90s sitcom Dinosaurs, and the animatronics of Walking with Dinosaurs — or anything in-between — were never going to suit a program with Attenborough as a guide. Accordingly, to sit down to Prehistoric Planet is to experience cognitive dissonance: viewers are well-aware that what they're seeing isn't real because the animals seen no longer exist, but it truly looks that authentic. Still set to a rousing score by acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer (now fresh from Top Gun: Maverick) with Bleeding Fingers Music's Anže Rozman and Kara Talve, Prehistoric Planet 2 also expands its focus beyond season one's creatures, aka all the regular dinos that everyone grew up knowing. Familiar beasts still walk through the series' frames, accompanied by new titbits about their lives and behaviour — feathered raptor babies prove both cute and clever, for instance — but honing in on new animals feels as revelatory as it's meant to. One such critter earns episode two's attention, with the Indian sauropod isisaurus first observed as mothers-to-be trekking through gas and avoiding lava to lay eggs in volcanic ash, then seen as hatchlings navigating the treacherous spot to return to the herd. Visually, with painterly backdrops that look otherworldly because fiery mountains always do (see also: Oscar-nominated documentary Fire of Love), the time spent with these plant-eating, long-necked dinos is as beautiful as anything the show has ever delivered. The isisaurus boasts ample company, each making their moments and episodes gleam in different ways. When the island-centric first season-two episode shows the dance-like mating ritual of the hatzegopteryx — the heaviest animal to ever fly — against pristine white sands and an ocean backdrop, it too stands out. So do the towering pterosaurs anyway with their 12-metre wingspans, of course. Also on the list: the pachycephalosaurus with their colourful dome-shaped skulls, as often seen butting against each other, and the displays of combat between clashing triceratops. Dinosaurs, they're just like people: always trying to leave an impression, claim their turf and find companionship. During the chapter dedicated to swamps, prehistoric frog beelzebufo — also known as devil toad — croaks to find love, too. As its presence demonstrates, and the hatzegopteryx as well, dinos aren't the only creatures in Prehistoric Planet's jam-packed return. The ocean instalment is especially fond of ammonites, devoting much of its running time to the molluscs' life cycle and graceful movements through the underwater deep, while mammals, bony fish, flightless seabirds, primitive ducks, million-strong swarms of flies and vegetarian crocodiles all make an appearance. Surveying a broader range of the animals calling earth home before the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event doesn't just help prolong the program and ideally open the doors for even more seasons to follow; it's an aptly thoughtful touch. Every episode may begin with Attenborough surrounded by fossils, but there's far more to prehistoric life and to scientific learnings about the period than the familiar — artefacts and critters alike. In season two, context isn't only relegated to each chapter's introduction. Moving season one's post-show forays into the facts behind the imagery into the show itself, every nightly segment now ends with expert talking heads — from Prehistoric Planet's consultants, London's Natural History Museum and beyond — chatting through the data and discoveries backing up everything viewers have just seen. That too is an intelligent move, because the longer anyone watches this series, takes in its Attenborough-voiced insights and becomes immersed in life oh-so-far back, the more they want to learn. Move over Jurassic Park — this is the best dino franchise now. Check out the trailer for Prehistoric Planet's second season below: Prehistoric Planet season two premieres via Apple TV+ across Monday, May 22–Friday, May 26, with a new episode available to stream each day. Read our full review of Prehistoric Planet season one, and read our interview with executive producer Mike Gunton and series producer Tim Walker about season two.
When warm weather arrives, the Snowy Mountains transform into an adventurer's playground. Lakes you wouldn't dip a toe into during winter become dazzling, sun-kissed visions, perfect for windsurfing, sailing and fishing. Walking, cycling and horse riding trails buried in snow thaw out, allowing you to wander through twisted snow gum forests, across wildflower meadows and along majestic mountain ridges, surrounded by incredible panoramas. Here are ten ways to spend time in the Snowies during the warmer months — from paddling the legendary Snowy River to catching trout in Lake Eucumbene to camping by tranquil Thredbo River. [caption id="attachment_659671" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW.[/caption] WINDSURFING AND SAILING ON LAKE JINDABYNE Whether you're completely new to windsurfing or a seasoned expert, peaceful Lake Jindabyne, one of the highest lakes in Australia, offers escapades a-plenty. Winds are pretty steady (yet gentle) and there's not too much traffic, so you don't have to continually stress about bumping into someone else. What's more, the mountainous scenery is stunning. There's a bunch of windsurfer hire spots about, including Sacred Ride and Snowy Mountains Holidays. Alternatively, you could consider a sailboat. If you're looking for fellow sailors, check out Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club, which runs a busy program from November to March. [caption id="attachment_659673" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jon Armstrong / Destination NSW.[/caption] PADDLING THE SNOWY RIVER Starting on Mount Kosciuszko's slopes and flowing into the Bass Strait in Victoria, the Snowy River's 352 kilometres provide ample opportunities for paddling. That said, there are rapids and tight spots a-plenty, so, unless you're experienced, it could be a good idea to find a guide. Alpine River Adventures runs adventurous, yet suitable for newbies day trips and multi-day expeditions through the ancient Byadbo Wilderness. Expect to meet platypuses and brumbies, to journey through steep gorges and to rush down grade-three rapids. [caption id="attachment_661863" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] HORSE RIDING IN THREDBO VALLEY Unencumbered by snow, Thredbo Valley is a picturesque garden of pretty snow gums, towering mountain gums and open plains, with the wild Thredbo River running through. To find out what The Man from Snowy River was all about, experience it from a horse's back. Thredbo Valley Horse Riding has been running trail rides since 1993. For a taster, book a one or two-hour ride, or to spend a bit longer in the saddle, go for a half-day adventure. All rides include gear and basic instruction. If you're interested in a multi-day trip, get in touch with Cochran Horse Treks. CAMPING ON THREDBO RIVER It is, of course, possible to camp in the snow, but you've got to be tough and well-prepared. In the warmer months, pitching a tent is a lot more comfortable. There are stacks of stunning campgrounds in the Snowies and one of the loveliest is Thredbo Diggings. Perched right on Thredbo River, this gorgeous spot surrounds you with snow gums, backdropped by mountain ranges. Spend your days lazing about, going for dips, trying your luck at fly fishing and strolling or cycling on the Thredbo Valley Track. If you're in need of a nightcap, Wild Brumby distillery's warming schnapps, made with local fruit, are just up the road. Another camping option along Thredbo River is Ngargio Campground. [caption id="attachment_661864" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] TROUT FISHING AT LAKE EUCUMBENE You won't have any trouble finding a spot to throw in a line at Lake Eucumbene; it's the biggest lake of the many created by the Snowy Hydro scheme. At full capacity, it's nine times the size of Sydney Harbour and 30 metres deep on average. Plus, a total of 145 kilometres of shoreline gives you lots of room to explore. Before getting started, be sure to pick up a NSW Recreational Fishing Licence, usually available at servos and caravan parks. If you don't feel confident fishing on your own, then consider a visit to Eucumbene Trout Farm, where gear and guidance are provided, as is a barbecue for a post-fishing feast. VISITING A WATERFALL There are several waterfalls in the Snowies that'll capture your imagination. One of the easiest to access is found along a walking track that leaves from Kosciuszko Education Centre, about 12 kilometres west of Jindabyne. The six-kilometre loop passes through an impressive diversity of scenery, from heathland dotted with wildflowers to giant granite boulders to mature gum trees. Keep an eye out for echidnas, wallabies and kangaroos along the way. When you reach the waterfall, be sure to wander onto the viewing platform for some beautiful sights. [caption id="attachment_659669" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paul Sinclair / Destination NSW.[/caption] CYCLING COOMA TRAILS On the outskirts of Cooma lie 80 hectares of land known as North Ridge Reserve. Speckled with granite boulders, basket grass and bright wildflowers, including native bluebells, everlasting daisies and black anther flax lilies, it's a great spot for mountain bike riding. There's a variety of trails, offering something for everyone, from beginners to pros. And, if you're not keen on cycling, you can always walk. Whichever way you travel, the views are breathtaking — over Cooma, east towards the coast and west towards the Snowy Mountains. If you're looking for a coffee or a bite to eat in Cooma afterwards, head to The Lott Food Store. [caption id="attachment_659675" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW.[/caption] WALKING THROUGH YARRANGOBILLY CAVES The oldest of these limestone spectacles, found in the northern section of Kosciuszko National Park, was formed millions of years ago. Several are accessible by self-guided tour, including the biggest, South Glory, where a 500-metre trail passes vast chambers like the dazzling white Ice Age Chamber, stunning rock formations and a natural skylight 55 metres above the ground. Other caves to check out include Jillabenan, covered in delicate cave coral, stalactites and helictites, as well as Jersey Cave, whose extraordinary grey and black flowstone was created by bushfires thousands of years ago. Round out your visit with a swim in Yarrangobilly thermal pool, which is a toasty 27 degree celsius all year round. [caption id="attachment_658614" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Facebook / Heli Fun.[/caption] TAKING A SCENIC FLIGHT IN A HELICOPTER Regardless of whether you've skied, snowboarded, hiked, cycled or paddled the Snowy Mountains, a scenic flight will give you a whole new perspective. Heli Fun will take you soaring above Australia's highest peaks, including Mount Kosciuszko, Mount Townsend and the Ramshead Ranges — make sure you look out for wild brumbies and familiar landmarks, such as Thredbo ski fields as you're flying high. Choose between 30-minute and 60-minute trips or a speedy ten-minute swoop over Lake Jindabyne. For an even more exciting adventure, book a wilderness picnic. Your pilot will take you on a one-hour jaunt, before leaving you in the middle of nowhere with a gourmet picnic and bottle of sparkling. [caption id="attachment_659674" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW.[/caption] GOING WINE (AND BEER AND SCHNAPPS) TASTING The Snowies' wines might not be as well known as those of the Yarra Valley or McLaren Vale, but there's no shortage of decent drops to try. If you're into beer, get started at Kosciuszko Brewery at the Banjo Paterson Inn in Jindabyne. From there, head to Snowy Vineyard Estate in Dalgety, where Dalgety Brewing Company serves up a variety of ales, including pale, golden and red, as well as a selection of wines. On the other side of the mountain lies Tumbarumba cool climate wine region, which specialises in chardonnay and pinot noir. It's easy to spend an afternoon in the lush, Italy-inspired grounds of Tumbarumba Wine Escape and Courabyra is worth a visit, too. Discover all that the Snowy Mountains has to offer outside of winter months, from jam-packed adventures to culinary excursions and so much more.
Utes are as ubiquitously Australian as Vegemite, meat pies and nicknames abbreviated to capitulate in the letter O. This is what makes a trip to the legendary Deni Ute Muster a perfect excursion for those keen to experience a classic Australian road trip. The annual event held in the NSW Riverina town of Deniliquin (a 3.5-hour drive from Melbourne) is a celebration of the iconic vehicle. But you don't need to be a rev-head or even own your own ute to get amongst this uniquely Australian shindig. Parked between the Commodores and Falcons, Rangers and Hiluxes, will be a lineup of some of the country's biggest names in music, tasty food pop-ups and the opportunity to do two nights of camping on Friday, 29 and Saturday, 30 September. Expect to spot Jess Mauboy, John Williamson, Missy Higgins and Lee Kernaghan belting out hits over the weekend. Off-stage, entertainment will be provided courtesy of activities like an ice skating rink, Bogan Bingo, camel rides, monster truck rides and a muster sandpit. Tickets start at $310 which also covers camping, so you can bring your own tent or caravan — or simply roll out a swag in the back of your ute. Deni Ute Muster is on from Friday, September 29 to Saturday, September 30 2023. For further details, head to the website.
CONCRETE PLAYGROUND: In The Guest Edit, we hand the reins over to some of the most interesting, tasteful and (or) entertaining people in Australia and New Zealand. For this instalment, we've enlisted help from Sheet Society founder and interior design extraordinaire Hayley Worley. The Melbourne-based owner and creative has put pen to (digital) paper, outlining the biggest colour and pattern trends of the year, as well as tips on how to incorporate them around your home. HAYLEY WORLEY: The best part of my job is that I get to surround myself with inspirational fashion, interiors and design. While I'm a big fan of staple colours that will never go out of style, I'm equally excited by new, fresh and fashionable prints. It's really important to me and for my creative and design process, that I love and find joy in the things I surround myself with. There's nothing quite like putting on your favourite dress or jumping into a new bed of fresh sheets as a moment of pleasure. My picks for Concrete Playground are all things that have recently made me happy — including making my kids happy too! CHECKERBOARD PRINT This is a huge trend that we don't see going anywhere, anytime soon. If you're looking for an easy place to start, the Sheet Society Margot print is the perfect fashionable update to your bed in a really easy-to-style Camel colour. I've got lots of Sheet Society colours (as you can imagine!) and Margot pairs with pretty much anything. I've currently got it on my bed with Sage and Blush. HAND-PAINTED MOTIFS Sheet Society collaborated with Annie Everingham last year on a beautiful bedding collection, and her latest collaboration with Alemais is such a goodie. Her hand-painted motifs have been used across a wide range of fashion styles and I wore this pink one to my birthday a few weeks ago. It's currently out of stock on Alemais, but is available on Selfridges & Co here. Sheet Society also releases a limited edition collaboration each year and this year we partnered with local artist Lahni Barass, on a collection called Sleep Patterns. It's available here. BLUSH We have a one- and a three-year-old and it's often hard to find kids clothes that are bright or have loud prints. I adore the Aussie brand ByBillie, they've got a really great palette to choose from and a strong range of styles. I recently bought both kids matching Joey Jackets in blush and they are just so adorable. SAGE I've currently got our Sage blanket on, which not only looks great, but it's the extra cosiness I need (and grab for) in the middle of the night. Right in the middle of Melbourne winter, I definitely need to add a few extra layers. It has two layers of our French Flax Eve Linen with a plump quilted wadding inside and feels super lush. Pictured here with a divine Ella Reweti vase. OFF-WHITE I had an absolute blast picking out furniture for our new store in Armadale. Our interior designers, Golden, worked really well and collaborated closely with us to develop a soft furnishing plan that spoke to the Armadale customer, while staying true to Sheet Society. This Gatto lamp, designed by Floss, was one of our 'splurge' items. We also used it in our latest winter campaign, styled with our new-season teal colour. Perfection!
Stay tuned. More information coming soon.
Taylor Swift is inviting fans around the world to step inside her new era with Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, an 89-minute cinematic event celebrating the launch of her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl. The feature offers a mix of firsts — including the debut of the 'The Fate of Ophelia' music video, new lyric videos, behind-the-scenes footage and personal reflections from Swift herself. The global release kicks off at 3pm US time on Friday, October 3, which translates to early morning on Saturday, October 4 in Australia. Screenings will run nationwide across the long weekend, from Saturday through Monday, October 6. Australian Swifties can catch the film at Event Cinemas, Hoyts, Dendy, Village Cinemas and Palace Cinemas, with both city and regional locations taking part. Demand has been so high that Event Cinemas has already added extra sessions. "We've got our Swifties covered with screenings of Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl across our Event Cinemas in both Australia and New Zealand this coming weekend," a spokesperson said. "Tickets are flying faster than a Reputation track drop, with presale numbers already at number one for the upcoming long weekend." It follows the blockbuster success of The Eras Tour film, which became the highest-grossing concert film of all time after earning more than £260 million globally. Find your nearest screening and tickets to Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl Images: Getty Images
Between them, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Bram Stoker, the Brontë sisters, Virginia Woolf and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are responsible for a wealth of literary treasures. So are Oscar Wilde, Harold Pinter, William Blake, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, TS Eliot, Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, John Keats, William Wordsworth and Rudyard Kipling, plus AA Milne, Beatrix Potter, Dylan Thomas, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith. HOTA, Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast mightn't seem like the usual place to celebrate them all, but it is until the start of August 2025, all thanks to Writers Revealed: Treasures From the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London. Announced earlier in the year, open since mid-April and running till Sunday, August 3, this exhibition is all about paying tribute to great authors and writers — beyond libraries, bookstores, and your own bookshelf or Kindle. Indeed, getting the chance to revel in the talents behind some of the finest works of literature ever committed to paper in a stunning showcase across a gallery's walls is rare. Writers Revealed is a world-first. What features at an exhibition devoted to wordsmiths? Eager word nerds can see author portraits, plus rare handwritten manuscripts and first editions. More than 100 literary artefacts and portraits span the likenesses of the writers responsible for Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, The Lord of the Rings, Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Sherlock Holmes and other masterpieces, as well as texts themselves, with five centuries of literature covered. As the exhibition's full name states, this is a collaboration between the British Library and the National Portrait Gallery, London. If you're wondering why the two institutions are pairing portraits with books, one of the showcase's aims to explore how literature and visual expression are linked. Also in the spotlight: the legacy of influential writers, plus digging into their creative processes. A draft of Dracula, what's thought to be the only Shakespeare portrait to be painted while he was alive, a picture of Austen by her sister, John Milton's publishing contract for Paradise Lost, letters from both Smith and Ishiguro: they're among the highlights that can be found across 1000 square metres in HOTA's Gallery 1. "We are thrilled to collaborate with the National Portrait Gallery on Writers Revealed, a truly unique exhibition that brings together some of the most exceptional objects from our collections. Visitors will experience rare first editions and exquisite manuscripts alongside celebrated portraits of the writers who created them," said Alexandra Ault, Lead Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts at the British Library, announcing the exhibition. "Featuring treasures that rarely leave our gallery in London, this major new exhibition will bring HOTA's visitors closer to some of the most-important figures in English literary history," added Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator of 17th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery. "Encountering these displays, visitors will discover what is revealed and what is hidden when life, writing and portraiture intersect." Writers Revealed: Treasures From the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London displays at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast until Sunday, August 3, 2025. Head to the gallery's website for further details and tickets.
Beats allowed but not compulsory? What are they gonna use then? Well Michaela Davies uses electric muscle stimulation to control the limbs of her Involuntary Quartet, and Christian Moraga makes 'noise washes' created by fiddling around on a guitar synthesizer. FBi Utility Fog presenter Petter Hollo loops and layers cello as his alter ego Raven, and you’d better believe Julian Knowles has something other than softsynths up his sleeve after 20 years in the field. These are the four artists heading up the inaugural Pretty Gritty, a bimonthly experimental electronica night at Redfern's 107 Projects. It's a place where music shoved under the 'ambient electronica' umbrella can let loose and spit uneven shards of broken melody all around the room, or strip back the layers and bare its quietly reverberating soul. Because electronica can be pretty too.
The Kings Cross Hotel is about to be transformed into an immersive wonderland as part of this year's Vivid Sydney festival. As part of the truly epic Vivid Music program (which includes the world premiere of Björk's digital project), the hotel will be in full swing with a slew of live music, theatre and cabaret throughout the three weeks of the festival from May 27 until June 18. On Friday and Saturday evenings, some of Sydney's cabaret pros will be setting up shop in the Hotel's plush Red Room as part of Avant-Cabaret. Grab yourself an opulent cocktail and see some of Sydney's best take the stage, from burlesque beauties Zsa Zsa La Fine and Betty Grumble, award-winning Aussie cabaret star Tom Sharah, David Bowie Unzipped's Jeff Duff, the inimitable, unmissable and highly glittery Matt Format, tale spinners Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentlemen, King of Dance Moves Brendan Maclean and more. [competition]575107[/competition]
With its golden beaches, lush rainforests and abundant green valleys, North Coast NSW has all the tools to recharge the weariest of souls — or those just in dire need of a holiday. It's also home to some of the state's most renowned producers, who are busily pumping out wine, beer and spirits — which you can sample at cellar doors aplenty — as well as award-winning eateries serving up excellent local produce in stunning locales. So you can make the most out of your next North Coast NSW trip, we've done the hard yards and planned out four adventure-packed holidays. And right now, you can score $100 off select North Coast NSW accommodation when you book through Trip.com. [caption id="attachment_856861" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Koala Hospital, Port Macquarie, Destination NSW[/caption] FLY INTO PORT MACQUARIE TO MEET WILDLIFE AND RIDE WAVES When you're in Port Macquarie, whichever direction you point your compass towards you'll find entrancing rainforests and beaches backing onto sprawling national parks. After touchdown at the city's conveniently located airport, secure a rental vehicle and scoot over to the coast to explore the rainforest canopy and sheltered coastline of Sea Acres National Park. You're bound to spot an ark of critters including goannas, diamond pythons, brush turkeys and even a koala or two. Then, take a free self-guided tour of the Koala Hospital for more cuddly sightings and greater insight into the lives of these beloved marsupials. Motor an hour up the coast to find a marine menagerie in Hat Head National Park. Korogoro Creek is a pristine snorkelling spot where you can spy hermit crabs, flat head, mullet and octopus below the water line, while whales and dolphins might occasionally surface through the waves, too. You'll find excellent surf breaks for experienced riders just south at Crescent Head. And if you're a beginner? Learn to tackle the region's famous tubes with On Point Surf School. After a day on the water, you'll likely need to refuel — venture inland to Bago Maze and Winery to enjoy a wine tasting paired with local cheese and charcuterie before meandering through the venue's carefully sculpted lilly pilly hedge maze. A stay on the Hastings River at Rydges Port Macquarie provides plush interiors with water views, as well as easy access to some of the city's best dining options. Tuck into fresh seafood at The Stunned Mullet or Bills Fishhouse and Bar, which both showcase seasonal local produce. Ensure you leave enough room for dessert, with the creamy artisan scoops at Blue Cow Gelato a tip-top option. [caption id="attachment_856161" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Opal Cove Resort Coffs Harbour, Destination NSW[/caption] FLY INTO COFFS HARBOUR TO EXPLORE ANCIENT RAINFORESTS AND REMOTE COASTLINES Alight the plane at Coffs Harbour Airport with your adventure shoes at the ready. In classic Aussie family holiday tradition, you'll need to kick things off with a choccy-covered banana and a quick round of laser tag at the Big Banana. Then, unwind in the spacious suites at Opal Cove Resort. This expansive seaside venue provides everything you need to relax and recharge, from a sauna and spa to a fully equipped gym and an arcade games room. Start your grand expedition into the great outdoors by ambling through national parks and nature reserves along the Solitary Islands coastal walk. Those tackling the full 60-kilometre trail will move from windswept headlands to undisturbed beaches and lush rainforest paths over three or four days of hiking and camping (depending on your pace). There are also plenty of day-trip opportunities, with spots for ocean fishing, swimming and picnicking. For even loftier views, head to Sealy Lookout (Niigi Niigi) and walk along the Forest Sky Pier which dramatically juts out over the canopy of Orara East State Forest. To put the stunning view into historical context, join a Giingan Gumbaynggirr Cultural Experience tour and learn about the cultural practices and stories of Traditional Owners, the Gumbaynggirr people. If that's still not enough nature for you, head an hour out of Coffs to the otherworldly Dorrigo National Park, where you can walk among 600-year-old trees in the World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforest. The small township of Bellingen is a perfect pit stop on the scenic drive here along Waterfall Way. Savour a lunch of shared plates in the artfully restored church that houses Cedar Bar & Kitchen, or stop in at Black Bear Cafe for a quick coffee in the heart of town. [caption id="attachment_856170" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Angourie, Destination NSW[/caption] FLY INTO BALLINA FOR A SURFING AND PADDLING SAFARI Flights landing at Ballina Byron Gateway Airport are often packed with holidaymakers headed for Byron Bay's star-studded beaches. But if you're keen to take the road (slightly) less travelled — that offer equally glorious seaside adventures — head 90 minutes south to the relaxed township of Yamba. Along the route, stop in at Razorback Lookout in Evans Head for spectacular sightlines up the coast before exploring the varied landscapes of Bundjalung National Park. Pack a hiking lunch and walk the ten-kilometre Jerusalem Creek loop, or book a rejuvenating forest bathing tour, which involves Japanese-inspired mindfulness movements honouring different natural elements, with Iluka Nature and Soul at Woody Head campground. Make Yamba Sun Motel your base once you reach town. The comfortable rooms come in a number of configurations and can accommodate both couples and larger families. The Sun also places you in the heart of this close-knit community, with beaches, friendly cafes and local attractions all within walking distance. Start your day with an Allpress Espresso coffee from eclectic local fave Yum Yum Angourie Cafe and General Store, or tuck into a hearty Turkish-inspired breakfast at the charming Beachwood Cafe. Get active on the water with a Yamba Kayak tour, and paddle around the islands and mangrove mazes of the Clarence River. Or, wetsuit up and tackle the Angourie Point surf break. Even if you're not confident on a board, you'd be remiss not to catch the dramatic right-handers roll in at this renowned spot from the safety of the sand. [caption id="attachment_856169" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fingal Head, David Kirkland[/caption] FLY INTO THE GOLD COAST AND HEAD SOUTH TO CHASE WATERFALLS AND LOCAL FEASTS After touchdown, find yourself some wheels and scoot over the border to explore the nearby NSW coastline. Head southward and you'll immediately hit the Tweed Shire. Here, you'll find fine-dining spots hidden among rolling green valleys, myriad beaches to suit towel-snoozers and wave-riders alike, picturesque cruises along the Tweed River and plenty of cultural experiences to fill up your holiday itinerary. Be sure not to miss the Tweed Regional Gallery and Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre, before visiting the seemingly never-ending sandy expanse of Dreamtime Beach. For liquid sustenance, head to the cellar door at Husk Distillers, home of the chameleon-like Ink Gin. Then enjoy the hearty fare served up at Potager — much of what you taste in your miso pumpkin and potato gnocchi with coconut ricotta and warrigal greens has been plucked directly from the onsite garden. Less than an hour on the road and you'll be in the heart of Byron Bay. Set yourself up at the glamorously renovated Byron Springs beach house, tucked away on a palm-lined cul-de-sac with easy access to sprawling Tallow Beach and Arakwal National Park. If you can tear yourself away from the hotel's sun-drenched therapy pool, book a tour with Trip.com to uncover natural gems and native refreshments. The Chasing Waterfalls tour will ferry you between glistening cascades, quiet bushlands and rarely visited swimming holes, while the Afternoon Brewery and Distillery session will introduce you to locally concocted craft beers and fragrant spirits. With $100 off select North Coast NSW accommodation via Trip.com until June 21, now is the ideal time to explore all that the region has to offer. Top images: Destination NSW
In 1997, the biggest selling album in the world was Spice by the Spice Girls. Wherever you went — from to New Zealand to Latvia to Lebanon — you couldn't escape thinking about what you really, really wanted, or about what happens when 2 Become 1. After all, Spice topped the charts in no fewer than 17 nations and sold 19 million copies. Now, it's time for you step into the spotlight. Over two nights, as part of its Sideshow Festival, much-loved live music venue The Newsagency is hosting Spice: A Singalong. You're invited to dig out your coolest crop tops, your most multi-coloured lycra and your sexiest stilettos, and belt out the biggest pop hits of the 90s. Leading proceedings will be a quintet made up of five local vocal talents: Libby Wood, Alison Avron, Steph Kerby, Benjamin Kiehne and Sepora. Spice: A Singalong sold out when held as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival, so get your tix quick. To nab yourself a discount, book in a group of five or grab a ticket for the Britney singalong at the same time.
The Sydney Opera House's groundbreaking Festival of Dangerous Ideas is being replaced in 2017 by ANTIDOTE, a new festival that will not only explore ideas and art — but how we can turn them into action and positive change. The new festival will take place at the Opera House over the weekend of Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3. ANTIDOTE is a replacement for the eight-year-old FoDI, taking it to the next level by celebrating artists, thinkers and doers who have spearheaded change with a program of immersive performances, speeches and workshops. Curated by Danielle Harvey (who was also behind last year's inaugural Bingefest), the new festival responds to the time we live in. Featured in the inaugural program is a performance of Cherophobia by Noëmi Lakmaier, which wowed onlookers in London earlier this year. In the performance, Lakmaier is lifted by 20,000 party balloons over nine hours. The experimental artwork aims to unite the audience in shared suspense while exploring the conflicting emotions of control, desire and restraint. Other international heavyweights include transgender rights activist Janet Mock and the satirists behind The Onion, along with Tamika D. Mallory (national co-chair of the Women's March on Washington) and Reni Eddo-Lodge (author of Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race). The festival also features local change makers such as Indigenous figures Uncle Jack Charles and Archie Roach, as well as LGBTQI+ rights activist Julie McCrossin (Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras '78er), and blogger Celeste Liddle (Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist). A focus on interactive performances will immerse the audiences throughout the two-day festival — these will include sketches by UK interactive theatre groups Kaleider and Blank Placard Dance, as well as a performance by choreographer Anne Collod, who will revisit Anna Halprin's legendary dance movement that took place in 1950s–80s San Francisco. Plus, storytelling favourite Women of Letters returns to the Sydney Opera House, with special guests including ARIA-winner Sarah Blasko, Mystery Road star Tasma Walton, veteran comedy performer Jean Kittson, journalist and author of Beyond Veiled Cliches: The Real Lives of Arab Women Amal Awad and more. ANTIDOTE is about fostering hope and change in a time when a lot of us are angry and anxious about what's happening in the world. If you want some action point, tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday, July 6 and free registrations for Cherophobia are now open. Image: Cherophobia, Noemi Lakmaier, shot by Grace Gelder.
The Rizzeria is moving into Surry Hills' Brand X Studio. For three summery months, you’ll be able to drop in to watch artists at work and maybe even snap up a unique artwork. On Thursday, November 12, the residency will kick off with a free, official launch party — and you’re invited. Unfamiliar with The Rizzeria? It’s a collective of Sydney-based creatives who love self-publishing and printmaking. They’re clever enough to whip up pretty much anything — from prints to tea towels to zines. And they’ve pooled their cash to buy a Risograph, an ingenious contraption that creates amazing, multi-layered prints. Members of the public can have a go on it by booking a session. Brand X Studio, located at 180b Campbell Street, is just one of Brand X’s many spaces, providing artists with places to work, expand their audience and sell their creations. Others include the TWT Creative Precinct at St Leonards, Tempe Jets Music Business Hub and Camperdown Bowling Club. The Rizzeria’s pop-up will open Thursday–Saturday, 11am–6pm, and Sunday, 12–4pm. Book yourself a spot at the launch over here.
Have you been known to look at a doughnut and think "you belong with me"? Do you consider sweet treats your karma? Does happiness to you come in round orbs of pastry? Do you have your eyes open for all things Taylor Swift — or just for free doughnuts? The pop superstar has hit Australia, finally bringing her Eras tour Down Under thanks to three shows in Melbourne and four in Sydney. Her Aussie stint starts today, Friday, February 16. And to celebrate, Krispy Kreme is getting in on the action to give out free doughnuts to Swifties, and also to anyone — as long as you're wearing a friendship bracelet when you head into its Australian or Auckland stores. The chain is known for giving away its round treats, including handing out 100,000 of them each National Doughnut Day. In 2023 for Halloween, it also doled out freebies if you went in in costume. So, it's thoroughly unsurprising that it's linking in with Swiftmania. To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, make a beeline to your closest Krispy Kreme store in Australia or Auckland on Friday, February 16 while wearing a friendship bracelet. The last part isn't optional. You'll then receive one original glazed doughnut per person, and you don't have to buy anything else to nab the treat without paying a cent. This is a while-stocks-last giveaway, so getting in as quick as someone trying to nab Taylor Swift tickets is obviously recommended. That gives everyone a heap of places to flock to: 38 in Australia and six in New Zealand. Sydneysiders are able to hit up stores stretching from Penrith to the CBD, Victorians can visit locations from Chadstone to Collins Street, and Queenslanders have Albert Street in the Brisbane CBD and Surfers Paradise among the choices. For residents of Perth, Hay Street, Cannington and more await. In Aotearoa, all options are in Auckland — including at Newmarket, Chancery Square and the domestic airport terminal. Krispy Kreme's Taylor Swift giveaway is taking place in-store on Friday, February 16 in Australia and Auckland. To find your closest shop and check its opening hours, head to Krispy Kreme's Australian and New Zealand websites.
Many local hospitality venues excel at one thing in particular. Whether they pour the best wine or serve a cold brew that'll have you buzzing for a week, most of these venues focus on one specialty during a particular part of the day. For the Japanese café Kahii, located on Kent Street in Sydney, however, flexibility and variety are what keep the spark alive. "Adding a night offering gave the venue a whole new life," says Kahii's director, Matthew Wong. Open from 8am until 3:30pm Monday to Friday, and re-opening from 5pm 'til 12am Tuesday to Saturday, Kahii serves freshly brewed coffee by day and cocktails by renowned mixologist Fumiaki (with a curated bar snack menu from Kuro's Executive Chef, Taka Teramoto) by night. "Flexibility isn't just a survival tactic — it's a growth mindset," Wong tells Concrete Playground. When Kahii opened in 2016, it was purely a day-trade cafe inspired by the Japanese tea room, kissaten. "Quiet, minimal, refined". After the venue survived the pandemic (and subsequent lockdowns and venue regulations that gutted the city as a whole), Kahii wanted to do something "exciting" again. "Licensing conditions had relaxed, and we saw the opportunity to introduce a tea and coffee-inspired cocktail program that reflected our identity while giving people something unique in the city," Wong adds. "It was both strategic and personal — a natural extension of who we are and what we enjoy." Pros of Flexibility According to Wong, the advantages of running a business that opens at different times of the day are plentiful. "It creates diversity—not just in revenue, but in the types of experiences we offer and the people we attract." "During the day, we serve office workers, creatives, and locals grabbing their daily coffee or matcha. At night, the crowd shifts to people seeking somewhere intimate to unwind with a drink and a bite." Wong also notes that increasingly, regulars are starting and ending their day at the cafe. "There's crossover, too." In addition to attracting a diverse range of patrons, from a business standpoint, Kahii is maximising the value of a "sunk cost"—rent. "Activating the space in the evening was a strategic way to make full use of it." Being open throughout the day also creates a buffer from trade volatility. "Things like school holidays, transport disruptions, and weather don't hit quite as hard when we have more than one audience," Wong adds. How to Adapt Your Business to Two Offerings If you want to expand your hospitality business beyond its current offerings, Wong recommends starting with what you love. Then, build systems that support flexibility. "If you're transitioning from day to night, make sure the space is designed to shift moods—lighting, music, staff training, and menus all need to adapt seamlessly." He also suggests thinking about operational flow. From bookings, orders, payments, and prep change, how will you widen your service? "The clearer your identity and the smoother your systems, the more your guests will feel like it's all part of one cohesive experience—not two separate businesses," Wong explains. Tools like Square can help build upon this flow. Kahii uses Square for POS during the day and Square for Restaurants at night. The platform handles everything from payments to open orders and integrates with booking platforms. As he explains, "[Square] makes a huge difference to our workflow, especially as we transition between different trade periods and customer expectations." Kill Your Darlings Running a hospitality business comes with a lot of decision-making. Part of this means making calls that impact your day-to-day. "There were offerings we loved but had to let go of—sometimes because they didn't resonate with guests, other times because they were operationally clunky," says Wong. One of the biggest lessons for Kahii has been knowing when to separate personal attachment from business performance, which Wong notes is never easy, but often necessary. "Looking back, every time we've made that call, it's created room for something better. Something that fits the brand, the customer, and the moment we're in." If Wong could give any advice to other adventurous business owners in the same position, it would be to be honest about what's not working. Be open to new formats, offerings, or even the times of day you operate. And most importantly, don't be afraid to pivot with purpose. "Talk to your team. Listen to your customers. Look at the data. Sometimes the smallest insights, like consistent feedback on a menu item or noticing a dip in trade at a certain time, can spark the biggest changes." Square empowers local businesses to thrive by making it easier to run, manage, and grow their operations. Find out how Square can help your business grow. Images: Kahii
If escaping into Australia's great outdoors, putting one foot in front of the other, and combining a leisurely walk — or an energetic hike — with soaking in the scenery is your idea of bliss, the past few weeks keep delivering welcome news. Firstly, the Snowy Mountains became home to a new nine-kilometre section of its Snowies Alpine Walk, complete with Australia's highest suspension bridge. Then, the New South Wales Government announced a massive 91-kilometre waterfront walking track from the Sydney Opera House to Parramatta. Now, still in NSW, the Gondwana Rainforests have been earmarked for a new excuse to get moseying, too. As part of NSW's 2022-23 budget, Treasurer Matt Kean has added the new Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk to the list of upcoming projects that the state's residents and travellers alike can look forward to. Scoring $56.4-million in budget funding, it'll span 46 kilometres, all through stunning rainforest surroundings on the state's mid-north coast. And, there'll be two- and four-day route options. Your starting point: a new Arc Rainforest Centre, which'll come complete with a stunning-looking hanging boardwalk that'll overlook the World Heritage spot. From there, as you roam along the trail, you'll wander over three suspension bridges. There'll also be four low-impact walkers' hut precincts, as well as new camping areas — because if you're committing to taking the full multi-day trek, you'll need somewhere to slumber along the route. That budget cash will also go towards the Arc Rainforest Centre, which is designed to be an attraction in itself thanks to its viewing platform. It'll also include a new treetop skywalk, which'll feature an upper and lower deck so you can still make the most of it when it's raining — and spiralling walkways that'll take you down into the rainforest, to the existing six-kilometre Wonga Walk as well as the new Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk. Back on the Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk itself, it'll meander through the Dorrigo and Bindarri National Parks, with about half of the 46-kilometre stretch charting existing tracks and trails. Hikers won't be short on spectacular sights; expect to see waterfalls, giant old growth trees and wild rivers along the way. If you're excited about the huts and camping sites, they'll be operated, run and booked through NSW's National Parks and Wildlife Services. And, the walk will have another big aim: becoming a place for folks to learn about and connect with the culture of the Gumbaynggirr people, the area's Traditional Custodians. Exactly when the centre and walk will welcome in visitors hasn't been revealed as yet, however — so add this one to your future must-visit list, rather than packing your bags and popping on your comfiest walking shoes now. "Through the NSW Budget, we're investing $56.4 million to offer a new way for people to enjoy the ancient World Heritage environment," said Kean. "This project will drive increased nature-based tourism in NSW, further bolstering the contribution that national parks make to the state economy. For more information about the Dorrigo Escarpment Great Walk, head to the NSW Government website.
Supposedly nothing in life is free, but even in a city where a sandwich will rarely get you change from a tenner it’s possible to stumble upon great things you don’t have to hand over cash for. And if it’s sonic freebies you’re after then read on, because we’ve done the stumbling for you. Here is Concrete Playground's guide to the best places in Sydney to hear great music for zero moolah. FREDA'S Chippendale’s coolest 100-year-old warehouse has had a slick facelift, meaning it not only looks awesome but sounds great too. Their Strange Fruit Sunday session sees a lineup of resident DJs including Silky Doyle, Smart Casual and Smokey LaBeef spinning their favourite records from 6(ish). Plus, there’s always a tasty $10 cocktail that goes down just as smoothly. THE ABERCROMBIE Go for the deep fried Gaytime, stay for the juicy tunes. The Abercrombie’s own Strange Fruit showcase kicks off on Saturday nights from 9pm, aiming to showcase the country’s top DJs and to keep you dancing until the sun rises — which should burn off about half the calories in a Double Cheeseburger and Rave Juice. BUCKLER'S CANTEEN This swashbuckling Bondi canteen might be decked out like a pirates’ tavern, but the soundtrack borrows from as many places as the menu. Musical good times and acoustic delights come courtesy of residents and special guests from 8pm on Thursday, and on Sundays you can fill up on $5 bangers and mash while checking out live bands. GOODGOD The Danceteria has a smoke machine, but the front bar is free, delicious and lets you dance until 5am. If you tire of standing up there are usually seats spare for you enjoy a rest and a hotdog on a Saturday night, which is almost unheard of in places not nearly this cool, and a Havana-style DJ booth surrounded by Flintstones-style eating booths means this place looks as mad as it sounds. UPSTAIRS BERESFORD Decadent décor and fancy technology are the hallmarks of this newish live music venue, inspired by some of New York’s finest. Unfortunately the response from big international acts wasn’t quite as strong as Justin Hemmes hoped, but it now thrives as a hotbed for local talent — minus the sticky countertops and shifty patrons that come with many other no-cover venues. THE SANDRINGHAM HOTEL At the other end of the spectrum is King Street mainstay The Sando. The only thing glittery you’ll find here comes out of a pokie machine, but its scruffiness is precisely what makes this place so appealing. Their Sunday Session is a few decibels louder than those without hearing aids might care for on the day of rest, but if you like your alt country loud then kicking back here with a Sando Ale or five might just be the perfect way to end the weekend. BEACH ROAD HOTEL The Beachy is as good for seeing free live music as it is for causing people to go to work on Monday morning with sandy hair and excruciating hangovers. Bands to have graced the upstairs lounge in recent weeks include The Laurels, Wolf & Cub, Deep Sea Arcade and other acts that would normally charge at least the price of two beers, making it way easy to justify buying those beers. SCHWARTZ BREWERY HOTEL Beer is also the keyword at the old Macquarie Hotel, fondly dubbed The Mac, which has been pumping out quality craft beer along with free live tunes for over six years. Its name now sounds more fancy — and upstairs folk/acoustic venue The Raval has sadly closed its doors — but in the front room you can still listen to wailing harmonicas, murky swamp rock and New Orleans brass for free while tucking into a pasta from the adjoining Alice’s Thai. GALLERY BAR With the demise of The Raval sprung up the weekly night of nu-folk/alt-country/melodramatic pop. Wednesday's Folk Club has now moved on from art deco charmer Hotel Hollywood to Gallery Bar at Oxford Art Factory, and though the fit-out is slightly more modern the community vibe and the entrance fee both remain unchanged. THE GREEN ROOM LOUNGE In theory The Green Room should be a great bar on any night of the week. It’s got reupholstered furniture (here orange and brown ‘70s sofas), plastic pot plants and retro cocktails to match. Unfortunately the stretch of road beyond Enmore Theatre doesn’t see much foot traffic, but this also means that on the otherwise-manic drinking nights between Thursday and Saturday you can stop by for not only a seat but some excellent gypsy-jazz and sleazy ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll.
Do you guys ever think about all the new movies that didn't get as much love while everyone was seeing Barbie and the rest of 2023's huge box-office hits? If you haven't so far, the time to do so is now. This year's's slate of cinema releases is like the year's biggest blockbuster, serving up multiple variations for everyone. So, while The Super Mario Bros Movie, Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Little Mermaid, Elemental and Fast X were among the typical successes (and 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as well), the massive money earners are just a fraction the flicks that've graced the silver screen over the last 12 months. All of the aforementioned pictures made piles of cash from Australia audiences, and earned attention and chatter along the way. Elsewhere, stunning thrillers, warped mindbenders, thoughtful dramas, queer romances, propulsive action efforts, twisty delights and gorgeous animation also awaited — and they're worth catching up with ASAP. As we have since 2014 (see also: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022), we've picked a heap of must-see movies that you likely didn't see in 2023, because that's what the cinema takings tell us, but you should definitely add to your list. Thanks to our 15 selections, don't say that you don't have anything new to watch. HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE Every story is built upon cause and effect. One thing happens, then another as a result, and so a narrative springs. Inspired by Andreas Malm's non-fiction book of the same name, How to Blow Up a Pipeline isn't just strung together by causality — it's firmly, actively and overtly about starting points, consequences and the connections between. Here's one source for this impassioned tale about determined and drastic environmental activism: the warming world. Here's an originator for that, too: fossil fuels, humanity's reliance upon them and the profits reaped from that status quo. Now, a few outcomes: pollution, catastrophic weather changes, terminal illnesses, stolen and seized land, corporate interests prioritised over ecological necessities, and a growing group that's driven to act because existence is at stake. Turning a text subtitled Learning to Fight in a World on Fire into a fictional feature, How to Blow Up a Pipeline joins all of the above, stressing links like it is looping string from pin to pin, and clue to clue, on a detective's corkboard. In his second feature after 2018's smart and effective camgirl horror Cam, writer/director Daniel Goldhaber isn't trying to be subtle about what dovetails in where. With co-screenwriters Jordan Sjol (a story editor on Cam) and Ariela Barer (also one of How to Blow Up a Pipeline's stars), he isn't attempting to rein in the film's agenda or complexity. This movie tells the tale that's right there in its name, as eight people from across America congregate in Texas' west with a plan — an octet of folks who mostly would've remained loosely connected, some strangers and others lovers and friends, if they weren't desperate to send a message that genuinely garners attention. Goldhaber's latest is explosive in its potency and thrills, and startling in its urgency, as it focuses on a decision of last resort, the preparation and the individual rationales before that. How to blow up hedging bets on-screen? That's also this tightly wound, instantly gripping, always rage-dripping picture. Read our full review. INFINITY POOL Making his latest body-horror spectacle an eat-the-rich sci-fi satire as well, Brandon Cronenberg couldn't have given Infinity Pool a better title. Teardowns of the wealthy and entitled now seem to flow on forever, glistening endlessly against the film and television horizon; however, the characters in this particularly savage addition to the genre might wish they were in The White Lotus or Succession instead. In those two hits, having more money than sense doesn't mean witnessing your own bloody execution but still living to tell the tale. It doesn't see anyone caught up in cloning at its most vicious and macabre, either. And, it doesn't involve dipping into a purgatory that sports the Antiviral and Possessor filmmaker's penchant for futuristic corporeal terrors, as clearly influenced by his father David Cronenberg (see: Crimes of the Future, Videodrome and The Fly), while also creating a surreal hellscape that'd do Twin Peaks great David Lynch, Climax's Gaspar Noe and The Neon Demon's Nicolas Winding Refn proud. Succession veteran Alexander Skarsgård plunges into Infinity Pool's torments playing another member of the one percent, this time solely by marriage. "Where are we?", author James Foster asks his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman, Dopesick) while surveying the gleaming surfaces, palatial villas and scenic beaches on the fictional island nation of Li Tolqa — a question that keeps silently pulsating throughout the movie, and also comes tinged with the reality that James once knew a life far more routine than this cashed-up extravagance. Cronenberg lets his query linger from the get-go, with help from returning Possessor cinematographer Karim Hussain. Within minutes, the feature visually inverts its stroll through its lavish setting, the camera circling and lurching. As rafters spin into view, then tumble into the pristine sky, no one in this film's frames is in Kansas anymore. Then, when fellow guest Gabi (Mia Goth, Pearl) gets James and Em into a tragic accident, which is followed by arrests, death sentences and a wild get-out-of-jail-free situation, no one is anywhere they want to be, either. Read our full review. BROKER No matter how Hirokazu Kore-eda's on-screen families come to be, if there's any actual blood between them, whether they're grifting in some way or where in the world they're located, the Japanese writer/director and Shoplifters Palme d'Or winner's work has become so beloved — so magnificent, too — due to his care and sincerity. A Kore-eda film is a film of immense empathy and, like Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm and The Third Murder also in the prolific talent's past decade, Broker is no different. The setup here is one of the filmmaker's murkiest, with the feature's name referring to the baby trade. But showing compassion and humanity isn't up for debate in Kore-eda's approach. He judges the reality of modern-day life that leads his characters to their actions, but doesn't judge his central figures. In the process, he makes poignant melodramas that are also deep and thoughtful character studies, and that get to the heart of the globe's ills like the most cutting slices of social realism. It isn't just to make a buck that debt-ridden laundromat owner Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho, Parasite) and orphanage-raised Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won, Peninsula) take infants abandoned to the Busan Family Church's 'baby box' — a chute that's exactly what it sounds like, available to mothers who know they can't embrace that part for whatever reason — then find good families to sell them to. There's a cash component, of course, but they're convinced that their gambit is better than letting children languish in the state system. In Kore-eda's usual kindhearted manner, Broker sees them with sensitivity. Even if blue hues didn't wash through the film's frames, nothing is ever black and white in the director's movies. The same understanding and tenderness flows towards mothers like So-young (Lee Ji-eun, Hotel Del Luna, aka K-Pop star IU), whose decision to leave Woo-sung (debutant Park Ji-yong) isn't easily made but puts Broker on its course. Read our full review. REALITY Sydney Sweeney is ready for her closeup. Playwright-turned-filmmaker Tina Satter obliges. A household name of late due to her exceptional work in both Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sweeney has earned the camera's attention for over a decade; however, she's never been peered at with the unflinching intensity of Satter's debut feature Reality. For much of this short, sharp and stunning docudrama, the film's star lingers within the frame. Plenty of the movie's 83-minute running time devotes its focus to her face, staring intimately and scrutinising what it sees. Within Reality's stranger-than-fiction narrative, that imagery spies a US Air Force veteran and National Security Agency translator in her mid-twenties, on what she thought was an ordinary Saturday. It's June 3, 2017, with the picture's protagonist returning from buying groceries to find FBI agents awaiting at her rented Augusta, Georgia home, then accusing her of "the possible mishandling of classified information". Reality spots a woman facing grave charges, a suspect under interrogation and a whistleblower whose fate is already known to the world. It provides a thriller of a procedural with agents, questions, allegations and arrests; an informer saga that cuts to the heart of 21st-century American politics, and its specific chaos since 2016; and an impossible-to-shake tragedy about how authority savagely responds to being held to account. Bringing her stage production Is This a Room: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription to the screen after it wowed off-Broadway and then Broadway, Satter dedicates Reality's bulk to that one day and those anxious minutes, unfurling in close to real time — but, pivotally, it kicks off three weeks earlier with its namesake at work while Fox News plays around her office. Why would someone leak to the media a restricted NSA report about Russian interference in getting Donald Trump elected? Before it recreates the words genuinely spoken between its eponymous figure and law enforcement, Reality sees the answer as well. Read our full review. CORSAGE Britain's two Queen Elizabeths have enjoyed their fair share of film and TV depictions, aided by Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Margot Robbie, Helen Mirren, Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton and more — to name just a few — but they're not the only royals of that first name to grace the screen. While the spelling differs slightly and she's played as more of a Diana-style people's princess in her latest stint in cinemas, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (also Queen of Hungary) has received several celluloid and pixel resurrections of her own. Corsage ranks among the best of them, as famed as Austria's Sissi films from the 50s are and as recently as Netflix's The Empress hit streaming, in no small part due to two other outstanding women. One is Luxembourgish actor Vicky Krieps (Bergman Island), who is shrewd, wry and wily as the Bavarian-born wife to Emperor Franz Joseph I. The other is Austrian writer/director Marie Kreutzer (The Ground Beneath My Feet), whose handsomely staged and smartly anachronistic feature is no mere dutiful biopic. Corsage's lead casting is the dream it instantly seems on paper; if you're wondering why, see: Krieps' scene-stealing work opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in 2017's Phantom Thread. Here, she's been earning deserved awards — the Best Performance prize in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section among them — for a portrayal that never feels like she's stepping into someone else's shoes or jumping back to the past for a part. Krieps is, naturally. Also, given that Sissi lived between 1837–1898, viewers have no way of knowing how close this characterisation is. But Krieps' fierce, dynamic and layered performance goes far further than easy impersonation, or providing a period-appropriate rendering of the Empress based on how history dictates that women of the era behaved (or what flicks set then or focusing on regal women back then have served up before). Corsage is a portrait of a lady, after all, and not of a time. Read our full review. SCRAPPER Trust a movie that's all about connection and pluck to boast plenty itself. The second of cinema's 2023 father-daughter pictures out of Britain that's directed by a first-time feature filmmaker called Charlotte — the first: Charlotte Wells' Aftersun — Charlotte Regan's Scrapper couldn't be better cast or any more fearless about telling its tale. Starring as 12-year-old Georgie, a pre-teen striving to survive on her own with any help from adults or the authorities after her mum Vicky's (Olivia Brady, The Phantom of the Open) death from cancer, debutant Lola Campbell is an electrifying find. Fresh from playing a model in Triangle of Sadness, Harris Dickinson is now an absent rather than ideal dad, a part that he infuses with equal doses of soul, sorrow, charisma and cheek. And, recognising that she's hardly skipping through new narrative territory, writer/director Regan heaps on character and personality. This is a perky, bright and bubbly take on a kitchen-sink story. There's sadness in 2023's Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winner, too, with Scrapper scoring its award in the fest's World Cinema Dramatic Competition. There's anger as well, especially about a society that has Georgie convinced that staying solo in the council flat she lived in with her mother — a space that she's now fastidious about keeping exactly as it was before heartbreak struck — is her top choice. But Regan sees colour amid the grey, plus possibilities alongside struggles. Her view is clear-eyed but never steely. Regan unblinkingly witnesses the realities of working-class existence, yet also spies joy and whimsy, and similarly isn't afraid of getting surreal. This is a flick with talking spiders — cue literal bubbles, of the speech variety — alongside scrapping to get by. Read our full review. SHAYDA Whether or not Noora Niasari was ever explicitly told to write what she knew, the Iranian Australian filmmaker has taken that advice to heart. Her mother listened to the same guidance first, even if it was never spoken to her, either. The latter penned a memoir that has gone unpublished, but helped form the basis of the powerful and affecting Shayda. This account of a mum and her daughter attempting to start anew in a women's shelter doesn't entirely stick to the facts that writer/director Niasari and her mother lived through. The Sundance-premiering, Melbourne International Film Festival-opening, Oscar-contending feature — it's Australia's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards — isn't afraid to fictionalise details in search of the best screen story. Still, the tale that's told of courage, resilience, rebuilding lives and finding a new community is deeply and patently personal. Perhaps even better, it's inescapably authentic. Niasari peers back at being barely of primary-school age and making a new home. Fleeing to a women's shelter is the only option that the film's eponymous figure (Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2022's Cannes Best Actress-winner for Holy Spider) has to get away from the abusive Hossein (Osamah Sami, Savage River), whose controlling nature is matched by that of their patriarchal culture. So, Shayda leaves with six-year-old Mona (debutant Selina Zahednia). As she waits for her divorce proceedings to go through — a complicated task under Iranian law and customs — she seeks refuge at a secret site overseen by the caring Joyce (Leah Purcell, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart). Even surrounded by kindness and filled with desperation for a better future, every iota of Shayda's decision is fraught and tense; Niasari starts the film with Mona at an airport being told what to do if she's ever there with her father, should he try to take her not only away from her mum but also back to Iran. Read our full review, and our interview with Noora Niasari. OF AN AGE You Won't Be Alone isn't just the name of Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski's debut feature, which hit cinemas in 2022. It's also a phrase that applies now that his second film is here. Of an Age initially premiered in the same year as well, bowing in Melbourne International Film Festival's opening-night slot — and, while it tells of growing up queer in 90s Melbourne, falling in love for the first time, then sifting through the aftermath a decade later, it's a glorious companion piece to its predecessor. No one is chosen by a sorceress here. The place isn't Macedonia, the period isn't the 19th century and supernatural shapeshifting isn't part of the narrative. But even just a mere duo of movies into his helming career, Stolevski makes pictures that profoundly ruminate upon two of life's purest truths: that absolutely everything changes and, consequently, nothing completely lasts forever. 1999 is inching towards becoming Y2K when Of an Age begins, and 17-year-old Nikola aka Kol (Elias Anton, Australia Day) is only hours from taking to the floor at a Melbourne dance championship. That's how his day is meant to pan out, at least, and what he's preparing for when the film meets him practising his smooth ballroom moves in his suburban garage — conjuring up visions of John Travolta in a flick made famous two decades prior, in fact. Kol's ordinary morning fever breaks, however, thanks to friend and dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook, Savage River) and her bender of an evening. She's awoken on the beach in Altona with no idea where she is, scrounging up change for the payphone call to say she thinks she'll miss the recital unless Kol can pick her up. To attempt to make his big performance, he has to convince Ebony's older brother Adam (Thom Green, Eden) to play taxi — and he's still all aflutter with anxiety, and just the inertia of being so keyed up from endeavouring to sort things out, when he slides into the twentysomething's brown car and feels sparks fly instantly. Read our full review. THE ORIGIN OF EVIL Laure Calamy doesn't star in everything that's hitting screens big and small from France right now, but from Call My Agent! and Only the Animals to Full Time and The Origin of Evil, audiences can be forgiven for feeling otherwise. Calamy isn't new to acting, either, with a resume dating back to 2001; however, her in-demand status at present keeps showering viewers with stellar performances. Indeed, The Origin of Evil is a magnificent Calamy masterclass. She's playing a part while playing a part, and she makes both look effortless. The Antoinette in the Cévennes César Best Actress-winner is also a picture of unnerving determination and yearning, and resourcefulness and anxiety, too, as a seafood-factory worker usually tinning anchovies, then packing herself into a mix of Knives Out, Succession, The Talented Mr Ripley and Triangle of Sadness. Unleashing in-fighting upon a wealthy family residing on Côte d'Azur island Porquerolles, this instantly twisty and gripping thriller from Faultless and School's Out writer/director Sébastien Marnier (who collaborates on the screenplay with Amore mio scribe Fanny Burdino) takes a setting that'd do The White Lotus proud as well, then wreaks havoc. On the agenda in such lavish and scenic surroundings, which come filled with an unsettling menagerie of taxidermied animals: witnessing savage squabbling over who'll inherit a business empire, bathing in the kind of bitterness that only the bonds of blood among the affluent and entitled can bring, more than one person wishing that patriarch Serge Dumontet (Jacques Weber, The World of Yesterday) would shuffle off this mortal coil and, just as crucially, not everything being what it seems. Read our full review. FINGERNAILS In the world of Fingernails, 'Only You' isn't just a 1982 pop song that was made famous by Yazoo, is easy to get stuck in your head, and is now heard in this film in both French and English. It's also the philosophy that the first English-language feature by Apples filmmaker Christos Nikou has subscribed its characters to as it cooks up a fascinating sci-fi take on romance. In a setup somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth Holmes' claims to have revolutionised blood testing (see: The Dropout), Fingernails proposes an alternative present where love can be scientifically diagnosed. All that's needed: an extracted plate of keratin, aka the titular digit-protecting covering. At organisations such as The Love Institute, couples willingly have their nails pulled out — one apiece — then popped into what resembles a toaster oven to receive their all-important score. Only three results are possible, with 100 percent the ultimate in swooning, 50 percent meaning that only one of the pair is head over heels and the unwanted zero a harbinger of heartbreak. When Fingernails begins, it's been three years since teacher Anna (Jessie Buckley, Women Talking) and her partner Ryan (Jeremy Allen White, The Bear) underwent the exam, with the long-term duo earning the best possible outcome — a score that's coveted but rare. Around them, negative results have led to breakups and divorces as society's faith is placed not in hearts and souls, but in a number, a gimmick and some tech gadgetry (one of the sales pitches, though, is that finding out before getting hitched will stop failed marriages). As their friends go the retesting route — satirising the need for certainty in affairs of the heart pumps firmly through this movie's veins — Anna hasn't been able to convince Ryan to attend The Love Institute as a client. She's soon spending her days there, however, feeding her intrigue with the whole scenario as an employee. When she takes a job counselling other pairs towards hopeful ever-after happiness, she keeps the career shift from her own significant other. Quickly, she has something else she can't tell Ryan: a blossoming bond with her colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal). Read our full review. THE INSPECTION If war is hell, then military boot camp is purgatory. So told Full Metal Jacket, with Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece making that observation echo and pierce with the relentlessness of machine-gun fire. Now, The Inspection stresses the same point nearing four decades later, plunging into the story of a gay Black man enlisting, then navigating the nightmare that is basic training. This too is a clear-eyed step inside the United States Marine Corps, but drawn from first-time fictional feature filmmaker Elegance Bratton's own experiences. New Yorker Ellis French (Jeremy Pope, One Night in Miami) is the Pier Kids documentarian's on-screen alter ego — an out queer man who has spent a decade from his teens to his mid-20s homeless after being kicked out by his ashamed mother Inez (Gabrielle Union, Strange World), and pledges his post 9/11 freedom away for a place to fit in, even if that means descending into a world of institutional homophobia and racism. It would've been easy for Bratton to just sear and scorch in The Inspection; his film is set in 2005, "don't ask, don't tell" was still the US military forces' policy and discrimination against anyone who isn't a straight white man is horrendously brutal. Life being moulded into naval-infantry soldiers is savage anyway; "our job is not to make Marines, it's to make monsters," says Leland Laws (Bokeem Woodbine, Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Ellis' commanding officer and chief state-sanctioned tormentor. And yet, crafting a film that's as haunting as it is because it's supremely personal, Bratton never shies away from Ellis' embrace of the Marines in his quest to work out how he can be himself. There's nothing simple about someone signing up for such heartbreaking anguish because that's the only option that they can imagine, but this stunning movie is anything but simple. Read our full review. SISU Lean, mean and a Nazi-killing machine: that's Sisu and its handy-with-a-hunting-knife (and pickaxe) protagonist alike. This stunningly choreographed Finnish action film's title doesn't have a literal equivalent in English, but writer/director Jalmari Helander's (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale) latest effort means stoic, tenacious, resolute, brave and gritty all in that four-letter term; again, both the movie and the man at its centre fit the description. Former soldier Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila, also Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale) has one aim. After he strikes gold and plenty of it in Lapland's far reaches, he's keen to cash in. For someone who has already lost everyone and everything to World War II, that requires transporting his haul; however, the year is 1944 and German troops still lurk even as the combat winds down. Accordingly, getting those gleaming nuggets from the wilderness to a bank means facing a greedy and unrelenting platoon led by Helldorf (Aksel Hennie, The Cloverfield Paradox), who can spy a payday and an exit strategy for himself. Before anything yellow shimmers, Nazi-filled tanks are sighted, a single shot is fired or a blow swung, Sisu explains its moniker as "a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination". Text on-screen also advises that "sisu manifests itself when all hope is lost." As a film, Sisu may as well be shorthand for John Wick meets Inglourious Basterds meets Django, the iconic 1966 spaghetti western that Quentin Tarantino riffed on with Django Unchained, too — plus all of that meets the work of legendary spaghetti western director Sergio Leone as well. The carnage is that balletic. The Nazi offings are that brutal, roguish and inventive. And valuing deeds over dialogue as a lone figure dispatches with nefarious forces against an unforgiving landscape, and no matter what they throw at him, is firmly the setup. Read our full review. COBWEB When Song Kang-ho hasn't been starring in Bong Joon-ho's films, he's been featuring Park Chan-wook's and Kim Jee-woon's, plus Lee Chang-dong's and Hong Sang-soo's as well. One of Korea's acting greats boasts a resume filled with the country's directing greats — so getting the Memories of Murder, The Host, Thirst, Snowpiercer and Parasite star, plus Joint Security Area, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Lady Vengeance and Secret Sunshine talent, to play a filmmaker for his The Good the Bad the Weird and The Age of Shadows filmmaker feels like perfect casting even before Cobweb starts spinning its reels. Song's career highlights are already many, complete with a Cannes Best Actor Award for working with Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda in Broker. Here, he's reliably and rakishly charming in a movie-making ode and on-set farce. For his own director Kim, Song plays a director Kim — but on-screen version Kim Ki-yeol is living in the 70s, and also in a rut. Once an assistant to a famed and acclaimed helmer who has passed away, now he's openly mocked by critics for his trashy fare in one of Cobweb's first scenes. He's made most of a masterpiece, however, or so he believes. The only thing that's required to ensure it's a complete classic is two more days to undertake re-shoots. His film is meant to be finished, but he's adamant that the cast and crew reteam (and his producer foot the bill) to ensure that the creative visions that keep haunting his dreams can become a feted triumph. Convincing everyone that he needs to isn't the only tricky feat, with challenges upon challenges unspooling the longer that the fictional Kim and his colleagues spend bustling. Read our full review. THE BLUE CAFTAN In The Blue Caftan, a tailor's hands say everything that needs conveying about how he holds himself in the world. That garment-maker is Halim (Saleh Bakri, My Zoe), and he plies he trade in the Moroccan city of Salé, in a humble store overseen by his no-nonsense wife Mina (Lubna Azabal, Rebel). Refusing to use machines, Halim is meticulous in his work. He's patient, careful and thorough, as one needs to be in the painstakingly detailed job of hand-embroidering women's traditional tunics. As a result of his precision and artistry, he isn't short on customers — and that rigour and commitment seeps from him like breath whether he's letting Mina run the show; training Youssef (first-timer Ayoub Missioui), the apprentice brought on to help meet the demand for his exquisite wares; or finding ways to deal with his feelings, including the pull he feels towards his new protege. For her sophomore feature after the also-tender and moving Adam, writer/director Maryam Touzani again makes a delicately layered and intricately woven film — a movie that digs deep into a subject considered taboo in Morocco, too, via an exceptionally well-observed triple character study. If her pictures say everything they need to about the filmmaker herself, then Touzani clearly values intimate and weighty connections, examining the needless pressures enforced by antiquated attitudes, the bonds that spring in such complex circumstances, and heartbreakingly poignant pictures about that list. She both appreciates and elicits sensitive performances, too, with Adam alum Azabal again superb under the helmer's gaze, and Bakri just as wonderful. It's no wonder that The Blue Caftan, with its resonant tale, rich cinematography and willingness to surprise while remaining emotionally raw as well, was chosen as Morocco's 2023 Best International Feature Oscar contender. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON Every couple has in-jokes, a valuable currency in all relationships, but only Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have turned a cute private gag into Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. The Parks and Recreation actor and the Fraud director are no longer together romantically, marrying and divorcing in the 13 years since they first gave the world the cutest talking shell anyone could've imagined; however, they've now reteamed professionally for an adorable film based on their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On also gave rise to two best-selling children's picture books, unsurprisingly, following a familiar internet-stardom path from online sensation to print and now the big screen. Neither Slate and Fleischer-Camp's faded love nor their joint project's history are ignored by their footwear-sporting seashell's cinematic debut, either; in fact, acknowledging both, whether subtly or overtly, is one of the things that makes this sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful movie such an all-round gem. That inside jest? A voice put on by Slate, which became the one-inch-high anthropomorphic Marcel's charming vocals. In Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's three initial mockumentary clips, the tiny critter chats to an unseen filmmaker chronicling his life, with earnestness dripping from every word. ("My name is Marcel and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body, but I also have shoes and a face. So I like that about myself, and I like myself and I have a lot of other great qualities as well," he advises in his self-introduction.) The same approach, tone and voice sits at the heart of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's feature-length leap, of course, but so does a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important. Fleischer-Camp plays the movie's documentarian, mostly off-camera, who meets Marcel and his grandmother Connie (voiced by Isabella Rossellini, Cat Person) after moving into an Airbnb following a relationship breakup — and, yes, their work together becomes a viral phenomenon. Read our full review.
Tired of what's hanging in your wardrobe? When you're in the market for new threads, there are plenty of independent boutiques in Sydney offering handpicked collections of international brands and locally made labels, so you can elevate your everyday look without having to wait for shipping or bother with crowds at the inner city malls. We've teamed up with American Express to bring you these nine fashion boutiques that either make clothing for men and women here in Australia, or import premium fashion brands from overseas. You can shop for fresh kicks, timeless cashmere jumpers, quality cotton tees and quirky accessories at these Sydney shops with your Amex Card in hand.
It feels like it whipped past quicker than you can pick up a pair of chopsticks, but 2019 is done and dusted. Thankfully, while it was here, it brought with it a huge collection of worthy new restaurants and culinary hot-spots. Opening their doors in the year that was, we saw everything from an Australiana burger joint to an all-vegan pasta restaurant and an underground French bistro and live jazz spot from the Mary's crew. Here's our wrap-up of all the best new Sydney restaurants that impressed us in 2019 — make sure you tick them off before 2020's list starts shaping up.
Here's something that 2023 has that 2022 didn't: a Golden Globes ceremony. In his opening monologue, this year's host Jerrod Carmichael addressed the reasons why, including the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's historical lack of diversity. He also unpacked why he was asked to take to the microphone: "because I'm Black". Sparkling dresses, gleaming tuxedos, almost every famous face ever, plenty of shiny trophies going to worthy talents: that was all a part of the 2023 Golden Globes, which handed out its gongs on Wednesday, January 11 Australian and New Zealand time. So were frank speeches about the state of the industry, and the paths that many of this year's award-winners took to getting the accolades they deserve. When Ke Huy Quan said that "for so many years, I was afraid I had nothing more to offer" — chatting about the gap between starring in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a kid to making Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 — there really shouldn't have been a dry eye in the house. When his co-star Michelle Yeoh spoke about the surprise she garnered when people in the US discovered that she could speak English, the anger was palpable. Yeoh and Quan are just two of this year's Golden Globe winners, emerging victorious from a hefty list of nominees. Covering big- and small-screen contenders, they had ample company. And, among award recipients and presenters alike, the important and entertaining moments kept coming, such as Colin Farrell thanking Jenny the donkey from The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis' Austin Butler asking to be played off to 'Suspicious Minds', Wednesday's Jenna Ortega telling everyone to watch 1962 French New Wave classic Jules and Jim, and Carmichael apologising "as a gay man" to Jennifer Coolidge in response to The White Lotus' second season. Also among the highlights: Carol Burnett Award-recipient Ryan Murphy giving 2022 Globe-winner MJ Rodriguez, the first trans woman to score a Golden Globe, a moment of recognition to make up for last year's lack of a ceremony; Volodymyr Zelenskyy's beamed-in speech; Steven Spielberg talking about finally being ready to dive into his own past directly after flirting with it across his filmography; Coolidge's mile-a-minute run-through of her rollercoaster career, and saying she'd come back for more American Pie; and Quinta Brunson's shoutout to Bob Odenkirk. Next stop for winners of the Golden Globe's film categories: the Academy Awards. Is Australia's own Cate Blanchett set to win her third Oscar, after picking up a Globe for Tár? Can Bollywood gem RRR keep winning fans everywhere it goes? Will 2023 keep being Yeoh and Quan's year, as 2022 was? These are your new questions. Amid all of the above, if you're wondering who and what else nabbed Golden Globes this year, the full rundown is below — and you can also check out our picks for the 15 winners you can watch right now: GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES AND WINNERS: BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Avatar: The Way of Water Elvis The Fabelmans — WINNER Tár Top Gun: Maverick BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Cate Blanchett, Tár — WINNER Olivia Colman, Empire of Light Viola Davis, The Woman King Ana de Armas, Blonde Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Austin Butler, Elvis — WINNER Brendan Fraser, The Whale — WINNER Hugh Jackman, The Son Bill Nighy, Living Jeremy Pope, The Inspection BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin — WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Triangle of Sadness BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Margot Robbie, Babylon Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Diego Calva, Babylon Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Adam Driver, White Noise Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin — WINNER Ralph Fiennes, The Menu BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio — WINNER Inu-Oh Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Turning Red BEST MOTION PICTURE — NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 — WINNER Close Decision to Leave RRR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — WINNER Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness Carey Mulligan, She Said BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Brad Pitt, Babylon Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once — WINNER Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans — WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE Todd Field, Tár Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin — WINNER Sarah Polley, Women Talking Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Hildur Guðnadóttir, Women Talking Justin Hurwitz, Babylon — WINNER John Williams, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SONG — MOTION PICTURE 'Carolina' by Taylor Swift, Where the Crawdads Sing 'Ciao Papa' by Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 'Hold My Hand' by Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice, Top Gun: Maverick 'Lift Me Up' by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 'Naatu Naatu' by Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj, RRR — WINNER BEST TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Better Call Saul The Crown House of the Dragon — WINNER Ozark Severance BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Emma D'Arcy, House of the Dragon Laura Linney, Ozark Imelda Staunton, The Crown Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily Zendaya, Euphoria — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Jeff Bridges, The Old Man Kevin Costner, Yellowstone — WINNER Diego Luna, Andor Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Adam Scott, Severance BEST TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Abbott Elementary — WINNER The Bear Hacks Only Murders in the Building Wednesday BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary — WINNER Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Jenna Ortega, Wednesday Jean Smart, Hacks BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Donald Glover, Atlanta Bill Hader, Barry Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear — WINNER BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Black Bird DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story The Dropout Pam & Tommy The White Lotus — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jessica Chastain, George and Tammy Julia Garner, Inventing Anna Lily James, Pam & Tommy Julia Roberts, Gaslit Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Taron Egerton, Black Bird Colin Firth, The Staircase Andrew Garfield, Under the Banner of Heaven Evan Peters, Dahmer — MONSTER: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — WINNER Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus — WINNER Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble Daisy Edgar-Jones, Under the Banner of Heaven Niecy Nash, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION F. Murray Abraham, The White Lotus Domhnall Gleeson, The Patient Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird — WINNER Richard Jenkins, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Seth Rogen, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Julia Garner, Ozark — WINNER Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES John Lithgow, The Old Man Jonathan Pryce, The Crown John Turturro, Severance Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary — WINNER Henry Winkler, Barry For further details about the 2023 Golden Globes, head to the awards' website.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from September's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL HEARTBREAK HIGH Teen-focused dramas always reflect the generation they're made for, and returning Australian favourite Heartbreak High is no different. Today's high school-set shows often come with more than a few nods backwards as well, though. Just like Beverly Hills, 90210, Saved by the Bell and Gossip Girl before it — like Degrassi's multiple go-arounds across more than four decades now, including a new take that's set to land in 2023 — Heartbreak High 2.0 knows it has a history and doesn't dream of pretending otherwise. 90s worship is in fashion anyway, so all those Doc Martens, nose rings, baggy jeans, slip dresses and oversized band t-shirts not only could've adorned the initial show's cast. As this revival returns to what worked so well the first time around, takes a few cues from Euphoria, Sex Education and Never Have I Ever as well, and finds its own intensity, that blast-from-the-past aesthetic proves a natural fit. Sporting such decade-crossing attire is a fresh-faced — and fresh-to-the-franchise — cohort of Hartley High students. The years and teens have changed, but the location, like plenty of the outfits, remains the same. When the eight-episode new season begins, Amerie (Ayesha Madon, The Moth Effect) and Harper (Asher Yasbincek, How to Please a Woman) are life-long best friends, but their sudden rift after a drunken night at a music festival changes everything. Amerie doesn't know why Harper has suddenly shaved her head, let alone cut all ties with her. She's just as shocked when the mural they've graffitied in an unused school stairwell, chronicling who's dated, had a crush on and slept with who among the year 11s, is scandalously outed. And their classmates, including the non-binary Darren (screen first-timer James Majoos), their bestie Quinni (Chloe Hayden, Jeremy the Dud), heartthrob Dusty (Josh Heuston, Thor: Love and Thunder), his smug pal Spider (Bryn Chapman Parish, Mr Inbetween), mullet-wearing food delivery driver Ca$h (Will McDonald, Home and Away), and Bundjalung basketballer Malakai (Thomas, Troppo), all get drawn into the resulting (and immediately easy-to-binge) chaos. Heartbreak High streams via Netflix. Read our full review. WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR "Hey guys, Casey here. Welcome to my channel. Today I'm going to be taking the World's Fair Challenge." So says We're All Going to the World's Fair's protagonist (feature newcomer Anna Cobb) twice to start this absorbing horror film, to camera, in what makes a spectacular opening sequence. Next, an eerie wave of multicoloured light flashes across her face. Watching her response brings the also-excellent She Dies Tomorrow to mind, but Casey has her own viral phenomenon to deal with. She's doing what she says she will, aka viewing a strobing video, uttering a pivotal phrase and then smearing blood across her laptop screen — and she promises to document anything that changes afterwards, because others have made those kinds of reports. Written, directed and edited by fellow feature debutant Jane Schoenbrun, the instantly eerie and intriguing We're All Going to the World's Fair is that record. Schoenbrun's film is more than that, however. It also charts the connections that spring and splinter around Casey just by joining the online trend, where her videos spark others in return — and the spirals she goes down as she watches, which then sparks a response in her own way, too. A portrait of isolation and alienation as well, while chronicling the after effects of playing a virtual horror game, We're All Going to the World's Fair is also a picture of an always-recorded world. Take your lockdown mindset, your social-media scrolling, all that Zooming that defined the beginning of the pandemic and a gamer vibe, roll them all together, and that's still not quite this arresting movie — which keeps shifting and evolving just like Cobb's enigmatic and evocative performance. The entire flick earns that description and, not that it needs an established name's tick of approval, the fact that The Green Knight and A Ghost Story director David Lowery is an executive producer speaks volumes. We're All Going to the World's Fair streams via Shudder. RAMY In the dramedy that bears his name, Ramy Youssef (Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot) is a quintuple threat. He created Ramy, plays Ramy, executive produces, and also frequently writes and directs — and, in a show about a Queens-born first-generation American Muslim raised in New Jersey to Egyptian parents, as Youssef himself is, there's no doubting that the stories he's telling are personal. There's a difference between bringing your own exact existence to the screen and conveying the truth behind your experiences, however, with Ramy falling into the second category as it charts its eponymous figure's struggles as his faith conflicts with his lifestyle. Since its first season in 2019, the series has always been so deeply steeped in the lived reality of feeling torn between two cultures, and so specific in its details, too. And yet, it's also so universal and relatable in its emotions and insights. None of the above changes in season three, welcomely so, in what's one of Ramy's finest moments yet. In this ten-episode third run, the lives of Ramy and his loved ones are rarely blessed with fine moments — and Ramy Hassan, Youssef's on-screen alter-ego, keeps threatening his own heart, mind and soul with his choices. Season two ended with a short-lived marriage and the fallout still lingers, but Ramy has thrown himself into making his Uncle Naseem's (Laith Nakli, Ms Marvel) diamond business a success as a distraction. He has money, his own place and, soon, his own jewellery outfit, although that doesn't herald happiness. For his sister Dena (May Calamawy, Moon Knight), nor has striving hard to take the bar exam, especially when her parents Maysa (Hiam Abbass, Succession) and Farouk (Amr Waked, Wonder Woman 1984) are open about how differently they see her and her future to Ramy. As the elder Hassans also grapple with Farouk being out of work, plus decades of feeling like they're treading water, Ramy remains a stunningly perceptive and engaging exploration of the battle to remain true to oneself — and one's hopes, dreams and religion — while also proving a rich, poignant and devastatingly well-acted comedy. May more come. Ramy streams via Stan from Friday, September 30. DO REVENGE Sequels aren't the only way to get nostalgic, or to thrust a beloved old-school film — or several — into the now. A high school-set comedy about exactly what it's moniker describes, Do Revenge joins Heathers, The Craft, Jawbreaker and Jennifer's Body in charting teens chasing vengeance. Mean girls abound, too, and when 'Kids in America' starts playing, it's a Betty of a Clueless nod (and just one of many, including pastel uniforms that could've been pulled out of Cher Horowitz's computerised wardrobe). Casting Sarah Michelle Gellar as the principal and dropping 'Praise You'? The Cruel Intentions winks keep thrilling like a young Ryan Phillippe. The list goes on, to the never-grow-up delight of, well, everyone — because writer/director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great) and co-scribe Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: A New Legacy) clearly know and love the type of movie they're making as much as the rest of us. Unleashing more references than a school library doesn't always play well — in the latest Scream movie, it gets repetitive and fast; in whodunnit parody-slash-homage See How They Run, it's a touch too clever-clever — but Do Revenge radiates pure fun and affection. At its centre: queen bee Drea (Camila Mendes, Riverdale), who climbed her exclusive private school's social ladder, hid her modest background and dated the dream boy Max (Austin Abrams, Euphoria) until a sex scandal tarnishes her reputation. With newcomer Eleanor (Maya Hawke, Stranger Things), who also has her own grudge against one of their classmates, she hatches a Stranger on a Train-esque plan: they'll avenge each other's wrongs and bring down their respective tormentors. Robinson and Ballard have a ball getting savage yet sweet, as does a cast that also includes Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner, 13 Reasons Why's Alisha Boe and Ms Marvel's Rish Shah — and devilish twists come with the self-aware fandom. Do Revenge streams via Netflix. HOCUS POCUS 2 Twist the bones and bend the back, Hocus Pocus has returned for another horror-comedy attack — and there's no doubting that this 29-years-later sequel adores its predecessor. Disney loves reviving and extending its popular past hits, whether as new remakes, followups or ever-sprawling franchises. In the majority of cases, it's committed to sticking to the same already-winning formula, too. So, pushing the cackling Sanderson sisters to the fore again, Hocus Pocus 2 unsurprisingly doesn't overly mess with the tried-and-tested template. Once again starring Bette Midler (The Addams Family 2), Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That...) and Kathy Najimy (Music), it's another family-friendly tale of Salem witches trying to eat children to remain alive and youthful forever. And, it doubles down on everything that the Mouse House thinks made the OG flick such a beloved 90s favourite to begin with — more songs, more OTT siblings, more teens trying to foil their plans to run amok, amok, amok and more Massachusetts-set mayhem, namely That means that Hocus Pocus 2 plays like a greatest-hits do-over as much as a second effort. New movie, same setup, a few fresh faces and an obvious yearning to keep the saga's black flame candle burning: that's director Anne Fletcher (Hot Pursuit) and screenwriter Jen D'Angelo's (Young Rock) film. After adding an origin story for Winnie (Midler), Mary (Najimy) and Sarah (Parker), as well as Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones, What We Do in the Shadows), they're all unleashed upon modern-day Salem by 16-year-old Becca (Whitney Peak, Gossip Girl), her best friend Izzy (Belissa Escobedo, Sex Appeal) and magic shop owner Gilbert (Sam Richardson, The Afterparty) — and nostalgically entertaining hijinks ensue. Hocus Pocus 2 isn't subtle or restrained, or keen to do much more than worship its predecessor, but spells do work more than once. Hocus Pocus 2 streams via Disney+ from Friday, September 30. BLONDE Usually when a film leaves you wondering how it might've turned out in other hands, that isn't a great sign — but Blonde, the years-in-the-making adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' fictionalised Marilyn Monroe biography of the same name, demands a watch. It's a fascinating movie, including for what works astoundingly well and what definitely doesn't. In the first category: Ana de Armas (The Gray Man) as Norma Jeane Mortenson, the woman who'd become not just a star and a sensation during her life, but an icon across the six decades since. Also exceptional: the almost-uncanny recreations of oh-so-many images that captured Mortensen/Monroe, including a plethora that are iconic themselves. In the second camp, however, falls Blonde's decision to filter its central figure's story through her death, as though that was the most important thing about her — and that it was inevitable. No one ever wants to be defined by one thing. Monroe certainly didn't, as Blonde itself depicts. She fiercely yearned to be known as more than a sex symbol who drew crowds to cinemas and attracted intense media interest — but being objectified was a part of her Hollywood experience, including here from the moment that a first studio meeting ends horrifically. As written and directed by Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik, in his latest feature to unpack larger-than-life true tales after Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Blonde reductively sees that awful treatment, her childhood struggles, her tumultuous marriages and romances, her miscarried or aborted pregnancies, and her late-career on-set antics as all leading to the conclusion that's long been a matter of history. Far more engrossing is the movie's efforts to unpack the truth and pain behind all of Monroe's career-defining images, and to plunge the audience into a fraught headspace with her — and that soulful and phenomenal lead performance. Blonde streams via Netflix. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK LOS ESPOOKYS In the US, it was one of the best new shows of 2019. In Australia, thanks to a hefty delay in bringing it to our screens, it earned that distinction in 2021. The one silver lining for the latter? The gap between Los Espookys' first season and its second has proven much shorter Down Under — but more of this Spanish-language HBO comedy was always going to be worth the wait. The premise is a gem; the cast is a delight; the cavalcade of horror references is so savvily worked in that it almost puts every other winking, nodding, nudging show or movie to shame; and there remains nothing else on television or streaming like it. Sharp, witty, absurd, affectionate, insightful, charming, oh-so-distinctive, perhaps the best unofficial (and unrelated) successor to The Mighty Boosh yet: that's Los Espookys again and again, even more so in season two, although it's also a must-see that's best experienced rather than described. The same rings true for the Los Espookys gang and their business: horror IRL. It genuinely is a business for genre devotee Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco, Museo) and his pals Andrés (Julio Torres, Shrill), Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti, This Is Not a Comedy) and Tati (Ana Fabrega, Father of the Bride), turning a passion into a line of work with a steady-enough list of customers. In an always-unpredictable affair co-created by Torres, Fabrega and Our Flag Means Death's Fred Armisen, the group stages spooky setups for folks willing to pay — gloriously outlandish and OTT scenarios, always with a tactile and DIY feel, resulting in both impressive and hilarious outcomes. Those installations keep coming, and so does both personal and interpersonal chaos for the crew (plus Renaldo's parking valet uncle Tico, as played by Armisen), particularly after Tati can't quite adjust to marriage, Andrés navigates life beyond the luxury he grew up in, Renaldo keeps being haunted and Úrsula tries to fend off persistent TV offers. Los Espookys streams via Binge. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER Like knowing that House of the Dragon was coming, and winter as well, it's been impossible to avoid news about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The stunning-looking series has been in the works for five years, and is already locked in for five seasons, all jumping back to Middle-earth's Second Age. That's a period of elves, men, dwarves and harfoots — precursors to hobbits — and of the lurking evil of Sauron, plus orcs, trolls and more. It's also when the titular jewellery is forged. On the page, it's largely been covered in an appendix to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, taking this new series into previously unseen on-screen territory. And, as The Rings of Power focuses on, it's where Galadriel and Elrond's tales truly kicked in, with Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud) taking over from Cate Blanchett and Robert Aramayo (The King's Man) doing the same for Hugo Weaving, with their characters thousands of years younger. The young Galadriel narrates The Rings of Power's explanatory introduction, setting the scene for the show's fight against Sauron — and slowly putting the pieces in place for the compilation of a fellowship to do so. She tells of the dark lord Morgoth and his defeat in wide-ranging wars. She notes that the elf Finrod (Will Fletcher, The Road Dance) was convinced that Sauron, Morgoth's apprentice, still lingered afterwards. And she advises that such a belief and the search to prove it right cost Finrod, her brother, his life. Alas, during relative peace, as Middle-earth has been under since Morgoth was vanquished, isn't a prime time to take up that fight. But she's still scouring far and wide for Sauron, even if High King Gil-galad of the Elves (Benjamin Walker, The Ice Road) wants to bathe her in glory for past victories instead. If that's the path she took, there wouldn't be much of a series — and that's just the start of a thrilling show that also spends time with the dwarves of Khazad-dum, fellow elf Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova, The Undoing) among the humans, and harfoot Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavanagh, True History of the Kelly Gang) and her fellow diminutive creatures. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. ANDOR When it arrived in 2016 between Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars sent a message in its own spy-slash-heist flick way: it wouldn't be slavishly beholden to the Star Wars franchise's established and beloved universe. It felt earthier and murkier, more urgent and complicated, and far more steeped in everyday reality — within its science-fiction confines, of course — and more concerned with the here and now of its specific narrative than the bigger saga picture. It was certainly and unshakeably bleaker, and felt like a departure from the usual template, as well as a welcome risk. The same proves true of impressive streaming prequel Andor, which slips into its namesake's routine five years prior. The Galactic Empire reigns supreme, the Rebel Alliance is still forming and, when the series opens, Cassian (the returning Diego Luna, If Beale Street Could Talk) is a wily thief living on the junkyard planet of Ferrix. A Blade Runner-esque sheen hovers over a different place, however: the industrial-heavy, corporate-controlled Morlana One, which couldn't be further under the boot of the Empire if it tried. As Monos-style flashbacks to Cassian's childhood aid in fleshing out, he's searching for his sister, but his latest investigatory trip results in a confrontation and the Preox-Morlana Authority on his trail. Back on Ferrix, he endeavours to hide with the help of his friend/presumed ex/mechanic/black-market dealer Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona, Morbius) and droid B2EMO (Dave Chapman, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), while keeping his latest antics a secret from his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve). But, even after being told to drop the case, persistent Imperial Deputy Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller, Poldark) and higher-ranking officer Dedra Meero (Denise Gough, Under the Banner of Heaven) aren't willing to give up. Andor streams via Disney+. Read our full review. ATLANTA You can't escape yourself. As Atlanta sent Earnest 'Earn' Marks (Donald Glover, Guava Island), his cousin and rapper Alfred 'Paper Boi' Miles (Brian Tyree Henry, Bullet Train), their Nigerian American pal Darius (Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Earn's ex Vanessa (Zazie Beetz, also Bullet Train) around Europe in the show's third season earlier in 2022, that truth became inescapable, too. Hopping everywhere from Amsterdam to Paris and London, the group saw the daily reality of being Black Americans linger with them at every destination — and their personal ups and downs as well — no matter how wild, weird, bleak or hopeful the circumstances they were in. Arriving mere months later, season four kicks off by also exploring that point, including in a debut episode that sees Atlanta, the city, haunt the show's main players. They're back home and there's no way they couldn't know it, whether they're on scavenger hunts, stuck in carparks or being chased. Just a handful of episodes in, Atlanta's fourth season also examines another truth that's always sat at the core of the show: that for better and for worse, there's no place like home. That applies to the physical location, but also to the homes we make with other people — family, friends and everything in-between. Earn and Van gravitate closer together, but their relationship has always ebbed and flowed. Al keeps pondering what success really means, too. In the process, Glover's superbly smart, blistering and often-surreal unpacking of race relations lays bare the nation it usually calls home, as it did so incisively in its first two seasons, while never failing to challenge, surprise and swing big. That the show's final season also clearly muses on legacies obviously couldn't be more fitting; however it ends, no doubt in a thoroughly unpredictable and yet also ridiculously apt way, it'll always be a great on Glover, Henry, Stanfield and Beetz's resumes. Atlanta streams via SBS On Demand. THE PATIENT In one of 2022's new streaming standouts, Bad Sisters, Brian Gleeson tries to get to the bottom of a suspicious death. In another, The Patient, Domhnall Gleeson plays a serial killer. The two shows have more differences than commonalities, but it's clearly a great time for the Frank of Ireland-co-starring Gleeson brothers and twisty tales about crime. For Run's Domhnall, he co-leads a show about a murderer who enlists a therapist to try to stop his homicidal urges. Sam Fortner does indeed sit in Alan Strauss' (Steve Carell, Minions: The Rise of Gru) office and seek his help, but as well as hiding his eyes and face behind sunglasses, he keeps his real name, the bulk of his personal details and bloody pastime to himself. It's only after Strauss wakes up chained in Fortner's house that the latter feels comfortable enough to come clean and truly ask for assistance, albeit under terrifying circumstances for his captive. Domhnall Gleeson's on-screen resume isn't short on highlights, including Ex Machina and Brooklyn. Carell's has blatantly boasted many, spanning both comedies (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and The Office, obviously) and dramas (including his Oscar-nominated work in Foxcatcher). Accordingly, it should astonish no one that they're both instantly gripping in The Patient, as their characters bounce off of each other in inherently grim circumstances; however, they're each also in career-best form. The psychological-thriller series works as two commanding, textured and high-stakes character studies as Fortner demands Strauss' professional best, and ensures he isn't capable of refusing — and works through their respective baggage cat-and-mouse-style from there. In fact, it hits its marks so well that the show's concise format (each episode clocks in at between 20–25 minutes) keeps viewers wanting more. The Patient streams via Disney+. RICK AND MORTY The longer that Rick and Morty continues, the more it galaxy- and time-hopping mayhem it slings at the screen, aka whatever out-there sci-fi situations that creators Justin Roiland (Solar Opposites) and Dan Harmon (Community) can conjure up. But the more that this Back to the Future-inspired animated hit continues, too, the more that it proves a tragedy about choices made and not — and how even having all the science-fiction gadgetry in this and every other world and dimension can't make everything perfect always, because that's just not human (or alien, animal or Birdperson) nature. Season six of the series was always going to get contemplative given how the past season ended, of course, and because that's been baked into the show since day one. Still, the oft-quoted "wubba lubba dub dub" feels particularly weighty this time around, considering what it really means: "I am in great pain, please help me". Rick Sanchez (voiced by Roiland) has been saved, but that initially tears the Smith family apart — by now, they know (and we know) that Rick and his daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke, Firefly Lane), son-in-law Jerry (Chris Parnell, Archer), grandson Morty (also Roiland) and granddaughter Summer (Spencer Grammer, Tell Me a Story) aren't quite the versions of themselves they once were. Also part of the season's first few episodes: Beth getting close to Space Beth, also with consequences throughout her household; exploring what it means to offload parts of your life you're not happy with; and a good ol'-fashioned "yippee ki-yay!"-shouting Die Hard parody. In other words, it's all quintessential Rick and Morty, just getting deeper with each new run of episodes. Naturally, when Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) voices an alien equivalent of Hans Gruber, it's gold, and yet another classic Rick and Morty moment. Rick and Morty streams via Netflix. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows so far as well — and our best 15 new shows from the first half of this year, top 15 returning shows and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies.
What can anybody write about the impending arrival of a legend? What's left to say? If you're not sure whether or not you should buy a ticket to see Bobby Womack, one listen to 'A Change Is Gonna Come' should sort out your indecision without further ado. Of course, some people adopt the view that performers lose their edge with age, and that is the case for some, but Womack ain't one of those. Last year, upon the release of The Bravest Man in the Universe, his first album of new material since 1994, the Guardian reviewed him as "at the apex of his game". Unbelievably, this visit will be Womack's debut headline tour of Australia, and to mark it, he'll be doing his thing thoroughly, with a 13-piece band. Last week he told Beat that the timing is perfect. "I'm coming to see everybody down there at just the right time," he said. "I was green before, but I'm well-seasoned now."
If you're a fan of twisty TV shows about wealth, privilege, power, influence, the vast chasm between the rich and everyday folks, and the societal problems that fester due to such rampant inequality, then 2021 has been a fantastic year. The White Lotus fit the bill, and proved such a hit that it's coming back for a second season. Squid Game, the high-stakes Korean horror-thriller absolutely everyone binged over the last month, ticks the box as well. And, so does Succession, with the much-acclaimed HBO drama finally returning for a third season. No series slings insults as savagely as this Emmy, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice, Writers Guild and Directors Guild Award-winner. No show channels feuding and backstabbing into such an insightful and gripping satire of the one percent, either. Succession isn't just whip-smart, darkly piercing and frequently laugh-out-loud funny about its chosen milieu; it's the best drama on TV, one of the best-written shows on television, and among the best series all-round in general as well. So, here's two pieces of good news: firstly, Succession's third season is as biting, scathing and entertaining as viewers have come to expect, and might just be its finest yet; and, secondly, HBO has just renewed the show for a fourth season. Neither of these revelations is particularly surprising, but they're still excellent. Announcing the renewal, HBO noted that in the US, the series' third-season premiere was its most-watched episode to-date. It did herald Succession's return after a two-year wait — a gap that left viewers with quite the cliffhanger, as well as a huge hankering for more of its witty words. Indeed, before the series first graced TV screens back in 2018, you mightn't have realised exactly how engaging it is to watch people squabbling. Not just everyday characters, either, but the constantly arguing — and ridiculously well-off and entitled — family of a global media baron. Those power plays and the verbal argy-bargy make Succession compulsively watchable, and so do the pitch-perfect performances that deliver every verbal blow. Of course, as created by Peep Show's Jesse Armstrong — someone who knows more than a thing or two about black comedy — the idea that depiction doesn't equal endorsement is as rich in Succession and its brand of satire as its always-disagreeing characters. [caption id="attachment_830169" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Russell/HBO[/caption] In season three, all those Roy family antics and the bitter words they inspire are in full swing yet again. Succession has always riffed on a scenario that also sits at the heart of fellow hits Arrested Development and Game of Thrones — families clashing over their empire — but this version doesn't need dragons to be ruthless. That feeling only heightened at the end of season two, when Kendall (Jeremy Strong, The Trial of the Chicago 7), the son always seen as the natural successor to patriarch Logan (Brian Cox, Super Troopers 2), decided to publicly expose the family's dark business secrets. Now, the series is wading through the fallout, with Logan's other children — Connor (Alan Ruck, Gringo), Shiv (Sarah Snook, Pieces of a Woman) and Roman (Kieran Culkin, Infinity Baby) — caught in the middle agin. This brood's tenuous and tempestuous relationship only gets thornier the more the show goes on, and its examination of their privileged lives — and what that bubble has done to them emotionally, psychologically and ideologically — only deepens in season three. All four Roy children are still trying to position themselves as next in line at Logan's company, of course, with the future of the business in jeopardy not only due to his advancing years, or the takeover bids and government interest that've been a big part of its two seasons so far, but thanks to all the in-fighting. When they pop up in the third season, Alexander Skarsgård (Godzilla vs Kong) and Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel) complicate the Roys' precarious situation even further. That's this show's bread and butter, and it's glorious — and it just keeps finding the ideal cast members. With season three only two episodes in at the time of writing, exactly when season four will hit screens hasn't been revealed. For now, you can check out the full Succession season three trailer below: The first two episodes of Succession's third season are available to view via Foxtel, Binge and Foxtel On Demand, with new episodes dropping weekly. Exactly when the series' fourth season will drop hasn't yet been revealed. Top image: Macall B Polay/HBO.
Those changes to licensing for small bars have certainly been shaking things up around here. In fact, so many have popped up of late, you'd be forgiven for feeling a tad overwhelmed. Luckily for your sake, Concrete Playground have put together this guide to the best small bars in Sydney. Your only problem now is fitting them all in. 1. CorridorWhere: 153A King Street, Newtown This aptly-named small bar is brimming with more than its fair share of goodness. Surprisingly, it's not just one busy room, but is cleverly composed of an assortment of nooks. A private table at the front, stools along the wall, hidden under the stairs, the upstairs 'lounge' room or in the upstairs courtyard: take your pick. The menus are similarly overwhelming, but I suspect it would be hard to go wrong with these cocktails (all $16). I taste test the Blood and Sand: a '20s-style, Rudolf Valentino-inspired combination of scotch whisky, cherry brandy, sweet vermouth and orange juice. All cocktails change seasonally but never fear: the menu is extensive, and the bar staff attentive. For review and details, click here. 2. Darlie Laundromatic Where: 304 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst Step behind the unassuming facade of Darlie Laundromatic, and you'll discover a slice of the inner-west right in the heart of Darlinghurst. This bar has been a long time coming. Luckily, Darlie still has its feet firmly on Darlo soil. The signs and taps of the laundry previously here still stand, while a washing line of tea towels across the room pays ode to the site's prior purpose. Aside from this, the bar is decorated à la Eathouse, though with a more clearly 'Australian suburbia' bent: lamps and ferns, prints and oil paintings, green plastic high school chairs, and an assortment of Sylvac-style salt and pepper shakers on every table. This bar even possesses its own back yard. For review and details, click here. 3. Love, Tilly Devine Where: 91 Crown Lane, Darlinghurst A few years ago an idiotic politician declared that Sydney simply didn't want small bars like Melbourne's, where people could quietly read a book while drinking a glass of chardonnay in a black skivvy. That comment has been proven false again and again, and now Sydney is graced by establishments like Love, Tilly Devine, the perfect small bar to sit and read a book over some chardonnay. In a skivvy, if you want. The people at Love, Tilly Devine are excited. They're excited about their wine, about the future of their neighbourhood, and about their food. The name of the bar is an ode to East Sydney's past and a tribute to an obscure 1930s brothel madam, who, while her husband was getting prostitutes hooked on cocaine and beating her to a pulp, performed acts of local charity. For review and details, click here. 4. Grandma's Where: Basement 275 Clarence Street, Sydney There's no place like home. Except Grandma's. Grandma gives you a big hug, sits you down in her best, chintz-covered chair and gives you a treat. And the eponymously titled bar, the latest addition to an innocuous little office building off Clarence Street, will do all that and more. Grandma's, the self-described "retro-sexual haven of cosmopolitan kitsch and faded granny glamour", is truly one of the most delightful bars that Sydney can now call its own. Muddling about on the footpath outside trying to find the damn place, a heavy-set giant of a security guard approached me and gruffly asked "hey, you looking for Grandma's?" and then burst into giggles. And you know you're in for a good night when you're giving a giggling security guard a hug. Inside you'll find knitting baskets, ottomans, and ubiquitous teacups and saucers. The place is small and can get loud, but the relaxed atmosphere and lovely people make it somewhere you want to stick around. A word of warning, though — get there early. We only left when a friend called from outside, telling us there was a line outside because the place had reached capacity. For review and details, click here. 5. Timbah Where: 375 Glebe Point Road, Glebe There's something I'm desperately trying to introduce into my social circle, and that is the Sunday afternoon drink. If you're trying not to think about Monday, but know you should probably hold off on finishing a case of beer before you go back to work, then a nice leisurely Sunday afternoon drink is the thing you need. And Timbah is the place to have it. Nestled down the pretty end of Glebe Point Rd (and slightly down Forysthe st), we popped in one cold, grey Sunday and found a cosy table by the door. With a huge and diverse wine list, you might feel like you could get bogged down for choice. However, Timbah have introduced an interesting new concept. The first six people to order wine on any night choose the six bottles that will be served by the glass for that night, taking that horrible 'oh dear which wine shall I choose' feeling out of the equation. When those six run out, another lot are chosen. For a non-wine aficionado, it's a comforting system. For review and details, click here. 6. Mr Fox Where: 557 Crown Street, Surry Hills Mr Fox is not the first blink-and-you'll-miss-it small bar to enter the Surry Hills scene, but it's perhaps one of the best. Walls that double as chalk boards, fairy lights tacked up behind the bar and menus offered up in illustrated children's books detailing myths and legends make this, if not the most original, definitely one of the most fun options around. But then, what else should we expect from a bar named for a Wes Anderson film? It's a very DIY feeling space, and you'll find yourself settling into your new home almost straight away. While there's a reasonable range of beers and wines on offer, it's all about the cocktails ($12-$17). To grow some venue appropriate hairs on your chest, try the Old Fashioned ($15): bourbon with sugar and a dash of bitters. For a sweeter option, perhaps the Summer Sour ($14), with strawberry, passionfruit, cranberry, Chambord, Alizé and vodka. If you're starting to feel hungry, there's no reason at all to venture out into busy Crown Street, with grazing plates - like Polenta Cubes with Coriander Mayonaise or Slow-Cooked Sticky Chicken Wings - for $14 each. For review and details, click here. 7. The Owl House Where: 97 Crown Street, Darlinghurst Say what you will about glorious fit outs, what makes or breaks the vibe of a bar is the barmen. These souls of hospitality, the embodiments of all the best parts of alcohol, have the power to charm, ease, surprise and delight. A case in point: the latest small bar to pop up in Darlinghurst, the Owl House. Our man of the hour was Amir. As we took our seats at the intimate (read: tiny) bar, it was only moments before he had collected our orders and was shaking away in front of us. Over the course of the next half hour, he had taken complete responsibility for our tastebuds, put us at ease with every other patron in the place and begun discussing our favourite novels in surprising detail. Soon after that, he was lighting the bar on fire in front of us. Now that's what I call an exceptional barman. For review and details, click here. 8. BloodwoodWhere: 416 King Street, Newtown Hidden down ‘that other half’ of King Street, Bloodwood is handy before an Enmore gig, and easy from the station. We are told there are no bookings for tables at the Newtown eatery – the Good Food Guide’s 2011 Best Bar with Food – but once we settle in a spot we are told we will have to leave at 8pm, someone a little more persuasive than us wants their seat at that time. We sit in the upper level of the establishment. Bare light bulbs hang both precariously and artistically from the ceiling. It is hip but not intimidatingly so. Although Asian influences filter through the menu, we have selected those with flavours from France and the Middle East. For review and details, click here. 9. Low302Where: 302 Crown Street, Darlinghurst Aim high. Go low. That’s the fitting credo of this cocktail bar-slash-eatery-slash-live music venue. And I can tell you, they don’t miss the mark. Darlo bar hoppers may not be starved for their pick of small bars, but Low’s got a little something the others don’t. For one, this place is sexy. Dark leather lounges are set against draping red curtains, with a grand piano tucked in the corner - an open invitation for musos to hammer out a good tune, and for hammered rockers looking for extra stage room. Throw in some low lighting, incense, intimate side rooms and an outdoor sitting that opens out onto Crown Street, and you’ve got your night off to a very good start. For review and details, click here. 10. Different Drummer Where: 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe Before the rise of the small bar, cocktail bars were the only place to be rewarded when one had a thirst for both tasty and trendy. The Different Drummer was an oasis in a desert of old-man pubs and soulless bars. Now overshadowed by these Surry Hills newcomers, the Different Drummer in Glebe still has a special place in the heart of the Inner West. Since ages past the Drummer has been serving scintillating cocktails with a happy-go-lucky list of patrons who don't hesitate to share their thoughts on why the Agwacello (agwa coco leaf liquor, limoncello & cloudy apple) is the best cocktail on the menu. Settle in downstairs amongst the bordello-like luxury for your birthday or girls-night, or take a date up to the roof for a breeze and a good view. For review and details, click here.
There's a line towards the end of Drive-Away Dolls that's so glorious, so hilarious and so descriptive of the film's plot that it feels like Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke's lesbian road-movie comedy caper could've sprung from it alone. The dialogue in question spans eight words that are best discovered by watching, riffing on a familiar phrase — and it's marvellous. Ethan is no stranger to writing sparklingly witty and sidesplitting banter. His filmography is filled with it and, with his sibling Joel, he has two Oscars for Best Screenplay, winning for Fargo's original script and No Country for Old Men's adaption. The Coen brothers' own O Brother, Where Art Thou?, A Serious Man, True Grit and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs also scored them nominations, as did co-penning the Steven Spielberg-directed Bridge of Spies. Ethan and Tricia — who are not only married, but have past experience working together thanks to the latter's role editing some Coen brothers' movies, starting with The Big Lebowski — didn't base Drive-Away Dolls' narrative on that particularly perfect line. That's not how Ethan pens his scripts, he tells Concrete Playground, whether Joel or Tricia is his co-writer. "We write very much, as me and Joel always wrote, in order — in scene order, not knowing, not outlining, and not knowing where we're going in terms of outline, or certainly not in terms of future lines of dialogue that we want to work in," he explains. "So that came up because the situation warranted at that point." What a situation that Drive-Away Dolls dives into; there might be only one Coen attached, but it's still pure Coens. Two lesbian friends attempt to hightail it away from their everyday Philadelphia lives — one after a fresh breakup; the other unable to relax since her last relationship ended quite a while earlier, and just in general — with Tallahassee, Florida their destination. Margaret Qualley (Poor Things) plays the outgoing, confident, as-casual-as-they-come Jamie, who soon has police officer Sukie (Beanie Feldstein, American Crime Story) for an ex. Geraldine Viswanathan (Cat Person) is the perennially stressed and uptight Marian. Their getaway idea: driving a car that needs taking to their destination anyway, aka the eponymous cheap car-hire service. But their mistakenly allocated vehicle has hidden cargo, which sets a couple of bickering and bumbling goons (Plane's Joey Slotnick and The Blacklist's CJ Wilson) on their trail. There's an anarchic everything-that-can-go-wrong-will air to Jamie and Marian's eventful road trip, and to the antics of the men following their every move (and to the storyline's twists, which bring in characters played by The Last of Us' Pedro Pascal, The Color Purple's Colman Domingo, Oppenheimer's Matt Damon and The Burial's Bill Camp, too). But this isn't the soulful Inside Llewyn Davis; rather, Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? but queer, touring lesbian bars and featuring wall dildos is the vibe. "I think the only thing that we wanted, we definitely wanted to make it a fun queer movie. And, we thought about Cynthia Plaster Caster very early on. She was someone we were like 'okay, we're going to work something like that into the plot'," advises Tricia. [caption id="attachment_942716" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, Tricia Cooke, Geraldine Viswanathan and Ethan Coen. Photo by Marion Curtis / StarPix for Focus Features.[/caption] How do Coen and Cooke really tie all of those elements together, including the artist — "not famous now, kind of forgotten," Ethan notes — known for making plaster casts of celebrity penises? ("Later on, she also cast women's breasts," stresses Tricia; "she wasn't a one-trick pony," adds Ethan.) Uproariously, in their gleeful version of a B-movie, with a 60s- and 70s-inspired spirit, and while crafting a period piece. The movie's action is set in the 90s, where today's ever-present technology can't simplify the scenario. It feels like a throwback several times over, then, and like writer/director/producer Coen and writer/editor/producer Cooke are having an absolute ball making it. Harking back three decades is a nod to Drive-Away Dolls' history as well, with the film initially conceived and scripted back then under the name Drive-Away Dykes. With that moniker, it was indeed a case of coming up with the title, adoring it, then basing the whole movie around it. With the film that's resulted all these years later in cinemas Down Under from Thursday, February 22, we chatted with its two guiding forces about finally bringing it to the screen — including while Ethan and Joel take a break from their collaborations (Ethan and Tricia teamed up to make 2022 documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind first, while Joel helmed 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth solo). Also covered: how Drive-Away Dolls' narrative came about, digging the script back up, casting Qualley and Australia's own Viswanathan, and loving making comedy capers. On Coming Up with Drive-Away Dolls' Story — and Its Original Title Tricia: "Well, we did come up with Drive-Away Dykes — a friend of mine and I, not Ethan and I. And I went home and I mentioned it to Ethan, and he was like 'that's a great name. We should write that movie'. So it just started out because drive-away — I don't know if you have them in Australia, but here they're companies where you can go and get a car, and you can drive it, and you drop it off wherever the owner of the car wants it driven. So we thought that was an interesting beginning of a road movie. And then, ending up with the wrong car — or what might possibly be in this car that they weren't anticipating. So we started from there." Ethan: "Trish came up with the title Drive-Away Dykes in the Pravda bar in New York, down on Lafayette." Tricia: "Yeah, which sadly is no longer there." Ethan: "I hear they're putting up a plaque there, like Fat Black Pussycat, where Bob Dylan wrote 'Blowin' in the Wind' — but it's where you conceived Drive-Away Dykes." Tricia: "Excellent. I can't wait." On How the Film Finally Come to Fruition Decades After Initially Writing the Script Ethan: "Actually, it was just because me and Trish worked on a documentary together — we made a documentary movie about Jerry Lee Lewis — and we just enjoyed working together. Not that we hadn't before. Trish would cut some of mine and Joel's movies. But we enjoyed working together, and we thought 'hey, we've got this old script that we didn't manage to get made, so why don't we look at that again, and rewrite it again, and make the movie?'." Tricia: "We both had time. Ethan had kind of decided to take a break, and our kids are grown now, and after the Jerry Lee Lewis movie it was kind of like 'okay, well, what we're going to do next? Well, we have this script here, so let's see if we can interest anyone'." On How Drive-Away Dolls' Screenplay Evolved Since the Original Version in the 90s Ethan: "It was not the case that we worked on it over the years. We wrote it and then forgot about it for many years. And when we did come back, we did rewrite it. How is it different? I think it's mainly the main two characters are a little more…" Tricia: "Fleshed out." Ethan: "In the rewrite, the odd couple thing is highlighted. The free spirit versus the uptight woman, that's more pointed in in the rewrite." Tricia: "And we also made it a period movie. When we wrote it initially, it was contemporary and it didn't feel right to keep it contemporary for a couple of reasons. It's a lot easier to find people now with cell phones and the internet, and all of that. And also, all of the lesbian bars and stuff, that was such a big part of my world back then, and that's all changed — not significantly, but it's different now. And so I felt like it wouldn't be a proper representation, and something I didn't know, going to a lot of queer bars in 2022." Ethan: "It's a weird paradox where lesbian birds then were a little more transgressive, or felt at least a little transgressive. And now, now they don't. And there aren't as many, weirdly. I don't know what explains that." On Casting Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as Jamie and Marian Ethan: "They both came in, and when each of them came in, we said 'okay, that's the person'." Tricia: "They went to the top of the list. Geraldine came in very early. We saw her maybe in the first group of people we auditioned. Margaret came in very late. So we kind of had a Marian, we knew we were very high on Geraldine — and had a few other Jamies, but when Margaret came in it was like 'oh, that's Jamie'. She just flopped down in the chair, and she had the spirit that Jamie had. That was a harder part to cast." On Ethan Directing His First Narrative Feature without Joel Ethan: "Weirdly, well, same and different. Weirdly the same because I made it with Tricia — and Trish isn't titularly the co-director, but she is in fact. I mean, we made the movie together. So in that respect, it's kind of familiar. You're just working with another person, and it's all very collegial, and it's the two of you making the movie. So it wasn't different in terms of me working by myself, because I wasn't working by myself. It's different because I'm working with a different person." Tricia: "Joel knows more than I do." On Still Making a Movie That Feels Like a Coen Movie — and Gravitating Towards Comedic Capers Ethan: "It just seems that kind of thing is promising story fodder. You know what I mean? It's what Trish was talking about —a drive-away, you go 'okay, what could make that story go? Okay, there's something in the car they don't know about. And there's bad guys who were after them because they're after the stuff in the car'. You're looking for an engine for the story, something to propel the story — that's a caper." Tricia: "And also, we love just being on the road here in the States. There's such a car culture. So much is out there, there's so much material out there — and it just seems like it could be fun. The scenery is always changing, there's always something of interest out there. So those are good things to play around with story-wise, too." Ethan: "And you get lots of good stuff. The bar at the beginning, the starting point of the trip, and that mirror bar at the end, the end point of the trip — and that's a story." Tricia: "Raising Arizona is definitely, when anyone asks 'what's your favourite Coen brothers movie?', I always say Raising Arizona. Probably because I didn't work on it, but also it's just so much fun to watch them do wacky things — Goodman, and…" Tricia, to Ethan: "Oh, there's another!" Ethan: "Goodman and Bill Forsythe." Tricia: "We're trying to think of all of the dumb men in cars that have been in Ethan's movies." Drive-Away Dolls released in Australian and New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, February 22. Read our review. Images: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
Every day could use an extra dose of adorable animals — and on Thursday, July 19 at Brett Whitely Place, there'll be cats aplenty to brighten up your regular routine. From 11am until 3pm, the North Sydney spot will be home to a Mini Meow Market. Sure, that's just a cute way to describe a heap of stalls selling cat products and kitten-themed goodies, but admit it, your interest if piqued. If you're looking for something for your own feline companion, then expect to find everything from cat toys to cat food and cat collars, meaning that you can spoil your moggy however you see fit. And if you're looking to immerse yourself in cat-shaped and -styled bits and pieces, there'll be clothes, homewares, cupcakes and more, all for humans. Plus, you can feast your eyes on a cat art show and listen to live music. Don't worry, actual cats will also be in attendance — for cuddling, as well as for adopting. Yes, taking a four-legged friend home with you is an option, because no one can resist their gorgeous little faces.
No one plays with a Barbie too hard when the Mattel product is fresh out of the box. As that new doll smell lingers, and the toy's synthetic limbs gleam and locks glisten, so does a child's sense of wonder. The more that the world-famous mass-produced figurine is trotted through DreamHouses, slipped into convertibles and decked out in different outfits, though — then given non-standard makeovers — the more that playing with the plastic fashion model becomes fantastical. Like globally beloved item, like live-action movie bearing its name. Barbie, the film, starts with glowing aesthetic perfection. It's almost instantly a pink-hued paradise for the eyes, and it's also a cleverly funny flick from its 2001: A Space Odyssey-riffing outset. The longer that it continues, however, the harder and wilder that Lady Bird and Little Women director Greta Gerwig goes, as does her Babylon and Amsterdam star lead-slash-producer Margot Robbie as Barbie. In Barbie's Barbie Land, life is utopian. Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie and her fellow dolls genuinely believe that their rosy beachside suburban excellence is infectious, too. And, they're certain that their female-championing realm — and them being female champions of all skills, talents and appearances — has changed the real world inhabited by humans. But there's a Weird Barbie living in a misshapen abode. While she isn't Barbie's villain, not for a second, her nonconformist look and attitude says everything about Barbie at its most delightful. Sporting cropped hair, a scribbled-on face and legs akimbo, she's brought to life by Saturday Night Live great Kate McKinnon having a blast, and explained as the outcome of a kid somewhere playing too eagerly. Meet Gerwig's spirit animal; when she lets Weird Barbie's vibe rain down like a shower of glitter, covering everything and everyone in sight, the always-intelligent, amusing and dazzling Barbie is at its brightest and most brilliant. This film has much to do, as a Mattel- produced affair that also skewers the brand, and both dotes on and parodies all things Barbie, must. The more askew it gets and revels in it, the better. Indeed, in a movie that not only overflows with a feminist perspective, but pokes glorious fun at the patriarchy — plus 90s male-fronted rock, car and horse obsessions, and men competing and one-upping each other (side note: do Kens have genitalless bulge-measuring contests?) — it throws in a glaring clash that couldn't serve the picture better. Barbies can be anything, be it President (Issa Rae, Insecure), a doctor (Hari Nef, Meet Cute), a diplomat (Nicola Coughlan, Bridgerton), a Nobel Prize-winning physicist (Emma Mackey, Emily), an author (Alexandra Schipp, tick, tick... BOOM!), a Supreme Court justice (Ana Cruz Kayne, Jerry and Marge Go Large), a journalist (Ritu Arya, Polite Society), a lawyer (Sharon Rooney, Jerk) and a mermaid (Dua Lipa, making her movie debut). They can also nearly have the film stolen from them by a Zoolander-esque himbo Ryan Gosling (The Gray Man) at his absolute funniest as Stereotypical Barbie's yearning Ken. Before Ken's stunning late-film, go-for-broke, 50s-musical-adoring song-and-dance number that deserves all of the awards, including for Gosling putting his crooning to use again post-La La Land and loving it, Barbie has to derail the Barbies' constant rotation of best days ever. Gerwig and her Greenberg, Frances Ha, Mistress America and White Noise helmer Noah Baumbach, who co-writes here, wouldn't have a storyline otherwise. Together and apart, the duo has a stellar pedigree in conveying the disappointments of simply being, a notion they pull back out of the box. For Stereotypical Barbara Millicent Roberts, her idyll shifts when her giant blowout party with all the Barbies, planned choreography and a bespoke song sparks thoughts about death for the first time. Next comes messy hair upon waking, burnt breakfast, a fall from her DreamHouse to her car — rather than floating down like a hand is airlifting her — and suddenly unarched feet that can't handle high heels. Only Weird Barbie has an inkling of what's going on, guiding Stereotypical Barbie to the real world to seek out whoever's playing with her, discover why they're less than blissful and fix that human to fix herself. Los Angeles, here she comes — to rollerblade in neon as everyone has known since 2022, and with Ken tagging along. Gosling's Ken is only one Ken, of course. Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Secret Invasion), Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) and Scott Evans (Grace and Frankie): they're other Kens. John Cena (Fast X) is a Ken mermaid. Michael Cera (Black Mirror) is Alan, and he's unique. In Barbie Land, everyone who isn't Barbie — even Midge (Emerald Fennell, The Crown) — sits in the Barbies' shadow. When, as they meet Mattel employee Gloria (America Ferrera, Superstore), her teen daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt, 65) and the company's CEO (Will Ferrell, Spirited), Barbie and Ken learn that reality doesn't mirror that setup, their glossy polymer bubble bursts. Weathering a surreal existential crisis or not, and even being the butt of one of narrator Helen Mirren's (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) many wry jokes by name, Robbie is sparkling, warm and sincere. There's nothing PVC about her performance, which is equally light and heartfelt — and still gives Gosling all the room that he can thrust his spray-tanned chest into to deliver a hilarious physical comedy masterclass (and, although Robbie led Babylon, sometimes sashay like he's in Hollywood's Golden Age). Robbie, and Gosling also, keep shimmering when the film feels a touch careful, or falls slightly and briefly flatter. They're the sublime antidote when Barbie stresses that it's lampooning, rather than just doing it. And, though playing characters with painted-on fridge contents (her) and "just beach" as a job (him), they're what makes the movie feel wonderfully real and earnest even when — especially when — it's at its goofiest and silliest. Gerwig has directed a lively, zany, oh-so witty and pretty Barbie flick that's perfectly cast, a costuming showcase and, in Barbie Land, a production-design dream. With Baumbach, she's penned a knowing, mile-a-minute, meta-but-meaningful film that's a tribute and a takedown — happy celebrating Barbie's aspirational role and place in history since 1959, while calling out corporatised girl power, mainstream beauty standards, the ridiculous expectations placed upon women (basically dropping a sequel to Gone Girl's "cool girl" speech, in fact) and capitalism's intellectual property-hungry quest for control. Sometimes, the fingers that are moving Barbie's pieces are a touch too evident, pushing hard instead of just playing hard. Sometimes, they're a tad timid. Thankfully, these are minor issues, like choosing who Barbie should be when the possibilities are endless. This film's charms aren't quite infinite, but they're as ever-present as pink, pink and more pink in an ambitious, inventive and joyously entertaining movie that gave the world a fuchsia paint shortage.
From the party-powered cities of Miami and Ibiza comes Future Art, the massive art-meets-music biz that's taking a global approach to throwing events. And because the annual light, music and ideas festival the Harbour City's now known for is happening this month, the Future Art community is bringing Future Art Is Vivid to Darling Harbour. On Saturday, June 16, Home The Venue will be lighting up to host an immersive night celebrating talented digital artists and DJs. After a successful debut outing at Vivid Sydney in 2022, the team's bringing stacks more to the dance floor this year. The one-off night will feature tunes courtesy of Black Angus (Sneaky Sound System), Dave Goode (of The Potbelleez, and co-founder of Future Art) and Sarah Main (fresh from Pacha Ibiza) promising a heaving dance floor till 3am. Then, on the visual art side of things, you'll experience works from an international collection of digital-art talents — like Jon Noorlander, Neurocolor and Rebecca Rose — as well as home grown artists including Stuart Sale and Joe Pease. Multidisciplinary Sydney artist Serwah Attafuah will display her brightly-hued dreamscape NFTs, which have been commissioned for clients as wide-reaching as Paris Hilton and Mercedes Benz. And there's Sophie Tea too, a Brit in the digital art space who brings vibrancy, references to the natural world and human-like figures to her collections. Marrickville-based Stuart Sale — who garnered attention in 2022 after his mural of Queen Elizabeth II was vandalised — will have his latest collection on show; as will fellow Sydneysider Brad Robson, whose contemporary painting style (and the staggering size of his work) has taken him the world over. If you're looking to experience a late-night fusion of art and music, mark June 16 in your diary and secure a ticket, stat. 'Future Art Is Vivid' takes over Home the Venue on Saturday, June 16 from 8pm till 3am. For more information and to nab your tickets, head to the website.
Since it premiered at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, earning Nicole Kidman the event's Best Actress prize in the process, two scenes from Babygirl have received the internet's ample and avid attention. In one, intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson, The Iron Claw) orders CEO Romy Mathis (Kidman, The Perfect Couple) a glass of milk, unprompted on her part, in a public bar at after-work drinks with their colleagues, keeping his eyes affixed in her direction from across the room as she sips it. In another, George Michael's 'Father Figure' soundtracks a slinky hotel-suite dance — a romp that's equal parts seductive and awkward — that's given by Samuel as Romy watches on. As it charts the duo's heated affair, and the yearning for satisfaction that's driving it so deeply, Babygirl is filled with moments that linger. It's teeming with sequences that other movies to follow are bound to nod to, remake, covet and wish that they had conjured up first, too. It starts with one, with Romy and her theatre-director husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas, Paddington in Peru) getting intimate at home in bed, then Romy rushing to another room to finish the job alone. Another pivotal scene arrives early, as the picture's central pair initially meet on a New York City street. They're both headed to the same place — it's Samuel's first day at Romy's robotics automation company, in fact — but before she knows who he is or that he's working for her, she's spellbound by how he calms down a dog that lunges her way. With her third feature behind the lens — her debut, 2019 Dutch drama Instinct, inspired Kidman to get in touch; 2022's Bodies Bodies Bodies, her second, saw the filmmaker give horror-comedy a delightfully entertaining spin — writer/director Halina Reijn clearly knows how to get viewers to submit. Watching Babygirl means surrendering swiftly to a smart and savvy exploration of desire, identity, control and vulnerability. It means being plunged into Romy and Samuel's thorny relationship, and all of the emotions that it swirls up, as Kidman and Dickinson turn in magnetic, raw and fearless performances. It also means being taken in by a reimagining of the erotic thriller with an unyielding female gaze. And yes, Reijn is well-aware, as viewers also should be, that a film like this, that addresses the orgasm gap and follows a woman seeking sexual fulfilment, mightn't feel so bold and rare in a perfect world where more such movies existed. Part of Babygirl's complexity is the dynamic of submission and domination between Romy and Samuel. Often daring, confident, assertive and brazen, he's largely in the latter role, but he can also be vulnerable and uncertain. At the office, in their professional realm, at the business that she founded and now leads, she has the power. One thing is certain chatting with Reijn and Dickinson, however: making a picture that's not just an erotic thriller, but a comedy of manners in its own way, a clear fantasy, a relationship drama, a kinky romance and a workplace thriller as well, they both happily submit to Kidman worship. When he chats with Concrete Playground, Dickinson has his pile of discs from the Criterion Closet, aka every cinephile's dream location, within reach. Taking us through his picks, he holds each DVD up: "one of them is our dearest Nicole," he beams with To Die For in his hand. Reijn's admiration for Kidman started as an actor herself, with her performing career dating back to the 90s. For challenging theatre parts, the Black Book and Valkyrie star would think about the Aussie talent, and attempt to channel her bravery. "She's god," Reijn tells us. Dickinson's role in Babygirl joins a resume that features one of the all-time great big-screen debuts, with his also-hypnotic turn in 2017's Beach Rats instantly marking him as a certain star. His filmography since constantly proves that true; after parts in TV's Trust and as a Disney prince in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the 2020s have kept him busy. See: everything from franchise entry The King's Man and the page-to-screen Where the Crawdads Sing to whodunnit See How They Run, Palme d'Or-winner Triangle of Sadness, Emma Corrin (Nosferatu)-led TV must-see A Murder at the End of the World and the World War II-set Blitz. With Beach Rats, The Souvenir: Part II, Scrapper and now Babygirl, he's also enjoyed a stellar run working with female filmmakers. "I've always been really lucky with the films that have come my way and the directors that have come my way, and a lot of them being women, and I've just been grateful for that," Dickinson advises. "Whether it's coincidence or not, I think that a lot of these women you're talking about have a deep access to a certain sensitivity, and an understanding and a humour, that maybe other people don't have. I guess I'll go where they go — and I'll go where they lead me." A couple of trends pop up with Babygirl for Reijn as well. Kidman sits at the heart of them. Casting her female lead in a New York-set, and Christmas-set, erotic thriller about a complicated marriage, Reijn sees the film as a female-skewed response to Eyes Wide Shut, which ticks all of the same boxes. As Australian viewers can't avoid noticing, there's more than just one Aussie touch to Babygirl, too, with Talk to Me's Sophie Wilde playing Romy's assistant Esme and 'Never Tear Us Apart' by INXS on the movie's soundtrack. "It is coincidental, but I don't think it is coincidental," Reijn notes. How did the writer/director shape Babygirl from hearing from a story about another woman from a friend? How did she purposely invert the status quo of 80s and 90s erotic thrillers — and also approach juggling her movie's eager mix of tones? Why was Dickinson initially a little reluctant to sign on, and what did he tap into as Samuel? What goes into a great dance scene for him? We also spoke with Reijn and Dickinson about all of the above, plus much more. On How Babygirl Evolved From Reijn Hearing From a Friend About a Woman Who Had Been Married for 25 Years Without Orgasming with Her Husband Halina: "Honestly, what happened was my response to it. Which was 'what, that's insane!' — something like that. And I went home and I was like 'wait, why did I react like that?'. It was almost like I was judging it. I was like 'no, that can't be true'. Then I started to think about my own experiences that I often had thought about in the past, that it took too long for me to orgasm at the hands of a man — and that I was very insecure, and that I had faked it on occasion just to make him feel better or to just get it over with, or because I was so ashamed and I didn't dare to really ask for him to change the way he was doing it or whatever. Then I started to talk to other women. I was losing it because I was so afraid to do it, but I just forced myself to talk to my girlfriends, to ask them like this, like 'can I ask you something?'. And then it turned out that a lot of my friends had similar stories. Then I started going online to research it, and then I just found out there's a huge orgasm gap. And we're not talking about it. Not enough, not in Hollywood movies. And part of the problem is that the stories that we see, for all the pornography that we see, but also the Hollywood movies — TV is a little bit ahead of us — Hollywood movies are letting women have orgasms in ways that are not possible physically. Even movies that are arthouse, even movies that are supposed to be half produced by women. So I felt it was time to really talk about that — and as a symbol for women in general, for women not orgasming or women not daring to ask for what they want on a deeper existential level, and women not having space enough to even explore themselves." On the Run of Projects That's Led Dickinson to Babygirl — and What It Means to Enjoy Such a Diverse Range of Work Harris: "It's been just a dream, and I've been so lucky that people have let me do this as a job still. I pinch myself every day with the realisation that I get to act and play all these different people, and get to do it with people that I admire. Triangle of Sadness was a huge thing for me. Being part of that was a real turning point. And same with Scrapper and The Iron Claw — all of those things you mentioned are just all in such different worlds. That's the goal for me, is to step into really different, unusual worlds that challenge me as a performer and force me into new versions of myself as well — new skins. Not to sound pretentious, but that's all I ever wished for, is just to have a versatile set of experiences and roles. And I've really been able to, I've been offered that, so I'm grateful." On How Reijn Fleshed Out Babygirl's Narrative Around a Woman in a Sexually Unfulfilling Long-Term Marriage Halina: "I think it all came from the question that I had, because I felt as women, we are so conditioned to become what others — or what we think others — want, and want us to be. So what society expects of us: that we should be perfect mothers and perfect career women and perfect daughters and perfect lovers, and have a perfect vagina and a perfect face. And look young. I felt that all of that, and the idea that we're playing all these different roles and that we're performing all of these different roles and forget to be our authentic self, that made me ask the question: is it possible to love all the different layers of myself? Because if I would accept the darker sides of myself, I would maybe be able to be more my authentic self and let go of all these ideas of perfection. So that is where all the ideas came from. I just thought 'what is the best profession, then, for her to have?'. It's all about chaos and control, really, and so I thought it would be very appropriate for her to be a CEO of a robotics company. Because she's a product of the sexual revolution, she grew up in cults and communes, she was named by a guru — and her whole life is an answer to that, which is the white picket fence, total control. And I thought it's kind of like the beast against machine, if you want to exaggerate it. And the whole movie is informed by that contradiction between control, surrender — the beasts, the civilised layer of ourselves." On What Dickinson Drew Upon to Play a Character Swinging Between Control and Surrender Harris: "Everything. Insecurity and pain and anger and love, it's all part of it, isn't it. It all boils down to what it means to be a human — and I think just normal everyday stuff as well. But the stakes for them, the stakes for them were higher. The stakes of the relationship and the affair, they were high. Confusion as well. Navigating something that you don't understand. Navigating feelings of your own that you don't understand." On How Reijn Knew That Dickinson Was Babygirl's Samuel Halina: "The moment that Nicole said 'I want to do this', first I couldn't sleep for joy and I was overexcited and full of adrenaline. But the next thing is, of course, who's going to play that young man opposite her? Who's going to be able to not only be challenging her as an actor, but be dominating her in these scenes? Someone like her, a total icon and one of the best actors on the planet, how are you going to find a young person to be able to match that? And then, weirdly, during that time I saw Triangle of Sadness. And I had never seen him before. I was so intrigued. And then I went home, and that night I saw Beach Rats, and I was mesmerised. Already Triangle of Sadness had me completely intrigued. But Beach Rats — and then I just saw all of his work, anything he did, the shortest movies, the old movies, everything. I a) got obsessed — and then I also found out that he was very tall, which might sound weird, but it is very important me. As an actress, I've had so many scene partners where I didn't feel that I could show my full strength because I was afraid that they couldn't hold it, not only physically but also emotionally. And so I felt 'this is just a perfect guy, he is the perfect age'. I was lucky enough to get a Zoom with him after he read the script, and and that only made me more confident that I had to have him. But it took me a couple of conversations with him because he was quite — he's very British, he's a very strong-willed person, and I really had to convince him that my movie would be an exploration of consent and power and surrendering control in a layered, complex way, and it was not going to be 50 Shades of Grey. And then he said 'yes', and both me and Nicole knew, even without — she didn't even meet him — we both knew it was going to work out. They met at the most-crazy place, they met at the Met Gala, because they were both there. I texted them both, I was like 'try to find each other'. And I was like a mother sitting here in my apartment — 'aaah, I hope it's going to work out'. Then they both texted me that they felt the other person was amazing, and then we were off to the races." On What Convinced Dickinson After His Initial Reluctance — and What He Was Keen to Explore Harris: "I think it was that initial fear that made me want to do it. And Halina, Halina, I trusted Halina, talking to her and understanding her vision for it and her approach. It made me trust her. It made me intrigued. I wanted to be in her world. I think the character itself was really complex. The opportunity to play someone that was kind of unreliable in their approach, they share information that is unreliable, I liked that. I liked that there was unanswered questions around who he was and where he came from and how he got there. I enjoyed those ambiguities. Also his manner and his directness, and his chameleon-like capabilities. They were all qualities that intrigued me about him. And getting to have fun within those scenes, play the humour and play the embarrassment, I thought it was all very nuanced and human stuff — so always exciting for an actor to jump into." On Reijn Casting Her Long-Held Source of Inspiration in Kidman Halina: "She contacted me after my first movie and that was, of course, a moment of total insanity for me. I thought I was having a psychosis when she contacted me, because I literally carried her around in my heart for so long as a torch against fear. Because I was part of a theatre group that made very, very radical theatre, so I had to do very scary things and I would always channel her. So it was insane to me when she called me. And then we just immediately hit it off, because I think what really connects us — and I mean, for me she's god, so I would never compare myself to her — but what is similar is that we both, however, in life we all have ego, we all have fear, we all have vanity, we all have all these worries about small things, but when she starts to act, or when she embarks on a creative journey, her vanity and ego is at the door; I think that is for me exactly the same. So whatever I am in my daily life, which is a totally a flawed, weird clown, when I start to be creative, there's ego death. There's complete ego death. And that is what connects us and makes — it's almost like a twin soulmate feeling. She calls it sometimes that we communicate through telepathy. And so working together became this really strange, almost-spiritual experience, in which we both just felt such an urgency to tell this story, and such dedication — and also to the humour of it and the playfulness of it and the lightness of it. And to bring warmth to this story, and to hopefully inspire women to liberate themselves a little bit more. That's what I think connects us." On What Excited Dickinson About Collaborating with Kidman Harris: "She's just got such an incredible body of work. She's so impressive. And everything that she's done, she's worked with some of our finest directors. I just was massively excited to get to watch her work, but also work alongside her and really get a chance to be close to that as a performer. But separate to that, she's just a lovely person. She makes everyone around her feel very encouraged and collaborative and creative, and that's just all you could ever ask for in this scenario. It's a difficult subject and it's some vulnerable stuff, and you want someone that's going to go there all the way with you." On Reijn's Embrace of the Eyes Wide Shut Connection, Knowing That Audiences Would Bring Their Knowledge of Kidman's Filmography to the Movie Halina: "When she came onboard, when she said 'I want to play this character' — and what also happened, so first of all, that, of course that it was going to be her, but then the strike happened. And I wrote the whole movie for summer, so I wrote that the second home is going be in The Hamptons, and they were going to be swimming in the ocean. It was completely, in that sense, a very different energy field. Then, because of the strike, we had to reschedule to Christmas. And A24 called me and said 'after the strike, the moment the strike ends, you need to rewrite, you need to rewrite the whole thing. It needs to be Christmas'. And then, of course, I thought Eyes Wide Shut, because it's the best Christmas movie ever. [caption id="attachment_652177" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eyes Wide Shut[/caption] But I also thought about Eyes Wide Shut that it was funny that, if you look at Eyes Wide Shut, of course it has a lot of similar themes about midlife crisis, about sexual exploration, about monogamy versus polygamy, and all of these things — but she only tells him her fantasy, then we go on the whole journey with him, almost as a revenge, as a kind of Pandora's box is opened and now he has to go on this journey. It's an amazing journey but what is her journey? We don't know. We don't go there. We just hear her talk about it. We get some flashes. So I thought it is actually an answer in a way, but I only thought this after the fact, to be honest with you — it's an answer to Eyes Wide Shut. It is a female's journey into what is sexuality, what is monogamy, what do I really want and how hard is it to talk about that in an intimate, very long-term relationship, and how easy, weirdly, is it to be with a stranger and to reinvent myself with this young, strange man? That paradox is amazing to me. I am very grateful that there is some sort of strange magical connection between those movies." On How Dickinson and Kidman Brought Both Chemistry and Awkwardness — and Attraction and Uncertainty — to Romy and Samuel Harris: "Well, we didn't do loads of work. We had some rehearsals, but we really tried to focus on just getting the reality there and finding the nuance. But mostly it just came from not discussing stuff and just trying it. And we didn't talk a bunch. We didn't get to know each other loads. We just did it and tried it and didn't get in the way of ourselves too much, and I think that ended up working out for the best." On the Babygirl's Tonal Balancing Act Harris: "It's always tricky figuring out the tone, what kind of thing you're in. But it starts to fall into place, especially when you have a very strong, assertive voice with a director like Halina — you end up just trusting them and trusting their vision for it, and you fall into place. And it becomes the film it's supposed to be. All of that stuff that you try, it gets mixed up into the pot and then the dish gets made. You throw it all in, you throw the ingredients and you see which ones come out the other side." Halina: "I thought it was incredibly hard to — I really, as an actress, I'm retired now, but I got so many scripts in my life that I didn't understand the tone. It was like 'what do they want?'. So I felt it was my duty to make it very clear, especially because I take this challenge of 'oh, I'm going to make my own genre' —well, then you better know what you put on the page. So I really try to capture the tone in my writing — and on purpose, because this is how I feel. This is where we stand, I feel, as women. We just got the right to vote. Until 1987, we had to have a male guardian with us to get a business loan. It's still proven that if we lose ten pounds of weight, that we get a promotion in our work easier than if we get a master's degree. We're nowhere. So I wanted to show that in how I use genres. So I start out with these very masculine sexual thriller references,of the 90s. And then I venture into a world where everybody turns out to be ambiguous, and it's way more relatable and human and complex and nuanced. I'm using, on purpose, I'm swapping gender — like the scene in 9 1/2 Weeks where Kim Basinger is stripping to a Joe Cocker song and Mickey Rourke is sitting there watching her, I wanted to really copy that scene, but then reverse the gender, swap the gender, where Nicole is sitting there and he's dancing to 'Father Figure'. And all these little Easter eggs, so that you can continually be confused about who has the power, who's chasing who, who's blackmailing who — and is the woman in control, or is she the mascochist, or is her masochism super dominant? And that is where the comedy of manners element steps in and it becomes more of a fable and a fairy tale. And yes, what was hard about it is that I wanted it to be funny. And sex and humour is not always easy to connect, just like horror and humor in Bodies Bodies Bodies was a hard balancing act. But I just love that kind of challenge. Not everybody gets it, because some people feel that when people are laughing in the audience at Babygirl, they feel they don't want that. They want people to not laugh about it because they take it so seriously. But it's meant to make you laugh. It's meant to show you how we're all helpless as humans. We're just trying to control the chaos, but we can't. And that's what my movie is about, it's about pure vulnerability. So it was a balancing act, but I really enjoyed it." On What Goes Into a Memorable Dance Scene, Such as Babygirl's Seductive-Yet-Awkward Hotel Moment, for Dickinson Harris: "Well, I think you said it: seductive, awkward. You don't want it to be too rehearsed. You want it to be silly. You want it to be meaningful. You want it to be awkward. You don't want to be like some Magic Mike planned thing — it's got to feel authentic to the character. But also, I think in that particular scene – well, there's the two dance scenes. There's the rave, which is something different, that's just total hedonism. And then in the hotel, it's almost like a little mating call. He's feeling it out. He's performing to her a little. He's embarrassed. But he's also kind of enjoying the freedom of it. It's like a little bit of liberation for him as well. So there was a lot a lot going on in that scene." Babygirl opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
This article is part of our series on the diverse highlights of NZ's Canterbury region, from city to snow. To book your Christchurch trip, visit the 100% Pure New Zealand website. Bars on buses, pop-up public buildings and shipping container shopping centres — it's what you expect to see in some of the most cutting-edge cities in the world, but is it what you expect to see on the South Island of New Zealand? This is the land of the long white cloud's inventive, industrious and inspiring city of Christchurch today. Excitement and opportunity are stirring everywhere in a city with a fresh slate. It's in the small bars that have appeared in deserted streets, the designers who have started working a disused tannery and the locals who just want to contribute to the new incarnation of their city. For most, it's an inspiring time to be in New Zealand's second largest city, and there's no better time to visit. Here are four areas in which the city is thinking laterally and pulling off big things. Hospitality: C1 Espresso Christchurch is catching up to Auckland and Wellington in the cool stakes and forging its own rep for great coffee, small bars and a focus on local produce.. "We're all starting again and we've got an opportunity to redefine ourselves," says Sam Crofskey, owner of High Street's C1 Espresso. Pioneering the second wave coffee movement through to the third in Christchurch since 1996, C1 is famous for its pneumatic tube system that delivers burgers and fries to you at 100 km/hr. While there is something very Fifth Element about it, but this system is actually more in tune with the past than the future, as the tubes are part of the building's former life as a bank. "There is so much opportunity in the city," Sam says. "You can open a bar in an alleyway or upstairs above a shop or whatever." And people are. Bars specialising in whiskey, craft beer and local wine have popped up in unlikely places and are almost always buzzing with crowds. Retail: Re:START A temporary structural solution is driving the retail industry: shipping container shopping. Re:START encouraged retailers to establish temporary spaces in shipping containers to grow their businesses. Located in Cashel Square, Re:START has been one of Christchurch's biggest successes. (It's also home to Dimitri's, possibly the best souvlaki in the South Island.) In addition to what's happening in the city centre, retail has found an unlikely home-away-from-home in the industrial side of town. Ten minutes drive from the CBD in Woolston, an old tannery has become the new home of Christchurch's boutique designers and retailers. After owning the site for near on 20 years, Alasdair Cassels was able to redevelop the space into an arcade-like shopping mall, aptly dubbed The Tannery. Giving designers a place to create and sell their wares, The Tannery became a meeting place as well as a shopping destination — at a time when the city had nothing else like it. Art: Gap Filler Colour flows through Christchurch in the form of street art. From almost any vantage point you're bound to be in viewing distance of at least two pieces of work, with murals painted on the sides of buildings both abandoned and inhabited and outdoor installations littered over disused blocks. What's happened in Christchurch has shown that adversity exemplifies creativity. Seeing a way to breathe new life into the city, artists have used bare walls to redefine the mood and vision of the urban area. A mural painted We got the sunshine lights up Madras Street, a super-size Rhone portrait sits on one side of Cathedral Junction and local artist Wongi 'Freak' Wilson has left his mark all over town. As well as this, 'Gap Filler' projects are placed all over the city, activating vacant spaces with interactive installations. Walking around, it's likely that you'll hear someone playing the drums (in the Sound Garden), see someone having a boogie in front of a washing machine (at the Dance-O-Mat) or sitting on a giant Astroturf couch. Once a super conservative city, Christchurch now thrives on new work that will continue to shape and develop with it. If you're an artist with a crazy idea, Christchurch is the one city that might just let you do it. Infrastructure: Cardboard Cathedral As well as Re:START, which can be moved at any time, the Cardboard Cathedral is an incredible example of how great transitional architecture can be. Erected as a place of worship by emergency architect Shigeru Ban, the structure is made largely from cardboard tubes and looks like a picture of perfect symmetry from the inside. It's temporary, but it's meant to last around 50 years. But permanency is the ultimate goal, and plans for infrastructure and urban living are well underway. New Christchurch looks like it's going to be one hell of a city. Feature image and Rhone mural image courtesty of Jocey K, Cardboard Cathedral courtesy of Forgemind ArchiMedia via photopin.
An afternoon spent in a big Sydney beer garden with your mates is most definitely an afternoon well spent. There will be laughs, possibly a few jugs or bottles emptied, some good food and (hopefully) plenty of sunshine. But the most important thing is spending time with your buddies — ALL of your buddies. You wouldn't leave Dave at home would you? Or Sarah? Think how devastated they'd be if they found out you hadn't invited them. Your best friend — aka (hu)man's best friend — would also get seriously hurt feelings if left at home, so the trick is to choose a venue where Rover is welcome, grab him a dish of water and sneak him a couple of bites of nachos under the table. The bars mentioned here are happy to have canine guests as long as they don't make too much noise or mess (so it's just like the deal they have with you and your mate Dave really...).
Home to an enviable beachfront view, North Bondi Fish is bringing back its legendary Bondi Bottomless sessions as the sunny days stretch into autumn. From this stunning vantage point perched just above the shore, a sun-soaked feast is on the agenda every Saturday and Sunday from 12pm. Expect fresh seafood, free-flowing drinks and crowd-pleasing DJ beats. [caption id="attachment_993297" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Priced at $95 per person, on the menu at this boozy long lunch are tantalising options like salted fish fritters, baked scallops, XO butter, Hibachi market fish skewers, and calamari and chips. Then, bottomless house beer, wine and prosecco will go down a treat, as you soak up your front-row seat to the iconic Bondi Beach. If you're keen to take this weekend get-together to the next level, you're invited to upgrade to the cocktail package for an extra $30pp. Spanning classic and creative cocktails, your 90-minute feast gets even better with classic and spicy margaritas, minty-fresh mojitos and a seasonal spritzes that change from session to session. [caption id="attachment_993296" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Of Oliver[/caption] Top image: Of Oliver
Baz Luhrmann has always had a knack for casting. As his three-decade filmography shows, he's long had a talent for plenty more — dazzling imagery, pitch-perfect needle drops, and a hyperactive and immersive vibe that makes viewers feel like they've stepped right into his movies, for starters — but his films are always immaculately cast. He had 90s teens swooning over Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. His made Elizabeth Debicki a star via The Great Gatsby. And just try to name someone who didn't want Ewan McGregor to serenade them after Moulin Rouge!. You can't; they don't exist. Elvis, Luhrmann's biopic about the king of rock 'n' roll, is no different. Indeed, the acclaimed Australian filmmaker wouldn't have made it if he wasn't able to find the right actor for the job. And that stellar stroke of casting, enlisting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Austin Butler to sport the pompadour, sideburns and oh-so-many jumpsuits, has exactly the effect that Luhrmann intended. Watching Butler in the film's meticulous recreations of Presley's live performances, you instantly understand why the singer became an icon. You see what audiences in the 50s, 60s and 70s saw. Even better: you feel as thrilled and excited as they must've felt. Charting Presley's life from his birth in Tupelo, Mississippi to his death in 1977 at the age of 42 — as told by his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) — Elvis spans the details that a big-screen biography about one of entertainment's most famous names needs to. It's also made by a filmmaker with his own name recognition and sense of style. The result: an Elvis movie and a Luhrmann movie. It has the swagger of both. It mixes Presley's songs — some sung by Butler, some by the man himself, some blending the two — with hip hop. It sashays between swirling imagery and a Luhrmann-esque sensory onslaught to concerts so electrifying that you can almost smell the sweat. It's little wonder that Elvis debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to a 12-minute standing ovation. It's also unsurprising that bringing the film back to Australia, including to the Gold Coast where it was shot, was one helluva party. During the whirlwind Aussie tour, ahead of the movie's local release on June 23, we chatted to Luhrmann about all things Elvis — spanning everything from telling more than just Presley's story to Butler's virtually fated casting, thank you, thank you very much. THE MUSIC BIOPIC ALL SHOOK UP From Strictly Ballroom, his hit debut back in 1992, through to his 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby, his most recent big-screen release until now, music has been a crucial part of Luhrmann's films. Perhaps that's why Elvis feels like a movie that he was always going to make — and the style of feature, a music biopic, that was always going to pop onto his resume at some point. Asked if it felt that way to him, Luhrmann says that he was drawn to making more than just a music biopic. "I always liked the way Shakespeare would take a historical figure and make a bigger idea," he says — and as Romeo + Juliet fans know, Luhrmann's long been a fan of the Bard. "And I was so in love with Amadeus. I don't know how old I was when I saw that, but the thing about that film is it's called Amadeus but it's not really about Mozart. It's Salieri's story — and who the hell is Sailieri? That's the point of the movie. He was the most famous composer on the planet, and god goes and puts genius in this piglet of a person and he's very angry about it. So the film's about jealousy," Luhrmann continues. "I wanted to use the canvas of Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker — never a Colonel, never a Tom, never a Parker — this giant, out-there character, who, you know, was a carnival barker and a sort of Svengali type. He saw this kid who had grown up in one of the few white houses in the Black community and went 'I don't know what he's doing but that's the best carnival act I've ever seen'. And I just think the spread of the life — the 50s, 60s, 70s — if you want to explore America, what a great canvas. And through music, what a great canvas." FROM DANCING TO 'BURNING LOVE' TO DIRECTING AN ELVIS MOVIE Thanks to a wonderful piece of trivia from Luhrmann's past, directing Elvis almost seems like it was meant to be. He says the same about Butler playing Elvis — but only Luhrmann won a dancing contest to 'Burning Love' when he was ten. "I did. I went up to the DJ and I said 'hey mate, can you put on 'Burning Love' because it really gets going, you know?' Luhrmann recalls. "And we had the matinees at our little cinema for a while" — because, yes, Luhrmann's father Leonard ran a small-town movie theatre when he was growing up — "and I just thought he was cool". Ask a teenage Baz about Presley, though, and his answer would've differed. Unpacking why is part of the reason he has made Elvis now. "Pretty quickly, by the time I was about 18, I was into Bowie and stuff like that, and Elvis kind of was in the background," Luhrmann says. "But I think he was always present to me, but I was also very aware that under 35, he's just kind of a Halloween costume. My kids are like, he's the funny guy in the white suit, you know?" "Anything that is iconic, that becomes rusty — at some point something iconic must've been amazing, must've felt amazing, but it's just become ossified," Luhrmann continues. "So I've spent my life taking kind of implausibly cheesy things and trying to re-code them so that what they felt like, you can feel again." In what quickly proves typical Luhrmann fashion, he has an anecdote to explain, one relating to one of the most memorable songs in his movies yet. "When I was doing Moulin Rouge!, we were thinking about the key love song, and I was at a piano bar in San Diego. And 'Your Song' came on. And the guy was like "it's a little bit funny…" — every cheesy bar in the world would play 'Your Song' by Elton John. But I went home with Anton [Monsted, the film's executive music supervisor, and Elvis' music supervisor as well] and we listened to the original recording. And, we realised, what an amazing song." GETTING THE RIGHT ELVIS IN THE BUILDING Call it a case of suspicious minds: if Luhrmann was going to make Elvis, he wasn't going to cast just anyone. The world is full of Elvis impersonators, which is a skill all of its own. But that wasn't what Luhrmann was looking for — and although Harry Styles was also considered, the pop star wasn't what the director was after, either. Butler wanted the part so badly that he made and sent a video of himself singing 'Unchained Melody' before Luhrmann was even casting. "It wasn't like an audition," the filmmaker says. "He talks about it now, but I only learned recently or during the process that what happened was, he'd made another video and it wasn't good, he thought. And he had lost his mum the same year that Elvis did. So he has this nightmare and he goes down the stairs and thinks 'what I am going to do with this terror?'." "So he goes down and he just sort of, he's in a bathrobe, and he's playing it, and shooting with an iPhone as he's singing it. And I thought, it wasn't an audition. I thought it was like spy cam or something. I said 'who is this? What is this?'." "And then he came in, and pretty much he was Elvis from the moment he walked in," Luhrmann continues. "He just kept getting more and more Elvis, to the point where during the pandemic I had to tell him to slow down, like he was going to break himself. But I think it's like a life or death commitment for him." THOSE PHENOMENAL LIKE-YOU'RE-THERE CONCERT SCENES Strictly Ballroom had brilliantly choreographed and shot ballroom scenes. Moulin Rouge! was filled with big musical numbers, including in the eponymous Parisian establishment. The Great Gatsby boasted parties that could sit in the dictionary under 'decadence'. Luhrmann knows how to direct a spectacle — and, in Elvis, that comes via the concert scenes. Chatting about them, he credits the team effort — and Butler. "Firstly, you've got to start with Austin, whose commitment — it was like, it's a freak situation. I mean, his casting in the role is almost a freak situation. It's like forces beyond me almost, without getting too Hammer horror. He was drawn to be in this movie, and I wasn't going to make it unless I could find someone to play it," Luhrmann notes. "Then, COVID meant that whatever he was doing, he had to do it for another year. And by then he was so Elvis." Obviously, there's more to Elvis' centrepiece scenes than just pointing the camera at the Butler, as exceptional as he is. Luhrmann was determined to use the recreated footage to show — rather than tell — the audience what made Presley a star, and so incendiary, and why he was such a hit. Again, viewers don't just see the singer and his impact; they feel it, like they're there in that audience in the 50s, 60s and 70s. "Working with [cinematographer] Mandy Walker and [executive music producer] Elliott Wheeler, and the music people and all that, [we were] making sure shot by shot — making sure the look, shot by shot, it was identical in many regards," Luhrmann says. "But then you flip the coin, and you show what you didn't see in the documentaries and what you don't see in the concert footage. So it's getting the two sides to it." Elvis screens in Australian and New Zealand cinemas from June 23. Read our full review. Image: Hugh Stewart / © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including 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, 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. LIGHTYEAR In the realm of franchise filmmaking, "to infinity and beyond" isn't just a catchphrase exclaimed by an animated plaything — it's how far and long Hollywood hopes every hit big-screen saga will extend. With that in mind, has a Pixar movie ever felt as inevitable as Lightyear? Given the main Toy Story plot wrapped up in 2019's Toy Story 4, and did so charmingly, keeping this series going by jumping backwards was always bound to happen. So it is that space ranger figurine Buzz Lightyear gets an origin story. That said, the trinket's history is covered immediately and quickly in this film's opening splash of text on-screen. Back in the OG Toy Story, Andy was excited to receive a new Buzz Lightyear action figure because — as this feature tells us — he'd just seen and loved a sci-fi movie featuring fictional character Buzz Lightyear. In this franchise's world, Lightyear is that picture. It's hard not to see Lightyear as a new cash cow — the Toy Story series' cash calf, perhaps. It's also difficult not to notice that the Disney-owned Pixar has made a movie that renders a famed character a piece of film-promoting merchandise, all while also releasing a new range of Lightyear-promoting merch so that IRL kids can have their own Buzz Lightyear toy again, too. In 2049, will audiences be watching a flick about someone who saw this as a child, nagged their parents for a Buzz and developed their own love of animation, space, franchises or all of the above? It wouldn't be surprising. Of course, there's form for making Buzz a movie tie-in toy; the overarching series' other main figure, pull-string cowboy Woody, stemmed from a fictional western TV show called Woody's Roundup. Maybe that's what Pixar will now make next. Or, perhaps it'll release a film or show based on one of Lightyear's new characters, feline robot companion SOX. Yes, you can now buy toy versions of it in reality as well, because of course you can. Buzz Lightyear and a cute cat that talks? The head of Disney merchandising must've seen potential piles of cash stacked to infinity and beyond purely at the thought of it, and director Angus MacLane (Finding Dory) along with him. Thankfully, as calculated as Lightyear's existence clearly is — and it's as blatantly engineered by bean counters as any movie can be — it's still likeable enough. It only slightly feels like a flick that might've actually come out around 1995, though, even if Apollo 13 sat second at the global box office that year (behind Toy Story, fittingly). And, after sending the wonderful Soul and Turning Red straight to streaming during the pandemic, plus Luca, it's also a standard pick for Pixar's return to the big screen. Buzz the live-action film hero — flesh and blood to in-franchise viewers like Andy, that is, but animated to us — also goes on an all-too-familiar journey in Lightyear. Voiced by Chris Evans (Knives Out) to distinguish the movie Buzz from toy Buzz (where he's voiced by Last Man Standing's Tim Allen), the Star Command space ranger is so convinced that he's the biggest hero there is, and him alone, that teamwork isn't anywhere near his strength. Then, as happens to the figurine version in Toy Story, that illusion gets a reality check. To survive being marooned on T'Kani Prime, a planet 4.2 million light-years from earth filled with attacking vines and giant flying insects, the egotistical and stubborn Buzz needs to learn to play nice with others. For someone who hates rookies, as well as using autopilot, realising he can only succeed with help takes time. Read our full review. MEN Since popping up over the last decade, the term 'elevated horror' has always been unnecessary. Used to describe The Babadook, It Follows, The Witch, Get Out, Hereditary, Us, Midsommar and more, it pointlessly claims that such unsettling flicks have risen above their genre. Each of these movies is excellent. They all boast weight and depth, trade in metaphors with smarts and savvy, and have style to go with their creeps and thrills. But thinking that's new in horror — that pairing unease with topical woes or societal fears is as well — is as misguided as dubbing Michael Myers a hero. With a name that makes its #MeToo-era point plain, Men has been badged 'elevated', too, yet it also does what horror has at its best and worst cases for decades. That the world can be a nightmare for women at the hands of men isn't a fresh observation, and it's long been a scary movie go-to. Still, Men stresses that fact in an inescapably blunt but also unforgettable manner. The film's setting is an English manor, where Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter) hopes for a solo stint of rest, relaxation and recuperation. Processing a tragedy, shattering memories of which haunt the movie as much as its protagonist, she's seeking an escape and a way to start anew. The initial hint that she won't find bliss comes swiftly and obviously, and with a sledgehammer's subtlety. Arriving at an idyllic-looking British countryside estate, Harper is greeted by an apple tree. She plucks one from the abundant branches, then takes a bite. Soon, she's told by her host Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear, Our Flag Means Death) that it's forbidden fruit. He also says he's joking — but in this garden, a woman will again shoulder a society's blame and burdens. As overt and blatant as this early exchange is, there's an intensely unnerving look and feel to Men from the outset. Returning to the big screen after excellent sci-fi TV series Devs, writer/director Alex Garland isn't a stranger to visually stunning, deeply disquieting films that ponder big ideas; see: the complex, eerie and sublime Ex Machina, plus the similarly intricate and intriguing Annihilation. Oscar Isaac doesn't turn up this time, let alone dance. Buckley and Kinnear do turn in mesmerising and magnificent powerhouse performances amid the perturbing mood and spectacular imagery. Gender expectations also get probed and challenged, as do genres. And, things get strange and insidious after Harper tries to lap up her bucolic surroundings. Those blood-red walls sported by Harper's atmospheric centuries-old home-away-from-home? That's another glaring warning. Also discomforting: the jump-scare glitch when she video chats with her best friend Riley (Gayle Rankin, GLOW), after being told by Geoffrey — who is polite but never direct, perfectly satirising both stiff-upper-lip Britishness and the fine line between being courteous and patronising — that reception isn't the best. And, when Harper ventures out of the house, she discovers scenic treasures alongside hardly hospitable locals. She's a woman plagued by troubles that don't begin as her own, and she's forced to devote everything she has to moving past them and surviving. That Harper is played with such instinctive and physical feeling with Buckley, who just keeps going from strength to strength thanks to Beast, Wild Rose, Chernobyl, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Fargo and her Oscar-nominated efforts in The Lost Daughter, is one of Men's biggest assets. Read our full review. THE KITCHEN BRIGADE When a chef sticks to a tried-and-tested recipe, it can be for two reasons: ease and excellence. Whipping up an already-proven dish means cooking up something that you already know works — something sublime, perhaps — and giving yourself the opportunity to better it. That process isn't solely the domain of culinary maestros, though, as French filmmaker Louis-Julien Petit makes plain in his latest feature The Kitchen Brigade. The writer/director behind 2018's Invisibles returns to what he knows and does well, and to a formula that keeps enticing audiences on the big screen, too. With the former, he whisks together another socially conscious mix of drama and comedy centring on faces and folks that are often overlooked. With the latter, he bakes a feel-good affair about finding yourself, seizing opportunities and making a difference through food. Returning from Invisibles as well, Audrey Lamy (Little Nicholas' Treasure) plays Cathy, a 40-year-old sous chef with big dreams and just as sizeable struggles. Instead of running her own restaurant, she's stuck in the shadow of TV-famous culinary celebrity Lyna Deletto (Chloé Astor, Delicious) — a boss hungry for not just fame but glory, including by dismissing Cathy's kitchen instincts or claiming her dishes as her own. Reaching boiling point early in the film, Cathy decides to finally go it alone, but cash makes that a problem. So, to make ends meet, she takes the only job she can find: overseeing the food in a shelter for migrants, where manager Lorenzo (François Cluzet, We'll End Up Together) and his assistant Sabine (Chantal Neuwirth, Patrick Melrose) have been understandably too busy with the day-to-day business of helping their residents to worry about putting on a fancy spread. From the moment that Cathy arrives at the hostel, thinking she's interviewing for a restaurant gig rather than auditioning to cook for young men happy with ravioli, The Kitchen Brigade sets up a simple culture-clash scenario — in the realm of cuisine, contrasting its protagonist's gourmet expectations with the shelter's reality. When she cottons on to what's in store, she's gruff, wary and unimpressed, and learning to open up while making bonds with the hostel's inhabitants, all of whom yearn for new lives as well, comes as expectedly as pairing a baguette with cheese. Following familiar steps and still hitting the spot is a cooking staple, however, and it works with Petit's feature. He doesn't reach the pinnacle of charming culinary movies, or of underdog stories, but the end result goes down smoothly and is never less than palatable. Unsurprisingly, The Kitchen Brigade is at its best when it's fleshing out its characters amid the recognisable narrative beats, with Petit scripting with producer Liza Benguigui-Duquesne and screenwriter Sophie Bensadoun based on Bensadoun's idea — and, when it's doing what the floral industry-set The Rose Maker did, which used a comparable setup to dive into the layers and prejudices engrained in French society. Like that thematically similar, also-sincere and perceptive movie, The Kitchen Brigade benefits from fine central performances, adding depth and texture that mightn't have bubbled to the fore otherwise. Lamy, the ever-reliable Cluzet, Fatoumata Kaba (Validé) as Cathy's self-starter best friend, first-timer Yannick Kalombo as aspiring chef GusGus and Mamadou Koita (Dernier maquis) as soccer hopeful Djibril: they all leave an imprint, seasoning the cinematic meal. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31; April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28; and May 5, May 12, May 19 and May 26; and June 2 and June 9. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening, The Good Boss, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, Ithaka, After Yang, Downton Abbey: A New Era, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Petite Maman, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Firestarter, Operation Mincemeat, To Chiara, This Much I Know to Be True, The Innocents, Top Gun: Maverick, The Bob's Burgers Movie, Ablaze, Hatching, Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero and Benediction.
When Presumed Innocent begins, Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal, Road House) has devoted his career to putting away Chicago's criminals. As the chief deputy under the city's District Attorney, he's long lived and breathed his job, plus the upholding-the-law responsibility that comes with it. He knows the city's wrongdoers. He knows the system that punishes them for their misdeeds. He knows the courts and their inner workings. In other words: he knows how to do his job and, he thinks, how to make his hometown safer. Sabich is well-aware of what legally befalls those who fall afoul of society's standards, too — but what he isn't expecting, not for a second, is to be soon treated the same way. Audiences with knowledge of both film and literary history can see what's coming. This eight-part Apple TV+ series is the latest page-to-screen show from David E Kelley — and also another program with a story that already made the leap from bookshelves to the big screen before getting the television treatment. In recent years, Kelley has ushered A Man in Full, Anatomy of a Scandal, Nine Perfect Strangers, The Undoing and Big Little Lies down the first route. He's taken The Lincoln Lawyer down the second as well. His pedigree spinning legal narratives dates back to LA Law, The Practice, Ally McBeal and Boston Legal. Now, he's adapting author Scott Turow's debut 1987 novel, which initially became a hit 1990 Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny)-starring feature. Turning Presumed Innocent's tale into a series and the passage of more than three decades are each a gift to its complexity, strengthening and building it in the way that a prosecutor with the aid of time and the perspective that it affords might construct their approach. There's more of the former, obviously, to fill out the intricacies of a scenario where a hotshot legal eagle usually firmly on the right side of the law is now a suspected murderer — and more space to ensure that the misogyny of the 80s and 90s doesn't still shine through. When Presumed Innocent became a movie, it was in the Fatal Attraction, Disclosure and Basic Instinct era, when Michael Douglas (Franklin) kept providing the face of men supposedly victimised by assertive women. If he'd led this picture, it wouldn't have come as a surprise. But just as Fatal Attraction has been updated for the small screen, so has Presumed Innocent. The setup: with being the main attorney under DA Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp, who also appeared in A Man in Full) already a fraught situation — aka an election year — Sabich's life is upended when his colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve, 2021's Cannes Best Actress-winner for The Worst Person in the World) is found dead. The circumstances closely resemble a case that the two had previously worked on, so Rusty takes point in attempting to bring the perpetrator to justice. It seems a logical choice. Only professional envies fuel any qualms in the office. That said, what only his supportive wife Barbara (Ruth Negga, Good Grief) knows is that Rusty and Carolyn had an affair, which almost tore apart the Sabichs' marriage. A secret like that doesn't stay quiet, especially with Horgan's adversary Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle, Loot) and Rusty's ambitious counterpart Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard, Memory) looking to appease the electorate, and quickly, as they each aspire to climb to the top jobs. No one needs to commence an investigation to uncover the resentment directed like daggers from Tommy to Rusty, both before and after the latter's romance with Carolyn is exposed. Kelley has a penchant for courtroom dramas, so that's where Presumed Innocent is headed, with Rusty on trial for murder. Kelley of late also adores facades crumbling, equally revealing how pledging to live happily ever after with the one that you love isn't the same as truly knowing them. Rusty's obsession, with the fixated texts and emails to prove it, are that shattering. The question lingers, as it's meant to: does Presumed Innocent's protagonist deserve the viewers' presumption of innocence? The legal system must impart it, although Molto and his gleeful smirk can't, won't and don't. But should those watching give him the benefit of the doubt (and there are many doubts)? Should heartbroken artist Barbara and her and Rusty's teenaged kids Jaden (debutant Chase Infiniti) and Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick, 9 Full Moons), for that matter, or Horgan and his wife Lorraine (The Color Purple's Elizabeth Marvel, Camp's IRL spouse) as well? Also, as the series embraces Apple TV+'s beloved murder-mystery genre (see also: The Afterparty, Bad Sisters, Black Bird and Criminal Record, for example), what other queries should Detective Alana Rodriguez (Nana Mensah, The Diplomat) be asking as she helps Rusty attempt to clear his name? Presumed Innocent hasn't skimped on casting, to its advantage. With Gyllenhaal, who haunted in Donnie Darko and Nightcrawler in immensely different ways, the show earns not only a gripping central performance but a slippery one. Kelley doesn't ever paint his protagonist as a hero or anything as clearcut. Amid frames that do the same visually, he sees both the light and the darkness, which Gyllenhaal can jump between like flipping a switch. As both Reinsve and Negga flesh out the women caught up in Rusty's mess, and Sarsgaard eats up the screen — particularly when Rusty and Molto face off in court — Presumed Innocent poses more questions, however, about taking any one trait or behaviour as indicative of a broader picture. Lying in some instances doesn't mean lying always. Having a loved one's back isn't the start of unconditional and perpetual reassurance. Putting your career first once isn't the same as doing it forever. Bearing a grudge doesn't mean being driven by only animosity. With murkiness and shades of grey, there's also no holding back, then — or on twists. Cliffhangers land at the end of most episodes, as tailor-made for a viewing model that began with a double drop, then doles out the rest of the episodes week by week, regardless of if that's how viewers watch. While what it will entail beyond a brand-new case hasn't been revealed, including for its stars, a second season is on the way. Alongside season one's fellow executive producer JJ Abrams (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), Kelley will be back, though, so presuming that more comfortable lives will implode is more than reasonable. Check out the trailer for Presumed Innocent below: Presumed Innocent streams via Apple TV+.
This is a blast: before its second season even arrives, Fallout has already been renewed for a third. Prime Video has announced not only that the hit video game-to-television adaptation will return in December 2025, but that more is on the way after that. That's what happens when a series becomes one of the platform's top-three most-watched shows ever, notching up more than 100-million viewers globally. It was true when Fallout was locked in for season two, and it remains the case now: bring a massively beloved video game to TV in the right way and viewers will come flocking. That worked for The Last of Us as well, which is currently streaming its second season and also has a third in the works. While Fallout will initially take viewers back to the wasteland before 2025 is out — complete with stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Walton Goggins (The White Lotus) and Aaron Moten (Emancipation) returning as Lucy, The Ghoul and Maximus, respectively — there's no exact December date for season two as yet. Understandably, there's also no release date at all locked in for season three so far. For the second season, though, viewers can look forward not only to picking up where season one's finale left off, but to venturing through the Mojave wasteland to New Vegas. When it dropped its initial eight episodes in 2024, Fallout took its cues from the games that first debuted on computers back in 1997, with three released sequels, a fourth on the way and seven spinoffs all following. The live-action television iteration follows Lucy, a lifelong vault-dweller, who leaves her cosy underground digs to navigate the irradiated wasteland that earth has remained for two centuries after the nuclear apocalypse. Crossing her path: bounty hunter The Ghoul, who has ties to life before the devastation; and Maximus, an aspiring soldier with the Brotherhood of Steel, who don giant robotic suits. In this nightmarish future, a hellscape filled with mutants, wild west vibes and plenty of violence awaits beyond the bunker that the optimistic Lucy, daughter of Hank (Kyle MacLachlan, Blink Twice), who oversees Vault 33, has always called home. Bringing the chaos to life is a behind-the-scenes team featuring Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, as well as Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) as writers and co-showrunners. And yes, Bethesda Game Studios has a hand in it as well. "The holidays came a little early this year — we are thrilled to be ending the world all over again for a third season of Fallout," advised Nolan and Joy, announcing the news. "On behalf of our brilliant cast and crew, our showrunners Geneva and Graham, and our partners at Bethesda, we're grateful to our incredible collaborators at Amazon MGM Studios and to the amazing fans as we continue our adventures in the wasteland together." There's no sneak peek for Fallout season two yet, but you can check out the trailer for season one below: Fallout streams via Prime Video. Season two will arrive in December 2025 — we'll update you with an exact release date when one is announced. Read our review of season one, and our interview with Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten. Images: courtesy of Prime Video.
Primarily an orchard, Glenbernie produces a number of apple and fruit products including juices, jams, apple cider vinegar and ciders (under the label Darkes Cider), which can be purchased from the on-site store, Apple Shack. It also runs tours of the grounds year-round and fruit picking experiences over the warmer months. Visit over November and December to fill your basket with stone fruits, and if you're there between January and April, you'll be able to pick apples straight from the tree — either way, your car snack game will be instantly improved. Bookings are essential and can be made here. Image: Destination NSW
Located just outside the opal mining town of Lightning Ridge, these delightful baths are surrounded by remote bushland and are gloriously removed from all signs of civilisation — plus they're open 24 hours a day. You can soak in the hot waters at sunrise, sunset, or any other time your little heart desires. Night swims are particularly recommended as you can float in the 40-degree water while taking in the stunning expanse of the night's sky. One thing Lightning Ridge has in spades — stars. Let the warm water engulf you as you look up to discover more stars than you thought possible. A popular meeting place for Lightning Ridge residents, the baths are also a great place to get a feel for local life. Best of all? Entry is totally free. Images: Destination NSW
The Rocks' Blak Markets are back for NAIDOC Week 2020, bringing together artwork, jewellery, textiles and food from Australia's Indigenous communities. The markets will once again take place on Gadigal land — setting up shop on the Tallawoladah Lawn in front of the MCA for two days from Friday, November 14 through Saturday, November 15 (10am–5pm daily). Throughout the weekend, more than 20 stalls will sell goods made exclusively by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and makers. Apart from art and jewellery, they'll also sell gifts, homewares and Indigenous food and drinks. In between wandering the stalls, try some bush tucker from Indigigrow, check out one of the cooking demonstrations or join in on a craft and weaving workshop. Performances of traditional Indigenous dance and song are also on the docket. Blak Markets in The Rocks will run from 10am–5pm.
Some shows commence with a dead girl wrapped in plastic. Others begin with a plane crash on a spooky island. With Outer Range, it all kicks off with a void. On the Abbott family ranch in Wyoming, in the western reach that gives the show its name, a chasm suddenly appears. A perfect circle swirling with otherworldly mist and resembling an oversized golf hole, it's just one of several troubles plaguing patriarch Royal (Josh Brolin, Dune), however. There is indeed a touch of Twin Peaks and Lost to Outer Range. A dash of Yellowstone, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files and whichever family-focused prime-time soap opera takes your fancy, too. As a result, while Royal is visibly disconcerted by the unexpected opening staring at him in an otherwise ordinary field, he has other worries. His rich, ostentatious and increasingly madcap neighbour Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton, Halloween Kills) suddenly wants a parcel of the Abbotts' turf, claiming mapping inaccuracies. One of Tillerson's mouthy and entitled sons, Trevor (Matt Lauria, CSI: Vegas), ends up in a bar spat with Royal's sons Rhett (Lewis Pullman, Them That Follow) and Perry (Tom Pelphrey, Mank). And there's also the matter of Perry's missing wife, who disappeared nine months back, leaving both her husband and their young daughter Amy (Olive Abercrombie, The Haunting of Hill House) searching since. Into this sea of faith-testing chaos amid such serene and dreamlike scenery, a stranger arrives as well: "hippie chick" backpacker Autumn Rivers (Imogen Poots, The Father). She just wants to camp for a few days on the Abbotts' stunning and sprawling land, she says. She just happened this way, she claims in the process. But the always-guarded, fiercely protective Royal is immediately suspicious — and while he still takes the fat wad of cash she waves around as payment to stay on the outskirts of the property that's been owned by his wife Cecilia's (Lili Taylor, Perry Mason) ancestors for generations, he remains openly and grimly wary. That's Outer Range's setup, although it's also just where the genre-bending new addition to Prime Video launches into its many mysteries. Across its eight-episode first season, it's a ranch-dwelling western, complete with a family battling secrets and struggles of both the internal and external kind, and left grappling with existential doubts when they keep being stripped of everything they believe in. It's an offbeat enigma, too, where bottomless gaps in the centre of the earth aren't the only things that can't be easily explained. Thanks to said hole and surrounding supernatural occurrences, it dives into eerie sci-fi as well. And with Indigenous acting sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski, Run) trying to work out what's going on on several levels, all while campaigning to be elected to her job outright, it's also a detective quest and a thriller. In other words, it's a puzzle box of a program — and the weirder that Outer Range gets, and moodier as well, the more it intrigues and engrosses. Its giant twists are obviously best discovered by watching, but its small quirks are quickly compelling. This is a series where an ethereal feeling permeates the land, even when Royal is nowhere near the void he's desperate to keep hidden. It's a show where one of the other neighbour sons, the quiet yet perturbing Billy (Noah Reid, Schitt's Creek), loves breaking out into song, crooning 80s and 90s pop and rock hits at odd moments. At a funeral, he even sings Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush duet 'Don't Give Up', covering both parts himself and leaving mourners utterly bewildered. Reid is unnervingly difficult to peel your eyes away from in Outer Range, but the series is well-cast in every part — starting with Brolin as Royal, naturally. While the Milk Oscar-nominee has been happily dallying with sci-fi of late, including getting villainous in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Deadpool 2, his is a grounded performance here. He sidles in as a stern-and-silent western archetype, unfurling more of Royal's layers — and unpacking what it means to embody that portrait of western masculinity in the process — with each grimace and glare. Taylor does phenomenal work in support, and although Poots sometimes suffers from the thinner writing establishing Autumn's moves and motivations, she still commands the frame. Family, faith, fate, the land, legacies, the ties of love, the disappointments of life, the inexplicable elements inherent in all of the above: they're all baked into Outer Range, providing plenty of puzzle pieces for its actors to play with. That said, as created and co-written by TV first-timer Brian Watkins, the series turns those familiar components into something shadowy and surreal. Its narrative path isn't always tricky to predict — one huge late revelation especially — however, it constantly surprises in how it tackles its moments and dynamics on a scene-by-scene basis. That's what lingers in Billy's songs, overtly so. It's there in Cecilia's response to every trying development that's sent the Abbotts' way, usually with her at home, on the sidelines, yet no less impacted. And it blazes through in the choice of shots, which bask in the glory of nature's vast expanse but also see far more than just postcard-perfect wonders. The latter stem from a strong roster of contributors, spanning filmmakers such as She Dies Tomorrow's Amy Seimetz and A Cop Movie's Alonso Ruizpalacios in the director's chair, as well as cinematographers such as Waves and Red Rocket's Drew Daniels, The Last Black Man in San Francisco's Adam Newport-Berra, and Seimetz regular Jay Keitel. Helping ramp up the tension, composers Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans' (Windfall, Becoming Cousteau, The White Tiger) anxiety-inducing score drips with tension, too. Pondering big ideas with heaving style and hefty ambition, Outer Range frequently looks and sounds cinematic — and, from the moment it first spies its gaping chasm, swiftly makes for beguiling viewing. With Jordan Peele's latest horror epic Nope also on its way in the coming months, 2022 seems set to be a big year for disquieting screen stories set amid vast American ranches and springing from stellar talent. What that film will bring is currently yet to be seen, of course, but Outer Range gives this entrancing trend an impressive start. Check out the trailer for Outer Range below: Outer Range's first two episodes are available to stream via Prime Video from Friday, April 15, with two new episodes dropping weekly until Friday, May 6.
When Spilt Milk announced that it wasn't taking place in 2024, instead delaying its next festivals until 2025, it looked like fans of the event were in for a hefty wait till they could next hear live tunes echo from its stages. But if you're in Newcastle — or can get there — that's no longer the case. Spilt Milk's regular fests remain postponed until next year; however, it's still returning in November for a new gig series. Meet Spilt Milk House Party, aka the shindigs you throw when you're not throwing your regular shindig. If the tactic sounds familiar, that's because Yours and Owls is deploying it in 2024, too, calling it a pre-party instead. The idea is the same, though: get a bunch of acts to play at a smaller event, rather than the usual big festival rollout. For its version, Spilt Milk hasn't skimped on talent. In addition to his already-announced Australian tour, Troye Sivan leads the Spilt Milk House Party lineup. For company, he'll have Glass Animals, G Flip, Artemas and Sycco. The quintet have a date with Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Sunday, November 24. Spilt Milk House Party Lineup: Troye Sivan Glass Animals G Flip Artemas Sycco
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is last year's news, sadly. There's still two years to wait until Australia hosts the 2026 Women's Asian Cup. But 2024 is the year of the Paris Olympics — and in preparation for vying for gold, the Matildas are hitting the field Down Under. The country's national women's soccer team are playing two friendlies against China, the first in Adelaide on Friday, May 31 and the second in Sydney on Monday, June 3. And although both are sold out — giving the Tillies a massive 14 sellout games on home soil in a row — you can still tune in from home, or the pub, if you won't be in the South Australian or New South Wales capitals or haven't scored tickets. These are the Matildas' first games in Australia since the last match of the final Olympics qualifiers back in February. Taking place in Melbourne against Uzbekistan, that game turned out mighty well for the squad, resulting in a 10–0 scoreline their way and locking in a spot in Paris. This time, there's nothing but bragging rights on the line, but a Tillies game is still a Tillies game. To watch, 10Play and Paramount+ are your destinations — plus Network 10 on regular TV. Sam Kerr is injured, but the squad is filled with high-profile names, including Steph Catley donning the captain's armband, Ellie Carpenter as vice captain, and also everyone from Mackenzie Arnold, Alanna Kennedy, Caitlin Foord, Mary Fowler and Kyra Cooney-Cross to Hayley Raso, Michelle Heyman, Cortnee Vine and Lydia Williams. Expect the latter to spend some time in goal, given that the legend of the game announced that she'll retire from international football following the Olympics. After this, the Tillies kick off their quest for a medal in Paris on Friday, July 26 at 3am Australian time, playing Germany. Their first-round draw also includes matches against Zambia and the USA. In-between, you can get another Matildas fix via documentary Trailblazers, which hits Stan on Tuesday, June 4 — and if you're in Sydney on Monday, June 10, at a Vivid 2024 talk with Mackenzie Arnold and Tony Gustavsson. The Matildas vs China PR Friendlies 2024: Friday, May 31 — 8.10pm AEST / 7.40pm ACST / 6.10pm AWST Monday, June 3 — 7.40pm AEST / 7.10pm ACST / 5.10pm AWST The Matildas' friendlies against in China PR take place on Friday, May 31 and Monday, June 3, 2024— and you can watch via 10, 10Bold, 10Play and Paramount+. Images: Tiffany Williams, Football Australia.
Brotherly musician duo and Australian indie legends Lime Cordiale have announced a new initiative that merges music with their passion for environmental conservation and climate action: Lime Green Festival. This new festival, which is headed to Adelaide's Point Malcom Reserve on Saturday, April 18, prioritises not only positive energy in music but also a positive impact on the environment. Organised in partnership with Chugg Music, Lime Green Festival is an experiment in live music, trialling a new model of music festival that doesn't just tick the box for environmental concerns, but puts climate action at the centre of the entire event. The festival will be 100% off the grid, delivering a quality day of live music and providing a community platform for audiences to engage and learn about the sustainable possibilities of live events in the years to come. [caption id="attachment_1065642" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] PASH[/caption] Joining Lime Cordiale on the lineup are Sunshine Coast-native folk rockers The Dreggs, Adelaide's own chart-topping pop star aleksiah and up-and-coming four-piece pop rockers PASH. Lime Cordiale have also put the word out seeking local talent, with spots on the lineup reserved for artists chosen by the duo themselves, triple j Unearthed and event sponsor City of Charles Sturt. Lime Cordiale, real names Oli and Louis Leimbach, said, "From the accelerating loss of polar ice to the devastating algal blooms currently choking the South Australian coast, it is impossible to ignore that our climate is at a breaking point. For the last five years, we've wrestled with a deep, personal dilemma as environmentalists: Is our touring contributing to the problem? Does it still make sense in a world that's hurting? Should we continue to tour at all?" "We've decided that the answer isn't to stop, but to change," the brothers add. "Live music is about the vital connection between people, and we believe that connection is exactly what we need to fuel a new way of doing things. Our aim is to stage the greenest music festival Australia has ever seen—rethinking everything from renewable stage power and transport to how we handle food and human waste." The brothers hope this new model of festivals can find success first in regional SA, then the rest of the country, encouraging Aussie music fans to attend the festival and take part in the experiment for a better future of gigs, saying "We aren't claiming to be perfect; we will make mistakes along the way, but we are trying. We're inviting you to be part of this experiment. Come and hear some incredible Aussie music, but also come to see what a different future looks like. Let's find out what we can achieve, together." Lime Green Festival will take over Adelaide's Point Malcom Reserve on Saturday, April 18. Tickets will go on sale at 9am (AEDT) on Friday, January 23rd. A presale will run from 9am (AEDT) on Wednesday, January 21st – sign up here.
This much-loved, Aussie-owned boutique has spread around Australia, and Newtown locals are lucky enough to have their very own Monsterthreads on King Street. The brand's t-shirts are more akin to works of art, which is no surprise considering the calibre of artists and illustrators that Monsterthreads works with. Both local and international artists design for the brand, including some based in Colombia and Kuala Lumpur. So, while the shop is Aussie as, the designs represent influences from around the globe. Apart from fashion, there's artisanal jewellery, candles, stationery, bags and a line of cute reusable kitchenware on offer, too.
