Concrete Playground

musicMusication

Jack Black may have already rocked a classroom, but Musication is all about getting schooled in music, Sydney style. The brainchild of some talented local lasses, Musication is gathering together... Read More »

filmBlessed

The intractable bond between mother and child is scrutinised in Ana Kokkino’s heart wrenching new film. A multi-narrative tale based on the play Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?, Blessed... Read More »

filmfreeThe Last Hundred Yards screening

We often speak about “getting older and wiser” but are less likely to seek out the wealth of knowledge from our elders. So in celebration of the City of Sydney’s... Read More »

filmTaking Woodstock

Ang Lee’s tribute to the 40-year anniversary of Woodstock is not quite the film you’d expect. Based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber, Lee’s movie is much more a family... Read More »

filmInglourious Basterds

Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. From the brilliant and bizarre mind of Quentin Tarantino comes the ultimate revenge fantasy. Like the title’s misspelling suggests, Inglourious Basterds takes no... Read More »

filmValentino: The Last Emperor

“So many things I did.”This whispered utterance from Valentino – as his moves through the racks of 45 years of couture – said with such simplicity and almost incredulity, perfectly... Read More »

filmStone Bros.

Touted as the first indigenous comedy film, Stone Bros. is an Aboriginal Australian road movie, replete with colourful characters and crazy situations. Writer/director Richard J. Frankland sticks cousins Eddie (Luke... Read More »

film(500) Days of Summer

This is not a love story. This is a story about love. From the opening (rather pointed) intertitles, this tagline is made abundantly clear. Debut feature film director Marc Webb... Read More »

filmManhattan Short Film Festival

One World. One Week. One Festival. Cremorne’s charming Hayden Orpheum is the Sydney venue for this unique festival of short films and lots of numbers: of 428 entries from 36 countries,... Read More »

filmRe: Session

For those unsatisfied with skiing double black diamond runs, or daring off-piste, then heli-skiing must surely be the final frontier. This October, the award-winning producers at Teton Gravity Research (TGR)... Read More »

performingBrick

Ah, the folly of youth.In 2005 Rian Johnson reinvented film noir with the critically acclaimed, cryptic high school tale Brick. Then earlier this year a high school drama teacher, Chris... Read More »

filmItalian Film Festival

The 2009 Italian Film Festival is already well under way at the Palace Cinemas in Sydney. Alongside the great line-up of new releases (including Michael Winterbottom’s much anticipated Genova) the... Read More »

filmperformingOZ Film vs. OZ Audience

How many Australian films have been on your radar this year? Did Samson & Delilah’s win at Cannes pique your interest? What about the first Aboriginal comedy, Stone Bros? Surely... Read More »

filmInaugural Nordic Film Festival

The Vikings didn't make it as far as Australia but the Nordic Film Festival is venturing to our shores for the first time this October. Films from the far northern... Read More »

filmperformingAustralia's Silent Film Festival

Australia has an illustrious cinematic history. Indeed with The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) Australia arguably gave the world its first narrative feature. This and a dazzling collection of... Read More »

filmAstro Boy

The nostalgia value of Astro Boy alone is sure to see crowds beating a path to the cinema. The antics of this pint sized action hero have been delighting comic... Read More »

filmplayNT Live: All's Well That Ends Well

This weekend you’re in for quite a treat. Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well is coming to Sydney directly from Britain’s National Theatre. The screenings are part of a new... Read More »

filmThe Box

A film entitled The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James "27 Dresses" Marsden, and you’d easily be forgiven for thinking this a romantic comedy. A featherweight caper about the mishaps... Read More »

filmThe Boys Are Back

Fathers and sons: a relationship not often portrayed without sporting paraphernalia nearby. Adapting Simon Carr’s acclaimed memoir about single fatherhood in the shadow of loss, celebrated Australian director Scott Hicks... Read More »

filmPalestinian Film Festival

2009 may have begun with confronting news coverage of the Israeli incursion into Gaza, but it shall draw to a close with more heartening images from Palestine. For the second... Read More »

filmFantastic Planet: Sydney Science Fiction & Fantasy Film Festival

Australians may not entirely embrace Halloween, but there’s no question that we dig the genre films served up alongside. And so it is that the Fantastic Planet Film Festival descends... Read More »

filmCapitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore’s latest rant-cum-documentary has Washington squarely in its sights. Surely it was only a matter of time before the agent-provocateur filmmaker produced his missive on America’s sub-prime catastrophe and... Read More »

filmBondi Short Film Festival

Bringing cinema to the beach for the ninth year running, the Bondi Short Film Festival has well and truly established itself as a cult cinematic event. In fact the matinee... Read More »

filmIt Might Get Loud

Just imagine it: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and The White Stripes’ Jack White are on a soundstage, their electric guitars within reach. It will get loud, there’s... Read More »

filmPrime Mover

David Caesar takes on the truckies in his modern fairytale Prime Mover. Infusing dusty Dubbo with magical realism, this is the story of Thomas, an aspiring truckie meets small town... Read More »

filmA Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is quite the cinematic right of passage. Donald Duck has assumed the mantle, as have Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine and the Muppets. Heady names indeed... Read More »

filmCold Souls

With art imitating life imitating, well, Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls is quite the curio. Writer/director Sophie Barthes takes soul searching to a whole new level in her philosophical treatise on... Read More »

filmAmreeka

The American Dream stretches far beyond its country’s borders. And yet in looking to trade in the Israeli wall for an Illinois white-picket fence, Palestinian Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her... Read More »

filmAmelia

In an attempt to avoid all manner of flying puns*, the best way to describe Mira Nair’s Amelia is as a mixed bag. This biopic of famed and ill-fated aviatrix... Read More »

filmHola Mexico Film Festival

¡Hola! May be the extent of many Australians’ Spanish capabilities, but the Hola Mexico Film Festival would like us to learn another word: revalucion! Yes la revolucion is coming, with... Read More »

filmThe French Kissers

Australian audiences are destined to begin and end 2009 in a French classroom. Pourquoi? Early 2009 was spent watching Laurent Cantet's Palme D'Or winning The Class, fascinating in Franois Bgaudeau's... Read More »

film9

In a post-apocalyptic world, ruined by the scientific hubris of mankind, only a small contingent of machines remains: those that wrought the destruction, and a handful of handmade dolls cowering... Read More »

filmAccess All Areas Film Festival

Fancy a free trip to the cinema? The Access All Areas Film Festival is taking Australian film on tour this month as part of the state’s Don’t DIS my ABILITY... Read More »

filmMoonlight Cinema

The new program for The Moonlight Cinema kicks off with Sam Taylor Wood’s John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. This beautifully constructed film steps behind the legend to reveal a young... Read More »

filmA Serious Man

No Jews were harmed during the making of this film.Left to the end of the credits, this little disclaimer speaks volumes about both the subject matter and tone of A... Read More »

filmThe Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

Why hasn't Australia heard of the Topp Twins? We're famous for nabbing New Zealand talent and claiming them for our own (think Russell Crowe, Crowded House's Neil Finn and Jane... Read More »

filmThe Damned United

Brian Clough: The greatest manager the England team never had. Being a football fan is by no means a prerequisite to enjoy Peter Morgan’s brilliant biopic The Damned United. Adapting... Read More »

filmThe Strength of Water

The unique bond between twins is compassionately realised in Armagan Ballantyne’s debut feature The Strength of Water. Set in the Hokianga, a beautiful, remote region of far north New Zealand,... Read More »

filmThe Informant! special screening + discussion with Steven Soderbergh

From the opening intertitle of The Informant! (or even from the title’s exclamation mark) it’s abundantly clear Steven Soderbergh is gearing up to have a lot of fun. Though based... Read More »

filmAway We Go

What do you get when acclaimed novelist husband and wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida try their collective hand at a semi-autobiographical screenplay about impending parenthood? A very writerly,... Read More »

filmOpenAir Cinema

Rob Bryant, General Manager of the OpenAir Cinema can sum up the experience in three words, 'Sydney in summertime'.This isn't just an outdoor cinema, Mr. Bryant explains, "It's an experience... Read More »

filmReligulous

Polemical, political satirist Bill Maher is a man on a mission… against God. Taking the stance that religion is a hiding to the end of the world; Maher is not... Read More »

filmIt's Complicated

People jump up and down a lot in Nancy Meyers movies. Her heightened, playful worlds of wealthy white characters may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Meyers has established herself... Read More »

filmStarlight Cinema

Taking up residence at the North Sydney Oval, the 2010 Starlight Cinema kicks off with a preview screening of the hilarious British political satire In the Loop. Then for the next two... Read More »

filmAvatar

What on Earth has Jim Cameron been doing for the past 12 years? Well, not much - technically - for he has gone virtual, turning that closely guarded world of... Read More »

filmSherlock Holmes

There is no doubt Guy Ritchie has stamped his mark upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyles iconic Sherlock Holmes. Ritchies now trademark temporal jumps, bare-knuckled fighting and fraternal banter is all... Read More »

filmfreeThe Road

Cormac McCarthys Pulitzer Prize winning novella is a personal, epic poem about a father and son clinging to their humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. Suitably, a lyrical director John Hillcoat... Read More »

filmInvictus

Clint Eastwood is getting sentimental in his old age. The laudable director and gritty actor, who only last year seethed, Get off my lawn, is now all about the group-hug,... Read More »

filmDaybreakers (+ Popcorn Taxi premiere Q&A screening)

At first glance, one of Australias most anticipated films of 2010 hardly looks like a local. With Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe taking the leads, Australian twin brothers Peter and... Read More »

filmfreeA Prophet

Jacques Audiard serves up another searing character study of crime with his taut portrait of A Prophet. Following up the beautifully realised The Beat My Heart Skipped, Audiard journeys into... Read More »

filmfreeTropfest 2010

Its that time of year again. You may or may not have decided this is the year to finally try your hand at a short film, but you definitely know... Read More »

artfreemusicCybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud's Covers

Fans of Sydney street press will no doubt recognise the photography of Cybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud. For five years the couple have been shooting musical greats including INXS, Ben... Read More »

filmEdge of Darkness

Mad Mel is back. After seven years off screen, hes stepped in front of the camera and into very familiar shoes, once again playing a police detective driven to the... Read More »

filmPrecious

Precious was never going to be a light-hearted trip to the cinema. Harrowing to the point of being labeled poverty porn, it is the story of Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey... Read More »

filmperformingNT Live: Nation

Last year Concrete Playgrounders were introduced to NT Live, the ingenious, democratising brainchild of the UKs National Theatre, whereby stage performances are beamed into cinemas around the world. While Australia... Read More »

filmThe Hurt Locker

War is a drug.Or so Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) and journalist turned screenwriter Mark Boal (In the Valley of Elah) would have us believe. After being embedded with an Explosive... Read More »

filmfreeAustralian Film Festival

Now Tropfest has jazzed up audiences about our local filmmaking talent, its time to take part in the inaugural Australian Film Festival. Launching with the tag line 'Its a ripper!',... Read More »

filmmusicScreen Live: Metropolis

Long beloved by film fans, Fritz Langs 1927 masterpiece Metropolis is coming to the Opera House. Showing as part of the Screen Live series, this digitally restored silent classic has... Read More »

filmPar Avion: International Shorts

The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival will be coming to Sydney in May, and to get into the swing of things they will be holding a fundraiser in the... Read More »

filmFrench Film Festival

Each year the French Film Festival arrives in Sydney brimming with cinematic gems and a splash of Parisian chic. This year is no different, with the programme featuring a glittering... Read More »

filmA Single Man

There was little doubt fashion designer Tom Fords debut film was going to have style, but what about substance? Effortlessly silencing doubters, Ford has taken Christopher Isherwoods novel, infused a... Read More »

filmAlice in Wonderland

Tim Burtons obsessively anticipated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland finally hits cinemas in all its three-dimensional glory. Burton has transformed Lewis Carrolls Alice Kingsley into a 19-year-old dreamer (played by... Read More »

filmWelcome

Frances illegal immigrant population is given an earnest, charming face in Philippe Lioret's affecting portrait, Welcome. The irony of the title is only the beginning of Liorets stirring, incisive look... Read More »

filmFive Minutes of Heaven

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel is no stranger to controversy. After drawing criticism for his sympathetic portrayal of Hitler in Der Untergang (Downfall), Hirschbiegel has turned his sights on the Irish Troubles,... Read More »

filmYoung at Heart Film Festival

You dont have to be part of the blue rinse brigade to take part in NSW Seniors Week. Really. You can just rock on over to Dendy Opera Quays and... Read More »

film10 Conditions of Love

Its the documentary that caused all the fuss at last years Melbourne International Film Festival. The one that resulted in a diplomatic scuffle, three Chinese directors withdrawing their films from... Read More »

musicperformingPassenger

If youve been wandering around the city lately, you may well have come across a rather disarming busker. That would be Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, a particularly talented Pom who... Read More »

filmMicmacs

Jean-Pierre Jeunets uniquely irreverent brand of quirk always makes for a fun trip to the cinema. Known for capturing his zany characters in a gorgeous, idealised, French film reality, Jeunet... Read More »

filmHow to Train Your Dragon

Sure, its ostensibly a kids film, but there is something wonderfully endearing about this latest DreamWorks animation. Yes, its in the new-fangled 3D. Yes, it is derivative of old favourites... Read More »

filmThe Room

Every so often, a film transcends the extent of its putridity and transforms into a beloved 'so bad its good cult classic. Such is the case with The Room, a... Read More »

filmA Night of Horror International Film Festival

The first thing you need to know about the A Night of Horror Film Festival is that it goes for nine days, so dont go letting the name confuse you.... Read More »

filmmusicperformingplayThe Met: Hamlet

It seems the New York Metropolitan Opera has caught wind of what those clever fellows over at the British National Theatre have been up to; theyve launched their own live,... Read More »

filmmusicSpanish Film Festival

The Spanish are once again bringing their special brand of fiesta to Sydney this May. The 13th Spanish Film Festival has a programme brimming with over 40 films, many of... Read More »

filmfreemusicMessage Sticks Indigenous Film Festival

Blackfella Films directors Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale are once again taking over the Opera House for a long weekend of Indigenous film celebrations. Now in its 11th year, Message... Read More »

filmIron Man 2

Bigger isnt always better; unless, of course, youre Tony Stark. And taking the lead from their titular hero, director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) have crammed more... Read More »

performingplayWaiting for Godot

En route to reclaim Gandalf's mantel in The Hobbit, Sir Ian McKellen is stopping off in Australia to play Estragon in Waiting for Godot (insert requisite 'Gandalf to Godot' pun... Read More »

freeNew York, I Love You

Many a love letter has been written to Manhattan, but producer Emmanuel Benbihy has managed to pen one more. Or, more accurately, eleven for the man who worked on... Read More »

filmFish Tank

Andrea Arnold may currently be adapting Emily Bronts Wuthering Heights, but the Academy Award-winning director has already etched her own canonical cinematic work. Thematically, visually and viscerally, Fish Tank is... Read More »

filmSydney Film Festival

The Sydney Film Festival has been officially unleashed. That means itll soon be time to once again take up residence in the State Theatre, to brave the cold and the... Read More »

filmLove, Lust & Lies

For 35 years, acclaimed Australian director Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career, Charlotte Gray) has been following the lives of three Adelaide women. What started as a one-off short film documenting... Read More »

filmThe Stoning of Soraya M.

Granted, the title lets you know what youre in for, but The Stoning of Soraya M. still manages to leave you feeling utterly undone. Based on the French-Iranian journalist Freidoune... Read More »

filmThe Secret in Their Eyes

This Argentinean gem comes to Australia with a modicum of celebrity, having won the Best Foreign Film Oscar over such favourites as The White Ribbon and A Prophet. And while... Read More »

filmMother and Child

Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives) challenges the intractable bond between mother and child in a compelling triptych of regret and redemption. With tour-de-force performances from Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and... Read More »

filmMademoiselle Chambon

Real-life exes Vincent Lindon (Welcome) and Sandrine Kiberlain (Aprs vous...) generate some serious chemistry in Stphane Briz's heart-rending tale of star-crossed lovers. Jean (Lindon) is a small-town builder, affectionate father,... Read More »

filmToy Story 3

Its nigh impossible to convey the stupendous delight that is Toy Story 3 without stoking the irrepressible hype that now surrounds the film. So while were in for a penny... Read More »

artfilmExit Through the Gift Shop

Is this filmmaking debut from infamously anonymous street artist Banksy a hoax? Does it matter? These two questions will undoubtedly colour your viewing of this suitably opaque 'documentary'. Banksy is... Read More »

filmRug Trip: A Global Expedition Through Film

If you were a child of the 90s, theres a good chance you'll hold fond memories of Aladdins magical carpet ride. It is in this mindset that you should head... Read More »

filmGreenberg

Roger Greenberg is not the kind of guy you want to wind up next to at a dinner party. Prickly, passive aggressive and seemingly oblivious to his truculent demeanor, Greenberg... Read More »

filmPossible Worlds: Canadian Film Festival

Another world of possibilities is unfolding as the Canadian Film Festival once again takes up residence at Sydney's Dendy cinemas. Now in its fifth year, this plucky event is the... Read More »

filmSouth Solitary

The first thing that strikes you about South Solitary is its visual splendor. Gorgeous cinematography and unshowy period production and costume design effortlessly draw the audience into Meredith's (Miranda Otto)... Read More »

filmperformingJoss Whedon: From Buffy to Dr. Horrible, Infinity and Beyond

The cultural divide between Sydney and Melbourne has never felt more like a yawing abyss than when news broke that Joss Whedon would be giving the keynote address at the... Read More »

filmRussian Resurrection Film Festival

With its rich red interiors, the Chauvel seems just the right setting for a Russian Resurrection. The 7th annual film festival is offering up 17 new films plus a World... Read More »

filmCairo Time

Beloved character actor Patricia Clarkson (High Art, Pieces of April, The Station Agent) finally steps onto centre stage in Ruba Naddas luscious Egyptian love story. Actually 'love story' doesnt do... Read More »

filmThe Ghost Writer

In a convoluted case of art imitating life, Roman Polanski's latest thriller centres on a man under siege. Novelist and screenwriter Robert Harris' thinly veiled portrait of ex-British Prime Minister... Read More »

filmThe Nothing Men

Producer and co-star Martin Dingle Wall calls The Nothing Men "a rusty nail, one inch punch of a film," and there's honestly no better way to describe it. Set in... Read More »

filmFour Lions

A comedy about suicide bombers sounds like a tough sell by any stretch of the imagination. But when that imagination stems from British satirist Chris Morris, there is some sort... Read More »

filmFather of My Children

The French love of cinema is given vibrant new depth in Mia Hanson-Love's reverent ode. The writer-director's sophomore film follows charming film producer and joyous family man Gregoire Canvel (Louis-Do... Read More »

filmThe Kids Are All Right

How does that saying go? 'The only functional family is one you havent met yet.' This certainly holds for Lisa Cholodenko's (High Art, Laurel Canyon) latest filmic family, made up... Read More »

filmIsraeli Film Festival

The seventh Israeli Film Festival is taking place in Sydney this week. Showcasing an exciting, diverse range of films, the programme includes the controversial Eyes Wide Open, which navigates the... Read More »

filmGoing the Distance

Going the Distance may not exactly rock the conventions of the rom-com, but it is a refreshingly vibrant addition to the genre. So while the meet-cute, montages and requisite emotional... Read More »

Playground Blog

Apples in Stereo Frontman Creates a Mind-Synth

Synth geeks, eat your heart out but keep your brain, you'll need it. Robert Schneider, lead singer of Apples in Stereo, has created a mind-control interface for an audio... Read More »

Twitter Updates

The Concrete Playground Daily is out http://paper.li/PLAYGROUNDnews - featuring @ArtshineQC @GritFX @jem1ller @ebertchicago
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@jezfletcher How did you find out it was a fake? So bummed...
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Apples in Stereo frontman creates a mind-synth: http://bit.ly/dzJWMD
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Thank goodness the humans of the Inner West know how to celebrate furry oddballs: http://bit.ly/aaGAlq
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Looks like California's favourite burger joint, In-N-Out, is coming to Paddington. http://yfrog.com/0estijj
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At a loose end? You won't be wasting your time if you go see this film. - http://ow.ly/2ylnF
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Just 3 ingredients for this scone recipe! via @trespassmag - http://bit.ly/aUlyJg
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The Concrete Playground Daily is out http://paper.li/PLAYGROUNDnews - featuring @TEDchris @GOOD @nytimesarts
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