With police corruption at its dark heart, The Good Turn is another solid entry in a police procedural series that has been pure gold for crime fiction fans since the first book. Adjusting to the new reality of his long-distance relationship with girlfriend Emma, Cormac Reilly has less patience in the tank than usual to…
There’s a certain kind of satisfaction in seeing nasty people receiving their just desserts. The opening chapters of The Other Mrs would seem to indicate this is what is about to occur, but it is not quite what we receive. With the passing of Alice, it becomes necessary for Will, his wife Sadie and their…
The six adult children of Frazer Lattimer have an entire childhood of fraught experiences to draw upon for examples of bad parenting. Their mother, Kathleen Lattimer, was an utter saint though and often served as a buffer between her overbearing husband and their three sons and three daughters. With Kathleen now gone, and Adam Lattimer…
Nicolas Cage movies broadly fall into three categories – the good, the bad and the bizarre. His latest film, Color Out of Space – a hybrid of sci-fi, alien invasion and horror, based on a 1927 short story written by H P Lovecraft (who is considered the father of the modern horror story) – falls…
On the anniversary of the Romulan supernova event Jean-Luc Picard consents to be interviewed at his home, anticipating an opportunity to rationally discuss what was learned from mistakes made during the handling of the galactic catastrophe. Of course, the reporter sent to Chateau Picard is not interested in this path at all, and instead pursues…
Tapping into the guilt of parents everywhere who have all had their days where it simply went to hell on public transport, Little White Lies is a novel about repercussions, regret and the tangled webs we weave. The life of the White family moved on, as it had to, after the disappearance of young Abigail…
I’ve loathed every film revered auteur Terrence Malick has made since The Tree of Life. His impressionistic take on the material – with its ethereal visuals, non-linear structure, the fragments of whispered, overlapping dialogue, the rapid cutting within scenes that barely give a moment room to breathe and the off-centre framing of his characters and…
Midway is a gripping, visually spectacular – if, at times, melodramatic – recreation of events leading up to the pivotal Battle of Midway that turned the tide against the Japanese in World War II. The film, based on real-life events, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery…
She was an idealist who got in way over her head and paid the price. Inspired by fact, this is the story of American actress Jean Seberg, a rising star and darling of the French New Wave. She believed in just causes and wasn’t afraid to put her name to them, but she should have…
Comedies featuring strong women can be funny and risqué like Bridesmaids or patchy and disappointing such as Like a Boss. Best friends forever Mia (Tiffany Haddish) and Mel (Rose Byrne) are both happily single. They live together and one even puts toothpaste on the other’s toothbrush. They run their own small cosmetics company – a…
