Politically incorrect, deliberately crass, with many scenes orchestrated to be painfully awkward, Why Him? is a kind of Meet the Parents crossed with Bad Santa. Owner of a mid-sized printing business in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ned (Bryan Cranston) is genial, outgoing and adored by his employees, his friends and his close-knit family. The latter consists…
There have been at least three great music documentaries this year – Amy Berg’s insightful and comprehensive Janis Joplin: Little Blue Girl; Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, which was a comprehensive look at the band during the height of their early fame in the mid 60s; and Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s look…
What would you give to be someone different? How would you cope if suddenly your life changed, and you found yourself with a new career, new friends and challenges you don’t even understand, let alone know how to solve? If you answer is “I really don’t know”, then Younger is probably for you. This bright…
A powerful, historically-based yarn about bigotry and politics, A United Kingdom tells of the rise of Botswana as an independent nation. Based upon fact, it also happens to be a rich and respectful love story. In 1947 Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo – Selma), a brilliant young African law student, met Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike –…
All-but a two hander, Cooped Up is an independent Australian movie about wrestling and infection starts out looking and feeling silly, but it undoubtedly grows on you. The stars of the piece are a buff young man who dreams of making it big in the US and an attractive doctor treating him for what could…
I was promised something different with Underground Opera and I certainly got it. It was a stunning evening of entertainment from a talented group in an amazing venue. To sit under the brick archways six metres underground in a space that, 150 years ago was filled to the brim with the water that supplied the…
A dynamic lead, some stirring and familiar numbers and a moving story with which I wasn’t familiar make Dusty: The Musical well worth attending. Director Jason Langley was one of the actors who workshopped Dusty back in 2004. Written by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow (the team that also wrote Shout! The Legend…
Underworld: Blood Wars – the fifth film in the franchise – comes four years after Underworld: Awakening, but it has little that is new to offer. Maybe it’s time to bring the saga to an end as it shows signs of running out of ideas. Kate Beckinsale dons the skin tight leather outfit again to…
This live recording finds Nada Surf joining forces with the esteemed Potsdam, Germany-based orchestra Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg. Quite simply – indie rock meets strings! At this point in Nada Surf’s career, Peaceful Ghosts captures the perfect challenge for the quartet. Take an extensive catalogue that spans 24 years, whittle it down to 13 tracks, choose…
Ill-tempered, rude and crude, Billy Bob Thornton returns as anti-hero Willie Soke 13 years after he first donned the Christmas clobber in the independent black comedy Bad Santa for the sequel, predictably titled Bad Santa 2. Bad Santa was the story of a cynical thief who disguised himself as a department store Santa each winter…
