ENTERTAINMENT

SPICE AND VARIETY

FROM FAST JETS WITH AFTERBURNERS BLASTING TO NEON-COLOURED TROLLS REPRESENTING ROCK, JAZZ, CLASSICAL AND POP MUSIC, THERE IS ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYONE – ALONG WITH SOUND SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES ABOUT THE TIES OF COMMUNITY VERSUS SELFISH INTERESTS.

TOP GUN: MAVER ICK

top pick

“Have to admit, I wasn’t expecting an invitation back,” Captain Pete Mitchell says. “They’re called orders, Maverick,” is the droll response. 34 years on from the hit movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise is back in an aviator’s G suit, piloting an F/A-18 Super Hornet – and still feeling the need for speed!

The follow-up to the phenomenally successful 1986 original has been a long time in the making. The film was scripted in 2010, budget of $152 million finalised but filming began in May 2018, completed in 2019 – but its June 2020 release was set back to December 2020 because of the global pandemic.

Ever the outsider, Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell has successfully escaped promotion and higher rank which would see him piloting a desk rather than a multi-million dollar supersonic jet. He’s invited/ordered to return to flight school to train the next generation of naval aviators in aerial combat – and among them is the son of his former partner, The Goose. Miles Teller plays the role of Rooster, an appropriately cocky young rocket jockey.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said the movie is about family, friendship and sacrifice and is a love letter to aviation. Filming was kept as authentic as possible with top naval aviators accommodating up to six IMAX quality cameras in the cockpit, and flying off US aircraft carriers. “This kind of aviation movie will probably never be made again ...”

THE HIGH NOTE

Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie (Dakota Johnson) is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager (Ice Cube) presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.

Ellis Ross, the daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross, has made a name for herself as an award-winning comedy actress in both Black-ish and Girlfriends. In this starring role she demonstrates her dramatic versatility, singing the newly released single “Love Myself” as well as nailing the role of a 40-something star stuck in a rut touring the world but wanting to stretch herself creatively.

The movie was set for theatre release but like so many films affected by theatre closures, it was released as video on demand at the end of May.

T RO L LS WO R L D TOUR

Who knew that a computer animated Trolls movie would set new records right in the middle of a pandemic? It’s what Trolls World Tour did with its digital/streaming release and has been directly credited with many studios embracing online release and downloads of movies which were set for theatre release.

That success led to Universal announcing that they would be looking into doing more simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases.

The Trolls World Tour movie is a sequel to the 2016 Trolls film. The story goes that all Trolls lived in perfect harmony, and six strings on an unbreakable lyre bound their musical multiverse together. The Pop Trolls, as well as the ones from the tribes of Country, Techno, Classical, Rock and Funk explored their wildly innovative music and lyrics and flexed creative muscles surrounding their belly jewels.

But things start to fray and the different musical genres feel neglected. It’s up to the newly crowned Queen Poppy to set off on a quest to reunite the tribes.

Listen out for the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Sam Rockwell, Kelly Clarkson and even Mary J Blige and Ozzy Osbourne as a Rock Troll, Thrash!

A C E L E B R AT I O N OF ENDINGS

BIFFY CLYRO

Biffy Clyro have announced the delay of their ninth album A Celebration of Endings, admitting they felt uncomfortable about releasing the record during the coronavirus outbreak.

A Celebration Of Endings will now arrive on August 14 instead of May 15 as originally planned. “With all of the turmoil and anxiety that the coronavirus situation is causing in everyone’s lives, we decided that it would have felt wrong to have continued with our original release plan,” a statement from the band reads.

“The whole album represents us as a band and society as a whole,” frontman Simon Neil told NME. “We need to learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. We can make a better world for everyone. That sounds so drippy, but it’s within our power. There are good people in the world. We have a song on the album called ‘The Champ’ that talks about ‘the grey man’s curse’. So often, decent people don’t pipe up. Empty vessels make the most noise. It doesn’t reflect what’s going on in any situation.”

W H O OS H ! DEEP PURPLE

Four years after Deep Purple’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and three since their last album, the group will release its 21st LP, Whoosh!, later this year.

Once again, the band collaborated with producer Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) for the record, which will come out digitally, on CD and deluxe CD, or double-vinyl editions. The deluxe editions will come with a one-hour film of bassist Roger Glover in conversation with Ezrin, who produced the group’s last two albums, as well as a video of the band’s full performance at 2017’s Hellfest.

The band says its motto for the sessions was, “Deep Purple is putting the Deep back in Purple.”

“We’ve included everything that made the whole band smile, including Bob Ezrin,” guitarist Steve Morse said in a statement. “We’ve always enjoyed making music and having the incredible luxury of a loyal audience.”

N O N E O F US A R E G E T T I N G O U T O F T H I S L I F E A L I V E

THE STREETS

18 years since the release of The Streets‘ era-defining Original Pirate Material, and Mike Skinner’s back pushing boundaries and making big beautiful beats. Aside from a few casual releases, he’s spent the past few years DJ-ing, but on July 10 he’ll release None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive, his first full body of work since 2011’s Computers and Blues.

The record features guest spots from an all-star cast including – deep breath – Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Ms Banks, IDLES, Greentea Peng, Jimothy Lacoste, Donae’O, Hak Baker and more. Somehow he managed to create a socially distanced music video for the Parker track “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better”, which is quite the achievement.

In an official statement, the Birmingham-based Skinner shared that one of the biggest themes on his mixtape revolves around communication (or lack thereof) in this overlyconnected modern world. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” he said. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.”

A F T E R L A N D

LAUREN BEUKES

In a future where most of the men are dead, Cole and her twelveyear-old son Miles are on the run from the most dangerous person she knows … her sister. Miles is one of the lucky survivors of a global pandemic. But, in a world of women, that also makes him a hot commodity. The Department of Men wants to lock him away in quarantine, forever, maybe. A sinister cult of neon nuns wants to claim him for its own; the answer to their prayers. And boy traffickers are close on their heels, thanks to Billie, Cole’s ruthless sister, whom Cole thought she left for dead. In a desperate chase across a radically changed America, Cole will do whatever it takes to get Miles to safety. Because she’s all he’s got.

R E D H E A D BY T H E S I D E O F T H E ROA D

ANNE TYLER

Micah Mortimer isn’t the most polished person you’ll ever meet. His numerous sisters and in-laws regard him oddly but very fondly, but he has his ways and means of navigating the world. He measures out his days running errands for work – his TECH HERMIT sign cheerily displayed on the roof of his car – maintaining an impeccable cleaning regime and going for runs (7:15, every morning). He is content with the steady balance of his life. But then the order of things starts to tilt. His woman friend Cassia (he refuses to call anyone in her late thirties a “girlfriend”) tells him she’s facing eviction because of a cat. And when a teenager shows up at Micah’s door claiming to be his son, Micah is confronted with another surprise he seems poorly equipped to handle.

Redhead by the Side of the Road is an intimate look into the heart and mind of a man who sometimes finds those around him just out of reach – and a love story about the differences that make us all unique.

DISCLAIMER: All books featured here are supplied by Penquin Random House South Africa

T H E B OY F ROM T H E WO O D HARLAN CORBEN

Thirty years ago, a child was found in the New Jersey backwoods. Living a feral existence and with no memory of his past, the locals just called him Wilde.

Now a former soldier and security expert, Wilde lives off the grid, shunned by the community – until they need him.

A child has gone missing. Her family suspect she’s only playing a disappearing game. Nobody seems concerned except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein, who contacts Wilde and asks him to use his unique skills to find the girl. But even he can find no trace. One day passes, then another, then a third.

On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail.

And now Wilde knows this is no game. It’s a race against time to save the girl’s life – and expose the town’s dark secrets …