ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC AND MOVIES IN THE INTERNET AGE

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU KNEW ALL THE BEATLES SONGS – BUT NO-ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DID? OR A CYBERNETICALLY ENHANCED IDRIS ELBA BADDIE SQUARED OFF AGAINST DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON AND JASON STATHAM ... JUST SOME OF THE FUN STUFF TO LOOK FORWARD TO THEN!

YESTERDAY

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Imagine a world where the Beatles and their music didn’t exist. That’s the premise the writers took for the laugh-out-loud funny movie Yesterday which is packed full of Beatles songs ... but “composed” by Jack Malik. Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town, played by Himesh Patel, whose dreams of fame have faded, despite the fi erce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, Jack becomes on overnight sensation with a little help from his agent.

Adding extra spice and appeal to the movie are great cameos by Ed Sheeran and James Corden.

FAST & FURIOUS HOBBS & SHAW

“I’m what you call an ice-cold can of whoop ASS ...” with lines like that deadpanned by muscle-bound Dwayne Johnson, how can this latest episode in the Fast & Furious franchise fail to be anything but entertaining – especially since he and Jason Statham, as disgraced former MI6 operative Shaw, have to track down Idris Elba, an AI enhanced evil beast! Hulking lawman Hobbs, a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and outcast Shaw fi rst faced off in 2015’s Furious 7. The duo have swapped smack talk and body blows while simultaneously trying to take each other down. But when cybergenetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever — and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister — these two sworn enemies have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be badder than themselves.

CRAWL HOTEL LAST RESORT VIOLENT FEMMES

When a massive hurricane hits her Florida town, young Haley ignores the evacuation orders to search for her missing father, Dave. After fi nding him gravely injured in their family home, the two of them become trapped by the rapidly encroaching fl oodwaters. With the storm strengthening, Haley and Dave discover an even greater threat than the rising water level – a relentless attack from a pack of gigantic alligators.

British actress Kaya Scodelario portrays Haley, and is instantly recognisable on screen having starred in the Maze Runner series of fi lms as the main character Theresa. She is also making waves for her role alongside Zac Efron in the Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Crawl is also something of a reunion as she teams up with Barry Pepper who plays her father, having acted with him in Maze Runner: the Death Cure. Directed by respected Frenchman Alexandre Aja, the action and horror is non-stop! “I don’t change the chords any more, the chords change by themselves.” And with that line, underpinned by a strumming guitar, the Violent Femmes latest track, Hotel Last Resort, kicks off . It’s also the title of their new album release, out in July, the band’s 10th. The band’s bassist, Brian Ritche is already quoted: “I think it’s probably the best since Hallowed Ground. Which is a long time. It’s just a very focused album, the songs all hold together. It’s a classic album, in the sense that people should actually sit down and listen to the whole thing. “It’s not too long. It’s short, it’s punchy, it’s solid, it’s to the point, goes a few diff erent directions but comes back to the core. Hopefully you’ll think ‘I want to hear that again.’” The Femmes — original members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie, now joined by longtime Horns of Dilemma members John Sparrow and Blaise Garza — recorded the 13-track album in Denver, enlisting help from both Verlaine and pro skateboarder Stefan Janoski, who sings a “rambunctious” new version of I’m Nothing off 1994’s New Times.

FEVER DREAM OF MONSTERS AND MEN

This Icelandic band got their start as a quartet which won a music competition in 2010. Since then they added two more members and produced two albums which have hit the world charts in a big way. So the fi rst track off their new – third – album has been eagerly anticipated. The record sees them reunite with producer Rich Costey (Muse, Rage Against The Machine. While Costey pushed them towards the more “bombastic” and “out-there” edges of their sound, singer Nanna was keen to stress that Alligator is not particularly representative of their new album as a whole. “This is the odd one out,” she said. “There are elements from that song throughout the album but it’s kind of the black sheep in a way.

“For me, this album is a diff erent world entirely. Beneath The Skin was a bit heavier and not as accessible as our fi rst album, but this one is more poppy and brighter.”

TALLULAH FEEDER

Feeder are in the midst of a resurgence, having scored consecutive Top 10 albums with 2016’s All Bright Electric and the2017 Best Of. But frontman Grant Nicholas reveals that he’s very aware of life in the social media age – and that informed this, their 10th, album.

With Feeder having being formed with bandmate Taka Hirose in 1994, Nicholas said in an interview: “Everybody in music who has some success has a fear of the bubble bursting. A lot of things that come with success aren’t always positive. It’s not just about being reviewed by a certain magazine anymore, it’s about being reviewed by virtually anyone who wants to do so.”

Nonetheless, he said this is a classic Feeder record. Tallulah was created during a particularly busy and productive period in the Feeder camp, with a new generation of fans emerging at shows and festivals in support of the Best Of album. Its songs evolved very organically, with frontman Grant Nicholas writing on acoustic guitar and playing to his songwriting strengths.

THOMAS HARRIS CARI MORA

No fava beans and Chianti appear but the latest work from the creator of Hannibal Lecter and the Silence of the Lambs is suitably dark, obsessive and utterly compelling with its themes of evil and greed. Twenty-fi ve million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Caretaker, Cari Mora, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.

No other writer in the last century has conjured those monsters with more terrifying brilliance than Thomas Harris. Cari Mora, his sixth novel, is the long-awaited return of an American master.

ELLIE AND THE HARPMAKER HAZEL PRIOR

Dan Hollis lives alone, in a remote barn hidden in the woods on Exmoor. He leads a simple life and takes great pleasure in the small things – he counts the toadstools on his morning walk (317), he cuts his sandwiches into triangles, he spends his days in the workshop at the bottom of the 17-step staircase. For the past 23 years he has been making harps, carving and shaping it by hand. Then, one day, Exmoor housewife Ellie Jacobs stumbles across the barn by chance as. She’s utterly stunned by the discovery of the enchanting workshop, and Dan gives her the gift of a beautiful cherry wood harp. But Ellie’s controlling husband Clive refuses to let her keep it – and so she begins secret lessons in the barn.

Captivated by Dan’s innocent enthusiasm and infectious joy for the countryside, Ellie starts to dream of escaping her loveless marriage – and so begins a story of innocent deception, unintended complications and lifechanging consequences for them all.

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

THE WHISPER MAN ALEX NORTH

Gripping, moving and brilliantly creepy, this is an outstanding new psychological thriller.

If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken ...

Still devastated after the loss of his wife, Tom Kennedy and his young son Jake move to the sleepy village of Featherbank, looking for a fresh start. But Featherbank has a dark past. Fifteen years ago a twisted serial killer abducted and murdered fi ve young boys. Until he was fi nally caught, the killer was known as ‘The Whisper Man’.

Of course, an old crime need not trouble Tom and Jake as they try to settle in to their new home. Except that now another boy has gone missing. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He says he hears a whispering at his window ...