Marriage is not an easy thing. Anyone who has been in one or near one knows that.
In The Roses we see what happens when a well-to-do couple is derailed by opposing levels of success.
When the career of architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) collapses along with his latest building project, his wife Ivy (Olivia Colman) sees a surge in her formerly failing restaurant business.
Initially, the pair cope with the upending of their domestic life but gradually the imbalance breeds resentment, he for her swelling success, she for his poor parenting skills.
Often very funny and making a fistful of valid points about how unavoidable some compromises can be, the film doesn’t have the bite of the scorching 1989 black comedy in which Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas played the venom-spitting Roses and director Danny DeVito played their hapless lawyer. Check it out on Disney+.
Proving once again how deeply everybody loves a good scare, The Conjuring: Last Rites is presently ruling the planet’s multiplexes as fact-based paranormal investigators Ed & Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga) embark on their final, fiery confrontation with the spirit world.
They’re dealing with yet another haunted house, this one possessed by evil spectres thanks to an ugly flea- market mirror that happens to carry a curse.
The look, feel and quotient of spook moments are in keeping with the other eight frightfests in the series – now one of the most popular horror franchises of all time – so fans will be happy.
And though this is meant to be the final chapter of The Conjuring saga, we know that with the film already proving a huge hit the studio bean counters have probably already looked up from their pocket calculators and said “hey, let’s make another”.
Another film series coming to a supposed end is Downton Abbey.
Based on the phenomenally successful TV series about the upstairs/downstairs lives in the rich English household of the Crawley dynasty, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is an excellent, handsome drama built upon the theme of changing times and values.
Set in the early 1930s, there is much social tumult when Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) gets a divorce, turning her into a pariah.
She has also been charged by patriarch Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) to take over the estate, which is now in deep financial trouble after the historic stock market crash.
With the winds of change blowing through the ravishing rooms, corridors and gardens of the Abbey – God bless the English for listing so much of their landscape – a bundle of storylines weave together beautifully to deliver a very satisfying close to the opus.
And it matters not whether you know the show. Like the previous two films, this one works perfectly for anyone going in cold.
The late, great writer and satirist John Clarke gets the tribute he richly deserves in the bio-doc Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke.
Lovingly directed by his daughter Lorin, the film examines Clarke’s Kiwi origins, where he essentially kickstarted the NZ comedy scene and the impact he had when he moved to Australia.
His work in films such as Death in Brunswick and on landmark TV shows such as The Gillies Report and The Games is duly covered, as is the effect his drinking had on his appearance in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie.
In the compulsive true-crime documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish an innocent teenage girl and her boyfriend are subjected to a stream of disgusting, unsettling texts.
We have been given plenty of cautionary tales about the perils of online culture, especially when it comes to the impact anonymous trolling can have on young people, yet this film ranks as among the most bizarre and compelling.
All the main participants in this harrowing tale are interviewed, including the perpetrator, whose identity is bound to have your jaw hit the floor.
It’s compulsive viewing, currently running hot on Netflix. Don’t miss it.
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