Coming Soon
Out this week:
* Albums
- Peace Trail by Neil Young: The Canadian singer’s thirty seventh album; follows 2015’s The Monsanto Years; includes the songs ‘Can’t Stop Workin’’, ‘Show Me’, and ‘My New Robot’.
* Movies
- Office Christmas Party (starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, T. J. Miller, Kate McKinnon) - comedy; after his CEO sister (Aniston) threatens to shut down his branch, the manager (Miller) tries to land a big client by throwing a Christmas party which gets out of hand.
- La La Land (starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt) - musical; a jazz pianist (Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Stone) fall in love in Los Angeles.
Books
- River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope by Naomi Judd and Marcia Wilkie: Nonfiction; biographical account of the country singer’s struggle with adversity and depression.
Celeb Tweets
- Humaima Malick (HumaimaMalick): So many legends are leaving us this year. I feel so sad today. He was the son of mountains and hero of Pakistan. #HassanSadpara
- Ali Zafar (AliZafarsays): Dear life. Thank you for being so fascinatingly amazing. On days was studying Rumi, was offered to play a role named Rumi. #DearZindagi
Star
Felicity Kendall Huffman
- Born on 9 December 1962 in Bedford, New York, U.S.
- Has six sisters and a brother.
- Parents divorced when she was a baby.
- Attended the New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts for Drama.
- Made her stage debut in 1982, and big screen debut in the 1988 film Things Change.
- Gained some recognition after starring in the comedy drama Sports Night (1998 - 2000) before earning fame for her role in the comedy drama Desperate Housewives (2004 - 2012) and critical praise for her performance in the film Transamerica (2005).
- Has since starred in films including Georgia Rule (2007), Phoebe in Wonderland (2008), Rudderless (2014) and Cake (2014), as well as the anthology crime drama American Crime (2015 - present).
- Has been married to actor William H. Macy since 1997; they have two daughters, Sophia Grace (born in 2000) and Georgia Grace (born in 2002).
Also born today: Jesse Metcalfe, Imogen Heap,
Tré Cool, John Malkovich
Spotlight
Moana
Voice cast: Dwayne Johnson, Auli’i Cravalho, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Rachel House, Jemaine Clement
Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Tagline: The ocean is calling.
- Animation; the daughter (Cravalho) of a village chief (Morrison) goes on a journey to seek demigod Maui (Johnson) who has placed a curse on her island.
- Is the first Polynesian-themed Disney animated film since Lilo & Stitch (2002).
- Had a budget of $150 million; has made around $105 million in two weeks.
- Has received very positive reviews from critics who praised the film’s story and visuals, but has also received some criticism - for instance, for perpetuating stereotypes - in the Oceanic region.
- “Moana” is the Polynesian word for ocean or sea, and also refers to the colour blue.
- Music composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who was recruited to work on the soundtrack before the phenomenal success of his stage musical Hamilton), Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina.