‘The Periodic Table’ by Primo Levi

A deeply moving modern classic, Primo Levi assesses, through a series of short stories, his lfe as a chemist, Italian Jew and Holocaust survivor through tales of various elements within the Periodic Table.

Luminous and clearly told, the short stories vary in length and subject as Levi looks to tell his various tales as they range from lead and an early, medieval metallurgist travelling far and wide to make his fortune to arsenic and a consultation with a businessman who has received a gift of sugar. Woven into these stories are more personal, autobiographical moments such as cerium and his survival in the Nazi laager or his early years employed (illegally as a Jew) in the Italian Alps looking to extract lead and contribute to the war effort (an irony not lost on Levi).

So it happens, therefore, that every element says something to someone.

Says Levi and so it appears to be the case with his 21 elements as he pres­erves his sense of self and exploring/find­ing per­sonal mean­ing in sci­ence. As a young teenager, his interest was piqued but there was so little money in early 1930s Italy, beg, steal and borrow was the order of the day to carry out everyday experiments. Post-war was equally frugal and a personal favourite – Chromium – is his detective-like work as he puzzles over how to stop mass produced household paint from gel­ling.

The short stories in The Periodic Table are told mostly through his observations and interactions with people, his evolving profession and environment by which he was surrounded. Levi was an astute observer – not only in his experiments as a young teenager of elec­trol­ysis of water into oxy­gen and hydro­gen, but also of people. Thus, these stories are as much about the world around him as they are about his own personal sense of survival.

‘Galaxy Quest’

Camp, cheesey sci fi story as the cast of a hugley popular space soap opera find themselves whisked off into real space to save an alien race.

It’s been 18 years since the last episode aired but the Galaxy Quest crew still live on in the minds of their fans. The likes of Commander Peter Quincy Taggart (Tim Allen) and Communications Officer Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver) frequently attend the various geek conventions. But things change drastically when a group of Themians approach them for help. The aliens are wholly unaware that Galaxy Quest is fiction and need help before the reptilian General Sarris kills them off.

Think ’60s low budget Star Trek with cheap sets, melodramatic storylines and even a Spock-like alien Dr. Lazarus (Alan Rickman) as, without a script, the crew must overcome their personal mistrust of each other to save the day and themselves. Parodying second-rate space operas, Galaxy Quest is a good-hearted, goofy entertainment.

Rating: 60%

Director: Dean Parisot (Fun With Dick & Jane, RED2)

Writer: David Howard (Trek: the Movie), Robert Gordon (Lemony Snickett: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Men in Black II)

Main cast: Tim Allen (Joe Somebody, Toy Story 1-4), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, Gorillas in the Mist), Alan Rickman (Judas Kiss, Harry Potter)

’Foe’

A slow burn partial dystopian tale as, 50 fifty years from now, with the Earth becoming less and less habitable, explorations are being made to identify a new world.

A secluded farm has been in the family of Junior (Paul Mescal) for generations. As he and wife Hen (Saoirse Ronan) struggle through the long drought, a struggle that has impacted on their relationship, so the arrival of Terrance (Aaron Pierre) with an unexpected offer sends their lives into turmoil.

A Southern Gothic tale as Terrance moves into the rambling old farmhouse to support the couple through his unexpected offer. It’s a claustrophobic world of tension and unexpected twists as the marital drama unfolds with the philosophies of science fiction and technological advancement impacting the narrative. Fans of planetary vistas and futuristic wizardy will be disappointed in what in reality is an intense exploration of the human condition and the concept of love.

Rating: 60%

Director: Garth Davis (Lion, TV’s Top of the Lake)

Writer: Ian Reid (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), Garth Davis – adapted from the novel by Ian Reid

Main cast: Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, The Lovely Bones), Paul Mescal (Aftersun, All of Us Strangers), Aaron Pierre (Old, TV’s The Underground Railroad)

’80 For Brady’

One nonagenarian, two octogenarians and one septuagenarian; 7 Oscar nominations (5 wins) and 25 Golden Globe nominations (11 wins) between them. They deserved so, so much better.

Coming to American football late in life, the result of debilitating chemo treatment, Lou (Lily Tomlin) has one wish. To see the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl. For a decade, Lou and her three closest friends have made the Super Bowl at home a tradition. But with the Patriots making it all the way in 2017, a local radio competition provides the opportunity for the four best friends to travel to Miami and meet hero, NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Chaos ensues as the four descend on one of the biggest sporting events in the US with luggage full of wigs (Trish – Jane Fonda), Betty’s (Sally Field) penchant for spicy food and Maura’s (Rita Moreno) hustle.

Based loosely on a true story, the premise of four older women following their dreams is a strong one. But the material served by writers Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern is abysmal. Occasionally funny scenarios are overshadowed by a surfeit of embarrassment.

Rating: 35%

Director: Kyle Marvin (TV’s All Wrong)

Writer: Sarah Haskins (Booksmart, TV’s Carol’s Second Act), Emily Halpern (Booksmart, TV’s Carol’s Second Act)

Main cast: Lily Tomlin (Nashville, Grandma), Jane Fonda (On Golden Pond, Klute), Rita Moreno (West Side Story, TV’s Oz), Sally Field (Hello My Name is Doris, Norma Rae)

‘Across the Universe’

Theatrics aplenty as the music and lyrics of The Beatles provide the narrative for this entertaining hybrid ode to the protest-set 1960s of music, choreography, live action and animation.

As Jude (Jim Sturgess) heads east from Liverpool to Boston ostensibly to find his GI wartime dad, so the US erupts with its youth culture and anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights. Meeting privileged Max (Joe Anderson) results in an introduction to his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and a love story that spans years. Following a move to New York, the violent anti-Vietnam movement, the Detroit riots, Black Panthers along with psychedelia and the rise of rock and roll dominate their lives – particularly when Max receives his call-up papers.

Popular music providing a core part of the narrative worked for Baz Luhrmann and Moulin Rouge! as director Julie Taymor’s enjoyable romp is populated with characters such as Jude, Prudence, Lucy for the perfect song segueway. The film’s strength is the first hour or so, but the unhinged psychedelia section (featuring Bono and Eddie Izzard) and its overuse of animation highlight an over-reliance on the visual whilst missing depth to its tale.

Nominated for best costume design Oscar in 2008

Rating: 69%

Director: Julie Taymor (Frida, The Glorias)

Writer: Dick Clement (The Bank Job, The Commitments), Ian Le Fresnais (The Bank Job, The Commitments)

Main cast: Jim Sturgess (Geostorm, The Best Offer), Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March, The Wrestler), Joe Anderson (The Grey, Control)

‘Society of the Snow’ (La sociedad de la nieve)

Breathtaking and deeply moving telling of an extraordinary true story, Society of the Snow sees the surviving members of an Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the Andes following a plane crash forced to go to extreme lengths to stay alive.

Invited to play an exhibition match in Santiago, Chile, the Old Christians Club amateur rugby team left Montevideo in October 1972 on a specially chartered plane. On board were 45 people (40 passengers – players, friends and family members – along with five crew members). Turbulent weather and pilot error resulted in the flight crashing onto a remote glacier way off course. Many were killed instantly but the broken plane became home for the survivors for an extraordinary 72 days of near starvation and extreme weather conditions (including being buried by an avalanche).

With the occasional off-screen narration by Numa Turcatti (Enzo Vogrincic, a calming presence at the crash site), a trainee lawyer and friend of one of the players, Society of the Snow is passionate yet respectful. The irony of the raw beauty of location is not lost as despair sets in – one, two, three days becomes twenty, thirty, forty as the skies are scoured, the last of the food eaten. Admittedly overlong from director J.A. Bayona, an underlying deep empathic humanity prevails as Society of the Snow respectfully and viscerally tells its story.

Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2024 (best foreign language film, make up/hairstyling)

Rating: 78%

Director: J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)

Writer: J.A. Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques (Thieves, Intruders), Nicolás Casariego (Intruders, Just Run!) – based on the book by Pablo Vierci

Main cast: Enzo Vogrincic (9, A Twelve-Year Night), Agustín Pardella (Bromance, Pinamar), Matías Recalt (Ciegos, TV’s Planners)

’Hot Fuzz’

A very funny cop comedy as an over-achieving, newly promoted sergeant finds himself banished from London to a sleepy village where little is likely to happen and challenge Sergeant Nicholas Angel.

Transferred to the quiet west country village of Sandford as his record embarrasses the rest of the London Met., officious police officer Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the type of officer who would arrest his grandmother for double parking. The cranberry juice drinking cop quickly makes his mark in Sandford but proves to be a little too by-the-book for the local force – with the exception of PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). In spite of being arrested for being drunk in charge of a vehicle within hours of Angel’s arrival, Butterman, like a child, worships the new guy and his tales of crimestopping in the capital. But as Sandford and the committee prepares to defend its Village of the Year title, so a series of gruesome ‘accidents’ leaves Angel no option but to ignore orders from station chief, Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). And where Angel goes, Danny follows…

Director Edgar Wright’s daft and exhausting tale of sinister goings-on in rural sleepy England is gloriously funny and packed with British thesps all evidently enjoying themselves in a parody that is equally clever as it is laugh-out-loud (apprently some 100 action films were used as inspiration with many references immediately recognisable).

Rating: 74%

Director: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver)

Writer: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek Beyond)

Main cast: Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Fighting With My Family), Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!, Iris)

‘Theater Camp’

Full of luvvie tropes, Theater Camp is an enjoyable, heartwarming romp as the rundown, financially struggling AdirondACTS summer camp faces serious competition from the corporates across the lake.

A sudden illness leaves founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) in hospital in a coma. Clueless white-dude son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is left in charge just as the summer camp gets underway. With most of the kids and eccentric teachers regulars, they need to pull together to save the day and prevent a merger with the competition. Drama teacher Amos (Ben Platt) and music coordinator Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), long-time collaborators, draw up a plan – and come what may, egos, banks, Troy, camp politics and even each other are not going to get in the way of the final night musical.

Original it’s not as the David and Goliath, Adirondacks-style, narrative unfolds in its docudrama-style approach. It has, like the camp itself, a few rough edges but there’s no denying the sheer joie de vivre as kids and (most) adults pull together and (sometimes) put aside their mile-wide competitive streaks to save AdirondACTS. And there are times Theater Camp is genuinely laugh-out-loud.

Rating: 70%

Director: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman

Writer: Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt – developed from an earlier short film

Main cast: Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect, Dear Evan Hansen), Molly Gordon (Shiva Baby, TV’s The Bear), Noah Galvin (Booksmart, TV’s The Good Doctor)

‘Sunset Boulevard’

A classic of the Hollywood Golden Age as a struggling screenwriter finds himself in the thrall of a faded film star of the Silent Age determined to make a comeback.

Avoiding having his car re-possessed, Joe Gillis (William Holden) finds himself hiding the vehicle in the grounds of what appears to be an abandoned Hollywood mansion. But it turns out to be the home of the once-great Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Living alone in the vastness of the house with only Max Von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim) for company, she sees the scriptwriter as her way back.

Money is no object as Gillis becomes a kept man by the possessive, obsessed Desmond demanding complete commitment from Gillis. Her mental balance is tipped over the edge on discovering his liaison with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), a script reader at the Studios.

Writer/director Billy Wilder is at his searing best with this savage but heartfelt melodrama of the Hollywood system at its worse with a tour de force over the top performance from the deranged Swanston. In short, brilliant.

Nominated for 11 Oscars in 1951 including best film, director, actress, actor, supporting actor, supporting actress – won 3 for best screenplay, art direction, original score (Franz Waxman)

Rating: 94%

Director: Billy Wilder (The Apartment, Stalag 17)

Writer: Billy Wilder (The Apartment, Stalag 17), Charles Brackett (The Lost Weekend, Ninotchka), D.M. Marshman Jnr (Taxi, Second Chance)

Main cast: Gloria Swanson (Sadie Thompson, Queen Kelly), William Holden (Stalag 17, Network), Erich von Stroheim (La grande illusion, Storm Over Lisbon)

’If I Survive You’ by Jonathan Escoffery

An exquisite, racking compulsion to survive underlies Jonathan Escoffery’s wonderful debut novel as, escaping 1970s political upheaval and violence, a Jamaican family chooses to settle in Miami.

But nothing is as easy as hoped or expected and, some 30 years later, have learned the hard way that the American Dream is not for all. Matriarch Sanya has returned to her native Kingston whilst sons Trelawny (in particular and who proves to be the main focus of If I Survive You) and Delano continue to struggle with identity and acceptance. So much so that early in the novel, following a fight with his father Topper, Trelawny, working in an assisted living residential home, is living out of his car in downtown Miami. Choices made by Topper in favour of Delano over Trelawny from childhood onwards are current throughout, leading to the younger son’s constant low esteem of himself and which contributed to the fight that now sees the two in dispute.

Full of eccentricity and heart, Escoffery’s novel is in reality a series of eight interlinked short stories – or long fractured non-linear chapters spread over time and place. From driving inland as a family to avoid the ravages of Hurricane Andrew (what proved to be the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida) in 1992 through to finding a way to survive the 2008 recession, this is about carving out a place – a series of odd jobs for Trelawny, a desperate Delano going to extreme measures to find the money to get his kids back following his wife’s departure, cousin Cukie discovering his father just did not want to be found.

The complexities of personal cultural identity with its perspective and acceptance is explored by Escoffery with humour, sublime storytelling and insightful evaluation of the world Trelawny and his brother survive. Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, it lost out to Paul Lynch and Prophet Song.