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There’s also a distracting outsized comic performance from Miranda Otto playing a sex-crazed Austrian who would feel more at home in a Eurotrip sequel than a considered study of marital discord. She’s just another mismatched element in a film filled with them, each clanging against the other. There are some brief insights along the way, including a potentially knotty examination of how fractions within a family can prove alienating but the film’s commentary is largely surface-level. An attempt to contrast the pair with a younger couple is similarly superficial with lazy culture clash jokes mostly involving their use of hashtags. The slightness of the plot gave room for the characters to breathe in Force Majeure but when transported to a broader, slicker canvas, it feels somehow incomplete. … [Read more...] about Downhill review – Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus crash with redundant remake

A CCJ is a type of court order in England, Wales and Northern Ireland issued against individuals if they fail to repay money owed, often because they have fallen behind with utilities and mobile phone bills, gas, and car payments. Once an individual has a CCJ on his or her credit record, it can lead to problems obtaining a mortgage, credit card or other personal loans in the future. … [Read more...] about Debt repayment orders hit record 1.15m in 2019

As its founder and director Jenifer Landor emphasises at our first evening together in an open-air pizzeria, it is not so much about the classes as the experience (lesson one: Italians think it’s weird to drink wine with pizza). Over the course of a week, this approach will take us up a mountain with artisanal baker Mercede and her devoted farm dog, and down into a 600-year-old wine cellar to sample Carlo’s wines, that are deemed so sensitive they are unable to travel beyond their home town (though he pours so generously that this is unlikely to be put to the test). We will make (and eat) ravioli in the kitchen of retired shoe-seller Maria, who has become a celebrated home cook, and meet up with the latest generation of the Di Nucci family, who forsook centuries of migratory shepherding – the transumanza – to set up a thriving cheese factory. … [Read more...] about My week of speaking – and living – Italian in Italy’s undiscovered heartland

Grenfell inquiry resumes – Companies that wrapped Grenfell Tower in combustible cladding will face public scrutiny when the inquiry restarts this week. About 200,000 unseen documents, from private emails to phone transcripts and commercial agreements, will be released during 18 months of hearings examining decisions taken in the months and years before the fire, its immediate aftermath and the role of the UK government. This second phase will open with statements from lawyers for the architects, Studio E, the builders, Rydon and Harley Facades, Celotex, which made the combustible insulation, and Arconic. They will be followed by the tower’s owner and manager at the time of the fire, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation. … [Read more...] about Monday briefing: Helicopter crash kills NBA star Kobe Bryant

Tennis Australia has previously faced calls to remove Court’s name from the Margaret Court Arena at the home of the Australian Open, Melbourne Park. Her views have also led to criticism from current and former players, including Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. … [Read more...] about John McEnroe slams Margaret Court as the ‘crazy aunt’ of tennis