This week
- 16 BLOCKS
- EVERYMAN
- BRADFORD RIOTS
- DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
16 Blocks
Bruce Willis plays Jack Mosely, a beaten and tired New York Cop with a serious drinking problem.
He is unhappily assigned to the simple task of ferrying petty criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) who is set to testify before a grand jury at 10am.
Eddie needs to be taken from the police station to the courthouse, 16 blocks away. It should take Jack 15 minutes to drop him off at the courthouse and get home.
But things don't go to plan. En route, Jack soon discovers that some people want this witness dead. And when Jack calls for backup, he comes to realise that these people are actually his police colleagues.
The film is directed by Richard Donner who made the original The Omen (a remake is being released this summer), Superman, Free Willy, and the Lethal Weapon series.
- CERTIFICATE 12A
- 16 BLOCKS IS ON GENERAL RELEASE FROM 28 APRIL, 2006
Everyman
By Philip RothPhilip Roth is one of America's best known authors.
He's published 27 books, including Portnoy's Complaint, Goodbye Columbus and The Plot Against America and he's won some of America's most prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for American Pastoral.
His new novel, Everyman, his fifth book in almost as many years, is an intensely personal story about regret, ageing and death.
The title is taken from an anonymous 15th century English allegorical play, whose theme is mortality.
Philip Roth's Everyman follows the story of an unnamed character, a retired advertising man, throughout his life from his childhood summer holidays, through his three failed marriages, to his final battle against his physical deterioration.
Towards the end, his increasingly urgent surgical procedures become an annual occurrence and are described in detail. "Many great books treated adultery," Roth has said in interview, "but very few have treated disease. So I thought to make this man's biography his medical history – just make the medical history the narrative line – and see what happened."
- EVERYMAN IS PUBLISHED BY JONATHAN CAPE
Bradford Riots
Channel 4Written and Directed by Neil Biswas whose previous writing credits include Second Generation and In A Land of Plenty, this one-off drama marks the fifth anniversary of what has been called the worst rioting in mainland Britain for 20 years.
Set in Manningham in July 2001, the story revolves around Karim (Sacha Dhawan) who returns from Manchester University to his home town for the summer.
Unfortunately, racial tensions are brewing after a series of other riots in the North.
The scripts are based on a year of intense first hand knowledge within Bradford's Pakistani community and the drama features music by anti-racist group Asian Dub Foundation.
Neil Biswas said: "I would love this to lead to a different perception or understanding of Muslim communities in the UK – but I will settle for people questioning what they think they know already."
Written very much from the perspective of the Muslim community, Bradford Riots attempts to explore why the violence happened, asks who was really to blame and how the sentencing of young Asian men took place.
It asks the question, did they deserve such harsh treatment despite the majority of them handing themselves in and having no previous convictions?
Our panel will give their verdict.
- BRADFORD RIOTS IS ON CHANNEL 4 ON 4 MAY AT 9PM
Waterloo to Anywhere
By Dirty Pretty ThingsCult punk rock outfit The Libertines split up after two critically acclaimed albums.
Co-founded by friends Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, Doherty's drug habits made him increasingly unreliable and he was expelled from the band.
Doherty released an album with his new band Babyshambles earlier this year. In the meantime, Barat has been concentrating on touring with his new outfit Dirty Pretty Things, formed from the ashes of The Libertines with Gary Powell on drums, Doherty replacement Anthony Rossomando on guitar and Didz Hammond, ex of Cooper Temple Clause, on bass.
Their first album Waterloo to Anywhere has been said to build on early Libertines' sound.
Barat's thoughtful lyrics wrap around several styles from the poppy Gin & Milk, through the ska sea shanty the Gentry Cove to the exuberant punk rock anthems of the first two singles Bang, Bang You're Dead and you F***ing Love It.
- WATERLOO TO ANYWHERE IS RELEASED ON THE MERCURY LABEL
Round-up
JACQUELINE WILSON
Author of over 80 works for children including the bestselling Tracy Beaker series, Jacqueline Wilson was created Children's Laureate in 2005.
In this role she has chosen to campaign to get more parents reading aloud to their children.
To help this along she has compiled a list of 70 tried and tested books for parents to start with.
With suggestions for three age groups, the chosen books range from Wilson's own favourite, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are to classics such as TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
The book features recommendations from celebrity parents and tips on keeping children's attention.
- GREAT BOOKS TO READ ALOUD IS PUBLISHED BY CORGI PRESS ON 4 MAY, 2006
- CLICK HERE FROM MORE INFORMATION
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