A look at the very best in entertainment this January

A look at the very best in entertainment this January.

MOVIES
A look at the very best in entertainment this January.

MORTDECAI

Here's a little something to cheer up all the guys who still haven't gotten over Johnny Depp dropping out of Sin City 2 (as able as his replacement, Joseph Gordon Levitt, may have been). Here, the What's Eating Gilbert Grape star plays a debonair art dealer who has to traverse the globe in a race to recover a stolen painting that may contain the key to uncovering a big pile of Nazi gold - all the while juggling angry Russians, a British MI5, an international terrorist and his impossibly leggy wife. Will our mustachioed hero hit the bigtime? Watch on.

Director: David Koepp
Release Date: January 23

THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2

As London burns in World War II, school teachers Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox) and Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory) escape with a group of children to remote Crythin Gifford. But when the group takes up residence at the Eel Marsh House, Eve realises that the place also shelters an ancient evil presence that will not be ignored.

Director: Tom Harper
Release Date: January 2

BLACK SEA

A submarine captain, played by Jude Law, makes a deal with a shadowy backer to look for a sunken submarine, rumoured to be loaded with gold. But greed can do lots, including murder. Soon, the adventurer realises that the treachery of the Black Sea is nothing compared to that of his own companions.

Director: Kevin MacDonald
Release Date: January 23

BABY

You wouldn't know Ajay, but he's probably the reason you're still alive. While foiling a terror plot, the officer - one of the best men in the covert Counter Intelligence Unit - discovers a major threat to the nation. What follows is a high-tension chase across Kathmandu, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Delhi and Mumbai aimed at eliminating a terrorist organisation that wields control over the entire world. An Akshay Kumar-starrer for action movie buffs.

Language: Hindi
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Release Date: January 23

ALONE

Language: Hindi
Starring: Bipasha Basu
Release Date: January 23

UTHAMA VILLAIN

Language: Tamil
Release Date: January 23
Cast: Kamal Haasan

SHARAFAT GAYI TEL LENE

Language: Hindi
Release Date: January 16
Starring: Zayed, Rannvijay

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MUSIC

THE ENDLESS RIVER

When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, many hailed it as the death of the band. But no, it carried on with David Gilmour at the helm, even achieving a certain degree of success with The Division Bell in 1994 and giving everybody an illusion of musical eternity. On November 7, the band came out with The Endless River, a swan song for deceased keyboardist Richard Wright and an announcement that it was time to pull down the curtains on the greatest progressive rock band of all time. An album predominantly populated by instrumentals that remind you of stuff from The Dark Side of the Moon, 'Louder than Words' is the only song with a lead vocal track, with lyrics by Polly Samson.

Label Columbia Records Price: Rs 1,846 (approx)

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BOOKS

MR MERCEDES

It starts with the theft of a car, followed by the mowing down of dozens of unemployed people at a Midwestern job fair. It's up to retired cop Bill Hodges to stop 'Mr Mercedes', a face as mysterious as its motives. Believe it, even good ol' Christine wasn't this murderous.

Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: January 5

TRUST NO ONE

Grace Elland knows things aren't going well when she finds her boss, a motivational speaker by occupation, dead next to a vodka bottle. She retreats to her hometown to recuperate, little knowing that greater horrors await her there.

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Release Date: January 6

NUNS OF SANT'AMBROGIO

If you thought the Da Vinci Code was blasphemous, get a load of this neverbefore-told story about sex, poison and lesbian initiation rites in a 19th-century convent. Not for the squeamish, definitely not for prudes.

Author: Hubert Wolf
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday
Release Date: January 12