Flipped
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Madeline Carroll Callan McAuliffe and Anthony Edwards
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Blame it on the lure of technology, shortened attention spans or simply growing cynicism, but it is increasingly rare to find a film about teenagers that is not suffocated with special effects, concerned with an end-of-the-world scenario, or stuffed with vampires or magic.
Plots involving normal teenagers simply acting their age are hard to come by and, as the accomplished American filmmaker Rob Reiner found out with his latest offering, even harder to market.
Released mid-year with virtually no PR campaign, Flipped understandably achieved tepid box office results and was swiftly dispatched to DVD.
But that should not reflect badly on what is a well-crafted film.
Set firmly in America's baby boomer generation (the late 1950s to the early 1960s) Flipped is a tale of first love, albeit the innocent kind.
Indeed, the title relates to the unpredictable way one person can find themselves inexplicably falling in love with another and vice versa.
The film starts off with Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe) moving into his new suburban neighbourhood where he is immediately accosted by fellow second-grader Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll), who lives across the road.
Juli falls straight away for his "dazzling eyes", but the pensive Bryce is having none of it.
Thus begins Juli's irrepressible quest to capture his attention by stalking him in the schoolyard, personally delivering him eggs from her back garden or getting close enough to take a whiff of Bryce's watermelon-scented hair.
Bryce, on the other hand, begins a series of "avoidance measures" which involve being standoffish, abrupt and deceptive.
But after years with no success, Juli matures and eventually outgrows her crush on Bryce.
Meanwhile, Bryce begins to finally appreciate Juli's generous spirit and develops romantic feelings towards her.
Reiner's career of late has been a mixed bag, and despite his previous feature The Bucket List being reasonably well received, his best work remains two decades ago in the period when Stand By Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Misery (1990) rode high at the box office.
With Flipped, which Reiner also produced and co-wrote, he goes back to the teen genre with which he has such affinity.
As he did in his earlier teenage classics, Stand By Me and The Sure Thing, Reiner uses Flipped to cast a deeply empathetic eye on young people coming to grips with adulthood.
Both Bryce and Juli find their joyful innocence delicately unravels as they come to terms with the messy business of love and the realisation of where they stand on the social ladder.
The baseball-loving Bryce lives the quintessential American dream. His house has a clean garden and picket fence, his dad works full time and his mum is an affectionate housewife.
Juli's family, on the hand, dwell a few rungs below, with a shabby rented house and an artistic father struggling to make ends meet. Both teenagers view their relationship as an attempt to fill a void in their lives. For Bryce, the irrepressible Juli offers him the adventure that his conservative upbringing denies him. Juli, with her more turbulent life, finds in the shy Bryce the sense of calm that often eluded her.
Reiner elicits delicate performances from both leads and ensures the admittedly sugary plot does not cross over into saccharine.
However, by having the story narrated solely by both teenagers, Reiner does not glean all the riches the story could have offered. He could, for instance, have delved more into the story of Bryce's straitlaced father, solidly played by Anthony Edwards, whose often laconic remarks disguise an ugly short fuse. The same could be said of Juli's parents, whose financial struggles could have been explored further for extra emotional punch.
In choosing not to explore these aspects of the story, Reiner produces a film that is enjoyable but lacks the resonance of his previous teenage works.
Still, when it comes to portraying adolescents skilfully, you would be hard pressed to find a better director then Reiner. Flipped continues his sentimental career-long paean to growing up, with all of its insecurity and upheavals. And without a vampire in sight.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Scoreline
Germany 2
Werner 9', Sane 19'
Netherlands 2
Promes 85', Van Dijk 90'
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
Fixtures
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Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
more from Janine di Giovanni
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Mountain%20Boy
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Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
%3Cp%3E%0DIf%20Catherine%20Richards%20debuts%20for%20Wales%20in%20the%20Six%20Nations%2C%20she%20will%20be%20the%20latest%20to%20have%20made%20it%20from%20the%20UAE%20to%20the%20top%20tier%20of%20the%20international%20game%20in%20the%20oval%20ball%20codes.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESeren%20Gough-Walters%20(Wales%20rugby%20league)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EBorn%20in%20Dubai%2C%20raised%20in%20Sharjah%2C%20and%20once%20an%20immigration%20officer%20at%20the%20British%20Embassy%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20she%20debuted%20for%20Wales%20in%20rugby%20league%20in%202021.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESophie%20Shams%20(England%20sevens)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EWith%20an%20Emirati%20father%20and%20English%20mother%2C%20Shams%20excelled%20at%20rugby%20at%20school%20in%20Dubai%2C%20and%20went%20on%20to%20represent%20England%20on%20the%20sevens%20circuit.%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFiona%20Reidy%20(Ireland)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMade%20her%20Test%20rugby%20bow%20for%20Ireland%20against%20England%20in%202015%2C%20having%20played%20for%20four%20years%20in%20the%20capital%20with%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Harlequins%20previously.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
