“Every night is movie night,” says Charlize Theron in Netflix's latest promo unveiling its list of a whopping 86 new movies being released in 2022.
With a cast list that includes the who's who of Hollywood, top stars from South Korea including Squid Game sensation Park Hae-soo and Tabu and Rajkummar Rao from Bollywood, the schedule this year promises at least two big movies a week.
Theron returns to the streaming service with The School for Good and Evil alongside Kerry Washington, in a film adaptation of the bestselling young adult novel of the same name. Rian Johnson's much-awaited detective follow-up Knives Out 2 will also be released this year, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Daniel Craig, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista and Ethan Hawke.
Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans will team up with their Avengers pals the Russo brothers who will direct the espionage thriller The Gray Man, which also features South Indian star Dhanush. Meanwhile, fellow Avengers Chris Hemsworth stars in the sci-fi drama Spiderhead, along with Miles Teller.
Jennifer Lopez will return to action as an assassin on the run in The Mother and Dev Patel makes his Directorial debut with Monkey Man, a revenge drama in which he also stars.
Other big films coming this year include Jason Momoa's fantasy film Slumberland, John Boyega and Jamie Foxx's sci-fi comedy They Cloned Tyrone, Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in the Brad Pitt-produced Blonde, and The Mothership, a Halle Berry sci-fi thriller, also starring Omari Hardwick.
After its massive success with Korean content in 2021, with Squid Game and Hellbound breaking records, this year's line-up also includes six titles from the country, including spy action film Yaksha: Ruthless Operations. Hae-soo, who became a global star following the success of Squid Game, plays a lawyer in this thriller set in China.
Bollywood is not left behind either, with acclaimed actors Tabu and Ali Fazal starring in the espionage film Khufiya, directed by award-winning filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj. Rao, who has a number of awaited films in the pipeline, pairs up with Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte for the black comedy Monica O My Darling.
Here are our top picks of films coming to Netflix in 2022:
'The School for Good and Evil'
Cast: Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh and Sir Ben Kingsley
Director: Paul Feig
What it's about: Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of a modern fairy tale when they are swept away into an enchanted school where young heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance of good and evil.
'The Gray Man'
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton and Rege-Jean Page
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
What it's about: When the CIA’s most skilled mercenary – whose true identity is known to none – accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
'Spiderhead'
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollet
Director: Joseph Kosinski
What it's about: Set in the future, two young convicts grapple with their pasts in a facility run by a brilliant visionary, who experiments on inmates with emotion-altering drugs. The film is based on The New Yorker article Escape From Spiderhead by George Saunders.
'Blonde'
Cast: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale
Director: Andrew Dominik
What it's about: Based on a bestselling novel from five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde is the reimagined private story of the world’s most famous sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe. The film is a fictional portrait of the model, actress and singer during the 1950s and '60s, told through the modern lens of celebrity culture.
'Slumberland'
Cast: Jason Momoa, Marlow Barkley and Chris O’Dowd
Director: Francis Lawrence
What it's about: A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
'Knives Out 2'
Cast: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista and Kate Hudson
Director: Rian Johnson
What it's about: In the follow-up to the 2019 hit Knives Out, detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colourful suspects.
'The Mother'
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick and Gael Garcia Bernal
Director: Niki Caro
What it's about: A deadly female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.
'They Cloned Tyrone'
Cast: John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris
Director: Juel Taylor
What it's about: A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio on to the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.
'Monkey Man'
Cast: Dev Patel and Sharlto Copley
Director: Dev Patel
What it's about: An unlikely hero emerges from prison to take on a world enmeshed in corporate greed and eroding spiritual values, seeking revenge from those who took everything from him many years ago.
'The Mothership'
Cast: Halle Berry, Omari Hardwick and Jaiden J Smith
Director: Matt Charman
What it's about: One year after her husband mysteriously vanishes from their rural farm, a woman discovers a strange, extraterrestrial object underneath their home and embarks on a race to find him and uncover the truth.
'White Noise'
Cast: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle and Jodie Turner-Smith
Director: Noah Baumbach
What it's about: The life of a professor in a small American town is thrown into chaos when a cataclysmic train accident casts chemical waste over his town. The film is based on a 1985 novel of the same name by Don DeLillo.
'Yaksha: Ruthless Operations' – South Korea
Cast: Sol Kyung-gu, Park Hae-soo, Yang Dong-keun and Park Jin-young
Director: Na Hyun
What it's about: A merciless man known as Yaksha crosses paths with a prosecutor on a special inspection mission in Shenyang, China.
'Seoul Vibe' - South Korea
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Go Kyung-Pyo, Lee Kyoo-hyung, Park Ju-hyun and Ong Seong-wu
Director: Moon Hyun-sung
What it's about: A talented crew of baby drivers, known as the Sangedong Supreme team, prepare for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, but end up uncovering corruption at the highest levels of the racing industry.
'Monica O My Darling' – India
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Huma S Qureshi and Radhika Apte
Director: Vasan Bala
What it's about: A young man desperately tries to make it big with some unlikely allies and a dastardly diabolical plan to pull off the perfect murder.
'Khufiya' – India
Cast: Ali Fazal, Ashish Vidyarthi and Tabu
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
What it's about: Krishna Mehra, an Indian spy, is assigned to track down the mole selling her country's defence secrets while grappling with her dual identity as a spy and a lover.
THE BIO
Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist
Age: 78
Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”
Hobbies: his work - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”
Other hobbies: football
Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
RIDE%20ON
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
England squad
Joe Root (captain), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (vice-captain), Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
FINAL RESULT
Sharjah Wanderers 20 Dubai Tigers 25 (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries: Gormley, Penalty
cons: Flaherty
Pens: Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries: O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons: Caldwell 2
Pens: Caldwell, Cross
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
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Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
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if you go
The flights
Air France offer flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Cayenne, connecting in Paris from Dh7,300.
The tour
Cox & Kings (coxandkings.com) has a 14-night Hidden Guianas tour of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It includes accommodation, domestic flights, transfers, a local tour manager and guided sightseeing. Contact for price.
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
A cryptocurrency primer for beginners
Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies – by Kiana Danial
There are several primers for investing in cryptocurrencies available online, including e-books written by people whose credentials fall apart on the second page of your preferred search engine.
Ms Danial is a finance coach and former currency analyst who writes for Nasdaq. Her broad-strokes primer (2019) breaks down investing in cryptocurrency into baby steps, while explaining the terms and technologies involved.
Although cryptocurrencies are a fast evolving world, this book offers a good insight into the game as well as providing some basic tips, strategies and warning signs.
Begin your cryptocurrency journey here.
Available at Magrudy’s , Dh104
