Prom
Director: Joe Nussbaum
Starring: Aimee Teegarden, Nicholas Braun, Thomas McDonnell
**
Glitter, American pop and melodrama are the key ingredients for Prom, the latest in Disney's line of live-action teen movies. Placing an unfathomable amount of importance on the American tradition of the high-school prom, the movie follows several students as they prepare for "the biggest night of their school lives". There's Nova (Teegarden), the class president organising the event, the quiet "invisible kid" Lloyd (Braun) and several others all getting through love, heartache and growing up as they head towards the big night. While winning you over with wide-eyed honesty and a lack of cynicism, Prom suffers from clichés that are otherwise sidestepped by todays "smarter" teen movies. The shy outsider, the control-freak class president, the bad boy… all the stereotypes are present and correct, but compared with High School Musical or Glee, whose demographic Disney is surely aiming for, there are few fully fleshed-out characters or stand-out performances. Braun is perhaps the most memorable, but is let down by the script at vital points. The various plots come together in a predictable fashion, resulting in a teen drama that may be feel-good, but lets itself down by merely going through the motions.
Films: The National watches
Film reviews, festivals and all things cinema related
Film
Follow us on Twitter and keep up to date with the latest in arts and lifestyle news at twitter.com/LifeNationalUAE
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
