Latest news with #middleage
Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Paul Rudd is the dream buddy in a superb Fatal Attraction for blokes
Making new friends in middle-age is hard for men — just ask Elon Musk about Donald Trump. Or ask the pair at the centre of Andrew DeYoung's darkly comic film Friendship. Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is a socially awkward suburbanite who drops off some misdirected mail to a new neighbour, Austin Carmichael. A charismatic TV weatherman and self-proclaimed 'man's man', Austin is played — of course — by Paul Rudd, who has been playing the dream-buddy-next-door for so long now, from The 40-Year-Old Virgin to I Love You, Man, that his nice-guy energy has become axiomatic, like Tom Hanks's trustworthiness or Keanu Reeves's powers of Zen. The difference with DeYoung's film is that here it's played for something a little darker. It's a bromance cringe comedy with one foot in the psych ward. Austin invites Craig into his life, asks him along to a gig and then a soulful beer-and-a-singalong with his buddies that leaves Craig's eyes wide with longing. Craig is a gaping suckhole of midlife male need — so hungry for the barest glimmers of acceptance that he lunges into every situation, and then extracts scalding rejection from the social awkwardness that results. He's a one-man self-esteem spiral, incapable of dealing with even a scuff on his padded anorak ('Ow, I got water on me!'), so when Austin pulls away, alarmed by an evening that takes a turn, Craig goes to pieces. 'One strange thing and I'm toast?' he wails on Austin's porch during their break-up. 'You made me feel accepted way too fast! You can't do that! People need rules!' There's a raw honesty to his outburst that pushes the film beyond mere comic caricature. The Saturday Night Live alumnus Robinson has crafted a superb comic creation: his Tourettic social interactions hide deep pools of hurt and need, as well as bottomless anger at the alienation he inevitably provokes. The film is like a male version of Play Misty for Me, Fatal Attraction or any one of those slightly misogynistic bunny-boiler thrillers where a woman is pushed into Madame Butterfly territory by the casual cruelty of a male ex. • The best films of 2025 so far Numb with grief, Craig pushes his family and workmates into agonisingly ill-judged replays of the bonding sessions he briefly enjoyed with Austin — 'This is a non-Marvel spoiler garage,' he tells a hastily convened beer party with incredulous and openly mocking work colleagues — and when these efforts, too, rebound on him, his hurt metastasises into something more dangerous. You may not entirely buy a lot of what follows. The film has been crafted solely as a vehicle for one performance and one performance alone: when Rudd disappears to make way for the disintegration of Craig's marriage to his wife, Tami (Kate Mara), the movie loses its focus and becomes a more diffuse, at times hallucinogenic voyage into the bad neighbourhood of one man's psyche. But as a vehicle for Robinson's solipsistic monomaniac, it's a trip. ★★★☆☆15, 101min Pierce Brosnan spent so long perfecting the manner of a twinkling, poolside sophisticate for Remington Steele and Bond that his own Irish accent now sounds as affected as Richard Burton's Welsh accent did in The Last Days of Dolwyn. In Polly Steele's adaptation of Niall Williams's bestseller Four Letters of Love, Brosnan plays William Coughlan, a civil servant who one day quits his job, on the advice of God, to become a painter. 'It's about beauty and mystery and your spirit and something in you which can't be denied,' William tells his son, Nicholas (Fionn O'Shea), as he hauls his easel across the beaches of Donegal, where his long hairpiece is windswept with divine mysteries. Even on the bus he looks like a man in a wind tunnel. • Pierce Brosnan: 'I don't live a Hollywood lifestyle' Hair is destiny in Steele's film, a heartfelt piece of purest blarney. Growing up in another part of Ireland is Isabel (Ann Skelly), who lives with her parents (Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne) and disabled brother — until she is sent away to convent school, where her unbridled soul and cascade of red curls soon drive her into the arms of a local ne'er-do-well, Peadar (Ferdia Walsh Peelo). What do Isabel and Nicholas's stories have to do with one another? Quite a lot, thematically: kept apart by fate then drawn together by a series of coincidences — sorry, miracles — their destiny is written in the stars, or, the next best thing, the film's voice-over narration. Everyone feels this couple should be together — the seagulls, God — everyone except the audience, who experience their final union as nothing more than an 11th-hour Hail Mary. There's more chemistry between Brosnan and his wig. ★★☆☆☆12A, 110min Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit to find out moreWhich films have you enjoyed at the cinema recently? Let us know in the comments below and follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
These siblings have a daddy problem. So off they go to Italy.
Rachel Joyce understands a common angst of middle age: the feeling of being stuck. The characters in her six novels — including 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' and 'Miss Benson's Beetle' — blossom only after leaving the familiar behind. And, as in the works of Anne Tyler, each of Joyce's novels is so entertaining that it is easy to forget the darkness that underpins the story.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Maxine Peake ‘at peace' with life and ‘embracing it' after ‘difficult' time
Maxine Peake has revealed she is at "peace" with life and "embracing it" after moving into middle age. The actress turned 50 last year, and is known for her work on the TV shows Shameless, dinnerladies and Silk. She revealed that it had been "difficult" turning 40, but has now come to terms with getting older. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: "Well, on my next birthday in two weeks, I'll be 51. "I'm at peace with the fact that I'm middle-aged now. I'm embracing it. Turning 40 was more difficult. Now I think: 'I'm still here', and that can't be looked upon lightly." Peake was born in Bolton and was asked if her northern accent had impacted her career in a positive or negative way. She shared: "They do call a group of actors a 'moan' of actors. We like to have a good moan. "When people hear a regional accent, they immediately make assumptions about your class, financial status and education. "People generally think if you've got a strong regional accent, you can't do much else. "Obviously there are amazing actors like Jodie Comer who smash that to pieces because people don't realise she's from Liverpool. But because I came out the traps with the northern accent it's probably helped." Outside of her TV work Peake has appeared in a number of films, including the Mike Leigh historical drama Peterloo, which was about the massacre of the same name. Speaking about the opportunity to work with him, she said: "I wrote to Mike when I was at drama school, where I did my showcase with Sally Hawkins, a two-hander of the April De Angelis play, Playhouse Creatures. Recommended reading: Helen Skelton to present new adventure programme alongside JLS star 'Weird' Emmerdale villain set for shock return for revenge on popular character Watch 'wholesome' moment Kelly Osbourne is proposed to at dad Ozzy's last ever gig "I said: 'We should write to Mike Leigh.' She said: 'Are you sure?' I said: 'We'll do a joint letter.' So we wrote to him and we got a call in, and the rest is history. "He's brilliant. He loves actors. He has such a specific way of rehearsing and character development, but he's so thorough and – I don't know whether he'd like me saying – humble. "There are no airs and graces about him. He's so passionate about what he does, and I just love the fact that he loves actors."
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
BRYONY GORDON: I kept my thrilling and shameful gym secret to myself, hiding it even from my husband. Then I discovered the truth
The first time it happened, I was doing one of the most boring exercises known to humankind: the calf raise. So dull is this movement that I had resisted it for years, reasoning that the backs of my legs could become strong enough through other, more interesting types of exercise: reformer pilates, perhaps, or something actually useful, like cycling. Anything other than the monotonous act of standing with the balls of my feet on a step, lifting onto my toes, then slowly dropping back down, over and over again, as if I had nothing better to do with my time. But then I hit middle-age, and it turned out that if I wanted to keep up my favourite hobby – running – and prevent my knees from collapsing in on themselves, then calf raises were exactly what I had to do.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Why men lose muscle mass in middle age – and how to combat the process
Most men worry about losing their hair as they approach middle age but this isn't the only thing we can lose. Muscle loss is a natural part of the ageing process for men – after the age of 30, we begin to lose between 3% and 5% each decade. A perfect storm of hormonal changes, reduced muscle protein synthesis, lower testosterone and decreased physical activity means our muscle mass decreases. Most men will shed about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes and this process even has a fittingly unpleasant name: sarcopenia. Losing muscle mass isn't just an image problem, it causes serious issues such as increased weakness, reduced mobility and greater risk of chronic diseases. But the good news is that we can slow down this unwelcome process. It's never too late for middle-aged men to rebuild and maintain muscle, and there are three ways to do it: exercise, diet and lifestyle. Strength training is an effective way of maintaining or even increasing your muscle mass in middle age. Several studies have found that resistance training can counter muscle weakness as people age. You can pick up the gym bug at any stage of your life, so it's never too late to start. A good way to get going is to begin at home with bodyweight exercises such as squats, lunges, and push-ups, to wake up your body and reconnect with it. Once you hit the gym, you'll need to gradually lift heavier weights or do more reps, but if you're in or beyond middle age, then your joints are probably not the sprightly things they were when you were 20, so add those increments gradually and leave any showboating to the TikTok lads. What you consume can make or break your results at the gym, so you should eat a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods across different food groups. For middle-aged men aiming to build muscle mass, a diet rich in protein, vitamins and fibre is absolutely essential. To build muscle you need protein, so the maths is simple: when you're aiming to increase muscle mass, your body needs more protein. Studies have found that diets higher in protein can help prevent age-related declines in muscle mass. Vitamins and micronutrients also play a crucial role because they can improve muscle function and prevent muscle atrophy. This doesn't mean you have to buy expensive and extravagant protein powder. There are plenty of ways to get adequate protein from your diet – including the humble pistachio nut. Pistachios give you a plant-based complete protein snack – providing a natural source of plant-based protein, plus vitamins and minerals to reinforce muscle mass and bones. Pistachios include monounsaturated fats [pdf], which reduce cholesterol, and they are a delicious and effective post-gym snack, with plenty of magnesium, which can help you recover after exercise. Work them into a diet filled with soya, beans, pulses and the occasional bit of meat, and you'll be able to get all the protein you need. You can sprinkle pistachios on to your meals or eat them as a snack in their own right. Work them into your exercise regime and they will get to work for you. It's extra important to avoid tension because studies have found that stress can add to the effects of sarcopenia. When you're anxious, your body releases cortisol as you go into a fight or flight response. This hormone speeds up the breakdown of proteins, including muscle proteins, which can lead to a decrease in muscle mass and strength. There are simple ways to minimise stress, including mindfulness, meditation, deep breathing, relaxing hobbies, or even just reading a book rather than doomscrolling on your phone. You should also drink plenty of water, because adequate hydration is vital for muscle growth. It boosts nutrient delivery and muscle repair, and also improves your overall performance during workouts. If you get dehydrated, this can hinder muscle protein synthesis, lower your energy levels and prolong your recovery time. So keep going to the well. Sleep is where a lot of magic happens, so getting plenty of shut-eye is important for your muscles, because it's when your body releases anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, which your body needs for muscle building and recovery. Sleep is also when your body repairs any microscopic tears in muscle tissue caused by exercise. If you get too little sleep, this can reduce muscle protein synthesis, which can hinder muscle growth and make it harder to gain muscle mass. So get your head down and dream about your new body. Learn more about pistachio benefits
