Entertainment picks: A ninja assassin in the office

Topher Grace provides some corporate comedy in In Good Company.

Movies

Loads of decent films open on Thursday this week. In Good Company is about a man in his 50s (Dennis Quaid) whose 26-year-old boss (Topher Grace) has fallen in love with his daughter (Scarlett Johansson).

American critics say Grace is hilarious as a corporate "ninja assassin" and the script takes a warm, honest and witty approach to the potentially boring theme of business.

Owning Mahowny, released two years ago in the States, is the fact-based portrait of gambling addict Dan Mahowny, a Canadian bank manager who financed his addiction in the early 80s by embezzling $10 million.

Critics have praised Philip Seymour Hoffman's understated portrayal of an emotionally sealed off man, a sort of dead soul who needs the stimulus of the gambling table to feel alive.

Kingdom of Heaven, by Gladiator director Ridley Scott, is a depiction of a 12th-century Muslim-Christian battle for Jerusalem in the Third Crusade, which boasts impressive effects but could be let down by professional wet blanket Orlando Bloom.

Scottish film Dear Frankie (at select theatres) sounds more like a chick-flick: a young mother (Emily Mortimer) invents a fake father figure for her deaf son but then has to find some man to pretend to be the boy's father. Where will the lies end? Probably with a ring and one big happy family.

Television

Let's just forget, shall we, that David McPhail's Muldoon stage show was cancelled because of poor ticket sales. Hopefully his new sitcom will fare better.

Adapted from the stage show by Tom Scott, Dave Armstrong and Danny Mulheron, Seven Periods of Mr Gormsby (Friday, TV One, 9.35pm) is about a fuddy-duddy high school teacher who takes on the delinquents at a low-decile school.

Also starting this week is Code, Maori Television's new sports show (Thursday, 8.30pm), hosted by sports stars Tawera Nikau, Jenny-May Coffin, Rewa Hudson and Julian Wilcox, and featuring Matua Parkinson and Slade McFarland as "the Brofessionals", a couple of retro dudes who investigate quirky sports while running around in tight pants.

Guilty pleasure of the week might just be Best In Show (Friday, TV One 7.30pm), the real-life version of the Christopher Guest mockumentary about obsessed dog owners chasing the blue ribbon.

Theatre

The Maidment presents Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, a major work by one of the finest Irish playwrights, Frank McGuiness, about eight Ulster soldiers in the World War I British Army, headed for death in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Most of them are deeply afraid of dying, whatever cockiness they may show as they get to know each other and themselves. At the Studio Theatre from Wednesday to May 21, directed by Heath Jones.

Exhibition

If, like me, you're partial to a good chicken korma, you'll like the sound of Sarah Read's art, particularly the one called Oil, Stain on Denim.

Read is a young, emerging artist who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and dabbles with a variety of materials, including paint, fabric and steel. Her exhibition of works in progress is at the Northern Steamship Building on the corner of Quay St and Gore St, 6.30pm.

At the other end of the spectrum is Mark Wooller's Windlines, paintings that draw inspiration from the beauty of nature. "I see the essence of a stick, a stone or a leaf and appreciate the power of their untouched or weathered state," says the former landscape designer and poet, who obviously hasn't seen my untouched and weathered plants. His work is at the Studio of Contemporary Art, Newmarket, until May 13.

Festival

Need a laugh? The Comedy Festival kicked off on Friday night and is in full-swing for three weeks.

This week you can catch locals including Dai Henwood, Cal Wilson, Hot Pink and internationals including Danny Bhoy, Stephen K. Amos and Gamarjobat at various venues. 

Music

Drink yourself more bliss, it's New Zealand Music Month, (although it's getting harder to tell.) That means local bands galore at the Studio, K Rd this week.

From 6.30 tonight it's a hip-hop extravaganza featuring Ladi6, Dei Hamo, Misfits of Science, King Kapisi, Savage and Dawn Raid All Stars. Tuesday, expect to hear lots of swearing over guitars from Deja Voodoo, Sommerset, Steriogram, the D4 and, bizarrely, Gramsci. Wednesday it's a pop and punk fest with Aerial, 48 May, Opshop, Pluto, the feelers. On Saturday, it's bassline heaven with Antix, Pitch Black, Rob Salmon and Simon Flower.

Tickets for the weekday gigs are available from Sounds music stores or Juice TV and ZM radio. Otherwise, just line up at the door in your stinky Flying Nun T-shirt and see what happens.

Social circuit

Something tells me Friday is going to be a blur. On Thursday, TV3 toasts The Summit, the Survivor-ish reality show in which contestants complete challenges - and inevitably get into each other's pants to avoid being voted off each week.

Then we're off to the Festival Mushroom party. The record company's annual do has a bit of a reputation - last year their Freemans Bay neighbour, aka "The Beast", complained she could hear Dimmer playing from her lounge. I say that's a free gig. This year, Wellington's brilliant Phoenix Foundation will do their best to repeat the performance.