Latest news with #MichaelPearce
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Echo Valley: Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney star in the plot-twist thriller of the year
There are few plot devices more pleasing than a surprise whose shock value mellows into pure karmic satisfaction, and Echo Valley delivers the toe-wriggler of the year. This pensive, riveting Apple TV+ thriller performs a sort of narrative jiu-jitsu on its audience – using the weight of an early, straightforward twist as leverage in a second, more elaborate one, which cumulatively leaves the viewer breathless and giddy on the mat. Directed by Britain's Michael Pearce (of Beast and Encounter) and written by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Inglesby, Echo Valley would make a persuasive answer to the question 'in a Taken-like crisis, what if it fell to the mum, rather than the dad, to sort everything out?' By that I don't mean that this is a film in which Julianne Moore rampages around rural Pennsylvania cracking Albanian skulls. Rather, Moore's stoic single mother, horse trainer Kate Garrett, uses a particularly maternal set of skills – foresight, forbearance, meticulous planning, sound character judgement, and an ability to call in the perfect favour from her friendship circle at just the right moment – to extricate her troubled adult daughter from a hellish predicament. Said daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) is a drug addict, and her habit has yoked her to two undesirable men. One is her boyfriend and fellow user Ryan (Edmund Donovan); the other is the couple's reptilian dealer Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson, resplendently hideous), to whom the pair find themselves $10,000 in debt. With no hope of recouping the sum from Claire, Jackie tails the girl to her mother's shiningly bucolic and seemingly successful farm – which he decides to treat, via threats of violence and ruin, as an enormous, hay-strewn ATM. To his eyes, this woman clearly has money to spare. We know better, however: in a dry yet tender cameo, Kyle MacLachlan pops up as the successful former husband still shovelling four-figure cheques into this sun-dappled money pit which has come to stand for everything his ex holds dear. Echo Valley opens with half an hour of relatively low-key scene-setting drama that also delicately sketches in Kate's grief for her late female partner: enough to invest the more suspenseful remainder with enough emotional weight to make it really smack. As Claire, who in bomb terms is less shell than site, the often glamorous Sweeney has been pointedly cast against type. But Claire's complex mother-daughter relationship with Kate – strained well beyond breaking point, yet still determinedly, impossibly unsnapped – is deftly handled by both actresses. In a brilliantly underplayed early scene, the two go swimming at an idyllic local lake, which later serves as a nexus for various murky developments. Kate watches her girl playing happily with some younger children, and Moore's unspoken anguish – if this is her now, why can't it be her always? – vibrates silently through the moment. Inglesby wittily repurposes such modern plot-wreckers as mobile phone tracking and instant messaging into real dramatic assets, while as a director, Pearce is a savvy stylist who knows exactly when to rein things in: imagine Jacques Audiard with a cricket conscience perched on his shoulder whose only job is to say 'steady on'. The outrageous yet methodical nature of Kate's rescue plan for her daughter is, therefore, an ideal fit for him. Echo Valley is nothing like a conventionally air-punchy film, but you can't help but cheer the whole enterprise on.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Thousands back bid to protect historic High Halstow oak trees
A councillor says he is battling to save five oak trees in Kent which he believes could be felled if road-widening works go Michael Pearce, from Medway Council, wants protection orders for the trees, in Christmas Lane, on the Hoo Peninsula, near High Pearce said plans by Redrow Homes to widen a road as part of a new housing development would see the trees cut down.A spokesperson for Redrow called information in the petition "misleading", and said it would review all comments on the planning application and make any necessary changes once the consultation period has ended. Redrow recently submitted new documents detailing its plans to widen the road as part of its planning application for 760 Pearce's petition for tree protection orders was launched on 13 May and has already gained more than 2,700 signatures, the Local Democracy Reporting Service petition also wants Redrow to adapt its designs and put in a cycle path and footpath in Christmas Lane instead of their current proposals for road of the trees which Mr Pearce wants to protect are not within the boundaries of the planning application area, but he says Redrow's proposals for widening Christmas Lane could still threaten the trees."Five majestic and magnificent oak trees in High Halstow are under threat from being felled," he said."It's within Medway Council's power to stop this environmental vandalism and to protect wildlife and our local landscape." 'Carefully assessing' A spokesperson for Redrow said it would be unable to remove any of the trees without permission from the said: "The information in the petition is largely misleading."We would not remove any trees without the approval of Medway Council, who would also be responsible for any tree protection orders."We will continue to work with Medway Council on our planning application, reviewing all comments and making any updates, following the consultation period."A spokesperson for Medway Council said the the authority was "carefully assessing" the planning application before recommending to the planning committee that the proposals are approved or are able to give their thoughts on the plans until 7 June.
Geek Tyrant
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Intense Trailer for Apple TV+ Original Thriller Feature ECHO VALLEY Starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney — GeekTyrant
Apple TV+ has released an intense trailer for their film Echo Valley , starring Academy Award winner Julianne Moore ( The Hours , Still Alice ) and Sydney Sweeney ( Euphoria , The White Lotus ), supported by a star-studded ensemble that features Domhnall Gleeson, Fiona Shaw, Edmund Donovan, Albert Jones, and Kyle MacLachlan. The film is directed by Michael Pearce, from a script by Brad Ingelsby. The synopsis reads: 'In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, Kate (Julianne Moore) is a mother struggling to make peace with her troubled daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) — a situation that becomes even more perilous when Claire shows up on Kate's doorstep, hysterical and covered in someone else's blood. 'As Kate pieces together the shocking truth of what happened, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child in this gripping tale of love, sacrifice and survival.' This looks like a solid story with some great performances. Check out the trailer below, and watch Echo Valley when it hits Apple TV+ on June 13th.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. economy went into reverse in the first quarter, new GDP data shows
U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2025 as businesses rushed to stockpile goods ahead of President Trump's sweeping tariff policies. The nation's gross domestic product — the total value of products and services — grew at a -0.3% pace, down from 2.4% in the final three months of 2024, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday in its initial GDP estimate. The U.S. economy was forecast to show 0.8% growth in the first three months of 2025, according to the average estimate of economists polled by FactSet. The slowdown comes amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump's wide-ranging tariffs could disrupt the U.S. economy, with some economists raising the chances of the U.S. slipping into a recession in 2025. Although the Trump administration's blanket tariffs were announced on April 2 — after the end of the quarter — businesses sought to get ahead of the impact of the import duties by front-loading purchases early in the year. Still, the report may not fully reflect the state of economic growth, economists cautioned, noting that the figures are likely to be noisy because of the surge in imports as businesses sought to get ahead of tariffs. A rise in imports may appear to lower economic growth and show a shift away from domestic consumption, but that doesn't tell the whole story, economists note. "There has never been a recession caused by imports," Oxford Economics deputy chief U.S. economist Michael Pearce wrote in an April 29 research note. "While they are recorded as a subtraction from GDP, imports show up as an offsetting positive elsewhere because they show up in increased consumption or business investment, or they are recorded as an increase in inventories." The U.S. economy is expected to show slower growth in 2025, partly due to the impact of Mr. Trump's tariffs, which are import duties paid by American companies like Walmart or Target. When faced with higher tariffs, companies typically pass on all or some of the costs to shoppers, which can depress consumer spending. GDP growth is forecast to slow to 1.9% in 2025, according to FactSet. That's down from 2.8% in 2024. "[T]he inflation data will show when the price increases of tariffs hit consumers, which will deliver a real income shock that we expect to weigh heavily on spending growth," Pearce said. Kristi Noem says she's "very confident" undocumented migrants stole her purse Ashlie Crosson named 2025 National Teacher of the Year Supreme Court appears poised to side with student with disability in school discrimination case
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
U.S. economy went into reverse in the first quarter, new GDP data shows
U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2025 as businesses rushed to stockpile goods ahead of President Trump's sweeping tariff policies. The nation's gross domestic product — the total value of products and services — grew at a -0.3% pace, down from 2.4% in the final three months of 2024, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday in its initial GDP estimate. The U.S. economy was forecast to show 0.8% growth in the first three months of 2025, according to the average estimate of economists polled by FactSet. The slowdown comes amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump's wide-ranging tariffs could disrupt the U.S. economy, with some economists raising the chances of the U.S. slipping into a recession in 2025. Although the Trump administration's blanket tariffs were announced on April 2 — after the end of the quarter — businesses sought to get ahead of the impact of the import duties by front-loading purchases early in the year. Still, the report may not fully reflect the state of economic growth, economists cautioned, noting that the figures are likely to be noisy because of the surge in imports as businesses sought to get ahead of tariffs. A rise in imports may appear to lower economic growth and show a shift away from domestic consumption, but that doesn't tell the whole story, economists note. "There has never been a recession caused by imports," Oxford Economics deputy chief U.S. economist Michael Pearce wrote in an April 29 research note. "While they are recorded as a subtraction from GDP, imports show up as an offsetting positive elsewhere because they show up in increased consumption or business investment, or they are recorded as an increase in inventories." The U.S. economy is expected to show slower growth in 2025, partly due to the impact of Mr. Trump's tariffs, which are import duties paid by American companies like Walmart or Target. When faced with higher tariffs, companies typically pass on all or some of the costs to shoppers, which can depress consumer spending. GDP growth is forecast to slow to 1.9% in 2025, according to FactSet. That's down from 2.8% in 2024. "[T]he inflation data will show when the price increases of tariffs hit consumers, which will deliver a real income shock that we expect to weigh heavily on spending growth," Pearce said.
