Darren Bevan: Movies

First up, Ben Affleck is The Accountant - Darren’s verdict: Wait for the DVD

http://bit.ly/the-accountant-review 

Secondly Mel Gibson strives for Oscar in Hacksaw Ridge - Darren’s verdict: Wait for the DVD

http://bit.ly/hacksaw-ridge-review

And filmed in New Zealand The Light Between Oceans - Darren’s verdict: Wait for the DVD but a lot of people will love the romance!

http://darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/the-light-between-oceans-film-review.html

For all Darren's reviews and info go to Darren's blog  http://www.darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/

ANNABEL LANGBEIN: Food

Annabel recipe for Vegan Chocolate Mousse is on our website. For more great Annabel Langbein recipes see annabel-langbein.com

LYNDA HALLINAN: Gardening

Paeonies

Every year when I fly home I get dirty looks from the air hostesses because... I can't resist buying a big, fat bouquet of paeonies. Perfect, huge, fabulous herbaceous paeonies. The flower to beat all flowers. The holy grail of horticulture, near impossible to grow in the far north but easy to grow in many parts of the South Island. They need a good blast of winter chill followed by a warm spring and hot summer. 

I've been trying to grow paeonies for five years, having brought home three plants in 2011. They did flower last year but the flowers were only about the size of my fist, and when these spectacular plants are happy and healthy, the open flowers grow to about the size of a sandwich plate. 

Paeonies are herbaceous perennials so they die down in winter and emerge again in spring. Best time to plant is autumn, but you can buy container-grown plants now. Mitre 10 in Blenheim has them in bud (show offs!!).

Plant in a sunny spot in well-drained soil and give them plenty of space - a good square metre per plant. They don't like competing for sun with overhanging trees or other shrubs.      

Give them a few years to hit their best - and don't cut any flowers in the first year.  

If you are planning a wedding and want fresh paeonies in your bouquet, you pretty much have to get married in November or the first fortnight in December, because after that they are done and dusted! Aucklanders will pay up to $10 per bud, but down here you can get a whole bunch for that. Whoop!

BOB CAMPBELL: Wine

A risk-free wine of the week:

Well, perhaps low-risk. I’ve chosen a good quality sparkling wine that also happens to taste pretty good. It’s Verde NV Brut which retails for around $20 although I’ve seen it at Countdown for $15.99. It’s crisp, dry fizz that won’t give you a headache – unless you drink too much of it.

Visit Bob's website with over  22,000 wine reviews!  http://bobcampbell.nz/

MIKE YARDLEY: Travel

Feature Destination - The Greek Island of Syros. For more insights on sampling Syros, check out Mike's travel articles on the website.

www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle

CATHERINE RAYNES: Books

The Whistler by John Grisham, Hachette $38

Order to Kill by Vincent Flynn and Kyle Mills, Simon & Schuster $38

ANDREW DICKENS: Music

Robbie Williams 'The Heavy Entertainment Show' - Andrew's verdict: 6/10

Well it’s certainly an entertainment show with the bombast and verve that we expect from Robbie but haven’t heard recently.  But the mad stuff is a little too mad and without the sly cock-of-the-eye that makes everyone like the cheeky chappy.  Meanwhile the 4 on the floor stuff is OK but not his best.  So better than the forgettable albums of the last 10 years or so but still a bit of a strange one to digest in 2016.