Mac|Life

$50 iTunes card

How would you blow 50 bucks on music, movies, books, TV shows, and apps?

- BY MATT BOLTON

What would you buy…?

1

The Revenant Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter $14.99

This astonishin­g epic tells the story of an 1820s fur-trapper left to die in the wilderness by his colleagues after an attack by a bear, witnessing the murder of his son as they try to leave him, and vowing revenge on all involved. It won Oscars for its direction, cinematogr­aphy, and DiCaprio’s performanc­e, and you can’t argue with any of them – it’s one of the most stunning films we’ve ever seen, and Leo’s turn as the protagonis­t Hugh Glass is uncomforta­ble, heartbreak­ing and totally gripping. It’s a film with many hard-towatch moments (including some brutal violence), but also many beautiful ones.

2

The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee $16.99

This is referred to by its publisher as a “biography” of the gene – a deep exploratio­n into humankind’s history with its own building blocks. Mukherjee weaves a narrative that threads through our discovery of this complex science, early experiment­s, and the concept of being able to “read” and “write” our genes, plus the moral questions that having the ability to edit our own code raises. It’s a science book, but one that’s rooted in the human side of its topic, never forgetting the way our genes affect us – both for good and for achingly sad reasons – and so remains both approachab­le and engrossing throughout.

3

The Night Manager Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman $14.99 season pass

This thriller based on a John le Carré spy novel stars Hiddleston as an ex-soldier recruited as a spy and sent to gain the trust of a renowned arms dealer, played by

House’s Hugh Laurie. It opens with intrigue, tragedy and violence, but the real meat is the realizatio­n that you’re watching an agonizing slow-motion build-up to a huge car crash. Laurie’s affable yet terrifying villain takes Hiddleston under his wing, but suspicion is everywhere – and none of it’s helped by the budding romance between Hiddleston and Laurie’s girlfriend. It’s tense, brilliant viewing.

4

Bez Juicy Bits Free (with IAP)

This iPad drawing app works best with the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro models, but is still fantastic on any device. It’s a vector drawing app that makes it easy to create your own crisp, clean artwork, logos and more. It makes things easy for people with no experience to create cool images, with features such as snapping and easy scaling – but also offers a huge range of more advanced features for pros. And you get most of its functional­ity for free!

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