Dear Evan Hansen, Review: A crushing failure October 22, 2021 Big West End and Broadway shows often take a while to get big screen adaptations, partly because producers are reluctant to offer a home alternative to what they hope you’ll pay a lot of money to see live. Also, because when it goes wrong, it goes really, really wrong. Before December 2019, Cats was a [...]
Halloween Kills, review: More silly than scary October 18, 2021 Michael Myers is the perfect frontman for the Halloween franchise: an ageing but unstoppable juggernaut, pulling the same old tricks from all the way back in 1978 to an increasingly bemused audience. It’s no wonder director David Gordon Green wanted to try something new when he took over with 2018’s franchise reboot. Alas the curse [...]
Ron’s Gone Wrong, review: A family film with a tech twist October 18, 2021 It’s a sign of the times that an increasing number of family films are focusing on technology. The Jumanji movies moved from a boardgame to a video game console; Space Jam’s villain was a rogue AI; and one of the best family movies of this year, The Mitchells Vs The Machines, had our reliance on [...]
Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Review October 18, 2021 Despite being a patchy mess, 2018’s Venom rose to surprise box office success thanks to a charming star in Tom Hardy, and an audience that was growing weary of sombre superheroes (Aquaman succeeded in the same year for similar reasons). A sequel was inevitable, but has it done enough to flesh out the cult anti-hero? [...]
The Velvet Underground: An enjoyable rockumentary October 18, 2021 It’s becoming something of a rite of passage for successful directors to make documentaries about their favourite bands. Ron Howard covered The Beatles (with Peter Jackson’s Get Back series on the way), Shane Meadows explored The Stone Roses, and this year Edgar Wright shared his love for Sparks. This week director Todd Haynes (Carol, Dark [...]
White Noise, Bridge Theatre review: A provocative take on racism in America October 15, 2021 White Noise, Suzan-Lori Parks’ explosive play on race in twenty-first century America, is as much about the problem of silence in the face of injustice as it is about performative solidarity. The play centres on four thirty-somethings: Leo (Ken Nwosu), a black artist, his white lawyer girlfriend Dawn (Helena Wilson), and their old college friends, [...]
Shatner hits back at Prince William’s space travel criticism October 15, 2021 William Shatner has shot down Prince William’s criticism of space travel. He believes the royal is missing the point”. The former Star Trek actor told Entertainment Tonight that Prince William was a “lovely, gentle, educated man” but that he has the “wrong idea” about going to space. Shatner argues that space travel is the first [...]
Theaster Gates at Whitechapel Gallery review October 14, 2021 Fenchurch Street is currently a mess of diggers and drills, creating the perfect backdrop for a sculpture exhibition that begins with bricks. Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates explores the historical significance of clay and clay artefacts, using them as a way of understanding racial identity in an urban setting. Sculpture, installation and film all feature in [...]
Dexter, Directors, and Dirt – an interview with Michael C Hall October 13, 2021 Michael C Hall is a busy man. Next month, he returns to his most famous role, serial killer Dexter, in a reboot of the award-winning drama. Before that he stars in John and The Hole, an indie thriller about a family held captive in a bunker by their teenage son. Hall talks getting his hands [...]
The Normal Heart at the National Theatre is a desperate howl October 8, 2021 In the same week Matthew López took home the Best Play gong at the Tony Awards for The Inheritance, a work that has drawn strong comparisons to fellow Tony-winner Angels in America, the National Theatre began its revival of the original play chronicling the AIDS crisis: The Normal Heart. Larry Kramer’s semi-autobiographical 1985 play follows [...]