The Memory of Water at Hampstead Theatre review September 10, 2021 Some plays seem to never age, maintaining the feeling of newness and revelation in each subsequent staging. Recent productions of Under Milk Wood and The Dumb Waiter spring to mind, conjuring such a stark sense of otherness that they feel forever young. Others become period pieces before the ink dries on the script, such as [...]
Opportunity International exhibition is both harrowing and hopeful September 10, 2021 Tucked away in the secluded Southwood Garden of St James’s Church, just off Piccadilly, you will find a new outdoor photography exhibition hosted by the charity Opportunity International. It consists of a series of large, freestanding portraits of Ugandan refugees taken by the award-winning photographer Kate Holt. Each one comes with a harrowing story: artist [...]
Copshop movie review – a below par Dad Thriller September 10, 2021 It’s been a while since a Joe Carnahan movie has graced the big screen. The filmmaker brought who brough us Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team, and The Grey has been missing from the director’s chair for seven years following issues surrounding the release of 2014’s Stretch. After making March’s Boss Level for streaming service Hulu, he’s [...]
Marvel What If…? episode 5 review – an undead adventure September 9, 2021 There have been some interestingly complex questions in the first half of What If…?, Marvel’s cavalcade of hypotheticals. What would happen if Peggy Carter became the hero Steve was meant to be, or if the original Avengers were killed before they started? This week, things are a bit simpler, and this is reflected in episode [...]
Respect, the explosive biopic of Aretha Franklin, has it all September 9, 2021 The music biopic is a subgenre fraught with obstacles. First, you have to find the right lead – a Janis Joplin film has been in development for years with everyone from Amy Adams to Pink attached. Secondly, you have to secure the back catalogue – last year’s Stardust failed to capture the spirit of David [...]
From The Vine star Joe Pantoliano on lockdown, mental health and filming in Italy September 8, 2021 The name Joe Pantoliano will be familiar to many movie fans, but if it isn’t, his performances certainly will be. He had memorable roles in The Goonies, Midnight Run, Bad Boys, and The Fugitive; as well as being a part of the breakthroughs of The Wachowski Sisters and Christopher Nolan. That’s before you get on [...]
From The Vine review is the cinematic holiday we all need September 8, 2021 This remains an unpredictable time for the box office, with our collective trauma seeming to be reflected in the films we have made hits. Horrors like Candyman and A Quiet Place: Part II have thrived, while we’ve also lined up for some vicarious city destruction in Godzilla Vs Kong and Fast and Furious 9. Those [...]
Mixing It Up at hayward Gallery is a sprawling, unruly exhibition September 8, 2021 Collective exhibitions are tricky things. The work of each artist demands attention all of its own, but needs to be in dialogue with those around it. The best have a solid theme to tie all the unruly ideas into something approaching a thesis, such as Among the Trees, an exhibition all about… well, trees, which [...]
Opportunity International opens outdoor photo exhibition September 6, 2021 Opportunity International last week opened its new outdoor photo exhibition by award-winning photographer Kate Holt in the Southwood Garden of St James’s Church, Piccadilly. Featuring a series of lifesize photographs of the refugees Holt encountered in Uganda, the exhibition invites visitors to “spend an evening walking amongst the remarkable individuals,” which Opportunity International says it [...]
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was worth the wait September 3, 2021 A new hero emerges in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with opponents both on the screen and in real life. Shang-Chi has endured pushback from China, a large market and a country understandably sceptical about a comic book with a history of disrespectful depictions of Asian people being adapted. While work has been done to modernise [...]