Juliet, Naked is far too preoccupied with its flat jokes to actually get to the heart of its abandonment issues November 2, 2018 Nick Hornby is the master of the manchild and Duncan, the one from the 2009 novel this film is based on, is one of his. He’s in thrall to a similarly adolescent idol, a mopey indie star called Tucker Crowe, who became a recluse following the release of his only album ‘Juliet’. Stuck in the [...]
Macbeth at the Barbican review: Christopher Eccleston plays the Scottish traitor in this horror-inspired version by the RSC November 2, 2018 Macbeth lives and dies on its witches. “When shall we three meet again?” squeaks the first, a young girl in a red dress and white tights, ribbons in her hair. Two identically dressed girls answer, then run energetically off the stage, giggling shrilly. These escapees from The Shining weave in and out of this otherwise [...]
Composer Nitin Sawhney opens up about the dystopia inspired by his father’s death, Brexit and Schrodinger’s Cat November 2, 2018 Nitin Sawhney is difficult to pin down. He’s best known as a contemporary classical composer, but he’s also an impressive musician in his own right, playing the piano, classical and flamenco guitar, tabla and sitar. He’s written countless scores for films, TV and video games, as well as stand-alone studio albums; he received the Ivor [...]
Slaughterhouse Rulez is a British horror-comedy that needs more horror, and more comedy November 2, 2018 Simon Pegg and Nick Frost star in this British teen-horror flick that bears some of the hallmarks of the comedy duo’s glory days, while reminding you that they were, in fact, some time ago. There are nods to the Edgar Wright directed “Cornetto Trilogy”, comprising Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, [...]
Mirai is a beautiful film about the trials and tribulations of childhood November 2, 2018 Many a coming-of-age tale about a plucky tween has been told in animation. The growing pains of a four-year-old brat, however, make for a less appealing subject. Who better to give it a shot, though, than Mamoru Hosoda, anime’s patron saint of families? In films like Wolf Children (2012), Hosoda used folkloric characters and fantastical [...]
Peterloo film review: Mike Leigh’s best since Secrets & Lies is a stunning piece of filmmaking November 2, 2018 First, a history lesson: on August 16th 1819, at a pro-democracy demonstration in Manchester, a skittish militia charged with keeping the peace rampaged with sabres drawn into a crowd of some 70,000 unarmed people, killing 15 and injuring hundreds. Though the crowd’s central demand – equal votes for all men – went unmet, Peterloo was [...]
Red Dead Redemption 2 review: Rockstar’s cowboy sim is the most impressive game world ever created November 1, 2018 Never have I inhabited a video game like I have inhabited Red Dead Redemption 2. It's a mind-boggling achievement in open-world game design, to be mentioned in the same breath as The Witcher 3 or Breath of the Wild, setting a new high bar for immersion and visual fidelity. The sheer scale of human endeavour involved is [...]
A Very Very Very Dark Matter review: Martin McDonagh’s twisted Han Christian Andersen biography is a weird blunder October 26, 2018 There’s lots to love about Martin McDonagh, author of such universally acclaimed works as In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, The Pillowman, and lately the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards. His newest play, A Very Very Very Dark Matter, has all the hallmarks of his weirder writing. It’s a twisted, violent and deeply ironic reimagining of the life of [...]
Good Grief, Charlie Brown! at Somerset House review: A fantasyland for Peanuts fans October 26, 2018 Until March 2019 If you didn’t grow up reading Charles M Schulz’ cartoon strips, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Isn’t it just a cartoon strip about an anthropomorphised dog designed to sell pencil cases? But despite the Schulz estate’s willingness to cash in on the Snoopy IP, Peanuts is something entirely [...]
The Wild Duck at the Almeida: Ibsen’s classic play has been carved up for this deconstructivist test of endurance October 26, 2018 Until 1 December There have been a spate of productions recently that take a classic play, lift up the hood, and have a real rummage around with the nuts and bolts. There was othellomacbeth at the Lyric, which spliced together the titular plays, casting the female victims of the former as the witches in the [...]