Julieta review – Pedro Almodóvar’s story of love, loss and grief is compelling and beautiful August 25, 2016 After the high-camp of I’m So Excited and the queasy body-horror of The Skin I Live In, Pedro Almodóvar returns to his roots with a story that shines a light into the dark recesses of grief. It initially appears to be a modern noir, a detective story complete with moody jazz soundtrack, albeit one drenched [...]
The Purge: Election Year review – this take-down of Donald Trump’s politics is a joyous satirical juggernaut August 25, 2016 The Purge franchise, now on its third iteration, takes a simple, silly premise – that for one night every year all crime is legal – and holds onto it like a rottweiler on a toddler’s arm. The first instalment, starring Ethan Hawke, was a straight-forward home invasion thriller, Panic Room by way of The Strangers, [...]
War Dogs review: This true story of a pair of Miami tweens turned international arms dealers lacks bite August 25, 2016 A bro-comedy based on the true story of a couple of stoners who sold guns to the US government, War Dogs casts Jonah Hill (from lots of things) and Miles Teller (from the film where he can hit a drum really quickly) as the two plucky young Miami dweeblings turned arms dealers to the Pentagon. [...]
They Drink it in the Congo at the Almeida Theatre review: A witty, gritty exploration of post-colonial guilt and privilege August 25, 2016 From the fluorescent paint-splashed posters of They Drink it in the Congo, you’d be forgiven for thinking this new production was a warm up show for the Notting Hill Carnival. In fact, Adam Brace’s second play is a dark, unflinching look at a troubled country and the poster is just one of many misconceptions shattered [...]
David Brent: Life on the Road review: Ricky Gervais plays his excruciating old hits one more time August 18, 2016 Ricky Gervais may have captured the zeitgeist with The Office, but he’s reminded us often enough in the 13 years since it finished that it’s a bar he’s not always capable of hitting. This movie spin-off shows he can still play those toe-curling greatest hits, even if his film isn’t exactly brimming with new ideas. [...]
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips is an utterly refreshing family drama August 18, 2016 The extravagantly titled 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, is a conventional tale of wartime Britain, made extraordinary by an unusual approach. Stripped-back staging and exaggerated performances create a heightened reality, and pervasive humour means that when tragedy inevitably strikes, it’s blindsiding. Based on real-life events – and a novel by Michael Morpurgo – [...]
Groundhog Day at the Old Vic review: Tim Minchin’s follow-up to Matilda is a bawdy, hilarious modern-day Dickens tale August 18, 2016 At the opening of Groundhog Day I overheard David Walliams say to writer Tim Minchin: “This better be bloody good.” He was saying what everyone was thinking: there’s an absurd amount of expectation heaped on Minchin’s first musical since 2010’s Matilda, a level of hype perhaps not seen since The Book of Mormon. So it’s just as [...]
Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour play review: a rowdy, sweary look at adolescents escaping to the big city August 11, 2016 National Theatre of Scotland’s breathtakingly rude adaptation of Alan Warner's novel The Sopranos is all about finding the sacred in the every day, even if that consists of getting off your face on magic mushroom lager. Written by Billy Elliot playwright Lee Hall, it follows six Catholic schoolgirls from the rougher parts of Oban who're [...]
The Shallows film review: Blake Lively stars in the spiritual successor to Jaws August 11, 2016 For decades – as anyone who sat through Sharknado will tell you – the open ocean has been where horror goes to die. Jaws’ phenomenal success in 1975 sired a thousand bastard offspring consisting of countless malformed sharks, some endowed with absurd and embarrassing dimensions (Shark Attack), others with weird animatronic bodies (Deep Blue Sea), [...]
Pete’s Dragon film review: a sweet-hearted Disney film that trades on nostalgia for the films of your childhood August 11, 2016 After the wildly successful Jungle Book remake comes Pete’s Dragon, itself a reboot of a little known Disney film from 1977, a strange, dated musical featuring a dragon who was half live-action and half animation, but mostly invisible. It wasn’t well reviewed, but a reheated Turkey is often easier to stomach than a remade classic. [...]