The authentic side of Amsterdam, with amazing restaurants, hipster bars and outdoor swimming October 14, 2025 In 2008, I was a 23-year-old uni student on an Erasmus programme in Amsterdam. I know what you’re thinking and yes, I may have held a few herbal cigarettes, stumbled around the red light district and generally been that Brit abroad. My recollections of those 12 months are somewhat fuzzy. What I have never forgotten, [...]
LFF film review: Ballad of a Small Player sees Colin Farrell at his absolute peak October 13, 2025 Conclave director Edward Berger is a long way from the hallowed halls of the Vatican in his new film, a surreal neon noir following a down-and-out gambler through the casinos of Macau. Ballad of a Small Player tells the story of Lord Doyle, a dapper aristocrat who seems to have misplaced his silver spoon. When [...]
Why The Inbetweeners comeback is perfectly timed for Millennials October 13, 2025 Expect more dad dancing, car stomping and general cringe-inducing telly: The Inbetweeners comeback means the foursome is returning after more than ten years away. And yes, it looks like the original cast is returning too. This is great news, and I’d argue that there couldn’t be a better time to unite the four unlikely friends. [...]
50 First Dates musical review: Surprisingly, it feels like a good fit for the stage October 10, 2025 50 First Dates musical review and star rating: ★★★ This year’s ‘was a film and is now a London musical’ cohort includes The Devil Wears Prada, Hercules, Paddington and Elf! The Musical. They join Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge and The Bodyguard, and a host of critics crying about the lack of originality in musical theatre. [...]
We saw the new Kate Moss movie first – here’s our honest review October 9, 2025 Kate Moss movie Moss & Freud at the London Film Festival review: ★★★ It’s often a red flag when stars executive produce their own biopics. Elton John’s Rocketman was viewed as too sympathetic to its subject, and Kate Moss has certainly been too close to this saccharine but not meritless Kate Moss film premiering at [...]
The former London PT using his brawn to make it in Hollywood October 9, 2025 This former PT puts his strength to good use on the big screen. Adam Bloodworth meets Moe Bar-El Moe Bar-El used to be a personal trainer in London, but gave up the job four years ago when acting started to properly pay off. “Those days are gone,” he says. “I do miss it sometimes but [...]
How I learned to perform parenie at Banya No.1 October 9, 2025 For a decade I have attended London’s Banya No.1, a spa like no other, where you’re steamed in a sauna, whipped by leaves, dunked in freezing water and then served ice cold beer and dumplings. If you think that sounds like a form of torture (the beer and dumplings notwithstanding), you’re not alone. The apostle [...]
This Kate Moss movie at London Film Festival 2025 will be a massive talking point October 7, 2025 When you think of Kate Moss and men, the mind goes to Pete Doherty, or perhaps the Dazed Media editor Jefferson Hack, but there was another creative mind before them: Lucian Freud. The two shared an intense personal relationship in the early noughties when Freud, then in his eighties, painted Moss, then in her late [...]
The Weir review: Unmissable play returns after three decades October 6, 2025 The Weir | ★★★★★ | Harold Pinter Theatre Conor McPherson’s 1997 play The Weir has taken on an almost mythical status in the years since it was first staged. It’s now spoken of alongside Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem and Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, a seminal moment in modern British and Irish theatre and a formative work [...]
AI made this London Film Festival movie about love and loss October 6, 2025 Amid waves of criticism against AI, one film at London Film Festival 2025 has been proudly harnessing artificial intelligence. Memory of Princess Mumbi is set in a retro-futuristic Africa in 2093, and much of the landscapes and scenic shots have been developed using AI. Although the filmmaker Damien Hauser’s intentions were to “make a movie [...]