The Plough and the Stars at National Theatre’s Lyttelton: an emotional haymaker about the 1916 Easter Rising July 28, 2016 There’s a tried and tested formula to Sean O’Casey’s 1926 play The Plough and the Stars: he makes us care for his cast of quick-talking, hard-drinking Irish men and women, and then he makes us watch as their lives fall irrevocably apart. The sense of inevitability doesn’t make it any easier. The play caused riots [...]
Jason Bourne review: Matt Damon returns to the Paul Greengrass-directed franchise, but finds himself in surprisingly shallow waters July 27, 2016 Paul Greengrass returns to direct this fourth instalment of the Bourne franchise, with a plot cobbled thinly together from the previous three. Bourne (Matt Damon) is brought back from the cold when villainous Agency head honcho Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) starts a covert intelligence program – Ironhand – operating beyond the radar of the [...]
Finding Dory review: Finding Nemo sequel starring Ellen DeGeneres is another glorious Pixar adventure that avoids feeling like a cash-in July 27, 2016 The title "Finding Dory" evokes a bunch of franchise-happy studio execs sitting around, looking at financial statements and wondering how to come up with a sequel given that Nemo is no longer missing. The film's laboured opening scenes do little to dissipate this odour of a cash-in: we meet young Dory (Sloane Murray), being taught [...]
The Fix review: A musical take on US politics that’s almost as entertaining as the real thing July 21, 2016 The long awaited splicing of House of Cards and hyper-camp musical theatre, The Fix is a boisterous show about one family’s desperate attempts to lay claim to the highest and most oval-shaped office in the land. When presidential hopeful Reed Chandler corks it during a scandalous act of extramarital sex-doing, the weight of his political [...]
11 things to do in London this weekend, including watching Usain Bolt, geeking out to Star Trek and enjoying William Eggleston’s photographs July 21, 2016 1. Go and see some filthy cabaret at the Hippodrome Cabaret, Hippodrome, Saturday, 19.30, from £15-£50 Inspired by 1930s Parisian cabaret but also swiping at the mainstream success of Cirque du Soleil, this is a sassy combination of smut and sparkle. 2. Remember your childhood watching The BFG Film, IMAX Waterloo, Saturday, 11.15, £20 A saccharine-sweet [...]
Ming of Harlem film review: an art house movie about a man who kept a tiger in his New York apartment July 21, 2016 For several years Antoine Yates kept a Bengal tiger in his fifth floor New York apartment, until the day the cat sank its carving knife sized fangs into the man’s leg. Unsurprisingly, doctors weren’t convinced by Yates’s claim that he’d been bitten by his pet dog, and so the authorities were alerted. Back at his [...]
Blanc de Blanc at the Hippodrome casino is a sassy combination of smut and sparkle July 21, 2016 The Hippodrome Casino doesn’t exactly have a surfeit of cultural kudos. But hidden in its depths is a cosy cabaret theatre and its latest show is a sassy combination of smut and sparkle. Blanc de Blanc is devised by highly-acclaimed Australian theatre company Strut & Fret and transfers to the West End via the Sydney [...]
Chevalier film review: Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s film is a delightful, entrancing oddity July 21, 2016 Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s new comedy has a simple conceit: six men with varying backgrounds are holidaying – or are they imprisoned? – on a lavishly furnished yacht. They’re restricted to the boat for the vast majority of the film, giving it a distinctly theatrical flavour, recalling Harold Pinter both in the banal precision [...]
Simon Pegg’s script flings Star Trek Beyond into the galaxy of the mediocre July 20, 2016 The third outing in this hit-and-miss reboot is notable for having been penned by one of its stars – England’s own Simon Pegg. His fingerprints are present throughout, as Dr Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) traverse a script full of pop-cultural references and obvious reverence for all things Trek. We meet them [...]
The BFG: Steven Spielberg’s mega-bucks adaptation captures the surface but misses the soul of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic July 20, 2016 There's a lot of common ground between Steven Spielberg and Roald Dahl. Both incarnate aspects of childhood; the unrefined wonderment, the valorisation of innocence. And for long stretches, this mega-budget live-action adaptation seems like a great fit. Mark Rylance, as the titular Big Friendly Giant, provides much of the charm, playing his part with dignity [...]