Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie review: A party of pissed up PRs and celebrity cameos June 30, 2016 Given the media obsessed culture we live in, it’s remarkable that cinema audiences haven’t already been introduced to Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone. The drunken duo (played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley) amassed a cult following during their 90s small screen run, which has seen several one-off returns over the years. Following the critical [...]
David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life review – The Royal Academy hosts the artist’s first exhibition since returning to Los Angeles June 30, 2016 David Hockney believes there are just three genres of painting: landscapes, portraits and still life. Having successfully packed a wing of the Royal Academy in 2012 with varied (sometimes iPad created) drawings of hawthorn-pocked East Yorkshire hills, he returns now to tick the art world’s two remaining boxes. The Royal Academy’s 82 Portraits and 1 [...]
The Colony film review: Emma Watson takes a starring role in this lacklustre true-story about a religious cult June 30, 2016 Emma Watson is a woman on a mission in her first proper lead role. She plays a flight attendant living in Chile whose boyfriend (Daniel Bruhl) is kidnapped by the oppressive new government and imprisoned in a religious cult, which she infiltrates in order to save him. Even though the colony itself is inspired by [...]
Central Intelligence film review: Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson happily go through the motions in this cop comedy June 30, 2016 Dissatisfied accountant Calvin (Kevin Hart) gets thrown into the firing line (literally) when a former high school friend turned CIA agent, Bob (Dwayne Johnson), arrives in his life asking for help. Comparisons to past Hart films – Ride Along, Get Hard – are obvious, but the formula is tweaked just enough to feel fresh. Johnson [...]
Now You See Me 2 movie review: Jesse Eisenberg and Daniel Radcliffe struggle to lift this poorly written sequel June 30, 2016 The exploits of magicians The Four Horsemen was a surprise success at the box office three years ago. It's no surprise, then, that the gang should be quickly re-assembled for a sequel, where the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan) are forced into a shady heist by a vengeful tech prodigy [...]
Absolutely Fabulous The Movie review: Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders play the same old hits June 30, 2016 Given the media obsessed culture we live in, it's remarkable that cinema audiences haven't already been introduced to Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone. The drunken duo (played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley) amassed a cult following during their 90s small screen run, which has seen several one-off returns over the years. Following the critical [...]
Independence Day: Resurgence is a bewildering montage of CGI disasters and giant alien spaceships June 27, 2016 Independence Day: Resurgence is pitched as an antidote to the gritty movies ushered in by the age of the super-hero blockbuster. Sometimes, however, the cure can be worse than the disease. The original Independence Day, now 20 years old, was a bona fide cinematic event, expanding the boundaries of what was possible with CGI; the [...]
Barbu review: A sexy, hairy and acrobatic exploration of the history of circus June 27, 2016 ★★★★★ | Spiegeltent, London Wonderground An acrobatic circus and dance act from the most hirsute recesses of Quebec, Barbu dismantles preconceived notions of masculinity and then rebuilds them into something new using hula hoops, see-saws, ribbons and swings. Several large, beautiful men cavort and spin about the stage, like lumberjacks trapped in a salad spinner, [...]
Painters’ Paintings at the National Gallery review: a thought-provoking exhibition featuring Freud, Matisse, Degas, Reynolds and Van Dyck June 27, 2016 ★★☆☆☆ | National Gallery Painters’ Paintings is a highly unusual exhibition in that it imposes a context onto its collection that many visitors may never have considered before; it is surprising to learn that the National Gallery possesses some 70 paintings that were owned by the other painters it displays. It takes as a starting [...]
Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker at the Barbican review: An exotic explosion of cabaret that won’t be to everyone’s taste June 27, 2016 ★★★☆☆ | Barbican Fancy spending an evening in a sweltering sub-basement – where the room and all its furnishings are wrapped in plastic? How about if you are too? Kitted out in earplugs and a disposable plastic poncho, which acts as your own uncomfortably sticky sauna? And what if you’re screamed at, serenaded, spat upon, and [...]