Delacroix at the National Gallery does this magnificent painter a disservice February 19, 2016 The National Gallery | ★★☆☆☆ Measuring the influence of one artist on another is no easy task, and the National Gallery fails to pull it off convincingly in this muddled and problematic exhibition. Curators attempt to trace the influence of Delacroix – best known as the romantic painter of the iconic Liberty Leading the People – [...]
Uncle Vanya at the Almeida is brilliantly acted, cleverly staged and gratifyingly reinterpreted February 19, 2016 Almeida | ★★★★★ Anton Chekhov is a cornerstone of modern theatre, one of the fathers of realism; he eschews action in favour of mood and character, and while his Uncle Vanya is an undoubted masterpiece, the prospect of three and a half hours of Russian misery isn’t necessarily the most enticing prospect. Rejoice then that [...]
Performing for the Camera at Tate Modern works as a history lesson but says little about the here and now February 19, 2016 Tate Modern | ★★★☆☆ Performing for the Camera asks – and generally answers – a series of questions about the role of photography in the artistic process. Does it capture or create? (The latter). Is the result different from the performance? (Yes). Does being observed, as in particle physics, somehow alter the performance itself? (Yes). These [...]
How To Be Single review – plus the rest of this week’s biggest new film releases February 18, 2016 Bone Tomahawk (18) | ★★★★☆ Dir: S. Craig Zahler The western has been given more than a few new coats of paint lately, but none will be as surprising as Bone Tomahawk, which mixes traditional Old West with horror. Kurt Russell keeps his Hateful Eight beard as a sheriff who rides out to confront a [...]
The End of Longing review: Could Matthew Perry’s new West End play BE any more like Friends? February 12, 2016 The Playhouse Theatre | ★★★★☆ It’s unfair to judge someone’s work based on a project they were involved in many, many years ago. But Matthew Perry, writer and star of new West End play The End of Longing, mentions Friends in the very first sentence of his programme notes, so he’s kind of asking for it. [...]
A Bigger Splash sees a manic, nude Ralph Fiennes on the form of his life February 12, 2016 Dir. Luca Guadagnino | ★★★★☆ This sun-drenched comedy-thriller was one of the highlights of last year's Venice Film Festival. Tilda Swinton plays Marianne, a global rock star whose quiet life on an Italian island with her lover (Matthias Schoenaerts) is shattered by the arrival of Harry (Ralph Fiennes), Marianne's record producer ex, and his newly discovered [...]
Zoolander 2 wrote its own eugoogly when it put cameos before comedy February 11, 2016 Dir. Ben Stiller | ★★★☆☆ Over the last 15 years, Zoolander has boiled down in the public consciousness to its very essence, becoming less a movie than a handful of fondly remembered quotations. Its pop-cultural caché is so high that it’s easy to overlook its simple premise: the endearing, Chaplin-esque stupidity of its narcissistic leads. This [...]
Kate Moss, Cara Delevigne and Lily Cole are in Vogue at the National Portrait Gallery February 11, 2016 The National Portrait Gallery | ★★★★☆ The National Portrait Gallery’s Vogue 100 exhibition is an epic stroll through a century of photography from fashion’s undisputed powerhouse. The trail leads backwards, opening with vast prints of the most recognisable faces from today’s magazines; Cara Delevingne gives way to Lily Cole, who gives way to Kate Moss. The [...]
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies review – plus the rest of this week’s biggest film releases February 11, 2016 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (15) | ★★☆☆☆ Dir: Burr Steers Rarely has a film been more self-explanatory than this horror comedy which re-imagines Jane Austen's classic in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, with both the Bennet sisters (including Lily James's Elizabeth) and Mr Darcy (Sam Riley) now highly trained to fend off the [...]
Battlefield at the Young Vic draws effective parallels between Syria and the Mahabharata February 11, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★☆☆ Can a 2,500-year old story tell us something new about the human condition? That was presumably one of the considerations of 90-year old playwright Peter Brook and his long time collaborator Marie-Helene Estienne when they returned to an Indian epic, the Mahabharata. Having already told the story through their nine-hour 1989 [...]