Film review: John Wick April 10, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Reports that Keanu Reeves is staging a comeback are too true to be good. Over the past decade, as the actor languished in b-movie limbo, the more optimistic among us began to hope that we’d soon be rid of him altogether. But lo and behold, his latest action thriller has done [...]
Theatre review: Oppenheimer play is an explosive hit April 9, 2015 Vaudeville Theatre | ★★★★★ Tom Morton-Smith’s brilliant new play for the RSC begins at a smoke-filled fundraiser for the anti-fascist forces fighting Franco in far away Spain. Jazz is playing, and everyone dances – everyone except for Robert Oppenheimer (John Heffernan pictured above), who stands at the centre of things, martini in hand, smiling. In [...]
Something for the weekend April 9, 2015 EAT! THE DUCK AND RICE As you might have guessed from the name, Wagamama founder Alan Yau’s latest venture combines two British favourites: Chinese food and a traditional pub. Head down to Soho for a pint and some prawn crackers. 90 Berwick Street, visit theduckandrice.com SIP! WHISKY WEEKENDER Do you like whisky? Of course you [...]
Review: Fast & Furious 7 is still one hell of a ride April 1, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Fast & Furious 7 – or as the Japanese call it, Wild Speed: Sky Mission – is quite possibly the dumbest movie of the year so far. But it’s also an absolute blast. All the expected elements are here in furious abundance: cars, family, bromance, explosions, criminality, loyalty and [...]
What to do in London this Easter weekend April 1, 2015 The long Easter weekend is almost upon us and here’s what London has to offer. 500 Years of Hampton Court Palace Historic Royal Palaces is throwing a birthday bash for King Henry VIII’s former residence. Visitors during the day will be greeted by five royal carriages, specially created for the occasion, while William Shakespeare and [...]
Theatre review: Rules for Living March 27, 2015 National Theatre | ★★★★☆ So this is it: the final curtain for Sir Nicholas Hytner, the revitalising creative director of the National Theatre. That he would bow out with Rules for Living, a new play from young writer Sam Holcroft and directed by stalwart Marianne Elliot, exemplifies the combination of steady-handedness and risk he has [...]
Art review: Anish Kapoor at the Lisson Gallery March 27, 2015 Lisson Gallery | Until 9 May This new solo show by one of Britain’s most famous sculptors marks his return to painted works. A triptych of silicon and resin pieces dominates one room; raised red and burgundy bringing to mind torn flesh. The works are in part a continuation of Kapoor’s long-term fascination with [...]
Film review: Blind is divisive but gripping March 27, 2015 Cert 18 | ★★★★☆ Films about the blind, like films about the deaf, are faced with a formal problem: how do you convey the subjective experience of blindness without showing the viewer a blank screen for two hours? Compellingly, the Sundance-winning Blind gets around the problem by focusing on the flights of imagination that can [...]
Film review: Get Hard is a technically well-tooled comedy March 27, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ In Get Hard, James King (Will Ferrell) is a rich, clueless trader whose life falls apart when he’s convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin State Prison. With 30 days to get his affairs in order James hires Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart), the manager of his local [...]
Film review: Cinderella is kitsch, colourful and just about adequate March 26, 2015 Cert U | ★★★☆☆ The idea of remaking Disney classics is interesting, and when done with spirit and creativity the results can be worthwhile – just check out Glenn Close in 101. Director Kenneth Branagh’s pastiche of the 1950 animated classic Cinderella is not a slavish reproduction, but it’s sufficiently similar that it still seems [...]