Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector – art review February 20, 2015 Barbican | ★★★★☆ What art do artists like? From Damian Hirst’s extensive collection of stuffed animals and skulls to Peter Blake’s near-bottomless stock-pile of vintage road signs, many of today’s leading artists are as enthusiastic about accumulating stuff as they about making it. Over two levels of the Barbican, Magnificent Obsessions presents 8,000 objects belonging [...]
Film review: Duke of Burgundy February 20, 2015 Cert 18 | ★★★★☆ That The Duke of Burgundy’s release falls within a week of a certain other sadomasochistic soap opera is probably no coincidence (get them while they’re still hot), but the association does Peter Strickland’s filthy-but-tender love story a disservice. We are first introduced to Evelyn, a maid whose sadistic mistress Cynthia [...]
Theatre review: Mark Strong stars in A View From the Bridge February 20, 2015 Wyndham’s Theatre | ★★★★☆ The set in Ivo van Hove’s lauded adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic A View From the Bridge (first shown at the Young Vic in 2014) evokes both a boxing ring and a pagan temple. It’s an ideal space for a play in which desire wrestles with reason on the way to [...]
Film review: Cake – the one where Jennifer Aniston feels sorry for herself February 19, 2015 Cert 15 | ★☆☆☆☆ Since Friends, Jennifer Aniston has gone on to build a successful, if not groundbreaking, career as a commercially bankable but critically patronised American sweetheart. But she wants more. She wants respect. She wants awards. She wants – whisper it – to do a McConaughey. Cake isn’t Aniston politely asking to [...]
Something for the weekend February 19, 2015 DRINK! LONDON BEER WEEK Round off the week with round of delicious ales at London Beer Week. A £10 LBW wristband entitles you to discounted pints at a number of watering holes around London. Brewery tours and brewing masterclasses are also on offer. Visit londonbeerweek.com PARTY! CHINESE NEW YEAR Chinese New Year fell yesterday but [...]
Half term! Imagine Children’s Festival 2015 February 13, 2015 If you’re struggling to think of what to do this half term, head down to the Southbank Imagine Children’s Festival. A diverse programme of activities features readings from top authors including Russell Brand, Judith Kerr, Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz and Helen Skelton. For something more lively you can clap along to live performances of Charlie [...]
Film review: Coherence has the kernel of something interesting but doesn’t hold together February 13, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Coherence is soft science fiction slush that simply doesn’t hold together. As four couples meet for dinner, a mysterious comet streaks through the heavens, cracking mobile phone screens, fracturing reality, and encouraging the kind of ill-informed, feng shui and quantum theory-tinged, new age, nonsense-strewn dinner party conversation that makes you hope [...]
Theatre review: How To Hold Your Breath at the Royal Court February 13, 2015 Royal Court | ★★☆☆☆ Zinnie Harris’ How To Hold Your Breath begins with an intimate encounter. A man is alarmed to find the stranger he slept with isn’t a prostitute. She’s offended by his attempt to pay. It’s a zippy opening that makes the rest of the play feel leaden. The action shifts uncomfortably [...]
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends – art review February 13, 2015 National Portrait Gallery: ★★★★★ Despite enjoying a successful career as a portraitist in the late 1800s, John Singer Sargent was overtaken by the lurch toward abstraction that took place in the subsequent century. His luscious, august paintings of society figures seemed to pull in the opposite direction to those throwing off the figurative constraints of [...]
Film review: Love is Strange is a backwards romance with heart February 12, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ Traditional love stories end with a wedding. Love is Strange flips fairy-tale romance on its head, beginning with a marriage and following it up with a sweet, sad separation. Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) have been together for 39 years, and when a law change in New York [...]