Theatre review: Not About Heroes at Trafalgar Studios November 14, 2014 Trafalgar Studios 2 | ★★★★☆ In a life otherwise blighted by misfortune, Wilfred Owen had one show-stopping moment of luck. When forced to take leave from the front line because of shell-shock in 1917, he happened to be referred to Craiglockhart War Hospital at the same time that established celebrity poet Siegfried Sassoon was interned there. [...]
Would a Miami porn baron hang an Allen Jones painting in his sex dungeon? November 14, 2014 Royal Academy★★☆☆☆ If tragedy plus time equals comedy, what does sexism plus time equal – satire? Mainstream acceptability? This has been the strange fate of Allen Jones, an artist whose work once prompted the hurling of smoke bombs outside the ICA, but who now gets a genteel Royal Academy retrospective without even a hint of [...]
Film review: The Imitation Game proves genius Alan Turing is a hard one to crack November 13, 2014 ★★★☆☆ Cert 12a A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, placed inside an enigma, bound with leather and slotted carefully onto a mahogany book case. That’s what Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game feels like. For all the wonders of its subject’s mind, the film itself is a staid and conventional affair, with more quality [...]
Something for the weekend November 13, 2014 On the terraces: COLOMBIA VS USA AT CRAVEN COTTAGE Your chance to see some top international action tonight, with many stars of the World Cup (including Tim Howard and Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez) expected to show up for this friendly between the USA and Colombia. Adult tickets start at £20, children at £10, visit fulhamfc.com. [...]
Theatre review: Made in Dagenham starring Gemma Arterton November 7, 2014 ★★☆☆☆ Adelphi Theatre If you ever wondered why Carry On Camping, Carry On Up the Nile and Carry On Up The Jungle were never followed by Carry On Second Wave Feminism, or Carry On Women’s Liberation, then watch Made in Dagenham, a new musical in which slap, tickle and gender politics make uneasy [...]
Theatre review: John by DV8 November 7, 2014 ★★★☆☆ Lyttelton Theatre When Lloyd Newson, director of verbatim physical theatre company DV8, wanted to create a play about male attitudes towards love and sexuality, he interviewed fifty volunteers. But from the moment John walked in and told his tale, Newson knew he had to change tack. John’s father was a rapist, his mother [...]
Film review: Interstellar November 7, 2014 ★★☆☆☆ After the supermassive success of last year’s Gravity, it was only a matter of time before we got another mega-budget flick about Hollywood stars being sent to the stars. Christopher Nolan, who has an exemplary track record in smart sci-fi epics (Inception, The Dark Knight), is one of the few filmmakers who might have [...]
Film review: Mr Turner October 31, 2014 ★★★★★ François Truffaut once suggested that there’s something about England’s countryside – “The subdued way of life, the stolid routine” – that’s “anti-cinematic”. If only he’d lived to see Mike Leigh’s latest movie, which is about all of these things and yet is a film of the utmost eloquence. Mr Turner is not concerned with [...]
Leigh and Spall turn on the style October 30, 2014 FILM MR TURNER Cert 12a | By Alex Dudok de Wit ★★★★★ François Truffaut once suggested that there’s something about England’s countryside – “The subdued way of life, the stolid routine” – that’s “anti-cinematic”. If only he’d lived to see Mike Leigh’s latest movie, which is about all of these things and yet is a [...]
Gilles Peterson interview coming up in City A.M. Bespoke October 23, 2014 Legendary DJ Gilles Peterson caught up with City A.M. Bespoke magazine last week to talk about how the shifting face of the music industry has changed the way he works, how he fancies opening a restaurant and what it’s like to record a radio station for Grand Theft Auto. Peterson was promoting the launch of [...]