Theatre Review: Billie Piper stars in Great Britain at the National September 18, 2014 ★★★★★ With inquiries, investigations, MP select committees and dodgy dealings between opaque institutions, phone-hacking was a very broadsheet kind of scandal. Sex was there, but it was in the background: at root, this was a story about people being in each other’s pockets, not beds. Great Britain gives phone-hacking the tabloid treatment. It ratchets up [...]
Film Review: They Came Together September 4, 2014 ★★ The curtains pull back and swing jazz rolls over the opening credits: white serif font on black background. Enter two couples sat chatting in a plush New York restaurant. A scene in which they discuss the relative merits of the broadsheet newspapers gives way to sweeping aerial shots of the Manhattan skyline. We might [...]
Film Review: Before I Go To Sleep September 4, 2014 ★★ It’s always the same. She awakes startled in what she thinks is a stranger’s bed, creeps into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. The face she sees is hers, but different: lined, framed by hair that’s thinning, a little dry with middle-age. She screams and runs from the bathroom back into the bedroom [...]
Theatre review: Little Revolution September 4, 2014 ★★★★ Is there anything left to say about the riots? Despite the avalanche of think-pieces chewing over possible causes – from the left: poverty, racism, a lack of opportunities; from the right: irresponsibility bred by welfarism and failures in state education – no one provided a wholly satisfactory diagnosis. The riots were simply too big, [...]
Open House 2014: Our pick of the best events in the City of London September 4, 2014 It’s hard work running a city – especially one that leads the world in culture, heritage and population growth, like London. The increasing demand for housing in the capital has put more pressure than ever on our open spaces and buildings. The pace of urban change is fast and cities need creative solutions to stay [...]
Why it’s high time to revisit the maligned Muscadet August 28, 2014 I was lucky enough to spend a few hours of the bank holiday enjoying a stellar meal at Rick Stein’s Seafood restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall – that place has really moved up a gear or two since I was there last. After the pleasantries came the rather pressured task of examining the wine list; all [...]
Edinburgh Fringe comedy awards nominations: Remember these names August 20, 2014 The largest arts festival in the world is preparing to wrap for another year. Thousands of performers have taken to hundreds of stages over the course of the month-long event, which will go out with a bang on bank holiday Monday. Originally a theatre festival, the fringe now encompassed comedy, theatre, dance, cabaret, magic and [...]
Film Review: The Expendables 3 August 14, 2014 “Why don’t you cut me loose and I’ll open your meat shirt and show you your own heart” – In another universe this could be poetry. In actual fact the line comes from the resolutely unpoetic gob of Mel Gibson, who sits trussed-up in a military plane flying somewhere over “Uzmenistan”, a fictional country dreamt [...]
Something for the Weekend: how to fill your days off August 14, 2014 To pay tribute: Dead Poets Society Secret Cinema Secret Cinema’s organisers have had their hands full with the Back to the Future event, but they’ve found time to honour Robin Williams with a screening of Dead Poets Society this Friday. £25, visit eventbrite.co.uk To dance: Jazz Festival Canary Wharf Some soul is [...]
Film Review: Hector and the Search for Happiness August 14, 2014 You’d think a psychiatrist would understand why people are unhappy. As it happens, Hector (played by ubiquitous everyman Simon Pegg) doesn’t even know why he’s unhappy. He lives a seemingly comfortable life with his beautiful and successful (but stubbornly childless, we’re reminded) girlfriend Clara in London. But he feels like a fraud imparting worldly advice [...]