Brexit: £120m festival has just 238,000 visitors after being ‘hijacked by wokeness’ September 2, 2022 A £120m festival launched to celebrate Brexit has been branded a flop after just 238,000 visitors turned up. The taxpayer-funded so-called ‘festival of Brexit’, later renamed ‘Unboxed’ was branded “beyond parody in terms of wokeness” by the former minister for leaving the EU. In a report published by House, the publication for Parliament, organisers reportedly [...]
Rematch: Meet the Secret Cinema for sport recreating the Rumble in the Jungle August 30, 2022 Founder Richard Ayers and investor Trevor Beattie tell Frank Dalleres about Rematch, the immersive sporting experience bringing the Rumble in the Jungle to London in early 2023. Imagine for a moment that you could attend any sporting event of the past. What would you choose? The 1966 World Cup final? Botham’s Ashes? Serena’s first Grand [...]
5 Ways To Make Hot Desking Work For You August 30, 2022 Hot desking, the phenomenon once only found in coworking spaces, is currently finding favour among corporate companies looking for ways to cut costs without cutting performance. Benefits of adopting a ‘no assigned seating for anyone’ approach include increased inter-team collaboration and a sense of belonging among employees. However, not everybody is a fan – especially [...]
Beast review: Idris Elba takes on the Jaws of the Savannah August 28, 2022 There can’t be many actors who keep as busy as Idris Elba, and that’s without all the stories linking him to James Bond. The Londoner has five films out in 2022, having appeared in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Thor Love and Thunder already. The third release in that list is Beast, an action-thriller from [...]
The man who helped Tom Cruise act at 7Gs in Top Gun: Maverick August 26, 2022 Top Gun: Maverick has ascended like a graceful jet to become the sixth highest grossing film in US history. Quite some doing given it was only released three months ago. A mixture of cynicism and wonder drove people back to the cinema: the promise of Tom Cruise flying in real fighter jets at hundreds of [...]
Mr Malcolm’s List review: by-the-numers but pleasantly entertaining August 26, 2022 The stale genre of costume dramas has been given a boost in recent times by productions that have opted for a more diverse approach in casting. Amando Iannucci’s David Copperfield and Netflix smash hit Bridgerton have all the hallmarks of the classic tales, but with stars that revive character tropes with a different approach, and [...]
Official Competition: Penelope Cruz shines in biting movieland satire August 26, 2022 One thing Hollywood loves to celebrate is itself. There are numerous movies of the highs, lows, and in-betweens of the American film industry, but not as many that focus on European cinema. New comedy Official Competition puts prestige cinema in the spotlight, and comes up with a winner. Set in Spain, an elderly millionaire (José [...]
Beast review: A surprisingly straight story of man vs lion, and actually good August 26, 2022 Let’s tackle the elephant – or should that be the lion? – in the room. The concept of new Idris Elba film Beast is flatly ridiculous. It features a deadly serious scene in which Elba fights a lion with his bare hands. It’s about a man-munching lion skulking around South Africa tearing limbs off locals [...]
Five million pounds of Banksy art is now free to see in the City August 25, 2022 Walking into the Banksy exhibition at the new Red Eight Gallery at The Royal Exchange, the first artwork you’ll see is Morons, a depiction of an auction room upon which Banksy has scrawled: “I can’t believe you morons buy this shit.” Let’s just get this out of the way first: it’s blazingly ironic to host [...]
Two Ukrainian Plays, Finborough Theatre, review: Haunting tales from Ukraine August 20, 2022 Some proceeds from Two Ukrainian Plays are donated toThe Voices of Children Charitable Foundation, a Ukrainian charity that provides urgently needed psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by the war in Ukraine. You can donate using this link above. The capital’s artistic organisations have been collaborating, producing and devising Ukrainian-themed work ever since Russia made [...]