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 [...]
The Feast sees horror descend on the Welsh Valleys August 19, 2022 Rural horror films are all the rage. Whether it’s the windswept mania of The Lighthouse, or the Icelandic wilderness of last year’s Lamb, directors have found terror in nature, and that continues with The Feast. In the Welsh mountains, politician Gwyn (Julian Lewis Jones) and his wife Glenda (Nia Roberts) live a life of simmering [...]
Mama’s Affair: There’s more to this Hong Kong comedy than Cantopop stars Keung To and Jer Lau August 19, 2022 Mama’s Affair has made headlines for being the acting debut of Keung To and Jer Lau, members of Cantopop boyband MIRROR. They are directed by Kearen Pang, a popular Hong Kong multi-hyphenate artist who was a part of the show on which the band was discovered. But despite its pop-culture credentials, it’s the veteran star [...]
My Old School is a surprisingly nice documentary about the man who posed as a kid to go back to school August 18, 2022 A decade of Netflix true crime may lead you to believe there’s something sinister in the set up for British documentary My Old School. It’s the story of Brandon Lee – not Bruce Lee’s son, but the Scottish school student who in the mid-90s was revealed to be a 32-year-old man called Brian MacKinnon. It [...]
The Trials at the Donmar – near future warning with adults in the dock August 18, 2022 As Europe endures its hottest summer on record, hosepipe bans reach millions of Londoners and wildfires tear across Spain, new environmental polemic The Trials couldn’t have come at a more apt time. Set in the not-too-distant future, it’s essentially 12 Angry Children doing jury duty at the end of the world. Those on trial: the [...]
Cruise review, Apollo Theatre: As fresh and relevant as It’s A Sin August 18, 2022 Cruise is one of only a handful of West End openings this August, so thank goodness it’s a hit. A lucky few were already privy to how good Cruise is, with the show making headlines in May 2021 when it opened as the first post-pandemic West End production. “I knew that a solo show would [...]
Andalucía, the Jewel of Spain August 18, 2022 | Sponsored Andalucía has one of the richest cultural histories of any part of Europe, and the varying ethnicities that have shaped and melded this vibrant area of southern Spain has created a mythical land usually found only in children’s fairy tales. Grand monuments, palaces, fortresses and castles can be found in every part of Andalucía and [...]