The Hand of God review: Childhood memories and Maradona obsessions December 3, 2021 Awards season can often be a time when great directors get reflective. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma became an Oscar contender two years ago, while Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari have both won acclaim in recent years as films based partly on the filmmaker’s experiences. It’s a tricky path to take, however, sometimes [...]
Novel coronavirus: Meet the writers who penned a book during lockdown December 3, 2021 They say everyone has a book in them, but usually that’s where it stays. Writing a novel is a time-consuming business, a months- or years-long project, often undertaken with little guarantee anyone will ever read it. Every successful author has their ‘origin story’, from JK Rowling scribbling away in an Edinburgh cafe to Dostoyevsky bashing out The [...]
Hitting the note or off pitch? Quick fix for music streaming won’t help us December 3, 2021 Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art, or so said Claude Debussy in his approach to composition. For Labour MP, Kevin Brennan, a love of music and rules for art is at the heart of his fight against streaming companies, which he claims don’t pay artists fairly. His private member’s [...]
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny named Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally, beating the likes of Taylor Swift and Drake December 1, 2021 Spotify has today unveiled its annual 2021 Wrapped campaign and personalised user experience for more than 381 million users worldwide, unveiling the top artists, albums, songs, playlists and podcasts. With more than 9.1 billion streams this year on Spotify, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is the most-streamed artist of 2021. The second most-streamed artist – and most streamed female artist of the year [...]
Nftcracker: Natalia Osipova auctions off NFTs to fund new dance company November 29, 2021 Internationally renowned ballerina and star of the London Ballet Natalia Osipova is selling NFTs to raise funds for a new dance company.
Encanto review – magical Disney family fun for Christmas November 29, 2021 The landscape of family movies has shifted slightly during the pandemic, as studios found more success with at-home streaming rather than the cinematic experience. Still, some things never change – namely, a number of big screen family blockbusters heading our way in the run up to Christmas. Disney’s offering is Encanto, the 60th Walt Disney [...]
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci is a stylish soap opera November 28, 2021 Out of all the modern pop divas, Lady Gaga has made the most seamless transition into acting. The artist formerly known as Stefani Germanotta boasts a Golden Globe for her performance in TV’s American Horror Story: Hotel; and an Oscar for A Star Is Born, albeit for Best Original Song. Three years on from that [...]
Amy: Beyond the Stage at Design Museum is a bittersweet triumph November 26, 2021 There are echoes of the V&A’s famous David Bowie exhibition to this new show at the Design Museum, which charts the legacy of another pop icon: Amy Winehouse. Ten years after her death, her rise and fall remains as poignant as ever. And while the Design Museum might not seem like the most obvious place [...]
The Manor at National Theatre: A conga line of middle class back-slapping November 26, 2021 Every couple of years the National Theatre – an institution I love in my bones – has a crack at a farcical satire of modern Britain, and every time it makes a total bollocks of it. There was 2017’s deplorable Saint George and the Dragon, an allegory so blunt it would have struggled to pierce [...]
Brit Awards drops gender-specific categories to address non-binary exclusion November 23, 2021 The Brit Awards has confirmed today that it will get rid of gender-specific categories in its annual celebration.