Lee Isaac Chung’s Oscar hopeful Minari is a well of emotion April 8, 2021 It’s unlikely that any of the Oscar hopefuls will arrive in the traditional way this year. Nomadland will head to Disney+ at the end of April, Netflix’s Best Picture nominees are already available, and last week saw the UK debut of Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari. Partly based on Chung’s own childhood memories, the film takes [...]
Palm Springs is a dark twist on the Groundhog Day formula April 8, 2021 Before the dark times, it’s likely most of us will have been stuck at the wedding of some vague acquaintance or relative we don’t care for. We’ve stared into space through prolonged speeches, and tried to sneak out before the DJ played The Macarena. Well, what if you could never leave? That’s the nightmarish prospect [...]
Sound of Metal – Riz Ahmed deserves his Oscar nom April 8, 2021 The Academy Awards are just a few weeks away, and will belatedly celebrate the most unusual year in cinematic history. While more profitable movies have been moved to a future where they can feasibly be seen in cinemas, a lot of this year’s hopefuls are smaller films that will debut on streaming services. One of [...]
‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ crushes pandemic box office record April 6, 2021 The latest in the giant lizard vs ape saga, ‘Godzilla vs Kong’, has smashed pandemic box office records which raked in £35m just this weekend. In the biggest opening in the US in the last 12 months, the Adam Wingard-directed blockbuster has surpassed the highly anticipated ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ which took home around £12m in its [...]
Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 3 catch-up April 2, 2021 *** WARNING: This review contains spoilers for all current episodes of Falcon and The Winter Soldier *** We come to the halfway point of Marvel’s action/espionage/buddy cop miniseries. As you might imagine, an ominous presence is looming over the investigations of Sam/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). What you might not expect [...]
Podcasts that helped us survive lockdown April 1, 2021 Podcasts have been one of the defining mediums of recent years, evolving from an online alternative to live radio to a thing all of its own, intimate and confessional, beamed into bedrooms, gyms and underground carriages across the world. In the last year we’ve relied more than ever on our favourite hosts talking quietly into [...]
Godzilla Vs Kong – a spectacle that belongs on the big screen April 1, 2021 The first big blockbuster of the summer has arrived (yes, even in these times Hollywood considers the summer season to start at the end of March). As the title suggests, Godzilla Vs Kong sees the two big monsters of cinema meet face-to-face in a battle for supremacy. We find Kong isolated in a domed Skull [...]
The Mauritanian – Tahar Rahim saves Kevin McDonald drama March 31, 2021 On the surface, The Mauritanian should have been a bigger contender during awards season – it’s got a stellar cast, a high-profile director in Kevin McDonald (The Last King of Scotland), and an intriguing story. However, despite some well-deserved acting nominations elsewhere, it hasn’t shown up on the radar of Oscar voters. McDonald is adapting [...]
Up in smoke: A beginner’s guide to cigar-smoking March 31, 2021 I started smoking cigars as an undergraduate. I know that sounds unbearable, but it was a small town and thanks to a regular influx of American tourists we had three decent cigar shops. I saw myself as an in utero sybarite, a trainee on the green slopes of decadence. After a dinner, a cigar can [...]
Culture Corner: Your regular City arts round-up March 30, 2021 As we look forward to the City reopening for business, we’re ready to start up our Culture Corner series again, pointing you in the direction of the best arts and culture within the Square Mile and championing the role of the arts within the business community. So much is made possible when the culture, arts [...]