Everybody’s Talking About Jamie musical review: Major changes revive this popular musical January 24, 2020 Popular musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is switching it up for 2020, with some major cast changes, including a new Jamie. Based on the 2011 documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is an inspirational coming of age tale about a young man taking his first high-heeled steps into the fantastical world [...]
The Personal History of David Copperfield review: A gentle period comedy that lacks Armando Iannucci’s signature bite January 24, 2020 Armando Iannucci’s filmography is a roll-call of some of the best satire of modern times, from his early days on The Day Today and Alan Partridge, right up to 2017’s deliciously dark The Death of Stalin. The common thread binding them together is a gleeful hostility. Iannucci clearly thinks politicians, on the whole, are a [...]
The Welkin at the National Theatre review: Hilarious, tragic and utterly harrowing January 24, 2020 Lucy Kirkwood’s new play at the National Theatre is a revelation: hilarious, tragic, harrowing and utterly compelling. Set in the mid-18th century, it confronts contemporary issues with a ballerina’s lightness of touch, without compromising its place as a period drama. It follows the case of a young woman who’s been found guilty of a terrible, [...]
Monty Python star Terry Jones dies aged 77 January 22, 2020 Monty Python star Terry Jones has died at the age of 77, his agent has said. Jones, who founded the comedy group and directed three of its feature films, announced in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which restricted his speech. “We are deeply saddened to have to announce the passing [...]
Just Mercy review: A worthy but powerful legal drama buoyed by strong performances January 17, 2020 If our Netflix habits over the past couple of years are anything to go by, we bloody love a courtroom procedural. The People v. OJ Simpson; When They See Us; Making a Murderer – the list goes on. Basically, if you get your kicks from someone digging out a vital piece of paper from a [...]
Bad Boys For Life review: Will Smith serves up a dish of steaming hot nostalgia January 17, 2020 Once a guarantee of box office success, Will Smith today finds himself on rocky ground. Last year’s Gemini Man bombed, his Netflix movie Bright was critically savaged, and even the success of Aladdin can be put down to nostalgia rather than star-power. The A-lister and sometime YouTuber looks for redemption in his third Bad Boys [...]
Bombshell film review: Kidman, Theron and Robbie shine in this timely #metoo drama January 17, 2020 The co-writer of excoriating financial drama The Big Short serves up another examination of the state of the United States, this time taking aim at the media. Bombshell centres on the Fox News sexual harassment scandal that erupted just four short years ago – so recently that it seems a little early for an autopsy [...]
Phone zombies, an interactive ‘brain’ and milk bottle art at Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights festival January 17, 2020 Those who have taken a walk around Canary Wharf in the last week or so will have noticed some strange-looking structures popping up in the area’s streets, squares and parks. Last night the purpose of all this finally came to light – literally, as the sculptures burst into vibrant illumination to mark the beginning of [...]
The best films, art and theatre from now till Easter, from Andy Warhol to Margot Robbie January 10, 2020 Birds of Prey With the best will in the world, DC’s comic caper Suicide Squad was not a good movie. It was, in fact, a proper stinker, and the fact it grossed three quarters of a billion at the box office says more about the likes of you and I than it does David Ayer’s [...]
Uncut Gems movie review: Adam Sandler decides to show up again in this gem of a movie January 10, 2020 Those who only know Adam Sandler as the guy who makes fart jokes on Netflix will be in for a huge surprise in this tense thriller, from the directors of 2017 indie hit Good Time. He transforms himself as Howard, a Manhattan jeweller who finds himself on a downward spiral regarding his decisions surrounding a [...]