It Chapter 2 film review: Stephen King adaptation limps over the line September 6, 2019 Pennywise the dreadful clown is brilliant as a twisted metaphor for our childhood fears. He is less brilliant as a literal space alien who can only be defeated through some arcane Native American ritual. Alas, that’s where Stephen King’s bulging 1,200-page novel ends up. It proved to be the undoing of the 1990 TV mini-series, [...]
Hansard at the National Theatre play review: Political drama is a blistering debut September 6, 2019 George Osborne was in the audience for this blistering political drama by debut playwright Simon Woods, no doubt taking some credit for lines such as: “It’s so easy to mistake an expensive education for a genuine understanding of the world”. Hansard – the title taken from the verbatim record of everything said in Parliament – [...]
Control game review: Alan Wake developer perfects its formula with this sci-fi blockbuster September 5, 2019 When David Lynch and Mark Frost came up with the pitch for Twin Peaks, they ignored the prevailing wisdom for creating a TV show. First they mapped out the town itself – the sheriff’s station, the high school, the woods – then they imagined the kind of people who might live there. The murder mystery [...]
Appropriate at Donmar Warehouse review: An expert study of sibling rivalry August 30, 2019 There’s something special about an argument between siblings. No other type of altercation conjures up that same breed of no-holds-barred viciousness, which has the ability to transform even the most composed of us into a ill-tempered child as soon as the first insult is hurled. This is the object of study in Appropriate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play [...]
Notting Hill Carnival’s ‘Dancing Granny’ signs underwear deal with Sloggi after video goes viral August 30, 2019 Almost 1m people attended Notting Hill Carnival’s annual carnival last weekend. One of them, Colette Zacca, left with viral fame and an underwear deal with German brand Sloggi. Read More: Notting Hill Carnival 2019: Everything you need to know about London’s best parade The 56-year-old from Stamford Hill has been dubbed “Dancing Granny” online after [...]
Wolfenstein: Youngblood review – a bonkers but thrilling co-op experiment August 28, 2019 Platform: PS4 (tested), XBO, PC Five years ago, Wolfenstein: The New Order took a gloriously silly, decades old game about shooting Nazis and turned it into a gloriously silly, throughly modern game about shooting Nazis. It married lightning-quick gunplay with a pulpy, sci-fi yarn about monstrous mechanical Panzerhunds and fascist moon bases, while somehow making [...]
Glass half full: Optimists outlive pessimists, study finds August 27, 2019 Viewing the glass as half full may be the secret to a longer life, according to a US study that found a positive correlation between levels of optimism and longevity. Conducted by Boston University School of Medicine, the study found that optimists not only live longer in general but have a better chance than pessimists [...]
The Doctor at the Almeida review: Robert Icke signs off with a masterful medical ethics drama August 22, 2019 Robert Icke approaches a classic play the way a mechanic might approach a motor, breaking it down to its constituent pieces, working out what makes it tick, and then replacing half of it with gleaming new parts. This approach paid dubious dividends in his largely hellish revision of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck last year, but [...]
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark film review: Joyously grisly but too scary for young fans August 22, 2019 Retro is very much in vogue, especially when it comes to horror. Following the spate of nostalgic Stephen King revivals and the success of Netflix’s Stranger Things, it would be easy to write off Scary Stories as just another algorithmically-generated, mild-horror cash grab. But that would be doing it a disservice: it’s a soulful tour [...]
Once Upon A time In Hollywood review: Another classic from Quentin Tarantino August 15, 2019 Even in a summer dominated by Disney, the 9th film from Quentin Tarantino demands attention. The promise of the Pulp Fiction director’s take on The Manson Family has resulted in the biggest opening weekend ever for a Tarantino film, giving a small flicker of hope to anyone who sees a cinematic future beyond remakes and [...]