Never Look Away review: New film from The Lives of Others director is a bloated, pretentious mishmash June 28, 2019 Fifteen years after his masterful The Lives of Others, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has returned to his native Germany with a bungled, overwrought epic set across the three defining political epochs of the 20th century. Over 188 minutes, we follow Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling), who experiences the Third Reich as a child, communist East [...]
Bret Easton Ellis interview: an audience with the most hated writer in America June 17, 2019 Bret Easton Ellis is concerned about the noise. We’re sitting in the lounge of a fancy hotel, and he’s worried my tape recorder won’t pick him up. “We can find another if you’d like. Tell me what you want to do.” It’s hard to reconcile his graciousness with his reputation as the one-time enfant terrible [...]
Diego Maradona biopic a strikingly candid antidote to airbrushed world of modern football June 13, 2019 “Peace,” says a young Diego Maradona when asked, five minutes into Asif Kapadia’s candid new film about the troubled Argentinian genius, what he is hoping for from his impending transfer from Barcelona to Napoli. There is precious little of that in his seven tumultuous years in the fervent southern Italian city, which form the basis [...]
E3 2019: The biggest games, trailers and announcements June 12, 2019 Watch Dogs Legion British politics has now well and truly seeped into the cultural groundwater. According to the game’s French publisher Ubisoft, the latest entry in the Watch Dogs series is set in a dystopian vision of “post-Brexit” London. The Grand Theft Auto-alike allows you to freely drive and roam around a near-future version of [...]
Gloria Bell review: Julianne Moore stars in this beguiling but frustrating retread June 7, 2019 This beguiling, frustrating film is noteworthy for two reasons: a gleaming performance by Julianne Moore, and the fact that it is a remake by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio of his own film, 2013’s Gloria. Save the surname appended to the title and the new LA setting, Lelio has changed little from the original. Moore stars [...]
Natalia Goncharova review: This exhibition offers a glimpse into a Russia that has long been forgotten June 7, 2019 Natalia Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist who throughout her career was preoccupied with the world of the Russian peasantry. Upon entering this exhibition, you’re presented with the artistic culture of an old, lost world; entrancing tray-paintings (an old folk handicraft), stylised versions of traditional religious prints, a peasant’s dress. Goncharova was a modernist, but [...]
Games round-up: Observation and Heaven’s Vault reviews June 5, 2019 Observation Platform: PC, PS4 Observation is one hell of a proposition: a follow-up to the superlative indie horror game Stories Untold, set in a space station designed by alumni of Alien: Isolation, in which you control a rogue AI inspired by HAL from 2001. And for the most part, it lives up to that promise. [...]
Rage 2 review: This post-apocalyptic zombie sequel falls flat despite some tight gunplay May 24, 2019 On the face of it, it’s strange that this game even exists, given that the original Rage, released in 2011, sold poorly and left little cultural impression. After playing this drab, repetitive sequel, I’m still unsure why they decided to bring it back for a second outing. I heard the faint ringing of alarm bells [...]
John Wick 3 review: Keanu Reeves shines in the action franchise’s brilliant third installment May 24, 2019 The John Wick films are so far ahead of other Hollywood action movies that this third installment is the best the genre has produced in recent years, without even being the best film in the franchise. We pick up immediately after the end of Chapter 2, with Wick having been declared ‘excommunicado’ from the High [...]
Aladdin review: Disney fails to justify remaking the classic animation May 24, 2019 The first thing you notice about this $180m live-action reboot of Disney’s beloved 1992 animation is the unexpected poverty of its visuals. The set design has an end-of-year school play vibe, all gaudy colours and plywood walls stuck together with adhesive. It feels more Disneyland than Disney. The widespread scepticism that greeted Guy Ritchie’s installment [...]