Eduardo Paolozzi Whitechapel Gallery: artist’s technophobia is a mirror for millennial fear February 17, 2017 Even if you don’t know the name Eduardo Paolozzi, you’ll be aware of his work: he’s the man behind the brightly-coloured mosaics at Tottenham Court Road underground station. These vibrant, energetic works – saxophones and commuters and abstract spheres – belie a man whose artistic life is perhaps best summed up as a prolonged existential [...]
Wolfgang Tillmans 2017 at Tate Modern review: a celebration of banality with little to give February 17, 2017 This collection of 14 years’ worth of work by Turner Prize-winning photographer Wolfgang Tillmans is a globetrotting celebration of banality, the output of an artist who long ago started believing his own hype. Pictures are scattered throughout the space, some metres high and framed, others postcard-sized and sellotaped to the wall, each one designed to [...]
For Honor pits samurai, knights and vikings together in fight to the death February 15, 2017 For Honor is a unique pitch: what if samurai, knights and vikings all put aside the fact they belong to entirely separate historical eras and got together to smack one another about in a giant fighting game. This new title from Ubisoft straddles multiple genres. It’s a tactical and in-depth fighting game, it’s a third-person [...]
Sniper Elite 4: As unflinchingly ultra-violent as this World War Two shooter series gets February 15, 2017 World War 2 is a well-represented setting in video games, but Sniper Elite 4 is proof that the generic isn’t always boring. This four-quel transports the series from the deserts of Africa to the towns, vineyards, forests and docklands of sunny northern Italy, where you’ll embark on all sorts of different missions, typically involving shooting [...]
The Founder director John Lee Hancock: “There are things about Ray Kroc I really admire” February 14, 2017 Released in UK cinemas this week, The Founder tells the story of the world’s best-known brand, McDonald’s – and how entrepreneur Ray Kroc wrestled the company away from its founders. We sat down with the movie’s director, John Lee Hancock, to talk burgers, unscrupulous business tactics and what he learned about leadership from Kroc. Your [...]
Finding love on the first date will cost you, a quarter of the average weekly wage to be exact February 13, 2017 If you can't seem to find love, you're probably not spending enough, it turns out – after new research found Britons are not shy about splashing the cash to impress on the first date, with the average expenditure on a first date hitting £132.57 – over a quarter of the average weekly wage. The data, [...]
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk review: Ang Lee’s directorial return is pocked with missed opportunities February 10, 2017 Much like the title character, Ang Lee’s first film since Life of Pi comes with some baggage. A huge flop on its release in the US, low box office number summed up the indifferent reaction from customers as well as critics. It’s easy to see why. Based on the Ben Fountain novel, the story takes [...]
Fences film review: Incredible acting overcomes stagey direction in this Denzel Washington movie February 10, 2017 Stepping into the director’s chair for the first time in a decade, Denzel Washington also takes the lead in this adaptation of August Wilson’s play. Troy (Washington) is a hard working, hard drinking garbage man in 1950s Pittsburgh. Resentful of his lot in life, he pushes away his sons, leaving his wife (Viola Davis) to [...]
The Lego Batman Movie review: This might be the best Batman film ever, watch your back Affleck February 9, 2017 Batfleck may have thus far been a mixed blessing for comic book fans, but there's no doubting the popularity of his smaller, Lego counterpart. Will Arnett's cocky Caped Crusader was the breakout star of The Lego Movie three years ago, earning his own solo adventure. Having saved Gotham again, Batman finds himself alone and without [...]
Revolution: Russian art 1917-1932 review: A dense and difficult exhibition that rewards those who look beyond the red flags February 9, 2017 Revolution: Russian Art marks the centenary of the momentous turning point in Russian history, the October Revolution of 1917, with a monumentally packed survey of the complicated, politically charged visual art up to the suppression of the Avante-Garde by Stalin in 1932. The bright red first room, filled with propaganda and state-sanctioned Social Realist painting, [...]