The American Dream: Pop to the Present charts a wavering course through pop art history March 9, 2017 This giant, twelve-room exhibition of half a century’s worth of American pop art gets the genre’s money shot out of the way pretty sharpish. A familiar multicolour Marilyn stares you down on the way in, a psychedelic Warholian hydra looming over the entrance hall. She introduces an exhibition that attempts to trace some artistic line [...]
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead review: Daniel Radcliffe shines in this absurdist and tragicomic Shakespearean send-up March 9, 2017 Those who hate Shakespeare’s most famous play will rejoice in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, two and a half hours dedicated to tearing up his two most pointless characters and their part in arguably his biggest plot hole. Equally, those who love a bit of Bard will be intrigued to see the story entirely from [...]
Hit Makers by Derek Thompson: Read this book if you want to learn how to write March 9, 2017 I have a confession to make: I don’t like reading books about consumer culture. I often find the subject slight, the writing bland and the overall effort insubstantial. But I read Hit Makers by Derek Thompson. Thompson, a senior editor at The Atlantic, is a distinct voice in liberal American journalism, and Hit Makers, his [...]
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild review – Nintendo’s latest is the greatest game they’ve made since 1990-something March 8, 2017 A very long time ago indeed, in the ancient year of 1986, there existed a NES game called The Legend of Zelda. It was like nothing else at the time, a sprawling and freeform fantasy adventure that thrust you into an open world with little guidance, and left you to figure out how everything worked. [...]
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Young Vic review: A dispiriting slog through the mud March 3, 2017 A perennial favourite, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is traditionally presented as a magical, romantic comedy. However, Joe Hill-Gibbins’ conspicuously dismal production at the Young Vic cares little for such frivolities. The treatment of the text is fairly conservative, but there’s a subtle change in tone that refocuses the audiences’ attention on the play’s murky [...]
Ugly Lies the Bone at the National Theatre review: War vet VR drama a rare flop for the NT March 3, 2017 A perfect storm of poor acting, casting, script and execution beats all life from this under-powered story about a soldier dealing with the mental and physical effects of war. Jess returns home horribly scarred and in chronic pain, barely able to move her twisted body. In a bid to regain her lost freedom she embarks on a form [...]
Logan is the bloody and bold Wolverine film fans have been waiting for, and a perfect end to the series March 3, 2017 While not every outing was a gem, Hugh Jackman’s seventeen years as Wolverine have made him a superhero movie icon. Taller and prettier than the comic book character, he nonetheless won over the nerds during his six-film run (plus two cameos). The missing ingredient (“X factor”, if you will), however, has always been edge; his [...]
Hamlet at the Almeida: Sherlock star Andrew Scott brings a twitchy charm to the Danish prince March 3, 2017 King Lear has overtaken Hamlet as the most performed of the Bard’s work, but this outstanding production shows why the Danish prince is still king. The setting is thoroughly contemporary. Hamlet’s world of mid-century modern furniture and 24-hour news is seamlessly woven into the text; if you were watching the play for the first time [...]
Kong: Skull Island review: The daddy of all monster movies reimagined as a Vietnam war film March 3, 2017 Kong: Skull Island takes the daddy of all monster movies and reimagines it as a Vietnam war drama. Set in 1973, references to Apocalypse Now are thrown around so liberally it makes you wonder if director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ (whose only previous feature film is the coming-of-age indie film The Kings of Summer) wanted to make [...]
How to profit from the Chinese art market and bag some cutting edge paintings while you’re at it March 2, 2017 Which country has the world’s largest art market? Hint: if you’re thinking anything other than “China”, then you’re wrong. Art information website artprice.com estimates that in the first half of 2016, China accounted for 35.5 per cent of the $6.53bn global art sales. Someone out there is making a killing from the Chinese art market, [...]