Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone may take the La La Land plaudits, but Londoner Marius de Vries is the man behind the musical’s genius February 18, 2017 It’s tough being a Hollywood actor in 2017. Gone are the days when being in films was enough to make you a star. Now, you’re expected to have political opinions, a kooky yet glamorous Instagram account and the ability to belt out song and dance numbers at the drop of a top hat. At least, [...]
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 [...]
The Great Wall film review: It’s a shame, but this Chinese film plays like a bog standard Hollywood movie February 17, 2017 Dir. Zhang Yimou Hero director Zhang Yimou’s expensive opus sees Matt Damon play a mercenary taken prisoner on the Great Wall of China, during the Song Dynasty. He discovers the wall was built to protect the country from invading alien monsters, and joins the fight to keep them at bay. The film represents a landmark [...]
Hidden Figures film review: This timely story is important, if a tad sentimental February 17, 2017 Dir. Theodore Melfi One of the films vying for Best Picture at next weekend’s Oscars, Hidden Figures tells the fascinating story of three African-American women (Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae) who overcome prejudice to be vital in NASA’s first missions to space. The issue of racism within the space programme is handled [...]
The Founder film review: the story of Ray Kroc, the man behind McDonalds’ fast food empire, is a fascinating watch February 17, 2017 Dir. John Lee Hancock The story of Ray Kroc and the birth of one of the great corporate empires is a fascinating watch. Set in the 50s, a struggling milkshake machine salesman (Michael Keaton) stumbles across a small burger shop named McDonald’s, with two brothers setting out a system to deliver the perfect burger quickly. [...]
Moonlight film review: If La La Land wasn’t released this year, this is the film everyone would have been talking about February 17, 2017 Dir. Barry Jenkins Had La La Land waited until next year to charm the world, there’s every chance Moonlight would be the film everyone is talking about at next Sunday’s Oscars. Spanning several years, we look at three phases in the life of quiet Miami kid Chiron as his home life, sexuality and surroundings threaten [...]
John Wick Chapter 2: a thrilling sequel that doesn’t screw up the original’s legacy February 17, 2017 John Wick was a rain-drenched, neon-soaked tonic for the Hollywood action movie. It borrowed elements of French neo-noir, Hong Kong revenge drama and grind-house cinema, packaging it all into a taut, minimalist blockbuster that instantly became every cinephile’s popcorn movie du jour (at least until Fury Road came along a year later). The premise was [...]
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 [...]