The Painkiller at Garrick Theatre starring Kenneth Branagh is a predictable but fun slapstick comedy April 1, 2016 The Painkiller | Garrick Theatre Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon bring star power to this funny but painfully anachronistic comedy. It tells the tale of a contract killer whose life is thrown into disarray when he is allocated a hotel room adjoining that of a lovelorn, suicidal photographer. It’s adapted from Le Contrat, a French [...]
Eddie the Eagle is a soaring success April 1, 2016 With hindsight, it’s a surprise Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards’ rise to fame wasn’t made into a film sooner. Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service) dons thick-rimmed glasses and a permanent gurn as the plucky Eddie, a young man obsessed with being an Olympian. He exploits a loophole in the rules to enter the 1988 Winter [...]
The absurdist brilliance of Franciszka & Stefan Themerson April 1, 2016 Polish husband and wife Franciszka and Stefan Themerson’s output is so varied, spanning so many types of media and so many artistic styles, that making sense of it all in one room is rather overwhelming. Along the first wall is a row of cabinets filled with illustrations, mostly for children’s books – one features a [...]
Les Blancs at National Theatre is a spectacular tour de force April 1, 2016 As you walk into the Lyttelton theatre for Les Blancs, you’re hit by a wall of incense so thick it stings your eyes. It's the first indication that this is a play that refuses to remain anchored to its dusty, sun-baked set, bleeding subtly off the stage, playing on your imagined version of Africa and setting it against the [...]
Why Batman V Superman is nowhere near as bad as everybody says March 22, 2016 Batman v Superman (12A) | Dir. Zack Snyder★★★★☆ Batman v Superman may contain two of the most bankable super heroes in existence, but don’t let that fool you: this is a huge bet by Warner Bros and DC Films. If this movie flops, it heaps an unbelievable amount of pressure on this summer’s upcoming villain-caper Suicide Squad. [...]
Disorder review: A suspenseful and paranoia-tinged thriller that pulls a few punches March 22, 2016 Disorder (12A) | Dir. Alice Winocour ★★★☆☆ Chunky hunk-man Matthias Schoenaerts is no stranger to punch-centric roles, having risen to fame for his part in Bullhead (a film about a man who injects himself with all manner of illegal punch-hormones) and Rust and Bone (a film about a man who could punch a fridge into [...]
Miss Atomic Bomb is an explosive night out that will make the audience fallout of the theatre in a glow March 17, 2016 St James Theatre | ★★★☆☆ Miss Atomic Bomb has suffered from theatre critics’ love of mean-spirited puns, with some suggesting it failed to detonate and others, less inventively, just saying it bombed. These assessments are overly harsh; though nobody would call it a blast, there’s a critical mass of enjoyable material here, such that after it [...]
Jane Horrocks’ love letter to post punk and new wave is a brilliant vanity project March 17, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★★☆ Jane Horrocks’ If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me is the kind of midlife crisis I hope I have one day. The star of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Absolutely Fabulous has been recording music with producer Kipper, because why the hell not? And why not perform it at [...]
Tom Hiddleston shines in High Rise, a stylish adaptation of JG Ballard’s architectural dystopia March 17, 2016 Dir. Ben Wheatley | ★★★★☆ "Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.” The opening sentence of JG Ballard’s High Rise is up there with the English literary canon’s very best. It’s all [...]
10 Cloverfield Lane review: a pared-back, genre-hopping success March 17, 2016 Cloverfield was a lurching, visceral monster movie that played on our post-911 fears of sudden, inexplicable horror occurring in our cities, its grainy hand-held footage recalling the language of 24-hour news channels. Eight years later its follow-up – “stable-mate” might be a better term – is every bit as skin-crawling, but for very different reasons. [...]