The Night Before review: A festive buddy comedy lacking in Christmas cheer December 4, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ A festive tumbling barrel of semi-improvised dick and drug jokes, The Night Before is a semi-funny Christmas buddy comedy in which lifelong friends Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) hoof it around Manhattan in an attempt to recreate their once honoured annual traditions. Ethan is a developmentally arrested [...]
Victor Frankenstein movie review: Paul McGuigan’s film is every bit as dead-eyed as the monster it portrays December 3, 2015 Cert 12A | ★☆☆☆☆ Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein is so desperate to avoid comparisons with other, better, retellings of Mary Shelley’s tale that it jettisons almost everything that’s interesting about the mythos, setting out to answer a series of questions nobody has ever asked about the protagonist’s butler. The result is a lumbering comedy-horror that’s every bit as [...]
Bridge of Spies, Carol and The Good Dinosaur: This weekend’s new film releases reviewed November 27, 2015 Bridge of Spies (12A): Dir: Steven Spielberg ★★★★☆ Steven Spielberg directs Tom Hanks for the fourth time, in the true(ish) story of an insurance lawyer (Hanks) forced to defend a Russian spy (Mark Rylance) caught in New York at the height of the Cold War. His belief that every man deserves a fair trial makes [...]
The ENO’s Mikado is a glorious reinvention of a classic November 27, 2015 The ENO’s production of The Mikado, first directed by Jonathan Miller in 1986 and now in its 14th revival, is beloved of fans of light opera. And rightly so; it’s Gilbert and Sullivan at its ridiculous, ebullient best. Famously stripped of the visual trappings of late 19th century Japan, The Mikado looks like a Cole [...]
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 movie review: Last instalment draws the film series to an entertaining conclusion November 20, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★★★☆ The Hunger Games is a rarity in Hollywood franchises; all three instalments have maintained a high standard. Action-packed, intelligent stories with solid performances, and in Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss a heroine the audiences can get behind. Can the finale, wedged between the loud juggernauts of Bond and Star Wars, deliver an end [...]
The Dressmaker, Steve McQueen, The Perfect Guy and Momentum: This weekend’s new films reviewed November 20, 2015 The Dressmaker | Cert 15 ★★★☆☆ A quirky comedy-drama that’s lifted out of the ordinary by Kate Winslet as glamorous seamstress Tilly. Her character returns to her home in Australia to care for her mother. But once she arrives, old rumours linking her to a murder in her childhood resurface, and she rekindles a romance with [...]
I Want My Hat Back review: National Theatre’s production of beloved children’s book sends kids wild November 20, 2015 National Theatre | ★★★★★ So there’s this bear, right, and he’s got an amazing hat. All red and pointy and with an elastic strap to keep it nice and secure on his big bear head. Where did the hat come from? It doesn’t matter. What matters is where it goes. Because shortly after the bear falls [...]
The fine art of Nordic cooking November 13, 2015 Chef Magnus Nilsson has compiled the definitive guide to the subtle art of Nordic cooking. The Nordic Cook Book combines a series of stunning photographs of his epic culinary journey through Scandinavia – from the grandiosity of the frozen fjords to simple strips of mutton hanging to age in a Faroese warehouse – with recipes [...]
Everybody loves Raymond: How Blanc launched a thousand careers November 13, 2015 Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons first opened its doors 30 long years ago, to instant acclaim. A year later it won two Michelin stars; it still has them today. Many of its former chefs have gone on to become the biggest names in the culinary world – Sat Bains, John Burton-Race, Heston Blumenthal, Marco [...]
Films to see this weekend: Tangerine, The Hallow, Fathers and Daughters, The Lady in the Van November 13, 2015 The Lady in the Van (12A) ★★★★☆ This adaptation of Alan Bennett’s play about his 15 year friendship with an eccentric old lady (Maggie Smith) who lives in his driveway is a cosy film with a van-load (sorry) of charm. After an hour of ‘odd couple’ shenanigans between the two leads, the final act delivers [...]