The Birds theatre review: Avoid this play like you would avian flu October 1, 2015 The Birds Leicester Square Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ The first thought that goes through one's head before a stage version of The Birds is: I wonder how they're going to make the birds happen. Notoriously difficult to work with, birds – all beak and feathers and malevolent intent. Wicked little pseudo dinosaurs. But after sitting through this painfully [...]
Macbeth movie review: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard star in this emotionally stunted Shakespearean spectacle October 1, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Rumour has it that Michael Fassbender has been going around calling this film adaptation of Macbeth “the Scottish film”, after the actorly tradition. Presumably, something dreadful happens to you if you say Shakespeare’s title, like Malcolm Tucker shoves a thistle down your oesphagus. Whatever happens to you, it’s a ridiculous, thespy [...]
The Martian movie review: Matt Damon brings life to Mars in Ridley Scott’s new film October 1, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★★★☆ When returning from a manned mission to Mars, it’s important to check that you’ve got all of your Matt Damons with you. Look underneath your seat. Check any nearby craters for hidden Damons. Because like some sort of interplanetary Home Alone, The Martian proves that it’s all too easy to leave the [...]
Jane Eyre at the National Theatre review September 24, 2015 Jane Eyre Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre Rating: ★★★☆☆ Everyone has their own idea of who Jane Eyre is. To some she’s a 19th century feminist, fighting to make her way in the world. To others she’s a doormat, a person to whom interesting things might happen, but not nearly as interesting as the woman in the [...]
Film review: Captive September 24, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ Perhaps the strangest detail in the true story of recovering addict Ashley Smith’s seven-hour captivity at the hands of escaped killer Brian Nichols is the moment in which her captor dips into her stash of crystal meth. Captive ends with a snippet from a 2006 interview between Smith and Oprah, [...]
Film review: Life – a snapshot of Hollywood legend James Dean September 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ If you paid to see a biopic, you used to get your money’s worth. But it seems three-hour cradle-to-grave-athons are fast becoming a thing of the past. These days, one defining moment is plucked from a life and examined from all angles to determine what maketh the man. It must have [...]
Theatre review: Hangmen at the Royal Court September 24, 2015 Hangmen Royal Court Rating: ★★★★★ True feelings are throttled and big questions left hanging in Martin McDonagh’s blacker-than-night comedy. The setting is an Oldham pub owned by Harry Wade, the country’s second-best hangman; the date is 1965, the day after the abolition of hanging. At once proud of his work and jealous of his rival Pierrepoint’s [...]
Art review: Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy September 21, 2015 VISUAL ART AI WEIWEI ROYAL ACADEMY RATING ★★★★☆ Ai Weiwei’s profile is so high, the stories of his struggle against the Chinese regime so ubiquitous, that you might be surprised to learn there’s never been a major UK exhibition of his work. The Royal Academy rights this wrong with a show collecting pieces from 1993 onwards, [...]
Pop goes the easel: The World Goes Pop at the Tate Modern reviewed September 21, 2015 VISUAL ART THE WORLD GOES POP TATE MODERN RATING ★★★☆☆ The World Goes Pop could have as its unofficial tagline: “There’s More to Pop Art Than Tins of Soup.” It sets out to dispel the myth that pop art is a US-centric, male-centric, consumerist-centric art form. This, of course, is a rather easy thing to do, [...]
Reviews: Irrational Man, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Song From Far Away, The Visit September 11, 2015 FILM Irrational Man By James Luxford RATING ★★★☆☆ A disaffected older man given a new lease of life by an affair with a young woman? A murder that eats away at the protagonist? If a Woody Allen exploration of the moralities of sex and death seems familiar, it’s because he’s been here many times before. Often [...]