Theatre review: Splendour August 6, 2015 Donmar Warehouse Four Stars With The Iron Lady, Shame and this autumn’s forthcoming Suffragette, it seems playwright Abi Morgan is on a mission to compensate for the dearth of meaty acting roles for women. True to form, this revival of her critically acclaimed four-woman play Splendour is as challenging and gripping as it was 15 [...]
Perfect Sunday August 6, 2015 TASTY BRUNCH KOPAPA CAFE Have something different for breakfast this weekend at Kopapa in Covent Garden. The restaurant is famed for its Turkish Eggs, a brunch dish originating from Istanbul that includes two poached eggs, whipped yoghurt and chilli butter. Sure to cleanse the palette after a night of indulgence. 32-34 Monmouth Street, visit kopapa.co.uk [...]
Film review: Beyond the Reach July 31, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★☆☆☆ Michael Douglas’ career renaissance continues, this time as an ill-intentioned businessman on a hunting trip in the Mojave desert. When the accidental killing of an old man puts his career in jeopardy, he sets sights on his young tracker (Jeremy Irvine). The tension steadily builds during the first 30 minutes. Once [...]
Film review: Hot Pursuit is predictable but charming July 31, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ Dirty cops, drug cartels and killer stilettos – Hot Pursuit doesn’t deal in subtlety and that’s fine. It’s not edgy, smart or even particularly original but it is redeemed by the comic chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara. Set in Texas, Witherspoon plays uptight and rules-obsessed police officer Cooper. After [...]
Theatre review: Three Days in the Country July 31, 2015 Lyttelton Theatre | ★★★☆☆ If Three Days in the Country was written by Chekhov, the whole cast would have killed themselves by the second day and there’d just be a creaking door on the third day, swinging open and shut to the distant cry of seagulls. Happily, it’s written by one of his contemporaries, Tergenev, [...]
Sinatra: The Man & His Music – theatre review July 31, 2015 London Palladium | ★★☆☆☆ Sinatra: The Man & His Music is the hideous offspring of a multimedia museum “experience” and Strictly Come Dancing. Attempts to cash in on the great crooner were almost inevitable in his centenary year, but this lazily-executed act of technological necromancy could appeal only to the least critical of fans. Sinatra’s [...]
Film review: Is Rogue Nation the best Mission Impossible film yet? July 31, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Four years after the success of Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise returns for a fifth outing as agent Ethan Hunt. With the IMF closed down and his own government on his tail, he must race across the globe to try and uncover The Syndicate, a network of former international operatives led [...]
Perfect Saturday July 30, 2015 BRUNCH TIME THE ELK IN THE WOODS The best brunch in Camden is quite an accolade given the number of pubs in the area selling quality nosh, but that’s what people say about the Elk in the Woods, a foodie boozer with extra character. Go for the Elk sausage skillet for an unusual take on [...]
Film review: No knock-out blow for Southpaw July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ There’s an exchange that takes place in every boxing movie ever, in which the trainer takes his hot-headed young buck aside, points to his fist and says, “it’s not about this” and then taps his temple and says,“it’s about this.” The message: mind over muscle. Thought over fight. Well, what [...]
Film review: Maggie is a nuanced entry to the zombie canon July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ There are no one-liners or knowing winks in this Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie; it’s a bleakly plodding, quietly affecting drama that’s not so much interested in moments of terror, but what happens when they subside. On the face of it, the premise is familiar: a “necroambulist” virus that turns people into [...]