Film review: Into The Woods is a star-studded take on Stephen Sondheim’s musical January 9, 2015 Cert PG | ★★★★☆ If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise…. Or so the nursery rhyme goes. But fans of Stephen Sondheim’s musical won’t find anything unexpected in this screen adaptation of the 1987 Broadway musical. The production is over 20 years in the making (Cher, Robbie Williams [...]
Film review: Taken 3 cynically cashes in yet fails to achieve the high standard of knuckle-headedness set by the first two instalments January 9, 2015 Cert 12a | ★☆☆☆☆ Liam Neeson’s late-flowering as an action-hero is thanks in no small part to the menacing staccato he perfected in the first Taken film. He looks. He finds. He kills. But does saying everything. Like this. Amount to. Good acting? Delivered in such a way, even a nursery rhyme would sound threatening. [...]
Film review: Foxcatcher turns a sensational real-life story into an enthralling drama January 9, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ Many sports movies are about self-sufficiency, about succeeding under one’s own steam against the odds. Rarely are they about loneliness. But then, from the bleakly lit opening shots of Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) training in a deserted gym and slurping noodles alone at home, Foxcatcher marks itself out from the [...]
Interview: Testament of Youth director James Kent discusses his Vera Brittain biopic January 8, 2015 First-time director James Kent won rave reviews for his Vera Brittain biopic when it premiered at the London Film Festival. A week ahead of its UK release, he talks to City A.M. Why did you want to direct a Vera Brittain biopic? Vera Brittain is a role model for young people who want to [...]
Something for the weekend January 8, 2015 SEE FOR MILES SKY GARDEN AT 20 FENCHURCH STREET You can drink and dine atop the City’s most controversial skyscraper, the Walkie Talkie, which threw open the doors to its restaurant, bar, viewing platform and sky gardens this week. To book, visit skygarden.london LIGHT UP YOUR WEEKEND WINTER LIGHTS FESTIVAL Make the most of darkness [...]
Film review: The Theory of Everything December 19, 2014 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Hot on the heels of Benedict Cumberbatch’s turn as Alan Turing in the Imitation Game comes The Theory of Everything, another rendering of a brilliant mind, this time Stephen Hawking. The former felt at home with science and tally-ho patriotism but shied away prudishly from the intimate details that were so [...]
Film review: Birdman December 19, 2014 Cert 15 | ★★★★★ Until now, Alejandro González Iñárritu was a filmmaker with heft but little humour. His last two films, Babel and Biutiful, seemed to set a trend for po-faced films about metaphysical problems with portentous one-word titles. All the stranger to relate, then, that in Birdman he’s made one of the funniest and [...]
Film review: Big Eyes December 19, 2014 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ The death of Tim Burton as a creative force has been greatly exaggerated. The hype surrounding Big Eyes is loaded with phrases like “return to form” and “best film in years”, which does a disservice to his last movie, the wonderful Frankenweenie, released in 2012. There’s no doubt, though, that [...]
Theatre review: City of Angels at the Donmar Warehouse December 19, 2014 Donmar Warehouse | ★★★★☆ Screenwriters get a famously rough ride in Hollywood. After giving birth to their characters and nurturing them into fully-grown, relatable beings, they hand them over to directors who chop, cut and abuse them like neglectful foster parents. In 1989, Larry Gelbart took the roiling resentment that had built up over years [...]
Film review: Dumb and Dumber To December 19, 2014 Cert 15 | ★½ I like to think there’s a knowing subtext to Dumb and Dumber To. It reintroduces central characters Harry and Lloyd – Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey – at a psychiatric care home, where Lloyd has been in a catatonic state since the end of the last movie. Harry visits him once a [...]