Theatre review: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown January 16, 2015 Playhouse Theatre | ★★★★☆ Oh, to be one of Pedro Almodovar’s women, constantly in and out of love, popping pills and jumping off balconies. The Spanish director is well-known for his love of erratic women and it doesn’t get more exhausting than Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. This is the second time [...]
Art review: Adventures of the Black at Whitechapel Gallery January 16, 2015 Whitechapel Gallery | ★★★★☆ In the final, shattering line of Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen writes of “a drawing down of blinds.” This returned to me when standing before Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square, painted exactly a century ago when hundreds of thousands of young soldiers were coming up against industrial killing machines for the [...]
Film review: Testament of Youth is visually arresting but emotionally flat January 16, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ Based on Vera Brittain’s best-selling memoir of events surrounding the First World War, Testament of Youth is well-acted and pretty, but lacks emotional impact. Testament of Youth has already been adapted for television and radio. But if you haven’t encountered the story before, it will still seem terribly familiar. Hovering [...]
Film review: American Sniper wide of mark January 15, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Clint Eastwood’s directorial career rivals even that of Woody Allen in terms of sheer volume of output, encompassing 30-odd movies over 40-odd years. But the theme of violence – usually carried out by men – and its place in the American psyche is an itch he just can’t seem to scratch. [...]
Something for the weekend January 15, 2015 Eat Amaru Restaurant London’s latest Japanese-South American cross-over restaurant is something special, with delicate sashimi, Peruvian ceviche and the odd truffle shaving. A welcome addition to St Katharine Dock. Visit amaru.london or call 0207 704765. THINK TEDXCLAPHAM Head down south for the inaugral TEDxClapham conference this Saturday. Speakers include brains behind Movember Justin Coghlan and [...]
Art review: Fig-2 at the ICA Studio January 9, 2015 ICA Studio | ★★★★☆ Back in 2000, when “pop-up” was still something that only applied to children’s books, curators Mark Francis and Jay Jopling secured funding for a visionary idea. Fed up with the slow turn-around of shows at leading art institutions, they proposed Fig-1; 50 shows in 50 weeks, with consecutive artists exhibiting [...]
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 [...]