City Pages: The five new books on our radar this month May 25, 2023 From hacking bears to scandal in Westminster, here's what we've been reading at City A.M. this month.
Book review: Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott Shapiro – a tour de force of hacking and the information age May 25, 2023 From Russian hackers to Paris Hilton, Scott Shapiro's new book Fancy Bear Goes Phishing is a tour de force of the information age told in five hacks.
Asteroid City: Why Wes Anderson’s new film with Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie is going to be huge May 24, 2023 It’s been two years since everyone’s favourite maker of loveably odd movies, Wes Anderson, last dropped a film, which was 2021’s The French Dispatch, and let’s be honest, it was no-one’s favourite Wes Anderson film. But the good news is two years on and he’s got another film, his 11th, out next week. Asteroid City [...]
A-List celebrities planned to ‘ambush’ Phillip Schofield live on This Morning, report claims May 23, 2023 At least four A-List actors and well-known TV faces had planned to “ambush” Phillip Schofield live on This Morning with allegations about his behaviour, a new report claims. It has not been made clear exactly what happened between Schofield and Holly Willoughby to put their relationship on the rocks, although reports claim Willoughby was “deeply [...]
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is just as good as the brilliant book – film review May 22, 2023 The poster for this new coming-of-age drama boasts that it is “based on the book loved by millions.” For once, film publicity isn’t exaggerating. Judy Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret became a popular choice for American adolescents in the era, and its adaptation comes with the seal of approval from [...]
Beau is Afraid is self-indulgent but visually stunning – review May 22, 2023 Ari Aster, the man behind the nightmarish horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, is back for his difficult third film. Some of his genre contemporaries have already experienced divisive third outings. Opinions were mixed about Jordan Peele’s Nope, while Robert Eggers had trouble with a bigger budget in The Northman. Can Aster succeed with Beau is [...]
Brokeback Mountain play, review: Where’s all the gay sex?! May 19, 2023 Brokeback Mountain play review and star rating: ★★★ Where was all the spine-tingling intimacy? The kissing scenes that show what two men together can be like, the caressing of a shoulder with the tuft of hair, the chin nuzzling into the armpit, the gazes of adoration? Brokeback Mountain, originally a 1997 short story published in [...]
Book Club: The Next Chapter is good fun, even if there’s no plot – review May 13, 2023 Once a reliable staple of the box office, older audiences have been the last demographic to head back to the cinema post-Covid. Hoping to draw back silver-haired cinephiles is the star-studded sequel to 2018 comedy Book Club. Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen return as the group of friends who decided to [...]
Love Again film review: Really, really bad. Why is Celine Dion in this? May 12, 2023 There have been a few romantic comedies in recent years that have moulded themselves around famous singers. 2019’s Yesterday was anchored around the music of The Beatles, while Last Christmas used George Michael as a soundtrack for festive love. At one point titled It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, this week’s release Love Again [...]
Still: A Michael J Fox Movie is a wonderful celebration of the great man – review May 11, 2023 Still, A Michael J Fox movie review and star rating: ★★★★★ For viewers of a certain generation, watching Michael J Fox in Still will inevitably bring sadness. The man who became an icon of Hollywood cinema as Marty McFly in Back To The Future has been living with Parkinson’s Disease since 1991, publicly disclosing his [...]