Vermiglio review: Italian drama is a serious Oscar contender January 16, 2025 Vermiglio review and star rating: | ★★★★☆ With the Oscars on the horizon, Vermiglio will be hoping to make the cut as the Italian entry for Best International Feature. The title refers to a remote Italian village struggling to cope with the impact of the Second World War as it comes to an end. The family [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: The best places to avoid Dry January January 16, 2025 Every January, I hang my head in shame. As a business leader who has spent almost three decades championing the finest beverages and hospitality, I must admit I am in no small part responsible for the abomination which is Seedlip, the crown jewel of the no alcohol movement, forced down your throat each “Dry January”. [...]
A Complete Unknown: Bob Dylan biopic gets the mercurial genius January 16, 2025 A Complete Unknown | ★★★★☆ One of Hollywood’s favourite sons takes on the lofty role of an American icon in A Complete Unknown. Timothee Chalamet plays Bob Dylan in the period that made him a megastar. Starting in 1961 where he was an anonymous folk singer looking to make his name in New York’s Greenwich [...]
Whisky Business: Lessons from 150 years in the Whisky trade January 16, 2025 Whisky Business: City AM’s monthly look at the world of whisky. Robert Graham 1874 is one of the UK’s oldest whisky and tobacco merchants. Founded in 1874 by Glasgow’s former city treasurer, Robert Graham, the company has grown steadily over the years, branching out in 2002 with its own exclusive award-winning range of whiskies. “Our [...]
Emmanuelle: Softcore porn reboot somehow makes watching sex boring January 15, 2025 Emmanuelle (2024) | ★★☆☆☆ Emmanuelle, the 1974 film that helped drag softcore erotica into the cultural mainstream, remains among the most successful French movies of all time. Watched by some 300 million horny men and women, it was an X-rated affair, briefly banned in its home nation, perhaps best-known for an infamous scene in which [...]
The secrets behind the Kylie Minogue wine brand’s meteoric success January 15, 2025 When Kylie Minogue went to the ProWein industry fair in Düsseldorf, hospitality professionals were stunned to find her on the sales floor rather than in some backstage dressing room. Minogue was fitting in up to 18 meetings per day, sitting down with distributors to discuss deals for her Kylie Wine range. The relentlessness of her [...]
The week’s best wine: drinking a fabulous red atop a volcanic crater in Iceland January 15, 2025 City AM’s wine columnist Libby Brodie on the best wine to buy this week, and where she’s been drinking it I have written before about how dating someone “outdoorsy” has revealed that, although I love the great outdoors, I am more of an “outsidey” person. When the Significant Other suggested an Icelandic minibreak and booked [...]
Oliver! London musical review: Please, sir: give me more of this five-star hit January 15, 2025 Oliver! London musical review and star rating: ★★★★★ One of the surest ways to confirm a new musical is a hit? It has a song with more refrains than you could ever possibly imagine. In the last few years in London, productions of 42nd Street and Anything Goes have had this – and it happened [...]
A Complete Unknown review: Timothee Chalamet stars in thrilling biopic January 14, 2025 A Complete Unknown review and star rating: | ★★★★☆ Timothee Chalamet’s career is beginning to feel like a high-wire act. He’s a fabulous actor, but one whose off-screen cult of personality seems forever on the cusp of eclipsing his on-screen talent. I feared taking on Bob Dylan, a man who seems to vanish like a shadow [...]
Skoda Superb iV Estate review: A family car with no compromises January 14, 2025 Finding a family estate used to be an easy process, with almost every car manufacturer offering a ‘longroof’ version of its hatchback or saloon models. Fast-forward to the present day, however, and finding a new wagon can feel trickier than having a balanced argument on social media. We can thank the exponential rise of the [...]