Weepie that fails the test of time August 13, 2009 FilmThe Time Traveler’s wifeCert: 12A BASED on the best-selling and much-loved novel by Audrey Niffenegger, this film has its work cut out from the start. How do you depict a serious love story in which the man has a genetic condition that makes him visibly slide around in time? How do you show the same [...]
NOW SHOWING SIX OF THE BEST August 13, 2009 THEATRE: Troilus and Cressida Matthew Dunster’s production at Shakespeare’s Globe features a standout turn from Matthew Kelly. FILM: Mesrine Killer Instinct Part one of the gangster biopic is one of the best French films in years. Can’t wait for part two. ART: Jeff Koons The world’s most expensive artist amuses at the Serpentine. ART: David [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS August 13, 2009 FILMTHE PERFECT GETAWAY Psycho hriller with Milla Jovovich. IMAGINE THAT Eddie Murphy kids comedy. Yuck.ALIENS IN THE ATTIC Kids comedy along Gremlins lines. DVD90210 COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Whither Jason Priestley? HOTEL BABYLON SERIES 4 Inexplicably popular BBC rubbish.HIGH HEELS Pedro Almodovar’s early 90s classic. MUSICCALVIN HARRIS Scottish dance dude gets Ready for the Weeekend. THE [...]
Breaking the Speedo limit August 13, 2009 HATS off to Alton Towers for banning Speedos. If only the same spirit had been present in the pools and beaches I frequented as a child on holiday with my family. The now-famous French swimming pool Speedo-only rule was a memorable feature of our trips abroad – there were even times when my father rocked [...]
The cut-throat world of New York’s super-rich August 12, 2009 HEDGE FUND WIVESBY TATIANA BONCOMPAGNIHarper Collins, £6.99 IT may sound a little out of date – after all, we’re so over hedgies and their failed fortunes. Except the New York hedge fund world, including its cut-throat circle of wives, still holds more interest than you’d think. This is not the first tale of high finance [...]
Nice ice baby August 12, 2009 ICE cream never used to be a gourmet dinner’s crowning glory. Yet London has become a capital for the stuff – from street vendors to high gastronomy. Take Michel Roux at Michelin-starred Le Gavroche, who makes all his ice cream fresh daily – this week that includes fresh mint and peanut butter. Or Justin Saunders [...]
Spas for the mind are the new cure-all August 10, 2009 NOT long ago I found myself lying on a Freudian-looking couch in a small, neat room. Rather than a psychoanalyst sitting by my head with a clock and a contemplative expression, there was a lithe young woman at my feet, skimming over my bare soles with her fingers, asking me in a soft voice about [...]
OUT OF OFFICE August 10, 2009 GLORIOUS GROUSE AT LE BOUCHON BRETONSpitalfields’ most glamorous – and unabashedly – French restaurant will put a unique twist on game season with a selection of platters that combine the traditional with the Gallic. Traditional roast grouse will come wrapped in bacon with forcemeat pate and roasted breadcrumbs, while jugged hare comes in its own [...]
Opulence, ostrich and eggs benedict as West End landmark goes weird August 10, 2009 The Criterion224 Piccadilly W1J 9HP Tel: 020 7930 0488 Cost per person without wine: £43 OUTSIDE the Criterion’s grand entrance it’s like Piccadilly Circus – a grim, heaving mass of tourists and traffic that swarms in every direction. Okay, it is Piccadilly Circus, and as you arrive it’s hard not to feel a bit sorry [...]
THREE OTHER GRAND WEST END DINING ROOMS August 10, 2009 JUST ST JAMESOccupying a cavernous former bank on St James’s Street, Just St James is all marble columns, chandeliers and huge mirrors. The food is hearty old-school English dishes – not sure about the hi-tech glass lift occupying the centre of the room, however. 16 St James Street, SW1A 1ER, www.juststjames.com THE WOLSELEYThe arching building [...]