Ralph Breaks the Internet review: Heart and jokes combine to make this video games drama a hit November 30, 2018 Wreck-It Ralph became a surprise hit two years ago thanks to its nostalgia-tingling portrayal of retro video games. Now the reformed bad guy, voiced by John C Reilly, is back and heading into The Internet in order to save the game of his best friend, Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). With a host of online obstacles in [...]
Roma film review: Alfonso Cuarón’s follow-up to Gravity is a meandering, neorealist valentine to the Mexico City November 30, 2018 Alfonso Cuarón is that rare thing, a director who has achieved the holy trinity of relevance, critical acclaim and widespread popularity. His last film, Gravity, was a CGI spectacular with a $100m budget. What better way to follow it than with a meandering, neorealist valentine to the Mexico City of his youth? Roma’s unhurried, ethereal [...]
Focus On Acton: This once ‘unloved’ part of west London is transforming thanks to the imminent arrival of Crossrail November 30, 2018 For some places in London, the housing market is a complicated beast; riding high in some streets, but not in others; a tale of two postcodes; a slow-burning demographic change subtly altering the character of an area; the promise of new transport links. In Acton, it’s more straight-forward; it was once an unloved pocket of [...]
Disobedience film review: Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams shine in Sebastián Lelio’s lesbian drama November 30, 2018 Chilean-Argentine director Sebastián Lelio chooses an unlikely setting for his first English language film: the austere surrounds of a North London orthodox Jewish community. It begins with something of a mission statement: an ageing rabbi, in what turn out to be his final sermon, asks what it means to be disobedient. The angels cannot deviate from [...]
The former Stasi headquarters in Berlin has turned into luxury flats – but will it ever really get over its murky past? November 30, 2018 After the headquarters of the East German Secret Police was stormed in 1990, the building it was housed in has understandably struggled to find a place in modern, vibrant Berlin. But now it’s been renamed 2052 Industrie Lofts and turned into luxurious apartments that boast some of the largest outside terraces in the German capital, [...]
Interiors: Don’t put up your tree this weekend without first checking out the best designer efforts in London’s luxury hotels November 30, 2018 As December gets under way, London has lit up and is ready to party with yuletide cocktails aplenty. For visiting family, I planned half a dozen pitstops around the capital to show off the best of our installations – venues that ramp up the festive atmosphere without being naff. It’s the Tipples ‘n’ Trees tour [...]
Why everybody should be doing the conservation work workout November 30, 2018 If we compress human evolution into 24 hours, then for around 23 hours and 58 minutes – over 99 per cent of our existence – we lived, worked and thrived in the great outdoors. In this mostly challenging environment, despite the lack of medicines, technology, communications and our relative weakness to many predators, we became the world’s [...]
New Homes: Our pick of the new builds and conversions going on sale in London this weekend November 30, 2018 New developments on the market this week Fitzroy Gate, Old Isleworth From £1.4m Why shouldn’t Christmas shopping include browsing for a new home? There’s a festive-themed open day tomorrow from 10am to 4pm at this seven acre development in south west London. There are three show homes to peruse and 39 Victorian and neo-Georgian style [...]
Working Lunch at The Ninth: This romantic Michelin-starred hideaway in Soho is perfect for date night, uh, a client lunch November 30, 2018 The Ninth 22 Charlotte Street, W1T WHAT AND WHERE? This modern European restaurant has a lot of competition in the heart of Fitzrovia’s advertising land, yet the fact it won a Michelin star in 2017 should make you pay attention. Now nearly three years old, it’s still a low-key fine dining find in a space [...]
Tom Kerridge on why slow-cooked lamb shoulder is his favourite meal, the most annoying thing about being a restaurateur, and the time his chef overdosed on durian fruit November 28, 2018 Who are you and what do you do? I’m a bloke from Gloucester having a go at cooking with lots of other bits on the side. I run the two Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers, the one Michelin-starred The Coach, a butchers called The Butcher’s Tap, and the brand new Kerridge’s Bar & Grill at the [...]