Captain Marvel review: Brie Larson is a revelation in this middling Marvel romp March 7, 2019 It seems almost unbelievable that it’s taken Marvel 20 movies to feature a female lead, especially when Brie Larson makes it all look so effortless. Alongside a digitally de-aged Samuel L Jackson, she brings verve and charisma to what could easily have been a forgettable entry into the Marvel canon. It’s a strange film, showing [...]
Metro Exodus review: Back in the USSR, this long-running series hits an incredible high March 6, 2019 Nobody glorifies misery quite like the Russians. Across centuries of literature, poetry and music, some of humanity’s most brilliant minds have elevated the struggles of ordinary Russian men and women to incredible symphonies of suffering. Times of unparalleled political and social upheaval – the Bolshevik revolution, the rise of Leninism, the Stalinist purges, the threat [...]
Far Cry New Dawn review: An eye-searingly colourful expansion that isn’t afraid to have some fun March 6, 2019 The statute of limitations is probably up on Far Cry 5 spoilers, especially given that this stand-alone sequel, which takes place in the primary-coloured and strangely bucolic wasteland of irradiated post-apocalypse Montana, is set 17 years after the previous game’s finale. The last game ended when deranged evangelist Joseph Seed unexpectedly dropped a nuke on [...]
The Hole in the Ground film review: An intense psychological horror that plays on our fears of motherhood March 6, 2019 This suffocating psychological horror sits alongside the likes of The Babadook and Hereditary in a wave of movies that take our fears of rearing offspring and makes them terrifyingly solid, Rosemary’s Baby or The Exorcist for the 21st century. Seána Kerslake plays Sarah, a single mother who moves to a small Irish village with her young [...]
The inside track on the ultimate in slow cooking at Europe’s biggest annual snail festival, l’Aplec del Caragol March 5, 2019 Since its humble beginnings as a small riverside picnic among friends in 1980 to the grand foodie fiesta it is today, l’Aplec del Caragol occurs every May, about 100 miles northwest of Barcelona in the provincial town of Lleida. The party offers townsfolk and visitors alike a chance to enjoy a weekend celebrating one of [...]
Houseplants are all the rage, but are they are millennial cry for help? We speak to the companies cultivating this urban jungle March 5, 2019 Millennials have been accused of killing almost every industry there is, but there may be one that 25-35 year olds are actually propping up. Houseplants are taking off like an avocado tied to a racing drone among Generation Rent, prompting investigations by such serious organs as The Washington Post and New York’s Nylon magazine, in [...]
Perched at the top of Courchevel 1850, the ski resort of L’Apogee boasts Michelin stars, Himalayan salt saunas and five-star skiing March 4, 2019 It’s time to join the Russian oligarchs and ladies-who-lunch (on €250 truffle risotto) in the French Alps’ most-exclusive resort, Courchevel. This is a long weekend skiing done right – hundreds of kilometres of piste, ski-in-ski-out hotel accommodation and beyond-5-star luxury in the snow-clad epicentre of 5-star luxury. The stay: Perched at the top of Courchevel [...]
Number of late night alcohol licences falls as consumer behaviour changes March 3, 2019 The number of pubs, bars and nightclubs with late-night licences has fallen by a fifth over the last five years as would-be revellers opt for dating apps and Netflix over boozy nights out, according to new research. While the number of pubs and clubs with 24-hour licences has dropped from 919 in 2018 to 742 [...]
Dorothea Tanning at the Tate Modern review: The feverish, psychosexual work of a bona fide genius March 1, 2019 Strolling through the Tate Modern’s latest show is like revisiting a barely remembered dream: familiar yet strange, perhaps a little frightening. This retrospective of Dorothea Tanning’s 70-year career is a hell of a show, in more ways than one. It’s filled with bizarre, nightmarish visions that hint at psychosexual forces lurking just beyond our conscious [...]
Can a trip to the Douro Valley convince Emma Bullimore that port is palatable? March 1, 2019 Does anybody drink port? Maybe it’s just me, but the red stuff seems a bit redundant. I don’t even remember the last time I saw an advert for it. Whisky is everywhere, it wouldn’t be Christmas without brandy, even sherry is making a comeback. Port, on the other hand, is generally consigned to the back [...]