Hidden Figures film review: This timely story is important, if a tad sentimental February 17, 2017 Dir. Theodore Melfi One of the films vying for Best Picture at next weekend’s Oscars, Hidden Figures tells the fascinating story of three African-American women (Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae) who overcome prejudice to be vital in NASA’s first missions to space. The issue of racism within the space programme is handled [...]
The Founder film review: the story of Ray Kroc, the man behind McDonalds’ fast food empire, is a fascinating watch February 17, 2017 Dir. John Lee Hancock The story of Ray Kroc and the birth of one of the great corporate empires is a fascinating watch. Set in the 50s, a struggling milkshake machine salesman (Michael Keaton) stumbles across a small burger shop named McDonald’s, with two brothers setting out a system to deliver the perfect burger quickly. [...]
Moonlight film review: If La La Land wasn’t released this year, this is the film everyone would have been talking about February 17, 2017 Dir. Barry Jenkins Had La La Land waited until next year to charm the world, there’s every chance Moonlight would be the film everyone is talking about at next Sunday’s Oscars. Spanning several years, we look at three phases in the life of quiet Miami kid Chiron as his home life, sexuality and surroundings threaten [...]
John Wick Chapter 2: a thrilling sequel that doesn’t screw up the original’s legacy February 17, 2017 John Wick was a rain-drenched, neon-soaked tonic for the Hollywood action movie. It borrowed elements of French neo-noir, Hong Kong revenge drama and grind-house cinema, packaging it all into a taut, minimalist blockbuster that instantly became every cinephile’s popcorn movie du jour (at least until Fury Road came along a year later). The premise was [...]
Eduardo Paolozzi Whitechapel Gallery: artist’s technophobia is a mirror for millennial fear February 17, 2017 Even if you don’t know the name Eduardo Paolozzi, you’ll be aware of his work: he’s the man behind the brightly-coloured mosaics at Tottenham Court Road underground station. These vibrant, energetic works – saxophones and commuters and abstract spheres – belie a man whose artistic life is perhaps best summed up as a prolonged existential [...]
Wolfgang Tillmans 2017 at Tate Modern review: a celebration of banality with little to give February 17, 2017 This collection of 14 years’ worth of work by Turner Prize-winning photographer Wolfgang Tillmans is a globetrotting celebration of banality, the output of an artist who long ago started believing his own hype. Pictures are scattered throughout the space, some metres high and framed, others postcard-sized and sellotaped to the wall, each one designed to [...]
For Honor pits samurai, knights and vikings together in fight to the death February 15, 2017 For Honor is a unique pitch: what if samurai, knights and vikings all put aside the fact they belong to entirely separate historical eras and got together to smack one another about in a giant fighting game. This new title from Ubisoft straddles multiple genres. It’s a tactical and in-depth fighting game, it’s a third-person [...]
Sniper Elite 4: As unflinchingly ultra-violent as this World War Two shooter series gets February 15, 2017 World War 2 is a well-represented setting in video games, but Sniper Elite 4 is proof that the generic isn’t always boring. This four-quel transports the series from the deserts of Africa to the towns, vineyards, forests and docklands of sunny northern Italy, where you’ll embark on all sorts of different missions, typically involving shooting [...]
Mark Hix on why ‘knob celery’ is the most underrated root in the supermarket February 14, 2017 When I first moved to London, certain unusual fruits and vegetables were referred to as “queer gear”. I suppose celeriac – or celery root, as it’s sometimes referred to by those who can’t pronounce it – falls into this category. (It also goes by the name “knob celery”, although this isn’t widely used for obvious [...]
Ladies and gentlemen, here are the best eggs benedict in London February 14, 2017 1. The Wolseley 160 Piccadilly, St James’s, W1J 9EB The Wolseley isn’t just somewhere to eat breakfast – it’s an institution, somewhere to see and be seen, especially if you work in the media or arts. As you’d expect from such a revered establishment, it also serves an excellent line in eggs benedict. If you [...]