No Man’s Land at Wyndham’s Theatre, starring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen is one of the plays of the year September 22, 2016 Once every few years a production comes together that just feels right – the actors perfectly suited, the timing impeccable. No Man’s Land, starring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, is one of those plays. Pinter’s 1974 work about two old soaks, one a rich man of letters, the other a flat-broke poet, could have been [...]
Abstract Expressionism at Royal Academy: These rarely travelled loans and invigorating, bombastic artworks resonate strongly with today’s fractured world September 22, 2016 This superlative show is huge in every sense: big themes, giant icons of mid century art, enormous canvases, and no small amount of ambition on the Royal Academy’s part, tackling an often shied from movement – or ‘ism’ – which was last explored in such a survey in the UK back in 1959. Even for [...]
Little Men review: A powerful and deeply moving story of young friendship in hard times September 22, 2016 When a family inherits a building in a rapidly gentrifying area of Brooklyn, the resulting feud between its long-standing tenant and its new owners forms the agonisingly corrosive backdrop against which two young teenagers attempt to maintain their new friendship. Comparisons to Romeo and Juliet would suggest a degree of melodrama and forced sentimentality that [...]
The Magnificent Seven: This weak Western lacks true grit September 22, 2016 Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven was always going to face significant challenges. Remaking not one but two classics, it also has to buck the trend of recent big budget westerns that have badly flopped. Nevertheless, the Training Day director has some impressive hired guns. Denzel Washington takes the lead as Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter [...]
De Palma review: An incisive and revealing doc about the director’s best, and worst, work September 22, 2016 In this documentary, two young filmmakers interview the great Brian De Palma about his career, philosophies, and the often frustrating business of working with Hollywood, from his early days making avant garde and disturbing thrillers, to hits like Carrie, Scarface and Mission: Impossible. De Palma is disarmingly honest about his failures, often bemused by his [...]
Imperium review: Racist Harry Potter is the most remarkable thing about this undercover drama September 22, 2016 Ever wanted to hear Harry Potter utter every racist epithet under the sun? In Imperium, Daniel Radcliffe shaves his head and gets rowdy as an FBI agent going undercover to find out the full extent of the threat from White Supremacist terror groups in America. However you feel about potty-mouthed Potter, it’s jarring to see [...]
Property of the Week: 14 Half Moon Street is a Victorian bachelor pad turned family mansion that’s on sale for £14m September 22, 2016 A peek inside these plush living quarters is also a glimpse into Oscar Wilde’s Mayfair, a time when bohemians and young men-about-town could afford to live in the prestigious district while they chased their fortunes. This enormous Grade II listed house was the inspiration for Algernon Moncrieff’s bachelor pad in The Importance of Being Earnest, [...]
New homes on sale at the BBC’s former Television Centre in White City and London’s only Royal crescent September 22, 2016 Television Centre, White City From £750,000 Watch the stars come and go from the balcony of your flat by snapping up one of the latest homes released for sale at Television Centre, the former home of the BBC. Thirty new apartments designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects AHMM will be the closest properties to the three [...]
Hardcore horology for women: Montblanc’s latest puts its mechanical guts on display September 22, 2016 Montblanc is known for mechanical fireworks when it comes to men’s watches but its women’s range has tended to be more sedate. But following in the footsteps of its first women’s perpetual calendar – also part of the hugely successful Boheme collection – comes its first women’s exotourbillon. You may be familiar with a common-or-garden [...]
From carbon fibre to ceramics, women’s watches are getting the high-tech treatment September 22, 2016 Mother of pearl dial, dainty case diameter and diamonds somewhere about its person – those used to be the three must-have elements when it came to designing a woman’s watch. However, the latest launches from quite a few notable brands seem to be challenging that status quo. From cases in interesting material – sapphire crystal, [...]