New homes on sale in London this weekend: from South Bank Tower to eco “Urban Houses” in Blackheath June 30, 2016 South Bank Tower From £1.8m The remaining 193 studio to four bedroom apartments and penthouses in the 41-storey South Bank Tower – formerly the IPC Media building – are now on sale. Four new show apartment by four interior designers – 1508 London, Goddard Littlefair, Studio Ashby and Rachel Winham – have been drafted in by [...]
The Colony film review: Emma Watson takes a starring role in this lacklustre true-story about a religious cult June 30, 2016 Emma Watson is a woman on a mission in her first proper lead role. She plays a flight attendant living in Chile whose boyfriend (Daniel Bruhl) is kidnapped by the oppressive new government and imprisoned in a religious cult, which she infiltrates in order to save him. Even though the colony itself is inspired by [...]
Central Intelligence film review: Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson happily go through the motions in this cop comedy June 30, 2016 Dissatisfied accountant Calvin (Kevin Hart) gets thrown into the firing line (literally) when a former high school friend turned CIA agent, Bob (Dwayne Johnson), arrives in his life asking for help. Comparisons to past Hart films – Ride Along, Get Hard – are obvious, but the formula is tweaked just enough to feel fresh. Johnson [...]
Now You See Me 2 movie review: Jesse Eisenberg and Daniel Radcliffe struggle to lift this poorly written sequel June 30, 2016 The exploits of magicians The Four Horsemen was a surprise success at the box office three years ago. It's no surprise, then, that the gang should be quickly re-assembled for a sequel, where the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan) are forced into a shady heist by a vengeful tech prodigy [...]
Absolutely Fabulous The Movie review: Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders play the same old hits June 30, 2016 Given the media obsessed culture we live in, it's remarkable that cinema audiences haven't already been introduced to Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone. The drunken duo (played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley) amassed a cult following during their 90s small screen run, which has seen several one-off returns over the years. Following the critical [...]
Canvas & Stone: We ask five entrepreneurs who inherited country estates how they managed to turn their crumbling piles into profitable businesses June 29, 2016 Inheriting a country estate sounds like one of the most ridiculous privileges that could be bestowed upon a 30-something in modern Britain. In reality, it’s a bit like being told to look after a dying relative in the middle of nowhere who keeps stealing from your wallet when you’re not looking. When five friends suddenly [...]
Why British homeowners still aren’t buying into the idea of the home connected by smart tech June 29, 2016 Take any object in your home and you can guarantee that at some point a Silicon Valley startup has tried to create a web-enabled version of it. The ever expanding “Internet of Things” (IoT), as it’s clunkily termed, now includes almost every household item under the sun. Many are useful, such as thermostats, light bulbs, [...]
The architectural concepts behind 2016’s Serpentine Pavilion and Summer Houses in Hyde Park June 29, 2016 The annual unveiling of the pavilion in front of the Serpentine Gallery has become a prestigious event in the British architectural calendar. It all started in the year 2000, when Zaha Hadid designed a space for a fundraising event in Hyde Park. The result was so popular the gallery has invited an architect to reimagine [...]
Hot Property: Buy a house on an award-winning scheme created by the neighbours of a vacant, rubbish-strewn site in north London June 29, 2016 Everyone walks past an eyesore on their way home from work, but very few people choose to do something about it. But Jake Edgley, an Islington resident who lived next to a vacant site on Godson Street, went further than that; he turned it into an award winning piece of contemporary design and moved his [...]
Global: Move over Hong Kong. Macau, China’s former sin city is suddenly looking like a safe bet on the property market June 29, 2016 Established in the 1960s as a gambling hotspot, Macau was once infamous in Asia as the ultimate vice town. Gambling was entirely legal, but it wasn’t the sort of place you went for a weekend unless you had friends in the people-removal business. Skip forward to 2002 and the lifting of the monopoly on Asian [...]