Film review: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence April 24, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★★ “We just want to help people have fun,” intone two ashen-faced salesmen of crummy novelty items. Lord knows the people in this film need the help. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the third part of Swedish director Roy Andersson’s trilogy “about being a human [...]
Film review: The Falling April 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Jean-Luc Godard once said that a story should have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order. The Falling has several middles, even more beginnings, and an end that doesn’t resolve any of them. This is no feat of narrative ingenuity – just a mess. The setting [...]
Avengers: Age of Ultron is another Marvel marvel – film review April 23, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Marvel has achieved a rather incredible thing with Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s a bubbling cauldron of a film, filled with dozens of characters, layer upon layer of convoluted plotting, flash backs, flash forwards and dream sequences. It draws upon details introduced over no less than 10 previous movies – [...]
Something for the weekend April 23, 2015 EAT! CIRCLE PIZZA COMPANY Okay, so Hoxton’s newly opened Circle Pizza Company has hardly reinvented the wheel with its circular pizza concept, but head chef Tony won a silver at the world pizza championships so you know it’ll deliver on flavour. 2-4 Hoxton Square, visit circlepizzaco.com WATCH, LISTEN! BUSTER KEATON WITH LIVE SCORE The Royal [...]
Restaurant review: Percy & Founders brings a taste of spring to Fitzrovia April 21, 2015 Is there a greater sign of our times than a hospital closing down to be replaced by a modern European restaurant and some offices? It’s the kind of thing politicians go wild for, especially this close to an election. “I pledge that my government will favour nurses over barbecued langoustines. We need hospital beds, not [...]
Mix it up: Japan’s favourite drink returns – sake is having a moment April 21, 2015 Learning to drink is like learning to read, in as much as you should start with the easy stuff, although it is generally advised that you perfect the latter before indulging in the former. Nobody could ever learn English by reading James Joyce (except, perhaps, someone with the intellect of James Joyce), while you'll struggle [...]
Vauxhall’s pocket rocket returns: New Corsa VXR proves heady days of hot hatches are back April 20, 2015 Are there no bargains anymore? Hot hatches used to be value thrill machines, cramming outsized engines into tiny bodies to create instant exhilaration. But then everyone bought small SUVs, seemingly giving up on dreams of one day owning a car that’s actually fun to drive. But hot hatches are having a revival – the model [...]
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Join City A.M. Wine Club and build your dream cellar April 20, 2015 City A.M. has launched a readers’ Wine Club aimed at both investors and those who simply enjoy the finer things in life. We will be working with some of the world’s leading wine estates to provide exclusive offers on some of the most exciting bottles on the market; you can either pick out your favourites [...]
Totally Mexico! Cancun’s burgeoning luxury hotel scene proves it’s not just for lairy students on Spring Break April 19, 2015 I recently read a book about what the Americas were like before Columbus, Cortes and a load of other Europeans made their way across the Atlantic in the 15th and 16th centuries. In short, the author – Charles Mann, an American journalist – argues that it was considerably more populated and advanced than most of [...]