Performing for the Camera at Tate Modern works as a history lesson but says little about the here and now February 19, 2016 Tate Modern | ★★★☆☆ Performing for the Camera asks – and generally answers – a series of questions about the role of photography in the artistic process. Does it capture or create? (The latter). Is the result different from the performance? (Yes). Does being observed, as in particle physics, somehow alter the performance itself? (Yes). These [...]
How To Be Single review – plus the rest of this week’s biggest new film releases February 18, 2016 Bone Tomahawk (18) | ★★★★☆ Dir: S. Craig Zahler The western has been given more than a few new coats of paint lately, but none will be as surprising as Bone Tomahawk, which mixes traditional Old West with horror. Kurt Russell keeps his Hateful Eight beard as a sheriff who rides out to confront a [...]
Frenchie in Covent Garden and Native on Neal’s Yard are both fantastic February 16, 2016 NATIVE Neal's Yard, Covent Garden Tel: 0203 638 8214 FOOD ★★★★☆ | VALUE ★★★★★ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★☆☆ Cost for two with two rounds of beer: £50 – – – – – – – – – – – FRENCHIE 16 Henrietta St, Covent Garden Tel: 0207 836 4422 FOOD ★★★★★ | VALUE ★★★☆☆ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★☆☆ Cost [...]
Cocktail bar Gong is unashamedly luxurious, and the best place in London to get hitched February 16, 2016 At the end of last year I was faced with the terrifying prospect of having to decide where to propose to my then girlfriend (now, thankfully, fiancée). I was at a loss. I’ve got a bias for hotel bars, but most don’t afford you the privacy to bend down on one knee and ask another [...]
Galvin Hop review: The Galvin brothers open their first gastropub in the City February 16, 2016 Galvin HOP, Spital Square, E1 What? A new gastropub – or “pub de luxe”, as the eponymous Galvin brothers prefer to call it – serving gourmet pub grub, snacks and pints. There’s also a takeaway bar so you can grab breakfast rolls, toasted muffins, Eccles cakes and “luxe dogs” to eat (ahem) on the hop. [...]
Bentley Bentayga review: behind the wheel of the the world’s fastest luxury SUV February 15, 2016 As the second hour standing in LAX’s dreadful arrivals queue passed, I realised my schedule was going hopelessly awry. I still had a 130-mile drive to Palm Springs: in LA traffic, four hours or more. Factor in no food and nearly 24 hours without sleep, and Bentley’s Bentayga luxury SUV launch seemed to be in [...]
The End of Longing review: Could Matthew Perry’s new West End play BE any more like Friends? February 12, 2016 The Playhouse Theatre | ★★★★☆ It’s unfair to judge someone’s work based on a project they were involved in many, many years ago. But Matthew Perry, writer and star of new West End play The End of Longing, mentions Friends in the very first sentence of his programme notes, so he’s kind of asking for it. [...]
A Bigger Splash sees a manic, nude Ralph Fiennes on the form of his life February 12, 2016 Dir. Luca Guadagnino | ★★★★☆ This sun-drenched comedy-thriller was one of the highlights of last year's Venice Film Festival. Tilda Swinton plays Marianne, a global rock star whose quiet life on an Italian island with her lover (Matthias Schoenaerts) is shattered by the arrival of Harry (Ralph Fiennes), Marianne's record producer ex, and his newly discovered [...]
Win a unique trip to the magical Fonterutoli Estate in Tuscany February 12, 2016 Chianti produces wines of global acclaim and has firmly earned its place amongst the greatest wine regions of the world. Alongside the new release of Siepi 2013, in association with wine travel company Winerist, the City A.M. Wine Club is excited to announce a new competition. One lucky winner will win a unique trip to [...]
Zoolander 2 wrote its own eugoogly when it put cameos before comedy February 11, 2016 Dir. Ben Stiller | ★★★☆☆ Over the last 15 years, Zoolander has boiled down in the public consciousness to its very essence, becoming less a movie than a handful of fondly remembered quotations. Its pop-cultural caché is so high that it’s easy to overlook its simple premise: the endearing, Chaplin-esque stupidity of its narcissistic leads. This [...]