Getty Images Year in Focus 2015: “The best images of the year” reviewed by our Picture Editor January 28, 2016 The Getty Images Gallery | ★★★★★ Getty Images’ Year in Focus 2015 retrospective showcases the best work by the picture agency’s staff photographers who operate at risk and under high pressure across news, sport, entertainment and portraiture. Refugees arrive in Europe (Source: Getty Images) The escalation of the refugee crisis over the last year makes for [...]
Robert De Niro in Dirty Grandpa, Paul Sorrentino’s Youth and Patricia Riggen’s The 33 reviewed January 28, 2016 Dirty Grandpa 18 | Dir. Dan Mazer | ★★★☆☆ Robert De Niro plays a recently widowed army vet who tricks Zac Efron into driving him to Florida to chase young women. Who'd have thought that De Niro would spend the latter half of his career dropping N-bombs and making dick jokes? But while it's not [...]
Audi R8 supercar is up there with McLaren and Aston Martin January 26, 2016 The plan was to fly to the South of France at 9am, then spend the rest of the day driving around the glorious Var region. But fog-related delays meant we didn’t arrive at Paul Ricard until darkness was setting in. The next morning there was rain of biblical proportions. That’s not the ideal way to [...]
Soulcycle, Insanity, CrossFit: Where do fitness fads and cults come from? January 25, 2016 Cult workout regimes are big business, whether it's Insanity's Shaun Thomson raking in millions or the cult of CrossFit recruiting evangelical members across the globe. We take a look at where they started. Insanity The Insanity workout was founded when BeachBody, a Californian fitness company, started searching for a charismatic trainer and came across Shaun Thomson, [...]
Can a family friendly ski school in the Austrian Alps transform your kids into tiny champions? January 25, 2016 The trouble I’ve found with family ski holidays is, without wanting to put too fine a point on it, my family. Actually, that’s a bit harsh. They aren’t bad skiers. We’ve been able to ski red and blue runs together for two seasons, but always at the pace of my youngest, the five-year-old, which as [...]
The Picture of Dorian Gray at Trafalgar Studios review January 22, 2016 Trafalgar Studios | ★★★☆☆ This year is the 125th anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. When it was first published, its sexual ambiguity and frequent drug use caused outrage among Victorian society – but then, what didn’t? – and the text was hastily censored by the author. This version, adapted by [...]
The Big Short interview with director Adam McKay: “Outrage with banks comes naturally… they’re street hustlers” January 22, 2016 The Oscar-nominated director of financial film The Big Short, Adam McKay, wasn't afraid of throwing the cat among the pigeons when I caught up with him yesterday. On the eve of his latest film's release he launched a stinging attack on Wall Street, branding bankers “street hustlers” and labelling the SEC’s response to the crisis “disgusting”. [...]
Our Brand is Crisis review: Sandra Bullock props up this darkly comic political satire January 22, 2016 Dir. David Gordon Green | ★★★☆☆ Retired political campaign strategist turned kooky pot-spinning hermit Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) is coaxed back into the electioneering racket for one last, career-defining escapade. Her mission? Transform the fortunes of a down-in-the-polls Bolivian presidential hopeful, whose previous corruption-sullied term still sticks in the memory of the downtrodden electorate. A [...]
The 5th Wave review: This hollow sci-fi action flick is a weak emulation of The Hunger Games January 22, 2016 Dir. J Blakeson | ★★☆☆☆ Chloe Grace Moretz made her name as Hit Girl, the sweary child assassin in Kick-Ass, who was just as comfortable dropping c-bombs as she was dropping actual bombs. Now, she’s old enough to be getting her nun-chucks into some bad-ass lady roles, but instead she’s stuck with soppy teenagers like Cassie [...]
Ex-Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond’s daughter Nell takes on the business world with luxury interiors company Hill House Home January 21, 2016 Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has moved from banking to blog-design according to his daughter Nell, who this week launched a startup selling high-end bedding in New York. “My dad’s area of expertise obviously isn’t e-commerce and retail, but he’s so excited I’ve gone this route as an entrepreneur,” said Diamond Junior, speaking exclusively to [...]