Match made in Heaven February 27, 2013 MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM is Britain’s most intriguing film- maker. Averaging a movie a year, he’s made a sci-fi love story (Code 46), one the most sexually explicit mainstream films ever released (9 Songs) and a trio of increasingly loose adaptations of Thomas Hardy novels. And when Hardy doesn’t inspire, he’s got Steve Coogan. The pair have [...]
Review: Apero at the Ampersand February 26, 2013 Apero has fish is to die for, if you don’t mind the charmingly chaotic atmosphere, says Steve Dinneen APERO @ AMPERSAND; 10 Harrington Road, SW7 3ER; tel: 020 7589 5895 FOOD **** SERVICE *** Value **** Cost per person with wine: £50 A few years ago I was wandering through Kreuzberg, before it was completely [...]
How a former hedgie manager is challenging the Bordeaux status quo February 26, 2013 THE BOTTLE OPENER I’m delighted to say I spent last Monday evening drinking fine Claret with a revolutionary. Not that Arnaud Christiaens, a polished Belgian former hedge fund manager, is your usual rebel. But with his new venture Le Secret des Grands Chefs, he is setting out to turn the accepted order of things in [...]
Review: Mama February 26, 2013 FILM MAMA Cert 15 *** AFTER producing the deliciously terrifying The Orphanage and directing the superb horror fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, you would bet your house on Guillermo del Toro nailing what is essentially a stripped down, monster-in-the-house horror movie. This is why I’m not a gambling man. It starts off convincingly enough. The plot – [...]
Review: Money The Game Show February 26, 2013 In Clare Duffy’s new play, Money The Game Show, two ex-bankers, Queenie and Casino (Lucy Ellinson and Brian Ferguson), explain the financial crisis through a series of audience participation games. Two halves of the audience face each other and in the centre is a platform, complete with cartoon noises and colourful flashing lights that combine [...]
Float through the traffic in the E300 February 25, 2013 Mercedes-Benz’s latest hybrid executive saloon is so smooth it is more magic carpet than automobile Traditionally, delivering high fuel economy hasn’t been a primary focus for large executive cars. But the times they are a-changin’. Car manufacturers know they need to provide cleaner and more efficient vehicles to appease European regulators and discourage buyers from [...]
Rival motors February 25, 2013 NOT CONVINCED BY THE E300? HERE ARE SOME ALTERNATIVES BMW ActiveHybrid 5, £47,095 If you fancy something a little sportier, BMW’s ActiveHybrid 5 combines a 3.0-litre twin turbo six-cylinder petrol engine with an electric drive system and eight-speed automatic gearbox. With a combined power output of 340hp, BMW’s executive hybrid can be driven on electric [...]
Prepare for the London Marathon February 25, 2013 Barry’s Bootcamp trainer Ricardo Vargas gives his top tops for getting through the London Marathon unscathed 1. Make sure you push yourself on the treadmill The best thing to do is a high intensity, varied workout, as opposed to just running at a constant speed. You want to regularly change the incline and alter the [...]
Recharge your batteries with a Polynesia massage at Kensington’s Baglioni spa February 25, 2013 “This massage will actually take you to Polynesia,” says my Baglioni Spa therapist. These are eight words you really want to hear on a cold, grey morning in London. To disappoint literalists, the massage won’t actually take you to Polynesia – that blissful archipelago nestled in the Pacific Ocean – but it will rub you [...]
Paradise found at Canyon Ranch February 24, 2013 Newsreader Emma Crosby finds Canyon Ranch is the perfect antidote to the punishing daily newsbeat IT’S 7AM and the thermometer is already pushing 80 degrees centigrade. I’m cycling in what must be one of the most stark but beautiful places on Earth, the Sonora desert in the foothills of the Rincon Mountains in Arizona. My [...]