Film review: Coherence has the kernel of something interesting but doesn’t hold together February 13, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Coherence is soft science fiction slush that simply doesn’t hold together. As four couples meet for dinner, a mysterious comet streaks through the heavens, cracking mobile phone screens, fracturing reality, and encouraging the kind of ill-informed, feng shui and quantum theory-tinged, new age, nonsense-strewn dinner party conversation that makes you hope [...]
Theatre review: How To Hold Your Breath at the Royal Court February 13, 2015 Royal Court | ★★☆☆☆ Zinnie Harris’ How To Hold Your Breath begins with an intimate encounter. A man is alarmed to find the stranger he slept with isn’t a prostitute. She’s offended by his attempt to pay. It’s a zippy opening that makes the rest of the play feel leaden. The action shifts uncomfortably [...]
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends – art review February 13, 2015 National Portrait Gallery: ★★★★★ Despite enjoying a successful career as a portraitist in the late 1800s, John Singer Sargent was overtaken by the lurch toward abstraction that took place in the subsequent century. His luscious, august paintings of society figures seemed to pull in the opposite direction to those throwing off the figurative constraints of [...]
Film review: Love is Strange is a backwards romance with heart February 12, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ Traditional love stories end with a wedding. Love is Strange flips fairy-tale romance on its head, beginning with a marriage and following it up with a sweet, sad separation. Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) have been together for 39 years, and when a law change in New York [...]
Something for half term February 12, 2015 SOLVE: MUSIC OF FIRE This event features a tour beneath the famous Globe Theatre, where you will encounter mysterious magicians and bizarre puppets who will give you clues about how you can stop the Globe burning down. It culminates with a show at the theatre itself. Ages 6 to 11, 16-20 Feb, shakespearesglobe.com LOL: MINI [...]
British Academy Games Awards 2015: The nominations are in February 11, 2015 The potential winners are in – which games should scoop the prestigious award? Hot on the heels of the BAFTAs come the British Academy Games Awards, once again setting out to reward the industry’s artistic innovations and convince the non-believers of the medium’s merits. This year is particularly interesting – the end of the [...]
Oxo Tower Restaurant has great food but the lighting left us a little blue February 10, 2015 The Oxo Tower Restaurant has been chugging along forever, minding its own business. Harvey Nicks has run the eighth-floor dining room for 19 years. Its head chef Jeremy Bloor has been there for 12, while the restaurant manager is a relative rookie, with only nine years under his belt. Located on the South Bank, in [...]
Mix it up: London Beer Week proves there’s more to life than cocktails February 10, 2015 Every summer, the world’s young (and not so young) adorn their arms with an ever-growing number of wristbands from music festivals. Each is a trophy, a plastic testament to their summer of mud. But why should ravers be the only ones to show off? Next week, you can join in – and you won't even [...]
BAFTAs 2015: Lancôme’s Elite make-up artist Laura Pye on the biggest event in the British film calendar February 10, 2015 WHAT WAS YOUR JOB ON THE DAY? Lancôme has been the official BAFTAs beauty partner for 15 years, so we’re responsible for making sure all the famous faces look amazing. Everything has to be perfect – there’s no second chance to fix any smudged lipstick in Photoshop: once they’re in front of the cameras, that’s [...]
Top Bafta moments February 10, 2015 We pick out the top moments from the weekend’s big event #1 The BAFTAs never disappoint when it comes to cringeworthy displays of loveydom, but Stephen Fry raised the bar this year when he descended from the stage he’s graced for (a few too many) years and kissed Edward Norton and Michael Keaton. #2 Surprisingly, [...]