The Lehman Trilogy at the national Theatre review: An astonishing play about the banking dynasty by a red-hot Sam Mendes July 19, 2018 To a generation, Sam Mendes is synonymous with Oscar-winning Hollywood films, from the introspective dramas of American Beauty and Revolutionary Road to big budget blockbusters like Skyfall and Spectre. But his relationship with the stage is far more enduring, beginning a decade before his cinematic debut, and encompassing a stint as artistic director of [...]
Hotel Artemis film review: A stylish but ultimately disappointing homage to John Wick July 19, 2018 Hotel Artemis is a film of almosts. It almost belies its meagre $14m budget. It almost has something to say about contemporary America. It almost puts an interesting sci-fi spin on a classic crime caper. It’s almost good. It begins with a paint-by-numbers bank heist gone awry, although this is soon revealed to be [...]
World Cup 2018: Tournament review – Heavyweight drop-outs, VAR, penalties, set pieces, wonder goals, concussion and politics July 15, 2018 After 64 matches – including a pointless third-place play-off – over 30 days the World Cup has come to its conclusion. France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final in a match that neatly summed by the whole competition. There were goals from set pieces, a VAR-assisted penalty and lots of quality to boot. But you [...]
Skyscraper review: Dwayne Johnson jumping around on top of a tall building is precisely as entertaining as that sounds July 12, 2018 Having recently fought a malevolent board game in Jumanji: Return to the Jungle, and wrestled giant mutant monsters in Rampage, Hollywood’s busiest stack of sentient beef Dwayne Johnson is back to face off against his largest foe yet, the world’s tallest skyscraper. Mountains and small moons must now be shaking in their enormous boots, [...]
Wimbledon 2018: What Roger Federer’s $300m Uniqlo deal tells us about the state of tennis sponsorship July 8, 2018 On the eve of Wimbledon, men’s tennis news was again dominated by the same old names: Andy Murray’s late withdrawal, Novak Djokovic’s re-built serving action, Rafael Nadal’s lack of grass-court preparation and, of course, Roger Federer’s bumper new kit deal with Japanese brand Uniqlo. This is no surprise to the casual fan, for the Big [...]
England out on penalties? World Cup shootout odds are against Three Lions but Gareth Southgate’s approach boosts their chances July 2, 2018 England may have avoided a World Cup clash with old foes Germany, Portugal and Brazil by finishing second in their World Cup group, but there may be no escaping a more familiar enemy now that they are in the knock-out rounds: the dreaded penalty shoot-out. No side has a worse record in World Cup shoot-outs [...]
Wimbledon 2018: Zverev, Dimitrov, Del Potro, Kyrgios, Cilic – Can anybody challenge Federer and Nadal? July 1, 2018 Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have a stranglehold on men’s tennis. It’s not the first time the two greats of the game have combined to monopolise the grand slams, but with those two legends aged 36 and 32 respectively some might have expected their superpowers to be on the wane. They’re not. Federer and Nadal [...]
Deep learning: Belgium’s secret weapon for England’s World Cup group decider June 27, 2018 England manager Gareth Southgate has long been be familiar with the threat posed by some of the supreme talents in the the Belgium squad such as Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne. Yet the Red Devils have a less well-known weapon at their disposal for tonight’s World Cup match in Kaliningrad, effectively a [...]
Pressure review: David Haig’s geeky play highlights one of World War Two’s most interesting footnotes June 22, 2018 If there’s one thing the British enjoy more than talking about the weather, it’s making the glib observation that the British enjoy talking about the weather. But David Haig’s high-stakes play about cold fronts is anything but banal weather chat. Pressure is a love letter to the country’s uniquely capricious skies, telling the true [...]
Freak Show review: A coming of age queer comedy undermined by an unlikeable hero June 22, 2018 A coming-of-age high-school comedy-drama about a queer teenager alienated for his fabulous and gender-smashing fashion sense, Freak Show casts rising star Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game) as the camp-as-tits Billy Bloom. He idolises his cackling diva mother (Bette Midler), but when she up and vanishes he’s forced to move to his father’s sprawling stately [...]