T2 Trainspotting review: lashings of nostalgia carry this long-overdue sequel, with Ewan McGregor and Johnny Lee Miller at their magnetic best January 27, 2017 It’s 21 years since Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting became every teenage boy’s favourite movie. His meditation on wasted youth was bleak, but also tinged with an optimism that reflected the national mood. Sure, there was addiction and poverty and death and despair, but Blair was about to be elected and Britpop was playing on radios across [...]
Hull City 2, Manchester United 1 (Agg: 2-3): Jose Mourinho aims dig at Liverpool rival Jurgen Klopp as United reach Wembley January 26, 2017 Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho could not refuse a dig at Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp after his side reached the EFL Cup final despite suffering a scare against Hull. Midfielder Paul Pogba, who cost United £89m in the summer, ultimately proved the difference as he cancelled out Tom Huddlestone’s first-half penalty before Everton loanee Oumar [...]
Sutton United to head into FA Cup battle with Leeds having secured year’s playing budget from giant-killing run January 26, 2017 Fifth-tier Sutton United will head into battle with Championship high-flyers Leeds United on Sunday safe in the knowledge that their FA Cup run will pocket them at least £400,000 – the equivalent of a whole year’s wage bill. Factoring in the revenue from the sold-out clash being broadcast live on television, Sutton chairman Bruce Elliott [...]
Eoin Morgan hails “complete” England as tourists eclipse India in Twenty20 opener January 26, 2017 England skipper Eoin Morgan insisted his side had produced a near-perfect performance after they made a winning start to their Twenty20 series with a seven-wicket success over India in Kanpur. The tourists’ bowlers were much-maligned after their showing in the 50-over tussles with India but England restricted their hosts to 147-7 as off-spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali [...]
Denial review: A cast of top notch character actors lend heft to this gripping courtroom drama January 26, 2017 Once, TV used to aspire to film, but TV has got so good lately that we might have come full circle. Denial from Mick Jackson, a director primarily known for his TV work – and The Bodyguard, incongruously – has stripped this courtroom saga back to its mahogany rafters until it resembles a gripping Sunday [...]
Dirty Great Love Story review: This loved-up play is a little too on the nose January 26, 2017 We all know how it goes – boy meets girl, boy screws girl, boy and girl variously fall in love and drift apart before finally ending up together. It’s a story as old as the monetisation of human intimacy. Dirty Great Love Story tells it without any flash – our boy is Richard, a lovable [...]
Sing is an utterly charmless and joke-free comedy about some singing animals January 26, 2017 Matthew McConaughey voices a koala in this charmless children’s film about animals singing covers of pop songs. There really isn’t a whole lot more to unpack. Just farmyard karaoke cut with a thin plot about a theatre going out of business. No allegory, no fable, subtext nor message to decipher beyond “a pig in a [...]
Us/Them review: two-person show about the Beslan hostage atrocity is a minor revelation January 26, 2017 This two-person show explores the incomprehensible horror of terrorism in the eyes of a child. A pair of unnamed teenagers begin by recounting a normal day at school, bragging about how their town, Beslan, is superior to nearby Chechnya, where the women all have moustaches. Their tale darkens as the infamous hostage situation unfolds, with [...]
Christine film review: Rebecca Hall shines in a film that peers behind the gruesome headlines of the Christine Chubbuck case January 26, 2017 “If It Bleeds, It Leads” is the darkly prophetic slogan at the centre of this drama, about real life TV reporter Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) whose work pressures and mental health issues led her to commit suicide on camera in 1974. Even a cursory search for Chubbuck’s name makes for unpleasant reading, the stuff of [...]
Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Venus Williams reach Australian Open final as old guard roll back the years January 26, 2017 Former world No1 Roger Federer admits that he has surprised even himself by becoming the oldest man to reach a grand slam final for more than 40 years at the Australian Open. The evergreen Swiss overcame compatriot Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 on Thursday to stay on course for an 18th grand slam [...]