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 [...]
Chinese stadium company to buy stake in Southampton but current Saints owner indicates she’ll stay on January 26, 2017 Southampton are set to become the latest English football club to be snapped up by Chinese investors after they agreed a deal with stadium construction company Lander Sports Development. Lander announced to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with Southampton owner Katarina Liebherr to buy a stake in the [...]
Liverpool 0, Southampton 1 (Agg: 0-2): Claude Puel urges Saints to make history as Jurgen Klopp laments misfiring Reds January 25, 2017 Southampton boss Claude Puel has urged his side to make history and seal the club’s first piece of major silverware for 41 years after stunning Liverpool to reach the EFL Cup final. Half-time substitute Shane Long settled matters with a breakaway goal in stoppage-time as Southampton stood firm and became the first ever side to [...]
Burnley steal march on West Ham for £10m winger, while former Hammers and Queens Park Rangers striker joins Watford January 25, 2017 Premier League side Burnley have stolen a march on West Ham in the race to sign Hull winger Robert Snodgrass after a £10m bid for the Scotland international was accepted. The Clarets are believed to have offered an initial £7.5m and up to £2.5m in bonuses for the 29-year-old, who is relegation-threatened Hull’s top goalscorer [...]
Resident Evil 7 review: A gruesome return to form for the horror series January 25, 2017 Were it physically possible for a human skeleton to crawl out of a body through the mouth so that all the flesh peeled down to form a bloody skirt made of guts, and for that skeleton to run around the room getting tangled up in bunting and pulling bookshelves down on itself, then Resident Evil [...]