The Beatles: Eight Days A Week review: Ron Howard has made the definitive Beatles documentary September 16, 2016 Eight Days A Week is a fascinating look at a vital few years in the story of The Fab Four, covering their initial success, Beatlemania, and the unprecedented American success that caught a country unawares. Films about The Beatles often struggle to capture why they made such an impact. In Ron Howard's film archive footage [...]
Dressage stars lead gold rush as Paralympics GB enjoy more success at Rio Games September 15, 2016 Dressage star Sophie Christiansen took her tally of Paralympic gold medals to seven as Great Britain’s equestrians led the medal charge in Rio on Thursday. Christiansen, who juggles her sporting heroics with a City career with Goldman Sachs, defended her Grade 1a championship title ahead of British team-mate Anne Dunham, who took silver. Their success, [...]
Feyenoord 1, Manchester United 0: Jose Mourinho suffers consecutive defeats as controversial winning goal sinks his £300m second string September 15, 2016 Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho blamed bad luck and an offside goal after Feyenoord inflicted the club’s second defeat in less than a week in the Europa League on Thursday night. A 79th-minute strike from midfielder Tonny Vilhena punished a lacklustre display from a United side that was much-changed but still contained almost £300m worth [...]
Doctor Faustus at the Barbican review: a lively, relevant morality tale September 15, 2016 Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe certainly gave him a run for his money when it came to blood and gore. Even a modern audience can’t help but flinch when the titular doctor slices his arm open – three times no less – to make an unholy pact with the devil. In fact, it’s these darker forays [...]
Teenage Lancashire batsman Haseeb Hameed expected to get England call for tour of Bangladesh September 15, 2016 England are expected to pick teenage Lancashire star Haseeb Hameed for next month’s controversial tour of Bangladesh when they name their squad on Friday. Hameed has played his way into contention to become captain Alastair Cook’s opening partner after a stellar county season which has yielded more than 1,000 runs. The 19-year-old from Bolton is [...]
Dream Play at The Vault review: A profoundly odd exploration of human emotion September 15, 2016 Very roughly based on the story of an alien who visits Earth to experience the full gamut of human emotions, Dream Play presents a series of disjointed vignettes that teeter on the fuzzy precipice between real and abstract. That’s to say, it’s supremely odd. Actors repeatedly swap characters as the audience moves from room to [...]
The Infiltrator review: Brian Cranston makes for an underwhelming lead in this coke-fuelled true story September 15, 2016 In the years since Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston has struggled as a movie lead, with the underwhelming Trumbo being followed by this true story of Bob Mazur, an undercover customs agent who goes deep into the operations of Pablo Escobar. Despite a confident performance from Cranston, who skates the line between good and evil as [...]
Bridget Jones lives next to a hospital, right, so why does it take her so long to get to a maternity ward when she goes into labour. It doesn’t make sense September 15, 2016 Here’s a thing. Bridget Jones lives on Bedale Street, close enough to Borough Market that she could swan dive from her bedroom window and land in a basket of organic, gluten-free sourdough, or one of those massive iron pans filled with Ethiopian curry. Directly across the road from her flat is Guy’s Hospital (the tallest [...]
Return of £34m maverick David Luiz can shore up Chelsea defence against Liverpool, says Antonio Conte September 15, 2016 Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has backed a retrained David Luiz to cope with Liverpool’s in-form strikeforce when the Brazil defender makes his second Blues debut on Friday night. The Reds visit Stamford Bridge six days after they hit four past Premier League champions Leicester and having done the same on their last visit to London [...]
Blair Witch: this 2016 sequel to the found-footage classic has plenty of scares but little new to offer September 15, 2016 The Blair Witch Project was the product of a more innocent time. Back in 1999, people believed the film might have been a genuine documentary about some kids being murdered by a witch. Actor Heather Donahue, who played a fictional version of herself, even complained that “being dead” had an adverse affect on her career. [...]