Seven reasons why Chelsea’s Premier League title is just the beginning for the Blues May 4, 2015 Chelsea are back. Four seasons without a league title came to an end on Sunday, with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace ensuring the Blues will wrap their hands around the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2010. The detractors cry that Jose Mourinho's team has seized the title thanks to an unattractive [...]
Who is the greatest fighter of all time? Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and 29 top boxers’ records compared May 1, 2015 Not one known for modesty, Floyd Mayweather Jr. proclaimed himself to be the greatest fighter of all time earlier this week – claiming to be even better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. Does Mayweather have a point? If the American beats Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night he will extend his record to [...]
Unfriended is the first truly terrifying horror movie about the evils of the internet May 1, 2015 Unfriended opens with a truly harrowing sequence: grainy smartphone footage shows a girl clutching something at arm’s length. There are shrieks of panic from an unseen crowd and you realise she’s holding a gun. There’s a bang and she collapses backward; you’re watching a snuff video, and one that looks horribly authentic. As Unfriended’s protagonist, [...]
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao earnings compared to business, film, music and football May 1, 2015 When Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally touch gloves in the MGM Grand this Saturday night, as much attention will be on their bulging bank accounts as the bludgeoning blows landed by the two legendary fighters. The long-awaited and much-hyped bout is expected to smash all pay-per-view records to become the richest single sporting event [...]
Photography review: Elliott Erwitt May 1, 2015 Beetles + Huxley | ★★★★☆ Photographer Elliott Erwitt bore witness to some of the 20th century’s most important events but some of his best loved images are of everyday moments lit up by flashes of passion and absurdity: lovers caught kissing in a rear-view mirror; an umbrella-wielding Parisian leaping over a puddle. Elliott [...]
Monsters: Dark Continent – film review May 1, 2015 Cert 15 | ★☆☆☆☆ War is always an ugly enterprise, but is it any uglier when aliens are involved? That’s the totally pointless question Monsters: Dark Continent asks. After sitting through it for two hours I can confirm that the answer is both “yes” and “who cares”. It’s a huge let-down, especially so [...]
Bournemouth and Watford in line for £130m windfall from Premier League promotion May 1, 2015 Bournemouth and Watford will enjoy a £130m windfall next season after securing promotion to the Premier League and its treasure chest of TV income. Each club will receive a promotion boost of £130m, rising to £230m if either club can survive in the top flight, according to figures from Deloitte and roughly in line with [...]
Film review: Far from the Madding Crowd is rushed, but Carey Mulligan sparkles May 1, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ In 19th century England, the line between fancying someone and marrying them was terrifyingly thin. Or so you might think from Thomas Vinterberg’s new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, in which the twinkly Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) hurdles marriage proposals like a Victorian Colin Jackson. All [...]
Theatre review: Everyman is a thrilling, touching success April 30, 2015 Olivier Theatre | ★★★★☆ The first play directed by Rufus Norris since he took over as artistic director of the National Theatre is an ambitious, frenetic production that hints at exciting times ahead for the institution. Everyman is a 15th century morality play warning of the perils of pursuing bodily pleasures over the [...]
Something for the weekend April 30, 2015 SING! BILLY ELLIOT One of the best loved musicals of recent times celebrates its tenth birthday this May – as good a reason as any to book a ticket if you’re yet to see it. Tickets £20.70 – £68.70, call the box office on 0844 248 5000 CHEER! BRENTFORD VS WIGAN Head to west London [...]