England v France TONIGHT: Why World Cup opponents’ rivalry lacks spice December 10, 2022 For two neighbouring countries with such a long history of conflict and mutual suspicion, England’s World Cup quarter-final with France tonight is curiously short on piquancy. There is no love lost when the nations’ rugby teams meet each year in Le Crunch, while recent political developments have soured more than a century of Entente Cordiale. [...]
Hex, National Theatre, review: Tonally weird and too macabre December 9, 2022 The National Theatre’s Christmas show isn’t exactly a Christmas show. Hex is a modern interpretation of Sleeping Beauty, a boldly imaginative spectacle that is more than a touch macabre. In terms of the plot, a fairy lives deep in a forest and one day a palace worker running from a baby-eating ogre stumbles upon her [...]
White Noise sees Adam Driver reunite with Noah Baumbach in a strange narrative experiment December 9, 2022 A mouth-watering cast come together for Noah Baumbach’s first film since Oscar winning Marriage Story. He reunites with one of the stars from that movie, Adam Driver, in an adaptation of White Noise, the 1985 novel by Don Delillo. Set in garish 80s vision of America, Driver plays Jack Gladney. Jack is a professor of [...]
Pinocchio has never been darker than in the hands of Guillermo Del Toro December 9, 2022 Oscar winning Mexican filmmaker finally gets to offer his vision of the story of Pinocchio, a film with no connection to the Disney cartoon or the live action remake that came out this year. There have been countless adaptations over the years, but any time the Shape of Water filmmaker brings his unique eye to [...]
Ollie Phillips: Loss of Eddie Jones gives England Rugby mega opportunity December 9, 2022 Well last week I said I didn’t think the Rugby Football Union had the bottle to sack head coach Eddie Jones despite me saying that he should go. How wrong I was. I do think the call to sack the Australian has come a couple of years late – he himself has said previously about [...]
Qatar World Cup in brief: Why you should watch today’s matches December 9, 2022 We’re down to the final eight and there’s a spot in the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup within grasp. Brazil and Argentina will catch eyes but the resilient Europeans won’t let the South Americans have it all their own way. Croatia vs Brazil, 3pm, BBC The first of the Qatar World Cup quarter-finals will [...]
You can still reach the Qatar World Cup final. Here’s how December 8, 2022 It may be coming home in nine days’ time, but what if you want to be anywhere but home when England lift the World Cup in Doha next Sunday? City A.M. got the travel magazines out and scoured the web to see just whether it was still possible to get to Qatar. Where in the [...]
Will Smith follows up his slap with a swing and a miss December 8, 2022 Let’s get this out of the way, shall we? Emancipation is the first film Will Smith has starred in since he slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards in March. What should have been a much- anticipated follow up to his Oscar-winning turn in King Richard now stands as a test to see [...]
How art can help corporations: An interview with Artiq CEO Patrick McCrae December 8, 2022 Making the business case for ‘soft skills’ and ‘soft acquisitions’ is increasingly familiar in the corporate sector, especially as people turned so much to the arts throughout the pandemic. I caught up with Patrick McCrae, CEO of Artiq, who has been selling the tangible benefits of art in the workplace for over a decade. What [...]
The Christmas gift guide 2022, by City A.M. December 8, 2022 Ho, ho, hold up on shopping for Christmas presents on the freezing cold streets of London… we present you with the City A.M. Christmas Gift Guide. Do your shopping online and find some seriously thoughtful presents in our guide, which is broken down into ten categories so there’s something for every type of gift receiver [...]