England 3-0 Senegal: Clinical Three Lions set up World Cup quarter-final with France December 5, 2022 England produced a clinical performance to eliminate Senegal from the World Cup in Qatar last night and set up a blockbuster quarter-final against holders France. Gareth Southgate’s team overcame some early jitters with two first-half goals crafted by Jude Bellingham and finished by Jordan Henderson and captain Harry Kane. Bukayo Saka added a third after [...]
World Cup briefing: Why and how to watch Monday’s games December 5, 2022 Fifty-two games down, 11 to go: after the flurry that was the groups stage, the World Cup is approaching its business end as the round of 16 continues today. Here’s why to watch Monday’s fixtures. Japan v Croatia, 3pm, BBC Two teams defying expectations meet this afternoon at the Al Janoub Stadium. Croatia were written [...]
Premiership half-way review: Stylish Saracens and bottom three bonanza December 4, 2022 It was not supposed to be occurring at this point in the year but the Premiership season has reached its half-way stage. Given the downfall of Worcester Warriors and Wasps, the 11 remaining sides hit the milestone at the weekend – albeit there were only four fixtures played. There are just eight points separating second [...]
The Infernal Machine review: Guy Pearce in sparse psychological tussle December 4, 2022 The title and poster for The Infernal Machine, featuring the face of lead star Guy Pearce lined by fire, could be mistaken for an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. Instead, it’s an ambitious but flawed exploration of paranoia and infamy. Pearce plays Bruce Cogburn, a reclusive author who has been off the map since his best-selling book, The [...]
Lynch/Oz: A fun documentary about David Lynch and the Wizard of Oz December 4, 2022 What makes a movie influential? Is it the story, the visuals, the cultural moment, or all of the above? It’s a topic explored in Lynch/Oz, a fascinating new work all about the link between filmmaker David Lynch and seminal 1930s movie The Wizard of Oz. Documentarian Alexandre O Philippe has made interesting retrospectives on film history [...]
Violent Night is a manic but enjoyable Christmas movie December 4, 2022 Prior to playing everyone’s favourite Sheriff in Stranger Things, David Harbour was a versatile character actor who has shared the big screen with everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Dwayne Johnson. Now that his face is more recognisable he’s moved into leading man territory, although Violent Night certainly isn’t a cookie-cutter leading man role. He plays [...]
Othello at the National Theatre is a savage take on race and masculinity December 4, 2022 It seems absurd that the first black man to play Othello at the National Theatre was David Harewood, as recently as 1997. A young Clint Dyer, visiting the National in the 1980s, was horrified by the theatre’s – and every other theatre’s – continuing use of blackface, even defacing a photograph of Laurence Olivier playing [...]
Drag Race’s Miz Cracker on her new London show Who’s Holiday December 2, 2022 Forget the London Palladium: if you want a camp Christmas show with drag in it you’d better head to the Southwark Playhouse this season. One-woman show Who’s Holiday is an adults-only comedy kicking off on 16 December and starring RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Miz Cracker. She placed fifth in the tenth season of Drag Race in [...]
Ollie Phillips: Do the RFU have the bottle to sack Eddie Jones? December 2, 2022 The main factor at play when it comes to Eddie Jones’s future as head coach of England is that I do not believe the Rugby Football Union has the bottle to sack him. Having led his side to a humiliating 27-13 loss last week against the Springboks, Jones’s year has concluded with his side having [...]
World Cup briefing: Final day of group stage games sees Brazil in action December 2, 2022 Today marks not just the final day of group stage action of this year’s World Cup but also the final time a 32-team group stage takes place at the tournament. The teams in Group G and H will today be looking to book their spot in the last 16 alongside the other 14 teams already [...]