Blonde review: Marilyn Monroe biopic is exploitative and dull October 2, 2022 Another year, another lengthy Netflix Oscar hopeful. Blonde has been in development since 2010 with Naomi Watts and Jessica Chastain attached to star at various points. Can one of Hollywood’s hottest newcomers do justice to its eternal icon? Brought to the screen by director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James), the film is an [...]
Aida at the ROH is a thrilling opera set against a bleak backdrop October 2, 2022 Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida is an opera usually characterised by unabashed spectacle. When the original production opened in Cairo in 1871, the stage was adorned with all manner of ancient Egyptian finery. Many contemporary productions follow this original formula, more or less, but director Robert Carson swerves away from it in this brand-new Royal Opera House [...]
Eureka Day Review: Helen Hunt shines in culture wars drama October 2, 2022 When playwrights take aim at the culture wars, it’s usually those on the right they have in their sights. But Jonathan Spector’s barbs point towards the liberal left and the ludicrous situations that can arise when political correctness really does go mad. Eureka Day takes place in the titular primary school, a progressive Californian institution [...]
Driven to suicide by blindness: How a woman finds a second chance at sight and life October 2, 2022 | City Talk Losing one’s sight is terrifying and daunting. It leaves the visually impaired person reliant on those around them to assist them in navigating their way through the world. Without the help and generosity of others, it can lead to a loss of hope and tragically sometimes life. 55-year-old Chyo Maya Praja lives high up in [...]
Discrimination against Dalits: How status can affect eye health September 30, 2022 | City Talk The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation has recently set up camps in Nepal where members of the highly discriminated against Dalits received cataract-curing surgery. Many cultures have systems of hierarchy entwined in their makeup. In the United Kingdom we have had the hierarchy of Kings and Queens, Knights and Noblemen, followed by merchants and peasants. [...]
iPhone 14 Pro Max review: The notch is gone and other stories September 30, 2022 When Apple went fullscreen with the iPhone X, doing away with all but the slimmest black frame around the display, it divided the world into two categories: regular people, and those who vehemently, violently hated “the notch”. The notch, for those struggling to remember the furore it caused back in November 2017, is the little [...]
NFL is back in the capital as London hosts 31st American Football game September 30, 2022 When the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints clash on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it will be the 31st NFL game to be played in London in which no more than one of the sides took a winning record into the fixture. The Vikings are two and one this season with a points [...]
Ollie Phillips: England should embrace Premiership’s rugby style September 30, 2022 Last Sunday’s storming contest in which Exeter Chiefs edged Harlequins 43-42 was, in my opinion, a perfect example of where the tectonic plates of rugby are starting to move. Gone are the days of overly structured play and coming in are sturdy defences paired with incredible counter-attacking moves. I think that’s where we have seen [...]
Roc Nation Sport president: ‘Change in rugby needs to happen now’ September 29, 2022 Rugby is at a crossroads between growth and crisis point ahead of next year’s World Cup, according to Michael Yormark, president of Jay-Z’s agency Roc Nation Sports. Amid a series of financial woes threatening the sport – not least in England, where Premiership clubs are fighting for survival – there is a consensus among new [...]
Curing a village of needless blindness September 29, 2022 | City Talk In a rural fishing and farming village in Morang District of Nepal, a team from the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation set up a screening camp on 15th August 2022. From the village, over 150 people were screened and 23 of those were found to be living with cataracts. This is an extremely common form [...]