Film review: Woman in Gold April 10, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Ryan Reynolds, playing lawyer Randy Schoenberg, sums up the plot succinctly when he tells an Austrian court “this is a simple matter of one woman getting back what’s rightfully hers.” Of course, when it comes to the Woman in Gold by Gustav Klimt, the reality is more complicated than that. Not [...]
Film review: Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River April 10, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Ryan Gosling's directorial debut, Lost River, could charitably be called a paean to his cinematic heroes: David Lynch, Terence Malick, Harmony Korine, Guillermo del Toro and, most of all, his sometime collaborator Nicolas Winding Refn. He borrows themes, tropes, sometimes even complete shots from all of them, weaving a lurid, dark, [...]
Film review: John Wick April 10, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Reports that Keanu Reeves is staging a comeback are too true to be good. Over the past decade, as the actor languished in b-movie limbo, the more optimistic among us began to hope that we’d soon be rid of him altogether. But lo and behold, his latest action thriller has done [...]
Swinging 60s: Take a drive back in time to rediscover the inimitable style of the April 2, 2015 Osman dress, £1,010, harveynichols.com; Osman boots, £POA, manoloblahnik.com; Brooks Brothers headscarf, £130, brooksbrothers.com; Cutler & Gross sunglasses, £395, cutlerandgross.com; Chanel ring, £4,075, 26 Old Bond Street, W1S 4DQ (Katie) Tods dress, £3,150, tods.com; Christian Dior jacket, £3,100, dior.com; Christian Dior boots, £1,850, dior.com; JW Anderson bag, £1,625, j-w-anderson.com; Cutler & Gross sunglasses, £310, [...]
A rare chance to sample the Super Tuscan Sassicaia 2012 April 1, 2015 New Release of Sassicaia 2012, £545 in bond, £668.76 duty and VAT paid 95/100 points James Suckling As a taste of things to come, we are offering the difficult to source – not to mention incredible to drink – “Super Tuscan” Sassicaia 2012, produced by Tenuta San Guido, for £545 for a case of six. [...]
The business of Champagne: Which Prestige Cuvées should be part of your investment portfolio? March 27, 2015 Champagne is famed for giving us the world’s finest sparkling wines. With around 15,000 growers and 290 Champagne Houses producing 300 million bottles a year, Champagne is big business and this illustrious wine is quickly consumed throughout the world. ‘Come quickly, I am tasting stars’ is the famed expression of a 17th century monk, named [...]
All about Bordeaux: Why Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the Left Bank and the Right is perfect for Cabernet Franc March 27, 2015 Bordeaux is the predominant region in the world for fine wine investment, completely dominating all other regions and comprising anywhere from 60-85% of regional trade by value in fine wine trading. Located in the southwest region of France, Bordeaux has three main wine producing regions: the Left Bank, Entre-Deux-Mers, and the Right Bank. Wines from [...]
Italy’s Super Tuscans are now considered investment grade wines March 27, 2015 Italian winemaking dates back to the Etruscans and later the Oenotrians whose name derives from the Greek word for wine (oinos). Today, Italy boasts over 2,000 grape varieties, a wealth of regions, soil types, micro-climates and wine cultures. For centuries Italy’s wines were as divided as the country. Winemaking in Italy fell into the doldrums [...]
Storing, shipping and delivering your wine March 27, 2015 Physical Storage of Wine Holdings The UK is one of the largest hubs of fine wine in the world with an estimated £1.5 billion worth stored here in bonded warehouses. These are custom built warehouses that provide the perfect temperature, humidity and security allowing collectors to store wine ‘in bond’, meaning they do not need [...]
Theatre review: Rules for Living March 27, 2015 National Theatre | ★★★★☆ So this is it: the final curtain for Sir Nicholas Hytner, the revitalising creative director of the National Theatre. That he would bow out with Rules for Living, a new play from young writer Sam Holcroft and directed by stalwart Marianne Elliot, exemplifies the combination of steady-handedness and risk he has [...]
