Nightmare at 30,000 feet: can hypnotherapy cure a fear of flying? June 17, 2019 I haven’t always been an anxious person. In fact, I was an utterly fearless child, with a predilection for dumb and dangerous stunts, like doing somersaults off the roof of our garden shed. I can’t identify exactly when my outlook shifted, but somewhere in the crucible of puberty and secondary school a profoundly neurotic fear [...]
Bret Easton Ellis interview: an audience with the most hated writer in America June 17, 2019 Bret Easton Ellis is concerned about the noise. We’re sitting in the lounge of a fancy hotel, and he’s worried my tape recorder won’t pick him up. “We can find another if you’d like. Tell me what you want to do.” It’s hard to reconcile his graciousness with his reputation as the one-time enfant terrible [...]
Gloria Bell review: Julianne Moore stars in this beguiling but frustrating retread June 7, 2019 This beguiling, frustrating film is noteworthy for two reasons: a gleaming performance by Julianne Moore, and the fact that it is a remake by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio of his own film, 2013’s Gloria. Save the surname appended to the title and the new LA setting, Lelio has changed little from the original. Moore stars [...]
Natalia Goncharova review: This exhibition offers a glimpse into a Russia that has long been forgotten June 7, 2019 Natalia Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist who throughout her career was preoccupied with the world of the Russian peasantry. Upon entering this exhibition, you’re presented with the artistic culture of an old, lost world; entrancing tray-paintings (an old folk handicraft), stylised versions of traditional religious prints, a peasant’s dress. Goncharova was a modernist, but [...]
Focus On Bermondsey: The London borough with the Shard in its back yard June 7, 2019 Seventy two households, all belonging to the Count Robert of Mortain, and collectively worth a grand total of 40 pence; this was the value of Bermondsey as recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. Things have changed somewhat since then (Bermondsey wasn’t even an official part of London at the time), but few areas have [...]
Rage 2 review: This post-apocalyptic zombie sequel falls flat despite some tight gunplay May 24, 2019 On the face of it, it’s strange that this game even exists, given that the original Rage, released in 2011, sold poorly and left little cultural impression. After playing this drab, repetitive sequel, I’m still unsure why they decided to bring it back for a second outing. I heard the faint ringing of alarm bells [...]
John Wick 3 review: Keanu Reeves shines in the action franchise’s brilliant third installment May 24, 2019 The John Wick films are so far ahead of other Hollywood action movies that this third installment is the best the genre has produced in recent years, without even being the best film in the franchise. We pick up immediately after the end of Chapter 2, with Wick having been declared ‘excommunicado’ from the High [...]
Aladdin review: Disney fails to justify remaking the classic animation May 24, 2019 The first thing you notice about this $180m live-action reboot of Disney’s beloved 1992 animation is the unexpected poverty of its visuals. The set design has an end-of-year school play vibe, all gaudy colours and plywood walls stuck together with adhesive. It feels more Disneyland than Disney. The widespread scepticism that greeted Guy Ritchie’s installment [...]
Days Gone review: Biker gangs and bounty hunting in Sony’s zombie infested apocalypse May 3, 2019 At times the plot of Days Gone can be difficult to track. You play as Deacon, a hardass biker navigating a zombie-infested open world. For the most part you’re on a quest to find your missing girlfriend Sarah. However, your motorcycle parts are nicked early on (Deacon’s bike functions as the game’s second lead character; [...]
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile review: A well-intentioned but discomforting exercise in glamourising a serial killer May 3, 2019 Is it possible to make a genuine anti-war film? Francois Truffaut famously thought not; you might set out with the purest of intentions, but the spectacle and grandeur of cinema means that even the most ardently anti-war director will end up glorifying what he seeks to condemn. While watching this new biopic of Ted Bundy, [...]
