Dark Waters review: Mark Ruffalo’s Virginia lawyer takes on Teflon in this gripping thriller February 27, 2020 Dark Waters is a frustrating watch. Todd Haynes’ gripping thriller tells the true story of a Virginia lawyer taking on the powerful manufacturers of Teflon, who over the course of several decades dumped vast quantities of a dangerous chemical into rivers and landfill, poisoning an entire town with the toxic byproduct of producing non-stick frying [...]
Lair of the Clockwork God review: Point-and-click meets platforming in this genre-melding comedy adventure February 27, 2020 You might think that Lair of the Clockwork God, a game that’s one half classic point-and-click adventure, and the other half a modern indie darling platformer, would tend to pull the player in two painfully opposing directions. These are seemingly irreconcilable genres of the past and present, a square peg and a round peg, violently [...]
Is the flip-phone making a comeback? February 27, 2020 Cancelled due to coronavirus fears, Mobile World Conference was scheduled to be taking place in Barcelona this week. But despite the cancellation of the conference itself, the event continues to be the industry’s leading stage for product announcements online, with manufacturers who had been primed to reveal new devices instead turning to livestreams and remote [...]
Call of the Wild review: A heartwarming trek through the uncanny valley February 20, 2020 Throughout his acting career, Harrison Ford has built a reputation for acting alongside large hairy things, whether they be a Wookiee copilot or Sean Connery at peak beard. Now the man stars alongside Buck, a sled dog made not of flesh and bone but a veil of polygons, generated by powerful graphics processors and wrapped [...]
The best smart home devices of 2020: Here’s how to transform your house with the very best in connected tech February 19, 2020 No longer the preserve of gadget geeks, the tech-powered home of the future is finally going mainstream. If you’re ready to get on board, here’s our pick of the best devices in every class to upgrade your dumb house to a smart home. Best smart display: Google Nest Hub Max Once your house is heaving [...]
Sonic the Hedgehog review: Everyone’s second favourite videogame mascot’s gotta go faster than this February 14, 2020 There’s a point about halfway through the Sonic the Hedgehog movie in which Sonic farts unexpectedly, forcing the viewer to reckon with the notion that he has a functioning anus. I’m no prude – farts are one of the most sophisticated forms of humour there is – but being made to conceptualise the sphincter of [...]
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra impressions: A groundbreaking camera with a 100x zoom lens February 12, 2020 Cameras have long been the battleground on which top phones have proven themselves. Just look at how the advertising has evolved over the years: televisions and billboards are now plastered with video and photographs shot on Apple, Google and Samsung phones. The physical devices themselves? Almost an afterthought by comparison. Where manufacturers once fought to [...]
Underwater review: Kristen Stewart’s wet monster movie is part Alien-homage, part environmental warning February 7, 2020 In her latest attempt to escape the fading shadow of the Twilight franchise, Kristen Stewart heads to the one place vampires fear to tread: the bottom of the ocean. In subnautical science-fiction horror Underwater, she plays a mechanical engineer aboard an imperilled deep sea drilling station, tasked with rescuing herself and her dwindling crewmates after [...]
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood review: Tom Hanks’ portrayal of a beloved kids TV star is profoundly sweet January 30, 2020 Beloved children’s television host Fred “Mister” Rogers is almost entirely unheard of outside the United States, but to a generation of Americans he inspires more heartfelt nostalgia than Neil Buchanan, Dave Benson Phillips and both of the Chuckle Brothers rolled into one. His genial style of education was an eddy of peace and civility in [...]
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review: A design-led and high-performance two-in-one powerhouse January 30, 2020 Since the original Surface Pro launched in 2013, Microsoft’s range of tablets have offered a value proposition most business users have found hard to resist: the form factor of an iPad, but with the functionality of a Windows PC. Some mistakes were made along the way, namely a few tablets running compromised, Frankenstein versions of [...]