Helene Binet at the RA, review: Architectural photography at its finest October 22, 2021 In her first major retrospective, photographer Helene Binet’s work at the Royal Academy offers a fresh look at the lines found in architecture. Over a 35 year career, the internationally acclaimed Swiss-French photographer (b.1959) has captured both historic and contemporary structures, reducing them to their simplest forms. A practitioner of analogue photography, her work focuses [...]
The French Dispatch, review: A playful homage to journalism October 22, 2021 Twenty five years and ten films since his feature debut, Wes Anderson can be considered one of the few remaining superstar directors. Like Nolan, Tarantino, The Coens, and (Paul Thomas) Anderson, he exists outside of the studio franchise churn, making films in which he is the primary selling point. It’s likely many fans will forgo [...]
Dear Evan Hansen, Review: A crushing failure October 22, 2021 Big West End and Broadway shows often take a while to get big screen adaptations, partly because producers are reluctant to offer a home alternative to what they hope you’ll pay a lot of money to see live. Also, because when it goes wrong, it goes really, really wrong. Before December 2019, Cats was a [...]
Halloween Kills, review: More silly than scary October 18, 2021 Michael Myers is the perfect frontman for the Halloween franchise: an ageing but unstoppable juggernaut, pulling the same old tricks from all the way back in 1978 to an increasingly bemused audience. It’s no wonder director David Gordon Green wanted to try something new when he took over with 2018’s franchise reboot. Alas the curse [...]
Ron’s Gone Wrong, review: A family film with a tech twist October 18, 2021 It’s a sign of the times that an increasing number of family films are focusing on technology. The Jumanji movies moved from a boardgame to a video game console; Space Jam’s villain was a rogue AI; and one of the best family movies of this year, The Mitchells Vs The Machines, had our reliance on [...]
Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Review October 18, 2021 Despite being a patchy mess, 2018’s Venom rose to surprise box office success thanks to a charming star in Tom Hardy, and an audience that was growing weary of sombre superheroes (Aquaman succeeded in the same year for similar reasons). A sequel was inevitable, but has it done enough to flesh out the cult anti-hero? [...]
The Velvet Underground: An enjoyable rockumentary October 18, 2021 It’s becoming something of a rite of passage for successful directors to make documentaries about their favourite bands. Ron Howard covered The Beatles (with Peter Jackson’s Get Back series on the way), Shane Meadows explored The Stone Roses, and this year Edgar Wright shared his love for Sparks. This week director Todd Haynes (Carol, Dark [...]
White Noise, Bridge Theatre review: A provocative take on racism in America October 15, 2021 White Noise, Suzan-Lori Parks’ explosive play on race in twenty-first century America, is as much about the problem of silence in the face of injustice as it is about performative solidarity. The play centres on four thirty-somethings: Leo (Ken Nwosu), a black artist, his white lawyer girlfriend Dawn (Helena Wilson), and their old college friends, [...]
Shatner hits back at Prince William’s space travel criticism October 15, 2021 William Shatner has shot down Prince William’s criticism of space travel. He believes the royal is missing the point”. The former Star Trek actor told Entertainment Tonight that Prince William was a “lovely, gentle, educated man” but that he has the “wrong idea” about going to space. Shatner argues that space travel is the first [...]
Theaster Gates at Whitechapel Gallery review October 14, 2021 Fenchurch Street is currently a mess of diggers and drills, creating the perfect backdrop for a sculpture exhibition that begins with bricks. Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates explores the historical significance of clay and clay artefacts, using them as a way of understanding racial identity in an urban setting. Sculpture, installation and film all feature in [...]