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 [...]
Find your new home by the riverside at Leaside Lock, East London’s newest neighbourhood October 18, 2021 | Sponsored A new collection of contemporary studios, 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments in Bromley-by-Bow is launching 13th November, available with the London Help to Buy: Equity Loan* scheme on selected plots. As the prices in nearby Bow, Hackney Wick, Bethnal Green and London Fields have dramatically risen in recent years, many first-time buyers are finding [...]
Travel Special: Pandemic leaves islanders on isolated Mauritius ‘fighting to work’ October 18, 2021 Tourism industry workers in Mauritius have urged UK holidaymakers to return to the island after being left “fighting” for jobs due to the worldwide pandemic. The Indian Ocean island allowed travellers to return on October 1, with many islanders describing the tourism industry as “essential” for them to survive. The country still enforces the wearing [...]
Skiing in Uzbekistan, the cold heart of the Silk Road October 16, 2021 I remembered the loudness of a helicopter, its blades beating the air like an incensed dragon. What I hadn’t realised, though, is that when a helicopter lands on deep snow, the force creates a blast of ice and powder which rips through your clothing and stings any inch of exposed skin. It goes on and [...]
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, [...]
A new exhibition examines life on the streets October 15, 2021 What really happened to the homeless during the pandemic? We see people living on the streets as part of our daily lives, but what do we really know about the reality of surviving without a place to call home, especially during a pandemic? For 11 days from October 27, a new immersive show, the Secret [...]
Focus On: Peckham – A creative hub full of bars and restaurants October 15, 2021 A hotbed for creative professionals and an innovative cultural hub, South London’s Peckham offers stylish modern living with exceptional transport links and some of London’s hippest bars and restaurants. During the 1960s, Peckham underwent significant redevelopment, followed by additional regeneration programmes over subsequent decades, which have allowed the area to maintain its sense of community [...]