Celebrate Dom Perignon’s 2006 vintage champagne release by joining the Morning Wire wine club and spending an evening tasting the stars October 28, 2015 This month Dom Perignon released its highly-anticipated 2006 vintage. For £455 per case of six in bond, you can enjoy a bottle so good it’s already received 97 points from leading Champagne critic Richard Juhlin. This acclaim puts it on a par with the legendary ‘64, ‘61 and ’49 vintages, and surpasses even the ’96, [...]
The Last Witch Hunter movie review: Vin Diesel plays a sword-swinging sorcery slayer in this fantasy adventure October 22, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a fun bit in The Last Witch Hunter, when the last witch hunter, having just hunted another witch, is surprised to learn that there’s an entire prison full of witches out there somewhere, just waiting to be hunted, by him, the hunter of witches. But what is this place called? [...]
Mississippi Grind, Paper Planes, Listen To Me Marlon movie review round-up – Films in brief October 2015 October 22, 2015 Mississippi Grind | ★★★★☆ This road trip starring Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn follows Jerry, a gambler with serious debts who encounters Curtis (Ryan Reynolds), a drifter who seems to bring good luck to all around him. Jerry convinces his new friend to go on a tour of America’s gambling spots in the hope of winning enough [...]
Spectre film review: a hollow ghost of a Bond movie October 22, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ There’s an old episode of The Simpsons where a Bond parody escapes death using an improbable device. It’s funny because we recognise its ridiculousness, having seen it played out countless times in the classic pre-scowly Daniel Craig days. It’s less funny when it happens in director Sam Mendes’ Spectre; one scene [...]
Jean-Etienne Liotard art review: Has the Royal Academy managed to revive interest in the Swiss-French painter? October 22, 2015 ★★☆☆☆ | Royal Academy Jean-Etienne Liotard was an eccentric chap, by all accounts. The great aristocratic families of Europe thought he was a right laugh, with his eye-catching oriental robes and waist-length beard. They flocked in their hundreds to ask the Swiss-French painter to paint them and Liotard, who was a dab hand at pastel [...]
Plaques and Tangles, Royal Court theatre review: Alzheimer’s play’s intimacy and exceptional acting hit the hardest October 22, 2015 ★★★★☆ | Royal Court Plaques and Tangles, a play about three generations of a family blighted by Alzheimer’s, wears its weighty subject remarkably lightly. It circles with the grace of a featherweight boxer, throwing occasional jabs, ducking and weaving, waiting until your guard is down before hitting home its crushing, terrifically sad finishing blow. It [...]
The 12-week total body transformation workout and exercise plan: week 2 October 19, 2015 What were your goals? I’m like a lot of people: I played sports throughout my early 20s, then I got a proper job in the City and started working late nights and going for after-work drinks. I’d just let myself go, basically. I was eating loads of take away, had got myself a beer belly. [...]
Audi A4 motoring review: From worst car in the class to a class act October 19, 2015 Audi, in recent years, has been in the rather unfortunate position of selling the worst car in its class. It’s long been unable to topple the BMW 3 Series as the best compact premium saloon, of course, but an honourable runner-up slot used to suffice. Then Mercedes-Benz came along with the new C-Class and, one [...]
Azerbaijan’s majestic scenery is refreshingly untouched by global tourism October 19, 2015 ‘Azerbaijan border – Good luck,” read the sign at the Georgian frontier town. I gulped, hoisted my backpack and reached for my passport. Ominous cautions from its neighbours notwithstanding, Azerbaijan is trying to court people like me. It’s not, on the face of it, an easy sell. Human Rights Watch recently noted “Azerbaijan’s government has [...]
Tate Modern exhibition: Turbine Hall’s Empty Lot is too timid for this imposing space October 15, 2015 Tate Modern | ★★☆☆☆ The Turbine hall has its first new installation since Damien Hirst filled the biggest gallery space in the country with a human skull. Abraham Cruzvillegas piece, Empty Lot, is more thoughtful, less immediate and, at least for now, a whole lot uglier. It’s a giant wooden terrace raised on salvaged scaffolding, [...]