Film review: The Look of Silence June 12, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★★ In Joshua Oppenheimer’s acclaimed 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, genocidal amateur dramatics played out against paradisal Indonesian landscape in a spectacle so bizarre and disturbing it felt instantly classic. In that film, ageing, unrepentant perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide re-enacted their murders in the style of their favourite [...]
Theatre review: Oresteia June 12, 2015 Almeida Theatre | ★★★★★ It may be undergoing a revival in London, but Greek tragedy is not an easy fit with the contemporary stage. Traditionalist directors risk creating something either staidly academic or bathetically hysteric, while would-be revolutionaries can dilute the sources’ inherent power. Robert Icke’s new Oresteia at the Almeida, which he has [...]
Secret Cinema Presents Star Wars will have you grinning in awe June 12, 2015 Secret location in London | ★★★★☆ Secret Cinema returns with its most ambitious project yet, and it’s out of this world. Reviewing Secret Cinema without giving away its… well, secrets, is tricky. Suffice to say you will explore a number of instantly recognisable locales from the Star Wars universe, each rendered in painstaking detail, [...]
Film review: Jurassic World is a blast from the past June 11, 2015 Cert 12 | ★★★★☆ Devil-may-care action hero? Check. Uptight career woman? Yup. Evil corporation? Obviously. Science gone wrong? Kids in peril? Emotional family drama? Check, check, and check. Jurassic World is a relentless succession of clichés – but, damn, it’s a lot of fun. After two relatively disappointing sequels, this is a pulpy, [...]
Something for the weekend June 11, 2015 DRINK! BROWN’S HOTEL This weekend, slip on your best suit and saunter down to the Donovan Bar at Brown’s Hotel to sample one of London’s best cocktail menus, including the Smoking Mary, a bloody mary with actual bacon and a Haribo fried egg. Call 0207 493 6020 to make a reservation WATCH! BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S [...]
Restaurant review: Can the cooking match the hype at Berber & Q? June 9, 2015 This review almost never was. I tried and failed twice to get into Berber & Q, the hippest Moroccan (ish) restaurant in town. The first attempt was on a Sunday evening when I happened to be drinking down the nearby Regent’s canal and thought I’d try my luck. You can hear Berber & Q before [...]
Wine is the perfect liquid asset: You can always drink your portfolio June 9, 2015 Building a wine collection, whether for investment or consumption – or a blend of both – can seem a daunting task to those just beginning to appreciate and drink fine wines. However, if approached the same way one would structure a portfolio of assets, it becomes a very familiar exercise to those in the financial [...]
Mix it up: Breathe new life into your G&T with these artisan gins June 9, 2015 Familiarity can breed contempt. Prior to the recent resurgence, such was the state of Britain’s relationship with the gin and tonic. The fire had gone out: it had become a cocktail of convenience. It wasn’t always thus. Like all good love stories, British affection for the G&T was born in battle. It was a [...]
Working lunch in the City: Darwin Brasserie, Walkie-Talkie Sky Garden June 9, 2015 Our guide to the best places to eat during office hours in the City. WHAT? In the Sky Garden at the top of the Walkie-Talkie there’s a café, a fine-dining restaurant and this: a mid-to-high end eatery selling all the things we’ve come to expect from places with the word “brasserie” in the name: [...]
Car review: The Mini John Cooper Works is a new classic of the hot hatch genre June 8, 2015 The daddy of all hot hatchbacks is the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Introduced in 1976, Volkswagen shoehorned a 1.6-litre engine into its popular family hatch and boasted of its 110mph top speed. It’s a shame, then, that today the Volkswagen Golf GTI is such a lardy number. Sure, it’s fast – and you can buy [...]