Blithe Spirit review: Judi Dench leads spooky nostalgia fest January 14, 2021 Welcome to cinema’s New Normal. While big blockbusters are optimistically waiting for us in the spring, the first quarter of the year is strategically filled with independent releases that have adopted a dual release format – in cinemas if we have them, on VOD if not. Produced by Sky, Blithe Spirit (starring Dame Judi Dench) [...]
One Night In Miami – Muhammad Ali fiction shines a powerful light January 14, 2021 Based on the Kemp Powers play of the same name, Amazon’s One Night In Miami, a big hope for the 2021 awards season, is centred on the real life meeting of four African-American icons in the hours after Muhammad Ali’s (Eli Goree) 1964 title victory over Sonny Liston. Instead of partying, Ali met with friends [...]
Save Burns Night with a virtual Boisdale party January 12, 2021 Burns Night is normally a beacon of extravagence in the post Christmas weeks, an island of indulgance amid Dry January and Veganuary and new year fitness resolutions. This year Covid threatens to take even this away – toasting the great Scottish bard alone seems like anathema to the spirit of the occasion, which entails drinking [...]
21 movies to see in 2021: Our bumper guide to the year ahead January 8, 2021 If 2020 had been the plot of a movie, no-one would have believed it. As the pandemic spread its tendrils across the globe, Hollywood’s studios were forced to shut their doors and an entire year’s worth of blockbusters either moved to streaming or were pushed back to 2021. This year the only thing we can [...]
From James Bond to Glastonbury, we rate the chances of this year’s cultural events going ahead January 7, 2021 Last year was a virtual write-off for the cultural calendar, with the year’s most hotly-anticipated events being brushed aside by the ceaseless march of Covid. This year the world seems to be drawing close to a solution to the crisis – but will it come in time to save 2021? Marina Abramovic at the Royal [...]
Vanguard review: Jackie Chan plays the hits January 7, 2021 The current climate is exactly the right moment for a classic action movie, a genre that can provide us with escapism and some vicarious victories at a time when so much seems out of our control. Vanguard would seem to fit the bill – legend Jackie Chan reunites with Stanley Tong, his collaborator on two [...]
Pieces of A Woman review: The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby excels in harrowing drama January 6, 2021 The coming awards season sees a number of challenging subjects covered by contenders – civil rights abuse in Da 5 Bloods, Nomadland’s portrayal of a broken economy, and depictions of dementia in The Father and Supernova. This week’s drama Pieces of A Woman looks at an equally difficult topic, but one not often explored. Vanessa [...]
Nicolas Cage’s The History Of Swear Words is flippin’ average January 6, 2021 First, a warning. As you might have guessed, this review will contain some very adult language. Netflix’s latest series offering seems irresistible. Nicolas Cage, Oscar winning star turned living meme, presents a show about the history of naughty words. In the age of the endless scroll, that’s more than enough to entice most browsers to press [...]
Lockdown board games: Forget Monopoly, here are the real games December 30, 2020 For decades board games lived largely unloved lives, their battered boxes pulled off dusty shelves on rainy days and holidays. But as we approach essentially another national lockdown, many of us will be dusting them off once more. Back in their heyday, board games were designed to be simple, with concepts that could appeal equally [...]
Our top picks of art, film and theatre in 2020 December 30, 2020 It’s been a year of existential crisis for the arts, to the extent you could be forgiven for only remembering the closures and cancellations. But squeezed between 2020’s lockdowns were some excellent moments for the arts. Here are my top picks from the exhibitions, films and shows I managed to attend this year.
