Life&Style

Unwind with City PM's Life&Style section

The Lost Daughter: Maggie Gyllenhaal shows she can direct, too

December 18, 2021

Twenty years on from her breakthrough role in Secretary, star Maggie Gyllenhaal directs and writes her first feature. It seems like a natural progression for the actor, who has largely stuck with independent dramas and interesting blockbusters (The Dark Knight, World Trade Center). The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman as Leda, an academic in her [...]
Trouble in Mind at the National Theatre is a searing portrait of racism

December 18, 2021

Racial tensions reach breaking-point in the National Theatre’s production of Trouble in Mind. It’s the mid-1950s, and race is a hot-button issue in America. Al Manners (Rory Keenan) is a white Hollywood director, suspected of communist sympathies, who is compelled to take a job on Broadway. He intends to direct Chaos in Belleville, a broad [...]
Best of Enemies at the Young Vic: A dense, ambitious political tinderbox

December 17, 2021

James Graham is among the best political playwrights working today, responsible for gems including This House, innovative live-streamed election-night saga The Vote, and the screenplay for the lauded TV drama Brexit: The Uncivil War. His plays are painstakingly researched, probing the innards of political life and finding moments of joy, humour or horror amid the [...]
Spider-Man: No Way Home review – Marvel delivers pure cinematic sugar

December 17, 2021

Logistics aren’t sexy, but throughout Marvel’s latest Spider-Man adventure I was struck time and again not by the antics of the heroes on the screen but the ones in an office in Los Angeles. How many scheduling clashes must have been overcome, how many legal meetings someone must have sat through, in order for this most [...]
Ollie Phillips: It’s all a bit French to me but it’s amazing to watch

December 17, 2021

Sure, Leicester’s win in Bordeaux was impressive and Exeter looked comfortable against Montpellier, but I still don’t see an English team challenging for the Champions Cup. Toulouse put out a strong XV against a makeshift Cardiff and proved they weren’t there to play along with the Welsh region’s fairytale game. Racing 92, meanwhile, absolutely dominated [...]
London Irish hoping Challenge Cup run can keep confidence flowing

December 17, 2021

In recent years the Challenge Cup has been more of a burden than an opportunity for Premiership clubs. This season, however, the removal of relegation allows teams like London Irish to commit more fully to a chance of European silverware – even if they might play it down. “Honestly, I don’t think relegation has anything to [...]
Ashes 2021: Talking points from Test two, day one

December 16, 2021

England didn’t bowl badly at the Adelaide Oval but the tourists were were unable to break through a robust Australian batting order, managing just two wickets on the opening day of the second Ashes Test. Australia, who lead the series 1-0, reached 221-2 at stumps in the day-night match. Here are the talking points. Jossing [...]
Australian Open: Pliskova joins Williams and Andreescu as absentees

December 16, 2021

Two-time Grand Slam finalist Karolina Pliskova will miss the opening major of the season, the Australian Open, after injuring her hand in a training session yesterday. The Czech tennis player joins Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu as absentees from the draw. The world No4 was a semi-finalist in 2019 and will also miss the warm [...]
F1 governing body say controversy damaging image of sport

December 16, 2021

F1’s governing body, the FIA, will conduct an “analysis and clarification exercise” as they admit the fallout following Sunday’s race is “tarnishing the image of the championship”. The body said on Wednesday that outgoing president Jean Todt had proposed further discussions so drivers and teams can have better clarification next season. In the season-ending finale [...]
Gallagher CMO: ‘Let’s get a Premiership Rugby game in Singapore’

December 16, 2021

Premiership Rugby’s main sponsor, the US-headquartered insurer Gallagher, has called for the league to stage matches overseas in locations such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. English club rugby’s top competition has played two regular season games in the US, in 2016 and 2017, but the experiment has not been repeated. “Let’s get a game in [...]