America
The Bridges of Madison County, Menier Chocolate Factory review - Iowan romance fizzlesWednesday, 24 July 2019
Robert James Waller’s bestselling, though critically panned, 1992 romance novel was reincarnated in the Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep-starring film, and then again in Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s Tony-winning 2013 musical – both... Read more... |
The Day We Walked on the Moon, ITV review - it was 50 years ago to the dayWednesday, 17 July 2019
It was on 16 July 1969 that Apollo 11 lifted off from Florida en route for the Moon, and exactly 50 years later, as we nervously anticipate the dawn of commercial flights into space, the event resonates louder than ever. Here, Professor Brian Cox... Read more... |
The Brink review – behind the scenes with Steve BannonSaturday, 13 July 2019
Donald Trump’s former strategist, alt-right propagandist and all-round provocateur Steve Bannon comes under the spotlight of a smart, dynamic, behind-closed-doors documentary, as he attempts to turn his brand of far-right populism into a global... Read more... |
The Dead Don't Die review - return of the zom-comThursday, 11 July 2019
Deadpan humour is given new meaning in Jim Jarmusch’s 13th film, a zombie comedy animated by his typical oddball style. Jarmusch has assembled a grand cast comprising recent collaborators Adam Driver and Bill Murray, long-term musician pals Tom... Read more... |
Annabelle Comes Home review - devil doll plays niceThursday, 11 July 2019
Annabelle, the demonically-possessed doll now making its third appearance, makes its intentions clear pretty early here. Scarred by earlier misadventures so no sane child would want it, and sitting balefully in the back car-seat of married... Read more... |
8 Days: To the Moon and Back, BBC Two review - intimate peek at life in lunar capsuleThursday, 11 July 2019
The Apollo 11 mission remains the most celebrated journey humanity has ever made. It produced some of our most iconic images, as well as the greatest speech gaffe, and a documentary of epic scale could be made that focused solely on the influence it... Read more... |
Ministry, O2 Institute, Birmingham review – a different 4th July from Uncle AlSaturday, 06 July 2019
There can’t be many bands who have been around (on and off) for almost 40 years and who choose to play the whole of their latest album as their live set. That kind of thing is more often reserved for 10- or 20-year anniversary tours. No one could... Read more... |
Support the Girls review - working class dramedy misses edgeSaturday, 29 June 2019
A rambling portrait of 24 hours in the life of Double Whammies, an American sports bar where the waitresses entertain their TV-watching patrons by dressing in skimpy tops and tiny shorts. Apparently this is categorised as a ‘breastaurant’ (my... Read more... |
On Your Feet!, London Coliseum review - Gloria Estefan bio-musical hits familiar notesFriday, 28 June 2019
This well-meaning biographical jukebox musical about icons Gloria and Emilio Estefan, which did two years on Broadway and a US tour, is good summer scheduling, what with its Latin-pop bangers, infectious dance routines and “Dreams come true”... Read more... |
Apollo 11 review - an awe-inspiring leapWednesday, 26 June 2019
How could this story be told again? Director Todd Douglas Miller has found a way: strip away narrative and give the audience the purity of original record. The result is a gripping non-fiction experience that sits in a unique space between... Read more... |
Blu-ray: For All MankindTuesday, 25 June 2019
Al Reinert's For All Mankind isn't quite what it seems. In a famous 1962 speech, President Kennedy spoke of the knowledge to be gained and the new rights to be won on the moon to be "for all people", though the plaque left on the lunar surface by... Read more... |
Ocean Vuong: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous review – the new avant-gardeSunday, 23 June 2019
Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is written as a letter to his mother, who cannot read. She cannot read because, when she was five, her schoolhouse was burnt to the ground in an American napalm raid. “Our mother tongue, then,” writes Vuong, is the “mark of... Read more... |
