Reviews
The Accident, Series Finale, Channel 4 review - ambitious mini-series leaves many unanswered questions
Friday, 15 November 2019
Channel 4’s The Accident closed with a bang and a whimper. Jack Thorne provided a definitive answer to his series’ central question, but his characters and subplots petered out in the meantime.
Touching the Void, Duke of York's Theatre review - not quite high enough
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Theatre can touch thousands of lives. But can it compete with the success of a bestselling book? First published in 1988, mountaineer Joe Simpson's Touching the Void has apparently sold more than a million copies, and it's been translated into some 20 languages. It tells the adventure story of how he, and Simon Yates, climbed the Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Britain’s Lost Masterpieces, Episode Three, BBC...
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Once again the whodunit becomes the whoforgedit in the newest installment of the Britain’s Lost Masterpieces series. Host and art historian Bendor...
Wegener, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review – on the...
Thursday, 14 November 2019
For better or worse, because of Visconti’s classic film the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony now inevitably means Venice in its gloomiest moods....
Marriage Story review - superior weepie
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Forty years after the classic, multi-Oscar winning Kramer v Kramer comes another divorce drama involving two young Americans and a son...
Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre review - a lavish but old-fashioned revival
Everyone's favourite nanny returns, again |
Last Christmas review - for the stocking, not the tree
No longer mothering dragons, Emilia Clarke comes back down to Earth as an elf |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 54: The Beatles, Prince, Kid Acne, Nirvana, Teebs, Monty Python, Pulp and more
Vast acres of new records reviewed in detail |
Gold Digger, BBC One review - Julia Ormond tackles those mid-life blues
Marnie Dickens's family drama asks if life can begin again at 60 |
ECO, Zacharias, Fairfield Halls Croydon review - green-fingered Haydn
The lights are back on and burning cheerfully at south London’s new/old orchestral venue |
Le Mans '66 review - nicely revved up
Matt Damon and Christian Bale are an entertaining double act at the centre of a real-life motor-racing drama |
Pavlů, Prague SO, Inkinen, Cadogan Hall review - exhilarating but uneven Mahler Third
Czech band brings excitement and colour, but their dizzy climaxes overwhelm |
Ant Middleton and Liam Payne: Straight Talking, Sky 1 review - when the commando met the pop star
Manly true confessions under African skies |
Vampire Weekend, O2 Academy, Birmingham review – clean-cut Americans fail to ignite
Ezra Koenig’s crew paint the town beige |
Roméo et Juliette, LSO, Tilson Thomas, Barbican review - surprisingly sober take on Berlioz epic
'MTT' celebrates his 50th anniversary with a top orchestra, but the panache has gone |
World on Fire, BBC One, series finale review - may this fine war drama fight on
Peter Bowker's ambitious series ended on a cliffhanger, with viewers waiting to learn its fate |
Williams, LPO, Alsop, RFH review - sleek lines and pastoral tones
Power and precision in all-British programme, but the music retains its poetry |
Jack Dee, Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage review - now he really is a grumpy old man
Observational comic has grown into his stage persona |
Arena: Everything is Connected - George Eliot's Life, BBC Four review - innovative film brings the Victorian novelist into the present
Artist Gillian Wearing captures Eliot’s life and legacy through the voices of the common man (and woman) |
Caroline Moorehead: A House in the Mountains review – the women's war against Fascism
Uplifting, and horrifying, stories of the Italian Resistance and its heroines |
Irenosen Okojie: Nudibranch review - twisted and funny
A bold and inventive collection of short stories nourished on the darkest of thoughts |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Yesterday Has Gone - The Songs of Teddy Randazzo
Recognition for the bold American musical stylist |
Tim Minchin, Eventim Apollo review - fabulous triumph of rhyme and reason
Age has not withered the ginger Ninja comic, but there is an intruiging new tone |
Ólafur Arnalds presents OPIA, Southbank Centre review - many strange delights
Mini festival produces strange delights – and a tree for all |
Wallfisch, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - Weinberg UK premiere
Subtlety and haunting qualities in a little gem for solo cello and string orchestra |
Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh, Saatchi Gallery review - worth its weight?
Blockbuster artefacts in show that cares more about visitor numbers than visitor experience |
Meeting Gorbachev review - Werner Herzog offers a swansong tribute
Engaging documentary portrait becomes a moving meditation on history |
The Good Liar review - the grey pound dipped in acid
McKellen and Mirren play dark conman games in an uncompromising thriller |
Midway review - gung-ho heroes battle moribund script
Roland Emmerich spent decades getting this film made, but why? |
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latest in today
The Accident, Series Finale, Channel 4 review - ambitious mi...
Channel 4’s The Accident closed with a bang and a...
Touching the Void, Duke of York's Theatre review - not...
Theatre can touch thousands of lives. But can it compete with the success of a bestselling book? First published in 1988, mountaineer Joe Simpson'...
Britain’s Lost Masterpieces, Episode Three, BBC Four review...
Once again the whodunit becomes the whoforgedit in the newest installment of the Britain’s Lost Masterpieces series. Host and...
Wegener, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review – on the revolutionary ro...
For better or worse, because of Visconti’s classic film the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony now inevitably means Venice in its gloomiest...
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It’s been 15 years since Cameron Mackintosh’s stage musical...
Last Christmas review - for the stocking, not the tree
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Of 2019’s pop culture phenomena, the critical reappraisal of Céline Dion as an international treasure is one of the...
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