America
You Were Never Really Here review - a wild ride to the dark sideThursday, 08 March 2018
The gripping paradox of Lynne Ramsay’s terse, brutal thriller is suggested in its title. Adapted from Jonathan Ames's novella, it’s a film distinguished by the force of its images and the compression of its narrative, and while its impact leaves you... Read more... |
Summer and Smoke, Almeida Theatre - exquisite renaissance of Tennessee Williams's neglected playThursday, 08 March 2018
That this 1948 Tennessee Williams play is rarely performed seems nothing short of a travesty, thanks to the awe-inspiring case made for it by Rebecca Frecknall’s exquisite Almeida production. Aided by the skyrocketing Patsy Ferran, it also makes a... Read more... |
The Best Man, Playhouse Theatre review - Gore Vidal’s plodding presidential dramaWednesday, 07 March 2018
Is it possible to get too much of American politics? With Donald Trump’s daily tweets invading our digital space, a new Kevin-Spacey-free House of Cards on the, well, cards, and new films set in Watergate times, it might be that few will have any... Read more... |
CD: Ministry - AmeriKKKantTuesday, 06 March 2018
Al Jourgensen is pissed off with Donald Trump. Really pissed off. So pissed off that he’s dragged the latest incarnation of mighty industrial metal originators Ministry back into the studio for the first time since 2012’s Relapse to produce an album... Read more... |
CD: David Byrne - American UtopiaSaturday, 03 March 2018
Believe it or not, it’s been 14 years since the one-time Talking Heads frontman’s last solo album proper. Perhaps it doesn’t feel like that because his interim collaboration projects always sound so very David Byrne. Even when he took equal billing... Read more... |
Another Kind of Life, Barbican review - intense encounters with marginal livesFriday, 02 March 2018
“I start out as an outsider, usually photographing other outsiders, and then at some point I step over a line and become an insider,” wrote American photographer Bruce Davidson. “I don’t do detached observation.” A large number of the images in... Read more... |
Game Night review - Rachel McAdams is bliss in bonkers comedy thrillerThursday, 01 March 2018
Fake news takes on new meaning in the largely gonzo Game Night, which leaves spectators wondering moment-to-moment whether what they are watching is reality or part of a continually unfolding game. Telling of a gathering of six whose game night... Read more... |
Harold and Maude, Charing Cross Theatre review - Sheila Hancock serene in thin productionWednesday, 28 February 2018
The practice of mining the rich seam of popular movies to turn them into stage plays or musicals seemingly never grows tired in theatreland. And sometimes it produces a gem but all too often it’s just a cynical ploy to attract ticket sales by piggy-... Read more... |
Ursula K Le Guin - Dreams Must Explain Themselves review - enraging and enlighteningSunday, 25 February 2018
Essay collections are happily mainstream now, from Zadie Smith to Oliver Sacks, with more and more bits and bobs coming from unexpected quarters. These patchwork quilts from remarkable writers can be significant, nowhere more so than with those from... Read more... |
CD: Joan Baez - Whistle Down the WindSaturday, 24 February 2018
Sixty years after her debut at Club 47, Harvard Square, Joan Baez this year bows out of formal touring and recording with an album every bit as remarkable as her 1960 debut, preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry.... Read more... |
I, Tonya review - Margot Robbie shines in over-complicated oddityThursday, 22 February 2018
Tonya Harding and the kneecapping of Nancy Kerrigan – what a story it was, back in 1994. Even if you knew nothing about figure skating, you followed the tale of Tonya, the red-neck, white-trash Olympic hopeful from Oregon, her more elegant rival... Read more... |
DVD: Beach RatsWednesday, 21 February 2018
Beach Rats is a film that has “indie” etched in its bones. The second feature from Brooklyn-born Eliza Hittman, it was made with support from New York's independent outfit Cinereach, and went through development at the Sundance Labs. Appropriately,... Read more... |
