America
Seven PsychopathsWednesday, 05 December 2012
There's only one Martin McDonagh as is proven anew by Seven Psychopaths, the latest from the London-born Irish playwright and erstwhile wunderkind who in recent years has transferred his brand of casual and often comic cruelty to the screen.... Read more... |
Michael Jackson: Bad 25, BBC TwoSunday, 02 December 2012
The latter years of Michael Jackson were a sorry saga of debt, lawsuits and sordid allegations about his private life, with the artist seeming an increasingly desperate and isolated figure. Director Spike Lee aims to salvage Jackson's artistic... Read more... |
CD: Starkey - OrbitsWednesday, 28 November 2012
Paul Geissinger, AKA Starkey, is a musicians’ musician who has turned to the gnarly side. Classically trained from an early age in piano, woodwind and later, prophetically, bass guitar, he’s become known, following in fellow Philadelphian Diplo’s... Read more... |
Larry Hagman, 1931-2012Saturday, 24 November 2012
It was the Seventies/Eighties supersoap Dallas which made Larry Hagman a household name, and his portrayal of the amoral, unscrupulous oil baron JR Ewing became a benchmark character in TV history. Hagman's performance also helped to make Dallas one... Read more... |
CD: Alicia Keys - Girl On FireSaturday, 24 November 2012
14 Grammy Awards, over 30 million albums sold, immortalised in song by Bob Dylan. It's hard to believe that Girl On Fire is only Alicia Keys's fifth studio album, such is the extent of her success. The singer-songwriter's previous release, The... Read more... |
DVD: Magic MikeFriday, 23 November 2012
In Magic Mike the Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh turns his camera on the “cock-rocking kings of Tampa”, and the result is one of the most eye-wateringly entertaining and surprisingly stylish movies of the year. With more thrust than a... Read more... |
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2Wednesday, 14 November 2012
The last gasp of the Twilight franchise is really quite good, fugueing on the idea that if vampires live forever, wouldn’t it be great if a vampire fell in love with a human being - and didn’t drink her to death? As irresistible as that seems, there... Read more... |
Elliott Carter RememberedMonday, 12 November 2012
It’s hard to imagine that a composer’s death at the age of 103 could be a loss to music, in the sense of possible future work, as well as a personal loss, which of course death will always be. But Elliott Carter was a unique exception. Not only was... Read more... |
Bon Iver, Wembley ArenaFriday, 09 November 2012
Bon Iver’s eponymous second album is nearly a year-and-a-half old now, so its bigger, richer sound – compared to the homemade sparseness of the debut – is well established. Nevertheless, it was hard not to wonder how any band assembled by Justin... Read more... |
Hotline MiamiFriday, 09 November 2012
There’s a horse, a chicken and an owl in your living room. You don’t know them, but they sure as hell remember you, and they’ve got some questions that need to be answered. Questions about what you did in Miami in 1989.It’s a great setup to a game... Read more... |
Daddy Long Legs, St James TheatreThursday, 08 November 2012
Confession time: I’m a sucker for a romantic reunion. When lost-presumed-dead twins Sebastian and Viola finally rediscover one another alive and well at the end of Twelfth Night, you’ll find me in tears. And, yes, the late, great Nora Ephron’s New... Read more... |
Hatfields & McCoys, Channel 5Thursday, 01 November 2012
This factually-based saga of two feuding families in the woods and mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia might not look too prepossessing on paper, but two episodes in, Hatfields & McCoys is starting to grip like a knotted rope. The... Read more... |
