Reviews
Patrias, Paco Peña Flamenco Company, Edinburgh PlayhouseThursday, 28 August 2014
Dance as an art form doesn’t have a great track record in social and historical commentary. The endless grey areas, not to mention the complicated details, of history really require words to do them justice. Flamenco, of course, has words, but it’s... Read more... |
Million Dollar ArmThursday, 28 August 2014
Disney's latest is a film which must have itself represented a hell of a pitch. Based on a true story, it's basically Slumdog Millionaire meets Jerry Maguire - two films that attracted ample awards-interest and that prompted cascades of cash, like... Read more... |
Steen Raskopoulos, Soho TheatreThursday, 28 August 2014
Steen Raskopoulos has hit the ground running with his debut show; it was nominated for a Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award (best newcomer) at the Fringe earlier this month, after he won Sydney Comedy Festival 2013 and Melbourne International Comedy... Read more... |
The Grand SeductionThursday, 28 August 2014
Taylor Kitsch’s doomed film career continues with this trite but good natured Canadian mash-up of Doc Hollywood and Waking Ned. Just like in major box office failure John Carter, Kitsch finds himself dumped in a foreign, mysterious land but... Read more... |
Prom 53: Brahms Symphonies, Budapest Festival Orchestra, FischerWednesday, 27 August 2014
About 10 minutes into the Brahms Third Symphony I wanted to check a name in the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s programme. I dared to turn a page. Bad idea. Such preternatural stillness had settled over the sold-out Royal Albert Hall that the gesture... Read more... |
Worst Place To Be A Pilot, Channel 4Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Since Big Brother, Channel 4 has become expert at selecting naively self-promoting members of the public, and rubbing their unsuspecting apple cheeks into choice and unsavoury anatomical and psychological corners, for general public amusement. The... Read more... |
Guglielmo Tell, Teatro Regio Torino, Noseda, Usher Hall, EdinburghWednesday, 27 August 2014
First, confessions. I’m the dance critic here at theartsdesk. Yes, this is a review of a concert performance of an opera, and no, I haven’t picked up a detailed knowledge of Rossini’s oeuvre as a byproduct of my education in pirouettes and Pina... Read more... |
Mystery RoadWednesday, 27 August 2014
Returning to the small town you grew up in after a spell in the big city can often be problematic. Old friends now think you’re a big shot. The familiar is seen in a new light, and not necessarily a good one. There’s a sense that the ties which have... Read more... |
Prom 52: Budapest Festival Orchestra, FischerTuesday, 26 August 2014
The first of this year's two Proms by the Budapest Festival Orchestra had looked like a rather strange confection, on paper at least. With eleven scheduled contributions, and only two of them destined to make it into double figures, its timings had... Read more... |
Sin City: A Dame to Kill ForTuesday, 26 August 2014
There’s no rest for the wicked and corrupt in Frank Miller’s sequel to Sin City which sees him team up once again with Robert Rodriguez. A series of uninspired but visually alluring vignettes play out demanding you to question what came before and... Read more... |
John Kearns/ Alex Edelman/ This Is CeilidhTuesday, 26 August 2014
John Kearns: Shtick, Voodoo Rooms ****London comic John Kearns made history at the weekend, when he became the first comic to win the main prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards after winning best newcomer gong, which he did last year That's some... Read more... |
Al Murray's Great British War Films, BBC FourTuesday, 26 August 2014
Fifty-seven minutes into this hour-long programme entitled "Al Murray’s Great British War Films", our host put panellist Dan Snow on the spot and asked him to name his favourite war film. “Does it have to be British?” Snow wondered. For a second it... Read more... |
