Reviews
The Model Agency, Channel 4Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Why on earth did I volunteer to review this? I suppose it was because it would show me a world I had little knowledge of and therefore would be able to offer a fresh, objective perspective on. But 15 minutes in and I’m feeling like Malcolm McDowell... Read more... |
Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street, National Portrait GalleryWednesday, 23 February 2011
If you’ve seen pictures of the Ballets Russes, then you’ve seen Hoppé photographs. But then, if you’ve seen any society pictures from the 1920s and 1930s, then you’ve seen Hoppé. And famous writers. In fact, for portrait photography in Britain... Read more... |
Animal KingdomWednesday, 23 February 2011
The animals 17-year-old Josh Cody has to survive are his own criminal family. The Codys are hardly the Corleones. Led by sweetly smiling, grandmotherly matriarch Smurf (Jacki Weaver) as they fume and feud in Melbourne’s suburbs, this motley gang of... Read more... |
Ray LaMontagne, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 23 February 2011
Rock-folkies can sure be snobs. Even though New Hampshire-born Ray LaMontagne is still relatively unknown over here, there are still purists who view his records with suspicion. They feel the voice is just too huge, the sound too commercial. The... Read more... |
Silk, BBC OneTuesday, 22 February 2011
There was a moment in last night’s Silk when a young solicitor turned up late for a trial. He was also an actor, he explained to his client’s counsel, and had to attend an audition. For a Head & Shoulders ad. The USP of Peter Moffat’s... Read more... |
I Don't Believe in Outer Space, The Forsythe Company, Sadler's WellsTuesday, 22 February 2011
An audience favourite has a USP that fills the house as long as they maintain the suspense - with William Forsythe, it’s the quality Diaghilev prized: unpredictability. When he set out in Germany in the 1980s he evolved an extreme classical ballet.... Read more... |
The Deep Blue Sea, West Yorkshire PlayhouseTuesday, 22 February 2011
The clipped Fifties accents raise a smile for the first few minutes, but what’s startling about this new production of Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play is how universal, how timeless the story is. Director Sarah Esdaile wisely decides to play things... Read more... |
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Donmar WarehouseTuesday, 22 February 2011
Just in time to capitalise - is that how that word is spelled? - on awards season, along comes the latest Broadway-to-Britain transplant, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical all about a culture that likes to win, win, WIN! Does... Read more... |
Jan Gossaert’s Renaissance, National GalleryTuesday, 22 February 2011
Jan, or Janin? Gossart, or Gossaert? Or Mabuse? After a mere five centuries, we haven’t settled on a name quite yet (even for this exhibition: at the Metropolitan Museum, the same show spelt it “Gossart”). We don’t know where he was born,... Read more... |
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rattle, Barbican HallTuesday, 22 February 2011
Sir Simon Rattle's clever programming struck again last night, showing us that musical neoclassicism - for want of a better word, which would be something like neo-everything - didn't begin with Stravinsky, whose Apollo ballet is surely his most... Read more... |
Singles & Downloads 10Tuesday, 22 February 2011
This month's Singles & Downloads leads off with a new one from an absolute kingpin of US pop and hip hop. However, the focus is equally on the backwaters and curious places where other lively varieties of music dwell. From dancehall raucousness... Read more... |
Ross Kemp: Extreme World, Sky 1Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Ross Kemp won a Bafta for his documentary about being on the frontline in Afghanistan, so perhaps I should begin by saying all due respect, and all that, but how much can you ratchet up the hardman image before it threatens to dissolve into self-... Read more... |
