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John Huston, Casque d'Or and Peckinpah's last Western
That's it. There is nothing else.Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973) I wrote a piece earlier this week about 10 things I'd learned from reading Paul Seydor's recent book on Pat Garrett...
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REVIEW: An American in Paris at the Dominion Theatre
Wednesday 15 March, 2017 This explosive, intelligent stage version of MGM’s 1951 masterpiece, direct from Broadway, sags now and then in its book, but offers unmissable entertainment of a type rarely...
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Rauschenberg, Moonlight and Simon Pegg's epiphany – Reviews #260
Cultural excursions, 11 March to date. I also have this stupid thing called Choose Your Own Twadventure, which you can take part in here.FILMSCINEMA: Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)– An intensely...
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Ten things I learned about Gas, Food Lodging
The latest in my now-almost-regular series. Recent articles include The Crying Game, Peter Lorre and Lillian Gish.Yes, I do have excellent seats, thank you for noticing. Allison Anders’ 1992 indie has...
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REVIEW: Jens Lekman at Oval Space
Wednesday 29 March Jens Lekman is back and this time it's personal. For me. My little brother's been a fan for years: a decade ago, I got him Lekman's second album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, for...
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Patti Smith, Music for Chameleons, and Ghibli being all weird again –...
Here's a blog I wrote about getting to go behind-the-scenes at Brian Pern: A Tribute, one of this year's televisual triumphs. And here are reviews of the other cultural things I've ingested recently:...
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Ways of looking at America – Reviews #262
Stars and Stripes by Emma Amos (1992) Yesterday it was my birthday. I went to the American Dream exhibition at the British Museum – which looks at modern America through screen printing, the...
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REVIEW: Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre
Saturday 15 April, 2017 (matinee) Andrew Scott's Hamlet is the best I've seen − probing, philosophical, introspective and bitterly witty − and this intimate, innovative, cleanly modern production rises...
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Bette Davis, Shaun the Sheep and the best pun I'll write this year – Reviews...
Your are more than welcome.FILMS Shaun the Sheep Movie (Mark Burton and Richard Starzack, 2015)– This is all rather lovely: a feature-length adventure for Shaun the Sheep that takes out hero to the...
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My 12 best reviews – official
Before I begin, please forgive me for the most appalling self-indulgence. But imagine a callow newcomer, around 1,500 reviews in, rooting through this blog trying to find The Good Stuff. No need!...
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James Baldwin, Absolute Beginners, and Kerouac falling apart – Reviews #'264
Since you've been very good, I've written some reviews for you, taking a look at I Am Not Your Negro, Julien Temple's bizarre, fascinating 1986 musical, a Fassbinder film (he's the subject of a BFI...
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Emily Watson, Fences and Hollywood alienation – Reviews #257
I went to the BAFTAs this week– yes, nice, thank you. Then I pathologically reviewed all of my other cultural endeavours. Here you go:BOOKThe Day of the Locust by Nathanael West (1939)– A nasty,...
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Folk music, The Apartment, and the other Elizabeth Taylor – Reviews #265
Behold such riches as have rarely been seen on Advice to the Lovelorn: one of my favourite 20 movies, two fantastic books, and the amazing psychedelic folk records that one of them has turned me onto....
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REVIEWS: Yasmine Hamdan at Scala; John Grant at Union Chapel
Sometimes my life is really nice.Yasmine Hamdan at ScalaMonday 15 May, 2017 One of the world's most singular, sensual and explosive performers is back in London, turning the sweaty, claustrophobic...
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REVIEW: An evening down the culture wars
The Girls (Phoenix Theatre)Thursday 18 May, 2017 This is so, so Brexit. Gary Barlow’s musical version of Calendar Girls is fine-tuned to within an inch of its life, evoking a world and espousing a...
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REVIEW: Angel Olsen at the Roundhouse
Wednesday 24 May, 2017 I thought the communality and specificity of a gig, coupled with a visit from teary-voiced alt-troubadour Angel Olsen was what we needed to heal the pain, but it all felt amiss....
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Allan Ahlberg, High Fidelity, and a bundle of old things – Reviews #266
Three all-new reviews, and a few I've had lying around since last year.FILM:O.J. "in full Naked Gun mode", as the film so superbly and disgustedly puts itO.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman, 2016)–...
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REVIEW: Seu Jorge at Royal Albert Hall
Tuesday 30 May, 2017‘Intimate, conversational, just about perfect’ – Seu Jorge headlines the Royal Albert Hall with sensational Bowie tribute showBrazilian guitarist Seu Jorge brought his Life Aquatic...
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David Ford + Michele Stodart & JP Ruggieri at Islington Assembly Hall
Friday 2 June, 2017(L-R) JP Ruggieri, David Ford and Michele Stodart. It took seeing David Ford live to turn me into a fan. That was in 2015 when he played a one-man-band show at Soho’s underground...
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Dustin Hoffman, The Black Dahlia, and bent coppers – Reviews #267
... in which I arrive five years late to the Line of Duty party to find that all the bent coppers have already been caught.Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel (2003/2015)− In 2003, former LAPD homicide...
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