Tag: charm
Boris Johnson charm offensive on Tory MPs was a total success – we are told
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Here’s the thing. You won’t find any sentient being who will tell you anything other than that Boris Johnson was a total disaster during his Commons statement on the Sue Gray report on Monday. Narcissistic, tin-eared,...
Stealing Chaplin review – charm pays in messy crime caper
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At one point in Stealing Chaplin, a sozzled huckster tries to pry open a Union Jack-draped coffin as Land of Hope and Glory rings out on the soundtrack. Maybe this somewhat amateurish but spunky low-budget crime film ...
Time to sashay away? Why Drag Race UK risks losing its cheeky charm
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In recent years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a mainstay of international TV, with outposts from Spain and Australia to Thailand and Canada. The UK version debuted at the end of 2019 to much acclaim, with two more se...
The Cunning Little Vixen review – CBSO’s concert staging has care but misses vital charm
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Much to the dismay of many Symphony Hall regulars, this is Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s last season as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s music director. Though she will remain associated with the orchestra for at ...
Salad Days: the bittersweet musical with an evergreen charm
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My parents took me to Europe for the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 and on the way home to America we stopped in London. As we were staying in a hotel on the Strand, we kept driving past the Vaudeville theatre, where I...
Magdalena Bay: Mercurial World review – poolside pop with seductive charm
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This may be their debut album, but the LA synth-pop duo Magdalena Bay already commandeer their own cinematic universe: Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin are big on TikTok and Twitch; they have alter egos and in-jokes w...
Thalaivii review – if Margaret Thatcher went to the Rank charm school
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The recipient of 2021’s second highest-profile Twitter ban, Kangana Ranaut has channelled her newfound spare time into a biopic of J Jayalalithaa, Tamil cinema sweetheart turned regional political powerhouse. (Think T...
He’s All That review – Netflix’s dull TikTok teen remake lacks charm
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For the majority of people too young to remember the premiere of She’s All That in 1999, the main draw of He’s All That, Netflix’s gender-swapped remake of the teen classic, is its casting of the TikTok star Addison R...
Singin’ in the Rain review – a starry musical charm offensive
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It’s 10 years since Jonathan Church’s stage version of Singin’ in the Rain came to life at Chichester festival theatre, showering the front rows with water during the title number; delighting everyone else with its fa...
Snoh Aalegra: Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies review – inventive R&B with retro charm
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In a fractured, social media-fuelled music landscape, few things are more valuable to an emerging artist than a co-sign from a superstar. That bodes well for Snoh Aalegra, a Swedish-born, LA-based singer with collabor...
Blinken’s charm offensive in Europe highlights a key US concern: China
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has just wrapped up a week-long swing through Europe, while basking in the afterglow of not representing Donald Trump. Along the way Blinken has delivered encouraging, albeit...
Great Yarmouth: mixing Victorian seaside charm with a renewable outlook
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If Brexit gave Britain’s seaside towns a momentary pulse, then Covid might have got them back on the dancefloor. These long-dormant resorts have seemingly risen up, like tacky krakens, ready to swallow the entire UK t...
Be Good or Be Gone review – sharp Dublin crime thriller with deadpan charm
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This ultra-low-budget feature about working-class cousins on temporary release from Dublin’s Mountjoy prison feels a bit like the sort of sketchy, acoustic-sharp Irish black comedy that Lenny Abrahamson (Adam & Pa...
Prince Philip’s charm, wit and sense of duty recalled by world leaders
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Political leaders and royal families around the world have aired recollections of the Duke of Edinburgh and expressed sympathy and support for the Queen following his death. Prince Philip’s many years of service, his ...
Grand National’s enduring charm embodied by stirring Worsley story
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For the first time in two years but the 174th since 1839, a 10-minute steeplechase at Aintree next Saturday will seize the attention of millions around the globe, and for an illustration of why the Grand National rema...