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MOVIE OF THE WEEK: JURASSIC WORLD
Two terrible sequels later, is it a good idea to clone Jurassic Park once again? Yes and no – Jurassic World gets enough right to justify going back to the well, but wears heavily the problems of the CGI-laden modern blockbuster. The park from the original film is up and running now under new management, who create a super-dino to boost visitor numbers. The beast escapes, of course, and runs amok on an island with 20,000 visitors, and it’s down to man-of-the-moment Chris Pratt to sort things out. In the summer of Fury Road, it can feel at times like Pratt is being chased through a Nintendo 64 computer game, but director Colin Trevorrow does stage some memorable action – including one death that, with most others just off-screen, is brutal enough to actually disturb. However, once the theme kicks in, and you see the park in working order, your inner eight-year-old will be more than sated. That said, there’s no Jeff Goldblum cameo – sad emoji. Showing at The Everyman
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Venue: Circle Restaurant, Hippodrome, Hurst Street, B5 4TB; Website
Choice: Pollock fillet, chilli and garlic squid, red lentils Chooser: Sous chef
Six years, five months and eleven days. That's how long its been since we last graced the resolutely purple carpets of the Hippodrome's Circle Restaurant, or indeed any eatery attached to a theatre. It's smile-making, then, that we could comfortably bore you about any of the savoury plates that came out of the kitchen. For its triumphantly light battered chilli garlic squid and crispy, meaty, generous pollock fillet - though - our fish main won out. With eye-poppingly pickled cauliflower and a subtle heat to the lentils, every element of the dish served a purpose. And taken together, we enjoyed a thoughtful and satingly salty plate of food. The pan-fried scallops starter was also excellent and demonstrated the accomplished thwack of skills added to the kitchen since our previous visit. Time to forgive the Circle for any past shortcomings? Hell, yes. Menu here.
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LEARN NEW THINGS.
CLAIM OUR DISCOUNT
It's been longer than we can quite comprehend since we Old Lang Syne-d, and if like us, you're yet to follow through on the obligatory "try something new" limb of your resolutions for 2015, the School of Jewellery at Birmingham City University has a veritable treasure trove of summer courses and taster sessions, starting late June. Pick anything from silversmithing, to computer-aided design, to cuttlefish casting (which - bizarrely - does involve budgie food). Courses start from £175 and if you have no idea what to choose, find an artist to emulate at the School's grad show (June 15 to 19) or derive some inspiration from Emily Richard's intriguing pendant and brooch (pictured). Take a gander at the full summer programme here, then mention us for a 10% discount. We're just nice like that.
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STREET FOOD:
NOW WITH ADDED SEATING
Maybe we're getting old, but as a general rule these days we do prefer to sit down when we eat - even at street food events. That's why we're eyeing up the 200 seats available at this Saturday's Street Banquet, at Lab 11, Digbeth. And if seating doesn't weirdly float your boat like it does us, maybe The Crumble Shack will. The street food dessert doyens are, for the first time, bringing their five crumble options to Brum (put us down for Apple and Cinnamon) as well as their five extra topping options (we'll have chocolate chip) and two toppings on top of toppings options (ours is the salted caramel). The Big Papa's boys will also be in attendance with their deep south soul food, while OMG Hot Dogs are doing British style snags in brioche buns. And did we mention that there'll be more gin than you can shake a juniper tree at? Details.
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