Saturday Review - 07/11/2009

Tom Sutcliffe and guests review The Men Who Stare At Goats, which stars George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges and is based on a factual account by journalist Jon Ronson of the American military experiments in mind control known as 'psych-ops'. In this satirical screwball comedy soldiers try to walk through walls and stare at goats in order to kill them. Philip Roth's 30th novel, and 10th since he turned 60, is also out and tells the story of Simon Axler, a world-class actor who can no longer act. Is Roth a world-class writer still capable of writing a world-class novel? The Misfits is the new drama from E4; it follows a group of teenagers who are doing community service when they get struck by lightning and are bestowed with supernatural powers. Subverting the idea of the superhero while commenting on the demonization of youth, are The Misfits the A Team of the 21st century? 'Radical' and 'edgy' are words used to describe Green Ginger, and their touring show Rust continues their reputation. Opening at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington, hot on the heels of the London Puppetry Festival, Rust is a fast-moving story of piracy, passion and vinyl. Grotesque puppets, animated sets and shiploads of absurd humour are welded into a dark comic-book vision of low life on the high seas. The Ashmoleon Museum in Oxford is the oldest museum in Europe, and is re-opening after a 61-million pound makeover. The new building, designed by Rick Mather, fits seamlessly with the 1845 Charles Cockerell original museum, adding 39 new galleries and 100,000 feet of floor space, while being invisible from the street.