theartsdesk in Thessaloniki: Moving Pictures in the Cradle of Austerity

THEARTSDESK IN THESSALONIKI: MOVING PICTURES IN THE CRADLE OF AUSTERITY The 53rd International Film Festival underlines Greek tenacity in a time of crisis

The 53rd International Film Festival underlines Greek tenacity in a time of crisis

Greece is in economic meltdown. Austerity is hitting most of the population very hard. Businesses are closing down. The amount of homeless has increased. There are strikes and huge anti-government demonstrations throughout the country. What better time to hold a huge film festival?

You Can Still Make a Killing, Southwark Playhouse

An entertaining portrait of rancid morality in the City of London

Banking and the financial world may have gone into free-fall, but there are still killings to be made. Particularly personal ones. Nicholas Pierpan’s You Can Still Make a Killing is a morality tale for our time, a revenge tragedy without corpses, except for reputations. And, in the City, reputation – or rather perception - is everything.

Bush Bazaar, Bush Theatre

BUSH BAZAAR, BUSH THEATRE Twenty shows exploring value vie for attention in an inventive but unsatisfying work

Twenty shows exploring value vie for attention in an inventive but unsatisfying work

The curators encourage you to come to Bush Bazaar with an open mind to explore the value of theatre. But I found this cluttered evening a lesson in the value of saying no. Twenty companies – 100 emerging artists in all – have taken over the building to sell their wares, including a dinner party, a cleansing treatment and one to one with Justin Bieber (hard to resist). After paying £10 to get in, you decide what to see and how much more to pay the artists. Sometimes before their show.

Contraband

CONTRABAND: This New Orleans smuggling yarn fails to burnish Mark Wahlberg's reputation

New Orleans smuggling yarn fails to burnish Mark Wahlberg's reputation

I always used to avoid any film that had Mark Wahlberg in it, because he seemed to have the acting skills of a park bench. Then I saw The Departed - because you have to see Marty's movies - and thought he was brilliant as the astonishingly foul-mouthed Sergeant Dignam. Now I've seen Contraband and regrettably, it may be time to revert to Plan A.

Inside Men, BBC One

INSIDE MEN, BBC ONE: A compelling opening episode of the BBC's heist drama with a twist

Compelling opening episode of the BBC's heist drama with a twist

It certainly started with a bang. The whirlwind opening sequence of the BBC's new four-part drama depicted a cash depot heist by a masked gang unfolding in something close to real time, and thrummed with blood and nervous tension. Security guard Chris was shot in the leg. His boss, John Coniston, was roughed up. Back at home, his family were being held hostage at gunpoint. Both men, it transpired, were in on the job, while warehouse worker Marcus was one of the armed gang. Inside Men, clearly, was going to be why- rather than a whodunnit.

Put your daughter down a mine, Mrs Worthington, say new earnings stats

2011 official statistics reveal arts are still almost at bottom of earnings pile

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington, put her down a mine. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics for weekly earnings to 2011 paint a stark earnings picture for those working in the arts and entertainment industry. The weekly average earnings for last year in this most life-enhancing of sectors is just £320 - while the average weekly in the “Mining and Quarrying” industry is a whopping £1,082, including substantial monthly bonuses.

Margin Call

MARGIN CALL: JC Chandor's debut feature is a chilling portrait of the financial food chain at work

JC Chandor's debut feature is a chilling portrait of the financial food chain at work

Margin Call, a smart, taut and brutally frank portrait of the money game, asks a lot of its audience. A movie about traders as, if not quite good guys, then at least rounded guys? It’s not a trick Oliver Stone ever managed to pull off, and he tried twice. Refusing to deal in the Hollywood placebos of idealism and redemption, this is not a product that the big studios would have gone anywhere near.

Opinion: Oligarchs and oiligarchs have made art a luxury

OLIGARCHS & OILIGARCHS: In 2011 artworks became playthings for the rich, says Sarah Kent

 

In 2011 artworks became playthings for the rich

For me, 2011 will go down as the year in which the fact that artworks have become luxury goods – playthings for the rich – could no longer be ignored. In response Damien Hirst, one of the first artists to turn himself into a brand, is sprinkling the globe with spot paintings (pictured below left). In January, 300 of the 1,400 produced so far will be shown across the world in all 11 Gagosian galleries, from New York to California, London, Rome, Paris, Athens and Hong Kong. 

Beauty and the Beast, Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

Revamped classic has a sprinkling of gold dust but precious little magic

This year's seasonal production from the Lyceum is one of those shows that feels more like an uninspired stocking filler than a big, beautiful, beribboned gift. Neither magically Christmassy (it begins on Halloween, and the only substance falling from the heavens is gold dust), nor a gung-ho pantomime (though some slightly stilted call-and-response mischief creeps through the cracks in the fourth wall), in the end it seems content simply to entertain rather than enthral.

Dragons' Den, BBC Two

New Dragon Hilary Devey fights her corner in the Den

Meet the new Dragon, slightly different from the old Dragons. Or is she? For series nine, the squad of rich, grumpy bastards is joined by “formidable businesswoman and self-made multimillionaire Hilary Devey”, as presenter Evan Davis introduced her.