< PreviousNightlife 50 March 10 – 31 2022 timeoutdubai.com WHAT IS IT... A trendy German export in One Central WHY GO... For the views over Museum of the Future Time Out reviews anonymously and pays for its drinks Monkey Bar O Open Sun-Thu 5pm-2am; Fri-Sat 5pm-3am. 25hours Hotel Dubai One Central, Trade Centre (04 210 2566). BAR IN FOCUS DUBAI IS AWASH with bars with brilliant views, so it takes something really special to catch our attention. And we think Monkey Bar might just be that – and not just because it overlooks the Museum of the Future. Located on the sixth Áoor of the über-trendy 25hours Hotel (a German export), the interiors follow much of the same trends as the rest of the city – think dark woods, plenty of foliage, and a mix of bar and regular seating. Don’t get us wrong, it is gorgeous, just nothing to shout about – with perhaps the exception of the giant monkey face wall, with ominous glowing red eyes. It’s the outdoor area that really shines, with those incredible views of Dubai’s most beautiful new building (if not the world’s). Choose between cosy booths, beanbags and step seating, or go for something a little more private in the rattan cages (Monkey Bar really is going all out with the theme here). Wherever you settle in for the night, your order has to be one of the mixed drinks. The menu is Àlled jungle-themed options and you can even grab adult slushies. For those who aren’t a fan of mixed drinks, there are two hops options on draft, plus a slew of short drinks and grape varieties. We’re not here to eat on our latest visit, but the simple bar bites menu should please almost everyone, with Latin American inÁuences. Think skewers, tacos, ceviche and guacamole: Nothing overly heavy. The main draw of Monkey Bar, aside from the views, is “The outdoor area really shines” the chilled-out atmosphere. It’s perfect for date night with your other half, a quick drink after work, or for impressing friends visiting from back home. Monkey Bar might over the Museum of the Future, but we think this is the bar of the moment.52 March 10 – 31 2022 timeoutdubai.com RafÁes The Palm, Pathways showcases the work of four emerging female Gulf- based artists. Unfolding across four distinct sections, the exhibit curated by Hunna Art sits in harmony with the hotel’s architecture and sees Eman Ali, Talin Hazbar, Alymamah Rashed and Alia Zaal each occupying a different space. Name drop: Eman Ali, Talin Hazbar, Alymamah Rashed and Alia Zaal O Until 23 Mar. hunna.art/pages/hunnarafÁes. JITISH KALLAT AT ISHARA ART FOUNDATION Ishara Art Foundation (the Àrst permanent space in the Gulf dedicated to South Asian contemporary art) will be welcoming visitors ART DUBAI HAS kick-started some serious art vibes in the city. There are new artists in town, fresh exhibitions and creative installations across Dubai. We’ve done our research and chatted to our most-culturally-in-the-know friends to come up with a list of brilliant exhibitions, installations, and shows that are setting the city’s art world alight right now. These are the exhibitions to get on your radar and most importantly, the names you can be ready to drop. CONTEMPLATE PATHWAYS BY HUNNA ART GALLERY Contemporary gallery Hunna Art’s Àrst physical exhibition is a deliberately thought- provoking one. Running until March 23 at With this handy guide, you’ll be name dropping the hottest talents in no time Art radar Art & Culture timeoutdubai.com/culturetimeoutdubai.com March 10 – 31 2022 53 31, Bowen’s work will see her unveiling Fragments - the artist’s largest resin piece to date. You’ll also be able to glimpse her ‘Artura Aura’ produced with McLaren and see the hotel’s Atrium by Zaha Hadid transformed into a catwalk for Bowen’s famous “Artwalk” show. Name drop: Nat Bowen O Until Mar 31. The Opus by Omniyat, Al Amal Street, Business Bay, melia.com/en/hotels (04 525 2500). DUBAI THROUGH THE LENS AT TIMEOUT MARKET Long- and short-term city dwellers alike will Ànd joy admiring the stunning photographs collated at this month-long pop-up at Time Out Market Dubai, running until Thursday March 31. Featuring a number of local photographers, including the Insta-famous Ihsan Salhia from @tgmediadubai and Aljvd from @aljivd, the display aims to present to its seventh exhibition, Order of Magnitude by Jitish Kallat. The artist’s Àrst major solo exhibition in West Asia and the Levant, his work brings together elements of the cosmic and the terrestrial across various mediums. Name drop: Jitish Kallat O Until Jul 1. A3, Alserkal Avenue, Street 17, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, ishara.org (04 223 3001). SEIZE THE CHANCE TO SEE NAT BOWEN’S WORK UP CLOSE With her Àrst Middle East exhibition “The Queen of Colour”, the highly celebrated, UK-born abstract artist Nat Bowen will be taking up residence at the art-forward ME Dubai hotel. Running until Thursday March Dubai from the photographer’s lens. Joining them will be six of the city’s most noteworthy snappers, who have each submitted the best shots from their portfolio. Name drop: Ihsan Salhia O Until Mar 31. Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Dubai, timeoutmarket.com/dubai. FAJD BURKI’S DAYDREAMS AT ART JAMEEL Running until September 24, in creative art space, Art Jameel, Pakistani-based artist Fajd Burki is putting on his Àrst international solo show, with over 50 of his abstract works. Spanning the last 15 years of the artist’s career, the pieces, which include drawings, prints and sculptures, have been inspired by everything from nature to science Àction, so you can expect an otherworldly experience. Name drop: Fajd Burki O Until Sep 24. Jaddaf Waterfront, jameelartscentre.org (04 873 9800). ODYSSEY BY MIKE ARNOLD AT MESTARIA GALLERY Inviting on-lookers to join him on a journey through the UAE’s diverse history, Dubai- based artist Mike Arnold’s Odyssey exhibition is one not to be missed. Using a palette knife on canvas he crafts desert landscapes, cultural experiences and intimate personal moments relating to the United Arab Emirates. Being exhibited in one of Dubai’s coolest neighbourhoods, Alserkal Avenue, a visit here is a quirky antidote to the city’s usual glimmering lights. Name drop: Mike Arnold O Until Mar 27. Unit 35, Alserkal Avenue. mestaria.art (04 379 0940). “Join him on a journey through the UAE’s history” Nat Bowen and Mclaren’s Artura Aura Art JameelFOR BOOKINGS CALL 04 455 9989FOR BOOKINGS CALL 04 455 9989 AWARD-WINNING AWARD-WINNING ITALIAN CASUAL DINING BY CHEF GIUSEPPE PEZZELLAOn Screen timeoutdubai.com March 10 – 31 2022 55 ROBERT PATTINSON’S GOTH-TINGED Dark Knight turns sleuth in this overlong DC thriller If “dark, rain-soaked superhero reboot” sounds done to death, the latest Batman may not be for you. Director Matt Reeves brings the apocalyptic doominess that hallmarked his Planet of the Apes franchise and a lot of the brooding DC house style that has lingered since the Christopher Nolan days – as well as the unmistakable inÁuence of David Fincher’s Seven and Zodiac. A more unsmiling, clenched Batman you couldn’t imagine. The plot has Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight on the hunt for a killer who has been ofÀng Gotham’s political classes, leaving riddles in his wake. The Riddler (Paul Dano, somewhere beneath the latex) skulks the city, using livestreams and the media to lay bare the city’s corruption and build a following among the type of people who use the phrase ‘deep state’ in conversation. He’s basically Bane with Reddit, and The Dark Knight Rises parallels grow as the movie settles into its not-lean runtime. There’s actually a lot of potential in the idea of a superhero and crime thriller genre mash- up. Here, the brooding R-Batz is forced to turn detective, leaving him to holster his core skill set (kicking, punching, swooping) in favour of cerebral puzzle-solving that traps him in the one place he most hates being: his own mind. He’s forever struggling to catch up, following a trail of breadcrumbs left by someone smarter and more in control than he is. It’s a fresh dynamic for the character on screen – one that borrows from several DC comic-book runs, including Frank Miller’s ‘Year One’ – and so is his ever-evolving relationship with the cops. If Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) has his back, many of his superiors want to stick a knife in it. Back home at Wayne Mansion, now a skyscraper in the middle of the city, Andy Serkis is a soothing if peripheral presence as Alfred. Out there, too, is a nocturnal rival in Zoë Kravitz’s cat burglar Selina Kyle. Kravitz draws a second note from Pattinson’s otherwise Áavourless Batman and offers some slinky moves of her own. She’s central to the Àlm’s best scene: an undercover prowl through a villain-Àlled Gotham nightclub using a kind of Bat-contact lens. The Batman’s commitment to avoiding jokes is almost total, although Colin Farrell’s rubber-faced Penguin gets the Àlm’s biggest (only) laugh with one wittily staged waddle. But all this also sidelines Riddler, draining momentum and piling on story beats that the pacing can’t sustain. A cool car chase involving the new, souped-up Batmobile are sugar to help the inevitable, and reliably turgid Thomas-and-Martha Wayne back story go down. And Pattinson? He’s solid enough, but the role seems to neutralise his greatest strengths, stiÁing his edgy, eccentric charisma under a morose, dutiful shell. He’s just another ever-searching crusader in a shadowy world. Hopefully next time he’ll be able to Ànd the fun. By Phil de Semlyen The Batman RE VIEW WHAT IS IT... Highly anticipated DC thriller WHY GO... To revel in Batman’s brooding crusades DIRECTOR Matt Reeves (15) RELEASE DATE Out now On Screen timeoutdubai.com/gaming-tech timeoutdubai.com/moviesThere’s no such thing. That’s why Time Out has been reviewing Dubai restaurants anonymously since 2001. LUNCH? FREE Head to timeoutdubai.com/timeoutrecommended for the latest and greatest eats in town HOUSE AD - TOD FREE LUNCH_11747656.indd 6529/07/2021 18:05:44timeoutdubai.com March 10 – 31 2022 57 CHOOSING A TYPE of game is like having a preferred style of music, genre of Àlm or favourite type of cuisine. There are too many to choose from and so much depends on mood, purpose and time available. Sometimes you want the fast food, pop song, Áuffy comedy of an instant Àx. Sometimes, however, you want a feast, a symphony or a masterpiece. That’s where Elden Ring falls. A visual delight and an ambitious fantasy epic that needs long, eye-straining sessions in front of a screen to George RR Martin-inspired game has become an instant classic By Will Milner explore a gorgeously rendered world. Magic, dragons, swords, tunics, giant bloodthirsty lobsters as big as a cruise ship – this is what fantasy gaming should be about. As much as we all love the realism of sports and Áight simulators, if you want a bit of magic with your gaming then Elden Ring ticks all the right boxes. After all, it has serious fantasy pedigree. Its director is Hidetaka Miyazaki, best known as the man behind the wildly inÁuential Dark Souls trilogy. The game’s world-building, back Elden Ring story and history was created by George RR Martin and the Game of Thrones creator’s inÁuence might explain all the dragons. Epic in every sense of the word Elden Ring has received near complete acclaim across the board from critics and is a game for hearty appetites and detailed exploration. Not forgetting all the giant bloodthirsty lobsters to battle. Sharpen your axe and jump right in. O Elden Ring is out now on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series S/Series X. ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL GamingOn Screen 58 March 10 – 31 2022 timeoutdubai.com Pokémon Legends: Arceus Horizon Forbidden West FIVE TO TRY When you’re done touring the Lands Between there are many other realms and worlds to explore, with these new launches in 2022. HOGWARTS LEGACY PC PLAYSTATION XBOX Set a couple of hundred years before the Harry Potter saga but within the same magical world this multi-platform RPG looks like the most ambitious game based on the wizarding world to date. Get ready to explore Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forrest as well as come face to face with more fantastic beasts than you could shove in a magical suitcase. O TBA in 2022. STARFIELD PC XBOX As pitches go “Skyrim in space” is as brief and as appetising as it gets. It’s enough to have us anticipating what could be one of the year’s most important releases. It comes from the games publisher Bathesda (the company behind the Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout series) and is set in a planet-hopping future 300 years from our time. O November. POKÉMON LEGENDS: ARCEUS SWITCH The enduring appeal of Pokemon has spanned several generations already and like the critters themselves is constantly evolving. This new RPG adventure on Nintendo’s Switch, however, feels like a giant step forward. High on charm and packed full of familiar and new-look creatures it is already a smash-hit for pokephiles. O Out now. HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST PLAYSTATION Between sword and sorcery fantasy and futuristic sci-À genres lies the subset of postapocalyptic dramas that this PlayStation exclusive inhabits. As you explore the Western United States you will do battle with other survivors and robotic beasts in a sequel to much-loved Horizon Zero Dawn. O Out now. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2 SWITCH The Zelda series is oft-cited as the pinnacle of RPG gaming and when the Switch launched with Breath of The Wild it was a gigantic leap forward for the long-running saga. So, anticipation for the as yet unnamed ofÀcial sequel couldn’t be hotter. With a truly epic scope this could be an all-time great. O TBA in 2022. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Brix’s Macaron Sandwich TIME OUT DUBAI Read it. Eat it. Live it. New at Souk Al Bahar Untitled-3 126/05/2021 11:37:58Next >