We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST – MONDAY 25th AUGUST 2014

‘Ignorance brings chaos, not knowledge’
If there is one film to really set you up for an action packed bank holiday break this weekend then it’s bound to be Scarlett Johansson’s new blockbuster; Lucy. Part lecture on human evolution and part chase thriller, Luc Besson’s Lucy is a curious hybrid of human evolution and destruction.

Johansson starring as a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic is just the thing after a heavy week (or the day after a night on the booze. It’s a bank holiday weekend, remember, you get a day extra free).

Lucy, 89 mins, at cinemas now

Cannibal Holocausts to Zombi Rom-Coms
You’d be daft to miss one of the massive amount of horror films being screened all over London between 21st–25th August, varying from the mainstream, to indie and the absolutely bizarre. It’s a festival going as Film4’s Frightfest.

Eli Roth may not be for everyone, especially those of a squeamish disposition, but his latest ‘Cannibal Holocaust’-inspired zombie flick, The Green Inferno, is madly entertaining, based around a darkly exciting ride through the Amazon, complete with kidnap-happy tribes, Sky Ferriera and human sacrifice. Not exactly Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time, but you need to check it out as it nearly didn’t get here at all – just before release the film was scrapped from distribution blaming ‘financial difficulties’.

If you’re after a more light-hearted slice of cinematic deviance you’d do well to see HERO 10 cover star Dane DeHaan and Aubrey Plaza’s rom-zom-com drama-cum-horror Life After Beth. There’s enough gore in the film to satisfy bloodthirsty types, but overall it’s a thoroughly fun romp – and funny, too.

Film4 Frightfest, Vue Cinema, West End, Leicester Square, London.

Notting Hill Sound Systems

In 2004 photographer Brian David Stevens captured the statuesque beauty of towering speaker rigs and sound systems of the Notting Hill Carnival before the crowds arrived. The sound systems, a far cry from the colourful, loud and crowded images that normally depict the carnival, can be seen in all of their monochromatic glory until September 30th upstairs at The Social, Little Portland Street.

Food glorious Food
The average total scoff at Notting Hill Carnival usually works out at around 10,000 corn cobs, 15,000 fried plantains, 1 ton of rice & peas, 1 ton of Jamaican patties, 12,000 mangoes and 25,000 bottles of rum. Stomach-achingly good but when you’re shovelling it down you’re being elbowed in the face by a parade goer or five. 

Lucky 7 is locals’ usual sanctuary for fantastic diner favourites and shakes. The place has a cult following in West London, even importing American cereal for the really hardcore junk-food junkies. It’s a safe bet for a quiet bite in-between sets, sans the rum-addled crowds. 

Lucky 7, 127 Westbourne Park Rd, London, W2 5QL

If you’d like to avoid completely and keep East London as your haven for the weekend then Dirty Burger have just graced Tower Hamlets with a new restaurant, serving up their famously naughty breakfast burgers, rotisserie chicken and killer onion fries. Filthy, and you love it.

Dirty Burger, 27 Mile End Rd, London, E1 4TP