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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Jon Snow: A Last Big Story
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence The journalist sets out to make a documentary about his Alzheimer’s diagnosis – then finds out that a catastrophe in Zambia has gone under-reported … and the old instincts kick in.
What our reviewer said “This intelligent, gentle-but-unsentimental hour gives the journalist his laurels and the man his dignity, all while acknowledging the cruelty and grief behind the disease. If this is Snow’s swan song, it is as fine a one as he could wish for.” Lucy Mangan
Pick of the rest
I Kissed a Girl
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence The ridiculously fun queer dating show that the BBC unceremoniously axed.
What our reviewer said “As well as being unprecedented, these shows have been a container for vital queer conversations that aren’t happening anywhere else on our screens, surely well within the remit of the national broadcaster. Plus, they are ridiculously fun.” Hannah J Davies
Further reading Sisterhood with a sexual edge! This is why I Kissed a Girl is unmissable viewing
House of the Dragon
Sky Atlantic, Now & HBO Max; available now
Summed up in a sentence After two duff seasons, the Game of Thrones prequel finally comes good.
What our reviewer said “Breathe a fiery sigh of relief at the news that this show has found its focus. The start of season three is a fine epic, balancing big battles with sharp two-hander scenes where dominance shifts and fatal personality flaws are forced out.” Jack Seale
Further reading ‘My mum says I’m not working class any more!’: Olivia Cooke on power, privilege, and dividing audiences in House of Dragon
The Bear
Disney+; available now
Summed up in a sentence The sizzling chef show that has won all the awards bows out with countless kitchen disasters – and more comedy than ever before.
What our reviewer said “Everything that could go nail-bitingly wrong does: torrential rain, horrifying plumbing issues, a car crash, dropped food, late diners clogging tables and various staff members in various stages of emotional meltdown. But when the team overcomes most of these hurdles, the relief is almost transcendent.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading ‘It’s time for it to end’: Ebon Moss-Bachrach on the final, delicious season of The Bear
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Blue Heron
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A Hungarian immigrant family grapple with oppositional defiant disorder in Sophy Romvari’s intimate and unshowy debut feature about childhood trauma in 1990s Canada.
What our reviewer said “It is an autobiographical, in fact autofictional, movie imbued with a kind of quietism, a refusal to amplify its real-life drama and tragedy. It doesn’t orchestrate its agony in the Hollywood style but almost confides it to the viewer, intimately and sotto voce.” Peter Bradshaw
Pick of the rest
Supergirl
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence New entry in the DC universe, in which Milly Alcock’s Supergirl joins with Eve Ridley’s Ruthye to fight an evil intergalactic human trafficker.
What our reviewer said “After her brief walk-on in last year’s muddled and boring Superman reboot feature, Supergirl now gets a sprightlier and sparkier film of her own.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading A world-weary, hard-drinking hungover Supergirl? This could be James Gunn’s DCU masterstroke
The Furious
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Martial arts epic in which a father chases the traffickers who have kidnapped his daughter in Kenji Tanigaki’s exhilarating action movie.
What our reviewer said “Thundering along in the bloody footsteps of the Raid films and the Hindi punch-’em-up Kill, this martial-arts showcase is in full dadsploitation territory.” Mike McCahill
A Better Tomorrow
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Spectacular firefight extravaganzas, unapologetic melodrama and even broad comedy are all packed into John Woo’s blood-drizzled action classic from 1986.
What our reviewer said “Perhaps only Woo would insist on a shootout taking place at what looks like a dockside petrol station, which moreover has great big drums of diesel fuel lying about the place.” Peter Bradshaw
Now streaming…
Chris and Martina: The Final Set
Netflix; available 27 June
Summed up in a sentence Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova discuss the deep bond and intense rivalry of their decades-long relationship at the summit of tennis achievement.
What our reviewer said “It’s a highly watchable film, which makes the strong and valid point that even in the cutthroat world of professional sport there is, in fact, room for real friendship and ‘sportsmanship’.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading I grew up watching Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova – this tale of their friendship wrecked me
Books
If you only read one, make it …
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow
Reviewed by Dorian Lynskey
Summed up in a sentence An urgent warning about the economics of big tech.
What our reviewer said “Doctorow speeds through this entertaining primer with his usual vivid analogies, righteous ire and snarky asides.”
Further reading ‘You can’t make billions without hurting people’: Cory Doctorow on Elon Musk, the AI bubble and bosses’ cruel fantasies
Pick of the rest
The Family Man by James Lasdun
Reviewed by Kathryn Hughes
Summed up in a sentence A forensic study of the murder case that shocked America.
What our reviewer said “Lasdun’s prose is pure pleasure. His resistance to going full southern gothic is particularly admirable.”
Awake Awake by Fiona Mozley
Reviewed by M John Harrison
Summed up in a sentence Slippery story of unreliable memories by a Booker-shortlisted author.
What our reviewer said “Awake Awake is, on the one hand, a clear-eyed view of contemporary moral and political failure in the UK, and on the other, an assembly of engrossing philosophical and metaphysical engagements with the nature of memory.” M John Harrison
Kin by Tayari Jones
Reviewed by Sana Goyal
Summed up in a sentence The intertwined lives of two motherless girls in 1950s America, from the Women’s prize winner.
What our reviewer said “By turns pacy and profound, Kin is a cautionary tale about the limits of love, both rendered and received.” Sana Goyal
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
Reviewed by Peter Carty
Summed up in a sentence Growing up in a family of revolutionary radicals on the run from the FBI.
What our reviewer said “Amazingly, Dohrn’s parents got away with almost everything. His father was never jailed, while his mother served only seven months between 1982 and 1983. Perhaps more amazingly still, Dohrn doesn’t hold any of it against them.” Peter Carty
You may have missed…
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
Reviewed by Lara Feigel
Summed up in a sentence A comic debut for our conspiracy theory era about a dysfunctional American family, shortlisted for Waterstones’ debut fiction prize.
What our reviewer said “Cash’s virtuosic wit allows her to warm hearts at the same time as satirising the world.” Lara Feigel
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Muse: The Wow! Signal
Out now
Summed up in a sentence From Count Dracula organ to choirs crying in Latin, the Devon band are scenery-chewingly preposterous yet nuanced on this epic about extraterrestrial life.
What our reviewer said “If you wouldn’t want to live there all the time, a visit is never boring – there’s something curiously admirable about its commitment to its utterly preposterous bit, its refusal to bow to any notion of maturity or good taste and instead double down in its own world.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
Candomblé: Sacred Rhythms in Brazil
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Ceremonial drumming remixed for the dancefloor, with a treasure trove of field recordings reshaped into pulsating floor-fillers and sparse baile funk.
What our reviewer said “Expertly curated and near-miraculously sourced, Flee cements its place as one of the industry’s most imaginative archival labels, giving artists the freedom to turn these sacramental rhythms into fresh dancefloor rituals.” Ammar Kalia
Downtown Boys: Public Luxury
Out now
Summed up in a sentence A joyful blast of bilingual political punk from the Rhode Island five-piece, with bouncing basslines, muted house chords and stomping drums.
What our reviewer said “Optimism might feel outdated, but Downtown Boys are proud outliers – they wear their politics proudly while bringing new ambiguity, strangeness and shadow to their passionate, sax-blasted bilingual punk.” Katie Hawthorne
Elgar and Dvořák: Cello Concertos
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Alban Gerhardt’s readings are forthright, refreshing and thoughtful, eschewing romantic, heart-on-sleeve interpretations to find nobility and poetry in these famous concertos.
What our reviewer said “By scrutinising the scores – and few composers were as pernickety with their markings as Elgar – he finds much that is refreshing as well as illuminating, with a straightforwardness and refusal to luxuriate that may not please those used to more heart-on-sleeve interpretations.” Clive Paget
Now touring …
Gorillaz
Touring Europe, to 29 August
Summed up in a sentence A staggering hi-tech mini-festival from the magpie mind of Damon Albarn, featuring a seemingly endless stream of high-profile guest stars.
What our reviewer said “The evening has been an extraordinary triumph – a two-and-a-half hour spectacle with its audacious ambition and military precision all stemming from the fecund imagination of one man.” Ian Gittins
