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5 hours ago
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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Rooster
Now
Summed up in a sentence Steve Carell stars in Scrubs/Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence’s charming, touching and very funny comedy about a dad helping his lecturer daughter navigate marital difficulties.
What our reviewer said “This is television for grownups.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Rooster: Steve Carell is back to his best in this stellar delight of a comedy
Pick of the rest
Dunblane: How Britain Banned Handguns
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence The moving story of the courageous parents who battled to get a UK handgun ban into law, following a tragic mass shooting at a primary school.
What our reviewer said “The deaths of 16 children and one teacher remain exceptionally difficult to contemplate.” Rachel Aroesti
Twisted Yoga
Apple TV
Summed up in a sentence A troubling exposé of an alleged Romanian sex cult.
What our reviewer said “While the finer details of Twisted Yoga’s tale may be intriguingly wild, the broader picture is infuriating and sad.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading Twisted Yoga: how a search for enlightenment turned into a dangerous cult
You may have missed …
Lover, Liar, Predator
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence The tale of four women, who were all abused by the same man as teenagers – and banded together to help jail him.
What our reviewer said “Never mind Adolescence – I would put a package of films like this together and send one to every school in the country.” Lucy Mangan
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Resurrection
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Vision of alternate reality from Chinese director Bi Gan, where humans can live indefinitely and a reincarnating dissident dreamer travels through history in different guises.
What our reviewer said “It is bold and ambitious, visually amazing, trippy and woozy in its embrace of hallucination and the heightened meaning of the unreal and the dreamlike.” Peter Bradshaw
Pick of the rest
Everybody to Kenmure Street
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Inspiring retelling of 2021 Glasgow protest that shows local people standing their ground against heavy-handed immigration enforcement.
What our reviewer said “In the age of ICE and Maga, and the Trump-inspired nationalist movements in the UK, it’s an amazing story of a community triumph, showing how the nasty little habits of domineering policing can be countered by stubbornly British – and in this case, specifically Scottish – insistence on justice.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Fight the power – in your pyjamas: the film about the day Glasgow kicked out immigration enforcers
The Straight Story
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence David Lynch’s gentle 1999 account of the real-life road trip undertaken by Alvin Straight (played by Richard Farnsworth), who travelled 300 miles on a motor mower to see his ill brother.
What our reviewer said “It’s a film that presents us with the midwest decency, the picket fences and the open road that are all familiar enough from other Lynch films but without the roilingly surreal, subterranean weirdness beneath.” Peter Bradshaw
The Revenant
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Anniversary rerelease of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s old west epic, which pitches Leonardo DiCaprio against nature, bears and Tom Hardy in a tale of revenge, retribution and primal violence.
What our reviewer said “What is so distinctive about this Iñárritu picture is its unitary control and its fluency: no matter how extended, the film’s tense story is under the director’s complete control and he unspools great meandering, bravura travelling shots to tell it.” Peter Bradshaw
Now streaming
War Machine
Netflix, from 6 March
Summed up in a sentence Gory militaristic action thriller starring Reacher’s Alan Ritchson as a pill-popping wannabe ranger taking on alien robots.
What our reviewer said “This makes for a slicker-than-usual streaming premiere, an easy, drink-your-way-through-it Friday night option for those who wish to remain entirely unchallenged.” Benjamin Lee
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli
Reviewed by Fiona Sturges
Summed up in a sentence The Cabaret star and Hollywood legend tells all.
What our reviewer said “Beneath the classic arc of fame and success turned sour is a more unusual tale of a woman battling the trauma of her childhood and struggling to step out of the shadow of her unpredictable mother.”
Further reading Ron Howard, Emma Rice, Neil Tennant and more on Liza Minnelli: ‘She holidayed in my Cornish bungalow’
Pick of the rest
Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them by Liam Byrne
Reviewed by Andy Beckett
Summed up in a sentence A Labour MP’s prescription for fighting Reform.
What our reviewer said “Books by former New Labour ministers are usually ponderous and defensive – Byrne seems more liberated.”
Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester
Reviewed by Clare Clark
Summed up in a sentence A black comedy of infidelity and intergenerational tension from the author of Capital.
What our reviewer said “Lanchester’s satirical chops are on full display in his latest book, but this time his focus is more personal than political.”
Further reading Did baby boomers eat all the pies? John Lanchester on the truth about the generation gap
Love Magic Power Danger Bliss by Paul Morley
Reviewed by Sukhdev Sandhu
Summed up in a sentence The story of Yoko Ono, without the Beatles.
What our reviewer said “To celebrate Ono is to celebrate ‘one of the last witnesses, one of the last survivors of a strange, innocent, elaborate fight for freedom’”.
You may have missed …
King of Kings by Scott Anderson
Reviewed by John Simpson
Summed up in a sentence The story of the last Shah of Iran and his downfall.
What our reviewer said “Anderson has interviewed some of the key people, including the genuinely tragic figure of the former Queen, who understood what was happening in Iran but failed to influence her husband. From the Middle East to the war in Ukraine, the world is still experiencing the aftershocks of the fall of the shah, and it’s not over yet.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Resurgent brothers Chris and Rich Robinson resurrect the rocker lifestyle of eras past.
What our reviewer said “No other band since has played the past with such authority, such joy, such full-blooded commitment to the bit.” Stevie Chick
Pick of the rest
James Blake: Trying Times
Out now
Summed up in a sentence With fresh yet familiar samples, Blake delivers an addictive set of tunes on his seventh solo record – though he should lay off the preachy lyrics.
What our reviewer said “Unconvincing lyrics aside, it’s a consistently excellent album.” Rachel Aroesti
Joseph Nolan: The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol 1
Out now
Summed up in a sentence From operatic frenzy in one moment to pianissimo whisper the next, Nolan does exhilarating justice to an extraordinary but little known repertoire.
What our reviewer said “Nolan’s playing exhibits a death-defying virtuosity.”
Clive Paget
Diagonale des Yeux: Madeleine
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Music boxes, miaows and curious melodies pepper the whimsical and charmingly lo-fi post-punk of Laurène Exposito and Théo Delaunay.
What our reviewer said “These 12 tracks are charmingly lo-fi, built around rudimentary synth and guitar melodies that often careen into strange directions.”
Safi Bugel
Nemanja Radulović: Prokofiev
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Radulović brings irresistible swagger to selections from Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella.
What our reviewer said “There’s a daredevil freshness about Nemanja Radulović’s playing that makes this generously filled disc of Prokofiev particularly rewarding.” Clive Paget
