News

Racist moral panic behind the Blue Story cinema ban

Vue cinema banned Blue Story— a powerful film against violence—last week. It exposed the establishment’s fear of young black people

Elizabeth Is Missing—a drama without cliches about dementia and loss

Elizabeth Is Missing, a new BBC drama, is brilliant.

William Hogarth shows up an ugly system

Reviews of paintings by William Hogarth almost universally remark that his themes of corruption, prostitution, alcohol abuse and urban chaos are instantly recognisable today

Motherless Brooklyn—a feast for film noir fans old and new

Edward Norton’s new film is an ode to past classics that also takes a fresh look at the inequality and corruption of today

The Irishman—an unsettling and melancholy film about age and regret

The Irishman has everything you’d want from a Scorsese gangster film, writes Simon Basketter, but there’s humour and sadness amid the violence

May Morris: Art & Life

This landmark exhibition explores the life and work of May Morris, one of the most significant artists of the British arts .

BBC’s War of the Worlds can hold its own among the best

This new steampunk adaptation of HG Wells’ classic is hardly a first—but it’s well-made, well-acted, exciting—and has a lot of potential, says Gabby Thorpe

Agent Running in the Field—a complex game in John Le Carre’s latest spy thriller

Nat is a not quite 50, not quite on the shelf officer of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sesame Street—this page is brought to you this week by the number 50

As Sesame Street approaches its 50th anniversary, Simon Basketter looks back at a show that repeatedly broke the mould and upset right wingers

Magic of His Dark Materials is finally done well on screen

It’s the adaptation that lovers of Philip Pullman’s trilogy have been waiting for—and you don’t need to read the books to enjoy it, writes Gabby Thorpe

Cold War Steve creates nonsense scenes of liberal contempt

What on the surface look like send-ups of right wing politicians turn out to be full of liberal prejudice.

Jesse Pinkman makes his welcome return in El Camino

The film follow-up to Breaking Bad brings back one of its best characters—along with much of what made the series so good

Reviews round-up—Joy Labinjo and Roy Lichtenstein

The Hatton Gallery,

Giri - Haji—new crime thriller doesn’t quite live up to ambition

Ambitious is a good way to describe Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame).

Raising Dion—a super-powered mixture of adventure and family drama

Raising Dion mixes superhero staples with life’s everyday problems—and the result is a show that’s pathbreaking for both genres, says Tomáš Tengely-Evans

The Politician—A satire that struggles to find its feet

The Politician straddles high school drama and political satire—and does neither successfully until the end.

Dublin Murders—more than just another detective show?

There are some hard bitten cliches in this hard bitten BBC cop drama, writes Simon Basketter, but the character-driven storyline has depth and potential

We should welcome Joker as a look at the roots of evil

Ahead of Todd Phillips’ highly anticipated Joker, Sasha Simic looks at how controversy surrounding the film may not be giving it the chance it deserves