Reviews

Fun night of poetry direct to your living room with Hollie McNish

Poet and spoken word artist Hollie McNish has had to postpone her spring tour. Luckily, she is performing three gigs from her living room.

What to watch and listen to when you're on lockdown

Feeling starved of culture now everything is closed? Don’t worry, there’s plenty online

Vivarium—a sci-fi thriller where the real horror is at home

Claustrophobic, stuck indoors and can’t get away from the children. That’s the setting for a new film that probes family life

Perfect Candidate is a film that challenges stereotypes

The Perfect Candidate is a political fable with a kick. It tells the story of Maryam (Mila Al-Zahrani), a doctor living in Saudi Arabia who finds herself accidentally running for the local council.

Dark Waters - the fight against Dupont

US chemical company Dupont spent years dumping the acid PFOA in a landfill in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

A brilliant story of slavery, memories and freedom

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates combines powerful descriptions of slavery with a pacey plot and strong characters, writes?Sadie Robinson

There’s nought to make you cross about Noughts and Crosses adaptation

03 March 2020
Reflections of racism today are echoed in this adaptation of Malorie Blackman's series of young adult novels says Siobhan Brown

Escape from Pretoria film is a powerful thriller about the ingenuity of resistance

02 March 2020
Escape from Pretoria is the extraordinary true story of two anti-apartheid activists. Moyra Samuels reviews the film—and speaks to two of those depicted in the film.

Greed film is a take down of the rich that doesn’t quite hit the mark

24 February 2020
Greed, a new comedy starring Steve Coogan, shows up the vain and vacuous lives of billionaires. But it suffers from smug liberalism

Mr Jones shows the horror of Stalin’s counter-revolution

07 February 2020
A film about a journalist who uncovers famine in Ukraine could have fallen to smug pro-Westernism. But it has more to say

Sensational Man Like Mobeen breaks new ground

03 February 2020
The latest series of the sitcom-drama Man Like Mobeen is now on BBC3 catch-up, alongside the previous two seasons.

The Windermere Children

28 January 2020
August, 1945. A coachload of children arrive at the Calgarth Estate by Lake Windermere, England.

Seberg misses a wider radical picture

21 January 2020
As a bloody battle between Black Power and the US state raged in the late sixties, the movement enlisted some unlikely allies

There Is No Year—an angry, dark album for a new decade

21 January 2020
The latest offering from the band Algiers encapsulates a period of chaos, war and struggle—but it’s also got a sense of resistance

Field Music—Making a New World

07 January 2020
Sunderland band Field Music, headed by brothers David and Peter Brewis, has made an album about the social impact of the First World War.

Haven't They Grown—A creepy tale of mystery, determination and cruelty

06 January 2020
Haven’t They Grown begins with a very creepy and puzzling scenario. A woman who lost touch with a close friend years ago goes to snoop on her while taking her son to a football match.

Heavy on cliches, 1917 war film is no one-shot wonder

06 January 2020
Sam Mendes’s latest effort is impressive but it relies too much on its unique cinematographic approach rather than original storytelling, argues?Nick Clark

Reviews round-up: A Christmas Carol and more

16 December 2019
The BBC promises a “unique and original take” on Charles Dickens’ Christmas ghost story.

The Ocean at The End of The Lane—A bittersweet fairy tale of loss, magic and fantasy

16 December 2019
The Ocean at The End of The Lane tells the story of Alex, a man who returns home for his father’s funeral and looks back on his childhood.

The Trial of Christine Keeler rights some historic wrongs

16 December 2019
This new BBC drama looks back on the events of the Profumo Affair—and tells a story of wealth, power, sexism and abuse, says?Tomáš Tengely-Evans