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📂 Category: Culture,Television,Film,Books,Music
📌 Main takeaway:
television
If you only watch one, do it…
The monster inside me
Netflix
Summarize in a sentence Claire Danes plays an author filled with rage and grief, whose life is thrown into flames by the arrival of a millionaire – brilliantly played by Matthew Rhys – who is suspected of murdering his wife.
What our reviewer said “Danes and Rhys excite each other through beautifully written scenes designed to immerse you in the world of two people discovering what it means to find someone who truly sees you and accepts you completely—even when it all pushes others away.” Lucy Mangan
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Further reading Claire Danes talks sex, spy camp, and teen stardom
Choose from the rest
Al Eubanks: Like father, like son
BBC iPlayer
Summarize in a sentence A surprising documentary following the reunion between Chris Eubank Jr. and his father, before the former’s fight with Conor Penn – the son of his father’s biggest rival.
What our reviewer said “It’s really enough to make you cry, as the camera unobtrusively captures these men so in love with each other trying to communicate and understand and make each other understand, and you watch them reach out and pass each other, only inches from each other.” Lucy Mangan
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Caroline Flack: Searching for the Truth
Disney+
Summarize in a sentence A comprehensive two-part forensic documentary that follows the TV presenter’s mother as she demands answers about her daughter’s death.
What our reviewer said “Neither exploitative nor cheap…an antidote to the true crime gravy train that usually runs through cases like this.” Hannah J. Davis
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Further reading Caroline Flack’s mother speaks out about her daughter’s tragic and avoidable death
Hatred
Prime Video
Summarize in a sentence David Duchovny is at his charismatic best as a ruthless millionaire in this thriller – who hires Jack Whitehall as his evil nanny.
What our reviewer said “More things to enjoy to take you happily until Christmas.” Lucy Mangan
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Further reading David Duchovny talks poems, podcasts – and his TV comeback
Maybe she was gone…
Disclosure: Confidential nursing home
BBC iPlayer
Summarize in a sentence A journalist goes undercover in an Inverness care home, Castlehill – and exposes a terrifying situation for the residents.
What our reviewer said “By the time you’ve finished Catriona McPhee’s hour-long film, you’ll be in no doubt that the image Castlehill presents to the outside world – complete with champagne and fine dining – could not be further from the horrific reality.” Hannah J. Davis
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film
If you only watch one, do it…
Left-handed girl
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence A stunning Taiwanese family drama by Sean Baker collaborator Shih Ching-tzu about a child who is reprimanded for using her left hand.
What our reviewer said “Combining the kaleidoscopic shards of the city with the shards of imperfect people — he poignantly and tenderly shows what it means to be a family in Taiwan, delivering a triumph of film.” Tammy Tarang
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Running man
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence Glen Powell stars in a fun update of Stephen King’s future-bending sci-fi satire, as director Edgar Wright returns to King’s original 1982 novel.
What our reviewer said “Wright accelerates into a sprint for some full-blown chase sequences; there’s a nice aesthetic with the protest music produced by the underground rebels; and Wright always delivers those saccharine pop songs on the soundtrack, including, of course, the Spencer Davis suite ‘Keep Running.’ Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading ‘I don’t know how anyone takes themselves seriously in this job’: Hollywood star Glen Powell talks to Marina Hyde
Predators
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence Documentary director David Osset’s disturbing take on the televised infamy of the hit reality kid hunting show To Catch a Predator.
What our reviewer said “How can the punitive, ritualistic humiliation of To Catch a Predator, or any of the many gonzo-made copycats on YouTube, like the one we see being filmed here, help stop child abuse or change anyone’s life for the better? No one wants to think about how to break these cycles of abuse; instead, we are all trapped in a veritable hall of reflexive brutality.” Leslie Felperin
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Further reading ‘Abject Horror’: The Disturbing History of Child Catching TV Shows
Juggler’s Night
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence James Brolin stars in this ’80s shocker filled with non-stop gonzo mayhem, a wild ride of obstacle-distorted car chases and bizarre action.
What our reviewer said “It’s a gritty New York crime and exploitation film, with some over-the-top punching and shooting; and some of the attitudes toward race and sexual politics that can only be described as of its time. Those who prefer 21st century standards of good taste would do well to look away now.” Peter Bradshaw
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Streaming now
Come and see me in the good light
Apple TV+
Summarize in a sentence A documentary directed by Ryan White, telling the story of poet Andrea Gibson’s cancer diagnosis and treatment, which won the Audience Award at Sundance.
What our reviewer said “Its primary achievement is direct, frank honesty, tackling paradoxes that would seem so elegant if they were not so poignant and real.” Adrian Horton
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books
If you only read one, do it.
Fame by John Foss, translated by Damion Searles
Reviewed by Sukhdev Sandhu
Summarize in a sentence The Norwegian writer’s first new work since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2023.
What our reviewer said “How can so simple prose exude such feeling, and capture the light and mist and tidal rhythm of these seascapes so powerfully? It is a strange miracle.”
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Choose from the rest
Bread Angels Patti Smith
Reviewed by Will Hermes
Summarize in a sentence The punk poet reflects on her early life and later career.
What our reviewer said “Her voice casts a powerful spell, and you will learn as much about the artist from her style as from the stories themselves.”
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Further reading Defiance, Desire, and Destruction: Patti Smith’s 20 Greatest Songs – Ranked!
We Did Good, Kid by Anthony Hopkins
Reviewed by Peter Bradshaw
Summarize in a sentence The Hollywood legend from Port Talbot reflects on his life and career.
What our reviewer said “He left school in despair, took up acting, and to his parents’ astonishment he was on stage with Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic within 10 years. He did it more or less on his own, although in those days there were scholarships to go to Rada – a route to the uplift of working-class actors.”
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Further reading Anthony Hopkins talks alcoholism, anger and the Oscars
One Aladdin and Two Lamps by Janet Winterson
Reviewed by Anthony Cummins
Summarize in a sentence Free essays from the free-thinking novelist.
What our reviewer said “As opinions fly on matters large and small, the tone alternately evokes a party political programme, Radio 4’s ‘Think of the Day’, an old friend setting the world on the path to rights.”
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Maybe she was gone…
The Body by David Szalay
Reviewed by Kieran Goddard
Summarize in a sentence The 2025 Booker Prize winner is a remarkable portrait of a man struck by forces beyond his control.
What our reviewer said “A quiet and constantly passive participant in the events of his life, Istvan has something of an existential path.”
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Further reading ‘It’s very difficult to write about sex’: David Salai on ‘Flesh’, winner of the stunning Booker Prize
Albums
If you only listen to one, do it…
Celeste: Woman of Faces
Out now
Summarize in a sentence A difficult second album for the chart-topping singer, in more ways than one – but her bleak songs end up being stunning.
What our reviewer said “It says a lot about how powerful and beautiful these songs are that they never sound like some kind of imitation: the pace at which they progress works with Celeste’s voice, giving her room to showcase nuance, her control of phrasing and articulation, her ability to gradually build from something close to a whisper to full force and push her voice to a point where she feels it might break, before backing away.” Alexis Petridis
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Further reading How Celeste rekindled her love of music after heartbreak and loss
Choose from the rest
Ahmed [Ahmed]: sky (test)
Out Friday
Summarize in a sentence British free jazz pianist Pat Thomas leads his quartet through a combination of mystical inspiration, rhythmic intensity and improvisational fire.
What our reviewer said Since Ahmed [Ahmed]Since their inception, their collective heat has incorporated abstract improvisation and groove music from around the world: Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, dub, gable, electronics, and the 1990s free improvisation of Derek Bailey, Lol Coxhill and drummer Steve Noble inspired Thomas. John Fordham
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JJJJJerome Ellis: Vesper Sparrow
Out now
Summarize in a sentence The New Yorker poet and multi-instrumentalist crafts a poignant meditation on listening, identity, and freedom.
What our reviewer said “In JJJJJerome Ellis’s magical works, stuttering is a guiding light. The pauses and repetitions spark new life, new ideas, and new possibilities.” Katie Hawthorne
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Schubert 4 hands: Bertrand Chamayo, Liv Ove Andsnes:
Out Thursday
Summarize in a sentence These thoughtful musicians find lyrical intimacy and finely tuned emotional balance in Schubert’s late masterpieces.
What our reviewer said “It is immediately clear from these lovingly researched accounts that they have an emotional synergy.” Clive Paget
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Now on tour…
Richard Ashcroft
Touring as of March 24; Tickets are available
Summarize in a sentence The perpetually sunglasses-wearing singer leads the crowd in a soothing sing-along reminiscent of the final night of a huge prom.
What our reviewer said “Thirty years later, his arsenal of moves – throwing volleys at imaginary enemies and so on – would have alerted emergency services in any other environment. But on stage, they were ridiculously convincing.” Dave Simpson
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Further reading Richard Ashcroft: Why not Sir Liam and Sir Noel?
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