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📂 Category: Culture,Television,Film,Books,Music
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television
If you only watch one, do it…
Strange things
Netflix
Summarize in a sentence The stunning sci-fi series returns to chronicle the Hawkins’ residents’ epic final battle with the forces of Vecna from the Upside Down.
What our reviewer said “With each of the four episodes continuing on from the previous one, we have a five-hour horror, action and comedy film, where each part of the story is sumptuously extended. Jack Seale
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Further reading ‘It’s time for it to end’: Stranger Things stars talk about their epic final season
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Toxic water
BBC iPlayer
Summarize in a sentence A documentary about the people of Cornwall in the 1980s whose tap water caused Britain’s largest mass poisoning – and their painful fight for justice.
What our reviewer said “Stepping back from the events four decades casts them in a different light. There are enough new interviews here – with residents, experts and politicians – to bring the whole matter startlingly and disconcertingly into the present.” Hannah J. Davis
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Beatles Anthology
Disney+
Summarize in a sentence The 1990s Beatles docuseries has been digitally enhanced and re-released along with a bonus episode.
What our reviewer said “Essentially The World at War but about the band that made Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, The Beatles Anthology is a meticulously assembled collection of all available footage of the Beatles, interspersed with contemporary interviews apparently conducted over a period long enough to include a dizzying array of facial hair (George Harrison), haircuts (Ringo Starr), and hair dyes (Paul McCartney).” Stuart Heritage
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Further reading Stuart Maconie on why our opinions about the Beatles changed
Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember
Disney+
Summarize in a sentence The movie star embarks on a heartbreaking journey with his father through the haunts of his childhood – in an attempt to slow his father’s dementia.
What our reviewer said “Not just a program about Chris’s horror at losing his father today, but a poignant treatise on his grief at having left, as every adult does, the person his father used to be, the person who gave him his childhood.” Jack Seale
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Maybe she was gone…
Fraud
ITVX
Summarize in a sentence Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker give stunning performances as the ladies of the bride bent on one last function.
What our reviewer said “You get all the satisfaction of a Thomas Crown Affair-ish adventure — executed with no shortage of verve and a wonderful willingness to skate through the rampant absurdities — plus a charmingly complex portrait of friendship.” Lucy Mangan
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film
If you only watch one, do it…
Blue moon
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence Ethan Hawke plays lyricist Lorenz Hart as he descends into despair after his breakup with Richard Rodgers in Richard Linklater’s Broadway breakup drama.
What our reviewer said “The film tells us something that is rarely touched upon in films: the terrible intersection between professional failure and romantic failure. And yet, on some level, Hart realizes that what he has achieved will endure. It is a wonderful performance from Hawke.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater on Blue Moon and their 32-year friendship
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one billion
In cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling play unlikely lovers in a BDSM biker romance based on the novel Box Hill by Adam Mars Jones.
What our reviewer said “Debut feature director Harry Layton has created something funny, poignant and unsettling – like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland with perhaps a sliver of what might be called a BDSM Wallace and Gromit.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading ‘I think my mom will like it’: Alexander Skarsgård talks gay biker ‘dom-com’ Pillion
Dead Man’s Wake: A Knives Mystery
In cinemas now; Netflix as of December 12th
Summarize in a sentence Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc in the latest murder mystery film Knives Out, with a religious undertone and a strong cast including Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin.
What our reviewer said “As with the previous two Knives Out films, the enjoyment, for me, is most intense before the actual murder itself, when we see the characters dueling and a spark ignited unencumbered by murder and suspicion.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading Glenn Close talks about growing up in a cult, his anti-Trump rally — and his misfortune in love
Project Zodiac Killer
In select cinemas now
Summarize in a sentence Charlie Shackleton’s would-be film about a 1970s serial killer is turning into a critique of true crime after the original documentary was cancelled.
What our reviewer said “If Laurence Sterne were to make a true-crime documentary, it would resemble the exasperatingly personal, sometimes understated, but also often entertaining and somewhat insightful, work of British director Shackleton.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading How my failed attempt at making a Zodiac Killer movie took me into the dark heart of true crime
Streaming now
Dracula
Digitally as of December 1
Summarize in a sentence Another film version of Bram Stoker’s story, directed by Luc Besson and starring Caleb Landry Jones as the undead Count and Christoph Waltz as his hunter.
What our reviewer said “Besson’s lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and skill – and in all its hammerhead cheese, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer it to Robert Eggers’ recent, elegant version of Nosferatu.” Peter Bradshaw
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books
If you only read one, do it.
Night School by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Martin Aitken
Reviewed by Charles Arrowsmith
Summarize in a sentence The latest installment in the Norwegian author’s sprawling series on supernatural existentialism.
What our reviewer said “As in the first three books, the author’s philosophical preoccupation with death is constant, expressed through the tension between instinctive materialism and the haunting possibility of something beyond understanding.”
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Further reading Karl Ove Knausgaard talks about the repercussions of My Struggle and the dark side of ambition
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Holbein: Master of the Renaissance by Elizabeth Goldring
Reviewed by Catherine Hughes
Summarize in a sentence A fine portrait of a Tudor court painter.
What our reviewer said “His great achievement was to bring before us the living men and women who conspired, suffered, innovated and triumphed during the most terrifying decades in English history.”
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Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly
Reviewed by Natasha Walter
Summarize in a sentence Dr. Asperger’s morals in World War II in Vienna as seen by a mute autistic girl.
What our reviewer said “This is a book that walks a tightrope between emotion and honesty, between realism and fantasy, and creates something vivid and memorable while doing so.”
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Further reading How could Hans Asperger collaborate with the Nazis?
Swamp People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Holly Starling
Reviewed by Catriona Ward
Summarize in a sentence Dark tales of English myth and magic from 10 prominent authors.
What our reviewer said “Human relationships are not always what are most important here. The writers and their heroes speak to the past, to the land, and to the polarizing and sometimes toxic nature of national identity.”
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Further reading “It’s Insanely Evil”: Horror writers about the scariest stories they’ve ever read
Maybe she was gone…
Artist Lucy Steeds
Reviewed by Christobel Kent
Summarize in a sentence This year’s Waterstones book sees a young English journalist enter the home of a secluded artist in post-war Provence.
What our reviewer said “A seductive blend of romance, mystery, and poetry, the artist also offers a thoughtful interrogation of the value of art: to open windows into human existence, to push against boundaries, and to bring freedom, perspective, and light.
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Further reading Artist Lucy Steeds wins the Waterstones Book of the Year award
Albums
If you only listen to one, do it…
Durruti Column: The return of Durruti Column
Out now
Summarize in a sentence A deluxe reissue of the band’s debut album, whose meticulous experimentation was ahead of its time in the early 1980s.
What our reviewer said “The particular circumstances surrounding its creation – people experimenting for their own sake, rather than creating an album for public consumption – may have helped shape its distinctly deceptive atmosphere.” Alexis Petridis
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HTRK: Chain of Hearts (HTRK Songs)
Out now
Summarize in a sentence Sharon Van Etten, Stephen O’Malley, Perrella and more turn the veteran duo’s sensual, melancholy songs into an album of covers and remixes.
What our reviewer said This brilliant, genre-agnostic record allows you to trace the breadth of the Melbourne band’s shifting sound, echoes of which can now be found throughout underground and commercial music, without relying too heavily on nostalgia. net bugle
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Further reading HTRK Turn 21: “Whenever I met the fans, I could tell they were a little shocked that I wasn’t Mr. Goth”
Tognetti/Australian Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven and Brahms – Violin Concerto
Out now
Summarize in a sentence This 50th anniversary live recording of two great concerts is a wonderful souvenir of a great group.
What our reviewer said “Even if these performances don’t rival the best of countless other releases on the disc, they are utterly compelling.” Andrew Clements
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Iconica: Sad
Out now
Summarize in a sentence The dancefloor producer weaves seductive, steely lyrics with his trademark production in a compelling embrace of pop music.
What our reviewer said “Listening to a sad song is a bit like reading someone’s diary, full of earnest midnight thoughts and raw desire. Her mission statement arrives early on: ‘Are you even listening?’ Listen to your heart.” Shad D’Souza
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Now on tour…
Bee hives
Alexandra Palace, London, November 29
Summarize in a sentence Twenty-five years after their first UK tour, the Swedish band are still at their best.
What our reviewer said “Pulling 10 tracks from their recent LPs, what’s revealing is just how powerful their new material is live. As cartoonish as it can be, it’s clear that Hives are hungry to prove themselves again rather than settle into the numbing comfort of nostalgia.” Dave Simpson
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