Will our Christmas dinner guests soon be AI chatbots? December 2, 2024 Glad tidings of comfort and joy! Christmas has traditionally been a time for congregating with your fellow homo sapiens – but play nice over the turkey and sprouts this year: it could be one of the last where unmediated human interaction is still the norm. We’re about to enter a world in which AI bots [...]
Social medium: Why Gen Z turned to Tiktok tarot readers December 2, 2024 My demographic – middle class, urban, Western Gen Zers – are the least likely of all generations to say they have a religion, according to a Policy Institute study in 2022 (though paradoxically they are also the most likely to say they believe in hell). So it is perhaps surprising that they are behind a [...]
Moana 2 can’t quite recapture the magic of the original November 28, 2024 Eight years ago, Moana found box office success thanks to a rich and heartfelt story grounded in Polynesian culture, combined with catchy tunes. A lot has happened in the film industry since then, but Disney will be hoping to capture the same excitement from audiences with Moana 2. Set years after the events of the [...]
Beatles ’64: Scorsese tackles the band’s Beatlemania moment November 28, 2024 Producer Martin Scorsese and Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films bring to life perhaps the biggest moment in pop music history. Beatles ’64 is the story of John, Paul, George and Ringo arriving in America for the first time for a fortnight of performances and press, a phenomenon that was referred to as Beatlemania. Told mainly through [...]
Conclave review: Ralph Fiennes shines in Papal drama November 27, 2024 Religious films rarely make the top of the box office, but they do occasionally catch the eye of Oscar. Although they have differing takes on faith, The Exorcist, 2008 drama Doubt, and 2016 Best Picture winner Spotlight are among those who have found awards success through stories involving the Church. Edward Berger, already an Academy [...]
The best pantos in London 2024-2025, from Robin Hood to Aladdin November 27, 2024 We’re well into the festive season now and that means it’s time to book your annual panto – here are the best London has to offer. Robin Hood, Palladium If you see one panto this year – or any year to be quite honest with you – it should be this camp as Christmas extravaganza [...]
Bread and Roses: Jennifer Lawrence doc is a troubling success November 22, 2024 Produced by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, Bread and Roses is a documentary that captures a modern crisis happening right now. It analyses modern Afghanistan, and the effects of the 2021 offensive that saw The Taliban seize control. The film focuses on the effect it has had on women, whose rights to work, education, and privacy [...]
Wicked film review: Ariana Grande helps this musical really fly November 22, 2024 More than two decades after the production was first staged, Wicked makes it to the big screen in the first of a two-part adaptation. Arriving on a tornado of publicity, expectations are high for the Broadway favourite, but can it be just as popular on film? For the uninitiated, Wicked presents an alternative history behind [...]
Silent Hill 2 is back and it’s more horrible than ever November 14, 2024 Meet me at our special place,” reads the cryptic note from protagonist James’ dead wife. That special place is Silent Hill, a Maine town lifted from the Stephen King playbook that may once have been picturesque but is now a festering slum shrouded in deathly fog. Passing through the miasma, you can just about make [...]
Emilia Perez is an early tip for all the top awards October 25, 2024 As we approach awards season, Emilia Perez, the new film from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, The Sisters Brothers), will hope its joyful and jagged tale rightly captures the imagination of judges. Set in Mexico City, Zoe Saldaña plays Rita, a brilliant but frustrated lawyer working to keep the guilty from prison. Feared cartel leader [...]