8 h. ago Ariana Grande contracts Covid during Wicked: For Good press tour

Oscar-nominated star of two-part musical forced to cancel press stops as film is predicted to deliver year’s biggest box office openingAriana Grande has tested positive for Covid amid the whirlwind press tour for Wicked: For Good, precluding some promotional appearances in New York.The Grammy award winner and Oscar nominee posted an Instagram story on Thursday captioned “moments before Covid” along with a photo from her appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon from earlier this week. Grande, who plays Galinda/Glinda in the second part of Jon M Chu’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, will reportedly miss a few upcoming press appearances, including a slot on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago Call The Midwife Christmas special under threat as wild weather hits filming

Stars of Call The Midwife struggled to cope while filming the show's Christmas special in Hong Kong. They had to wear lots of layers in balmy temperatures

Events

9 h. ago Call The Midwife Christmas special hit by chaotic scenes as wild weather arrives

Stars of Call The Midwife struggled to cope while filming the show's Christmas special in Hong Kong. They had to wear lots of layers in balmy temperatures

Events

13 h. ago Netflix's Champagne Problems star Minka Kelly's past roles and famous boyfriend

Netflix's new Christmas film Champagne Problems has been a huge hit with viewers, who have been taking to social media to share their love for the romcom.

Politics

13 h. ago Liars by Sarah Manguso audiobook review – livid tale of marriage gone awry

Rebecca Lowman narrates a superb, claustrophobia-inducing plunge into a relationship descending from bad to worseHalfway through Liars, the story of a new relationship that becomes a marriage, our protagonist, Jane, is asked by a neighbour: “Why are you with him?” It’s a question that has been on the listener’s mind for some time.Jane’s partner, John, lies about his feelings, his financial status, where he is going and where he has been. He is chaotic, lazy, resentful, entitled and given to getting drunk and spending money he hasn’t got. At the start of their marriage, Jane’s career as a writer and academic is on the up, while John – a visual artist and aspiring film-maker – has hit a professional wall. Time and time again, he insists they move cities for better work opportunities, which soon puts a spanner in his wife’s working life. It comes as no surprise that, after their son is born, Jane is left to do the parenting while her husband absents himself from his responsibilities.Av...

Politics

22 h. ago What time is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on TV? How to watch classic film as new series hits Amazon Prime

The 1991 box office smash is back on TV this weekend 📺

Politics

62 h. ago North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s funniest, most ambitious film

Every scene in Cary Grant’s mistaken identity caper is pure absurdity – including that famous cornfield chase. You can’t look awayImagine: you’re a handsome and relatively successful ad man in idyllic 50s New York. You’re having a delicious mid-afternoon snack in the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which presumably cost all of $2.50, when suddenly you are abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint by two polite and well-dressed men. You don’t put up a fight. You merely walk with them to their car, trying to object in the only way you know how: asking nicely for them to stop. The kidnappers are gleeful; they’ve finally captured you, George Kaplan. That’s not your name, you exclaim, you’re Roger Thornhill! They must have the wrong man!Thus begins Hitchcock’s funniest, most ridiculous and visually ambitious film, North by Northwest. All the hallmarks of a Hitchcock classic are here: Cary Grant as the leading man, a completely inexplicable MacGuffin (who is George Kaplan anyway? And more importan...

Events

65 h. ago Bone Lake review – holiday rental house of horror is fun for everyone

You don’t need to be a fright flick aficionado to enjoy this smart and witty tale of a romantic weekend break going gruesomely wrongIt is certainly unusual to see in closeup an arrow fired into a naked scrotum before the title of a film has even been shown, but this is that rare film. The scrotum in question belongs to a man fleeing unclothed through the woods from an unseen assailant, together with an equally naked female companion who also comes swiftly to a sticky end. As opening salvoes go, it hits the spot, as it were.Then the film proper begins. A couple arrive at a bougie rental home only to find themselves facing the ultimate millennial nightmare: you’ve shelled out your hand-earned cash on a place for the weekend but find another couple have also booked it. This is the problem of listings on multiple platforms! Or is something more sinister going on? (If the ballsack shish kebab didn’t tip you off, another clue lies in the fact that the movie is called Bone Lake, not Airbnb...

Society

3 d. ago The flop that finally flew: why did it take 40 years for Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along to soar?

Its 1981 New York premiere was a disaster but this told-in-reverse musical became a Tony award-winning hit with Daniel Radcliffe. The film version is a tear-jerking joyI have made enough mistakes as a critic to feel mildly chuffed when a verdict is vindicated. In 1981 I wrote excitedly about a new Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along, that I had seen in preview in New York; reviled by reviewers and shunned by the public, it then closed two weeks after opening. In 2023-24 the very same musical ran for a year on Broadway, won four Tony awards and was hailed by the critics. Fortunately a live performance of that Maria Friedman production was filmed and I would urge you to catch it when it’s released in cinemas next month.I say “the very same musical” but that is not strictly accurate. Based on a 1934 play by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, it is still the same story, told in reverse chronological order, of dissolving relationships: a success-worshipping composer and movie pr...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘It’s important that we tell our own stories’: how the Wicked movies are helping disability representation on screen

Marissa Bode is the first disabled actor to play Nessarose, a key character in the stage turned film franchise – but has had to respond to online abuseDisabled actor Marissa Bode, who plays the prominent role of Nessarose Thropp in the hit film musical Wicked and its forthcoming sequel Wicked: For Good, has called for improved representation for disabled performers in the entertainment industry – and specifically an end to what activists call “cripping up” – casting non-disabled actors in disabled character roles.“I really hope my casting sets precedent,” says Bode, adding: “It’s just navigating a world and a system that we have just not been acknowledged in as we should be.” A recent study by the Rudderman Family Foundation found that only 21% of disabled characters on US TV between 2016 and 2023 were played by disabled actors. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago I burned through a lot living large after Trainspotting took off, says IRVINE WELSH

Welsh is the writer best known for his 1993 novel, which has sold a million copies in the UK alone and was turned into a hit film starring Ewan McGregor.

Events

5 d. ago PETER HITCHENS: Why is the BBC backing a bitter, biased film that paints British troops as little better than Nazis?

It is shocking, to a British patriot, to learn of some of the unquestioned atrocities which were committed by British troops in Palestine in the 1930s. But the drama itself omits some important things too.

Events

5 d. ago Teenager who fatally hit pensioner filmed himself speeding one

Video showing a teenager filming himself driving one-handed at 80mph in a 30mph zone has been released by police after he was jailed for causing death by dangerous driving.

Events

6 d. ago Beatles biopics 'banned from filming at iconic Abbey Road by council' as production gets underway

The Beatles' new biopics have hit a major stumbling block as filmmakers have reportedly been banned from shooting on the iconic Abbey Road.

Events

7 d. ago The year of Disney comebacks: As Hilary Duff becomes latest teen star to revive her career how the channel's beloved actors overcame addiction, arrests, bitter divorce and family feuds

They were the stars of our childhood, responsible for bringing to life the hit films, TV shows and catchy tunes of the Disney Channel during the mid 2000s. 

Events

9 d. ago Celebrity Traitors star Charlotte Church's teenage son makes acting debut in BBC film as he abandons following in his dad's footsteps by playing rugby to 'try something different'

Dexter Henson, who the singer shares with Welsh rugby legend Gavin, was part of the cast of short film Waiting for Burton, which hit screens on Monday night.

Culture

9 d. ago Charlotte Crosby faces 'tough' relationship crisis with fiancé Jake before wedding

EXCLUSIVE: Charlotte Crosby has opened up about hitting a rough patch with her fiancé Jake Ankers while filming her new Paramount+ reality show and planning her dream wedding

Events

1 week ago Three Men and a Baby star who also appeared in Blake Lively's hit film steps out in LA... can you guess who?

This leading lady, 64, portrayed the mother to the titular child opposite Tom Selleck in both the 1987 film and its 1990 sequel, Three Men And A Little Lady.

Events

1 week ago 'Monster' paedophile who filmed himself abusing kids hit with lengthy sentence

Child sex offender Connor Wright, of Middlesbrough, has been handed an extended prison sentence - this is a breaking news story

Events

1 week ago Elizabeth Olsen believes she will die old and alone in a foggy English coastal town. Here are her options

While promoting new film Eternity, the actor outlined a specific end-of-life scenario that should be cold, wet and include one cheese shopOver the last few years, the promotional circuit for movie stars has transformed entirely. Where once you could expect sit-down interviews and hagiographic magazine profiles, now any time an actor makes a film they have to be subjected to a flurry of YouTube parlour games; eating weird sweets and trying to remember lines from their old films or, in the case of Hot Ones, willingly giving themselves diarrhoea.Now the goalposts have shifted again. Elizabeth Olsen was recently at the premiere of her new movie Eternity, about a woman who has to pick a partner for the afterlife. And rather than hitting the usual circuit, Olsen has decided to promote the film by expressing her belief that she’s going to die alone.When I was in high school, I dreamt of being a very old lady on the coast of England, alone actually. I might have had an animal, and it would ...

Events