8 h. ago Dreaming of You: The Making of the Coral review – the charming rise of the melodic noughties band

Lo-fi animation mixed with archive footage and home movies tell the story of a group of talented young mates from the Wirral with an eccentric, unpretentious charm Remember the Coral? These youthful rockers brightened up the early 00s music scene with their melodic mix of 60s Merseybeat and off-kilter psychedelia, before seemingly melting back into obscurity. In truth, they’re not really prime rockumentary material – they were never particularly huge in terms of either popularity or personal drama – but this film playfully captures the spirit of a bunch of talented young mates who just wanted to play in a band, and got their wish.Founding members James Skelly, his brother Ian, Paul Duffy, Bill Ryder-Jones and Lee Southall were all working-class kids growing up on the Wirral, between Liverpool and Wales, goofing around, living in their own world. “Probably the first incarnation of the band was a ghost-hunting business,” says Skelly. By their teens, they were playing guitars, smoking ...

Politics

7 d. ago Blue are BACK! Noughties boy band announce comeback 25 years after forming

 Blue have announced their comeback.

Politics

3 w. ago The Regulars review – charming and funny workplace comedy at a the Prince Charles cinema

Fil Freitas’s at times hilarious black-and-white film follows staff and punters at London’s film landmark through a day on shift‘More than just a cheap ticket,” it says on the marquee above the Prince Charles in London’s Leicester Square – a cinema beloved for showing cult films, sing-alongs and all-night movie marathons. The Prince Charles is a favourite of Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, and when news emerged it was threatened with closure earlier this year, more than 165,000 people signed a petition. Now comes a black-and-white movie, a work-based comedy following a fictionalised day in the life of the Prince Charles, shot by Fil Freitas, whose day job is duty manager at the cinema.On paper, that sounds annoyingly smug and self-conscious. But The Regulars turns out to be sweet and charming, and absolutely hilarious in places, with the easygoing, natural feel of a Richard Linklater film. Freitas shot the whole thing for £6,000, filming at night, when the cinema was closed...

Politics

4 w. ago Noughties rock band 'devastated' as they're forced to cancel UK tour just a day before it starts as they issue apology to fans

A noughties American rock band have issued an apology to fans after being forced to cancel their UK tour just a day before it starts.

Politics

4 w. ago Entitled by Andrew Lownie review: From Prince Charming to the duke of disgrace

Two minor royals with major appetites, brought down by greed and flawed character

Politics

4 w. ago Materialists review – Dakota Johnson torn between Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans in charming romcom

Johnson plays a matchmaker who has to choose between wealthy new suitor Pascal and broke ex Evans, but the outcome feels a little undramaticSay you are a single woman in New York and you are, in the words of the song, torn between two lovers: two handsome, intelligent, nice guys – one very poor and one very rich. All things being equal, who do you go for? The answer in real life is very different, in fact diametrically opposed, to the answer in a film. Few movie heroines have the candour of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, who admitted to falling in love with Mr Darcy on seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.But this is the choice, which never quite ascends to the state of a dilemma, in this charming and watchable – yet for me somehow anticlimactic – romantic comedy-drama from South Korean-Canadian film-maker Celine Song: a love-triangle confection to follow the much realer, truer love triangle of Song’s much acclaimed debut Past Lives. When the decision is...

Politics