66 h. ago Too Much on Netflix review: Lena Dunham loses her generation

Lena Dunham’s first major semi-autobiographical project since HBO’s Girls is hotly anticipated. But does it live up to the hype?

Politics

67 h. ago It’s great to have Lena Dunham’s inimitable voice back on TV, but Too Much feels strangely limited

Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe are terrific in this London-set romcom. If only it were allowed to be a bit messier

Politics

3 d. ago Building the Band on Netflix: this X Factor successor is a fitting tribute to Liam Payne

Nicole Scherzinger and Liam Payne reunite in this fascinating cross between X Factor and Love Is Blind

Culture

3 d. ago Building the Band review – Liam Payne’s controversial final show is the kind of reality TV that made him

Is it ghoulish to posthumously release this singing contest featuring Payne as a judge? Or a moving tribute? Netflix’s mashup of Love is Blind, The Circle and The Voice certainly claims the latterNetflix’s new series is the latest in a long line of TV shows attempting to talent-spot the next big pop phenomenon. It feels as if the format has been dormant for a while, its role as A&R taken over by social media aeons ago. The glory days of American Idol and The X Factor have passed, and while The Voice trundles steadily on, it has been many years since those on-screen machines churned out the stars they were once capable of creating.Building the Band aims to modernise the format by bolting on parts of other reality TV shows. Its wannabe singers perform to other singers, sight-unseen, who then decide whether they’d like to be in a band with each other, by pressing a button, and collecting “likes”. It is Love Is Blind meets The Circle meets The Voice, though mostly, it is The Voice, ...

Culture

9 d. ago The Sandman season two review – Neil Gaiman’s emo drama is so pretentious it ruins everything

The return of the mopey goth hero sees him stroppily shuffle through what could be fantastic adventures as if they are tedious obligations. And some of the dialogue: oof!Morpheus, AKA Dream, AKA the Sandman (Tom Sturridge) might be the immortal overlord of a magical netherworld and the director of all our subconscious visions, but he is not immune to relationship problems. “Ten thousand years ago, I condemned you to hell,” he says to his other half, having sensed that she is annoyed about something. “I think perhaps I should apologise.”Damn right! We’re back in the chilly, clammy grasp of The Sandman, the show that looks at the fantasy genre and says: what if we got rid of nearly all the lush landscapes, epic struggles, pointed political allegories and delicious, disgusting monsters, and replaced them with a moody bloke in a long black coat who goes around annoying everyone in a self-pitying monotone? Season two, part one – the saga concludes with another handful of episodes later t...

Events

1 week ago The Old Guard 2 review – Charlize Theron’s delayed Netflix sequel is an incomplete mess

Five years after the first film came out, a misshapen action fantasy follow-up arrives with a baffling cliffhanger endingEven with our thick-of-Covid desperation for anything that felt big at a time when life felt too small, there was more to The Old Guard than the average churned out Netflix mockbuster. Released in the hell of July 2020, it came with the requisite boxes ticked (big star, international locations, franchisable setup) but felt closer to the real thing than most, proving to be a hit for those eager for escapism, scoring one of the streamer’s biggest launches to date.But like many Netflix films, its cultural impact was negligible, popular for a weekend or three but failing to live on in any notable way after, consumed with speed and forgotten at a similar pace. A sequel was inevitable yet unnecessary, and while one was given a green light at the start of 2021 and started production in 2022, it’s taken another three years to see the light of day. Not only does The Old Gu...

Politics

1 week ago 'Attack On London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers' Netflix Review: Stream It Or Skip It?

'Attack On London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers' Netflix Review: Stream It Or Skip It?  Decider

Events

1 week ago Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers review – finally, Netflix makes a great, serious documentary

Twenty years on, this heart-racing four-part series reconstructs the terror attacks and the vast investigation that followed, without losing sight of the survivors. The detail about the bathtub is astonishingNetflix is not always known for its restraint in the documentary genre, but with its outstanding recent film Grenfell: Uncovered, and now Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, it appears to be finding a new maturity and seriousness in the field. There have been plenty of recent documentaries on the subject of the attacks and the sprawling investigation that followed – no surprise, given that it is the 20th anniversary this week – but there is still real depth to be found here.Over four parts, this thorough series unravels the initial attacks on the London transport system, which killed 52 people and injured more than 700, then follows that febrile month into the failed bombings of 21 July, and then the police shooting of the innocent Jean Charles de Menezes, a day later. Th...

Events

2 w. ago Squid Game Season 3 on Netflix review: a raucous, bloody farewell

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s vision of humanity is a bleak one, but it does make for great television

Events

2 w. ago Squid Game 3 first look review: Netflix's gripping dystopian horror is more sinister than ever

TV Columnist Sara Wallis reviews Squid Game 3, as TV's most stressful show returns to Netflix today for its third and final season...

Events

2 w. ago NICOLA METHVEN 'Grenfell: Uncovered will leave you feeling anguished and make your blood boil'

It's a tough and emotional watch but the 90-minute film shows the full horror of the failings which led to 72 people losing their lives in 2017

Events

2 w. ago Netflix documentary Grenfell: Uncovered branded 'damning' by heartbroken viewers

Viewers are re-living the 2017 inferno and the devastating aftermath in Grenfell: Uncovered as Netflix shines a light on the struggle for justice eight year on from the blaze

Politics

3 w. ago Squid Game: the show’s worst characters are back and they’re as unbelievably wooden as ever

The South Korean smash hit drama that gripped global audiences returns for a final instalment. It’s brutal, cruel and, sadly, brings back the animal-mask wearing VIPs whose season one appearance caused global mockeryLook alive – Squid Game returns this week! There’s still no sign of any squid, which is the kind of false advertising that ruined The Pink Panther. But that’s good, because squid are terrifying. Once, showing off on holiday, I offered to cook for a group of friends. I didn’t speak the language where we were, and ended up leaving the fishmonger with a big bag of tentacles. As I attempted to remove the head, guts, beak and skin of the creatures, their internal sacs burst, coating me in viscous black ink. I suffered an allergic reaction, don’t eat squid any more, and don’t see those friends.Squid Game the TV show (Netflix, Friday 26 June) has proved even more traumatising. Set on a hidden island, the competition pits hundreds of desperate, indebted people aga...

Politics

3 w. ago How many people died in Grenfell Tower fire and who were the victims?

Netflix's documentary Grenfell: Uncovered features interviews from survivors and those who lost loved ones in the tragedy

Events

3 w. ago Grenfell: Uncovered review – heartwrenching account of avoidable tragedy

Bleak, enraging documentary combines firsthand accounts of the disaster with appalling record of official negligenceThe 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London which caused 72 deaths is now the subject of Olaide Sadiq’s heartwrenching and enraging documentary, digging at the causes and movingly interviewing survivors and their families, whose testimony is all but unbearable. At the very least, the film will remind you that when politicians smugly announce they wish to make a bonfire of regulations, they should be taken, under police escort if necessary, and made to stand at the foot of the tower. As for the housing secretary at the time of the tower’s refurbishment, the abysmally arrogant Eric Pickles, he was made a life peer in 2018.With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure. The local council were keen to spruc...

Politics

3 w. ago Netflix’s Grenfell: Uncovered is a raw, urgent film that pulls no punches

The question at the centre of this powerful film is whether we’ve done enough to prevent the catastrophe from repeating itself

Politics

3 w. ago Director of Netflix's Grenfell: Uncovered's personal connection to devastating fire

72 people lost their lives in the tragedy that occured in 2017

Events

3 w. ago Grenfell Uncovered on Netflix review: this litany of failures is rage

Eight years after the disaster, this documentary examines how we got there, to devastating effect

Events

3 w. ago HS2 trains could run slower than expected to cut spiralling costs

HS2 is now expected to open after 2033 as transport secretary Heidi Alexander called its management under the Tories a ‘litany of failure’

Politics

3 w. ago Netflix’s The Waterfront is pure American soap with occasional flashes of grizzly violence

New maritime drama, starring Holt McCallany, is predictable to a fault, but it’s hard not to keep watching

Events