4 h. ago ‘Stole my heart’: why My Best Friend’s Wedding is my feelgood movie

The next in our series of writers sharing their all-time favourite comfort films is a trip back to 1997 with Julia Roberts’s charmingly chaotic anti-heroIf When Harry Met Sally questioned whether men and women can be friends without sex getting in the way, My Best Friend’s Wedding is unequivocal. If your fiance has a female BFF – especially if she has the megawatt smile and mile-long legs of Julia Roberts at her ravishing best – prepare for drama. Even if you’re Cameron Diaz. Which is the precise scenario we’re confronted with at the start of my favourite chaotic caper, which made just under $300m at the global box office when it debuted in 1997, and also stole my heart as a melodramatic 11-year-old.We were truly spoiled for romcoms in the 90s – believe me, I watched them all – but My Best Friend’s Wedding is something special. To watch this PJ Hogan classic (he also directed Muriel’s Wedding) is to sink into a warm bath of nostalgia, complete with brick-sized mobile phones, indoor ...

Politics

7 d. ago ‘Cosy and comforting’: why The Fellowship of the Ring is my feelgood movie

The ongoing series of writers paying tribute to their easiest rewatches continues with an arduous yet immensely satisfying journey When the autumn mists descend and the trees turn from leafy green to russet brown, some people defrost the Gilmore Girls: I defrost Gimli son of Glóin (and the lads). The world needs saving again and I know just the nine capable sets of hands – well, eight if you discount a fool of a Took – to get it done.I have a friend who is loth to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring because she feels bad about setting those noble hobbits off on their journey to Mordor again, knowing the peril and horrors that lie ahead of them. Not me. I love to send them off on their quest two, maybe three times a year, and I rarely let them finish it: not because I yearn for the suffering of tiny little guys, but because I put my own comfort above them. With all due respect to mists and mellow fruitfulness, Fellowship is autumn to me: as cosy and comforting as ...

Politics

1 week ago Princess Beatrice lets her hair down at childhood friend's high society Long Island wedding

Princess Beatrice escaped to New York last weekend to celebrate a close friend's wedding - as her family was plunged into fresh crisis.

Society

1 week ago Taylor Swift insists she 'didn't make Selena Gomez wedding speech about her'

Taylor Swift has opened up about the speech she gave at Selena Gomez's wedding last month, and admitted she couldn't resist teasing her friend about her old fashion choices

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Supremely satisfying’: why Strictly Ballroom is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers explaining their favourite comfort watches is a recommendation of Baz Luhrmann’s irresistible audience hitStuck on the wall above the desk where I write is a Post-it note, which I look at for inspiration whenever I feel that the chapter I’m working on needs some extra oomph. If you’ve seen Strictly Ballroom, Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 directorial debut, the words on it – Scott’s knee-slide – will be immediately and ecstatically familiar. If not, allow me to introduce you to what is, for my money, one of the most purely enjoyable films ever made.Scott Hastings, the son of two retired ballroom dancers who now run a teaching studio, is a future champion. Or he would be, if he didn’t keep deviating from the stiff steps laid down by the Australian Dance Federation’s Barry Fife (a Trumpian ogre in a toupee) and throwing in his own moves. When his dancing partner dumps him after he goes rogue during a competition, Fran, the studio’s wallflower, offers to take o...

Politics

2 w. ago Nicole Scherzinger reveals texts with Liam Payne on the day of his death

NICOLE Scherzinger has revealed her texts with Liam Payne on the day of his death. The former One Direction star 31, fell 45 feet from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, October 16. The pair became friends after she put him in One Direction on the X Factor 16 years ago. But they grew...

Events

2 w. ago Taylor Swift reveals new details about her wedding including the famous pal performing and surprising hen do plans as she promotes The Life Of A Showgirl

The pop star's album dropped at 5am (GMT) and she made lightwork of appearing on several British radio stations in the hours after to discuss her new record.

Politics

2 w. ago You don't think it will happen to you: a deep friendship forged behind Ukraine's frontline

When the war breaks out in Ukraine, Alisa is thrown into a life she wasn't expecting. Working as a translator for foreign journalists she meets British war photographer Anastasia, who chooses not to rush towards the front, instead observing quiet moments of everyday resilience - birthdays, picnics, weddings. A unique friendship forms as the two women strive to collapse the emotional distance between “us” and “them”. Their bond deepens as war wounds them both —transforming this into a poetic meditation on closeness, distance, and what happens when war stops being a story about others. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago You don't think it will happen to you: a deep friendship forged on Ukraine's frontline

When the war breaks out in Ukraine, Alisa is thrown into a life she wasn't expecting. Working as a translator for foreign journalists she meets British war photographer Anastasia, who chooses not to rush towards the front, instead observing quiet moments of everyday resilience - birthdays, picnics, weddings. A unique friendship forms as the two women strive to collapse the emotional distance between “us” and “them”. Their bond deepens as war wounds them both —transforming this into a poetic meditation on closeness, distance, and what happens when war stops being a story about others. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Bride slammed for excluding bridesmaid from wedding snaps over 'cruel' reason

A bride decided to exclude one of her friends from her official wedding photographs, and her reasoning behind it was 'cruel' and 'something she has no control over'

Politics

3 w. ago Missing Brit tourist found dead after being swept out to sea ‘while lifeguard looked at phone’ as family pays tribute

A BRITISH tourist who went missing while swimming in Bali has been found dead two miles offshore as his grieving family and friends pay tributes. Harrison Edward Nada-Kantounas, 23, from East London, vanished while swimming with friends at Legian Beach, Kuta, last Wednesday. He was caught in a powerful rip current and disappeared beneath the...

Events

3 w. ago 'Friend announced she'd slept with my groom and ruined my wedding'

JUST JANE: Today our agony aunt Jane O'Gorman is dealing with a new issue from a Daily Star reader who was left steaming when her mate stood up and hijacked her big day

Politics

3 w. ago Desperate search is launched for missing tourist Harrison Edward Nada Kontounas in Bali after he disappeared at a beach

A British foreign national was swimming with two friends at a Bali beach on Wednesday afternoon when a strong current dragged him away.

Events

4 w. ago ‘Never fails to delight’: why Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is my feelgood movie

The next in our series of writers celebrating their most rewatched comfort films is an ode to the scrappy 2004 music documentaryThe year is 2001. Thrash pioneers and stadium mainstays Metallica have been in the doldrums for half a decade; the grungey, hard rock gristle of their last two records, Load and Reload, and reconfiguration as short-haired, eyeliner-wearing Anton Corbijn muses have alienated them from their headbanger OG fans; inter-band relations are at a low ebb and longtime bassist Jason Newsted has jumped. Meanwhile, the tectonics of the heavy music landscape are shifting around them – the solipsistic dirge of nu-metal now energising the disenfranchised youth of America. It’s time for a rebirth.Regrouping in San Francisco, singer and guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and determinatively named producer Bob Rock hole up in a makeshift studio in the Presidio and set to relocating the old garage-band spark that gave birth to albums as...

Events