87 m. ago Dust to Dreams review – a baffling short film from director Idris Elba

Toronto film festival: The actor recruits Seal for a Lagos-set 19-minute misfire that inelegantly stuffs in far too muchOn the face of it, there’s a formidable aggregation of talent and media firepower on display in this lively but faintly baffling short film set in Lagos, with an original story credit for its producer, the Nigerian super-producer Mo Abudu; it is written and directed by Idris Elba and stars Seal. Within its 19-minute running time it appears to try summarising the action of an entire 90-minute feature film. There isn’t a moment to really relax and explore any relationship in any satisfying and plausible way; the line-readings are rushed and uncomfortable and, most bewilderingly, Seal doesn’t actually get to sing all that much, although as an actor he has a strong and confident address to the camera.The premise is that Millicent (played by Nse Ikpe-Etim) runs a vibrant and hugely successful club in Lagos, but she is very ill, and the question of who is to inherit this...

Politics

2 h. ago Olivia Attwood turns heads in lavish reunion with ITV stars amid brutal cuts

ITV celebrated its 70th anniversary at London’s Guildhall with stars including Cat Deeley, Olivia Attwood, Susanna Reid, and Ben Shepherd walking the red carpet

Politics

2 h. ago BBC's Breakfast editor 'is cleared after bullying review' amid feud with Naga Munchetty

BBC Breakfast Editor Richard Frediani is said to have been cleared of bad behaviour by broadcaster bosses amid feud with 'furious' Naga Munchetty.

Politics

3 h. ago Task review – Mark Ruffalo’s druggy kidnap drama is so bleak it’s downright manipulative

This box-ticking exercise from the maker of the exceptional Mare of Easttown has bloody shootouts, bags of fentanyl and bodies – but very soon it becomes inescapably boringDo you feel it? There is a ripple in the firmament, a vibration in the foundations, a bracing of the cosmos yes, Mark Ruffalo is preparing to Act again. This time, he stars in crime drama Task, created by Mare of Easttown’s Brad Inglesby, as a former priest turned FBI agent nursing a great sorrow in the suitably grey environs of suburban Philadelphia. Tom Brandis ends every day in a drunken semi-stupor and begins every morning with prayer and a head-dunk into an ice-filled sink. Do you think we might be in for a meditation on guilt, sin and the possibility of redemption? Yes, I wearily agree.So. Brandis is taken off the desk duties he has been assigned since his great sorrow. This is evidently connected to the sentencing hearing for a third-degree murder conviction he is due to attend next week, where his daughter...

Events

3 h. ago Ben Gannon Doak sparks Scotland into life despite dead atmosphere of weird World Cup qualifier – five talking points

No fans and stuffy opposition but it;s mission accomplished for Steve Clarke as maximum points keeps Scots on course

Events

6 h. ago Paramount names former Trump appointee as ombudsman to review ‘complaints of bias’ at CBS News

Kenneth Weinstein was nominated by Trump to serve as ambassador to Japan in 2020.

Politics

6 h. ago Ben Jennings on the DSEI arms fair taking place in London – cartoon

Ben Jennings on the DSEI arms fair taking place in London – cartoon  The Guardian

Politics

7 h. ago Nuremberg review – Russell Crowe’s Göring vs Rami Malek’s psychiatrist in swish yet glib courtroom showdown

Crowe and Malek are hugely watchable but this ultimately fails to deliver an authentic version of eventsIf the Nuremberg trials were political theatre, writer and director James Vanderbilt leans into the spectacle of it. His new movie Nuremberg, about the show put on for the rest of the world to indict Nazi war criminals, is packaged like old-fashioned entertainment. There are movie stars (chiefly Rami Malek and Russell Crowe) with slicked-back hair, trading snappy barbs and self-important monologues in smokey rooms, meanwhile the gravity of the moment tends to be kept at bay. All the bureaucratic and legal speak around fine-tuning an unprecedented process, where one country prosecutes the high command of another, goes down easy in an Aaron Sorkin sort of way. It is riveting when its urgency is defended by an actor as great as Michael Shannon. It is all so watchable, to a fault, especially when dealing with the unspeakable.There’s some rhyme and reason to the director’s approach. Va...

Events

7 h. ago Nuremberg review – Russell Crowe’s Göring v Rami Malek’s psychiatrist in swish yet glib courtroom showdown

Crowe and Malek are hugely watchable but this ultimately fails to deliver an authentic version of events If the Nuremberg trials were political theatre, writer and director James Vanderbilt leans into the spectacle of it. His new movie Nuremberg, about the show put on for the rest of the world to indict Nazi war criminals, is packaged like old-fashioned entertainment. There are movie stars (chiefly Rami Malek and Russell Crowe) with slicked-back hair, trading snappy barbs and self-important monologues in smoky rooms, meanwhile the gravity of the moment tends to be kept at bay. All the bureaucratic and legal speak around fine-tuning an unprecedented process, where one country prosecutes the high command of another, goes down easy in an Aaron Sorkin sort of way. It is riveting when its urgency is defended by an actor as great as Michael Shannon. It is all so watchable, to a fault, especially when dealing with the unspeakable.There’s some rhyme and reason to the director’s approach. Va...

Events

7 h. ago Ballad of a Small Player review – Colin Farrell wins us over in flashy, slight gambler tale

Toronto film festival: Conclave director Edward Berger makes a less cohesive follow-up with an over-stylised adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s novel sold by a killer central performanceIt was easy to understand why Edward Berger’s name was being bandied around in relation to the reinvention of 007, the director having shown himself to be more than capable of both extravagantly staged action (his Oscar-winning breakout All Quiet on the Western Front) and knife-edge intrigue (his Oscar-winning follow-up Conclave). He dismissed speculation at the time (with some mild annoyance) and the job has since landed at the feet of Denis Villeneuve – but his latest, China-set gambling drama Ballad of a Small Player, adds flashy bombast to his résumé and helps to explain why he even though he might have passed on Bond (and recently Ocean’s too), he’s in development on a Bourne.Berger is a canny commercial director, confidently switching between genre, language and location, the kind of able film-ma...

Sport

7 h. ago Memo to the CEO: office romance is also the board’s business

Senior executives should disclose workplace relationships

Economics

7 h. ago Belarus vs Scotland LIVE as Ben Gannon Doak handed chance to run riot from the start

It's the second of the Group C double header for Steve Clarke and his men as they continue the road to next summer's World Cup

Politics

7 h. ago Hamnet review – stately Shakespeare drama with emotionally overwhelming finale

Toronto film festival: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are knockouts in Chloé Zhao’s poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker endingMaggie O’Farrell’s lauded 2020 novel Hamnet is a dense and lyrical imagining of the lives of William Shakespeare’s family, full of interior thought and lush descriptions of the physical world. It would seem, upon reading, near impossible to adapt into a film. Or, at least, a film worthy of O’Farrell’s so finely woven sensory spell. Film-maker Chloé Zhao has attempted to do so anyway, and the result is a stately, occasionally lugubrious drama whose closing minutes are among the most poignant in recent memory.Zhao is a good fit for the material. She, too, is a close observer of nature and of the many aching, yearning people passing through it. But she has previously not made anything as traditionally tailored and refined as this. The humbler dimensions of her films The Rider and Nomadland are missed here; Hamnet too o...

Events

7 h. ago Hamnet review – Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal excel in stately Shakespeare drama with overwhelming finale

Toronto film festival: The two stars are knockouts in Chloé Zhao’s poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker endingMaggie O’Farrell’s lauded 2020 novel Hamnet is a dense and lyrical imagining of the lives of William Shakespeare’s family, full of interior thought and lush descriptions of the physical world. It would seem, upon reading, near impossible to adapt into a film. Or, at least, a film worthy of O’Farrell’s so finely woven sensory spell. Film-maker Chloé Zhao has attempted to do so anyway, and the result is a stately, occasionally lugubrious drama whose closing minutes are among the most poignant in recent memory.Zhao is a good fit for the material. She, too, is a close observer of nature and of the many aching, yearning people passing through it. But she has previously not made anything as traditionally tailored and refined as this. The humbler dimensions of her films The Rider and Nomadland are missed here; Hamnet too often gives off th...

Events

8 h. ago Trump cheers West Point for ‘smartly’ cancelling awards ceremony for ‘WOKE’ Tom Hanks

‘Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice,’ the president exclaimed on social media.

Politics

8 h. ago Scholes CA announces major expansion to become Scotland’s leading accountancy practice in Shetland

Today Scholes Chartered Accountants (CA) announces the acquisition of RSM UK’s Lerwick team to become Scotland’s largest accounting firm in Shetland.

Politics

8 h. ago Call for volunteers to relaunch West Lothian community food store

The Livingston neighbourhood of Ladywell lost its community project, which provided low cost food to locals early on last year .

Politics

9 h. ago 'I'm a beauty editor and this is the 2025 advent calendar worth the hype'

I've seen dozens of advent calendars over the years but Liberty London's 2025 one might just top them all – here's why

Politics

9 h. ago De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review: Despite its stunning design and good coffee, there's nothing special about the Specialista

The La Specialista Touch is Delonghi's smallest bean-to-cup coffee machine to date. It's packed with a lot of useful features including a 'bean adapt' function for the perfect espresso.

Politics

9 h. ago PIP review DWP update on unpaid carers and veterans as minister issues statement

The Timms review will determine the future of Personal Independence Payments

Politics