2 h. ago Waitrose Christmas advert 2025 review: Keira Knightley stars in spectacularly cringe festive rom

What’s more Christmassy than going full Love Actually for your festive ad?

Politics

23 h. ago Under the Stars review – picturesque Italian setting is backdrop for AI prompt of a romcom

The tale of two strangers finding love ticks all the right boxes – including big-name support in Toni Collette and Andy Garcia – yet feels clunky and unconvincingAnyone who thinks it’s easy to make a romcom should take a look at this. It has all the ingredients: good-looking leads (Alex Pettyfer, Eva De Dominici), picturesque locations (the film is mainly set in Puglia, and benefits from funding from the region), lightly comic music underlining the scenes, charismatic veterans in supporting roles (“with Toni Collette and Andy Garcia”), transparently engineered third-act jeopardy, and so on and so forth. But like a failed soufflé on Bake Off, it never rises to the necessary level.Pettyfer plays the hero, a romance novelist named Ian. (Yes, Ian. The sitcom Peep Show made great capital out of the ludicrousness of naming a baby Ian in the 21st century. Without wishing to do down the name, it’s an odd choice and speaks to a wider tone-deafness in the script.) In fact the plotline for Und...

Politics

43 h. ago Sister of footballer JLloyd Samuel to challenge rejection of complaint into  star's death crash investigation

The sister of former Aston Villa and England U21 footballer JLloyd Samuel is challenging a review of the investigation into his death in a fireball car crash.

Events

3 d. ago Inside Peter Andre's luxury holiday with Princess and Junior as he returns to Cypriot hotel where he filmed The Sunshine Murders

The 52-year-old singer spent weeks filming against the striking backdrop of Pathos, Cyprus for the TV series, which is set at the 5-star Constantinou Bros Asimina Suites Hotel.

Politics

5 d. ago Giving a review zero stars sets a dreadful precedent. But here are the one

A singularly horrendous TV show has crashed the star-rating review economy. But if zero stars is the new benchmark for critical rage, three films deserve the big 0 Kim Kardashian’s world-historically horrendous TV show All’s Fair has detonated a firestorm of critical horror which, as well as everything else, may have undermined the currency of the star-rating review economy. My colleague Lucy Mangan gave Kardashian’s show an all-but-unprecedented zero stars and zero stars are in fact very rare on this paper.Yet perhaps in the post-Kardashian world they will become more commonplace. I actually have the distinction of giving the first zero star review in the Guardian’s history — for Cuba Gooding’s terrible comedy Boat Trip back in 2002. But it’s weird. There have been worse films than that which didn’t get zeroed. Not many. But some. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Jiffy: WRU are right about three teams but I have no confidence in bosses

Wales are set to start another international campaign against a backdrop of off-field uncertainty, with the number of Welsh regions set to be cut to three

Politics

6 d. ago Is Kim Kardashian’s legal drama All’s Fair really the worst TV show of all time?

Ryan Murphy’s glossy, star-packed new show has received some of the most shocking reviews we’ve seen for a long time, including many zero star takesIf you get a secret thrill from reading bad reviews, this week has basically been your Christmas. This is when the embargo dropped for Ryan Murphy’s new Kim Kardashian-starring Hulu legal drama All’s Fair, and hoo boy. Lucy Mangan’s zero-star extravaganza was a classic of the form, starting with the line “I did not know it was still possible to make television this bad,” and only getting more despairing from there.But then something incredible happened. More All’s Fair reviews started popping up, and they were just as scathing. Every last one of them, without exception, absolutely hated it. In his zero-star review, The Times’s Ben Dowell observed that the show felt like it had been written “by a toddler who couldn’t write ‘bum’ on a wall.” USA Today’s Kelly Lawler wrote: “It’s so stilted, artificial and awkward not even a glass of wine a...

Events

6 d. ago Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling audiobook review – an all

Cush Jumbo, Hugh Laurie and Matthew Macfadyen bring extra twinkle to Rowling’s magical taleIt has become tradition for Audible to bring out the big guns in the run-up to Christmas and deliver star-studded adaptations of well-known novels; the last few years have brought terrific productions of Dickens’s Oliver Twist, Bleak House and David Copperfield.Now attention has turned to younger listeners with a new, full-cast recording of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first of the Potter books in which the orphaned Harry, consigned to sleep in a cupboard in his aunt and uncle’s house, learns he is a wizard and is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Good Wife’s Cush Jumbo is our narrator, steering the story alongside a cast including Hugh Laurie as venerable wizard-in-chief Albus Dumbledore; Michelle Gomez as Professor McGonagall; Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape; Mark Addy as Hagrid; Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort; and newcomers Frankie Tre...

Politics

6 d. ago I travelled on the new Star Princess cruise and fell in love with its stellar design

On the latest offering from Princess Cruises, Marc Shoffman was dazzled by expansive panoramas and immersive performances

Politics

7 d. ago Predator: Badlands review – a pointless but unkillable franchise that has started to eat itself

The toothy villain is humanised and made sympathetic in this disappointing horror sci-fi – at which point it ceases to be the Predator There is disappointment in store for those hoping the Terrence Malick classic Badlands had been rebooted as a horror sci-fi, with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek menaced by a great big space alien with a peculiar mouth. No: this is actually the umpteenth iteration of the Predator franchise, which has a roach-like unkillability itself, having started in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger facing an extraterrestrial creature rustling and snarling in the Central American jungle.Predator: Badlands is just about kept from flatlining by Elle Fanning’s effortless charm, though it shows what happens when the Predator in question must, in the service of narrative development, be humanised and made sympathetic and vulnerable and kinda nice? What happens is that it ceases to be the Predator, so something or someone else has inevitably to fill the Predator role. Conti...

Events

7 d. ago Benson Boone review: Star shows his incredible vocal range as he flies at O2

The Beautiful Things crooner blew the roof off The O2 Arena with a performance full of stunts, vocal tricks and banter - here's exactly what the Daily Star though

Politics

1 week ago Labour struggles to contain fresh NHS strike threats as unions dismiss 2.5% pay rise... despite ministers warning taxpayers can't afford more

The government's evidence to the NHS pay review body has delivered a stark warning that any increase above that level next year could force cuts to services and staff.

Events

1 week ago Skechers that are 'as comfy as slippers from first wear' get 44% discount on Amazon

Over 4,400 shoppers have left these Skechers a glowing five-star review on Amazon.

Politics

1 week ago Violent protests erupt as Tanzanian president nears election victory

Government critics abducted, killed or arrested in run-up to vote as global monitor records internet blackoutViolent demonstrations broke out in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, as the country held an election on Wednesday.Samia Suluhu Hassan, the president, looked set to strengthen her grip on the country against the backdrop of rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of opponents from the presidential contest. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago NBA memo reveals league concerned about its integrity amid gambling allegations

Memo comes after arrests of two prominent figuresBetting has caused issues across US sportsThe NBA, in reaction to the arrests of Miami guard Terry Rozier and Portland coach Chauncey Billups last week for their alleged role in gambling schemes, has started a review of how the league can protect not just the integrity of the game but its players and coaches as well.The league made those revelations in a memo sent to all 30 teams, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Pressure piles on BBC to cut ties with Louis Theroux as British Airways ends support for his podcast over controversial interview with Bob Vylan singer

The BBC is under pressure to 'review one of its biggest stars' after British Airways pulled its support for Louis Theroux's podcast over platforming Bob Vylan 's lead singer.

Events

3 w. ago I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan review – startling stories of China’s new precarity

The viral blog turned book details the exhausting life of a courier, but something may have been lost in translationFrom the early 2000s until the Covid lockdowns, Hu Anyan was one of China’s vast army of internal migrants, moving between cities in pursuit of work. He did 19 jobs – shop assistant, hotel waiter, petrol attendant and security guard, among other things – in six cities. Although all these jobs were atrociously paid, they still earned him more than the one he tried for two years in the middle of this period: writer. (An 8,000-word story earned him less than 300 yuan – about £30.) Then, during Covid, he wrote a blog about his night shifts in a logistics warehouse, and it went viral. The blog expanded and became I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, which has sold nearly 2m copies in China since being published in 2023, and now appears in Jack Hargreaves’s English translation.The low-paid Chinese worker is at the mercy of an entirely unrestrained market. The jobs Hu does dema...

Politics

3 w. ago 100 Nights of Hero review – Emma Corrin leads starry cast in a queer fable with a serious streak

London film festival: Gender, sexuality, status and power are all in flux in Julia Jackman’s playful medieval fairytale, adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel, also starring Maika Monroe and Charli xcxJulia Jackman has followed Bonus Track with this queer fantasy-fable that has a streak of earnestness to go with the romantasy energy and gorgeous costumes from designer Susie Coulthard. It’s adapted by Jackman from Isabel Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel of the same title, and inspired generally by Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights – and also I think by Julie Dash, Peter Greenaway and maybe the theatricality of Agnès Varda’s One Hundred and One Nights. Emma Corrin and Maika Monroe star, with Nicholas Galitzine and Amir El-Masry in support; Charli xcx makes an appearance, and there’s also a tiny intriguing cameo for critic Sophie Monks Kaufman. It adds up to a likable movie, a little fey but unexpectedly subtle – although the meta-level of storytelling sometimes ha...

Politics

3 w. ago La Fille mal gardée at the Royal Ballet review: a real live pony on stage? Five stars!

This 1960s ballet from Frederick Ashton is endearingly bucolic

Politics

3 w. ago Wilfred Buck review – rewarding life of Indigenous American astronomer laid out in the stars

This hybrid documentary about the Cree astronomer offers evocative, poetic insight into a formidable community leaderFor Cree astronomer Wilfred Buck, the stars hold an immense power that extends beyond the realm of science. Coming from an Indigenous group whose stories have been systematically effaced by official narratives, he looks to these clustered dots of light as both historical document and spiritual manifestation. Echoing Buck’s holistic approach to astronomy, Lisa Jackson’s hybrid documentary draws from a wealth of eclectic visual styles, all woven into a stunning portrait of a formidable community elder.Someone always on the go, Buck is often seen behind the wheel, heading from one job to another. Speaking at academic conferences and workshops, and leading lectures and presentations for young students, he not only makes astronomy accessible but also builds lasting connections between different generations. This sense of togetherness is especially touching considering Buck...

Events