The Iron Claw review – bulked-up Zac Efron amazing sight in tragic wrestling drama
Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson play the Von Erich brothers, the wrestling superstars who were battered by trauma, in and out of the ring
November 2023
The week in theatre: King Lear; Lyonesse; Pied Piper – review
Kenneth Branagh savours Lear’s words rather too much; Kristin Scott Thomas and co are left high and dry in Cornwall; but at BAC, a beatbox Pied Piper you would follow anywhere…
October 2023
Lyonesse review – Kristin Scott Thomas charms in messy #MeToo tale
Starry cast including Lily James and Doon Mackichan are tossed around in a plot that never gets hold of its many concerns
September 2023
Finally Dawn review – Lily James shines in exuberant romantic melodrama
James is the Liz Taylor-ish diva claiming a young star-struck girl as her new best friend in Saverio Constanzo’s tale set in 1950s Rome
February 2023
What’s Love Got To Do With It review – sparky cross-cultural romcom
Different approaches to the dating game inspire writer Jemima Khan’s predictable but disarmingly sweet film
September 2022
First look review
What’s Love Got to Do with It? review – slick Richard Curtis-esque Britcom
Shekhar Kapur returns with a solid cross-cultural attempt to recall the heyday of Working Title rom-coms
May 2022
Same old true story: why have TV shows turned into Wikipedia entries?
An overstuffed season of fact-based dramas, from Winning Time to Under the Banner of Heaven to The Staircase, has been more miss than hit
February 2022
Exploiting the exploited: the problem with Pam & Tommy
Pass notes
Weird film accents: the new Dick Van Dykes
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Pam & Tommy; Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art; Station Eleven; Race & Medical Experiments: What’s the Truth?
TV review
Pam & Tommy review – the infamous sex tape’s astonishing story
January 2022
Down the rabbit hole
What links Pam & Tommy to The Elephant Man?
From a 90s sex tape to Bradley Cooper, via Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, we hop down the rabbit hole
Ana de Armas fans sue Hollywood studio over ‘deceptive’ Yesterday trailer
Class action lawsuit says ‘misleading and deceptive’ trailer showing brief glimpse of actor, who had been cut from the film, led fans to rent it
The ultimate sex tape scandal: how Pam and Tommy’s stolen video shook the world
She was a cartoon beach beauty. He was a tattooed drummer. As the story of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s stolen sex tape is turned into tense TV, we remember the events that changed celebrity culture for ever
May 2021
The week in TV: The Pursuit of Love; Fargo; Three Families; The Underground Railroad; Motherland
Uncle Matthew and co ride again in Emily Mortimer’s gleeful Nancy Mitford adaptation
‘It feels radical about women’: Nancy Mitford hits BBC One’s Sunday night slot
In The Pursuit of Love, Mitford explored shellshock, abuse and xenophobia ... but in a funny way, says director Emily Mortimer
Observer New Review Q&A
Lily James: ‘All sorts of people can become great loves of your life’
The actor on her role in the BBC’s new Nancy Mitford adaptation, the joy of female friendship, and preparing to play Baywatch star Pamela Anderson
January 2021
Peter Bradshaw's film of the week
The Dig review – Sutton Hoo excavation romance is none too deep
Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes unearth an Anglo-Saxon burial ship, but leave their emotions interred, in this robustly English drama
December 2020
2021 culture preview
Superhero sitcoms, hardcore sci-fi and Belfast noir: the must-see TV of 2021
Succession and Line of Duty are back, there’s a sex worker musical, a new take on Lord of the Rings – and Kate Winslet returns to the small screen
November 2020
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Before they were famous: stars' early stage appearances – in pictures
Tristram Kenton captures the debuts and breakthroughs of famous future faces including Emily Blunt, Martin Freeman, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker and many more
