Cath Clarke

Comedy gets no respect, no respect at all. Sure, everyone loves to laugh, and just about every film buff has a comedy movie they hold close to their heart. But for some reason, when it comes to awards and canonisation, comedies still get short shrift in the history of cinema. That’s probably because, more than any other genre, comedy is dependent on context. What’s funny in 1924 might land with a thud in 2024. And that’s to say nothing of varying tastes in humour.  There is no more difficult movie for a filmmaker to pull off than a comedy. No film genre ages worse: humour is largely dependent on context, and what’s funny in 2025 might be completely lost on audiences five years later, let alone a century. And as any stand-up comedian will tell you, the stuff that makes people laugh varies greatly – from country to country, city to city, generation to generation.  And so, those that have kept us cracking up for decades are truly special. Comedies might rarely win Academy Awards, but the best comedy movies stick with us longer – and get rewatched more frequently – than just about any other type of film. To put together this list, we asked comedians like Diane Morgan and Russell Howard, actors such as John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker and a cadre of Time Out writers about the movies that make them chuckle the hardest for longest. In doing so, we believe we’ve found the 100 finest, most durable and most broadly appreciable laughers in history. No matter your sense of humour – goofy,

If you love movies, chances are high that the first movie you ever loved was a cartoon. It may have been something from Disney’s Golden Age or the studio’s 1990s Aladdin-powered renaissance. Or possibly a Pixar tearjerker. If your parents were a bit more worldly, it could have been a Studio Ghibli masterpiece. Because animation is frequently where most cinematic obsessions start.  As proof, consider this chart of the greatest animated movies of all-time. In composing this list, we polled everyone from Fantastic Mr Fox director Wes Anderson and Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, along with several Time Out writers and experts, and the results show just how broad the genre can be. Our list incorporates the standard-bearers from North America and Japan, plus stop-motion nightmares to psychedelic headtrips, illustrated documentaries to unclassifiable avant-garde experiments. You’ll see a lot of old childhood favourites, sure – but there might even be some new adult faves to consider as well.  Written by Trevor Johnston, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkoph, Tom Huddleston, Andy Kryza, Guy Lodge, Dave Calhoun, Keith Uhlich, Cath Clarke and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🐭 The 50 best Disney movies🇯🇵 The 20 best anime movies of all-time🤣 The best family comedy movies🦄 The 50 best fantasy movies of all-time  

The prudes have inherited the movies. If you’ve followed the ongoing debate over sex scenes that’s carried out on social media over the last few years, then you’ll know that Gen Z has strong opinions on cinematic boning: they’re against it. The argument goes that sex scenes rarely add anything to the plot of a movie, nor develop characters. It’s a flawed viewpoint, but in fairness, given Hollywood’s general shift away from showing sexuality on screen, it’s entirely possible that younger folks have simply never seen a good sex scene.  Well, allow us to offer a counterpoint – 101 of them, to be exact. On this list of cinema’s greatest sex scenes, you’ll find multiple examples where a roll in the hay is meant to convey more than just mere titillation – it’s part of the story itself. In some cases, sex is a punchline. In others, it’s downright horrifying. Sometimes it’s supposed to make you uncomfortable. And sometimes, yes, it exists to be arousing. But there’s value in that, too. Written by Dave Calhoun, Joshua Rothkopf, Cath Clarke, David Ehrlich, Phil de Semlyen, Daniel Walber, Trevor Johnston, Andy Kryza, Daniel Walber and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🕯️ The 35 steamiest erotic thrillers ever made🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time❤ The 100 best romantic films of all-time😬 The 50 most controversial movies ever made💪 The 100 best feminist films of all-time

Young love is the greatest love. Sure, it’s often naive, misguided and fleeting. But romance never feels quite as thrilling and pure as when you’re a teenager. Hollywood, naturally, frequently mines those big feelings and puts them on screen. Of course, tapping into adolescent emotions when you’re many years removed from them isn’t easy. But every once in a while a movie gets it right – and it punches you right in the heart. These are those movies. On this list of the best teenage romances ever put on film, you’ll experience love in all its messy, complicated glory. In some cases, it’s a coming-of-age tale featuring a significant age gap. Other times, it’s between two kids trying to figure the world out. Sometimes, there’s a vampire involved. All of them, though, manage to capture the palpitations, the butterflies and especially the intense confusion of being in love for the first time. It’s something we can all relate to – no matter how old we get. Recommended: 😍 The 100 best romantic films of all-time🤣 The 70 best romantic comedies of all-time💔 The best breakup and heartbreak movies👯 The 100 best teen movies of all-time

Not all love stories have happy endings. In fact, many of the greatest romances in cinema end in either sadness, tragedy or resigned acknowledgement that sometimes, relationships just don’t work out, no matter how strongly two people feel about each other. That doesn’t make them any less romantic, of course – love and loss go hand in hand. Often, the most honest way to address the machinations of the heart is to talk about the time when it all goes wrong. That’s why, if you peruse our lists of the best romantic films and romcoms, you’ll find several of the same movies that made this list of the best heartbreakers in film history. Because as the song goes: love hurts, love scars, love leaves you a blubbering wreck. These movies will do all that – and more. Have a well-stocked box of Kleenex ready to go before watching any of these. You’ll need it. Recommended: 😍 The 100 best romantic films of all-time💑 The 70 best romcoms of all-time🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time

Love is a funny thing. Anyone who’s ever fallen under its spell – whether reciprocal, unrequited or the classic ‘it’s complicated’ – knows the strange ways it can make you feel, and the bizarre thing it’ll make you do. No wonder, then, that romantic comedy persists as one of the most broadly appealing genres in all of film. Although frequently derided and dismissed as ‘chick flicks’, the best romcoms tap into emotional truths everyone can relate to – and some, like It Happened One Night and Annie Hall, have even been awarded Best Picture Oscars.   But love also takes many forms. And so it goes in romcoms. Some are ridiculous farces, others  are more sophisticated, while others take a colder, cynical viewpoint – because if you’ve ever been in love, chances are you’ve also had your heart shattered. Love contains multitudes, and so do romantic comedies, and we considered it all when putting together this list of the best romcoms of all time. Written by Dave Calhoun, Cath Clarke, Tom Huddleston, Kate Lloyd, Andy Kryza, Phil de Semlyen, Alim Kheraj & Matthew Singer Recommended: 😍 The 100 best romantic films of all-time🤣 The 100 best comedy movies😳 The 101 best sex scenes of all time🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time

Were the ’90s the best decade for movies ever? It’s in the running. So much happened. It’s when the indies went big and blockbusters got even bigger. Global cinema reached wider audiences than ever before, while filmmakers in America and Britain took harder swings, exploring topics that previously felt taboo. It was a truly thrilling time to be alive and going to the movies. You really should’ve been there! If you weren’t, never fear. Time Out’s writers have put their Gen X and elder millennial heads together to determine the greatest movies of the 1990s. Sure, you’ll see Tarantino, The Matrix and dozens of John Malkovichs. But there are plenty of surprises, too. So break out the Starter jacket and chug that bottle of Josta in the very back of the cooler – these are the 50 best ’90s movies. Written by Cath Clarke, Gail Tolley, Chris Waywell, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Kate Lloyd, James Manning & Matthew Singer Recommended: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time🤣 The 100 best comedies of all-time🌏 The 50 best foreign films of all-time🎸 The 50 best ‘90s songs 

Um homem sábio e violento perguntou certa vez: "Gostas de filmes assustadores?". A pergunta certa, porém, é: quem não gosta de filmes assustadores? Não existe emoção mais poderosa do que o medo. E podemos experimentá-lo de forma controlada, através do entretenimento. Claro, todos temos os nossos limites: nem todos estão preparados para ver um palhaço demoníaco a serrar uma mulher ao meio (embora os lucros de bilheteira sugiram que há um número surpreendente de pessoas que está). Mas até os mais medrosos gostam de um pequeno susto de vez em quando. O género de terror está a viver um grande momento de renascimento, tanto junto dos espectadores como da crítica. Em 2024, alguns dos maiores e mais comentados filmes do ano (I Saw the TV Glow, O Coleccionador de Almas, A Substância e o sucesso de bilheteira Terrifier 3 – Aterrorizante) pertencem ao género. Mas o terror tem uma longa história, que remonta ao início do cinema. Quer ter os nervos à flor da pele? Com estes 100 clássicos, é provável que o encontrem escondido atrás do sofá quando os créditos finais estiverem a rolar. Textos de Tom Huddleston, Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Nigel Floyd, Phil de Semlyen, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkopf, Nigel Floyd, Andy Kryza, Alim Kheraj e Matthew Singer. Recomendado: As escolhas dos peritos

A wise, violent man once asked: ‘Do you like scary movies?’ The better question, though, is who doesn’t like scary movies? Is there any feeling more exhilarating than a jolt of fright, especially if it’s in the form of entertainment? Sure, we all have our limits: not everyone is up for watching a demonic clown saw a woman in half. (Although the box office returns suggest a surprising number of people are.) But even the most squeamish scaredy cats enjoy a light bump in the night every now and then, especially when October rolls around. Horror is the midst of a major renaissance moment, commercially and critically. In 2024, some of the biggest, buzziest movies of the year – I Saw the TV Glow, Longlegs, The Substance and the aforementioned box-office shocker Terrifier 3 – belong to the genre. But horror has a long history, dating back to the earliest days of cinema. Looking to have your nerves rattled? These 100 classics are guaranteed to have you hiding behind your couch by the time the credits roll. Written by Tom Huddleston, Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Nigel Floyd, Phil de Semlyen, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkopf, Nigel Floyd, Andy Kryza, Alim Kheraj and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🔪 The best new horror movies of 2024 (so far)🔥 The 100 best movies of all time👹 Cinema’s creepiest anthology horror movies🩸 The 15 scariest horror movies based on true stories

Damn it feels good to be a gangster. Or at least, that’s what the movies tell us. In reality, it seems like a bum gig. Always looking over your shoulder, unsure of who you can trust. Do you even have time to enjoy all that ill-gotten money you’re making? On screen, though, the gangster life has a certain glamour, even if it depicts many of those same drawbacks. Living outside the law? Having money, power, respect? Sounds pretty fun, at least to experience vicariously for two hours at a time. And so, here is our tribute to cinema’s gangsters, in all their many forms, from hard-boiled mobsters to yakuza enforcers to street-level bosses ruling over city blocks. Gangster movies are themselves diverse: some are loud and violent, others smooth and calm. Some are horrific, others romantic or funny or just plain weird. So let’s crack open the bank vault and look around – because in these films, crime does pay. Recommended: 😬 The 100 best thriller movies of all-time💣 The 101 best action movies ever made🔪 The 31 best serial killer movies🕵️ 40 murder mysteries to test your sleuthing skills to the max

It’s coming. The days are getting shorter, the air is getting chillier. Pumpkin spice is wafting through the air, and the rattling sound of 20-foot-tall Home Depot skeletons emerging from their hibernation is getting louder. That’s right: it’s almost spooky season. And that means a month-long horror movie binge is right around the corner, too.  Of course, depending on when you might be reading this, the weather could still be hot, humid and not all that terror-appropriate yet. But really, it’s never too early to start planning your Halloween viewing. And luckily, Netflix already has a ton of frightful content ready to be streamed. In addition to classic and original horror movies, the platform also has several shows and miniseries sure to send shivers down your spine. Whether you’re looking for something lightly spooky or full-on nightmare inducing, these 20 treats should do the trick. Recommended: 😱 The 24 best horror movies streaming on Netflix UK😨 The 100 best horror movies of all-time👹 The 50 best monster movies ever made🔪 The best serial killer movies of all-time

In the past few decades, queer cinema has made major strides – not just in reaching mainstream audiences, but in redefining what ‘queer cinema’ actually looks like. In the past, if gay lives and issues were ever allowed to be addressed on screen at all, the viewpoint was often limited to that of white, cisgender men. But the LGBTQ+ experience is not a monolith, and recent years have seen the scope of queer film expand to include the voices of the trans community and people of colour.  Obviously, there are still many barriers left to breach, but the progress of the last half-century or so deserves to be celebrated. To that end, we enlisted some LGBTQ+ cultural pioneers, as well as Time Out writers to assist in assembling a list of the greatest gay films ever made.  Written by Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Alim Kheraj, Guy Lodge, Ben Walters and Matthew Singer. RECOMMENDED: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time🎥 The 65 best documentaries of all-time😍 The 100 best romantic films of all-time🤣 The 100 best comedies of all-time

The ‘breastaurant’ never caught on in the UK: that creepy American institution of family-friendly sports bars where waitresses wear push-up bras and not much else (a side of soft porn with your burger, sir?). With his easy-going workplace comedy, indie director Andrew Bujalski gives us a day in the life of the female manager of a Texas joint called Double Whammies, where the customers are wardrobe-sized construction dudes in bandanas ordering ‘big ass beers’. Regina Hall, who after ‘Girls Trip’ is finally getting the recognition she deserves, is terrific as Lisa, everyone’s favourite boss – caring, kind, super-competent. But even Lisa’s patience is tested by the day from hell. When she arrives to open up the bar, a thief has broken in overnight. Lisa is also worrying about how to find bail money for a waitress who’s been arrested for running over her dick boyfriend. Hall gives a natural, real performance; she’s like someone you’ve met. ‘Support the Girls’ is brilliant on zero-hours culture: companies requiring employees to give 110 percent in return for the minimum wage and no job security. What can make all difference is a boss like Lisa. Weirdly though, the film doesn’t have a whole lot to say about the way restaurants like Double Whammies – the real-life national chain is Hooters – normalise the sexual objectification of women. Though one of the waitresses jokes about finding a bar where the waiters are hot guys in Speedos. ‘They should call it Nut-Huggers,’ she suggests. 

This comedy-drama from Iceland asks some timely biggies about the climate change movement in its story about an ordinary woman with a secret double life as an environmental activist. The film has a bone-dry sense of humour, though the quirk level is turned up just a fraction too high. It’s built around a cracking performance by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, playing 49-year-old choir teacher Halla, who spends her free time shooting a bow and arrow at electricity pylons in the countryside, causing major power cuts. The film’s questions are important: is it acceptable to take direct action that disrupts ordinary people’s lives if you believe nothing is being done to prevent the ecological crisis? As a parent, is your biggest responsibility to keep your kids safe in the here and now, or to save the planet from impending climate breakdown? Halla, who’s single, is plotting her most dangerous stunt yet when her long-standing application to adopt a Ukrainian baby is suddenly accepted. She’s to become the mother of a little girl. So too is her identical twin sister, Ása (also played by Geirharðsdóttir).  Here the plot gets far-fetched, and the film’s surreal touches make it hard to connect emotionally to Halla. Worst of all are the kooky musicians performing in the background of some scenes. They look like buskers at an organic farmers’ market – beardy, in vintage tweed. I’d cross the road to dodge them in real life, but you just can’t avoid them in a film. 

Film review by Cath ClarkeA mushy-slushy romance about a pair of terminally ill teenagers who meet on a cystic fibrosis ward would ordinarily leave me in a puddle on the floor. (I speak as someone who once choked up watching a washing powder advert.) But ‘Five Feet Apart’, with its phoney emotions and baloney contrivances – these love-struck kids can’t even hold hands let alone get to first base because two people with cystic fibrosis aren’t allowed to touch – just didn’t do the job for me. Haley Lu Richardson almost gives you a reason to watch as Stella, who has cystic fibrosis and is super-positive about her chances of getting a lung transplant (itself not miracle cure – new lungs will only extend her life by five years). She fills her days in hospital writing life-affirming to-do lists and doing yoga. Down the hall, brooding bad boy Will (a charmless performance by Cole Sprouse) has stopped taking his meds. He agrees to start again only if Stella lets him draw her. Credit to the filmmakers for the unsqueamish illness details here, down to the stomach feeding tubes and bowls of spittle. Yet the script is weirdly coy about sex – Stella and Will risk passing infections with physical contact. But surely teenagers with smartphones can work out a way to bypass the no-touching rule? In the end ‘Five Feet Apart’ jerked not a single tear from me.

Este pesado romance sobre un par de adolescentes con enfermedades terminales, que se conocen en una sala de fibrosis quística, normalmente me haría dejar un charco en el suelo, pero A dos metros de ti, con sus falsas emociones y las tonterías de niños enamorados (Stella y Will) que no pueden tomarse ni de las manos —y mucho menos llegar a la primera base—simplemente no me atrapó. Stella es muy positiva sobre sus posibilidades de recibir un trasplante de pulmón, que no es una cura milagrosa; los nuevos pulmones solo le darán otros cinco años. Ella pasa sus días en el hospital, escribiendo listas de tareas y haciendo yoga. Al final de un pasillo conoce a Will, un desamparado niño malo que ha dejado de tomar sus medicamentos. Él acepta volver a tomarlos, solo si Stella le permite dibujarla. Gracias a los cineastas por los detalles de la enfermedad, hasta los tubos de alimentación del estómago y los cuencos de saliva. Sin embargo, el guión es extrañamente tímido acerca del sexo: Stella y Will corren el riesgo de contraer infecciones con el contacto físico. ¿Pero seguramente los adolescentes con teléfonos inteligentes pueden encontrar una manera de evitar la regla de “no tocar”? En el A dos metros de ti no derramó ni una sola lágrima.

Here’s a harmless piece of Britcom silliness loosely based on the incredible rise of the Cornish sea-shanty group the Fisherman’s Friends.  After being discovered singing on a quayside, the ten-man bunch of mates – all fishermen or coastguards who’d been singing together for donkey's years down the pub – landed a deal with a major label, recorded a Top 10 album and played Glastonbury. Theirs is a tale of authenticity cutting through the PR and hype of the music industry, so what a shame this movie Cornish-ifies, ‘Full Monty’-ifies and crowdpleaser-ifies the story until it’s as authentic as vegan fish and chips. The script throws in the fictional character of a flashy music exec played by Daniel Mays, a genuinely funny actor with not much to work with here as Danny, who’s in Cornwall for a stag do when he spots the Fisherman’s Friends performing. At first, the idea of signing them is a joke, but then he begins to wonder… have these yokely locals got something to teach him about how to really live life? You can guess the rest. There are a couple of nice scenes – like one in London where the band find themselves on-trend in a Shoreditch pub, with their facial hair and navy tattoos. But otherwise this is all pretty groanworthy, with a distinct shortage of decent gags. As for the poor guys in the band – less characters, more a collection of beards and good knitwear – they play second fiddle to the numpty from London.

This documentary is about the awe-inspiring bravery of Nadia Murad, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iraqi woman kidnapped by Isis as a sex slave aged 21 in 2014 – she’s a member of the ancient Yazidi minority. Sold to Isis fighters, and repeatedly raped, Murad eventually escaped, arriving in Germany as a refugee with a group of female survivors. But she found it impossible to build a new life while Yazidi women and girls were still captive, so she went out and told her story. American documentary-maker Alexandria Bombach initially picks up Murad’s story in 2016. She’s in the spotlight after giving a speech to the UN about her ordeal and flying around the world, saying yes to every media request and invitation to speak to politicians. We see her sitting down in front of microphone after microphone, drained, traumatised, but focused, holding it together, while yet another journalist asks her: ‘How many times were you raped?’, ‘How did you escape?’ With great sensitivity, Bombach refrains from quizzing Murad about what Isis did to her during the interviews. Why do we want to know the details? Instead, we hear Murad talk movingly about the parts of herself that have been robbed for ever. As a teenager she dreamt of opening a beauty salon or becoming a teacher. That’s all lost. ‘I never wanted people to know me as a victim of Isis terrorism.’ Her only hope now is if the world acts on the genocide of the Yazidi. What a powerful and important film. 

Este déjà vu de la exitosa comedia francesa Intouchables, cuenta la historia de una bromance entre un rico cuadripléjico y su cuidador afroamericano, solo que aquí recibe el clásico tratamiento de Hollywood. Esto realmente es un remake increíblemente cursi, y el original ya era bastante cursi. Ahora, protagonizada por el protagonista de Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston y Kevin Hart, dan lo mejor de sí con un guión que resuelve todos los clichés de películas de parejas extrañas. Aunque bien actuado.  Cranston interpreta al inversionista multimillonario Phillip, paralizado desde el cuello hacia abajo después de un accidente de parapente. Cuando su secretaria (Nicole Kidman) busca un cuidador, Phillip contrata al candidato menos calificado Dell (Hart). No mucho después de la cárcel, Dell solo va a la entrevista para mantener contento a su oficial de libertad condicional.  ¿Está Phillip encantado por su humor y realidad? ¿O porque sospecha que Dell no ignorará su orden de “No resucitar”? Sigue una gran cantidad de comedia de amigos antes que nada, mientras Phillip introduce a Dell a la cultura intelectual, y este le da a su jefe un alto nivel de marihuana. El guión incluso presenta un fragmento de Mujer bonita en la que Julia Roberts llora en la ópera. Eso no quiere decir que Amigos por siempre fue rescrita. Los dos actores rebotan entre sí como pelotas de ping pong. Cranston en particular, actuando solo con su cara, lleva a la humanidad y la inteligencia a una parte débil, y es bast

It’s déjà vu as the life-affirming hit French comedy-drama ‘The Intouchables’, the true story of a bromance between a wealthy quadriplegic man and his black live-in carer from the projects (aka the American version of a council estate), gets the Hollywood treatment. This really is an incredibly cheesy remake – and the original was already pretty cheesy – starring ‘Breaking Bad’ actor Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, doing their best with a script that cracks out all the odd-couple movie clichés.  It’s nicely acted though. Cranston plays billionaire investor Phillip, paralysed from the neck down after a paragliding accident. When his secretary (Nicole Kidman) advertises for a carer, Phillip hires the least qualified candidate Dell (Hart). Not long out of prison, Dell only shows up at the interview to keep his parole officer sweet. Is Phillip charmed by his humour and realness? Or because he suspects that Dell won’t ignore his Do Not Resuscitate order? A good deal of seen-it-before buddy comedy follows, as Phillip introduces Dell to highbrow culture, while Dell gets his boss high on marijuana. The script even nicks that bit from ‘Pretty Woman’ where Julia Roberts cries at the opera. That’s not to say The Upside is a complete write-off. The two actors bounce off each like ping-pong balls. Cranston in particular, acting only with his face, brings humanity and intelligence to a flimsy part – and it’s pretty funny in places. But there’s no ignoring the fact that the characters are ba

A kind of ‘Mad Max’ for pre-teens, this mega-budget YA sci-fi fantasy opens with a barnstorming chase across a dystopian wasteland – only it’s not cars on the move but steampunk cities. The film, based on the first in a series of novels by Philip Reeve, is directed by Christian Rivers, an apprentice of Peter Jackson (who co-produces here and co-wrote this script). Like the ‘Hobbit’ movies, ‘Mortal Engines’ is a relentless assault of CGI and earsplitting noise. Set 1,000 years after civilisation was blown to smithereens, the remains of cities have been rigged on to tank tracks. London, pimped out with St Paul’s Cathedral on top, is an aggressor city, roaming around hoovering up smaller towns. Robert Sheehan plays museum worker Tom. After a run-in with London’s sinister energy minister (Hugo Weaving, doing a nice shade of dastardly) he meets Hester (Hera Hilmar), who’s seeking to avenge the murder of her mother. Raised in the dusty outlands, Hester is one tough cookie, though in time her rough edges will be smoothed off by friendship, and who knows, possibly more. ‘Mortal Engines’ really is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent slog, as characters leap unfeasibly out of planes on to bits of cities while a squad of rebel-fighter pilots straight out of ‘Star Wars’ buzz around. Its video-game aesthetic is awash with CGI dazzle – though if you had your fingers on the controls, you might have preferred to send them all under the tank treads after that spectacular opener.

Basada en la historia real de la escritora francesa Colette (Keira Knightley), el director Wash Westmoreland ('Siempre Alice') nos sumerge en la escena literaria del París de principios del siglo XX. Lejos de hablarnos de una ciudad vibrante, lo que retrata la cámara es un mundo pretencioso y oportunista, el hábitat ideal para el marido de Colette (Dominic West), un trepa que se lleva todo el mérito de las novelas que ella escribe. Toda la película trata de la relación entre ellos. Es magnífico ver cómo el personaje femenino va cogiendo confianza al tiempo que se libera del yugo de un hombre mediocre y aprovechado. Knightley borda esta evolución, sobre todo a partir del momento en que comienza a explorar su identidad sexual. En el otro lado del espectro, West aborda el papel del marido dibujando con sutileza el perfil psicológico de un tipo que intenta enmascarar con fanfarronería sus inseguridades más profundas. Sin absolverlo de sus faltas, consigue generarnos una cierta simpatía.

Basada en la història real de l’escriptora francesa Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley), el director Wash Westmoreland ('Sempre Alice') ens capbussa en l’escena literària del París de principis del segle XX. Lluny de parlar-nos d’una ciutat vibrant, el que retrata la càmera és un món pretensiós i oportunista, l’hàbitat ideal per al marit de Colette (Dominic West), un trepa que s’emporta tot el mèrit de les novel·les que ella escriu. Tota la pel·lícula tracta de la relació entre l’un i l’altra. És magnífic veure com el personatge femení va agafant confiança alhora que s’allibera del jou d’un home mediocre i aprofitat. Knightley broda aquesta evolució, sobretot a partir del moment en què comença a explorar la seva identitat sexual. En l’altre costat de l’espectre, West aborda el paper del marit dibuixant amb subtilesa el perfil psicològic d’un paio que intenta emmascarar amb fanfarroneria les seves inseguretats més profundes. Sense absoldre’l de les seves faltes, aconsegueix generar-nos una certa simpatia.

Tres años atrás, Denis Villeneuve dirigía un narcothriller sobre agentes del FBI de misión en México, donde hacía un retrato analítico e impresionante de las ambigüedades morales de la guerra de América contra las drogas. Ahora nos llega esta secuela, que es como ver un concierto de tu grupo de música preferido, donde solo tocan el bajo y el batería: faltan tres ases, la actriz Emily Blunt, el director de fotografía Roger Deakins y Villeneuve, claro. Y quizá por eso no es tan fascinante como la original, ni tan inteligente, aunque se mantiene en unas cuotas más que notables. Volvemos a la frontera mexicana, que los cárteles utilizan para traficar con papelinas y personas. El director Stefano Sollima, conocido por la serie 'Gomorra', recrea este ambiente peligroso con todo tipo de detalles, donde nos encontramos un Benicio del Toro que tiene sed de venganza.

The Sundance Film Festival is back in London next weekend (June 1-4), with four days of the buzziest and best in new independent cinema. Sundance has been a discovery zone for genuinely original films and new talent for 40 years from its HQ in the snowy mountains of Utah – giving Wes Anderson, Ava DuVernay and Quentin Tarantino their big breaks.  The London mini-fest next weekend is a line-up of 14 feature films first shown at the mother fest in January, together with shorts and filmmaker talks, all at the gorgeous Picturehouse Central. Here are five gems with tickets still available.   1. ‘The Incredible Jessica James’ If you haven’t heard of Jessica Williams, that’s about to change. The force-of-nature actress-comedian (and ex-‘Daily Show’ reporter) owns this sweet, sharply written romcom.Saturday June 3, 9.30pm  2. ‘Bitch’ A woman is pushed to the edge by her douchey husband in this low-budget feminist comedy-horror. Her response? She finally snaps and starts behaving like the dog he treats her as. ‘Bitch’ is written, directed and stars the Scottish filmmaker Marianna Palka.Friday June 2, 3.30pm  3. Redford Recommends: ‘Man on Wire’ New this year is Redford Recommends – screenings of three films that made a splash at the festival over the years, handpicked by Sundance founder and acting legend Robert Redford. ‘Man on Wire’ is James Marsh’s Oscar-winning doc about the 1974 wire walk between the Twin Towers by Frenchman Philippe Petit – with no safety net or harnesses.Fri

The air you’re inhaling might look clean, but it isn’t. Atmospheric pollution is still a killer in London. And, believe it or not, you’re more exposed to it on a bus than on a bike. Cath Clarke finds out more. A classic complaint of newbie Londoners is sniffing out black snot at the end of the day. I stopped noticing it years ago and, until recently, assumed air pollution was one of those things that science fixed back in the ’80s, like acid rain. Then my friend was rushed to A&E with pneumonia. She got better but when she left hospital, a doctor told her that if she moved out of London, the improvement in air quality would increase her life expectancy. Can that be true in 2017? Do we genuinely need to worry about the air we breathe? The short answer is yes. The facts are brutal: nearly 9,500 people in London die prematurely from conditions related to air pollution every year. Living here could shorten your life. London kids are growing up with smaller lungs. We all have an increased risk of respiratory illnesses like asthma and lung disease. One doctor told me that whenever there’s a winter smog (more on those in a bit), exactly five days later A&E departments see a spike in strokes and heart attacks. London exceeded its annual pollution limits in the first five days of this year. Londoners are more health-obsessed than ever (or at least more obsessed with avocados and green juice), so why don’t we know and care more about the filthy air we’re breathing and demand a cleaner

It’s cinemas a-go-go in east London at the moment. In a few weeks’ time Clapton is getting a brand new cinema, The Castle, near Chatsworth Road (in an empty room above the Spar). Now we hear news of plans for an independent cinema in Bethnal Green. The idea is to reopen the old Rex on Bethnal Green Road as an affordable cinema for the community, alongside a café/restaurant, around 150 hotel rooms and a rooftop garden. The decor will be in keeping with the Rex’s deco roots. The cinema originally opened as Smart’s Picture House in 1913. Its art deco facade was designed by legendary cinema architect George Coles in 1938, and the Rex finally closed in 1967.  If you’re a Bethnal local, the organisers behind plans for the Rex have got two events coming up. Tonight, there’s a formal public consultation for residents and council members to view plans and put questions to the architects and backers. And on Saturday, they’re hosting a planting workshop, followed by short documentaries set in the East End.     Come and watch some short #films, eat some food, plant a seed and munch on some #propercorn this week. All to support the reopening of the old Rex #cinema on Bethnal Green Road. Drop-in and out as you wish, see you there. A photo posted by The Culpeper (@theculpeper) on Jan 18, 2017 at 2:48am PST   The Castle Cinema on Chatsworth Road is happening

No, it’s not strictly in the detox spirit of January. But if you love the taste of a good burger like Samuel L Jackson in ‘Pulp Fiction’, the Big Kahuna is now a reality, thanks to film-loving foodie YouTuber Andrew Rea. Everyone remembers Jackson’s super-menacing appraisal of the Big Kahuna burger in the movie: ‘Hamburgers, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.' In fact, the Big Kahuna chain of Hawaiian-themed burger joints is fictional (though it does appear in other Tarantino films, ‘Death Proof’, ‘Four Rooms’ and ‘Reservoir Dogs’). In our food-obsessed times, Andrew Rea has gone a bit gourmet with his recipe for the burger. The original was pretty old-school, a beefy patty slapped between buns with a squirt of ketchup. Running with the Hawaiian theme, Rea adds caramelised pineapple and teriyaki sauce. Spot the difference?   YouTube/Andrew Rea     The Big Kahuna is the latest in Rea’s series, Binging with Babish, cooking up iconic dishes from the movies – including Monica’s Thanksgiving sandwich from ‘Friends’. Now all we need is a $5 milkshake pop-up.       And here's the original:   Can't be arsed to cook? Sink your teeth into London's best burgers instead.

People sometimes ask: Who is the nicest person you’ve interviewed? (Answer: Julianne Moore in New York; she invited me round to her house where her Labrador fell asleep on my foot). The nastiest? (A well-known British director who rolled his eyes at every question like I was asking: ‘What’s your favourite colour?’) And the funniest? Carrie Fisher.   It was summer 2014, and during a day off from filming ‘The Force Awakens’ at the Star Wars bunker she chatted over Skype. Her French bulldog Gary sat on her lap, looking bored, tongue lolling like he’d just had a shot of anaesthetic for a sore tooth. Gary had recently won a prize for best doggie acting at a film festival, Fisher explained: ‘But he’s still down to earth. He's very close to the ground.’ Fame wasn’t going to his head then? She shook her head. ‘No, but the farting has got more intense.’   It may not always have been fun being Carrie Fisher. But by God, Carrie Fisher was always funny. In an age of celebrity blandness nothing was off the record for her. Not her bipolar disorder (‘I just have too much personality for one person’). Or Star Wars. (‘George Lucas ruined my life. And I mean that in the nicest possible way’). Her memoir ‘Wishful Drinking’ is wall-to-wall hilarious and uncensored anecdotes.     Carrie Fisher       First question. Why did you sign up to play Princess Leia again after all these years? ‘I liked the hair!’ she answered, untruthfully as it turned out, since Leia ditched the Danish pastry buns for

I was in the library in Manchester writing my dissertation when I got a phone call from my mum saying that our landlord had decided to sell off our house in Epping, out towards the Essex end of the Central line. It had been our family home for 13 years. We tried to find somewhere else, but there was nothing we could afford because of the dramatic rise in rents in the area. So I came back from uni, and in between my finals and graduation we put all our stuff into boxes and moved into a hostel – me, my mum and my 13-year-old sister. Before it happened to me, I had preconceptions about who becomes homeless. Maybe I was a bit naive, but I didn’t think you could go so quickly from such security to having nowhere to live. It was a big shock. The first hostel we moved into was a converted army barracks. It smelt stale and had really harsh unnatural light. It didn’t feel homey at all. We were lucky enough to get two rooms, so we put all the contents of our house in one room and lived in the other one – all three of us sleeping in one room. We shared a bathroom and a kitchen with another family. There was no internet, so applying for jobs was difficult. All the normality of going to bed, having a bath – it all goes. We were living on top of each other.  My mum loves cooking and a kitchen table is important to her – that’s where we share our day. But in the hostel, her self-esteem was so low that she didn’t cook any more. She was tired and stressed so sometimes we ended up just eating

Since the weekend, autumn fog has shrouded London in a gorgeous photogenic mist. Which, as it turns out, is terrible news for our lungs. Pollution monitors dotted around the city are pinging with harmful levels of air pollution. The high pollution is being caused by a double whammy of foggy weather (still winds allowing pollutants to build up under the mist) plus fireworks celebrating Diwali and Bonfire Night. One monitor in Harlington near Heathrow recorded it highest possible level, 10/10, on October 31.  We spoke to Andrea Lee, a healthy air campaigner with ClientEarth, a charity of international environmental lawyers, who told us that high air pollution is a regular visitor to London in November: ‘Around this time of year, you can get pollution spikes because of bonfires. But this year the fog is exacerbating the problem and the calm weather is also allowing the usual source of pollution, road transport, to build up.’ ClientEarth is currently suing the UK Government over air pollution levels. charlatan33       Pollution is a massive problem in London, causing nearly 9,500 premature deaths every year – that’s 100 double-decker buses full of people dying early. But unlike the pea-soupers of the 1950s, we can’t see the tiny particles that are killing us and are mostly caused by diesel engines. Sadiq Khan announced plans in August for air quality alerts at bus stop and tube stations. You can also keep track of air pollution levels with an app. Try City Air or Plume. Help cr

Forget about pervy old men in dirty macs. This sex cinema, billed as ‘London’s last peepshow’, is the brainchild of supercool erotic magazine Baron & Baroness. It’s called the Paradiso Cinema, has 30 seats and is open for three days only, this weekend at the Ditto gallery in Islington. Keeping our minds in the gutter and on art, Baron & Baroness has curated a highbrow series of shorts about sex and sexuality by artists and photographers. Films include ‘The Last Peep Show in Soho’ by Edith Bergfors, a lesbian romcom by Eori Wakakuwa and ‘Angels’ by Sarah Baker, inspired by Jackie Collins novels. Talking to the Evening Standard, founder of Baron & Baroness Matthew Holroyd explained his thinking: ‘We’re playing on the idea of a sex cinema… When we visualise sex and the moving image it is pornography that most people will think of, but sex can have a higher value than that.’ Tickets cost £10 and include a drink. The cinema will have its own sex shop and there’s a kind of disturbing addition to the snack list: popcorn, beverages and handwipes. More entertainment news: ✚ The 'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life' trailer is finally here – and it's an absolute nostalgia-fest✚ 'The Great British Bake Off' star Selasi on Cronuts, London life and staying chilled on the tube✚ Benedict Cumberbatch isn't that happy about his face being on 'Doctor Strange' lunchboxes

We already knew that Sadiq Khan can tell a joke. He told us a rude one about the health secretary Jeremy Hunt when we interviewed him in September to launch Time Out’s Love London awards. Now comes news that the Mayor is making his first appearance in a sitcom, with a cameo in the new series of ‘Citizen Khan’, the BBC’s cosily old-fashioned comedy about loud-mouthed, tight-fisted Birmingham community leader Mr Khan. Watch Sadiq Khan's rude joke about Jeremy Hunt   Personally, we’d have killed to see Sadiq in season two of ‘Fleabag’. (He could have played one of the customers Fleabag rips off £25 for a cheese sandwich). But we’ll settle for the cameo in the season opener of ‘Citizen Khan’, in which Mr Khan ends up sleeping in his car after forgetting his wedding anniversary. Sadiq tells Time Out: 'I don't want Fabric closing down. It's a great night out.'

Fans have launched an online petition to persuade Quentin Tarantino to sign-up to Marvel’s ‘Deadpool 2’, after the film’s director Tim Miller consciously uncoupled with the project last week – reportedly over creative differences with Ryan Reynolds, who stars as the foul-mouthed anti-superhero.     So far the Change.org petition has over 3,000 signatures. It was started by Carl Champion Jr, who writes: ‘If there was ever a chance to see Tarantino do a project almost guaranteed to make a billion dollars, this is it. We got a great taste of what this could be like in “Kill Bill”, but imagine having a guy like Tarantino write dialogue for The Merc with the Mouth! It would be so glorious. Join me!’ Tarantino might be a perfect fit for super-violent ‘Deadpool’ – the black sheep of the Marvel-verse. But can you really imagine the motor-mouthed, massively ego-ed filmmaker directing a sequel? Nah. Us neither. Besides, Tarantino's heart belongs elsewhere in Marvel. Here he is talking to the Nerdist Podcast last year. ‘One of the outside projects that I considered doing was a Luke Cage movie. Luke Cage was my hero when I was a kid collecting comic books. He was my favourite character.’ ‘Deadpool’ smashed box office records this year, becoming the highest earning X-rated movie of all time and making made $786 million worldwide. The sequel is expected in cinema in January 2018.   More entertainment news: ✚ Selasi from 'The Great British Bake Off' is going to open a bakery in west Lond

Click your heels three times, or donate a few quid – time is running out to save Dorothy’s ruby red shoes. A museum in Washington has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $300,000 to rescue the fast deteriorating ‘Wizard of Oz’ slippers using the hashtag #KeepThemRuby. The slippers, which took Judy Garland’s Dorothy back to Kansas in the 1939 film, are 77 years old and they're showing their age – faded to a sad, dull red. After two days, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's campaign has already raised nearly $115,000, which suggests the future is already looking brighter. The money raised will also pay for a state-of-the-art case to preserve the slippers in a displayable condition for generations to come. You can help conserve Dorothy's Ruby Slippers. Why we need your help to display them for 20+ years: https://t.co/oYHBSCZqr7 #KeepThemRuby pic.twitter.com/9nBmfG3cgu — amhistorymuseum (@amhistorymuseum) October 18, 2016 The ruby shoes (which were silver in the 1900 novel by L Frank Baum) are actually one of four pairs worn in the film. They were discovered in 1970 at MGM's studios. One pair was stolen from The Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005 and has never been found. In 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio led a campaign to buy another for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each pair is reported to be worth $3 million. More entertainment news: ✚ Netflix's 'Watership Down' is 100% going to traumatise a new generation of children✚ Choose… caref

It's one of the greatest soundtracks ever – a pure blast of ’90s Britpop from the likes of Blur, Elastica and Pulp, alongside classics by Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The one band weirdly missing from 'Trainspotting' is Oasis. Now we know why. The film's costume designer Rachel Fleming recently met Noel Gallagher, who admitted that he got completely the wrong end of the stick when Oasis were approached for the 1996 film. Here's Fleming, explaining: ‘He said to me: “I would have done something, but honestly I thought it was about trainspotters. I didn't know.”’       Fleming was talking at a twentieth anniversary screening of ‘Trainspotting’ alongside the film’s producer Andrew Macdonald, who remembered how keen the film's director Danny Boyle was to get Oasis involved at the time. But, according to The Telegraph who reported the story, Macdonald mostly kept shtum about the upcoming 'Trainspotting' sequel: ‘It's 20 years later and they have all moved on,' Macdonald shared. 'They are at different places in their lives and some of them may even have children.’ We do know that all four lead actors will be back, Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle, with Boyle directing again. The plot is inspired by ‘Porno’, Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting’ sequel, and the film is out on January 27 2017. Watch the ‘Trainspotting 2’ trailer