Phil de Semlyen

And we’re off. In most years, it takes a few months to assemble a list of the best movies of the year so far where the bar for quality isn’t lowered into the Earth’s core. The first quarter of the release calendar is typically where studios toss their tax writeoffs, but to this point, 2026 has outstripped expectations. In how many other years have we gotten a killer horror sequel like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a sharp, gross Sam Raimi return-to-form, a Gus Van Sant thriller and one of the best actor-to-director transitions in recent memory, all before the calendar even flips over to March? And that’s to mention some of the smaller gems that have already popped up. As usual, this post will be updated throughout the year as highlights arrive – and there is bound to be a lot of them, between Project Hail Mary, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, all arriving in the first half of 2026 alone. As you’ll see below, though, we’re already off to a good start. May we say that movies are… so back? 📕 15 book-to-movie adaptations to get excited about in 2026🔥 The 40 best movies of 2025

ปี 2026 เริ่มต้นขึ้นด้วยจังหวะที่ทำเอาคอหนังแทบหายใจหายคอไม่ทัน ทั้งการกลับมาของสายลับมาดเนี้ยบใน The Night Manager, ความดุเดือดของโลกการเงินใน Industry ไปจนถึงโปรเจกต์ใหม่จากผู้สร้าง Derry Girls ทีมกองบรรณาธิการของเรายอมอดหลับอดนอน (และละเลยงานบ้านไปบ้าง) เพื่อคัดสรรสิ่งที่ คู่ควรกับเวลาพักผ่อนอันน้อยนิดของคุณ มาทำให้การนั่งโซฟาหลังเลิกงานคุ้มค่าที่สุดด้วยลิสต์ระดับตัวท็อปเหล่านี้กัน!คอนเทนต์แนะนำ🔥 The best TV and streaming shows of 2025📺 The 100 greatest TV shows of all time

Romance may be dead in the real world, but in cinema, it’ll live forever. Whether it’s classic and stormy like Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, modern and subdued like Celine Song’s Past Lives or hot and horny like Heated Rivalry, love is simply too elemental of an emotion for filmmakers to ever abandon. Even if you’ve never, say, robbed a bank with your loved one or stood by your sweetheart as they transformed into a hideous monster, the best romantic films make you understand and sympathise with the decisions of those under love’s spell – because one way or another, we’ve all been there.   There are so many movies about love in all its complications that ranking the greatest of them is a major challenge. To help us curate this list, we chatted to more than 100 filmmakers, actors and writers, from The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks to Notting Hill director Richard Curtis to our own Time Out scribes. We even got Miss Piggy to chime in. Whether you prefer comedies or dramas, horror or sci-fi, we’re sure you’ll find the following list of the 100 greatest romantic movies ever speaks to your own heart as well. Written by Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Catherine Bray, Trevor Johnston, Andy P Kryza, Guy Lodge, Phil de Semlyen, Alim Kheraj & Matthew Singer Recommended: 😍 The 100 best romcoms of all-time😳 The 101 best sex scenes of all time🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time

Updates for 2026: Behold: 30 more of the best romantic comedies ever made! We’ve expanded this list of the all-time greatest romcoms to 100 in order to include recent hits like The Idea of You, Rye Lane and The Worst Person in the World and previously overlooked gems like Crazy, Stupid, Love and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Love hurts. Love scars. Love also makes us act like total imbeciles. Indeed, love can be the most painful of emotions, but it’s also often the funniest. If you’ve ever found yourself in its grip, then you know the strange ways it can make you feel, and the weird things it’ll make you do. And even if you haven’t, well, there’s a whole genre dedicated to letting you know how silly it can be.  No wonder romantic comedy persists as one of the most broadly accessible genres in all of film. So why, then, has Hollywood seemingly stopped making them? At one point in time, romcoms filled cinema calendars. Now, they’re largely relegated to streaming – or, in the case of something like Celine Song’s Materialists, miscategorized. It’s perplexing, because not only are romcoms some of the most you can have with a room full of strangers, but isn’t love one of the most universal human experiences? Of course, not all love stories are the same. Some are farcical, others more sophisticated, some cynical, others straight-up crazy. Love contains multitudes, and so do romantic comedies, and we considered it all when putting together this list of the 100 best romcoms of all tim

With the return of The Night Manager, Industry and Hulu’s A Thousand Blows, the home viewing year has kicked off in head-spinning style. And with HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Netflix’s How to Get To Heaven From Belfast, the latest from the creator of Derry Girls, the array of small-screen offerings are landing at dizzying speeds well into the spring. We have stopped at nothing – not sleep, not family responsibilities – to watch all of it and curate this list of the best shows to give your limited spare time over to. You don’t have forever to spend on the sofa so make it count with something from our list of the best of the year so far. Recommended: 🔥 The best TV and streaming shows of 2025📺 The 100 greatest TV shows of all time

Updated for 2026: Whatever you think of Netflix’s theatrical strategy, it continues to produce some of television’s most formally daring works, including Adolescence, a hard-to-watch but impossible to ignore limited series about an unimaginable crime. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s HBO’s hilariously profane The Righteous Gemstones, which stuck the landing in 2025 with its final season. In addition, we have moved Andor into the top 20 after its astounding second and final season.  Television used to be considered one of the lowest forms of entertainment. It was derided as ‘the idiot box’ and ‘the boob tube’. Edward R Murrow referred to it as ‘the opiate of the masses’, and the phrase ‘I don’t even own a TV’ was considered a major bragging right.  A lot has changed. Television is now the dominant medium in basically all of entertainment. The shift in perception is widely credited to the arrival of The Sopranos, which completely reinvented the notion of what a TV show could do. But that doesn’t mean everything that came before is primordial slurry. While this list of the greatest TV shows ever is dominated by 21st century programs, from The Wire to Succession to Adolescence, there are many shows that deserve credit for laying the groundwork for this current golden age.  Chiseling them down to a neat top 100 is difficult, so we elected to leave off talk shows, variety shows and sketch comedy, focusing on scripted, episodic dramas, comedies and miniseries. So don’t touc

タイムアウト東京 > 映画 > 2026年公開、絶対に見逃せない超大作映画17 2026年は映画業界の掛け値なしの実力を測る「ビッグイヤー」になるだろう。今後12カ月は、見逃せないヒット作、いや正確には見ないと損をする作品が目白押しだ。 5作目となる『トイ・ストーリー』から、待望の続編『プラダを着た悪魔』、スティーヴン・スピルバーグによる新たな未知との遭遇、そしてほぼすべてのA級スターを古代ギリシャに集結させたクリストファー・ノーランの作品まで、その顔ぶれは実に幅広い。 さらに、『デューン』3部作は完結を迎え、マーベル・シネマティック・ユニバースは『エンドゲーム』以来最大規模なスーパーヒーローチームの映画で再起を図る。 繰り返すが、とにかく今年は大作が集中した特筆すべき年だ。とはいえ、ハリウッドの超大作の行く末にそこまで思い入れがなく、単純に良い映画を観たいという人にとっても、期待すべき小中規模作品は十分に揃っている。 ここでは、タイムアウトワールドワイドが選んだ「26 massive movies you need to see in 2026」から日本でも公開が決まっている作品（2本は公開未定）を紹介しよう。 関連記事『人生で観ておくべき、日本映画ベスト50』

Clear your diary, iCal and all other planning devices and prepare for a big month at the cinema. February starts strong with a return from horror legend Sam Raimi, a striking directorial debut from Kristen Stewart, Riz Ahmed playing Hamlet, and a powerful family drama from a bold new British filmmaking voice – and that’s just the first weekend. Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights will be all over your social feeds, Charli xcx is starring in The Moment and 100 Nights a Hero, and Elvis will be in the building courtesy of Baz Luhrmann’s new IMAX concert doc. Here’s what’s good this month. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free ​Time Out ​f​ilm newsletter for the best of the ​b​ig screen and streaming​ every month. RECOMMENDED:📽️ The best films of 2025📺 The 26 movies you need to know about in 2026🏵️ The 100 greatest movies of all time

February 2026: After a quiet start to the year, London’s arts and culture scene is ramping up the action in February, with loads of major openings across the capital’s biggest museums. Heading to the National Gallery, the Science Museum, Young V&A or the Tate Modern? There are new shows to check out on such disparate subjects as Lucien Freud’s works on paper, South American wildlife photography, the studio behind ‘Wallace and Gromit’ and legendary artist Tracey Emin. Or find out more great things to see this year with our pick of 2026's cultural highlights. Museums are one of the things that London does best. This city boasts grand institutions housing ancient treasures, modern monoliths packed with intriguing exhibits, and tiny rooms containing deeply niche collections – and lots of them are totally free to anyone who wants to come in and take a gander. And with more than 170 London museums to choose from, there's bound to be one to pique your interest, whatever you're in to.  Want to explore the history of TfL? We’ve got a museum for that. Rather learn about advertising? We’ve got a museum for that too. History? Check. Science? Check. 1940s cinema memorabilia, grotesque eighteenth-century surgical instruments, or perhaps a wall of 4,000 mouse skeletons? Check, check and check! Being the cultured metropolitans that we are, Time Out’s editors love nothing more than a wholesome afternoon spent gawping at Churchill’s baby rattle or some ancient Egyptian percussion instruments.

Updated February 2026: There’s been a drought of standout studio comedies over the last five to 10 years, which makes the Liam Neeson-starring remake of The Naked Gun even more of a comedic miracle. It joins both the 1988 original and director Akiva Schaffer’s previous spoof, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, on our list of the funniest movies ever. Medical professionals agree: laughter is the best medicine. Someone should tell movie studio executives. In the last few years, comedies have all but vanished from cinemas. Once one of Hollywood’s most bankable genres, you’re now lucky to get a small dose of giggles streaming at home. It’s a true shame, because as anyone alive in the Before Times will tell you, there are few experiences better than a theater full of people cracking up in unison.  Slowly but surely, however, the film world might be ready to laugh again. In 2025, absurd farces like the rebooted Naked Gun and Tim Robinson’s Friendship found enthusiastic audiences, and there are a few comedies arriving in 2026 that are worth anticipating. But even if a revival remains elusive, the thing about the greatest comedies is they remain infinitely rewatchable. On this list of the 100 greatest movie comedies ever, all senses of humour are represented: silly and sophisticated, light and dark, surreal and broad. Stream them now – because in this day and age, we could all use a good laugh. Recommended: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time🤣 The best comedies of 2024🥰 The greates

LA has Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly, New York has its share of classic picture houses, Paris has a world of old-fashioned repertory cinemas to explore, and Amsterdam boasts one of the most beautiful cinemas in the world. But none of them can hold a flickering projector to London’s vast array of multiplexes, arthouses, luxe cinemas and cult spots. There’s more than a hundred cinemas of all shapes and sizes, and the chances are, if you live in or outside the city, one of them is a short bus or Tube ride away. Plus, with 2025 bringing us the brand new, super-swanky Everyman Brentford and London’s first dedicated LGBTQ+ cinema, The Arzner in SE1, the city’s moviegoing options have continued to swell. Meanwhile, beloved stalwarts like the Prince Charles Cinema and East London’s Genesis are laying down plans to safeguard their futures. But not all cinemas are created equal: some are worth travelling that little bit further for – whether for the incredible value they offer, the tech set-up, crazy-comfy seats, the cult programming, or the gastronomic treats on offer. To sort the elite from the just-merely-really-good, we’ve canvassed Londoners for their pick of favourites and tallied their votes, with a few of our own picks, to rank the best movie houses inside the M25. From PeckhamPlex to The Phoenix, they’re an inestimable bunch, representing London’s past and with any luck, its future too. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free ​Time Out ​f​ilm newsletter for the best of the ​

As a European filmmaking capital, Italy is second only to France in historical importance. In terms of the kind of movies it’s given the world, though, there may not be a country more diverse. The masterpieces of Italian cinema range from hot-blooded romances to surrealistic dreamscapes, gut-busting commedia d'italia to gritty neorealist docudramas, spaghetti westerns to giallo horror. (Italian-Americans still have the edge on gangster flicks, though the mother nation has produced a few classics of the genre on its own.)  The big names still exert a massive influence on filmmaking culture: Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini, Argento, Leone. But Il Bel Paese is still producing major talents, from Alice Rohrwacher to Paolo Sorrentino. Clearly, narrowing down the greatest Italian movies of all-time is a tall task. But for our lira, these are the 50 best the country has to offer.RECOMMENDED: 📽️ The 50 best foreign-language films ever made.🇫🇷 The greatest French movies of all time.🇰🇷 The best Korean films ever made.

From Thor and Hulk to (basically) McCauley and Hanna. The reunion of two of Marvel’s mightiest heroes, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, as a meticulous but troubled thief and the schlebby, Columbo-alike detective on his case across LA evokes unenviable Heat comparisons. They’re overblown but not outrageous.  Crime 101 doesn’t have quite the operatic sweep of Michael Mann’s 1995 crime masterpiece or its army of supporting characters, but it’s a serious and satisfying throwback to the golden days of the crime thriller, full of crackling dialogue, noirish LA locations and adrenalised car chases, all briskly overseen by talented British writer-director Bart Layton (The Imposter). The title, of course, has a double meaning: Hemsworth’s hangdog jewel thief Mike Davis has a simple code – he’s courteous, avoids violence and his back story is a blank – and targets marks along LA’s 101 freeway. The road, which runs along the Pacific coast, represents something spiritual for Mike, who carries scars from a former life in the city. His spartan oceanside apartment offers more common ground with De Niro’s thief in Heat. When he falls out with his growly fence and mentor (Nick Nolte), who replaces him with Barry Keoghan’s loose-cannon biker, the stakes ramp up. Mike needs to pull off one last job. Ruffalo’s detective and his loyal but wary partner (Corey Hawkins) are hot on his heels. You know the drill. The Heat comparisons are overblown but not outrageous  Caught up with them both is a mi

Once again, this boutique west London indie film is gathering and supporting underrepresented voices, with a focus on inclusive storytelling and accessibility. Highlights at the the 2026 Little Venice Film Festival (LVFF) include The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan, directed Gabrielle Russell and telling the story of an ex IRA operative; Alan Walsh’s short One Last Show in Taghmon about three stuntmen who are preparing for their final stunt show; and paralympian documentary by Sheridan O’Donnell Rising Phoenix: A New Revolution. There are also screenings dedicated to female stories, girls in film, disability films, LGBTQ+ voices and youth-focused films. Venues are still TBC, but expect screenings to be staged around Maida Vale and Little Venice. 

‘I’m getting a divorce. What tipped me off is that I’m living in an apartment on my own and my wife and kids don’t live there.’ With that droll line, delivered in the spotlight of a hushed Manhattan comedy club after half a space cake, Will Arnett’s jaded executive stumbles upon the best – and cheapest – form of therapy available to a broken-up dad struggling amid the ruins of his marriage. Yes, it looks horrifying from a distance, but Alex, it turns out, is built differently. Based loosely on the experiences of arena-filling UK comic John Bishop, a divorcee-to-be who once walked on stage at a stand-up club to swerve paying the cover charge and never looked back, it shifts the story from Liverpool to Manhattan and the New York ’burbs. Arnett is Bishop surrogate Alex Novak and the Arrested Development actor is a revelation. Opposite is Laura Dern, who has previous in this terrain via a turn as Marriage Story’s hotshot divorce lawyer. She brings her A-game to a very different vision of marital ruin.  Obviously, divorce sucks at levels that are dizzying – especially when, like Alex and Tess (Dern), there are kids to shelter from the fallout. Props, then, to director and co-writer Bradley Cooper for finding a sense of renewal from this often painful snapshot of marital breakdown, with its forced smiles in front of friends, wrestling over the dogs and the children asking if ‘you’re fighting again’. ‘We need to call this, right?’ Alex asks Tess before moving out of the family home

Kangaroos have had a rough time in Australian cinema. But if the likes of Snowtown and Wake in Fright showed the perils of being pouched and hoppy in God’s own country, here’s a feel-warm-inside family roo-mance to finally celebrate the humble marsupial. Kangaroo is based on the true story of Chris Barns, an Aussie who discovered his purpose setting up a kangaroo sanctuary in Alice Springs. He found fame via social media and earned the nickname ‘Kangaroo Dundee’. The fact that his journey began with him running over a roo and adopting the surviving joey gave the story the kind of twist that’s absolute bait for screenwriters.  House of the Dragon’s Ryan Corr plays ambitious TV weatherman Chris Masterman, a very loose version of Barns, who boasts all the urbanite traits that get right up the noses of rural Australians. He’s conceited, he’s on the telly, he drives a fancy car and he uses moisturiser.Disgraced and sacked when a career-enhancing attempt to save a dolphin at Bondi ends in disaster, he’s on his way to Broome when he runs over a roo and is left cradling her joey. The locals in the local Northern Territory community don’t want to know – kangaroos are a dime a dozen here – except for Charlie (Lily Whiteley), a young roo-loving loner channelling her grief for her dad into nurturing young joeys. She’s even willing to overlook his ‘fish killer’ rep. It’s not doing anything wildly different, but it’ll put a smile on your face Will the pair bond? Obviously, yes. But not be

Aside from 2009’s Drag Me to Hell (one of the horror movies of the century so far,) and a stint spicing up the Marvelverse with some dark and freaky touches, Sam Raimi has been largely AWOL from the genre that made his name.  Happily, Send Help is both a return to the world of horror and a major return to form for the Evil Dead man, who’s been waylaid with bland franchise fare in recent years. There’s nothing bland in his queasy funhouse ride, a table-turning death match set on a remote island. Or in the wild performances of Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. The pair plugs into Raimi’s wavelength with increasingly unhinged commitment.  McAdams, a comic actress gifted enough to count as Canada’s Olivia Colman, plays hard-working, unsung professional Linda Liddle. She’s been overlooked for promotion at her anycorp employer because she isn’t one of the boys, doesn’t ‘golf’, and in a case of especially bad timing, meets the company’s disgusted new nepo-baby CEO, Bradley (O’Brien), with her lunch on her face.  But when the company’s private jet flight to Bangkok goes down in a tropical storm, boss and underling are forced to team up on a remote island. Except, she’s a Survivor superfan able to whip up a shelter and handy enough with a knife to turn the local marine life into a sashimi platter – and he’s injured and next to useless. Being a sexist dinosaur, he believes that office hierarchies still apply, even on a desert island. It plays out like a violent mix of Cast Away, Lord o

Finally, someone has returned to The Damned United’s cunning formula for a good football movie: don’t show any football.  Happily for co-directors Lisa Barros D’sa and Glenn Leyburn’s (Good Vibrations) sports flick, a psychological drama full of quirky touches and dry wit, not much of the Republic of Ireland’s pre-2002 World Cup prep on the Pacific island of Saipan made it as far as the pitch. As still-traumatised Irish fans will tell you, the reward for seeing their team qualify for the tournament in Japan and South Korea was to witness their star player and manager fall out in spectacular fashion. The two antagonists were Manchester United’s superstar midfielder Roy Keane (Éanna Hardwicke) – these days the furious face of dog walking and TV punditry; back then Ireland’s greatest player – and the team’s wry, Yorkshire-born manager Mick McCarthy (Steve Coogan).  Already minded to stay home, and nursing grievances against McCarthy, whom he considers a ‘plastic Paddy’, Keane is ready to explode when the squad touches down at its training base. Throw in a crappy hotel, rubbery cheese sandwiches, a bumpy training pitch and no practice balls and a full atomic meltdown is ensured. ‘Some people are unmanageable, aren’t they?’ McCarthy notes sanguinely to Mrs Mick (Alice Lowe), before the full horror unfolds. It’s a prophetic remark.  Normal People’s Hardwicke is striking as the fierce, brooding and ultra-competitive Keane. Coogan’s McCarthy, 50 percent proper football man, 50 percen

Trains and heroin. There are moments when you have to remind yourself that it’s Nia DaCosta (director) and Alex Garland (screenwriter) behind this quick-fire 28 Years Later sequel and not Danny Boyle and John Hodge reimagining that heady slice of ’90s pop-culture in a bled-out Britain. Here, though, it’s the English who are blissed-out on junk and the Scots who are the wankers. The trains are a bit more overgrown, too. The zombies are thinner on the ground in this instalment, presumably biding their time for Danny Boyle’s threequel, and that’s okay. There’s still some hyper-kinetic action – DaCosta (Candyman) and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt mix visceral GoPro sequences with stately long shots to deliver the best-looking film in the franchise – but most of the horror plays out with sticky intimacy here as the focus switches to two humans and an Alpha.  A fabulously malevolent Jack O’Connell is Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, introduced by 28 Years Later as a Scottish preacher’s son narrowly surviving the zombie apocalypse and as a Jimmy Savile-styled cult leader in its jarring epilogue. He roams the land with a gang of wig-and-tracksuit-wearing acolytes, executing Satanic violence on anyone they come across in the name of ‘Old Nick’. The infected aren’t the source of the greatest cruelty here. Like Christopher Ecclestone’s soldiers in 28 Days Later, humanity has reclaimed that crown.  On the side of the angels (or perhaps the only one left), Ralph Fiennes returns as GP-turned-surviva

Movie monsters come in all shapes and sizes, but they’re rarely as diminutive and deceptively cuddly as the pet chimp-turned-brainy-hell​-beast in this endearingly daft B-movie​ horror. Because for a portion of its runtime, Primate feels a bit like Jaws if instead of a great white shark, Steven Spielberg and co had plumped for a peckish sea bass – or Samuel L Jackson had starred in ‘Snake on a Plane’. Can one modestly sized ape really rain down gory terror on a group of grown-up humans, and do for chimps what Stephen King’s Cujo did for mountain rescue dogs?  Well, kinda. With cleverly claustrophobic staging in a walled clifftop house, director and co-writer Johannes Roberts (47 Metres Down) smartly mines the premise for thrills. Though rarely scary, Primate is tense, unpretentious fun. Its antagonist (played by movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba and augmented with VFX) is menacing enough to make you see why a group of swimsuited teens would feel outmatched – especially after a spliff or two. Beneath that fur, after all, this little ape is as hench as peak Stallone. The mayhem unfolds at the Hawaiian home of Coda Oscar winner Troy Kotsur’s crime novelist, Adam. The pet chimp, Ben, has been inherited from his late wife, a linguistics professor who’d been teaching it to communicate with humans. When Adam is called away on a book tour, his daughters Erin (Gia Hunter) and Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), and a few vacationing pals, are left to hold the fort. You could do worse than sp

If you’re feeling a touch downbeat about the state of the world, Eugene Jarecki’s (Why We Fight) searching but sympathetic doc about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not lift your spirits. With fly-on-the-wall footage, some extraordinary talking-head interviews, unexpected cameos (Lady Gaga, Pamela Anderson) and a sense of moral outrage, the American filmmaker takes on – and down – a global system of power that should worry the hell out of us all. Jarecki’s film, a conspiracy thriller in documentary clothing, provides a corrective to the public image of this deeply polarising figure, showing Assange as a warrior for transparency whose intelligence leaks embarrassed powerful national interests and who paid a terrible price for it.  We see Wikileaks growing from a small team led by the determined, spiky Australian as it broke through in 2007 by releasing US military footage of an Apache gunship gunning down unarmed civilians and Reuters journalists in Iraq. The viral video, dubbed ‘Collateral Murder’, turned the organisation into a name that everyone had heard of, even if they couldn’t quite pinpoint its exact aims. Ambiguity grew, fuelled when Assange was charged with rape in Sweden and hid out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The women he was accused of assaulting appear incognito here, revealing that the Swedish authorities pressed charges against the wills of the victims.  But the Wikileaks of The Six Billion Dollar Man is a more considered and journalistic enterpr

Aside from an overlong film, there’s little more dull than hearing some overprivileged critic whining about film length. After all, an extra helping of 3D-enhanced escapism measured in hundreds of millions of dollars in bleeding-edge effects: what’s not to love? With James Cameron serving it up, it’s like complaining about a Michelin-starred chef adding four courses onto their degustation menu, no extra charge.  Forgive me, then, for being that critic but if ever a movie could give your eyeballs gout, Avatar: Fire and Air is that film. At three hours and 17 sometimes spectacular, occasionally stultifying minutes (two more than Schindler’s List), your mind will struggle not to wander as human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his blue clanspeople tackle new-yet-entirely-similar threats in a straining sequel that again zeroes in on Pandoran whale juice as its McGuffin. You will try to make it through this movie without needing a pee. You will not succeed.  Unlike the first two Avatars, which even haters would concede were epic journeys of discovery, with Cameron as an attentive guide to a dazzling alien universe, a sense of familiarity kicks in from the opening 3D shots of a guilt-ridden Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) soaring through the floating Hallelujah Mountains on a banshee. The death of his brother Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in Avatar: The Way of Water will send him off on his own redemption arc, one of a few half-hearted story progressions in a movie that’s largely co

American cinema’s fake-it-til-you-make-it brigade – Catch Me If You Can’s Frank Abagnale Jr, Moses Pray in Paper Moon, Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy, Uncut Gems’ Howard Ratner, Barry Lyndon and all those other hustling antiheroes – has a dazzling new addition. But, with his skittish chutzpah and pathological lack of self-doubt, Timothée Chalamet’s ever-calculating ping pong player Marty Mauser has something most of those others lack: real talent to back up the front.  In Josh Safdie’s sports movie-cum-crime caper, Marty is a gifted but impoverished ping-pong player who’s only an inch or two from conquering all. By the terms of his own cutthroat world, he’s a loser who lives within touching distance of glory. One more push could make all the difference. Or get him killed.  Safdie, who co-writes with Uncut Gems’ Ronald Bronstein, spins this sorta-kinda true story into a mile-a-minute affair with a twinkle in its eye. (Marty is based on late ’40s table tennis champion Marty Reisman, whose nickname, ‘the Needle’, spoke to his jabbing wit as much as his wiry frame.)  And what a confederate Safdie has in Chalamet. The Dune star has been immodestly talking up his performance on the film’s press tour and, to borrow from Tropic Thunder, it seems a lot like a case of not dropping character until the DVD commentary. And let’s pray there is one because there’s a lot to unpack in this puckish figure whose pioneering outlook is articulated by Daniel Lopatin’s synth score and some ’80s bangers –

A blunt-speaking matriarch’s rapid decline in palliative care over a series of December days may not sound like the last word in festive viewing, but that is where this debut directorial effort from Kate Winslet takes us with almost indecent jolliness. It’s an advent calendar with a dose of morphine and a forced smile behind every window, a stark-yet-saccharine affair that sells out its own attempts at pathos with thin characters and jokes about goose-ducken. Only a cast of elite thesps keeps it from sinking into ignominy.  With the Lee actress directing from a screenplay written by her 21-year-old son Joe Anders, the Winslet family is clearly a lot more in tune with its emotions than the film’s angsty Gloucester clan. Helen Mirren is June, the vinegary but loving mum to three wildly different daughters: buttoned-up success story Julia (Winslet); stressed-out mum Molly (Andrea Riseborough), whose dotty husband (Stephen Merchant) is driving her to the brink; and New Age whirlwind Helen (Toni Collette). Even closer to home are distracted husband Bernie (Timothy Spall), avoidant in the face of this looming and seismic loss, and heavy-laden son Connor (Johnny Flynn), who finds both panic and purpose in his mother’s latest, and possibly final, collapse.The waxen June and her family decamp to an empty fairy-tale hospital given a romcom glow by cinematographer Alwin H Küchler (Steve Jobs) to arrange care rotas and relitigate old grudges, while the boisterous grandkids prep the mise

Love murder-mysteries? Love Derry Girls? Love the work of noughties pop legends like Black Eyed Peas and Girls Aloud? If the answer to literally any of those questions is ‘hell yes’, you’ll be needing to settle in for a hearty binge of Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee new Netflix comedy-thriller How To Get To Heaven From Belfast. The show follows old school friends, TV writer Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), stressed-out mum Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) and carer Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), as they cross Ireland trying to undercover them mysterious fate of the fourth member of their old schoolgirl gang Greta (Natasha O'Keeffe).  Photograph: Netflix/Christopher Barr Between their encounters with dangerous, charming and eccentric character amid glorious Irish landscapes, the sisters-in-sleuthing find time for some old school discos, boozy pub sessions and a whole mess of squabbling. The soundtrack is worth the binge alone, with McGee piling coins into the jukebox and teeing up Gaelic folk staples and some landmark noughties cheese featuring the likes of Atomic Kitten, S Club 7, All Saints, Daniel Bedingfield and, yes, Vengaboys. Trust it, it just works. ‘I really loved creating a soundtrack that reflected what these three women would have been dancing to when they were teenagers in 2003,’ McGee tells Time Out. ‘And the time of tunes they still whack on to dance to in the kitchen with a glass of wine. Not necessary cool – but bright and upbeat and nostalgic.’ Here’s the soundtrack in full: 

Derry Girls fans rejoice because the hit comedy’s creator, Lisa McGee, is back with another show that simultaneously touches the heart, whacks the funny bone and gives the nervous system a jolt.  How To Get To Heaven From Belfast branches out beyond – far beyond – Derry, though. The new Netflix eight-parter spans almost the entirety of the Emerald Isle, as well as a corner of London, as it spins a dark, complex and often wildly funny story of three 38-year-old women trying to find out what happened to an old school friend. If Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine was an increasingly battered Land Rover Discovery and its sleuths were fuelled up on a diet of shots, white wines and noughties bangers, it might look a bit like this intoxicating, offbeat mystery-thriller.  Photograph: Chris Barr/NetflixSinead Keenan, Caoilfhionn Dunne and Roisin Gallagher in ’How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’ What is How to Get To Heaven From Belfast about? Our sisters-in-sleuthing are successful TV writer Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), stressed-out mum Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) and carer Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne). The trio are reunited when they’re invited to the wake of the fourth member of their old schoolgirl gang, Greta (Natasha O'Keeffe). Except that it isn’t Greta in the coffin. Cue a chaotic investigation from three bickering buddies. ‘I wanted a shit, female, Northern Irish A-Team!’ McGee tells The Guardian of the inspiration behind her road-trip-mystery-crime-thriller-black-comedy (yes, it really is al

Earthy yet transcendent, brooding but full of sensitivity and spirit, Nigerian-set family drama My Father’s Shadow has been busy earning comparisons with two recent classics – including a certain Best Picture winner. The man who made it, Akinola Davies Jr, knows this because he’s been stealthily logging onto Letterboxd to find out what people are saying about the film he co-wrote with his brother. ‘People are like, “It’s the Black Aftersun” or ”it feels a bit like Moonlight”,’ he says, referring to Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winner and emotionally ruining Paul Mescal sad-dad drama. Not bad company to be in? ‘Just to be mentioned in the same breath as those two films is completely outrageous,’ he laughs. ‘To be talked about alongside those two films is fantastic,’ adds the film’s star, Gangs of London’s Sopé Dirisu. ‘I hope audiences share ours in the same way.’ Photograph: MUBI Into the shadows ‘Supernatural drama’ is the tag Davies uses for My Father’s Shadow’s rare blend of realism and rapture. Set in Lagos over one tumultuous day of political upheaval in 1993, it’s the story of an absentee dad, Folarin (Dirisu), who returns home to collect his two sons, Akin and Remi (played by real brothers Godwin and Chibuike Egbo), and take them on an unpredictable, revelatory journey into the Nigerian capital. The boys swim with Folarin in the Gulf of Guinea, Moonlight-style, bump into intimidating associates and gradually fill in some of the blanks relating to their dad’s life. It’s a ten

Emerald Fennell’s new adaption of Wuthering Heights is supercharging Emily Brontë’s classic gothic romance with all the spicy, Saltburn-y bits that the novelist neglected to include in her 1847 tale of doomed love. There’s carriage humping, moorland masturbation and heaving bosoms aplenty as Cathy (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) verbally joust and get jiggy in the wilds of Yorkshire. We’re pretty sure that Brontë was just getting round to all that when she hit deadline.  But if, by her own admission, Fennell’s hot and heavy take on Wuthering Heights is her teenage interpretation of its forbidden romance, the filmmaker’s vision does cleave closely to the Yorkshire landscapes evoked by Brontë.  The author was born in West Yorkshire and died there, aged only 30, and her only novel echoes with the howl of the wind on its moors and the splosh of peat bogs. Fennell’s Wuthering Heights used the nearby moors, hills and valleys of – mostly – North Yorkshire, to stand in for the countryside between Cathy’s childhood home and her marital one, the grander pile of Thrushcross Grange.It’s not quite Brontë’s Haworth but only locals and geologists could spot the difference, and it’s a world closer than the Californian backdrops of the 1939 Laurence Olivier version (albeit, Andrea Arnold’s 2011 version went with North Yorkshire locations too). Here’s where Wuthering Heights was filmed. Photograph: Warner Bros. The rock Cathy waits for Heathcliff on is Healaugh Crag, North Yo

The great murder-mystery revival is continuing with Agatha Christie’s 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery bringing its twisty, knotty thrills to a new three-part adaptation on Netflix. Expect dark conspiracies, secret societies, espionage and political intrigue as a group of Edwardian bright young things are torn apart by murder and foul play.   Step aside The Thursday Murder Club, Knives Out and co. It’s time to yield the stage to the OG of the genre.  Adapted by Broadchurch writer-creator Chris Chibnall, The Seven Dials Mystery is set in 1920s where aristocrats are recovering from the Great War and London’s now-well-heeled Seven Dials is a slum in which shady goings-on impact national security. Once a TV film starring John Gielgud and Harry Andrews in 1981, Netflix’s three-part adaptation paints on a more widescreen canvas with southern Spain and western England lending sun-kissed settings, Edwardian elegance and stately grandeur to all the bloodshed. We asked location managers Dee Gregson and Enrique Martin Guadamuro to talk through how and where the sweeping new crime mystery came together.  Photograph: Simon Ridgway/NetflixHelena Bonham Carter as Lady Caterham What is Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials about? How To Have Sex’s Mia McKenna-Bruce is Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent, a sparky young aristocrat thrust into the reluctant role of amateur investigator when her dead brother’s bestie Gerry Wade (My Oxford Year’s Corey Mylchreest) is found dead in mysterious circumstances.

Mikä on sopivaa käytöstä elokuvissa? Kaikenlainen puhelimenkäyttö pitäisi ilman muuta kriminalisoida, ja popcornin popsimisestakin voidaan ollaan kahta mieltä, mutta miten pitäisi suhtautua niin vuolaaseen nyyhkytykseen, että elokuvateatteria uhkaa vesivahinko? Kysymyksestä tekee yllättäen ajankohtaisen Oscar-palkitusta Nomadlandista tutun Chloé Zhaon ohjaama ja tudor-aikaan sijoittuva Hamnet. Tämän kyyneltykin äärellä eivät auta pelkät nenäliinat. Tarvitaan kunnon froteepyyhettä. Jessie Buckleyn ja Paul Mescalin uransa parhaisiin lukeutuvien roolisuoritusten varassa Hamnet kertoo tarinan Shakespearen suurimman tragedian – Hamletin – taustalta, ja paljon muustakin. Äitiyden villistä voimasta, vanhemmuuden musertavasta vastuusta, luovan ilmaisun pakosta sekä siitä äkillisestä ahdistuksesta, joka syntyy, kun jotakin äärettömän arvokasta vaalitaan kuoleman varjossa.  Zhao pitää nämä alkukantaiset mutta tunnistettavat voimat kurissa, kunnes päästää ne valloilleen tunteet totaalisti nielaisevassa viimeisessä näytöksessä. Ota mukaan pyyhe, sillä pelkät nenäliinat eivät riitä Maggie O’Farrellin vuoden 2020 romaanin ystävät saavat helpotuksen: luonnonvoimaisen Agnes Hathawayn (Buckley) ja nerouttaan vasta tavoittavan aviomiehensä William Shakespearen (Mescal) syväluotaus on säilynyt, mutta elokuvataiteelle sopivasti tiivistettynä. Pois on jätetty koukerot, jotka rikastavat kirjaa, mutta tukkisivat valkokankaan: varhaiset seurustelukriisit, Shakespearen matkat Lontooseen, The Globen p

In a big year for slasher and horror franchises, the return of Scream will be bringing the knowingly self-aware brand of slasher thrills. Scream 7, directed by franchise creator Kevin Williamson, lands in UK cinemas at the end of February. And to warm up the fanbase, a new immersive Scream experience is coming to London – just for one day, mind.On the night of Wednesday, February 11, Stormzy’s House Party in Soho will transform itself into an eerie corner of Woodsboro to offer freaky thrills to those who dare venture within.. ‘This house will take you on a terrifying, immersive journey back to, the site of where the rules of modern horror were redefined, with clues of what's to come in Scream 7,’ runs the press release.  ‘The event includes elements, settings and situations which are designed to surprise and frighten visitors. Visitors attend at their own risk.’ Which rules us out.  It’s ticket only, but free to anyone who can snag tickets via the Eventbrite link. There are three slots to book between 8-11pm. Oh, and you must be 18 to attend.  Scream 7 will pick up with Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her daughter (Isabel May) when a new Ghostface killer emerges in her quiet town to wreck the usual bloody carnage. Catch it in cinemas from February 27. The two-part version of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is set to close in London’s West End.The 100 greatest horror movies ever made.

Després d'uns anys d'altibaixos, el 2026 es perfila com el "moment de la veritat" per mesurar la salut real de la indústria del cinema. Ens esperen 12 mesos carregats d'èxits obligatoris (o, millor dit, de pel·lícules que més val que no fracassin). La llista inclou de tot: des de la cinquena entrega de Toy Story fins a l'esperadíssima seqüela d' El diable es vesteix de Prada, passant per una nova trobada a la tercera fase de Steven Spielberg i un Christopher Nolan que s'emporta gairebé tot l' "A-list" de Hollywood a l'antiga Grècia. La trilogia de Dune arribarà al seu fi, mentre l'Univers Cinematogràfic de Marvel intenta reinventar-se amb la pel·lícula de superherois més gran des d' Endgame. A més: més Frankenstein, més 28 anys després i més Superman (o, almenys, la seva cosina). Com dèiem: serà un any gran. Però si el futur dels blockbusters de Hollywood no et treu la son i només busques bon cinema, també hi ha un munt de pel·lícules petites i mitjanes per les quals val la pena il·lusionar-se. Aquí tens les 26 pel·lícules èpiques que més delirem per veure. 1. 28 años después: El templo de los huesos  Terror Prepara't per a la ràpida continuació de la trilogia de Danny Boyle que ens va deixar a tots bocabadats amb aquella escena final que presentava el líder de la secta interpretat per Jack O’Connell (un personatge a l'estil Jimmy Savile). Boyle cedeix el testimoni a Nia DaCosta (Candyman) i serà fascinant veure com gestiona aquest to mordaç i descobrir què aporta una cineas

Junia ja heroiinia. Välillä joutuu oikein muistuttamaan itseään, että tämän nopearytmisen elokuvan takana ovat Nia DaCosta (ohjaus) ja Alex Garland (käsikirjoitus), eivät Danny Boyle ja John Hodge palaamassa 1990-luvun päihteisen popkulttuurin äärelle Edinburghiin ja Trainspottingin tunnelmiin. Tällä kertaa osat ovat tosin vaihtuneet. Englantilaiset ovat pilvessä ja skotit täysiä kusipäitä. Ja junaradat ovat entistä pahemmin rapistuneita. Luutemppeli on jatkoa viime vuonna ensi iltansa saaneelle elokuvalle 28 vuotta myöhemmin. Tässä jatko-osassa zombeja on ykkösosaa vähemmän (ehkä ne säästelevät voimiaan Danny Boylen tulevaa kolmatta osaa varten), mutta se ei haittaa. Hyperkineettistä toimintaa riittää tässäkin filkassa: DaCosta (Candyman) ja kuvaaja Sean Bobbitt yhdistävät brutaaleja GoPro-jaksoja ylvään pitkiin otoksiin ja tulevat samalla tehneeksi koko zombiesarjan näyttävimmän elokuvan.  Suurin osa kauhusta syntyy tahmeasta läheisyydestä, kun fokus siirtyy kahteen ihmiseen ja yhteen alfa-zombiin. Tämä on zombie-elokuvasarjan ilkein, sielukkain ja pohdiskelevin osa Jack O’Connell on häikäisevän pahansuopa Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal. Edellisosa esitteli hänet skotlantilaisen saarnaajan poikana, joka selvisi nipin napin zombiapokalypsista. Nyt hän on kultin johtaja, joka vaeltaa ympäri saarivaltakuntaa peruukkipäisten, verkkareihin pukeutuneiden seuraajiensa kanssa ja harjoittaa saatanallista väkivaltaa kaikkia kohtaamiaan vastaan. Tartunnan saaneet eivät ole tämän elokuvan julm

This year’s Oscar nominations have been announced and, as expected, it was one nomination after another for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Coogler’s blues-and-vampires epic scored a record-breaking 16 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Michael B Jordan, Best Supporting Actor for Delroy Lindo, and Best Supporting Actress for Wunmi Mosaku. One Battle After Another is in hot pursuit with a total of 13 noms, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor shouts for Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn, Best Support Actress for Teyana Taylor, and Best Director for Anderson himself. Joachim Trier’s family drama Sentimental Value earned itself a stunning nine nominations, including acting nods for Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning.Announced by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman, the nominations didn’t throw up too many fresh surprises in what’s looking like the most predictable Oscar race in recent times – although the scale of love for Sinners may just tip the Best Picture race back in its favour. Lindo, Ethan Hawke (Best Actor for Blue Moon) and Kate Hudson (Best Actress for Neil Diamond-y dramedy Song Sung Blue) weren’t on everyone’s bingo cards, and like Brad Pitt’s racing driver, F1 has made a late bid for glory. It’s up for four Oscars, including Best Picture and picked up an always significant Best Editing nod. Here’s the nominees i

Se han anunciado las nominaciones a los Oscar de este año y, tal como se esperaba, ha sido un goteo constante para Una batalla tras otra, de Paul Thomas Anderson, y Los pecadores, de Ryan Coogler. El filme de vampiros y blues de Coogler ha logrado la cifra récord de 16 nominaciones, incluyendo Mejor Película, Mejor Dirección, Mejor Actor para Michael B. Jordan, Mejor Actor de Reparto para Delroy Lindo y Mejor Actriz de Reparto para Wunmi Mosaku. Una batalla tras otra la sigue de cerca con un total de 13 nominaciones, como Mejor Película, Mejor Actor para Leonardo DiCaprio, menciones como Mejor Actor de Reparto para Benicio del Toro y Sean Penn, Mejor Actriz de Reparto para Teyana Taylor y Mejor Dirección para el propio Anderson. El drama familiar de Joachim Trier, Valor sentimental, ha obtenido nueve sorprendentes candidaturas, con las nominaciones interpretativas para Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas y Elle Fanning. Anunciadas por Danielle Brooks y Lewis Pullman, las nominaciones no han dejado demasiadas sorpresas frescas en la que parece la carrera de los Oscar más predecible de los últimos tiempos, aunque la ola de entusiasmo por Los pecadores podría volver a decantar la balanza de la Mejor Película a su favor. Por su parte, la coproducción catalana Sirât, dirigida por Oliver Laxe y protagonizada por Sergi López, ha conseguido una doble nominación a los Oscar a mejor película internacional y mejor sonido. Mejor Película Una batalla tras otra Los p

S’han anunciat les nominacions als Oscar d’aquest any i, tal com s’esperava, ha estat un degoteig constant per a Una batalla tras otra, de Paul Thomas Anderson, i Los pecadores, de Ryan Coogler. El film de vampirs i blues de Coogler ha aconseguit la xifra record de 16 nominacions, incloent-hi Millor Pel·lícula, Millor Direcció, Millor Actor per a Michael B. Jordan, Millor Actor de Repartiment per a Delroy Lindo i Millor Actriu de Repartiment per a Wunmi Mosaku. Una batalla tras otra la segueix de prop amb un total de 13 nominacions, com ara Millor Pel·lícula, Millor Actor per a Leonardo DiCaprio, mencions com a Millor Actor de Repartiment per a Benicio del Toro i Sean Penn, Millor Actriu de Repartiment per a Teyana Taylor i Millor Direcció per al mateix Anderson. El drama familiar de Joachim Trier, Valor sentimental, n'ha obtingut nou de sorprenents, amb les candidatures interpretatives per a Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas i Elle Fanning. Anunciades per Danielle Brooks i Lewis Pullman, les nominacions no han deixat gaires sorpreses fresques en la que sembla la cursa dels Oscar més predictible dels últims temps, tot i que l’onada d’entusiasme per Los pecadores podria tornar a decantar la balança de la Millor Pel·lícula al seu favor. Per la seva banda, la coproducció catalana Sirât, dirigida per Oliver Laxe i protagonitzada per Sergi López, ha aconseguit una doble nominació als Oscar a millor pel·lícula internacional i millor so. Millor Pel·lícula