Phil de Semlyen

Urgently in need of some cool pressie inspo for your nearest and dearest? Don’t worry about it! Our London gift guide is here, and it features loads of lovely pressies to suit just about any Londoner you can imagine.  From nifty gadgets to stylish accessories, covetable homeware to kids’ gifts, our editors have got every base covered, including plenty of sustainable options and handmade bits from some of London’s coolest indie brands and makers.  Need even more present inspiration? Check out our roundup of London’s best Christmas hampers for 2025. Time Out’s 2025 Christmas Gift Guide at a glance 🏰 Best for tech nerds: Nothing headphones 💷 Best for foodies: Allday Goods knife 🔬 Best for style queens: Peachy Den scarf and mitten set 🎡 Best for cool blokes: Percival martini cap 🎨 Best for youngsters: Ty Beanie Bouncers RECOMMENDED: More Christmas fun in London. 

December update: The horror year is almost at an end – and it's been a cracker – but before anyone puts a ribbon on, Silent Night, Deadly Night’s psycho Santa (and his axe) wants a quiet word... Unlike many of its monsters, vampires and virus-y Alphas, the horror genre is alive and well. It is, you might even say, well-endowed. Because anyone who loves that shivery sensation of being spooked witless in a cinema is being a lot better served than anyone searching for big laughs. The biggest stories in horror this year – Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Zach Cregger’s Weapons – have packed in audiences and birthed a million memes along the way, but don’t sleep on the following flicks either. Best horrors of 2025 at a glance: 📍 28 Years Later – Netflix (US); also on Prime Video/Apple TV+📍 Nosferatu - US: streaming on Prime Video; US & UK: rent/buy on PVOD📍 Sinners – US: streaming on Max; UK: rent/buy on PVOD📍 Weapons – Rent/buy now on Prime Video/Apple TV (PVOD); still in some cinemas📍 Final Destination: Bloodlines – Max (US); US & UK: rent/buy on PVOD

We know what you’re thinking: ‘Best kids Christmas movies? Aren’t all Christmas movies basically for kids?’ Oh sure, plenty are. But assuming every film with a yuletide theme is good for the young ones is where parents can get in trouble. You may end up streaming a movie where Santa Claus is a serial killer, or a Hallmark romcom that’ll bore them silly.  So, no, the phrase ‘Christmas movies for kids’ is not as redundant as it might sound. And clearly, picking the right movie to get the smallest members of the household into the holiday spirit requires both care and wisdom. These 30 movies, though, are like hot cocoa for the little ones’ souls. Want to get on your child’s nice list? Stream one of these, and your stocking will runneth over. Recommended: 🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies of all-time🎁 The best Christmas specials of all-time🎄 The best animated Christmas movies for the whole family🤣 The 35 best family comedies for your next movie night👶 The best movies for toddlers👪 The 50 greatest animated movies to watch as a family

Let’s be real: you’ll probably spend most of those lazy days between Christmas and New Year watching Yuletide classics, eating chocs, and forgetting how your legs work. But there’s a lot to be said for starting your Crimbo movie viewing long before the pressies get doled out. In November and December, venues across the city start putting on special xmas screenings of festive favourites, and they're the perfect excuse to get into the spirit of the season, whether you're a grumpy Grinch or a troublingly perky Elf.  These Christmas specials are full of added incentives to peel you off your sofa, too, including special snacks, live orchestras and sing-a-longs. So it's high time you put a cinema trip on your festive to-do list. Here are the best Christmas movie events the capital has to offer in 2025. RECOMMENDED:🎄 Read our full guide to Christmas in London.🍿 The 50 greatest Christmas movies.

Updated December 2025: From winter blockbusters to festival sleepers, these are the movies our critics think define 2025 so far. Expect prestige dramas, horror gems, wild indies and some surprise streaming hits – all watched and ranked by Time Out’s film team. Quick Picks: 2025’s best films by genre: 😂 Best comedy: The Naked Gun 😱 Best horror movie: Weapons 🥋 Best action movie: One Battle After Another🎭 Best drama: Nickel Boys🪆 Best family film: Flow September brought Splitsville, a whip-smart indie screwball about two couples testing open marriages, The Lost Bus, Paul Greengrass’s tense wildfire epic starring an on-form Matthew McConaughey, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. With three quarters of the year gone, a few trends are starting to emerge. Superhero movies aren’t dead, but they’re no longer the guaranteed juggernauts they once were. Family films are booming. Gen Z is generating its own IP. Audiences still crave horror. And China’s home-grown hits are driving the global box office without Hollywood’s help. After years of post-pandemic hand-wringing, the film industry looks to be in better health than anyone expected. Sure, awards season could still change everything, but so far 2025 has given us plenty to celebrate – from genre-smashing auteur vehicles like Sinners and Weapons, to daring experiments such as The Nickel Boys, Flow and Better Man, and welcome returns from directors like Steven Soderbergh and Danny Boyle. In short, it’s been a b

December 2025 update: The second and third parts of the finale of Stranger Things are bringing things in Hawkins to a shadowy end this month, while there’s a second season of Fallout and returns for Emily in Paris and Percy Jackson to look forward to.We’ve all heard the phrase ‘TV’s golden age’ enough times over the past couple of decades to get wary of the hyperbole, but this year does seem to be shaping up to be a kind of mini golden age for the TV follow-up. Severance, Andor, Wednesday and Poker Face have all built on incredibly satisfying first seasons with equally masterful second runs. The third season of The White Lotus has proved that, whether you love it or find it a touch too languorous, there’s no escaping Mike White’s transgressive privilege-in-paradise satire. Likewise for season 7 of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian-flavoured sci-fi Black Mirror. More recently, HBO’s Task hit the spot with a blue-collar crime series that wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty. Watercooler viewing is everywhere at the moment, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, with Stranger Things coming to an end and about a zillion other things still come. Here’s everything you need to see... so far.  Best TV and streaming shows at a glance: 📍 The Pitt (Emmy Best Drama winner) – watch on HBO Max in the US📍 Adolescence (Best Limited Series winner) – watch on Netflix worldwide📍 Severance season 2 (multiple acting wins) – watch on Apple TV worldwide📍 The Studio (Best Comedy winner) – watch o

December 2025: December is a great time of year for exploring London’s museums. Sure, it’s one of the city’s peak tourism seasons – as visitors descend to check out the city’s Christmas markets, do some gift shopping on Oxford Street, go ice-skating and visit Hyde Park Winter Wonderland – but with all the festive distractions, the capital’s iconic institutions can be quieter than you might think. If you have time in amongst all the Christmas chaos, it’s a great chance to catch up on some of the autumn’s huge openings, from Wes Anderson at the Design Museum to Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A. Elsewhere, you can check out the special Christmas performances at the Charles Dickens Museum, head to the Natural History Museum to see its t-rex sporting a jazzy Christmas jumper, or stop by Dennis Severs’ House and the Museum of the Home to find out how Christmas was celebrated in years gone by. 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 c

At the end of the year, minds naturally cast themselves back to a 12 months at the cinema full of euphoric highs (Sinners, One Battle After Another) and crushing lows (Tron: Ares, Captain America: Brave New World anyone?). But what’s that stomping over the horizon in a mech suit? It’s another outsized ‘Avatar’ movie, here to hoover up all the box office and remind us that the year isn’t over until James Cameron says it is. Of course, Hollywood lore tells us never to bet against Cameron, but don’t bet against a number of December’s quieter releases either, including this year’s Palme d’Or winner and a heartsore gem for lovers of Joachim Trier’s line in Scandi lyricism.   RECOMMENDED:📽️ The best films of 2025📺 The best TV shows of 2025 you need to stream🏵️ The 100 greatest movies of all time

Even after a couple of vintage years for new music, 2025 has been special. Sure, we didn’t get a clear-cut ‘song of the summer’, but artists have been instead putting out defining works in a longer format. The past 12 (well, 11) months have featured all manner of extraordinary album releases.  Belted-to-the-rafters country pop, plunderphonic majesty, ecstatic dance music, intimate electronic world-building, history-collapsing art rock, triumphant hip-hop… these are just a few of the sounds and styles that have been executed marvellously in 2025. Here are the year’s finest 25 albums, chosen by Time Out editors and contributors.

You know the feeling when you step out of a film screening and, for a brief moment, it seems like you’re stepping out of a fictional world and into real life? What if you could prolong that magical feeling for just a little bit longer? Cinemas don’t always need to be another part of the grey fabric of a city, they can also be in some genuinely cinematic – and properly remote – locations. Don’t believe us? Here are the world’s most isolated picture houses for film buffs and adventurers alike.  RECOMMENDED:📽️ The 50 most beautiful cinemas in the world.

Murder mysteries are back. The question is, how were they ever allowed to leave? They’ve been part of cinema stretching back to the 1930s. Beyond mere tradition, few genres are able to engage your mind and pull you through the screen in quite the same way. It’s all about immersion: it’s simply human nature to want to solve a puzzle. And no matter how charismatic the sleuth up on the screen is, we always see them as a proxy for ourselves – and we always try to one-up them by figuring things out before they do.   And yet, somehow, the classic whodunnit had, until recently, felt long out of fashion. Like we said, though, over the last few years, murder mysteries have made a comeback, owing in large part to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and its sequels, Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man. That led to remakes of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile to streaming series like Poker Face to Only Murders in the Building. So we felt it was time to round up the genre’s classics, along with its hidden gems. Here are 41 of the best. Contributors: Phil de Semlyen, Matthew Singer, Annette Richardson, Ashanti Omkar Recommended:🕵️ The 100 best thriller films of all time🔪 The best true crime documentaries on Netflix in the US🔥 The 100 greatest films ever made

C’est en 1989 que Luca Guadagnino a été frappé pour la première fois par le potentiel de son actrice principale dans After the Hunt : lorsqu'elle incarnait la pétillante Shelby dans Steel Magnolias. Trois décennies et demie plus tard, le réalisateur italien a enfin eu son job date de rêve avec Julia Roberts, dans un coin tranquille d'une fête glamour à Los Angeles. « C'était chez une personne très importante à Hollywood », se souvient-il. « Cette personne merveilleuse nous a réunis, on s’est assis sur le canapé et on n’a plus jamais arrêté de parler. » Même pour un cinéaste du calibre et de l'expérience de Guadagnino, il a fallu maîtriser ses nerfs pendant ces deux heures à discuter avec l'icône hollywoodienne. Mais, dit-il, « elle m'a mis à l'aise en une seconde. Au fil du temps, nous nous sommes liés sur beaucoup de choses. » La conversation a démarré à propos d’un scénario qui faisait le buzz, écrit par la jeune Nora Garrett, que Guadagnino, dont le dernier projet venait de capoter, était déterminé à porter à l’écran après ses deux succès de 2024, Queer et Challengers. Se déroulant dans le petit monde politique fiévreux de Yale, After the Hunt suit une poignée de personnages qui savent très bien cacher leurs nombreux secrets. Julia Roberts y incarne Alma, une prof de philo grincheuse, en compétition pour un poste de permanente avec son ami (et peut-être plus) Hank, joué par Andrew Garfield. L'élève vedette Maggie (Ayo Edebiri de The Bear) est le troisième point d'un triang

There have been better animated sequels and more epic ones, but has there ever been a fluffier follow-up than this bouncy, buoyant caper starring at least half the nature world? To Zootropolis’s bickering duo of frenemies-turned-partners, idealistic bunny cop Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and sly street fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), part 2 throws in a venomous pit viper called Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan) for slithering but cute sidekick antics and a message of prejudice-busting teamwork.  Gary’s gentle nature is wildly at odds with the lethal neurotoxins that course through his fangs, a neat central tension. The well-meaning serpent just wants a hug but stands to accidentally kill anyone who gets too close. Bateman and Goodwin are perfect as the snarky-and-sweet central duo, and Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke ups the loveability levels in a voice cast that packs in cameos from Ed Sheeran, Dwayne Johnson and even Disney CEO Bob Iger (voicing weatherman Bob Tiger and presumably immediately ready to green light Zootropolis 3). Shakira returns too, to bash out a song as a pop star gazelle. The plot doesn’t measure up to the first Zootropolis’s ingenious Chinatown stylings, and younger viewers may need a grounding in noir storytelling to follow the action. But the quest for a McGuffin that will reunite Gary De’Snake and his ostracised viper brethren with their territorial birthright opens up a new map book to this colourfully imaginative world. The reptile k

F Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that there are no second acts in American lives. The novelist might have changed his tune if he’d happened across a young model called Lee Miller back in the New York of the late 1920s.Even back then, in her pixie-cropped fashionista era, the New Yorker must have exuded an unquenchable thirst for discovery and reinvention. Fast forward 30 or so years and she’d been a muse for Man Ray and the Surrealist movement, starred in films, become a famous photographer, decamped to Paris, Cairo and London, traversed war-torn Europe as a daredevil journalist and finally, haunted by the conflict, holed in a cosy corner of Sussex to host arty parties and pioneer avant garde recipes like ‘onion upside down cake’ and ‘marshmallow Coca-Cola ice cream’. She died fêted as a celebrity chef. Second act? She had a folio’s worth.  All of those eras are up on the Tate Britain’s walls for the duration of the gallery’s blockbuster exhibition. Dividing Miller’s extraordinary career chronologically, it’s a time-travelling experience as well as a showcase of her technical and compositional skills. ‘Before the Camera’, shows her as a beautiful young model in NYC in 1926, the daughter of a keen amateur photographer. Walk through a dozen or so rooms and there she is, in Hitler’s bathtub, world-famous and hollowed out, returning to self-portraiture to capture a shattered continent in one image.   If the shimmery black-and-white portraits she took – from a playful Charlie Cha

Wicked stans, musical theatre diehards and anyone tempted to drop the word ‘goosify’ into conversation should add about 12 more stars to the above rating, skip my thoughts and settle in for another two-and-a-half more of Elphaba and Glinda belting out anthems of empowerment while Jonathan Bailey’s army officer Fiyero suffers a crisis of conscience in the background.  Still here? Well, whisper it but the concluding part of John M Chu’s musical epic will be a disappointment for anyone who hasn’t sipped the green and pink Kool-Aid. Rather than an elegant dash for the finish line, Wicked: For Good magnifies the shortcomings of the stage musical’s underpowered second half with sluggish pacing, awkward scenes and storytelling that packs all the visceral punch of Glinda’s bubble machine. Where the first movie had urgency and a sense of peril to propel it forward – not to mention a host of bona-fide bangers – part two is more of a wheelspin downhill. Once again, Wicked’s kingdom of Oz is a luridly over-designed world (were we too harsh on Oz: The Great and Powerful?) where human fondant fancy Glinda the Good (Ariane Grande) is torn between loyalty to the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and love for old pal Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, a powerhouse again).   The witch, having broomsticked away at the end of Wicked, is deep into her Ewok era, living in the trees of Oz to hide from Wizard’s troops and flying monkeys. Goldblum is his usual cheerily mercurial self, but the Wizard cuts a detached figure

It’s weird, in the year 2025, that it seems necessary to point out that the Nazis were bad. But Nuremberg, an old-fashioned and satisfyingly complex morality tale in the guise of a courtroom drama and spy thriller, does that job in impressive style. Supercharged by James Vanderbilt’s smart script and snappy direction, and with an on-form cast, it plots a course through the immediate aftermath of World War II and into the legal nightmare of holding its German perpetrators to account.  If Russell Crowe seemed a cartoonish choice to play avuncular Nazi second-in-command Hermann Göring, he delivers his best performance since The Nice Guys a full decade ago, paradoxically dialling things back to prove that he’s not a faded force. Rami Malek returns to something like Bohemian Rhapsody form as the American psychologist, Douglas Kelley, sent to the Allies’ high security Nuremberg prison to evaluate him and his fellow Nazis.  Appearances are deceptive throughout this psychologically acute and entertaining dramatisation of the Nuremberg war trials of 1945. Göring seems jovial and harmless; Kelley seems in control of their sessions in the Nazi’s small cell. Straight-arrow American prosecutor Robert H Jackson (Michael Shannon) and his gin-sipping British counterpart (Richard E Grant) seem to have a copper-bottomed plan to send Göring and his fellow war criminals (including the deeply odious Robert Ley and Julius Streicher) to the gallows. ‘Eisenhower is not for hanging anyone without a t

What happened to the fun? Along with co-writer Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright burst onto the scene as the brains behind Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, all zip and fizz and crash zooms and witty edits, soundtracks that might have taken years to pull together, and fan-thrilling Easter eggs and cameos.  Unexpectedly, his sci-fi action film could have been made by any number of less gifted filmmakers. There’s little sign of that tightly calibrated, cinephile-fuelled pop-art house style that made his name in this update of Stephen King’s The Running Man (published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman to critique early Reagan-era saturation TV).It’s a movie that got up on the wrong side of the bed and compensated with four quadruple espressos. Like Arnie’s spandex-and-sass 1987 version (not to mention The Hunger Games, The Squid Game, The Long Walk and any number of other variants on the theme,) it’s a parable of a near-future underclass giving blood to entertain the masses and hopefully win big in the process. But unlike Schwarzenegger’s version, Wright isn’t playing much of this for laughs. His lead, Hit Man’s Glen Powell’s Ben Richards, may be the most pissed-off protagonist since Mel Gibson’s thunderous heyday. It’s a movie that got up on the wrong side of the bed and compensated with four quadruple espressos Unable to provide for his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson) and their sick bubba, and fired from a series of (literally) toxic jobs, he signs up for a deadly reality TV show r

Two bungalows with a shared partition, a dog, and a couple of Oscar nominees at the top of their formidable games: Paul Andrew Williams’s pared-back and bruising three-hander is a realist drama with deep undercurrents that whirlpool into a denouement you will not see coming.  On a nondescript street in an unnamed town a few metres from a set of traffic lights that seem forever stuck on red, Brenda Blethyn’s elderly, arthritic pensioner Elsie muddles along, assisted by a series of box-ticking private carers and the occasional call from her distant, middle-aged son John (W1A’s Jason Watkins). Those comings and goings are observed by her wiry, sardonic neighbour Colleen (Andrea Riseborough). The distance between these two lonely souls – a stretch of lawn with a lone splash of colour provided by Elsie’s flowerbed – shortens in increments as Colleen and her beefy bull terrier Sabre pile over to help with the shopping and pick up the slack. Soon, Elsie is providing that most British sign of welcome and sticking the kettle on.Blethyn is a two-time Oscar nominee and Riseborough, of course, earned one as For Leslie’s working-class alcoholic, and they are both absolutely stellar as two strangers finding a gentle connection. Both communicate different forms of brittleness – physical for one, psychological for the other – with immense skill, but leave space for a third kind: the idea that their connection is also alarmingly fragile. Colleen’s manner and lack of back story plant the idea

Measured rather than playing to the gallery, The Choral is Brassed Off in a minor key – an elegant, Yorkshire-set exploration of music as a spiritual morale-boost in the darkest times. With Ralph Fiennes gravely essaying the controversial choirmaster at its heart, it does a lovely job of swerving the obvious notes but misplaces its stirring crescendo. In fairness, the setting isn’t a joyous one. We’re in the fictional mill town of Ramsden in 1916, a Yorkshire community rocked by steady losses on the Western Front. Word from France comes in the form of death notices delivered by postie Lofty (Oliver Briscombe) to bereft mothers. The town is divided between those eager to do their bit and those who fear that they or their young loved-ones will soon be called on to die in the trenches. The local choral society is busy trying to lift the town’s spirits with a production of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Except local patron and mill owner Alderman Duxbury (Roger Allam) is stuck trying to replace the departing choirmaster who’s just joined up. And when everyone twigs than Bach was, in fact, a Hun, the question becomes moot. It won’t do to be getting cosy with German culture in a time of war – although, as their new musical director Dr Henry Guthrie (Fiennes) points out, that would rule out Haydn, Beethoven and most of the other options too. Guthrie’s own German past soon marks his card too, although he claws back some patriotic points by suggesting a modernised version of Elgar’s ‘The

The jury’s out on popcorn and the case has been made against phone use (time to criminalise?), but where do we stand on big, ugly, drenching-the-cinema-floor sobbing? Chloé Zhao’s (Nomadland) Tudor tearjerker makes the debate suddenly germane. ‘Take tissues’ is a hopeless cliché. Tissues won’t do. You’ll need towels.  With Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal delivering the performances of their careers, Hamnet tells the story behind Shakespeare’s great tragedy – Hamlet – and much more besides. The wild power of motherhood; the fearsome responsibility of parenting; the jolting anxiety of nurturing something precious in a time of death; the drive for creative expression. Zhao holds all these primal but relatable forces in check before unleashing them in an emotionally totalising final reel. Devotees of Maggie O'Farrell’s 2020 novel, a deeper dive, of course, into the deep wells of bewitching force-of-nature Agnes Hathaway (Buckley) and her genius-in-the-making husband William Shakespeare (Mescal), will be reassured that the author has collaborated with Zhao for an adaptation that’s the right kind of lean. Gone are narrative curlicues that enrich on the page but would clutter on screen: early dating strife; Shakespeare’s journeys to London; the establishment of The Globe; a whole flea-cam interlude that follows the plague carrier from Asia to Stratford-upon-Avon and would look awesome in a David Cronenberg film. Hamnet is a movie that finds power in simplicity.  And Zhao trusts that

An award-winning slice of life set on Paris’s margins set over 48 helter-skelter hours, Souleymane’s Story is the latest in a series of social realist dramas to tackle Europe’s migrant crisis from the perspective of African migrants. The Dardennes’ Tori and Lokita (2022), Alice Diop’s Saint Omer (2023), and Matteo Garrone’s fantastically-tinged Io Capitano (2024) have shared the stories behind the sensationalist headlines – and here’s another one to bring deep humanity and insight to this political football. Io Capitano followed two Senegalese kids on the Saharan people-trafficking route to Italy. Here, French director Boris Lojkine could almost be picking up where Garrone left off. His twenty-something protagonist, Souleymane Sangaré (Abou Sangaré), has travelled the same path – from Guinea this time – and we meet him as a cog in Paris’s exploitative gig economy, cycling frantically to deliver food orders to apartments across the city and thrusting bags of takeaway into the hands of Parisians who barely notice him. Lojkine, who co-wrote the naturalistic screenplay with Delphine Agut, has unearthed a real talent in newcomer Sangaré. A Guinean who travelled to France in similar circumstances, he obviously understands Souleymane and his fraying emotions intimately. But it takes more than first-hand experience to inhabit a character with this much subtlety and skill. Souleymane is introduced in a flash-forward to the interview with France’s asylum affairs people that will decide

Surely the first murder-mystery to pay active homage to Scooby-Doo, Rian Johnson’s latest addition to the franchise he created and presides over with irrepressible glee is the most out-there and fun so far. There’s no great Dane and no one leaps into anyone’s arms in terror, but a goofy spirit runs through its veins – along with all the usual poisons and industrial-strength tranquilisers you’d expect to find in a movie full of narrative trapdoors and Grand Guignol excesses. It’s on the long side – think bread knife, rather than something for chopping carrots – and the ending is hardly the last word in bow-tying neatness, but Johnson has assembled his strongest cast yet and provides them with entertainingly ‘extra’ characters to inhabit – and for us to tut at. Best of all, Daniel Craig and Josh O’Connor form a sleuthing double act with shades of Holmes and Watson.  The Mystery Machine here, of course, is the stylish old banger belonging to Craig’s southern gent detective Benoit Blanc, a bourbon-sipping Columbo eight steps ahead of his smug suspects. He arrives in a rural New York community presided over by Josh Brolin’s bullying Catholic priest, Jefferson Wicks. Someone has been murdered but who did the deed? And does a priceless missing diamond have something to do with it? Daniel Craig and Josh O’Connor are a double act with shades of Holmes and Watson The list of possibles includes Andrew Scott as a sci-fi novelist turned conspiracy theorist, Jeremy Renner’s cash-strapped

Party like its 1929 this Halloween, as musician Hugo Max provides viola accompaniment to a series of German expressionist classics at Prince Charles Cinema, Hampstead’s Well Walk Theatre and Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley. On the slate are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Häxan and Der Golem. Expect the unexpected in a unique and transportingly old-world cinemagoing experience. RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween

Spectacular scares are the name of the game at Rooftop Film Club’s Halloween offering, which will be turning Peckham’s majestically appointed Bussey Building into a house of horrors (okay, roof of horrors). On the programme are everything from grown-up frighteners like Sinners, Get Out and Final Destination: Bloodlines; to more family-friendly fare like Monsters, Inc. and Hocus Pocus. Final Girl Fridays will deliver classic scream queens on a weekly basis, while Fireside screenings come with a personal wood-burning heater and hot chocolates. Tickets are £14 for adults and £8 for kids. Oh, and Rooftop Film Club is also hosting a witchy Halloween Party on November 1. Dress to distress!

The world’s brickiest toy manufacturer has gone dark with its newest set. LEGO’s newly announced ‘Stranger Things: The Creel House’ is a detailed diorama of TV’s creepiest house: Henry ’Vecna’ Creel’s ’50s mansion. The perfect expansion pack for anyone mourning the end of the hit show in the new year, it’s 2,593 pieces worth of Easter eggs like Steve’s BMW, the WSQK van and Will’s bike, as well as tinier items like Max’s cassette tape and Henry’s Mind Flayer sketch  The Stranger Things set goes on sale priced £249.99 ($299.99) on January 4, four days after the finale of the hit Netflix horror series lands on the platform. Photograph: DANIEL STERNERUD/NetflixThe Duffer brothers with the LEGO Creel House In other Stranger Things news, an immersive – and highly mysterious – experience is coming to London on Saturday, December 20. Details are still under wraps but you can sign up for tickets here. And if you’re looking for more Hawkins-adjacent content, this time with a festive flavour, head for Waterloo Station (or Manchester Piccadilly) for an Upside Down Christmas tree at Waterloo Station. A real-life version of Hawkins’ radio station, WSQK ‘The Squawk’, will be broadcasting ’80s tunes night and day until January 1 (listen on the Global Player or tell your smart speaker to ‘play the Squawk’). Volume 1 of Stranger Things’ fifth season is streaming now, Volume 2 drops on Christmas Day and the finale arrives on New Year’s Eve. A huge immersive Stranger Things event is coming t

One of the UK’s most historic film studios has announced plans for a new movie museum. Elstree Studios, home to Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail, The Shining and Star Wars, will open a permanent immersive experience in Borehamwood to showcase that rich screen history. The Hertfordshire production base has been given the go-ahead – and £2 million in funding – for an immersive new film experience that’s scheduled to open in December 2026. ‘The Elstree Immersive Experience (EIE) will be a ground-breaking, multi-sensory and interactive visitor attraction, designed to celebrate Elstree’s world-famous film and TV heritage,’ says the team behind the plans. ‘Its core purpose is to celebrate Elstree’s century-long cinematic legacy through the integration of cutting-edge immersive technologies. The Elstree Immersive Experience is needed to celebrate, protect and showcase Elstree’s world-famous film and TV heritage, while driving skills, education and economic growth for the region.’ The Immersive Experience is expected to create 60 jobs.  It will offer movielovers another permanent studio attraction to visit – alongside Leavesden’s Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Plans for a visitor attraction at Pinewood, announced in 2021, have yet to come to fruition. Visitors from central London can expect a 25-minute train ride to Elstree & Borehamwood Station from St Pancras. Six other London locations with Star Wars history. 101 places all movie lovers should visit. 

A new exhibition is taking visitors behind the scenes of one of 2026’s hottest Oscar favourites.Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell’s bestselling novel, stars Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare, his wife. The Hamnet exhibition is called ‘Even as a Shadow, Even as a Dream’ and runs at 6 Fitzroy Square from December 9-20. Curated by Simindokht Dehghani, the exhibition will capture the film’s locations, from the forests of Stratford-Upon-Avon to the stage of the Globe Theatre, plus artwork and writings from Zhao and actor Jessie Buckley. Visitors can expect an immersive deep-dive in the film’s Tudor world, with props and set pieces on display, as well as photography, sketches, drawings and writings. Trust us, the detail behind Zhao’s world-building is staggering.  Tickets are free and available to book via Eventbrite site – although there’s availability for walk-ins too.  The exhibition is open from 10am-9pm between Tuesday and Saturday each week.  Hamnet is out in UK cinemas on January 8. Read our five-star review here.

Anyone who hasn’t been actually in the Upside Down will have clocked that the final season of Stranger Things is now underway and keeping the fan-osphere abuzz with viral moments and unexpected twists. And Netflix has just announced a free fan event to keep the excitement levels high. On Saturday December 20, fans will be invited into a secret London location ‘to relive the nostalgia of Hawkins, Indiana, and join together for One Last Adventure. Expect immersive surprises, familiar memories, and the chance to step inside the world you’ve loved.’ Hit the link to register for free tickets. Photograph: Netflix And for Stranger Things completists, there’s more to see and do this month. There’s an Upside Down Christmas tree at Waterloo Station, and a real-life version of Hawkins’ radio station, WSQK ‘The Squawk’, will be broadcasting ’80s tunes night and day until January 1 (listen on the Global Player or tell your smart speaker to ‘play the Squawk’). Volume 1 of Stranger Things’ fifth season is streaming now, Volume 2 drops on Christmas Day and the finale arrives on New Year’s Eve. The best TV and streaming shows of 2025. Our verdict on Stranger Things: The First Shadow at Phoenix Theatre.

London just got a lot more Stranger Things-ier. The hotly-awaited final season of Netflix’s smash-hit horror, sci-fi and ’80s coming-of-age drama show gets underway on Thursday, and anyone passing through one of London’s busiest train stations will know about. An ‘Upside Down’ Christmas tree has been unveiled at Waterloo Station – as well as Manchester Piccadilly – with Hawkins-themed baubles and ornaments for commuters to enjoy. (To stress, the tree itself isn’t upside down, unless you’re standing on your head.)And this unexpected burst of Demogorgon festivity is far from the only activation for Stranger Things fans to look out for this week. A real-life version of Hawkins’ radio station, WSQK ‘The Squawk’, is broadcasting ’80s tunes night and day until January 1 (listen on the Global Player or tell your smart speaker to ‘play the Squawk’). A WSQK van will be hitting the road to plug the station and the show. Decked out in Stranger Things regalia, it’ll be touring from Manchester, Liverpool and Brighton from November 28 and into December, broadcasting live and dishing out merch.  And there’s a secret new immersive fan experience in London to look out for, too. It’s all still under wraps, but Netflix promises fans ‘immersive surprises, familiar memories, and the chance to step inside the world you’ve loved’. Keep an eye out on the NetflixUK socials for news.  The best TV and streaming shows of 2025 (so far).Our verdict on Stranger Things: The First Shadow at Phoenix Theatre.

Stanley Kubrick. Barbie. Tim Burton. Wes Anderson. What do these names have in common, apart from the makings of an incredible dinner party line-up? Answer: they’ve all been recent subjects of sell-out Design Museum exhibitions. Anderson, one the 21st century’s great cinematic stylists, is the latest auteur to be sharing his props, art, designs and archive with the world via ‘Wes Anderson: The Archives’. A collaboration between the Design Museum and Paris’s la Cinémathèque française, it’s the first major museum exhibition devoted to Wes Anderson’s work and will feature more than 30 years’ of the Texan’s archival materials and a comprehensive pan through his filmography.  Photograph: Matt Alexander/PA Media Assignments There’ll be more than 700 objects to peruse, includingl storyboards, polaroids, sketches, paintings, handwritten notebooks, puppets, miniature models and costumes. Highlights include a model of the Grand Budapest Hotel, Margot Tenenbaum’s Fendi coat from The Royal Tenenbaums and stop motion puppets from The Life Aquatic and Fantastic Mr Fox. Photograph: Matt Alexander/PA Media Assignments There’ll be also be a rare chance to see where it all started, with Anderson’s 1993 short Bottle Rocket, the film that would become his feature debut, screening at the exhibition.  The exhibition opens on Friday, November 21 and runs until July 26, 2026. Head to the Design Museum website for more info and to book tickets.The 50 best things to do in London right now.

Luca Guadagnino ficou impressionado pela primeira vez com os poderes de estrela de sua protagonista de After the Hunt quando ela interpretou Shelby, a efervescente beldade sulista de "Flores de Aço", de 1989. Agora, três décadas e meia depois, o autor italiano finalmente teve seu encontro profissional quase um “meet-cute” com Julia Roberts em um canto tranquilo de uma festa glamourosa em Los Angeles. “Foi na casa de uma pessoa muito importante em Hollywood”, ele lembra. “Essa pessoa maravilhosa nos apresentou, sentamos no sofá e nunca paramos de conversar.” Mesmo para um cineasta da estatura e experiência de Guadagnino, houve nervosismo a dissipar durante aquelas horas de conversa com o ícone de Hollywood. Mas, ele diz: “Ela fez eu me sentir confortável em um segundo. Com o tempo, criamos um vínculo por muitas coisas.” A primeira conversa deles se concentrou em um roteiro muito comentado da estreante Nora Garrett, que Guadagnino estava decidido a filmar após seu duplo lançamento em 2024, "Queer" e "Rivais", quando outro projeto havia desmoronado. Ambientado no mundo fechado, porém politicamente febril, de Yale, "Depois da caçada" gira em torno de um punhado de personagens com segredos a esconder e fachadas bem ensaiadas para protegê-los. Photography: Greg WilliamsJulia Roberts and Luca Guadagnino Julia Roberts interpreta Alma, uma professora de filosofia temperamental que compete com seu amigo (e talvez algo mais), Hank, interpretado por Andrew Garfield. A aluna prodígio Ma

Luca Guadagnino was first struck by his After the Hunt star’s A-list powers when she played Steel Magnolias’ effervescent Southern belle Shelby in 1989. Now three-and-a-half decades on, the Italian auteur finally got his professional meet-cute with Julia Roberts in a quiet corner of a glitzy LA bash.  ‘It was at the house of a very important person in Hollywood,’ he remembers. ‘This wonderful person put us together, we sat on the couch and we never stopped talking.’  Even for a filmmaker of the pedigree and experience of Guadagnino, there were nerves to banish during those couple of hours chatting with the Hollywood icon. But, he says, ‘she made me feel familiar in a second. Over time we bonded over many things.’  Their first chat zeroed in on a buzzy screenplay by rookie screenwriter Nora Garrett that Guadagnino was set on making after his 2024 one-two of Queer and Challengers when another project unravelled. Set in the cloistered but politically febrile world of Yale, After the Hunt focuses on a handful of characters with secrets to hide and well-practised facades to hide them behind. Roberts plays Alma, a spiky philosophy professor competing for tenure with her friend (and maybe more) Hank, played by Andrew Garfield. Star pupil Maggie (The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri) is the third point in a triangle that’s compromised and complicated by uneven power dynamics (in both directions – Maggie’s wealthy parents are Yale donors). Photography: Greg WilliamsJulia Roberts and Luca Guadagnin

És estrany que l'any 2025 sembli necessari assenyalar que els nazis eren dolents. Però Nuremberg, un conte moral fet a l'antiga i satisfactòriament complex sota l'aparença d'un drama judicial i un thriller d'espies, fa aquesta feina amb un estil impressionant. Impulsada per un guió intel·ligent i una direcció àgil de James Vanderbilt, i amb un repartiment en plena forma, la pel·lícula traça un recorregut a través de les conseqüències immediates de la Segona Guerra Mundial i s'endinsa en el malson legal de demanar-ne comptes als perpetradors alemanys. Si bé Russell Crowe semblava una elecció caricaturesca per interpretar el segon responsable del comandament nazi, Hermann Göring, en el fons paternal, ofereix la seva millor actuació des de Dos bons nois de fa una dècada. Paradoxalment, frena la seva actuació per demostrar que no és una força esvaïda. Rami Malek torna a un estat de forma similar al de Bohemian Rhapsody com el psicòleg americà Douglas Kelley, enviat a la presó d'alta seguretat de Nuremberg per avaluar Göring i els seus companys nazis. És estrany que l'any 2025 sembli necessari assenyalar que els nazis eren dolents Les aparences enganyen al llarg d'aquesta dramatització psicològicament aguda i entretinguda dels judicis de guerra de Nuremberg del 1945. Göring sembla jovial i inofensiu; Kelley sembla tenir el control de les seves sessions a la petita cel·la del nazi.  El fiscal americà honest, Robert H Jackson (Michael Shannon), i el seu homòleg britànic (Richard E G

Jack Whitehall is breaking bad. Yes, you read that right. The affable Brit, the acceptable face of upper-class twittery on Fresh Meat, the doofus face of teaching on Bad Education and a cheery presence on a thousand and one chat and quiz shows, is an absolute psychopath in Prime Video’s new six-part thriller, Malice. A sharply observed, blackly funny and clammily gripping Highsmithian potboiler, it takes a helping of The Talented Mr Ripley, a serve of White Lotus and a sprinkle of Saltburn and cooks up a sun-kissed and startling revenge yarn from them. It’s full of hairpin turns and boasts a cast of prestige TV legends, including The X-Files’ David Duchovny and Game of Thrones’ Carice van Houten. Here’s what you need to know going in. Photograph: Courtesy of PrimeJack Whitehall as Adam Healey What is Malice on Prime about? The handiwork of Rev. co-creator James Wood, Malice follows the wealthy Tanner family to the Greek island of Paros for one of their routine vacations. Duchovny is the family’s alpha-dog patriarch, Jamie Tanner, a ruthless American venture capitalist who likes to get what he wants whatever the cost; van Houten is his Dutch wife Nat, a fashion designer whose business venture has been underwritten by Jamie’s money.   When the Tanners’ friends Jules and Damien fly out with their kids’ accomplished classics tutor and manny, Adam (Whitehall), in tow, and their own nanny falls sick with food poisoning, the Tanners decide to poach Adam and employ him when they

Christmas – and Christmas shopping – is coming early for fans of classic anime this year. Legendary Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli is opening a temporary store called Maison Ghibli in London this weekend.  The shop opens in Knightsbridge this Saturday November 15, before packing up and heading off on the Catbus on January 11, 2026.The shop will stock a curated range of licensed products shipped in direct from Japan, including plush​ies of classic Hayao Miyazaki characters like Totoro, No-Face from Spirited Away and Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service. You can also pick up minifigures, puzzles and models, as well as homewares and stationery items. Everything up to, and excluding, an actual moving castle, in other words. Photograph: Maison Ghibli All the merchandise is officially licensed and Studio Ghibli certified, so you’ll be helping fund whatever magic the animation house has up its sleeve next. There’s even a Totoro photo opportunity in the shop window so you can share the love on Insta. The opening hours are 10.30am-8pm (Monday-Friday) / 9.30am-8.30pm (Saturday) / 12.30pm-7.30 (Sunday). Entry is free. Maison Ghibli opens at 237 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, SW3 2EP at 9.30am on Saturday November 15. The best anime movies of all time – including Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. The world’s biggest ever immersive exhibition of Pixar is coming to London in 2026.

Like its Creature, Guillermo del Toro’s new take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is still new to the world but has been on a quest for the love that it didn’t universally find when it premiered at the autumn festivals. But after a couple of weeks in cinemas, it’s now lurching powerfully onto Netflix with a groundswell of affection behind it – and the beginnings of real Oscar buzz. We’ve loved it from day one and can’t wait to bathe again in its ornate, handcrafted world-building, gothic aura and gory slabs of body horror. The movie’s use of real-world locations and extraordinary sets are a major treat, too. Oscar-nominated production designer Tamara Deverell talks us through how – and where – del Toro’s sweeping horror passion project came together. Foto: Cortesía What is Netflix’s Frankenstein about? The Nightmare Alley director’s Frankenstein is not, of course, the first to spark onto the screen. Wikipedia places the number of feature films featuring some version of the stitched-together monster at 423, ranging from Boris Karloff's iconic 1931 interpretation to the 1990 horror-comedy Frankenhooker. The story, of course, follows conceited scientist Victor Frankenstein’s (Oscar Isaac) efforts to create new life – and the dire consequences of his success.  Del Toro’s version is a more faithful version than most – in spirit, if not always plot and location. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novella is a travelogue that spans Europe, from Italy and Switzerland to the Orkney isles in Scotland