TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Hijack
Apple TV
Summed up in a sentence Idris Elba returns for a second series of the thriller that sees him unfortunately ending up on a vehicle taken over by terrorists – this time, the Berlin metro.
What our reviewer said “Another rollicking ride.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Idris Elba knighted in new year honours list also featuring Torvill and Dean
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You may have missed…
The Eubanks: Like Father, Like Son
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence This surprisingly moving documentary charts the strained relationship between Chris Eubank and his boxer son, Chris Eubank Jr, ahead of a fight between the latter and Conor Benn – the son of the elder Eubank’s great rival, Nigel.
What our reviewer said “It really is enough to make you weep, as the camera unobtrusively captures these men so loved by each other trying to connect, to understand and make each other understand, watching them reach out and pass each other, missing only by inches.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading In the name of their fathers: Eubank v Benn began and ended a heady era of British boxing
Waiting for the Out
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence Dennis Kelly’s brilliant drama about a teacher in prison is moving, gripping and almost painfully vulnerable.
What our reviewer said “It isn’t always the case with dramas set in prisons but these inmates are thoroughly well-written and performed characters, who work wonders with their limited screen-time.” Phil Harrison
Further reading ‘A lot of these scary blokes doing time are terrified little boys’: Dennis Kelly on writing a new kind of prison drama
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Film
If you only watch one, make it …
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Fourth chapter of the 28 franchise, directed by Nia DaCosta, in which a murderous Clockwork-Orangey gang take on the zombies.
What our reviewer said “Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell bring pure death-metal craziness, and there is real energy and drama in this latest iteration of the post-apocalyptic zombie horror-thriller saga.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading From Ralph Fiennes to Jeffrey Wright: the most overlooked performances this awards season
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Pick of the rest
The Voice of Hind Rajab
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Provocative docufiction in which director Kaouther Ben Hania reconstructs the killing of a five-year-old in Gaza using her real voice as she is bombarded by the Israeli army.
What our reviewer said “With startling audacity, Ben Hania has used the real audio recording of Rajab’s heart-wrenching voice, while fictionally reconstructing the drama of the emergency responders in their call-centre office, with real people played by actors, talking, shouting and emoting in response to Rajab’s actual voice.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘It felt like she was asking me to save her’: the film based on a five-year-old Palestinian girl’s dying pleas
Escape
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Director Masao Adachi – formerly of the Japanese Red Army – tells the story of country’s most wanted criminal, Satoshi Kirishima, who went on the run in 1975 after a series of corporate bombings.
What our reviewer said “This intriguing chamber piece is an intensely, sometimes even passionately acted piece of work, imagining the inner life of a man who was once Japan’s most wanted fugitive.” Peter Bradshaw
Bulk
Touring to 1 February
Summed up in a sentence Ben Wheatley’s engaging tale sends Sam Riley’s tough-guy reporter to the home of a reclusive oligarch who has invented a “Brain Collider”.
What our reviewer said “Bulk is a movie indebted to a mountain of pop culture references listed in Wheatley’s own handwriting in block capitals over the closing credits. Space: 1999 is one – it is good to see it there, and see it reflected in the preceding film – and with the monochrome cinematography, Dutch angles and looming closeups there’s a bit of John Frankenheimer and a little of Chris Petit.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘It’s more productive than doomscrolling’: film-maker Ben Wheatley on his secret life as musician Dave Welder
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Now streaming
The Rip
Netflix
Summed up in a sentence Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite in this Joe Carnahan-directed action thriller about a pair of cops who discover $20m stashed in a suburban attic.
What our reviewer said “The Rip is ultimately a game for the boys, and taken as a piece of boisterous macho pulp it’s a propulsive enough four-beers-in watch. A movie to be enjoyed on Friday night and forgotten all about by Saturday morning.” Benjamin Lee
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Books
If you only read one, make it …
Love Machines by James Muldoon
Reviewed by Tiffany Watt Smith
Summed up in a sentence Inside the strange world of AI relationships.
What our reviewer said “To some, the idea of falling in love with an AI chatbot, or confiding your deepest secrets to one, might seem mystifying and more than a little creepy. But Muldoon refuses to belittle those seeking intimacy in “synthetic personas”.
Further reading Lamar wants to have children with his girlfriend. The problem? She’s entirely AI
***
Pick of the rest
Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray
Reviewed by Joanna Quinn
Summed up in a sentence A novel about two women’s complicated, life-changing relationship.
What our reviewer said “This brilliantly sharp and readable book explores friendship, parenting, love, lust, self-deception and all the ways those things overlap.”
Further reading ‘A shop can be your castle’: Madeleine Gray on the surprising rewards of retail work
Off the Scales by Aimee Donnellan
Reviewed by Rachel Clarke
Summed up in a sentence The remarkable story behind the development of Ozempic.
What our reviewer said “Ozempic is a miracle drug, a rebuke to a century of condemnation of those who are obese, and a profound challenge to the very definition of what it means to be human.”
Further reading How do weight loss medications affect our relationship with food?
Seven by Joanna Kavenna
Reviewed by AK Blakemore
Summed up in a sentence A young philosopher takes a journey across Europe to understand how we categorise reality.
What our reviewer said “Seven is a curiously uncategorisable, protean thing: a slim, absurdist novel, but chunky with ideas.”
Further reading Mass surveillance, the metaverse, making America ‘great again’: Joanna Kavenna on the novelists who predicted our present
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You may have missed …
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Reviewed by Jude Cook
Summed up in a sentence A young shrimp fisher’s horizons are broadened by the arrival of a stranger in this atmospheric tale that won the Nero award for fiction.
What our reviewer said “The book is full of visceral and evocative descriptions of the natural world... He’s equally adept at creating warm and believable characters whose deep humanity makes you want to spend time in their company.”
Further reading Nero book awards: Benjamin Wood and Sarah Perry among prize winners
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Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Robbie Williams: Britpop
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Williams revisits the sound he wanted to make after leaving Take That, in an album that spools off into some unexpected directions. (Homoerotic paean to Morrissey, anyone?)
What our reviewer said “There’s a swagger and sparkle to the melodies that shift these songs past the realm of pastiche, and the results are hugely enjoyable.” Alexis Petridis
Further reading Do you remember the first time? Why Britpop nostalgia just won’t go away
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Pick of the rest
Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The duo’s 13th album finds vocalist Jason Williamson as baffled and infuriated as ever at the state of the world, with help from some unexpected collaborators.
What our reviewer said “The combination of Willliamson, Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie’s furious rap and Big Special’s David Bowie-ish crooning on The Good Life makes for one of the most hauntingly catchy things they’ve done.” Dave Simpson
Further reading ‘It’s a lot darker than Sleaford Mods’: Jason Williamson on acting, rejection and a radical portrait of street life
Igor Stravinsky: Late Works
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Noord Nederlands Orkest and Cappella Amsterdam breathe colour and light into work from the composer’s most austere period.
What our reviewer said “State-of-the-art sonics make this new recording a prime contender in a less than overcrowded field.” Clive Paget
Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The composers’ first collaborative album ebbs from epic, cinematic heights to delicate and dreamy lullabies.
What our reviewer said “It’s a wonderfully immersive set of new age and ambient tracks, where Barwick’s airy, reverbed vocals and atmospheric synth washes interweave with, and accentuate, Lattimore’s twinkling harp.” Safi Bugel
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Now touring…
Biffy Clyro
Touring the UK to 21 January; Finsbury Park, London on 3 July
Summed up in a sentence Coming off the back of a rough period, the Scottish band find reconnection, renewal and purpose in their singular mix of pop, rock and metal.
What our reviewer said “At their most eruptive, the band are brutally loud. Their ability to make taut, tight riffs explode into something enormous and overblown is piercing and arresting.” Daniel Dylan Wray
Further reading Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil: ‘We took Slayer’s Dave Lombardo to Todmorden for a curry and a pint’
