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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Sirens
Netflix; full series available now
Summed up in a sentence Two sisters get tangled up with a super-rich culty villain in a hugely addictive drama whose stellar cast includes Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock.
What our reviewer said “Without ever losing its wit or bounce, Sirens becomes a study in family, class and all sorts of other power struggles, the endless possibilities for good and ill that wealth brings, and the legacies of childhood trauma. … You can see why it attracted actors of such high calibre.” Lucy Mangan
Pick of the rest
Faking It
Channel 5; available now
Summed up in a sentence A hugely fun reboot of a much-loved 00s life-swapping reality show – starting with a plummy London estate agent passing himself off as a Bolton butcher.
What our reviewer said “Such a solid idea that it still has plenty of the old charm left to spare. In fact, it may work even better now, in the fractious 2020s, than it did in the optimistic glow of the early 00s.” Rebecca Nicholson
Code of Silence
ITV1; full series on ITVX now
Summed up in a sentence Rose Ayling-Ellis is a deaf canteen worker at a police station, pulled into an investigation when official lip readers aren’t available to decipher surveillance footage.
What our reviewer said “There are plentiful details, grace notes really, that evoke the reality of life as a deaf person. It all gives a freshness, as well as an edifying aspect, to the underlying conventions. You can watch and learn – or at least newly appreciate an underacknowledged world – without being shortchanged on your entertainment at all. That’s quite a triumph.” Lucy Mangan
Tucci in Italy
Disney+; full series available now
Summed up in a sentence The Tooch goes on a giant love fest around his ancestral homeland – and as much of its cuisine as he can feasibly eat in five episodes of TV.
What our reviewer said “Tucci and his Tucciness work their magic yet again, even if it is mainly by pointing a camera at Italy, letting Italians speak for themselves and their priorities shine through. Tutta bella.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘It’s all I think about’: Stanley Tucci on love, grief and pasta
You may have missed …
Carême
Apple TV+; available now
Summed up in a sentence: A swashbuckling period drama about Napoleon’s maverick pastry chef – whose adopted sister was killed by the military leader.
What our reviewer said “It is about as understated as a 12-course tasting menu. But as it scoffs and seduces its way through the Napoleonic era, it’s hard not to fall for the extravagant charms of the Bake Off: Extra Spice.” Rebecca Nicholson
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Tom Cruise’s eighth and last M: adventure, as his maverick agent Ethan Hunt takes on the ultimate in AI evil.
Pick of the rest
Mongrel
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Sombre but impressive Taiwanese feature debut about exploited migrant care workers, their patients and gangmasters.
Our reviewer said: “It evokes an almost Zen state of suffering and sadness – a feeling that penetrates the film’s fabric like months of steady rain in a rural landscape.” Peter Bradshaw
Burden of Dreams
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Documentary about Werner Herzog’s operatic adventure filming Fitzcarraldo in the Peruvian jungle, a compelling portrait of an artist obsessed.
Our reviewer said “Amazingly, Herzog always looks in pretty good shape, considering what he’s gone through, and put others through. His burden of dreams is borne with some style.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘I am not that much in pursuit of happiness’: Werner Herzog on beer, yoga and what he would ask God
The Phoenician Scheme
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia Threapleton makes a breakthrough big-screen turn in Wes Anderson’s enjoyable yet airless ensemble romp.
Our reviewer said: “It rattles amiably along in that savant-child style that Anderson has made his own, but is in danger of becoming a mannerism. It is always entertaining, and delivered with the usual conviction and force but with less of the romantic extravagance than we’ve seen before.” Peter Bradshaw
Now streaming
A Minecraft Movie
Rent or buy on multiple platforms
Summed up in a sentence Building-block game franchise spin-off with full-throttle star turns from Jack Black and Jennifer Coolidge.
Our reviewer said “This comedy-fantasy takes aspects of the Minecraft world and uses them as building blocks in a rollicking adventure suitable for almost all ages, giving Jack Black and Jason Momoa carte blanche to wild out and be deeply silly. Your affection for and/or tolerance of this latter prospect will dictate to a large extent your enjoyment of this film.” Catherine Bray
Books
If you only read one, make it …
No Straight Road Takes You There by Rebecca Solnit
Reviewed by Farrah Jarral
In a sentence: Salvos of hope from one of the world’s best known activist-authors.
Our reviewer said “Hope is no casual platitude here. Nor is it merely a more pleasant state of mind than despair. Rather, Solnit sees it as a more accurate mindset, since nobody is an oracle, and history is full of surprises.”
Further reading ‘Protest shapes the world’: Rebecca Solnit on the fight back against Trump
Pick of the rest
The AI Con by Emily M Bender and Alex Hanna review
Reviewed by Steven Poole
In a sentence: What if AI is just another tech bubble?
Our reviewer said “Large language models like ChatGPT essentially work like fancy autocomplete and routinely make up citations to nonexistent sources.”
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li review
Reviewed by Suzanne Joinson
In a sentence: A mother’s reflections after the suicide of her two sons.
Our reviewer said “Things in Nature Merely Grow is by necessity profoundly sad, but in the act of sharing details of the ‘abyss’ she now inhabits, Li has created something both inclusive and humane.”
The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
Reviewed by Xan Brooks
In a sentence: A dazzling near-future fable about refugees with cameos from Spinoza, Hannah Arendt and the Chinese poet Du Fu.
Our reviewer said “This rich and beautiful novel is serious but playful; a study of limbo and stasis that nonetheless speaks of great movement and change.”
You may have missed …
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Reviewed by PD Smith
In a sentence: This uplifting 2018 memoir, about a couple who embark on a long coastal walk after becoming homeless, has been made into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.
Our reviewer said “Their journey is filled with as many ups and downs as the undulating cliff-edge route. Yet the freedom of wild camping, swimming in the moonlit sea and surviving on fudge and pasties allows them to come to terms with their situation and learn to hope again.”
Further reading ‘Nature was my safe place’: Raynor Winn on homelessness and setting off on a 630-mile walk
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Pop’s great retro-futurists return for their first album in 15 years, and while they pick up where they left off, these new songs are more timely than ever.
What our reviewer said “Offers a very strong example of Stereolab doing what they do … For all Sadier’s cool detachment, there’s a warmth and brightness to the sound and the yé-yé and easy listening-derived melodies.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
Quinie: Forefowk, Mind Me
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Scottish folk musician Josie Vallely set off on horseback across Argyll to collect the region’s folk songs – and created an album full of fiddles, Gaelic sean-nós singing, and canntaireachd (the vocal mimicry of pipe music).
What our reviewer said: “Quinie’s unfiltered, ripe singing voice resonates like a siren … Alive with ideas, this record holds the past like a cauldron, broiling bewitchingly.” Jude Rogers
Skunk Anansie: The Painful Truth
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The rock veterans’ first LP in almost a decade was made amid two members being treated for cancer – and it’s a spirited effort with an experimental mindset.
What our reviewer said “Songs hurtle through electronic rock, ska, dub and even tinkling pianos as moods shift from urgent to ethereal … The album’s sense of emotional investment and creative rejuvenation reaches a sublime apex with the closing track, Meltdown.” Dave Simpson
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 3
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Yunchan Lim fronts the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop, in this rendition that won Lim, then just 18 years old, the 2022 Van Cliburn piano competition.
What our reviewer said “He is the real thing, a once-in-a-generation talent … What is immediately striking is the sheer confidence and poise of everything he does, and the overriding sense that there is never any doubt about the direction in which this majestic concerto should be taken.” Andrew Clements
On tour this week
Kylie Minogue
OVO Hydro, Glasgow
Summed up in a sentence The pop legend brings her Tension world tour to the UK, complete with radical reimaginings of her back catalogue that take in house, techno, and – on Confide in Me – a doom metal vibe.
What our reviewer said “At the show’s end, Kylie seems endearingly overwhelmed by the raucous audience response, but this belies supreme confidence: she knows she doesn’t need extraneous bells and whistles to carry this bravura show.” Claire Biddles
