The Guardian Culture

Terence Gower: Enemies and Rascals review – so was US freedom born bad?

Artangel at the Maughan Library, LondonDrawing a line from the battle of Quebec to Trump v Carney, the Canadian artist’s takedown of rapacious US thuggery is strangely lacking dramaForgive me if you’ve heard this one before. The United States of America wants to annexe Canada. It starts by inviting Canadians to join the Greatest Nation on Earth but soon becomes more aggressive and strident. Canada, uninterested and baffled, stands up for itself. War looms.But this is not about Donald Trump and t

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

From Proton Packs to Canon-Building: ‘Ghostbusters’ Eyes Its Own ‘Clone Wars’ Moment

The new Netflix series 'Ghostbusters: Night Shift' aims to bridge the gap between the original 80s films and the 2020 sequels, while extending Ghostbuster canon.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Tristan und Isolde review – Wagner in concert performance sees Pappano and the LSO at their finest

Barbican, LondonClay Hilley was a blistering Tristan and Sara Jakubiak – in her role debut – a persuasive Isolde with Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra detailed and minutely balancedThe London Symphony Orchestra’s regular concert performances of complete operas have become something of an institution. Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair and Strauss’s Salome had critics raving about high-definition orchestral textures and brutally streamlined drama. But few operas are more obviously made for

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Variety

How Jolin Tsai’s ‘Pleasure’ Finally Came Together, According to the British Producer Who Made It

The secret to Jolin Tsai’s most celebrated albums, according to British producer Richard Craker, has less to do with technique than with trust – and a willingness to sit with uncertainty until the music finds its shape. The final conference of the 2026 Golden Melody Festival in Taiwan, held ahead of the Golden Melody Awards, […]

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Merger of Korean Cinema Chains Lotte and Megabox Collapses

The long-gestating tie-up would have created Korea's largest theater chain, but talks stalled as Megabox owner JoongAng Group slid into a liquidity crisis.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘A female Minion would be the beginning of the end’: Pierre Coffin on creepy memes, decoding Minionese and farting bananas

The French animator, director and voice of those lurid yellow assistants to the despicable answers your questionsCould we please have a Minions/Backrooms mashup movie? TaffRaffiaI don’t know if it would work because it would be yellow against yellow. All you’d see would be eyes and even they would be hard to see. It would just be voices coming out of yellow.Will there be a gritty “old man Minion” type story to round the franchise off? BatteredRingpieceMinions don’t age. I sometimes draw them lik

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Calendar Girls: The Musical review – heartfelt and hilarious, with nimbly handled nudity

Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough This celebratory show by Tim Firth and Gary Barlow delivers emotional openness alongside cracking jokesOne of the great qualities of Calendar Girls is its ordinariness. It takes place in a landscape of Morrisons supermarkets, hospital waiting rooms and traffic jams. The year is marked by carol concerts and cake competitions. Only here, in the fictional Yorkshire Dales village of Knapely, would Cheshire seem snooty and crazy paving seem outre.Another great qual

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Variety

Award-Winning Independent Factual Producer Proper Content Shutters Citing Market Conditions: ‘There Simply Isn’t the Commissioning Risk’

Award-winning factual producer Proper Content is set to shutter amid tough market conditions. Founder David DeHaney, who set up the company in 2016, announced the decision to cease trading and appoint an administrator on Thursday. “This has been a very difficult decision,” says DeHaney. “We have had nearly 10 years of making some of the […]

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Long Wave By Daisy Johnson review – a sublime novel of motherhood and loss

Covering three generations, this tangled story of secrets, childhood, abandonment and care might be her best work yetIn 2018 Daisy Johnson was the youngest writer ever to be shortlisted for the Booker prize, for her debut novel Everything Under, a gender-fluid reimagining of the Oedipus myth involving canal boat communities and their complex family dynamics, plus a strange monster lurking in the depths. Before that, her short‑story collection Fen, with its blend of the uncanny and the worka

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Variety

Korea’s Lotte Cinema-Megabox Merger Collapses as JoongAng Group’s Financial Crisis Deepens

The proposed merger between Lotte Cinema and Megabox, which would have created South Korea’s largest theatrical exhibitor, has officially collapsed after roughly 14 months of negotiations, with the deal ultimately undone by a financial crisis engulfing Megabox’s parent company, JoongAng Group. Lotte Shopping and Contentree JoongAng disclosed Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding governing the […]

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Alabama Shakes review – US rockers’ first UK gig in a decade is suffused with hope for the future

Millennium Square, LeedsAs they tee up a long-awaited third album, the deep south band are variously slick and raw as they ruminate on overcoming tough times‘Long time, no see,” declares Brittany Howard, stepping on stage to a rapturous welcome, as Alabama Shakes return from a hiatus. It’s been 10 years since the multiple Grammy-winning blues-soul-rock outfit from the deep south last played in the UK and 11 since their most recent album – though a third is being teed up for later in the year.If

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Edinburgh’s Paul Ridd on Robert Redford’s Legacy, Hollywood’s Festival Sit-Out, and the ‘Obsession’ Phenomenon: “I Did Not See That Coming”

The film festival director is more confident than ever in Edinburgh's mission to spotlight emerging voices — but it helps getting Ewan McGregor, Gregg Araki, and Kenneth Branagh up to the Scottish capital, too.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Vincent Lindon and Tahar Rahim Storm the Barricades (Without Singing!) in ‘Les Misérables’ Trailer

Fred Cavayé’s new action-packed take on the Victor Hugo classic, hits theaters this fall.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

‘Paris Paris’ Director on Her Fiction Feature Debut That Is “Very Political, But Not in Your Face”

Belgian documentary maker Isabelle Tollenaere discusses how she changed tack for her cinematic allegory for displacement and meditation on home that premieres in Karlovy Vary's Proxima competition.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Locarno Kids Screenings Unveiled as Swiss Fest Launches Competition and Kids’ Jury

"We aimed to create a journey that is both surprising and accessible even to the youngest viewers, without shying away from the complexities of the contemporary world," says programmer Daniela Persico.

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Rhythm Paradise Groove review – exhilarating bitesize beats test your reflexes

Nintendo/TNX; Nintendo SwitchA joyful collection of vibrant rhythm games includes catching veggies in mid-air, practising dance choreographies and speaking to an alienIt has been a strange decade for the rhythm game genre. The legendary progenitors Rock Band and Guitar Hero are seemingly gone, yet companies are manufacturing plastic guitars again. Tango Gameworks, a studio best known for delivering survival horror hauntings, made Hi-Fi Rush and it ruled, but Microsoft sold the studio. Indie titl

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage award 2026 – in pictures

Johanna Alarcón won the prize given annually to female photographers addressing social issues with a focus on positivity. Her work is presented alongside the shortlisted photographers Continue reading...

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘It opened my eyes to the city’: the artist drawing every single pub in London

Lydia Wood began drawing the capital’s pubs after losing her job. Now, after her sketches went viral, she is on a mission to illustrate all the city’s watering holes – before some are closedOn the pavement outside a London pub, 32-year-old Lydia Wood is sitting in the sunshine at her easel, peering up at the building and sketching with a pencil. Passersby pause to catch glimpses of her work, but what they might not know is that for the artist, this isn’t just a nice day out, but part of years-lo

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Madonna: Confessions II review – nostalgic dancefloor trip sparks her most vital album in two decades

(Warner)After years spent chasing trends like trap and Latin pop, Madonna settles back​ nicely into​ old-school dance music to tell vivid vignettes of life in 80s New York‘Ask yourself this – what are you doing it for? / Is it for you? Is it for them?” ponders Madonna during Bring Your Love, a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter from Confessions II. It’s a question you could ask of her decision to release a follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor 21 years on.The official line is, of co

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures

Former public defender Sara Bennett spent 13 years photographing women convicted of homicide. She traces their lives in prison – and what happens as they re-enter the outside world Continue reading...

entertainment  Jul 2, 2026