The Guardian Culture

How Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoons captured America: ‘One of our nation’s greatest journalists’

A new book looks back at the work of artist and journalist Garry Trudeau and how he told the story of a country’s highs and lows through a comic stripIn The Simpsons, Bart is always 10, Lisa eight and Maggie a baby. In Peanuts, Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt are perpetual children. In Garfield, age shall not weary the eponymous lasagne-loving cat, nor the years condemn.But Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoons are different, with characters ageing, evolving, having children and occasionally even

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

What We Ask Google by Simon Rogers review – the secrets of our search history

The company’s data editor trawls through billions of queries to deliver a portrait of the world’s preoccupationsAs anyone who has procreated this century knows, childrearing involves daily rounds of online searching. The most common parenting-related queries feature in What We Ask Google, a valiant attempt by the search giant’s data editor Simon Rogers to create a “surprisingly hopeful picture of humankind” (that’s the subtitle) from searches performed over the past two decades. “Why do babies g

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Argentina needs to end its fantasy of being a European country’: Lucrecia Martel on the story of a killing

The film-maker talks about her homeland’s ‘racism, paternalism and infantilisation’ towards Indigenous people and her award-winning documentary about a community leader’s murderIn one scene from Landmarks, the new documentary by the Argentinian film-maker Lucrecia Martel, a tour guide shows children a painting on the ceiling of a Catholic church depicting how “Indigenous attempted to break into the city”. “See how these angels fought to keep the Indigenous out, and they sent these beams to scare

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Fieldwork As a Sex Object by Meena Kandasamy review – story of a deepfake sex tape

The author of When I Hit You returns with a pithy, savagely funny tale of online shaming and the Indian manosphereWe can all agree that the internet today, especially two particular platforms owned by the world’s greatest megalomaniacs, is a hellscape. But if you think X and Facebook are purgatories of friendless trolls endlessly posting hate and bullying women, each other and minorities under the guise of free speech, wait till you experience the Indian version of that netherworld, as capt

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

A trip to the future: the best of Belfast photo festival – in pictures

Cape Town schoolkids heading home and rules for maintaining a long-distance relationship feature in photos exploring the theme of unknown futures Continue reading...

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Bullet in the Head review – John Woo’s Vietnam war fever dream is an explosive masterpiece

The Hong Kong action master’s deliriously violent 1990 epic fuses gangland thriller, war movie and tragic melodrama into a spectacular vision of greed and moral collapseThe title of this 1990 John Woo extravaganza might lead the uninitiated to expect a chillingly focused, targeted assassination. Actually, there are innumerable bullets and innumerable heads in this over-the-top gonzo spectacle. It is a crime thriller, a wartime action film set in Vietnam, but it offers something other than the us

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

TV tonight: Richard Madeley enters El Salvador’s terrifying mega-prison

The presenter visits the controversial Cecot jail. Plus: Anne discovers the true cost of babysitting in Amandaland. Here’s what to watch this evening9pm, Channel 5 If you can get over the idea of Alan Partridge being let loose in one of El Salvador’s most controversial prisons, Richard Madeley’s visit to the notorious Cecot is a genuinely chilling experience. He finds thousands of men silently sitting on stacked beds in cells that are lit 24 hours a day. When he asks about conditions, he is told

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Writing is exactly like love – you need to do it in the dark’: novelist Leila Slimani on starting a new chapter in her life

Now in residence at the Madrid Prado, the author talks about its dark, inspirational Goyas, the clandestine nature of her writing – and why she finally wrote about her jailed then posthumously exonerated fatherIt is a bright, chilly spring morning in Madrid, and the Museo del Prado doesn’t open to the public for another hour. Without the crowds, the museum is amorphous and eerily silent. A pale light pools in the corners and casts long shadows around the paintings, as if the figures inside them

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Spider-Noir review – Nicolas Cage’s stylish take on the superhero as a 1940s detective is huge fun

All smoke, shady dames and black and white cinematography, Marvel’s latest Spidey offering is fast, witty and confidentAs is increasingly, wearyingly, the case as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand/bloat/chase the dollar in an ever-more unseemly and less rewarding manner – delete according to taste – Prime Video’s new series, Spider-Noir, requires you to set aside some lore while retaining other bits. Thus I should point out that the arachno-inflected human being brought to you he

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Pressure review – Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser can’t save lower-tier D-day drama

A behind-the-scenes second world war drama focused on the importance of weather is too stodgy and repetitive to work as anything but a so-so TV movieIn a world of increasingly segmented audiences, the new movie Pressure cleverly brings together two adjacent demographics: weather dads and history dads. Those designations are honorifics, not gender-essentialist; spiritually dad-curious people of all ages (but, let’s be real: mostly over 50) may be interested in a behind-the-scenes story set in the

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Paddington 4: Armando Iannucci to write bear’s next movie with Thick of It and Veep cowriter

Fourth Paddington film will be written by Iannucci and Simon Blackwell, who wrote with Iannucci on The Thick of It, In The Loop and VeepPaddington is about to develop a particularly hard stare, with The Thick of It and Veep creator Armando Iannucci set to write the bear’s next cinematic adventure.Variety reported on Tuesday that the fourth Paddington film will be written by Iannucci and his longtime collaborator Simon Blackwell, who wrote with Iannucci on The Thick of It, In The Loop and Veep. C

entertainment  May 27, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Tempest review – Kenneth Branagh returns to the RSC in this enchanting production

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonProspero is reimagined as a conductor in this superbly orchestrated version of Shakespeare’s tragicomedyKenneth Branagh is said to have played 35 Shakespearean parts, albeit back in the day. Seeing him speaking in verse these days is something of an event, all the more so when he is making a return to the Royal Shakespeare Company after more than 30 years to take on, for the first time, Shakespeare’s magician, deposed duke and tyrant occupier. Even t

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Magic, mastery and magisterial power: 10 of Sonny Rollins’ greatest recordings

After his death aged 95, we look back at a remarkable catalogue of work that stretches from vivacious mid-50s sets to his evocative performance after 9/11• News: Sonny Rollins, colossus of jazz saxophone, dies aged 95A 30-year-old Sonny Rollins had already made his unique mark with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk by the time this 1956 session was cut, just a year after bebop sax revolutionary Charlie Parker’s death – but hooking up with his contemporary and admirer John Coltrane happened by chan

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘The avalanche of slime has been unbelievable’: E Jean Carroll shares life post-Trump in new film

In the documentary Ask E Jean, the journalist and author provides an unflinching account of her life, career and groundbreaking legal victories“If you were concerned about being dragged through the mud,” asks lawyer Alina Habba, “Why would you choose to sue Donald Trump?”Calm and composed, E Jean Carroll removes her glasses and replies firmly: “Because he called me a liar. He called me a liar. And I couldn’t let it stand.” Continue reading...

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Hammer to rerelease 1958 Dracula in UK with long-lost footage added

Classic starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing will include footage censors decided was too gruesomeHammer Films’ horror masterpiece Dracula is to be rereleased in UK cinemas in October, including footage believed to have been lost for more than six decades after it was deemed too gruesome for audiences.The 1958 movie starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing has been fully restored in 4K. Continue reading...

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Stripteases, ecstatic embraces and a dog in a dress: the full-on photos celebrating queer dancefloors worldwide

A thrillingly unsanitised new photo book captures the liberating power of queer clubs in all their sexy, messy, kinky, cacophonous glory. ‘I wanted it to feel like a night out,’ says the woman behind itThese days, waking up after a big night out, no evidence can be good evidence. Perhaps the bar lights were too dim and the music so great that smartphones (and the outside world) were forgotten for a few blissful hours. Camera rolls: empty.However, a new photo book called Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visu

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Shocking? It’s only what you see in ancient temples’: painter T Venkanna on his joyous carnivals of copulation

Penises, vaginas and breasts abound in the Indian painter’s work. As the son of a Hindu priest, he says his orgasmic scenes give us a way to consider religionT Venkanna’s paintings land like a sucker-punch. At the centre of his first institutional solo show at London’s Studio Voltaire is an overbearing altarpiece, modified by two squat side panels to take the overall shape of a juvenile dick drawing. Perched at the bottom, on either side, are Adam and Eve. Their backs are turned as they look out

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

125th anniversary gala concert review – back to 1901 as Wigmore celebrates birthday playing to its strengths

Wigmore Hall, LondonThe veteran chamber music venue kicked off a celebratory two-week festival with a starry lineup of performers playing works that had featured on the first ever programmeIn May 1901, Wigmore Hall’s inaugural concert began, of course, with God Save the King – the words sounding novel to an audience who, until a few months earlier, had been singing it for Queen Victoria. The programme continued with a starry lineup including the composer and piano virtuoso Ferruccio Busoni perfo

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Los Angeles Philharmonic announces Daniel Harding as next music director

The British-born maestro will replace Gustavo Dudamel as the orchestra’s chief conductorThe Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced that Daniel Harding is to be its next music director.The UK-born Harding, 50, will begin his tenure in the 2027/28 season, with an initial contract for six years. Gustavo Dudamel, the orchestra’s music director since 2009, leaves the role in August 2026 – the Venezuelan conductor is heading east to become music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, but

entertainment  May 26, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Dada Masilo’s Hamlet review – dance remix gives the tragedy some potent tweaks

Sadler’s Wells, LondonThe late choreographer heightens Ophelia and Gertrude’s stories yet squanders some speeches in an intense hourWords, words, words. Can Hamlet retain its tragic force without using most of them? This hour-long dance-theatre remix by the late South African choreographer Dada Masilo preserves few speeches and its opening is not auspicious, crashing straight into “To be, or not to be” shorn of context and characterisation.There follows, as is customary, a meeting between the pr

entertainment  May 26, 2026