Matthew d’Ancona
12 April 2025
Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus, and the importance of forgetting
Uberto Pasolini’s new film adaptation of the Odyssey is a psychological exploration of trauma in a world where the gods are absent
Read the full article08 April 2025
The Beatles vs Andrew Tate
One of the Beatles’ great gifts was to reconcile masculinity with emotional intelligence
Read the full article05 April 2025
Review: How Four Mothers connects generational divides
Directed by Darren Thornton and co-written by his brother Colin, Four Mothers is more ambitious than a gentle drama
Read the full article02 April 2025
Could Megyn Kelly become president?
JD Vance and Pete Hegseth are both desperate to succeed Trump in the White House. But a star podcaster could beat them to it
Read the full article29 March 2025
Is The Studio the best show of 2025 so far?
The comic dilemmas in The Studio are a joy to watch and class of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's writing style
Read the full article26 March 2025
The choreography of fascism
The shocking treatment of US deportees to El Salvador is just one attraction in Trump’s theme park of brutality. But why do so many Americans seem keen to buy a ticket?
Read the full article22 March 2025
The Alto Knights is Robert De Niro's victory lap
Barry Levinson’s true-crime gangster story is a pleasing encapsulation of five decades of cinematic culture
Read the full article19 March 2025
Are YOU addicted to copium?
American liberals who think Trump has already failed, and that a Democratic renaissance is on its way, understand nothing
Read the full article15 March 2025
Black Bag will keep you guessing until the very end
Forty years since his first feature film, Steven Soderbergh has rarely been better
Read the full article11 March 2025
Donald Trump, the Vaudeville tyrant
Trump’s bizarre quips are made for a reason – to give his audience permission not to care about the struggles of others
Read the full article08 March 2025
The Seagull is an evening of convention-busting Chekhov
The imaginative liberties on show here are the trademark of director Thomas Ostermeier
Read the full article02 March 2025
The abominable showman
Michael Wolff’s new book on Trump and his court reveals a president whose elixir is a cocktail of conflict and confidence, and for whom everything is spectacle
Read the full article01 March 2025
Toxic Town and the conscience of the nation
When it comes to delivering uncomfortable truths, incisive docudramas can trump conventional politics and Jack Thorne's Toxic Town is no exception
Read the full article24 February 2025
After the death of Atlanticism
US support is gone forever. What kind of Europe will emerge from the wreckage?
Read the full article22 February 2025
Zero Day, a loving homage to 1970s espionage classics
Robert De Niro, in his first regular television role, is extremely entertaining in Netflix's pacey riff on hypermodern cyberwarfare
Read the full article15 February 2025
Why The White Lotus is murderously good
The third instalment of Mike White's acclaimed series is back with its usual love of mystery, lurking lust and dark humour
Read the full article12 February 2025
Donald Trump, American Caesar
The president and his acolytes are creating a whole new way of running a country – and this is only the beginning
Read the full article08 February 2025
How September 5 and the Munich Olympics changed the newsroom
Tim Fehlbaum takes a journalistic approach to his account of the terrorist massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics
Read the full article05 February 2025
The brutality of truth
A new film about an architect who survives the Holocaust is a stunning achievement, and one with deep resonance for our own time
Read the full article01 February 2025
The world is a better place with films like Hard Truths
Starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Mike Leigh’s comedy drama is an artistic masterclass in what cinema can do
Read the full article27 January 2025
MAGA’s magic bullet
Conspiracy theories are the oxygen that keeps Trump’s tribe breathing fire. The JFK files might not reveal anything new, but they will fuel his supporters’ distrust of the state
Read the full article25 January 2025
Why The Brutalist must win Best Picture
Brady Corbet’s all-consuming portrayal of László Tóth’s life and work is epic in form, theme and ambition
Read the full article22 January 2025
We need to talk about immigration
Progressives’ cowed silence has let the toxic talk of Farage and Jenrick take hold. Now we must respond – and taking action on integration should be the start
Read the full article18 January 2025
A Complete Unknown is the real deal
In this audacious biopic, Timothée Chalamet brilliantly captures the spirit of the original disruptor, Bob Dylan
Read the full article15 January 2025
Donald Trump, the king of manifest destiny
Trump is back. And so are long-buried American fantasies of national exceptionalism and conquest
Read the full article11 January 2025
Against the odds, A Real Pain is a triumph
As Jesse Eisenberg’s second outing as writer-director, this plangent reflection of the legacy of the Holocaust is a tremendous accomplishment
Read the full article08 January 2025
How to wake up woke
The clamour for social justice got waylaid by too much virtue-signalling and too little action. Trump says it’s dead. But it is needed more than ever
Read the full article04 January 2025
Nickel Boys is a stunning achievement
This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel deserves – at minimum – an Oscar nomination for best picture
Read the full article01 January 2025
Meet America’s new boss, Elon Musk
The US voted for Trump. But in just over two weeks’ time, they will be getting Musk
Read the full article01 January 2025
Streaming shows to look forward to in 2025
These are the shows to hunker down with over the coming year
Read the full article22 December 2024
Magdeburg, Manhattan and the age of rage
The suspects in two acts of violence are united by limitless narcissism posing as just rebellion
Read the full article18 December 2024
We were always going to betray Ukraine
Zelensky has done all he can. But as the final sell-out approaches, the west has not done nearly enough
Read the full article