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Film

  • Ryan Coogler, photographed in New York, April 2025

    ‘My heart broke’: director Ryan Coogler on mourning Chadwick Boseman, rebooting Black Panther and his new movie Sinners

    The highest grossing Black film-maker of all time is known for his superhero movies and reinventing the Rocky franchise. Now he’s made his most personal film yet – and it’s a vampire thriller
  • Richard Roxburgh in 2025 Australian film The Correspondent

    The Correspondent review – Richard Roxburgh is excellent as jailed journalist Peter Greste

  • Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman at the Golden Globe awards, 2003

    New details of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s final days released

  • furry animal looks over shoulder of person wearing yellow

    The Legend of Ochi review – visually dazzling throwback kids movie

  • Seth Rogen and wife Lauren Miller arrive at the Breakthrough prize ceremony

    Seth Rogen attack on Trump edited out of science awards show coverage

  • "Black Bag" UK Special Screening - VIP Arrivals<br>LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 11: Cate Blanchett attends the "Black Bag" UK Special Screening at the Curzon Mayfair on March 11, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

    Cate Blanchett retiring from acting? I’ll believe it when I see it

    Michael Sun
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Reviews

  • Natural prose-poetry … Edna O’Brien in 1971.

    Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story review – engaging study of a life less ordinary

  • Pedro Pascal in Freaky Tales

    Freaky Tales review – Pedro Pascal-led 80s anthology isn’t freaky enough

  • Grand Tour.

    Grand Tour review – engaged couple’s sweet, strange colonial era hide-and-seek

  • Warfare film still - Will Poulter Navy SEALs overwatch the movement of U.S. forces through insurgent territory in Iraq in 2006. Release date: 18 April 2025 (UK) Directed by: Ray Mendoza; Alex Garland

    Warfare review – film-makers’ message gets lost in the deafening blizzard of battle

  • Sinners review – Ryan Coogler’s deep-south gonzo horror down at the crossroads

  • Chosen Family review – fluid directing by Heather Graham ballasts enjoyable romcom

  • The Thicket review – Peter Dinklage is a bounty hunter in harsh western with unusual chill

  • Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story review – original rude girl is still impossibly cool

  • Abortion Dream Team review – dynamic study of activists resisting Poland’s near-total ban

  • Kaiju No 8: Mission Recon review – the fury and rawness of battle as monsters keep coming

  • Eclipse review – Tom Conti stars in intriguing but elusive 70s tale of a mysterious death

  • The Balcony Movie review – funny/sad film that offers a view into strangers’ lives

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News

  • Law enforcement officers at the home of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa the day after their bodies were discovered.

    Gene Hackman property showed rodent infestation after hantavirus check

  • Cate Blanchett at the Olivier awards this month.

    ‘I’m giving up’: Cate Blanchett says she is retiring from acting

  • official teaser trailer for EDDINGTON.

    Eddington: first trailer released for Ari Aster’s Covid-set, Cannes-bound comedy western

  • ‘This story is personal’ … Dwayne Johnson.

    The Rock to co-author true crime book about Hawaii mob boss to be adapted by Martin Scorsese

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documentaries
Documentary link

We Did Not Consent

Three women, disguising their identities with theatrical masks, revisit memories of the undercover "spy cops" who infiltrated their lives and forged false relationships

Watch now18.28
We did not consent documentary

What to watch

  • Heading back to the big screen … the 1977 cut of Star Wars.

    The original Star Wars is back – but what if George Lucas is right about it not being much good?

    Ben Child
  • a man in a suit and sunglasses points a finger

    ‘Everything is political’: how film can guide us through difficult times

    As Trump’s divisive second term threatens the liberties of many Americans, movies from Z to Spartacus to V for Vendetta have become more and more relevant
  • Pure malice … Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver, with Uma Thurman as The Bride, in Kill Bill: Vol 1.

    From android to assassin: Daryl Hannah’s 10 best films – ranked!

    With the release this month of Coastal, her documentary about husband Neil Young’s 2023 solo tour, we look at Hannah’s greatest roles
  • Illustration by Lynsey Irvine/Observer Design of Donald Trump with film reels for hair and eyes.

    Visions of America: 25 films to help understand the US today

  • man and woman talking outside

    ‘A loose-limbed trifle’: why Manhattan Murder Mystery is my feelgood movie

  • Knightley sits at a table in a bar in The Imitation Game.

    Keira Knightley at 40: her 20 best films – ranked!

  • Woman and a man in formal dress

    ‘Never fails to make my day’: readers on their feelgood movies

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Opinion

  • Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme.

    Pillion, Phoenician and Panahi: superb lineup set to extend Cannes’ Oscar-sweeping streak

    Peter Bradshaw
  • Looking for a hit … Timothée Chalamet on the set of Marty Supreme in October.

    Memo to Timothée Chalamet: instead of total-immersion ping pong, maybe take the year off

    Stuart Heritage
  • the Ronettes (from left) Ronnie Spector with Estelle Bennett and Nedra Talley in 1968.

    Stop screaming about the Beatles biopic. Start whooping for Zendaya as Ronnie Spector and Lizzo as Sister Rosetta Tharpe

    Miatta Mbriwa
  • Jeff Goldblum takes a selfie with fans on the red carpet at the Oscars in March.

    Commemorative socks are one thing, Jeff Goldblum, but you’re missing a trick not doing official knickers

    Stuart Heritage

  • Val Kilmer was an ethereally handsome actor who evolved into droll self-awareness

    Peter Bradshaw

  • Help! Why are none of the new Beatles cast from Liverpool?

    Peter Bradshaw

  • Yes, Helen Mirren, James Bond is profoundly sexist. But more than a telling off, he needs a face-off

    Peter Bradshaw

  • Anora is nothing new – Hollywood has always been obsessed with sex workers

    Anne Billson

  • Anora has swept the Oscars. I can’t help feeling that shouldn’t have happened

    Catherine Shoard

  • The Oscars were an exhilarating triumph for Anora and newly minted star Mikey Madison

    Peter Bradshaw

  • ‘He let us hate him’: Gene Hackman had a rare power – he didn’t need to be liked

    David Thomson

  • There’s a reason Hugh Grant is the best thing in middling movies: he writes his own lines

    Stuart Heritage
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Interviews

  • Ione Skye

    ‘I’d love Keanu to read it’: Ione Skye on bisexuality, infidelity and her wild tell-all memoir

  • Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter photographed in London by Phil Fisk for the Observer New Review.

    ‘You wouldn’t pick us out as mother and daughter!’: Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter on acting together for the first time

    Bridgerton star Bessie – soon to play Nancy Mitford in a new TV drama – and her mum, acting royalty Imelda, talk Sondheim, sandwiches and taking the stage together in Shaw’s sex worker scandal Mrs Warren’s Profession
  • Ramy Youssef.

    ‘I had a recurring dream that Bin Laden was in my kitchen’: Ramy Youssef on his 9/11 comedy

    The standup’s new animated series #1 Happy Family USA mixes South Park-style humour with a bracing account of Muslim life in America in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It feels like history is repeating itself, he says
  • Jack O’Connell in a white polo shirt, touching his right ear

    ‘I had to spit in Michael Caine’s face’: Jack O’Connell on Skins, impostor syndrome and stripping off

  • Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street.

    ‘Jonah Hill keeps his teeth in a safe’: meet Hollywood’s top special-effects dentist

  • Ewan McGregor and Michael Grandage photographed by Perou for the Observer New Review, March 2025.

    ‘I always thought it would be amazing to be the first person to play a role’: Ewan McGregor on his return to the UK stage

  • National Television Awards 2020 - Red Carpet Arrivals<br>LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Laura Aikman attends the National Television Awards 2020 at The O2 Arena on January 28, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

    Sunday with Laura Aikman: ‘The dog hates our park because he finds it boring’

Regulars

  • John Lennon and Yoko Ono performing at Madison Square Garden, New York, 1972.

    Wendy Ide's film of the week
    One to One: John & Yoko review – Lennon and Ono storm Manhattan in intimate post-Beatles doc

  • Clockwise from top left: Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl; Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas; Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever; Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker in Honeymoon in Vegas.

    Streaming and DVDs
    Streaming: The Last Showgirl and the best Las Vegas films

  • Heading back to the big screen … the 1977 cut of Star Wars.

    Week in geek
    The original Star Wars is back – but what if George Lucas is right about it not being much good?

    Ben Child
  • Ken Russell in 2011.

    Mark Kermode on film
    Mark Kermode on… director Ken Russell, the king of cult classics who was so much more than a sensationalist

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You may have missed

  • From a town called Porpoise Spit … Rachel Griffiths, Daniel Lapaine, Toni Collette and Bill Hunter in the 1994 favourite.

    How we made Muriel’s Wedding: ‘No one wanted a film about a plus-sized thief and liar’

  • Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain.

    ‘A collective sigh of relief’: how Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain went down in Poland

    Eisenberg’s Holocaust-heritage comedy-drama was a big hit in the country where it is set – though some have questioned its lack of engagement with locals. Historians, critics and heritage tour guides give us their thoughts
  • Jonathan Roumie as Jesus in The Chosen, speaking to a large crowd of people.

    Jesus Christ, superstar: how the Messiah became TV and box-office gold

    Faith-based entertainment is booming, thanks to a ready-made audience and the backing of the American right. The TV series The Chosen, with Jonathan Roumie playing Christ, claims to have reached more than a quarter of a billion viewers. And this is just the tip of the iceberg …
  • Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street.

    ‘Jonah Hill keeps his teeth in a safe’: meet Hollywood’s top special-effects dentist

  • Lennon and Ono perform at the One to One benefit concert for abused disabled children at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1972.

    Did John and Yoko split because of Richard Nixon? The making of revelatory music film One to One

  • Blessed are the cheesemakers … Clément Faveau as Totone in Holy Cow.

    The full comté: quest to make a semi-hard cheese is French cinema’s breakout hit of the year

  • Café Flesh (1982).

    ‘Porn is the most conservative business I was ever in’: behind the scenes at Café Flesh

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Film genres

  • Ryan Coogler, photographed in New York, April 2025

    Action
    ‘My heart broke’: director Ryan Coogler on mourning Chadwick Boseman, rebooting Black Panther and his new movie Sinners

  • Vincent Oliver

    Animation
    The Glassworker: Studio Ghibli’s legacy lives in Pakistan’s first hand-drawn feature

  • ‘This story is personal’ … Dwayne Johnson.

    Crime
    The Rock to co-author true crime book about Hawaii mob boss to be adapted by Martin Scorsese

  • As if he is perplexed by the script … Steve Coogan and penguin in The Penguin Lessons.

    Drama
    The Penguin Lessons review – Steve Coogan seabird comedy drama tries to sell feelgood mood

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