Variety

Emily Watson Says ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Season 2 Will Have ‘Lots of New Elements,’ Led Her on ‘A Quest in a Way Actors Always Get to Do and Actresses Don’t’

Starring in HBO Max’s “Dune: Prophecy” has been a major “departure” for Emily Watson, whose lauded career was built upon major independent and arthouse successes such as Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” and Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park.” As she embarks on a second season of the hit show, the actress feels more settled in […]

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The film Apollo 13 taught me how to survive heartbreak

After my engagement ended, I found myself repeatedly watching a movie about three astronauts trapped in a damaged spacecraft. It helped me see that sometimes the mere act of getting home is the success‘Failure is not an option” has always been my family’s catchphrase; it’s flight director Gene Kranz’s famous line in the film Apollo 13. When I tell people it’s our family motto, they often joke, “That’s healthy.” But it isn’t about being the best. It’s about refusing to stop being.I’ve loved Apoll

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The faces behind the feeds: Gen Z’s private lives and public posts – in pictures

For the first digital natives, there are two places to express yourself: in the comfort of your own room and online. Photographer Niccolò Rastrelli set out to find out how the identities compareSocial media arrived just as I, a younger millennial, was on the brink of teenhood. My friends and I signed up for accounts on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, as well as less remembered sites such as the now defunct Bebo. We didn’t know what we were doing; no one did. We posted indiscreet messages and phot

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Hang Time review – a chilling picture of the horrors of racial violence

Royal Lyceum theatre, EdinburghThree men bicker and reflect like they’re chatting at a bar – yet this grimly beautiful piece of theatre at the Edinburgh international festival won’t let you forget their fateThree men are shooting the breeze. “We’re just talking – man to man to man,” says Slim (Kamal Bolden), an ex-con who believes in looking after number one. In a literal sense, he is right. They are just talking. In this short, grimly beautiful production, written and directed by Zora Howard fo

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

Variety

Here’s How to Watch 2026 Indycar Series Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. Live Online

After the Grand Prix of Ontario in Canada in mid-August, Indycar Series travels to the United States’ capital city for the 2026 Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. It starts on Saturday, Aug. 22 with practice and qualifying rounds. Race day is the following day on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. […]

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

Variety

‘Everything That’s Wrong With You’ Review: A Luminous Two-Hander from Slovenia About Online Pals Navigating the Waters of IRL Friendship

Anyone with a scrolling habit will know that social media can be a soothing place for the downbeat and lonely. Yet the intimacy you can strike up with strangers rubs up against the uncomfortable fact that our online personae are always manipulated to an extent. Writer-director Urša Menart’s luminous Sarajevo competition title “Everything That’s Wrong […]

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Sandra Wollner’s ‘Everytime’ Wins Best Film in Sarajevo, Ana Urushadze Crowned Best Director

The jury at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival included British actress Emily Watson, European Film Academy director Matthijs Wouter Knol and Yorgos Lanthimos’ producer Athina Rachel Tsangari.

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Four blokes and a zebra crossing: the banality and beauty of the Beatles’ Abbey Road cover

Much-copied and parodied picture captures dynamic between the individuals and the band with eerie perfectionIt’s not really the four blokes on the zebra crossing who make the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road memorable, but the street behind them. Vanishing towards a perfect blue sky, with summer trees veiling in bright green what might otherwise be dour brick houses, it could be a hyperreal vista painted by David Hockney. The black and white stripes of the crossing and the white line down the mi

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Stand By Me at 40: Rob Reiner’s seminal coming-of-age saga remains a bittersweet triumph

The late director’s sensitive and detailed adaptation of Stephen King’s novella has an authenticity that so many imitators could never replicateComing-of-age metaphors don’t get any blunter than a group of preteen boys following a set of railroad tracks to a classmate’s dead body, a sobering testament to the fragility of life and a sign that their own futures are not guaranteed. The Stephen King novella that would become Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me is simply called The Body, and there’s no doubt th

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Elouise Eftos: Aphrodite review – ‘Australia’s first attractive comedian’ asks if love is real

Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Heckling herself in character as the Greek goddess, the standup delivers an intelligent, in-your-face show about sex and expectationsYou can’t argue with the opening gambit of Aphrodite: “I’ve never been in love and I don’t think it’s real.” Consider me grabbed. This is the follow-up to Elouise Eftos’s fantastically provocative 2025 debut, Australia’s First Attractive Comedian, and it’s another intelligent, in-your-face hour about men and women, sex and expectations. OK

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Dirty Dancer review – Swayze stan is like a whirlwind as she replays 80s favourite

Underbelly Cowgate, EdinburghMelissa Firlit recreates Dirty Dancing in a one-woman show that mixes trivia, personal memories and a singalongDirty Dancing was the first VHS in our house: snazzy purple box, pure 80s brushstroke title, alluring 15 certificate – and all that slo-mo, black-and-white grinding to the Ronettes before it even begins. I’m not the only one who remembers their first viewing. Melissa Firlit watched the film again and again. Now she recreates the whole thing, from the drive t

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Courtney Büchner: One of the Girls review – all aboard for a rollercoaster relationship

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghFrom embarrassing anecdotes to karaoke and lurking on Instagram, this love story sweeps you alongCourtney Büchner is here to tell us a love story. Not the type you’re thinking of – even though she has just married her partner, Maddy. This rollercoaster platonic relationship is with Stella, the girl she met at school shortly after moving from South Africa to the UK. It is a sweet, nostalgia-fuelled tale, but one that at times feels too slight to sustain an hour.It wa

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

From Booker-listed Marlon James to a memoir by Michael Douglas – the biggest books this autumn

Midlife meditations from Barbara Kingsolver; musical portraits by Jonathan Coe and Yiyun Li; plus memoirs from Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench – all among the coming season’s highlightsThe Disappearers by Marlon JamesHamish Hamilton, 3 September After a detour into mythic fantasy, the author of the Booker-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings returns to Jamaica. This account of a brutal homophobic attack on a group of gay actors in 1980s Kingston has already been longlisted for this year’s pr

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

Variety

Olivia Rodrigo Releases ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-Inspired Song, ‘Serena Joy,’ in a Tiny Run of CDs, With Digital Drop to Follow

It was already clear Olivia Rodrigo is in full feminist mode these days, with her all-female music festival, Daisy Chain Fields, set to take place in California’s Orange County next Saturday. But it’s perhaps even clearer now that Rodrigo is releasing a non-album track, “Serena Joy,” named after a prominent character in “The Handmaid’s Tale” […]

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Dog Park: a delightful sitcom that will fill the Colin from Accounts shaped hole in your life

This snort-aloud Australian comedy is sweet, hilarious – and a surprising examination of male loneliness and mid-life crisis. Who’s a good show then?!Whenever I’m watching a programme that features an animal and I realise I’m expected to have a specific reaction to that animal, I run into a problem. I call it the Cuteness Assumptive Theory: Subjectivity in Television issue (CATSIT for short). It boils down to this: if the success of your show relies on my finding your lead actor scrumptious-wump

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Guide #257: What we lose when a medium ​built for the ear surrender​s to the camera

In this week’s newsletter: As platforms chase ​s​ubscribers, podcasts are losing their off‑screen charm​, leaving listeners to wonder whether the intimacy of audio can survive the studio lights• Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThis has been the year that podcasting properly, unapologetically “pivoted to video”. Yes, it’s been a progression that has been in the making for quite a while, arguably ever since Joe Rogan first trained a webcam at himself and whichever guest he

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

TV tonight: The Voice gets a shake-up with new judge Kelly Rowland

The Destiny’s Child star joins the hit singing contest. Plus: the essential BBC Four drama about America’s exit from Kabul. Here’s what to watch this evening7pm, ITV1 Continue reading...

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

Variety

Austrian Director Sandra Wollner’s ‘Everytime’ Wins Best Film at Sarajevo Film Festival

Sandra Wollner’s “Everytime” continued its winning streak at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where the Cannes Un Certain Regard winner took home the Heart of Sarajevo for best narrative feature film. The Austrian director’s third feature was the unanimous choice of a jury headed by two-time Academy Award nominee Emily Watson, which said in its citation: […]

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘We are in the inferno’: diaspora writers lead new movement of nature poetry

UK anthology inspired by question: ‘Where are our black and Asian nature writers?’ has boosted interest in genreA new movement of eco poets from black and brown communities in the UK is challenging the canon of nature poetry against the backdrop of the climate and biodiversity crisis.Mona Arshi, who co-edited the first UK collection of eco poetry from African, Asian and Caribbean diaspora voices, was inspired to put the anthology together after asking in a social media post that went viral: “Whe

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026

The Guardian Culture

From Ludwig to Ariana Grande: the week in rave reviews

David Mitchell’s quirky puzzle-maker is back with the low-stakes murder mystery, while the US pop superstar’s Eternal Sunshine tour continues its London residency Continue reading...

entertainment  Aug 22, 2026