The Guardian Culture

The Importance of Being Earnest review – gloriously madcap opera achieves new heights of delirium

Garsington Opera, StokenchurchGerald Barry’s take on Wilde’s comedy is even wittier and zanier in Jack Furness’s hyperactive staging – complete with a grand piano on stilts, a herd of cows and a kangaroo that meets a grisly endAnyone who has seen the opera before will recognise the tall rack of white dinner plates, stacked and primed for you-know-what. Anyone who knows Oscar Wilde’s play will recognise its punchlines, transposed by composer Gerald Barry into a kind of staccato mashup between spe

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘More postmodern than ancient’: why the Odyssey is everywhere, from Oz to Westeros

Christopher Nolan’s take on the Odyssey is set to break box-office records. What made the director so determined to adapt the ancient Greek epic? And why does a poem from 600BC hold a vice-like grip on pop culture? Warning: contains 2,600-year-old spoilersChristopher Nolan’s Odyssey movie has all the hopes of a summer blockbuster pinned to it, and all the promise – as the trailers have showed – of magnificent effects, shocks and thrills. You will be taken inside the cave of the terrifying one-ey

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Unchained Melody makes me want to live out my Swayze fantasies’: Gary Jarman’s honest playlist

The Cribs man had a youthful Bee Gees obsession and loves one particular 80s power ballad. But which song does he say is too rude for his funeral?The first song I fell in love with Only You by the Flying Pickets – at least according to my mother, who says [my twin brother and bandmate] Ryan and I would sing along to it on the Christmas Top of the Pops. We now use it as our walk-on song and it makes my mum quite emotional.The first single I bought Somewhere in My Heart by Aztec C

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Variety

‘Five Years, Four Months’ Review: Moving Portrait of a Grieving Colombian Mother Demonstrates an Impressive Control of Tension

Thousands of people in Colombia have been “forcibly disappeared”, as the euphemistic expression goes, since conflicts began in the mid-1960s between the Colombian government and various paramilitary and guerilla groups. This reality is well-known, and has been so for a while — an awareness that, over such a long period of time, may dim the […]

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

The Guardian Culture

TV tonight: a twisted drama about a serial killer in Scotland

Laura Donnelly and Helen Baxendale star in ITV’s gripping series The Dark. Plus: Claudia Winkleman’s new search for a great pianist. Here’s what to watch this evening9pm, ITV1 Continue reading...

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

‘The Westies’ Review: J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver Lead MGM+’s Handsome but Generic Gangster Drama

The drama about the conflicts within and between Irish and Italian crime organizations in 1980s New York hails from 'Narcos' and 'Godfather of Harlem' co-creator Chris Brancato.

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Variety

Jay-Z Celebrates ‘The Blueprint’ 25th Anniversary With Eminem, Pharrell Williams and Slick Rick at Yankee Stadium

Jay-Z was almost entirely truthful to the source material for his 25th anniversary Yankee Stadium show on Saturday to celebrate “The Blueprint,” setting guests artists to high wattage but low frequency as he trotted out Eminem, Pharrell Williams and Slick Rick for a curtailed 90-minute set. The Brooklyn native had already established a tall precedent […]

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Westies review – this violent New York mob drama is like Peaky Blinders meets The Sopranos

Expect bloody chaos in this drama about a real-life 80s Irish-American gang – featuring JK Simmons as a gang leader – and their dealings with an Italian-American crime family The Peaky Blinders effect lingers on. More than a decade after Tommy Shelby’s debut, TV still loves a real-life gangster crew, especially with Blinders creator Steven Knight having recently repeated the based-on-truth trick with A Thousand Blows. What other IRL historical crime crews are still available? All this time, the

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Variety

‘Love Island USA’ Contestant Corbin on His ‘Humiliating’ Elimination, the Nickname ‘CorbinGPT’ and His Friendship With Sincere: ‘I Forgive But I Don’t Forget’

“Love Island USA” Season 8 contestant Corbin admits his elimination felt “humiliating.” But unlike other recently dumped couples like Jen and Gal, Corbin left feeling hopeful for the future while holding hands with his Casa Amor connection, Parmida. “I see this connection going super far,” Corbin tells Variety. “Her mindset, oh my gosh! She’s an […]

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Variety

Tech Investor Vinod Khosla to Acquire the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 Billion

Tech billionaire Vinod Khosla and his family have reached an agreement to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion, according to people familiar with the details, as reported by Variety‘s sibling sports news outlet Sportico. The deal marks one of the largest valuations ever for a sports team in a control transaction, nearing the $10 […]

entertainment  Jul 12, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Patti LuPone’s Gay Cruise Ship Blocked (Again) From Entering Egypt

Only July 2, the Tony Award winner shared that the cruise was turned away by Turkey.

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

Emmy Nominations Roundtable: ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ Dominate, But ‘Widow’s Bay’ and ‘Pluribus’ Are Waiting in the Wings

At 25 noms, is “The Pitt” heading toward its second consecutive drama win? In breaking the record for most comedy noms ever, is “Hacks” a shoo-in? What happened to “Half Man”? How did “Dancing With the Stars” end its ten-year nomination drought? What can we expect from Emmys host Mariska Hargitay? Those questions, and a […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Argentina vs. Switzerland: Where to Watch the World Cup Quarterfinal Match Online

The July 11 game rounds out the 2026 tournament's quarterfinal matchups.

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

Jack White Keeps Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Front Burner in ‘Frozen Charlotte,’ His Heavy and Blazingly Worthy ‘No Name’ Followup: Album Review

The first question most Jack White fans are looking to have answered to when it comes to his new album, “Frozen Charlotte”: Is it effectively a “No Name 2.0”? Nearly everyone is hoping for a “yes,” on that one. In his solo career, White spent a few years notably bouncing around, veering between acoustically oriented […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Christopher Nolan Addresses ‘The Odyssey’ Backlash, Explains Why Film Uses Modern Dialogue

The epic starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o, Elliot Page and more, arrives in theaters July 17.

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

‘Elle’ Bosses on Lexi Minetree’s Elle Woods Transformation and How the Late James Van Der Beek Rewrote His Character’s Ending

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains key plot details, including the ending, for “Elle,” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. Where most showrunners spend the days before their series’ debut worrying whether audiences will tune in, and whether they’ll ultimately get renewed, “Elle” bosses Laura Kittrell and Caroline Dries had a different problem: navigating the press […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

The Guardian Culture

The Sentinels review – this thrilling drama about super soldiers proves TV can be done differently

It’s exciting, propulsive and not based on the same old threadbare franchises … this adaptation of a French comic book series is a steampunky tale of a secret experiment to inject wounded first world war fighters with a serumThe alternate history show has long been a TV mainstay, be it For All Mankind (what if the Soviets had won the space race?), The Man in the High Castle (what if the Axis powers had won the second world war?) or even Blackadder (what if Tudor history was essentially all nonse

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

Byron Allen Donates $100,000 to Nolan Wells Family’s GoFundMe as Tyler Perry Covers Funeral Costs

Media mogul and late night host Byron Allen has donated $100,000 to the GoFundMe set up by the family of Nolan Xavier Wells, the 18-year-old who was found dead following his disappearance over the July 4 holiday. Wells’ death has sparked much suspicion and left unanswered questions after he took a boating trip with friends […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

‘Lover, Not a Fighter’ Review: Freewheeling Slovak Charmer Charts a Sober (but Not Solemn) GenZ Romance

“I’m a lover, not a fighter / And I’m really built for speed,” sang Kinks frontman Ray Davies in at least one of the songs that shares a title with Slovakian writer-director Martina Buchelová’s hugely appealing first feature. The first half of that lyric is true of Andrej (Adam Kubala), the shambling 20-year-old protagonist of […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026

Variety

TIS Studios Expands Bogotá Production Hub With New 18,300-Square-Foot Soundstage (EXCLUSIVE)

TIS Studios has opened Stage 7, a new 18,300-square-foot soundstage at its Bogotá production complex, increasing its capacity to accommodate large-scale international film and TV productions in Colombia. Standing 40 feet high, the facility is described as Colombia’s largest soundstage and one of the biggest in Latin America. The launch marks the latest expansion of […]

entertainment  Jul 11, 2026