CD: Flying Lotus - Flamagra

Californian beat scene monarch continues his cosmic drift

It's five years since Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus released an album, and it's not entirely clear how far he's moved creatively. To be fair he's been busy branching out in other directions, producing for superstar rapper Kendrick Lamar, making short films, and helping members of his Brainfeeder stable like Thundercat and Kamasi Washington along to greater fame. But with this album he seems to have taken up precisely where 2014's “Your Dead” left off.

Blu-ray: Ikarie XB 1

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: IKARIE XB 1 1960s Czech space opera impressively restored

Impressive restoration of a cerebral 1960s Czech space opera

This Blu-ray reissue brings sci-fi masterpiece Ikarie XB 1 back to its original visual glory, with the 1963 film presented here in the 4K restoration first shown at the Cannes festival in 2016 (distributor Second Run had previously released an earlier restoration on DVD in 2013).

Avengers: Endgame review - Marvel save the biggest and best for last

★★★★★ AVENGERS: ENDGAME Iron Man and co. round off with a crowd-pleasing extravaganza

Iron Man and co. round off with a crowd-pleasing extravaganza

The Earth’s mightiest defenders are back in a triumphant climax, 11 years in the making. Despite a three hour runtime and an overstuffed preceding chapter, the Russo Brothers pull off the near-impossible by creating a wholly satisfying final chapter, and possibly the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Curfew, Sky One, review - belt up for a budget-price Mad Max

★★★ CURFEW, SKY ONE Belt up for a budget-price Mad Max

Sci-fi car race stars Sean Bean, Phoebe Fox and a nasty virus

Curfew (Sky One) is a new drama that begins as it means to go on, roaring from nought to 60 with a wildly implausible car chase. An electric blue McLaren is haring and weaving through London, with the law in hot pursuit. Forget the computer-generated high-speed U-turn and the armour-plated panda cars.

John Lanchester: The Wall review - dystopia cut adrift

★★★ JOHN LANCHESTER: THE WALL A visionary but frustrating novel of post-apocalyptic Britain

A visionary but frustrating novel of post-apocalyptic Britain

John Lanchester’s fifth novel begins with a kind of coded warning to the reader – and, perhaps, to the author too. Freezing conditions plague life on the defensive wall – or “National Coastal Defence Structure” – that protects a future Britain from incursions by climate-change migrants in small boats. The weather invites fancy metaphorical comparisons. This cold may feel like “slate, or diamond, or the moon”. Yet those punishing temperatures are really “just a physical fact… Cold is cold is cold.” Likewise, The Wall teases us into a range of tempting, figurative interpretations.

Doctor Who, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, BBC One review - a captivating debut from Jodie Whittaker

★★★★ DOCTOR WHO, THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, BBC ONE The 13th official incarnation - a captivating debut from Jodie Whittaker

The 13th official incarnation of everybody's favourite time-travelling alien

Re-casting a beloved character always carries a measure of risk. Solo: A Star Wars Story relied on the willingness of fans to buy in to Alden Ehrenreich as a younger incarnation of Harrison Ford: the film bombed (you know, in Star Wars terms, since it barely made $400 million).

Little Shop of Horrors, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - monstrously entertaining

★★★★ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE Monstrously entertaining

A blooming marvellous revival of a classic musical

The resplendent partnership of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – which produced Disney hits Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid – first took root with this 1982 Off-Broadway musical, based on a low-budget Sixties film, about a man seeking love and fortune via a bloodthirsty plant.