DVD/Blu-ray: A Rainy Day in New York

Woody Allen's latest paean to the city of his dreams is witty, polished, and worrying

“Know thyself” is the theme of A Rainy Day in New York. Woody Allen’s 48th film as writer-director, is – despite what you may have heard – at once his funniest and most reflective movie in years. Either wilfully archaic or stubbornly nostalgic, as his later work has tended to be, its story of a privileged youth who learns he must reject the life prescribed for him by an overbearing parent is universal; Allen’s unfamiliarity with Gen Z lingo and smarts doesn’t invalidate its core truths.

Blu-ray: Scorsese Shorts

A rewarding return to five early short films by an American master

At this year’s Oscars Bong Joon Ho brought the audience to its feet in honour of the director whose words had struck a chord with him as a film student. The comment, simple but difficult to adhere to in the cut-throat, risk-averse movie business, was that “the most personal is the most creative”. The director, Martin Scorsese.

Terri White: Coming Undone review - a British journalist unravels in NYC

★★★★ TERRI WHITE: COMING UNDONE A memoir of benders, blackouts and self-harm

A memoir of benders, blackouts and self-harm

The journalistic addiction-memoir is a crowded genre these days: Details editor Dan Perez chronicles his massive intake of Vicodin and other opioids in As Needed for Pain; New York Times columnist Eilene Zimmerman pieces together her husband’s drug addiction in Smacked, and now Terri White, editor-in-chief of Empire magazine and former editor of Time Out New York, shares with us her benders, blackouts and hospitalisations, somehow combined with an impressive career path, in the vivid, painful Coming Undone.

Hamilton, Disney+ review - puts us all in the room where it happened

★★★★ HAMILTON, DISNEY+ Puts us all in the room where it happened

Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical gets another shot on screen

The movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights was meant to hit cinemas this summer, but, in response to Covid-19, has been put back to 2021.

Theatre Lockdown Special 10: Epic plays from the National Theatre and Broadway alongside voices raised in protest

LOCKDOWN SPECIAL 10 Epic plays from the National Theatre and Broadway alongside voices raised in protest

The state of Britain then and now gets a look-in, as do animals in human form

As lockdown continues, National Theatre at Home has announced its final sequence of plays, and several of the very best are being saved for last. That certainly applies to this week's offering, Small Island, whose dissection of Britain's racist past couldn't be timelier.

Classical music/Opera direct to home 15 - opening up at different rates

CLASSICAL MUSIC/OPERA DIRECT TO HOME 15 Opening up at different rates

The Royal Opera cautiously re-engages, while Sweden and Norway continue apace

It's taken time, but at last we have two major musical figures speaking up for cultural institutions in dire straits. Following a crucial, detailed article by Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian, Simon Rattle and Mark Elder have finally taken up the cudgels as their colleagues in the theatre world have been doing for weeks.

What We Do in the Shadows, BBC Two review - the vampires of Staten Island are back

★★★★ WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, BBC TWO The vampire of Staten Island are back

Undead in the suburbs: Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's inspired creation lives on

The first series of What We Do in the Shadows, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s mockumentary about vampires in Staten Island (a TV spin-off from their cult New Zealand-located film) was a joy, and although it’s a hard act to follow, it’s delicious to be reacquainted with these timeless Transylvanian transplants and their mission to conquer the Americas. At least, that’s what their master, a crumbling vampire baron, has told them to do.

A Rainy Day in New York review - one of Woody's later, patchy ones

★★★ A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK Chalamet and other young stars keep Allen's latest Manhattan fantasy afloat

Chalamet and other young stars keep Allen's latest Manhattan fantasy afloat

Woody Allen’s filmography, like Michael Caine’s, is remorseless, accepting mediocre work to mine more gems than most. Even after his career and this film’s planned 2018 release became collateral damage to #MeToo and a revived child abuse allegation, he has kept directing. A Rainy Day in New York is a thorough résumé of late Woody flaws, but still sparks with residual brilliance.

Can You Keep A Secret? review - a bumpy ride

Charmless Sophie Kinsella adaptation stretches credibility well past breaking point

Featherweight is one thing, brainless is another. Can You Keep A Secret?, the romcom adapted by screenwriter Peter Hutchings from the 2003 novel by Sophie Kinsella, uneasily straddles the two until a conclusion that goes off the rails altogether and tumbles into the ludicrous.