John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum review - mayhem in Manhattan

★★★★ JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM Mayhem in Manhattan

Latest instalment of Keanu's hitman saga sustains a ferocious pace

Keanu Reeves’s hitman franchise is blossoming into a delirious little earner. This third instalment reunites the star with director Chad Stahelski – who used to be Keanu’s stunt double in the Matrix films – and screenwriter Derek Kolstad, and keeps the action cranked to melting point for its two-hours-plus running time.

Blu-ray: The Big Clock

Brilliantly constructed comedy noir, ripe for rediscovery

John Farrow’s inexplicably neglected 1948 thriller The Big Clock is a difficult work to pigeonhole, combining traces of noir, screwball comedy and suspense.

CD: The Drums - Brutalism

Fifth album from US alt-pop act is lyrically strong but musically less so

The Drums appeared a decade ago out of New York, riding a media froth about indie music to critical acclaim and, at least for their debut album, some degree of commercial success. They were a four-piece who owed a large debt to New Order but had enough of their own pizzazz to look promising.

Pose, BBC Two review - transgender goes mainstream

★★★★ POSE, BBC TWO Transgender goes mainstream

And the category is: master of gloss Ryan Murphy brings on the world of 1980s drag balls

NYC, 1987. AIDS is ravaging the city, Reagan’s in power, Trump is in his tower. The American dream is available - to some. And for some of those to whom it’s not, there’s the world of balls, vogueing and competing for trophies. If your family has kicked you out for being gay or trans, the balls are a place where you can strike a pose, find acceptance and make your legendary mark. Even if you're homeless and haven’t eaten in days.

The Kindergarten Teacher review - obsession, talent and the power of poetry

★★★★ THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER Obsession, talent and the power of poetry

Maggie Gyllenhaal stars in a cautionary tale of going beyond the call of duty

Lisa, the kindergarten teacher in question (a mesmerising Maggie Gyllenhaal), is taking evening classes in poetry. Twenty years of teaching and raising her three kids, now monosyllabic, mean teens, have left her desperate for culture and a creative outlet. Her stolid husband (Michael Chernus) tries his best to be supportive, but he doesn’t really get it. “My teacher says I need to put more of myself into my work,” she sighs, as she picks at a dull salad at home in Staten Island after class. Well, that’s not going to happen.

Follies, National Theatre review - the Sondheim spectacular returns, better than ever

★★★★★ FOLLIES, NATIONAL THEATRE The Sondheim spectacular returns, better than ever

New cast members beautifully complement this definitive production

This is a golden age of London Sondheim revivals, with Marianne Elliott’s thrilling Company still playing in the West End, and Dominic Cooke’s Follies getting a hugely welcome second run at the National – both testament to a director’s transformative vision.

Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Young Vic review - shards of power amidst much that is overwrought

★★★ JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN, YOUNG VIC Shards of power amidst much that is overwrought

Stephen Adly Guirgis play is best when most reflective

An entirely electric leading performance from the fast-rising Ukweli Roach is the reason for being for revisiting Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, back in London for the first major production since the late Philip Seymour Hoffman brought his acclaimed Off Broadway premiere of it to the Donmar in 2002. Since then, author Stephen Adly Guirgis has to be honest written better plays, not least the thrilling The Motherf**er with the Hat which doesn't try so hard to flag its bravura at every turn.

All About Eve, Noel Coward Theatre review - less a bumpy night than an erratically arresting one

★★★ ALL ABOUT EVE, NOEL COWARD THEATRE Erratically arresting

Gillian Anderson and a superb Lily James headline Ivo van Hove's latest celluloid deconstruction

Women spend a lot of time gazing at themselves in the mirror in the Belgian auteur director Ivo van Hove's latest stage-to-screen deconstruction, All About Eve, which is based on one of the most-beloved of all films about the theatre: the 1950 Oscar-winner of the same name. And well these varying generations of stage talents might want to anatomise every pore.