The Ocean at the End of the Lane, National Theatre review - terrifying, magical coming of age story

★★★★ THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, NATIONAL THEATRE Terrifying, magical coming of age story

A stunning tribute to the wild and wonderful life of the mind

This scary, electrically beautiful adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book about living on the faultline between imagination and reality is a fantastically alternative offering for the festive season. While the parameters of the story are dark, it’s an edgy, stunningly thought through tribute to the wild and wonderful life of the mind, and its ability to help us engage with the horrors that life flings at us.  

DVD/Blu-ray: The Holly and the Ivy

A repressed middle-class clan gathers for Christmas in rarely seen British gem

British cinema has done so badly by Christmas that the revival of a film that parses the nature of the festival while mining its potential for sparking family strife is cause for celebration.

Motherless Brooklyn review – tic tec

★★★ MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN Edward Norton's long-awaited screen adaptation of the noir novel

Edward Norton brings his long-awaited adaptation of the noir novel to the screen

Edward Norton has wanted to adapt Motherless Brooklyn since Jonathan Lethem’s acclaimed novel was first published 20 years ago.

Charlie's Angels review - feminism-lite action comedy

★★★ CHARLIE'S ANGELS Feminism-lite action comedy

Non-stop rollercoaster is more fun than the US box office suggests

“Badass” – as applied to dynamic women – and “girl power” may be the kinds of exhausted clichés that are reductive in the #MeToo and Time’s Up era, but the new Charlie’s Angels movie revitalises the attitude they describe in a way that’s neither condescending nor retrogressive.

Ophelia review - tragic no more

★★★ OPHELIA Retelling of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' puts the doomed maiden centre stage

Retelling of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' puts the doomed maiden centre stage

Ophelia is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic yet underdeveloped dramatic roles. A sweet and naïve girl, she’s driven mad by Hamlet’s wavering affections and her father’s death. She was often the subject of paintings, yet rarely of novels until the 21st century.

Judy & Punch review - a bold but blunt tale

A revisionist take on the seaside puppet show

Professor Punch (Damon Herriman) was once famed throughout the lands as a masterful puppeteer, performing shows night after night with his dutiful wife Judy (Mia Wasikowska). Now, they have been relegated to the provinces. Specifically, the backwash of Seaside, Judy’s hometown far from the coast (as the prologue informs us), where they are raising their baby. They live amidst the daily stoning of presumed witches, and the paranoid grumblings of the small-minded citizenry. As odd couples go, they couldn’t be less well-suited.

'Shakespeare is mistakenly considered something for the elite': director Claire McCarthy on 'Ophelia'

Upcoming adaptation shines a new light on Shakespeare's famous tragic maiden

Ophelia is one of Shakespeare's most enduring characters in both literature and art, and yet her part in Hamlet is limited to few lines and fewer motivations. Based on Lisa Klein's novel, the new film Ophelia challenges this interpretation. Daisy Ridley stars as the iconic maiden raising above the petty squabbles of flawed men.

'I’m having too much fun writing novels': author Nicolas Searle on The Good Liar

'I'M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN WRITING NOVELS' Nicolas Searle on 'The Good Liar'

Writer explains the journey from debut novel to prestige film

"Surreal" is how the man calling himself Nicholas Searle describes the last five years of his life. He began working on his debut novel The Good Liar in 2014 at the age of 57, having recently retired from the Civil Service. The nature of his former employment remains undisclosed. But, the fact that Nicholas Searle is not his real name, gives a clue to the fact his work was in intelligence rather than land registry.