Ballard, Prime Video review - there's something rotten in the LAPD

★★★★ BALLARD, PRIME VIDEO Persuasive dramatisation of Michael Connelly's female detective

Persuasive dramatisation of Michael Connelly's female detective

Following the success of its screen version of Michael Connelly’s veteran detective Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, Prime Video aims to make lightning strike twice by televising Connelly’s series of Renée Ballard books. Like Bosch, Ballard works for the LAPD, but has been demoted from the Robbery-Homicide division after reporting a sexual assault by her supervisor, Robert Olivas.

Superman review - America's ultimate immigrant

★ SUPERMAN America's ultimate immigrant

James Gunn's over-stuffed reboot stutters towards wonder

A three-century-spanning countdown rapidly ticks to a version of now, and a beaten Superman (David Corenswet) ploughing into Arctic snow. His super-whistle fetches Superdog Krypto to excavate him like a favourite bone, and drag him to crystalline sanctuary the Fortress of Solitude. 

Girl From The North Country, Old Vic review - Dylan's songs fail to lift the mood

★ GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, OLD VIC Conor McPherson's hit is looking dated already

Fragmented, cliched story rescued by tremendous acting, singing and music

Well, I wasn’t expecting a Dylanesque take on "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" as an opening number and I was right. But The Zim, Nobel Prize ‘n all, has always favoured The Grim American Songbook over The Great American Songbook and writer/director Conor McPherson’s hit "play with music" leans into the poet of protest’s unique canon with his international smash hit, now back where it all began eight years ago.

The Road to Patagonia review - journey to the end of the world

In search of love and the meaning of life on the boho surf trail

The journey not the destination matters in The Road to Patagonia, an epic pilgrimage of 30,000 miles that, unexpectedly, turns into a love story. Surfer boy and ecologist Matty Hannon grew up in Australia but after reading a book at university about the shamans of Mentawai in western Sumatra he dropped out and went to live with them in the Indonesian rain forest.

Live Aid at 40: When Rock'n'Roll Took on the World, BBC Two review - how Bob Geldof led pop's battle against Ethiopian famine

★★★★ LIVE AID AT 40: WHEN ROCK'N'ROLL TOOK ON THE WORLD, BBC TWO When wackily-dressed pop stars banded together to give a little help to the helpless

When wackily-dressed pop stars banded together to give a little help to the helpless

“Bob’s not the kind of guy you can say no to,” said Sting, reminiscing about the origins of 1984’s Band Aid charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. “He’s persistent.”

Bonnie Raitt, Brighton Dome review - a top night with a characterful, very American blues rock queen

★★★ BONNIE RAITT, BRIGHTON DOME The US star concludes her UK tour with a rockin' south coast send-off

The US star concludes her UK tour with a rockin' south coast send-off

If you walked into a bar in the US, say in one of the southern states, and Bonnie Raitt and her band were playing, you’d have the best night of your life. They are the kind of purely American rhythm’n’blues experience, tempered with FM radio balladry, that somehow works best, and perhaps only, on those endless highways and dusty plains.

Edward Burra, Tate Britain review - watercolour made mainstream

★★★ EDWARD BURRA, TATE BRITAIN Social satire with a nasty bite

Social satire with a nasty bite

It’s unusual to leave an exhibition liking an artist’s work less than when you went in, but Tate Britain’s retrospective of Edward Burra manages to achieve just this. I’ve always loved Burra’s limpid late landscapes. Layers of filmy watercolour create sweeping vistas of rolling hills and valleys whose suggestive curves create a sexual frisson.

Stereophonic, Duke of York's Theatre review - rich slice of creative life delivered by a 1970s rock band

★★★★★ STEREOPHONIC, DUKE OF YORK'S THEATRE David Adjmi's clever and compelling hit play gets a crack London cast

David Adjmi's clever and compelling hit play gets a crack London cast

The tag “the most Tony-nominated play of all time” may mean less to London theatregoers than it does to New Yorkers, but Stereophonic, newly arrived at the Duke of York’s, deserves the accolade wherever it plays.

Good One review - a life lesson in the wild with her dad and his pal

★★★★★ GOOD ONE A wise-beyond-her-years teen discovers male limitations in a deft indie drama

A wise-beyond-her-years teen discovers male limitations in a deft indie drama

Good One is a generation-and-gender gap drama that mostly unfolds during a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Catskills Forest Preserve in upstate New York. A putative indie classic, writer-director India Donaldson’s psychologically acute feature debut focuses on a self-contained, observant young woman, Sam (Lily Collias), whose skepticism about hard-wired male attitudes grows exponentially over the weekend.