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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
The Four Seasons
Netflix; full season available
Summed up in a sentence Tina Fey’s starry comedy follows three middle-aged couples on a series of eventful holidays together.
What our reviewer said “Part White Lotus without fatalities, part Golden Girls with men, The Four Seasons is full of properly funny lines, rooted in properly middle-aged experience. It captures the warm, weary affection for life and each other only old friends and enduring couples really know. Rest your aching bones and enjoy.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading The Four Seasons to Flintoff: seven shows to stream this week
Pick of the rest
Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes
Disney+; full season available
Summed up in a sentence Suspenseful four-parter about the notorious 2005 killing of an innocent Brazilian man by armed police.
What our reviewer said “It is an enraging picture of what went wrong after the 7 July 2005 explosions – scenes of which start off the series, submerging us in a febrile, panicked atmosphere. Ultimately it is a reminder that the least Jean Charles de Menezes deserves is the whole truth.” Jack Seale
Further reading ‘We didn’t want to avoid the reality of what happened’: the drama telling the true story of Jean Charles de Menezes
The Essex Millionaire Murders
ITVX; full season available
Summed up in a sentence Two-part documentary telling the shocking story of Carol and Stephen Baxter, found dead in their Essex home by their daughter Ellena.
What our reviewer said “What unfolds is astonishing – told courtesy of interviews with the investigating officers, who only just manage to maintain the veneer of professional detachment as their recounting of the extraordinary case goes on, and with Ellena, who speaks with the stark honesty of someone just coming out of the first shock of bereavement.” Lucy Mangan
Carême
Apple TV+; new episodes Wednesdays
Summed up in a sentence A tasty tale about Napoleon’s renegade pastry chef cavorting around early 1800s Paris.
What our reviewer said “As it scoffs and seduces its way through the Napoleonic era, it’s hard not to fall for the extravagant charms of the Bake Off: Extra Spice. I know little about the real-life Carême, but this reimagining of him is stuffed to bursting. It is a rich, moreish and knowingly indulgent treat.” Rebecca Nicholson
You may have missed …
Just Act Normal
BBC iPlayer; full series available
Summed up in a sentence Three youngsters try to avoid being taken into care after their mother’s disappearance in a heartbreaking, hugely funny tale.
What our reviewer said “Within each episode and over the entire series, Just Act Normal is beautifully structured and holds its many strands in perfect tension. It is altogether a wonderful thing.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Just Act Normal is the best showcase for new talent since Adolescence
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Where Dragons Live
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Documentary following three siblings as they clear out their childhood home, and reckon with some difficult memories in the process.
What our reviewer said “This warm, gentle documentary from Dutch director Suzanne Raes is about a family – and a family home – that might have interested Wes Anderson. The family itself could be seen as charming or twee and insufferable. The film-maker persuades you that it’s the former.” Peter Bradshaw
Pick of the rest
Thunderbolts*
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Marvel’s Florence Pugh-starring adventure is a charmingly unusual, if baggy, affair.
What our reviewer said “The globe-dominating franchise, biding its time until the next wave of Avengers movies, has been in desperate need of saving. And Thunderbolts*, which happens to be the best thing to come from the brand since WandaVision (still the high watermark), gets the job done.” Radheyan Simonpillai
Further reading Florence Pugh’s skyscraper stunt positions her as the new Tom Cruise
Slade in Flame
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence The Wolverhampton rockers ride the giddy highs and brutal lows of the music industry in this re-released 1975 musical satire.
What our reviewer said “There’s a creeping sense that it’s all going to come crashing down. The best bits are always the band performing, with Holder’s compelling rock’n’roll growl.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading The Citizen Kane of rock movies’: glam rockers Slade and their bid for cinema greatness
Now streaming
A Complete Unknown
Disney+
Summed up in a sentence James Mangold’s Oscar-nominated biopic follows the rise of Bob Dylan, played electrically by Timothée Chalamet.
What our reviewer said “Chalamet is a hypnotic Dylan, performing the tracks himself and fabricating to a really impressive degree that stoner-hungover birdsong. He is also good at Dylan’s insolent comedy in art as in life: puckish, witty, insufferable and yet wounded. There is amazing bravado in this performance.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading After decades of apathy, A Complete Unknown has turned me into a Dylan nut
Night Call
Available on digital download
Summed up in a sentence A locksmith opens the wrong door in a tightly wound thriller that owes a debt to Michael Mann, but has a confidence all of its own.
What our reviewer said “Brussels is probably not on the top of many lists of cities likely to serve as a setting for an exciting crime film. But this Francophone drama just goes to prove that, given enough moody lamplit street scenes and a bit of imagination, any city will work. It feels as grippy as duct tape throughout.” Leslie Felperin
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
Reviewed by Blake Morrison
Summed up in a sentence Should rivers have human rights?
What our reviewer said “To the question ‘Is a river alive?’ Macfarlane wants to answer as simply and resoundingly as his nine-year-old son did: yes! And he wills himself to believe it by granting rivers human pronouns: instead of which or that, ‘I prefer to speak of rivers who flow’”.
Further reading Robert Macfarlane on the lives, deaths and rights of our rivers
Pick of the rest
Parallel Lines by Edward St Aubyn
Reviewed by Anthony Quinn
Summed up in a sentence A compassionate, darkly witty sequel to 2021’s Double Blind.
What our reviewer said “If there is a flaw in St Aubyn’s dramas of consciousness it’s the tendency of his characters all to think and talk in the same register of droll irony. Imagine a game of intellectual catch in which the best impersonation of Gore Vidal wins.”
The Alienation Effect by Owen Hatherley
Reviewed by Pratinav Anil
Summed up in a sentence Meet the real-life brutalists.
What our reviewer said “Hatherley’s heroes are the Jewish architects Berthold Lubetkin and Ernő Goldfinger, both unabashed Marxist modernists, the latter of whom was famously turned into a gold-loving Bond villain”
Notes to John by Joan Didion
Reviewed by Lara Feigel
Summed up in a sentence An intimate account of therapy by one of the US’s most celebrated writers, taken from notes on her sessions.
What our reviewer said “There’s a crude fascination in seeing some of the raw material, but there’s also something shameful about it. We’re invading Didion’s privacy – at times less as a mother than as a writer.”
Further reading: What do Joan Didion’s therapy diaries reveal about guilt, motherhood and writing?
You may have missed …
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Reviewed by Sana Goyal
Summed up in a sentence This daring comic debut about Islamic State brides is shortlisted for the Women’s prize.
What our reviewer said “Younis tackles radicalism and racism, faith and friendship, with dexterity, deep care and a large dose of laughter.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The Norwegian experimentalist’s ninth album is a personal journey through the past and self.
What our reviewer said “An acrid, earthy scent drifts through the album as Hval recalls childhood memories and beloved pets, and retreads the stages of past performances. Iris Silver Mist shows music to be as transient as smoke, and yet an enduringly personal portal to memory, selfhood, the present and the dead.” Katie Hawthorne
Pick of the rest
György Kurtág: Játékok
Out now
Summed up in a sentence A selection of 81 pieces from the composer’s 10 volumes of miniatures, approved by Kurtág himself.
What our reviewer said “There are pieces that are fiercely expressionist, others that are sweetly lyrical, even sentimental, and others that are laugh-out-loud witty. Whole worlds of expression are encapsulated in just a few bars.” Andrew Clements
Further reading György Kurtág on depression, totalitarianism and his 73-year marriage
Model/Actriz: Pirouette
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The New York quartet’s second album, inspired by Mariah and Kylie but full of jackhammer rhythms and noise.
What our reviewer said “Piroutte largely thrives on thrilling contrasts: between the band’s tendency to cacophony and the taut control with which they play; between the sweetness of the tunes and the pummelling din behind them.” Alexis Petridis
Further reading One to watch: Model/Actriz
Sun-Mi Hong: Fourth Page – Meaning of a Nest
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Ideas of migration and self-discovery inspire the latest album from the drummer/composer and her imaginative band.
What our reviewer said “Born in Incheon, South Korea, to a conservative family, Hong’s teenage dream was to become a drummer. At 19, she moved to Europe and met her band of skilful soulmates. Her evolving music leans towards a European chamber-jazzy sound with occasional American hints.” John Fordham
You may have missed …
Sam Fender: People Watching
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The North Shields songwriter’s third album pairs sharp vignettes with giant choruses – perfect for his series of stadium gigs this summer.
What our reviewer said “Whether his gaze rests on his past, or his present, there’s an urgency about what he has to say. Whatever else Fender’s unlikely fame may have changed, it hasn’t dimmed the potency of his music.” Alexis Petridis
