A Desert review – high art meets trailer trash in Americana-aesthetics horror

A photographer’s road trip into the Californian desert takes an unexpected turn in director Joshua Erkman’s bewitching feature debut

Untie me! Why big bows are everywhere – feminine, ironic and strangely subversive

They can be garish and ostentatious, or a sign you are softer than you might first appear. From the catwalk to the high street to the big screen to the rugby pitch, you just can’t miss them right now

‘So weird, but cute’: Bridget Jones immortalised as London welcomes statue of Britain’s favourite singleton

Helen Fielding and Renée Zellweger gather in Leicester Square as a new bronze marks 30 years of the diary-writing everywoman who redefined the romcom heroine

‘Fights for our material survival’: documentary goes inside the battle for trans rights

In Heightened Scrutiny, the fight driving activist and lawyer Chase Strangio is backgrounded by a deep dive into how the media has helped to push an anti-trans agenda

‘I was born in a melting pot. Melting isn’t fun’: Jon M Chu on Wicked: For Good, Ariana Grande – and living the American dream

As his sequel to Wicked prepares to storm Christmas, the director talks about the dynamism of Grande and Cynthia Erivo – and why his Wizard of Oz riff is quite simply one of the greatest stories of our time

The flop that finally flew: why did it take 40 years for Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along to soar?

Its 1981 New York premiere was a disaster but this told-in-reverse musical became a Tony award-winning hit with Daniel Radcliffe. The film version is a tear-jerking joy

Man who grabbed Ariana Grande at Wicked: For Good premiere sentenced to nine days in jail

Johnson Wen, who jumped over a barricade at Universal Studios Singapore and rushed at the Wicked star, has been convicted of being a public nuisance

‘Making films is who I am’: Tom Cruise gets lifetime achievement Oscar

The Hollywood star – who had been nominated for multiple Oscars but never previously won – was honoured at the Academy’s annual Governors awards, along with Dolly Parton, Wynn Thomas and Debbie Allen

David Zucker renews attack on new Naked Gun reboot starring Liam Neeson

The director has taken fresh aim at the new film, saying that producer Seth MacFarlane ‘totally missed’ the spoof-comedy style that defined the original Naked Gun franchise

Apple Cider Vinegar review – a kidney stone leads into whimsical geology doc

Sofie Benoot’s film opens out from the film-maker’s medical problem to a diverting reflection on humankind’s deep roots in ancient minerals

Fiume o Morte! review – darkly comic reconstruction of D’Annunzio’s Yugoslavian coup

Igor Bezinović uses local residents of what is now Rijeka in Croatia to re-stage the vainglorious Italian protofascist’s ragtag takeover of the Adriatic port city

Can SJP make wide-open handbags a trend? I hope not

Over the years, the actor has popularised everything from name necklaces to giant corsages. But, with all their dark secrets, women’s handbags should remain shut, writes Emma Beddington

‘A blast of gritty, unvarnished relief’: why Breaking Glass is my feelgood movie

The latest in our ongoing series of writers highlighting their most rewatched comfort movies is a trip back to 1980s London and the predatory music industry

‘He caught what I thought was impossible’: Danny Boyle, Hanif Kureishi and others on the genius of Akram Khan

Thikra: Night of Remembering is Akram Khan Company’s last touring show. Here, the choreographer and dancer’s collaborators recall how he motivated them

Game review – Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson poaches a role in sceptical take on 90s rave culture

Williamson stars in a debut feature that feels more like an elongated music video than a fully realised drama, but it’s redeemed by some hilarious moments and strident imagery