‘All the kids were spewing innuendo’: actors and comedians remember their first nativity plays

Whether it’s a slightly inappropriate comedy spin on the story or a surprise casting as the Angel Gabriel, Nick Mohammed, Pearl Mackie, Omid Djalili and more look back on their infant brushes with stardom

Detained review – Abbie Cornish is best thing in twisty noir that flirts with ridiculousness

Cornish intrigues in an implausible thriller about a woman who wakes up in a police station with no memory of how she got there

Covid was supposed to kill cinema – but did lockdown and gen Z save cinephilia?

Sites such as film discovery platform Letterboxd promote a new way of film-viewing, eschewing sneering gatekeepers for a more open-minded and eclectic experience

A Man and a Camera review – doorstep prank movie is pass-agg psychological study

Film-maker Guido Hendrikx goes house-to-house in a Dutch suburb, ringing doorbells and then mutely filming – we see what people will say and do to fill the silence

Santa slays and jingle hells: here’s why Christmas horror films are the perfect antidote to the season

They can be silly and tasteless – and there’s something suitable for almost any age and audience

The Six Triple Eight review – true story of heroic black women’s battalion fails to deliver

Kerry Washington is the saving grace in Tyler Perry’s plodding drama about the US army corps tasked with clearing piles of undelivered second world war mail

Ramones family row puts the skids on US punk pioneers’ biopic

Removal of director from band’s parent company threatens to derail Netflix adaptation of divisive memoir

Death is at the heart of Christmas. That’s why we love to tell festive ghost stories

It’s a creepy time of year from The Archers to Nosferatu to Mark Gatiss’ Woman of Stone

Mufasa: The Lion King review – technically dazzling Disney origin story lacks soul

Moonlight director Barry Jenkins’s all-action tale boasts uncanny CGI effects and songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, ​​but the screenplay is schmaltzy and derivative

Film: Wendy Ide’s 10 best of 2024

From Jonathan Glazer’s unforgettable view of Auschwitz to Sean Baker’s profane Cinderella story, daring directors proved there’s substance in style

Elle Fanning: ‘The last thing I want to be is boring’

Her debut at two catapulted the actress to child stardom, while taking the lead in The Great turned her into a household name. Ahead of the much-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic, she discusses subverting expectations, escaping her princess vibe – and why she could have been a tennis pro

Blake Lively accuses It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment

According to complaint, Baldoni retaliated after crisis meeting attending by Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds

True cinematic turkeys achieve a kind of transcendence. Think of Cats or Last Christmas

You can’t simply set out to create a so-bad-it’s-good classic. But this year’s thinly veiled Taylor Swift biopic, Christmas in the Spotlight, could be a contender

On my radar: Reece Clarke’s cultural highlights

The Royal Ballet principal dancer on a mesmerising Wimbledon final, the fragrance that gets him into character, and a 91-year-old dancing legend

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl review – the Aardman duo’s return is an absolute delight

Almost 20 years since their last outing, the cheese-loving inventor and his ever-dependable dog resume battle with a feathered fiend in this precision-tooled caper