‘Cue air punches and tears’: why Next Goal Wins is my feelgood movie
Continuing the series where writers pick their go-to mood-lifting films is a look back to an inspiring sports documentary
The Guide #222: From Celebrity Traitors to The Brutalist via Bad Bunny – our roundup of the culture that mattered in 2025
Not exhaustive, not definitive and unapologetically subjective: our annual tour of the best TV, music, films, podcasts, games and books of the last year
Making Mary Poppins by Todd James Pierce review – the musical brothers behind the movie magic
Bob and Dick Sherman take centre stage in this well-researched account of how Walt Disney created a classic
From Harry Potter to The Crying Game, Susie Figgis’s explosive enthusiasm made her an irreplaceable casting director
Producer Stephen Woolley pays tribute to Figgis, who has died aged 77, a brilliant professional whose ‘molotov cocktail personality’ enabled her work in British and Hollywood cinema
The Housemaid review – Sydney Sweeney takes the job from hell in outrageous suspense thriller
Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar co-star as Sweeney’s secretive bosses in an upstate New York mansion, and director Paul Feig ramps up the sexual tension with evident gusto
How did a warm, cheery man like Rob Reiner make a film as horrific as Misery?
In an industry not exactly known for it, Reiner was an exceptionally nice guy. But he was too much of a showman to make a straight shocker. The result was rich, terrifying – yet cherished
‘The antithesis to Nazi ideology’: how Pippi Longstocking was born to stand up to Hitler
A new documentary explores how Astrid Lindgren’s beloved children’s books about the pigtailed free spirit were written in response to the darkest days of the second world war
Tell Me Softly review – high-school romance of bad boys and blurred boundaries
Social-media fame and sexual intrigue collide in this part-Twilight, part-OC romantic drama whose provocative dramatic set-ups feel as glib as porn scenes
Lurker to Our Girls: the week in rave reviews
A buzzy thriller about a Hollywood hanger-on and a moving documentary following the parents bereaved in last summer’s Southport attack. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Horror hit Paranormal Activity spawns a West End play – and even its director yelped with fear
Inspired by the scary film franchise, playwright Levi Holloway and Punchdrunk maestro Felix Barrett are bringing the ‘bizarrely joyous’ world of terror to the stage
Sophie Kinsella obituary
Author whose Shopaholic series of romcom novels were global bestsellers and adapted into a Hollywood film
Daniel Woodrell obituary
Author of ‘country noir’ novels, such as Winter’s Bone, set in the rural communities of the Ozark mountains
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson to return for latest Hunger Games instalment
Currently in production the second prequel in the series, Sunrise on the Reaping, will likely feature the married couple ‘in a flash-forward’
Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases review – on the hunt with Holmes in restored 1920s mysteries
From stealing a photo for the King of Bohemia to battling the Napoleon of crime on a clifftop, Holmes is witty and watchable in these early Conan Doyle-approved dramas
Margot Robbie in red latex, Kate Bush impersonators and a pint of Emily ale: my crash course in Brontëmania
As Wuthering Heights gets a raunchy Hollywood remake, our writer takes a pilgrimage through Haworth, the village where its author lived – and finds her spirit still electrifying the cobbled streets and windswept moors