Matthew d’Ancona
07 June 2025
Ana de Armas’s new licence to kill
Ballerina is a smart and stylish John Wick universe detour that weaponises grace
Read the full article04 June 2025
Trump’s war against the law
It’s high noon for American democracy. Can the Supreme Court hold the line against MAGA’s madness?
Read the full article31 May 2025
Mountainhead is a whip-smart dystopian comedy
Jesse Armstrong’s return as writer and director of this feature-length drama has been giddily anticipated. And it does not disappoint
Read the full article28 May 2025
Trump and Putin, the accidental founders of modern Europe
If the continent wants to survive, it has to adopt new fresh and bold thinking
Read the full article24 May 2025
The Phoenician Scheme, a gem of a film
Wes Anderson's latest project immerses us, once again, in his surreal but sincere emotional universe
Read the full article20 May 2025
The plot to fool America
It’s possible to feel the deepest sympathy for Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis and still be appalled by the cover-up of his cognitive decline
Read the full article17 May 2025
Why you must see The Fifth Step
Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman are whip-smart in this theatrical display of profundity, humour and compassion
Read the full article13 May 2025
The Tories are dead
A toxic and debased brand may be still in denial, but the only vital signs on the right are now with Reform
Read the full article10 May 2025
Riefenstahl is forensic film-making at its very best
Andres Veiel’s magnificent documentary lets Riefenstahl, in her interviews, recordings and archived files, speak for herself
Read the full article07 May 2025
The populist war on law
From El Salvador to Greater Lincolnshire via the White House, populists want to sweep aside the criminal justice system as we know it
Read the full article03 May 2025
Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road is truly unmissable
This stunning exhibition is the first London show dedicated to Utagawa Hiroshige’s prolific creativity in more than 25 years
Read the full article29 April 2025
Welcome home to Gilead
In a world reordered by Trump, The Handmaid’s Tale is now more relevant than Nineteen Eighty-Four
Read the full article26 April 2025
The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the questions the Met left unanswered
To this day, the family of de Menezes has received no true justice for his killing
Read the full article21 April 2025
A very British victory for women
The fundamental error in the case that led to the Supreme Court ruling was one of wilful blindness: the refusal of trans rights activists to acknowledge that there were two vulnerable groups involved in this controversy
Read the full article19 April 2025
Sinners is much more than a grisly vampire movie
At its heart of this film is the megawatt screen charisma of Michael B Jordan and a deep appreciation of the blues
Read the full article12 April 2025
Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus, and the importance of forgetting
Uberto Pasolini’s new film adaptation of the Odyssey is a psychological exploration of trauma in a world where the gods are absent
Read the full article08 April 2025
The Beatles vs Andrew Tate
One of the Beatles’ great gifts was to reconcile masculinity with emotional intelligence
Read the full article05 April 2025
Review: How Four Mothers connects generational divides
Directed by Darren Thornton and co-written by his brother Colin, Four Mothers is more ambitious than a gentle drama
Read the full article02 April 2025
Could Megyn Kelly become president?
JD Vance and Pete Hegseth are both desperate to succeed Trump in the White House. But a star podcaster could beat them to it
Read the full article29 March 2025
Is The Studio the best show of 2025 so far?
The comic dilemmas in The Studio are a joy to watch and class of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's writing style
Read the full article26 March 2025
The choreography of fascism
The shocking treatment of US deportees to El Salvador is just one attraction in Trump’s theme park of brutality. But why do so many Americans seem keen to buy a ticket?
Read the full article22 March 2025
The Alto Knights is Robert De Niro's victory lap
Barry Levinson’s true-crime gangster story is a pleasing encapsulation of five decades of cinematic culture
Read the full article19 March 2025
Are YOU addicted to copium?
American liberals who think Trump has already failed, and that a Democratic renaissance is on its way, understand nothing
Read the full article15 March 2025
Black Bag will keep you guessing until the very end
Forty years since his first feature film, Steven Soderbergh has rarely been better
Read the full article11 March 2025
Donald Trump, the Vaudeville tyrant
Trump’s bizarre quips are made for a reason – to give his audience permission not to care about the struggles of others
Read the full article08 March 2025
The Seagull is an evening of convention-busting Chekhov
The imaginative liberties on show here are the trademark of director Thomas Ostermeier
Read the full article02 March 2025
The abominable showman
Michael Wolff’s new book on Trump and his court reveals a president whose elixir is a cocktail of conflict and confidence, and for whom everything is spectacle
Read the full article01 March 2025
Toxic Town and the conscience of the nation
When it comes to delivering uncomfortable truths, incisive docudramas can trump conventional politics and Jack Thorne's Toxic Town is no exception
Read the full article24 February 2025
After the death of Atlanticism
US support is gone forever. What kind of Europe will emerge from the wreckage?
Read the full article22 February 2025
Zero Day, a loving homage to 1970s espionage classics
Robert De Niro, in his first regular television role, is extremely entertaining in Netflix's pacey riff on hypermodern cyberwarfare
Read the full article15 February 2025
Why The White Lotus is murderously good
The third instalment of Mike White's acclaimed series is back with its usual love of mystery, lurking lust and dark humour
Read the full article12 February 2025
Donald Trump, American Caesar
The president and his acolytes are creating a whole new way of running a country – and this is only the beginning
Read the full article