Culture

How Hollywood lost the plot

For well over a decade, major film studios have pumped out soulless sequels. Have writers and directors finally found a way to change the narrative?

The tasteless tale of Amanda Knox

A drama about the American student’s wrongful murder conviction and public shaming is outstandingly acted but crass

JK Rowling and the deathly book review – it’s got fine company

JK Rowling and the deathly book review – it’s got fine company

‘I’m not just a musician – I’m a huge fan of music’

The south London singer-songwriter reflects on high times, burning out and her new album

Chancellor could learn from new play’s about banking’s demise

Make It Happen satirises the RBS collapse of 2008. It’s too close to real life for comfort

The rumours are true: Stereophonic’s debt to Fleetwood Mac

It’s this year’s big West End hit but the co-producer of the classic album thinks the play is secondhand news

Frank Bowling at 91: ‘I’m still a teenager inside’

The veteran painter is gearing up for the first exhibition of his work on the continent of his birth. He discusses his days in the studio – and nights in the pub

Cat Cohen’s cultural highlights

Beehive hairdos, reality TV and ‘grotesque’ art – just some of the US comedian’s favourite things

How did A Little Life become the book of our times?

How did this 730-page novel concerned with horrific abuse become the book of our times?

Goodbye Ozzy, the innately likeable Prince Of Darkness

The Black Sabbath frontman, famous for his long career of drugs and bat-biting, has died weeks after his final concert

Roll with it: chasing the big cheese

People have been chasing cheese down Cooper’s Hill for centuries, as captured here from this year’s fromage frenzy

You, me and ChatGPT

We're using AI in the most unexpected ways. But do its answers raise even bigger questions?

Will Sharpe: ‘Writing was a way of making myself feel I belonged’

The actor, writer and director on The White Lotus, his leading role in Lena Dunham’s Too Much, and his own multi-hyphenate career

Nick Waplington’s perfectly poised models

Statuesque models appear frozen in time as the British photographer captures the calm before the walk

The long walk to freedom

Pious Keku escaped forced labour in Ghana and human traffickers in the UK only to spend the next three years in detention

Having a Bad Glasto? That’s even harder than getting in

Unlike other festivals, you can always enjoy Glastonbury without seeing the headline acts

How animals make us better

Jay Griffiths is an evangelical guide to the restorative powers of our non-human companions

Marley and me: ‘I had initiative – and Bob sensed that’

As a teenager, Dennis Morris was invited to take pictures of Bob Marley. The photographer never looked back