BBC Radio 2 in the Park recently confirmed its epic line-up, and now tickets are finally out. The event, which is due to take place from September 5-7, 2025, will host some of the biggest names in music from across the world. This, at the time of writing, includes such massive names as Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, David Grey, Stereophonics, Jessie J, Belinda Carlisle, Ronan Keating, and many more.

The three-day festival will be taking place at Chelmsford’s Hylands Park, which is home to the Grade II* neo-classical Hylands House. This was also the original home of the V Festival, and – more recently – the location of Creamfields South. Tickets for this enormous event were first released earlier this week, and we’ve got the full breakdown of what fans need to know below.

BBC Radio 2 in the Park tickets are available right now through official ticket seller Ticketmaster.

These tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday were first released on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

Fans can still buy tickets right now using the links below:

FRIDAY – Buy BBC Radio 2 in the Park tickets here.

SATURDAY – Buy BBC Radio 2 in the Park tickets here.

SUNDAY – Buy BBC Radio 2 in the Park tickets here.

Tickets start at £32 each for Essex residents (plus booking fees), with further tickets going on sale at around £63 each – plus fees.

There are a number of expanded ticket options, as well, some of which come with “Garden Access”, and permission to bring one’s own chair.

These tickets range in price from £32 to over £100.

What’s more, if fans find they have missed the chance to buy their ideal tickets, they can still get involved through resale websites.

Resale company viagogo already has tickets available to see the likes of Def Leppard and Bryan Adams live in Chelmsford’s Hylands Park.

The website gives fans the opportunity to buy tickets on demand – without any kind of digital queue or surged pricing.

And, at the time of writing, some tickets are being sold for around £50 each.

Here’s the link fans need:

VIAGOGO – Buy BBC Radio 2 in the Park tickets here.

BBC Radio 2 in the Park will take place at Chelmsford’s Hylands Park in Essex.

The event will span three days from Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7, 2025.

The entertainment is expected to kick off in the early afternoon, before partying well into the night.

And there’s lots of fun to be had. At the time of writing there are well over a dozen acts set to hit stages around the park.

Here’s the full list.

Two years on from John Wick Chapter 4 and the first spin-off movie of the highly popular action franchise has arrived. Set between the events of John Wick 3 and 4, Ballerina stars Ana de Armas as Eve, an assassin bent on revenge over her father’s death.

Filming wrapped in 2022, hence the late Lance Reddick’s final screen appearance as Charon. But the movie was delayed a year, with Chad Stahelski (director of the four other films) reportedly overseeing three months of reshoots of most of it, all without director Len Wiseman on set.

Winston star Ian McShane even confessed on The One Show a year ago that Ballerina needed to be largely redone to protect the integrity of the franchise.

It was a big gamble, but thankfully, we can confirm that it was the right move. This is yet another excellent addition to the immersive world of John Wick.

Having shown off her action chops as a Bond girl in No Time To Die, Ana de Armas continues to impress as a lead in the genre. Holding her own in some of the best sequences of the Wick franchise to date, Ballerina is just as entertaining as the outings led by Keanu Reeves, introducing the creative use of both hand grenades and flame throwers, to name a couple of highlights. Talking of the main man himself, you’d have thought he’d just have a cameo, but there’s a healthy dose of the Baba Yaga at both the start (recreating scenes from Chapter 3 from a different perspective) to his altercation with Eve later in the movie.

Supporting cast from McShane, Reddick, and Anjelica Huston’s Director are just as welcome as ever, while a cameo from Norman Reedus adds further action stardom. Alas, Gabriel Byrne’s villain is underwhelmingly vanilla compared to the colourful baddies of Chapter 4 played by Bill Skarsgard and Scott Adkins. Nevertheless, after the over-the-top, lengthy action scenes in that outing, Ballerina feels more grounded without being self-indulgent. Here’s hoping de Armas and Reeves can dance again in the upcoming John Wick 5.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits UK cinemas on Friday.

Netflix viewers are all watching a film hailed as ‘near perfect’ and featuring ‘one of the finest actors in the business’.

The movie, Downsizing, has recently been added to the streaming giant’s catalogue and has quickly climbed the ranks to become one of the most viewed titles.

At present, it holds the second spot among the most-watched films by UK subscribers.

This puts it just behind the newly released Spanish thriller A Widow’s Game, but ahead of Channel 4’s documentary Accused and the recent addition Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning.

Downsizing, a sci-fi comedy originally released in 2017, presents a world where a unique procedure might be the answer to global issues.

The plot revolves around a scientist who invents a technique to miniaturise people, offering significant financial advantages.

Married couple Paul and Audrey decide to undergo this process in hopes of a prosperous and tranquil life.

The lead roles are played by Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, whose characters soon find their lives turned upside down following their decision. The star-studded cast also includes Hong Chau, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudeikis, Laura Dern and Neil Patrick Harris, reports Surrey Live.

The film was directed by Alexander Payne, known for his work on Sideways and the Oscar-winning The Holdovers. Payne himself is a two-time recipient of the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award.

The film is experiencing a resurgence on Netflix, much to the delight of an emerging fan base, despite only receiving a lukewarm 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at its original cinema outing.

Viewers speculate that the unexpected depth of the film, which was initially pitched as a lighthearted comedy, could account for its newfound success. A Netflix subscriber shared their insight online: “Just watched Downsizing on Netflix and the critics couldn’t be more wrong on this one… Maybe it’s that I’m watching it now in 2025, 8 years after its initial release in 2017, and the themes and issues raised are perhaps more predominant in our society now than ever before!”

Others heap acclaim on the feature, with one admirer stating: “For me, this is close to a perfect movie. No gag is overdone, all the humour is well paced. The political commentary is clever and bold but without anyone explaining or pointing it out. It just breathes and tells a story of many important things with a well executed premise.”

Echoing the sentiment, another viewer offered: “I don’t know why many gave this low ratings. It’s a great movie. Matt Damon is one of the best actors around. He was the perfect choice as lead actor. Just the storyline after he becomes small could be better. I highly recommend this movie.”

Yet not all are swayed, as evidenced by one critique: “Christoph Waltz is both the best and only good part of the movie.”

One viewer remained unimpressed with the film as they remarked: “This movie had a great potential of a movie, however turned into an out of control downward spiral. Don’t get me wrong, the cast is great, however were used in the wrong way. The movie isn’t horrible, but it’s not good”.

Downsizing is streaming on Netflix.

Netflix is removing a popular family comedy this month which fans have described as being “devastatingly underrated”. Users have just days to watch the sweet natured 2023 film Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

The Judy Blume adaptation proved a hit with movie lovers with this joyous gem of film having a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film which vibrantly brings the novel to life follows 11-year-old Margaret Simon who is informed by her parents Barbara and Herb that her family is moving to a new neighbourhood from New York City.

With her life uprooted Margarey starts to contemplate everything about life, friendship and adolescence.

Set in 1970, the film stars Abby Ryder Fortson as the title character, along with Rachel McAdams, Elle Graham, Benny Safdie, and Kathy Bates.

This American coming-of-age comedy-drama had its world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 23, 2023, and was released theatrically in the United States on April 28, 2023, by Lionsgate. It received positive reviews, however it was a box office flop grossing just $21 million worldwide.

The Rotten Tomatoes’s Critics Consensus says: “Effervescent and refreshingly frank about the travails of puberty, this long-awaited adaptation does full justice to Judy Blume’s seminal novel.”

One user on Reddit believes Rachel McAdams who plays Margaret’s mum “deserves an Oscar”.

The reviewer wrote: “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a masterpiece and Rachel McAdams deserves an Oscar.”

Whilst Popcornmeter, who scored the film an incredibly high 94% says: “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. stays true to the classic book right down to its ’70s setting, but the story still feels totally current and relatable.”

Despite its rave reviews Netflix is axing the film as part of the streaming giant’s plans to remove a large selection of films this month.

The last day to watch this heartwarming film on Netflix is June 16.

Those who wish to watch this sweet natured film can also catch it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube and Sky Store.

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Atomfall’s new story DLC is about to make its debut on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Developed by UK studio Rebellion, the Atomfall Wicked Isle DLC has a June 3 release date. In an email sent to Daily Express, a Rebellion spokesperson said Wicked Isle will have a 2pm BST launch time across all platforms.

The Wicked Isle story expansion is available for owners of the Atomfall Deluxe Edition, which costs £64.99 on Steam, or £74.99 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

If you already own the base game, you can purchase the Deluxe Edition upgrade for £20. The Deluxe Edition upgrade also contains a couple of bundles featuring additional in-game survival items.

In addition to announcing the Wicked Isle release date, Rebellion has also unveiled a new gameplay trailer. You can check out the video below.

As you can see from the trailer, Wicked Isle contains a brand new location to explore, as well as new leads, enemies, and items.

Needless to say, Wicked Isle also contains new story elements, including multiple new endings for the main game. 

Inspired by folk horror movies and stories, Wicked Isle transports players to an island called Midsummer. Players can reach the island by talking to the boat-keeper in Wyndham Village.

The island is said to feature higher levels of infection, which has resulted in new enemies such as pirate bandits and infected druids.

New items include the Blunderbuss shotgun, a new bow, cutlass, daggers and the Beekeeper’s Staff.

Players will also be able to unlock new skills and an upgraded metal detector for finding hidden items.

Steven Spielberg is set to reveal behind-the-scenes secrets about Jaws, the thriller that launched his career, in a new documentary for National Geographic UK.

Often hailed as the first summer blockbuster, Jaws was released in 1975 to critical acclaim and won three Academy Awards. Now, fifty years on, Spielberg will revisit this cinematic masterpiece in Jaws At 50: The Definitive Inside Story.

This 90-minute feature is the first authorised documentary about Jaws, and includes interviews with Spielberg himself, as well as key cast members such as Lorraine Gary, who played Ellen Brody, and Ian Shaw, son of actor Robert Shaw, who portrayed shark hunter Quint.

Scheduled to air at 8pm on July 11th, the film will also feature appearances from celebrity fans of the thriller, including Star Wars director J. J. Abrams, actress Emily Blunt, and Titanic’s director James Cameron, reports Surrey Live.

The synopsis promises viewers “an unfiltered look at the chaos and creativity behind the making of Jaws, featuring never-before-seen footage from Spielberg’s and author Peter Benchley’s personal archives, including home videos and rare outtakes.”

Despite now being one of Hollywood’s biggest names, Spielberg candidly discusses his fears that the high-stakes production could have ended his career. Prior to Jaws, he had directed one feature film, The Sugarland Express, which seemingly faced few production challenges.

In stark contrast, he encountered everything from equipment malfunctions to weather delays while filming Jaws.

The documentary also explores the surge in public fear of sharks following the film’s debut, and its enduring influence on popular culture over the years.

Based on Benchley’s bestseller, Jaws narrates the tale of a man-eating shark terrorising a seaside town, and the local authorities’ efforts to capture it.

Remarkably, it bagged the Best Sound, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score awards at the 48th Academy Awards. The Spielberg masterpiece was also in the running for the Best Picture award, but was pipped to the post by Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Jaws At 50: The Definitive Inside Story premieres Friday July 11th at 8pm on National Geographic UK and streams the same day on Disney+

Netflix fans were gobsmacked when the streaming giant dropped a bombshell trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, unveiling a host of unexpected star cameos, including Eminem.

The fresh glimpse into the long-awaited sequel was part of Netflix’s Tudum extravaganza.

The event broadcasted tantalising previews of hotly anticipated shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday.

The spotlight also shone on the latest teaser for Adam Sandler’s follow-up to the 1996 hit comedy, teasing a continuation of the golfing antics.

It’s now known that the film will make its exclusive Netflix debut on July 26.

Adam Sandler is joined by a familiar cast featuring Ben Stiller, Julie Bowen, Allen Covert, Dennis Dugan, and Christopher McDonald, all reprising their iconic roles. Adding to the excitement, the sequel boasts cameo appearances from the likes of Eminem, NFL icon Travis Kelce, and golf superstar Rory McIlroy.

Sharp-eyed viewers had already caught glimpses of additional celebrity spots in an earlier trailer. Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rap sensation, steps onto the course as a caddy, while Benny Safdie, Sandler’s co-star from Uncut Gems, pops up briefly, reports the Mirror US.

Pro wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) portrays Happy Gilmore’s offspring, and there are more surprises that had fans reeling within moments. A fan exclaimed: “Yo that cameos at 13 seconds stunned me for a moment though.”

Viewers were quick to notice that within mere seconds of the trailer, there are glimpses of comedian Eric Andre and The Substance’s Margaret Qualley, much to their delight.

But it wasn’t just these appearances that got fans talking. One admirer noted: “The fact that he put his actual wife and daughter in this film makes it soo much more personal.”

Others were thrilled at the star-studded line-up, as one fan exclaimed: “MJF, Eminem, Becky Lynch, Martin Herlihy (Please Don’t Destroy), Domingo (I mean…Marcello Hernández), Bad Bunny, Eric Andre… so many awesome cameos for this movie!”.

Echoing the enthusiasm, someone declared: “MJF dropping an elbow drop on the car, Justin Thomas and Rory, Ben Stiller back, Julie Bowen still a babe…. And the GOAT Adam Sandler. The nostalgia is going to go hard on this one.”

Anoither noted: “The Happy Gilmore 2 trailer just dropped — and yes, Eminem is in it! He makes a quick cameo, so don’t blink or you’ll miss it.”

It has been almost thirty years since Happy first showcased his exceptional golf talent to win the Tour Championship, making his mark on the PGA Tour, and crucially, saving his grandmother’s abode from being seized due to years of unpaid taxes. Now, the much-loved character is all set for another round of triumph as he faces top-notch opponents.

Happy Gilmore 2 marks the reunion of the original’s creative duo Sandler and Tim Herlihy, with director Kyle Newacheck taking the reins – renowned for his previous work with Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in the Netflix sensation Murder Mystery of 2019.

Happy Gilmore 2 is streaming on Netflix from July 25.

This film is one that has been enjoyed by movie-lovers for over three decades and it has become a timeless classic loved by audiences old and new. The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, has stood the test of time and still receives much critical acclaim even 30 years later.

The story follows the tale of Andy Dufresne who is imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover. The upstanding banker begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates – including an older prisoner named Red – for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

Starring Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding, the two characters each undergo their own transformation arc but their journeys are intertwined.

One reviewer on IMDb said: “The best movie in history and the best ending in any entertainment business.”

Another penned: “It deserves this praise that seems to be growing each year. Now twenty years old, the film has not aged a day, and instead seems to be getting better.

“This is Tim Robbins’ best role, and a fine performance from the always wonderful Morgan Freeman.”

The film is based on the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, which was released in his 1982 collection of short stories, Different Seasons.

It is set in Maine but was filmed at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.

The compound was to be demolished once filming wrapped, but the cellblock and main administrative building were saved and became a tourist attraction.

While the film was not an immediate box office hit, it became a hit after it received seven nominations at the Oscars.

Although it did not win, following this it was rereleased in cinemas and today it is kept alive by digital streaming services.

It wouldn’t be hard to turn Dave McCabe’s life into a misery memoir – expelled from school, found guilty of assault, years wasted on drink and drugs… But marriage and fatherhood gave the Zutons frontman the motivation to beat the bottle. McCabe’s face lights up when he talks about his three-year-old son, Louie. “He grounds me,” Dave tells me. “He makes me laugh. He stops me from thinking I’m Elvis. If you’ve got kids, you’ve got to be the anchor. That’s what keeps me from going off the rails.” Finding love and having Louie were “the best things that ever happened to me,” he says. He married wife Paula just over a year ago. “If it wasn’t for this woman, I’d be a lot worse off, maybe not even here.” Dave’s unbridled joy informed the Liverpool band’s last album, 2024’s The Big Decider, which exploded with renewed zest and lust for life. “It still speaks to the people but with optimism,” he tells me. “It’s good to get away from reality, we’re not the Sleaford Mods.”

Born in Knowsley on Merseyside, the son of a plasterer and a Makro supermarket worker, McCabe. 44, is brutally honest about his flaws. “I’m a narky bastard,” he confesses. “And certain people know how to push your buttons.  They see you doing better than they are, or having a strong opinion, putting your arse on the line when you write a song…But you’ve got to take the punches.” He will always be remembered for co-writing the Zutons’ biggest hit Valerie – a bona fide 21^st century pop classic, regularly rated in the UK’s Top Ten karaoke songs. Dave pinches himself every time he hears it blaring out of a bar. The gloriously catchy 2006 single – “a gift from God” – was the band’s second Top Ten smash. Then Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson covered it… Dave told them he didn’t think it’d do well “as we’d had a big hit with it and lightning doesn’t strike twice!” But it did. Ronson’s faster, more soulful, and even more exhilarating version propelled by a Motown backbeat peaked at No 2 in 2007 becoming Amy’s all-time biggest hit, outselling even Rehab.

Valerie started as a riff in a band rehearsal. McCabe then turned into a song in his head on a 15-minute taxi ride home to his mum’s. “I grabbed the guitar, sat in my bedroom, and wrote the rest out, and it all came together in about five minutes. It was pretty spontaneous.” Makeup artist Valerie Star, who Dave had befriended on a US tour supporting The Killers, inspired the lyrics – she’d been caught driving under the influence. Hence the line: ‘Did you have to go to jail? Put your house up for sale?’ Other Zutons’ memorable hits include Why Don’t You Give Me Your Love? and Don’t Ever Think (Too Much). They had four Top Ten albums, two of them platinum-sellers, but it was Valerie that kept their name alive after they split in 2009. They didn’t reform properly until 2018. A long gap. “It was the most massive gap in history,” Dave laughs. “We got sick of each other at one point. I just wish I’d got my s*** together sooner. It’s a nice ending now.”

Dave’s life changed when, aged 11, he saw alt-rockers The Verve live supporting the Smashing Pumpkins. “I was dead little and they came on with long hair and played Slide Away. It was my introduction to that whole scene. I asked me mum if I could buy the album, A Storm In Heaven. I was heavily into heavy rock and didn’t get it at first but later I played it again and it made sense.” Growing up his house was full of music. “Mum and dad loved Talking Heads, Buddy Holly, and Queen. My brother was into Depeche Mode, Erasure and Kraftwerk. The reason I got into Guns N’ Roses and Metallica is because I was rebelling against what I’d heard at home. Then grunge hit and that was completely my thing.”

Expelled for cutting off another classmate’s hair, Dave resurfaced in a “bad school” where his mates knew him as “Mad Dog” – also the name of his first band. Life only made sense when he got his first guitar. At 19, he joined rock band Tramp Attack, co-founded by the late Brookside actor Kristian Ealey, but quit in 2001 to form the Zutons, taking their name from Zoot Horn Rollo, the guitarist in Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. They released their debut single, urgent indie-rocking foot-tapper Devil’s Deal, in 2002, then signed to Liverpool label Deltasonic and followed it with the critically acclaimed Creepin’ An’ A Crawling. “The Strokes opened the door for everyone who played guitar,” he says.

Initially their music confused critics who likened it variously to ‘zombie soul’, ‘cosmic Scouse’, ‘psychedelic cartoon punk’ and ‘The Who jamming with The Rapture in a wind tunnel’. Touring in the early days wasn’t always pleasant. “Our label put us on tour with a band called The Basement,” he recalls. “They weren’t bad, but they were getting good press and were full of themselves. We would go head-to-head on the bus every night. It got intense sometimes. With two bands who think they’re the business, you’re going to end up fighting. Larrikin Love couldn’t stand me.” Why? He shrugs. “Maybe they thought I was an arsehole,” he says with a shrug.

Their debut album changed everything. Who Killed…The Zutons? went Top Ten in 2004, selling more than 1.2million copies, and spawning two Top 20 singles – Pressure Point and Don’t Ever Think (Too Much). 2006’s other platinum album Tired Of Hanging Around produced the Top Tens, and their weaker third album, 2008’s You Can Do Anything, went silver, begetting Top 30 hit, Always Right Behind You. The Zutons quietly disbanded in 2009. Dave made the papers for the wrong reasons in 2010 for breaking a student’s nose after his friends mocked McCabe’s then-girlfriend. The following year, he co-wrote Mark Ronson’s Top 20 hit The Bike Song and sang as part of The Justice Collective’s Hillsborough charity single, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother along with Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams. In 2015, McCabe released his synth-poppy debut solo album Church Of Miami and later played bass with psychedelic funk-pop band SILENT-K. Dave acknowledges that Amy Winehouse’s cover of Valerie kept the Zutons name in the frame during their long absence but doesn’t resent it, saying, “She immortalised it, she took it to a new level.”

In 2018, the Zutons reformed to mark the 15^th anniversary of their debut album with a tour – “It made us realise we really enjoyed being in this band”. But after holidaying together in America, Dave realised his drink and drug problems were out of hand. I went to rehab and came out clean and we started writing – then the lockdown kicked in.” Staying in their own bubble, they carried on writing, but McCabe started drinking and taking mushrooms again. Falling for Paula changed that. “I knew I had to stop or I’d be a s*** dad with no band. Since she arrived things have only got better for me and the people around me.”

Their hit come-back album, The Big Decider – co-produced by Ian Broudie and Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers – came loaded with danceable optimism. “It was like working with two uncles,” he laughs. “Ian makes you sound amazing and Nile is so smart and funny.” Sober for more than three years, McCabe enjoys performing better now – “I can sing all the notes, I’m focused, I’m not just in my own world anymore.” The Zutons play Nocturne later this month, headlined by his teenage idol The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft. “I’m looking forward to seeing Richard,” he says. “The last time I saw him he was really inspiring. He had a message of positivity. I can’t wait to experience that atmosphere again.”

*The Zutons perform alongside Richard Ashcroft and Lightning Seeds at the Nocturne Live concert series at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on June 19^th 2025. Tickets nocturnelive.com.

Matt Damon has revealed that his castmates on Saving Private Ryan deliberately resented him – and that it was all part of director Steven Spielberg’s plan.

In a conversation with GQ about his most iconic roles, Damon discussed how Spielberg purposely kept him away from the rest of the cast during filming of the 1998 Second World War epic, in order to replicate the emotional tension written into the story.

Set during the Allied invasion of Normandy, Saving Private Ryan follows a squad of soldiers, led by Tom Hanks’ Captain Miller, sent deep behind enemy lines to find and bring home Private James Francis Ryan – played by Damon – after his brothers are killed in combat.

While the rest of the main cast underwent intensive military-style training before filming, Damon was intentionally excluded.

“He didn’t make me go to boot camp separately”, he told GQ, which would have already been a reason for the cast’s resentment. “He made me not go to boot camp so that the other guys would resent me.”

“So they all went through this kind of experience and they all bonded. But because I was the character they were looking for – and they resented this guy that they were risking their lives to go find”.

“Steven purposely kept me away from them and let them know that I hadn’t been made to go to boot camp. They’re a very tight, kind of cohesive unit. I’m an outsider, who they… they resent.”

Released in 1998, Saving Private Ryan earned widespread critical acclaim and went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Spielberg. Its unflinching depiction of combat – particularly the D-Day landing sequence – has since become one of the most referenced and studied scenes in modern war cinema.

Though Damon had auditioned for the role of Ryan, it wasn’t until a chance encounter arranged by the late Robin Williams that the part became his. At the time, Damon was rehearsing Good Will Hunting in Boston with Williams and Ben Affleck when Spielberg happened to be filming Amistad nearby.

“Robin took Ben and me to meet Steven, because he knew it was never a bad thing to meet, like, you know, the greatest filmmaker of all time,” Damon recalled.

Although Damon had lost 40 pounds for a role in Courage Under Fire, Spielberg recognised him and connected the dots. “He met me in person, and he said, ‘I think I know you from somewhere.’ And I said, ‘Well, I did this movie called Courage Under Fire,’ and he goes, ‘That’s the one!’”

Damon credits Williams with facilitating the meeting. “So Robin not only got our dream in Good Will Hunting made – he actually got me the role in Saving Private Ryan as well, in a way.”

Unlike Ibsen, who seems to be everywhere all at once, George Bernard Shaw’s dialectical plays have yet to gain traction in the revival market. By trimming the play down to 105 minutes, director Dominic Cooke might be accused of inflicting GBH on GBS but it is a noteworthy example of the playwright’s moral conundrum dramas.

The big draw is the casting of real life mother and daughter – Imelda Staunton and Bessie (Bridgerton) Carter – as wealthy ’businesswoman’ Mrs Kitty Warren and her estranged daughter Vivie.

This production is firmly weighted in favour of Vivie and Carter holds her own superbly as the cerebral maths graduate who aims for self-sustaining independence. She is the perfect foil for Staunton’s Mrs Warren, whose fortune has been made through a string of brothels across Europe. 

The silent chorus of women clad in white bloomers like spectral sex workers haunts the circular stage – at first abundantly floral until stripped down to a bare, unforgiving office.

The drama relies on anticipation not only of what Mrs Warren’s profession actually is but also how it will impact Vivie when she finds out – as well as her disputed paternity. The confessional confrontations between the two are handled with decorous melodrama.

The two powerhouse central performances are supported by a handful of men from Kevin Doyle’s paranoid clergyman to Robert Glenister’s blustering old lecher; Reuben Gardner’s feckless dandy is amusing even if he seems like a refugee from an Oscar Wilde play.

As an intro to GBS it ain’t bad.

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION: THE GARRICK TO AUGUST 16

Western movies are a pillar of great American cinema. Evoking the likes of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, many classics of the genre hail from ’50s action flicks to ’60s spaghetti westerns to modern entries like 3:10 to Yuma and, more recently, Killers of the Flower Moon.

There is another film in the conversation of best western films by film critics – Brokeback Mountain. The New York Times listed the Oscar winning 2005 on their list of favorite westerns since 2000. Ang Lee’s adaptation of a short story about thwarted love saw A-listers Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as cowboys who meet one summer in the 1960s when they are hired to herd sheep on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming.

“The lonesome chill that seeps through Ang Lee’s epic western, Brokeback Mountain, is as bone deep as the movie’s heartbreaking story of two cowboys who fall in love almost by accident,” praised Stephen Holden in The New York Times’ 2005 review.

“It is embedded in the craggy landscape where their idyll begins and ends. It creeps into the farthest corners of the wide-open spaces they share with coyotes, bears and herds of sheep and rises like a stifled cry into the big, empty sky that stretches beyond the horizon.”

Twenty years later, the film continues to be highly rated by regular viewers. On Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of critics’ reviews are positive, with an 82% approval rating by members. It has a 4.1 rating out of 5 on Letterboxd.

Rotten Tomatoes’ critic consensus states: “A beautiful, epic Western, Brokeback Mountain’s love story is imbued with heartbreaking universality thanks to moving performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.”

New York Times praised Ledger, who “magically and mysteriously disappears” in the skin of his character whilst Gyllenhaal’s pain and disappointment registers in his “sad, expectant silver-dollar eyes”.

The movie is based on a short story by Annie Proulx originally published in The New Yorker in 1997. It has been adopted into a play for the London West End and opera of the same name.

“Brokeback Mountain is far more than a gay western,” wrote Rick Moody in 2005 in a review for The Guardian. “It’s a great American love story.”

Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams play the leads’ wives as the film follows cowboys’ fraught love story over the years.

Is Brokeback Mountain a western film?

Entertainment Weekly’s ranking of the 35 best Western movies from 1990 to 2024 placed Brokeback Mountain in fifth place, dubbing it an “essential” inclusion on their list.

“Though far from a Western in terms of structure, Brokeback Mountain is a powerfully emotional look at the model of American masculinity and the cowboy, and how that model fails two men completely,” the publication noted.

“Anchored by four stellar performances from Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway, the film is an essential entry in the genre, regardless of its utter lack of shoot-outs.”

They upheld the movie’s status as a western film, adding: “Anyone doubting Brokeback’s status as a Western should note that the script was penned by Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry and his co-writer, Diana Ossana.”

FromSoftware fans are just hours away from being able to play a brand new game set in the Elden Ring universe.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a multiplayer-focused action game in which teams of three team up to hunt for powerful items and tackle bosses. The game can also be played solo, although early reviews suggest it’s best played with friends.

Elden Ring Nightreign has a May 30 release date for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (via Steam). As you can see from the global release schedule further down the page, the game will be playable at midnight BST for fans living in the UK. The PC version will be available slightly earlier, launching at 11pm BST on May 29. 

READ MORE: Elden Ring Nightreign director hints at exciting post-release update

As confirmed by FromSoftware, pre-order customers can actually pre-load the game ahead of launch.

PlayStation, Xbox and PC pre-loading went live 48 hours before the release of the game, which means you can download and install it now. This will ensure you can start playing the moment servers go live.

According to various posts on X, the game only weighs in at around 20GB, so it shouldn’t take too long to install, even if you forget to pre-load.

It’s also worth pointing out that pre-load customers will need to download and install a day-one update containing various fixes.

The patch improves the handling of playable characters, adds new tunes to the soundtrack, adjusts text and makes various balance changes.

Interestingly, the new update is also said to add a selection of character scenarios. Fans will need to download and install the update in order to connect to the servers and play online.

Set in a universe parallel to the events of Elden Ring, Nightreign tasks players with outlasting a three day-and-night cycle, culminating in a boss battle at the end of the adventure.

It’s described as a “condensed action RPG”, where players will never experience the same journey twice.

There’s a roguelike element to the game, with players earning relics to to customise and upgrade their characters for future runs and increase stats.

The action is also limited to a version of Elden Ring starting area Limgrave, although it looks like the locations will shift during each playthrough.

Fortnite fans are counting down to the release of update 35.20, which introduces the Star Destroyer.

Fortnite update 35.20 has a May 29 release date on PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Android and Nintendo Switch.

According to Epic Games, the Star Destroyer Bombardment update will be accompanied by a period of server downtime, which begins at 9am BST UK time.

The news was announced by Epic Games on X, alongside a preview about what fans can expect from the major update.

“Rain destruction from above!” reads an Epic Games tweet. “Downtime for v35.20 begins at 4 AM ET with matchmaking ending shortly beforehand.”

As you can see from the trailer below, the headline new feature is the introduction of the Star Destroyer.

Players will be able to assume control of the Star Destroyer and fire turbolasers at opponents on the battleground.

Epic explains more: “On May 29, assume control of a Star Destroyer’s turbolaser and lay waste from above!

“A single portal to the Star Destroyer’s control room will spawn every match — be the first to reach it and the capital ship is yours.”

According to insiders such as Shiina, Sith Rey will be added to the item shop following the update. Fans can also expect a Ferrari Collaboration, a Sabrina Carpenter Concert, as well as files and leaks for the upcoming live event. We may even find out more about the next season, which launches in June.

Needless to say, the update also makes a variety of gameplay tweaks and bug fixes. You can see some of the early patch notes below.

Fortnite update 35.20 early patch notes…

BATTLE ROYALE

• Can’t reboot a teammate if the ‘Reboot’ key is the same as the ‘Buy Reboot Cards’ key.

– If the player goes to Keyboard Controls > Combat and changes the ‘Use’ binding to ‘F’, they won’t be able to reboot their teammate due to binding conflicts with the ‘Buy Dropped Reboot Cards’ action.

LEGO FORTNITE

• Villagers exploring with players may destroy structures while trying to harvest.

– Villagers helping explore can destroy player structures when attempting to harvest ore

• The “Claim your Daily Stipend” Task doesn’t complete.

– Accepting City Stipend via an ATM will grant the Creds, but the Task remains uncompleted.

FORTNITE MOBILE

• The altitude indicator is missing during free fall in Fortnite OG.

– After jumping off the Battle Bus in Fortnite OG, players may notice the altitude indicator is missing.

After weeks of frenzied speculation, the ABBA Arena in East London reopened last night with a star-studded party to celebrate the third anniversary of the ground-breaking show.

There may be state-of-the-art digital ‘ABBAtars’ of the four members of the Swedish supergroup – Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvæus and Agnetha Fältskog – up on stage during the show, but two of them were also actually there in the audience to join in the festivities.

Before the newly-extended show, with an extra ten minutes of material, started, the spotlights swung to one of the VIP booths. In recent years, the two men have been the public voice of the band while the ladies have often preferred to step back from the limelight, but this time Benny handed the microphone to an adorably reticent Frida.

Frida said: “They want me to say something. The only thing I can say is that I love you very much. Thank you for your support over the years. It’s hard to imagine that it’s 50 years now.”

As many in the crowd called out that they loved her back, the visibly emotional Swedish icon shouted out: “I’m turning 80 this year! I love you. Thank you.”

Björn already 80, while Benny is 78 and Agnetha is 75.

Both stars last night waved and smiled at the cheering crowd before the lights dimmed and the magical strains of Scandinavian folk music announced the show was starting, over an animated video of Swedish forests.

The other excitement of the night for all of us lucky to be there was waiting to see which three new songs would be added to the playlist.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH BENNY AND FRIDA AT ABBA VOYAGE LIVE

There has been widespread sadness over the decision to remove a well-loved but lesser-known track, When all Is Said And Done, from the line-up but it has given way for three absolutely massive hits.

I was there last night and all three were greeted with huge cheers, with two of them getting all of us on our feet dancing and singing along.

The 90-minute show has been extended to 100 minutes with the addition of Super Trouper, The Name Of The Game and Money, Money, Money. All three have brand-new staging. While some tracks during the show simply have the band ABBAtars projected onto screens, the new numbers all have the motion-captured ABBAtars performing on the stage, backed with extraordinary and frankly jaw-dropping stadium light shows.

Every Dancing Queen in the crowd went home very happy after a triumphant celebration topped by the three brilliant new additions.

ABBA VOYAGE IS PLAYING AT THE ABBA ARENA AT QUEEN ELIZABETH OLYMPIC PARK

Directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, The Grinch is the third screen adaptation of the original 1957 book, following the 1966 animated special and the 2000 live-action version starring Jim Carrey.

The 2018 version features a modern twist, vibrant animation, and a new score by Danny Elfman, with a standout song by Tyler, the Creator.

It features an all-star cast including Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Angela Lansbury and Pharrell Williams as the narrator.

In the UK version, Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo also voices a character named Mrs. Toffee Apple.

While the film received mixed reviews from critics, with a 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences loved it.

One viewer wrote: “Awesome, it’s a must-see movie.”

Another said: “My to-go Christmas movie. It’s a beautifully animated and heart-warming story. You can watch it not as a remake but as an original piece.”

A third added: “A gorgeous film from top to bottom; the details pop. A total feast for the eyes.”

Others were even more emotional, with one person writing: “I cried like a baby. It took me until 2023 to even watch this movie and it blew me away!

“Perfect character arch! Perfect music. Perfect comedy. Amazing film. Must see!”

Despite the praise, Netflix UK will remove The Grinch along with other seasonal titles like The Holiday and the 2000 live-action Grinch film titled ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’.

Fans hoping to squeeze in one last festive viewing have until the end of May to do so.

The creator of Succession, Jesse Armstrong, is set to release his latest project, an HBO original film titled Mountainhead.

Armstrong, who brought us the hit drama series that spanned four seasons, is ready to introduce his newest title since the show concluded in 2023.

Unlike his previous film credits such as 2020’s Downhill and 2019’s The Day Shall Come, Armstrong will be both directing and writing the script for Mountainhead.

The film will be exclusively available on HBO Max in the US, while UK viewers can watch it through a Sky Cinema or NOW subscription. But what is the film about?

Who are the cast members and where was it filmed? Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Mountainhead about?

Mountainhead’s storyline should resonate with fans of Succession, as it explores similar themes around big business and the individuals behind massive corporations, albeit without the family drama aspect, reports the Mirror US.

According to the brief synopsis, the film follows a group of tech billionaires who head to the mountains for a group holiday. However, a financial crisis back home begins to spiral out of control and spill onto the streets.

The film will be available for streaming on HBO Max in the US from May 31. UK fans won’t have to wait much longer, as it will be available on Sky and NOW from June 1.

Who stars in Mountainhead?

Mountainhead boasts a star-studded cast brimming with comedic talent. The Office’s Steve Carell takes on the role of tech billionaire Randall, while Jason Schwartzman, known for his roles in various Wes Anderson films, plays Hugo Van Yalk.

Comedian Ramy Youssef, who has starred in Wish and Poor Things and co-created the series Mo, portrays Jeff. Cory Michael Smith, known for his roles as Chevy Chase in Saturday Night and the Riddler in Gotham, plays Venis.

Supporting the main cast are Little Women’s Hadley Robinson and seasoned character actor Andy Daley, known for his appearances in Eastbound and Down, Modern Family and Veep.

Where was Mountainhead filmed?

The film’s trailer showcases a group of wealthy individuals enjoying the luxuries of a mountain chalet, leading many viewers to question where the film was shot.

While details about the actual building, such as whether it’s a private residence or commercial property, remain unknown, filming took place over five weeks at this single location.

Filming occurred earlier this year, in March 2025, in Park City, Utah.

Mountainhead is streaming on Sky Cinema and NOW.

Widely regarded as one of the best films of all time, Goodfellas is one of Martin Scorsese’s finest and enshrined as a classic of the genre. The film tells the story of Henry Hill – a poor Irish-Italian kid from New York whose admiration of the Mafia members in his Brooklyn neighbourhood spawned a life of crime.

As per the iconic opening line of the film: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” The riveting movie, which is based on a true story, spans Henry’s rise and fall from the 1950s to 1980. It’s often ranked just below The Godfather in lists of the greatest ever gangster films, but according to legendary American film critic Roger Ebert, Goodfellas was better.

Ebert gave the film a perfect score in The Chicago Sun-Times, saying: “No finer film has ever been made about organized crime – not even The Godfather.”

Goodfellas is probably Scorsese’s most loved film. Dubbed “a whopping good time” by USA Today upon its release, it’s stood the test of time.

The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads: “Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic — and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese’s career.”

Interestingly, it’s more popular with regular viewers than critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with members’ reviews 97% positive, higher than the already stellar 94% rating from critics. It is ranked 8.7 out of 10 on IMDB.

Writing in New York Magazine in 1990, David Denby said: “GoodFellas, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, and directed by Scorsese, is the greatest film ever made about the sensual and monetary lure of crime, and the whole perversely brilliant movie comes into focus in a single, staggering shot.”

Empire ranked it eighth on its list of ‘100 Best Movies of All Time to Watch’ – five spots below The Godfather.

“No film hits like Goodfellas,” said the film magazine. “Just like the cocaine that turns effortlessly charismatic gangster fanboy Henry Hill into a reckless maniac, that drives him to the edge of a heart attack, that makes him paranoid (OR IS HE?), the film enters your system with a jolt, giving you an immediate rush, and keeps you wanting more, more, more, MORE, until it finally comes crashing down, back to bleak reality, and then just finishes.

“And you have to live the rest of your life like a schnook, because, frankly, no other film compares to Goodfellas. The only solution: another big snort of Goodfellas. Scorsese, writer Nicholas Pileggi and editor Thelma Schoonmaker constructed almost the entire film like a trailer, one scene bleeding into the next, not giving you the opportunity to stop watching, to let go, to take a breath. It’s an unstoppable feat of propulsion. Now that’s cinema.”

Olly Murs faced criticism from fans on social media after a user reported that an entire section of their block remained seated during his performance at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday, May 25. The disappointed fan expressed outrage that fellow audience members did not stand and engage with his performance. It comes after he made a triumphant return to the stage following a recent illness that had forced him to shorten his concert in Glasgow the previous week. His unexpected ill-health led fans to question whether the tour would continue as planned, as he cancelled his Manchester and Birmingham performances.

This prompted those with London tickets to frantically attempt to clarify the situation via Twitter/X. One wrote, “Olly Murs management are taking the p**s at the point. Is tonight going ahead or not?!” Another quickly replied, ” I totally agree with you. It’s so unfair to fans.”

These issues appear to have overshadowed the evening for some ticket holders, as a clip showing the audience looking unimpressed while staying firmly in their seats as he performed the song Seasons from his 2014 album, Never Been Better, circulated on TikTok.

One user questioned: “Who goes to a show and sits down, disrespectful much, especially as Olly came back with a bang after his cancelled shows.” Another commented: “It’s happening more and more these days. Frustrates me.”

The former X Factor contestant was only six songs into his set at the OVO Hydro venue in Glasgow on May 22 when he had to call it quits, leaving fans disappointed.

In a social media post on X, Olly wrote: “To everyone in Glasgow last night, I want to start by saying sorry. What happened last night has never happened to me before, and I’m truly gutted and upset about it.

“In 15 years, I’ve never had to leave the stage after 30 minutes into a show, but my voice was failing me. I was panicking and worrying about what to do, which gave me no choice but to address it. The thought of upsetting people and letting you, the fans, down has hit me hard today.”

The 41-year-old added that he had been diagnosed with a respiratory infection and told to rest for 48 hours.

Fan Chloe Banning told BBC Scotland News the majority of fans at the Hydro were sympathetic when Olly walked off, though a minority were angry over the cancellation. She said: “It wasn’t 100% noticeable [he was struggling] as he was still putting on such a good show, but I thought something was a bit off as there were specific lines he wasn’t singing.

“Some people thought he was joking, I thought he was taking 10 minutes and coming back on. But then he left the stage and we realised he wasn’t returning. You could tell he was really upset and kicking himself.”

Enya, the reclusive songstress living in an enchanted castle, remains an enigma despite selling a staggering 75 million albums worldwide. With an asteroid and even a fish species named in her honour, she’s anything but a conventional celebrity.

The elusive Enya, who enjoys fortified solitude just beyond Dublin, hasn’t been seen in public for over ten years, shunning touring, marriage, and the limelight. Her astonishing financial success hasn’t led her to a life of flaunting but to an existence as tranquil as her music.

In 2016, The Sun quoted her expressing affection for ‘Strictly’: “I’m a big fan of Strictly. I don’t know if I could do the show, although I would adore to learn the Argentine tango”. Otherwise, she preserves a mystique that befits her otherworldly tunes while living amongst a dozen cats in her Victorian fortress, neighbours with the likes of Bono.

Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin from Gweedore, County Donegal into a prolific musical family, the calm-seeking Enya emerged from a lively home filled with tradition and harmonies. She quickly charted her own course following a stint with Clannad, migrating to create unique soundscapes alongside producer Nicky Ryan and his wife Roma.

Their trio has spent countless hours forging auditory experiences, layering hundreds of vocals, embracing multiple languages including English, Gaelic, French, Latin, Tolkien’s tongues, and even Enya’s invented Loxian, reports the Irish Mirror.

The 1988 release of ‘Watermark’ catapulted Enya to stardom, with the enchanting single ‘Orinoco Flow’ standing out as a whimsical and unique hit that propelled the album to sell 11 million copies. By the early 2000s, she had become one of the world’s leading female solo artists.

Her track ‘Only Time’ gained an unexpected resurgence when CNN used it to score the devastating footage of the 9/11 tragedy in New York. The song became emblematic of mourning, was re-released for charity, and cemented her popularity in America, despite Enya never having toured solo.

Enya’s private life is as intriguing as her music; she purchased Manderley Castle in 1997 for £2.5 million and transformed it into a secluded sanctuary. A local told The Sun: “You wouldn’t even know there was anyone there most of the time.”

Romance has taken a back seat for Enya, who once said: “After a bad day in the studio I’m dark and difficult to be with. I want and need to be on my own. What sort of man would be able to adapt?” She finds solace in her art, saying, “My affairs are with melody and words and beautiful sounds. People think it sounds sad,” but she assures, “but believe me, I’m happy. I am my music.”

The life of the enigmatic Enya has been marked by unsettling encounters with obsessives, including an Italian stalker in 1996 who pursued her relentlessly, turning up at her family’s Donegal pub adorned with her photo and turning to self-harm upon ejection. Another hair-raising episode in 2005 saw an intruder breach her castle, binding a housemaid whilst hunting for the songstress — Enya secured herself in a panic room during the ordeal.

Consequently, she has stepped back from fan engagement and public events.

Her reclusive existence extends to her home life in a castle accompanied by numerous feline friends, once numbering as many as 12. Even her own uncle once remarked on her secluded demeanour: “She lives like a queen. She is a recluse.”

Nonetheless, Enya remains an illustrious figure in music with four Grammy Awards, an Oscar nod for her work on The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, and has left her indelible mark on the hip hop world with samples in tracks like The Fugees’ ‘Ready or Not’, and more recently Metro Boomin and The Weeknd’s 2022 smash ‘Creepin’, stemming from her haunting ‘Boadicea’ hum from 1987.

Interestingly, Enya played an active role in shaping her latest musical influence, contributing her insight to the naming process for ‘Creepin’. She sifted through various proposed titles – dismissing ‘IDWK’, ‘Undecided’, ‘Wanna Let You Know’ amongst others – imparting her stamp of approval on what Metro Boomin called “the best name for it”.

The enigmatic nature of Enya’s personal life has left music industry professionals in awe, as they’ve had to adapt launch events to suit her preferences, such as favouring large groups over individual interviews.

Despite this, her allure continues to grow. Since 2019, her social media platforms have been buzzing with updates, remastered videos, vinyl reissues and digital celebrations.

Her official YouTube channel has even undergone a 4K update, and her mystical music continues to captivate new generations.

Enya’s legacy is truly unique. She holds the title of the best-selling Irish solo artist of all time, has a minor planet – 6433 Enya – named after her, a fish species in the Orinoco River named Leporinus enyae, and she boasts two honorary doctorates.

All this while maintaining her privacy and tranquillity.

“I don’t like anybody else’s opinion” she once declared. “It’s not a hanging offence not wanting to go to nightclubs. What happened to choice?”.

An iconic gangster film that has become the blueprint for a host of crime dramas is hailed by fans as “perfect” and has been named as the “greatest of all time” in an IMDb rating. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather hit UK cinemas in 1972, depicting the transformation of Michael Corleone (played by a young Al Pacino) from the shy, reluctant son of a New York Mafia don into the fearsome head of family.

Based on the book by Mario Puzo, the film is also known for its dazzling performances by screen legend Marlon Brando, who stars as Michael’s father, Don Vito Corleone. Brando’s embodiment of a brooding and intimidating patriarch won him a best actor gong at the 1973 Academy Awards and the performance continues to looms large in popular culture, with famous lines like “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse,” still to be quoted – even by people who haven’t seen it.

The first film in the trilogy’s star-studded cast also includes James Caan and Robert Duvall.

And though the film is celebrated for its lush cinematography, it also depicts the brutal violence of the criminal underworld and has a 15 rating.

One audience reviewer on IMDb gave the film 10/10, hailing it as the “definition of perfect movie”.

“As if (Marlon Brando) established what a mafia leader should be, with his hoarse voice and cold features, the actors after him were affected by the ghost of his great performance in the movie”, they added.

An audience review on film ranking platform Rotten Tomatoes, where The Godfather has a 97% score, wrote: “In the vast pantheon of cinematic art, there are few works that stand with such gravitas, such enduring significance, and such meticulous craftsmanship”.

Another said: “Easily the best movie I have ever seen, I have watched it 30 times, brilliant, the actors are the best of the best.”

A third fan added that it “might be the most well-crafted mafia film of all time”.

“The acting, the atmosphere, the slow-burn storytelling; it’s pure cinema,” they said, saying every scene is “meaningful and iconic”.

“While Goodfellas is still my personal favorite, The Godfather is a masterpiece in its own right,” they concluded.

The film has a sky-high 97% score on the platform and ranks number one in its list of the 300 best films of all time “reviewed and championed by Tomatometer-approved critics and Rotten Tomatoes users”, ahead of Casablanca, and L.A. Confidential.

The film is available to watch on a host of streaming platforms, including Apple TV and Amazon’s Prime Video.

Jason Derulo fans were left ecstatic this month, as he announced a monumental tour spanning the UK. The star, who is best known for such massive hits as Slow Low and Glad U Came, will be playing some massive arenas around the country, including Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, London’s O2 Arena, Cardiff’s Principality Arena, and plenty more. 

When tickets went on sale, however, large quantities of them were snapped up in minutes. As a result, some fans have been left wanting. Thankfully, resale websites have stepped in to save the day. Retailers such as viagogo, StubHub and more have tickets avialable right now – and that’s on top of stores such as Seat Unique, which offer official tickets with special bonuses. Here’s the breakdown.  

The James Bond legend’s co-star was Pedro Armendáriz, who played Ali Kerim Bey, the head of MI6 Station T in Istanbul.

The Mexican actor, who has a substantial role in From Russia With Love with Sean Connery, had sadly been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Back in 1956, he had had a part in John Wayne’s Genghis Khan flop, The Conqueror, which was filming in Utah while the US government were conducting atmospheric nuclear testing one state over in Nevada.

Within 25 years of the production, 91 out of the 220 people working on the film developed cancer, 46 of whom died from it. A few years later, Armendáriz was diagnosed with inoperable neck cancer at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

Nevertheless, despite his pain, the actor was determined to get as much of his role in From Russia with Love completed as soon as possible to provide financial security for his wife.

The film’s Istanbul location was shut down and moved to Britain, with Armendáriz’s scenes moved forward so he could complete as much as possible while physically still able to. When it reached the point where he could no longer work, the Bond actor had a stunt double and even director Terence Young would stand in for him in the last two months of production.

Unable to carry on and with just weeks of his life remaining, Armendáriz headed to a hospital near his home. There, the Mexican actor smuggled a gun in and died by suicide on June 18, 1963, at the age of 51. Following his sudden loss, From Russia with Love had to have uncredited rewrites by Berkely Mather during filming. Peter Hunt began editing the movie despite the shoot being behind schedule and over budget in an effort to meet the premiere date. He helped restructure the Sean Connery Bond movie’s opening scenes with a suggestion by Young.

This led to a 007 film tradition to this day, when Red Grant’s training sequence would be shifted to before the opening titles sequence. Interestingly, Pedro Armendáriz Jr ended up playing President Hector Lopez in Timothy Dalton’s second Bond movie, 1989’s Licence to Kill. Armendáriz Jr went on to feature in blockbusters like Amistad, The Mask of Zorro and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He too was diagnosed with cancer in November 2011 and died a month later at the age of 71. He is buried by his father at Panteón Jardin in Mexico City.

From Russia with Love is on ITV1 at 4:20pm this Sunday afternoon. For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123 or visit a local Samaritans branch.

Amazon Prime fans have been urged to check out five ‘mind-bending’ movies that you’ll be thinking about days after the credits roll.

Movie buff Bryce Vaughn, who is known as @da_narrator on social media, has shared the next movies you need to check out on Amazon Prime when you’re in search for something to watch on an evening.

Starting his list on TikTok, he says people need to watch Blink Twice, describing it as a movie about two best friends who fly to a billionaire’s island.

He says he was “shocked” by its suspenseful slow burn – and dubbed it “one of his favourite movies of last year”.

Next, he suggests watching Mr. Nobody, which is about a man who knows every single choice he is going to make in his life.

The film fanatic commented: “If I could recommend this movie a million times, I would. I can guarantee you it’s the most confusing mind-bending movies you’ll ever watch. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time.”

He then recommends Knives Out, which tells the story of a man who dies on his 85th birthday. His entire family are treated as suspects in his death.

“It’s a phenomenal mystery with such a unique concept,” he says.

But that’s not where it ends as he also urges everyone to check out Coherence. It’s about eight friends who get together for a dinner party during a comet.

“This is another very confusing, mindbender. Every time you watch it, you notice something new. This is a very well thought out film that I still haven’t 100% figured out,” he said.

Finally, he suggests everyone watches The Mist, saying he couldn’t believe what he just watched. Describing the movie, he says a cloud of mist takes over a town and something “very dangerous” comes along with it.

Commenting on his video, many agreed with his choices, as one person said: “Coherence was amazing!! Nothing beats that first watch though.”

Another user added: “First time I’ve seen someone mention Mr. Nobody, my favourite movie (Coherence is second).”

Someone else agreed: “Just watched Mr Nobody the other day. Definitely a movie that makes you think more carefully about the choices you make. Great movie!”

While another TikTok user echoed: “Just watched Mr. Nobody…holy cow! It was so interesting and strange all at the same time. I was lost until the end. I would highly recommend this movie.”

However, not everyone agreed with all of his choices, as one person wrote: “I really disliked The Mist, but the ending redeemed it. I felt it dragged a lot, it had no need to be so long but yet it was. great ending though.”

Another user said: “I just watched Blink Twice on your recommendations combined with the support in the comments. Incredibly predictable. I was very underwhelmed. You guys gassed it up too much.”

Queen icon Freddie Mercury may have died in 1991, but his impact on the music and cultural landscape is as resonant as ever. The artist not only captivated the world with his stirring songwriting and powerful vocals but also cemented his status as an enduring global icon even three decades onward from his untimely demise.

His Queen bandmates previously revealed Freddie Mercury’s most adored tracks, as a 2022 Spotify playlist unveiled by Queen’s own official account unveiled some of his top favourites. Included is the powerhouse anthem Somebody to Love, where Freddie once revealed, “We had the same three people singing on the big choir sections, but I think it had a different kind of technical approach because there was this sort of Gospel way of singing, which I think was different to us. Sort of going to Aretha Franklin, sort of made them go a bit mad.”

Freddie Mercury was driven to write Somebody To Love after being inspired by Aretha Franklin’s soulful voice. “I just wanted to write something in that kind of thing. I was sort of incensed by the Gospel approach that she had on her albums, the earlier albums. Although it might sound the same kind of approach on the harmonies, it is very different in the studio because it’s like a different kind of… a different range.”

The list also includes It’s a Hard Life, which holds a special place in the heart of Queen’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist Brian May. In the notes for 2003’s Greatest Video Hits 2, May revealed: “To my mind, this is one of the most beautiful songs that Freddie ever wrote. It’s straight from the heart, and he opened up during the creation of it. I sat with him for hours and hours and hours, just pouring out every word and trying to get the most out of it. It’s a very revealing thing about how relationships are, and he was talking about his relationship.”

Notably absent from the list is Queen’s iconic 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody, which catapulted the band to global stardom.

Here is the complete list of Freddie Mercury’s favourite songs:

Somebody To Love

Written by Freddie Mercury at his piano, this soulful ballad showcased innovative voice layering techniques. By using just three vocalists – Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor – Queen created a breathtaking 100-voice choir effect.

Queen enthusiasts were left fascinated by the revelation that bandmate John Deacon did not lend his voice to any backing vocals on the track or the album ‘A Day at the Races’.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

The foot-tapping hit ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ was a product of Freddie Mercury’s genius, reportedly crafted in just 10 minutes while he lounged in a bath at Munich’s Bayerischer Hof Hotel, as Roger Taylor disclosed and Freddie later confirmed.

It’s A Hard Life

‘It’s A Hard Life’, from Queen’s 1984 album ‘The Works’, stayed true to their early commitment to avoid synthesizers. The music video, with its operatic flair, saw the band donning period costumes which they found rather stifling.

Freddie’s costume for the video, complete with “eyes”, drew light-hearted comparisons to “a giant prawn” from his fellow Queen members.

The Miracle

‘The Miracle’, a collaborative effort with Freddie Mercury and John Deacon at the helm, featured on Queen’s eponymous 1989 album. Brian May and Freddie both expressed a particular fondness for this song, while Roger Taylor acknowledged its complexity despite it not being his personal favourite.

Time

This 1986 track was recorded by Freddie Mercury for Dave Clark’s musical of the same name. The music video was filmed at London’s Dominion Theatre, where the play had been showing since its world premiere on 9 April 1986.

Mercury and Austrian producer Rudi Dolezal met at the break of dawn, 6:00 AM, to shoot the video.

The Great Pretender

Originally a hit by the Platters, The Great Pretender found a new lease of life in 1987 thanks to Freddie Mercury. In one of his final videotaped interviews in spring 1987, Freddie confessed that the song deeply resonated with his perception of his stage persona and career.

Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow

Released in 1985, this was the last single from Freddie’s solo debut album, Mr. Bad Guy. Peter Freestone, in his book Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best, revealed that the song was inspired by the Queen frontman’s deep relationship with Austrian actress Barbara Valentin.

The Beatles boast an official catalogue of 213 songs released between 1962 until their split in 1970, including 188 originals and 25 covers, making them the most successful band in music history.

The iconic Liverpool quartet, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, were all the rage during their eight-year stint thanks to a series of songs written by Lennon and McCartney, though of course Harrison and Starr also contributed classics including ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘Octopus’s Garden’ respectively.

Even today, The Beatles’ songs resonate as strongly as they did during the height of 60s Beatlemania. Devoted followers of the Fab Four have recently taken to Reddit to discuss tracks that featured no involvement from Lennon, who was tragically shot and killed at the age of 40 by Mark David Chapman in New York City in 1980.

A curious fan of the Fab Four on TheBeatles subreddit sparked the conversation by asking: “Which Beatles songs did John Lennon NOT perform on?” In the ensuing discussion, several users pointed out that two of McCartney’s legendary singles, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Yesterday’, were created without any contribution from Lennon.

One enthusiast remarked, “Yesterday was the song Lennon always wished he had written,” adding an anecdote about Lennon’s reaction to his own hit ‘Imagine’: “Apparently, right after he [Lennon] came up with ‘Imagine’, he asked someone if it was as good as ‘Yesterday’. The response was that the two were impossible to compare. Lennon responded ‘you’ll see, it’s just as good as Yesterday’.”

Several fans pointed to ‘Mother Nature’s Son’, from The White Album in 1968, as another song McCartney penned and recorded solo, despite Lennon being co-credited. Meanwhile, a handful of other tracks from The White Album also lacked Lennon’s musical touch – ‘Good Night’, ‘Wild Honey Pie’, ‘Martha My Dear’ and ‘I Will’.

Interestingly, ‘Good Night’ – sung by Starr – was actually written by Lennon as a lullaby, but he didn’t participate in its studio recording at the time. Outside of The White Album, Abbey Road’s ‘Her Majesty’ is a McCartney interlude, with no contribution from his regular songwriting partner.

Meanwhile, another Reddit user highlighted Lennon’s absence on Harrison’s compositions. In addition to the aforementioned ‘Here Comes The Sun’, they listed: “Long Long Long, Savoy Truffle, The Inner Light, Within You Without You, I Me Mine, Love You To and Old Brown Shoe.”

They also noted the McCartney-penned, ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, ‘For No One’ and ‘Golden Slumbers’, as well as Starr’s ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ as other alternatives.

Beatles songs that don’t feature John Lennon

1. Yesterday
2. Blackbird
3. Mother Nature’s Son
4. Good Night
5. Wild Honey Pie
6. Martha My Dear
7. I Will
8. Good Night
9. Here Comes The Sun
10. Long Long Long
11. Savoy Truffle
12. The Inner Light
13. Within You Without You
14. I Me Mine
15. Love You To
16. Old Brown Shoe
17. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
18. For No One
19. Golden Slumbers
20. Don’t Pass Me By

Despite continuing to release music until 1970, The Beatles’ last live concert took place at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966. However, the band did perform together on January 30, 1969, on the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in central London.

They played a 42-minute set until Metropolitan Police officers arrived, insisting they lower the volume as a crowd gathered at the base of the building.

A major Hollywood star has seemingly hinted at landing the highly coveted James Bond role. Since Daniel Craig confirmed he would no longer return to the franchise, there has been continuous speculation about who will take on the iconic 007 gig, with actors such as Stuart Martin, Theo James and Sam Heughan potentially in the running.

However, Aaron Taylor-Johnson has now given another clue that he’ll be stepping into Bond’s shoes as the Marvel star recently signed a deal with Omega, the brand of watch the 007 spy wears. Omega has been supplying timepieces to the iconic movie character since the release of the 1995 classic, Golden Eye. Aaron has joined the list of global ambassadors, with a promotional image showing the Avengers star staring into a cabinet filled with iconic wristwatches.

While this could be a major nod towards his next major role, as it was reported that the actor was offered the long-running role last year.

According to sources close to Eon Productions: “Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table, and they are waiting to hear back.

“As far as Eon is concerned, Aaron is going to sign his contract in the coming days and they can start preparing for the big announcement,” the insider told The Sun.

Although Aaron has remained coy when asked about potentially starring as the famous M16 spy, during an appearance on Good Morning America, he revealed he would happily take on the role.

The TV presenter questioned: “There’s been a lot of speculation about the next 007. Would you slip on the tuxedo, if asked?”

As Aaron replied: “I love slipping on a tuxedo,” the presenter probed: “To play 007?” Dodging the question, the star replied: “Do you know what… I wear a tuxedo in this [film, Kraven the Hunter].

“You should come see this movie. Honestly, it’s got a ton of action and it’s a thrill ride, honestly.”

After signing the Omega deal, Aaron said: “I have always had an appreciation for timepieces, but especially for Omega. Now, after visiting the factory, I am in awe of the skill required to manufacture such a luxurious product.”

Nigella Lawson is perhaps one of the UK’s most famous chefs. She has appeared on numerous TV shows and penned several cookbooks. Contributing to 1000 Cookbooks, Nigella shared her top ten cookbooks, including one classic that’s sadly out of print and may be rather hard to track down.

This list saw the famous chef recommend everything from books detailing how to make bread to essential guides to Italian cooking and traditional Jewish recipes. Sharing her choice of books, Nigella said: “There are many more recent books I value, but these are the ones I have been cooking from over decades.”

Nigella’s 10 favourite cookbooks

Entertaining all’Italiana by Anna Del Conte

One book Nigella recommended, both when contributing 1000 Cookbooks and when discussing cookbooks with the Standard, is Anna Del Conte’s Entertaining all’Italiana, which she said she read before even considering becoming a food writer herself.

Speaking to the Standard, Nigella said: “There are so many books I really treasure, but that one goes way back and I adore her.” However, you may be hard-pressed to find a copy of this for under £100, since it has been out of print for a number of years.

The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander

Despite being published two decades ago, Nigella says that The Cook’s Companion still “bulges with ideas, inspiration and recipes that still seem fresh and original.”

A Taste of Australia: The Bather’s Pavilion Cookbook by Victoria Alexander and Genevieve Harris

Along with The Cook’s Companion, Nigella notes that A Taste of Australia is a key text for her, especially when it comes to cooking Australian cuisine, adding that she’s always loved the vibrancy of food from this country.

First published in 1988, Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking is described as “equal parts cookbook and memoir” is one that Nigella has placed on her top 10, labelling the text “warm” and “engaged.”

Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book by Jane Grigson

When it comes to placing this on the list, Nigella shared that she was torn between Grigson’s Fruit Book and her Vegetable Book. Recommending both of these, although only the one appearing in her ranking, she said that Jane is an “unparalleled” writer in food writing.

Brother Juniper’s Bread Book by Peter Reinhart

This classic book of bread recipes is what Nigella credits with starting her “enduring love affair” with bread, meaning it should be a must-buy for anyone hoping to perfect the art of breadmaking.

Roast Chicken & Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham

Recommending Roast Chicken & Other Stories, Nigella says that it isn’t just a simple book of formulaic recipes but also tells a story about “who we are”.

Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson

Published in 2004, Fergus Henderson’s Nose to Tail Eating details how to use every part of an animal in your cooking. Nigella shares her love both for the recipes in this book and Fergus’s writing itself.

The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden

Next on Nigella’s list is Claudia Roden’s Book of Jewish Food, which is part recipe book and part social history. It follows the history of Jewish food while also sharing over 800 recipes within its pages.

Nigella even offered a blurb for a later edition of the book, writing: “One can’t imagine a better food book than this, ever: for the reader and the cook.”

Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax

Nigella’s final recommendation is Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax. This cookbook is packed full of recipes for traditional dessert, updated for more modern tastes.

For more book recommendations, reviews and news, click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter, The Bookish Drop, on Substack.

Across seven James Bond films, Roger Moore was notorious for being an absolute gentleman and treating all of his female co-stars with kindness and respect. But in later years, he let slip that two, in particular, drove him “mad” on the set of his final 007 outing, A View To A Kill.

Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, it remains the worst-rated entry in the entire official franchise, with 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. There was criticism about the 57-year-old’s age, with even Sean Connery chiming in: “Bond should be played by an actor 35, 33 years old. I’m too old. Roger’s too old, too!”

Moore, himself, later said “I was only about four hundred years too old for the part.” He also condemned the film for moving too far from the source material, especially by being too gratuitously violent, saying: “I was horrified.”

No surprise, then, that the infamously unflappable actor lost his cool on more than one occasion with two particular co-stars, one of them an international music and fashion icon to this day.

The other had made waves with the male gaze, wearing skimpy outfits in films like The Beastmaster and Sheena-Queen of the Jungle.

When she was cast as Bond Girl Stacey Sutton, Tanya Roberts excitedly told reporters : “Kim Basinger got The Natural (1984) after making a James Bond movie. The same kind of thing could happen to me.”

It did not. She was relegated mainly to erotic thrillers on the big screen, although she had a lead role in the 1990s TV comedy The 70’s Show.

Roberts also earned the Bond franchise its first ever Golden Raspberry (Razzie) nomination in any category. She ‘lost’ the Worst Actress award to Bo Derek in Bolero.

Roberts annoyed Moore less than the divatastic Grace Jones, who played villainous May Day. She has always maintained that she purposefully antagonised her leading man off-screen, to create friction on screen.

It worked. Moore later said: “I’m afraid my diplomatic charm was stretched to the limit with Grace. Every day in her dressing room – which was adjacent to mine – she played very loud music. I was not a fan of heavy metal, so didn’t appreciate it vibrating through the walls … And afternoon nap was out of the question.

I did ask Grace to turn it down several times. To no avail. One day I snapped. I marched into her room, pulled the plug out and then went back to my room, picked up a chair and flung it at the wall. The dent is still there.”

And that was before she brought an eye-popping sex toy along for their love scene…

Moore wryly remembered: “And so to bed. Yes, my love scene with Grace. I slipped between the sheets, followed by her and her rather large black dildo. I’m glad she thought it was funny.”

The last straw came when he grew increasingly irritated that these two leading ladies rushed to their handbags between takes to refresh their make-up, forcing everyone else to wait for them. He secretly took their lipstick and mirrors when they were out of sight, only to watch them return and pull out more.

He said: “They apparently had half a dozen of each – just in case!” And the added the most damning thing you can say about an actor: “They worried more about appearance than performance.”

THis war film’s director set out to capture the lives of those who fought, rather than a retelling of the events, and viewers are calling it a “work of art”.

They Shall Not Grow Old is a documentary film by the renowned Peter Jackson, the man behind the highly acclaimed Lord of The Rings trilogy. Jackson decided to dedicate this piece of work to his late grandfather, who himself fought during the war, and it was this that motivated him to focus on creating an immersive experience of life at war.

The 2018 movie is a unique take on a war film, as it uses colourised and restored unseen footage from the First World War to capture the realities of life as a soldier. To honour this, it was premiered on the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer shared how the film touched them. They wrote: “I’ve never seen such an artistic approach to a documentary. Peter Jackson uses his extraordinary vision to capture the tragedy of the Great War.

“The transitions of the black & white/small screen to colour full screen encapsulate an eerie clarity that comes with war, capturing the ignorance of the horrors of modern warfare, both before the war ramped up and after the war ended. This film is a work of art.”

Upon reviewing the footage, from collections of the BBC and the IWM , the director made the creative decision to use audio excerpts of the real-life soldiers, as opposed to a typical narration. This helped to centre its focus on the soldiers, rather than the war itself, and therefore very few dates or locations are revealed throughout the film.

Talking about the making of the film, Jackson told Flix: “We also edited out any references to dates and places because I didn’t want the movie to be about this day here or that day there. There’s hundreds of books about all that stuff. I wanted the film to be a human experience and be agnostic in that way.”

They Shall Not Grow Old boasts an impressive 99% overall score on the review site with endless rave reviews, thanks to its ‘true’ retelling of these soldiers stories. One review claims: “Amazing window to see the true happenings of the First World War. The commentary from the soldiers was amazing to get to see their point of view and their experiences. There’s nothing like it.”

Anotherd, A must-see film depicting the horrors of war by the ones who fought and survived. The revamped footage, along with commentary sharing individual stories of their experiences, makes for a compelling movie on the Great War.”

When sharing the reasoning behind his decision to colourise the footage, Jackson explained that the men who fought in the war didn’t see it in black and white, and therefore it was important for him to show it as they saw it. This was purely a passion project for the director, who received no payment for the making of the film after his crew restored all 100 hours of the footage.

A viewer wrote: “Incredible cinematic work to breathe new life into old footage and pay respect to a generation’s sacrifice.” While another said: “I’m not the largest fan of documentaries; however, this documentary is not only emotional, entertaining, and informative to watch, but it is also revolutionary and an absolute must-see for any history fans and those just looking for a powerful and fresh look at the horrors of WWI.”

The powerful docummentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, is avaliable to watch now on Amazon Prime.

The Lion King has been crowned the greatest movie soundtrack of all time – beating Saturday Night Fever and Titanic to the top spot. The 1994 Disney classic roared into first place, with The Greatest Showman and The Sound of Music rounding out the top five, according to a poll of 2,000 Brits.

Other beloved soundtracks to feature high on the list include Top Gun, the Star Wars franchise, The Bodyguard, Pulp Fiction, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Fans also gave credit to the magical music of the Harry Potter films, the retro-inspired playlists of Guardians of the Galaxy, and the gritty hits of Trainspotting.

The research, commissioned by Dolby Laboratories to mark its 60th anniversary, revealed the vital role music plays in the enjoyment of a film – with 79% saying the soundtrack significantly enhances the viewing experience. And 76% agreed a film is more likely to be seen as a classic if it features music that stays with you long after the credits roll.

A memorable melody was voted the most important element of an iconic soundtrack (41%), followed by a catchy chorus (26%) and a lively rhythm (24%). Others said it’s crucial that the songs are well known (19 %), while some love a climactic crescendo (12%).

Nick Watson, technical director, content relations of Dolby: “Sound has always been the invisible thread that binds a film’s emotion, tension, and excitement. Some sounds and soundtracks are just as iconic as the visuals – they’re instantly recognisable and deeply emotional.

“We’ve spent the past 60 years pushing the boundaries of audio, so audiences don’t just watch a movie – they really feel it. We often say we ‘watch’ a film, but in reality, we listen just as much.

“A great soundtrack can elevate even the most modest production, drawing the audience in and heightening every emotion. On the other hand, poor sound can distract and diminish even the most visually stunning scenes.”

It emerged movie soundtracks continue to resonate beyond the cinema, with 25% saying they enjoy listening to them while relaxing at home. A further 19% tune in while driving, and 16% even put them on while tackling household chores.

Four in 10 have discovered a new artist or band after hearing them in a film, while one in five have attended a live concert dedicated to a movie score.

The research also found that 75% believe immersive sound is important when watching a film, whether at home or in the cinema. More than a third (36%) say it adds to the suspense and tension of a scene, while 35% think the overall sound is essential in bringing the movie world to life.

Others said it makes action scenes more thrilling (33%), the film more dynamic (31%), and enhances the emotional impact of the storytelling (32%).

When asked which film sounds have left the most lasting impression, the iconic “dun-dun, dun-dun” from Jaws topped the list (38%), followed by the haunting whistle from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (20%). The lightsaber hum from Star Wars (19%) and the screeching shower scene from Psycho also featured among the most memorable.

Nick Watson, technical director, content relations of Dolby, added: “The most unforgettable moments in film are often tied to sound – whether it’s a simple musical motif or a carefully crafted effect.

“The best sounds spark the viewers’ imagination, giving the freedom of interpretation. The suspenseful ‘dun-dun’ in Jaws is the perfect example. Many sounds become part of the story, like the crack of Indiana Jones’ whip, or the hum of a lightsabre. They’re cues, characters, and emotional anchors all in one. That’s the power of sound and it’s what drives everything we do.”

Stephen King is a household name, and he was certainly big in my house when I was growing up. As far as I can recall, my first Stephen King book was IT, which I read when I was in college, and it genuinely changed the way I look at books. 

According to Goodreads, it’s the scariest book that’s ever been written – and that was voted on by the public. People reckon it’s scarier than The Shining, which, although incredibly creepy, I would definitely agree with. 

They also say that it’s scarier than ’Salem’s Lot, which I actually haven’t read, but really, really need to. 

With IT, there’s a lot of world and character-building groundwork that takes place, and it is a very long book that at points, you may just want to put down and never pick back up again. But the 613,668 people who rated it five stars (me included) are not wrong. It’s worth the sometimes slog that 1,138 pages can feel like.

Stephen King can do (almost) no wrong when it comes to the literary works he produces, and I’d say that this book is in my top five of my entire life. 

The reason I say this book haunts me is that I genuinely do not feel as though I’ll read a book quite like this ever again. From the character building of ‘The Losers Club’  Richie, Eddie, Patrick, Ben, and Beverly – to being introduced to Pennywise, it’s a real rollercoaster.

It’s basically two books in one, hence its huge length, and I was hooked from start to finish. It feels as though in Stephen King’s books there’s some sort of magic that can lure you in, make you feel the strongest feelings, and then leave you feeling deserted after you turn the final page because the characters are no longer with you.

And there’s no denying that the horror elements of this book are seriously creepy too. I’m personally not a fan of clowns, so that just instantly makes me scared. But the horrors run much deeper than just Pennywise.

This book also has different horrors in terms of emotions. It’s very reflective and deep, filled with sadness and raw emotion. 

Plus, if you’ve seen either film adaptation, I have good news for you, as just because you’ve seen the film does not mean you can skip out on the book, because guess what? The book is far superior to the movie.

How could it not be? Your imagination is likely a lot more disturbing than anything you could be presented with in front of your eyes on a big screen.

So, yes, this book is long, but it’s worth the investment of your time. It takes the average reader around 38 hours to read. So in theory, if you read for just under three hours every day for a fortnight, you could finish it in that time. Or if you want to get it done in a month, read for around an hour and 40 minutes.

Of course, this depends on your reading speed and how hooked you get. I found myself staying up way into the night when I was just 17 to try and get this book read as quickly as possible.

I’ve seldom met a person in real life who has also read IT – I think perhaps because many readers are intimidated by it and would rather read three or four ‘normal’ sized books than this. But this book is never far from my mind.

A true masterpiece and a huge influence on the genre as a whole, if you haven’t read this, I urge you to. 

It will certainly leave you thinking about it for a very long time. With the camaraderie of Stand By Me and the heart-raising scares of The Shining, what more could you possibly want for a bit of light bedtime reading? 

The Witcher 3 is easily one of the best games of all time, earning a massive 92% on Metacritic. Despite launching ten years ago, it’s still one of the better games available on modern platforms, featuring a stunning open world, lots of fantastic characters, not to mention impeccable mission design that has arguably yet to be matched. (The Bloody Baron, in particular, is up there with the very best.)

Despite the fact that the game is nearly ten years old, various updates and re-releases have ensured The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt remains just as playable today as it was back then.

If you’ve never played The Witcher 3, then the good news is that the game is currently available for just £2.49 on Steam.

As part of a short-term sale from now until May 25, you can also grab the Complete Edition for £6.99, which includes the game’s two critically-acclaimed expansions.

Furthermore, you can pick up the first two games in the series for £1.04 and £2.24, respectively. The bundle containing all three games costs £5.20.

Needless to say, the Steam version features lots of performance improvements and visual upgrades.

CD Projekt explains more: “Updated to the latest version, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comes with new features and items, including a built-in Photo Mode, swords, armour, and alternate outfits inspired by The Witcher Netflix series — and more!

According to the development team, this includes ray tracing support and the ability to download and install fan made mods.

Furthermore, The Witcher 3 is Steam Deck Verified, which means you can play in handheld mode without having to mess around with the settings.

Almost 40 years on, Nirvana continues to strike a chord with fans worldwide. This iconic American rock band, hailing from Washington and formed in 1987, was the brainchild of frontman Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. Notable among their revolving drum lineup was Chad Channing, until Dave Grohl took over the sticks in 1990. Nirvana became synonymous with alternative rock and is heralded as the quintessential voice of Generation X.

Despite a brief journey spanning just three years, their musical legacy endures, casting long shadows on the rock music landscape. Emerging from the late ’80s Seattle grunge scene, Nirvana introduced themselves with their first album Bleach, through indie label Sub Pop, channelling a sound marked by stark contrasts – from subdued verses to explosive choruses.

The subsequent signing with DGC Records in 1990 paved the way for unexpected mass appeal when “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, from their album Nevermind, captivated listeners globally. Their time at the top may have been fleeting, but Nirvana’s record sales tell another story – one of enduring allure.

Their signature fusion of catchy tunes amidst dissonant noise, underpinned by themes of existential despair and societal isolation, ensured their indelible mark on fans across continents.

After extensive tours, the release of the 1992 compilation album Incesticide and EP Hormoaning, Nirvana dropped their third studio album In Utero in 1993, which soared to the top of the charts in both the US and UK, earning critical acclaim. Yet, following the tragic death of frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994, Nirvana ceased making music, with Dave Grohl later leading the Foo Fighters.

Decades on, the true essence of Nirvana still puzzles some fans. A recent Reddit thread posed the question: “What does Nirvana mean to you?”

One user candidly replied: “I’m going to be honest, they don’t cure my depression or instantly lift my spirits. Their music is good, sends a powerful message, and I like them for it. Simple.”

Another shared: “Nirvana symbolizes freedom to me. Not being afraid to go against the grain and do what you want. The passion in their music also makes me love it so much, so much feeling and energy in many of their songs.

“The way that they made it cool to be uncool is really awesome to me, I finally felt like there was music that represented how I felt. Nirvana and grunge as a whole has really filled a void in my life that I desperately needed filled.”

A different fan reminisced: “Nostalgia. It’s what I heard my older brother listen to as a kid. Also, the music connects with me. I understand the struggles in the lyrics.”

Meanwhile, someone else stated: “Nirvana is my favourite band. They sparked my passion for music. Through his lyrics I see Kurt Cobain as a good friend. He’s always been there for me, through Nirvana. They helped me through so much s**t I went through and honestly, without their music, I’m not sure where I’d be.”

While countless individuals connect with their music deeply, the true meaning of Nirvana has been revealed, thanks to a resurfaced interview with the late Kurt Cobain on Facebook.

What does Nirvana mean?

Kurt Cobain once disclosed to MTV, humorously admitting: “It was nine o’clock in the morning, and I was hungover, so I don’t know what I said – I don’t even remember.”

Responding to whether the name symbolised “freedom from pain and suffering from the external world”, the iconic singer remarked: “That’s just the Webster’s Dictionary. I mean, that’s just straight out of the Webster’s Dictionary.”

When probed if that definition is what punk represented to him, prompting the choice of the name, he answered: “Now I remember, yeah, that’s why, sure.”

Though Cobain frequently adopted a nonchalant attitude, he previously shed light on his reasons behind the band’s name, stating, as archived by Far Out: “I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk name like the Angry Samoans.”

The name also seemed apt for Cobain, hinting at his fascination with Buddhist philosophy, as well as reflecting his broader artistic and philosophical leanings. “Nirvana” in Buddhism symbolises the profound state of enlightenment and freedom.

Despite Cobain’s chat with MTV, it is thought that he was captivated by the profound significance of Nirvana, resonating with notions of transcending pain and attaining liberation. It’s widely considered that this term encapsulates the band’s spirit whilst mirroring Cobain’s personal outlook on life.

Moreover, the choice of name bolstered the band’s enigmatic image. Unlike their contemporaries, Nirvana stood out with a distinctive name, setting them apart from other groups.

Cobain showed an intent to convey his artistic expression in a unique way, marked by a deep-seated authenticity perceived to be missing in the music scene of that era.

A spy thriller is a classic weekend watch, curled up on a sofa and watching the twists, turns and action of espionage has proven itself to be big business.

But aside from the classic James Bond films there’s an often overlooked spy trilogy that proves itself to be just as good, and all three films are now available on Amazon Prime.

Matt Damon starred in the first Bourne film way back in 2002 as The Bourne Identity would be the perfect set up for the franchise that would soon produce four more films.

Based on the 1980 Robert Ludlum novel, the first film follows Jason Bourne, a man suffering from amnesia who must piece together his past and evade assassins in order to discover his true identity and piece together his mysterious link to the CIA.

The film was an almost instant hit, going on to make $214 million worldwide, not only a hit at the box office, but also with critics who gave it an impressive 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Two years later and to the delight of fans Bourne was back in The Bourne Supremacy. The film follows a similar story as before as the spy still suffering with amnesia looks to find out even more about his past while he is once more enveloped in a conspiracy involving the CIA.

The film is a solid sequel and builds on much of the material of the first film to create an action-packed second iteration. Once again it was a success in the box office earning $80 million more than the first film while being received the same with critics.

The final film of the original trilogy is the standout of the three. Without spoiling the previous films, The Bourne Ultimatum follows Bourne as he searches for answers to his previous life while being hunted down by trained assassins, although the final instalment comes at his past with a whole new dynamic.

Audiences and critics loved the film at its release, scoring a staggering 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and making it one of the highest-rated modern spy films of all time.

One Google reviewer who gave the film five stars said: “A spectacularly luxurious thrill ride, where they rounded off his search for identity in an invaluable way. The film begins with an escalation in Russia, where the previous sequel ended, so we are forced to immediately get hooked on the screen from the first second, so as not to miss anything.

“The paranoia is captured perfectly, where you are not really safe anywhere in the world and that you can be killed or wiped out at any moment, no matter how safe you think you are.”

For any fans that want even more Jason Bourne, a fourth in the franchise was released in 2012 but follows Jeremy Renner’s character Aaron Cross, with parts of the Legacy happening at the same time and being affected by the actions of Jason Bourne in Ultimatum.

Matt Damon did come back to reprise the character one last time in 2016 for Jason Bourne, which follows Bourne on the hunt to find secrets about his father.

Both sequels were not as well received critically, but still offer a perfectly fun watch for fans of the franchise.

As a self-confessed bookworm, and someone who rarely watches TV, I read anything up to five books a week, and sometimes even more. By my reckoning, I’ve read at least 5,000 books since I was a teenager. I read fast and tend to gulp down everything by an author once I discover them. But I also sometimes return to a favourite book multiple times, a sort of comfort reading. So what are the best novels of all time? Here’s my top ten.

Zombie apocalypse movies have become an increasingly popular sub-genre of horror over the last 50 years. From plots covering an outbreak on a normal day to years later adapting to a new world dominated by flesh-eating undead, the survivalist elements continue to fascinate us. But what are the greatest zombie movies of all time? Film fans have ranked the very best on IMDb, and incredibly, 28 Years Later’s predecessor, 28 Days Later, was only at No 7.

Gavin and Stacey star and co-creator Ruth Jones is best known for her starring role in the BBC series as the hilarious yet stoic Nessa.Yet, as well as her own on-screen, Ruth is also an accomplished author, having featured on the best-selling lists multiple times.

Her first novel, Never Greener, was released in 2018 and was published by Bantam Press. It was based on a screenplay she’d written in 2002 and told the story of a rekindled affair and the dangers of taking second chances. The book struck a shock bidding war between 10 different publishers after it went into the Sunday Times bestseller list at number seven after just three days of sale.

Its success saw Ruth also awarded the WHSmith Fiction Book of the Year 2018.

At the time, the actress told The Scotman: “I am nervous about how my debut novel will be received, because there’s always that feeling that somebody might say something negative.

“I say I won’t read the reviews, but I probably will. But just because somebody says something negative, I don’t have to believe it.”

Never Greener was the first of two novels sold in the deal which included the 2020 release of Us, Three, which saw Ruth then sign a two-book deal with Transworld.

Transworld senior commissioning editor Frankie Gray said that Ruth’s “storytelling genius is realised in this impressive fiction debut. It’s impossible not to fall for the diverse cast of characters, with all of their imperfections and everyday dilemmas, and to invest wholeheartedly in an idea as universal as it is affecting.”

Ruth went on to release her third novel, Love Untold, published by Penguin Books in 2022.

The actress will add to her list with her upcoming book, When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story of Love and Friendship.

Ruth and her co-star and friend James Corden will write the book, which will be available later this year, together, they will tell the extraordinary story of how they turned their little show into a full-on cultural phenomenon.

A Netflix war film has viewers hooked thanks to its incredible storyline, cinematography, and its action-packed plot. Sisu, relased in 2022, is a film set during the Lapland War between Finland and Nazi Germany towards the end of World War II. It follows the journey of a former commando turned gold prospector, who discovers a rich gold despoit in the wilderness. However, he is met with a Nazi platoon led by an SS officer, who try and steal his gold.

The action packed film shows the ex-commando going to extreme lengths to get back his gold regardless of what is thrown at him. The drama and intensity portrayed throughout the one and a half hour film has clearly done a number on fans as it currently has an impressive rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

One fan wrote on the review website: “Totally entertaining, hand over the mouth violence showing what true courage and determination never give up Finish attitude. Felt like it was produced by Quinton Tarentino. Non stop action and the star only had one line. Much better than the usual fare filled with one liners!!!”

Echoing the opinion, another wrote: “Magnificent. There is not a single second of waste in each action scene, in each suspense, in each silence, in the few dialogues. The climates, music and effects are very well done. A Finnish production that has nothing to envy of Hollywood.”

One fan even dubbed it as the “best film [they] have ever seen”, giving it five out of five stars.

The film, however, wasn’t for everyone. While still appreciating, many people felt quite the opposite.

“Some nice photography and good sound, but it’s basically just 91 minutes of blood, death, violence & gore,” one reviewer noted.

For some, there was too much action, as one reviewer said: “First half was very good, but in the second half it went too far.”

But, all in all, if you like being kept on the edge of your seat and live for the suspense, than this film is certaintly the one for you.

Applauding the film from the beginning to the end, one fan said: “Great story and acting! It’s a movie that always keeps you alert, as the ruthless protagonist gets into many tricky situations and you’ll never predict how he’ll escape. The movie flows at a nice pace and is very enjoyable to watch.”

Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced plans to release update 35.10.

Originally scheduled for May 15, the delayed update has been given a new release date of May 16 on PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Android.

The update will be available alongside a period of server maintenance, which starts at 9am BST UK time.

The news was announced on X, alongside a preview about what to expect from the update.

“Insert Wookiee growl,” reads a Fortnite post. “Downtime for v35.10 begins at 4 AM ET with matchmaking ending shortly beforehand.”

As pointed out by Epic Games, matchmaking will be disabled before downtime officially begins. This means you won’t be able to join a game from around 8.30am BST.

The new update will add new Star Wars material to the game, including Wookies like Chewbaca and his Bowcaster.

“Chewbacca’s ETA is May 15, and he’s bringing his Wookiee Bowcaster to the loot pool to aid the rebels,” Epic continues. “You’ll also find the powerful CA-87 Jawa Scatter Blaster in Chests around the Island — new to Fortnite!”

Elsewhere, General Grievous should be available to unlock from the Battle Pass.

Needless to say, new skins will also join the item shop, including a new Mandalorian variant. 

Finally, Epic Games will make a variety of gameplay tweaks and bug fixes, which you can read about in the patch notes below. 

Fortnite update 35.10 patch notes…

GENERAL

• Built-In Emotes do not play in Creative / UEFN Experiences.

– We’re investigating an issue where built-in emotes, emotes attached to certain Outfits only, do not play when in a Creative or UEFN experience.

BATTLE ROYALE

• The “Run through rings on the course” Quest UI stops updating progress after 9 rings.

– Accepting Luke Skywalker’s Story Quest to “Run through rings on the course” displays a visual-only issue where the Quest UI stops updating progress after 9 rings.

• Can’t reboot a teammate if the ‘Reboot’ key is the same as the ‘Buy Reboot Cards’ key.

– If the player goes to Keyboard Controls > Combat and changes the ‘Use’ binding to ‘F’, they won’t be able to reboot their teammate due to binding conflicts with the ‘Buy Dropped Reboot Cards’ action.

LEGO FORTNITE

• Villagers exploring with players may destroy structures while trying to harvest.

– Villagers helping explore can destroy player structures when attempting to harvest ore

ROCKET RACING

• Ranked rewards’ preview icons not displaying corresponding colored Style icons.

– Preview icons for the colored Styles of the Relentor, Luglock and Firecrack cosmetic items are displaying the default item icon instead of their corresponding colored Style icon on the Quest Reward screens.

• Terrain may clip into and overlap with road surface on several tracks.

– Some tracks may display rendering issues, including terrain elements like rocks, ground or lava clipping into the road or appearing incorrectly.

It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have plastic surgery, but did you know that Elvis Presley, who would have been 90 this year, had work done?

Fans may consider The King to have been naturally handsome enough but that didn’t stop him. Those who knew him personally in his private life have opened up on the incredible truth.

Danny Smith, who grew up at Graceland and is the son of The King’s cousin Billy, previously said on his YouTube channel Memphis Mafia Kid: “Elvis had…I guess you could say facelift procedure done to his face and his eyes. I was talking to Mom and Dad about this the other night and verified it. And that actually he had [it] done in Memphis and they actually went with him. So he did have a few things done. I mean, in my opinion, I don’t see how something that is almost perfect needs to be messed with. He didn’t need anything in my opinion.”

Danny’s father Billy, the last surviving original Memphis Mafia member said previously of The King’s facelifts: “He thought it made him look better and that he needed it. Elvis always tried to improve his looks.” The star’s cousin shared how the music icon had caps on his teeth installed and moles removed. And it turns out he had had at least two facelifts; one in 1957 and the other in 1975.

On the first facelift in 1957, Billy said: “To me, it wasn’t a facelift. Elvis did not like the flare in his nose at that time, how wide it was. So he decided to have it trimmed down and that’s what they did…which made him look…god! I don’t know how you can look any better, but he did.”

As for Elvis dying his hair jet black, he added: “The reason being someone told him his eyes were so blue and all that, [so] if he had dark hair it would make his eyes stand out.” This was confirmed by The King’s ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson, who lived with him at Graceland from 1972-6.

Speaking previously with Reel Talker, Linda said: “[He would use] hair spray and hair dye. He was more a natural blonde, a dirty blonde. He died his hair black for drama.” As for the rumour about webbed toes, she admitted: “He had twin toes, which meant that his second toe from the big toe and the third toe were conjoined up to what would be the knuckle. And I used to tease him a lot about having webbed toes! So he had twin toes. That’s something most people don’t know.”

Long books can often take a little while to finish. Anything much over 500 pages can feel like a herculean task, but if it’s well written and interesting, it may be able to keep your attention.

Take Stephen King’s IT, for example. It’s a whopping book at 1,138 pages in its first edition – but it’s so perfectly crafted that it doesn’t feel like a chore to finish.

But the longest book in the world is far longer than that, and you’ll be mortified at how many characters it contains.

In 1912, the world’s longest novel was written by Marcel Proust from France, namely A la recherche du temps perdu, which translates to ‘In Search of Lost Time’.

The book contains an estimated 9,609,000 characters, where each letter counts as one character, and spaces count as characters also.

The average book contains 350,000 to 400,000 characters. This is based on a word count of 70,000 to 80,000 words, with an average of five characters per word.

This means that Proust’s work was around 24 times longer than the average book, landing him a spot in the Guinness World Records.

Proust produced the first volume of his 13-volume masterpiece in 1912 (it was first published in 1913).

The second part of his work won international awards as soon as it was published, and with them, an international reputation.

He is considered to be one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.

For those wondering how long it would take to finish the book, if the average reader reads at 300 words per minute, it could take approximately 3 days, 3 hours, and 46 minutes to read the book.

That means you’d need to read non-stop, though, which most people are not going to do. Typically, people can take weeks, months or even years to finish it.

Taking to Reddit, someone wrote of the book: “Proust had been on my literary bucket list for nearly 20 years and last year I finally decided to tackle it. My edition is ~3,700 pages including the endnotes. It took me just over a year to read it all (about 10 pages per day). There were countless beautiful passages and incredible insights… But it was also mind-numbingly slow for hundreds of pages at a time (especially volumes 4-5/6).

“It’s a book like no other. I believe it changed me to a certain extent, and it definitely felt good to finally cross it off my list. But if I step back and really think about it, I can’t say that it was worth it. 3,700 pages of prose, much of which is rambling inner monologue, is a LOT.

“For others who have finished it, what did you think? Am I the only one who wouldn’t recommend it to someone else?”

Someone responded: “I love In Search of Lost Time like a friend, and it is never far from my mind”.

Another penned: “I loved reading it. It took me a long time, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I read it in French, though. And I know that translations can sometimes make books uninteresting”.

Tony Todd first graced the screen as the mysterious funeral director William Bludworth in the original Final Destination film, and has since featured in all but one of the sequels.

His character played a crucial role in explaining the intricate rules of Death’s design, informing the doomed characters that cheating Death would only invite its return. He also provided additional hints throughout the series on how to outwit the supernatural force hunting them down.

While his appearance in Final Destination 3 might have gone unnoticed, he actually voiced the devil animatronic at the amusement park and again as a subway announcer at the end. The only instalment he missed was the fourth, The Final Destination, but he returned for 2011’s Final Destination 5.

After a 14-year break, the franchise is back this week with its sixth instalment, Final Destination: Bloodlines. Todd reprises his role as Bludworth one last time, following his sad passing last year.

The father of two died from cancer November 6, 2024, aged 69.

Born in Washington DC in 1964, he enjoyed a stellar career in cinema. He shared the screen with Johnny Depp and Willem Dafoe in the 1986 drama Platoon before landing his breakthrough role in the 1992 horror classic Candyman.

The latest instalment of Final Destination pays homage to the beloved actor with a special title card, yet there’s another deeply moving scene that unfolds before viewers.

Speaking to Deadline, franchise producer Craig Perry revealed that the star penned his own farewell, which forms part of his character’s heartfelt monologue, urging the audience to cherish every moment of their life while they can.

“We all knew that he was obviously quite ill, and it was pretty clear that this was going to be the last role he would play in a movie,” Perry shared.

“Zach [Lipovsky] and Adam [Stein], our directors, they made a very shrewd decision to take the last couple of lines that were scripted and say, ‘Tony, just say what you would want to say to the fans. What would you like to impart to them in this moment?'”

He elaborated: “So, everything that makes that scene so emotional is authentic because that was just Tony talking through the camera to the very fans who supported him for so many years. So, it was a very magical moment on set. It was an impactful moment, and it’s one I’ll take with me until I go to the grave.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is out now in cinemas

Kanye West’s new antisemitic track has been taken down from music platforms Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud. However, the hate-filled rap song is still available to listen to on Apple Music after being uploaded by a fan, and has also amassed an alleged 88 million streams from other sites, including X.

The 47-year-old rapper, who previously lost his lucrative Adidas Yeezy partnership following a string of antisemitic remarks, now faces renewed backlash over the track titled ‘Heil Hitler’. In the song, West appears to glorify Adolf Hitler, the architect of the Holocaust in which six million Jews and five million others were murdered.

The song first appeared on X, accompanied by a second track, ‘WW3,’which remains live on several streaming platforms. Combined, the tracks have reportedly garnered over 18 million views on X alone.

Despite its explicit references to Hitler and the Holocaust, West’s posts about the track stayed online on X before eventually being taken down. X has faced scrutiny for weakened moderation policies since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform in late 2022.

Public reaction has been polarising. While many have condemned the song, others have openly supported it. Comedian Russell Brand defended the track on X, saying it had a ‘catchy’ chorus. Controversial influencer Andrew Tate shared a video of himself listening to it in his car.

Others expressed outrage and disbelief over the track’s existence and circulation. One user wrote: “Yeah, I’m not a fan. I like some of his takes, and his willingness to say n*****, but he is a race traitor who loves that Kanye f***** and his horrendous new degenerate song. Not impressed.”

Another user commented: “The mental gymnastics people will go thru to justify disgusting s*** is crazy. Even if we concede the middle finger to the establishment point (which I would not based on Kanye’s antisemitism) Hitler is one of the most grotesque people in history whose regime was censorious…”

A third user added: “Kanye is disgusting, idk how his newest song is even on streaming platforms.”

On Reddit, versions of the song were uploaded to multiple music-related subreddits, including r/Kanye, which has over 1.1 million members. While some users expressed discomfort over West’s continued references to Hitler, others celebrated the release, posting memes and TikTok clips.

A Reddit spokesperson responded to the controversy, stating: “Hate and antisemitism have absolutely no place on Reddit. We have strict rules against hateful content, including antisemitic content. Our internal safety teams proactively enforce these policies across the platform through automated tooling and human review. In line with our sitewide rules, we are removing the song and any celebration of its message.”

Elsewhere, NBC News identified more than a dozen reuploads of the ‘Heil Hitler’ music video on Facebook. On YouTube, at least six reuploads were found, collectively viewed hundreds of thousands of times. On TikTok, users shared clips of the song under the hashtag #hh.

A spokesperson told NBC, “We removed the content and will continue to take down reuploads,” noting that accounts associated with Ye are ineligible for monetisation.

Apple Music, Spotify, X, and Meta have been approached for comment.

Fans have until May 21 to watch Top Gun on Netflix before it leaves the service. If you miss the boat, the film is almost streaming on Paramount+, alongside its even better sequel Top Gun: Maverick. Both movies feature Val Kilmer as Iceman, who sadly died last month aged 65.

Before they were smashing guitars, selling out stadiums, and inventing the rock opera, The Who were just four London lads with a different name entirely.

And their journey to one of the most recognisable names in rock history wasn’t just accidental – it involved dodgy club gigs, a name clash, and a night of brainstorming that could have ended very differently. And as fans everywhere are constantly finding out how they came to be known by their iconic monicker, – and what they were originally called – here is a bit about how the band came about.

The story begins in Acton, West London, where a teenage Roger Daltrey was already feeling like an outsider. He didn’t exactly blend in at Acton County Grammar School, and after being expelled at 15, he ended up working on a building site.

In 1959, Daltrey formed The Detours, a working band that gigged at weddings and corporate events, with Daltrey managing both the music and the money.

He then spotted a local lad named John Entwistle walking down the street with a bass slung over his shoulder, and invited him to join the group. Entwistle, in turn, brought along a guitarist he knew from school: Pete Townshend.

The band’s early sound was shaped by instrumental covers from The Shadows and The Ventures, with a bit of trad jazz thrown in, and the line-up shifted over time.

The band was still calling themselves The Detours when they learned, in early 1964, that another group was already operating under that name. More specifically, Johnny Devlin and the Detours.

According to Townshend, that was when he and his housemate Richard Barnes spent a night coming up with new names, trying to stick with a theme of jokey stage announcements, and names like No One and The Group were thrown around.

Townshend apparently liked The Hair, but Barnes was partial to The Who.

They debuted their new name with the release of ‘I Can’t Explain’ in 1965, a single that cracked the UK top ten and kicked off a string of hits that would define the sound of a generation: ‘Substitute’, ‘My Generation’, ‘Pictures of Lily’, and eventually the concept album Tommy in 1969.

In 1965, Paul McCartney called them “the most exciting thing around,” and John Lennon was so impressed by ‘Pinball Wizard’ that he borrowed its acoustic style for ‘Polythene Pam’. Jimi Hendrix requested Pete Townshend’s exact amp setup when he arrived in London in ’66, and Pink Floyd, Queen, and The Ramones would all cite The Who as an early inspiration.

Amazon Prime viewers who are lovers of the Western genre could be missing out on a low-key “masterpiece”. The action-packed film first released in 1956 is now available to watch on the streaming platform and has received top-rated reviews from critics and fans alike. The American Western film titled Rebel in Town was directed by Alfred L. Werker and stars John Payne, Ruth Roman, J. Carrol Naish and Ben Cooper.

After the Civil War, Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into an Arizona outpost after robbing a bank. When they hear a gun go off behind them, one son immediately turns around and shoots to kill. But his victim turns out to be a young boy with a toy gun, so the Masons hightail it out of town, save for Bedloe’s son Gray, who feels guilty and stays to see the kid buried. Yet Gray’s presence only stirs up more trouble as the child’s father, John, looks for violent revenge.

Although a black and white B movie, Western enthusiasts have continued to express their admiration for film which brought “tears” to many viewers.

One fan gushed: “One of the best westerns I have ever seen,” while another agreed: “A really good one right. Suspenseful. I highly recommend it.”

A third penned: “This one did not disappoint. A unique storyline, strong family ties by both the Willoughbys and the Masons provided a solid story with the ending not obvious. I enjoyed this film and was surprised by how it moved me.

I was impressed by the writer who came up with this idea. Rather than routine shoot ’em ups, we got a psychological story with enough going on to hold the viewer’s interest without multiple scenes of B movie Western action.”

A fourth added: “What a tremendous little western, very unusual, far from clichés, a film noir in the western. Excellent characters study, analysis and helped by a jaw dropping photography.

Yes, Alfred Werker proves with this film that, during the end of his career, he was a terrific western maker, as much as a Budd Boetticher in his westerns starring Randolph Scott. Don’t forget that Alfred Werker was not a western specialist and was also a veteran in the business. And John Payne as impressive here as he was in Phil Karlson’s 99 RIVER STREET. Some awesome scenes, very brutal for the period.

This little western is underrated, and should be far better known.”

James Cameron has directed some of the most successful movies of all time, including Avatar and its sequel, the first two Terminator films, Titanic, and Aliens. And one of his lesser-known films is now available to watch on Netflix.

The Abyss may well have some of the most interesting (read: near fatal) filming stories — several of which have been shared by the movie’s cast and crew over the years. The 1989 sci-fi masterpiece was filmed in colossal water tanks that had been constructed in an abandoned power plant in Gaffney, South Carolina, and saw the director experimenting with certain processes and technology for the first time — skills he later built on and implemented on a much larger scale in Titanic and Avatar.

During the film’s shoot, the cast and crew of The Abyss were required to be submerged in water while sporting their diving suits for extended periods of time, a feat that was not only challenging but incited pointed comments from the cast later on, especially Ed Harris, who famously described his experience as “a bitch.”

It also nearly killed James Cameron. A critic called the film “colossally ambitious” and said: “This logistically boggling and technically brilliant film from writer-director James Cameron is a visual tour de force, featuring overall, the greatest underwater sequences ever seen on film.”

Starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff, and John Bedford — James Cameron’s underwater thriller was pronounced a box-office disappointment at the time, grossing only $90 million upon release against a budget of $42 million.

However, the film was on the receiving end of several accolades, winning an Academy Award for its visual effects and also securing nominations for art direction, sound, and cinematography. Talking about the challenges they faced during filming, James Cameron told Variety: “The Abyss was tough on everybody.

“I used to be underwater eight to 10 hours a day, six days a week for 10 straight weeks. If you’re a scuba diver, you know that a two-dive day is a heavy day as a diver.

“I used to fall asleep at night with my dinner plate on my chest and I’d wake up in the morning and it’s still there — I hadn’t moved all night. So it was physically taxing for me and for them [the cast].

“It was a tough shoot. There was no way for me to make it easier on everybody than what it was, other than to just not do it. And that’s not my style.

“I mean, I did try to make it as easy as possible. But you see the work.”

One critic wrote: “Anyone looking for a discouraging word about this stupendously exciting and emotionally engulfing film should read no further. The Abyss confirms James Cameron as a world-class filmmaker.”

Another reviewer who was blown away by the film said: “Blew my mind way back when it came out, and it blew it again in my recent revisit. James Cameron had already left his mark in water-related films, even before Titanic and Avatar,” while another said: “After all these years, James Cameron’s The Abyss remains the most intense movie I have ever seen.”

An audience review of the film declared: “James Cameron’s best film imo (in my opinion). A work of art that was very difficult to make, but it was worth it.

“The performances, set design, storyline and special effects are beyond amazing. This is top of the line film at the highest level of all time. Perfection!!”

Another viewer said: “Audience: Back in the 90’s, I had the pleasure of experiencing this mind-blowing sci-fi film, and even to this day, it continues to captivate me. Undoubtedly, it has secured its place as one of my all-time favorites in the genre. However, let me tell you, the uncut version takes the brilliance to a whole new level.

“James Cameron had to make some tough decisions for the theatrical release, resulting in some brutal cuts. Yet, the impact of this film remains undeniable. The special effects showcased in this cinematic wonder left me in awe. It’s astonishing how they have stood the test of time, retaining their power and allure even years later.”

The Abyss is available to stream on Netflix.

There is an often overlooked Tom Hanks movie that has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score and is available to stream on Netflix. Tom Hanks has starred in more than 100 films throughout his lengthy career, with stand-outs being flicks like Forrest Gump, Sully and Cast Away. With so many popular films in his repertoire, it is not surprising that there are some amazing films that get overlooked by many fans.

One of those films, which is available for movie fans to watch on Netflix, is News of the World, which was released in 2020. News of the World is an historical drama that takes place shortly after the American Civil War. Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd who crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl taken by the Kiowa people. He agrees to escort the child across the harsh Texas lanscape to her aunt and uncle but their journey is met with dangerous turns.

The performances of Hanks and his co-stars were widely praised by critics and the film overall received positive reviews. However, in the busy list of Tom Hanks flicks available on streaming services, it goes largely overlooked.

News of the World currently has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 88%. Overall, critics praised the acting and the storyline, while viewers shared similar sentiments.

One person wrote: “Beautiful in it’s ability to feel real. Amazing in it’s ability to share fear. Incredible in how it makes you love the characters. Immeasurable in it’s feel-good vibes… eventually… A remarkable story about remarkable people doing unremarkable things.”

Another shared: “I was born and raised in Colorado. This movie struck me as a brutally honest movie about survival. It is not a typically romantic Western. Instead, it tries to portray the struggles of all peoples to survive in a brutal environment. It is worth watching.”

A third wrote: “News of the World is slow, thoughtful, engaging, and devoid of big budget special effects. Its pacing represents its orientation, that is, its a story in that it occurs in the wide, untamed and uncivilized west, thus, it reveals itself only as the details of the story demand.

“If you allow the story to unfold, you are rewarded with a simple but meaningful narrative, emotionally compelling but predictable in some points of its plot. Refreshingly, however, the movie largely ignores the modern tropes of westerns, giving attention to details of the period and not forcing the movie to tell a modern story.”

News of the World has been listed among Tom Hanks’ most underrated flicks by a numebr of entertainment sites including CBR and Screen Rant.

Another viewer said: “I think this movie is very underrated. It’s a beautiful piece of cinema.”

Dan Brown has found great success with his thriller novels having sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. Despite being a bestselling author, he’s not always a huge hit with the critics. But with Angels and Demons only at number four in this ranking, what will make the top spot?

Now 60 years old, the Da Vinci Code writer has had a long career – with his most famous novel even being turned into a movie. Despite much anticipation, the film adaptation was not a roaring success, only scoring 24% on Rotten Tomatoes despite raking in miillions at the Box Office – becoming the second most highest grossing film of 2006.

Here are his seven most notable reads ranked in order of best to worst by The Week.

1. The Da Vinci Code, 2003

This one comes at no surprise. Brown is best known for his thriller novels based on Robert Langdon. While in Paris on business, Langdon is in Paris on business when he is tasked with solving the murder of the elderly curator of the Louvre. While investigating, Langdon is shocked to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci.

2. Deception Point, 2001

Next on the list is Deception Point, another mystery thriller but this time set between space and the Arctic. When a NASA satellite discovers a rare metoeroite buried deep in the Arctic ice, they beleiive it’s a victory that looks set to chnage the political landscape in the run up to the upcoming presidential election.

3. Origin, 2017

Another edition to the Langdon series, Origin follows Langdon, this time as he travels to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao with an aim to see the unveiling of a huge discovery set to change science as they know it. But the guests are left in horrow as the evening is blown apart before the discovery takes place.

4. Angels and Demons, 2000

This installment of the Langdon series takes place before The Da Vinci Code, despite this, publishers say it doesn’t matter whatorder you read the novels in. Most of this story takes place in the Vatican in Rome and the book focuses on the conspiracies of the Catholic Church. The book opens with the murder of a physicist who also had the word “Illuminati” branded on to his chest.

5. The Lost Symbol, 2009

In this installment, Langdon is summoned to deliver a lecture in the US Capitol Building unexpectedly, but the evening takes a bizarre turn onlyminutes into his arrival. The Lost Symbol recieved a mixture of praise and criticism upon release.

6. Inferno, 2013

Inferno follows Langdon after he wakes up in an Italian hospital with no memory of how he got there or how he came to acquire a myseterious object in his possession. Langdon and his doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee Florence after a relentless female assassin trails them.

7. Digital Fortress, 1998

This was Brown’s first big release and it was not his best. It tells the story of Commander Trevor Strathmore, the NSA’s deputy director of operations, who has created a confidential super-computer that can crack any code in a short space of time.

PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers are just days away from finding out which new games will be joining the service for the month of May.

The next wave of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games will be officially revealed by Sony on the afternoon of May 14. The PS4 and PS5 games will be available to download and play on May 20.

As we close in on the big reveal, some fans have been attempting to predict the line-up before Sony’s announcement.

In the monthly predictions thread over on Reddit, multiple fans believe a Borderlands game could join PS Plus Extra.

With Borderlands 4 launching in September, fans speculate that publisher 2K may add a previous Borderlands game to help get players up to speed.

There are picks for Borderlands 3, as well as New Tales from the Borderlands and Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced. With Sony recently holding a Borderlands 4 State of Play event, the relationship between Sony and 2K appears to be strong.

Another game with multiple picks is EA FC 25. The timing certainly makes sense, especially with the Premier League season coming to an end in May and sales starting to decline. If it doesn’t join PS Plus Extra in May, then don’t be surprised if it comes to PS Plus Essentials in June.

Other sports games are also tipped to appear in May, including NBA 2K25 which has multiple predictions and NHL 25 with just one pick.

Elsewhere, fans continue to predict Atomic Heart will join PS Plus Extra, alongside Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Until Dawn Remastered and Cuphead.

With the TV series in full swing, The Last of Us Part 2 has a few picks, as well as fellow first-party games such as LEGO Horizon, Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7.

Other picks include Little Nightmares, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Lords of the Fallen, Resident Evil Village, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Pacific Drive, GTA 5, Darkest Dungeon 2, Octopath Traveller, V Rising, One Piece, The Crew Motorsport, Spyro Trilogy, Story of Seasons A Wonderful Life, South Park Snow Day and The Quarry.

That’s on top of Jusant, Indika, Sonic Superstars, Hitman, F1 Manager, Monster Hunter Stories, Scorn, Alone in the Dark, Still Wakes the Deep, Lies of P and Sekiro.

Some of the more unlikely predictions include Elden Ring, Final Fantasy 16, Star Wars Outlaws, Alan Wake 2 and Astro Bot.

Quentin Tarantino, the mastermind behind cinematic masterpieces such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Reservoir Dogs, is also an avid movie buff himself.

The Hollywood filmmaker, from Knoxville, Tennessee, US, delighted fans by revealing his top three film picks he’d take on a desert island in an unearthed video that has taken the internet by storm with more than 68,000 views.

In the trending clip being shared on X, we see Tarantino in a nostalgic video store setting, pondering: “If I was going to be trapped on a dessert island and I could go to video archives before I was going to get trapped on a dessert island… what three movies would I take with me?”

Tarantino then beelines for the drama aisle and discloses: “One of the movies would be Brian De Palma’s Blow Out.”

He regards this choice highly, stating: “I think it’s one of the greatest movies ever made. It’s Brian De Palma’s finest films, which means it’s one of the greatest movies ever made because as we all know, Brian De Palma this greatest director of his generation.”

He also heaps praise on John Travolta’s performance as Jack Terry in Blow Out, adding: “John Travolta by the way… it’s one of the best performances of all time in this movie.”

In the 1981 mystery thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma, Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician hailing from Philadelphia is seen unintentionally recording an assassination that involves a presidential candidate while gathering sounds for a low-budget horror flick.

Moving on to his second favourite pick, Tarantino chooses the classic Howard Hawks 1959 American Western film ‘Rio Bravo’ starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.

The plot follows John Wayne as a Texan sheriff who arrests a murderer only to find himself facing the might of a local ranching empire. Standing with him are three unlikely allies – an old man, a drunk, and a hotshot young gunfighter – as they wait for federal support.

Tarantino didn’t hold back his admiration, saying: “This is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best movies ever made. Ricky Nelson is so cool in this movie and Dean Martin gives one of the greatest performances ever too. Performances are a big thing of mine.”

Rounding out his top picks, Tarantino ventured into the LaserDisc section to grab the criterion edition of Martin Scorsese’s transformative 1976 feature ‘Taxi Driver’.

The stark American neo-noir psychological drama, shadowed by the aftereffects of the Vietnam War, catapulted Robert De Niro into film history with his portrayal of Travis Bickle, an unhinged Marine turned cabbie whose sanity spirals as he confronts the nocturnal underbelly of New York City.

Tarantino lauds Harvey Keitel’s portrayal of Matthew ‘Sport’ Higgins in the film as one of the “finest performances” ever seen.

While his selections sparked interest among fans, not all were entirely convinced. One viewer commented: “Agree with Taxi Driver. Not the other two.”

Reflecting on the nostalgic video store clip, another individual remarked: “Young people today will never appreciate the joy of browsing through a video store and discovering movies this way!”.

There have been hundreds of World War 2 movies over the years but only the very best get the Academy Awards attention.

On BBC iPlayer’s Film section, there are three Oscar-winning British films about the fight against the Nazis that are streaming for a limited time.

In fact, watching them together makes for a fantastic marathon to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day this week

First up is 2010’s The King’s Speech (available for 9 days) starring Colin Firth as King George VI coping with his stammer ahead of his wartime radio broadcast upon the 1939 declaration of war.

Tom Hooper’s film, co-starring Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Firth and Best Original Screenplay.

Next is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (available after broadcast on BBC Two this Sunday lunchtime), which depicts the 1940 Allied evacuation of France, as Hitler continued to conquer much of Europe. The 2017 film starred an ensemble cast including Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance and Michael Caine. Dunkirk was nominated for eight Academy Awards and went home with three Oscars for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing.

We recommend following this film up with Darkest Hour (available for 26 days), which was released the same year and was also set in 1940. The movie focuses on Winston Churchill in his early days as Prime Minister during Dunkirk. Darkest Hour won two Oscars including Best Actor for Gary Oldman in the lead role.

If the world of finance has you mesmerised but you’re left baffled by the complexity and jargon, watching a movie set in the sector could be a good way to get to grips with it. Not only will you be entertained, the films can also help you understand complex financial jargon and concepts.

All you need is a curated list of the best finance-based movies you can watch for a crash course in the topic. Luckily, a new ranking supported by financial experts will do just that.

A list unveiling the top nine films one can watch to gain crucial entry-level insights into the world of finance has been revealed.

The list, backed by specialists at broker analysis site Investing in the Web, ranks films set in the finance sector based on fan and critic reviews from platforms such as Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Letterboxd. Each movie was scored out of 40 based on viewer feedback, with the final ranking reflecting both entertainment value and the quality of financial education provided.

Here are the top nine films set in the world of finance that should be on your list:

The Wolf of Wall Street

Topping the chart with critics, fans, and experts was 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street. The film starring Leonardo DiCaprio scored an impressive 38.9 out of 40.

This Martin Scorsese masterpiece is based on the real-life story of Jordan Belfort, who started with an entry-level job at a Wall Street brokerage and climbed his way up the financial ladder. Ranking highest in both the IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes audience categories, The Wolf of Wall Street is filled with accessible industry jargon and valuable investment lessons, while also cautioning viewers against greed and corruption.

Boiler Room

Coming in second place, with a score of 38.3 out of 40, is Boiler Room. The 2000 film follows Seth Davis as he trades his illegal casino apartment for a stock broking role, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of hard sales and high commissions. It ranks highest on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

The Big Short

The Big Short, which came out in 2015, featuring Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling, takes the third spot. With a score of 36.5 out of 40, this comedy-drama packed with A-listers tells the tale of a hedge fund manager, a bank executive, and two young investors during the 2008 financial crisis. Like many other finance films on this list, it exposes corruption and system flaws, offering valuable insights into market research and key financial terms.

American Psycho

In fourth place is 2000’s American Psycho – perhaps an unexpected entry. It’s easy to overlook that this violent and thought-provoking film is set against a finance backdrop, with Christian Bale portraying a wealthy investment banker. Scoring 35.8 out of 40, American Psycho offers a glimpse into the surreal world of the financial industry’s elite.

Wall Street

Wall Street rounds off the top five with a score of 35.4 out of 40. This 1987 classic crime drama follows an ambitious stockbroker who goes to extreme lengths to impress a dubious corporate raider. The film underscores the importance of caution, ethics, and rule-following in finance.

Margin Call

Margin Call ranks sixth, scoring 35 out of 40. This 2011 film, which focuses on the 2008 financial crisis, boasts a star-studded cast including Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Paul Bettany. Set mainly within an office environment, the movie is filled with industry-specific jargon and exposition, making it a fast-paced learning experience.

Glengarry Glen Ross

In seventh place is Glengarry Glen Ross, which came out in 1992. This film, based on a play by David Mamet, follows a group of sales representatives at a real estate firm, all vying to keep their jobs.

The film scored 33.5 out of 40 and provides an entertaining viewing experience. With valuable advice such as “always be closing”, the film balances best practices with the absolute worst, presenting a perfect example of what not to do through the character Shelley Levene.

Rogue Trader

Rogue Trader, released in 1999, takes eighth place, scoring 32.3 out of 40 from viewers and critics. The drama follows Nick Leeson (played by Ewan McGregor) and is based on the true story of the futures trader whose risky investments led to the downfall of Barings Bank. Another cautionary tale, Rogue Trader advises viewers never to double down on losing positions, to distinguish between luck and skill, and highlights the importance of a stop-loss.

Barbarians at the Gate

The last film on the list is 1993’s Barbarians at the Gate, scoring a modest 23.3 out of 40. Despite not being as popular with audiences and critics as other films on this list, it still provides valuable insights into leveraged buyouts and market research, following the bidding war that unfolds when F Ross Johnson, CEO of a major tobacco company, decides to buy his own business.

Pedro Braz, CEO of Investing in the Web, shared his thoughts on the lessons which can be learned from these ranked films. “While characters like Jordan Belfort and Patrick Bateman are certainly not financial role models, these iconic movies can serve as useful tools for gaining key insights into the finance industry,” he said.

“Beyond the obvious practices to avoid, several characters in the ranked films embody traits that make for successful investors – ambition, intelligence, risk management and patience are all crucial for thriving in the world of finance. There are also significant lessons to be learned about sensible, ethical investment practices, and the importance of well-researched investments.

“While these films may be dramatised for entertainment purposes, each carries a valuable warning about exercising caution. Films like The Big Short excel at introducing complex industry jargon to viewers without a finance background, making them both accessible and engaging to a wide range of viewers.

“They may not teach you everything you need to know about finance, but there is no harm in turning to the media for entertainment and entry-level information.”

As you can see from the video above, Mafia: The Old Country seemingly takes elements of Red Dead Redemption and GTA.

There’s horse riding and driving, not to mention stealth and lots of gunfights, just like the aforementioned games.

Unlike the more open-world experiences found in GTA and Red Dead Redemption, Mafia: The Old Country is described as a more linear adventure.

President of developer Hangar 13 Nick Baynes explains more: “Mafia: The Old Country is a focused, linear experience that combines quality storytelling, authentic era immersion and a refined take on the familiar Mafia gameplay.

“That focus allows us to deliver a story that’s gritty, grounded, brutal and emotional. Embracing early 1900s era Sicily, this is a mafia origin story that follows our protagonist, Enzo Favara, as he takes the oath and works his way up Don Torrisi’s crime family.”

Mafia: The Old Country pre-orders have also gone live alongside the newly announced release date.

Priced at £44.99, the Standard Edition contains the base game only, although pre-order customers will receive the “Soldato” Outfit, “Scannaturi Speciale” Knife, “Tesoro” Horse and Accessories and “Lupara” Charm.

The Deluxe Edition costs £54.99, and contains a selection of in-game items, as well as the soundtrack and artbook.

This includes the Padrino Pack, featuring the “Lupara Speciale” Shotgun, “Vendetti Speciale” Pistol, “Immortale” Charm, “Padrino” Outfit, “Stiletto Speciale” Knife, “Eckhart Speciale” Limousine and “Cosimo” Horse and Accessories.

Less than a week after the launch of the new Star Wars-themed season, Fortnite developer Epic Games is back with the first big content update of Galactic Battle.

Titled Pull of the Force, the new Fortnite content update has a May 8 release date on PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Android and Nintendo Switch.

As part of the event, Luke, Leia and Han Solo will arrive on the island, alongside new Force Powers and other gameplay features.

Unforunately, however, the Dark Side of the Force will also make an appearance in the form of a hologram of Darth Maul.

Darth Maul will give players the chance to unlock Red Lightsabers and learn Force Throw, while Mace Windu will provide purple Lightsabers and Force Pull.

Force Pull gives users the ability to pull in items and opponents from nearby, while Force Push lets you pick up items and throw them at enemies.

Epic Games explains more: “Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Leia and Luke will arrive on the Island May 8 alongside renowned smuggler Han Solo to offer you strategic services.

“Speaking of the Force, hologram Mace Windu will appear on May 8 — train with him to earn a Purple Lightsaber and learn Force Pull, which pulls in just about anything and anyone nearby.

“Rumour has it the Sith Lord Darth Maul will be around as a hologram as well, offering Red Lightsabers and teaching Force Throw. Pick up objects around you and throw them as projectiles!”

In addition to appearing in the island, Mace Windu will also be available to purchase from the Item Shop.

The Mace Windu skin will be available for 1,500 V-Bucks, his Pickaxe bundle costs 800 V-Bucks and the Emote/Back Bling is available for 300 V-Bucks.

The entire Mace Windu bundle is available for the reduced price of 2,000 V-Bucks.

The Mace Windu bundle has a May 9 release date for fans living in the US, and a May 10 release date and 1am BST launch time for fans in the UK.

Last year, John Lithgow starred as Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play to critical acclaim.

Alongside Elliot Levey’s Best Supporting Actor gong, both won Olivier awards for the production that has since transferred to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre, where it’s running for the next three months.

The new Dumbledore plays the author amid backlash to an antisemitic piece he wrote on the 1982 Lebanon War.

Living with his fiancée Liccy (Rachael Stirling) in a house under renovation, Dahl undergoes his own as his Jewish publisher Tom Maschler (Elliot Levy) supports his friend through the PR crisis.

Meanwhile, visiting American Jewish sales executive Jessie Stone goes from starstruck fan to furious Israel apologist in a fantastic performance.

The title Giant questions the towering, charming Dahl as a BFG and asks whether he’s actually a Goliath in need of taking down. Lithgow is sensational in this complex lead role, which is especially impressive for a man turning 80 this year.

The witty, engaging (and at times offensive) dialogue causes the audience to belly laugh and gasp as the text inevitably dives into the ever-relevant debate around Israel-Palestine, even though it was written prior to the ongoing conflict. Additionally, cancel culture comes to mind as the script asks how one relates to the beloved work of an author if one deems their character to be beyond the pale.

The nuance of ideas across this beautifully acted production will have you internally wrestling long after the show ends. It may go on a tad too long, but this is a rich and challenging piece of new theatre to be sought out before Lithgow takes up his wizard beard.

Giant is playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre until August 2 and tickets can be purchased here.

Iconic Xbox release Gears of War has been announced for a PlayStation 5 release this summer.

Gears of War Reloaded is a premium remaster of the original Gears of War, featuring enhanced visuals and improved performance.

The game has been given an August 26 release date on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Needless to say, it will be a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

In addition to the title coming to Xbox Game Pass on day-one, Gears of War Reloaded will be available as a free upgrade for owners of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.

In order to take advantage of the deal, you’ll need to have purchased Gears of War Ultimate Edition before 4pm BST UK time on May 5.

As for the new features, Gears of War Reloaded features 4K resolution, 60 frames-per-second in campaign and 120 frames-per-second in multiplayer.

That’s on top of high dynamic range (HDR) support, as well as Dolby Vision and 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, not to mention 3D Spatial Audio.

It also supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), contains newly remastered 4K textures, enhanced post-processing visual effects, improved shadows and reflections, and super resolution with improved anti-aliasing.

Taking advantage of the SSD drives in the Xbox Series X and PS5, fans will be pleased to hear that there will be zero loading screens throughout the campaign.

Needless to say, Gears of War Reloaded also comes with all of the post-release DLC from the Ultimate Edition, making this the definitive version of the game.

With Gears of War Reloaded coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, the game will also support cross-platform multiplayer between devices.

Fans playing on the PS5 won’t need a Microsoft account for cross-platform multiplayer, but will need to sign in for cross-platform progression.

Cross-platform progression means you can start playing on one system, and continue the game from where you left off on another.

After one of the best months of releases in the history of Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft is back with another stellar line-up for May 2025.

The headline new release is Doom: The Dark Ages, which joins Xbox Game Pass as a day-one title on May 15.

Doom: The Dark Ages takes place in what is described as a “techno medieval” setting, featuring weapons such as a gun that fires skull fragments, as well as a flail and mace.

The game is a prequel to the 2016 Doom and Doom Eternal, showing how the Doom Slayer became a powerful demon killer.

Prior to the release of Doom: The Dark Ages, Microsoft will kick things off with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn and the excellent Metal Slug Tactics on May 7.

This will be followed by another brand new release, as Revenge of the Savage Planet joins the line-up on day-one.

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a colourful 3D Metroidvania, featuring interesting new weapons, items and puzzles, as players explore a gorgeous planet.

“In a future knocked off its axis by corporate greed and stupidity, you have been made redundant and abandoned on the far edge of space with little gear and no safety net,” reads the official description.

“You must explore every nook and cranny, collect dozens of upgrades, and turn over every mysterious alien rock if you want to get revenge on your former employer and return to Earth.”

If you have no interest in Revenge of the Savage Planet, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed also releases on May 8.

The game is a mixture of RPG and beat-em-up, tasking the heroes with battling enemies on the streets.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 joins Xbox Game Pass on May 13, followed by Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo as a day-one release on May 16.

Finally, Firefighting Simulator: The Squad and Police Simulator: Patrol Officers join Xbox Game Pass on May 20.

Expect a handful of additional games to join the service towards the end of May.

With a resounding 92 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, 2018 Indonesian action thriller The Night Comes for Us is a masterclass in raw storytelling and visceral intensity.

Written and directed by Timo Tjahjanto, the project was originally conceived as a script, then adapted into a graphic novel, before eventually culminating in its release as a film.

Reuniting Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais, who iconically appeared together in The Raid: Redemption, The Night Comes for Us also stars Julie Estelle, Sunny Pang, Zack Lee, and Shareefa Daanish.

Packed with intensely brutal fight sequences that are immeasurably high on gore, The Night Comes for Us is centred around a former triad enforcer, Ito (Joe Taslim), who betrays his gang to protect a young girl from the crime syndicate, resulting in him becoming the target of the triads and the legions of deadly assassins sent his way, including his childhood best friend, Arain, portrayed by the indomitable poster boy of Pencak Silat — Iko Uwais.

Addressing his preparation for the film, Joe Taslim said in an interview with Film School Rejects: “All the credits for choreography, I think, goes to Iko Uwais and his team. They design all the fights, the structures. He would jump in to give his ideas to shape the fights, to freshen up the tone of the movie and stuff. This movie was supposed to happen actually in 2014 and something happened so it has to be in a coma.

“So we trained actually three, four years ago for the movie. We refreshed the training but we changed a little bit of the choreography.”

In 2022, director Timo Tjahjanto shared that while a sequel to the film “is still not official”, he is hopeful. Tjahjanto had publicly confirmed previously that he had developed a story for the sequel that focused on Julie Estelle’s character, The Operator.

Deadpool and Cable co-creator Robert Liefeld showered high praise on the film and its director as he took to X (formerly Twitter) to commend the movie.

Although criticised for the violence and gore depicted on screen, the actioner floored critics across the board, with one saying: “This is incredibly violent to the point of disturbing. Nonetheless, the fight scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen. But this is a very dark and depressing story.”

Another critical review of the film added: “The Night Comes For Us is a dynamite two hours and for those of us missing the action films of old, it’s a breath of fresh air.”

Conjecture regarding the film evolving into a franchise ran abound, with one critic saying: “Action fans could hardly wish for anything more than what’s served up in The Night Comes for Us. The film’s hardcore constituency will be wanting more of this from [Timo] Tjahjanto, and a sequel, prequel, or even franchise would not surprise from here.”

Another review said: “An utterly thrilling ride from the first second to the last, The Night Comes For Us is one of the best action movies of recent years.”

Audiences were left equally thrilled after watching the film, with one viewer commenting: “As a die-hard action fan, I went into this movie with high expectations—and it still managed to blow me away. The action sequences are intense, brutal, and beautifully choreographed. It’s a full-on adrenaline rush from start to finish. This one’s a must-watch for any action junkie.”

Another audience review said: “I still come back and watch this film from time to time. I love the fight choreography. Even after watching it a few times, I still cringe on a few moments when I see blades go in places they shouldn’t. This is right up there with The Raid films for me.”

One viewer felt that Hollywood has a lot to learn from Indonesian action films, as they wrote: “Quick, gruesome, stylish which personifies Indonesian movies. Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim were awesome as usual and Hollywood should learn from them.”

And one audience member couldn’t stop gushing about the movie’s brilliance: “Absolutely fantastic movie. Some of the best action directing and some of the best action choreography I’ve ever seen. The relationship between Iko and Arian is incredibly tragic and compelling. Exceeded my expectations in every way.”

The Night Comes for Us is streaming on Netflix.

The Hollywood hunk turns 42 today, as many fans continue to cross their fingers that Amazon will cast him as the next James Bond. The blockbuster actor is best known for playing Superman, but only two of his DC movies made his Top 10 movies on IMDb. Meanwhile, fans blocked the sensational Mission: Impossible – Fallout from No 1 with another Henry Cavill cult classic.

Throughout his career, George Michael was known for more than just his chart-topping hits. He was a passionate listener, someone who spoke often and thoughtfully about the songs and artists that moved him.

His musical tastes were wide-ranging – covering everything from glam rock to hip-hop, indie pop to political ballads, and, during his appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2007, Michael listed eight tracks that he could not live without.

Out of those, he chose one as his ultimate favourite: a recent release at the time, by a young British artist whose work had left a strong impression on him.

“This is the best female vocalist I’ve heard in my entire career,” he told host Kirsty Young. “And one of the best writers. So all I can say is please, please understand how brilliant you are. And I wish her every, every success in the future. And I know she can get past the media. I don’t know if she can get past other things, but she’s a fantastic talent and we should support her.”

The song was ‘Love Is a Losing Game’ by Amy Winehouse. Part of her critically acclaimed 2006 Back to Black album, the track os a slow-burning ballad of heartbreak, widely praised since its release.

But George Michael’s favourite songs list didn’t contain itself to strong ballads. Near the top of his list was Roxy Music’s glam-era bop ‘Do the Strand’. He credited the band’s frontman Bryan Ferry with pushing the boundaries of sex and style in music: “At both ends of the spectrum, Bryan Ferry’s made some of the sexiest music of the last 30 years”, Michael said. “It’s so original and it’s so sexy and it’s so insistent”.

Another modern classic that made the cut was Gnarls Barkley’s 2006 chart-topping hit ‘Crazy’, and Michael explained: “An amazing song is an amazing song. Occasionally something left afield comes through and people see it for what it is – one of those old classics, you know, the kind of records we used to hear quite often. And it stands head and shoulders above everything else”.

Next up, he chose Nirvana’s groundbreaking ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’: “This record is the best produced rock record in the history of rock, I think. It’s not necessarily the greatest song… but it’s a phenomenal record. Obviously it was a music industry-changing record”.

One of his more emotionally personal picks was the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Being Boring’. Released in 1990, the song dealt with themes of loss, memory, and the AIDS crisis. “No one wants to hear frightening, terrifying songs about AIDS”, Michael reflected, “but they do, if they’re gay and they’ve lost friends, they do want to hear those people referred to and remembered and honoured. And I think some of Neil’s work did that beautifully”.

He also chose Goldfrapp’s ‘Paper Bag’ for its hypnotic sound and Alison Goldfrapp’s distinctive vocals, calling himself “a real admirer of her voice.”

Perhaps more surprising was his inclusion of Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’ – a track he openly admitted was “completely brutal, completely sexist”, but one that he couldn’t help but dance to: “There are certain records that literally I just can’t not move to. And this is one of them. The lyric makes me laugh”.

Finally, he pointed to Rufus Wainwright’s politically-charged ‘Going to a Town’ as one of the heaviest lyrical statements on his list. The song, released in 2007 during George W. Bush’s presidency, is a mournful and poetic critique of American politics. “Actually, this is the heaviest lyrical record on this list”, Michael said. “Really laying into the Bush administration, talking about America, you know, soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood. You know, fantastic lyrics all over this record”.

Famed for his gritty voice and captivating stage presence, Joe Cocker is no stranger to the entertainment industry with a total of 22 studio albums under his belt. One of the most respected singers of his generation, Cocker’s unmistakable voice, with a blues-infused tone, has seen an impressive musical career that’s spanned over five decades. Cocker’s gritty, blues-infused voice and powerful delivery were instantly recognisable and set him apart from many other artists of his time.

His humble beginnings began in Sheffield in 1944, when Cocker took the musical world by storm and went on to have a lasting influence on popular music today. To recognise this legendary performer and take a trip down memory lane, Joe Cocker’s top 10 songs have been officially ranked by Spotify, with the list revealing a few surprises.

Cocker came up through the British rock universe in the late ’60s becoming a household name in 1970 when he received his first US hit with his cover of “The Letter”.

Many of the most iconic films ever made feature Cocker’s songs and includes The Bodyguard, The Wonder Years, 9½ Weeks and Harry and the Hendersons.

Up Where We Belong was a duet with Jennifer Warnes and was featured in the blockbuster film, An Officer and a Gentleman.

The song went on to become an international hit and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, bagging Cocker a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo.

The accolades for the smash hit didn’t end there as the song also won an 1983 Oscar for Best Original Song.and is no surprise it features in the top spot.

However, many would be surprised to see Cocker’s Feelin’ Alright?’ hit only featured in ninth spot.

The song strongly resonated with many Brits at the time, thanks to its emotional and raw energy, later seeing it become one of the most classic rock anthems.

But Feelin’ Alright? and its popularity also extended far beyond its musical merits and was described as being a symbol of a particular era, according to music experts.

It was also a reminder of the powerful connection between music and emotion, transcending generations and is still today an anthem beloved by many.

Cocker sadly passed away in 2014 at the age of 70 from lung cancer, with Jennifer Warnes leaving a special Billboard tribute for her singing partner after his death.

According to Spotify, with the analysis based on total streams, Joe Cocker’s top 10 songs of all time include:

1. Up Where We Belong: (duet with Jennifer Warnes)
2. You Are So Beautiful
3. With A Little Help From My Friends
4. Feelin’ Alright
5. Unchain My Heart
6. You Can Leave Your Hat On
7. Delta Lady
8. Cry Me A River
9. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today
10. Woman to Woman

Over six decades of a chart-topping career and icon status, elton john has experimented with the most diverse genres, worked with various artists – household names, niche pioneers, established or upcoming.

Since his debut in 1962, most of his singles have reached the ears of millions of listeners, and became known globally, surviving the eras of record players, cassette tapes, CDs and now reaching the digital soundwaves.

And by 2025, his most popular song in the streaming realm is not one most longtime fans might expect.

Released in 2021, ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’ is a song by the rocketman himself in collaboration with 21st century pop princess Dua Lipa.

In just over 3 minutes, it combines music from Elton John’s previous songs ‘Rocket Man’, ‘Kiss the Bride’, ‘Sacrifice’, and ‘Where’s the Shoorah?’. A mashup of sorts, but accompanied by Lipa’s dreamy and strong vocals and some fresh verses to tie it all together – with a dance-pop remix by PNAU.

Still in pandemic years, it was released alongside a music video that features a colorful animated journey of four friends dancing through a galaxy, ultimately celebrating with the cartoon versions of Elton and Dua.

The track was part of a series of collaborations released by John while most of the world was on quarantine – compiled in the album The Lockdown Sessions.

Then, he pursued a series of collaborations – including works with pop girls like Britney Spears, Rina Sawayama and Miley Cyrus, rappers such as Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj and Yung Thug, modern hitmakers Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth and Olly Alexander, and, of course, fellow icons Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks and Eddie Vedder.

The album’s songs were recorded over an 18-month period, remotely through Zoom or in strict compliance with the health and safety regulations of the time.

In the following awards season, ‘Cold Heart’ won Collaboration of the Year at the AMAs and Top Dance/Electronic Song at the Billboard Music Awards, was nominated as Song of the Year at the Brit Awards, and Best Collaboration and Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards. The song is also Elton John’s most-streamed song in the digital age, amassing 2.4 billion listens on Spotify.

In number of streams, it is followed by ‘I’m Still Standing’ (1.3 billion), ‘Rocket Man’ (1.2 billion), ‘Your Song’ (1 billion), ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ (934 million), and ‘Tiny Dancer’ (854 million).

Another song from the Lockdown Sessions album can be found in his top 10, – among his older tracks – in 9th place: ‘Hold Me Closer’, with Britney Spears.

It’s a controversial conversation you’ve likely had more than once – but this time it might not be the order you expect. It’s to once again rank the Harry Potter movies. Whether you are a big lover of the Fantastic Beasts movies, or prefer the earliest films of the series, it’s up for discussion. Each film is quite different from the other but all give you that magical escapism that is needed at times. Especially in the run-up to Christmas.

Here are all of the Harry Potter films as ranked by Parade. And while many Potter fans believe that Prisoner of Azkaban is the best due to its clever transition between the more children friendly vibe of the first two films and the darker world of Lord Voldemort later on, it’s another film that’s come out on top in this ranking – and it completely bucks a trend we’ve seen over the years of latter films in series flopping at the Box Office.

11. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

The third Fantastic Beasts movie promised a thrilling war in the Wizarding World, but it didn’t deliver. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore mostly consists of scenes where characters walk in and out of rooms and explain the plot to each other, it’s uninteresting and dour.

10. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

It’s very hard not to get sucked into Rowling’s original Potter series but Fantastic Beasts, despite taking place in the same magical universe, does not have the same charm as the original characters. The film needed deeper material to work with. It is however the only Wizarding World entry so far to win an Academy Award – for veteran designer Colleen Atwood’s beautiful costumes.

9. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

The follow-up to Fantastic Beasts is arguably a more engaging, largely because there’s less focus on cute critters and more on the witches and wizards mythology we’ve grown so fond of. However, it still fails to take off two movies in. The story is disappointing and none of the subplots leave a lasting impression. A common theme with the Fantastic Beasts series is that the plot is often overexplained.

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

If this is the peak of the Harry Potter series, it speaks volumes about the high standard of the entirity of it. Interestingly, Order of the Phoenix is the longest of all the books, yet the shortest film, leaving quite some room for disparity. It can feel rushed and the pacing is also off. The movie is still very fun and entertaining but could have been even better.

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

I bet most people would place this one further up. However, falling right in the middle of the dense saga Goblet doesn’t stand as well on its own. Mostly however, it is just a great movie, following the Triwizard Tournament – and also does well to navigate teenage hormones as the iconic trio begin to show signs of growing up. It was the first Potter film to carry a PG-13 rating, due to a blood-soaked finale and the shocking murder of a student.

6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

A lot of people do consider the first two Potter films to be the weakest for being slavishly faithful to the books and too kid-friendly, but others enjoy their sentimentality. Director Chris Columbus’ inaugural pair did what they needed to: pleased the broadest possible audience while laying the groundwork for a series that would become increasingly dark, frightening and complex.

5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (a.k.a. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2001)

Our introduction to Harry (Daniel Radcliff), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) still casts a spell of classically influenced, movie enchantment more than two decades later. Some of the CGI effects looked fairly question even in 2001 and many of them have not held up. However, the Quidditch match is still a marvel to behold.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)

Rowling’s final novel was split into two halves on the big screen. Like its immediate predecessor The Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows Part 1 has much of the DNA of classic horror; it’s filled with atmosphere, shadows and death. Once we get into the business of the Horcruxes, the themes Rowling explores here are disturbing by any metric, but ultimately gripping.

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

The most purely haunting of the Potter films, Half-Blood Prince juggles light and dark with remarkable grace. This is probably the funniest film of the bunch. It feels like the calm before the storm and is largely centred around teenage love and coming of age, similar to Goblet of Fire. It is often somber and intense, too though and carries a PG rating. This is the probably the most underrated of the Potter series.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Alfonso Cuarón’s addition is the most stylish of the series. Azkaban is a turning point; the previous two worked well as self-contained adventures, and this is when Harry steps into a larger, morally murky world. The picture cuts out much of the book. The director’s camera is almost constantly moving, which creates a a sense of moving forward and risk. It’s almost like an out-of-body experience. Cuarón’s vision of Rowling’s fantastical world is the most visually ingenious and the most dynamic.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)

As for the top two Potter films, while Azkaban is the most inventive and artistically ambitious of the series, Deathly Hallows 2 is the mightiest. So many film series and trilogies have, to varying degrees, stumbled in the final outing, but the Harry Potter series ended with a streamlined crash of thunder. The filmmakers saw the potential here and made the right decisions across the board to realize it; it’s hard to imagine this turning out any better than it did.

At almost 83, Harrison Ford continues to be a Hollywood titan and among the highest-grossing actors of all time.

The Oscar-nominee, who started out as a professional carpenter, is not only Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but also Rick Deckard and Jack Ryan.

After starring in many major films over the last seven decades, including some of the greatest ever made, which of his are the very best?

According to film fans on IMDb, the following is Ford’s Top 10 of all time, and incredibly, Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars missed out on No 1.

And so the time comes again, as ever, where Netflix refresh their catalogue to entice a new audience. Additions coming later this month are not for the faint-hearted. It’s a war-filled, crime-fueled, action-packed month for the streaming platform. These are my top picks coming to Netflix for the month ahead.

Britain and the Blitz (May 5)

A new WW2 documentary feature film is hitting our screens on Monday. The immersive documentary features archive footage detailing the experiences of civilians in Britain during the Blitz. It will include vividly restored archival footage as well as many emotional first-hand accounts from those who lived through the devastating period of history.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (May 11)

Tom Cruise’s most recent installment of the action packed spy film will make it on to the platform just ahead of the next chapter, which is released at the end of the month. As Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his IMF team race to prevent a rogue artificial intelligence from taking over the world, they encounter enemies at every turn, will they succeed? If that’s your bag, then take the time to catch up before the release of Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story (May 14)

This is a documentary about two of Britain’s most prolific murderers, Fred and Rose West. Using recovered police recordings, their horrifying story is told in first-person accounts. The film will detail on how they tortured, raped and murdered an unknown number of women in Gloucester between 1967 and 1987. It will focus on the families on the victims and how the crimes were uncovered. Netflix said the documentary would give “insight into the pain and torment” that the families “went through for decades”.

Sirens (May 22)

This brand new limited series starring Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon hits our screens later in the month. It’s a dark comedy that unfolds throughout one explosive weekend at a lavish beach estate. Devon, played by Fahy, is concerned about her sister Simone’s (Alcock) creepy relationship with her new boss and decides it’s time for an intervention. The series has been described as an “incisive, sexy and darkly funny exploration of women, power and class.

Kill Your Friends (May 23)

We’re turning back in time to 1997 but the Britpop industry isn’t churning out tunes anymore. However, ruthless music executive, played by Nicholas Hoult, won’t let that stop his career. The comedy-thriller was originally released in 2015 and is based on John Niven’s novel and explores the darker side of the industry.

With the Switch 2 launching in June and GTA 6 supposedly launching this autumn, 2025 is shaping up to be a banner year for the gaming industry.

Even the traditionally quiet month of May is packed with fantastic game releases thanks to the likes of Doom: The Dark Ages and Elden Ring Nightreign.

If you’re wondering what to spend your money on this month, then Express.co.uk has put together a list of some of the biggest new releases coming in the month of May.

Award-winning director Ridley Scott, the man behind cult classic films such as Alien and Gladiator, brought this film to life and it’s kept audiences captivated for 10 years.

Released in 2015, the science fiction movie The Martian broke records and left viewers lying in its wake, quite literally breathless. It went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations that same year, but more importantly, 10 years on, the viewers at home have given it an overall 91% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Matt Damon steals the show as the leading role, playing Mark Watney, alongside Hollywood icon Jessica Chastain and British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. Set amongst the backdrop of Mars, the actors joined forces filming on the set of one of the largest sound stages in the world.

One viewer said: “You can’t get your eyes off this gripping survival story with stunning VFX. The Martian blends science, heart and a bit of humour. Matt Damon delivers a top-tier performance, making the high-stakes drama both thrilling and entertaining. With sharp storytelling and breathtaking cinematography, Ridley Scott crafts an inspiring film about resilience and teamwork.

The Martian follows Watney, an astronaut living out many people’s worst fear, when during a mission to Mars he is presumed dead and left behind by the rest of his crew. He has survived the storm that they believed to have killed him, and he’s left stranded to survive on the hostile planet alone.

A reviewer said: “This film is a masterpiece. My all time favorite comfort watch. I pick up new details every time I rewatch it.” While another added: “This movie was great from start to finish. A true hoorah movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.”

The Martian was adapted from the earlier 2011 novel by Andy Weir by Drew Goddard, who is best known for his work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Plenty of viewers have read the book and belive that the award-winning film lived up to its expectations.

A viewer wrote: “With sharp storytelling and breathtaking cinematography, Ridley Scott crafts an inspiring film about resilience and teamwork.”

Another person added: “Definitely, the best movie I’ve ever seen. This movie gave me the energy to live tomorrow and to start something new. Right after finishing this movie, I couldn’t stop imagining math and physics. Absolutely, 10 out of 10.”

Featuring an A-list ensemble cast, The Martian also sees Sean Bean take the screen, with Kristen Wiig, Sebastian Stan and Donald Glover. However, it was Matt Damon’s “top tier” perfomance that landed him an oscar nomination and a Golden Globes win.

A decade later and the movie is still considered to be a ‘must-watch’ by film fans which could eb thanks to its scientific accuracy. The real-life NASA employees teamed up with the filmakers to help with depicting the science and technology ibehind The Martian. as they belived it was a greast way to promte space exploration.

You can catch all two hours and 22 minutes of the “masterpiece” that is The Martian, for free on BBC iPlayer.

It’s no secret that war films have become incredibly popular as a genre, with Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk often regarded as some of the best in the category. But Amazon Prime viewers have discovered another film they believe is one of the top three best war movies of all time. Released in 2019, The Outpost, tells the story of how assailants from the Taliban seized an American base known as Combat Outpost Keating during The Battle of Kamdesh in 2009.

Based on the 2012 non-fiction book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, by Jake Tapper, the film showcases a harrowing depiction of the tragic battle as the US army soldiers eventually find themselves outnumbered and outgunned in a nail-biting fight for survival. The Outpost pays respect to the heroes whose lives were lost during the battle, which was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Afghanistan War.

The synopsis reads: “A small unit of US soldiers is stationed at a remote army base in the mountains of Afghanistan. However, a sudden coordinated attack by Taliban fighters compels them to fight for their survival.”

The ensemble cast is led by Scott Eastwood, who stars as Clint Romesha. Romesha is now a retired soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the 2009 war.

He is supported by Orlando Bloom as Captain Benjamin D. Keating alongside Caleb Landry Jones, Taylor John Smith and Milo Gibson.

The Outpost has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been regarded as one of the best in the genre. Expressing their admiration for the film on social media, one fan wrote: “Finally watched The Outpost. Superb film. Very rare for a film to have me laughing AND crying.”

A second posted: “With the many threads discussing the best war movies of all time, no one ever mentions The Outpost. It’s a gut-wrenching and important film. I’d even say it’s a top three, along with 13 Hours and All Quiet on the Western Front.”

A third agreed: “Outstanding! Really enjoyed the film. Up there with the best of the genre for me.”

Echoing this, another viewer said: “The Outpost is really good. For a film with a budget of only $5 million, the war sequences are outstanding.”

A fourth added: “Watched the movie ‘The Outpost’. Even though I’d read the book it hit me like a ton of bricks. Outstanding, remarkable film that I wish I hadn’t inflicted on myself when I have stuff to do and work tomorrow. Schedule some recovery time.”

This science fantasy flick boasts an A-list cast and is now catching the eye of Netflix viewers. Okja, a sci-fi adventure directed by Academy Award-winner Bong Joon Ho of Parasite fame, has been making waves.

Known for his biting humour and sharp commentary on societal issues, the 2017 film is widely regarded as a critique of “corporate greed” and a nod to “pro-animal liberation,” with some viewers interpreting it as a veganism manifesto. However, the director clarified that Okja isn’t an anti-meat-eating diatribe but rather an exploration of animal treatment in industrial farming.

A Rotten Tomatoes critic praised the film, writing: “A brilliantly shot movie that isn’t afraid to dive deep into your emotions with its satire on reality.

Good performances and visual effects sell the story they’re trying to take and leave you rethinking your own morals. It’s a special kind of movie, with a message worth telling.”

The narrative centres on a girl and her cherished, oversized pig, which becomes the target of a global conglomerate’s scheme, reports the Mirror US. Mija’s heartfelt odyssey to save her beloved pig from a grim fate illuminates the contentious dialogue surrounding animal rights and celebrates the profound human-animal connection.

Boasting a cast featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, and Shirley Henderson, the film’s acclaim is hardly surprising. A viewer expressed their admiration, saying: “The performances are generally exceptional.”

Another captivated audience member said: “This was one of the strangest movies I’ve seen in ages, and it was absolutely brilliant. The CGI giant pig was amazing, Jake Gyllenhaal was totally unhinged (and hilarious), and Tilda Swinton was as weird and wacky and wonderful as ever.”

Yet, stealing the spotlight was the valiant young farmer portrayed by South Korean starlet Ahn Seo-hyun, who was a mere 13 at the time of filming.

Praising her impact, a review read: “It touches on a lot of social issues, and the acting from the protagonist, Seo-Hyeon Ahn, was phenomenal.” They added: “It is definitely worth the watch!”

Okja’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 earned it a remarkable four-minute standing ovation, while box office returns reached 2.3 billion KRW (approximately £1.6 million).

For many, this cinematic gem stands as Netflix’s crowning achievement.

The critically lauded adventure flick, Okja, is currently streaming on Netflix.

Amazon Prime viewers have flocked to praise “one of the best” war films they have ever watched. Sniper: The White Raven, released in 2022, follows Mykola, a high school teacher who has his world turned upside down after Russia invades Donbas in 2014. With his peaceful way of life interrupted, Mykola joins a volunteer battalion and swears revenge on the Russians. Nicknamed ‘Civvie’, Ukrainian officers believe he will last just one week in the army.

Driven by his desire for revenge, Mykola switches into warrior mode and becomes a trained sniper, later earning the nickname Raven. The story is inspired by the life and experiences of scriptwriter Mykola Voronin, a school teacher who later enlisted with the military. Aldoshyn Pavlo leads the cast of the Ukrainian film, which is directed by Maryan Bushan and written by Bushan and Mykola Voronin.

The synopsis reads: “After his pregnant wife is killed by militants, an eccentric pacifist enlists to fight as a sniper in Donbass, Ukraine, vowing vengeance for both his wife and his comrades.”

Sniper: The White Raven won the 11th competition of the Ukrainian State Film Agency and has been ranked the best movie about Ukraine by fans on Ranker.

Rotten Tomatoes awarded the film with a 72% rating, while fans have praised it for being one of the best non-English films ever made.

“Sniper the white Raven This masterpiece was insane,” one wrote on X as a second declared: “Sniper: The White Raven will be one of the best non English movies I’ve seen. A well made Ukrainian war sniper movie. Recommended, absolutely.”

“Sniper The White Raven is the best military movie to me,” added a third.

Expressing their admiration for the film, another echoed: “Sniper: The White Raven – quite possibly one of the best directed, acted and constructed sniper films of recent years, featuring superb, tense showdowns amongst interesting environments and scenarios.”

Responding to a comment about the film, a fifth chimed in: “Excellent movie, one of the best non English movies I have ever seen!!! Very good story with a lot of action!!! I really enjoyed this movie.”

Another declared: “This is the best movie I have ever watched.”

Slow Horses creator Mick Herron believes his books have been stolen by tech giants to be used as learning tools for the next generation of artificial intelligence. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he sighs. “About two years ago, my younger brother showed me some app he had and he asked it to write a recipe for chocolate brownies in the style of Jackson Lamb. “What it came up with was s***, but it was clearly s*** based on having knowledge of Jackson Lamb and how he operates.”

Which is the crux of the matter, according to the bestselling author, who is taking the helm of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, supported by the Daily and Sunday Express. “It can only manipulate stuff that’s already there. I believe that 110%, and I think it’s true of any major character,” he continues. “AI could write Fast & Furious 11 without a problem, I would have thought, but it can’t do a book that would truly engage the heart and the intellect.”

Not that Herron, 61, who was born in Newcastle but lives and works in Oxford, underestimates the threat AI presents to the creative arts. Major US authors, including the likes of Michael Connelly, John Grisham and Jodi Picoult, have already launched legal action against tech firm OpenAI in America to protect their copyright. Would Herron – who eschews social media (“never having been on it saved me having to leave it once it became apparent it was all being run by megalomaniac sociopaths”) and carries an old-fashioned “brick” phone – support such a move in the UK?

“I’m not a proactive public person,” he admits with a smile. “So I’m not going to be the one to stand up and raise the banner or anything, but I’d probably be standing by the side – clapping – as it marches past. Depending on what happens in the States, of course, I think it’s probably likely to happen here some time.”

It’s fair to say that former journalist Herron, who laboured for years in relative obscurity before Slow Horses brought fame, and presumably fortune, is having a bit of a moment. As well as his Harrogate role, his hit Apple TV+ adaptation, starring Gary Oldman as his odious spymaster Jackson Lamb, alongside Kristen Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner and rising star Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, returns for a fifth blockbuster season later this year.

And a new adaptation of his non-Slow Horses first book, 2003’s Down Cemetery Road, has wrapped filming, adapted by Morwenna Banks and starring Emma Thompson as private eye Zoë Boehm and Ruth Wilson as her client, Sarah Tucker, in a new eight-part drama featuring a mysterious explosion and a missing girl. The success of Slow Horses – which the BBC infamously opted not to adapt – has been especially gratifying, admits the softly-spoken spy writer.

“Obviously I wrote the base material for the show, but what the scriptwriters, what the directors, and what the cast have done with it has just transformed it. I think they’ve all done a wonderful job,” he adds.

“We’ve all seen shows based on books we love that have been an embarrassment. I knew it was going to be good as soon as we found out who was in it and who was writing it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be embraced so warmly by such a large number of people given that, the things that I write about, it could have put people’s backs up quite easily.”

He means his gloriously cynical view of politics and politicians, presumably?

“Yeah, so it could easily be treated with extreme disdain by parts of the press, but those parts of the press are the ones that seem to me to have taken it to their heart’s most ready. It’s been lovely – I’ve been very, very happy about it.”

As for Down Cemetery Road, he continues: “They’ve filmed it partly in Oxford and partly in Bristol and partly in various other places like Cornwall. Most of them standing in for somewhere else. What I’ve seen of it is very exciting and the cast is equally tremendous.”

While many authors are struggling, Herron, one of the nicest writers in crime fiction, accepts his own success with modest grace. “If we are all in a computer simulation, I’ve definitely got the right player!” he jokes. “I’m very aware of the amount of luck that goes into a success. Philip Pullman likes to say you need talent, hard work and luck. And hard work is the only thing you have any control over when it comes to a career. So I’ll stick to that. But I’m really appreciative of the luck that I’ve had. And I don’t take it for granted.”

Special guests at Harrogate this year include Lee and Andrew Child, Irvine Welsh, Mark Billingham and US author Attica Locke. Herron, who won the prestigious Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year gong for Slough House in 2022 – “one of my career highlights,” he smiles – will host an in-conversation event with Slow Horses showrunner Will Smith.

He says: “For me, the big thing is always just being at Harrogate. The Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival is a major highlight of any crime writer’s year. So just being there is great and to be the programming chair is such an honour – it’ll be all my birthdays come at once.”

Oxford University-educated Herron adds that he enjoyed trying to strike a balance in the line-up between “new writers appearing and taking their part in the great carousel of crime writing, and to have old favourites there whom everybody wants to see”. While doing this he kept in mind how Harrogate was singled out, unfairly many felt, for a lack of diversity in its panel events last year.

He says: “It’s something we are always aware of, it’s my first time sitting on the committee, but I know an awful lot of work goes into addressing those issues. These things ought to be second nature by now, but it’s still a struggle to find the right balance when publishers aren’t necessarily putting forward a hugely diverse range of authors. The committee has had to go out and find authors who haven’t been championed by publishers to get the balance right. But we think we have got that balance.”

Herron, who will also interview Mark Billingham at the festival for his 25th Tom Thorne thriller, has been busy writing his first Jackson Lamb novel for three years, Clown Town, which will be published in September. About this he would only say: “I’d probably better keep that for Harrogate itself.”

• Mick Herron is programming chair for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival taking place in Harrogate from July 17 to 20. Visit harrogateinternationalfestivals.com for tickets and information

Manchester’s Co-op Live stage must have been groaning on Friday night under the sheer weight of talent upon it. It was the first date of tenor Andrea Bocelli’s European tour, a string of much-anticipated concerts to celebrate the beloved singer’s 30th anniversary. With 90 million-plus albums sold, and more than 16 billion streams to date, in his 30 year career Bocelli has performed for Popes, including the late Pope Francis, Presidents, Prime Ministers and royalty, and sung in many of the greatest concert halls and opera houses. It’s safe to say that he has one of the most recognisable voices in the entertainment industry. At 8pm sharp (what a treat!) Bocelli took to the stage of the Co-op Live to polite applause. Rest assured, this careful clapping soon ramped up.

Indeed as the show – a 23-song spectacle – progressed, with each passing number richer in theatre and voice than the last, by the time the set drew to a close the roof was well and truly raised. There were tears too. But more on that later. The show started with a montage, with imagery and film depicting Andrea Bocelli’s three-decade-long career. As it ended, Andrea walked onstage, dapper in a gold jacket and bow tie; behind him a full orchestra rumbling into action, alongside a 30-something piece choir, women to the left, men to the right. His first song, La Donna è Mobile, he sang alone. Bocelli’s voice, as always, was like the most delicious honey. Then we were introduced to the first guest performer of the show: Mariam Battistelli, an incredible Italian soprano born in Ethiopia, who would continue to feature throughout. 

And the special guests kept coming. Next we were introduced to extraordinary flutist Andrea Griminelli. He was simply astounding, with proverbial smoke billowing from his fingers as he played. Then, Moldovan-born Rusanda Panfili took to the stage with her violin and all the sass of Beyonce. An absolute rockstar; I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Elsewhere, two beautiful dancers – Angelica Gismondo and Francesco Costa – added light and shade to the stage. 

The final guest star to make our acquaintance was Pia Toscano, a pop-style singer who frequently duets with Andrea Bocelli. After bringing the house down with an initial solo of All By Myself (wow wow wow), the pair sang The Prayer. To my surprise, as the final bars played out I found myself wiping a tear off my cheek. 

The first half of the show warmed us up, with Je Veux Vivre and Addio Fiorito Asil. But it was the second half that turned the Co-op Live into a party. Funiculì, Funiculà was particularly fun, and a great tribute to the late great Luciano Pavarotti, whose image was shown several times.

An encore saw Bocelli delight the 23,500-strong crowd to Sole Mio, sung with Mariam, then Time To Say Goodbye, which went down like a cold towel on a hot day – deliciously. Bocelli’s voice was out in full force. I had goosebumps. Between each song, Bocelli, arm in arm with conductor Carlo Bernini, teased leaving the stage, walking back on to escalating cheers. “I’m too old for this,” he joked. It was one of the only times he spoke throughout the show.

Ending on Nessun Dorma, the famous song’s final notes soaring into the stratosphere, Bocelli reminded us why he’s the most successful classical artist of all time. What a voice. What a show. I want to watch it all over again immediately. 

Fans of the iconic movie Goodfellas have realised one of the most beloved scenes was improvised. The hit 1990 crime thriller tells the story of the rise and fall of Mafia accomplice Henry Hill, who was linked with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from the mid 50s until his arrest on narcotics charges in 1980. He went on to become an FBI informant.

Goodfellas is based on the non-fiction book about Hill’s life, Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi. The movie stars Ray Liotta as Hill, as well as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino and more.

Pileggi helped pen the script alongside veteran director Martin Scorsese. Collaboration was an integral part of the creative process, with Scorsese and Pileggi said to have worked on 12 drafts of the script.

The director encouraged the writer to be open to a more non-linear or traditional approach to the story’s structure. Goodfellas was critically acclaimed and went on to be nominated for a string of awards.

It bagged some coveted wins, including the BAFTA for Best Film and Best Director, as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, among other wins throughout awards season.

The movie is still praised and lauded as a cinematic masterpiece to this day, with many other filmmakers inspired by its distinctive style. Nicholas Pileggi told GQ: “Mob guys love it, because it’s the real thing, and they knew the people in it. They say, ‘It’s like a home movie’.”

In one scene, Martin Scorsese cast his mother, Catherine, to play Joe Pesci’s character Tommy’s mother. The director didn’t give her a script though, and told her the purpose of the scene.

When he called “action”, she improvised her lines. On-set assistant Heather Norton explained to GQ: “There is no noise on Scorsese’s set… They improv’d a lot of stuff in this very quiet environment where they felt totally at ease.”

The scene was recently shared again on Facebook by the popular page History in Memes, where the improvised nature of it was discussed. In the caption accompanying the clip, the page admin penned: “In Goodfellas (1990), Martin Scorsese created an iconic scene with his mother, Catherine Scorsese, as Tommy’s mother. Without a script, Scorsese directed her to act like a typical Italian-American mom.

“Her spontaneous dialogue about cooking a meal at 2AM, brimming with warmth and authenticity, was completely improvised, capturing familial dynamics and adding a memorable, grounded moment to the film.”

Reflecting on the film with the American Film Institute, Martin Scorsese explained: “What I wanted to show you was the danger of the exuberance of that kind of life.

“At first, you see the danger of the exuberance, the danger of the excitement. When you’re young, you think you’re going to live forever, and you think you’re tough and you could take a few more shots in the head than somebody else could.

“So you think you’re tougher than the other person – well, eventually, if you don’t use your brain, you know you’re not going to wind up anywhere.

“That’s what happens with the Joe Peshi character and I think the danger of the excitement of that lifestyle is what I grew up around, and I saw a lot of people disappear because of that.”

Back in 2020, Tom Hanks starred in the film adaptation of CS Forester’s 1955 novel The Good Shepherd.

The World War 2 story follows a US Navy commander on his first assignment, leading a multi-national escort destroyer group to defend an Allied convoy from German U-boats.

Set during the Battle of the Atlantic, Greyhound stars Hanks as Commander Ernie Krause, a Christian Naval officer whose mission is analogous to Psalm 23.

The Bible poem written by King David talks of God as the good shepherd who guides the Old Testament monarch through the valley of the shadow of death as his enemies surround him.

The 90-minute thriller received positive reviews and remains in Apple TV+’s Film Top 10 to this day.

Now Hanks is set to reprise the role in a sequel set two years on. This time the action begins with the Greyhound crew at D-Day before heading to the Pacific Theatre. Set to shoot in January 2026, Adolescence star Stephen Graham is in talks to reprise his role as Lieutenant Commander Charlie Cole, according to Deadline.

A release date is TBC, but we’d guess the film will be on Apple TV+ in 2027.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film is praised for being as “narratively lean as it is deliriously gory” with critics calling it an “inspired pastiche that gives bloody satisfaction to action aficionados”. Audiences have also described it as “a gory grindhouse good time” that’s perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered what a John Wick vs. Nazis film might look like.

The gold prospector, played by Jorma Tommila, stumbles upon the massive gold deposit but then crosses paths with a ruthless Nazi death squad led by a brutal SS officer during their scorched-earth retreat from Finland.

When they steal his gold, they soon realise that the prospector is no ordinary miner but actually a legendary ex-commando with a near-superhuman will to survive and a quiet, unbreakable resolve known in Finnish as sisu.

Sisu is a word that struggles to be translated directly and literally into English, but it means extreme grit, courage, and infinite determination.

Armed with nothing but his tools and his resolve, Korpi becomes a one-man army, unleashing a relentless violence among the stark landscapes of the harsh Lapland wilderness.

Rotten Tomatoes writes: “No matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back.”

Calum Cooper wrote on the platform: “Helander is no stranger to raw entertainment; his previous films, Big Game and Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, are both. Sisu might be his best film yet. Its combination of ridiculous fun with genuinely compelling themes is a mixture few filmmakers can pull off successfully, yet Helander does so with flying colours.”

Sisu premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and debuted in the UK in May 2023.

Amazon Prime has subtly added a ‘phenomenal’ sci-fi horror film to its catalogue, which is being hailed as a cross between The Thing and Alien.

The movie, titled Ash, has recently been included in the retail behemoth’s ever-evolving streaming library. This comes just a month after its debut at the renowned SXSW festival.

Set on a remote planet, the story follows an astronaut named Riya (portrayed by Elza Gonzalez), who awakens to discover that her entire space station crew has been murdered and she is suffering from amnesia.

Haunted by fragmented memories of her colleagues and their mission, and plagued by paranoia, she is unsure whether to trust a man (played by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul), who insists he knows her and was dispatched to save her.

Ash was directed by Flying Lotus, whose real name is Steven Ellison and is also known as FlyLo. He is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper.

This is his second directorial venture, following a segment of V/H/S/99 in 2022 and the horror comedy anthology Kuso in 2017. He also appears in the film and composed its soundtrack, reports Surrey Live.

Unsurprisingly, the film has drawn comparisons with Alien and The Thing, with special thanks given to John Carpenter in the credits. It has garnered a respectable 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics have not overlooked the similarities.

One reviewer remarked: “Ash is obviously influenced by the Alien movie franchise. This sci-fi horror flick (about two astronauts trying to solve the mystery of a massacre on their spaceship) has some pacing that’s too slow, but this low-budget film is watchable overall.”

Another conceded that while the film doesn’t reach the heights of the iconic space monster series, the lead performance remains commendable, noting: “Not Aliens or any of the other films referenced. But Eiza Gonzalez carries this sci-fi freakout on her own shoulders, impressive.”

Conversely, numerous cinephiles have heaped accolades on the movie, urging fellow enthusiasts of the genre to give it a go. One succinctly put it: “One Word: Phenomenal. Nobody should be disappointed by it.”

An additional viewer extolled: “Really interesting, thought provoking sci-fi thriller. Had me guessing the entire time what was going on. Immerses you into the environment; one of uncertainty, isolation, fear, and paranoia. The lighting, cinematography, and direction was very good for the budget of the film. I recommend to any sci-fi or thriller fan.”

One fan was so impressed by the film that they couldn’t help but indulge in an immediate second viewing. Gushing with praise, they said: “Loved this movie, I watched it twice back to back. It was a visual and aural treat. Every shot was good to look at and the multi-genre soundtrack was pure quality, whether it was synthwave or electronic. I’ve never heard of Flying Lotus before, but he seems very talented not just for his creative vision for this movie, but the impressive music score also which creates a mood and atmosphere for the movie throughout.”

Already anticipating more, they added eagerly: “I really hope he expands this universe, there are more stories to tell here. I wish there was a release in HDR or DV because it’s visually impressive. It has elements of Event Horizon, Alien, even a bit of Pitch Black. Some people just didn’t get it, I guess, the same way I personally don’t get a Wes Anderson movie. If you do get it, then you know this is the coolest movie released this year so far.”

Ash is streaming on Amazon Prime.

If Bono, the face of award-winning Irish iconic band U2, was stranded in a desert island, he said he’d take with him one 1981 track that “just connects me to the eternal”.

During his revealing 2022 appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs – programme in which guests pick their eight favourite songs ever – the rocker named a Bob Dylan track – not one of the famous protest anthems, not the ones shouted through loudspeakers at rallies – but a quiet, spiritual ballad as his ultimate favourite.

‘Every Grain of Sand’ was recorded during one of Dylan’s most controversial and least commercially successful periods: his born-again Christian era. Released on Shot of Love, ‘Every Grain of Sand’ stands in stark contrast to the fire-and-brimstone evangelism of the rest of the album. Instead, it’s a meditative, almost whispered reflection about mortality, failure, and the search for grace.

In the episode, Bono recalled walking to Piccadilly earlier that day, passing a small church designed by Christopher Wren, and spotting a plaque noting that William Blake was baptised there.

Bono made the connection instantly: Blake’s words — “To see a world in a grain of sand…” – must have been echoing in Dylan’s mind as he wrote the song. “This must have been, in Bob Dylan, the back of his mind,” he said.

Bono isn’t alone in recognising its power. Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin has called it “one of his most intensely personal songs, it also remains one of his most universal” And even Dylan himself reportedly held it in high regard, frequently including it in his live sets during the ’80s and again in the. early 2000s.

‘Every Grain of Sand’ has since become something of a cult favourite, a hidden spiritual gem buried in Dylan’s expansive catalogue. To make it, Dylan had reportedly been reading the works of theologian Hal Lindsey at the time and was reflecting deeply on sin and redemption.

Since then, it never became a hit in the charts, but it has grown steadily in reputation – frequently appearing in critical lists of Dylan’s best deep cuts. Rolling Stone included it in their ranking of his top 100 songs, while fans have long traded stories of how the song offered comfort during loss or direction in moments of doubt.

“We’re on an island” Bono said during the programme. “And this song, this very song, it just anchors me to something bigger.”

Across his eight selected tracks, the U2 frontman offered glimpses into his musical journey. Peter Frampton’s ‘Show Me the Way’ took Bono straight back to his high school gym: “We were crap” he admitted, recalling his early attempts at singing rock music. “A teenage boy turned this song into a prayer.”

Emeli Sandé and The Fron Choir’s ‘Abide With Me’ was an exmaple of Bono’s love for choirs: “I love the Anglican hymns, you know, I just do. And I love choral singing. […] And [Emily Santé] is a sacred talent.”

Noel Gallagher’s ‘Dead in the Water’ may not seem like the type of song one would want to take to a desert island – for obvious reasons – but while Bono admitted the choice would be “a litle bleak”, he added: “There’s some defiance in the song, and defiance is the essence of romance.”

Inhaler’s ‘Ice Cream Sundae’, from his son Elijah’s band, made the list too. “They’re very good. My son happens to be the singer. This is, I think, the first song he wrote, and it’s got this mad opening line.”

Angélique Kidjo’s ‘Agolo’ was chosen for its unfiltered joy. “I think joy is one of the key elements of music that keeps me there. You know, it’s almost impossible to contrive. Happy, you can’t contrive. Melancholy is easy for artists. Even anger is kind of easy in a way. But joy, you can’t contrive.”

Verdi’s ‘La Traviata – Prelude to Act 1’ struck a more personal note. Bono’s late father, Bob, loved opera – especially Verdi. “This one used to bring my father to wherever he went”, Bono shared. The opera, he explained, is partly about a love affair but also about a son and a father.

And finally, Simple Minds’ ‘Someone Somewhere in Summertime’, which Bono described as a beacon of hope: “Very few people get to own a sound. And I think in U2, we’ve gotten to own certain colours of the spectrum that we own or certain feelings that I think are ours” he said. “Some of them are from Simple Minds. We learned from them.”

US President Donald Trump has been branded a “narcissist” by Hollywood actor Sebastian Stan, following his turn playing the controversial politician in the film The Apprentice. Stan, 42, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of 45th and 47th president, admitted he has little doubt that Trump would have seen the movie.

The Apprentice follows Trump, 78, during his early business career in 1970s New York when he was mentored by lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Succession’s Jeremy Strong, who taught him to win at all costs. The film is considered particularly controversial as it features a scene with the future Commander-in-Chief rapes his then-wife Ivana. She accused him of rape when they were divorcing in 1990 but later distanced herself from this claim which Trump – who lashed out at the film upon its release – strongly denies.

The film was released prior to Trump’s election win, received a strong reaction from him on Truth Social. He lambasted: “A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, The Apprentice (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully bomb. It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”

Trump added: “My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died. The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it. So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us. MAGA2024!”

The Apprentice flopped at the US box office, opening in 10th place with just $1.6 million in ticket sales. Now, in a new interview with Vanity Fair Stan revealed he’s convinced that even though Trump criticised the film he would have watched it. He said: “I would put money down he’s seen it 100 f**king times, of course, because he’s a narcissist.

“And I bet you there’s certain things he likes about it.” When asked to elaborate, he went on: “How he looked.”

It’s not the first time Trump has been blasted by a Hollywood actor. Just last week George Clooney made it crystal clear he couldn’t care less what Donald Trump thinks of him following the 72-year-old’s scathing remarks about the Ocean’s 11 star. Appearing on CBS Mornings to promote his upcoming Broadway debut, Good Night and Good Luck, the Oscar-winning actor and longtime activist was asked by host Gayle King about Trump previously branding him a “fake movie actor” on Truth Social.

Clooney blasted back with an ice-cold response, stating: “I don’t care. I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time. My job is not to please the President of the United States. My job is to try and tell the truth when I can and when I have the opportunity. I am well aware of the idea that people will not like that… people will criticise that. Elon Musk has weighed in [about me]. That is their right. It’s my right to say the other side.” The feud reignited last summer after the actor, 63, penned a headline-making op-ed in The New York Times urging Joe Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

Emily Henry is known for her popular books which have flown off the shelves in recent years. The author has established herself as a key writer in contemporary romance, captivating readers with her emotionally resonant storytelling and relatable characters. Her latest novel, Great Big Beautiful Life, is set to be released on April 24, and it promises to be a must-read for fans seeking the perfect holiday escape.

Known for her bestselling novels like Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, and Happy Place, Henry has consistently delivered heartwarming tales that blend humor, romance, and personal growth. In Great Big Beautiful Life, the story follows Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson, two writers competing to write the biography of the enigmatic heiress Margaret Ives.

Set on a picturesque fictional island, the novel features dual timelines and narrative layering, creating a page-turner for readers.

Henry’s books are celebrated for their emotional depth, witty dialogue, and exploration of themes like longing, creative struggles, and personal growth.

Her stories often feature emotionally open and witty protagonists, set in idyllic locations, making them ideal companions for a relaxing holiday read.

With over 10 million copies sold worldwide and all her novels being adapted for film or TV, Henry’s work continues to resonate with a global audience.

Whether you’re lounging by the beach or curled up in a cosy cabin, Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life is the perfect addition to your holiday reading list this summer.

Emily Henry is a Number One New York Times bestselling author, she lives and writes in Cincinnati and Great Big Beautiful Life will be her 10th book.

One reviewer on Goodreads who read Beach Read said: “The book that started it all for me. I have never been a reader. This book was recommended to me so I thought I would give reading another go.

“This book was incredible and made me fall in love with reading. Emily Henry did an incredible job and I can’t wait to read every single one of her books. The story line in Beach Read was great, I fell in love with the characters, and was hooked the entire time.”

Douglas Murray, the conservative commentator and international best-selling author, has penned some big-hitting books over the past few years.

From The Strange Death of Europe to The Madness of Crowds and The War on the West, The Spectator columnist uses his sharp wit to dissect the political and social issues of the day.

His latest book focuses on the October 7 attacks and their aftermath in the Israel-Hamas War with on-the-ground reporting from the region.

Titled On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West, Murray’s new work “confronts what he views as the most pressing issue of our time: why Western support of the Palestinian cause is ultimately playing into the hands of a much more dangerous force.”

The Amazon synopsis continues: “On Democracies and Death Cults argues that Israel’s commitment to fundamental Western values – capitalism, individual rights, democracy and reason – has made it a beacon of progress in a region dominated by authoritarianism and extremism. Murray contrasts Israel’s principles with the ideology of Hamas, which openly proclaims its love of death over life. If left unchecked, Murray argues, this misplaced Western sympathy could embolden forces that seek to undermine democratic values and perpetuate a culture of violence.” One review called it “a brutal, brilliant takedown of hypocrisy and hysteria” and another “a must-read.”

On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future is out now, including on Audible, Spotify and Kindle.

Just days after the reveal of the Star Wars content for Season 3, Fortnite developer Epic Games is back with a new update for PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Android.

Fortnite update 34.40 has been given an April 22 release date by Epic Games. Unfortunately, however, the new content won’t be available to sample until after a period of server downtime.

Fortnite server maintenance will begin at 9am BST for fans living in the UK. That’s 4am ET for US players.

The news was announced by Epic Games on X: “Downtime for v34.40 begins at 4 AM ET with matchmaking ending shortly beforehand.”

As you can see from the tweet above, matchmaking will be disabled shortly beforehand. This means you won’t be able to join a game in the moments leading up to downtime.

Server downtime typically lasts between 2-3 hours, although the Epic Games Status website suggests maintenance will last for four hours.

In terms of what fans can expect, the new update will introduce a new TMNT crossover. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover was teased by Epic Games on X. You can check out the teaser below.

According to industry insider Shiina, the TMNT crossover includes Casey Jones, Krang’s Android, Bebop and Rocksteady.

Interestingly, the latest leak claims there will be a new skin inspired by Jenna Ortega, codenamed “FlameBride”.

Needless to say, the update should also shed new light on the upcoming launch of Season 3, including a potential end of season event.

Based on the trailer and teasers released over the weekend, Season 3 will have a Star Wars theme, including new characters and gameplay features.

The Battle Pass and Item Shop will welcome the likes of Darth Jar Jar Binks, Emperor Palpatine, Mace Windu and Poe Dameron.

That’s on top of Sith and Jedi variants of Evie, Wookie Team Leader, Captain Phasma and a customisable Mandalorian skin.

The upcoming season will also introduce new gameplay features, including the ability to pilot and co-pilot X-wings and TIE fighters.

As the electric guitarist of the world’s most successful band after The Beatles, Sir Brian May has contributed plenty through Queen’s music back catalogue.

In fact, when he took part in BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs back in 2002, he nominated his very own We Will Rock You as one of his castaway tracks.

At the end, the guest is always asked which single piece of music they would save if they could only keep one from the waves.

Basically, it’s a question of what’s your all-time favourite. And just like many other guests, Sir Brian struggled a bit with his choice.

The Queen legend replied: “Oh, God. Now that’s an awful question. Um… d’you know, I think it’s gonna be No 1. I think it’s gonna be the Planets Suite, because there’s so much in there. There’s so much depth, and there are still things which I need to find out about it. I think I’d probably take that.”

Gustav Holst’s The Planets is a 1917 seven-movement orchestral suite, with each movement named after a planet of the Solar System and embodying the character of the Greek/Roman god they’re named after.

For Desert Island Discs, Dr Brian, who has a PhD in astrophysics, chose the fifth movement, Saturn – The Bringer of Old Age, which was Holst’s favourite of The Planets. After it played, he said serenely, “Umm. Gets me every time”.

On the monologue he once wrote about the movement, Sir Brian said: “It was actually about one winter’s night, and the progress of the stars, so it was kind of an astronomical monologue.” Asked what his castaway book would be alongside The Bible and the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, the rocker chose the first book in The Space Trilogy: “My book is Out Of The Silent Planet by C S Lewis. Written, I suppose almost as a children’s book, but it’s a very adult kind of children’s book. It’s a very spiritual thing. It’s on the face of it a science fiction story, but underneath it is a view of the Universe, which I really hope is true.”

It’s been called ‘arguably the funniest movie of the 90s’ and has since spawned what some describe as a cult, so beloved is the movie’s main character. As well as being a comedy, it is also a kidnap mystery (although nobody actually gets kidnapped). 

The Big Lebowski was released in 1998 and directed by the legendary Coen brothers, who also directed Fargo, Miller’s Crossing and No Country For Old Men. The film gave us characters like Jeffrey ‘the Dude’ Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges), Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) and Jesus Quintana (John Turturro).

The plot centres around a couple of hired thugs mistakenly attacking The Dude because they think he is a different Jeffrey Lebowski, a wealthier one whose wife owes them money. The Dude expects some sort of compensation from the “Big” Lebowski, especially because the thugs who rough him up also urinated on his favourite rug. He explains himself, saying: “Let me explain something to you. I am not Mr Lebowski. You’re Mr. Lebowski. I’m The Dude.”

From there, the film descends into chaos. Empire magazine ranked the film 45th in its list of the best films of all time, where it was the highest-ranked comedy film. Explaining its score, they said: “You’ve got to hand it to the Coen brothers. Not only did they make arguably the funniest movie of the 90s — which has since spawned a genuine film cult — they also managed to construct a kidnap mystery in which the detective isn’t a detective and nobody was actually kidnapped. With bowling, marmots and a urine-stained rug.”

However, Time Out listed the film 12th in its list of the 100 best comedy movies ever, saying Bridges put in “one of the truly iconic performances of all-time”. Films listed above it include Borat, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Airplane and This Is Spinal Tap. 

The Big Lebowski has a rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.1/10 on IMDB. USA Today called it “just one of the most original films ever made, perhaps the best world the Coens imagined and the one filled with its best characters”.

Adam Kempenaar, writing for Filmspotting, said: “25 years later, the movie where every detail matters and doesn’t matter at all, is as hilarious as ever – and more poignant, man.”

And Peter Travers, writing in Rolling Stone, said it was “hilarious”, adding: “The Big Lebowski is the best movie ever set mostly in a bowling alley.”

However, while the film has acquired an iconic status in the nearly-three decades since its release (fans literally show up to screenings and country-wide ‘Lebowski Fests’ wearing bathrobes and flip-flops in homage to The Dude), it was not a big success on its release. With a relatively small budget of $15 million, it grossed only $18 million at the box office in the USA and $46.7 million worldwide. 

Explaining the possible reasons for its poor initial showing, Matthew Perino writes in MovieWeb that the film’s trailer was “all over the place” and “an incoherent mess that’s hard to follow and makes the movie look downright strange”. And he recalls how critics weren’t keen on the film when it came out.

One top critic called it “uninspired”, The Daily News criticised the story as “tired” and The Guardian called it “a bunch of ideas shoveled into a bag and allowed to spill out at random. The film is infuriating”.

However, it later acquired iconic status among film fans, who now argue over whether it is the Coen brothers’ best film. Although that’s not an easy debate to win given their films also include Fargo and No Country For Old Men, it shows how great The Big Lebowski really is. 

Fortnite fans have been treated to a boatload of new information about Chapter 6, Season 3.

As part of this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration LIVE event, Epic Games revealed a brand new trailer for the upcoming season. The trailer confirmed that the new season will have a Star Wars theme and a May 2 release date.

You can check out the Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 trailer below.

In addition to the Season 3 release date, the new trailer showcases some of the new skins launching as part of the Star Wars crossover.

The Battle Pass and Item Shop will welcome the likes of Darth Jar Jar Binks, Emperor Palpatine, Mace Windu and Poe Dameron.

That’s on top of Sith and Jedi variants of Evie, Wookie Team Leader, Captain Phasma and a customisable Mandalorian skin.

An email sent to Daily Express suggests that Wookiee Cuddle Team Leader and Emperor Palpatine will be included in the Battle Pass, while Mace Windu will be available from the Item Shop.

The upcoming season will also introduce new gameplay features, including the ability to pilot and co-pilot X-wings and TIE fighters.

Expect lightsabers to also make a return, alongside new Force Powers such as Lightning, and blasters from the various movies. 

Needless to say, various Star Wars locations and landmarks will feature in the Season 3 map.

However, one of the more exciting new features is the addition of regular events taking place throughout May and early June.

According to Epic Games, it all begins with the ‘Imperial Takeover’ theme from May 2. This will be followed by ‘The Pull of the Force’ from May 8, ‘Mandalorian Rising’ from May 22 and ‘Star Destroyer Bombardment’ from May 29.

The events continue into the following month with ‘Death Star Sabotage’ from June 7. Expect more details to be announced and leaked in the coming weeks.

According to Epic Games, it’s all part of an ongoing narrative event within the world of Fortnite.

“The five-part saga will lead up to an in-game narrative live event that will surely have players feeling like they’ve got the fate of the whole galaxy in their hands,” Epic explains.

If the rumours are true, then Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will launch on April 21 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Rumours of an Oblivion remake/remaster first materialised during Microsoft’s trial with the FTC.

Multiple unannounced and unreleased projects were spotted by fans, including a listing for the aforementioned Elder Scrolls Oblivion remaster, as well as Doom Year Zero, which is believed to be Doom: The Dark Ages. According to the court documents (via ResetEra), Microsoft is also planning to publish a remaster of Fallout 3.

New reports suggest that Fallout 3 Remastered is still very much in the works, although we may have to wait a while for the game to release.

Asked whether the iconic Bethesda game is still being remastered, industry insider NateTheHate2 confirmed that the project is in the works.

As you can see from the tweet below, however, Fallout 3 Remastered is planned, but “won’t be for a while”.

Fortunately, the imminent release of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion should keep fans busy until Fallout 3 arrives.

While Microsoft is yet to officially announce the Oblivion remaster, all signs point towards an imminent release.

Images from the game were leaked on the website of Oblivion Remastered developer Virtuous.

The images showed before and after screenshots from the original game and the Unreal Engine 5 developed remaster.

Needless to say, the new and improved version features lots of graphical flourishes, including more detailed locations, realistic lighting and upgraded character models.

The game is also said to contain various quality of life upgrades, such as a new blocking system, a new stamina management system, and refined archery.

The release date itself was seemingly leaked by Xbox Support Staff. Responding to a question about Oblivion coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming, a Support Staff member is claimed to have replied: “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is set to release on April 21, 2025.”

This backs up the previous claim that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will launch at some point next week. 

Better yet, the hotly anticipated remaster will seemingly be available as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass. 

Bruce Springsteen and his E-Street band will be embarking on an extensive UK tour in May 2025. The legendary American musician, famed for hits such as Dancing in the Dark, Streets of Philadelphia, Tougher Than the Rest and Hungry Heart, will be performing at two enormous British venues including Manchester’s Co-op Live and Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium. And, with two shows at each venue, one would have thought there were plenty of tickets to go around. However, that is not the case.

Tickets initially went on sale on Friday, October 11, 2024. And, due to high demand, additional dates were added to the line-up. Despite this, many fans were left disheartened when their preferred dates and seats sold out rapidly. Consequently, a large number of the star’s followers have been scouring resale sites to secure their Bruce Springsteen tickets. Thankfully, there are still plenty left if you know where to look. Here’s the breakdown:

If resale tickets aren’t for you, Bruce Springsteen tickets are still available from some official online retailers.

The website with the most availability is VIP and hospitality-focused website Seat Unique.

The online retailer gives fans the chance to see their favourite musical artists while enjoying some of the finer things, as well.

These tickets may include such perks as complimentary food and drink, early access, lounge access, and more.

Here’s the link:

SEAT UNIQUE – Buy Bruce Springsteen tickets here.

It’s out with the old and in with the new as Netflix prepares to refresh its catalogue in May.

If you are an action lover, into your war films or just love a romcom, be sure to get your fix before it’s too late. Here are my top five picks leaving the streaming platform over the next few weeks.

April 21

No Hard Feelings

Jennifer Lawrence’s 2023 foray into raunchy comedy is an underrated gem. She stars as a bartender who’s down on her luck so decides to take on an unusual challenge when a wealthy couple hires her to swoon over their socially awkward son. The film was directed by Gene Stupnitsky and is an incredibly easy watch sure to make you laugh but you better be quick as it leaves on April 21.

April 29

Patriots Day

This emotional action film from 2016 follows Mark Wahlberg as police Sergeant Tommy Saunders. Based on real life events, Saunders rushes to aid those injured in the Boston Marathon attacks that took place on April 15 2013. The film reflects on the city’s courage in the wake of the terrorist attack and is well worth watching if you haven’t already seen it.

May 1

1917

1917 is a World War I cinematic masterpiece directed by Sam Mendes and inspired by stories told to Mendes by his grandfather, Alfred Mendes, who served in the war. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth and Andrew Scott, to name a few, it was filmed in a “one-shot” style. It received huge acclaim and won three Oscars as well as seven BAFTAs – including Best Film and Best Director.

May 15

Crossroads

This coming of age staple starring Britney Spears gets you feeling nostalgic. The film follows three teenage girls as they embark on a cross-country adventure to pursue their dreams, taking risks that are sure to change their lives forever. Written by Shonda Rhimes, the film will hook you in from start to finish. It is a rare chance to watch Spears in an acting role and has a star-studded supporting cast including Zoe Saldaña, Justin Long and Kim Cattrall.

May 16

Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie

The Madagascar catalogue has proven hugely popular and this installment is no exception. One for the family to watch together, it follows four male penguins who go on various missions and team up with a secret animal agency to take down an evil octopus and stop him from killing all of the penguins of the world and destroying the cycle of nature through time.

Elvis fans will be delighted to learn that Sofia Coppola’s 2023 biographical drama Priscilla will be available to stream this upcoming weekend. The movie, which is based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, which was written by Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley, was a huge success.

Its plot on IMDb reads: “When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.

“Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.”

In contrast to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which was released the previous year and saw Austin Butler embody the King of Rock and Roll, Priscilla focuses on Elvis’ spouse, who is portrayed by Cailee Spaeny.

In Priscilla, Elvis Presley is played by Jacob Elordi. Released in the United States by A24, the movie received positive reviews from critics and grossed $33 million worldwide. Moreover, Cailee received a Best Actress nomination at the Golden Globe Awards for her performance.

Priscilla received a score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.5/10 on IMDb. Those who have watched the movies have been left with mixed feelings, as an IMDb wrote as a review: “The first hour was fantastic.

“They were both very good in their roles and the chemistry( or lack of ) was very well presented. It took the story of the two of them meeting and made it come to life, the filming was interesting and the general vibe felt spot on.

“The development in this first part for the characters was great and you really felt like you were being set up to be taken somewhere. And then ….

“Then all the sudden [sic] the second half it’s like the character development just stopped , very little connected together or made sense without background knowledge into the story as a whole, and then the last 20 min it was like ‘oh shoot we have 20 min better finish it’ and no one could figure out exactly how.

“The jump from being in an abusive relationship to being her own woman was instant and it all felt very juvenile and hallmark in the end. Worth watching ? Yes for sure . Not great film but really could have been which made it more disappointing.”

Someone else penned: “Just rather uninteresting, on film terms at least. It is interesting seeing the film portray a different type of version of Elvis Presley, one that is uncomfortable to watch unfold but one that ought to be told. That’s where anything noteworthy I have to say about this release ends, though. As a movie, it’s rather boring.

“I’m not convinced there’s enough to be told across a full blown picture, at least not one around 1hr 45mins in length. I will say that Cailee Spaeny puts in a solid display as the titular character, in fairness. Jacob Elordi as Elvis, in my opinion, isn’t a positive to be honest. If I didn’t know he was playing Elvis I genuinely wouldn’t have guessed he was playing the singer, aside from a few outfits and the twisty bit of hair in his fringe.

“Accent particularly seemed off to me too, Elordi amusingly (given the director’s connection) sounds more like Nicolas Cage (c. 1997, ‘Con Air’, Cameron Poe) on phone call scenes.

“It’s competently put together visually at least, though overall I can’t honestly say this made a mark on me personally. I don’t feel like I learnt anything about ‘Priscilla’ herself. I doubt I’ll remember this one long term, sadly.”

Priscilla will air on BBC iPlayer from midnight on Sunday, April 20.

Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software has released a big new update, and it’s a must-have download for PC users.

According to Avalanche, the new Hogwarts Legacy patch “provides additional enhancements, bug fixes, and overall MODs support to the PC version of the game”.

This includes improvements to ray-tracing, as well as multiple fixes for the user-interface and upgrades to the overall performance.

However, it’s the fixes and tweaks to modding that will be of most interest to PC users on Epic and Steam.

For example, Avalanche has made improvements to the local mod validation tool, which will reduce how strict it is. 

Likewise, the new update removes a limitation which prevented mod sizes below 250MB.

To celebrate the release of the new update, Avalanche has released a new video spotlighting some of the best mods available for Hogwarts Legacy.

You can check out the video below, followed by the new Hogwarts Legacy update patch notes further down the page.

Localisation

• Resolved issue where the unsupported mod crash popup would be incorrectly formatted in some languages.

UI

• Resolved large font rating text being cut off on mod page.

• Resolved issue where mod order numbers were exceeding the bounds of their icons while using the large text option.

• Removed the state change of the report button to avoid confusion if clicked multiple times.

• Resolved issue where pressing the continue button in the load game window would not load the game.

• Resolved issue where the prompts for enable and disable mods were reversed.

• Resolved search input losing focus after page content loads.

• Resolved in game date not matching CurseForge website.

• Minor visual improvements for mod image loading.

• Resolved infinite spinner while offline in mods screen.

• Resolved issue where offline notification window could not be closed.

• Added an easier way to batch repair and update multiple enabled mods at once.

• Added improvements to the usability of modded save UI.

• Resolved seams with pagination in mod page.

• Resolved banner resize and transitions issues.

• Added view all buttons to Discovery tab shelves.

• Resolved certain resolutions causing overlapping issues in mod description and details.

• Resolved not showing notification when repair was completed in tab.

• Resolved manual sorting of categories in related widgets on the Discovery and Browse tab.

• Resolved favourite legend text not being correctly set in the mod page.

• Resolved display settings issues where low latency options would not update upon changing upscaler type.

• Resolved an issue where details pages for unavailable mods were displaying incorrectly.

• Resolved an issue where unavailable mods were showing the “Not Installed” alert title.

• Resolved style card grid having 5 rows.

• Resolved large text issues in mod’s detail page.

• Resolved no repair prompt being available when launching save file repair option.

• Better aligned sorting terminology with its actual meaning.

• Resolved an issue where the UI was displaying multiple confirm prompts on the same error window.

• Resolved an issue where mods could be uninstalled while they were updating.

Raytracing

• Resolved Hogsmeade watermill shadow not rotating with asset.

• Resolved Raytracing reflection system resolution issues.

Stability/Performance

• Resolved performance hit when accessing library tab with a large number of mods installed.

• Resolved a hitch when hovering on character slot that has a large number of mods enabled.

• Resolved an issue where older saves using mods sometimes were unable to refresh store inventory.

• Fixed bug where Low Latency Mode would not update when Frame Generation was changed.

• Resolved FSR2 screen space reflection noise.

• Resolved various minor upscaler issues.

Miscellaneous

• Implemented support for Intel’s Low Latency (XeLL) and Frame Generation (XeFG) Technologies.

• Updated Intel’s XeSS 2 version to latest revision.

• Implemented AMD FSR3.

• Resolved SSL verification issue which prevented some players from connecting to WB Games Online Services.

• Implemented AMD Anti-Lag 2.

• Added newly released GPUs to GPU List so graphics options correctly default.

• Resolved issue which caused missing graphics options in the settings menu on some graphics cards

Editor

• Removed limitation which prevented mod sizes below 250MB by removing the need for the Development Asset Registry File.

• Note: If you would like your existing published mods to be reduced in size you will have to re-upload them to CurseForge and have them re-cooked as an update for the size reduction to take effect.

• Resolved issue where custom fast travel was not saving in the quest editor once the Creator Kit was closed.

• Resolved crash when running peeves validation on mods that effect skeletal mesh max bone influence.

• Resolved crash if player tries to use a station in the creator kit.

• Made improvements to local mod validation tool to reduce how strict it is.

• Added “Account Info” button to the Creator Kit toolbar.

• Resolved an issue that can cause some gear appearance items to fail to load when certain mods are active.

• Added a new function to mod mutators that is called whenever a widget is created and adds a new function for searching for a specific widget within that widget’s widget tree allowing modders to access and modify internal widgets as desired.

• Enabled the DT_CustomWandStyles table to be modifiable. It can now be extended to add to player wand styles (both wands and handles), allowing multiple mods to add additional wand style options for the player.

• Note: that this does not modify the Ollivander wand creation menu

• Added the ability for modders to allow brooms and mounts to work in custom dungeons.

• Resolved issue where custom fast travel points were not saving in the quest editor.

• Resolved issue where mod mutators remained enabled no matter what mods were set active.

• Fixed Ancient Gate crash while playing in editor.

• Fixed crash caused by opening a map via the peeves asset tool.

• Added dungeon and wand tags so modders can now add those tags to their mods and have them appear in the new categories on the front end.

Doom: The Dark Ages is undoubtedly one of this year’s most anticipated new game releases, launching for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 15.

With the release date just a few weeks away, Microsoft and Bethesda have announced a new range of limited edition accessories exclusively for Xbox.

This includes an awesome new controller, which is inspired by the Doom Slayer’s armour. Priced at £74.99, the new Doom controller has a May 2 release date and can be pre-ordered from Amazon by clicking the link below.

According to the official description, the main body of the controller is inspired by the character’s matte green armour, complete with silver helmet spikes and plated sheathing across the top case.

The rubberised grips are said to be outfitted with a leather-like feel, while the “sinister red thumbstick” matches the DOOM Slayer’s chest port.

You’ve also got green ABXY buttons representing the Sentinel alphabet, as well as an orange left trigger inspired by the Shield Saw.

As an added bonus, fans who pre-order the Xbox controller will receive a code for the DOOM Slayer Executioner Skin in the upcoming game.

In addition to the controller, Xbox fans can also pick up a new Doom: The Dark Ages wrap for the Xbox Series X console, as well as an Elite game pad. Both accessories can be pre-ordered from the Microsoft website.

As for the game itself, Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to the 2016 Doom and its sequel Doom Eternal.

“In this third instalment of the modern DOOM series, players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.”

Fans can expect a selection of new weapons and items, including a Mecha Dragon and Skull Crusher weapon, the latter of which fires bone fragments.

Needless to say, the popular gory kills are also back, complete with improvements and even more variety. 

Back in 1999, despite scooping up five Oscars Saving Private Ryan narrowly missed out on winning Best Picture, causing one of the biggest shocks in award show history

Now the film has once again been snubbed to the top spot as Vulture ranked it only at number 5 on its list of the top 50 war films.

But with war movies accounting for a massively popular genre, the top 10 is sure to be jam-packed with the classics.

10. The Hurt Locker

Despite cinemagoers being largely resistant to films about the Iraq War, due to its controversial nature, this film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, picked up Best Picture and Best Director at the 2010 Academy Awards, which is only a fraction of the many awards it won. The film does not ignore the politics of the conflict but it focuses specifically on the experiences of an explosive ordnance disposal team

9. The Big Red One

With direction from Sam Fuller who had already been a crime reporter, pulp novelist, screenwriter, and soldier before his, he he brought his World War II experiences to many of his films, but put most of his autobiographical elements into this project, a sprawling war film based on his experiences in the Army’s 1st Infantry Division. He had been trying to film The Big Red One since the 1950s but persisted and managed to create this film on a budget before it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.

8. Come and See

Elem Klimov’s harrowing Come and See begins with a Belarusian teen named Flyora (Aleksey Kravchenko) imitating a soldier as he and a friend dig through a trench looking for guns. In the process, he seems to summon war to his village. Over the course of the film, Flyora’s face becomes a map of trauma. It’s a harsh, haunting depiction of innocence lost that is built around unblinking recreations of the atrocities of WW2.

7. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

With direction from, Georges Périnal his British satire was released in the middle of WW2 after cartoonist David Low’s aging, walrus-mustached, potbellied Colonel Blimp debuted in the Evening Standard in 1934. The character embodies an out-of-date in a certain type of British military man and the award-winning film serves as an origin story for him.

6. Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola’s loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness relays Conrad’s use of a river journey from South Vietnam to Cambodia as a trip into the most burrowing reaches of the human psyche. Martin Sheen stars as a special-ops soldier Captain Willard, charged with ending the career of the abusive Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando).

5. Saving Private Ryan

The end of the 20th century allowed for a period of reflection over what had happened in the middle of the century, most significantly, WW2. Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan focuses on the D-Day invasion of Normandy and follows a group of soldier’s experiences, led by Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks.

4. Grand Illusion (1937)

Causing much controversy in both Germany and France, this Jean Renoir masterpiece about French WWI prisoners of war and their German captors sparked a conversation about its pacifist attitudes. With a release in 1937, and then a rerelease in 1946 in the aftermath of the second world war, it’s no surprise it didn’t sit well with many critics. But years later, the film overwhelms those concerns with its connection to humanity.

3. The Thin Red Line (1998)

This adaptation of James Jones’s 1962 novel based on his World War II experiences fighting in the Guadalcanal campaign from Terrence Malick attracted both rising and established stars. The film that made it to the big screen ended up changing shape quite dramatically over time and there is a version somewhere in which Adiran Brody plays a key character rather than popping up for only a few minutes of screen time.

2. Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 adaptation of Humphrey Cobb’s WW1 novel demonstrates the sheer brutality of trench warfare. The film shows officers ordering soldiers to fight in a battle they know they cannot win. Kubrick’s ability to depict the cost of humanity that this war had is what makes the film so impressively haunting. The final scene shows a rare moment of connection and vulnerability while a German singer performs, (Christiane Kubrick).

1. Ran

After difficulty with funding the project, problems with his sight and the loss of his wife, Akira Kurosawa did not expect to create a sweeping epic that would become the greatest war film ever made. It is a story of one man’s horrifying regret and his tragic end where a rush of reflection leads to humbling even the proudest of people. The film was also the most expensive Japanese movie to be made up until that point and was a huge technical accomplishment.

Home Alone’s legendary director Chris Columbus has admitted the Donald Trump cameo in the beloved movie’s sequel is a “curse” and that he wishes it “was gone”. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was released in 1992, just two years after the 1990 original, and featured a scene where Macaulay Culkin’s protagonist Kevin McCallister briefly meets Trump in the Plaza Hotel and asks him for directions. The entire sequence last just seven seconds and the filmmaker is now very vocal in his dislike of the moment.

“(It has) become this curse. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone. I can’t cut it. If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something,” he said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Oscar nominee Columbus, who also directed the first two Harry Potter films had previously discussed the cameo with Business Insider in 2020 claiming Trump more or less “bullied his way into the movie.”

“We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie’. So we agreed to put him in the movie, and when we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on screen. So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience’,” he said.

Trump himself has disputed this account. Writing on Truth Social in 2023 he insisted that Columbus was “begging” him to appear in “Home Alone 2.”

“I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it. They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history! That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time.

People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus…put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success … Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!” he penned.

Lost in the Big Apple, sees Kevin stumble into the Plaza Hotel and briefly meets Trump, who he asks for directions. Trump owned the Plaza Hotel at the time.

Columbus isn’t alone in wishing the cameo could be removed from the beloved family flick. Macaulay Culkin went viral for backing an online campaign to erase Trump from the film.

Responding to a tweet from a fan that read “Petition to digitally replace Trump in ‘Home Alone 2’ with 40-year-old Macaulay Culkin,” the actor wrote: “Sold.”

Canada’s CBC television station took matters into their own hands in 2019 when they cut it from a broadcast. Defending the decision CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said eight minutes of the 120-minute film had been trimmed to make way for adverts.

He said the edits were made in 2014, before Trump was elected, and were not politically motivated.

The gripping war film first released in 2020 and began streaming on Netflix the following year is still captivating fans and history buffs alike having received a 100 percent approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

The harrowing war film The Forgotten Battle directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. depicts the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944 during World War II. The film follows a Dutch Axis soldier played by Gijs Blom, a British glider pilot played by Jamie Flatters, and a resistance woman from Zeeland played by Susan Radder. Tom Felton, who rose to fame after playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film, also stars in the movie as character Tony Turner, a Royal Air Force First Officer who gets separated from his comrades after an accident, along with main character Will Sinclair.

Described by one critic as “unflinching and gut-wrenching, The Forgotten Battle is at times absolutely stunning” and viewers are still flocking to watch the touching film.

Film enthusiasts have continued to express their admiration for the epic war drama which has been described as “magnificent” while others have been left “speechless”, as one fan raved: “Before watching this film I had no prior knowledge of it and no particular expectation. However, I found it engrossing and extremely realistic. It made me reflect on what being a soldier could be like and I thought of my grandad who fought in the First World War. Ultimately, I found it very moving.”

Another review said: “The Forgotten Battle excels in its visual and technical aspects, with impressive cinematography and a fitting musical score that enhances the overall viewing experience. Despite its modest budget, the film delivers high-quality action sequences and a realistic depiction of wartime struggles, making it a standout in the genre. Overall, “The Forgotten Battle” is a gripping and educational film that offers a poignant look at a lesser-known but crucial part of World War II history. It is a must-watch for fans of war movies and those interested in historical events.”

The Forgotten Battle was considered a great success upon its release, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a critic score of 100 percent. Within 28 days of being on Netflix, the film had accumulated over 60.93 million hours watched, making it one of the service’s top 10 non-English movies of all time.

The film finished in third place in the list of most successful films in the Netherlands in 2021 with just over 507,000 tickets sold. It was the highest Dutch film on the list, with No Time to Die and Fast & Furious 9 in first and second place respectively. The film won the Platinum Film Award for box office success.

While the film is not based on real people – The Forgotten Battle is based on real events with many of the big-picture moments capturing true elements of World War II, including the tactics and equipment used.

The Battle of Scheldt was a series of military operations, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. It was one of the largest and most severe military operations that took place on Dutch soil during the Second World War.

Another review says: “Astonishing movie and surely this should spark a host more of movies depicting the European WW2. It isn’t the action (let’s face it, guns, shooting, death can only be shot so many ways) but the context, story and characters provide a gripping combination that you won’t forget.”

While the film has been compared to the 1998 classic Saving Private Ryan, others were left somewhat torn by the film, as one shared: “This is a good war movie. Graphic at times, but the stories drive the movie forward until the end. Very well filmed and acted. A well made feature if you can stomach war.”

The Forgotten Battle has continued to receive glowing reviews five years on as one read: “This is one of the most impressive movies about WWII that I have ever seen. The battle sequences are evocative of the chaos, horror, brutality and insanity of war. Most realistic, surpassing even ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Magnificent. I plan to study this one for quite a while.”

Another shared: “Surprisingly good WW2 film that had some drama and action. I really liked that it focused on a theatre of the war not normally covered by Hollywood.”

The Forgotten Battle is available to stream on Netflix

Fortnite fans are counting down to the release of the new Chapter 2-inspired Slurp Rush map for Reload.

In a post on X, Fortnite developer Epic Games announced an April 15 release date for the new Slurp Rush Reload map. “Rift in! A new Chapter 2-inspired map, unlimited Slurp, and double the rush coming to Reload. Tomorrow,” the post reads. Fans can also check out a new gameplay trailer for the bite-sized map, which you can see further down the page.

In addition to the release of the new Slurp Rush map, Epic Games announced plans to take the game offline in order to apply a Hotfix.

According to Epic Games, Fortnite will be taken offline to apply the Hotfix at 11am BST UK time on April 15.

“We’ll be taking a short downtime tomorrow at 6 AM ET while we deploy a hotfix,” Epic tweets. “Matchmaking will be disabled 30 minutes prior.”

There’s no word on how long the game will be offline, but server maintenance typically lasts for around two hours. This means the game should be back online at around 1pm BST.

As for Slurp Rush, the miniature map contains eight points of interest for players to explore.

This includes Steamy Stacks, LogJam Logging, Fort Crumpet and Boomin Base. That’s on top of Dirty Dock, Stilt-Town, Lockdown Lighthouse and the eponymous Slurpy Swamp.

The new Reload release also coincides with the return of a handful of weapons, including the Combat Shotgun, the Maven Shotgun and the Mammoth Pistol.

The Hotfix releases just a week after the launch of update 34.30, which added Sabrina Carpenter to the game.

Epic explains more: “Global superstar and two-time GRAMMY winner Sabrina Carpenter brings her eccentric brand of pop to Fortnite Festival Season 8.

“Unlock her “Juno” and “Nonsense” Jam Tracks in the Season 8 Music Pass and find more of her tracks in the Shop! That’s that Season 8 Icon, Sabrina: there’ll be a Sabrina Carpenter Outfit in both the Music Pass and Shop.”

In addition to Sabrina Carpenter, the recent Fortnite update introduced an Adventure Time collaboration, which launched last week.

A new statue of famous crime writer Agatha Christie has been unveiled in a beautiful UK seaside area that was also her hometown. The statue, by local artist Elisabeth Hadley, has been revealed in the town of Torquay. 

The statue depicts the author, who was born in Torquay in 1890, and her favourite dog, Peter. The statue will reportedly be the focal point of the Devon seaside town’s new £4m harbourside plaza. The work was unveiled by her grandson, Mathew Prichard, who told the BBC: “Next year she would have been gone 50 years and the story goes on.” He added: “She had a huge band of fans and booksellers and publishers all of her life.”

Agatha Christie was an English detective novelist and playwright. She wrote some 75 novels, including 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.

Christie is perhaps the world’s most famous mystery writer and is one of the best-selling novelists of all time.

A Blue Plaque on Barton Road, Torquay, marks the spot of Ashfield, Agatha Christie’s childhood home.

Ashfield was a large Victorian mansion where Agatha spent a happy childhood with her parents, Frederick and Clara Miller, and her elder siblings Monty and Madge.

According to her official website, during the World War 1, Agatha worked firstly as a VAD nurse in Torquay’s field hospital before transferring to the dispensary set up in the Town Hall.

It explained: “Here she worked as an assistant to the pharmacist and found the inspiration to write her first detective novel.

“She chose the murder method – which, given her pharmaceutical learnings, had to be poison – and the villain, and then considered her detective.

“At the time there were numerous Belgian war refugees in Torquay, and they provided the inspiration for her sleuth.

“Finding it hard to concentrate, she took two weeks off work on the advice of her mother to finish the novel, repairing to the Moorland Hotel at Haytor on Dartmoor where she completed it in 1916.

“The book was named The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and introduced the world to Hercule Poirot.”

He has won a whopping 12 Grammys thanks to his musical talents – but some Sting fans still have no idea how he got his iconic stage name.

Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, was the frontman and bassist for The Police from 1977 until their breakup in 1986.

In 1985, he launched a solo career and has sold more than 100 million records throughout his musical career. But despite his fame, some people still have no idea how and why he became known as Sting.

Commenting on his name, one confused fan asked: “Is Sting called Sting because he was in The Police and it’s just a pun on police sting? I had this thought the other day I’ve blown my own mind. As if the answer to this little mystery has been right there in plain sight all along.”

In a 2011 interview with Time, he said: “[My wife] Trudy calls me Sting. I was never called Gordon. You could shout Gordon in the street and I would just move out of your way. My children call me Dad.”

It turns out he earned the nickname when he was in The Police – and it all came down to his choice in clothing.

He previously told the Daily Star: “He [a bandmate] made me sing a song which was awful. So, in protest I began to wear a black and yellow top. He started to call me Sting as a joke. I’m grateful for it now as when you have to sign something, it’s short!”

Adding to this, he told CBS Sunday Morning in 2016: “I used to play in a traditional jazz group when I was 16 with much older guy.

“I used to wear these yellow and black sweaters. And they thought I looked like a wasp. They joked, they called me Sting and they thought it was hilarious – they kept calling me Sting and that became my name.”

One fan said on Reddit: “I had always hoped it was because of the Hobbit.”

Another added: “The story back in the mid 80s was that he had a black and yellow striped sweater that someone said made him look like a bee, hence the name ‘Sting’.”

A third fan said: “Before forming The Police in 1977, in the early part of that decade he was in a group called the Phoenix Jazzmen (like the rising fictional bird, not the city).

“He had a habit of wearing a yellow and black jacket most of the time. The black stripes went left to right on the jacket.

“One of his band mates said he resembled a wasp insect and the joking obviously led to them nicknaming him Sting.

“Gordon could take a joke, looks like, and kept it. Yes, it did kind of come in handy, being in a group called The Police.

“Pretty gutsy thing to name your band, knowing what a great sense of humour law enforcement sometimes has.

If you’ve been captivated by Meghann Fahy’s latest thriller, Drop, it’s the perfect time to revisit one of her most memorable early roles.

The Emmy-nominated star of The White Lotus is back on the big screen as Violet in the new thriller, which premiered in cinemas this Friday (11th April).

Violet, a young widow and mother, hesitantly agrees to a blind date with Henry (played by Brandon Sklenar) and is pleasantly surprised to find him more charming than she anticipated. However, their dinner at a high-rise restaurant takes a sinister turn when Violet starts receiving anonymous threatening messages on her phone, ensnaring her in a chilling game of cat and mouse.

While horror enthusiasts have already been gripped by the thrilling new film, where else can you see standout performances from lead actress Fahy?

Look no further than BBC iPlayer, where all five seasons of her breakout comedy-drama series, The Bold Type, are currently available for free streaming.

In her first major role in a long-running series, Fahy played fashion assistant Sutton Brady in the popular Freeform show, which follows three women working at the renowned Scarlet magazine.

Alongside her best friends Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens) and Kat Edison (Aisha Dee), Sutton navigates modern womanhood in New York City under the guidance of Scarlet’s legendary editor, Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin).

Freeform’s hit series The Bold Type, which sashayed across our screens from 2017 to 2021, is now available entirely for free. This gem offers new viewers the thrilling chance to delve into the world of Scarlet magazine and join the stylish pursuits of the show’s much-loved trio or lets devoted fans relive the magic once more.

Viewers have unanimously applauded the series with five-star accolades on Google reviews, signalling it as a must-watch experience.

The series has resonated deeply with its audience, with one passionate fan gushing: “The Bold Type is practically family at this point. I love love this series.

“From the creative costume design, writing, music and VFX aesthetics, this show is perfect in every way. It’s the kind of show you’re willing to wait a year for a new release.”

Another enthusiast declared their newfound adoration: “Quickly became one of my favourite shows. Hitting on a wide variety of issues in today’s social and political climate, this show was a breath of fresh air.

“Its honesty and fearlessness was something I really needed in my life. I hadn’t had these kinds of leading ladies on show in quite some time and it has been really nice following their lives, watching them evolve as women, as friends, and as human beings.”

Finally, one more viewer recommended: “This show is incredible. It highlights so many issues in today’s society, shows balanced arguments and makes you think about things you often wouldn’t.

“The show is perfectly written, the actors give an impeccable performance really portraying their character to the fullest.

“Every episode is fun, surprising and clever. The fashion is exquisite.”

If you’ve been captivated by Fahy’s performances in Drop, The White Lotus and Netflix’s The Perfect Couple over the past few years, don’t miss her standout role in The Bold Type.

The Bold Type is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Sir Terry Pratchett was one of Britain’s best-loved authors, and  a master of comic fantasy.

His Discworld novels sold over 100 million copies worldwide, and in them, from 1983 to 2015, he built a sprawling fictional universe where magic and satire collided, and even Death had a dry sense of humour.

He was knighted for services to literature in 2009, co-wrote the beloved Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, and created characters that remain fan favourites to this day – like Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Rincewind the wizard – before passing away at the age of 66, having struggled with early-set Alzheimer’s disease for years.

Here, based on ratings left by readers on book reviewing platform Goodreads, we rank his 11 most popular books:

10. Night Watch (Discworld #29; City Watch #6)

115,203 ratings

Thrown back in time during a magical storm, Commander Sam Vimes finds himself in Ankh-Morpork’s brutal past. Forced to take on a new identity, he must train his younger self and prevent a revolution from ending in bloodshed. This darker 29th Discworld entry explores justice, identity and moral compromise.

9. Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6; Witches #2)

125,674 ratings

A satirical spin on Macbeth, Wyrd Sisters sees Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick pulled into royal drama when a usurper takes the throne. Expect ghosts, a missing baby, a travelling theatre troupe and amateur dramatics.

8. Small Gods (Discworld #13)

128,391 ratings

Brutha is a simple novice in the powerful Omnian church – but he’s the only one who can still hear the voice of their god, Om, now trapped in the body of a tortoise. This standalone entry mixes theology, politics and Pratchett’s signature satire.

7. Going Postal (Discworld #33; Moist von Lipwig #1)

130,968 ratings

Conman Moist von Lipwig is offered two choices: he can rebuild the city’s dead postal service or be hanged. Faced with golems, psychotic assassins, and bureaucratic chaos, Moist must outwit everyone, including himself. 

6. The Light Fantastic (Discworld #2; Rincewind #2)

161,872 ratings

The world is heading for a cataclysm – and its only hope is the worst wizard on the Disc. Rincewind returns alongside Twoflower and the Luggage as they battle trolls, Death, and cosmic forces. This fast-paced entry is a direct sequel to The Colour of Magic.

5. Equal Rites (Discworld #3; Witches #1)

191,156 ratings

When a wizard accidentally passes his powers to a girl, young Eskarina Smith sets off to join Unseen University, which has never allowed women. With Granny Weatherwax by her side, she challenges the traditions of the male-dominated magic of her world.

4. Guards! Guards! (Discworld #8; City Watch #1)

224,471 ratings

Ankh-Morpork is full of dragons, secret societies and civic incompetence, and burned-out Sam Vimes teams up with a motley crew of misfits in the Night Watch to save the city from destruction. This one marks the start of the beloved City Watch sub-series and introduces some of Pratchett’s most enduring characters.

3. Mort (Discworld #4; Death #1)

261,182 ratings

Honest, curious and awkward Mort becomes an apprentice to Death, but ends up making the biggest mistake possible: messing with fate. This fan favourite balances humour with heart, offering one of the most accessible entry points to the Discworld series. It also begins the journey of Death as one of Pratchett’s most philosophical characters.

2. The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1; Rincewind #1)

407,225 ratings

Pratchett’s debut Discworld novel introduces Rincewind the cowardly wizard and Twoflower the oblivious tourist. Their misadventures take them across a surreal fantasy world that parodies Tolkien, Le Guin and traditional sword-and-sorcery. This instalment is a cult classic and the start of a long series.

1. Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman)

799,086 ratings

The end is near, but angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley don’t love the idea of going through an apocalypse. They then join forces to try and stop the Antichrist, now a schoolboy in rural England. With quirky humour and theological mischief, Good Omens blends British whimsy with sharp commentary on good, evil and the nature of humanity. Pratchett’s most famous book has been adapted into a Emmy and BAFTA-nominated series released in 2019 – now heading into its third and final season.

Caitriona Balfe, famed for her role in the Starz historical drama Outlander, has stunned fans with a new character that is a far cry from the show’s setting.

Whilst Balfe and her co-star Sam Heughan—who played Claire and Jamie Fraser—have just finished shooting for the final season of Outlander, they’re not taking any breaks. The duo is already diving into fresh ventures outside of the series.

Irish talent Balfe has undergone a dramatic transformation for her new part, acting beside Hollywood’s Rami Malek in the thrilling film, The Amateur.

The movie, adapted from Robert Littell’s bestselling book, features Malek as Charlie Heller, a CIA analyst whose life is upended after his spouse Sarah (played by Rachel Brosnahan) falls victim to a terror plot.

Determined to avenge her death, Charlie embarks on a renegade mission to find and eliminate those behind the act, despite his inexperience with firearms.

While Balfe’s specific contribution to the story is shrouded in secrecy, anticipation surges among fans who were impressed by her Russian-accented role in this contemporary thriller.

Bolstered by excitement from her fanbase, she shared a trailer for The Amateur, prompting moviegoers to flock to the cinemas.

Admirers have been vocal in their praise, with one comment on her update standing out: “A completely different role unlike anything we’ve seen you in before, and you rocked it! And nailed yet another accent, too! Well done.”

Fans took to social media to praise the star, with one writing: “Seen it and you were BRILLIANT!! Such a great movie!”

Another fan commented: “Saw The Amateur and really liked it! [Redacted] is such a different role and you were fantastic!”

The star’s latest outing proved to be a real hit, with another fan sharing: “I watched the movie today and I already want to watch it again,

“Your Russian accent has improved significantly since Star Force! What an impeccable performance!

“[Redacted] now occupies second place on my podium, losing only to Claire Fraser.”

Meanwhile, another fan shared their excitement at seeing the star on screen, writing: “Saw this yesterday and you were brilliant. Of course I jumped up and said ‘there she is!’ We all were excited to see you.”

While this role marked a departure from her famous portrayal of Claire in Outlander, her fans are still eager to check out her latest movie.

The Amateur is in UK cinemas now. Outlander is available on Starz in the US and MGM+ via Prime Video in the UK.

Switch 2 pre-orders will go live in the US on May 8, Nintendo has confirmed. Fans can register their interest in the console by visiting the My Nintendo Store website, signing into their Nintendo account and selecting a bundle. Similar to the pre-order process in the UK, Nintendo will send invitation emails to eligible customers, who will have 72 hours to pre-order the device ahead of its June 5 release date.

According to the FAQ section of the registration site, the first wave of invitations will be sent on May 8. Nintendo explains more: “The first batch of invitations will go out starting May 8, 2025, with additional batches of invitation emails sent periodically until purchasing on My Nintendo Store is opened to everyone.”

In order to receive an invite, customers will need to have a 12 month Nintendo Switch Online subscription and 50 hours of gameplay. 

“Invitation emails will be prioritised on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025,” Nintendo continues.

It’s also worth noting that you’ll need to have opted in to share gameplay data with Nintendo. Likewise, the Nintendo account holder must be aged 18 or over.

North American Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders were initially meant to go live on April 9. However, Nintendo delayed the pre-order date in the US following the announcement of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.

“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” Nintendo said in a statement.

It’s unclear if the new May 8 pre-order date applies to other retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy. UK retailers went live with pre-orders ahead of the official April 8 date, so there’s a chance something similar may happen in the US.

The Nintendo Switch 2 release date was announced during a recent Direct conference, alongside a boatload of new games.

The new Nintendo console will launch on June 5, alongside games like Mario Kart World, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, Fortnite, and Hogwarts Legacy.

Additional first and third-party games will be available in the weeks and months after launch, including Donkey Kong Bananza on July 17 and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond later in the year.

Nintendo will also release enhanced versions of existing Switch games, including upgraded editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

The news was announced by developer NetEase on X, alongside confirmation about how long the game will be offline.

“Maintenance will begin on April 11 at 2:00 AM PDT and is expected to take approximately 2–3 hours,” reads a NetEase tweet.

“During this time, the servers will be offline, and players will not be able to access the game. Server return times may vary based on progress.”

Fans can use the server downtime to download and install the new update, which will introduce the new content launching as part of Season 2.

Indeed, once the servers come back online, fans will be able to check out the new Season 2 content.

The new season introduces Emma Frost as a playable character, alongside a new Battle Pass containing a variety of different skins.

Emma Frost is a brand new Vanguard character joining the game on April 11. First appearing in the X-Men series, Emma Frost has the ability to transform her body into diamond, giving her greater attack power and defensive capabilities.

Frost’s Psionic Seduction Ultimate move will prevent opponents from using their Ultimates, all the while forcing them to move towards her.

Other new Season 2 features include the addition of a brand new Domination map, titled Hellfire Gala: Krakoa.

The creative team behind the iconic film The Shawshank Redemption had to think on their feet after being barred from using live animals in a particular scene.

In a memorable moment from the classic movie, character Brooks Hatlen is seen tending to his pet crow within the confines of the prison walls, but the American Humane Society took issue with the original plan for this sequence.

Despite its initial lukewarm reception, the film, which is based on Stephen King’s novella and stars Hollywood heavyweights Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, has since been elevated to legendary status, often hailed as one of the greatest films ever made.

However, the journey to create The Shawshank Redemption was not without its challenges. One particular hurdle involved a scene where Hatlen feeds his crow, prompting the filmmakers to embark on an unusual quest.

A recent revelation on the r/TodayILearned subreddit illuminated the behind-the-scenes struggle with a seemingly simple shot that turned out to be quite problematic for the crew.

According to the post: “During a scene in The Shawshank Redemption in which a crow was to be fed a maggot, the American Humane Society objected against the idea of a live animal being killed for the scene meaning the team had to find and use a maggot that had died of natural causes.”

Director Frank Darabont reflected on this peculiar situation in his screenplay notes, which were later made public following the film’s release.

He remarked that the maggot could not have been intentionally killed by the production team, and that even a joke about locating one that had perished naturally did not amuse the American Humane society.

A fan reminisced: “Darabont talks about this in his published annotated script. The crew had to find a maggot that was already dead (as in, the crew couldn’t just kill one and then feed it to the bird).

“When the crew dug through the tin of bait they had purchased at the local fishing store and found one that was already dead, Darabont offered to have it autopsied to make sure it had died of natural causes. The ASPCA rep on the shoot didn’t, apparently, find it funny.

“By the end of the day, the prop department had made a tiny director’s chair out of matchsticks to give the live worms somewhere to rest between takes.”

Additionally, further details emerged when Darabont revealed that a waxwork worm was used instead during the scene. In the DVD commentary, Darabont confirmed a representative was present on set to “protect the rights” of the maggot.

He recounted: “This was a waxworm my prop guys purchased a local bait store. We had the ASPCA lady come on this day because we had that little baby crow in Jim Whitmore’s vest pocket, and I figured they were there to make sure nobody mistreated the baby crow, right? No.

“This woman was also there to protect the rights of the ‘maggot’ in the scene, and was insistent that we do not feed a live maggot to the baby crow.

“I was trying to reason with this lady by pointing out that it was from a bait shop and anyone in the country could walk in, buy a box of worms, ram a hook through them and drop them in a river to be eaten by bass, but for some reason a filmmaker with $100,000+ a day pouring out the door is not allowed to feed a live waxworm to a baby crow?”.

“I laud the ASPCA because there were a lot of filmmaking abuses back in the day, when filmmakers used to trip horses with wires and do a lot of very cruel things, and the ASPCA has put a stop to that. However, when you can’t kill bait because of the bureaucracy I think it has gotten a little bit silly.”

Available for £99.99, the PS Pro Disc Drive attachment easily fits to your console with a just a few quick steps.

Making sure you’ve unplugged everything, simply remove the faceplate and attach the disc drive by lining up the two clips.

The Disc Drive comes with its own cover, which you attach to the console in place of the original faceplate. 

Once it’s attached, you can play DVDs, Blu-Rays and PS4/PS5 games on the PlayStation 5 Pro.

The PS5 Disc Drive doesn’t appear to be in stock anywhere other than the PlayStation Direct website at the time of writing, so you may have to hurry and make the purchase before they sell out.

It’s worth noting that PS5 Disc Drives are limited to one per customer, which should hopefully discourage scalpers.

A big upgrade over the original PS5, the PS5 Pro makes a variety of improvements to visuals and performance.

The PS5 Pro console comes with Sony’s excellent DualSense controller, as well as a copy of Astro’s Playroom built-in to the device.

While the improvements to visuals and performance are the headline features, it’s worth remembering that the PS5 Pro also comes with a 2TB solid-state drive, which is twice the storage of the original PS5 at launch. 

With games like Call of Duty potentially taking up a few hundred gigabytes of storage space, the bigger SSD is arguably worth the price alone. 

Of course, it’s the improved specs that really makes the PS5 Pro worth purchasing, especially if you’re sick of choosing between graphics and performance.

Compared to the original PlayStation 5, the PS5 Pro contains a bigger GPU, features Advanced Ray-Tracing and utilises AI-driven upscaling.

The GPU will provide rendering that’s up to 45% faster thanks to 67% more Compute Units and 28% faster memory. This should lead to a better balance between visuals and performance.

The April PlayStation Plus Extra line-up contains a couple of brand new day-one releases, including an interesting new adventure called Blue Prince.

Blue Prince is a first-person narrative adventure game that’s proven to be a real hit with critics, earning an impressive 92% rating on Metacritic. As you can see from the image below, the game has an April 10 release date and a 4pm BST UK launch time on PlayStation. Better yet, PS Plus Extra subscribers can download and play it as part of their membership package.

If you’re not a PS Plus Extra subscriber, then it’s worth noting that Blue Prince is available to purchase separately, and is also coming to Xbox and Steam.

READ MORE: PS Plus Extra and Premium April 2025 games line-up revealed in full

The aim of Blue Prince is to create a path through a mysterious manor house by selecting a new room every time you reach a closed door. 

Some rooms provide you with items, coins and upgrades, while others reveal new secrets about the house and its inhabitants.

Not only are players limited by the number of steps they can take, but the house resets and the layout changes at the end of each day. You can improve your chances of success by earning permanent upgrades, which will stay with your character between runs. Other items are lost with each reset.

Sony explains more: “Upon reaching a closed door in Mt. Holly, you decide what room appears behind it and each decision shapes your path as you navigate through the manor. Every door can reveal new and exciting chambers that contain their own unique challenges and secrets.

“But be careful how you draft, for each day the manor’s floor plan resets and the rooms you saw today may not be the same rooms you see tomorrow.”

Not only does Blue Prince feature a unique gameplay loop, but it also contains a surprisingly captivating storyline. The more you explore, the more you’ll piece together the history of the manor and overall narrative.

In addition to Blue Prince, the April 2025 PS Plus Extra line-up includes Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 2, which is another brand new release.

That’s on top of Harry Potter video game spinoff Hogwarts Legacy, which has been predicted for the past few months.

Electronic Arts features heavily in the April line-up, adding new games like EA Sports PGA Tour and Battlefield 1.

The April Premium line-up includes classic horror game Alone in the Dark 2, as well as War of the Monsters.

The PS Plus Extra games will be available to download and play from April 15, while Blue Prince launches on April 10.

Legendary horror author Stephen King appeared on a talk show where he surprised fans by revealing his personal top five favourite stories that he’s written himself. Known for a career that spans decades and includes more than 60 novels and 200 short stories, narrowing it down couldn’t have been easy.

But the “King of Horror” gave a glimpse into the works that have stuck with him the most, from grotesque survival tales to deeply personal novels, and even his latest hit. Here’s a deeper look into each of the five stories that Stephen King himself holds closest.

PlayStation Plus subscribers are about to discover the identity of the games joining the Extra and Premium line-ups for April 2025.

Made up of a selection of PS4, PS5 and retro games (and occasionally a PSVR 2 release), the next batch of PS Plus Extra and Premium games will be revealed at 4.30pm BST UK time on the afternoon of tomorrow, April 9.

The majority of the games will be available to download and install on April 15, although one game is launching even sooner.

READ MORE: PS Plus April 2025 Extra games – Last of Us Part 2 and Star Wars Outlaws lead predictions

Indeed, it was announced back in February that “genre-bending architectural adventure” Blue Prince will join the PlayStation Plus Extra line-up as a day-one launch title.

It has since been revealed that Blue Prince has an April 10 release date, which means PS Plus Extra subscribers should be able to start playing later this week.

Judging by the early reviews, Blue Prince is the kind of game that’s worth subscribing for. At the time of writing, the puzzle adventure is sitting pretty with a 92% score on Metacritic. It’s been described as astonishing and a masterpiece, so make sure you don’t miss this one when it launches on April 10.

If you’re not a PS Plus Extra subscriber, then it’s worth noting that Blue Prince is available to purchase separately, and will also be available on Xbox and Steam.

Elsewhere, Sony has confirmed that narrative adventure game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 2 will also be available as part of the PS Plus Extra line-up for April, and will launch with the other games on April 15.

Outside of the early announcements, subscribers have been attempting to predict the PS Plus line-up over on Reddit.

The prediction that makes the most sense is for The Last of Us Part 2. Not only is it a first-party game published by Sony, but it would coincide nicely with the launch of Season 2 of the HBO show.

Ubisoft open-world action game Star Wars Outlaws is also getting a lot of mentions in the predictions thread. Despite only launching back in August 2024, Star Wars Outlaws didn’t quite live up to sales expectations. A PS Plus Extra release would help drum up interest in the game, and potentially lead to sales of downloadable content.

Other high profile predictions include Final Fantasy 16, as well as Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil Village, Lies of P, Hogwarts Legacy, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Mortal Kombat 1 and Elden Ring.

As for the PS Plus Premium games, it was previously suggested that PS2-era God of War titles could join the service. With the series recently celebrating its 20th anniversary, now would be a good time for some classic entries to join PS Plus Premium.

On 18 December 1966, a young man named Tara Browne died from injuries sustained in a horrific car crash in London. Just 21 years old, he was a rising figure in the Swinging London scene of the ’60s, a friend to The Beatles, and heir to the Guinness fortune.

His death would soon inspire one of the most famous opening lines in pop music history – written by his friend John Lennon.

‘A Day In The Life’, the final track of The Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, begins with the lines: “I read the news today, oh boy / About a lucky man who made the grade.”

Those lyrics, Lennon later confirmed in the Beatles’ Anthology, were prompted by a short article in the Daily Mail reporting the coroner’s verdict on Browne’s death.

“I was writing ‘A Day In The Life’ with the Daily Mail propped in front of me on the piano”, he recalled of the 17th of January 1967. “I had it open at their News in Brief, or Far and Near, whatever they call it. I noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash.”

Tara Browne was born into Irish aristocracy as the son of Dominick Browne, the fourth Baron Oranmore and Browne, and Oonagh Guinness, a member of the famous brewing dynasty. Despite his privileged background, Browne fully immersed himself in London’s counterculture during the 1960s, and was part of the art and music circles that included The Beatles and Rolling Stones.

On the night of his death, Browne and his girlfriend – 19-year-old model Suki Potier – had been visiting a friend in Earls Court. They left just before 1am and went looking for something to eat, with Browne driving his Lotus Elan through South Kensington. He then ran a red light at speed, and, attempting to avoid an oncoming Volkswagen, crashed into a stationary van on Redcliffe Gardens.

According to Potier, Browne deliberately swerved to take the brunt of the collision and save her life, and she was left with no injuries.

Browne, though, tragically died of his injuries the next day, leaving behind a separated wife, Noreen, and two sons, as well as an estate valued at £56,069 – though he was due to inherit £1 million on his 25th birthday.

Though Lennon made it clear that he hadn’t directly chronicled Browne’s accident, the event lingered in his mind: “I didn’t copy the accident” Lennon told Hunter Davies in the band’s 1968 authorised biography. “Tara didn’t blow his mind out. But it was in my mind when I was writing that verse.”

The line “He blew his mind out in a car / He didn’t notice that the lights had changed” has often been linked to Browne’s death, though interpretations vary.

Paul McCartney, who co-wrote parts of the song, offered a different perspective decades later: “The verse about the politician blowing his mind out in a car we wrote together”, explained McCartney said in Barry Miles’ 1997 authorised biography Many Years From Now. “It has been attributed to Tara Browne, the Guinness heir, which I don’t believe is the case. Certainly as we were writing it, I was not attributing it to Tara in my head. In John’s head it might have been.”

“In my head I was imagining a politician bombed out on drugs who’d stopped at some traffic lights and didn’t notice that the lights had changed”, McCartney added. “The ‘blew his mind’ was purely a drugs reference, nothing to do with a car crash.”

Later, in his 2021 book The Lyrics, McCartney clarified that the verse had indeed been written in reference to the accident. He said of Browne, whom he considered a friend: “I wrote about him in ‘A Day in the Life”.

Browne’s connection with the Beatles wasn’t new. He’d reportedly helped The Beatles with early introductions to London’s elite and avant-garde circles, and was known for his charm, fashion sense, and quick wit.

Few films have left such a lasting impression on the crime genre of the latter part of the 20th century as Heat. Directed by Michael Mann, the film is often cited as one of the most intelligent, stylish, and emotionally deep crime films of all time.

Clocking in at nearly three hours, Heat is a slow-burn masterpiece that blends great storytelling and breathtaking acting performances against the epic backdrop of Los Angeles.

But, truly, what helps set Heat apart from other heist movies is its major cross-over of Robert De Niro vs. Al Pacino.

De Niro stars as Neil McCauley, a disciplined career thief who lives by a strict personal code that keeps him focused, efficient, and emotionally detached.

On the other side, Pacino plays Vincent Hanna, an obsessive LAPD detective who’s equally committed to his work, even at the expense of his family life.

The two men are polar opposites in terms of their moral compass, but they deliver the same level of intensity and drive when it comes to their craft.

Their cat-and-mouse dynamic builds throughout the story, culminating in one of the most iconic moments in film history: the diner scene – or the first time De Niro and Pacino ever appeared together on screen. It’s a quiet, tense conversation over coffee, but it is seen as one of the most energy-filled scenes of the film.

The film is the first time the icons were shown on the same shot as each other, apart from one split fade screen in Godfather 2.

Heat is lauded for not being just about crime – it touches on the topics of loneliness, duty, and the costs of lives. More than a simple ‘good vs. bad’ narrative, we see McCauley’s struggle to connect with someone outside his criminal world, at the same time as Hanna’s marriage comes crashing down due to the intensity of his job.

Apart from the main duo, we get to see Val Kilmer in one of his finest roles, playing Chris Shiherlis: McCauley’s loyal but reckless right-hand man. Additionally, Ashley Judd, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, and Danny Trejo round out the supporting cast.

Finally, the film’s tension is not just seen in understated cryptic scenes. Audiences experience the city’s harsh lights and wide freeways, bank robbery and gunfight high-tension scenes, and choreographed action sequences.

Upon its release, Heat got soaring reviews from both critics and the general audience, and its impact is seen in the subsequent generation of filmmakers – Christopher Nolan has cited it as a major inspiration for The Dark Knight, and the Safdie brothers and Denis Villeneuve have also praised it.

As a side effect of Heat’s hyper realistic sequences, some gangsters and criminals around the world have admittedly successfully mirrored the film’s meticulous criminal acts. On the brighter side, military and law enforcement agencies have also studied Heat for its depiction of tactical movement and planning.

Heat (1995) is now available to stream on Netflix.

Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion is the most visited private house in the US other than the White House.

Yet, did you know his other Memphis home is nearby, located east of Downton in the suburbs?

Having shot to fame in 1956, Elvis was able to leave his family’s poverty behind and buy a house for himself and his parents at 1034 Audubon Drive.

On March 12, the 21-year-old put a down-payment of $500 on the $29,500 home ($316,000 today) thanks to the royalties from Heartbreak Hotel.

The one-story ranch-style home features a two-car attached garage, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Soon after moving in, Heartbreak Hotel hit No 1 on the Billboard chart, and fans would mob the house, forcing the Presleys to install a brick and mental fence to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, Elvis also had the largest residential pool in the city built in the backyard. After just 13 months there, the King’s stardom had skyrocketed. The fan and press attention became too much, so he sold 1034 Audubon Drive and moved into Graceland. It turns out that he and Graceland owner Ruth Moore swapped homes as part of the purchase. Since then, the house has been sold around eight times.

In March 2006, 1034 Audubon Drive was added to the National Register of Historic Places before it was up for public auction on eBay just a couple of months later. Uri Geller was thought to have won with a bid of $905,100, but in the end, it was sold for $1 million to record company executive Mike Curb.

Since then, the house has been painted green to look similar to when Elvis owned it, the pool has been removed, and it’s now officially called Elvis Presley House. In 2017, the home was damaged by fire, but luckily, most of the contents were elsewhere at the time as the property was under renovation. Unlike Graceland, Elvis’ other Memphis house is not open to the public. Instead, it’s used for special VIP events and private music concerts.

Of course, you can still visit from the other side of the fence, which has a plaque that reads: “On March 20, 1956, Elvis Presley and husband parents Vernon and Gladys, moved into 1034 Audubon Driver purchased with royalties from his first million-dollar-selling record, Heartbreak Hotel. It was the year that defined his career. The home is now owned by the Mike Curb Family Foundation, dedicated to the support of music education and restoration of historic music locations. In 2006, the foundation created the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College to advance music-related preservation and research.”

Following Bonhoeffer, a World War 2 thriller about the anti-Nazi German dissident executed by the regime, comes another inspiring biopic from Angel Studios.

Truth & Treason tells the incredible true story of a German teenage boy who quit the Hitler Youth after Kristallnacht when Hitler’s regime destroyed Jewish businesses and homes a year before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener began illegally listening to enemy radio broadcasts, including the BBC, to create anti-Nazi and anti-war leaflets exposing the lies of Goebbels’ propaganda machine.

Tragically, he was caught by the Gestapo and beheaded by guillotine, becoming the youngest member of the anti-Nazi German resistance to be executed by Hitler’s regime.

Now his heroic short life has been adapted for the big screen with the first look trailer revealed at CinemaCon Las Vegas this week.

The World War 2 film’s official synopsis reads: “In the heart of Nazi Germany, sixteen-year-old Helmuth Hübener is living on borrowed time. Armed with nothing but a typewriter and the truth, he wages a silent war against Hitler’s regime—deciphering enemy broadcasts, smuggling classified intel, and dismantling the Nazi empire from the inside. Now, with his every move being watched, he must outrun, outthink, and outmanoeuvre one of the most ruthless secret police forces in history.”

Truth & Treason arrives in cinemas on October 17, 2025.

Netflix continues to stream one of Val Kilmer’s standout performances that solidified his reputation as a leading man in Hollywood during the 80s.

Kilmer, an actor celebrated for his dynamic presence in numerous iconic films throughout the 80s and 90s, has tragically passed away at 65 due to pneumonia on Tuesday, 1st April, following a courageous two-year battle with throat cancer.

Kilmer’s illustrious career took off after his role in the 1984 comedy Top Secret!, paving the way for memorable appearances in hits like Willow, The Doors, Tombstone, Heat, and Batman Forever.

Yet, nearly four decades on, his portrayal of Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, alongside Tom Cruise, remains a defining moment for many cinema enthusiasts.

In Top Gun, directed by Tony Scott, Kilmer plays the formidable rival pilot to Cruise’s Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, their intense rivalry at the elite Top Gun Navy training program culminating in a forced collaboration during a critical mission.

The adrenaline-fueled classic is currently available on Netflix, offering fans a chance to honour the late star’s legacy.

One Letterboxd user raved about Top Gun, calling it “Equally 20 years ahead of its time and also completely embodying the 80s, thrilling, romantic, memorable, take your f***ing breath away,” in a glowing five-star review.

Another ardent admirer commented: “I just love how this movie screams 80’s in almost every scene. It was just perfect.

“Tom Cruise had a blast doing this, it’s so obvious in his face. I have never seen Tom laughing this much in a movie. His character’s relationship with Goose and Charlie were great.

“The tempting romance was so much fun. Kelly McGillis was amazing. Val Kilmer was terrific as Ice Man, such an iconic role.”

One heartfelt reviewer shared their touching experience of discovering Kilmer’s performances by watching Top Gun for the very first time.

“Since the first time ever seeing Val on screen in Top Gun, which I watched in 2022, I fell in love with him, in love with his talent, his beauty, his smile, his charm everything about him made him so loveable,” they disclosed.

“I loved him so easily and so fast that soon after I would binge his movies with the feeling that I would never get sick of him or them.

“I was seated for anything he was in and knew that no matter if I enjoyed the film or not I knew that Val was in it so at least there was one good thing about it and it was all worth it for him.”

IndieWire summed up the role perfectly in their ranking of Kilmer’s best performances, writing: “Of course an actor as handsome as Kilmer was bound to play the role of a caddish, a**hole jock at some point.

“Still, few actors have played that archetype as iconically, or as well, as he does in Top Gun, the film that truly cemented Kilmer as a movie star.

“As Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, he’s the perfect foil to Tom Cruise’s reckless Maverick, cool and unflappable and a little arrogant but with a well-meaning heart that dethaws over time.

“When the two finally make up at the end of Tony Scott’s blockbuster, it’s Kilmer’s iconic delivery of ‘You can be my wingman anytime’ that makes it such a fist-pump, hell yeah moment.”

Cruise, Kilmer’s Top Gun co-star, recently paid tribute to the late actor at CinemaCon, requesting a moment of silence. “I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us,” he said.

“Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.”

In 2022, Kilmer made a touching return as Iceman in a cameo for the critically acclaimed sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.

Regrettably, the eagerly anticipated sequel is not available for streaming in the UK, but American movie enthusiasts can catch it on Paramount+.

Top Gun is available to stream on Netflix.

Kevin Smith (director/Silent Bob)

Brian O’Halloran (Dante Hicks)

Jeff Anderson (Randal Graves)

Jason Mewes (Jay)

Marilyn Ghigliotti (Veronica Loughran)

Lisa Spoonauer (Caitlin Bree)

Legendary film star Christopher Walken has left fans in hysterics after sharing his favourite film actor.

The Severance star went on the record with the actors who have influenced him most, but an out-there choice has given fans a new perspective on his works.

In a recent interview, Walken, 82, confirmed a bizarre acting hero was the influence behind many of his on-screen performances.

But many have suggested the rather surprising comment on who his favourite actor is actually shines a light on why some performances are so bizarre.

The Hollywood star, who appeared in James Bond film A View to A Kill as well as Pulp Fiction and Seven Psychopaths, confirmed his acting influence in a strange new interview.

Speaking to Ben Stiller on the Severence Podcast show, Walken confirmed the animated character Bugs Bunny was a huge influence on him still.

The Looney Tunes character, originally voiced by Mel Blanc, appears to have left an impact on Walken. He said the animated bunny rabbit was “one of his favorite actors ever”.

Stiller recalled being told of Walken’s favourite actor, which he shared with the Night at the Museum star after recording had ended on a previous episode. Stiller recalled: “One thing I’ll tell you that he told me, and we didn’t get this on tape in the interview.

“It was like right after we put the microphones away, we were talking still about acting and how, sometimes, nobody knows what you’re thinking as an actor, but they just see you thinking. And that thought is what reads, and the audience kind of fills it in. It makes it feel real because they’re actually thinking about something.

“(Walken) said that Bugs Bunny is one of his favorite actors ever. And he was saying this kind of with a twinkle in his eye, but not really. And he said, ‘A lot of times I’ve played roles as if I was Bugs Bunny, but nobody knew.’ Now, which character, which movie, we don’t know.”

Despite the wild admission, some fans are not at all surprised that Walken has drawn inspiration from Bugs Bunny for his performances.

Fans of the veteran actor have called his animated performances similar to that of the animated character. One wrote: “No, we knew.” Another added: “I believe him.” A third added: “Oh, it all makes sense now.”

Some have pointed to Walken’s performance in A View to a Kill as an example of his Bugs Bunny-like influence. Another user suggested his supporting role in Seven Psychopaths certainly has an element of Looney Tunes about it.

Another user joked: “My favourite Hollywood tradition is everyone pretending that Looney Tunes characters are real actors and celebrities. Same with the Muppets.”

It’s the film that so disturbed one film critic that he suggested the Metropolitan Police should investigate its production. A legendary director also reportedly watched half of it before throwing the DVD out of his window because it was so “frightful”. 

But to its fans, this is an astonishingly powerful psychological horror which has been credited with sparking an entire genre which became popular around the world in the 2000s. 

The film is The Audition, a Japanese film about a lonely widower who, with the help of a film producer friend, holds an audition for a non-existent film so that he can select a potential new bride from the audition pool. The widower, Shigeharu (played by Ryo Ishibashi) becomes enamored with one particular young woman, which ends up being by far the worst mistake he ever made. 

Although initially suspicious about Asami (played by Eihi Shiina) when he can’t find any references that back up her claims to have been a ballet dancer whose career was cut short by injury, Shigeharu continues to pursue her, even proposing marriage. It soon transpires that those references are, in fact, all dead. 

Legendary film reviewer Mark Kermode described several years after the film’s release how “by the end of the screening I was hiding behind the seat in front of me cowering in terror”.

He revealed that when he lent it to British film director Ken Russell to watch “he watched half of the movie before throwing the disc out of the window and demanding to know what the hell I was doing bringing something so frightful into his home”. Kermode, however, named it as his film of the year and its prize-winning showing at the Rotterdam Film Festival also helped bring it to the wider attention of critics who, Kermode said, were “divided between those who viewed it as a misogynist nightmare and those who embraced it as a feminist revenge allegory with teeth”.

Film critic Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian in 2015, said the film was a “stomach-turning masterpiece” in which the female avenger was “bent on punishing typically Japanese male arrogance, but also self-pity and incipient masochism”. 

Stephanie Archer, writing in Film Inquiry, said it is a “slow burner of a horror, an almost perfect example of a frog in boiling water”, while Carolyn Hands, writing for JoySauce.com, said it was “a film I’ve seen once and I’m not sure I’ll ever see again because it’s so effectively disturbing, which is exactly what you want with a horror film”.

And Chuck Bowen, writing for Slant magazine, said: “The film is a brutal examination of social isolation and malaise, and the gulf that often exists between men and women.”

The film is, in fact, based on a book and in a detailed analysis of both on Medium, Anna-Maria Ninnas says: “Audition has been critiqued as both misogynistic due to [Shigeharu’s] motivations, as well as feminist due to Asami’s inevitable revenge on the man who wronged her. In actuality, it’s neither: there’s a much deeper underlying commentary addressing Japanese women’s evolution from their ‘traditional’ selves.”

She adds: “The book, in fact, punishes men for the unreal standards set to Japanese women, romanticising an oppressive, patriarchal past. Meanwhile, the film is about the source of that ‘longing’ for the ‘traditional’ woman, which is the underlying belief that Japanese culture dies with the empowerment of women, thus the trend of demonising women in J-horror.”

One viewer said the film “might just hold the crown as the most disturbing film I’ve ever seen… as it takes you for a loop by presenting what looks to be this very by-the-numbers romantic dramedy only to pull the rug from underneath and deliver a deeply terrifying and sadistic tale of how someone is not who they seem to be”.

Even though the film is now well over 20 years old, it has lost none of its power. And the good news for you is that you can watch it any time on Amazon Prime (where it is included with premium subscription), YouTube and Google Play (from £1.99) or Apple TV (from £3.49). 

This peculiar narrative of a utopian dream turned nightmare follows the tragic journey of two German socialites attempting to escape civilisation post-World War One. The twisted tale of murder and deception culminates in an oil tycoon discovering two mummified bodies on one of the Galapagos Islands’ shores.

The story, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the looming World War Two, is now being adapted for the screen in Eden. Jude Law will portray the eccentric Berlin doctor Freiderich Ritter, with Vanessa Kirby as his sophisticated lover Dore Strauch. Ana de Armas will play a Baroness entranced by the couple’s tale, while Sydney Sweeney will portray Margret Wittmer, another woman ensnared in this bizarre saga.

The narrative, unearthed in Abbott Khaler’s book Eden Undone and drawn from previously unseen archives, concludes at the peak of the Great Depression, when Los Angeles oil magnate George Allan Hancock and his team of Smithsonian scientists stumble upon a macabre pair of corpses.

The island of Florena was previously known only to those who visited it to collect rare species for Western zoos. It was for this purpose that George Hancock and other American elites initially journeyed to the South Seas, seeking specimens for scientific research.

During a visit to the Galápagos, Hancock stumbled upon an intriguing group of European exiles led by Freiderich Ritter and Dore Strauch. They had escaped political and economic turmoil in their homeland with dreams of establishing a utopian paradise on the island. However, as Hancock and his fellow American explorers soon found out, this paradise had descended into pandemonium.

Over time, Ritter and his partner were joined by a shell-shocked World War One veteran and his young family, along with an Austrian baroness accompanied by her two devoted lovers. This motley crew quickly became embroiled in conflict.

In 1932, Heinz and Margret Wittmer, who was expecting a baby, brought their teenage son to the island. Their newborn, Rolf, who was delivered in a cave on the island, is believed to be the first person born on Floreana.

Tensions flared between Dore and Margret, leading to the Wittmers being housed in a cave previously used as a pirate’s lair – they later constructed a proper dwelling. The situation took a bizarre turn in 1933 when the eccentric and flamboyant self-styled Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet arrived with her two lovers, Rudolf Lorenz and Robert Phillipson, and their Ecuadorian servant Manuel Valdivieso.

Petty disputes escalated into heated exchanges as the baroness, armed with a riding crop and a pearl-handled revolver, orchestrated brawls between her two paramours and brazenly charmed American visitors. Her antics soon stole the limelight from Ritter and Strauch, causing resentment among the duo who were used to global media attention.

In their memoirs, Dore and Margret each recall being present at Freiderich Ritter’s deathbed, with strikingly disparate recollections of his final moments. Dore recounts an affectionate farewell, but Margaret describes Ritter glaring at his partner, allegedly proclaiming with his dying breath: “I curse you with my dying breath.”

The Baroness’ companions, Lorenz and Nuggerud, took a journey to Santa Cruz, obtained supplies, and set out for San Cristóbal, only to disappear mysteriously. Several months afterward, in 1934, their mummified corpses were discovered on the shores of Marchena Island, significantly off course from their intended destination.

Following Ritter’s demise, Strauch returned to Germany where she died in 1943. The Wittmers continued to reside on Floreana, eventually prospering from the tourism influx years later. Their descendants remain on Floreana today.

Margret Wittmer remained on the island until her death in 2000, aged 96. She consistently stood by her account, taking any undisclosed truths with her to her final resting place.

The outcome was fatal: with two exiles vanished and two others deceased, the remaining individuals levelled murder allegations. Abbott Kahler, utilising previously unpublished archives, crafts a spine-tingling narrative that could easily be mistaken for an Agatha Christie thriller.

Eden is set to hit European cinemas on Thursday, April 3. A US release date has yet to be announced.

The film is helmed by acclaimed director Ron Howard, renowned for his work on Arrested Development and A Beautiful Mind.

Call of Duty fans are counting down to the start of Season 3 in Black Ops 6. The new Call of Duty season has been given an April 2 release date and a 5pm BST UK start time by Activision. The news was announced by Call of Duty publisher Activision in a blog post, complete with a look at some of the new maps, modes and Battle Pass rewards.

“The Pantheon agents are just within reach and it’s up to you to track them down,” reads an Activision blog post. “Engage in epic, globe-trotting battles as Season 03 brings five Multiplayer maps and one 6v6 variant, six new weapons, the Shattered Veil Zombies map, and more, including the long-awaited return of Verdansk in Call of Duty: Warzone. Season 03 arrives April 2 at 9AM PT.” That’s 5pm BST on April 2 for fans living in the UK.

READ MORE: Warzone Season 3 release date and time confirmed alongside Verdansk launch plans

As you can see from the roadmap below, Call of Duty Black Ops Season 3 introduces two brand new maps at launch, alongside a remastered version of an old favourite.

From April 2, Black Ops 6 players will be able to check out the medium-sized Barrage map, as well as the smaller Nomad map and the return of Firing Range.

Barrage is a 6v6 map set in Vietnam in 1968. The map contains a Command Center and Barracks, as well as a Watchtower, Gun Pits and more.

Nomad, on the other hand, is a smaller map that’s playable in teams of six and teams of two. Set in Afghanistan, it features crumbled archways, a fortified settlement and a a big tower at the centre of the map. According to Activision, you can also navigate the map using a zipline.

Finally, Firing Range is a 6v6 medium-sized map that’s described as a remaster of an old favourite. Activision explains more: “Watch for crossfire down the long centre Road as Operators fight for control of the vantage points in the Tower and the upper levels of the Shoot House and Garage.

“Shooting targets move back and forth on their tracks behind the Office and several other spots adding a useful diversion while preparing for the next fight.

“Avoid the centre chaos by branching off to the Dirt Road, keeping your guard up against ambush as you pass the Storage unit along the way.”

More maps will be added as part of the mid-season update, including Haven, Signal and Blazetown.

New game modes include Sharpshooter and Demolition at launch, followed by Joint Operations later in the season.

Demolition sees players flit between attacking and defending two bomb sites, while Sharpshooter changes up loadouts every 45 seconds. Players will unlock bonus abilities for going on a killstreak in Sharpshooter party mode.

Elsewhere, Black Ops 6 fans will be treated to new gameplay additions, such as the Close Shave Perk and Death Machine scorestreak.

The Season 3 launch will also usher in Multiplayer Ranked Play, which features the same settings as Call of Duty League.

“Find out what you’re really made of by dropping into competitive Multiplayer matches using the same settings, maps, modes, and weapon restrictions used by the Call of Duty League,” Activision explains.

“Win matches to earn SR (Skill Rating) and progress through the Ranks while earning career rewards like Rank Skins and Win Challenge rewards.”

Rewards include the Pro Issue AMES 85 Weapon Blueprint for ten wins, as well as various Calling Cards for rising through the ranks. Weapon Blueprints are also available by playing Multiplayer Ranked Play.

Fans of the game’s Zombies mode will also be treated to new content, including the Shattered Veil map, new enemies and the Double Tap Perk-A-Cola.

Needless to say, a new season also means a new Battle Pass, complete with over 110 rewards across all game modes.

As you can see from the image above, the Season 3 Battle Pass contains new Operator skins, including Mace and Hudson. 

The Battle Pass contains over 110 rewards in total, including two new weapons, the Monolithic Suppressor Attachment and plenty more.

There’s also a separate BlackCell Battle Pass containing Mace and Hudson variants, as well as Operator R0-Z3, a Martial Arts emote, COD Points and XP boosts.

After months of rumours, leaks and speculation, Nintendo fans are just moments away from discovering everything there is to know about the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo is planning to hold a special Direct presentation dedicated exclusively to the Switch 2 console, where it is expected to announce the release date, price and games line-up for the launch period and year ahead.

If you’ve been anxiously counting down the minutes to the Nintendo Direct presentation, then the good news is that the wait is almost over. In a post on X, Nintendo UK confirmed that the Switch 2 Direct will take place at 2pm BST on April 2. The livestream will run for around 60 minutes. You can watch the action unfold live by clicking play on the YouTube embed below.

“Join us tomorrow, April 2nd, at 14:00 (UK time) for a closer look at Nintendo Switch 2!” reads a Nintendo tweet.

“The Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 – 02.04.2025 livestream will be around 60 minutes long.”

The lengthy runtime is good news for fans who were disappointed by the relatively short Switch 2 teaser trailer released back in January.

The original trailer (below) confirmed that the Switch 2 would feature a bigger display than the original console, and would come with upgraded JoyCon controllers.

Judging by the Switch 2 announcement trailer, Mario Kart 9 appears to be in development for the console at launch.

Better yet, it looks like Mario Kart 9 could support 24-person multiplayer, which should lead to some chaotic races.

Fans of the legendary Stevie Wonder were left in awe after a screenshot of his eclectic setlist went viral.

The post that circulated online left fans astonished by the Grammy Winner, who is gearing up for a series of UK performances later this year.

Wonder, the musical genius behind hits such as ‘Isn’t She Lovely,’ ‘Superstition,’ and ‘Living for the City,’ is renowned for his unpredictable live shows.

This particular setlist was no exception, showcasing Wonder’s versatility as he covered John Lennon, Daft Punk, and even paid homage to the supergroup USA for Africa, of which he was a part. His adventurous setlist included a collaboration with pop music maestro Pharrell Williams on several tracks.

A social media post revealed Wonder’s setlist from one concert, prompting one user to comment: “Stevie Wonder has to be the craziest line-up of songs I’ve ever seen at a concert like what were we doing here man.”

The setlist boasted We Are the World, a rendition of USA for Africa’s anthem, followed by a Pharrell Williams-assisted medley featuring Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, Wonder’s own Superstition, and Williams’ chart-topper Happy.

Following Happy was a heartfelt cover of John Lennon’s Imagine, during which Wonder reportedly took the opportunity to honour the late Beatles star. The performance was said to be particularly moving as Wonder noted that Lennon had lived and been tragically killed just blocks away.

The set then circled back with a reprise of Williams’ Happy.

The same individual who shared the setlist remarked: “It’s so funny because the imagine performance was hella emotional he mentioned that John Lennon lived and was murdered just blocks away. Then a minute later he’s like ‘Okay do I’m Happy again’.”

The setlist in question is from a concert in Central Park on September 23, 2017, and it has left some fans stunned, with one person initially thinking it was a list of the artist’s most popular songs rather than a single concert set.

One fan expressed their surprise, saying: “Not even kidding first glance I thought this was like a “top 20 most played songs all time” list or something What do you mean this is a concert line-up that’s insane.”

Some fans were outraged by the setlist, suggesting that hearing the song “Happy” twice would be infuriating. One fan wrote: “If I went to see Stevie Wonder and he played Happy twice instead of pretty much any Stevie Wonder song I would cause an international incident.”

Another fan added: “Happy/Imagine/Happy sandwich is crazy work.”

A third fan wrote: “If I go see Stevie and I have to endure happy I think I’m making it a terrible night for everyone else too.”

Fans have also been perplexed by Wonder’s recent performances, including his most recent full-length show at the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, where he performed covers of Carole King, Jimmie Davis, and Parliament.

The setlist for Wonder’s upcoming UK tour has not been announced yet, but fans are eagerly awaiting the news, especially after he performed a total of 18 covers at his last full-length show.

From Oscar-winning blockbusters to cult favorites and family-friendly animations, Freeview and Freely offer a packed lineup of films this April. Whether you’re in the mood for action, mystery, or a heartwarming tale, here are the best movies to watch this month.

Channel 4

Rocketman (2019)

This acclaimed biopic chronicles Elton John’s transformation from a young, shy piano prodigy named Reginald Dwight to the iconic singer, focusing on his breakthrough years in the 1970s. Featuring Taron Egerton as Elton, Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh as his parents, Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin and Richard Madden as manager John Reid, the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for ‘(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again’.

Fresh (2022)

In this 2022 horror thriller, Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Noa, a woman disillusioned with modern dating. She meets the charming Steve, played by Sebastian Stan, at a grocery store and decides to take a chance on him. After accepting his invitation to a weekend getaway, Noa discovers that Steve has some unusual appetites. Fresh had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2022, and has been praised for its unique take on the horror genre.

Submarine (2010)

Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut, Submarine, is a coming-of-age dramedy that follows Oliver Tate, a socially awkward teenager navigating first love and family turmoil in Wales. Played by Craig Roberts, Oliver becomes infatuated with the rebellious Jordana (Yasmin Paige) while also trying to save his parents’ failing marriage. The film is known for its dry humor, unique visual style, and a soundtrack by Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner. Upon release, Submarine was praised for its witty script and Ayoade’s distinctive direction, earning a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.

My Friend Dahmer (2017)

This chilling biographical drama explores the teenage years of Jeffrey Dahmer, one of America’s most infamous serial killers. Ross Lynch stars as a young Dahmer, depicting his struggles with isolation, dark impulses, and a troubled home life before his descent into crime. Based on the graphic novel by John Backderf, a former classmate of Dahmer, the film offers a disturbing yet compelling portrait of a killer in the making. Unlike many true crime films, My Friend Dahmer avoids sensationalism, instead focusing on the psychological aspects of Dahmer’s early life. The film was met with critical acclaim for Lynch’s haunting performance and its unsettling atmosphere.

BBC iPlayer

The Martian (2015)

In The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a dust storm on Mars and left behind by his crew, but he survives and must use his ingenuity to survive alone on the planet while NASA and his crewmates work to find a way to rescue him. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film boasts a star-studded cast, including Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, and Benedict Wong. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and won two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor.

Shrek (2001)

One of the most beloved animated films of all time, Shrek tells the story of a green ogre who must journey to rescue Princess Fiona from a dragon to regain his swamp. Along the way, he encounters iconic characters from fables, including a talking donkey, Puss in Boots, Pinocchio, princesses, and pirates. Shrek won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002 and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2020, marking it as the first DreamWorks film and non-Disney animated feature to receive that honor.

Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut is a psychological horror that follows Chris Washington, played by Daniel Kaluuya, an African-American man who visits his white girlfriend’s family estate, only to uncover disturbing secrets. The film masterfully blends social commentary with suspense and has been lauded for its thought-provoking narrative. Get Out received numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Red Joan (2018)

Inspired by true events, this 2018 British drama stars Judi Dench as Joan Stanley, a retired physicist accused of supplying classified information to the Soviet government during her youth. The film delves into themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the moral complexities of espionage. Sophie Cookson portrays the younger Joan in flashbacks, depicting her involvement in wartime intelligence.

Channel 5

Unknown

Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris, who awakens from a coma in Berlin to find his wife doesn’t recognize him, another man is impersonating him, and he’s being pursued. He must fight to prove his identity with the help of an unlikely ally. The cast also includes Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, and Sebastian Koch. Upon release, Unknown grossed a worldwide total of $136.1 million and finished at number one in its first week in theaters.

ITVX

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

This 2002 sports comedy-drama follows Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra, portrayed by Parminder Nagra, a young woman from a traditional Indian family in London who dreams of playing professional football. Despite her parents’ disapproval, she joins a local women’s team and forms a close friendship with teammate Jules, played by Keira Knightley. The film explores themes of cultural identity, family expectations, and the pursuit of one’s passions. Bend It Like Beckham received critical acclaim and became a global box office success.

Transformers (2007)

Directed by Michael Bay, this 2007 sci-fi action film introduces audiences to the epic battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, two factions of alien robots who bring their war to Earth. Shia LaBeouf stars as Sam Witwicky, a teenager who becomes caught in the conflict, with Megan Fox portraying his love interest, Mikaela. Known for its groundbreaking visual effects and explosive action sequences, Transformers was turned into a successful film franchise.

Limitless (2011)

Bradley Cooper stars as Eddie Morra, a struggling writer who discovers a mysterious pill that unlocks his brain’s full potential, leading to unforeseen consequences. This 2011 thriller explores themes of power, intelligence, and addiction, with Robert De Niro co-starring as a powerful businessman intrigued by Eddie’s newfound abilities. Limitless was praised for its fast-paced narrative and engaging concept.

No Time To Die (2021) – Coming on April 6

Daniel Craig’s final adventure as James Bond sees 007 brought out of retirement for one last mission. In No Time To Die, Bond must track down a dangerous villain, Safin (Rami Malek), who possesses a deadly bioweapon. The film also features Lashana Lynch as the new 00 agent, Nomi, and sees the return of fan-favorite characters, including Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, Ben Whishaw’s Q, and Christoph Waltz as Blofeld. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, No Time To Die is packed with high-stakes action, emotional depth, and a dramatic conclusion to Craig’s journey as Bond. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s title track.

Full list of channels & players you can access for free with Freeview and Freely:

• BBC iPlayer
• ITVX
• 4
• 5
• STV Player
• S4C Clic
• WATCH FREE UK (AMC)
• PBS America
• GB News Catch-up
• QVC+
• U (UKTV)