From Time to Fountains DC: The Week in rave reviews
David Tennant dazzles in the third series of Jamie McGovern's horror prison drama, and the Dublin band are back with a captivating fifth album. Here's the culture pick of the week, drawn from the Guardian's best reviews. Continue reading...
In one sentence, David Tennant gives one of his best performances in the third series of Jamie McGovern's terrifying but essential prison drama.
What our reviewer said: "This portrait of masculinity and the misery it entails probably won't get the attention and movement that Jack Thorne did in his teenage years. But it should. Our boys need it." Lucy Mangan
Summarized in one sentence, Keri Russell returns for the fourth installment of the spectacular geopolitical diversions in Deborah Kahn's transatlantic thriller.
What our reviewer said: "Few things are as entertaining as the bad-tempered 'Diplomat,' even if the stress of doomsday shows calls for a lot of diaphragmatic breathing and a diplomatically awkward pace." Sarah Dempster
In a condensed sentence, Mobin Azhar tackles tough issues in a brilliant documentary about the rise of Islamophobia since the 9/11 attacks.
What our reviewer said: "In his willingness to discuss tough issues — even if it means hearing difficult arguments, some of which take aim at him personally — he continues to provoke thoughts and air views that more established journalists would never approach." Jack Seal
Summarized in one sentence A juicy thriller about the British elite and a party from hell, adapted from the best-selling novel by Elizabeth D.
What our reviewer said: "There's no one to root for, no one to get invested in - they're all completely awful, and you're just along for the ride." Lucy Mangan
In one sentence, a documentary produced by the Guardian sheds a horrifying light on the civilian deaths in Gaza as anonymous Israeli personnel speak under the cover of night.
What our reviewer said: “The calculated 'barren' number is the expected civilian death toll from any military attack, and may have the same connotations as the US military term 'body count' had in Vietnam. Peter Bradshaw
Continue reading 'They know the house they're bombing is full of children': Nasa executives on their devastating film about Israeli intelligence
Summarized in one sentence, Dominique Mol's hard-hitting procedural follows a embattled officer investigating police brutality and violence against a teenager during the "jelly-jantes" protests in France.
What our reviewer said: "The film is at its strongest when it painstakingly guides us - almost in the narrative equivalent of real time - to find the police's culprits by finding CCTV footage from the scene of the attack on the teenagers." Peter Bradshaw
Summarized in one sentence CBeebies' first feature-length adventure for prehistoric friends is a great film for toddlers, with beautiful stop-motion visuals, starring Jamie Clement and Olivia Tenn.
What our reviewer said: “For the uninitiated, Kiri and Lo Go Raa! It serves as an introduction to the characters and their universe, while for fans it's a delightful origin story.” Kathryn Berry
In one sentence, Nicole Kidman is patrician at her glacial best in this 2001 chiller written and directed by Chilean-Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar.
What our reviewer said: "What a relief to have a horror movie instead of a horror movie, no boring humor, no boring inverted commas - well made, not incompetent deconstruction." Peter Bradshaw
Summarized in one sentence, FW Murnau's 1926 silent film of Goethe's tragic story tells the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil and remains a spectacular masterpiece of German Expressionism.
What our reviewer said: "Faust's ambition, scale, and drive are clear: there is a wonderful case study for the landscape and cityscape that Faust and Mephisto look down on and fly above. And it was inspired by the calm, painted image of Mephisto as a sprawling evil angel hovering over the city like a giant cloud, enveloping it in his black wings.” Peter Bradshaw
Summarized in one sentence, the Rocky star tells the story of his year of success.
What our reviewer said: "Stallone presents himself as a sweet innocent — monastic and almost sexless — but there's a rage in his memoir that burns through every page."
It can be summed up in one sentence. Sequel to the global flurry of chemistry lessons, set in a rare New York poetry magazine.
"It's hard to imagine a novel with funnier jokes about typography," said Maw critic Che, "harder to ignore his strong advice to all of us to care about words." Read the full review
Summed up in one sentence: a dramatic debut about money, power and art washing by the global elite.
What our reviewer said: "Istam performs an ambitious balancing act: on the one hand, the cynical play of high-end contemporary art, and on the other, the emotional inner life of a man haunted by the memory of his deceased wife."
Summarized in one sentence, a rallying cry not to deport those who make a living from this land.
What our reviewer said: "Peasant households make up about 2 billion people, a quarter of the human race. Their lifestyle is much more flexible than factory work, and there is nothing backward about it."
Summarized in one sentence, a senseless doctor discredits the health industry.
What our reviewer said: "He's the best kind of science writer who leans into complexity while making it as easy to digest as fish oil gum (another thing you might want to avoid)."
The Great Dictator: The Life of Barbara Cartland by Matthew Sweet
Summarized in one sentence, this extraordinary biography of the queen of romance has been shortlisted for the Billie Gifford Award for Non-Fiction.
What our reviewer said: "Matthew Sweet praises his subject with absolute seriousness and sees him as a cultural phenomenon that spans the entire 20th century. It deserves an in-depth study."
Summed up in one sentence, the Irish band's captivating, endlessly inventive and often surprising fifth LP.
What our reviewer said: "The Fontaines have grown dramatically and magnificently to become the best band of their generation - a band that, to put it another way, might actually live forever." Laura Snipes
Further reading 'Rough, Crazy and Full of Menace': Fontanes DC's Top 20 Songs - Ranked!
Summed up in one sentence, bringing back the stunning sound design of their acclaimed debut 2025, the London duo explore childhood with quirky humor and superb musicianship.
What our reviewer said: "Leo Fincham and Rowan Miles sing in a self-consciously childish way that the solid musical belies... The result is the kind of devastatingly contemporary song that even the old classics couldn't turn their noses up at." Shad D'Souza
Summarized in one sentence two decades of work from producers JLZ, VHOOR, Mu540 and DJ RaMeMes, stripping the Brazilian genre down to its essential parts until it rattles with rust and drill.