Rooster to Liza Minnelli: The Week in Rave Reviews
A stellar delight from Steve Carell, as he helps his daughter navigate marital difficulties, while the Cabaret star and Hollywood legend opens up about the price of fame and childhood trauma. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews.
Television
If you only watch one, make it …
Rooster
Now streaming, summed up in a sentence: Steve Carell stars in Scrubs/Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence’s charming, touching, and very funny comedy about a dad helping his lecturer daughter navigate marital difficulties.
What our reviewer said: “This is television for grownups.” – Lucy Mangan.
Further reading: Rooster: Steve Carell is back to his best in this stellar delight of a comedy.
Pick of the rest
- Dunblane: How Britain Banned Handguns on BBC iPlayer: The moving story of courageous parents who battled for a UK handgun ban after a tragic mass shooting at a primary school. Reviewer Rachel Aroesti noted, “The deaths of 16 children and one teacher remain exceptionally difficult to contemplate.”
- Twisted Yoga on Apple TV: A troubling exposé of an alleged Romanian sex cult. Rachel Aroesti described it as “intriguingly wild, infuriating, and sad.”
- Lover, Liar, Predator on BBC iPlayer: The tale of four women abused by the same man as teenagers, who banded together to help jail him. Lucy Mangan praised it, saying, “I would put a package of films like this together and send one to every school in the country.”
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Resurrection
In cinemas now, summed up in a sentence: Vision of alternate reality from Chinese director Bi Gan, where humans can live indefinitely and a reincarnating dissident dreamer travels through history in different guises.
What our reviewer said: “It is bold and ambitious, visually amazing, trippy and woozy in its embrace of hallucination and the heightened meaning of the unreal and the dreamlike.” – Peter Bradshaw.
Pick of the rest
- Everybody to Kenmure Street in cinemas now: Inspiring retelling of the 2021 Glasgow protest where local people stood their ground against heavy-handed immigration enforcement. Peter Bradshaw called it “an amazing story of a community triumph.”
- The Straight Story in cinemas now: David Lynch’s gentle 1999 account of Alvin Straight’s real-life road trip on a motor mower to see his ill brother. Bradshaw noted its “midwest decency” without Lynch’s usual surreal weirdness.
- The Revenant in cinemas now: Anniversary rerelease of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s old west epic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Bradshaw highlighted its “unitary control and fluency.”
Now streaming
War Machine on Netflix from 6 March: Gory militaristic action thriller starring Alan Ritchson. Benjamin Lee described it as “a slicker-than-usual streaming premiere, an easy, drink-your-way-through-it Friday night option.”
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli
Reviewed by Fiona Sturges, summed up in a sentence: The Cabaret star and Hollywood legend tells all.
What our reviewer said: “Beneath the classic arc of fame and success turned sour is a more unusual tale of a woman battling the trauma of her childhood and struggling to step out of the shadow of her unpredictable mother.”
Further reading: Ron Howard, Emma Rice, Neil Tennant and more on Liza Minnelli: ‘She holidayed in my Cornish bungalow’.
Pick of the rest
- Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them by Liam Byrne: A Labour MP’s prescription for fighting Reform. Andy Beckett noted, “Books by former New Labour ministers are usually ponderous and defensive – Byrne seems more liberated.”
- Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester: A black comedy of infidelity and intergenerational tension. Clare Clark said, “Lanchester’s satirical chops are on full display in his latest book, but this time his focus is more personal than political.”
- Love Magic Power Danger Bliss by Paul Morley: The story of Yoko Ono, without the Beatles. Sukhdev Sandhu praised it for celebrating “one of the last witnesses of a strange, innocent, elaborate fight for freedom.”
- King of Kings by Scott Anderson: The story of the last Shah of Iran and his downfall. John Simpson highlighted its relevance, noting, “The world is still experiencing the aftershocks of the fall of the shah.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers
Out now, summed up in a sentence: Resurgent brothers Chris and Rich Robinson resurrect the rocker lifestyle of eras past.
What our reviewer said: “No other band since has played the past with such authority, such joy, such full-blooded commitment to the bit.” – Stevie Chick.
Pick of the rest
- James Blake: Trying Times out now: With fresh yet familiar samples, Blake delivers an addictive set of tunes on his seventh solo record. Rachel Aroesti called it “a consistently excellent album,” despite unconvincing lyrics.
- Joseph Nolan: The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol 1 out now: Nolan does exhilarating justice to an extraordinary but little known repertoire. Clive Paget noted his “death-defying virtuosity.”
- Diagonale des Yeux: Madeleine out now: Music boxes, miaows, and curious melodies pepper the whimsical and charmingly lo-fi post-punk. Safi Bugel described it as “charmingly lo-fi, built around rudimentary synth and guitar melodies.”
- Nemanja Radulović: Prokofiev out now: Radulović brings irresistible swagger to selections from Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella. Clive Paget praised its “daredevil freshness.”
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