From A Minecraft Movie to Black Mirror: a complete guide to this week's entertainment
You know how it is – you're hanging out minding your own business when you're pulled through a random portal into a three-dimensional world made up of voxels. That's the fate that befalls Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks, where they meet Jack Black in this adaptation of the popular game.
SebastianOut now
Twentysomething Max works at a literary magazine in London while side-hustling as sex worker Sebastian to get inspiration for his debut novel, but soon finds his double life leading to a new understanding of his own identity, in this acclaimed first film from Mikko Mäkelä.
Death of a UnicornOut now
Accidentally hitting an animal is any driver's nightmare. But it's worse when said animal is an honest-to-god unicorn. That's the jumping-off point for this comedy horror with Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as the father and daughter who compound their error by taking the creature to an unscrupulous billionaire (Richard E Grant).
Kinoteka on TourTo 25 April
The 23rd edition of the Kinoteka Polish film festival goes on the road with a mixture of new and classic Polish films, including work by the poetic surrealist Wojciech Has. The eight cities on the tour include Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds and Sheffield. Catherine Bray
Kamasi WashingtonGateshead, Saturday; touring to 14 April
LA-raised star saxophonist Kamasi Washington, an eclectic jazz maestro whose influences and friends include the likes of Thundercat and Kendrick Lamar, tours his powerful Fearless Movement band. His majestic yet exploratory music makes new friends everywhere he goes. John Fordham
Peter GrimesWales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 5, 8 & 11 April; touring to 7 June
WNO follow up last year's outstanding Death in Venice, Benjamin Britten's final opera, with a new staging of the work that established his international reputation. It's directed by Melly Still and conducted by WNO music director Tomáš Hanus. Andrew Clements
Sugababes8 to 19 April; tour starts Leeds
The returning British girlband cement their must-see live status with an arena tour. This time there's new music to showcase in the shape of heady banger Jungle, which should slot nicely alongside Overload and Round Round. Michael Cragg
Caity Baser9 to 20 April; tour starts Southampton
After peaking inside the UK Top 10 with bolshy mixtape Still Learning last March, Southampton's pop upstart Baser returned with February's brutally honest Watch That Girl (She's Gonna Say It). Expect other new songs to be roadtested as work continues on her debut proper. MC
David SalleThaddaeus Ropac, London, to 8 June
The postmodern painter whose art splices up images from popular culture here splices up his own paintings. He's taken a group of canvases called Pastorals and used AI to mix and merge their elements in the surreal ways AI will do. He calls the new works Some Versions of Pastoral.
Mat CollishawSeed130, London, to 31 May
If there's one artist who has a grasp of how technology is remaking society, culture and reality itself, it's Mat Collishaw. Having started his career in the late 1980s as part of the Goldsmiths generation, he has kept his edge by engaging with the digital revolution. His new show embraces AI.
Surf!National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth, to January 2027
The advent of modern wetsuits means you can always expect to see surfers on Cornish beaches, even in the depths of winter. But this exhibition shows Cornwall's fine surf has attracted the sport for a long time, telling the story of Cornish surfing from the 1920s to contemporary board art.
The Gorgeous NothingsChatsworth House and Gardens, Derbyshire, to 5 October
The gardens at Chatsworth have been tended since the Renaissance, and make a stunning spectacle with their water features. This exhibition looks at the history of these gardens using botanical manuscripts and other works from the Devonshire Collections. Plus modern art by Frank Bowling, Dorothy Cross, Chris Ofili and more. Jonathan Jones
Kool Story Bro10 April to 22 May; tour starts Bristol
Kiell Smith-Bynoe gives improvised comedy a new lease of life by riffing on audience members' wild real-life tales with help from fellow TV faces Emma Sidi, Lola-Rose Maxwell and Nic Sampson. Rachel Aroesti
Kim's Convenience Home, Manchester, 8 to 12 April; touring to 5 July
Having gone from the Toronto fringe to Netflix, Ins Choi's easygoing comedy, set in a family-run Korean store, now heads on a UK tour. Made with a sitcom-style gloss, remarkably realistic set and charming cast, it's a love letter to first-generation immigrants. Kate Wyver
SpeedBush theatre, London, to 17 May
Joining a speed awareness course probably isn't your idea of a fun night out. But with Milli Bhatia directing, you should give it a go. Mohamed-Zain Dada's new dark comedy forces together a nurse, a delivery driver and an entrepreneur, as secrets spill. KW
Solène Weinachter: After AllThe Mount Without, Bristol, 8 to 10 April
The story starts with choreographer Weinachter being asked to dance at her uncle's funeral, and turns into a warm, funny, poignant and thought-provoking one-woman show on the subject of death and remembrance. Lyndsey Winship
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Black MirrorNetflix, 10 April
Charlie Brooker's zeitgeist-dictating anthology series returns for more labyrinthine tech nightmares, with a sensational cast (Peter Capaldi, Issa Rae, Emma Corrin, Paul Giamatti) and, for the first time, reprises: a sequel for USS Callister and a return to the computer nerd universe of Bandersnatch.
Your Friends & NeighboursApple TV+, 11 April
A decade after Mad Men, Jon Hamm plays another alpha male on the make. When hedge fund manager Coop is fired, he starts stealing valuables from the homes of his uber-wealthy peers to maintain the lifestyle to which he and his children have become accustomed.
ReunionBBC One/iPlayer, 7 April, 9pm
This trailblazing new Sheffield-set drama from deaf writer William Mager switches between English and British Sign Language to tell the story of Daniel (Matthew Gurney), a deaf man who is shunned by his community after committing a terrible crime. Rose Ayling-Ellis, Anne-Marie Duff and Eddie Marsan also star.
What They FoundBBC Two/iPlayer, 7 April, 10pm
Exactly 80 years ago, army cameramen Sgt Mike Lewis and Sgt Bill Lawrie accompanied troops to what they thought was a typhus hospital. It turned out to be Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The pair's footage shocked the world; in his documentary debut, Sam Mendes revisits the men's work and the final days of the Holocaust. RA
South of MidnightOut 8 April; PC, XBoxGorgeous action-adventure with a charming, ever so slightly sinister stop-motion aesthetic, mixing fantasy, black magic folklore and a smattering of Guillermo del Toro weirdness. You play as Hazel, a young woman searching for her mother in the bayous and woods of a mysterious, supernatural spin on the American deep south.
Descenders NextOut Wed; PC, XBoxSnowboards and mountainboards (essentially snowboards with wheels) are the focus of this fun, fast and arcadey extreme-sports romp, in which the sole aim is to chuck yourself down something recklessly steep and survive your hazard-heavy journey to the bottom. Luke Holland
Elton John and Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels?Out now
Having set themselves the target of writing and recording an album from scratch in 20 days, the creation of this collaborative album was fraught with tension. You can hear it being released, however, on the urgent dustbowl rock of Swing for the Fences, featuring a furious piano solo.
Black Country, New Road – Forever HowlongOut now
After the sudden departure of lead vocalist Isaac Wood in 2022, the playful British alt-rock experimentalists return with their third album. Produced by James Ford (Blur, Pet Shop Boys), Forever Howlong is a poppier affair than their previous output, but Happy Birthday keeps the weird quota high.
Sleigh Bells – Bunky Becky Birthday BoyOut now
When New York's Sleigh Bells first emerged in 2010, their noisy blend of pop, hip-hop and metal caught the ear of Beyoncé, who recorded with the duo. Fifteen years later, their sixth album sticks to that once unique formula pretty rigidly, but songs such as Wanna Start a Band? are enormous fun.
Miki Berenyi Trio – TriplaOut now
Musician, author and ex-member of shoegazers Lush, Miki Berenyi releases the debut album from her self-titled trio (KJ 'Moose' McKillop and Oliver Cherer make up the numbers). Fiercely political – 8th Deadly Sin rails at useless politicians – but sonically spacious and crisply melodic, Tripla is consistently thrilling. MC
Scratch & WinPodcast
Delving into the history of US state lotteries, this engrossing series explains how the birth of scratchcards in 1970s Boston brought organised crime into government-sanctioned gambling and opened the door for today's billion-dollar industry.
SmartHistoryYouTube
With expert commentary from more than 500 global art historians, SmartHistory's YouTube channel provides accessible analysis of artworks from Hieronymus Bosch's paintings to Lee Krasner's abstractions and public monuments such as Cleopatra's Needle in New York.
Bad Influence9 April, Netflix
The world of 'kidfluencing' is a lucrative one and this often shocking film exposes how the YouTube vlogging life of child star Piper Rockelle was a multimillion-dollar business built on the exploitation of her friends. Ammar Kalia
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Daily Mirror
17 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Chloe Ayling reveals damaging toll of people not believing her terrifying kidnap plot
Chloe Ayling was kidnapped in 2017 after she flew to Italy for a modelling job but was drugged and taken to a remote farmhouse where she was held for a seven days Model Chloe Ayling has revealed the toll of not being believed over her harrowing kidnap eight years ago. Addressing the criticism, Chloe said: "It never ends." In 2017, Chloe suffered a week-long kidnapping ordeal after travelling to Milan, Italy for a photoshoot. However, when she arrived at the "studio", it was unusually "silent". Chloe, who was 21 at the time, was drugged, kidnapped and driven 120 miles to a remote farmhouse near Turin, where she was held hostage by Lukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, who was later jailed. It comes after one Mirror writer claimed 'the new Bonnie Blue documentary may be the worst thing I've ever seen on Channel 4'. Chloe revealed that a gang calling itself the Black Death Group demanded £270,000 or she would be sold as a sex slave on the dark web. But six days later she turned up at the British consulate in Milan to reveal her ordeal, despite no ransom demand being paid. The model was eventually allowed to return home three weeks after her release. However, Chloe has since faced doubts about her story as she has been hit with claims of wanting fame or profit. "It is always people who don't know the facts, they judge too quickly and jump in before knowing the full story," Chloe revealed of the backlash. "You can never get offended by it really because they don't know." Speaking about reliving the ordeal for her new documentary while on Lorraine, Chloe said: "I thought it would be easy, I am really not good at talking about my feelings. I had to relive it again and I got emotional about things I hadn't before." Revealing how the backlash affected her, she added: "I was constantly having to talk about his crazy decisions as if they were my own. It was my calmness that saved me." "I had to get him on side to be able to get out," Chloe said as she explained how she came across as calm in initial interviews and CCTV footage. "I want to show a victim doesn't have to fit into a typical box to be believed." She is now taking part in a BBC documentary, My Unbelievable Kidnapping, as she recalls the harrowing experience. It comes a year after the BBC released a drama series based on Chloe's kidnap. When she returned home Chloe gave an interview to TV reporters outside her home. She said: 'I feared for my life, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour." Yet her story was still scrutinised as footage showed Chloe on CCTV footage in an Italian village, holding her kidnapper's hand. She ended up being grilled by Piers Morgan who told her: 'It's not insignificant to be going shopping with the alleged kidnapper and buying new shoes. "If you're going to conduct media interviews where you're being paid money, and you're doing a book for thousands of pounds before there's even been a trial, I think we're perfectly entitled to ask you difficult questions.' Chloe told him: 'It will all come out in the end." She was right, as Herba was convicted of kidnapping and extortion, and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in jail.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Jason Momoa shaves his beard off for the first time in years as fans are left stunned by his face
This A-list actor transformed in just moments after shaving off his bushy beard for the first time in six years. Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the well-known Hollywood star documented the moment he buzzed off his signature facial hair. 'Haven't shaved in six years, and here we are again,' he wrote at the start of his caption. His priceless reaction to his new look was, 'Goddammit, I hate it,' prompting his fans to flood his comments. 'Your reaction to shaving is HILARIOUS,' one person wrote, adding a crying laughing emoji. Another person said, 'That beard came off and gave us somebody entirely different.' The chameleon is none other than 45-year-old Aquaman sensation Jason Momoa. He removed his thick beard while promoting his water brand Mananalu, which he launched in 2019. The entertainment industry fixture wrote in his caption to his nearly 17 million followers, 'I launched @mananalu to help eliminate single-use plastic.' 'Now, we're taking it even further, partnering with our team at @Getboomerangwater to bring in a closed-loop system that sanitizes and bottles water onsite,' he added. His note went on, 'That means even less waste, reduced shipping footprint, and our aluminum bottles get reused over and over. This is the future, and we're starting in Hawai'i.' Jason urged his followers, 'Let's get rid of single-use plastic. For our children and for our planet. All my aloha, j.' 'I think it's been six years since I did [the movie] Dune,' he reflected in the reel before adding, 'What was really special about that is that is when I started [growing my beard] and started launching Mananalu.' 'At the time I think we were one of the first ones to release the aluminum bottle,' he said about his company. 'And now, six years later, airports are banning single-use plastic. These positive things are happening.' Another person said, 'That beard came off and gave us somebody entirely different' 'So, Mananalu, it's a big shift, and the goal now... we partner with Boomerang Water. Our goal is just to eliminate waste, cut down on all the emissions,' he said. Referencing his native Hawaii, Jason emphasized, 'Really, my goal is to stop bringing over some of these plastics. Stop it. We don't need it.' With the camera in his face as he took a razor to his chin, the movie star said, 'This is the kickoff.' He said he wanted to inform people 'that Mananalu, powered by Boomerang, is out there trying to make change.' One follower praised Jason, writing, 'He is beautiful no matter what. Thanks for using your platform for good.' Another added, 'With or without the beard, you're beautiful.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Chief of War review – Jason Momoa is an underwater shark wrestler in this gory historical epic
There is, probably literally, only one man who could have done it. Whatever claims Hollywood likes to make for itself regarding meritocracy and diversity, only Jason Momoa has the Hawaiian heritage and the commercial clout needed (via such roles as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and various outings as Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe) to get an endeavour like Chief of War on to our screens. Momoa co-created with Thomas Pa'a Sibbitt the nine-part historical drama, co-wrote every episode, executive produces and stars as the protagonist Ka'iana, a Native Hawaiian warrior who would become instrumental in the fight to unify the four Hawaiian kingdoms at the turn of the 18th century. It opens with lingering shots of O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i and Hawai'i, each island so spectacularly beautiful, so inviting, so intriguingly different from anywhere else and so lovingly captured by director Justin Chon that it all begins to take on a vaguely hallucinatory quality. Fortunately, Momoa's buttocks soon make an appearance and, though hardly less impressive than a volcanic island, their familiarity helpfully grounds us. Chief of War may be a passion project, but it still needs someone helming it who knows his assets and is willing to deploy them in the service of bringing lesser known historical events to the masses. Thus our introduction to the phenomenon of Ka'iana is him diving off a boat to wrestle a shark before killing it, after the appropriate rituals, for his people to eat. No sooner has he done this, however, than he is summoned to attend the leader of the kingdom of Maui, Kahekili (Temuera Morrison), whom he once served before becoming disillusioned by the chief's lavishly bloodthirsty ways. Many of Kahekili's men consider him a deserter and want him dead ('I would feed your heart to the pigs' says his second-in-command). This animosity sparks the first of many action sequences as Maui's top spear expert starts throwing the things at him as he approaches the chief, until Ka'iana puts a stop to this nonsense by catching one in his mighty fist and pushing it through a meaty fold of his attacker's flesh. This is about the least gory of the frequent fight and battle scenes, which are there to punctuate and leaven the complicated history that is being imparted elsewhere with a ponderousness that is perhaps inescapable in any passion project. Kahekili apologises for his previous bloodthirsty ways and Ka'iana agrees to come back for one last job – defending the islands from O'ahu, which has mustered a large army and is bent on conquest. Oh, Ka'iana. Never go back to your toxic ex-chief. He'll only exploit your strategic, tactical and muscular talents to slaughter an entire civilian population and take an island for himself. You must know this. The massacre at O'ahu (after which Kahekili builds a tower from the skulls and bones of the dead – not a subtle man) sets up the series of events that will see Ka'iana separated from his family and on board a ship full of post-Cook explorers, learning English, getting familiar with firearms and garnering the kind of knowledge that will make him even more valuable to chiefs trying to unite the islands in the face of approaching colonisation. Chief of War is a dense business. The story is so unfamiliar that, even allowing for the battle scenes, it could have done with a little more unpacking. The script rarely moves beyond the 'perfectly serviceable' range and too many of the actors have little more to do than scowl and growl (the men) or play the feisty-but-loving beauties that pass for well-rounded female characters these days. But perhaps to ask for more is to ask for too much. This is the first time the history of Ka'iana and the islands he hailed from has been told for a mainstream audience. It has a mountain to climb and it handles its heavy baggage pretty well. Momoa plays to his strengths – which, yes, include his bum, but also his air of intelligent integrity and, for all his mountainous muscularity, a stubborn gentleness that makes him credible as a reluctant warrior. It is a worthy endeavour, and if it occasionally feels too much like that, it does relax and gain confidence as it proceeds. And it will be thanks to Momoa that we can look forward to other, perhaps even better, ones in the future. Chief of War is on Apple TV+ This article was amended on 1 August 2025. The Aquaman character played by Jason Momoa is part of the DC Extended Universe, not the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an earlier version said.
