Going out: Cinema
Official Competition
Out now
Fresh from its UK premiere at the Edinburgh international film festival, and worth seeing for Penélope Cruz’s sensational wardrobe alone, this is a thoroughly entertaining and pointed satire of actors and acting. Antonio Banderas has the time of his life playing an A-list thesp attempting a serious arthouse film for the first time.
Mr Malcolm’s List
Out now
Starring the likable Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat) as Julia Thistlewaite, a young lady jilted by eligible bachelor Mr Malcolm (Sopé Dìrísù), this will hit the spot for Bridgerton fans jonesing for their next fix of sweet, sweet Regency romance. Based on the novel by Suzanne Allain.
FrightFest 2022
To 29 August
Do you like scary movies? Then you’ll want to get yourself down to Leicester Square, London, this bank holiday, where the genre festival that Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro once described as “the Woodstock of gore” is set to unveil this year’s crop of chills and thrills.
Beast
Out now
Creature features tend to focus on the fishier, scalier, slimier parts of the animal kingdom, but why should sharks, snakes and bugs have all the fun? In this action adventure, Idris Elba stars as a man who must protect his teenage daughters from a killer lion when a safari goes horribly wrong. Catherine Bray
* * *
Going out: Gigs
Field Maneuvers
2 to 4 September, secret location, two hours north-east of London
This no-frills rave keeps its cards close to its chest, with punters only told the festival’s location once they’ve bought a ticket. Thankfully the stacked lineup isn’t a secret, with dubstep pioneer Kode9 and ambient experimenter Laurel Halo joined by takeovers from Dalston Superstore and queer collective Room 4 Resistance. MC
Between the Lines festival
EartH theatre, London, 25 August and various venues to 28 September
Fully live again in east London after two years, Between the Lines returns with its dizzying collisions of improv, poetry, jazz, bhangra, classical-to-global vocals, electronics, and much more. Producer-composer Beatrice Dillon, tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, and music-theatre creator Neil Luck are among September’s headliners. John Fordham
This New Noise
Royal Albert Hall, London, 30 August
The centenary of the BBC has been a backdrop to all this year’s proms, but it takes centre stage in the specially commissioned album-length work from the “retro-futurists” Public Service Broadcasting. The band joins forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to celebrate 100 years of radio, aiming to “teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future”. Andrew Clements
Arcade Fire
30 August to 8 September; tour starts Dublin
The Canadian indie rock intellectuals kick off their European arena tour. After 2017’s sidestep into lithe synthpop on Everything Now, the quintet returned to their more rustic, emotionally cathartic origins on this year’s We. More playful in terms of dynamics, it’s an album that begs to be performed in cavernous spaces. Michael Cragg
* * *
Going out: Art
Walter Sickert
Tate Britain, London, to 18 September
This will chill you. Sickert has been suspected of being Jack the Ripper and may have spread the rumour himself. Yet his dark, uneasy paintings of London at the end of the Victorian age, from monstrous music hall audiences to sad Camden rooms, mark him out as a modern great.
Dreamachine
Murrayfield Ice Rink, Edinburgh, to 25 September
Everyone has a different experience of this hallucinatory art experience because it stimulates your brain to produce unreal colours, shapes and even pictures. You lie back, close your eyes and let pulses of light and sound do their work. If you let go and enjoy the trip it is wondrous.
Radical Horizons
Chatsworth, Derbyshire, to 1 October
Huge alternative sculptures from the Burning Man festival are transplanted from Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to the green parkland of this stately home. These giant heads and flying horses created by teams of volunteers celebrate wild and gratuitous creativity. One will be set on fire on the show’s last day.
Gold
British Library, London, to 2 October
The most coveted of metals may glitter but it can be meaningful, too. This exhibition looks at how it was used for centuries to add value and symbolism to precious illuminated manuscripts. Gold could make sacred words shine and give saints holy haloes. Gold Qur’ans and the Golden Haggadah star. Jonathan Jones
Going out: Stage
Alice
Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury, 27 & 28 August; touring to 18 December
After the success of her show Pinocchio, dance-theatre choreographer Jasmin Vardimon tries out another fantastical fairytale in a new version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Vardimon’s heroine is a girl growing into womanhood and navigating both the changes in her body and the often unfathomable world around her. Lyndsey Winship
Silence
Donmar Warehouse, London, 1 to 17 September
Commissioned to mark 75 years since the partition of India. A collective of writers adapt Kavita Puri’s book, which documents the testimonies of those who lived through the last days of British Raj. Miriam Gillinson
The Doncastrian Chalk Circle
Cast, Doncaster, to 29 August
A new musical version of Brecht’s classic, adapted by Chris Bush. Part three of the National Theatre’s brilliant Public Acts series, in which local singers, musicians and dancers perform alongside a professional company. MG
Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock
M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, 1 September; O2 Arena, London, 3 & 4 September
How hot can a comedy show be? How much controversy and topicality can it bear? If not always for the loveliest reasons, no two comedians have dominated the headlines more over the last year than the US’s Chappelle and – courtesy of the disputatious Oscar-winner Will Smith – Chris Rock. Now, in this brief co-headlining visit, these titans take to the UK stage. Brian Logan
* * *
Staying in: Streaming
Ladhood
31 August, BBC Three & iPlayer
Liam Williams’s excellent coming-of-age comedy about men who never mature emotionally is soon to come of age. Or end, at least. In this third and final season, young Liam (Oscar Kennedy) hopes to secure a place at a top university, but his mates have other plans.
I Came By
31 August, Netflix
The first fruit of Netflix’s UK film investment is this Hitchcockian thriller from Babak Anvari, the feted British-Iranian director of Under the Shadow. Hugh Bonneville stars as a respectable high court judge who is tormented by some ne’er-do-well graffiti artists (George MacKay, Percelle Ascott). Or is it the other way round?
The Slo Mo Guys’ Big Adventures
1 September, Sky Kids & Now TV
Gav and Dan, AKA YouTube’s Slow Mo Guys, have amazed millions by demonstrating chemical reactions and physics feats at 1,000 frames per second. Now they’re recreating some of history’s most explosive moments – from Li Tian’s invention of gunpowder to Archimedes’ bath – with the help of Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
2 September, Prime Video
Fans of fantasy prequels currently have more riches to lord over than Smaug the dragon. This new Tolkien-inspired series kicks off a planned, five-season Middle-earth epic, covering events set thousands of years before Bilbo Baggins began his own quest. It’s projected to be the most expensive television series ever made. Ellen E Jones
* * *
Staying in: Games
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Out now, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, PC, Linux, Mac
Would adolescence be any easier on an alien planet? This role-playing game has you building your character’s skills and personality over 10 in-game years, pairing space exploration with self-exploration.
Immortality
Out 30 August, Xbox, Smartphones, PC
This fantastically clever game has us piecing together what happened to a vanished film star, by working through scenes from her movies and behind-the-scenes candid footage. Keza Macdonald
* * *
Staying in: Albums
Julia Jacklin – Pre Pleasure
Out now
On her third album, Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin continues to unpack her history, taking on showy religion on the undulating lead single Lydia Wears a Cross, or musing on maternal relationships on Less of a Stranger. On the mushrooming Love, Try Not to Let Go, meanwhile, she simply pleads for more time.
Muse – Will of the People
Out now
The follow-up to 2018’s glossy Simulation Theory grew out of the Devon trio’s label asking for a greatest hits album. Not keen, the band decided to make a new recording that combines all their previous styles, from the title track’s typically OTT rock opera, to Kill Or Be Killed’s heavy-metal paranoia.
DJ Khaled – God Did
Out now
American label executive, author, record producer and Instagram celebrity DJ Khaled returns with his 13th album. A borderline basic Khaled anthem, the album’s lead single Staying Alive samples the Bee Gees and features rapper Lil Baby as well as long-term collaborator Drake.
Ezra Furman – All of Us Flames
Out now
The final part of a trilogy that includes 2018’s complex Transangelic Exodus and 2019’s angry punk rock howl, Twelve Nudes, here the Chicago musician crafts euphoric call-to-arms anthems that celebrate queer communities. The best moments feature Furman channelling Springsteen, specifically on the defiant lead single Forever in Sunset. MC
* * *
Staying in: Brain food
Blackpool’s Dance Fever
29 August, BBC One & iPlayer
Ahead of Strictly’s return, this charming film follows the stories of the amateur dancers hoping to turn pro at the Blackpool dance festival. Among the hopefuls are south London samba enthusiasts Oskar and Lauren.
Shameless Acquisition Target
Podcast
This ingenious series examines the podcasting boom from the inside out, as producer Laura Mayer tries to create a show that will make her rich. The episodes trace Mayer’s progress, from brainstorming to consulting experts and the big sell.
City Walks
Online
Playing like a high-powered Google Street View, this immersive site allows users to take guided HD tours through more than 100 cities around the world, from Vilnius to Liverpool. Ambient sounds and pop-up fact boxes accompany strolls. Ammar Kalia
