Amidst all the strife of 2017 we always have music to turn to. Chunks of life and artistic expression to take three or four minutes at a...

2017 has been an incredible year for music (as the Best Albums and Tracks lists will confirm) and 2018 is set for more brilliance. Here are some artists to look out for next year, all of whom have released some smashing singles or EP's this year but are yet to release a debut album. NB. There are plenty of new bands who've released great debuts this year but only those yet to release a full album are eligible for this particular list. No ranking here, just an alphabetical

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is not the nostalgia-fest that The Force Awakens and Rogue One were. It’s not The Empire Strikes Back to The Force Awakens' A New Hope either, or the pointless middle chapter that was Attack Of The Clones. It’s entirely its own beast and, for that, Rian Johnson deserves a lot of credit. Picking up the heavy baton from JJ Abram’s masterful last film (Abrams is now on producer duties) Johnson pulls more rugs here than a carpet salesman (terrible simile

The Disaster Artist does a fantastic job of bypassing the expectant mockery that James Franco, Seth Rogen et al. could very easily adhere to. Instead, they offer up a treatise on Hollywood, the movie industry and the notion of following your dreams regardless of circumstance and talent, a potentially incongruous premise considering its status as a semi-biopic of the making of one of the most notoriously ‘bad’ movies ever made. The Room is a film that just wouldn’t be made now

‘Tis the season for blockbusters and seasonal fare but the biggest surprise of this chock-a-block month could well be a jungle-set remake that no one was really calling out for: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Power Rangers take note, this is how you update a 90’s favourite: by leaning strictly on the family-fun side of things rather than veering down a self-serious tween path. OK, yes, we still get the outdated teenage stereotypes lazily drawn together in a quick-dash charac

Superhero fatigue, eh? Debate is a pillar of society. Whilst the old adage of opinions being like arseholes is totally true our passions, thoughts and instincts make us who we are. It’s not just those in the spotlight anymore though, you can’t eat out, travel or shop without someone already having passed judgement. Everyone’s livelihood is up for review. The notion of walking into a cinema, switching your brain off and mindlessly enjoying the spectacle is not an alien concept

The Titanic sinks. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father. ET returns home. Endings ingrained in popular culture, but not at all damaging to the films in which they occur. The same, unfortunately, is not true of the latest adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie’s classic tale has been read, retold and adapted countless times and was rife for another big screen version. Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 vintage is a faithful translation but doesn’t quite add the bell

Marvel’s proclivity to use lesser-known, and stylistically varied, Directors throughout the MCU is to be earnestly applauded. It adds disparity, differentiates each film and phase in the series and enables each character film to feel like an evolution. This particularly elevates their latest addition to the MCU, and third this calendar year, Thor: Ragnarok. Phase Three has, so far, eclipsed all of Marvel’s achievements thus far, impressive considering we’re onto film number 1

When a genre becomes 'in vogue' it’s inevitable that the market will be saturated with copycats. The ‘Scandi-noir’ is now established, both on television and film, as is the recent upswing in serial killer thrillers based on bestselling novels. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train’s box office success and critical praise are to blame for The Snowman, the most recent example, based on Jo Nesbo’s novel which is ten years old now. Tomas Alfredson

Blade Runner fits the archetype of a cult classic. An initially poor box office return, then feverishly discussed through word of mouth upon video release, spreading to become one of the most influential science fiction films of all time and in the upper echelons of any publication’s ‘Best Movies Ever’ list. It’s a film, like Trainspotting before it, which its many devotees felt should be left well alone. Despite Ridley Scott’s numerous edits, the various short prequels and s

In politically uncertain times a historically-set film can make the entire situation seem better or worse. So it is with The Death of Stalin, the latest from life-long satirist Armando Iannucci. His decision to delve into historical context, rather than comment on today’s landscape, is a little odd but it enables him to aim his jabs and comments freely. He also decides to use a British and American cast, with nary a Russian accent in sight. Although initially jarring this, to

The old adage would tell us that bigger is always better. It’s not a rule I’d usually subscribe to cinema though, and it taints the Kingsman sequel: The Golden Circle. Matthew Vaughan’s first Kingsman was an absolute breath of fresh air. He’d already made the superhero genre look bloated and outdated with the hilarious Kick-Ass and managed to do the absolute same with the spy genre. The old boys were dead in the water and the era of the spoof, and the 80’s soundtrack, had set