Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88
A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter
O come out ye faithful: a joyful roundup of UK culture this Christmas
Beauty and the Beast or Wolf Alice? Queen Marie Antoinette or Count Arthur Strong? Come and behold: the holiday season offers stage, film, music and art that’s worth singing about
Jingle Bell Heist review – Netflix comedy is slight cut above standard festive filler
A game cast and some decent twists help to elevate this passably entertaining London-set Christmas offering about a department store robbery
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review – Josh O’Connor excels in another deadpan delight
Daniel Craig is joined by a sparkling array of talent including O’Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin in this latest murder mystery with a religious undercurrent
Rush Hour 4 in the works at Paramount after reports of Trump intervening
Brett Ratner, accused of sexual misconduct by several women, will bring his hit franchise back to the big screen
‘A Thanksgiving classic’: why Stuck in Love is my feelgood movie
The latest in our series of writers highlighting their all-time favorite comfort films is a 2012 indie romcom that begins and ends on the November holiday
Can’t tech a joke: AI does not understand puns, study finds
Researchers say results underline large language models’ poor grasp of humour, empathy and cultural nuance
The Creeps review – reference-heavy mashup of Gremlins and American Pie is stupid-funny
On paper, ‘horny teens do battle with mini demon snowmen’ sounds fun, but the jokes are dumb and the references to better films only draw attention to its weaknesses
Rab C Nesbitt actor Gregor Fisher: ‘People say: I didn’t realise you could speak properly!’
He’s been in everything from Love Actually to Shakespeare with Al Pacino – but will he always be thought of as the string-vest-wearing boozy Glaswegian? Ahead of a tour as himself, the actor and Instagram cookery guru looks back
The Saragossa Manuscript review – cult Polish period-costume comedy is outrageous head-spinner
Wojciech Has’s slice of 1960s surrealism is set in 18th-century Spain, as an officer careens through farcical encounters and erotic episodes in a wild ride that could be a series of Monty Python sketches
Champagne Problems review – Netflix’s latest Christmas romcom lacks fizz
The streamer continues its annual onslaught of forgettable festive films with a mostly charmless romance set in France
Bone Lake review – holiday rental house of horror is fun for everyone
You don’t need to be a fright flick aficionado to enjoy this smart and witty tale of a romantic weekend break going gruesomely wrong
3 Wishes for Christmas review – seasonal romcom has all the personality of a supermarket voucher
Unimaginative British fable has a credible lead in Christine During, but otherwise it’s the movie equivalent of receiving socks as a present
David Zucker renews attack on new Naked Gun reboot starring Liam Neeson
The director has taken fresh aim at the new film, saying that producer Seth MacFarlane ‘totally missed’ the spoof-comedy style that defined the original Naked Gun franchise
Christmas Karma review – Dickens adaptation has as much Yuletide spirit as a dead rat in the eggnog
Gurinder Chadha’s leaden update of the hardy seasonal chestnut with Kunal Nayyar is joyless and nausea-inducing