Going out: Cinema
Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Out now
Magical Michael (Channing Tatum) and his adult entertainers are back for one final show, and this time the boys are in London. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this third film in the series sees Salma Hayek take centre stage as Mike’s love interest.
Blue Jean
Out now
If there is any justice in the world, this psychologically acute directorial debut from Georgia Oakley will make a huge star of lead actor Rosy McEwen. She does brilliant work playing a gay teacher in Thatcher’s Britain, shortly after section 28, prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality as normal, was passed.
Women Talking
Out now
With a stellar cast including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy and Frances McDormand, this drama from director Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz) is based loosely on tragic true events: multiple so-called “ghost rapes” that took place in an ultra-conservative Mennonite community in the eastern lowlands of Bolivia.
Titanic
Out now
After Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron is back for a victory lap with another ocean-going record-breaker, rereleased and digitally restored: Titanic, the ship that launched a thousand crushes on Leonardo DiCaprio and imprinted My Heart Will Go On into the collective cultural consciousness. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Barbican, London, 16 February; Milton Court, London, 17 February
The phenomenal violinist begins her residency playing Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with François-Xavier Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra, and giving a recital with pianist Joonas Ahonen that juxtaposes two Beethoven violin sonatas – Op 30 No 2, and Op 47, the Kreutzer – with pieces by Schoenberg, Webern and Morton Feldman. Andrew Clements
Anna of the North
Lafayette, London, 17 February
Over three albums and various high-profile collaborations – Tyler, the Creator, Rejjie Snow and G-Eazy, to name just three – Norway’s Anna Lotterud has become a growing cult concern. This one-off show is the ideal place to experience her emotional, soft-focus pop. Michael Cragg
The Big Pink
14 to 18 February; tour starts London
Scuzzy art-rock duo the Big Pink, AKA Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, fizzled out in 2013. Nearly a decade later, Furze is back with two new members (bassist Charlie Baker and drummer Akiko Matsuura) and a new album to take on the road. MC
Fergus McCreadie Trio
11 February to 10 March; tour starts Coventry
The much-acclaimed young Scottish pianist and his long-running trio may occasionally hint at vivid links with the late Esbjörn Svensson and the Bad Plus, but their biggest inspiration is Scotland’s wild countryside. Their 2022 album Forest Floor confirms their mastery of powerfully lyrical contemporary jazz. John Fordham
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Going out: Art
Big Women
First Site Colchester, to 18 June
The raw and unconsoling art of Sarah Lucas has never seemed exactly celebratory, but she must be in a good mood because she has curated this optimistic gathering of art about mature womanhood. Featuring works by some of her gifted contemporaries including Gillian Wearing, Sue Webster, Sonia Coode-Adams and more.
Donatello
V&A, London, to 11 June
There is a spiky, restless fury to this Renaissance genius that makes his sculptures punch through time. Donatello created the first modern male nude and is believed to have been gay. He also expressed searing grief and boisterous joy in statues that cavort between Christianity and myth.
Peter Doig
Courtauld Gallery, London, to 29 May
Doig’s new paintings. Behind him an icy peak soars. But he is dressed as a harlequin and looks lost. The sublime becomes social comedy. Such uneasy changes of pitch and an atmosphere of frozen, timeless loneliness make Doig a beautiful painter.
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, to 20 May
This Scottish-born abstract painter spent much of her life in Cornwall. The seaswept county’s modern art scene was so intense in the mid-20th century that Barns-Graham and friends formed a breakaway movement, rejecting the St Ives approach – picture them arguing over hot pasties. She transforms landscape into geometry and colour. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
John Kearns
Soho Theatre, London, 13 to 18 February; touring to 3 June
Despite winning the Edinburgh comedy award in 2014, Kearns hasn’t quite cracked the mainstream; not entirely surprising, considering his insistence on performing in joke-shop teeth and a bald-patch wig. Behind the weirdness is a character comic who specialises in silly but melancholy studies of suburban life. Rachel Aroesti
Swan Lake
Birmingham Hippodrome, 15 to 25 February, touring to 1 April
A very fine production from Birmingham Royal Ballet, a company that’s been injected with new energy since the arrival of artistic director Carlos Acosta. Russian ballerina Polina Semionova joins BRB’s dancers for two guest appearances. Lyndsey Winship
Sylvia
Old Vic, London, to 1 April
Beverley Knight and Sharon Rose star in a new musical about Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Sylvia. Kate Prince’s world premiere fuses dance, hip-hop and soul. Miriam Gillinson
Unexpected Twist
Royal & Derngate, Northampton, 11 to 25 February; touring to 10 June
Michael Rosen’s adaptation of Oliver Twist has been adapted by Roy Williams, with music from R&B star Yaya Bey and the brilliant BAC Beatbox Academy’s Conrad Murray. It’s the last show in James Dacre’s tenure as artistic director. MG
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Staying in: Streaming
Better
Monday 13 February, 9pm, BBC One & iPlayer
Bent coppers! Get yer bent coppers here! The latest attempt to fill the Line of Duty-shaped hole in the schedules has arrived, starring I Hate Suzie’s Leila Farzad as a police officer who sold her soul to a local gangster (Andrew Buchan) at the start of her career – a decision that is catching up with her two decades on.
Hello Tomorrow!
Friday 17 February, Apple TV+
Billy Crudup and Hank Azaria lead this creepy sci-fi series about a group of salesmen hawking timeshares on the moon – a deal that is surely too good to be true. With its stifling all-American aesthetic and apparently utopian premise, we could well have another Severance on our hands.
The Gold
Sunday 12 February, 9pm, BBC One & iPlayer
Hot on the heels of Channel 4’s endearingly silly comedy The Curse comes another dramatic riff on the infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery of 1983. This one is a slicker, starrier affair (Jack Lowden stars, and Dominic Cooper and Hugh Bonneville both feature) that’s less knockabout nostalgia-fest and more high-octane history lesson.
The Twelve
Thursday 16 February, ITVX
Already a hit in its native Australia, this series – which is itself based on a Belgian drama – follows a jury tasked with deciding whether a woman is guilty of murdering her young niece. Their pursuit of the truth, however, is plagued by their past experiences and personal prejudices. RA
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Staying in: Games
Hogwarts Legacy
Out now, PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox
If you’re able to put aside the ongoing culture war around Harry Potter’s creator, this open-world Hogwarts adventure might be a dream come true.
Returnal
Out 15 February, PC
If you haven’t already experienced this mind-mangling work of science-fiction on the PlayStation 5, it’s now coming to PCs. One of the finest action games ever made, and clever, too. Keza Macdonald
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Staying in: Albums
Tennis – Pollen
Out now
Colorado husband-and-wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley return with more sun-dappled indie pop on this sixth album. Pollen finds Moore zooming in on the details, as showcased on single Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight, which tells the story of a late-night drive.
Paramore – This Is Why
Out now
On their first album in nearly six years, Hayley Williams et al look to Britain for inspiration. While the jagged, mainly spoken-word C’est Comme Ça recalls the offbeat charm of Dry Cleaning, The News is pure Bloc Party. Lyrically, Williams explores pandemic-fuelled anxieties, creating a decidedly tense 40 minutes.
Kelela – Raven
Out now
Kelela’s sensual blend of electronica and R&B clearly takes time. More than a decade into her career, Raven is only her second full-length album, and her first in six years. Its unhurried creation bleeds into the songs, with Contact and the gorgeous, house-inflected On the Run unfurling like plumes of smoke.
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
Out now
Next year marks the 40th anniversary of New Jersey’s Yo La Tengo, who continue their penchant for knocking out homespun, oddly comforting indie rock on this 17th album. While 2020’s experimental We Have Amnesia Sometimes dealt in ambient noodling, here they offer up lean mid-90s college rock fare on the likes of Fallout. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Make Or Break,
Apple TV+, from Friday 17 February
The second series of this documentary following the world’s best surfers continues to be riveting viewing. It immerses us in the heady adrenaline rush that keeps athletes willing to sacrifice their safety for the biggest waves possible.
Dressed: The History of Fashion
Podcast
With winter fashion week season in full flow, this long-running podcast from Cassidy Zachary and April Calahan acts as a clear-sighted guide, explaining the legacy of the couture looks we could encounter on the runway.
The Great 78 Project
Online
Falling into obsolescence from the 1950s onwards, 78rpm records are a rare artefact. This archive aims to find and digitise as many of the shellac recordings as possible, uploading early Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and more. Ammar Kalia
