Another visit to the UK’s putrid zombie aftermath, and the polymath rapper returns after eight years with a collb-packed blockbuster28 Years Later: The Bone TempleOut nowIt would have been hard to imagine in 2002 that 28 Days Later would spawn something so different (and that’s probably a good thing; who wants identikit sequels?).The post-apocalyptic UK is now almost unrecognisable in this Nia DaCosta-directed, Alex Garland-scripted instalment, with violent tribes competing for scant resources.Rental FamilyOut now In this Japan-set drama from director Hikari, Brendan Fraser plays an actor hoping to land a decent role after appearing in a hit toothpaste commercial.He is hired by a company that provides family stand-ins for events, leading to some unexpectedly genuine connections.The Voice of Hind RajabOut nowUsing real audio footage, this Gaza-set film dramatises the death of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was trapped on the phone for three hours in a car surrounded by six relatives killed by Israeli forces, only to be shot dead herself, after soldiers fired 335 rounds of ammunition into the car and the ambulance that came to collect the little girl, also killing two paramedics.

Hong Kong film festival UKHOME, Manchester, to 1 FebruaryAfter playing in London last year, the Hong Kong film fest goes on the road, presenting a variety of films and shorts from Hong Kong and the ESEA diaspora, including Queerpanorama, in which Jayden Cheung plays a man whose identity is constantly in flux as he takes on the persona of the last person he hooked up with, and a 25th-anniversary screening of Spacked Out,Catherine BrayAll Time Low20 to 24 January; tour starts GlasgowFormed in 2003, US pop-rock mainstays All Time Low have weathered music’s shifting tides by sticking to a formula of big riffs and even bigger choruses,This arena tour celebrates last year’s Everyone’s Talking! album and enduring hits such as Dear Maria, Count Me In,Michael CraggKathryn JosephÒran Mór, Glasgow, 18 JanuarySigned to Mogwai’s label Rock Action, Scottish singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph shares her bosses’ penchant for eerie atmospherics, layering ever-expanding synths, rumbling electronics and her remarkable voice to unsettling effect,She’ll showcase last year’s We Were Made Prey album here.

MCVijay IyerCafe Oto, London, 17 & 18 JanuaryHis pianistic prowess, improv intuitions and cross-cultural openness have made the Indian-American pianist Vijay Iyer a unique presence on the jazz scene for three decades.These are solo gigs, but Iyer’s deep immersion in African-American, Indian and contemporary-classical musics enables him to wield a panoramic vision.John FordhamSymphony of Sorrowful SongsCity Halls, Glasgow, 20 JanuaryThe BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra revives one of the most unexpected musical phenomena of the 1990s, 50 years after it was composed.Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony sets Polish texts that meditate on motherhood, love and loss to music of stark, haunting beauty.The soprano soloist is Francesca Chiejina.

In this performance, the soprano soloist is Francesca Chiejina, the conductor Pawel Kapula.Andrew ClementsHawai’iBritish Museum, London, to 25 May Incredible Hawaiian objects owned by the British Museum including an 18th-century warrior’s feathered helmet and a fearsome wooden statue of a god that’s one of the world’s sculptural masterpieces, appear alongside global loans in this exhibition that tells of cultural encounters between a Pacific kingdom and the British Empire.Crossing into DarknessCarl Freedman Gallery, Margate, Sunday to 12 AprilThis exhibition curated by Tracey Emin is a brooding and melancholic opening to the year.“In the middle of my life I found myself in a dark wood,” wrote Dante, and this exhibition goes bravely into that emotional forest.Goya, Munch, Bourgeois and Kiefer are among the pilgrims of night.

Joseph BeuysThaddaeus Ropac, London, to 21 MarchThe great German sculptor, who served in the Luftwaffe in the second world war, went on to radicalise art with his performances and political and environmental campaigns.His legacy is a body of objects and installations whose grey, timeworn materials resonate with echoes of the Holocaust - including his deathly bathtubs.MapsNational War Museum, Edinburgh, to 4 October This exhibition brings an unusual eye to history, seeing the second world war through maps.There are handmade ones used by prisoners of war in escape attempts, as well as professionally designed and printed maps made for soldiers and flyers, in a global war that was fought over huge spaces.Jonathan JonesGuess How Much I Love You?Royal Court theatre, London, to 21 February Luke Norris’s intimate family drama kicks off The Royal Court’s 70th-anniversary season.

A pregnant couple attend their 20-week scan – and their imagined future slips away,Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo star,Miriam GillinsonAll Is But FantasyThe Other Place, Stratford-upon Avon, Wednesday to 21 February Think the barnstorming musical Six – but with Shakespeare,Whitney White’s two-part gig-theatre show lets Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Emilia and Richard III take the mic to reclaim their stories,MGMike Wozniak 18 January to 12 November; tour starts EdinburghFiercely beloved as one-third of gently geeky chat pod Three Bean Salad, Wozniak is also an accomplished standup.

His first new show in five years centres on a story about a bench, doubtless wreathed by plenty of characteristically erudite comic tangents.Rachel AroestiThe Royal Ballet: Woolf WorksRoyal Opera House, London, 17 January to 13 FebruaryIt’s just over a decade since Wayne McGregor created his most ambitious and successful ballet, inspired by Virginia Woolf.Rather than recreating Woolf’s narratives, McGregor takes on some of her themes and techniques, in particular from Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves.Lyndsey WinshipA Knight of the Seven KingdomsSky Atlantic & Now, 19 January, 9pmHouse of the Dragon whisked us back 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.Now this new prequel – based on George RR Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas – propels us forward a century to follow a hedge knight (“like a knight but sadder”) and his squire.

StealPrime Video, 21 JanuarySpeaking of Westeros, GoT alumna Sophie Turner – AKA Sansa Stark – leads this thriller about a heist at a pension fund, the ordinary office workers who get tangled up in the crime and the gambling addict detective on the case.The BeautyDisney+, 22 JanuaryCan the inordinately prolific screenwriter Ryan Murphy redeem himself after the cringeworthy mess of All’s Fair? Tune in to his latest star-studded and utterly ludicrous melodrama (Ashton Kutcher and Bella Hadid in a story about an STI that makes people more attractive) to find out.Things You Should Have DoneBBC Three & iPlayer, Tuesday, 10pmFormer YouTuber Lucia Keskin’s sitcom is far too quirky to be considered a copper-bottomed crowdpleaser, but if the concept of a self-anointed “stay-at-home daughter” tickles you, it’s certainly worth giving the second series of this surreal and thoroughly idiosyncratic show a go.RAPerfect Tides: Station to StationPC; out 22 January This coming-of-age story has been causing a buzz on the indie awards circuit.Set in 2000s New York, complete with a recreation of a Nokia 3210 to text, it stars a young writer called Mara trying to find her place in the world.

The conversations you have, interests you pursue and decisions you make will affect how her life turns out.MIO: Memories in OrbitPC, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, PS5, Xbox; out 20 JanuaryA beautifully-drawn French action game that looks like a cult graphic novel, about a robot trapped on an enormous space vessel full of rogue machines and mysteries.Like a sci-fi version of Hollow Knight: Silksong.Keza MacDonaldMadison Beer – LocketOut nowOn this third album, the New York singer-songwriter continues to pick through her emotional debris via supple electropop, be it cutting off a hapless ex on Bittersweet’s fluttering chorus, or taking charge on the dark throb of Yes Baby.A$AP Rocky – Don’t Be DumbOut nowEight years after his last album, rapper, actor and fashion maverick A$AP Rocky returns with the year’s first blockbuster event.

Featuring artwork by Tim Burton, a video starring Winona Ryder and a Wiki-length roster of producers (including Pharrell and Danny Elfman), Don’t Be Dumb has a lot to live up to.Sleaford Mods – The Demise of Planet XOut nowThe English polemicists follow-up 2023’s Top 3 album, UK Grim, with this slab of bleakly comic post-punk.Actor Gwendoline Christie adds a dash of horror to single The Good Life, while the throbbing electro of No Touch features artist and musician Sue Tompkins.Cavetown – Running With ScissorsOut nowSinger, songwriter and YouTuber Robin Skinner, AKA Cavetown, creates folk-tinged electronic mini-epics on this follow-up to 2022’s Top 40 album, Worm Food.Exuberant singles such as the loved-up Rainbow Gal and Baby Spoon are juxtaposed by the heavier purging of NPC.

MCThe Tale of SilyanNational Geographic & Disney+, out nowThis moving film follows a North Macedonian farmer’s struggle in the face of new government regulations,Forced to work in a landfill, it’s the bond he forges with an injured stork, Silyan, that restores his spirit,Dan Snow’s History Hit: Get Smart in 2026PodcastDan Snow’s long-running history series kicks off the year with a new strand of episodes aiming to connect historical events with today’s sociopolitical developments, including explainers on Afghanistan’s recent history and the legacy of the Dambusters,UsefulChartsYouTubeYouTuber Matt Baker’s insightful channel pairs visual diagrams and timelines with analysis of current affairs and historical movements,Highlights include a fast-moving survey of British political parties and a fresh take on a world history timeline.

Ammar Kalia