The Guide #198: Finally, Superman meets his match

As comic book movies go, the Superman reboot is a biggie. It’s the first film from DC Studios, created by Warner Bros in 2022 in an attempt finally to rival Marvel. And it marks the start of the newly rebooted DC Universe, which has seen studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran merrily culling storylines, cancelling projects, and recasting characters (to much online frothing).So why am I struggling to care? Is it the Russian-doll rebooting? Is it franchise fatigue? No, it’s Superman! The dullest hero of them all! Too good to be interesting, too strong to be truly fallible and definitely too Boy Scouty to be funny, I’ve always found him a less exciting prospect than other supers.But Gunn, who wrote and directed the film, seems to have a plan to make Superman less of a snooze

‘The army were on the streets – and we were bored’: Stiff Little Fingers on making Alternative Ulster

‘There wasn’t time to sit down and discuss politics and the future of the world, or your aims and aspirations. You just did stuff’I was approached by Gavin Martin, who ran a fanzine called Alternative Ulster. He wanted to put a flexi-disc on the cover and said: “Can we use Suspect Device?” That was going to be Still Little Fingers’ debut single so I told him he couldn’t have that, but I would write him a song.It’s the old adage – write about what you know. The opening line is: “There’s nothin’ for us in Belfast

From Jurassic World Rebirth to Kae Tempest: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Jurassic World RebirthOut now Forget Chris Pratt and the friendly velociraptors: this reboot of the dinofranchise returns to the premise that the beasties with the big sharp teeth are not to be trusted – and this time around we’ve got some mutant dinosaurs in the mix. Human stars include Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.The ShroudsOut now The master of body horror is back – and a new David Cronenberg film is always cause for celebration. Now in his 80s, the Canadian auteur can always be relied upon to probe the deeper and darker parts of the human psyche, and his latest exploration of grief and dystopian technology, starring Vincent Cassel, is no exception.Jane Austen 250The Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford; 6 July to 20 August It is 250 years since the birth of one of the greatest comic novelists of all time

Steve Coogan accuses Labour of paving way for Reform UK

Steve Coogan has accused Keir Starmer’s Labour government of a “derogation of all the principles they were supposed to represent” and said they were paving the way for the “racist clowns” of Reform UK.The actor, comedian and producer said the party he had long supported was now for people “inside the M25” and described the prime minister’s first year in power as underwhelming.“I knew before the election he was going to be disappointing. He hasn’t disappointed me in how disappointing he’s been,” he said.Coogan spoke to the Guardian ahead of an address to the annual Co-op Congress in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where he called for locally led grassroots movements to assemble across Britain and take back control from “multinational institutions and billionaires”

My cultural awakening: a Marina Abramović show helped me to stop hating my abusive father

On an unseasonably warm day in October 2023, I arrived, ahead of the queues, at London’s Southbank Centre for a conceptual art takeover by the world-famous Marina Abramović Institute.I had recently read Marina’s memoir Walk Through Walls, which had resonated. So, when I’d seen the event advertised – hours-long performances by artists she’d invited, curated and introduced by Marina – I bought a £60 ticket and waited for my time slot to enter the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I hadn’t seen performance art before, and this was due to include her well-known work The Artist Is Present with an artist sitting, static and silent, in a chair all day, as Marina once did for an accumulated 736 hours and 30 minutes at the Museum of Modern Art. I felt certain that it would affect me, I just wasn’t sure how

Rodney Wilson obituary

My husband, Rodney Wilson, who has died aged 82, was a widely admired producer of innovative arts television programmes. His leadership as film officer at the Arts Council helped to expand and enhance the UK’s vital independent film industry of the 1970s and 80s.Trained in fine art at Camberwell in the 60s, Rodney taught painting and drawing at Loughborough College of Art, but seeing James Scott’s film Richard Hamilton in 1969 proved life-changing. After studying film at Hornsey College of Art in north London, in 1970 he joined the Arts Council and channelled funds to new film-makers with imaginative ideas, nurturing projects from initial treatment through filming (at locations from Transylvania to Pennsylvania) to final edit.Unafraid of controversy, Rodney supported the director Franco Rosso whose Arts Council-funded film, Dread Beat an’ Blood, about Linton Kwesi Johnson, was pulled by the BBC in the runup to the May 1979 general election owing to “unacceptable” political content