Posted by 
Get the popcorn out! Two big blockbusters hit cinemas this week: the warm and cuddly Paddington III and the big and muscly Gladiator II. Much like the Barbenheimer face-off of summer 2023, behold now the winter of Gladdington 2024.
It’s hard to think of anything more cinematically British than Paddington and the Brown family, inhabiting with gusto the misty-eyed notion of Blighty as some Union-Jack buntinged, posh twit/jolly Cockernee merry-go-round of warm hearts, stiff upper lips and Victoria sponge.
But as the name of the third instalment reveals, the film takes its leave of Britain’s shores and moves the action to Peru, where our little ursine friend is searching for his beloved Aunt Lucy who has mysteriously disappeared. Our reviewer Jane Barnwell found Paddington in Peru to be a heartwarming tale of kindness, community and family, with messages of tolerance towards difference and diversity. As long as it ends with a lovely song and dance routine, I’ll be happy.
Read more: Paddington in Peru is another heart-warming and humorous tale of kindness, community and family
Whether audiences are likely to give the same generous thumbs up to Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 blockbuster Gladiator – this time around starring everyone’s fantasy boyfriend, Paul Mescal – depends. If you’re in it for the big, spectacular set pieces you will relish Gladiator II.
Bloody-faced killer baboons, warriors on rhinos and a shark-infested Colosseum it is then. But if you’re looking for a sequel that advances the original film with a fresh storyline and compelling characters, you may have to look to Paddington III or even Bridget Jones IV (just kidding).
Film academic Dan O’Brien believes the pressures of Hollywood big bucks have neutered the ambitions of Scott’s new film in favour of playing it safe with crowd-pleasing tropes, characters and scenes that rehash elements of the original. Russell Crowe, who memorably embodied the blood-and-sand role of Maximus seems to cast a shadow over Mescal, inhibiting the young Irish actor from fully owning his character Lucius. In spite of this, our reviewer maintains you will still want to see Gladiator II for the sheer entertainment and spectacle; you just might not remember it for very long afterwards.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Come into the light
After a wait of nine years, fans of Tudor history will be thrilled to see that the final instalment of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy has been brought to life by the BBC in The Mirror and the Light. Returning the ever-wonderful Mark Rylance to our TV screens as Thomas Cromwell, this beautifully realised production filmed in candlelight showcases exquisite costumes, sets and performances.
With England in uproar following Henry VIII’s breaking with the Catholic church, the year 1536 sees the “butcher’s dog” facing new pressures from his capricious king. Cromwell is tasked with bringing the resolutely Catholic Princess Mary to heel, but she will not bend from her faith, and still bitterly regrets her father’s betrayal of her mother Catherine of Aragon.
Cromwell, used to having the ear of the redoubtable king, begins to find his position increasingly precarious, his grip loosening on the levers of power and influence. Television studies academic Helen Piper explains how the turmoil prompted by Henry’s actions led to a crisis of sovereignty and national identity, producing interesting parallels with post-Brexit Britain. But, as she points out, the most compelling aspect to this final instalment is how the undoing of the king’s once-powerful adviser will play out to its inevitably dark conclusion.
Many believed Percival Everett’s James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn with the perspective of the enslaved Jim at its centre, would win this year’s Booker prize. But the honour has gone instead to the bookies’ other favourite, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, a slim tale that exposes the human cost of space exploration in the face of devastating climate crisis.
Six astronauts circle the Earth in the International Space Station as a deadly typhoon gathers above south-east Asia – insignificant humans observing their broken blue planet “with a godly view that’s the blessing and also the curse” as they pursue a distant dream of life elsewhere. Cultural theorist Debra Benita Shaw chillingly describes Harvey’s book as a novel for the end of the world as we know it.
It’s a stitch up
An inspiring celebration of the rich heritage of embroidery, Stitched: Scotland’s Embroidered Art has opened its doors at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios. The showcase spans 200 years from 1720-1920, exemplifying the craft and skill in often-overlooked gems gathered from National Trust properties across Scotland. Crucially this collection of 80 exquisite pieces powerfully re-evaluates embroidery as something commonly dismissed as “women’s work”.
Textiles academic Collette Paterson pays homage to the intricate artistry of 18th- and 19th-century women, revealing how this quiet mode of domestic feminine expression has been transformed in recent times into a less quiet, subversive form of women’s activism.
