We round up three great films, reads, shows to bingewatch, new albums to treat your ears to and a couple of decent podcasts to enlighten.

Watching

The Batman Robert Pattinson takes up the cape in this long-awaited adaption. This is the Caped Crusader for the next generation, in his early days of saving Gotham and coming up against classic foes The Riddler (Paul Dano), The Penguin (Colin Farrell), and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent A wickedly tongue-in-cheek adventure in which everyone’s favourite Nicholas Cage plays a fictional version of Nicholas Cage, in debt and agreeing to make a celebrity appearance at a birthday party for $1 million. Only things don’t go entirely according to plan, and then the CIA gets involved. Of course.

Everything Everywhere All At Once Michelle Yeoh enters the multiverse in this science fiction romp that sees Yeoh’s Evelyn Wang diverted from the attempt to finish her taxes and have to save the world instead, connecting with the multiple lives she could have led across various alternate universes.

Bingeing

Inventing Anna Shonda Rhimes takes on the true story of a total fake in this miniseries about Anna Delvey, the young woman who wrapped New York’s elite – and their bank accounts – around her little finger by convincing them she was a German heiress.

Ted Lasso The comedy with a big heart and cheeky charm has been renewed for a third season, so if you haven’t already, now’s the perfect time to dive into the heartwarming and sometimes poignant story of an American football coach hired to lead an English football (i.e. soccer) team, with pretty much no idea what he’s doing.

Conversations with Friends Author Sally Rooney is on everyone’s must-read shelves right now, and the television adaption of her first novel will be sitting at the top of your must-watch list if you know what’s up. The story follows best friends and former lovers Frances and Bobbi, and the rift that grows between them when Frances becomes involved with a married man.

Reading

New Zealand Bird Paintings by Ray Ching This large-format, visually stunning book is an impressive tribute to one of the most significant wildlife painters of our time. Ray Ching is internationally recognised as one of the world's greatest living wildlife artists. The New Zealand birds that inspired his move into art are captured here in a gorgeous collection of paintings, accompanied by Ching’s own words. Working primarily in oils and watercolours, Ching's works are incredibly detailed with an almost photographic quality.

The Maid by Nita Prose Your maid may know your dirty laundry – but what do you know about her? Molly, a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, all alone in the world and used to being invisible, is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest very dead in his bed. As Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, she discovers a power she never knew she had. She might be just a maid, but what can she see that others overlook?

Listening

Albums

Placebo - Never Let Me Go Nine years on from the alternative rock band’s last album, we need no encouragement to never let Placebo go. Their poignant, no-punches-pulled observations of the human condition are well at home in 2022, and the album walks a skilful knife-edge between celebratory and antagonistic.

Charli XCX – Crash British pop provocateur Charli XCX is continuing to push the envelope with punk and electro-pop influences. The new album features collaborations galore, the credit of which Charli attributes to “a multitude of dark spells and curses”. Whatever the method, it’s bopping as hell and we are so here for it.

Dolly Parton - Run, Rose, Run Well hello Dolly! The absolute legend of country music and one of the world’s most beloved entertainers is back with her 48^th studio album, a bluegrass and country powerhouse that is guaranteed to have some foot-tapping, storytelling classics in store.

Podcasts

Dissect If you love to dive deep into the art of great music, you’ll love Dissect. This serialised podcast takes an in-depth look at an entire album per season, one song per episode, analysing the music, lyrics and themes of albums like Beyonce’s Lemonade or Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN.

Families Who Kill: The Donut Shop Murders We’ve been dying for anther killer true crime podcast, and this is it: the story of a psychopathic family who travelled America in the ‘70s, abducting women from donut shops and killing them.