From The Substance to Uncanny Visions: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment
Going out: Cinema
The Substance
Out now
Demi Moore snags a juicy role as an aerobics star whose twinkle is fading, and who – upon finding herself fired on her 50th birthday – tries a new age-defying wonder drug. This squishy body horror from director Coralie Fargeat also stars Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.
The Goldman Case
Out now
The tumultuous life of the French left-wing intellectual and militant Pierre Goldman could provide fodder for several movies. This focuses on his second trial for armed robberies in which two women died, in a courtroom drama that premiered to universal acclaim at Cannes last year.
Jung Kook: I Am Still
Out now
When BTS member Jungkook began to release solo material, only a fool would have bet against it becoming huge, which it duly did; his debut solo single Seven became the fastest song to surpass 1bn streams on Spotify. Now he’s taking over the multiplex, with a documentary featuring new interviews and concert footage.
Sugarcane
Out now
The debut feature from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, which premiered at the Sundance film festival this year, is a documentary portrait of First Nations communities around the Sugarcane Reserve in Canada, whose history encompasses resilience in the face of separation and abuse. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Sea Girls
26 September to 12 October; tour starts Sheffield
The London-based rock quartet released their third consecutive UK Top 5 album this summer, Midnight Butterflies. While their rougher edges are often polished to a frustrating sheen on record, it’s in a live scenario that they really work. Michael Cragg
Bill Callahan
23 to 30 September; tour starts Dublin
Earlier this year, US singer-songwriter Bill Callahan (formerly known as Smog), he of the lacquered baritone, released the live album Resuscitate! Mainly showcasing 2022’s Reality, it was a beautiful example of how his songs can mutate on stage. See it for yourselves on this UK tour. MC
Scarborough jazz festival
Scarborough Spa, 27 to 29 September
It’s the 21st year of the stylistically diverse Scarborough jazz festival, with UK vocal legend Elaine Delmar, young Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie and swing-to-bop sax virtuoso Alan Barnes playing Friday’s openers. The weekend features Joni Mitchell-celebrating band Hejira, and classy Dutch vocalist Fay Claassen. Andrew Clements
Kahchun Wong
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 26 September
Last month, Mark Elder conducted his final concerts as music director of the Hallé, after 24 years with the orchestra. His successor is the Singapore-born Kahchun Wong, who opens his tenure as principal conductor with Mahler’s imposing First Symphony. John Fordham
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Going out: Art
Uncanny Visions: Paula Rego and Francisco de Goya
Holburne Museum, Bath, 27 September to 5 January
Paula Rego’s artworks get their power from a marriage of reality and fantasy. Her sharp eye for faces and figures goes with a gothic penchant for fairytales and myths. How much do her nightmares have in common with those of Goya, who also saw the macabre in convincing detail?
Monet and London
Courtauld Gallery, London, 27 September to 19 January
Claude Monet first visited London as a penniless unknown, taking refuge from the Franco-Prussian war. Decades later he returned, a famous and wealthy artist who could afford to stay at the Savoy. The views of the Thames and Westminster he painted from his hotel are strange masterpieces of smog-refracted sunlight.
Silk Roads
British Museum, London, 26 September to 23 February
The Silk Roads played a wondrous part in world history, bringing Chinese silk to ancient Rome and Greek art to Afghanistan. The term refers to trade routes that linked east and west, crossing the Gobi desert, but has come to suggest a new, inclusive way of seeing the global story.
The Reflected Self
Compton Verney, near Warwick, 21 September to 23 February
This survey of the portrait miniature, from Tudor Britain to Victorian times, takes you into a tiny world of microscopic miracles. It is genuinely hard to comprehend how miniaturists were able to depict lace collars, jewels and hair in such exquisitely shrunken detail. Starring Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac Oliver and more. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Amy Gledhill
Wardrobe theatre, Bristol, 26 September; touring to 29 November
After three nominations (one for her solo work, two for sketch duo the Delightful Sausage), Gledhill finally took home an Edinburgh comedy award at this year’s fringe. Her winning hour – Make Me Look Fit on the Poster – saw the Hull standup interrogate body image and insecurity with droll smut and exuberant silliness. Rachel Aroesti
Ghost Ships
The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, 25to 28 September
There are more than 150 performers in this large-scale show telling the story of Chatham Dockyard, from its involvement in slavery to the impact of its closure 40 years ago. A huge community cast will be joined by hip-hop dancers ZooNation and south Asian company Amina Khayyam Dance. Lyndsey Winship
The Company of Wolves
New Vic theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, to 12 October
Angela Carter’s wild, vivid writing feels destined for the stage. This new production of The Company of Wolves transports audiences to a dark night in the middle of winter, as shadows loom and dangers lurk. Theresa Heskins and Vicki Amedume direct, with acrobats helping to bring this tale of terror to life. Kate Wyver
Play On!
Belgrade theatre, Coventry, 23 September to 5 October
In 1940s Harlem, songwriter Vy is hoping to make it big, but she’ll never be taken seriously as a woman in a man’s world. Toying with gender, jazz and mistaken identity, Play On! retells Twelfth Night with the toe-tapping music of Duke Ellington. Michael Buffong, Artistic Director of Talwa Theatre, directs. KW
Room 13
Barn theatre, Cirencester, 28 September to 9 November
As we creep towards Halloween, spooky shows are starting to rear their heads. Inspired by the ghost stories of MR James, we see four strangers stuck in Room 13 in a lonely, haunted hotel. This homegrown production looks like a fun family night out, if you’re feeling brave (age 12+). KW
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Staying in: Streaming
Apples Never Fall
BBC One & iPlayer, 21 September, 9.25pm
Following the major success of Big Little Lies, another Liane Moriarty novel gets a star-studded TV adaptation. Annette Bening, Sam Neill and Jake Lacy (The White Lotus) lead this melodramatic mystery about a matriarch who goes missing, leaving her four children to open many cans of familial worms as they investigate her disappearance.
Nobody Wants This
Netflix, 26 September
When rabbi Noah (Adam Brody, as winningly beta as he was in The OC) meets outrageous podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell, as sharp-tongued and morally ambivalent as her Good Place character), the chemistry is both predictable and potent. This odd-couple dramedy is machine-tooled to comfort and charm.
Four Kings
Prime Video, 27 September
Nigel Benn, Frank Bruno, Chris Eubank and Lennox Lewis: all born in London in the 1960s; all headline-grabbing boxing royalty by the early 1990s. This documentary remembers two seminal fights from October 1993 via interviews with the foursome. Personality will not be in short supply.
Grotesquerie
Disney+, 26 September
NFL’s Travis Kelce – AKA Mr Taylor Swift – makes his major acting debut in the latest project from the inordinately prolific showrunner Ryan Murphy. A disturbed detective and a nun/journalist team up to solve a set of sickening murders that seem to radiate evil. As ever with Murphy, a strong stomach is a viewing requirement. RA
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Staying in: Games
EA Sports FC 25
Out 27 September, all platforms
Ditching the Fifa licence did not slow EA Sports’ series down. The next, marginally different version of its football sim features women in Career mode and finessed team tactics.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Out 26 September, Nintendo Switch
The first Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda, conjuring magic replicas of enemies and furniture to puzzle through a dark-mirror Hyrule. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Jamie xx – In Waves
Out now
Since releasing 2015’s solo debut album In Colour, the dance producer has focused mainly on his sometime bandmates in the xx, producing Oliver Sim’s Hideous Bastard album and working on Romy’s Mid Air. He pulls focus back to his own discography here, pairing Robyn with buoyant disco on sun-drenched highlight Life.
Nelly Furtado – 7
Out now
Across her seven albums, the Canadian pop star has taken in airy, uplifting pop (2000’s Whoa, Nelly!), rib-rattling R&B monsters (2006’s Loose) and, on 2017’s curio The Ride, alt-rock experimentation. Seven years after that last album she’s back, still reshaping her sound, such as on the sweaty, Tove Lo-assisted bop Love Bites.
The Irrepressibles – Yo Homo!
Out now
Fresh from lending his not inconsiderable vocals to songs from Röyksopp’s 2022 Profound Mysteries trilogy of albums, Jamie Irrepressible returns to his own project for a record made specifically for the queer community. Lead single Will You? (“like a handsome strapping cowboy”) pairs desire to a lurching alt-rock swagger.
The Waeve – City Lights
Out now
Reteaming with producer James Ford, the Waeve, AKA Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall, unleash this hasty follow-up to last year’s debut. Continuing to evoke a vision of bruised romanticism, songs such as You Saw and City Lights are widescreen and windswept rock symphonies. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Mr McMahon
Netflix, 25 September
An unflinching look at the man who turned regional wrestling business WWE into an international empire, this film charts the rise and fall of Vince McMahon, who is now the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation – allegations he denies.
Don’t Assume
Podcast
Online radio station NTS offers a second series of long-form interviews with alternative musical greats, hosted by Zakia Sewell. Among the insightful talking heads are academic and crate digger DJ Sprinkles and performance artist Diamanda Galás.
USC Optical Sound Effects Library
archive.org
From the original Wilhelm Scream to the sound of a dying Star Wars Stormtrooper, this niche online archive features digitised sounds used in Hollywood films from the 1930s to 80s. A fascinating guide to audiovisual atmosphere. Ammar Kalia
• This article was amended on 21 September 2024. The Company of Wolves is playing at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, not in Newcastle upon Tyne as an earlier version said.
