Fiona Mountford

I've seen every Oscar-nominated film - these are the seven worth watching As Hollywood gears up for its most prestigious evening of the year, Fiona Mountford gives a rundown of the movies worth your time

'Buckle up, culture fans, we're on the final lap now'.
I look forward to the Oscars on Sunday:

In advance of Jessie Buckley's forthcoming Best Actress Oscar for Hamnet, I would also heartily like to suggest she is awarded an honorary Oscar for most wonderfully heartfelt and emotionally honest guest on Desert Island Discs.

Michael Sheen wants to save Welsh Theatre - but there's one problem The actor has poured a significant amount of his own money into his crusade - but will he have to star in every production?

'What is the difference between National Theatre Wales and Welsh National Theatre? The answer is simple: Michael Sheen'.

The Baftas finally got it right – and Timothée Chalamet was furious Robert Aramayo's Best Actor win was a major upset - and proved the often out-of-touch Academy is at last recognising British talent

'Everyone was waiting for the expected anointing of Jessie B and Timmy C as the Queen and King of Filmland - and then Robert Aramayo's name was called out twice in quick succession'.
I watched the BAFTAS:

How Jessie Buckley went from reality TV runner-up to Bafta winner Like an Irish Olivia Colman, the actress is finally getting the recognition she deserves

'Just as in Olivia Colman's case, Jessie Buckley's 'overnight success' has been years in the making'. In which I mull upon Jessie's career trajectory and a poster that is very dear to my heart:

The late Chadwick Boseman was talented but this play doesn’t do him justice Deep Azure’s ambitious blend of Shakespeare and spoken word shows flashes of power across a lengthy 160-minute running time

'There is most definitely a decent play in here somewhere, but unfortunately it is hidden under layers of egregious overwriting and directorial tricksiness'. My review of Deep Azure by the late Chadwick Boseman:

Cynthia Erivo's one woman Dracula play is exhausting I must confess that I entirely lost track of who was speaking and where we were

'If someone were to write a song about Cynthia Erivo's experience here, Defying Technology might be an apposite title'. I was increasingly bewildered by Dracula:

Pancakes for breakfast: I know how to party...

My mother died this week. I’m not posting this for sympathy, although thank you. But I realised I was so extremely grateful for people who showed small kindnesses this week. People who let me out while I was driving to her deathbed. People who smiled when I got stuck at the self service supermarket.

Undaunted by the near freezing temperature, I have just hung some washing on the line.

Forget Wuthering Heights - Hugh Bonneville in Shadowlands will truly move you Which story offers a greater depiction of love: 'Wuthering Heights' or 'Shadowlands'? For me, it's the latter

Yesterday, I saw both Wuthering Heights and Shadowlands. One of them is a quietly magnificent depiction of true love:

All I'll say is that Margot Robbie's teeth are way too perfect and white to Wuther convincingly.

Am currently gearing up for Wuthering.

If you can't stop looking at your phone in the cinema, stay at home The light from phones is so disruptive that I have stopped visiting my local cinema altogether

'It is the cinema that has borne the brunt of some marked shifts in audience behaviour'. In which I get annoyed:

'Se estamos tristes e viajamos para fugir à tristeza, cedo descobrimos que a tristeza veio connosco. Mas com a alegria é a mesma coisa' .
Palavras muito sábias no jornal Público de hoje.

Tom Stoppard's Arcadia left me cold - I couldn't wait for it to end It's the playwright's masterpiece, but it felt like being trapped inside a lecture hall

'Too often, this revival of Tom Stoppard's masterpiece becomes a seemingly never-ending lecture and we the poor students trapped inside the lecture hall'. I'm afraid that I couldn't wait for Arcadia to end:

A reminder.

Greed is never good - but in American Psycho, it might just be this time It has all the hallmarks of Director Rupert Goold’s flamboyant style, which chimes perfectly with the 1980s-era excess

'Thus the curtain falls on the happy marriage between the best artistic director and the finest theatre in the country'. The golden Gooldian reign @AlmeidaTheatre ends as it started, with American Psycho:

I have been to the cinema seven times so far this month - and am aiming for number eight tonight. Not too shabby for a theatre critic...

Even Paul Mescal thinks we need a break from Paul Mescal This very fine actor is on the cusp of overexposure - he's wise to take a step back

'Huge blockbusters, art-house treasures: it seems that there is nothing the Irish actor cannot do'. But have we reached peak Paul Mescal?

Yes, I agree, Dorian. I just read that article with my leisurely Saturday morning cup of tea and thought, 'Either I haven't had enough caffeine yet today, or that is a mighty odd answer...'

I'm a non-parent and it nearly finished me off it was so devastatingly brilliant.

Guess How Much I Love You deserves to conquer the world This devastating pregnancy drama demonstrates the eviscerating power of live theatre

'100 minutes of devastating universal resonance, the epitome of the power of live theatre'. Oh, and Rosie Sheehy... It's my first five stars of the year for Guess How Much I Love You? @royalcourt:

Forget Adolescence - Waiting for the Out is the best show about masculinity This series about a philosophy teacher working in a prison is one of the finest slices of television I've seen in a long time

Forget Adolescence - Waiting for the Out is the best show about masculinity, offering a 'far deeper and richer examination of 21st century men in the UK'. An absolute triumph for the beleaguered BBC:

Hey, @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social, you should take a look at this. Happy days etc.

Remembering my… friend? colleague? fairy godmother? Blanche Marvin Some memories of a somewhat improbable person who I shared some time with

I wrote something about Blanche Marvin, an almost folkloric figure who sort of ordered me into her orbit about 15 years ago. RIP Blanche andrzejlukowski.substack.com/p/rememberin...

What a lovely, lively celebration of the force of nature that was Blanche, Andrzej. You say that she struggled to proniunce your surname, well, at least she had your first name buttoned down, didn't she...?!

Theatre world pays tribute to Blanche Marvin, who has died aged 100 Marvin was a beloved part of the theatre world for decades

We are very sorry to hear of the death of Blanche Marvin, theatre critic and founder of the Empty Space Peter Brook Awards.

Her boundless enthusiasm for theatre will be greatly missed, and we send our condolences to her family and friends at this time.
https://bit.ly/4jN5o7k

Leaked topless photos and a brain tumour? Sue Perkins returns to stand-up On her first solo tour in a decade, the broadcaster combines candour with a carefully controlled performance

'Respectable stand-up for responsible people'. I greatly enjoyed the first night of Sue Perkins's new tour:

I hated Hamnet Chloé Zhao's Oscar-tipped film paddles in a golden pond of five-star reviews - but I was entirely unmoved

'Hamnet should have been a dream come true for a cinephile theatre critic like me'. Reader, it was not: