ShortList
Profiles and interviews:
An afternoon in the company of Jack Black
“I don’t wanna be a dickhead” – Paul Rudd on what it’s really like to be Hollywood reality
Mark Rylance: kind of a big deal
Michael Keaton opens his heart
Ding dong merrily on high street – a Christmas afternoon with Joe Lycett
“Every failure is an opportunity” – Sarah Silverman on growing up, being fired, and #MeToo
How to make friends, according to Derren Brown
“You hope you’re gonna be a likely sex symbol” – Jemaine Clement talks Flight of the Conchords
A Ricky Gervais tutorial on dealing with Twitter abuse
Brian Blessed tells us which animals he’d be reincarnated as
Rami Malek has nothing but praise for #MeToo
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan opens up about rap battles and self-belief
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes, especially with clothes” – Peter Crouch talks nachos and £800 jumpers
John Cho on joyriding and eating lunch in his underwear
Chatting musicals and social media with Harry Kane
Ross Kemp: “I always have wet wipes in my back pocket”
We got Armando Iannucci to predict what a Boris Johnson dictatorship would look like
David Mitchell: “If I was a taker of cocaine, I’d have the sense to lie about it”
Bryan Cranston: “I was all in. I didn’t have a backup plan”
John McEnroe: “My daughters think I’d lose to Serena Williams”
Brendan Gleeson: “I was thrilled to be cut down by Daniel Day-Lewis”
Nick Offerman: “I would have sold my family to play Gimli”
John Cleese: “We live in a world run by arseholes”
Ian McShane: “I haven’t seen a lot of films I’ve done”
Julian Barratt on jazz, memes and the Chuckle Brothers
We asked Tom Watson MP to discuss the political motivations of cinema despots
Mads Mikkelsen: “Benedict Cumberbatch had a very nice odour”
Rob Delaney is not giving up on America
Elijah Wood: “Finding Nigerian records is quite difficult”
Russell Tovey: “My dog is the David Gandy of the dog world”
Sean Paul’s guide to a quiet night in
John Lydon on his destructive love of gaming
Aaron Paul: “I’ll see anything Helen Mirren is in”
Tim Westwood: “I’d probably pay to be shot again”
Bear Grylls tells us what makes him cry
“I’ll order you an Uber” – ShortList drinks gin with Patrick Stewart
Samuel L Jackson: “I’d want to terrorise the streets in a sexy way”
Kit Harington: “It was the right time to fuck off from the Wall”
Jesse Eisenberg: “No, I have not watched Sad Affleck”
Derren Brown: “I own a gremlin from Gremlins 2“
Jonathan Ross talks about his incredible career
John Cleese gives his opinion – on everything
John Hurt on the lessons he’s learnt from a life in film
Ray Winstone on the key moments in his career
Features:
Why do so many men secretly hate their bodies and what does it all mean?
How my obsession with spots became a living hell
Inside the dark secrets of the Hare Krishnas
The strange story of the woman who paid $350k to a fake Dwayne Johnson
The Rock Report: A year in the life of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
A deep dive into Face/Off: the best, most absurd action movie ever made
How do bodybuilders find love?
Inside the mega-mansions of the super-wealthy
Snakes on a Plane – how the hell did it happen?
What does Facebook actually want?
Why do men love poker?
What can we learn from the famous sitcom sofas from The Simpsons, Father Ted, and Only Fools and Horses?
Iconic World Cup goals rated by a ballet visionary
We asked a shrink to psychoanalyse these TV bozos
6 fictional detective pairings: how would they fare?
Fictional US presidents: rated by a political expert
Why you need to ditch your boring name and use a better one
Ice cream men reveal their fantasy jingles
“I won”: why ‘Face Off’ is unquestionably Breaking Bad’s greatest episode
We went hunting for ancient gold off the Welsh coast
We spoke to the people boycotting Beauty and the Beast because of its gay character
The new rules of male greetings
The Game is Afoot: Ralph Jones’ poetic response to Sherlock‘s Mark Gatiss
We got three comedians to put a terrible joke into their show
How to clap like Michael Gove claps
We tested an electric bike against a regular bike in a race to Brighton
Who should be the next Bond? We ranked the top 10 contenders
We lost £2 gambling against Evander Holyfield
How to live forever
Don’t care about Star Wars? Here’s a blagger’s guide to talking about it like you do
Tyson Fury should be on the BBC Sports Personality List whether you like it or not
The Guardian
Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer review: a moral vacuum laughing at his own jokes
“Ed Sheeran asked us for work experience then drank all our beer”: Nizlopi on making JCB Song
If you were given a Google Street View image of anywhere on Earth, could you identify the location?
“It exposes your every flaw”: Chess’s YouTube king Levy Rozman on the game he loves
The inside story of The Great British Bake Off: “We were microphoned up in the toilets”
Leaps of faith: the Spanish festival where men jump over babies
“Why don’t we just write the stupidest song ever?” How The Darkness made I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Crazy Frog returns, like it or not: “There will always be a place for novelty songs”
Hear me out: why PS I Love You isn’t a bad movie
Hard to pardon: why Tenet‘s muffled dialogue is a very modern problem
Jenny Slate: “For every bit of garbage Trump spews, I’ll write something beautiful”
“It seems so simple” – can I cut it at the World Stone Skimming Championships?
Experience: I’m a world-class whistler
Why do you want to work for us? You asked Google – here’s the answer
Why didn’t anyone tell me? You asked Google – here’s the answer
Why is life so hard? You asked Google – here’s the answer
The Beatles sang: why don’t we do it in the road? You asked Google: why don’t we?
Sherlock is slowly and perversely morphing into Bond. This cannot stand
Mark Gatiss’ response to the above Sherlock piece
…And my response to Gatiss’ response
Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart – and other TV team-ups the world needs now
Volkswagen’s new advert: a lesson in ‘cool’ parenting
Ryan Reynold’s BT Infinity ad: what exactly is he running from?
The Lad is dead! All hail Lynx’s new ladvert
The Vodafone Christmas advert: a load of old gobble
Tom Bateman on playing both Jekyll and Hyde
The new Heineken advert: look out, Bond’s had a liquid lunch
Comic Sarah Franken: why I became a woman after 40 years of fear
Not-so Happy Skater: MI5 and the curious case of the codenames
Rebel girls: the beauty queens making ‘world peace’ a reality
Her Majesty and the Curious Mystery of the Disappearing Corgis
Fifty shades of grey, tacky merchandise
Sunday Times Magazine
Has artificial intelligence ruined chess?
Inside a wild weekend at the National Scrabble Championship
GQ
Morfydd Clark is here to slay
How Brooklyn Nine-Nine nailed its Backstreet Boys cold open and achieved sketch comedy perfection
The Rings of Power finale’s big Sauron reveal, explained by [redacted]
Charlie Heaton on Stranger Things and the final fling for Jancy
Jason Isaacs’ fitness diary: seven-minute workouts, plant-based eating and white-water rafting
People are giving their greyhounds cocaine to make them run faster
Vanity Fair
Stranger Things is a monster hit. But what’s it like onstage?
Wired
How do you find love when you believe the Earth is flat?
The Daily Beast
The trash-talking rivalry between the world’s fastest talkers
Observer New Review
All the fun of the Fringe: the best comedy to see in Edinburgh, part one
All the fun of the Fringe: the best comedy to see in Edinburgh, part two
Flight of the Conchords review – business time again, with irresistible new songs
Edinburgh fringe theatre 2015 review – a feast of shock, awe, robotic acting and bad French accents
Edinburgh fringe 2015 theatre review – spellbinding solos, politics, religion and cries in the dark
On my radar: Stephen Graham’s cultural highlights
BBC
How Shrinking perpetuates Hollywood’s most sexist cliche
Ten Percent: Is the British Call My Agent! remake a hit?
Why food allergies are on the rise
Meet the world’s greatest art detective
Vice
People explain what it’s like being a virgin in your 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond
I asked men about that time they jerked off with their friends
The Human Centipede director’s new film is just as dark as you’d expect
Did Pizza Hut once try to rebrand as Pasta Hut?
Do MI5 and MI6 still recruit university students?
UK university initiation rituals are getting more and more extreme
Battlefield Earth: The making of ‘The worst movie of the 2000s’
Busking is about to be banned from many London streets
I interviewed 46 men who cheated. This is what I learned
The oral history of Deal Or No Deal, the maddest game show to make it big
Behind the scenes of True Royalty TV, Netflix for monarchy obsessives
How Netflix took over the world
I spent 24 hours watching Cats on repeat
I make £10k a week selling rare trainers but only own five pairs myself
Why people still go to Madame Tussauds
With US vapers dying, this is what UK vapers need to worry about
The crusade of Britain’s last lion tamer
Why almost nobody smokes in Utah
Growing up with acne may make you more successful later
My month inside a Facebook group for people who drink their own piss
We asked some celebrities what it’s like to be the subject of an online death hoax
These internet superfans can’t stop drawing Benedict Cumberbatch
What I learned from watching all Fast & Furious films in one day
A chat with the woman who has ‘spoken to Cecil the Lion from beyond the grave’
What’s the latest with the Vajankle?
We got a paleontologist to call bullshit on the Jurassic World trailer
The Human Centipede 2 is the film that made me love life
Britain’s most relentless nudist keeps getting locked up
Remembering Peter Cook: “The funniest man who ever drew breath”
Let’s banish the bishops from the House of Lords
This article won’t go viral
CBT could help you break free from cigarettes
Could hypnotherapy stop you smoking cigarettes?
A pharmacist shares his seven tips to quit smoking cigarettes
Evening Standard Magazine
My gruelling week as a biohacker
Paterson Joseph on his debut novel and “bringing a bit of colour to the British picture”
City of the future: can London adapt to survive the soaring temperatures?
Imogen Poots on ripping up the Hollywood rulebook
Drastic dye: making the decision to go grey
Tortoise
Slow Reviews: Monty Python’s Life of Brian
Inverse
The agony and ecstasy (and nausea) of VR tourism
How to make a good Godzilla movie
The oral history of 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle’s genre-redefining masterpiece
Four days inside the infinite church of Star Wars
Inside the wild, true, hot mess that was 1993’s Super Mario Bros
Why the directors of 65 made Adam Driver fight a dinosaur
The oral history of I Am Legend
The oral history of Event Horizon, Paul W.S. Anderson’s sci-fi cult classic
The oral history of Men in Black
The oral history of Face/Off, Nicolas Cage’s inexplicable sci-fi masterpiece
How Joseph Quinn became the (dungeon) master of Stranger Things
The oral history of The Lawnmower Man, the sci-fi movie that predicted VR
My heart will go on: what happens after someone else makes your movie?
The oral history of Mars Attacks!, Tim Burton’s misunderstood sci-fi masterpiece
The oral history of Idiocracy, Mike Judge’s time travel triumph
The scariest monster in Stranger Things 3 was almost too gross for Netflix
The VFX company behind Inception reveals the movie’s biggest secrets
The oral history of Shrek, the ‘ugly stepsister’ that changed animation
How the Lord of the Rings VFX team brought Tolkien’s biggest monster to life
A Perfect Planet flamingos: the untold story behind that epic scene
How a tiny British team created the most iconic chase sequence of all time
The oral history of 12 Monkeys, Terry Gilliam’s time travel masterpiece
You need to watch the most underrated sci-fi movie of the 2000s online ASAP
Will you still call me Superman: The history of 3 Doors Down’s Kryptonite
Tenet review: not worth getting coronavirus over
The Telegraph
Magic Mike and the naked truth about male strippers
“It’s crazy that nobody died”: the survivors of James Cameron’s traumatic Titanic shoot tell all
How to make it big in Hollywood – by Lindsay Lohan’s acting coach
How to wrangle a 900kg crocodile – and keep your fingers
What we know about the identity of The Watcher’s sinister letter-writer now
How Nicolas Cage became the internet’s ‘one true god’
The extraordinary story of Europe’s first erotic phone lines
The Hollywood code: why people think the truth about Covid is hidden in blockbusters
“Don’t use my name”: has Amanda Knox’s life been ‘exploited’ by Matt Damon’s film Stillwater?
The tragedy of Tiptoes, the deranged dwarf ‘comedy’ Gary Oldman would rather forget
“The fire is a character”: why the terrifying infernos of Those Who Wish Me Dead look so realistic
How to work out who’s won Eurovision before it’s announced – using mathematics
Daniel Craig welcomes the weekend: how a mundane meme brought joy to the world
The Friends set designer on creating TV’s iconic apartment: “You get in trouble if you take stuff”
Nightmare parents and the curse of the child star: the difficult making of Home Alone
Guy Pearce on playing Scrooge: “We haven’t changed the source material – we just dug deeper”
Nathalie Emmanuel interview: “I understood the Game of Thrones backlash – but it did a little far”
British TV’s greatest prank: the giddy rise, and spectacular fall, of Noel’s House Party
The magician who cheated death: the amazing but (possibly) true story behind The Amazing Johnathan Documentary
Dove Cameron interview: “Bullies forced me to leave school. I was just so lonely”
Ben Platt interview: “Some producers still have trouble seeing past an actor’s personal life”
Corsets, class warfare and picky critics: Julian Fellowes reveals the secret history of Downton Abbey
Phallic nightmares, rape and pregnant men: how Alien traumatised a generation
The most punishing puppet show imaginable: inside Jim Henson’s battle to make The Dark Crystal
My life as a literary scam artist: how JT Leroy seduced the world without actually existing
Inside Keanu Reeves’ bullet time scene: how The Matrix changed cinema forever
“I’m 55, and I still won’t go into deep water”: Jaws, four decades on, remembered by its first viewers
Hollywood sex cults before NXIVM: the story of the Children of God
“This isn’t a film, this is real”: the untold story of Saving Private Ryan – by the men on the beach
Rowdy locals, property prices and Julia Roberts in the loo: the inside story of Notting Hill
Why are men so unhappy right now – and can Jordan Peterson really help them?
Why are bigots so offended by the word ‘bigot’?
I moved out of London because TfL’s poems are so howlingly awful
“It’s just banter” is a feeble excuse from cowards who know they’re not joking
Stop turning sitcoms into films – they’re almost always rubbish
Economist
Why do hotels make for such good drama?
Esquire
The show that changed TV forever: Big Brother, 20 years on
EsQ&A: Bob Odenkirk
Time Out
Munya Chawawa is the funniest man on the internet
Things you only know if you’re a Beefeater at the Tower of London
Jezebel
I got erotica master Chuck Tingle to workshop my dinosaur erotica
I talked to the people who compare gay marriage to bestiality on Twitter
Men’s Health
Could pillow fighting be the next big thing in combat sports?
Mel Magazine
The inside story of how Wild Wild West spun out of control
The trailblazing doctor who helped a mob boss cheat death – and changed history
Radio Times
How Doctor Who’s own Father’s Day moved a nation to tears
What it was really like filming – and winning – BBC One’s This Is My House
How a very special Doctor Who scene captured the hearts of fans, as told by those who made it
Why are we fascinated by The Terror? Because we love it when things go wrong
New Statesman
Let’s call a bigot a bigot
Destigmatising hate
Why women are getting a bum deal on film posters
Slate
Input
How the world turned against ‘I hope this email finds you well’
A deep dive into the sexy sofa known as the Nugget
The cautionary tale of Sarah Cooper’s Netflix special
You need to start thinking like a spy
The – and I cannot stress this enough – strange rise of ‘and I cannot stress this enough’
The Independent
When did cinema food get so silly?
Derren Brown: “There is a stunt that I’ve not been allowed to do – it might be that we shouldn’t do it”
The sex-obsessed Church of England is digging its own grave
American Pie wouldn’t get made today – according to its director, that’s “probably a good thing”
Why are we only now starting to criticise the royals?
Being a feminist is a no-brainer for me – why can’t it be for all men?
The Church of England is in desperate need of a modern dictionary
The tabloids need to stop feigning ignorance of eating disorders
Inside Hook
Inside the hunt for the world’s most prolific art thief
Inside the hidden world of rhino poachers
Orson Fortune and the joy of ludicrous movie character names
Squid Game and the alluring falsity of rejection stories
Why are men obsessed with imaginary fights against wild animals?
Kate Darling knows the secret to coexisting with robots
A brief adventure: my year as a male underwear model
The i
Derren Brown: “My work is a childish, dishonest craft”
Kit clashes between green and red teams will be banned from 2027 Rugby World Cup to help colour blind fans
Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis: “How do I say this? I don’t care about your baby photos”
Mic
Why the body-swap genre will never die
How the team behind Chicken Run made one of the most beloved films of the 2000s
NME
Civil War review: Alex Garland glimpses a scary future in this American horror story
How Benioff and Weiss put Game of Thrones behind them
Jenna Coleman’s thrilling spree is over: “My days of murdering are done”
Asa Butterfield on leaving Sex Education behind: “It would be good to push myself”
Who will win Succession?
John Boyega: “Acting is a long game plan”
Succession season four, episode one recap: deals, drama and divorce
Django review: wobbly Western remake filled with dodgy accents
Shrinking review: this sickly-sweet psych-sitcom will give you a headache
Shantaram review: slow and stately with silly accents
Cynthia Addai-Robinson on her debut in Rings of Power
House of the Dragon review: Game of Thrones saga continues in style
Black Bird review: Ray Liotta’s final TV role is moving and majestic
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: “Looking for fame leads nowhere but anxiety”
Tokyo Vice review: a vivid and fascinatingly morbid series
Samson Kayo: “I’ve been given an opportunity to tell Black British stories”
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey review: Samuel L Jackson delivers a masterclass
Severance review: unmissable office satire with a surreal twist
Inventing Anna review: one-woman con goes on (and on)
Cyrano review: Peter Dinklage’s unnecessary update of a Victorian classic
The Great season two review: Elle Fanning’s sweary coming-of-age comedy returns
Reggie Yates on his thrilling directorial debut Pirates
Alex Lawther: “I don’t feel an obligation to just be an actor”
Jamie Demetriou: “My focus is exclusively on making something that feels funny”
Succession season 3 review: still the best show on TV
Nine Perfect Strangers review: Nicole Kidman’s wellness retreat fails to soothe the soul
The White Lotus review: hotel guests from hell make for a dream telly vacation
Mr Corman review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt drama is a true telly curio
Lupin part 2 review: French swindler returns with even more swagger
Lucifer season five part two review: a trip into the depths of TV hell
This Is England star Thomas Turgoose: “I was a little shit when I was a kid – but now I’m a man”
Intergalactic review: so-so sci-fi held aloft by its bright young stars
Aubrey Plaza: “I’ve always been really fuelled by rejection”
Farewell, bambinos: remembering the acting genius of Paul Ritter
The One review: dating app thriller isn’t a perfect match
Moonbase 8 review: a mediocre spaced-themed comedy with limited laughs
The Prom review: Netflix’s all-star Broadway musical is a gruelling watch
Jason Isaacs: “Nobody becomes an actor unless there’s something cracked”
Spitting Image review: satirical puppet show aims to shock
Joel McHale: “We would do a Community movie in a heartbeat”
Ratched review: Ryan Murphy lays an egg with far-fetched …Cuckoo’s Nest prequel
Ratched: what One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest fans should know about the Netflix prequel
‘People Just Do Nothing’: Allan Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin introduce their starry new podcast
Lucifer season 5 review: devilish drivel that makes no sense
Kelly O’Sullivan: how the Saint Frances star made 2020’s best indie film
Coronavirus: recent critically acclaimed movies to catch up on while self-isolating
Friday Night Dinner cast: “We’re ready to say goodbye to these characters”
The Goop Lab quiz: can you guess which of these quotes are real or fake?
An open letter to the Dracula writers: Not everything has to be funny
Mr Porter
Help – what can I do if I haven’t fulfilled my dreams?
Is it still possible to disappear into thin air?
What it’s like to be inked by Hollywood’s king of tattoos
We Need To Talk About…why The White Lotus is the must-see TV show of summer
Can you make your own luck? An investigation
Can a shirt and tie make you more productive? We investigate
The curious case of too-long trousers
In defence of short shorts on men
Why taking a style risk is exactly what you need
New Humanist
Book review: The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God
Book review: Survival of the Richest
Funnier than fiction
How to dance with the dead
Book review: Infinitely Full of Hope
Working nine to eternity
Is the Anglican church shifting position on homosexuality?
The face we give the devil is a mirror of our times
Should places of worship have special lockdown status?
Book review: O, Let Me Not Get Alzheimer’s, Sweet Heaven!
Book review: The Galileo Affair
O Lord, banish the virus!
Book review: A History of the Bible
Book review: The Goodness Paradox
Book review: Seven Types of Atheism
Book review: The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
God is not invited to my wedding
The fundamentalist preacher who became an atheist
Diarmaid MacCulloch: the Church rejected me because I’m gay
Jesus isn’t a dick (full interview text here)
Prospect
A delicious satire on the magazine industry is also a study in addiction
Whale tale: what it’s like to go behind the scenes on David Attenborough’s Our Planet
Scottish independence: “We are family” in Trafalgar Square
Martin Amis is wrong – Jeremy Corbyn is a comedy mastermind
Press Gazette
Is freelance journalism becoming unviable?
Gentleman’s Journal
Tom Bateman: “I question myself every single day”
The Face
How holograms are about to change the world
The fight to rebrand death
Bend ‘n’ flick: meet the netball lads
Anthony Hopkins has been quietly ushering in a new age for Twitter
From social media platform to world domination: all hail the rise of Facebook 2.0
The divine justice of the far-right getting egged
The Daily Dot
The enduring appeal of the ‘youth pastor voice’ meme
Metro
This year’s Oscars has changed what it means to be a ‘best dressed’ man
Mental Floss
Why are bathtubs so small? It’s complicated
Business Insider
I get paid to play with dogs and figure out how they communicate
Little Atoms
Who are the Twitter joke thieves?
Luke Kennard on capitalism, love and millennials
Huck
Flat Earth: inside the world’s biggest conspiracy theory
Glorious
Balance
Broadly
Trans comedians are coming out, and into the limelight
Underpinned
How do freelancers have fun?
Employers should have guidelines on how to treat freelancers
The great freelance tax hunt
Leaving the country’s biggest men’s magazine to go freelance
Men’s Fitness
How to turn your house and its contents into your gym
Observer
Too Hot To Handle is the horniest show on Netflix
Valentine’s Day Advice from Chuck Tingle, Prolific Author of Dinosaur Erotica
Munchies
I gave up Coke for a month and it was horrific
Why Now
King Charles lookalike | “It’s way beyond lookalike, what I do”
Enter the world of Extreme Cello
Why don’t Sherlock Holmes adaptations like Sherlock Holmes?
Columbia Journalism Review
Let’s stop calling celebrities ‘busy’
The Stack
What are NFTs and should you invest?
Could taking on debt be good for my business?
Medium
What’s the point of a pro-smoking group in 2021?
An interview with that Taylor Swift ham sandwich woman
So then. Bridget Jones’ Baby…