Art & Culture

Gary Cooper as Marshal Will Kane stands alone in a dusty Western street outside the marshal's office in High Noon (1952).

Together Alone

American individualism and the western, from Fred Zinnemann and John Ford to Larry McMurtry and Taylor Sheridan.

Craig Clifford 13 Aug 2026 · 8 min read

Portrait of George Orwell beside a black-and-white illustration of a schoolboy being caned over a wall.

Billy Bunter and the Man from Animal Farm

A look back at the 20th century’s most entertaining literary spat—one of the few such encounters that Orwell emphatically lost.

David Cohen 8 Aug 2026 · 15 min read

Frank Miller, with a white beard and black hat, looks towards the camera wearing a dark jacket and black shirt.

Dark Artist

Frank Miller’s valuable new memoir explores the creative life of one of America’s most gifted writers and artists.

Ron Capshaw 5 Aug 2026 · 9 min read

Young woman wearing a knitted beret and scarf looks upward while seated indoors among a crowd.

The Passion of Bess McNeill

Lars von Trier’s harrowing but resplendent story of suffering and grace turns thirty this year.

Charlotte Allen 4 Aug 2026 · 21 min read

A classic Gilded Age vintage oil painting depicting the mythological sorceress Circe in a peaceful, atmospheric setting alongside wild big cats.

Capturing the ‘Odyssey’

Homer’s epic provides a window on to a strange, paradoxical, fascinating, beautiful, and terrifying world that is at once familiar and unfamiliar.

Mallory Young 31 Jul 2026 · 8 min read

Protester holds a sign outside Tate Britain accusing the gallery of bloodshed as police and demonstrators stand nearby.

Biting the Hand

Artists increasingly insist that their work and their politics are indivisible. They should not be surprised when the institutions that fund them agree.

Juliet Moses 31 Jul 2026 · 15 min read

Armoured warriors run through a burning ancient city as flames engulf collapsing buildings in a night battle scene.

A Beautiful Odyssey, Made Dreary By Remorse

Christopher Nolan’s creation is a big movie in every technical sense. But inside, it is diminished and faded: heroes who aren’t allowed to be heroes and gods who aren’t allowed to be gods.

Charlotte Allen 30 Jul 2026 · 14 min read

Men Without Meaning

Men are quietly leaving the workforce—not for lack of jobs, but for lack of purpose.

Tanveer Ahmed 28 Jul 2026 · 10 min read

Editorial photomontage showing colour portraits of Matt Walsh on the left and Elon Musk on the right, with a large wooden Trojan Horse b

The Grift at the Gate

The Grift Industrial Complex targeted Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey—and got buried.

Giancarlo Sopo 23 Jul 2026 · 8 min read

The Oldest Tradition in Art

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, shot entirely on IMAX cameras, is the newest chapter in an old story: technological innovation creating new forms of art.

Claire Lehmann 21 Jul 2026 · 7 min read