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Gladiator II: A lack-lustre return to Rome

With Gladiator II, Ridley Scott returns to the streets of imperial Rome not in triumph, but to decidedly muted applause.

Review: Moth – ‘An unabashed, piercing piece of theatre’  

An acute attention to detail marks Moth as a standout in the world of student theatre.

Review: The Outrun

The Outrun Review: Choosing recovery in a wild place

Defiance: Racial Injustice, Police Brutality, A Sister’s Fight for the Truth by Janet Alder

At Oxford’s Wesley Memorial Church, Janet Alder offered a harrowing and unflinching account of resilience in the face of systemic injustice.

Review: Making the Weather: Six Politicians Who Shaped Modern Britain by Vernon Bogdanor

Six essays are included here, one for each Carlylean “great man”, covering biographical and ideological context as well as political analysis.

Interview: ‘The Mandrake of Machiavelli’ at Exeter College

An interview with Kian Moghaddas (Director), Matilda Piovella (Assistant Director), and the cast of 'The Mandrake', the Exeter College Garden Play.

Between Love and Hate: The Strokes’ Guide to Staying Together

'US-based pop-rock band The Strokes have encountered just about all of rock’s common killers. And yet, 22 years on from their first album, they are still here – and reportedly working on a seventh.'

The White Stuff and its Discontents

'Increasingly, then, the heritage bequeathed to us in these museums is not just trapped in glass, but also in a host of moralising, ‘problematising’ and, ultimately, infantilising, narratives that are in their nature more political than educational.'

‘Ornamented choral what?’ – your favourite early sacred music like you’ve never heard it before

'What is ‘polyphony’? I hear you cry. Why is it ‘choral’ and what makes it ‘ornamented’?'

The Identity Crisis of Everything Everywhere All At Once

'In an alternate universe, you are not an Oxford student reading Cherwell. In another alternate universe, you are a pinata hanging from a tree. In yet another alternate universe, you have hot dogs for fingers.'

Female Rage: Too normal to be so rare

'A quick glance at the TikTok search results for ‘female rage’ tells a very interesting story - women, shouting and expressing their anger without shame, presented as though this is something shocking.'

‘Women, Scorned’: Exploring Feminine Rage in Art

'Feminine rage is all the rage. It’s everywhere.'

Review: A Poet and A Scholar.

'The audience of Kian Moghaddas’ A Poet and a Scholar was in hysterics pretty much the entire way through.'

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – A review

'This movie will make you feel like you’re sitting back at whichever Nintendo console you first met that little, moustached man.'

Normalising transgression: A review of Joyland.

'In Joyland, queerness becomes banal, and patriarchy is revealed to be futile.'

Is That an Angel? No, it’s Maisie Peters – Tour Review

'The Good Witch, embarking upon her first headlining tour, has brewed up a concoction of heartbreak and hope, insecurity and exuberance'

Review of PAMFIR: ‘A raw and unpretentious thriller’

The sounds of heavy breathing and rustling form the first few seconds of Pamfir, the debut feature film of Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. These...

Interview: ‘Macbeth’ at the Pilch, an ensemble of tragedies

"Shakespeare gives us so much space to sort of deal with psychological problems, which aren't always necessarily textual, but really come through in rehearsals and give the performance a higher level of connection with the audience."

Top 10 Films for a Trouble-Free Trinity

'For every bit of stress, there’s a summer day, an approaching sense of closure and a long sprawling summer to keep us going.'

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