CNET • 19th May 2022

Stylish, Kooky '18 1/2' Finds the Weird in Watergate

It's a mystery that endures to this day: US President Richard Nixon recorded every word that was spoken in the Oval Office, but one conversation was lost to history. Days after the Watergate break-in, Nixon spent 18 and a half minutes with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, discussing... well, we can only speculate. When the tapes were turned over to investigators, that section was erased.

Filmmaker Dan Mirvish takes that as his cue to speculate like hell in 18 1/2, a stylish, off-kilter, Water

CNET • 13th May 2022

Immersive Theater Is Back, But It's Hard to Leave Real Life at the Door

A mother prepares her daughter for a doomed wedding. A man raises a golden headdress aloft. Deathly omens shatter a celebration in a town square. These are just a few of the scenes that punctuate The Burnt City, an immersive "promenade" performance in London created by Punchdrunk, the company behind Sleep No More and the HBO Max TV series The Third Day. Audience members explore two darkened buildings, both refitted military arsenals, populated by actors, who move freely through the crowds. The s

CNET • 14th March 2022

'Still Working 9 to 5' Follows Dolly Parton's Breakout Movie Through Feminist History

When Dolly Parton opened 9 to 5: The Musical on Broadway in 2009, it didn't explode anybody's world. Critics described it as overblown, dated and a little too comfortable making raunchy jokes while decrying the sexism of bygone days. At best, it was a nostalgic crowd pleaser: a quaint musical revamp of Colin Higgins' 1980 comedy, which highlighted such antiquated concerns as labor rights, sexual harassment and the challenges faced by working parents. Not exactly the sorts of issues anyone worrie

CNET • 8th April 2021

What a teen's fake death can teach us about the internet, 20 years on

Kaycee Nicole was a teenage internet star living with terminal cancer. Her 2001 death was a tragedy -- until people began to suspect there was more to her story.

Hers is just one of the fraudulent deaths featured in Pseudocide, a new podcast exclusive to Spotify and produced by Alice Fiennes and Poppy Damon, who explored the ethics of true crime in Murderabilia. The nine-part series delves into the history of people who've faked their own deaths for profit, mischief and self-preservation. Cases

CNET • 24th July 2020

Radioactive review: Marie Curie biopic on Amazon Prime fizzes but doesn't spark

Halfway through Radioactive, streaming on Amazon Prime now, something strange happens. What appears to be a by-the-numbers biopic splits in two, its narrative thrown off course by a twist of fate. The story shatters. The ending that seemed inevitable can't happen anymore. For a moment it looks as though the film might be about to escape its formula and become something entirely new.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite make it. Marjane Satrapi's biography of Marie Curie is a portrait of a woman who

CNET • 21st July 2020

Hate classical music? This app wants to change your mind

I love the theater but I've always been intimidated by classical music. Until last month, I thought Handel and Chopin were like long division and naming the parts of cells: mercifully forgotten relics from my school days. It turns out, though, that I like them a lot more than I thought I did. And you might too.

What changed my mind? Primephonic, a subscription-based classical music streaming service with more than 3.5 million tracks. That may sound like a niche service, but in fact it's designe

CNET • 21st February 2020

Emma review: Comedy of manners is dazzling and witty but doesn't dig deep

Emma, in theaters now, gets one thing straight immediately: If you can relate to its heroine, you're living a better life than most. Director Autumn de Wilde lays out her cards by emblazoning the opening lines of Jane Austen's 1815 novel across the screen. Emma Woodhouse is "handsome, clever and rich." Deal with it.

If you find it strange to be invited to sympathize with a manipulative heiress in 19th-century rural England, you're not alone. Austen herself described her title character as "a he

CNET • 23rd January 2020

How Star Trek: Picard rediscovers familiar characters, 20 years on

A lot can happen in 20 years. In Star Trek: Picard, Jean-Luc Picard is as compelling and authoritative as ever, but he's a changed man in a universe that's taken a dark turn.

The new show on CBS All Access sees Patrick Stewart's iconic character reckoning with choices he's made since the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). The series delves into the real-world issues you'd expect from Star Trek, touching on themes of mass migration, the rise of AI and the collapse of trust in institutions. But

CNET • 2nd October 2019

Murderabilia sinks its teeth into the ethics of our true crime obsessions

True crime appears to be having a moment in 2019, and there are some people who take their obsession a step further than the average fan. Murderabilia, an original series available now on Audible in the UK and Australia and coming to the US later this year, investigates the true crime obsessives who buy and sell real "memorabilia" from murderers and serial killers.

The true crime podcast boom began with Serial, Sarah Koenig's 2014 investigation into the case of convicted murderer Adnan Syed. Si

CNET • 29th August 2019

Audible's Hag podcast unearths forgotten folk tales about defiant women

An archeologist unearths a remote Scottish town's ancient secrets. A woman in Ireland spends one too many nights dancing with the fairies. And in England, two mysterious children appear near a pit.

These are old stories, originally passed on by word of mouth. Despite being centuries old -- some were first recorded in the 12th century and may be even older -- they touch on themes of gender, religion and community that still have relevance today. Now Audible is breathing new life into them with H