Critics’ choices for the week ahead
Cinema by Robbie Collin and Tim Robey
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Marvel Studios’ B-team inches further along the crackpot limb they went out on three years ago: think wittier bickering, loopier planetscapes and pumped-up budgets for glitter, gunge and face paint. 12A cert, 136 min
Lady Macbeth This wickedly black period drama from first-time director William Oldroyd relocates Nikolai Leskov’s Russian source novel, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, to the English countryside in 1865, and stars Florence Pugh in a brazen, star-making turn as an adulterous trophy bride. 15 cert, 89 min
Heal the Living This staggering ensemble drama about the mesh of lives affected by a heart transplant reveals its French director, Katell Quillévéré, as a major developing talent. 12A cert, 104 min
The Promise It’s hard to think of films that have tackled the 1915 Armenian genocide beyond Atom Egoyan’s Ararat. This $90 million historical epic, starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, wants to rectify the balance but fails to truly bring the horror home. 12A cert, 133 min
Handsome Devil After his “ladcom” The Stag, writerdirector John Butler digs further into the soul of Irish machismo with a rough-and-tumble crowd-pleaser about a pair of outsiders at a rugby-obsessed boys’ boarding school. 15 cert, 95 min
Their Finest Lone Scherfig’s new film peeks at the Ministry of Information mid-Blitz, as the staff, newly joined by Gemma Arterton’s aspiring writer, scramble to make a morale-boosting short film on Dunkirk. 12A cert, 117 min
Rules Don’t Apply Here is Warren Beatty’s long-brewing Howard Hughes project: not a biopic, exactly, but a bittersweet farce about an aspiring starlet (Lily Collins) and a handsome chauffeur (Alden Ehrenreich) in Fifties Hollywood who get trapped in the womanising aviation mogul’s orbit. Writer-director Beatty plays Hughes himself, which gives this beguiling project an unmistakable autobiographical glint. 12A cert, 127 min
Exhibitions by Mark Hudson and Alastair Sooke
Chris Ofili: Weaving Magic In a free display in its Sunley Room, the National Gallery presents a tapestry designed by Chris Ofili. It is suffused with a sense of magic, myth and sensuality. The walls are prepared with a grisaille mural of voluptuous Asiatic dancers, offsetting the bright tapestry. Boy, is it gorgeous. National Gallery, London WC2 (020 7747 2885), until Aug 28
Giacomo Balla: Designing the Future The bad boys of early 20th- century art, Italy’s Futurists aimed to transform every aspect of life. This exhibition, focusing on the oldest of the group, brings together an extraordinary array of objects, all from the collection of top Italian fashion designer Laura Biagiotti. Estorick Collection of Italian Art, London N1 (020 7704 9522), until Jun 25
Picasso: Minotaurs and Matadors This show focuses on two key images, viewed across the breadth of Picasso’s career, from 1889 to 1971. In Picasso’s mind, steeped in Mediterranean ritual and myth, the minotaur – half-man, half-bull – and the bullfighter became virtually interchangeable embodiments of tragedy and violence. Gagosian Gallery, London W1 (020 7495 1500), until Aug 25
Stage by Dominic Cavendish
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Brecht’s savage, satirical 1941 play about the Hitler-esque rise to power of a Chicago mobster has been rebooted by American playwright Bruce Norris, with Lenny Henry, who hasn’t put a foot wrong since taking to the stage in Othello in 2009, taking the lead as Ui. Donmar Warehouse, London WC2 (0844 871 7624), Tues-June 17 Angels in America A stellar cast (including Nathan Lane, Denise Gough, Andrew Garfield, James McArdle and Russell Tovey) take on Tony Kushner’s name-making epics, written in the early Nineties. This two-part masterpiece looks at love, infidelity, faith and the divine at the time of Reagan and the emergence of Aids. Marianne Elliott directs. National’s Olivier Theatre, London SE1 (020 7452 3000), until Aug 19
Twelfth Night This is an atmospheric staging by opera director Jo Davies of the gender-fluid Shakespearean comedy. It gives the role of the clown Feste to transgender artist Kate O’Donnell, who is commanding and elaborately costumed. There is also particularly good work from Faith Omole’s Viola and Anthony Calf as a Lycra-clad Malvolio. Royal Exchange, Manchester (0161 833 9833), until May 20
Classical & Opera by Ivan Hewett and Rupert Christiansen
Upclose: The Next Generation Manchester’s first-rate chamber orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, offers a platform to young musicians to curate their own concert. This one by rising star Jordanian-Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer ingeniously juxtaposes Haydn’s Seven Last Words from the Cross with Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Manchester Cathedral (0161 907 9000), Tues
Turandot Opera North’s new music director, Sir Richard Armstrong, conducts a semi-staging of Puccini’s exotic Chinese fantasy, with the excellent Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas as Calaf and Orla Boylan as the icy princess who captivates him. Town Hall, Leeds (0844 848 2720), until May 14, then touring
Gigs by Neil McCormick
Take That Down from their original five to just three members, but still driven by the intense ambition, work ethic and talent of Gary Barlow, Take That embark on yet another arena tour. Latest album Wonderland is crammed with the usual mix of anthemic ballads, soft rock and fist- pumping pop. But with three decades of showmanship to their credit, they know how to stage a spectacular concert. Genting Arena, Birmingham (takethat. com), Fri, and touring