This Easter weekend, children deserve better than The Super Mario Bros Movie

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( April 08, 2023 [View in browser](   Hello, Louis Chilton here, taking over from Jessie for the week while she’s off on her hols. Thankfully, she's left us all with a couple of primo-sounding book recommendations. The first, Shy, by Max Porter, follows a teenage boy who hears voices in his head. The second, Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key, is inspired by Joni Mitchell's heaven-sent album Blue. Read more about both, and a host of other culture tips, in [this week's]([Arts Agenda]([.]( As for me, I've spent my idle time this week reading Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. Extraordinarily good! What else has gone on this week? Succession was bloody great, surprise surprise; Phillipa Snow [recapped the gut-punch of a second episode here](. The Super Mario Bros Movie was insipid, [as Clarrise Loughrey attests](. For the State of the Arts column this week, I wrote about the dismal Nintendo adaptation, and [how it fits into the long ignoble tradition of game-to-screen films](. Even little children deserve better than this, frankly. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Pratt voice Peach and Mario in Nintendo's lacklustre new film (Illumination) Plenty of other highlights from the culture desk this week, including Marcus Field's [look at the writers re-framing queer history in the world wars](, Annabel Nugent's [interview with hyperpop sensations 100 gecs](, and Mark Hudson's [review of the new exhibition from Ai WeiWei](. Musician Hak Baker also [penned this insightful comment about the Windrush generation and his love of Jamaica](. Hope everyone enjoys the extra-long weekend... next week it should be back to business as usual with the brilliant Jessie Thompson. Louis [@louischilton](   What to do this weekend Exhibition | [Steve McQueen: Grenfell]( Consisting of a single 24-minute tracking shot over London, the Oscar-winning film director and artist’s film tribute to the 72 victims of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire is by all accounts a deeply moving experience. Advance booking essential. [Read the full review here](. Serpentine Gallery, until 10 May Mark Hudson | Chief Art Critic   Theatre | [Sucker Punch]( When Roy Williams’s Sucker Punch opened at the Royal Court in 2010, it helped to launch the career of Daniel Kaluuya, winning him a handful of Best Newcomer gongs. The play, which tells the story of two young Black boxers and their white trainer in the 1980s, now gets a revival at the Queen’s Theatre, where the stage is transformed into a boxing ring. Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, until 15 April Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](   Film | [Air]( Ben Affleck directs a star-studded drama about Nike executives attempting to sign a sponsorship deal with Michael Jordan. Controversially, Jordan (or an actor playing him) doesn’t actually appear, but Affleck makes up for it with rapid-fire dialogue and standout performances from the likes of Viola Davis, Matt Damon and the illusive Chris Tucker. In cinemas now Adam White | Film Editor [@__adamwhite](   TV | [Beef]( A24, the trendy production house that brought us Moonlight, Lady Bird and Everything Everywhere All at Once, now has a new Netflix series: Beef. Steven Yeun and Ali Wong are exquisite as two strangers – one rich, one skint – who get into a road rage incident that brings chaos into their lives. It’s as stylish as you’d expect, and almost impossible not to gobble up in one sitting. Out now on Netflix Ellie Harrison | TV Editor [@Ellie_Harrison](   Books | [Shy by Max Porter]( Former bookseller turned prize-winning novelist Max Porter is back with his fourth novel, about a teenage boy who hears voices in his head. Porter’s novels may be short, but they have great emotional depth, as our chief book critic Martin Chilton [attests in his five-star review](, calling it “inventive” and “startlingly humane”. Don’t miss [our interview with Porter](, where he discusses everything from Shy to sensitivity readers. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](     [The Saturday Interview – Ellie Goulding]( [Oscars image]( Elie Goulding: 'You’re not allowed to have flings if you’re a female artist' (Getty) The 36-year-old chart-topper speaks to Kate Solomon after the release of her latest album, Higher than Heaven . Topics covered include false dating rumours, music’s #MeToo moment, and how she copes with anxiety. Goulding pictured in March 2023 (Getty) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… Exercise was the focus of that obsession when she was younger, as she worked with trainers who encouraged constant motion, constant pushing, constant sprints. Now, post-pandemic and post-pregnancy, which “sent my nervous system into ... overdrive”, she feels the value of slower movements like stretching and headstands, anything that “changes where your blood is going”. Performing – which is essentially a hardcore workout – was the only time she felt her anxiety really ebb away, so spending months stuck at home during the pandemic felt all the more excruciating. “So I’m just going to keep trying stuff. Since the pandemic, I don’t know a single person, actually, who doesn’t have anxiety.” But having Arthur has changed her, too. She loves being a mother: you can hear it in every moment she grabs to talk about her little boy, showing pictures and marvelling at how much he changes every day – “every hour, actually!” He has inherited his mother’s love of singing, and his big chubby cheeks are ripe for pinching when he grins. Many artists opt to record a swooning ode to parenthood when they have their first baby, but Goulding’s imminent fifth album, Higher Than Heaven, is a pristine, dazzling banger-fest. [Read the full interview here](   Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Dylan Jones Written in collaboration with The Jam's Paul Weller, this "definitive" look at Weller's lifelong musical career includes a curated selection of 120 songs and augments it with extensive commentary on the artist's life and creative process. A best-selling author, Jones has published over 20 books, and is a former editor at publications including GQ, the Observer and the Sunday Times. A book I recently read and loved is… I’m a big fan of the oral biography, and one I’ve particularly enjoyed recently is Hollywood: The Oral History, by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson, assembled from interviews gathered over the years by the American Film Institute. It kept me occupied for days. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be… Tom Wolfe, Emmett Grogan and Hunter S Thompson, the three finest chroniclers of 1960s excess. Not finishing books: my stance is… If a book doesn’t capture my imagination immediately then I bin it. I treat books in exactly the same way as records; if they don’t grab me then I move onto something else. Life is too short and I know what I like. My writing routine is… I can write anywhere. On trains, in bed, in the back of a cab, even in meetings (don’t tell, please). I once transcribed and write a 5000 word interview with Tony Bennett on a plane back from New York. I have no patience with people who struggle to write 500 words before lunch. 'Magic – A Journal Of Song' by Paul Weller, with Dylan Jones is published by Genesis and is out now in hardback £99 £20 for 1 year ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   [INDYBEST]( / [BEST BUYS]( [This affordable hotel-standard sheet is a game-changer – here’s why]( Our experts tested [Rise & Fall’s bedding]( and it improved sleep while bringing luxury into the bedroom. 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