Going out: Cinema The Son Out now From Florian Zeller, the film-maker behind the Oscar-winning The Father, comes The Son. Although, like the previous one, this new film also features a fine performance from Anthony Hopkins, it’s not in fact a sequel, but an engaging drama that packs a punch while somehow also including some charming dad-dancing from Hugh Jackman. Nostalgia Out now Pierfrancesco Favino stars as an Italian who has spent most of his life living in Egypt, but who returns home only to find the past isn’t quite as, well, past as he thought, in this love letter to Naples from the veteran director Mario Martone. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Out now If you’re not familiar with the eponymous stop-motion shell and want to get up to speed, the animated short films in which he originates are available online. But you could equally dive straight into this feature-length adventure, with Jenny Slate (Parks and Recreation) voicing Marcel and Dean Fleischer Camp directing. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Out now Paul Rudd returns as the mighty but sometimes miniature Marvel character who in this new adventure finds himself exploring the Quantum Realm, while fighting supervillain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Directed, like its predecessors, by Peyton Reed. Catherine Bray Going out: Gigs Flowerovlove Omeara, London, 24 February South London teen Joyce Cisse creates sun-dappled indie pop that’s warmly nostalgic. The best of her recent singles, including the breezy I Gotta I Gotta, were collected on last year’s A Mosh Pit in the Clouds EP, which should get an airing at this one-off date. Michael Cragg Whitney 23 to 27 February; tour starts London Over four albums, including the covers collection, Candid, the Chicago duo Whitney have moved further away from winsome indie-folk and closer to a more polished R&B sheen. This rescheduled tour is in support of last year’s Spark album, which also saw them dabble in Hot Chip-esque disco. MC Terence Blanchard ft the E-Collective With Turtle Island String Quartet Ronnie Scott’s, London, 24 & 25 February New Orleans jazz trumpeter and film composer Blanchard is a thrilling instrumentalist whose music reflects social issues, too. His tight, soul-jazzy ensemble is augmented here by the Grammy-winning, genre-fluid Turtle Island String Quartet. John Fordham Ariadne Auf Naxos Grand Theatre, Leeds, 18, 21, 24 February & 1 March; touring to 24 March Rodula Gaitanou’s new production for Opera North relocates Strauss’s opera to a film studio in 1950s Italy, where two movies are being made: a classical tragedy and a musical comedy. Hanna Hipp is the Composer, Elizabeth Llewellyn is Ariadne, and Antony Hermus conducts. Andrew Clements Going out: Stage Romeo and Julie National Theatre: Dorfman, London, to 1 April The writer of the phenomenally powerful Iphigenia in Splott, Gary Owen, has relocated the bard’s timeless tragedy to Wales – with Callum Scott Howells as Romeo and Rosie Sheehy as Julie. Miriam Gillinson Grace Campbell 21 February to 12 March; tour starts Oxford She may have nepo baby credentials – her dad is the country’s most famous spin doctor – but you’d hope Campbell’s gleefully frank comedy would have made waves regardless. A Show About Me(n) sees the 28-year-old unpick her sexual and romantic history in jovial, wince-inducingly honest style. Rachel Aroesti A Mother’s Song Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, 23 to 26 February Finn Anderson, who composed the effortlessly soulful Islander, has teamed up with & Juliet director Tania Azevedo to write a Scottish folk musical that follows three women at different moments in history, right up to 21st-century New York. MG Dada Masilo: The Sacrifice 21 February to 12 April; tour starts Brighton More than a century on from the riotous premiere of the Ballets Russes’ The Rite of Spring, it continues to inspire choreographers. The latest is the South African Dada Masilo, rewriting dance and music to tell her own tale of community, ritual and change. Lyndsey Winship Going out: Art Mike Nelson Hayward Gallery, London, 22 February to 7 May This brilliant creator of installations that echo spaces in the real world, yet lead you into inner realms of anxiety, tells more stories of the end of the world. Nelson resembles a magic realist writer in his fantastical layers of fiction yet strips them away to expose terror. Golden Mummies of Egypt Manchester Museum, 18 February to 31 December This museum reopens with its famous specimens of the ancient Egyptian dead who were eviscerated, embalmed, bandaged and sealed in coffins and sarcophagi for their journey into the next life. The show’s curators promise to unveil archaeological facts and avoid horror fantasies. I dare them to spend a night here, though. David Hockney Lightroom, London, 22 February to 4 June New technology fascinates Hockney. When fax machines were the latest thing he sent art by fax, and he also paints on a iPad. So it is in character that he’s one of the first artists to take on today’s phenomenon of the immersive digital spectacle to show his work in a new way. Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, to 30 July The ancient monster the Minotaur was said to be kept under the royal palace in Crete, where it chomped on human sacrificial victims. That may be Greek myth but the palace of Knossos is real and its spectacular frescoes and finds were excavated by Oxford archaeologist Arthur Evans, as this show recounts. Jonathan Jones Staying in: Streaming Fleishman Is in Trouble 22 February, Disney+ Journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s novel about a New York doctor whose ex-wife scarpers sans the kids was a hit with the chattering classes back in 2019. No wonder, then, that it’s been swiftly adapted into a seductively cast series, with Jesse Eisenberg playing the eponymous dad and Claire Danes his disappearing co-parent. Party Down 24 February, Lionsgate Plus Parks and Rec and Severance, he played the lead in a cult sitcom about an LA catering service staffed by Hollywood wannabes. This reboot sees the old gang – Jane Lynch and Megan Mullally among them – reunite to ineptly serve the rich and famous. The Consultant 24 February, Prime Video Thanks to the aforementioned Severance, nightmarish workplace drama is having a moment, and this new show amps up the ominous undertones of a bad day at the office. When the titular business whizz (Christoph Waltz) lends his services to a gaming company, his new colleagues find themselves subject to some strange – and increasingly sinister – demands. Liaison 24 February, Apple TV+ Eva Green – of Casino Royale and, more recently, heavily reported legal dramas – stars alongside Vincent Cassel in this cross-Channel thriller, which promises to weave politics, spy intrigue and romance into its under-wraps storyline. RA Staying in: Games Like a Dragon: Ishin! Out 21 February, PS5, Xbox, PC This lost entry in the brilliant Yakuza series of gangster drama casts you as influential samurai Sakamoto Ryoma in an Edo-period drama. Wild Hearts Out now, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC You wait ages for an alt-history Japanese game, and then two come along at once. Monster Hunter meets Dynasty Warriors in this fantastical alt-history Japanese action game. If fighting big beasts with big swords is your thing, check it out. Keza MacDonald Staying in: Albums Pink – Trustfall Out now On her ninth album, Pink showcases her continued penchant for DayGlo pop (sugary lead single Never Gonna Not Dance Again) and the more rustic acoustic-led fare of recent albums (the Lumineers and First Aid Kit both appear). The pulsating title track, meanwhile, sees her collaborate with UK producer Fred Again. Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You Out now Featuring bagpipes (Blood and Butter), trip-hop (Billions) and guest features from both Grimes and Dido (Fly to You), Polachek’s follow-up to 2019’s acclaimed Pang is a maximalist dream. Funny and fantastical, it confirms the ex-Chairlift member as one of alt-pop music’s most interesting exponents. Avey Tare – 7s Out now Animal Collective’s Avey Tare returns with his fourth solo album. Written in 2020, then started a year later, 7s is stuffed with the joy of collaboration after a period of enforced solitude. While The Musical skips along on joyous synths, the nine-minute Hey Bog explores darker themes. Lowly – Keep Up the Good Work Out now Three albums in, Danish quintet Lowly continue to test the parameters of dance-pop. On highlight Seasons they fuse a tender poem about the sun to a dancefloor-ready beat, creating an undulating art-pop anthem, while the title track drops the tempo but not the excitement. MC Staying in: Brain food La Brega Podcast The second season of this pod celebrating Puerto Rican culture focuses on its music. Host Alana Casanova-Burgess provides a fascinating insight into how the country’s reggaeton exports, such as Bad Bunny, have become worldwide stars. Why We All Need Subtitles Now Vox If you’ve found yourself increasingly struggling with onscreen dialogue, this YouTube video explains why. It takes a look at the history of sound capture, which has got more sophisticated as speech has become more mumbled. Parole 20 February, BBC Two Filmed over a year, this five-part series takes viewers inside the decision-making process of granting parole to British prisoners. Gripping and often emotionally fraught, the documentary is a unique insight into the stresses and strains of the justice system. Ammar Kalia