Going out: Cinema The Wild Robot Out now Using a hand-painted aesthetic, this warm-hearted family animation tells the story of a shipwrecked robot who becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose. Lending her dulcet tones to the robot is Lupita Nyong’o, with Heartstopper’s Kit Connor as the goose. The Apprentice Out now Sebastian Stan stars as Donald Trump in this biopic looking at the former (and future?) president’s years as a flashy real estate mogul through the lens of his mentor-mentee relationship with the infamous New York City prosecutor Roy Cohn, played here by Succession’s Jeremy Strong. Smile 2 Out now A follow-up to eerie smash-hit Smile was inevitable from both a narrative and financial POV, and here it is. Naomi Scott stars as a pop singer who begins to see creepy smiling faces everywhere, and Kyle Gallner reprises his role as the cop who we last saw getting cursed by the Smile entity at the end of the first film. Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands Out now Following a sold-out world premiere as the closing gala for Edinburgh international film festival this documentary about Scottish girl bands, narrated by TeenCanteen’s Carla J Easton, gets a wide release. It uses archive, talking heads and lost demos to paint a portrait of an underrated music scene. Catherine Bray Going out: Gigs The Age of Consent 40 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 19 October Released in 1984, the debut album by Bronski Beat, The Age of Consent, was a bold political statement at a time of queer repression. Forty years later, queer and trans artists such as Bishi, Planningtorock and Tom Rasmussen pay tribute to its legacy in this one-off show. Michael Cragg Schoenberg: Reshaping Tradition Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 20 October The 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth last month went almost noticed in the UK. But at least the London Sinfonietta is retrospectively marking the occasion with a concert conducted by Jonathan Berman that includes some of his major works – Chamber Symphony No 1, the Serenade and Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte – alongside pieces by Elisabeth Lutyens and Webern. Andrew Clements Xhosa Cole 1000 Trades, Birmingham, 25 October Saxophonist Xhosa Cole is the youngest of an illustrious roster of Birmingham-raised reeds-players, running from Andy Hamilton to Soweto Kinch and Shabaka Hutchings, as an eclectic improviser of soulful power. Cole explores the unique legacy of Thelonious Monk at this gig for Black History Month. John Fordham Lizzy McAlpine 24 to 31 October; tour starts London After scoring a TikTok hit (and actual UK Top 10 hit) last year with the gentle guitar ballad Ceilings, 25-year-old McAlpine has steadily scuffed up her sound. This year’s Older album, recorded in one or two takes, focused on capturing emotion rather than perfection, a tendency replicated in her shows. MC The Age of Consent 40 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 19 October Released in 1984, the debut album by Bronski Beat, The Age of Consent, was a bold political statement at a time of queer repression. Forty years later, queer and trans artists such as Bishi, Planningtorock and Tom Rasmussen pay tribute to its legacy in this one-off show. Michael Cragg Schoenberg: Reshaping Tradition Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 20 October The 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth last month went almost noticed in the UK. But at least the London Sinfonietta is retrospectively marking the occasion with a concert conducted by Jonathan Berman that includes some of his major works – Chamber Symphony No 1, the Serenade and Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte – alongside pieces by Elisabeth Lutyens and Webern. Andrew Clements Xhosa Cole 1000 Trades, Birmingham, 25 October Saxophonist Xhosa Cole is the youngest of an illustrious roster of Birmingham-raised reeds-players, running from Andy Hamilton to Soweto Kinch and Shabaka Hutchings, as an eclectic improviser of soulful power. Cole explores the unique legacy of Thelonious Monk at this gig for Black History Month. John Fordham Lizzy McAlpine 24 to 31 October; tour starts London After scoring a TikTok hit (and actual UK Top 10 hit) last year with the gentle guitar ballad Ceilings, 25-year-old McAlpine has steadily scuffed up her sound. This year’s Older album, recorded in one or two takes, focused on capturing emotion rather than perfection, a tendency replicated in her shows. MC The Age of Consent 40 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 19 October Released in 1984, the debut album by Bronski Beat, The Age of Consent, was a bold political statement at a time of queer repression. Forty years later, queer and trans artists such as Bishi, Planningtorock and Tom Rasmussen pay tribute to its legacy in this one-off show. Michael Cragg Schoenberg: Reshaping Tradition Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 20 October The 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth last month went almost noticed in the UK. But at least the London Sinfonietta is retrospectively marking the occasion with a concert conducted by Jonathan Berman that includes some of his major works – Chamber Symphony No 1, the Serenade and Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte – alongside pieces by Elisabeth Lutyens and Webern. Andrew Clements Xhosa Cole 1000 Trades, Birmingham, 25 October Saxophonist Xhosa Cole is the youngest of an illustrious roster of Birmingham-raised reeds-players, running from Andy Hamilton to Soweto Kinch and Shabaka Hutchings, as an eclectic improviser of soulful power. Cole explores the unique legacy of Thelonious Monk at this gig for Black History Month. John Fordham Lizzy McAlpine 24 to 31 October; tour starts London After scoring a TikTok hit (and actual UK Top 10 hit) last year with the gentle guitar ballad Ceilings, 25-year-old McAlpine has steadily scuffed up her sound. This year’s Older album, recorded in one or two takes, focused on capturing emotion rather than perfection, a tendency replicated in her shows. MC Going out: Art Małgorzata Mirga-Tas Tate St Ives, to 5 January This Romany artist makes her pictorial collages in her home village of Czarna Góra in Poland. Her portraits, with grey, almost ghostly figures as if they commemorate the lost, are cut from textiles. She works collaboratively with other women in her community and is an educator and campaigner for Romany life. The World of Tim Burton Design Museum, London, 25 October to 21 April Just in time for Halloween, this crowd-pleaser explores the gothic imagination of Tim Burton from scissor-handed innocents to Christmas-wrecking spooks and Frankensteinian pooches. It includes the funny and fantastical director’s paintings, drawings, writings and sketchbooks in a bid to illuminate the obsessive themes and personal images in his films. Vanessa Bell MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, 19 October to 23 February The art of Vanessa Bell proves you don’t have to smash anything to be a modernist. Her paintings are domestic, intimate, returning again and again to still life, garden scenes and portraiture. But look again. Bell’s quiet scrutiny of the world is inspired by Cézanne and has a radical truthfulness. Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst Serpentine North Gallery, London, to 2 February Is AI the future of art – or a massively overhyped, empty technology? It may be many years before we know its true contribution to creativity. But Berlin-based artists Herndon and Dryhurst can’t wait that long and present “rituals” for working with AI to bring out the magic of the machine. Jonathan Jones Going out: Stage Tarot Soho theatre, London, 21 to 26 October; touring 6 to 29 November Nowadays, you can only be a true sketch comedy aficionado if you like leaving the house: the finest examples of the genre rarely make it to TV. That includes Tarot – Ed Easton, Adam Drake and Kath Hughes – who once again prove they are modern masters with eerily brilliant new show Shuffle. Rachel Aroesti Quiet Songs Barbican: The Pit, London, Tuesday to 2 November Finn Beames & Company’s new show follows a bullied queer teenager as their voice breaks. Its musical accompaniment sees the bows of string instruments exchanged for swords. Ruth Negga stars. Kate Wyver Company Wayne McGregor: Autobiography York Theatre Royal, 25 & 26 October Wayne McGregor’s show Autobiography is never the same twice. Built from the choreographer’s own genetic code, it’s a dance piece that’s always morphing, and the latest version lands in York for two nights. His dancers are technically awesome, and tThe soundtrack comes from experimental electronic composer Jlin. Lyndsey Winship Revealed Belgrade theatre, Coventry, to 2 November Following three generations of Black men, Daniel J Carver’s family drama wriggles into the gap between what men feel and what they say. Set in the family’s Caribbean restaurant, each show ends with the audience invited to share a meal together. KW Staying in: Streaming The Franchise Sky Comedy & Now, 21 October, 10pm Armando Iannucci, Sam Mendes and Succession writer Jon Brown are just three components of the the dream team behind this superhero movie pastiche, which charts the chaotic production of Tecto: Eye of the Storm, a fiasco-riddled new entry in the comic-book canon. Himesh Patel, Lolly Adefope and Richard E Grant star. Before Apple TV+, 25 October Billy Crystal stars in this spine-tingling psychological horror as Eli, a child psychiatrist haunted by the wife he lost to suicide, as well as a mysterious image of a farmhouse. Soon, a disturbed child arrives on his doorstep claiming the latter is the site of a heinous act from Eli’s past. Storyville: Dogs of War BBC Four & iPlayer, 22 October, 10pm The tale of how thrill-seeking Dave Tomkins from Basingstoke ended up trying to assassinate Fidel Castro – having previously established himself as an international arms dealer via a stint as the explosives expert for a deranged mercenary leader in Angola – is both absurd and horrifying. This new documentary retraces his journey. Nautilus Prime Video, 25 October In a rare streamer exchange, this Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea prequel was canned by its original makers, Disney+, only to be resurrected by Amazon. An origin story for Captain Nemo (Shazad Latif), it chronicles the Indian prince’s subaquatic, anti-imperialist adventures. RA Staying in: Games Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch, out now Work out your friend/family rivalries in more than 100 mini-games in this kingly example of virtual board games. A warning, though: if Mario Kart feels unfair to you, this might send you over the edge. Wilmot Works It Out PC & Mac, out Wednesday Wilmot is a white cube with eyes who has a job organising things at a warehouse. At home, he likes to sort jigsaws instead, before hanging them on his walls. A delightful puzzle game with eye-catching art. Keza MacDonald Staying in: Albums Christopher Owens – I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair Out now In the last seven years, the US singer-songwriter and former frontman of cult US experienced a motorbike accident, homelessness, the death of a friend and the breakdown of his relationship. His beautifully bruised fourth album, and first in nine years, grapples with finding hope in the darkness. Shawn Mendes – Shawn Out now Two years after cancelling his world tour to preserve his mental health, Canadian soft-rocker Mendes returns with this fifth album. Showcasing a more rustic sound, songs such as sweeping ballad Nobody Knows reflect a more introspective approach, while Why Why Why skips along with a folky spring in its step. Confidence Man – 3AM (La La La) Out now On 2022’s second album Tilt, Australian quartet Confidence Man made the leap into the pop consciousness via a litany of DayGlo bangers and some incredible, aerobics class-adjacent festival sets. This follow-up, which features lost 90s rave classic So What, is another ridiculous step towards ubiquity. Kylie Minogue – Tension II Out now The sequel to 2023’s Tension features nine brand new tracks, plus a clutch of dance collaborations with the likes of Tove Lo (My Oh My) and Sia (Dance Alone) that Kylie has been drip-feeding throughout the year. The single Lights Camera Action is a Padam-style electronic earworm and future live favourite. MC Staying in: Brain food How to Do Everything Podcast NPR’s charming Q&A series, answering listeners’ questions on everything from planning first dates to surviving quicksand, returns following an eight-year break. The new season features tips on curing hiccups, remembering faces and more. BBC Sound Effects Archive Online Featuring German field recording artist Ludwig Koch’s early 20th-century sounds, as well as thousands of audio clips from TV history, the BBC’s newly free Sound Effects Archive is a remarkable resource for the curious and creative. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin Netflix, 25 October This poignant film traces the online life of gamer Mats Steen, who died from a degenerative muscular disease at 25 but left behind an adventurous digital legacy thanks to his popular World of Warcraft persona, Ibelin. Ammar Kalia