The SLMan Culture List

THE LONG-AWAITED SERIES: Masters Of The Air

Reuniting the award-winning team of Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman that produced Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Masters of the Air is an action-packed drama that follows the true story of an American bomber group in World War II. Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, the series follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany, grappling with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. The all-star cast includes Elvis’s Austin Butler, Callum Turner (The Capture), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Anthony Boyle (Danny Boy) and the new Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa.

Visit TV.Apple.com

THE TRUE-CRIME DOC: Bitconned

Ray Trapani always wanted to be a criminal, even as a young boy. In 2017, amid the economic frenzy of the Bitcoin boom, there was no better place for scammers than cryptocurrency. When Ray's friend approached him with the idea of creating a debit card for crypto, he jumped at the chance. There was only one problem: he had no idea how to do that. But, thanks to fake LinkedIn profiles, paid celebrity endorsements and the online community’s insatiable desire to get rich quick, Centra Tech was soon raking in millions of dollars a day. Was it real? No. But did it work? In this fast-paced documentary, Ray himself guides viewers through the ups and downs of his dramatic journey, with the help of his family, former friends and the journalist who exposed Centra Tech as the first high-profile fraud case of the crypto era.

Visit Netflix.com

THE GAMESHOW: The Trust

Eleven strangers are given a quarter of a million dollars to split evenly. Will they take their fair share? Or will the allure of more money cause them to vote each other out to keep more for themselves? The Trust is the ultimate test of human nature, as greed and mistrust threaten to destroy even the strongest of relationships. In this game, everyone starts as winners and they can all leave as winners – but only if they choose to share.

Visit Netflix.com

THE NOVEL: My Friends by Hisham Matar

Set between Edinburgh, London and Libya, and spanning three decades, My Friends is a moving novel about three friends living in political exile and the emotional homeland that deep friendships can provide. Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh as two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, they are both wounded, and their lives forever changed. Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE FILM TO STREAM: The Kitchen

Ten years in the making, The Kitchen is an original story from Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas & The Black Messiah), Kibwe Tavares (Robots of Brixton, Jonah) and Daniel Emmerson (Calm With Horses) featuring the film debut of Kane Robinson (Top Boy). In a dystopian London, the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains: a community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. This is where viewers meet a solitary Izi, living here by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and 12-year-old Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. Follow the unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them.

Visit Netflix.com

THE EASY WATCH: Underdoggs

This one looks so bad, it has to be good. Jaycen ‘Two Js’ Jennings (Snoop Dogg) is a washed-up ex-professional football star who has hit rock bottom. When he’s sentenced to community service coaching the Underdoggs, an unruly pee-wee football team in his hometown of Long Beach, California, he sees it as an opportunity to rebuild his public image and turn his life around. As Jaycen works to transform the foul-mouthed Underdoggs into champions, he reconnects with his past, including an old flame and some ex-teammates, and rediscovers his love of the game.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE BIG RELEASE: Priscilla

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth, exploring Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland. The result is a ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy and fame.

Visit Picturehouses.com

THE OSCAR NOM: Poor Things

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster), this is the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she lacks, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation. Also stars Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott and Jerrod Carmichael.

Visit Picturehouses.com

THE FUTURE CLASSIC ALBUM: Wall Of Eyes by The Smile

We’re expecting this one to be our soundtrack to early 2024. That’s because The Smile (Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, plus Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner) made one of our favourite albums of 2022 – seriously, check out their live show recording from Montreux Jazz Festival that summer. This month, they’re back with Wall Of Eyes, an eight-track LP that builds on A Light For Attracting Attention’s brooding atmosphere, supported by a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Visit TheSmileTheBand.com

THE HOT DEBUT NOVEL: Wild Houses by Colin Barrett

As the Irish town of Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, a feud between small-time drug-dealer Cillian English and enforcers Gabe and Sketch Ferdia spills over into violence and an ugly ultimatum. When the reclusive Dev answers his door on Friday night he finds Doll – Cillian's teenage brother – in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch. Soon, Dev is drawn headlong into the Ferdias’ revenge fantasy. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Nicky can't shake the feeling something bad has happened to her boyfriend Doll. Hungover and plagued by ghosts of her own, Nicky sets out on a feverish mission to save Doll.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE SHOW TO CATCH UP ON: A Murder At The End Of The World

If you missed this last month, cold January evenings are just the right setting to catch up with this Disney+ murder mystery. Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) and eight other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire (Clive Owen) to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must use all her skills to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.

Visit DisneyPlus.com

THE GRIPPING SERIES: True Detective: Night Country

The American anthology crime drama television series returns this month. Its fourth season, set in Alaska and titled True Detective: Night Country, stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as a pair of detectives with a dark past, investigating the disappearance of eight men from an Arctic research station. While the second and third series failed to live up to the brilliance of the first, we suspect that with Foster involved this could be a return to form…

Visit NowTV.com

THE IMPORTANT FOLLOW-UP: Empireworld by Sathnam Sanghera

A couple of years ago, Empireland explored imperialism's lasting impact on Britain and went on to become a powerful conversation starter in schools across the UK. In Empireworld, award-winning author and SLMan interviewee Sathnam Sanghera expands his examination of British imperial legacies beyond Britain. With wit, political insight and personal honesty, he explores the international legacies of British empire – from the creation of tea plantations across the globe, to environmental destruction, conservation and the imperial connotations of royal tours. His journey takes him from Barbados and Mauritius to India, Nigeria and beyond. Along the way, Sanghera demonstrates just how deeply British imperialism is baked into our world – and why it’s time Britain was finally honest with itself about empire.

Visit Amazon.co.uk

THE GROUND-BREAKING SHOW: Kagami

Landing at the Roundhouse this month is a mixed-reality concert created by Ryuichi Sakamoto, the legendary composer and musician who died last year. Fusing moving photography with the real world, Kagami is already highly acclaimed after performances in New York and at Manchester’s 2023 International Festival. Its audiences wear special glasses to watch virtual Sakamoto performing on piano in surround sound. The experience is designed to be both collective and individual, inviting observers to connect to the work – and each other – throughout. There are four shows a day until 21st January.

Visit Roundhouse.org.uk

THE MUST-SEE DOC: Werner Herzog – Radical Dreamer

This new doc is a comprehensive portrait of the master filmmaker, auteur, poet, truth seeker, explorer, brand, meme, actor, lauded voice artiste, doomsayer and legend that is Werner Herzog. This is the man, now 81, who had a 320-tonne steamboat hauled over a steep hill in Peru, who hypnotises his actors, climbs down into volcanoes, talks to murderers on death row, has cooked and eaten his own shoe, and was once shot at. He’s the man who lends his voice to The Simpsons, stars in blockbusters such as The Mandalorian and who also – in an almost magical act – walked from Munich to Paris to prevent the death of a woman film critic he greatly admired. It is stories like these that have made this remarkable German a cult figure the world over. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with the man himself and celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale and Nicole Kidman – we are given an exciting glimpse into his work process and personal life. Also features Joshua Oppenheimer, Robert Pattinson, Patti Smith, Carl Weathers, Wim Wenders and Chloe Zhao.

Visit Picturehouses.com