The SLMan Culture List – November
THE GAME SHOW: Squid Game: The Challenge
In this spin-off of the South Korean hit drama, 456 real players will enter a real-life Squid Game competition to win a life-changing reward of $4.56m. As they navigate a series of games inspired by the original series – plus some surprising new additions – their strategies, alliances and characters will be put to the test while rivals are eliminated around them.
Visit Netflix.com
THE LIVE EVENT: The Netflix Cup
This autumn, stars of two Netflix sports series will face off in the Netflix Cup. Drivers from Formula 1: Drive to Survive and golfers from Full Swing will pair up to compete in a matchplay tournament at Wynn Golf Club that will kick off the week of the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Netflix Cup will stream live on Netflix, with players currently including F1 drivers Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. The pro golfers will be Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas. The four pairings face an eight-hole competition with the top two teams advancing to the final hole, where they will battle for the chance to win the first Netflix Cup.
Visit Netflix.com
THE HEIST DRAMA: Culprits
This stylish new thriller stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Gemma Arterton, Niamh Algar, Ned Dennehy and Eddie Izzard. The drama kicks off where most crime stories end: after a high-stakes heist, when the crew of elite criminals have gone their separate ways and have tried to leave their old lives behind. Past and present collide when a ruthless assassin starts targeting them one by one. Why are they being stalked, who is behind the mayhem, and will they be able to find one another in time to protect themselves and the people they love?
Visit DisneyPlus.com
THE SPORTS DOCU-DRAMA: Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story
Featuring Keanu Reeves as host and motor racing legends Ross Brawn, Jenson Button, Nick Fry, Rubens Barrichello and Christian Horner, this unscripted documentary series tells the remarkable story of how Ross Brawn made the impossible happen in 2009. Competing in the most expensive and technologically advanced racing series on Earth, his understaffed, underfinanced and independent team won the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. Go behind the scenes of this fairy tale with the people who were there – on the track, in the garage and the boardroom – to see Brawn taking on the sport’s titans with a team he bought for £1.
Visit DisneyPlus.com
THE MUSIC BOOK: Island Book of Records (1959-68)
The first volume of the Island Book of Records (1959-68) – edited by Neil Storey, Island’s former head of press – is out now. Drawing on unseen archival treasures, it promises to be an unparalleled resource for those seeking an immersive trip to a period when music ignited a cultural renaissance. Every album released from 1959 – when Chris Blackwell founded the label in Jamaica – through to the end of 1968 in the UK is included. Each one is fully illustrated to include labels, booklets, die-cut covers and foreign editions as well as scheduled but ultimately unreleased LPs. Hardback and vinyl-sized, the book runs to 392 pages and also contains a 20+ page illustrated discography of 45s and EPs; appendices detailing subsidiary label LP releases; gig adverts; record release flyers; magazine covers; concert tickets, and Island’s pioneering LP adverts – many of which became art in their own right – plus other artefacts and ephemera.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE SPORTS BOOK: Arsène Who? by Ryan Baldi
The average football fan hadn’t heard of Arsène Wenger when he took charge of Arsenal in 1996. His appointment was greeted with bemusement and derision in the media – even his own players questioned his credentials and unusual methods. Yet within less than two full seasons, Wenger transformed an underperforming side into double winners, sparking an era-defining rivalry with Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, and modernising football in England with his innovative approach to training, diet and fitness. Built around more than 150 interviews with key players, coaches, staff members and opponents, this is the definitive account of Arsenal’s 1998 double and how Wenger took Arsenal to the top of English football and changed the game forever.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE SCI-FI DRAMA: Fingernails
Anna and Ryan have found true love, and it's been confirmed by a controversial new technology. There's just one problem: Anna still isn't sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir. The drama stars Jessie Buckley, Roz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson.
Visit TV. Apple.com
THE FILM BOOK: The Path To Paradise by Sam Wasson
Everyone might be mad for Marty Scorsese right now, but film fans will also love this fresh take on Francis Ford Coppola. American Zoetrope is the production company Coppola founded in San Francisco years before he achieved gargantuan success. Through Zoetrope’s experimental, communal utopia, Coppola attempted to reimagine the entire pursuit of moviemaking. Now, more than 50 years later, despite myriad setbacks, the visionary filmmaker’s dream persists, most notably in the production of his decades-in-the-making film Megalopolis which might be the culmination of his utopian ideals. With total and unprecedented access to Coppola’s archives, and by conducting hundreds of interviews with the filmmaker and those close to him, Sam Wasson weaves together an extraordinary portrait of a charming, brilliant man given to seeing life and art in terms of family and community, but also plagued by restlessness, recklessness and a desire to operate perpetually at the extremes.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE TRUE STORY: Rustin
The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organisers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologised for who he was, what he believed or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, but then he was forgotten by history. Directed by five-time Tony winner George C. Wolfe and starring Emmy winner Colman Domingo, Rustin shines a long overdue spotlight on an extraordinary man who – alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, Adam Clayton Powell Jr and Ella Baker – dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement. The film features an all-star cast including Chris Rock, Jeffrey Wright and Audra McDonald.
Visit Netflix.com
THE AWARD-WINNING FILM: Anatomy of a Fall
For the past year, Sandra, a German writer, her French husband Samuel, and their 11-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he committed suicide or was killed. Samuel's death is treated as suspicious, presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. Little by little the trial becomes not just an investigation of the circumstances of Samuel's death, but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel's conflicted relationship. Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, this is one we’ll definitely be seeing at the cinema.
Visit Picturehouses.com
THE SPORTS BOOK: Broadly Speaking by Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad is the ultimate competitor – someone addicted to the pressures of Test cricket, the big occasions and the heat of battle. His passionate and spontaneous behaviour made him a fan favourite, so many were left bereft when he announced his retirement this summer, after more than 17 years playing for his country. An Ashes winner and world champion, Broad was integral to some of the greatest England teams of all time. His awards and achievements, however, don't tell the whole story – he has always been a cricketer of more than mere numbers. In his autobiography, Broad shares the moments from the game which have made him and those that almost broke him.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE CINEMA RELEASE: Dream Scenario
A24 is behind this new film. That’s the studio behind Moonlight, Aftersun, The Green Knight and Uncut Gems, so we have high hopes. Hapless family man Paul Matthews finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. When his night-time appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom. Stars Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula and Dylan Baker.
Visit Picturehouses.com
THE RETURN: Slow Horses, Series 3
The upcoming third season of critically acclaimed espionage drama Slow Horses lands in December. The darkly humorous series follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping-ground department of MI5 known unaffectionately as Slough House. At the outset of the new season, a romantic liaison in Istanbul threatens to expose a buried MI5 secret in London. When Jackson Lamb and his bunch of misfits are dragged into the fight, they find themselves caught in a conspiracy that threatens the future not just of Slough House but of MI5 itself.
Visit TV.Apple.com
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