Xan Brooks

Columnist

Xan Brooks is a journalist, author and broadcaster. His latest novel is ‘The Catchers’

<p>The man, the myth: Nicolas Cage in ‘The Surfer’</p>

Nicolas Cage has spent years playing himself – but the best actors do

<p>Leni Riefenstahl shrinks from the camera in a startling new documentary from Andres Veiel</p>

Riefenstahl proves that the best documentary subjects are monsters

<p>I feel fine: Observers prepare to be pancaked by asteroid debris in the 1998 blockbuster ‘Deep Impact’</p>

Why do we love to repeatedly watch ourselves die on screen?

<p>Filming on the set of ‘Dr Strangelove’ in the 1960s</p>

Why we love movies about the end of the world

<p>Silver surfers: Daniel Craig and George Clooney premiering their respective movies at this week’s Venice Film Festival</p>

George Clooney ought to listen to Daniel Craig about ageing on screen

George Clooney ought to listen to Daniel Craig about ageing on screen

<p>Silver surfers: Daniel Craig and George Clooney premiering their respective movies at this week’s Venice Film Festival</p>

<p>Don’t call it a comeback: Mel Gibson in ‘The Beaver’, Johnny Depp in ‘Jeanne du Barry’ and Lindsay Lohan in ‘The Canyons’ </p>

Johnny Depp and the rich history of the shambolic comeback film

<p>A tottering meat puppet who finds desire and agency: Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’s ‘Poor Things’</p>

Poor Things gets that nothing scares men like female sexual liberation

<p>Taking notes: Rosamund Pike in Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’, and Natalie Portman in Todd Haynes’s ‘May December’ </p>

Most new films aren’t original – why won’t their directors admit it?