Five of the best ... films

1 Molly’s Game (15)

(Aaron Sorkin, 2017, US) 140 mins

As a writer, Sorkin’s signature style of machine-gun dialogue tended to dominate (The West Wing, The Social Network); here, doubling as director, we get the full Sorkin: a true story and perfect role for Jessica Chastain. She plays a smart woman whose elite poker club attracts stars, billionaires, mobsters and, ultimately, the FBI. It could almost be a female Goodfellas but often tries a little too hard.
Out from New Year’s Day

2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A)

(Rian Johnson, 2017, US) 152 mins

You get a lot for your buck with this crowd-pleaser, which packs in backstory and action, honouring the saga’s lore but with added surprises. Mark Hamill’s Luke and Carrie Fisher’s Leia return, while Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren form a connection that could go either way.

3 Pitch Perfect 3 (12A)

(Trish Sie, 2017, US) 94 mins

Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and co embark on another round of slapstick and a cappella competitiveness. Despite a plot that takes in long-lost fathers and action scenes, it’s consistently funny. Everyone here is singing from the same hymn sheet.

4 Mountain (PG)

(Jennifer Peedom, 2017, Aus) 74 mins

Something of a palate cleanser in contrast to current blockbusters, this nature documentary offers a different kind of big-screen experience, with its grand, vertiginous vistas and high-altitude extreme pursuits. Unobtrusive narration (written by Robert Macfarlane, spoken by Willem Dafoe) and a symphonic score complete the sublime experience.

5 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (12A)

(Jake Kasdan, 2017, US) 118 mins

For the Star Wars-averse; teens find themselves inside an Indiana Jones-style video game, in the bodies of Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart and (in the case of the self-absorbed queen bee) Jack Black. The body-swap aspect adds some much-needed comedy and soul to the action spectacle.

SR

Five of the best ... pop and rock gigs

1 Candi Staton

Having had some success as a gospel and southern soul singer, 1976 saw Candi Staton get her international breakthrough with the disco heartbreak of Young Hearts Run Free. Forty years on, its themes and sound remain fresh as ever. She plays a special one-off show to see the new year in.
The Sage Gateshead, New Year’s Eve

2 Martin and Eliza Carthy

The father-daughter duo make string- and fiddle-augmented harmonising on compositions both modern and traditional look easy. Carthy Sr has more than 50 years’ experience, but Eliza shouldn’t be underestimated, with two Mercury nominations and a string of impressive collaborations behind her.
St Stephen’s Church, Robin Hood’s Bay, nr Whitby, 5 January; part of Normafest, to 7 January

3 Chic featuring Nile Rodgers

After bouncing back from ill health to become pop’s go-to collaborator for retro disco vibes, Nile Rodgers has had a triumphant few years. Having brought a dose of positivity to Worthy Farm earlier in 2017, he and his band wrap up 2017 with a new year celebration that’s also being shown on BBC1.
Central Hall Westminster, SW1, New Year’s Eve

4 MK

After making his name in house, Detroit producer MK branched out into hip-hop and pop, working with the likes of Pitbull and Rihanna. Now he’s back with a UK Top 10 single, 17, which manages to stay true to house while sounding spritely enough for the charts. He headlines this end-of-year club night show alongside the likes of Glasgow’s KC Lights.
Printworks, SE16, New Year’s Eve

5 Laetitia Sadier

Since Stereolab went on hiatus in 2009, Laetitia Sadier has collaborated with everyone from Deerhoof to Tyler, the Creator, and released four solo albums. Dealing in experimental indie pop, her latest record was produced under the name Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble and is, according to the singer, on the rather fitting theme of togetherness.
The Lexington, N1, 4 January

HJD

Three of the best ... classical concerts

1 Bluebeard’s Castle

Mark Elder conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in its latest clutch of concerts, which marks a new departure for this adventurous collection of talents. The main work is a concert staging, devised by Daisy Evans, of Bartók’s only opera, with Robert Hayward and Claudia Mahnke as the protagonists. Before it, Elder conducts a pair of orchestral showpieces: Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake and Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 5 January; touring to 7 January

2 Baroque at the Edge

Early January is an unlikely time to launch a music festival in London, but Baroque at the Edge, the brainchild of Lindsay Kemp, is no an ordinary baroque music festival. Its idea is to invite performers from classical, jazz, and world music backgrounds to take baroque music as the starting point for their own musical explorations. The weekend begins with a recital by pianist Joanna MacGregor; others appearing include the Marian Consort, the Persian percussionist Keyvan Chamerani, and the viols player Paolo Pandolfo.
LSO St Luke’s and St James Clerkenwell, EC1, 5-7 January

3 Jörg Widmann

The Wigmore’s artist in residence features as both clarinettist and composer in this appearance, for which he is joined by viola player Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Dénes Várjon. Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen and Märchenbilder, and Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio K498, are interleaved with two of Widmann’s own works. There’s the UK premiere of his Es War Einmal, co-commissioned by the Wigmore Hall, and his solo party piece, the Fantasie for clarinet.
Wigmore Hall, W1, 4 January

AC

Five of the best ... exhibitions

1 Rose Wylie

This exhibition is rollicking entertainment. Rose Wylie is 83 but she paints with a childlike exuberance that is easily mistaken for hamfisted chaos. The longer you spend in the show, however, the more poetic and beautiful her colours become, in strong, vital, memorable images of holidays, music, chocolate biscuits and the Blitz. There is something very civilised about the way she celebrates the gallery’s Hyde Park location in paintings of dogs, ducks and park benches. It’s even called Quack Quack.
Serpentine Sackler Gallery, W2, to 11 February

2 Rachel Whiteread

Art does not come much more ghostly than Rachel Whiteread’s eerie casts of the forgotten spaces in abandoned homes. She is like a paranormal researcher seeking out the spookiest corners of an old house. She makes her casts under the stairs, below the floorboards, in a room that no one has been into since an unspecified event. An eerie teller of strange tales and one of our most magical artists.
Tate Britain, SW1, to 21 January

3 Cézanne Portraits

Need a New Year purgative? There is no more intelligent artist than Paul Cézanne and no better way to get your brain working again than a visit to this great survey of his portraits: from early images of his family and friends, whose naive style contains massive pathos, to his late works that question the nature of human identity. If you feel bad after one too many seasonal drinks, just take a look at what Cézanne saw when he looked in the mirror: the perplexed mask of a man unsure of everything.
National Portrait Gallery, WC2, to 11 February

4 Susan Philipsz

That contemplative moment between Christmas and the New Year is something to cherish, and this atmospheric exhibition will have you looking deep into your soul. A lone violinist plays on a big screen in the middle of a vast, dark space. The sounds of her strings reverberate in the shadows. As the music rises and falls, you become newly aware of the mysterious power of sound.
BALTIC, Gateshead, to 4 March

5 Peter Doig

What does Peter Doig do at this time of year? Skiing is a good guess, for winter sports are among the favourite themes of this strangely perfect painter. His chalet is being paid for this year by a seasonal display of his highly saleable paintings. No one could begrudge him, since his very solid, very real, yet utterly bizarre pictorial world of hippies, musicians, hikers, empty seas and fir forests is one of the strongest artistic visions of our time.
Michael Werner Gallery, W1, to 17 February

JJ

Five of the best ... theatre shows

1 Romantics Anonymous

It’s goodbye to Emma Rice and it’s goodbye to her swansong show at the Globe. A bittersweet moment, and this is definitely a bittersweet show focusing on a pair of painfully shy chocolate-makers, who are so crippled by fear and social inadequacy that their fledgling love affair seems doomed. There are plenty of melting moments in a low-key but rewarding musical that has a saucy sense of fun and a rich dark heart. Lovely stuff, and not just for the sweet-toothed.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, SE1, to 6 January

2 Follies

It may be flawed, but Stephen Sondheim’s 1971 musical, about a group of showgirls and their husbands gathering for a reunion in an old theatre due for demolition, is still a heart-breaker. It’s a show about broken youthful dreams and the pain of middle age and it’s all the better for being so unsentimentally staged in Dominic Cooke’s revival, which has a Chekhovian blush. Starring Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton, it ends this week and is sold out, but day tickets should be available.
National Theatre: Olivier, SE1, to 3 January

3 Girl from the North Country

An Old Vic transfer you shouldn’t think twice about, this play with songs brings together the talents of Conor McPherson and Bob Dylan. Playwright McPherson entwines Dylan’s songs with real atmospheric effect to tell the story of the residents of a rundown boarding house eking out life in the shadow of the Great Depression.
Noël Coward Theatre, WC2, to 24 March

4 The Little Matchgirl and Other Happier Tales

Hans Christian Andersen’s stories can seem mawkish, but Joel Horwood and Emma Rice bring out the magic and the social satire in this beautifully staged set of stories. Thumbelina becomes a refugee, The Emperor’s New Clothes sends up the fashion industry, and with the flare of a match the title story points the finger at a contemporary world where millions of children live in poverty. Smart stuff delivered with a dusty magic.
Bristol Old Vic, to 14 January

5 Matilda: The Musical

The aching When I Grow Up is just one of Tim Minchin’s sweet, witty songs that keep this musical version of Roald Dahl’s novel top of the West End class. Matthew Warchus’s brilliantly drilled production features smart kids and gruesome adults including the nightmarish Miss Trunchbull, the head teacher who hates children, especially the super-bright Matilda.
Cambridge Theatre, WC2, to 10 February 2019

LG

Three of the best ... dance shows

1 Ballet Theatre UK: Snow Queen

Created in 2015, this is a nice alternative to the season’s Nutcrackers, a highly visual adaptation of Andersen’s tale about siblings Kay and Gerda and their encounter with the malevolent Queen of the Frozen North.
Brighton Dome, 30 December; touring to 27 January

2 Boing!

This is the final weekend for Travelling Light’s lovely evocation of the tingling delirium of Christmas Eve, a story of two small boys waiting for the arrival of Father Christmas.
Unicorn Theatre, SE1, to New Year’s Eve

3 Cinderella on Ice

Eighteen championship skaters, aerial dance and state-of-the-art digital effects feature in this stylish update of the ballet.
Hyde Park: Winter Palace Theatre, W1, to New Year’s Day

JM