With a nine-film epic franchise to conclude, it was never going to be easy for J. J. Abrams to bring Star Wars' Skywalker saga to a satisfying end.

BRIAN VINER: I attended a screening on Tuesday in the company of what felt like a thousand others who look at life mainly by the glow of a lightsaber.

At the media screening of what appears to be the last Star Wars film, a brief shot of the Scottish actor Denis Lawson at the controls of a Rebel Alliance fighter flashed up on to the screen.

'Madonna?' said the immigration officer at JFK. 'She's, like, 70, right?' Well, no - she's 61, and determined to prove that 61 is the new 31.

JULIA LAWRENCE: On Wednesday night at London's Palladium, Madonna remembered her manners. And painful hip and knee be damned, she dazzled, the absolute trouper she is.

BRIAN VINER: There's no snobbery quite like music snobbery. Dare to profess an admiration for the work of Phil Collins or Bono and in some circles you will be treated like a guttersnipe.

The pick of this week's homestreaming options is a pair of foreign-language films. The strange but compelling Bacurau, plunging us into the hinterlands of Brazil.

BRIAN VINER: From what I hear, film producers, along with book publishers, are currently telling writers not to bother pitching stories about dystopian futures or horrible hidden predators.

What critics can agree on is that the new music reflects the 25-year-old Canadian pop star's joy at being married to Hailey Baldwin and the bliss of life as a newlywed.

Reviews are just starting to trickle in for Kim Kardashian's new crime documentary and the first panned the reality star's attempts to pivot her image, calling the work 'garish and gross.' 

The 31-year-old singing superstar teased the broadcast of her upcoming lingerie show with a sexy preview Tuesday featuring Cara Delevingne and scantily clad models amid backstage frenzy.

One Cats critic tweeted Tuesday about the Tom Hooper movie starring Taylor Swift out Friday: 'Everything that seemed weird in the trailers just melts away when you're watching the film.'

The Mail sent a panel of 10 to review the new movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical Cats. Top writers give their verdict - is it the cat's whiskers or a cat o'nine tails?

The iconic Taronga Zoo will come to life at night with a dazzling display of giant animal lanterns littered across its grounds, as Vivid Sydney prepares to kick off again on Friday.

An indie road trip romance that has stood out of the crowd as a weird and wonderful film that has set tongues wagging

When Kim Kardashian debuted her latex outfits during Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, she had her fans wondering how she squeezed her curves into them. 

American coach Alberto Salazar, who worked with Mo Farah from 2011 to 2017, was banned for four years by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in October.

Findings from the independent review into UK Athletics' handling of the Alberto Salazar affair are due to be announced in the spring.

UK Anti-Doping have finally received the full internal review into Sir Mo Farah's relationship with Alberto Salazar after their astonishing criticism of UK Athletics last month.

The Brexit Party leader was being lined up for a 30-minute Question Time special in the run-up to the December 12 vote because of his plans to field 600 candidates nationwide.

The model, 24, commanded attention in the form-fitting maxi skirt and long sleeved top, which boasted a plunging crisscross neckline

Langar Hall is a grand Georgian manor filled with history - previous guests have included Keira Knightley. The Mail on Sunday's Petronella Wyatt went to check it out...

WILL GRIFFEE IN LAS VEGAS: It's hard to know where the Irishman would turn if he doesn't overcome 'Cowboy', who was specifically chosen as a marketable but perfectly beatable opponent.

It's slowly becoming the league that no team wants to win. With one point now separating first and fifth, Barca and Real Madrid are starting to nervously look over their shoulder ahead of this weekend's games.

La Liga returns this weekend with the title race tighter than ever with the top five separated by just two points. Real Madrid welcome Real Sociedad while Barcelona take on Leganes.

We've got a full weekend of LaLiga action ahead, with the league still wide open at both ends of the table. Barcelona and Real Madrid can hardly be separated at this stage of the season.  

Like the Royal Wedding a few weeks ago, Royal Ascot a few days ago, or William Shakespeare and Windsor Castle a few centuries ago, we Brits are unbeatable when we play to our strengths

I’m in a sea of grey hair. Women dressed up, compliant husbands in tow. A rowdy gaggle from the WI. At The Lowry in Salford there’s not an empty seat in the house.

Having owned every issue of Vogue published since September 1977, as well as having devoured numerous books on the subject, I had thought I was an expert.

Harry Dunn (pictured) was killed in August 2019 when a car collided head-on with his motorcycle outside an RAF base. The car was allegedly being driven by U.S. citizen Anne Sacoolas.

The anomaly at the heart of Right Or Wrong: The Memoir Of Lord Bell: half the time, Bell is bragging about preferring lying to telling the truth. The other half, he is standing on his high horse. 

Old rivals Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb advanced to the Champions League group stage Tuesday after making it through their playoff second-leg games.

It might only be week three of the new Bundesliga season but some of the usual suspects are already setting the pace. Here, Sportsmail previews the upcoming fixtures ahead of the weekend's action.

Lance Corporal Martin Gill, 22, was one of seven Royal Marines killed on the 2011 tour of Helmand Province which ended in Sgt Blackman ‘snapping’ under extreme psychological pressure.

Lawyers for Sergeant Alexander Blackman – who was jailed for life for killing a wounded Taliban fighter – are drawing up an application to petition the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Gloria, a raucously flamboyant Shoreditch trattoria, doesn’t do things by halves. Like a kitsch explosion in a Dolce & Gabbana factory

The renowned social historian Virginia Nicholson interviewed 40 veterans of the Swinging Sixties for her latest book, How Was It For You? One of them now walks with the aid of a Zimmer frame

Sushi Masa is a small Japanese restaurant just off Willesden Green in north London. There's a neat sushi bar on the left as you walk in.

The Brits must strike a balance between male and female, black and white, sales and excellence. In the 40th edition, they fell at the first hurdle.

By and large, I rather admire the film career carved out by Steve Coogan, an actor to whom there's always been more than the admittedly ridiculously funny Alan Partridge.

If armies march on their stomachs, the same is true of the politicians who send them into war. Winston Churchill wouldn't have been half the man he was without the food made for him by his resident cook.

Herbert von Karajan, who died in 1989, shifted 200 million albums - an astonishing figure for a classical musician.

Heartbreak can be the best teacher, as arts journalist Alice Vincent learns in her hopeful memoir of self-discovery and horticulture.

From George Harrison in 2002 to Ginger Baker the other day, we're used to finding a rock star's death followed by a tribute gig. On Tuesday, the idea came with a twist: the honoree was still with us.

Let's begin with what this new version of The Invisible Man is not.

There are several good reasons for seeing this spirited revival of Anthony Minghella's 2005 Madam Butterfly , and one totally compelling one: the Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw.

The film year is not quite the same as the calendar year, effectively running from one Oscar ceremony - this year's was in early February - to the next.

Like Bob Dylan, whose songs he sings so well, Bryan Ferry has gone from being a bit of a recluse to an unstoppable old trouper. At 74, he is on the road for the eighth year in a row.

If you've ever wondered how the 1990 movie Pretty Woman, which made a fairytale romcom out of a rich-man-meets-prostitute premise, would fare in the age of #MeToo - well, this production won't help.

By day, Julia Ebner worked for the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, monitoring the online behaviour of extremist groups from Islamic jihadists to Neo-Nazis.