‘I couldn’t look away!’ The rapid, runaway rise of ridiculous Christmas romcoms

It’s that season again, when the streamers bring us hot snowmen and heroes who still believe in Santa. Why are they competing to make the most ludicrous movie possible – and why do we keep watching them?

I Want to Talk review – Abhishek Bachchan is Mad Men-style ad man who declares war on cancer

A greater degree of setup would have given this story of a Don Draper type’s determination to beat a terminal diagnosis more dramatic heft

‘What can we do to make this better?’ Alec Baldwin film Rust finally premieres in Poland

First screening for troubled western whose cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set takes place at niche film festival, boycotted by high-profile figures over a separate sexism row

‘You have to be prepared for the worst’: making a film on the fight for democracy in Cuba

Documentary film-maker Nanfu Wang found difficulties while following an activist in Cuba for her revealing, and timely, new film Night is Not Eternal

The Man With a Thousand Faces review – triumphant takedown of international dating scammer

There are some jaw-dropping moments in this story of a man who conned numerous women, but this quietly lo-thrills documentary lets the victims tell their stories

The Flight of Bryan review – magnificent nerds and their remarkable flying machines

This documentary about a 1977 prize for human-powered flight uses archive footage, interviews and reconstructions to cobble together a fun celebration of human endeavour

BAM! review – smart gig-economy comedy is a rollicking modern-day farce

Director Jordan Tragash marks himself out as one to watch with these interlocking stories of a vibrant group of 20-somethings all hustling for money

The Merry Gentlemen review – more forgettable festive filler from Netflix

Britt Robertson and Chad Michael Murray go through the motions in the streamer’s latest cheapo Christmas comedy

Mediha review – remarkable Yazidi victim of Islamic State’s sexual slavery tells her own story

After her village was destroyed, Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad was sold aged 10 by IS. With determination and charm she navigates a difficult aftermath

Mother of Rust cinematographer fatally shot by Alec Baldwin refuses to attend film’s world premiere

Three years after Halyna Hutchins was killed on set, Olga Solovey says there has been ‘no justice for my daughter’ and claims Baldwin has not apologised

Vic Flick, guitarist on the James Bond theme, dies aged 87

Famed session musician, who also performed with the Beatles, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, died after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

Wicked review – Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are a blast in sugar-rush Wizard of Oz fantasy

Stephen Schwartz’s musical prequel has been brought to the big screen, with Erivo’s charismatic Elphaba exerting a planetary pull over a star-studded cast

Paul Engelen obituary

Leading makeup artist who worked on several Bond films, a Star Wars episode and Game of Thrones

Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Francis Ford Coppola’s very horny vampire epic

Thirty years before Megalopolis, there was Coppola’s other deranged, maximalist fable about love lost, starring Gary Oldman as the terrifying Count

Pimpinero: Blood and Oil review – road thrills with South American border smugglers

The brutal petrol trade between Venezuela and Colombia in 2012 is the backdrop to Andrés Baiz’s starry if slow-paced tale of brothers navigating the future