Escape into unseasonal culture

Poor Things
Out 12 January, nationwide
Want to remove yourself from the stifling worlds of normality, rational behaviour and the patriarchy in general? Here is Yorgos Lanthimos’s toweringly mad Poor Things: an explicitly sexual retrofuturist freakout from the alt-Victorian age. Emma Stone gives the performance of a lifetime as Bella, brought back from the dead in a Frankensteinian experiment, who then escapes London for a world tour in the company of Mark Ruffalo’s florid cad. Peter Bradshaw

L’Rain
Touring 17 to 25 February; tour starts Dublin
A venue as grand and individual as London’s Barbican Hall (21 February) demands an artist like L’Rain, AKA Taja Cheek, who builds beautiful, oddball alt-pop upon unpromising titles such as I Killed Your Dog. Each gig feels like an opportunity for Cheek to burrow deeper within the textures of her songcraft, allowing you to bear witness to the ride. Jenessa Williams

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Out 26 January, PS4 & 5, PC, Xbox One & Series X/S
How does Hawaii in January sound? Take a trip with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which follows a couple of Japanese gangsters to paradise, where they will beat up rival thugs and engage in delightful, bizarre activities from karaoke to recruiting mascots for an island resort. Keza MacDonald

MGMT - Loss of Life
Out 23 February
Since 2007’s buoyant indie-dance breakthrough Oracular Spectacular made MGMT accidental stars, the pair have traded pop for acid-assisted psych-rock freakouts. This typically off-kilter fifth album – featuring the lead tracks Bubblegum Dog and Mother Nature – is another multi-layered, transcendent opus, ripe for extended exploration. Michael Cragg

Mutter plays John Williams
Royal Festival Hall, London, 13 January
Jonathon Heyward and the London Philharmonic devote an evening to the great film composer, including stirring music from Superman, The Adventures of Tintin and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, as well as the UK premiere of his second violin concerto, played by its dedicatee, Anne-Sophie Mutter. Andrew Clements

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Wallow in pure wintriness

True Detective: Night Country
Sky Atlantic & Now, 15 January
During the last sunset before the long Arctic night, eight men disappear in remote Alaska. It is up to detectives Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarro (boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis) to investigate. But, as usual in this crime anthology series, the most terrifying darkness lies within. Ellen E Jones

The Taste of Things
Out 16 February, nationwide
With the chill of winter setting in, and snowflakes swirling past the window, there is the need to cocoon, to hunker by the fire and brood over the possibility of a lipsmackingly tasty meal. This French foodie film starring Juliette Binoche is just the thing: Benoît Magimel is the gourmand in love with his chef, played by Binoche, as she works on marvellous epicurean creations. PB

Noah Kahan
Touring 8 to 15 February; tour starts Dublin
American folk-pop star Noah Kahan went stratospheric in 2023 off the back of Stick Season, a darkly humourous song about love, generational trauma and wishing your calendar days away. If you’re craving your own wistful main-character moment, a trip to his first UK arena tour will likely supply feelings of satisfying ennui. JW

Torres – What an Enormous Room
Out 26 January
“Well, this is new / My winter blues have turned yellow” muses Florida singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott on I Got the Fear, an acoustic lament from her sixth album that seems to perfectly cement this season’s feels. Collect, meanwhile, builds like a winter storm, shards of guitar crashing at the song’s borders like raging waves. MC

Pacific Drive
Out 22 February, PS4 & 5, PC
In this survival game, you are alone with your trusty car in the Pacific north-west, venturing out into the inhospitable wilds to figure out what weird stuff is going on out there. It’s lonely, eerie and dark, much like the entire month of January. KM

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Keep it in the family

Sesame Street
Amazon Kids+, from January
It’s been a long, cold winter for UK seekers of top-notch family edutainment. Now a thaw in frosty rights negotiations sees Big Bird, Elmo and friends make a welcome return to our screens after 23 years. Yes Sesame Street is available to stream in the UK at last! Ellen E Jones

Nick Cope’s Family Show
Touring 13 to 17 February; tour starts Cambridge
Although the ex-Candyskins frontman Nick Cope has been performing his child-friendly tracks for well over 10 years, his popularity has soared due to the success of his animated CBeebies show, positioning him as the poptimistic pied piper of discerningly musical toddlers. Several of these dates are already sold out, but he will be performing more well into 2024. JW

Four Seasons
Theatre Royal, Bath: The Egg, 14 to 17 February
Celebrating the beauty and oddness of nature, this family-friendly show at the Egg in Bath is a love letter to nature. It is created by the Olivier award-winning devised theatre company, Little Bulb, which finds beauty and brightness in small things. Expect playful puppetry and music inspired by the seasons. Kate Wyver

Northern Ballet: Tortoise & the Hare
Royal Opera House: Linbury theatre, London, 27 to 29 January; touring to 26 May
If you’ve watched any of the CBeebies ballets, this is the company that dances them. Northern Ballet brings back its charming tale of the overconfident hare and the triumphant tortoise for an extensive UK tour. A colourful, simply told 40 minutes, perfect for children aged five and upwards. Lyndsey Winship

Cute
Somerset House, London, 25 January to 14 April
The Kitticorn and its soft-toy familiars are set to be dissected by 50 contemporary artists exploring our cultural addiction to cuteness. Highlights include a video game arcade, a sleepover-inspired installation, 150 years of cat art and a sub-show with Hello Kitty memorabilia and themed disco. SS

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Get involved in giant gatherings

Masego
Touring 19 to 25 February; tour starts Glasgow
With his penchant for improvisation, jazz-hop saxophonist Masego is the kind of performer who never plays the same show twice. The vast expanse of London’s Alexandra Palace (20 February) is the perfect canvas for a showcase of his most recent self-titled record, inviting a heaving mass of sweaty bodies to move and unwind to a feelgood mix of African, Caribbean and diasporic-American sounds. JW

Manipulate festival
Various venues, Edinburgh, 1 to 11 February
Immerse yourself in a creative crowd with Manipulate Arts’ festival of puppetry, visual theatre and film. Across Edinburgh, performances of circus, dance and mime are accompanied by screenings, workshops, and debates. Shows that catch the eye include puppet play The House, a dark comedy set in a funeral home; and Tess, a circus adaptation of Hardy’s classic by expert acrobats Ockham’s Razor. KW

Bill Bailey
Touring 9 February to 11 March; tour starts Dublin
Despite his leftfield stylings, Bailey has never struggled to attract huge crowds, but his first UK tour since his Strictly victory could feature some of the most weirdly cerebral material to ever fill an arena. Thoughtifier sees the standup use his trademark musical comedy to chronicle the entire history of human thinking. RA

Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind
Tate Modern, London, 15 February to 1 September
Other people are central to Yoko Ono’s art, be it the dramatic Cut Piece, where the audience scissored away her clothes, or simple written instructions for taking imaginative leaps: “Fly”, “touch”, “splash puddles” … Here, chances to get together include her all-white anti-war chess game and a 15-metre canvas for sharing photos and memories of mothers. Skye Sherwin

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Gorge on trash culture

Mean Girls
Out 17 January, nationwide
Someone as smart as Tina Fey could never produce trash exactly, although her immortal teen creations talk trash a fair bit of the time. Her 2004 high school comedy of cruelty, universally hailed as “fetch” is now being remade as a movie musical (based on the stage show), with Angourie Rice in the lead role that made a star of Lindsay Lohan. PB

Lambrini Girls
Yes: Pink Room, Manchester, 20 January; Moth Club, London, 3 February
Rough, ready and raucous, Brighton’s Lambrini Girls have been praised by Iggy Pop for the manic, anything-goes strength of their live performance. Don’t let the scrappy veneer fool you; amid all the energy and bluster, they tackle issues of misogyny, transphobia and safe spaces with wit, compassion and heart. JW

Rachel Goes Rogue
Starts 8 January
For those uninitiated in the reality show Vanderpump Rules, the Rachel in question is Leviss, who was embroiled in a cheating scandal that led to Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval’s split. Now she’s got a podcast about personal growth, although fans are thirsty for all the Scandoval gossip. Hannah Verdier

Below Deck
Hayu, 5 February
Why is Below Deck the greatest reality TV juggernaut ever to ride the (air)waves? It’s that nautical-but-nice combination of insanely wealthy charter guests and transient young “yachties” (who hop beds like an island-hopping catamaran), plus gorgeous views of the world’s most exclusive shorelines. EEJ

Sam Campbell: Wobservations
Touring 2 February to 28 March; tour starts Coventry
You couldn’t accuse the reigning Edinburgh festival fringe and Taskmaster champ of being tacky or tasteless, but Campbell works in direct opposition to the prevailing trend for sob story-powered or politically meaningful comedy: this is standup that is impeccably inane and bone-deep ridiculous. RA

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Feel the warm glow of nostalgia

The Holdovers
Out 19 January, nationwide
It’s back to 1970 in this comedy-drama from Alexander Payne, which of course looks as if it was made in 1970: a groovy New Wavey-looking piece of work which has the influence of Hal Ashby and Bob Rafelson. Paul Giamatti plays the grumpy, unhappy boys’ boarding school teacher who has to babysit the “holdovers” – the kids who can’t go home for Christmas. A weapons-grade nostalgia soundtrack includes tracks by Labi Siffre, Cat Stevens, and Tony Orlando and Dawn. PB

Lara Croft in Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
Out 14 February, PlayStation 4 & 5; Xbox One & Series X/S; PC; Switch
Go back to the 90s heyday of Lara Croft in these long overdue updates to the Indiana Jones-esque tomb-delving adventures of gaming’s first famous heroine. Fans of that low-poly aesthetic needn’t worry: they’ve been updated, sure, but these games still retain a classic look and feel. KM

Jennifer Lopez, This Is Me … Now
Out 16 February
Everything about J-Lo’s first album since 2014’s AKA screams nostalgia, to the point where it should come with its own Juicy Couture tracksuit. The spiritual sequel to 2002’s This Is Me … Then – home to 00s banger personified, Jenny From the Block – it features Dear Ben Pt II, another ode to then boyfriend now husband, Ben Affleck. MC

Omar
Blues Kitchen, Manchester, 25 January; Boisdale of Canary Wharf, London, 1 & 2 February
For the R&B aficionados, these intimate Manchester and London shows from 90s neo-soul luminary Omar will be a must watch. Expect a singalong rendition of his 1991 hit, There’s Nothing Like This, as well as tasteful takes on soul classics from the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder. Ammar Kalia

Saul Leiter: An Unfinished World
Milton Keynes Gallery, 17 February to 2 June
Saul Leiter is a lately rediscovered 20th-century great whose photographs of 1950s and 60s New York’s East Village bring a bygone world to life. Yet the pioneering vivid colour in which he captured street signs, old trucks and cars, fashionistas and city slickers is anything but backward-looking. SS

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Bed down for some big binges

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Out 29 February, PS5
A giant Japanese role-playing fantasy game is just the thing to dive into on those long evenings at the end of winter, when everybody is broke and no one wants to be outside anyway. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second in an epic trilogy, reimagining one of the best RPGs ever with beautiful modern graphics. KM

Dr Death: Bad Magic
Out now on Wondery+; available for free from 22 January
The disturbing hit podcast turns its attention to Serhat Gumrukcu, a charismatic doctor who claimed he had a revolutionary treatment for cancer and HIV. In classic Dr Death style, host Laura Beil gradually uncovers a chilling backstory of alleged fraud, fakery and murder. HV

Mr & Mrs Smith
Prime Video, 2 February
Having been paired under the aliases of a married couple, newbie spies “Mr Smith” (Atlanta’s Donald Glover) and “Mrs Smith” (PEN15’s Maya Erskine) are stuck together for the foreseeable. Lucky for us, then, that this sexy, surprising and suave show is always excellent company. EEJ

Philip Glass – Philip Glass Solo
Out 26 January
The 86-year-old, three-times-Oscar-nominated composer revels in the comfort of repetitive structures, building hypnotic reveries out of gently evolving motifs. On this new piano album he revisits seven songs from his discography – including his 1989 Metamorphosis suite – to create a minimalist, yet complex, reworking that takes time to fully digest. MC

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Swot up on high-brow culture

Samsara
Out 26 January, nationwide
This is a cult movie event that is gaining fans. Spanish auteur Lois Patiño has created a multisensory symphonic adventure: an enigmatic Buddhist parable following the progress of a soul from a Laotian woman’s body to that of a baby goat in Zanzibar. There is a 15-minute section for which the audience must promise to close their eyes to listen to the soundscape and register the colours through closed eyelids. PB

Northanger Abbey
Orange Tree theatre, London, 20 January to 24 February
Jane Austen’s novel of elegant parties and disappointed love is given a new lease of life at the intimate Orange Tree Theatre by playwright Zoe Cooper and director Tessa Walker. A tiny cast of three will create Austen’s story onstage, where a dazzling new friendship becomes the most important thing in the world. KW

Kronos Quartet
Beacon Hall, Bristol, 18 January
The indefatigable Kronos include the UK premieres of pieces by Angélique Kidjo and Terry Riley alongside Gabriella Smith, Aleksandra Vrebalov Sigur Rós and Laurie Anderson in their 50th-anniversary programme. Steve Reich’s majestic Triple Quartet, written for the group, forms the climax of their concert. AC

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch: Nelken
Sadler’s Wells, London, 14 to 22 February
The late German choreographer Pina Bausch is a seminal figure in the performance world, her strange and wonderful creations both absurd and utterly human. Nelken is a signature work from 1982, a playground of beauty and cruelty on a stage set with 8,000 silk carnations. LW

Alfredo Rodriguez Trio
Ronnie Scott’s, London, 29 February
Cuban pianist-composer Alfredo Rodriguez brings his Latin jazz trio to the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s stage for an evening of fiendishly complex polyrhythms and percussive piano. With super-producer Quincy Jones as his mentor, Rodriguez’s improvisation is a musical skill of the highest order. AK