Alexander Larman

Alexander Larman is an author and the US books editor of The Spectator.

Wednesday

Alexander Larman

When will Prince Harry break his Coronation silence?

From our UK edition

Two thousand among the great and the good from around the world will soon receive a letter from King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The invitation to the coronation on 6 May, which has been unveiled today, is not what people might have expected. Elizabeth II’s coronation invitation was formal, and, even by the standards of 1953, old-fashioned: it looked like the sort of thing that Victoria would have issued for her eventful, near-disastrous ceremony over a century before. The implication was clear, namely that her reign would be a formal, decorous one, firmly in keeping with the high ideals of her predecessors, and it proved an apt portent for her highly successful time upon the throne.

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

The new foul-mouthed Great Expectations is as bad as you’d expect

When Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol aired on FX in 2019, it was very quickly decided that, whatever it was, it wasn’t Dickens. From Guy Pearce’s foul-mouthed Scrooge to a scene in which Mrs. Cratchit strips and offers Ebenezer sex in exchange for money to buy the medicine she needs for her son Tiny Tim, it was a strange combination of would-be gritty social realism and hysterical prurience. It was not well-received in the United States: Salon’s comment that it was “short on joy and very, very, very long on purgatorial slogging” was typical.

olivia colman great expectations

Friday

Alexander Larman

The dark side of Ted Lasso

From our UK edition

You’ll know where you are with Ted Lasso – the third season of which has just started on Apple TV – as soon as you hear the Marcus Mumford co-written theme song. It peddles a sort of sub-Coldplay uplift, with a lot of big, meaningless anthemic 'yeah's in the chorus. Bright, accessible, catchy and instantly forgettable, you still enjoy hearing it every time you watch a new episode. And that’s the show in microcosm: cheery, amusing and utterly inconsequential. Yet somehow the Jason Sudeikis vehicle has become not only Apple TV’s biggest hit to date, but the most Emmy-nominated comedy in recent years.

Thursday

Alexander Larman

Jonathan Majors’s arrest is the ultimate headache for Marvel

The arrest of Jonathan Majors last weekend, which resulted in his being charged with several assault and harassment misdemeanor charges — despite his lawyer announcing he is “completely innocent and is probably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows” — is one of the more surprising developments in recent popular culture. Majors, who recently appeared as the arch-villain Kang in the latest Marvel picture Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, has been progressing steadily towards superstardom for some time, starring as the antagonist in the third Creed film and appearing in a series of ads for the US Army. Those commercials have since been pulled, with a spokesman declaring that the Army was “deeply concerned by the allegations.

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

The chaos of coronations over the centuries

From our UK edition

In January 1559 an Italian envoy wrote of Elizabeth I’s coronation that ‘they are preparing for [the ceremony] and work both day and night’. More than four and a half centuries later much the same could be said of the imminent investiture of Charles III – an event overshadowed, at the time of writing, by the uncertainty as to whether his publicity-shy younger son and wilting violet of a wife will be attending. But, as Ian Lloyd describes in The Throne, there have been many more dramatic build-ups to coronations, some culminating in injury or even death.

Saturday

Alexander Larman

Paris: the place to be as a royal in exile

When rulers are thrown out of their countries, they cannot expect all that much. Think of Napoleon, first cooling his heels in Elba, then ending his days in the damp-infested confines of Saint Helena. Which is why the former Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, was comparatively fortunate that the Parisian spot in which he found himself living after his abdication in December 1936 was Le Meurice in Paris: then, as now, a hotel that offers not only glitteringly luxurious accommodation to its well-heeled denizens, but a tangible sense of history — its lavishly appointed suites and restaurants exude an atmosphere that’s simultaneously relaxing and conspiratorial. Turn an unexpected corner, and you half-expect to see the ghost of Wallis Simpson, barking orders at some hapless minion.

Paris

Friday

Alexander Larman

The perverse and addictive appeal of Netflix’s You

From our UK edition

In our risk-averse, deeply fearful age, the idea of one of the most popular shows on any streaming service being a black comedy about a serial killer who has an unfortunate penchant for murdering the women he falls in love with might be something of a tough sell. But the bloody exploits of Joe Goldberg, a bookstore worker-turned-university-professor, who has so far terrorised the denizens of New York, California and London, have run to four immensely popular seasons on Netflix, with a likely fifth and final instalment in the next year or two. Not bad for a series that – intentionally or otherwise – treads a fine line between hilarity and horror, its essential ridiculousness jostling against its near-nightmarish central conceit.

Wednesday

Alexander Larman

Is Quentin Tarantino finished as a filmmaker?

Throughout his career, director Quentin Tarantino has been admirably consistent about his ambition to make ten films — no more, no less — and then move on to other fields. He once stated, “I like that I will leave a ten-film filmography… it’s not etched in stone, but that is the plan. If I get to the tenth, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career.” He was savvy enough to include a caveat: “if, later on, I come across a good movie, I won’t not do it just because I said I wouldn’t.” He concluded, “But ten and done, leaving them wanting more — that sounds right.

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

Prince Harry’s new project to challenge ‘gender norms’

From our UK edition

What are Prince Harry’s pronouns? The obvious ones, of course, are ‘he/him’, but the mischievous might suggest that ‘heir/spare’ are just as likely. In either case, the Duke of Sussex has struck most of the world as a man who is in touch – if perhaps not through his own volition – with contemporary gender recognition. Therefore, it’s not a vast surprise that the latest charity that he and Meghan have chosen to support is one that has planted its flag in these areas, albeit with a twist.

Thursday

Alexander Larman

Crash test: the new era of economic uncertainty

From our UK edition

40 min listen

On the podcast: The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews looks back on a week of economic turbulence and asks whether we should be worried, for her cover piece in the magazine. She is joined by the economist – and former 'Trussketeer' – Julian Jessop, to discuss whether we are entering a new era of economic uncertainty (01:06). Also this week: In the magazine, The Spectator’s deputy features editor Gus Carter says that the culture of toxic masculinity has gone too far, and that young men are being marginalised in schools and online as they are repeatedly told that they are a danger to women. He is joined by the Times columnist Hugo Rifkind, to explore how today's sexual politics is impacting young men (13:21).

Monday

Alexander Larman

The first post-slap Oscars was a bit dull

It was ordained months ago that this year’s Academy Awards were going to be dominated by Everything Everywhere At Once, and so it has proved spectacularly. The film has taken seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. While I was not one of the fans of the duo Daniels’s picture — multiverse spanning fantasy films are not exactly my bag, whether they’re made by Marvel or the hipper-than-hip indie company A24 — it’s still a distinctive and original work of cinema, albeit less likely to be regarded as a future classic than Todd Field’s magnificent Tár, which went home empty-handed. It may well be that Tár’s magnetic star Cate Blanchett lost to EEAO’s Michelle Yeoh for reasons of optics as much as ability.

michelle yeoh oscars

Thursday

Alexander Larman

Harry and Meghan want it both ways with royal titles

From our UK edition

For all of Harry and Meghan’s near-constant talk about needing their privacy, it is an unfortunate running theme that their every single action seems designed to elicit both headline inches and discussion as to what they’re going to do next. It also appears, alas, that their entire family are fair game for this kind of exposure, as can be seen by the news that their younger child, Lilibet Diana, was christened in California on Friday 3 March. Yet the Sussex PR game is not a perfect one.

Wednesday

Alexander Larman

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s leftward turn

In the '80s and early '90s, there was perhaps no greater cinematic hate figure for liberals than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since his first big hit in the politically dubious Conan the Barbarian (Roger Ebert wrote of the film's James Earl Jones-decapitating ending, “I found myself thinking that Leni Riefenstahl could have directed the scene, and that Goebbels might have applauded it”) he became a Reaganite fantasy, disposing of foreign-accented villains who threatened the good ol’ United States of America with little more than automatic weaponry and an Austrian-accented quip. Never mind that his father Gustav was a leading light of the Nazi party.

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

The Christian movie finally finds its niche

When Mel Gibson’s ultra-violent, ultra-religious Passion of the Christ made $612 million worldwide, it was not earning its money from teenagers looking for a night out. Despite its R rating, churchgoers were being bused to theaters by the millions, thanks to the heavy support it received from evangelical Christian groups. Everyone from Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell to Pat Robertson and Chuck Colson came out in support of the film, although the Pope’s supposed endorsement — "it is as it was" — was denied by the Vatican. Yet faith-based films have quietly been big business in Hollywood for decades now.

Monday

Alexander Larman

Harry and Meghan’s coronation guessing game isn’t fair on the King

From our UK edition

Will they or won't they? I'm talking, of course, about whether or not Harry and Meghan will attend the King's coronation in May. A statement from the couple suggests that, despite reports to the contrary, the couple have been invited: 'I can confirm the Duke has recently received email correspondence from His Majesty's office regarding the coronation,' a spokesperson for the couple said. But it seems the Sussexes will be keeping Charles III on tenterhooks for now: 'An immediate decision on whether the Duke and Duchess will attend will not be disclosed by us at this time,' the spokesman added. Britain has not been in such a state of apprehension for some time.

Saturday

Alexander Larman

Prince Harry and Gabor Maté are a match made in heaven

From our UK edition

In the eighteenth century, the well-to-do and prurient enjoyed visiting London’s most notorious hospital, Bedlam, to gaze at its patients. Today, we have replaced this unwholesome activity with a live-streamed therapy session between Prince Harry and the so-called ‘trauma expert’ Gabor Maté, the Canadian author of The Myth of Normal. Maté is both an acknowledged expert in the field of mental health and someone whose personal politics have led to many a raised eyebrow. He has compared Hamas to ‘my heroes, the poorly armed fighters of the Warsaw ghetto’, and praised those well-known lifelong anti-racists Jeremy Corbyn and Roger Waters. Additionally, he’s declared that ‘I am arrogant. I like attention.

Friday

Alexander Larman

Do James Bond’s would-be censors have a point?

James Bond may have battled the nefarious forces of SMERSH, SPECTRE and other international terror organizations, but surely he has never faced quite so implacable a foe as the sensitivity reader. Following in the footsteps of Roald Dahl, the wholesale revision of whose books led to international outrage, Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, which have been re-released to mark the seventieth anniversary of the first publication of Casino Royale, have undergone their own exercise in alteration. But is it an egregious travesty à la Dahl, or — whisper it — might someone have had an idea arising from nobler motives?

bond

Thursday

Alexander Larman

How will Harry and Meghan take their next revenge on the Royal Family?

From our UK edition

When Prince Harry appeared on the Stephen Colbert show earlier this week, he deviated from his usual pained 'my family have wronged me' routine and attempted to strike a lighter note.  He told the no doubt surprised host that his favourite smell was Meghan Markle, expressed a penchant for cheese and ham toasties with Dijon mustard on top, and laddishly suggested that he should dispose of some of his tatty old boxer shorts. When asked to describe how he would wish to live the rest of his life, he suggested five words that sounded almost like a mantra: 'freedom, happiness, clarity, space, love.

Wednesday

Alexander Larman

Could Meghan and Harry’s eviction overshadow the coronation?

From our UK edition

With the coronation a mere two months away, the ‘will they, won’t they’ speculation about the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the ceremony has taken on a new twist. If they come to London, they will not have anywhere to stay: officially, at least. It has been revealed that Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Meghan's wedding gift from the Queen, has been withdrawn from them. In a classic case of adding insult to injury it has been offered to Prince Andrew instead, on the understanding that he will in turn give up his larger residence of Royal Lodge, the 30-room, 98-acre mansion in Windsor Great Park that he has been brooding in for the past few years.

all quiet on the western front
Alexander Larman

German patriotism collides with All Quiet on the Western Front

As the bewilderingly overpraised Everything Everywhere At Once continues its inevitable march to Best Picture at the Oscars, many of the films that were once tipped to defeat it have slipped away. The Banshees of Inisherin, Top Gun: Maverick, Tár — all have settled into their time-honored place of being forever the Academy’s bridesmaid and not the triumphant bride. Yet almost out of nowhere, Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front has emerged as a serious contender. It swept the BAFTA awards in February, and with nine Oscar nominations, including Best Film, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Adapted Screenplay, it looks certain to win at least a couple of them. Not bad for a two-and-half-hour adaptation of a 1929 German novel.