The Beast from the East might be blowing in some chilly winds, but we've got all the best things to keep you tucked up and entertained (or at least wrapped up in a gallery)...
1. Don’t miss Selma
No stodgy biopic, Selma skilfully illuminates a single episode in the long march to black American civil rights. A commanding David Oyelowo rivets as Martin Luther King, negotiating with President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), and outwitting Alabama’s racist Governor (Tim Roth). In cinemas from Friday. HHHH
2. Read Andrew O’Hagan The Illuminations
Grandmother (undiscovered documentary photographer) and grandson (Afghanistan vet) lay out their secret and shared histories in a Blackpool guest house in this monumental fete of storytelling and characterisation. O’Hagan’s twice been Man Booker nominated. This sings like a third to us. Out Thursday 5th February, published by Faber, £17.99.
3. Watch The BAFTAS
Newlywed Stephen Fry takes to the stage in the most illustrious night on the British film calendar. Hollywood flies in, to honour the global gravitas of the occasion. Hopes are high for local talent Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, with a particularly strong EE Rising Star category this year. Sunday, beamed live into the home via the BBC.
4. Discover Marlene Dumas’ The Image as Burden
Intense and intensely gifted Amsterdam-based, South African-born artist gets her first major props from a British art institution. Using the surface as a guide to the soul, her portraiture can be hard but moves in a psychologically profound manner. At The Tate Modern, London, from Thursday 5th February until 10th May.
5. Check out Jupiter Ascending
Its release delayed from last summer, the new bonkers-looking sci-fi from the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix trilogy) is burdened by sceptical buzz and a trailer that suggests a camp folly of failed sincerity. On the plus side: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Gugu Mbatha-Raw. In cinemas from Friday
6. Rediscover Sarah Kane
She was the most promising, uncompromising and defiantly bleak British playwright of her generation, until she took her own life at 28 in 1999. Her major works, beginning with Blasted, the tale of a cruel seduction, begin tomorrow 4th February at The Sheffield Crucible. Season runs until
7. Try The Interview
Word from the US is that the adolescent humour soon wears out its welcome. But curiosity factor will be sky high for the provocative comedy (tabloid TV duo Seth Rogen and James Franco are tasked with assassinating Kim Jong-un) that provoked North Korea’s assault on Sony. In cinemas from Friday
8. See Thea Porter 70s Bohemian Chic
Ms Porter was as much an aesthetic key to unlocking the swinging 60s and louche 70s as Barbara Hulanicki, Vidal Sassoon and Mary Quant, though considerably less well-known. Her interiors shop opened in 1966 and was patronised by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Babs Streisand. She gets the hot retrospective treatment at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, London, from Friday 6th February – 3rd May.
9. Catch How to Hold Your Breath
After a scorching run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange as Hamlet, the brilliant Maxine Peake returns to another Royal stage in a play looking at recent European history through a skewed lens. Topical. At The Royal Court from tomorrow 5th February.
10. Hear Peace Happy People
Young rock troubadours with a devoted young following and ear for a strong chorus. Indebted to yesterday’s Madchester sound and very early Blur, they bring a touch of unruly, decadent sex appeal to the British rock contingent. Album out Monday on Sony.