The Matrix’s real-world legacy – from red pill incels to conspiracies and deepfakes

“The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the matrix that the matrix would have been able to produce,” he said. The tweet represented a complete reversal of Morpheus’s red pill reality, says author James Ball. Actor Hugo Weaving, who played Agent Smith in the original Matrix trilogy, has also said he is “befuddled” […]

Bruce Springsteen sells his entire music catalogue for $500m

At an investor relations meeting in May, Sony Music’s chief executive, Rob Stringer, said the company had spent $1.4bn in acquisitions over the previous six months. That included a multi-million dollar deal to obtain the rights to Paul Simon’s back catalogue. “Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theatre, I saw rock’n’roll past flash before my […]

Cabaret: Critics make song and dance over Eddie Redmayne musical

The show centres around American writer Clifford Bradshaw and his relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles, played by Buckley. “Buckley nails the nuances and jarring contradictions of Sally, who wears so many impenetrable layers of bluster and bravado that in lesser hands she could be hard to get a handle on,” she wrote. “Surely […]