'Suite Life of Zack & Cody' Star Reveals Line Dylan Sprouse Refused to Say, Talks Being 'Defended' By Twin Stars

For many, Christmas is a time to spend with friends and family. Whether that’s in the form of extravagant parties or cosier nights in, ‘tis the season to make precious memories with some of the people we love the most - preferably while tucking into some delicious food. With that in mind, if you’re hosting this season or are simply in need of some canapé inspiration, look no further.

When Christmas comes around we're often left scratching our heads wondering what to serve at the festive feast that's a bit different from previous years. Puddings, mince pies to yule logs and roulades come as standard but there's so much more out there and if you're a real foodie you may be getting fed up with the familiarity of it all. Besides, the festive season isn't just one day so you'll want a variety of treats to eat and serve at get-togethers while you relax with your closest friends and family.

The lead up to Christmas means two things: drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate covered in marshmallows while snuggled up on the sofa watching a marathon of all our favourite festive films. For many of us, we've been watching the same classic ones on repeat for as long as we can remember, from the Home Alone franchise to Love Actually to The Grinch. Which means these films hold a special place in our hearts, simply because we grew up with them.

Nick Cave has written a new obituary for the late Pogues frontman, Shane MacGowan. As a contribution to The Observer’s Obituaries of 2023 series, Cave wrote a new tribute to his late friend, marking the second time the post-punk musician has written about MacGowan following his passing.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) has announced the nominees for the 2024 SCL Awards, including songwriters Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, and Jon Batiste, all who earned spots on the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Original Song.

Ricky Gervais has a message for those who don’t get his humor. The comedian has finally addressed a petition that was launched to remove a controversial joke from his upcoming Netflix comedy special, Armageddon, airing on Christmas Day.

Hayley Erbert is out of cranioplasty surgery and the operation has been “successfully completed as planned,” according to an Instagram post from husband Derek Hough.

Similar to how Daniel Craig was vocal on his press tours for recent 007 films that No Time to Die was his swan song as James Bond, Jason Momoa has been casting great doubt that he’s coming back as the fishy superhero, Aquaman.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details on who won the competition.

Married At First Sight star Mel Schilling has shared an update with fans after announcing she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. The Australian relationship expert was all smiles as she posted a selfie from her hospital bed after having her tumour removed, and was thrilled to announce that the cancer thankfully hadn't spread.

John Stamos is feeling nostalgic about his Full House family.

Allison Kuch and NFL star Isaac Rochell are parents!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for theatrical release movies has hired veteran media executive Peter Gaida as its chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of a wider expansion into Asia by the AR company. Founded by media entrepreneur James Andrew Felts in 2017, Really creates “highly functional, large-scale AR content” that it delivers weekly.

Spy x Family arrives in cinemas in Japan this year.Based on the manga by Tatsuya Endo, the anime action-comedy series follows master spy Twilight, who has to disguise himself and build a mock family in order to investigate political leader Donovan Desmond.The show’s first season debuted in April 2022, with the second season set to conclude on December 23, 2023.At the time of season two’s announcement in December 2022, a feature film titled Spy x Family Code: White was also revealed. The film arrived in cinemas in Japan on December 22, 2023, with an international release set for 2024.It is unclear whether Spy x Family Code: White is part of the franchise’s canon.

Star Wars and the works of Akira Kurosawa, Rebel Moon has ambitions to become the next big sci-fi blockbuster.Directed by Zack Snyder, the space epic follows Kora (Sofia Boutella) who battles to defend her village against the tyrannical Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee) and his emissary, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein).Other cast members include Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman and Jena Malone.The film is split into two parts, with the second titled Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver scheduled to arrive in April 2024.Jimmy is voiced by Anthony Hopkins and performed by Dustin Ceithamer in the film. The robot, who is recruited by Kora, is the last member of a race of mechanical knights that served under the fallen king.Speaking to NME about casting Hopkins, Snyder said: “I mean, I was like, ‘Who can I get to be Jimmy? Patrick Stewart? Gabriel Byrne? Something like that?’ And then they were like, ‘What about Hopkins?’ I was like, ‘What about him?’ Like, that’s not a cool thing to say: What about Hopkins? Yes, of course Hopkins! And so we went and asked him and he was like, ‘Sure.

Spy x Family arrives in cinemas in Japan this year.Based on the manga by Tatsuya Endo, Spy x Family is an anime action-comedy series which follows master spy Twilight, who has to disguise himself and build a mock family in order to investigate political leader Donovan Desmond.The show’s first season debuted in April 2022, with the second season set to conclude on December 23, 2023.At the time of season two’s announcement in December 2022, a feature film titled Spy x Family Code: White was also revealed.At the time of writing (December 19), there is no announced UK release date for Spy x Family Code: White.The film hits cinemas in Japan on December 22, 2023. As announced in November, Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment is set to bring Spy x Family Code: White to theatres worldwide at some point in 2024, with confirmed territories being North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is set to wrap up Sony’s acclaimed Spider-Verse trilogy.The upcoming third entry is touted as the concluding chapter following Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.Shameik Moore leads the film’s voice cast as Miles Morales, alongside Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Velez, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya and Oscar Isaac.At the time of writing (December 18), the highly-anticipated sequel is undated. The film was originally scheduled for March 29, 2024, but it was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, as the voice cast were unable to complete dialogue recording in time.Following the strike’s conclusion in November, Christopher Miller confirmed production on Beyond The Spider-Verse is underway during a post-screening Q&A in December.“We’re in production,” Miller said.

Star Wars and the works of Akira Kurosawa, Rebel Moon has ambitions to become the next big sci-fi blockbuster.Directed by Zack Snyder, the space epic follows Kora (Sofia Boutella) who battles to defend her village against the tyrannical Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee) and his emissary, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein).Other cast members include Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman and Jena Malone.The film is split into two parts. The first, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child Of Fire, was released on December 22, 2023 on Netflix.The second film, titled Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, is scheduled to be released on April 19, 2024.Extended versions for both parts are also set to be released in 2024.

Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and more have received mentions on the shortlist for the 2024 Academy Awards. Yesterday (December 21), the Academy announced its shortlists in 10 categories, including Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

—Y2K and —seemed to be at odds with each other. The latter championed simplicity over sparkle, and investment pieces over one-season wonders. The other was pure fun and nostalgia.

Olivia Wilde is spending some time with longtime collaborator Bryn Mooser.