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      ‘This Closeness’ Review: So Near, So Far Away

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      An indie comedy set in an Airbnb leans into the ways we distance ourselves from one another.City living presupposes closeness. Even when you’re alone in your apartment, dozens of people are likely to be sitting, cooking, napping, fighting or having sex within feet of you, separated by walls that are usually way too thin. But to live an urban life without getting overstimulated requires developing an artificial sense of distance, the ability to be alone in public, to ignore others while maintaining a sense of alertness. A pair of noise-canceling headphones. A bit of tunnel vision.“This Closeness,” a microbudget indie directed by Kit Zauhar, wittily examines the ways we create and avoid closeness in modern life, both by choice and, especially when we’re young, necessity. The main couple at its center, Tessa (Zauhar) and Ben (Zane Pais), are New Yorkers who’ve rented a room in an Airbnb in Philadelphia so Ben can attend his five-year high school reunion. It’s the kind of Airbnb you get when you can’t or don’t want to spend much money: They’ll have a bedroom to themselves, but share the bathroom and common spaces with a host, a stranger named Adam (Ian Edlund).Sharing space with a stranger isn’t all that weird when you’re a recent college graduate who probably has lived with at least a few randomly selected roommates in the recent past. But viewed objectively, that’s still weird — proximity without closeness, made weirder to Tessa and Ben because their temporary roommate, Adam, is an awkward guy who claims his roommate Ian actually listed the place, but isn’t there at the moment. (It’s one of the film’s inside jokes that Adam is played by Ian Edlund.)What’s going on? Normal 20-something stuff, really: fights and weirdness, tensions over how to split the refrigerator space and how long people take in the bathroom, moderately cruel jokes heard through too-thin walls. There’s also the kind of thoughtlessness you almost have to develop in order to survive proximity — Ben goes out to dinner with old friends and returns with one of them, Lizzy (Jessie Pinnick), in tow. Having been in shared living situations before, I recoiled reflexively at how much noise they made the instant they came through the door.All of “This Closeness” is set in the apartment, as much a smart budgetary choice as a formal one. The claustrophobic feeling is effective; the characters can escape, but we can’t. But in that small, bare apartment they’re having a rich array of interactions, both with the flesh-and-blood humans occupying the same space — Ben and Adam spar, in faux-politeness, over a malfunctioning air-conditioner in Ben and Tessa’s room — and with those outside its walls.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Most Intriguing Animated Films You’ll Never See

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      A digital book, “Drawing for Nothing,” highlights some of the best art from canceled animation projects like “Me and My Shadow.”Among fans of canceled animated film projects — and yes, there is such a fandom, and it’s enormous — “Me and My Shadow” is perhaps the most popular cartoon feature that never was.Greenlighted in 2010 by DreamWorks Animation, the film boasted a strong voice cast, including Bill Hader, Kate Hudson and Josh Gad, and a team of some of the industry’s top artists and animators. The filmmakers combined computer-generated and hand-drawn animation to create a lead character whose shadow had a mind and physicality all his own, at a time when few studios, including DreamWorks, were doing hand-drawn at all.“For a long time, whenever I had visitors at DreamWorks, I would pull up sequences from ‘Me and My Shadow’ and other things I was working on, like ‘Kung Fu Panda,’” said Rune Brandt Bennicke, a supervising animator on the film. “Without fail, it was the ‘Me and My Shadow’ stuff where they went, ‘Wow, that was amazing.’”Five years later, production was halted. “The reason we were given for canceling it was that the studio felt that its potential for box office was not what they wanted,” said Bennicke.Since then, however, interest in the phantom film has only grown. Would-be fans scour the internet for concept art and clips, post their own fan art and fan-made trailers, and discuss — and grouse about — what might have been. There are numerous YouTube shorts and supercuts about the film; a short collection of unfinished clips and concept art — titled “The CANCELLED DreamWorks Masterpiece …” — has garnered more than 3.5 million views.Shadow Dan, the timid hero’s outgoing alter ego in “Me and My Shadow,” had a mind and physicality all his own. DreamWorks, via Rune Brandt BennickeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Robert Towne, Screenwriter of ‘Chinatown’ and More, Dies at 89

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      Celebrated for his mastery of dialogue, he also contributed (though without credit) to the scripts of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Godfather.”Robert Towne, whose screenplay for Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” won an Oscar, and whose work on that and other important films established him as one of the leading screenwriters of the so-called New Hollywood, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89.His publicist, Carri McClure, confirmed his death on Tuesday. She did not cite a cause.Mr. Towne’s Oscar was part of a phenomenal run. He was nominated for best-screenplay Oscars three years in a row; his “Chinatown” win, in 1974, came between nominations for “The Last Detail” and “Shampoo,” both directed by Hal Ashby. He had also worked as an uncredited script doctor on “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) and “The Godfather” (1972).He was widely regarded as a master at writing dialogue, though he was less gifted at meeting deadlines — he was notorious for delivering long, unshapely scripts way past their due dates. The film historian David Thomson called him “a fascinating contradiction: in many ways idealistic, sentimental and very talented; in others a devout compromiser, a delayer, so insecure that he can sometimes seem devious.”Mr. Towne speaking at the Writers Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2016.Phillip Faraone/Getty Images North AmericaMr. Towne later directed a few movies, and occasionally appeared onscreen, but he left his most lasting mark as a writer. And although he remained active into the 21st century, his reputation is based largely on the work he did in the 1970s.Beginning in the late 1960s with cutting-edge movies like “Midnight Cowboy” and “Easy Rider” and running through “Raging Bull” in 1980, the New Hollywood was a pinnacle for American directors, who followed the French auteur model of making idiosyncratic, personal movies, and also for talented screenwriters like Mr. Towne and a small army of gifted actors, like Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman, who did not fit the old Hollywood mold.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ Review: It’s Busted

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      Eddie Murphy struggles to revive the moribund action-comedy franchise.In “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” the Detroit detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is no longer the fast, young cop we last saw 30 years ago. The beleaguered Captain Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) thinks the older and slower Axel should reconnect with his estranged daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), who works as a defense attorney in Los Angeles. She is representing someone accused of killing a possible dirty cop. When masked men dangle Jane’s car with her inside from a roof, Axel, at the request of his longtime pal Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), comes to Los Angeles to find the culprits.Murphy returns with the same Detroit Lions jacket, his familiar chuckle and his movie star grin. But there’s little to smile about in this painfully lackluster retread desperately trying to justify its own existence.In his feature directing debut, Mark Molloy — who plied his trade making commercials — tries to imagine a world where Axel is no longer a beloved wisecracker. Jane hates Axel for abandoning her as a child. Her former flame, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who later teams up with Axel, also thinks Axel’s penchant for public destruction is outdated. Axel’s ruminations on parenting and policing are short-lived in the face of the flashy Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), who seems to be actively impeding Axel’s investigation as a bemused Chief John Taggart (John Ashton) looks on.Molloy’s film (streaming on Netflix) is a slog: The dirty cop mystery is half-baked; the visual effects are half-rendered; the action lacks any sense of physical space. In the opening scene, Axel’s attempt to stop a robbery in the Red Wings’ locker room becomes a shaky street chase with Axel in a snowplow and the robbers on bikes. Rather than film the scene as a cohesive shot, Molloy filmed the bikers and Murphy separately. The result is a scattered set piece without any visual cohesion.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Andrew Scott’s Best Roles and Moments

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      The star of “Ripley” and “All of Us Strangers” has become one of our most reliably excellent actors.There are some actors who always, no matter the size of their role or the context of their performance, draw the eye. Andrew Scott, who has most recently appeared as the slippery, scheming protagonist in the Netflix series “Ripley,” is one of them. He is enthralling to watch, his emotional notes meticulously constructed, with playful touches of chaos that always leave space for moments of discovery and surprise. Here are a few of Scott’s favorite modes of performance, and how his popular roles reflect an actor excelling at his craft.The MadmanBBC/Hartswood Films for MasterpieceIn Scott’s breakout role, in “Sherlock,” he plays Moriarty, the criminal mastermind opposite Benedict Cumberbatch’s contemporary Sherlock Holmes. From Scott’s first appearance, in the Season 1 finale, he electrifies an already energetic show. Cumberbatch set the tone for “Sherlock” with his brutal, fast-paced wit; deductions tumble out of his mouth with strict precision, and in an impersonal monotone. Scott’s arrival, and his erratic singsong speaking, break this rhythm. There’s a menacing playfulness to not only his rhetorical delivery but also to his facial expressions. It adds a new dimension to the show.In their initial confrontation scene, Sherlock aims a gun at Moriarty, asking, “What if I was to shoot you now?” Moriarty responds with a cartoonish look of shock that starts at the top of his head and ripples down: his eyebrows popping up, his eyes widening, jaw dropping and neck drawing back. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      At 94, June Squibb Is Scaling the Box Office in ‘Thelma’ and ‘Inside Out 2’

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      Still ambitious, she’s also starring in Scarlett Johansson’s directing debut. “I have always had this sense that I am going to get what I wanted.”At 94, June Squibb became an unlikely box office champ last month. She had roles in two of the country’s Top 10 movies: “Thelma,” the charming action comedy in which she plays the lead, and the No. 1 blockbuster “Inside Out 2.”Her career has spanned seven decades, Broadway, TV and an Oscar nomination, in 2014, for Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska.” But it’s “Thelma” that has ignited audiences: In it, Squibb is a live-wire nonagenarian grandmother who sets out to retrieve her money after being scammed. “We thought ‘Nebraska’ was hot,” she said during a recent video interview. “This is hotter.”“Thelma” is based on (and named for) the writer-director Josh Margolin’s real-life grandmother, who will turn 104 in July. Though the offscreen Thelma did not engage in a stunt-filled chase or even fall for the con, she and her alter ego share a sense of tenacity and a joie de vivre, if not a daredevil style on a mobility scooter.Squibb’s co-star is Richard Roundtree, the original “Shaft.” It was his final feature role before his death last year, at 81, from pancreatic cancer. He got to see the movie about a week before he died, Squibb said, explaining, “We had no idea that he was ill. It was a joy of my life to have had that time with him.”In “Inside Out 2,” Squibb plays Nostalgia, depicted as a bespectacled granny. “The rose-colored glasses got me right away,” she said, laughing. “I thought that was so funny.”She tap-danced her way though childhood in a small town in Illinois, and said she always wanted to be an actress. “It never occurred to me when I was growing up that I was anything else — that was it,” said Squibb, who is also the lead in Scarlett Johansson’s forthcoming directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great.” She is not considering retirement; she still thinks of herself as ambitious.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Streaming in July

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      “Sausage Party: Foodtopia,” “Lady in the Lake,” “Love Lies Bleeding” and “Those About to Die” arrive, and “Snowpiercer” returns.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of July’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)New to Amazon Prime Video‘Sausage Party: Foodtopia’ Season 1Starts streaming: July 11This sequel series to the raunchy 2016 animated comedy “Sausage Party” begins in the aftermath of that movie’s climactic battle between sentient supermarket foods and the humans who consume them. Seth Rogen (who also cocreated the franchise) returns as the voice of Frank, a hot dog who alongside his girlfriend/bun Brenda (Kristen Wiig) has to figure out how to build and lead a new society, for the benefit of all foodstuffs. The original film’s sex-obsessed Pixar parody gives way here to more of a political satire, as the well-meaning sausages try to prevent their friends from succumbing to anarchy or authoritarianism.‘Betty la Fea, The Story Continues’Starts streaming: July 19One of the most popular TV series ever produced, the Colombian telenovela “Yo soy Betty, la fea” has been adapted dozens of times, all over the world — including in the United States as “Ugly Betty.” Now much of the original’s cast members and characters return for a sequel, set over 20 years after their story began. In “The Story Continues,” Betty (Ana María Orozco) comes home to the fashion house where she started her rags-to-riches rise and met her now-estranged husband, Armando (Jorge Enrique Abello). While dealing with bittersweet memories and some familiar old rivalries, Betty once again has to fight to be respected for her sharp mind and kind heart, in an industry that tends to value superficiality and swagger.Also arriving:July 4“Space Cadet”July 9“Sam Morril: You’ve Changed”July 11“Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black”July 18“My Spy: The Eternal City”“Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis”July 25“Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net”“Troppo” Season 2Daveed Diggs in Season 4 of “Snowpiercer” on AMC+.AMC+New to AMC+‘Snowpiercer’ Season 4Starts streaming: July 21After three seasons on TNT, the fourth and final season of this postapocalyptic thriller moves to AMC, completing the saga of a heavily stratified society ripe for a revolution. Adapted from Bong Joon Ho’s 2013 film (itself adapted from a comic book series originated in 1982 by the writer Jacques Lob and the illustrator Jean-Marc Rochette), “Snowpiercer” stars Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton, one of the masses of underclass citizens who once were living in squalor on a massive passenger train, speeding across a ruined, ice-covered Earth. At the end of Season 3, Layton’s band of rebels went literally off the rails to found a new democratic community; but as the new season begins, they realize that their old nemeses from the train aren’t going to leave them alone.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      5 Places to Visit in Baltimore, Maryland, With John Waters

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      The writer and director, famous for making theatergoers squirm in their seats, says he feels most at home wherever the outsiders gather in his native city.The 1998 John Waters film “Pecker” ends with an unlikely crowd carousing in a seedy basement bar/impromptu photo gallery in Baltimore. Strippers and one busty, enthusiastic art collector dance on tables as a talking Virgin Mary icon watches. It’s a jubilant, chaotic and naughty party open to anyone with a sense of humor, just the way the director likes it.Mr. Waters, 78, gained a cult following in the 1970s with delightfully shocking films like “Multiple Maniacs,” “Female Trouble” and, of course, the raunchy “Pink Flamingos” before breaking big with “Hairspray,” in 1988.Since then, Mr. Waters has built an empire of camp, now comprising more than a dozen films, spoken-word shows and numerous books, including his 2022 debut novel, “Liarmouth,” which has been optioned for a movie that Mr. Waters hopes will star Aubrey Plaza.Mr. Waters, a Baltimore native, grew up in Lutherville, Md., a suburb he described in a recent phone interview as “upper-middle-class everything.” Yearning for escape, he had his mom drop him off at a Baltimore beatnik hangout called Martick’s, even though he was underage. “She said, ‘Maybe you’ll meet your people here,’” he recalled.“I did find my people — bohemia!” he said.Since those days, Mr. Waters has become an unofficial spokesman for all things Baltimore, which was one of The New York Times’s 52 Places to Go in 2024. The city has embraced him, too. It honored him with an official day, Feb. 7, 1985 (it was a one-off), and the all-gender restrooms at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the institution to which he has bequeathed his sizable art collection, are named for him.Though Mr. Waters has apartments in San Francisco and New York and spends summers in Provincetown, Mass., he lives primarily in North Baltimore and has no plans to change that. “If I had to give up everywhere,” Mr. Waters said, “this is where I’d live.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More