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    'Framing Britney Spears' Filmmakers Talk About Their Process

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Britney Spears’s Legal BattleControl of Spears’s EstateThe ‘Free Britney’ MovementWatch ‘Framing Britney Spears’ in the U.S.Making the DocumentaryAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTimes InsiderBehind the Making of ‘Framing Britney Spears’The director and a senior editor of the Times documentary answered viewer questions about the media response, the star’s mother and searching for clues on Instagram.A new documentary from The New York Times examines the so-called Free Britney movement made up of fans of the pop star Britney Spears.CreditCredit…G. Paul Burnett/The New York TimesFeb. 11, 2021Updated 2:22 p.m. ETTimes Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.The premiere last week of the film “Framing Britney Spears,” part of the TV documentary series “The New York Times Presents,” looked closely at Ms. Spears’s legal battle with her father, Jamie Spears, over control of her finances. For more than a decade, that control has been held largely by Mr. Spears in a conservatorship, a complex legal arrangement typically used for the sick or elderly.Since the film’s release on FX and Hulu, celebrities and fans have expressed their support for Ms. Spears on social media. The latest court hearing in the fight was scheduled for Thursday in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Samantha Stark, the director, and Liz Day, a senior editor on the film, answered questions from readers in an “Ask Me Anything” session on the website Reddit. The following are edited excerpts.Were there any legal hurdles you faced in making the film?LIZ DAY We did not receive any direct legal threats while making the documentary. Reporting any investigative story requires extreme attention to factual accuracy and fairness, and this project was no different, though it was made even more difficult by an ongoing court case, attorney-client privilege, medical privacy, celebrity nondisclosure agreements, distrust of the press and other factors.What is the involvement of Lynne Spears, Britney’s mother, in all of this?SAMANTHA STARK So what we know about Lynne Spears is that she is not legally a part of Britney’s conservatorship team. We know she recently petitioned to be included to have access to more information and to be able to have her lawyer speak during the hearings, and that she filed as an “interested party” to do that.It’s unclear what involvement Lynne had related to the conservatorship up until recently. In a Nov. 10 hearing, Lynne said, through her lawyer (and I’m paraphrasing) that she thanked Jamie for the work he had been doing but that she wanted Britney to wake up to see brighter days. It’s very hard to understand what role Jamie, Lynne or a number of other people have played throughout the conservatorship because so many of the court records are sealed.What’s your view on the media response to the documentary? It feels as if many of the outlets that disparaged Britney years ago are now doing thinkpieces about how the media destroyed her.STARK There’s one thing I noticed in the past week doing interviews with media outlets that I never even thought of before the film came out. When Britney was being shamed for her sexuality as a teenager and stalked as a young adult, the gatekeepers to all these media outlets — the ones doing the shaming — were in their 30s, 40s, 50s. We as teenagers watched that happen. Now that my/our generation are a lot of the gatekeepers, we’re saying “no more.”How should those media outlets respond after playing a part in all the derision that Britney endured?STARK I think they should respond by not ever doing anything like it ever again. I think they should take a note from Britney’s book and be kindhearted, open and nonjudgmental.Did you contact any of Britney’s ex-husbands or boyfriends, like Jason Alexander, Kevin Federline, Jason Trawick or Charlie Ebersol, or some of her photographers/videographers, like David LaChappelle and Nigel Dick?DAY Yes, at the end of the doc we listed the members of Ms. Spears’s family who we requested on-camera interviews with but who did not respond or declined. But we reached out to a lot more people than just that list, including the ex-husbands/boyfriends mentioned. We spoke with Nigel Dick and reached out to David LaChappelle too. There were many people we spoke with on background who did not appear on camera. There were also a few people whose on-camera interviews we did not include because of time.Britney Spears hasn’t been able to fully control her career for 13 years under a court-sanctioned conservatorship. A New York Times documentary, now streaming on FX and Hulu, examines the pop star’s court battle with her father for control of her estate.CreditCredit…Ting-Li Wang/The New York TimesWhat are your thoughts on the obsessive Britney fans who question and dissect her social media posts?STARK There’s such a tight circle around Ms. Spears, seemingly enabled by the conservatorship, that it’s really hard to ask her how she is or what she thinks. We know that she hasn’t done interviews in a long time and that when she did for many years she was likely under very careful watch. So I honestly think it makes sense for people to look to her Instagram to try and parse how she might be doing. It’s the only place we’ve been able to see or hear from her for quite some time.Did you look at the financial records? Forbes has estimated her wealth at $60 million. Shouldn’t it be higher?DAY Excellent question. Britney’s true net worth is a mystery, and there’s speculation that there may be a lot more money beyond $60 million outside of her estate, in trusts or elsewhere as royalties, intellectual property and more. There are lots of companies set up as private LLCs, of which records are scant. One thing I would add is that often when you hear big Hollywood paychecks, you have to consider everyone who is taking a cut — managers, lawyers and government taxes, for example.Did you expect this film would result in a big resurgence of the #FreeBritney movement?STARK When making a film, I never know what parts of the piece will hit people in the emotional gut. I really had no idea this would happen.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Tom Holland Refuses to Hide 'Much Cooler' Haircut Under Wig for 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Sequel

    WENN

    The Peter Parker depicter insists on keeping his new haircut from upcoming video game adaptation ‘Uncharted’ as the actor begins to film the upcoming third Spidey film.

    Feb 12, 2021
    AceShowbiz – Actor Tom Holland left Marvel bosses with little choice but to accept his change of hairstyle for the next Spider-Man movie after refusing to wear a wig.
    The Brit had to start work on the follow-up to 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in October (20), just days after completing another action blockbuster, “Uncharted”, for which he adopted a “much cooler” haircut, with shaved sides, to play adventure-seeking protagonist Nathan Drake.
    However, when he arrived on the superhero set in Atlanta, Georgia, hair and wardrobe officials tried to convince him he really should don a hairpiece to resemble the nerdy Peter Parker/Spider-Man character fans had come to love him for.
    “I have cool shaved sides and it’s slick at the back, and that’s not very Peter Parker,” Holland told Esquire of his “Uncharted” look.

      See also…

    “He (Parker)’s a bit of a loser. So they put this wig on me that was just around the sides.”
    But Holland was not impressed and fought against the suggestion – and won. “For the first time in my life, I put my foot down as the leading actor and was like, ‘I’m not f**king wearing that wig,'” he shared.
    “‘I’m going to have shorter hair and you’re going to have to deal with it!'”
    The as-yet-untitled sequel, part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is expected to be released in December (21).
    Tom Holland’s other new movies include hard-hitting crime drama “Cherry”, where he plays a struggling drug addict, and Doug Liman’s sci-fi action adventure “Chaos Walking”, where he shares screen with Daisy Ridley.

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    ‘French Exit’ Review: A Not-So-Merry Widow

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘French Exit’ Review: A Not-So-Merry WidowMichelle Pfeiffer is sensational as a newly insolvent socialite in this strange, sad comedy.Michelle Pfeiffer in “French Exit.”Credit…Lou Scamble/Sony Pictures ClassicsFeb. 11, 2021, 1:24 p.m. ETFrench ExitDirected by Azazel JacobsComedy, DramaR1h 50mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.As if rebounding as far as possible from her hard-luck character in the 2018 drama “Where Is Kyra?,” Michelle Pfeiffer glams it up as an imperious New York dowager in “French Exit.” Floating through scenes in fur-trimmed coats and slinky peignoirs, nose in the air and martini glass in a death grip, Pfeiffer is Frances Price, a diva of disdain.The role is far juicier than the movie around it, a melancholy farce of disappearing privilege and insouciant parenting.“It’s all gone,” Frances’s accountant says, referring to her money. Yet the line encapsulates the essence of a movie that trembles with loss: Looks, home, love and life itself are on the fade. After years of ignoring her dwindling fortune, Frances, along with her depressive adult son, Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), must sell up and accept the loan of a friend’s vacation apartment in Paris. The length of stay is undefined, but, this time, Francis doesn’t intend to outlast the dribble of cash that remains.Too listless to fizz and too peculiar to win us over, “French Exit,” directed by Azazel Jacobs, is hampered by clockwork quirkiness and disaffected dialogue. What little there is of a plot — which includes multiple séances and a talking cat — doesn’t so much progress as coagulate around a coterie of eccentrics: A pathetically lonely expat (Valerie Mahaffey), a mirthless fortuneteller (Danielle Macdonald) and a smooth private investigator (Isaach De Bankolé), all of whom will eventually congregate in the Paris apartment. Not-so-high jinks ensue.Adapting his 2018 novel of the same name, Patrick DeWitt holds fast to his amoral heroine, a woman whose sometimes appalling behavior is neither apologized for nor regretted. Its reverberations, though, have shaped Malcolm into a passive companion, so devoted he’s willing to dump his fiancée (Imogen Poots) to accompany his mother to Paris. The character is a drip, and Hedges, despite a commendable refusal to steer into the skid for comic gain, never makes him remotely interesting.Pfeiffer is flat-out fabulous here, at once chilly and poignant. As Frances dispenses the last of her money to homeless men in the park, her largess seems more to do with weariness than compassion, her beneficiaries simply useful receptacles for something she no longer needs. A strange mixture of highbrow looniness and quiet rue, “French Exit” is finally less about one woman’s desire to die than about her inability to summon the energy to live.French ExitRated R for a disgusting death and a great deal of drinking. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In select theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Dead Pigs’ Review: Tales of Class and Corruption

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Dead Pigs’ Review: Tales of Class and CorruptionCathy Yan’s film weaves together a colorful confection of stories set amid the corruption and class inequities of modern-day China.Mason Lee and Haoyu Yang in “Dead Pigs,” directed by Cathy Yan.Credit…Federico Cesca/MubiFeb. 11, 2021, 10:38 a.m. ETDead PigsDirected by Cathy YanComedy, Drama, FamilyNot Rated2h 10mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.A couple of years before directing “Birds of Prey,” Cathy Yan made “Dead Pigs,” a movie that suggests that her penchant for indulgent stylization predates a studio budget. Inspired by several true stories — including a 2013 incident in which thousands of pig carcasses were found in the Huangpu River — the film weaves together a colorful confection of tales about corruption and class inequities in modern-day China.It’s a tonal wild ride with eccentric characters, neon-lit settings and elaborately absurd detours. Unfortunately, the ripped-from-the-headlines meat of “Dead Pigs” gets lost in these affectations.[embedded content]The film’s interconnected plots riff on a number of familiar oppositions: rural/urban, rich/poor, East/West. The pig farmer Old Wang (Haoyu Yang) is chased by loan sharks after his stock dies mysteriously and he loses his savings in an investment fraud. The bird-loving beautician Candy (Vivian Wu) wages a solitary battle against developers eager to tear down her ancestral home and build a swanky new apartment complex. There’s also a young busboy (Mason Lee) who begins an unlikely relationship with a wealthy heiress (Meng Li), and an American expat (David Rysdahl) who becomes embroiled in scams that milk his “exotic” whiteness.But as Yan stuffs set piece after set piece into these arcs — including an impromptu karaoke performance and some shenanigans involving a V.R. headset — they start to feel like collections of quirks rather than stories of real people. The filmmaker Jia Zhangke, who served as an executive producer, is a clear influence here, but unlike his keenly observed portraits of a fast-globalizing China, “Dead Pigs” lacks the heft of human detail, its ironies fizzling out in a hasty happy ending.Dead PigsNot rated. In Mandarin and English, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes. Watch on Mubi.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Jean-Claude Carrière, 89, Dies; Prolific Writer of Screenplays and More

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJean-Claude Carrière, 89, Dies; Prolific Writer of Screenplays and MoreHe was a favorite of Luis Buñuel and other top filmmakers. He also had a fruitful collaboration with the stage director Peter Brook.Jean-Claude Carrière in 1999. He had more than 150 film and television writing credits and also wrote books and plays.Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesFeb. 11, 2021Jean-Claude Carrière, an author, playwright and screenwriter who collaborated with the director Luis Buñuel on a string of important films and went on to work on scores of other movies, among them Philip Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (1988), died on Monday at his home in Paris. He was 89.The death was confirmed by his daughter Kiara Carrière. No cause was given.Mr. Carrière had barely started in the movie business when he met Buñuel, the Spanish-born director, in 1963 (although he had already won a short-subject Oscar for a 1962 comedy he made with Pierre Étaix, “Happy Anniversary”).“At the time, he was looking for a young French screenwriter who knew the French countryside well,” Mr. Carrière recalled in a 1983 interview with the writer Jason Weiss.“I was a beginner,” he said. “I had gone to Cannes, and he was seeing various screenwriters there. I had lunch with him, we got along well, and three weeks later he chose me and I left for Madrid. Since then I haven’t stopped.”His first project with Buñuel was “Diary of a Chambermaid” (1964), for which the two adapted the Octave Mirbeau novel of the same name. Mr. Carrière continued to work with Buñuel for the rest of the director’s career, including on his last feature, “That Obscure Object of Desire,” in 1977. (Buñuel died in 1983.)Fernando Rey and Carole Bouquet in a scene from the 1977 film “That Obscure Object of Desire,” the last of Mr. Carrière’s many collaborations with Luis Buñuel.“Quite often the screenwriter has to guess what exactly the film is that the director wants to make,” Mr. Carrière told Interview magazine in 2015. “Sometimes the director doesn’t even know himself. You have to help him find the right thing. That was the case with Buñuel. At the beginning, he was looking around in many different directions, and finally when we went the right way, we felt it.”Mr. Carrière also collaborated with other top filmmakers, including Jacques Deray (on the 1969 movie “The Swimming Pool” and more) and Louis Malle (on the 1967 film “The Thief of Paris” and others). In the 1970s one of his greatest successes was as a writer of Volker Schlondorff’s “The Tin Drum” (1979), which was adapted from the Günter Grass novel about a boy who, in the midst of the gathering chaos that led to World War II, decides not to grow up; it won the Oscar for best foreign-language film.In the 1980s he wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Daniel Vigne’s “The Return of Martin Guerre” (1982), Andrzej Wajda’s “Danton” (1983), Milos Forman’s “Valmont” (1989) and numerous other movies. Among the most recent of his more than 150 film and television credits were “The Artist and the Model,” a 2012 drama directed by Fernando Trueba, and “At Eternity’s Gate,” a 2018 film about Vincent van Gogh directed by Julian Schnabel.In 2014 Mr. Carrière received an honorary Oscar for his body of work. The citation said that his “elegantly crafted screenplays elevate the art of screenwriting to the level of literature.”The prolific Mr. Carrière also wrote books and plays, often collaborating with the stage director Peter Brook. His interests knew no bounds.With Mr. Brook he created “The Mahabharata,” a nine-hour stage version of the Sanskrit epic, which was staged at the Avignon Theater Festival in France in 1985 and then made into a film. He once wrote a book with the Dalai Lama (“The Power of Buddhism,” 1996). He wrote a novel called “Please, Mr. Einstein” that, as Dennis Overbye wrote in a 2006 review in The New York Times, “touches down lightly and charmingly on some of the thorniest philosophical consequences of Einstein’s genius and, by extension, the scientific preoccupations of the 20th century — the nature of reality, the fate of causality, the comprehensibility of nature, the limits of the mind.”His was deliberately ever curious.“People say I am very dispersed,” he told The Guardian in 1994. “But I say that to pass from one subject to another, from one country to another, is what keeps me alive, keeps me alert.”A scene from Buñuel’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972), one of three films for which Mr. Carrière was nominated for a writing Oscar.Credit…Rialto Pictures/StudiocanalJean-Claude Carrière was born on Sept. 17, 1931, in Colombières-sur-Orb in southern France, into a family of vintners. As World War II was ending in 1945, his father, who had a heart condition that was making it difficult for him to work the land, took a job at a cousin’s cafe near Paris. There Jean-Claude had access to better schools and could indulge more fully in the passion for writing that had, as he put it, “imposed itself on me” since he was a young boy.In his mid-20s he published a novel, “Le Lézard.” It caught the attention of the comic actor and director Jacques Tati, who provided Mr. Carrière with a sort of backward entry into his career: Mr. Tati hired him to write novels based on some of his movies. He also introduced him to the process of making and editing a film.He and Mr. Étaix jointly wrote and directed “Happy Anniversary,” a comic short about a couple trying to celebrate their anniversary. Mr. Carrière was surprised by the Oscar.“I came to the office and the producer was jumping out of joy: ‘We have the Oscar! We have the Oscar!,’” he told Interview. “I asked, ‘But what is the Oscar?’ I didn’t know.”His family background benefited him in his fateful meeting with Buñuel the next year.“The first question he asked me when we sat down together at the table — and it’s not a light or frivolous question; the way he looked at me I sensed that it was a deep and important question — was, ‘Do you drink wine?’” he told Mr. Weiss.“A negative response would have definitely disqualified me,” he continued. “So I said, ‘Not only do I drink wine, but I produce it. I’m from a family of vintners.’”Their bond thus sealed, Buñuel and Mr. Carrière went on to collaborate not only on “Diary of a Chambermaid” but also on “Belle de Jour” (1967), “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) and other films.In 1971 Mr. Carrière was among the writers on Mr. Forman’s “Taking Off,” a comedy about parents searching for a runaway daughter that received good notices. The same was not true of the next Carrière-Forman partnership, a Broadway production of Mr. Carrière’s two-character play “The Little Black Book,” with Mr. Forman directing. When it opened in April 1972, Clive Barnes, reviewing in The Times, called it “a foolish little play without either wit or humanity.” It closed after seven performances.Mr. Carrière in 2001. He received an honorary Oscar in 2014 for his “elegantly crafted screenplays,” which the citation said “elevate the art of screenwriting to the level of literature.”Credit…Jean-Pierre Muller/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesHis only other Broadway effort was better received. It was “La Tragedie de Carmen,” which he, Marius Constant and Mr. Brook adapted from the Bizet opera, with Mr. Brook directing. It opened in November 1983 and ran for 187 performances.Mr. Carrière was nominated for writing Oscars for “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” “That Obscure Object of Desire” and “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”Information on survivors was not immediately available.Mr. Brook once explained what made Mr. Carrière such an in-demand writer, whether the job was creating original material, adapting a novel or opera, or reining in an epic poem.“Like a great actor, or a great cameraman, he adapts himself to different people he works with,” Mr. Brook told The Times in 1988. “He’s open to all shifts caused by the material changing, and yet he brings to it a very powerful and consistent point of view.”Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting from Paris.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Presidents’ Day: 5 Ways to Make It Meaningful This Year

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPresidents’ Day: 5 Ways to Make It Meaningful This YearWith kids off from school, here are suggestions for delving into our nation’s complex history with virtual museum visits, D.I.Y. tours and fun movies (Lincoln as a vampire slayer?).A replica of the Oval Office at the New-York Historical Society, which is open to the public with Covid-19 safety protocols in place.Credit…Glenn Castellano/New-York Historical SocietyFeb. 11, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ETMost years, Presidents’ Day is treated as little more than a shivery three-day weekend. But with a new chief executive in office, a former one on trial for impeachment and several statues of past presidents pulled down last year, maybe the holiday can offer time to reflect on the presidency and the ambit of our country in general.Do we still admire George Washington, knowing that he owned slaves? Abraham Lincoln’s treatment of Native Americans merits scrutiny, as well. But on the third Monday in February, a date that often falls between the two leaders’ birthdays, Presidents’ Day asks a nation to celebrate them, which should also mean questioning them, learning from our past so that we can envision a better future. While the kids are off from school, here are some suggestions for what to do virtually or in person in New York City.Visit the Resolute DeskLast year the New-York Historical Society opened a permanent exhibition that recreates the Oval Office as decorated for Ronald Reagan’s second term. (Love the rose curtains. And the matching pink phone.) The space includes a replica of the Resolute Desk, a gift from Queen Victoria. Visitors cannot sit behind it for photo ops right now, but they can still take selfies in the room. There are other presidential artifacts on hand, including Washington’s inaugural Bible.The society also invites visitors to participate in an interactive game, Playing the President: FDR’s First Hundred Days. By reading historical documents and consulting virtual advisers, you too can help pull America out of a depression. Tour presidential beginningsLincoln’s modest home in Springfield, Ill., remains closed, but the National Park Service has arranged a virtual tour instead. Enjoy the bold choices in carpeting! For a somewhat grimmer sojourn, click through a virtual tour of Ford’s Theater, the site of Lincoln’s assassination, in Washington, D.C.While Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate remains open, it also features robust virtual offerings, some of which include to-go food pairings. In the area for Feb. 13 or 27? Pick up hoecakes and sweetmeats for a virtual tea with Martha Washington. (Maybe not the actual Martha Washington?) The virtual jewel: An extensive tour, including videos, stories, 360-degree views and close-ups of furniture, curios and a recipe for Martha’s “Great Cake.” The tour includes quarters that housed enslaved people and some description of their lives on the estate. The long weekend is good time to visit Statue of Liberty, pictured in 1979.Credit…Barton Silverman/The New York TimesA chance to see Lady LibertyAmerica has a mixed record when it comes to welcoming the tired, the poor and the yearning huddled masses. But to acquaint yourself with a 151-foot symbol of its promise, consider a visit to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. While the statue’s interior remains closed, the museums on both islands have reopened, with Covid-19 protocols in place.At the Statue of Liberty Museum, visitors can see how the structure was produced and installed, as well as the original torch. On neighboring Ellis Island, visit the National Museum of Immigration to see photos, videos and heirlooms. Stop by the Family History Center in the hopes of learning your own story. Research assistants are on hand, if you and your genealogy need extra help. (The center is closed on Presidents’ Day itself.) A stroll-it-yourself in New YorkIn Lower Manhattan, Washington’s fans might begin at Fraunces Tavern Museum, where in 1783, before it was cool, he ordered takeout. The upstairs hosts a museum and a re-creation of the room where Washington spoke to his officers. Stop in front of Wall Street’s Federal Hall, a national memorial and the site of Washington’s 1789 inauguration, as well as the first Supreme Court and Congress. (While the original building was demolished in 1812, the new hall has a piece of the balcony where Washington stood.) The hall is currently closed, but there are virtual exhibitions for Black History Month and Presidents’ Day. A bit further uptown, you can stand outside Cooper Union, where Lincoln gave a famous antislavery address. Or head to the Bronx to see the Morris-Jumel Mansion, which Washington briefly used as a headquarters during the Revolutionary War. It is open for in-person visits, with a virtual tour also available. Anthony Mackie, left, and Benjamin Walker as our 16th president in “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”Credit…Alan Markfield/20th Century FoxMeet the president, on filmMost likely you have seen “Hamilton” on Disney+ by now. And perhaps you have enjoyed Daniel Day-Lewis’s grizzled visage in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” available on HBO Max. But there are plenty of other filmic and limited-series takes on past presidents.Consider a young Henry Fonda as “Young Mr. Lincoln,” free on Tubi, or for a somewhat more fanciful take: “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” with Benjamin Walker’s face beneath the stovepipe hat, available on Cinemax.If real presidents have you down, you can feel even more down with the recent limited series “The Plot Against America,” on HBO, which imagines that the aviator Charles S. Lindbergh, a fascist sympathizer, has won election. Or relax with romantic comedies like “The American President,” in which Michael Douglas’s POTUS falls for Annette Bening’s elegant lobbyist, or “Dave,” in which Kevin Kline’s presidential impersonator sort of becomes president. Both are rentable on various sites.Remember that even a terrible president can inspire a delightful movie, like 1999’s splendid “Dick,” available on Showtime, in which two teenage girls (Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst) bring down Nixon.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words’ Review: Still Notorious

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgObituaryJudicial LegacyHonored at CapitolHer Advice for LivingPhotosAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words’ Review: Still NotoriousThis documentary puts her words front and center, relying on clips to provide a sweeping view of her ideals.Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the film “Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words.”Credit…American Film Foundation/Virgil FilmsFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETRUTH – Justice Ginsburg in her own WordsDirected by Freida Lee MockDocumentaryNot Rated1h 29mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Despite what its title may imply, the documentary “Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words” does not recount Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career through her words alone. But it does put her words front and center, relying on video and audio clips — of an address she gave as a law professor on the Equal Rights Amendment, of her Supreme Court confirmation process, of her arguments before and from the bench — to provide a sweeping view of her ideals.[embedded content]Little here will seem new to those who paid attention to Ginsburg’s career or watched the Oscar-nominated documentary “RBG” (2018). But the director, Freida Lee Mock, repeatedly returns to the idea that change comes in steps. We hear from Jennifer Carroll Foy, who attended Virginia Military Institute after the Supreme Court’s Ginsburg-authored decision in United States v. Virginia led to the school opening to women, and from Lilly Ledbetter, who lost a dispute over pay discrimination suits before the court but whose case (and Ginsburg’s dissent) paved the way for the subsequent Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.While there may be no bad time to listen to Justice Ginsburg, this documentary, first shown in 2019 and finalized last year, is getting a release belated enough that it needs updating. Justice Ginsburg’s death in September is acknowledged only an “in memoriam” title card; when Irin Carmon, an author of “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” says that Ginsburg is “in great shape,” it’s difficult not to cringe. And though filled with valuable details, the documentary has the misfortune of arriving after countless other appraisals.Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own WordsNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In virtual cinemas.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Music’ Review: A Woefully Misguided View of Disability

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Music’ Review: A Woefully Misguided View of DisabilityThe pop star Sia’s feature directorial debut, about an autistic teenager, at times seems indistinguishable from mockery.Maddie Ziegler, left, and Kate Hudson in “Music,” directed by Sia.Credit…Merrick Morton/Vertical EntertainmentFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETMusicDirected by SiaDrama, MusicalPG-131h 47mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The cringeworthy drama “Music” introduces its central character in a song and dance sequence so gasp-inducingly crass, the scene almost demands that the movie be shown in theaters. At least then, audiences would be able to exercise the right to walk out.The film is directed by the pop singer and songwriter Sia, and it stars her frequent collaborator, Maddie Ziegler, as an autistic teenager named Music. The film begins with Ziegler performing an interpretive dance set to a new song by Sia about bodies failing and spirits being set free.[embedded content]Ziegler’s dancing is as expressive as ever, but she has been directed to pantomime an exaggerated apery of disability. She gapes, her eyes wide and unfocused, as the choreography leads her through a cruel approximation of twitches and whoops. Neither Ziegler nor Sia are autistic, and their collaboration on this film reduces disability to mannerisms that look indistinguishable from mockery.The film spins away from this shocking opening to introduce its characters in a more realistic world. There, Music lives in New York with her loving grandmother, Millie (Mary Kay Place). When Millie suddenly dies, she leaves the teenager in the care of Music’s half sister, Zu (Kate Hudson, nominated for a Golden Globe in the role).Zu is ill-equipped for the responsibility of watching Music, but the attention of a handsome neighbor, Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.), provides her with enough incentive to stick around. As Zu and Ebo begin to imagine what a family with Music could look like, they sing Sia songs composed specifically for the film in their fantasies.This is a bizarre movie, one that parades confused ideas about care, fantasy and disability with a pride that reads as vanity. It is audacious, in the sense that making it certainly took some audacity.MusicRated PG-13 for language, drug references and brief violence. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Rent or buy on Google Play, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More