Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares198 Views

      in Movies

      Lynda Obst, Producer, Dies at 74; Championed Women in Hollywood

      by

      She helped make films like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Contact.” She also wrote widely about the industry, for The Times and other publications.Lynda Obst, a New York journalist turned Hollywood producer who promoted women in films like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Contact” while writing incisive dispatches from Tinseltown for outlets like The Atlantic and The New York Times, died on Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 74.Her brother Rick Rosen said the cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Known for her booming, raspy laugh and her startling candor, Ms. Obst was a colorful character even by the standards of a colorful industry.Even more unusual for Hollywood, she was at times an outspoken critic of the movie industry, especially its treatment of women.As a producer, she excelled at both frothy romantic comedies and serious science fiction dramas. She helped shepherd Nora Ephron’s seminal “Sleepless in Seattle” as an executive producer in 1993 and the box-office hit “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” as a producer in 2003. But she also produced Robert Zemeckis’s “Contact” in 1997 and Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” in 2014.She was an advocate for stories focused on women, and often made by women, at a time when there weren’t many. She pushed, for example, for Jodie Foster to star as an astronomer in “Contact” when it was unusual for a major science fiction movie to have a female lead. An acolyte and admirer of Ms. Ephron, she produced her directorial debut, “This Is My Life” (1992).Ms. Obst excelled at both frothy romantic comedies and serious science fiction dramas. She was an executive producer of the hit Nora Ephron comedy “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), which starred Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, seen here with Ross Malinger.TriStar PicturesWe 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

    • 150 Shares168 Views

      in Theater

      Antonio Skármeta, Who Wrote of Chile’s Tears and Turmoil, Dies at 83

      by

      His literary career traced the arc of his country’s modern political journey in stories about ordinary citizens facing repression and arbitrary government.Antonio Skármeta, a Chilean novelist, screenplay writer, playwright and television presenter who captured his country’s affections with warmhearted tales of its suffering and redemption through dictatorship and democracy, died on Oct. 15 at his home in Santiago. He was 83.His death, after a long struggle with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, was announced by President Gabriel Boric Font of Chile on his X account.Mr. Boric paid tribute to the leading role Mr. Skármeta played in his country’s cultural life. He praised Mr. Skármeta “for the life you lived,” adding: “For the stories, the novels and the theater. For the political commitment. For the book show that expanded the boundaries of literature.”Mr. Skármeta’s literary career traced the arc of Chile’s modern political journey in lightly ironic stories that depicted the strategies of ordinary citizens faced with repression and arbitrary government.He lived that journey himself — as an activist supporting the leftist government of Salvador Allende in 1970; as a political exile in Argentina and in Germany after the 1973 coup d’état that inaugurated Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s brutal 15-year military dictatorship; as host of a popular television program about literature (the “book show” Mr. Boric mentioned) in the 1990s, after democracy returned to Chile; and as his country’s ambassador in Berlin from 2000 to 2003.His best-known work, the 1985 novel “Ardiente Pacienca” (“Burning Patience”) — the story of a postal worker who befriends Chile’s national poet Pablo Neruda and used the friendship to woo a young local woman — illustrated a method Skármeta typically used: weaving real-life figures and disasters with fictional characters who must cope with them, often with bumbling but very human ineptitude.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

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Conclave’ Review: Serpents and Doves Amok in the Vatican

      by

      This film, based on Robert Harris’s 2016 thriller of the same title, centers on a British cardinal (a sensational Ralph Fiennes), and a campaign for a new pope.There are no Kamala Harris or Donald Trump bumper stickers embellishing the vans that occasionally zip through “Conclave.” The current presidential race is the far greater, more consequential nail-biter, yet there’s still much riding on the contest in this sly, sleek election potboiler about the selection of a new Catholic pope. With pomp and circumstance, miles of scarlet cloth and first-rate scene-stealers, the movie snakes through the marbled corridors of Vatican City, pauses in bedchambers as cold as mausoleums and tunnels into the deepest secrets of the human heart. It’s quite the journey, and as unpersuasive as it is entertaining.Vatican stories are Hollywood catnip; see, or maybe don’t, the Dan Brown adaptations (“The Da Vinci Code,” etc.) featuring a worried-looking Tom Hanks racing through conspiratorial thickets. It’s easy to see the attractions of the minuscule city-state, beyond the untold masterpieces crowding it. The movies love stories about shadowy — to outsiders, at any rate — patriarchal, deeply hierarchical, unimaginably wealthy organizations with strict codes of conduct and tremendous power. That may sound a lot like a thumbnail portrait of the Mafia, but it also describes Hollywood. And what the movies especially love are lightly cynical, self-flattering and finally myth-stoking stories that, like this one, evoke the industry itself.“Conclave,” based on Robert Harris’s 2016 Vatican intrigue of the same title, centers on a British cardinal, Lawrence (a sensational Ralph Fiennes). A cleric of uncertain faith if unwavering convictions about everything else, Lawrence has droopingly sad eyes and refined sensitivities, and serves as the dean of the College of Cardinals, the group charged with selecting the pope, who’s just died. Lawrence is on the move when the story opens, hurrying through dark streets and into a brisk drama filled with whispering, scurrying men, one of whom who will be anointed as the new earthly head of the Catholic Church. There are women, too, though mostly there’s Isabella Rossellini, giving great side-eye as Sister Agnes.The cardinals keep whispering and scurrying as the story quickly revs up. Lawrence has been enduring a personal crisis — Harris calls it “some kind of spiritual insomnia” — and had asked the pope (Bruno Novelli) if he could leave Rome for a religious retreat. The pope denied him, telling Lawrence that while some are chosen to be shepherds, others need to manage the farm. With the pope dead, the reluctant Lawrence steps up and begins managing, a duty that involves herding scores of cardinals through the intricacies of the conclave, Latin for a room that can be locked. First, everyone needs to be sequestered until the announcement of “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”), but until then, it’s every cardinal for himself.The story coalesces around the lead candidates, a nicely balanced group of sincere, stealthy and smooth operators who soon circle Lawrence, their silver tongues wagging and hands wringing as they make their moves. The director Edward Berger and his team (the casting directors very much included) have stuffed the movie with a Daumier-esque collection of smooth and bearded, guarded and open faces. The juicy main cast includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati and a wonderful Sergio Castellitto, who plays a wolfish smiler who fulminates about the church’s liberal faction and yearns for the days of Latin Masses. The story could have used more of him and much more of his ominous rage.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

    • 125 Shares158 Views

      in Movies

      Netflix Wanted ‘Wuthering Heights.’ Margot Robbie Wanted a Theatrical Release.

      by

      In the end, Ms. Robbie got what she wanted, signing a deal with Warner Bros.In the latest Hollywood movie bidding war, the battle between a theatrical and a streaming release could not have been more stark.And in this case, theaters won out.The project is an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” seen through the warped mind of Emerald Fennell, the writer and director whose previous projects, “Promising Young Woman” and last year’s “Saltburn,” were viral, transgressive hits. The film will star Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi from “Saltburn” as the rageful Heathcliff. Based on Ms. Fennell’s past work, the R-rated film promises to be sexy, gothic and excessively modern.Netflix was willing to pay $150 million to have it.But Ms. Robbie, who is producing the film with her husband, Tom Ackerley, and their business partner Josey McNamara, wanted to maintain her track record of making movies for traditional studios that put them into theaters. Think “Barbie 2.0” with less pink and much more sex.Ms. Robbie’s company and its partner, MRC, an independent studio, have instead been won over by Warner Bros., the studio said on Thursday. The company offered them around $80 million plus a significant marketing commitment, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. (It helps that her company, LuckyChap, also has a multiyear first-look deal with the studio.)“From the moment we were introduced to Emerald’s vision for the film, and with an incredible cast led by Margot and Jacob, we were instantly committed to forging a partnership with this team to ensure the movie was brought to theaters around the world,” Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, co-chairs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, said in a statement.The decision to go with Warner Bros. is a blow to Netflix. Getting the film would have been viewed as a feather in the cap of the company’s new film chief, Dan Lin.Yet Mr. Lin found himself up against the same restrictions as his predecessor: his boss’s reluctance to take films to theaters to appease filmmakers, most of whom want their films to debut on the big screen before heading to a streaming service.Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive of Netflix, restated his uninterest in theatrical releases just last week during his earnings call. “I’m just going to reiterate we are in the subscription entertainment business,” he said before adding, “I’m sure that we can continue to pierce the zeitgeist and have those moments in the culture, even when those moments begin on Netflix.”Ms. Robbie is one of the few A-list stars who have not starred in a film released by a streaming service. The actress, who headlined “Barbie” and produced it, has seen her power in Hollywood only rise on the back that film, which was the highest-grossing film of 2023. “Wuthering Heights” will be her next film, and production is set to begin in the first quarter of next year. More

    • 113 Shares178 Views

      in Movies

      Investigation of Georgia Movie Set Crash Finds No Violations

      by

      Eight people were injured, three of them seriously, in a crash on the set of “The Pickup” in April. A federal investigation found no health or safety violations.An investigation into a crash that injured several crew members on the set of the movie “The Pickup” this year found no safety violations, federal officials said.A spokeswoman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement this week that the agency’s “thorough” investigation of the production company, Armored Film LLC, “did not result in violations of workplace safety and health regulations.”The investigation into the crash, which occurred at a small airport outside Atlanta on April 20, was closed last week, she said.A spokeswoman for Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment.Eight crew members were taken to hospitals after the crash, including two who were treated for life-threatening injuries after they were ejected from a vehicle, the authorities said at the time. A third person was treated for serious injuries.People with direct knowledge of the episode said at the time that none of the actors in the film, including Pete Davidson, Eddie Murphy and Keke Palmer, were involved in the crash.Amazon MGM Studios has not disclosed the plot of the film, which Deadline has described as a heist comedy. No release date has been announced.Video of the crash obtained by The New York Times shows a red armored truck, a GMC C6, pulling up alongside a BMW X5 S.U.V. before swerving into it.The vehicles then veer off the road and onto the grass, where the armored truck flips on top of the BMW. Both land upright, with the back door of the armored truck swinging open, causing one person to tumble out of it and spreading debris onto the field.Several crew members were injured when two vehicles collided during filming.The police said that the BMW had one occupant, the driver, while the armored truck was carrying seven people: a driver, a front-seat passenger and five crew members who were secured in the back with belt restraints attached to the walls.While the collision was planned, the armored truck’s brush guard became entangled in the smaller vehicle’s wheel well, the authorities said.In the days after the crash, there was no consensus on whether emergency workers or an ambulance had been on the set during filming, although an ambulance was called to the scene. It is fairly standard practice to have an ambulance on set for dangerous stunts, experts said.Sean Miller, a spokesman for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, said in a statement on Thursday that the organization appreciated the work by OSHA’s Atlanta office.“IATSE members are the best in the industry and work hard to ensure their safety and the safety of those around them,” he said. “This incident is a reminder that all workers deserve to earn a living in a safe environment.” More

    • 75 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Magpie’ Review: An Unhappily Married Woman

      by

      Daisy Ridley plays a time bomb with a simmering fuse in this slow yet gripping adultery thriller.Sometimes, all it takes is pancakes. When you’re Anette (Daisy Ridley), a frustrated, stay-at-home mother of two, even a simple breakfast food can snap your last nerve. Anette’s instability, though, has been building for some time, as Sam Yates’s “Magpie” gradually reveals by way of brief encounters and deceptively casual conversations. There’s nothing offhand, though, about her mounting fury.A lean, mean revenge thriller that knows exactly what it’s about, “Magpie” has little originality but an invigorating clarity of purpose. Struggling to deal with the isolation of her countryside mansion outside London, Anette feels unsupported by her selfish, controlling husband, Ben (Shazad Latif), a celebrated writer who treats her like the help. Ben’s affections stray even further when the couple’s young daughter (Hiba Ahmed) lands a supporting role in a historical drama whose alluring Italian star (Matilda Lutz) proves too tempting to resist.A movie about female rage and the imprisoning loneliness of motherhood (Anette’s desperate attempt to reconnect with her former boss is derailed by the screaming infant that Ben has declined to babysit), “Magpie” is flimsy and unsubtle, yet oddly gripping. Scattering small signs of marital trauma — Anette’s newly shorn hair, the way she grimly trashes an uneaten, perfectly cooked dinner — the script (by Ridley’s husband, Tom Bateman) urges us to scrutinize Anette’s eerily menacing composure. Is she dangerous, or just dotty?We have our answer soon enough. But, until then, the film’s enigmatic mood and chilly visuals perfectly complement Anette’s tightened jawline and frozen smile. The pacing is slow to the point of sluggish, yet Ridley’s performance is so magnetic — and Latif’s so convincingly despicable — that the ending might just make you stand up and cheer.MagpieRated R for adultery in the offing and a fiddle in the shower. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 100 Shares129 Views

      in Movies

      ‘La Cocina’ Review: The Melting Pot Boils Over

      by

      This drama by Alonso Ruizpalacios takes a bitter look at the American dream from the perspective of the workers at a fast-paced diner.“Somebody tell us a dream,” says Pedro (Raúl Briones), a charismatic line cook at a Times Square diner. He’s on a smoke break with co-workers — “the United Nations,” quips one of them, referring to their diverse origins. Nonzo, a Brooklyn-born dessert chef (Motell Foster) responds to Pedro, who is from Mexico, waxing philosophical about an immigrant who spends his sad, long days after passing through Ellis Island working at a pizza joint.“La Cocina,” a kitchen drama shot in velvety black-and-white, is the first English-language movie by the Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios. But the kitchen staff’s Spanish takes up nearly as much of the dialogue, fueling the film’s cultural and political tensions.Ruizpalacios adapted the script from Arnold Wesker’s play “The Kitchen,” which was set in London. He keeps the central romance between Pedro and Julia (a waitress played by Rooney Mara), and also explores the realities of undocumented immigrants and worker exploitation in New York City.The film starts from the point of view of the new cook, Estella (Anna Díaz), and then skips around the ensemble’s various dramas: a white American cook (Spenser Granese) is fed up with the Spanish speakers in his midst, an abusive manager (Eduardo Olmos) is tasked with finding a thief and Julia is at odds with Pedro over an abortion. In one scene, the soda machine breaks, flooding the kitchen during a lunchtime rush; the workers look like sailors on a sinking boat.Hellish moments like this help explain why everyone’s a bit cruel and calloused at work. Imagine such pressure — and, for many undocumented workers, the knowledge that you won’t be hired anywhere better. But Ruizpalacios diminishes these hard truths with flashy bids at profundity. The film’s epic finale feels stagy — while these real-life frustrations are anything but.La CocinaRated R for sex and physical violence. Running time: 2 hours 19 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 63 Shares129 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Your Monster’ Review: Beast Intentions

      by

      An aspiring Broadway musical star (Melissa Barrera) taps into her inner anger with some help from the creature who lives in her closet.Caroline Lindy’s debut feature, “Your Monster,” claims to present a “true-ish story.” Presumably, the “true” aspect refers not to the monster, but to the cascading cruelty of the plot’s inciting breakup: While Laura (Melissa Barrera), an aspiring Broadway star, is recovering from cancer surgery, her boyfriend, Jacob (Edmund Donovan), a theater director, abandons her, then freezes her out of the lead in his new show, which she helped develop.Rather than exploding in a rage, Laura cries her eyes out in a montage that finds her repeatedly ordering boxes of tissue from Amazon. But there are strange thumps in the house, and she soon learns why: A monster (Tommy Dewey) who has lived in her closet since her childhood is still there and is, for a monster, pretty affable, eager to kick back with takeout and watch “Night of the Living Dead” on TV. With his brutish ways, he can also conveniently teach Laura the catharsis of smashing dinnerware.Monster — the only name he’s ever given — turns out to have an artsy side: He has a knack for Shakespeare and a thing for Fred Astaire movies. And he stands by warily when Laura takes a consolation role in her still-smarmy ex’s ensemble.Inner anger, watchful protector, possible love interest? Lindy’s monster won’t win points for metaphorical coherence. But “Your Monster,” while falling short of the Critic’s Pick status that Jacob vociferously covets for his show, has its charms, namely the backstage intrigue, onstage songs by the Lazours (of the current Off Broadway musical “We Live in Cairo”), and a disarming lead in Barrera.Your MonsterRated R for sex and violence. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. More