Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares109 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Barbie’ Conquered the World. Are the Grammys Next?

      by

      Songs from the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster have 11 nominations on Sunday night, led by Billie Eilish’s heart-wrenching “What Was I Made For?”The Grammy Awards have long faced criticism for spotlighting the work of older, male artists. But at the 66th annual ceremony on Sunday night, young women dominate the nominees: SZA earned nine. The R&B singer and songwriter Victoria Monét picked up seven. Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus and the band boygenius all nabbed six. And one very recognizable lady has the most nods of all: Barbie.“Barbie: The Album,” the soundtrack to the director Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster, will enter Sunday’s pre-telecast and prime-time ceremonies with 11 nominations across seven categories. (In best song written for visual media, four of its tracks will compete against one another.) Five of Billie Eilish’s six nominations this year honor “What Was I Made For?,” her spare, aching “Barbie” ballad, written with her brother, Finneas.“It’s really cool to be part of the ‘Barbie’ family,” said Eilish, who could win her third record of the year trophy for the song.“Barbie” charmed viewers at the box office with grosses of $1.4 billion worldwide, became one of last year’s inescapable cultural touchstones and scored eight Oscar nominations. How did its soundtrack become a powerhouse, too?In terms of attracting talent, “It was Greta, hands down,” said Mark Ronson, one of the soundtrack’s producers, explaining how he conscripted an A-list roster that also includes Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj, Lizzo and Sam Smith. “Everybody admired her work — I feel like there wasn’t anyone who hadn’t seen ‘Lady Bird’ or ‘Little Women’ and didn’t love both of those films.”Working with Gerwig was certainly part of the allure for Eilish, who first met the director when they were grouped together at a 2019 gala dinner. “I remember being like, ‘Greta Gerwig sitting next to us is so cool,’” she said in an interview. “‘She seems like somebody I would be friends with already.’”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?  More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      Stream These 11 Movies Before They Leave Netflix in February

      by

      “Dune” and “Snowpiercer” are among the action epics, dramas and teen comedies leaving soon for U.S. subscribers. Watch them while you can.Family fun, action epics, historical dramas, teen comedy — there’s a little something for everyone among the titles leaving Netflix in the United States in February. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)‘Chicken Run’ (Feb. 14)Stream it here.With the long-awaited made-for-Netflix sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” having hit the service barely six weeks ago, you’d think Netflix would have licensed the original installment for a bit longer. Frankly, they should keep it around even if there weren’t I.P. to service — this is one of the most delightful family pictures of the 2000s, a fast-paced and very funny riff on “The Great Escape” and its ilk. Assembled with the customary care and wit by the stop-motion masterminds at Aardman Animations (the crew behind Wallace and Gromit), it’s a delight for kids and grown-ups alike.‘Prometheus’ (Feb. 14)Stream it here.In 1979, the director Ridley Scott had his first big hit with “Alien,” an ingeniously conceived and cleverly executed mash-up of an alien adventure and a haunted-house horror movie. The series continued in the hands of directors like James Cameron and David Fincher, while Scott continued to hone his distinctive style; this 2012 installment was his return to the franchise. Some were disappointed that the results weren’t merely “Alien” redux, but credit to Scott for making “Prometheus” an exploration of the themes and aesthetics that preoccupied him at that point in his long career, rather than merely retreading a past success. The special effects are astonishing, the production design is spot-on and the performances (particularly Charlize Theron as a villainous upper manager and Michael Fassbender as an enigmatic android) are memorable.‘Real Steel’ (Feb. 14)Stream it here.It’s not exactly a promising premise: a washed-up boxer turned sleazy promoter finds a champion on the underground robot-boxing circuit, bonding with his estranged son in the process. To call it hypercalculated is an understatement (our critic parsed its DNA as “‘Transformers’ meets ‘E.T.’ meets ‘Rocky’ meets ‘The Champ,’” and that’s not far off), but as Roger Ebert liked to say, it’s not what a movie’s about, but how it’s about it. The director Shawn Levy orchestrates the events with earnestness, refusing the urge to look down on the material (or the audience), and he has an invaluable partner in the movie’s star, Hugh Jackman, who plays the slimy lead without pulling his punches, yet retains enough of his inherent charisma to make us root for his inevitable redemption arc.‘Operation Finale’ (Feb. 19)Stream it here.Oscar Isaac is in fine form as a tough but sensitive Nazi hunter tasked with finding and extracting Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), one of the architects of the Final Solution, from his hide-out in Argentina to stand trial in Jerusalem. This true story is efficiently dramatized by the director Chris Weitz (whose filmography, which includes such divergent efforts as “American Pie” and “About A Boy,” might not make him an obvious choice for a tough historical drama), and though Matthew Orton’s screenplay includes juicy supporting roles for the likes of Nick Kroll, Mélanie Laurent and Haley Lu Richardson, its best scenes put Isaac and Kingsley toe to toe and watch them work.‘Babylon Berlin’: Seasons 1-3 (Feb. 28)Stream it here.This German crime epic became an international sensation when it began airing in 2017 — reportedly the most expensive television program ever produced in its home country. Based on the best-selling novels by Volker Kutscher and brought to life by a trio of writer-directors (Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten and Tom Tykwer, the latter of “Run Lola Run” and “Cloud Atlas”), this sprawling, handsomely mounted narrative is set in the underworld of Germany during the Weimar Republic, the wild and fruitful period that preceded the Third Reich. It’s dizzyingly complex and giddily entertaining, but also timely; as Handloegten noted on its premiere: “All these people didn’t fall from the sky as Nazis. They had to become Nazis.”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?  More

    • 138 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      Which Sundance 2024 Movies Will Make It to Next Year’s Oscars?

      by

      A Jesse Eisenberg-Kieran Culkin film, along with performances by Saoirse Ronan and André Holland, may be on the ballot next year.We’ve only just gotten this year’s Oscar nominations, but is it already time to begin looking ahead to next season?I can sense you bristling, and I understand. “Kyle, no,” you’ve just muttered, because we’re on a first-name basis now and you’re still mired in dinner-party discourse over whether the snub of Greta Gerwig in the best-director race is an extinction-level event.I hear your concerns, and I share them. But even as we continue to sift through the wreckage and tea leaves following this season’s Oscar nominations, I’ve just come back from snowy Park City, Utah, where the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival debuted a full slate of new movies that could give shape to next year’s awards race. Make no mistake, trophy-related considerations can affect these films’ fortunes even at this early date: I’ve already heard that one terrific Sundance indie has had trouble selling because of concerns that its lead would be unavailable for a full-blown press tour next awards season.Could any of these films follow best-picture nominee “Past Lives,” which premiered at Sundance last January, or even “CODA” (2021), the first Sundance movie to win the top Oscar?The likeliest film to factor into next year’s race is “A Real Pain,” a dramedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as mismatched cousins who embark on a road trip through Poland to better understand the personal history of their late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Eisenberg, who also wrote and directed the film, plays the by-the-book cousin and generously hands the flashy, sure-to-be-nominated role to Culkin: His cousin is a charismatic hot mess, and the Emmy-winning “Succession” actor zigs and zags through every scene like a freewheeling live wire.Searchlight bought “A Real Pain” for $10 million, and I could see it making a deep run into awards season. Pronounced a “knockout” by our critic Manohla Dargis, it’s the kind of thematically resonant, culturally specific comedy that voters often respond to. Most of all, I think movie folks will be eager to welcome Culkin into their club: They were just as obsessed with “Succession” as their TV brethren, and it’s finally their turn to shower the 41-year-old with awards attention.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?  More

    • 63 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      Do Panic: Dario Argento’s Cinema

      by

      The Italian horror director is the subject of a new documentary and a film retrospective. But his artistry can be summed up in his feature directing debut, “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage.”There’s a moment in “Dario Argento Panico,” a new documentary about the Italian horror movie maestro Dario Argento, that made me wonder if I’ve misunderstood why his assertively macabre and stylishly grotesque films so deeply give me the willies. It comes late in the film in Argento’s own words — word, actually — as he talks about what makes his scary movies scary.“I’m looking for panic,” he says.Panic: terror’s more dire, immediate, physically inescapable weird sister. The Italian word for panic is right there in the title of Simone Scafidi’s humanizing and absorbing documentary (on Shudder Feb. 2), and it courses through Argento’s filmography.But I was caught off guard hearing that word on Argento’s lips, because it laid bare what I feel when I watch his films, a sensation I assumed was mere fright. Its real-world parallel is the gut punch I received one night when the lights went out in an elevator I was in, just as it came to a shuddering halt between the eighth and ninth floors. Trapped in dangling darkness, I got scared, and then rescued. But first, I panicked. We all know that feeling, but Argento feeds on it, monstrously.Starting Jan. 31, Argento fans and the curious uninitiated have a terrific chance to sample the 83-year-old master’s disquieting work when Shudder and the IFC Center in Manhattan present — here’s that word again — “Panic Attacks: The Films of Dario Argento.”Stefania Casini and Jessica Harper in “Suspiria.”Seda SpettacoliThe 13-movie retrospective, which continues through Feb. 8, features the director’s best-known titles, including the 1977 supernatural dance academy shocker “Suspiria” (also streaming on Tubi), the more traditional whodunit “Deep Red” from 1975 (on Shudder), and the less heralded (and unfortunately more cornball) fare like “Dracula 3D” from 2013 (on Amazon Prime Video in 2-D). Not included is Argento’s most recent film, “Dark Glasses,” starring his actress-director daughter Asia Argento, which came out in 2022 to mixed reviews and is streaming on Shudder.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?  More

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Theater

      Chita Rivera Lived to Entertain. Here Are 9 Memorable Performances.

      by

      A quadruple threat, Rivera could make a lasting impression in minutes, whether onstage or onscreen. These videos illustrate why.Chita Rivera, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91, was known for her extraordinary artistry. Yet, it is hard to comprehend the full scope of her talent because, like so many Broadway performers of her generation, much of her best work was not captured on-screen. Her Anita in the landmark 1957 Broadway production of “West Side Story”? Rita Moreno took it on in the Hollywood adaptation. Rose in the hit “Bye Bye Birdie,” from 1960? That role went to Janet Leigh in the movie. Only in 1969 did Rivera make her feature-film debut, in “Sweet Charity,” almost two decades after her Broadway debut. Thankfully, we have variety shows, TV specials and unofficial fan videos to help us patch together a compelling video portrait. Her life force bursts through in every second.Here’s a look back at some of those indelible moments.1962‘This Could Be the Start of Something’Although this song is closely associated with its writer, Steve Allen, Rivera made it her own in this appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1962. The dancers welcome her by singing “Hey, Chita! Like, wow!” and that pretty much sums it all up. Rivera did not need a whole show to make an impact: She could deliver a knockout punch in just a few minutes. Not only did the era’s variety shows provide perfect settings for those self-contained gems, but they also introduced her to a national audience.1964‘I Believe in You’Rivera easily held her own against the best, including Judy Garland. The two women performed a duet of this song from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” on Garland’s variety show in January 1964. On that same episode, Rivera also blew the roof off the studio with “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’,” a number from “Porgy and Bess” reimagined as a va-va-voom dance extravaganza choreographed by Peter Gennaro.1965‘Blue Is a Color’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?  More

    • 150 Shares139 Views

      in Theater

      The Queer Kids Are All Right. And Now They’re Making Me Better.

      by

      Here’s a list of every openly queer person I knew when I was 15:That’s it. None. Not even myself.Oh sure, Paul Lynde and Liberace were flouncing on television; closer to home, a boy I kept my distance from decoupaged his notebooks. But even if they really were what people whispered or snarled about them, it was not then an identity they would dare to acknowledge.Nor would I. Unable to see through their closet doors to the truth of what their lives might be, I did not have the benefit of their stories, which meant not having the benefit of my own.Cut to today, 50 years later. Another 15-year-old boy — like me intense, unathletic and bullied — is the lead character on “Heartstopper,” a hit teen romance. But this boy, Charlie, knows all about queerness. He is, after all, growing up in the 2020s and, more to the point, in 2020s pop culture. In that magical land, also known as Netflix, adolescence for people like him is not only survivable but often a lovefest, all closet doors blown off their hinges.And I do mean all. Charlie (adorkable Joe Locke) is happy to be gay, and why not: When he crushes on a dreamy and apparently straight rugby player, the rugby player promptly comes out as bisexual. Their romance is supported by a cute teenage lesbian couple they hang out with. Also in the group is a bookish nerd who realizes he’s asexual — or “ace,” as he explains, pinning a fun new name on that identity. Even the straight boy, vastly outnumbered, gets a queer love story when he falls for his best friend, a beautiful trans girl.Welcome to the classic lifeboat plot, checking boxes on a diversity agenda. But this time it’s mostly calm seas and clear sailing.Do I sound envious? I am. Also slightly embarrassed.Don’t get me wrong: My husband and I devoured the first two seasons. (The third is expected in the fall.) I’ve also been watching, with or without him — for these are guilty pleasures — a slew of other queer youth stories, all the while trying to sort out my feelings.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?  More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Melinda Wilson, Wife of Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Dies at 77

      by

      Ms. Wilson’s relationship with her husband, a co-founder of the Beach Boys, was portrayed in the 2014 film “Love & Mercy.”Melinda Wilson, who rescued her future husband, the Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, from psychological ruin when they were dating in the 1980s, died on Tuesday. She was 77.Mr. Wilson confirmed her death on Instagram, saying that they had been married for 28 years. No cause of death was given.Jean Sievers, Mr. Wilson’s manager, said that Ms. Wilson had died suddenly at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She added that the couple has five adopted children — Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Dash, Dylan and Delanie Rae — who all survive her and carry Mr. Wilson’s surname.The couple’s relationship was portrayed in the 2014 biopic “Love & Mercy.” The film shows Ms. Wilson (Elizabeth Banks) meeting Mr. Wilson, played by both John Cusack and Paul Dano, in a Cadillac showroom in Los Angeles where she was working as a saleswoman.After the film was released, Ms. Banks said in an interview with ABC News that she had met Ms. Wilson while preparing for the role.“She said to me, ‘Music is his first love,’” Ms. Banks told ABC. “‘Nothing can replace it. It’s his being, it’s his essence, it’s his everything. So I’m settling for second, but it’s a pretty good — it’s a pretty good second.’”The film shows Ms. Wilson helping her then boyfriend navigate a bout of mental illness in the 1980s. That effort, and their courtship, is complicated by the presence of Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), a psychologist who had helped Mr. Wilson fight off depression and substance abuse to stage a professional comeback.Mr. Landy, whose team of professional minders at one point lived with Mr. Wilson 24 hours a day, insinuated himself into the musician’s life to the point where the therapist was at one point acting as his Mr. Wilson’s business partner, record producer and occasional songwriting partner.In 1992, a lawsuit by Mr. Wilson’s family resulted in a court order that barred Mr. Landy from contacting Mr. Wilson. Mr. Landy died in 2006.John Cusack as Brian Wilson and Elizabeth Banks as Melinda Ledbetter in the 2014 film “Love & Mercy.”François DuhamelMelinda Kae Ledbetter was born on Oct. 3, 1946, in Pueblo, Colo. She grew up in Whittier, Calif., and went to college there before becoming a model, Ms. Sievers said.She also worked as a producer on several films related to her husband’s music, including “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road” (2021) and “Pet Sounds Live at Royce Hall” (2006). The latter title refers to “Pet Sounds,” a landmark 1966 Beach Boys album.When the couple saw the film “Love & Mercy” for the first time, Ms. Wilson told ABC News, she did not know how tough the experience would be.“I think I was more nervous than him when I took him to see it, and after, I said, ‘So what did you think?’” she said. “And he goes, ‘Oh, it was really a lot worse in real life.’” More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      Minute-Long Soap Operas Are Here. Is America Ready?

      by

      Popularized in China during the pandemic, ReelShort and other apps are hoping to bring minute-by-minute melodramas to the United States.When Albee Zhang received an offer to produce cheesy short-form features made for phones last spring, she was skeptical, and so, she declined.But the offers kept coming. Finally, Ms. Zhang, who has been a producer for 12 years, realized it could be a profitable new way of storytelling and said yes.Since last summer, she has produced two short-form features and is working on four more for several apps that are creating cookie-cutter content aimed at women.Think: Lifetime movie cut up into TikTok videos. Think: soap opera, but for the short attention span of the internet age.The biggest player in this new genre is ReelShort, an app that offers melodramatic content in minute-long, vertically shot episodes and is hoping to bring a successful formula established abroad to the United States by hooking millions of people on its short-form content.“The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband” is one of the many short features you can watch on ReelShort, an app that offers short dramatic content meant to be watched on phones. ReelShort

      @reelshortapp On your 18th birthday, the Moon Goddess granted you a RED wolf. She said a new journey awaited you, but there were also evil forces after your power… Called weak your whole life, what POWER could you possibly have?! #fyp #reelshort #binge #bingeworthy #bingewatching #obsessed #obsession #mustwatch #witch #alpha #werewolf #moon #wolfpack #booktok #luna #drama #film #movie #tiktok #tv #tvseries #shortclips #tvclips #filmtok #movietok #dramatok #romance #love #marriage #relationship #couple #dramatiktok #filmtiktok #movietiktoks #saturday #saturdayvibes #saturdaymood #saturdaymotivation #saturdayfeels #saturdayfeeling #weekend #weekendvibes ♬ original sound – ReelShort APP 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?  More