After watching The Little Mermaid trailer, I want to be part of this world!

TIFF: As great she is, Brian Tyree

Music

Alex G: “Miracles” Track Review

A decade ago, the concept of “forever” was only a loose aspiration to Alex G. He claimed to not love anyone but himself. Drugs were a fact of life. Most crucially, he bemoaned change. Over the years his music has evolved, and seemingly so have his emotions: His narrators have watched romances fade and friends die. His songs have grown to contain bizarre, quietly complex stories that reveal his thoughts about humanity and his own role within it. He seems to have a better idea of what’s important to him.

On “Miracles,” the final single from God Save the Animals, forever is something you plan for: “Infinite futures become a single past,” he sings to a partner over serene, fingerpicked guitars and twangy strings, sounding almost surprised he’s made it this far. He’s spent his entire adult life releasing music; now, he’s old enough to wonder if and when he should reorder his priorities. Although there’s an air of bittersweetness to the song, the singer sounds like he’s learning to have more faith in himself: “You say one day that we should have a baby/Well, right now baby I’m struggling, we’ll see,” he sings. A moment later, he reconsiders: “Well, God help me, I love you, I agree.” The “miracles and crosses” of the chorus seem to reference more than just religion—what’s more miraculous than crossing paths with someone who makes you aspire to better version of yourself?

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A decade ago, the concept of “forever”

Oscar-Nominated Director Evgeny Afineevsky on Venice Premiere ‘Freedom on Fire’

On the eve of the 79th Venice Film Festival, where his powerful Ukraine war documentary “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” will premiere out of competition on Sept. 7, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky was in a frantic race against time.

Footage was still being shot in Ukraine into the second week of August, with Afineevsky only completing the film on Aug. 31 — the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the A-list celebrities and foreign press at the festival’s opening ceremony, urging the world not to forget the war in Ukraine with the impassioned plea: “Don’t turn your back to us.”

While Hollywood stars like Julianne Moore, Adam Driver and Tessa Thompson have lit up the red carpet in Venice and Timothée Chalamet has sparked Chala-mania on the Lido, Afineevsky has been working ‘round-the-clock to make sure the world is still watching Ukraine.

“It’s important not to avoid the fact that the war is still there,” the director tells Variety. “It’s important to use our ability as filmmakers who are coming from Hollywood to give a spotlight to these stories, when the world is seeing them less on their TV screens.”

The Israeli-American filmmaker was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2015 documentary “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” a riveting, verité-style portrait of the mass demonstrations in Kyiv’s Maidan Square that ousted the pro-Russian, authoritarian President Viktor Yanukovych in the winter of 2014.

His latest film, which functions as a companion piece, not only chronicles the current war with harrowing survivors’ accounts and graphic footage, but demonstrates how the events of that winter — which prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to seize Ukraine’s Crimea region and foment rebellion in its eastern provinces — led directly to this day. Afineevsky describes it as “a chance to document the next chapter of [Ukraine’s] fight for freedom.”

Ukrainian civilians inside an impromptu bomb shelter in “Freedom on Fire.”

Courtesy of Andriy Dubchak

Afineevsky was born in Russia and resides in Los Angeles, where he proudly displays a Ukrainian flag that flew over Maidan Square during the 2014 revolution inside his home. He spent the first days after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion in a state of “disbelief,” insisting “it was hard to believe that Russia attacked Ukraine in this brutal way,” despite harboring no illusions about the Putin regime.

Within days, however, he felt the call to action. “You realize that history is happening, and you need to document it for future generations,” he says. “In today’s world, sometimes people are rewriting history. And I wanted to preserve this history as it happened.” It is the history, he adds, of “a nation that is determined to fight until their last drop of blood for their homeland.”

Since finishing “Winter on Fire,” which is available to stream on Netflix, Afineevsky remains in touch with much of the team behind the Oscar-nominated film. As Russian troops advanced across the country last February, the director quickly began reaching out to his Ukrainian colleagues, many of whom were themselves fleeing — or trying to document — the war.

It was a monumental task. “‘Winter on Fire’ is one place, one city,” Afineevsky says. To chronicle the Russian war in real time, the director would enlist more than 40 cinematographers scattered across Europe’s second-largest country. (“If you want to make it fast, you need to be everywhere,” he says.) He would also collaborate with nine editors, three production managers and more than two dozen graphic artists and animators, most of them still living and working in Ukraine. “I tried by all means to support my colleagues who are there, because I know how difficult it is for them,” he says. “It is important for me to be for them and with them.”

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky.

In early March, Afineevsky flew to Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, and drove into the eye of the storm. It was the first of several trips to the front line as he tried to juggle the demands of shooting and cutting the film simultaneously.

The director and his team were thrust face to face with the war’s chaos and violence; in one scene from the documentary, a Russian bomb falls just steps from where a camera crew is filming. Their footage is unflinching: lifeless bodies littering the streets of Bucha, the Kyiv suburb that was the site of a notorious massacre by Russian troops; the tense, terrifying moments inside a theater in the port city of Mariupol before a Russian airstrike claimed the lives of some 600 civilians sheltering there.

But alongside such horrors they document stories of hope, determination and defiance. The film opens with a stand-up comic performing inside a bomb shelter. Among the Ukrainians profiled are doctors, soldiers, religious leaders and reporters — the film is dedicated to “all journalists, filmmakers and members of the press who have been killed and who are risking their lives” in the world’s conflict zones — as well as the elderly, mothers struggling to protect their children and other witnesses to and survivors of the relentless Russian onslaught.

Afineevsky saw such determination first-hand while filming the 2014 revolution, when the protesters in Maidan Square persevered for nearly one hundred days and — despite a brutal crackdown by the authorities — ultimately forced the strongman Yanukovych to step down.

“I met the resilience of the Ukrainian people on Maidan. And from the first day of this invasion, I said…that from my experience, being with Ukrainians on the ground, they will never let it happen,” Afineevsky says. “They will never give up. They will die standing — not on their knees.”

On the eve of the 79th Venice

Pictured: 'R.I.P Queen Elizabeth II' and 'Keep calm and carry on' is seen written down the side of Ukrainian artillery ammunition, in a tribute from Ukrainian soldiers to the late Queen

Global

Ukrainian troops write tributes to Her Majesty on BOMBS before firing them at Putin’s men

Ukrainian soldiers have written tributes to Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II down the side of bombs destined for Russian military targets.

Photos of the ammunition lined up in rows – ready to be launched in the direction of Vladimir Putin‘s invaders – featured messages in both English and Ukrainian.

‘R.I.P Queen Elizabeth II’ said the writing down the side of one of the Khaki green shell casings. Another said: ‘Keep calm and carry on’ – a reference to a famous motivational poster produced in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War.

Another photo showed more of the same ammo, but this time the messages were written in Ukrainian. One of the messages said: ‘Glory to The Queen,’ while another simply said ‘Elizabeth’.

The images were posted to Twitter by a user whose profile described himself as a Ukrainian artilleryman in Kyiv’s Air Assault Brigade.

‘Ukrainian artillery men’s sincere gratitude and respect to the remarkable leader of a great nation,’ he wrote, while posting the photos of the bombs.

Pictured: ‘R.I.P Queen Elizabeth II’ and ‘Keep calm and carry on’ is seen written down the side of Ukrainian artillery ammunition, in a tribute from Ukrainian soldiers to the late Queen

Another photo showed more of the same ammo, with messages written in Ukrainian. One of the messages says: ‘Glory to The Queen,’ while another simply says ‘Elizabeth’

The Queen – the longest-serving monarch in British history and an icon instantly recognisable to billions of people around the world – died on Thursday. She was 96.

Buckingham Palace announced her death in a short statement on Thursday, triggering 10 days of national mourning and an outpouring of tributes from around the world to her long life and record-breaking reign.

Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne aged just 25 in 1952 in the aftermath of World War II. Her 70-year reign straddled two centuries of seismic social, political and technological upheaval.

Since her death was announced, tributes to The Queen’s life have poured in from all corners of the globe, and particularly from world leaders – including Ukraine’s president and war-time leaders Volodymyr Zelensky.

He said he learned the news of Her Majesty’s passing ‘with deep sadness’.

‘On behalf of the people, we extend sincere condolences to the (royal family), the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.’

The images were posted to Twitter by a user whose profile described himself as a Ukrainian artilleryman in Kyiv’s Air Assault Brigade. Pictured: Ukrainian artillery unit fires with a 2S7-Pion, a self-propelled gun, at a position near a frontline in Kharkiv region on August 26

The pictures of the ammo are not the first time Ukrainian forces have been seen decorating their ammunition with messages for the Russian invaders since Putin first ordered his forces to invade on February 24.

In May, Kyiv‘s troops decorated the missiles with ‘warm’ messages to mark Ukraine’s World Embroidery Day, known as Vyshyvanka, which takes place on May 21.

The holiday promotes the tradition of creating and wearing embroidered Ukrainian clothes known as Vyshyvanka. A Vyshyvanka is a casual name for an embroidered shirt that is part of the country’s national costume.

The shirt was forbidden to be worn during the Soviet Union and was liberalized with the independence of Ukraine, and has become a symbol of defiance – and is more relevant than ever with Russia‘s on-going invasion of the country.

Video at the time showed Ukrainian service men and women carefully painting missiles with a variety of colourful patterns to mark the holiday – before launching them with deadly intent at Russian military positions.

One fighter painted three rockets with pink and blue flowers along its casing, and a message down the side. The soldier was then seen proudly laying the three missiles out in a row on the back of a Ukrainian military vehicle – ready to be launched.

As the sad news of the Queen’s death dominated headlines across the globe on Thursday and Friday, swiftly advancing Ukrainian troops were bearing down on the main railway supplying Russian forces in the east.

This followed the collapse of a section of Russia’s front line caused the most dramatic shift in the war’s momentum since its early weeks.

In a video address, Zelensky said Ukrainian troops had ‘liberated dozens of settlements’ and reclaimed more than 385 square miles of territory in the east and south in the past week.

In May, Kyiv’s troops decorated the missiles with flowers and ‘warm’ messages for World Embroidery Day, known locally as Vyshyvanka, which takes place in Ukraine on May 21

Zelenskiy posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had captured the eastern town of Balakliia, which lies along a stretch of front stretching south of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

The Ukrainian military said it had advanced nearly 30 miles through that front after an assault that appeared to take the Russians by surprise.

That would make it by far the fastest advance by either side in the war since Russia was forced to abandon its disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.

Moscow has so far offered no official response to the reports of the breakthrough on the Kharkiv front.

Ukraine has yet to allow independent journalists into the area to confirm the extent its advances.

But Ukrainian news websites have shown pictures of troops cheering from the top of armoured vehicles as they roar past street signs bearing the names of previously Russian-held towns, and Russian forces surrendering on the side of the road.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Ukrainians were now within just 15 km of Kupiansk, an essential junction for the main railway lines that Moscow has been using for months to supply its forces on the battlefields in the east.

Since Russia’s forces were defeated near Kyiv in March, Moscow has waged a relentless war of attrition, using its firepower advantage to press slow advances by bombarding towns and villages.

But that tactic depends on tonnes of ammunition a day reaching the front line by train from western Russia.

Until now, Russia had successfully fended off all attempts by Ukraine to cut off the train line. The Ukrainian general staff said early on Friday retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded personnel and damaged military equipment.

‘Thanks to skilful and coordinated actions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of the local population, advanced almost 50 km in three days.’

Pictured: Russian soldiers are seen sitting on top of an armoured vehicle in the Kherson region of Ukraine, in a pictured released by Russia today

The surprise Ukrainian breakthrough in the east came a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of km away at the opposite end of the front in Kherson province in the south.

Ukrainian officials say Russia moved thousands of troops south to respond to the Kherson advance, leaving other parts of the frontline exposed and weakly defended.

‘We found a weak spot where the enemy wasn’t ready,’ presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.

Less information so far has emerged about the campaign in the south, with Ukraine keeping journalists away and releasing few details to keep its full plans secret.

Ukraine has been using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets there to hit Russian rear positions, with the aim of trapping thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River and cutting them off from supplies.

Arestovych acknowledged progress in the south had not yet been as swift as the sudden breakthrough in the east.

Russia’s state news agency RIA quoted Russian-appointed Kherson authorities as saying some Ukrainian troops were captured during the counterattack and an undisclosed number of Polish tanks they were using had been destroyed. Reuters could not verify those reports.

Ukrainians gather on Khreschatyk Street to see the seized military equipment and weapons including tank and motorized artillery systems belonging to the Russian army displayed by Ukraine ahead of the country’s 31st anniversary of Independence Day in Kyiv, August 21

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv on Thursday and announced a package of $2.2 billion in military financing for countries at risk of Russian aggression, nearly half of it for Ukraine. Washington also announced a separate $675 million of new weapons for Ukraine.

North of the battlefield, Russia has continued firing at Kharkiv. Missiles struck multiple areas there on Thursday, causing widespread damage and casualties, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

‘We are scared … You can’t get used to it, never,’ resident Olena Rudenko told Reuters. Russia denied targeting civilians.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have been driven from their homes and cities have been flattened since Moscow launched what it calls a ‘special military operation’ in February to ‘disarm’ Ukraine.

Toronto Film Festival 2022 Photo Gallery: Taylor Swift And Viola Davis; ‘Woman King’, ‘Butcher’s Crossing’, More

Ukrainian soldiers have written tributes to Britain's late

Trending

‘Sanctuary’ First Look With Margaret Qualley & Christopher Abbott – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are the leads of the Zachary Wigon film Sanctuary set to premiere on September 11 at the Toronto Film Festival. Ahead of the film’s release, Deadline has an exclusive first look where the main characters are seen engaging in a “battle of wills.” Watch the clip below!

Sanctuary revolves around a dominatrix (Qualley) and her wealthy client (Abbott) engaging in a battle of wills inside a luxury hotel suite after he tries to end their relationship. Over the course of one emotionally fraught night, the balance of power swings back and forth as each seeks to gain the upper hand. Is he hopelessly overmatched? Or is her wildly unpredictable behavior all part of an elaborate game?

The film was directed by critically acclaimed filmmaker Wigon (The Heart Machine) and written by Micah Bloomberg. Sanctuary is a sexy and sophisticated psychological thriller about the quest for power and control, and the roles we play in our most intimate relationships.

The film is seeking distribution and does not have a release date yet, UTA and Charades are handling sales. Sanctuary is a Rumble Films Production, in association with Charades, Mosaic Films and Hype Film.

Sanctuary’s producers are David Lancaster and Stephanie Wilcox of Rumble Films (Whiplash, Nightcrawler) with Ilya Stewart of Hype Studios and Pavel Burian of Mosaic Films. Executive producers include Carole Baraton, Elizaveta Chalenko, Yohann Comte, Maxim Dashkin, Pierre Mazars, as well as Margaret Qualley and screenwriter Micah Bloomberg.

Watch the first look clip of Sanctuary below.

EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are

Tech

Kara Swisher to Debut Interview Podcast This Month With Vox Media – The Hollywood Reporter

After departing the New York Times as a columnist and podcast host earlier this summer, Kara Swisher is returning with a new interview show this month that she promises will be “looser,” “much more sassy” and more experimental than her previous audio endeavors.

Produced with Vox Media, On With Kara Swisher will debut on Sept. 26 and release twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. And each week, listeners of the show will also be able to participate in a companion conversation with Swisher on Twitter Spaces.

“I was really struck by how incredibly substantive and challenging the questions I got from the audience were for whatever topic I covered, whether it was what was going on at Twitter, or Elon Musk, or the Uvalde shooting and the involvement of tech in some of this stuff around misinformation,” Swisher tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s no reason not to take advantage of the intelligence of our of our community, and they like it too. We’re making it for them — we’re not making it for each other.”

On With Kara Swisher is part of a new three-year deal between Swisher and Vox Media, which is separate from Swisher’s existing deal for Pivot, the other Vox Media podcast she co-hosts with Scott Galloway. Swisher declined to share specifics about the revenue share split for the new show.

Like Pivot, which will continue to release episodes twice a week, On With Kara Swisher will remain available on all major podcast platforms. Swisher says she’s open to exploring a potential subscription or à la carte pricing model for special episodes or related events, but doing so wouldn’t be “necessary financially.” “We’ve never had a problem with advertising, not having a great ad business with the pod,” she says.

Future episodes of the new podcast will also likely include a video component, though Swisher says that element is still being designed. And a live event? Swisher isn’t ruling that out either.

“I’m loosening it up quite a bit, as opposed to what I made before,” Swisher says.

After departing the New York Times as

Video

The Al Yankovic Story’ (Video)

Daniel Radcliffe plays a parallel universe version of Weird Al Yankovic in the (faux) biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” according to the film’s writer and director Eric Appel. Check out the video, above.

“This version of Weird Al that we’ve created in the movie is like a bizarro version of Weird Al that exists in an alternate universe,” director Eric Appel said at TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto Film Festival, where the movie debuted.

Appel added: “What we really wanted was to find an actor that both worked well in drama and in comedy and that would get what we were going for, have the comedy chops to pull it off, and also be able to, like, 100% fully commit to playing this absurd comedy as straight as possible and as dramatic as possible.” Radcliffe met those criteria and then some.

For Radcliffe, working with Yankovic (who co-wrote the film with Appel and produced) to dig into the Weird Al that he was playing was thrilling. “He’s amazing. I think the thing that’s so special about Al’s persona, his music, everything, is that he manages to thread the needle perfectly between incredibly wholesome and sweet, but also has a genuine edge of, like, madness to it,” he said. “There’s an unpredictability that is very authentic and compelling to watch. And he’s also just somebody who has — obviously, it’s impossible to talk about this film without massively overusing the word ‘weird,’ — but he is somebody who has leant into his natural weirdness and that has been the key to happiness and success and fulfillment for him. I think if there’s a moral to this really weird film, then that’s it.”

According to Appel, the film (which is, fittingly, something of a parody of traditional biopics) also has a host of ’80s weirdos making cameos in the film, which the real Weird Al helped accommodate.

“Basically Al has like a really big Rolodex full of friends that are eager to come help out on our movie. So we put together a big list of people that you can text and email personally and said, ‘Do you want to come out and do this movie?’ It was just such an incredibly fun day in our in our insanely fast shoot,” Appel said.

“People were clamoring to get on that set, be a part of it. They wanted to be there,” co-star Evan Rachel Wood, who plays a heightened version of Madonna in the biopic, added.

‘Allelujah’ Film Review: Richard Eyre Handles Alan Bennett’s Witty, Sensitive Hospital Play With Care

Per the film’s official description: “The biopic holds nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. ‘WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story’ takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.”

Produced by Funny Or Die and Tango, “WEIRD: The ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Story” is Roku’s first original biopic.

“Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story” is written by Al Yankovic & Eric Appel. Appel also directed the film and is an executive producer. Yankovic produces, along with Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Whitney Hodack for Funny Or Die, and Tim Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva for Tango. Funny Or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah are executive producers.

Studio sponsors include GreenSlate, Moët & Chandon, PEX and Vancouver Film School.

Daniel Radcliffe plays a parallel universe version

Entertaintment

Former ‘Below Deck’ Stars: Where Are They Now?

All aboard! Below Deck and its spinoff series have never failed to bring the drama to Bravo fans everywhere since the franchise launched.

The original series premiered in July 2013, documenting the daily lives of crew members on luxurious yachts during charter season. At the time, Bravo revealed that the first season averaged over 1 million viewers per episode, making it a simple decision to branch off into two more series: Below Deck Mediterranean and Below Deck Sailing Yacht.

With each season, the crew members’ personal lives have begun to cross over into their work lives, leading to shocking reality TV romances, breakups, firings and dramatic exits. In February 2020, longtime Below Deck personality Kate Chastain announced that she would finally be heading back to dry land after six seasons on the ocean.

“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, I have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new land based role. I intend to step back as a senior member of the Below Deck Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support His Majesty Andy Cohen,” she teased via Instagram as she stepped down from her position as part of reality TV royalty.

Seven months later, Chastain admitted that she might not be ready to say goodbye to Bravo forever.

“I don’t know that I would like to do a show like Summer House,” she told Decider during a September 2020 tell-all interview. “I would love to be a New York Housewife because of Sonja [Morgan] alone. Sonja is a national treasure to be protected at all costs. I want to just be Sonja’s intern for a day. That is on my bucket list. I need the full experience. I love her so much, I would do that.”

The TV personality continued to appear on the network when she joined Bravo’s Chat Room in September 2020. “It just feels like I’m FaceTiming with three of my girlfriends,” she exclusively told Us Weekly one month after the show’s premiere. “Yachting was a big part of my life for a long time and I enjoyed everything that came with it … but I definitely am enjoying land life.”

After one season alongside The Real Housewives of Potomac‘s Gizelle Bryant, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams and Summer House‘s Hannah Berner, Chastain parted ways with the series.

The Below Deck alum later clarified what led to her decision to move on from the short-lived talk show. “I didn’t really feel like explaining my reason for leaving Bravo’s Chat Room immediately after I left because I just felt like if I told the truth about why I left, people would assume I was just giving an excuse, but truth does always eventually come out,” she shared with Us in May 2021. “Sometimes it happens quicker than you think it’s going to.

Chastain added: “[Bravo has] been very wonderful and generous to me, and they handled the situation the way that was best for me, and I’m really thankful for that.”

Scroll down to learn more about how some former Below Deck stars have kept busy after the show.

Also read: Kangana Claims Ayan Mukerji ‘Changed’ Brahmastra Name from ‘Jalaluddin Rumi’ to Shiva; Here’s Why

All aboard! Below Deck and its spinoff

Movies

Kangana Ranaut Claims Ayan Mukerji Changed Ranbir Kapoor’s Name in Brahmastra, Swara Bhasker Says SRK Ruined Her Love Life

Kangana Ranaut took to her Instagram to dis Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra: Part 1- Shiva. She claimed that Ayan “burnt Rs 600 crores to ashes” and attempted to “exploited” religious sentiments of the audience and said ‘everyone who called ayan mukerji a genius should be jailed immediately.’

Swara Bhasker, who is all set for the release of her upcoming film Jahaan Chaar Yaar, blamed Shah Rukh Khan and Aditya Chopra for ruining her love life by setting unreal standards with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayeenge. Having watched that at a tender age, she revealed that she had been looking for her Raj. The realization that Raj does not exist came after many years to her. The movie left her with a very different idea of romance which later in life she discovered to be false.

Also read: Swara Bhasker Blames Shah Rukh Khan And Aditya Chopra For ‘Ruining Her Love Life’: ‘Been Looking For Raj…’

Brahmastra collected Rs. 75 crores on Day 1 worldwide. It was the gross box office numbers. The film is said to have collected in the range of Rs 34 crores to Rs 35 crores net on its opening day domestically, according to trade analyst Komal Nahta.

Also read: Brahmastra Box Office Day 1: Ranbir Kapoor Film Earns Rs 75 Cr Worldwide; Alia Has Best Reaction

Karisma Kapoor today took to her Instagram to share a picture by the pool. She posted a stunning photo of herself in a purple sequined top with a plunging neckline. The diva looked refreshingly beautiful in a no-makeup look and open, wavy hair. She captioned the post, “I sea you” along with emoticons of a seashell, a wave, a palm tree, and a purple heart.

Also read: Karisma Kapoor Reminds Age Is Just a Number with Her Latest Sexy Pic, Says ‘I Sea You’

Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva ended with a promise and an announcement- that of the Part 2 which would be titled Brahmastra Part 2: Dev. Now, rumours are doing the rounds that Hrithik Roshan and Ranveer Singh are in the running to play the character of Dev.

Also read: Brahmastra Part II Announced; Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh in the Running for Lead Role?

Read all the Latest Movies News and Breaking News here

Kangana Ranaut took to her Instagram to

Film

‘Little Mermaid’ Live-Action Trailer: Watch Halle Bailey Sing ‘Part of Your World’

‘Little Mermaid’ Live-Action Trailer: Watch Halle Bailey Sing ‘Part of Your World’ | Entertainment Tonight

D23 Unveils New ‘Willow’ Trailer, Christian Slater Joins Cast of Disney+ Series — Watch

Friday’s D23 Expo presentations were all about animated films (and remakes of them), but on Saturday morning, all eyes were on Lucasfilm. Fans gathered in Hall D23 to await “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones 5” news, but Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy began by talking about “Willow,” a new sequel series to George Lucas and Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy epic.

Before dropping a new trailer, Warwick Davis, who reprises his role as the titular hero from the film, introduced another high-profile cast member. Davis invited Christian Slater to the stage, revealing that the actor would be joining the series, which hails from creator Jonathan Kasdan.

Slater revealed that he was a longtime fan of Lucasfilm’s slate of properties, and was eager to get a chance to join the fantasy franchise.

“I love the fantasy, the sci-fi,” Slater said. “Just getting to be a part of this show was an absolute dream come true.”

Slater revealed that his role is a small one, and he merely popped into the shoot for a few days to add some comedy relief to the series.

“This is a very fun character,” he said. “Surprisingly, we got to have some improvs and ad-libs and came up with some stuff on the spot, which was a lot of fun.”

Per the official synopsis, “Willow” is an epic period fantasy series with a modern sensibility set in an enchanted land of breathtaking beauty, ‘Willow’ features a diverse international cast with Jonathan Kasdan, Ron Howard, Wendy Mericle, Kathleen Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan serving as executive producers. The story began with an aspiring magician from a Nelwyn village and an infant girl destined to unite the realms, who together helped destroy an evil queen and banish the forces of darkness. Now, in a magical world where brownies, sorcerers, trolls, and other mystical creatures flourish, the adventure continues, as an unlikely group of heroes set off on a dangerous quest to places far beyond their home, where they must face their inner demons and come together to save their world.

“Willow” is set to begin streaming on Disney+ on November 30, 2022. You can watch the new trailer below:

This November, the magic returns Watch the new trailer for #Willow, an epic new Original series streaming only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/QKSU15rz2Z

— Willow (@WillowOfficial) September 10, 2022

Friday’s D23 Expo presentations were all about

josh-brolin-as-thanos-in-avengers-infinity-war-and-jonathan-majors-as-a-kang-nathaniel-richards-variant-in-loki-season-1-1

What to Watch

MCU Disney+ Shows Create A New Thanos Problem

Thanos’ villain teases throughout MCU Phases 1 to 3 kept the hype high until his big reveal in Infinity War. The same cannot be said for Kang.

Marvel’s Phase 4 has more TV shows on Disney+ than Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, and while there are many positive sides to that, it also created a problem for the introduction of the next villain of Thanos’ caliber. Loki‘s season 1 finale and all of the MCU reveals from Comic-Con 2022 hinted at a specific villain becoming the next Thanos for MCU Phases 4 to 6, who is inextricably connected to the Multiverse saga and even getting a Marvel Avengers movie title in his name. However, the initial reveal in Disney+’s Loki season 1 finale of all the terrible things that Kang the Conqueror can achieve if the Multiverse were created by one of the many Nathaniel Richards (Jonathan Majors) variants didn’t have the same impact as Thanos’ first appearance, and a big part of the problem resides in the medium utilized for it.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

MCU Phases 1 to 3 did an excellent job of introducing Thanos. As a villain, Thanos became exponentially more relevant in the ten years leading up to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with the Infinity Stones story arc being first introduced in 2011 with Thor‘s post-credits scene where Fury shows the Tesseract to a Loki-controlled Selvig. MCU post-credits scenes had a huge role in presenting Thanos as a villain, with Thanos’ first appearance in The Avengers offering just a glimpse of the imposing villain. Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s after-credits scene went even further, upping the hype by showing Thanos getting the Gauntlet. Whether by talking about the Infinity Stones or directly showing Thanos or his minions, MCU Phases 1, 2, and 3 gradually made Thanos more central to the main story until his first scene in Avengers: Infinity War cemented him as the big, almost unbeatable, villain.

While the insight Loki‘s season 1 finale gave about Kang the Conqueror’s abilities built him up to be a foe at least equal to Thanos, the impact they had on the public couldn’t be more different. After all, MCU fans all had a chance to see the threat of Thanos growing bigger through many MCU post-credits scenes, while in Kang’s case, the first reveal happened in an MCU Disney+ TV show, which some MCU fans may not watch. In addition, references to the threat to the Multiverse appear throughout MCU Phase 4 TV shows and movies, but another Kang variant has yet to make an appearance, and there is very little time remaining before Marvel’s Phase 4 is complete.

How MCU Shows Damage Its Next Thanos (But Improve The Franchise)

jonathan-majors-as-a-kang-nathaniel-richards-variant-in-loki-season-1-2

Kang is set to be central to Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, so being first revealed in an MCU Disney+ TV show shouldn’t lessen his impact there. In addition, there are also many films and TV shows Kang the Conqueror’s variants could still cameo in to be built up as a Thanos-sized threat. Nevertheless, expanding the MCU with Disney+ Original TV shows will inevitably impact the fans’ reception of Kang as a villain. After all, Marvel’s Phase 4 is the first to propose this hybrid setting that sees MCU movies and TV shows as equally important to the world-building of the Multiverse saga, leaving fans who mightn’t have kept up with all of Marvel’s TV shows possibly out of the loop about the next Thanos-level villain.

However, integrating MCU Disney+ TV shows into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t all bad, as it marks a significant change for Marvel TV shows. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD proved that, while being directly influenced by what happened in MCU movies, the reveals in the TV show didn’t do the same for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, having MCU Disney+ TV shows reveal such important villains establishes their credibility, which overall improves the franchise. The TV shows offer more time for their characters’ development and more points of view that end up bettering and interconnecting the MCU even more. The Marvel Cinematic Universe introducing Disney+ TV shows to the wider MCU undoubtedly brought positive and negative changes. Hopefully, Phases 5 and 6 will be able to improve how they introduce villains like Kang in the future.

Key Release Dates

Thanos' villain teases throughout MCU Phases 1

Awards

Viola Davis Rules in Fresh and Meaningful Action Film

At first pass, “The Woman King” recalls those classic Disney animated fables. Though inspired by real-life warriors who guarded the Kingdom of Dahomey in 19th-century West Africa, the film hits many familiar notes: Ancient mythical land! Palace intrigue! Rebellious orphan! Tough-love mentors! Coming of age! Prince charming! Wicked villain! Good vs. evil showdown! It’s just that here, the tropes aren’t metaphors at all and the story isn’t an allegory.

In the Sony Pictures release that premiered on Friday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, Oscar winner Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca, commander of the Agojie, an all-female army, and adviser to the young King Ghezo (John Boyega), who has recently ascended to the throne. The kingdom has been at war with the Oyo Empire, which routinely kidnaps Dahomey’s people and auctions them off to slave traders. Ghezo is himself complicit in this human trafficking, though Nanisca tries to steer him toward palm oil production as a sustainable alternative for enriching the kingdom.

Meanwhile, the adoptive father of teenage Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) offers her to the Agojie after a botched attempt to marry her off for money. Although much preferring the warrior life, she’s headstrong and doesn’t take orders well. Thankfully, Lieutenant Izogie (Lashana Lynch) takes Nawi under her wing and keeps the youngster in check. Nawi’s trajectory has many parallels with that of Hua Mulan. For instance, there are mirroring montages of a field of cadets practicing swordplay in synchronicity in a courtyard. And the novice-thrives-under-tutelage narrative is such a cliché by now that the animated “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hand” lampooned it just recently. Obviously, Mulan had to cross-dress to blend in with the dudes, while Nawi is among what could be characterized as an entire army of Mulans.

The reliance on tropes in “The Woman King” extends beyond the Disney variety. The film frames the rivalry between Dahomey and Oyo as a battle of the sexes, while Nanisca’s personal vendetta against Oyo’s General Oba (Jimmy Odukoya) plays out like a survivor’s revenge fantasy. Some of these scenes skirt dangerously close to daytime soap territory, with Nawi being an orphan and Nanisca having given up her child in the past.

While Dahomey’s plotting against the Brazilian slave traders seems like an anomaly for Hollywood productions, “The Woman King” unluckily arrives on the heels of the Tollywood crossover hit “RRR,” which highlighted a comparable struggle of Indians against their British colonizers. Though the depiction in “RRR” may feel like an affront to those accustomed to the baked-in unconscious bias prevalent in Western entertainment, it serves to lessen any shock value “The Woman King” might have.

While Dana Stevens’ screenplay works despite that air of contrivance, the cast deserves at least part of the credit for committing to African accents and selling those lines — though African characters speaking in accented English is an odd choice given that the Brazilian characters speak in Portuguese (with subtitles in English). When the Brazilians do speak in English, the film presents that as them making an effort to communicate with the Africans.

One unique aspect of “The Woman King” is its contemplation of strength and weakness. Though the Agojie are as tough as nails in battle, they can also be vulnerable. Nanisca earns respect for her fighting prowess, but she is haunted by her past trauma from sexual assaults and experiences panic attacks. The film communicates that true strength perhaps isn’t sheer brute force, but the resolve to cope with and power through inner demons. It’s a tremendously poetic and moving message, and one that well justifies the film’s existence. Davis truly gets to flex the full range of her acting chops. A performance of this caliber is rare in what’s essentially an action flick.

‘The Lost King’ Film Review: Sally Hawkins’ Amateur Historian Seeks to Clear Richard III’s Name

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood has always presented Black characters thoughtfully, and “The Woman King” is no exception. In the hands of a less deft and sensitive filmmaker, it could have easily succumbed to cringeworthy ethnography. To be sure, production designer Akin McKenzie, costume designer Gersha Phillips, choreographers Eugene Khomanani Baloyi and Zoyi Lindiwe Muendane and many others have painstakingly helped build this immersive world. But Prince-Bythewood always puts the characters’ travails first and allows us to empathize with them.

Terence Blanchard’s orchestral score and Polly Morgan’s cinematography give the film an epiclike sweeping feel. The fight scenes are big, bombastic, and often brutal. Again, “RRR” has set the bar impossibly high in that department, but “The Woman King” holds up well. The battle scenes are an enormous undertaking for fight coordinator Daniel Hernandez and the stunt performers, who execute them with the same rigor and attention to detail even when in the background or out of focus.

“The Woman King” possesses broad appeal. It’s an oft-told tale, yes, but here imparted with a fresh angle and a meaningful moral. And it has something in store for those who prefer the action genre, too. It’s not at all surprising that Prince-Bythewood has made yet another crowd pleaser. But the challenge remains the same, which is for marketing and advertising to figure out how to connect it with different demographics.

14 Buzziest Films for Sale at Toronto 2022, From ‘Dalíland’ to ‘Butcher’s Crossing’ (Photos)

At first pass, “The Woman King” recalls

"We Met in Virtual Reality" explores socializing by avatar

“We Met in Virtual Reality” takes a unique approach to documentary by filming on the platform VR Chat and interviewing users through their avatars. Filmmaker Joe Hunting puts the emphasis less on technology and more on the search for human connection.

"We Met in Virtual Reality" takes a

Global

1 in custody, Toronto police looking for second suspect in attempted carjacking – Toronto

One person is in custody and police are looking for a second following an attempted carjacking in Toronto’s east end early Saturday morning.

Toronto police say the attempted robbery took place around 1:30 a.m. in the Morningside Avenue and Staines Road area.

Officers say no one was injured, but a firearm was found at the scene.

The vehicle was also recovered.

One person has been arrested, and police are still looking for a second.

No suspect description has been released.

CARJACKING:
Morningside Ave & Staines Rd
– reports of an attempted carjacking
– police o/s
– officers have 1 person in custody
– a firearm has been recovered
– a second suspect still outstanding
– vehicle recovered
– no reported injuries
– ongoing investigation#GO1757973
^al

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 10, 2022

One person is in custody and police

Trending

Although Kylie Jenner Dropped Hints, She Is Not Yet Ready To Reveal The Name Of Her 7-Month-Old Baby

Kylie Jenner recently dropped a huge hint, but she’s still not yet ready to reveal the name of her and Travis Scott’s 7-month-old boy after altering it from Wolf.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star explained that she had not altered his name formally or legally during an interview with James Corden on The Late Late Show on Thursday.

His name remains Wolf, according to his passport, but that isn’t going to be his name, said Jenner, 25. We’re merely seething and waiting. He isn’t known as Wolf.

The “Kardashians” actress continued, “Scott, 31, frequently comes up with amazing names and changes the name again, so I’m not quite ready to reveal.” In response to Corden’s 44-year-old advice to focus on one, Jenner said, “We have.”

The reality star said “No” when the late-night presenter questioned whether the moniker still had an animal connection. After welcoming daughter Stormi four years prior, Jenner gave birth to her second child in February.

The beauty entrepreneur gave her child the name Wolf at first, but the following month she updated her Instagram fans. The Hulu star shared via Stories in March that “WE JUST REALLY DIDN’T Think LIKE IT WAS HIM.” FYI OUR SON’S NAME ISN’T WOLF ANYMORE.

By April, Jenner admitted to Extra that she was hesitant to share her baby’s name out of concern that she would change it again. Simply because I keep spotting wolves everywhere, I felt the need to share. Jenner has also kept her son’s pictures to herself, failing to include him in social media posts.

She has, though, been open about her postpartum difficulties in interviews, most recently in a trailer for season 2 of The Kardashians.

In the trailer, Kendall Jenner was advised by the founder of Kylie Cosmetics that she should be joyful even though she had been sobbing continually for around three weeks after giving child.

Tech

3D printing with Mars dust? It’s not as silly as it sounds

A team of researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have turned a simulated version of Martian rock into a “high-performance material” that can be fed into a 3D printer.

In a blog post (opens in new tab), the academics explained the development could allow for essential tools and rocket parts to be manufactured on Mars itself, solving a variety of problems associated with the need to transport heavy payloads to the Red Planet.

“In space, 3D printing is something that has to happen if we want to think of a manned mission because we really cannot carry everything from here,” explained Amit Bandyopadhyay, a professor at WSU. “And if we forgot something, we cannot come back to get it.”

3D printing on Mars

Not only are space missions limited by cargo capacity, but carrying heavy materials into space is also exceptionally costly. As explained in the blog post, it costs in the region of $54,000 for a NASA shuttle to place just one kilo of material into Earth’s orbit, let alone transporting it to Mars.

“Anything that can be made in space, or on-planet, would save weight and money — not to mention if something breaks, astronauts would need a way to repair it on site,” wrote WSU.

To create a viable material, the researchers combined simulated Martian rock dust with a titanium alloy, selected for its strength and heat-resistant properties, and heated the materials to over 2,000 degrees Celsius using a high-powered laser.

Although a ceramic material made entirely from Mars dust was found to crack upon cooling, the team discovered that a mixture of 5% rock and 95% alloy was both lighter and stronger than titanium alloy alone.

Given the sums involved, even a small reduction in carry weight could translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars saved. Equally, in future, new techniques may be discovered that allow for materials made up of a larger proportion of Mars-native rock to be used in 3D printing processes.

“[Our technique] gives you a better, higher strength and hardness material, so that it can perform significantly better in some applications,” said Bandyopadhyay.

“This establishes that [creating composites suitable for 3D printing] is possible, and maybe we should think in this direction, because it’s not just making plastic parts which are weak but metal-ceramic composite parts which are strong and can be used for any kind of structural parts.”

A team of researchers at Washington State

Video

Emma Mackey On The “Poetry” Of Frances O’Connor’s ‘Emily’ – Toronto – Deadline

Frances O’Connor always loved Emily Brontë, she said, during a panel discussion about her directorial debut Emily at Deadline’s TIFF studio on Friday.

O’Connor, who also scripted the film about the iconic British author, said her appreciation for the Emily Brontë is at a “very geeky high level, and I just love what she represents. And I’ve always kind of wondered who she was, and at the same time, I’m kind of interested in what it is to be a woman and to be authentic. So, it’s kind of melding those two things together.”

Emily, which has its world premiere in TIFF’s Platform section, imagines the story behind Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights. It follows her struggle within her own family and her fight for artistic independence as a female writer of her time. The film stars Emma Mackey in the titular role, with Alexandra Dowling and Amelia Gething as sisters Charlotte and Anne respectively, and Fionn Whitehead as brother Branwell. Clergyman William Weightman is played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, with Adrian Dunbar as patriarch Patrick Brontë. It is Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut after a career as an actress in films like A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Mansfield Park, and The Conjuring 2.

To play Emily Brontë, Mackey studied biographies of the writer that were suggested to her by O’Connor.

“I like the academic side of reading the biographies that Frances sent to me and the poetry and trying to feed that side of my brain. And then the reality is that when you’re filming, and the script is your bible, that’s what informs us and what makes us do the thing. So, that becomes then the centerpiece. And then you focus on that and hopefully the two intertwine quite nicely.”

The rehearsal process was in-depth as the cast lived together and got to know each other ahead of the shoot. Gething compared the experience to working on a theater production in some ways. As she said, “The whole two-week in the run-up to the film… It’s such a luxury to be able even be able to rehearse and spend time with your fellow castmates and your director, that never happens. So, it felt quite play-esque in that respect. It felt like we had a real ensemble going on, and it was nice to have that build-up. It got us all fizzing.”

For Jackson-Cohen, working with O’Connor was a very positive experience.

“I think Frances captured so beautifully the tightness of this family and the love that was quite clearly so prevalent in that house. I think that was probably the thing that I thought was so beautifully managed in a non-saccharin way. And I just think that there’s something ‘Frances’ with what Frances wrote. It’s three women in that house at that time and the constraints of society and what women were expected to be, or expected to do. And here are these bright forces of nature. Frances captured that so beautifully. And I feel like it’s incredibly truthful to what it must have been like.”

When it came to playing Anne, Gething also noted the value of working with a director who worked on the script and is an experienced actor.

“It was so great because Frances is so involved with the script and feels so much of it so deeply,” Gething said. “I think we all kind of really bonded over so much of the story and there are so many different aspects of the script that Frances, I think, portrayed so well, to do with the anxieties that I know so many people, including myself, feel a lot of time.”

The Deadline Studio is sponsored by dr Liza + the[fix] and Watford Group. Special thanks to our partner Soluna.

Destiny Jackson contributed to this report.

Frances O’Connor always loved Emily Brontë, she

Entertaintment

Bannon is not finished: his ‘precinct strategy’ could alter US elections for years | Steve Bannon

When Steve Bannon heard that he was, after all, going to face charges last week for allegedly ripping off contributors to a multimillion-dollar fund to build a wall on the Mexican border, he claimed it was a sign of his success.

Donald Trump’s former strategist said his arrest on Thursday was an attempt to shut down his War Room pod and video cast because it is driving grassroots support for the former president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and reshaping the Republican party ahead of the midterm elections.

“They are coming after all of us, not only President Trump and myself. I am never going to stop fighting,” he said.

That much was apparent from Bannon’s final broadcast before his arrest as he let loose against the Biden “regime” and “social media oligarchs” he accused of conspiring to fix elections for the Democrats. For Bannon, the endless war is between “people in our posse” and Joe Biden’s “global attack on Maga”.

The audience for this daily assault on reality is not as large as it once was. YouTube blocked the War Room two days after the storming of the Capitol in January 2021 for falsely claiming the presidential election was stolen. Exact numbers of listeners are hard to come by but the programme has been downloaded millions of times and still regularly appears in the top 50 most listened to podcasts in the US, at times reaching No 2 in Apple podcasts about American politics.

From there, the War Room appears to be having an impact far beyond the sight of most Americans, as Bannon pushes a strategy for Maga supporters to infiltrate the Republican party before the midterms and 2024 presidential election.

But now the 68-year-old architect of Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, and briefly a White House aide, could be stopped in his tracks by his legal problems. Bannon already has a conviction for contempt of Congress under his belt for refusing to testify over his role in the attack on the Capitol that could send him to jail for months when he is sentenced in October.

The latest charges put the white nationalist back on the hook for alleged crimes for which he was pardoned by Trump in the last hours of his presidency. That pardon covered only federal crimes and New York state has waded in to accuse Bannon of stealing $1m from donations to the We Build The Wall campaign to help construct an anti-migrant barrier on the US border with Mexico. Two other men have already pleaded guilty in connection with the alleged fraud and face lengthy prison sentences.

Madeline Peltz, who has followed Bannon’s broadcasts for the past two years for Media Matters, which monitors conservative and far-right commentators, said that for all his problems, it would be a mistake to write off the populist agitator.

“The big picture shows that you can never really count out Steve Bannon, both because of the trajectory of his career as well as the status of the movement in which he is a prominent figure,” she said.

Bannon has maintained that status by keeping the myth of the stolen 2020 presidential election front and centre in his broadcasts as key to engineering Trump’s comeback if he runs again in two years.

But Bannon’s most important role at present may be his championing of what is known as the “precinct strategy”, which seeks to take control of the Republican party from the bottom up, getting Trump supporters to take low-ranking, often vacant, positions within local branches. They are then in a position to select more senior party officials and to influence decisions such as the staffing of elections and selection of candidates, and ultimately to move up the party ranks.

Maga activists are also targeting school boards and poll monitoring positions.

“We’re going to take this back village by village … precinct by precinct,” Bannon said in one of his shows pushing the strategy.

ProPublica contacted dozens of Republican party county leaders across the US who reported significant increases in membership applications that appear tied to the precinct strategy.

Peltz said that the consequences could be with America for years.

“If Bannon is successful in shoehorning grassroots activists, which it appears that he is, he could have loyalists controlling the levels of power within the Republican party and, even more concerning, in election administration. That could be almost impossible to unwind for years and decades to come,” she said.

For all that, Bannon faces challenges.

As he sought to remain politically relevant after a brief and turbulent stint as a White House aide at the beginning of Trump’s presidency, Bannon launched a far-right group in Europe, the Movement, that rapidly failed.

He also fell out badly with Trump, with the president saying that his former strategist had “lost his mind” after Bannon was quoted as describing a meeting between one of the president’s sons and a group of Russians as “treasonous”. Bannon backed off but the damage was done and it cost him his position running the far-right Breitbart News after a major financial backer withdrew support over the Trump comments.

Bannon reingratiated himself in part by launching the War Room from a Washington townhouse three years ago to campaign against Trump’s impeachment. Within a few months, it evolved into War Room: Pandemic to exploit uncertainty and fear about the spread of coronavirus. Eventually, it broadened as a platform for Bannon’s rants about whatever was frustrating him.

Bannon’s influence is not without its limits. Most of the candidates he backed in the 2022 Republican primaries lost. Peltz said that he is also financially vulnerable.

“A big weakness is that he’s super desperate for money. His billionaire benefactor, Gou Wengui, declared bankruptcy. Since then the whole show has turned into a big rightwing direct-to-consumer ad for a variety of scammy projects, including gold, MyPillow, satellite cellphones, prepper supplies. That’s a sign that he’s not in a good position,” she said.

Then there is the prospect of prison. He would not be able to broadcast the War Room from his cell, although others might hold the fort if he was serving a relatively short spell in jail. A longer prison sentence of several years, which is quite possible if he is convicted on the fraud charges, would be a different matter.

Still, Peltz said that a prison sentence could bolster Bannon’s credibility on the right. “He ultimately will be a bigger hero among the Maga crowd than ever, and I think that his sort of profile in American politics could take off from there,” she said.

When Steve Bannon heard that he was,

Movies

Review: ‘Barbarian’ gleefully messes with horror customs

“Barbarian” starts at night with a heavy downpour and a thunderclap. So far, so good, for what seems to be a classic horror movie. Hold onto your ponchos.

Some two hours later you will have seen virtually every horror convention —- from doors slamming on their own to weird monsters with mommy issues and subterranean torture rooms — ingeniously messed about with. Even the title is a misdirection.

“Barbarian” marks the auspicious feature film debut of director-writer Zach Cregger, someone well-versed in film tropes and with a subtle skill at social satire approaching Jordan Peele levels. He will also somehow make you laugh hard in oases of humor before the dread reappears.

It starts on a rainy middle-of-the-night street of a half-ruined section of Detroit when a young woman (Georgina Campbell) finds her Airbnb-rented house weirdly occupied by a stranger (Bill Skarsgård.) “I don’t know what the protocol for all this is,” he tells her. Their little awkward dance — checking booking receipts, offering to sleep on the couch — seems to point to a tiny tale of gender roles and microagressions. Yet somehow it will evolve into a hair-on-fire horror flick with eyeball-gouged skulls.

Make no mistake: Cregger is playing with us every step of the way. Casting Skarsgård as the is-he-a-sweetie-or-not comes colored by his role as Pennywise in “It,” and even the film’s setting is a slight-of-hand — a bombed out section of Detroit with the Airbnb home in its center was actually filmed in Bulgaria.

Later, the arrival of Justin Long — playing a slimy TV figure of a new show tellingly called “Chip off the Block” — clouds things further, he being an actor long associated with good-guy comedy. Cregger is somehow leaning into Hollywood conventions even outside his own movie.

As good as the casting is, it is the house that is the real star, nicely appointed but cookie-cutter, in a sea of torn up and decayed homes. It has an alarming basement with a horrific room that has a soiled bed, a bucket and a camera. But there’s more: An even creepier cavernous space below. You can almost hear Cregger cackling as our heroes face TWO horror-film ready basements. “You’re safe,” says one. “I don’t think I am,” another replies. (They’re not, by the way, of course.)

One running joke is that Campbell spends so much time trying to escape the house and yet smashing her way back into it moments later that more than one person in the audience at a recent screening loudly implored her to get into her Jeep Cherokee and just drive away.

All along are reaches for real social issues — redlining, misogyny, character redemption, gun accidents and police misconduct, among them — that elevate the film from genre-gazing silliness. There may be a monster inside the house, but forces outside that structure keep that monster firmly inside.

“Barbarian” is firmly of it’s time — online house rental bookings, smart-phone flashlights and real estate square footage listings — and yet timeless, like an arm ripped off and used as a club. It was predictable and yet was impossible to predict. It’s worth booking one night soon.

“Barbarian,” a 20th Century Studios release that lands in theaters Friday, is rated R for “some strong violence and gore, disturbing material, language throughout and nudity.” Running time: 103 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Online: https://www.20thcenturystudios.com

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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“Barbarian” starts at night with a heavy

Film

2022 Emmys preview, ‘Shy’ and for the Treat: a Stevie Wonder masterpiece

This week on The Treatment, Elvis talks all things Emmys with Lorraine Ali of The LA Times and Clayton Davis from Variety. Next, New York Times theater critic Jesse Green discusses his new unconventional biography of and co-written with the late Broadway composer Mary Rodgers “Shy.” And for The Treat, musician and writer Nabil Ayers talks about the surprise Stevie Wonder album that was his masterpiece.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis talks

Meghan Markle Reportedly Wasn’t Invited to Join Prince Harry at Balmoral Castle

Prior to Queen Elizabeth II’s death on September 8, it was reported that Prince Harry made his way to Balmoral Castle to visit his grandmother without Meghan Markle. Unfortunately, his plane landed after the queen had already passed away at 96 years old.

According to a new report by Entertainment Tonight, the Duchess of Sussex was not invited to join the royal family at the holiday estate. “It’s understood that the family wanted Prince Harry to be there, even though he was unable to get to Balmoral in time to see his grandmother,” royal expert Katie Nicholl said. “But Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was not, we understand, invited to join the family. She has said she will go to Balmoral another time. But I think it is quite significant that Prince Harry traveled to Balmoral on his own without his wife.”

While these statements feed into reports of a royal rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family, it should be noted that Meghan wasn’t the only one who stayed behind. Kate Middleton remained in Windsor while her husband traveled to Scotland.

While now King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort, and Princess Anne were already in Scotland prior to the queen’s death, Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and Sophie, the Countess of Sussex, all joined Charles ahead of Prince Harry’s arrival. “This is a family in mourning now, and of course, the queen was a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother,” Nicholl said.

Kate Middleton was photographed driving in Windsor, England, on September 9.

JAMES WHATLING/MEGA

In his first official address to the Commonwealth as king, Charles passed on his former titles to Will and dubbed Kate the first Princess of Wales since the late Princess Diana. “As my heir, William now assumes the Scottish titles, which have meant so much to me. He succeeds me as Duke of Cornwall and takes on the responsibilities for the Duchy of Cornwall, which I have undertaken for more than five decades,” the king said on September 9.

Prior to Queen Elizabeth II's death on

What to Watch

Giselle and Prince Edward Are Back to Enchant Audiences in First Trailer

During the D23 “Studio Showcase, Day 1: Celebrate the Magic of Disney and Pixar” panel on Friday, September 9th, 2022, the trailer for Disenchantedt, a sequel to the 2007 live-action and animated movie Enchanted, was released. The upcoming sequel will be released for streaming on Disney+ just in time for Thanksgiving, on November 24th, 2022.

The straight to Disney+ movie will see the return of Amy Adams as Giselle, James Marsden as Prince Edward, Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip, and Idina Menzel as Nancy Tremaine. The cast will also include newcomers Maya Rudolph as Malvina Monroe, Yvette Nicole Brown as Rosaleen, Jayma Mays as Ruby, and Gabriella Baldacchino as Morgan Philip. The sequel is set a decade after the original movie’s “happily ever after,” and sees Giselle questioning her happiness (and affecting everyone around in her life in the process).

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Disenchanted Cast Appeared On Stage at D23

To celebrate the upcoming release of the movie, Menzel, Marsden, Rudolph, Brown, and Mays appeared on-stage during the “Studio Showcase” panel, and each got the chance to comment on their respective roles in the upcoming movie.

Menzel updated the audience on what Tremaine and Edward have been up to in Andalasia since the conclusion of Enchanted. “They’re in couples therapy, but it’s working out,” Menzel joked, before she and Marsden agreed that they had been taking dance lessons, slaying trolls, and learning to cook. “We’ve been being happy,” concluded Marsden.

“It was really fun,” Rudolph said during the Disenchanted announcement during the Studio Showcase panel. “I’m a huge fan of the original Enchanted. I can’t believe that I got to be a part of this.” However, Rudolph did say that playing an antagonistic role against main character Giselle came with its own challenges: “It’s not easy being mean to Amy Adams,” she said. “Like, not at all.”

Nevertheless, Rudolph stated that they found a way to make it work, “We had so much fun together, and made this fun meal out of being as nasty to each other as we could be, and it was a dream,” she said. Brown agreed and saif that she had plenty of wicked fun playing her role. “Just imagine grown up mean girls – mean women,” said Brown.

Disenchanted is directed by Adam Shankman and features music by Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid). It will be available for streaming on Disney+ this Thanksgiving, on November 25, 2022.

During the D23 “Studio Showcase, Day 1:

Awards

Don’t Look Up, Black-ish, Pachinko Among Winners – The Hollywood Reporter

Don’t Look Up, Black-ish and Pachinko were among the winners of the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes announced Friday from a luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The awards, honoring the craft of screenwriting, featured winners in nine juried categories spanning film and television. These included Don’t Look Up from writer Adam McKay for comedy feature film, The Starling from Matt Harris for drama feature film and Encanto from Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush for family feature film.

On the TV side, Black-ish writer Robb Chavis prevailed for comedy teleplay, Pachinko creator Soo Hugh won for drama teleplay and Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar was tops for limited series, TV movie or special.

Larry Wilmore hosted the event, and presenters included Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Humanitas board president Jenny Bicks. Also honored were the 2020, 2021 and 2022 cohorts of the New Voices Fellowship, David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award and Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award.

The full list of juried winners follows.

CHILDREN’S TELEPLAY
El Deafo, written by Cece Bell and Will McRobb (WINNER)
Karma’s World: “Hair Comes Trouble,” written by Kellie R. Griffin and Halcyon Person
Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love, written by Alex Galatis
The Babysitters Club: “Claudia and the Sad Goodbye,” written by Sascha Rothchild

COMEDY FEATURE FILM
Don’t Look Up, written by Adam McKay (WINNER)
Everything Everywhere All at Once, written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Queen Bees, written by Donald Martin
Tick, Tick…Boom!, written by Steven Levenson

COMEDY TELEPLAY
Abbott Elementary: “Pilot,” written by Quinta Brunson
Black-ish: “If a Black Man Cries in the Woods,” written by Robb Chavis (WINNER)
Somebody Somewhere: “BFD,” written by Hannah Bos & Paul Thureen
The Conners: “Triggered,” written by Lecy Goranson

DOCUMENTARY
End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock, Shannon Kring
Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches, Julia Marchesi
In the Same Breath, Nanfu Wang (WINNER)
Through Our Eyes: “Shelter,” Smriti Mundhra

DRAMA FEATURE FILM
A Hero, written by Asghar Farhadi
CODA, written by Sian Heder
Nine Days, written by Edson Oda
The Starling, written by Matt Harris (WINNER)

DRAMA TELEPLAY
Chicago P.D.: “Burnside,” written by Ike Smith
Pachinko: “Chapter One,” written by Soo Hugh (WINNER)
Queen Sugar: “May 27, 2020,” written by Anthony Sparks
Swagger: “Radicals,” written by Reggie Rock Bythewood & George Dohrmann
This is Us: “The Challenger,” written by Dan Fogelman

FAMILY FEATURE FILM
8-Bit Christmas, written by Kevin Jakubowski
Cinderella, written by Kay Cannon
Encanto, written by Charise Castro Smith & Jared Bush (WINNER)
Spin, written by Carley Steiner and Josh A. Cagan

LIMITED SERIES, TV MOVIE OR SPECIAL
Love Life: “Mia Hines,” written by Rachelle Williams-BenAry & Sam Boyd
Maid: “Snaps,” written by Molly Smith Metzler
Three Months, written by Jared Frieder
Women of the Movement: “Mother and Son,” written by Marissa Jo Cerar (WINNER)

SHORT FILM
Far From the Tree, written by Natalie Nourigat
Girls Are Strong Here, written by Scott Burkhardt (WINNER)
Leap, written by Margaret Nagle
Nona, written by Louis Gonzales

Don’t Look Up, Black-ish and Pachinko were

Music

Aerosmith Celebrate Their 50th Anniversary: Concert Review

In Dazed and Confused, a movie that came out 29 years ago and takes place 17 years earlier in 1976, someone declares that getting Aerosmith tickets is “the top priority of the summer.” Last night (Sept. 8), as summer 2022 drew to a close, Aerosmith was again the hottest ticket around, celebrating their 50th anniversary with great panache in front of a hometown audience at Boston’s Fenway Park, a few blocks from where they started out.

Has time collapsed? How does Steven Tyler, 74, still look and sound as good as he does, hitting the notes and making every lick of stage patter sound like a dirty joke? “Let’s pull one from our back pocket,” he asided to fellow Toxic Twin Joe Perry before a blistering “Mama Kin.” Later, he yelled, “Give it up for our 50th annifuckingversary!”

This is technically Aerosmith’s 52nd annifuckingversary, but the Fenway show was delayed for two years by, well, you know. Maybe all that time we spent huddled inside watching old movies really did send us into a loop, trapping us in our personal 1976 or 1993 or wherever we took the most comfort, as the seasons withered around us? Steven Tyler doesn’t look like a 74-year-old so much as a man who has been 37 for 37 years.

(Credit: Nick Whitehouse)

But no: Time has not stopped. Anyone who watched Vince Neil wander through Mötley Crüe’s show at Fenway last month can confirm the clock keeps ticking — hard. But Tyler, Perry and the rest of Aerosmith have reached a detente with time by just refusing to engage: The Fountain of Youth seems to be play.

Aerosmith are a band that plays, in every sense — they look like they’re having fun, yes, but they’re also playing the hell out of those guitars and drums and yeah, that harmonica. A lot of bands of their station and standing can still deliver perfectly serviceable shows that play like jukebox musicals, with sumptuous help from tight schedules, sweetening and extra musicians. Aerosmith had extra hands on deck Thursday — the saxman was a cool touch — but you could see the core bandmates still pushing themselves, and experimenting. It’s exquisite.

They demonstrated their tightness in the opening numbers — the on-the-nose “Back in the Saddle” and “Same Old Song and Dance” — but sounded even better when they loosened it up with fun, riskier takes on old classics. How are they still finding new ways to play “Sweet Emotion”? Thursday’s extended and exploratory “Dazed and Confused”-style opening was spellbinding. Subtle little niceties jumped out everywhere, like hammering the “Love in an Elevator” piano plinks extra hard to bring up its there-if-you-look Beatles connections. Always, they wore their love of blues on their flowing, glittery sleeves. Bobo got honked.

Basic notes for rock history: the weather was perfect. Perry and Tyler said the show set a Fenway attendance record, and the tough parking situation bore that out. Hours beforehand, Tyler visited the Boston apartment where the band lived and recorded “Dream On” half a century ago. The show was held on the same night Aerosmith officially outlived the Queen of England.

At one point, the most Boston thing ever happened: the crowd adopted the ballpark chant LET’S GO AEROSMITH [CLAP, CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP]. That wasn’t the most Boston thing though — not quite. The most Boston thing was when Tyler appeared on top of Fenway’s legendary Green Monster to play “Dream On” on a grand piano, fireworks flaring above him.

The show came after some difficult months for the band. Tyler had a by-all-accounts successful stint in rehab in the spring after years of sobriety, but there’s a weird situation with drummer Joey Kramer, who is suing his bandmates and also lost his wife Linda earlier this year. Drum tech John Douglas is filling in, very capably, until the band’s relationship with Kramer is sorted out.

Aerosmith picks up again next week with a Las Vegas residency it started back in April 2019, before COVID knocked that train off its tracks. A clear crowd favorite at those shows, and on Thursday, was “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” improbably Aerosmith’s biggest hit.

When they came out with that power ballad, a love song for a blockbuster asteroid-coming-to-kill-us-all movie in 1998, it felt to fans like myself, who grew up on “Walk This Way,” like a sappy but forgivable victory lap on a fantastic run that was probably winding down. Little did we know that the song marked almost the exact midpoint in Aerosmith’s career … or at least their career so far. Of course, they’re still here playing with time, all these years after the apocalypse. See them while you still can. You’ll die before they do.

In Dazed and Confused, a movie that

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Trending

What Jonathan Groff Told Lea Michele Before ‘Funny Girl’ Debut: Interview – Hollywood Life

Lea Michele participates in the Empire State Building's 2019 holiday light show kickoff, in New YorkLea Michele and Empire State Building 2019 Holiday Light Show, New York, USA - 03 Dec 2019 — Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Lea Michele attends the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York, USA, 12 June 2022. The annual awards honor excellence in the Broadway theatre.
75th Annual Tony Awards Radio City Music Hall New York, USA - 12 Jun 2022 — Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Jonathan Groff, 37, shared the words of encouragement he texted to bestie Lea Michele, 36, the morning of her Funny Girl debut on Broadway. “I was texting that morning, I was driving up from Pennsylvania where I live, my mom and I were coming up to see her,” he told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, on September 9 as he was reuniting with his former costars. “And I said, ‘it feels like Christmas morning.’ And we FaceTimed the night before, and I said, ‘it feels like Christmas Eve’, like when you’re in anticipation of the big day,” he continued. The Glee actor added that the night of the show, “we watched a girl become a woman in front of our very eyes.” Funny Girl is a musical on Broadway by Isobel Lennart. It has returned to Broadway only a few times and most recently starred Beanie Feldstein, 29, who Lea replaced this year.

Lea Michele & Jonathan Groff on the red carpet. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock)

Lea made her debut as Fanny Brice on the Broadway stage on Sept. 6 and captivated the audience, as she received more than four standing ovations for her performance, Deadline reported. That night, a fan shared a video of Jonathan standing and applauding his former Glee costar while she seemingly pointed at him from the stage. He bowed and covered his mouth in astonishment during the adorable clip.

The new Funny Girl star took to Instagram on Sept. 7, to thank all of her supporters and celebrate the evening. Lea wrote, “I want to say thank you whole heartedly for the support following my first performance on the broadway stage as Fanny Brice. I know I’ve said it before, but joining this cast has truly been the greatest honor. I am so grateful to every person involved in this production. (@bruglikas / @broadwaybruce_ @funnygirlbwy ).” In a separate post, shared on Sept. 8, the 36-year-old shared a set of photos with many friends that came to see her performance including director Ryan Murphy, Jonathan, and more. She captioned the sweet photo, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”

When Beanie took on the role in 2021, it marked a historic moment, as it was the first time the musical returned to the NYC stage since Barbra Streisand, 80, originated the role in 1964. On July 11, Lea reacted to the official announcement of her casting in the hit musical on Instagram. She wrote, “A dream come true is an understatement. I’m so incredibly honored to join this amazing cast and production and return to the stage playing Fanny Brice on Broadway. See you September 6th. @funnygirlbwy #FUNNYGIRL.”

View gallery Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock Jonathan Groff, 37,

Tech

Bill Maher Jokes That Queen Elizabeth’s Death Was a ‘Sad Day for Inbreeding’ (Video)

On Friday’s “Real Time,” Bill Maher had plenty of jokes about Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who died Thursday at 96. And in addition to those (pretty funny) jokes, he also wondered if her death means the end of the deferential reverence British citizens have for her.

“You all know the big story. Sad day for inbreeding,” Maher joked as he pretended to bow his head in a show of respect. “Queen Elizabeth died at 96, they say the cause of death was Meghan Markle’s podcast.”

“I like the queen, I do. Her personal estate they say was almost half a billion dollars, used to be worth a billion. That’s what you get for listening to Matt Damon,” Maher continued, referring to Damon’s hilariously ill-timed Super Bowl ads for cryptocurrency brokers.

“The White House is saying for a long time they didn’t know if Biden was gonna go to the funeral. Finally said just a few hours ago he is. I was not in doubt. Biden? Funeral? It’s like when the dog hears your keys,” Maher added. “No, Biden sent his condolences to the people of England and said ‘if we can do anything, we’re here to be your friend.’ And Trump also sent condolences and said he could bury her in his golf course if they want.

“Condolences are coming in from all over, of course the British people, very upset. This is — Elton John is writing a new song, it’s called ‘Mustard in the Fridge.’ Well, he’s noting the fact that Diana was 36 and the Queen is almost 100, mustard in the fridge. Seems to me you lived your life like mustard in the fridge,” Maher said, parodying John’s song “Candle in the Wind,” originally about Marilyn Monroe and rewritten as a tribute to Princess Diana after her 1997 death.

“We’re all upset. I called Buckingham Palace to give my condolences, they said: ‘New Queen, who dis?” Maher cracked.

Later in the show during the panel guest portion, Maher revisited the topic. “I made lots of jokes about the Queen. I noticed, whenever if was a British person, even the ones you see who are kind of classic, Sharon Osborne was here once, Piers Morgan, Andrew Sullivan. The British people, it’s not funny. It’s like ‘nope, don’t call her the old bag.’ Whatever it’s like, ‘noooo.’ They really, even the ones who came to America, British people, they have a thing.

“My question is, is it just for this lady? I think it died with her. I think that reverence, I think she was the last one. And now, the monarchy, I’m not gonna say it’s going away, but I think that ‘no don’t say anything about her,’ I think that’s gonna go,” he said.

Watch the whole monologue above now.

On Friday’s “Real Time,” Bill Maher had

Video

Gabrielle Union Talks LGBT Rights and New A24 Film ‘The Inspection’

In the Toronto International Film Festival premiere “The Inspection,” Gabrielle Union plays Inez French, a woman who cruelly rejects and kicks out her gay son Ellis (Jeremy Pope), forcing him to enlist in the army. The role stands in large contrast to Union’s own public persona, as the actor has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.

“Going back to the beginning — to try and find a way in to a very complicated woman — ‘what do we have in common?’ When I would assume, ‘not a damn thing,’” Union said about her process playing the part at the Variety Studio, presented by King’s Hawaiian at TIFF. “When you are constantly chasing worthiness you will lose yourself, and everything is on the table and you don’t always make the best decisions. That was the commonality. It didn’t manifest itself in my life from rejecting my children, but it’s manifested in other ways, so we had that in common.”

Union was joined in the Variety Studio by Pope and director Elegance Bratton. During the conversation, Union, who is the stepmother to trans teen Zaya Wade through her marriage to Dwyane Wade, spoke about how the film has caused her to reexamine how she can better support her child and advocate for the LGBTQ community.

“We wrapped a long time ago, but the work and the healing and the discovering who we are through character is still ongoing,” Union said. “Conversations I had last night after the film with my husband, just reexamining what more we can do, not only in our household, but how can we shift how we reach people? And I’m still finding it.”

When asked how she hopes this film will advance parents’ conversations about LGBTQ issues with their kids, she said the film reflects a common phenomenon she sees where parents only accept their children when they’re essentially identical versions of themselves — something that “The Inspection” pushes against.

“A lot of parents think, ‘If my children aren’t mini versions of me then they won’t be safe, they won’t be deemed worthy’ … Hopefully through this film people will see themselves, and it might not be the parts of themselves that they are proud of or that they like,” Union said. “Do the research into learning who your kids are and being okay with they don’t have to be little mini versions of you. The twinning thing is only cute on Instagram.”

“The Inspection” premiered Sept. 8 at Toronto Film Festival. A24 will release the film on Nov. 18.

In the Toronto International Film Festival premiere

Entertaintment

Queen Elizabeth II in four factual programs

As Queen Elizabeth II’s death at the age of 96 is mourned around the world, global broadcasters are marking the monarch’s passing with a range of programming. With 2022 also serving as the year of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, commemorating the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne, a host of projects featuring rare archive and access to the Queen and the British Royal Family were also featured on broadcasters’ schedules, with many of them available to be streamed now.

Below, Realscreen revisits four recent programs spotlighting the late Queen.

Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen
(BBC Studios for BBC One, BBC iPlayer)

Members of the British Royal Family have been filming each other since the 1920s, but for decades these hundreds of reels of homemade recordings have been held privately by the Royal Collection in the vaults of the British Film Institute (BFI). For this documentary (pictured), Queen Elizabeth granted the BBC unprecedented access to the footage, including home movies shot by her, her parents, her late husband Prince Philip and others, which shed light on her journey from childhood to her coronation in 1953 at the age of 27, following the death of her father, King George VI.

BBC Studios viewed more than 400 reels of film during production, discovering lost newsreel footage given to the queen as well as behind-the-scenes recordings of state events that are believed to have been privately commissioned by the royals. The filmmakers also listened to over 300 of the queen’s speeches across eight decades. The resulting documentary relies primarily on her own voice and words, accompanied by newsreel audio.
—Justin Anderson

The Real Windsors
(Spun Gold for Channel 4)

Featuring interviews with many of those who have worked with the Royal Family over the years (some of whom have never spoken on camera before), as well as rarely seen archival material, this 3 x 60-minute docuseries examines the extent to which the public images of the monarch and monarchs-in-waiting align with their private selves.

The Queen herself is the focus of the first installment, which investigates how her dedication to the Windsor “brand” entailed a good deal of difficult, behind-the-scenes decision-making in the face of the many controversies involving members of “the Firm” over the decades. —Andrew Tracy

Queen of the World
(Oxford Films for ITV)

This 2018 film offers a look at Queen Elizabeth II’s role on the global stage and as head of the Commonwealth, as well as her legacy and the future of the throne.

Directed by Matt Hill, Queen of the World was filmed over more than a year, with privileged access to the Queen, her family and her staff, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of her life and work at the time of the 65th anniversary of her coronation. The film also makes use of footage from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s private film archives, as well as treasures of the Royal Collection.
—Frederick Blichert

The Coronation
(Atlantic Films for BBC, ABC Australia and Smithsonian Channel)

The Coronation, another project from 2018, reveals the story of the Crown Jewels — which form part of the Royal Collection, consisting of 140 items and 23,000 precious stones — and the ancient ceremony for which they are used through cutting-edge, high-resolution footage. The Crown Jewels serve as symbols of the relationship between the sovereign and the people, and the duties and responsibilities of leadership.

The hour-long film also shares Elizabeth II’s memories of the 1953 ceremony, as well as the coronation of her father King George VI in 1937, while also exploring the story of St. Edward’s Crown, which was destroyed after the English Civil War and remade for the coronation of Charles II in 1661. —Daniele Alcinii

Movies

"The Little Mermaid" Trailer Is Finally Here, And Halle Bailey Proves She Was Born For This Role

After watching The Little Mermaid trailer, I want to be part of this world!

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After watching The Little Mermaid trailer, I

Film

Freaks And Shrieks: 10 Back to School Horror Films Streaming on Hulu Right Now

Looking for something to watch tonight? Whether you’re a student in the middle of the back-to-school madness or just an average Joe who loves the smell of school supplies, this list will help you get over those end of Summer blues. Below are 10 of the best scholastic-adjacent horror films available to stream on Hulu right now!

10. American Psycho 2: American Girl

Premise: A young forensic psychology student is determined to get a coveted TA position with the department’s renowned professor. Her past trauma leads her into an unhealthy pursuit.

This choice may be born of nostalgia as opposed to quality, but it deserves to be here. If only because the entire plot is Mila Kunis killing off her classmates who are in competition for a TA position she wants even though she isn’t qualified or eligible, which is objectively hilarious. Also, William Shatner is her Professor.

9. Swim Fan

Premise: The new girl at school has an infatuation with the star swimmer. When he indulges her attention, her infatuation becomes an obsession. He doesn’t even know he’s already in over his head.

For a teen horror film, Swin Fan is highly sophisticated. The cast delivers solid performances and the horror is anchored in plausibility (for the most part). There’s no hidden figure behind a mask and no reliance on gore or cheap scares. If this movie were released today, I wonder if we wouldn’t see the tables turn on who the audience perceived as the villain. #GaslightGirlboss

8. Urban Legend

Premise: A group of college students living on a campus with a dark past suddenly start being killed off in the style of several infamous Urban Legends. Can they survive the brutal attacker or will they become legends themselves?

This is where you get your dark academia fix. What makes Urban Legend work is its commitment. The filmmakers clearly love American Folklore. I mean, it’s the name of the class the characters are taking that introduces the idea of an Urban legend (looking at you Scream 2). I’m convinced this film was trying to introduce new ideation of folk horror, and it almost succeeded.

7. Freaks of Nature

Premise: A town that already has a healthy population of vampires, zombies, and humans, is suddenly invaded by aliens. It’s up to the factions of high school students, monster or otherwise, to protect the town.

For fans of classic monsters, this one’s for you. Freaks of Nature (2015) is a lesser-known teen horror film that probably didn’t get much attention because it came out in a year that saw a pretty amazing lineup of horror film premieres. While it leans more into comedy than horror, it delivers on the monster lore. The cast is also stacked with recognizable 20-something-aged actors who were just about to graduate out of their teen roles.

6. Final Destination

Premise: A class field trip to Paris is derailed by a premonition of the plane’s explosion. When the premonition comes true, the surviving students are left to deal with their grief and the death that is still coming for them.

Final Destination is in a category all its own. For all the supernatural horror films out there, there is nothing quite like a Final Destination movie. The kills start out fairly plausible and become more outrageous by the minute. A film like this had never really been made before, at least not one that wasn’t loaded with religious iconography. The idea of death itself being the antagonist of a horror movie is an exciting gamble that really pays off.

5. The Faculty

Premise: A high school is infiltrated by a parasitic new creature that is turning the teachers hyper-aggressive. An unlikely band of students forms to get to the source of the infestation.

Robert Rodriquez asks a fundamental question with The Faculty: what if the Breakfast Club was a sci-fi horror film? The answer is a fast-paced alien takeover plot that never ceases to entertain. Throw in an Usher cameo and a thinly veiled anti-drug campaign and you have one of the best scholastic-themed horror films of the 20th century.

4. Disturbing Behavior

Premise: Steve is forced to relocate with his family to a new town after the death of his brother. When the bizarre perkiness of the study body appears to lead to a body count, Steve is forced to flee with the few friends he’s made and avoid being killed, or worse, recruited.

Do you hear Harvey Danger when you look at the poster, or did you have a normal childhood? Disturbing Behavior is a highly underrated but much beloved 90’s jam that centers on high school as the horror element instead of the setting. Am I a sucker for buying Katie Holmes as a disgruntled punk teen with a nose ring? Maybe. Do I care? Not when “Monster Side” starts playing. Touching on themes of paranoia, mental illness, and puberty, this is a great watch for those fresh to high school.

3. Black Christmas (2006)

Premise: A group of sorority sisters who are stuck on campus for winter break is terrorized by a killer hidden somewhere in their house.

Whether you’re watching the OG or the 2019 remake, Black Christmas is a must-see. Personally, my go-to rewatch is Black Xmas (2006), which doubled down on absurdity with its addition of a motive for the original killer- and not an easily digestible one either, pun intended. If you’re reading this list it means you might be in college, and you may already be planning your winter break plans. This film will give you plenty of motivation to go home for the holidays.

2. Happy Death Day

Premise: A young coed with shallow interests finds herself stuck reliving her birthday over and over again. With each day comes a new terrible way to die, and a new theory as to what, or who is killing her.

Happy Death Day is a gateway horror film for general audiences to engage with the genre on their terms and it passes with flying colors. See what I did there? This movie is very polished and follows a character arch of a popular blonde who proves herself to be capable and charming in the aftermath of having to face her death ad infinitum. The evil lovechild of Groundhog Day and Legally Blonde is a crowdpleaser you can put on in almost any company.

1. Scream 2

Premise: In the wake of a tragedy at the premiere of a horror film based on their lives, a group of survivors has to reunite and learn from the past to track down the new killer.

The top spot goes to arguably one of the best and most consistent franchises in horror. You might have expected to see Scream on this list instead of the sequel, but we can’t pass up the opportunity to discuss the high-camp masterpiece that is Scream 2. This movie took everything audiences loved about the first film and exclusively wrote to those strengths.

Unhinged self-references? Check. Over the top Greek life meets Greek tragedy metaphors? Check. Bold Gale Weathers hair choice? Check. The film has a three-minute scene where the characters sit around a film theory class discussing whether sequels can be better than the original. How could this not be number 1?

What are you watching tonight after a long first week back to school? What’s your favorite high school horror movie? Let us know over on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord. Heck, follow Nightmare on Film Street on TikTok for more horror movie recommendations while you’re at it.

Not a social media fan? Get more horror delivered straight to your inbox by joining the Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter.

Looking for something to watch tonight? Whether

Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King and 4 Other Trailers You Missed

Today’s trailer roundup includes Paramount+’s Tulsa King, HBO Max’s Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Season 3, Netflix’s The Good Nurse, Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt and Amazon’s Freevee’s High School.

Tulsa King on Paramount+ follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters, to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet. The series premieres on Nov. 13.

After a five-year time jump, Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Season 3 sees the civil war over and the advent of a new era of superheroes and supervillains as a result of a cultural revolution. The first three episodes will premiere on Oct. 6.

The Good Nurse premieres on Netflix on Oct. 26. Suspicious that her colleague (Eddie Redmayne) is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse (Jessica Chastain) risks her own life to uncover the truth in this gripping thriller based on true events.

In Reasonable Doubt, Raamla Mohamed leads the show’s all-Black writers room and executive produces alongside Kerry Washington and Pilar Savone for Simpson Street and Larry Wilmore via Wilmore Films. Washington also directs the first episode. The series is the first scripted drama from Onyx Collective.

Based on artists Tegan and Sara Quin’s New York Times best-selling memoir High School, the series of the same name is described as a story of your own identity—a journey made even more complicated when you have a twin whose own struggle and self-discovery so closely mimic your own. Told through a backdrop of ‘90s grunge and rave culture, the series weaves between parallel and discordant memories of twin sisters growing up down the hall from one another. The series premieres Oct. 11 on Amazon’s Freevee.

Today’s trailer roundup includes Paramount+’s Tulsa King,

What to Watch

Is ‘Sun Cry Moon’ on Netflix? Where to Watch the Movie

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

Great news! “Sun Cry Moon” is available to watch on Netflix USA!

Date Added: 9th September 2022

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘Sun Cry Moon’ on Amazon (paid link)

Description:

A man in a dark place serendipitously meets a woman and her ailing mother on a bridge, starting off a weekend that will change all three lives forever.

Certificate: TV-14
Parents strongly cautioned. May not be suitable for ages 14 and under.

Year: 2019

Duration: 1hr 22m

Audio: Afrikaans [Original]

Subtitles: English

Cast and Crew

Director: Phillip Rademeyer

Cast: Elize Cawood, Pietie Beyers, Anneke Weidemann

Not yet rated

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Available on Netflix USA!

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Awards

‘Black-ish’, ‘Pachinko’, ‘Encanto’, More – Deadline

The writers behind ABC’s Black-ish, Apple TV+’s Pachinko, Disney’s Oscar-winning Encanto and Adam McKay’s satire Don’t Look Up are among the winners of the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes. The honors were bestowed Friday afternoon in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

Humanitas Prizes have been handed out since 1973 to empower television and film writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. Writers across 10 categories receive $10,000 cash prizes.

Other winners included Nanfu Wang for her documentary In the Same Breath, Matt Harris for writing the script for Ted Melfi’s The Starling starring Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline, and Marissa Jo Cerar for penning the “Mother and Son” episode of ABC’s anthology series Women of the Movement.

Also during the ceremony emceed by Larry Wilmore, the Humanitas organization presented Filmmakers for Ukraine with the Kieser Award and Starz president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch with the Voice for Change Award for the network’s #TakeTheLead initiative. There were also recipients of the Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award and the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award, which go to collegiate screenwriters.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Children’s Teleplay

El Deafo: Written by Cece Bell and Will McRobb

Comedy Feature Film

Don’t Look Up: Written by Adam McKay

Comedy Teleplay

Black-ish: “If A Black Man Cries in the Woods…”: Written by Robb Chavis

Documentary

In the Same Breath: Nanfu Wang

Drama Feature Film

The Starling: Written by Matt Harris

Drama Teleplay

Pachinko: “Chapter One”: Written by Soo Hugh

Family Feature

Encanto: Written by Charise Castro Smith & Jared Bush

Limited Series, TV Movie, or Special

Women of the Movement: “Mother and Son”: Written by Marissa Jo Cerar

Short Film

Girls Are Strong Here: Written by Scott Burkhardt

Web Series

The Disappointments: Written by Rich Burns

The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship

Hayley Tibbenham

Paul Coleman

Laura Valín-Peñalba

The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship

V Marks

Rafael Diez

Tex Gresham

New Voices Fellows

Albert M. Chan, Devon Kerr, Maurizio Ledezma, Myra Aquino, and Shannon TL Kearns (2022)

Andrew Bluestone, Brian Stampnitsky, Emma Soren, John Lowe, and Katherine Ruppe (2021)

Cara Danielle Brown, Chris Gibbons, Eric Anthony Glover, Eugene Ramos, and Lena Parodi (2020)

The writers behind ABC’s Black-ish, Apple TV+’s

Music

First Stream: Nicki Minaj Drops New ‘Super Freaky Girl’ Remix, John Legend’s ‘Legend’ Is Out, Megan Thee Stallion Teams Up With Lil Kim & More | Billboard News

This week, Nicki Minaj gave us the ‘Queen Mix’ of her new track ‘Super Freaky Girl’, John Legend drops his new album title ‘Legend’, Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Kim join forces for a remix of ‘Plan B’ and more!

This week, Nicki Minaj gave us the

Charcoal | Film Threat

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022 REVIEW! Set in the countryside of Brazil, writer-director Carolina Markowicz’s Charcoal follows the daily lives of a family consumed in poverty. Irene (Maeve Jinkings) lives in a loveless marriage staying together for the sake of her son, Jean (Jean Costa), and her aging father (Benedito Alvez). When presented with the opportunity to escape poverty at the cost of her father’s life, Irene and her family must face the consequences of their actions in this naturalistic family drama.

Early on, Irene is presented with the option to mercy kill her father in exchange for a large sum of money. Beyond the killing, there is another caveat to receiving the small fortune: Irene and her family must house a renowned drug kingpin, Don Miguel (Cesar Bordon), until he can flee Brazil. Seeking solace and guidance from the church, Irene decides to go through with the horrific act and thus begins her family’s struggle abiding a fugitive.

Don Miguel’s life of isolation is a strain on everyone, including himself. Irene’s husband, Jario (Romulo Braga), is at constant odds with Miguel, fearing that he will discover his secrets. Jean begins to concern Irene as he starts taking after Miguel’s mobster ways, seeking out drugs and acting aggressively towards his peers. Tension builds as the family feels the weight of their personal demons catalyzed by their newfound wealth and the sins it took to acquire it.

“…Irene decides to go through with the horrific act and thus begins her family’s struggle abiding a fugitive.”

The complex characters of Charcoal are brought to life thanks to a plethora of subtle acting choices. Jinkings is outstanding, portraying a woman willing to kill her father for money yet concerned for her child’s future. The actor’s balance of strength and vulnerability makes the audience empathic to the character’s struggles regardless of their ramifications. Jean Costa, Romulo Braga, and Cesar Bordon give solid performances, but Jenkings performance anchors the movie to the burdens of Irene and how she hopes to overcome them.

Considering this is the directorial debut of Markowicz, the film shows plenty of promise. The movie is almost entirely character-driven, relishing small moments. Irene yearns to be wanted by Miguel; Jean begins to imitate the hiding gangster; Jario’s insecurity in his masculinity. The filmmaker strikes a unique balance between internal and external conflicts creating one another, all blending to create a climactic end to this family drama with hints of dark comedy.

As a whole, this drama makes an interesting commentary from opening to closing. Markowicz covers family, poverty, sexuality, masculinity, femininity, and religion while rarely leaving Irene’s home. It’s a strong film with excellent performances, but it sometimes lacks the purpose and buildup to make the most emotional moments stick. Subtly is a powerful tool throughout the plot, yet some themes and motivations are too faint. Regardless of its shortcomings, Charcoal stands as an artistic character study, honed in on the imperfections that make people fascinating. Sure, the story’s circumstances are extreme, but the performances and characters make this drama worth exploring.

Charcoal screened at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.