With a new BBC radio series now launched, Courtney Love is once again proving the power of the adage “go large or go home.”
In a wide ranging interview with the UK’s Standard today, the former Hole front woman puts forth her take on some of the biggest names in the music industry. Let’s just say, Love bites in deep in the newspaper, to quote from her 1998 tune “Celebrity Skin,” to get her pound of flesh from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Madonna and recent Coachella headliner Lana Del Rey.
“Taylor is not important,” the People vs. Larry Flint star says of the superstar.
“She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist,” Love added.
The contrarian opinion on Swift is a big shift from where Love was on the Folklore singer just over two years ago.
In a wide ranging interview with the UK’s Standard today, the former Hole front woman puts forth her take on some of the biggest names in the music industry. Let’s just say, Love bites in deep in the newspaper, to quote from her 1998 tune “Celebrity Skin,” to get her pound of flesh from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Madonna and recent Coachella headliner Lana Del Rey.
“Taylor is not important,” the People vs. Larry Flint star says of the superstar.
“She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist,” Love added.
The contrarian opinion on Swift is a big shift from where Love was on the Folklore singer just over two years ago.
- 4/16/2024
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Courtney Love could have a cruel summer running into Swifties after saying their favorite artist Taylor Swift is neither important nor interesting.
In a new interview with The Standard promoting Love’s BBC Radio series celebrating women in music, the Hole singer didn’t have kind words to say about Swift. “Taylor is not important,” she said. “She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”
Get Taylor Swift Tickets Here
Making room to piss off another fanbase, Love also said Beyoncé isn’t her cup of tea — though she appreciates the “concept” of Queen Bey’s latest album, Cowboy Carter. “I like the idea of Beyoncé doing a country record because it’s about Black women going into spaces where previously only white women have been allowed,” she explained. “I just don’t like her music.
In a new interview with The Standard promoting Love’s BBC Radio series celebrating women in music, the Hole singer didn’t have kind words to say about Swift. “Taylor is not important,” she said. “She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”
Get Taylor Swift Tickets Here
Making room to piss off another fanbase, Love also said Beyoncé isn’t her cup of tea — though she appreciates the “concept” of Queen Bey’s latest album, Cowboy Carter. “I like the idea of Beyoncé doing a country record because it’s about Black women going into spaces where previously only white women have been allowed,” she explained. “I just don’t like her music.
- 4/15/2024
- by Eddie Fu
- Consequence - Music
Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days (2023) will screen exclusively on Mubi starting April 12 in the UK, Turkey, India, and Latin America.Legendary filmmaker Wim Wenders returns to the show to tell host Rico Gagliano about his Cannes-winning, Oscar-nominated Perfect Days—the story of a Tokyo toilet cleaner who finds joy in routine.They also get into a few of Wenders’s favorite things: Japan, travel, Nina Simone, and having time on his hands.Listen to the special episode below or wherever you get your podcasts:Apple PodcastsStitcherSpotifyGoogle PodcastsMore...
- 4/11/2024
- MUBI
Tonight on “American Idol,” the competition narrows during the final showstoppers round for judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. They’ll decide who will earn a coveted spot in the Top 24 and compete for America’s vote. Ryan Seacrest hosts.
Below, follow with our live blog for “American Idol 22” Episode 7 airing Monday, April 1 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Et/Pt).
See 45% of ‘American Idol’ fans predict Julia Gagnon will win Season 22 [Poll Results]
8:05 p.m. — Tonight the contestants will perform with a full band behind them for the first time. Who will be able to work with the band and work the stage all at once? And who will crumble under the pressure? Throughout this episode we’ll see the performances and then immediately find out if they’ve made the Top 24. First up is Jordan Anthony, an 18-year-old from Perth, Australia singing “Love in the Dark” by Adele.
Below, follow with our live blog for “American Idol 22” Episode 7 airing Monday, April 1 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Et/Pt).
See 45% of ‘American Idol’ fans predict Julia Gagnon will win Season 22 [Poll Results]
8:05 p.m. — Tonight the contestants will perform with a full band behind them for the first time. Who will be able to work with the band and work the stage all at once? And who will crumble under the pressure? Throughout this episode we’ll see the performances and then immediately find out if they’ve made the Top 24. First up is Jordan Anthony, an 18-year-old from Perth, Australia singing “Love in the Dark” by Adele.
- 4/2/2024
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
The Mauritanian master Aberrahmane Sissako reached glory with his previous feature, the foreign-language Oscar-nominated “Timbuktu” (2014). It was a harrowing, beautiful and potent film that hit the soft spot in combining the no-nonsense panoramic overview of the Islamist occupation of the titular city and the humaneness of the resistance to it. Ten years later, Sissako is, once again re-united with his co-screenwriter Kessen Tall, back on the festival circuit with his attempt at the globe-trotting cinema called “Black Tea”. It premiered at the competition of Berlinale and continued its tour at the Belgrade International Film Festival – Fest.
Black Tea screened at Berlin International Film Festival
Sissako opens his film with a sequence set, but not actually elaborated in any way, at a mass wedding ceremony in Abijan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Like other brides, Aya (Nina Melo) is excited, but when her time comes to say the magic words, she makes a monologue,...
Black Tea screened at Berlin International Film Festival
Sissako opens his film with a sequence set, but not actually elaborated in any way, at a mass wedding ceremony in Abijan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Like other brides, Aya (Nina Melo) is excited, but when her time comes to say the magic words, she makes a monologue,...
- 3/16/2024
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
SXSW 2024 kicked off its first full day of music on March 12 with a smattering of must-see shows around town, plus some tension in the air thanks to the festival’s relationship with the U.S. Army. (When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chimed in on social media, it was the kind of noise that no one needs.) While a number of acts cancelled their official showcases, many of them continued to play unofficial shows for the audiences that SXSW brought to town, and several spoke out in support of the Palestinian people and against war.
- 3/13/2024
- by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Christian Hoard, Angie Martoccio and Simon Vozick-Levinson
- Rollingstone.com
Juxtaposing the story of the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba with a musical tour of jazzman Louis Armstrong and with the expansion of the United Nations after the independence of many African countries in the 1960s might be tall order. Trickier still would be telling this complex story, full of many characters and plot swerves, in a nonlinear manner while filling the screen with written clues providing context like a bibliography of an academic thesis. Writer and director Johan Grimonprez sets himself a difficult task with “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” yet accomplishes it with astonishing success. The film plays like both a dense historical text and a lively jazz concert while proving itself to be an invigorating piece of documentary filmmaking.
Touching on far more than the decolonization of Africa, Grimonprez’s ambitious essay film encompasses the political and historical upheavals the world over — including the alleged involvement...
Touching on far more than the decolonization of Africa, Grimonprez’s ambitious essay film encompasses the political and historical upheavals the world over — including the alleged involvement...
- 3/11/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Down to the wire, awards movies are still being rolled out on digital platforms. Two cherished nominees — one an international film, the other a documentary — have debuted this week. Even though it won’t affect either movie’s Oscar odds (voting closed last week), their premieres should be a blessing to all the completists out there.
The contender to watch this week: “Perfect Days”
Three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders directed this sublime slice-of-life drama about an unassuming Tokyo janitor (Koji Yakusho) with a quiet daily routine that includes watering his seedlings, visiting the same stores and restaurants, and choosing a cassette tape to hear on his drive to work. “Perfect Days” follows two weeks in the protagonist’s life, one of which involves a series of disruptions that rattle his stasis. The movie will compete for Best International Feature Film at Sunday’s Oscars. It’s currently playing in a handful of theaters,...
The contender to watch this week: “Perfect Days”
Three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders directed this sublime slice-of-life drama about an unassuming Tokyo janitor (Koji Yakusho) with a quiet daily routine that includes watering his seedlings, visiting the same stores and restaurants, and choosing a cassette tape to hear on his drive to work. “Perfect Days” follows two weeks in the protagonist’s life, one of which involves a series of disruptions that rattle his stasis. The movie will compete for Best International Feature Film at Sunday’s Oscars. It’s currently playing in a handful of theaters,...
- 3/9/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Raye had already made history going into the Brit Awards ceremony on Saturday, having been the first artist to rack up seven nominations. Now, the singer has smashed another record, taking home six awards — Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&b Act, Best New Artist, Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year; she lost Best Pop Act to Dua Lipa. The previous record of four has only been achieved by Harry Styles, Adele, and Blur.
The singer was overcome with emotion when she was...
The singer was overcome with emotion when she was...
- 3/2/2024
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Louis Armstrong arrived in the Congolese capital, Leopoldville (now known as Kinshasa), on October 28, 1960, armed with his trumpet and wiping sweat from his brow. His visit was part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of Africa, an arrangement Armstrong felt ambivalent about. Still, the Congolese people gave Satchmo, as the American jazz trumpeter was known, a near royal welcome. Drummers and dancers carried him to his performance venue on a red chair, fashioned like a throne. Civilians cheered him on. Ten thousand people showed up to watch him play.
This was a momentous occasion, a storied event for the newly independent republic of the Congo. Four months before Armstrong came to play jazz, the country had freed itself from the colonial grip of Belgium to become one of the more than dozen postcolonial African nations formed in 1960. But the region was still plagued with problems, most of them stemming...
This was a momentous occasion, a storied event for the newly independent republic of the Congo. Four months before Armstrong came to play jazz, the country had freed itself from the colonial grip of Belgium to become one of the more than dozen postcolonial African nations formed in 1960. But the region was still plagued with problems, most of them stemming...
- 3/1/2024
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Independent titles lead the openers at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, with Thea Sharrock’s comedy Wicked Little Letters starting in 685 sites through Studiocanal.
Written by Jonny Sweet and based on a true scandal from 1920s England, Wicked Little Letters centres on an English seaside town targeted by a series of obscene letters, that are investigated by a group of women from the area.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley lead the cast, that also includes Anjana Vasan, Malachi Kirby and Timothy Spall. Buckley, Vasan and Kirby were named Screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2017, 2021 and 2013.
It is the third feature from UK filmmaker Sharrock,...
Written by Jonny Sweet and based on a true scandal from 1920s England, Wicked Little Letters centres on an English seaside town targeted by a series of obscene letters, that are investigated by a group of women from the area.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley lead the cast, that also includes Anjana Vasan, Malachi Kirby and Timothy Spall. Buckley, Vasan and Kirby were named Screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2017, 2021 and 2013.
It is the third feature from UK filmmaker Sharrock,...
- 2/23/2024
- ScreenDaily
Part of reviewing films for trades like The Hollywood Reporter is to provide a clear and concise plot summary for the reader. But this task may prove particularly difficult for Black Tea — the first feature in nearly ten years from Mauritanian auteur Abderrahmane Sissako, whose powerful 2014 drama Timbuktu won several César awards and was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar.
Ostensibly, the story follows Aya (the graceful Nina Mélo), an African bride who dumps her groom at the wedding and flees to China, where she works in a tea shop and winds up having an affair with her seductive boss, Cai (Chang Han). But is that what really happens?
The trailer, as well as the official synopsis, would lead you to think so. In reality, though, this completely enigmatic drama never offers up a succinct plotline, skipping from one character and story to another, jumping back and forth between countries and time periods,...
Ostensibly, the story follows Aya (the graceful Nina Mélo), an African bride who dumps her groom at the wedding and flees to China, where she works in a tea shop and winds up having an affair with her seductive boss, Cai (Chang Han). But is that what really happens?
The trailer, as well as the official synopsis, would lead you to think so. In reality, though, this completely enigmatic drama never offers up a succinct plotline, skipping from one character and story to another, jumping back and forth between countries and time periods,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tea can be an energizer or a sedative. “Black Tea,” the first film in a decade from veteran Mauritanian auteur Abderrahmane Sissako, sips exclusively from the latter end of the shelf, passing through chamomile-type calm into outright soporific territory. And if that seems a trite metaphor related to the beverage, this tepid Berlinale competition entry has plenty more of its own: A love story between a Chinese tea-shop owner and an Ivory Coast émigré that is rooted in the rituals of brewing and consuming the blessed leaves, the film aims for woozy sensualism but falls way short on the ambient richness and X-factor chemistry required to sell such an essentially confected exercise.
It’s altogether a mystifying misstep from Sissako, typically a filmmaker of such formal and political vigor; by its close, the ten years separating “Black Tea” from 2014’s beautiful, shattering “Timbuktu” feel closer to an eon. Though this...
It’s altogether a mystifying misstep from Sissako, typically a filmmaker of such formal and political vigor; by its close, the ten years separating “Black Tea” from 2014’s beautiful, shattering “Timbuktu” feel closer to an eon. Though this...
- 2/21/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Last Thursday, after a sweet ceremony, the late great Kobe Bean Bryant was honored with a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The ceremony was full of the quaint and charming details you might see on Sportscenter: Vanessa Bryant spoke, and joked about how it was Kobe who picked out the pose, so “if you don’t like it, tough shit.” Phil Jackson was in a reflective mood, talking about the relationship he had with Kobe and how it improved over time. The ceremony felt like a coronation for Bryant,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Jayson Buford
- Rollingstone.com
Sundance Review: Soundtrack to a Coup d’État is a Vibrant, Complex, and Jazz-Infused Political Essay
It was Mark Twain who said, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes,” which is one way of approaching Belgian filmmaker and multimedia artist Johan Grimonprez’s sprawling, jazz-infused Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. The political essay revisits 1960, a turbulent year in global affairs: Patrice Lumumba rises to power in Congo just as the United States, through the CIA-backed Voice of America radio network, aims to soften America’s image aboard, sending jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, and Max Roach to tour the world. The film positions the jazz musicians as a kind of political cabinet while Gillespie envisions his own run for the White House on TV talk shows back home. It proceeds with a rather kinetic, defiant tone in which the jazz, breaking news, citations, and quotes interrupt the historical footage a more standard documentary may have primarily focused on.
- 2/9/2024
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Any day is a good day for “Feeling Good,” but today is especially the best since Raye covered Nina Simone’s iconic declaration of grace. Unlike the original, which came out in 1965, Raye’s version is sparse and features only piano, no swinging brass, allowing her to plumb the depths of her happiness to evoke the song’s joy — you know how she feels.
She performed the tune on the latest episode of Aussie radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series. “I think it comments so beautifully on...
She performed the tune on the latest episode of Aussie radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series. “I think it comments so beautifully on...
- 2/9/2024
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Koji Yakusho and Arisa Nakano in Perfect DaysPhoto: Cannes Film Festival
In Perfect Days, the camera follows a man as he goes about his morning. Getting up, brushing his teeth, shaving, watering his plants, dressing, going to work. The question on the audience’s mind is, of course, who is he?...
In Perfect Days, the camera follows a man as he goes about his morning. Getting up, brushing his teeth, shaving, watering his plants, dressing, going to work. The question on the audience’s mind is, of course, who is he?...
- 2/7/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- avclub.com
“I’ve been staying open, you don’t wanna grow,” Brittany Howard sings on the title track from her second solo record. The song is a hard-funk failing-relationship jeremiad that might leave the “you” in question reduced to a puddle on the floor by the time it’s done. But whoever she’s singing to should’ve known better. Staying relentlessly open has been Howard’s guiding principle going all the way back to her breakout moment fronting Athens, Alabama garage-rockers Alabama Shakes in the early 2010s.
She’s a...
She’s a...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jon Dolan
- Rollingstone.com
The Recording Academy celebrated Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz Thursday night at the Black Music Collective Ceremony, one of the most anticipated nights ahead of the 2024 Grammys.
As each icon took the stage to accept the Global Impact Award, which recognizes personal and professional achievements in the industry, both shared heartfelt stories of their journeys to that moment. Throughout the dinner, some of the most revered artists in music came out to show their love and respect for the honorees, including Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, H.E.R., Quavo, Busta Rhymes, Babyface,...
As each icon took the stage to accept the Global Impact Award, which recognizes personal and professional achievements in the industry, both shared heartfelt stories of their journeys to that moment. Throughout the dinner, some of the most revered artists in music came out to show their love and respect for the honorees, including Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, H.E.R., Quavo, Busta Rhymes, Babyface,...
- 2/2/2024
- by Charisma Madarang
- Rollingstone.com
Paul McCartney Said The Beatles Wrote 1 Song With ‘Minimal Effort’ and It Got Played 4 Million Times
Sometimes, celebrities say things that really throw you for a loop. Paul McCartney said one of the wildly popular songs from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul was created with “minimum effort” at “minimum expense.” He wanted this track to serve as a blueprint for other bands. John Lennon revealed the tune was inspired by another essential 1960s artist.
The Beatles never bothered to make a song from ‘Rubber Soul’ sound funkier
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the creation of “Michelle” from Rubber Soul. “We never remixed it for dance, we never did a funky mix,” he said. “That was the end of it and it’s still around and it’s still a popular song, still clocking up numbers on the little tachometer or whatever it is they’ve got: four million broadcast performances. From that one little thing. Minimum effort, minimum expense, minimum everything.
The Beatles never bothered to make a song from ‘Rubber Soul’ sound funkier
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the creation of “Michelle” from Rubber Soul. “We never remixed it for dance, we never did a funky mix,” he said. “That was the end of it and it’s still around and it’s still a popular song, still clocking up numbers on the little tachometer or whatever it is they’ve got: four million broadcast performances. From that one little thing. Minimum effort, minimum expense, minimum everything.
- 2/2/2024
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
“The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo,” Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “Negro.” “They lynch me now in Texas.” The year was 1922, and racial segregation was the norm in the United States. Anti-Black racism in the South was such a millstone that the U.S. Senate failed to pass an NAACP-sponsored anti-lynching bill in January of that year, a list of simple protections that was prevented from coming to a vote due to filibusters.
Hughes’s poem is one piece of ephemera that comprises the massive tapestry that is Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. Director Johan Grimonprez’s documentary is primarily focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism, during which time our government was using Black jazz musicians to, in its diplomatic tango with the Soviet Union, paint a portrait of American liberalism as benevolent.
The documentary focuses on...
Hughes’s poem is one piece of ephemera that comprises the massive tapestry that is Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. Director Johan Grimonprez’s documentary is primarily focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism, during which time our government was using Black jazz musicians to, in its diplomatic tango with the Soviet Union, paint a portrait of American liberalism as benevolent.
The documentary focuses on...
- 1/23/2024
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
Perhaps the best way to describe the Norwegian zombie movie, Handling the Undead (Handtering av Udode), is as a mournful reflection on grief, on the struggle of the bereaved to let go of their departed loved ones. Based on the book by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, whose debut novel, Let the Right One In, became one of the best vampire movies of the 21st century — yielding a solid enough American remake, a so-so Showtime series and an innovative British stage adaptation — Thea Hvistendahl’s debut feature is a slow-burn experience that demands patience.
The degree to which that patience is rewarded will depend on the viewer’s willingness to get lost in the mood of pervasive anxiety and sorrow in a movie whose elegant restraint make it more psychological study than horror. That applies even once the rotting flesh-eaters have been revealed. One selling point of the multistrand drama...
The degree to which that patience is rewarded will depend on the viewer’s willingness to get lost in the mood of pervasive anxiety and sorrow in a movie whose elegant restraint make it more psychological study than horror. That applies even once the rotting flesh-eaters have been revealed. One selling point of the multistrand drama...
- 1/20/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If zombies weren’t so fixated on eating our brains, perhaps they’d be poignant to have around: semi-living, semi-breathing semblances of people we’ve loved, there to be seen and held and talked to, not truly present but not absent either. Whether that’s preferable to the void of death is the question underpinning “Handling the Undead” for much of its running time, even as the threat of the undead reverting to their usual habits gives this soft, sorrowful bereavement drama a core of cold-blooded horror. Thea Hvistendahl’s impressively restrained debut feature may keep its genre intentions just up its sleeve until the final act, but it never feels like a trick or a compromise: It’s a living-dead nightmare with a brain and a heart and, most importantly and inedibly, a soul.
The film’s somewhat liminal genre identity presents marketing challenges for U.S. distributor Neon...
The film’s somewhat liminal genre identity presents marketing challenges for U.S. distributor Neon...
- 1/20/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood likes to pretend that it’s in a constant state of self-improvement, and that the days of blackface and Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi are far in the past. But we aren’t that far removed from Zoe Saldaña playing Nina Simone, FX casting a white British actor as a budding Middle Eastern despot in Tyrant or Catherine Zeta-Jones playing notorious Colombian drug kingpin Griselda Blanco in Lifetime’s Cocaine Godmother.
I hope we can all agree that whatever divine and legal sanctions she deserved for being, by all accounts, quite monstrous at times, Griselda Blanco did not deserve the throughly bizarro accent and makeup job that accompanied Zeta-Jones’ performance in Cocaine Godmother.
If nothing else, Netflix’s six-part Griselda is an adequate representational corrective. Colombian actress Sofía Vergara plays Blanco, with a latex job that doesn’t really make her look like Griselda Blanco, but definitely makes her look like “Not Sofía Vergara.
I hope we can all agree that whatever divine and legal sanctions she deserved for being, by all accounts, quite monstrous at times, Griselda Blanco did not deserve the throughly bizarro accent and makeup job that accompanied Zeta-Jones’ performance in Cocaine Godmother.
If nothing else, Netflix’s six-part Griselda is an adequate representational corrective. Colombian actress Sofía Vergara plays Blanco, with a latex job that doesn’t really make her look like Griselda Blanco, but definitely makes her look like “Not Sofía Vergara.
- 1/17/2024
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Killer Soup Review(Photo Credit –IMDb)
Killer Soup Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Nassar, Sayaji Shinde, Lal, Anbuthasan, Anula Navlekar, Kani Kusruti
Creator: Abhishek Chaubey
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Streaming On: Netflix
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 43-59 Minutes (8 Episodes)
Killer Soup Review(Photo Credit –IMDb) Killer Soup Review: What’s It About:
Set in a very Munnar-like fictitious town, the story revolves around Swati Shetty (Konkana Sen Sharma), a not-so-talented chef aspiring to open a Paris-inspired hotel one day. Married in an uber-rich family, her husband Prabhakar Shetty (Manoj Bajpayee) is the futile little brother to Arvind Shetty (Sayaji Shinde), who handles the drug business in the disguise of a tea plantation.
Oh & once a professional nurse, Swati also has an extra-marital affair with Prabhakar’s masseuse, who, for some weird reason, also looks like a lean, bearded version of him. Prabhu somehow gets killed, and Swati does...
Killer Soup Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Nassar, Sayaji Shinde, Lal, Anbuthasan, Anula Navlekar, Kani Kusruti
Creator: Abhishek Chaubey
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Streaming On: Netflix
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 43-59 Minutes (8 Episodes)
Killer Soup Review(Photo Credit –IMDb) Killer Soup Review: What’s It About:
Set in a very Munnar-like fictitious town, the story revolves around Swati Shetty (Konkana Sen Sharma), a not-so-talented chef aspiring to open a Paris-inspired hotel one day. Married in an uber-rich family, her husband Prabhakar Shetty (Manoj Bajpayee) is the futile little brother to Arvind Shetty (Sayaji Shinde), who handles the drug business in the disguise of a tea plantation.
Oh & once a professional nurse, Swati also has an extra-marital affair with Prabhakar’s masseuse, who, for some weird reason, also looks like a lean, bearded version of him. Prabhu somehow gets killed, and Swati does...
- 1/11/2024
- by Umesh Punwani
- KoiMoi
Fox News’ latest insane conspiracy theory is that Taylor Swift is being used as a Pentagon “psyop” to swing young voters towards Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. No, really.
Tuesday night’s (January 9th) episode of Jesse Watters Primetime aired a clip from what host Watters insinuated was a recent meeting between the Pentagon and NATO to discuss online misinformation: “Social influence can help encourage or promote behavior change,” said the woman presenting in the clip. “So, potentially as a peaceful information operation… I include Taylor Swift in here because she’s, you know, a fairly influential online person.”
“Yeah, that’s real,” Watters said after the clip ended. “Pentagon’s psyop unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset.” As Newsweek points out, however, the clip was actually from a 2019 cyber security conference organized by NATO — before Swift even endorsed Biden in the 2020 election.
And while...
Tuesday night’s (January 9th) episode of Jesse Watters Primetime aired a clip from what host Watters insinuated was a recent meeting between the Pentagon and NATO to discuss online misinformation: “Social influence can help encourage or promote behavior change,” said the woman presenting in the clip. “So, potentially as a peaceful information operation… I include Taylor Swift in here because she’s, you know, a fairly influential online person.”
“Yeah, that’s real,” Watters said after the clip ended. “Pentagon’s psyop unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset.” As Newsweek points out, however, the clip was actually from a 2019 cyber security conference organized by NATO — before Swift even endorsed Biden in the 2020 election.
And while...
- 1/10/2024
- by Abby Jones
- Consequence - Music
Winning Best Actor at Cannes for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” (Neon) was a surprise for veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”). “I’m a very lucky man,” he told IndieWire on Zoom. And when he and Wenders heard that “Perfect Days,” despite its German director, was submitted by Japan for the Oscar, they cheered over dinner at Telluride “like we had just won the Academy Award,” said Yakusho. “Director Wim thought it would be more of a handicap that he’s not a Japanese director. But for the Japanese people, he knows the culture really well. And he also has spent a lot of time there. We were very proud to have him be selected as Japan’s entry.”
Yakusho knew Wenders’ work when he was asked to play Hiroyama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. “He was always looking for a new challenge in his filmmaking,” the actor said,...
Yakusho knew Wenders’ work when he was asked to play Hiroyama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. “He was always looking for a new challenge in his filmmaking,” the actor said,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
[Warning: The below contains Major spoilers for Our Flag Means Death Season 2 Episode 8 “Mermen.”] Our Flag Means Death may have concluded its second season, but hopefully, there are more swashbuckling adventures on the horizon for Stede (Rhys Darby), Ed, a.k.a. Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), and the rest of their crew, should the show be renewed for Season 3 at Max. One notable aspect of this delightful comedy though has to be the music, which has had several defining moments across the show’s run, whether it’s Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” from Season 1 or Kate Bush‘s “This Woman’s Work,” which played a prominent role in Season 2’s fantasy sequence in which a mermaid version of Stede saves a drowning Blackbeard. (Credit: Max/Nicola Dove) But one recurring music thread in Season 2 was none other than Nina Simone, a choice music supervisor Maggie Phillips reveals had to do with creator David Jenkins. “‘The Chain’ was...
- 10/27/2023
- TV Insider
Monday’s episode of The Voice teed up at least one Blind Audition that qualified as “out of this world.” In fact, when Nini Iris was done, a gobsmacked Niall Horan had to ask, “What planet do you come from?” But, would his enthusiastic entreaties sway the standout to join his team and not John Legend, Gwen Stefani or Reba McEntire’s? Read on, and you can not only watch Nini’s performance but find out who she picked to be her coach, which performances at least I liked better, and who else advanced to the Battles.
25 Wildest Reality-tv Moments...
25 Wildest Reality-tv Moments...
- 10/10/2023
- by Charlie Mason
- TVLine.com
An Oscar ceremony with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift? What television producer wouldn’t want two of the biggest names in entertainment gracing the red carpet for the 96th Academy Awards? But despite two upcoming concert films from the megastars — “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” — neither are eligible to submit or compete for an Academy Award nomination for documentary feature, or any technical category, under the current guidelines.
Per the Academy’s bylaws, the Documentary Branch defines a documentary film as “a theatrically released nonfiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.”
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
The Special Rules Section,...
Per the Academy’s bylaws, the Documentary Branch defines a documentary film as “a theatrically released nonfiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.”
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
The Special Rules Section,...
- 10/9/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Ed Sheeran was found not liable in the copyright lawsuit trial that accused his song “Thinking Out Loud” of infringing on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On.”
After three hours of deliberations that followed a two-week trial in New York from April to May, the jury announced their verdict in favor of Sheeran, finding that he independently created his 2014 single and did not copy Gaye’s hit.
While Sheeran was pleased with the outcome (he won’t have to retire now, as he threatened during his testimony), he...
After three hours of deliberations that followed a two-week trial in New York from April to May, the jury announced their verdict in favor of Sheeran, finding that he independently created his 2014 single and did not copy Gaye’s hit.
While Sheeran was pleased with the outcome (he won’t have to retire now, as he threatened during his testimony), he...
- 9/25/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Terry Kirkman, a founding member and a singer of the ’60s rock-pop band The Association, died Saturday. He was 83.
Kirkman’s death was announced on The Association’s Facebook page.
“We’re saddened to report that Terry Kirkman passed away last night, Rip Terry,” the band wrote. “He will live on in our hearts and in the music he so brilliantly wrote.”
Born Dec. 12, 1939, in Salina, Kansas, Kirkman became a founding member of The Association in 1965 in Los Angeles, along with Jules Gary Alexander, Russ Giguere, Ted Bluechel Jr., Brian Cole and Bob Page.
Recognized for their lush and complex harmonies, the band achieved success quickly with its 1966 album And Then… Along Comes the Association. That album hit No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured two songs that would become signature tunes for the group, both sung by Kirkman: the gold single “Cherish,” which Kirkman wrote and spent three weeks atop...
Kirkman’s death was announced on The Association’s Facebook page.
“We’re saddened to report that Terry Kirkman passed away last night, Rip Terry,” the band wrote. “He will live on in our hearts and in the music he so brilliantly wrote.”
Born Dec. 12, 1939, in Salina, Kansas, Kirkman became a founding member of The Association in 1965 in Los Angeles, along with Jules Gary Alexander, Russ Giguere, Ted Bluechel Jr., Brian Cole and Bob Page.
Recognized for their lush and complex harmonies, the band achieved success quickly with its 1966 album And Then… Along Comes the Association. That album hit No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured two songs that would become signature tunes for the group, both sung by Kirkman: the gold single “Cherish,” which Kirkman wrote and spent three weeks atop...
- 9/25/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Opening with a fiddle and banjo straight out of a folk recital, “You’re the One,” the title track on Rhiannon Giddens’ third album under her own name, starts the way one would expect a Giddens song to open. Addressing one of her children, she sings in a voice that’s warm and comforting, yet firm and watchful. Then the unexpected happens: With a jolt of drums and crashing chords, the music erupts in a mini-maelstrom, and you’re neither in Kansas, or a typical Giddens album, anymore.
With each record in her extensive discography,...
With each record in her extensive discography,...
- 8/15/2023
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
Los Angeles, Aug 15 (Ians) Tina Knowles shut down rumours that her daughter Beyonce travels with personal toilet seats while on tour.
“That is so ridiculous,” the mom of two told TMZ, reports pagesix.com.
Tina explained that the leaked backstage picture of a black container labeled “Beyonce Toilet Seats” was merely a part of the singer’s Renaissance World Tour set.
“Those are stands that you put fans on, they’re called toilet seats,” she said.
Tina, 69, added that the idea of her daughter requesting her own custom toilet seat for the bathroom was “too much”.
The rumours about Beyonce’s tour rider started earlier this month when a source told the US Sun that the “Cuff It” hitmaker can get anything she wants.
“Beyonce is such an elite performer she can literally request anything,” the insider claimed.
“Her team makes great effort to ensure she has her own comforts...
“That is so ridiculous,” the mom of two told TMZ, reports pagesix.com.
Tina explained that the leaked backstage picture of a black container labeled “Beyonce Toilet Seats” was merely a part of the singer’s Renaissance World Tour set.
“Those are stands that you put fans on, they’re called toilet seats,” she said.
Tina, 69, added that the idea of her daughter requesting her own custom toilet seat for the bathroom was “too much”.
The rumours about Beyonce’s tour rider started earlier this month when a source told the US Sun that the “Cuff It” hitmaker can get anything she wants.
“Beyonce is such an elite performer she can literally request anything,” the insider claimed.
“Her team makes great effort to ensure she has her own comforts...
- 8/15/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
Not even Mother Nature herself can keep Beyoncé from entertaining her fans.
Concertgoers who showed up early and ready for Sunday’s stop on the “Renaissance World Tour” at FedEx Field in North Englewood, Maryland — adjacent to Washington, D.C., — were met with some frightening weather conditions.
A shelter-in-place warning was issued at around 6:30 p.m. Et, and the news was posted to Twitter by FedEx Field’s official account, telling fans how to proceed.
“Due to lightning in the area, we are currently under a shelter in place order,” the message read. “Fans outside of gates and in the parking lots are asked to return to their cars. All fans inside of the stadium are asked to shelter in place under covered concourse areas and ramps until further notice. Thank you for your patience.”
Approximately 50,000 concertgoers were forced to huddle together under cover as the storm raged overhead...
Concertgoers who showed up early and ready for Sunday’s stop on the “Renaissance World Tour” at FedEx Field in North Englewood, Maryland — adjacent to Washington, D.C., — were met with some frightening weather conditions.
A shelter-in-place warning was issued at around 6:30 p.m. Et, and the news was posted to Twitter by FedEx Field’s official account, telling fans how to proceed.
“Due to lightning in the area, we are currently under a shelter in place order,” the message read. “Fans outside of gates and in the parking lots are asked to return to their cars. All fans inside of the stadium are asked to shelter in place under covered concourse areas and ramps until further notice. Thank you for your patience.”
Approximately 50,000 concertgoers were forced to huddle together under cover as the storm raged overhead...
- 8/7/2023
- by Becca Longmire
- ET Canada
Lizzo is speaking out amid sexual harassment and hostile work allegations aimed at the pop star from former dancers.
“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” wrote the Grammy-winning singer in a lengthy statement on Instagram (below) on Thursday. “There is nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world.”
This week, Lizzo’s former dancers accused the pop star and her employees of interrogating them about their weight and pressuring them to engage in sexually explicit acts at sex shows. The dancers, two of whom appear on Lizzo’s reality show, said they were subjected to a hostile work environment and dealt with sexual harassment, even claiming they were pushed to engage with nude performers.
“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” wrote the Grammy-winning singer in a lengthy statement on Instagram (below) on Thursday. “There is nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world.”
This week, Lizzo’s former dancers accused the pop star and her employees of interrogating them about their weight and pressuring them to engage in sexually explicit acts at sex shows. The dancers, two of whom appear on Lizzo’s reality show, said they were subjected to a hostile work environment and dealt with sexual harassment, even claiming they were pushed to engage with nude performers.
- 8/3/2023
- by Mesfin Fekadu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Beyoncé appeared to drop Lizzo’s name from her “Break My Soul” remix while performing the song at the Boston stop of her “Renaissance World Tour” (get tickets here) on Tuesday night. The lyric change took place just hours after news broke that Lizzo has been sued by her former backup dancers for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
On the third verse of Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)” featuring Madonna, she name-drops Lizzo alongside other queens in the music industry like Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, and Janet Jackson. During her performance of the song at Gillette Stadium, she repeated Erykah Badu’s name four times, replacing both Lizzo and former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland.
Lizzo and Kelly Rowland’s names were still displayed on the screen behind the stage. See the fan-shot footage below.
In their lawsuit, three women who used to...
On the third verse of Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)” featuring Madonna, she name-drops Lizzo alongside other queens in the music industry like Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, and Janet Jackson. During her performance of the song at Gillette Stadium, she repeated Erykah Badu’s name four times, replacing both Lizzo and former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland.
Lizzo and Kelly Rowland’s names were still displayed on the screen behind the stage. See the fan-shot footage below.
In their lawsuit, three women who used to...
- 8/2/2023
- by Eddie Fu
- Consequence - Music
Beyoncé is staying out of the drama.
On Tuesday night, the singer brought her Renaissance World Tour to Boston, but during her performance of “Break My Soul (Queen’s Remix)”, she left out her usual shoutout to Lizzo.
Read More: Lizzo’s Former Backup Dancers File Lawsuit Against Singer, Accusing Her Of Sexual Harassment And Creating Hostile Work Environment
Lizzo’s name features in the lyrics of the song, alongside other artists like Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Nicki Minaj.
But in videos from the concert posted to social media, Beyoncé was heard skipping over the “About Damn Time” singer’s name.
Beyoncé seemingly skips over Lizzo’s name during the Queens Remix performance of ‘Break My Soul’ tonight at the Renaissance World Tour.
She instead repeats Erykah Badu’s name four times.
pic.twitter.com/KhCC3TBbLF
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 2, 2023
Beyoncé’s choice to omit the Lizzo shoutout...
On Tuesday night, the singer brought her Renaissance World Tour to Boston, but during her performance of “Break My Soul (Queen’s Remix)”, she left out her usual shoutout to Lizzo.
Read More: Lizzo’s Former Backup Dancers File Lawsuit Against Singer, Accusing Her Of Sexual Harassment And Creating Hostile Work Environment
Lizzo’s name features in the lyrics of the song, alongside other artists like Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Nicki Minaj.
But in videos from the concert posted to social media, Beyoncé was heard skipping over the “About Damn Time” singer’s name.
Beyoncé seemingly skips over Lizzo’s name during the Queens Remix performance of ‘Break My Soul’ tonight at the Renaissance World Tour.
She instead repeats Erykah Badu’s name four times.
pic.twitter.com/KhCC3TBbLF
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 2, 2023
Beyoncé’s choice to omit the Lizzo shoutout...
- 8/2/2023
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
Beyoncé’s back-to-back nights at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, this past weekend were two of the most star-studded shows of the Renaissance tour thus far. Greta Gerwig and America Ferrera watched the show from risers, while singer and songwriter Kehlani was close enough to the stage to snap a selfie with Beyoncé. Laverne Cox attended both nights and penned a heartfelt, revelatory caption about how the concert made her feel born again. Also in the audience was Madonna, who received a shoutout from one queen to another.
- 8/1/2023
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
The late Sinead O’Connor was a major influence on generations of performers — Garbage’s Shirley Manson among them. In her interview from the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Manson talked in depth about O’Connor. Here are her thoughts in her own words. To hear the whole podcast, go here to the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play below.
I was surprised by my response to her death. It really has shaken me. I must admit I did not find it unexpected.
I was surprised by my response to her death. It really has shaken me. I must admit I did not find it unexpected.
- 7/31/2023
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
21 July 2023 – Today marks the Verve Records/UMe/Universal Music Canada release of You’ve Got To Learn, a previously-unreleased recording of Nina Simone’s performance at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. The album arrives as part of the “Happy Birthday Miss Simone” campaign, a year-long celebration of Simone’s 90th birthday.
You’ve Got To Learn is a major find for Simone’s fans. The album includes Simone’s first-ever recording of “Music For Lovers” and “Blues For Mama,” as well as the only-known live recording of “You’ve Got To Learn.” The historic six-song set also includes a straight “swinging” approach to “Mississippi Goddam,” Simone’s signature protest anthem, that is unique to this recording—it’s the only known version of Nina playing the song in this way.
On July 2, 1966, the Newport Jazz Festival witnessed a legendary set by Simone that has remained etched in the memory of Nina...
You’ve Got To Learn is a major find for Simone’s fans. The album includes Simone’s first-ever recording of “Music For Lovers” and “Blues For Mama,” as well as the only-known live recording of “You’ve Got To Learn.” The historic six-song set also includes a straight “swinging” approach to “Mississippi Goddam,” Simone’s signature protest anthem, that is unique to this recording—it’s the only known version of Nina playing the song in this way.
On July 2, 1966, the Newport Jazz Festival witnessed a legendary set by Simone that has remained etched in the memory of Nina...
- 7/26/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
Gugu Mbatha-Raw will lead the voice cast of the animated short film “To My Daughter.”
The “Surface” star will narrate the movie, which is an adaptation of “This Thread of Gold,” the debut book by actor, writer, filmmaker and Un gender advisor Catherine Joy White.
“This Thread of Gold” is billed as a celebration of Black womanhood, weaving a story about resilience that connects Beyoncé, Nina Simone, Shirley Chisholm and Meghan Markle, as well as those throughout history “who resisted in secret through trusted networks.” The film is described as “part guidebook, part exuberant narrative and part poetry.”
White has adapted one chapter of the book, entitled “Daughter,” which is a letter written to her imagined daughter. Mbatha-Raw will voice the narrator who leads the audience through the film.
Mbatha-Raw said of the project: “I was immediately captivated by the poetry of Catherine Joy White’s ‘To My Daughter.’ Her words pulse with joy,...
The “Surface” star will narrate the movie, which is an adaptation of “This Thread of Gold,” the debut book by actor, writer, filmmaker and Un gender advisor Catherine Joy White.
“This Thread of Gold” is billed as a celebration of Black womanhood, weaving a story about resilience that connects Beyoncé, Nina Simone, Shirley Chisholm and Meghan Markle, as well as those throughout history “who resisted in secret through trusted networks.” The film is described as “part guidebook, part exuberant narrative and part poetry.”
White has adapted one chapter of the book, entitled “Daughter,” which is a letter written to her imagined daughter. Mbatha-Raw will voice the narrator who leads the audience through the film.
Mbatha-Raw said of the project: “I was immediately captivated by the poetry of Catherine Joy White’s ‘To My Daughter.’ Her words pulse with joy,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
This eye-catching, dimension-traveling adventure might be aimed at kids, but there’s plenty here for adults who grew up believing the possibilities of animation might be endless. Now that Disney has done its best to persuade us otherwise, Benoît Chieux’s fabulous Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams is here as a palate-cleanser, tucking away a tender story of love and loss in an insanely imaginative psychedelic brainstorm. If Matt Groening and Miyazaki took magic mushrooms and watched The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine together, they could conceivably come up with a movie to match this.
Chuck Jones’ 1970 classic (albeit for weird kids and stoners only) The Phantom Tollbooth is a suitable benchmark, only here it is a game of hopscotch that provides the conduit between this world and the Kingdom of Air Streams. Which is where the story begins, with the mighty wizard Sirocco summoning the elements to assuage his boredom.
Chuck Jones’ 1970 classic (albeit for weird kids and stoners only) The Phantom Tollbooth is a suitable benchmark, only here it is a game of hopscotch that provides the conduit between this world and the Kingdom of Air Streams. Which is where the story begins, with the mighty wizard Sirocco summoning the elements to assuage his boredom.
- 6/16/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
A newly-discovered recording of Nina Simone’s performance at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival will be released as a live album called You’ve Got to Learn, out on July 21st via Verve Records.
The late singer took the stage at Newport Jazz Festival on July 2nd, 1966 for an unforgettable six-song set led off by “You’ve Got to Learn” from her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You. Another highlight of the performance was her civil rights anthem “Mississippi Goddam,” which she debuted at Carnegie Hall two years earlier.
Liner notes for You’ve Got to Learn were written by Shana L. Redmond, a scholar who has extensively covered Simone’s life and legacy. Pre-orders are ongoing. See the artwork and full tracklist below.
In anticipation of the album’s release, check out the recording of Simone’s passionate Newport performance of “Mississippi Goddam” below to get a glimpse into...
The late singer took the stage at Newport Jazz Festival on July 2nd, 1966 for an unforgettable six-song set led off by “You’ve Got to Learn” from her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You. Another highlight of the performance was her civil rights anthem “Mississippi Goddam,” which she debuted at Carnegie Hall two years earlier.
Liner notes for You’ve Got to Learn were written by Shana L. Redmond, a scholar who has extensively covered Simone’s life and legacy. Pre-orders are ongoing. See the artwork and full tracklist below.
In anticipation of the album’s release, check out the recording of Simone’s passionate Newport performance of “Mississippi Goddam” below to get a glimpse into...
- 6/9/2023
- by Eddie Fu
- Consequence - Music
Holding an extended closing shot on a character’s face has often been an effective way to illuminate whatever thoughts and feelings are running through their head, to keep them resonating through the end credits and even beyond. The device worked exceptionally well in Call Me by Your Name, Benediction and Michael Clayton.
Wim Wenders ends his eloquent and emotionally rich Japanese drama, Perfect Days, with such a shot, held tight on the extraordinarily expressive face of Koji Yakusho as his character drives through Tokyo reflecting on the rewards and perhaps also the regrets of his life with the same spirit of openness and acceptance, embracing the sadness as much as the joy.
The song that this resolutely analog man is listening to on his car cassette player is a Nina Simone standard that has become one of the most overused tracks in contemporary movies. But it fits the scene...
Wim Wenders ends his eloquent and emotionally rich Japanese drama, Perfect Days, with such a shot, held tight on the extraordinarily expressive face of Koji Yakusho as his character drives through Tokyo reflecting on the rewards and perhaps also the regrets of his life with the same spirit of openness and acceptance, embracing the sadness as much as the joy.
The song that this resolutely analog man is listening to on his car cassette player is a Nina Simone standard that has become one of the most overused tracks in contemporary movies. But it fits the scene...
- 5/25/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The dignity of labor is explored with gentle humor and a very melancholy sense of joie de vivre in Wim Wenders’ second 2023 Cannes entry after his 3D documentary Anselm. Shot entirely in Japan, with very little English spoken, Perfect Days is an unusual film from a westerner since it does nothing to “other” a country that is often romanticized as a series of specific cultural signifiers. It’s a compliment to say that Jim Jarmusch could have made it.
The working title for the film was apparently Tokyo Toilet, the name of the company that employs the film’s gnomic central character, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho). The first half-hour is a masterclass in economy, and could even pass muster as a short: Hirayama rises from his bachelor futon, goes to work, cleans the city’s conveniences with a dignified gusto, then relaxes...
The working title for the film was apparently Tokyo Toilet, the name of the company that employs the film’s gnomic central character, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho). The first half-hour is a masterclass in economy, and could even pass muster as a short: Hirayama rises from his bachelor futon, goes to work, cleans the city’s conveniences with a dignified gusto, then relaxes...
- 5/25/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Before you ask, yes, Lou Reed’s rock standard “Perfect Day” does indeed make an appearance in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”: on the protagonist’s stereo as suitably ideal sunlight pours into his small, neat Tokyo apartment, before swarming the soundtrack as we head out into the city on a calm weekend afternoon. If that sounds a little obvious, basic even, said protagonist Hirayama — a mellow, soft-spoken toilet cleaner beautifully played by Kōji Yakusho — would probably agree with a shrug. He’s into simple pleasures, not deep cuts. His solitary life is built around the things that make him happy and the work that keeps him solvent. He’s not inclined to wonder what other people make of it. Wenders’ film, in turn, is sincere and unassuming, and owns its sentimentality with good humor.
“Perfect Days” finds its maker in bracing, uncomplicated form: It hasn’t the ecstatic spiritualist...
“Perfect Days” finds its maker in bracing, uncomplicated form: It hasn’t the ecstatic spiritualist...
- 5/25/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Vertical has nabbed U.S. rights to Clement Virgo’s feature film, “Brother,” following its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Virgo wrote the screenplay and adapted the story of two brothers facing questions of masculinity, family, race and identity from David Chariandy’s novel of the same name. The film stars Lamar Johnson, Aaron Pierre, Kiana Madeira (“Fear Street” franchise) and Marsha Stephanie Blake (“When They See Us”).
The film is slated for a day-and-date release this summer.
Here’s the official description: “Propelled by the pulsing beats of Toronto’s early hip-hop scene, ‘Brother’ is the story of Francis (Pierre) and Michael (Johnson), sons of Caribbean immigrants maturing into young men. A mystery unfolds during the sweltering summer of 1991, and escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever. ‘Brother’ crafts a timely story about the profound bond between siblings,...
Virgo wrote the screenplay and adapted the story of two brothers facing questions of masculinity, family, race and identity from David Chariandy’s novel of the same name. The film stars Lamar Johnson, Aaron Pierre, Kiana Madeira (“Fear Street” franchise) and Marsha Stephanie Blake (“When They See Us”).
The film is slated for a day-and-date release this summer.
Here’s the official description: “Propelled by the pulsing beats of Toronto’s early hip-hop scene, ‘Brother’ is the story of Francis (Pierre) and Michael (Johnson), sons of Caribbean immigrants maturing into young men. A mystery unfolds during the sweltering summer of 1991, and escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever. ‘Brother’ crafts a timely story about the profound bond between siblings,...
- 5/16/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
If you glance at the soundtrack listing for “Love & Death,” you’ll basically find a greatest hits collection of bangers from the ’70s. Set from 1978-80, the HBO Max limited series features tunes from Bee Gees, Janis Joplin, Al Green, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond, to name a few, culled by music supervisor Robin Urdang. “It’s one of my favorite eras,” she tells Gold Derby (watch above). “A lot of the songs were scripted originally because David E. Kelley and Lesli Linka Glatter had in mind songs that they wanted to use. When I read the script and saw that in there, I was like, ‘Oh, my God! This is like my favorite music. I have to do the show.'”
“Love & Death” dramatizes the real-life case of Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen), a Texas housewife who had an affair with the husband, Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), of her friend,...
“Love & Death” dramatizes the real-life case of Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen), a Texas housewife who had an affair with the husband, Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), of her friend,...
- 5/12/2023
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Betty Gore died on June 13, 1980. Her church friend Candy Montgomery swung the axe that killed her. Those facts form the basis for two TV shows released in the past 12 months: HBO Max’s “Love & Death” starring Elizabeth Olsen and Hulu’s “Candy” with Jessica Biel. Both are set in Wylie, Texas before and after the attack; both try to understand the events that shook the town.
Yet very early on, “Love & Death” locks in the difference in their ambitions with a disclaimer: “This is a true story.” The five words at the top of every episode might be a subtle jab at other interpretations; it could be a device designed to keep HBO Max subscribers’ attention. It’s definitely a declaration of intent. Where “Candy” addresses the levels of rationalization of which people are capable, “Love & Death” ticks more boxes on the “true story” checklist.
“Candy” uses...
Yet very early on, “Love & Death” locks in the difference in their ambitions with a disclaimer: “This is a true story.” The five words at the top of every episode might be a subtle jab at other interpretations; it could be a device designed to keep HBO Max subscribers’ attention. It’s definitely a declaration of intent. Where “Candy” addresses the levels of rationalization of which people are capable, “Love & Death” ticks more boxes on the “true story” checklist.
“Candy” uses...
- 5/7/2023
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
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