Month: March 2019

CNN president Jeff Zucker delivered a keynote speech at SXSW Saturday that saw him expressing belief that there was political motivation behind the Justice Department’s lawsuit to stop AT&T’s acquisition of his parent company, Time Warner, as well as discussing the Democratic National Convention’s relationship with the media. Referring to comments Trump said in regard
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It’s been 18 years since I escaped the state of Texas, and nothing illustrates how much things have changed in that hyper-conservative stronghold than the rise and near-win of Senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke in his bid for Senate. On its surface, David Modigliani’s “Running With Beto” is an inside account of that campaign — reminiscent
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After a bold pledge to “break up” and regulate monolithic tech companies like Google and Facebook, Sen. Elizabeth Warren came to, uh, the country’s preeminent tech conference to state her case. Appearing in conversation at SXSW on Saturday, the presidential hopeful was immediately asked to address a regulatory proposal she floated at a rally the
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Disney-Marvel’s latest MCU installment, “Captain Marvel,” is launching to an estimated $156 million from 4,310 North American locations after totaling $61.4 million on Friday. The Friday number includes $20.7 million from Thursday previews. Should estimates hold, “Captain Marvel” will rank as the seventh best MCU opening domestically, behind the three “Avengers” movies, along with “Black
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March 8, 2019 11:47PM PT A Civil War relic sparks revisionist-history enthusiasm in Lynn Shelton’s loose, funny improv-based comedy feature. There are few chores more taxing on the film festival circuit than sitting through an improv-based comedy whose performers don’t have the skill set to pull it off — an unfortunate sight that’s been turning
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For all the genius of Jordan Peele’s 2017 debut, “Get Out” — a movie that oh-so-smartly reinforced its horror-movie skeleton with an adamantium-strong (and twice as sharp) racial-tension allegory — audiences seemed to have one critique in common: The movie wasn’t nearly scary enough. People aren’t likely to have the same complaint about “Us,” the
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The degree to which the mockumentary format popularized by “The Office” has reinvented television comedy is hard to overstate. It’s not merely the direct-to-camera “confessional”-style interviews, which have grown so familiar on shows like “Modern Family” that they barely register anymore as stylistic choices but just as what comedy is. It’s also the purposeful awkwardness,
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Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have unveiled a slate of short-form projects heading to Quibi, their upcoming video streaming service designed for mobile devices. The duo, in an opening day panel at SXSW Film, announced a “Thanks a Million” show from Jennifer Lopez’s company about the power of giving; an origin story to complement Telemundo’s
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There’s been no end to public outcry ever since HBO’s “Leaving Neverland” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January. The painful two-part HBO documentary, which details the alleged sexual abuse that two men endured from Jackson, has resulted in a variety of responses. Many have condemned Jackson’s actions and taken steps to disassociate with the
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“SMILF” is coming to an end at Showtime after two seasons. The cancellation comes after it was reported in December that “SMILF” producer ABC Studios opened an investigation into series creator, star, and showrunner Frankie Shaw after actress Samara Weaving raised concerns to fellow cast member Rosie O’Donnell and one of the show’s directors after
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Brandi Carlile and Maren Morris, both Grammy-winning singer-songwriters, discussed representation of women in the music industry and their female inspirations on International Women’s Day. The two sat down together at the historic RCA Studios in Nashville, where Elvis Presley once recorded music and Dolly Parton accidentally drove her car into a wall, for a Beats
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Welcome to “TV Take,” Variety’s television podcast. In this week’s episode, Variety’s executive editor of TV, Daniel Holloway, talks with Kal Penn, the host of the documentary series “This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy,” which is currently available to stream on Amazon. The series sees Penn travel around the world, meeting key players behind some
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