Entertainment News Boom

James Mangold misses the era when movies weren’t embarrassed to make audiences feel something. The director of the Bob Dylan musical biopic “A Complete Unknown” and comic book adaptation “Logan” believes there’s a growing hostility to films that wear “their hearts on their sleeve.” “Most of my generation, my peers, have been generally fascinated by

It didn’t take much for Russell Tovey to connect with “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird’ star Tom Blyth. The actors first met on Zoom before filming writer-director Carmen Emmi’s gay indie drama “Plainclothes.” “Instantly I was just like, ‘This guy’s the real deal,’” Tovey says on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “He’s

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses the plot and ending of “Presence,” now playing in theaters. As with many ghost stories, the presence in “Presence” has a good reason to haunt its house. After watching on as the Payne family turns against one another, the Presence that drifts around their newly purchased, bougie abode makes a

I made my first feature over nine years ago, when I was in my mid 20s. We premiered “The Boy Downstairs” at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017, and it was all gloriously magical. “This is how movies happen,” I thought. You write a script (it was my first feature screenplay), your first choice actress

“The Perfect Neighbor” delivers a harrowing look at how a small disagreement leads to tragedy. Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary is screening all weekend at the Sundance Film Festival. It follows the murder of Ajike Owens, a young Black mother of four who was shot and killed by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. Gandbhir uses police bodycam footage

Paris-based sales outfit MPM Premium has acquired international rights to “Cactus Pears” (Sabar Bonda), the feature directorial debut from India’s Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, ahead of its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it is in the world cinema dramatic competition. The Marathi-language film follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a 30-something city dweller compelled to

In a recent interview with Elle, “The Last Showgirl” star Pamela Anderson discussed how it feels to miss out on an Oscar nomination for best actress. Anderson, who scored noms at the Golden Globes, Gotham and Screen Actors Guild Awards for her leading turn in Gia Coppola‘s drama about an aging Las Vegas dancer, was

Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg‘s “Flight Risk” is facing no traffic on the runway, lifting off to an easy No. 1 opening in what is turning out to be another sleepy weekend at the January box office. The Lionsgate thriller carried on $4.4 million from 3,161 locations across Friday and preview screenings. Even at that

With an agrarian lineage, Brittany Shyne always knew she wanted to make a film about Black land ownership, so she made “Seeds,” her doc feature debut that premieres Jan. 25 in the U.S Documentary Competition at Sundance. Shyne originally developed the subject as her MFA thesis film, “Seeds” follows the everyday life of Black generational

Of all of the phrases that could begin a light-hearted animated film, the Serenity Prayer popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous is surely among the least likely. But “The Colors Within,” which opens with that plea for God to grant “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” is no ordinary animated film. It is directed

Bad decisions — the kind that can be, if not reversed, at least remedied — are an essential part of adolescence: lapses that teach us about our desires, our impulses, our weaknesses, our essential character, and leave us with no greater damage than a throbbing hangover or a small, smudgy tattoo. Doe and Muna, the

The first time 15-year-old Ahmet (Arif Jakup) smiles broadly on-screen lives up to the cliché that someone’s infectious grin can light up a room. Amid the bright colors of an EDM festival happening in the middle of the forest, the teen with wistful eyes surrenders to an upbeat tune and to the crowd of young

In the Welsh folk-horror “Rabbit Trap,” debuting director Bryn Chainey creates an disquieting acoustic atmosphere and guides his trio of actors to powerful performances. However, these flourishes serve a muddled piece that coasts on its interpretability alone. Its dramatic mechanics and aesthetics never quite coalesce into something appropriately visceral, spiritual, or meaningful, despite the story’s

Late in the incisive psychological drama “The Things You Kill,” Ali (Ekin Koç), a married man in his thirties, opens up about a traumatic episode in his childhood and the reasons why he decided to leave Turkey and study comparative literature in the U.S. The monologue is momentarily shot out of focus with his face

In the ever-expanding “Star Trek” universe — which next year enters its seventh earthly decade — there’s room for all kinds of celestial phenomena, including the occasional underwhelming dwarf star. That status is claimed by “Star Trek: Section 31,” the franchise’s first feature since “Beyond” nine years ago, and the first going directly to home

How many times can the characters say “cabbages” in a movie before making you want to throw cabbages at the screen? With “Bubble & Squeak,” writer-director Evan Twohy sets out to answer that question — and little else of relevance to contemporary audiences. Not all movies need to serve up profound insights into the human

Who among us, when we were young, did not annoy the cranky old geezer down the street? In some cases, you couldn’t help it, as there are some people who simply aren’t made for suburban living, terrifying the neighborhood kids by growling “Get off my lawn!” any time an oblivious child stepped foot on their

A dozen years ago, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, I sat in the Eccles Theatre and watched “Fruitvale” (later entitled “Fruitvale Station”), Ryan Coogler’s true-life drama about Oscar Grant, a young man who was fatally shot by Bay Area police, even though he had done nothing. By the time the film ended, everyone in

John Lithgow joined the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance and reacted to one of the biggest Oscar snubs of the year: “Conclave” filmmaker Edward Berger failing to land a nomination for best director. Lithgow has a key supporting role in the papal drama. “Conclave” received eight nominations, including best picture, and many prognosticators

Ronan Farrow revealed at the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance that he was the one to gently nudge his mother, Mia Farrow, back into acting. Farrow spent last fall on Broadway opposite Patti Lupone in Jen Silverman’s play “The Roommate.” Prior to that, she had a supporting run on the Ryan Murphy-produced Netflix

The village is small and dense, lined with crumbling structures and the exploded remains of cars. The women, hanging laundry or selling American movies on DVD out of dusty briefcases, are suspicious. The men are outright paranoid, ducking down alleys or peering out of second-story windows. American troops patrol the area with assault rifles, where