What to watch this week: Stephen King adaptation The Institute; and top-notch doco as Jaws turns 50
JAWS@50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY
FRIDAY, DISNEY+
It's Emily Blunt's favourite film, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh saw it in a cinema 31 times, Quentin Tarantino called it 'the perfect movie', it influenced the careers of visionaries including James Cameron, JJ Abrams and Guillermo Del Toro – and it's still a stone-cold classic, despite turning 50 last month. This hugely entertaining documentary traces how then rising star Steven Spielberg – on only his third film – adapted Peter Benchley's bestseller about a territorial man-eating great white shark into what many regard as the first true blockbuster and changed the face of filmmaking in the process. In a candid new interview, Spielberg reflects on being inspired by his hero Alfred Hitchcock, the challenges of shooting on the ocean, the idiosyncrasies of the animatronic shark he nicknamed Bruce (after his lawyer) and how he initially thought that the film that made his career was going to end it. There are also fascinating insights into the shoot itself, filmed on Martha's Vineyard using mostly locals and how Spielberg incorporated real underwater footage from Aussie shark experts Ron and Valerie Taylor into the final cut.
STATE OF ORIGIN
WEDNESDAY, 7PM, CHANNEL 9
Even the most one-eyed Blues or Maroons fan would grudgingly agree that this is the way Origin footy should be – one game apiece leading into the decider. The good news for Queensland is that they are on a roll after hanging on to square the series in Perth. The bad news is that they have to do it again in the Blues' backyard, against a team desperate for its first back to back series since 2019. In a nice touch, Erin Mortimer will sing the national anthem before the game, 40 years after her grandfather and Bulldogs great Steve Mortimer led the Blues to their first series win.
HEADS OF STATE
If either the current US President or UK Prime Minister had a fraction of the charisma and charm of their fictional counterparts John Cena and Idris Elba in this big, dumb, fun action-comedy movie, it feels like the world would be much better place. The pair make for a fine mismatched pair – Cena as the optimistic action star turned newly minted Commander In Chief and Elba has a more jaded and worldly pollie with an army background – and nail the frequent fight scenes as they are forced to team up when their plane is hijacked, and the future of the free world is on the line.
EAT SMART: SECRETS OF THE GLUCOSE GODDESS
WEDNESDAY, 8.30PM, SBS
Best-selling French author Jessie Inchauspe – aka the Glucose Goddess – might be stating the bleeding obvious when she says 'we are in a sugar crisis', but this two-part documentary has some easy and useful hacks on what to do about it. She's recruited six volunteers from the UK to trial her techniques for six weeks to treat a range of conditions including chronic acne, sleep apnoea, diabetes and obesity. The hidden cameras that track their eating habits can make slightly uncomfortable viewing, but simple tips such as eating different food groups in the correct combinations and order, as well as pointers on snacking and exercise turn up some astonishing results.
BALLARD
It feels a little by the numbers, but fans of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch detective novels and the TV adaptation starring Titus Welliver will find plenty to like in this new spin-off. Maggie Q reprises her role of Renee Ballard from Bosch: Legacy, an outspoken detective who has been banished to the 'ass end of the LAPD' for calling out a superior and is now in charge of a cold case unit, staffed only with volunteers and retired cops. While being pressured into finding who murdered an ambitious and abrasive politician's sister, she uncovers a serial killer who might still be active as the investigation takes her deep into the corridors of power and pits her against her former foes in the force.
ESPORTS WORLD CUP
THURSDAY, 9PM, 7PLUS
There are still plenty who say that esports aren't real sports – but try telling that to the 2000 elite players who are doing battle for a share of $107 million at the gaming world's premier event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week. The seven-week tournament will kick off with an opening ceremony featuring US superstar and avid gamer Post Malone and will feature 24 of the biggest esports titles in the world, including Counter Strike, League of Legends, DOTA, MLBB, PUBG and Honor of Kings. Fans can also tune into EWS Spotlight, a two-hour live show featuring the competition's biggest moments.
THE CROW GIRL
SUNDAY, 6PM, 7PLUS
There's a sense of creeping dread hovering over this six-part UK crime drama that gets under your skin and stays there after a slow start. Adapted from the Scandinavian bestseller of the same name, it follows Bristol detective Jeanette Kilburn, who teams up with psychotherapist Sophia Craven to find out who is killing young men and dumping them in public places with traces of mysterious injuries. Their search will see them cross paths with a truly vile dentist who has been arrested for possession of child abuse images and seems to be somehow connected to the case and may or may not be part of a local pedophile ring.
THE INSTITUTE
SUNDAY, STAN
King of Horror Stephen King is also an executive producer on this adaptation of his own book of the same name, which isn't always a guarantee of quality, but this is shaping up as one of his better screen projects of recent years. There are echoes of his classics Firestarter and Carrie in this story about a genius teenager whose sporadic and uncontrolled telekinetic powers lead to him being kidnapped from his house in the middle of the night. He wakes up in a remote, high security facility with similarly gifted teens, under the watchful eye of Mary-Louise Parker's Nurse Ratched like Ms Sigsby. At the closest town, a decorated cop (Ben Barnes) is looking for a fresh start but begins to notice that something is off about some of its residents and the heavily guarded building in the middle of the forest.
DR ANN'S SECRET LIVES
TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC
Nature journalist Dr Ann Jones more used to watching wildlife from a safe distance, but for this new series gets very up close and personal and her sometimes palpable discomfort adds an edge to his new series that focuses on some of the world's most elusive creatures. In this week's opener she heads to the Great Barrier Reef to observe the bull shark in its natural habitat. With the help of some local experts, one of whom describes shark study as '95 per cent boredom and 5 per cent absolute chaos', she hits the open sea on an alarmingly small boat. You can guess which percentage kicks in when they finally find a toothy 2.5m specimen and attempt to flip it on its back to attach a tracker.
THE SANDMAN
NETFLIX
For better or worse, there's nothing else on TV quite like the sumptuous, visually stunning adaptation of Neil Gaiman's trailblazing comic book centred on Lord Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), one of the seven Endless and ruler of the dream realm. In this second and final season, he's reunited with this immortal siblings Destiny, Desire, Death, Delirium and Despair and handed the keys to Hell by Lucifer herself (Gwendoline Christie). Some might find it all a bit ponderous and pretentious, but fantasy fans will love the motley collection of mythical beings and beasts who assemble to try to convince Dream to bequeath the underworld to them.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
Connie (Diane Lane) is a well-to-do housewife who impulsively embarks on a torrid affair with Paul (Olivier Martinez), a handsome artist she meets by chance on the street while out shopping. Finding a new lease on life through her sizzling, secret liaison, Connie is increasingly willing to jeopardise her happy but boring marriage to her devoted husband Edward (Richard Gere). Lane scored an Oscar nod for her exquisite performance as Connie – a woman torn between the security of the family and the life she has and the thrill of being in the arms of her lover – while Kylie Minogue's old beau Martinez is at the peak of his powers as a swoonworthy leading man.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Who gets what in Denise Richards, Aaron Phypers split
Denise Richards' husband, Aaron Phypers, has filed for divorce from the actress after nearly seven years of marriage. The self-employed businessman cited 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for their split, Realtor reports. In court documents filed by Phypers, 52, who wed Richards, 54, in 2018 after just one year of dating, he also lifted the lid on their finances. Phypers admitted in the filing that his monthly income is next to nothing, while estimating his estranged wife rakes in around $US250,000 ($A383,000) a month from her OnlyFans account and her on-screen work. According to Fox News, the legal documents also contain information about the duo's spending habits. Phypers stated that their monthly expenses total around $US105,000 ($A160,000). About $US20,000 ($A30,000) is spent on clothing, $US18,000 ($A27,000) rent, $US15,000 ($A23,000) restaurants, $US8,000 ($A12,260) utilities and $US7000 ($A10,700) child care services. The former wellness professional explained he has not been able to contribute to these monthly costs since October 2024, when he was forced to shut down his Malibu health centre, Quantum 360 Club. In his petition, Phypers requested spousal support from the actress — and asked to keep their assets and debts as separate property, including his power tools, motorcycle, and sports car. Although the former lovebirds don't share any children, it was previously revealed that Phypers was in the process of adopting his wife's 14-year-old daughter, Eloise. However, it is unclear whether that application was ever completed. It is also unclear what the former couple's living arrangement will look like after their split — the date of which is listed in the filing as July 4 — having already set up a somewhat unique home situation for themselves long before their marriage began to fall apart. Richards lifted the lid on their unconventional home life during an episode of her reality series, 'Denise Richards and Her Wild Things', in which she stars alongside Phypers as well as her daughters, Sami, Lola, and Eloise At the time, she confessed that her current set up was 'a little confusing,' particularly because she owns a Malibu home that she doesn't actually live in — and had instead handed over to her husband's family to use as their own residence. 'My living situation is a little confusing,' she said. 'I don't live in our [Malibu] house. Aaron's mum and dad and his brother … they were going to stay for a few months, [but] it's been over three years.' Instead, Richards and her family moved into a rented townhouse to get some 'more space.' And such was the appeal of the unit she initially leased that she ended up renting two additional homes. 'I needed some space, so I rented a townhouse,' she said. 'And then I rented another one and another one, so I have three of them.' The former 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star explained each of the properties served a different purpose, revealing she and her family were using the abodes almost as though they were rooms in a house. 'One's an office, one's a studio, one's for Lola and Eloise and for us to sleep in, and then when Aaron and I want privacy, then we sleep in the studio,' she said. 'I told Sam and Lola that we can be like 'Melrose Place,' and they're like, 'What's that?'' Although she did not reveal the cost of her multiple rentals, Phypers' divorce disclosures suggest the duo were spending around $US18,000 ($A27,000) a month on housing — which would mean that each of the townhouses costs $US6,000 ($A9,100) to lease. The duo have not yet shared whether Phypers will continue to live in one of the properties, or if his family will be permitted to stay in Richards' Malibu home in the wake of their split. Three months before the news of their divorce broke, Richards' eldest daughter, Sami, lifted the lid on the somewhat turbulent environment inside the family's home. The 21-year-old confessed in April that she and her mother didn't speak for close to a year after she made the decision to move out of the house and in with her father, Charlie Sheen. The model blamed her move on the 'constant' fighting that was going on at her mother's house, admitting that she 'felt like the odd one out' inside the dwelling. 'I was living at my mum's, obviously, with Aaron [Phypers] and Lola, and we were all fighting constantly,' she said during an appearance on Gia Giudice's podcast, 'Casual Chaos.' 'I did not get along with anyone. I kind of felt like the odd one out and being the older sister, the blame was, like, always thrown on me for everything. 'I was really struggling mentally in that house, and there's obviously a lot that I wish I could say, but I'll get in trouble for saying [it].' Sami initially announced her decision to leave Richards' property in a video posted to TikTok. The media personality referred to her mum's abode as a 'hell house' and claimed she had been 'trapped in an abusive household.' In response, an unnamed insider told People magazine that Richards had been struggling to come to terms with her daughter's decision. The former 'James Bond' star believed she had simply been setting 'normal' boundaries for her then-17-year-old child. Richards and Phypers began dating in June 2017, having met for the first time at his wellness centre in Malibu, where the actress was undergoing 'preventative DNA repair,' she later revealed. They quickly struck up a romance and tied the knot in a private ceremony in Malibu just one year later. Prior to his relationship with Richards, Phypers was briefly married to 'Desperate Housewives' star Nicollette Sheridan. They finalised their divorce in August 2018. Meanwhile, Richards had a very highly publicised marriage to actor Sheen from 2002 and 2006, and the duo share two children — Sami and Lola. The actress had previously insisted that she would never get a divorce again while reflecting on her separation from Sheen, admitting that she hated the 'Judgement' she faced after their split. 'The judgment from other people and being made out to be this awful woman, I'll never get divorce, even if we hate each other,' she said.
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
The teen 'Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of Australia's under-16s social media ban
Like many young New Yorkers, Jameson Butler was 10 years old when she received her first mobile in 2017. It was a smartphone with access to a plethora of distracting social media apps. By 12, she was so "engrossed" in her small screen that it began to trouble her parents and, though she didn't admit it at the time, herself. "My screen time [then] was around five to six hours, which is a pretty decent chunk of my day, especially considering the fact that I was in school for eight hours," she tells ABC Radio National's Science Friction. So at 14, Ms Butler did something few others her age would even contemplate; she stopped scrolling, deleted her social media accounts, and gave up her smartphone. What she discovered was that life had much more to offer her outside of a hand-held device; Ms Butler could finally pay attention to the world instead of living life vicariously through strangers on the internet. To make sure she was still contactable in emergencies, Ms Butler bought a "dumbphone" without any apps. "The flip phone just made so much sense," she adds. She thought she was the only one who felt this way until she met Logan Lane, a high school student two years her senior with similar beliefs. Together they formed the Luddite Club, a group that promotes the "conscious consumption of technology" among teens and young adults. The name is inspired by the original Luddites, textile workers in England who formed a rebellion during the Industrial Revolution, raiding factories at night to destroy the machines threatening their livelihoods. But Ms Butler and her fellow Luddite Club members don't think of themselves as revolutionaries; their goal is simply to "empower young people and give them the tools they need to help themselves". The idea of building safe offline spaces, especially for children, is catching on in other parts of the world. A town in France introduced a ban on the public use of phones last year, and parents are forming community groups to prevent their children from accessing phones until they are older. Here in Australia, a ban on under-16s accessing some social media platforms will become law in December 2025. But who is best placed to impose these restrictions? Should it be up to governments, organisations or individuals? Ms Butler is now 18 and isn't planning to get a smartphone for as long as possible, even if "having a flip phone in 2025 definitely make[s] … life harder in some aspects". "Especially as we now see QR codes, links to websites everywhere. A lot of my schoolwork is online," she acknowledges. Her dedication has surprised her parents, who didn't think her smartphone-free status was going to last. "I definitely spend more quality time with my family. I'm more present at family dinners, I do my schoolwork faster, I have better grades, I'm more organised, I'm more on top of everything, I've become a lot less scatterbrained," she says. The idea to unite like-minded New Yorkers in forming the Luddite Club was fuelled, in part, by Ms Butler's and Ms Lane's own experiences navigating a less tech-dependent lifestyle. "We realised the hardest part about making that transition [is] the feelings of isolation that come with it and a lack of community," she says. However, finding teens and young adults who share their views is difficult, with many not convinced that giving up their phones is the ticket to a better life. Critics argue the Luddite Club is classist and that living without a phone is a privilege, given many people use it to be included in society. "[The perception is that] … we have all these rules for Luddite Club and requirements to join, when in reality, that's not true," Ms Butler explains. Those who do take part are only required to follow one rule at their regular Luddite Club meetings: put any devices away for the duration of the gathering. "Other than that, the Luddite Club is very free-range and spontaneous," Ms Butler says. "We like to keep the Luddite Club very loosely structured because we've noticed that when you take these devices and these distractions away from people, they don't need prompting, immediately meaningful conversations [are spawned]." The Luddite Club has now expanded beyond New York to states like Florida and Philadelphia. But the bigger issue may be spreading their message to adults. "Now I'm the one at family dinner like, 'Mum, get off of Facebook'," the teenager says. More than half of Australian children aged 10 to 13 own a mobile phone. And much of the debate about social media and devices recently has focused on those aged 16 and under. High school teacher and mum Steph Challis lives in regional Victoria and is founder of The Phone Pledge program, a group of mums trying to keep their children off screens until at least 16 years of age. She understands why some people see hypocrisy in parents and teachers telling kids not to use their phones when the adults around them are also using the devices. But Ms Challis claims we should be setting an age limit on when to access phones because they pose a greater risk to a child's development. "[Social media is] harming their brain; it's changing the way their brains develop, much more so than it would be for someone who's 25 and above," she says. Part of what has prompted her to found the program is her own teaching experiences with tired students who "openly admit a lot of that [tiredness] is because of their electronic devices". She was also inspired by Jonathan Haidt's hugely popular yet controversial book, The Anxious Generation, and a survey she did that found many parents in her district were similarly worried about their children's phone use. "If we reach parents that were probably going to give their children a smartphone and a TikTok account in grade five [age 10], and they decide to wait until year seven and year eight, that's still progress and that's still something to be celebrated," she says. Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and describes the compulsive overconsumption of digital media as a "collective problem" that requires "collective solutions". "It's not enough to just moderate the content or try to limit our time, we need actual physical spaces and times when we all come together with no internet connection," she says. She notes that it's amazing that in "this day and age you can have a spiritual experience just by not carrying your phone with you". "Comedy clubs, music events, all kinds of people are really recognising that what makes for a meaningful gathering of humans is the extent to which they are psychologically investing in the moment." A small French town 50 kilometres south of Paris is going one step further by imposing a local smartphone ban on everyone, regardless of age. Seine Port is home to 2,000 people. Its mayor, Vincent Paul-Petit from the right-wing party Les Républicains, introduced the scheme, which passed a referendum with a slim margin of 54 per cent in favour last year. Individuals are discouraged from scrolling outside the school gates, in shops, cafes, restaurants, parks and even footpaths. "[The ban] was a form of provocation to help everyone wake up to this social issue, which is a huge issue, a huge social difficulty," the mayor says. It has been welcomed by some. "The shopkeepers are very happy with the progress we've felt in the town. They've all put a sticker inside their stores, a big sticker, saying 'screen-free spaces, smartphone-free spaces'," Mr Paul-Petit says. "They appreciate being able to interact with their customers." But not long after the success of the referendum, Mr Paul-Petit discovered he didn't have the power to prohibit smartphone use, so the "ban" has been replaced by a voluntary charter. And he admits there are some who don't want to follow it. "[People] say: 'Hide your phone, the mayor is coming.' … It's rather amusing," he says. Time will tell whether other places follow Mr Paul-Petit's lead. But the debate remains as to whose role it is to limit smartphone and social media use. For example, when legislation was passed in 2024 banning under-16s from accessing some social media, media reports claimed it set "Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments which have legislated, or have said they plan to legislate, an age restriction on social media". The ban will not take effect until the end of the year. But critics — including Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X — claim the move is a "backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians". Professor Lembke has praised the Australian government's approach and says when she talked about banning smartphones from schools 15 years ago, "people looked at me like it was absolutely crazy". "Now it's happening, so I'm super hopeful. Humans are adaptable," she says. Others are more sceptical about whether social media age restrictions will be followed by young people. A few teens impacted by the ban say they will find a "secret" way to continue to use social media platforms. Jameson Butler says these decisions should be left to individuals. The choice to consume less technology should be "consensual and empowering", she adds, and not the result of a ban. "I remember honestly being very annoyed every time my parents would try to tell me how bad the smartphone was because it was just … so entertaining," she says. "I didn't want to put it down … And despite all the times my parents tried to warn me and tried to limit my screen time, it wasn't until I reached the conclusion that my phone had been harming me … that I really decided to do something about it." She says that's part of the reason why she and her friends formed the Luddite Club. "What sets us apart from other, offline organisations and foundations … [is] a lot of them centre around parents and parenting," she says. "[But] we see that kids are really not going to always listen to their parents."
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘You are a star': A-lister couple's daughter keeps going viral
Romy Mars, the daughter of A-lister director Sofia Coppola and musician Thomas Mars, keeps on going viral. If you've missed the rise of Mars, you're probably just not on social media that much. The 18-year-old has garnered over 25 million likes on TikTok alone. Her parents met on the set of The Virgin Suicides in the late 1990s. Her mum, of course, is the director of acclaimed movies like Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette, and her Dad is the lead singer of the indie French band Phoenix. Her parents didn't tie the knot until 2013, and Mars also has a younger sister, Cosima, and she grew up rubbing shoulders with celebrities because of her parents. It doesn't hurt that she also looks just like her famous mum. The 18-year-old came to prominence, though, back in 2023. When she shared a now-deleted video where she claimed she was grounded because she attempted to charter a helicopter to visit her friend and was caught using her dad's credit card. The clip may have been deleted but it introduced Mars to the masses with a bang, and to this day, no one can be one hundred per cent sure if she was joking or not. These days, she's making a name for herself with her music career. She released a song aptly titled A-lister this year that is getting buzz. Perhaps what makes Mars so refreshing is that she's not shy about acknowledging her famous parents. Earlier this week, she posted a video of herself proudly watching her dad perform on stage, and people loved it. 'Having Thomas Mars as your dad is iconic,' one praised. 'Having him and Sofia Coppola as parents is unreal,' another said. 'Having two iconic parents must be such a blessing,' one said. Aside from acknowledging her famous parents, the 18-year-old uses social media for all the usual stuff that teenagers do. She'll post room tours, videos of her hanging out with friends, or clips to promote her music. In typical teenage girl fashion, she also likes to vaguely mention a messy break-up with an ex, Most of the content she posts is pretty similar to what anyone her age would, but there's always a sprinkling of affluence. She recently shared a video of her trying on the designer brand Chanel and then attending a Chanel ball. People online were nothing short of obsessed. 'You're such an icon, I can't,' one wrote. 'You are a star! We love you.' 'Iconic behaviour,' someone else said.
