Latest news with #filmcritics
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
We Love ‘Parasite.' But Where the Hell Is Steven Spielberg?
Listen to and watch 'Cannonball': Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio Hosted by Wesley Morris Featuring Eric Hynes Produced by John WhiteJanelle Anderson and Elyssa Dudley Edited by Lisa Tobin Engineered by Daniel Ramirez Twenty-four years ago, the Times critic Wesley Morris and the film curator Eric Hynes were just a couple of 'cooler-than-you' cinephiles working at Kim's Video, the beloved New York City video store. They recently got together to dissect the trends, snubs and outliers on the Times's 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century list and to shed a few tears over their own top 10s. 'Cannonball' is hosted by Wesley Morris and produced by Elyssa Dudley, John White, Janelle Anderson and Austin Mitchell. The show is edited by Lisa Tobin. The show is engineered by Daniel Ramirez and recorded by Maddy Masiello, Kyle Grandillo and Nick Pitman. It features original music by Dan Powell and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Justin Ellington. Our video team is Brooke Minters and Felice Leon. This episode was edited by Eddie Costas, Pat Gunther and Jamie Hefetz. Special thanks to Wendy Dorr, Paula Szuchman and Sam Dolnick.
CBC
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Do we really need another Jurassic Park movie?
Another summer comes and another Jurassic Park movie comes out. This installment, Jurassic World: Rebirth, follows Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) as she leads a covert team (Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali) to collect dinosaur blood for a new miracle drug. But do we need another dinosaur summer blockbuster film? Today on Commotion, guest host Rad Simonpillai sits down with film critics Alison Willmore, Jackson Weaver and Rachel Ho to review Jurassic World: Rebirth. listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Rad: Alison, this is the fourth in the Jurassic World series, and then, of course, the seventh in this franchise that began 32 years ago with Jurassic Park. Does this installment justify its existence? Alison: I feel like several of these Jurassic Worlds have had trouble justifying their existence, except that they've all made over a billion dollars, which I guess is the actual justification from a most basic standpoint. A constant drumbeat in Jurassic World is that people just get bored of dinosaurs easily. You know, they have to keep coming up with mutant dinosaurs to please these fickle audiences…. But it's funny that this movie actually, I think, achieves being boring. You've done it, you have finally fulfilled the prophecy. I'm such a sucker for dinosaur action. I'm, like, "Is it going to eat that guy? It ate that guy!" But in this movie, it just really struggles to come up with a reason why ScarJo and her team will have to go. It's like a video game quest, for "reasons" we need to sample blood from a big flying dinosaur and a swimming dinosaur and all. It feels like [the film] itself is frustrated with having to come up with new scenarios, while also hitting the beats we expect from a Jurassic movie. So I think it'll probably make a lot of money anyway because people are also suckers for dino action, like me. But it is the least motivated of all of these movies that I've seen so far. Rad: Jackson, you have a cast here, Oscar winners, very celebrated actors. Do they elevate this from being the typical Hollywood sequel slot? Jackson: They definitely elevate it. But they elevate it from garbage to garbage with a bow on it — really that's as best as I can say. Because we do have one of the best actors, I think, in this movie, or best characters in this movie, played by David Iacono. He plays Xavier, the lazy layabout, Pete Davidson-type character. The actor himself does such a good job of making him interesting to watch, but the writing fails him at every turn. And it fails all of the actors, because Mahershala Ali kind of does the same thing. But when you get a formulaic movie, formulas work for a reason because they have a beginning, middle, end, an arc that makes you satisfied and interested. These character archetypes do not understand why they're character archetypes. Zora Bennett, the Scarlett Johansson character, is supposed to be an Indiana Jones clone, but there's no heart to her character, no reason to care what she's doing, so she's just gruff and mean to people for no reason. The doctor character played by Jonathan Bailey is basically just Milo from the Atlantis movies — except in those movies, he wanted to find Atlantis to prove his grandpa's legacy right and to change his connection to humanity in general and find out that these things are real living beings on the page. But this doctor just likes dinosaurs, sees a dinosaur, says, "Great, dinosaurs!" and the movie just goes forward. All of it is just pointless, bad writing. That great acting — I don't think Scarlett Johansson does great, but everyone else is really good — doesn't make the movie anything more than just: this is terribly written. Rad: The best gag in this movie — and I think Alison, you might have mentioned this in your review — is that Scarlett Johansson is playing a character who is very reluctantly signing on to this dino expedition because of how many zeros are in the cheque. Jackson: Art imitates life. Rad: She was committed to the character in that sense. Rachel, this is a movie that is clearly striking out with both Alison and Jackson. Are you going to find any redeeming quality about Jurassic World: Rebirth? Rachel: Yeah, I loved it. No, I'm kidding. It wasn't good. I will say: there's an incredible, impressively gratuitous use of John Williams's score in this, and it's one of the best scores that has ever been created for film, in my opinion. And every chance that they had to throw those notes in, they did it. And in a movie like this, I'll say that was probably the best part. I enjoyed listening to the score. It's a really beautiful score and I can listen to that over and over and over again. And that was probably the only thing that I went, "Oh that's really cool, I enjoyed listening to this." Other than that, though, I don't know why we're fighting heart disease in a Jurassic Park movie. I think that's very strange. The reasoning to go after the large dinosaurs? They go: "Because they have big hearts." And no one laughed in the theater. I thought that was really funny. But nobody laughed. At this point, it almost feels insulting. They're just actively trying to go on the offensive against the original movie. I don't know why Steven Spielberg's an executive producer on this one. But I fail to find enough good things to talk about it that would justify recommending it to anybody — unless you want to listen to the John Williams score again.
ABC News
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
ICYMI: David and Margaret honoured with Walk of Fame star, Talking Heads release first music video for Psycho Killer
Welcome to ICYMI, where we recap the entertainment and arts news you might have missed over the past week. David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz might just be Australia's most beloved film critics — and now they have the star to prove it! The pair were presented with their very own star on the Australian Film Walk of Fame outside the historic Ritz Cinema in Randwick, Sydney. Their induction makes them the first duo and the first non-actors to be honoured with a star. Stratton and Pomeranz hosted SBS's The Movie Show for 18 years before clocking up another decade as the faces of ABC's At The Movies. Through both shows, the pair brought both blockbusters and indie fare to the attention of movie-lovers across the country. "I am thrilled to be given this acknowledgement … particularly with its association to one of this country's most innovative and pro-active cinemas. It is truly an honour," Pomeranz said. "It is gratifying to be connected to the Ritz Cinema, which is one of the finest movie places in Australia," Stratton agreed. Since 2008, the Australian Film Walk of Fame has honoured those who have made outstanding contributions to the local industry. Previous inductees include Jack Thompson, Deborah Mailman and Claudia Karvan. Beyond their work in front of the camera, Pomeranz and Stratton have been champions for the local film scene, long advocating for Australian film quotas and challenging film censorship in the country. Stratton, who was director for the Sydney Film Festival for nearly 20 years, was instrumental in bringing in the R18+ classification to Australia, which allowed for films with more controversial topics to be screened locally, instead of being outright banned. Their trademark brand of cinematic activism — including Pomeranz's arrest — was the inspiration behind 2025 comedy show Refused Classification, from comedians Alexei Toliopoulos and Zachary Ruane, which sold out venues around the country. In it Ruane plays Stratton while Toliopoulos dons a blonde wig to pay tribute to his idol, Pomeranz. The artist and his muse posed together for photos at the Australian Film Walk of Fame ceremony. Edmund White, the co-author behind revolutionary book The Joy of Gay Sex, has died, aged 85. Although he was subjected to conversion therapy as a child and young man, White eventually embraced his identity and became a pillar of gay literature, penning 36 books in total, many of them hauntingly autobiographical. His debut novel was Forgetting Elena (which was praised by Vladamir Nabokov), but four years later he released The Joy of Gay Sex, a sex-positive guide for gay men he had co-authored with his psychologist, Dr Charles Silverstein. The book that really made White's name was A Boy's Own Story, the first of his highly acclaimed trilogy of novels that chronicle a young gay man's coming of age in America. "Gay fiction before that, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote, was written for straight readers," White told the New York Times. "We had a gay readership in mind, and that made all the difference. We didn't have to spell out what Fire Island was." In the midst of the AIDS crisis, White helped found the Gay Men's Health Crisis group in New York in the same year he released A Boy's Own Story. He went public with his HIV-positive status in 1985, one of the first public figures to do so. As well as receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship, White won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1994 and the National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He is survived by his partner of almost 30 years, writer Michael Carroll, who he married in 2013. He published his sixth memoir — The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir — in early 2025. Wake up. Eat. Drive to work. Talk to your co-workers. Drive home. Eat. Go to Sleep. The daily grind is enough to turn anyone into psycho killers, even legendary rock'n'roll bands. Art-rock pioneers Talking Heads waited more than 40 years to make an official music video for their smash hit, 'Psycho Killer'. But, on the 50th anniversary of the band's first live performance, they finally did. Starring Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird, Little Women) and directed by Mike Mills (C'mon C'mon) the music video documents one woman's life as she suffers through a mental breakdown in a Groundhog-Day-esque daily grind cycle. "This video makes the song better," Talking Heads said in a statement. "We LOVE what this video is NOT — it's not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious." Amazing news for fans of talkative mimes and Twitch streamers covered in Smurf body paint: comedian Tom Walker is joining season nine of The Great Australian Bake Off as a co-host. Walker — who trained in clowning at the prestigious École Philippe Gaulier outside Paris — has been a mainstay in the Australian comedy scene ever since he took home Best Newcomer and Director's Choice awards at the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. His 2019 hour Very, Very was released as a special by Amazon Prime Video and highlighted his incredible (and incredibly sweaty) mime skills. Since then, Walker has moved into Twitch streaming to his near 20,000-strong audience and has become a frequent face on Guy Montgomery's Guy MontSpelling Bee. "I truly loved being a part of The Great Australian Bake Off. The whole crew is so warm, funny, welcoming and kind, and the bakers are so talented it blows my mind," Walker said in a statement. "To the little boy who grew up thinking he'd never see a biscuit city: you were wrong." Walker will join returning host Natalie Tran for the latest season. He follows in a long line of Aussie comedians in the Bake Off shed including Mel Buttle, Claire Hooper and Cal Wilson, who died suddenly in late 2023. Australian global TV event Future Vision has announced the international headliners for the summit's second edition. Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd — who picked up Golden Globes, Emmys and most recently a Peabody award for his semi-autobiographical series — will be joined by Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright and Pachinko creator Soo Hugh at this year's event. Returning co-chairs — Nine Perfect Strangers producer Bruna Papandrea and screenwriter Tony Ayres, built the line-up around the concept of "optimism in the face of uncertainty". "Richard Gadd, Sally Wainwright, and Soo Hugh are undoubtedly some of the most exciting television creators in the world today," Papandrea and Ayres said in a statement. "We cannot wait to engage with them in Melbourne and bring their thinking and provocation to the thought leaders at home." Taking place from July 14-16 at ACMI in Melbourne, the final two days of the summit are invite-only, however, Monday July 14 has ticketed options for the public to attend. There's no denying the best things always come in twos: Tom and Jerry; socks; the final instalment of the Twilight franchise. And, of course, a good Broadway show. After the first Wicked movie honoured the original stage production (including the powerful Defying Gravity cliffhanger), fans knew Wicked: For Good would be its epic act two conclusion — but that hasn't made waiting for it any easier. But the trailer for Wicked: For Good is finally here, showing that the friendship and undeniable chemistry of leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will remain true and sing (literally and figuratively) through to the musical's wicked conclusion.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning' Is The Worst-Reviewed MI In 19 Years
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Paramount Not that reviews are bad for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning out this coming Friday, but they have laid out an interesting comparison point of how the series has 'split' in the last thirty years, indicating a clear break point and how The Final Reckoning has slipped well below that. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is the worst-scoring MI film since 2006, and the first film in the series rated below a 90% since 2001, with its 79%. It's pretty interesting if you look at it mapped out: So, what's happened here is that Mission Impossible started as a decent action series in its first three films spanning a decade. But after a five-year break, Ghost Protocol started a new era of really, really good MI films that began at a 94% and went up to a 98% for the highest rated film, Fallout. That's been 12 years of excellently rated action films, a run that we rarely, if ever, see in the genre. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Paramount The Final Reckoning? It broke this streak. And it's fallen a decent amount, 15% below Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, and much closer to MI3's 72%. Again, a 79% score is not bad, but it has indeed snapped a 12-year streak for the franchise in terms of scores. What are critics saying about its faults? Here are a few takes: Of course, there is high praise as well: So, is Mission Impossible ending on a decent, but not amazing note? That depends on whether you trust that Tom Cruise will walk away, or if you believe a huge box office would discourage them from doing more. So we'll have to see. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
