Disney removes clip to avoid censor giving film higher age rating
A scene showing a lesbian kiss has been cut from the Singaporean version of the Star Wars film The Rise of Skywalker.
The country’s media regulatory body said Disney removed the clip to avoid the film being given a higher age rating. It is PG13, which means parental guidance is advised for children under 13.
Continue reading...Renaissance work sold to foreign bidder has now been declared ‘national treasure’
France has blocked the export of a tiny early Renaissance masterpiece found in a French woman’s kitchen that fetched more than €24m (£20.5m) at auction and became the most expensive medieval painting ever sold.
Christ Mocked, by the 13th-century Florentine painter Cimabue, had hung for decades above a cooking hotplate in the kitchen of a 1960s house near Compiègne, north of Paris, before it was spotted by an auctioneer who had come to value furniture for a house move.
Continue reading...From uptempo romance to feelgood dance, politically spicy rap and crowdpleasing pop, the biggest tracks across Africa last year went big on cross-continental appeal
Continue reading...Dance Centre Kenya’s Christmas production of The Nutcracker, performed at the National Theatre in Nairobi with the Nairobi Philharmonic Orchestra and guest musicians from overseas, is a highlight of the capital’s cultural and social calendar
Continue reading...Villanelle was too sadistic, the world of Westeros was too silly and Line of Duty swerved disastrously off-piste. Here are the TV turkeys of the year
Warning: this article contains spoilers.
Buoyed by the success of his disbelief-stretching smash Bodyguard, Jed Mercurio’s cop drama began its fifth series, and Line of Duty fever swept the country. Bookies took bets on the identity of H, and the show finally got the respect it deserved after years of providing gasp-inducing twists. The addition of Stephen Graham as a mysterious gangster with a connection to Adrian Dunbar’s Supt Hastings only bolstered the show’s reputation for quality guest stars (see also: Keeley Hawes, Thandie Newton).
Continue reading...New version of widely derided movie starring Idris Elba and Judi Dench to get CGI update
A new version of Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of the musical Cats with “improved visuals” is reportedly being sent to cinemas after a barrage of negative reviews in which the film was hammered for its “disturbing” CGI effects.
On Sunday, the Hollywood Reporter said it had seen a note that was sent by Universal Studios to thousands of cinemas in the US confirming that a new version with “some improved visual effects” was being distributed to chains.
Continue reading...Scar of Bethlehem designed to make people think about how Palestinians live in divided city
Banksy’s latest piece – the artist’s take on a nativity scene – has been unveiled at a hotel in Bethlehem.
The Scar of Bethlehem features a nativity scene with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, but instead of a star hanging over the crib there is what appears to be a large bullet hole piercing an imposing grey wall.
Continue reading...He’s about to appear in what might be his best film yet. So why is one of Britain’s finest actors so convinced he can’t act? Robert Pattinson talks to Alex Moshakis about stage-fright and why he couldn’t say no to a role in The Lighthouse
Do you want to hear a funny thing about Robert Pattinson? Robert Pattinson is convinced he doesn’t know how to act. Willem Dafoe can act, Pattinson thinks. Willem Dafoe can act the socks off anyone in the business. And Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix could tie his shoelaces on film and be nominated for an award. And Bruce Willis – Bruce Willis! – now there’s a leading man. But Robert Pattinson? Nope. “I only know how to play scenes, like, three ways,” he says. Three! That’s all. Despite more than a decade in the industry. “I’m nervous on, like, every single movie.”
Pattinson, who is 33, is sitting in a booth in a low-lit restaurant in Notting Hill, west London, dunking table bread into a pot of something. It’s the early evening, dark and cold outside. He has arrived from rehearsals for The Batman, which started not long ago and which are taking place, to his delight, in the studio in which he filmed Harry Potter in the mid-aughts. The Batman is the first time he’s worked in a studio in “like, forever,” and his first mainstream leading role since he retired his best-known character, Twilight’s Edward Cullen, sexy vampire. That was in 2012.
Continue reading...2010 to 2020 was a contradictory decade that will confound future historians with a simple question: how did America go from Obama to Trump?
Lin-Manuel Miranda was touring his award-winning musical, In the Heights, to his parents’ homeland of Puerto Rico. Donald Trump was awarding first prize on his reality TV show, The Apprentice, to a corporate lawyer turned mobile cupcake entrepreneur.
The year was 2010 and, in the decade that followed, these two hustlers from New York with fiercely devoted followings would come to represent the two faces of America.
Continue reading...The Flight of the Conchords star, who is guest curating the New Zealand festival, reflects on his career and the cost of compromise
Although he’s one of Wellington’s best-known pop cultural exports – as a musician, songwriter, actor and comedian – nobody makes a fuss when Bret McKenzie arrives in a central city cafe.
Fuss wouldn’t be entirely unwarranted. McKenzie’s portrayal of a particular type of socially awkward, deadpan New Zealander helped put the country’s dry humour on the map. And the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords – in which he performs with Jemaine Clement – so enraptured Hollywood that he could still be there if he wanted to, churning out season after season of the acclaimed TV show of the same name.
Continue reading...Court says state is entitled to any profits from Permanent Record because its publication breached non-disclosure agreements
Edward Snowden is not entitled to the profits from his memoir Permanent Record, and any money made must go to the US government, a judge has ruled.
Permanent Record, in which Snowden recounts how he came to the decision to leak the top secret documents revealing government plans for mass surveillance, was published in September. Shortly afterwards, the US government filed a civil lawsuit contending that publication was “in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA)”, and that the release of the book without pre-publication review by the agencies was “in violation of his express obligations”. Snowden’s lawyers had argued that if the author had believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review.
Continue reading...Her debut album confirmed her as the most exciting pop artist of her age. In the week she turns 18, Eilish talks about fame, fandom and her fears of adulthood
Billie Eilish was a star long before 2019. For a lot of 13- and 14-year-olds she was a game-changer the moment her song Ocean Eyes appeared on Soundcloud in 2015: an artist who spoke directly to her audience because she was her audience, a teenage girl who had co-written the song as a piece of homework and uploaded it for her teacher to access. But 2019 was the year that Eilish’s impact on pop became unavoidable: a show-stealing performance at Coachella; the youngest person to be nominated for all four biggest Grammy categories; the loud praise of fellow musicians from Tyler, the Creator to Thom Yorke; and a raft of younger artists operating under her influence.
Most importantly, the release of her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, confirmed her as the most exciting pop artist of her age: a dark, adventurous, eclectic set of songs, that appeared blithely unconcerned with chasing trends. Recorded at home by Eilish and her elder brother Finneas, without co-writers or big-name producers, it showed that, in a world of pop stars desperate to be seen as auteurs, Eilish genuinely is one – a fact underlined by her directing the impressively disturbing video for single Xanny. She turned 18 yesterday.
Continue reading...Newsnight was granted a rare audience with the royal ... and after a decade of silence, he was unstoppable. Its presenter shares the secrets of the interview of the century
Series 3, episode 4: The Crown. A BBC van pulls up at Buckingham Palace to record a royal documentary.
As in life, so with television: timing is everything. Had The Crown aired its new series one week earlier … Had the fictional Queen been spotted squirming at the TV crews in her midst … Had the distant memories of a now-banned palace interview been fresher in our minds … It is entirely possible, and more than probable, that the Prince Andrew interview would never have happened.
Continue reading...Rapper defends remarks about Boris Johnson at his old primary school as ‘the truth’
Stormzy has defended himself after Piers Morgan took issue with him criticising Boris Johnson to a group of children.
The UK grime star was talking to young pupils at his old primary school in Thornton Heath, south London, when he was asked why he was not a fan of the prime minister. He replied that Johnson was “a very, very bad man”.
Continue reading...Dan Reed knew his film would shatter Michael Jackson’s reputation. But he didn’t expect so many death threats – or the superfans stalking his office
In February, when the documentary maker Dan Reed and I met in a near-empty bar, it felt very much like the lull before the typhoon. He was calm and expansive as he spoke about his film, Leaving Neverland – which was about to be broadcast – about James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them for years.
As I looked at him leaning back, relaxed as you like, talking casually about “the Jackson fans”, I thought: “Sonny Jim, you have NO IDEA what you’re getting into.” It was like watching an innocent babe wander into a dark wood, the sounds of snarling animals in shadows all around him.
Continue reading...This remarkable example of ‘slow journalism’ links the pharaohs with Egypt’s Arab spring
Of all the ill-fated revolutions of the Arab spring, none started more optimistically, or ended more disappointingly, than that of Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown with such rejoicing at the beginning of the revolution in 2011, was perhaps not the worst of the Arab dictators. His rise, on the classless elevator of the Egyptian armed forces, was entirely the result of his competence in the military. Cairo intellectuals disliked his backslapping air-force bonhomie and quickly dubbed him “La vache qui rit”, after the laughing cow on the French processed cheese to whom the president was said to bear a resemblance.
For two decades Mubarak provided Egypt with a plodding yet stable government, which many compared favourably with the attention-seeking antics of his predecessors Nasser and Sadat. It should not be forgotten that his ministers were corrupt, his police casually and strikingly brutal, and torture in Egyptian prisons was rife. Yet his regime was still better than its counterparts in Syria and Iraq.
Continue reading...Actor and producer of a film about Fox News head Roger Ailes describes self-blame and anger about alleged incident early in her career
Charlize Theron has spoken in detail about her experience of sexual harassment at the start of her acting career, saying she found it frustrating that she “didn’t do all of those things that we so want to believe we’ll do in those situations”.
Theron was speaking to NPR to coincide with the release of Bombshell, a drama about the ousting of Fox News head Roger Ailes over accusations of sexual harassment, in which she plays former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Continue reading...‘We did it,’ Carey says, after streaming services finally help seasonal hit to top spot
It is perhaps the most cherished, euphoric and vocally impressive Christmas song of all time, but Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You had never reached the US No 1 spot – until now.
When it was released as part of an EP in 1994, US chart rules meant it couldn’t compete with singles. Later reclassified as a standalone song in 2000, it has been a seasonal fixture in the charts ever since – and after 25 years has finally reached No 1.
Continue reading...Life on green trains, wild animals caught unawares and 55 ‘sweetheart’ portraits that angered the authorities … here the highlights of China’s biggest photography show
To visit the Lianzhou Foto festival, one flies along the banks of the Pearl river delta and into the heart of Guangzhou. Witnessing this mega city from the plane is to suddenly realise the immensity of modern China. Roughly 50 million people live in this urban sprawl surrounding Hong Kong.
Lianzhou is a four-hour drive from Guangzhou into the forested mountains of Guangdong province. It is perhaps an unlikely destination for a major arts event. But in 2005, Duan Yuting, a 47-year-old former photo editor for a Guangzhou newspaper, chose the city to found the festival, now firmly established as China’s leading contemporary photography event.
Continue reading...Matthew Feargrieve convicted of assault on Ulrich Engler at Royal Opera House
A lawyer has been convicted of assaulting a fashion designer during a dispute over a front-row seat at an opera performance.
Matthew Feargrieve was found guilty in London of punching Ulrich Engler at least once while attending a performance of Wagner at the Royal Opera House on 7 October last year.
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