Category Archives: Film

Rebel Wilson labelled ‘nuts’ by PR team she allegedly hired to attack colleague, court hears

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Wilson is being sued for defamation by actor Charlotte MacInnes over social media posts alleging a sexual harassment complaint

Rebel Wilson was labelled “nuts” by a PR team she allegedly hired to create websites attacking a co-producer of her directorial debut, a court has heard.

The Pitch Perfect actor directed, co-produced and acted in The Deb, a musical comedy set in rural NSW that remained unreleased for two years due to legal disputes.

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‘The witches are back’: first look at Practical Magic 2 as Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return for spooky sequel

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The Kissing Booth’s Joey King and Game Of Thrones’ Maisie Williams star alongside the original cast members as the next generation of the cursed Owens family

The midnight margaritas are officially back on the menu. Within 24 hours of its debut, the first official teaser for Practical Magic 2 has surged into the Google Trends top 10, attracting millions of views and signalling an enthusiastic appetite for the return of the Owens family and all things witchy.

Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will return as sisters Sally and Gillian, with Kidman sharing a video of her and her fellow star on set last year, captioned: “The witches are back”.

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Charlize Theron joins chorus of disapproval over Timothée Chalamet’s ballet comments

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The former ballet dancer said Chalamet’s comments were ‘reckless’ in an interview with the New York Times in which she also discussed her violent childhood

Actor and former ballet dancer Charlize Theron has joined the chorus of disapproval aimed at Timothée Chalamet over his remarks that appeared to disrespect performers of ballet and opera.

In an interview with the New York Times, Theron said: “Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day,” adding: “That was a very reckless comment on two art forms that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.”

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Nathalie Baye, prolific star of French and Hollywood cinema, dies aged 77

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Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family

The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.

Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.

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Pedro Pascal v Pedro Piscal: actor in legal battle with Chilean spirit brand

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Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name – and others have fought off the lawsuits

The actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal.

David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants.

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Indian music legend Asha Bhosle dies aged 92

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Two-time Grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices

The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood cinema and whose career spanned almost eight decades, has died in Mumbai at the age of 92.

Bhosle, who recorded more than 12,000 songs, became her country’s pre-eminent exponent of playback singing – recording tracks that were then lip-synced on film by actors. She also boldly embraced cabaret and western-influenced melodies to forge a distinctive musical identity.

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Doug Allan, cameraman on David Attenborough’s Planet series, dies trekking in Nepal

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Wildlife film pioneer has died aged 74 ‘immersed in nature and surrounded by friends’, his representatives have said

An award-winning wildlife cameraman renowned for his work with David Attenborough has died aged 74 while trekking in Nepal.

Doug Allan, described as a “true pioneer” of wildlife film-making, won several Bafta and Emmy awards and was principal camera operator on a number of BBC series including Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and The Blue Planet.

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George Clooney calls Donald Trump’s ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ threat to Iran a war crime

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White House says only person committing war crimes is actor ‘for his awful movies and terrible acting ability’

The long-running war of words between George Clooney and the White House has ignited again after the Oscar-winning actor criticised Donald Trump’s threat to Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight”.

On Wednesday, in a speech to 3,000 high school students in Cuneo, Italy, Clooney said the US president had committed a war crime with his threat.

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‘The original triple threat’: two exhibitions celebrate Marilyn Monroe as creative pioneer

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BFI and National Portrait Gallery to mark centenary of the film star’s birth with ‘the summer of Marilyn’

Though often reduced to a sex symbol frozen in time, or a tragic figure at the centre of several scandals, Marilyn Monroe was something far more subversive, according to two exhibitions that will herald what has been nicknamed “the summer of Marilyn”.

To mark the centenary of her birth, Monroe is being celebrated by leading British cultural institutions as a performer of sharp comic intelligence, a canny architect of her own image, and a woman who reshaped the possibilities for female stardom on screen.

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Artemis II’s Jeremy Hansen calls Project Hail Mary ‘a real treat’ before his space mission

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Astronaut calls fellow Canadian Ryan Gosling’s movie ‘extraordinary’ ahead of Artemis II crew’s lunar fly-around

The new space movie Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling has gotten a rave review from more than halfway to the moon.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said on Saturday that he and his Artemis II crewmates got to watch the film with their families before launching on the lunar fly-around. He said it was “a real treat” to view the movie while getting ready for his own space adventure.

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James Tolkan, known for his roles in Top Gun and Back to the Future, dies aged 94

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Tolkan, known for portraying authoritarian figures, died ‘peacefully’ in Lake Placid, New York, his agent said

James Tolkan, known for his roles as an authoritarian figure in the Back to the Future and Top Gun films, has died. He was 94.

Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, said Saturday. A brief obituary published on the Back to the Future website said Tolkan died “peacefully”, but no cause of death was given.

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‘Break your silence’: Jane Fonda leads rally against Trump crackdown on arts and media

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Actor outside Kennedy Center urges Americans to ‘stand tall against authoritarianism’ and resist free-speech threats

The actor Jane Fonda joined journalists, musicians and writers outside Washington’s John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in urging US citizens to “break your silence” and “stand tall against authoritarianism”.

At a damp but defiant rally hosted by Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment on Friday, around a hundred invited guests gathered to hear speakers and singers rail against book bans, political censorship and other threats to free speech under Donald Trump.

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Lebo M sues comedian Learnmore Jonasi claiming Circle of Life misrepresentation

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Grammy winner seeks more than $20m in damages over mistranslation of The Lion King chant

A Grammy-winning South African composer who wrote and performed the opening chant in Circle of Life for Disney’s The Lion King is suing a comedian for allegedly damaging his reputation by intentionally misrepresenting the song’s meaning on a podcast and in his standup routine.

Lebohang Morake’s lawsuit accuses the Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Mwanyenyeka, known as Learnmore Jonasi, of intentionally mistranslating the chant, which launches the 1994 movie and is central to staged versions as well as Disney’s 2019 remake.

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Indian film board blocks release of Oscar-nominated Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab

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Distributor says authorities warned screening Tunisian film-maker Kaouther Ben Hania’s docudrama could harm India–Israel relations

The Indian release of The Voice of Hind Rajab, the Oscar-nominated Tunisian film about the death of a five-year-old girl during the Israel-Gaza war, has been blocked by the country’s ratings body, according to the film’s Indian distributor.

In a report by Variety, Manoj Nandwana of Mumbai-based Jai Viratra Entertainment said that he was told that if the film was released, it would “break up” India-Israel relations.

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War, inheritance and … a baby? First Dune: Part Three trailer is here

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The final instalment in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi trilogy brings back Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Florence Pugh and introduces a nasty new villain

Timothée Chalamet may have finally escaped Oscar season, but not movie promotion – the first look at Dune: Part Three is here.

The first trailer released for the final installment in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi trilogy sees further war and political upheaval in the galaxy beyond Arrakis – plus a possible future child for Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Chani, the Fremen warrior played by Zendaya. “If we have a girl, what should be name her?” Chani asks, suggesting the two have reconciled since the end of Part Two.

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‘We are the family’: low-budget thriller highlights Hungary’s election tension

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Audiences draw parallels between the abduction plot of Feels Like Home and Viktor Orbán’s 16-year reign

It’s seven o’clock on a Tuesday night, and one of the most popular movie theatres in Budapest is full, not an empty seat in sight. The audience is not here for a Hollywood blockbuster, but a Hungarian film that barely had the budget to be made.

Feels Like Home (Itt Érzem Magam Otthon) has captured moviegoers not only with its striking visuals but also with its timing – its release coming before Hungary’s pivotal parliamentary elections on 12 April.

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One Battle After Another sweeps the Oscars as Michael B Jordan and Jessie Buckley win big

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Paul Thomas Anderson’s revolutionary epic took home six awards while Sinners scored four including for best actor

Paul Thomas Anderson’s counter-culture caper One Battle After Another has won the Oscars war, taking home six awards after a hotly contested season.

The big-budget comedy thriller, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, was named best picture and also won director, supporting actor for Sean Penn, adapted screenplay, editing and the first ever Oscar for casting, a category long-petitioned for within the industry.

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Mr Nobody Against Putin wins the best documentary Oscar

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Primary school teacher Pavel Talankin’s record of the indoctrination of his pupils to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine beats contenders

Mr Nobody Against Putin, a primary school teacher’s record of the indoctrination of his pupils to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has won the Oscar for best documentary.

Pavel Talankin, who is now in exile in Europe, picked up the award alongside the film’s US co-director, David Borenstein. It beat favourite The Perfect Neighbor to take the prize, along with other contenders The Alabama Solution, Come See Me in the Good Light and Cutting Through Rocks.

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Barbra Streisand pays tribute to Robert Redford at the Oscars: ‘He blazed his own trail’

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The actor and singer remembered her co-star in 1973’s The Way We Were, who died in September

Barbra Streisand has paid tribute to her friend and former co-star Robert Redford at the 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

The actor and singer, 83, sang a portion of the title song from their 1973 romantic drama The Way We Were, directed by Sydney Pollack, after remembering the pair’s respect and affection for one another.

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‘Some parents said they’d break my knees’: the teacher who exposed Putin’s primary school propaganda

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Grenade-throwing contests replaced PE and ‘denazification’ speeches became homework. Pavel Talankin’s undercover film about his school’s indoctrination drive won a Bafta and is tipped for an Oscar, but has left him in exile

In order to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary in which many of them have starring roles, pupils at Karabash School No 1 have had to source bootlegged copies, viewing the film in private, on their phones or their laptops.

Last week’s Bafta best documentary win for Mr Nobody Against Putin has been studiously ignored by Russian state media, and the prize the film won at Sundance last year was also met with silence. Staff at the school and government officials in the Kremlin seem united in their desire to pretend that they know nothing about the film.

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