Entertainment

Approximately a few months before Disney+ was launched in November 2019, Bob Iger offered financial analysts a straightforward explanation for why he intended to keep Disney’s new streaming service narrowly focused on family-friendly entertainment and well-known Disney brands like Marvel and Star Wars. Since Hulu and ESPN+ were already successful, he stated that instead of offering one large bundle containing sports, general entertainment, and family programming, it would be more beneficial for consumers if these categories were separated.

In David Hare’s 2022 play “Straight Line Crazy,” where Ralph Fiennes portrayed Robert Moses, audiences were left in awe of his exceptional physicality as an actor. Onstage, Fiennes powerfully moved about a stage dominated by a city map, embodying the forceful nature of Moses who could bulldoze through forests, hills, villages, and neighborhoods. The performance was so intense and passionate that it seemed like Fiennes might leap from the Shed’s small stage and land in the audience at any moment. While this may sound humorous, the intensity and danger of Fiennes’ portrayal were palpable during the performance.

Initially, Amy Adams was starring in a Minnesota dinner theater production of “Brigadoon” when she tried out for a part as a quirky cheerleader in “Drop Dead Gorgeous“. Although the character was minor and the film ultimately flopped at release, it motivated Adams to relocate to Los Angeles. For the subsequent decade, she primarily played optimistic, sweet-natured characters. However, for many women in Hollywood, this stereotype can be hard to break free from – just ask Meg Ryan. Yet, Adams consistently managed to infuse a sense of melancholy into her characters despite their upbeat appearances, which now appears as an inherent part of her talent. Nowadays, she seems to excel at finding the appealing aspects even within the most terrifying or gloomy roles.

Speaking from someone who was 15 years old towards the end of the ’90s and still have my Family Values ticket stub as proof: The movie Y2K, a horror-comedy by Kyle Mooney, formerly of Saturday Night Live, does an excellent job of showcasing the culture of the Windows 98 generation. True to its name, the film is set on the last night of the last millennium and begins with a swarm of flying toasters – a screensaver image that will undoubtedly bring back memories of dial-up internet and AOL Instant Messenger chirps. Mooney, who was also 15 in ’99, seems to have approached his directorial debut as a time capsule of significant artifacts from the late 20th century: burned CDs, VHS tapes, jokes about Bill Clinton, marathon gaming sessions on N64 consoles, communal karaoke performances of “Thong Song” and “Tubthumping.” If you still have a soft spot for any of these items, you’re likely to chuckle throughout the film, although even the intended audience of nostalgic older millennials might find bigger laughs hard to come by.

Justin Kurzel’s “The Order” offers a gripping, exquisitely filmed, powerfully acted crime thriller, a genre seldom seen on our movie screens today. The film carries a chilling and pertinent twist: It is based on real events detailing the FBI’s chase in the 1980s of neo-Nazi groups in the Pacific Northwest who conducted audacious robberies to fund their operations.

In an effort to keep administrative tasks engaging on screen, even when they were crucial in reality, The Six Triple Eight delays revealing its subject matter about wartime mail delivery for as long as feasible. Instead, it initiates the narrative with the conventional thrill of warfare. The story begins at the Battle of San Pietro in 1943, where a soldier stops amidst the chaos to extract a pilot’s last letter from the wreckage of a crashed plane. This is followed by a shift to Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, a year prior, where Lena Derriecott King (portrayed by Ebony Obsidian) is being picked up from school by Abram David (played by Gregg Sulkin), a wealthy Jewish family’s scion. Their interracial relationship stirs up animosity in some members of their community, and Abram’s evasive conversations do little to alleviate Lena’s affection for him. She follows him to the European theater after he enlists. Unlike other filmmakers who might foreshadow this young love with tragedy given that we soon discover Abram’s body was the one pulled from the plane, The Six Triple Eight, directed by Tyler Perry, lacks subtlety and finesse, much like a war epic performed by an underfunded high-school drama club.

In this hotel room in New York, I find myself seated alongside Ralph Fiennes, our laughter echoing like that of two mischievous kids. We’re here for our latest film, “The Return,” but the conversation has taken an unexpected turn, leading us down memory lane, reminiscing about our 30-plus years of collaboration and friendship.

Actor Timothée Chalamet is transitioning from Barb to Bob, as he takes on the role of Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s movie, titled “A Complete Unknown,” set for release on December 25. Fans will finally get to witness the fruits of Chalamet’s extensive preparation for this part, which reportedly involved listening to a 12-hour long playlist of unreleased Dylan songs. The film focuses on the pivotal moment at the Newport Music Festival when Dylan went electric, a scene that has been portrayed previously in Todd Haynes’ movie “I’m Not There” and perhaps also in “Factory Girl“. Nonetheless, let’s allow Li’l Timmy T to serenade you with his talents…

In 2014, many film experts believed that Christopher Nolan’s movie “Interstellar” could potentially win the Oscar for Best Picture. This was due in part to some feeling that Nolan had been overlooked for nominations in previous years, such as for “The Dark Knight” in 2008 and “Inception” in 2010. The production of “Interstellar” was a significant investment, making it Nolan’s most ambitious project yet. Much like Steven Spielberg in a past era, Nolan had earned Hollywood a lot of money through both serious films and franchise productions. His upcoming release was a star-studded, nearly three-hour sci-fi epic, co-produced by Warner Bros. and Paramount, with a screenplay originally intended for Spielberg himself to direct. The film’s depictions of intergalactic travel and black holes had been advised by Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicists, promising accurate science and groundbreaking special effects. Exclusive early Imax, 70mm, and 35mm screenings were planned, with the hope that the buzz surrounding “Interstellar” would revive the dwindling art of film projection. Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity,” a space movie released the previous year, had been both financially and critically successful, winning several Oscars, including Best Director. However, no science-fiction or space movie had ever won the Oscar for Best Picture, with films like “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Star Wars” being among those previously overlooked. Many believed that “Interstellar” could finally break this trend in 2014.

Happy holidays, you get a spy show! As we round out the year, an array of espionage is at your fingertips: Eddie Redmayne is having a blast under old-man prosthetics on The Day of the Jackal; Ted Danson is creeping around a retirement home in A Man on the Inside; there’s heady, slick dialogue about spycraft on The Agency and heavy-handed, tiring dialogue about spycraft on Lioness. These series each have their selling points, but only one meets all the genre requirements and also throws in a few delightful extras: spirited characters and lively world-building, frenetic action and fizzy conversation, Ben Whishaw’s luscious hair, Keira Knightley smiling like she wants to rip you apart with her teeth. Black Doves is the platonic ideal of a spy thriller, all of its elements fully in sync for a fun time.