Cinema, Theater & TV news

• Catch-22 review – lovely to look at, with a fine cast … but there’s a catch

  20-06-2019 23:00
  Heller’s spiky, satirical work is handsomely brought to TV, but does George Clooney’s six-parter have anything truly novel to say?Is it a propitious time for an adaptation of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22? Is there anything about the current socio-political landscape that might make resonant a televisual take on the spikily satirical novel whose title is synonymous with absurd, contradictory choices forced upon people by institutions that seem to have taken leave of their senses? I
  
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• Pride Month: The New York City Theater to See

  20-06-2019 22:41 via nytimes.com
  “A Strange Loop,” “Stonewall” and, of course, “The Cher Show” are among the offerings onstage now.
  
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• Are Your Children Seeing ‘Toy Story 4’? Send Us Their Movie Reviews

  20-06-2019 22:39 via nytimes.com
  We want to hear young moviegoers’ takes on the film.
  
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• Slack/direct listings: chatting up

  20-06-2019 22:20 via ft.com
  Dcision to go public via a direct listing means no new shares and no money raised
  
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• ‘Starfish’ Review: A Sci-Fi Mystery Shrouded in Grief

  20-06-2019 21:20 via nytimes.com
  A.T. White’s experimental debut feature is patient and introspective horror, anchored by a charismatic performance by Virginia Gardner.
  
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• ‘The Minutes,’ by Tracy Letts, Is Coming to Broadway

  20-06-2019 21:00 via nytimes.com
  The politically themed comedy, about a fractious municipal government meeting, will open in 2020.
  
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• ‘Endzeit’ Review: Once Upon a Zombie Apocalypse

  20-06-2019 19:43 via nytimes.com
  A German movie goes into the woods with the dead, morphing into a fairy tale that is by turns uneasy and beguiling.
  
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• ‘Toy Story 4’ Review: Playtime’s Over

  20-06-2019 18:57 via nytimes.com
  In this latest entry in the long-running series, Woody and Buzz hit the road and cross paths with a scary, scarily unloved doll.
  
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• ‘Child’s Play’ Review: A Robot Chucky Goes Rogue in a Soulless Remake

  20-06-2019 18:00 via nytimes.com
  This slasher retread adds a cautionary tale about artificial intelligence, but its plausibility makes the character less scary.
  
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• Jason Blum: This Is the Biggest Shift in Hollywood History

  20-06-2019 17:56 via nytimes.com
  For our project on the future of movies, the producer foresees his horror films living on in theaters, but something like his Oscar-winning “Whiplash”? Nope.
  
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• Ava DuVernay: Real People Aren’t Seeing Most Movies

  20-06-2019 17:53 via nytimes.com
  For our project on the future of movies, the director has harsh words for the industry. A theater “is not the reality of most people’s experience with film.”
  
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• Octavia Spencer: Studios Are Calling Me. That’s a Paradigm Shift.

  20-06-2019 17:51 via nytimes.com
  For our project on the future of movies, she says Hollywood has a new attitude toward her (“a woman of a certain age and demographic”).
  
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• UK’s online porn age-verification system delayed again

  20-06-2019 17:04 via ft.com
  Government acknowledges legislation likely to be set back for six months
  
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• J.J. Abrams and Son to Write Spider-Man Comic

  20-06-2019 16:00 via nytimes.com
  The two discuss their collaboration, which introduces a new villain, Cadaverous, and how the project came to be.
  
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• Music industry targets troll farms distorting streaming revenues

  20-06-2019 14:18 via ft.com
  Record labels join tech groups to tackle ‘industrial-scale’ deployment of fake users
  
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• ‘Bitter Wheat’ Misfires, in Monstrous Fashion

  20-06-2019 13:11 via nytimes.com
  Despite the formidable presence of John Malkovich, David Mamet’s new play is as reprehensible as the predatory film tycoon at the center of it.
  
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• ‘Wild Rose’ Review: A Glaswegian Singer Walks the Line

  20-06-2019 13:00 via nytimes.com
  Jessie Buckley shines as a working-class performer with aspirations of country music stardom.
  
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• ‘The Quiet One’ Review: Bill Wyman Opens His Archives, and His Mouth

  20-06-2019 13:00 via nytimes.com
  A new documentary explores the Rolling Stones bassist’s musical prowess and avoidance of excess.
  
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• ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’ Review: A Bustling, Whimsical Voyage

  20-06-2019 13:00 via nytimes.com
  Dhanush plays a poor Indian magician whose trip to Europe takes a series of unexpected turns.
  
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• ‘The Command’ Review: A Real-Life Submarine Tragedy Gets the Big Screen Treatment

  20-06-2019 13:00 via nytimes.com
  Thomas Vinterberg’s new movie relives the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk.
  
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• So what if Love Island's relationships are fake? We all love a little 'showmance'

  20-06-2019 13:00
  Pretending to be loved-up for a few weeks is no torture for a wannabe celeb if it brings fame and fortune. Viewers know it – but still can’t get enough of the lust and scandalThe former Love Island contestant Chris Hughes has accused this year’s batch of fame-hungry frottage merchants of faking their romances. For the uninitiated, Hughes was a firm favourite with fans in 2017 because of his bromance with fellow contestant Kem Cetinay and a onscreen gaffe that launched the Jason
  
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• ‘Burn Your Maps’ Review: The Mongolian Steppes as a Stage for Grief

  20-06-2019 13:00 via nytimes.com
  Vera Farmiga plays a mother who has lost a child and travels all the way to Central Asia to help heal her still-living one.
  
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• Thousands petition Netflix to cancel Amazon Prime's Good Omens

  20-06-2019 12:40
  US Christian group condemns Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s story as ‘making satanism appear normal’ – but petition wrong companyMore than 20,000 Christians have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of Good Omens, the television series adapted from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 fantasy novel – unfortunately addressing their petition to Netflix when the series is made by Amazon Prime.The six-part series was released last month, starring Dav
  
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• Mark Hamill calls for Carrie Fisher Walk of Fame star to replace Donald Trump's

  20-06-2019 12:04
  Trump’s star, defaced multiple times, remains a political battleground after council voted for its removal in 2018Star Wars: The Last Jedi actor Mark Hamill has called for Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star to be replaced by one for Carrie Fisher, his co-star in multiple Star Wars movies.Hamill retweeted an article from August 2018 reporting that West Hollywood City Council had voted to remove Trump’s star. Hamill added: “Good riddance! (and I know just who should
  
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• ‘Billboard’ Review: An Underdog Story Misses the Mark

  20-06-2019 11:00 via nytimes.com
  Zeke Zelker’s film about a radio promotional stunt gone awry suffers from awkward pacing and stilted dialogue.
  
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• Crew member stabbed on set at Harry Potter film studio

  20-06-2019 10:33
  Police called to Leavesden film set and made arrest after man was taken to hospital with a neck injuryA man has been arrested after a crew member was stabbed at a film studio celebrated as the home base for the successful Harry Potter film series.Hertfordshire police said: “Police were called at around 12.35pm [on Wednesday] to reports of an incident at Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden. One man sustained a neck injury and was taken to hospital by ambulance. A second man was arrested on
  
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• Catch-22: has George Clooney broken the curse of the unfilmable novel?

  20-06-2019 09:08
  It’s a modern American classic, but Joseph Heller’s fractured story has defied suitable translation on to the screen – until nowFans of the unfilmable novel must be having a terrible time of it now. In the last three weeks alone, two of the most notorious examples have made their way to screen. Admittedly one – Amazon’s Good Omens – functions as a pretty watertight argument for never trying to adapt an unfilmable book. But the other is Catch-22, and that funct
  
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• Is Nicolas Winding Refn's Amazon show an indulgence too far?

  20-06-2019 08:00
  The Drive director’s 13-hour LA-set noir Too Old to Die Young has divided critics but the extended format has allowed him to create something undeniably strikingTelevision is a writer’s medium, while cinema is a director’s one. So goes the old maxim, and for years it was more or less true: episodic TV directors were regarded largely as journeymen, keeping things running smoothly and crisply with minimal formal fuss, while writers absorbed more of the acclaim when a series struc
  
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• TV tonight: George Clooney brings Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 to the small screen

  20-06-2019 07:19
  Uplifting comedy and existential crisis in this fine adaptation of the 1961 US novel. Plus: the troubles facing Philip Green’s Topshop. Here’s what to watch this eveningThe comedy in Luke Davies and David Michôd’s fine adaptation of Joseph Heller’s 1961 American novel does a good job of leavening the existential crisis faced by US Air Force bombardier John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott). He is a man desperate to get out of combat duty, who finds himself trapped in a
  
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• ‘The Prom’ Will End Its Broadway Run in August

  20-06-2019 01:45 via nytimes.com
  The joyful musical comedy won strong reviews but could not break through in a competitive theater market.
  
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