Hollywood has been reluctant to take a chance on east Asian and south-east Asian stories. But a seductive, crowd-pleasing comedy is following US TV?s lead in bringing their voices to the screen ? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayI have been on my toes in anticipation for Crazy Rich Asians since Entertainment Weekly put the film?s stars, Constance Wu and Henry Golding, on its cover in November. It is 25 years since Wayne Wang?s Chinese-American family saga The Joy Luck Club and, ever since, Hollywood has largely avoided commissioning south-east Asian (SEA) and east Asian (EA) stories. But the movie?s seductive, funny trailer suggests it will mark an important moment for both communities? presence in the mainstream.Directed by John M Chu, adapting Kevin Kwan?s bestselling book, the film portrays the opulent lives of affluent south-east Asians through the conventional, commercial lens of romantic comedy. The all-Asian cast is led by Wu, best known for her role in US sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, playing an economics professor who travels with boyfriend Nick (British-Malaysian actor Golding) to Singapore for his best friend?s wedding only to discover he is the son of the richest families in town (?The Prince William of Asia?, as she calls him). Rachel has to navigate the Dynasty-like world of Singapore?s wealthy elite, and avoid the sharp tongue of Nick?s mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), who, in the words of Rachel?s brazen friend, played by the comedian Awkwafina, is just like an ?unrefined banana: yellow on the outside, white on the inside?. Continue reading...
The director and star of a drama about the latter years of the cult singer talk about her unusual life and how she battled against her beauty? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayAccording to the director of a daring new movie about Nico, the most notable aspects of the late singer?s life had nothing to do with the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, or her glamorous roles as model and muse. ?Most people think that after her experience with the Velvet Underground and the Factory, Nico simply ?became a fat junkie? and disappeared,? said Susanna Nicchiarelli. ?But to me, the second part of her life is so much more interesting than the first. That?s when she really became herself.? Related: Why The Velvet Underground?s landmark debut album still resonates after 50 years Continue reading...
The trailer for Sony?s first step into its new movie universe hints at a visceral grisliness very different to the Avengers? smiling saviours? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayA penny for the thoughts of Sam Raimi, director of the original Spider-Man movies, should he have happened to watch the new trailer for Sony?s Venom this week. For the first instalment in the studio?s own Marvel universe (not to be confused with Marvel?s own Marvel Cinematic Universe, owned by Disney) looks like just the sort of movie Raimi would have chopped his own hand off to be given the chance of directing.Raimi was cast aside by Sony after the critical drubbing received by 2007?s Spider-Man 3, even though that movie?s well-documented problems (mainly involving Venom) were allegedly not all of his making. He appears to have been in the directorial sin-bin since 2013?s middling Oz the Great and Powerful, so it is ironic that the studio now seems to be moving its superhero movies in the kind of comedy-horror direction that would have been second nature to the creator of Evil Dead II and Drag Me to Hell. Continue reading...
Hair-raising moments punctuate this home-movie-like documentary about a Kurdish officer disarming booby-trap devices set by jihadis in IraqThere are moments of great tension in this film about the work of an extraordinarily brave mine-disposal expert, or ?deminer?, in Iraq. It is of real value in the raw archive material it presents, though often frustrating in that its footage is mostly presented without editorial perspective, almost like a rough assemblage of videotape. Col Fakhir Berwari was a Kurdish army officer who was a US military liaison officer in Iraq between 2003 and 2008, disarming booby-trap devices set by jihadi insurgents using little more than a pair of pliers to snip the wires.With no small sense of his own heroism, Fakhir got a subordinate to film him with a videocamera (though this documentary never comments on the secondary heroism of this camera operator) and it gives us some hair-raising moments from this video cache that his son Abdulla later discovered. Continue reading...
Supersized set pieces, sharp one-liners and surprising deaths abound in the Russo brothers? utterly confident comic-book movie mash-up ? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayNot infinity perhaps, but a really, really big finity war. Colossal, cataclysmic, delirious, preposterous ? and always surreally entertaining in the now well-established Marvel movie tradition. It?s a gigantic showdown between a force of cosmic wickedness and a chaotically assembled super-team of Marvel superheroes made more complicated by Doctor Strange?s tendency to multiclone himself in moments of battle stress. There are some very unexpected family relationships that we had no idea about ? potentially compromising unity in the face of encroaching evil. There are also some very surprising deaths ? of which, of course, the less said the better. There are, moreover, some surprising omissions in the cast list. Or are there? Continue reading...
Michael Pearce?s feature debut is a smartly layered thriller that draws haunting drama from a creepy location and an array of plausably shady characters? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayBritish TV director Michael Pearce makes a commanding feature debut with this psychological drama-thriller that puts an eerily windswept island location to fine use and features an excellent lead performance from Jessie Buckley, whose open, intelligent face transmits thought and feeling with piercing clarity. Pearce has also written a well-carpentered screenplay; there are some very big scenes and big moments here ? sometimes too big ? but he gives us a carefully crafted dramatic setup, an intriguingly curated selection of suspects for the crime and all of it building to a fascinating, finely balanced ambiguity in the movie?s climactic stages.The scene is Jersey, where a serial killer has murdered several young girls; in their tense, clenched way the citizens are carrying on, only rarely acknowledging this elephant of horror in their living room. Buckley plays Moll, a delicately beautiful and unhappy young woman and put-upon daughter (the character reminded me of her Marya Bolkonskaya in the BBC?s recent War and Peace), who has a terrible job that she hates: a tourist bus-trip guide. Continue reading...
Family announces death on social media sitesStatement: ?Verne was an extremely caring individual?The actor Verne Troyer has died, according to a statement posted to his social media pages on Saturday. He was 49. Related: Verne Troyer: a cult star who sustained a career with dignity and good humour | Peter Bradshaw Continue reading...
Despite the fickle British weather, ticket sales to watch films in the open air have tripled in three years? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayBritain is in the middle of a boom in outdoor cinema, as people brave the unpredictable British climate to watch films ?on location? in castles, aircraft hangars and even beach huts.George Wood, founder of Britain?s biggest outdoor film company, the Luna Cinema, says ticket sales have tripled in the past three years. ?You strike gold when you can actually pair the film to the venue,? said Wood. Continue reading...
Verne Troyer, who at 2ft 8in was one of the world?s shortest men, racked up 30 film credits in a career spanning 24 yearsActor who played Mini-Me in Austin Powers films dies age 49 Continue reading...
Jerusalem-born actor was due to receive 2018 Genesis prize but cancels saying she ?cannot in good conscience? attend ceremony ? Sign up for Film Today and get our film team?s highlights of the dayNatalie Portman has pulled out of a major award ceremony due to take place in Israel, citing her ?distress? at recent events in the country.Portman, who was born in Jerusalem and holds dual Israeli and US citizenship, was named in November as the recipient of the 2018 Genesis award, a yearly prize for ?outstanding achievement by individuals who have attained excellence and international renown in their chosen professional fields [who] embody the character of the Jewish people?. Continue reading...
Tops: Rubber. Bottoms: Springs. Bodies: Stuffed. Check out how Tigger and the rest of the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood will look for their feature film outing releasing this summer.
The Black Order have only existed in the comics for five years, but there was a reason why it was so important to include them in Avengers: Infinity War.
The following story contains spoilers for Split, as well as Unbreakable and Glass. Stop reading now if you somehow got in here and don't want to know them.
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