Walt Disney Co. has been unable to obtain permission to show its new Pixar movie Lightyear in 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries, a source said on Monday, and the animated film appeared unlikely to open in China, the world’s largest movie market.
A Lightyear producer told Reuters that authorities in China had asked for cuts to the movie, which Disney declined to make, and she assumed the movie would not open there either. The animated film depicts a same-sex couple who share a brief kiss, which prompted the United Arab Emirates to ban the film.
The United Arab Emirates said the couple’s relationship violated the country’s media content standards. Homosexuality is considered criminal in many Middle Eastern countries.
Representatives of other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Lebanon, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why they would not allow the film to be exhibited.
Disney refuses to cut same-sex kiss
Lightyear is a prequel to Pixar’s acclaimed Toy Story franchise. Chris Evans voices the lead character, Buzz Lightyear, a legendary space ranger.
In the film, Buzz’s close friend is a female space ranger who marries another woman. A scene showing milestones in the couple’s relationship includes a brief kiss.
Disney has not received an answer from Chinese authorities on whether they would allow the film in cinemas, Lightyear producer Galyn Susman said. But she said filmmakers would not make changes to the movie.
China has rejected other on-screen depictions of homosexuality in the past.
“We’re not going to cut out anything, especially something as important as the loving and inspirational relationship that shows Buzz what he’s missing by the choices that he’s making, so that’s not getting cut,” Susman told Reuters at the movie’s red-carpet premiere in London.
Evans frustrated by LGBTQ-related objections
China is not a “make or break” market for Pixar, one theatre industry source said. It contributed a mere three per cent to the global box office for Toy Story 4, which grossed more than $1 billion US in worldwide ticket sales in 2019, according to Comscore.
Any objections to Lightyear over LGBTQ issues were “frustrating,” Evans said.
Cast member Chris Evans poses for a photo as he arrives for the U.K. premiere of Lightyear in London on June 13. Any objections to Lightyear over LGBTQ issues were ‘frustrating,’ Evans said. (Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters)
“It’s great that we are a part of something that’s making steps forward in the social inclusion capacity, but it’s frustrating that there are still places that aren’t where they should be,” Evans said.
Lightyear is set to debut in theatres in the United States and Canada on Friday.
In May, Disney refused requests to cut same-sex references in Marvel movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Saudi Arabia and a handful of other Middle Eastern countries did not show the film.
TGIF, party people! It looks like the warm weather is finally here to stay, so it is time to break out the lawn chairs and fire up the BBQ for some outdoor, springtime fun! But before you pack that picnic basket (and the allergy medication, because hello pollen!) might this author suggest packing a sheet to set up your own outside theater? The hassle is worth it, because whether you use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or all of the above, there are a ton of high-quality movies and shows hitting your favorite streaming platforms this weekend that you will not want to miss. Starting with the freshest options is always the way to go, so let us here at Decider help you figure out what to watch this weekend and where to stream it.
New Movies and Shows to Stream This Weekend: Senior Year, Conversations with Friendsand The Kids in the Hall
You’ll want the video queue ready to go before heading out with your friends, so let’s dive in with the biggest titles to watch. On Netflix, watch funny lady Rebel Wilson go back to school as a 37-year-old in the original comedy film, Senior Year. If you are in the mood for some drama, check out Conversations with Friends on Hulu. It is a new romantic drama from the same author that brought us Normal People just two years ago; and if you’re a fan of the novel from which it was taken, you’ll want to see Frances and the other characters brought to life! And for those who have been looking for a modern Monty Python troupe, look no further than the Canadian sketch comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who just got their own series on Prime Video! Want to know more about these highlights and the rest of the stellar weekend lineup? Check out the rest of the hit titles new on streaming this weekend below:
Rebel Wilson is going back to school in this Netflix-original comedy that isnew on Netflix this weekend — but the reason why is not like the tired, 21 Jump Street-esque storylines we have seen played out time and time again. No, in Senior Year, a 37-year-old woman (Wilson) wakes up from a coma that lasted 20 years and returns to high school to finish out her final year — and hopefully recapture her “popular girl” status and fulfill her dream of becoming prom queen. As you can guess, hilarity and hijinks ensue; and starring Zoë Chao, Sam Richardson, Mary Holland, Chris Parnell, Alicia Silverstone, Justin Hartley, and Angourie Rice, Senior Year is primed to be one of the top movies new on Netflix this month.
New on Prime Video this weekend is The Kids in the Hall, a wild and hilarious sketch comedy series from the titular Canadian group of Monty Python-like comedy masters. Members Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson have made a name for themselves by creating acerbic and satirical sketches that skewer anything and everything that strikes the group’s fancy, catapulting them to cult status. And now they are taking their outlandish style and drag looks to the streaming world. So check out The Kids in the Hall if you are looking for a good time!
If you loved the 2020 romantic drama series Normal People, you are going to love Hulu’s latest collaboration with author Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends. Based on Rooney’s 2017 novel of the same name, the limited series tells the story of Frances (Alison Oliver), a 21-year-old Irish college student and aspiring poet whose own attempts at navigating complicated relationships launch her into her own difficult journey of self-discovery. Along with her ex-girlfriend-turned-best-friend Bobbi (Sasha Lane), Frances forms an unconventional relationship with the perfect married couple Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and Nick (Joe Alwyn) Conway — a relationship that quickly turns into something more complex. How will Frances make her way out of this tangled web? Watch all the juicy drama unfold in Conversations with Friends, new on Hulu this weekend.
Full List of New Movies and Shows on Streaming This Weekend
The options above only scratch the surface, so you know that this weekend’s full lineup will have amazing options for what to watch this weekend! For the full breakdown of the best movies and shows to stream now, or if you’re still undecided on what to stream this weekend, then check out the complete list below:
Bling Empire: Season 2*Netflix SERIES New Heights *Netflix SERIES Senior Year *Netflix FILM The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri *Netflix SERIES The Lincoln Lawyer *Netflix SERIES
Released Saturday, May 14
Borrego
Released Sunday, May 15
PJ Masks: Season 4
New on Hulu – Full List
Released Sunday, May 15
Catfish: The TV Show: Complete Season 8E (MTV) Conversations with Friends: Complete Limited Series (Hulu Original) Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) One Last Thing (2005) The Brass Teapot (2012) The Mountain Between Us (2017)
New on Amazon Prime Video – Full List
Released Friday, May 13
The Kids in the Hall: S1 (2022) *Amazon Original Series
New on HBO Max- Full List
Released Friday, May 13
Hank Zipzer, 2014 Old, 2021 (HBO) Smalls, Season 4
Released Sunday, May 15
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Drama Series Premiere (HBO)
New on Starz- Full List
Released Friday, May 13
Aloft A Walk on the Moon Bad Education BASEketball Beethoven Beethoven’s 2nd Brimstone Carpool Daddy and Them Dear God Flirting With Disaster Gallipoli Held Up H Is for Happiness Idlewild Jingle All the Way Kissing A Fool Let It Ride Loser Man On Fire Man Up Mercury Rising Milk Money Missing In Action Missing In Action 2: The Beginning October Sky People I Know Proof Road Trip: Beer Pong Strike! Talk to Her Teaching Mrs. Tingle The Eagle Huntress The Intervention The Pallbearer The Possession of Hannah Grace The United States Of Leland Venom Vice White Noise White Noise 2: The Light
“Society is changing! The role of the diamond is under threat.” Showtime has revealed an official trailer for their compelling diamond documentary Nothing Lasts Forever, from award-winning filmmaker Jason Kohn. This premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival last month, and is playing at SXSW and CPH:DOX this month before hitting Showtime. The DeBeers diamond cartel cornered the market on eternal love with their marketing phrase “A diamond is forever“, but now a wave of undetectable synthetic diamonds has flooded global gem markets, threatening to expose the artifice that props up a multi-billion dollar industry. “This is a perfect crime.” Berlinale adds to the intrigue: “This is a labyrinth where illusions and reality merge, where authenticity and imagination overlap, and questions arise about the value we place on the goods around us. In this sense, diamonds turn out to be exemplary: their exclusivity being the illusory effect of decades of marketing, and their meaning being based on values that synthetic gems, a product of fraud and market evolution, are now putting to the test.” Oh I definitely need to see this! Looks right up my alley.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Jason Kohn’s doc Nothing Lasts Forever, direct from YouTube:
Can you tell the real thing from a fake? What if the difference no longer matters? The DeBeers diamond cartel cornered the market on eternal love with the “A diamond is forever” catchphrase, but now a wave of undetectable synthetic diamonds has flooded global gem markets, threatening to expose the artifice that props up a multi-billion dollar industry. Featuring interviews with diamond merchants, DeBeers execs, auctioneers, gemologists, designers, investigators and scientists, this film explores one of the most beautiful lies ever told.Nothing Lasts Forever is directed by award-winning producer / filmmaker Jason Kohn, director of the doc films Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) and Love Means Zero previously. This initially premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Showtime will debut Nothing Lasts Forever streaming on Showtime starting sometime soon spring 2022. Stay tuned for updates. Anyone interested?
All three RSS workers arrested on Friday were close to Sanjith. As many as nine people are in custody so far in the case. The inquiry is in the final stage, officers said. DySP S Shamsudheen, Inspectors NS Rajeev, M Sasidharan, AC Vipin, A Deepakumar, Sub Inspector S Aneesh are part of the investigation team.
Months after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of the film “Rust,” the co-producer of the project says he is “confident” the movie will resume filming and be completed.
In an interview published Monday by The Hollywood Reporter, Anjul Nigam, co-producer of “Rust” with actor Alec Baldwin, said he believes they’ll be able to finish “Rust” once the investigation into the shooting incident is complete.
“‘Rust’ is obviously a horrific tragedy,” Nigam told the publication. “The investigation will hopefully be resolved soon and will unveil what happened. Obviously, there will be people out there who will have negative perspectives, but we’re confident about continuing to make quality movies.”
Hutchins was shot and killed on Oct. 21 on the New Mexico set of “Rust” when a firearm held by Baldwin was discharged as they were rehearsing a scene. The investigation by the Santa Fe County Sherriff’s Department in ongoing.
Nigam said they are “confident” they’ll “be able to complete the movie” once the investigation is complete.
Nigam also announced plans for a new film project with Baldwin, called “False Awakenings,” in which Baldwin will star. They plan to begin production this summer.
CNN has contacted representatives for Nigam and Baldwin for comment.
Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful death suit against Nigam, Baldwin, the “Rust” crew and production company in February.
“We continue to cooperate with the authorities to determine how live ammunition arrived on the ‘Rust’ set in the first place. Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false. He, Halyna and the rest of the crew relied on the statement by the two professionals responsible for checking the gun that it was a ‘cold gun’ – meaning there is no possibility of a discharge, blank or otherwise,” Aaron Dyer, attorney for Baldwin and other producers of “Rust,” said in a statement to CNN at the time. “This protocol has worked on thousands of films, with millions of discharges, as there has never before been an incident on a set where an actual bullet harmed anyone.”
In April, Rust Movie Productions was fined nearly $137,000 by the New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health Safety Bureau for safety violations.
If you’re seeking a streaming service focused primarily on movies, it’s not Prime Video or Netflix that deserves your attention – it’s Now. Which, yes, used to be called Now TV.
Sky’s cord-cutter service is better served with newer, bigger-name films than either of its main rivals, with at least one new movie being added every day to an already bulging collection.
The sheer size of that library means it’s not always easy to immediately find something to watch though (you know: the paralysis of choice and so on). Which is where we come in. The Stuff team has picked out a selection of must-see cinematic masterpieces both old and new, so the next time you’re settling down for an evening on the sofa, you can conserve your brainpower for picking the right snacks rather than the right movie.
Another Round
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning dramedy takes a look at middle-aged manhood, responsibility and friendship through an unconventional lens: booze. Four friends and colleagues, all teachers at the same school, decide to put an obscure theory – that we’re born with a 0.05% deficiency in our blood alcohol levels – to the test. By keeping themselves permanently lubricated (albeit with strictly no drinking at weekends or after 8pm), they believe they may unlock some secret to social happiness and professional performance. Needless to say, their experiment proves revealing, but perhaps not in the way it was intended.
Don’t get us wrong: we love David Lynch and all. But James Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel has finally got the screen adaptation it deserves thanks to Denis Villeneuve and co. With an all-star ensemble cast, endlessly stunning cinematography and sound design and a riveting story of war, exploitation and family in the far future, Dune is an event movie that manages to be more than just a popcorn-chomper. And it’s just the first part of what the director intends to become a trilogy.
The buttock-clenchingly taut thriller about a world invaded by aliens with super sensitive hearing gets a sequel, and while many might dismiss it as unnecessary (and purely a consequence of the unexpected success of the first film), it’s a really enjoyable popcorn movie that balances breathless scares and high tension while developing the original characters further.
We see a lot more of the aliens this time around – it’s a sequel so there’s little point in keeping the creatures a mystery this time – but it hasn’t gone full action-thriller; director John Krasinski has once again made a family drama that just happens to take place in the wake of a disaster. Emily Blunt is in great form once again, but it’s the young actors and newcomer Cillian Murphy who shine here.
From the minds that brought you John Wick comes a very John Wick-style action movie with comedian and Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk playing firmly against type. Odenkirk’s character is the titular “nobody”: a grey-tinged suburban schmo who trudges to a dull office job every day after a near-silent breakfast with his distracted family. But he wasn’t always this way, and after an encounter on a bus his past life comes rushing back to the present, complete with a heck of a lot of guns, snapping bones and broken noses. Who needs originality when the formulaic stuff can be so enjoyable?
Nicolas Cage’s rehabilitation as an actor continues in Michael Sarnoski’s superb and affecting drama. Cage is excellent as a bedraggled, near-silent truffle hunter living in the Oregon forest, alone except for his beloved foraging pig. When the hog is kidnapped, he springs into action to track her down – but anyone expecting a John Wick-style revenge thriller might be surprised at where Sarnoski’s film goes. Instead of leaving a trail of bodies and broken glass, Cage is forced to revisit his past and confront his choices as he reckons with the task at hand.
Sometimes sci-fi is all about spaceships and explosions and men in silly costumes waving giant glow-sticks at each other; sometimes it’s about a vision of the near future, or even a parallel present, that’s close enough to our reality to properly sting.
Eternal Sunshine is mostly a modern love story, the inspired twist being that in this world you can pay to have all memories of a specific person erased from your mind. It’s complicated and clever but ultimately warm and honest; most impressively of all, it’s got Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in it and you don’t want to shoot either of them.
The Matrix isn’t just an entertaining action movie. This film is packed with cultural touchstones and iconic moments, and it still looks amazing more than twenty years after it first emerged from the Wachowski’s febrile minds.
Keanu Reeves has never been better as Thomas Anderson, an office-bound drudge by day and hacker by night who finds himself drawn into a reality-shattering adventure full of flying bullets, mind-blowing martial arts sequences and some early CGI that doesn’t look like absolute rubbish today. Whoa!
Watching the trailer above, you might think this Danish film is just another revenge flick, with Mads Mikkelsen’s soldier picking up an arsenal of weaponry and going H.A.M. in true Neeson/Statham/Reeves style on the gang of evil goons that killed his wife. But there’s so much more to Thomas Anders Jensen’s movie than that: it’s surprisingly funny, often sweetly heart-warming and occasionally brutal, not to mention a deconstruction of the entire concepts of revenge, loss, grief and (as the title hints) justice. An arthouse movie wrapped in the garments of an action-thriller, then, and well worth a watch for anyone bored of either genre.
Tom Cruise plays an arrogant, cowardly desk jockey officer forced to fight on the front lines against an alien invasion in this ingenious and underrated sci-fi action movie. With no combat experience, he lasts just a few seconds in battle – only to find himself waking up again and repeating the experience, only slightly differently. Yep, he’s only gone and got himself trapped in a time loop, which always ends with his death. How the heck is he going to get out of it? By saving the world, perhaps?
With great performances from Cruise and Emily Blunt, killer visual effects and a clever hook, it’s strange that Edge of Tomorrow didn’t prove a bigger hit. The bland title didn’t do it many favours (it’s often known as Live Die Repeat, which would’ve been a much bolder name to market it under), but despite its lacklustre box office performance it’s proved something of a slow-burn hit – so much so that a sequel is currently in development.
Directed by Welshman Gareth Evans, this 2011 Indonesian action film has already reached certified cult classic status and spawned a decent sequel.
A showcase for the Indonesian martial art of pencak silat, it features electric fight scene after electric fight scene as one plucky cop takes on an entire apartment block full of ruthless criminals in an attempt to reach the vicious drug lord on the top floor. It’s a beautifully simple premise, but the heart-pumping action sequences are bolstered by a pretty great and emotional story, too. Quite simply a must-watch for martial arts fans (although they’ve probably seen it 50 times by now) and highly recommended for anyone else.
Michael Mann decided to remake his own TV movie LA Takedown, resulting in this sprawling star-studded action-thriller, and one of the best films of the 90s.
Screen titans Robert De Niro and Al Pacino hog the limelight as a meticulous bank robber and the fixated cop driven to hunt him down, but there’s much more to admire here besides their (admittedly excellent) performances: the effortless style with which Mann directs everything from quiet conversations to immense shootouts; a supporting cast stacked with some of Hollywood’s finest character actors; the clarity with which its themes manifest themselves on screen.
Pedants will moan that Pacino’s performance is a bit OTT, or that at least a few of Mann’s myriad subplots would have been better left on the cutting room floor, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong – but you should ignore them and watch Heat anyway.
Keanu Reeves does his best Keanu Reeves impression as John Wick, who was once a very bad man – a tattooed assassin for the nastiest of nasty gangsters and “the guy you send to kill the boogeyman”. But then he found love and hung up his arsenal of high-calibre weaponry.
Inevitably, his quiet life goes horribly awry, culminating in the murder of the cute puppy left to him by his late wife. Cue nasty, vengeful retaliation in the form of some of the finest balletic gunplay committed to screen since Reeves himself starred in The Matrix. They don’t make many action movies like this anymore.
DreamWorks’ beloved CGI series started over 20 years ago with this wonderful fairy tale adventure about a curmudgeonly green ogre (voiced by Mike Myers “doing Scottish”) who falls in love with a beautiful princess. Sending up various fantasy and fairy tale tropes along the way, Shrek is a children’s movie that gives adults plenty to enjoy too. Packed with clever references and in-jokes, it’s spawned a long-running series – but do yourself a favour and start at the beginning.
Crouching Tiger’s balletic brawls began a trend for super-stylised martial arts films that also gave us the beautifully shot Hero, but Ang Lee’s Oscar winner is a treat for the eyes in more ways than one.
The fighting is choreographed by the same chap who worked on The Matrix, although the bad outfits and cod philosophy are replaced by stunning scenery and breathtakingly graceful dust ups, which often defy gravity over roofs and treetops. Strangely enough, at its heart it’s a love story (or rather two love stories), but even if you don’t get too interested in its themes and plotline, the action sequences and score will draw you right in.
Screeching steel, battered chrome, scorching flames, shattered glass, choking sand, blazing sun and broken bones make up the mood board for veteran director George Miller’s 2015 return to the character he first put on screen back in 1979.
Tom Hardy takes on the title role in what amounts to a two-hour car chase/fight scene interspersed by a few on-foot brawls and some post-apocalyptic musings. As a piece of filmmaking Fury Road is absolutely breath-taking, with the vast majority of its action scenes based on practical effects and stunts rather than CGI. There’s nothing quite like it out there, so buckle up and get on the road.
S. Craig Zahler’s films (which also include Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99) are not for the faint of heart – if you like your cinema gutsy and brainy (i.e. with plenty of both splattered around), these artfully made B movies are probably right up your street.
Dragged Across Concrete, which stars Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as disgruntled cops seeking an off-the-books payday, while perhaps a little less gore-drenched than Zahler’s previous films boasts the same naturalistic neo-noir style – think long takes, restrained acting and hard-boiled dialogue – punctuated by outbursts of extreme violence. It doesn’t always make for a pretty watch, but as dark, gritty thrillers go, you won’t find many better.
Christopher Nolan is sometimes derided as “a dumb person’s idea of a smart person” and watching Tenet, his big budget “it’s not about time travel, actually” movie it’s easy to see why. The tenor is Very Serious – but break it down to its core and this is a silly but enjoyable sci-fi film with some cracking set-pieces, a mind-bending plot and a solid cast headed up by John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. With scenes in which time flows both forwards and backwards at the same time, there’s some visually impressive stuff here – even if you might be wondering what it all means by the end of it.
Tenet is undoubtedly a film built for the big screen, but watching at home has one advantage over the cinema: you might actually be able to understand the words that are coming out of the characters’ mouths. The muffled dialogue issue left many cinemagoers miffed and confused about key plot points, but at home you’ll be able to rewind (no pun intended) at your leisure.
Mistake this as merely another so-called chick flick at your peril. Yes, at its core it’s a romantic comedy focused on the awkward interactions between Kristen Wiig and Chris O’Dowd, but there’s so much more going on here. Masterfully executed toilet humour and offbeat distractions provided by the likes of Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson make for some genuinely hilarious moments, and the film’s gentle exploration of the themes of friendship, love and marriage are nicely handled by director Paul Feig.
Almost three decades after its release, Jurassic Park remains a near-perfect film. Steven Spielberg’s mastery of pacing, camera, editing and sound is on full display here, as the living attractions in a dinosaur theme park take advantage of chaos theory to turn on their captors. The dreary, uninspired sequels have shown that there’s much more to making a great movie than a great idea (what if dinosaurs and humans could interact?) and great special effects; this is a rare occasion when a mega-budgeted box office-breaking Blockbuster feels full of heart.
Denzel Washington received a well-deserved Best Actor Academy Award for his searing, unforgettable performance as crooked narcotics cop Alonzo Harris in this tense thriller, in which (the also Oscar-nominated) Ethan Hawke’s rookie detective Jake Hoyt must endure a fraught 24 hours under the grizzled veteran’s cynical tutelage.
Harris’ law enforcement methods, naturally, can’t be found in any dusty old rulebook, and Hoyt quickly finds himself dragged not only into LA’s terrifying criminal underworld but a wide-ranging conspiracy among the cops charged with keeping the city safe.
Emerald Fennell’s Oscar-winning screenplay is just one fascinating aspect of this stylish, genre-bending movie, in which the superb Carey Mulligan plays a coffee shop worker who spends her nights teaching creeps a lesson about consent.
Is Promising Young Woman a black comedy? A rom-com? A revenge thriller? A post-Me Too polemic ? A cautionary tale about how holding onto anger and resentment can consume you? It’s all of the above, and all the more captivating for it.
Forget the tame Colin Farrell-led remake: this is the Total Recall you should jack yourself into. Paul Verhoeven’s characteristically lurid sci-fi romp, loosely based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a construction worker who has recurring dreams of walking the red deserts of Mars, now colonised and on the verge of a civil war between exploited workers and a corporate overlord backed up by a militarised police force. The thing is: he’s never been to Mars. Or has he? When he visits a company that implants fake memories in customers’ heads – a sort of alternative vacation service – it unlocks something deep within his brain and turns his mundane life into a deadly adventure.
Beneath the ultra-violence, sex and corny one-liners Total Recall is, like most of Verhoeven’s movies, awash with interesting and subversive ideas. But even if you don’t want to think, it’s more than entertaining enough for us to recommend.
Like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile sees Frank Darabont adapt a prison-set Stephen King tale for the screen – but here things move well into the fantasy genre thanks to the miraculous powers of enigmatic death row inmate John Coffey, a gentle giant seemingly blessed with the ability to heal the sick and infirm. Tom Hanks plays the guard who grows to respect and seek to protect his charge against not only the electric chair but the depredations of fellow inmates and cruel corrections officers. Moving stuff that’ll likely have you blubbing like a baby by the final reel.
Cameron Crowe’s paean to the early 1970s glory days of American rock and roll – based heavily on his real-life experiences as a teenaged Rolling Stone journalist – remains a diverting, funny and affecting watch almost two decades after it was released, even if the sexual politics of the time seems even more brutal and bizarre now than it did in 2000.
Focussing on the complex triangular relationship between Patrick Fugit’s naive Crowe-substitute, Billy Crudup’s mercurial lead guitarist and Oscar-nominated Kate Hudson’s free-spirited groupie, Almost Famous brilliantly conjures up the mystical, tense and crazed life of a touring band better than any other movie we can think of.
No Country for Old Men always felt like the most screen-adaptable of Cormac McCarthy’s novels, and with the Coen brothers at the helm it would have taken some kind of disaster to stop this movie from becoming an instant classic. And it is, thanks to not only the source material and its sympathetic treatment by America’s finest filmmaking pair of siblings, but due to killer performances from Josh Brolin, Kelly Macdonald, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones and, most memorably, Javier Bardem as a philosophising, seemingly unstoppable mass murderer with a criminal haircut. If you like your thrillers as contemplative and lyrical as they are nail-biting, look no further.
The first (and we think best) Indiana Jones film is a globe-trotting Blockbuster that has set the standard for all Hollywood adventure movies since. A throwback to the flicks of Spielberg and producer George Lucas’ childhood, it sees Ford’s bullwhip-brandishing archaeologist travel to Egypt in an attempt to locate the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the Third Reich, who plan to use the ancient artefact’s powers to place the world under Nazi rule.
The visual effects and, er, ‘cultural depictions’ have aged noticeable since 1981, but this is mainstream filmmaking at its purest – a broadly entertaining, fast-paced and iconic movie that it’s almost impossible not to get swept up in.
If you haven’t already seen this stupendously well directed, impeccably acted, perfectly soundtracked and unforgettably scripted gangster yarn, what on earth are you waiting for? Close this page now, fire up Now TV and get settled in for two hours and twenty-five minutes of filmmaking at its very finest.
Martin Scorsese may have claimed his first Best Director Oscar for the decent crime thriller Departed, but Goodfellas – an epic, heady plunge into the realities of life as a New York mobster in the 50s, 60s and 70s – deserved the shiny gold chap so much more. At least Joe Pesci picked up the Best Supporting Actor gong for his turn as pint-sized psychopath Tommy DeVito, one of the great characters of 90s cinema. As for Goodfellas, is it one of the best movies ever made? Fuggedaboudit.
Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation of the even more epic fantasy novel is not without its issues (I mean, how many endings does a film need?), but the director’s achievement in wrangling such an uneven, weighty and wide-ranging tome into three enjoyable Blockbuster movies should not be overlooked.
You likely know the story already: a young hobbit must travel from his peaceful, bucolic corner of the world to the hellish realm of Mordor to destroy a powerful ring. Along the way he’ll encounter dangers, make new friends, take part in an apocalyptic war and much, much more. This trilogy is action-packed, well-acted and visually arresting – and capable of generating plenty of emotion at times, too.
John Hughes’ beloved movie about a wily suburban teenager bunking off school to spend a day with his two best friends is, like Ghostbusters, one of the true must-watch 1980s comedies – a film that does its darnedest to represent a whole era.
It helps that it’s an entertaining, engaging watch packed with memorable moments and performances, from Matthew Broderick’s career-best turn as fourth wall-breaking Ferris to Alan Ruck as his hypochondriac pal Cameron, all of which invest it with a universal appeal that’ll chime with free thinkers of all ages.
Watching an indie movie about jazz drumming might not sound like the most riveting way to spend an evening, but trust us: Whiplash is no ordinary movie about jazz drumming.
Miles Teller plays a music college student determined to become one of the skin-bashing greats. The only problem? He’s never quite good enough to impress his insanely demanding band conductor, played in Oscar-winning form by J. K. Simmons. Simmons’ monster of an instructor dominates the film right through to the unforgettable final reel. We doubt you’ve ever seen a music movie with so much blood, sweat and tears.
Sergio Leone set aside the Dollars trilogy’s crowd-pleasing antics to create two and half hours of cinematic history with this scorched-earth homage to the gritty realities of homesteading on the new frontier.
Expertly paying homage to practically every film in the genre, Leone helps the everyman Henry Fonda find his dark side while giving Charles Bronson his own theme tune (supplied, of course, by long-term Leone sidekick Ennio Morricone). It’s beautiful, brutal and iconic stuff – and a must-watch for any would-be cinema connoisseur. This is the spaghetti Western – gourmet style.
Quentin Tarantino’s western (or, more accurately “southern”) takes its cues both from Sergio Leone and the blaxploitation genre. Set mostly in the Deep South, Django Unchained pits Jamie Foxx’s titular freed slave against the plantation owners, traders and overseers who’ve separated him from his wife.
He’s joined on his quest by German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (an Oscar-nominated Christoph Waltz) but equally impressive are Leonardo Dicaprio as Calvin Candie, who cloaks the barbarity of his gladiatorial slave fights beneath a veneer of civilisation, and Samuel L Jackson as Candie’s house slave (and éminence grise) Stephen.
Foxx plays Django as a modern Man With No Name – though in his case his silence is more the result of tightly-wound righteous fury than stoicism, and when he eventually unleashes bloody vengeance on his oppressors it’s spectacularly cathartic.
Look, if you haven’t seen The Godfather and The Godfather Part II by now, stop reading this and just go watch it. And then maybe watch the third one just to round things out, even though it’s a bit of a dud by comparison.
Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia epic spans a generation, weaving the tale of a Sicilian immigrant who becomes a powerful mobster and his son, who strives to turn his father’s “business” into a legitimate concern but finds it impossible to keep his two families together without getting his hands dirty. With fantastic performances all round and a true sense of scale and grandeur that no later mob movie has ever matched, the Godfather trilogy (or at least the first two thirds of it) can rightly be called one of the greatest feats in cinematic history.
Ex-schoolteacher Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) sets off across France to find Private Ryan – whose three brothers were killed during D-Day – and y’know, save him. It’s Steven Spielberg’s take on the classic “men on a mission” movie, a grand epic rich with the sort of masterful camerawork, thrilling action and touching sentimentality that tend to be associated with the director.
It’s worth watching for the intensely terrifying opening scene of the Normandy landings alone, one of the most pioneering bits of filmmaking in recent history. Spielberg deliberately aped the look of vintage newsreels during the 20-minute sequence, fiddling with the shutter timing on the cameras and treating the film to desaturate the colours.
Banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) gets a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit – and in the grim confines of Shawshank Penitentiary, he’d be forgiven for giving in to despair. But a series of small victories against the soul-squeezing bureaucracy, the mentorship of old lag Red (Morgan Freeman in one of his career-defining roles) and an interest in geology help to chip away at the walls that threaten to crush him.
Frank Darabont’s adaptation of a lesser-known Stephen King short story failed to set the box office alight but – appropriately, given its theme of persevering against the odds – it’s since found a strong following on home video. Its story of hope in the face of impossible odds – and a slow-burning style that recalls the classics of the ‘30s and ‘40s – has won it a place at the top of countless best films lists. You owe it to yourself to watch this one.
Martin Scorsese’s much-lauded exploration of isolation, obsession and mania is certainly one of the best classic movies available on Netflix, and anyone who considers themselves a fan of cinema and hasn’t already watch it should drop everything, fire up their Netflix app of choice and settle down for 113 minutes of masterful moviemaking, as Scorsese’s camera follows increasingly unhinged Vietnam veteran and cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in one of his defining roles) as he navigates the sleazy streets 1970s New York.
“The formidable form of growing religious fanaticism in the country has raised its head again in many places. The brutal murders of activists of Hindu organizations in Kerala, Karnataka are an example of this menace. Series of dastardly acts revealing communal hysteria, rallies, demonstrations, violation of social discipline, custom and conventions under the guise of the Constitution and religious freedom, inciting violence by instigating meagre causes, promoting illegal activities, etc. is increasing,” the annual report, which was tabled at an RSS meeting in Ahmedabad, says.
Suggesting it to be a conspiracy with long-term goals, the report says: “There appear to be elaborate plans by a particular community to enter the government machinery. Behind all this, it seems that a deep conspiracy with a long-term goal is working. On the strength of numbers, preparations are being made to adopt any route to get their demands accepted.”
Best of Express Premium
PremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
The RSS report comes at a time when Karnataka continues to see protests by Muslim girl students over their right to wear hijab in schools and colleges. There is a growing concern within the RSS about the increasing influence of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in university campuses.
While the RSS has not actively engaged on the issue and believes the matter should have been handled locally, senior Sangh leaders have flagged the controversy as proof of the PFI’s ambition to spread its wings through assertion of religious identity.
The report was released at the RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha(ABPS) baithak being held in Ahmedabad to take stock of the work done by the Sangh in the past one year, chart out the future course of action and discuss issues of national importance facing the nation.
The ABPS is the highest decision-making body of the RSS. On Sunday, the meeting is expected to pass a resolution on what needs to be done to address unemployment.
In the annual report, the Sangh has also raised the issue of religious conversions.
“There is continuous information about the planned conversion of Hindus in different parts of the country like Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc. This challenge has a long history, but, of late, different, newer ways of converting new groups are being adopted. It is true that the social and religious leadership and institutions of Hindu society have woken up to some extent and become active to check this trend. It seems necessary to make joint and coordinated efforts in this direction in a more planned manner,” the report says.
While on one hand Hindu society is “awakening” and “standing up with self-respect”, the Sangh says, there are “inimical forces which do not tolerate this”.
The challenge of “increasing divisive elements” is also alarming, says the report, warning about efforts to weaken society through “various fissiparous tendencies in Hindu society itself”. “As the Census year approaches, there are instances of inciting a group by propagating that ‘they are not Hindus’,” it says, while condemning “conspiracies to make unwarranted allegations against Hindutva” and alleging a “malicious agenda” under “intellectual garb”.
The report goes on to talk about the post-poll violence in West Bengal and the episode during the Punjab elections where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to abort plans to address a rally after a protest blocked his cavalcade.
“Competition is essential in the political field, but it should be in a healthy spirit, and should be within the purview of democracy; the race should facilitate ideological brainstorming, and strengthen the development of society… The most condemnable incident of stopping the convoy of the Honourable Prime Minister of the country in the name of farmers’ agitation on the main road while he was going for a scheduled program, was certainly a challenge for security; but at the same time, this heinous act has also raised questions about political decorum, the central-state relation, the sentiment towards constitutional posts, etc,” the report says.
Peter Knegt remembers sneaking out to video stores as a teenager searching for films that he could relate to.
Sometimes, he couldn’t find anything.
“The accessibility that queer youth have now to this content is very new,” Knegt said. “It’s remarkable … and is going to go a long way in helping them get through tough times if they have them.”
The abundance of LGBTQ film and television programs available to stream now gives audiences — both inside and out of the community — a wide variety of content to choose from.
It’s all part of a shift from one-dimensional storytelling to accommodate demand for stories that showcase the joy of LGBTQ life, those in the industry told CBC. Films that once centred around trauma-filled coming-out narratives or rejection by family members are getting replaced by original stories.
That’s also due to the rise in LGBTQ filmmakers, many of whom take inspiration from authentic personal experiences.
Knegt, who is also a columnist for CBC Arts, says he’s excited about this nascent diversity — and to see where things are going.
“I think people are curious about cultures … that they don’t belong to because that’s not what their day-to-day life is like. We all watch The Crown, but none of us know what that feels like,” Knegt said.
What was missing
In curating the recent Inside Outfilm festival in Toronto, Andrew Murphy and Elie Chivi were keen on highlighting films that depict heartwarming, funny and joyful stories, something they felt was missing within LGBTQ cinema.
“We deserve happy stories … it’s time for happy stories,” said Chivi who is director of development and co-head of the festival.
Elie Chivi and Andrew Murphy, curator of the Inside Out LGBTQ film festival in Toronto, pose in front of the TIFF Lightbox theatre. The two say that audience demand for a wider variety of LGBTQ films has grown. (Esteban Eduardo Cuevas Gonzalez/CBC)
Growing up in the Middle East, Chivi had trouble finding films that depicted anything outside of heteronormative culture. If he had access to LGBTQ content, he said it was inherently negative or very dark.
But stories that speak to the truth of LGBTQ lives are essential, he said.
“It’s like a snapshot of what life could be for someone on the other side of the world,” he said.
As the audience for these stories grows, so has the demand for films that showcase the full breadth of what LGBTQ life can be.
“Our stories matter and queer stories matter,” said Murphy, co-head and director of programming at Inside Out. “We need to keep working to get more of them out there.”
With Wonder celebrates queer liberation
One of the liberating films highlighted in this year’s festival was Canadian film director Sharon Lewis’ documentary With Wonder.
The film highlights the multifaceted relationship between LGBTQ individuals and Christian communities — and how, for some, it can be a positive relationship rather than one that is marked by rejection.
In creating the film, Lewis said she did not want to present a “one-dimensional account” of LGBTQ life, acknowledging that many programs seem to define queer people by trauma and otherness.
A frame from the Sharon Lewis film With Wonder, a piece that explores the multi-faceted relationship between Christianity and the LGBTQ community. (Inside Out)
“The reason films are about … our hardships and our suffering is because those films get funded for the mainstream, [for] non-queer audiences who want to learn about us,” she said.
But by telling the story herself, Lewis says, she is not teaching. Instead, she is sharing, revealing and exploring.
Former LGBTQ films pave the way
Industry watchers say that the mid-1990s marked the start of LGBTQ romantic comedies reaching mainstream audiences; films like The Birdcage and In Out were big hits.
However, some films included characters that were part of the community but mainly in the form of tropes like the “gay best friend.”
“Sometimes we’d see storytelling and they throw a queer character in, but there’s nothing queer about them,” Lewis said “It’s just tokenizing.”
Then films like Brokeback Mountain, Call Me by Your Name and Imagine Me and You began to pave the way for films that brought LGBTQ storylines back to the forefront.
In 2016, Moonlight broke down doors as the first film with an LGBTQ main character to take home the Oscar for best picture.
“I keep seeing us moving toward that direction, and I am not going to ever give up,” Lewis said.
Fire Island marks exciting future
Joel Kim Booster, centre, is seen in a frame of the film Fire Island, which he also wrote. The film was created by and is starring those in the LGBTQ community. (Disney)
While earlier films featured stories about the LGBTQ community, the new comedy Fire Island is the first major studio-released romantic comedy that was created by and stars queer creatives.
The film was written by Joel Kim Booster and directed by Andrew Ahn as a loose adaptation of the popular Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice. It explores queer relationships as it follows a group of friends on their annual trip to the Fire Island Pines.
“I think that with The Birdcage and In Out, for example, there’s a lot of straight people involved there,” Booster said in an interview with CBC Arts.
Just in time for Pride Month, viewers can connect with the unique personalities showcase in the film, which began streaming June 3 on Disney+.
Noah (Joel Kim Booster) is the passionate and confident leader of the pack, keen to find Howie (Bowen Yang) a confidence-boosting fling after the long-time friend confides he feels lonely.
The main cast members of Fire Island can be seen outside on a sunny day in a frame from the film. It’s the first major studio-released LGBTQ romantic comedy. (Disney)
Alongside those two, is their lesbian mother figure, Erin (Margaret Cho) and their friends Luke (Matt Rogers), Max (Torian Miller), and Keegan (Tomás Matos) — each of whom bring a certain flair to the film.
“I’m excited to move into this space with a movie like Fire Island and I hope that it inspires more movies like this,” Ahn said.
And with the upcoming release of Bros, written by Nicholas Stroller and Billy Eichner, marking the next major studio-released gay romantic comedy, queer content is something Hollywood is now investing in.
For Knegt, this new wave of films leaves him feeling excited for the future.
“We’re getting much more variety now, and that’s really hopeful,” Knegt said. “I grew up watching depictions of a certain kind of gay man that I thought I was supposed to be.”
Knegt stands in front of a movie theatre in Toronto. He said he’s optimistic that LGBTQ films will only continue to have wider-ranging narratives. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
He said that “really messes with people” and gives them “messed-up perspectives” as to who they should be and how they should act.
“So to have this variety out there, I think, is just really important,” he said. “It makes me optimistic, at least for where things are going.
