Latest news with #Eddington
Gulf Today
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Cannes movies
Known for its glamour and prestige, the annual Cannes Film Festival is one of the most highly anticipated events on the film calendar. This week we are taking a look at everything that happened in Cannes where the biggest and most elite names in the film world gathered for premieres and awards. A film that caused a little bit of controversy is 'Eddington' by director Ari Aster. The film tells the tale of a town in Mexico during the early days of the Covid pandemic. With an ensemble cast that includes Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Deirdre O'Connell, the movie shows two sides of the Covid story. The two sides being the people who supported mask-wearing and vaccines and the people who didn't. Director-actor Harris Dickinson had previously been at Cannes after playing the lead Ruben Östlund's 'Triangle of Sadness.' This time he was back as a director with his movie 'Urchin' which receieved great reviews from audeinces and critics alike. The film stars actor Frank Dillane in the lead role and tells the story of a man who lives on the streets of London and the stuggles he endures. Despite the dark theme, critics have described the film as being 'energetic and filled with life.' In other news this week, turn to our Health pages to read some expert advice on how to handle chronic stress. There is no one who is immune to stress, especially in this fast-paced world we live in. Experts advise setting small and realistic goals as well as taming the voices in our heads.
Perth Now
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
WA's peak festival for indie filmmaking drops wild lineup
Internet boyfriend Pedrol Pascal and a Norwegian animated sex musical about sperm are two of the disparate array of treats in store for moviegoers at this year's Revelation Perth International Film Festival. WA's peak festival for indie filmmaking is renowned for alternative fare, but the event has outdone itself this year, boasting more than 45 features and documentaries and more than 100 short films. Among the highlights from this year's program is the aforementioned Pascal project, Eddington, a contemporary Western that doubles as a black comedy, which has sprung from the mind of horror auteur Ari Aster. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's star-studded cast also includes Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler. As for that risque animated film, colourfully titled Spermageddon, it will surely appeal to fans of South Park and Seth Rogen's Sausage Party. For those who prefer their cinema a little more high-brow, Rev will also screen the British biographical drama Mr Burton, about the early life of Welsh acting legend Richard Burton. Rev can always be counted on for thought-provoking docos, and this year is no different, with Eno, a film about enigmatic music icon Brian Eno. Eddington is an American contemporary Western film starring Joaquin Phoenix (pictured), Pedro Pascal (pictured). Credit: supplied Other notable documentaries include the fascinatingly meta examination of the true crime genre, Zodiac Killer Project, and Chain Reactions, a film that explores the cultural impact of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rev's commitment to the local screen industry is set to continue, with the return of Westralia Day, Get Your Shorts On! and the City of Vincent Film Project, three events focused on celebrating West Aussie content. While a dedicated First Nations showcase will honour Indigenous storytelling traditions and contemporary experiences. Revelation Perth International Film Festival runs July 2-13 at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and the Backlot, and the full program is now available on the festival's website. Spermageddon is a 2024 Norwegian adult animated musical sex comedy film directed by Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen. Credit: supplied
West Australian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Pedro Pascal and Norwegian animated musical Spermageddon headline Revelation Perth International Film Festival
Internet boyfriend Pedrol Pascal and a Norwegian animated sex musical about sperm are two of the disparate array of treats in store for moviegoers at this year's Revelation Perth International Film Festival. WA's peak festival for indie filmmaking is renowned for alternative fare, but the event has outdone itself this year, boasting more than 45 features and documentaries and more than 100 short films. Among the highlights from this year's program is the aforementioned Pascal project, Eddington, a contemporary Western that doubles as a black comedy, which has sprung from the mind of horror auteur Ari Aster. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's star-studded cast also includes Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler. As for that risque animated film, colourfully titled Spermageddon, it will surely appeal to fans of South Park and Seth Rogen's Sausage Party. For those who prefer their cinema a little more high-brow, Rev will also screen the British biographical drama Mr Burton, about the early life of Welsh acting legend Richard Burton. Rev can always be counted on for thought-provoking docos, and this year is no different, with Eno, a film about enigmatic music icon Brian Eno. Other notable documentaries include the fascinatingly meta examination of the true crime genre, Zodiac Killer Project, and Chain Reactions, a film that explores the cultural impact of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rev's commitment to the local screen industry is set to continue, with the return of Westralia Day, Get Your Shorts On! and the City of Vincent Film Project, three events focused on celebrating West Aussie content. While a dedicated First Nations showcase will honour Indigenous storytelling traditions and contemporary experiences. Revelation Perth International Film Festival runs July 2-13 at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and the Backlot, and the full program is now available on the festival's website.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Hurry Up Tomorrow' Review: The Weeknd's Emotionally Threadbare Vanity Project Is All Skips, No Repeats
A man of many faces, from the digital mask of anonymity on his mixtape breakout 'House of Balloons' to the plastic surgery prosthetics circa 'After Hours,' Abel Tesfaye has announced he'll soon retire the one that made him famous, with his latest album 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' his last under The Weeknd moniker. The lyrics situate him at a clear turning point, professionally and personally; the title track, with the usual synths traded for singer/songwriter piano and the plainly stated confession that 'I want to change, I want the pain,' signals a transformation for an artist who's struggled against himself from the jump. The Weeknd discography plays like one big party with noxious vibes, thrown by a hedonist less interested in a good time than numbing the torment of an existence comprising coke-and-sizzurp binges, emotionless supermodel threeways, and morning-afters of bleak reflection. Tesfaye is now 35, an age at which a lot of people decide it's high time to get their shit together, and 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' (the song, that is) makes a resolution for lasting, meaningful growth through penance and redemption. To presume that this heralds a newfound maturity for the man who not so long ago pulled a 'triggered much??' on Rolling Stone would be a mistake, however. More from IndieWire Ari Aster's 'Eddington' Sharply Divides Cannes: Star Pedro Pascal Defends a Western About 'Our Worst Fears' Amid Lockdown 'Nouvelle Vague' Teaser: Richard Linklater Brings the French New Wave Back to Life The non-album plank of this grander creative project, a feature film also titled 'Hurry Up Tomorrow,' reiterates this career narrative by mapping it onto autofiction at greater length and with bludgeoning obviousness. A viewer may find themselves appreciating how the non-visual element of music allows figurative language to retain some wisp of mystery, whereas onscreen it's made to wear its significance in blatant, artless ways. A tortured genius wrestling with their demons, breaking themselves down to nothing, and building themselves back up in a nobler image — these are fine building blocks for drama. 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' (again, the song) works well enough along these lines. But when we're made to watch Tesfaye sing it in its entirety in an unbroken close-up while crying at the beauty of his own music, the introspection turns to simple self-involvement. It would appear he's trading drugs and alcohol for a form of indulgence less materially harmful to himself, but more so to us. Tesfaye has found a felicitous collaborator in director Trey Edward Shults, 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' (the movie, from here on out) being largely a composite of their past work: the furtive ingesting and narcotized intensity of Shults' debut 'Krisha,' the rage-to-contrition arc and whirling cinematography of his polarizing 'Waves,' the volatile maestro/muse dynamic of Tesfaye's even-more-polarizing HBO series 'The Idol.' The threadbare plot is set in motion when Tesfaye's screen-self (henceforth referred to as Abel) loses his voice while touring, a real-life incident forced here into heavy-handed metaphor as an existential ailment symptomatic of his deeper issues with himself and women. (Tellingly, Riley Keough plays both his absent mother and the ex-girlfriend he keeps screaming at on the phone.) Just as his deteriorating health and pressure from his pal-turned-manager (Barry Keoghan) push him to the verge of collapse, he finds hope of salvation in the same place as many misogynists, with a woman who has not yet started to annoy him. Brief eye contact and about a dozen words are all Abel and the enigmatic Anima (Jenna Ortega) need to establish a connection closer than garden-variety groupie-ism. Until, of course, the morning after, when she starts up with her talk about joining him on tour and inserting herself into his life. The ensuing conflict between them takes an abrupt turn into a hotel-room two-hander as Anima fastens Abel to a bed and coerces him into confronting his feelings by playing his own music to him and dispensing shallow insights about how his songs' upbeat melodies belie their cry-for-help content. While her wiggly dancing and superficial pop-crit commentary nod to 'American Psycho,' this final stretch reckoning with Abel's toxicity and death drives could be compared unfavorably to anything from early Almodóvar to 'Phantom Thread,' dulling the provocative edges on a long and august tradition of psychosexual pas de deux. Neither its methods nor conclusions feel subversive; the conceptual thinness of the specter-like Anima and the role she plays in Abel's evolution both amend his admission of guilt with the concession that women are indeed exacting, unreliable, and/or psychotic. If all this — or the brief dream sequence visited by an Inuit child, or the drug-fueled freakout in front of a projection of Lotte Reiniger's proto-animation landmark 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' — piques curiosity on paper, that's only because reading a review of a film doesn't occupy nearly as much time as watching it. The minutes drag, and not just when Shults holds on interminable long takes giving actors in need of guardrails far too much room to fail. Tesfaye and Ortega model two opposing modes of imitative, hollow performance, like a bad actor's varying notions of good acting. A devout student of the European classics (she took this role in part for a 'Possession' homage sequence all but excised in the final cut), Ortega knows that great thespians are stoic and inexpressive, but doesn't understand how or why. Constantly pumping himself up with shadowboxing and yelling at women, Tesfaye is doing De Niro in 'Raging Bull,' just without the Method behind his mannerisms. Meanwhile, the avant-garde-101 padding makes lemons from the flights of expressionistic fancy in 'Lemonade,' while the musical sequences clarify that this is no mere album accessory by being repetitive, unimaginative, and scant. The thing about vanity projects this narcissistic is at the very least, even in calamity, they're supposed to be interesting. Tesfaye has the makings of a fascinating yet flawed figure, equal parts egotistical and insecure, self-aggrandizing and self-effacing, at once a mad king and wounded child. Since the days of sampling Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Beach House, he's been forthcoming about his eclectic, well-curated tastes. But for a personal statement uncompromised by commercial purpose, it's bland and indistinct, and for a howl from the depths of a soul in agony, there's very little at risk in its vague baring of sin or broad overtures to rebirth. One yearns for idiosyncrasy, a stroke of the unknowable, some transmission from a plane of inspiration inaccessible to ordinary mortals. If the unbearable weight of massive talent is really so crazy-making, that unwieldy creativity should be set free, however messy. Or, if I can just say what I mean: making audiences feel nostalgic about Kanye West? In this cultural economy? Lionsgate will release 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' in theaters on Friday, May 16. Want to stay up to date on IndieWire's film and critical thoughts? to our newly launched newsletter, In Review by David Ehrlich, in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the best new reviews and streaming picks along with some exclusive musings — all only available to subscribers. Best of IndieWire The 25 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies, Ranked Every IndieWire TV Review from 2020, Ranked by Grade from Best to Worst
Arab News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Review: Star-filled ‘Eddington' — a satirical thriller in small town America
CANNES: The memory of the COVID-19 pandemic still lingers, the deaths and the economic destruction it caused still play on the mind. Ari Aster's 'Eddington,' which just played at the Cannes Film Festival in France, is a brutal look at what the virus did to humanity, the kind of misinformation we were fed and the losses, monetary and emotional, we all suffered. 'Eddington' is a fictional town in the US state of New Mexico and the movie opens as lockdown begins. In the Cannes title, the mayor of Eddington, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), and Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) are at loggerheads. Their bone of contention is the medical mask — Cross refuses to wear one thus setting a bad example, encouraging people to defy the rule. Cross also resents Garcia's support for the construction of a giant online server farm and decides to run against Garcia as an anti-lockdown candidate in the upcoming mayoral election. This forms the main plot, but interestingly it is the sub-plots that add pep and zing to the film. Cross's wife Louise (Emma Stone) suffers from hysteria and depression while Garcia's problematic teen son Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka) is in love with Sarah (Amelia Hoeferie), who bills herself a warrior for social justice. Aster manages to grip us with all these diversions and distractions in what could have otherwise been a rather dull narrative. The satire on the sidelines is hilarious, and despite a serious plot that treats the town as a microcosm of America's problems — from police brutality to racism — the writer-director manages to keep the audience engaged until the finish line. The film could have done with tighter editing, though, and it isn't till the halfway mark that the plot begins to speed up with a segway into a farcical crime thriller.
