Latest news with #HBOMax
UPI
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Watch: Josh Allen leads Bills training camp in HBO docuseries trailer
HBO Max is previewing "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills." Photo courtesy of HBO Max July 23 (UPI) -- HBO Max is previewing Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills ahead of its Aug. 5 premiere on HBO and HBO Max. NFL Most Valuable Player Josh Allen is described in the teaser released Wednesday as "superman right now." The preview shows the Bills quarterback leading training camp. "Head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane will be featured," according to a press release. Liev Schreiber will narrate the docuseries. Hard Knocks will air on HBO and stream on HBO Max.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
What to stream this week: The Mitford sisters and five more picks
This week's picks include a period romp about the British aristocracy in the 1930s, a documentary about Billy Joel, and a soap-tinged melodrama starring Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman. Outrageous ★★★½ (BritBox) Told with a giddy energy that matches the bottles of champagne repeatedly being popped, Outrageous is a period romp about the British upper class that traverses the fine line between farce and tragedy. The show's historic subject is the Mitford sisters – six daughters of the aristocracy who became a microcosm of Europe's ructions in the 1930s. Influencers in a tabloid headline era, they were the closest of siblings who eventually became adversaries. You couldn't make this story up if you tried. Really, really tried. It's 1931 and Nancy (Bessie Carter) serves as wry narrator – she's a budding novelist whose own family will provide irresistible material. Diana (Joanna Vanderham) is 'the beauty', soon to leave her Guinness heir husband for Britain's leading fascist, Sir Oswald Mosley (Joshua Sasse). Unity (Shannon Watson) will go beyond that – she befriends Adolf Hitler. Jessica (Zoe Brough) becomes an ardent communist. Pamela (Isobel Jesper Jones) loves her Angus cattle herd. Deborah (Orla Hill) simply wants a husband and a nice country house. Loading Put two or more of the sisters in a scene and the dialogue has screwball pace and droll retorts. In adapting Mary S. Lovell's 2001 biography, The Mitford Girls, creator Sarah Williams has captured solidarity as a kind of accelerant. Growing up together – their father, Baron Redesdale (James Purefoy), believed girls shouldn't go to school – the young women pushed at boundaries and ached for agency and purpose. Everything is a lark, until it very much isn't (hint: when Unity fangirls Hitler). There's frivolity, some truly sketchy male suitors, and ominous headlines; imagine Wes Anderson adapting Hilary Mantel. The six episodes roll through five years. The budget struggles with the sweep of history – a Nuremberg rally is done with merely dozens of extras – but the personal dynamics are fascinating. It's ultimately a story of how you respond when someone you love crosses a line you never imagined existed. There's a scene between Unity and Jessica, the sadness tinged with memories of joint silliness, that's quietly heartbreaking. Tellingly, the conundrums the Mitford sisters impose on each other couldn't be more timely. The appeal of fascism is debated at family meals, while opposing criticisms are righteously written off as propaganda and misinformation – free speech as an absolute defence is repeatedly invoked, political street violence threatens to become the norm. It's both entertaining and horrifying, as living in the moment often proves to be, with the Bright Young Things insouciance serving as a Trojan horse. The first season concludes in 1936, and I hope there's another – their story has earnt a reckoning. Billy Joel: And So It Goes ★★★(HBO Max) Consisting of two episodes each the length of a sizeable feature film, this documentary about Billy Joel, one of the biggest-selling artists in the history of popular music, will hold an obvious appeal to fans. His music is prominent throughout and Joel discusses his life with pugnacious candour. But it's also of interest to novices, because Joel has long been contradictory: a populist suspicious of his own hits, a superstar who struggled to fit in. 'The most original thing I've done in my life is screw up,' Joel tells directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, and while they don't tug too hard on the many tangled threads of Joel's life and art this comprehensive documentary is a reminder that anyone with such a gargantuan career – over 150 million albums sold, a residency at Madison Square Garden that lasted 10 years – has an intriguing psychological set-up. The 76-year-old, who recently shelved all touring plans because of a normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis, was primarily a storyteller with his lyrics, and talking about them takes him back into the highs and lows – but mostly lows – of his own life. The likes of Pink and Bruce Springsteen offer input, but Joel's real foil here is his former wife and manager Elizabeth Weber. They've been divorced since 1982, but her read on him remains essential. Very unlikely, very Billy Joel. The Hunting Wives ★★½ (Stan) Hightown creator Rebecca Cutter returns with this soap-tinged melodrama about switching from one side of America's cultural divide to the other. When a fresh start transplants Sophie O'Neill (Brittany Snow, The Night Agent) and her family from the East Cost to Texas, she becomes fast friends with the cadre of desperate housewives commanded by the wife of her husband's new boss, Margo Banks (Malin Akerman, Billions). The desire for female friendship is an intriguing lens, but the story is taken up with mildly outrageous behaviour and the growing shadow of a murder enquiry. Riff Raff ★★½ (Amazon Prime Video) This American crime-comedy, informed by far better movies from the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino, is less than the sum of its parts: Bill Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Pete Davidson, Gabrielle Union, and Lewis Pullman all have roles in the ensemble cast. Directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognising Your Saints), the move struggles to lay out the many circumstances required to explain how an unexpected family gathering at the Maine cabin belonging to Harris' Vincent is soon crashed by Murray and Davidson's vengeful gangsters. Nothing really cuts through. Somebody Feed Phil (season 8) ★★★ (Netflix) One of Netflix's longest-running shows, this culinary travel show continues to take Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal from one tasty global locale to the next. More a chatty enthusiast than sombre gourmand, Rosenthal is visibly delighted by good food – his face finds the most delightfully idiosyncratic shapes when he bites into something he enjoys. Phil's format is quick-fire stops, and this latest season fills a major gap in his planner by finally featuring an Australian episode that covers Sydney and Adelaide. The outside perspective makes for a refreshing change. Sold! ★★★½ (Binge) Loading Mark Humphries has been many things on our TV screens, from sketch satirist to game show host, but he may well have found his defining purpose with this tragicomic documentary about Australia's housing crisis. As a self-deprecating truth-seeker working with long-time collaborator Evan Williams and The Chaser 's Craig Reucassel, Humphries manages to cut through the unsettling numbers, partisan policies, and grim ramifications of a housing market that, over the course of this century, has flipped from inclusive to exclusive. The explanations are concise and bittersweet – it's your choice to laugh or cry.
The Age
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
What to stream this week: The Mitford sisters and five more picks
This week's picks include a period romp about the British aristocracy in the 1930s, a documentary about Billy Joel, and a soap-tinged melodrama starring Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman. Outrageous ★★★½ (BritBox) Told with a giddy energy that matches the bottles of champagne repeatedly being popped, Outrageous is a period romp about the British upper class that traverses the fine line between farce and tragedy. The show's historic subject is the Mitford sisters – six daughters of the aristocracy who became a microcosm of Europe's ructions in the 1930s. Influencers in a tabloid headline era, they were the closest of siblings who eventually became adversaries. You couldn't make this story up if you tried. Really, really tried. It's 1931 and Nancy (Bessie Carter) serves as wry narrator – she's a budding novelist whose own family will provide irresistible material. Diana (Joanna Vanderham) is 'the beauty', soon to leave her Guinness heir husband for Britain's leading fascist, Sir Oswald Mosley (Joshua Sasse). Unity (Shannon Watson) will go beyond that – she befriends Adolf Hitler. Jessica (Zoe Brough) becomes an ardent communist. Pamela (Isobel Jesper Jones) loves her Angus cattle herd. Deborah (Orla Hill) simply wants a husband and a nice country house. Loading Put two or more of the sisters in a scene and the dialogue has screwball pace and droll retorts. In adapting Mary S. Lovell's 2001 biography, The Mitford Girls, creator Sarah Williams has captured solidarity as a kind of accelerant. Growing up together – their father, Baron Redesdale (James Purefoy), believed girls shouldn't go to school – the young women pushed at boundaries and ached for agency and purpose. Everything is a lark, until it very much isn't (hint: when Unity fangirls Hitler). There's frivolity, some truly sketchy male suitors, and ominous headlines; imagine Wes Anderson adapting Hilary Mantel. The six episodes roll through five years. The budget struggles with the sweep of history – a Nuremberg rally is done with merely dozens of extras – but the personal dynamics are fascinating. It's ultimately a story of how you respond when someone you love crosses a line you never imagined existed. There's a scene between Unity and Jessica, the sadness tinged with memories of joint silliness, that's quietly heartbreaking. Tellingly, the conundrums the Mitford sisters impose on each other couldn't be more timely. The appeal of fascism is debated at family meals, while opposing criticisms are righteously written off as propaganda and misinformation – free speech as an absolute defence is repeatedly invoked, political street violence threatens to become the norm. It's both entertaining and horrifying, as living in the moment often proves to be, with the Bright Young Things insouciance serving as a Trojan horse. The first season concludes in 1936, and I hope there's another – their story has earnt a reckoning. Billy Joel: And So It Goes ★★★(HBO Max) Consisting of two episodes each the length of a sizeable feature film, this documentary about Billy Joel, one of the biggest-selling artists in the history of popular music, will hold an obvious appeal to fans. His music is prominent throughout and Joel discusses his life with pugnacious candour. But it's also of interest to novices, because Joel has long been contradictory: a populist suspicious of his own hits, a superstar who struggled to fit in. 'The most original thing I've done in my life is screw up,' Joel tells directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, and while they don't tug too hard on the many tangled threads of Joel's life and art this comprehensive documentary is a reminder that anyone with such a gargantuan career – over 150 million albums sold, a residency at Madison Square Garden that lasted 10 years – has an intriguing psychological set-up. The 76-year-old, who recently shelved all touring plans because of a normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis, was primarily a storyteller with his lyrics, and talking about them takes him back into the highs and lows – but mostly lows – of his own life. The likes of Pink and Bruce Springsteen offer input, but Joel's real foil here is his former wife and manager Elizabeth Weber. They've been divorced since 1982, but her read on him remains essential. Very unlikely, very Billy Joel. The Hunting Wives ★★½ (Stan) Hightown creator Rebecca Cutter returns with this soap-tinged melodrama about switching from one side of America's cultural divide to the other. When a fresh start transplants Sophie O'Neill (Brittany Snow, The Night Agent) and her family from the East Cost to Texas, she becomes fast friends with the cadre of desperate housewives commanded by the wife of her husband's new boss, Margo Banks (Malin Akerman, Billions). The desire for female friendship is an intriguing lens, but the story is taken up with mildly outrageous behaviour and the growing shadow of a murder enquiry. Riff Raff ★★½ (Amazon Prime Video) This American crime-comedy, informed by far better movies from the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino, is less than the sum of its parts: Bill Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Pete Davidson, Gabrielle Union, and Lewis Pullman all have roles in the ensemble cast. Directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognising Your Saints), the move struggles to lay out the many circumstances required to explain how an unexpected family gathering at the Maine cabin belonging to Harris' Vincent is soon crashed by Murray and Davidson's vengeful gangsters. Nothing really cuts through. Somebody Feed Phil (season 8) ★★★ (Netflix) One of Netflix's longest-running shows, this culinary travel show continues to take Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal from one tasty global locale to the next. More a chatty enthusiast than sombre gourmand, Rosenthal is visibly delighted by good food – his face finds the most delightfully idiosyncratic shapes when he bites into something he enjoys. Phil's format is quick-fire stops, and this latest season fills a major gap in his planner by finally featuring an Australian episode that covers Sydney and Adelaide. The outside perspective makes for a refreshing change. Sold! ★★★½ (Binge) Loading Mark Humphries has been many things on our TV screens, from sketch satirist to game show host, but he may well have found his defining purpose with this tragicomic documentary about Australia's housing crisis. As a self-deprecating truth-seeker working with long-time collaborator Evan Williams and The Chaser 's Craig Reucassel, Humphries manages to cut through the unsettling numbers, partisan policies, and grim ramifications of a housing market that, over the course of this century, has flipped from inclusive to exclusive. The explanations are concise and bittersweet – it's your choice to laugh or cry.
New York Times
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Hard Knocks' trailer gives peek into a confident Buffalo Bills locker room
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Ten seconds into the trailer, you realize this isn't the same 'Hard Knocks' you've grown accustomed to seeing each season. 'We're going to do whatever we can,' quarterback Josh Allen says, 'to bring the Lombardi back here to Western New York.' That's the assertive tone HBO Max sets with 'Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills.' The hype video, released on Wednesday, aims to emphasize that this is not a team struggling to find its identity. We've come to expect insights into unsure organizations in recent years from the iconic reality sports series produced by NFL Films, but not under the league's new rules that can compel the best teams to participate. Advertisement No, these Bills are an established program, looking to take that last step of advancing to the Super Bowl and winning its first NFL championship. 'This is about hanging a banner,' an unnamed voice says over a barrage of jubilant images. The 101-second video alternates between snowy Highmark Stadium raptures and summer practices at St. John Fisher University. The juxtaposition hammers home the point that what happens in the heat will determine how much fun Bills Mafia has in January and perhaps beyond. 'Hard Knocks' will debut Aug. 5 and run for five episodes. The trailer ends with a clip of Bills coach Sean McDermott delivering a postgame speech in which he snarls, 'Resilient. Tough. That is Buffalo to a core, baby,' followed by Allen's famous, airborne TD stretch in the snow against the San Francisco 49ers. HBO Max also unveiled the 'Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills' poster, and it's tempting to read into which players appear or do not. Featured are Allen, receiver Khalil Shakir, left tackle Dion Dawkins, edge rusher Greg Rousseau, linebacker Terrel Bernard and cornerback Christian Benford. Not pictured: running back James Cook. Last year's NFL co-leader with 16 rushing touchdowns is unhappy with his contract. Cook reported to training camp at St. John Fisher University on Tuesday, but his situation remains one of Buffalo's most intriguing. A couple of characters seeking to rebound, receiver Keon Coleman and tight end Dalton Kincaid, are almost sure to have featured spots, too. That said, in a recent interview with The Athletic, longtime 'Hard Knocks' leader Ken Rodgers stressed the show's breakneck production process doesn't allow producers to lay the groundwork for specific storylines or cultivate narratives. Stuff simply happens too fast. 'You just react,' said Rodgers, the NFL Films vice president and executive producer. 'It's all instinct. You make the show, and then it's over. You don't labor over it in your head.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pedro Pascal: ‘I Was So Appalled by the Way I Look' in ‘Wonder Woman 1984' That ‘I've Never Gone Back' to Being Clean Shaven for an Acting Role
Pedro Pascal faced off against his 'Fantastic Four' co-star Vanessa Kirby during LADbible's 'Agree to Disagree' video series, in which they were asked to debate which is sexier: Mustaches or beards? Pascal has long rocked facial hair throughout his career, but there was one role that required him to go clean shaven. That would be the villainous Maxwell Lord in 'Wonder Woman 1984,' Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot's superhero sequel that released in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously on Christmas Day 2020. 'I grow such shit facial hair, but if I were to shave it all off… I really look very [awful]. Strongly disagree with a clean shaven me,' Pascal said. 'I was so appalled by the way I look in 'Wonder Woman 1984.' I loved the movie, but I was so appalled by the way that I looked that I never have gone back. Unless it were completely necessary. If they asked me to be clean shave for 'Fantastic Four' and insisted then I would've done it. But it was a very collaborative creation for all of our looks in the movie.' More from Variety Box Office: 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Aims for $110 Million Liftoff 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Review: Marvel Gets Its Mojo Back With a Satisfying Retro-Styled Reboot Original 'Fantastic Four' Star Michael Chiklis Wishes Marvel's New Cast the 'Best of Luck and Success': 'I Admire These Actors' Pascal rocks his trademark mustache as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe tentpole, a choice that has sparked a bit of backlash amongst superhero obsessives who are committed to the clean-shaven Reed from the comic books. Pascal, who is no stranger to franchise fare thanks to 'The Last of Us' and 'The Mandalorian,' previously told Vanity Fair that it was hard to avoid fan complaints when he was cast and he constantly heard: 'He's too old. He's not right. He needs to shave.' 'I'm more aware of disgruntlement around my casting than anything I've ever done,' Pascal said. As for Maxwell Lord, the 'Wonder Woman 1984' role was a one and done stop for Pascal in the previous DC Universe. He's now playing a major role in the MCU and is already confirmed to be returning as Reed in next year's tentpole 'Avengers: Doomsday.' Marvel's 'Fantastic Four' opens in theaters July 25. Watch Pascal and Kirby's LADbible video interview below. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples Solve the daily Crossword
