Latest news with #Nonnas'
Tom's Guide
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Netflix just added a remarkable mystery movie with Nicolas Cage — and it's already crashed the top 10
Nicolas Cage is one of the most exciting actors currently working in Hollywood. After a string of direct-to-DVD duds in the 2000s, he's enjoyed a career resurgence over the past decade, opting to pick some very interesting projects that showcase his immense talent and acting range. One such example is 2021's 'Pig,' a powerful mystery drama that sees Cage play a reclusive man kept company by his pet pig. But when unseen thieves take his pig in the dead of night, the man becomes obsessed with getting his sow back at just about any cost. Yes, it's a slightly strange premise for a movie. This unquestionably odd, but seriously impactful, movie recently landed on Netflix U.S., and it didn't take long to make an impression. 'Pig' has rocketed its way into the streaming service's top 10 list, currently ranked in the No. 4 spot ahead of Netflix original comedy 'Nonnas' and the divisive action-thriller 'Havoc.' Certainly not a bad result for this swine. If 'Nic Cage searches for his missing pig' isn't enough of a hook to sell you on streaming 'Pig' on the spot, and you need a little more convincing that this drama is worth your precious movie-watching time, here's the full scoop. Former big city chef, Rob (Nicolas Cage), now lives a simple life as a truffle-forager in the forests of Oregon. His only company, aside from the young supplier (Alex Wolff) who buys his produce every week, is his prized pig. The hog is basically his closest thing to family. Rob's peaceful existence is thrown into turmoil when unknown assailants steal his pig in the dead of night. What follows is an unfolding mystery as Rob desperately searches for his beloved animal. The hunt for answers forces him to return to the scene of his past and grapple with his trauma. But most of all, Rob wants his pig back, and over the course of the movie's trim 92-minute runtime, you'll see that the hermit is willing to go to pretty much any lengths to get it back. I'll admit when I first heard about 'Pig,' I expected a 'John Wick' style movie that would see Cage play a revenge-fueled figure on a rampage. The movie's frequent misclassification as a thriller didn't help on this front. Instead, what I got was something a lot more reflective. 'Pig' is a slowly unfolding mystery that sees Rob, with young supplier Amir (Wolff) dragged along for the ride, visit various spots around Portland hunting for any scraps of information about the missing pig. Each new place they visit doesn't just add a new puzzle piece to the mystery, but slowly peels back the curtain as viewers learn of Rob's traumatic past. The quest for the missing pig is compelling enough to drive you through the credits, but the real draw of the movie comes in its leading man. Nicolas Cage has put in some stunning performances in recent years, with 2023's 'Dream Scenario' a personal favorite of mine, but 'Pig' might just be his best work since his Oscar-winning turn in 1995's 'Leaving Las Vegas.' Yes, Cage is that darn good in 'Pig.' His character is a wounded soul, but also somebody who has found solace living off the grid. Free from the pitfalls of the big city, Rob lives a peaceful existence with his pig by his side. Right from the jump, Cage brings a textured quality to Rob, and as each new layer of his backstory is peeled back, the character only becomes richer. 'Pig' is slower paced than you might expect. I can't overstate enough that this isn't an adrenaline-pumping revenge movie, instead, it's a more reflective experience. However, the movie doesn't drag for a moment, because its lead character is so compelling and his slowly unfurling trauma is so impactful, and frankly, because you really will want to see him reunited with his pet pig. By the end, don't be surprised if you find yourself sobbing over this stolen sow. 'Pig' is one of those movies that aims to draw you in with its slightly silly premise, but underneath, it offers so much more than mere novelty. Beyond the intrigue of Nicolas Cage hunting down a missing pig, there's real soul to be found in this drama. You'll come for the kooky plot, but stay for the emotional pay-off. I'm certainly not the only one who has found a lot to appreciate about this pig either. 'Pig' holds a near-perfect 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is enough to earn a 'Certified Fresh' seal of approval. Plus, its audience score is also pretty strong at 83%. However, some viewers were left a little bewildered by the movie's somber tone and slower pace. 'Like the animal itself, 'Pig' defies the hogwash of expectations with a beautiful odyssey of loss and love anchored by Nicolas Cage's affectingly raw performance,' reads Rotten Tomatoes' 'Critics Consensus,' and I echo this assessment. 'Pig' offers a lot more than you might expect. I'm glad to see more people discovering this impactful flick now that it's arrived on Netflix, and while I suspect it won't be to every subscriber's taste, Cage's powerhouse performance is reason enough to give it a chance. But, prepare yourself for a ride that will put you through the emotional wringer. Looking for something a little less heavy to enjoy this week? Here's a roundup of the best movies leaving Netflix this month that you need to stream before they're removed from the platform's library. Watch "Pig" on Netflix now
Los Angeles Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Red sauce recipes for cooking like Nonna (or the one you wish you had)
Grandmothers are having a moment. The debut of the Netflix movie 'Nonnas' (Italian-ish for 'grandmothers') has people talking about grandmothers, and appreciating them not just for their home cooking, but for their brand of unconditional love wherein you're gazed at adoringly even after eating the entire bag of zeppole you were sent to the store to bring home. 'Nonnas,' based on the true story of a man who opens a restaurant in Staten Island to honor his mother and grandmother, captures a seemingly universal fantasy: a warm home where any potential problems are drowned out by love, laughter and a plate — or a buffet — of familiar, comforting foods: a casserole dish of lasagna; a pot of sausage and peppers; platters piled with meatballs, zucchini swimming in olive oil, and chunks of focaccia; extra tomato sauce (aka 'red sauce' or 'gravy'); a cut crystal bowl of parmesan; and platters of Italian cookies — straight from the heart and hands of the person who loves us most in the world. The promise of the nonna is not just the food. It's that love. I did not have this kind of grandmother. My grandmother Adela, on my dad's side, didn't cook — nor look at me adoringly as far as I remember. My grandmother Birdie, on my mom's side, cooked exactly one thing: oatmeal! Safe to say neither of them loved me more than anyone else in the world. For those of us who didn't grow up with the real deal, the fantasy of the forgiving nonna is still appealing. And for those who did, forget about it. My friend Toni Vartanian (né DiSanti) said she bawled through the opening scene, remembering Sundays at her grandparents' house in San Diego's Little Italy, with her parents, five uncles, all their wives, and three or four cousins from each pair. The women, she recalled, 'pulled out the pots and pans and made music and danced in the kitchen.' Sign me up! There's a popular saying that there are two kinds of people in the world: Italians, and those who wish they were Italian. After watching 'Nonnas,' I might amend the saying to: There are two kinds of Americans: Italian-Americans, and those who wish they were Italian-American. At least on Sundays. 'Nonnas' has been No. 1 on Netflix's list of 'Global Top 10 Movies' since it debuted on Mother's Day, with over 15 million viewers to date. The movie is also an homage to Italian-American cuisine, which has been having its moment now for a decade. In the 1990s, regional Italian cuisine, and Cal-Ital, eclipsed the red-sauce-heavy Italian food we grew up eating, whether it was served to us by a nonna or we experienced it at a checkered-tablecloth restaurant with wicker-covered wine-bottle candelabras. But we've returned to comforting Italian-American favorites; it was as if we all went on a collective exotic vacation only to come back with a new appreciation for the joys of home. Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, lasagna, anything with ricotta cheese, and red sauce have reappeared at restaurants all over town. And the good news is, these dishes, which many might have seen as one-note, have been reimagined, using different (but not necessarily more difficult) cooking techniques and better ingredients. In 'Nonnas,' the film's star, played by Vince Vaughn, goes through the movie searching for the secret to his nonna's gravy. But all along, we know that the real secret to the sauce won't be found in a missing ingredient. The secret ingredient is his grandmother's love, and his memory of the feeling of being in the bosom of his family's home. And those of us who don't have that memory can get in the kitchen and make new memories. Whatever you decide to cook, just be sure to do as Nonna instructs and, 'Put in your heart.' Eating out this week? Sign up for Tasting Notes to get our restaurant experts' insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they're dining right now. These meatballs — recipe courtesy of the author's nonna — are made with a combination of beef and Italian sausage and simmered in tomato sauce, making for light, tender, flavorful meatballs. Put them in a sandwich, enjoy them on their own, with Butter Garlic Bread (see below) for sopping up the sauce, or serve them on top of spaghetti. There's plenty of sauce (here referred to as 'tomato gravy') in this recipe for that, the time: 3 hours. Serves 4. Thick loaves of white bread topped with a golden layer of garlicky butter is a must to soak up whatever flavors await at the table, or to act as a raft for meatballs, sausage, caponata or whatever other flavors await at the table. IMO, twice as much butter and olive oil wouldn't be too much. But (as the saying goes) I'm not a the time: 15 minutes. Serves 6 to 8. When I wrote a pasta cookbook for two women in Sicily and mentioned one morning that in America, we ate spaghetti with meatballs, they gasped! What do you mean 'with?' They asked. 'The meatballs are on top of the spaghetti?' Meatballs are a side dish in Italy, but in America, two or three of the savory, juicy balls sitting on top of a bowl of spaghetti, the whole story dressed in red sauce, is part of the American the time: 1 ½ hours. Serves 4 to 6.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meghann Fahy Compares ‘Sirens' to ‘White Lotus': 'Everyone's Obsessed With Wealth'
Meghann Fahy adds another high-society series to her résumé — but this time, she's not playing the wealthy one. In Netflix's upcoming series Sirens, created by Molly Smith Metzler (Maid), Fahy plays Devon, a character who comes from a poor upbringing in Buffalo and is spending the weekend on an island, living in luxury, but whose main focus is helping her sister Simone (Milly Alcock) leave her boss Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore), a dame of the island's high society. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Sirens' Review: Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock and Julianne Moore Star in Netflix's Erratic Slice of Affluence Porn Vince Vaughn: 'Nonnas' Is an "Outlaw Movie" Amid Changing Industry as Netflix Film Extends Hot Streak Tina Fey Explains That 'Four Seasons' Death and Teases "Starting From Scratch" for Season 2 When taking on this role, she skipped a phone call to Mike White, asking for any pointers. 'I think the character that I played in White Lotus of Daphne and Devon in this show, Sirens, are so polar opposite, in most ways,' she told The Hollywood Reporter of the characters at the premiere Tuesday. 'The one storyline that I could identify between those two women is just that they are underestimated. They are not what they appear to be at first glance, and they are misjudged for that.' In the second season of White's cultural phenomenon The White Lotus, which follows the privileged lives of vacationers staying at a luxury resort, Fahy's Daphne is married to financier Cameron (Theo James). And while the other characters assume she's superficial at first, she proves to be a lot more complex throughout the series as the dynamics with her husband are revealed. However, Fahy addressed the similarities between the shows' themes. 'Of course everyone's obsessed with wealth and dissecting it and making fun of it and all those things, so there's a lot of that happening these days,' she said. Even though every season of The White Lotus begins with a mystery death, by the end of the show, it could be easy to label who the show's villain is, but what unravels always makes it more complex than naming just one. And in Sirens, there's a lot to be said about the class system, too. 'Society is the real villain,' Alcock said. 'It's the pressures that these women have to upkeep. Not only these women, but these men.' Castmember Josh Segarra thinks the darker moments are because of 'greed' and 'everyone wanting more.' Meanwhile, Fahy, believes the show is all about 'perception and how we see people and how we misjudge people.' Sirens drops on Netflix on Thursday. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Thomas Haden Church Is Here to Help the Shop — and Will's Erections — in ‘Tires' Season 2 Trailer (Exclusive)
Valley Forge Auto needs a prayer to stay open. It got Thomas Haden Church. On Netflix's Tires, Will (Steven Gerben), an uncomfortable and unqualified heir to an auto repair chain, attempts to grow his father's business — if his cousin Shane (Shane Gillis), a shop mechanic, doesn't destroy it first. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Sirens' Review: Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock and Julianne Moore Star in Netflix's Erratic Slice of Affluence Porn Meghann Fahy Compares 'Sirens' to 'White Lotus': "Everyone's Obsessed With Wealth" Vince Vaughn: 'Nonnas' Is an "Outlaw Movie" Amid Changing Industry as Netflix Film Extends Hot Streak The first season of Tires saw Shane and Will collab on a new marketing idea: sell tires at cost, and upsell their customers on other services. For two screwups, it worked wonderfully — for a little while. In season two, 'Will and Shane rush to grow personally and professionally without fully realizing the cost of doing business,' according to Netflix. Also, that whole tires plan that titled the show may bring down the whole house of cards. Shane's dad (Thomas Haden Church), Will's uncle, is here to save his brother's/nephew's/son's business. In the season two trailer, which The Hollywood Reporter can first share, Shane's got a girlfriend, Will's got 'big time squirrel vibes' and the show has (a little bit of) Vince Vaughn. Shane's dad has testosterone cream — and now Will is gonna have his 'penis fill up with blood' whether he 'like(s) it or not.' Oh, and together, Valley Forge Auto finally has some proper sexual harassment training. It… doesn't go well. Tires, based on a Gillis YouTube pilot, is created by Gillis, Gerben and comedian John McKeever, who also write the show together. Those three executive produce the series along with Brandon James for Rough House; Brian Stern and Kenneth Slotnick for AGI Entertainment Media & Management; and Becky Astphan. McKeever directs the series. The Tires cast also includes Chris O'Connor, Kilah Fox and Stavros Halkias; comedian Andrew Schulz guest stars. Tires is the second production from Gillis and McKeever's production company, Dad Sick Productions. Gillis' standup special, Beautiful Dogs, was the first. Watch the Tires season two trailer here: Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Sirens' Review: Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock and Julianne Moore Star in Netflix's Erratic Slice of Affluence Porn
Mortal women tend to get a bum deal in classical mythology; it isn't uncommon to see them reduced to simple, ill-fated victims or, in more complicated instances, turned into literal monsters for offenses they didn't commit. It's almost progressive that princesses and washerwomen alike get crushed by the caprice of misbehaving immortals — but only 'almost.' This is a prism through which one might find some almost admirable subtext in Netflix's new five-part limited series, Sirens, but only 'almost.' In a show awash in references, thematic coherence and tonal consistency are much harder to come by. More from The Hollywood Reporter Meghann Fahy Compares 'Sirens' to 'White Lotus': "Everyone's Obsessed With Wealth" Vince Vaughn: 'Nonnas' Is an "Outlaw Movie" Amid Changing Industry as Netflix Film Extends Hot Streak Tina Fey Explains That 'Four Seasons' Death and Teases "Starting From Scratch" for Season 2 Created by Molly Smith Metzler (Maid), Sirens is an aggressive hodge-podge that tries to blend very broad class satire, very broad melodrama, very broad and formulaic thriller elements and a very broad exercise in affluence porn. There were times, especially in the first few episodes, when I appreciated how brazenly Metzler was tackling so many disparate elements, but by the time those elements failed to cohere as anything other than superficial irony, my attention was mostly being held by a very strong, insufficiently served cast. The series begins with enigmatic Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore) standing on a cliff's edge, releasing a falcon into the air, an intro that will cause some Homerically inclined viewers to remember that the Sirens were half-human, half-bird beings who lured sailors into the rocks with their beautiful voices. 'Sirens' is also a code word between sisters Devon (Meghann Fahy) and Simone (Milly Alcock). Why is that their signal for a developing emergency? Literary convenience, mostly. Devon, whom we first see being released from a Buffalo jail after a rough night, is trying to summon Simone, but Simone has ignored many messages. The source of the emergency? Their father, Bruce (Bill Camp, adding value as always), is suffering from early-onset dementia and his condition is getting worse. Devon gave up on her nonspecific aspirations in order to support Simone after the tragic death of their mother, but she has decided that she's tired of being the only one helping out. Simone is off on some Island of Rich People — think Martha's Vineyard or the Hamptons or the Land of the Lotus Eaters — working as an assistant to Michaela, a socialite, bird protection advocate and the centerpiece of a small cadre of women whose life she's changed. It's the end of summer and Michaela, wife to hedge fund billionaire Peter (Kevin Bacon), is preparing for a grand charity gala. Simone's job is to make life hell for the family's other servants, including property manager Jose (Felix Solis), head chef Patrice (Lauren Weedman), and Missy (Britne Oldford), who doesn't appear to have a specific job. So Devon, without even showering off the hoosegow, hops a bus and a ferry to surprise/collect Simone, only to be shocked to see that her Yale-educated sister has become a new person, with new blonde hair, a new nose and a wealthy, age-inappropriate boyfriend, Glenn Howerton's Ethan. A recovering alcoholic and not-recovering sex addict, Devon decides that Simone is in a cult and she attempts to uncover several dark mysteries — Peter has a first wife who disappeared — and extricate her sister. Beyond the title, references to mythology are littered throughout Sirens, right down to the house's virtual assistant, Zeus. The frequency with which characters refer to people as 'monsters,' or reflect on people getting dashed against the rocks at the base of Michaela's appropriately named Cliff House, is exhausting. There is, throughout, a sense that everything that happens on this island is out of a fairy tale or possibly a nightmare, underlined in the opening episodes by director Nicole Kassell, who bathes Moore in a perpetually gauzy glow and leaves Fahy in the hardest and harshest lighting imaginable (in part so that when Devon gets a Michaela-sponsored makeover, we'll be shocked that Meghann Fahy looks like Meghann Fahy). It's a visual conceit that fizzles or wanes as the show goes along (even Michael Abels' score goes from dreamy to forgettable), partially by intent — the dividing line between fantastical and real ceases to be clear — and partially because nobody following Kassell in the director's chair is as devoted to finding the outsized fancy of Metzler's story, based on her play Elemeno Pea. There has been a recent run of shows that have tried to stay grounded in the real world while being infiltrated by the fantastical, the folkloric and the Biblical — see also Apple's The Changeling and Government Cheese. It's an approach I find interesting in concept, but only rarely successful in execution; dabbling in whimsy without committing to a consistent aesthetic is a surefire way to make your show feel half-baked. Many aspects of Sirens feel half-baked. I have not, for example, properly illustrated that Sirens really is, at many of its more successful points, a comedy. This is a story in which the estrangement between a husband and wife is laid bare with the exaggerated declaration, 'Don't you care about raptor conservation anymore?'. It's a story in which Michaela is frequently accompanied by a trio of acolytes, two of whom speak in unison (and sometimes sing 'WAP' together). It's a story in which Devon briefly finds herself in the drunk tank with an enthusiastic former NXIVM member ready to dish. And don't get me started on Howerton's outfits. If you don't calibrate tragic and satirical properly, it becomes a slog. Much of Sirens is a slog, despite a reasonably efficient five-hour running time that left me simultaneously relieved and thinking almost everything here would have played better as a 90-minute play without intermission. Metzler did a wonderful job blending misery and mirth in Maid, a series that was an often-downbeat class critique in which bursts of satire worked as a release valve. Here, it's just hollow caricature on top of a mystery that never becomes close to involving on any emotional level. I think a lot of the class critique here would have played more substantively if Sirens were interested in giving a full upstairs/downstairs perspective. But as gamely as capable supporting players like Solis, Oldford and Weedman try, only Solis comes close to having a fully developed character. The actor who best embodies the tonal balance the show aspires to is Fahy, who has previously proven her affluence-porn mettle in the second season of The White Lotus, in which she was a standout; and in Netflix's The Perfect Couple, which is not to be confused with Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers, a different piece of affluence porn featuring the genre's godmother, Nicole Kidman. That show happens to be returning for a second season this week — a proximity that does no favors to either Nine Perfect Strangers or Sirens, especially since Kidman absolutely could have played Julianne Moore's role here and, in fact, Moore may just be playing Kidman's eerily New Age-y cult leader with a different name. None of this has anything to do with how great Fahy is, giving expertly wry line-readings and selling empathy for a character whose reliably bad decisions don't always feel clearly motivated. Fahy has no chemistry with either of her hastily sketched love interests — Trevor Salter's good-natured Morgan and Josh Segarra's deservedly exasperated Ray — but the sisterly animosity between Devon and Simone feels real. As she did in House of the Dragon, Alcock pivots smoothly between luminous and wallflower, befitting a young woman who sacrificed her own identity for borrowed glamour. Should we come away from Sirens with any idea of Simone's real personality? It wouldn't have hurt, but I understand why it's absent. Sirens is smartest when paralleling the entitlement of 21st century American wealth with Ancient Greek divinity, skewering the insularity and entitlement of these modern plutocrats who throw galas to honor themselves and to torment or seduce the mortals who are their employees and playthings. Our hollow worship of 'cool' billionaires is fleshed out in Bacon's performance as a magnate who sometimes smokes weed or invites the help to join him for clam chowder, without ever relinquishing his aloof chill. If you want a show that embraces this contemporary allegory more thoroughly, you may want to seek out the imperfect but intriguing Kaos, which Netflix ordered, barely promoted and then hastily canceled. At least Sirens is close-ended. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
