The crowds were gone — that was the first thing you noticed at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Normally, over the course of the 10 days that this annual gathering of film lovers and lookie-loos fans, you’ll find throngs of people outside the Princess of Wales Theatre or the Roy …
Read More »How Brett Goldstein Became the Breakout Star of 'Ted Lasso'
Roy Kent arrived at the exact right moment in Brett Goldstein’s life. It’s already become a legendary bit of modern showbiz lore. The British actor, 41, was originally hired as a writer on Apple TV+’s breakout hit series Ted Lasso. After the writers room wrapped on the first season, however, …
Read More »The Real-Life Zola on Storytelling, Sex Work, and Turning Trauma Into Art
Most writers are intimately familiar with the near-impossible task of writing a compelling lede — the first few lines of a story designed to hook the reader and draw them in. Yet in 2015, a former Hooters waitress from Detroit logged onto her Twitter account and did it in seconds. …
Read More »The Rolling Stone Interview: Barry Jenkins
Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2016 novel The Underground Railroad depicts both the savage reality of American slavery and the danger of escaping it. Much like Gulliver’s Travels, the story takes its fugitive protagonist, Cora, on a fantastical tour through different states via a literal locomotive. Each stop along the way …
Read More »Why Are the Osbournes Watching Paranormal Videos in Quarantine?
Quarantining with the Osbournes is a lot like quarantining with anyone else. “It’s kind of just fucking boring with this pandemic shit,” Ozzy exclaims drolly. “It’s great at first, and then you get on each other’s nerves; then it’s great again,” says his wife and manager, Sharon. “Then the cycle …
Read More »The Accidental Comedy of Matt Berry
If you know Matt Berry from his most famous roles —such as The IT Crowd’s idiot boss Douglas Reynholm, Toast of London’s pompous struggling actor Steven Toast, or the preening and lascivious vampire Laszlo on What We Do in the Shadows — talking to him over the phone is sort …
Read More »Trailers of the Week: 'Spiral,' 'The Jesus Rolls,' 'The Way Back' and More
The Jesus Rolls John Turturro returns as Jesus Quintana, The Big Lebowski’s bowling alley enemy, for a new spin-off film. The clip opens as Jesus is released from prison and the warden warns him that he has one “strike” left. Jesus, however, is unconcerned. The rest of the scenes tease …
Read More »10 Best Movies at Sundance 2020
Another Sundance logs itself into the collective memory banks — another week-plus of debuting features and disappointing follow-ups, fortunes made and filmmaking reputations established, long screening lines and literally breathless Q&As (that altitude!) comes to a close. It was a really strong year for documentaries ranging from just-the-facts-ma’am journalism to …
Read More »Oscars 2020 Nominations: 12 Biggest Snubs
After weeks of guessing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ favorite films and performances, the 2020 Oscar nominations have been announced, revealing that most of the members liked what you liked. Joker! Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood! Parasite! 1917! It was a largely predictable slate of …
Read More »'Legion' Series Finale: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been
This post contains full spoilers for the series finale of FX’s Legion. As Professor X himself, Charles Xavier (Harry Lloyd), confronts the powerful telepath Amahl Farouk (Navid Negahban) on the astral plane late in the Legion series finale, Farouk scoffs at Xavier choosing a military knife as his weapon. The …
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