Bob Odenkirk on ‘The Royle Family’: ‘This Is a Beautiful Piece of Art’

Siddhant Adlakha Few issues have defined and divided the United States this decade like policing, and Yance Ford’s “Power” seeks to explore its origins. With few exceptions, the Netflix documentary/visual essay is more factual than emotional — let alone revelatory in its examinations — but the film covers enough historical ground to function as a contemporary cinematic flashpoint, aimed at a wide audience who isn’t already steeped in its academic analyses (which have become a fixture of social media these last few years).

Sundance soaked up the sun on Thursday’s opening day. With plenty of powder to lend an idyllic backdrop to selfies and social media updates, the festival crowd was buzzing in line for the day’s largest film opening: “Freaky Tales,” taking the coveted early evening spot at the Eccles Center.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic If Ann Landers had it right, and hanging on to resentment amounts to letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head, then “Your Monster” is what happens when you kick open the door and let those feelings run amok. Drawing from personal experience, writer-director Caroline Lindy delivers a clumsy metaphor of a movie, in which a promising young actor named Laura Franco (“In the Heights” star Melissa Barrera) has her Broadway dreams derailed by a cancer diagnosis, only to discover a ferocious inner strength, courtesy of the beastly creature she finds hanging around her childhood home.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Hailing from the country that gave us such grim social critics as Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl (fittingly, the latter serves as a producer here), Vantablack Austrian satire “Veni Vidi Vici” opens with a senseless homicide. It’s a startling scene, no less upsetting than the Scorpio killing that kick-starts “Dirty Harry” — except that in this case, the incident is calibrated as the darkest sort of comedy.

Kristen Stewart is being honored with the visionary award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival opening night gala, a prize that is a bit unusual for the actor to accept. Speaking to Variety‘s Angelique Jackson, Stewart said her job is to serve the vision of filmmakers and not to always have her own sense of vision. “When I saw that I was being given the visionary award I was like, ‘What a word!'” Stewart said during Variety On The Carpet, presented by DIRECTV.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Robert Downey Jr. trekked to Sundance Film Festival‘s opening night gala to reveal that a “terrible tragedy” has befallen Christopher Nolan. But don’t worry about the filmmaker behind “Oppenheimer.” His hardship is really just a bad case of the blues, and it’s because Nolan — as Downey explained on Thursday while bestowing Nolan with the first-ever Trailblazer Award — “has become recognizable on the street.” According to Downey, the critical and commercial success of “Oppenheimer” causes the British director to recoil, “as though from a hot flame, from this new and unwelcome reality.” Well, Nolan may not be retreating from the spotlight anytime soon.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic “Taking from an elderly person is as bad as stealing from a child,” growls Jason Statham in “The Beekeeper,” reinforcing the image of “helpless” old people in need of defending. (He spends the rest of the movie knocking heads after scammers steal money from his gullible landlady.) With “Thelma,” writer-director Josh Margolin tries out a different approach, casting nonagenarian character actor June Squibb as an unlikely yet satisfying action star.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer “Veni Vidi Vici” — a jaw-dropping Austrian shocker that’s part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival – came, saw and conquered at its Thursday premiere. The film follows a ruthless and charismatic billionaire family whose patriarch guns down innocent citizens in his free time, and left many speechless at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. Directed by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann, the movie features intensely provocative moments including infanticide and brutal public shootings.

Sundance revved up with the premiere of Freaky Tales tonight, a debut met with rousing applause, including at the film’s last title card that read, “In loving memory of Angus Cloud.”

Oakland’s freaky side emerges in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s ambitious yet tonally uneven new anthology film Freaky Tales starring Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, Ben Medelsohn, Jack Champion, Ji-Young Yoo, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Too $hort’s, and Lenny G. The directors spotlight diverse local subcultures against the backdrop of Too $hort’s hit of the same name. The film intertwines four tales linked by unfolding events and a puzzling supernatural emerald glow permeating the city. Though the gritty visuals and soundtrack immerse in the look and feel of 1987 Oakland, the narrative struggles to weave these stories into a satisfying whole.

Michael B. Jordan has worked with Ryan Coogler many times in his career and they are getting ready to team up for another project.

Brilliant bombshell Hedy Lamarr, the Austria-born Hollywood hottie who carved out a concurrent career as a pioneer of weapons and communication technology in World War II, died on this day in history, Jan. 19, 2000. She was 85 years old.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made it through Munich customs with a few new jokes under his belt.The “Terminator” star attended an auction in Kitzbuhel, Austria, on Thursday where he auctioned off a luxury watch that he reportedly failed to declare Wednesday at the Munich airport, leading him to be briefly detained. Schwarzenegger, 76, kicked off auction with a stand-up comedy routine about the incident, as seen in a video obtained by TMZ.“I mean, we always start things with a lot of drama.

Theo Bair says Motherwell are ready to treat their remaining games as a WAR and won’t take Alloa Athletic lightly in the Scottish Cup.

Rutherglen Glencairn boss Joe Pryce was delighted with a “massive” last-gasp win over leaders Petershill and says draws are like defeats in the West of Scotland First Division.

Wishaw boss Martin O’Neill says his side “aren’t waving the white flag yet” after a ninth game without a win left them six points adrift of safety in the West of Scotland Second Division relegation zone.

Graeme Stewart admitted he was probably a bit of a footballing lunatic when Buckie Thistle took the gamble on appointing him as their manager.

Hamilton Accies Women boss Robert Watson says he hopes to land two new signings after extending deals for a Rangers loan duo until the end of the season.

Single’s Inferno co-producer Kim Jae-won has revealed that controversial season three contestant Lee Gwan-hee originally applied for season two.Netflix’s popular reality dating show Single’s Inferno recently wrapped up its third season last Tuesday (January 11) with its final two episodes, which saw the 12 contestants make their final choices and pair up in order to leave the island of Inferno.Kim Jae-won and Kim Jung-hyun, the producers of Single’s Inferno, recently spoke to The Korea Times about the third season of the show and controversial contestant Lee Gwan-hee, revealing that they originally planned for him to appear on season two instead.“Lee applied for Season two and when we interviewed him, he was a genuine, straightforward and confident man,” Kim Jae-won said. “So we definitely wanted to cast him”.However, according to the producer, the professional basketballer’s training schedule didn’t work out with the production timeline for season two, so they had to “give up” on casting him the first time around.Meanwhile, Kim Jung-hyun spoke about how Lee was “the most honest character” on the latest season and had “showed everything about himself” during his appearance.

Sleep Token have announced a North American tour with Empire State Bastard, marking the band’s first activity since wiping their Instagram earlier this week.Today (January 19), the band took to Instagram for their first post in a supposedly new era, announcing their ‘The Teeth of God’ North American tour. “This April and May, North America shall gather in Worship once again, alongside special guests Empire State Bastard,” read the post’s caption.A post shared by Sleep Token (@sleep_token)The 21-date tour will commence with the band’s slot at Las Vegas’ Sick New World festival on April 27, before the band performs in cities across the country including Albuquerque, Atlanta, St.

Hook ‘em horns!

Rib Hillis is the star of the INSP network’s new series The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger and fans likely will be interested to know more about his life!

Fill in the blank! Ariana Grande ___.

PARK CITY – Are you ready for a 93-year-old action hero? No, we’re not referring to whatever movie or television show Sylvester Stallone is working on at the moment (he’s also just a spry 77, by the way). We’re talking about one of the most unlikely heroes of all portrayed by none other than June Squibb.

HBO‘s anticipated documentary on Lil Nas X, titled Long Live Montero, has been released – watch it below.Released last night (January 18), the HBO trailer sees Lil Nas X – real name Montero Lamar Hill – at his most vulnerable and candid as he reflects on his career, and his struggles with coming out as a gay man to his family, as well as his rise to fame and more.“Some people think my music is dope. Some people see me as, like, this Satanic devil,” the rapper says to begin the trailer.

Cignature has addressed plans for its future with member Belle set to join the upcoming girl group, UNIS.Earlier this week, Belle won a spot on the upcoming K-pop girl group UNIS after ranking eighth on the South Korean reality TV singing competition, Universe Ticket. The group are expected to be active for two-and-a-half years.In response to her spot in the new group, her agency C9 Entertainment has addressed the future of Cignature, saying that the act have been “reorganised into a 6-member system” for the duration of Belle’s tenure in UNIS, as translated by Soompi.“They released their fourth mini-album in August 2023, achieving their best performance since debut, while diversifying individual activities for each member,” the agency added.

“It’s a quarter of a century later, and I’m still f*cking being discovered by Sundance,” beamed Christopher Nolan tonight at the Sundance Film Festival Opening Night Gala as he received the inaugural Trailblazer award.

“Thank you for lighting a fire under my ass,” Kristen Stewart told Sundance’s Opening Night gala tonight.

Allison Holker is opening up about the potential of dating.

The head of HBO just provided an update on season three of Euphoria, which isn’t expected to be released until 2025.

Well, that was awkward.

Colton Haynes is best known for his acting work on Teen Wolf and now he’s adding photographer to his resume.

Malia Obama has lived her life in the spotlight, but she only just made her first-ever appearance on a red carpet!

The cast of Ransom Canyon just got bigger!

Tom Cruise‘s latest Mission: Impossible will finally be available for free streaming as part of a subscription service and there’s an interesting change being made.

Normani and Dominique Thorne are all smiles while stepping out for the premiere of their new movie Freaky Tales held at Eccles Theatre on Thursday (January 18) in Park City, Utah.