‘Cyrano’ review: Classic story turned into a mopey musical

An interactive experience based on some much-loved children's stories is coming to Manchester.

Joe Leydon Film CriticLet’s not mince words: “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” is a high-stepping, hand-waving, spirit-lifting gas. Co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, with the invaluable assistance of editor Martin Singer, have fashioned an infectiously exuberant overview of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Big Easy’s unique and enormous celebration of its music, cuisine and multiculturalism, by combining their own footage of performances and interviews at the 50th iteration of the star-studded annual event — the last before COVID-19 forced cancelation of the 2000 and 2001 editions — and archival footage dating back to the festival’s earliest days.Those days might have begun earlier, fest co-founder George Wein reveals during an interview conducted before his 2021 passing, if he had accepted a 1962 invitation by locals to establish the New Orleans equivalent of his Newport Jazz Festival.

No American city is as steeped in native musical lore and legacy as is New Orleans and you get a good feeling for how that came about in Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story. It’s a documentary overflowing with performers and music that still barely begins to scratch the surface of what’s gone on musically for ages in the fabled, oft-distressed city. Music fans of assorted persuasions will be delighted with the samples served up here, although the subject is so vast and varied that something like a six or ten-hour miniseries would be required to begin to do it justice. With Sony Pictures Classics handling the U.S. release starting May 13 after it SXSW bow, the film is certain to get a nice lift-off and extensive exposure on home tubes is assured.

new parent (me, I’m talking about me) who sat down and read her baby a book. Then she read the baby another book and then she read the baby another book etc, etc. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you have a kid, isn’t it? You read them books so they can develop a passion for literature and grow up to have an impecunious future in the arts.

Dare to dream and be a relentless optimist even if you have no experience or skill in your field, amirite? That’s the remit of young actor-turned-filmmaker Craig Roberts (“Submarine,” the Amazon series “Red Oaks“), the director behind “The Phantom Of The Open,” an uplifting story about a naive dreamer who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship Qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history.

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that its feature documentary Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, co-directed by five-time Oscar nominee Frank Marshall (The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart) and Ryan Suffern (Mr. A & Mr. M: The Story of A&M Records), will hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 13, before expanding to additional markets in the following weeks. It will open against IFC Films’ horror-thriller The Innocents, Roadside Attractions’ comedy Family Camp and Universal’s horror-thriller Firestarter starring Zac Efron and more.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a group of rich kids — five old friends, along with a couple of not-so-significant others — gather for a hurricane party at the pastoral suburban mansion of one of their parents. What’s a hurricane party? A storm has been predicted, and they’re using that as an excuse to barricade themselves inside, so that they can dance to TikTok videos and toot cocaine and play games, including one that describes their more-or-less constant state of being: reading each other, one-upping each other, challenging each other like claw-baring rivals on a reality show.

Made In Chelsea star Tiffany Watson celebrated her upcoming wedding to fiancé Cameron McGeehan on Thursday night at an intimate “first” hen do with her family. The former MIC star, 28, wowed in a white lace suit for the occasion where she was joined by sister Lucy Watson, 31, and their mother Fiona at La Famiglia restaurant in London.

Jon Burlingame editor“Turning Red,” Pixar’s latest animated adventure, posed some pretty big musical challenges: it’s about a 13-year-old girl, obsessed with a boy band, whose Chinese ancestry literally looms large as she turns into a giant panda when her emotions spin out of control.It demanded a trio of world-class talents: Grammy winners Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for the songs and Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner Ludwig Göransson to compose the score.That such high-profile talents were available and eager to contribute to “Turning Red” says a lot about the music-friendly reputation of Pixar, which has won five music Oscars (including last year’s “Soul”) and 11 more nominations for either song or score since the original “Toy Story” in 1995. Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music, conferred with director Domee Shi — whose personal coming-of-age, mother-daughter conflict story inspired “Turning Red” — and reached out to all of them in 2019, before production on the film began.MacDougall had been a fan since Eilish’s early hit “Ocean Eyes” and was impressed, he says, “by the breadth of the territory that their songwriting and performing covered” ever since.

Jonathan Cohen On paper, the prominent use of sensitive American singer-songwriter music from the 1970s and ‘80s in a modern Norwegian romantic comedy might seem rather incongruous, if not downright anachronistic. But five decades on from some of their biggest successes, Art Garfunkel, Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson and Christopher Cross are back on the big screen helping soundtrack Danish/Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s acclaimed “The Worst Person in the World,” which is nominated for best original screenplay and best international feature film at the upcoming Academy Awards.Co-written by Trier and longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt, “Worst Person” has already won best foreign language film from the New York Film Critics Circle and garnered Renate Reinsve the best actress award at Cannes.

Ryan Murphy's weird and wonderful creative world has managed to bring just about every TV genre into our homes — from spine-tingling horror stories to tragic re-tellings of historic events. And soon, Murphy's impressive TV catalog will live under the same streaming roof, too — with seasons of ,  and more, all available to watch in the same place.Regardless of your TV show preferences, you've more than likely seen (and enjoyed) Ryan Murphy's work in some capacity.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticCurrent B-grade thrillers so frequently have too little plot — often not much more than a starting premise — that it’s almost refreshing to see something like “The Weekend Away,” which has many more narrative complications than it can pull off. Certainly not with sufficient credibility, suspense or atmosphere, and not in one hectic hour and a half.

Hulu is now the exclusive streaming home of all past and future seasons of Ryan Murphy’s big FX franchises, American Crime Story, American Horror Story and Pose. All three shows left Netflix at the end of February.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAll past and future seasons of the Ryan Murphy shows “American Crime Story” and “American Horror Story” and all three seasons of “Pose” will soon be available to stream on Hulu.While all past seasons of “American Horror Story” are currently available on Hulu, both “American Crime Story” and “Pose” had previously only been available on Netflix due to a deal between Netflix and studio 20th Television. All three seasons of both “ACS” and “Pose” will become available on Hulu on March 7, while all future seasons of both “AHS” and “ACS” will then stream exclusively on Hulu.“AHS” has been renewed through Season 13 at FX, with Season 11 due to debut this fall.

Pamela Anderson, 54, is getting ready to speak her truth in a new Netlix documentary about her life. The streaming network announced the news in a tweet on March 2, just one month after Hulu’s premiere of Pam & Tommy, the series centered on her and her ex-husband Tommy Lee‘s sex tape scandal, which erupted in 1995.

Baywatch star posted a handwritten note on Netflix letterhead to her Instagram (her only post, as of press time). She signed it with a lipstick kiss.“My life / A thousand imperfections / A million misperceptions / Wicked, wild and lost / Nothing to live up to / I can only surprise you / Not a victim, but a survivor / And alive to tell the real story," she wrote.