‘Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors’ Review: Camp Blood

TikTok video, which was captured by a fan. He then directed medical personnel to the audience member who was in need of help. After the fan received medical help for their unknown conduction, Sandler said, “We’re all wishing you well there, youngster, feel better back there.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Old Dads,” a Netflix comedy about three middle-aged dads in Los Angeles, each trying to deal with the delayed pleasures and perils of fatherhood, sounds like a Hollywood satire to watch along with “Bad Moms,” or maybe the sort of broad burlesque of child-rearing that would star someone like John Cena. Actually, though, it’s not that sort of movie. It was directed and co-written by Bill Burr, who also stars in it, and it’s been spun out of the kind of prickly incorrect observations that are the hallmark of Burr’s stand-up comedy — and also the kind of squirm comedy that powers his anthology series “Immoral Compass.” “Old Dads” isn’t nearly as good as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” but at times it feels like three episodes of that show jammed together — that is, if Larry David were a Gen-X firecracker whose anger-management issues make Larry look like a pussycat.

Three fiftysomething jerks extend their adolescence way, way beyond the breaking point in Old Dads, a boorish and obnoxiously vulgar comedy that, since it can’t claim any other great distinction, might well have been expressly written to break the all-time record for use of the f-word in the major studio movie. Even Lenny Bruce might be twitching in his grave over this one.

If you are going to do a so-called “hilarious” comedy dealing with cancer you better know how to do it. Unfortunately, writer/director Jennifer Cram, for her first feature film in those jobs, does not knock it out of the park.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic As if paying penance for starring in all five “After” films to date — a series that’s been criticized for glamorizing toxic, controlling relationships à la “Twilight” and “50 Shades” before it — Josephine Langford now dallies on the decidedly wholesome side of romantic complication in “The Other Zoey.” This innocuous comedy, hinging on a gimmicky plot contrivance, doesn’t transcend formula even when it’s winking at the clichés it caves to. Still, it’s a pleasant enough diversion for those who want familiar genre beats sounded by the usual attractive actors in the customary attractive settings.

Studiocanal, part of Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, has rolled out robust sales on Xavier Dolan’s Sundance-selected psychological thriller “The Night Logan Woke Up,” Spanish period drama “The Vow” and a bevy of first documentaries. The deals underscore the continuing upside for Studiocanal of illustrious cinema talent exploring premium TV direction, as well as the company’s beneficial diversification into documentary sales and daily series.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix on Thursday morning unveiled Improv: 60 and Still Standing, a comedy special celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Improv comedy clubs, which will premiere globally on the streamer November 7th.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Lionsgate‘s adaptation of the Judy Blume novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” has been submitted for the Golden Globes in the comedy/musical categories, Variety has learned exclusively. With the expansion from five to six nominees this year, the movie will compete for recognition against Warner Bros’ “Barbie,” Searchlight Pictures’ “Poor Things” and Focus Features’ “The Holdovers.” Written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, the film tells the story of 11-year-old Margaret, who is uprooted from her life in New York to New Jersey, where she deals with the challenges of new friends and a new school. Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

EXCLUSIVE: Quiver Distribution has acquired North American rights to Willie and Me, a comedy marking the feature directorial debut of L.A.-based German actress Eva Hassmann, who stars opposite 12-time Grammy winner Willie Nelson and the late Peter Bogdanovich. Marking the latter’s final screen performance, the film written by Hassmann is slated for release in theaters and on demand on February 9, 2024.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Brainstorm Media has acquired North American rights for “Cora Bora,” a millennial comedy starring “Hacks” breakout Megan Stalter and “The Good Place’s” Manny Jacinto. The film, directed by Hannah Pearl Utt (“Before You Know It”) and written by Rhianon Jones, will be released in theaters sometime in February 2024. It follows a struggling musician named Cora, whose open relationship is on the rocks.

Ben Croll Brussels-based co-production and financing powerhouse Umedia — the backer of recent festival sensation “How to Have Sex” and French Oscar submission “The Taste of Things” — is branching out. Complimenting co-production, tax shelter fundraising and VFX services through subsidiary UFX Studios, Umedia has now launched a development branch to bring in-house productions to the screen.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC News channel has scaled back its “visualized radio” experiment around six months after it was a centerpiece of the network’s relaunch.

Campbell Brown, Meta Platforms Inc.’s head of media and sports partnerships, is stepping down from the post, according to multiple reports.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TV veteran Campbell Brown, after heading Meta‘s news and media partnerships for almost seven years, is departing the internet giant this fall. In a note to staff Tuesday, Brown said she will share additional details in the coming weeks about her next role, but that she will “remain affiliated with Meta in a new consultant capacity,” according to Axios, which first reported her exit. A Meta spokesperson said the team headed by Campbell will be moved over to existing teams focused on media and sports partnerships development and operations.

Marta Balaga “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” director Anna Hints keeps on bewitching her audience. Literally. “Maybe you are not wrong.

Jessica Kiang Anyone familiar with the often disquieting solo work of directors María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat may be put on high uneasiness-alert by the opening scene of “Puan,” their first co-directed feature. Despite the jaunty pop song playing, an older man going for a morning jog in a scrubby Buenos Aires park, suddenly keels over dead of a heart attack.

Max’s pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death” felt like a pretty standard spoof of pirate pop culture when it started its first season, but it developed over that 10-episode run into something much richer, smarter, and even moving by its end. As it navigates the tricky waters of streaming comedy in the 2020s, David Jenkins’ show has found a very loyal fan base; one attracted to both its smart sense of humor and its notable representation of LGBTQ+ characters.

Long before Slave Play, decades before Ain’t No Mo, there was Purlie Victorious, the Ossie Davis comedy masterwork that, like those descendant plays, fused broad comedy, satirical minstrelsy, racial satire and still-relevant social commentary to create a play that is so encompassing in its views of history and legacy, so generous in its humanity and pinpoint sharp in its take on debts long owed and now demanded that Kenny Leon’s revival, opening tonight on Broadway, feels as current and bracing as a folding chair.

Pete Davidson and Jon Stewart in early September, has since become a full-fledged tour for John Mulaney.The five-time “Saturday Night Live” host just announced an additional 18 shows to his 2023 calendar he’s calling ‘John Mulaney: In Concert.’In total, Mulaney now has 31 gigs all over North America this year including a trio with Jon Stewart and 11 with Pete Davidson.And for those keeping score at home, he now has four shows in New York State.First up, he’s slated to co-headline with Jon Stewart at Westbury’s NYCB Theatre on Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Oct.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In my opinion, the two greatest directors to emerge from the nexus of international cinema in the 1990s were both Scandinavian. One of them, Lars von Trier, became quite famous, for reasons both good and bad.