Peter Debruge Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Ivo (Minna Wündrich) spends her days tending to terminally ill patients. In her capacity as a palliative care nurse, she’s not responsible for saving them — that’s the doctors’ concern — though this 40-ish single mother does her best to listen to their complaints and ease their pain.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic For readers of Alexandre Dumas’ novel, extravagant French adaptation “The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady” packs its share of surprises: killing off important characters, sparing others and reimagining allegiances that have stood for nearly two centuries. For viewers of “Part I: D’Artagnan,” however, this swashbuckling sequel feels totally in keeping with what has come before.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill authorizes an illicit mission to undermine Hitler’s fleet of German U-boats during World War II. The plan calls for renegades with little respect for the rules, led by a cocky ex-criminal named Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), who’s released from prison and called into a top-secret briefing.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic SPOILER ALERT: The following essay discusses key plot points, including the ending. Last weekend, I took in “Le Samouraï” for what must have been the sixth or seventh time, relishing the new 4K restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece (now playing at Laemmle theaters in Los Angeles). As I exited the screening, I discreetly eavesdropped on my fellow audience members. Most seemed impressed.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “The People’s Joker,” a scandalous IP-on-acid coming-out comic-book psychodrama, is a movie that has all the earmarks of an underground/ midnight/guerrilla-cinema sensation. Vera Drew, who directed and co-wrote it, plays the title character, a mentally fractured aspiring stand-up comedian who bills herself as Joker the Harlequin.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Why does Steve Martin need a two-part documentary? He doesn’t, of course, although Martin himself divided his career into separate chapters, any one of which could support its own film — stand-up comedian, Hollywood movie star, playwright, novelist, bluegrass musician and most recently, “Only Murders in the Building” co-creator and star — so fans aren’t likely to complain about getting extra time with such a private subject. Normally, a documentarian with access to a celebrity of Martin’s caliber would pick a focus, or else try to generate some kind of career-encompassing overview.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Long before she was a movie star, a teenage Nicole Kidman appeared in the early-’80s action comedy “BMX Bandits,” a rowdy Australian kidpic full of bicycle stunts and Scooby-Doo crime-stopping shenanigans. It’s too early to say whether any of the adorable young leads in “Riddle of Fire” will go on to have successful acting careers.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic When you’re 10, it sounds like every line your favorite boy band sings is being aimed directly at you. Somewhere along the line, the illusion shatters.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Only one month following its theatrical release in February, “Madame Web” is now available to rent/purchase digitally online. The Blu-ray/DVD versions will become available on Apr.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic The press are the good guys, but also kind of the bad guys, in Alex Garland’s virtuosic “Civil War,” a jarring ground-level account of what a near-future disunification of the United States might look like. Intended as a wake-up call, the long-fuse thriller — which starts slow and snowballs to a jaw-dropping raid on Washington, D.C. — embeds viewers alongside a dedicated team of journalists making their way to the Capitol while the country unravels around them.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Some film festivals take themselves entirely too seriously. Not South by Southwest, the Austin-based multidisciplinary megaevent where amped-up crowds welcome comedies with open arms — the raunchier, the better. This year, one logline stood out as especially promising: “A 30-year-old Indian American virgin gets a job teaching high school Sex Ed.” Alas, “Doin’ It,” doesn’t cut it (it’s basically 2014 Haley Joel Osment comedy “Sex Ed” with a cultural spin).

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic “I’ve lost more guys here than I did in Iraq,” testifies a veteran during one of the many group therapy sessions featured in “My Dead Friend Zoe,” Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ affecting look at mental health among ex-servicepeople. Two decades of life experience and personal loss have led the filmmaker to this project, which was inspired by the deaths of friends he served alongside during his own five-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In 99% of Hollywood movies, the goal is to make the stunt work invisible. Audiences are supposed to believe that the star — or better yet, the character he plays — put his own life at risk jumping off buildings, blowing up cars or duking it out with squads of bad guys. In “The Fall Guy,” the stuntman gets to be the hero (of an insanely overcomplicated story), while the star is a prima donna who claims to do all his own stunts but needs his double to step in when things get tough.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In a strange reversal of a longstanding trend with the Academy, this year’s documentary short ballot is almost entirely domestic (which is to say, films made by or about Americans), while the feature doc category — where subtitles aren’t so common — is entirely international. Judging by the overall quality of the films in the 141-minute “2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary” lineup, that’s no sign of compromise. In fact, for Oscar completists, ShortsTV’s annual roundup is one of the most rewarding theatrical experiences audiences could hope for this year.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic When Judd Apatow and the boys make an R-rated pregnancy comedy, they call it “Knocked Up.” But when “Broad City” co-creator Ilana Glazer and stand-up comic Michelle Buteau try their hand at the same subject, the every-bit-as-raunchy result comes with a far classier title: “Babes.” That pun is just one of the movie’s many acts of irreverent reclamation, as helmer Pamela Adlon — making a confident switch to feature directing after seminal small-screen contributions to “Louie” and “Better Things” — and her stars de-objectify a label used by dudes and slap it upon themselves. The cheeky term applies to both lifelong amigas Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Buteau) and the infants they spend most of the movie incubating.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Swanning around Italy like side characters from the second season of “The White Lotus,” well-to-do gay couple Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells) have decided the world is against them. As Americans, they live at a time in a country when they can legally get married, adopt and do pretty much everything straight people can — but they’re also old enough to remember when that wasn’t the case, and so they anticipate rejection and homophobia at every turn. They’re prepared for the worst, and somehow they attract it.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic A medieval word with a highly specific (but often misused) meaning, “damsel” describes a young, unmarried lady-in-waiting. It’s also the broad title given many a helpless heroine in Hollywood movies — the proverbial “damsel in distress,” trussed to the train tracks or otherwise waiting to be saved.

Selome Hailu Comedian Mike Birbiglia has set a documentary special at Peacock. Titled “Good One: A Show About Jokes,” it premieres on March 26. Adapted from the Vulture podcast “Good One: A Podcast About Jokes,” the special follows Birbiglia through his process as he travels from Providence, R.I.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season is still two months away, but it’s about to be a blockbuster month on streaming platforms. From holiday tentpoles to major Oscar contenders and the highest-grossing concert film off all time, streaming platforms are delivering the goods and then some this month. Top of mind for many Disney+ subscribers in March will be the arrival of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which is making its streaming debut with a special “Taylor’s Version” that includes five songs not included in previous releases of the concert film.

Caroline Brew editor GKIDS is bringing the hand-painted animated film “Chicken for Linda!” to select theaters nationwide. It will be released April 5 in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and April 12 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic At age 17, there are only so many ways a high school student can flee a suffocating life. Bullied by her fellow students, Fanny (Lilith Grasmug) tried to commit suicide — or so she says — but fortunately, that didn’t work. Now, this shy, self-questioning and clearly troubled teen is counting on a foreign exchange program to make a fresh start, escaping to Leipzig, Germany, to get away from the mean girls back home in Strasbourg, France.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Before demonstrating himself to be one of Mexico’s most original and exciting new filmmaking talents, Alonso Ruizpalacios washed dishes in a bustling big-city kitchen. That experience informs every second of the “Museo” director’s fourth feature, “La Cocina,” a thrilling in-spirit adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play “The Kitchen,” transposed from midcentury London to modern-day New York.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic When I was a kid, my mom steered us toward toys that looked like G.I. Joe or Transformers action figures, but weren’t. Their faces were wack, the joints all wrong, such that the limbs didn’t move right, or else they popped out altogether.

Ethan Shanfeld “The Color Purple” will make its streaming debut on Max on Feb. 16.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic The winner of the World Dramatic competition at Sundance, co-directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s understated and essential Mexican drama “Sujo” is one of two films in this year’s lineup (the other being “Ponyboi”) in which children who were given distinctive names by doomed macho dads spend years wondering what those monikers mean. In both cases, the eventual reveal puts a poignant coda on stories of young Latinos struggling to escape the cycle of ignorance and unhealthy behavior that threatens to pull them under.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Depending on how you look at it, “Ponyboi” is either a Trojan horse for exploring nonbinary gender identity or a hackneyed crime movie with a radically unorthodox queer protagonist. Either way, it’s a sordid yet stylish showcase for intersex actor (and activist) River Gallo, who uses “they/them” pronouns and sees the project as an opportunity to educate audiences about the social and psychological aspects of exhibiting both male and female traits in a world that classifies people in one box or the other.

McKinley Franklin editor Rapper Travis Scott stars in the first trailer for his and director Harmony Korine‘s indie film “Aggro Dr1ft,” which was shot entirely in infrared. The short trailer is bathed in the starkly contrasted colors of the infrared lens, and it follows an assassin on his journey. “Breaking away from the traditional parameters of cinema, ‘Aggro Dr1ft’ explores the onslaught of digital ephemera and interrogates modern life through the vernacular of video games.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Norman Jewison made movies that mattered. “Timing is everything,” the director told me, the one time we met. I’d been enlisted to host a long Q&A with Jewison at the American Cinematheque — and I was more than a little intimidated.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Will Ferrell has some pretty cool friends. That shouldn’t come as any kind of surprise to his fans.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Here we are, three weeks into January, and the Sundance Film Festival has delivered what promises to be the year’s most uncomfortable date movie: a grubby New York-set fable about a facially distinctive actor (modeled on Adam Pearson) who undergoes an experimental procedure that leaves him looking like Sebastian Stan — presumably an improvement, until he realizes that under the skin, he’s still the same miserable loser. The kind of oddball satire only indie studio A24 would dare to produce, Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” asks what it means to be “normal,” and whether, if we could wave a magic wand and “correct” those qualities that set us apart, that’s really something we’d want.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic It takes some time to fall in love with 18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) in “My Old Ass.” She’s young and self-involved, so focused on heading off to college in the big city that she’s kind of a jerk to everyone around her (especially her small-town cranberry-farming family). Maybe young adult audiences won’t think so. Canadian actor-turned-auteur Megan Park’s sweetly insightful coming-of-age comedy is intended for them — whereas adults might not have so much patience for the way Stella’s impulsive character takes for granted what are arguably her best years.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic The U.S. government decided to make an example of Reality Winner, giving the former NSA translator a five-year prison sentence. So it’s only fair that director Susanna Fogel should be able to make an example of her, too — only this time, to very different ends.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Austin-based indie directors David and Nathan Zellner have spent more time thinking about Sasquatch than most filmmakers do musing about human beings. In 2011, they brought “Sasquatch Birth Journal 2” to the Sundance Film Festival, a four-minute faux nature documentary in which a hirsute creature can be seen giving birth to an equally furry infant.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Writer-director Sean Wang is tough on himself in “Dìdi,” a fresh and funny summer-before-freshman-year flashback that provides an Asian American angle on that Sundanciest of indie-film genres: the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age movie. In what feels like a cross between Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap” and Jonah Hill’s “mid90s” — courtesy of the young director’s teenage desire to make skate videos — Wang serves up some of his most wince-inducing adolescent memories, from an aborted first kiss to the realization that he’d been trying to downplay his Taiwanese heritage.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic On the most literal level, Sam and Andy Zuchero’s “Love Me” is about the relationship between a buoy adrift at sea and a satellite circling the earth. The eccentric rom-com takes place in a time after humans have gone extinct, when the surviving machines’ only references are a massive hard drive’s worth of data combed from search engines and social media sites.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Taking a one-for-us victory lap after one-for-them studio smash “Captain Marvel,” indie duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden blow a big, self-indulgent kiss to the late-’80s East Bay with “Freaky Tales.” Berkeley-born Fleck was all of 10 years old in early 1987, when this nostalgia-fueled anthology film is set, which explains the wide-eyed way he romanticizes the defining subcultures of the time (with Boden presumably doing her best to broaden the film’s incredibly specific, “you had to be there“ appeal). In four distinct but intertwining chapters — populated mostly with fresh faces, plus grizzled-but-gorgeous Pedro Pascal — “Freaky Tales” melds wildly different sectors of the city: There’s the rowdy-yet-respectful Gilman Street punk crowd; the revolutionary Oakland hip-hop scene (including Too $hort, whose raunchy rap anthem gives the film its name); the Warriors’ historic victory over the Lakers, in which local basketball legend Eric “Sleepy” Jones scored a record-setting 29 points in the fourth quarter; and a disturbing spike in neo-Nazi-linked hate crimes, which strangely serves to tie everything else together.