‘Sacramento’ Review: A Charming Exploration Of Anxiety, Friendship, And Fatherhood – Tribeca Festival

“A Family Affair,” the new, somewhat superficial Netflix rom-com from writer/director Richard LaGravenese (“The Last Five Years,” “Beautiful Creatures”), is by no means brilliant or full of depth. And yet, still, the trio of Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, and Joey King create an interesting dynamic; the ultimately well-intentioned film has some interesting things to say about late-in-life love, the many facets of self-absorption, and the way we use the notion of protecting the ones we love under the guise of selfish self-interest.

Oscars will turn 100 in 2028. But with dwindling ratings for its telecast, to say nothing of the existential problems facing the movie business, will the show be around for another 100 years? It’s falling to Bill Kramer, the CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the awards, to figure out a way for the Oscars to stay relevant and financially secure. “The Academy sits in two worlds: the film industry and the nonprofit arts and culture sector,” Kramer says.

Robert De Niro feels he’s been extremely “fortunate to wind up with Marty” for all these years, and Martin Scorsese returned the compliment as the actor and director sat down after a screening of Mean Streets, the 1973 film that marked their first collaboration, and Scorsese’s breakout. They went on to make nine more features together.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sony Pictures Classics‘ Dylan Leiner along with FilmNation’s Stefan Zorich and Paramount‘s Fabrizio Carrer were among the top film executives and companies who participated in the 13th NY Film & Entertainment Soccer Tournament for charity hosted at the Tribeca Festival. The sun-drenched event gathered 39 teams, along with more than 60 filmmakers from the Tribeca Festival, and hundreds of spectators at Brooklyn Bridge Park overlooking downtown Manhattan.

Angela Davis, American political activist, scholar, and author, presented Tribeca Festival’s fourth annual Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award to Rosario Dawson, Jesse Williams, Aloe Blacc, aja monet, Matt Post, Carmen Perez-Jordan, RodStarz and Sean Pica. 

Lexi Carson The cast and creatives behind “The Sopranos” reunited at Tribeca Festival Thursday night in celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary. They gathered for the premiere of Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary, “Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos,” which played to a packed audience at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan Thursday night. The two-hour-and-40-minute documentary begins with “The Sopranos” opening credit sequence driving into New Jersey.

In men’s tennis, as in other sports, there is constant debate over which player qualifies as the Greatest of All Time. Djokovic with his unprecedented 24 Grand Slam wins? Nadal with his astonishing 14 French Open victories? Federer, the first man to win 20 Grand Slams? Or perhaps a player from an earlier era – Rod Laver – who swept all four Grand Slam titles in a calendar year, not once but twice?

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg talked, quipped, traded barbs and compliments and debated process in an hourlong wacky Tribeca Festival conversation tonight, having clearly bonded over A Real Pain. They star as mismatched cousins on a fraught road trip in the buzzy Sundance comedy set for fall release.

Karen Idelson First-time feature film director Kelsey Mann dug deep into his own emotions while making “Inside Out 2.” As he imagined a story about the confusing journey we all go on through puberty, he knew he would need to add new emotions to the ones from the first animated hit — so Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment join the fray in main character Riley’s developing mind. At the Annecy Animation Festival, Mann will appear at a special screening of the Pixar film June 14 and will serve as Disney Art Challenge jury president. The theme of this year’s event will be “Adolescence: So many emotions.” He spoke to Variety about the new film.

There must be something in the air lately because I have been seeing and reviewing a number of really good and intriguing documentaries on iconic showbiz figures. At Cannes I saw new docus on Faye Dunaway (Faye), Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes) and others on Michel LeGrand and Jacques Demy. Currently on Max you can see a wonderful docu on the great Albert Brooks directed by his longtime friend Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.

Blake Lively and Jude Law were among the many celebs who made up the star-studded crowd at Chanel’s 17th Annual Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner!

Neil Berkley’s Group Therapy is a poignant, hilarious, and moving exploration of the intersections between comedy, grief, and mental illness. Starring a stellar cast of comedians, including Neil Patrick Harris, Gary Gulman, Nicole Byer, Mike Birbiglia, London Hughes, Tig Notaro, and Atsuko Okatsuka, the film delves into the ways these performers use humor as a coping mechanism and a form of catharsis.

Two trials play out in the new Apple TV+ adaptation of lawyer-novelist Scott Turow’s 1988 bestselling legal thriller, Presumed Innocent: the criminal case against a Chicago prosecutor charged with murdering a colleague, and the nightmare at home that the murder trial visits on the family of the accused.

Guillem Morales’ adaptation of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play The Wasp is an unsettling drama-thriller that delves into the complexities of its characters with precision in a way that is chilling and engrossing. The film stars Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer, and Dominic Allburn, each delivering powerful performances that elevate this story of revenge and unresolved childhood bullying.

Brent Lang Executive Editor When Michael Angarano was trying to get “Sacramento,” his indie buddy comedy about two friends who go on a road trip to a certain state capital off the ground, the question he’d get was always the same. Does it really need to be set in Sacramento? “At one point we were ready to shoot the movie in Atlanta — we had the financing and everything,” remembers Angarano, who directed the film, as well as co-wrote it. “And this was for a movie called ‘Sacramento.’ But it’s like why try to cheat it? Maybe, we should we just call it ‘Athens’ or ‘Savannah’?” And even though Angarano and his co-writer Chris Smith weren’t that familiar with the city that inspired their film, its appearance on a highway sign, informing them of the California city’s distance from Los Angeles, was foundational.

Andrew McCarthy’s documentary Brats, based on his book, Brats: An ’80s Story, offers an intimate exploration of the Brat Pack—a group of young actors who became cultural icons in the 1980s. Through candid interviews and nostalgic reflections, McCarthy delves into the nostalgia of the “Brat Pack” label, coined by journalist David Blum in a 1985 New York magazine article. This term, intended as a playful nod to the Rat Pack of the 1950s and ’60s, had lasting effects on the careers and personal lives of its members. 

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, born and raised in Denver, were obsessed as kids like many with Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita, a massive, labyrinthine, Disneyland-ish local landmark that opened in 1974 in Lakewood, Colorado with roving characters, live shows, secret rooms and so-so food. It fell on hard times and then closed in 2020 during Covid. So they bought it after some soul searching and hoped a speedy renovation would delight their kids and others as they had been. The Denver area cheered.

Section: World Premiere GalaDirectors: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Trish DaltonWith: Diane von FurstenbergDeadline’s takeaway: A celebration of life that captures the designer’s ongoing journey of self-discovery and reinforces her belief that there is always more to accomplish. It’s a fitting tribute to a woman who has never ceased to inspire, innovate, champion women’s causes, and live by her mantra, “see the woman, not the dress.”

Elizabeth Banks has one of her best roles to date in A Mistake, the New Zealand-set medical drama that had its world premiere Friday night at the Tribeca Festival.

annual Tribeca Festival, which opened Wednesday night and runs through June 16, will look a little different this year.For the first time, Tribeca will give awards to short films generated by artificial intelligence. It’s one of the entertainment industry’s first public embraces of the new technology, which many actors and writers fear will render them obsolete.