Sundance Kicks Off With Big Applause for Bloody Nazi-Killing Revenge Movie ‘Freaky Tales’ and a Heartfelt Tribute to Angus Cloud

Looking was a hit show on HBO that shed light on LGBTQ+ characters and featured a star-studded cast including the likes of Jonathan Groff, Russell Tovey and more. It turns out that it could have also starred Pedro Pascal!

Nadine Shah began a run of UK and European support slots with Depeche Mode last night (January 22), and has shared a new single called ‘Greatest Dancer’ – listen below.The singer-songwriter opened for the synth-pop duo at The O2 in London, which marked the first date of their ‘Memento Mori’ 2024 UK and Ireland tour.Per Setlist.FM, Shah treated the arena crowd to a six-track set that began with ‘Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)’ from her 2020 album ‘Kitchen Sink’. She also played her 2023 single ‘Topless Mother’, which will appear on her upcoming fifth record ‘Filthy Underneath’.Shah performed ‘Trad’, ‘Fool’ and an unknown song too.

Angelique Jackson When basketball legend Sue Bird decided to let a team of filmmakers capture her final season after playing 21 years in the WNBA, she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from watching her career be contextualized on film, but it turned out to be wonderful. “You play such a long time — so many different moments, so many different memories — and to have it now, in this one film is amazing,” Bird said, visiting the Variety Studio presented by Audible at the Sundance Film Festival.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This story hints at a major cameo in the Sundance Film Festival premiere “Freaky Tales,” which debuted on opening night. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s electrified the opening night of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival with “Freaky Tales,” a genre-driven anthology movie that tells four interconnected stories in 1987 Oakland, California. The movie is a return to indie filmmaking for Fleck and Boden, who made a name for themselves as the directors of indie hits like “Half Nelson” before they jumped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Captain Marvel.” “It was great to come back to the indie film world in a lot of ways,” Boden said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jesse Eisenberg is officially giving his Lex Luthor advice to Nicholas Hoult, and it’s blunt: “Don’t watch me!” During an interview at the Variety Studio presented by Audible while attending the Sundance Film Festival, Eisenberg suggested Hoult should forge his own path and not pay attention to Eisenberg’s own work as Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s DC Universe. “Whenever you play a role you feel connected to it,” Eisenberg added to Variety‘s Matt Donnelly about playing the DC villain for a short time.

lifeless “Captain Marvel,” their latest movie has, um, flecks of the supernatural heroism and urban vigilante justice that we associate with the comic book genre. Running time: 106 minutes. Rated R (strong bloody violence, language throughout including slurs, sexual content and drug use).However, unlike many of those bland caped behemoths, “Freaky Tales,” which had its world premiere Thursday night at the Sundance Film Festival, also boasts enough forceful, nerdy personality to fill the San Francisco Bay.

“These are the tales, the freaky tales,” repeatedly intones Oakland rap legend Too $hort over the interstitials of writer and directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “Freaky Tales.” This Bay Area anthology film takes its title from the over nine-minute song, which is itself an extended chronicle of prominent personalities the rapper encounters. While the directing duo occasionally approximates something wild in their headrush of 1987 nostalgia, they do not earn the second line of the rap.

died of an accidental overdose last July. He was 25.His “Freaky Tales” co-star Jay Ellis took the stage of the Eccles Theater after the debut screening and recalled filming the finale fight scene with him.“My first day, as we went to go do the work at the house, I got to meet Pedro [Pascal], I got to meet Ben Mendelsohn and I got to meet Angus Cloud,” the actor said onstage, flanked by Pascal and Mendelsohn.“Rest in peace to Angus,” added Ellis, who plays Golden State Warrior Sleepy Floyd.

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.

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.

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.

Tom Sandoval has a message for his ex! Rachel Leviss, whom he cheated with, not Ariana Madix whom he cheated on.

Naman Ramachandran A screening of Isabel Herguera‘s San Sebastian winner “Sultana’s Dream” will kickstart the inaugural edition of AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics, in Mumbai. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Herguera, alongside her Spanish and Indian crew, including Indian animation expert Upamanyu Bhattacharyya.

William Earl Variety is returning to the Sundance Film Festival this year with its annual Interview Studio, presented by Audible, the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling. Throughout the festival, videos from the interview studio will be distributed across Variety.com as well as Variety and Audible’s social media channels (Instagram: @audible, @Variety; Twitter: @audible_com, @Variety; TikTok: @audible, @VarietyMagazine).

75th Primetime Emmy Awards, where she presented an award.Applegate, who was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Jen Harding in Netflix series, Dead To Me, presented the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy series, which was awarded to Ayo Edebiri for The Bear.Her public appearance was rare and she was supported onstage by a cane. Applegate announced in August 2021 that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and later in 2023 said that she would likely never act again on camera, with the third season of Dead To Me having premiered in November 2022.Applegate took to the stage, accompanied by Frank Sinatra’s ‘Love And Marriage’, the theme song to the US sitcom in which she starred, Married… With Children.

from awards shows. On Monday night, the 2024 Emmys left several big stars out of the “In Memoriam” segment. The segment — which pays respect to actors, directors, producers, writers and TV personalities who died in the past year — honored Matthew Perry, Angela Lansbury, “Euphoria” star Angus Cloud, Norman Lear, Andre Braugher, Paul Reubens, Stephen “Twitch” Boss, “This Is Us” star Ron Cephas Jones, Leslie Jordan, Lance Reddick, Kirstie Alley and Treat Williams, among others.

A touching tribute paid to late Friends actor Matthew Perry at the Emmy Awards has left fans of the show “bawling their eyes out.” Perry, 54, died on October 28, 2023 after he was found “unresponsive in the pool” at his Los Angeles home.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Anthony Anderson took the stage at the top of the Emmys on Monday night to open the much-delayed awards show on Fox with a musical number paying tribute to hit TV theme songs alongside his mother, Doris Bowman, Blink-182’s Travis Barker and actor Christina Applegate. The opening segment took place in Anderson’s “living room” set, with the “Black-ish” star entering following a title card for “Mister Anderson’s Neighborhood.” Upon his entrance, Anderson got a round of cheers — and another set when he mentioned the Emmys were taking place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Love Island All Stars is set to launch with a major twist during tonight's highly-anticipated first episode, as the typical format is being revamped. In the earliest seasons, the contestants were told to line up and pick the boy or girl they fancied most, then coupling up in their first pairs. While there was always shake-ups when the girls or boys were given the chance to steal a partner, overall, the couples were happy with their connections.