Tribeca Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Sometimes, a company logo in the opening credits says it all. Redbox Entertainment – yes, they of the DVD kiosks that still exist – helped produce “Maggie Moore(s).” It’s easy to see why they would want a part of the film: stick the distinctive mugs of stars Jon Hamm and Tina Fey on a tile, and it’s bound to pick up some curious viewers who assume the presence of the “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” stars lend the project some prestige.

Set in the Fall of 2005, Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s piercing feature debut, “Good Girl Jane,” tracks the grooming of the title character (Rain Spencer), Jane, a young outcast teenage skater enduring an endless summer that nearly undoes her. Jane and her older sister Izzie (Eloisa Huggins) have recently transferred to a new school.

it’s already back on the market for $15 million. Levy, a frequent Ryan Reynolds collaborator, was just revealed to be the new director of Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool 3.” Levy has also directed and produced films including “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the “Night at the Museum” series, “Stranger Things” and “The Adam Project,” and founded the production company 21 Laps. The five-bedroom, 6½-bath home is at 11 Beach, a 10-story prewar office-to-condo conversion building “redesigned”  by Thomas Juul-Hansen and BKSK Architects in 2015. A private elevator opens into the 5,457-square-foot apartment, which features beamed ceilings, wide-plank hardwood floors and oversize windows.

When attempting a biopic about a rock ‘n roll icon, there’s an inherent conflict of style and substance. Biopics are traditionally dramatic, yet glossy affairs that bring an air of prestige to every story, whether it’s the tale of a stuttering king, a cagey criminal, or the man who made McDonald’s an international chain.

Much can be said about Megan Mylan’s latest documentary “Simple As Water.” Yet, as its title insinuates, the film succeeds in its calculated minimalism. Cataloging the plight of four Syrian families in the aftermath of war, Mylan’s heartfelt exploration of human strife infuses informative insight with harrowing revelations.

Acclaimed photojournalist Gordon Parks was something of a renaissance man. A photographer, writer, composer, film director, and activist—he imbued the American Black experience with a sense of gravitas, esteem, and pathos through his Black gaze.

What would it be like to see your childhood friends rise to fame, scratch at fortune, then die tragically young, only to become googled curiosities and cautionary tales? This was the journey of Hamilton Chango Harris, who appeared alongside his real-life skater pals in Larry Clark’s 1995 hit, “Kids.” Now, Harris aims to rewrite the narrative of the late Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter with “The Kids,” a documentary that reveals disturbing behind-the-scenes secrets and their aftermath.

Based, in part, on Father James Martin’s bestselling book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity,” Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post’s compassionate documentary “Building a Bridge” use Martin as an entry point into a larger discourse surrounding the relationship between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ community.

Reclaiming Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson’s voice and personal narrative, “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” is an insightful but breezy introduction to the musical mastermind. Touching on everything from his early career to Beach Boys success and his drug use and mental illness, Brent Wilson and Jason Fine’s film may not reveal much about Wilson that isn’t covered in a Wikipedia article but still allows the musician to reclaim his own narrative.

Using Leonard Bernstein’s own voice, collected from his myriad interviews throughout his life, as well as personal letters, many of which were published in the 2013 book “The Leonard Bernstein Letters,” Douglas Tirola’s “Bernstein’s Wall” works as both a broad overview of the famous conductor’s life, as well as a deep dive into his political activism.

Reflective and stoic, sometimes to a fault, Levan Koguashvili’s film “Brighton 4th” explores the hyper-masculine world of Georgian wrestlers and gamblers in Brooklyn.

Out of the darkness, some voices rise above the others. At the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, director Josef Wladyka is that voice.

With its signature liveliness, unapologetic attitude, and visual splendor, New York City has so long been a set of romantic comedies that this location has become a cliché. So, how does Jonah Feingold, the writer/director of “Dating & New York,” aim to make his mark on this sparkling skyline? By creating a postmodern rom-com that blatantly snatches from iconic influences to deliver an irreverent commentary on the genre and modern romance.

Opening with the sound of crashing waves over a black screen before a grave voice begins narrating, “I guess when you consider it, life is chains,” the voice (of writer/director/actor Tyler Riggs) reflects.

You might know him best from Cameron Crowe’s seminal teenage road trip movie “Almost Famous.” Dressed replete in John Lennon glasses, long ink-black shaggy hair, and loud-open collar shirt, he is the editor from Rolling Stone Magazine who sends the intrepid Will on the road with the fictional band Stillwater. That man is Ben Fong-Torres.

Unlike recent Bundy projects (a’la 2019’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”), the movie couches his forbidden allure in Hagmaier’s perspective.

Unlike recent Bundy projects (a’la 2019’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”), the movie couches his forbidden allure in Hagmaier’s perspective.

Coming off their acclaimed documentary “Minding the Gap,” Joshua Altman and Bing Liu co-direct the searing, bracingly honest “All These Sons.” Continue reading ‘All These Sons’: A Fitting Follow-up to Bing Liu’s ‘Minding the Gap’ [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

A man dressed as a Viking goes into a convenience store to trade furs for groceries; a trio of smugglers is on the verge of an escape across the border when a moose totals their car; a cop calls for a tracker dog, only to be told that it, “isn’t working today.” When asked what the hound could be doing, the other cop responds honestly, “No idea.

Using the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop for a quarantine-style romantic comedy, Roshan Sethi’s directorial debut, “7 Days,” which pushes two ideologically opposed young Indian-American characters together during shelter-in-place, is a compact, empathetic wonder that only occasionally dips into overtly broad comedy.

Indie anxiety auteur Jim Cummings’ work is always trembling nervously with the hum or uneasy apprehension. His brilliant debut, “Thunder Road” throbbed with the cringe-y tension of a grieving divorcee policeman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and his follow-up, “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” layered murder mystery genre elements and the idea of the “toxic male beast within” on top of his signature jittery agitation.

Vanessa Kirby is fascinating to watch and follow in writer/director Adam Leon’s “Italian Studies,” a purposefully hazy but compelling survey of New York City and its young minds. The Academy Award nominee of “Pieces of a Woman” uses her celebrity presence among regular New Yorkers for something of a low-key “Under the Skin” as she wades through this crowded society with a blank slate perspective forcing us to see it all with the same new lens.

Narrative-averse portmanteau films are a tough nut to crack, yet not impossible.

One person assembles plastic bottle pumps, another paints areola on sex dolls, and a different individual takes a business etiquette class to learn the proper way to smile (one shows eight teeth…the top ones). All of them are Chinese citizens struggling to find and maintain a foothold in their country’s race towards global domination, and in “Ascension,” they give audiences a peek at what increasingly appears to be a devil’s bargain.

“What the fuck am I doin’ here?” asks Anthony Bourdain, via archival audio, early in Morgan Neville’s new documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.” “I shall explain,” he continues, and so he does. The public outpouring of grief when Bourdain took his own life in 2018 was overwhelming; it was joined by some confusion because although he had always been forthcoming about his own demons and drives, his books and television shows conveyed such a palpable zest for living.

“What the fuck am I doin’ here?” asks Anthony Bourdain, via archival audio, early in Morgan Neville’s new documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.” “I shall explain,” he continues, and so he does. The public outpouring of grief when Bourdain took his own life in 2018 was overwhelming; it was joined by some confusion because although he had always been forthcoming about his own demons and drives, his books and television shows conveyed such a palpable zest for living.

Using the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop for a quarantine-style romantic comedy, Roshan Sethi’s directorial debut, “7 Days,” which pushes two ideologically opposed young Indian-American characters together during shelter-in-place, is a compact, empathetic wonder that only occasionally dips into overtly broad comedy.

Cynthia Nixon has been spotted house hunting in Tribeca. The news comes as HBO Max announced its long-awaited reboot of “Sex and the City,” which will star Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis.