EXCLUSIVE: Season two of Euston Films’ BBC Three horror comedy Wreck is in development prior to the first airing, as creator Ryan J. Brown opens up about portraying queer identity and a scarcity of British slasher.
17.09.2022 - 11:37 / variety.com
Guy Lodge Film Critic In the little-remembered 1950 noir “The Damned Don’t Cry,” Joan Crawford plays a Texan housewife whose grief for her late son spurs her to make a new life for herself in the urban underworld. Fyzal Boulifa’s exquisite new film of the same title is named expressly for that Crawford vehicle, but is neither a remake nor a direct homage. Rather, it remixes the narrative components of that film and others of its ilk into the kind of new-school-old-school heart-tugger — one might say tearjerker if its characters weren’t, true to its title, stoically dry-eyed throughout — that might have been designed for the shoulder-padded diva were she alive in 2022 and, perhaps more crucially, of Moroccan heritage.
Charting the turbulent relationship between a single mother and her teenage son on the destitute fringes of Tangier society, the second feature from BAFTA-nominated British-Moroccan filmmaker Boulifa sees him shifting focus to his North African motherland after the starkly English kitchen-sink tragedy of his fine debut “Lynn + Lucy.”
Yet it’s not a complete immersion. In its fusion of Sirkian Hollywood melodrama with the high-key emotionalism of Arabic soap opera and a more austere strain of European arthouse realism — with Pasolini’s “Mamma Roma” another clearly quoted influence — this haunting, peculiar and often expressly queer story of social isolation and outsider survival feels like Boulifa’s own moving, idiosyncratic way of threading the components of his cultural identity. Following its Lido premiere in the Venice Days sidebar, this suitably scattered co-production (French-Belgian-Moroccan, with the BBC Films imprimatur to boot) will go on to the main competition at the London Film Festival,
EXCLUSIVE: Season two of Euston Films’ BBC Three horror comedy Wreck is in development prior to the first airing, as creator Ryan J. Brown opens up about portraying queer identity and a scarcity of British slasher.
Kelly Ripa bared her soul with her debut as a writer, as the newly released Live Wire shares all kinds of stories from her life, upsetting or hilarious.MORE: Kelly Ripa's husband Mark Consuelos shares intimate birthday tribute - see photosThe TV star detailed one incident that verged on both sentiments as she described encounters during family vacations that left her rather flustered.VIDEO: Kelly Ripa's son Joaquin shares glimpse into lavish family vacationWhile gushing about her home state of New Jersey, she marveled at the uncanny ability for people from Jersey to find her during international holidays."I've met people from New Jersey in Italy, France, Greece, Canada, Bahamas, Croatia, Corsica, UK, Nevis, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, and, of course, Florida, the New Jersey of the actual South," she wrote.She explained that the pattern of the encounters usually featured a group of people loudly calling out to her while in a relatively quiet place, like the Sistine Chapel, as she'd urge them to quiet down.MORE: David Muir's birthday tribute to close friend Kelly Ripa is too cute to missKelly even quipped that she'd learned how to apologize in four languages "including English, for this very reason."The Live with Kelly and Ryan star then shared another incident from a vacation to Nice, France in 2011 with her husband and kids, just after Hurricane Irene made landfall in New York and Jersey.
David Guetta & Bebe Rexha are seeking to snatch back Number 1 from Sam Smith & Kim Petras this week.
If you run in certain pop circles (Gay Twitter) you've likely been aware of Kim Petras for a long time. But to the average listener, pop's best kept secret over the last few years is finally making her big, commercial breakthrough with her collaboration with Sam Smith, Unholy.
Sam Smith and Kim Petras‘ “Unholy” is officially a chart topper!
Sam Smith and Kim Petras make a divine debut at the top of the Official Singles Chart with Unholy.
Sam Smith and Kim Petras have performed an Unholy miracle with the UK's Official Number 1 Trending Song.
Sam Smith and Kim Petras have performed an Unholy miracle with the UK's Official Number 1 Trending Song.
Sam Smith has delivered a sweeping rendition of Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’.Performed for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge programme, Smith’s cover is a slick take on Fender’s gritty anthem. The cover replaces the original’s jangly guitars with an elegant piano, while a wash of rising guitar leads take the place of the original’s bombastic horns, as Smith glides above the support of a 17-piece choir.Watch Smith’s cover of Fender’s iconic anthem here:Both artists are admirers of one another’s work: on his appearance on the same BBC programme in 2019, Fender delivered an indie-rock flavoured cover of Smith’s ‘Dancing With A Stranger’.Earlier this March on this year’s BandLab NME Awards, Sam Fender took home Best Album In The World and Best Album By A UK Artist with his second record, ‘Seventeen Going Under’, beating out records by Halsey, Little Simz and Tyler, the Creator.The album, released last year, followed his 2019 debut effort, ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, and was named by NME as the best album of 2021.
Sam Smith and Kim Petras have entered the race for this week’s UK Number 1 single. Their new team-up Unholy currently looks set to be this week’s highest new entry (2) but has launched a very real challenge for Number 1.
The Queer As Folk reboot will be short-lived. Peacock has opted not to pick up a second season of the series created by Russell T. Davies and Stephen Dunn.
Ethan Shanfeld As the Arctic Monkeys waltzed onstage at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre Thursday night, they were met with such rapturous applause and overwhelming screams that when Alex Turner sat at the piano and sang, “Don’t get emotional,” it was as if he was speaking directly to the audience. While the band opened the show with new single “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball,” which came out just a few weeks ago, the crowd embraced it like an old classic. As Turner sang the song’s title for the final time, in falsetto, a giant disco ball lowered from the ceiling and lit up the exuberant Kings Theatre. To be clear: there’s good reason for the Monkeymania. Thursday’s show marked the band’s first headlining concert in the U.S. since 2018, and even though their seminal album “AM” came out nearly a decade ago (feel old?), the Tumblr-era thirst for Turner is still very much alive. The audience erupted in shouts at the frontman’s every move — cheering when he ditched his guitar for “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?,” when he hoisted the mic stand above his head during “Arabella” and, of course, when he snarled between songs, “How’s everybody doing,” in a British accent thicker than the bass tone on “Crying Lightning.”
Sam Smith has announced a pair of shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall next month, marking their first headline gigs since 2019.Although the British pop star has appeared at numerous festivals and promotional events since 2019, their last tour concluded in Cape Town in April of that year.Smith will perform at the iconic London venue on October 21 and 22, with a setlist featuring some of their biggest hits and previewing material from their forthcoming new album. Fans can gain access to a special ticket pre-sale by pre-ordering the star’s new album directly from their online store before 4pm BST tomorrow (September 21).Those who gain access will receive codes at 6pm BST, with the pre-sale opening at 9am BST on Thursday (22).
EXCLUSIVE: Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans), Famke Janssen (X-Men) and Stefani Martin (The Last Kingdom) have been set to star in sci-fi action horror movie The Experiment, which is underway at Rebellion Studios in the UK.
Naman Ramachandran British musician Sam Fender has canceled his upcoming U.S. tour dates citing mental health concerns. However, the singer-songwriter said that he is “super excited” for his Australia gigs in November and “everything to come in 2023.” “It seems completely hypocritical of me to advocate discussion on mental health and write songs about it if I don’t take the time to look after my own mental health,” Fender posted on Twitter. “I’ve neglected myself for over a year now and haven’t dealt with things that have deeply affected me. It’s impossible to do this work on myself while on the road, and it’s exhausting feigning happiness and wellness for the sake of business. My friends and colleagues have been worried about me for a while and it’s not going to get better unless I take the time to do so.”
Sam Fender has cancelled his remaining 2022 US tour dates to look after his mental health. Read his statement below.Fender was set to perform in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver later this month, along with supporting Florence And The Machine at New York City’s Madison Square Garden and a festival set at Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful.“It seems completely hypocritical of me to advocate discussion on mental health and write songs about it if I don’t take the time to look after my own mental health,” he wrote to fans via a post on Instagram.Fender continued: “I’ve neglected myself for over a year now and haven’t dealt with things that have deeply affected me.
Oliver Sim has shared a new single called ‘Run The Credits’ – you can listen to it below.The song is the final preview of The xx singer/bassist’s debut solo record ‘Hideous Bastard’, which is due for release tomorrow (Friday, September 9) via Young and can be pre-ordered here.“I very much see this album as a queer horror film, and I wrote ‘Run The Credits’ as the closing scenes of the film,” explained Sim in a statement.“Sonically, I think it’s quite a joyous and celebratory song, but lyrically it’s quite open ended and has a lot of anger. It was also an opportunity to pay homage to some of the characters I love the most in cinema like Patrick Bateman and Buffalo Bill.”He continued: “I’ve loved those characters since I was a little boy.
In his role as one of this year’s ambassadors for UK National Album Day, Sam Ryder has announced a special launch show at London’s Lafayette later this month.I’m not sure that’s really in the spirit of a day that celebrates the art of the album. Everyone should be at home listening to albums, right? Though I guess the gig is not actually happening on the big day itself, so maybe it’s alright.And there is an album connection with the show, so that’s probably enough to swing it.
Sam Ryder has announced details of his debut studio album, ‘There’s Nothing But Space, Man!’.The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 runner-up is due to release the 14-track record on November 18 via Parlophone. You can pre-order/pre-save it here.Ryder’s first studio effort will feature the hit track ‘Space Man’ – which came in at second place at this year’s Eurovision, scoring an impressive 466 points overall – as well as the singles ‘Living Without You’ (feat.