‘The Lesson’ Review: A Fine Cast Classes Up a Barbed, Brittle Literary Melodrama

Guy Lodge Film Critic In their 2018 film “The Dead and the Others,” directors João Salaviza et Renée Nader Messora turned their lens generously to the Krahô people of northeast Brazil, documenting a longstanding way of life under threat from developers and politicians, and giving their non-professional subjects ample leeway for improvisation in presenting themselves on screen. Their ambitious, formally limber follow-up “The Buriti Flower” resumes their study of the Krahô, but with an expanded scope, as it examines ideological and generational conflict within the tribe: protectively insular tradition on one side, outward-facing activism on the other. Blending candid vérité with extravagant flourishes of fiction, the film sees its helmers sharing screenwriting duties with a trio of Krahô locals, and feels more textured for their collaboration.

Greg Tarzan Davis has learned a thing or two from working with Tom Cruise on not just one blockbuster film — -- but on another one as well: . And, above all else, accountability's what immediately comes to mind when it comes to lessons learned from the veteran action star.ET interviewed Davis at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas, from where Entertainment Tonight is broadcasting from this week, and he spoke to Nischelle Turner about what he's learned from Cruise and how he applies it to his own life.Fans will recall the alum played Lt.

The Last Match (★★★☆☆), it might not matter who wins or loses the titular duel between American champion Tim Porter (Drew Kopas) and Russian upstart Sergei Sergeyev (Ethan Miller). In Alex Levy’s cleverly staged production at 1st Stage, however, the charmingly boastful Sergei clearly emerges as the more fully realized and engaging of the characters.Brilliantly embodying the young challenger’s drive, hunger, and athleticism, Miller also adeptly delivers Sergei’s trash-talking sense of humor, as the play unwinds its tale of the foes’ hard-fought match on-court, amid side glances to pivotal moments in their off-court lives.Yet, Miller rises above the script’s tendency to lean on Sergei as comic relief, and invests the guy with personality beyond his bad-boy insults, aggressive style of play, and mane of wild curls.

Radar Online, referring specifically to Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the cast. "He doesn't get greeting cards or happy birthday texts.

Lisa Kennedy Fashionista Jenna Jones (Gabrielle Union) took quite the tumble from her position in New York’s world of style. In “The Perfect Find” — Netflix’s visually vibrant, cinema-loving, if not quite perfect, rom-com — her professional and romantic plummet is documented in opening credits that cleverly use an animated collage to relate her story. So, when we meet Jenna in person ,she’s without a job, and her man (D.B. Woodside) of 10 years has moved on … or so it seems. The 40-year-old is sporting baggy sweats, and not because she’s headed to the gym. She’s been living in her parents’ home licking her wounds, for a year, when her mother calls her out on it. The scene between mother (Janet Hubert) and grown-ass daughter is amusing and promising. As are the musical and visual choices director Numa Perrier makes that evoke Old Hollywood in a film with characters decidedly not Old Hollywood.

David Benedict “What was I thinking when I made this deal?” So sings Holly Martins (Sam Underwood) towards the end of the new musical adaptation of “The Third Man.” Indeed. As it turns out, the mystery at the heart of the show is not the expected “Whatever happened to Harry Lime?” – the man of the title – but what possessed a creative team as distinguished as director Trevor Nunn and bookwriter Christopher Hampton to imagine that what Carol Reed’s still-astonishing classic film needed was to be taken offscreen and planted onstage with added songs. The dismaying production provides no answer. The opening is ominous in completely the wrong way. Yes, we’re still in Vienna in 1947 but it feels like a failure to resort to a voice-over to explain necessary information about how, in the wake of the war, the city has been divided up into sectors under the control of warring nations. The storytelling, it’s clear, is going to be bald.

Bowen Yang has revealed a big update about the Wicked movies and gave fans a detail that they’ve been waiting to hear!

Alison Herman TV Critic “You can spend all the time in the world in here,” a chef tells his eager protegé as they work in a temple of haute cuisine. “But if you don’t spend enough time out there…” There’s no need for him to finish the sentence. The mentor’s meaning is clear enough: To achieve greatness, you need to expand your horizons. This piece of advice comes close to the halfway point of the second season of “The Bear,” long after the FX half-hour has applied the insight to itself. Last year, the tale of a family-owed Chicago sandwich shop taken over by a prodigal son became a surprise summer hit by staying tightly focused on its central location. Each of its eight episodes unfolded like a stage play, as the staff of the Original Beef of Chicagoland careened through the cramped kitchen, confronting their latest crisis. This M.O. reached its apotheosis in the widely acclaimed penultimate episode, a 20-minute tracking shot that began with the Beef opening itself to online orders and ended with relationships strained to their breaking point.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features When series creator Tony McNamara was crafting the character of Aunt Elizabeth in Hulu’s Emmy-winning biographical comedy “The Great,” he penned it with his actor wife and fellow Aussie, Belinda Bromilow, front of mind.  “I knew the character and I knew what I needed from an actor to do it,” says McNamara, a seasoned playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter for Yorgos Lanthimos’ piquant 2018 drama “The Favourite.”  “I knew [Elizabeth] needed to have a strong dramatic voice but also be  a bit idiosyncratic and have really good comic bones,” McNamara continues. “The actor needed to be able to do comedy and be able to shift gears into a darker place. And I’d worked with Belinda before and knew that she could do that.” 

What better way to come to know a public figure than to discover them in their own words, or, better yet, their own singing voice? Filmmaker Allison Ellwood seems drawn to that notion because she let it guide her as she crafted the smart and sentimental “Let The Canary Sing.” The new documentary is a colorful force of nature underscored by the fierce soundtrack of life, embodying the best parts of its subject in the name of nostalgic exploration. After all, music can tell beautiful stories, and this journey is no exception.“Let The Canary Sing” chronicles the rise of legendary 1980s rock star Cyndi Lauper and the complications that came for her career along the way.

Murtada Elfadl Taking on an expansive topic, the contribution of Black astronauts to the American space program, Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s “The Space Race” derives its strength from the specific and detailed stories of its subjects. Spanning almost 60 years of historical narrative and concentrating on a handful of scientists who broke barriers, the National Geographic doc is the type that makes the audience question how they have never heard of these people before. Cortés and de Mendoza interweave archival footage with the testimony of the astronauts in a fast-paced and informative way. Rapidly unraveling the fascinating story, they demand the audience’s attention and reward it. Blink or look away for a second and an interesting factoid might be missed. But their greatest asset proves to be the astronauts themselves. Their recollections are emotional and humorous, going a long way to paint such a captivating narrative. The astronauts talk of the weight of being an example and the challenges of having to navigate both white and Black spaces in order to succeed. Yet most movingly, they talk of the camaraderie born of being together in these hallowed and mostly white spaces.

The previously announced Broadway revival of the Ossie Davis comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch starring Leslie Odom, Jr. will begin previews on Thursday, September 7, at The Music Box Theatre, with an opening date to be announced.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic When you see a documentary about a game-changing pop star, you assume you’re going to get the story of the music, and also a good look at the life, and that there’ll be enough (on both counts) to go around. I was eager to see “Let the Canary Sing,” a documentary portrait of Cyndi Lauper, because it’s directed by Alison Ellwood, who made “The Go-Go’s” a few years back, and that movie had everything: the drama, the trauma, the saga of a total pop-music reset, as we watched the Go-Go’s bust down doors that had been too tightly shut for too long. Cyndi Lauper was no less revolutionary a figure, arriving in the early ’80s, along with Madonna, to announce that we were in the midst of a seismic new definition of what it meant to be a female pop star. The definition was: a star who could rule — and change — the world.

Ezra Miller’s erratic behavior that landed the star in court in Hawaii and Vermont in 2022, to the Warner Bros. shakeup in October 2022 that led to James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over the limping DC Studios.Running time: 144 minutes.

Sometimes it feels as though A.I. is already here, given the number of films resembling Garden State that pop up on the festival circuit every year. Robert Schwartzman’s The Good Half is only the latest, and his attempt to out-emo Zach Braff’s legacy film falls disappointingly short, given that his last Tribeca appearance was with the surreal and underrated comedy The Argument (2020), which channeled Charlie Kaufman in the story of a couple whose obsession with a petty fight spirals into absurdity. The Good Half, however, mostly serves as a decent vehicle for Nick Jonas, who seems to making a play to be the new Adam Driver, which is not as far-fetched as it might sound.

Hefty fines have been issue to fly tippers after more than 200 bags of filthy waste were dumped in a Bolton neighbourhood. In recent weeks, council officers have been called to land behind Crescent Road, Great Lever, to carry out two clean up operations.

None of us were privy to the casting process for Alice Troughton’s “The Lesson,” but I sincerely hope, with my entire heart, that they opened a bottle of champagne after locking in Richard E. Grant.

Call the Midwife have revealed that a thirteenth series is on the way as they reunite for filming. The twelfth series came to an end earlier this year but fans don't have to worry as it looks like another is on the way soon. Show bosses have dropped a huge hint about the next series as they shared a social media post.

Though it doesn’t exactly have the same warm, melancholic charm, Alice Troughton’s elegant literary thriller The Lesson could give star Richard E. Grant the kind of late-career bump that last year’s Living afforded Bill Nighy. An Oscar nom might be a little fanciful at this stage, but a Bafta shot is a no-brainer, with Grant on top form as a mercurial, narcissistic British author. Co-star Julie Delpy might also find new offers coming in, showing a stiletto-sharp new side to herself as his enigmatic wife.

Tribeca Film Festival, is about a man who shaped the historical stories of the recent past: news anchor Dan Rather. “I like telling stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations,” Marshall told TheWrap. “It’s so interesting to see how these people who are inspired and then passionate about what they want to do, how they achieve that success.” In this case, Marshall wanted to track Rather’s 60-year career in news and how he’s become just as embraced by the TikTok generation as he was when he did “60 Minutes.”“I go in completely open-minded,” Marshall said when discussing whether he approached Rather’s story with any preconceived notions.