‘The Shadowless Tower’ Review: An Unusually Polite Midlife Crisis Makes for a Wry and Wistful Chinese Charmer

Loyle Carner has announced that his Wembley Arena headline show will be available to stream for those who can’t attend in person.The south London artist is currently on the sold-out UK and European leg the tour for his latest album ‘Hugo‘, with support acts Wesley Joseph, Kofi Stone and Olivia Dean.On the last day of the tour (March 16), fans from around the world can watch the “once-in-a-lifetime spectacle” of the livestream produced by UpTheGame – an award-winning creative agency behind Liam Gallagher‘s Knebworth ’22 documentary.Tickets will are on sale via DOORS for £18, and are available here.The tour celebrates the success of his critically-acclaimed third album ‘Hugo’, which earned a four-star rating from NME, crediting Carner as “an honest, unflashy storyteller”.On the red carpet at the 2023 BRIT Awards, Carner noted that he’d “been very moved by the response” to his album.“I feel like it’s already done its job. It seems to have – and it continues to do so – lift people [up and] support people in a place they need it.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Cyber Heist,” a crime thriller directed by Hong Kong’s Wong Hing-fan (“I’m Livin’ It”) and scripted by Soi Cheang (aka Cheang Pou Soi), took the top spot at the mainland Chinese box office over the weekend. It earned a very modest $6.2 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. But that was enough to win on the quietest weekend since January’s Lunar New Year holiday season. “Cyber Heist” stars Aaron Kwok as a cyber security engineer who develops a state-of-the-art firewall that is capable of fending off online attacks against the global financial system. But he does not realize that in doing so he has stepped into a minefield that is even more dangerous. The picture also stars Lam Ka-tun and Simon Yam.

Steve Howey is leaving the door open for a reboot!The star told ET's Nischelle Turner that he'd be open to revisiting his character, Van Montgomery, in a new series if Reba McEntire was down to do it.«Yeah, I mean, I don't even know because when I played Van on that show, I was in my early 20s,» Howey said. «And to see where Van is now and where the family is, I mean I would do anything. Reba says, 'Jump,' and I'll say, 'How high?'»The actor's relationship with McEntire has remained strong ever since the sitcom ended in 2007 after six seasons.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sculptor turned director Wu Lang made a splash at the Berlin Film Festival with his debut feature “Absence” playing in the festival’s showcase Encounters section. With a high-profile cast headed by Lee Kang-sheng (“What Time Is It There?” “The Wayward Cloud”) and Li Meng (“The Bad Kids,” “The Guillotines”) “Absence” is an art-house romance that uses skyscapes and urban landscapes as metaphors for inner feelings. The seduction starts with a man’s return to Hainan Island after ten years in jail and ends with a flock of sheep in an abandoned construction site. Wu: Shooting the first short film for me had two purposes. First, making a film is not easy in terms of financing and finding coproducers. So, first I wanted to make a short in order to get myself started.

EXCLUSIVE: For Banijay Asia’s Deepak Dhar, 2023 is shaping up to be one of the busiest in a three-decade career in Indian media. Not only has he just launched The Night Manager India on Disney+ Hotstar and is delivering several scripted and unscripted shows, he is also working to position India has Banijay’s Asian production hub.

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Love Island star Anna-May Robey has opened up about her time in the ITV2 villa, revealing she found the experience "overwhelming" and she even had a "little bit of a breakdown" in the early days. The payroll administrator from Swansea, 20, joined the winter series of the show earlier this year, where new host Maya Jama made her debut.

Jessica Kiang The quote that opens Chinese director Liu Jian’s shaggy but amiable new animated feature is instructive. “To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life” is a passage from James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” and indeed, Liu was himself at art college as a young man in the early ’90s, when and where “Art College 1994” is, unsurprisingly, set. The quasi-memoir feel to the movie does have its charm — it’s always a kick to see animation techniques applied not to extravagant flights of fancy but to slices of real, ordinary life — but it’s also its chief flaw. In re-creating life out of life, Liu is quite successful; whether he makes it into drama is another question. Like its characters, “Art College 1994” gives the impression of having just too much time on its hands.

Reba McEntire has had a very good week! The singer had not one, but two reasons to celebrate and delighted her fans with both personal and professional news. On Wednesday, the country music star was named as a Mega Mentor on the singing show The Voice when it returns for season 23. Reba will advise Blake Shelton and his fellow coaches, Kelly Clarkson (who is her former daughter-in-law), Chance the Rapper, Niall Horan and their team members ahead of the Knockout Rounds.WATCH: Reba McEntire reveals how she met boyfriend Rex LinnShe starred on the show back in 2011 and was even asked to be a permanent judge, but turned down the opportunity as she didn't want to be tied down to a longtime project. Away from the spotlight, Reba also had reason to celebrate at home as her son, Shelby Blackstock, had a birthday. SEE: Reba McEntire's former $5m Nashville home is now a five-star resort – see insideREAD: Reba McEntire admits she was in a 'tailspin' after heartbreaking death of her momThe professional race car driver turned 33 on February 23, and his famous mom took to Instagram to wish him a happy birthday. A post shared by Reba (@reba)Reba paid tribute to her son Shelby and called him her 'best accomplishment'Alongside several images of Shelby as a child and today, she wrote: "Happy birthday Shelby! Best accomplishment I’ve ever done in my life! Love you so much."Fans loved the look into her private life and commented: "HBD Shel’billy! You’re a keeper…& mom’s right: You’re a pretty cool dude," and, "Happy Birthday Shelby. Great kid.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China-based video streamer iQiyi achieved a surge in paying subscriptions and achieved net profits in the fourth quarter of 2022. While still loss-making over the full year, the company hailed its turnaround as “miraculous.” In the October-December period, gross revenues were RMB7.6 billion ($1.1 billion), representing a 3% increase year over year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Net income attributable to iQiyi was RMB304 million ($44.1 million), compared to a net loss of RMB1.8 billion in the same period in 2021. Over the course of the full 2022, total revenues were RMB29.0 billion ($4.2 billion), representing a 5% decrease from 2021. Net losses decreased from RMB6.2 billion to RMB136 million ($19.7 million).

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Tapping into the Japanese national zeitgeist once again with “Suzume,” writer-director Makoto Shinkai surpasses his peers in making films for and about teenagers. Now 50 years old, the anime master christened his latest blockbuster after its heroine, Suzume Iwato (voiced by Nanoka Hara), a 17-year-old orphan on the southwestern island of Kyushu swept up in a cross-country trip to prevent a series of natural disasters. That such a responsibility should fall to someone so young is typical of his oeuvre (see “Weathering With You”), but also an apt way of illustrating the lingering trauma and vulnerability that adolescents feel in many parts of Japan. Funnier and more streamlined than Shinkai’s earlier hypercharged toon epics, “Suzume” is a massive hit in its home country, where it has earned more than $100 million since opening last November — his third film to pass that milestone. The film made its international premiere at the Berlinale, one of two animated features in official competition (the other being Chinese director Liu Jian’s “Art College 1994”). Theatrical releases are scheduled to follow in most countries on or around April 13.

Blake Shelton's final season on — so it's only fitting that the Mega Mentor is a country music legend!NBC announced on Wednesday that Reba McEntire will serve as the Mega Mentor for the upcoming season 23, advising Shelton and his fellow coaches — Kelly Clarkson and newcomers Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan — and their team members ahead of the Knockout Rounds.It's a full-circle moment for McEntire, who served as Shelton's Battle Round Advisor during the singing competition's very first season back in 2011.Of course, Shelton isn't the only coach McEntire has a connection with — she's also very close with Clarkson, her former daughter-in-law and frequent duet partner.Season 23 will also see some changes to the  competition, with the addition of a «Playoff Pass» in the Battle Rounds, which allows both artists to advance — and the winner to skip the Knockout Round and head straight to the Playoffs. Each coach will still have a steal in both the Battle and Knockout Rounds, and the return of the Playoff Round will see the top 20 artists going head-to-head to determine who will make it to the live shows.Season 23 premieres on March 6, with the Battle Rounds commencing on March 27, the Playoffs on May 1 and the live shows on May 15.McEntire previously revealed that she'd turned down an offer to become a coach on, explaining that she didn't want to be tied down to a long-term project when she has so much on her plate already.

A new chapter! Kelly Ripa couldn’t be more thrilled to have husband Mark Consuelos joining the Live team.

Lise Pedersen The Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, also known as CPH:DOX, has unveiled the full program of its 20th edition, which includes 200 new films, more than half of which are world premieres, sealing CPH:DOX’s reputation as one of the leading events of its kind in Europe. For the first time, all 13 films competing for the top Dox:Award are world premieres. These include “A Storm Foretold,” the long-awaited doc on Donald Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone by Danish political journalist Christopher Guldbrandsen; established filmmaker Margreth Olin’s highly anticipated epic film “Songs of the Earth”; “A Tiger in Paradise,” a surreal journey into Swedish singer José González’ inner world by Ruben Östlund’s regular creative partners Mikel Cee Karlsson and Erik Hemmendorff; and “Total Trust” by Jialing Zhang (“One Child Nation”), described as “the first major film about the Chinese surveillance state (…) – a disturbing tale of technology, (self-) censorship and abuse of power in the 21st century.”

Avril Lavigne revealed if there was any truth in a rumor that she had been cast in a Chinese reality show.

Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has earned $17.5 million in previews at the domestic box office. Internationally, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has opened in more than 40 international markets, earning an estimated $23.8 million in its first two days of release. The superhero sequel is currently playing in such major territories as Mexico, South Korea, Germany, Brazil, and Australia. It debuts in China on Friday. Paul Rudd’s latest Marvel adventure is expected to bring in $95 million to $100 million domestically in its opening weekend. With the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, that figure could grow to $110 million. It’s a smaller haul than previous Marvel openings, such as “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($185 million), “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144 million) and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($181 million), but the “Ant-Man” movies, like his name suggests, have pulled smaller box-office receipts than his Avengers teammates.

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Bob Odenkirk is going through a midlife crisis in the AMC series, “Lucky Hank”.

Bob Odenkirk is going through a midlife crisis in the AMC series, .Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, by Richard Russo, the and alum plays Hank Devereaux Jr., head of the English department at the underfunded Railton College, whose life begins to fall apart. Hank's unhappiness is rooted in unresolved issues with his father, a mediocre and entitled student body and the fact that his department is more divided than ever. 's Mireille Enos co-stars as Lily Devereaux, Hank's wife and vice principal of a local high school, who starts to question the path she's on and the choices she's made amid his downward spiral.The newly released trailer reveals the extent of Hank's discontentment as he publicly declares to a class of students that they're swimming in mediocrity and because they're enrolled in a lackluster college like Railton, they «show very little promise.» When his sudden outburst gets out, Hank begins to worry about the impact his unfiltered words could mean for his future at the college and in his personal life.Things get more and more out of control, as Hank attempts to stay afloat while every aspect of his life goes up in flames.