‘Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist’ Effectively Unpacks One Of College Football’s Craziest Scandals [Review]

What would it look like if Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn took a stab at a superhero show? If one guessed neon-soaked, with a penchant for nihilism and framed through the throbbing tempo of synthesizer beats, they would be correct, of course.  NWR’s familiar triad of sorrow, synth, and neon guides his latest, Netflix’s six-part series “Copenhagen Cowboy.” The sprawling show trails Miu (Angela Bundalovic), an unlikely heroine presented as a non-descript magical entity whose powers go from healing long-lasting migraines to allowing post-menopausal women another shot at fertility.

Writer/Director Paul Weitz wrote the sublime road comedy Grandma for Lily Tomlin, and now at the suggestion of Tomlin he wrote a new film for both Lily and Jane Fonda, one with characters unrecognizable from the pair they played for seven years on the Netflix sitcom, Grace And Frankie, in a story tinged with a dark side, as well as some pungent commentary on the effect of sexual trauma, even nearly a half century later. This is the kind of movie I love, independently made, using great actors in a unexpected kinds of roles, running a tight no-fat 85 minutes, and being thoroughly entertaining with something to say as well.

Lewis Milestone’s 1930 classic, All Quiet On The Western Front was based on the 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque and became the first adaptation of a book to win the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as the first Best Picture Oscar winner to also take Best Director. It has hardly been touched by filmmakers since then save for a TV Movie remake by director Delbert Mann in 1979 that starred Richard Thomas. Now that has changed, and in a significant way , as the book has finally been taken on by Germany with director Edward Berger’s (Patrick Melrose, Your Honor) adaptation (co-written with Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell) that finally shows us the perspective from the German side. It has already been selected as the German entry for the 95th Academy Awards Best International Film race, and just had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival today.

First a little warning. I had the good fortune to see The Good Nurse knowing absolutely nothing about it except it was a Netflix movie starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne. I had no idea which one was even ‘the good nurse’ of the title, and I was not familiar with the book it is based on, or even the fact it is actually a true story. For all I knew it was like a female version of Freddie Highmore in The Good Doctor. Netflix set up a screening for me at a local screening room. I sat by myself for two hours stunned by what I was seeing slowly take place, a turn of events I did not see coming as I realized I had the same experience in some ways as a viewer as Chastain’s character, Amy Loughren had in real life.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic “Nobody messes with my family!” shouts Queen Latifah, aiming a revolver at baddies during a late moment in “End of the Road.” It is one of several points in this Netflix thriller where the blatancy of undiluted cliché has an effect rather more comical than intended. Taking a brisk route from the pedestrian to the preposterous, Millicent Shelton’s slick but silly film diminishes its social-commentary edge by painting an African American family’s cross-country trip in cartoonishly broad terms, imperiled by crazy and/or criminal “crackers” at every junction.  Director and cast do their best — well, maybe not their best, but their competent professional duty — with a formulaic, contrived screenplay. Still, the results do no one much credit, landing closer to overripe cheese than taut suspense, or even guilty-pleasure terrain. “End” launches on the streamer Sept. 9. 

Ruby Stokes has a brand new series lined up following her exit from Bridgerton.

The Wonder is Gothic without the architecture. Set in rural central Ireland in the wake of the Great Famine of the mid-1800s, director Sebastian Lelio’s adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s 2016 novel methodically moves the chess pieces around in telling the tale of an 11-year-old girl who has locals mystified as to what God is intending by letting her survive for four months without eating. Atmospheric and intriguing up to a point, it nonetheless feels like much ado about a mildly curious situation that’s been milked for rather more than it’s worth.

Ethan Shanfeld Barack Obama is officially three-fourths of the way to an EGOT, as the former president of the United States nabbed his first Emmy for outstanding narrator. Obama lent his voice to the Netflix docuseries “Our Great National Parks,” narrating its five episodes that span from Patagonia, Chile, to Tsavo, Kenya. Netflix submitted the first episode, “A World of Wonder,” for Emmy consideration. In 2020, both Barack and Michelle Obama took home Oscars for the documentary “American Factory,” which they produced under their banner, Higher Ground. The doc tells the story of what happens when a Chinese company opens an automotive glass plant at a former General Motors location in Ohio, facing intense community skepticism and cultural differences.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic These days, with rappers singing about “wet-ass pussy” and Ana de Armas simulating a presidential blow job in “Blonde,” it’s hard to imagine a world in which a couple four-letter words are enough to get a book banned. In the case of D.H. Lawrence’s notorious 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” it was more than just the sex talk that riled the censors (the 1955 French film version was banned because it “promoted adultery”), although the book certainly seems tame by the standards of “Fifty Shades of Grey” and whatever gynecological surprises an un-Safe Google search might turn up. How then to approach Lawrence’s controversial classic today, when audiences have seemingly seen it all, but still find themselves surfing for titillation on Netflix (judging by the streamer’s T&A-skewing Top 10 lists)? In an admirable bid to make “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” at once respectable and arousing, French director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (“Mustang”) embraces the erotic nature of its source, while making it something you can still recommend to your mom, assuming she’s got nothing against a nude romp in the rain.

With five titles surpassing 1 billion minutes of streaming, the week of August 1 to 7 found a familiar champion on the Nielsen streaming chart: Stranger Things.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier has been promoted to the newly created role of president of Disney Television Studios and Business Operations for Disney General Entertainment. With the promotion, it was also announced that Bryan Noon would be exiting his role as president of entertainment for Walt Disney Television, but will stay onboard through a transition period. Noon came over to Disney from Netflix in November 2021. Schrier’s promotion was one of three announced by Dana Walden, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. It was also announced that Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu, has added Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals to his purview. In addition, Shannon Ryan has been named president of marketing for Disney General Entertainment. All three will report to Walden.

has started to look unsustainable, and it was widely reported in June that the days of blank cheques had come to an end. Do the streamer’s offerings at Venice this year represent that era’s last, loopy hurrah? White Noise, which opened the 78th edition of the festival this evening, certainly has a “last days of Rome” feel about it.

Chrishell Stause, Jason Oppenheim said he didn't think he'd be ready for another relationship for at least another two to three years. So, you can imagine his surprise when he fell hard for Marie-Lou Nurk, while on vacation, no less.The president and founder of The Oppenheim Group opened up to  and revealed how he and the Paris-based model met earlier this year.

Angelique Jackson Netflix’s restructuring continues with the impending departure of one of the streamer’s top film executives, Tendo Nagenda. The veteran executive, who joined Netflix from Disney in 2018, shepherded such movies as “The Harder They Fall,” “Da 5 Bloods” and the upcoming “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” for the streamer. Variety can confirm that Nagenda’s last day in his role will be Sept. 1. “Tendo joined the company four years ago and helped to build out our studio film team, who delivered movies such as ‘The Harder They Fall,’ ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,’ ‘The Old Guard,’ ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and ‘Hustle,'” Scott Stuber, Netflix’s head of global films, said in a statement. “He was integral in our evolution from acquiring and licensing films to making movies ourselves. We wish him all the best for the future.”