Gabriela Cowperthwaite is the first to admit her new film, I.S.S., is out of step with her career to date. The director of Blackfish (a documentary about the cruel treatment of orcas in captivity, Children of the Underground (about a covert network built to smuggle families away from abusive partners) and Our Friend (a true story of … Read more
An Indigenous superhero gets her own Marvel spinoff next week — the first of the company’s bets on projects that don’t require prior knowledge of its popular cinematic universe. The Disney+ series Echo stars Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, a.k.a. Echo, the Indigenous-Latin American leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a criminal gang run by the villainous Wilson Fisk, … Read more
Let’s get the honourable mentions out of the way, first. Rihanna performed at the SuperBowl — and announced a pregnancy while she was onstage. The Beatles released a new song using an old demo from the late John Lennon, featuring additions by Paul McCartney, the late George Harrison and Ringo Starr, as well as a little help … Read more
Netflix’s newest apocalyptic thriller, Leave the World Behind, has people talking. Directed by Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, the film stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Kevin Bacon. It’s adapted from the 2020 novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, and produced by Higher Ground Productions, the company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama. Despite shooting to No. … Read more
For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, The Boy and the Heron, debuted with $12.8 million US, according to studio estimates. The Boy and the Heron, the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of Spirited Away, My Neighbor … Read more
