The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice arrived with about as much subtlety as its scheduling at the Toronto International Film Festival. Just as the Ali Abassi-directed film was plopped into the festival’s opening night schedule on Thursday as a last-minute surprise, the film barrels into its thesis without much warning or preamble. Documenting the former U.S. president’s beginnings … Read more
Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched a television genre that made household names of Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88. NBC’s Today show said Donahue died on Sunday after a long illness. Dubbed “the king of daytime talk,” Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, … Read more
It’s a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and the sounds of Toronto’s torrential downpour blend with live instrumentals from various music scores that accompanied films made by one of Hollywood’s most famed Canadian directors, the late Norman Jewison. These notes and melodies fill the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), a space Jewison founded as a launching point for new generations … Read more
A documentary about Elton John and an Amy Adams-led horror comedy about a stay-at-home mom whose life turns surreal will have their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. Elton John: Never Too Late promises to “pull the back the curtain” on the superstar’s life and is co-directed by R.J Cutler and Toronto’s David Furnish, … Read more
Jennifer Lopez said on Friday that her This Is Me… Live summer concert tour has been cancelled so she can take time to be with her family. Lopez wrote on her website that she is “completely heartsick and devastated” about letting her fans down. “Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that … Read more
Actress Chhaya Kadam, known for her role in “All We Imagine As Light,” recently opened up about the impromptu dance that took place on the red carpet at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. While talking to PTI, Chhaya shared her reaction to a playful tease from someone in Mumbai regarding their impromptu dance performance. The … Read more
Richard M. Sherman, one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of brothers who helped form millions of childhoods by penning the instantly memorable songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — as well as the most-played tune on Earth, It’s a Small World (After All) — has died. He was 95. Sherman, together with … Read more
Sean Baker’s Anora, a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or. Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s star, Mikey Madison, watching in the audience at the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday. The win … Read more
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee who ate only at McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53. Spurlock died Thursday in New York from complications of cancer, according to a statement issued Friday by his family. “It was a sad day, as we said … Read more
OpenAI says it plans to halt the use of one of its ChatGPT voices after some users said it sounded like Scarlett Johansson, who famously voiced a fictional, and at the time futuristic, AI assistant in the 2013 film Her. In a post on the social media platform X Monday, OpenAI said it is “working … Read more
