Sentinel Screen
Movie Review: ‘Jackass: Best and Last’ is just a clip-job of greatest hits. And we mean hits
Pour one out for the “Jackass” crew. They’re done. “Jackass: Best and Last” is a sad but fitting end to an extreme stunt franchise that was vanquished not by imagination but time. The fifth and final main installment has all that you’d expect from the Jackass Cinematic Universe — genitalia, electricity, gravity and port-a-potties, often […]
Movie Review: Sex is on the menu in Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy of manners ‘The Invite’
Soufflé is for dinner but much more is on the table in Olivia Wilde’s deliciously entertaining chamber comedy, “The Invite,” about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks who invite their upstairs neighbors over for an impromptu get-together. Such a gathering is, of course, a standby setup of stage and screen, alike. Faster than […]
The Minions and their ‘big boss’ Chris Meledandri keep a blockbuster machine humming
NEW YORK | When Illumination founder and chief executive Chris Meledandri earlier this month received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he wondered how many visitors it will have. “In years to come, as people walk down Hollywood Boulevard, they’ll come across my star,” he said to the assembled crowd. “And unless they’re […]
What to Stream: Paul Simon, ‘In the Hand of Dante,’ ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and Star Fox
A Paul Simon concert special and Season 2 of the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: a new Larry David series celebrating […]
Movie Review: ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ drains the blood, and life, out of an old English legend
In the opening moments of Michael Sarnoski’s “The Death of Robin Hood,” Hugh Jackman’s Robin shelters on a cold and desolate peatland. A young attacker (Jade Croot) emerges from the dark emptiness beyond his campfire. He grabs her, tells her it was a mistake to bathe. He could smell her downwind. Then he puts a […]
Movie Review: ‘Leviticus’ makes a demon out of desire in an auspicious debut for Adrian Chiarella
What if the object of your desire was also the thing that’s trying to kill you? Not slowly irritating you to death for leaving the toilet seat up again. We mean actively trying to strangle you. That’s the intriguing premise behind the horror-satire “Leviticus,” an auspicious feature film debut for writer-director Adrian Chiarella that’s both […]
Movie Review: In ‘Toy Story 5,’ it’s (digital) apocalypse now for toys
The “Toy Story” movies, like “Star Wars” and those games Michael Jordan played with the Washington Wizards, pose a problem of canon. The first three movies are a near-perfect trilogy: a series that spanned a childhood: from bedroom playtime to college, from enchantment to loss. The scope didn’t seem epic. The movies rarely strayed much […]
Sean Penn to direct Warner Bros. movie about a police officer at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
NEW YORK | Sean Penn will direct a movie about a police officer who was at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021, Warner Bros. announced Tuesday. Following his Oscar-winning performance in “One Battle After Another,” Penn will direct the as-yet untitled film from his own script. Bradley Cooper is in talks to star, though […]
‘Obsession’ is a sensation. Everyone, including Curry Barker, is trying to figure out what it means
NEW YORK | Days before “Obsession” opened in theaters, its 26-year-old director, Curry Barker, made a bet with his manager and agent. They said if the movie opened above $20 million, they would all get tattoos. “Obsession” fell just short. It debuted with $17 million. They were still thrilled. Barker made the horror film with […]
From YouTube to Hollywood: Digital creators are remaking the movie business
NEW YORK | Some of the most promising young filmmakers in the movie business are arriving in Hollywood already experts at entertaining audiences and going viral. The twin sensations of “Obsession” and “Backrooms” — both by 20-something YouTubers-turned-filmmakers — has put a new spotlight on an increasingly well-trod path to the director’s chair. Hollywood executives […]