Fears of a future where artificial intelligence overpowers flesh-and-blood humans have always been a paramount tenet of sci-fi storytelling. And when these sentient robots closely resemble human behavior and exterior appearance (as in “Blade Runner” or “AI Artificial Intelligence”), then the conundrum of whether they should be granted human dignity rather than being seen as […]
Philippines auteur Brillante Mendoza’s film “Pula” has set a world premiere on Netflix. The narrative unfolds in the devoutly Catholic town of Pula and examines themes of faith, fanaticism, and vigilante justice. In the film, the tranquil life of Senior Master Sergeant Danilo Faraon (Coco Martin) and his family get upended by a tragic event […]
While broadly based in reality, the entire movie is a put-on, a wackazoid tall tale, a comedy that uses the breakfast wars as the spin-off point for a high-camp exercise in nostalgic lunacy.
When filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed first hears the recorded voice of her late mother Sheila Turner Seed, who died when she was only 18 months old, a long-buried sense of connection is instantly reawakened. Seed, also a photographer, has spent years trying to construct a portrait of Turner from the substantial archival materials she left […]
In the promotional blitz running up to her third album, “Radical Optimism,” Dua Lipa continuously waxed intellectual about self-realization and the freedom that comes from growth, spurred by situations both good and bad. “I think it’s important that we just learn to walk through the fire and not hide away from it,” she told Variety […]
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “With So Little to Be Sure Of,” the sixth episode of the final season of ABC’s “Station 19.” Boris Kodjoe is ready to start his next chapter. Since wrapping production last month on the final season of ABC’s venerable firefighter drama “Station 19,” the 51-year-old actor — who […]
When “Curb Your Enthusiasm” began its run on HBO all the way back in 2000, creator/star Larry David had a very specific rule: He wouldn’t let the show’s cast read the episodic outlines. “The first three seasons I did not even see an outline,” “Curb” star Cheryl Hines tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I wasn’t […]
“The Fall Guy” costume designer Sarah Evelyn received the script long before Oscar nominee Emily Blunt was on board to play Jody, an aspiring film director. As Evelyn thumbed through the pages, she was attracted to the idea of how it felt like a classic movie with a prototypical underdog. In putting Jody’s looks together, […]
