The Guardian Culture

Haex – a wilder, weirder open-world adventure

The debut from Scandinavian outfit Dead Astronauts promises shooting, survival, and, in a shake-up to the genre, seeds that terraform its pristine world right before your eyesThe wilds of the sub-Arctic north: towering pine trees, flashes of psychedelic-yellow lichen, and a sun that never wholly sets during the summer months. This land is gorgeous, yes, but also unforgiving, yet in Haex (pronounced “hex”) you have an unusual tool at your disposal to make it a little more hospitable: a cube that

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Deep Com Roots Sells ‘Summer Days’ to Half the World, as ISII Group Rolls on ‘Amor de Dios’ With Belen Rueda (EXCLUSIVE)

Flexing its muscles as one of the biggest new kids on its film industry block, Spain’s ISII Group has gone into production on “Amor de Dios” headlined by “The Orphanage” star Belén Rueda and produced by ISII banner label Inefable Productions.  The news comes as ISII Group distribution-sales house Deep Com Roots has sold “Summer […]

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Diego Luna to Be Feted at Sarajevo Film Festival as ‘Ashes’ Screens

Mexican actor, director and producer Diego Luna will be feted at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs Aug. 14 to 21. Luna will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo in recognition of his “outstanding career and indelible contribution to cinema.” The festival will screen “Ashes,” his latest directorial feature, which premiered at the Cannes […]

entertainment  1d ago

Hollywood Reporter

Diego Luna to Receive Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at Bosnian Film Festival

"It's been many years since I've wanted to go to Sarajevo," said the 'Andor' star.

entertainment  1d ago

Hollywood Reporter

Prime Video Picks Up 100-Plus Korean Dramas From CJ ENM in Multi-Year India Deal

The pact, an extension of a 2025 global licensing agreement, spans 26 new series, led by 'Yumi's Cells Season 3', 'Filing for Love' and 'The Legend of Kitchen Soldier.'

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Locarno’s StepIn Focuses on ‘Power, People, Data and the Future of Film’: ‘The Counter-Algorithm Is a Human Being Who Gives a Damn’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Now in its 15th year, Locarno’s think tank StepIn will debate “Power, People, Data and the Future of Film.” “Last year, StepIn focused on one of the defining qualities of independent cinema: the willingness to embrace risk. One of the strongest conclusions from those discussions was that playing it safe is rarely the smartest strategy,” […]

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

CBSO/Yamada review – Poulenc and Adams pairing is stylish, witty and thrilling

Royal Albert Hall, LondonLucas and Arthur Jussen brought fun and energy to Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, and John Adams’ Harmonium was monumental and moving in the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus’ Prom under their chief conductor Kazuki YamadaAmerican minimalism can punch and thrill, hypnotise and slow your pulse, but how often does it make you laugh? What a brilliant idea, then, from Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to pair John Adams’ formative 1980 epic

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

Tom Holland says some of his films are ‘shit’ and people shouldn’t see them

Speaking to the Dish podcast, it is unclear which films he was referring to, though the Spider-Man and Odyssey star said he was ‘super proud’ of both of thoseSpider-Man and Odyssey star Tom Holland says that some of his films are “shit” and that people “shouldn’t” see them.Holland was speaking on the Dish podcast and was asked by co-hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett about his experiences promoting his movies. Holland responded by saying: “When you’re doing press for movies that you’re real

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Sasikumar’s ‘Vadhandhi’ Season 2 Sets August Premiere on Prime Video (EXCLUSIVE)

Prime Video will globally premiere “Vadhandhi – The Mystery of Mani” this August, the streamer revealed, bringing back its Tamil-language original suspense thriller franchise for a second season. Andrew Louis, who created and wrote the first season, returns to write and direct Season 2, with Pushkar and Gayatri overseeing the project as creative producers under […]

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

The Phantom Pain of Rojava review – Kurdish veterans of the war against IS tell story of courage and survival

Maryam Ebrahimi’s documentary about a home for survivors of the war in northern Syria is tender, gentle and incredibly movingSpeaking over footage filmed at the funeral of a female army commander, documentary-maker Maryam Ebrahimi notes that it’s the first time she has seen women carrying a coffin in the Middle East. As they move through crowd of mourners, she adds: “Their sisterhood amazes me.” Ebrahimi is talking about the women of Rojava, the Kurdish-led autonomous socialist region in norther

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

‘The greatest album never made’: the untold story of George Michael’s secret, star-packed duets project

Suing his record label and sick of being a sex symbol, the singer spent 1992 working on the Trojan Souls for stars including Aretha Franklin and Bryan Ferry. Now, newly released studio footage shows him in his creative primeWham! special: read Andrew Ridgeley on their bizarre 1985 trip to ChinaThe George Michael album that never was began in defiance and ended in grief. It was 1992. Mired in a toxic dispute with Sony Records, Michael chose to keep busy and declare his independence by making an a

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

‘The Legend of Kitchen Soldier,’ ‘Yumi’s Cells’ Lead Prime Video India’s Slate of 100-Plus New CJ ENM Titles

Prime Video India and Korean powerhouse CJ ENM have signed a multi-year distribution deal that will add more than 100 Korean titles to the streamer’s Indian lineup over the next two years. The agreement covers 26 new titles from CJ ENM alongside a broader slate drawn from the studio’s existing library, and extends the companies’ […]

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Bill Oddie, Wildlife Presenter and Comedian, Dies at 85

Bill Oddie, the English comedian and conservationist known for hosting wildlife programs including BBC’s “Springwatch,” has died. He was 85. Oddie’s agent, David Foster, confirmed his death in a statement to BBC News on Monday, calling him “the country’s best-loved birder.” Foster continued: “Bill was a multi-talented celebrity — wildlife presenter, broadcaster, comedian, writer, songwriter, […]

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

Unauthorised version of Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey shared on X

A high-quality pirated version of the summer’s hit movie was leaked on Elon Musk’s X platform and viewed more than 3m times before being removed A leaked copy of The Odyssey has been taken down from Elon Musk’s X platform but only after a post flagging it gained millions of views.A high-quality pirated version of the film went viral at the weekend after an account linked to it saying “Someone uploaded ‘The Odyssey’ full movie on X. Can you believe it?”. The post flagging the film was viewed more

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong Urge U.K. Government to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger in Op-Ed: ‘It Threatens to Inflict Immense Harm’

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong have urged the U.K. government to intervene in the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros merger, saying it “threatens to inflict immense harm on the British public.” In an op-ed addressed to culture minister Lisa Nandy, the trio said her intervention could be “prove one of the most important decisions any […]

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

Bill Oddie, naturalist and broadcaster, dies aged 85

Coming to fame in The Goodies, Oddie was later known for his wildlife expertise and presented BBC SpringwatchThe writer, comedian and conservationist Bill Oddie has died aged 85. Having come to prominence with the comedy group The Goodies, Oddie later established himself as an authority on wildlife, presenting television series including the BBC’s Springwatch and Autumnwatch.Oddie’s agent paid tribute to his “intelligence and wit”. In a statement, David Foster said: “It is with deep sadness that

entertainment  1d ago

Variety

Dylan Mulvaney Fires Back After Trump Mocks Her and Kaitlan Collins in White House Correspondents’ Dinner Speech: ‘Actually the Greatest Compliment of All’

Dylan Mulvaney has hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump after he mocked the trans advocate, actress and singer in his White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech on Friday. “My name is Dylan Mulvaney and the president said my name four times in his speech on Friday night,” she began a TikTok video response posted on […]

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

‘The plane movie I’ll watch anytime’: why Up in the Air is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers’ most pleasurable comfort films is a journey through US airports with George ClooneyAirports have always been my happy place. From shiny citadels jutting out of the desert to shoddier European hubs located 120 miles outside the city they’re designated to serve; I love them all. With so many stories to be told, all those connections and people colliding, it’s a first-class seat to life itself. Which should go some way to explaining why I hold such a deep admira

entertainment  1d ago

The Guardian Culture

Glitched into empty space: why video games are obsessed with the Backrooms

The horror movie sensation of 2026 has its roots in gaming’s discovery of ‘noclip’ – and the hidden virtual realms that could be opened up inside games. Developers explain how everyone got lost in these liminal spacesIt starts on 4chan, in a May 2019 thread entitled “unsettling images”. The first post was a photo showing an empty room with the now iconic yellow wallpaper, no natural lighting and a kind of inexplicable jutting half-wall. Shortly afterwards, another user (there are no usernames on

entertainment  1d ago

Hollywood Reporter

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming, Benedict Wong Pen Op-Ed Urging U.K. to Block “Dangerous” Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

"Actors are often told to stay out of legal arguments... But we have spent our lives on enough U.K. sets, worked alongside enough U.K. crews [...] to know that this is not someone else’s argument. It is ours."

entertainment  1d ago