The Guardian Culture

Mockbuster review – how to survive the nightmare of directing a terrible low-budget horror film

Struggling to make it in Australia, aspiring director Anthony Frith cold-calls the team behind Sharknado and bites off more than he can chew in this making-of documentary‘A bad movie is better than no movie” is the motto of this behind-the-scenes documentary, which charts director Anthony Frith’s quest to make his debut feature for ultra-schlock studio The Asylum; it doubles up as an affable salute to film-making savoir-faire.Stuck making corporate videos to support his young family, Adelaide-ba

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Andy Burnham Is Officially U.K. Prime Minister

The left-wing politician and former mayor of Manchester — widely seen as "a man of the people" in Britain — takes over from Keir Starmer after being named Labour Party leader last week.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

‘The Odyssey’ Smashes ‘Star Wars’ Record Over London’s BFI Imax Opening Weekend

The U.K.'s largest screen has become the number one Imax venue in the world thanks to Christopher Nolan's latest epic.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

AMC Theatres Sees Revenue Rise As Hollywood Box Office Bounces Back

The exhibition giant saw its net loss grow as overall revenue jumped 14 percent to $1.59 billion during the second quarter.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

Andy Burnham Becomes U.K. Prime Minister, Succeeding Keir Starmer

Andy Burnham became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday, taking over from Keir Starmer in a handover choreographed around a visit to Buckingham Palace, where Starmer formally resigned and King Charles III then invited Burnham to form a government. Before heading to the Palace, Starmer delivered a farewell address outside 10 Downing Street, […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Spanish National Orchestra/Afkham review – Proms debut sees orchestra’s celebrations kick off early

Royal Albert Hall, LondonOutgoing chief conductor David Afkham brought Spanish repertoire, castanets and a certain team’s football scarf in a programme heavy with national treasuresWhat a night for Spain. No, not because of sporting happenings in New Jersey, but because – nearly 90 years since their founding – their National Orchestra finally made their Proms debut under chief conductor David Afkham to a packed Royal Albert Hall. It was a beginning, but also a celebratory end: Afkham hands over

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

Former ‘This Morning’ Host Holly Willoughby Heads to YouTube for New Lifestyle Series

Holly Willoughby, best known until recently as the host of ITV’s daytime show “This Morning,” is set to make a comeback. Rather than return to ITV, however, she has opted to launch her new lifestyle series “Holly Willoughby Together” on YouTube. Premiering July 28, the show is described as a “multi-platform lifestyle series built around […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Venice Critics’ Week Unveils Political, Experimental Lineup

An AI-assisted video essay from Colombia, a Tunisian sci-fi dystopia, and an Italian coming-of-age musical are among this year's Critics' Week selections.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Acting the fool: why have Hollywood press tours become so gimmicky?

From playing would you rather to ranking snacks, A-listers navigating the promo trail are now forced on a set schedule of sillinessThis summer, we’ve been blessed with new movies from the legendary director Steven Spielberg and one of his biggest and most beloved successors, Christopher Nolan. In both cases, the movies have been heavily sold on the directors’ names, and, befitting two of the most famous film-makers to ever do it, Spielberg and Nolan have been making the press rounds. This has me

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Out of Sight review – mountain idyll on the Swiss border is a gilded cage for distressed asylum seekers

Young men share their heartbreaking experiences of an Alpine ‘deportation camp’ in Lisa Polster’s impactful, gentle documentaryLocated on the Swiss-Austrian border, the Bürglkopf mountain is a picture-perfect Alpine landscape, with its verdant fields and scenic trails. The tranquil idyll is a popular holiday spot, with thousands of tourists each year. Some visitors, however, are less welcome than others. Nestled among the lush forest on the mountaintop is a so-called deportation camp, where asyl

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

Venice Critics’ Week Lineup: Shalini Adnani’s Family Drama ‘Our Share of Sand,’ AI-Assisted Colombian Doc ‘The End of Times’ and More

London-based Chilean-Indian director Shalini Adnani’s debut feature “Our Share of Sand,” about a 12-year-old girl named Maya who returns to rural India to reconnect with her estranged father, is among standout entries in the upcoming Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week. The section, dedicated to first works from around the world, also comprises two titles from Colombia: […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Daniel Ings, Jessica Brown Findlay to Star in Olivia Grant’s Directorial Debut, ‘The Two Week Wait’ (Exclusive)

The personal project, chronicling a woman's painstaking experience navigating IVF and infertility, will have its world premiere at the Indy Shorts Film Festival.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

James Gray to Be Honored With Locarno Film Festival Career Award

The Locarno Film Festival will honor James Gray with a lifetime career award at this year’s edition, where the U.S. auteur’s most recent work, “Paper Tiger,” will screen. Gray will receive the Pardo alla Carriera award on Aug. 9 and will present “Paper Tiger” — which launched in May from Cannes — at the fest’s […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Hollywood Reporter

Locarno to Honor James Gray, “the Last Great Novelist of American Cinema,” With Career Leopard

“His films form a rich body of work that echoes the Jewish diaspora, film noir, and Russian as well as North American literature,” says artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

‘Shrimad Bhagavatam’ Anchors Sagar Pictures Entertainment’s Global Push, Indian Studio Confirms (EXCLUSIVE)

Sagar Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has confirmed the launch of a global studio business, moving beyond film and television production into an intellectual property-led growth strategy spanning gaming, music, consumer products and theme parks. The Mumbai-based studio said it is transitioning from a traditional content company into what it describes as a future-focused entertainment enterprise, aiming […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

A Useful Ghost review – exhilarating black comedy summons ghosts of Thai past via a haunted hoover

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s stylish and unique movie features an unquiet spirit that inhabits a vacuum cleaner, before political interests interveneHere is a stylish and exhilaratingly confident debut from 39-year-old Thai film-maker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, which won the critics’ week grand prize at Cannes last year. It is a supernatural black-comic fantasy of national grief executed with passion and panache, about the ghosts who have refused their afterlife confinement after the country’s

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Shania Twain: Little Miss Twain review – rootsy revival strays from the dirt track to the middle of the road

(Republic Nashville)The country legend’s seventh album revisits her troubled early life but plays it safe with zany humour and fluffy songs about young love‘When I was a kid, I started on stages just like this,” Shania Twain told the 200 fans sardined into a London pub back in June, trailing her seventh album Little Miss Twain. A reintroduction to the Canadian country legend, the record mines memories from her Ontario childhood for hints of the arena-filling star she would soon become.Over wistf

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

Variety

‘New-Gen’ Universe Launches First Consumer Products Line With Comic-Con Trading Cards (EXCLUSIVE)

New-Gen Universe, Inc. is launching its first consumer products initiative at San Diego Comic-Con, debuting an exclusive collector’s trading card set made with Cryptozoic Entertainment to celebrate its Marvel-distributed comic series. Just 300 convention exclusive boxes exist worldwide for the July 23–26 event, making this among the rarest “New-Gen” collectibles released to date. Designed solely […]

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

‘Being American feels helpless and scary’: actor Ben Platt on nerves, queer songs and why he couldn’t do it without his husband

The star of Dear Evan Hansen plays a 1960s Greenwich Village crooner in hit queer musical Midnight at the Never Get. It’s the perfect outlet for his anxiety, he saysIn performance, Ben Platt is a mellifluous singer and loose-limbed dancer, with a fizzy back-note of neurotic New York. The stage – most famously, as star of Dear Evan Hansen – is his safe space. In person, in a south London rehearsal room, he is sweet, earnest, nervy. He crosses his legs, knots his arms about him. The chat roams wid

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026

The Guardian Culture

Top 30: from half a million World Cup photos, why I love these the most

Our picture editor chooses his favourite images from the tournament including Lionel Messi’s cathedral, that delicious diving header from Jude Bellingham and a humbling scene in GazaWhat makes a great World Cup photograph? Now there’s a question with myriad answers. Composition, newsworthiness, emotional resonance, expert timing and luck can all contribute to varying degrees. But one thing they all share is the power to capture attention.On the Guardian sport picture desk, we have received more

entertainment  Jul 20, 2026