Culture, style, and media — the stories, sounds, and scenes shaping the conversation.

What does Steve Carell have to do for Emmy voters to take notice? In recent years, he’s died in car accidents twice (Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and Netflix’s “Four Seasons”), been a billionaire with incurable cancer (HBO’s “Mountainhead”) and a therapist held hostage by his ho

Olivia Wilde brought “The Invite” to Locarno. “I’m in shock. This is overwhelming and exciting,” she told the audience at Piazza Grande, which reportedly has one of the world’s largest cinema screens.  “This is the European premiere of ‘The Invite’ and it’s the first time – and p

“Game Changer” author Rachel Reid is unbothered by the early critics of the “Heated Rivalry’s” upcoming second season. On Friday, it was revealed that Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie are joining the Season 2 cast of “Heated Rivalry.” Then, later that same day, Reid took to he

Bill Maher made a joke about Ariana Grande’s weight during Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” and drew mixed reactions from his live audience. “I hope the aliens are here, I do. I hope they’re here and watching us and they’re going to save us,” Maher said during his opening monolog

Emerging Italian director Giovanni Tortorici, whose feature debut “Diciannove” made a splash last year after launcing from the Venice Horizons section, is in competition at the Locarno Film Festival with his followup, “Ketticè,” a coming-of-age drama set in 2012 Palermo, featurin

Monica Bellucci’s sneer is a thing of wonder, so why have so few directors used it properly? When allowed full rein to her sense of irony, as given her by Giovanni Tortorici in “Ketticè,” Bellucci has few equals in her ability to project self-aware drama queen with just the right

The suits of Hollywood are used to big numbers. That’s how they roll. But the record-setting opening weekend of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” isn’t something that happens every day, or every year — more like once a decade. Domestically, the film enjoyed the biggest opening weekend

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” and New Jersey entertainment and retail center American Dream will open a real-life Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location in East Rutherford, N.J., in 2027. Based on the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” franchise, the immersive restaurant experience is a functional r

Florian Hoffmann’s “Yazz,” about a teenager growing up in a UN compound in the Central African Republic, celebrated two major wins at this year’s Locarno Pro Awards for the Alliance 4 Development co-development platform for projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switze

What does Steve Carell have to do for Emmy voters to take notice? In recent years, he’s died in car accidents twice (Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and Netflix’s “Four Seasons”), been a billionaire with incurable cancer (HBO’s “Mountainhead”) and a therapist held hostage by his ho

“The Odyssey” has notched two major box office milestones over the weekend. The big-budget adaptation of Homer’s original epic is officially Christopher Nolan’s biggest movie ever, with $1.1 billion, ranking ahead of 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” with $1.08 billion, not adjusted

LOCARNO, Switzerland —  Cross-ocean love story “Spring Story” and false miracle comedy “The Surubí,” won big at Locarno’s 2026 pix-in-post First Look focus on Uruguay, sharing its top five prizes at a Sunday evening Aug. 9 awards ceremony.  The industry plaudits went to two of th

Letterboxd, the cinephile social media platform for sharing movie reviews, went down Sunday morning, leaving users locked out of their accounts. Users who opened the Letterboxd app early Sunday found themselves signed out of their profiles. Entering account information and trying

Olivia Wilde brought “The Invite” to Locarno. “I’m in shock. This is overwhelming and exciting,” she told the audience at Piazza Grande, which reportedly has one of the world’s largest cinema screens.  “This is the European premiere of ‘The Invite’ and it’s the first time – and p

Spidey keeps climbing… and climbing… and climbing at the box office. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has amassed a heroic $1.67 billion after just 12 days in theaters, including $1.01 billion internationally and $655 million domestically. It’s the second-fastest movie to reach the bi

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is continuing its unparalleled box office run, scoring another $145 million domestically during its second weekend in theaters. Just to put those stratospheric ticket sales in context, only one movie this year — “Toy Story 5” — earned around that much