David Ehrlich: Last News

Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” her rare stamp of approval. Lisa Marie Presley, 54, praised the flick in an Instagram post on Saturday.

Ellise Shafer Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Chloe Fineman and more than 150 other Jewish creatives have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech. The list of 151 signees obtained by Variety also includes Phoenix’s sister Rain, three-time Oscar nominee Debra Winger, “May December” director Todd Haynes, “Sorry to Bother You” helmer Boots Riley, acclaimed filmmaker Joel Coen, “Room” director Lenny Abrahamson, “Arrested Development” star David Cross, documentarian Amy Berg, “Barbie” actor Hari Nef, legendary playwright Tom Stoppard, former Focus Pictures CEO James Schamus, comedian Kate Berlant, “You Hurt My Feelings” director Nicole Holofcener, “Secrets & Lies” auteur Mike Leigh, “Passages” filmmaker Ira Sachs, “Gossip Girl” actor and writer Tavi Gevinson, “The Princess Bride” actor Wallace Shawn, “Bottoms” director Emma Seligman, “Mistress America” star Lola Kirke, “Zola” helmer Janicza Bravo, “Broad City” stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson and IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Evans knows that critics hated “Ghosted,” his Apple original movie co-starring Ana de Armas. The film, directed by Dexter Fletcher, opened in April to abysmal reviews. It currently boasts a 26% Rotten Tomatoes score, and Variety called it “over-the-top and convoluted.” (Other critics, like IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, were even more brutal, calling the film “insultingly bland.”) In a new interview with GQ magazine, Evans admitted the film could’ve been better.

Sofia Coppola’s new film about Priscilla Presley is earning rave reviews.

Giving oneself over to art requires sacrifice in Todd Field’s thrilling new drama.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFast-rising 18-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith has inked with both Warner Chappell Music publishing and longtime Shawn Mendes manager Andrew Gertler’s AG Artists in partnership with Ziggy Chareton, Variety has confirmed. The news was first published in Hits.A native of Vancouver Island, the singer’s confessional, intimate songs like “Fingers Crossed” and her latest single “Flowers” have effectively set her on a track to be this year’s Olivia Rodrigo.

“fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable” — reviews have been mixed with one critic all shook up.IndieWire writer David Ehrlich published his review of the Austin Butler and Tom Hanks-led film Wednesday and trash-talked the flick, calling it a “nightmare” as well as “deliriously awful.”The journalist dove right into “Elvis” — out June 24 — writing that the “159-minute eyesore” is more about Hanks’ Colonel Tom Parker, the longtime manager of the “Love Me Tender” star, and less about Butler’s Elvis.He gave “Elvis” a grade of “D.”IndieWire described the Oscar winner’s character as the “Kentucky Fried Goldmember” and is “possibly the most insufferable movie character ever conceived.” The Hollywood Reporter seemed to agree, dubbing the “Forrest Gump” actor’s role as “arguably the least appealing performance of his career.”But for IndieWire’s Ehrlich, the problem seemed to lie in the pudding: the writing.“Luhrmann’s dizzying script (co-written by Sam Bromell, Jeremy Doner and Craig Pearce) frequently returns to the idea that Presley’s life was caught in the crossfire between two different Americas: One gyrating towards freedom, and the other snuffing it out,” he penned in his review.The critic also compares scenes in “Elvis” to Luhrmann’s other “sensory overload” and “swooningly electric moments” such as the fish tank sequence in his 1996 romance “Romeo + Juliet” and the wild party scene in 2013’s “The Great Gatsby.” “The hyper-romantic energy of those films helped braid the present into the past in a way that made them both feel more alive,” he wrote. “’Elvis’ discovers no such purpose.

Maverick is back on the big screen and film critics are hailing it as a triumphant return forTom Cruise.Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to Tony Scott's classic 1986 blockbuster, has been unanimously praised in early reviews with one declaring that it'improves upon the original in every conceivable way.'Cruise, 59, has reprised his role US Navy pilot LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, and reunites with Val Kilmer who is also back playing LT Tom "Iceman" Kazansky.Variety film criticPeter Debruge calls the film a 'barrier-breaking sequel' that succeeds because of its 'perfectly coordinated teamwork' among six pilots, rather than it being 'The Tom Cruise Show.' Maverick's triumphant return! Tom Cruise's 'exhilarating' Top Gun 2 is praised by film critics in rave first reviews saying it 'improves upon the original in every conceivable way'Cruise, who is famous for doing his own stunts, is said to have trained to withstand g-force power and actually flew in real fighter jets for the sequel.'These days, videogame-styled blockbusters rely so heavily on CGI that it’s thrilling to see the impact of gravity on actual human beings, pancaked to their chairs by multiple G-forces,' Debruge enthuses.'The result is the most immersive flight simulator audiences will have ever experienced, right down to the great Dolby roar of engines vibrating through their seats.' Wow factor:Variety hails the film as a 'barrier-breaking sequel' that succeeds because of its 'perfectly coordinated teamwork' among six pilots, rather than it being 'The Tom Cruise Show'Critic David Ehrlich also praised the technical milestones in his review for IndieWire, writing: 'Watching Cruise pilot a fighter jet 200 feet above the floor of Death Valley, corkscrew another one

Bob Verini Of the five 2021 Academy Award nominees for best international film, Italy’s entry, “The Hand of God,” most directly combines two of cinema’s most treasured themes: intensely personal autobiography that is able to speak to a wider audience, and the art of filmmaking itself.Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino uses the character of 16-year-old Fabietto Schisa — played by newcomer Filippo Scotti — to examine the real-life experiences that led to his own growth as a man as well as his eventual birth as a filmmaker.Watching audiences connect so deeply with a character that is drawn so closely from his own experiences has hit Sorrentino deeply. “Now that it’s more than one year that I shot the movie, I have to say that it’s strange, because now I am sharing my pain with a big audience,” he shares.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter seeing her song “Fingers Crossed” become a TikTok smash, Vancouver Island singer/songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith has partnered with Universal Music Group’s Island Records and Republic Records. According to the announcement, “The innovative partnership, structured with manager and business partner David Ehrlich (pictured above, right, with UMG chief Lucian Grainge, left, and Spencer-Smith), allows Lauren Spencer-Smith to keep her independent spirit via her own imprint while tapping into premium services from both labels.”After breaking through on TikTok, “Fingers Crossed” garnered over 100 million streams hitting the Top 50 on Spotify in 23 countries and peaked at No.

Eternals has set an undesirable record as the worst-rated film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Rotten Tomatoes.The movie is based on the Marvel comics of the same name, focusing on the immortal alien race called the Eternals who have come out of hiding in order to save Earth from the Deviants.While some critics who were privy to the film’s early screenings praised its scope and ambition, others were disappointed, with IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich labelling it as “just misfit spandex people fighting bad CG for 3 hours”.Eternals‘ current score of 53 per cent on the popular review aggregator site saw it rate far below Iron Man 2 (72 per cent) – considered by many Marvel fans to be the weakest entry in the franchise – as well as Thor: The Dark