Stephen Chow’s ‘Monkey King,’ Plus ‘Boons and Curses’ and ‘Mech Cadet,’ Coming to Netflix in 2023

Guy Lodge Film Critic“Fire” begins in water: a wide, rippling expanse of Mediterranean blue under a cloudless sky, displaced and disrupted by two whirling human bodies. Sara (Juliette Binoche) and Jean (Vincent Lindon) tussle in the otherwise empty ocean as though they’ve just discovered weightlessness, while Eric Gautier’s camera lingers on skin touching skin under the shimmer.

BBC show for "dumbing down" questions for the celebrity contestants.Romesh, 43, who took over from former host Anne Robinson, was joined by seven famous faces including Loose Women star Kaye Adams, Countryfile host Sean Fletcher and Homes Under the Hammer star Martel Maxwell in a bid to win some money for their chosen charity.As viewers tuned into to the BBC quiz show, fans blasted the series of “pi** easy” questions served up to delighted contestants, with some claiming even their five-year-old could answer them.Some of the easy questions heard on the show included: “Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the 14th of which month”, "how much is the cost of plastic bag in the UK”, and “the prime minister lives at which street address in London”.One angry fan wrote: “Not being funny but my five-year-old could answer these questions!”A second agreed: “Them pi** easy questions didn't really require that much intelligence tbf,” while a third added: “Some of these questions!! Too Easy!”Loose Women star Linda Robson was the first to be voted off after screwing up a question about the Great British Sewing Bee.Following shortly after was Sean Fletcher, with presenter Martel and comedian Ed Gamble making it to the final round.After Martel answered two questions wrong in the final round, including one about someone's Achilles heel - to which she mistakenly answered “Hercules heel” – Ed was crowned the winner bagging £9.5k for his charity that supports research into Type 1 diabetes.“Seriously, these questions on the new Weakest Link are pathetically easy,” a fan added, as some believed host Romesh was “too nice” in comparison to his predecessor.“Anne Robinson wouldn’t have all this ‘we love you’ shi*e ,” blasted one viewer.While another

Valentine’s Day with the ghost of her dead husband. The TV medium revealed hubby John’s spirit has been communicating with her from “the other side” since his death four months ago.She says she speaks with him every day, and she has seen his ghost. The ex-Celebrity Big Brother star says their cat Marmalade has too – and their bulldog Nell barks when he is there.

Singer Natalie Imbruglia was crowned the winner of The Masked Singer UK after she was unveiled as Panda on the hit ITV show. The Australian-British songwriter and actress, who has hits including Torn, Shiver and Wrong Impression, floored Mo Gilligan, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall and guest judge Joss Stone during the final on Saturday 12 February.

She celebrated her 31st birthday with her aunt Julia Roberts the day before.And Emma Roberts appeared to have drawn out the celebration when she went out with friends on Friday night to the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood.The blond beauty was seen out in public for the first time since she split from her partner Garrett Hedlund in January. On the town: Emma Roberts, 31, continued her birthday celebrations on Friday night by joining friends at the Sunset Tower in West Hollywood.

bodybuilder after undergoing some major lifestyle changes and losing 48kg of fat. When Richard Smith, 38, was in his late 20s, he struggled to walk up the stairs without taking a break. Richard, from Neath in Wales, was labelled as “clinically obese” and suffered from daily debilitating headaches and chronic fatigue, Wales Online reports.

Rapper Kodak Black has been identified as one of the three people who were shot while attending Justin Bieber‘s afterparty in Los Angeles on Friday night.

Tyson Fury has vowed to chin Jimmy Carr in response to the comedian's recent controversial joke about gypsies and the Holocaust.The self-proclaimed Gypsy King boxer said if Carr was man enough to make offensive jokes, then he is “man enough to get punished for it” when asked his opinion on the current furore.Tyson, 33, said: "Jimmy you are getting chinned when I see you. Last time I saw you, you had enough to say on the Mo Gilligan show – so this time you’re getting chinned, mush."Carr, 49, has come under fire in recent weeks after his stand-up show hit headlines for crude jokes.The comedian joked that gypsy deaths in the Holocaust are "not talked" about because they were a "positive" in his new Netflix show, His Dark Materials.Charities and anti-hate groups have lined up to condemn the joke and have urged Netflix to cut it from the show.While Fury admitted that Carr needed to "pay the consequences", he said it would be silly for him to be "kicked off TV" as a result."I don’t get involved with jumping on board a ship that is sinking.

The Army has fired a soldier who failed fitness tests after weighing in at more than 30 stone. The obese squaddie was unable to go on operations because he could not squeeze into his body armour.He is one of around 25 “morbidly obese” members of the armed forces who have had to leave on medical grounds.The six heaviest together weighed more than a ton.

stormy weather, a waste company boss has warned.An empty one can weigh the same as a bowling ball and cause “chaos and destruction” during gales.They can also cause thousands of pounds of damage to property. Mark Hall, of waste collection firm Divert.co.uk, said: “We’ve all seen videos of bins being blown down the street during storms.

The Masked Singer crowned Natalie Imbruglia its winner - but some fans of the ITV show felt her rivals had been robbed of the top prize.The epic final of the third series of the singing show aired on Saturday night (February 12), and it saw Natalie beat Robobunny and Mushroom for the top spot.Robobunny came third place, and was unveiled as Westlife star Mark Feehily - leaving judge Rita Ora gushing as she's a big fan of the Irish band.In second place was Mushroom, who was unmasked to be Welsh singer Charlotte Church.However, many fans weren't happy with the result, and they complained about the show on Twitter.Some fans felt Charlotte deserved to win the show.One said: "Charlotte Church robbed on #TheMaskedSinger"A second agreed: "Church ‘Mushroom’ deserved the win…don’t know why ‘Panda’ won. Vote defos wasn’t based off talent"A third fumed: "as if she was better than Charlotte church what a waste of my weekends"Other felt like Westlife's Mark should have been crowned the victor.One said: "Natalie Umbruglia?! Are you sh***ing me?! Thats nothing compared to Mark from Westlife doing multiple voices! Can't help but feel robbed"A second agreed: "Omg come on! Robobunny was way better! Mark from Westlife doing multiple voices! And you give it to some has been! Have a day off! Massive anti climax!"Others were delighted that Natalie won, though.One said: "Congratulations Natalie Imbruglia.

Jo Koy will bring his Filipino culture-centric humor from stand-up to sitcom with the ABC comedy Josep.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterParamount Television head Nicole Clemens is seen as the likeliest candidate to oversee Paramount Plus’ content and programming strategy, according to sources familiar with the matter.The move comes after Paramount Plus head of programming Julie McNamara, a 15-year-veteran of ViacomCBS, announced her departure Thursday.Paramount declined to comment.More to come…

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAfter 15 years at CBS and now ViacomCBS, Paramount Plus head of programming Julie McNamara is departing the company.ViacomCBS President and CEO of streaming Tom Ryan shared the news with staff Thursday, and with a note from McNamara, who called it a “bittersweet moment.”“Working closely with my friend David Stapf, CBS Studios went from being a small boutique studio, to one of the most successful content suppliers in the world,” she wrote. McNamara, who was elevated to head of programming at CBS All Access (now Paramount Plus) in Feb.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterThe CW’s pilot of “Powerpuff,” the live-action series based on the popular Cartoon Network animated show “The Powerpuff Girls,” is being overhauled and re-shot because the initial pilot was “too campy” and not as rooted in reality as network execs would have liked. The CW also offered an update on the fate of “The 100” prequel on a press briefing Tuesday on the network’s fall schedule“The reason you do pilots is because sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss,” said The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz about “Powerpuff.” “We believe in the cast completely.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterWhen Netflix launched its streaming platform in Japan nearly six years ago and began curating collections of television series and films, there were some moods that just didn’t translate to English. Rochelle King, Netflix’s VP of creative production, recalls one woman on her team who suggested they use the Japanese term honobono, which roughly means “relaxed” or “heartwarming,” as a tag for some of its content that best captured a “mellow kind of feeling.” Similarly, the same staffer, after conversations with a colleague, suggested the platform incorporate the Tagalog terms kilig and hugot — “feel-good romance” and “painful nostalgia,” respectively — to label projects for its Filipino audience.

The Iceberg that sent the unsinkable ship the Titanic to a watery grave 109 years ago has gone viral, and wants everyone to know it wasn’t HIS fault. Blame the water.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterSince gaining oversight of ABC Entertainment in a December reorg at Walt Disney Co., Hulu Originals chief Craig Erwich has taken charge of “a bigger chessboard” to make programming moves.“The reorganization has given me the space to really focus on creative matters, as the excellence of our programming continues to drive our business forward,” he told Variety ahead of Disney’s big upfronts presentation Tuesday afternoon.Now that Erwich is shepherding two networks, one headquartered in Santa Monica (Hulu) and the other located in Burbank (ABC), it’s not clear how he’ll be divvying up his time once staffers begin to file back into physical offices after the pandemic.“We haven’t really made decisions around return

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterLionsgate is reconfiguring its worldwide television distribution operations and promoting two executives as it looks to capitalize on the demand for premium content in an ever-competitive market, with more personnel announcements expected in the weeks to come.Kate Nexon, most recently senior vice president of North American TV and digital sales, has been upped to executive vice president of domestic TV and digital distribution, where her duties have been expanded to focus on the domestic SVOD market.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterNBC unveiled a 2021-2022 fall season lineup that will feature a stack of “Law & Order” series on Thursdays — giving producer Dick Wolf two full nights of shows on the schedule — as the network courts audiences with dependable procedurals and nary a comedy until mid-season.Thursday nights this fall mark a real turn from the days of the Peacock network’s must-see comedy blocks: Season 23 of “Law & Order: SVU” will be sandwiched by Wolf’s newest addition to the franchise, “Law & Order: For the Defense,” and a second season of Christopher Meloni spinoff “Law & Order: Organized Crime.” Wednesday nights feature Wolf’s “Chicago” lineup: “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire,” and “Chicago P.D.” NBC has also bowed to ratings

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterMagnolia Network, Discovery’s joint venture with home improvement gurus Chip and Joanna Gaines, is premiering four more original series to round out its summer slate: “The Cabin Chronicles,” “Extraordinary Stories Behind Everyday Things,” “RE(Motel)” and “Where We Call Home.”The quartet of new shows will debut on Discovery Plus, the streaming home of Magnolia Network, as well as on the Magnolia app. The network’s full summer slate features 30 original programs as well as the complete archives of “Fixer Upper,” the show that first launched the Gaines’ TV career, and precedes the January 2022 launch of Magnolia Network’s linear rebrand of DIY Network.