Reviews: Last News

Presence with the wily spy thriller Black Bag.Soderbergh and Presence screenwriter David Koepp load up the sex, lies, and video files for this taut tale of a search for the snake hiding within a nest of secret agents. The top agent, George Woodhouse, portrayed with cool determination by Michael Fassbender, is tasked with rooting out a mole embedded in a black-ops division of British intelligence.

both played by De Niro for God knows what reason — is turned into a dense, unfocussed and confusing history lesson that rambles on and on to middling effect. The plot goes nowhere glacially. Underdeveloped side characters are so far to the side, they’re out of frame.

rifle through its back catalog instead.This time, the House of Mouse has gone all the way back — to its first full-length feature film, 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” The result? Heigh-ho-hum. The timeless classic, a groundbreaking achievement for animation, has been turned into another pointless and awkward live-action automaton that vanishes from your mind the second it’s over.Modernizing the lovably retro “Snow White” was a dopey idea to begin with, and, while the execution isn’t horrible, the formulaic update is sleepy.

Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue, a warmly loving, gut-bustingly funny stage parody of the hit NBC series that ran for seven seasons from 1985 to 1982, and lives on in perpetuity in reruns. Bernier portrays Dorothy, made iconic by the indomitable and legendary late Bea Arthur, for whom the 6’3″ actor is also a dead ringer.To prepare for the role, which Bernier plays in full drag, he “consumed everything that Bea Arthur had ever done — and we’re talking from Maude to her brief gig on the Star Wars Holiday Special to her brief voiceover role in Futurama.

Mother Monster is Mother-ing again.Lady Gaga’s seventh solo studio album “Mayhem” — which was released to the delight of Little Monsters everywhere on Friday — returns the 38-year-old diva to the dance-in-the-dark moves of her early career.Before she began crooning classics with Tony Bennett.

Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle series that premiered on Netflix Tuesday is getting dragged by critics — and then some.The eight-episode show, produced by Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Productions, features the Duchess of Sussex, 43, showing off her cooking and gardening skills at home in Montecito, Calif. with appearances by some of her celebrity friends including Mindy Kaling.The Guardian TV writer Stuart Heritage called the series “pointless” and said it should be the couple’s “last TV show.”Markle and Harry, 40, signed a $100 million deal with the streamer in 2020.

Playbill cover of Broadway’s newest musical, Redwood.Over the course of two intermission-less hours, Menzel — who is also the show’s co-conceiver and collaborator — plays Jesse, a stereotypical high-strung New Yorker who belts songs, drives from Manhattan to California, talks excessively about grief, experiences flashbacks and memories of her deceased son, Spencer (Zachary Noah Piser) fights with her wife, Mel (De’Adre Aziza), and befriends two tree scientists, charming them in song with the following request:I can hold a tree pose/I can do a downward dog/’Cause I did yoga once at my old synagogue/and I don’t have a fear of heights/I work out all the time/So what I’m really trying to say is: Would you ever let me climb?Obviously, the scientists, Finn (Michael Park) and Becca (Khaila Wilcoxon), enjoy botany more than clever lyrics. Reluctantly, Jesse’s wish is granted.

Last Breath, a spare but riveting disaster drama about the frantic effort to rescue a diver stranded at the bottom of the North Sea.Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Peaky Blinders breakout Finn Cole are saturation divers Duncan, Dave, and Chris, tasked with repairing trans-ocean oil pipelines on the sea floor. Along with several other three-man crews, they work off of the dive support vessel Tharos, which, on this mission, has to sail into a storm.The ship’s captain Jenson, portrayed with steely resolve and just a hint of nerves by Cliff Curtis, is fairly new to this operation, where just about everyone else on board has history.

Bonus Track.Mop-haired teen misfit George (Joe Anders), entering his final year at St. Sebastian’s Catholic School in small-town West Yorkshire, England, isn’t all that different from his peers.

In the Heights, they can always return again.First, because barely a season goes by that a production doesn’t spring to life somewhere near you, wherever you may be. For the DMV this season, that means Signature Theatre’s terrific new production, directed by James Vásquez.

Death on the Nile at Arena Stage, locally-based legend Ken Ludwig pinpoints the tempestuous heart of one of the writer’s most popular mysteries, originally published in 1937. Excising some characters from the book, and inventing or reinventing others, Ludwig nails the frenzied love triangle that propels the story, set aboard the steamship Karnak cruising the Nile.Hana Sharif — directing her first Arena production since boarding as company artistic director in 2023 — populates the Karnak’s passenger list with an effective cast, starting with Armando Durán as famed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.Poirot doesn’t do much actual detecting in this iteration, as opposed to being just shrewdly observant, as usual, but Durán aptly conveys his authority as a solver of crimes.

Wicked by the self-proclaimed princess of “Popular,” Galinda, and it applies to people, places, films, film reviews, and the musical Wicked.Over the course of the show’s journey through Oz, Galinda eventually becomes Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, sworn foe of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, formerly her friend.The Tony-winning tale of their rivalry turned friendship turned feud, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, adapts the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire (itself a riff on the Oz characters created by L. Frank Baum, and made iconic in the 1939 MGM musical) into a teenage fantasy-romance promoting tolerance, individuality, and female empowerment.Opening on Broadway in 2003, the show is still running, the national tour and international productions still sell out, and the fanbase is fervently anticipating the big-budget film adaptation directed by Jon M.

Maybe Happy Ending, Will Aronson and Hue Park’s completely original musical about robot romance, has just opened.That thumbnail description is unlikely to have folks jumping online or flooding the box office to secure tickets. But like love itself, this show is worth the risk.Risk isn’t a friend to Oliver (Darren Criss), a Helperbot 3 who lives just outside of Seoul, Korea, in an apartment complex with other Helperbots, all of whom once possessed human-like qualities and were reliable aids to their Korean owners. But with newer models and improved technology, they were quickly replaced and discarded.Oliver now spends his days with his plant, Hwaboon, safe within the confines of his apartment.

As if theater performers didn’t already expose several dimensions of themselves onstage, even while in the guise of fictional roles, Mosaic’s world-premiere The Art of Care demands an extra degree of emotional and individual nakedness rarely required of actors.No one in the cast has to strip down, per se, but each member of the seven-person ensemble bares intimate glimpses at some of their own most vulnerable, even painful moments. Conceived and directed by Derek Goldman, The Art of Care was developed with its cast, who weave oral storytelling, dramatic scenes, songs, and movement into a warm tapestry of testimony, both to the caregivers in their lives, and to the care they’ve given.They also perform the testimony of caregivers who were interviewed for the play.

The Other Americans.One of seven world premieres marking Arena Stage’s 2024-25 season, The Other Americans arrives in a powerhouse production directed by award-winning actor-director Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and led by Leguizamo as proudly Colombian-American laundromat owner and family man Nelson Castro.Nelson holds court in his expansive home in affluent, mostly white Forest Hills, Queens, having moved his family from what he calls “ghetto-ass” Jackson Heights. A scrappy business owner with a small empire of ‘mats all over the borough, he might say he’s living the American dream, but we’re here to witness him waking up to very harsh reality.Leguizamo’s play also aims for a dream, of the Great American Drama, angling to add the Castro’s to theater’s roster of families — à la the Loman’s, the Younger’s, or the Tyrone’s — whose trials and traumas profoundly reflect aspects of the American condition.The emphasis here is on the Latino American condition circa 1998, though the play’s sharp examination of assimilation and upward mobility, or social climbing, reflects roiling tensions that transcend generations and ethnicities.

Emilia Pérez hits some exhilarating highs. The score, a heady mix of marches, rock, electro, and hip-hop composed by Clément Ducol and French singer Camille, steps off to a strong start with “El Alegato” (“The Argument”).Zoe Saldaña, underrated for the heartfelt credibility she brought to three different billion-dollar fantasy film franchises, leads the song-and-dance as Rita Mora Castro, a principled but worn-down attorney in the public defender’s office of Mexico City.Throughout the film, Saldaña imbues Rita with the same gravitas that made her Gamora the emotional linchpin of The Guardians of the Galaxy, adding the charge of a trained dancer’s physicality to Rita’s presence even outside the musical numbers.In “El Alegato,” Rita, rapping solo in her apartment and marching with the public she defends, puts the final touches on closing arguments in defense of headline-grabbing client Gabriel Mendoza, accused of murdering his wife.

Anora is also remarkably naïve, even for a stripper with a heart of gold. Played by Scream (2022) standout Mikey Madison, Anora, or Ani to friends and customers, honestly has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she accepts an offer from one especially enthusiastic customer to be his “horny girlfriend” for the week.Loaded, in every sense of the word, 21-year-old Russian heir Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Russian newcomer Mark Eydelshteyn) takes such a liking to Ani that he whisks her from the strip club to his mansion overlooking Brooklyn’s Jamaica Bay to a penthouse suite in Vegas.Blasting bong hits and vodka shots, they party with his friends, ball like billionaires, have raucous sex all over the place, and fully submit to their Pretty Woman fantasy.But, in fluidly shot, snappily edited scenes of the ladies at work at the club, Baker’s already shown how smoothly Ani can hustle the floor.

The Hills of California. Only here, dreams aren’t simply deferred.

fallen from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo neighborhood around 5pm local time.According to the Buenos Aires Police Department, Payne fell around 14 meters from a balcony. His body was found in the courtyard surrounded by tables and chairs, authorities said.In the minutes and hours following the news of his death, the hotel – described as a boutique property located in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo – was flooded with sickening comments acting as Google reviews.Among genuine feedback for the 4-star hotel, including comments praising the hotel’s stellar service and great location, trolls were quick to make disgusting jokes about the property’s third floor.“Good place, the only thing is to avoid staying on the third floor,” one person wrote.“Great hotel! The view from the third floor is to die for!” another added.“I liked the hotel, they are managing it in the right direction.

Babbitt may find Joe DiPietro’s theatrical adaptation a gratifying box-checker. However, for those who haven’t (recently or ever) read it, director Christopher Ashley’s production is too thin on the ground to resonate.In fact, dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg’s elegantly concise program essay should be seen as a companion — and required pre-curtain reading.

The Apprentice anticipating one particular turning point in the pair’s complicated relationship.Donald turning his back on Roy, when the notorious fixer was dying of an AIDS-related illness, wasn’t like the offhanded betrayal of a business interest, wife, or moral principle. Although, Abbasi (Holy Spider) and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence) supply ample scenes of their Donald, embodied spectacularly by Sebastian Stan, betraying trusts.Ranging around the film’s glamorous yet grimy 1970s/1980s New York City, Donald indulges in a near-daily diet of deceit and disloyalty, and absolutely no one is exempt from his dishonesty.