Reviews: Last News

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” shows just how wrong a tried-and-true formula can go.How could these filmmakers possibly fumble the simple plot of “Answer the phone, find the ghost, vanquish the ghost”? Start by playing up a wholesome family sitcom dynamic that sanitizes the old story into a forgettable “Growing Pains” with lasers. After the likable last film, the Spenglers have relocated from dusty Oklahoma to New York City, where grandpa Egon (the late Harold Ramis) and pals Peter (Bill Murray), Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) first donned the beige suits and battled the Stay Puft marshmallow man.

Sheryl Crow’s crystalline vocals all night long, but her opening set was not why I trekked to Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center on a Thursday night, with work looming large the next morning. The rest of the impatient crowd seemed to feel the same, pining for Zach Bryan to fall out of the sky and onto center stage to cure our aching for his raspy voice and gut-wrenching lyrics.In true country music fashion, the makeup of the crowd was somewhat jarring.

Lost Frequencies’ “All Stand Together” show at East Williamsburg’s Great Hall. Our bodies sore, voices deflated, ears ringing, and one earring left behind. But, if we had it our way, we’d be crawling back to the stage.When we arrived at the venue just after 10 p.m., the opener, Artemis Orion, was already underway with her first-ever DJ set.

Apple TV+ drama premiering March 15 and starring Tobias Menzies as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s confidant who led the search for his killer. It’s adapted from James L.

John Patrick Shanley’s scorching drama about a nun who suspects the parish pastor of being a child molester.90 minutes with no intermission. At the Todd Haimes Theater, 227 W.

after 16 years and a quartet of films, where else is there for Po to go? “4,” while nice enough, suggests that the smartest move would be to let the fuzzy guy retire to a calming bamboo forest rather than embark on yet another predictable adventure.The decent animated film still boasts the formidable voice talent of Black, Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston, James Hong and Ian McShane. Now they’re joined by Awkwafina, Viola Davis and Ke Huy Quan. Not too shabby.This go-round, Po is reveling in his mini celeb status — swanning around town, posing for (hand-drawn) pictures with fans and cutting the ribbon at the Dragon Warrior Noodle and Tofu restaurant.

Amy Poehler was also bestowed with a “Best Of.” However, her cast mate and co-anchor on Weekend Update Tina Fey never had one produced in her honor.Thankfully, the duo’s excellent ongoing ‘Restless Leg Tour’ rectifies that unfortunate slight.Currently running at New York City’s Beacon Theatre for an extended residency — which includes a likely to be packed Valentine’s Day show — the pair flex all their comedic muscles over the course of an airtight 90-minute show.It’s like a live “Best Of” but…better. A “Better Of?” Yeah, that feels right.Without spoiling too much (there’s so much good stuff), here’s our rundown of the comedic team’s live show along with a few of our favorite lines from the oft-uproarious night.Before Fey and Poehler took the stage, burgeoning star Zarna Garg kicked off the night with a barn-burning 15-minute set.Garg, a mother of three, joked about her family, reality TV and immigrating to America.“This may come as a shock to some of you, but I am an immigrant,” she began.

Couple to Throuple all bed down for their first night, the show could be any other in the proliferating genre of hookup TV, populated by bed-hopping singles shacked up in sex mansions.But look closely, once the screen shifts to spy-cam night vision of bodies writhing beneath the sheets, and you’ll not mistake a third eager, willing participant bumping and grinding with the main pair. Set to boldly explore the bounds of polyamory, the show’s couples and singles — thirds, if you will — might represent a lighthearted, next logical step in society’s surging discourse on ethical non-monogamy.Then again, to more traditionally-minded viewers, or those simply with different tastes in popular entertainment, these semi-exhibitionist throuples might just speak to the unrelenting decline of American culture.

Usher on Wednesday, I asked him if R&B had fallen off since he was one of the biggest stars of the genre in the late ’90s and ’00s. “I don’t think that R&B is not what it used to be,” he responded.

Sundance Film Festival’s lineups can often be dark affairs with edgy shocks, narcotics and strident political talking points. But one of the most soul-satisfying movies to premiere at the 2024 edition features no drug dealers, whistleblowers or bloodbaths. It’s about a sweet 93-year-old grandma who collects marbles and rides a mobility scooter.And, OK, yes she also holds a man at gunpoint.Running time: 97 minutes.

Kylie Minogue after seeing her new aptly named ‘More Than Just A Residency’ residency at Las Vegas’ swanky Venetian Hotel.‘More Than A Residency,’ which is actually equal parts burlesque, acrobatics, variety show and Kylie, is now at the venue’s Voltaire theater, which some may argue was an interesting choice for a residency. The stage is small, and the first level of seating is completely made up of tables, making for a more intimate setting, should you opt for the premium experience.

Las Vegas’ Sphere can take you there, and then to a few other galaxies along the way.Aside from being the newest piece of eye candy in the already fantastical Las Vegas skyline — pyramids, castles and ferris wheels, oh my! — the recently constructed orb is both a concert venue and an interactive exhibit that is a worth addition to any Sin City getaway itinerary.As casual fans may know, The Sphere is currently the home of U2’s months-long residency and will be hosting four back-to-back Phish concerts in April. However, that’s not all the venue has to offer.In addition to the aforementioned shows, Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcard from Earth” can also be seen at The Sphere.On a recent visit to Las Vegas, we took in a visually sumptuous two-hour experience that included a self-guided tour through the atrium followed by Aronofsky’s film inside the dome.Here are our thoughts on the film.The story of ‘Postcard from Earth’ follows two astronauts of sorts, who we later learn are leaving a depleted Earth to colonize a new planet.

Joe Gatto didn’t recount his High School experience all too fondly during his first solo show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. “I was the white kid who loved math and bowled… so… unf***able,” he joked.Clearly, the 47-year-old comic forgot to mention he also had his wild sense of humor going for him.

Fireworks. The boys spark a bond from the moment their mopeds collide on a forked road winding through the rocky countryside.Mop-haired 16-year-old Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro) is out joyriding on the scooter his parents just bought him, while slightly older Gianni (Samuele Segreto) is racing to escape two of the tormentors who refuse to let him be.Set during the summer of 1982, with the entire country entranced by the Italian national football team’s progress through the World Cup, the film marvelously conveys a sense of time and place.Picture it: small-town Sicily before Italy’s gay rights movement had truly crystallized.

Origin, starring as a celebrated writer diligently solving the puzzle that is her latest book, while also facing unfathomable personal adversity.The book she’s writing happens to be the nonfiction best-seller that inspired this film: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson. In Caste, published in 2020, Wilkerson examines the racial hierarchy in America as a caste system, not unlike systems of oppression in India and in Nazi Germany that have enforced dynamics of superiority and inferiority based on characteristics other than race.“We call everything racism.

Zamna sign and step into the underbelly of Quintana Roo’s jungle. We’ve timed our arrival at the venue around Rufus Du Sol’s ambiguous promise to play until sunrise.The alternative Australian dance group is made up of Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt, and while the trio is known for their Deep House hits like “Innerbloom,” “You Were Right,” and “Next To Me,” everyone in our group is more excited to see them perform an anything goes DJ set — a rare opportunity to freely express their uncapped musical genius.But “concert” does nothing to describe what happens at Zamna, aka Tulum’s premiere electronic music festival. As seasoned ravers and first-time ticket holders trek into the rainforest, they’re transported into a temporary universe unbeknownst to them.

The Seafarer is just as powerfully a contemplation on what it is to knock along in a life pot-holed with bad luck and dysfunction. Indeed, almost all of the first act is a fly-on-the-wall immersion in a certain kind of seedy male domesticity.Amid peeling wallpaper and rising damp, the house buzzes with bark, banter, and potted philosophizing as mismatched cups, milk possibly past its sell-by date, and a lifetime’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol arrive and depart.

Phish concerts are alike.The beloved jam band, which has been rocking together since 1983, makes sure every live show is a brand new experience complete with spectacular guitar riffs, trippy stage design and the occasional improvised vacuum solo.Yes, really.And, since the group refuses to rest on their laurels, fans keep coming back for more.Phishheads travel far and wide to see guitarist Trey Anastasio, drummer/vacumm player Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell innovate whenever they can whether it be their annual four-night end of the year residency at New York City’s Madison Square Garden or Las Vegas’ Sphere next April.“It’s not like anything you’ve ever seen because it’s never happened before,” NY-based comedian and proud Phan Max Fine told the New York Post.“Every show is special and unique because they don’t plan for it. You get to be whoever you want at a Phish show.”For a closer look into the Phish experience, here’s what Fine said about seeing the band live.“There’s no set list and no song HAS to be played a certain way,” Fine shared.“Most songs are jams, especially in the second set,” he continued.

Hugh Grant) has been reworked into a crafty, chatty, upper-crust Brit, obviously to erase those pesky imperialism critiques about previous portrayals of the captured Loompaland natives.And, while there are plenty of shady adults, there are no frightening Dahlian lessons for kids about the perils of bad behavior, a la “The Witches,” “Matilda” and “Charlie.”“Wonka” is its own, totally unchallenging confection. A Nestle Crunch bar of a movie.

Fargo franchise is what gardeners would call a volunteer tree: sprung from a robust film, it has most certainly taken on a life of its own.Five seasons in, it has become the inimitable vision of writer Noah Hawley and his murderously affectionate take on the American Midwest. A witty, mischievous raconteur, Hawley delivers his (usually) cop-based yarns through ordinary lives that end up being anything but.

The 1975 is no less relevant in 2023 than they were in 2013 and the band’s performance at Madison Square Garden was a testament to their continued musical gifts. Fans poured in with cult-like rage for a Tuesday night, some bearing rectangular tattoos of the band’s album cover, others still half-dressed in work clothes, taking no chance of missing the man who teased a “indefinite hiatus” after they wrap their ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ tour.The crowd – a hodgepodge of teenage girls, married couples, and some likely single wannabe-groupies – was certainly buzzing. Healy’s closest followers live for his controversies.