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Iggy Pop turned 78 years old in April, and the legendary punk rocker is busier than ever, with a headlining slot at the upcoming Cbgb Festival and a new collaboration with Dom Pérignon.

The latter features Iggy and six other “iconic creators” partnering with the champagne brand for its “Creation Is An Eternal Journey” campaign, which reveals how Dom Pérignon has been a “source of inspiration for artists and visionaries” over the years,...

First of all, I’d like to apologize for bringing you news regarding Logan Paul’s podcast. I’m not happy about it either. The phrase “we have news regarding Logan Paul’s podcast” is something that would be whispered in my ear to dismay like George W. Bush hearing about 9/11 at that book reading.

What was the subject of conversation? Among other things, parenting. Which is even more confusing, as talking to Logan Paul about setting a positive example for children is like talking to Henry Kissinger about ethics in warfare. More specifically, Brady’s participation in his own televised roast clearly still occupies troubling space within his beautiful, perfectly alkaline skull.

Credit where credit’s due, he takes responsibility for his own participation instead of passing the buck to specific comics who were simply doing their job. He says that, though he personally had no problem with how...

London-based sales, finance and production company Protagonist Pictures has launched a boutique label on the eve of Cannes.

Announced by Protagonist CEO Dave Bishop, Protagonist Picks will be led by industry vet Isabel Ivars and, according to the company, will be focused on “bringing distinctive and bold projects to wide global audiences” and whose “nimble and tailored method reflects the ever-changing marketplace.”

Protagonist Picks will sit alongside Protagonist’s slate of first run features and well-established library and will focus on non-theatrical premium partners.

The new specialist label launches with an inaugural slate of five titles, with plans to add additional titles ahead of key markets.

The slate includes a pair of documentaries in “Vice is Broke,” directed by Eddie Huang (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and “Bigger Than Art,” directed by Alvaro Porras and Gonzalo Fernandes De Cordova. In the wake of Vice Media’s bankruptcy, “Vice is Broke” and...

He makes art critics cringe, but Thomas Kinkade — whose idyllic paintings of storybook cottages and pastoral landscapes glow as if lit from within — has arguably given more pleasure to the masses than any artist since Norman Rockwell. In theory, one could make the case that Walt Disney, Charles Schulz or Margaret “Big Eyes” Keane is more deserving of such an extravagant claim, and yet, it’s only Kinkade whose work was recently estimated to be hanging in roughly one in 20 American homes.

In the end, I suppose it all comes down to what you consider “art.” Do black-velvet Elvis paintings count? How about dogs playing poker, or silk-screen renderings of Campbell’s soup cans? That’s where the critics enter the picture once again, as few take Kinkade’s kitsch creations — which have been mass-produced as coffee mugs, collectible plates and dust catchers of all kinds — seriously enough to qualify them as art.

This Sunday, CBS’s 60 Minutes offers a unique blend of comedy, contemporary art, and pop music in a special “Art and Performance” edition. The episode revisits and updates previously aired segments, providing fresh perspectives on these influential figures. Anderson Cooper sits down with comedian and mogul Kevin Hart, going behind the scenes of his comedy […]

60 Minutes: Kevin Hart, Jeff Koons, Dua Lipa...

This Sunday at 7:00 Pm, CBS will air a new episode of “60 Minutes,” a well-known newsmagazine that dives deep into the stories that shape our world. With its unique blend of investigative journalism and human interest features, “60 Minutes” offers viewers a chance to look beyond the headlines and understand the people and events that make the news.

Kevin Hart – Correspondent Anderson Cooper profiles Kevin Hart, one of the highest grossing comedians today and a bankable movie star, who is now adding a new title to his resume – entertainment and business mogul. Cooper goes backstage with Hart in Pasadena, Calif., to watch him test out new material for his comedy tour and sits down with him at his headquarters in Los Angeles to talk about the business of being funny and his empire. Nichole Marks is the producer.

Jeff Koons – Anderson Cooper profiles Jeff Koons, one of the most...

This Sunday, February 9, 2025, from 7:00 to 8:00 Pm Et/Pt, 60 Minutes presents a special edition featuring profiles of some of the most dynamic figures in entertainment and the arts. Correspondent Anderson Cooper takes viewers behind the scenes for an exclusive look at the lives and careers of Kevin Hart, Jeff Koons, and Dua Lipa, exploring their remarkable journeys in the worlds of comedy, art, and music.

Kevin Hart

Cooper sits down with Kevin Hart, one of the highest-grossing comedians in the world and a bankable movie star, who is now expanding his empire into business and entertainment mogul. The segment takes viewers backstage at Hart’s comedy tour in Pasadena, California, where he tests out new material. Hart also opens up about his expanding business ventures in Los Angeles, sharing his insights into the business of being funny. 60 Minutes takes a closer look at how Hart is building...

Italy’s PiperFilm has sold North America rights for Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’sVenice competition title Diva Futurato Breaking Glass Pictures.

A fictional biopic about the birth of Italy’s porn industry in the 1980s and 90s, the film centres on Italian pornography pioneer Riccardo Schicchi and his agency Diva Futura whose stars included Cicciolina, the Hungarian-Italian porn star, member of parliament and former wife of Jeff Koons, as well as Moana Pozzi and Eva Henger.

The film stars Pietro Castellitto, Barbara Ronchi, Denise Capezza, Tesa Litvan and Lidija Kordic.

Diva Futura is produced by Banijay’s Groenlandia and PiperFilm with...

Pamela Anderson certainly didn’t expect to find herself in the thick of awards season. But thanks to her acclaimed performance in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” Anderson landed among this year’s Golden Globe nominees in the Best Drama Actress category.

“What’s wonderful is that this movie was shot in 18 days, and it was less than a couple million dollars. It was really a labor of love. So I’m so excited for the film,” Anderson tells Gold Derby after her first-ever nomination. “It’s very satisfying and really exciting. It shows you that hard work matters. No matter if it’s a tiny little film or a tiny budget or fewer hours, you can really pour your heart into something, and it shows. So I’m just really excited I got the opportunity. And I never thought it would go like this.”

Directed by Coppola (granddaughter...

Porn king Riccardo Schicchi was, according to Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s bubbly, shallow “Diva Futura,” named after Schicchi’s now-defunct multimedia adult-entertainment enterprise, a really sweet guy. Moreover, the film insists, his vision for pornography was similarly wholesome: a means to liberate prudish late-20th century Italian society by celebrating the beauty of women as he saw it — with the dazzled, goofy gaze of the permanent adolescent peering through an uncurtained bedroom window.

But what may have been charmingly unworldly in a man becomes disingenuously simplistic in a film that refuses to really look into the forces that propelled his giddy rise and blameless fall, just as Schicchi, gifted a peeping-Tom telescope by his porn-positive dad as a kid, could look away when the women were clothed, or the curtains were closed.

Confusingly, and with no real reason, the movie hops about in time, so we begin in the middle...

Harking back to a simpler, more innocent time, when porn stars got elected to Parliament and the “sexual revolution” was still shiny and new, the comic-tragic feature Diva Futura pays tribute to the Italian adult entertainment empire of the same name and the colorful characters who founded and worked for it. Comparisons to Paul Thomas Anderson’s similarly themed Boogie Nights (1997) will be inevitable and probably not flatter the much messier, less bravura Diva Futura. Nevertheless, writer-director Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s (Settembre) sophomore effort definitely has its moments and some standout performances.

Moreover, most of the characters met here — such as La Cicciolina (Lidija Kordic), aka Ilona Staller, the porn-star politician, and her tragic fellow star Moana Pozzi (Denise Capezza) — correspond to real-life figures. Only insiders from that time will know exactly how much of this movie (and the memoir by Debora Attanasio on which it’s based) is true.

The Ambani family’s reputation for hosting opulent events is evident once again with the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. The lavish celebrations, which have included extravagant pre-wedding events and high-profile performances, are set to culminate in a grand wedding ceremony at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (Bkc) on July 12.

One of the highlights of this star-studded affair is the performance by Nigerian singer Rema, who is known for his viral hit “Calm Down.” Reports reveal that Rema is charging over ₹25 crore for his performance, showcasing the scale of investment the Ambanis are making to ensure their event is unforgettable. Rema has already arrived in India, sharing his journey on Instagram with a video of him boarding a private jet, wearing an all-black outfit and a face covering, and featuring his latest hit “Azaman.”

Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian arrive in Mumbai for...

The wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on July 12, 2024, has become a global event, drawing celebrities and dignitaries from around the world. Among the latest to arrive is John Cena, the wrestler-turned-actor, who was warmly received in Mumbai on Friday afternoon. Dressed casually in a grey tee, tan shorts, and a cap, Cena smiled and waved at the paparazzi, adding to the excitement surrounding the wedding.

Joining Cena are reality TV stars Kim and Khloe Kardashian, who arrived in Mumbai on Thursday evening. Kim, in a figure-hugging dress and her hair in a bun, and Khloe, in a casual white tee and jeans, received a traditional Indian welcome at their hotel. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas also flew in for the wedding on Thursday morning, enhancing the star-studded guest list.

The wedding is expected to be attended by an impressive array of international figures,...

Ram Charan, along with his wife Upasana Konidela and their daughter Klin Kaara, is all set to attend Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding in Mumbai. The family was spotted leaving Hyderabad on Thursday morning, looking cheerful and ready for the grand event.

In Hyderabad, the trio arrived at the airport in a brand-new Rolls-Royce, with Ram Charan himself driving. Upasana sported a casual and comfortable outfit of jeans, a t-shirt, and a white jacket, while Ram opted for an all-black ensemble. The family was also photographed upon their arrival in Mumbai, where Ram Charan waved to the photographers before heading to their car.

Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding is set to be a star-studded affair, with a guest list that includes international and Indian celebrities, politicians, and industrialists. According to the Economic Times, high-profile attendees will include Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, futurist Peter Diamandis, artist Jeff Koons,...

This Sunday, September 3 2023, “60 Minutes” presents a captivating lineup of segments.

Hide and Seek

“Hide and Seek” takes us to the scenic shores of Cyprus, an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean that has long served as a haven for wealthy Russians looking to stash their rubles offshore. However, the allure of this financial sanctuary is now being scrutinized by investigators from the U.S. and EU. Sharyn Alfonsi’s compelling report sheds light on the complex web of hidden overseas wealth belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs. With insights from Cyprus politicians and U.S. prosecutors, this segment promises to unravel the intricate international flow of funds that has raised eyebrows worldwide. Oriana Zill de Granados takes on the role of producer for this insightful investigation.

An American Down Under

In the second segment, correspondent Jon Wertheim introduces us to an unexpected rising star in the world of Australian rules football.

Upstate New York has been the birthplace of many Great Awakenings. In the 1820s, religious fervor so swept the region it became known as “the burned-over district.” In the 1960s, Timothy Leary’s commune in Millbrook became ground control for the East Coast psychedelic movement. “By the time we got to Woodstock,” sang Joni Mitchell, “we were half a million strong.”

More than five decades after Woodstock, in Wappinger Falls, Alex Grey and his wife, Allyson Grey, are trying to use art to get back to the garden. Under the...

This week on 60 Minutes, Bill Whitaker investigates the alarming issue of price gouging within the U.S. defense industry, where the Pentagon and taxpayers fall victim to opportunistic defense contractors. Sharyn Alfonsi exposes the growing threat of cyber con artists preying on seniors, while Anderson Cooper delves into the world of renowned artist Jeff Koons. Join us as we uncover these captivating stories and explore their far-reaching implications.

Price Gouging

Bill Whitaker delves deep into the controversial world of U.S. defense contracting. According to former top Pentagon contract negotiator, Shay Assad, the system lacks accountability, enabling major defense contractors to exploit it, racking up excess cash and rewarding shareholders on the taxpayers’ dime. Whitaker confronts this issue head-on, raising questions about how the Department of Defense and the taxpayers are being fleeced. Is it a case of poor oversight or a systemic failure in controlling costs? The segment is produced by Sam Hornblower.

The who’s who of the arts and entertainment world, both Indian and international, gathered for the grand inauguration of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (Nmacc) at the Jio World Gardens, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai, on Friday evening.

The Ambani family was in full attendance at the opening of Nita Ambani’s dream cultural project — Mukesh Ambani arrived with his daughter Esha, Akash Ambani came with wife Shloka Mehta, and Anant Ambani with fiancee Radhika Merchant.

The opening exhibition titled ‘Sangam/Confluence’ features the works of leading Indian artists Bharti Kher, Bhupen Khakhar, Ranjani Shettar, Ratheesh T., and Shantibai, and international trend-setters such as Anselm Kiefer, Cecily Brown, Francesco Clemente, Lynda Benglis, and Raqib Shaw.

The exhibition has been curated by Jeffrey Deitch and Ranjit Hoskote.

The second opening exhibition is centred around the world of fashion and history. Curated by Hamish Bowles, global editor-at-large, ‘Vogue’, and designed by Patrick Kinmonth and Rooshad Shroff,...

Before philanthropist and real-estate developer Eli Broad and his wife Edythe opened The Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles in 2015, the couple housed their Broad Art Foundation in a 1927 brick building in Santa Monica, about a block from the beach. Early works in their collection included pieces by such artists as Barbara Kruger, Christopher Wool, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Cy Twombly and Glenn Ligon, and the space became a must-visit for collectors and curators during visits to Los Angeles.

But after the museum opened, the Broads sold the building in 2015 to a limited-liability company, according to the Wall Street Journal, tied to the family of designer Diane von Furstenberg. The sale price eight years ago: $16.5 million.

Now, the building known for its connection to the art world has a new owner who comes from the music world: Scooter Braun.

The entrepreneur and talent manager has purchased the building — located near...

Kailand Morris doesn’t look like the stereotype of someone who’s touched every facet of the fashion industry. When we meet at Le Crocodile, a brasserie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the 21-year-old designer is just in from Paris Fashion Week; dressed in a brandless white button-up, pressed grey Ami slacks, and “beat-up” Dior Jordans, he presents quite plainly but tidy. There are no flamboyant displays of colors or patterns, no logos emblazoned on the fabric, or excessive layering of any kind. His color palette is neutral, and accessories are kept quite minimal.

It was after 1 a.m. in Antibes when Christina Aguilera performed at the 28th annual amfAR gala at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday morning. Inside a tent at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, a lux crowd of European high rollers crowded the stage as Michelle Rodriguez took the mic to introduce the night’s headliner.

“Five-time Grammy Award winning … is going to bless you with her voice …”

“Six! Six!” the crowd of fans shouted back, correcting the “Fast & Furious” star on the number of Grammys Aguilera has actually won.

Yes, it was very late, but that didn’t stop Aguilera from putting on a powerhouse performance. Decked out in a fur jacket, despite the boiling temperature inside the tent, and surrounded by a flock of backup dancers, Aguilera rocked out like she was doing a stadium tour. The pop star’s five-song set opened with the 2002 dance anthem “Dirrty,...

ICM Partners represents US rights.

Voltage Pictures continues to grow its virtual Cannes market slate and has acquired international sales rights to art heist thriller American Night Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch, Paz Vega, and Jeremy Piven.

Alessio Della Valle wrote and directed the story about a New York mob boss (Hirsch) with aspirations to become an artist who crosses paths with an art dealer (Meyers) when Andy Warhol’s ’Pink Marilyn’ is stolen.

Meyers and Piven are shown in the first-look still from the film.

Fortunato Cerlino, Michael Madsen, Annabelle Belmondo and the pop star Anastacia round out the key cast on American Night,...

The most important thing to director Regina King for her directorial debut on “One Night in Miami” was to have everything as historically accurate as possible.

Cinematographer Tami Reiker’s research bible was “Goat: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali” by Jeff Koons. Reiker whose credits include “The Old Guard” and “Beyond the Lights,” says this tome of Ali inspired her from the positioning of the cameras to selecting the lights she used to illuminate this historical recreation.

As the title indicates, the film takes place one night in Miami and centers around several discussions between the real life figures and friends Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). It’s a what-if situation based on a real-life meeting. Nut none one knows what took place That was left to King’s vision and a script by Kemp Powers to imagine.

As Oscar season gets into high gear – nomination voting opens March 5 — Variety has partnered with Women in Film to celebrate artisans and women behind the camera.

Over the next week, Variety will roll out one-to-one conversations with “Mank” costume designer Trish Summerville, “One Night in Miami” cinematographer Tami Reiker Asc, “Promising Young Woman” makeup head Angie Wells, singer and songwriter H.E.R and artist Janelle Monae. The conversations will be posted on Variety.com.

Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay will moderate each conversation to break down the process behind their craft and respective projects.

On March 4, a live discussion will be streamed via Women in Film’s platforms.

Meet The Panel H.E.R

Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, a.k.a H.E.R., wrote the power anthem behind Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Fight for You.” A Grammy Award-winning artist, this marks H.E.R.’s first foray...

“We’re never really quite satisfied with anything we do,” says Elizabeth Diller, founding partner of the ultramodern architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. It’s not quite a humblebrag, more a lingering anxiety about her most famous creation: New York’s High Line.

When the first section of the elevated park opened in Manhattan, in 2009, it transformed the island’s west side. Once a dilapidated train track, the High Line is now flanked by luxury condos and office buildings designed by the world’s leading architects. But as she watched...

Days after the celebrity law firm that represents Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Nicki Minaj admitted it was “victimized by a cyberattack,” the hackers that executed the breach released their first batch of stolen data Thursday: files that focused on the law firm’s work with Lady Gaga.

The unnamed hacker group, using ransomware dubbed “REvil,” launched the cyberattack against the internal data systems of Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks; on Wednesday, they asked the law firm for $21 million in exchange for the 756 gigabytes of stolen data. However, after the firm...

David Byrne, Iggy Pop and Michael Stipe are among the musicians and artists participating in a new digital art project from artist Maurizio Cattelan called Bedtime Stories.

Bedtime Stories launched via the New Museum and, per a statement, Cattelan envisioned the project “as a way of staying together during these days of isolation.” Each participant was asked to share a selection from their favorite book, but while some followed the prompt exactly, others read their own writing or even shared impromptu performances.

For instance, Iggy Pop helped kick off the...

"He had to find a new way to make art." Electrolift Creative has debuted an official trailer for an art world documentary titled Marcel Duchamp: Art of the Possible (or The Art of the Possible), made by director Matthew Taylor. The film explores the life, philosophy and impact of one of the most influential early 20th century modernists, Marcel Duchamp, originally born in Normandy, France in 1887. The documentary breaks down Duchamp's ideas and applies them to both historical events and the modernist explosion that blanketed the early 20th century. "The Art of the Possible isn't simply a biopic; rather, the film shows how Duchamp's ideas changed the public consciousness, and our understanding of aesthetics, art, and culture. The film highlights the singular impact of Duchamp's philosophy on art, and, more importantly, examines how Duchamp's revolutionary ideas from the early 20th century have shaped the 21st century and modern day." With appearances by Michel Gondry,...

“Lying and Stealing” is a heist movie of a sort mostly seen in the 1960s, when movies like “Charade” found ingenious thieves played by glamorous stars preying upon the priceless knickknacks of the super-rich on the Riviera, and so forth. Such enterprises usually involved not just A-list personalities but lavish production values — all the better to realize that fantasy side of a decade that was stuck closer to Playboy Magazine and hotel-lounge luxury than to Free Love. If there was love (or at least sex) in these movies, it was going to be expensive.

But Matt Aselton’s film does not boast anyone so chic — or bankable — as Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Nor does it lay on the splashy wish-fulfillment settings, though the movie does cough up a few locations at which a homeowner might credibly own an artwork worth more than most of us earn in a lifetime.

A ‘Wizard of Oz for perverts’, exposing the rotten heart of western civilisation, or a bad trip comedy? Ari Aster’s bewildering horror leaves us repairing our frayed nerves

•This article contains spoilers about Midsommar

For many viewers emerging from the cinema, the first question about Midsommar will undoubtedly be: what the hell just happened? We begin our journey in the relative certainties of the real world – albeit one soured by bereavement for our heroine Dani (Florence Pugh). Nearly two-and-a-half hours later, reality has been warped to the extent that it makes perfect sense to watch Dani, drugged up and dressed as a Jeff Koons puppy, saying goodbye to her asshole boyfriend as he burns to death inside a disembowelled bear, along with other sacrificial victims, in a giant triangular barn, in the middle of Swedish nowhere, surrounded by her cheery new “family”. This is fine!

Related: Midsommar director Ari...

From “Avengers: Endgame” to “Game of Thrones” and the Mueller report, much about 2019 has been about endings — and debates about new beginnings. Major tentpole events have consumed the public sphere with the expectation of dramatic conclusions and the intrigue of mysterious next chapters.

The best movies, however, don’t need to cling to some larger timeline to prove their worth: They deliver memorable experiences on their own terms, illustrating why the feature-length format remains an essential vessel for creativity. While entertainment pundits continue to muse on whether “film is dead,” the movies keep proving that they most definitely are not.

Here are the very best of them that 2019 has delivered so far.

“Diane”

An intimate story about a woman staring death in the face and struggling to see its reflection in her own life, “Diane” is as depressing as it sounds. On the other hand, Kent Jones’ Tribeca-winning narrative debut...

“Diamantino” is nothing less (and so much more) than the movie the world needs right now. A hit from the moment it premiered at Cannes last year, this winningly demented 21st century fairy tale centers on a beautiful, child-like soccer phenom named Diamantino, who reacts to a devastating World Cup loss by adopting a Mozambican refugee. The refugee claims to be a teen boy, but is actually an adult lesbian on an undercover mission from the Portuguese government to investigate a money-laundering operation run by the athlete’s evil twin sisters. Also, there’s a mad scientist who’s trying to clone Diamantino in order to create an invincible super team capable of stoking national pride and “Making Portugal Great Again.” Also, there are giant puppies. A lot of them. A litter of Pekingese the size of double-decker buses. And that’s just the basic set-up.

Co-directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt,...

Golden Globe-winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch, Paz Vega, and Golden Globe and Emmy-winner Jeremy Piven will star in American Night, a neo-noir thriller helmed by first-time film director Alessio Jim Della Valle.

Written by Della Valle, the plot follows Michael Rubino (Hirsch) who has just become the Don of the New York Mafia, but his greatest dream is to devote his life to painting and become a great artist. John Kaplan (Meyers), an art dealer, may feel like his life is in shambles, but he still has the best eye for spotting fakes in the world. Their paths, apparently distant, cross when Andy Warhol’s Pink Marilyn is stolen, setting off a series of unexpected events that upend their lives.

Vega will play Sarah,...

“Burning Cane” has won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature and star Wendell Pierce has been awarded the top actor in the category for the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.

Haley Bennett won the festival’s award for best actress in a narrative feature for her performance in “Swallow.” “House of Hummingbird” (Beol-sae) took the prize for best international narrative feature, and “Scheme Birds” won for top documentary feature.

The awards were announced Thursday. Rania Attieh won the Nora Ephron Award and a $25,000 prize for Initials S.G. (“Iniciales S.G.”). The award honors excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director embodying the spirit and boldness of the late filmmaker. Tribeca’s Storyscapes Award went to “The Key,” created by Celine Tricart.

“Burning Cane,” set in the Louisiana swamplands, is directed by Phillip Youmans, who wrote, directed and shot the film at the age of 17. He...

This piece originally ran as part of SXSW 2019 coverage.

Maybe you remember what happened to Matthew McConaughey back in 1999. The actor had graduated to Hollywood A-list status by this point; he’d also developed a deserved reputation for enjoying a good time off the set. So the cops get a call from his neighbors, complaining about a loud ruckus-in-progress happening at our man’s home. Long story short, they arrive to find the movie star possibly under the influence of a substance or three, extremely naked and enthusiastically playing the bongos.

An anti-corporate fable produced by a massive conglomerate that’s monopolizing the film industry while pawning chintzy reproductions of the precious jewels from its own vault, “Dumbo” isn’t exactly Disney’s finest hour. And yet, it’s almost certain to be the most creatively inspired of the “live-action remakes” the studio is releasing this year. For one thing, Ehren Kruger’s otherwise unremarkable script begins where the 1941 original ends, and dares — in its own tepid way — to add a human element to a story that never really had one. For another, you can only go so wrong with a cast that includes Danny DeVito as a two-bit P.T. Barnum, and a larger than life Michael Keaton as the best villain that a “Bioshock” game never had (brace yourselves for a “Batman Returns” rematch 27 years in the making).

But to the limited extent that “Dumbo” works, it ultimately does...

Maybe you remember what happened to Matthew McConaughey back in 1999. The actor had graduated to Hollywood A-list status by this point; he’d also developed a deserved reputation for enjoying a good time off the set. So the cops get a call from his neighbors, complaining about a loud ruckus-in-progress happening at our man’s home. Long story short, the authorities arrive to find the movie star possibly under the influence of a substance or three, extremely naked and enthusiastically playing the bongos. It’s become a key part of his legacy,...

The 91st Academy Awards went full Grammys for its opening tonight with a high-octane performance from members of Queen and Adam Lambert, but, to paraphrase a tune by the once Freddie Mercury-led classic rock band, then the hammer fell.

This was the first Academy Awards not to have a host or hosts since the all-time rock bottom ceremony of the Oscars of 1989 – and it really showed. “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions” had much of the well suited and booted Hollywood crowd on their feet and cheering. Sadly, the de facto opening monologue from non-hosts Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph that followed afterwards was a cruel glimpse of what could have and should have been, maybe.

For those of us watching in this era of declining ratings, the lack of a designated frontman after the Academy’s Kevin Hart debacle became an obvious problem quickly...

A satirical thriller set in the inane world of Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene, Dan Gilroy’s deliriously garish “Velvet Buzzsaw” is a film that’s every bit as shiny and hollow as those colorful balloon animals that Jeff Koons has sold for millions of dollars. It’s a dull-witted joke about the violent relationship between art and commerce, and the punchline is that it’s therefore the Platonic ideal of a Netflix movie.

Nothing could better define the industry-devouring studio (or its prolific motion picture output) than a star-studded cautionary tale about the fatal danger of assigning value to an abstract thing. Not only is “Velvet Buzzsaw” the kind of batshit insane, fiercely uncommercial gif-factory of a movie that only Netflix could make, it’s also blood-soaked propaganda for a streaming platform where every piece of art has an equal price. Where a magnum opus like “Roma” is effectively...

‘Wrapped Coast’.

The influence of arts patron, collector and philanthropist John Kaldor on contemporary Australian art will explored in a new documentary backed by Create Nsw and the ABC, the third project in the organisations’ three-year Documentary Feature Fund joint initiative.

Samantha Lang will direct the film, which has the working title Kaldor Public Arts Projects, with Felix Media’s John Maynard producing and Bridget Ikin executive producing. Lang and Maynard previously collaborated on feature film The Monkey’s Mask. Screen Australia has also provided major production funding, in association with the Asia Film Investment Group.

Lang said: “I am delighted to be making this arts documentary about Kaldor Public Art Projects with Felix Media, which explores the impact Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s land art project ‘Wrapped Coast’ had on the Australian art scene in the late 60s and how, over the following fifty years, John Kaldor has maintained his passion as an arts patron,...

On 5 December, 2018, in Miami, (Red), Sotheby’s and Gagosian came together to raise $5.5 million to support the fight against AIDS.

Larry Gagosian, Theaster Gates, Bono and Sir David Adjaye OBE at the third (Red) Auction

The third (Red) Auction totaled nearly $11 million, including matching funds by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Curated by art and architecture stars Theaster Gates and Sir David Adjaye OBE in collaboration with musician and activist Bono, the auction featured contemporary art and design donated by Jenny Saville, Sean Scully, Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson, Jennifer Guidi, Frank Ghery, Christo, Jeff Koons and many more prominent creators. In addition, Sir David Adjaye and Theaster Gates created unique pieces for the sale.

Centered on the theme of light and the color red, the auction was led by Theaster Gates ‘A Flag for The Least of Them,’ which achieved $807,000, an auction record for the artist. Additional...

The new documentary The Price of Everything is nothing if not layered—kind of like an onion. And like an onion, the more you peel into it, the more it makes you want to cry.

Nathaniel Kahn’s complex film explores the dynamics of the contemporary art world where individual works regularly fetch astronomical amounts at auction: $91.9 million earlier this week for Edward Hopper’s canvas “Chop Suey,” and $110.4 million last year for an untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that sold for $19,000 in 1984.

The sums have become so impressive that money managers now promote art collecting to the wealthy as an “investment asset class,” as the accounting firm Deloitte once put it. According to a report by Artprice, “the world leader in art market information,” between July 2016 and June 2017 contemporary art “generated a global auction turnover of $1.58 billion.”

“I very much wanted to investigate in this film this hyper-commoditized environment that we are in,...

Nathaniel Kahn’s documentary asks why some artists’ airy work is priced so highly while other marvels go unsung

Nathaniel Kahn created a stir in the documentary world in 2003 with My Architect, a very personal film about his father, Louis Kahn, an influential but deeply troubled architect from whom Kahn the younger was estranged when Louis died, broke and nearly forgotten. A work that foregrounded the film-maker’s relationship to the subject when such memoir-like strategies weren’t yet common in film practice, My Architect was both a formally fascinating work as well as being one about a compelling, neglected figure from architectural history.

Kahn’s latest doc, The Price of Everything, is a more conventional, drier work that examines how the work of some artists draws huge multimillion-dollar bids at auction houses while the work of others, for no easily graspable reason, goes barely noticed. Jeff Koons, for example,...

By Glenn Dunks

We took a week off recently due to office job duties so as a means of not getting behind in the schedule, we're posting a (for now) one-off weekend documentary review for your Sunday reading.

The world is a distressing place right now where seemingly everything is terrible. It’s only natural that documentary filmmaking would reflect this global tussle for law and democracy. If these films aren’t telling us something frightening and new then they at least usually these films at least attempt to show us something familiarly awful from a new angle or with an unfamiliar point of view. I’m here to tell you, however, that one of 2018’s most miserable moviegoing experiences isn’t about war or famine, disease or political unrest. Rather, it’s about the art world. A ghastly portrait of some of society’s worst impulses of greed and capitalist grotesquery.

Stephen Colbert presented Mavis Staples the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 58th annual National Arts Awards Monday night in New York City. But first he had to explain the somewhat bizarre reason he was asked to do the honors. The Late Show host said he’s a long admirer of Staples’ soulful voice — from her start performing gospel-inflected music with her father Pops and siblings as the Staples Sisters — as well as her ability to energize the minds and leaders of the Civil Rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, November 5, 2018, the Elton John AIDS Foundation (Ejaf) will host its annual New York Fall Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

At this year’s gala, Ejaf Founder Sir Elton John and Chairman David Furnish will honor Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, philanthropist Patricia Hearst, and long-time advocate Joe McMillan, CEO and Chairman of Ddg, with Ejaf’s Enduring Vision Award. Nine-time Grammy Award Winning Singer, Songwriter Sheryl Crow will be the special musical guest, and Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (Eji) and the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, will be the featured speaker. CBS This Morning co-anchor and journalist Gayle King will host the event.

“At this time of great uncertainty in the world, Ejaf’s work is more important than ever, and we remain steadfastly committed to addressing the unmet needs of people...

“Diamantino” is nothing less (and so much more) than the movie the world needs right now. Co-directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, this winningly demented 21st century fairy tale centers on a beautiful, child-like soccer phenom named Diamantino who reacts to a devastating World Cup loss by adopting a Mozambican refugee who claims to be a teen boy but is actually an adult lesbian on an undercover mission from the Portuguese government to investigate a money-laundering operation run by the athlete’s evil twin sisters. Also, there’s a mad scientist who’s trying to clone Diamantino in order to create an invincible super team capable of stoking national pride and “Making Portugal Great Again.” Also, there are giant puppies. A lot of them. A litter of Pekingese the size of double-decker buses. And that’s just the basic set-up.

Unfolding like a blissful cross between Guy Maddin’s...

Khloe Kardashian is not here for shaming of any kind. In a sneak peek of Sunday’s episode “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” on E!, 34-year-old Khloe accuses her mother, Kris Jenner, of “art shaming” her. “You need to go to, like, an art class,” Kris tells Khloe after her daughter inquires about a piece of artwork by Jeff Koons...

It's not okay to art shame…just ask Khloe Kardashian! In this clip from Sunday's all-new Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kris Jenner lays into the Revenge Body host for not being more knowledgeable about art. Understandably, this doesn't sit well with Khloe, especially since her mom only just became an art fan in recent years. "You need to go to like an art class," Kris lectures Khloe after the latter asks about a piece in the momager's office. "Just because I'm not as knowledgeable as you, you shouldn't turn your nose up," Kris' daughter retorts. "You should be like, 'Well Khloe, Jeff Koons is…' instead of making me feel less than and...

NewportFILM will screen documentaries by Morgan Neville, Matt Tyrnauer, Nathanel Kahn, and Andrew Solomon as part of its annual summer series.

The festival has become something of an institution in the posh seaside community — Newport, Rhode Island is an old world resort, with Gilded Age mansions that are straight out of an Edith Wharton novel. Part of the attraction is that the sunset screenings are hosted in several different historic venues, including Rosecliff, a mansion featured in the 1974 version of “The Great Gatsby” with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, the Eisenhower House, which was the “Summer White House” for President Dwight D. Eisenhower or his Mar a Lago, and the Newport International Polo Grounds.

The screenings kicked off Thursday with Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” a look at the enduring legacy of Fred Rogers, and runs through September 6th. Past films that have played at newportFILM include Brett Morgan’s “Jane,...