‘Problemista’ Review: Julio Torres Debuts With A Charming Immigration Fairy Tale [SXSW]

The first trailer has arrived for “Master Gardener”, the latest from writer-director Paul Schrader.

Ba-bangs! Julia Roberts debuted a fierce fringe in Geneva.

“First Reformed,” Schrader told the story of a pastor and former military chaplain struggling with the death of his son in Iraq and his growing sense of hopelessness over climate change. His 2021 follow-up “The Card Counter” followed a former Guantanamo Bay prison guard whose spartan life of penance is interrupted when a young man comes to him with a plan to murder his torturous commanding officer.

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Naveen Kumar The addition of “bad” to the title of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest maximalist spectacle, formerly known simply as “Cinderella” when it premiered for a short-lived run on the West End in 2021, would seem like a cleverly self-conscious move. Was it preemptive self-defense against Broadway reviews like this one, that would apply aesthetic judgment to the musical’s gauche bonanza of too-muchness? Would its version of Cinderella be — you know, a bad girl, but in a sexually liberated (and feminist!) way? Or was it a rare bit of truth in advertising? To clear up the obvious question, “Bad Cinderella,” which opened at the Imperial Theater Thursday night, isn’t good. Composed by Webber and with lyrics by David Zippel, it is a muddled and momentum-less retooling of the familiar fairy tale in search of a coherent point of view as if it were a glass-slippered foot. The book, originally written by Emerald Fennell, the Oscar winning screenwriter of “Promising Young Woman,” and adapted for Broadway by the playwright Alexis Scheer, is an illogical head-scratcher, despite being based on a story most everyone knows. “Bad Cinderella,” directed here by Laurence Connor (“School of Rock”), even manages to gleefully reinforce the chronic social fixations — on beauty, vanity and wealth — that it purports to deem toxic. 

Julia Roberts and Richard Gere established themselves as two of Hollywood's biggest and brightest with the success of their 1990 film Pretty Woman – and three decades on (33 years to the day, to be exact), the pair have changed a lot.A commercial and critical smash, the film cemented Richard as a leading man and the upcoming Julia as one of the industry's newest stars. Julia and Richard became global stars after the release of the 1990 smash hitBoth have since become some of the topmost draws in Hollywood, even collaborating once again almost a decade later in another romantic-comedy, 1999's Runaway Bride.MORE: Julia Roberts praises 'one of a kind' daughter Hazel as she talks about her family lifeJulia has starred in several other commercial hits over the course of her career, including the Ocean's franchise, Eat Pray Love (2010), and August: Osage County (2013).

Musician Jewel is opening up about her rocky relationship with her mother, Lenedra Carroll, whom she claims stole millions of dollars from her.

Jewel was dealt a very tough hand growing up. And in some ways, it only got worse after she became famous.

What’s love without a little bit of lies? That’s the question in A24 and FilmNation’s final trailer for “You Hurt My Feelings.”Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, “You Hurt My Feelings” is a comedy drama that tells the story of a group of longtime couples who are struggling with keeping themselves honest when it comes to their partners. The film centers on a novelist named Beth, who ends up walking in on her longtime husband expressing how he isn’t too fond of her latest book. On the other side, Don comes to the realization that he may be lacking in his profession.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Some folks have it easy, and others make life difficult for themselves. Guess which type “Problemista” is about. The perpetually unsatisfied title character, a demanding New York art critic played by Tilda Swinton as a hag with hair the color of hibiscus tea, is obsessed with archiving the life’s work of her late husband (RZA), who left behind a series of egg paintings no one seems to understand. Swinton feels like a future Halloween costume in search of a movie in writer-director Julio Torres’ overly kooky and all-too-quixotic debut — another attention-deficit comedy from the studio that made “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” except that Torres lacks the technical experience to pull off even a fraction of the ideas to which he aspires.

When I saw the poster for Problemista, I wondered why Tilda Swinton–who stars in the film–was on the poster. After seeing this, I now understand. Written and directed by Julio Torres, the movie tackles issues of immigration, and isolation, all packaged in a sweet surrealist bow. Alongside Torres, the film stars Tilda Swinton, Rza, Isabella Rossellini, Catalina Saaverdra, and James Scully. 

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Pablo Torre is about to become a creature of two worlds. The veteran ESPN writer and on-air personality is leaving the Disney sports-media giant — and he’s staying, too. Torre is joining Meadowlark Media, the content company founded by former ESPN chief John Skipper and the sports commentator Dan Le Batard. And yet, Torre is expected to remain a regular contributor to “Around The Horn” and “Pardon The Interruption,” two of the mainstay programs on the ESPN daytime schedule. “They are looking to build another show directly out of ‘The Dan LeBatard Show,’ which is a monster,” Torre says of Meadowlark in an interview. Torre envisions a digital program with audio and video components that will allow him to “tell original stories, do a bit of journalism and figure out how to make that show a home that can fit all of the things I aspire to do creatively.” Torre will also contribute to Meadowlark’s unscripted efforts.

Selome Hailu Half of the jokes in “Problemista” fell on deaf ears at the film’s SXSW world premiere, but not because the audience didn’t want to hear them. Rather, the Austin crowd covered up several lines of dialogue with howling laughter seemingly every other time writer-director-star Julio Torres opened his mouth as Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer in New York City doing his best not to get deported back to El Salvador. Catalina Saavedra, who played Alejandro’s mother, Dolores, pointed out the uproar during the post-screening Q&A. When asked if it felt good to hear the reactions to the film, she joked that she didn’t get anything from it. Speaking in Spanish, she said that American audiences react that way to everything they see.

Friendship faux pas? Danielle Olivera expressed concern over how quickly former BFF Lindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke were moving ahead of their August 2022 engagement.

Selome Hailu Tilda Swinton is over the pandemic, and she doesn’t care who knows it. She opened her keynote appearance at South by Southwest by sharing her pleasure that the pandemic had gotten to a point where audience members at the event didn’t have to wear masks anymore. Later in the conversation, Swinton said, “I’m about to shoot a picture in Ireland, and I was told to wear a mask at all times, and I’m not.” “I’m sure this is being recorded,” she noted, before saying that she is “very healthy” after having gone through COVID-19 infections multiple times.

Holly Jones Drawing from personal experience and driven by the lack of real talk around sexuality, Spanish author Beatriz de Silva dove into filmmaking with her debut “Tula,” which bowed globally at the Houston International Film Festival, winning Gold for Best Comedy Short.  The project has since garnered large festival buzz, stacked awards and was among contenders placed on the Oscars shortlist from 200 entries. Shot in the Basque Country and taking advantage of the region’s robust creative initiatives, the film offers a humorous take on sexual miseducation and those that step in to enlighten our adolescence when parents, teachers and peers fail miserably.

Julia Fox is now in police custody, charged in an apparent ghost gun and drug bust.CBS2 was told investigators seized several ghost gun parts and equipment to make drugs from an apartment on East 84th Street near Third Avenue.Police say the arrest was related to a specialized long-term investigation into ghost guns — which are untraceable — and narcotics.The NYPD's Major Case Field Intelligence Team executed a search warrant on Wednesday morning. Investigators say they also found materials typically used in explosives, including pressure cookers and chemicals, which can also be used for manufacturing narcotics.Authorities determined the chemicals were not hazardous.

Emily Longeretta Young Hollywood is ready for Oscars week. On Wednesday night, some of the biggest young stars in the industry celebrated at Vanity Fair and TikTok’s Vanities: A Night for Young Hollywood at Mes Amis. The star-studded evening was co-hosted by Halle Bailey, Julia Garner and Paul Mescal, the latter of which is nominated for his performance in “Aftersun” at this weekend’s Academy Awards. Garner, who walked the red carpet with husband Mark Foster, was excited to be out and about during one of the biggest weeks of the year. “This is for the young, new talent that’s in the industry right now. It’s such an honor to be here — it’s nice to be out of the house outside of this bubble we’ve all been living in,” she told Variety. “Not via zoom!”

Julia Fox‘s dad and brother were arrested on Wednesday as part of a police investigation into untraceable gun dealing and illegal drug manufacturing.