Tag Archives: Film

Inglourious baristas: why is Brad Pitt making coffee for 16 abusive dogs? | Brad Pitt | The Guardian

Culture, , , , , ,

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Brad Pitt, Film, Culture, Advertising, Dogs, Animals, World news
Title – Inglourious baristas: why is Brad Pitt making coffee for 16 abusive dogs? | Brad Pitt | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stuart-heritage
Link – Inglourious baristas: why is Brad Pitt making coffee for 16 abusive dogs? | Brad Pitt | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T10:30:04.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/brad-pitt-coffee-the-heart-of-the-beast

B rad Pitt has a new movie out this month, The Heart of the Beast, about an emotionally damaged man who forms a life-saving bond with a dog. If that sounds familiar, maybe it is because you have seen The Call of the Wild. Or maybe it is because you have seen A Dog’s Way Home. Or maybe it is because you have seen Dog. Or, look, you get the idea.

But perhaps Brad Pitt knows that getting people to see something as unimaginative as The Heart of the Beast is an uphill struggle, because that would explain why he has just made an advert that looks and feels much more like the Brad Pitt dog movie that deserves to be made. In short, it is an advert where Brad Pitt gets loudly disparaged by a number of dogs for an extended period of time.

As reported by Variety, the commercial is for the De’Longhi Magnifica Duo, an all-singing, all-dancing coffee machine that retails in the UK for about £700. But really the product is beside the point. The main point is that the advert, running to almost two minutes, sees Brad Pitt stumble around cluelessly while a small army of real dogs – all of whom have names, some of whom are dressed in human clothes – shout insults at him.

As he wanders into his living room, some of the dogs (in subtitle) tell him that he woke up too late. They tell him to make a hot coffee and, even though he has started to make a cold one, he drops his head and sullenly obliges. Then another dog says that he can’t have any coffee at all until his attitude improves. “OK,” he mumbles in return, like a put-upon sitcom dad. The dogs berate him for his slovenliness and his stupidity and, when he finally snaps and tells them to go and fetch a stick, they make him fetch a stick for them instead.

It’s a weird advert. It is slightly reminiscent of that bizarre Chinese commercial for Chinese vitamins from a few years back, when Tom Hiddleston cooks you breakfast before looking straight into your eyes and promising that he’s going to have sex with you. The difference is that, while you could tell that Hiddleston desperately hoped that nobody would see his ad, Pitt’s has been made for an American market. He wants you to see this.

Of course, it helps that the weirdness is deliberate. The commercial was directed by Spike Jonze, the visionary director of no films at all for the last 13 years. The world has been crying out for a new film by Jonze, and if the closest we’re going to get is a film where Brad Pitt gets insulted by a dog named Kyle, then that will have to do.

In fact, the more you consider it, the better a move this advert seems for Pitt. Compared with the derivative grit-jawed Americana of The Heart of the Beast, it demonstrates that he’s much better when he’s allowed to be funny. And if it underlines a connection between Pitt and dogs along the way, creating an implied synergy with his movie, then that’s OK too.

It’s also a big step up from Pitt’s previous De’Longhi commercials, the majority of which just required him to stand still and smoulder for a while . Those commercials could have starred anyone. You could have put a carrot on human growth hormones and it would have adequately done the job. At least this one has a bit of personality.

But perhaps it also serves a greater purpose. After all, Brad Pitt is a man with something of a reputation problem, thanks to his messy split with Angelina Jolie and her allegations of intoxication and violent behaviour. It’s a similar (although less dramatic) predicament to the one that Johnny Depp finds himself in. But while Depp decided to announce his comeback by playing literature’s biggest arsehole Ebenezer Scrooge , Pitt has instead chosen to surround himself with loads of cute dogs. What’s more, he’s being subservient to them. Look at him! How could you possibly stay mad at him?

Only the De’Longhi sales team will know if this has been a successful gambit or not, but speaking personally I think it works perfectly. With any luck it will bring Spike Jonze out of retirement, and Brad Pitt Gets Shit-Talked by Some Dogs will be a motion picture by next Christmas.

Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing | Film | The Guardian

Culture, News around the world, , , , ,

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Drama films, Sex work, Culture, Society
Title – Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/cathclarke
Link – Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T10:00:05.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/blue-film-review-polarising-sex-worker-drama-is-well-acted-and-deeply-disturbing

T here have reportedly been audience walk-outs at screenings of this indie drama from young American film-maker Elliot Tuttle, a two-hander about a sex worker hired for the night by his former English teacher, a convicted paedophile. In interviews Tuttle has said his film was rejected by several major festivals. What makes it so uncomfortable is not the sex; mostly what we see on screen is two men talking. But early on a mood of skin-crawling unease seeps in, and it remains for every second of the film’s 82-minute run time.

Kieron Moore plays Aaron Eagle (not his real name), a Los Angeles sex worker and camboy. In the video content he livestreams, Aaron is a dom; gym-perfected and tattooed, he hurls homophobic insults at his fans. One night, he arranges to meet a client who offers to pay $50,000 for one night. The retirement-age man who answers the door of the Airbnb turns out to be Aaron’s former English teacher Mr Grant (Reed Birney), who was sacked after attempting to rape a 12-year-old pupil. Aaron was not the victim, but the teacher says he has always been in love with Aaron – though he is no longer sexually attracted to him.

It’s a film about the stories we tell about ourselves, re-remembering narratives to fit who think we are. Grant does have flickers of self-awareness. But he’s also monstrously self-justifying, pompously telling Aaron that his paedophilia would have been accepted in ancient Rome. The script’s attempts to empathise with his character felt a little simplistic to me, but Birney’s performance is horribly convincing, and Moore is also very good as Aaron, vulnerable under the swagger. It’s a difficult watch: at times feeling like the emotional equivalent of watching these people getting their skin peeled off, layer by layer.

Blue Film is in UK and Irish cinemas from 11 September.

Yuja review – portrait of star pianist who is intellectually curious and deeply musically attuned | Film | The Guardian

Culture, , , , , , , , ,

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Documentary films, Music documentary, Yuja Wang, Classical music, Culture, Music, China, Asia Pacific, World news
Title – Yuja review – portrait of star pianist who is intellectually curious and deeply musically attuned | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lesliefelperin
Link – Yuja review – portrait of star pianist who is intellectually curious and deeply musically attuned | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T08:00:04.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/yuja-review-portrait-of-star-pianist-who-is-intellectually-curious-and-deeply-musically-attuned

A s well as her film about her own difficult teenage years , British director Lorna Tucker is probably best known for her documentaries on famous women with big personalities: Vivienne Westwood ( Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist ), Katharine Hepburn (Call Me Kate) and Greta Garbo ( Garbo: Where Did You Go? ). Her latest subject, pianist Yuja Wang, is another high-achiever – but not someone with quite the same name recognition unless you’re a devotee of classical music, a field in which she is ranked among the very best alive. Wang certainly has a flamboyant side, expressed in her highly expressive, virtuoso performances and her sartorial style on stage. In fact some shocking pull quotes illustrate how her dress sense has been bizarrely over-examined in the press; she has been likened to a stripper for her outfits, and the New Yorker, of all publications, once described her as “fat” , which hardly seems germane to any discussion of her ability to play Tchaikovsky or Ligeti.

But Wang’s biography and the texture of her daily life are very different from that of Tucker’s previous subjects. She was a child prodigy from an artistic Beijing family who came of age just in time to break records for views on YouTube. Sure, her life here looks glamorous in one way, with a lush New York apartment she barely ever sees because she’s constantly on the road. But her life is also one of perpetual practice and striving for perfection, the loneliness of the long-distance soloist. It’s a regimen that leaves almost no time for relationships or family, or even many friendships with peers who understand what she is going through – apart from a few mentors or collaborators such as fellow pianist Emanuel Ax or composer Teddy Abrams, with whom she recently won a Grammy. Still, she comes across as an effervescent character, intellectually curious and deeply attuned to the music she plays.

This film doesn’t necessarily rise to the same level of technical perfection, but the cinematography by Seamus McGarvey is full of unexpected reflections and lovely slanting light falling through rooms towards dusk. In the interludes where Wang plays an assortment of pieces (while those pull quotes appear onscreen) there is more abstract imagery – out of focus sunlight, dappling water, drone shots of assorted landscapes – that is a bit screensaver chic, but it’s the music that counts in the end, and that’s divine.

Yuja is in UK cinemas from 11 September.

‘That was a dumbass play’: De’Aaron Fox’s gaffe leaves door open for historic Knicks comeback | NBA finals | The Guardian

Culture, , ,

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – NBA finals, San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Basketball, NBA, Sport, US sports, Victor Wembanyama
Title – ‘That was a dumbass play’: De’Aaron Fox’s gaffe leaves door open for historic Knicks comeback | NBA finals | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/bryan-armen-graham
Link – ‘That was a dumbass play’: De’Aaron Fox’s gaffe leaves door open for historic Knicks comeback | NBA finals | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-11T07:43:15.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/11/deaaron-fox-spurs-knicks-game-4-collapse-nba-finals

For nearly 47 minutes, the San Antonio Spurs looked poised to leave New York with the NBA finals level at two games apiece.

They’d led by 81-52 in the third quarter, brought a frenzied Madison Square Garden crowd to heel and put themselves on the verge of reclaiming home-court advantage after having dropped the first two games at home. Even after the Knicks mounted a furious second-half fightback and wiped out the entirety of San Antonio’s 29-point cushion, the Spurs still appeared to have one final lifeline.

Then came a decision that could haunt San Antonio for years if the Knicks go on to end their 53-year championship drought.

The Spurs led 106-105 with less than 15 seconds remaining Wednesday night when Jalen Brunson’s floating bank shot ricocheted into the backcourt. The loose ball bounced toward De’Aaron Fox, who sprinted after it and found himself racing toward the basket with only a trailing OG Anunoby between him and what looked like a game-clinching score.

Instead of pulling the ball out and forcing New York to foul, Fox attacked the rim. But Anunoby chased him down and blocked the lay-up attempt.

Seconds later, the Knicks had the ball back. Brunson missed a 31-footer off the front of the rim, but Anunoby soared in from the top of the key and tipped home the winner with 1.2 seconds remaining, completing an improbable 107-106 victory and the largest comeback in NBA finals history.

Fox did not shy away from explaining his thought process afterward.

“You have to score. Try to get a lay-up, get up three [points]. Force them to need a three,” Fox said. “OG made a good block.”

Asked why he went for the basket rather than dribbling out the clock and forcing a foul, the ninth-year point guard was to the point.

“I just thought I’d be able to outrun them. That’s it.”

The explanation did little to quell the criticism.

On ESPN’s post-game show, Charles Barkley delivered a verdict that quickly spread across social media and sports television.

“That was a dumbass play,” Barkley said. “He did not have to shoot that ball.”

The blunt assessment reflected the reaction around the basketball world. With the Spurs clinging to a one-point lead, Fox had safer options available. He could have retreated from pressure and waited to be fouled, shaving precious seconds off the clock. He could have used San Antonio’s final timeout. Instead, he chose the most aggressive path – a gamble Anunoby made him pay dearly for.

Of course, reducing the collapse to a single possession would let the Spurs off too easily. The final mistake merely capped a spectacular unraveling that had begun long before Fox found himself alone in the open floor. San Antonio scored 76 points in the first half but just 30 after half-time. The crisp ball movement and long-distance sharpshooting that had carved apart New York’s defense evaporated as the Knicks chipped away at the deficit.

“Obviously let that get away, being up [29 points],” Fox said. “Got away from doing the things that got us up and put ourselves in that position.”

“I think we played a little slower,” he added. “The ball wasn’t moving the same way that it did in the second half like it did in the first half. We didn’t get a flow on the offensive end in the second half.”

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson saw the same thing.

“We got away from what got us the 76 points in the first half,” Johnson said. “Then you saw at times the aggressiveness and just conviction that we played with early on dissipate a little bit. They made some shots. That’s where you felt the momentum a little bit. We just needed few more tough-minded plays to finish the job.”

He added: “To put as much good work into that first half as we did, get the lead that we had and not finish the job, is disappointing to say the least.”

Wembanyama said he was unable to see Fox’s fateful lay-up attempt after tumbling to the floor during the play, but he offered a curt appraisal of the Spurs’ second-half performance.

“We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half,” Wembanyama said. “Stopped moving the ball. Stopped executing.”

That reality may ultimately be what stings most for San Antonio. Fox’s snap decision did not create the collapse. The Spurs had already let a 29-point lead fritter away by then. What the play did was quash their last best chance to survive it.

“Going down 3-1 is obviously very different,” Fox said. “But we feel like we have a team to be able to come back from this.”

Two minutes earlier, the Spurs were still on course to turn these finals into a best-of-three with all the momentum on their side. One costly miscue later, they were staring at the brink instead.