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Untouchable – review

"B ased on a true story" but more than a little tweaked, this popular movie is to be France's entry for the best foreign language film Oscar. It's a polished account of the odd-couple friendship between Philippe (François Cluzet), a rich, handsome, cultivated quadriplegic, and his new carer, Driss (Omar Sy), an intelligent, charismatic, uneducated young working-class west African who has done time for robbery. What draws them together is their total honesty, sense of humour and contempt for stuffy bourgeois hypocrisy, and the general gaucheness of nearly everyone around them. It's as slick as an oil spill, as sugary as an eclair, and many moviegoers will find it irresistible.

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There is a moment in "The Untouchables" when a mobster doesn't want to talk to the law. He has just been captured by federal agents at the Canadian border while trying to run some booze down to Chicago for Al Capone. One of the guy's pals has been shot dead, out on the porch. He doesn't know his partner is dead.

Sean Connery walks outside, grabs the corpse, props it up against a wall, says he's gonna shoot the guy if he doesn't talk - and then puts a bullet into the corpse and drops it. Inside the cabin, the other mobster decides to talk.

It's a moment of quick, brutal improvisation, and it has an energy that's lacking during most of "The Untouchables." Here is a movie about an era when law enforcement resembled gang warfare, but the movie seems more interested in the era than in the war. "The Untouchables" has great costumes, great sets, great cars, great guns, great locations and a few shots that absolutely capture the Prohibition Era. But it does not have a great script, great performances or great direction.

The script is by David Mamet , the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, but it could have been by anybody. It doesn't have the Mamet touch, the conversational rhythms that carry a meaning beyond words. It also lacks any particular point of view about the material and, in fact, lacks the dynamic tension of many gangster movies written by less talented writers. Everything seems cut and dried, twice-told, preordained.

The performances are another disappointment. The star of the movie is Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, the straight-arrow federal agent who vows a personal struggle against the Capone mob. Costner is fine for the role, but it's a thankless one, giving him little to do other than act grim and incorrigible. The script doesn't give him, and he doesn't provide, any of the little twists and turns of character that might have made Ness into an individual.

But the big disappointment is Robert De Niro's Al Capone. All of the movie's Capone segments seem cut off from the rest of the story; they're like regal set-pieces, dropped in from time to time. De Niro comes onscreen with great dramatic and musical flourish, strikes an attitude, says a line, and that's basically the whole idea. There isn't a glimmer of a notion of what made this man tick, this Al Capone who was such an organizational genius that he founded an industry and became a millionaire while still a young man.

The best performance in the movie is by Sean Connery, as an Irish-American cop who signs on as Ness's right-hand man and seems, inexplicably, to know everything about the mob and its liquor business. Connery brings a human element to his character; he seems to have had an existence apart from the legend of the Untouchables, and when he's onscreen we can believe, briefly, that the Prohibition Era was inhabited by people, not caricatures.

What's good about the movie is the physical production itself. There's a shot of Chicago's La Salle Street canyon, all decked out with period cars and extras, that's sensational. And there are a lot of other nice touches, like Capone's hotel headquarters and the courtroom where his trial is held.

But even the good use of sets and locations is undermined by Brian De Palma's curiously lead-footed direction - curious, because he is usually the most nimble and energetic of directors. Look, for example, at an early scene where Ness and his men are staking out a gang headquarters, and Ness spots a nosy photographer snooping around. The editing is so clumsy that we can't understand why the mob doesn't see Ness and the photographer. (And the photographer himself stays around for the whole picture as an implausible distraction, who somehow is always able to turn up whenever he's needed.)

Chicago's bootlegging battles were already a legend by the 1930s, when Warner Bros. turned them into the gangster movie industry. Directors have been struggling ever since to invest them with life, and free them from cliches. The best film about the era remains the uncut original version of Sergio Leone's " Once Upon a Time in America ." De Palma's "Untouchables," like the TV series that inspired it, depends more on cliches than on artistic invention.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Untouchables (1987)

119 minutes

Robert De Niro as Al Capone

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness

Sean Connery as Jimmy Malone

Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace

Andy Garcia as George Stone

From a screenplay by

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Untouchable

• 3 out of 5 stars
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Time Out says

Culture-clash comedy blends with heart-tugging true-life drama in this French box-office hit. François Cluzet (‘Tell No One’) is Philippe, a wealthy man left paralysed from the neck down after an accident. Interviewing worthy types for the job of carer, Philippe is struck by Driss ( Omar Sy ), a street-smart criminal who’s merely applying in order to receive benefits. Admiring his irreverence, Philippe hires Driss and moves him into his palatial home. Bonding ensues, amid many raised eyebrows.

It’s an enjoyable, if familiar, set-up, recalling ‘Scent of a Woman’ as Driss opens Philippe’s eyes to new worlds (pot smoking, soul music), and vice versa. Both become aware of their privileges: chiefly education and an able body, respectively. There’s also a whiff of ‘The Sound of Music’ as this whirlwind brings a different kind of tune to the household, challenging the way Philippe raises his daughter. Of course, this is not a romance, but a bromance: it’s these two against a world that fails to understand either of them properly.

While ‘Untouchable’ (released in France in 2011 as ‘Intouchables’) is based on a true story, you sense a good deal of artistic licence – the original carer was an Algerian immigrant, while the film’s Driss is Senegalese. And ‘Untouchable’ leaves itself wide open to criticism of racial stereotyping. As Driss grooves around the mansion, showing the uptight white people how to dance, one is reminded more of an ’80s Hollywood comedy than a modern French one. But both characters are enormously sympathetic and you can’t deny the film’s heart is in the right place. It delivers broad laughs and tugs at the heartstrings without delving too deep – the very definition of a crowd-pleaser.

Release Details

• Release date: Friday 21 September 2012
• Duration: 112 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
• François Cluzet
• Audrey Fleurot

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Untouchable (Intouchables)

Based on a true story, Untouchable is a compelling watch, bringing together two opposite ends of a social spectrum, addressing thought-provoking situations, and providing the viewer with that sumptuous feeling of a warm heart.

Philippe (François Cluzet) is a wealthy quadriplegic living in Paris surrounded by life’s finest luxuries and decadence.  Juxtaposing Philippe’s riches is Driss (Omar Sy), a young offender, essentially the “dross” of social dynamics, living in lowly conditions.  In a conclusive turn of events, Driss – who is seeking benefit allowance from the French government – ends up working as Philippe’s live-in carer, and so the story begins.

Bringing together two such opposites, and watching the magical formation of their bond is where the enchantment lies in Untouchable .  There is a swift leap between everything and nothing – not just between Driss’ and Philippe’s financial status, but also between quality of life. Philippe specifically stated that he did not want pity, and Driss on his part seems unable to show pity – especially to a man who, materially, has everything!

The adventures Philippe and Driss go on to share make up the content of this film.  The relationship and trust grow, as does Philippe’s sense of humour and it really is one of the most consolatory things to behold.  Despite Driss’s turbulent past and family problems, Philippe seems to be able to lift Driss out of his downward spiral, with a little help from his attractive, red-haired assistant, Magalie (Audrey Fleurot), and another assistant, Yvonne (Anne Le Ny).

The sense of innocence emanating from Driss as he handles the responsibilities that come with Philippe is both tender and comedic.  The humour throughout the film is dry, especially from Philippe whose lighter sense of being develops with Driss’s help, as does his motivation for getting out and about once again.

Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano have achieved levels of brilliance with Untouchable .  Where the British film Inside I’m Dancing  hit all the right notes back in 2004, this new French film successfully strives to bring the same magic back to our screens.  Appealing to a vast audience, there really is no one who won’t enjoy Untouchable .

Jennifer Atkinson

Untouchable (Intouchables) is released in UK cinemas on 21 st September 2012.

Watch the trailer for Untouchable (Intouchables) here:

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‘untouchable’: film review | sundance 2019.

The rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein is recounted by some of the women he allegedly abused as well as colleagues who knew him and still feel the guilt in Ursula Macfarlane's documentary 'Untouchable.'

By Leslie Felperin

Leslie Felperin

Contributing Film Critic

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We’re living in a time when the news ecosystem is as densely crammed with tales of the perfidy of rich, powerful men as a square kilometer of Amazonian rainforest is packed with endangered life forms. Consequently, the shocking (albeit not entirely surprising within the industry) revelations about the predatory habits of Harvey Weinstein , recounted in director Ursula Macfarlane’s scrupulous documentary Untouchable, almost feel like the fading echoes of an ancient supernova, one that exploded way back in the distant mists of October 2017.

But the reverberations from Weinstein’s alleged misdeeds can still be felt today through the evolving collective story of the #MeToo movement, as ever more public figures are pulled into the undertow, while older accusations are made new again with fresh revelations. See, for example, the recent allegations published this month about Bryan Singer, while in Sundance, where Untouchable debuted, TV series Leaving Neverland also screened for the first time, offering four hours’ worth of detail about Michael Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of the young boys he groomed as “friends.” Moreover, the Weinstein story is about to heat up again given that his trial, for charges of rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault, is scheduled to start in May.

Related Stories

With the departure of its ceo, sundance now must chart a new course, susan sarandon on hollywood post-harvey weinstein: "i don't think we've done the cleanup".

Told with clarity, respect and empathy, and not just for the women on whom Weinstein preyed, Macfarlane’s film offers a timely and fascinating overview of his story, one that’s almost emblematic of the pathology of serial sexual abusers. Former employees and colleagues from his earliest days in Buffalo as a music promoter and on through the early years of Miramax, the film company he founded with his brother Bob, recollect with justifiable admiration his passion for film, his good taste in material and his gift for marketing and making hits. Some are even willing to go so far as to admit that he could be undeniably charming and charismatic, but as one former executive notes, the flipside of that “genius” was a gluttonous appetite for power and pleasure.

Sensation seekers should be warned that there aren’t really any fresh allegations aired here, and Untouchable allocates just as much screen time to interviews with “non-famous” women Weinstein allegedly importuned or assaulted as it does to the likes of actors Rosanna Arquette and Paz de la Huerta , both interviewed here. But there is something extraordinary and immediate about these women’s narratives of what happened to them, told with honesty but evident and intense pain. Arguably the most devastating moment is when the camera holds patiently on one-time Weinstein employee Hope D’Amore for many seconds of screen time as she struggles to find the words to describe a sexual assault by Weinstein that happened in 1978. (“I didn’t scratch his eyes out, but I did say no and tried to push him away,” she says with painful frankness.) It’s in scenes like this that the film vibrates with an emotional richness and cathartic charge that the written journalistic word would struggle to match.

Macfarlane spends just about the right amount of time prodding at Harvey’s psychology in order to propel the story, but the real meat of the movie is its engagement with those who came into his orbit and became as damaged as they were enriched by the exposure. Those include not just the women he allegedly attacked or pressured or threatened, but to an extent also the people he worked with who sort of knew but sort of didn’t want to know, or even outright knew and chose to keep on working with him. Jack Lechner, at one time head of development at Miramax, John Schmidt, formerly a Miramax CFO, and Mark Gill, president of Miramax Los Angeles, all speak eloquently about their feelings of shame and survivor’s guilt. Kathy Declesis, at one time Bob Weinstein’s assistant, can at least hold her head high when recounting how she quit after reading a letter from a lawyer detailing the rape of another employee, but how many knew of similar assaults and chose to do nothing? The diffuse contagion of guilt is in some ways the real subject of this film.

After detailing how she was allegedly raped by Weinstein, Paz de La Huerta talks haltingly about how she felt a need to assert her sexuality even more onscreen and in photo sessions as a kind of self-therapy, attempting to take back control of her own body and sensuality after the violation. As a kind of aesthetic correlative of this, each of the interviewees here are beautifully made up and flatteringly lit by cinematographers Patrick Smith and Neil Harvey. The glossy production values give them a sort of visual armor, and serve to remind us how Weinstein pathologically coveted beauty, perhaps because he was so uncomfortable in his own skin.

In the interests of full disclosure, The Hollywood Reporter ‘s editor-at-large Kim Masters is one of several journalists interviewed here about her dealings with Weinstein over the years. Her contributions are insightful, as is the one from prominent writer Rebecca Traister and her one-time boyfriend Andrew Goldman, who recount, with some tension-dissipating and welcome hilarity, a bizarre evening where they were verbally and physically assaulted by Weinstein, but still managed to record him boasting profanely about how he was the virtual sheriff of New York — and, as the title notes, untouchable.

Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Documentary Premieres) Production companies: A Lightbox Production in association with BBC, Samuel Marshall Films, Embankment Films Director: Ursula Macfarlane Producers: Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Poppy Dixon Executive producers:  Charles Dorfman, David Gilbery, Tom McDonald, Simon Young,  Hugo Grumbar, Tim Haslam Co-producer: Vanessa Tovell Directors of photography: Patrick Smith, Neil Harvey Editor: Andy R. Worboys Music: Annie Nikitin Sales: Embankment Films

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Intouchables (2011) Directed by Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano

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The untouchables, common sense media reviewers.

Cops vs. the mob in bloody Prohibition-era drama.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Somewhat mixed message: It is possible to resist o

Eliot Ness is an upstanding family man and bribe-p

Much shooting with revolver, rifle, and shotgun, w

Plenty of swearing, including "f--k," "Goddamit,"

The Prohibition era and drinking alcohol are key e

Parents need to know that this classic top-cop vs. the mob drama has bloody violence and deaths of heroic and sympathetic characters, principally in shootings (including head shots) and shotgun blasts. A bomb explosions kills a child, and another in a baby carriage is nearly caught in a crossfire. There's a messy…

Positive Messages

Somewhat mixed message: It is possible to resist overwhelming public corruption. But to bring down a crime lord, "incorruptible" Eliot Ness must cross the line himself, becoming a liar and a revenge-driven murderer. In short, good guy must be more ruthless than the bad guys.

Positive Role Models

Eliot Ness is an upstanding family man and bribe-proof lawman who nonetheless resorts to vigilante justice and blackmail in pursuit of justice (and revenge). Many police and politicians are corrupt. There's a brief audio clip of radio's Amos and Andy sitcom, now considered racist, plus slurs about Irish and Italians.

Violence & Scariness

Much shooting with revolver, rifle, and shotgun, with and bloody wounds and death (including head shots). Capone fatally beats a man with a baseball bat. Bomb blasts (one of which instantly kills a little girl). A villain falls to his death from a great height.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Plenty of swearing, including "f--k," "Goddamit," "whore," "s--t," "ass," "piss," and "Christ" used as an exclamation. Also, some ethnic slurs, like "wop."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

The Prohibition era and drinking alcohol are key elements in the plot; Ness orders police not to drink while Prohibition is in force (smoking is OK, though), though even the heroic "Untouchables" drink when nobody is looking. When Prohibition is lifted at the end, Ness himself turns out to be a drinker.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this classic top-cop vs. the mob drama has bloody violence and deaths of heroic and sympathetic characters, principally in shootings (including head shots) and shotgun blasts. A bomb explosions kills a child, and another in a baby carriage is nearly caught in a crossfire. There's a messy aftermath of a notorious shock scene in which Al Capone beats a character to death, just offscreen, with a baseball bat. Swearing is heavy ("f--k" and "s--t," etc.). Most characters smoke and drink. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (26)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Great movie, must watch!

Great gangster film adapted from what really happened, what's the story.

In Prohibition-era Chicago, organized crime prospers under arch-gangster Al Capone ( Robert De Niro ), who earns millions selling bootleg liquor, extortion and other vices through various lieutenants and underbosses. Proud US Treasury Agent Eliot Ness ( Kevin Costner ) is appointed to specifically tear down the criminal empire, but learns the hard way that Capone has well-paid agents, spies, and informants even in the police. Fortunately Ness befriends Malone ( Sean Connery ), a streetwise Irish-American officer who mentors the young lawman in street tactics, including putting together a core team of "untouchable," bribe-proof deputies. Cleverly determining that ordinary tax law can lock away Capone -- he's hasn't filed a tax statement, naturally, for his illegal millions -- Ness and the Untouchables clash with the crime lord's deadliest gunmen in the prelude to Capone's trial.

Is It Any Good?

THE UNTOUCHABLES is a lot fun despite the corniness and simplifications. It's often said real-life lawman and city safety director Eliot Ness, when he died virtually forgotten in 1957, had no clue his name would be famous as a pop-culture crimefighter. It was the inaccurate "nonfiction" bestselling book The Untouchables and a network TV-series adaptation (1959-1963) that inspired this entertaining, super-deluxe, big-scale feature film, which, despite frequent swearing and bloodletting, is very old-school Hollywood in its flavor and morality (and failure to get the facts straight). The good guys are really good, the bad guys are hissably evil -- none of that trendy romanticizing the mob or pretending criminals are cool rebels . With bigger-than-life actors, direction, and snappy dialogue (by playwright David Mamet), this film comes on like, well, gangbusters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in this movie. How realistic is it? How does it affect you after watching it? Does who is committing the violence make a difference?

The newspapers in the film seem to be friendlier with Al Capone than with Eliot Ness. Are there criminals today who have the media spotlight? What is so appealing about colorful criminal characters, if anything?

Elliot Ness ends up breaking the law himself. Do the means justify the end?

This movie is based on real lives and real events. How have they been changed or dramatized? How can you find out the real story?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 3, 1987
• On DVD or streaming : May 9, 2017
• Cast : Andy Garcia , Charles Martin Smith , Kevin Costner , Robert De Niro , Sean Connery
• Director : Brian De Palma
• Inclusion Information : Latino actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 119 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• Last updated : January 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Untouchable Review

21 Sep 2012

112 minutes

Untouchable

If Hollywood produced a film about a (white) quadriplegic millionaire who receives a lesson in joie de vivre from his new carer, a (black) petty crook from the projects — and it will, a remake is on the way — it would probably be viewed here with the particular sort of cynicism reserved for films like The Help. In its native France, however, Les Intouchables has been a huge success. François Cluzet and Omar Sy are enjoyable to watch, but after an attention-grabbing opening the story plays out in predictable fashion, and the fact that it’s based on a true story makes it no less fatuous and forgettable.

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The 7 Best New Shows on Netflix in April 2024

Ben travers.

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Ah, April. Spring isn’t just in the air, it’s on our television sets . Baseballs are zipping through the air. Flowers are blooming in the park. Desperate TV networks are capitalizing off national holidays with religious programming . It’s all happening, and Netflix is playing along. Not only did the streaming giant get an early jump on the Emmy race by launching the confusing awful ambitious “3 Body Problem” in March (giving voters enough time to wade through its arduous episodes), but April has its own awards contender in “Ripley.”

I would be surprised if any other April original series draw the TV Academy’s attention, but we should never write off a series executive produced by Norman Lear (“Good Times” gets the animated reboot treatment this month), nor can a nature documentary series from Netflix be considered out of the running (especially one narrated by Cate Blanchett, like the forthcoming “Our Living World”). Greg Berlanti isn’t known for producing awards bait; he’s a people-pleaser, and “Dead Boy Detectives” fits snugly next to similar populist teen dramas like “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and The CW’s superhero shows (which also stream on Netflix). But hey, “The Flight Attendant” made a little Emmy noise in its first season (landing Berlanti one of his two total nominations), so maybe a Neil Gaiman adaptation can, too.

Still, the biggest story of the month still isn’t what Netflix created, but what it’s acquired. “Sex and the City” becomes the latest HBO original to stream on Netflix, which is both a sound financial decision for the cash-strapped Warner Bros. Discovery and an awful branding choice for HBO, which has been operating under the subscribers-only access model since before Netflix first tu-dummed. Extra eyeballs around Carrie & Co. may generate renewed interest in “And Just Like That,” the Max-exclusive sequel series, but without new episodes arriving anytime soon, the scheduling of this “SATC” Netflix drop remains deeply suspect.

Can any of Netflix’s originals compete? Does it matter what subscribers are watching so long as they’re watching it on Netflix? The debate will rage on across Hollywood, but fans can rest assured they’ll find something worth streaming in April. Maybe it’s “Sex and the City,” maybe it’s “Ripley,” maybe it’s “The Circle.” Spring is in the air, so why not stay inside and watch TV?

1. ‘Ripley’

Release Date: Thursday, April 4 Writer/Director: Steven Zaillian Cast: Andrew Scott, Johnny Flynn, Dakota Fanning, Eliot Sumner, Maurizio Lombardi, Margherita Buy, John Malkovich Format: 8 hourlong episodes Best Reason to Watch: Following in the footsteps of Anthony Minghella’s feature adaptation of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is a prospect daunting enough to be discouraging — for creators and fans alike. But as untouchable as the 1999 film feels, it’s best to remember that Tom Ripley is a character who originated with Patricia Highsmith, an author whose thrilling work has inspired everything from “Strangers on a Train” to “Carol.” Just Ripley, her suave identity thief, has popped up in “Purple Noon” (1960), “The American Friend” (1977), “Ripley Under Ground” (2005), and “Ripley’s Game” (2002) — and those are just the movies. Now, Steven Zaillian (“The Night Of,” “The Irishman,” “Moneyball”) is taking a turn in an eight-episode interpretation of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with Andrew Scott as the titular talent. Originally developed at Showtime, the black-and-white series was shot on location in Italy by Oscar winner Robert Elswit (“There Will Be Blood,” “Good Night and Good Luck”). There’s a lot of reasons to be excited about this one — even if you (rightly) treat Minghella’s version as gospel.

2. ‘Sex and the City’

Release Date: Monday, April 1   Creator: Darren Starr  Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, and a whole slew of now-famous guest stars   Format: 94 half-hour episodes  Best Reason to Watch: As “And Just Like That” shovels dirt on the grave of its beloved predecessor, perhaps it’s a good thing that HBO agreed to license one of its legacy originals to Netflix, so audiences old and new can see for themselves just how great Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte were at their best (you know, when they were all on the same show).  

3. ‘Good Times’

Release Date: Friday, April 12  Showrunner: Ranada Shepard  Executive Producers: Norman Lear, Stephen Curry, Seth MacFarlane, Ranada Shepard   Cast: J.B. Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, Slink Johnson, Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola  Format: 8 half-hour episodes  Best Reason to Watch: Norman Lear’s extraordinary legacy lives on in yet another reboot of yet another classic sitcom from the late Hollywood icon. This “Good Times” still follows the Evans family as they persevere in a housing project on the South Side of Chicago, only this family is a few generations past Florida and James’ kids, and, oh yeah, it’s an animated series. With a strong voice cast and the approval of Lear himself (before he passed), here’s hoping this “Good Times” can find the same creative success as the recent reboot of “One Day at a Time.” 

4. ‘Dead Boy Detectives’

Release Date: Thursday, April 25  Showrunners: Steve Yockey, Beth Schwartz   Executive Producers: Greg Berlanti, Jeremy Carver, Sarah Schechter, Steve Yockey, Beth Schwartz  Cast: George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Briana Cuoco, Yuyu Kitamura, Ruth Connell, Jenn Lyon  Format: 8 hourlong episodes  Best Reason to Watch: Originally developed at Max (back when it was still HBO Max), “Dead Boy Detectives” is TV’s latest attempt to adapt one of Neil Gaiman’s popular comic book series (after “The Sandman,” “Good Omens,” and “American Gods”). This one follows Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), two everyday best friends who also happen to be ghosts who run a detective agency. They’ve chosen to stay on Earth to do good (rather than retire to the afterlife), and the duo spends their days solving supernatural mysteries plaguing the planet’s still-living people. Does that sound like a little bit of a throwback? Like an “X-Files” successor where ghosts solve a new creepy case each week? Well, with super-producer Greg Berlanti behind the scenes, it could be, but it’s also part of the same universe as “The Sandman,” so it’s got a bit of modern DNA (aka IP) as well.  

5. ‘The Circle’ Season 6

Release Date: Wednesday, April 17   Executive Producers: Shane Byrne, Tim Harcourt, Stephen Lambert, Daisy Lilley, Susy Price, Chet Fenster, Richard Forster, Toni Ireland  Format: 16 hourlong episodes  Best Reason to Watch: I dunno, you guys. I dipped my toe back in the reality TV cesspool for “The Traitors,” and I’ve felt dirty ever since. “The Circle” Season 6 is moving from England to Atlanta, GA, if that does anything for ya, and it’s always nice to see Michelle Buteau. But… by now, you know if this is your bag or not. Happy for everyone who’s ready to jump through the hoops, but I can’t join in at this time. 

6. ‘Our Living World’

Release Date: Wednesday, April 17   Creative Team: Ben Roy (producer), James Honeyborne (Executive Producer), Kate Hall (Head of Production), Steve Barnes (Editor), Mark Robertson (Editor)s   Cast: Cate Blanchett, Cute Animals  Format: 4 hourlong episodes  Best Reason to Watch: Cate Blanchett narrates the latest nature docuseries filled with stunning photography and zero other distinguishing factors. Even as a professional critic who’s reviewed a number of these, I would be hard-pressed to outline significant differences between Netflix’s current crop of “Planet Earth” successors, including “Our Planet,” “Our Planet II,” “Life on Our Planet,” “Our Universe,” “Our Great National Parks” (I think this one has Obama), “Night on Earth,” “Earthstorm,” and so on and so forth. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with appreciating the natural elements from the comfort of your nonbiodegradable couch, especially with Cate Blanchett as your tour guide. 

7. ‘Black Sails’

Release Date: Wednesday, April 17   Creators: Jonathan E. Steinberg, Robert Levine  Cast: Toby Stephens, Hannah New, Luke Arnold, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Tom Hopper, Zach McGowan, Toby Schmitz, Clara Paget  Format: 38 hourlong episodes  Best Reason to Watch: What’s a pirate’s favorite pattern? Arrrrrgyle. (It’s a pirate show! I’m tired! Have a good month!) 

The Rest of Incoming TV

“100 Days To Indy” Season 1 (available April 4)   “I Woke Up a Vampire” Season 2 (available April 4)  “Parasyte: The Grey” (available April 5)  “Spirit Rangers” Season 3 (available April 8)  “Anthracite: Secrets of the Sect” (available April 10)  “The Hijacking of Flight 601” (available April 10)  “Unlocked: A Jail Experiment” (available April 10)  “As the Crow Flies” Season 3 (available April 11)  “Heartbreak High” Season 2 (available April 11)  “Meekah” Season 2 (available April 11)  “Midsummer Night” (available April 11)   “The Fairly OddParents” Seasons 4-5 (available April 15)  “Bros” (available April 18)  “The Upshaws” Part 5 (available April 18)  “CoComelon Lane” Season 2 (available April 22)  “Brigands: The Quest for Gold” (available April 23)  “Fight for Paradise: Who Can You Trust?” (available April 23)  “Deliver Me” (available April 24)   “Don’t Hate the Player” (available April 24)  “The Asunta Case” (available April 26)  “Boiling Point” Season 1 (available April 29)  “Fiasco” (available April 30) 

TV Leaving Netflix in April

“Imposters” Seasons 1-2 (unavailable April 4)  “The Nice Guys”*** (unavailble April 8) “Barney and Friends” Seasons 13-14 (unavailable April 30)   ***not a TV show, but boy, wouldn’t it make for a good one?  

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Singing in the rain: Untouchable Van der Poel wins Tour of Flanders for record-equaling 3rd time

Netherland’s Mathieu van der Poel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team holds his bike up at the finish line after taking first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Elisa Longo-Borghini of the Lidl-Trek team, center, crosses the finish line to take first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Netherland’s Mathieu van der Poel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, center, is congratulated after taking first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Netherland’s Mathieu van der Poel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team reacts after crossing the finish line to take first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Netherland’s Mathieu Van Der Poel, center left, rides with the pack through the historical center of Oudenaarde, Belgium, during the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamson of the Uno-X Mobility team, center, and Serbia’s Dusan Rajovic of the Bahrain Victorious team, center right, ride with the pack through the historical center of Oudenaarde, Belgium, during the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Netherland’s Mathieu Van Der Poel, center, rides with the pack through the historical center of Oudenaarde, Belgium, during the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Elisa Longo-Borghini of the Lidl-Trek team, center, speaks with the media after crossing the finish line to take first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Elisa Longo-Borghini of the Lidl-Trek team crosses the finish line to take first place in the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium on Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

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OUDENAARDE, Belgium (AP) — World champion Mathieu van der Poel was untouchable in tough, rainy conditions on Sunday as the Dutch rider claimed a record-equaling third win at the Tour of Flanders cobbled classic, one of cycling’s most challenging one-day races.

In the absence of several rivals, Van der Poel was the favorite from the start. He met expectations in style with a long-range attack in a brutal climb.

The Tour of Flanders is one of the “monuments” of cycling — the five most prestigious one-day events in the sport — along with Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia.

First held in 1913, the race is also known as De Ronde (The Tour). It features multiple short but punishing climbs and is one of the two classics with cobblestone sections along with Paris-Roubaix.

Elisa Longo Borghini won the women’s race to claim a second title following her 2015 victory in Flanders. She won a sprint ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma and Shirin van Anrooij.

Van der Poel attacked from a group of contenders in the ascent of the Koppenberg, with about 45 kilometers (28 miles) left in the race.

Ivan Garcia Cortina, the lone remaining breakaway rider, had a mechanical problem and was swallowed on the cobbles made slippery by the rain. Most of the riders had to dismount and walk up the iconic climb while Van der Poel, sitting firmly on his saddle, used his immense power to reach the top of the hill first, and then destroyed the field.

Spurred on by thousands of vociferous fans lining the roads, Van der Poel did not look back afterward and opened a huge gap as he continued his amazing solo effort in the remaining climbs. Van der Poel slowed down near the finish and, once he crossed the line, held up his bike in triumph.

Van der Poel joined a group of riders with the most Tour of Flanders wins (3), along with Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara.

Luca Mozzato was the best of the chasers to clinch second place, ahead of Nils Politt after Michael Matthews was relegated from third to 11th following a jury decision.

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar skipped the race this year, focusing instead on his preparations for Liege-Bastogne-Liege on April 21 and the Giro d’Italia in May. Other big names missing included Wout van Aert and fellow Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven, who were both ruled out after crashing at high speed during a preparation event last week.

Cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

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Benedict cumberbatch & olivia colman team with jay roach on ‘the war of the roses’ reimagining for searchlight, ‘godzilla x kong: the new empire’ premiere: director adam wingard on possible third film to complete monsterverse trilogy.

By Armando Tinoco , Natalie Sitek

Adam Wingard , director of Godzilla x Kong : The New Empire , is discussing possibly making a third film to complete the MonsterVerse trilogy.

“Only time will tell,” Wingard told Deadline during the film’s premiere. “I think the seductive thing as a filmmaker when you’ve done two movies is to complete it as this trilogy — that’s always what everybody expects.”

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He continued, “We’ll see. It really depends on how the movie does. I think that there’s a lot of really cool ideas we have [about] where we would go with it. I’m open to it and excited for what the future brings.”

“I’m open to it and excited what the future brings”: #GodzillaXKong director Adam Wingard on making a third film to complete his MonsterVerse trilogy pic.twitter.com/tT0JJv7zIX — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 26, 2024

On the red carpet, Wingard revealed that “ever since I was a little kid, I was obsessed with monster movies.” The filmmaker said that as a child, you perceive things differently than when you’re an adult and recalled that as a kid he tried “to retain all these thoughts and ideas that I had,” which helped when he was creating the sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong .

“I knew that I needed to stylistically do something I’ve never seen before, which was tell a film from that monster POV that I’d always wanted to see,” he added.

Adam Wingard on how fulfilled he feels to continue contributing to the MonsterVerse legacy and making #GodzillaXKong pic.twitter.com/XMTzNfq7wj — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 26, 2024

Wingard also talked about shooting the film in eight different countries, which he described as a “monster character study.”

Adam Wingard on shooting in eight different countries and his favorite scenes, which include what he describes as “monster character study” | #GodzillaXKong pic.twitter.com/JOt9K4tcj6 — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 26, 2024

Gene Simmons was on the carpet of the Godzilla x Kong premiere.

Gene Simmons on the carpet for the #GodzillaXKong premiere pic.twitter.com/92ttEapjxB — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 26, 2024

Wingard also talked about paying homage to Godzilla Minus One .

#GodzillaXKong director Adam Wingard on paying homage to ‘Godzilla Minus One’ pic.twitter.com/NvqNkl7Iaf — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 26, 2024

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Ewan McGregor Charms in ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’, but Can’t Turn the Hit Novel Into a Compelling Show: TV Review

By Alison Herman

Alison Herman

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Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Amor Towles, “A Gentleman in Moscow” follows Rostov through the doors of the Metropol and stays there through decades of Russian history, from the formation of the Soviet Union to Stalinist repression to World War II and beyond. Writer and showrunner Ben Vanstone (“All Creatures Great and Small”) renders Rostov’s journey in eight hourlong episodes, a length at once condensed from Towles’s 500-page tome and distended from where the story feels most comfortable onscreen. “A Gentleman in Moscow” may present Rostov and his kind as an endangered species, but the series is part of an all-too-common trend: a limited series built around a star performance that’s engaging, but not enough to stretch a movie-sized idea into a TV-sized narrative.

But none of these characters ever compete with Rostov for the center of the series’ attention. They are, at best, accessories to his maturation from unserious dilettante to an impassioned protector of his adopted family, or an audience to his anecdotes about a bygone era. McGregor gamely sports a mustache and animates Rostov with a boyish naiveté. (After “Fargo,” “Halston” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the actor seems to have taken to TV as a showcase for his talents.) His Rostov is compelling, yet also familiar — Towles’ novel was published in 2016, just a couple years after Ralph Fiennes portrayed a similar figure in Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which brought its namesake property to life with much more stylistic brio than directors Sam Miller and Sarah O’Gorman bring to the Metropol. There’s a ceiling to how much McGregor can do with a protagonist who clings to such established contours of vintage propriety caught up in the tides of history.

There’s also the matter of context. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” took place in a fictional country, but it referenced the rising tide of European fascism in the 1930s, a theme with obvious resonance for contemporary viewers. “A Gentleman in Moscow” deals with Communist repression, which is both a throwback to Cold War anxieties and an inherently political subject for a stubbornly apolitical show. Rostov’s college friend Mishka (Fehinti Balogun) hails from a more proletarian background and ends up on the opposite side of the revolution, but their differences stem more from personal strife than ideology. In their school days, Rostov thwarted Mishka’s romance with his sister, an intervention with tragic results.

“A Gentleman in Moscow” otherwise avoids having Rostov question whether his former lifestyle ever came at others’ expense or cultivating his views on current events beyond melancholy regret. This absence might be less conspicuous were the show more overtly abstract and allegorical á la “The Regime,” another series set largely within the walls of a requisitioned hotel. But the Metropol, while clearly constructed on a soundstage, is realistic enough to invite questions about the outside world. Towles could relay those developments in writing; on TV, we can’t see how Russia is changing because we’re trapped inside with Rostov, a deliberate choice that nonetheless leads to visual monotony and cuts off a potential source of plot.

The first episode of “A Gentleman in Moscow” is now available to stream on Paramount+ and will air on Showtime on March 31 at 9 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes streaming weekly on Fridays and airing on Sundays.

Updated: An earlier version of this review misidentified the showrunner.

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Untouchable Reviews

A complex, unsettling, but ultimately cathartic experience, the film is necessary viewing as our society finally takes stock of its deplorable treatment of women.

Full Review | Mar 12, 2021

It's the heartfelt, detailed and damning testimony from former colleagues, aspiring film industry workers and investigating journalists that really stays with you.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 12, 2021

Weinstein is just the tip of the iceberg and Untouchable reminds us that there are plenty of Harvey Weinsteins out there in various industries using their power and privilege to intimidate and silence victims of sexual assault.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2020

A sharp look at a monster who had access to the most beautiful women in the world and took advantage of his position time and again to control them.

Full Review | Jul 31, 2020

Untouchable manages the feat of documenting a story about Weinstein without telling only his story.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2020

Valuable as it is to hear from the victims, I welcome more understanding of the social and psychological factors in our culture that have allowed men to behave badly, some very badly, for far too long.

Full Review | Jan 8, 2020

The rise and fall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been given a lot of coverage, but this thoughtful, probing and revealing feature-length documentary directed by Ursula Macfarlane adds a constructive perspective to the allegations about him.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2020

A documentary that, in its best moments, simply lingers on the survivors and sexual abuse and misconduct, leaving in the deafening silent moments that come all too frequently...

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Dec 5, 2019

Weinstein's alleged sex crimes explored; language, violence.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 22, 2019

...told mostly by (Weinstein's) alleged victims, and their stories are hair-raising...an emotional movie to sit through, but well worth the sit.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Sep 17, 2019

The merit of this documentary comes from its clarity. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 11, 2019

A chronicle on the genesis of the Me Too movement would have been more stimulating than the millionth portrait of a monster. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 11, 2019

The documentary poses the doubt that Harvey only fell because of weakness and not true justice and on that note alone, the film and audiences need an epilogue. [Full Review in Spanish]

In her admirable film, director Ursula Macfarlane persuaded some of these women to tell their stories about [Harvey] Weinstein -- the majority of their recollections offered haltingly and with considerable signs of distress.

Full Review | Sep 9, 2019

A conventional, but perturbing documentary. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 7, 2019

Almost every woman watching will understand. Some men will, too. If these films add to their number, maybe we can begin to change the world.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 4, 2019

Untouchable demands that we don't dare look away.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 3, 2019

"Untouchable" features some less-than-effective filmmaking decisions, from an over-the-top ominous score to an overabundance of driving-through-the-city segues to some murky shots of hotel corridors.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 3, 2019

Where Untouchable excels... is in capturing the complexities surrounding sexual assault.

Listening to these women specifically say what Harvey [Weinstein] did to them made me deeply uncomfortable.

Full Review | Sep 3, 2019

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‘Opening Night’ Review: A Stylish Movie Becomes a Sludgy Travesty

Ivo van Hove’s stage adaptation of the 1977 John Cassavetes film, with music by Rufus Wainwright, turns a taut character study into a corny melodrama.

By Houman Barekat

The critic Houman Barekat saw “Opening Night” in London.

In a London auditorium, a work of art is being desecrated. “Opening Night,” John Cassavetes’s understatedly stylish 1977 movie about an actress struggling with midlife ennui, has been reimagined as a musical by the Belgian director Ivo van Hove, and the result is a travesty.

Its antiheroine, the Broadway superstar Myrtle Gordon (Sheridan Smith), has landed the lead role in a play about a middle-aged woman. But she isn’t feeling it: Though she is about 40, she insists she can’t relate. She stumbles through rehearsals, clashing with the director, Manny (Hadley Fraser), and the playwright, Sarah (Nicola Hughes), then goes rogue during previews, taking liberties with the script.

To compound matters, the actress develops a neurotic fixation on Nancy (Shira Haas), a 17-year-old fan killed in a car crash moments after getting Myrtle’s autograph. Convinced that Nancy is a cipher for her own lost youth, Myrtle intermittently hallucinates the dead girl’s ghost, and even converses with it. Myrtle is unraveling, but the show — somehow — must go on.

It’s a compelling story line, filled with dramatic possibilities, but “Opening Night,” which runs at the Gielgud Theater through July 27, is scuppered by a series of poor choices. Smith is miscast as Myrtle, for a start: Her onstage bearing exudes a homely approachability rather than high-strung poise or inscrutable aloofness.

Benjamin Walker is wooden as Maurice, Myrtle’s stage co-star and ex-partner, who Cassavetes himself played charmingly in the film. The estranged couple’s brittle onstage chemistry is an essential ingredient in the drama; here, they seem like actual strangers. Haas’s spectral Nancy is a disconcertingly cutesy symbol of youthful feminine vitality, a sprite-like figure who scurries around the stage in a short skirt, knee-high socks and platform boots — suggesting not so much a young woman as a pubescent child.

The songs, by Rufus Wainwright, are algorithmically bland. Several address aging, including the unsubtly titled “A Change of Life” (about menopause) and “Makes One Wonder,” a duet in which Myrtle and Sarah realize that, as women of a certain age, they may have more in common than they’d like to admit.

Others are about showbiz: “Magic” is an upbeat cabaret-style number about the wonder of the stage; “Moths to a Flame” is a somber, sentimental paean to the indefatigability of thespians everywhere. There is a brief foray into rock opera during an excruciating scene in which Myrtle, having figured out she must banish Nancy’s specter to get herself back on track, scuffles with the girl-child amid flashing strobe lights and 1980s-style power riffs. It’s so schlocky that it almost feels like a sendup.

Jan Versweyveld’s set is a theater within a theater. The rehearsal space occupies the foreground, and a row of vanity mirrors at the rear of the stage represents the backstage area. As in van Hove’s 2019 adaptation of “All About Eve ” — another story about the emotional travails of an aging actress — camera operators stalk its perimeter, transmitting close-up, real-time footage of the actors onto a big screen above the stage.

The idea is to ramp up the psychodrama by bringing us up close and personal, but there isn’t much intensity to intensify. The multiple angles add little to the experience. (The occasional bird’s-eye view is particularly unnecessary, unless you happen to have an interest in the topography of hairlines.) A screen caption at the start of the show informs us that a documentary film crew is recording the company’s rehearsals — a plot device that is supposed to make this camerawork feel less like a gratuitous gimmick, but so flimsily transparent that it has the opposite effect.

There are one or two good moments, including a tense rehearsal scene in which Myrtle objects to having to endure an onstage slap. She says it’s humiliating, but Manny insists it’s artistically necessary. Smith renders the standoff with a bleak comic pathos: At one point she even slaps herself to forestall the blow. (For van Hove, who is known for pushing his performers to the limit, this material is close to home.) Near the end, as the characters make their final preparations for opening night, the big screen cuts to recorded footage of theatergoers passing through the Gielgud foyer a couple of hours earlier — a clever touch that spurred a ripple of amused murmurs from the audience. But these are slim pickings.

As an artist yearning to take back control of her narrative, Myrtle should resonate at a time when questions of agency — for women and minorities, among others — are on many people’s minds. But van Hove’s corny treatment trivializes her suffering. Cassavetes’s movie had an elliptical quality that drew viewers in through the strength of its narrative artifice and the power of the actors’ performances; here, the story never comes to life, and the themes are labored. Van Hove has transformed a taut, subtly observed character study into a sludgy melodrama.

Opening Night Through July 27 at the Gielgud Theater in London; openingnightmusical.com .