Category: 5. Entertainment

In 1920, a young Armenian painter named Vosdanig Manuk Adoian emigrated to the US, fleeing from the Armenian genocide. After four years living with relatives in Massachusetts, he moved to New York City and changed his name to Arshile Gorky in honour of the celebrated Russian poet Maxim Gorky.

A new publication titled Arshile Gorky: New York City, edited by Ben Eastham, examines Gorky’s artistic evolution against the backdrop of New York as a Modernist mecca, straddling Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. In the book, writers and art historians explore Gorky’s Manhattan years, including Adam Gopnik who, in the essay “Gorky Again”, reflects on the relationship of the artist’s paintings to time and place. Here, he turns our focus to an important double portrait and Gorky’s experience as an Armenian immigrant to the US.

Extract from ‘Gorky Again’ in Arshile Gorky: New York City

What Arshile Gorky and the other great immigrant observers of America had in common is that each pursued a passion in the modern sense, making art against the grain of commerce, while each underwent a passion in the mythical Greek sense—had some moment of struggle or pain that resolved in art, and, often, in the closest thing artists get to immortality: a place in the collective memory. In the artist’s last interview [1948], he again describes himself as Russian, but also as an “early American”, who, according to his interviewer, “dislikes being called a foreigner and says he is more like one of the first settlers because he can appreciate the advantages of being in America to a far greater extent than those who were born here by ‘lucky accident’”.

With Gorky we sense a classic immigrant’s plight: a desire to restore and recuperate the recipes and precise tastes and qualities of a lost, more savoury and less homogenised past, while making it live within the scale and ambition of American reality. Scale alone becomes a vital form of assimilation: do it big and you do it American. To do “Poussin over entirely from nature” was Cézanne’s cry; to do the artisanal, puzzling, irregular Old-World particularism—a world wrought, as Gorky itemised, from the shape of apricots and baker’s bread—over in a landscape of grand generalisations and unlimited horizons, that was the dream that [Willem] de Kooning and Gorky shared.

And so, we keep coming back to Gorky’s prime, begetting picture, a masterpiece of the American immigrant experience, which is to say of the American experience: The Artist and His Mother (around 1926-36). Taken from a formal photograph, remade over more than a decade, [it is] the foundation of his art. We see boy and mother and know that she will die, unthinkably, of starvation in his arms, as part of the [Armenian] genocide, and never see her son again. The image sits so sharply within our consciousness, no matter how often we return to it, because it offers something not illustrative but iconic, part of now-vanishing stories of loss redeemed by possibility. From starvation and persecution and the wistful enforced formality of the Old World, comes, after a long voyage, energy and hope—and with the hope, a residual longing for the older world, and a need to picture all that happened between the departure and the painting. Gorky’s kind lives as a series of passionate pilgrimages made by improbable arrivals and painters who, however necessarily absurd in their effect at moments, struggled against unimaginable hardship to realise their images.

Gorky’s last written words before his painfully premeditated suicide [he took his own life in 1948]—“good-bye my ’loveds,” in one version—were a cry of the heart of a suffering man who loved his daughters, as well as a literary reference to a phrase [the Russian poet and playwright Alexander] Pushkin is reported to have written before he died following a duel. The curse of history and the hope of renewal, old and new drawn together in pain. All artists die in a duel, perhaps the duel of talent against the world. We honour them not by placing them back in history, but by reminding ourselves that what we call history is just what they did, which was everything they could.

• Arshile Gorky: New York City, Ben Eastham (editor) and various contributors incl. Adam Gopnik, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 244pp, £32 (pb)

CNN
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Netflix is taking a bite out of our cultural obsession with sharks with the new documentary, “Shark Whisperer.”

The project focuses on free-diving conservationist Ocean Ramsey (her real name), who recounts her “fascination and kinship with one of the ocean’s most feared predators,” according to Netflix.

“Her passion for sharks, who she feels are gravely misunderstood and unfairly maligned, became her life’s work,” a story on the streamer’s Tudum site states. “Over 100 million sharks are killed each year, imperiling the survival of a species that is integral to a balanced marine ecosystem, and critical to a healthy Earth.”

While some view sharks as scary and “monsters,” Ramsey and her partner and videographer, Juan Oliphant, advocate for the safety of the sharks and are working on improving their image.

“I’m not a crazy person,” Ramsay says in a trailer for the project as she swims near several large sharks. “I’m hyper aware of what they’re capable of.”

The new doc, from Oscar-winning director of “My Octopus Teacher,” James Reed, is not without controversy, however.

“Ramsey’s approach to her activism has drawn criticism by both members of the scientific community and the public at large; Ramsey’s detractors say she is putting herself, other humans, and the sharks at risk by seeking media attention,” according to Tudum.

Ramsey advocates for the protection of sharks through her social media platforms, which have more than 2 million followers on Instagram alone.

“Shark Whisperer” is currently streaming on Netflix.

Netflix

Happy Gilmore 2

Film, US, 2025 – out 25 July

Next up in sequels nobody asked for: the return of Adam Sandler’s cavalier golfer Happy Gilmore. Dennis Dugan’s 1996 comedy classic achieved the unthinkable by making the sport momentarily interesting. Kyle Newacheck’s belated follow-up tells a good ol’ fashioned comeback story, in which Gilmore reluctantly rises to a new challenge, here with the narrative justification that our over-the-hill hero needs moolah to send his daughter to ballet school. Expect many on-the-green outbursts and an inevitable golf ball to the groin.

Too Much

TV, UK, 2025 – out 10 July

The new comedy series from Lena Dunham – which she co-created, co-wrote and directed – follows Jessica (Megan Stalter), a bubbly New Yorker who moves to London and attempts to start again after a messy breakup. Initially disappointed that the big smoke doesn’t match the dreamy city in her head, she adjusts her expectations and encounters a potential love interest in a musician, Felix (Will Sharpe). I’ve watched the first two episodes; expect a moreishly paced, character-driven show told with energy and sass.

Nosferatu

Film, US, 2024 – out 26 July

The director Robert Eggers has a great way of taking cobweb-covered storylines – think witches, mermaids, vengeful Vikings – and injecting them with new life, with a visual style that is more painterly than flashy. A remake of FW Murnau’s great silent film fits Eggers’ oeuvre like a glove, opening up a space for more handsome gothic imagery, moody lighting and chunky moustaches. Lily-Rose Depp’s plays Ellen Hutter, a newlywed who draws intense attraction from the reclusive and downright vampiric Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård).

Honourable mentions: The Sandman season 2 volume 1 (TV, 3 July), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (film, 8 July), Sneaky Pete seasons 1-3 (TV, 10 July), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (film, 12 July), Untamed (TV, 17 July), Glass Heart (TV, 31 July).

Stan

Project Nim

Film, UK/US, 2011 – out 13 July

James Marsh’s fascinating cradle-to-the-grave documentary follows Nim, a chimpanzee who was raised to be a human in a bold (some might say completely insane) experiment undertaken in the 1970s. Living with a bohemian US family, Nim was breastfed by his adopted human mother, taught to go to the toilet, and even smoked reefers. The aim was to test whether chimps could, through sign language, communicate like people. To say it didn’t go well is something of an understatement; Nim’s story is terribly sad and the film is fascinating throughout.

The Square

Film, Australia, 2008 – out 1 July

The oeuvre of Australian director and stuntman Nash Edgerton (brother of Joel) includes the great hitman series Mr Inbetween, some ripping music videos for Bob Dylan, and this smashing, tautly paced neo-noir. A pair of lovers – David Roberts’ Raymond and Claire van der Boom’s Carla – cook up a plan to run off with a big bag of cash procured by Clara’s husband. Things go terribly wrong, triggering a classic, very well told story of two people in over their heads.

Honourable mentions: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (film, 1 July), Buried (film, 3 July), Black Swan (film, 5 July), Queer (film, 6 July), The Final Quarter (film, 8 July), Looper (film, 10 July), The Institute (TV, 14 July), The Dark Emu Story (film, 23 July), Mother and Son season 1 (TV, 25 July), The Day After Tomorrow (film, 26 July), The Accidental President (TV, 27 July).

SBS on Demand

Another Country

Film, Australia, 2015 – out 1 July

Arriving in time for Naidoc Week, which runs from 6 July to 13 July, Molly Reynolds’ fascinating documentary explores David Gulpilil’s home community of Ramingining in the Northern Territory. Extensively narrated by the late and great actor, the remote town becomes a microcosm through which the film can explore “what happened to my culture when it was interrupted by your culture”. As I wrote in my original review: “The richness of the film arises from the earthy elegance of Gulpilil’s narration matched with the uncluttered beauty of Reynolds’ photography.”

Boogie Nights

Film, US, 1997 – out 18 July

Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn industry-set period drama, which begins in the late 70s, is an epic rise-and-fall narrative chock-full of drugs and bonking. Mark Wahlberg plays Eddie Adams, a busby who is discovered by a porn director, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), and turned into an adult movie star on account of his very substantial, erm, work ethic.

The film is equally funny as sad, and great at evoking big and small picture details – peppering a large multi-year arc with all sorts of small, memorable moments. Reynolds is irresistible as the veteran quasi-artist, who longs to make a porno with a great story, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is amazingly awkward as a stammering boom operator.

Honourable mentions: Mad Dog Morgan (film, 1 July), The Goonies (film, 1 July), May December (film, 1 July), Gulpilil: One Red Blood (film, 1 July), After Hours (film, 1 July), Under the Bridge (TV, 1 July), Gravity (film, 4 July), The Big Steal (film, 4 July), Sasquatch Sunset (film, 4 July), Ablaze (film, 6 July), The Piano Teacher (film, 11 July), Harry Brown (film, 12 July), Gremlins (film, 15 July), The Sommerdahl Murders seasons 1-5 (TV, 17 July), The Cranes Call (TV, 24 July), The Embers (TV, 24 July).

ABC iview

Laurence Anyways

Film, Canada, 2012 – out 1 July

Xavier Dolan’s aesthetically daring drama follows a transgender high school teacher, Laurence (Melvil Poupaud), as she undergoes the transitioning process, navigating relationship issues with her girlfriend, Fred (Suzanne Clement), and encountering discrimination at work. The film looks beautiful but, like in much of Dolan’s work, it’s an unusual, askew kind of beauty, with a knack for visual embellishments that take you by surprise. My only complaint is that, at 168 minutes, it’s far too long.

Honourable mentions: Do Not Watch This Show (TV, 4 July), Patience (TV, 4 July), That Blackfella Show (TV, 5 July), Penn & Teller: Fool Us season 11 (TV, 14 July), The Mysterious Benedict Society (TV, 14 July).

Amazon Prime Video

Better Man

Film, Australia/US, 2024 – out 26 July

Never have you seen a monkey snorting so much blow. Michael Gracey’s take on the life of Robbie Williams is a biopic with a difference, featuring the singer-songwriter being played by a CGI chimpanzee. This novelty has a curious, othering effect, helping the film feel fresh despite rehashing a familiar star-is-born template. Williams experiences a downwards spiral of sex and drugs from which he will, of course, eventually emerge, important life lessons learned. Check out the Rock DJ scene for an example of its thrilling visual staging.

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Blue Velvet

Film, US, 1986 – out 1 July

Rewatching this lurid classic from David Lynch feels like re-experiencing an old nightmare, our fears and twisted visions lighting up the screen. The same can be said of many of his films, though this one is different because its key visual motif is a severed ear, which represents … hmm … well … good luck ascertaining meaning from a Lynch production. (To quote Roger Ebert’s review of Mulholland Drive: “There is no explanation. There may not even be a mystery.”)

The story has shades of hard-boiled noir, the life of a college student, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), intersecting with a femme fatale, Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), and her abusive boyfriend, Frank Booth – played by Dennis Hopper with his signature brand of vein-bulging mania.

Honourable mentions: Rocky 1-6 (film, 1 July), Creed (film, 1 July), Creed II (film, 1 July), Twister (film, 1 July), Heads of State (film, 2 July), Ballard (TV, 9 July), The Chosen: Last Supper (TV, 13 July), Blade Runner (film, 26 July), The Equalizer (film, 26 July).

Disney+

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

Film, US, 2025 – out 11 July

It’s hard to overstate the impact of Jaws, which ushered in the era of the “summer blockbuster” and changed the face of cinema. Steven Spielberg’s film has been revisited, reinterpreted and appreciated ad nauseum – and now, to mark its 50th birthday, a documentary arrives promising to tell the “definitive inside story.” Speilberg et al discuss how the film was made and a conga line of high-profile appreciators heap praise on it including JJ Abrams, Emily Blunt, James Cameron, George Lucas and Jordan Peele.

Honourable mentions: ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires (film, 11 July), Transformers 1-5 (film, 16 July), Bumblebee (film, 16 July), Washington Black (TV, 23 July).

Max

Sinners

Film, US, 2025 – out 4 July

Ryan Coogler’s already legendary vampire movie is set in 1930s Mississippi and stars Michael B Jordan in two lead roles, as gangster twins Smoke and Stack. Inspired by the legend of Robert Johnson – the highly influential blues musician who, according to folklore, sold his soul to the devil – the buzz surrounding this genre-flipping film has been pretty damn effusive.

Numerous Guardian writers have lined up to praise it. Peter Bradshaw called it a “gonzo horror-thriller mashup” told with “energy and comic-book brashness”; Wendy Ide a “wild, untrammelled and thrillingly unpredictable” film; and Andrew Lawrence a “a Jim Crow period piece that frames the Black experience in America as a horror show”.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes

TV, US, 2025 – out 19 July

This two-part documentary looks back on the life and career of Billy Joel, featuring commentary from the Piano Man himself plus insights from old friends and associates. I’ve watched the first part, which is long (almost two and a half hours), dense and conventionally structured, but quite well paced. It’s more warts-and-all than most authorised films, touching on various challenges in the subject’s life including his mental health and romantic indiscretions.

Honourable mentions: Dear Ms: A Revolution in Print (film, 3 July), Batman Ninja vs Yakuza League (film, 3 July), The Lego Movie (fillm, 5 July), The Hunger Games 1-4 (film, 5 July), Superman Through the Years (film, 8 July), Cabin in the Woods (film, 8 July), Back to the Frontier (TV, 10 July), Joker (film, 12 July), Bookish (TV, 16 July), Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose (TV, 28 July).

Binge

Arrested Development seasons 1-5

TV, US, 2003-2019 – out 29 July

Perhaps no popular television series has broken the “show, don’t tell” screenwriting dictum as spectacularly as this great, Ron Howard-narrated sitcom about an affluent US family undergoing a series of crises. Jason Bateman provides the anchoring presence as Michael, the most reasonable of the Bluth clan, who are a nasty, narcissistic and incompetent bunch – a dangerous combination for them, and a very good one for the audience. The fifth and last season took a dive so feel free to stop at the fourth.

Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream

TV, Australia, 2025 – out 21 July

The producers of ABC’s 7.30 made a terrible decision when they cut the comedian Mark Humphries from the program; the man is rare talent. He fronts this sometimes laugh-out-loud funny investigation into Australia’s housing affordability crisis. It’s unpacked diligently, with everybody acknowledging that there’s no magic bullet solution, only measures (including cutting negative gearing) that might help a little. At several points the ABC journalist Alan Kohler appears, in a suit, in a bath, clutching a glass of champagne – a homage to Margot Robbie’s appearance in The Big Short?

Honourable mentions: Vertigo (film, 1 July), Rear Window (film, 1 July), Sabrina (film, 1 July), The Game (film, 1 July), Emilia Perez (film, 4 July), Suits seasons 1-9 (TV, 17 July), Nosferatu (film, 26 July).

Apple TV+

The Wild Ones

TV, UK, 2025 – out 11 July

In this six-part documentary series, a small team of adventurers head into remote areas of the world on a mission “to find and film some of the most endangered animals on the planet and help scientists save them”. A noble expedition, to be sure, with what looks like (going by the trailer) a bit of grandstanding and chest-thumping.

Honourable mentions: Foundation season 3 (TV, 11 July), Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical (TV, 18 July).

“Agli Amici Rovinj”  confirms two Michelin stars

This restaurant always offers a high level, which for two years has been awarded the deserved 2 stars. Emanuele Scarello (Agli Amici, Udine **) and resident chef Simone de Lucca confirm the quality of this offer and continuity in the excellence of service. Technique, presentations, products, all distinctive elements of a very fine cuisine, aiming at enhancing the istrian productions mostly.  Service, wine pairing, design, every element of the offer shows professionalism and experience, with a wonderful position in the middle of the bay.

 

Two New One Michelin Star shine in Croatia

Krug – Split

A few steps from the Split seafront, the entire Krug experience is centered on the kitchen, located in the center of the room and around which an L-shaped table-counter develops that allows guests to interact directly with the chefs. Each dish is presented by the chefs, who tell the story and inspiration, thus enhancing the identity of the place. The cuisine is contemporary, with a strong focus on the product and deeply linked to the territory, reinterpreted with creativity. Almost all the raw materials come from the sea or the surrounding hinterland, while for the vegetables we work in close contact with local growers. Where possible, everything is prepared in-house: from bread to butter, to fermented products. Fish and meat are aged in special open refrigerators, located directly in the room. Special mention goes to the sommelier, whose expertise is reflected in a wide and curated wine list, capable of perfectly accompanying each course.

 

Cap Aureo – Rovinj

Chef Jeffrey Vella’s cuisine stands out for its strong personality, careful valorization of the territory and the use of selected raw materials within a 50 km radius. Its common thread naturally combines the flavors of coastal Croatia with the intense aromas of the hinterland. The menu, which the chef defines as a true “journey”, accompanies the guest through the seasonal first fruits with paths of varying lengths, leaving the diner the freedom to build his own gastronomic experience. Among the recommended dishes, the monkfish with mushroom sauce and the lamb – very tender, it melts in the mouth – served with a delicious broad bean sauce. The wine list is curated and well structured: on one side the traditional labels, mainly Croatian, on the other the “vintage cellar”, a selection of great international crus of excellent vintages, designed for true connoisseurs. The service is elegant but informal, capable of immediately putting you at ease. The view of the old city crowns a high-level gastronomic experience.

 

Two new Bib Gourmands join the selection

Konoba Pescaria – Mošćenička Draga

Overlooking the small port of one of the most romantic villages in Kvarner, this restaurant enjoys a splendid view from its small terrace: boats, beach and sea compose a relaxing and suggestive picture. Naturally, the cuisine is mainly seafood, simple and tasty. What could be better than starting with a carpaccio of the catch of the day and then continuing with “scampi alla busara”, a preparation that seems to have originated in these areas? The prices are generally fair, with the exception, understandably, of the most prized shellfish.

 

K.užina – Split

Situated in a quiet street near Split’s main square, the restaurant has a fantastic location: central yet quiet. It may be unnoticeable from the outside, but the interior is characterized by elegant details and the courtyard has a large, quiet terrace. The restaurant offers a wide à la carte selection, capable of satisfying all tastes. The small, open kitchen is managed by a talented chef, whose proposal is fresh and carefully prepared, with dishes that combine regional and modern influences. The presentation is pleasant, the portions are generous and the quality-price ratio is interesting. The service, always friendly and attentive, makes guests feel welcome and cared for.

 

The other new addresses in the selection 2025 are:

 

MICHELIN Special Awards

Through its special awards, the MICHELIN Guide aims to celebrate and highlight the incredible diversity of professions and skills that make up the restaurant industry, and to recognize its most talented and inspiring professionals.

 

The MICHELIN Young chef Award: Gabriela Filca new resident chef @ Nebo by Deni Srock, 1 Michelin Star, born in 2001, Gabriela showed a very technical cuisine with a gentle touch assuring a smooth change in a very modern cuisine at Nebo where Croatian products are empathized by modern preparations.

 

The MICHELIN Service Award: Vera Korak, owner and in charge of the front of house service at Korak, 1 Michelin Star in Jastrebarsko, ambassador of her family business as well as perfect connoisseur of the territory, showing care and welcoming skills making sure the guest feel at home at all times.

The MICHELIN Sommelier Award: Dinko Lozica, at the LD restaurant, 1 Michelin Star in Korcula, suggested for the capability of exploring local and international wines with attention and devotion for quality and a strict, friendly relationship with producers that helps celebrating their wines with even more intensity.

 

The MICHELIN Guide Croatia 2025 at a Glance:

A total of 99 recommended restaurants, including:

 

The full selection of The MICHELIN Guide Croatia 2025 is available on the MICHELIN Guide website https://guide.michelin.com/ae-du/en and on the MICHELIN Guide app, available free of charge on iOS and Android. 

The MICHELIN Guide is a benchmark in gastronomy. Now, it’s setting a new standard for hotels. Visit the MICHELIN Guide’s official website, or download the MICHELIN Guide mobile app (iOS and Android), to discover every restaurant in the selection and book an unforgettable hotel.

When Gill Hicks takes to the stage, she says with a small laugh that she hopes she can get through just the opening number, “without breaking down in a heap”. It will be emotional. Wryly titled Still Alive (and Kicking), the show is Hicks’s own way to mark the 20th anniversary of the suicide bombings on London’s public transport that killed 52 people, and injured more than 700 – Hicks, a survivor, lost both her legs. In her show, she weaves her story of survival and resilience around singing the jazz standards she has always loved.

She has already performed a version of it in Australia, where she now lives, but for its London outing she hopes around 20 members of the medical and emergency teams who attended that day will be in the audience. “They are extraordinary,” she says, “and their actions not only saved my life that morning, but I honestly believe they have saved me every single day since.”

That July morning, Hicks was on her way to work when one of the four suicide bombers who targeted London detonated his bomb in her tube carriage, somewhere between King’s Cross and Russell Square. Hicks is believed to have been the last survivor pulled from the wreckage some 40 minutes later, her injuries so bad that when she arrived at hospital she was simply labelled: “One unknown, estimated female”.

Before that, lying in the dark smoke-filled carriage, having used her scarf as a tourniquet around what was left of her legs to stop the bleeding, Hicks remembers making what she describes as a contract. She would get the chance to live, and she would make it count. “That’s really helped me continue to get up every day regardless of the situation I’m in. There’s a purpose and an absolute sense that there’s things to be done that help remind us of our shared humanity.”

She had lived in London for more than 20 years, working in architecture and design, then after the bombings dedicating her time to organisations that promoted peace, before moving to Australia in 2013, the same year she had her daughter. The last time Hicks came to London was in 2015 to commemorate 10 years since the bombings. But she doesn’t associate the city with trauma. That has been a conscious choice, she says. “That’s the one power that we all have, to be able to choose how we react and how we respond. Part of the honour of life for me is constantly choosing to live from a place of gratitude and positivity.”

Twenty years, she says, is long enough to consider the depth of the impact on her. “With the nature of my disability, I’m never detached from what’s happened,” she says. Forgiveness hasn’t felt necessary, or even possible given the man who blew up that tube carriage died in the blast, “so he’s taken away this exchange. It’s also made me feel I don’t have to really consider my feelings about him. I have to instead focus on what I do with my life, and how do I honour my life?” She is also always aware of those who didn’t come home that day.

The idea of “healing” or “recovery” is difficult – “My legs won’t grow back. I live in quite a lot of constant pain” – but for Hicks, the arts have been part of reclaiming her sense of self. She was a jazz musician before the bombings, but she never thought she would be able to sing or perform again. Her injuries left her with hearing loss, and one functioning lung. “It took me months to learn how to speak again,” she says. “When something like this type of life-altering event happens, it’s so easy to lose yourself, because your identity is skewed. Suddenly you’re a disabled person, so that’s one label. You’re a double amputee, that’s another. You’re a survivor, or are you a victim? I’ve been given a new life, but it’s this constant struggle of how do I do this?” The arts, including her vibrant paintings (which will be projected during the show) and working with the violinist Julian Ferraretto (also part of the show) represented “this beautiful piece of life before, that came back but with a different meaning, so it’s actually more powerful”.

Instead of thinking about the hate and extremism of that catastrophic moment, Hicks prefers to focus on the love and compassion she was shown in the months and years afterwards. She tracked down as many people involved in her care as she could, “to look into their eyes and say thank you.” Several, including one of the first paramedics who entered Hicks’s carriage, have become close friends.

This is what she wants her show to bring to people. “Through the addition of music, it becomes a real celebration of not only life, but of who we are as human beings – the extraordinary, unconditional love that I was shown as a person without identity, ‘One unknown, estimated female.’ To think that my body wasn’t just passed from one person to the next, it was absolutely held with love and intention for survival. Who I am today is because of how powerful that love and care was on that morning. I think the undercurrent for me of 20 years is: how do I tell that? How do I be the reminder?”

Often the best movies of the second half of the year come almost preordained as the Oscars Industrial Complex revs into high gear. The first half, though, can offer more of a thrill of discovery.

The first six months of 2025 have offered plenty of that, including indie gems, comedy breakouts and sensational filmmaking debuts. Here are our 10 favorites from the year’s first half.

“The Ballad of Wallis Island”

“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is the kind of charming gem that’s easy to recommend to any kind of movie lover. It is goofy and friendly, has an armful of lovely folk songs, an all-timer of a rambling character, in Tim Key’s eccentric and completely lovable Charles, Tom Basden’s grumpy, too-cool straight man, and the always delightful Carey Mulligan. “Wallis Island” is a film about letting go and moving on told with humor, wit and a big heart. Also hailing from the British Isles is the equally delightful “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.” (streaming on Peacock) —Bahr

“One of Them Days”

The big-screen comedy has been an almost extinct creature in recent years, but Lawrence Lamont’s “One of Them Days” gives me hope. Not only was this buddy comedy a surprise box-office hit, it is probably the exhibit A in the case of Keke Palmer Should Be in Everything. She and SZA, in her film debut, play Los Angeles housemates in a madcap race to make rent. (Streaming on Netflix) —Coyle

“Sorry, Baby”

There’s a sequence in Eva Victor’s delicate, considered and disarmingly funny directorial debut, “Sorry, Baby” that kind of took my breath away. You know something bad is going to happen to Agnes, it’s literally the logline of the film. You sense that her charismatic thesis adviser is a bit too fixated on her. The incident itself isn’t seen, Victor places their camera outside of his home. Agnes goes inside, the day turns to evening and the evening turns to night, and Agnes comes out, changed. But we stay with her as she finds her way to her car, to her home and, most importantly to her friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie). This is a film about what happens after the bad thing. And it’s a stunner. (In theaters) —Bahr

“Black Bag”

Arguably the best director-screenwriter tandem this decade has been Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp. They were behind the pandemic thriller “Kimi” and another standout of 2025, the ghost-POV “Presence.” But their spy thriller-marital drama “Black Bag,” starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married British intelligence agents, may be their best collaboration yet. It’s certainly the one with the most delicious dialogue. How has it taken the movies this long to make a dinner scene with spies dosed with truth serum? (Streaming on Peacock) —Coyle

“Materialists”

Celine Song’s “Materialists ” might not be the film people wanted it to be, but it’s the film they need in this land of high-end dating apps, designer dupes and everyone pretending to live like minor socialites on Instagram. A thoughtful meditation on money, worth, love and companionship, this is a film that upends everything we’ve come to think we want from the so-called romantic comedy (the idea of prince charming, the inexplicable wealth that’s supposed to coexist with middle class mores). Lifestyle porn will always have a place in the rom-com machine, but this is a populist film, both modern and timeless, that reminds us that love should be easy. It should feel like coming home. “Materialists” is simply the most purely romantic film of the year. (In theaters) — Bahr

“Sinners”

Not only does the wait go on for Ryan Coogler to make a bad movie, he seems to be still realizing his considerable talents. There are six months to go, still, in 2025, but I doubt we’ll have a big scale movie that so thrillingly doubles (see what I did there) as a personal expression for its filmmaker as “Sinners.” This exhilarating vampire saga is ambitiously packed with deep questions about community, Black entertainment, Christianity and, of course, Irish dancing. (Streaming on Max) —Coyle

“Pavements”

In a world of woefully straightforward documentaries and biopics about musicians, Alex Ross Perry decided to creatively, and a little chaotically, upend the form with his impossible-to-categorize film about the 90s indie band Pavement. Blending fact, fiction, archive, performance, this winkingly rebellious piece is wholly original and captivating, and, not unlike Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There,” the kind of movie to turn someone who’s maybe enjoyed a few Pavement and Stephen Malkmus songs into a fan. (In theaters, streaming on MUBI July 11) —Bahr

“April”

A rare and exquisite precision guides Dea Kulumbegashvili’s rigorous and despairing second feature. Beneath stormy spring skies in the European country of Georgia, a leading local obstetrician (Ia Sukhitashvili) pitilessly works to help women who are otherwise disregarded, vilified or worse. This is a movie coursing with dread, but its expression of a deep-down pain is piercing and unforgettable. (Not currently available) —Coyle

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

A visually, and thematically arresting marvel, Rungano Nyoni’s darkly comedic, stylish and hauntingly bizarre film about unspoken generational trauma takes audiences to a place, I’m guessing, many have never been: A Zambian family funeral. And yet its truths ring universal, as the elder generation turns their heads from the awful truth that the dead man, Fred, was a predator and pedophile, while the younger wonders if things must stay as they are. (Streaming on HBO Max on July 4) –Bahr

“Friendship”

On TV, Tim Robinson and Nathan Fielder have been doing genius-level comedy. Fielder hasn’t yet jumped into his own films, but, then again, it’s hard to get an epic of cringe comedy and aviation safety like season two of “The Rehearsal” into a feature-length movie. But in “Friendship,” writer and director Andrew DeYoung brings Robinson, star of “I Think You Should Leave,” into well-tailored, very funny and dementedly perceptive movie scenario. He plays a man who awkwardly befriends a cool neighbor (Paul Rudd). While their differences make for most of the comedy in the movie, “Friendship” — which culminates in a telling wink — is really about their similarities. (Available for digital rental) — Coyle

Peshay’s iconic 1996 Studio Set is back on YouTube following a copyright dispute and multiple takedowns.

Sharing the news on Instagram earlier this week, the UK drum & bass DJ confirmed that the 2025 remastered version and original fan-uploaded mix from 2018, which was uploaded with Peshay’s permission to Ambiance channel and has nearly 4 million plays, have both been restored. One of the mix’s featured tracks, ‘Links’ by Chameleon, aka Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, has also been returned to the platform.

Peshay has been campaigning to have his legendary mix and ‘Links’ returned to YouTube following alleged “wrongful copyright claims” by Dice Ryu Sykes, who runs the Ninj Yang Productions channel. Sykes is reported to have registered ‘Links’, released by LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking Records in 1995, with the US Copyright Office earlier this year under a new title, ‘Tropical Jungle (Remade)’, and subsequently filed a DMCA claim with YouTube to have Peshay’s mix taken down.

Despite the restoration, Peshay has stressed that this is not the end of his campaign against what he describes as a trend of “abusive copyright strikes on legacy music”. “During this process, we were contacted by numerous artists who have also faced, and continue to face, alarmingly similar situations,” Peshay wrote.

“The fight is far from over. Whilst the infringing tracks, in our case, have been removed from YouTube, they remain live across other major platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. The individual’s US Copyright Office registrations are also still active, and tellingly, their YouTube channel has been restored with what appears to be zero consequences for their actions.”

He said his “management team has been in direct conversations with all major UK music bodies about this issue”, with hopes to continue to fight the alleged copyright abuse. “…The restoration of our content proves that when the music community speaks up, platforms listen. But this is just the beginning. Legacy music deserves proper protection, and artists should not have to fight tooth and nail to reclaim their own cultural heritage.”

A Change.org petition was launched by Peshay last month to help raise awareness of the situation and currently has over 2,600 signatures. 

Revisit Anu Shukla’s in-depth report on Peshay’s campaign against “abusive copyright strikes” from May. 

Read Peshay’s statement in full and listen to Studio Set (1996) below. 

The $145-million global opening of Apple’s “F1 The Movie” came as a relief — both for the iPhone maker itself and theater operators hoping for an original hit during this sequel-dominated summer of blockbusters.

The expensive Brad Pitt action sports drama, directed by Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was a high-stakes gamble by the Cupertino-based tech giant, which until now has enjoyed little success at cinemas.

In the U.S. and Canada, the film did better than expected, generating $57 million in ticket sales through Sunday, according to studio estimates. Analysts were projecting $40 million to $50 million, based on prerelease tracking. Warner Bros. Pictures, which is on a much-needed hot streak, distributed “F1” in partnership with Apple.

Because the movie cost at least $200 million to make (and perhaps far more, according to some reports) after tax breaks and before significant marketing costs, the picture is still far from profitable. But with strong reviews from audiences and critics — an “A” CinemaScore, 83% “fresh” on the Tomatometer and 97% approval from moviegoers on Rotten Tomatoes — the film should continue to perform well in the coming weeks.

It’ll face some serious competition, with Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World: Rebirth” arriving in theaters Wednesday for the Fourth of July holiday weekend and Warner Bros.’ “Superman” from James Gunn coming shortly afterward.

Nonetheless, “F1” has the all-important Imax screens locked down until “Superman,” and that should be an advantage, given that the movie plays like both an old-school blockbuster and a thrill ride.

The question now: What does this mean for Apple’s film business and how the company approaches theatrical releases in the future?

Since Apple got into Hollywood six years ago with the launch of Apple TV+, the movie slate has struggled to come up with a big-screen success, despite huge spending on prestigious projects and big-name talent.

Its Sundance acquisition “CODA” won the 2022 best picture Oscar, albeit in a weird year, in a first for a streaming company.

But Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” weren’t commercial hits. “Argylle” and “Fly Me to the Moon” flopped, and “Wolfs” was scaled back from its planned theatrical release. The Miles Teller–Anya Taylor-Joy feature “The Gorge” went straight to streaming.

Analysts and movie industry insiders have speculated that the performance of “F1” would heavily influence whether Apple dove further into blockbuster filmmaking or abandoned theaters altogether. Apple certainly treated it like a high-stakes release, having Chief Executive Tim Cook give an interview with Variety and promoting the film through various parts of the company, including its retail stores and its music, fitness, maps and podcast apps.

Apple lacks an in-house theatrical distribution arm and instead enlists traditional studios for those duties. Burbank-based Warner Bros. worked with Apple on the marketing side while also contributing financially to the campaign, according to people close to the studios.

As of now, it’s unclear what Apple’s ambitions are for the multiplex.

Spike Lee’s Denzel Washington-starring thriller “Highest 2 Lowest,” a reimagining of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa classic “High and Low,” is getting a miniature theatrical window from A24 ahead of its September streaming release on Apple TV+. Apple has already inked a deal for another upcoming Kosinski-Bruckheimer collaboration, about UFOs.

An Apple spokeswoman did not respond to a question about future movie plans.

Theater owners want to see more from Apple at a time when they’re often struggling with a lack of compelling material, especially for grown-ups. With “F1,” they saw a glimpse of hope.

“F1” is a racing movie with throwback vibes, which is no guarantee of success. But the F1 brand is strong, especially internationally, where the movie is doing particularly well ($88.4 million so far). The companies sold the movie as a sort of “Top Gun: Maverick” on wheels, an approach that resonated with audiences. People familiar with the data say the film is drawing in audiences who don’t typically go to theaters, which the theaters desperately need.

The box office performance bodes well for the title’s eventual streaming release on Apple TV+.

With the exception of Netflix, which remains set against doing a true traditional theatrical business, film studios say movies that open in theaters do better on streaming than if they’re simply dumped onto a crowded service. Amazon has again committed to theaters since acquiring MGM Studios after slinking away from the business model years ago.

On the other hand, theatrical releases are risky, especially for a company that cares about its reputation the way Apple does. Flops are embarrassing, even for a company that’s worth $3 trillion and can afford to subsidize a filmmaker’s vision.

In both movies and TV, Apple has been selective with its programming strategy.

It doesn’t have a vast library or a deluge of new releases to keep people interested the way Netflix does. Thus, its subscriber counts have lagged the bigger rivals with more voluminous offerings, according to analysts. (Apple doesn’t disclose subscriber numbers.)

Ask anyone in Hollywood why, exactly, Apple is in the movie business at all and you’ll get varied answers.

Of course, the company wants to grow Apple TV+, which Apple views as part of a larger play to boost its services business. Having a hit movie, in theory, should help with that. People who work with Apple will often argue that the company is more interested in the branding glow that comes with a great movie than whether any particular title makes money.

The company has developed a reputation for quality, especially with buzzy TV projects including Jon Hamm’s “Your Friends & Neighbors,” Seth Rogen’s “The Studio” and, more recently, “Stick” starring Owen Wilson.

“We studied it for years before we decided to do [Apple TV+],” Cook told Variety. “I know there’s a lot of different views out there about why we’re into it. We’re into it to tell great stories, and we want it to be a great business as well. That’s why we’re into it, just plain and simple.”

For Apple, the question of whether to commit to the blockbuster business is a billion-dollar component of a $3-trillion car.

Stuff we wrote

Number of the week

California legislators voted Friday to more than double the amount allocated each year to the state’s film and television tax credit program, raising that cap to $750 million from $330 million.

The increase is a win for the studios, producers, unions and industry workers who have lobbied state legislators for months on the issue, Samantha Masunaga reported.

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed the increase to help lure productions back to the state at a time when local film and TV employment is sparse.

But other states have not given up the arms race.

New York recently upped its film tax credit cap to $800 million. Texas is also ramping up its incentive program to compete with regional rivals.

Finally …

Watch: “Becoming Led Zeppelin.”

Listen: Dream Theater, “Night Terror.”