Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz were recently spotted together at Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofía, taking a break from filming their movie “Day Drinker.” The pair, who have collaborated on three previous films, posed for photos in front of a black-and-white mural at the renowned Spanish museum.

The 62-year-old Depp and 51-year-old Cruz appeared in casual-elegant attire for the museum visit, where they took both a selfie and a full-length photo. Their casual outing showcases the continued professional relationship between the two actors, who first worked together in 2001’s Blow.

According to People, the museum shared the photos on their t Instagram post with Depp, writing, “Thanks for ing us @johnnydepp and @penelopecruzoficial, until next time!” The post received attention from their “Pirates of the Caribbean” co-star Orlando Bloom, who showed his with two red heart emojis in the comments.

Fourth collaboration brings Depp back to mainstream Hollywood

“Day Drinker,” directed by Marc Webb, marks Depp’s return to major studio productions since his last appearance in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018. The film features Depp as a mysterious yacht guest who becomes entangled with Cruz’s character, described as a criminal figure, alongside a bartender played by Madelyn Cline.

The first glimpse of Depp’s character was revealed in April, showing the three-time Oscar nominee holding a drink while gazing off-camera. The film also features performances from Manu Ríos, Arón Piper, Juan Diego Botto, and Anika Boyle.

This project adds to the growing list of collaborations between Depp and Cruz, following their work in Blow (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). Their professional relationship has extended beyond the screen, with Cruz previously offering for Depp during his legal proceedings.

Since his highly publicized defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, Depp has maintained his presence in the film industry, starring in the French film Jeanne du Barry, which opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and directing Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness. The actors were last seen together at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where Cruz shared a selfie of them during the premiere of Modi, which stars Al Pacino.

Paris Fashion Week is long gone but celebrities are stepping up and making an impression on every red carpet. With several events going on at the same time, Sophie Turner and Penélope Cruz gave traditional couture a modern vibe with Jodie Comer taking risks on the red carpet.

On Nov. 5, the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year celebrated some of the biggest stars of the year and many successful women have been in attendance. Nicola Coughlan brought classic back with a black Dior suit, and Victoria Beckham highlighted how she’s a huge powerhouse in a feminine silk suit.

As for the three ladies, they were there to make an impression, and an impression they did make!

Sophie Turner and Penélope Cruz were white-out fringe queens

Sophie received the Performance Award for her leading role in the crime series Joan, and was there to slay. The former Game of Thrones star graced the red carpet in a white fringed Louis Vuitton minidress as the perfect icy queen, which she complemented with Louis Vuitton’s High Jewelry collection, and matched her black nails to a pair of black Christian Louboutins. She had a natural nude lip, subtly sultry eyes, and effortless wavy blond tresses, her red hair long gone.

Her style was simple yet elegant, giving a modern twist to the elegant fringe minidress with the bold stilettos. This, alongside her black trunk purse with floral motifs and a silver chain, gave the elegant vibe of the Louis Vuitton dress a more retro, edgy vibe.

White fringes were a big part of Penélope Cruz’s look, too. Although they were at two different events — Sophie Turner at Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards, and Penélope Cruz in Hong Kong for Chanel’s Cruise 2025 presentation, but both divas’ winter-ready outfits gave the same vibe as they subtly lifted the haute couture towards a more modern vibe.

Cruz was a vision in white Chanel, embracing the same edgy, black-and-white vibe as Turner. On her side, thousands of miles away, Cruz wore a feather-trimmed tweed jacket and a matching miniskirt with the same feathery detailing, complete with white platform Mary Jane heels with black toe covers, paired with a black and white purse and a silver chain, and a delicate pearl chain at the waist. The actress further modernized the haute couture look with bold red nail polish, a statement silver necklace, and big earrings. For her makeup, she had sultry-defined makeup and a nude lip, with her hair in natural, loose waves.

Jodie Comer took high risks and it paid off

Jodie Comer attended the 2024 Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year, as well, and her dress said she was ready to party. She was there to present the Sportswoman of the Year award to Olympic athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, and she made an impression with her sexy style, showing off legs for days and a decent amount of cleavage.

For the event, the actress wore a sequined chocolate-brown minidress from 16Arglington’s Spring 2025 collection. The dress was bold for the event, as she broke multiple rules with her look, especially with her Gina footwear. Overall, her look, courtesy of her frequent stylist Elizabeth Saltzman, screamed after-party more than red carpet, and her supermodel blowout and killer eyeliner seemed to agree.

With so many styles, we can’t help but hail all of them as winners.

Johnny Depp has been hiding in the shadows for the better part of the last two years, following the conclusion of his legal battle against ex-wife Amber Heard. Now, however, it appears that the decorated actor is ready to make his return to Hollywood — or at least attempt to.

The trial against Heard concluded in June of 2022 and since then, Depp has starred in the French period drama Jeanne Du Barry and directed an indie movie called Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, both of which you’ve probably never seen. Now his return to Hollywood looks set, and it will feature a familiar face alongside the actor.

Johnny Depp is set to star opposite Penélope Cruz in the Lionsgate action thriller, Day Drinker. This will be the fourth time that the two stars have shared the screen, and they’re ed by a roster of experienced creatives in the action film industry.

Directing the movie will be Marc Webb, known for his work on The Amazing Spider-Man films. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee are set to produce the movie. The pair have plenty of experience in action films, having worked on the John Wick series in the past. Other producers include Adam Kolbrenner and Zach Dean, who have also worked on plenty of major action projects from Free Guy to Fast X and a lot more. 

While many details about the movie have been kept under wraps, a synopsis says that it will focus on a cruise ship bartender who meets a mysterious day drinker. After connecting on board the cruise ship, these two wind up thrust into a criminal underbelly. Lionsgate chairperson Adam Fogelson also shared a statement to promote the movie and its cast.

“Day Drinker combines a highly commercial concept with wildly outrageous twists and turns all set in an incredible world,” the announcement read (per The Hollywood Reporter). “There is no better filmmaker than Marc or two more perfectly cast actors than Johnny and Penélope to bring that world to life.”

Depp’s return to Hollywood will be the fourth time that he has shared the screen with Cruz. First, the two appeared in the 2001 film Blow before meeting up again for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Most recently, the duo appeared in Murder on the Orient Express, which was released in 2017.

Since their last appearance together, Cruz has appeared in several projects including the TV series American Crime Story, Pandemica, and the 2023 film Ferrari starring alongside Adam Driver. Cruz was herself brought into Depp’s legal drama with Heard in 2022, when she penned a written deposition defending her longtime collaborator.

“I’ve seen Johnny in so many situations and he is always kind to everyone around,” Cruz’s statement read. “He is one of the most generous people I know.”

It remains to be seen how Depp’s Hollywood comeback will be received, but taking on a role in an action thriller like this seems like as safe a bet as there can be. No further details were shared about the production timeline or when fans can expect to see the movie completed, so if you’re eager to see how this turns out you’ll need to hang tight for more news in the coming months.

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The timeless movie and action star Tom Cruise has not only had a pretty high-profile life but also a high-profile dating history.

Since coming to screens everywhere in the 80s and starring in everything from The Outsiders to Top Gun to what feels like hundreds of Mission Impossible movies, the 61-year-old has been a heartthrob for a very long time.

One of his first public romances was with Rebecca De Mornay, his co-star in the film Risky Business. Though he had previously been linked to Heather Locklear and Melissa Gilbert, US Weekly reports that those were just flings compared to the couple’s two-year relationship.

The pair reportedly began dating in 1983 until they broke up somewhere around 1985, proving that on-screen chemistry can’t last forever.

Cruise went on to a brief fling with world-renowned superstar Cher. While it was brief, she has said that she was one of her top five favorite lovers.

After that, Cruise married his first wife, actress Mimi Rogers in 1987, only a year after they met at a Hollywood dinner party, according to InStyle. The couple divorced in 1990, the same year Tom Cruise Married his second wife, Nicole Kidman.

According to Cosmopolitan, hey met while filming Days of Thunder and immediately hit it off. They adopted two children together, Isabella and Connor. They divorced in 2001, citing irreconcilable differences, resulting in Nicole’s iconic post-divorce paparazzi shot.

He then connected with his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz not long after his divorce from Kidman, making their red carpet debut in 2001. At the time there were reports that Cruz was the reason for Cruise’s divorce. The couple split in 2004.

Cruise dating General Hospital actress Nazanin Boniadi briefly between 2004 and 2005, before settling down with his third wife, Katie Holmes.

Starting in 2005, Holmes and Cruise had a rather iconic romance. Cruise jumped on a couch on Oprah just talking about Katie. The couple became engaged just a few months after making their relationship public and welcomed their first child together in 2006, according to InStyle. They got married later that year.

Sadly, Hollywood’s favorite couple divorced six years later. Tthe reason is rumored to be that Holmes wanted to protect their daughter Suri from Cruise’s devotion to Scientology. The Daily Mail recently confirmed that it’s been years since Cruise had any with his daughter.

Following his divorce, Cruise was linked to Orange is the New Black actress Laura Prepon in 2014, who denies rumors of their relationship. Later, he was allegedly dating his Mission Impossible co-star and Marvel actress Hayley Atwell in 2020. They were even seen together at Wimbledon in 2021.

As of December 2023, however, US Weekly confirmed that Tom Cruise has entered a relationship with 37-year-old Russian socialite Elsina Khayrova. The duo met earlier in 2023 at a party in London and have been inseparable ever since.

According to US Weekly, Khayrova is a socialite and model who lives in London. Her father, Rinat Khavyrova is a prominent member of the Russian Military Police. She’s very well-connected and divorced Russian Oligarch Dmitry Tsvetkov in 2022. He even shaded her to the press, implying that she’s a bit of a gold digger.

Despite their differences, she and her ex share two children, adding to the brood of kids Cruise has himself. Though she hasn’t posted about Cruise, Khavyrova is very active on her social media. Often posting outfit pictures, travels, and brand deals. Fans, snoopers, and people who wish they could be Tom’s next catch can snoop away.

For her second feature film, The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal is changing directions entirely and going for a Frankenstein horror movie that’s been described as “punk.”

The actress first branched off into directing in 2021 with her Netflix Oscar-nominated debut The Lost Daughter — an intense psychological drama about mothers and their daughters based on an Elena Ferrante novel. After a successful first attempt, she’s now focusing on her self-described “baby number 2,” this time at Warner Bros, after Netflix allegedly ed on in favor of Guillermo del Toro’s own Frankenstein movie.

Who stars in The Bride!?

The cast for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! is star-packed and filled with reunions for the director and the actors. Jessie Buckley, whose career received a considerable boost after starring in Gyllenhaal’s first film, is back working with the director as the titular character — the bride of Frankenstein. ing her is Christian Bale as the monster. This will be Bale and Gyllenhaal’s first time working together since she played Rachel Dawes to his Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight.

Gyllenhaal’s husband, Peter Sarsgaard, is also part of the cast. The two have worked together recurrently in the past. First in the unreleased indie In God’s Hands, then in 2007’s High Falls, and in an off-Broadway production of Uncle Vanya. The director also cast her husband in her short film Penelope in 2020 and in The Lost Daughter.

Hollywood legends Annette Bening and Penélope Cruz, as well as actress-dancer Julianne Hough round up the high-profile ensemble.

What is The Bride! about?

The Bride!‘s title indicates the movie will be focused on the bride of Frankenstein rather than the monster himself. According to its official logline, the film starts when “a lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.”

The description is strikingly reminiscent of Yorgos Lanthimos’ recent Oscar-winning Emma Stone vehicle Poor Things, which in itself had major Frankensteinian elements. Sarsgaard has spoken a bit about the film, calling it a “big, romantic, deeply romantic, wild, punk monster movie” in an interview with The Independent, so that at least offers some distinction from the 2023 movie.

Bride! has been labeled a Horror/Romance/Drama on platforms like IMDb and Mubi. A camera test for the film was done in April of 2024, with Gyllenhaal sharing an exciting first look at her leading duo. In the pictures, a pensive Buckley sports a bleached blonde hairdo and matching eyebrows, dark make-up and a big black spot on the right side of her face. Meanwhile, “punk monster” Bale has Hope tattooed across his chest and a blazer combo reminiscent of ‘70s punk fashion.

When is The Bride! coming out?

The Bride! is slated for an October 3, 2025 premiere, including an IMAX release, just in time for Halloween.

The movie is being produced by Emma Tillinger Koskoff (Joker, The Irishman), Talia Kleinhendler (The Lost Daughter), Osnat Handelsman-Keren (The Lost Daughter), and Gyllenhaal, and executive produced by Carla Raij (Maestro, The Fablemans).

The volume of award wins or nominations a cast and crew has in their past isn’t really a barometer of how things will turn out should a cavalcade of prestigious names be brought together for the same project, but that still doesn’t excuse just how badly The Counselor turned out.

Even if you rattle off the names involved who don’t have at least one Academy Award nomination to their name, then we’re still talking about a crime thriller penned by No Country for Old Men and The Road author Cormac McCarthy that stars Cameron Diaz, Natalie Dormer, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell, and others.

Then, when you factor in four-time Oscar-nominated Ridley Scott directing the likes of two-time nominee Michael Fassbender, four-time nominees, one-time winners, and real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, along with seven-time nominee and two-time winner Brad Pitt, then you begin to see how badly it failed to do justice to the sum of its parts.

We haven’t even mentioned Oscar-nommed cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, composer Daniel Pemberton, or the four nods and one victory for editor Pietro Scalia, either, which makes you wonder how on earth The Counselor couldn’t fly any higher on Rotten Tomatoes than the 34 and 24 percent approval ratings it was respectively awarded by critics and audiences.

Probably because it’s not very good, with the labyrinthine tale of a hotshot lawyer desperate for cash being pulled into the world of drug-running easily one of the most disappointing movies of the last decade when it comes to its talent-to-turnout ratio.

Big names always draw ’em in on streaming, though, even if there’s sure to be a lot of viewers wishing they hasn’t wasted their time after FlixPatrol outed The Counselor as one of iTunes’ top-viewed titles.

For many, Strange Way of Life will be an entry point to the filmography of Pedro Almodóvar as the veteran director’s second English-speaking project, with a star-studded Hollywood cast to match. As leads, Ethan Hawke has been the dream of romance fans for at least a couple of decades now, while Pedro Pascal is one of the biggest sensations of the last few years. Together they will take on Almodóvar’s queer Western short film, as old lovers Sheriff Jake and rancher Silva.

As great a calling card as that sounds, Almodóvar has been making brilliant cinema since the ‘80s, pushing boundaries and setting standards that the West has scarcely managed to rise to when it comes to LGBT+ and female characters on film. Almodóvar’s deep-rooted fascination with sexuality, gender expression, motherhood, and the female experience, as well as the inseparable connection between those subjects and the sociopolitical past and present of his homeland of Spain, create an incredibly idiosyncratic oeuvre that cannot be replicated.

While a turn towards English-speaking filmmaking with 2023’s Strange Way of Life and 2021’s The Human Voice — with big American stars at the forefront instead of his usual Spanish and Latin American muses — is bound to open Almodóvar up to a whole new audience, his work is so profoundly self-referential, that a deep dive into his past works is almost mandatory. From 22 feature films, and 13 shorts, here is our selection of Almodóvar’s ten most essential movies.

10. Parallel Mothers (2021)

Ana (Milena Smit) and Janis (Penélope Cruz) give birth at the same time. They keep in touch in the early days of single motherhood, but life sends them on separate paths until they meet again months later. The two grow closer and closer, but a shocking reveal turns their whole lives upside down.

Parallel Mothers acts as a great synthesizer of Almodóvar’s most prominent themes — from its complex, resolute, yet at times neurotic female leads, to its boundary-pushing representations of sexual desire, and the backdrop of Francoist repression. For those reasons, although the 2021 film is textbook Almodóvar, it doesn’t feel as groundbreaking as some of his earlier work. Nevertheless, it’s an intense watch, elevated by a steadfast Cruz in a gorgeous fleshed-out performance.

9. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)

In this dysfunctional household, there’s not a single character worth saving, but that’s not the point of Almodóvar’s filmography anyways. Gloria (Carmen Maura) is a housewife and cleaning lady stretched thin trying to keep her family together, addicted to sedatives to keep her from blowing up. Her husband (Ángel de Andrés López) is unfaithful, violent, and useless, her mother-in-law (Chus Lampreave) is annoying, and her two sons are both involved in some dodgy business.

Some might resent me for saying this, but although Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, and Penélope Cruz are hailed as the most prominent of Almodóvar’s muses, it’s Carmen Maura who’s the real icon of his work. And no film, bar maybe Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, is clearer evidence of that than 1984’s What Have I Done to Deserve This?. Either purposefully or by force of circumstance, this film’s dirty, unpolished, and claustrophobic direction and set design differ massively from the director’s later work but make it all the more memorable for it.

8. Talk to Her (2002)

Benigno (Javier Cámara), a nurse, and Marco (Darío Grandinetti), a journalist, start a friendship as they take care of two comatose women, Alicia (Leonor Watling) and Lydia (Rosario Flores). Marco fell in love with Lydia fresh from a painful break-up right before she was badly injured in a bullfighting accident. Benigno, who became a nurse to take care of his elderly mother, has been obsessed with Alicia for a while when the woman is struck by a car and put under Benigno’s care at the hospital.

Talk to Her is an intense watch, especially as a woman, as it reveals an obsessive, entitled, abusive side of male infatuation that we’re universally privy to and terrified of. Still, there’s a sensibility to Almodóvar’s writing in the way he never places judgment upon his characters, and allows them to just exist, as imperfect and troubled as they might be, that just keeps you glued to the screen. The film earned the Spanish master his second Academy Award.

7. Bad Education (2004)

Bad Education is a meta-layered film about artistic creation as it blooms from personal trauma. To explain its characters here would spoil the process of uncovering each of its levels of meaning, so we will simply tell you it stars Gael García Bernal. That should be reason enough to give it a watch.

Our current era marks the highest prominence the world has ever given to discussing the experience of trans people. And it might not seem like a long time, but two decades ago, when Almodóvar made films like All About My Mother and Bad Education, he was forging new territory, empowered by his filmmaking independence and a certain side of Spain that celebrated the non-conforming. This film, as it intertwines sexual abuse within the Catholic Church with the process of sexual self-discovery, won’t give you the vindication you might be looking for, but it does present its central trans character as a full, complex human being, to whom life has constantly denied comion.

6. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)

An obsessed fan Ricky (Antonio Banderas), kidnaps his favorite actress Marina (Victoria Abril), set on making her fall in love with him. That’s it, that’s the film.

Although adorned with what is easily one of Almodóvar’s simplest narratives, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! is far from straightforward. This cheeky tale of Stockholm Syndrom uses the restraint of a woman to comment on the dynamics of a heterosexual relationship, the appropriation of the woman by the man, as well as the same signature comion Almodóvar offers all of his “delinquents.” Antonio Banderas is absolutely delicious as the misguided young Ricky, while Victoria Abril enters the Almodóvar cinematic universe with an impressive bang — going on to lead the director’s subsequent film, 1991’s High Heels.

5. Law of Desire (1987)

In bustling Madrid, Pablo (Eusebio Poncela) is a gay film director and writer who is very close to his transgender sister Tina (Carmen Maura). Antonio (Antonio Banderas) is obsessed with the director and will not leave him alone, despite him being in love with someone else. Meanwhile, Tina’s ex leaves her young daughter Ada in her care, and the two develop a loving bond.

As you have probably been able to tell as you make your way through this list, Pedro Almodóvar’s work is a continuous exploration of a lot of the same themes. He does this by creating a number of characters with similar afflictions and placing them in different scenarios that can draw out different responses and conclusions. It’s as if he has these ideas eating away at him, which he explores in script after script, which he then turns into films until he is finally satisfied and can move on to new obsessions. This makes watching his movies extra fun because you can almost see his creative process at work from one to the other, as one character reminds you of another, and one scene is essential to understanding a plot point in a completely different movie. That self-reference and Almdóvarian quirkiness are incredibly evident in 1987’s Law of Desire — the first film the filmmaker’s own production company, El Deseo, ever produced.

4. Volver (2006)

Penélope Cruz is Raimunda, the working mother of Paula (Yohana Cobo) and sister of Sole (Lola Dueñas). Sole returns to her and Raimunda’s small village hometown in La Mancha to discover from her neighbor Agustina (Blanca Portillo) that her deceased Aunt Paula (Chus Lampreave) had been talking to the ghost of her and Raimunda’s mother Irene (Carmen Maura).

Allow me to go out on a limb here and state that no male director has ever understood women the way Pedro Almodóvar does. Guided by the Spanish maestro, this incredible ensemble of actresses creates, in 2006’s Volver, a narrative of such deep generosity, tradition, modernity, life, death, and everything in between, within a web of joys and woes that so accurately represents the female experience. Volver is a masterpiece, that can battle the next three entries in this list for the top spot of Almodóvar’s catalog. Volver is how we enter the big leagues.

3. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Pepa (Carmen Maura) is dealing with a break-up when her friend Candela (María Barranco) arrives at her house in a state. They’re interrupted by Carlos (Antonio Banderas) and Marisa (Rossy de Palma) who are apartment shopping. After finding out Carlos is her lover’s son and Candela is fleeing from a terrorist group, all hell breaks loose in this screwball comedy.

A lot can be said of the way Almodóvar writes melodrama, which is why this list is filled with it, but his knack for writing the most eccentric of comedies should not be understated. 1988’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is almost operatic in the way it builds its core characters’ conflicts and whims. Like a trainwreck you can’t look away from, everything goes so incredibly wrong in this film, it almost becomes perfect. Its characters find liberation in the chaos, creating scenes so genuine they will stick with you for a long time. Lauded by many as Almodóvar’s best, the 1988 classic launched the director’s career to new, international heights, and officially concluded his transition from the mucky punk-rock aesthetic of his earlier work to the colorful symmetry that has come to define him.

2. Pain and Glory (2019)

Salvador Mallo (Antonia Banderas) was once an influential filmmaker but is now old and busted, and struggling with writer’s block. He reaches out to Alberto (Asier Etxeandia), an actor he fell out with, when he learns his old film is getting restored. Twists and turns take him on a journey of nostalgia and healing from wounds, both physical and emotional.

It’s fair to consider Pain and Glory Almodóvar’s most autobiographical work, but then again every single film he makes reveals so much of his life, his upbringing, and his surroundings, that that would be an almost redundant observation to make. While they’re all reflections of the man who makes them, this film in particular reveals not just a life story but a stage in the director’s creative journey where he is far quieter, more contemplative, and yearning. Present now solely in specks are the burning madnesses, ions, and desires of his past films, leaving in their wake a sort of smug satisfaction that can only come from living life fast and hard.

1. All About My Mother (1999)

Manuela (Cecilia Roth)’s son Esteban (Eloy Azorín) dies after getting hit by a car while trying to get an autograph from his favorite actress, Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes). The tragedy sends Manuela on a journey to Barcelona to find Esteban’s other parent, a trans woman named Lola (Toni Cantó) from her past life. She reconnects with her and Lola’s close friend Agrado (Antonia San Juan), also a trans woman, but her path crosses with Huma again, as well as Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun with an unexpected connection to Lola.

Like many other films in this list, 1999’s All About My Mother is incredibly led by an ensemble of fascinating female characters and equally rivetting actresses. Although its release precedes Bad Education‘s, its portrayal of trans women is a lot more grounded and multilayered, albeit intrinsically connected to the sex work world. The reason why this film is this writer’s top pick for the best Almodóvar film is that it is his most hopeful, heartwarming work to date, rooted in the genuine, altruistic friendships between its leading women. Although surrounded by misfortune, each character approaches life resiliently, refusing to let the world’s injustice define what they want to take from it.

A lot of Almodóvar’s films will make you uncomfortable, and others will leave your head spinning, but All About My Mother will have your heart soaring after you watch it, fighting to see through the tears that you’re unsure came from emotion or laughter. It’s triumphant, in every sense of the word.

Back in November 2021 Pedro Almodóvar broke ranks from snooty art house directors and said he’d love to direct a superhero movie. It comes on the heels of directors such as Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion, and Ridley Scott voicing their dislike of the caped blockbusters, with the latter, director of Blade Runner and Alien, succinctly dubbing them  “f*cking boring as sh*t”.

But Almodóvar sounded more positive, saying at a festival screening of Parallel Mothers that he wants to take on Batgirl:

“I would like to do something with Batgirl, but I would have to do it in my own way.”

Now Almodóvar mainstay Penélope Cruz has been asked if she’s interested and instantly responded positively, saying in an interview with Variety:

“That sounds so cool. I don’t even need to read that script… I haven’t done that genre, but with Pedro it would be revolutionary.”

Let’s face it, his Batgirl movie probably isn’t ever going to get made. For one, Warner Bros has a Batgirl movie that’s just wrapped and will arrive on HBO Max later this year. In addition, Almodóvar’s idiosyncratic and sexually-charged style would make his Batgirl quite the eye-opener, and Warner Bros has already clamped down hard on the Bat family’s bedroom antics.

However, it is worth noting that they have become a little more adventurous. Joker was a Batman-free psychological drama very different from any preceding version of the character, dealt with controversial themes, and went on to box office and awards-season success.

Perhaps if Warner Bros really wanted to make some headlines, they’d hand over the Batgirl license to Almodóvar and see what happens? Even if they didn’t, we want to know more about the kind of story he had in mind for Barbara Gordon.

Bat-fingers firmly crossed we one day hear more.

Jessica Chastain has won her first Oscar for her role as Tammy Faye Baker in the incredibly eye-opening film The Eyes of Tammy Faye. In her emotional acceptance speech, Chastain called out the need for more love — to share love so that we all may be able to live without fear and hopelessness.

An audience of her peers applauded her speech with tears in their eyes, as the call for acceptance felt more relevant than ever before.

Highlighting the best of the best in film during a year when we all depended on entertainment even more than usual is extremely important. Movies help us relate to one another, grow, and even escape when we need it the most. A key component to that storytelling is casting, and the nominees for Best Actress this year were as fierce as they are talented.

Those nominees included Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Olivia Colman for The Lost Daughter, Penélope Cruz for Parallel Mothers, Nicole Kidman for Being the Ricardos, and Kristen Stewart in Spencer. 

Film fans expected that fierce battle to come down to Nicole Kidman, who won the Golden Globe for her portrayal of Lucille Ball, and Jessica Chastain, who won Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards.

The talent from each actress was next level, as they told stories of truth, brought us to tears, and made us laugh with their portrayal of these impactful characters and real-life legends.

Here were the incredible nominees.

Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Olivia Colman for The Lost Daughter

Penélope Cruz for Parallel Mothers

Nicole Kidman for Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart in Spencer

Congratulations Jessica Chastain.

Michael Mann is set to direct his first feature film since 2015’s Blackhat. The Heat director is moving forward on Ferrari, a ion project he’s been attempting to make for two decades. Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley are signed on to star in the biopic on the life of racing mogul Enzo Ferrari.

According to Deadline, the film “is set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgment of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.”

Mann will direct from a script written by The Italian Job’s Troy Kennedy Martin based on the book Enzo Ferrari — The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates. STX just closed a deal to distribute the film.

Chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture Group Adam Fogelson said about the project:

“Ferrari is so much more than a story about a man and his machine. It is an extraordinary and emotional story that Michael has been developing for years and the entire team at STX is looking forward to the start of production with this dream cast and filmmaker. Adam Driver is one of the most talented and fascinating actors working today, and we could not be more thrilled to pair him with Penélope, whose legendary career builds with every role she takes.”

Star Wars alum Adam Driver most recently starred in the Ridley Scott films, The Last Duel and House of Gucci. He stars in the Netflix movie White Noise, directed by Noah Baumbach.

Penelope Cruz was just nominated for Best Actress for her work in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers.

Shailene Woodley is currently in production of the Showtime limited series Three Women.

On the news, Michael Mann said, “Being able to have these wonderfully talented artists, actors Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley, bring to life these unique characters on location in Modena and the Emilia-Romagna is a vision fulfilled.”

The film is scheduled to start principal photography in Italy this May.

For the first time in Oscar history, two real-life couples collectively received nominations in all four acting categories: Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. Could this mean that two are better than one?

Penelope Cruz was nominated for her role in Parallel Mothers. Bardem was nominated for his role as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. Nicole Kidman, Bardem’s co-star, was also nominated for Best Actress for her role in the film.

Bardem and Cruz met in 1992, but they didn’t start dating until 2008. They tied the knot in 2010 and now have two children together. Cruz and Bardem have worked together on over 50 TV shows and movies, according to IMDB. The two are already one of Hollywood’s greatest power couples, and these nominations only confirm it.

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who have been engaged since 2017, earned nominations for their roles in The Power of the Dog. The couple has two young children. The two played a married couple, Peggy and Ed, on FX’s Fargo. Shortly after, they started dating and got engaged.

Dunst spoke to Variety about the nominations.

“So Eric Kranzler, my manager, calls me. And I’m watching the feed on my phone because my kids are watching cartoons and Jesse’s at work. He had to go to work super early today. And [Eric] called me and he said that I was nominated, so I’m crying with my kids and then they’re like, ‘Why the hell is mom crying?’” Dunst continues. “And then he calls me back, Eric, and meanwhile I’m like in the throes, talking to my mom or whatever. And then he calls me, he was like, ‘Jesse just …’ And I started screaming and I hung up the phone. And then Megan, one of my publicists, called me because she’s trying to tell me and I just screamed at her. And then I called Jesse, and I was the first person to tell him and he was a little shell shocked. I mean, it’s just so crazy to be a couple and have our first nominations together. It’s like a storybook. You know what I mean? It’s so weird. It’s amazing.”

Variety

Most importantly, she feels honored that she was finally chosen, “It just … it feels so good to be honored by the community you’ve worked in for so long, you know?”

A third couple almost made history as well. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were both shortlisted for nominations. Beyoncé was nominated for her song “Be Alive,” which was featured in King Richard. However, Jay-Z didn’t make the cut for his contribution to the Harder They Fall, “Guns Go Bang.”

We’ll have to wait until the 94th Academy Awards air on March 27, 2022, to find out if any or all of the actors take home Oscars.

Even when Woody Allen isn’t at the top of his game, it’s comforting to know he’s still out there, churning out one film a year or more. Cinema wouldn’t be the same without him, and I imagine a year without a new Allen film would feel much more incomplete than a year with a disappointing one. That being said, To Rome With Love tested my patience more than any other Allen film in recent memory. It’s a messy, unfocused, unfunny, and above all else, exhausting slog of a comedy that grows more frustrating as it moves along, especially when we know Allen is capable of so much more. The film tells four interlocking stories set in Rome, and the way Allen structures these tales is the first, most immediate issue. They are all, in essence, standalone shorts, with different characters, timetables, and thematic interests, but all 4 are presented side by side, with Allen intercutting between them as the film moves along. It’s a terrible choice for many reasons, chiefly because cutting away from a developing, self-contained story cripples the audience’s ability to emotionally invest. Each plot would be much stronger if it were presented sequentially, on its own, with the film structured as a series of four consecutive shorts. Even then, none of the stories are particularly compelling. In fact, three of the four are complete duds, and the one that actually works isn’t nearly as fleshed out as it should be. In it, Alec Baldwin stars as a middle-aged American architect vacationing in Rome; he lived there once as a student, and as he walks the streets reminiscing, he runs into his younger self, played by Jesse Eisenberg. Only Woody Allen could make such a high-concept piece of fantasy so delightfully low-key, and that’s the story’s strength. As Baldwin watches his younger self dive deeper and deeper into a series of romantic mistakes, he hovers behind Eisenberg’s shoulder, wryly commenting on the proceedings. It’s not hugely insightful, but it’s certainly interesting, lighthearted and charming in all the right ways. Plus, with Ellen Page appearing as Eisenberg’s romantic foil, there’s plenty of great talent to go around, each performer perfectly fit to deliver Allen’s trademark dialogue. Yet by the end, the story wears thin, and a wee bit tiresome. The feeling sinks in much sooner for the other shorts. Roberto Benigni appears as a bored, suffocating office worker, feeling invisible in his daily life. One morning, he wakes up to find he is suddenly a celebrity, doted upon by a crazed media that wants to know every minute detail of his boring, daily life. It’s probably the film’s cleverest set-up, and gives Allen plenty of room to explore the nature of celebrity and discontent. But it winds up being entirely one-note; Benigni is surprised to find himself famous, protests, eventually gives in, enjoys himself, and then goes back to being surprised. Wash, rinse, repeat. There’s nothing more to it than that, with the action growing increasingly repetitive with each ing second. I like the way Allen ends the story – it’s a wickedly subversive punctuation point – but other than that, there’s nothing here. Allen himself stars in a story that’s even more of a waste. His daughter (the wonderful Alison Pill, tremendously underutilized here) has become engaged to a young Italian man after spending the summer in Rome, so Allen (at his most excessively neurotic) and his wife (Judy Davis) have come to meet the groom’s parents. At first, it seems like Allen is attempting to contrast the vitality of youth with the bitter nature of old age, or provide a personal commentary on why retiring is difficult for creative types, but in the end, this story has no point. It’s all built around one spectacularly awful joke, one that comes far out of left field, and Allen keeps hammering that bad joke into the ground scene after scene after scene. I’m not sure what to make of the fourth story. It involves a young newlywed Italian couple (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) travelling to Rome for their honeymoon. On the way to the hairdresser’s, the wife gets lost, while the husband waits in their hotel room. He’s suddenly visited by a prostitute (Penelope Cruz, in a much less interesting role than her Oscar-winning turn in Vicky Cristina Barcelona), who was sent to him by mistake. Just as he’s telling her to leave, his relatives arrive, and the man decides to the prostitute off as his wife. This is the most rambling and pointless of the stories, especially once the end is reached and no denouement is provided. It gives a cursory glance to some of Allen’s pet topics about commitment and sexuality, but not much more, and in the end, the whole affair is entirely forgettable. There are redeeming elements on display throughout the film. The cast is filled with people I’d watch in just about anything, and each of them does strong work. As always, Allen has chosen nothing but the most beautiful locations, and every last moment is gorgeously photographed. But these elements are a sort of baseline proficiency for Allen these days, things we’ve come to expect from any film with his name on it. Otherwise, the film just feels like it’s being made on autopilot, and not a particularly well-tuned autopilot at that. If you, like me, try to catch everything Allen releases, To Rome With Love is worth a watch just for curiosity’s sake, but for everyone else, this one isn’t worth the time. Sorry, this video is currently unavailable.