David Schwimmer pays tribute to Matthew Perry: “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing”

“Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity”

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David Schwimmer has paid tribute to his late Friends co-star Matthew Perry, praising him for his “impeccable comic timing” and big “heart”.

The actor, who portrayed Ross Geller opposite Perry’s Chandler Bing in the US sitcom, shared a photo of the pair dressed in ’80s suits from an episode alongside his note on Instagram today (November 15).

Schwimmer wrote: “Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity.

“I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.

“And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.”

He continued: “This photo is from one of my favourite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time.

“I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around—

“‘Could there BE any more clouds?'”

Schwimmer’s tribute “cut deep” and has caused an “insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before”.

The actor’s tribute follows his co-star, Jennifer Aniston’s one that she shared earlier today (November 15).

The actress, who portrayed Rachel Green in the US sitcom opposite Perry’s Chandler Bing, wrote in a lengthy note posted to Instagram today (November 15) that the loss has “cut deep” and has caused an “insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before”.

Aniston’s personal tribute follows Matt LeBlanc’s one shared yesterday (November 14) in which the actor, who portrayed Joey Tribbiani – Chandler’s best friend in the series – said it was an “honour” to share the stage with him.

1999 Matt Le Blanc, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, And Lisa Kudrow Star In The Latest Season Of “Friends.” (Photo By Getty Images)

“Matthew. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye,” LeBlanc wrote in the post, alongside some stills from Friends. “The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life.

“It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”

Fellow star Courteney Cox, who played Monica Geller in the show (later marrying Chandler), also paid tribute to Perry yesterday.

“I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” Cox wrote.

“When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share,” she said, before going on to share a clip from the sitcom that she felt was enhanced by Perry’s natural comedic charisma.

The Friends cast shared a joint tribute shortly after news of his death broke.

Revisit more tributes to the late film and TV actor here.

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Jennifer Aniston pays tribute to Matthew Perry: “This one has cut deep”

His death has caused an “insane wave of emotions” the ‘Friends’ actress has “never experienced before”

The post Jennifer Aniston pays tribute to Matthew Perry: “This one has cut deep” appeared first on NME.

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Jennifer Aniston has paid tribute to her late Friends co-star Matthew Perry.

The actress, who portrayed Rachel Green in the US sitcom opposite Perry’s Chandler Bing, wrote in a lengthy note posted to Instagram today (November 15) that the loss has “cut deep” and has caused an “insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before”.

Perry, 54, was found dead in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28.

According to E! News the actor’s death certificate states that his cause of death is still “deferred” following the latest reports that his initial autopsy results were inconclusive. The toxicology report has since confirmed that his death was not caused by a methamphetamine or fentanyl overdose.

Perry had longstanding substance abuse issues but it’s not yet known whether he was using at the time of his death or if another health issue was the cause or whether accidental drowning occurred.

Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry in ‘Friends’. CREDIT: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

In Aniston’s fresh tribute she celebrates Perry’s funny nature and notes how much the Friends cast “loved him deeply” as a “chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be”.

“Oh boy this one has cut deep…,” Aniston’s message begins.

“Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.”

She continued: “For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn’t hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard. In the last couple weeks, I’ve been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again. I’ll keep them forever and ever. I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all. (See the second slide…)

“Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain. I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying ‘could you BE any crazier?’

“Rest little brother. You always made my day…

Aniston’s personal tribute follows Matt LeBlanc’s one shared yesterday (November 14) in which the actor, who portrayed Joey Tribbiani – Chandler’s best friend in the series – said it was an “honour” to share the stage with him.

“Matthew. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye,” LeBlanc wrote in the post, alongside some stills from Friends. “The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life.

“It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”

Fellow star Courteney Cox, who played Monica Geller in the show (later marrying Chandler), also paid tribute to Perry yesterday.

“I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” Cox wrote.

“When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share,” she said, before going on to share a clip from the sitcom that she felt was enhanced by Perry’s natural comedic charisma.

The Friends cast shared a joint tribute shortly after news of his death broke.

Revisit more tributes to the late film and TV actor here.

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Leonardo DiCaprio’s birthday rap is being likened to Kendall Roy’s in ‘Succession’

“L to the OG/ Dude be the OG”

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A video of Leonardo DiCaprio rapping at his 49th birthday party has been compared to a famous scene from Succession in which Kendall Roy raps at his father’s shindig.

DiCaprio celebrated his birthday on Saturday (November 11) with some of Hollywood’s and the music industry’s star names including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Zoë Kravitz, Channing Tatum and Snoop Dogg at a party held in Beverly Hills.

At the event the actor was filmed rapping to the 1994 song ‘DWYCK’ by Gang Starr featuring Nice & Smooth while guests and dozens of birthday balloons surrounded him.

You can watch the video first shared by TMZ below.

On Reddit, many people have likened the moment to Succession‘s Kendall Roy (played by Jeremy Strong) rapping on a series two (2019) episode of the show called Dundee.

“How Kendall Roy of him,” one user wrote on Reddit in response to the clip of DiCaprio, while another replied, “L TO THE OG”.

“L TO THE OG” is in reference to the song performed in the episode in question by Kendall, who is the heir to his father Logan Roy’s media and entertainment conglomerate.

“First thing I thought when I saw this,” another replied, also nodding to Succession.

Another person wrote: “I opened this thread literally praying this would be the top comment.”

Although Kendall’s rap in the satirical comedy-drama series was designed for maximum cringe, other Reddit users noted how surprised they were to not find DiCaprio’s spitting as toe-curling.

“I don’t find this cringe. It’s his birthday party. He’s having fun and everyone is enjoying themselves,” one user wrote, while another said: “Ppl r rlly saying he’s not allowed to have fun bc of his age? I don’t find this cringe at all. It’s his birthday.”

Another person wrote: “I was fully expecting to cringe, but honestly, it wasn’t bad. He’s just having a great time at his birthday party.”

In the HBO show Kendall performs a surprise, self-written rap at an event held in Scotland to honour his father Logan (portrayed by Brian Cox). Lyrics include, “L to the OG/ Dude be the OG“, and, “Yo, bitches be catty, but the King Kong daddy/ Rock all the haters while we go roll a fatty“.

The scene has since spawned dozens of memes making light of Kendall’s efforts.

Meanwhile, DiCaprio, who stars in the recently released film Killers Of The Flower Moon, has reportedly had his salary for the Martin Scorsese movie revealed.

According to Puck News, the actor took home $40million (£32.5million) for his performance in the lead role as Ernest Burkheart. For context, the film’s total production budget is estimated to be around $200million (£162.9million).

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Magician Dynamo to be ‘killed’ live on TV

“I need to become someone I’ve never been”

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Magician Dynamo is to be ‘killed’ live on TV in a burial.

The famous British trickster, whose real name is Steven Frayne, will be buried alive over a two-hour special airing on Sky Max and NOW next month.

Frayne made his name with illusions including walking on water, slipping through the US border wall with Mexico, and levitating above The Shard, as well as supplying a host of sports results and news predictions that proved correct.

The live show, called Dynamo Is Dead, will feature conversations with figures including professional boxer Tyson Fury, pop acts Coldplay and Demi Lovato, model and actress Cara Delevingne, and businessman and Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett [via LADbible].

Dynamo “hit rock bottom after challenging battles with his mental health and the loss of his identity”, LADbible additionally claimed, noting that the illusionist has since drawn strength from sharing his story of recovery and rebirth.

In a teaser trailer for the show the magician speaks about hiding behind the Dynamo facade and now being in the position of needing to discover who he really is as a person.

That, seemingly, requires him to “do something I’ve never done, I need to become someone I’ve never been”, he says in the clip as he flings a deck of cards at the camera.

Dynamo Is Dead will be available to watch live on Sky Max and streaming service NOW on December 14 at 9pm GMT.

Meanwhile, in 2020 fellow magician David Blaine completed his first daredevil stunt in 10 years, Ascension, which saw him hang off and pilot 52 helium-filled balloons at an altitude of roughly 8,000 feet over the Arizona desert.

The post Magician Dynamo to be ‘killed’ live on TV appeared first on NME.

Magician Dynamo to be ‘killed’ live on TV

“I need to become someone I’ve never been”

The post Magician Dynamo to be ‘killed’ live on TV appeared first on NME.

NME

Magician Dynamo is to be ‘killed’ live on TV in a burial.

The famous British trickster, whose real name is Steven Frayne, will be buried alive over a two-hour special airing on Sky Max and NOW next month.

Frayne made his name with illusions including walking on water, slipping through the US border wall with Mexico, and levitating above The Shard, as well as supplying a host of sports results and news predictions that proved correct.

The live show, called Dynamo Is Dead, will feature conversations with figures including professional boxer Tyson Fury, pop acts Coldplay and Demi Lovato, model and actress Cara Delevingne, and businessman and Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett [via LADbible].

Dynamo “hit rock bottom after challenging battles with his mental health and the loss of his identity”, LADbible additionally claimed, noting that the illusionist has since drawn strength from sharing his story of recovery and rebirth.

In a teaser trailer for the show the magician speaks about hiding behind the Dynamo facade and now being in the position of needing to discover who he really is as a person.

That, seemingly, requires him to “do something I’ve never done, I need to become someone I’ve never been”, he says in the clip as he flings a deck of cards at the camera.

Dynamo Is Dead will be available to watch live on Sky Max and streaming service NOW on December 14 at 9pm GMT.

Meanwhile, in 2020 fellow magician David Blaine completed his first daredevil stunt in 10 years, Ascension, which saw him hang off and pilot 52 helium-filled balloons at an altitude of roughly 8,000 feet over the Arizona desert.

The post Magician Dynamo to be ‘killed’ live on TV appeared first on NME.

Glen Powell addresses Sydney Sweeney affair rumours for first time

“That’s just a part of this gig now”

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Glen Powell has spoken about the affair rumours that were rife about him and his Anyone But You co-star Sydney Sweeney while they were promoting the rom-com.

In the film Powell and Sweeney play two people who hate each other but can’t escape one another while they’re holidaying in Sydney, Australia.

The way that the actors were pictured or filmed interacting with one another while on the press run for the film, which opens in cinemas next month, led to some fans speculating that they were romantically entwined in real life.

Powell was thought to be in a relationship with model Gigi Paris at the time, while Sweeney is engaged to businessman Jonathan Davino.

Glen Powell pictured in 2023. CREDIT: Phillip Faraone/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

Now, in a new interview with Men’s Health, Powell has addressed the rumours for the first time, calling the speculation “unfair” but recognising it’s part of being in the public eye.

“When all that stuff happened, you know, publicly, it felt disorienting and unfair,” the American actor said. “But what I’m realising is that’s just a part of this gig now.”

His remarks follow Sweeney speaking to Variety in August about the rumours.

“It’s a romcom,” she said. “That’s what people want! Glen and I don’t really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; he’s such a hard worker, and I’m a hard worker.”

She said of the media furore surrounding their relationship: “They want it. It’s fun to give it to ’em.”

Director Will Gluck added in the Variety interview: “Sydney is brilliant at a lot of things, including how to deal with social media; she didn’t emotionally internalise it. It was crazy, but after a while it became normal.”

Earlier this year Sweeney said that she can’t afford to take a six-month break from acting, claiming that industry bosses “don’t pay actors like they used to”.

Despite landing roles in hit HBO shows like Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter that she still has insecurities over her finances.

“If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” Sweeney said. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.”

When asked about the payments from HBO, Sweeney explained: “They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals. The established stars still get paid, but I have to give five per cent to my lawyer, 10 per cent to my agents, 3 per cent or something like that to my business manager. I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage.”

Anyone But You is released in US cinemas on December 15 and UK cinemas on December 26.

The post Glen Powell addresses Sydney Sweeney affair rumours for first time appeared first on NME.

‘The Last Of Us’ has reportedly picked an actress to play Abby

In the video game Abby is positioned as a rival to Ellie

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The team behind The Last Of Us has reportedly chosen Kaitlyn Dever to portray Abby Anderson in the season two of the post-apocalyptic horror series.

Los Angeles Magazine contributor Jeff Sneider has written on his blog that sources have alerted him to Dever’s potential casting.

The journalist noted on The InSneider that showrunner Craig Mazin told The L.A. Times in August that he’d found an actress to portray Abby, Ellie’s rival in the HBO series.

Mazin did not respond to a request for comment, nor did UTA, the agency that represents Dever. HBO, meanwhile, declined to comment on the record although sources stressed to Sneider that no one has officially been cast in season two yet.

Kaitlyn Dever pictured in 2023. CREDIT: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images

If Dever is cast in the series, which is an adaptation of the 2013 video game, she’ll join Pedro Pascal (who portrays Joel Miller) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie Williams) in season two. It’s expected to premiere on HBO in 2025.

In the game Abby is positioned as a rival to Ellie, a role that Dever herself was once potentially in the running for after doing a table read as that character. Denver is best known for her roles in Booksmart (2019) and this year’s No One Will Save You.

Meanwhile, Ramsey has discussed how their neurodivergence has shaped their acting craft.

The actor found out they were neurodivergent while they were filming the smash-hit show after “thinking for years” that they were. “[So] to find that out whilst filming this show was super special,” they told Elle earlier this year.

In a new interview with The Times, Ramsey was asked if their neurodivergence influences their acting, to which they said: “Massively.”

“I don’t know if I’d be an actor if it wasn’t for that. One of my things is I’m very perceptive, sometimes too perceptive. I get paralysed because I just see everything – it takes me four hours to get round Tesco’s.”

Ramsey received particular praise for their starring role as 14-year-old protagonist Ellie in the TV adaptation of the popular video game. They appear opposite Pascal’s Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting Ellie to safety amid a zombie apocalypse.

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‘Napoleon’ largely celebrated in reviews: a “bombastic” epic of style over substance

The verdicts on Ridley Scott’s historical drama are in

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Critics have given their verdicts for Ridley Scott’s latest epic Napoleon, with generally favourable reviews across the board.

The historical drama stars Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role as Napoleon Bonaparte, the military mastermind and Emperor of France. It spans 32 years from the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 to Napoleon’s death on St Helena in 1821, and explores significant battles as well as the romantic turmoil with his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Many have praised director Scott for crafting the kind of bombastic spectacle favoured in late ’50s and early ’60s Hollywood, noting in particular the technical and theatrical skill enacted for the sweeping, bloody battle scenes. On the flip side, critics have said that the film fails in digging deep enough into the psychology of a war tyrant and his love affair.

Variety‘s Peter Debruge celebrated Scott’s visual prowess, writing of the battle scenes in Toulon: “It’s not often that a filmmaker manages to deliver an image of war that audiences haven’t seen before, and this early example sets a high bar.”

“From the master of the modern epic, comes an undeniably impressive technical achievement,” he wrote elsewhere, before noting Phoenix’s “oddly anti-charismatic” portrayal of the military tactician.

Debruge concluded that Napoleon “seems less enamoured with its subject than any previous telling of his exploits, referencing the 3 million lives lost under his campaigns”, and that Scott’s “desire to re-create some of history’s most notorious conflicts” means that “psychology is sacrificed for the sake of spectacle”.

The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin praised in a four-star review Scott’s “magnificently hewn slab of dad cinema” with its lead actor playing Napoleon with “startling blunt-force charisma”. Like with Empire critic Catherine Bray, Collin noted a perhaps unintentionally funny tone to the film (“Phoenix’s sore-thumb manner makes his loopier lines land well”). Bray wrote: “It would be going too far to describe it absolutely as a comedy, but in David Scarpa’s script, Scott’s direction, the rhythm of the editing by Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo, and in Joaquin Phoenix’s deadpan performance, the impulse to offset and amuse is strong.”

Peter Bradshaw, critic for The Guardian, was particularly taken with Phoenix’s central portrayal. “But for Phoenix he is the arch satirist and grinning mastermind, the outsider, the brilliant observer and exploiter of other people’s weaknesses, the proto-capitalist entrepreneur, grabbing power, boosting confidence, bolstering the printed paper money. Later people might be nicknamed the Napoleon of Crime, but Phoenix’s Napoleon is already that,” he wrote.

Elsewhere in his five-star review he wrote that Scott doesn’t “detain the audience with metaphysical meaning” and appeared in favour of the filmmaker deciding not to “withhold the old-fashioned pleasures of spectacle and excitement”.

Others have highlighted that the film suffers for its scale. “But for all its brawn and atmosphere and robustly choreographed combat, this is a distended historical tapestry too sprawling to remain compelling,” The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney wrote, “particularly when its focus veers away from the central couple.”

The BBC‘s Nicholas Barber made similar observations to others about the film’s unexpected, “sometimes very funny vignettes” and its lack of excavation of the characters’ psyches.

Barber praised Phoenix’s “enjoyable” take on the military mastermind (“Napoleon is relaxed to the point of sleepiness when he’s on the battlefield, a petulant brat in meetings, and a tongue-tied arrested adolescent where women are concerned”). He added, with some negative criticism: “Still, the film doesn’t reveal why he is so deeply in love with Joséphine, or whether she is in love with him at all.”

“But [the film],” Barber continued, “lacks insights into who Napoleon is or what he wants, where he comes from or why he is such a success. Nor does it delve below the surface of the geopolitics around him. It is never clear why he is fighting a particular battle or signing a particular treaty, and because it isn’t clear, it is difficult to care about their outcomes.”

However, Scott’s epic, “scene by scene”, is a “proper old-fashioned historical epic” and is “terrific fun”.

The Independent‘s Clarisse Loughrey commended Scott’s “formidable efficiency in visual language”.

Napoleon is a traditional, historical epic rendered in Scott’s own brawny, cannily modern style. David Scarpa’s script matches those ambitions, though it’s at its weakest when it bends to narrative convenience,” she added.

Elsewhere in her four-star review Loughrey wrote that Scott “lays much of Napoleon’s impenetrable psychology at the feet of his Empress, Joséphine de Beauharnais, brilliantly rendered by Vanessa Kirby as haughty, clever, and ingeniously manipulative.

“Nothing about their courtship is romantic, but it is perversely watchable – a romance between two sociopaths committed to the performance of love. The sex they have is brief, vulgar, and absurd. Napoleon’s idea of seduction is to whinny and stamp his feet like a horse.”

IndieWire‘s Dabid Elrich noted in his B- scoring that Napoleon is a movie that takes on its star’s “outsized ambitions” to its detriment; ambitions that “have been long subsumed by a film so lost in its epic sweep”.

He, too, wrote that the “chemistry-free” sex scenes between Napoleon and Joséphine that are “played for laughs” are “enough to make you wish the movie would more fully commit to the psychosexual power games”.

Elsewhere, however, he applauded Scott’s “portrait of the most pathetic of all great men… and it excels — when it excels — because it’s the rare historical epic that isn’t afraid to be embarrassed for its subject.”

Meanwhile, a new scene from the upcoming movie has been shared – watch it here.

Napoleon is released in cinemas from November 22, with a four-hour director’s cut set to arrive on Apple TV+ at a later date. The theatrical edit spans 157 minutes.

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‘Napoleon’ largely celebrated in reviews: a “bombastic” epic of style over substance

The verdicts on Ridley Scott’s historical drama are in

The post ‘Napoleon’ largely celebrated in reviews: a “bombastic” epic of style over substance appeared first on NME.

NME

Critics have given their verdicts for Ridley Scott’s latest epic Napoleon, with generally favourable reviews across the board.

The historical drama stars Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role as Napoleon Bonaparte, the military mastermind and Emperor of France. It spans 32 years from the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 to Napoleon’s death on St Helena in 1821, and explores significant battles as well as the romantic turmoil with his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Many have praised director Scott for crafting the kind of bombastic spectacle favoured in late ’50s and early ’60s Hollywood, noting in particular the technical and theatrical skill enacted for the sweeping, bloody battle scenes. On the flip side, critics have said that the film fails in digging deep enough into the psychology of a war tyrant and his love affair.

Variety‘s Peter Debruge celebrated Scott’s visual prowess, writing of the battle scenes in Toulon: “It’s not often that a filmmaker manages to deliver an image of war that audiences haven’t seen before, and this early example sets a high bar.”

“From the master of the modern epic, comes an undeniably impressive technical achievement,” he wrote elsewhere, before noting Phoenix’s “oddly anti-charismatic” portrayal of the military tactician.

Debruge concluded that Napoleon “seems less enamoured with its subject than any previous telling of his exploits, referencing the 3 million lives lost under his campaigns”, and that Scott’s “desire to re-create some of history’s most notorious conflicts” means that “psychology is sacrificed for the sake of spectacle”.

The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin praised in a four-star review Scott’s “magnificently hewn slab of dad cinema” with its lead actor playing Napoleon with “startling blunt-force charisma”. Like with Empire critic Catherine Bray, Collin noted a perhaps unintentionally funny tone to the film (“Phoenix’s sore-thumb manner makes his loopier lines land well”). Bray wrote: “It would be going too far to describe it absolutely as a comedy, but in David Scarpa’s script, Scott’s direction, the rhythm of the editing by Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo, and in Joaquin Phoenix’s deadpan performance, the impulse to offset and amuse is strong.”

Peter Bradshaw, critic for The Guardian, was particularly taken with Phoenix’s central portrayal. “But for Phoenix he is the arch satirist and grinning mastermind, the outsider, the brilliant observer and exploiter of other people’s weaknesses, the proto-capitalist entrepreneur, grabbing power, boosting confidence, bolstering the printed paper money. Later people might be nicknamed the Napoleon of Crime, but Phoenix’s Napoleon is already that,” he wrote.

Elsewhere in his five-star review he wrote that Scott doesn’t “detain the audience with metaphysical meaning” and appeared in favour of the filmmaker deciding not to “withhold the old-fashioned pleasures of spectacle and excitement”.

Others have highlighted that the film suffers for its scale. “But for all its brawn and atmosphere and robustly choreographed combat, this is a distended historical tapestry too sprawling to remain compelling,” The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney wrote, “particularly when its focus veers away from the central couple.”

The BBC‘s Nicholas Barber made similar observations to others about the film’s unexpected, “sometimes very funny vignettes” and its lack of excavation of the characters’ psyches.

Barber praised Phoenix’s “enjoyable” take on the military mastermind (“Napoleon is relaxed to the point of sleepiness when he’s on the battlefield, a petulant brat in meetings, and a tongue-tied arrested adolescent where women are concerned”). He added, with some negative criticism: “Still, the film doesn’t reveal why he is so deeply in love with Joséphine, or whether she is in love with him at all.”

“But [the film],” Barber continued, “lacks insights into who Napoleon is or what he wants, where he comes from or why he is such a success. Nor does it delve below the surface of the geopolitics around him. It is never clear why he is fighting a particular battle or signing a particular treaty, and because it isn’t clear, it is difficult to care about their outcomes.”

However, Scott’s epic, “scene by scene”, is a “proper old-fashioned historical epic” and is “terrific fun”.

The Independent‘s Clarisse Loughrey commended Scott’s “formidable efficiency in visual language”.

Napoleon is a traditional, historical epic rendered in Scott’s own brawny, cannily modern style. David Scarpa’s script matches those ambitions, though it’s at its weakest when it bends to narrative convenience,” she added.

Elsewhere in her four-star review Loughrey wrote that Scott “lays much of Napoleon’s impenetrable psychology at the feet of his Empress, Joséphine de Beauharnais, brilliantly rendered by Vanessa Kirby as haughty, clever, and ingeniously manipulative.

“Nothing about their courtship is romantic, but it is perversely watchable – a romance between two sociopaths committed to the performance of love. The sex they have is brief, vulgar, and absurd. Napoleon’s idea of seduction is to whinny and stamp his feet like a horse.”

IndieWire‘s Dabid Elrich noted in his B- scoring that Napoleon is a movie that takes on its star’s “outsized ambitions” to its detriment; ambitions that “have been long subsumed by a film so lost in its epic sweep”.

He, too, wrote that the “chemistry-free” sex scenes between Napoleon and Joséphine that are “played for laughs” are “enough to make you wish the movie would more fully commit to the psychosexual power games”.

Elsewhere, however, he applauded Scott’s “portrait of the most pathetic of all great men… and it excels — when it excels — because it’s the rare historical epic that isn’t afraid to be embarrassed for its subject.”

Meanwhile, a new scene from the upcoming movie has been shared – watch it here.

Napoleon is released in cinemas from November 22, with a four-hour director’s cut set to arrive on Apple TV+ at a later date. The theatrical edit spans 157 minutes.

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‘Game Of Thrones’ famous trees are to be destroyed

The Dark Hedges near Armoy in Northern Ireland are a tourist attraction

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A number of trees on an avenue in Northern Ireland that was used in the filming of Game Of Thrones are set to be destroyed.

The Dark Hedges, a tunnel of beech trees near Armoy in County Antrim, became a popular tourist attraction after being featuring in the hit HBO series as part of series’ fictional King’s Road.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) confirmed to BBC News yesterday (November 13) that “essential tree safety works” would begin at the site the Bregagh Road next week.

It follows a recent report that found that the majority of the trees are in a poor state. 11 trees on the route were in a poor condition and could pose a potential risk to the public.

DfI said that removal and remedial works on the privately owned land will start on Monday (November 20).

‘Game Of Thrones’ fans take photographs of one another as they visit The Dark Hedges. CREDIT: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Officials for the department said that the work will remove six of the trees, with their stump retained, as well as remedial work carried out on four trees. The trees were planted to line the Bregagh Road to Gracehill House, which was built in about 1775, and only 86 remain of the original 150.

Many of the trees are considered past maturity, meaning that branch breakages are likely. Storms in recent years have also brought some of the trees down.

Meanwhile, in other Game Of Thrones news, HBO has shared an update on the series’ various unannounced spin-offs, saying that none of them are “close to a green light”.

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