Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal. Getty Images for BAFTA
After three awards shows, all in Los Angeles, Hollywood’s A-list is heading across the pond. Yes, it’s time for the BAFTAs, the annual ceremony that honors the best in British and international cinema. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the BAFTAs are once again taking place at Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre tonight, Feb. 22, but with a new host. This year, Alan Cumming is taking over duties from David Tennant, who hosted the ceremony for the past two years.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV welcomed Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Greta Gerwig and dozens of other Hollywood luminaries to a special Vatican audience Saturday celebrating cinema and its ability to inspire and unite.
Leo encouraged the filmmakers and celebrities gathered in a frescoed Vatican audience hall to use their art to include marginal voices, calling film “a popular art in the noblest sense, intended for and accessible to all.”
“When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console, but challenges,” he told the stars. “It articulates the questions that dwell within us, and sometimes, even provokes tears that we didn’t know we needed to shed.”
The encounter, organized by the Vatican’s culture ministry, followed similar audiences Pope Francis had in recent years with famous artists and comedians. It’s part of the Vatican’s efforts to reach out beyond the Catholic Church to engage with the secular world.
But the gathering also seemed to have particular meaning for history’s first American pope, who grew up in the heyday of Hollywood. The 70-year-old, Chicago-born Leo just this week identified his four favorite films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People,” and “Life Is Beautiful.”
Pope Leo XIV meets with Spike Lee during an audience with and stars directors from the cinema at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Vatican Media Via AP)
Pope Leo XIV meets with Spike Lee during an audience with and stars directors from the cinema at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Vatican Media Via AP)
In a sign of how seemingly star-struck he was, Leo spent nearly an hour after the audience greeting and chatting amiably with each of the participants, something he rarely does for large audiences.
Drawing applause from the celebrities, Leo acknowledged that the film industry and cinemas around the world were experiencing a decline, with theaters that had once been important social and cultural meeting points disappearing from neighborhoods.
“I urge institutions not to give up, but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value” of movie theaters, he said.
Celebrities just happy to be invited
Many celebrities said they found Leo’s words inspiring, and expressed awe as they walked through the halls of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, where a light luncheon reception awaited them after the audience.
“It was a surprise to me that I even got invited,” Spike Lee told reporters along the red carpet gauntlet in the palace.
During the audience, Lee had presented Leo with a jersey from his beloved Knicks basketball team, featuring the number 14 and Leo’s name on the back. Leo is a known Chicago Bulls fan, but Lee said he told the pope that the Knicks now boast three players from the pope’s alma mater, Villanova University.
Actress Cate Blanchett leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Actress Cate Blanchett leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Blanchett, for her part, said the pope’s comments were inspiring because he understood the crucial role cinema can play in transcending borders and exploring sometimes difficult subjects in ways that aren’t divisive.
“Filmmaking is about entertainment, but it’s about including voices that are often marginalized and not shy away from the pain and complexity that we’re all living through right now,” she said.
She said Leo, in his comments about the experience of watching a film in a dark theatre, clearly understood the culturally important role cinemas can play.
“Sitting in the dark with strangers is a way in which we can reconnect to what unites us rather than what divides us,” she said.
A ‘hit and miss’ guest list that grew
The gathering drew a diverse group of filmmakers and actors, including many from Italy, like Monica Bellucci and Alba Rohrwacher. American actors included Chris O’Donnell, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, his wife.
Director Sally Potter said she was impressed that Leo took the time to speak with each one of them. And she said she loved his comments about the value of silence and slowness in film.
“It was a good model of how to be and how to think about cinema,” she said, noting especially Leo’s defense of “slow cinema” and to not see the moving image just in terms of algorithms.
Actress Greta Gerwig leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Actress Greta Gerwig leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Director Gus Van Sant said he liked Leo’s vibe.
“He was very laid back, you know, he had a fantastic message of beauty in cinema,” he said.
Archbishop Paul Tighe, the No. 2 in the Vatican culture ministry, said the guest list was pulled together just in the last three months, with the help of the handful of contacts Vatican officials had in Hollywood, including Martin Scorsese.
The biggest hurdle, Tighe said, was convincing Hollywood agents that the invitation to come meet Leo wasn’t a hoax. In the end, as word spread, some figures approached the Vatican and asked to be invited.
“It’s an industry where people have their commitments months in advance and years in advance, so obviously it was a little hit and miss, but we’re very pleased and very proud” by the turnout, he said.
The aim of the encounter, he said, was to encourage an ongoing conversation with the world of culture, of which film is a fundamental part.
“It’s a very democratic art form,” Tighe said. Saturday’s audience, he said, was “the celebration of an art form that I think is touching the lives of so many people and therefore recognizing it and giving it its true importance.”
___
Visual journalists Trisha Thomas and Isaia Montelione contributed.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Venice Film Festival has begun—get ready for 11 days of some of the best red carpet fashion of the year. WireImage
While last year’s Venice Film Festival was a quieter, more subdued occasion than usual due to the SAG-AFTRA and WAG strikes, the 2024 iteration is expected to bring the usual array of A-list filmmakers and celebrities to the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido for a week and a half of premieres, screenings and parties.
Isabelle Huppert is the 2024 jury president, and this year’s cinematic line-up is packed with some of the most anticipated movies of the year. Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, as is Luca Guadagnino’s Queer (with Daniel Craig and Jason Schwartzman), Pablo Larrain’s Maria (starring Angelina Jolie) and Halina Reijn’s Babygirl (Nicole Kidman), among many others. Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, screened out of competition, will open the festival.
Along with plenty of must-see films, the stars also bring their sartorial best for the glamorous film festival in Venice, Italy, strutting down the red carpet in fashionable designs—this is, after all, the very event that brought us couture moments like Florence Pugh’s dazzling black glitter Valentino ensemble at the Don’t Worry Darling premiere, along with Zendaya’s custom leather Balmain dress in 2021 and Dakota Johnson in bejeweled Gucci.
The 81st annual Venice International Film Festival kicks off on August 28 and runs through September 7, which means a whole lot of high-fashion moments are headed for Lido. Below, see the best red carpet fashion from the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
In 1988, the movie releases of the day were something of a mixed bag. From titles like Killer Klowns from Outer Space to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it was an “anything goes” sort of year for film. Maybe that’s why Beetlejuice managed to “get past the censors,” so to speak. Released on March 30, 1988, it was hardly expected to be the commercial success that it was, raking in seventy-five million dollars on a fifteen-million-dollar budget. Unsurprisingly, getting it made was something of an uphill battle, with one executive at Universal telling Beetlejuice’s co-writer and eventual co-producer Larry Wilson that trying to put it into production was a waste of time. Wilson, in fact, recalled the unnamed person’s naysaying as follows: “‘This piece of weirdness, this is what you’re going to go out into the world with? You’re developing into a very good executive. You’ve got great taste in material. Why are you going to squander all that for this piece of shit’ was basically what he was saying.”
Soon after, the Beetlejuice script was sold to the Geffen Company (because, needless to say, gays have taste). Perhaps because, at that time, it had made something of a name for itself in the genre of “weird,” “off-kilter” movies like After Hours and Little Shop of Horrors. Cutting to 2024, not only is the Geffen Company no longer around (it became defunct in 1998), but all of its content (save for Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and maybe Joe’s Apartment) now belongs to Warner Bros., which Geffen had originally distributed its films through. Perhaps that’s part of why Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a noticeably different tone that has less to do with “the current climate” and more to do with being under the thumb of a major corporate juggernaut.
And, talking of the current climate in film, it’s obviously vastly different from the abovementioned mixed bag/almost anything goes vibe of 1988. Indeed, 2024 has been an especially marked year for remakes, reboots and various forms of sequels—including Twisters, Deadpool & Wolverine, Alien: Romulus and The Crow. All of which is to say that, as most already knew, Hollywood is notorious for playing it safe. In other words, the suits controlling the purse strings rarely, if ever, take a gamble on anything that isn’t “existing IP” that already has a built-in audience. Which is the category that, “kooky” or not, Beetlejuice definitely falls into—making it right at home among the movie release climate of 2024.
That said, the obvious tonal shift of the sequel is a direct result of not just the “corporate-ification” of the movie thanks to Warner Bros. being entirely at the helm (complete with cross-promotional products like the Fabergé x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice® fine jewelry collection and the Limited-Edition Fanta Haunted Apple x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice® drinks), but the corporate-ification of all aspects of the movie industry in general. Even when it comes to what would have once been deemed more “indie” fare (which usually tended to be a euphemism for “offbeat” [a.k.a. unclassifiable by Hollywood executives]). Tim Burton’s own film evolution provides no better example of that, showing a stronger predilection for corporate-ifying his now “signature style” over the years (see: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows and Dumbo). In branching out to TV (for the first full-blown time) with Wednesday, Burton also revealed his increasing inclination toward “softcore gloom,” a byproduct, perhaps, of too many years working with major studio backing. And yes, collaborating with Jenna Ortega on the series led to her being “thought of” for a major part in the sequel.
In it, Ortega plays Astrid Deetz, daughter to Lydia (Winona Ryder), who has herself gone totally corporate by hosting a sham-y supernatural reality show called Ghost House. Granted, Lydia can actually communicate with the dead—as her rapport with Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) showed audiences back in ‘88. Unfortunately for Astrid, however, Lydia has never been able to wield her gift for the purpose of seeing Richard (Santiago Cabrera), Astrid’s father whose cause of death was a boat accident in South America. And no, his body was never recovered (which seems like it might a detail that’s brought back later, but it isn’t).
Lydia and Richard had already divorced before his death, which speaks more to Ryder’s original vision for the character in a sequel: “I never thought about Lydia ever being a mom. I thought she would just be this spinster by choice in that attic…” Turns out, corporate-ification makes such a thought an impossibility, with Ryder also adding, “…but I think that’s where the incredible Jenna Ortega comes in. She answered a ton of those questions, and it felt so right.” Some might even say it “felt so right” that it was the true reason “destiny” made it take this long to put together a sequel—well, that, and “destiny” also needed to align Monica Bellucci romantically with Burton to give her a part that, once upon a time, probably would have gone to Helena Bonham Carter. (Side note: the role is an undeniable aesthetic nod to Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas.)
In any case, some might like to see Lydia and Astrid as a “macabre” version of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, with their relationship mirroring the latter’s more during their estrangement in season six—until they finally get close once Astrid realizes her mother’s medium abilities are the real deal. Before that pivotal moment though, Astrid’s initial resentment-filled dynamic with Lydia is established via the plot construct of an important funeral. Thus, her rage toward her “Alleged Mother” is exhibited in all its complex glory when screenwriting duo Alfred Gough and Miles Millar bring them together against Astrid’s will for the funeral of Lydia’s father/Astrid’s grandfather, Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones, who might as well have “died” in real life after being cancelled for child pornography/sex offender charges). And yes, as some have accurately pointed out, Charles a.k.a. Jones enjoys way too much screen time for someone that’s not actually in it—in addition to pointing out that having a children’s choir sing “Day-O” at the funeral of an IRL sex offender is a bit…ill-advised. (On the plus side, however, his death allows Catherine O’Hara many opportunities to shine as Delia Deetz.)
What’s more, while Burton has also claimed that the Maitlands aren’t featured in the story because they’ve “moved on,” the fairer assumption (apart from Davis admitting, “Our characters were stuck the way they looked when they died forever, so it’s been a while, it’s been a minute”) is that Baldwin isn’t without his own controversies of late (*cough cough* killing someone). And, if corporate-ification is capable of anything, it’s steering clear of any controversies that might prompt a dip in sales. Except no one seemed to consider the potential of Brad Pitt’s inevitably fledgling reputation in the wake of Angelina Jolie’s lawsuit claiming the actor has a “history of physical abuse.” Nonetheless, he serves as a producer on the project, which, whether intentional or not, found him working with Jennifer Aniston’s other ex, Justin Theroux (who plays Lydia’s annoying user of a fiancé, Rory).
Elsewhere, the addition of Willem Dafoe to the cast as Wolf Jackson—a B-rate actor who died while playing a detective, therefore also acts as one in the afterlife—feels a bit overstuffed and out of place, contributing to some of the issues with being able to effectively service all the storylines and characters (especially Bellucci’s Delores) without making everything feel somewhat rushed at the conclusion. Granted, there is at least a satisfying-to-OG-fans wedding ceremony between Lydia and Beetlejuice reserved for Act Three (during which Lydia, in her “updated” [read: post-woke] state, makes a joke that comments on their unsettling age gap—and just in time for age gap autumn, too).
But even during these moments that cater to the original fanbase, the shift in tone from Beetlejuice when it was a “low-budget,” underdog affair is night and day when compared to the over-the-top, trying-as-hard-as-possible-for-laughs posturing of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. And don’t even get one started on the hooey final scene that leads to coming across as a totally non sequitur nod to A Nightmare on Elm Street. Even so, there are worse “bad dreams” than this sequel, and many others have failed miserably in trying to achieve a follow-up to such a beloved movie (see: Speed 2: Cruise Control or Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Besides, it’s almost impossible to make a sequel better than the original (save for rare exceptions like Die Hard 2 or The Dark Knight).
But, as best as it can, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stays true to the wonderful weirdness of Beetlejuice (even if that wonderful weirdness is a little too manicured now). Alas, there’s no denying that the scrappy, rough-hewn nature of the original is something that can never be recreated in the present landscape…regardless of Ryder keeping the exact same coif as Lydia when she was sixteen (in a maneuver that smacks of Briony Tallis’ never-changing hairstyle in 2007’s Atonement).
When the filmmakers and celebrities aren’t attending premieres, screenings and official fêtes, they’re enjoying all that Venice has to offer, and they’re doing so in style—the Venice Film Festival is where you’ll find some of the best off-duty looks, because is there really any better backdrop than that of a Venetian gondola?
While last year’s Venice Film Festival was a somewhat sleepier event due to the SAG-AFTRA and WAG strikes, the 2024 edition is back in full force, with highly anticipated movies including Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and Pablo Larrain’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie, set to premiere.
The 81st annual Venice Film Festival runs from August 28 through September 7, so get ready for 11 days of incredible fashion. Below, take a look at the best off-duty looks from all your favorite stars at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
It’s unclear who thought the premise of Mafia Mamma would be a “fire” idea, but the fact that Toni Collette co-produced it indicates that she was one of the script’s biggest proponents. And why shouldn’t she be, what with it miraculously making her both forty years old and of Italian descent? But these are the more minimal aspects that pertain to “suspending disbelief” throughout the movie. One of the maximal ones, however, is that Monica Bellucci consented to decimating her culture so willingly. Then again, maybe that’s to be expected from someone who was famously photographed by Bettina Rheims in 1995 with a bottle of ketchup positioned over her pasta. Ultimate sacrilege—until now.
Her participation in Mafia Mamma is particularly affronting because it gives further license to non-Italians who delight in the firm Italian stereotypes that can’t seem to be shaken (least of all with Super Mario Bros. making a comeback thanks to its latest film version). License to view Bellucci’s presence as a “sanction” to keep wielding all the worst clichés about Italians. But surely, one would think, even the most uncultured swine couldn’t take what’s depicted within the frames of Mafia Mamma to heart…right? But to overestimate people is to be inevitably disappointed. Something Kristin (Collette) knows all about after discovering her husband, Paul (Tim Daish), having an affair with her son Domenick’s (Tommy Rodger) guidance counselor, Tracy (Claire Palazzo, possibly cast for her Italian last name). This being among the many shoddy, hastily-developed and ill-conceived plot points…ones that screenwriters Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon ostensibly cease bothering with altogether after a certain amount of time. Because perhaps they figured something so “hilarious” would “write itself.”
To be sure, the “mafia comedy” is nothing new, with Married to the Mob and Analyze This (or even Some Like It Hot, for that matter) being the “exemplars” of the hijinks that can result when “comedic tones” are taken vis-à-vis the mob. Maybe Mafia Mamma wanted to attempt something similar, adding to a canon that already needed to die, and this surely ought to put the nail in the coffin of the genre. But, of course, it won’t. For there seems to be no desired end to the madness. No courage on anyone’s part to “take a hit out” on tired Italian stereotypes, least of all the mafia one.
In most cases, that’s because it’s too profitable, even for the Italians who sell their own kind down the river to keep perpetuating it (*cough cough* Bellucci). Mafia Mamma seemed to want desperately to cash in on that usual profitiability that comes from bored, middle-aged women romanticizing changing their lives by spontaneously moving to Italy and “getting their groove back.” Like Frances Mayes in Under the Tuscan Sun or Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love—and yes, both books/movies are shamelessly mentioned. In addition to the horrifyingly revealed “tidbit” that Kristin masturbates to Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. This being what her requisite “bestie,” Jenny (Sophia Nomvete), reminds her of when she has second thoughts about going to Calabria (though most of the shooting was done in Rome) to honor her grandfather at his funeral and help Bianca (Bellucci) settle his affairs (ones that will, naturally, be mafia-related).
But Jenny keeps bringing up Eat Pray Love, changing the title, oh so “groundbreakingly,” to Eat Pray Fuck. Even if it’s Under the Tuscan Sun tropes that Mamma Mafia borrows from more overtly. In point of fact, a key catalyst in Under the Tuscan Sun for Frances to move to Italy was her husband’s infidelity. So, needless to say, hackneyed premises and lazy representations abound—especially when Italian culture is involved. Cue the scene where Kristin is invited by Bianca to help her crush grapes in a barrel using the “foot method.” Bianca is sure to explain, “We have machines to crush grapes now, but this is the classic way.” Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) certainly immortalized that much back in 1956 with the I Love Lucy episode, “Lucy’s Italian Movie.” Which is hardly as offensive as dialogue like Bianca’s as she tells Kristin, “You must stomp on the grapes to release their juices, and you must also take over as the Balbano family boss.” That’s pretty much all it takes to get her to agree, along with the promise of the hard dick she’s been told to seek by Jenny. A man who materializes in the form of Lorenzo (Giulio Corso). But before she can “eat pray fuck” him, Bianca insists she meets with the new don of the Romano family, Carlo (Giuseppe Zeno).
Upon arriving at the restaurant to talk business/territorial restructuring, Kristin’s primary interests quickly become eating (gnocchi) and fucking (Carlo). Because, since it’s apparently been three years since she’s had sex, Kristin starts acting like a crazed nympho with pretty much any man she comes into contact with. Her “whoreish” ways soon serve as a cautionary tale about women daring to seek pleasure when Carlo proceeds to poison her drink of limoncello (because, again, the writers must dig deep to pull out every cliché from the hat, presumably a fedora). An attempt that predictably backfires on Carlo.
Worse still, as part of Bianca’s bid to easily persuade Kristin into taking over, she says that Fabrizio (Eduardo Scarpetta), Kristin’s eager cousin, is not fit because “he’s a hot-head with a terrible temper…just like Sonny.” “Who’s Sonny?” Kristin asks in confusion. Bianca looks at her incredulously and says, “From The Godfather.” As though an actual Italian would be affronted by someone never having seen it. But no, it’s Italian-Americans who would be, who actually still hold up the trilogy as some kind of badge of honor (to confirm, Mario Puzo was Italian-American). Kristin, wanting to understand that badge, later brings up the movie as she thinks about how far she’s sunk on the morality scale of late while bemoaning, “I’m a good person.” Bianca assures, “Of course you are, you make peace.” Kristin balks, “Yeah but at what cost? I feel like Michael Corleone.” “You saw the movie!” “No, I read the Wikipedia summary.” Ha-ha. Mafia Mamma provides so many “laughs” just like that one.
But another real laugh is Bianca telling Kristin, “Just because you’re a mafia boss doesn’t mean you have to be a bad person.” Surely, the words Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) always wanted to hear from Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). But Kristin seems to believe it as she uses her power for “good” by trafficking in pharmaceuticals (a holdover from the job she ended up getting fired from back in America) to help communities get the medicine they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, what with European laws being much stricter about what kind of shit can be sold to people to put in their body.
So it is that she becomes the supposed “ideal” mob boss with her “male business acumen” and “feminine nurturing.” Alas, to throw a wrench into Kristin’s transformation and the shedding of her “old life,” Paul shows up initially claiming he misses her before her goons torture him into admitting, “After you lost your job, our joint bank account is empty.” Of course, there’s no explanation for why Kristin would be with Paul in the first place, he being a deadbeat musician without even having the courtesy to write jingles to make money like Mark Loring (Jason Bateman) in Juno.
Finally gaining the courage to toss him out for good with the help of Bianca, Kristin has still learned nothing from her mistakes with Paul by deciding to give up everything she’s built for Lorenzo (who, in the end, will be revealed as an undercover agent for the Antimafia Investigation Department—what a shock). The message that gets lost in the shuffle of over-the-top stereotypes most of the time is that Kristin is a woman who has been repressed her whole life, allowing herself to be walked all over by men…from the ones she works for to her now ex-husband. So when she decides to give up her “donna” position in the family to be with Lorenzo, Bianca cautions her, “Never let a man dictate who you are or what you can do.”
This is a “positive” theme that could have been conveyed in so many other ways, even if the writers wanted to stick with this mafia stereotype. If Kristin had been given better character development, a better first act start to make her sympathetic as opposed to a two-dimensional suburban mom who just “falls into” mafia life because it’s “something to do,” maybe some (like a sliver) of Mafia Mamma would be more forgivable. None of it is. Least of all the fact that we’re supposed to believe everyone speaks English in order to accommodate Kristin’s lack of Italian-language knowledge (save to butcher it in the usual way Americans do by saying things like “grahts-ee” instead of grazie).
Then there is the offense to Catherine Hardwicke’s career. Once known for critical darling fare like Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, Hardwicke adds what feels like a calculated miss to her filmography (in addition to Collette’s). Complete with “riffing” off The Godfather’s famous final shot featuring the door closing on Domenick to indicate Kristin is officially separating her real family from her mafia one. This occurring, obviously, with far less of a “profound effect” on the viewer.
In the first act of the movie, Kristin naively double-checks with Bianca (as they crush grapes for no other reason than to portray a stereotype), “Are we actually in the mafia?” She replies, “Your grandfather preferred to call it the ‘invisible family’?” Sounds like a loose description of Hereditary. A far better “family” narrative starring Collette than what this could ever hope to be. Save for yet another damning, insulting addition to American-made interpretations of Italian culture.
