Apple TV Plus
After Pixar Ouster, John Lasseter Returns With Apple and ‘Luck’
LOS ANGELES — The most Pixar movie of the summer is not from Pixar. It’s from Apple TV+ and the lightning-rod filmmaker-executive who turned Pixar into a superpower: John Lasseter. Five years ago, Mr. Lasseter was toppled by allegations about his behavior in the workplace. Almost overnight, his many accomplishments — building Pixar from scratch, […]
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With ‘Surface,’ Gugu Mbatha-Raw Steps Into New Territory
LONDON — A few minutes into “Surface,” a new eight-part series from Apple TV+, the central character, Sophie, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, asks her therapist a question: “If my life was so perfect, why did I try to end it?” Sophie, who has amnesia after a suicide attempt, has a handsome, wealthy and devoted husband, […]
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Why Big Tech Is Making a Big Play for Live Sports
LOS ANGELES — More than a decade after Apple disrupted the music industry and Amazon upended retail, the tech heavyweights have set their sights on a new arena ripe for change: live sports. Emboldened by their deep pockets and eager to boost viewership of their streaming-subscription services, Apple and Amazon have thrust themselves into negotiations […]
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After ‘Rocketman’, Taron Egerton Transforms Again for ‘Black Bird’
Taron Egerton channeled a pop god in the Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” winning raves — and a Golden Globe — for his portrayal of how a shy piano prodigy blossomed into an international superstar. But in his latest role, as a convicted drug dealer in the new Apple TV+ drama “Black Bird,” he had no […]
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‘Loot’ Review: Maya Rudolph Among the .001 Percent
If you’re going to center a sitcom on a character who, post-divorce, is the third-richest woman in America, casting Maya Rudolph is a smart move. Molly Novak, the heroine of the new Apple TV+ series “Loot,” is a tech gazillionaire’s soon-to-be-ex wife who is kind and funny and, as played by Rudolph, childishly delighted by […]
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Apple Sees Virtual-Reality Headset as Its Next Big Thing
Apple’s development of virtual-reality content and software tools is central to creating experiences that give its future headset purpose. Its last major new product, the Apple Watch, was launched with about 3,000 apps but struggled to take off because tech reviewers said few of those apps were useful. Similar shortcomings have dogged Meta’s Quest virtual-reality […]
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‘Tehran’ Review: ‘24’ Meets ‘The Americans’ in Iran
The Iranian Faraz’s cat-and-mouse game with the Israeli Tamar is the backbone of the story. But unlike “24,” in which the American agent Jack Bauer is the unquestioned hero, or “The Americans,” in which our emotions are clearly directed to the Soviet moles, “Tehran” doesn’t have precisely defined rooting interests. The resourceful, constantly improvising Tamar […]
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‘Slow Horses’ Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Failure
The show around Oldman is not entirely up to the standards set by his performance, but it’s not too far off — “Slow Horses” is a highly satisfying celebration and sendup of the John le Carré novels that clearly inspired it. It’s a complicated conspiracy thriller crossed with an office comedy, and it lightly dusts […]
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Streaming Took Over Hollywood. Will It Take Best Picture, Too?
The pandemic accelerated the disruption. Traditional studios like Paramount, Universal, Sony, Warner Bros. and Disney rerouted dozens of theatrical films to streaming services or released them simultaneously in theaters and online. For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, citing the coronavirus threat, allowed films to skip a […]
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