movies

Author: Heather Roberts | PhD Candidate in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies, Queen's University, Ontario

Am excerpt:

When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez held their lavish three-day wedding celebration in Venice recently, it wasn’t just a party — it was a spectacle of wealth, reportedly costing between US$47 million and US$56 million.

Critics highlighted the environmental toll of such an event on the fragile, flood-prone city, while protesters took to the streets to condemn the wedding as a tone-deaf symbol of oligarchical wealth at a time when many can’t afford to pay rent, let alone rent an island.

The excessive show of opulence felt like the opening of a horror film, and lately, that’s exactly what horror has been giving us. In films like Ready or Not (2019) and The Menu (2022), the rich aren’t simply out of touch; they’re portrayed as predators, criminals or even monsters.

These “eat-the-rich” films channel widespread anxieties about the current socioeconomic climate and increasing disillusionment with capitalist systems.

In a world where the wealthy and powerful often seem to act with impunity, these films expose upper-class immorality and entitlement, and offer revenge fantasies where those normally crushed by the system fight back or burn it all down.

The article dives into it further

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/benedict-cumberbatch-hollywood-grossly-wasteful-1236466903/

https://variety.com/2025/film/global/venice-roqia-alpha-violet-1236467632/

https://miff.com.au/program/film/the-dysphoria

Geng Jun’s “Bel Ami” (“Piaoliang pengyou”) is a queer film from the People’s Republic of China that will likely never see the light of cinema projectors in its home country. The film has caused quite a stir internationally. It was nominated in numerous categories at the prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taipei and won three of the most important prizes: Best Editing: Chen Hoping, Best Cinematography: Wang Weihua, and, above all, Best Actor: Zhang Zhiyong.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/brad-pitt-f1-korea-box-office-2-1236465746/

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/marvel-x-men-recasting-secret-wars-1236465269/

We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?

The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.