“Tis I do?” is not getting any better as a tagline the longer I stare at it

Nobody made a better film at Cannes this year than Ryusuke Hamaguchi with ALL OF A SUDDEN, and as it happens, nobody wrote a better piece of criticism at Cannes than @jessicakiang.bsky.social on that same movie. Read it and quite literally weep. variety.com/2026/film/re...

And if I said a few days ago that it’s this year’s EMILIA PEREZ variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Cute that you think your bag is going to get its own seat at a sold-out Cannes screening, do you want to put it on the floor or should I

A Cannes review thread. Starting with Quinzaine opener BUTTERFLY JAM, which, well, is no BEANPOLE, even as it amply demonstrates why Kantemir Balagov is the really real deal. variety.com/2026/film/re...

With absolute confidence, I can make my first Oscar prediction of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

A French Légion d’Honneur for whoever the nerd is who got the Cannes ticketing site working this breezily

Perfect example of why this rule change is a good move, and long overdue. Restricting it to just major festival winners often quite arbitrarily chosen by juries isn’t ideal, but it’s a start — the idea of the category as a kind of nationality-based cinematic Olympics is way outdated.

So thrilled to have one of my favourite current critics, @bealoayza.bsky.social, now writing at Variety, among her other illustrious outlets. More from her at Cannes soon, but for now, here she is being both witty and authoritative on a title I can’t fit into this tweet. variety.com/2026/film/re...

There are so many much more fun things you could have titled THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, but that’s what they went with, and much like the film, I guess it’ll do. Streep’s line deliveries, again, are the real prize — but there isn’t much rewatch value here. My review: variety.com/2026/film/ne...

There are so many much more fun things you could have titled THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, but that’s what they went with, and much like the film, I guess it’ll do. Streep’s line deliveries, again, are the real prize — but there isn’t much rewatch value here. My review: variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Our UHD release of Almodóvar's early work MATADOR is already SOLD OUT on our site, although copies are still available at other retailers. Our dual-format LE comes with booklet writing by @guylodge.bsky.social and reversible art - plus critic José Arroyo + Jonathan Ross' ep on Almodóvar.

A shame that APEX has gone straight to Netflix, because it’s very much a multiplex movie, and a fun, well-made one too. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Leaving aside the fact that the first allegations were in 1993 — and that “intimate” is about the last adjective I’d apply to MICHAEL — the use of the present tense in “who Michael is” is doing a lot of work here.

I stand by The Bride!, and so does Venice, clearly. variety.com/2026/film/gl...

Red carpet interviewer to Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci: “Is it amazing to be reunited?” Streep, sounding weary: “Sure is, it’s like Whatsisname and Tennille.”

Need to stop over-abbreviating in my diary as I briefly wondered why I had a 6pm appointment with the Department of Work and Pensions rather than The Devil Wears Prada 2.

“Nicole! I loved you in Birth!” “And now, my child, it’s time to love me in death.”

Maybe Film Twitter is already abuzz about this, but has anybody else noticed that Markus Schleinzer’s MICHAEL (2011) falls at the exact midpoint of the timeline between Nora Ephron’s MICHAEL (1996) and Antoine Fuqua’s MICHAEL (2026)

Variety’s @guylodge.bsky.social returns for two films that faced similar controversies over their supposedly "irresponsible" use of child actors: Jonathan Glazer’s 2004 drama BIRTH and Sandra Wollner’s little-seen 2020 sci-fi provocation THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN open.spotify.com/episode/5vhC...

So, some news. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Read this and so wanted it to be true that I checked IMDb to make sure I hadn’t misremembered, but alas.

Fun fact: it was on video, sure, but to my knowledge, the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards got Sean Penn’s only acceptance speech of the entire season.

Remember when Javier Bardem made LOVING PABLO? You probably don’t, but I do, and let me tell you, that was Pablo Escobar saying, “Free Palestine.”

Four Oscars for Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Score is a handsome runner-up haul by any standard, and doesn’t really square with breaking the record for most Oscar losses in one night. 16 nominations is just an awful lot to live up to.

People on awards shows don't "make it political." The world is political. Our lives are political. Our choices are political. The only decision is whether to acknowledge it.

Also, I almost got this, so who’s the real winner tonight

Any Oscar ceremony is ultimately as good as its winners and speeches, so I’ll remember this one fondly. But everything around them? Jesus Christ. What happened?

Delighted to see Teyana Taylor win her deserved Best Picture Oscar

Okay, fine, some predictions.

Absolutely exhilarating writing, I’m literally out of breath www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Okay but tell me Kidman and McGregor are presenting only after they perform a 25th-anniversary MOULIN ROUGE! tribute number in which they sing the complete and unabridged Elephant Love Medley while the camera cuts to a fuming Diane Warren every 20 seconds

It’s cute how seriously many people took the Academy’s new “rule” that members have to see all the nominees in a category to vote, as if everyone isn’t just going to do exactly this.

All fruit is good

Meant to put a little money on Robert Aramayo and forgot to do so, but it would have been a nice dinner out.

It’s Valentine’s Day, so here’s a love letter: Alain Gomis’ Berlinale competition entry DAO is a pure stunner, and early film-of-the-year material. variety.com/2026/film/re...

Werner Herzog and Sabrina Carpenter. Together.

Hey @jasondashbailey.com and @thehighsign.bsky.social, you’re big in Rotterdam.

Palestinian-American actor-director Cherien Dabis talks to @guylodge.bsky.social about family grief, Gaza and her shattering new movie www.thenerve.news/p/cherien-da...

Just saw someone say he was surprised Jafar Panahi didn’t get a Best Director nomination because “he has such a great narrative,” and guys, the world is bigger than awards season.

Seeing a lot of posts asking how THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE could be so overlooked when THE BRUTALIST did so well last year, and I admire both films, but the Corbet-Fastvold connection doesn’t mean they’re like for like. Both are big swings, but one is stately and classical, and the other is wild.

My now-annual awards season reminder: just because the Academy decided on the term “international film” as a euphemism for “non-English-language film” to make themselves sound less parochial, doesn’t mean we all have to follow suit. “International film” means pretty much nothing at all.

Mescal was good in HAMNET, but attempting to pass him off as a supporting actor in that film was ridiculous, so I’m not mad he missed while Lindo, a film-enhancing asset in a genuinely supporting role, got the nod instead. (Yes, Elordi and Skarsgard are leads too, but one small victory at a time.)

I had quite a good time with F1, but it is one of the more arbitrary popcorn blockbusters ever to find its way into the Best Picture category — it’s extremely well-made but not exactly artistic, popular but not exactly a pop-culture phenomenon, liked by many but adored by… who?

That we now every year have multiple films scoring double-digit nomination tallies does suggest to me that voters are watching fewer films than they did before — in an odd way, I think expanding the Best Picture field has narrowed the prospects for films that aren’t in that discussion.

Nominations I’m happiest for that weren’t a given: - SIRAT in Sound - ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER in Production Design - UGLY STEPSISTER in Makeup - Kate Hudson in Actress - Fanning in Supporting Actress - SINNERS MVP Lindo in Supporting Actor - SECRET AGENT in Casting - WICKED: FOR GOOD in nowhere

May we all move through life with the confident entitlement of Jeff Wells scolding his readers for only giving him $3000 for a free jolly to Cannes

Melissa Leo is forever a queen, but “I never wanted the Oscar”? Um.

There is going to be full-on murder at the Barbican’s box office