‘Humanity is facing a reckoning’: Venice film festival shrugs off the glamour to take aim at politics | Venice film festival

Published

18 hours ago

September 6, 2025

For most of its 82 years, Venice has been perceived as the world’s most glamorous film festival. This year was no exception: stars including Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Jude Law and George Clooney dutifully waved from canals and trooped down red carpets (although Law tripped while on a water taxi and Clooney got ill).

But the films themselves struck a different note. Jury president Alexander Payne may have rebutted questions about current affairs during his opening press conference, declaring himself concerned only with discussing cinema, but cinema at Venice this year was concerned largely, it turned out, with discussing current events.

The big hits of the festival were both nailbiting ticking-clock stories – directed by women – that tackled real-world situations of such tragedy and magnitude that many people shy from discussing them, let alone make a movie about them.

Towards the end of the festival, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Kaouther Ben Hania’s dramatisation of the killing by the Israel Defense Forces of a five-year-old girl in Gaza, earned a 23-minute standing ovation, as well as chants around the auditorium of “Free Palestine”.

The film uses the real audio of Rajab’s phone call with emergency call handlers, where she pleads to be rescued from the car in which she was trapped after Israeli tank fire killed the family members around her. During the January 2024 incident, the ambulance sent to reach Rajab also came under attack and the two paramedics on board were killed. Rajab’s body, as well as those of her relatives and the paramedics were found 12 days later.

Speaking in Venice, Ben Hania said: “I just felt I had to do something, so I wasn’t complicit. I have no political power. I’m not an activist. All I have is this one tool that I have mastered a little bit – cinema. At least, with this film, I wasn’t silenced.”

‘The film is an invitation to decide what to do about all these weapons’ … from left: Idris Elba, Kathryn Bigelow and Rebecca Ferguson at a photocall for A House of Dynamite. Photograph: Riccardo Antimiani/EPA

Meanwhile, Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in eight years, A House of Dynamite, put audiences repeatedly through the 18 minute period from the launch of a nuclear strike on the US until its landing, from the point of view of, variously, a soldier, military leader and the president (played by Idris Elba). Bigelow said she had made the film in an desperate attempt to kickstart conversations about a nuclear treaty.

“The film is an invitation to decide what to do about all these weapons,” she said. “How is annihilating the world a good defensive measure?”

Elsewhere, the evidence mounted that cinema is increasingly acting as a quasi-urgent response unit to help audiences interpret a chaotic world. Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest, Bugonia, stars Emma Stone as a high-powered executive kidnapped by conspiracy theorists convinced she is an alien intent on destroying Earth. Confirming the film as an allegory for inertia over tackling a climate catastrophe, its director said: “Humanity is facing a reckoning very soon. People need to choose the right path, otherwise, I don’t know how much time [we have] left.”

Meanwhile, No Other Choice, the latest from Oldboy’s Park Chan-wook, was a satire about a long-serving employee fired from his role in a manufacturing plant who feels forced to eliminate all competitors for a future post. “We all harbour that deep fear of employment insecurity,” said Park. “Anyone who’s out there trying to make a living in the current modern capitalist society.”

Playing Vladimir Putin … Jude Law and Paul Dano in The Wizard of the Kremlin. Photograph: Carole Bethuel

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein engaged with the ethics of AI, though he claimed otherwise, and Law was in town playing Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas’s The Wizard of the Kremlin. While Law sought to downplay the film’s contemporary relevance, his director was less abashed, declaring: “The film is very much about how modern politics, 21st-century politics, was invented, and part of that evil raised from the rise to power of Vladimir Putin in Russia.”

Such eagerness by film-makers for direct political engagement appears unlikely to wane. Announcing their lineup on Friday, the San Sebastián film festival director also issued a long statement calling for end to the “genocide … the unimaginable massacres to which the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is subjecting the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile in London on Wednesday evening, Hugh Bonneville took an ITV reporter by surprise when he began his comments on the red carpet by saying: “What’s about to happen in Gaza City is indefensible. The international community must do more to bring it to an end.” He then continued: “Downton Abbey’s a lovely film.”

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College football scores, live updates: Week 2 schedule features Texas, Illinois, Iowa State in action early

Published

1 hour ago

September 6, 2025

Cameron Salerno

Week 2 of the 2025 college football season begins Saturday with a handful of intriguing matchups in the early window, and the main event — which happens to be the only ranked-on-ranked game of the entire weekend — coming later in the day.

After losing its season-opener to Ohio State on the road, Arch Manning and No. 7 Texas will look to bounce back in a showdown against San Jose State. In the same window, College Football Playoff hopeful No. 11 Illinois travels to Durham, North Carolina, to face Duke. And if you like rivalry games, this window has that, too, as No. 16 Iowa State hosts Iowa with the Cy-Hawk Trophy on the line.

During the afternoon window, No. 6 Oregon faces Oklahoma State on CBS at 3:30 p.m. ET. No. 8 Clemson is coming off a loss to LSU and will look to record its first win of the season against Troy.

The top game on this weekend’s slate is a matchup between No. 15 Michigan and No. 18 Oklahoma in the evening window. The Sooners are coming off a blowout win over Illinois State, while Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood led his team to a victory over New Mexico.

CBS Sports will be here every step of the way to update you with the latest scores, highlights and storylines throughout the evening. All times Eastern

College football scores, schedule: Week 2

No. 11 Illinois at Duke — ESPN — GameTracker
Iowa at No. 16 Iowa State — Fox — GameTracker
San Jose State at No. 7 Texas — ABC — GameTracker
Oklahoma State at No. 6 Oregon — 3:30 p.m. on CBS — Expert picks, preview
Grambling at No. 1 Ohio State — 3:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network
No. 20 Ole Miss at Kentucky — 3:30 p.m. on ABC — Expert picks, preview
South Florida at Florida — 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network
Bethune-Cookman at No. 5 Miami — 7 p.m. on ESPN+
No. 12 Arizona State at Mississippi State — 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Louisiana Tech at No. 3 LSU — 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+
No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma — 7:30 p.m. on ABC — Expert picks, preview
Check out the entire Week 2 scoreboard

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What The Critics Are Saying — TIFF

Published

3 hours ago

September 6, 2025

Glenn Garner

Sydney Sweeney‘s latest performance in the David Michôd-helmed boxing biopic Christy has premiered at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews.

The 2x Emmy nominee stars as boxer Christy Martin, who never imagined life beyond her small-town roots in West Virginia—until she discovered a knack for knocking people out. Fueled by grit, raw determination, and an unshakable desire to win, she charges into the world of boxing under the guidance of her trainer and manager-turned-husband, Jim (Ben Foster). But while Christy flaunts a fiery persona in the ring, her toughest battles unfold outside it, as she confronts family, identity, and a relationship that just might become life-or-death.

While some critics have praised Sweeney for disappearing into the role of the professional boxer, others say that’s all the movie has going for it.

Deadline’s Pete Hammond said Christy is an “overlong (at 135 minutes), somewhat repetitive and finally, in the third act, excruciating-to-watch movie,” although he admitted, “Sweeney delivers, and then some, putting her all into this sometimes extremely dark tale, and really does show she has the acting chops to pull it off, as if we didn’t already know.”

“If only the movie didn’t feel like we have seen this before because Martin’s personal story … is worthy of it being told to as many people as possible,” adds Hammond. “Let’s hope Christy, despite its flaws, gets an audience for that reason alone.”

‘Christy’

Black Bear

In IndieWire‘s review, Kate Erbland wrote that Sweeney “disappears into the role, not just changing her hair color, eye color, accent, and way of moving, but her general air, her overall mien, the space she takes up in a room.”

The New York Post‘s Johnny Oleksinski called Sweeney “a knockout” in her performance, adding that the film is “a major step to showing there’s much more to her than rom and com.”

Meanwhile, Nick Schager wrote for The Daily Beast that Sweeney “gives a believable performance that almost transcends her role’s derivativeness. This manipulative hybrid of Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, and Monster, however, is so rote that even an A.I. wouldn’t dare try to pass it off as original.”

TheWrap‘s Chase Hutchinson wrote, “It succeeds about half the time, making for a split decision where Sweeney and Christy both emerge as champions while the film itself can’t quite go the distance.”

For The Guardian, Benjamin Lee concluded, “Christy Martin’s life was filled with devastating blows but in her biopic, we barely feel the impact.”

Producers are Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Teddy Schwarzman, Brent Stiefel, Justin Lothrop, Michôd and Sweeney, and the movie premieres Nov. 7 in theaters via Black Bear.

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Don’t expect AI Siri to debut at Sept. 9 Apple event

Published

4 hours ago

September 6, 2025

Christian de Looper

Google I/O 2025. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked. Made By Google. All these big launch events had one thing in common — new artificial intelligence tools were the headline act.

Now, Apple has announced its next big event will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Will we finally see the newer, smarter, AI-er Siri? Unfortunately, probably not. We, along with the rest of the tech world, would be shocked if it did.

It’s no secret — Apple Intelligence isn’t quite what we expected it to be, and the pressure is on Apple to add new AI-focused features to its products. That’s not to say that there aren’t some Apple Intelligence features that come in handy, but the long-awaited AI version of Siri has yet to make it to the public.

Apple’s next big event is set to be huge, and we’ll get a number of awesome new Apple devices that iPhone fans will love. So, why isn’t the AI-powered Siri ready for its primetime moment?

That’s the billion-dollar question.

Hardware versus software

Apple’s release cadence usually takes the following form: in June, Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference, which is its major software event for the year, and where it shows off the big new software features that will ship to customers in September. This year, Apple revealed iOS 26, and we’re eagerly awaiting the iOS 26 release date. On Sept. 9, Apple is set to debut devices, with the new iPhone being the headliner.

However, recent hardware launches from Google and Samsung have focused heavily on new AI tools.

Credit: Apple

Apple has a rocky history with AI features, especially after the company failed to ship many of the promised Apple Intelligence features that it announced at WWDC 2024. Since then, reports in the New York Times and Bloomberg have revealed that Apple is struggling to rebuild Siri with generative AI capabilities, and that the company has fallen far behind rivals like Google and OpenAI in the AI arms race.

In the meantime, Apple has turned to OpenAI and ChatGPT to power some Siri features. A recent report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple is also in talks with Anthropic and Google to help power new Apple Intelligence and Siri features. But according to all reports, AI Siri still isn’t done cooking.

Mashable Light Speed

Regardless, most of these reports point toward Apple making early business decisions, not readying a new Siri for the iPhone 17 launch. In fact, Apple forecasters don’t expect to see the revamped Siri until at least 2026 – potentially around the time of WWDC 2026.

Apple Intelligence rumors

We do expect Apple to show off plenty of new AI toys at the Apple Event 2025, and there are plenty of Apple Intelligence rumors going around.

Technically, it’s still possible that Apple will surprise everyone and announce the new, revamped Siri. But in all likelihood, we expect to hear about iterative improvements to existing Apple Intelligence features.

a screenshot of a menu in iOS 26 offering ChatGPT access

Credit: Apple

Notably, Apple confirmed to 9to5Mac that it plans on supporting Siri using OpenAI’s new GPT-5 large language model. This builds on existing features, though. You can already sign into your OpenAI account on your iPhone and have Siri direct certain questions to ChatGPT as needed.

Other Apple Intelligence announcements should include improved real-time language translation on AirPods and iPhones, new photo editing tools, and more advanced Genmoji options. Some of these features were already teased during WWDC 2025 and should arrive with iOS 26.

What’s coming in iOS 26?

Rumors aside, there are plenty of AI-based features that we know for a fact are coming in iOS 26, which we do expect to be released alongside the iPhone 17. We know this because Apple has announced them already. The beta version of iOS 26 has been available since June, after Apple announced all of the new operating systems at WWDC 2025.

So what new AI features are there? For starters, there’s a new feature in Visual Intelligence that allows users to ask questions about screenshots in addition to what your camera sees.

A screenshot of Apple iOS 26 analyszing an image of a ring on the palm of a hand, using a new Visual Intelligence search service

Credit: Christian de Looper

There are also new live translation features built into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app, which use AI to provide real-time translations in communication. And there are some features that work a little more in the background, like AI-powered reminder suggestions, order tracking within Apple Wallet that uses information from emails in your inbox, and more.

Yes, Apple will probably focus heavily on other changes to iOS, like the new Liquid Glass design language, rather than on AI-based features, but that doesn’t mean that AI won’t be a big part of the new release.

The future of Apple Intelligence

It’s very clear that Apple is indeed still working on building the all-new generative AI Siri. We’ve seen plenty of reports highlighting executive team changes at the company meant to speed up AI development. But these kinds of developments take time, and most experts think the company will finally ship major new AI features in 2026.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

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