Is the cause of Wings something that really needs to be … evangelized? Apparently so. When “Man on the Run,” a documentary about Paul McCartney’s 1970s Wings period, had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival over the weekend, you could hear patrons talking about what a revelation it was that he generated so much good music in the wake of the Beatles’ breakup, as if he hadn’t remained one of the biggest artists in the world throughout the subsequent decade. So maybe there’s some desire for further vindication that has driven McCartney to write a book about those years (coming out in the fall) as well as executive produce this Morgan Neville-directed doc (hitting select theaters and then Prime Video next year).

Maybe everyone who sold McCartney’s post-Beatles period short previously has their reasons for putting blinders on, even in the face of that inescapable a juggernaut. “I was a John guy,” said one enthusiastic, 70-plus festivalgoer, as if that were a completely reasonable explanation for a 50-year immunity to the charms of “Jet” and “Let Me Roll It.” Or perhaps it just takes the creep of old age to agree with the wisdom of the sages, that it isn’t silly … love isn’t silly … love isn’t silly at all.

“Man on the Run” is a heck of a lot of fun to watch, if you aren’t still so married to your worn copy of “Plastic Ono Band” that you can’t acknowledge the obvious: If there had been no 1960s (imagine no Beatles, it’s easy if you try), McCartney would still have to be acknowledged as on

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 2 of “Wednesday,” now streaming on Netflix.

After more than a few near-death experiences, Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) came out of Season 2 triumphant — mostly.

By the finale of Season 2, Wednesday had identified her newest foes to be Francoise Galpin (Frances O’Connor) and Isaac Night (Owen Painter), the mother and uncle, respectively, of Season 1 monster Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan). Like Tyler, Francoise is a Hyde, and Isaac is the fully regenerated version of Slurp, Pugsley’s (Isaac Ordonez) pet zombie from earlier episodes. Together with Tyler, Francoise and Isaac kidnap Pugsley, planning to use his ability to generate electricity to power a machine to save Francoise. Her monstrous transformations are killing her, and the device Isaac invented will take her powers away and give her her health back.

This isn’t Francoise and Isaac’s first attempt at the procedure. Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) reveals to Wednesday and Hester (Joanna Lumley) that Isaac tried to carry out this same experiment as a student at Nevermore, using Gomez (Luis Guzmán) as the electricity source. (Before hearing this, Wednesday and Hester both thought Gomez had never had powers.) Morticia, however, disrupted the process by chopping off Isaac’s hand, leading the machine to blow up and kill Isaac. Gomez and Morticia buried him, but kept his disembodied hand, which eventually became Thing (Victor Dorobantu).

Wednesday first tries to save Pugsley from Isaac’s clutches by positioning Thing out of sight, ready to shoot. But Isaac catches Thing’s dart, then reattaches Thing to his arm and buries Wednesday alive. Agnes (Evie Templeton) and Enid (Emma Myers) manage to dig her up, but Enid endangers herself in the process. She has just learned that alpha wolve

Farewell, Scranton — and welcome to Toledo! Oscar, everyone’s favorite voice of reason from Dunder Mifflin, steps into a new chapter of his life — a fresh cubicle, new faces, and a whole lot of quirky chaos in The Paper, the much-anticipated spinoff of The Office that has already captured hearts and earned a second-season greenlight.

Premiering Thursday, Sept. 4 on Sep 4, 2025

It’s hard to be a movie star and a dad at the same time — just ask Channing Tatum.

On the latest episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Daniel D’Addario, Variety chief correspondent, details his reporting for Variety’s Sept. 2 cover story featuring Tatum and director Derek Cianfrance discussing how they brought a stranger-than-fiction true crime story to life in Paramount Pictures’ “Roofman.”

Tatum and Cianfrance came together as collaborators at a time when both of them were regrouping in their careers. Tatum is extremely open in discussing the challenges of juggling movie shoots around the world with his most important job of being a parent to his 12-year-old daughter.

Tatum, D’Addario notes, is at a key transition point in his career as he reaches his mid-40s. “Roofman,” which premieres Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival, tells the story of a blue-collar North Carolina man, Jeffrey Manchester, who wound up living secretly in a Toys R Us store and robbing McDonald’s fast food restaurants in order to provide for his daughter. Manchester was sentenced to 34 years in prison after being convicted of several robberies in 2000.

“I think of [Tatum] as the guy from ‘Magic Mike’ or ’21 Jump Street’ — a fun loving, a goofball. He’s lived a lot of life since then,” D’Addario says. “Those movies were almost 15 years ago, and at 45, he is extremely reflective about the kind of career he wants to have and the kind of work he want

Variety sat down with Jacoby to discuss This Is Not A Drill, which made its debut at the 2025 Tellu

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Your People Are in Danger,” the Season 1 finale of “Countdown,” now streaming on Prime Video.

Over the course of the last three decades, Jensen Ackles has quietly built up one of the most notable TV careers of his generation. After breaking out as Eric Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives” — which earned him three consecutive Daytime Emmy nominations — in the late ’90s, Ackles carved out a niche for playing tortured heartthrobs in all kinds of broadcast dramas: high-concept sci-fi (“Dark Angel”), teen (“Dawson’s Creek”), and superhero (“Smallville”). In 2005, he debuted as Dean Winchester, one-half of a dynamic duo of monster-hunting brothers, on The CW’s “Supernatural.”

Since saying goodbye to the long-running series which transformed him and his onscreen brother Jared Padalecki into icons of fantasy storytelling, Ackles has spearheaded a short-lived spinoff about the Winchester parents (he was the narrator and an executive producer of “The Winchesters”), played a charming county sheriff (“Big Sky”), voiced Batman in a series of DC animated projects and reunited with “Supernatural” creator Eric Kripke in “The Boys” as the hyper-masculine anti-hero Soldier Boy.

Ackles’ latest show, “Countdown,” by comparison, feels just a little more grounded in reality. Created by Derek Haas, who oversaw the inception of NBC’s venerable “One Chicago” franchise, the new crime drama stars Ackles as Mark Meachum, an LAPD detective who is recruited to a covert task force to investigate the deat

Oscar Isaac once again stood bathed in the golden glow of applause, earning his second standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival in just five days. The premiere of Julian Schnabel’s sweeping literary epic, “In the Hand of Dante,” on Wednesday night was met with a thunderous eight-minute reception. This came on the heels of his previous triumph, where he led Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” to a breathtaking 13-minute ovation just days earlier.

As the final credits rolled on “In the Hand of Dante,” the theater pulsed with emotion. In the film, Isaac masterfully embodies two souls — the 14th-century poet Dante Alighieri and the tormented modern-day writer Nick Tosches. Overcome by the moment, Isaac embraced his director, eyes glistening, before turning to the crowd, his smile radiant as he waved to a sea of adoring fans.

Earlier that evening, Isaac had strolled the red carpet with co-star Jason Momoa, whose bold fashion choice — a baby pink suit paired with matching Birkenstocks — turned heads. Momoa entered Venice’s historic Sala Grande flanked by Schnabel and the cast, including Louis Cancelmi, Franco Nero, and Benjamin Clementine. Yet, before the film began, he quietly slipped away, missing the triumphant ovation. Among the film’s other luminous names — Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Martin Scorsese, and Al Pacino — none were present, their absence felt in the velvet darkness of the theater.

Based on the novel by Nick Tosches, “In the Hand of Dante” is a haunting tale that follows

Channing Tatum has finally claimed his place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his debut as Gambit in “Deadpool and Wolverine.” But long before stepping into that iconic role, Tatum had once tried to enter the superhero world as Thor—a dream that slipped through his fingers years ago.

In his latest Variety cover story, Tatum reflected on his failed audition for Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film. “I didn’t really want to be Thor,” he confessed. “But I wanted to audition in front of Kenneth Branagh.”

The audition was a defining, albeit painful, moment in his career. Tatum recalled: “After I did one take, [Branagh] said, ‘You’re not allowed to move. Put your hands on this chair.’ And I froze. He nailed my crutch. I spent the next five years really trying to learn stillness.” The experience was humbling, but it became a quiet turning point in his journey.

Though Chris Hemsworth ultimately became the God of Thunder, Tatum found his heart belonged to another hero—Gambit. He pursued the role with unwavering passion, developing a Gambit movie under 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” universe. Yet, the project was plagued with delays and reshuffles. It was once slated for a October 2016 release, and in November 2017, Lizzie Caplan joined as the female lead. Despite the momentum, the film never saw the light of day, collapsing after Disney’s acquisition of Fox.

By 2022, Tatum admitted to