legend south movie review

The Legend Movie Review: Saravanan's vanity project is more a vibe than a film

Rating: ( 2 / 5).

At one point in The Legend , which is essentially about a world-renowned scientist discovering a cure for diabetes, a newspaper headline reads, “Yes Cure Diabetes Possible.” Now, this could just be brushed away as plain ignorance, but in a film that revels in its own absurdity, it leaves us with a big question — Is Team The Legend aware of the kind of responses the film will elicit? While the jury might still be divided on this front, this gaffe was one of the many humorous sequences in The Legend , which is both a rehash of multiple plot points from blockbuster films and an extremely unique one-of-a-kind project. 

Cast: Legend Saravanan, Prabhu, Urvashi Rautela, Suman, Vivek

Director: JD-Jerry

The first time we see Saravanan on screen, he is sending goons flying into the air, even as his well-gelled hair remains intact, and he is dressed straight out of a Khader Nawaz Khan Road Fashion Week. While not much can be said of his perennial poker face, his costumes are exemplary. This keenness on Saravanan’s looks, styling, and wardrobe is the most focus the makers have in the film, which otherwise exists to just fill in the gaps between elaborate action set-pieces and colourful song sequences. To give credit where it's due, the makers do get the basic plot right. The ‘Medical Mafia’ is afraid that Saravanan’s discovery would put them out of business, and they use their entire might to put a stop to it. In between all the paraphernalia, including grating intentional comedy, and hilarious unintended ones, The Legend offers us a 160-minute joyride like no other.

This is neither a spoof nor a parody, and the earnestness of the established names in the film, especially Prabhu, Latha, Thambi Ramaiah, Vijayakumar, Yogi Babu, Robo Shankar, Devadarshini, and Suman lends a layer of seriousness and much-needed gravitas to The Legend . The same holds good for the brilliant technical team of the film. Harris Jayaraj is the soul of the film, and his electrifying background score reminds us of how music plays a paramount role in our acceptance of any scene. Full points to cinematographer Velraj for the finery we see unfold on screen. In some projects, it is important that the audience understands that money hasn’t been a limiting factor; The Legend is one such film. 

The Rajinikanth template is a tried-and-tested one for any new actor trying to break into superstardom, and Saravanan is no different. The love for Rajinikanth is so much that the vital plot points, song sequences, and action set-pieces of The Legend are more like watching a watered-down version of the Superstar’s highlights reel. While the Sivaji hangover is most prevalent, we also get slight doses of Ejamaan and Muthu . But make no mistake, there is just one star in The Legend , and it is Saravanan.

The Legend exists for the sole reason of Saravanan living his dream and being the star of a mass masala entertainer. He is a brilliant assembler and gets together the best possible team to make this dream into a reality. His role in The Legend is actually a relic of the past. While there are scenes where Saravanan sounds a clarion call for feminism, it is interspersed with overwhelming inanity and saccharine goodness that one of my eyes rolled so much to the back of my head, and seems to have lost its way. Who calls diabetes “A sweet suicide?” Also, if you are a person in power in a college, what would you to do a bunch of hooligan students who sexually harass a woman, burn her house down, stomp her father to the ground, and constantly say a sing-song ‘Ooh laa’ at every opportune moment of depravity? Rusticate them? File a police complaint? At the very least, suspend them? But our Saravanan, who randomly appears with a whip (why does he carry one in the first place), and pulls off an Ungal Veettu Pillai MGR, lets them go scot-free because… and wait for it… “ thirundharathukku oru vaaipu ”. Come on!!! They aren’t kids caught trying to copy in an exam. In fact, every dialogue uttered by Saravanan is either punchy or preachy. Even in the romantic portions involving two heroines — Urvashi Rautela and Geethika Mantri who make assured debuts with their lipsyncing game mostly on point — the dialogues are so outdated and cliched. In fact, there is hardly a scene where he just has a conversation with someone. His lines are always addressed to the gallery, who might not really buy into the concept of Saravanan as a messiah, but wouldn’t really mind seeing him as a wannabe whose earnestness is infectious. Also, he gives off the vibe of being a rather nice man. In fact, in The Legend , there is a nice touch in the way they have employed sync sound to bring to life the role of the legendary Vivekh, who passed away before the film could be completed. Although his comic scenes don’t really have the punch, it was nice to see him onscreen one last time. 

The Legend is mounted on a concept that expects the audience to root for the protagonist. However,  here there is a sense of rooting, not for the character but for the textile giant Saravanan himself. It is evident that he didn’t do all the stunts, especially some of the jumps because the VFX is as clear as the green screen used. But still, we clap. The lack of histrionic ability is just overwhelming. But still, we whistle. The audaciousness of the plot is laughable. But still, we hoot. The song and dance routines feel so out of place in The Legend. But still, we groove along. We have done it for innumerable star vehicles before. We have let our better senses be sidelined to allow our basest feelings to come to the fore and enjoy a film. For the uninitiated, the film might be just one big joke, but honestly, Saravanan and team clearly know what they wanted to do with The Legend . They are all in on the joke, and so are we.

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The Legend Review - 'Unintentionally' Hilarious!

Published date : 28/jul/2022.

The Legend Review - 'Unintentionally' Hilarious!

Legend Saravanan’s much awaited big debut titled The Legend , directed by JD Jerry has finally hit the screens. The much awaited commercial entertainer with Harris Jayaraj’s music, has an ensemble cast and a magnanimous technical crew. Dealing with a medical issue in brief, have audiences accepted this masala film?

The Legend is about a scientist named Saravanan who returns to his village after having studied and worked abroad for many years. He gets back to bring about change to the country and realizes the rising number of ‘juvenile diabetic’ cases among children. In fact, this part of the plot is revealed in the very first quarter and how he battles a medical mafia to bring out a free drug for diabetes forms for the crux of the storyline.

As in most big commercial films, The Legend too has a massive casting equation. It is very refreshing to watch Vivekh in a substantial role. Suman plays the baddie and Geethika plays the female lead. Others who get important parts are Urvashi, Robo Shankar, Munishkanth, Yogi Babu and a lot of other well known actors are also seen in small roles. However, none of the performances leave a major impact solely due to the lack of proper character arcs in the story.

A large part of the film is mere build ups to fight sequences and songs and this proves to test the patience of fans. If one accepts to watch this for the fun of it, they might enjoy unintentionally funny moments in quick succession. But if that is not the case, we can make very little sense of why the flick plays out the way it does.

There are multiple chases and fights choreographed by Anl Arasu and it is safe to say, the action plays out every now and then. Being well shot, it would give you the feeling of watching a big hero’s commercial film in majority sequences. Kudos to the budget and execution by director JD Jerry. The train fight, Mosalo song and a couple of twists in the latter half work for a few. What works unanimously is the fact that most people know what to expect.

Another point to be noted is that sequences in The Legend remind audiences of scenes from blockbuster South Indian commercial films like Mersal , Sivaji: The Boss and KGF . There is a lot of inspiration from the mass hero concept and the film is more or less hero worship from the word go. Legend Saravanan tries to take the Superstar route most times.

Some of the noteworthy aspects of the film are the cinematography by Velraj and songs by Harris Jayaraj alongside some neatly edited parts by Ruben. This technical team has saved the product for a large part and made it seem presentable. A few dialogues work here and there too, Even with all these big names, what was required was a better story and some sincere efforts from the lead actors towards the line.

On the whole, Saravanan’s The Legend is a perfect example of how expenditure has little to do with engagement and holding the attention of fans today. As much as some of the audiences may be excited to watch this for the way it has been marketed, very few might really have their eyes on the screen through the course of the duration (161 minutes). A no-brainer from team Legend, that briefly deals with a serious medical issue in a very usual commercial format.

Over the top commercial masala that could have had better writing! The film will be your stress buster if you know what to expect, else might leave you stressed. 

Rating: 2/5

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The Legend Review: Legend Saravanan – JD Jerry’s Tamil Movie Opens To Mixed Response From Audience

The tamil movie the legend stars is directed by jd jerry. take a look at what fans have shared about the film starring legend saravanan..

The Legend movie is currently running in theatres and fans who have managed to watch early shows of the film have shared their reviews on Twitter. The movie starring Legend Saravanan in the lead has received mixed response from the audience. While some have lauded JD Jerry's directorial, many others found the film to be boring. However, the film's music scored by Harris Jayaraj has been widely praised.  The Legend Trailer Reactions: Legend Saravanan Gets Heavily Trolled by Netizens for His Debut Film (Watch Video).

Honest Commercial Attempt

#Legend (3/5) Honest Commercial Attempt, #LegendSaravanan Shines Gold, Can See the Traces of #Sivaji & #Sarkar But Still It's Enjoyable Massla Movie, With Action Scenes, Can See the #HarrisJayaraj 's Terrific Comeback as MD, He's the Backbone of the Movie, Will Entertain Masses"👍 pic.twitter.com/7M7e1bUZ9W — 🎬 A.Ramana Rishi 🎞️ (@cinemaismylove) July 28, 2022

Average Movie 

#TheLegend Review: Avg & Over The Top 🙏 #LegendSaravanan tries but partially succeeds 🙏 Other cast are ok. Music & BGM by #HarrisJayaraj are the soul of the film. Technically, it's good. Production Values 👌 Rating: ⭐⭐💫/5 #TheLegendReview #TheLegendMovie pic.twitter.com/GsjEfSRbWc — Kumar Swayam (@KumarSwayam3) July 28, 2022

Boring Screenplay

#TheLegend - Weak and boring screenplay, over heroism. #Vivek comedy and songs only good. Only for Die-hard #LegendSaravanan fans. Verdict : Bel ave movie Rating : 2/5 — Cine Murugan (@anandviswajit) July 28, 2022

Honest Views

Not gonna lie,the Legend is honestly the most fun I've ever had in a theatrical experience in such a long time! Intentional or not, the "so bad it's good" factor has worked soo well that the entire theatre erupted #TheLegend #LegendSaravanan pic.twitter.com/pT9pkcixwU — Jeevan Hari (@SirJake09) July 28, 2022

Good Debut For Legend Saravanan

#TheLegend good movie. After long years @Jharrisjayaraj Return with full album hit 🔥🔥❤ Good story and direction. And the good debut for the legend saravana ✨ — ASHWIN REIGNS (@ASHWINREIGNS07) July 28, 2022

Fascinating Theatre Experience

#TheLegend , has been watched What a ride. Easily one of the most fascinating theatre experiences #Saravanan , has assembled a team who are at the top of their game, especially @Jharrisjayaraj , who is 🔥 The unintended humour in a largely self-aware film is a goldmine — செங்குவீரன் (@musicsakthi) July 28, 2022

Kudos To The Music Director

After three years My man name is ruling 🔥😭 The name is Harris ஜெயராஜ்🔥👑🍃 @Jharrisjayaraj Lot more to come Thalaiva ❤💕 #TheLegend pic.twitter.com/4UgJPJwG3D — R O L E X സൂര്യ 45 (@Tommm_Jerryy) July 28, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

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The Legend movie review: An elaborate advertisement of a bloated ego

The legend movie review: the only thing the legend has going for it is harris jayaraj's music and background score, but they aren't enough to save this cringe-fest..

The Legend movie cast: Saravanan Arul, Urvashi Rautela, Vivekh, Suman, Nasser, Geethika Tiwari The Legend movie director: JD and Jerry The Legend movie rating: 1 star

The shocking aspect of The Legend is the complete lack of self-awareness of the film’s director duo JD-Jerry, who is behind some sensible movies like Ullasam and Whistle. For some reason, the two were convinced that they were onto something big when they sat down to design a star vehicle for the well-known entrepreneur Saravanan Arul. However, in reality, the director duo has been only aiding a wannabe star, who has squandered a fortune on his ego trip.

Even before its release, the general consensus about The Legend was to file it under the “so-bad-it’s-good tag”. The Legend has undoubtedly lived up to the expectation and in no way falsifies the preconceived notions about the movie. Having said that, one has to admit that the film is unintentionally hilarious. The last time I found audiences having so much fun in theatres was in Sivakarthikeyan ’s Doctor. However, the comedy there was intentional, but here people laugh at the film and not with it. It wants us to get goosebumps when the caked-up hero breaks into a monologue about his dedication to the country and its people. It wants us to tear up at his loss, and hoot whenever he pummels the henchmen. However, laughter seems to be the common response to this bloated vehicle that lasts about 160 minutes.

The trailer of The Legend had certain similarities to Rajinikanth ’s 2007 film Sivaji. Like Shankar’s blockbuster, The Legend also has an overachieving hero, Saravanan (Saravanan Arul) who returns to his hometown to ostensibly help the unsuspecting villagers. Saravanan is a renowned scientist who has made a significant breakthrough in the field of antibiotics, which has ended the business of many crony-capitalistic pharma companies. Obviously, he has many villains baying for his blood. Now, he wants to find a permanent cure for diabetes. VJ (Suman) doesn’t like it one bit as he makes a living by selling insulin, ensuring that Saravanan now has a target painted on his back.

Between all this, The Legend also sells a romance to us. So, when Saravanan is not dishing out life lessons and kicking around people thrice his body weight, he is wooing Thulasi (Geethika Tiwari), a lecturer whose father is his family friend. Things escalate quickly and the two soon get married. Perhaps, it’s the only thing that moves in the screenplay of The Legend, which otherwise stays static like Saravanan’s face.

Talking about faces, The Legend features some capable actors like Vijakumar, Nasser, and Thambi Ramaiah. Unfortunately, everyone is turned into a laughable caricature mouthing some redundant lines. Harris Jayaraj’s songs and background scores and R Velraj’s camerawork are the only genuine efforts that have gone into this outdated and formulaic movie.

The innate problem of The Legend is that it’s not a movie but a set piece to propel Saravanan into stardom. Even the well-intended story about taking on the medical mafia is exploited to serve the hero. All the scenes are carefully crafted to exalt the hero, and it is saddening and excruciating to see these renowned actors reduced to auxiliary templates with only one objective – to hype up the hero. JD and Jerry have made much better ad films, and The Legend ends up as an elaborate and expensive addition to their stable. The pseudo movie aims to sell Saravanan Arul as a star. Unfortunately, the attempt is in vain since stars – both cinematic and celestial – cannot be designed.

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The Legend Movie Review: Legend Saravanan the Tamil Nadu-based entrepreneur is making his debut as an actor with ‘The Legend’ (Yes, That’s Right!) The film also stars Urvashi Rautela in the lead role and is a multilingual pan-India film. The story revolves around the journey of a common man who has to face a lot of hurdles, and go through a lot of obstacles but later turns out to be a Legend for all! The action film is written and directed by JD Jer.

Watch the Trailer to get a gist:

About the Film

From a common man to a businessman & now a successful Actor/ Producer! It’s what the story is all about. So basically Legend is about a scientist named Saravanan who returns to his village after having studied and worked abroad for many years. While the kind of knowledge he has, people suggest him to leave the country or share his knowledge somewhere else. But he gets back to bring about a change in the country and realizes the rising number of ‘juvenile diabetic’ cases among children. And after the first part, it is shown on how Saravanan battles a medical mafia to bring out a free drug for diabetes. And that’s what the story revolves around. (Good guy fighting with those medical Mafia)

Let’s review

So large portion of the film is filled with fight sequences and songs, which turn out to be a little too much for the audience and can be a bit annoying too. As to watch something appealing and meaningful is what we are waiting for. Whereas, the funny moments added in between are something that you can definitely enjoy. The cinematography and editing are to the point and be it the train fights or the Mosalo song, this factor works well for the film. Meanwhile, the dialogue delivery is just fine and some of the scenes of ‘Legend’ remind the audience of the sequences from the other South Indian hits, like Sivaji the Boss and KGF.

Must Read: Koffee with Karan 7: Kareena Kapoor hints at Shooting with Karan Johar and Aamir Khan for the show. WATCH

Overall, The Legend is a big-budget over-the-top film, that could have been better written. Note: You don’t have to think much while watching the film. So on the whole, the cinematography is great, Script is below average, the cast is amazing, comedy elements are good. Dialogues are just fine and the Action sequences are good but too much in number. While the hype around the film is solely because of the leading man but it’s not worth it.

People React !

While, The legend got some mixed response on Twitter. (Mostly the bad ones) WATCH

Regular Tamil Cinema Commercial Movie Template,Poor Execution,poor Performance, songs OK But In Many Scenes Beethoven music Used as BGM is worst Thing…Over all a Below average Flick.. #TheLegend — Rajasekar R (@iamrajesh_sct) July 28, 2022

Mass Marana Mass #TheLegend 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Congratulations @yoursthelegend 💐💐 #TheLegendmovie pic.twitter.com/slIyrykCyc — 🦁வேங்கை (மோடியின் பரிவார்)🇮🇳🚩 (@marattamilan) July 28, 2022

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The Kray Brothers, Reggie and Ronnie, were such ostentatiously violent and vulgar gangsters that they practically constituted a self-parody. They were both newly in jail when the then-also-new comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus deemed to lampoon them with a sketch about “The Piranha Brothers,” Doug and Dinsdale, but the thing about that sketch, as it happened, was just how little it needed to stray from reality in order to hit the comic mark. Nevertheless, the Krays, who ruled criminal London from the late 1950s until their imprisonment in 1968, did real and wide-ranging human harm in their careers; this is a fact that Brian Helgeland, writer and director of a new crime movie about the twins, doesn’t seem to have any good ideas about what to do with. But that isn’t why “ Legend ” is such a muddle right off the bat.

Right off the bat it’s a muddle because of Helgeland’s slavish devotion to Martin Scorsese , a bad thing to display when you don’t have Scorsese’s chops. Early on in the picture, as Reggie Kray, the relatively charming, less psychotically violent of the fellows, is courting his future wife Frances, Helgeland opts to do a little “ GoodFellas .” As Reggie escorts Frances into a pub where he’s the kingpin, the moving camera follows from behind and glides alongside the couple as various friends of Reggie pay their respects. On a stage at the back, a singer is crooning “ The Look of Love ,” a song that had not actually been written when the scene takes place, but never mind that. You know where this is going. Helgeland wants to create his own version of the famed Copacabana tracking shot in Scorsese’s legendary 1990 gangster film, but he hasn’t quite worked out all the choreography—hence, the aforementioned singer ends up performing the world’s longest version of “The Look of Love,” at least until the point at which the sound editor or someone decided to have mercy and faded the guy out and substituted some generic-sounding movie music. This is merely one example, and a pretty outstanding one. There are plenty more throughout the film. (All of this is doubly stupefying when one recalls what a solid job Helgeland did in both writing and directing departments in his last picture, the 2013 Jackie Robinson story “42.”)

The movie’s main advantage and/or talking point is Tom Hardy, who plays both twins. Reggie is slick and confident, while Ronnie, a paranoid schizophrenic with strong sadistic tendencies, is like Lenny in “Of Mice And Men” if Lenny had been an East London mook, and evil to boot. Both performances are commanding, but not as commanding as they might have been. The weaknesses of Helgeland’s writing and directing are also to blame here. Particularly the latter: the unimaginative (and, I imagine, practically expedient) framing of the two Hardys during scenes in which they’re together makes the dual performance play like a tricksy stunt at times. Helgeland could have learned a great deal from the blocking of dual Jeremy Irons accomplished by David Cronenberg in “ Dead Ringers ,” which made the viewer feel as if there were really two different people in the frame. Too many times here there’s the feel of two different performances. Sometimes Hardy manages to ignite a spark. There’s a scene in which Chazz Palmentieri, playing a bluff emissary from the American Mafia, makes the twins an offer they’re better off not refusing, Ronnie’s belligerence notwithstanding. When Ronnie makes an unabashed announcement concerning his sexual preferences to this wise guy, it’s a real moment. As is one with Hardy’s Reggie, finally confessing at the end to his brother why he’s directing his own violent impulses so destructively into one target.

Moments such as these are too few and far between, while moments such as a wedding scene prefaced by the song “Chapel of Love” are far too many. The lucky bride is Reggie’s, and her name is Frances, and it’s with Frances’ story that the movie, for me, broke away from irritating mediocrity and into genuine badness.

Helgeland’s conception of Frances is doubly banal. First, he saddles her with the burden of semi-omniscient narration that’s rife with platitudinous nonsense (“ It was time for the Krays to enter the secret history of the 1960s ” and “ Not even Scotland Yard could ignore murder on the street ,” the latter of which has the uncomfortable echo of the bit in the Piranha Brothers sketch wherein the gangsters detonate a nuclear device over London). Second, he gives her onscreen character hardly any more depth than any of the complaining gangster and/or undercover cop wives you’ve seen in dozens of crime pictures over the years, Emily Browning ’s committed performance notwithstanding. Which makes Helgeland’s final trick with this character all the more objectionable when he finally pulls it. I knew a bit about the case of the Krays before coming in to the screening of the picture, but that knowledge wasn’t at the forefront of my consciousness as I watched the movie. And then I thought … wait a minute. And sure enough …

Spoiler alert: Reginald Kray’s real-life first wife, Frances Shea, committed suicide in 1967, two years after marrying Kray. And this is indeed depicted in the last fifth of the film, complete with Frances-as-narrator playing a little bit of “gotcha” with the audience. It strikes me as both aesthetically cheap and morally dubious to make an actual suicide into your own Joe Gillis for the sake of … well, that’s the other thing, which is I don’t know what “Legend” was made in the sake of. It’s a squalid story told with very little in the way of a dynamic personal perspective, and hence a waste of its very talented cast. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Legend (2015)

Rated R for strong violence, language throughout, some sexual and drug material.

131 minutes

Tom Hardy as Ronald Kray / Reginald Kray

Emily Browning as Frances Shea

Taron Egerton as Teddy Smith

David Thewlis as Leslie Payne

Colin Morgan as Frankie / Franck Shea

Christopher Eccleston as Leonard 'Nipper' Read

Paul Anderson as Albert Donoghue

Chazz Palminteri as Angelo Bruno

Aneurin Barnard as David Bailey

Millie Brady as Joan Collins

Charley Palmer Rothwell as Leslie Holt

Bob Cryer as Charles Kray Snr

• Brian Helgeland

Writer (book "The Profession of Violence")

• John Pearson

Cinematographer

• Peter McNulty
• Carter Burwell

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Home » Down South

Legend Saravanan In & As Dr.S The Legend! Trailer Launch Of The Biggest Indian Tamil-Language Science-fiction Action Film Co-Starring Urvashi Rautela & Raai Laxmi

With a combination of emotion, action, love and comedy, dr.s.the legend will be released on 28 july in 5 languages..

A grand visual experience & a applaud worthy story line! Dr.S.The Legend marks the action packed debut film of businessman Legend Saravanan, who is the owner of a chain of shopping stores. The trailer looks like a gorgeous picture postcard. From the look of the film, Dr.S.The Legend magnum opus could potentially change the dynamics of  cinema, with its seamless blend of good storytelling and marvelous poetic visuals.

The star cast also includes Urvashi Rautela, Geethika, Pugazh, late Vivek, Yogi Babu, Vamsi Krishna Vijayakumar, Prabhu, Nasser, Suman, Thambi Ramaiah, Robo Shankar, Mayilsamy, Harish Paredi, Muniskanth, Mansoor Ali Khan, Rahul Dev, Livingston, Vamsi Krishna, Singampuli, Lollu Saba Manohar, Amuthavanan, KPY Yogi, Cell Murugan, Latha, Sachu, Purnima Bhagyaraj, Geethika, Devadarshini, Ayira, Deepa Shankar, Master Ashwanth and many more.

Directed by JD-Jerry, the film has cinematography by R Velraj, editing is by Ruben, SS Murthy has taken care of the artwork, dialogues are by Pattukottai Prabhakar, and stunt choreography is by Anal Arasu. Raju Sundaram, Brinda, Dinesh have done the choreography. Vairamuthu, Kabilan, Pa Vijay, Karki have penned the lyrics. The songs are composed by Harris Jayaraj.

With a combination of emotion, action, love and comedy, Dr.S.The Legend will be released on 28 July in 5 languages – Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. The Pan-India movie that has been made with grandeur and on a huge scale of budget will be a full-fledged commercial mass film which will attract ‘repeat audiences’.

Overwhelmed with the response to the trailer, Legend Saravanan says Dr.S.The Legend “It marks my debut in films & what better than a full blown masala entertainer which is the crux of our Indian Film Industry. The film is about romance, humour, action and plot twists. It will release on the 28th of July, 2022. Excited & looking forward to the response from the audience on the trailer”

Hindi distribution, Ganesh Films Nambirajan – Distributed several movies including Rajinikanth starrer Sivaji, several movies produced by AVM productions, Don, Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, Ravanan, Master and Naanum Rowdy Thaan.

Must Read: Urvashi Rautela Opens Up About Her Pan-India Debut Film ‘The Legend’, Says “It Is A Big-Budget Mainstream Entertainment”

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Legend, movie review: Tom Hardy is brilliant in this weird love story about the Kray twins

Brian helgeland, 131 mins, starring: tom hardy, taron egerton, emily browning, christopher eccleston, paul anderson, david thewlis, article bookmarked.

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It’s the proudest day of Reggie Kray’s life. He is standing in the church, waiting for his young bride Frances to walk down the aisle. His brother Ronnie is alongside him. The bespectacled Ronnie is a little taller and more thickset than his brother. They are identical twins but we can easily tell them apart.

This is a scene from midway through Brian Helgeland’s new film. What makes the scene - and the film - so startling is that both Reggie and Ronnie are played by the same actor, Tom Hardy.

Hardy gives an utterly fascinating performances in his dual role. His Ronnie is menacing, psychotic but also comic. He can be every bit as intimidating as the actor’s uber-villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises but he also chatters away like Peter Cook gossiping with Dudley Moore in the pub in one of his Derek and Clive sketches with Dudley Moore. “I’m 'omosexual,” he tells his brother’s startled fiancée the first time he meets her in what passes with for small talk.

Oscars predictions

Reggie, meanwhile, is dapper, very soulful when he is sharing lemon sherbets with the beautiful young Frances (Emily Browning) but calculating when violence is called for. We see a couple of examples of his notorious “cigarette” punch. As John Pearson’s book, The Profession Of Violence , on which the film is loosely based, explains, this was when Reggie would offer someone a cigarette and then, as the man opened his mouth to take it, would hit him on the side of the jaw. (“An open jaw will fracture easily,” Pearson explains Reggie’s thinking.)

Legend is a biopic on a very lavish scale. The characters are British, the setting is London in the 1960s, but the film has the feel of an American gangster epic. It takes a mythologising and, at times, absurdly romantic, approach to its low-life heroes. In spite of the bloodletting and violence, it is a very glossy film, beautifully shot in luxuriant widescreen colour by cinematographer Dick Pope (fresh from Mr Turner, his biopic of artist J.M.W Turner) and with plenty of Burt Bacharach on the soundtrack.

In a bust-up in an East End pub in which Ronnie and Reggie are using hammers and knuckledusters, you can’t help but notice the incongruously artful way that Pope uses daytime light. In another scene, as we see the twins’ dour policeman nemesis Leonard “Nipper” Reid (a scowling Christopher Eccleston) prowling through the alleyways of the East End, Pope makes Bethnal Green as mysterious and labyrinthine as the Casbah.

Helgeland’s screenplay starts well into the Kray brothers’ criminal career. He doesn’t bother with their East End childhood, their early days as boxers or their time spent AWOL or behind bars during National Service. Their beloved mum Violet is barely glimpsed outside one or two scenes in which she offers tea and cake to the boys. The film features an ethereal voice-over from Frances (Emily Browning) which introduces us to the brothers grim when they are already in their 1960s pomp, with Reggie established as “the gangster prince of the East End” and Ronnie diagnosed as a violent schizophrenic, which to him is a badge of honour. There is early skirmishing with the Krays’ arch-enemies, the Richardsons, but soon the twins and all-powerful and their influence is stretching into the West End. They are even trying to strike deals with Meyer Lansky and the American mob, using the weasel-like fixer Leslie Payne (David Thewlis) as their go-between.

In the melting pot of swinging London, old class barriers are breaking down. In one telling early sequence, Reggie takes Frances into the nightclub he runs. He is greeted with deference by all the villains, minor celebrities and aristocrats who hang out there.

The sequence seems like both a self-conscious homage to the famous steadicam shot in Goodfellas and a reminder that gangsters were moving in the very highest circles. This is reinforced by the hilarious scenes in which Ronnie befriends the perverted British Tory politician Lord Boothby (John Sessions), who begins to frequent his gay parties. “Good lord, that’s Bob Boothby at an orgy,” Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Kevin McNally) almost chokes on his pipe when he is shown a newspaper with an incriminating picture. Any hopes if making political capital out of the scandal vanish when it turns out that a Labour politician, Tom Driberg, is involved too.

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The key events in the Kray story - the shooting of George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub, the stabbing to death of Jack “The Hat” McVittie in Stoke Newington - have been exhaustively chronicled elsewhere. These moments are present and correct but aren’t foregrounded. The film’s main focus is on the relationship between Reggie and Frances. It is through her eyes that she we see the brothers.

Helgeland makes it very clear that the twins had utterly different approaches toward their criminal careers. Reggie craved wealth and legitimacy. Ronnie was in it for the aggro. He very quickly grew bored unless there was violence and chaos to distract him.

The writer-director doesn’t indulge in the expressionistic, mind-bending style of psychedelic filmmaking found in Donald Cammell and Nic Roeg’s Performance (1970), which was partially inspired by the Krays. Nor does he slavishly takes us through their lives in the way that Peter Medak did in The Krays (1990), starring Martin and Gary Kemp. Instead, a little bizarrely, he has turned a film about Britain’s most notorious gangsters into a love story. The film foregrounds Frances, one of the least well-known characters in Kray twin history. In a beguiling performance, Emily Browning plays her as a free-spirited but naive and ultimately tragic figure who is both devoted to Reggie and desperate to get away from him and his toxic world. She provides the film with an emotional core it wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Legend , as its title suggests, isn’t a social realist account of Reggie, Ronnie and their misdeeds. Hardy plays both villains on a grand scale. There is some stomach churning violence here but the film portrays the Krays in a glamorised, nostalgic fashion. This is certainly not a version that Nipper Read would have endorsed but even he might have admired the sheer effrontery and flamboyance of Hardy’s brilliant, double-barrelled performance.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ on VOD, in Which Guy Ritchie Directs A Fictional Spin on a Real-Life WWII Era Secret Spy Mission

Where to stream:.

• The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
• Guy Ritchie

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Is ‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’ streaming on netflix or hbo max, eiza gonzález tells drew barrymore she learned german song “5 minutes before filming” guy ritchie’s ‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’: “it was crazy”, will there be a ‘the gentlemen’ season 2 on netflix.

Guy Ritchie has quietly become one of the current cinema’s most productive filmmakers: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ( now streaming on VOD services like Amazon Prime Video ) is his sixth film in as many years, with several projects in the pipeline. On one hand, there’s no denying his capacity for slick craftsmanship; on the other, it may test our own capacity for flashy montages and irascible banter. Henry Cavill, one of Richie’s mainstay stars (Jason Statham must’ve been otherwise occupied, a dentist appointment or some PTO maybe), anchors this seafaring adventure very extremely loosely based on Operation Postmaster, a real-life World War II secret mission in which a small cadre of British soldiers endeavored to cripple a Nazi submarine base in Western Africa. Witty wisecracks, things blowing up, Nazis getting knifed – do we need anything more? The answer to that is a firm maybe. 

THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The first title card bellows, BASED ON A TRUE STORY . (Which makes this a BOATS movie with actual boats!) The second one says this is based on events culled from the files of Winston Churchill himself, declassified in 2016. The third one puts us on the Atlantic Ocean in Nazi-controlled waters in 1942, where the Nazi navy prepares to board a small fishing vessel. Two men are on board: Gus March-Phillips, played by Cavill with some rip-roaring mustaches, and if you’re wondering what makes “mustaches” different than “a mustache,” well, it has to do with the mustache leaping out and curling away from quite a mighty beard. The other is Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson of the Reacher TV series ), who’s so ripped, it looks like he can juggle sperm whales. As the Nazis are all like PLEASE PRESENT YOUR PAPERS they’re all acting drunk, like OK WHATEVER HA HA HA, and, go figure, the head Nazi proves to not have much of a sense of humor. The rest of the scene goes poorly for the Nazis, because Gus and Anders’ pals are hiding in the hull and they start gunning down the boarding party as another pal plants bombs on the Nazi ship, sending it into the murky deeps. 

How did this plan come together? Well, it wouldn’t be a Guy Ritchie movie without a time hop to 25 DAYS EARLIER, when Gus was pulled from a prison for extra-dangerous men and given a suicide mission by the British brass: There’s this Nazi base on the island of Fernando Po, through which all the supplies for the German u-boat fleet are funneled. Those u-boats are a real pain in the ass, with their sneaky underwater travel and nasty ship-sinking torpedoes; they’re such an advantage, the Nazis have the Brits up against the ropes. Gus would be doing his country a big solid if he could assemble a crew and sneak in, blow up the supply stores and cripple the fleet. So Gus recruits Anders – nickname: The Danish Hammer – and a couple other ne’er-do-wells (played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Henry Golding) to help spring another ne’er-do-well (Alex Pettyfer) from a German prison to bolster their ranks, and so the movie has a key action set piece early on, thus tiding us over until the big one at the end.

This mission is so illegal and hush-hush, only a few irritating military bureaucrats are in on it, under the orders of Churchill himself (Rory Kinnear, piled with prosthetics); if a different set of irritating military bureaucrats find out about it, Churchill might even be ousted as Prime Minister. So, hey, no pressure. Meanwhile, two other spies aid the mission on the island: African casino owner Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) will throw a big party to distract the bad guys, and chanteuse Marjorie Stewart (Elza Gonzalez) hopes Nazi commander Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger, who was also in Inglourious Basterds ) will be so hypnotized by some sideboob, he won’t know the base is under attack until it’s too late. If Gus and co. blow it, they’ll end up tortured by the Nazis. If they succeed, they’ll probably end up back in the British brig. But hey, at least they get another shot at doing what they do best: Walking nonchalantly away from explosions in slow motion.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Ritchie has always been accused of being a Tarantino acolyte, and this movie could easily be renamed Guy Ritchie’s Incongruous S.O.B.s . It also brings to mind bits of Dunkirk and Darkest Hour .

Performance Worth Watching: A too-many-characters problem leads to a movie full of anonymous performances. I guess Ritchson shows the occasional flash of charisma that makes you want to root for his towering-block-of-muscle to kill Nazis with oodles of gusto. 

Memorable Dialogue: In the opening scene, Gus jokingly urges the Nazi naval dorks to punish Anders: “Make him walk the plank. He loves wood!”

Sex and Skin: Nah.

Our Take: There’s no arguing against Ritchie’s skills as a visual stylist who can streamline an overcomplicated narrative into a rollicking adventure. And while he’s pretty much going through the motions with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare , he’s nevertheless a distinctive filmmaker who stands a cut above most action-movie directors; his action sequences are always well thought-out and keenly choreographed, his edits amplifying movement instead of cutting it up into rapid-fire shards. This film, like every film he makes, has undeniable energy. It moves with intent and purpose.

Ritchie’’s intent is to entertain us, and Ministry just reaches that baseline goal. His purpose, though, is remarkably unambitious – to get to the end of the movie. Sure, we get a handful of laughs from the snarky dialogue and Anders’ OTT brutality (he’s a helluva archer), and the action is slickly executed, but it’s in the service of a movie that has nothing to say about anything whatsoever except, I guess, hooray for these unsung heroes of WWII, even though they were probably nothing like this at all . Maybe that’s the film’s central joke? Granted, Ritchie’s movies are frequently about little more than their own twisty storytelling and visual flair, but this one’s relatively stripped down (the montages and time hops are kept to a minimum) and lacks a magnetic central protagonist (Ritchie’s recent totally acceptable outings Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune at least gave us Jason Statham as a focal point). The irony here is undeniable: It feels like Ritchie’s playing it safe with a movie about guys who break the rules to get the job done. 

Our Call: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is perfectly acceptable disposable entertainment, but you’ll want to SKIP IT until you can watch it for free on a streaming service.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Tatiana Maslany Boards New Horror Movie From 'Longlegs' Director

Maslany will star opposite Rossif Sutherland.

The Big Picture

• Longlegs, directed by Osgood Perkins, is set to terrify audiences on July 12, 2024, with a chilling serial killer storyline.
• Keep an eye out for Perkins' next project, Keeper, starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland in a romantic horror tale.
• With a legacy that includes The Blackcoat's Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Perkins is a modern horror icon to watch.

One of the creepiest horror films to be released this year is Longlegs from well-known genre director Osgood Perkins . The serial killer nightmare has had a deadly marketing campaign thus far ahead of its release this July. However, even though we're still horrifically a couple of months away from that film, we already know what the filmmaker's next project will be, Keeper .

Reported exclusively by Deadline , Keeper will star Tatiana Maslany ( She-Hulk , Orphan Black ) and Rossif Sutherland ( Possessor ). The horror film follows “a couple as they escape for a romantic anniversary weekend at a secluded cabin. When Malcolm (Sutherland) suddenly returns to the city, Liz (Maslany) finds herself isolated and in the presence of an unspeakable evil that unveils the cabin’s horrifying secrets.” Neon acquired the rights for Keeper in the US, seeing Perkins reteam with them after Longlegs , and will be handling the international sale at Cannes. Maslany is also serving as an executive producer on the project with the screenplay written by Nick Lepard .

Osgood Perkins is a Modern Horror Legend

While Perkins may be the son of legendary horror actor Anthony Perkins ( Psycho ), even starting out playing the younger version of his iconic character Norman Bates in Psycho II , the filmmaker has carved out a genre legacy all his own. Starting with his directorial debut in 2015, the underrated The Blackcoat’s Daughter , Perkins showed his thick atmospheric approach that’s like no other genre director of our time. That emotionally distressing style instantly attached hardcore horror fans to the director and would continue in 2020’s Gretel & Hansel .

However, it seems like Perkins has reached a terrifying new level with Longlegs . The horror genre has seen a handful of serial killer thrillers in the last three decades. That being said, the creative and mysterious marketing for this particular scream-worthy event has the community on edge . Whether it be riddle-filled teasers , the disturbing posters , or the small sound bits we’ve gotten of Nicolas Cage ’s villain, putting the pieces together for Longlegs has been absolutely spine-chilling. Modern horror icon Maika Monroe ( It Follows , Watcher ) trying to take down Cage has only added to the dreadful hype even more. It’s going to be exciting to see what Perkins brings to Keeper coming off such a talked about film in Longlegs .

Longlegs will be scaring moviegoers everywhere on July 12, 2024 . While we wait for Perkins to traumatize the horror community once more, you can view the trailer for Longlegs below. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is also currently streaming on Max.

FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.

Review: 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' pulls out all the action stops

There's life and art in the ape-verse, but franchise fatigue is sneaking in.

Can you believe it? "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," now thumping its chest in theaters, is the 10th movie in a simian blockbuster franchise that began in 1968 with astronaut Charlton Heston memorably hating on the "damn, dirty apes" to keep their mitts off of him.

Fat chance. Having so far grossed over $2 billion worldwide, the franchise is not quitting. In fact, the most recent epic, 2017's "War for the Planet of the Apes," struck gold with critics and audiences, proving again there was a market for talking apes whose battles with humans reflected themes of racial tension, Cold War politics and animal rights.

The first thing amiss if you loved the last two entries in the franchise, which were directed by Matt Reeves, is the absence of Andy Serkis, the British actor whose motion-capture performance as ape leader Caesar resonated with a power and depth of feeling that felt nearly Shakespearean.

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The new film, the longest ever at two hours and 25 minutes, opens with Caesar's funeral. That's a bummer, though Serkis stayed on as an acting consultant to keep the mo-cap work in peak form. It is. This is one gorgeous looking ape extravaganza, full of a heat and heart. But a slackness has crept into the storytelling that needs monitoring

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The script skips ahead 300 years to show that the score is now apes 10, humans zero on the scoreboard for planet control. A virus has rotted the brains of humans, who have lost the ability to talk. With their most dangerous threat sidelined, the apes mostly fight with each other.

Set in the ruggedly beautiful Pacific Northwest, but shot in Australia, "Kingdom" shows skyscrapers and other man-made wonders covered in weeds and neglect.

Among the good apes is Noa (a terrific Owen Teague), a member of the Eagle Clan, which nurtures eagle eggs and all things Mother Nature. Noa reacts badly when he sees a human female named Mae (a standout Freya Allan) stealing clan food. But his peaceful instincts prevail, ignited by Yoda-ish old orangutan Raka (Peter Macon is a hoot).

Real trouble comes in the form of a warlike tribe of armored ape horsemen led by Proximus Caesar (a hissable Kevin Durand), a bonobo psycho who pretends to follow the "ape not kill ape" teachings of the late Caesar. Instead he attacks the Eagle Clan and sets Noa on the run, with Mae following.

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Working from a script by Josh Friedman, director Wes Ball (of the dubious "Maze Runner" films) pulls out all the action stops as the apes go ape with a vengeance. The kingdom of the title belongs to Proximus, who's willing to enslave or murder his kin to suit his rabid ambition as he fights to open a rusty vault said to contain the secrets of human history. Hint: It's tech.

A scary silverback soldier named Sylva (Eka Darville) pushes Proximus toward all-out war. But the leader's human adviser, Trevathan (a wickedly wily William H. Macy) persuades Proximus that the vault is worth any bloodshed needed to seize it.

In the final third, the movie loses points from thudding repetition and by practically begging for a sequel without providing evidence that there's a crying need for one. Don't get me wrong. There's still life and art in the ape-verse, but a worrying case of franchise fatigue is sneaking in. Whatever happened to quitting while you're ahead?

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Who is Stan Smith? New film uncovers tennis and footwear legend

The former player, once a world No 1, also inspired a defining Adidas shoe and is the subject of a revealing new documentary

F or sports fans of a certain age, the seasonal queues that form around shoe stores in anticipation of the latest Jordan sneakers are a painful reminder of the many young people who only know of the hoops legend as an athletic brand. But well before Nike reduced Michael to a Jumpman silhouette, Adidas was hawking Stan Smiths – the leather, low-top kicks that became such a fashion statement among rockers and rappers that perhaps more young people have no idea the mustachioed face on the tongue belongs to one of the most consequential players in tennis history. “A lot of sneaker enthusiasts want to understand the heritage and story behind it,” says the director Danny Lee. His latest film answers the essential question: Who Is Stan Smith?

Produced under LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted imprimatur, Who Is Stan Smith? revisits the life and times of the former world No 1, from his working-class beginnings to his improbable bond with Arthur Ashe to his even more improbable emergence as a style icon – a SoCal James Bond, Sean Connery in country club kit. That’s despite, as one of his children helpfully points out in the doc, Smith rocking his trademark top lip strip for the better part of the last 50 years. That ’stache wasn’t just all the rage during Smith’s prime (in the late-60s and early-70s, mostly), it was part of a sandy-haired, cerulean-eyed 6ft 4in all-American package that the super agent Donald Dell turned into one of the most commercial billboards in sport. And yet: the glamor of the epoch has nothing on these times. “Now they’ve got teams, they’ve got people doing the jet set thing,” says the 77-year-old Smith, recalling the days on tour when it was just him and his wife, Margie. “It’s still tough as a professional athlete, but back then she and I were the team more or less.”

Besides leading tennis into the Open era and helping to establish the Association of Tennis Professionals at the expense of defending his 1972 Wimbledon title, Smith helped lead the US to victory in the 1968 Davis Cup – the title that effectively kicked off the American tennis boom of the 1970s and 80s. “When I saw Stan have a jacket on that said USA, I was like, Man, could I do that ?” John McEnroe recalls early in the documentary. “And I did it!”

The 94-minute documentary is slated for a soft launch in New York and Los Angeles over the next two weeks before a wider release in May. It was originally teased during the 2022 Doc NYC film festival only to be delayed by the usual industry negotiations and the Covid-19 pandemic. But now that patience is rewarded with a 70-market theatrical release that not only comes just as the calendar approaches the heart of the tennis schedule, but also with the Zendaya-led pulp fiction Challengers reviving the market for tennis drama at the box office. (Take that, pickleball!) “Thankfully,” says Lee, “we shot this 2:39 scope wide, so it’s a real visual feast on screen.”

Sneaker geeks should beware that this film isn’t an extended version of Friedman’s Shoes – the Emmy-award winning short Lee directed about the Atlanta shoe store where Shaq, Magic Johnson and other plus-sized athletes have trekked to in search of luxury footwear in hard-to-find dimensions. While Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels and Pharrell speak to Smith’s sole impact on hip-hop in particular (suffice to say without Smith, Adidas probably never gets into business with Kanye West), Lee’s film caters more to tennis geeks who have long admired Smith’s serve-and-volley game and his equally relentless commitment to social justice causes.

Smith emerged as a global celebrity while the US was divided over the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. In the film, Smith is candid about growing up in the homogeneous cloister that was 1950s Pasadena. It could have easily saddled him with a close-minded worldview. But instead of defaulting to whiteness, Smith embraced the things he didn’t know – not least Ashe, the best friend who remains in his heart. “He was just a great guy,” Smith recalls, “the leader, the one who was having to go through things we didn’t have to go through. His wife and daughter are still close to us. I mean, we really enjoyed each other’s company – and it was him who made that possible.”

Together, Smith and Ashe visited hospitals in South Vietnam with their Davis Cup teammate Clark Graebner and Bob Lutz – the partner with whom Smith set a new standard in doubles play. “Bob Lutz had a guy die right in front of him,” Ashe told the New York Times 20 years later . “It was a very sobering experience.”

As the current class of students lead protests on college campuses all over the country, Smith can’t help feeling like he’s watching history repeat – not least at USC, his alma mater. “It reminds me of the era when I was there,” he says, “when there were a lot of demonstrations – for civil rights, the war, political upheaval, Kennedy getting shot. It’s somewhat similar; I was thinking, Is it going to get back to a quieter time in another few weeks or months ? What’s going to be the evolution of what’s going on right now ? And certainly there was the evolution in my period where the war did end eventually, but there’s always been a tension in the subcultures in the United States and around the world. We don’t know how it’s going to transpire.”

With tennis being a balkanized sport played all over the globe, Lee had his work cut out tracking down footage of Smith’s career and shooting amid Covid restrictions – which robbed the project of one of the game’s most colorful personalities in Ilie Năstase, the bad boy who tangled with Smith at Wimbledon. “Năstase’s the type of guy where if you didn’t want him to talk, he would talk,” Smith jokes. “And then if you wanted him to talk, he’s quiet. He’s an enigma.”

Shooting at Centre Court, where Smith was crowned champion in the first men’s final held on a Sunday, was a massive coup. “Stan has such incredible relationships around the world,” Lee says. “So when he asked, it was like, ‘When do you wanna do this?’”

It was Lee’s good luck that the Smiths shot hours of home videos from the world tours and that Margie had held on to the footage all these years. And those behind-the-scenes peeks of their private life become that much richer when their family welcomes in Mark Mathabane, the South African émigré who went on to become a bestselling author and college professor thanks to Ashe and Smith hatching his escape from apartheid.

For as much as Smith has done publicly and privately to support righteous causes, in the film, Smith expresses some regret for not going even harder. “I could’ve done more with Arthur,” he says, before drifting back to a few of the small ways he helped Mathabane – whom Smith set up at USC. “I would drive and stop at a phone booth and call him back. He’d have a problem with a coach or something. He was like our first son, so we got that experience.”

Many of the traits that make Smith such an approachable superstar (his gentleness, his humility) can also make him an unintentionally tough nut to crack. But Lee eventually got him to open up by watching old match film and family home videos, the bulk of which Margie and Stan hadn’t seen since they were shot. (Watching them watch themselves for the first time in decades is one of the film’s many tender moments.) “He gets vulnerable,” Lee says. “He gets emotional. It was emotional for me.”

As for the shoes that Smith made famous, they might look simple next to the current crop of air-cushioned, moisture-wicking offerings. But back in the day, the Stan Smith was as hi-tech as it got, the rare sneaker that didn’t gush out sweat under heavy use. “We were wearing canvas shoes,” Smith remembers of the preferred footwear on tour. “One of the great things about [the Stan Smith shoe] was it had these holes in it, which would help when it was really hot in Washington DC and humid places like that. It was a big deal to be able to wear those shoes.” Now, at last, young sneaker heads know exactly why.

Who is Stan Smith? opens in Los Angeles on 3 May, New York on 10 May and around the rest of the US throughout May with a UK release to be announced

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Stormy Daniels Takes the Stand

The porn star testified for eight hours at donald trump’s hush-money trial. this is how it went..

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This episode contains descriptions of an alleged sexual liaison.

What happened when Stormy Daniels took the stand for eight hours in the first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump?

Jonah Bromwich, one of the lead reporters covering the trial for The Times, was in the room.

On today’s episode

Jonah E. Bromwich , who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading

In a second day of cross-examination, Stormy Daniels resisted the implication she had tried to shake down Donald J. Trump by selling her story of a sexual liaison.

Here are six takeaways from Ms. Daniels’s earlier testimony.

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Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich

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