News

Stars: Roxanne Saylor, Avril Dominguez, Danielle Lauder, Jacob Kogan, Anjali Nath, Anastasia Katarina, Sarah O’Connor, Lauren Elyse Buckley, Brittany Lewis, Sarah J. Bartholomew | Written and Directed by Zach Lorkiewicz

Tales from Middleton High is, as you may have already guessed, an anthology film centred around a high school. Five tales of what writer/director Zach Lorkiewicz refers to as “pop horror” related by Principal Clemens who is introduced in a spoof of PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater”.

The first segment “Pep” chronicles the battle between the Pom Poms and the Cheerleaders to win the 85th Annual Pep Rally Dance Off. The Poms have never won before but this year Penelope has something up her sleeve. Running just about ten minutes, “Pep” is mostly sendups of high school life building to a bloody final gag. Funny rather than scary it gets Tales from Middleton High off to a good start.

The second story,...

Investment

Ex-Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams, former Xix Entertainment president James Clayton, Hollywood entertainment lawyer Kevin Yorn and multi F1 Grand Prix-winning motor racing driver Mark Webber are among an eclectic group of investors who have together invested £2 million ($2.7 million) in U.K. production and distribution company Noah Media Group.

Noah’s credits include Grierson award-nominated “Finding Jack Charlton” and Cannes selection “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” and the outfit has coming up “Arsène Wenger: Invincible,” a documentary on the soccer manager who changed the landscape of the English Premier League, which will debut on Canal Plus in France and a major streaming platform in the U.K. in 2022.

The funding raised will support the company’s growing ambitions in the filmed content space, under the founding team of chair Barry Smith, CEO and producer John McKenna and film and television directors Gabriel Clarke and Torquil Jones. It will also drive Noah’s self-distributing ambitions.

Both critical and celebratory, Jennifer Holness’ packed and penetrating documentary “Subjects of Desire” provides a superb overview of how Black culture has influenced, and been influenced by, contemporary beauty ideals from Civil War times to #BlackGirlMagic and beyond. Solidly if modestly presented — occasionally the photo-montage-and-voiceover sections feel a little bit PowerPointy — this energetic and provocative film lives easily on the small screen, though a truly enterprising outlet or streaming service would take note of how many fascinating avenues Holness’ dexterous arguments open up and order it to series.

The film is loosely structured around the 50th anniversary of the Miss Black America Pageant, but “loosely” should be stressed: Where a pageant’s suspense-based structure and inbuilt spectacle might prove too tantalizing a draw for most filmmakers, Holness has bigger fish to fry than backstage drama, wardrobe malfunctions and spangly tiaras. Instead, she uses the pageant’s history to get straight...

Taylor Swift helped make this newlywed couple's wedding story even sweeter. After nearly a decade in the making, high school sweethearts Alexas Gonzales—who goes by Lexi—and Brittany Lewis tied the knot in early January in their native Texas. Their wedding day got all the more sweeter when they got a special message from one of their favorite artists. As the pair explained on the wedding website, Swift had unknowingly played a part in their proposal. "She ended her speech with the best line of all time," Lexi wrote of Brittany on the site. "As she got down on one knee she said...'So I talked to your dad, now it's time to pick out a white dress...will you marry...