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Docs

DR Sales has sold Canadian distribution rights for Norwegian director Tonje Hessen Schei’s “Praying for Armageddon” to LevelFilm. The deal was revealed follows the film’s North American premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival. The film made its world premiere in CPH:DOX.

The film explores the power and influence of powerful U.S. fundamentalist evangelicals as they aim to fulfil the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. With close quarters journalism, the feature documentary embeds with American believers who prepare for the Holy War and exposes how powerful megachurch pastors call for the “final battle” that they believe will trigger the Second Coming of Christ. A deep dive into power and policy, the film unveils how politicians driven by faith embrace Israel as the key to their prophetic vision for the end of days. At any cost.

The film is directed by Tonje Hessen Schei (“iHuman,” “Drone”), co-directed by Michael Rowley, and produced by Christian Aune Falch, Torstein Parelius and Ingrid G. Aune Falch from UpNorth Film. Executive producers are Hussain Currimbhoy, Sue Turley and Jan Rofekamp.

The deal was negotiated between DR Sales’ executive Freja Johanne Nørgaard Sørensen and Robin Smith, head of factual content at LevelFilm.

“LevelFilm is the perfect partner for this film. Robin Smith has an impressive track-record in distributing documentaries, and his passion and enthusiasm for ‘Praying for Armageddon’ has been clear from the start,” Nørgaard Sørensen said.

“We have been keenly tracking director Tonje Hessen Schei and the UpNorth producing team’s latest film ever since its first public pitch over five years ago. We are absolutely thrilled to see where they have taken this story and excited to bring this cinematic investigative-cautionary tale to Canadian audiences in the near future,” Smith said.

DR Sales is the international sales department of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

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DR Sales has sold Canadian distribution rights

Global

More than 1,500 people have registered at the Edmonton reception centre as of Sunday afternoon after fleeing their homes and communities due to wildfire risk.

Most people are evacuees from Drayton Valley and Brazeau County seeking a place to stay, food, clothing, medical services and animal care.

Many supports are available to people directly at the reception centre. The Canadian Red Cross and insurance companies are on site, and the Alberta Health Service is there to offer mental health services, as well as a prescribing pharmacist for anyone who needs additional medication.

Pets have been a big concern for many residents having to leave their homes and about 1,300 pets have been registered at the reception centre — almost a one-to-one ratio to humans, according to the city, whose Animal Care and Control Centre is providing on site, temporary daytime care for pets.

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Pet supplies, including food, are available to be picked up at the Edmonton Humane Society from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. Pet food and supply donations are welcome.

Donations to the reception centre are not accepted at this time, as the city’s Emergency Support Response Team continues to provide necessary supplies and care to evacuees.

Evacuees can also access fitness and health services through the Jamie Platz Family YMCA, which is opening its doors for free access to showers and rec centre. The Commonwealth Recreation Centre is also offering showers to anyone who has been displaced.

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Despite the challenges many people are facing, the city is alerting people to fraudulent texts targeting people impacted by the wildfires.

“These texts are asking for personal information to access services or financial support. Residents are advised to only provide information in-person at the Reception Centre or through the provincial online registration system at emergencyregistration.alberta.ca,” according to the city.

“I’m really impressed. It’s amazing what they had set up on such short notice for so many people,” said Anna Turtiak, who arrived from Drayton Valley Saturday morning with her family and dogs.

She added that seeing all the people at the reception centre really puts the wildfire into perspective and shows just how big their community is, but everyone has come together to help each other out.

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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More than 1,500 people have registered at

Tech

Recent rumors point to a Canon RF-S lens in the mold of the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM in the pipeline. There’s no strong leaks regarding key specs, but an ultra-wide angle lens is what Canon’s excellent APS-C mirrorless cameras really need to realize their potential. 

While the Canon EOS R7 is one of the most capable APS-C cameras in the market for wildlife and sports photography, and the EOS R10 is our top choice among the best mirrorless cameras for beginners, these models are hamstrung to a degree by limited lens choice. 

Only three RF-S lenses are available and all of these lenses are moderate zoom lenses with modest maximum apertures – in short, not the lenses that truly excite photographers, nor up their game. It’s prime lenses and premium zooms that get the juices flowing, and there are none of these, yet. 

Nikon’s Z-mount mirrorless camera system is in a similar position to Canon’s, too. We hope that they both begin to show similar levels of enthusiasm for APS-C as they do with full-frame, by way of developing a broader range of lenses. Let those rumors of a so-called Canon RF-S 11-22mm be true, and the sign of more to come. 

Full-frame vs APS-C – imbalanced scales

The three big names that have established full-frame and APS-C mirrorless camera systems are Sony, Canon and Nikon.

Sony was one of the pioneers in mirrorless cameras, launching its first APS-C cameras, the NEX-3 and NEX-5, in May 2010, and then its first full-frame cameras (the a7 and a7R) in October 2013. Those full-frame cameras are now in their fourth and fifth generations, and Sony has created a formidable choice of proprietary glass for both sensor formats, with 22 APS-C lenses and 46 full-frame options. 

Canon and Nikon entered the mirrorless camera market much later, launching full-frame cameras – the Canon EOS R, Nikon Z6 and Z7 – only in 2018. They’ve each gone about developing a broad range of high-quality full-frame lenses with impressive haste. The same cannot be said for APS-C.

(Image credit: Future)

At the time of writing there are 28 Canon RF lenses for full-frame cameras, and three RF-S lenses for APS-C cameras. Nikon stands at 30 full frame lenses to four APS-C lenses. 

It was only one year ago that Canon released the EOS R7 and EOS R10 (and, more recently, the EOS R50), so it can be excused for only having three APS-C lenses so far. But it does have a history of modest investment in this sensor format. The Canon EF-M mirrorless system has effectively been discontinued; despite early promise, it never really got off the ground.

Nikon’s APS-C system was announced much earlier than Canon’s, in October 2019, with the Z50 and since then the Z fc and Z30 cameras, but still only has four lenses. The latest of those – the recent Nikkor Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR – is similar to what we hope the new Canon lens will be. Nikon has opened its arms to third parties and a trio of excellent Sigma prime lenses for Z-mount recently hit the shelves, while Canon has remained closed. 

Why is an ultra-wide lens so important for APS-C?

Full-frame lenses are compatible with APS-C cameras, and Canon’s full-frame RF lenses can be used on its APS-C cameras without the need for an adapter. In doing so, there is a crop which effectively extends the focal length by 1.6x (for Sony and Nikon it’s 1.5x). 

An image area crop is beneficial should you wish to get closer. For example, the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM lens is a 25.6mm lens when cropped. Nikon essentially launched the Nikon Z fc camera with the full-frame Nikkor Z 40mm f/2 lens. The camera and lens matched in style if not sensor format, and the lens’ effective 60mm focal length is ideal for portraits.

A Canon camera with lens on a wooden block

(Image credit: Future)

Both of those lenses are a size match with APS-C cameras, and fairly priced. However, the same cannot be said for most other full-frame lenses, which are disproportionately large when attached to an APS-C camera. 

The crop also hampers those that want to shoot wide, and that is why it’s so important for a native ultra-wide angle lens that matches the sensor format with no crop, to be made available. So, if you’re thinking of buying a Canon EOS R7 or EOS R10, be sure to keep an eye out for new RF-S lenses, and especially the rumored RF-S 11-22mm. Let’s hope it’s a good one.

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Recent rumors point to a Canon RF-S

Video

 

The Windsor Castle Concert capped off a weekend of celebrations of the coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms that took place at Westminster Abbey Saturday.

Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli were among those entertaining members of the royal family and 20,000 guests including 10,000 members of the public. And Tom Cruise sent a special short video for His Majesty.

(Queen Camilla and King Charles III in the Royal Box during the Coronation Concert – Photo by Getty)

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  The Windsor Castle Concert capped off a

Entertaintment

“In recent years, we’ve seen a rapid expansion not only of the audience for chamber music, but of that audience’s sophistication and its awareness that the genre also includes sonatas, piano trios, small vocal ensembles, quintets, sextets and indeed all manner of combinations,” John Rockwell of The Times wrote in 1979. “And for that expansion of awareness, we can partly thank the Beaux Arts Trio.”

In 2008, when the trio disbanded after 53 years, Mr. Pressler was still its anchor, the last original member still in the group. He was 84, but he continued performing as a soloist and with ensembles. He also continued teaching at Indiana University, where he held the Charles H. Webb chair in Music.

Menahem Pressler was born in Magdeburg, Germany, on Dec. 16, 1923, 153 years after what is generally accepted as Beethoven’s birthday. One of three children of Moshe and Judith (Zavderer) Pressler, he began playing the piano at 6 and was an accomplished performer as a teenager, taught secretly by a church organist after Hitler’s persecution of the Jews rose to a fever pitch.

He recalled Kristallnacht, in November 1938, when the Nazis orchestrated a nationwide attack on Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues.

“The thugs broke into our family shop in Magdeburg — a gentleman’s outfitters,” Mr. Pressler told The Guardian in 2008. His English still accented with the German of his childhood, he slipped into the present tense as vivid memories returned: “We are hiding in the house, hoping it will go by. In the street, you hear running, yelling, smashing sounds, banging at the door.”

Menahem, his parents and his siblings, Leo and Selma, escaped to Italy months later and then reached Haifa. His grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all perished in the Holocaust.

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“In recent years, we’ve seen a rapid

Movies

There is nothing like the promise of a chapter closing to draw people to the movie theater, especially when tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This weekend, “ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which says goodbye to this iteration of the space misfits and its driving creative voice, director James Gunn, earned $114 million in ticket sales from 4,450 locations in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Internationally, where the film opened in 52 territories including China, “Vol. 3” earned $168 million, giving it a $282 million global debut.

Domestically, it’s both an impressive sum for any movie and slightly less than what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel opening.

Last year on the same weekend, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” riding on the success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” raked in $187.4 million in its first three days in North America. And in November, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” also opened over $181.3 million.

But things have come back to earth this year, at least by high-flying superhero standards. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” debuted just over $106 million on its way to $474 million worldwide. At rival studio DC/Warner Bros., “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” only made $133.4 million total. The question on some analysts’ minds this weekend is whether it’s because of the specific character or a bigger issue of “superhero fatigue.”

“Guardians Vol. 3” bumped “ The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” out of first place after four weekends atop the charts and kicked off the summer movie season, a vital and usually profitable corridor for Hollywood that runs through Labor Day and often accounts for 40% of a year’s box office.

For Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, it’s still a solid opening for the summer season, which he said is poised to deliver the most robust profits since 2019.

“Though ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s’ debut may reflect a bit of audience fatigue for the reliable superhero genre, this is just the beginning for what promises to be an irresistible movie marketplace with a killer combination of appealing films for every taste and every audience demographic,” Dergarabedian said.

The next major superhero movie on the schedule is DC’s “The Flash,” set for June 16, which has its own flurry of intrigue around it because of star Ezra Miller’s legal and personal troubles.

“Guardians Vol. 3” sees the return of actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Reviews have been mostly positive, but a little more divided than previous installments. And it remains difficult to compare a pre-pandemic opening such as Vol. 2’s $146 million debut (May 2017) with a post-pandemic one.

“Vol. 3” is Gunn’s last Guardians/Marvel movie as he turns his focus to leading DC Studios.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” added $18.6 million in its fifth weekend to take second place, bringing its domestic total to $518.1 million. Globally, it has now surpassed $1.1 billion.

Third place went to “Evil Dead Rise” with $5.7 million, and in fourth place was “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” with $3.4 million — both were holdovers.

Studios left the weekend mostly clear for the superhero behemoth, but Screen Gems and Sony did debut their new Priyanka Chopra Jonas romantic comedy “Love Again” (featuring Celine Dion and some new songs) in 2703 locations. It made a modest $2.4 million to take the fifth place spot.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $114 million.

2. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $18.6 million.

3. “Evil Dead Rise,” $5.7 million.

4. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” $3.4 million.

5. “Love Again,” $2.4 million.

6. “John Wick: Chapter 3,” $2.4 million.

7. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $1.5 million.

8. “Air,” $1.4 million.

9. “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” $1.2 million.

10. “Sisu,” $1.1 million. —-

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

Read all the Latest Movies News and Entertainment News here

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)

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There is nothing like the promise of

MCU

It’s time to celebrate one of Marvel’s most notorious but well-loved baddies Loki!  Loungefly has just released a new metallic Loki Collection in the character’s signature colors of green and gold. The new Loungefly Marvel Metallic Loki Mini Collection includes a mini backpack as well as a wallet. 

Marvel Metallic Loki Mini Backpack

The Marvel Metallic Loki Mini Backpack features Loki’s famous gilded helmet on the front with horns.  The bag overall has a metallic green design.  

Details of Loki’s armor appear on the front zipper pocket below and continue onto the bag’s side pockets. 

The back of the bag features Loki’s nickname “Masters of Mischief.” 

The side of the Marvel mini backpack features Marvel Studios Infinity Saga. 

The Loungefly Marvel Metallic Loki Mini Backpack is made of vegan leather and features adjustable shoulder straps and shiny gold hardware. Additional features include applique, debossed, glitter, metallic, and printed details.  Also, note the coordinating inside lining featuring Loki’s famous helmet. 

You can get the backpack for $80.00 on Loungefly here. 

     

 

Marvel Metallic Loki Zip-Around Wallet

Also included in the Marvel Metallic Loki Collection is this shimmering zip-around wallet.  On the front, you’ll find Loki’s helmet with horns that rise above the wallet’s metallic green design.  

Details of Loki’s armor appear on the back of the Loungefly Loki wallet.  

Inside you’ll find five slots for holding cards and a clear slot to hold ID.  The wallet features plenty of room to carry your tricks and schemes. 

The Loungefly Marvel Metallic Loki Zip Around Wallet is made of vegan leather. The wallet zips closed with shiny gold hardware.  Additional features include applique, debossed, glitter, and metallic details.  The wallet also includes a coordinating inside lining. 

The Loki Loungefly wallet retails for $40.00 and can get yours here. 

Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Walt Disney World news and updates. We’ll be coming to you LIVE from the theme parks each and every week. 

Plan With Me

Have you heard the news? MickeyTravels just earned the incredible distinction of being a Diamond Earmarked Agency! 

Whether it’s a visit to the theme parks, a Disney cruise, a stay at Aulani in Hawaii, or the trip of a lifetime with Adventures by Disney, I can’t wait to help you plan your vacation utilizing all of our incredible concierge-level services. This includes discount monitoring, itinerary planning, flexible booking and so much more.  Best of all my services are 100% FREE!

Find out more or get your FREE no-obligation quote at mroden@mickeytravels.com at 1.800.801.4025 or via Facebook

   

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It’s time to

DCU

The finale of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy has arrived, and delivers an emotional sendoff for Marvel’s ragtag team of cosmic heroes. Dan dives in to break down the movie’s post-credit scenes and what they mean for the future of the Guardians on today’s episode of Nerdist News!

More Marvel News: https://nerdist.com/tags/marvel/
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The post Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Post-Credits Scenes Explained! appeared first on Nerdist.

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The finale of James Gunn’s Guardians of

Festivals

The 33rd annual Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival has revealed its full film lineup.

Showcasing 107 films from 30 countries, including 33 feature films, and 7 world premieres. The festival will take place both in-person and virtually from May 25th to June 4th in Toronto, Canada. The announcement was made today by Inside Out’s Co-Head & Executive Director, Elie Chivi, and Co-Head & Artistic Director, Andrew Murphy. ​​ 

The festival’s opening night film this year will be the Canadian Premiere of acclaimed filmmaker Ira Sachs’ French romantic drama Passages, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance to rave reviews. The drama about three people caught in a love triangle marked by passion, jealousy, and narcissism stars Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adele Exarchopoulos. Closing the festival will be the World Premiere of a fantastical summer romance with a big musical heart, Glitter & Doom by Tom Gustafson, which is a love story told through the song lyrics by the Indigo Girls and features Alex Diaz, Missy Pyle, Tig Notaro, Alan Cammish and Lea DeLaria, along with the Indigo Girls themselves. 

This year’s RE:Focus Gala selection is the Sundance Next Audience Award and Berlin Panorama Audience Award winner, Kokomo City by Grammy-nominated artist, D. Smith. Through laughter and conversation, D. Smith captures an unapologetic and unfiltered look into the lives of four Black transgender sex workers. The documentary also features a unique and exhilarating soundtrack that matches the film’s striking black and white visuals. 

Inside Out’s Centerpiece Gala will host the World Premiere of Canadian documentary, Supporting Our Selves, directed by Lulu Wei. The documentary is a moving exploration of more than four decades of the Toronto-based philanthropic organization, Community One Foundation, which continues to support the needs of the 2SLGTBQ+ communities. 

Highlights from the Special Presentations lineup include the Canadian premieres of Ally Pankiw’s I Used To Be Funny starring Rachel Sennott (SHIVA BABY), Olga Petsa, Jason Jones, Dani Kind, and Ennis Esmer. In addition the film Blue Jean, which is also a part of Special Presentations is a story about a gym teacher living a double life in Thatcher’s England. 

Other notable festival titles include the World Premieres of Loveleen Kaur’s music documentary Leilani’s Fortune, which follows queer, immigrant Ethiopian-Eritrean artist Witch Prophet as she navigates newfound momentum in the music industry; while festival highlights include the Canadian premieres of 20,000 Species Of Bees by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren. Inside Out will also host a special 20th Anniversary screening of Richard Linklater’s School of Rock, starring Jack Black, with cast member Rivkah Reyes in attendance (who also has a film they wrote, GIANNA, playing at the festival). 

“We are thrilled to welcome audiences to the 33rd annual Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival. We are incredibly grateful to our members, donors, sponsors and stakeholders as well as our queer filmmaking family, for their continued loyalty and support, and without whom, this festival would not be possible,” said Elie Chivi, Co-Head and Executive Director. 

“2023 is the year of Inside Out! Further solidifying our place in the spring pre-pride calendar, the Inside Out family has been hard at work to unveil today the best and most crucial cinematic voices from the 2SLGBTQ+ community.” said Andrew Murphy, Co-Head and Artistic Director. “Built around the heart of our cinematic experiences, we continue to strive to build experiences of connection, industry and professional development, and at the end of the night, a dance floor, because joy comes in many forms,” commented Andrew Murphy, Co-Head & Artistic Director. 

“This year’s program offers an eclectic and captivating lineup of films, showcasing the rich and multifaceted experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ communities globally and right here in our own backyard. From the bold and innovative works of local talent Luis De Filippis, VT Nayani, and Ally Pankiw to the world premieres and festival favorites from 30 countries, we are excited for our audience to join us and explore the complex and joyful nuances of queer life,” added Jenna Dufton, Director of Festival Programming.   

The programming team is led by Director of Festival Programming Jenna Dufton, and is comprised of Lucia Linares (Programming Coordinator), and programmers Ferdosa Abdi, Rasheed Bailey, Ashley Bodika, Katherine Connell, Jacob Crepeault, Ferrin Evans, Ahlam Hassan, Claire Jarvis, Allia McLeod, Emma Pitters-Fisher, Nik Redman, and Scott Smart. 

All in-person screenings at the festival will take place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, and all industry events, including the opening and closing night parties, as well as the activities for the LGBTQ International Financing Forum, will take place at Artscape Sandbox. Many films will also be available virtually and available in Ontario. 

Individual tickets for screenings (in person and digital), ticket packages, and all-access passes are on sale as of today at insideout.ca.  

The full 2023 festival selections include: 

OPENING GALA 

PASSAGES, directed by Ira Sachs (France/Narrative) 
The latest work by acclaimed filmmaker Ira Sachs starring Ben Whishaw, Franz Rogowski and Adele Excharpouplo, is a tale about two men who wonder if their crumbling marriage can survive when one of them has an affair with a woman.   

CLOSING GALA 

GLITTER & DOOM, director by Tom Gustafson (USA/Narrative) 

When carefree Glitter and aspiring musician Doom meet it is love at first sight but they have only 29 days to discover if their love will last. Told through song lyrics by the Indigo Girls, the romance features some of their greatest hits, including the iconic anthem “Closer to Fine.” The film stars Alex Diaz, Alan Cammish, Lea DeLaria, Missi Pyle, Tig Notaro, and the Indigo Girls themselves.  

RE:FOCUS GALA 

KOKOMO CITY, directed by D. Smith (USA/Documentary) 

Through conversation and laughter, Grammy nominated artist D. Smith presents a vibrant portrait of four black transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia who reflect on belonging and identity within the Black community and beyond.  

CENTREPIECE GALA 

SUPPORTING OUR SELVES, directed by Lulu Wei (Canada/Documentary) 

A moving exploration of more than four decades of activism, told through the lens of the Toronto-based philanthropic organization, Community One Foundation. What started as a predominantly white, middle-class collective redefined itself during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and ’90s and continues to adapt today to better meet the needs of our Toronto communities. 

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 

I USED TO BE FUNNY, directed by Ally Pankiw (Canada/Narrative) 

An au pair and aspiring stand-up comedian, struggling with PTSD, must decide to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny as she tries to recover from her trauma and get back on stage. 

BLUE JEAN, directed by Georgia Oakley (UK/Narrative) 

Jean, a gym teacher, struggling to live her life openly under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government faces a crisis with the arrival of a new student that challenges Jean to her core. 

PREMIERES

20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (20.000 ESPECIES DE ABEJAS), directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain / Narrative) 

An eight-year-old child struggles with identity, her birth name feels very wrong, and her nickname Cocó doesn’t feel quite right either. During a summer among the beehives, she explores her name and identity alongside her mother and the women of her family.  

OPPONENT (MOTSTANDAREN), directed by Milad Alami (Sweden/Narrative) 

Iman and his family were forced to flee Iran and end up in northern Sweden. To protect his family he joins a local wrestling club. However, one sparring partner in particular ignites old feelings and Iman must choose between his own desires and the safety of his family. 

RUNS IN THE FAMILY, directed by Ian Gabriel (South Africa/Narrative) 

Former scam artist Varun and his trans drag performer son, River, embark on a road trip across South Africa. As River worries about missing Her Majesty’s Drag Competition and the opportunity to win the prize money to pay for his top surgery, secrets bubble to the surface and the duo’s relationship will be tested like never before. 

SISI & I (SIS & ICH), directed by  Frauke Finsterwalder (Germany, Switzerland, Austria/ Narrative) 

Countess Irma finds Empress Sisi in Greece, away from the etiquette of the court. They live in freedom, but no matter how much Irma and Sisi resist, in the end they are left with only one fatal path that will bind them together forever. 

ICONS 

COMMITMENT TO LIFE, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (USA / Documentary) 

Hollywood played a critical role in the battle against HIV/AIDS as doctors, movie stars, studio moguls and activists came together to change the path of the epidemic and how the world saw it.  

HUMMINGBIRDS, directed by Silvia Del Carmen Castaños and Estefania ‘Beba” Contreras (USA/ Documentary) 

Filmmakers and activists Silvia Del Carmen Castaños and Estefanía “Beba” Contreras are coming of age in Laredo, Texas. Stuck in an immigration process with the threat of deportation for their families, they boldly refuse to be scared into submission and spend their days planning protest actions while expressing themselves with music, poetry, and art, creating magic in everyday moments. 

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?, directed by Ella Glendining (UK/Documentary) 

Filmmaker Ella Glendining was born with a very rare disability. Using intimate video diary entries, conversations with similarly bodied people and doctors treating her condition, Ella explored what it takes to love oneself fiercely despite the pervasiveness of ableism. 

IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL, directed by Alexandria Bambach (USA/Documentary) 

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers began performing together in high school as queer friends who never expected to make it big. Against all odds, they broke through in the 1980s, maintaining musical careers on their own terms with an unwavering commitment to progressive politics and queer rights. 

LEILANI’S FORTUNE, directed by Loveleen Kaur (Canada/Documentary) 

An intimate journey with queer, immigrant, Ethiopian-Eritrean artist Witch Prophet, as she navigates newfound momentum in the music industry. After a decade of making music she is now receiving critical acclaim and nominations, finally getting the validation and support she needs to embark on the creation of the album of her prophecies.  

SPOTLIGHT ON CANADA 

A QUEER’S GUIDE TO SPIRITUAL LIVING, directed by Ari Conrad Birch and Michal Heuston (Canada/Documentary) 

The lives of four queer folks from various religions meet at the intersection of faith and queerness – Summeiya, the genderfluid founder of Queer Muslim Network Toronto, Juliana, a bisexual teacher and former Baptist Christian, Vaibhav, a gay Hindu dancer, and Ari, a trans Coptic Orthodox drag artist. 

BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND, directed by Trevor Anderson (Canada/Narrative) 

Robin’s arrival at a small-town Alberta middle-school causes a stir because the students aren’t sure of Robin’s gender. When Robin becomes friends with Trevor, the school bully, their friendship is put to the test when they are both attracted to Izzy. 

BLOOM ROOM, directed by Tristen Sutherland, Yasmijn Nicolle, Christian Anderson, Sochima Nwakaeze, Ajahnis Charley (Canada/Series) 

This six-episode series follows a group of Black millennials in an online community who love plants. As the group becomes entangled in each other’s lives, they find purpose in caretaking for their plants and their budding relationships. 

GOLDEN DELICIOUS, directed by Jason Karman (Canada/Narrative) 

Everyone wants something from high school senior Jake. But it’s not until Aleks, an openly gay teen with a love for basketball, moves in across the street that Jake begins to struggle with his own desires. To get closer to Aleks, Jake devotes himself to making the basketball team – only to realize it’s not basketball he really wants. 

SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT, directed by Luis de Filippis (Canada, Switzerland/Narrative)

Ren reluctantly accompanies her very Italian family on a beach resort holiday. As Ren navigates a resort not suited to her trans identity and coped with her parents’ loving yet overbearing nature, she tries to balance the yearning for independence and the need to rely even more on her family’s support.  

THIS PLACE, directed by V.T. Nayani (Canada/Narrative) 

Kawenniióhstha leaves her community of Kahnawà:ke for Toronto and to find her Iranian father, who she has never met. Malai is a Tamil woman dealing with her father’s terminal illness and trying to decide what her future should look like. The women meet by chance but form an intense attraction and bond as they navigate complex issues of identity and family.  

INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE 

A PLACE OF OUR OWN (EK JAGAH APNI), directed by Ektara Collective (India/Narrative) 

Trans women Laila and Roshni are looking for housing after they are evicted from their rental. As their search continues, it transcends physical spaces and biological bonds, and as new friendships blossom, help arrives from unexpected places.  

ALL THE COLOURS OF THE WORLD ARE BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE, directed by Babatunde Apalowo (Nigeria/Narrative) 

Bambino is a delivery driver in Lagos, living a quiet life but when he meets Bawa, a friendly and easygoing photographer, something clicks. But in a country where homosexuality is illegal and taboo, Bambino doesn’t know what to do with their connection; judging by the life choices of his friend Ifeyinwa, the options seem limited.  

ALMAMULA, directed by Juan Sebastian Torales (France, Argentina, Italy/Narrative) 

After being gay bashed by local boys, Nino’s family moves to their country home. Nino is forced to attend confirmation class and is warned not to enter a nearby forest or risk being captured by the Almamula, a mythic creature that takes away those who commit carnal sins. But he is pulled to explore the forest and find out if the Almamula is real. 

BIG BOYS, directed by Corey Sherman (USA/Narrative) 

Jamie’s dream camping trip is ruined before it even begins when he finds out that his beloved cousin is bringing her new boyfriend. Jamie’s initial jealousy of the competent and confident Dan quickly turns into a friendship as the weekend progresses, and Jamie comes to terms with who he is. 

MUTT, directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz (USA/Narrative 

Over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, three people from Feña’s past are thrust back into his life after he lost since transitioning – his relationships with his father, his younger half-sister, and his ex-boyfriend – all while tackling the day-to-day challenges of living life in-between.  

NARROW PATH TO HAPPINESS, directed by Kata Olah (Hungary, USA/Narrative) 

A young Romani couple living in a remote village in Hungary have a very big dream: to make a musical based on their lives so they go to Budapest where they can live more openly. But, they must return to their village for one final reckoning, hoping to finally find the inspiration to write their own happy ending. 

NORWEGIAN DREAMS, directed by Levi Igor Devold (Norway, Poland, Germany/Narrative) 

Robert travels from Poland to begin work in a salmon processing plant off the Trøndelag coast in Norway. He begins spending time with colleague, and aspiring drag queen, Ivar. When a strike breaks out, his loyalty to his fellow workers is tested.  

QUEENDOM, directed by Agniia Galdanova (USA/Documentary) 

Gena, an artist from a small town in Russia, dresses in otherworldly costumes and protests on the streets of Moscow. She stages radical performances in public, which becomes a new form of art and activism and puts her life in danger. 

SPECIAL 20th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING: SCHOOL OF ROCK, directed by Richard Linklater (USA/Narrative) 

Fired from his band, down and out rockstar Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is desperate for work and takes a job as a substitute music teacher at an uptight private school where his attitude and hijinks have a powerful effect on his students.  

Special guest, Rivkah Reyes (Katie), will be in attendance to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mike White and Richard Linklater’s classic comedy.  

THE VENUS EFFECT (VENUSEFFEKTEN), directed by Anna Emma Haudal (Denmark/Narrative) 

Responsible and level-headed Liv believes she has her whole life figured out but cracks begin to show in her stable and simple life the arrival of eccentric artist Andrea. As the two women grow closer Liv’s life is thrown off course and she must contend with a breakup, a divorce, and an identity crisis that jeopardizes her shot at a happy life with the woman she loves.   

WOLF AND DOG (LOBO E CAO), directed by Claudia Varejao (Portugal, France/Narrative) 

Friends Ana and Luis were born on the island of São Miguel. Both have been expected to fit into the lives that have been laid out for them. But watching Luis push back against his father’s expectations, Ana begins to question the world around her.  

SHORTS PROGRAM 

The full shorts lineup can be found here. 

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The 33rd annual Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+

Film

 

 

  • THE WHALE
  • Starring: Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau
  • Directed by Darren Aronofsky
  • Rating: R
  • Running time: 1 hr 27 mins
  • A24

A box office star in the 1990s and into the 2000s, Brendan Fraser seemingly disappeared in recent years even though he continued to find work. Of course, this thread was discussed ad nauseum during the months leading up to the recent Academy Awards where Fraser’s years of hard work paid off with his own golden statue. It was much deserved for Fraser’s memorable role in the depressing drama “The Whale” is not only the best performance of his career but one of the greatest ever captured in cinema.

Now available everywhere, “The Whale,” based upon a 2012 play of the same name, revolves around Charlie (Fraser), a morbidly obese English instructor who teaches online writing courses with the camera turned off. A complete recluse, his only friend and caregiver is a gruff nurse named Liz (Hong Chau, “The Menu”). She repeatedly tries to get Charlie to see a doctor for his congestive heart failure, but it’s clear early on that he wants to die. His reasoning, though, is a mystery until later in the story.

On one random day, he is visited by Thomas (Ty Simpkins, “Iron Man 3,” “Jurassic World”), a young Christian missionary who tries, unsuccessfully, to convince Charlie that his soul needs saving. What Charlie wants to save instead is his relationship with his estranged and moody teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink, “Stranger Things”). She wants nothing to do with him because Charlie had abandoned her and her mother (Samantha Morton) to be with another man.

Knowing that death is coming, something he seems to welcome, Charlie bribes Ellie to start visiting him by promising to help her with schoolwork and the prospect of $120,000 going into her bank account. For her part, Ellie is asked not to tell her mother about her visits. As his health deteriorates more rapidly, Charlie’s desire to salvage his relationship with Ellie intensifies.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler,” “Pi”), “The Whale” often feels too much like a stage play and it comes off disjointed at times as a result. Aronofsky gets the most out of his cast, yet the story is a little too blah, which matches the overall feel of the film. All quibbles aside, what must be looked upon with awe is Fraser’s unforgettable performance. Forget about his wearing a 300-pound suit to reflect his character’s obesity. What’s important is how tragically sad and depressed his self-loathing character is. Fraser makes his character’s despair and desires tangible to the viewer, allowing us to easily become emotionally invested into Charlie. Without his towering performance, “The Whale” would have been something long forgotten about by now.

Overall, “The Whale” is watchable because of Fraser’s one-for-the-ages performance.

“The Whale” receives three stars out of five.

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    THE WHALE Starring: Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau Directed

TV

Michael J. Fox may be the only man on earth who doesn’t remember Susanna Hoffs.

Fox made the revelation Friday during an interview to promote his new Apple TV+ documentary, Still. The story focuses on his life and current battle with Parkinson’s disease.

“When I look at that period in the [documentary] it just seems crazy,” Fox told The Sunday Times. “Look at all the girls I dated. Some of them I can’t even remember. I mean, I dated Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles, and I can’t even remember it. But that’s just an example. Stuff like that happened all the time.”

The Back to the Future and Teen Wolf star briefly dated Hoffs in 1986. She went on to marry Austin Powers director Jay Roach and Fox married his “Family Ties” costar Tracy Pollan.

Recently, Fox allowed that too much partying may have played a role in his Parkinson’s disease.

“I mean, there’s so many ways that you can … that I could’ve hurt myself,”  Fox said in a “CBS on Sunday” interview with Jane Pauley. “I could’ve hit my head. I could’ve drank too much at a certain developmental period.”

Parkinson’s is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s, according to the CDC. Memory loss is considered to be a symptom.

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Michael J. Fox may be the only

What to Watch

Saturday, May 6, 2023 ratings — New Episodes: 48 Hours, Masters of Illusion, and Totally Weird and Funny.  Sports: NBA Countdown, NBA Basketball: Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers, USFL Football: Memphis Showboats vs. Michigan Panthers, and MLB Baseball.  Reruns: Masters of Illusion, Totally Weird and Funny, 48 Hours, and NCIS.

Note: If you’re not seeing the updated charts, please try reloading the page or go here.
Raw data courtesy Nielsen via SpoilerTV.

These are the fast affiliate ratings. The percentages represent the change since the previous original episode. (Percentages aren’t given for reruns or specials.) To see past ratings for a particular show, click the show’s link. The show pages are updated with the daily final ratings when they become available. Those pages include season averages to date.

What were you watching last night? Original network programming, reruns, cable, or something else?

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Saturday, May 6, 2023 ratings — New

Awards

The jury is still out on whether Amazon Freevee’s mockumentary sitcom “Jury Duty” will be able to break into the Emmys race, but the excitement for the comedy has taken the TV world by storm, and Amazon sees an opening for it.

Variety has learned exclusively Amazon plans to submit the eight-episode inaugural season for the Emmy comedy categories, seeking recognition in over a dozen key races including acting, writing and directing.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Emmy predictions in all categories.

Created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, the series follows the inner workings of a jury trial through the eyes of Ronald Gladden, a solar contractor from San Diego, who is unaware that his jury duty summons was not official and everyone on the jury aside from him, is an actor.

Gladden has been the comedy’s breakout star of the series and will seek TV Academy consideration in the lead comedy actor race, where he’d have to face off against seasoned Emmy winners like Bill Hader (“Barry”), Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) and Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”). However, whether or not the Television Academy will deem Gladden, who isn’t an “actor” and the only person unaware the case was fake, eligible to compete, remains a question heading into the submissions deadline.

Gladden has been an audience favorite, becoming the unknowing star of his version of “The Truman Show.” There’s precedent for such mockumentary-esque performances being recognized. Will Arnett may have played detective Terry Seattle on Netflix’s “Murderville,” which had a different celebrity and case in each of its six episodes, but the TV Academy deemed it ineligible to submit for variety sketch. Instead, it had to compete in the comedy races where its guests Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch and Sharon Stone all submitted in their respective categories.

Some elements are similar to past nominees like Larry David, who plays a fictionalized version of himself in HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and Michael J. Fox, who picked up a nom for guest comedy actor for playing himself. You could also look at anyone from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” that has picked up multiple acting mentions throughout its nearly 50-year run. “Reno 911” brought two noms to Kerry Kenney, as Deputy Trudy Wiegel, when it was on Comedy Central before moving to The Roku Channel, although in the short-form acting categories where it was eligible.

Amazon Freevee

The “Jury Duty” ensemble, notably James Marsden, who plays an exaggerated version of himself as an alternate juror, will be submitted in the supporting comedy races (and it’s quite possibly his finest acting performance of his career yet). The other actors eligible to submit include Mekki Leeper, Edy Modica, Ishmel Sahid, David Brown, Cassandra Blair, Maria Russell, Kirk Fox, Susan Berger, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Ron Song and Brandon Loeser.

Noteworthy, it would be difficult to imagine a world where Susie Farris wouldn’t be considered a slam dunk entry for best comedy casting for managing to assemble this ragtag team of comedians (and one non-actor) who are perfectly made for this absurd court case.

The directing by Jake Szymanski and the various writing teams will also be submitted for attention, although Amazon has yet to confirm which episodes, in particular, will be chosen.

Emmy submissions are due on Tuesday, May 9.

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The jury is still out on whether

Docs

Writer-director Samuel McIntosh’s Interstate is like a dream, drenched in eerie darkness and comforted by nurturing quiet. The short film, while heavily abstract, has just enough structure to raise compelling questions and likewise has just enough mystique to create lasting pathos. It’s ruminations on dreams and why we have them are fully embodied by the visuals.

Louie (Adam Jones), a young man living a purposeless existence, accompanies his acquaintance Kurt (Joseph Lopez) as they drive through some faraway backwater in the middle of the night. As we have all done during long midnight trips, Louie ponders with his free time. The film is recorded as one unending thought, broken up by naturalized interjections, much like our everyday thought process.

“…one unending thought, broken up by naturalized interjections…”

These dreamlike aesthetics make the core theme palpable. The haze of the car’s motion is juxtaposed with the lurid glare of the lights and the ambiguously lit faces of the two passengers. The visuals create a foundation from which Interstate builds its perspectives. Subtly, it raises key considerations, all universally understandable, such as our reactions to the pronouncements others have made of us or the justifications we use to continue our precise lives.

The final act of Interstate consolidates these ideas when the ongoing reverie is broken by the consequences of daydreaming. The question left to us is likely the strongest point: What happens to our lives when we dream for too long? McIntosh makes it a question worth pondering.

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Writer-director Samuel McIntosh’s Interstate is like a dream, drenched

Trending

Indian films are a box office mainstay and one, Jodi, from Rhythm Boyz Entertainment, hit big this weekend Stateside, grossing $734,000 on just 125 screens. In April, the film set a record as the most viewed Punjabi trailer in 24 hours (over 12 million views on YouTube).

“This has been happening more and more — Indian films popping into the top 5, or 10, or 15th” place in North America, said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, which compiled the numbers on Jodi. “It shows the strength of Indian cinema. That’s a really impressive number, almost three quarters of a million dollars at 125 theaters.” The ones that pop do really well on a per-theater-average, even if they make $1-$2 million or aren’t in the top ten, he said. Jodi’s PTA is $5.75k.

Some other breakouts this year include Waltair Veerayya, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and Dasara. Indian films may wind up being even more important to exhibitors down the line given the potential for prolonged Hollywood labor action.

Jodi is a musical love story written and directed by Amberdeep Singh, starring Dosanjh and Nimrat Khaira as two talented and passionate artists who set out on a journey to redefine the Punjabi folk music scene in the 1980s. It’s said to be based on the life of slain Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila and his second wife Bibi Amarjot Kaur. The film was scheduled for release twice during Covid and almost had its opening stayed on Friday in a legal dispute over rights that was resolved at the last minute, according to news reports.

Elsewhere in specialty: Multicultural romcom What’s Love Got To Do With It? from Shout! Studios grossed an estimated $78k of 500+ screens, according to sources.

Limited: Kino Lorber opened Maxwell Wolkin’s political thriller Chile ‘76 in two theaters to a debut of $16k for a nice PTA of $8k — making it the top-grossing subtitled film in New York City this weekend, the distributor said. Expanding to LA and other markets on May 19. 

Greenwhich Entertainment doc The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons grossed an estimated $6.25k at one location, NYC’s Film Forum. LA run starts June 2 at the Laemmle Monica.

KimStim opened Unrest in NYC at Film at Lincoln Center for at $4.2k. Expands to LA May 19 at Laemmle Monica. 

Holdovers:  Sisu from Lionsgate sees an an estimated $1.08 million (for a $5.5+ million cume) on 1,000 screens in week two, where it sits at no. 10 at the box office. During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland.

Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society from Focus Features is reporting an estimated $215k weekend and a cume to date of $1.3 million.

Sideshow/Janus Films release of The Eight Mountains grossed about $16k on 4 screens, for a per-screen average of $4k and a new cume of $57.3k.

R.M.N from IFC Films grossed an estimated $11k in week two at 41 locations for a cume of $22.1k.

Abramorama documentary 32 Sounds grossed $4k in one run for a cume of $27.9k.

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Indian films are a box office mainstay

Tech

Tucker Carlson is “preparing for war” amid his ongoing Fox News contract dispute that prevents him from taking a job at another media outlet following his abrupt ouster at the cable news network, according to Axios.

Carlson, who is currently under contract with Fox News until early 2025, has reportedly been contacted for gigs across conservative media outlets, including Newsmax and video platform Rumble, since being axed from Fox News nearly two weeks ago, though it is unknown if the network will continue to pay Carlson up to $20 million a year to avoid moving over to a competitor.

After an unnamed source told Axios that Carlson “knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is ready to start drawing a map” as the contract dispute deepends, Bryan Freedman, the attorney Carlson hired for his contract dispute, said it is “beyond preposterous” that the former host would be silenced.

“The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous,” Freedman told Axios.

According to Axios, the anchor is planning to ramp up his retaliation against the network, marking a switch up in his approach, which previously called for a “quiet and clean” strategy.

“They’re coming to him and saying: ‘Do you want me to hit Fox?’” a close friend of Carlson’s told Axios. “He’s been saying: ‘No. I want to get this done quiet and clean.’ Now, we’re going from peacetime to Defcon 1 — His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom.”

Carlson’s sudden departure came as a shock to the cable news industry, as the network immediately shifted his 8 p.m. primetime slot with “Fox News Tonight,” which is described “as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.”

Representatives for Fox News referred TheWrap to the network’s statement announcing Carlson’s departure, which stated that Carlson and the network had “agreed to part ways.”

Tucker Carlson’s Racist Texts, ‘Creepy Comments’ and Trash-Talk Videos: Somebody’s Got the Knives Out, But Who?

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Tucker Carlson is “preparing for war” amid

Video

As the ripple effects of the writers’ strike play out across Hollywood, the Writers Guild of America has notified studios that it will not be running FYC ads for the upcoming Emmy season on its website or in email communications to members, two insiders have told TheWrap.

“After deliberation with our legal department, all FYC production is now suspended,” read an email from the guild to studio awards teams obtained by TheWrap. “We understand that this may be frustrating and that you have media already planned, but due to the strike rules, we cannot continue.”

The guild is offering studios who have already bought ad space the choice between a full refund or credit towards future “for your consideration” ads after the strike concludes.


After several weeks of negotiations that began on March 20, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to reach an agreement on a new bargaining agreement, breaking talks this past Monday. Thousands of WGA members, with the support of members of other Hollywood unions, have formed picket lines at studios and production offices in Los Angeles and New York, halting production on late-night comedy shows as well as major shows like “Stranger Things” and “Abbott Elementary.”

The strike has also affected events happening around Hollywood such as the MTV Movie and TV Awards, which will air on Sunday as a pre-taped, clip-based broadcast after the WGA announced that they would be picketing the event at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and Drew Barrymore announced that she would no longer host the show in solidarity.

The WGA has also held membership meetings in Los Angeles and New York in the past week to prepare future actions, including a public rally that will be held on May 15 with the support of other Hollywood unions. Kay Cannon, creator of the “Pitch Perfect” film trilogy and member of the WGA negotiating committee, told TheWrap that the L.A. meeting held at the Shrine Auditorium was “one of the most emotional, amazing experiences of a united front that I’ve ever been a part of.”

MTV Movie and TV Awards Will Change Its Format as WGA Strike Unfolds

This weekend, guild leadership held a meeting for showrunners in Beverly Hills urging them to reject demands from multiple studios to return to work on their TV series in a producer capacity, saying such work is in violation of the guild’s strike rules despite claims to the contrary from studios.

“Under the National Labor Relations Act, the WGA is not permitted to interfere with an employer’s right to designate employees to perform certain supervisory functions. If you fail to provide contracted services due to the strike, HBO/HBO Max will not be obliged to continue your salary,” read an email from HBO.

Along with higher compensation for streaming shows, the WGA is looking to codify the structure of the writers room with minimum staffing and duration of employment requirements, proposals done in response to the proliferation of mini-rooms, which WGA members say put pressure on writers to produce more scripts before a series is even greenlit for less pay and without allowing them to have the experience of working on a show during production.

The AMPTP rejected these proposals without a counteroffer, saying that its member studios ” don’t agree with applying a one-size-fits-all solution to shows that are unique and different in their approach to creative staffing.”

“If writing needs to be done, writers are hired, but these proposals require the employment of writers whether they’re needed for the creative process or not,” the AMPTP said on Thursday. “While the WGA has argued that the proposal is necessary to ‘preserv[e] the writers’ room,’ it is in reality a hiring quota that is incompatible with the creative nature of our industry.”

Michael J. Fox Documentary Los Angeles Premiere Postponed Amid WGA Strike

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As the ripple effects of the writers’

Entertaintment


By Nicole Gallucci

Searching for a gripping new series to obsess over every week? Silo on Apple TV+ has arrived, and once you watch the first two episodes of this dystopian sci-fi drama you won’t want to stop. Based on books by Hugh Howey and adapted for TV by Graham Yost (Justified, Sneaky Pete), Silo explores a post-apocalyptic society living underground in fear that the world above is toxic. The silo’s residents don’t know who built their home or why the outside world is such a threat, but when curious souls start asking questions, they learn that seeking the truth has deadly consequences. Rebecca Ferguson leads a stellar ensemble that includes Rashida Jones, Common, David Oyelowo, Chinaza Uche, Tim Robbins, Harriet Walter, and more. As noted in our review, Silo‘s standout performances, score, production design, and sharp storytelling will keep you hooked until the very end.

Photo: Apple TV+

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By Nicole Gallucci Searching for a gripping new series

Movies

“Sure, she wants to make her bed with a decent chap when the time is right, but the time is never right!” Lane tells Johnson’s assistant, Allicia Mac-Teer, anachronistically (Hanksishly). “Nor is the chap.”

Advised to go by “Al” because of sexism, the assistant gets hired after mastering a time management system at community college, “L.I.S.T.eN.,” short for “Let It Settle, Then eNact,” and using it to order Johnson his favorite frozen yogurt. (Pomodoro technique, move over.) Then there is Ynez Gonzalez-Cruz, driver for a Lyft competitor, PONY, whose ingratiation into the “Knightshade” base camp will eventually get her an office of her own and, after years of struggling in the gig economy, a salary that’s “a joke of abundance.”

Moviemaking, Hanks would remind us, can be a rising tide, not in the depressing new climate change way, but the old optimistic American lift-all-boats way.

He also conveys successfully that this “Business of Show” in the “City of Angles,” as Johnson nicknames it, is thoroughly exhausting, a realm where everyone is Wren Lane, waiting for the golden hour shot, showing up to get fake blood applied at 2 a.m. The word “coffee” appears, by my count, on 85 pages: triple espressos from a Di Orso Negro machine with frothed half-and-half for Mac-Teer; HaKiDo with oat milk for OKB; Pirate drip for a Teamster named Ace Acevido. Highly specific smoothies are fetched; catering tables are lovingly inventoried.

“The offerings are both substantial, healthy snacks and stuff that is horrible for you but so very, very much appreciated,” our omniscient narrator shares. Sometimes “Masterpiece” reads like the thank-you speech Hanks, consummate nice guy, would give if granted unlimited time at the Oscars. You might admire its rah-rah spirit, yet still want to press fast-forward.

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“Sure, she wants to make her bed

Latest News

It was a Chris Pratt versus Chris Pratt showdown at the box office this weekend as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” finally dethroned “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in a promising lead-up to this year’s summer movie season.

Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opened in first place at the domestic box office with $114 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore. After a four-week streak at No. 1, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” came in second, adding $18.6 million for a North American cumulative of $518.1 million.

The latest “Guardians” installment matched early box-office projections, which anticipated that the film would make about $110 million in the United States and Canada. Internationally, the superhero flick amassed $168 million for a global cumulative of $282 million, according to studio estimates.

Rounding out the top three at the domestic box office this weekend was Warner Bros.’ “Evil Dead Rise,” which scared up $5.7 million in its third weekend for a North American total of $54.1 million.

Directed by new co-head of DC Studios James Gunn, Marvel’s latest offering reunites Star-Lord (Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket the raccoon (Bradley Cooper) for one last chaotic adventure through outer space.

The third and final “Guardians” movie notched the second biggest domestic opening of the franchise. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” launched at $145 million exactly six years ago; the original “Guardians of the Galaxy” bowed at $94 million in 2014.

The only other Marvel movie to launch this year so far, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” debuted at $104 million in February.

Unlike “Quantumania,” however, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” fared well with critics, earning an 81% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The blockbuster also received an A-grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ has its own appreciable mean streak, to be sure, but that streak is still largely subordinated to sentimental franchise-finale demands,” writes Times film critic Justin Chang in his review.

“That may be a compromise, but it’s not a failure. For all the visual weirdness and misfit irreverence he pumped into these stories, Gunn’s obvious love for these characters has been the trilogy’s consistent and undeniable saving grace. And he notably doesn’t sell out that love as he brings those characters all to a conclusion, or at least a mid-franchise inflection point, that carries an ache of bittersweet feeling.”

Opening in wide release next weekend are Focus Features’ “Book Club: The Next Chapter” and Viva Pictures’ “Rally Road Racers.”

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It was a Chris Pratt versus

MCU



Consider the Galaxy permanently guarded.

The Star-Lord, the plant, the raccoon, the telepath, and the daughters of Thanos have done their duty.

Image: Marvel

Did audiences support them in their endeavor? We’re pretty much only going to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in the latest MarvelBlog News.

Marvel’s Most Important Debut Since Endgame

Image: Marvel

Let’s be realistic about the current state of Marvel.

On paper, 2023 appeared to be the continuation of a strong turnaround for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The company was riding the wave of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which was both a financial and critical success.

Image: Marvel

Co-star Angela Bassett won a Golden Globe and appeared likely to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Sadly (but understandably), Jamie Lee Curtis won instead. Both roles represented the pinnacle of triumphant acting careers.

So, either woman would have been a worthy winner.

Image: Marvel

Remarkably, this loss barely pops up on the radar for all the stuff that has gone wrong with Marvel in 2023.

First, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania disappointed at the box office.

The film has earned less worldwide than the original Ant-Man, which wasn’t even pitched as a serious project. Edgar Wright planned to make it a comedy.

Image: Marvel

Even worse, audiences disliked Quantumania and particularly singled out the special effects, which were, well, terrible.

Marvel knew it, too. As I chronicled last year, the studio faced a “pick your poison” last summer wherein it had to pick between Quantumania and Wakanda Forever.

The latter film gained the full force of Marvel resources while Quantumania settled for the scraps. Not coincidentally, one film’s CGI is substantially better.

Image: Marvel

Realistically, someone at Marvel had to take the fall for such an unforgivable failure.

The company threw longtime Marvel executive Victoria Alonso under the bus, as she was technically in charge of the studio’s special effects.

Image: Marvel

Similarly, Disney finally cut the cord with Isaac Perlmutter, the very individual who sold Marvel to them in the first place.

None of this looked good for the studio, and the legal woes of Jonathan Majors, Quantumania’s Kang the Conqueror, aren’t helping any.

An Opening Weekend Curiosity

Image: Marvel

Marvel obviously needs a hit. Ostensibly, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 should be a slam dunk.

After all, the first two films were wildly successful. However, some behind-the-scenes matters have muddied the waters.

A few years ago, Disney fired director James Gunn due to some ill-considered tweets he’d made a decade before then.

Image: Marvel

Gunn joined the competition and created The Suicide Squad for DC Studios. And that’s where the story gets weird.

After an appropriate length of time, Disney invited Gunn to return for the climactic film in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.

In the interim, The Suicide Squad bombed at the box office. However, Gunn’s HBO Max series, Peacemaker, became a bona fide hit.

Image: Marvel

Also, new ownership arrived at Warner Bros. Discovery. This group liked Gunn and offered him a high-profile assignment.

Gunn is now the creative leader of all DC Studios content. He’s the Kevin Feige of DC.

In the interim, the director has completed and filmed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (GOTG3) …but he’s working for the enemy now.

Image: Marvel

Disney already had reason to question Gunn’s PR track record. Then, it watched uncomfortably while the director promoted his final Guardians film.

To Gunn’s credit, he comported himself like the seasoned pro he is and delivered Marvel/Disney with an exceptional film.

Still, comic book fans are unquestionably aware of this curiosity, and it has caused them to wait a bit for reviews before deciding whether to watch GOTG in theaters.

Image: Marvel

Similarly, many Marvel fans remember Quantumania more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 right now since the former film just came out. And it wasn’t good.

For these reasons, nobody held lofty box office expectations for Marvel’s latest movie.

How Did GOTG3 Do?

Image: Marvel

The answer here is “modestly well.” I’ll add a lot of qualifiers to that assessment, though.

A firm box office law is that the quality of a film directly impacts the opening weekend performance of its successor.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (GOTG2) opened to $145 million domestically and more than $425 million worldwide.

Image: Marvel

Neither of those totals appeared realistic for the third film, especially not the global take. Many international theaters remain negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Also, exactly six years have passed since GOTG2. Marvel has slid a bit since then, as has the overall box office climate.

Ticket sales are way down, although that’s largely hidden by dramatic ticket price inflation.

Image: Marvel

Finally, we have an odd Marvel factor to consider. To fans, the most recent movie isn’t GOTG2; it’s Quantumania.

So, that film’s quality hurts the potential opening weekend for GOTG3. People want to love Marvel films, but they’ve been burned recently.

Image: Marvel

For these reasons, I’m not surprised that the film opened to $114 million domestically. In fact, I’d describe the global total of $282 million as a win.

GOTG3 beats Quantumania’s opening weekend of $104 million domestically and easily surpasses that film’s global debut of $250 million.

That’s only part of the story, though.

GOTG3 Is Good

Image: Marvel

Here’s something that drives me crazy about box office discussions. People often lose sight of the obvious.

A film’s quality ultimately determines its fate…and I don’t simply mean at movie theaters.

Marvel and Disney will make a lot more money from a movie that’s remembered fondly than one that’s…Quantumania.

Image: Marvel

That’s the most positive aspect of GOTG3’s debut thus far. Critics and audiences alike adore the film.

Currently, the third Guardians movie has scored 81 percent on Rotten Tomatoes among critics and has an Audience Score of 96 percent.

Importantly, GOTG3 earned an A Cinemascore, which is only the second one for a Disney MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame.

Image: Marvel

All the other accompanying metrics suggest that movie-goers adore the concluding chapter for the Guardians saga. In short, it’s a hit.

Marvel desperately need a great film, and Gunn delivered.

The question becomes how much word-of-mouth positively impacts the film’s box office during its theatrical release.

Image: Marvel

Since 2021, Marvel movies have generally fallen off a cliff in weeks two and three. Can GOTG3 avoid that fate?

Even if the film cannot, it’ll still be remembered fondly, sell lots of merchandise, and please increasingly demanding Marvel fans.

While some may paint the opening weekend box office as disappointing, I believe it’s realistically about the best Marvel/Disney could have expected here.

Thanks for visiting MarvelBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond-Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!

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DCU

The CW’s The Flash became a stable fixture of the Arrowverse over its nine-season run, putting the eponymous Barry Allen, a.k.a. the Flash, front-and-center as the Fastest Man Alive. Grant Gustin originally debuted as Barry Allen in 2013 during Arrow season 2, The CW’s premiere series in the Arrowverse, before headlining his own show, The Flash, from 2014 to 2023. DC’s Flash has been adapted into live-action several times, including by Rod Haase in 1979, John Wesley Shipp in the 1990s, and Ezra Miller for the DCEU, but Grant Gustin’s portrayal of the Scarlet Speedster is the longest-running and most developed.

As a metahuman who gains superhuman speed after the explosion of STAR Labs’ particle accelerator, Barry Allen has a remarkable amount of power that is demonstrated throughout The Flash’s nine seasons. Barry’s powers have fluctuated over the years, but his ability to tap into the “Speed Force” not only allows him to boost his speed but also travel through time and even jump to alternate realities. Thanks to his remarkable gifts and brilliant mind, he quickly became the staunch protector of Central City, surrounding himself with loyal allies who help him defeat deadly threats and hone his talents to become the best superhero he can be.


Season One

After a brief introduction in Arrow season 2, episode 8, “The Scientist,” Gustin brought Barry Allen to life in The Flash season 1, which premiered on The CW in 2014. Waking up from a coma at STAR Labs, Barry found he could move at superhuman speeds, quickly setting a baseline for his powers by battling Clyde Mardon, a metahuman with the ability to control the weather. Running at a speed of over 700mph, just under the speed of sound, Barry was able to stop a tornado from forming and later broke the sound barrier when developing a supersonic punch that could defeat Tony Woodward, a man made of organic steel.

Being able to run faster than the speed of sound (clocking in at around 837mph to defeat Woodward), Barry taught himself to modulate his movements which allowed him to run those speeds without generating a sonic boom. By the end of The Flash season 1, Barry had learned how to use the Speed Force and phase through solid matter. His most impressive skill was showcased in The Flash’s season 1 finale, “Fast Enough,” which saw Barry run fast enough to travel through time, hoping to prevent his mother’s death at the hands of the Reverse Flash. He resisted this urge, however, but still clocked in at over 1500mph.

Season Two

grant gustin in the flash season 2

The Flash season 2, which premiered on The CW in October 2015, saw Barry Allen diversifying his powers beyond superhuman speed. Under the tutelage of Jay Garrick (later revealed to be the speeding serial killer Zoom in disguise), Barry began mastering tricks such as throwing lightning and traveling between alternate realities of the Arrowverse. This season also saw Barry learn how to create a time remnant: a clone of himself borne of a potential future, created by the Speed Force to maintain the continuity of the timeline. Alongside these remarkable new talents, Barry’s speed continued to improve during The Flash season 2.

As well as developing the natural superhuman speed of a variety of speedsters in the Arrowverse, The Flash season 2 also introduced the dangerous drug Velocity 9, which could allow a temporary connection to the Speed Force. In order to battle a speedster enhanced with Velocity 9, Eliza Harmon, a.k.a. Trajectory, Barry had to run at roughly 2532mph. Throughout the season, Barry increased his base speed by training with a tachyon device, which eventually allowed him to travel between dimensions unaided, leading to his initial encounter with Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl, on Earth-38. Though Barry briefly loses his abilities in The Flash season 2, he eventually achieves speeds over 10,000mph.

Season Three

grant gustin in the flash season 3

The ending of The Flash season 2 sees Barry travel through time and save his mother’s life, which leads to season 3’s adaptation of DC Comics’ Flashpoint storyline. This timeline featured the emergence of Savitar, a god-like speedster with an immense grudge against Barry, who later turns out to be a clone of a future version of Barry himself. Savitar was so fast that Barry couldn’t detect him even with his connection to the Speed Force, making him a formidable villain who is eventually defeated as the Flash phased into his armor and exposed the new speedster, allowing him to be taken down by Barry’s love-interest Iris West.

The Flash season 3 also saw Wally West gain speedster powers from the mysterious Alchemy – a Savitar-possessed scientist – and the new speedster begins fighting alongside Barry Allen as Kid Flash. The pair test each other throughout the season, with Barry training the new hero so that he’s strong enough to save Iris after receiving visions of her future death. Barry also meets a speedster from another reality, Earth-2, named Jesse Quick, whom he tests himself against, being able to keep up with a comfortable jog at around 2300mph. At the end of the season, Barry imprisons himself inside the Speed Force as punishment for creating the Flashpoint timeline.

Season Four

grant gustin in the flash season 4-1

Barry returned after six months in the Speed Force with a new level of speed and a number of new tricks. Perhaps the most impressive of these was “Flashtime”, a heightened sense of awareness that allowed Barry to boost his brain’s activity to react quickly to events around him, effectively stopping time to simulate near-perfect reflexes. Barry couldn’t use Flashtime for long before burning out, but he was able to train himself and his allies, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, to operate in a state of Flashtime for an elongated length of time. While no numerical speed was given for Flashtime, this must have been almost the speed of light.

An even more remarkable feat came during The Flash season 4, episode 12, “Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash,” which saw Barry’s life saved by a prison inmate known as Dave “Big Sir” Ratchet, a man who Barry learns is innocent of the crime he’s incarcerated for. In an effort to repay his debt, Barry helps Ratchet escape from prison, using his superhuman speed to break him free, relocating him to Jiaju, China. Assuming Barry and Ratchet traveled almost 7500 miles in a matter of seconds, Barry was running at around 120 million mph, a drop in the bucket compared to speeds demonstrated by Barry in earlier seasons of The Flash.

Season Five

grant gustin in the flash season 5

The Flash season 5 didn’t do much to expand on Barry’s power level in the Arrowverse, as the majority of the season focused on the introduction of Nora West-Allen, the mysterious future daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West, who also happens to be a speedster. Her appearance in The Flash’s present-day timeline alter events, and eventually wipe this version of her from existence. Her timeline alterations also bring forward the terrifying “Crisis” event that was originally supposed to take place in 2024 but would then emerge in 2019 as the Arrowverse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event.

While not much emphasis was placed on Barry’s own powers during The Flash season 5, the Flash did express a greater understanding of his connection to the Speed Force and learned how to use it more passively than other speedsters – especially when training his own daughter. Barry was even able to drag Nora back to her own time with ease after learning that she had been working with the villainous Eobard Thawne, and warned her not to return as he would sense her in the Speed Force. The Flash season 5 acted as more of a character study for Barry Allen, Iris West, and Nora West-Allen.

Season Six

grant gustin in the flash season 6

The first two episodes of The Flash season 6 offered definitive yet contradictory limits for the Flash’s speed. The season 6 premiere, “Into the Vortex,” saw Barry trying to save the stranded consciousness of Chester P. Runk by diving into a black hole, resulting in one of the most awe-inspiring visuals in The Flash‘s history. The Speed Force supposedly had a hand in protecting Barry from the immense gravity and lack of atmosphere in the black hole, but Barry had to have been running much faster than the speed of light to accomplish this impressive feat – somewhere over 670 million mph – proving his improvements over the series.

This was contradicted in the next episode, however, as Esperanza Garcia’s, a.k.a. Ultraviolet’s, light-emitting powers were said to be 80-times-faster than the Flash’s top speed, so Barry couldn’t have been traveling at the speed of light. This would make Barry’s top speed in The Flash at around 8.3 million mph, though it’s possible this is how fast Barry is without tapping into the Speed Force. During The Flash season 6, the transformative “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event occurs over all the Arrowverse’s series’, and the season also ends with the Speed Force dying, rendering all speedsters with no abilities whatsoever.

Season Seven

grant gustin in the flash season 7

The Flash season 7 put a lot more emphasis on Barry Allen’s heart rather than his speed, so it didn’t do much to showcase how fast or powerful he has become over the course of the series. However, season 7 sees Barry and Iris West create an artificial Speed Force to replace the Speed Force that died at the end of season 6, allowing Barry to still harness his superhuman speed. While battling the manifestation of the Speed Force driven mad, Barry became capable of “speed-thinking,” being able to run calculations in his head faster than a quantum computer, though this newfound efficiency came at the cost of his humanity.

The reborn Speed Force claimed that Barry Allen was faster than ever before, but no actual numbers were given to quantify this level of speed. However, Barry’s powers were proven to have increased in The Flash’s season 7 finale, “Heart of the Matter, Part 2,” which featured the Flash facing a rejuvenated version of his greatest foe: the Reverse Flash. During this fight, Barry was able to avoid swings from the villain, catch a punch mid-air, and hurl his enemy several dozen feet. While Barry Allen has often incorrectly been called the Fastest Man Alive, this battle proved that he was actually worthy of that title.

Season Eight

grant gustin in the flash season 8

The Flash season 8 picked up six months after season 7’s finale, kicking off with the Arrowverse’s “Armageddon” crossover event. This season was quick to establish that Barry’s powers had improved, with the opening scene featuring Caitlin Snow questioning why Barry would walk to get coffee when he “can run 4000 miles an hour.” Barry later went on to give a practical demonstration of his speed, evacuating two bullet trains before they collided, easily emptying both trains and covering a huge amount of distance in twelve seconds. Later on, Barry clocked in at around 15,000mph without the assistance of the Speed Force.

Season 8 pitted Barry Allen against some of his most formidable villains yet, including the re-emergence of Eobard Thawne, the psychic alien Despero, a malevolent entity known as Deathstorm, and the rise of the Negative Speed Force and the Negative Forces. During an epic battle in The Flash’s season 8 finale, “Negative, Part 2,” Thawne is chosen as the Negative Speed Force’s avatar and goes up against the Flash. Barry is able to reverse Thawne’s own attack, thrusting him out of the timeline and effectively resetting the Reverse Flash’s timeline, Reverse-Flashpoint, in which he was the Flash and Barry was the Reverse Flash.

Season Nine

grant gustin in the flash season 9

Confirmed to be The Flash’s final season, season 9 opened by pitting Barry Allen against a new speedster known as Red Death, who turns out to be a version of Batwoman Ryan Wilder from Earth-4125. Barry Allen eventually manages to defeat Red Death with the main reality’s version of Batwoman though faces a new threat in the next part of the season, particularly in season 9, episode 9, “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To.” This episode marked Ramsey Rosso’s return at Barry Allen’s birthday party, a villain who turns Barry’s friends into zombies and manipulates Wally West into killing Barry and taking over the multiverse.

Barry Allen is resurrected by Oliver Queen, a.k.a. the Arrowverse’s Green Arrow, in the afterlife, with the latter briefly returning with the Scarlet Speedster to defeat Rosso and save his friends. Even so, this battle opens a gateway through the multiverse which could cause serious problems in the upcoming part of The Flash season 9. Over the years, Barry Allen has surrounded himself with allies, some of which have incredible powers of their own, so less focus has been given to his own abilities. Even so, with The Flash coming to an end in May 2023, there’s still time for Barry Allen to show off more of his remarkable powers.

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The CW's The Flash became a stable

Comics

Back in April, users with Twitter’s Circle feature that saw the platform expose private tweets to strangers. Now, nearly a month later, the company has finally commented on the issue. In an email seen by , Twitter told affected users the exposure was the result of “a security incident that occured earlier this year.”

The company claims the issue was “immediately fixed.” It also shared an apology. “Twitter is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who use our service, and we understand the risks that an incident like this can introduce and we deeply regret this happened,” the company said. When news of the exposure first started circulating online, some, including creator Theo Brown, speculated the issue was the result of Twitter failing to filter Circle tweets out of its recommendation algorithm. Twitter has not operated a communications department since Elon Musk’s first round of layoffs, and the company did not initially acknowledge the issue.

More broadly, Twitter has dealt with a growing number of technical issues since Musk’s . The billionaire has reduced the company’s workforce by at least 60 percent, gutting many of its . Over that time, Twitter has suffered and otherwise created confusion over feature rollouts and removals.

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Back in April, users with Twitter’s

Festivals

No matter how many times I write a spec script, I always try to stick to my schedule. 

As we delve into the world of the writers being on strike, many of us are taking the time to write a spec script. That’s the work we are allowed to do for ourselves. It’s also a bit of a breath of fresh air.

Specs allow you to dig into yourself and unpack your wants and needs. 

As someone who has been through the ups and downs of writing a spec script, I understand the importance of having a clear roadmap to make the writing process more manageable. The more you plan, the better you do.

Today, I’m going to focus on how you can make that planning work for you too. I’ll share my insights on how to take your spec script from idea to execution using a step-by-step approach, focusing on outlining your script, the basics of a screenplay outline, and tips for effective spec script writing.

So, buckle up and get ready to start your screenwriting journey!

‘Barton Fink’Credit: 20th Century Fox

Introduction to Spec Script Writing

A spec script, short for speculative screenplay, is a script written without a commitment from a producer or studio – you write it on your own, and then try to sell it later.

The purpose of writing a spec is to showcase your talent and unique voice as a writer. In the highly competitive world of screenwriting, a well-written spec script can open doors, get you noticed, and even land you a job.

You can prove you have a voice people need to listen to. 

Importance of Outlining Your Script

I cannot stress enough how important it has been for me to outline my screenplays. Starting your spec script without an outline is like going on a road trip without a map. An outline helps you organize your story and ensures that you have a clear path from beginning to end. It serves as a blueprint for your screenplay, allowing you to focus on the creative aspects of writing while ensuring that your story remains cohesive and engaging.

It also is a great way to stay on schedule. If you know where you’re going, you can get to the end much faster. 

Outlining your script also helps you identify and resolve potential problems in your story before you start writing. This can save you a significant amount of time and frustration, as it’s much easier to make changes to an outline than a full screenplay. Additionally, having a solid outline can help you maintain momentum and motivation throughout the writing process, as you’ll have a clear sense of where your story is heading.

‘The Goonies’Credit: Warner Bros.

The Basics of a Screenplay Outline

Here are the basics of outlining your screenplay:

  1. Unraveling the Map: Do you have an opening scene that defines the movie?

  2. The Launch Point: Where are we, and who are we with?

  3. The First Leg: What’s a normal day look like in this world?

  4. Change Course: What sets our characters off on their journey from normalcy?

  5. The Foot of the Mountain: Okay, we’re going on this journey together.

  6. Climbing The Side: It starts hard, but you get used to the problems as you go.

  7. Through the Cave: Do you have a B story? Set that story off on its own now too.

  8. Reassess the Problem: You’re in the middle. Is there another way to get it done?

  9. Try and Fail: Things begin to fall apart, can they handle it?

  10. The Fall: The worst thing happens, something so bad you don’t think you can get up.

  11. The Hidden Clue: What do your characters discover about themselves/the problem that they never saw before?

  12. Race to the Finish: They’re up and running no matter what.

  13. The Treasure Chest: Did they get what they came for?

  14. Where We Go From Here: Show us the world in a new light, hint what’s next.

How to Write a Screenplay Outline: Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Brainstorm your story ideas: Begin by brainstorming your story ideas and jotting down any interesting concepts, characters, or plot points that come to mind. This will help you to generate ideas and identify the most compelling aspects of your story.

  2. Develop your logline: Once you have a clear idea of your story, craft a compelling logline that succinctly captures its essence. This will serve as the foundation for your outline and help you to stay focused on the core elements of your story.

  3. Create a synopsis: Expand on your logline by writing a brief synopsis of your story. This should include the main characters, conflicts, and turning points in your story.

  4. Break your story into three acts: Divide your synopsis into three acts: setup, confrontation, and resolution. Each act should represent a distinct phase in your story, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

  5. Outline your major plot points: Identify the key plot points and turning points in your story, and include them in your act breakdown. This will help you to maintain structure and pacing throughout your screenplay.

  6. Create a scene-by-scene breakdown: Finally, create a detailed scene-by-scene breakdown of your screenplay, including location, characters, and a brief description of the action. This will serve as a roadmap for your writing and help you to maintain focus and momentum throughout the process.

‘Ghostwriter’Credit: PBS

Screenplay Outline Example: Analyzing a Successful Spec Script

To better understand the process of creating a screenplay outline, let’s take a look at a successful spec script: Good Will Hunting by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The film, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, tells the story of a young janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is a self-taught mathematics genius.

It’s a pretty great script to study when you want to learn the craft. 

The logline for Good Will Hunting might be: “A troubled young janitor at MIT, who possesses a hidden gift for mathematics, must confront his past and embrace his potential with the help of a compassionate therapist.”

The three-act structure for Good Will Hunting could be broken down as follows:

  1. Act One: We are introduced to Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a janitor at MIT with a troubled past and a hidden talent for mathematics. After solving a complex math problem, Will is discovered by Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård), who offers him a unique opportunity.
  2. Act Two: Will begins therapy with Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), who helps him confront his demons and embrace his potential. As Will grows and develops as a person, he faces challenges in his relationships with his friends and loves interest, Skylar (Minnie Driver).
  3. Act Three: After a breakthrough in therapy, Will makes peace with his past and decides to pursue a life beyond his hometown, leaving to find Skylar and explore his potential.

‘Good Will Hunting’Credit: Miramax Films

Tips for Effective Spec Script Writing

Everyone wants to write a spec that sells, but you have to get a grip on the important elements before you can ever dream of getting it into the right producer’s hands. 

  1. Focus on character development: Strong, relatable characters are the foundation of a successful spec script. Invest time in developing your characters’ backstories, motivations, and arcs to create engaging and memorable protagonists.

  2. Maintain a clear structure and pacing: A well-structured screenplay with a clear beginning, middle, and end will keep your audience engaged and invested in your story. Be mindful of pacing and ensure that each scene serves a purpose in advancing your plot.

  3. Show, don’t tell: In screenwriting, it’s essential to convey information through visuals and action rather than relying on dialogue. Use descriptive language and carefully crafted action lines to create vivid, engaging scenes.

  4. Write compelling dialogue: While it’s crucial to show rather than tell, the dialogue still plays a vital role in your screenplay. Strive to create natural, engaging dialogue that reveals character and advances your plot.

  5. Be mindful of format and presentation: Adhering to industry-standard formatting and presentation guidelines is crucial in creating a professional-looking screenplay. Ensure that your script is correctly formatted, free of typos, and easy to read.

Donnie Yen as Caine in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’Credit: Lionsgate

Overcoming Common Challenges in Spec Script Writing

  1. Writer’s block: One of the most common challenges faced by screenwriters is writer’s block, the inability to come up with new ideas or move forward in the writing process. To overcome this challenge, take a break from writing, go for a walk, or engage in an activity that inspires you. Additionally, consider writing exercises or prompts to generate new ideas and get your creative juices flowing.

  2. Lack of motivation: Writing a spec script can be a long and challenging journey, and it’s not uncommon to experience a lack of motivation or enthusiasm along the way. To stay motivated, set achievable goals for yourself and reward yourself when you reach them. Surround yourself with supportive friends and peers who can offer encouragement and feedback on your work.

  3. Criticism and rejection: Screenwriting is a highly competitive industry, and it’s essential to be prepared for criticism and rejection. Rather than taking feedback personally, use it as an opportunity to learn and improve your writing. Seek out feedback from trusted sources, such as writing groups or professional script consultants, to get a fresh perspective on your work.

‘Synecdoche, New York’Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Utilizing Feedback and Revisions in Your Scriptwriting Journey

All writing is rewriting. When you get feedback on your screenplay, don’t be a dick. Listen and then find a way to make your work better. 

Receiving feedback on your spec script can be both daunting and essential. It’s crucial to remember that feedback is not a personal attack, but rather an opportunity to improve your writing and make your screenplay the best it can be.

When receiving feedback, take the time to process it and consider how it can help you improve your script. Be open to constructive criticism and use it to identify areas of your script that need work. Remember that not all feedback is created equal, and it’s essential to seek out feedback from trusted sources who have experience in the industry.

Take a zen moment and then go from there. 

Once you’ve received feedback on your script, it’s time to revise. Approach the revision process with an open mind and a willingness to make necessary changes to improve your screenplay. Be mindful of pacing, character development, and structure, and ensure that every scene serves a purpose in advancing your plot.

‘Dune: Part One’Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Summing It All Up 

Writing a spec script can be a challenging and rewarding journey. By outlining your story, creating a screenplay outline, and following the tips and advice in this guide, you can take your spec script from idea to execution.

When you finish. there’s no better feeling in the world. 

Remember to stay focused on your characters and their journeys, maintain a clear structure and pacing, and be open to feedback and revisions. With hard work, dedication, and a little bit of luck, your spec script could be the one that opens doors and launches your screenwriting career.

So, what are you waiting for?

Go get writing.      

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No matter how many times I

Film

An audience of 20 million UK viewers watched the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, according to British press, including The Guardian.

As viewers tuned in to witness the passing of the royal baton to King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Westminster Abbey ceremony, BBC received the highest audience for the program as 15.5 million total viewers watched Huw Edwards’s coverage across BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC News channel.

ITV had the second most watched broadcast with 3.6 million viewers while Sky’s coverage reached 800,000 viewers on both Sky News and Sky Showcase, according to British press. Channel 4, which aired “Johnny English Strikes Again,” in turn brought 138,000 viewers at the same time as Saturday’s ceremony.

Notably, the ceremony, which was attended by notable American and British figures alike, drew in a smaller crowd than the audience of 29 million viewers who watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, marking a 31% decrease in viewership when compared to the funeral.

The current figures do not include viewership across livestreams on BBC’s streaming platform or YouTube. The ceremony was live-streamed on the Royal Family’s YouTube channel as well as CNN.com. In the U.S., ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News streamed the event via their online affiliates, including as NBCU’s E! Online.

British press also notes that poor weather in the UK might have boosted viewing figures as outdoor viewing parties were less attended due to weather constraints.

Among 2,000 guests invited to the royal coronation were British royalty Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton, while other celebrities and notable figures included Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Dame Emma Thompson, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith and Jill and Finnegan Biden, who attended on behalf of President Joe Biden. The subsequent coronation concert, which took place on Saturday evening, featured performances by Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli on the grounds of Windsor Castle.

How to Watch the Coronation of King Charles III in the U.S. – Is It Streaming?

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An audience of 20 million UK viewers

TV

Following the Friday announcement that the CBS series “S.W.A.T.” would be canceled after six seasons, lead Shemar Moore took to Instagram to express his disappointment and frustration over the network’s decision.

Moore stars on the CBS drama as LAPD Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson. The current (and now final) season is averaging 6.8 million total viewers per episode, according to Nielsen ratings.

Moore shared a video highlighting the success of “S.W.A.T.”: “For CBS, last two years we’ve been killing it… We’ve done nothing wrong. We did everything that was asked for.”

As Moore highlighted the show’s successful viewership he also called how he is the only African American male lead on broadcast television, not including streaming or cable. Adding, “Now let’s get beyond me, ‘S.W.A.T.’ is the most diverse show on CBS.”

“CBS, when I got hired to be Hondo on ‘S.W.A.T.’, was getting a lot of flak for lack of diversity. If I post this, and I think I might, I will get in a lot of trouble with CBS because I’m calling them out. Because they’ve been wonderful to me for 26 out of my 29-year career. But to abruptly get told that you’re canceled when you led us to believe last week — and the week before, and the week before that — that we would have some semblance of a season seven to at least say goodbye, if not continue. And to abruptly be told, ‘You’re done.’”

As Moore continued, he clarified that although he was personally disappointed, he is concerned for those who have worked and contributed to the series. “I care about my family. My crew. The writers, the producers, the caterers, the wardrobe, the sound mixers, the teamsters, the construction crew, a whole lot of people that are abruptly being told that ‘You don’t matter. Sorry, thank you for your services. Good luck and find a new job.’ And to me, that’s not okay.’

“I will be fine, but I’m upset because I busted my whole entire ass to prove that I could do this, and I did prove that I could do this,” added Moore. “I understand it’s not personal, it’s business, but I still have faith that ‘S.W.A.T.’ will live to see another day.”

“So I’m asking my homies, my fans and my baby girls, and the rest of the world who follow me or follow the show, follow the cast, my brothers and my sisters: Make some fucking noise. And let them know that canceling ‘S.W.A.T.’ is a fucking mistake.”

Following Moore’s plea, fans of the series have taken to social media, by commenting and posting #SaveSWAT.

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Following the Friday announcement that the CBS

What to Watch

Let’s get real: We aren’t watching Shark Tank for the economics of it all. Give us the products!

While the series follows entrepreneurs as they pitch their businesses and inventions to a group of venture capitalists known as the Sharks, we don’t entirely care about the art of the deal. We really want to know: Which gizmos and gadgets will we be satisfied with purchasing? Which products offer to solve problems we frankly never knew we had? TVLine is here to help answer all of these questions.

We’ve rounded up the best products that have appeared on Shark Tank throughout the years. But like we said, this list does not claim to declare which deals went on to become the most profitable. We’ve simply taken a look at all the inventions that we think are actually worth a try, and compiled them into one handy list ordered according to its absolute necessity in your life.

Our recommendations include practical household items like a versatile sponge and eco-friendly cleaning products, ranging all the way to an oversized blanket-like sweater and socks with a humanitarian mission.

Which Shark Tank products have been your favorites? 

(If you make a purchase through our links, TVLine may earn a commission.)


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Let’s get real: We aren’t watching Shark

Awards

Last fall, five days before Italy announced its official Oscar submission, filmmakers Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch were nervous. The Belgian couple, who co-directed the intimate Cannes winner “The Eight Mountains” in the Italian Alps and learned the language for the project, hoped that their commitment was enough to convince the committee tasked with selecting the submission that it fulfilled their requirements.

“We want to make the Italians proud of this film, so we pray that they will feel proud enough to send it,” Vandermeersch told IndieWire at the time. “If our nationality diminishes that pride or that sense of ownership, we can’t help that, but we do think that it’s less and less important in the world of today.”

The following week, the country snubbed “The Eight Mountains” in favor of another Cannes selection, Italian director Mario Matone’s crime drama “Nostalgia;” one month later, it didn’t make the official shortlist. Italy — which, with 14 trophies, holds the record for the most international Oscars won in the category’s nearly 70-year history — was out of the race.

Months later, as “The Eight Mountains” finally opens in New York with awards season behind it, van Groeningen said the experience led him to rethink the process. A previous nominee for his heartbreaking 2012 bluegrass saga “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” the filmmaker said he took the submission rules for granted until he made a movie that blended two nationalities in its production.

“I felt, in a way, that it was unfair,” he said. “We were in between. Because a big part of the creative team was Belgian, even though the rest of the team was Italian, we had no place.” They knew they couldn’t submit the movie as the Belgian entry; that country went with another Cannes prize-winner, Lukas Dhont’s “Close,” which did receive a nomination.

“If I could change [the Oscars], it’d be this idea to have the category be more open, so any movie could apply for it,” van Groeningen said. “Then it would be a process of natural selection.”

His comments come as the Academy prepares to meet this Friday to discuss potential rule changes heading into the 2023-24 Oscar season. Ahead of that session, there has been speculation that the requirements for the Best International Feature Film category could be in flux. Last year, the Academy hired former Sundance programmer Dilcia Barrera to oversee the international submission process and help countries navigate the requirements, but stakeholders across the industry tell IndieWire they would like to see the “one country, one film” rule give way to more expansive regulations.

As it happens, “The Eight Mountains” opens on the same week that IFC Films releases another movie snubbed by its home country during the submission process, Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu’s “RMN.” Mungiu has been his country’s most prominent filmmaker ever since his abortion thriller “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days” won the Palme d’Or in 2007 (it wasn’t shortlisted by the Academy, which created an outcry of its own). While Mungiu’s “R.M.N.” was well received at Cannes premiere, Romania chose to ignore the haunting immigration story about small-town xenophobia in favor of submitting “Immaculate” (also not shortlisted).

“R.M.N.
“R.M.N.”IFC Films

“To be honest, it was meaningful enough for me this year to be a bit sad,” Mungiu told IndieWire in an interview this week. “I don’t believe too much in awards, but there’s something coming with the promotion done for the awards. It’s important to have the attention, and releasing a film in the U.S. is so much connected with the awards season that I was sorry that the film was not chosen because I knew the attention for that film would have been bigger and earlier, and not now.”

Mungiu suggested a tweak to the Academy rules that has been whispered to IndieWire by others in the industry: Rather than solely relying on the varied processes through which individual countries choose their selections, the Academy should mandate that all contenders receive a U.S. theatrical release. “You need to have some distributor in the U.S. if you want to choose a film because if not, you’re just throwing a rock into a river and it won’t matter,” he said.

Of the Romanian Oscar committee, Mungiu said, “They don’t want the Academy to appreciate what [Romanian audiences] like. They want the Academy to appreciate what they think [the Academy] should like, which is very funny.” (“Immaculate” has yet to secure a U.S. distributor.)

The counterargument to this proposal: It risks putting lower-profile films at a disadvantage, since they may not be attractive to risk-averse U.S. buyers. Unexpected entries such as first-time Bhutan nominee “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is often cited as a key example.

“If you’re from a big country it’s a disadvantage because of the competition, but there’s more money behind it,” van Groeningen said. “I always thought this was how it is. Every country sends one movie and that’s how it is. Because of our process with this last film and the conversations I was having about it, I started thinking differently.”

Academy rules have evolved many times over the years, including a decision in 2006 that no longer required a submitted film to be in the language of its own home country. These changes were reflected in a few of last year’s submissions, including the Danish entry “Holy Spider,” a Persian-language thriller shot in Jordan. However, current regulations still leave the process open to the whims of countries that are often averse to directors who don’t hold citizenship there.

For “The Eight Mountains,” van Groeningen and Vandermeersch immersed themselves in the remote mountain culture at the center of the story, which was adapted from the novel by Paolo Cognetti about two young men — one from the city and the other from the countryside — whose relationship grows more complicated as they age.

The project followed van Groeningen’s experience making his first non-Belgian film, the English-language “Beautiful Boy,” and he said the two experiences helped him embrace the idea of working beyond his country’s borders.

“Before I had always worked in Belgium with almost the exact same crew,” he said. “I realized I could get out of my comfort zone. I grew step by step in feeling comfortable with a crew I don’t know and with working in a different language. Every step in my trajectory has opened up my world and made me feel more comfortable and curious in pursuing that.”

Additional reporting by Ryan Lattanzio.

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Last fall, five days before Italy announced

Music

“In recent years, we’ve seen a rapid expansion not only of the audience for chamber music, but of that audience’s sophistication and its awareness that the genre also includes sonatas, piano trios, small vocal ensembles, quintets, sextets and indeed all manner of combinations,” John Rockwell of The Times wrote in 1979. “And for that expansion of awareness, we can partly thank the Beaux Arts Trio.”

In 2008, when the Beaux Arts Trio disbanded after 53 years, Mr. Pressler was still its anchor, the last original member still in the trio. He was 84, but he continued performing as a soloist and with ensembles. He also continued teaching at Indiana University, where he held the Charles H. Webb chair in Music.

Menahem Pressler was born in Magdeburg, Germany, on Dec. 16, 1923, 153 years after what is generally accepted as Beethoven’s birthday. One of three children of Moshe and Judith (Zavderer) Pressler, he began playing the piano at 6 and was an accomplished performer as a teenager, taught secretly by a church organist after Hitler’s persecution of the Jews rose to a fever pitch.

He recalled Kristallnacht, in November 1938, when the Nazis orchestrated a nationwide attack on Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues.

“The thugs broke into our family shop in Magdeburg — a gentleman’s outfitters,” Mr. Pressler told The Guardian in 2008. His English still accented with the German of his childhood, he slipped into the present tense as vivid memories returned: “We are hiding in the house, hoping it will go by. In the street, you hear running, yelling, smashing sounds, banging at the door.”

Menahem, his parents and his siblings, Leo and Selma, escaped to Italy months later and then reached Haifa. His grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all perished in the Holocaust.

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“In recent years, we’ve seen a rapid

Docs

Oscar nominated director Nicole Newnham (“Crip Camp”) was at Hot Docs with her latest film “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” a portrait of a feminist pioneer. The helmer was also in Toronto to participate in a Hot Docs Industry storytelling masterclass. During the hour-long talk Newnham revealed how she tackles three of the trickiest aspects of documentary filmmaking.

“The Disappearance of Shere Hite”
Courtesy of Hot Docs

How to make a subject feel comfortable:

“Geeky curiosity is my authentic M.O. and that also is disarming to people. It puts them at ease. If you genuinely are fascinated by (a subject) and you aren’t after a soundbite, but just exploring, people realize that about you. I will say that in terms of embarking on complicated, long, multi-year documentaries with people, that’s a little different. In that case, I will usually try to get to know the person pretty well before filming or interviewing starts. I try to look for the Venn diagram overlap between what I’m interested in and what their interest in having the story told is, and I assure them of my partnership with them around that.”

How to handle sensitive topics:

“I made a film called ‘The Revolutionary Optimists’ (2013), and we were working with this extraordinary teacher who was kind of a main subject of the film. He revealed that he was the victim of sexual assault when he was a kid. He looked at me in the camera before he told the story. So, I knew that he was aware of it. He came up to me afterwards and said, ‘We have to talk about how you are going to use that.’ So, we cut a scene and I described it to him, but we were having a hard time figuring out where to go from there. He wanted us to include (the scene), but he wanted to feel safe. He was in India. So, I raised money to fly him to California. I spent a week with him. I didn’t show him the whole film because I didn’t think that was a good thing to do, but I did show him little examples of scenes, and we talked a lot over the course of a week about what we were doing, and where we were going, and how we were thinking. We came around to a very, very careful kind of architecture of how we could cut that scene in a way that would not harm him or his family, which was his concern.”

How to get a candid, authentic interview:

“Crip Camp”
Courtesy of Netflix and Higher Ground Productions

“It really is so much about time. Some of the folks in ‘Crip Camp’ we interviewed four times over three years. For instance, (disability rights activist) Judy Heumann, who appeared in ‘Crip Camp,’ is very savvy and speaks all over the world, and has told the story of the disability rights movement many, many times. So, it was really hard to get to her. It took us getting to the story close enough to where we were going after very specific things, and asking her questions she had never been asked before, and really catching her in moments of surprise. Another way of doing that is sometimes I show people footage and have them respond to it on camera. There are also other techniques for trying to shake somebody out of that kind of performative thing, but I think the best thing is just that they get used to you being there.”

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Oscar nominated director Nicole Newnham (“Crip Camp”)

Global

A box store parking lot in Hinton was transformed into a campground for hundreds of Edson residents taking refuge from a massive wildfire threatening their town this weekend.

“It was virtually ‘leave now,’” said Karen Chouinard, who evacuated with her family on Friday night.

With just a moment’s notice, many evacuees de-winterized their trailers in record speed and packed in as much as they could. For Chouinard, that included her 14 dogs and three cats.

“I never imagined this, never, nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” said the owner of West Central Waterdogs in Edson.

“The dogs are used to travelling but now, they are wondering where the pool is,” she said.

READ MORE: Alberta wildfire triggers evacuation order for Edson, other parts of Yellowhead County

About 8,000 residents are either camping or staying in hotels or evacuation centers in both Hinton and Jasper.

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“The town of Hinton has been amazing. They brought us a meal and the stores have given discounts.” said Chouinard.


A fire burning south east of Edson poses a “significant threat,” according to Alberta Wildfire.

Alberta Wildfire

Parks Canada is also lending a neighbourly hand.

“We have a good neighbor pass. Anyone can come into the park for free,” said Jaime McCormick with Parks Canada in Jasper.

“We are offering free camping. At Whistler campground, we have loops set aside go with camps.

“If you have livestock, we will support you in Snaring overflow campground,” said McCormick.

Some people were more prepared than others. Coleman Gibson said the events this week prove families should always be ready.

“We had our vehicle topped, bags packed,” said Gibson.

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“(It’s) common sense — when the evacuation was called, bam, we were ready to go.”

“We’ve been ready for years they called us crazy prepper types but look who’s laughing now,” he said, with a chuckle.

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Vehicles seen leaving Edson, Alta., after a wildfire prompted an evacuation order for the town on May 5, 2023.

COURTESY: Kevin Zahara

Much of Jasper was in the dark for periods of time Saturday night following warnings of power outages. Alberta Wildfire said the blaze was inching closer to important infrastructure, power was back in Jasper Saturday morning.

“We are all campers and we are used to camping in the bush. We got generators and power, we are doing pretty good,” said Don Guest, an evacuee from Edson.

“We are all neighbors in Edson and we all evacuated together and now are neighbors here,” he said.

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All roads into Edson are blocked off with only one road out. It’s An unnerving feeling for thousands of people hunkering down in uncertainty anxious to know the status of their homes and livelihoods.

Zachary Beaudoin evacuated to Jasper Friday night as fires got close.

“When we were told to evacuate, there was massive gridlock on the highways as per usual,” said Beaudoin.

“Gas stations were flooded, grocery stores were flooded. Everybody’s just been kind of pandemonium til we got to Hinton.”

–With files from Saif Kaisar, Global News

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Adele, Rich Paul




View gallery

Singer Adele and sports agent Rich Paul attend a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers on October 19, 2021 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. Celebrities attend Los Angeles Lakers v Golden State Warriors, Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, USA - 19 Oct 2021


Adele along with boyfriend Rich Paul and actress Nia Long are seen at Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and The Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Ca Pictured: Nia Long,Adele,Rich Paul Ref: SPL6426695 060523 NON-EXCLUSIVE Picture by: London Entertainment / SplashNews.com Splash News and Pictures USA: +1 310-525-5808 London: +44 (0)20 8126 1009 Berlin: +49 175 3764 166 photodesk@splashnews.com World Rights


EXCLUSIVE: Adele and boyfriend Rich Paul enjoying a trip on a five-engines boat in Sardinia. 24 Jul 2022 Pictured: Adele; Rich Paul. Photo credit: MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA880875_006.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]

Image Credit: London Entertainment / SplashNews.com

Adele, 35, and Rich Paul, 41, attended another Los Angeles Lakers game during the NBA Playoffs on Saturday, and they were right near Kim Kardashian. The singer, her beau, and the 42-year-old socialite watched the L.A. home team go up against the Golden State Warriors during round two, game three of the semi-finals at the Crypto Arena. They were all wearing stylish yet comfortable-looking outfits as the Lakers defeated the Warriors 127-97.

Adele, Rich Paul
Adele and Rich at the Saturday game. (London Entertainment / SplashNews.com)

Adele rocked a baggy light tan button-down long-sleeved top and matching pants with black strappy heels, while Rich wore a black tracksuit and sneakers. Kim showed off a long white sheer jacket with a hood over a white sleeveless crop top, baggy light gray-blue jeans, and gray heels as her hair was pulled back into a high bun. She took the jacket off, at one point during the outing, and her toned abs were on full display.

Kim Kardashian
Kim at the game. (London Entertainment / SplashNews.com)

Before Saturday’s game, Adele and Rich were seen celebrating another Lakers win against the Memphis Grizzlies at a game they went to last week. They attended Birds Streets Club in West Hollywood, CA for a post-game party with other stars, such as Corey Gamble, and Lakers players Tristan Thompson and LeBron James. The “Hello” singer donned a gray Klutch hoodie and matching sweatpants, which she also wore while courtside earlier.

Like Adele and Rich, Kim was also busy before Saturday’s game. She was spotted out and about in New York City, NY with her mom Kris Jenner on Friday. She got major attention for the tight black leather dress with a high slit that she wore and looked like she was ready for a glamourous time. She accessorized her look with dangling earrings and a necklace, and added black wraparound sandal-style heels to the ensemble.

Before that, she attended the 2023 Met Gala on Monday, where she reunited with ex Pete Davidson. Photos were taken of the exes, who split nine months ago, chatting it up alongside Usher and seemed to prove they were still on good terms.

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View gallery Image Credit: London Entertainment / SplashNews.com Adele,

Tech

The Indian media and entertainment industry grew 20% to reach INR2.1 trillion ($26 billion) in 2022, 10% above pre-pandemic 2019, according to the annual EY report released during the ongoing Frames conference in Mumbai, organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The report collates data from television, digital media, film, animation and VFX, out of home media, live events, music, radio, online gaming and print. Overall, the M&E sector is projected to grow 12% to reach $28.6 billion in 2023, the report says.

While television remained the single largest component of the M&E sector in 2022 with a valuation of $8.6 billion, it shrank 1.5% from 2021 levels, despite advertising revenues growing 2% to reach levels just behind 2019. The reason for the shrinkage is that subscription revenue continued to fall for the third year in a row, reducing 4% due to a reduction of five million pay-TV homes and stagnant average revenues per user. Linear TV viewership declined 7% over 2021. Television is projected to grow slightly to $8.8 billion this year.

Digital media was the second largest component of the sector, valued at $6.9 billion in 2022 and growing to $8.2 billion in 2023. On the digital infrastructure front, the report notes that internet penetration increased by 4% to 866 million subscriptions in December 2022. With over 800 million broadband subscriptions, India has the second largest broadband subscriber base in the world, after China. Smartphone users reached 538 million in 2022, but growth slowed from mid-2021 since the average cost of buying a smartphone increased, resulting in just 35 million net new smartphone additions during 2022. Some 32 million Indian households had a wired broadband connection.

On the streaming front, the report observes that video viewers increased 6% (30 million) in 2022 to reach 527 million. In 2020, 30% of streaming originals were in languages other than Hindi and this increased to 50% in 2022. Some 3,000 hours of original content was produced for streaming platforms, which is 19% higher than 2021. Total online video content investment in India stood at $1 billion in 2022. There were 75 films that released on streaming platforms directly, without a theatrical release, which is lower than the 100+ such film releases in 2021.

Video subscription revenues grew 27% in 2022 to $832 million, paid video subscriptions reached 99 million in 2022, across 45 million households in India, with a total viewership of some 135 to 180 million users, the report found.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the success of south Indian films like “RRR,” “K.G.F: Chapter 2,” “Kantara,” “Ponniyin Selvan: 1” and “Vikram” and Bollywood hits “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva,” “The Kashmir Files,” “Drishyam 2” and “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2,” filmed entertainment recovered to 90% of its pre-pandemic levels to record revenues of $2.1 billion. Of this, local theatrical revenues were $1.2 billion, overseas theatrical $196 million, broadcast rights $122 million, digital rights $440 million and in-cinema advertising $61.1 million.

In 2022, south Indian films, from the language groups Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, together accounted for 53% of box office, the Hindi-language Bollywood 35% and other Indian languages 5%. The share of Hollywood dropped from a high of 15% in pre-pandemic 2019 to 13% in 2022. The report projects the filmed entertainment segment to grow to $2.7 billion by 2025.

The animation segment grew 25% to reach $465 million in 2022, while VFX grew 30% to $611.7 million and India’s vibrant post-production industry surged 35% to $232.4 million, the report notes.

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The Indian media and entertainment industry grew

Video

In the finale of “Rabbit Hole,” which premiered on Paramount+ on Sunday, May 7, Kiefer Sutherland’s corporate espionage expert John Weir goes up against a shadowy criminal mastermind named Crowley who is said to “own” two judges on the Supreme Court. If the plot sound strangely familiar, a quick look at current events will tell you why, as real-life Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas‘ extravagant windfalls from well-heeled Republican donor Harlan Crow continue to dominate headlines.

It’s not the first time that the plot of a Kiefer Sutherland series mirrored current events: Before the WGA strike went into effect, TheWrap caught up with the actor and producer to discuss how he’s back in the same territory as his iconic ’00s series “24” — and whether he and “Rabbit Hole” co-creators Glenn Ficarra and John Requa want to come back for more. [SPOILERS for the Season 1 finale below]:

Could the events of “Rabbit Hole” be any more timely with the reveal that someone has essentially bought two Supreme Court judges?
(Laughs) You know, with “24,” there used to be an event that would take place, a real event in the news, that would make our show look shockingly relevant, given that we had made it almost a year earlier. The terrible events of 9/11, no one could foresee that. And that was just bad luck on our part that we dealt with the hijacking of a plane and a terrorist bombing [in Season 1] and that they would be so closely linked.

There Must Be a Conspiracy: Spy Thrillers Climb Most In-Demand New Shows Ranking | Chart

The greatest threat in America for our second season was white nationalists. And the third season was Russia, and the fourth season was China. I talked to [“24” executive producer Howard Gordon] about this while we were having a beer one day, and I asked, “Are you fishing for that kind of stuff?” He said, “No, all I do is I read the newspaper and then I try to imagine the worst thing that can happen and I write about it. And then it just keeps happening.” We’re just going through a decade where we keep imagining the worst thing that’s going to happen and then it happens.

It makes for good TV, though.
It does and it makes for current television. We would like to be less relevant and have better things happening in the world.

For better or for worse, we’re living in a world where it’s very difficult to discern between what’s actually happening and what someone says is happening. The amount of commentary that surrounds all of the daily events that take place are kind of extraordinary. So it’s very easy for a character like John Weir to manipulate situations to his benefit and John and Glenn use that as a jumping off point.

‘Rabbit Hole’ Nabs the Top New Show | Chart

The ending left it open for a potential second season. Are you planning on that?
We are. We’re planning on it because we’re hopeful people. If this were a network show, at least based on my experience of almost 20 years of doing network shows, we would definitely know if we weren’t going. But the world is different with the streaming services. They get their data differently. They make their decisions based on a lot of different criteria.

So we’re kind of waiting, but we know that the show’s done well. I can feel that walking down the street; people come up, they’re engaged in the show and they talk to me about it. And trust me, I’ve done enough work over the years where you put something out and all you hear crickets. This is not that experience. So I’m very glad about that.

I certainly hope that we’re going to make a second season, because I really love the characters.

‘Stranger Things’ Final Season Halted Due to WGA Strike

I loved your scene with Peter Weller, who played Crowley. Or, at least one of the Crowleys. How did you get him on board?
Peter and I got to work on “24” together, and I’ve just been a huge fan of his forever. I’m laughing, because he had, like, eight pages of unbelievable exposition. Friends wouldn’t normally do that to each other. I owe him in a big way.

We were shooting outside a huge courtyard… I don’t know if you’ve been to Toronto anytime recently, but Toronto is the loudest city on the planet: 50% of it is under construction and the other 50% are partying. Between the music, the drinking and the cranes, it was a loud night. And Peter Weller was such a trooper, and he just burned through that dialogue like a champ. And he made a scene that was largely expositional incredibly dynamic. And enjoyable to watch.

We were scheduled to shoot till six in the morning, and we got out of there by three o’clock. As Peter’s older, and I’m older, it’s nice when you get a chance to go in and nail it like that, because we get to look at all the younger folks, and say, “See, we can still remember some stuff.”

‘Robocop,’ ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Stargate’ Projects in Development as Amazon Studios Leverages MGM Titles

Weir wins the battle, at least for now, but he couldn’t have done it without the help of Hailey (Meta Golding), his father (Charles Dance) and Homm (Rob Yang).
The thing that I enjoyed the most is that with all of the characters, and specifically John Weir, he didn’t trust anybody. He didn’t want to ever rely on anybody else, because that made you vulnerable. He wanted to absolutely control the narrative always, at all costs, no matter what. And as those things started to become threatened and he was not in control of the situation, he did have to trust certain people to get from point A to point B.

He’s definitely a dubious character and I think he becomes inherently a better character at the end. And it was really subtle, and I loved what John and Glenn did with that.

Every Renewed and Canceled TV Show in 2023

Have you and the showrunners talked about what a second season would be?
This is complete speculation, but I don’t see [John Weir] ever going back to the boutique business of corporate espionage, those days are gone. There was something very gratifying about doing something that was important for the better of the world, as opposed to something that was better for him. I think [he] is going to go in that direction, where he can use the skill set that he has for something good,

I do think that this experience has changed him dynamically, because you can’t forget that the team that he had in place for all those years, they all died as a result of this. There was a real cost. And I think we haven’t begun to see what that cost has done to him. And I don’t think he as a character has been able to process that yet.

The final “Rabbit Hole” episode of Season 1, “Ace in the Hole,” is now streaming on Paramount+.

Kiefer Sutherland: In ’24,’ ‘I Got To Do All the Beating’ and in ‘Rabbit Hole,’ ‘I Get Beat Up All the Time’

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In the finale of “Rabbit Hole,” which

Entertaintment

‘Silo’
When to watch: Begins Friday, on Apple TV+.

Is it even the post-apocalypse if no one is wearing dingy knits? In premise and especially aesthetics, “Silo” resembles a lot of other sci-fi, with its whirring bleakness and rote authoritarianism, to which only the enlightened, rebellious — sexy??? — few object. The show is set in a grim future where just 10,000 people remain, and everyone lives deep underground, where, of course, their society still has a fair-minded wife-guy sheriff (David Oyelowo). If you miss the teen show “The 100,” or if you listen to “Why We Build the Wall” from “Hadestown” on repeat, watch this.

‘The Articulate Hour’
When to watch: Friday at 9 and 10 p.m., on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Shows don’t get much more PBS-y than this. “The Articulate Hour” interviews scientists, historians and artists to help explain concepts such as memory, time and togetherness. According to the show, “The desire to be in community with others lingers in our consciousness and is often given its purest voice in human creativity.” “Articulate” weaves together hard science and poetic anecdotes into a reverent “Wow, check out humanity” series. If internet poisoning has left you a little alienated from the wonders of life and society, watch this.

‘Ultimate Cowboy Showdown’
When to watch: Now, on Peacock or Amazon.

Three seasons of this rancher competition series are now streaming, finally giving viewers an opportunity to watch a man toss hay bales with so much ferocity that he barfs. (This is met with deep admiration.) As skill-based contest shows go, “Cowboy” is a treat: Horsemanship and cattle management skills are wildly telegenic and have not been standardized by reality-show packaging the way, say, cooking has. There’s a happy freshness to that aspect of the series, even as the competitors behave in the ways “Top Model” has taught them to, arguing about respect and vacillating between proudly not making friends and, through tears, declaring that the real prize is the lifelong bonds everyone has formed.

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This weekend I have … an hour,

Movies

16 Uncomfortable Celeb Interview Moments

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16 Uncomfortable Celeb Interview Moments

Latest News

Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss issued some criticism for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new diversity and inclusion standards, saying that the updated requirements for Oscar contention “make me vomit.”

Dreyfuss’ comments came during a wide-ranging interview on PBS’ “Firing Line With Margaret Hoover,” in which the actor discussed civics education in the United States, partisan discourse and the Academy’s diversity inclusion initiative.

“It’s an art. No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that,” Dreyfuss told Hoover. “You have to let life be life. I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.”

The four new diversity and inclusion standards were first announced in 2020; they will be instituted for the upcoming 2024 Academy Awards, with two of the four needing to be fulfilled for a valid submission for best picture. The four standards are described as expanding on-screen representation, themes or narrative; expanding representation among creative leadership and department heads; providing industry access and opportunities to underrepresented demographics; and expanding representation in audience development.

Dreyfuss’ comments continued with a defense of Laurence Olivier’s performance in the 1965 feature “Othello,” in which the English actor played the Shakespeare lead in blackface.

“He played a Black man brilliantly. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play [in] ‘The Merchant of Venice’? Are we crazy?” Dreyfuss stated. “This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.”

Dreyfuss’ most prominent credits include “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “American Graffiti,” “W.,” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” He won the Academy Award for best actor for “The Goodbye Girl.” The interview with Dreyfuss also touched on renewed efforts to control curriculum and ban certain books in public schools.

“I think we’re cowards. Republicans send their children schools hoping and praying that their children will come back Republicans and Democrats send their children to school urgently praying that their children come back Democrats,” Dreyfuss said. “The idea that a parent would walk into a public school and say, ‘I don’t want my children exposed to opposing views.’ That’s wrong.”

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Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss issued some criticism

MCU

Agent Maria Hill reporting for duty! In the latest episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Cobie Smulders reprises her long-time role as Agent Hill, stopping by to help “guide” super-genius Lunella Lafayette (aka Moon Girl)  — and it makes her feel like a “really cool mom.” 

As Smulders explains in a new behind-the-scenes video, which you can watch above, animation had such a huge impact on her life and her hope is that “kids just get inspired by watching the show.” 

“The idea that we get to see another strong, powerful, young woman leading this story is very exciting,” she explains. 

In the latest episode, “OMG Issue #1,” Lunella uncovers the history of the Original Moon Girl as she struggles to thwart a powerful villain’s plan to use her portal for evil. 

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Agent Maria Hill

DCU

The world of DC has been alight this week so far since James Gunn made the big announcement on Twitter of the first chapter of new projects slated for the DCU’s revamped timeline. Officially titled “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters,” Gunn revealed a staggering lineup of new series and films that will all serve as the starting point for his vision and even noted that what’s announced so far is only a part of what Chapter One has in store. A select number of those projects will head straight to HBO Max, and one of those series in particular that is catching a lot of attention is Waller.


As the title suggests, DC comic character Amanda Waller is now confirmed to have her own spinoff series, with award-winning actress Viola Davis reprising her role as the iron-fisted, temperamental civil servant. The series will apparently take place in the same universe as fellow DC spinoff Peacemaker (2022), which saw Davis’ Waller make a surprise cameo. The events of Waller will fall right in between seasons one and two of Peacemaker, picking up from where she was exposed by none other than her daughter as the mastermind behind the agendas of both the Suicide Squad and Task Force X. With her secrets and subterfuge now public knowledge, Waller will no doubt have to find a way to pull herself out of the hole she’s falling into. Given her ruthless reputation, it’s likely that her daughter Leota won’t exactly be free of consequences.

Viola Davis has previously expressed her enthusiasm about returning to the DC universe, given her love for comics, the fantasy behind them, and especially having the opportunity to play a strong character like Amanda Waller.

“I traded comic books as a kid so all of that appeals to me. When you dream about being an actor as a kid, that’s what you dream about. That’s like play acting: being the superhero, getting the gun; it plays into that fantasy.”

No release date has been set yet for the Waller series, but it will premiere on HBO Max alongside a few other of Gunn’s projects, as seen in the official, comic-style promo below. It will be helmed by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol), who both have ample experience adapting comics to screen.

dc-series-timeline

Related: Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller Returns to the DCEU in Black Adam


Who Exactly Is Amanda Waller?

superhero-amanda

The character of Amanda Waller made her first big-screen appearance in David Ayer’s initial rendition of Suicide Squad (2016), cast by none other than Viola Davis, who played the role immaculately, to the point that some fans felt she was the true villain of the film rather than the Joker or Enchantress. Davis would go on to reprise her role in James Gunn’s reboot of the same movie, The Suicide Squad (2021), and later makes a cameo appearance in both Black Adam (2022) and the spinoff series Peacemaker (2022). Now set to have her own series, Waller is about to make the fearsome impact in the DC universe that she rightfully deserves.

For those unfamiliar with her character before those films, Amanda Waller originated in DC Comics back in 1986. Described as both an antagonist and an ally, Waller is a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses all manner of guile, intimidation, and her political connections to achieve her goals, no matter the cost. She oversees research into metahumans, which led to her forming semi-secret, government-led groups of jailed supervillains such as the Suicide Squad, Task Force X, and ARGUS to complete unique, dangerous missions in exchange for amnesty. She is a force to be reckoned with, and Viola Davis will undoubtedly continue to portray her character in a fantastically insidious fashion.

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The world of DC has been alight

Comics

HBO’s The Last of Us is one of the company’s most streamed shows ever.

According to Warner Bros Discovery’s recent financial results, the show reached over 30 million users on HBO Max. It’s also the most-watched show in Europe and Latin America for the service.

It’s worth noting that the HBO Max service isn’t available in the UK, where the show is broadcast by Sky, meaning the overall numbers are likely much larger.

HBO’s The Last of Us – Episode 9 preview

The only show to receive higher viewership on the platform is the final season of Game of Thrones.

HBO announced that The Last of Us had been renewed for a second season just two and a half weeks into the first season’s nine-episode run, which concluded in March.

Earlier this year, producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann seemingly confirmed their intention to make a third season too, by suggesting that Season 2 wouldn’t be able to contain the entirety of The Last of Us Part 2 game.

Fans may have to wait a couple of years to find out what happens in Season 2, Ramsey suggested during an interview last month.

“It will be a while,” she said when asked when the second season might air. “I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next. And then it’s a long, it’s like a year filming, so it will be probably the end of 2024, early 2025.”

The first season of the show will be released physically this summer.

All nine episodes will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on July 18.

The 4K Ultra HD version will be priced at $50 / £40, the Blu-ray will be $45 / £30 and the DVD will be $40 / £25.

Amazon UK already has all three formats up for pre-order, along with a £50 Steelbook 4K UHD version. It’s not yet known if the steelbook is exclusive to Amazon, or whether it will also be available in North America.