Standard Blog Whole Post - Time Warner Entertainment

‘Super Mario Bros.’ Box Office Opens to Record $377M Globally – The Hollywood Reporter

Talk about next-level business.

Illumination and Universal’s Nintendo video game adaptation The Super Mario Bros. Movie shattered all expectations and broke numerous records in its box office debut over the long Easter holiday weekend. The pic scored the top opening of all time for an animated film with $377 million in worldwide ticket sales. The massive five-day domestic haul is $204.6 million, including $146.4 million for the three-day weekend, while the overseas tally stands at $173 million from 70 markets.

Mario, which creates an instant new film franchise, shattered numerous other records, including landing the top opening ever for a movie based on a video game and the top opening of 2023 to date on all fronts after surpassing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantunamia.

The secret sauce — the PG pic is appealing to both families and general audiences, reflecting the appeal of the wildly popular, multi-generational game. On the general audience side, a whopping 60 percent of ticket buyers were between the ages of 18-34.

The mega-opening wasn’t the only significant note of Easter weekend. Amazon Studios, which is testing giving its movies a traditional theatrical release, saw its debut title, Ben Affleck’s adult drama Air, open to a better-than-expected $20.2 million for the five days (more on Air later). Both films opened Wednesday in order to get a jump on the spring holidays.

In North America, Super Mario Bros.‘ three-day weekend makes it the second-best start ever for an animated title behind Incredibles 2 after passing up Finding Dory. And globally, it bested the $358 million launch of Frozen II.

The records don’t end there. It landed biggest five-day launch in history after besting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($200 million); is the best-ever opening for Chris Meledandri’s Illumuniation, home of Despicable Me and Minions; and the top opening of 2023 to date.

Crowds turning out for the comedic adventure romp — which follows Brooklyn brothers and plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) as they are transported to the magical Mushroom Kingdom world — didn’t seem to care about so-so reviews. Instead, moviegoers bestowed the film with an A CinemaScore.

“This is one of the biggest box office over-performances in recent memory and is absolutely shattering all pre-release projections,” says Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “Mario officially says ‘game over’ to the video game movie adaptation curse.”

Until now, the only other big success story among video game adaptations has been Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog series. In terms of openings, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was the previous opening crownholder with a $72 million debut.

Paramount and eOne haven’t had such good luck with tabletop game adaptation Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, despite glowing reviews and an A CinemaScore. In its second outing, the movie fell 61 percent over the three-day Easter weekend to $14.5 million for a domestic cume of $62.2 million. Overseas, it earned $15.5 million from 61 markets for a tepid worldwide total of $124.1 million.

Ben Affleck’s Air grossed just under $14.5 million for the three-day weekend and $20.2 million for the five-days, ahead of expectations considering that adult-skewing titles have struggled in the pandemic era.

The biographical drama about the early game-changing days of Nike stars when it was trying to sign a young Michael Jordan features a star-studded cast that includes Matt Damon and Viola Davis.

Air is historic in that it is the first movie from Amazon Studios to receive an exclusive theatrical release in thousands of theaters around the world before streaming on Prime Video at a yet-to-be announced date. The film boasts glowing reviews and a coveted Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 94 percent. And it received an A CinemaScore from audiences.

The movie, costing $90 million to produce before marketing, is backed Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures. It’s also the inaugural project from Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, which the duo co-founded last year with RedBird Capital, and is the first time Affleck has directed Damon in one of his movies.

Air is also opening in numerous markets overseas, where Warner Bros. International is handling distribution duties. The movie opened to $10.5 million from its first 59 markets for a global start of $30.7 million.

Among holdovers, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 also enjoyed a milestone weekend as it crossed the $300 million mark globally. Domestically, it grossed an estimated $14.6 million for a North American cume of $147.1 million and $304.6 million globally.

Paramount and Spyglass also boasted a milestone as Scream VI hit $103.8 million in North America, a franchise record, not adjusted for inflation. Globally, the film has now earned a huge $161.6 million.

MGM’s Creed III, which hit premium VOD last week, cleared the $150 million mark in North America to finish Sunday with a domestic cume of $153.3 million and an impressive $268 million worldwide.

April 9, 12:19 pm PST: A previous version of this story included an incorrect global gross for Scream VI.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Talk about next-level business. Illumination and Universal’s Nintendo

Molly Shannon Parodies Chris Rock’s Netflix Comedy Special – The Hollywood Reporter

Molly Shannon brought back one of her cherished characters, Jeannie Darcy, a horrible stand-up comedian who can’t tell a joke, during her return to Saturday Night Live.

The sketch featured a commercial parody for a comedy special called “Jeannie Darcy: Selective Startage” – a take on Netflix’s first live special in March, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.

Shannon, dressed in a blue blazer with a mullet, didn’t hold back on the character’s iconic line, “Don’t get me started.”

“Have you heard of this TikTok thing? The only TikTok I hear is my biological clock,” she joked, receiving a dry response from the audience. “Don’t get me started. Don’t even get me started.”

After several flat jokes and a few awkward reactions from fellow “comedians” and “fans” during the show promo spoof, Shannon’s Darcy ended with one more joke, saying, “Got one of those new Tesla electric cars. I couldn’t get it started. Don’t get me started.”

The Other People actress previously told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that Jeannie Darcy was one of her more difficult characters to get on the show. “That was the hardest sell. I put it in the read-through. It did not get on. And you never ever put something through again. It’s embarrassing and you’re just not supposed to do it,” Shannon said. “But I think I asked Mike Shoemaker [former SNL producer], and he was like, ‘Oh, well, all right.’ It got on, but that was really hard because people were just like, ‘What is this?’ That was my reaction to having to always get laughs. It was the end of when I was at SNL, and I wanted to do something really dull that got no laughs and just really play the realness of it.”

The former SNL castmember and actress returned to host Saturday night, with musical guest the Jonas Brothers, who previously appeared on the show in 2009 and 2019.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Molly Shannon brought back one of her

Tom Cruise standing alongside four German conspirators in the Valkyrie

What to Watch

Why Valkyrie’s Hitler Assassination Attempt Failed

Bryan Singer’s 2008 film Valkyrie examines the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but, unfortunately, the plot failed. The true story of Operation Valkyrie is, oddly enough, not one of the wider known elements of World War II. In fact, the plot – which was conceived of by members of the German army and civilians – seems fantastical on so many levels that it was well suited for a Hollywood adaptation starring Tom Cruise as one of the key conspirators, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Had the plot succeeded, the war would have certainly taken on a completely different trajectory and saved countless numbers of lives.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

When it comes to World War II in cinema, there’s no shortage of in-depth explorations on everything from small pockets of resistance groups to failed military campaigns and the horrors of the Holocaust, but few have fully explored Operation Valkyrie. The film is not without its flaws and casting Cruise as Stauffenberg proved slightly controversial, particularly in Germany. However, for many people, the idea that there had actually ever been assassination attempts on the life of Hitler was a relatively new discovery. For this reason, Valkyrie was met with no small amount of fascination, even if the assassination plot ultimately failed to meet its objective in reality.

The Valkyrie Assassination Bombs Didn’t Explode Properly

As a key member of Hitler’s staff, Stauffenberg was particularly capable of getting close enough to perform the assassination attempt. The decision was made to enact Operation Valkyrie at a briefing that involved Hitler on July 20th, 1944. Straight from the start, the plan did not fare well. The original location of the briefing was changed almost last minute from Hitler’s bunker to the Wolfsschanze, or Wolf’s Lair, further undermining Stauffenberg’s dwindling confidence. Regardless, the colonel arrived with a briefcase containing two bombs, but due to only having three fingers on one hand and being pressed for time, he struggled to arm the devices, succeeding with only one.

Stauffenberg did manage to place the briefcase containing the sole activated bomb under the table, next to Hitler at the briefing. However, when the colonel left the room to respond to his pre-planned phone call, Colonel Heinz Brandt moved the briefcase behind one of the table’s solid oak legs. When the half-armed bomb did detonate, its strength was not enough to completely destroy the table nor to kill Hitler, who was shielded by the leg and sustained little more than a perforated eardrum. The bomb did manage to kill four of the Nazi officials at the briefing, but its main objective proved a very costly failure.

What Happened After The Failed Valkyrie Assassination

a movie poster of the cast of valkyrie with Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp and Kenneth Branagh all looking at the camera. Cruise is in the foreground

The efficiency of Hitler’s Nazi regime made it a considerable foe and a nearly impossible system to oppose. While resistance to the Nazis within Germany was not limited to Stauffenberg and those who took part in Operation Valkyrie, it remains one of the most shocking examples of how quick and ruthless the Nazi response to resistance was. Stauffenberg learned of the failed attempt upon his return to Berlin, along with his co-conspirators Lieutenant Werner Von Haeften, General Friedrich Olbricht, and General Ludwig Beck. When Nazis officials stormed the Bendlerblock offices where Stauffenberg and his cohorts had taken refuge, a short firefight ensued before the conspirators were arrested.

Unsurprisingly, the end results of the alleged treason Stauffenberg oversaw in Operation Valkyrie were not good. Lieutenant Haeften, General Olbricht, General Beck, and Stauffenberg were all sentenced to death that very night. General Beck died by suicide rather than face the firing squads that ultimately took the lives of the remaining men. Hitler was not satisfied solely with this, however, and in the coming days and months, more than 7,000 people said to have been connected to or sympathetic to the secret mission shown in Valkyrie were sentenced to death or sent to concentration camps.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Bryan Singer’s 2008 film Valkyrie examines the

Awards

Molly Shannon Impersonates Maggie Haberman on Trump Trial

“Saturday Night Live” might know its audience a little too well. Speculating in a mock commercial on Saturday that the Manhattan D.A.’s case against Donald Trump isn’t as airtight as it could be, the long-running sketch comedy series on NBC leveled with its viewers, joking that there’s a new meditation news app for people “whose entire personality is hating Donald Trump.” It’s called CNZen.

Host Molly Shannon even suited up as renowned New York Times reporter, CNN analyst and Trump critic Maggie Haberman to provide indictment-inspired ASMR for total relaxation through trying times.

“These days, it’s hard not to feel stressed out and overwhelmed. Sure, Trump got indicted. But now everyone says the case against him is weak and that he’ll never serve any jail time. As someone whose entire personality is hating Donald Trump, you need more,” the commercial began with cast member Ego Nwodim as narrator. “You need to feel calm and reassured. You need the newest meditation app: CNZen.”

Cast members Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner and Andrew Dismukes were paired with the audio, shown stressfully doom-scrolling the day’s headlines, unable to find peace of mind.

The bit continued, offering them a breath of fresh air: “You want an app that suits even the most militant liberals with sensual details from Trump’s arrest, featuring your favorite CNN anchors and correspondents.”

“SNL” cast members were then rolled out playing CNN’s most prominent news personalities, including Michael Longfellow as Anderson Cooper, Devon Walker as Van Jones, Chloe Fineman as Dana Bash and, hilariously, Sarah Sherman in drag as Wolf Blitzer.

“Donald was all alone, no family or friends to support him. I shouldn’t say this as a journalist, but what a loser,” Sherman quipped, looking directly to camera.

‘SNL': James Austin Johnson’s Trump Compares Himself to ‘Jesus of Azkaban’ for Easter (Video)

That’s when Shannon’s impersonation of Haberman came in for the app’s sleep-soothe mode.

“This is his worst nightmare,” she cooed. “He’s really freaking out because now he knows there are consequences… consequences… consequences…”

Later in the commercial, Nwodim introduces the fictional app’s ASMR feature: “Trump’s next court appearance won’t be until at least December,” she said. “That’s why CNZen has a whole section of Trump indictment ASMR.”

“Can you hear him getting fingerprinted?” Shannon whispered, again spoofing Haberman. “I’m a D.A. opening his big, leather briefcase. Ohhh and the little gavel from the judge. I wonder if you’ll even hear… handcuffs.”

‘SNL’ Alum Jim Belushi Blazed a Trail Outside His Comfort Zone to Farm Cannabis

Elsewhere in the skit are James Austin Johnson as Lindsey Graham and Kenan Thompson as Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg — and it even goes on to satirically introduce the app’s audio erotica feature.

“CNZen: because you waited seven years for this indictment, and you want every delicious detail,” the commercial concludes. “In your mind, he’s already in jail.”

Watch the full “SNL” segment in the video above.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

“Saturday Night Live” might know its audience

Music

Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing’ Nets Fifth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 – Billboard

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time continues to cruise at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as the album spends a fifth straight and total week atop chart (dated April 15). The set earned 173,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending April 6 (down 12%), according to Luminate. One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated March 18 and has held in place ever since.

See latest videos, charts and news

Across Wallen’s two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album, he has now spent a total of 15 weeks atop the chart. That surpasses Bad Bunny for the second-most weeks at No. 1 this decade. Only Taylor Swift has more weeks at No. 1 since the start of 2020, with 20 total.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 chart, Melanie Martinez scores her highest-charting album yet with the No. 2 debut of Portals, Tyler, the Creator’s former No. 1 Call Me If You Get Lost surges 137-3 after its deluxe reissue with eight additional songs and supergroup Boygenius starts at No. 4 with its first full-length studio album (and major label debut), The Record.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 15, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (April 11). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 6, SEA units comprise 162,000 (down 9%, equaling 215.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 8,000 (down 53%) and TEA units comprise 3,000 (down 6%).

Martinez logs her highest-charting album yet on the Billboard 200, as her new studio effort Portals opens at No. 2. The set earned 142,000 equivalent album units, her biggest week ever by units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 99,000 (her largest sales week ever), SEA units comprise 42,000 (equaling 60.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, her largest streaming week ever) and TEA units comprise 1,000 units.

In total, Portals marks Martinez’s third top 10-charting set, following K-12 (No. 3 peak in 2019) and Cry Baby (No. 6 in 2015).

The new album was previewed by the songs “Void” (the set’s official first single) and “Death,” both of which have reached the top 40 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, while “Death” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 1 at No. 95. The latter debut is Martinez’s first appearance on the Hot 100 since 2012, and the first time she’s charted with anything that wasn’t part of her run as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice. (Her two previous entries on the Hot 100 were both covers from the reality competition show.)

Portals’ sizable first-week sales of 99,000 was supported by 21 different physical variants of the album — six vinyl LPs, 14 CDs and one cassette. The audio content across all of the editions is the same; the variations are mostly distinguished by their packaging (including color vinyl editions, alternative covers, a signed CD and four deluxe boxed sets with either a tank top or a shirt along with a CD).

Tyler, the Creator’s chart-topping Call Me If You Get Lost jumps from No. 137 to No. 3 following its deluxe reissue on March 31. The set, first released in 2021, was reintroduced to the market with eight additional songs (dubbed the Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale edition). All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.

In total, Call Me If You Get Lost earned 68,000 equivalent album units for the week, up 617%. The bulk of that sum was driven by SEA activity: 57,000 (up 734%, equaling 77.97 million on-demand official streams of all of the set’s songs, old and new). The set also sold 11,000 copies, including digital download and CD editions of the new deluxe version (though the CD is exclusively sold through the artist’s webstore at this time).

Call Me If You Get Lost was last in the top 10 almost a year ago, on the April 30, 2022-dated chart, when the album zoomed 120-1 after its belated release on vinyl pushed it back to the top. It first led in July 2021 upon its debut.

Rock supergroup Boygenius sees its debut full-length studio album — and major label debut — The Record launch at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The trio comprises Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The set starts with 67,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000, SEA units comprise 14,000 (equaling 18.17 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The Record was previewed by a trio of charting songs on Billboard’s tallies: “Emily I’m Sorry,” “Not Strong Enough” and “$20.” The latter two charted on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart (with “Not Strong Enough” hitting the top 10 on the April 15-dated list), while the former two both reached Hot Rock & Alternative Songs.

The Record was supported largely by vinyl sales. Of the album’s overall first-week units, vinyl sales represented 67% of the total sum (45,000 of 67,000). And, of the album’s traditional album sales number, vinyl accounts for 85% of the total (45,000 of 53,000). The Record was available in eight different-colored vinyl variants, including exclusives for indie stores, Target and Urban Outfitters.

SZA’s former No. 1 SOS is a non-mover at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8%), Swift’s chart-topping Midnights rises 7-6 with 61,000 (up 5%) and Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old dips 4-7 with 54,000 (down 46% in its second week). Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 9-8 with 45,000 (up 3%), Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 Heroes & Villains falls 8-9 with 42,000 (down 7%), and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. drops 3-10 with 38,000 (down 67% in its second week).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time

Trending

Heidi Klum Rocks Nothing But Bikini Bottoms & Easter Bunny Ears: Photo – Hollywood Life

Emily Ratajkowski sun bathes at Paradise Cove in Malibu, CA. Emily showed off her stunning figure in a white bikini and large sunhat. She sipped beer as she relaxed with her boyfriend Jeff Magid.

Pictured: Emily Ratajkowski,Jeff Magid,Emily Ratajkowski
Jeff Magid
Ref: SPL1459488 090317 NON-EXCLUSIVE
Picture by: SplashNews.com

Splash News and Pictures
Los Angeles: 310-821-2666
New York: 212-619-2666
London: +44 (0)20 7644 7656
Berlin: +49 175 3764 166
photodesk@splashnews.com

World Rights — Image Credit: MEGA

Los Cabos, MEXICO - *EXCLUSIVE* - HGTV star Christina Hall and her husband Joshua Hall enjoyed some much-needed rest and relaxation as they hit the beach in Los Cabos, Mexico. The couple looked perfectly content as they lounged on the sand, taking in the picturesque views. Christina and Joshua first tied the knot in a small courthouse ceremony that is believed to have occurred sometime before April 2022 and later in a ceremony with their kids in September of last year. The couple were seen enjoying a PDA filled stroll on the beach on Saturday.

Pictured: Christina Hall, Joshua Hall

BACKGRID USA 3 APRIL 2023

BYLINE MUST READ: HEM / BACKGRID

USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com

UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com

*UK Clients - Pictures Containing Children
Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* — Image Credit: MEGA

Heidi Klum, 49, got a lot of attention on Easter Sunday when she took to Instagram to share an eye-catching photo of herself. The model posed in nothing but black bikini bottoms with stars on them and white and pink bunny ears as she stood in front of a large outdoor pool. She also had her long hair down and gave a kissing face to the camera.

“❤️ ? ?,” she captioned the post. She covered the bare top of her fit body with her hands and looked confident and gorgeous as she closed her eyes under the sun. Although the comments section for the photo was disabled, the snapshot received many likes.

Heidi also shared a video, which can be seen above, that showed her family taking part in an Easter egg hunt. After counting down, the excited mom, whose brood includes daughter Leni, 18, and sons Henry, 17, Johan, 16, and Lou, 13, told the kids to “Go!” as they ran in a large grassy area with their baskets to find the hidden eggs. “???? Happy Easter ???❤️,” she captioned the post.

Before she wowed with the Easter-themed post, Heidi made headlines for making an appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March. She wore a fashionable sparkling blue gown that had cut-outs and a high slit. She paired it with matching strapped platform heels and accessorized with blue earrings. Her hair was styled down with the front slicked back.

When she’s not wowing with pretty photos on social media or events, Heidi’s doing so on magazine covers. She appeared on Vogue Greece for two covers in March and looked incredible as she posed in a flowing sheer nude top and white skirt. “Thank you for having me on your cover @voguegreece,” Heidi captioned a post sharing the epic cover photo. “Yiiipppppiiiiii I get 2 covers @voguegreece,” she captioned another. For the magazine’s photoshoot, she showed off even more stylish looks that included a brown body suit, a nude feathered dress, a white maxi dress, and a chic gold metallic swimsuit.

Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter to get the hottest celeb news.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

View gallery Image Credit: MEGA Heidi Klum, 49, got

Tech

Canada’s National Film Board Soars at NewImages

Of the seven XR projects selected for this year’s Quebec spotlight at the NewImages Festival, all but one originated from the Montreal Interactive Studio branch of Canada’s National Film Board (NFB). More than a victory lap for the French Canadian branch, this recent festival perch offered another testament to the benefits of public investment in a still-nascent artistic discipline.

“Without public investment the business simply would not exist,” says Montreal Interactive Studio executive producer Louis-Richard Tremblay. “These are new tools, new mediums, so if no one is willing to take creative risks, the field wouldn’t be there. Public money allows us to create an entire ecosystem.”

Since 2009, the Montreal Interactive Studio has supported more than 150 projects. With an annual budget of at least $1 million devoted to original productions, and yearly remit of two to three finished titles, the publicly funded outfit has played an outsized role in nourishing the local talents who, in turn, have shaped the wider industry.

“At the NFB, our mandate is to explore new forms and possibilities,” says Tremblay. “Without seeking profitably, we can simply develop work and this is a great privilege, as it allows creators the opportunity to [research and innovate] without spending their time looking for financing.”

Presented out of competition at this year’s NewImages, Theodore Ushev’s “The Blind Vaysha” is itself an iteration, a new-media VR remix of a 2016 animated short that won prizes in Annecy and was nominated for an Academy Award. This kind of iterative workflow is very much part of the Montreal studio’s mission.

“Each project is an exploration that carries elements into each subsequent one,” Tremblay explains. “It’s like a prototype lab. We’ll finished a work, but we don’t stop pushing, [because] a completed project can be reapplied, and the talents behind them that can go and take that work to parallel industries.”

Presented in competition at NewImages this year, the NFB co-produced “Plastisapiens” took home the Impact Award, winning prize-money and public esteem for an eon-spanning mash-up that collapsed the distinction between organic and synthetic life with a playful touch.

The studio is currently in production on “Second Souffle,” a large-scale installation designed for the Montreal Botanical Garden, that explores the process of phytoremediation, and “Les têtes ailleurs,” another interactive installation that uses architectural marvels to plumb the depths of the human psyche.

“Plastisapiens”
NewImages

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Of the seven XR projects selected for

Video

What’s New on Netflix in April 2023

Netflix has several new films and original shows coming out in April, just in time for Q2. Great classic movies and animated films arrive with this month’s slate rotation as well. Some Netflix originals tackle the incoming warmer weather that arrives starting April.

Starting with the classics, Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own” (1992) starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Lori Petty and Madonna, becomes available to watch on the streamer April 1 while we all wait for solid renewal news for Prime Video’s TV series — created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson — that takes the movie’s story deeper. Leonardi DiCaprio’s mind-bending movie “Inception” also arrives April Fool’s Day. Animated hits “Hotel Transylvania” and “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” arrive the first of the month as well.

“Firefly Lane” Season 2 Part 2 will conclude the television adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s novel, which tells the story of Tully Hart (Katherine Heigl) and Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke), two friends who stay by each other’s sides through decades. “A Tourist’s Guide to Love” and “Longest Third Date” add some romance in there too, while the “Beef” series starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong brings the thriller element.

Here’s what’s new on Netflix in April 2023:

Available April 1, 2023

“28 Days”
“A League of Their Own”
“American Hustle”
“Battleship”
“The Birds”
“Born on the Fourth of July”
The Bourne Identity”
“The Bourne Supremacy”
“Charlie Wilson’s War”
“Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat”
“Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”
“Friday Night Lights”
“Hatfields & McCoys: Season 1”
“Hoarders: Season 2”
“Hotel Transylvania”
“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“I, Frankenstein”
“Inception”
“Inside Man”
“The Land Before Time” (1988)
“Marnie”
“Matilda” (1996)
“The Negotiator”
“Not Another Teen Movie”
“Psycho” (1960)
“Puss in Boots”
“Shark Tale”
“Shrek Forever After”
“Smokey and the Bandit”
“Smokey and the Bandit II”
“Thomas & Friends: The Mystery of Lookout Mountain”
“Zombieland”
“Weathering”

Available April 2, 2023

“War Sailor: Limited Series”

Available April 3, 2023

“Magic Mixies: Season 1”
“Surviving R Kelly Part III: The Final Chapter: Season 1”

Available April 4, 2023

“My Name is Mo’Nique”
“The Signing”

Available April 5, 2023

“Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now”

Available April 6, 2023

“BEEF”
“The Last Stand”

Available April 7, 2023

“Chupa”
“Holy Spider”
“Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign”
“Oh Belinda”
“Thicker Than Water”
“Transatlantic”

Available April 8, 2023

Available April 10, 2023

Available Aprl 11, 2023

“All American: Homecoming” Season 2
“Leanne Morgan: I’m Every Woman”

Available April 12, 2023

“American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing”
“CELESTE BARBER Fine, Thanks”
“Operation: Nation”
“Smother-in-Law”

Available April 13, 2023

“The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib”: Season 2
“Florida Man”
“Obsession”

Available April 14, 2023

“Phenomena”
“Queenmaker”
“Queens on the Run”
“Seven Kings Must Die”

Available April 15, 2023

“Doctor Cha”
“Time Trap”

Available April 16, 2023

“The Best Man Holiday”
“The Mustang”
“The Nutty Boy” Part 2

Available April 17, 2023

Available April 18, 2023

“Better Call Saul” Season 6
“How to Get Rich”
“Longest Third Date”

Available April 19, 2023

“Chimp Empire”
“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always”

Available April 20, 2023

“The Diplimat”
“Tooth Parl: When Love Bites”

Available April 21, 2023

“A Tourist’s Guide to Love”
“Chokehold”
“Indian Matchmaking” Season 3
“One More Time”
“Rough Diamonds”

Available April 22, 2023

“Ada Twist, Scientist” Season 4

Available April 25, 2023

“The Hateful Eight”
“The Hateful Eight: Extended Version” Season 1
“John Mulaney: Baby J”

Available April 26, 2023

“The Good Bad Mother”
“Kiss, Kiss!”
“Love After Music”
“Workin’ Moms” Season 7

Available April 27, 2023

“Firefly Lane” Season 2 Part 2
“The Matchmaker”
“The Nurse”
“Sharkdog” Season 3
“Sweet Tooth” Season 2

Available April 28, 2023

“AKA”
“InuYasha” Season 6
“King Collectibles: The Goldin Touch”

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Netflix has several new films and original

Entertaintment

Elon Musk’s Twitter Wrongly Labels BBC Account “Government Funded” – Deadline

UPDATE: The BBC has said it is speaking to Twitter in an effort to change the “government funded media” tag on its official account. A spokesman said: “We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”

PREVIOUS: Elon Musk’s Twitter has labeled the BBC as being “government funded media.”

The social media network made the change to the official @BBC account after stirring controversy by adding a similar tag to the NPR account in recent days.

The BBC account has 2.2M followers. At the time of publication (4PM PST, April 8), the BBC’s news accounts on Twitter did not feature the “government funded” tag.

The BBC is not funded by the UK government. It is funded by the British public, through a system known as the license fee.

The government plays a role in setting the level of the license fee, but the fee is collected by the companies contracted by the BBC through the TV Licensing authority.

The BBC’s operations and editorial decision-making are entirely independent of the government.

Musk would have a case for labeling the @BBCWorldService account as government-funded as the state does contribute some funding for audiences outside of the UK. The @BBC account does not tweet about World Service operations.

Deadline contacted Twitter for comment. The company’s press account automatically responded with a poop emoji. The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

UPDATE: The BBC has said it is

Movies

17 Popular TV Characters Who Shouldn’t Be Glorified

“I think only wannabe big shot people idolize Don Draper for his incredible skill in marketing and scoring. If you’re serious, you gotta realize that he’s too close to really blowing up his whole life beyond repair. I guess the majority just loves watching Jon Hamm in ’50s cosplay. And I don’t blame them. One episode, and I wanna go get a suit, cigarettes, and a caddy.”

—u/KarrelM

“There are a lot of characters like him: Broken successful men who will do anything they want regardless of how it affects others, slowly having their world collapse. These characters always get a huge fanbase of people not getting the point. See also Tony Soprano, Tony Montana, and so on. Some people react to characters like this by thinking, ‘It’s so cool how he does whatever he wants’ and miss the entire point. Draper, Soprano, and Montana are supposed to be tragic figures, but a lot of people cant see past the immediate facade.”

—u/Mrcool20xx

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

"I think only wannabe big

Michael Jordan 'too majestic to have anyone impersonate him' in ‘Air’

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Michael Jordan 'too majestic to have anyone

MCU

MarvelBlog News for April 9th, 2023

Marvel has unveiled the Secret Invasion trailer, Isaac Perlmutter has cried foul, and James Gunn has blamed The Blip.

This week’s MarvelBlog News feels like a Mad Lib gone awry.

Not So Secret Now

Image: Marvel

As promised last week, Marvel revealed the official trailer for Secret Invasion. Here it is!

Samuel L. Jackson is making the rounds right now, and he has indicated that he views this as one last ride for his character, Nick Fury.

Meanwhile, obsessed Marvel fans have spent the week placing every single frame under the microscope to discover hidden Easter eggs in the trailer. And I’ll level with you.

MarvelBlog will likely do that soon as well because we know how much you care about this, the first Disney+ Marvel series since October 13^th, 2022.

Source: Marvel Studios

As a reminder, Marvel never intended this kind of gap between the series. It only happened due to mismanagement of the special effects for other projects.

If more fans had loved the look of Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and (especially) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we never would have arrived at this place. But here we are.

Source: Marvel Studios

Now, Disney is counting on Secret Invasion to reinvigorate the brand and remind people of the greatness of Marvel.

Disney will get two kicks at the can between now and June 21^st. Remember that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens on May 5^th.

In fact, tickets are now available for the next Marvel film…and one of only two we’ll watch from now through the end of 2023.

Source: Marvel Studios

As an FYI, Marvel hasn’t announced the viewer numbers for the first 24 hours of Secret Invasion’s trailer, which is the standard practice.

I presume that data will come out soon, but it’s unusual that it’s taken this long. Read into that what you will.

They Don’t Like Ike

Photo: Getty Images

Whenever I think we’ve tied off the Isaac Perlmutter story for good, his name somehow pops up in the headlines again.

Last week, I told you that Disney has used its layoffs, the very ones Perlmutter had requested, as an excuse to dump him.

Not only that, Disney laid off all the people within Marvel Entertainment perceived as loyal to Perlmutter. It was a clean sweep of the old guard.

Getty Images

Disney felt confident in taking this approach because, well, what’s Ike Perlmutter gonna say about it? He’s a notorious recluse.

The former owner and leader of Marvel performs interviews about as often as DC makes a good superhero movie, which is to say NEVER.

Until this week.

Yes, Perlmutter took the extraordinary step of approaching the Wall Street Journal to tell his part of the story.

Photo: Getty Images

Perlmutter wanted to set the record straight that Disney fired him rather than the company’s claim of a layoff.

That’s a strange accusation. After all, if Perlmutter had remained quiet, everyone would have found the story amusing but already moved on to something new.

Instead, Perlmutter has willingly set himself up for additional ridicule by confirming that Disney specifically wanted him gone.

Source: Avengers Campus Disneyland

I mean, we could all read between the lines and guess that this happened. Still, it’s weird that Perlmutter chose to broadcast the news.

Honestly, Perlmutter comes across as a bit of a wounded bird. It sounds like he respects, maybe even likes, Disney CEO Bob Iger.

The thought that Iger is the one responsible for Perlmutter’s termination seems to bother the billionaire.

Source: Marvel/ Disney

Meanwhile, Marvel’s formal leader confirmed that he never trusted Hollywood executives, whom he feels dwell too much on box office and not enough on return on investment.

Frankly, Perlmutter sounds like he should be happy he’s gone.

Gunn vs. The Blip

Source: @JamesGunn

Speaking of DC movies, Disney faces a fascinating challenge for the next little while.

Director James Gunn completes his Marvel tenure with the release of the third Guardians film.

However, the producer also spends his days plotting the future of the DC Universe, which Warner Bros. is currently rebooting.

Source: Daniel Knighton/ Getty Images

Gunn runs the show at DC, even as he markets Marvel’s most important film in years. Disney must trust Gunn to comport himself well during interviews.

Obviously, Gunn won’t step out of line much here. He is liberated enough by his circumstances that he can be brutally honest, though.

I mean, James Gunn isn’t begging for work from Marvel anytime soon. The dude can speak his mind…and he did!

James Gunn in front of Mission Breakout background

Photo: Handout/Getty Images

Gunn opened up on two different struggles he has faced recently with Marvel.

First, Gunn left Marvel for a time due to…unpleasantness. While he was absent, Avengers: Endgame wrote his Marvel characters into a corner.

That film ended with Thor exploring the galaxy with his new friends. Gunn hadn’t signed up for that and had a first draft without Thor.

Source: Marvel Studios

Gunn caught a break in that Taika Waititi solved the crisis in Thor: Love and Thunder, smoothly explaining why Thor wasn’t with the Guardians anymore.

Even with that resolution, Gunn still lamented Endgame. In his estimation, Marvel has grown more challenging since The Blip.

Oreo the Raccoon and James Gunn. Photo: AFP/Getty/BBC

That five-year gap and its aftermath frustrate the director. “There’s this worldwide, universe-wide event that happened.

And in truth, everybody would be stark raving mad at this point. So, it’s hard to write stories in the wake of that.”

The dude’s got a point.

Marvel Miscellany

Image: Marvel

We’ve got a couple of news items to cover. For starters, Disney has finally given up the ghost on Quantumania.

Ownership gave this project every chance to regain some momentum, but it just didn’t happen.

Image: Marvel

Now, Quantumania will debut on digital on April 18^th. Based on how Disney has approached Avatar: The Way of Water, Ant-Man 3 likely won’t appear on Disney+ for at least a month after that.

I’m comparing apples and oranges, though. People acted like they wanted to see Avatar 2 in theaters.

Image: Universal

Despite an era of tremendous box office inflation, Ant-Man 3 has earned less than the first two Ant-Man films.

Finally, Sony revealed the second trailer for this summer’s mega-release, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Take a look:

The trailer includes two surprises. First, The Spot, whom we know is (allegedly) the antagonist of the next two films, comes across as comic relief here.

Second, a different Spider hero, Miguel O’Hara, sure seems like the primary source of conflict here.

Source: Sony Pictures/ Marvel

That character is Spider-Man 2099, whom others describe as the one Spidey without a sense of humor.

I’ll be curious to see where the story goes here, as The Spot just doesn’t seem menacing enough, while O’Hara acts like he haaaaates Miles Morales.

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!

Featured image credit: Disney

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

DCU

One DC Studios’ Project Is Almost Done CastingOne DC Studios’ Project Is Almost Done Casting

It’s been almost a month since James Gunn and Peter Safran announced the first slate of projects that will be part of the first phase of the new DCU. After the merger between Warner and Discovery, the current company’s president David Zaslav has brought many changes to some of the most important franchises, including everything related to the DC Universe.

The most crucial masseur was, without a doubt, the creation of DC Studios. This division, run by Gunn and Safran, will be in charge of every production related to the comic book company, including movies, TV shows, animated projects, and even video games. So everything will be linked from now on, or at least after the 2023 slate is over.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

The Flash, which will arrive in cinemas in July, will serve as a slight reboot from the past storylines to create a new reality that will technically kick off with Waller, the previously announced HBO Max original series starring Viola Davis. But it might not be the only project that’s already on track.

Through his Twitter account, Gunn revealed that he’s almost done casting for another tv show that will arrive next year: Creature Commandos, which will be an animated series:

“Starting production; almost done casting.”

Who Are the Creature Commandos? The First Animated Series From DC Studios

DC Comics

Creature Commandos appeared for the first time in 1980 in Weird War Tales #93, created by J. M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. They were conceived similarly to The Suicide Squad as a product of “Project M,” a secret organization founded by the U.S. Government during World War II. The initiative was to search for supernatural creatures that could fight.

Their initial roster included Lt. Matthew Shrieve, werewolf Warren Griffith, vampire Vincent Velcro, Elliot “Lucky” Taylor, and gorgon Myrna Rhodes (a gorgon). They would soon be joined by the automaton J.A.K.E. 1, better known by his nickname of the “G.I. Robot.”

James Gunn himself wrote the seven episodes that will tell the story of the first season of the show, and the actors will not only be voicing the characters, but they could also play them in real life. As Gunn and Safran stated, they want continuity in everything they do from now on, so whoever they choose to play these parts will also do so in every project that includes the Creature Commandos.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

It’s been almost a month since James

Comics

Mon Mothma Actress Reacts to Ahsoka Trailer Appearance, Talks About Growth in Andor

Mon Mothma actress Genevieve O’Reilly sat down with IGN at Star Wars Celebration 2023 to discuss not only her exciting appearance in the Ahsoka trailer, but also how her character has grown through hardships in Andor’s first season.

Starting off with Ahsoka, we catch a glimpse of Mon Mothma in a hologram as Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka talks about the whispers of the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Mon Mothma has been a part of Star Wars since Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and now she’ll get a chance to stand in the spotlight once more and O’Reilly couldn’t be happier.

“It was lovely,” O’Reilly said of her being in the Ahsoka trailer. “I’m very excited to play a little part in that world as well. And obviously, I’m a mad fan of Rosario [Dawson]. It’s wonderful that Disney is interested in this woman and that this woman has value across different stories and through different filmmakers. To work with Dave [Filoni] and John [Favreau] as well as being able to really get under this woman’s skin in Andor, I feel terribly fortunate.”

For those unfamiliar, Mon Mothma was one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance and was key in the battle against the Empire. In Andor, we get to see her struggling with being part of the Galactic Senate’s Loyalist faction during the final days of the Republic while also secretly helping fund the Rebel Alliance.

Spoilers for Andor: Season 1!

One of Mon Mothma’s biggest challenges in the first season of Andor was over the decision to introduce her daughter to the son of Davo Sculdun, a banker who could help her make a huge sum of disappearing credits to the Rebel Alliance seem totally normal to the Republic.

This doesn’t seem too awful on the surface, but Sculdin isn’t the most upstanding of citizens and this is putting Mon Mothma in the position of offering her daughter up against her will in order to help hopefully stop the rise of the Empire.

It’s a terrible situation, but O’Reilly appreciates that the team behind Andor was willing to go to these lengths to show the darker side our heroes must walk through to grow as characters and get to the ultimate goal of victory against evil.

“So there’s that scene where Luthen talks about sacrifice and that they’re not going to achieve anything without extraordinary sacrifice,” O’Reilly says. “I love the bravery of the writing that you would question Mon Mothma’s dedication to the rebellion through looking at a mother-daughter relationship.

“Also looking at the idea of she’s working not only within Empire, within the Imperial Senate, but clearly her home life is embedded in Empire too, and how complicated that is for the woman. Props to all the writers and Tony for going there with a female character like Mon Mothma.”

Mon Mothma will be seen in Ahsoka in August 2023 before appearing once again in Andor’s second season in August 2024.

For more, check out everything announced at Lucasfilm’s Studio Showcase, Andy Serkis’ comments on Kino Loy’s fate, and our review of Andor: Season 1.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Mon Mothma actress Genevieve O'Reilly sat down

Festivals

5 Comedy Screenplays to Help You Uncover the Secrets to Writing Comedy

Get ready to laugh out loud.

Comedy is a challenging genre to master, and writing a great comedy screenplay requires a lot of skill and creativity. However, there are certain classic comedy films that have stood the test of time and are considered some of the best in the industry.

Aspiring writers can learn a lot from studying these films, from the way they blend humor with deeper themes to the creation of memorable characters.

Here are five of the best comedy screenplays for writers to learn from.

‘Annie Hall’Credit: United Artists

The 5 Best Comedy Screenplays For Writers To Learn From

These five screenplays offer different insights and techniques for writers to learn from, and studying them can help aspiring comedy writers improve their skills and develop their own unique voices.

Annie Hall (1977): Written by Woody Allen, this romantic comedy explores the ups and downs of relationships, Annie Hall is considered one of Allen’s best works and a classic in the genre. It’s a great example of how to blend humor with more serious themes.
Groundhog Day (1993): Written by Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin, this film follows the story of a weatherman who is forced to relive the same day over and over again. It’s a clever concept that showcases how comedy can be used to explore deeper philosophical themes.
Bridesmaids (2011): Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, this female-led comedy was a huge success and a breath of fresh air in a genre that was often dominated by male leads. It’s a great example of how to create characters that are both relatable and hilarious.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005): Written by Judd Apatow and Steve Carell, this film follows the story of a middle-aged man who has never had sex. It’s a great example of how to create a comedy that is both raunchy and heartfelt.
The Princess Bride (1987): Written by William Goldman, this classic fairy tale is a great example of how to blend different genres to create something truly unique. It’s a comedy, a romance, and an adventure all rolled into one.

‘The Princess Bride’Credit: 20th Century Fox

By studying these comedy screenplays, aspiring writers can gain insights into the craft of screenwriting and learn how to create humor that is both relatable and memorable. Whether it’s exploring the ups and downs of relationships, creating unique concepts, or blending different genres, these films showcase the power of comedy to engage and entertain audiences. So, take a cue from these classics, and start writing your own masterpiece!

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Get ready to laugh out loud.

Film

‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’ Sets Animated Record Debut With $378M – Deadline

SUNDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie has made history with the biggest worldwide opening ever for an animated title at $377.5M. Of that plumb pazzo result, an estimated $172.8M comes from the international box office. Wahoo!, indeed.

MORE…

PREVIOUS, SATURDAY UPDATE: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is plumb insane with a projected five-day global opening of $368M. That gives the bros bragging rights to the biggest-ever worldwide debut for an animated title. Currently, the international box office portion of that is estimated at $173M from 70 markets.

This is the biggest animated opening of all time globally, ahead of Frozen 2 and clearly best for this year so far as well as Illumination’s top debut ever passing Minions and Despicable Me 3 in like-for-like opening markets and Despicable Me 2, the previous biggest reported global weekend at $208M.

What’s more, with this debut for the Mario Bros, Illumination crosses $5B in international box office across 13 films, and $8.45B worldwide.

In like-for-like markets at today’s dollars and including previews, the international Mario Bros opening is the he biggest Illumination opening of all time, the biggest animation opening of all-time when excluding China and the No. 2 biggest animated start ever for Hollywood when including China (just 13% behind Frozen 2)

More milestones? Sure: The biggest video game opening of all time passing Warcraft at $210M reported and in like-for-like markets; and the No. 4 Biggest Universal day & date global opening of all-time (behind Fast & Furious 8at $543M, Jurassic World at $525M and Fast & Furious 7 at $398M)

Overseas, this is the biggest opening of 2023 (ahead of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at $117.1M); the No. 2 biggest animated opening of all time (behind Frozen 2 at $228.2M); Illumination’s best start ever and the No. 4 biggest Universal day & date opening of al -time (behind Fast & Furious 8 at $444M, Jurassic World at $317M and Fast & Furious 7 at $250M) .

MORE…

FRIDAY UPDATE: The Super Mario Bros Movie continued its plunge into international box office markets on Thursday with an added $27.6M, lifting the offshore cume to $62.5M. Including domestic’s first two days, the worldwide total is $120.7M. This portends an overseas debut of $160M+ and a global start over $300M. Bow-wowser!

Leading play so far is Mexico with $11.4M, higher than the full opening weekend of any April animation, while also topping the full openings of Frozen 2, Aladdin and Finding Dory.

UK & Ireland delivered another record-breaking day on Thursday with $3.8M from 2,500 screens — biggest Thursday box office for an animated title ever and second-biggest Thursday ever for a Universal title, behind only No Time To Die. The two-day cume is $8.6M, which is above the entire 3-day opening weekends of Sing 2, Sing, Aladdin, HTTYD3, Sonic 2, and Frozen.

China reached $5.3M on Thursday; scores are good but the market is soft for Hollywood, particularly versus competition

Germany’s strong start continued on Thursday reaching $5.2M, higher than any April animated or family film’s full opening weekends, and topping the four-day weekends of Frozen, The Jungle Book, Minions Rise of Gru, and Incredibles 2.

Spain delivered another $1.8Mfrom over 1,000 screens on Thursday, with 60% market share. School holidays are in effect in the majority of the country, and the running total has now reached $4M ahead of Friday’s standard release day. Mario’s two-day is already above the full three-day weekends of Incredibles 2, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Toy Story 4, and Finding Dory.

Scoring also and beating comps are France ($2.7M), Central America ($2.7M), Italy ($2.6M), Australia ($2.3M) and Brazil at $1.8M; the Thursday gross was the third-biggest opening day of all-time for an animation, the biggest for Illumination and Universal, the biggest for any April animation, and the biggest for a video game adaptation.

MORE…

PREVIOUS, THURSDAY: With numbers now in for the 44 overseas markets that opened on Wednesday, Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie had a more than peachy debut with $34.7M through yesterday at the international box office. Combined with Wednesday’s domestic bow, the global one-day total is $66.4M.

Several milestones/records were set in markets around the world on opening day, and overall when comparing Super Mario to standard opening days, it had the top animated launch day ever in 11 markets including Germany, Spain, Argentina, Central America and Austria. The Aaron Horvath/Michael Jelenic-directed film will clearly be well over early projections of $100M internationally through Sunday.

Mexico led play on Wednesday with $5.9M; the biggest debut for a Universal title ever and the second biggest animation opening day of all time, behind Toy Story 4.

The UK grossed $4.8M — the best animated opening day ever, biggest overall of 2023 and Universal’s top Wednesday of all time, ahead of both Fast 8 and No Time to Die.

Next up, China delivered $4.7M on Wednesday (versus the $4.95M estimate from yesterday — see below — the cume through Thursday is $5.4M which is not reflected in the above totals). Still, Mario set the biggest opening day for a Hollywood animation since the start of the pandemic in 2020 as well as the second-biggest opening day for a studio title in 2023. Its 9.4 score on Maoyan is the best for an animated Hollywood title across the past five years.

Germany grossed $2.8M on Wednesday for Uni’s best opening day of all time and hit the same milestone for an animated title. It’s also the best opening day since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in the market and the second-biggest April opening day behind only Avengers: Endgame.

In Spain, the Mario Bros plunged in with a $2.2M Wednesday — the biggest animation opening day ever. In terms of admissions, the result overtakes Avatar: The Way of Water and Doctor Strange 2 to become the biggest opening day since the start of the pandemic, as well as the biggest April opening day ever (No. 2 in box office behind Avengers: Endgame).

France was good for $2.1M on Wednesday. That’s the biggest opening day of 2023, the second-best animation April opening behind Ice Age 2 and the best for Illumination — and without any school holidays. The film is playing into the start of school breaks which are spread across three regions for six weeks.

Italy opened to $1.4M on Wednesday, taking 70% of the market and dominating the competition. This is the biggest opening day for an animated movie in spring, and for a video game adaptation.

Other standouts include Central America with $1.3M for the second-biggest opening day ever behind Endgame and more than double Minions and the Despicable Me movies.

Taiwan made $1.1M on Wednesday, claiming the top animation opening day ever for both Illumination and Universal, as well as the biggest opening of a video game adaptation and biggest April animation.

Australia also bowed with $1.1M, playing across 311 locations. That’s the best opening day of 2023, biggest ever for Illumination and top April debut ever.

Elsewhere, Colombia opened to $810K on Wednesday, taking 73% of the market, and claiming the highest ever preview gross for a movie. Brazil started with $745K on Wednesday — the non-standard release day is already 62% ahead of the five days of previews from Sing 2. Hong Kong was $700K at 62 locations on Wednesday. Argentina opened to $460K; Netherlands bowed with $390K, biggest opening day of the year.

Note that all majors in this first suite have now opened; however there are still another 26 markets to come through Friday. Korea, the Middle East and Japan go later in April.

PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY: Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie began its international rollout today in 44 markets, and will expand to 70 through Friday. While we are waiting on numbers from a great many of today’s debuts, early word out of Asia Pacific is encouraging at $7.95M including sneaks.

Note that the full Wednesday opening number will come tomorrow and will include such majors as France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Today is a snapshot.

In the lead so far for Asian markets on Wednesday, ever-mercurial China launched Mario to $4.95M at No. 3 during the Qing Ming festival. The Chris Pratt-starrer is facing off against the continued stellar run of Japanese animation Suzume and local holdover Hachiko. Still, Mario set the biggest opening day for a Hollywood animation since the start of the pandemic in 2020 as well as the second-biggest opening day for a studio title in 2023. Today’s numbers are above Minions: The Rise of Gru and The Secret Life of Pets (+42% and +43%, respectively, on a Friday); and in line with Aladdin and Incredibles 2. Maoyan has given Mario a 9.4 score from audiences; the best for a Hollywood animation in the last five years. Maoyan is currently predicting a $20M finish in the market; these numbers can certainly fluctuate.

Elsewhere in APAC, Australia gave Mario a No.1 $1.1M start on Wednesday. At 311 locations, this accounted for 62% of the total market on the day. The first day gross is more than 5x second-placed John Wick 4. It is also the biggest opening day of the year, best Illumination opening day ever, top animated April start of all time and above the standard Thursday opening days of Frozen 2, Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, Toy Story 4; and more than double Minions.

Hong Kong kicked off with $700K on Wednesday across 62 locations, claiming the biggest opening day of 2023, the biggest opening day for any Universal animation, and the biggest April animation opening day ever.

This is in line with the opening Thursday of Minions, and above the opening Thursdays of Incredibles 2, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story 4

New Zealand got into the game with $66K on Wednesday at No.1 in the market from 140 screens, with 47% of the Top 10. That was good for the the 2^nd biggest opening day for Illumination and is in line with the opening Thursday for Sing 2, above Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Much more to come through the weekend…

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

SUNDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The

Tiger Woods Makes Masters Cut, Tied For Longest Streak In Tournament History – Deadline

UPDATE SUNDAY AM: Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Masters Sunday morning just before the third round.

The tournament was suspended by bad weather Saturday. Even then, Woods seemed hobbled, the wet grounds making it difficult to walk on his surgically repaired right leg from a 2021 car crash. Woods, 47, barely made the cut for the third round.

“I am disappointed to have to WD this morning due to reaggravating my plantar fasciitis,” Woods wrote on Twitter today. “Thank you to the fans and to @TheMasters who have shown me so much love and support. Good luck to the players today!”

EARLIER: It was close, but five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods made the Masters cut Saturday for the 23rd consecutive time. That ties him with Fred Couples and Gary Player for the tournament’s longest streak.

Woods needed Justin Thomas or South Korea’s Sungjae Im to post a bogey (one stroke over par) to make the cut. Thomas had bogeys on each of the last two holes to finish four over par, climaxing his day with a missed 10-foot putt on the 18th hole. Im also bogeyed the 17th hole to finish 3 over par

Heavy rain marked the day at Augusta National Golf Club, The storm comes a day after two trees fell near the spectator area, causing the tournament to be suspended for the day

Woods has never missed making the cut at the Masters in his professional career.

“I’ve always loved this golf course, and I love playing this event,” Woods said. “Obviously I’ve missed a couple with some injuries, but I’ve always wanted to play here. I’ve loved it. I got a chance to play on the weekend. I wish I get a chance to play two more rounds.”

At age 47, and with several surgeries in the last few years, Woods has struggled at times to simply walk the course. He made his competitive return to golf after a 508-day layoff at the 2022 Masters and finished 47th.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

UPDATE SUNDAY AM: Tiger Woods has withdrawn

What to Watch

The 10 Best Silly Action Movies to Watch with Your Friend Group

There is something wholesome and disarming about silly action films, despite how armed to the teeth and the violent the protagonists are. These films turn extreme violence into a pulpy spectacle where we are rooting for the hero to succeed with a corny one-liner. These types of films work great for watch parties because there isn’t usually a complicated plot that you need to pay attention to or heady themes to appreciate. They are something you can just put on and have a normal conversation while they are playing, enjoying the feast of violence before you. When watching party action films, the sillier they are, the more entertainment value they will provide. Here are ten of the best silly action films to liven up your next watch party with your friend group.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

10 Commando (1985)

20th Century Fox

Starting off, we have the macho action fest Commando. Commando is a hostage recuse movie from 1985 that was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a retired Army commando named John. John is enjoying a quiet retirement with his daughter in the mountains when he receives word that his former Army unit has been taken out and that he might be next. John is subdued by the mercenaries, and his daughter is kidnapped by a dictator who John had previously helped remove from power in his home country. John must reequip his military gear and inflict brutal macho violence on all the mercenaries responsible for this ordeal to save his daughter Jenny.

The film goes to great lengths to portray its testosterone-fueled action scenes spectacularly. This earnestness causes the film to go over the line into the campy and silly territory at times. Your friend group is in for a fun time if you put this film on. You will be treated to noisy explosions, epic gun battles, and over 80 brutal on-screen deaths. The film tries not to take itself too seriously, but the sense of humor it has makes you feel like you are watching a cartoon. It wastes no time getting straight to the action. A rocket launcher is used within a minute of the film starting. Its special effects are top-notch, too. Commando received a Saturn Award nomination for its special effects, only losing the award to Back to the Future.

9 Bloodsport (1988)

Next up is the martial arts Jean-Claude Van Damme feature Bloodsport. This film was released in 1988 and distributed by Warner Bros. The film follows a young martial artist named Frank Dux, who is just the coolest guy ever. He has an impressive morning acrobatics routine, is popular with the ladies, and gets to kick guys walking on the street whenever he wants. Frank decided to leave his career in the military when he found a love for martial arts competitions in Kong Kong. Here he meets a master that puts him through some harsh and often hilarious training.

At one point, Frank has to kick a tree to death in what may be the most brutal tree murder ever filmed. Frank enters a martial arts competition and is pushed to the limit in every fight against the greatest warriors in the area. To raise the stakes even further, this tournament features battles to the death, giving some excellent excuses for violent mayhem to occur in the ring. In an interview to Yahoo Entertainment, Jean-Claude Van Damme described how the film was his last shot to be a star, and how this passion provided inspiration for the filmmaking. The allowed him to quickly become an acting sensation.

8 Demolition Man (1993)

Wesley Snipes Demolition Man (1) — Warner Bros.

Another fan-favorite action film that dips into some wacky territory is the 1993 film Demolition Man. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. and stars Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. This feature is a science fiction action combo that has a unique, if a bit silly, premise. In the near future, crime has gotten so bad that society will go through a complete transformation to become as non-violent as possible. A cop named John lives in the violent time, gaining the nickname “Demolition Man” for his propensity for collateral damage. After a run-in with his criminal nemesis, they are both frozen and emerge in a non-violent future.

The film has a surprisingly solid world-building foundation and makes many fish-out-of-water jokes with its characters. In the future, people will listen to commercial jingles because everything is so corporatized, and using swear words gives you a fine. The action in the film is as outlandish as the premise, resulting in a watching experience that delivers goofy fun.

7 Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)

Crank 2 is the next film on the list. The film starred Jason Statham and was distributed by Lionsgate in 2009. Its premise follows up on the absurdity of the original Crank but turns it up to 11, no pun intended. The main character Chev awakes in an unknown place full of Chinese gangsters, where doctors are removing his heart and replacing it with an artificial one. In the previous film, Chev had to keep himself alive by constantly pumping his adrenaline after getting poisoned. In this follow-up film, Chev’s artificial heart can only sustain itself for an hour, causing Chev to constantly need to recharge it through intense electric shocks and things like jumper cables. Chev’s heart has been “heart-napped,” and he needs to find who kidnapped it and find someone who will put it back in. The film’s strengths are mindless action and crazy scenarios. Saying the film is over-the-top is ironically understating just how wacky the film can get.

6 Gamer (2009)

Gamer is an action sci-fi film that was distributed by Lionsgate and released in 2009. It stars Gerald Butler as a gaming avatar named John, who is a top player in a video game known as “Slayers.” This game was developed through technology that allows people to control other people’s actions as their avatars in a virtual simulation game. John is controlled by a 17-year-old gamer against his will and must survive 30 matches in the game to win his freedom. The game designer is intent on stopping John’s winning streak and starts to introduce unfair elements so the mind-controlling nature of the game is not exposed. The film has solid action, but its direction and editing make it hard to follow.

5 Face/Off (1997)

Face/Off has perhaps the silliest action premise on this list, and is a top contender for the wackiest action premise ever. The film was released in 1997 and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as cop and criminal rivals whose living human faces got swapped with each other. The FBI agent hopes to use the criminal’s face to infiltrate the underworld of crime in an experimental procedure, but the criminal gets ahold of the FBI agent’s face too. This results in a sort of Freaky Friday situation where they must pretend to live the other person’s life. The film features no shortage of jailbreaks, plane explosions, and boat chases. While the premise is outrageous, it actually ends up working out in the film’s favor, making for an epic action viewing experience.

4 Broken Arrow (1996)

Broken Arrow is an action movie distributed by 20th Century Fox and released in 1996. It stars John Travolta as a rogue US pilot who stole two nuclear devices from the military. This action soon devolves into an elaborate game of cat and mouse that delivers cheesy action at a high level.

3 True Lies

Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies from James Cameron — Universal Pictures

Next on the list is the action spy thriller True Lies. It was directed by James Cameron and released in 1994. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger plays a secret agent named Harry, who pretends to be a regular guy with an average life. After he suspects his wife might be cheating, he goes overboard and kidnaps his own wife and the man and finds out his wife wants adventure and offers her a secret spy mission. The outrageous special effects deliver some laughs at how ridiculous the action set pieces are, making it an enjoyable action flick.

2 Last Action Hero (1993)

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero — Columbia Pictures

Last Action Hero is an action comedy released in 1993 by Columbia Pictures. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a fictional action hero conjured by the imagination of a young boy with a magical ticket. In the fictional film world, the boy must work together with the action hero when the film’s villains get the ticket and use it to return to the real world. It is an underappreciated gem that delivers laugh-out-loud moments, though not always intentionally.

1 Raw Force (1982)

Rounding out the list is the 1982 film, Raw Force. The film was distributed by C.A.V Distribution and followed a group of martial arts students who must battle a Hitler lookalike and his gang of slavers. These two groups do epic battle with each other that involves zombies, cannibals, and other wacky plot elements. This is an outrageous action movie that has an endearing charm if you let logic go out the window.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

There is something wholesome and disarming

Music

Kane Brown Dishes on His ‘Fire Country’ Acting Debut and If He’ll Ever Act Alongside Wife Katelyn (Exclusive)

Kane Brown Dishes on His ‘Fire Country’ Acting Debut and If He’ll Ever Act Alongside Wife Katelyn (Exclusive) | Entertainment Tonight

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Global

Golden Acre: spring gardening

While many Alberta gardeners are eager to get their hands dirty, Colin Hayles, with Golden Acre Home & Garden joins Global News Calgary with the dos and don’ts of spring gardening.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

While many Alberta gardeners are eager to

Trending

Tiger Woods Withdraws From Masters After Foot Injury: Details

Tiger Woods David Blunsden/Action Plus/Shutterstock

Putting his health first. Tiger Woods is sitting out the rest of the 2023 Masters tournament following an injury.

“I am disappointed to have to [withdraw] this morning due to reaggravating my plantar fasciitis,” the professional golfer, 47, wrote via Twitter on Sunday, April 9. “Thank you to the fans and to @TheMasters who have shown me so much love and support. Good luck to the players today!”

Plantar fasciitis is a tissue inflammation that causes pain in the heel of the foot. According to the Mayo Clinic, plantar fasciitis commonly causes stabbing pain when individuals take their first steps in the morning and can frequently recur if standing for long periods. Woods, for his part, has not further detailed his injury.

Tiger Woods Withdraws From Masters Tournament After 'Reaggravating' Plantar Fasciitis Injury — Tiger Woods Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

The tournament’s official Twitter account also confirmed in a statement that Woods has “officially withdrawn” on Sunday after completing seven holes of his third round.

The Masters kicked off on Thursday, April 6, and Friday, April 7, with Woods’ scores toward the bottom of the overall leaderboard. When the championship resumed on Saturday, April 8, the California native was seen limping on the 17th hole. At the time, Woods told reporters that he was dealing with “constant” pain in his right leg.

“Hopping on the left leg is fine. If I did it on the other one, not so fine,” the pro athlete said, per ESPN.

The PGA Tour champ, who has previously won the Masters five times, made his 25th overall appearance on the Augusta National green earlier this month. “I don’t know how many more I have in me,” Woods confessed to CNN on Wednesday, April 5. “So just to be able to appreciate the time that I have here and cherish the memories.”

Woods returned to golf in 2022 after surviving a harrowing car crash one year prior, in which he ended up with severe injuries to his leg.

“I think my game is better than it was last year at this particular time,” Woods told CNN on Wednesday about his recovery. “I think my endurance is better, but it aches a little bit more than it did last year just because at that particular time when I came back, I really had not pushed it that often. I just have to be cognizant of how much I can push it.”

The Masters will conclude later on Sunday with the winner taking home an impressive $3.24 million prize. Brooks Koepka is currently ranking No. 1 on the leaderboard, followed by Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Bennett.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Tiger Woods David Blunsden/Action Plus/Shutterstock Putting his

The three Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 tablets shown from behind

Tech

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series could include two FE editions

There have been a few rumblings about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 in recent weeks, and it seems as though the Android tablet series could arrive with two cheaper FE (Fan Edition) models as part of the range – which would be something of a surprise.

The team at SamMobile (opens in new tab) has been joining the dots and comparing the model numbers posting Geekbench benchmarks. Two of those models, SM-X516B and SM-X616B, could relate to budget-level versions of the Tab S9.

Based on previous convention, the Tab S9, Tab S9 Plus and Tab S9 Ultra should have the model numbers SM-X716, SM-X816 and SM-X916 respectively. That means the two extra models that have turned up are something of a mystery.

The FE returns

You may remember that a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE was launched in 2021, but we didn’t get an FE tablet with the Galaxy Tab S8 the year after. The signs now are that the FE model might be making a comeback – as it might well for Samsung’s phone line too.

The FE version of the Galaxy S22 phone didn’t materialise – matching the tablet series – but there has been plenty of talk that there will in fact be a Samsung Galaxy S23 FE this year. It would seem that the Fan Edition is back in favor.

According to the benchmarks, these tablets are going to be fitted with a mid-range Exynos 1380 chipset and either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. They should appear alongside the main Tab S9 tablets around August or September time (following the schedule of the Galaxy Tab S8).

Analysis: covering the price points

In previous years – except last year – Samsung has used FE tablets and phones to appeal to people who don’t want to spend flagship-level prices but do want devices they can rely on. All the best mid-range phones and tablets make compromises, but the right ones.

It’s not clear exactly why the FE models didn’t appear alongside the Galaxy Tab S8 or the Galaxy S22, but the ongoing effects of a global pandemic and economic uncertainty probably had something to do with it.

Another possibility is that sales weren’t great for devices like the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, so it’s going to be interesting to see if that changes, should Samsung decide to produce two Galaxy Tab S9 FE models (possibly with different sizes or configuration options).

In theory, these FE devices should be the perfect balance of price and performance, but it can be a difficult sweet spot to hit. For inspiration, Samsung need only look to Apple, which covers a whole range of price points with its iPads.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

There have been a few rumblings about

Video

‘Super Mario Bros.’ Passes ‘Frozen II’ For Highest Animated Global Box Office Opening With $377 Million

Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has now earned the largest global animated opening weekend in box office history with a worldwide 5-day launch of $377 million, passing the $358 million record set by Disney’s “Frozen II” on Thanksgiving weekend in 2019.

Domestically, “Mario” was projected when it opened in theaters on Wednesday to earn a 5-day opening of at least $125 million from 4,343 theaters, and it has shattered that figure with $204.6 million grossed. Both that and its 3-day total of $143 million are a studio record for Illumination, with the 3-day total being the third highest seen on Easter weekend and second only to the $182 million earned by Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” among all animated films. It is also the new animation record holder for Imax with $21.6 million grossed worldwide.

And of course, the film has blasted past every box office opening record for video game adaptations, nearly doubling the 3-day domestic record of $72.1 million set by “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” last year and shattering the $210 million global record set by “Warcraft” in 2016.

For theaters, this holiday weekend is another reason to pump their fists and hold onto optimism that the box office is on a long but steady course to returning to pre-pandemic strength. Thanks in large part to “Super Mario Bros.,” overall weekend estimates have risen to $194 million, 76% above the same weekend in 2019.

“’The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s’ strong performance with the family audience this weekend is just another example of the consistent consumer enthusiasm for seeing great films on the big screen,” said Wanda Gierhart Fearing, Cinemark’s chief marketing and content officer on Saturday. “Moviegoers have demonstrated time and time again that they crave the immersive, cinematic experience only theaters can provide.”

Regardless of whether “Mario” legs out with moviegoers who don’t have nostalgic memories of playing Nintendo games, all signs point to this animated film getting plenty of repeat viewings from families and gamers throughout April as there won’t be another major blockbuster until “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in early May.

Depending on the strength of those holds, “Mario” will have a chance to pass the $939 million earned by fellow Illumination film “Minions: The Rise of Gru” to become the top grossing animated film since the pandemic began.

More to come…

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has

Entertaintment

Everything We Know About ‘Ahsoka’

At the Star Wars Celebration fan convention in London, Lucasfilm made a major series of announcements on the future of “Star Wars.” Three new features are on the way, recruiting directors Dave Filoni and James Mangold, and four series, including “Ahsoka.” Produced by Jon Favreau and writer Filoni, the series will follow Anakin Skywalker’s beloved Togruta padawan, Ahsoka Tano. The highly anticipated event is set to premiere in August on Disney+.

“Star Wars” viewers ‘were first introduced to Ahsoka in 2008, in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated film. The film was first commissioned as an introductory arc to the TV series of the same name, which follow Ahsoka as she learned from her mentor, Anakin Skywalker, who will become Darth Vader.

Quickly Ahsoka became a “Star Wars” favorite. The character returned six years later in the “Star Wars Rebels” animated series, now a powerful Jedi warrior.

Ahsoka came to live-action “Star Wars” in Season 2 of “The Mandalorian,” with Rosario Dawson debuting in the role. A live-action series starring Dawson was announced soon after.

Canonically, Ahsoka left the Jedi Order before receiving her official rank as knight. Her exact relationship among other Jedi remains largely unexplored in existing “Star Wars” stories.

During the “Ahsoka” panel at “Star Wars” celebration, Dawson reassured “Rebels” fans that the series would “definitely” serve as a continuation of the animated series.

“These characters are in really different places in their lives,” Dawson told Variety. “There is an aspect to the hero’s journey that is very lonely. You sacrifice a lot when you’re out there fighting the good fight. It’s going to be really beautiful and revelatory to see the things that can happen when you work in community, when you find those relationships and the people that you can trust.”

Ahsoka’s mentor Anakin Skywalker is reprised by Hayden Christensen, who played the role in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy directed by George Lucas. Other “Rebels” and “Clone Wars” favorites also make returns — including David Tennant as the voice of the droid Huyang. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is taking over the role of Hera Syndulla, who appeared in “Rebels.”

Winstead revealed at the panel that fans will continue to learn even more about the general. “She commands a lot of respect, which is very cool to get to play on top of being this mother figure who really takes care of her crew and her loved ones and her family. She is very, very similar to what we’ve seen of her on ‘Rebels,’” said Winstead.

Lars Mikkelsen brings the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn to life, reprising his voice role from “Rebels” in a live-action capacity. The blue-skinned villain has emerged as a fan-favorite among the “Star Wars” fanbase after first debuting in novels in the 1990’s. Mikkelsen’s casting reveal was one of the biggest smashes among fans at Star Wars Celebration, as the actor has been long celebrated for his voice performance in the role. Mikkelsen shared that the make-up process for the role usually takes two to three hours ahead of shooting.

Other antagonists include Shin Hati and Baylan, portrayed by Ivanna Sakhno and Ray Stevenson, respectively.

In addition to returning characters and cast members, the series enlisted a few of the franchise’s beloved directors, including Filoni, Steph Green (“The Book of Boba Fett”), Geeta Patel (“The Mandalorian”) and Rick Famuyiwa (“The Mandalorian”). Joining the veteran “Star Wars” directors include Dawson, Peter Ramsey (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”) and Jennifer Getzinger (“Mad Men”).

Filoni, who directed for the franchise’s “Rebels,” “The Clone Wars,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Tales of the Jedi,” tells Variety that he has directed more than one episode in the series. But the director is staying quiet on how many episodes are in the new series and whether or not there are plans for a second season.

Franchise favorite composer, Kevin Kiner, who worked on “The Clone Wars,” “Rebels” and “The Bad Batch” animation productions, is returning to “Star Wars” for “Ahsoka.”

Amon Warmann contributed to this report.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

At the Star Wars Celebration fan convention

Movies

Dimple Kapadia Joins Forces With Homi Adajania For Her OTT Debut Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo, Details Inside

Dimple Kapadia will feature in Homi Adajania’s OTT series Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo.

Dimple Kapadia will be seen making her digital debut with Homi Adajania’s upcoming series.

Dimple Kapadia enthralled everyone with her performance in Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham starrer Pathaan. The actress who is known for playing impactful roles in films like Ajooba, Rudaali, Dil.Chahta Hai, Luck By Chance, Dabangg and Cocktail is gearing up for her digital debut with an upcoming series titled Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo. Dimple Kapadia has reunited with Being Cyrus director Homi Adajania for this project and the same will get released on May 5.

Spilling beans about the show, Dimple Kapadia told Bollywood Hungama, “Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo is a story of what makes ordinary people extraordinary in a world full of passion and chaos. It’s a bunch of bad-ass women telling a narrative, which is often played only by male characters and believe me, it’s got some of the most colourful characters you’ll ever see. The show is as wild as my crazy director Homi Adajania’s mind. He has flipped a family drama on its head.”

Homi Adajania further added, “You remember the line ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’? When the world has scorned these women and turned its back on them, they learn to thrive by creating their own system of morality in a bold and lawless place that they inhabit. Women are the evolved half of our messed up species and Saas Bahu aur Flamingo is to date the maddest world that I have created. Its characters are so beautifully complex and conflicting, navigating their way through a world of passion, manipulation and chaos.”

Meanwhile, Dimple Kapadia was recently seen in Luv Ranjan’s rom-com Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. The film which garnered great reviews as well as became a box office hit featured the veteran actress alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anubhav Singh Bassi, Hasleen Kaur, Boney Kapoor, Monica Chaudhary and others.

Read all the Latest Movies News, Entertainment News

Yatamanyu Narain

Yatamanyu is a multi-disciplinary Journalist & Photographer who dabbles in Films, Poetry, Music, Politics, Pop-Culture and everything in between. …Read More

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Dimple Kapadia will feature in Homi Adajania's

Molly Shannon returns to ‘SNL,’ and Trump interrupts the Last Supper

After two strong episodes with Jenna Ortega and Quinta Brunson, this week’s “Saturday Night Live” hit a rough patch with host and “SNL” alumna Molly Shannon. Shannon’s infectious energy, kicked off by an opening monologue song, couldn’t save sketch after sketch that relied on one-note premises and only rarely took advantage of the fearlessness she shows in “The White Lotus” and “The Other Two.” An early sketch about three techniques for valets fell flat, a mock Netflix ad featuring one of Shannon’s lesser-known characters was unfunny on purpose, and a bit about an office worker who confuses her gassy belly for pregnancy was ghastly. All were missing funny lines and more for Shannon to do.

Shannon carried the weight of a misguided sketch about a playwright whose material is way too confessional. Things got better whenever the writing veered to stranger places that allowed the actor’s zaniness to shine through, like a late-in-the-show sketch featuring Shannon’s character Sally O’Malley (with this week’s musical guests the Jonas Brothers), or the best sketch of a mostly bad lot, “Molly Shannon 2K23.” Shannon deserved better, especially since it was the writing and not her performance that felt weak in this episode.

The show’s cold open starts off as a “Last Supper” sketch, with Mikey Day as Jesus, until former President Trump (James Austin Johnson) interrupts the proceedings. Trump compares the unjust arrest of Jesus to his own situation, but the similarities, he says, don’t stop there. “We’re both very tall, very popular and both, frankly, white Americans.” Trump says he could have resurrected faster than Jesus — two days, tops — and that Jesus got in trouble for the same reason he did — for telling his followers to “get very violent and start a war.” And he says, “Christ was, let’s call it what it is, a nepo baby.” I have sung enough praises of Johnson’s Trump impression this season, but this sketch in particular shows why it’s so good: with no gimmicks like on-screen graphics, it’s just Johnson firing off solo with pure Trump logic. The monologue takes time to repeatedly tease Day, who, as Jesus, must sit frozen in place with his hands up through the rest of the sketch.

In her opening monologue, Shannon referenced her autobiography, “Hello, Molly!,” where she wrote about some of the tragedies that shaped her life. Her father, she says, helped her build positivity in her life, leading her to sing the famous “Gypsy” show tune “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Shannon, partly in song, helps current and former cast members with their troubles, like Molly Kearney‘s need for more airtime, Kenan Thompson’s Rolex addiction and Martin Short’s problem: “I ran out of Ozempic!” He says it just before scarfing down a burger while standing next to a highly amused Lorne Michaels.

Best sketch of the night: Shannon gets the ‘Madden’ treatment

The “Please Don’t Destroy” team is on a streak. This week’s offering, “Molly Shannon 2K23,” suggests a world where a video game series based on the life of Molly Shannon is as popular as the “Madden NFL” series. Shannon is surprised to discover the game, which the writers are playing, even exists (and that she seemingly hasn’t made any money from it). The game allows players to tell anecdotes on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” and to make crucial career moves, like whether to go on a cancel-culture rant for a college commencement speech. Shannon gets hooked on the game and makes her virtual self a rapper, where she cuts loose with lines like, “My fingers in my armpits / pull ‘em out / like Excalibur / Season 25 caliber.”

Also good: Sally O’Malley makes it all kinds of awkward

Bringing back a beloved “SNL” character decades later is always a roll of the dice, but Shannon’s super-loose comfort with her Sally O’Malley character (“I’m 50!”) wins here. Her interactions with the Jonas Brothers as their new choreographer are silly. But it’s the extended bit where Shannon adjusts her bright red pants ever higher to emphasize her body that keeps the audience and other cast members in stitches.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Jafar puts Gov. Ron DeSantis in his place

Bowen Yang nails the “Aladdin” villain Jafar, playing up the character’s sly voice and queerness in a rebuke of the Florida governor’s war on Disney, and he repeatedly refers to Ron DeSantis as “The Boy.” Jafar points out that many Disney characters and even Main Street USA are inherently gay (“If you use Grindr on Main Street USA, your phone explodes”), and there’s nothing gayer than getting married there, he says, as DeSantis did. The segment has strong jokes, but it’s Yang’s pitch-perfect delivery of Jafar’s imperious tone that makes it truly great.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

After two strong episodes with Jenna

DCU

Peacemaker Season 2 Gets Release Date Update from Showrunner

According to James Gunn, fans will have to wait a while before Season 2 of Peacemaker is released.

Peacemaker turned out to be one of the biggest successes in the entirety of the DCEU in terms of fan engagement.

However, a second season of the John Cena-led series did not appear on the mapped-out DCU Chapter 1 slate that Gunn revealed, causing fans to wonder if it had been scrapped.

The show is still very much alive according to Gunn, but can’t receive a second installment due to the priority of other projects in the upcoming DCU.

James Gunn Reveals Peacemaker Season 2 Release Window

Co-CEO of DC Studios and Peacemaker showrunner James Gunn confirmed via Twitter that Season 2 of Peacemaker won’t debut until after the release of Superman: Legacy.

A fan on Twitter asked Gunn about the current state of Peacemaker, and if it was even going to be released at all. Gunn replied by saying, “Yes after Superman.”

Superman: Legacy is set to be released on July 11, 2025, so by Gunn confirming that Peacemaker will come out after the feature film, fans can expect to see it sometime after that date.

Another fan also asked Gunn about Waller, the Peacemaker spin-off about Viola Davis‘ titular character – specifically if it is still planned to release prior to Superman. Gunn tweeted back at the fan and said, “If it’s done in time, yes.”

This further confirms that the events in Waller are supposed to take place between the first two seasons of Peacemaker, as Gunn stated in the past.

When Exactly Will Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere?

At the moment, it seems as though Peacemaker Season 2’s release date is really dependent on when Waller comes out.

Gunn said in the past that Waller narratively fits in the middle of the first two Peacemaker seasons, so it all depends on when Viola Davis’ series is released.

If Waller does get finished in enough time to be released before Superman: Legacy, then fans can probably expect to see Season 2 of Peacemaker sometime in fall 2025, since Superman fills the the summer slot.

That would put the time gap between the first two seasons at a little over three-and-a-half years, and also give a nice cushion of time between Waller and Peacemaker.

If Waller isn’t able to come out before Superman, then it will likely be in that fall 2025 slot, which would most likely push Season 2 of Peacemaker back into early 2026.

Season 1 debuted in January 2022, so if Season 2 was released around January 2026, that would put about four years between the two.

No matter when the two shows actually release, fans can expect to see John Cena back in his titular role at some point in the future.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Comics

Disney Dreamlight Valley Eggstravaganza: New Items, Seasonal Challenges, And More

Despite being in early access, Disney Dreamlight Valley has had some fun holiday events filled with limited-time challenges and cosmetics, and that trend is continuing with the Eggstravaganza Event. With some fresh holiday-themed Dreamlight tasks to knock out, additional furniture to craft, and even some new cooking recipes, there’s a lot to keep you busy during the event. Here’s everything you need to know.

Event dates

The Eggstravaganza Event runs from Saturday, April 8 through Saturday, April 29. There are some new additions to the game during this time period that must be completed before the event ends or you’ll lose out on the opportunity, so be sure to make the most of your time.

New items

There are some new event-exclusive items to get your hands on if you want to craft and cook all of the new recipes.

Egg-cellent Fruit

There’s a new fruit bush that grows, uh, eggs. There are three of them across the valley, though you can move them wherever you wish. You can get Egg-cellent Fruit x3 for each bush, so that’s a good haul for each rotation. You’ll also earn plenty of these from completing daily and weekly quests.

Wild Spring Egg

You’ll want to keep your eyes peeled as you’re exploring, as these eggs are scattered around on the ground throughout the valley. Otherwise, you can only get them from WALL-E’s quests, so use them wisely!

Spring V-EGG-etable

Keeping a stock of Spring V-EGG-etables around requires a bit of work. You’ll only get small amounts of these when completing daily and weekly quests, so your best bet is to craft seeds to plant and grow your own. You’ll need Dreamlight x20, Egg-cellent Fruit x1, and Wild Spring Egg x1 to craft a single bag of seeds.

You need to use eggs to make egg seeds because, well, you just need to.

Daily and weekly quests

There are now daily and weekly quests you can get from WALL-E during the event. Simply speak to him when he has a quest marker above his head and accept them. They’re all pretty easy to complete–mostly asking you to perform quick tasks around the valley or craft an item. Just make sure you check in with WALL-E each day so you don’t miss some opportunities to earn eggs.

Holiday-themed Dreamlight tasks

As with all holiday events, you can find some unique Dreamlight tasks hidden in your Village tab within the Dreamlight menu. There are four in total, and completing each one will grant you a unique item. You can check out how to solve them below–and check the next section for any recipes you’ll need to do so.

Spring Taste Test

Make and eat one of each of the new event recipes.

Reward: Spring Tableware

That’s Not Where Eggs Come From

Craft and plant V-EGG-etable Seeds (recipe further down), then harvest them.

Rewards: Spring Chocolate (10), Blue Spring Rabbit companion (30), Pink Spring Rabbit companion (60), Yellow Spring Rabbit companion (100)

WALL-E Loves Flowers

Hang out with WALL-E and pick 50 flowers.

Reward: Decorative Tulip Bouquet

Egg-ceptional Decorating

Make and display four of the new pieces of event furniture.

Reward: Tulip Lamp

Spring recipes

There are some new egg-based cooking and crafting recipes to check out during the event. Here’s how to make everything.

Cooking recipes

Spring Chocolate – Wild Spring Egg, Sugarcane, Cocoa Bean
Spring Egg Bowl – Wild Spring Egg, Egg-cellent Fruit, Spring V-EGG-etable, Sugarcane, Cocoa Bean
Spring Mimosa Eggs – Wild Spring Egg, Egg-cellent Fruit, Spring V-EGG-etable, Basil

Crafting recipes

“Don’t Put ‘Em All in One Basket” Basket – Wild Spring Egg x10, Egg-cellent Fruit x10, Spring V-EGG-etable x5, Fiber x20
Over Easy Chair – Wild Spring Egg x5, Egg-cellent Fruit x5
Spring Egg Bounty – Wild Spring Egg x15, Egg-cellent Fruit x15, Spring V-EGG-etable x15, Stone x50
Spring Stall – Wild Spring Egg x10, Egg-cellent Fruit x10, Spring V-EGG-etable x10, Hardwood x20
Sunny Side Up Arch – Wild Spring Egg x15, Egg-cellent Fruit x25, Spring V-EGG-etable x25, Iron Ingot x10
V-EGG-etable Seeds – Wild Spring Egg x1, Egg-cellent Fruit x1, Dreamlight x20

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Festivals

Join scientists, storytellers, and world-builders for The Future on Film, a virtual conference on April 15, 2023

FILM•RADERIE PRESENTS THEIR INAUGURAL EVENT – THE FUTURE ON FILM

Join scientists, storytellers, and world-builders for The Future on Film, a virtual conference presented by newly formed nonprofit film•raderie on April 15, 2023

film•raderie is proud to announce their inaugural event, The Future on Film, to be presented virtually on April 15, 2023, from 10:30 a.m. PST – 1:30 p.m. PST. The conference will focus on futurism and world-building in film, TV, and new media, specifically detailing how science and storytelling intersect in our ever-evolving content landscape. The conference will include a keynote address followed by two exciting, industry-filled panels.

The event will begin with a keynote address from speaker Ted Schilowitz (Futurist-in-Residence, Paramount Pictures) and Darrien Michele Gipson (Executive Director, Film-Raderie) to discuss his unique insight into the future of tech and entertainment and how storytellers can take inspiration from the scientific discoveries around them. Following this, moderator Ryan Silbert (author/filmmaker) will conduct the ‘Envisioning the Future’ panel where NASA scientists and storytellers discuss the benefits of research and what we can learn from the new frontiers of space exploration and tech. Panelists will include Swati Mohan (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Michelle Thaller (NASA), and Nicole Perlman (screenwriter, “Guardians of the Galaxy”).

After a short break, moderator Eric Molinsky (Host, Imaginary Worlds Podcast) will host the second panel, ‘Designing the Future’, with film creatives highlighting their inspirations behind the futuristic worlds they’ve built, from costumes to visual effects to production design and beyond. Panelists will include Jeff Desom (VFX, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Gersha Phillips (Costume Designer, “Star Trek: Discovery”) and Alexandra Schaller (Production Designer, “After Yang”).

For tickets to The Future on Film presented by film•raderie, please visit the link here.

About the film•raderie

film•raderie is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization committed to developing the careers of underrepresented storytellers by providing education, inspiring through unique programming, facilitating access to resources, and connecting today’s most innovative creators. In addition to The Future on Film conference and ongoing programming opportunities, Film-Raderie manages the filmmaker education program, SAGindie, and is planning a Los Angeles film festival for underrepresented artists. Follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter @filmraderie. To support and learn more about the organization and upcoming events, visit filmraderie.org.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

FILM•RADERIE PRESENTS THEIR INAUGURAL EVENT – THE FUTURE

Film

Sports Movies With Best Picture Oscar Noms: ‘Rocky,’ ‘Moneyball,’ More

The Oscars love a sprawling biopic, an underdog character and a triumphant tale marred by obstacles and resulting in success. Those themes have marked the sports genre since the creation of cinema. In the Academy Awards’ history, 591 movies have been nominated for best picture, with 95 winners named among them. Depending on the definition of what qualifies as a “sports movie,” 17 films focusing on sports have been nominated, with three being handed the coveted statuette.

In celebration of Ben Affleck’s sports drama “Air,” which tells the story of the Nike corporation’s determined pursuit to sign rookie basketball player Michael Jordan, Variety is ranking the 17 sports films that have been nominated for best picture (which “Air” could potentially join in 2024).

According to the World Sports Encyclopedia, more than 8,000 different sports recordings have been catalogued. Any one of them could inspire a filmmaker. It’s arguable whether “sports” is its own genre, since it can be a backdrop for many types of narratives. But inspiration is universal.

Boxing movies have always felt like their own separate entity from the standard sports movies. The most audience-friendly and awards successful sport in film, boxing films often follow the same trope, “It’s about the fight both inside and outside the ring.” (See Heidi Gardner’s hilarious “Saturday Night Live” sketch as Angel, every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing ever).

The Academy has ignored some of the best sports movies. Notable snubs and worthy entrants include the delightful women’s baseball comedy “A League of Their Own” (1992) from Penny Marshall, and the criminally underappreciated debut film from Gina Prince-Bythewood, “Love & Basketball” (2000). Even the coming-of-age documentary feature “Hoop Dreams” (1994) from Steve James was infamously overlooked in its category, while the supremely popular “Hoosiers” (1986) went sadly unnoticed.

Ben Affleck as Phil Knight in “Air” (Amazon Studios)
Courtesy of Prime

“Air” stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis. The Amazon Studios film is now playing in theaters before moving to Prime Video.

Read Variety’s ranking of the 17 sports movies below.

The Blind Side (2009)

Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson

Director: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Lily Collins, Jae Head, Kim Dickens, Kathy Bates
Studio: Warner Bros.

Other Oscar noms/wins: best actress (Sandra Bullock, winner)

Sandra Bullock has been a star since the ‘80s, headlining box office hits like “Speed” (1993) and “While You Were Sleeping” (1996), yet we never really thought the Academy would feel inclined to reward her.

Then came “The Blind Side” where Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, who along with her family, becomes the “white savior” to the poor Black kid in John Lee Hancock’s story of real-life NFL first-round draft pick and All-American Michael Oher.

The movie didn’t exactly rack up passionate reviews, but making money can do wonders for your Oscar campaign. Not to mention that football was front-and-center during that part of the awards season.

Its shocking best picture nom clearly came along with Bullock’s eventual best actress win and pushed out more deserving films such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Messenger” and “Star Trek.”

Nonetheless, the most deserving film did win – Kathryn Bigelow’s history-making “The Hurt Locker.” Either way, I’ll always love Sandy.
Seabiscuit (2003)

Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross

Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, William H. Macy
Studio: Universal Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: adapted screenplay (Gary Ross), production design (Jeannine Oppewall, Leslie Pope), cinematography (John Schwartzman), costume design (Judianna Makovsky), film editing (William Goldenberg), sound mixing (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Tod A. Maitland)

Director Gary Ross, in his pre-Hunger Games era, delivers a paint-by-numbers tale of horse-racing during the Great Depression. Perhaps in the same boat as best picture winner “Chariots of Fire” (1981), the movie has been mostly forgotten, but that’s due to feeling very much stuck in its time. During the early aughts, it was typical to see studios angling for awards attention with a softball such as “Seabiscuit,” which grossed over $140 million.

With a recent revisit, I found myself engaged once again, with a killer performance from Jeff Bridges, and recalling how during that awards season, William H. Macy managed to land a Globe nod as the fast-talking commentator and Chris Cooper picked up a SAG mention as the wise horse trainer. Nothing for Bridges or star Tobey Maguire.
Chariots of Fire (1981)

Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): David Puttnam (winner)

Director: Hugh Hudson
Starring: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Lindsay Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Nigel Davenport, Brad Davis, Peter Egan, John Gielgud, Ian Holm, Patrick Magee
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, supporting actor (Ian Holm), adapted screenplay (Colin Welland, winner), costume design (Milena Canonero, winner), film editing (Terry Rawlings), original score (Vangelis, winner)

People will typically mention the score of “Chariots of Fire” before talking about anything else these days. That’s mostly because the movie is one of the least talked-about winners, and it doesn’t stand out as a bad film, it was a cinematic year that gave the world far more memorable movies like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Reds.”

The story of two British track runners during the 1924 Olympics marked the end of a five-year consecutive run of the Oscars nominating sports movies, but it ushered in one of the least memorable decades of best picture winners in the 80s.
Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Warren Beatty

Director: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Starring: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Buck Henry, Vincent Gardenia, Jack Warden
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, best actor (Warren Beatty), supporting actor (Jack Warden), supporting actress (Dyan Cannon), adapted screenplay (Elaine May, Warren Beatty), production design (Paul Sylbert, Edwin O’Donovan, George Gaines, winner), cinematography (William A. Fraker), original score (Dave Grusin)

It’s not too often we see the Oscars embrace screwball comedies, but they did with Warren Beatty and Buck Henry’s sports-fantasy dramedy about a Los Angeles Rams quarterback who’s mistakenly taken to heaven in his prime.

Co-written by Beatty and the fabulous Elaine May, the movie brings morally invigorating questions to the surface regarding mortality and our purpose here on Earth.

In another banger lineup of best picture nominees of the 1970s, the movie lost the award to “The Deer Hunter,” along with “An Unmarried Woman,” “Coming Home” and “Midnight Express.”
The Champ (1931)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): None named

Director: King Vidor
Starring: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, best actor (Berry, winner), original story (Frances Marion, winner)

The washed-up alcoholic boxer is played by the fine Walter Beery, whose career skyrocketed after its release, helped by his role in “Min and Bill” the same year. At the fifth Academy Awards ceremony, the best actor category resulted in the only tie in its history, with Beery and Fredric March from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” sharing the prize. Interestingly, March had received one vote more than Beery but Academy rules at that time considered such a close margin to be a tie. Under current Academy rules, dual awards are given only for exact ties.

Despite mixed reviews from critics, the movie found its way into the best picture lineup, losing to MGM’s “Grand Hotel,” the only film to win best picture with a sole nomination.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, James Mangold

Director: James Mangold
Starring: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Other Oscar noms/wins: film editing (Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker, winners), sound mixing (Paul Massey, David Giammarco, Steven Morrow), sound editing (Donald Sylvester, winner)

It’s a known fact: James Mangold knows how to make a movie.

Shifting gears into the world of racing, the film tells the story of automotive designer Carroll Shelby and race car driver Ken Miles (played exquisitely by Christian Bale). The action-packed tale brings the highs and lows, creating a world in which the audience is too afraid to blink with fear they could miss something.

Also embedded within the well-crafted flick is Tracy Letts, who soars in his brief but memorable role as Henry Ford, who goes on a joyride to remember.

The history-making non-English winner “Parasite” beat the film by a mile.
The Fighter (2010)

Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, supporting actor (Christian Bale, winner), supporting actress (Amy Adams), supporting actress (Melissa Leo, winner), film editing (Pamela Martin)

In what many consider to be the start of David O. Russell’s relentless pursuit to win an Oscar, after shepherding zany, offbeat comedies like “Flirting with Disaster” (1996) and “I Heart Huckabees” (2004), his take on the life of boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) trying to escape the shadow of his troubled brother Dickie (Christian Bale) remains the strongest effort of his later films.

This is one of the few boxing movies where the fights outside the ring heavily outweigh the ones we view inside, such as Amy Adams taking on Micky’s sisters.

“The Fighter” will always hold a special place in my heart because it gave us one of history’s most thirsty awards campaigns (that paid off) — with “CONSIDER” with supporting actress winner Melissa Leo’s face plastered across ads.

“The Fighter” lost to another biopic, “The King’s Speech.”
Breaking Away (1979)

Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Peter Yates

Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, Robyn Douglass
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, supporting actress (Barbara Barrie), original screenplay (Steve Tesich, winner), original song score adaptation (Patrick Williams)

Peter Yates’ coming-of-age film about four teenagers from Indiana who use cycling to escape is a beautiful ode to childhood and the dreams we give up on.

Utilizing one of the best ensembles of actors of the 1970s, the movie’s foursome evinces raw and fearless talent, all leading up to a final race that goes down as one of the most exciting in cinema history.

“Breaking Away” lost to the family drama “Kramer vs. Kramer” starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
King Richard (2021)

Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Tim White, Trevor White, Will Smith

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Starring: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, Jon Bernthal
Studio: Warner Bros.

Other Oscar noms/wins: best actor (Will Smith, winner), supporting actress (Aunjanue Ellis), original screenplay (Zach Baylin), film editing (Pamela Martin) original song (“Be Alive” by Beyoncé and Dixson)

94th Oscars ceremony aside, Will Smith’s transformation into Richard Williams, the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, is a luscious endeavor for the veteran actor and worthy of the statuette he won for his portrayal.

What adds to the film’s delight as it looks at the early days of training the eventual athletes is how director Reinaldo Marcus Green is unafraid to show Richard as a flawed man. It shows human behavior is not always black-and-white, and questionable actions can have the best intentions.

With a fierce acting ensemble including supporting actress nominee Aunjanue Ellis, newcomer Saniyya Sidney, and the hilarious Jon Bernthal, “King Richard” makes you feel alive, as Beyoncé says.

The film lost to the first streaming best picture winner, “CODA.”
Jerry Maguire (1996)

Image Credit: © TriStar Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): James L. Brooks, Laurence Mark, Richard Sakai, Cameron Crowe

Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O’Connell, Jay Mohr, Bonnie Hunt, Regina King
Studio: Sony Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: best actor (Tom Cruise), supporting actor (Cuba Gooding Jr., winner), original screenplay (Cameron Crowe), film editing (Joe Hutshing)

Another movie with a memorable one-liner — “Show me the money.”

And that’s just what writer and director Cameron Crowe did for the studio, and the film’s star Tom Cruise, in this story of a sports agent who has a moral epiphany.

Part rom-com, and dude-bro-film, “Jerry Maguire” is unapologetic about trying to appeal to the masses, utilizing a couple of clichés, but never without sincerity as it walks us all through the tantalizing subject of football deals and games. It’s not surprising, considering one of the film’s producers is none other than James L. Brooks of “Terms of Endearment” (1983) and “As Good as It Gets” (1997), who knows how to create that balance.

However, there was no hope for the movie to topple the steamroller that was “The English Patient,” especially given it also shared the lineup with another classic comedy, “Fargo.”
Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy, Tom Rosenberg (winner)

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale
Studio: Warner Bros.

Other Oscar noms/wins: director (winner), best actor (Clint Eastwood), best actress (Hilary Swank, winner), supporting actor (Morgan Freeman, winner), adapted screenplay (Paul Haggis), film editing (Joel Cox)

Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama has been a legacy since its Oscar win for best picture, dropping in at the last second of its awards season. And then, it turned the narrative around from what many assumed was going to be the long-awaited winning year for Martin Scorsese for “The Aviator” to a second triumphant win for Eastwood, as well as Hilary Swank.

In Eastwood’s signature style, the movie about an energetic female boxer who captures the heart of her hardened trainer is his “most shadow-y” movie ever. Nonetheless, it does its job exquisitely, featuring what I believe to be Eastwood’s finest acting moments, and introduces the world to the talents of Anthony Mackie.
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Director: Sam Wood
Starring: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan
Studio: RKO Radio Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: best actor (Gary Cooper), best actress (Teresa Wright), original story (Paul Gallico), screenplay (Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jo Swerling), art direction-interior decoration black-and-white (Perry Ferguson, Howard Bristol), cinematography black-and-white (Rudolph Maté), film editing (Daniel Mandell, winner), sound recording (Thomas T. Moulton), special effects (Jack Cosgrove, Ray Binger, Thomas T. Moulton), music scoring of a dramatic or comedy picture (Leigh Harline)

America’s favorite pastime has a special place in our hearts, and there have been heroes to emerge from it such as New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig. Released one year after Gehrig’s death from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (better known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), the baseball film is a wonderful tribute with sensational performances by Gary Cooper as the MLB player and Teresa Wright as his wife Eleanor.

Delivering one of the most essential scenes in film history, Cooper’s retirement speech on the Yankee Stadium diamond sets off the waterworks in a profound way.

The film lost the Oscar top prize to William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver.”
The Hustler (1961)

Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Robert Rossen

Director: Robert Rossen
Starring: Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Jackie Gleason, Myron McCormick
Studio: 20^th Century Fox

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, best actor (Paul Newman), best actress (Piper Laurie), supporting actor (Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott), adapted screenplay (Sidney Carroll, Robert Rossen), art direction black-and-white (Harry Horner, Gene Callahan, winner), cinematography black-and-white (Eugen Schufftan, winner)

It’s not clear whether it’s common knowledge to younger cinephiles that Paul Newman’s Oscar-winning performance in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money” (1986) is a sequel to Robert Rossen’s classic in which Newman originated the role of professional pool player Eddie Felson.

Many consider the film to be one of Newman’s finest acting endeavors, as well as his co-star Jackie Gleason’s. But the film’s ruthless approach to its story and characters doesn’t rest upon the question of whether who wins or loses. Rather, it’s all about the fixation on Eddie, and how his choices affect the viewer’s feelings about him.

At the Oscars, the movie was steamrolled by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ adaptation of the musical “West Side Story.” “The Hustler” was able to pick up its two wins because it was during a time the Academy was dividing some of the technical races between black-and-white and color pictures.
Field of Dreams (1989)

Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Lawrence Gordon, Charles Gordon

Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Burt Lancaster
Studio: Universal Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: adapted screenplay (Phil Alden Robinson), original score (James Horner)

“If you build it, he will come.”

It’s not too often a movie line ripples throughout history, especially for a film that was released over 35 years ago. Phil Alden Robinson’s classic baseball movie had star Kevin Costner in his prime, playing Ray Kinsella, a man who hears a voice in his head telling him to build a baseball field.

What follows is a whimsical tale that leads to one of the biggest tearjerker scenes in a Dad movie of all time – when Ray reunites with his father and asks him, “You wanna have a catch?”

Alongside a lineup of masterful best picture nominees — “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Dead Poets Society” and “My Left Foot” — the lot lost out to the forgettable comedy “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Moneyball (2011)

Image Credit: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

Director: Bennett Miller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Jack McGee
Studio: Sony Pictures

Other Oscar noms/wins: best actor (Brad Pitt), supporting actor (Jonah Hill), adapted screenplay (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin), film editing (Christopher Tellefsen), sound mixing (Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, Ed Novick)

Math is hard, but Bennett Miller’s vivacious look into the Oakland Athletics’ attempt to redefine baseball is a spectacle of story, with glorious performances from the Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill (who showed the world how good of an actor he can be) and the overlooked but always reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman.

With a whippersnapper of a script by Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, the Sony movie manages to keep the dialogue in laymen’s terms, never trying to say it’s smarter than the rest of us.

It almost plays out like a documentary feature, with some incredibly handsome subjects.

Unfortunately, the drama went home empty-handed, losing the final award to the silent movie, “The Artist.”
Raging Bull (1980)

Image Credit: ©United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff

Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Nicholas Colasanto
Studio: United Artists

Other Oscar noms/wins: director, best actor (Robert DeNiro, winner), supporting actor (Joe Pesci), supporting actress (Cathy Moriarty), cinematography (Michael Chapman), film editing (Thelma Schoonmaker, winner), sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Bill Nicholson, David J. Kimball, Les Lazarowitz)

Before “Silence” (2016) came on the scene, the story of Jake LaMotta, a violent and ill-tempered boxer who destroys his life both in and outside of the ring, was the definitive movie by master auteur Martin Scorsese.

Written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin (criminally snubbed for adapted screenplay), Scorsese uses monochromatic palettes and the career-defining roles of his stars to paint a dark, but enlivened portrait of regret and redemption.

The movie was edged out in the top race by Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People.”
Rocky (1976)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

Nominated producer(s): Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff (winners)

Director: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Studio: United Artists

Other Oscar noms/wins: director (winner), best actor (Sylvester Stallone), best actress (Talia Shire), supporting actor (Burgess Meredith, Burt Young), original screenplay (Stallone), film editing (Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad, winner), sound (Harry W. Tetrick, William L. McCaughey, Lyle J. Burbridge, Bud Alper), original song (“Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti, Carol Connors, Ayn Robbins)

Everyone has heard some version of the story of a grandparent, parent or sibling going to the movie theater and watching “Rocky” for the very first time. It often ends with the narrator waking up the next morning, drinking a raw egg, and going for an early morning run, and never attempting that ever again.

In what can be categorized as one of the top five finest best picture lineups of all-time, the underdog story of boxer Rocky Balboa manifested itself in real life, beating out “All the President’s Men,” “Bound for Glory,” “Network” and “Taxi Driver.” It would have been fascinating to cover that dynamite year as an awards pundit and then watch the telecast and not know what would win the final category of the night – especially coming after “Network” won three acting awards and original screenplay, and “All the President’s Men” had tied for the most statuettes with four including supporting actor and adapted screenplay.

Nonetheless, the DGA-winning “Rocky” prevailed and has since been considered one of the defining sports movies in history. Watching TV spots and trailers of the era, it’s fascinating to hear Stallone compared to the likes of Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro.

They weren’t aware of the sequels that would follow.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

The Oscars love a sprawling biopic, an

Jeremy Renner Uses Motorized Scooter as Snow Plow Recovery Continues

Following his traumatic snowplow accident, actor Jeremy Renner is continuing his recovery. In January, Renner was hospitalized for blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries after a 14,330-pound snow plow ran him over as he attempted to reach his nephew Alex in the snow.

Renner’s recovery has been progressing well, with the actor sharing a photograph through Instagram of his family the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, Calif. The photo includes Renner leaning against a pole with assistance from a cane, as well as a motorized scooter off to the side.

Renner captioned the photo with, “Good Friday, made magic on the mountain with some of my amazing family!”

Renner also shared an image of himself seated on the motorized scooter through his Instagram story, captioning it with “Leading the way best I can.”

Since the accident, Renner sat down with Diane Sawyer for the ABC News special, “Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph,” to detail the accident and his recent recovery. Throughout the interview the actor revealed how he was physically and mentally impacted by injuries. Renner was immediately sent into surgery after the accident, under the belief that he wouldn’t survive. The traumatized actor prepared a goodbye letter for his family.

Following the actor’s first televised appearance since the accident, Renner is set to make a public appearance on April 11, attending the premiere of his new reality series “Rennervations.” The Disney+ series will premiere on April 12.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Following his traumatic snowplow accident, actor Jeremy

What to Watch

Is ‘Hunger’ on Netflix? Where to Watch the Movie

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

Great news! “Hunger” is available to watch on Netflix USA!

Date Added: 8th April 2023

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘Hunger’ on Amazon (paid link)

Description:

A talented young street-food cook pushes herself to the limit after accepting an invitation to train under an infamous and ruthless chef.

Certificate: TV-MA
For Mature Audiences.

Year: 2023

Duration: 2hr 25m

Audio: English, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Thai – Audio Description, Thai [Original]

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Thai, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Cast and Crew

Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri

Cast: Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Nopachai Jayanama, Gunn Svasti, Bhumibhat Thavornsiri, Varit Leesavan, Prachan Vong-uthaiphan, Ratchawat Vichianrat, Pattarawit Junthai, Rangsit Budngam, Sunya Thadathanawong, Arttasit Pattanasatienkul

Production & Box Office Details:

“Hunger” was produced by Song Sound Production and was originally released on April 4th 2023.

Watch the trailer for “Hunger”

RATINGS:

Not yet rated

LISTS:

DISCUSS ON…:
Facebook Twitter Mastodon

Available on Netflix USA!

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

Where else can you watch ‘Hunger’ on Netflix?

Want to keep forever? Why not rent or buy ‘Hunger’ from one of the online services below?

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Music

What’s on TV, April 9-13: Rennervations, Florida Man

Welcome to What’s On, our weekly picks of must-watch shows. Here’s what you need to watch from Sunday, April 9, to Thursday, April 13. All times are Eastern. [Note: The weekend edition of What’s On drops on Fridays.]

Mark Strong on the joys of Emma Thompson, Cruella’s recreation of a “punky” ’70s London

The biggies

Rennervations (Disney+, Wednesday, 3:01 a.m.)

Rennervations | Official Trailer | Disney+

Jeremy Renner is on a mission in Rennervations, a four-part docuseries where he follows a lifelong passion for construction and vehicles. He travels the world to transform municipal vehicles like buses and delivery trucks into creations that serve communities in new ways. Renner will be joined by actors like fellow MCU star Anthony Mackie, as well as Vanessa Hudgens and Anil Kapoor.

Florida Man (Netflix, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.)

Florida Man | Official Trailer | Netflix

No, Florida Man is sadly not about the famous meme. The action drama stars Edgar Ramírez as recovering gambling addict and former cop, who returns to his titular home state with the goal to locate the girlfriend of his mob boss. In the process, he faces complex situations, including navigating relationships with his father and his ex-wife. The ensemble includes Anthony LaPaglia, Abbey Lee, Lex Scott Davis, Clark Gregg, and Paul Schneider.

G/O Media may get a commission

Hidden gems

Am I Being Unreasonable? (Hulu, Tuesday, 12:01 a.m.)

Am I Being Unreasonable? | Official Trailer | Hulu

Hulu has acquired the streaming rights to the six-episode British comedy thriller Am I Being Unreasonable? Co-created by Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli, the show centers on Nic, who is stuck in a depressing marriage and whose only joy in life is her son. Things take a drastic turn when Jen, her kindred soul, arrives in town and a dark secret starts to bubble up between them.

An Interview With Brian Cox (Britbox, Tuesday, 3:01 a.m.)

Brian Cox Universe| Brian Cox Interview | Brian Cox Documentary| Brian Cox on Universe| Brian cox

In Britbox’s exclusive hourlong interview with Succession’s Brian Cox, who loves running his mouth as often as possible, the award-winning actor chats in-depth about his life and career, from his early years in Scotland and Shakespearean beginnings to his contemporary roles.

American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing (Netflix, Wednesday, 3:01 a.m.)

American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing | Official Trailer | Netflix

Directed by Floyd Russ, American Manhunt is a three-part docuseries exploring the untold stories behind the Boston Marathon bombing 10 years ago that killed three people and injured hundreds. The show delves into the terrifying days following the attack and recounts the manhunt from thousands of hours of closed-circuit video, police radio, and cell phone footage, as well as testimony from police officers, FBI agents, and ordinary citizens.

More good stuff

Catching Lightning (Showtime, Sunday, 9 p.m.)

CATCHING LIGHTNING (2023) | Exclusive Clip | 4-Part Series | Streaming April 7th on SHOWTIME

Catching Lightning is a four-part sports docuseries by Emmy winner Pat Kondelis. It charts the bizarre story of the 2006 Great Britain Securitas Depot robbery, in which nearly £53 million was stolen, and the role infamous mixed martial arts fighter ‘Lightning’ Lee Murray played in the heist. The show will feature an interview with Murray, including shocking revelations and never-before-heard aspects of the case.

GLAAD Media Awards (Hulu, Wednesday, 12:01 a.m.)

Bad Bunny accepts the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards

The 34th GLAAD Awards will continue to honor media for their inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives. While the ceremony took place last week, it will be available to stream on Hulu. Some top winners include Prime Video’s excellent A League Of Their Own, FX’s What We Do In The Shadows, and FOX’s 9-1-1: Lone Star.

Obsession (Netflix, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.)

Obsession | Official Trailer | Netflix

The erotic thriller Obsession is based on Josephine Hart’s novella, Damage. It follows the scandalous affair between Anna (Charlie Murphy) and her fiancée’s father, William (Richard Armitage). Soon, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral leading to the question of how long the pair can keep their secret hidden. The cast includes Rish Shah and Indira Varma.

Can’t miss recaps

Saturday Night Live (NBC, Saturday, 11:30 p.m.)

Succession (HBO, Sunday, 9 p.m.)

Perry Mason (HBO, Monday, 9 p.m.)

The Real Housewives Of New Jersey (Bravo, Tuesday, 8 p.m.)

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+, Wednesday, 3:01 a.m.)

The Mandalorian (Disney+, Wednesday, 3:01 a.m.)

Top Chef (Bravo, Thursday, 9 p.m.)

Yellowjackets (Showtime, Friday, 3:01 a.m.)

RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1, Friday, 8 p.m.)

Arriving now

Raven’s Home (Disney, Sunday, 8 p.m., season six premiere)

Single Drunk Female (Freeform, Wednesday, 10 p.m., season two premiere)

Titans (HBO Max, Thursday, 3:01 a.m., season four spring premiere)

Ending soon

School Spirits (Paramount+, Thursday, 3:01 a.m., season one finale)

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Welcome to What’s On, our weekly picks

Global

McManus: Trump legal saga complicates 2024 election calendar

WASHINGTON —

The calendar for the 2024 presidential campaign just became a lot more complicated.

Not the primary calendar. The trial calendar.

Last week, former President Trump was arraigned in Manhattan on felony charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn star.

Given the Dickensian pace of court proceedings in New York, Trump’s trial won’t begin until next year, right in the middle of the election campaign.

His lawyers are expected to file motions challenging the case in August, just in time for the first GOP presidential debate. Those preliminary battles could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

That isn’t the only potential train wreck on the horizon.

Trump faces three more possible indictments: a Georgia prosecution based on his attempts to reverse that state’s 2020 election result; federal charges over his hoard of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago; and charges stemming from his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, plot to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.

“The odds are very small that any of these cases would get to trial by the end of 2023, even if all the indictments landed tomorrow,” Donald B. Ayer, a former top Justice Department official, told me last week.

That means the entire 2024 campaign, from the Iowa caucuses next January through election day in November, will be inextricably tangled with Trump’s legal travails.

Now add his interest in keeping the drama going. He’s managed to profit from being a criminal defendant, at least in the short run.

The indictment produced a surge in his support among Republican voters. A Reuters/IPSOS poll released Friday showed Trump leading his nearest GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 58% to 21%. Two weeks earlier, the same poll showed a smaller margin: 44% to 30%.

“This is what you’d call a ‘rally around Trump’ effect,” Sarah Longwell, a GOP strategist who founded the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project, said in a television interview.

The court battle is helping him raise money, too. Trump’s campaign claims it has collected more than $13 million in new contributions since the news of his indictment.

He’s weaponized the investigations as a campaign theme with unhinged attacks on New York Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg (calling the Black prosecutor an “animal”), Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith (a “mad dog psycho”) and the FBI (“Marxist thugs”).

“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago last week. “Now these radical-left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement. We can’t let that happen.”

He urged his supporters in Congress to defund the FBI and the Justice Department, and offered donors a T-shirt printed with a fake mug shot and the words “Not guilty” for $47.

Part of Trump’s diabolical genius is how thoroughly he has embraced the self-invented role of martyr and induced most of his party to defend him. Even his leading rivals for the GOP nomination — DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence — have lined up to denounce Bragg.

They‘d better get used to it: For months to come, they’ll be pressed to pass judgment on every twist and turn of the current front-runner’s legal odyssey.

Trump may have a long-term legal strategy in mind, too. A Justice Department opinion holds that a president may not be indicted while he’s in office. The same reasoning suggests that a sitting president can’t be convicted or imprisoned. If he makes it back to the White House in 2025, Trump will inevitably claim he’s home free.

So what should Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland and the Justice Department do?

The Justice Department has a policy against indictments or other actions that might appear political, especially late in an election year. It’s often called the “60-day rule,” although it isn’t a formal rule, and the 60-day benchmark isn’t official.

Here’s what Garland wrote last year: “Prosecutors may never select the timing of … investigative steps, criminal charges, or any other action in any matter or case for the purpose of affecting any election.”

In practice, the rule is often interpreted more broadly to prohibit any action that could appear to influence an election, purposefully or not.

But that hasn’t prevented the Justice Department from indicting politicians as late as the summer of an election year. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) was charged with securities fraud two months before his 2018 reelection. (He won, but later resigned.) Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was charged with failing to report gifts from a donor three months before the 2008 election. (He lost, but was later exonerated.)

In any case, Trump’s assumption of martyrdom to cement support among GOP voters puts Garland in a paradoxical position: He can’t know whether indicting Trump will hurt him or help him.

And legal scholars argue that a decision to withhold an indictment merely to avoid an appearance of political interference is a political act, too.

Trump’s campaigns in 2016 and 2020 created chaos in our political system. Now his 2024 campaign has pulled the judicial system into the toxic mix.

So Garland may have no choice other than to ignore the noise and follow his own oft-repeated mantra: “We will follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead.”

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

WASHINGTON — The calendar for the

Trending

Watch a King’s Guard Scream at a Tourist Outside Buckingham Palace: ‘Do Not Touch!’

Watch a King’s Guard Scream at a Tourist Outside Buckingham Palace: ‘Do Not Touch!’ | Entertainment Tonight

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Tech

Aritificial Intelligence’s rival factions, from Elon Musk to OpenAI

A quick guide to decoding Silicon Valley’s strange but powerful AI subcultures

Staff writer

April 9, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

A graph with cut-outs of the following people in order from most “slow down” and “dystopia” to most “can’t stop” and “utopia”: Elizier Yudkowsky, Tristan Harris, Elon Musk, Timnit Gebru, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman — (Illustration by Elena Lacey/The Washington Post; Photos by The Washington Post; Getty Images; Twitter)

Inside Silicon Valley’s AI sector, fierce divisions are growing over the impact of a new wave of artificial intelligence: While some argue it’s imperative to race ahead, others say the technology presents an existential risk.

Those tensions took center stage late last month, when Elon Musk, along with other tech executives and academics, signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on developing “human-competitive” AI, citing “profound risks to society and humanity.” Self-described decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of the nonprofit Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), went further: AI development needs to be shut down worldwide, he wrote in a Time magazine op-ed, calling for American airstrikes on foreign data centers if necessary.

The policy world didn’t seem to know how seriously to heed these warnings. Asked if AI is dangerous, President Biden said Tuesday, “It remains to be seen. Could be.”

The dystopian visions are familiar to many inside Silicon Valley’s insular AI sector, where a small group of strange but influential subcultures have clashed in recent months. One sect is certain AI could kill us all. Another says this technology will empower humanity to flourish if deployed correctly. Others suggest the six-month pause proposed by Musk, who will reportedly launch his own AI lab, was designed to help him catch up.

The subgroups can be fairly fluid, even when they appear contradictory and insiders sometimes disagree on basic definitions.

But these once-fringe worldviews could shape pivotal debates on AI. Here is a quick guide to decoding the ideologies (and financial incentives) behind the factions:

The argument: The phrase “AI safety” used to refer to practical problems, like making sure self-driving cars don’t crash. In recent years, the term — sometimes used interchangeably with “AI alignment” — has also been adopted to describe a new field of research to ensure AI systems obey their programmer’s intentions and prevent the kind of power-seeking AI that might harm humans just to avoid being turned off.

Many have ties to communities like effective altruism, a philosophical movement to maximize doing good in the world. EA, as it’s known, began by prioritizing causes like global poverty but has pivoted to concerns about the risk from advanced AI. Online forums, like Lesswrong.com or AI Alignment Forum, host heated debates on these issues.

Some adherents also subscribe to a philosophy called longtermism that looks at maximizing good over millions of years. They cite a thought experiment from Nick Bostrom’s book “Superintelligence,” which imagines a safe superhuman AI could enable humanity to colonize the stars and create trillions of future people. Building safe artificial intelligence is crucial to secure those eventual lives.

Who is behind it: In recent years, EA-affiliated donors like Open Philanthropy, a foundation started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former hedge funder Holden Karnofsky, have helped seed a number of centers, research labs and community-building efforts focused on AI safety and AI alignment. FTX Future Fund, started by crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried, was another major player until the firm went bankrupt after Bankman-Fried and other executives were indicted on charges of fraud.

How much influence do they have?: Some work at top AI labs like OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic, where this worldview has led to some useful ways of making AI safer for users. A tightknit network of organizations produces research and studies that can be shared more widely, including this 2022 survey that found that 10 percent of machine learning researchers say AI could end humanity.

AI Impacts, which conducted the study, has received support from four different EA-affiliated organizations, including the Future of Life Institute, which hosted Musk’s open letter and received its biggest donation from Musk. Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris, who once campaigned about the dangers of social media and has now turned his focus to AI, cited the study prominently.

The argument: It’s not that this group doesn’t care about safety. They’re just extremely excited about building software that reaches artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a term for AI that is as smart and as capable as a human. Some are hopeful tools like GPT-4, which OpenAI says has developed skills like writing and responding in foreign languages without being instructed to do so, means they are on the path to AGI. Experts explain that GPT-4 developed these capabilities by ingesting massive amounts of data, and most say these tools do not have a humanlike understanding of the meaning behind the text.

Who is behind it?: Two leading AI labs cited building AGI in their mission statements: OpenAI, founded in 2015, and DeepMind, a research lab founded in 2010 and acquired by Google in 2014. Still, the concept might have stayed on the margins if not for the same wealthy tech investors interested in the outer limits of AI. According to Cade Metz’s book, “Genius Makers,” Peter Thiel donated $1.6 million to Yudkowsky’s AI nonprofit and Yudkowsky introduced Thiel to DeepMind. Musk invested in DeepMind and introduced the company to Google co-founder Larry Page. Musk brought the concept of AGI to OpenAI’s other co-founders, like CEO Sam Altman.

How much influence do they have?: OpenAI’s dominance in the market has flung open the Overton window. The leaders of the most valuable companies in the world, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, now get asked about and discuss AGI in interviews. Bill Gates blogs about it. “Because the upside of AGI is so great, we do not believe it is possible or desirable for society to stop its development forever,” Altman wrote in February.

The argument: Though doomers share a number of beliefs — and frequent the same online forums — as people in the AI safety world, this crowd has concluded that if a sufficiently powerful AI is plugged in, it will wipe out human life.

Who is behind it?: Yudkowsky has been leading voice warning about this doomsday scenario. He is also the author of a popular fan fiction series, “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality,” an entry-point for many young people into these online spheres and ideas around AI.

His nonprofit, MIRI, received a boost of $1.6 million in donations in its early years from tech investor Thiel, who has since distanced himself from the group’s views. The EA-aligned Open Philanthropy donated about $14.8 million across five grants from 2016 to 2020. More recently, MIRI received funds from crypto’s nouveau riche, including ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

How much influence do they have?: While Yudkowsky’s theories are credited by some inside this world as prescient, his writings have also been critiqued as not applicable to modern machine learning. Still, his views on AI have influenced more high-profile voices on these topics, such as noted computer scientist Stuart Russell, who signed the open letter.

In recent months, Altman and others have raised Yudkowsky’s profile. Altman recently tweeted that “it is possible at some point [Yudkowsky] will deserve the nobel peace prize” for accelerating AGI, later also tweeting a picture of the two of them at a party hosted by OpenAI.

The argument: For years, ethicists have warned about problems with larger AI models, including outputs that are biased against race and gender, an explosion of synthetic media that may damage the information ecosystem, and the impact of AI that sounds deceptively human. Many argue that the apocalypse narrative overstates AI’s capabilities, helping companies market the technology as part of a sci-fi fantasy.

Some in this camp argue that the technology is not inevitable and could be created without harming vulnerable communities. Critiques that fixate on technological capabilities can ignore the decisions made by people, allowing companies to eschew accountability for bad medical advice or privacy violations from their models.

Who is behind it?: The co-authors of a farsighted research paper warning about the harms of large language models, including Timnit Gebru, former co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team, are often cited as leading voices. Crucial research demonstrating the failures of this type of AI, as well as ways to mitigate the problems, “are often made by scholars of color — many of them Black women,” and underfunded junior scholars, researchers Abeba Birhane and Deborah Raji wrote in an op-ed for Wired in December.

How much influence do they have?: In the midst of the AI boom, tech firms like Microsoft, Twitch and Twitter have been laying off their AI ethics teams. But policymakers and the public have been listening.

Former White House policy adviser Suresh Venkatasubramanian, who helped develop the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, told VentureBeat that recent exaggerated claims about ChatGPT’s capabilities were part of an “organized campaign of fear-mongering” around generative AI that detracted from stopped work on real AI issues. Gebru has spoken before the European Parliament about the need for a slow AI movement, ebbing the pace of the industry so society’s safety comes first.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

A quick guide to decoding Silicon Valley’s

Entertaintment

J Smith-Cameron Reveals Defining Moment With Kieran Culkin – Deadline

J Smith-Cameron has revealed how her sizzling real-life chemistry with Succession co-star Kieran Culkin was spotted by show execs and turned into something on screen more… enthralling.

The dynamic – one part maternal, three parts erotic -between Smith-Cameron and Culkin as Gerri, Waystar Royce’s general counsel, and mogul Logan Roy’s wayward third son Roman respectively, has caught viewers’ imagination as the show careers towards its ultimate ending.

Smith-Cameron told T he Times in London that, with her friendship with Culkin going back many years, they were having fun improvising off-set during the filming of the second season, and making martinis together.

“We had a little talk about how you can’t get a good martini in England unless you were in London,” said Smith-Cameron. Then, “I left and he looked back at me, and then I looked back at him. We missed each other.” And it was this look that was caught by the writers.

The following season, Smith-Cameron revealed director Mark Myold told her to sit a little closer to Culkin during a scene. From there, it was only a short hop to the now infamous ‘behind the door’ scene between the two actors.

Smith-Cameron told The Times she was happy if her character has helped nudge the needle on the screen portrayal of women over some arbitrary age.

“There’s that age-old horrible wound of a woman only being valuable when she’s at her most fecund and beautiful and guidable… It’s against some faux rule of nature.”

In the same interview, Smith-Cameron laughed at the idea that she had become a sex symbol for many at the age of 65.

“The Brits have always [had this],” Smith-Cameron says. “I mean, Helen Mirren is the definition of it. And Charlotte Rampling, right? They paved the way.”

But Mirren “had a huge part in changing [attitudes in Hollywood] and I think Gerri’s had her part in changing that too.”

Succession continues on HBO in the US, Sky Atlantic in the UK.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

J Smith-Cameron has revealed how her sizzling

Movies

TV Characters Fans Loved But Later Thought Were Awful

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

TV Characters Fans Loved But Later Thought

‘SNL’: Molly Shannon Returns as Sally O’Malley with Jonas Brothers

The latest episode of “Saturday Night Live” was a nostalgic throwback for Molly Shannon, a former “SNL” cast member who returned to Studio 8H for her second time hosting.

Shannon spent six seasons as a repertory player on the NBC sketch show, during which she received an Emmy nomination for outstanding individual performance in a variety program. Most recently, the actor starred in director Zach Braff’s “A Good Person,” which released in theaters Mar. 24. She will also appear in Season 3 of “The Other Two,” which premieres May 4 on HBO Max.

Shannon is best known among “Saturday Night Live” enthusiasts for playing a recurring character named Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic school girl with bizarre habits — most notably, sticking her hands under her armpits and smelling them. In 1999, Shannon starred as the character in a feature film with fellow “SNL” co-star Will Ferrell.

But it was Shannon’s character Sally O’Malley, a brash 50-year-old dancer distinguished by her trademark red outfit and frizzy 1970s hairdo, that made a return with Shannon to the “SNL” stage. The character was first introduced to the show in 1999 with a sketch where she auditioned for The Rockettes.

A from the Apr. 8 episode features Sally as the newly hired dance choreographer for the Jonas Brothers, who are about to embark on a Vegas residency. Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas then emerge, clad in matching red pantsuits to perform Sally’s signature kick, stretch, kick move.

Over 20 years have passed, though Sally’s age has remained the same — a loophole Shannon addresses by telling Bowen Yang, “Honey, I’ve been 50 since before you were born.”

After Shannon bid goodnight to the audience, “SNL” featured players Devon Walker and James Austin Johnson held up a black T-shirt with the names “Jones” and “Pearson” written in blocky white letters.

The gesture was a salute to Democratic legislators Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who were ousted from the Tennessee state House of Representatives on Friday by the Republican majority. Jones and Pearson’s expulsion was as a punitive measure against the lawmakers after they took part in a gun control protest on the floor of the statehouse last week.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

The latest episode of “Saturday Night Live”

DCU

15 Feel-Good Korean Dramas if You Need a Break from The Glory

Netflix hit Korean series, The Glory, blew up for its intense revenge plot. The revenge thriller left audiences on the edge of their seats. Complete with shocking revelations and ghastly plot twists, The Glory got everyone hooked with the intense story. Written by renowned Korean writer Kim Eun-Sook, the drama proves to be a heavy diversion from her other works such as K-Drama classics Lovers in Paris and Secret Garden, as well as iconic Korean dramas like The Heirs and Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. This is the writer’s second K-Drama with lead star Song Hye-Kyo, following the action-packed romantic series Descendants of the Sun.

If you’ve just finished The Glory or need a break from its twists and turns, we compiled a list of Korean Dramas perfect for you. These K-Dramas — also available for streaming on Netflix — work great for breathing windows in between episodes or for your recovery from the dark tones The Glory effortlessly laid out for its viewers. Read along to find out the perfect healing drama for you.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

15 18 Again

JTBC

The story of this 2020 K-Drama revolves around a married man who transforms back into his 18-year-old basketball-playing self in the middle of a life crisis. That being his wife serving him divorce papers and getting fired from his job. Sounds familiar? That’s because this drama is a Korean remake of the 2009 American movie 17 Again, starring Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, and Matthew Perry. In this Korean remake, The Glory’s very own Lee Do-Hyun plays the younger version of Hong Dae-Young (played by actor Yoon Sang-Hyun) opposite Kim Ha-Neul’s Jung Da-Jung. Lee Do-Hyun brought home the Best New Actor award from the prestigious BaekSang Arts Awards in 2021. The series is a great family drama with just the right amount of romance in its 16-episode run.

14 Business Proposal

Business Proposal is the perfect romance drama for you if you’re into the contract-marriage and Korean drama CEO trope. In the drama, Ahn Hyo-Seop plays Kang Tae-Moo, your typical CEO who has no time for love. He meets Shin Ha-Ri (played by singer-actress Kim Se-Jeong) on a blind date set for him by his grandfather, not knowing that Ha-Ri is only pretending to be her heiress friend Jin Yeong-Seo. The twist? Tae-Moo is the CEO of the company where Ha-Ri works at. As generic as the plot seems, this 12-episode 2022 drama is packed with light romantic scenes that will get you swooning and probably hooked on its existing tropes. The K-Drama garnered much love from its viewers in South Korea and all across the globe. It also brought home award after award at the 2022 SBS Drama Awards, including the Best Actor award for Ahn Hyo-Seop. Best Actress award for Kim Se-Jeong and the Best Couple Award for both the leads and their supporting counterparts.

13 Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha

Healing dramas are massive in South Korea. Defined by their comforting factor, healing dramas are always a huge hit in the country and later by the rest of the world. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha proves just how much comforting these types of dramas are with various storylines from each character. Its main plot centers on Shin Mi-Na’s Yoon Hye-Jin, a dentist who travels to an idyllic seaside village to start a new life. There, he meets Hong Du-Sik played by actor Kim Sun-Ho, who she quickly finds interest in. This K-Drama is a remake of the 2004 Korean movie Mr. Hong and becomes a big hit for Korean drama fans all over the world. It turned Pohang, South Korea — where the fictional town was set — into a tourist hotspot seemingly overnight. Its viewership peaked at 13% nationwide; its audience found comfort not only in the main story, but also in the subplots about the other residents of the fictional seaside village.

12 Welcome to Waikiki

In need of a laugh? Welcome to Waikiki effortlessly can give you just that! This comedy sitcom runs for 20 episodes with non-stop laughs for everyone. The drama tells the story of three friends — an aspiring director, a wanna-be actor, and an unlucky writer — who runs a guest house they adorably call Waikiki (complete with tropical themes across). Just when the guest house faces the threat of bankruptcy, the friends run into a single mother and her baby. An obvious homage to Three Men and a Baby with some tropes taken from Friends, this 2018 comedy contains the perfect formula for laugh-out-loud one-liners and incredibly choreographed slapstick. It was such a hit that it inspired a second season a year later.

11 Familiar Wife

Equipped with a charming fantasy plot and a line-up of esteemed and rising actors, Familiar Wife is perfect if you’re looking to get hooked on a light drama. Ji Sung and Han Ji-Min play an unhappy couple who hates each other because of life’s hard hits on their family of four. After helping a stranger on the subway, Ji Sung’s Cha Joo-Hyuk travels back in time when he wakes up in a completely different situation. He finds himself married to his college crush Lee Hye-Won (played by Kang Ha-Na) and his supposed wife is now just another (single) teller in the bank where he works as a manager. The K-Drama is packed with mind-bending twists that will make you appreciate what you have now before you lose it later. With Ji Sung in the lead, the Korean series became the most-watched series for its time slot, earning 10% of viewership in all of South Korea in 2018.

10 Crash Course in Romance

Good old romance with a comforting subplot — Crash Course in Romance has everything you need for a feel-good Korean drama. It features the charming romantic involvement of a former national athlete played by Jeon Do-Yeon and a popular after-school academy instructor portrayed by Jung Kyoung-Ho. It’s easily a comforting choice, with an unwittingly positive main character melting a stone-hearted successful male lead. Such a drama can give you a break not only from heavy series like The Glory, but also from life’s hardships.

9 Mystic Pop-Up Bar

There’s something about fantasy Korean dramas that make for a perfect feel-good series. Mystic Pop-Up Bar ticks all the boxes for a great series — food and drinks, healing, and a powerhouse cast. Hwang Jung-Eum plays Wol-Ju, a woman who runs a mysterious food cart that only runs at night. Located on the rooftop of a building, the food cart serves food and alcohol not only to living human beings, but also to the dead. The pop-up bar functions as a healing point for the living and a crossover point where the dead heal their unfinished businesses. The drama also stars singer-actor Yook Sung-Jae and actor Choi Won-Young. Its anthology-like structure runs for 12 episodes, full of hope. It goes back and forth between modern days and historical Korea as the story of the bar owner and its customers unfolds.

8 Romance is a Bonus Book

As expected from its title, Romance is a Bonus Book features a developing love story between two childhood friends who are in the business of books. The heartwarming drama contains some hints of life’s heavy jabs but just like its lead Kang Da-Ni, its viewers will come off as stronger and victorious on the other side. The series tells the story of Kang Da-Ni (Lee Na-Young), a single mother attempting to hide her failed marriage from her childhood friend Cha Eun-Ho (Lee Jong-Suk) who is a big-shot author. The K-Drama is Lee Na-Young’s comeback series after 8 years of being on hiatus. Meanwhile, the drama served as lead actor Lee Jong-Suk’s last work before his mandatory military enlistment.

7 Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo

Full of laughs, iconic one-liners, and young love — Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo tackles more than just budding romance but also the life of a student-athlete. It features the story of Kim Bok-Joo (played by model-actress Lee Sung-Kyung), a bright collegiate weightlifter who crosses paths with a boy from her past. Nam Joo-Hyuk’s Jung Joon-Hyung plays a swimmer struggling with trauma. As light as their relationship is, the drama also takes on serious topics such as society’s obsession with weight and looks, generational trauma, and forgotten dreams. According to news reports, the drama was inspired by the life of Olympic gold medalist Jang Mi-ran.

6 Fight for My Way

Some of us just have to work harder than others in life. That’s exactly the message of this hit Korean drama, Fight for My Way. Park Seo-Jun plays Ko Dong-Man, a former athlete who had a bright future ahead of him. Playing opposite him is Kim Ji-Won who plays Choi Ae-Ra. She’s Dong-Man’s childhood friend, who once dreamed of becoming a news anchor. The two find renewed energy to revisit their forgotten dreams while they navigate their complicated relationship. The drama bagged a bunch of awards at the 2017 KBS Drama Awards as well as the 2017 Korea Drama Awards, including the Excellent Actor and Actress awards for its leads. Some of its scenes became viral hits in the country and its viewership soared with cameos from various celebrities such as Parasite’s Choi Woo-Sik.

5 Hospital Playlist

With two seasons up its sleeve, Hospital Playlist is just of many hits from writer Lee Woo-Jung. Hospital Playlist is a feel-good series featuring the life of five doctor friends, their co-workers, as well as their patients. The surgeons all came from the same medical university in 1999 played by Cho Jung-Seok (internal medicine), Yoo Yeon-Seok (pediatric), Jung Kyoung-Ho (cardiothoracic), Kim Dae-Myung (OBGYN), and Jeon Mi-Do (neurological). Writer Lee Woo-Jung also penned other hit Korean dramas, including the Reply Series, coming-of-age stories set in different pivotal eras for the country. The writer is known for his great use of foreshadowing, Easter eggs, and mind-blowing twists

Attorney Woo with Lee Jun-ho — Netflix, ENA

Hit Series Extraordinary Attorney Woo was much loved by the internet for its honest and inspiring portrayal of an attorney with an autism spectrum disorder. Park Eun-Bin does a fantastic job playing the role of Woo Young-Woo. She’s a lawyer-in-training at a sought-after firm. The charm of this drama lies in her unique case-solving methods as well as her fresh perspective on conflicts. Rumors of a second season came out soon as the drama concluded after 16 episodes. However, with the mandatory military enlistment of its lead actor Kang Tae-Oh, reports say that we won’t get a second season until 2024.

3 Mr. Queen

South Korea takes historical value very seriously. That’s why when Mr. Queen premiered in 2020, it became a massive hit for its lighthearted plot. This period drama starts in the modern day when a presidential chef ends up in the past and in the body of Queen Kim So-Yong (played by Shin Hye-Sun) in the Joseon era. The series features everything you’ll love about period dramas, including politics, betrayal, and good old romance. However, you probably can’t stop yourself from laughing out loud at Shin Hye-Sun’s portrayal of a man in a woman’s body. It’s no wonder her performance became a crowd favorite.

2 Racket Boys

There is something about sports dramas that make it such a light watch. Racket Boys prove just that as we follow a middle school badminton team on the verge of disbandment. Much like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, the charm of Racket Boys rests not only on the leads, but also on the supporting characters from their humble little town. The drama became a hit with its fun cast of young actors, bagging awards from the 2021 SBS Drama Awards. That includes the Best New Actor award for Son Sang-Yeon and Choi Hyun-Wook, Supporting Cast Team Award, Best Female Character for Oh Na-Ra, and Best Youth Actor & Actress for Tang Joon-Sang & Lee Jae-In.

1 Run On

Finally, we take on a good old romance, minus the toxic second lead that’s notorious in many Korean dramas. Run On tells the story between a sprinter for the national team (Im Si-Wan) and a translator (Shin Se-Kyung). On the side, you get the story of a sports agency CEO (Soo-Young) fighting gender inequality in her field and a university student (Kang Tae-Oh) who she crosses paths with. The best part about this drama is its realistic portrayal of modern love. It features complicated relationships, absolutely adorable meet-cutes, and a lot of lighthearted moments that will get you swooning. Spoiler alert: our leads conquer it all, even your typical “bribing of the female lead by the male lead’s rich parents” trope.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Netflix hit Korean series, The Glory,

Comics

Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Finally has a Release Date, and it’s Closer Than You Think

Hello, hello? Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a magical place for kids and grownups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. And now, that fantasy’s set to come to the big screen.

Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Finally has a Release Date, and it’s Closer Than You Think

In October of last year, the Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) movie was announced. And while longtime fans went absolutely wild with this information, not much has been heard from Blumhouse Productions since. Until last night.

On April 5, Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse, announced on Twitter that FNAF will be hitting theaters on October 27. That’s just in time to get together your overly complex Springtrap costume in order so you can terrify all your friends and neighbors on Halloween.

Earlier this year, one Twitter user posted images of what looks like the FNAF set (if the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place sign is any indicator) in New Orleans. They noted filming continued until March 2, and on March 6 the set was torn down.

Kat Sterling, an actress, tweeted on April 4 that filming had concluded. A fan asked what happens to the animatronics now that the filming is over. She responded, “We release them into the wild. Good luck everyone.”

Many fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s have waited years for this movie. Fingers crossed that it’s the nightmare we’ve all been hoping for. So far, details about the plot remain scant, but it’s likely that it will center on the premise of the first game. If FNAF does well in theaters, it’s likely we’ll see sequels, as the FNAF universe has expanded significantly since its first game release. Perhaps one day we’ll even get to see the Bite of ’87.

For other nostalgia heavy hitters, check out the scandal surrounding Minecraft Legends here: Uh Oh… Minecraft Legends Has Already Leaked on eBay.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Hello, hello? Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza,

Festivals

Are These the 50 Best Films of the 21st Century?

What films would you choose to define the quarter of a century?

Another we haven’t quite hit the quarter-century mark, the films that have defined the industry and the culture has changed quite a lot. From Castaway, the film that practically defined the 2000s, to modern classics like The Power of the Dog and Drive My Car, we have seen a huge shift in storytelling, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to create a more diverse landscape of voices to celebrate in film.

It is hard to find films that define an entire quarter of a century, the choices are endless, and not everyone can see everything that has been made in the last 25 years (except for maybe Quentin Tarantino or Steven Soderbergh). That didn’t stop the folks from The Hollywood Reporter from attempt to capture the films of the era – excluding 2022 – that aligned with their tastes and reflected the cinema landscape.

While we might not agree with all of their picks, The Hollywood Report does state that their choices are not a model representation of the entire film landscape. This list does try to touch on genre-defining films, the best adaptations that shifted the film industry, and our favorite original stories that capture our hearts and attention over the years.

Let’s look at the 50 best films of the 21st century!

‘Children of Men’Credit: Universal Pictures

The 50 Best Films of the Century (So Far)

50. Weekend (2011)

49. Black Panther (2018)

48. Time (2020)

47. Bright Star (2009)

46. Pariah (2011)

45. Bridesmaids (2011)

44. Things to Come (2016)

43. Grizzly Man (2005)

42. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

41. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

40. Summer of Soul (2021)

‘Summer of Soul’Credit: Searchlight Pictures/Hulu

39. I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

38. Children of Men (2006)

37. Wendy and Lucy (2008)

36. Lovers Rock (2020)

35. The Favourite (2018)

34. The Social Network (2010)

33. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

32. The Return (2003)

31. Manchester by the Sea (2016)

30. Marie Antoinette (2006)

‘Marie Antoinette’Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

29. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)

28. A Serious Man (2009)

27. At Berkeley (2013)

26. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

25. Call Me by Your Name (2017)

24. Timbuktu (2014)

23. 35 Shots of Rum (2008)

22. Before Sunset (2004)

21. Parasite (2019)

20. Far From Heaven (2002)

19. Drive My Car (2021)

18. Shoplifters (2018)

17. Talk to Her (2002)

16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

15. The Power of the Dog (2021)

14. Wall-E (2008)

13. Burning (2018)

12. Moonlight (2016)

11. Boyhood (2014)

10. Get Out (2017)

9. 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 Days (2007)

8. In the Mood for Love (2000)

7. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

6. Spirited Away (2001)

5. Mulholland Drive (2001)

4. Zodiac (2007)

3. The Gleaners and I (2000)

2. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

1. Yi Yi (2000)

What film do you think should have made the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

What films would you choose to

Film

Mario to 1-Up Frozen 2 for the biggest animated opening of all time

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Image: Universal

We can now add, to the list of things that Mario Mario regularly stomps—ambulatory mushrooms, malevolent turtles, those poor concussed Koopa Kids—his competition at the box office. Like, all of it, as Deadline reports that Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now on track to have the biggest opening weekend of an animated movie—ever.

Luca’s director on sea monsters, cliques, and gelato vs. ice cream

Said success is powered by an extremely impressive weekend showing at the international box office; while the projected $195 million the movie is expected to bring in in the US this weekend is nothing to sneeze at, it’s being nearly matched by another $173 million overseas. Together, that sets the film, which stars Chris Pratt as an adequate-we-guess take on the iconic Nintendo hero, up for a $368 million opening weekend—beating out the nearest competitor in the animated field, 2019’s Frozen 2, by about $10 million.

Mario—which also stars Jack Black, Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key, Anya Taylor Joy, and Seth Rogen—is set to break or approach a whole bunch of records, in fact: It’s the biggest video game opening of all time, of course, smashing through the record set by Warcraft a few years back. (Here’s your regular reminder that the Warcraft movie, for some reason, did wild-good money in China, despite being a flop over here.) It’s also Illumination’s biggest opening in domestic markets by a comfortable margin—trouncing the Minions/Despicable Me franchise’s best efforts—and the second-biggest animated opening in the U.S., after Incredibles 2.

So, yeah: Suffice it to say that the “video game movie” curse is, at least in this case, pretty damn broken; that sequel hook at the end of the movie is almost certainly going to come to fruition, and probably sooner rather than later. And if Nintendo is looking at its brands to figure out what it might toss at Hollywood next, we do have some suggestions…

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

The Super Mario Bros. MovieImage: UniversalWe can

Season 48, Episode 16, Molly Shannon

One of Saturday Night Live’s most recognizable alumni, Molly Shannon returns to Rockefeller center as a host for the second time. During her tenure, Shannon crafted memorable characters like Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley as well as impersonations like Courtney Love. Since SNL Shannon has continued non-stop playing a litany of memorable characters and proving to be an adept character actress. A terrific performer who radiates positive energy, Shannon’s talents deserve better from the show that launched her.

Arden Cho on “Partner Track” and Olivia Benson

Best sketch of the night

Netflix Live Promo: Jeannie Darcy – SNL

Shannon’s original run on SNL produced countless classic characters and it was great to see her bring a new one to life with Jeannie Darcy. As a standup with no charisma or punchline, Darcy is the antithesis of Shannon. Most of Shannon’s best known characters are hungry for the spotlight with copious amounts of energy, but all that is stripped away for Jeannie Darcy. A terrific illustration of Anti-humor, the sketch subverts the Shannon persona in pleasing way. The hair and costuming are also on point.

Worst sketch of the night

Pregnant Co-Worker – SNL

Building a five-minute sketch around a fart joke is a bold swing that produced bland results. Like many of the sketches, Molly Shannon takes center stage, but there is so little else going on in the sketch that it becomes monotonous quickly. Even the inflating and deflating visual gag cannot save the sketch from relying solely on flatulence. SNL might have hit an all-season low with the line “smells like maybe it was twins.” “Pregnant Co-Worker” and other sketches felt like the writers dusted off unused ideas from the 1995 season when Shannon started.

G/O Media may get a commission

A sign of things to come

Valets – SNL

“Valets,” the first sketch following the Cold Open, signals a poor episode to come. It is the kind of sketch that appears at the tail end of an episode when the writers have exhausted their good material and need to fill time. Poorly structured around three valet trainees, no one is given the time to develop a character or a joke. The sketch makes multiple setups between the valets and customers but each interaction yields disappointing results. Everyone seems to be sleepwalking through the sketch, with the possible exception of Kenan Thompson who yelling “I’m going to steal your car, you Black bitch” seemed to break Devon Walker.

What went wrong

Drug Commercial – SNL

There were high hopes for Shannon’s return to SNL. Perhaps expectations were too high, but what went wrong. It’s hard to tell. Shannon is great and committed to each sketch. Perhaps, “Drug Commercial,” can provide some insights to why the show suffered this week. Beside being the second musical number of the night and another sketch relying on body humor, the sketch feels stale. There are certain SNL standards like game show, office party, or drug commercial sketches that often appear. However, the sketch also displays a strange disconnect between the host and the cast. Part of the pleasure of a returning cast member hosting is to see them interact with a new generation of performers. In putting spotlight so intensely on Shannon, the regular cast members often felt adrift and redundant. There was a strange lack of synergy.

MVP of the night: Bowen Yang

Weekend Update: Jafar on Ron DeSantis ‘ Attacks on Disney – SNL

One of the few segments that worked well tonight, “Jafar on Ron DeSantis’ Attacks on Disney,” is irreverent and timely commentary. A superb blend of pop culture with the culture wars of contemporary American politics, this is the kind of material SNL should strive to create weekly. The concept of having Jafar, one of Disney’s queerest villains, read the Florida governor for banning books, fashion choices, and generally hypocrisy is wonderfully camp. Absolutely essential to the episode’s high point is another pitch perfect performance by Bowen Yang. From calling DeSantis “the boy” to his delivery of cooch, Yang is in the zone. It is the kind of cutting character work that only Yang can delivery, his disdain for his target is delectable and insatiable.

Stray observations:

I wonder how much of these Tump monologues are scripted.
Everyone frozen behind Trump was funnier before it was actually mentioned.
No mention of The Other Two or A Good Person during the monologue?
Everyone’s response to Sally O’Malley’s camel toe was the most breaking in an SNL sketch in a long time.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

One of Saturday Night Live’s most recognizable

What to Watch

Is ‘Hunger’ on Netflix UK? Where to Watch the Movie

Great news! “Hunger” is available to watch on Netflix UK!

Date Added: 8th April 2023

Known expiry dates are shown above as well as on the Last Chance page.

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘Hunger’ on Amazon (paid link)

Description:

A talented young street-food cook pushes herself to the limit after accepting an invitation to train under an infamous and ruthless chef.

Certificate: Suitable for ages 15 and up

Year: 2023

Duration: 2hr 25m

Audio: English, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Thai – Audio Description, Thai [Original]

Subtitles: Arabic, English, French, Polish, Thai, Ukrainian

Cast and Crew

Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri

Production & Box Office Details:

“Hunger” was produced by Song Sound Production and was originally released on April 4th 2023.

Watch the trailer for “Hunger”

RATINGS:

Not yet rated

Average Rating Not yet rated

LISTS:

DISCUSS ON…:

Facebook Twitter Mastodon

This title is available on Netflix UK

Where else can you watch ‘Hunger’ on Netflix?

Want to keep forever? Why not rent or buy ‘Hunger’ from one of the online services below?

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Music

John Regan, Bassist for Peter Frampton, Ace Frehley, Dead at 71 – Rolling Stone

John Regan — the bassist who was a member of Ace Frehley’s band Frehley’s Comet and recorded and performed with Peter Frampton — died on Friday at the age of 71. His wife, Cathy Merring-Regan, confirmed the news on Facebook in a post shared by a family friend. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“It is with the greatest sorrow and sadness that I let you all know John passed away this afternoon,” the statement reads, and continues with a reference to one of his favorite quotes. “‘All that you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.’ From reading your messages, I know he gave much away and so much love was sent to him. He passed suddenly, but that was his wish.

“I had heard him over the past few weeks having lengthy conversations with many of you and you brought such joy to him,” Merring-Regan concluded. “Thank you all for your heartfelt messages.”

Frampton paid tribute to Regan, who played and recorded with him from 1979 to 2010, in a Twitter thread on Saturday morning.

“There might only be a handful, if that, of people who come into your world and truly enrich your life. I have lost one of my closest buddies. He certainly enriched my life because of the person and the great player he was,” he wrote.

“John Regan was the best of us. He went out of his way to help people when things weren’t right. It didn’t matter who you were, prince or pauper. I know there are many of you out there who knew him. He was a friend to all. Always musically inspiring and one of the funniest people on the planet,” Frampton continued, sending condolences to Regan’s family. “I love you my brother you will be missed by so many, rest in peace,” he concluded.

In addition to performing and recording with Frampton, he was a member of Ace Frehley’s band Frehley’s Comet from 1984 to 1990. He also recorded with a number of artists over the years, including David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Billy Idol, and David Lee Roth.

Editor’s picks

In an interview with Songfacts in 2016, Regan said he viewed his role when recording or performing live as a “facilitator.” “By that I mean it is always in the forefront of my mind to try and play my bass parts to best serve the song, singer and my fellow musicians,” he explained.

He also spoke of his studio work with myriad legendary artists. “Suffice to say, each project had moments that I was pinching myself, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

“One experience that became a high-water mark was getting the call from Nile Rodgers, through my dear friend Rob Sabino, to stop by and replace a bass part on the track that David Bowie and Mick Jagger had recorded for Live Aid: ‘Dancing in the Street,’” he said. “That song had long been favorite of mine, but when I arrived at the studio to find Mick Jagger greeting me, it was something I will never forget.

“My most vivid memory of that day was that it happened to be one of those rare occasions that the part that made the final recording was a first take for me, but as I was laying down the bass track I could see Mick dancing around the studio, just getting into the music as if he were onstage,” Regan added. “Powerful moment in time for me, and it hit home how much Jagger was moved by the power of the song, and how sincere his love of music must be.”

In 2014, the longtime Wappingers Falls, New York resident cofounded the band Four by Fate, which reunited him with Frehley’s Comet’s Tod Howarth. They released Relentless in 2016.

Howarth posted a touching tribute to his friend of 38 years on Facebook. “John of course was a world class talent and an incredible human being and from a personal level, he was responsible for me joining him with Ace and Anton. He was also responsible for the championing of my song ‘It’s Over Now,’” Howarth said, adding: “I really haven’t stopped crying most of today… what’s more important is the man, the music, love, talent and friendship that he shared for his 71 years.” He noted that he had spoken to many of their mutual bandmates following the news. “We’re all shattered and I know his family is devastated.”

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

John Regan — the bassist who

Global

Time for a digital spring cleaning? Here’s how to get started – National

Spring cleaning may be an annual tradition for many, but what about decluttering your digital space?

Experts say that having a clean virtual world can be just as important for your mental health and productivity, while also helping boost your cybersecurity at a time when hacks, phishing and ransomware attacks are becoming more sophisticated in trying to access your digital data.

Here are some tips they recommend to clean up your digital world.

Clare Kumar, who helps both businesses and individuals get organized from Toronto, said the best place to start for those looking to clean up their digital files is to have a strategy.

Story continues below advertisement

She admits that it can be overwhelming at first just to get started and having a plan can help.

In terms of deleting, she recommends starting with very big files and the obvious ones that you really don’t need just to get the ball rolling, then moving on to the more nuanced ones that might require more thinking. She also suggests inversing the deleting process and highlighting what you’d like to keep instead, so “you don’t have to worry so much about the rest.”

Tracey Silliker, a professional organizer based in Alberta, recommends getting over the initial hurdle of getting started by setting aside 10 minutes at first, and if you’re able to do that, add another 10 minutes, and so on. She also recommends picking one area to start with, such as your email or photos, and just focusing on organizing that to reduce the pressure of the task.

“Just pick one to start because you can’t successfully do every single area at the same time — it will be too overwhelming,” she said.

Click to play video: 'Tips on prepping your home for Spring'

6:24
Tips on prepping your home for Spring

Both Silliker and Kumar are a fan of folders for organizing, which can be separated by subject matter or year, such as for photos. Silliker said to think of it like a physical filing cabinet that has sections to it.

Story continues below advertisement

Both Kumar and Silliker recommend being fairly liberal when deleting to clear space. Kumar said to go through your email by year, set aside the important messages that you need, then delete the rest.

Both organizers also said to set reminders to delete files once they’re no longer needed, with the option to even put that reminder in the file name.

By freeing up digital space, you’ll thank yourself later when you’re in a stressful moment and need the room for whatever you’re doing, they said.

“It’s short-term pain for long-term gain,” Kumar said.

Declutter to boost your security

Digital spring cleaning can also be beneficial to your digital security, according to Lisa Pleggemier, the executive director at the National Cybersecurity Alliance based in Austin, Texas.

Story continues below advertisement

“The more data you have, the more you have to work to protect it,” she said. “It’s usually good practice not to hang on to anything more than what you absolutely need.”

Pleggemier recommends looking through phone apps you don’t use anymore and deleting them, but notes that for many, you actually have to delete your account within the app before deleting the app itself to truly get rid of it, since companies have a tendency of holding onto your data when they can.

Combing and deleting old, unused apps is also a good way to boost security, considering some may have been compromised by hacks and you may not even know it, Kumar added.

Click to play video: 'The Style Guys: Spring cleaning'

5:20
The Style Guys: Spring cleaning

Then, there are the dreaded passwords and how to manage them. Pleggemier recommends a password manager to keep track of all of them and to enable two-factor authentication when apps offer it.

Story continues below advertisement

Password managers allow you to have complex, harder-to-crack passwords that can more easily be kept track of, she said, which is important considering that if one password is leaked, hackers now can use automation tools to see if it applies to any other services.

When it comes to social media, Pleggemier recommends going through the different platforms’ privacy settings, as they may have changed without your knowledge, while Silliker recommends checking the people and groups you’re following and letting go of those that you can do away with.

“Just being mindful of what you’re consuming,” Silliker said. “It’s OK to unfollow.”

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

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Spring cleaning may be an annual tradition

Tech

BFI Bets on VR – Variety

As director Alex Ruhl’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors” continues an international festival tour, the project’s funder has sent out a message to other immersive titles considering public support: BFI Network is open for business.

“We are open for all applications, and accepting narrative fiction VR projects,” says BFI Network talent exec Alexzandra Jackson. “I had such a good experience working with Alex [Ruhl] on ‘Rock, Paper, Scissor’ that I would certainly love the opportunity to work on more.”

The new and emerging talent arm of the BFI, BFI Network looks to invest in filmmakers outside of London and Southeast England, keeping scouts in a number of English regions and satellite offices in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Since 2018, the development org has held an annual call for projects, offering up to £25,000 ($31,500) for short narrative fiction development titles.

“We’re looking for talent who have been under-represented or denied opportunities in the past,” says Jackson, who has helped fund more than 40 shorts in the past five years through her Midlands-based branch. “We’re seeing how to remove barriers for people to enter the film industry, [because] hopefully more production could happen outside of London.”

If film was once the (lone) operative word, in 2020 BFI Network took a chance on a Leicester-based, new-media creative running pop-up VR Cinema.

“Alex’s VR Cinema would consistently sell out,” Jackson recalls. “She would have two, three rounds of audiences coming in to watch the same experiences. She was so fascinating and engaging and enthusiastic about immersive stories – and that’s kind of infectious. You start thinking, how can we fund this kind of work?”

An interactive family saga in miniature, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” follows a mother-daughter pair that develop a foolproof way to resolve conflicts through a one-and-done, winner-takes-all match of the titular schoolyard game. Using hand-tracking tech, narrative elements change according to the signs the user plays.

“[At first, BFI Network] didn’t know the process, as this required a totally different creative workflow than for a feature or for traditional animation,” says Ruhl. “You need to think within that gaming, iterative mindset. To test early [because] new media’s bloody hard to work in. You’re not just a creative director, you’re also kind of a CTO of a mini company; you must translate your creative vision into technical jargon.”

After premiering at last year’s Venice Film Festival, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” was at this week’s NewImages Festival in Paris, and was picked up for distribution by powerhouse label Astrea. While Jackson is on the lookout for her next immersive venture (“We’d love to do more; there’s a real appetite,” she says), Ruhl is developing a follow-up that deals with questions of diversity and inclusion.

“The project is centered around my experience as a woman in tech,” says Ruhl, who doubles as head of metaverse technologies at PWC UK. “Now that we’ve done what we could do with ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ [the next project will be] a bit longer, a bit bigger in terms of tech, and will do things on a slightly grander scale. And BFI Network has left the door open to bring the project to them.”

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

As director Alex Ruhl’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors”

Entertaintment

Back When Arnold Schwarzenegger Replaced Anthony Hopkins in a $238 Million Comic Book Film

Having been in the industry for over five decades, any actor would have their fair share of rejections. Sometimes the actor would have rejected it, while other times they might not be suitable for the role. The legendary Anthony Hopkins was no stranger to this process. It might surprise the fans, but Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced the legendary actor in the iconic role of the DC supervillain.

Article continues below this ad

When Joel Schumacher approached Anthony Hopkins to play a role in a DC film, the actor had already become a huge, sensational star. Hopkins is famous for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. He even won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his impeccable performance. Schumacher was hoping for Hopkins to play the role of one of the most vigorous supervillains, Mr. Freeze. However, the talks could never materialize as the director shifted his focus towards the actor who had the body of Mr. Olympus.

Article continues below this ad

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hulk Hogan got the offer to play the same role. Ultimately, the role of Mr. Freeze went to the Terminator actor. The 75-year-old actor had a great time making the film while Hopkins went on to reject another Batman film.

Before rejecting the Arnold Schwarzenegger role, Anthony Hopkins denied being a part of another Batman film

Article continues below this ad

The DC Universe has a lot of heroes and villains who can be portrayed with an interesting story. Well, Christopher Nolan came up with one such interesting story and went to Hopkins. Nolan asked him to play the role of Bruce Wayne’s butler/parent, Alfred. However, one more time, The Lion in Winter actor rejected the role, and it went to Michael Cain. Despite rejecting these two major roles in the major comic book films, the Academy Award-winning actor has a list of renowned characters under his name.

Currently, he is set to star in a gladiator-esque series named Those About to Die. The iconic actor will play the character of Emperor Vespasian in the upcoming series. On the other hand, the former governor of California just finished shooting for the Netflix film, Fubar. Moreover, he is also a part of the 2023 film, Kung Fury.

Article continues below this ad

Can you imagine how Mr. Freeze would have turned out to be if Anthony Hopkins played it? Do you think the former bodybuilder truly justified the DC character? Share your opinions with us in the comment box below.

Source link

April 9, 2023

0 Comments

Having been in the industry for over

Categories

Trending

Recent Posts

The Valkyrie Assassination Bombs Didn’t Explode Properly

What Happened After The Failed Valkyrie Assassination

Explore

Available April 1, 2023

Available April 2, 2023

Available April 3, 2023

Available April 4, 2023

Available April 5, 2023

Available April 6, 2023

Available April 7, 2023

Available April 8, 2023

Available April 10, 2023

Available Aprl 11, 2023

Available April 12, 2023

Available April 13, 2023

Available April 14, 2023

Available April 15, 2023

Available April 16, 2023

Available April 17, 2023

Available April 18, 2023

Available April 19, 2023

Available April 20, 2023

Available April 21, 2023

Available April 22, 2023

Available April 25, 2023

Available April 26, 2023

Available April 27, 2023

Available April 28, 2023

Not So Secret Now

They Don’t Like Ike

Gunn vs. The Blip

Marvel Miscellany

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!

Who Are the Creature Commandos? The First Animated Series From DC Studios

Get ready to laugh out loud.

The 5 Best Comedy Screenplays For Writers To Learn From

10 Commando (1985)

9 Bloodsport (1988)

8 Demolition Man (1993)

7 Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)

6 Gamer (2009)

5 Face/Off (1997)

4 Broken Arrow (1996)

3 True Lies

2 Last Action Hero (1993)

1 Raw Force (1982)

The FE returns

Analysis: covering the price points

Dimple Kapadia will be seen making her digital debut with Homi Adajania’s upcoming series.

Best sketch of the night: Shannon gets the ‘Madden’ treatment

Also good: Sally O’Malley makes it all kinds of awkward

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Jafar puts Gov. Ron DeSantis in his place

James Gunn Reveals Peacemaker Season 2 Release Window

When Exactly Will Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere?

Event dates

New items

Egg-cellent Fruit

Wild Spring Egg

Spring V-EGG-etable

Daily and weekly quests

Holiday-themed Dreamlight tasks

Spring Taste Test

That’s Not Where Eggs Come From

WALL-E Loves Flowers

Egg-ceptional Decorating

Spring recipes

Cooking recipes

Crafting recipes

The Blind Side (2009)

Seabiscuit (2003)

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

The Champ (1931)

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

The Fighter (2010)

Breaking Away (1979)

King Richard (2021)

1.

Amy Santiago — Brooklyn 99

2.

Serena van der Woodsen — Gossip Girl

3.

Fez — That 70’s Show

4.

Fiona Gallagher — Shameless (US)

6.

Piper Chapman — Orange is the New Black