Zombies in Hindi cinema and TV shows have had a chequered past. Despite initial interest in the twenty-tens, a few very clever films in the genre like Go Goa Gone by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK went unappreciated and some got shelved after some filming. Industry insiders blamed it on the lack of understanding of the Zombie phenomenon among Indian audiences. But some of that resistance may change courtesy Betaal, a new web series on Netflix.
The idea and origin of the word Zombie is said to have originated in West Africa from where people were sent as slaves to sugarcane plantations run by the British and French in the West Indies. Haiti in particular, the seat of Voodoo, is believed to have contributed much to the Zombie lore. However, the Zombie-horror cult really found its breeding ground in popular American culture. Scores and scores of films, TV shows, comic books, podcasts center on the cult’s manifestation of the dead rising from their grave, their mechanical robotic walk and their mindlessly barbaric lust for human flesh.
Although it belongs in the horror-supernatural category, Betaal mercifully, is not a jump scare horror show. Sticking to the core ideas within the Zombie-horror tropes, in Betaal, writers Patrick Graham and Suhani Kanwar, find the perfect peg of mercenary colonial forces to hang the story on.
A contemporary anti-insurgency security squad is in the process of displacing tribal villagers who are resisting the construction of a highway somewhere in the Indian hinterlands. Much to their horror and dismay, they discover that in doing so they have let loose an army of Zombies, all erstwhile Raj-era British mercenary soldiers. The writers’ choice of historical context is both smart and intriguing. Who doesn’t like a story about haunted forests and forts? The British have a thriving tourism industry based on it!
The first episode is brisk and gets your attention immediately. However, the reveal of the central mystery occurs pretty rapidly —the unleashing of the Zombie force- but after that, the ensuing episodes struggle occasionally to keep pace. Fortunately, the show tides over the problem with a story that has the right emotions at the heart of it. Where the writing slips, is in skimming through details that would have made the turning points in the story live up to its immense potential. It is precisely this weak link that prevents the material from transforming from good into extraordinary or memorable.
Actors Vineet Kumar, Aahana Kumra, Manjiri Pupla, Jitendra Joshi, Syna Anand, and Suchitra Pillai play key roles efficiently. The young Syna Anand and Kumar are particularly good. Joshi, always a consummate actor, unfortunately, does not get enough screen time, in the flurry of rapidly unfolding events.
Betaal has been created by Patrick Graham and co-directed by him along with Nikhil Mahajan. To the directors’ credit, even in the compressed duration of merely four episodes of roughly 45 minutes each unlike an 8 or 10 episode series, the show establishes a bevy of characters rather effectively and the cast delivers.
The production design team shows agency in the way that sets and scenes have been constructed to bring in the supernatural elements. A haunted old army barrack is where a majority of the events unfold with a few additional locations shot around the cursed mountain in the village and a tunnel and the touch of minimalism works well.
Betaal ends with a grandiose, striking visual of old British ships coming into view over the horizon at Bandra Sealink—now that does leave you with some food for thought. Will Season 2 be bigger and better? Some Zombie-horror fans will be dying to know.
The box office can be an institution of simple pleasures. Hollywood releases the story of a rampaging bear drugged out of its mind and — what do you know? — the people roll out.
“Cocaine Bear” drew a solid $8.6 million opening day gross from 3,534 theaters, a figure that includes $2 million in Thursday previews. That places the Universal release ahead of projections heading into the weekend, which had the gory comedy pegged at a debut between $15 million and $17 million. A fun marketing campaign and a killer premise have given the film a strong position, with a debut north of $21 million now in the cards.
That would mark an auspicious kick-off for “Cocaine Bear,” which carries a production budget of $35 million. Reviews have been a bit all over the place; the film carries a 51% approval rating from top critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are also a bit lukewarm, as the film landed a “B-” grade through research firm Cinema Score, though a middling grade is fairly standard for a genre release with a horror slant. But, at the end of the day, “Cocaine Bear” is titled “Cocaine Bear”; the straightforward premise is proving to be a winner and audiences have to see the film to believe it.
Alongside a CGI bear (no real bears did cocaine during production), “Cocaine Bear” stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ray Liotta and Brooklynn Prince. Inspired by a true story, the film follows the residents of a small town in Georgia who must survive a murderous bear after it ingests a duffel bag filled with cocaine. The film is (very loosely) based on a true story.
While “Cocaine Bear” was the biggest earner on Friday, it likely will land in second place on final weekend charts, behind the sophomore outing of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” But though the superhero entry is staying a step ahead of the competition, Marvel has certainly seen better box office days.
The bottom dropped out of the Disney release in its second Friday, notching an $8.3 million gross, an 82% plummet from its opening day last week. Industry projections are forecasting roughly $30 million for the “Ant-Man” entry, which would mark a 72% week-to-week drop. That would be a record for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, none of which have tumbled more than 70% in a second weekend. In fact, the only film to land a domestic opening above $100 million before falling more than 70% is the final “Harry Potter” entry, 2011’s “The Deathly Hallows — Part 2.”
With a domestic gross now standing at $143 million, “Quantumania” is still running away as the biggest release of 2023 so far. But the massive drop demonstrates how poor word-of-mouth could be impacting the film, which has earned more negative reactions than the average Marvel release.
“Quantumania” landed an “Ant-Man” series-high opening of $105.5 million last week, blasting past the debut of its predecessor, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($75 million). Even with that head start, second weekend projections for “Quantumania” are landing awfully close to the second weekend of the 2018 entry ($29 million).
“Ant-Man and the Wasp” wrapped its 2018 run with $216 million domestically and $622 million worldwide. While those numbers aren’t small potatoes, a finish in that neighborhood for “Quantumania” would likely be seen as a disappointment for Marvel. The film carries a $200 million production budget (bigger than prior “Ant-Man” entries) and tees up Jonathan Majors’ Kang, a villain that will play a larger role in future Marvel Cinematic Universe entries.
In third place on domestic charts, “Jesus Revolution” is scoring an impressive debut after earning $6.95 million on Friday, a figure that includes $3.3 million in grosses from early access screenings earlier in the week. Playing in 2,475 theaters, the film is projecting an opening in the low eight-figures. The Lionsgate release from Kingdom Story Company is outperforming projections, boosted by a rapturous audience response (the film scored an “A+” grade through Cinema Score).
“Jesus Revolution” follows a young couple who help to revitalize a pastor’s quiet church. The film stars Jonathan Roumie, Joel Courtney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Grace Barlow and DeVon Franklin, while Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle co-direct.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” looks to take fourth, earning $1.1 million on Friday. Still hanging around in its 11th weekend of release, James Cameron’s sci-fi sequel has earned a massive $661 million at the domestic box office so far.
Fifth place should go to another holiday season holdover in Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” The DreamWorks spinoff looks to add an additional $4 million in its 10th weekend of release, boosting its domestic haul to an impressive $173 million.
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Review: Wonder Woman #796 [Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writers: Michael W. Conrad & Becky Cloonan and Jordie Bellaire Art: Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau Colors: Jordie Bellaire and Kendall Goode Letters: Pat Brosseau and Becca Carey
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Diana and company make a final stand, even if divided, against Eros and Hyperion. Plus, Diana learns an important lesson from Persephone in The Adventures of Young Diana.
Positives
Much like last issue, Wonder Woman #796 leads with the action! Diana and Yara face off against Eros while Sigfried and Steve continue their assault on Hyperion. Meanwhile, Etta and Barbara Minerva do their best to protect the citizens. These different sequences work really well because the pacing is just right, cutting back and forth at just the right moments to heighten the tension. This is a major conflict in the streets of Washington, D.C., so it’s nice to see the action balanced effectively with the character moments.
Eros is a total ass, and it’s great to see Yara get the chance to deal with that. It’s a complex situation because we know that Eros manipulated Yara with an arrow back in Wonder Girl #3. However, it is suggested that at some point Yara could’ve loved him, yet she was starting to fall for Jaoa when Eros got her with his arrow. What happened to Jaoa??? That storyline got shortchanged because of the way things went with the Wonder Girl series so it could synch up with “Trial of the Amazons,” at least that’s how it felt. Still, I highly recommend that series and it gives some context for what’s going on in this comic.
Positives Cont’d
The rest of the Wonder Team get some time to shine as well. Steve’s concern for Sigfried is truly heartfelt. And, it’s something quite interesting in that while it’s clear that they aren’t interested in each other as a couple, they have a bond that is clearly a strong friendship that borders on family. It’s not played as a tacky “bromance,” however there’s no doubt these aren’t just to dudes who like to hang. That connection may at first seem to be their mutual attraction/ history with Diana, but it feels like there’s something deeper that’s developed. Barbara Minerva has a softer moment as well, and it shows that there’s still a chance for her to turn it around to the side of the angels. Again, this harkens back to early Wonder Woman stories in which redemption was part of Diana’s mission, especially for women.
In “Adventures of Young Diana,” our title character learns an important lesson- not everyone can be saved. Sometimes there are circumstances that are insurmountable. It’s a great thing to show, not just for Diana, but for the reader in the real world as well. Diana also learns that these people shouldn’t be forgotten and that it’s important that we show them that we care about them. Let’s give it up to Paulina Ganucheau who’s evocative depiction of Persephone and Diana sells these moments. Her art style, though very different from what we expect in modern, Western super-hero comics, is every bit as effective. Her storytelling is perfect as she depicts Diana’s emotional state as the young Amazon learns of Persephone’s fate in the Underworld as the bride of Hades.
Negatives
As mentioned above, it seemed like Wonder Girl’s series got truncated and reworked in order for it to synch up with the “Trial of the Amazons” event from this past fall. There’s an element of Wonder Woman #796 that feels like it needed more space to breathe, and it easily could’ve taken up another issue or two, or even four or five. I suspect it has something to do with the final surprise ending. While the surprise ending shows potential, it’s obviously tied to the Lazarus Planet event. I’d much rather see how Diana deals with a population loving her too much. That’s how this issue opens, and it could be a very interesting and provocative storyline.
While it’s not something that can be laid at the feet of this creative team, it would be nice if DC got over the events that interrupt other good storylines. DC thinks it sells comics, but in actuality it takes readers away. I’ve no doubt that Wonder Girl would still be going if the event hadn’t dictated the pace of that series. It was well received by critics and fans alike. Not knowing anything about the behind the scenes, I can only guess that the scheduling with the event was too much for writer/artist Joelle Jones. There was so much left on the table with that series. That’s how I feel about this bit in Wonder Woman #796. It was the cliffhanger ending from last issue and it ends too quickly here.
Verdict
Wonder Woman #796 demonstrates why this has been a consistently great series over the past two years. While it can deliver on the action, there’s always something bigger at play with the characters and emotional beats. Bellaire and Ganucheau do this in the second feature, and it’s a hallmark of the main storyline. This more thoughtful approach is nuanced and nostalgic.
Horizon: Forbidden West is coming to the PlayStation Plus Games Catalogue this month and will therefore be available at no extra cost to those with an Extra or Premium membership.
As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, Forbidden West will finally arrive on the service on February 21, almost one year to the date after it was released.
But with Forbidden West coming to the Games Catalogue one year after launch, this could set a new precedent for the timescale of first party games coming to the service, and IGN has reached out to PlayStation for comment.
It’s not the only game arriving in February, however, as The Quarry, Resident Evil 7, Outriders, Scarlet Nexus, Borderlands 3, Tekken 7, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, Earh Defense Force 5, Oninaki, Lost Sphear, I am Setsuna, and The Forgotten City are also coming to the Games Catalogue.
Horizon Forbidden West PlayStation 5 Screenshots
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Misery loves company, which may account for Portuguese director João Canijo’s decision to split his angst-ridden hotel-set project into two complementary films. Both were selected for the Berlinale, with the half centered on the hotel guests (“Living Bad”) landing in the Encounters section, and “Bad Living,” which revolves around the hotel staff, taking a main competition slot. It makes reviewing one without reference to the other something of an exercise in shadowboxing, especially when, as in “Bad Living,” the minute observation of its deteriorating female relationships could have used some kind of counterpoint, if only to make an unremittingly bleak, fractious 127 minutes pass a little faster. They may work in hospitality, but the women of “Bad Living” live in a draining, near-permanent state of hostility.
The heartbreak hotel location is perhaps the film’s biggest star. It’s a large, modern building, though not so modern that it doesn’t feel worn around the edges. That impression is reinforced by DP Leonor Teles’ handsome but dark-tinged, slightly grimy photography, which always feels as though the camera is struggling to take in enough light. The complex is carefully maintained, right down to the large outdoor pool into which housekeeper/chef/doggedly loyal factotum Angela (Vera Barreto) is sluicing chlorine as the film opens. Nearby, hotel manager Piedade (Anabela Moreira) rests on a lounger following one of her frequent solo swims.
Piedade’s gimlet-eyed mother Sara (Rita Blanco) owns the place. Piedade’s prickly daughter Salomé (Madalena Almeida) unexpectedly comes to stay after the death of her father, from whom Piedade was long estranged. The quintet is rounded out by cousin Raquel (Clei Almeida) who works as a maid/waitress, and is in a relationship with Angela, but still has occasional sex with random (male) guests. Sara is cruelly critical of her daughter who in turn is utterly alienated from her daughter. Granddaughter and grandmother, however, get along just fine, partly united by mutual dislike of Piedade: No wonder her nerves are shredded, and her brow etched into a permanent furrow of tension. In this family, it would seem, maternal affection skips a generation.
The hotel is failing, and there is talk of selling, but very little actual action. Not flattered by surface comparisons to TV phenom “The White Lotus,” this is a slow-band-aid-removal of gradually widening fractures, of eavesdroppers lurking in doorways to hear no good of themselves, of rare confrontations, rarer confessions and moments of conviviality that are rarer than either again. As writer-director, Canijo appears to be going for a tragic, Bergmanesque effect — there are a lot of windows and mirrors into which one or other woman can stare pensively — but with such a lack of human warmth, the tragedy never really grips. By the time the worst happens, everyone’s been so miserable and so horrible to each other for so long, it feels almost like a relief.
Not content to let the downward-spiralling relationships speak for themselves, at times the usually impressive craft becomes overbearingly gloomy. Overlapping dialogue makes certain murmured exchanges less than intelligible (non-Portuguese speakers have to speed-read a truncated version in the subtitles). And Teles’ fondness for minimal lighting can go too far: One confessional scene by the pool at night is shot so darkly, and from such an oblique angle, we can hardly tell to whom Raquel is talking. Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
The performances are dedicated but given little room to maneuver within their various psychological cages. As both daughter and mother, employee and employer, tormentor and tormented, Piedade is the pivot point through which so much of the film’s unhappy energies flow, and thus only ever seems allowed that one, stricken expression. Costume designer Silvia Siopa, however, does a fine job with Piedade’s wardrobe, which is all autumnal dresses and skirt-and-blouse combos that, like the hotel, look well-made but not exactly fashionable, and seem to smell faintly of mothballs.
It’s very possible that Canijo thinks men are the worst too. Perhaps the male hotel guests briefly glimpsed checking in, or dining in the hotel restaurant, will come in for similarly negative assessment in “Living Bad.” (Very likely, in fact, considering it’s apparently based on plays by Strindberg, not known for his chirpiness about the human condition.) But if so, it makes the decision to stretch out and separate these stories into two films — of over two hours each — even more perplexing, leaving this distaff version open to charges of the kind of sexism that imagines women, when left alone together, inevitably devolve into shrewish, mutually resentful scolds. Of course, combining the films into one would fundamentally alter the depressive DNA of “Bad Living,” because guests always have an ace up their sleeve. They can check out any time they like; these women can never leave.
After 15 seasons, RuPaul’s Drag Race toasted its 200th episode. And despite the abbreviated form, the installment managed to pack in a lot of material: a mini-challenge, a walkthrough, three emotional moments, two lip syncs, and a full ball. It also paid plenty of reverence to past iconic moments from the series. Even though it lasted a brisk 40 minutes, it worked.
With the unusual structure of the LaLaPaRUza, a lot of what fills the beginning of a standard episode was hashed out during last week’s Untucked. The queens already discussed Jax and their own performances during the lip syncs and, as there was no official winner from the last episode, they simply get to the business at hand. This truncated start allows us to actually get a better understanding of the queens and their relationships— finally. RuPaul is quick to enter and announce the monumental moment of celebrating both the 15th season and the 200th episode. To make the occasion, the queens will compete in The Crystal Ball by presenting three separate looks on the runway. A fixture since the first season, the ball allows for even more time for the runway and to see the queens interact and share their personal stories.
The werkroom
The queens warm up with a mini-challenge of photobombing iconic moments from past seasons. It affords the queens a little fun while competing, which has been sorely missing this season. (These are the sort of moments that can potentially produce new iconic moments.) Anetra, who has somewhat faded to the background since the talent show, wins the challenge. It creates a shift of focus to her throughout the episode and suggests she might be back in the spotlight moving forward.
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After the queens learn of the ball challenge, they make a mad dash for materials. It’s another design challenge with somewhat conventional materials, which has been a failing of recent design challenges. It’s hard to tell what exactly each queen grabs as it all looks like a sea of glitter and crystal, and there’s a chaotic moment when someone breaks a container of pearl beads. Luxx seems to place the blame on Loosey, who is conveniently out of frame, but the real tragedy is that no one uses it as an opportunity to make a Showgirls reference. Luxx also gets into a semi tussle with Marcia over a piece of fabric. It’s a quick reminder that after the fun of a mini-challenge, the queens are still competitive. Luxx says she is here for a crown and some money.
Screenshot: RuPaul’s Drag Race
The episode also finally includes a walkthrough with Carson and RuPaul. Like with the mini challenge, these are important moments to see the queens interact with the judges without the pressure of the stage lights. While only three queens are shown discussing their looks with the judges, it reveals a lot about each queen. Spice, for example, is met with critiques about repetitive silhouettes and a lack of personality in her looks. They encourage her to push further and convey a narrative in her runway presentations. Unfortunately, Spice interprets their words as simply lengthening her miniskirts. While Spice reasserted that she would be entering her top phase with this episode, her walkthrough does not bode well. Similarly, Mistress, who claimed to be more congenial in this episode, quickly starts reading the other queens for their “gaudy” looks. And RuPaul is loving it all. Their discussion also lays more of a foundation and understanding of the “big” personality Mistress has and how it may be rubbing some of the queens the wrong way, which has already been explored in the relationship between Mistress and Malaysia. The final walkthrough shows Salina, ever desperate to please, having an emotional breakthrough. She speaks of shrinking herself and losing her usual confidence since walking into the werkroom. It’s a powerful moment between Salina and RuPaul, who urges her to use and show this emotion to the judges.
After the judges exit, the queens return to their work and playfully tease one another. The major target is Loosey, who remains extremely competitive. It manages to slightly assuage the tension when Mistress asks if someone could help her dart and Sasha cracks that the person who can help is the one Mistress has been reading all day. The comic moment is coupled the next day with an emotional one from Anetra, who tells the story of her coming out, or rather founding out, to Salina. While the story of coming outs and familial rejection are sadly a substantial part of the Drag Race legacy, Anetra’s is particularly cruel. After her mother discovered her drag, Anetra lived a week feeling free before her family kicked her out of the home. A gut-wrenching story, Anetra manages to find a light at the end of the tunnel by celebrating her father and her contentment with her partner and career. Anetra briefly discussed this turmoil in an earlier Untucked, but the moment holds greater power in this episode, prompting the queens to recall some of their favorite instances from past seasons of Drag Race.
The Crystal Ball
The Ball opens with RuPaul greeting Michelle, Carson, and special guest Julia Garner in a cowgirl ensemble complete with red latex, golden studs, and plenty of fringe. They celebrate the milestone 200th episode with some cake and candy in a short shimmy and shake performance from RuPaul to, yes, her song “Cake & Candy.” The number is punctuated in the presentation of what looks like a completely inedible glitter cake.
The first category of the Crystal Ball requires each queen to reimagine RuPaul’s iconic racing jumpsuit. Mistress is the first to put her own stamp on the outfit. In a vinyl red and white jumpsuit, she reinterprets the racing patch with memorable quotes from former big girl contestants like Eureka and Silky Nutmeg Ganache. It fits well with Mistress’ campaign to make Season 15 the first season with a plus-sized winner. It also doesn’t hurt that her use of past catchphrases parallels the episode’s nostalgic tone. Mistress is followed by Spice who also reworks the red and white suit by turning it into a signature Spice minidress. The checkered platforms and the branded flag give it a personalized touch. Luxx breaks with the red in favor of a pink motocross-inspired two-piece set. Marcia’s color-blocked pastel interpretation feels like the freshest take so far and the volumized hair makes it feel like she is listening to the judges. Similarly, Salina’s blue, black, and white baggy approach is a departure from the standard RuPaul look but is fitting with her personal street aesthetic. Malaysia’s soft pink ensemble is perfectly fitted to her body and a welcome deviation from the gowns she typically wears on the runway. Loosey’s video-game, quasi-cartoon approach, while well-made, feels like it went a little off the track of the prompt. In a two-piece gown version similar to Luxx’s look, Sasha delivers a simple and impactful interpretation of the iconic outfit complete with pink and the racing checker pattern. Finally, Anetra closes the category with an acidic neon jumpsuit accented with flags representing her heritage like a walking 23andMe report.
Screenshot: RuPaul’s Drag Race
For the second look, each queen must pay homage to one of the previous 16 balls. (Seasons 3 and 14 technically contained two balls.) Despite the ample material, as the ball challenge has been a part of Drag Race since its inception, the queens of Season 15 only managed to represent five separate balls. Again, Mistress leads the category with a striking look made of deconstructed beach balls. The full ensemble recalls the aesthetic of Leigh Bowery or ’90s club-kid culture. It was a smart choice that reveals an unexpected layer to Mistress. In a change of the initial order, Marcia comes out sporting a look inspired by the Bag Ball. Her milk-maid look is hampered by the fact that she made her choice based on using conventional materials and that it is yet again another white and unembellished costume. Malaysia presents her take on Cruella De Vil in a graphic black and white look inspired by season three’s Hair Ball. While the cape feels a little distracting, it’s a well-constructed look that fits the brief well. Like Mistress, Spice chose to recreate the Ball Ball, but it had less of an impact based on her more conventional material choice. While the color-blocked waves of purple and black are solid, she didn’t think about it from a full 360-degree perspective by leaving the back unadorned. It feels like another issue of someone who is used to performing from the fixed, frontal for a cell-phone camera.
While Salina’s decision to represent the Money Ball feels fresh, the look itself is another example of her convoluted runway storytelling. The nod to being on food stamps and the detail of adding her face to the money is inspired. However, the attention to detail is completely lost in the sloppy execution and perplexing palm-tree design. In another repeat, Loosey choses the Bag Ball. While she might get extra points for incorporating doggy poop bags in a possible nod to season four’s Bitch Ball, the fact that it is a sloppy copy of Gigi Goode’s winning Ball Ball look from season 12 is disappointing. Luxx, like Malaysia, recreates the Hair Ball in a strong black look that references ’90s Mugler. She looks fierce and intimidating like the models from that decade who she admires. While Sasha’s dime bag look recalls Jorgeous confusing Holy Couture runway from season 14, it is so well constructed and detail-oriented that it eclipses the previous blunt on the runway. Inspired by the “most unique” of the balls, the season five Sugar Ball, Anetra’s look is unfortunately not that unique. Instead, it feels like she has simply glued on candy onto a bedazzled body suit she already had in her closet.
The ball ends with Crystalized Eleganza, which requires each queen to design and construct their own unique looks from scratch in the werkroom. Mistress stuns again in a beautifully fitted white gown that mixes her pageant background with old Hollywood glamour, like a modern-day Mae West. A majority of the queens also take on a pageant influence as the “eleganza” prompt suggested. As with the last design challenge, Malaysia manages to work well beyond her sewing skills for a dress ready for the runway. Likewise, Sasha manages to cover up a lack of construction chops by assembling a bedazzled bib out of appliques and draping a languid glitter fabric into a skirt. As she had said in the werkroom, she knows her body. Loosey attempts to make pageantry into a joke by walking down the runway as third runner-up. It’s a well-fitted dress but it lacks vision or ambition for someone with Loosey’s technical skills. After a Gigi-inspired second look, the other issue is that Trixie Mattel executed this concept much better back in season seven. Perhaps the best pageant look of the night is Anetra’s, who manages to subvert glittery glamour with jagged shards of crystal, which convey an alluring sense of danger.
Screenshot: RuPaul’s Drag Race
Luxx and Marcia set themselves apart from the group with more costumey looks. While Marcia’s is well constructed and, thankfully, embellished, presenting another white outfit fails to wow. Luxx, on the other hand, does wow with unconventional material that screams crystal. Appearing like an ice fairy, Luxx’s only drawbacks are in the details. (For example, the waistline of the tights distracted from the overall impact.) The final issue with Luxx’s look is that she appears so uncomfortable in it. Two of the worst looks came from Salina and Spice. Salina’s look fails despite taking the judges’ sage advice, and Spice does the same because she misunderstood said advice. In the werkroom, Carson and RuPaul encouraged Salina to simplify. She manages to present a modern, streamlined look in concept, but the unforgivable puckering of the fabric betrays any attempt at sleekness. In a moment of mistranslation, Spice took Carson and RuPaul’s comments to simply mean a longer skirt, and she presents basically the same look she has on each runway just with a couple more feet of fabric.
The judging
Marcia, Luxx, and Malaysia advance after being called safe. While you can tell Marcia and Luxx are somewhat peeved by the result, Malaysia seems content to have made it through a second design challenge. The remaining six—Salina, Spice, Mistress, Loosey, Sasha, and Anetra—hold for critiques. Before the judges even start, there is a single shot of Loosey that shows all her confidence melting away.
Salina is praised for her first look, which matches her drag persona. Her second look, consistent with many of Salina’s runways, seems to perplex the judges who call it “messy.” Likewise, they are unimpressed by her final look but acknowledge the difficulty of working with that particular fabric. The critique is brutally ended by Michelle’s backhanded compliment that she loves Salina’s personality, but “wants” to love her drag. Spice manages to squeak by with her first two looks and the top of her third. However, Michelle lambasts the skirt that she made. It’s clear that Spice has reached the end of the line when Michelle praises her attempt to give up her signature trot but expresses disdain for the hackneyed hairball gag.
In contrast to Salina and Spice, the judge basically have no notes for Mistress. They love all of her looks and Michelle says that with each challenge Mistress becomes more impressive. Loosey receives a mixed bag during her critique. In particular, the judges hated her bag ball ensemble. Without mentioning the previous version, they consider it to be an underwhelming, even lazy, look. Sasha and Anetra, like Mistress, are mostly praised. Sasha receives no negative critiques and is able to share her personal history with the House of Colby, which serves as one of the episode’s emotional peaks. Enamored by the look Anetra constructed, especially its blend of glamour and danger, they seem willing to dismiss her rather incomplete second look. There is also an endearing exchange between Anetra and Michelle regarding their shared “resting bitch face.”
It feels as if Mistress, Sasha, or Anetra could win this week. The win ultimately goes to Sasha. Although it feels like if Anetra’s second look had been stronger or if Mistress had some sort of emotional breakthrough (like Anetra or Sasha) this week, the win could have gone to either one of them. Halfway through the season, it is clear that the judges are smitten with Mistress, Sasha, and Anetra. It’s already hard to imagine the three of them not making it into the top four this season. Of the bottom trio, RuPaul spares the strongest competitor Loosey, who already has a win on the board.
Screenshot: RuPaul’s Drag Race
The lip sync
Salina’s emotional response to being in the bottom with Spice feels a tad overdramatic. Does she really have to “fight for her life,” considering that during the LaLaPaRUza she was only spared from a definite elimination after a last-minute twist? It is clear who will be winning this before it even starts. Despite the uneven face-off, Spice does allude to knowing the song from performing it during a TikTok with Sugar, which Lil Nas X shared himself. The trouble with that TikTok is that they do not actually lip sync to the song at all.
As they start to perform, Spice does earn a couple of laughs throughout the performance. Aside from not really knowing the lyrics, Spice never commits to it. Rather, she jumps from bit to bit offering quantity over quality. While her death drop was amusing, most of the performance is someone just sort of bopping along to a song. It’s the kind of thing you might do listening to music while cleaning your room.
Salina, on the other hand, is telling a story. She is leaning into what RuPaul told her in the werkroom. Salina is showing her emotions. She is lip syncing to the spotlight while saying “I want someone to love me, I want someone to need me.” It’s the perfect encapsulation of Salina’s journey on the show thus far. She is someone desperate for the spotlight and she finally gets it by putting her heart on the stage. Their performances echo RuPaul’s advice in the werkroom. She urged both of them to tell a story, to show personality and emotion. But only Salina got the message and the win.
Stray observations
Marcia saying it was long time coming about Jax’s elimination felt a little mean.
It feels like Salina, Spice, and Loosey all jinxed themselves early in the episode. Salina saying she wouldn’t be in the bottom for another design challenge. Spice saying she was now in a top era. Loosey mentioning her bottom three performance in the first episode.
It’s hilarious how they are all covered in glitter in the werkroom.
Sasha really didn’t get a good picture to photobomb at all.
It would have been great if Aura had been there while they discussed past drag race moments. Just to see if she knew any.
Richard Lester kicks off A Hard Day’s Night at full speed—no studio logo, no establishing shots, just the crash of the title’s song opening chord and three moptops (Paul turns up later) running frantically toward the camera, pursued by rabid fans. Thing is, though, the opening conveys a feeling of liberation that the Beatles didn’t actually possess, as A Hard Day’s Night will go on to puckishly demonstrate. The Fab Four are smiling broadly as they make their mad dash for the Liverpool train station in the opening sequence, as if they’re having the time of their lives, but it’s significant that the screenplay they commissioned from Alun Owen is almost entirely about how trapped they feel, just a few months into Beatlemania (a term that was coined in October 1963—shooting started in March 1964). Structurally, A Hard Day’s Night builds toward a climactic television performance, depicting what’s ostensibly a typical day in the life of the Beatles. This mostly involves efforts to elude their manager (a fictional one, here, played by Norman Rossington), who’d prefer to see them locked down in a hotel room answering armfuls of fan mail, and have a bit of fun. In the film’s most iconic sequence, the lads sneak out a fire-escape door as they’re being shuttled back to the room following a rehearsal, cavorting around a field accompanied by the effervescent “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Lester sometimes shoots them in fast motion, sometimes in a flurry of quick cuts, sometimes from a great height—whatever will best capture the giddiness of having temporarily slipped away from the straitjacket of their unprecedented fame. At the same time, though, A Hard Day’s Night is careful not to make the Beatles seem ungrateful; there’s no discussion, for example, of how little the band came to enjoy performing live (to the point where they eventually gave it up completely), due to their inability to hear themselves over the noise. [Mike D’Angelo]
Simone is met with a life-changing decision upon the return of someone from her past. Blue shadows Maggie on a risky procedure, while Jo and Link tend to a pregnant woman. At the intern house, Lucas and Mika throw a party filled with surprises.
Descendants star Sofia Carson and Oscar regular Diane Warren are set to perform the Best Song nominee “Applause” at the 95th annual Academy Awards next month.
Warren wrote the music and lyrics for the track from Tell It Like a Woman, earning her 14th Best Song Oscar nom since 1988 and sixth in as many years. She has yet to claim the hardware but did receive a Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in November and snagged an Emmy for The Hunting Ground song “Til It Happens to You,” sung by Lady Gaga.
Along with “Til It Happens to You,” her earlier nominated songs include “How Do I Live” and the chart-topping singles “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” “Because You Loved Me” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” performed by Aerosmith, Celine Dion and Jefferson Starship, respectively.
Warren’s life also is the subject of a stage musical that’s in development, with Tony winners Joe DiPietro and Kathleen Marshall.
Carson played the Evil Queen’s daughter Evie in Disney’s Descendants and its sequels, and the first pic’s soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2015. She released her self-titled debut album in 2022. She also starred in last year’s Netflix pic Purple Hearts and next appears in Jaume Collet-Serra’s Carry On.
“Applause” is competing for the Best Song Oscar against “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — which Super Bowl halftime star Rihanna will perform at the ceremony — “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and “This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once. The 95th Academy Awards will be handed out Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
NOW IN THEATERS! Don’t read the official synopsis or logline for director Adrian Langley’s Bunker. Why? Because it’s a spoiler. The film, written by Michael Huntsman, is a paranoia thriller set during the first Great War in which several soldiers become trapped in a bunker. To say much more about the narrative would spoil the fun. But, some more context is possible.
Lt. Turner (Patrick Moltane) demands much from the men under his command. The battalion’s new medic, Segura (Eddie Ramos), arrives just as Turner is leading a small band of soldiers forward as word has come that the Germans retreated. The group, which includes Baker (Julian Feder) and Pvt. Lewis (Quinn Moran), among others, discovers a bunker with one leftover German brutally tied up.
Shortly after freeing the enemy soldier, Kurt (Luke Baines), the bunker is hit by a shell and partially collapses. Unfortunately, this leaves no way out. As time keeps ticking, the men begin to unravel. Turner’s volatile nature becomes more pronounced as mistrust grows, leading to violent outbursts. Will the soldiers survive the hell on Earth called war? Is this bunker their tomb?
“…several soldiers become trapped in a bunker.”
The sound mixing throughout Bunker was very uneven. I had to constantly adjust the volume higher or lower for the entire 108-minute runtime. Most of the dialogue is very quiet, while the escalating violence is punctuated either by a loud music sting or a startling explosion. Yes, these things should be louder, but so much so that the volume hurts my ears momentarily is a step too far. Sadly, that is not a joke. The volume would get so loud out of nowhere that the burst of sound made me recoil backward.
But, the movie more than makes up for its iffy sound with the strength of its cinematography and lighting. Director of photography Matthew Quinn lenses the feature with style. The angles emphasize how isolated the soldiers are while also making the (mostly) single-location set look interesting and different at all times. The lighting is also perfect, with lots of contrasting blues and reds and hazy/dusty gold being a harbinger of violence. No matter what the budget was, the crew worked overtime to ensure their picture looked well above its price point, and it paid off big time.
The cast of Bunker also ups the material. Moltane makes his hatable character easy to understand. Yes, his ways are ruthless, but he’s dedicated to winning the war. Ramos brings his character’s belief in the good of people to live in a charming, relatable way. Finally, Baines is creepy as Kurt. Or is that just how others perceive him? The actor toes the line between reality and paranoid fantasy excellently.
Bunker is a gripping little thriller with solid characters and impressive visual flair. The cast all do their part while the director manages to squeeze a good amount of tension out. But it is not perfect, as the film is overly long (how many distress radio calls does one movie need?), and the sound design is inconsistent, to say the least.
The European Union agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones, as well as restricting trade on products that could be used by the armed forces.
The EU’s Swedish presidency said the sanctions “are directed at military and political decision-makers, companies supporting or working within the Russian military industry, and commanders in the Wagner Group. Transactions with some of Russia’s largest banks are also prohibited.”
Asset freezes were slapped on three more Russian banks and seven Iranian “entities” — companies, agencies, political parties or other organizations — that manufacture military drones, which the EU suspects have been used by Russia during the war.
The new measures, proposed by the EU’s executive branch three weeks ago, were only adopted after much internal wrangling over their exact make-up, and made public one day after the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine _ the intended target date.
The delay, which was minor but symbolically important, is yet more evidence of how difficult it has become for the 27-nation bloc to identify new targets for restrictive measures that are acceptable to all member nations.
The sanctions are meant to undermine Russia’s economy and drain funds for its war effort, but they are also increasingly inflicting pain on European economies already hit by high inflation and energy prices and still suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hundreds gather at rally in support of Ukraine on night of solemn war anniversary
Before this latest round of measures, the EU had already targeted almost 1,400 Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, government ministers, lawmakers and oligarchs believed loyal to the Kremlin, but also officers believed responsible for war crimes or targeting civilian infrastructure.
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The bloc had also frozen the assets of more than 170 organizations, ranging from political parties and paramilitary groups to banks, private companies and media outlets accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Russia’s energy sector was hit, too — notably oil and coal — and the bloc, through its own measures and political decisions combined with retaliation from Moscow, was rapidly weaned off its dependence on Russian natural gas.
Live from New York, it’s Saturday night! Season 48 of Saturday Night Live premiered on Oct. 1, and showrunner Lorne Michaels has yet to disappoint with his choice of show hosts and musical guests. This week, Woody Harrelson, 61, joins the SNL “five-timers” club and will take the comedy stage alongside White Stripes guitarist Jack White, 47, who has also performed before.
Pedro Pascal is hosting ‘SNL’ with musical guest Coldplay. (Rosalind O’Connor / NBC)
Actor Pedro Pascal hosted SNL on Feb. 4, alongside musical guest Coldplaywho has performed seven times! Pedro is one of the hottest actors on the Hollywood scene as he stars in two huge TV series: The Mandalorianand The Last of Us. The latter, an adaptation of a popular video game, debuted on HBO in January and is a ratings juggernaut for the cable network. Meanwhile, Chris Martin and his band Coldplay will be performing over the Grammy weekend, which is fitting for the superstar group, who was nominated three times for the 2023 ceremony.
To kick off this season, Top Gun: Maverick actor Miles Teller, 35, hosted the Oct. 1 episode with Kendrick Lamar as the musical guest. “It’s really exciting. You’re working with the absolute best of the best, so you feel well taken care of, but it is, it’s a lot. It’s a whirlwind,” Miles told NBC4ahead of his big debut.
Saturday Night Live will welcome the one and only Woody Harrelson to the stage on Saturday, Feb. 25 for the fifth time! The official Instagram for the show announced the True Detective star’s return to the popular sketch show on Feb. 16, via Instagram. “Coming up!” they captioned the post-it notes of Woody and Coldplay’s names.
In a promo for the upcoming episode, SNL also featured a montage of Woody’s prior times on the show, including his 1989, 1992, 2014 and 2019 appearances. The 61-year-old also took a stroll down Studio 8H and honored many of the prior hosts in a separate promotional video for the Feb. 25 episode. In that same clip, Woody called Matthew McConaughey, 53, his “weed guy” upon seeing a photo of him hosting a prior episode. The two also star in True Detective together.
The Musical Guest For The Episode Is Jack White
Rock legend Jack White will take the stage on Feb. 25 for another time, as he has performed on SNL various times. During a promo for the episode, he and Woody teamed up to create excitement for the show, which was also shared via Instagram on Feb. 23. The duo was also joined by series regularChloe Fineman, who joked about working with Woody multiple times. When the “Seven Nation Army” hitmaker asked if they had worked together before, Woody joked about how often Chloe keeps begging. “Or Woody tells Chloe to stop asking him to do a movie together,” he said in the sketch. Most recently Jack performed in Brooklyn, New York on Feb. 22, about three days ahead of his SNL performance.
What Time Is ‘SNL’ On?
Saturday Night Live airs at 11:35 p.m. PST/EST and 9:30 p.m. MT on local NBC affiliates. The series can also be streamed live on the Peacock app.
Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim and Bowen Yang are all returning for season 48. (Will Heath/NBC)
Pete Davidson and Colin Jost are seen on ‘Weekend Update’ during Season 46. (Will Heath/NBC)
As mentioned above, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, featured player Aristotle Athari, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson, and Chris Redd departed the show ahead of Season 48. Many of these cast members announced their exit in May with some not revealing the news until Sept. 1.
Chris announced the news of his exit from SNL on Sept. 20 with a statement to PEOPLE. “Being a part of SNL has been the experience of a lifetime. Five years ago, I walked into 30 Rock knowing that this was an amazing opportunity for growth,” Chris said. “Now, with friends who have become family and memories I will cherish forever, I’m grateful to Cassie Gill Lorne Michaels and to the entire SNL organization. From the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank you all enough.”
You don’t have to wait long for an iPhone 15 leak or rumor at the moment – they’re spilling out pretty much every day – and we’ve now got some unofficial renders showing off the revamped design of the iPhone 15 Plus model.
These renders are based on schematic information given to third-party supply chain partners and obtained by 9to5Mac (opens in new tab), which we’d say is one of the more trustworthy sources out there when it comes to Apple information.
In terms of the changes coming to the phone’s design, we’ve got the more rounded edges to the screen and chassis that have been mentioned in earlier rumors. There’s also a USB-C port rather than Lightning, another switch that’s expected this year.
How the iPhone 15 Plus might look (Image credit: 9to5Mac)
To the millimeter
There’s a thicker camera bump this time around, and it appears that the Dynamic Island is coming to the iPhone 15 Plus (and the iPhone 15) – so it’s no longer going to be exclusive to the Pro models. We’ve heard this before, too.
Compared to the dimensions of 160.84 mm x 78.07 mm x 7.79 mm for the iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 15 Plus measures 160.87 mm x 77.76 mm x 7.81 mm according to this source. There’s really not that much in it, just fractions of millimeters.
Demand has reportedly been weak for the iPhone 14 Plus – and it was of course brought in to replace the mini model that also sold rather poorly – so Apple will be hoping that the 2023 version attracts a few more buyers.
Analysis: some subtle changes
As we’ve seen from previously leaked unofficial renders of the iPhone 15 Pro from the same source, Apple isn’t completely throwing out the iPhone design and starting again from scratch this time around. The design changes will be small and subtle.
When you’ve got a design that’s as iconic and as well-established as the iPhone one, it’s going to be difficult to come up with genuinely new innovations and changes – although the introduction of the notch with the iPhone X in 2017 was rather inspired.
Most of the best work we’re seeing in phone design at the moment is coming from foldable phones, and Apple’s entry into the market is still thought to be some way off. In fact the device we end up getting might be more of a folding iPad than a folding iPhone.
As for the iPhone 15 series, the most significant switch this year could well be the adoption of that USB-C port, as dictated by EU regulators. However, there has been talk that there might be restrictions on what you can actually hook up to it.
YouTube is going to let thousands more creators include multi-language audio tracks with their videos. The company was already testing the feature with a small number of creators, and beginning Thursday, many more will be able to include multi-language dubs with their videos to make them accessible to broader audiences.
If you want to try this feature for yourself, check out this video on MrBeast’s YouTube channel. If you click on the gear icon, you’ll see an option for “audio track,” and if you click that, you’ll see the different language options available. Videos will also default to a user’s preferred language.
In its early tests, YouTube says that, as of January, “we’ve already seen over 3,500 multi-language videos uploaded in over 40 languages.” Multi-language dubbed videos apparently see increased watch time, with 15 percent coming from “views in the video’s non-primary language” in January. And multi-language dubbed videos also mean that creators may not have to maintain separate channels just to host videos in other languages; instead, they can just dub a video on their main channel.
The expansion arrives as YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down, with chief product officer Neal Mohan taking her place as the new head of the platform.
Rihanna will perform the Oscar-nominated song “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner have announced. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 12.
“Lift Me Up,” with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson and lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler, is nominated for original song. It is Rihanna’s first Oscar nomination.
Rihanna, who has not released a new album since 2016’s “Anti,” headlined the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this month — although her musical performance was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that she revealed she is several months pregnant with her second child. Rihanna made no reference to it during the show but was visibly pregnant and reps confirmed the news to Variety shortly after the performance.
While many actors and celebrities have presented or accepted awards at the Oscars while pregnant, Catherine Zeta-Jones is the only other name in recent memory to perform a musical number at the Academy Awards while pregnant. Jones was eight months pregnant when she performed “I Move On” from “Chicago” at the 2003 Oscars with Queen Latifah. Jones won the Oscar for best supporting actress that year, and she gave birth to her daughter Carys just a few weeks later.
The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
The announcement was tweeted by Magadheera’s production company Geetha Pictures on February 23.
Magadheer’s poster succeeds in taking us back to the 2009 splendour, where Ram Charan delivered a powerful performance in dual roles – Kala Bhairava and Harsha.
Telugu actor Ram Charan has been reaching new heights with each passing day it seems. The mega-power star of the film industry has highly impressed the masses with his spectacular acting chops and charismatic on-screen persona. With Ram Charan, ringing in his 38th birthday on March 27, this year, there awaits a special surprise for his fans. The actor’s 2009 blockbuster film Magadheera is ready to weave its magic once again on the big screens on Ram Charan’s birthday, March 27. The announcement was tweeted by Magadheera’s production company Geetha Pictures on February 23.
“On the occasion of MegaPowerstar Ram Charan’s Birthday! Re-Releasing the Sensational Industry Hit Magadheera in theaters,” read the tweet. Magadeera’s film poster was also attached to the tweet. In the picture, a young Ram Charan can be seen, donning an outfit from an ancient period. He seems to pull out a sword from the scabbard, secured on his back.
Magadheera’s poster succeeds in taking us back to the 2009 splendour, where Ram Charan delivered a powerful performance in dual roles – Kala Bhairava and Harsha. The Ram Charan-starrer was an epic period drama, helmed by RRR director SS Rajamouli. Magadheera was produced by Allu Aravind. Apart from Ram Charan, the film also starred Kajal Aggarwal, Srihari, Dev Gill, and MM Keeravani in crucial roles.
Recently, Ram Charan who made a guest appearance on Good Morning America expressed his desire to work in Hollywood films. He said, “I want the directors here in Hollywood to experience the talent in India and I also want to be part of your American industry. I hope to get some good calls and good meetings in LA now.”
However, the actor added that presently he is busy working on several films in India. Only after the completion of his upcoming projects, will he be able to make his Hollywood debut, clarified Ram Charan. The Telugu star is currently gearing up for the release of his upcoming political thriller, temporarily titled RC 15. Produced collaboratively by Sirish and Dil Raju under the banners of Sri Venkateswara Creations, RC 15 also stars Kiara Advani and Anjali in key roles.
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Thing are not looking super for Shazam! Fury of the Gods as opening weekend projections place it as one of the lowest DC releases.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2023 could be about to get off to a shaky start as far as the final leg of the DCEU is concerned. Shazam: Fury of the Godsis set to debut in theaters in March but is currently tracking to make just $35 million domestically on its opening weekend. In terms of success, this would not be disastrous against some other movies that have been released in recent years, but in DC terms it would put the film only above the Harley Quinn movie Birds of Prey as the second lowest DC opening.
While the new report from Deadline certainly doesn’t paint a glorious start to the 2023 DC slate, those who remember the debut outing of Zachary Levi’s superhero will recall how the movie managed to defy its low projections to open to the tune of $53 million. There will be a big hope that Shazam! Fury of the Gods can follow the same path and deliver a much more successful opening weekend gross than predicted, or it could spell trouble for the other DC movies coming later in the year.
Last year’s announcements regarding the reboot of the DCU left many people wondering if there is any point to the movies being released this year, other than the universe-resetting The Flash. While Shazam is not perhaps on the same level as the likes of Wonder Woman, Batman etc, if the movie fails to improve on its expected box office then it could make 2023 another disappointing year for Warner Bros. Discovery when it comes to their biggest franchise.
Can the DCEU’s Final Movies Avoid Being Tragic Leftovers?
Warner Bros.
When the announcement was made last year that James Gunn and Peter Safran would be rebooting the DC franchise under the DC Studios banner, where exactly that left 2023’s DC movies was unclear. While Shazam! Fury of the Gods was undoubtedly expected to be one of the lowest grossing movies of the year’s offerings, the lack of enthusiasm in the film’s predicted box office is potentially bad news for subsequent releases.
Having said that, The Flash has been generating a lot of buzz in the last few weeks. With reports of outstanding test screenings, trailers building up Michael Keaton’s return as Batman and the promise of a multiversal story that will set the scene for Gunn and Safran’s DCU arrival, The Flash is all primed to be the jewel in the DC crown this summer.
In contract, little has been revealed about Blue Beetle and in the last week reports have started to surface that Aquaman 2 is struggling with test audiences. As the final chapter in the old DC franchise, this was possibly not the end that was envisioned and although The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will at least still do reasonably well at the box office, it seems that a lot of the air has been taken out of the franchises sails as fans now sit back and wait for Gunn and Safran’s new DCU to arrive.
Who to start with in Octopath Traveler 2 might seem like a daunting question, especially if you played the first game, where some starting classes made life more difficult than it needed to be. Fortunately, Octopath Traveler 2’s classes and characters are more balanced, leaving you free to choose whichever character takes your interest in the RPG. That said, there are some whose stories start with a strong narrative push or who have more utility in combat.
This guide explains which character to start with in Octopath Traveler 2 and what path to take after chapter one.
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Who to start with in Octopath Traveler 2
Octopath Traveler 2’s opening chapters are balanced more evenly than the first game’s, so you’re at no disadvantage regardless of who you start with.
Best story to start with in Octopath 2
If you want a story that starts with a strong hook and remains interesting throughout, your best options are Partitio, Throné, Ochette, or Temenos.
Partitio’s story might start like your typical merchant’s tale of an intrepid adventurer looking for money-making opportunities, but it quickly becomes something more serious and nuanced. His quest to exterminate poverty takes some surprising angles on capitalism and the duty Partitio believes people have to each other.
Throné’s tale shuns away optimism in favor of a closer look at the world’s darker side and oppressed people. It’s an intense story, but it’s also consistently strong throughout the game.
Ochette has one of the most interesting first chapters, with a mix of heavy themes and lighthearted optimism, as well as a unique twist on the in-game economy. Her tale also offers a different perspective on Octopath 2’s lore and the broader story that ties the eight heroes together.
The thief’s journey takes you to the seedy underside of the continent’s biggest cities
Finally is Temenos, a priest whose favorite pastime is causing people to doubt their faith. Temenos serves as an inquisitor for the church, but he soon discovers it’s not the unbelievers who pose the biggest threat.
Best Octopath 2 starting character for combat
Each class can hold their own in Octopath 2, but Osvald, Ochette, and Hikari make your early battles much easier.
Osvald’s class perk lets him identify an enemy weakness once battle begins. Even if he can’t cover those weaknesses, his spells target every foe on the field, making him perfect for dealing with resilient enemies and the stronger nighttime mobs.
Regardless of which animal companion you choose for Ochette, she can automatically target an enemy’s physical or magical weakness by summoning them. In addition, Ochette can capture and summon monsters, many with multi-target attacks and some with healing skills to keep Ochette going during difficult battles.
Hikari starts with a sword attack that hits multiple enemies, and while his spear attacks are initially single-target only, you can learn a powerful skill that makes short work even of bosses. His counter skill reduces the damage he receives and then automatically strikes the attacking foe and reduces their shield points by one, regardless of their weaknesses.
Which path to take in Octopath Traveler 2
After you choose your initial character, the next step is pretty much up to you. Every character’s first chapter has a recommended level of one, and they’re situated in low-level areas you can access at any time without trouble. Both continents have ports roughly in the center, so you can access the other side of the world at any point.
Ochette wants to save her village, but to do that, she has to save the world too.
There’s a slightly more defined structure after you clear the first eight chapters. Everyone’s second chapters have staggered recommended levels that make deciding where to go next easier. Throné’s second chapter has an event on the eastern continent with a recommended level in the 30s, for example, while the western continent’s event has a much lower level.
If you want to take the most efficient route, the ideal way is picking a character to cover your starting character’s weakness. Those who specialize in magic should team up with a melee character, for example.
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Sometimes sitting in front of your computer is not enough to make writing happen. We’ve talked about writer’s block in the past, and my summation of how to beat it was just to write on or write something different.
100+ All New Screenwriting Prompts To Start Your Engines
A person who can see ghosts discovers that they are the only one who can communicate with them and must use their gift to solve a mystery.
A person with a rare medical condition that causes them to see the world in black and white falls in love with someone who sees in full color.
A story about a person who can hear people’s thoughts and must decide whether to use their gift for good or evil.
A group of people are trapped in a dreamlike state where their deepest fears come to life.
A story about a town where every night, the residents gather to share their most vivid and disturbing dreams.
A man who can manipulate reality with his dreams must decide whether to use his gift to help others or for personal gain.
A person who can control the weather discovers that their powers are being sought after by a secret organization.
A story about a woman who wakes up one day with no physical body and must navigate the world as a ghost.
Write a drama about a family coming to terms with a loved one’s diagnosis of a terminal illness.
Write a comedy about a group of coworkers who are stuck working overnight on Christmas Eve.
Write a thriller about a woman who discovers her husband is a serial killer.
Write a romance about two people who fall in love while on a European vacation.
Write a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who struggles to find her identity while navigating high school.
Write a sci-fi adventure about a group of astronauts who discover a mysterious alien artifact.
Write a horror story about a group of friends who go on a camping trip and stumble upon a cursed forest.
Write a legal drama about a lawyer defending an innocent person accused of a heinous crime.
Write a romantic comedy about a man who hires a dating coach to help him find love.
Write a biopic about a famous musician’s rise to stardom.
Write a sports movie about an underdog team that makes it to the championship.
Write a drama about a group of survivors of a plane crash trying to survive on a deserted island.
Write a comedy about a group of misfits who start a business together.
Write a psychological thriller about a woman who suspects her husband is gaslighting her.
Write a historical drama about a little-known figure who played a significant role in history.
Write a romantic drama about two people who fall in love despite their cultural differences.
Write a heist movie about a group of criminals who plan a daring robbery.
Write a supernatural horror about a haunted house that terrorizes its inhabitants.
Write a political thriller about a corrupt politician who will stop at nothing to stay in power.
Write a biopic about a famous athlete’s struggles with addiction and redemption.
Write a romantic comedy about a woman who hires an escort to be her date for her sister’s wedding.
Write a sci-fi thriller about a group of scientists who create a sentient AI that turns against them.
Write a drama about a woman who must choose between her career and her family.
Write a crime movie about a detective trying to catch a serial killer before they strike again.
Write a historical drama about a group of freedom fighters who risked everything for their cause.
Write a romantic drama about a couple who must overcome a tragic event in their past.
Write a comedy about a group of friends who go on a wild road trip.
Write a sci-fi adventure about a group of rebels fighting against an oppressive government.
Write a horror movie about a cursed object that brings death to those who possess it.
Write a legal drama about a lawyer who takes on a controversial case.
Write a story about a person who discovers an old, forgotten letter that changes their life forever.
Write a story about a group of friends who go on a road trip and have unexpected adventures along the way.
Write a story about a person who finds an antique mirror that shows them glimpses of the past and future.
Write a story about a person who is haunted by a ghost that only they can see.
Write a story about a person who wakes up with no memory of who they are and must piece together their past.
Write a story about a person who makes a deal with the devil and must face the consequences of their actions.
Write a story about a person who discovers they have the power to bring inanimate objects to life.
Write a story about a person who discovers they have a long-lost twin and must navigate their relationship.
Write a story about a person who finds a hidden room in their house that leads to an alternate reality.
Write a story about a person who discovers a secret about their family history that changes their perspective on life.
Write a story about a person who wakes up one day with a superpower they never knew they had.
Write a story about a person who gets lost in the woods and must survive with limited resources.
Write a story about a person who is stuck in a time loop and must figure out how to break free.
Write a story about a person who falls in love with their best friend but is too afraid to confess their feelings.
Write a romantic comedy about two people who fall in love while trapped in an elevator.
Write a drama about a woman who discovers a long-lost family secret.
Write a biopic about a famous writer’s life and work.
Write a sports movie about a team of athletes with disabilities who compete in the Paralympics.
Write a crime movie about a gang trying to pull off the perfect heist.
Write a sci-fi thriller about a group of astronauts who discover an abandoned spaceship.
Write a romantic drama about two people who fall in love despite their different social statuses.
Write a comedy about a group of friends who start a neighborhood watch group and get in way over their heads.
Write a psychological thriller about a woman who wakes up with no memory of who she is.
Write a story about a character who can see into the future.
Write a contained thriller about your favorite place in the world.
Write an inspirational movie about the importance of education.
Write a narrative about a significant moment in your life.
Write a buddy comedy about you and your future self.
Write a narrative that follows the changing of seasons.
Write a character analysis of your favorite literary hero.
Write about a historical event.
Write about a time traveler.
Write about your childhood.
Write about two different cultures.
Write a satire about a current event.
Write about a character’s struggles with mental health.
Write a horror story about a haunted house.
Write about a famous local event.
Write a romance story about two people who meet unexpectedly.
Write a character analysis of your favorite villain.
Write about a trip to get your favorite food.
Write about a robot uprising.
Write about your high school experience.
Write about a scientific discovery.
Write a narrative about a dream you had.
Write a character analysis of yourself.
Write a journey to self-discovery.
Write a mystery story about a missing person.
Write a romance about two people who are long-distance.
Write a character analysis of your favorite historical figure.
Write a story about a detective solving a crime.
Write about your college experience.
Write a narrative about a life-changing decision.
Write a romantic comedy about two people who are forced to work together on a project, despite their mutual dislike for each other.
Write a thriller about a group of friends who accidentally witness a murder and must go on the run to protect themselves.
Write a drama about a family coming together to save their struggling business.
Write a sci-fi adventure about a group of astronauts who discover a new planet with unexpected inhabitants.
Write a horror movie about a cursed object that unleashes terror on its owners.
Write a biopic about a famous artist’s rise to fame and the struggles they faced along the way.
A man discovers that he is living in a simulated reality and must decide whether to stay in the world he knows or break free.
A woman wakes up with the ability to read people’s emotions and must decide whether to use her gift to help others or to manipulate them for personal gain.
A story about a world where people can exchange emotions with each other, and a person who is deemed emotionless tries to navigate their way through society.
A man who can enter other people’s dreams discovers a woman who has been trapped in a nightmare for years and must find a way to save her.
A person discovers that they can switch bodies with someone else, but only for a limited amount of time.
A story about a person who can predict the future, but every time they do, the outcome changes.
Write a comedy about a group of parents who compete against each other in a kids’ talent show.
Write a crime movie about a team of con artists who plan a high-stakes heist.
Write a drama about a person who overcomes adversity to achieve their dreams.
Write a romance about two people who meet on a blind date and fall in love.
Write a sports movie about a high school athlete who overcomes personal struggles to win the big game.
Write a sci-fi thriller about a time traveler who tries to prevent a catastrophic event from happening in the future.
A world where all memories are stored in a digital cloud and the main character must decide whether to keep their most painful memory or delete it forever.
A story about a woman who discovers that she has the power to time-travel but can only go back in time to her own memories.
A group of people stranded on a deserted island find an old book that seems to predict the future and they must decide whether to use the information to save themselves or let fate play out.
A story about a man who wakes up every day in a different body and must navigate the challenges of living a new life every day.
A woman discovers that her reflection has a life of its own and is plotting against her.
A story about a world where people are assigned to their life partners based on genetic compatibility, and a couple who falls in love despite being deemed incompatible.
Rabia and Olivia, Review: A loving, fatherless nanny and a motherless, disturbed girl
It is not too often that an Indie film, having Canadian and Indian actors, strikes a few right chords, avoids the obvious and delivers a credible ending. Rabia and Olivia seems to have languished in the cans for some time, going by the dateline of the events, which occur in 2018. And one can see why. There’s India and there is Canada, but there is no terrorism, no overdone immigrant issues and no romantic love story at all. Almost all the characters are positive, with only one who goes grey for a while. Neither do we have a picture postcard tale. Moreover, the film runs for only 85 minutes. That it is still watchable is commendable. You can catch it on Disney Plus Hotstar.
Olivia a traumatised, disturbed nine-year old, prone to bursts of anger. Her father, Mark, is unable to cope with her condition and takes her to psychiatrists, who put her on strong medication. When her latest nanny leaves, Mark’s friend Naser, an Indian, suggests the name of Rabia for the job. Rabia, who is in her 24, has come to Canada in the hope of getting immigrant status. She lost her father when she was very young and has one brother. They have a huge debt to pay, and the only way seems to be to go to Canada. There, Naser runs a limousine cleaning business, assisted by Ishan. Ishan and Rabia’s father were pals, back in India.
There is almost an instantaneous bonding between Rabia and Olivia. It begins with Rabia sharing with Olivia that she too lost a parent when she was about nine, and showing Olivia a picture of her Dad. Some home truths, some ancient wisdom, some Eastern values…and Olivia becomes a changed girl. Along the line, Rabia googles the medicines that are being given to Rabia, and concludes that some of them are responsible for her dullness and morning weakness. However, Mark swears by those medicines and keeps reminding her to give them to Olivia on time. On a visit to the psychiatrist, she expresses her serious reservations about the continuation of medicines, but the psychiatrist taunts her that one would not go for open-heart surgery based on google. In the interest of Olivia, Rabia takes a major decision: she unilaterally discontinues the medicines.
Director Shadab Khan (B.A. Pass 2, X and Y)’s story is predictable and unpredictable in equal measure. There are mushy moments that are used as tropes. But he also introduces interesting scenes, like the visit to the cemetery. The duo of Shadab Khan and Yousef Sheikh, credited with screenplay and dialogue, uses great economy of words in the dialogue and is able to balance the English and Hindi. Though short in lenhgth, the film does seem to be stretched. Wonder why he had to insert three songs, without which the film was doing fine. Although almost everybody is around to help Rabia, and her mother keeps praying back in India, all this goody-goodyness is hard to swallow. Only one Indian in the Naser camp has a mean streak. As technique, he often mutes the dialogue when he feels words are irrelevent. One must commend the way in which he establishes the arrival of the new nanny and Olivia’s displeasure at her arrival, in a short, slow right to left pan shot. Fade outs and fade-ins are his favourite tools for change of scene.
Nayab Khan as Rabia is sincere, though she does not get much opportunity to show a range of emotions. Helena Prinzen Klague as Olivia will endear herself to everyone, but her accent might pose a few problems. The only really known face in the film is Sheeba Chadha as Rabia’s Mother, and what an actress she has shaped into! Afroz Khan as Naser Bhai is a natural, effortless actor. Shadab Khan, himself, plays Ishaan underplaying his part as the man with a heart of gold, who thinks he owes it to the daughter of his father’s best friend.
Shot in Toronto, Mumbai and Aurangabad, Rabia and Olivia has music by Ripul Sharma and lyrics too by Ripul Sharma. It’s a pity the songs do not blend with the film. Other credits include cinematography Lenod Kogan and Pankaj Kachua and editing by Prashant Panda and background score by Jeorge Joseph.
It’s clean, to the point stuff, with hardly any entertainment value, no sex, violence, comedy, hero or heroine, and yet good enough to experience.
Two hundred episodes?! Drag Race has made its mark in herstory.
It’s an iconic week on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 Episode 9, and the queens are here to celebrate. They took the drama, the joy, and the style to The Crystal Ball.
Twenty-seven looks strutted the runway, but only one queen landed at the top. Anything can happen at a Ball!
“The Crystal Ball: Episode 200” was a heartwarming and exciting round that gave us a lot of nostalgia and fashion.
For anyone who has watched Drag Race over the years, there were plenty of callouts to iconic moments from the franchise. Even the scenes and one-liners that blew up in pop culture got a shoutout. It’s a great nod because Drag Race loves its nostalgia and herstory.
And that fun started with a long overdue Mini Challenge.
Was anyone else excited to have the Mini Challenge return? It has felt like ages since the queens got to have fun and compete in a silly Mini Challenge.
RuPaul: Come on, Season 15. Let’s get EsTitties! [Salina bends over in a pose] Salina EsTitties: You wanted a twist, eh?!
If we had the original 90-minute runtime, we probably would’ve had more of them by now. Based on this game of photobombing iconic Drag Race moments, the queens proved why we had missed these challenges.
No one acted seriously during the photo shoot; everyone was having a good time and laughing. Some photos, like Anetra’s winning cannonball, were hilarious and gave us plenty of GIF-worthy clips. Come on, we need these challenges back!
Regarding the Maxi Challenge, The Crystal Ball felt evenly paced and fashionably strong.
Sometimes there are too many looks to take in when more queens are left in the competition. Like when RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 Episode 3 had back-to-back Balls and showcased 42(!) looks on the runway. That is way too many looks at once.
In this case, we only had 27 ensembles to critique.
A much better pace to see each look and not get lost in the shuffle. More episode time would’ve helped in some cases as certain looks were rushed through, but the overall Crystal Ball had a good flow.
For the first runway of “Start Your Engines,” Spice, Luxx Noir London, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Loosey LaDuca, Sasha Colby, and Anetra had my favorite looks.
Spice and Luxx updated the iconic jumpsuit in a sexy and fashionable way. Both accentuated their style and gave something different to the jumpsuit, like how Luxx went for high fashion with the two-piece fitting. Spice’s use of the race track as design accents and her flag incorporating her song lyrics were nice callbacks to the show and her performance.
Marcia’s jumpsuit felt very modern and high-fashion. The color-blocking pattern was an exciting design that caught the eye and elevated the look beyond being a jumpsuit recreation.
Loosey’s Princess Peach-inspired jumpsuit was a nice geeky touch that warmed my heart. Give me all the sparkles! All the video game references!
Anetra and Sasha were easily the top two on this runway.
Anetra’s neon jumpsuit was sexy, fitted, and chic. She pulled off the color amazingly, regardless of Michelle Visage hating any references or use of green.
If she saves it post-show, she could easily perform a lip-sync in that jumpsuit.
On the other hand, Sasha’s pink gown was an interesting interpretation of the racetrack jumpsuit. Kudos to her for being one of the only queens to turn the jumpsuit into a gown! She set herself apart and stood out for being creative.
The second runway (“My Favorite Ball”) was a favorite because many queens got creative and thought outside the box. Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Marcia, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, Luxx, and Sasha had the Top 5 best looks on this runway.
Marcia tried something different with her bag fabric and created a milkmaid ensemble. Structurally, the outfit looked great, and she looked great in it. However, it did look a tad costumey, like it was better for a Broadway performance than the runway.
Talk about bald ambition.
RuPaul
Malaysia’s and Luxx’s hair ensembles felt like couture outfits ready for the magazine.
Luxx continues to wow me with her construction skills and design aesthetic. The hair looked perfectly flowed and connected, and it never came across as a crafty look, which is very important when using unconventional materials.
The height of high fashion.
Sasha’s weed bag-inspired ensemble was the perfect mix of camp and couture.
She looked fashionable, and she radiated in the green color. Plus, it was another unconventional look that set her apart from the others, another great choice by Sasha.
Oh, you gonna show your disco stick?
RuPaul
Though, the most surprising look came from Mistress. Her S&M club kid inflatable beach ball outfit left my jaw on the floor!
Seriously, that outfit had to cost a lot of money to make. The beach ball look was perfectly fitted to her, the bright colors popped on the runway, and the inflated breasts were hilarious, yet they didn’t distract or take away from the ensemble’s impact.
Mistress is an understated fashion queen. We need to keep our eyes on her because she delivers consistently and when no one expects it.
The final runway, “Crystalized Eleganza,” was a nice touch of gowns and sparkly designs. Most of the queens had similar silhouettes, so there wasn’t much variation when someone tried something outside of a dress.
Salina EsTitties, Luxx, Sasha, and Anetra had the four pieces that did something different and shined in their ways.
Sure, Salina ended up at the bottom for her bulky looks (we’ll get to this soon), but her crystallized red carpet gown was the most stunning out of her three ensembles. I loved the intricate pattern of her diagonal fabric design, and the pink crystals offered a beautiful touch that stood out against the white gowns on the runway.
It’s the grunting for me.
Spice
The same goes for Luxx’s Swarovski snowflake.
Her intricate design pattern and the texture of the crystals made her look like a high-fashion ballerina. Even though the look didn’t have as much fabric as the other queens, it’s impressive that she constructed the crystalized design of the snowflake/trinket in such an elegant way.
Sasha’s golden coral gown was another stunning look that shined. Sasha knows what works well on her body; whether it’s the fit or the fabric color, she makes the right choices for her style.
The pairing of the golden fabric with the crystal backpiece made it beautiful. It’s no wonder she won another style challenge.
However, Anetra’s crystal mermaid/backbone dress took my breath away. How did she stone that gown that fast?!
The entire fabric and the crystal spine accents were perfectly placed together for a luminous effect. Glitter and sparkles can be hard to work with because there are so many pieces; she did a fantastic job stoning them together in a chic pattern.
Now, let’s talk about the bottom two.
I agreed with the judges that Salina should’ve been at the bottom.
Her outfits weren’t appropriately fitted; they felt too bulky in places and didn’t have the extra wow power to steal the show. Don’t get me wrong, her outfits weren’t bad; if she had made light adjustments, she would’ve been safe.
However, the overall performance was right for the bottom.
In Spice’s case, she seemed more “low” and “safe” than the bottom two.
I didn’t hate her last look as much as Michelle and RuPaul did. The hemline wasn’t perfectly trimmed, but the dress looked trendy and fun, and the disco corset/top looked stunning.
Loosey probably should’ve been at the bottom two instead.
Her losing pageant queen and doggy bag dress were lackluster compared to many other outfits. Even the Princess Peach jumpsuit, while fun and geeky, wasn’t a strong enough piece to make up for everything else.
It was a close race, but it seemed like it should’ve leaned to her.
The lip-sync of “That’s What I Want” by Lil Nas X was a done deal. Spice wasn’t going to win in a lip-sync against Salina EsTitties; there was no chance of it happening based on her lip-syncing skills alone.
Spice isn’t the strongest lip-syncer. She tried her best, but she needs more time to train and grow her performance skills.
Salina focusing on the emotion behind the song and the lyrics were a good decision.
A mid-tempo heartfelt song like this is the perfect opportunity to give a solid lip-sync without stunts or tricks. It’s all about serving the lyrics and providing good expressions. Salina had emotion all over her face.
Last Thoughts From The Werk Room:
After Spice’s elimination, the queens coming out to trot on the main stage was incredibly cute and a sweet goodbye!
Anetra’s conversation with Salina was heartbreaking and raw. You could feel the emotion in every second that passed.
RuPaul performing on the main stage is the gift that keeps on giving.
Now, over to you, Drag Race fans.
What did you think of “The Crystal Ball: Episode 200”?
Are you sad to see Spice go? Which look was your favorite on the runway? Which look was your least favorite on the runway?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Justin Carreiro is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
The Daniels are on top of the world. There was a running joke between Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert during the first week of shooting “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” After a successful first read-through, and perfect shots and framework, the two would turn to each other and whisper, “this is nonstop entertainment.” And even though they weren’t successful in getting a cameo of their “Swiss Army Man” leading men Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano into the film, the joke is God’s honest truth.
On this episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, we sit down with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The dynamic duo talks about the origins of their collaboration which began in film school, assembling their outstanding cast and artisans ensemble and what’s next for them in the film and television space.
Listen below, and watch the full conversation above.
Written, directed and produced by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (better known as the Daniels), “Everything Everywhere All at Once” tells the charming tale of Evelyn (Yeoh), a Chinese laundromat owner who embarks on a quest to save the multiverse.
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, on set, 2022.
Courtesy Everett Collection
“Everything Everywhere” has been nominated for 11 Oscars — including best picture (Daniels and Jonathan Wang), director (Daniels), actress (Yeoh), supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan), two for supporting actress (Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), original screenplay (Daniels), costumes (Shirley Kurata), editing (Paul Rogers), original score (Son Lux) and original song (“This is Life” by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski). An undisputed front-runner, the sci-fi comedy is in an excellent position to bring the Academy’s most coveted prize home for A24, the same studio that pulled off the memorable “Moonlight” upset (over “La La Land”) at the 2017 ceremony.
Broken from the same cloth but still undeniably distinct in their approach to life and filmmaking, the chemistry between the Daniels is electric.
Kwan is the most extroverted introvert you could meet. His “imposter syndrome comes in waves,” he says while discussing sitting with actors Tom Cruise and Michelle Williams and cinematographer Roger Deakins at the Oscar nominees luncheon. “I was listening to Tom Cruise explain how they stuck cameras onto planes. It was my fault, I asked him…I have so many questions about how you guys made that movie, and he’s like ‘I’m here. Ask away. I learned a lot about his entire life.”
Scheinert echoes the point and is grateful for the critical acclaim and accolades for “Everything Everywhere” this season. “We somehow got invited to the most exclusive film school on Earth,” he says. “These events…you can’t buy this. Not only am I in the room with heroes of mine, but I have permission to approach them.”
Scheinert is meticulous and loves the unconventional movies of our time, such as offbeat comedies like “Team America: World Police” (2004), which led him to sing parts of the hilarious “Michael Bay” track. He even reveals regretting getting some time with “Nope” writer and director Jordan Peele this season to tell him he was cast in the pilot of the Comedy Central sketch series, “Key & Peele” but had to drop to direct a music video.
One thing abundantly clear is “Everything Everywhere” is a family, perhaps as close as anyone linked simply by DNA.
“I’m still shocked when I see clips from the movie and reminded how different Evelyn Wang is from Michelle Yeoh,” Scheinert says. “She did her homework.”
Kwan agrees, “I think she talks about our movie in a way that kind of diminishes what she did.”
He adds that Ke Huy Quan and his joyful comeback, “it’s a superpower. If other people try to do it, they’ll hurt themselves.”
When talking about what’s next for the directing team, they have a lot in the hopper but were getting dangerously close to becoming overcommitted. They signed an exclusive five-year partnership with Universal Pictures for film and A24 for TV.
Oscar-winner Questlove advised them where to go from here: “don’t do the pivot album,” Daniels recalls. “It’s like every band. They have their hit, and then they pivot.”
But never abiding by the rules, Kwan states: “I totally understand why he says it, but sometimes, the pivot album is my favorite,” citing Sufjan Stevens’ “The Age of Adz.”
Also in this episode, “Triangle of Sadness” writer and director Ruben Östlund discusses his Palme d’Or winning film and working with his dynamic cast of actors that included Dolly De Leon.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, who also co-hosts with Clayton Davis, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post weekly.
Michael Mando, best known for his starring role on AMC’s Breaking Badprequel Better Call Saul, has reportedly been fired from Apple TV+’s upcoming Ridley Scott drama series Sinking Spring. Per THR, Mando was let go from the series, which co-stars Brian Tyree Henry, after an “on-set incident” with one of the co-stars of the series. No one, as of yet, is reporting who the other participant in the “incident” was; in addition to Henry, the series also co-stars Ving Rhames, Kate Mulgrew, and Marin Ireland.
Mando will be replaced on the series by Wagner Moura, lately of Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, Shining Girls, and the extended Narcosuniverse of shows. Moura will take over the role of Manny Cespedes, a long-time friend of Henry’s character Ray, and who gets wrapped up in the chaotic aftermath of a plan to rob a house while masquerading as DEA agents. The series is based off of a book, Dope Thief, by Dennis Tafoya, and is being produced through Scott’s ongoing deal with Apple, with Top Gun: Maverickwriter Peter Craig serving as showrunner.
Details about the actual incident are being kept nil at the moment, outside of it being referred to by some sources as a “clash.” Producers supposedly tried to “smooth things out” in the aftermath, but the decision was ultimately made for Mando to leave the series.
Before joining Saul—where he starred for six seasons as perpetual cartel pawn Nacho Vargas—Mando co-starred (opposite Tatiana Maslany, Tatiana Maslany, and Tatiana Maslany) in Orphan Black, and had a small but memorable role in Spider-Man: Homecoming. (He’s also known to gaming nerds for his eye-catching role as psychotic killer Vaas in Far Cry 3.) Neither Mando, nor Apple, have so far commented publicly on his removal from the eight-episode series.
In today’s fast-paced marketing world, video content rules the roost. From TikTok to YouTube, video is now the go-to medium for brands to promote their products and services in an increasingly competitive environment. There are billions of videos out there, making it difficult to stand out from the crowd meaningfully. One impactful way to appeal to viewers is to create humorous content.
But before we delve into how brands create humorous videos to stand out from competitors, we need to talk about video production. Creating high-quality video content requires technical expertise, high-quality equipment and considerable time investment. While some businesses do have the resources in-house to create videos, many small businesses do not. This is where outsourcing video production to an established video production company is preferable—they have the experience and expertise to create something truly impactful for your brand. CoolBox – video production Brighton, says that it’s vital for businesses to captivate their audience through video and create a relationship between the viewer and their brand.
Why Humour Works In Video Content
Humour is a powerful way to help you engage with your audience and increase brand awareness in the process. Here’s how:
It’s memorable
If a person makes you laugh, you’re probably more likely to remember them. The same applies to video content. If your brand’s video makes someone laugh, they’re more likely to remember your brand and what it does.
It makes your brand more approachable
Not only do humorous videos make your brand more memorable, but they also make it more approachable and relatable. Using humour shows potential customers that your brand doesn’t take itself too seriously and that you understand their pain points and provide a solution.
It solicits emotional responses
Humour is a powerful emotional trigger that will help to create a deeper level of engagement with viewers. By making people laugh, you create a positive emotional response that they will associate with your brand, meaning they are more likely to interact with you and take action.
How To Inject Humour Into Video Content
We’ve established that using humour in video marketing will help to make your brand more memorable and relatable and create an emotional connection with viewers. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to inject humour into video content. Here are our top tips:
Keep it light-hearted
When using humour in video content, it’s important to keep it light-hearted and suitable for any audience. Avoid controversial or offensive topics, as they may be poorly received by your audience, who may then have negative associations with your brand – also keep a touch of professionalism.
Know your audience
To ensure your humorous video content is effective, you need to understand your audience. Make sure the type of humour you use in videos aligns with your brand’s tone of voice. Otherwise, it may not resonate with your audience.
Think outside of the box
Some brands have mastered humour on social media by thinking outside of the box. For example, Innocent Drinks regularly lights up social media channels with humorous posts that make people smile because they seem endearingly unprofessional but incredibly relatable. Netflix also posts funny video content relating to the streaming platform’s films and original series regularly to engage viewers.
Try not to overdo it
We know that humour can be incredibly effective in video content, but it’s important not to overdo it. Too much humour can distract from your brand’s message and seem unprofessional. You will know that humour is appropriate if it serves a purpose and is relevant to your brand messaging.
Tell a story with humour
One of the most effective ways to incorporate humour into video content is to use it to tell your brand’s story. Use funny anecdotes to showcase your brand’s personality and core values to create content that is memorable and impactful.
Three Brands That Have Mastered Humourous Content
One of the best ways to demonstrate how impactful humorous videos can be is to look at some real-life examples. Here are a few brands that are successfully incorporating humour into video content:
Klarna
Swedish fintech company Klarna caught the internet’s attention when they released a video of rapper Snoop Dogg encouraging viewers to make ‘smooth payments’. More recently, Klarna has partnered with internet comedians to capture the attention of millennials and Gen Z. Most recently, the brand has collaborated with Bretman Rocks, who is known for his humorous social media content.
Tesco
The grocery and retail company Tesco is also known to incorporate humour into its content to create memorable and relatable videos. Most recently, the ‘Food Love Stories’ campaign perfectly combined humour and wholesome moments of people bonding over a love of good food.
Compare the Market
Arguably one of the most famous brands for humorous content is Compare the Market. Most people will have heard of the brand’s memorable mascot, Aleksandr Orlov, a meerkat that is now a household name in the UK. The meerkat’s memorable sign-off, “simples”, is both funny and memorable, creating plenty of brand awareness.
Fun Ideas To Try Or Expand On
Below are just some fun examples on how you can incorporate humour into brand video:
Pick your favourite TV show, let’s say it’s The US Office. You could create a spoof around one of the episodes that maybe fits in with your brand perfectly, so not only will your video be humorous and about your company, but will spark engagement with your audience through pop culture references.
Maybe you’re recruiting/hiring, and you create an ‘Awkward Interview’ series of comically awkward or hard to answer interview questions and scenarios, making light of how daunting interviews can be. This will show your future employees through your ad that you are an upbeat company to work for that will keep their staff engaged, and will also resonate with your audience if they have ever experienced any random interviews themselves that they can laugh about.
The Day in the Life of an Employee: You could create a mockumentary video that features a typical day in the life of your employees, complete with dramatic or over-exaggerated situations and humour.
Corporate Talent Show: Try inviting your employees to show off their unique and fun talents, from singing to stand-up comedy, and film the performances to create a hilarious talent show video. If your company has a ‘jingle’ or strapline, you could jump on the TikTok trend and get each employee to have a go at singing that one line separately, making everyone laugh.
Maybe you’re a clothing or ecommerce brand where you could hold a fashion show in the office, where employees can show off their unique sense of style (or lack thereof), using your own staff to showcase your products, getting them to catwalk up and down the office!
What’s great about brand video production, is there are never-ending opportunities and ideas to come up with and film! And what makes these videos really come to life is the production of the video itself – lighting, sound, environment, etc. The length of the video is important too, most ads are typically 60 seconds long – short and sweet.
Humour In Film & TV
Just like in the FIlm Industry, no matter how tense, dramatic or action-packed a movie is, a little humour goes a long way to lighten the mood and draw away from any sad or tense scenes. Laughter is a stress relief and cools down your stress response, which is why when a Director is filming a tense or sad scene, soon after they will break the tension with something light hearted to bring the audience back – this is called Comic Relief. It is used in many forms of media and also applies in video marketing. The purpose of this is to help an audience process the emotions they have just been through with a brief moment of levity. A great example of this is The Marvel Cinematic Universe – anytime there is a death, fight or stressful scene, usually a character will make a funny comment or joke before it cuts to a tense scene again to maintain balance.
Final Thoughts
Humour is an effective tool for brands looking to create memorable and relatable video content. By using humour in a light-hearted way, brands can connect with audiences of all ages and increase brand awareness through memorable content. If you are considering injecting humour into your brand’s video content, make sure to use it correctly by understanding your audience and keeping it relevant to your brand’s core messaging. The key to creating impactful video content is to tell your brand’s story with humour, as we’ve seen several of the UK’s biggest brands do.
So whether your brand is a small business or a large corporation, humorous video content is a powerful way to build brand identity and create a lasting emotional connection with your target audience. If you are keen to create humorous video content but you do not have the in-house capabilities to do it well, consider working with a professional video production company. Outsourcing to an experienced video production company will give your brand the tools and expertise to create humorous video content that resonates with your audience and increases brand awareness.
Toby lives a life of creativity and innovation as the Digital Marketing Manager for CoolBox Films – An award-winning Video Production Company in Brighton, creating high quality video content for corporate communications, TV, promotions, social media, film and animation. See Toby’s LinkedIn Profile.
“There was this day on set, we were doing a scene in a restaurant and we were in a waiting room, so they filmed the waiting room with extras and there were children. I turned to Michael and [Michelle Pfeiffer], and I said, ‘You know, you guys are real GILFs,’” Lily, 43, recalled during the upcoming episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, per the Daily Mail.“Michael had no idea. He said, ‘What’s a GILF?’ Instead of being cool about it, in front of a room full of children, I went, ‘It’s a grandpa I’d like to f—k.’”
The Lost star said she “immediately realized” that she told the 78-year-old actor, who is 35 years her senior, that she’d “like to f—k him, which is not what you should say in front of a bunch of kids. Oops!”
Lilly, Douglas and Pfeiffer, 64, star as Hope Van Dyne, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, respectively, in the latest Marvel film opposite Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang andKathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang. The superhero flick, which debuted on February 17, follows the group as they get sucked into the subatomic Quantum Realm where they’re forced to fight for their lives against Jonathan Majors’ villain Kang the Conqueror.
The Crisis star is the mother of two children with ex Norman Kali, who she began dating in 2010. The pair welcomed their son, Kahekili, in May 2011, and a daughter in October 2015. (Lilly was previously married to Murray Honefrom 2003 to 2004 and dated her LostcostarDominic Monaghan from 2004 to 2007.)
The Hobbit actress previously opened up exclusively to Us Weekly about what it’s like to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and a real-life hero to her son.
“He came to set one day and got to see me fully kitted up with the helmet on and everything, and he was jazzed. He wanted to wear it all,” Lilly shared with Us in July 2018. “And another day he came to visit me on the set of Hope and Hank’s lab, and he was in awe of all the buttons and switches and gadgets. He asked if he could touch them, and I told him to go nuts. He sat at a particularly elaborate switchboard and started playing and then turned around to my partner [Norman Kali] and said, ‘Look at me, Dad! I’m the Wasp!’ That was a moment.”
She added, “She adds: “I felt so incredibly proud that any little boy was pretending to be a female superhero, let alone my son, pretending to be me. Usually ‘mom’ is the least cool person ever.”
Lilly’s character Hope was the first female superhero to be mentioned in the title of a Marvel film in the cinematic universe’s history. That responsibility is not something the Real Steel star has ever taken lightly.
I just wanted to honor Hope as a person,” she told Us at the time. “Women are having an incredible moment culturally right now, but let’s not lose sight of all the women who have come before us. We’re the tip of a powerful iceberg that is always growing and morphing. I am just a building block, creating something hopeful and hopefully something inspiring.
The Dilbert comic strip has been dropped by the Cleveland Plain Dealer after its creator, Scott Adams, went on a racist rant on video.
“Adams said Black people are a hate group, citing a recent Rasmussen survey which, he said, shows nearly half of all Black people do not agree with the phrase ‘It’s okay to be white.’ I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,’” the Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn wrote in the Ohio newspaper, describing the content of Adams’ video.
“He says a lot more in the video, mostly hateful and racist, all viewable on YouTube. It’s a staggering string of statements, all but certain to result in the loss of his livelihood. I hate to quote him at all, but I do so to dissuade responses that this is a ‘cancel culture’ decision,” Quinn continued.
In Adams’ video, he mentioned and quoted CNN host Don Lemon’s words about the disparity between Black and white neighborhoods.
“This can’t be fixed. You just have to escape. So that’s what I did. I went to a neighborhood where I have a very low black population,” Adams said. “Because unfortunately, there’s a high correlation between the density — this is according to Don Lemon by the way — so here I’m just quoting Don Lemon when he notes that the when he lived in a mostly black neighborhood, there were a bunch of problems they didn’t see in white neighborhoods.”
He invoked the bootstrap narrative and the stereotype that Black people are lazy and can’t figure out how to succeed in society, resolving to not help them anymore.
“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve. We are not a home for those who espouse racism,” Quinn wrote. “We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”
The comic strip also cited observations of daily videos of Black citizens beating up white citizens as a reason to be careful.
“Adams’ reprehensible statements come during Black History Month, when The Plain Dealer has been publishing stories about the work being performed by so many to overcome the damage done by racist decisions and policy,” Quinn added.
Quinn pointed out that The Plain Dealer is not the first newspaper to drop Dilbert. According to The Daily Beast, 77 outlets published by Lee Enterprises got rid of the comic strip once Adams introduced his first Black character, which poked fun at “woke” culture and the LGBTQ+ community.
Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson said he is “deeply disappointed” in his arrest and indictment for securities fraud, saying he is “not now and never have been a con man.”
In a series of tweets Friday evening, Watson stood his ground, defending his work, vowing to fight the charges “with everything I have” and adding, “I’m not saying I haven’t made mistakes – I have. But it’s fair to ask, why I’ve been singled out?”
Watson was indicted on Thursday morning on charges of conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud. He also faces charges of aggravated identity theft for his role in the impersonation of multiple media company executives in emails with Ozy’s lenders and prospective investors in furtherance of the fraud schemes.
“I am deeply disappointed by the government’s actions yesterday. I am not now and never have been a ‘con man,’” Watson wrote on Twitter. “I am and have been, a hard-working entrepreneur who has helped build a special company from scratch. I have worked around the clock for 10 years to build this company and devoted my life savings to help get us through rough patches. This has been a life’s work and I am proud of what I, my family, and my team have been able to accomplish.”
“I’m not saying I haven’t made mistakes – I have. But it’s fair to ask, why I’ve been singled out? OZY is a real and valuable company that was built through an enormous amount of hard work and sacrifice,” he tweeted. “I will fight these charges with everything I have, and I look forward to my day in court. In the meantime, thank you to my family, my friends, and all of OZY’s readers, viewers, and listeners for the words and messages of encouragement.”
Upon Watson’s arrest, United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement, “As alleged, Carlos Watson is a con man whose business strategy was based on outright deceit and fraud – he ran Ozy as a criminal organization rather than as a reputable media company.”
Watson pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Watson’s Ozy Media collapsed in 2021 after the New York Times published an expose that accused the company of inflating its online traffic and video viewership and revealed that COO Samir Rao had impersonated a Google executive on a fundraising call with Goldman Sachs — sparking an FBI investigation. Rao pleaded guilty to fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney’s office said on Thursday.
If convicted, Watson will face a minimum sentence of two years in prison and a maximum sentence of 37 years.
I have worked around the clock for 10 years to build this company and devoted my life savings to help get us through rough patches.
This has been a life’s work and I am proud of what I, my family, and my team have been able to accomplish.
The collaboration is featured on the band’s LP Cracker Island, which dropped Friday
Benito has officially entered the world of Gorillaz. The Puerto Rican star is featured on a new collaboration with the band called “Tormenta,” featured on the album Cracker Island that the group released Friday. As a recent Rolling Stone review put it, the song offers a deconstructed reggaeton beat “for the MC to do backflips on.”
“Tormenta” opens with a jazzy intro and the voice of Damon Albarn as he repeats, “The sun in the storm/Someone cryin,” before Bad Bunny joins in with verses in Spanish as he asks a love interest to see him before he leaves. The track ends with Gorillaz’s signature psychedelic sound as Damon Albarn dives into the chorus.
Albarn spoke to The Warp ahead of the song’s release and revealed that he had recorded the track with the Puerto Rican star while in Jamaica. “What I love about Gorillaz is that I can bring on whoever I want… I was in Jamaica recently and I recorded a song with Bad Bunny, which is something very exciting.”
He added, “The Bad Bunny song is the first song we recorded for the project. It’s Bad Bunny meets Gorillaz.”
“Tormenta” is featured on Cracker Island, which includes songs like “Oil” featuring Stevie Nicks, “New Gold” with Tame Impala, and “Possession Island” featuring Beck. It’s the group’s first album since Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez released in 2020.
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Gorillaz’s four animated members “shared” some of their thoughts on the LP in a statement last summer, when it was announced.
“Cracker Island is the sound of change and the chorus of the collective,” said Noodle Hobbs. “The hallowed tones of Cracker Island will soundtrack our collective ascension into the new dimension!” added Murdoc Niccals.
“Seen this. Don’t want to watch this. Heard about this, but don’t know if I want to spend the next three hours crying,” you may be thinking to yourself this weekend.
But what if there was a film about a bear ingesting pounds of cocaine before terrorizing folks in a national park? Or snakes falling from the ceiling of an airplane? And — even better — what if the films also had weird titles?
Grab your popcorn, sit back and pick your next weekend watch (while trying not to spill your drink from giggling) from our list of movies with wacky — and sometimes extremely literal — names.
1. “Cocaine Bear” (2023)
Both a wacky and literal title, you’ll have to leave your couch to watch “Cocaine Bear,” a film released in Canada on Friday about a 500-pound black bear that ingested a huge amount of cocaine before embarking on a drug-fuelled rampage.
The worst part is that it’s inspired by a true story. Whatever happened to bears eating berries and salmon?
2. “Snakes on a Plane” (2006)
“Snakes on a Plane” (2006) is a story about an FBI agent (Samuel L. Jackson) who boards a flight to escort a witness to trial. Straightforward enough, right?
Wrong.
An on-board assassin releases a bunch of deadly snakes on the plane in an attempt to kill the witness, leaving fellow passengers and crew in a fight for their lives.
3. “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants” (2005)
Despite what the title suggests, the pants don’t travel alone.
The movie follows a group of best friends (including America Ferrera and Blake Lively), who are spending the summer apart. Not wanting to lose connection to each other, they take turns sharing a pair of jeans that perfectly fit all four girls even though they have varying body shapes.
4. “Dude, Where’s My Car?” (2000)
The title is literally what the movie is about: Two friends (Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott) wake up after a night of partying and can’t remember where they parked their car. As they try to find it, they end up meeting some memorable characters along the way.
5. “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” (1995)
In this cult classic, three drag queens (Wesley Snipes and Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo) impress judges at a drag competition and secure a spot in the national competition in Los Angeles. The rest of the film is about their road trip across America and their struggle to make it to finals in time.
6. “Scary Movie” (2000)
Less scary and more comedic, the “Scary Movie” franchise parodies slasher films. The first in the franchise, “Scary Movie” is still the best: it follows a group of teens who accidentally hit a man with his car and dispose of the body. A year later, someone wearing a mask and black robe sets out to kill them one by one. Much funnier than it sounds.
7. “My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To” (2020)
This horror-drama takes viewers through the saga of two siblings looking to save their sick, younger sibling who must drink blood in order to survive. How do they acquire said blood? Simply by murdering people.
According to the Star’s Akrit Michael, the title should be, “Go See a Cardiologist!”
8. “Sharkboy and Lava Girl” (2005)
Before he was Jacob Black in “Twilight,” Taylor Lautner was Sharkboy, a half-human half-fish child with a fin on his back in “Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” At first he and his fin are imaginary, part of a young boy named Max’s school project. But then, Sharkboy, accompanied by Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley), becomes real and they venture off to Planet Drool to battle aliens and save the planet from destruction, defeating real-life bullies who have become villains in this new world along the way.
9. “But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999)
A cheerleader (the peerless Natasha Lyonne), who excels in school and has a football-playing boyfriend, is shocked when her parents say she’s gay and sends her to a True Directions boot camp which is basically conversion therapy. She meets another teen girl there and starts to have feelings for her. It’s an iconic movie among LGBTQ people — and hilarious to boot.
10. “Spy Kids” (2001)
In this hit movie, two siblings become spies to save their ex-spy parents from an evil mastermind. Also included in the film are some people who are entirely made up of thumbs and wear red rompers. A classic.
Did we miss any movies you feel deserve recognition? Use the comments to discuss the Star’s picks and add to the list.
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Talking to Glamour UK, the reality-TV star, hotel heiress and pop-culture icon detailed the assault along with other incidents of abuse and sexual trauma. She also discussed a harrowing encounter with a high school teacher and a frightening run-in with convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.
Hilton described hanging with her friends at the Century City mall in Los Angeles as a teen. It was their favorite thing to do, and where she met a group of older men, one of whom later raped her.
Paris Hilton photographed at home in Beverly Hills in 2019.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“One day, they invited us to their house and we’re drinking these berry wine coolers,” she told Glamour UK. “I didn’t drink or anything back then, but then when I had maybe one or two sips, I just immediately started feeling dizzy and woozy. I don’t know what he put in there, I’m assuming it was a roofie.”
Paris said she woke up hours later and knew something bad had happened to her. “I remembered it. I have visions of him on top of me, covering my mouth, being like, ‘You’re dreaming, you’re dreaming,’ and whispering that in my ear.”
It was her first sexual experience, but not the first time she’d encountered abusive behavior at the hands of an older man.
“I was just such a young girl and I got manipulated by my teacher,” she told Glamour UK. “He took advantage of a young girl and that was something I blocked out as well, I didn’t remember it until years later. He would call me on the phone all the time, just flirting with me, trying to put in my mind that I was this mature woman.”
One night, he showed up to her home and persuaded her to sit in his car with him, until her parents arrived home and he sped off with Hilton still in the car.
“We only kissed, but if my parents didn’t come, imagine what he would’ve tried to do. We literally drove through Bel-Air at like 100 miles an hour. We were going so fast and somehow we got away from them through a red light. He was freaking out and drove me back home to Bel-Air, where he was like, ‘Get out.’”
“To this day, I’ve not talked about it with my family. I’ve never told anyone,” she said. “I don’t know what it was, I just felt so ashamed by the whole situation — just from the beginning at such a young age and it really stuck with me in a weird way.”
In the 2020 YouTube documentary “This Is Paris,” Hilton opened up about the sexual and psychological trauma she’d grappled with when attending Provo Canyon School in Utah, a boarding school where she spent 11 months. She endured a leaked sex-tape scandal in 2004. And when she was 19, she encountered a belligerent Harvey Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival.
“I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, ‘Oh, you want to be an actress?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I really want to be in a movie,’” she told Glamour UK. “I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, ‘Oh my God, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!’ and he said, ‘Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts’… and I just didn’t want to go, so I never went.”
The next evening, she alleged, Weinstein followed her to the women’s restroom.
“I went into the bathroom and then he followed me,” she said. “He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldn’t open it, because I was like, ‘I’m in a stall, why do you want to come in here?’ And I just wouldn’t open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], ‘This is my party,’ going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out.”
Hilton’s forthcoming book, “Paris: The Memoir,” hits shelves March 14.
The latest episode of Hyperspace Theories discusses the full story unfurled in the newest six-episode Disney+ series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): Ms. Marvel, featuring the origin story of teenage heroine Kamala Khan. Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester are joined by longtime FANgirl Blog contributor Priya Chhaya, an historian and advocate for representation in storytelling and nonfiction alike.
First introduced in the comics, Kamala Khan stands out as Marvel’s first Pakistani-American and Muslim superhero. Like the comics, the Ms. Marvel series showcases Kamala’s family, friends, faith, and community as integral aspects of her personal identity both before and after she acquires her superpowers. At the same time, her story includes universal themes than resonate with audience members who do not share her heritage or religion, such as overprotective parents, sibling resentment, and a multi-generational immigrant experience in the United States. In addition, Ms. Marvel is prominently a story about mothers and daughters, too often still a rarity in blockbuster entertainment and other popular fiction. Kamala’s story is also unusual in featuring an intact family unit.
The Ms. Marvel series also places significant emotional prominence on an important event in the 20th century history of South Asia: the Partition of India at the end of British imperial occupation, creating new borders and the new country of Pakistan. (Subsequently, East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.) The Partition not only sparked religiously motivated violence in India, but also the largest mass migration in human history as millions of Muslim refugees fled to Pakistan. Ms. Marvel highlights the Partition in the flashback love story of Aisha and Hasan, as well as its lingering ramifications in the lives of Sana, Muneeba, and Kamala. Although the Clandestines and the Department of Damage Control serve as Kamala’s overt antagonists in the series, Ms. Marvel perhaps suggests that the real villain is the generational trauma of imperialism.
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Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero’s Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue.
Tricia Barr’s novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library’s successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena’s Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
James Gunn, the leading executive behind the new DC Universe (DCU), is already well underway in developing his new slate, recently teasing that his first new project is almost finished with casting.
Gunn and his partner Peter Safran recently announced their plans for the DCU’s Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate, which will kick off in 2025 with Creature Commandos. This animated feature on HBO Max will spotlight an entirely new cast of characters while also bringing back a couple of returning actors from Gunn’s past work.
While it’s still unclear exactly how Creature Commandos will fit into the larger narrative, it’s expected to serve as the opening to Chapter 1 on HBO Max before Superman: Legacy jump-starts the theatrical slate in July 2025.
And with it being an animated title, plenty of time will need to be allotted for production once the rest of the cast is filled in behind-the-scenes.
When asked by a fan if there was any news on the series, Gunn noted that casting was almost finished and that production will kick off in the near future:
“Starting production; almost done casting.”
When Will Fans Get New Creature Commandos Updates?
Even with Creature Commandos being the first new entry in the DCU, there is still very little that’s actually known about production or casting for the project.
Along with the Bride of Frankenstein and Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn is confirmed to make his return as Weasel after first popping up in Gunn’s debut DC movie, The Suicide Squad. But outside of him, there is plenty of work to be done in the casting department, especially considering that these characters could be used in live-action with the same actors as well.
Most recently, former MCU standout Frank Grillo tagged himself in a post with Gunn, teasing that he may be in line for one of these exciting new roles. But with no confirmed release date and no specific timeframe for production, fans will simply have to wait for more information as Gunn dives into his first DC project as the head honcho.
Creature Commandos is expected to debut on HBO Max in 2025.
A couple of weeks ago, Square Enix dropped an Octopath Traveler 2 demo for those who wanted to experience the next installment in the HD-2D series before its release. Players could pick one of the eight characters to try out for up to three hours, with their demo save progress carrying over upon the release of the full game on February 24, 2023…
… Or, that’s what was supposed to happen, anyway. Except Steam Deck players appear to be having issues transferring their demo progress over, forcing them to have to start all over again from the beginning. And while three hours doesn’t seem like much to replay, the wasted time still stings. Trust me, I speak from experience.
Octopath 2 Demo “With Save Game Data Carry Over” … Unless You’re On Steam Deck
Last night, I decided to finish the Octopath Traveler 2 demo so that I could wake up in the morning and have the full version ready to play instead of having to wait a couple of weeks to continue after my three-hour playtime limit was up. A genius move, or so I thought.
So imagine how quickly my excitement turned into disappointment upon downloading the full release and hopping in, only to find the “Continue” option grayed out on the main menu, with my demo save nowhere to be found. “No worries, I’ll just jump back into the demo and save again; that’ll fix it,” I thought before realizing that I could no longer access the demo. Oh, f**k.
Naturally, my next step was to visit Reddit, where I very quickly found a thread where multiple Steam Deck users reported having the same issue: “where is my demo save?” Well, glad it’s not just me.
It seems it’s a Steam Deck-specific issue.
Some players have reportedly managed to get around the problemby running Octopath Traveler 2 on their PC first, where their demo save has successfully carried over, and then having their save sync with the Steam Cloud. Once synced, they were then able to download the save on their Steam Deck. If you haven’t downloaded it at all yet, try following these steps first.
But for those who have downloaded the full version of Octopath 2 onto their Steam Deck, it appears as though we’re out of luck. Our demo save is just gone, wiped from the console’s files upon installation, with no way to get it back. You can try looking at your Steam account’s Steam Cloud page and seeing if it’s there, but it wasn’t for me, so YMMV.
I’ve reached out to Square Enix for comment on the situation, though they’ve yet to respond, so I’ll update this article if they do. Hopefully, there’s something they can do, but it’s looking likely that the only option is to start Octopath Traveler 2 again from the beginning—press F to pay respects.
43rd OPORTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL | FANTASPORTO’2023
From today till March 5th at Batalha CC
FILMS, GUESTS AND A WARM WELCOME
Fantasporto 2023 opens today. The rush now is creating the best conditions for our guests, coming from all parts of the world. Set in the beautiful restored BATALHA, home of all things cinema in Oporto, Fantasporto is the next meeting place for cinema lovers.
68 countries sent films for selection, resulting in a selection of 86 premières in Portugal, with all sorts of genres, most of them competing in the three main categories: Fantasy, Directors Week and Orient Express, for all Asian features in all competitions.
With many World, International and European Premières, the Oporto Festival is opening on the 24th February. British film “Shepherd”, by Russell Owen, with Tom Hughes (Victoria”) and Kate Dickie (“Game of Thrones”), about a man who isolates himself from the world, kicks off the Fantasy competition and the film marathon that lasts 10 days. The director, Russell Owen, from UK, will attend the screening.
For the Closing and Award giving Ceremony which will happen on the 4th March, the festival screens the International première of the Turkish film, “Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121”, by Serpil Altin, a new approach, this time by a woman director, to “1984” by George Orwell and, no doubt, an unexpected view on the dangers of dictatorships, a very current subject as people know. The director Serpil Altin will also attend the screening.
A very special part of the program is the screening of the “The Melchior Trilogy”, 3 features presented on the final Saturday. Celebrated director Elmo Nüganen, from Estonia, will present in a special masterclass about his work, a big budget production set in the end of the Middle Ages, when the Inquisition colides with the birth of modern science.
Also arriving to Oporto are most of the directors of the films in the competitions and those with retrospectives.
Filipino producer Ferdinand Lapuz is coming, As are the recipents of two Tributes, both coming from the UK, one for the celebration of the 25 years of the release of the awarded feature “Darklands” by Julian Richards, and “Mute Witness”, a thriller by Anthony Waller. Also Vanessa Toca, will come, representing The Freak Agency from Spain.
Masters and first -time directors coincide in the final line-up.
In the Fantasy competition, which begins with the Opening British film “Shepherd”, about a man who seeks isolation, we will have a wide range of films. Ukraine presents “Sashenka”, by Alexander Zhovna, a powerful incursion in children trauma,
“Exhibit 8” by Ruben Broekhuis, from the Netherlands, with the director attending the festival, takes us to the drama of unaccompanied migrant children and “The Thing Behind the Door”, from French director Fabrice Blin, also attending the festival, revisits and modernizes a classic horror subject.
“Convenience Story” begins when a man abandons a dog, Canadian “Cult Hero” reminds us of dangerous sects in an unusual comedy, Belgian “Megalomaniac” by Belgian Karim Ouelhaj, shows how an inheritance doesn’t always bring money, with its director presenting screening.
”Demigod: the legend begins” takes us to the world of animé and Asian superheroes. Italian “Dead Bride” by Francesco Piconewho is coming to the screening, follows a story of vengeance,
Highly waited is “Immersion” by Takeshi Shimizu, twice a Fantasporto winner, which speaks of science and old legends. The director’s presence is still to be confirmed. “Bad City” presents the violence of the yakuza versus the politically ambitious. Also British “The Ghost Writer” strikes a note about Muses and plagiarism, a screening in the presence of it director Paul Wilkins.
Portuguese “S.Ó.S.”, by Tiago Santos, about survival in a hostile world, is a rare national film to meet the selection criteria. Also screened are Malaysian “Stone Turtle”, a love story intertwined with old legends, or American “They Wait in the Dark” by Patrick Rea, in the presence of its leading actress, Laurie Winkel, follows the escape route of two fugitives.
Bound to create a lot of buzz is the presence in Porto of members of the cast and the crew of Japanese “Life of Mariko in Kabukicho” which presents a woman detective involved in strange stories of murder and extra-terrestrials. A fabulous shorts selection in competition in the Fantasy section, includes productions which are rarely seen in Europe, such as Singapore or Colombia.
In the Directors Week, it is time for Venice Festival winners, Krzysztof Zanussi with “Perfect Number” in competion and in the presence of its legendary director, about a dying man with an inheritance, and Milcho Manchevsky with “Kaymak”, a few urban stories about responsibility and motherhood, also coming to Porto.
It is also time to meet in person Greek Vassilis Mazomenos who brings “Purgatory” about the aftermath of the economic crisis and pandemic, or Dutch Martijn de Jong with “Narcosis”, a film about a woman who needs to start again and is, in fact, the candidate of the Netherlands to the Oscars.
Face next the ferocity of TM Malones “Kargo”, about a woman who takes her dead husband position as a driver, gets involved in child trafficking and finds a new friend and “Ritual” by Hans Herbots (with the director attending the festival) takes us to the harsh aftermath of Belgian colonialism.
The Hungarian political intrigue under the Soviet regime in “The Game” by Péter Fazakas, shows the dangers of spying under the soviets. Filipino “About Us but Not About us” is about a meeting in a restaurant between two gay men with dark secrets revealed and “The Grandson” by Oscar winner Kristof Déak, from Hungary, shows how old people are exploited by unscrupulous people.
A VERY WARM WELCOME TO OPORTO, CITY OF PORT WINE, A CITY OF THE RIVER DOURO AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, TWICE BEST EUROPEAN DESTINATION.
COME MEET THE FABULOUS WORLD OF FILM FANTASY AND FACT IN FANTASPORTO 2023.
Speaking of relationships, you met your girlfriend Miracle Watts on the set of P-Valley. What first attracted you to her, and now that you know her better, what do you find most attractive about her now?
I think what attracted me to her the most is the same thing that attracted me to this role, which is we all love a certain gaiety, or a certain cheerfulness, or a shiny exterior. She’s a beautiful woman. And, you know, Harlem has Tracy Oliver and Meagan Good, and it’s Amazon…you know, the shiny packages. Underneath that there’s like a complexity that I look for in anything that I involve myself with, whether it’s a role or whether it’s a relationship. Just that juxtaposition of who she was; yes, she’s this one way on the surface, but underneath that is something that I need, something that I can connect with, and something that will feed me for the long run.
I’m saying the same thing with Harlem. It’s not just a show I’m coming on to smile on the big screen and collect some money. It’s something that I really have a passion for and something that I really believe in. I love that Ian is this man of process, trying to figure out who he is and what he stands for, because that’s who I am. I feel like we all have a sense of that and who we are as humans.
New pricing and bundling among the streamers have suddenly made Apple TV+ a great deal, while HBO Max is questionable
For SVODs, the price a platform charges subscribers should be directly related to the demand for content it has to offer them. And we do see a close correlation between these two things. If we only looked at the relationship between the number of shows and movies on each platform and the monthly subscription price, the relationship is nowhere near as close. The takeaway is that simply having a greater quantity of content isn’t enough to justify charging a higher price — it has to be content that audiences actually want.
Striking the right balance between raising prices to increase revenue without driving away subscribers is a tricky line to walk. Against a backdrop of increasing economic headwinds, these streamers will need to work even harder to prove their value to subscribers, or risk being an expendable nice-to-have rather than a necessity for cash strapped consumers.
The pricing landscape has shifted a bit since the last time we looked at this. For example, when Apple TV+ made their first price increase since launching, the new price point meant that the platform looked overpriced relative to the competition. However, looking at the data for Q4 we see that as other platforms have increased prices, Apple TV+ again looks like a good deal for subscribers.
This could foreshadow what we will see following HBO Max’s price increase. The platform announced a conservative $1 per month increase, bringing the monthly cost of the platform’s ad-free tier to $15.99 as of Feb. 11. The new price point looks slightly above what we would expect given the total demand for shows and movies on the platform. Notably, the total demand for the Hulu and HBO Max catalogs is very close. The ad-free tiers of both cost $14.99/month before, but with the price increase HBO Max will have to convince current and potential subscribers of the justification for its price premium over Hulu, a platform that has essentially the same amount of demand for its on-platform shows and movies.
Platforms aren’t just increasing prices. The changes announced by Paramount to their streaming pricing look set to dial up the competition for how other platforms are priced. One major change going forward is that Showtime will no longer be offered as a standalone service and will be merged with Paramount+ in the future. This makes sense. Our data shows how the $11 per month price for Showtime on its own made it the most overpriced platform relative to competitors. Compared to Starz, Showtime charged its subscribers more and had less demand for its catalog.
How the Streamers’ Ad-Free Tier Prices Stack Up, U.S., Q4, 2022 (Parrot Analytics)
The new Paramount+ Premium tier (with Showtime) will cost $11.99 per month, where before bundling the two services cost $14.99. This is a smart move that will make this bundle very attractively priced for consumers. Extrapolating from the demand for shows and movies available in this bundle in Q4, we can see that a fair price would have been $13 per month. By setting an $11.99 price point, Paramount+ Premium (with Showtime) will be one of the bundles offering subscribers the biggest bang for their buck.
The streaming pricing wars are heating up.
Christofer Hamilton is a senior insights analyst at Parrot Analytics, a WrapPRO partner. For more from Parrot Analytics, visit the Data and Analysis Hub.
Season 4 of the Netflix psychological thriller You had the potential to be a big flop. The first three seasons were addicting, but was Joe (Penn Badgely) just going to follow his same pattern in Season 4? Become obsessed with a woman and commit heinous crimes because of it? Luckily, Season 4 completely reinvented the show, turning it into a satire with a series of Clue-style murders and a new cast of horrible, but wildly entertaining characters. Season 4 delves into a new genre, while maintaining the qualities that made the first three seasons so good — namely Joe’s sarcastic internal monologue.
The annual awards ceremony takes place Sunday, February 26 and will stream live on Netflix’s YouTube channel.
The 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards are coming to a streamer near you.
The annual awards ceremony takes place Sunday, February 26 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles and will stream live on the Netflix YouTube channel, marking a new partnership between the streamer and the SAG-AFTRA guild. Audiences can also watch the ceremony on Netflix’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
“We are thrilled to embark on this exciting new partnership with Netflix and we look forward to expanding the global audience for our show,” SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said earlier this year. “As the only televised awards program exclusively honoring the performances of actors, whose work is admired by millions of fans, the SAG Awards are a unique and cherished part of the entertainment universe.”
Netflix’s head of global TV Bela Bajaria added, “The SAG Awards are beloved by the creative community and viewers alike, and now even more fans around the world will be able to celebrate these talented actors. As we begin to explore live streaming on Netflix, we look forward to partnering with SAG-AFTRA to elevate and expand this special ceremony as a global live event in 2024 and the years to come.”
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In 2024, the SAG Awards will stream live on the Netflix platform, instead of its YouTube and social media channels.
The SAG Awards previously aired on TNT and TBS, but the ceremony parted ways after 25 years with Turner networks last year.
Nominees for this year’s SAG Awards were announced by “Emily in Paris” star Ashley Park and “The White Lotus” Season 2 breakout Haley Lu Richardson. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” lead the film field with five nominations each, including Ensemble Cast.
Last year’s SAG Awards saw “CODA” win best cast in a motion picture, presaging the Apple Original film’s Best Picture Oscar win. Similarly, after winning the SAG Award for their respective categories, “King Richard” star Will Smith, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” actress Jessica Chastain, “CODA” actor Troy Kotsur, and “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose went on to take home Academy Awards.
For the TV categories, “Abbott Elementary,” “Barry,” “The Bear,” “Hacks,” and “Only Murders in the Building” are competing in the ensemble comedy series category, while the final seasons of “Better Call Saul” and “Ozark” are up against “Severance,” “The Crown,” and “The White Lotus” for ensemble drama series.
Sally Field will receive the 58th SAG Life Achievement award, which will be presented by Andrew Garfield. The duo starred together in the “Amazing Spider-Man” films.
A Broward County judge ruled Friday that rapper Drake, born Ashley Graham, will not be deposed by defense attorneys in the XXXTentacion murder trial due to lack of evidence of his involvement in the 2018 killing, per NBC Miami.
The judge’s decision comes several days after a defense attorney claimed process servers were rebuffed by armed guards at the rapper’s Beverly Hills mansion last week. On Monday, Drake’s lawyer Bradford Cohen had asked the court to strike an order to require Drake to sit for a deposition.
The deposition was sought by Mauricio Padilla, a defense attorney for Dedrick Williams (one of the three suspects in the case), who suggested that Graham was somehow involved in XXXTentacion’s (real name Jahseh Onfroy) death. Padilla declined to comment after Friday’s decision.
Drake’s alleged involvement is not a theory prosecutors have given credence to, but Padilla attempted to raise doubts by highlighting an alleged feud between Graham and XXXTentacion.
Along with trying to get Graham to participate in a deposition, Padilla referenced the alleged feud between the two musicians in his opening arguments on Feb. 7. He cited a social media post from Onfroy in Feb. 2018 that read, “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi [Drake’s Instagram handle]. I’m snitching right now.” The post was deleted and retracted soon after.
According to a Feb. 17 filing from Padilla, obtained by Rolling Stone, the judge said Cohen and Padilla would have to “work together to mutually agree to a time that was convenient to Mr. Graham, agree on parameters for topics discussed at deposition and even stated that he would consider sealing the deposition.”
However, Drake’s attorneys have long argued that he has no involvement in the case. “At this point, I think you have a corroborating witness who corroborates that Mr. Graham has nothing to do with this case,” Cohen said in a previous hearing, per NBC Miami.
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Drake’s attorney declined to comment.
Three men are currently on trial for the murder of XXXTentacion. If convicted of first-degree murder, Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright, and Trayvon Newsome could all receive life sentences. Last week, a man named Robert Allen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against the three remaining suspects.
NOW IN THEATERS! Partially based on a true story, Elizabeth Banks’Cocaine Bear promises a wild, irreverent time at the movies. How could it not, with such a juicy premise: a bear stumbles on a bunch of cocaine in the Georgia woods, snorts and eats a shitload of it, and embarks on a rampage. The trick is, when you purposefully try to make something this unabashedly dumb, you have to be smart about it. Cocaine Bear, with its deluge of barely-sketched characters, asinine subplots and utter lack of momentum, thrills or comedy, ends up as stoopid and inconsequential as an extended, coked-up rant.
There were two ways to approach this story sensibly. One would be to go full exploitation: basic plot, a cheapo vibe, inventive kills, and gruesome hilarity. Another would entail a more sophisticated approach: Predator with a coked-up bear. Banks ends up with a glossy Hollywood flick disguised as a straight-to-VOD grindhouse title. It feels dishonest, forced, and overstuffed.
There’s Thornton (Matthew Rhys), the doomed drug dealer who leaps off a plane to his death, spilling blow everywhere. Then there’s Sari (Keri Russell), whose daughter Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) skips class and runs off into the woods with her annoying friend Henry (Christian Convery). By the time Sari reunites with Henry, it may be too late: both children are coked-up, he’s up on a tree, and Dee Dee’s gone (because the bear spared the child and, um, brought her back to her cubs to raise her, Mowgli-style). Then there are the thugs, Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), trying to find the cocaine for their boss, Syd (Ray Liotta), who also happens to be Eddie’s dad.
“…the doomed drug dealer who leaps off a plane to his death, spilling blow everywhere.”
Wait, that’s not all – because a film entitled Cocaine Bear absolutely requires an ensemble cast to rival Babylon. Going after Daveed and Eddie is Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), a local cop with an affinity for dogs. Margo Martindale plays Liz, a ranger who, along with partner Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), gets entangled in all of this craziness. Banks doesn’t stop there, adding a trio of hoodlums, ER workers, Bob’s fellow officer Reba (Ayoola Smart), and a north-European couple of nature lovers to her bubbling stew. All of these stalwart performers… and not a single standout performance. The actors chew more scenery than the titular bear does people.
Desperately in search of a coherent plot, Cocaine Bear strings a dozen of them together with the hope that something will stick, a gag will land, a brutal death will be effective, and a moment will resonate. None of that happens. Within the first 10 minutes, you start OD-ing on the repetitive visual gags and horrid one-liners. The realization rapidly sinks in: that’s all there is to it. And there are still over 80 minutes to go.
In a film like this, asking questions is pointless, but I will pose some anyway. Why would the bear be so hungry on cocaine? Confused, aggravated, even deadly – sure, but hungry? The animal eats and eats and eats. At multiple points, characters have a clear shot of the bear, which they purposefully don’t take (Bob even tells the hoodlums not to shoot the coked-up bear, to, um, see what happens). An admittedly mildly amusing moment – the bear falling asleep on top of one of the characters – soon gets ruined when he claims that he can tell that the bear is female because its vagina is in his ear (impossible, considering the position of the bear on top of him).
Desperate jokes like that abound. Elizabeth Banks is a charming actor but gets utterly lost directing this mess; her ineptitude when it comes to handling this kind of material is glaring. Apparently, she grew up watching horror movies like Evil Dead and was excited to try her hand at horror. Based on Cocaine Bear, she should stick to helming Pitch Perfect sequels.
The United Nations Security Council held a minute’s silence on Friday, after Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of genocide against his country.
However, the silence was interrupted by Russia’s UN envoy, who insisted that it was held for ‘all of those who perished’ in the conflict – including those since 2014.
‘All lives are priceless,’ Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya said, who in the same session in New York City accused the West of using the security council to push its own agenda.
Kuleba proposed a minute’s silence to honour the ‘victims of the aggression’ during Friday’s session – to mark the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin‘s invasion.
But as he and other members of the assembly stood up, the Russian ambassador began to tap his microphone. As dismayed envoys looked on, he then insisted: ‘We are getting up on our feet to honour the memory of all victims of what has happened in Ukraine, starting in 2014.’
A minute silence proposed by Ukraine’s foreign minister was interrupted by Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya (pictured), who insisted that it should held for ‘all of those who perished’ in the conflict, including those since 2014
Moscow – without evidence – has accused Kyiv of committing genocide against Russian speakers in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, which has seen fighting between Ukraine’s forces and Russian separatists since 2014.
Nebenzya’s comments appeared to be a nod to this claim, as well as Russia’s insistence that the blame lies with Ukraine and the West for the fighting in the region, and for Putin’s invasion on February 24, 2022.
The members of the assembly were forced to sat back down again to listen to Nebenzya. ‘All of those who perished. All lives are priceless,’ he told the session.
According to the UN, more than 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the country since the invasion was launched a year ago today, as well as 13,000 injured.
In addition, both sides are thought to have lose tens of thousands of casualties in brutal fighting. A recent British estimate suggested Russia alone has so far seen more than 200,000 soldiers lost to either death or injury.
The fracas came after the UN voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Ukraine earned strong backing in a nonbinding vote that saw 141 of the 193 UN members in support, seven opposed and 32, including China and India abstaining.
Coming on the eve of the first anniversary of the brutal war, support for Kyiv was little-changed from that of last October when 143 countries voted to condemn Russia’s declared annexation of four Ukraine regions.
‘Today, United Nations General Assembly has just spoken very clear,’ said European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
‘This vote shows that the international community stands with Ukraine.’
The vote came after two days of debate during which Kuleba urged the international community to choose ‘between good and evil.’
He rejected the idea that Kyiv only enjoyed the support of the West – the European Union, the United States and their key allies.
‘The vote defies the argument that the Global South does not stand on Ukraine’s side, because many countries representing Latin America, Africa, Asia voted in favor today,’ Kuleba said. ‘The support is much broader, and it will only continue to be consolidated and to be solidified,’ he added.
Pictured: Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and other representatives stand for a moment of silence during a United Nations Security Council meeting to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. However, the gesture was interrupted by Russia’s representative
Pictured: An aerial view of the city of Bakhmut (Feb. 14), in Ukraine’s east, which has been almost totally destroyed as Kyiv’s soldiers fight to defend it against Russia’s invaders
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, expressed gratitude to all those ‘who stood up for Ukraine on the anniversary of the unprovoked Russian aggression.’
‘The world understands whose side the truth is on,’ he said.
However, Nebenzya on Friday insisted the motion was put forward only to serve the West’s agenda.
‘What we are seeing today is another attempt to give certain rights to a group of the country whereas you, as a representative of the golden billion, give preference to Ukraine just because that she is a part of your geopolitical project,’ he said.
‘It turns out it would seem the problems of the rest of the world are of no concern to you. It seems the unprecedented number of delegations invited today… 12 EU countries… it’s clear all of these countries who have the same EU position dictated by Brussels will bring no added value to the discussion,’ he added.
A day earlier, he had dismissed the resolution, called Ukraine ‘neo-Nazi’ and accusing the West of sacrificing the country and the developing world in their desire to beat Russia. ‘They are ready to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war’ to maintain their own ‘hegemony,’ Nebenzya said.
The resolution reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s ‘sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity,’ rejecting any Russian claims to parts of the country.
It also demanded ‘that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,’ and called ‘for a cessation of hostilities.’
The vote showed Moscow’s continued isolation on the world stage after 12 months of war. It only earned support from six other nations: Belarus, Syria, North Korea, Mali, Nicaragua, and Eritrea.
Despite its limited backing, Russia has used its veto power to block any binding motions against it in the UN Security Council.
Instead, the UN General Assembly has taken up the issue, displaying solid support for Kyiv in successive votes. ‘Next year, we should not meet here to mark the second anniversary of this senseless war of aggression,’ said Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during the debate.
‘Russia can and must stop, tomorrow,’ French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said. ‘This war waged by Russia is everybody’s business because it threatens the existence of a state, because it represents a domineering and imperialist plan, and because it denies the existence of borders.’
The vote showed India and China had not been swayed to outright condemn Moscow’s invasion, even while both have criticized Moscow’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons in the conflict.
Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation of the United Nations, speaks during the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on Ukraine, at UN headquarters in New York City on February 22
Before the vote Dai Bing, China’s deputy representative at the United Nations, took a neutral stance, calling on both sides to cease fighting and enter peace talks.
‘We support Russia and Ukraine moving towards each other, resuming direct dialogue as soon as possible,’ he said.
But he also gave voice to one of Russia’s justifications for the invasion, that its own security was under threat by Ukraine’s tilt toward Western Europe and NATO.
Any settlement, he said, should give ‘due regard to … the reasonable security concerns of all countries, thereby properly addressing their legitimate security aspirations.’
Nancy Dubuc announced in a memo to Vice Media Group staff Friday that she is leaving as CEO of the media company, which has been attempting to find a buyer over the last year.
“It’s been an exhilarating five years since joining you at Vice, and I am incredibly proud of the important and long-lasting accomplishments we have made together,” Dubuc wrote in her farewell email. “[A]s the anniversary of my tenure approaches, it is so difficult to share that I have made the decision to move onto the next chapter.” (Read the full memo below.)
Asked for additional info, a Vice Media rep provided a statement from the company’s board of directors: “Nancy joined Vice at a pivotal time and put in place an exceptional team that has positioned the company for long-term success. We thank Nancy for her many contributions and will soon announce new leadership to guide Vice forward into its next stage of growth and transformation.”
Dubuc’s exit comes as Vice Media has been actively trying to sell itself. The company had been in acquisition talks with Greek broadcasting company Antenna, with Vice Media seeking a deal valuing it at some $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported — about one-fourth of Vice’s ballyhooed $5.7 billion valuation back in 2017.
Vice Media’s investors include Disney, TPG, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, the Raine Group and WPP. The cash-strapped company secured a $30 million loan from Fortress Investment Group to pay outstanding bills totaling “millions of dollars” to vendors and advisers, some which haven’t been paid for more than six months, the Journal reported last week.
Smith had previously led Vice ever since the company launched a punk-scene print magazine in Montreal in 1994.
Vice Media Group’s five main business units are: Vice.com, the Vice Studios film and TV production unit; the Vice TV television network; Vice News; and creative agency Virtue. The company’s portfolio also includes Refinery29, the media and entertainment brand focused on women acquired in 2019; London-based Pulse Films; and i-D, a digital and print style publication covering fashion, culture and design.
Read Dubuc’s memo to staff:
Dear Vice Media Group Team,
I am writing today with bittersweet news. It’s been an exhilarating five years since joining you at Vice, and I am incredibly proud of the important and long-lasting accomplishments we have made together. We have transformed this Company from a disparate brand to a fully formed, diversified media company complete with a thriving news organization hosting a collection of some of the most recognizable consumer brands. Your commitment to excellence, progress and ethics is unparalleled and the relationships we have built are everlasting. Which is why as the anniversary of my tenure approaches, it is so difficult to share that I have made the decision to move onto the next chapter.
I am proud to leave a Vice better than the one I joined. Together we racked up incredible wins while tackling unprecedented macroeconomic headwinds caused by the pandemic, the war in the Ukraine, and the economy all which forced us to pivot, refocus and pivot again. Despite all this the Vice, Vice Studios, Pulse, as well as Virtue, R29, i-D and Unbothered brands are strong. We reduced overhead by half and yet improved the quality of our revenues through both increased profitability and growth of returning revenues. As we face new headwinds in the marketplace Vice is now less ad dependent, and our gross margins have more than doubled.
Most important, while there’s still much work to be done, Vice is a more diverse and inclusive environment than ever.
Today Vice has an incredible opportunity in the hands of a new management team who are looking to harness the businesses we built and grew and to lay the groundwork for the future. I know you are among the most resilient, creative, and determined talent in the business and your futures are bright and hopeful.
Remember what I try to remind you, and that is to appreciate how far you’ve come. The accomplishments are far and wide — from new businesses, completely rebuilt operations and countless awards for brave work. But also remember to look ahead to the possibilities.
I’d also like to thank Shane and Suroosh for their trust and the many board members and investors along the way. I will cheer you from the side-lines.
If you look up the definition of the word “blockbuster” on Wikipedia it probably has Jerry Bruckheimer’s picture next to it. Now, believe it or not, he has finally received his first Oscar nomination for Top Gun: Maverick, the 36-year-gestating sequel to 1986’s Tom Cruise smash. It is the rare sequel nominated for Best Picture, along with five other nominations.
Bruckheimer joins me for this latest edition of my Deadline video series Behind the Lensto talk about his remarkably successful career in both movies and television, the secret to his success, the status of more sequels to past hits like Beverly Hills Cop, Bad Boys, Pirates of the Caribbean — and even a third Top Gun. He also is candid about working again with Will Smith and Johnny Depp, and his own favorite films in a career that also includes the National Treasure franchise, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, American Gigolo, Flashdance, Crimson Tide, Con Air, The Rock, Days of Thunder and way too many others to count. On TV he is the man behind the CSI franchise, the new CBS hit Fire Country and numerous others including the long-running reality series The Amazing Race, for which he has a shelf full of Emmys.
There is much to talk about including his feelings about going to the Oscars as a nominee himself at last.
Click on video above to watch our conversation and go “behind the lens” with Jerry Bruckheimer.
Join me every week during Oscar season for a new edition of Behind the Lens.
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The Strokes’ best songs, from their early hits to rarer fan favorites, come together in a new box set, released today. “The Singles — Volume” 01 is available now in digital and vinyl configuratons.
The collection includes ten singles from their first three albums “Is This It” (2001), “Room on Fire” (2003) and “First Impressions of Earth” (2006), in addition to rare B-sides from the original single releases. Not only are all ten singles pressed on a 7-inch vinyl with the original release’s artwork replicated in the packaging, but the collectors set also includes HD versions of the original music videos for all ten A-sides including “Hard to Explain,” “Last Nite,” “Reptilia,” “Juicebox” and “Heart in a Cage.”
It’s an eclectic mix of songs that won’t be wasted on any true Strokes fans, who will appreciate the B-side’s oddballs — like their funk collaboration with Josh Homme and Eddie Vedder on “Mercy Mercy Me” — as much as their chart-topping hits. Other surprise additions include a feedback heavy cover of The Clash’s “Clampdown” from 2003, the lost classic “Modem Girls & Old Fashioned Men” and a unique rendition of “You Only Live Once” charted from a “Taxi”-themed keyboard demo.
The release comes in the midst of the band’s highly anticipated word tour, which they will continue this spring and summer with headline sets at Fuji Rock, Rock En Seine, All Points East and more, plus stadium shows with Red Hot Chili Peppers. See a full list of tour dates here.
