The Netflix series “High on the Hog” explores the wide-ranging influence of African-American food traditions. Host Stephen Satterfield talks to chefs and historians throughout West Africa and the United States for an eye-opening and mouth-watering journey.
The Netflix series "High on the Hog"
Fumio Kishida says Japan is on the brink of not being able to function due to its falling birth rate.
Fumio Kishida says Japan is on the
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Episode 2 of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max.
The latest episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us” has unleashed a terrifying creature that would make even the Demogorgon from “Stranger Things” squirm.
The monstrous, infected clickers made their TV debut in Episode 2 of “The Last of Us,” which is appropriately titled “Infected.” These shambling creatures have become so infected by the cordyceps fungus that mushroom stalks have burst through their faces and rendered them blind, forcing them to make spine-chilling clicking noises as a form of echolocation to catch their prey.
In the original “Last of Us” video game — released for PlayStation 3 in 2013 — facing a clicker unprepared meant almost certain death. A player must stealthily sneak around the monsters, or blast several gunshots directly at their overgrown skulls to take them down. In Sunday night’s episode, Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Tess (Anna Torv) have trouble defeating just two of the monsters, and, as fans of the video game already knew, the confrontation results in Tess’ death.
“Infected” adapts several early levels from the game, in which Joel, Ellie and Tess must sneak through bomb-shelled streets, a flooded hotel and an abandoned museum to drop off Ellie with Firefly rebels. After Tess is bitten by a clicker, she hides her fatal injury until they reach the Capitol building rendezvous point. But instead of finding Firefly soldiers, all that’s waiting for the trio are infected corpses. In one final act of heroism, Tess urges Joel to take Ellie onward to find a cordyceps cure using Ellie’s immunity.
As infected humans surge toward Tess, she stands perfectly still and attempts to ignite a cache of gasoline with a lighter. In a shocking departure from the video game, an infected male walks up to Tess, with spindly, fungal tendrils reaching from his mouth, and plants a disgusting kiss on her, just as the lighter sparks and causes a fiery explosion.
In another surprising expansion from the “Last of Us” game, the episode starts with a flashback to Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003, where a mycologist discovers one of the first people to die from cordyceps. It’s the first time “The Last of Us” has peeled back a bit of the mystery behind the fungus’ origins, while providing a new, if brief, perspective on how the rest of the world was affected by the outbreak.
Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann talked through the flashback to Variety, as well as that grotesque clicker kiss, replacing the cordyceps spores with fungus tendrils and more from Episode 2.
HBO
How did you decide to open with this flashback to Jakarta?
Craig Mazin: It started with a conversation that Neil and I were having early on, where I would ask him some of my patented, annoying questions. One of them was “What’s going on in the rest of the world?” One of the things that Neil always talks about is how in the game your perspective is really connected completely to either Joel or Ellie, depending on who you’re moving with your controller. We don’t have that, so then the question is, “What does the rest of the world look like?” Initially, we were going to have much more of an international view of things, but I think where we went was to just talk about where it started, and ground people in the science of it as best we could.
Neil Druckmann: We wanted to make it very character-driven, so it was focusing on this one scientist, and the dread and the realization when she understands that we’re fucked.
What other international elements were there?
Mazin: We had a montage that we were going to talk about doing that we didn’t, but I actually don’t want to say too much about it because, you know — things could go well and we might get to reuse some of those pages.
Will we ever see the origins of the fungus, or will it always be kept a mystery?
Druckmann: Everything we saw in the game was from three characters’ perspective — [Joel’s daughter] Sarah, Joel and Ellie, that’s it. Here, we have the ability leave those characters and show some other stuff, but it was always important to never say, “OK, here is patient zero, the exact origin.” A lot of it is based on hints. Craig would come to me with his millions of questions, like “How did this thing spread?” We had one hint in the game, in the newspaper you pick up as Sarah, where it implies that there were contaminated products. We talked about: How would this spread? Where would it start? We’re revealing more and more from the first episode, where we gave hints of things that would have turned out very different for the Millers had they made those pancakes. Now, we get to see a bit more of how this thing started.
People noticed in the first episode that Joel and Sarah avoided eating foods with flour in them, like the birthday cake, pancakes and the neighbor’s biscuits. Jakarta also has one of the world’s largest flour mills, which seems to connect the fungus spread with the contaminated flour. Is that theory correct?
Mazin: I think it’s pretty explicit.
Druckmann: Yeah, we pretty much said yes.
Mazin: When she talks about where these people worked and what was going on in that factory — yeah, it’s pretty clear that’s what’s going on. We liked the idea of that science, and we try as best we can to make sure that our research all connects. [The mycologist] asks where it happened, and the guy says a flour factory on the west side of the city. We are absolutely talking about — there is the world’s largest flour mill in Jakarta — so that’s a fine theory and I think people should keep running with it.
HBO
Another one of the departures from the game are the cordyceps tendrils. Where did that idea come from?
Druckmann: It started with Craig hating zombies — I’m kidding. But we had talked about how we’re in a genre that’s popular, and there are a lot of different versions of stories of an outbreak. We did our best to find what’s unique about our story and world. For our clickers, we lifted them from the game, and kept them as is. But for the more recently infected, we had a lot of conversations about what else can we do with the vector other than bites. We looked at concept art where there’s this implication of the fungus growing under the skin. What if that was the thing? It’s not so much about the bite, they just need these tendrils to go from one host to another and that’s how the infection spreads.
Mazin: If you listen carefully, the word “spores” is mentioned. I don’t necessarily know if we’re going to see any spores this time around, but to say that our world is devoid of them would not be accurate. We don’t quite know yet: That’s part of the fun of adaptation, and leaving these blurry edges of the map for our characters to discover as the adventure continues.
Were you expecting a such a spores backlash from fans?
Druckmann: I’ve learned to expect backlash from sneezing. I think it speaks to the kind of fans that we have, who are so protective and love the world and these characters so much that anything they see as a deviation, without the full context of what it means, they assume the worst and push back on it. I think that addition is something worthwhile. It’s actually one of those additions where I’m like, “Oh man, I wish we had it for the game. I wish we had thought of it years ago, because I love it so much.”
Mazin: That’s all right if people are upset by it — I don’t blame them. Everybody dreams of working on something where the fan engagement is to this level, where people will argue about these things or feel passionate about them. I do feel sometimes, if you just see how it goes, I think you’ll be OK. A lot of that has happened, but there will also definitely be people who are like, “You fucked up,” and I get it. We definitely will not make everyone happy, I know that much.
What kind of direction did you give the clicker actors with their movements and voices?
Druckmann: We had recordings from the game and looked at the movements. We worked with Barrie and Sarah Gower, who have the best prosthetic team in the world, to study the game and do a version that’s not only trying to replicate something that has all this crazy, beautiful detail, but also making sure the person inside the prosthetic can move freely and twitch and mosey about a space in a way that’s very unique to this parasite. We look for movement actors that can replicate that movement, and we are very lucky that we found some actors that adore the game. When we saw Sam, our lead clicker, in a video, I remember this person moving like a clicker from the game. Not only that, I heard clicking sounds, as if they used a sound from the game as they’re doing it. But no, he was making the sounds of the clicker and then the video ends and he holds up a copy of the game and he says how he’s been a fan for so long. That’s another example of how we were surrounded by people who are just fans of the material and wanted to do it justice. As far as direction, it was treating them like animals in a way, something that’s very primal and instinctive and give them direction like “chase,” “capture” because the thing that they’re doing is trying to spread the infection further.
HBO
Where did that clicker kiss come from?
Mazin: We were doing early research on how fungus appears in reality, and we had a really good template for what it looked like in the game. We wanted to go further and say, “OK, what are the different forms and functions?” I found this image that an artist had created of somebody that had become subsumed by fungus and in their mouth there were mushrooms. We were already talking about tendrils coming out and we were asking these philosophical questions, “Why are infected people violent? If the point is to spread the fungus, why do they need to be violent?” We landed on that they don’t. They’re violent because we resist, but what if you don’t? What does it look like if you just stand perfectly still and let them do this to you?
Then we landed on this nightmare fuel. It’s disturbing and it’s violative. I think it’s very primal in the way it invades your own body. To use an overused word, it’s triggering. It’s remarkable combination of Neil’s direction, Anna Torv’s acting when there isn’t obviously anything there and our visual effects department doing this gorgeous work to make it all come together and feel real and terrible.
Druckmann: Part of it was the deviation from the game, where Tess is killed by soldiers. We had a long conversation about what’s more thematically appropriate for this episode, which is called “Infected” and is about the threat of the outside. We’ve left the quarantine zone and that led to this other version where she’s giving an opening to escape to Joel and Ellie by blowing up a bunch of infected. Because we’re cruel to the characters we love so much, it felt like she knows she’s done for, and then the lighter doesn’t work, and we take her all the way to the edge of horror before we finally give her an out.
What other differences did you want to introduce to these clickers that weren’t in the game?
Druckmann: The other thing that came from our conversations is the network of infected that you see in this episode. They’re connected, and it’s scarier when it feels like they’re working as a unit than as individuals. Touching one could trigger ones that are miles away to come after you. That makes the world even scarier. I always tell Craig, “You son of a bitch, it’s one of those things that would make amazing gameplay. I wish we had that in the game.”
Mazin: Shoulda hired me, Neil.
What were you most excited to get to do in the show that you didn’t have in the game?
Druckmann: The one that shows up very late in the season is Ellie’s mom. I had written a short story after we had shipped the game already. It was supposed to be an animated short, but it fell apart and didn’t come to be. There was a moment where we almost made it as DLC, but it fell apart. In our conversations, I brought it up to Craig and he was immediately excited by it, or as he would say “activated.” We brought it to life in the most beautiful, poetic way, which is Ashley Johnson playing Ellie’s mom and she was the original actor for Ellie.
HBO
Between Tess and Joel, who’s calling the shots in the relationship? Joel is our main character, but it seems like Tess is really the one in charge.
Druckmann: I saw a lot of people point out that Joel’s the little spoon.
Mazin: He is the little spoon. I don’t know if it’s about who calls the shots as much as it is about when it came to Ellie, Tess was the one she looked up to. Tess was the one she connected to. Joel was not somebody she had an instinctive connection with. There are these weird, instinctive moments where she turns to Joel, but her admiration is with Tess. Watch who she talks to, who she’s standing next to, who she walks beside, and part of that was to propose this alternate storyline where it’s not Tess who meets her demise, it’s Joel. And then the show is about Tess and Ellie. That’s maybe the story that Ellie is imagining in her mind, which makes what happens all the more tragic and frustrating. Joel doesn’t want her, and she doesn’t want him. What they don’t know and what we know is they are two magnets that were destined to click together and form this inseparable and, at times, dangerous bond.
I loved the reference to Ellie not being able to swim in the hotel. Will we see her learn to swim this season?
Mazin: There’s an entire episode where we take her from floating to doggy-paddling. It’s really boring, guys. It’s 60 solid minutes of just swimming lessons. How great would that be if we just did it? Fuck it, we’re doing it.
Druckmann: Now someone’s going to be disappointed that we’re not doing it.
Mazin: Our general philosophy about Easter eggs is we never really do things just to be like, “Hey, fans, look over here.” There’s always some interesting reason for it, or it contributes to a character relationship. In that instance, we wanted to draw a connection to the way Ellie had been weirdly sheltered. It’s more, here’s a kid who has never been in a pool because they don’t exist. Because she can’t leave the quarantine zone, she can’t swim in the ocean either. It’s how strange their lives are growing up in this new world. Throughout this episode, Joel starts to figure out what Ellie does and doesn’t know, and she starts to talk about what she does and doesn’t know. That’s an interesting thing for Joel to experience because he doesn’t have a kid of his own in this new world.
What about the “Curtis and Viper” DVD from the premiere?
Druckmann: I guess when there’s an opportunity to blend the two worlds of the game and the show, we jump at it. It’s like, “OK, we want to watch a movie. What’s the movie they would watch? Oh, we could make a connection to “The Last of Us Part II” in this instance. We don’t dwell on them too much, but it’s there for fans. They have a deeper connection because of it.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Episode
A leaked render for Mobvoi’s next TicWatch Pro series smartwatch teases a simpler design than its predecessor – and one that looks heavily inspired by the Google Pixel Watch.
We were really impressed with the TicWatch Pro 3; it’s currently one of the best Wear OS smartwatches on the market boasting a long (three-day) battery life and a slew of useful features at a fairly budget-friendly price. And Mobvoi’s next TicWatch Pro 5 device is expected to take things up a level with a more capable Snapdragon W5 Plus processor and Wear OS 3 software, which should give this device a power and functionality boost.
Now we might have gotten our first look at what the wearable will look like, with Kuba Wojciechowski (opens in new tab) – a developer who shares leaks on Twitter – revealing a render that he says is of the TicWatch Pro 5.
Mobvoi’s upcoming smartwatch shares a lot of similarities with the TicWatch Pro 3, but most notably it will seemingly drop the dual-crown design in favor of a simpler single-crown control – just like the Google Pixel Watch. What’s more, the numbers surrounding the watch face have been stripped away in favor of a textured rim which again helps to make the gadget look less busy than iterations that have come before.
⌚️ Leak: Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 – one of the first watches to ship with Snapdragon W5(+) and Wear OS 3 pic.twitter.com/FIg8BEcMQRJanuary 20, 2023
As for why the new smartwatch is expected to be called the TicWatch Pro 5 instead of the TicWatch Pro 4, Wojciechowski explained that it’s most likely due to tetraphobia.
Mobvoi is a Beijing-based tech company and in some Asian languages – including several varieties of Chinese – the word for four and the word for death sound pretty similar. Because of this, some companies choose to avoid using the number four in product names and when labeling floors in buildings – much like how some businesses avoid using 13 in similar ways.
We should always take leaks with a pinch of salt, but Wojciechowski has been a fairly solid source for tech leaks in the past, so it’s worth paying attention to what he has to say. That’s especially true here as the leaked design does match an official silhouette shared by Mobvoi.
For now, this is only a design leak. Beyond the promise of a new chipset and OS, there’s little else on what this device is capable of nor a price tag or when it’ll release. Hopefully, it’ll boast the same battery life and affordability as its predecessor but we’ll have to wait and see if this simplified smartwatch has what it takes to knock the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro off the top spot in our Wear OS smartwatch ranking.
If you’re interested in other tech leaks, check out this report that Google is working on its own version of Apple AirTags, which use the codename Grogu – the cute Yoda-like alien that’ll star in The Mandalorian Season 3.
A leaked render for Mobvoi’s next TicWatch
The aptly titled “Rotting in the Sun” is a misanthropic comedy-mystery that pits writer-director-actor Sebastián Silva against Instagram influencer–comedian Jordan Firstman, both of whom are playing themselves or versions of themselves. Silva and Firstman both come across very poorly on screen, but it is difficult to ascertain just how intentional that is.
Silva is first seen in the Plaza Río de Janeiro in Mexico City reading Emil Cioran’s “The Trouble with Being Born,” and he googles his own name and then immediately googles “How to commit suicide in Mexico” before going home to a large studio where he lives and paints. Catalina Saavedra, who played the lead in Silva’s breakout feature “The Maid,” here plays Silva’s real-life maid Vero while Silva’s friend Mateo, who owns the building he is living in, plays himself.
Silva is seen snorting cocaine and listlessly feeling sorry for himself, and he asks Mateo, “What was Scorsese’s last film?” Mateo says he doesn’t know, and Silva answers, “You see? No one cares.” Mateo treats Silva with weary contempt and suggests that he go to a gay nude beach and get laid; Silva goes but brings his gloomy Cioran book along with him. The camera takes in nude males from Silva’s point of view, and the vibe is very disgusted and self-loathing yet tired.
Silva has said that he based his interactions with Firstman on an actual meeting they had, and if Firstman behaved anything like he behaves here — aggressively fawning over Silva but also hurling contempt at him — then Silva is expressing not just self-loathing but also masochism in wanting to re-live this interaction, not to mention sadism in inflicting it on the audience.
Firstman plays this version of himself as vapid, obnoxious, and so hostile and controlling that he actually slaps Silva fairly hard in the face in the midst of his constant stream of talk; he is in permanent networking mode, a nasty social-media barnacle who will never let go.
One of the nude men on the beach praises Firstman’s “content,” and Silva looks at actual Firstman content and shakes his head at it. Silva starts to insult Firstman on their next meeting, but his vocal delivery is so slow and Firstman’s is so fast that he doesn’t stand a chance in a scene with him. “Laugh!” Firstman finally cries. “Laugh! Why don’t you like me?”
A question like that could be touching or revealing or funny, but “Rotting in the Sun” is so lost in Silva’s solipsistic and wishy-washy negativity that nothing gets shaped. If you’re going to be as negative as Silva is being in this movie, then you need to go all the way with it and be extremely negative and specific. The only thing here that he really makes repulsive is hardcore gay sex, which is portrayed as mechanistic and gross, with no joy and no eroticism.
A little less than halfway through “Rotting in the Sun,” a murder plot of sorts kicks in, and we are left in the last hour of the movie with scene after scene in which Firstman interrogates Vero via the faulty automatic translation app on his phone, while she is depicted as no angel herself. And yet, when she breaks down and cries, it feels far more real or pressing than any of Silva’s ennui or Firstman’s desperate bids for attention.
Silva has taken experiences from his own life for “Rotting in the Sun” in an attempt to dramatize or satirize things about the current culture that he hates, but his hate is so all-consuming yet so strangely mild that he misses most of the targets he is aiming for.
“Rotting in the Sun” makes its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The aptly titled “Rotting in the Sun”
Deborah Barak, a prominent and longtime CBS business executive who oversaw and helped shape deals on awards shows like the Grammys, TV series Survivor and the CBS All Access platform, has died. She was 65.
Barak passed away on Saturday at her home in Studio City while surrounded by family and friends, a rep for CBS told The Hollywood Reporter. The former executive, whose work spanned CBS Entertainment, CBS Television Studios and CBS News, had cancer. In an email to staff Saturday night, Amy Reisenbach, president, CBS Entertainment, shared the news of Barak’s death, expressing that the former head of CBS’ business affairs was not only “pure class, intelligence, and goodness,” but “the reason I love CBS so much.”
“I know that not everyone on this email knew her well or maybe at all, but those who did, know she was truly an amazing human being. She was an incredible and devoted mother and grandmother. And she was a dear friend to so many,” Reisenbach said in the email. “Her brilliance as a business affairs executive was unmatched. Debby drove a hard bargain but was always fair and compassionate. She was also a mentor to dozens at CBS, including me.”
In a statement, CBS Studios president David Stapf described Barak as a mentor, partner, dear friend and person — “equal parts intimidating, smart as hell and incredibly empathetic”
“She was the person everyone turned to for counsel and guidance, both professionally and personally. You always left her office feeling a little bit smarter and emotionally stronger,” he added. “There was no one who was more universally loved, admired, and respected at CBS and across our business.”
Nina Tasler, former chairman, CBS Entertainment, and current partner and co-founder of PATMA Productions added that Barak was someone “respected and admired across the entire media spectrum” for being “wise, tough and fair-minded to all” and “treating everyone with grace and dignity.”
“Her business savviness and sophisticated negotiating skills were matched by her humanity and decency. Working together for over 20 years was one of the most rewarding experiences of my lifetime. Her sophisticated intellect along with a deep appreciation for artists distinguished Debby as world-class; few possessed her myriad unique talents,” she continued. “Unassuming and press-shy, she was loved by her staff and creative executives throughout the company and the industry at large.”
Barak joined CBS in 1985 as broadcast counsel for the Network’s West Coast law department. During her nearly four decades at the company — which concluded in early 2020 following five years as president, business operations, CBS Entertainment, CBS Television Studios and CBS News — she held numerous positions that built key company infrastructure around talent and producer deals as well as program licensing agreements. She also developed new business models that reshaped CBS’s late night, reality programming and more.
Barak, who represented CBS on the board that oversaw The CW, handled many of the network’s high-profile TV license renewals, including The Late Show With David Letterman, The Big Bang Theory and Two And A Half Men, as well as longer term awards franchise renewals, such as The Grammys, the Country Music Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors.
She was notably responsible for drafting the original Survivor cast contract, which not only served the now decades-long show, but also became a template for reality talent agreements. In late night, she helped the studio make its pivot from leased to fully-owned programming, negotiating both talent and production agreements for Stephen Colbert and James Corden, the first late night series produced by CBS Television Studios. She was also responsible for introducing program ownership to CBS’ primetime.
As TV made its way into the streaming era, she would help shepherd the expansion into CBS All Access, along with developing the business template for CBS’ summer original scripted series model, which produced an in-season SVOD window and lower network license fees. She was additionally responsible for laying the foundation CBS All Access’ original series license structure, which impacted shows like Star Trek: Discovery.
One of her last moves as a CBS executive before her 2020 departure was negotiating CBS’ purchase of an interest in Kapital Entertainment, along with a distribution and co-production deal with Imagine Entertainment.
Prior to becoming president of business operations, Barak was CBS’ evp, business operations, CBS Network Television Entertainment Group for five years, starting in 2010. Before that she also held the titles of evp, business affairs, CBS Network Television Entertainment Group, svp, business affairs, CBS Entertainment; and svp, business planning and special projects. Ahead of her time at the studio, was an associate at O’Melveny & Myers. Barak graduated from UCLA and received a law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
She is survived by her mother, Beverly, as well as sister Sherri Cunningham and her husband Paul; her son Jonathan and his wife Hanna; her two daughters Sarah Buchsbaum and her husband Aaron, as well as Hannah Milgrom and partner Paul Brumfield; and four beloved grandchildren.
Deborah Barak, a prominent and longtime CBS
Last Updated: August 21, 2020, 17:48 IST
Class of ‘83
Cast: Bobby Deol, Bhupendra Jadawat, Hitesh Bhojraj, Sameer Paranjape
Director: Atul Sabharwal
Based on S Hussain Zaidi’s book ‘The Class of ‘83’ and adapted by Abhijeet Deshpande, director Atul Sabharwal’s Class of ’83 doesn’t capitalise on the potential moments it creates in the first 15-20 minutes.
Vijay Singh (Bobby Deol), a sharp ex-Mumbai cop, has been sent as the dean of the police academy in Nashik on punishment posting, but as they say, you can’t restrict an idea, so he felicitates a group of young police trainees to tackle the Mumbai underworld of the ‘80s by going out of the way. His four trainees—played by Bhupendra Jadawat, Hitesh Bhojraj, Sameer Paranjape and Ninad Mahajani—soon adopt the unconventional methods to trap criminals, but there is a chance that they might lose their way.
It seems like a story which might have a lot of anecdotal details, and that might have been a good read, but it doesn’t transform on the screen with equal effect.
It follows the traditional template of police films in Hindi, which means there will be a couple of audacious officers who would break the rules to ensure law and order. There will also be a senior who would be easy to manipulate, and there will be a mentor who would come back to rule the roost. Nothing wrong in following formula, but it takes away the sheen when such police stories lack a sense of urgency.
Read: Khuda Haafiz Movie Review
Read: Gunjan Saxena Movie Review
Also, the director seems to be in two minds about which events to retain in the film and that makes the transitions too fast, without establishing an emotional contact. The audience doesn’t get much invested in the heroics of the lead cast.
For a 98-minute film, the dean probably takes a little longer to take the centre-stage. Then the sub-plots, especially intra-group conflicts and personal politics of the crew members, don’t get much prominence. It hampers the heightening of drama.
A brooding Bobby Deol is a pleasant surprise as it’s an age-appropriate role, and with his glasses and untucked shirt, he looks different than the police officers we are used to seeing in mainstream Hindi films, but he doesn’t get enough support from either the script or supporting cast.
With dimly-lit streets and ambassador cars, the look of the film reminds of Bombay without its super-crowded streets and ominous dockyards, but Class of ’83 doesn’t rise above this. The excitement of an underworld versus police story is not there.
The film is streaming on Netflix.
Rating: 1/5
Last Updated: August 21, 2020, 17:48 ISTClass
New Year’s Special: Distributor Anil Thadani in an exclusive interview with Siraj Syed, Part III
Siraj: How do you choose multiplexes or single screen cinemas for particular films?
Anil: Basically, you have to understand your own product. The kind of film you are releasing. And then you pick and choose where you think…which is the pocket that deserves a film like…a particular film. And that is how you release. It is your gut feeling about your product… what you are doing, because, it could be…for instance, if you are doing a Prabhaas film which is a Baahubali 2 and you are doing a Prabhaas film which is a Radhe Shyam. The genres are different, everything is different, so you treat them accordingly. I mean I cannot treat a Radhe Shyam like a Baahubali and a Baahubali 2 like a Radhe Shyam. It depends on the genre and how much you want to penetrate. I restricted Phone Booth to 950 outlets, whereas a Double XL was restricted to only 300 outlets.
Siraj: Do the same rules apply to single screen cinemas?
Anil: You pick and choose…where is it located. Double XL was suited more to south Bombay audiences, so I would release it there. I would not take it to the interiors. So, it depends on the film, basically.
Siraj: There is an estimate that the number of single screen cinemas in the country is less than 6,000. Is that correct?
Anil: I don’t have the stats, but I am sure it must be correct.
Siraj: And they are decreasing day-by-day. Is that a cause for concern?
Anil: Of course it is. Lesser the outlets, lesser the business. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to survive. For the kind of land cost they own, the return is not much, so they are right in giving away the cinemas.
Siraj: I have raised this issue many times, even with ministers, that the kind of incentives that were given to multiplexes should have been given to single screen cinemas also…
Anil: I believe there is a law that the cinema owners cannot sell off their cinemas, which is unfair. They should have the right to sell off their property, just as a person who owns his residence or office has the right to do what he wants with it.
Siraj: One single multiplex owner owns more than 900 screens and has entered into an MoU with the next big player. That leaves no real competition in the multiplex players field at all. Is this going to the trend and no small players will be able to survive?
Anil: Let’s look at the producer-distributor scenario. If there are 10 distributors and 100 producers in the market, they all co-exist. It is up to the small chain-holders to decide whether they want to merge with the big chains or not. It depends on them.
Siraj: You don’t even need to deal with the small chains, just deal with the big two…
Anil: Of course you need to deal with them. So many of them generate good revenue. Today, if you have a Sterling in South Bombay, it collects very well. Even though there are two INOX multiplexes not far from there—INOX Nariman Point and INOX Metro—Sterling collects good money. There are a lot of cinemas like that.
Siraj: India produces about 2,000 films per year, but studies show that only 700-800 are actually released. They either wait for satellite and OTT rights or never see the light of day. What are your thoughts on this situation and what can be done to help them get distributed?
Anil: Every film does not deserve to get released. If there is no face value, no production cost…I am just making a film because I want to produce a film or be associated with this industry…I mean how do you expect? It has to be attractive for the audience to come in and see the film. If I am making a film which cannot attract audiences, how can I release the film? It is a wasted effort. So many films should not even be made. If the sensibility does not match with the sensibility of the audience, it is in any case a wasted effort. So you need a certain backing, you need a certain cast, you need a certain set-up for it to come out. But if these things are lacking, how do you release those films?
Siraj: Your take on this is that these films are lacking in the above departments, therefore…
Anil: Or the subject matter.
Siraj: What about borderline cases, where you feel that it is not a sure shot, but has some merits? Do you take a risk?
Anil: I have released many such films. If I see them and I like them…I know I am swimming against the tide, but I like to take it forward. I have released so many such films.
Siraj: Any examples?
Anil: Earlier, dubbed films that I distributed were risky films, because they were not in Hindi, and only dubbed in Hindi. Then there was a Masaan. I wanted to get associated with it. Then there was Waiting, with Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin. I just wanted to do it. Two other examples are Fukrey and Dirty Picture. Nobody thought Dirty Picture would do the kind of business it did.
(Incidentally, Anil Thadani has just released a feature length documentary on a tiger, called Tiger 24).
(This is the third and concluding part)
(This interview was possible thanks to the charming, ever-helpful, Raveena Tandon, Mrs. Anil Thadani)
New Year’s Special: Distributor Anil Thadani
Well it’s been a while, but I’ve finally got some more info and spoilers for you on Zach’s season. For those who haven’t been following, this may be your first introduction to any spoilers this season. Back on Nov. 15th, I posted all the spoilers I knew up to the final 3 in Zach’s season, and you can find those right here. If at any point you want to refer back to them, on desktop, just go to the top of the page, click the “Spoilers” tab, and the drop down list brings you to “Bachelor Zach’s Spoilers,” and that column will appear. On mobile, just click the tab “Zach’s Spoilers.” Today is an addendum to the things I posted on Nov. 15th. Some new news and spoilers from Night 1, from their time in LA, and also from when they travel overseas. Some of them aren’t complete details yet, but things I know happened, so, I suggest waiting til certain things play out to see exactly how they’re shown. Regardless, at no point should any information mean you should verbally attack any contestant in their DM’s or on any of their social media platforms. Watch the show, have a laugh, but nobody’s behavior or anything they say or do should bring you to that level of hatred for them to where you should feel the need to attack them on their personal pages. That’s pathetic. I know I say it every season, and I’m going to continue to say it, even though it usually falls on deaf ears. As you’ll see below, I don’t have details on a couple major new spoilers, so lets just hold off on pre-judging.
Everything you see written below has been added to the spoilers post from Nov. 15th and is in today’s Daily Roundup, which you can listen to here:
More Night 1 Info & Spoilers
-Christina I had mentioned arrived on a party bus for her limo entrance. After everyone was inside and the mingling began, Zach went out to the party bus with a group of girls and at one point was pouring champagne into Greer’s mouth. And also spilled champagne on someone’s dress. Can’t remember who.
-Lekha stopped the first rose ceremony in the middle of it to tell Zach she tried to talk to him the entire night, and that producers kept reassuring her she would and that the rose ceremony would not take place until Zach got to talk to every girl first. Well that didn’t happen because Lekha and others never got to talk to him night 1. This is common for night 1, so nothing new here. But will it get shown? Probably not because Lekha calls out production when she stopped down the rose ceremony, and I can’t imagine they show that. And oh yeah, out of the limo, Lekha licked Zach’s ear. Not sure why or how it went over, but, she didn’t get a rose night 1.
-Madison was the first to pull Zach aside and interrupted him numerous times during night 1. Zach ended up sending her home because she was interrupting too much, although, I’ve already seen online I’m assuming people from her camp saying she eliminated herself because she wasn’t feeling it with Zach. It’ll probably get shown that Zach is the one that sends her away before the rose ceremony.
More Info & Spoilers from Episodes 2 & 3
-Christina is the girl in the previews who you see sleeping on the stairs of the mansion because she drank too much. She even referenced this on a TikTok after the previews came out, but in case you missed it, that’s her on the steps. She apparently drank quite a bit night one and, well, the rest of the time she was there. Her sleeping on the steps happens in episode 3 during the pool party.
-Hate labeling people “villains” on this show since Toxic Bachelor Nation then feels the need to tell them to go kill themselves and writes horrible things on their IG. Not to mention, there’s levels of villainy on this show, so not everyone is the same. In the first 3 episodes, Christina and her behavior is going to get the most attention. We know she got the first 1-on-1 of the season in episode 2, then was eliminated at the 3rd rose ceremony. So that kinda goes to show Zach wasn’t too thrilled with her behavior.
The third rose ceremony cocktail party was cancelled in favor of a pool party earlier in the day, something they’ve done many times before. Apparently Christina is the ring leader in regards to Brianna and her self-eliminating. Christina was the one who I guess was sort of the instigator and telling Brianna that the first impression rose she got was from America (at the live ATFR), and not from Zach. It all escalated at the pool party and this is when Brianna ends up quitting. This doesn’t mean people need to call Christina names or call her a terrible mother on her IG, like some have already done. But yeah, Christina is going to have a rough three episodes on the show.
-Kind of a major storyline, or not at all because I don’t know the details behind it. What I do know is that while they are still at the mansion, Gabi is seen reading Game of Roses “How to Win the Bachelor” book. I know that’s going to lead to a slew of questions. I don’t have any answers. I don’t know if this is a big deal. I don’t know if the other women even cared. I don’t even know if it’s going to make air. Would be kinda weird for this show to promote Game of Roses book since it basically unmasks the fantasy of the show that people like to watch for. We know Gabi is at least final 3, so yeah, I’m sure some people who now hear this might change their opinion of Gabi since she’s reading a book about “winning” the show. I have no idea what it means, if anything. Could she be reading the book and still be interested in finding love? Sure. Could she be reading it and this whole thing was a game to her? Absolutely. We just don’t know yet until it plays out – if it even does. I just know it happened in the mansion, and I guess we’ll see how it’s handled on TV. I have no opinion on Gabi either way before I heard the news and after. I just don’t have enough info right now, so I hope others treat it the same. I did talk to Chad last week to give him a heads up of what I’d heard (he hadn’t heard anything about it), so I’m guessing they will address it at some point this week on their podcast.
More Info & Spoilers from Overseas:
-There is something that happens in London that kinda changes the landscape of the show. Problem is, I don’t know any details behind it. If I did, I’d tell you. All I can pass on is what I was told. I was told this is something production had zero control over and they were scrambling to figure out what to do. It wasn’t bad, but it was unplanned and it had a significant impact on the production of the show.
For example, Gabi got the first 1-on-1 date in London, and then whatever this thing is that happened, basically ended all other dates in London. There was no group date, nor was there another 1-on-1. So Gabi is the only one who has a date of the 11 women that go to London. It’s 5 episodes in, so hopefully by the time we get to the London episode, I will have heard more. But that’s all I was told up to this point. If/when I hear more, I’ll let you know.
-Mercedes was eliminated in London. Apparently she got food poisoning there. Now, I don’t know if that was the reason she was eliminated in London. I just know that’s when she’s sent home and she happened to get food poisoning while she was there.
-In the spoilers originally, I had Charity with the first 1 on 1 in Estonia, which we know because I posted pictures and videos of it that day. Then there was a group date, but I had a ??? for second 1 on 1 in Estonia. That second 1 on 1 went to Ariel.
-We know Christina is going to be a polarizing figure in the first three episodes. In the back half of the season, that role will pretty much be taken over by Brooklyn. Just heard she was a pot stirrer and was in the middle of a lot of drama. We know she gets to episode #7 and is eliminated on her 1-on-1 date. But from all I’ve been told, just liked to instigate things that seemingly would keep her on TV. Again, this doesn’t mean name calling and sending threats to her IG are acceptable. It shouldn’t be for any of these women. Just watch the show and lets see how it plays out.
-So whatever it is that happens in London and sets the tone for the rest of the season, that’s apparently the reason why trying to figure out who gets sent home in Estonia & Budapest is off. It’s nothing like someone leaves and returns. I was told it WASN’T that. But that it’s something the show hasn’t dealt with before and didn’t see coming. That’s all I got on it. Wish I had more. But hopefully I will before the London episode takes place.
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is RealitySteve, or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you tomorrow.
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As a director, Justin Chon has long trafficked in stories about fractured families in heightened situations. “Gook” was about a pair of brothers running their father’s shoe store in the aftermath of his death and in the shadow of the Los Angeles riots. “Ms. Purple” followed estranged siblings trying to make amends with their father before his death. “Blue Bayou” cast Chon himself as an immigrant father attempting to stay in the U.S. while the government tries to toss him out.
Fathers, children, and terrible outside forces are also at play in his fifth feature film, “Jamojaya,” which continues Chon’s traditional obsessions but wraps them in a shallow story filled with predictable problems, obvious baddies, and trite lessons. In expanding his viewpoint beyond his typically smaller-scale stories — both in terms of the film’s general plot, which follows a rising young rapper who learns (gasp) that the music industry is bad, and in attempting new filmmaking techniques to match it, like a new bent toward hand-held camerawork — Chon unfortunately still turns in his emotionally and narratively thinnest feature to date.
It starts strong enough: rising young rapper James (played by an actual rising young rapper, viral star Brian “Rich Brian” Imanuel) and his father (a heartbreaking Yayu A.W. Unru), who also serves as his manager, are appearing on a local Indonesian chat show. The topic is James’ career, which is about to take him to Hawaii to record his first actual album, but which also necessitates him “parting ways” with his father, at least in a professional capacity. This comes as a surprise to his dad who, despite a lack of knowledge of the music world and a serious aversion to traveling (the reason of which is hinted at, and then later explained in one of the film’s most compelling twists), seemed to assume he would always be guiding his youngest son. Not so.
Chon then introduces, via an animated sequence, the story of the eponymous Jamojaya, an Indonesian folk tale about a poisoned prince who turns into a banyan tree, and whose family struggles to contemplate the mystery and meaning of his new form. It’s a stirring allegory that will both guide and further pull apart James and his father during a particularly fraught time in both of their lives.
When James sets out for Hawaii, he’s shocked to find his father hot on his tail, eager to assist (even literally; at one point the older man downgrades himself to James’ assistant, ordering lunches for annoying hangers-on who clearly don’t care about either of them) his son as he attempts to break into the music world. The cliches run rampant: the always-welcome Kate Lyn Shiel appears as James’ new and predictably bitchy manager, Anthony Kiedis (!!) is on deck as a music video director who only cares about his own vision, and “Lost” alum Henry Ian Cusick is the label owner who is as evil as he is thinly drawn.
Much of the action unfolds nearly as vignettes, which seem meant to hammer home the disconnection between father and son in the most obvious of ways, while every discussion either involves screaming fights or oft-repeated platitudes. Odd pops of humor distract (please don’t cast the wonderfully funny Kyle Mooney in a brief role and expect audiences not to titter), enough to detract from Imanuel and Unru’s work, which is finely tuned even in the moments in which “Jamojaya” as a whole is not.
Similarly obscured by Chon and Maegan Houang’s original screenplay: filmmaking techniques that provide scattered but serious moments of beauty and innovation, lifting a film that too often feels mired in cliches. Did you know that the music industry is filled with art-destroying vultures? That grief is messy? That familial secrets can harm? All this and more (if more means “weirdly, the most gorgeously lensed segment requires us to watch James’ father debase himself with copious amounts of molly while getting a lap-dance at a seedy strip club and Billie Eilish’s ‘Ocean Eyes’ plays over the entire, horrifying affair”), and somehow also, less.
“Jamojaya” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.
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Sundance: Chon's latest offers moments of beauty
Do not deny a girl her resentment. “Me diste la ilusión/De quedarme a tu vera” (“You gave me the illusion/Of staying by your side”), accuses the Barcelona-born, Brooklyn-based experimental pop artist NOIA on her single “Eclipse de Amor,” her sharp and airy falsetto piercing through curls of percussion. Buscabulla vocalist Raquel Berrios echoes NOIA’s slow, embittered tone, but there’s deeper sadness underneath; her voice is as soft as charmeuse, but forlorn and tattered, like a hand-me-down dress.
NOIA and Buscabulla aren’t concerned with simply mirroring the architecture of a grief-stricken bolero; here, they reimagine it altogether. “Eclipse de Amor” shines thanks to its unexpected production flourishes: Over the bolero percussion, an incandescent synth line from Buscabulla’s Luis Alfredo Del Valle flickers like a loose lightbulb, and in the outro, there is the whistle of Puerto Rico’s beloved coquí frogs. (The sounds appeared in the background when Berrios recorded herself one night in Puerto Rico and are now artfully amplified by NOIA.) Then a jagged dembow riddim punctures the track, and NOIA’s chopped-up vocals glitch at a steady pace, blasting reggaeton and bolero into a Caribbean timewarp. In the collision, NOIA beautifully captures the depth of romantic sorrow.
Do not deny a girl her resentment.
(Image: Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook: How Writers Turn Ideas Into Stories).
Photograph by: Hannah Taylor.
*Many thanks to Save the Cat for sending me the Beat Sheet Workbook for the purpose of this review. All views are my own.*
Save the Cat! needs no introduction but here is one anyway. Every Screenwriter and Filmmaker knows its name and the infamous ‘saving the cat’ logo. Save the Cat! was first released in 2005 by Screenwriter Blake Snyder with its booming popularity in the industry and now heralded as one of the most popular screenwriting books, the franchise has grown ever since and there are no plans of stopping.
As a big fan of the Save the Cat! brand, I’m not biased, just excited for each new release – and the newest Workbook adds to this feeling. If you’re like me, back when Save the Cat! (STC!) offered their Black Friday deals on some of their ebooks back in November, you grabbed them in no time. I now have some of the titles – STC! Strikes Back, STC! Blake Blogs and STC! Goes to the Indies on Kindle to read whenever and wherever. These are also great additions to read alongside the beloved original STC! book.
One of my favourite Screenwriting books is STC! Writes for TV by Screenwriter Jamie Nash. (Quite a difficult book to get in the UK, mainly because it sells out all the time but it is definitely worth the purchase). This new Beat Sheet Workbook is also written by Jamie Nash. If you were lucky enough to see Jamie talking through the Workbook live, like me you will already have some knowledge on what to expect. You can always catch up on the webinar via Save the Cat’s Official Youtube Channel and see Jamie talking through the Beat Sheet Workbook.
The front cover displays a clever and innovative twist on the classic Save the Cat! logo with a sketchbook-type design. This serves to showcase its ‘Workbook version’ of the original STC! book. It is also positive to note the book is printed in the same cover and material as the original Blake Snyder release (but this time in a much bigger size) to act as a perfect partnering companion. As the title suggests, this Workbook focuses on beating out the STC! 15 beats whilst also targeting ‘How Writers Turn Ideas Into Stories.’
(Image: L-R: STC! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005), STC! Beat Sheet Workbook (2023) and STC! Writes for TV (2021). Photograph by: Hannah Taylor.
The Save the Cat! Series, now a nine-book collection – Blake Synder (5), Jessica Brody (2) and Jamie Nash (2), takes a completely different style and approach with its latest Beat Sheet Workbook edition. The first and only Workbook in the collection – it demands an active creativity in its reader/writer. Prepare to take on two roles with this Workbook experience as a reader and writer. Make sure to read along, write ideas and let the activities guide you through the process of idea generation and working the story through the 15 STC! Beat Sheet points. Read as you write.
In a recent review on the Workbook, one comment stated it was filled with lots of questions and information you can find in the other STC! books. But the reader is really missing the point of this Workbook. Expect to be an active participant. Expect to work through ideas. Expect to be creative and face the challenge of writing.
Afterall, it is not a Screenwriting book but a Screenwriting Workbook. If the reader turns up unwilling to journal their thoughts and ideas, then they are not a Screenwriter, they are just a reader. It’s easy to get stuck in the cycle of just reading Screenwriting books but it is the doing that counts. It is about getting the right balance between being an active reader and an active writer.
The Beat Sheet Workbook expects the reader already has an accumulated knowledge behind the STC! Beat sheet from the original Blake Snyder book. Expect to work through the activities – starting from journaling about yourself to capturing a variety of ideas in different genres and tones to then deciding on one idea. Then expect to work through the 15 STC! Beats, following one of the STC! Stories (Buddy Love Story etc.)
The Workbook’s introductory activities ask the writer to ‘Unlock Your Story.’ This involves drawing fan art, doodling and providing space to tell your story. This is an important stage, if not the most important as it is a place for unlocking creativity because it asks the writer ‘who they are?’ before delving into idea generation.
This concept of journaling before beginning the idea process allows for the writer to provide their personal story and serves as a reminder to include part of themselves in their story ideas. It’s about exploring what makes the stories personal to the writer and why they are the right person and the only storyteller that can tell the story.
It then asks the reader/writer to ‘rip these pages out’ and ‘tear them to shreds.’ This is fine for those who find ripping pages out of books acceptable but this was not for me. Which is also fine because it means these pages can be revisited at any time. (No matter how painful the ‘sad memories’ pages can be to re-read). But it is completely up to the reader/writer and either way is suitable depending on their views, and how they wish to use the pages.
I found the ‘Story Ideas’ section explored the most creative activities in the Workbook. In fact, the activities are so creative that after writing a few ideas for the ‘Horrible Ideas List’, the more ideas added to the list, the more they turned into good ideas (by accident) that I could actually use.
My favourite activity from the Workbook was the ‘Faves with a Twist’ task, which explored the idea of turning your favourite films into a different genre. This saw me turning Jeepers Creepers into a Comedy, 2 Broke Girls into a Horror movie and Peter Pan: Live-action into a story of ‘10 Years Later’, which is an ironic twist on the Peter Pan story for a boy ‘who never grows up.’ This was a great task in delving into different genres and even forces the writer to explore genres they might not necessarily be attracted to and pushes their creative boundaries and limitations. It also involves cutting and pasting into a table but of course it is not a necessity and involves re-writing the film titles in the table instead.
The ‘More Franken-stories’ was also a great task. This involves combining films together or changing film titles and writing story descriptions for these ‘new’ films. This provides both weird and quirky story results and is something you might not have otherwise explored. The rest of the section travels into more idea possibilities, ranging from story starter games to brainstorming the world of the story.
(Image: Journaling Ideas from a List of Character Traits)
Photograph by: Hannah Taylor.
The next section explores answering story questions based on the final idea chosen. This then provides a very helpful table to say which section your story focuses on, whether that be the Rites of Passage story or the Monster in the House story. The chapter then breaks down pointers to help guide the idea into the right story and provides reminders of what the specific story should include.
This chapter helps the writer understand the strength of their story and its elements from the characters and the plot to themes and obstacles. It also provides popular cinematic examples to help figure out which hero is best suited to the story.
A section aimed at exploring the story DNA from the hero and their goal to their obstacles and what is at stake. It then delves into how to develop the story catalyst to focus more on the business of Screenwriting, ranging from the elements that create the Elevator Pitch to the tone the writer wishes to convey in their story.
This subject is a really creative exploration on character development. Activities range from star castings, to the hero traits and their shadows and flaws to the hero’s wants and needs. The rest of the chapter explores creating more character profiles, drawing a movie poster and much more…
The last section recaps the important 15 STC! beats and details a step-by-step guide on how to develop the story through each beat. At the end, each story beat has its own dedicated page to completely ‘beat out’ the full story.
It is interesting to note how Save the Cat’s Workbook version differs from the other Screenwriting Workbooks available.
(Image: L-R: Syd Field’s The Screenwriter’s Workbook and Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook by Jamie Nash.) Photograph by: Hannah Taylor.
Save the Cat’s Beat Sheet Workbook takes a very different approach to Syd Field’s The Screenwriter’s Workbook. One major difference is how Syd Field’s Workbook reads more like an instructional guide. Field discusses different aspects of Screenwriting to focus on with activities to complete at the end of every chapter. This workbook consists of a list of questions for the reader to then work through in their own separate notebook. There is not enough space and nor does it provide any to freely doodle or write any thoughts, ideas or suggestions.
In comparison to STC! Jamie Nash guides the reader through the process of idea creation and generation. There is no reading through a chapter and waiting for the exercise. Here, there is enough room to write thoughts and ideas. It provides space for creativity. In many places the exercises made me want to continue and it is easy to get carried away within the Workbook’s creative space.
The two Workbooks could not be more different. In one way, Syd Field’s Workbook provides a jumping off point, from reading his knowledge and wisdom on a particular area or topic of screenwriting, to then handing the reins over to the reader. In another way, Save the Cat’s Workbook does not stop allowing the reader to be creative. There is a much bigger focus on the writer and their ideas. These are two very different approaches to a Workbook style publication.
Syd Field’s Workbook is more prescriptive in its approach, reading more like a book with additional questions to spark discussions and further ideas. Yet STC! Workbook works through the ideas with the reader/writer in an interactive way. The reader becomes an active participant in generating ideas and it provides creative freedom to doodle, write and draw thoughts, ideas or anything that comes to mind when working through the process.
I prefer the ‘journalistic’ style of STC! Workbook. It keeps the engine of the creative brain running and at no point throughout the process did I feel uncreative, uninspired or feel like putting the pen down. The Workbook can undoubtedly suit any writer no matter their writing style or preference. There is enough room to adapt the exercises to how the writer works or how they wish to tell their stories. Stories are written in plural because with this Workbook the writer should expect to generate multiple story ideas.
One thing I would say is perhaps missing from the STC! Workbook is how the word ‘Journal’ is not present across the cover, inside the book or within its marketing. Although marketed as simply a ‘Workbook’ (and it has also been described as an interactive Workbook), it offers much more. It works better as a ‘Journal Workbook’. In the introductory stages, it explores the writer’s inner feelings – journaling and exploring what makes them motivated and their interests to what infuriates them. This is an important step because it reminds the writer why they write and delves into the real reasons behind their story motivations.
Save the Cat’s Workbook is not a generic Screenwriting Workbook in the sense it offers a unique approach for the writer to journal and work through their ideas. Many activities in the Workbook provide quirky outcomes just like my story of turning Jeepers Creepers into a Comedy – something I would never think about writing otherwise. It helps form multiple ideas and guides the reader/writer into exploring different genres and serves as a great reminder to go beyond the creative limits. The more effort you put into the tasks, the more you will get out of this book.
The Workbook offers something new and different to the already inundated market of Screenwriting books. It is about generating ideas as much as it is about having fun with the process. If you are a writer like me and you cannot stop writing, then having a space to journal all the thoughts and ideas in one place, may help organise your screenwriting brain.
(Image: The three best: L-R: Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook by Jamie Nash and Save the Cat! Writes For TV by Jamie Nash).
Photograph by: Hannah Taylor.
Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook is released 25th January 2023 in the UK.
Pre-order now from Amazon and Waterstones.
Check out examples of Beat Sheet analyses on the STC! Blog.
Also available to purchase is STC! Software, Books, Story Cards, Classes and more here.
Follow STC! On Instagram and YouTube and Jamie Nash on Twitter.
Hannah is an English graduate and freelance writer. She enjoys writing short stories, fiction, screenplays, and blog posts. Her favourite category of films is the Horror genre, and you’ll always find her reading.
(Image: Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook:
This is the shocking moment a brave woman forced a car to stop after the driver dragged a terrified donkey along a road in Ireland.
Distressing footage shows the white donkey, with a rope tied tightly around its mouth and attached to the back of the car, being pulled along the road by the driver in Edenderry, County Offaly.
The animal was finally rescued after a heroine, an animal welfare volunteer who witnessed the shocking incident, screamed at the driver to stop the car.
Video, filmed by the witness who was walking behind the car, shows the donkey helplessly being dragged along the grass verge next to a main road.
Distressing footage shows the white donkey, with a rope tied tightly around its mouth and attached to the back of the car, being pulled along the road by the driver in Edenderry, County Offaly
Video, filmed by the witness who was walking behind the car, shows the donkey helplessly being dragged along the grass verge next to a main road
The donkey, which is unable to escape as the rope is tied tightly around its mouth and ears and attached to the car’s bumper, is seen hobbling along as it struggles to keep up with the vehicle
At one point, the donkey slips on the icy grass and struggles to keep upright as the woman, a volunteer with charity My Lovely Horse Rescue, screams at the driver: ‘F***ing stop, what’s wrong with you?’
The donkey, which is unable to escape as the rope is tied tightly around its mouth and ears and attached to the car’s bumper, is seen hobbling along as it struggles to keep up with the vehicle.
The heroine can be heard screaming ‘stop’ as the donkey loses its footing again, its back legs skidding across the icy pavement as it is dragged along by the driver.
The terrified donkey can be heard neighing as it struggles to keep up with the car.
The animal, its head outstretched and legs buckling under the force of the car, helplessly tries to escape from the rope’s snare by sticking its hooves into the ground but is unable to get enough grip.
At this point, the woman can be heard screaming at the driver: ‘F***ing stop, just stop!’
Finally, after nearly a minute of filming, the car finally comes to a halt and the heroine can be heard breathing heavily as she checks on the donkey’s condition.
At one point, the donkey slips on the icy grass and struggles to keep upright as the woman, a volunteer with charity My Lovely Horse Rescue, screams at the driver: ‘F***ing stop, what’s wrong with you?
Finally, after nearly a minute of filming, the car finally comes to a halt and the heroine can be heard breathing heavily as she checks on the donkey’s condition. The donkey, its eyes wide with fear, can be seen standing stock still as it drags its heels in for fear of the car starting again.
The video was shared on social media and local Garda have since seized the donkey as well as six others with the help of the My Lovely Horse Rescue organisation. The charity condemned the incident as an ‘awful act of cruelty’ as they shared a photograph of the white donkey safely inside a trailer (pictured)
The donkey, its eyes wide with fear, can be seen standing still as it drags its heels in for fear of the car starting again.
The video was shared on social media and local Garda have since seized the donkey as well as six others with the help of the My Lovely Horse Rescue organisation.
The charity condemned the incident as an ‘awful act of cruelty’ as they shared a photograph of the white donkey safely inside a trailer.
A Garda spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘An Garda Síochána is aware of footage in circulation involving an animal in Edenderry, Co. Offaly.
‘While we do not comment on its contents, An Garda Síochána are currently investigating an incident under the Animal Health and Welfare Act. The animal has been checked over by Gardaí and is being recovered with their assistance.
‘An Garda Síochána take all matters of animal welfare and the criminality linked to it very seriously. We ask that any incident is reported to a local Garda Station where a complaint will be logged and fully investigated.’
The Edenderry Garda has asked witnesses to contact Tullamore Garda Station on 057 932 7600.
This is the shocking moment a brave
The Berlin Film Festival unveiled the titles selected for its official competition as well as its sidebar Encounters competitive section this morning. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The festival takes place February 16 to 26.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, Berlinale Special, Berlinale Series, and the youth-focused Generation.
As previously announced, Kristen Stewart will lead this year’s International Jury, and Rebecca Miller’s latest film She Came to Me, starring Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig, Brian d’Arcy James, and Anne Hathaway, will open the festival. The film will screen as a Berlinale Special Gala at the Berlinale Palast.
Other headline Berlin premieres include Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv’s latest pic Golda, starring Helen Mirren, Camille Cottin, and Liev Schreiber. The film follows the intensely dramatic and high-stakes responsibilities and decisions that Golda Meir, former Israeli prime minister, faced during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Mirren stars as Meir. Jane Hooks and Michael Kuhn are producers on the pic. Embankment is handling sales.
Steven Spielberg will be this year’s headline guest as he heads to Berlin to be feted with the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement. He will also screen his latest awards contender, The Fabelmans.
Check out the full lineup below:
Competition
Encounters
The Berlin Film Festival unveiled the titles
So you think it takes a village to raise a child? Well, Georgie (Lola Campbell) would like a word. The 12-year-old protagonist of Charlotte Regan’s lovely British drama “Scrapper” is pretty sure she can raise herself, thanks.
She proves it too, for a while. Though her beloved mum’s recent death has left her reeling, she’s dealing with her grief by taking the only approach possible: shut down practicality. She still runs the house just as her mother did — cleaning, getting ready for school, and paying bills.
Of course, she has to steal and resell bikes with her best friend Ali (Alin Uzun) to pay those bills, and she relies on the disinterest of social services to keep living alone in her small council flat. For the most part, she’s right that very few adults care enough to confirm her safety, but there was one adult who did: her mother, who reached out in desperation to Georgie’s long-gone dad, Jason (Harris Dickinson).
The pair split up as teens and he’s still a lost and overgrown adolescent at 30. But he figures he should at least check in on Georgie, if only to make sure she’s got enough food and money to keep her going for a while.
What happens next isn’t any great surprise: these two lost souls are actually soulmates, with the potential to grow past their internalized pain and confusion. But Regan, who also wrote the script, has so much empathy for them that she convinces us their story needs to be told.
She’s got great skill as a director, drawing us into two small lives so deftly that, in the moment, they’re all that matters. She lays out their features and flaws in a way that keeps us on a see-saw of worry and hope; will their almost comically evident similarities help or hurt them?
The story is familiar enough that it requires unerring lead performances, and though Regan has done an outstanding job working with her actors, credit must also go to casting director Shaheen Baig. Anyone who saw Dickinson as a preening model in “Triangle of Sadness” will be stunned that the rough-edged, painfully uncertain Jason is played by the same person. And Campbell, making a remarkable acting debut, is a truly rare find. Somehow she carries both Georgie’s burdens and most of the film on her slim shoulders, never once wavering into a false note.
Cinematographer Molly Manning Walker deepens the emotion by keeping the camera tight on our two heroes, while Billy Sneddon’s snappy editing offers essential tonal balance.
This is an immensely impressive feature launch for Regan, after a successful career making acclaimed music videos, but where “Scrapper” does falter is in her occasional hesitancy — there are times when she doesn’t fully trust the quietly beautiful premise she’s built. Because we believe wholeheartedly in Georgie and Jason, exaggerated caricatures of uncaring teachers (“Doesn’t take a whole day to grieve. Take a morning off. Get over it.”) or social workers (who cheerfully chat with Georgie’s nonexistent “uncle,” Winston Churchill) are dissonant distractions. There’s a place at Sundance for quirky characters like these, but “Scrapper” isn’t a festival movie; it’s a movie that happens to have premiered at a festival.
Speaking of which, Regan will surely have noticed the embrace of Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” which has ridden a wave of critical adoration since its premiere at Cannes and is also about the bond between a troubled father and his tween daughter. Though the two films have much in common, it would be a shame for them to be compared, since the awards glow of “Aftersun” could easily overshadow the, well, scrappier “Scrapper.”
Fortunately, anyone who sees the latter is likely to become a loyal booster, which may help Georgie (and Regan) get the attention they deserve. For intimate indie films hoping to stand out in the crowd, it takes a village.
“Scrapper” makes its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
So you think it takes a village
The Deadline Studio at Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-23 at Hotel Park City, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Park City.
SWEATSHOP GIRL
Section: Shorts Film Program
Director: Selma Cervantes
Logline: Inés works as a seamstress in a sweatshop where pregnancy tests are periodically administered. When she becomes pregnant, she is sure that her condition will get her fired. She does everything she can to keep it a secret.
Panelists: Selma Cervantes (director, producer, writer), Bruno Gaeta (director of photography), Iván Lopto (sound designer, composer), Daniel Lopto (sound designer, composer)
First Screening: January 19, 5:00 p.m MST, Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Key Quote: Director Selma Cervantes on casting Oscar-nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio in Sweatshop Girl: “I always ask myself the same question. I’m like, ‘How did we get so lucky?’ We had this idea of… it would be great if we had her. We didn’t believe it when she said yes. So, we just sent her the script and then we had to wait for like a month and she said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’ From her performance in Roma you can tell she’s very vulnerable, so I thought maybe we can do something in the same path.”
Click above to watch the panel video, and track all of our Deadline Studio content here.
RELATED: Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Winners Through The Years – Photo Gallery
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival takes place from January 19-29. Follow Deadline’s complete coverage of the deals and the doings in Park City here.
The Deadline Studio at Sundance Film Festival
EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4’s More 4 is to probe the history of royal scandals in Britain following a year in which the nation’s most famous family has generated many a headline.
In The Royals: A History of Scandals, historian Suzannah Lipscomb will speak to experts to reveal some famous royal scandals, and many lesser-known ones. Set in historical houses and palaces, the historians will share the role the press, parliament and public have played in generating outrage and spreading rumors across the centuries.
The show comes as interest in royal scandals across the nation is at an all time high. Prince Andrew’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein hit headlines in a big way last year and the controversy around Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s move to LA has dominated news coverage for weeks following a documentary and book from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Netflix’s The Crown has also attracted multiple controversies.
Channel 4 Commissioning Editor Kate Thomas said The Royals: A History of Scandals will be a “real treat for history fans.”
“The wonderful Suzannah Lipscomb takes us on a shocking and salacious journey through the biggest scandals that have rocked the royal family through the centuries,” she added.
British indie Hello Mary is producing, with Clare Hollywood and Steve Regan EPing the series. Thomas commissioned with Jo Street and Mark Ball is series producer.
EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4’s More 4 is to
Last Updated: January 23, 2023, 15:02 IST
Emboldened with these compliments, Prajakta made up her mind to go for the auditions.
Starting her career as a dance artist at the Lalit Kala Kendra, then making her debut in the film industry with a cameo and eventually becoming a prominent Marathi actress, Prajakta Mali has come a long way. The Marathi diva is hands down a deadly combination of finesse, versatility, and talent. Fans always wanted to know how the diva, who was so much involved in dancing, especially Bharatnatyam since class 7 started to act.
Prajakta came across her offer of the first Marathi film in Lalit Kala Kendra only where one of the artists there was scouting for a refreshing and vibrant face to play Asawari Joshi’s youth age character in Tandala – Ek Mukhavata. In an interview with a portal, Prajakta described that when this boy saw her, he said that she closely resembled Asawari Joshi’s youth. He asked her to take a plunge and go for the auditions. After just having a look at Prajakta’s face, he believed that the casting director will finalise her.
Emboldened with these compliments, Prajakta made up her mind to go for the auditions. The casting director there closely observed her face and asked whether she could come for the auditions next week. The Kho- Kho actress said that she has to attend her college next week but she can bunk it and give the auditions a shot. When Prajakta arrived at the audition spot the other week, she was surprised to see her name being selected for the role even without the auditions. The Party actress was surprised that the casting director didn’t even think of asking her name. They were so convinced that no one bothered to go into such minute details.
Initially, Prajakta was extremely happy as she bagged the role in a Marathi film but her thoughts about it changed soon. She realised that it was not a full-fledged but just a cameo where Asawari remembers her marriage in a flashback. Despite that, she portrayed the role with utmost perfection and soon got more acting offers and the chance for a radio programme as well.
Read all the Latest Movies News here
Last Updated: January 23, 2023, 15:02 ISTEmboldened
It’s finally 2023, folks. And that means New Year’s resolutions, new celebs to obsess over, and — of course — new things to stream on Netflix.
In the spirit of the new year, Netflix just shared all the new original movies they plan on releasing this year…so far.
9.
Luther: The Fallen Sun
10.
The Magician’s Elephant
12.
A Tourist’s Guide to Love
18.
Happiness for Beginners
28.
Leave the World Behind
40.
Untitled Wes Anderson/Roald Dahl Film
44.
Best. Christmas. Ever!
46.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Which movie are you most excited for? Tell us in the comments below!
The Boy (Logan Pierce)
Dies: Season 1, Episode 1
How does The Boy die in “The Last of Us”?
This unnamed character stumbles into the Boston quarantine zone. Alone and malnourished, he’s bound and questioned by FEDRA soldiers, who promise him food and shelter. They run a test on him which turns red, indicating he’s infected. He dies off-screen, and a woman and Joel are responsible for dumping his body into a pyre. The woman says she can’t bring herself to toss the child into the fire, so Joel does it for her. The Boy plays a minor role, but he establishes that FEDRA has the means to detect infection. (Viewers later see that Ellie also scans red.)
The Boy (Logan Pierce) Dies: Season 1, Episode
In case you’re keeping score at home, we’re only two episodes in, and we’ve already got a The Last of Us body count started. Joel: 0, the Mushrooms From Hell: 1.
Tess sacrifices herself in this week’s hour, in a bid to give Joel and Ellie a fighting chance of making it out of the State House alive after a horde of infected swarm the place. Let’s recap Episode 2’s highlights.
‘BOMB THIS CITY’ | This week’s episode starts in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 24, 2003 — two days before everything went sideways in the United States, as we witnessed in the premiere. A mycology professor (aka someone who studies fungi) is brought to a lab to examine a specimen; she identifies it as Ophiocordiceps but scoffs when told it was taken from a human, because the fungi is not supposed to be able to survive in people. She dons a hazmat suit and goes to see the dead woman from whom the specimen was collected. The corpse has a bullet hole in its head and a (human) bite on its leg; when the professor slices into the wound, spongy material starts to extrude from it. What’s worse: In the cadaver’s mouth, there are thready tentacle-type structures that move of their own accord.
The professor is horrified, then mystified when she learns that the bite happened 30 hours before at a flour and grain factory in the city. The bitten woman suddenly turned violent and bit three of her workers; all of them had to be killed. The original biter is on the loose, and 14 people are missing. The military asks the professor for help making a vaccine or medicine to treat the infected. She’s very grave as she informs them that there’s nothing they can do but “bomb. Bomb this city and everyone in it.” She starts crying, then asks for someone to drive her home so she can be with her family.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU | In Boston, as Joel, Tess and Ellie rest a bit, Joel gives the teen the stinkeye. He’s convinced she’s going to wind up full-blown infected, sooner or later. Tess talks him out of returning her to the QZ, where they’ll just scan and kill her, but she also demands to know what Ellie was doing with Marlene and why she’s so important. Reluctantly, Ellie tells them that she’s bound for a Firefly basecamp somewhere out West, where doctors are working on a cure. Joel thinks this is a load of hooey, but Tess says it doesn’t matter: If they get her where she’s headed, “we get what we want.” He grumpily agrees. Ellie starts twitching, pretending to be infected, before Tess shuts down her shenanigans. I LIKE this kid!
The trio picks its way through the ruins of Boston, which was bombed in an attempt to stem the outbreak; apparently it was more effective there than in many other big cities. As they climb over cars and such, Ellie tells her traveling companions how old she is (14) and how she got bit (she snuck into a boarded-up mall in the QZ, and it happened there). She also mentions that she’s an orphan.
She’s also super chatty, and she can’t get over how the world outside the QZ isn’t as immediately dangerous as she’d heard. “So there aren’t superinfected that explode fungus spores on you?” she wonders. “Or ones with split-open heads that see in the dark like bats?” It should be noted: The adults exchange a look on that last one.
CLICKER? I BARELY KNOW ‘ER! | Their quest takes them inside a flooded hotel, where they climb to a high floor in order to get the lay of the land. The bad news: There are a LOT of infected roaming the city, way more than the last time Joel and Tess passed through. We learn that infected are connected, and the fungus also grows underground. Therefore, if you step on a patch of Cordyceps in one place, you can wake a throng of infected somewhere else.
So the only path that might work is through the Bostonian Museum, a building that has been completely overtaken by the fungus. But Joel determines that the organic matter growing out of every window and crack is dry, which could mean all the infected inside are dead. So they go inside, guns and flashlights drawn, with Tess and Joel telling Ellie to keep quiet.
That advice proves moot when the building starts collapsing around them, which summons a very terrible-looking infected that sounds like a creaky, alien, baby bird and looks like a mushroom-ified Venus fly trap. This is a stage of infection known as a “clicker,” aka the bat-like creatures Ellie referred to earlier, and it is SO strong and SO SO fast.
The clicker and some of its friends pursue the trio in a super tense and very scary sequence through the museum. When they’re done, Ellie’s been bit again on the arm and Tess’ ankle is twisted, but it seems like they weathered it well enough. Joel grumbles that maybe Ellie’s second bite will be the one that takes, but Tess admonishes him to accept a little good news for once.
BLAZE OF GORY | Eventually, they make it to the State House… where the truck outside is empty and there’s blood on the steps. Inside? Dead bodies everywhere. Ellie wonders if FEDRA is responsible, but Joel looks at the state of the corpses and surmises that someone got bit. “The healthy ones fought the sick ones. Everyone lost.”
Joel wants to return to the QZ, but Tess is adamant that they not turn back. “Our luck had to run out sooner or later,” she says sadly, and that drops the penny for Ellie. “F—k,” she realizes, “she’s infected.” Yep, Tess got bit on the neck during the museum skirmish; meanwhile, Ellie’s nip is already healing.
Tess instructs Joel to take the girl to see two men named Bill and Frank. He protests that they won’t accept her, but Tess says he’ll convince them. “I never asked you for anything,” she adds, desperately. If he can keep Ellie alive, “you set everything right, all the s—t we did,” she says. As all of this is playing out in really sad fashion right there in the lobby, one of the corpses starts moving and Joel shoots it. Then he notices that some of the connected tendrils are moving; outside, a pack of infected reanimates and starts moving toward the State House’s front doors.
“Joel, save who you can save,” Tess whispers, knocking over gas cannisters and spilling grenades onto the floor. Anguished, Joel grabs Ellie and pulls her away, getting out of the building before the horde arrives. The infected quickly advance on Tess, who fumbles with a lighter that just doesn’t want to spark. As one infected puts his tendrilly mouth on hers (ICK ICK ICK), she finally gets the lighter to work. She drops it on the floor, where it catches the gas; a huge explosion and flames follow.
As Joel turns and walks away, Ellie pauses a moment to watch the building burn.
In case you’re keeping score at home,
Nominations for the 43rd Annual Razzie Awards are in, and they have singled out “Blonde,” Disney’s “Pinocchio,” Machine Gun Kelly’s “Good Mourning” and “Morbius” among 2022’s worst movies.
“Just when you thought it would be safe to return to the movies,” the video announcement warns, before unveiling the nominees for the Golden Raspberry Awards (aka the Razzies) — the winners of which will be revealed on Oscar eve, Saturday, March 11.
Ana de Armas’ “Blonde,” which the Razzies say explores “the exploitation of Marilyn Monroe…by continuing to exploit her posthumously,” led with a whopping eight nominations, including Worst Picture, Andrew Dominik as Worst Director and for Worst Screenplay, and Worse Remake/Rip-Off/Sequel, among others. The film was also recognized for Worst Screen Couple with two nominations, which the Razzies graciously identify as “Andrew Dominik and His Issues with Women” and “Both Real Life Characters in the Fallacious White House Bedroom Scene.”
The Machine Gun Kelly-led stoner comedy “Good Mourning” — which the Razzies says provides a “laugh-free” experience — also earned seven noms, chief among them being Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple for “Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) & Mod Sun.”
Tom Hanks was also a target of this year’s nominees, earning three nominations for Worst Actor for Disney’s “Pinocchio” — which nabbed a notable six nominations — Worst Supporting Actor for “Elvis” and Worst Screen Couple for “Tom Hanks & His Latex-Laden Face (and Ludicrous Accent)” in “Elvis.”
The “365 Days” movies — which earned a 2021 nomination for Worst Remake/Rip-Off — continued to disappoint the Razzie jury, nabbing a nomination for Worse Remake/Rip-Off/Sequel and for Worst Screen Couple for both its sequels released in 2022.
Check out the full list of Razzie nominees below:
WORST PICTURE
WORST ACTOR
WORST ACTRESS
WORST REMAKE/RIP-OFF/SEQUEL
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WORST SCREEN COUPLE
WORST DIRECTOR
WORST SCREENPLAY
Nominations for the 43rd Annual Razzie Awards
A public memorial was held for the late Lisa Marie Presley at her father’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday (January 22). Billy Corgan, Alanis Morissette, and Axl Rose were among those who performed musical tributes to the singer, who died January 12 at the age of 54. The full service, including musical sets, was live streamed by People.
Corgan was the first musical performer at the event; he played an acoustic rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins song “To Sheila.” Corgan takes the stage around 17-minute mark of People’s video, which you can watch in full here.
Alanis Morissette was next to perform. She appeared onstage following a speech by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Morissette was accompanied by a pianist as she sang her song “Rest.” She debuted the track in 2017, when she sang it at the memorial service for Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, as Rolling Stone points out. Later on, Axl Rose sat at the piano to perform a stripped-down version of Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain.”
Presley’s public memorial also included words of remembrance from her mother Priscilla, Elvis associate Jerry Schilling, and many others, as well as a note written by her daughter Riley Keough (read by Keough’s husband Ben Smith-Petersen). Presley will be buried next to her son Benjamin, who died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.
A public memorial was held for the
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Is There Anybody Out There? is writer-director Ella Glendining’s cinematic journal of her life. Born without hips, a medical disability initialed PFFD (Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency), Glendining is looking to see if there’s anyone who is like her. So she scrawls on Facebook one day in a PFFD group, “is there anybody out there?”
Interspersed between diary entries, we will get to know Glendining’s parents, spend time with her and her boyfriend, and see Glendining interact with her newborn son River. We also see clips of interviews with children who have experienced similar disabilities. In all these snippets of footage, an underlying theme reveals itself: the resilience of the human spirit. There is ultimately nothing wrong with you if you lack hip bones. You are just a shorter person whose ambling gait often requires help from a wheelchair.
Is There Anybody Out There? is a personal and revealing deep dive into Glendining’s life, friends, and family. A visit to her home village allows her an afternoon with her friend Naomi Bethell, who’s Autistic. Over an afternoon of chilled spirits, the two walk through how their disabilities differentiate and yet result in similar experiences.
Ella Glendining appears in Is There Anybody Out There? by Ella Glendining, an official selection of the World Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Annemarie Lean-Vercoe.
“Born without hips…Ella is looking to see if there’s anyone who is like her.”
A trip to America allows Glendining to meet people similar to her. Priscilla, who lives in Austin, Texas, is the first person she encounters. Watching these two ladies with PFFD bond is remarkable and engaging. Learning of the sliminess of people willing to interact with disabled people… less so. However, there’s a lightness to the conversation that makes it a standout scene in this documentary.
As the trip continues, we see joy develop between the friendships these people share. It’s as if there’s energy that is developed when you find people who share common trials with you. This leads to another theme that emerges: one ultimately must learn to love one’s self. Self-love is a common thread for us all. In order to love another, one must learn to love one’s self first. Listening to the various people reveal that it took a long time to learn to love themselves was an especially poignant understanding.
Is There Anybody Out There? stands as a humane portrait of disability. For example, there exists an operation one can undertake to develop a pair of hips for someone who has PFFD. However, Glendining’s parents decided she was perfect as she was, and it would be better not to interfere with her childhood. In our esteemed filmmaker’s case, she travels to Florida to meet a practitioner of the PFFD hip replacement procedure, Dr. Paley. The conversation between them concerning the practical options for a hip replacement for a grown woman is riveting. That the doctor is candid about the lack of possibilities an adult possesses speaks to the relative newness of the field.
In this combination of camera footage, mobile phone video, and historical reels, we watch a deeply enthralling slice of Ella Glendining’s life. If you like observational, cinematic diaries, then seek out Is There Anybody Out There?. It’s a deeply lovely movie.
Is There Anybody Out There? screened at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Is There Anybody
“It can be difficult for a professor to tell the difference between a paper written by a student and one generated by ChatGPT, especially if the student has made minimal changes to the text generated by the model.” — ChatGPT answering the question, “Would a professor be able to tell the difference between a paper I wrote and a paper written by ChatGPT?”
The way Nick Bennett stumbled into the world of AI is a summarization of modern teenagehood — an addiction to TikTok and a disinterest in Shakespeare. (Nick Bennett is not the student’s real name, which Global News is not providing so the student can speak candidly).
It was 3 a.m. on his last night of holiday break, with an essay on nihilism due in the morning. On the hunt for quotes that supported his thesis, the 15-year-old remembered “ChatGPT” — an open-source AI that he had seen all over his TikTok For You Page. All he had to do was log in and give the bot a prompt.
Testing his luck and tight on time, Bennett typed into the blank chatbox: “Show me examples of Macbeth becoming nihilistic.” Within seconds, the bot had written an introductory sentence and provided three quotes with an analysis for each.
“I was so shocked,” Bennett said. “I would’ve had to read through so many useless articles where they didn’t get to the point, but ChatGPT did it for me extremely fast. It saved so many hours of research.”
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Bennett decided to use the quotes but write his own analysis — worried that he would get caught for plagiarism. However, when another assignment popped up the following week — he wrote down the AI’s answer, word for word, and submitted it. His teacher never caught on.
The future is here, and it can do your homework.
ChatGPT wasn’t invented solely for young people like Bennett, but its accessibility coupled with its newness (the software has only been available for two months) leaves it ripe for exploitation by students. It’s a free-to-use chatbot that can answer questions at lightspeed, with each response being totally original. It has many applications, like writing code, suggesting recipes, and improving the quality of life for seniors and those living with disabilities.
However, its ability to write in grammatically correct full sentences and price tag (free) make it a powerful weapon in the hands of kids with two hours until a midnight deadline. Intentional or not, this nascent AI software is altering decades-old educational structures and changing the way we think about learning.
“This will fundamentally change education,” said Alan Mackworth, the Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence at the University of British Columbia. “I don’t see any other option.”
Although it’s just in its infancy, the company behind ChatGPT has been working in this space for years. OpenAI is a California-based research firm that works on projects to expand the capabilities of artificial intelligence and explore its impacts on society. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT is valued at an estimated $29 billion.
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With this type of value attached to such a new project, ChatGPT has Silicon Valley buzzing. It’s reported that Microsoft is set to invest another $10 billion in the viral tool, getting a 75 per cent share of OpenAI’s profits until it makes back the money on its investment — after which it will get around half.
When you ask ChatGPT why this investment is a good idea — it will share modestly about how it can improve efficiency, reduce workload and cut costs for organizations.
While it may be beneficial to businesses looking to improve their practices, it doesn’t take an all-knowing robot to see that ChatGPT could cause major problems for universities looking to stave off plagiarism.
Schools assign thousands of research papers every semester. With each paper generated by the bot being completely unique, the opportunity to use ChatGPT to complete assignments is there for the taking. According to Mackworth, ChatGPT can respond to 175 billion prompts, leaving almost nothing out of its grasp.
“You prompt it with various suggestions like, ‘I’d like you to write an essay in the style of Charles Dickens’ and it would do it,” explained Mackworth. “It goes and looks at everything that Charles Dickens has ever written and synthesizes it based on that knowledge.\
Another professor concerned with how ChatGPT will impact university students is Toronto Metropolitan University’s Angela Misri. As a journalism instructor with a specialty in all things technology, Misri has been living at the intersection of AI and the written word for years. “What scares me as a human is we’re basically taking an industry of creation, and we’re just making it worth nothing. Like it’s going to make creating a piece of text almost free, right?”
Misri also acknowledged that the bot has forced her to rethink the structure of how she teaches. She said she’ll now consider emphasizing oral presentations and interviews rather than written work to try and minimize opportunities for ChatGPT to impact her classes. She added that a colleague at TMU is turning to a “fishbowl” strategy, where students’ names are put in a bowl at the front of the class and are drawn at random to explain their work.
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Still, the tech may just be too fast and too smart. ChatGPT can generate thousands of words in seconds, with short-answer questions being a cakewalk for the bot.
“The tech is now trumping what the schools have,” said Marc Saltzman, a tech expert and journalist.
“Something has to be done. I feel we’re on the brink of a new wave of AI-powered software that’s going to make it very hard to determine if a human wrote [a piece of text] or not.”
But what about plagiarism detection software? Schools have been relying on services like Turnitin to nab cheaters for years. Can these systems detect if AI has been used to write a piece? Experts say it doesn’t take much to get a ChatGPT-laden Trojan horse through their walls.
“It’s reached a critical point,” Mackworth said. “It’s taking off and the effect on education in the short term is that all exams, essays and programs are suspect. You cannot easily determine if they’re written by who they claim to be written by.”
Turnitin is attempting to battle the bots, however, as it recently released three manuals to help teachers determine if AI wrote their student’s assignments.
If software like Turnitin can be duped by the bot, forget about trying to discern if ChatGPT was used with the naked eye. “Do I think I could be fooled? I absolutely do,” Misri said. “Everyone’s going to get fooled, but quite frankly the students are losing out if they are relying on this to get through a degree program.”
To find out just how well humans could spot the work of bots like ChatGPT, Mackworth looked at how well humans can detect the presence of AI in written work. It turns out that it appears to be a shot in the dark. “Humans get it right about 52 per cent of the time,” he said. “So we’re just slightly better than guessing.”
That’s why Edward Tian, a 22-year-old Princeton student, has created an app to eliminate the guesswork — even for professors with the sharpest eyes.
Tian’s app, GPTZero, was created over his winter break after realizing the risk of AI-related plagiarism in post-secondary schools was getting out of control. Tian’s app was in such high demand that quickly after its launch, GPTZero’s website crashed due to high traffic. More than 33,000 people used it in just seven days.
But how did GPTZero achieve what many high-tech plagiarism catchers couldn’t detect? It turns out human writing has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that the bot can’t match. The young software engineer claims that in human-written text, real students tend to go deeper into the context of their words than chatbots. In essence, ChatGPT’s work lacks the humanness of writing.
In addition to complexity, Mackworth believes there’s another major puzzle piece that AI is missing when it comes to generating text: real understanding.
“Despite all these impressive successes, it really doesn’t understand what it’s doing,” he said. “All it’s doing is stringing words together. It doesn’t know what they mean. It doesn’t know what ‘truth’ is.”
While ChatGPT can seemingly pull anything from cyberspace at a moment’s notice, it isn’t perfect. It cannot complete bibliographies or include in-text citations in a paper that it’s written, but it can offer up primary sources that a student could then turn into a complete list of works cited. It also regularly reaches capacity, which bars new users from logging on until space opens up.
When ChatGPT reaches capacity, it offers a fun example of its work to keep users entertained.
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As more and more people feed ChatGPT with new prompts, it continues to learn. This is a brutal irony not lost on Misri. As students eschew traditional learning for the shortcuts offered by ChatGPT, they in turn make the AI better, leading it to be more effective for future users. “It’s really sad that you’re giving up all this power to a machine that could steal your job,” she said. “The whole thing is circular.”
That is to say nothing of how ChatGPT can “help” with math problems. While there are millions of possible ways to write an essay, the rigidity of mathematics poses its own unique issues. Given that there is often only one right answer to many problems and ChatGPT is capable of showing its work, it could easily be used by a student with their instructor being none the wiser.
Even if the AI is used responsibly — say, to check grammar or sentence structure — its impacts could be felt on an artistic level. If the bot says that one way to do something is the correct way, then students may be disincentivized or hesitant to take risks with their work. Similarly, if ChatGPT is used to create a framework for an assigned essay or written piece, the student won’t get to experiment with structure or find their own voice.
This could lead to a stall-out in convention-changing ideas, and a shift towards centring work around the thought processes of a robot. “I think it might be the end of valuing original thought, sadly,” Misri said. “It’s not that we won’t create original thought, it’s that we won’t value it as much when we can get it for free.”
OpenAI says it’s working on implementing safeguards to protect academic integrity, and will be incorporating user feedback to improve its product. In a statement made to Global News, OpenAI said “we don’t want ChatGPT to be used for misleading purposes in schools or anywhere else, so we’re already developing mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by that system. We look forward to working with educators on useful solutions, and other ways to help teachers and students benefit from artificial intelligence.”
Bennett says that his use of ChatGPT won’t stop at Macbeth.
Many people at his high school continue to use the app too, finding ways to sneak their robot-written text under their teacher’s noses. In fact, Bennett believes that not a single teacher at his school has even heard of the tool.
He also doesn’t think using the bot is cheating. He believes the leap to artificial intelligence is similar to the jump from textbooks to search engines like Google.
“I’ll be careful with it but I’ll definitely continue to use [ChatGPT]. It’s just so efficient and it would be ridiculous not to, knowing what it can do.”
“It can be difficult for a professor
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The Last of Us episode 2 begins in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 24, 2003. Police officers come up to a woman having lunch. Her name is Ibu Ratna. She’s a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia. They take her to a lab and ask her to examine a specimen.
“This is ophiocordyceps. Why did you use chlorazol to prepare the slide?” she asks. The officer says that is the preparation used to take a sample from a human. “Cordyceps cannot survive in humans,” she says. Until now.
Professor Ratna gets decked out in protective gear and taken to a room where a human corpse is being held. She’s asked to look at the bottom of the patient’s left leg. There’s a bite mark with a scar around it. She uses a scalpel to cut into it. “Is this bite from a human?” Professor Ratna asks. The officer nods yes.
She opens the patient’s mouth and sees the fungus living in her mouth. She quickly runs out. Professor Ratna asks when this happened. It all started 30 hours ago in a flour and grain factory in the west part of Jakarta. “A perfect substrate,” Dr. Ratna quips.
The officer says the woman who was bitten suddenly became violent and bit three co-workers. They locked her in a bathroom. The police came and shot her. Professor Ratna asks what happened to the people she bit. They were taken for observation, and then it became clear they had to be executed as well. No one knows who bit the woman. Fourteen workers are still missing.
Professor Ratna is asked to keep this from spreading. “We need a vaccine or a medicine,” the officer pleads. Professor Ratna responds, “I have spent my life studying these things. So please listen carefully. There is no medicine. There is no vaccine.” He wants to know what to do next.
“Bomb. Start bombing. Bomb this city… and everyone in it,” Professor Ratna urges. The officer looks shocked, but Professor Ratna is gravely serious. She begins to cry and asks to be taken home.
In the present-day timeline, Ellie wakes up to Joel and Tess watching her intently. Joel has a gun pointed at Ellie. “Do I look like I’m infected?” she says. Ellie shows Joel and Tess her arm. It hasn’t gotten any worse. Tess wonders what Marlene was doing with an infected kid. Ellie explains Marlene found her after she was infected. Marlene had her locked up and tested every day. She never got sick.
Joel isn’t convinced that Ellie isn’t going to get sick. Tess knows that if they take her back, Ellie will be killed because she’ll still test positive. Tess wants to know why Ellie is so important to Marlene. “Joel and I aren’t good people. We’re doing this for us because, apparently, you’re worth something. But we don’t know what you’re worth if we don’t know what we have,” Tess says to Ellie.
Ellie reveals that Marlene told her not to tell anyone, but now she kind of has to. “There is a Firefly base camp somewhere out west with doctors. They’re working on a cure,” Ellie reveals. Joel has heard this all before. Ellie is the key to finding a vaccine. Joel doesn’t believe her. He pleads with Tess to reconsider this mission. Tess wants to finish it. Regardless of if it’s true, they’ll still get payment out of it. Joel reluctantly agrees.
Joel, Ellie, and Tess head out. Ellie notices a huge crater in the middle of the city. Tess explains that most of the big cities were bombed to slow the spread of the infection. Tess asks Ellie how she got bit. Ellie snuck into a mall inside the Boston QZ. She wanted to see what it was like. One of the infected came out of nowhere and bit her. Ellie claims she was alone. She’s an orphan, so no one is going to come looking for her.
The trio hears a scream in the distance, but Joel insists they just keep moving. They have to cross through a former hotel that’s been flooded with water. They make it through without encountering any of the infected. Ellie tries to make small talk with Joel while Tess goes to do some investigating. He passes on answering most of her questions. Ellie asks how long the infected live. Joel reveals that some last about a month or two, and then some are walking around for 20 years. He’s killed lots of them over the years.
Tess returns with some bad news. She shows Ellie and Joel a swarm of infected lying on the ground below. “They’re connected,” Ellie notices. Tess says, “More than you know. The fungus also grows underground. Long fibers, like wires, some of them stretching over a mile. You step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, you can wake a dozen infected somewhere else. Now they know where you are. Now they come. You’re not immune from being ripped apart, you understand?” It’s essential that Ellie understands this.
Ellie, Joel, and Tess next have to make it through the Bostonian Museum to get to the State House where a group of Fireflies are waiting for Ellie. Ellie stumbles into a newly dead body that hasn’t turned yet. Joel and Tess are clearly spooked. They have to be silent as they make their way through the museum. There are piles of corpses covered in dead fungus. Ellie accidentally makes a sound, which stirs something above.
Just after Ellie and Tess make it to another room, part of the museum roof caves in. Unfortunately, more danger awaits them. An infected person heads toward them. Joel urges Ellie and Tess to be silent so the infected won’t notice them. Another infected comes into the room. Joel’s plan doesn’t work, and he ends up fighting one of the infected.
Tess and Ellie run. Joel reloads his gun and spots Ellie. He goes to fetch her. They start to walk away, but he steps on some glass. This sparks another fight with one of the infected, and it nearly takes out Ellie. Joel is able to kill the infected person. The other comes barreling in, but Tess stops it with an ax so Joel can finish it off.
Ellie seems to have been bitten again. “I mean, if it was going to happen to one of us,” she quips. Ellie, Joel, and Tess quickly make their way to the top of the building. Ellie walks across a wood plank to another building. Joel is still doubtful about Ellie. The second bite could take. Tess urges him just to accept this. This could be good news. Maybe once they could actually win.
Joel walks up next to Ellie, who is taking in the view. “Is it everything you hoped for?” he asks. She replies, “Jury’s still out. But man, you can’t deny that view.”
They continue on their journey. They make it to the State House. Joel and Tess are immediately uncertain. There are no Fireflies around. It’s too quiet. Ellie notices a fresh blood trail. Tess grabs Ellie and takes her inside. There are dead bodies everywhere. Joel tells Ellie that one of the Fireflies got bit. The healthy ones started fighting the sick ones, and everyone lost.
All the Fireflies are dead. Ellie doesn’t know where Marlene was going to take her, just that it was out west. Joel wants to go back, but Tess is staying. “I mean, our luck had to run out sooner or later,” Tess admits. That’s when Ellie makes a startling realization. “F**k, she’s infected,” Ellie says.
Joel demands Tess show him the bite. She tries to go to him, but he flinches. Tess pulls down her shirt and reveals the bite on her chest. She asks Ellie to show her bite. Ellie’s bite mark isn’t getting worse. “This is real. Joel, She’s f**king real,” Tess says.
Tess begs Joel to take Ellie to Bill and Frank. Joel doesn’t think they’ll take her. Tess knows they will because he’ll convince them to. “This is your chance. You get her there. You keep her alive, and you set everything right. All the sh*t we did. Please say yes, Joel,” Tess says.
One of the infected comes to, but Joel shoots it right in the head. Unfortunately, this sets off a chain reaction with the fungus and other infected, just like Tess warned about. They only have about a minute. Tess takes barrels of gasoline and spills them onto the floor, along with some grenades. She tells Joel to save who he can save. He grabs Ellie and runs. “No, we’re not leaving her!” Ellie screams.
Tess is left alone waiting for the swarm of infected. They run inside. She’s trying to get her lighter to catch to set off an explosion. One of the infected notices her. He walks up to her and kisses her, allowing the fungus to get inside her mouth. Thankfully, the lighter finally catches. Tess dies in the State House explosion as Joel and Ellie escape. New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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View gallery Image Credit: HBO The Last of Us
Digital media firm Vox Media, home of brands including Vox.com, SB Nation, New York Magazine, Vulture, The Verge, Thrillist and NowThis, is laying off 7% of its workforce across departments, resulting in the elimination of about 130 jobs.
Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff informed employees of the cuts in a memo Friday, citing “the challenging economic environment impacting our business and industry.” The layoffs will hit “several different teams across Revenue, Editorial, Operations and Core Services,” according to Bankoff. Employees were to be notified via email if they were losing their jobs within 15 minutes of Bankoff sending out the memo.
“Unfortunately, in this economic climate, we’re not able to sustain projects and areas of the business that have not performed as anticipated, are less core to where we see the biggest opportunities in the coming years, or where we don’t have enough rationale to support ongoing investment in what could be a prolonged downturn,” Bankoff wrote in the memo. “In spite of the dedication of the many talented people involved in these initiatives, we need to scale back.”
The company doesn’t expect further layoffs “at this time” but “we will continue to assess our outlook, keep a tight control on expenses and consider implementing other cost savings measures as needed,” Bankoff added. (Read the full memo below.)
Employees who were pink-slipped include Vox.com senior correspondent and former culture editor Emily St. James; Thrillist senior writer Dustin Nelson; Kerensa Cadenas, editorial director of culture for Thrillist; SB Nation writer Jas Kang; SB Nation editor Nate Wilcox; Eater chief critic Ryan Sutton; Eater senior correspondent Meghan McCarron; Vox.com designers Amanda Northrop and Zac Freeland; James Bareham, creative director, Vox Media Networks; and Phoebe Gavin, Vox.com’s executive director of talent and development.
“I am furious for my other talented colleagues, worried for myself, and very tired, as I am on maternity leave and am having trouble processing emotions other than ‘baby,’” St. James tweeted Friday.
The cuts come after Vox Media laid off 39 employees in July 2022, which represented under 2% of its workforce at the time.
The WGA East-affiliated union representing Vox Media editorial and video staffers said Friday in a Twitter post, “We’re furious at the way the company has approached these layoffs, and are currently discussing how to best serve those who just lost their jobs.”
Vox Media in December 2021 merged with Group Nine Media, a digital media roll-up venture whose backers had included Discovery. That came after Vox Media in 2019 acquired New York Media, publisher of New York Magazine, in an all-stock deal designed to gain synergies of scale.
The company’s portfolio of brands comprises Curbed, The Cut, The Dodo, Eater, Grub Street, Intelligencer, New York Magazine, NowThis, Polygon, Popsugar, Recode, SB Nation, Seeker, The Strategist, Thrillist, The Verge, Vox and Vulture.
Read Bankoff’s memo:
Subject: Important Company Update
Hello everyone,
We’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate roughly 7% of our staff roles across departments, due to the challenging economic environment impacting our business and industry.
For those whose role has been eliminated, Chief People Officer Annie Trombatore will inform you in an email within the next 15 minutes and your People business partner will follow up with a meeting to talk through a severance package, including options to extend select benefits paid by Vox Media. Given the number of people impacted today, we are notifying them over email in an effort to inform them as soon as possible. Several different teams across Revenue, Editorial, Operations and Core Services are impacted by the layoffs. I will refrain from sharing department-level detail here, so that those leaving the company hear directly first, but senior leadership will be providing more details, as appropriate, over the course of the day and into early next week.
We are experiencing and expect more of the same economic and financial pressures that others in the media and tech industries have encountered. These difficult circumstances prompted us to take other steps over the past few months to reduce our spending. We suspended most new hiring and significantly reduced discretionary spending. While we are not expecting further layoffs at this time, we will continue to assess our outlook, keep a tight control on expenses and consider implementing other cost savings measures as needed.
Unfortunately, in this economic climate, we’re not able to sustain projects and areas of the business that have not performed as anticipated, are less core to where we see the biggest opportunities in the coming years, or where we don’t have enough rationale to support ongoing investment in what could be a prolonged downturn. In spite of the dedication of the many talented people involved in these initiatives, we need to scale back.
It is important to note that the brands in our portfolio are as relevant as ever to their audiences and in the marketplace. We continue to do outstanding work across our editorial properties and business lines. Our company is fundamentally strong; these setbacks are driven primarily by the temporal macro-economic forces that are impacting nearly all businesses in our sector.
Having said that, I realize that we need to constantly evolve and improve if we want to continue to be the leading modern media company and strongest possible workplace. Especially during a downturn, operational discipline and strategic focus will be key to Vox Media’s success. Audience engagement and loyalty will be our primary focus. We will prioritize our brands’ core missions and value to their audiences and our business partners. We’ll continue to diversify revenue and media formats, focusing on areas of the business where we expect substantial, stable growth.
I am incredibly grateful to our colleagues who will be leaving Vox Media today. Your talent and contributions have undoubtedly made us a better company. While these decisions were caused by the challenging economic environment and our need to prioritize resources, it doesn’t make this news any easier.
For those who are continuing with Vox Media, please support your colleagues today. We will schedule an All Hands in the next few weeks and will meet more frequently through the first half of the year to provide business updates.
Thank you,
Jim
Digital media firm Vox Media, home of
Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie are one of Sundance’s buzziest duos thanks to their performances in “Eileen,” an adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel from “Lady Macbeth” director William Oldroyd. “Last Night in Soho” star McKenzie plays a young woman in 1960s Boston who becomes enraptured by an intoxicating older woman, played by Hathaway. McKenzie said at the Variety Sundance Studio, presented by Audible, that she was already in love with Hathaway prior to filming “Eileen” because of “The Princess Diaries.”
“I have always been a big fan of Annie since ‘The Princess Diaries,’” McKenzie said. “That played a big role in my childhood that film. That starstruck kind of feeling really lended itself to the relationship between Eileen and Rebecca because Eileen is in awe of Rebecca, she’s starstruck. When I first met Annie…I was bow down, the queen.”
Variety confirmed in November that Disney was developing a third installment in “The Princess Diaries” franchise with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji (“Reacher,” “Supergirl”). Neither Hathaway or her original co-star Julie Andrews are confirmed to join the next “Princess Diaries” movie, and Hathaway respectfully wanted to keep her Sundance conversation on “Eileen.”
Julie Andrews told Access Hollywood in December that her return to the franchise as Queen Clarisse would be unlikely, adding, “I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible. [A third film] was talked about very shortly after [“Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”] came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie the princess, our queen, is so much older. And I am not sure whether it would float or run.”
The original “Princess Diaries,” based on the novel by Meg Cabot, was released in 2001 and was directed by the late Garry Marshall. Hathaway stars as an awkward American teenager who learns she’s the heir to the throne of the European kingdom of Genovia. Despite mixed reviews, the family film became a box office hit with $165 million in global ticket sales. The first sequel opened in 2004 and introduced the world to Chris Pine. It was equally successful in theaters with $134 million worldwide.
Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie are one
“Do or not do. There is no try.” — Yoda (“The Empire Strikes Back,” 1980)
Disney’s prowess as an entertainment powerhouse is undisputed. Aaron LaBerge, chief technology officer of the Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) division, argues that the company also has also built an industry-leading competency in ad tech.
Over the last several years, LaBerge’s team has created its own advertising-delivery stack from the ground up, centered on the proprietary Disney Ad Server. The company deployed the new Disney Ad Server on Hulu last year — and it’s now also powering Disney+ with ads, which launched last month. Currently, the Disney Ad Server delivers some 500 million ad impressions per day.
“What you saw with ads on Disney+ was the first product to launch on that ad server from end-to-end perspective,” says LaBerge.
Why did Disney build its own proprietary technology for digital ads? According to LaBerge, owning that piece of the chain gives the company greater flexibility and control, in order to prioritize delivery behavior for ad clients and its own business. At the same time, the Disney Ad Server is designed to be able to integrate with partner ad solutions — on Disney’s own timetable, without having to rely on a third-party vendor, as some streaming rivals do. (Netflix, for example, has teamed with Microsoft to run ads off the Xandr platform, which Microsoft acquired from AT&T.)
The development of the Disney Ad Server is “focused on our continued commitment to the advertising business,” LaBerge says.
So far, the Mouse House hasn’t disclosed how many people have taken Disney+ Basic With Ads ($7.99/month, priced 27% less than the no-ads plan at $10.99/month) since it launched Dec. 8 in the U.S., or a timeline for the international expansion of the cheaper product.
Execs will likely shed some light on the Disney+ ad-supported tier when the Mouse House reports December 2022 quarter earnings (Q1 of Disney’s 2023 fiscal year) on Feb. 8. It will be the first call with returning CEO Bob Iger — who resumed the helm after the Disney board abruptly booted Bob Chapek from the Magic Kingdom in November. Prior to that, the company this week (on Wednesday, Jan. 25) plans to provide an update on its advertising ops with the livestreamed Disney Advertising Tech & Data Showcase, leading up to its May upfronts presentation for marketers.
The core component of Disney’s Unified Ad Platform (dubbed UAP internally) is the Disney Ad Server (DAS). With DAS, Disney has direct control over core ad-decisioning mechanics, according to LaBerge. It also provides support for proprietary ad formats developed by Hulu, including Pause Ads, Binge Ads and GatewayGo (which shows viewers interactive, personalized marketing offers).
Because Disney owns and controls DAS, the company can use first-party data without any privacy concerns about sharing that info with an external company. Disney’s Audience Graph of first-party data, which has been in development for more than a decade, gives advertisers access to more than 1,800 segments with visibility into 100,000 audience attributes, per LaBerge.
Aaron LaBerge, CTO of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution
Disney’s Unified Ad Platform also comprises something cutely called YODA — which stands for Yield Optimized Delivery Allocation. YODA is an algorithmic engine that determines when to serve an ad to an individual viewer. Later this year, according to LaBerge, YODA will enable automated competition between direct-sold and programmatic ad buys; that, the theory goes, will let Disney boost yield optimization with higher CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) at scale. That feature will tap into the Disney Realtime Ad Exchange (DRAX), the media conglomerate’s in-house supply-side platform (SSP) that hosts internal auctions across all programmatic endpoints to select the highest value ad while supporting key partner deals.
“We’re filling up the entire curve with appropriate demand,” says LaBerge, who before assuming his current role as DMED’s CTO in 2018 was chief technology officer of ESPN.
In addition, the UAP provides a self-service component, designed to lower the barrier of entry for small to midsize agencies to purchase Disney’s premium ad inventory by letting them build and manage campaigns themselves. Disney says it will open it up to an even broader number of agencies in 2023.
“Building a dynamic ad platform that includes measurement is incredibly complicated,” LaBerge says, adding: “This is a ‘forever’ investment for Disney.”
“Do or not do. There is no
So, we should start with the fact that Jenny Slate was already an SNL cast member. She joined in 2009, but was let go from the show after a single season. Some speculated that she was fired for accidentally saying the f-word during her first episode, but she later clarified that it just wasn’t a good fit for her.
But more than 10 years have passed, and in that time, Slate has done some incredible work. The Marcel the Shell YouTube videos took off, she landed the role of Zoe the Chipette in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (kickstarting a prolific voice-acting career), she gained popularity with comedic roles in Kroll Show and, later, Parks and Recreation, and she’s doing more dramatic work, such as starring in Obvious Child.
After becoming one of the biggest names in the voice-acting industry and the success of the Marcel the Shell with Shoes On movie (Slate is the voice of Marcel and co-wrote the movie), there’s no better time for an SNL reunion.
Though, considering the wild cast of characters Slate got to play on Kroll Show, maybe she considers that box already checked.
So, we should start with
We review the Sundance 2023 selection Fair Play, starring Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor and Solo actor Alden Ehrenreich.
PLOT: Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are a New York power couple in the making. They both work as analysts for one of the top investment firms on Wall Street, and both seem to be within a stone’s throw of a huge promotion that will make their careers. Newly engaged, the two are faced with an unexpected challenge when the power dynamic between them shifts suddenly, with Emily promoted over Luke.
REVIEW: If ever there was an industry with the potential to wreak havoc on relationships, it’s the world of finance. Many films have depicted this industry as cutthroat and toxic. The reality is that small mistakes or miscalculations can ruin careers, and every day brings the potential for ruin, no matter how brilliant you might have seemed yesterday. It attracts a certain type of person, and the business is punishing. Fair Play coveys this expertly, with Emily and Luke’s daily grind being presented in great detail. The two are up at 430am every day but, by necessity, are also out drinking until dawn every night (after-hours clubs are where many careers are made). There’s very little room for a personal life, and their firm explicitly forbids relationships within the office.
Initially, the two seem ideally matched. They’re both young and gorgeous and have the edge and confidence needed to succeed. But, it eventually becomes clear that Emily is brilliant, while Luke is merely proficient, with their boss (Eddie Marsan) giving her an opportunity that sets her career. The film charts their shifting dynamic, with Luke’s jealousy growing more toxic by the moment while Emily makes many misguided attempts to build him up, all of which backfire tremendously.
Fair Play is very much in the style of the adult-oriented dramas and thrillers we used to get in the eighties and nineties, albeit through a different lens. If this were to be made in that era, one could easily imagine Michael Douglas as a more sympathetic Luke. Here he’s shown to be such a slave to his own ambition that it threatens to turn him into the kind of monster typically played by women like Demi Moore and Glenn Close in those vintage flicks.
That said, I’d hesitate to say Fair Play is a PC version of those movies. Writer-director Chloe Domont wants to make a movie that entertains and belongs on the shelf next to something like Wall Street or Disclosure without being watered-down. She’s directed a few episodes of Billions and seems to have an affinity for the world. She depicts the hyper-macho, misogynist aspect of the world but also has Emily participate, with her fine being “one of the boys” if it helps her get ahead.
The leads here are excellent, with Phoebe Dynevor of Bridgerton a terrific choice for the lead. She reminded me of a young Naomi Watts or Nicole Kidman and fitted perfectly into the milieu being created by Domont. You believe her as someone who could rise to the top and be just as calculating as the boys if need be, and Domont never softens her too much. She has enough rough edges to make her interesting.
However, many folks will no doubt be buzzing about Alden Ehrenreich, with this a strong comeback vehicle for the actor. He plays Luke’s mounting insecurity and toxicity in a way that allows him to command the screen. His de-evolution feels legitimate thanks to the shading present in his performance from the first drama. Again, it’s a lot like the kind of role Michael Douglas might have played a few decades ago, but without the need to make him likable. Luke is a bastard, and Ehrenreich embraces this aspect of him.
Eddie Marsan is also terrific as the lead’s boss, a hard-bitten titan of the industry who’s not above calling Emily a “stupid f**ckin b**ch” when she makes a pricy mistake but also recognizes her potential and isn’t presented as predatory – at least not in a sexual way. The film is frenetically paced and feels slick enough (being produced by Rian Johnson) that it wouldn’t be surprising to see a prominent indie label like A24 or Searchlight pick it up unless Netflix (smartly) snaps it up to capitalize on Dynevor’s popularity off Bridgerton. It’s a slick, taut drama with some thriller elements baked in. It’s probably the most entertaining film I’ve seen at Sundance this year, so keep an eye out for it.
9
We review the Sundance 2023 selection Fair
From Pitsea railway station in south-central Essex, around 15 miles from London, you can get to a lot of places. Trains go to industrial port Tilbury further south, seaside paradise Southend to the east (admittedly: my home), and of course the Big Smoke a few minutes west. Georgie (newcomer Lola Campbell), a 12-year-old girl motoring through the stages of grief since losing her mom to an unspecified illness, couldn’t care less. The cookie-cutter estate where Georgie lives, all alone, is everything she needs. Debutant director Charlotte Regan and DP Molly Manning Walker make it feel like all Earth is there. Georgie’s self-contained world matches up with a fierce self-sufficiency. Her primary caregiver, aside from fictional uncle “Winston Churchill,” is Georgie. Even with Britain’s notoriously stretched public services, children are not supposed to live alone.
No matter. With buddy Ali (Alin Uzun) and a camera roll full of videos of her mom to keep her company, Georgie doesn’t seem particularly lonely, even during the six-week school summer holidays over which “Scrapper” is set. And with cash earned selling stolen bikes to a supportive neighbor, Georgie can even pay the rent. But mom isn’t entirely gone: the pillows on the sofa are kept just the same as how she liked them, her favorite mugs are left untouched, and the centerpiece of Georgie’s go-to outfit is mom’s 1995-96 West Ham United home shirt.
Then dad Jason (Harris Dickinson) leaps over the back fence and into Georgie’s life for the first time. Returning from Ibiza, where he worked as a club promoter and (presumably) a lookalike for English soccer star Phil Foden, Jason is ready for the next phase of his life: fatherhood. Or so he thinks. What happens when your child has ideas of their own? Georgie isn’t fooled by her dad’s gold chain or tattoo, either: he has almost as much growing up to do as she does. It helps that they speak the same language. Jason rationalizes his return in pre-teen terms: “It’s my home,” he announces. “I was here before you.” The West Ham shirt was his once, too.
But they bond over how to steal bikes, Jason an out-of-practice Fagin to Georgie’s Artful Dodger. Eventually they talk about Georgie’s mom Vicky (Olivia Brady), too.
Set certainly within the past decade (there are smartphones and voice notes), Jason’s jarring haircut and old-school references help make “Scrapper” feel decidedly ‘90s. Georgie’s West Ham shirt and wall-fixed kitchen phone signal a bygone era, while her habit of yelling outside Ali’s house for a spontaneous hangout is quaintly nostalgic.
There’s nothing political about this, either; quite the opposite. Regan’s film is seeped in the sort of timelessness that has enabled Brits’ long-lasting love affair with television period dramas. You can be on the deck of the Titanic after she hit the iceberg, but the anxieties of today don’t matter, innocence not yet lost.
“Scrapper”
Chris Harris
And although “Scrapper” — and Georgie — have some rough edges, Regan’s film is remarkably gentle, without being schmaltzy. Its wry observations are more effective than the big emotional swings “Scrapper” sometimes, but not often, chooses to take. Because it’s a British debut by female director about a father-daughter relationship, “Scrapper” has already been compared with Charlotte Wells’ terrific “Aftersun” (mostly, of course, by those trying to sell the movie; almost any film should be so lucky).
In truth, it’s almost nothing like it. Where “Aftersun” uncomfortably probes emotional depths, “Scrapper” stays wisely light of touch. I found myself crossing my fingers that its characters would, in the end, be OK. It’s not a spoiler to say they essentially are. This isn’t the kind of film where huge amounts are immediately at stake: the greatest emotional blow of young Georgie’s life has already happened and, as she less-than-trustfully insists, she has already gotten through denial, anger and bargaining. Only depression and acceptance, to go.
The softness of “Scrapper” shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of ambition on Regan’s part. Georgie and Jason just have a little less to worry about. Dickinson is wonderfully natural as a simple man with little to hide. When Georgie finds a rifle bullet in his bag, she and Ali speculate that he might try to kill her. Jason takes Georgie on the train to the outskirts where he grew up, and reveals he found the cartridge while metal detecting as a boy.
Still, Georgie has reason to be angry. Now 30, Jason dipped around the time Georgie was born. “We were kids,” Jason says, a brusque explanation for his immaturity that’s also a reminder he was then closer in years to Georgie than to his current self. And like Georgie, he’s a bit of a scrapper himself. Regan doesn’t judge her characters so much as introduce us and let them endear themselves. Campbell and Dickinson duly oblige.
Though it doesn’t strive for the dramatic highs and lows its actors could probably pull off, “Scrapper” is a smart, sensitive debut and a promising arrival for its talented director.
“Scrapper” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
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Sundance: A seemingly orphaned 12-year-old girl learns
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Season 2 of Your Honor has started
The Golden Raspberry Awards — aka the Razzies — have bestowed Blonde with eight nominations, including worst picture, in their annual picks for the worst films and performances of the year.
In their announcement, Razzie organizers said the movie “‘explores’ the exploitation of Marilyn Monroe … by continuing to exploit her posthumously.” Blonde also landed noms for worst screenplay and worst director for Andrew Dominik, “whose work here says more about him than it does about his subject,” the Razzies said.
Also landing multiple noms are Tom Hanks and Pete Davidson, who are both up for worst actor and worst supporting actor. Hanks was cited for his portrayal of Gepetto in Disney’s Pinocchio and his “latex-laden, ludicrously accented portrayal of Col. Tom Parker in the otherwise critically acclaimed Elvis,” while Davidson was singled out for his voice role in Marmaduke and his cameo in Good Mourning.
Good Mourning, incidentally, will “complete” with Blonde for the dubious honor of worst picture. The film earned a total of seven “dings,” with the Razzies calling it “a laugh-free stoner comedy achieving the rare feat of scoring a perfect ZERO on Rotten Tomatoes.”
Also up for worst picture is “Disney’s wholly unnecessary (and oddly creepy) live action/CGI remake of Pinocchio,” which landed a total of six noms; The King’s Daughter, which earned a total of three noms; and Morbius, with five total noms, including worst actor for Jared Leto.
Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) also landed multiple noms with four mentions for Good Mourning: worst actor, worst screen couple (with Mod Sun), worst director and worst screenplay (with Mod Sun).
The Razzies also bestowed multiple mentions for the two sequels released in 2022 to the erotic thriller 365 Days — 365 Days: This Day and The Next 365 Days — including worst remake/rip-off/sequel and worst screen couple.
Also up for worst screen couple are “Both Real Life Characters in the Fallacious White House Bedroom Scene” in Blonde, “Andrew Dominik & His Issues with Women” for Blonde, and “Tom Hanks & His Latex-Laden Face (and Ludicrous Accent)” in Elvis.
Organizers also released a video tied to the announcement. Watch it below.
The “winners” of the 43rd Razzie Awards will be announced March 11, the day before the Oscars. A full list of nominees follows
WORST PICTURE
Blonde
Disney’s Pinocchio
Good Mourning
The King’s Daughter
Morbius
WORST ACTOR
Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) / Good Mourning
Pete Davidson (Voice Only) / Marmaduke
Tom Hanks (As Gepetto) / Disney’s Pinocchio
Jared Leto / Morbius
Sylvester Stallone / Samaritan
WORST ACTRESS
Ryan Kiera Armstrong / Firestarter
Bryce Dallas Howard / Jurassic Park: Dominion
Diane Keaton / Mack & Rita
Kaya Scodelario / The King’s Daughter
Alicia Silverstone / The Requin
WORST REMAKE/RIP-OFF/SEQUEL
Blonde
BOTH 365 Days Sequels – 365 Days: This Day & The Next 365 Days [a Razzie BOGO]
Disney’s Pinocchio
Firestarter
Jurassic World: Dominion
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adria Arjona / Morbius
Lorraine Bracco (Voice Only) Disney’s Pinocchio
Penelope Cruz / The 355
Bingbing Fan / The 355 & The King’s Daughter
Mira Sorvino / Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Pete Davidson (Cameo Role) Good Mourning
Tom Hanks / Elvis
Xavier Samuel / Blonde
Mod Sun / Good Mourning
Evan Williams / Blonde
WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) & Mod Sun / Good Mourning
Both Real Life Characters in the Fallacious White House Bedroom Scene / Blonde
Tom Hanks & His Latex-Laden Face (and Ludicrous Accent) ELVIS
Andrew Dominik & His Issues with Women / Blonde
The Two 365 Days Sequels (both Released in 2022)
WORST DIRECTOR
Judd Apatow / The Bubble
Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) & Mod Sun / Good Mourning
Andrew Dominik / Blonde
Daniel Espinosa / Morbius
Robert Zemeckis / Disney’s Pinocchio
WORST SCREENPLAY
Blonde / Written for the Screen by Andrew Dominik, Adapted from the “Bio-Novel” by Joyce Carol Oates
Disney’s Pinocchio / Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis & Chris Weitz (Not Authorized by the Estate of Carlo Collodi)
Good Mourning / “Written” by Machine Gun Kelly & Mod Sun
Jurassic World: Dominion / Screenplay by Emily Carmichael & Colin Trevorrow, Story by Trevorrow & Derek Connolly
Morbius / Screen Story and Screenplay by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless
The Golden Raspberry Awards — aka the Razzies
Almost 15 years after its release, Courteeners’ debut St. Jude (via Polydor/UMR) hits No. 1 on the U.K. album chart — setting a new mark in the process.
The 2008 debut album blasts to the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Jan. 20, powered by a 15th anniversary edition containing remastered tracks, rarities and previously-unreleased works.
St. Jude becomes the album with the longest span between release and charting at No. 1 in U.K. chart history, the Official Charts Company reports, doing so in 14 years, 9 months and 14 days after its initial release.
It’s the first leader for the Manchester trio, and it sees them join the rarest of company. Liam Fray, Michael Campbell and Daniel “Conan” Moores are, collectively, only the third act to chart at No. 1 with a reissued album. The others? The Rolling Stones (Goats Head Soup, Exile On Main St.) and the Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).
St. Jude previously peaked at No. 4 back in 2008, and carries three U.K. top 40 singles: “Not Nineteen Forever,” “No You Didn’t, No You Don’t” and “What Took You So Long?”
Physical sales (97%) fueled its big week, as St. Jude tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart.
Meanwhile, London rapper Clavish bows at No. 4 with his 28-track mixtape Rap Game Awful (via Polydor), while former Supergrass guitarist Gaz Coombes scores his first solo top 10 with Turn The Car Around (Hot Fruit), his fourth effort. Turn The Car Around parks at No. 6.
Liverpool indie rocker outfit Circa Waves score a fifth top 40 with Never Going Under (Lower Third). The followup to 2020’s Sad Happy (No. 4 peak), Never Going Under bobs up at No. 15.
Finally, Garthamlock, Scotland singer Joesef earns a top 20 on debut with his first album, Permanent Damage (Bold Cut). It’s new at No. 18.
Almost 15 years after its release, Courteeners’
Internationally hailed as one of the greatest songstresses of our time, Grammy award-winning Roberta Flack remains unparalleled. Her songs bring insight into our lives, loves, culture and politics, while effortlessly traversing a broad musical landscape from pop to soul to folk to jazz. This timeline explores Flack’s life and the major milestones in her career.
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia, Roberta Flack discovered her earliest musical influences from the church.
Whenever she could, she’d sneak out to hear such gospel luminaries as Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers. At home, Flack’s father repaired an old upright piano, and she began to pick out tunes while sitting on her mother’s lap.
When Flack turned nine, she began taking piano lessons, and also started to listen to a wide range of popular music, R&B, jazz, blues, and pop.
As she moved into her teens, Flack’s listening gravitated towards classical music, and her piano playing developed rapidly. At 13, she won second place honors with her performance of a Scarlatti sonata in a statewide contest for Black students.
By the age of 15, she enrolled at Howard University on a full music scholarship, making her one of the youngest students to ever enroll there.
Within a year, Flack was conducting her sorority’s vocal quartet, accompanying pop, jazz, and opera singers, and changed her major from piano to voice as she was assisting the school’s choir conductor. To earn extra money, she also taught piano privately and played the organ at her parents’ church – a job previously held by her mother.
Flack next changed her major to music education, becoming the first Black student teacher at an all-white school near Chevy Chase, Maryland. By the time she graduated, at 19, she’d already directed a production of “Aida,” earning her a standing ovation from the faculty after her final exam recital.
She began graduate studies in music, but the sudden death of her father forced her to leave both school and home to take a teaching job out of the necessity to support herself.
Flack held teaching posts at several junior high schools over the next four years.
At D.C.’s posh Tivoli Club, she served as accompanist to the opera singers who strolled the room. During intermissions, Flack would sing and play blues and folk songs and pop standards on an old upright piano in the back. Eventually, she started working two to three nights a week at the 1520 Club, playing solo piano and singing.
When her voice teacher told Flack that he saw a brighter future for her in pop music than the classics, she started reshaping her repertoire in her ensuing stints, and her reputation spread. People like Burt Bacharach, Al Hibbler, Carmen McRae, Kim Stanley, Eddie Harris, Woody Allen, Ramsey Lewis, and Johnny Mathis were in regular attendance.
While the nation’s capital was hosting Resurrection City, Roberta Flack was doing a benefit for the Inner City Ghetto Children’s Library Fund. In the packed crowd was famed musician, Les McCann, who was stunned by what he heard: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known. I laughed, cried, and screamed for more… she alone had the voice!” Within days he had arranged an audition for Flack with Atlantic Records.
With a repertoire of more than 600 songs, Flack played 42 of them for Atlantic producer, Joel Dorn, in three hours. She went into the studio and laid down some 39 song demos over nine hours.
Three months later, she recorded “First Take,” her debut album, in a mere ten hours at Atlantic Studios. Among the songs she cut was “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
“First Take” was released in June 1969, followed by her first single, the Eugene McDaniels’ composition, “Compared To What.”
A year later, she released her second album, “Chapter Two,” produced by Joel Dorn and King Curtis, arranged by future-collaborator Donny Hathaway, and with laudatory liner notes by Jerry Butler. Another McDaniels’ composition, “Reverend Lee,” and Jimmy Webb’s “Do What You Gotta’ Do” both became singles from the album, which included material as diverse as Bob Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman,” a Buffy Sainte-Marie composition, and the then-contemporary Broadway hit, “The Impossible Dream.”
Encouraged by Jerry Wexler, Flack and Donny Hathaway collaborated on “You’ve Got A Friend.” Again, her peerless interpretation of the contemporary pop hits won her critical acclaim.
Later that year, she performed in Ghana as part of the star-laden Soul To Soul Festival. For this once-in-a-lifetime event, Flack performed “Freedom Song,” “Tryin’ Times” and “Gone Away.” The album of the event was released on Atlantic (as was the videotape of the concert, fifteen years later).
Roberta Flack’s third album, “Quiet Fire,” was released. It was arranged by Flack herself. It yielded the single, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”
Clint Eastwood personally decided to include “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his thriller, “Play Misty For Me.” Atlantic rushed the song, from her first album, out as a single, and in seven weeks it went to #1 on the charts.
Washington, D.C. proclaimed April 22nd as Roberta Flack Day, kicking off a weekend celebration encompassing receptions at the Kennedy Center and the Congressional Caucus Room.
At an evening banquet attended by more than 500 friends, admirers, and luminaries, Flack was presented with the Capital’s official proclamation, Down Beat’s award as Top Female Vocalist, a D.C. youth award, and gold records from Atlantic for the “First Time Ever” single, and the “First Take” and “Quiet Fire” albums. Flack capped off the night with a 45-minute concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Atlantic released a new Hathaway/Flack single, “Where Is The Love.” The album quickly went gold, as did the single, which remained in the Top 10 for two months straight.
Flack’s fourth album, “Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway,” was released.
“First Time Ever” won Record of the Year and Song of the Year, while “Where Is The Love” won for Best Pop Vocal by a Duo at the Grammy Awards.
Flack’s single, “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” achieved certified, gold sales status, having been both the #1 pop and R&B song in the country. “Killing Me Softly,” the album, was released in August, certified gold within two weeks, and remained the best seller in every musical category except Country for months thereafter.
“Killing Me Softly” won as Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal by a Female at the Grammy Awards.
The follow-up single, “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” went to #1 on the Pop, R&B, and Easy Listening charts. An out-of -the-box gold single, it became Roberta Flack’s eighth million-seller in less than two-and-a-half years.
The “Feel Like Makin’ Love” album was released in 1975, the first produced by Roberta Flack herself.
Flack continued to work, tour, and record – with special emphasis on the craft of producing. “No matter how many records I’d heard, ” she says, “I knew what I sounded like in my head, and in my heart I knew what I wanted it to sound like. My voice is the record for me, and I don’t ever want to lose that.”
Flack released “Blue Lights in the Basement,” the album she still calls her “personal favorite.”
At the beginning of 1978, a second single was released, a new collaboration with Donny Hathaway titled, “The Closer I Get To You.” Her umpteenth chart-topping single, it was certified gold, as was the “Blue Lights” album, which had reached #1 on both the Pop and R&B charts.
Early in 1980, Flack completed “Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway,” Before the album was released, in March, a Stevie Wonder/Eric Mercury composition, “You Are My Heaven,” had already become a national R&B/pop crossover hit (Mercury and Roberta co-produced the album).
Atlantic released “Live And More,” a collaboration and co-production with talented crooner, Peabo Bryson.
Flack worked on her first project outside of the direction of Atlantic Records, when she composed and produced the soundtrack album for the Richard Pryor/Cicely Tyson film, “Bustin’ Loose.” Singles from this album included “You Stopped Loving Me” and “Just When I Needed You.”
Atlantic released “The Best of Roberta Flack,” a collection of eleven songs which had redefined popular music in the preceding decade.
Flack returned to the studio to record the “I’m The One” album with producers Ralph MacDonald and William Salter (who together had penned “Where Is The Love”) and William Eaton. Singles culled from the record were “Makin’ Love,” a Bacharach/Sager tune, and the title track.
Flack’s second collaboration with Peabo Bryson, “Born To Love,” debuted in 1983 and produced another huge smash, “Tonight I Celebrate My Love.”
Flack appeared as a guest artist on Japanese saxophone legend Sadao Watanabe’s album, “Rendezvous” (released on Warner-Pioneer in Japan). Flack sang on the tracks “If I’m Still Around Tomorrow” and “Here’s To Love.”
Flack was asked to contribute to Yoko Ono’s tribute to her late husband John Lennon, “Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him.” Her vocal on “Goodbye Sadness” was praised by the critics as one of the most moving on the album. The year also saw Flack undertake a successful tour of England.
Flack returned to Atlantic in 1985 with the single “People On A String” from the “White Nights” soundtrack.
Flack released a single version of “We Shall Overcome” on the label to commemorate Martin Luther King’s birthday.
She performed a number of live dates with symphony orchestras, and toured Japan twice between 1986 and 1988: once with Miles Davis and the Crusaders; the second with Tokyo’s Japanese Symphony.
She performed with Miles Davis again at the Toronto Jazz Festival in June 1987, and on the Capitol grounds with the National Symphony and Marvin Hamlisch in July, before 225,000 enthusiastic fans.
The release of “Oasis,” which featured the work of Marcus Miller, Andy Goldmark, The System’s David Frank, Henry Gaffney, Ashford & Simpson, Greg Phillinganes, Michael Omartian, Jerry Hey, David Sanborn, George Duke, Marvin Hamlisch and Siedah Garrett, Quincy Jones, and others. The title track became a #1 R&B single.
Flack toured California, Japan, and Hong Kong in 1989, headlining a series of dates with Patrice Rushen and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Flack released “Roberta”, an album of popular jazz and blues standards. “Roberta” contains Roberta’s own arrangements of such classics as B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and “Let’s Stay Together.” “Roberta” earned a Grammy nomination in the company of Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett.
Flack hosted a weekly radio show, “Brunch with Roberta Flack”. The show presented Flack as a host with unique insights into the world of music in which she herself has been such an integral part. “Brunch With Roberta Flack” aired nationwide in over 30 major metropolitan radio markets.
The release of Flack’s first Christmas album, “The Christmas Album,” as well as a new collaboration with Peabo Bryson for Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas” movie soundtrack.
Highlights of 1998 included a Roberta performance along with Madonna, Elton John and Sting at Carnegie Hall for the Annual Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert, a tour of Japan, and a musical appearance with the Muppets on “Sesame Street.”
Roberta Flack was selected to receive a coveted star on Hollywood’s legendary Walk of Fame.
Flack traveled to South Africa for a sold out concert tour. Even President Nelson Mandela, a Roberta Flack fan, turned out to enjoy the culminating concert.
Flack’s accomplishments were celebrated during the historical five-hour VH-1 program, “The 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.” She ranked highly, sharing the company of Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Alanis Morissette and several other trail-blazing female artists.
“Roberta Flack In Concert” was released on DVD.
Flack took a leadership role in response to the aftermath of September 11th. She, along with other celebrities, participated in Nile Rodgers’ “We Are Family” movie and single (directed by Spike Lee), which set an example of unity among all Americans.
Flack released “Holiday,” a timeless collection of seasonal favorites, a Roberta classic or two, plus a few goodies thrown in for good cheer.
Roberta Flack remains an inspiration to her fans, peers and younger musicians in the music industry. Flack has appeared with soul artists like Alicia Keyes, India.Arie and Angie Stone, all younger artists who have been heavily influenced by Roberta Flack’s earlier achievements.
The post Roberta Flack biography and career timeline appeared first on American Masters.
Internationally hailed as one of the greatest
Regina’s mayor wants a redo.
On Wednesday at the city’s first council meeting of the year, Mayor Sandra Masters will put forth a motion calling on council to reconsider councillor Dan LeBlanc’s appointment to the board of directors for the city’s inaugural community safety and well being organization.
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The “Reconsideration Motion” signed by the mayor references a procedure bylaw that reads, “a majority of council may vote to reconsider a decision taken at a previous meeting provided that the member seeking reconsideration has given the appropriate notice of their intent.”
Masters reasoning for wanting LeBlanc removed is not stated within the reconsideration motion.
Masters and LeBlanc’s relationship has been strained as of late.
The mayor was notably outspoken late last year when LeBlanc filed a lawsuit on behalf of fellow councillor Andrew Stevens against city manager Nikki Anderson.
The lawsuit was centered around LeBlanc and Stevens’ belief that Anderson withheld estimates for funding to end homelessness in the city’s proposed budget.
Masters called the lawsuit disgusting and claimed it contained tones of sexism.
At the council meeting on September 14, 2022, LeBlanc was appointed to serve on the inaugural board of directors for Community and Social Impact Regina.
Community and Social Impact Regina is an external non-profit organization that stems from the city’s community and safety well being plan.
The plan was approved by council in 2021 and, according to the city, “outlines a multi-year strategy to improve safety and well-being for Regina residents by addressing a number of pressure points and social issues.”
Council set aside $875,000 in the city’s 2022 budget for the plan, which started with the creation of an external non-profit to lead implementation.
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Minutes from the September 14 meeting show Masters along with the rest of council unanimously voting for LeBlanc to be the city council representative on the Community and Social Impact Regina board of directors.
But now, Masters has had a change of heart and is hoping the majority of council will, as well.
Masters’ motion calls for council to reconsider LeBlanc’s appointment and to appoint a different council member to serve out the remainder of LeBlanc’s term on the board, which goes to December 31, 2023.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Regina’s mayor wants a redo. On Wednesday at
Opening up. Brooke Shields looks back at her life in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields and, for the first time, discusses being sexually assaulted.
“I did not know if or when or if at all I was ever going to bring this up,” the model, 57, explained to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, January 19. “It has taken me many years of therapy to even be able to talk about it. I definitely have worked very hard through it, and I’ve learned to process it.”
In the new movie — which premiered on Friday, January 20, at Sundance Film Festival — Shields recalled struggling to find film roles after her 1987 graduation from Princeton University. She was excited to meet with an old friend about a possible project, and he invited her back to his hotel room in order to call a cab.
“I just absolutely froze,” the Blue Lagoon star said in the documentary via Rolling Stone. “My one ‘no’ should have been enough. And I just thought, ‘Stay alive, and get out.’ And I just shut it out. And god knows I knew how to be disassociated from my body. I’d practiced that.”
Shields continued: “I wanted to erase the whole thing from my mind and body, and just keep on the path I was on. And the system had never once come to help me, you know? So, I just had to get stronger on my own.”
The film, directed by Lana Wilson (who helmed Taylor Swift‘s Miss Americana doc) shows Shields processing her feelings, from initially refusing a bodyguard who said the incident was rape to eventually writing her assailant a scathing letter.
“I’ve come to a place, and we’ve come to a time in our society, where we can talk about these things much more openly,” Shields told THR. “I had no idea I was going to say it. I thought, I have arrived at this place, and I feel as a mother of two young girls that I hope that just by even hearing my incident that I can add myself to becoming an advocate. Because this is something that does happen every day, and it should not be happening. I felt that I had arrived at a place where I could talk about it. It’s taken me a long time.”
The New York native shares daughters Rowan, 19, and Grier, 16, with husband Chris Henchy. She has been married to the producer since 2001.
Opening up. Brooke Shields looks back at
With horror displaying its continued dominance at the box office — Nope, Smile, Scream, Barbarian, Halloween Ends and The Black Phone were all among the top 40 releases of 2022 before M3GAN launched the new year with a $30 million opening — James A. Janisse is eagerly riding the gory wave.
The content creator founded the popular YouTube channel Dead Meat in 2017 and saw his subscriber base reach 5.94 million by the end of 2022, up from 4.5 million two years earlier. The content — which includes interviews with directors and actors, podcasts and trivia-filled looks at films — has logged more than 2 billion views.
A Detroit-area native who moved to L.A. in 2012, Janisse (also known as Dead Meat James) is not only the host but also president and executive producer of Dead Meat, which he co-owns with his wife, Chelsea Rebecca. In 2018, Rebecca founded the Dead Meat podcast, which is now on its 182nd episode.
Janisse’s approach combines a love of horror with a sense of humor, creating entertainment that’s also educational for devoted horror fans and the horror-curious.
Director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) is a fan. “It’s not just commentary, it’s not just critique, it’s excellent entertainment in its own right, and beautifully produced by James and Chelsea,” he tells THR.
Janisse — who credits Scream for drawing him into the genre (though when he first watched it as a kid, “the opening scene was so scary that I ran out of the living room and hid from the rest of the movie,” he says) — believes horror is massively popular today because of “the high quality of horror movies in the past five-ish years.” Janisse continues: “It started in 2017 when the critical success of Get Out, and the commercial success of It brought a double whammy of attention to the genre. Horror seems to get popular when the real world feels the scariest. There are plenty of reasons for people to seek expression of their fear in a safe, cinematic way.”
Dead Meat videos include a podcast about The Menu
Courtesy of Dead Meat
The most popular show on Dead Meat is The Kill Count, a series of videos in which Janisse ticks off the deaths in a film while introducing behind-the-scenes facts, giving viewers a deeper understanding and appreciation of the art and technicalities of horror. Films that have received recent Kill Count treatment include Prey, Gremlins, Malignant, Bride of Chucky and Dude Bro Party Massacre III.
Janisse, 33, shares that 60 percent of Dead Meat’s annual revenue comes from ads on YouTube; other sources of income include sponsorship deals (25 percent), donations from supporters on Patreon (8 percent) and ads and sponsorships for a Dead Meat podcast, which he started in 2018 (5 percent).
Dead Meat’s James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca
Dead Meat
Last year, streaming service Shudder sponsored the first Dead Meat Horror Awards (chosen by Janisse and Rebecca), in which horror stars like The Nun‘s Bonnie Aarons announced the winners. And Dead Meat is developing a horror feature comedy directed by Max Deleo and written by Nick Skardarasy that is “centered on growing up and what that means for old college friendships,” he says. As for why Dead Meat continues to grow, Janisse notes that “horror fans can sense when someone’s a genuine fan. They can tell I really love what I’m talking about.”
Updated: Clarified that Chelsea Rebecca started the Dead Meat podcast in 2018.
This story first appeared in the Jan. 18 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
With horror displaying its continued dominance at
[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” Episode 2, “Infected.”]
It’s an easy shortcut to start unpacking an episode with the opening sequence and I promise that’s not going to be the case for the next two months. But it’s worth pointing out the first two cold opens in “The Last of Us” do just as much to build a sense of global unease as any overheard news report or Oval Office address or TV test pattern could. In “Infected,” the series’ second episode, the late-’60s public affairs roundtable gives way to Dr. Ibu Ratna (a magnificent Christine Hakim), a scientist and professor shown as one of the first people to recognize that humanity was in real trouble.
If last week’s first episode didn’t do enough to prime a viewing audience for a short supply of hope early on in “The Last of Us,” here’s an expert recognizing within minutes that nothing can be done. Dr. Ratna moves through the stages of confusion, curiosity, terror, and resignation, already grieving a society she knows is doomed. There’s something eerie about a scientist, a profession famous for considering possible alternatives and explanations, making such a definitive (and ultimately correct) statement. It’s as matter-of-fact as the presentation of the bullet hole in the factory worker on the autopsy table. This is not an environment where hope thrives.
Not only does that opening show what’s been lost (before we get the clarification that it’s another 2003 flashback, there’s that hopeful two-second gap when it seems like civilization might somehow have survived in Indonesia) it emphasizes how much of “The Last of Us” is built on a new, unconventional flow of information. Last week’s pilot showed people tracking the trickle of symptoms before the avalanche. Later scenes in “Infected” show how even 20 years of experience still leave some grey area around the enemy that everyone is fighting. Everyone trying to stay alive is stuck in a dangerous game of Telephone, which would be hard enough even if the motives of everyone involved were pure. Ellie becomes the simplest test case for that – she’s seeing how her notions of the world beyond the wall match with reality.
These are abstract entry points into an episode with a fairly straightforward sequence of events. Joel, Ellie, and Tess, fresh off a hairy escape from the FEDRA-controlled quarter of Boston, now find themselves in the “outside world.” Getting Ellie to Firefly allies means traversing what’s left of eastern Massachusetts, beginning with the burnt-out remains of a city littered by decades-old bomb craters. From Joel’s telling, this is the result of a success story — conceivably, mass casualties helped stop the cordyceps spread and set up the Quarantine Zone, a process that didn’t always play out in the major cities of 2003.
Christine Hakim in “The Last of Us”
Liane Hentscher/HBO
As “The Last of Us” runs through the various story and design decisions facing any post-apocalyptic show, this second episode gives the audience a better idea of how things have decayed here. “When You’re Lost in Darkness” focused on the collapse and the new semblance of order in a controlled area. “Infected” is the first large-scale look at what got left behind. It’s not quite the irradiated, barren wasteland that comes after total destruction. It’s also not the frozen-in-amber, ghost town feel of something like 2021’s beautifully haunting “Anna,” where a population disappears far more gradually. “The Last of Us” takes the middle road, where the destruction is the thing most preserved, as plant life of all kinds start to take their course. Compare the damage left by man-made weapons trying to fight an unbeatable foe with the fractal-like, prismatic cordyceps growths coming from the entryway of the Bostonian Museum. The disease has more beauty to it than the cure.
Of course, that doesn’t go for all the discoveries that our trio make. There are dead bodies inside the hotel at the mouth the Long Way out of the city and the museum that becomes the Short Way. Their path is littered with folks, whether smugglers or fugitives or proactive travelers, who underestimated the fungal hive mind or the renegade forces still trying to outlast them. Like the attack that plays out in the rear view window as Tommy drives the pickup out of their Austin neighborhood, the group of Infected that Tess shows Ellie is a set of consequences seen from a great distance. Seeing this new world through Ellie’s eyes makes “Infected” something like a second half of a massive pilot. Ellie’s the newcomer/surrogate for how to process what Boston has become in this version of 2023. When she, Joel, and Tess have to wade through the waist-high water flooding what used to be a hotel lobby, it might as well be the opening level of a game getting a new player acclimated to the controls. By the time they arrive at the (fictional) Bostonian Museum, director Neil Druckmann has effectively created a tutorial level for the physical and emotional lengths our main characters can muster.
That also extends to the episode’s sensory experience. Score is sparse here, meaning that we’re getting used to the overriding sense of silence that will come with long stretches of Joel and Ellie’s journey. They’re away from the day-to-day hum of the QZ. The cacophony of Outbreak Day and guerrilla warfare has now given way to a world where one crunch could mean the difference between survival and Infection. Sometimes that relationship to sound is more playful (hello, new frog friend!) and sometimes it’s more instructive (just hearing the dead cordyceps root under the butt of Joel’s shotgun is enough to let him and us know that it doesn’t pose a threat anymore).
Of course, it’s at its peak in the museum room, where we get our first brush with a fully matured cordyceps Infected. This is not the kind of show where everyone spends the first season getting out of tough scrapes and close calls at the last minute. Like Tess says, her luck was bound to run out sometime. Aside from yet another example that no one in this world (outside of Joel and Ellie, at this point) is guaranteed to make it to the next episode, it makes sense that a short-handed fight against two angry opponents would only leave one of this trio unscathed. Tess’ acceptance of her fate is a mirror of Dr. Ratna’s.
Anna Torv in “The Last of Us”
Liane Hentscher/HBO
Sarah’s death stood out in the pilot not just because it needed to be the thing that drives Joel to outlast his new enemy. It stood out because it was harsh and untidy and unsparing. For the second time in as many episodes, Joel is left with only a split-second chance to say goodbye to someone he cares about. His heart hardened, Joel’s history repeats and someone close to him dies without them giving words of comfort before they go.
And that sense of terror transfers over to Tess, whose final moments are mostly spent worrying that her death won’t even buy Joel and Ellie the time they need. (As someone who struggles with lighters, I would almost certainly have that same combination of fear and frustration.) Her river of gasoline and hand grenades does end up eliminating the local Infected population, but this is sacrifice in the least triumphant way possible. Not only is Tess denied some last words from Joel, she has to deliver the death blow to the enemy while in the middle of an attack with its own kind of violence. Her bodily autonomy is the last thing taken away from her, and only thing about her death that’s on her terms is the eventual outcome. Those last moments show just how much of Tess’ pain and sadness that Torv has managed to carry just in her facial expressions alone.
Pascal, too, in this episode is once again asked to do a lot with a little. If the events of the pilot hadn’t already locked him in as a lived-in, world-weary Joel, his quarter-voice instructions around the truck and inside the Independence Hall exhibit would have done the trick. Part of him not saying much is being beaten down by survival. It’s also a heavy dose of self-preservation. Fewer words give you fewer chances for strangers to suss out who you really are and fewer chances to say/not say something that you regret. From top to bottom, “Infected” is about preserving dignity in the face of almost-certain failure. Dr. Ratna just wants to be with her family. Tess finds a way to make her death mean something. Now Joel and Ellie carry on silently, trying to grow that last tiny sliver of hope.
“The Last of Us” airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
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It's another episode of saying hello and
Based on one of the most sensational and much-discussed short stories of recent times, which was heralded as the most-read story ever to appear in The New Yorker, Cat Person is a disarmingly creepy film with a disturbing edge that will surely trigger further discussion about contemporary dating and romantic protocols. Years ago, a little film like this would have found a modest but loyal following among young audiences. Now, however, its forthright presentation of the pitfalls of flashing yellow lights where male-female relations are concerned should make this a must-see and a subject of hot discussion at least among teens and young adults.
The film’s modest scale and non-big-star cast present a significant plus going in, as more famous names would have tilted the scale in a misleading direction concerning audience expectations. Michelle Ashford, the creator and main writer for the long-running Masters of Sex TV series, and The Flight Attendant director Susanna Fogel, have shaken and stirred Kristen Roupenian’s 2017 yarn into something outrageous and disturbing while at the same time altogether palatable. It’s a film that young women, in particular, will gather around like bears having just found honey.
The set-up and story are, on the surface, extremely simple. Emilia Jones, who made her breakthrough in Coda, plays Margot, a 20-year-old student at an East Coast college lucky enough to have a nearby old-school movie theater that’s still in operation. Not all that much happens in the early going but Margot and her academic peers keep their little dramas engaging enough with their spark, spunk and collegiate smarts.
Margot sometimes works evenings behind the counter at the cinema and on one occasion chats with a tall, rather awkward fellow who seems to be a regular; this would be Robert, played by Nicholas Braun (Succession). Nothing of consequence is discussed and the entire encounter comes to nothing, and yet a connection of sorts has been made. The next time they meet, under identical circumstances, they will be better rehearsed.
Ashford’s dialogue is very good at giving particular voices distinctive qualities of their own and Jones is awfully good at delivering it; you’re on Margot’s side from the outset and hope for the best for her. The twosome’s second meeting leaves Margot ambivalent but willing to give it a go with this decidedly weird dude; you feel like telling her she can do a lot better than this and that he even seems like some kind of weirdo.
Sure, there’s theoretically nothing wrong with taking a shot with someone you don’t know well to see how it turns out and everyone makes mistakes once in a while. But this is not a film that cuts away just as things get genuinely intimate. Cat Person is unusual in its quite vivid presentation of bad sex; you just wish Margot could get out of there already, but she’s committed herself and so it goes. And the more you see Robert and get a full dose of his weirdness, the more uncomfortable the whole situation becomes.
Margot certainly couldn’t have imagined that this mistaken encounter would turn out the way it did, and one of the real virtues of Roupenian’s story is how effectively it conveys the unexpected residue of a disturbing sexual encounter. Robert’s clumsy physicality and even weirder comments make it quite clear that this is a guy to be avoided, and one of the film’s real virtues is how it quite clearly conveys what a selfish, inconsiderate, and—if you want the bottom line—inept lover he is, despite being noticeably older and presumably more experienced than his date. In this particular alone, it treads seldom traveled ground.
The film’s origins as a short story are very comfortably accommodated by the concise running time and one sees aspects of a particular sexual encounter that are rare and, therefore, revealing. It’s both disturbing and illuminating.
Cat Person, then, is a welcome arrival, a take on youthful sexual activity that you haven’t seen before, and the way it’s been made—with excellent but little-known actors and on an appealingly modest scale—feels fresh.
Based on one of the most sensational
Last Updated: August 21, 2020, 14:32 IST
Project Power
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
The current Coronavirus pandemic may have devastated big screens and hundreds of businesses. But it has given a new meaning to, a new interest in watching films at home. Most of us know this, and have found comfort in our living rooms. These have been widely written about, but what many of us, maybe most of us, have not realised or thought about is how mankind’s callousness towards Nature has led to innumerable to disasters. The horrific landslide and floods at Kedarnath a few years ago were – admit it or not – the result of illegal constructions on our hills and thirst for money, and more money. This human greed is spelt out most lucidly by the character played by the late Sushant Singh Rajput.
Directors Henry Joost’s and Arial Schulman’s latest superman movie, Project Power, is all about tinkering with Nature for a humungous amount of profit. However, if one were to look beyond the thrill and action, one can clearly discern the profound sociological message embedded in the script written by Mattson Tomlin, and acted out by a magnificent team.
The plot is set in New Orleans, and a shady Government defence contractor, a scientist who has the least concern for human life, has developed a pill — a DNA based concentrate created out of the evolutionary characteristics of multiple species. The man who swallows it gets super natural powers like bulletproof skin, bones that bend, invisibility, etc. The catch, however, is that the power of the pill lasts a mere five minutes, and in some cases can cause death.
Robin (Dominique Fishback) is a school kid, who becomes a dealer, because she needs money to have her sick mother treated. Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a detective who adores New Orleans and wants to save it from inhuman businessmen out to destroy it. Art (Jamie Foxx), is a disgruntled army officer, who also wants to break the demand-supply chain, and he has a personal reason for wanting this. He is searching for his daughter, who may have acquired the genetic modifications needed to become superhuman.
The trio keeps the film moving seamlessly, but the exchanges between Art and Robin are deeply touching, and their performances are brilliant. Gordon-Levitt exudes an easy charm and is willing to be on the other side of the law by popping one of those magic pills. This is the only way, he feels, he can tame those rogues.
Unfortunately, the villains appear uni-dimensional; they have not been written with adequate care. And the movie may appear rather unoriginal. After all, there have been others with more or less similar themes. We have even had comic books on such super natural phenomena.
Rating: 3/5
Last Updated: August 21, 2020, 14:32 ISTProject
Outerwear queen Anne Hathaway just brought the corset trend into 2023.
On January 21, Hathaway arrived at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of her upcoming movie Eileen dressed for the winter weather in Park City, Utah. The actor wore a black corset-inspired puffer coat from Versace’s Fall/Winter 2022 ready-to-wear collection with a pair of sheer black tights and chunky platform combat boots.
Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson describes Hathaway’s character in Eileen as “a loose sophisticate, swanning into rooms and saying what she feels—and, it begins to seem, taking what she wants.” This look definitely aligns with that vibe.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Underneath the coat, Hathaway had on a textured Versace little black dress with sheer back panels. She wore her windswept hair down and kept her makeup warm with glowy skin, a subtle orange smokey eye, and rust-colored lips.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Outerwear queen Anne Hathaway just brought the
After watching Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Episode 2, it’s hard to imagine anyone would want to live in that awful town.
After the riots, things have escalated past the point of no return, and the only person who can untangle the mess is Mike.
But he needs help, and it comes at a price.
“Staring at the Devil” started off with a bang — a lot of bangs, which acted as the jumping-off point for Mike to circle the wagons, hoping they could stop the increasing carnage.
What they found inside that house was brutal, but what was outside wasn’t any better.
How can you live in a place where to survive a massacre means you’re gunned down while on the phone with 9-1-1, or you escape with your life only to die holding in your guts while talking to the authorities?
Kingstown is an ugly place, and if Mike’s plan to staunch the bleeding is unsuccessful, it will become overrun by the National Guard and become fodder for news organizations across the nation, probably the world.
Actually, it’s got to be at that point already. Killing dozens of people anywhere draws eyes, even if those gunned down aren’t really any better than those doing the shooting.
It was just one bad thing after another piling on that finally brought it all to a screeching halt with Mike’s cunning plan.
The first question that comes to mind is why the gangs’ leaders hadn’t thought of getting arrested and tossed into the clink so they could bring a sense of order to their people.
Bunny kind of addressed that with his concerns that the guards had to sign onto the deal the same as the others.
Kareem and his new second-in-command were happy enough to be in control of tent city, but how long would that last without the inmates again running the asylum?
All they needed to do was turn one guard for it all to fall to shit again. Who would feel safe in that house of cards?
Seeing how much the real people in charge respect Mike is always impressive. The whole power play was a scam to get leaders on the inside to clean up the mess and appoint new leadership they could subsequently leave behind.
Evelyn didn’t have to agree to drop the charges. Everyone at the meeting was already there of their own volition, and by the time the officers swarmed, it was too late for them to put up much of a fight.
But Evelyn will drop the charges once the houses are in order, and Bunny and the others will thank him for it when it’s all said and done.
Kingstown is a well-oiled machine in some respects. It is when the oil dries up that things go awry.
Because of that interconnected machine that runs Kingstown, nothing will ever change. When change occurs, it’s a nightmare.
Let’s step back from the riot and officers and the Mike of it all and look at Iris as an example.
Mike put himself on the line to save her. He even embedded her with his family, which was not in their best interests, for her safety while he dealt with the latest kerfluffle.
Where he failed was treating her like a sack of garbage that he could sling around without regard for her feelings.
It would have been best for her to take the WitSec deal, but she didn’t. Mike treats her like a kitten he’s sworn to protect, but how he talks about her while she’s listening expresses his true feelings.
Of course, he didn’t want to alert Kyle to the reality that he was dropping Iris off at his doorstep. Milo is after Iris, and Milo is a very bad man.
What sane person would want to invite him into their lives by protecting what he wanted?
Mike said he needed to drop “something” off more than once, which made me cringe every time. It didn’t evoke the warm fuzzies.
So Iris heard all of that, and although Mike probably thought he was doing what was in her best interests and caring for her, she was still on the outside looking in. Miriam called her a guest, but the damage was done by then.
So Iris is back with Milo, her head literally in his lap. How bad do things have to be that you walk straight into the arms of the man you were fleeing?
Life in Kingstown sucks out your soul.
On the other hand, it also teaches you some damn good life skills if you’ve got the shoulders to carry the burden.
Kyle has a good set of shoulders. He’s seen enough carnage to know how to carry himself to ensure the least amount of damage.
But nothing he could say to his dingbat partner made a difference for the guy. He kicked aside Kyle’s training, mocking him at every turn.
He’s not laughing now, is he?
Kyle wasn’t even on the job long enough to understand the area, and he’s already in the thick of it again.
If the prison rot leaked outside and into Kingstown after the riot, has Kingstown leaked outside of town limits, too?
Like Yellowstone, there must always be another fiasco around the corner. How long before it all falls to hell again, and what happens in the meantime — for the town and the show?
I’d love to hear from you. How do you watch Mayor of Kingstown? Will a calm after the storm be enough after all of this pain?
Share your thoughts below in the comments!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
After watching Mayor of Kingstown Season 2
On the eve of the eve of the nominations announcement for the 95th Annual Academy Awards I joined Tom O’Neil of Gold Derby and Anne Thompson of Indiewire, for this joint conversation or “slugfest” as O’Neil likes to call it, to give the lay of the land as the Oscar race is about to get very intense as it leads up to the March 12th date of the Oscars themselves. We are joined by our special guest Wilson Morales, editor of Blackfilmandtv.com, a longtime entertainment writer and watcher of the season who has in recent months turned into the leading pundit on Gold Derby’s predictions site in terms of making what have turned out to be some pretty correct guesses on all the precursor shows leading up to Tuesday’s unveiling of the most important list of all.
What will be the biggest surprise? Who will be snubbed? What movie will lead the list? Will Oscar voters agree with critics on Everything Everywhere All At Once? Can the year’s top boxoffice films, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way Of Water break through and put some people power into the Oscars for a change? Will early frontrunner The Fabelmans swing back to the top? And who is going to go all the way in the acting races? Just click the link above for this very revealing preview of the 95th Academy Awards Nominations.
On the eve of the eve of
January 17, 2023 · 3:02 PM
WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY
The first authorized work exploring the extraordinary life of Willie Nelson traverses the personal and career ups, downs, and in-betweens of one of the world’s most beloved musicians, by turns spiritual, dramatic, and playful.
Directors:
Thom Zimny, Oren Moverman
Executive Producers:
Thom Zimny, Oren Moverman, Keith Wortman, Mark Rothbaum, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Sean Stuart, Leonid Lebedev, Annie Nelson, Mark Ankner
Festival Section:
Indie Episodic
More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
January 17, 2023 · 3:02 PM Courtesy of
