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Jialing Zhang’s documentary focuses on three women harassed by the Chinese government — and everyday citizens.
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‘Total Trust’ Review: Doc About Chinese Surveillance
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A Celebration for 50 Years of Hip-Hop:
It’s hard to measure the full impact of the Hollywood strikes — mainly because the TV and film industry will be facing the ripple effects for years to come — but a new study has revealed one significant immediate hit: 17% of Los Angeles-based showbiz workers lost their jobs during the work stoppages.
According to the Otis College of Art and Design’s study, the first released under the college’s ongoing Otis College Report on the Creative Economy, following the WGA (which ran May 2-Sept. 27) and SAG-AFTRA strikes (July 14-Nov. 9), 24,799 entertainment industry employees in Los Angeles were let go, or more than 1.5 in every 10 workers.
While actors and writers were the workers that saw the “most rapid declines” during the April-October period period measured, other heavily affected roles included camera operators and editors, and “other media occupations,” which the study classifies as “a group that includes broadcast, sound and lighting technicians.”
The study notes that the writers and actors strikes of 2023 should be “understood as part of a longer-term decline in Hollywood employment,” including the decline of Peak TV, and states that film and TV industry’s employment has shrunk by 26% since the post-pandemic high point in August 2022. The strikes are framed by the study as a factor that “accelerated an industry contraction already underway.”
According to the report, additional challenges facing Hollywood that were exacerbated by the strikes include: oversupply, a weaker investment environment, technological disruption and foreign competition.
Per Otis College, for the study, the Westwood Economics and Planning Associates analyzed strike-period data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and California Employment Development Department (EDD), in addition to reviewing 11,186 job listings in entertainment (film and television) over 15 months, ending on Oct. 31, and interviewing industry officials, including above-the-line and below-the-line talent, producers, talent agents and policymakers.
The full study, the first of two from Otis College of Art and Design to focus on the entertainment industry, with the second to be released in early 2024, can be found here.
“The entertainment industry is a key economic driver for California, with impact felt across the world,” Otis College president Charles Hirschhorn said. “Analyzing the health of that industry is important for both our state and our students at Otis College of Art and Design, a diverse community of artists and designers planning careers across creative sectors. We’ve developed the Otis College Report on the Creative Economy as an essential resource to give our creative students and citizens the information they need to best plan for their futures.”
It’s hard to measure the full impact
Defence lawyers are expected to present their case Thursday in the murder trial of a former Saskatchewan Mountie.
Bernie Herman, 55, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Braden Herman.
The two men are not related.
Braden Herman’s naked body was found in a park on the outskirts of Prince Albert, Sask., in 2021.
Court has heard the two men met on Facebook and Braden Herman moved into the veteran officer’s family home in 2018.
Messages and images from cellphones entered into the trial show the two men had a sexual relationship that put a strain on the officer’s marriage.
Const. Riley Babott, a digital forensics examiner with Calgary police who analyzed the devices, read the messages in court.
Photographs of Snapchat conversations between the two men show them sharing feelings of love. The messages also show frustrations with their relationship and issues with Bernie Herman’s wife.
Janice Herman told court she kicked the younger man out of the home in 2019. Text messages between her and her husband show she was frustrated that he continued the relationship with the younger man.
“I was alone for seven months while you were having the time of your life,” Janice Herman texted her husband 20 days before the killing.
The Crown was expected to close its case Thursday.
Family have said Braden Herman was kind and thoughtful, a friendly giant who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Janice Herman testified earlier in the week that Braden Herman was violent and unpredictable. However, she and her husband continued to socialize with him.
Janice Herman was having drinks with Braden Herman the night before his death.
She also dropped off alcohol for him and a friend on May 11, 2021, the day he was killed.
In text messages to her husband that day, she criticized the Mountie’s relationship with Braden Herman.
“You telling (Braden Herman) you want him and not your wife, that, too, hurts,” she said in a text to her husband.
Later that day, Bernie Herman sent a text to his wife saying he’d had enough and shot Braden Herman.
The message said: “Just so you know your life has changed from here on. I just shot and killed him.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
Defence lawyers are expected to present their
Christine Brown has no regrets about leaving behind her polygamist lifestyle. The 51-year-old Sister Wives star took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a beaming selfie while wearing a hot pink shirt.
“I was always concerned I would lose my independence in monogamy,” Christine captioned the photo. “I realized the other day, being married to the right person (David for me!) that I am more independent than I ever was! #strongwoman #independent #strongerthanever #blessed.”
Christine’s new husband, David Woolley, took to the comments section to praise his new bride, writing, “I had surgery last Friday I’ve never been taken care of like Christine has done for me I have the best wife and soulmate that anyone could have she is my angel love you so much Christine Woolley!!❤️”
Christine publicly split from Kody Brown, the father of her six children, in 2021. At the time, she was the first of Kody’s wives to leave the plural marriage.
She met David in late 2022, and the pair tied the knot this past October.
Shortly after Christine left Kody, Janelle Brown and Meri Brown followed suit, leaving Robyn Brown as Kody’s only remaining wife. All of the women have talked about their independence as a benefit of plural marriage, saying that not being able to depend on a husband they’re sharing has led them to be more self-sufficient through the years.
ET’s Deidre Behar sat down with Christine last month to discuss her new marriage and happiness with David.
“I had no idea it felt like this or would feel like this. It really is a dream come true,” she gushed. “It’s amazing. It’s like we just kind of moved in side-by-side with each other and just continued moving on in our life, but we’re doing everything that the other person wanted to do but never did. So we travel so much and try so many new things and we have so many more kids now.”
The next episode of the Sister Wives’ One-on-One special airs Sunday, Dec. 10 at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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Christine Brown has no regrets about leaving
TV giant Norman Lear, who died Dec. 5 at 101, leaves behind arguably the single most valuable body of work ever committed to the medium. On seminal series like All in the Family, Maude and The Jeffersons, Lear dared to tackle issues then considered unthinkable sitcom fodder — rape, abortion, homosexuality, racism, alcoholism — with a genius’ eye and ear for capturing their moral complexities while poking at the foibles of the American working class. These six episodes, however, stand out among the rest for having actively moved the needle on public opinion — and in doing so elevated Lear’s work from mere entertainment to timeless agitprop art.
Lear’s magnum opus, All in the Family, tackled the most hot-button issues throughout its nine seasons, from rape to racism to the war in Vietnam. But one particularly resounding episode was “Cousin Liz,” in which Edith overrules Archie’s boisterous protests and gives her deceased cousin’s lesbian partner a silver tea set that held deep sentimental value. The episode aired while Anita Bryant and her Save Our Children coalition sponsored ballot initiatives across the country that would ban LGBTQ citizens from working in public schools — and the defeat of one of those initiatives in California (the “Briggs initiative” named for state senator John Briggs) was credited in part to “Cousin Liz.” – Seth Abramovitch
Where to watch online Apple TV+, Prime Video
CBS only had one objection to the groundbreaking two-parter — which came a year before Roe vs. Wade, though abortion was already legal in New York, where the show was set — that brought the abortion debate into America’s living rooms: that both sides be represented. The episode, penned by future Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, follows Bea Arthur’s Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal woman on her fourth marriage, discovering a surprise pregnancy at age 47. In the end, a deeply conflicted Maude decides to have the abortion, and cites her age as a key concern. The episode was aired by all but two of CBS’ nearly 200 affiliates. It was only when the episode was slated for a re-airing in August 1973 that the United States Catholic Conference mobilized, resulting in 40 affiliates refusing to air it and all corporate sponsors dropping their advertising. CBS could live with that: Maude finished the season at number 4 in the ratings. – Seth Abramovitch
Where to watch Maude online Apple TV+
In the season one episode “Michael Gets Suspended,” the Evans family’s youngest and most politically engaged child, Michael (Ralph Carter), gets disciplined at school for saying that George Washington owned slaves and was a “white racist.” Throughout the series, Michael’s activist streak would frustrate his pragmatic parents, and in this episode, his father, James (John Amos), calls him “the militant midget.” But what stands out about the 1974 storyline is the timeliness of Michael’s critique of his school’s lessons. Nearly 50 years before the state of Florida adopted a curriculum that says some Black people benefited from slavery, an 11-year-old on Good Times was calling out his school for its failure to tell an accurate story about race in U.S. history. – Rebecca Keegan
Where to watch Good Times online Apple TV+, Peacock, Prime Video
An episode-long flashback tells the politically charged story of how George (Sherman Hemsley) started his first dry cleaning store. After meeting with a patronizing white banker and enduring a raft of micro (or, honestly, macro) aggressions, George is on the verge of securing a loan to open the store in Harlem — on the evening of April 4, 1968. As he shows Louise (Isabel Sanford) and Lionel (Mike Evans) the storefront he’s leased, a brick comes through the glass door and a protester informs the family that Martin Luther King, Jr. has been assassinated. The Jeffersons wasn’t usually as overtly political as some of Lear’s other shows, but Hemsley does a masterful job at playing George’s barely contained rage at the system, leading to a very satisfying (and, importantly, funny) second meeting with the banker the next day. – Rick Porter
Where to watch The Jeffersons online Apple TV+, Prime Video
Lear’s reboot of his 1975 series — about a single mom raising two daughters on her own — was more overtly political than the original, reimagining the premise with a Latino cast (Justina Machado and Rita Moreno, with Todd Grinnell as Schneider) while tackling hot-button issues like racism and immigration. The first episode of season 2 had Penelope’s 13-year-old son Alex (Marcel Ruiz) urging his family not to embarrass him by talking loud or calling him “Papito.” Turns out that’s because Alex was told to “go back to Mexico” by a bully who heard the young man — born in America — speak Spanish to a friend. Gloria Calderon Kellett, herself from a Cuban-American background, created the series with Mike Royce, with a 95-year-old Lear executive producing. – Etan Vlessing
Where to watch One Day At a Time online Netflix, Prime Video (1975)
Spoofing daytime serials and their endless melodrama, Lear boldly embraced their format, delivering half-hour episodes five times a week over two seasons via independent channels across the country. In his crazy, scathing satire of consumer culture, Mary is a small-town housewife convinced that TV and its bountiful commercials can provide the answers to such existential crises as waxy yellow buildup and the news that her grandfather is the Fernwood Flasher. Louise Lasser brought the perfect sensibility to the role, numb and glazed but pierced by a slow-dawning yearning for something better. Life keeps intruding on the delusions she’s embraced — especially memorably in Episode 43, when housewifely perfection proves fallible, and a neighbor drowns in a bowl of her chicken soup, and in Episode 130, the first season’s last, when Mary goes through the looking glass and has a full-fledged nervous breakdown on live television. – Sheri Linden
TV giant Norman Lear, who died Dec.
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Moses Bwayo spoke to IndieWire’s Marcus Jones at a screening for the National Geographic documentary about Ugandan musician and politician Bobi Wine.
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Bobi Wine: The People’s President Director Interview
In the most recent suit, the unidentified woman says she was with friends at a lounge in the Detroit area when she met Harve Pierre, Bad Boy’s former president, who is also named as a defendant in the case and is accused of taking part in raping the woman. The woman, according to the court papers, said Mr. Pierre told her that Mr. Combs “would love to meet” her and then, in a bathroom at the lounge, Mr. Pierre “demanded” oral sex, before asking her to accompany him on a private flight to New York City.
While at the recording studio, according to the suit, the woman met Mr. Combs and took a photo sitting on his lap, which was included in the complaint with her face obscured. “Ms. Doe became more and more inebriated,” the complaint reads, “eventually to the point that she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age.”
Eventually, the lawsuit says, Mr. Combs directed her into the bathroom, where he raped her, and then sat in a chair outside the bathroom watching as an unnamed man raped her. The suit says Mr. Pierre assaulted her last.
Mr. Pierre could not be reached for comment. He was named in an earlier case, filed last month, that accused him of grooming and sexually assaulting an assistant at Bad Boy.
A spokesperson for Bad Boy, which was also named as a defendant in that case against Mr. Pierre, has said the company was “investigating the allegations.”
The new suit says it is being filed under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act, which, for a limited period of time, allows accusers to file civil complaints involving sexual assault claims after the statute of limitations has run out. Mr. Wigdor said that the suit was filed in federal court because the plaintiff and the defendant live outside of New York.
In the latest suit, the woman said that she has suffered significant emotional distress in the two decades since the encounter and that reading about the cases filed by Ms. Ventura and the two other plaintiffs had led her to file her own.
In the most recent suit, the unidentified
New December TV: Percy Jackson And The
Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons.
In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi. “Norah” is an illiterate orphaned young woman who faces an arranged marriage in which she will be trapped and has a need for self expression. Their chaste encounter unleashes in “Norah” a passion for art and, by extension, for a better life away from the village.
Variety spoke to Alfarhan at the Red Sea fest about the nuances of his powerful character and the film’s cultural context.
With “Norah” you’ve gone from playing an epitomal bad guy to a heroic repressed artist. In both cases against the backdrop of a more conservative Saudi society than today. How did you prepare for this role?
Well Nader is definitely closer to me than Rashash, that’s for sure. It’s funny, because I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I’ve always had this vivid dream where I see myself teaching. And to play a teacher who is also a painter, or in this case an artist, that’s really pretty great. The other thing I want to point out is that Tawfik and I go way back. We’ve been friends for 15 years. We not only share the same experience in the [nascent] industry, we’ve also shared the same human experience as artists.
Tell me more about Nader. What’s his conflict?
Basically since he couldn’t express himself through his passion for art, he decides to go to this village where he can try to forget this dream and start over. It’s like a blank slate for him. I think he’s reconnecting with his own inner child through the kids [whom he teaches].
What are the dynamics of his relationship with Norah?
She ignites something in him through her mysterious background. So in a way you could say that they fall in love, but it’s totally platonic because it’s true to that period of time [in Saudi]. I know this because I have older brothers and sisters, and I know their [romance] stories from back then. The relationships they had with the people whom they had feelings for. They didn’t express a lot of words to each other. So you feel that there is this sort of connection, but it’s platonic. It’s not about sex. It’s about discovering the other. Because men and women during that period of time were totally separated from birth. So, when a man would see someone, feel something towards a woman who was not from his family….There was something pure about it. It’s something that I can’t describe. Nader and Norah feel drawn to each other. But at that time, they don’t know how to interpret that in a modern way, let’s say.
How significant do think this movie is in Saudi today?
I think Tawfik was very smart. He tried to tell the story being very fair and balanced and without being too forcefully direct about the film’s subject matter. He was trying his best to be fair to all the elements that are at play in this film’s [cultural] context. And he covered a lot of ground. But again [doing this] without being really too straightforward. That’s why I think “Norah” is a powerful film.
Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who
After being accidentally announced in March through Funko merch, fans were finally given their first look at Kahhori (a brand-new MCU original superhero) in the What If…? Season 2 trailer.
What If…? will officially be back on Disney+ for Season 2 beginning on December 22, and the series has already begun marketing by releasing an official trailer that featured everything from Scarlet Witch to the return of Thanos.
However, the released footage also showcased Kahhori, who will be debuting in the upcoming season of What If…?, and many fans are wondering exactly what can be expected from the new superhero.
Marvel Studios officially released the first trailer for What If…? Season 2, and even though it teased a lot of different elements of the upcoming installment, it put a lot of focus on Kahhori, who will historically be the MCU’s first original superhero.
Kahhori was spotlighted many times throughout the Season 2 trailer, and at one point was even shown alongside Captain Carter as the pair confronted Thanos.
It is important to note that Kahhori is Mohawk and that her heritage will play a big role in bringing her to life.
The trailer did a good job of showcasing this, especially by focusing on the Native American paint on her face and teasing that it will glow when she uses her powers.
It is unclear exactly how many episodes of What If…? Season 2 Kahhori will be in, but based on the released footage, fans can at least expect to see one that is completely devoted to her character and origin story.
One moment from the trailer that teased how she will get her powers showcased Kahhori sinking in water before being sucked into a blue source of light.
Check out What If…? Season 2’s trailer below, with most of Kahhori’s scenes appearing between the 1:35 and 1:47 marks:
Kahhori’s involvement in Season 2 creates an interesting situation for Marvel Studios seeing as how future projects can do anything they want with her since she is an original superhero who has never been featured in anything else.
It is also important to note that Kahhori’s creation came from Marvel Studios working closely with historians and members of the Mohawk people so that the character can properly represent that group of people.
Historian Doug George previously talked about the episode that will center around Kahhori, teasing that it will contain “breathtaking action,” characters that are “fully realized,” and “a new, challenging, and entertaining perspective on this land’s first peoples:”
“It tells a remarkable story from a Native-Mohawk perspective which is truly unique and historical, and will give the viewers a new, challenging and entertaining perspective on this land’s first peoples. The story is dramatic, the characters fully realized, and the action sequences are breathtaking. The episode is exceptional in another sense–it is done with the complete cooperation of the Mohawk people from dialogue to adornment.”
Seeing as how Kahhori will be Marvel Studios’ first-ever original hero likely means that What If…? will not be the only project she will appear in.
Since Marvel Studios collaborated with other Mohawks and crafted Kahhori with so much care, it seems almost inevitable that she will become a major player in the MCU going forward.
Despite What If…? being animated, since the Multiverse is currently the focus of the franchise, it has never been easier for a character like Kahhori to be pulled into live-action.
If she is as powerful as the trailer is building her up to be, then she will be a more-than-welcome ally to the rest of the MCU’s heroes.
Many fans are also wondering now if Marvel Studios will create more original characters.
While it is impossible to predict if it will or not, if fans connect with Kahhori and express a lot of interest in seeing her again in the future, then there is no reason for Marvel Studios not to create more heroes, especially later when some of the established superheroes are gone.
Fans can see Kahhori in Season 2 of What If…?, which will begin streaming on December 22 on Disney+.
We tend to think of movie villains in terms of black and white. We view them as absolute evil, without a single decent bone in their bodies. But some of the best movie villains are complicated figures who occupy a morally gray area. They exhibit humanity rather than inherent wickedness, displaying both the light and the dark, the good and the bad, of their personalities.
And although they may commit atrocities and even involve their kids with their criminal activity, some of these villains are actually good parents. They show their children love and affection and protect them fiercely — even, sometimes, a little too much. Despite all their flaws and questionable acts, here are ten movie villains who have proven to be loving parents.
The Academy Award winner for Best Picture Mystic River follows three former friends, whose paths have diverged significantly since childhood. Jimmy (Sean Penn) has become a gangster, Sean (Kevin Bacon) has grown to be a detective, and Dave (Tim Robbins) is a blue-collar worker, who’s haunted by his traumatic past. After the murder of Jimmy’s daughter, the three men are brought back together in this masterful neo-noir tale from Clint Eastwood.
Jimmy is really more of the film’s anti-hero, though you could argue that he’s a villain based on what he does in the end. Jimmy and his first daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) have a close relationship. Although he doesn’t approve of her boyfriend, you can tell that Katie loves her father. In a famously powerful, heart-wrenching moment, Jimmy screams and sobs when he appears at the crime scene and learns of his daughter’s death. “Is that my daughter in there?!” he shouts over and over again. Distraught, Jimmy vows revenge on whoever killed Katie — but ends up making a grave mistake. Rent Mystic River on Prime Video.
Jingle All the Way is a classic holiday movie and a favorite among milennials. It focuses on the mad scramble of parents during the holiday season, searching for that one toy their kids really, really want. Absentee father Howard (Arnold Schwarzenegger) will do whatever it takes to get his son a Turbo Man, the hottest toy and action figure in stores — even if it means facing off with the local mail carrier, Myron (Sinbad).
Since this is a family-friendly comedy, Myron is relatively harmless as far as villains go. It wasn’t his fault that the package he left with the police department turned out to be a real bomb. Haunted by his childhood and driven by his own father’s mistakes, Myron is determined to find the Turbo Man doll for his son. Sure, he’s a little kooky and becomes an actual supervillain in the finale. But at the end of the day, Myron is a loving father who will do anything to ensure his son’s happiness. Stream Jingle All the Way on Disney+.
Once upon a time, long before Tom Holland and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise, with Spider-Man 3 was the final installment in the trilogy. Here, Peter Parker/Spider-Man takes on a new Green Goblin (James Franco), Venom (Topher Grace), and Spidey’s own inner demons. Unfortunately, struggling with too many villains and plotlines, Spider-Man 3 failed to live up to the massive hype and cut Raimi’s series short.
One of the many villains from Spider-Man 3 is Flint Marko, also known as Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). Marko was sent to prison for committing the robbery which resulted in the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben, and the creation of Spider-Man. After escaping from prison, one of the first things that Marko does is stop by his old apartment to see his sick daughter. “I’m not a bad person,” he tells her. “Just bad bad luck.” As it turns out, Uncle Ben’s murder was an accident. And Marko has only been stealing money so he could save his ill child. Stream Spider-Man 3 on Disney+.
Known more for his comedic work, Jordan Peele shocked everyone in 2017 with his critically acclaimed psychological horror film Get Out. In this imaginative, creepy story that’s reminiscent of an episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, a young, African-American man becomes a psychological prisoner of his girlfriend’s affluent white family, the Armitages. And he’s not the only one.
It’s clear from the Armitage’s wealthy community that their children are well-provided for. Sure, they are racist, evil people. And sure, Mommy and Daddy get their kids involved with their depraved scheme, which includes pimping out their daughter to ensnare innocent black men. But some families just have a different way of showing their love and spending time together. Board games aren’t for everyone, after all. Stream Get Out on Netflix.
Kick-Ass is a violent but comedic superhero film that’s grounded in reality, filled with costumed vigilantes who don’t have superpowers. Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) thinks that being a crime-fighter is all fun and games — until he gets entangled with the local mob and a revenge plot involving murderous masked heroes.
Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) is the villain of Kick-Ass, a mob boss who runs an underground empire. Despite his criminal tendencies and tough guy personality, Frank has a fairly close relationship with his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). He allows him to become a part of his criminal organization and trusts Chris with helping him take down his enemies. It may not be the best parenting ever, but the love is still there. The film received stellar reviews, and its original director, Matthew Vaughn, is planning to reboot the series. Rent Kick-Ass on Amazon Prime Video.
Spider-Man: Homecoming was what every superhero fan had been waiting for: a solo Spider-Man movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Homecoming follows Peter Parker’s early high school heroics as Spider-Man (Tom Holland), pitting him against his first major adversary: Vulture.
Spider-Man: Homecoming brings Michael Keaton back to the mainstream superhero genre to play Adrian Toomes/Vulture. But in a shocking twist, Spider-Man and the audience learn that Toomes is also the father of the girl that Peter is romantically pursuing. It’s clear from their scenes together that Adrian and his daughter have a good relationship; he even has a pet name for her. And like any good dad, he drives the pair to their homecoming dance.
Toomes originally got involved in creating and selling advanced weapons in order to provide for his family, and he is determined to keep that truth from his daughter. “Nothing is more important than family,” he tells Peter — even though he says it while holding a gun and threatening Peter’s life. Stream Spider-Man: Homecoming on Disney+.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is the polarizing but pivotal second film in George Lucas’ prequel trilogy. All grown up, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) wrestles with his inner demons while developing a romantic relationship with Padmé (Natalie Portman). Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates a mystery that leads to the beginning of the legendary Clone Wars.
During Obi-Wan’s investigation, he comes across a bounty hunter named Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). As it turns out, Jango’s DNA was used to create a clone army for the future Galactic Empire. One of Jango’s requests was to be given one unaltered clone for himself: the future Boba Fett. Jango raises this miniature version of himself as his own child and seems to provide a good life for him on the ocean planet of Kamino. Although he involves Boba in his criminal life, Jango also protects and cares for his son. Stream Star Wars on Disney+.
Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series introduces audiences to The Bride (Uma Thurman), later identified in Vol. 2 as Beatrix Kiddo. After being brutally attacked and losing her baby and husband-to-be on her wedding day, Beatrix embarks on a bloody, rage-fueled quest for revenge on her former lover, who orchestrated her wedding day massacre: a man known simply as Bill (David Carradine).
As a legendary killer and the leader of a lethal group of mercenaries, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, Bill serves as a dangerous adversary for Beatrix. When he learns that she’s pregnant with his child, Bill saves the baby’s life and has her removed from Beatrix’s stomach while she’s in a coma. Bill spends the next four years raising their daughter, loving and providing for her.
Beatrix is stunned to learn that their daughter is still alive. She’s offered a glimpse of Bill as a loving father, playing make-believe games and making sandwiches with their daughter. But not even these heartfelt moments are enough to make Beatrix forgo her desire for revenge. Stream Kill Bill on Prime Video.
Friday the 13th is an iconic slasher film that birthed one of horror’s most successful franchises. Most viewers associate Friday the 13th with its famous machete-wielding masked killer, Jason Vorhees. But in this 1980 original, it’s Jason’s mother Pamela Vorhees (Betsy Palmer) who turns out to be the villain, terrorizing and murdering the young counselors of Camp Crystal Lake.
Pamela was a loving mother to her young deformed son, Jason. She sent him to Camp Crystal Lake in the summer of 1957, trying to provide him with a normal upbringing. It was only after Jason drowned and died, due to horny and negligent camp counselors, that Pamela lost her mind. Devastated by Jason’s death, she spends the rest of her life murdering Camp Crystal Lake’s counselors in order to avenge her lost son. Stream Friday the 13th on Max.
In the eighth and final movie in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, our three heroes continue their search for the Deathly Hallows and Horcruxes. Their journey brings them back to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where they join forces with faculty, staff, and students to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his army of Death Eaters once and for all.
The Malfoy family — Lucius (Jason Isaacs), Narcissa (Helen McCrory), and their son Draco (Tom Felton) — are notable Death Eaters and Voldemort allies. With their prejudiced, snobby views and wicked acts, the Malfoys are despised for most of the franchise. One of their only redeeming qualities is their unwavering love for Draco, and no movie in the Harry Potter franchise encapsulates this more than Deathly Hallows: Part Two.
Narcissa is willing to risk her life and lie to Voldemort, just to confirm that her son is still alive. Sure, they later convince Draco to remain with them on Voldemort’s side. But they do this out of fear, not loyalty. And as soon as the Battle of Hogwarts takes a grim turn, the Malfoys abandon Voldemort and flee to safety. In the end, the Malfoys band together, more concerned with protecting their own than anyone else. Stream the Harry Potter movies on Max.
We tend to think of movie villains
The newest chapter in Dead by Daylight brings The Good Guy into the Fog, and while he’s an absolute blast to play, you may already be tired of playing against him. Every encounter I’ve had playing against Chucky has resulted in a horrifying time, and not in a scary way. Even professional Dead by Daylight players like Otzdarva have noticed an increase in “Meta Builds” that drag matches on in the least fun ways possible.
While we have our choices for great Chucky builds, it looks like a particular Meta has already started to form around Chucky, slightly souring his name just days after his release. Thankfully, Otz is here to showcase a few extra builds that give players a chance to switch things up and turn the tables on this, frankly, boring build.
In his video, titled “Don’t be a Chucky Meta Slave!”, Otzdarva showcases a few builds for players that will fundamentally change the way that this Stealth Killer can absolutely command the Trails that players find themselves in. Rather than relying on perks like Pop Goes The Weasel from The Clown, he showcases a variety of different builds to make matches more enjoyable not only for Survivors but for Killers, as well.
Utilizing Chucky’s natural skill set and his adorably terrifying stature to your advantage can make The Good Guy one of the most terrifying Killers in the game. Friends ‘Til The End, paired up with other Perks that help you take down the Obsession as quickly as possible, make each match tense and exciting, rather than worrying about knocking down Generator Progression as much as possible.
I normally partake in a few games of Dead by Daylight with one of my buddies, but lately, we’ve been considering taking a break because of the sheer number of sweaty Good Guys terrorizing every lobby we’ve jumped into. Seeing the same build over and over again can be exhausting, so I’m hoping as Chucky continues to grow over time that, players will start experimenting with their builds to make the matches more intense, rather than an exercise in frustration.
The newest chapter in Dead by Daylight
Universal has long wanted to reboot “Scarface,” Brian de Palma’s 1983 crime classic starring Al Pacino as a powerful Miami drug lord. Multiple directors have circled the reboot over the years, including Antoine Fuqua, Luca Guadagnino and David Ayer. The latter director boarded “Scarface” the year after his “Suicide Squad” grossed $747 million worldwide despite negative reviews. Ayer boarded the reboot in May 2017 as Fuqua’s replacement, but come July 2017 he was already exiting. Some reports cited a scheduling conflict due to Ayer also working on his Netflix action movie “Bright,” but others claimed Ayer and Universal disagreed over his darker take on the material.
In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Ayer said that his script for the “Scarface” reboot was not “too violent” as some reports claimed in 2017, although he did suggest that his take on the gangster was too dark for Universal’s liking. The studio wanted a more fun and broad script than the one Ayer delivered.
“One of the best scripts I’ve ever written was my ‘Scarface’ draft,” Ayer said. “It gets passed around in Hollywood, underground. It’s funny when people talk about the project. ‘Is it the Ayer script?’ ‘No, it’s somebody else.’ ‘Oh, ok.’”
“It wasn’t too violent. Violence – I can cover it,” he continued. “If someone gets shot, I can photograph it where a head explodes and have a hard R, and it’s not going to alienate people. That’s easy. That’s filmmaker 101. I created this rich, soulful journey through the drug trade, and kind of what it is. The studio just wanted something more fun.”
Ayer has no hard feelings over Universal wanting a broader-appealing “Scarface” movie considering the gangster is the studio’s “biggest IP behind ‘Jurassic Park.’”
“They want to capture as big of an audience as possible,” Ayer said. “I fucking love Universal. Amazing people. I had this really honest conversation about the movie they wish they had, and the movie that I wished to make. There’s a lot of daylight between us. It’s just easier to be like, ‘Let’s park this.’”
Universal’s “Scarface” reboot still has never gotten of the ground. Ayer is gearing up to release his new movie, the Jason Statham-starring “The Beekeeper,” on January 12, 2024.
Universal has long wanted to reboot “Scarface,”
A funny thing happened when I checked in on the Frasier reboot, lo these past two months: I kept watching the damn thing.
I wasn’t expecting to. The whole thing reeked of a vanity project for series star Kelsey Grammer; the show’s first few episodes were hampered by editing weirdness and a certain stilted discomfort from some of its younger cast members; there was no David Hyde Pierce. None of it boded especially well, even for a dedicated fan of the franchise. But as much as I expected to hate the Frasier reboot, or maybe just to “nothing” it, like so many other revivals of shows I loved as an overly nerdy comedy snob kid—ah, whither Murphy Brown?—I kept tuning in, week after week, and laughing while I did it.
Now it’s December, and the show is zooming toward its first-season finale on December 7—Roz is back! Roz!—and I’m as shocked as anybody to report that I’m still getting laughs out of Dr. Crane’s efforts to reconnect with his son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott, who acquits himself surprisingly well as Grammer’s most regular sparring partner). The show remains an imperfect marriage between its classic sitcom DNA and more modern joke-telling trends—there’s a level of irony at work, often amongst the side characters and sub-plots, that sits ill-at-ease with the series’ strengths—but its basic core is shockingly good.
Grammer is the culprit, really. In the Frasier-obsessive essay I wrote back before the new series launched—raising several questions the show has handled surprisingly well in the meantime—I noted that Frasier was frequently the least-compelling character on Frasier. But Grammer genuinely hasn’t lost a step in the intervening decades: He’s very nearly always the most electrifying presence on the screen and remains beautifully willing to make Frasier look as foolish, childish, or obnoxious as necessary in order to make a good joke land. (A recurring early gag that notes the good doctor’s persistent irritation that his Harvard drop-out son is now “only” a fireman underscores the character’s delightful pettiness, before being expanded for better emotional heft.) Grammer’s continued capacity for silliness is the biggest revelation: The show’s sixth episode, which pays homage to the classic series and its love of farce, sees Frasier briefly wax nostalgic for his old days of complicated, idiotic schemes in order to defraud women into liking him—and there’s a real joy in his eyes as he hearkens back to those old, needlessly complex setups.
The rest of the cast remains a mixed bag, although one with an average that’s been persistently trending upward as the season has gone on. Nicholas Lyndhurst is a long-time veteran of the sitcom wars and acquits himself perfectly as Frasier’s new old best friend, mostly lobbing pithy one-liners from the sidelines and dealing out the occasional hard truth. Cutmore-Smith is more of a slow burn; he’s better at the show’s consistently good dramatic side than its taste for quick-fire comedy, but catches up after a few episodes, as the show eases up on holding Freddy up as a stolid hard-working everyman.
Fellow regulars Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salguiero, and Anders Keith, though, all struggle for large chunks of the season with the very strange TV comedy they’ve found themselves mired within, part throwback, part modern sitcom, and not always sitting at ease between its two poles. As Frasier’s boss, tenant, and nephew, respectively, they’re each asked to take on some very broad characteristics here—especially Keith, who’s essentially doing a Pierce impression for much of his screentime—while also dealing with a rhythm of writing that can uncomfortably jam strained wordplay up against moments of more modern meta commentary. All of them can get the laugh, and do, but unlike Grammer or Lyndhurst, they can’t pull it off when the script, and the editing, are working against them. They get better as the season goes on, but their performances still sometimes highlight the difference between lines that sound like the character being funny and ones where an actor is just delivering a joke from the script.
(It’s worth noting that the single biggest laugh of the entire series for me, to date, came from a line delivered by a guest star, not any of the members of the main cast—although given that said guest star was the brilliant Bebe Neuwirth, whose single-episode appearance was an easy series highlight, it’s hard to necessarily fault the show for that.)
There are, to be clear, no perfect episodes of the new Frasier, or at least not yet (in marked contrast to the old Frasier, which had at least a few pieces of pristine clockwork brilliance spread across its 11 seasons on the air). The editing is messy, with scenes often trailing off to some meandering final joke that doesn’t justify the journey. Side characters (like Freddy’s various fellow firemen) are written with a joke-obsessed simplicity that belies the show’s genuine emotional intelligence. There is no David Hyde Pierce. (I know, I know, I’m harping; I just miss the guy!)
But when it hits—when Grammer and Lyndhurst are firing zingers back and forth at each other, or Frasier and Freddy are taking serious swings at a lifetime of familial resentments, occasionally involving an air-hockey table—it really, truly hits. Having watched nine episodes of it so far, I’ll be happily tuning in for the tenth. And if we hear those renewal blues a-callin’, I’ll be tuning in for a second season, too.
Season one of Frasier is available to stream now on Paramount+.
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The State of the Streaming Industry’s Password-Sharing
(from left) Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
The cult horror classic makes its return with a brand new chapter in ‘The Exorcist: Believer.’ Helmed by director David Gordon Green (‘Halloween Kills’), the film follows two families connected by their daughters’ mysterious disappearance in the woods.
(L to R) Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) and Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
The film premiered in the United States on October 6, 2023, kicking off the horror season. Originally, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ was set to be released on October 13, but shifted its date to avoid competing with ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ which became a mega box office hit, grossing over $92 million during the opening weekend.
Producer and Blumhouse founder Jason Blum acknowledged this on his X (formerly Twitter) account by quoting a Taylor Swift song, “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23.”
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ became available on PVOD on October 24, 2023, only 18 days after its theatrical release. The reason may be due to the film’s poor reception with both critics and audiences alike, with 22% critics score and 59% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For those who missed the movie on the big screen or just prefer to watch horror flicks at home, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ is available digitally on services such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, and Vudu. You can rent the film for $19.99 or purchase it for $29.99.
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ has a total runtime of 1 hour and 51 minutes.
Director David Gordon Green on the set of ‘The Exorcist: Believer.’
The movie was released by Universal Pictures, and the film will be streaming on its streaming platform Peacock on December 1, 2023. For other films in ‘The Exorcist’ franchise, you can find it streaming on platforms such as Peacock, Prime Video, Max, or Hulu.
(L to R) Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ is technically a reboot, as it introduces brand new characters and stories. However, the movie very much exists within ‘The Exorcist’ world as director David Gordon Green brings Ellen Burstyn into the film to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil – Regan’s mother in the 1970 original.
Fans were delighted to learn about Burstyn’s return, as the trailer shows her speaking with a possessed Katherine, “We’ve met before. But I’m not talking to you now”. Katherine’s demonic voice responds with, “Are you looking for Regan?” alluding to her daughter’s brush with demonic possession and exorcism.
Much like horror icon Jamie Lee Curtis’ return to the latest ‘Halloween’ franchise (also helmed by David Gordon Green), fans may be expecting Burstyn’s appearance in the film to have the same effect. However, her role is not as significant as the trailer makes it out to be. Instead, the story focuses on the two families – Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine’s (Olivia Marcum) parents.
The film also explores other cultures’ ideas of exorcism, taking it beyond the Catholic church.
Watch the official trailers for ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ below:
“Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; ‘One Night in Miami,’ ‘Hamilton‘) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, ‘Hidden Figures‘) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.”
The movie stars Lesie Odom Jr as Victor Fielding, Lidya Jewett as Angela Fielding, Olivia Marcum as Katherine, Jennifer Nettles as Miranda, Norbert Leo Butz as Tony, Ann Dowd as Ann, and Ellen Burstyn reprises her role as Chris MacNeil.
Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
To watch our exclusive interview with director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum, please click on the video player below:
(from left) Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and
The Sports Illustrated article about volleyball was weird.
“Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and for good reason,” it began. “It’s fast-paced, has a high skill ceiling, and is generally an exciting sport to both play and watch.” It then pivoted awkwardly to: “Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.”
The article, deleted after its authorship was challenged as being AI-generated, is a recent example of how publications like Sports Illustrated and USA Today have begun experimenting with the technology, part of an ongoing shift at news publications driven by the breakneck speed at which AI is being developed, implemented and embraced.
The Sports Illustrated article about volleyball was
Fri Forjindam has one of the most exciting and creative jobs out there. Her role in crafting immersive experiences for popular IPs offers fans the opportunity to become involved in their favorite worlds, from the Upside Down that Stranger Things made so iconic to the long-time fanfare that has followed a Galaxy Far Far Away since Star Wars became a massive franchise.
Mycotoo, as a company, develops the experiences fans wish they could have on an everyday basis, as they take you into your favorite worlds with the characters you love and allow you to embark on your own version of the hero’s journey. But what goes into everything from immersive experiences to live entertainment? Fri Forjindam explains the impact of her career.
Culturess: How did you build your career?
Fri Forjindam: First, I think it’s acknowledging that it is a career because, for the longest time, the idea of making fun and getting to play every day didn’t seem like work. So, I’m fortunate enough to be in themed entertainment and be in an executive position, and I think being able to connect the dots between my original passion, which was starting in the theatre as an actress, and loving storytelling, story building, story inhabiting, recognizing the power of story and connection in being able to affect other people. And then being able to translate that into commercial theatre, where you are still building worlds of different scales, but you’re still trying to connect with other people.
I think my career path really reflected that ability to recognize those moments no matter what I was doing, whether as an executive assistant or as a production manager or as a hostess when I was first starting out. I think ultimately and innately being able to recognize the ability to connect with people through stories, through emotion, through recognizing the worlds that we were in, and the roles that we play in that. I think that ability was what allowed me to excel in whatever role I was in and essentially grow or elevate my career.
Culturess: What advice would you give to women to “tap into their inner unicorn” to create their dream life?
Fri Forjindam: I love this question. I think, just, ultimately, being unafraid to take space, and I mean like boldly take space. Not being worried about being liked. Not being worried about fitting in and making yourself smaller, and cutting yourself up into little pieces. Just being okay with letting other people choke on you. And choke on your shine and choke on your energy, and also choke on your ability to bounce back from your failure because that’s also important.
I think being a unicorn just is recognition that you are unique, that your skillset falls on your ability to own that uniqueness, to own that weird non-mainstream approach or perspective to things that is based on your limited experience. And being audacious about it, you know, and whatever that means for you.
Culturess: What stands out to you about artists such as Taylor Swift and Beyonce?
Fri Forjindam: First of all, just how amazing they are to be able to completely own a name. Meaning when you share Beyonce, you know there’s one and only. And, quite honestly, when you hear Taylor or Swift or Swiftie, there’s a very specific image and energy that is associated with that because they’ve been really intentional about crafting their message. Being consistent with their artistry and being very intentional about connecting with their audience through their music, through outside fan engagement, through non-profit associations, through philanthropy, through brand awareness, and really making an impact across all of those channels, which has just reinforced their name. I think for me, the biggest takeaway from watching both of them is that women can be at the helm of multi-billion dollar brands. Women can drive culture and do drive culture and always have.
And when you look at the ecosystem around creativity, it goes beyond just being talent, it’s also the power and the mentality behind creativity. It’s the platform on which you elevate others or allow others to be seen. It’s the ability to control not just the narrative but the equity the financial reward, and the brand that you’re creating or capitalizing from. All of those things are important to women as well as others, not just in the music space. Those two women specifically demonstrate that it is possible and it can be commercially viable as well.
Culturess: How do you turn IPs into immersive experiences?
Fri Forjindam: You work with people who are passionate. At Mycotoo we’re an entertainment development company, and we work on global brands and really allow our brands to have a very strong connection with their fans in different ways. From theme parks to live events to live experiences, and no matter what the scale of those experiences are, it starts with a story. The story isn’t just about what we want to tell, but why that narrative is important, and that is what drives vision. It’s what drives your ability to stick to the north star in terms of what is going to be important to your audience, and that story, that vision, staying true to the why, which is very much a part of Mycotoo’s process, is what has allowed us to take intellectual property that is already well known but then give it a different flavor or allow fans and audiences in an intimate form into the worlds of those IPs so they also feel they have agency.
They also feel like they connect in a deeper, meaningful way, and we’re not necessarily trying to repeat what you would be able to consume on your phone or on TV, so our ability to work with all the major studios up to this point is based on trust. It’s based on them seeing how we value these IPs, how we pay meticulous detail to each character, ask questions, and put ourselves not just in the IP owner’s hat but in the fans’ hats. So that passion, that curiosity, that deep dive, and that recognition of your waiters who just want to have a good time, to your swimmers that wanna get deeper and ask more questions, to deep divers that are super fans and know more about the IP. All of those are important. All of those audience members or demographics matter.
So being able to put yourself in their shoes while celebrating and lifting the story that has been so beloved, whether it’s Stranger Things or Mandalorian, the experience of working with DreamWorks for the theme park, that precision to making the story and keeping the why elevated and at the forefront is why we’ve been successful connecting the dots with IPs of different scales to the fans.
Culturess: How do you view each project you participate in?
Fri Forjindam: I always see everything as a new opportunity. You never go in with the answer. You always come in open with questions. You obviously come in with an expertise that’s based on previous projects and you’re starting to look out for flags or places where you don’t want to repeat if there was a learning lesson. You’re truly coming in open, and I think that’s ultimately where the theatre mentality comes in of the show must go on, and let’s figure out the best way forward. Let’s not necessarily come in with an agenda that may or may not serve the IP or partners.
But let’s come in with an open mind. Let’s certainly be flexible in adjusting to whatever the parameters are. But just staying open to whatever’s going to unfold and never assuming that you know more about the IP than the owner does and certainly more about the IP than the fans do because that is such a nuanced thing. I think just openness and curiosity and passion. You know, viewing that openness is critical.
Culturess: How would you say that creating an immersive experience for Stranger Things would be different from Star Wars?
Fri Forjindam: First, you know, it’s just as much fun to go into the Upside Down as it is to go to a Galaxy Far Far Away. So both of those are equally compelling and challenging in their own right. You have fans who are ravenous in one situation where these are fans who span multiple generations. In another situation, you have multi-generational fans that are also tapping into nostalgia but they’re living in the present. Both have very meticulous fandoms that will hold you accountable and hold you to task on what you got right and what you sort of skirted. I think we, as a team, as designers at Mycotoo, we hold ourselves to a very high bar on making sure that our design team is also as ravenous about the IP and as meticulous about the details as our fans and our core audience will be.
As well as putting on a different hat of saying, but if I wasn’t a superfan, what still makes this a compelling experience? What is the heart? What is in the DNA of this that just makes it a resonante human story? Which ultimately is why there’s been so much appeal for both Stranger Things and Star Wars. There’s a core sort of emotional connection that transcends whether it was made today or if was made in the 70s, it’s still a hero’s journey. It’s still an opportunity to be seen. It’s still, you know, kinda like a mecca for geeks and geezers and outliers and unicorns as we talked about unlocking their better selves through these heroic quests, through these supernatural devices. Both IPs have been able to do that successfully. And the Star Wars Mandalorian experience was certainly a thank you to the fans to be able to allow them to get up close to over 600 screen-used artifacts at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The Stranger Things experience was equally a thank you, going from city to city and allowing fans to become heroes, unlock their own journey, and to follow El and her friends on these amazing quests. Ultimately, it’s about, again, celebrating the IP, and being respectful of the hero’s journey, which is universal to both of these. But also making sure that you are infusing in it some of the details that are specific to each of those worlds that just allows the fans to say, ‘Yeah, you got it right. You couldn’t do this anywhere else except here, and expect with this IP.’ And when those moments happen, and you’ve seen them happen for both of them, that’s always a wonder.
Culturess: How do you see the future of live entertainment?
Fri Forjindam: Gosh, I hope it just keeps happening and going. Everyone right now is freaking out over AI. Everyone is panicking. Is it going to replace human interaction? We’ll see that playing out as we speak in trade negotiations, and while I don’t have a crystal ball to see what the future holds otherwise, I’d be a bazillionaire, I can say that we can learn a lot from history and humans, humanity, our ability to exist as the dominant species is our ability and our priority on connections, on emotional connection and socialization, and I think we’re also one of the few species that values the arts and creative expression as a way to connect.
Something so profoundly human that certainly came to the forefront during the pandemic when we were starved of that, and it has come back with a force. We’re coming back into live events for concerts, festivals, experiential events, brand activations, and restaurant promise. What it means to go out to eat together and break bread is an experience, a social event that isn’t about eating food. So, you know, live entertainment has expanded significantly. It isn’t just about paying someone and then letting them entertain you. It is a dialogue. It is a transaction that goes both ways. It is a connection and brands are tapping into that in a profound way because they also understand the value of aligning with lifestyle as a way to grow and maintain audiences and fans that translate into better business.
So live entertainment is a really exciting space now because we’re kind of in this renaissance of redefining what it means to be a participant, to be a creator. What does it mean to give money to someone, and what does it mean for you to get back? What are you getting back? Who owns the entertainment? Who is really benefiting from that, in terms of creating it and reaping the rewards? All of those discussions, whether it’s long or short, at the forefront is what allows us to decide if you are going to participate in something, if we’re going to consume a product, if we’re going to support it with our dollars, with our hashtag, with our allyship. And when brands know that, and consumers know that, as a power, it is an exciting place because it just raises the bar with all of the content and stories that we collectively support.
So live entertainment isn’t going anywhere. It’s evolving, and we’re starting to ride that wave and see what role we fit in, as content creators, as owners, and certainly as technology providers and special effects. But I think it’s all moving in an exciting direction.
Culturess: How does your professional background help you in your current career?
Fri Forjindam: Who knew that acting and being a theatre artist would allow me to be able to design theme parks and create live experiences on different scales? I certainly didn’t. I am a Cameroonian-born American citizen, and growing up, the idea of the career that I’m in, location-based entertainment, was not something that was apparent or obvious. I think over time, just recognizing the value of storytelling, the value of authentic connection, and the value of entrepreneurship and business acumen and logistics and just melding all of those things together has just allowed me to be able to thrive.
And luckily fortunately, I’ve been able to do that with partners that recognize that and are also intentional about that vision, and have really made that the forefront of what Mycotoo is all about. So, in our DNA, it’s about supporting the best experience, the most viable creative product, and the logistics of the business acumen that makes the most sense. Being able to deliver it on time and under budget is not easy. But when you diversify your team and you’re always looking for solutions from different areas, from different perspectives, that just makes for a better work product, for a better work culture, and certainly translates into better collaborations. And hopefully, attracts the right kind of partners, which, so far, we’ve been very fortunate to have. So for me, it’s exciting to be part of that. And to be able to bring my voice and add diversity and perspective to success.
Culturess: What makes Mycotoo the company to team up with?
Fri Forjindam: Oh my gosh, why not? Mycotoo is short for my company too. It’s really based on our philosophy of ensuring that our partners are as much a part of our company as we are. There’s no process. As an entertainment and development company, we’re fortunate in just telling great stories and working with amazing partners who trust us because we value the art of theatre. We value artistry as a form of connecting, engaging, and certainly of driving the economy and championing that from the top down as well as from the bottom up. And I’m not just saying that for lip service. I’m one of the owners who started in the garage.
My kid, my second son, was born while we were in the garage, so I understand very well the challenges and the insecurities that people face are meant to be able to have that from the beginning and to maintain that circle of trust and inclusivity and certain championing of all the work-life balances everyone has to make, it allowed me to thrive.
So being flexible, being open, and certainly always starting with “yes, and” that curiosity I talked about earlier is what has allowed us to transfer our skills, starting from theme park design to brand experiences. Working with Netflix on Stranger Things, I translate that to working with legacy artists like Prince in Paisley Park and looking at how to bring and tell his story after he lived into a world-class destination. Working with iHeart Radio Music Festival and helping them leverage the artistry and the brand relationships that they have into a compelling house of music experience that really connects with fans. That ability to translate across different disciplines that it’s all about entertainment and enrichment. I think really just starts with a mindset, which is our company is your company and vice versa. Diversity, openness, curiosity, and passion, are all things that allow for an easy work process. So, why should people team up with Mycotoo, ultimately if you wanna have a compelling experience that’s commercially viable, that’s really where we excel. We don’t just believe in great concepts. We believe in execution. I can’t think of any brand that doesn’t want to have a return on impact.
Culturess: What makes Mycotoo a company that makes you excited to work?
Fri Forjindam: I would say excited to work, as in just getting out of bed and showing up every day is who I am. It’s the reason why Mycotoo has unlocked or allowed me to sort of embrace that enthusiasm because it’s really been a place for me to recognize the importance of the creative arts as a benchmark. It really is a catalyst for the economy, as a catalyst for culture, community, and education. We really are at the intersection of vision and story and how we want our stories to be told years from now, as well as sustainability.
How do we want to be relevant today? How do we want to keep our lights on and be commercially viable today? And it’s also a historical account. Our ability to tap into the past and retell these stories and maybe even the stories that aren’t often told in other markets, not just Western IPs. It has allowed us to be global and have an appeal that isn’t just domestic but a global sense of entertainment responsibility. So recognizing my role as Chief Development Officer in that and Mycotoo’s role in that bigger conversation puts a different emphasis on what we do, that it isn’t just consumerism.
There is a long-term responsibility that really allows us to be very intentional. So the short answer is it’s just made me more intentional about stories that matter and making sure that people who look like me also know that they matter, and ultimately just having fun. You know, it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to say I make fun and to make a theme park and call it a benchmark or call it “work,” you know, that’s rad, so there’s the bigger sort of impactful responsibility that I think it’s really made me more intentional about. And ultimately, it’s a flex for my kids. I get to, like, bring them to work, and they’re like, ‘This is work?’
Fri Forjindam has one of the
In 2015, when Japan’s national rugby team, defeated South Africa, the most dominant team in rugby’s world cup history, three friends who were also fans of the sport knew the story had to be told. In the words of the producers themselves, the following is what it took to make, The Brighton Miracle.
Regarded as the greatest upset in rugby history, a true David and Goliath story in Brighton, UK, on 19 September 2015. Dubbed by the media as, “The Miracle of Brighton”, the game pitted a vastly superior team who were bigger, stronger, and faster, against a team who had won 1 solitary game in 22 previous world cup attempts, with a humiliating 145-17 defeat a part of their inglorious history.
Writer/Director Max Mannix, along with Emmy Award winning musician, Nick Wood, and colleague, Tim Farmer, decided “The Miracle of Brighton” had all the makings of a great film. The trio would be first-time independent filmmakers outside of Hollywood so as with many things, the first hurdle was money.
Max Mannix (MM): “We knew it was a great story. In rugby, the little guy doesn’t win these games, it just doesn’t happen, especially against South Africa in a World Cup. But Japan had won, and a quick online search would show that. We therefore took a TITANIC approach. Everybody knows the ship sinks. With Brighton, people knew the ending, but they knew little of the path taken to get there.”
Mannix, a former professional rugby league player, moved to Japan and became a screenwriter. His first screenplay was sold in a bidding war and his second script, TOKYO SONATA, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes. While in Japan on another project, Mannix had a chance meeting with Eddie Jones, the coach of the Japan national team who then recruited Mannix to become the team’s defense coach.
Sports stories are challenging because the outcome is typically already well-known and retelling them begs many questions – “why does this story need to be retold?” and “how do we do it?”
MM: “At the beginning of the process we kept asking ourselves if we could recreate the actual game. We studied more than thirty films about sports such as: JERRY MAGUIRE, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, ROCKY… anything that we felt had showed believable sports action. Our mindset was on recreating the game and we would need heavy CGI. The potential costs were enormous. I looked at game segments of INVICTUS, over and over again. Although a lauded film, a common complaint from viewers was the game recreation itself.
For Mannix and Wood, the more they learned about Coach Jones the more they were intrigued to tell his story.
TF: “Part of our ‘Titanic’ narrative was, yes, the team won, but let’s also look at what this guy had to overcome. What was his journey? That said, the clock was ticking and we still had no script, no permissions for life rights, and nowhere near enough money to make the film. I was starting to feel like I was on the Titanic.”
When Coach Jones selected Michael Leitch – who is half-Fijian, half-New Zealander – to captain the Japanese team, the decision was controversial in the Japan media due to the fact that he wasn’t Japanese although Leitch had lived in Japan since he was 14.
TF: “We got some traction with funding and things were shaping up, but time was now critical. We wanted to make the film and release it in the lead up to the following Rugby World Cup. Held every 4 years, the next was the first to be held in Asia, and Japan was the tournament host. We were 18 months from the event and still didn’t have all of our money or permissions. We were running against a clock we had no control over. We felt that if we missed the Rugby World Cup we would miss a fantastic marketing opportunity.”
Jones’s agreed immediately to support the film but the three producers did not anticipate the challenges of acquiring permission from World Rugby and the Japanese Rugby Association.
NW: “World Rugby had a ‘one-out, all-out’ mandate meaning if one of their six partners declined us, the film was dead. Still, I wanted to ensure that we had music if things somehow came together. While Max worked on a pitch document, I experimented with sounds. I discovered that hitting a rugby ball with a solid wooden stick in a basement car park made the sound of bodies impacting. I had to convince myself I wasn’t reaching, or merely taking out my frustration! I played the sounds to Max and he agreed they sounded perfect. It was a camaraderie of hope that kept us positively active and moving forward.”
TF: “Waiting for responses from the six World Rugby partners was painful. Our money was coming together, but with the Rugby World Cup now 13 months away, we were still waiting for an answer. Regardless, we had to keep moving. We went after permissions from players via their agents with most of them asking the same question: ‘Does World Rugby support this?’”
When permission from World Rugby was finally secured, The Brighton Miracle film became real. It was now a question of casting with the most important role being Coach Eddie Jones.
TF: “We all offered up casting ideas. Max flew around and saw some actors but nothing was sticking. It was like we were filling a place for the sake of, rather than finding the right fit.”
MM: “I was on a limb so I sent project material out to some friends in the industry including WOLF CREEK director, Greg McLean who got back with somebody who had an uncanny resemblance to Eddie. His text was a one liner tagged to a photo, ‘This has to be your Eddie Jones actor.’ The actor was Temuera Morrison, known for his STAR WARS role of the iconic Boba Fett.
A mere 12 months out from the Rugby World Cup, and therefore 11 months from the targeted release, disaster hit the production- some of the funding commitments fell out.
MM: “The companies had promised to support the film, but in one of those vague explanations that sometimes happen in life, the funds were pulled due to what I was told were, ‘conflicting business structures.’ We’d learnt the hard way. No matter whom the promise is from, promised funds mean nothing until they’re in your account.”
NW: “Max and I met at a hotel that night. I don’t know who was more stunned. We just sat there thinking, ‘how did we stuff that up?’ In desperation, we started going through lists of people we might have overlooked when seeking support. We had a government rebate, a presale, and some real money, but we were still 50 percent short. It was a nightmare.”
With the film pushed back, production start was a mere 5 months from the film’s release date. Funding for the film was still not locked, and to compound issues, the actor secured to play Michael Leitch had a conflict with the new shoot date so he had to withdraw from The Brighton Miracle.
Luckily at the last minute, schedules were sorted and funding came in so the film was a go. Nick Wood, called upon colleagues. Hollywood stalwart and marketing whiz, Milissa Douponce, jumped onboard and provided invaluable pathways.
NW: “I’d known Milissa for many years. She’s a straight shooter and well connected. She helped in so many ways and introduced us to another long term Hollywood executive, Dean Blagg. Through Dean we met Blue Sky Media. Everything was finally clicking together.”
6 weeks from shooting, a key issue kept popping into Mannix’s head; “How do we transition the audience from dramatized recreations throughout the story, to real footage of the game?”
MM: “The thought of it felt clunky. On one hand I wanted this to be a true story, not just ‘based on,’ and the real game footage ensured that aspect, but there was something missing.”
NW: “I had a script that I really liked and my talks with Max helped me get back in the seat with making the score. Even though I knew the real music would be done to the edited film, I wanted to have different pieces to test-play for Max. I have a place in northern Honshu. It’s about 3 hours from Tokyo near beautiful Lake Towada. I was busy making music when Max called about a shift in the film’s structure.”
MM: “Jack suggested I watch AMERICAN ANIMALS a film based on a true story about a heist that incorporates the actual art thieves themselves in an interview manner intermittingly amongst the actual dramatized recreation. I thought, if we use the actual coach, captain, manager and players portrayed in our film, it would do two things, first it would reinforce that this is a true story, and secondly, I felt it would open the audience to a different manner of story telling.
NW: “It was a great concept that I jumped onboard with. It was an easy adjustment music wise, and it brought time within the film to shift the music around. I love this aspect of the storyline because we’ve all watched films that are ‘based on a true story,’ but how much of the story is actually true? This time also coincided with my business partner, Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon singing the film’s theme song. Titled, ‘The Story Of How,’ it’s a brilliant song that is so catchy it gets stuck in my head every time I play it. It was wonderful for Simon to be a part of this film. The other song I managed to secure for the film was, ‘Ue o Muite Arukō.’ Better known outside of Japan as, ‘Sukiyaki,’ it’s a recreation of the only Japanese song that went to Number 1 in America. I contracted the incredible Ichiko Aoba. Her rendition is beautiful. This is so much more than a film about sport. It’s about life and overcoming whatever’s thrown at you.”
TF: “We shot the film in Australia and Japan, with a pickup for an interview with Eddie Jones in Houston, and the same in Johannesburg for former South African rugby player, Joel Stransky. Overall, once we got finally there, the shoot went to schedule, and we went straight into post production.”
Like many projects and businesses throughout the world when Covid hit, The Brighton Miracle sat idle with an uncertain future, but the producers held firm and waited things out. Once the pandemic subsided, international sales agent, Blue Sky Media, timed the release of, The Brighton Miracle, to coincide with the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
MM: “I’m very grateful to Nick, Tim, Milissa, Dean and everybody at Blue Sky Media for the exceptional support they have given the film. I think everybody goes through a challenging time when making a film, but this project had hurdles we could have never anticipated. For Nick, Tim and myself, the process became a huge part of our lives. It’s about much more than sport. To be racially persecuted and never belong is something I can’t imagine, but rather than let this be demoralizing, Eddie Jones and Michael Leitch rose above it. Their stories are very inspiring.”
TF: “Thank you to Milissa, Dean and Richard at Blue Sky Media. As a producer on this project, it felt like we were all frantically baling water to stay afloat. It was an exceptional learning curve and one that I wouldn’t swap for anything. I’m very pleased the film will now see some well deserved light.”
THE BRIGHTON MIRACLE is available via Blue Sky Media.
Max Mannix (left) is a writer, producer and director of film and documentary who resides in Queensland, Australia. Beginning his career as an unrepresented writer, his first spec script, SUN TZU’S, THE ART OF WAR, was picked up and sold by Creative Artists Agency in 4 days after a bidding war. CAA then set up his second script, TOKYO SONATA. Returning to Australia in 2004 after living in Japan for 14 years, Max is highly acclaimed. With a deep knowledge of Japanese history, his work has won many awards including the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s, TOKYO SONATA, Best Screenwriter at the Asian Screen Awards, as well as being nominated for an International Emmy in 2017 for best mini-series for the NHK/Netflix, TOKYO TRIAL. Max has also written projects for Australia’s ABC, and has ghost written other feature films in Japan. He adapted the novel, RAINFALL, for Sony Entertainment, Japan, and directed the feature film starring Gary Oldman. A regular guest on Japan NHK’s film review program, J-FLICKS, and an inducted member of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, Max recently wrote, co-produced and directed, THE BRIGHTON MIRACLE, and is presently co-producing and directing a documentary series based on Japanese Shogun, Ieyasu Tokugawa. Titled, SHOGUN, the series includes support from the 19th generational Tokugawa family head, and last remaining direct bloodline family member, Iehiro Tokugawa.
Nick Wood (right) is the Producer of the film “The Brighton Miracle. Nick is a prolific record producer, songwriter, musician and award –winning composer and currently the CEO of Syn studios with locations in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai and London.
Nick Wood’s industry roots date back to his start in music production at the legendary Marcus Studio in London. At the age of 19, Wood signed with Virgin Records as the founding member of Appassionata. In the early 90’s Wood ventured into film composition, creating the score for Dream Island, a joint venture with NHK and Sony and a production by the Oscar-nominated German filmmaker Wim Wenders. He went on to score movie soundtracks including 13 Kaidan (Masahiko Nagasawa’s award-winning thriller starring Tsutomu Yamazaki), animated film To-i Umi Kara Kita Coo, RAILWAYS 2 (starring Tomokazu Miura) and Love Kills (director Mario van Peebles). Additionally Wood’s work has been featured on a variety of network television shows including licensing songs to Sex and the City and AMC’s brand theme.
Nick’s eclectic music tastes have allowed him to collaborate with such diverse artists as Bebel Gilberto, Dr. John, Chris Corner, Graham Massey, Jon Hassell, Julian Lennon, Maxi Priest, Robert Palmer, Simon Le Bon, Tetsuya Komuro and Van Dyke Parks.
Nick has other scripted projects currently in development as well as a solo album, “Uncertainty Principle” to be released soon.
In 2015, when Japan’s national rugby team,
Heavy rain and floods in East Africa that started in October have killed at least 300 people and displaced millions more. Locations in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, including the giant Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya, have suffered the most, but the extreme rains have affected the whole region and are ongoing.
East Africa has an annual rainy season in fall, but this year’s disastrous rainfall is about double what it would have been without human-caused climate change, according to research made public on Thursday. A natural climate cycle called the Indian Ocean Dipole has also contributed to heavier rain than usual, but this phenomenon alone does not account for the extreme amount.
Multiple individual rainstorms over the past two months have caused widespread flash flooding and overflowing rivers.
“The influence of climate change on rainfall can be quite big,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and a founder of World Weather Attribution, the group behind these findings.
The group received rainfall measurements from weather stations in Kenya and compared what happened in the real world with a hypothetical world without climate change, simulated by mathematical climate models.
The researchers estimated that with today’s climate conditions, similar extreme rainfall events would have a 2.5 percent chance of happening in any given year. This probability finding, however, is less certain than those from analyses World Weather Attribution has done for other events.
Part of the problem is a lack of weather and climate data. In this case, the researchers had access to robust data from Kenya, but other African countries don’t have as many well-maintained weather stations.
“Over Africa, everything we can say is more uncertain than over North America or Europe,” Dr. Otto said.
The current rains follow a three-year-long drought, which dried out soil and paved the way for flash floods, and which had already caused widespread crop failures, livestock deaths and hunger in the region. This drought was also made worse by climate change, according to a previous analysis by World Weather Attribution.
“Even if in individual events maybe the influence of climate change is small, if you have more and more of these events happening, it just completely wrecks the capacity of people to cope,” Dr. Otto said.
Heavy rain and floods in East Africa
“Selling Sunset” star Mary Fitzgerald carried her dog while arriving at the “Selling Sunset” office in Los Angeles.
“Selling Sunset” star Mary Fitzgerald carried her
The Kremlin has unleashed a new weapon in its information war with the West: the fake celebrity cameo.
“Hi, Vladimir, Elijah here,” the actor Elijah Wood said in a video packaged to seem as if Mr. Wood were addressing Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The actor, best known for playing Frodo Baggins in “Lord of the Rings,” urged the president to enter treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. “I hope you can get the help you need,” Mr. Wood signed off.
The video was recorded on Cameo, the popular, though now struggling, app where users can pay for personalized messages from famous people — in Mr. Wood’s case, starting at $340. While a genuine video, it was repurposed as part of Russia’s efforts to falsely denigrate Mr. Zelensky as a drug-addled neo-Nazi. Beginning in July, according to a report released on Thursday by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, the video and others like it ricocheted through Russian social media and were ultimately featured by news organizations owned or controlled by the government.
Other celebrities used in the videos — all unknowingly, it seems — included Shavo Odadjian, the musician and producer, and the actors John McGinley, Dean Norris, Priscilla Presley and Kate Flannery. Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion boxer, appears in a video taken from his own promotional page on Cameo. It was repurposed without any recording of his voice, though a voice-over intones a similar plea to Mr. Zelensky.
Ms. Flannery, known for her role in the television comedy series “The Office,” teasingly holds up a bottle of whiskey before turning serious in her message. “Seriously, it will be wonderful,” she says. “Just do it.”
The campaign was one of a flurry in recent weeks intended to build support for the war at home in Russia while stoking opposition to it abroad.
“Russian cyber and influence operators have demonstrated adaptability throughout the war on Ukraine, trying new ways to gain battlefield advantage and sap Kyiv’s sources of domestic and external support,” Microsoft wrote in its report, referring to Ukraine’s capital.
Cameo said in a statement that videos like this would violate the company’s community guidelines. “In cases where such violations are substantiated, Cameo will typically take steps to remove the problematic content and suspend the purchaser’s account to help prevent further issues,” the statement said.
The celebrities used in the videos did not respond to requests for comment, but a representative for Mr. Wood said that while the actor had recorded the message on Cameo, it was “in no way intended to be addressed to Zelensky or have anything at all to do with Russia or Ukraine or the war.”
The novelty of exploiting commercially available cameos underlines the ingenuity — and persistence — of Russia’s efforts to try to justify its war in Ukraine. Although Microsoft’s researchers did not establish the exact source of the videos, experts who reviewed the findings said the campaign bore the hallmarks of previous covert information operations from Russia.
A separate campaign began last month with posts on Facebook and the social media platform X. The posts included photographs of more than 75 global celebrities — including Oprah Winfrey and the Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo — with block quotes echoing key Kremlin propaganda messages, according to Antibot4navalny, a prominent group of anonymous volunteers who have exposed Russian trolling efforts online.
“I know the U.S.A. blew up the Nord Streams,” said a post accompanied by a photograph of Beyoncé, referring to the underwater gas pipelines destroyed in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. “Does anyone seriously think otherwise?” The same phrases appeared in a post with a picture of the billionaire businessman Richard Branson.
In fact, American and European intelligence agencies have evidence suggesting that Ukrainian intelligence operatives carried out the pipeline attack, though no conclusive case has been made public.
The group of anonymous volunteers, whose name refers to Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, attributed the campaign to a coordinated information operation called Doppelgänger. Since 2017, Doppelgänger has been linked to numerous other efforts, including the creation of fake websites impersonating actual news organizations in Europe and the United States.
The group’s researchers and others say Russia’s latest efforts have been bolstered by artificial intelligence, which experts have warned could speed the production and dissemination of disinformation.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research organization in London that tracks extremism online, reported on Tuesday that it had uncovered a network of 64 bot accounts on X that appeared to be using content generated by the A.I. chatbot ChatGPT to criticize Mr. Navalny and his organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Although the content had some quirks and oddities, including one reply on X that included ChatGPT’s disclaimer against hate speech or harassment, the institute’s report said the capabilities of A.I. tools made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between content that was generated artificially and content created by humans.
“For most people scrolling casually through a platform like X, the content could easily pass as authentic,” the report said.
The cameo videos had the benefit of being real recordings. They first appeared on social media accounts in Russia, including Telegram and VKontakte, whose content hews closely to Kremlin views. Almost all were in Russian, suggesting the intended audience of the campaign was domestic. One post with Ms. Flannery’s message had more than 11,000 likes.
The posts were then amplified by Tsargrad, a media network owned by Konstantin Malofeyev, a conservative businessman who has been under sanctions by the United States since 2014 for his support of Russia’s initial invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine at that time.
Articles about the videos later appeared in prominent Russian news organizations, including the state news wire, RIA Novosti, and the official government newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“The internet has repeatedly noticed the strange behavior of Volodymyr Zelensky in public and during his video messages, often linking this with drug addiction,” RIA Novosti wrote in August. The article included a footnote warning that Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, are banned in Russia as extremist.
The Kremlin has unleashed a new weapon
Google is racing headlong into the AI future, and that means different parts of the company are destined to collide with one another — Search is now generating AI-powered summary results, but flooding the web with AI-generated text is going to make search that much harder, for example. It’s going to be messy and complicated and fascinating all at the same time. In general, the parts of Google that are charged with moderating platforms (like YouTube and Search) are going to end up colliding with the parts of Google that help people create content (like Gmail and Bard.) You can really just put them in two lists, draw a line from one to another, and predict a long list of interesting problems that will inevitably come up.
This week’s Google AI Collision (TM) is between the Pixel 8, whose Best Take feature uses AI to let you swap facial expressions in group photos to get “perfect” shots, and YouTube, which just rolled out the first cut of an AI-generated content policy that requires “creators to disclose when they’ve created altered or synthetic content that is realistic.” The blog post specifically cites content that “realistically depicts an event that never happened” as needing to be labeled, and notes the penalties for not consistently labeling realistic synthetic content can include content removal and demonetization.
Well, then! The Pixel 8 with Best Take and Magic Editor in Google Photos can very clearly generate realistic photos of events that never happened. Specifically, Best Take allows you to create moments between people that never occurred by picking between several facial expressions for them, and Magic Editor can simply remove things from the background. It’s trivial to make people appear to be looking at the same thing, or different things, or reacting to one another in ways that never happened — a Pixel 8 photo of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is potentially just a few taps away from telling a very different story than reality. So is a Best Take photo of Donald Trump during the upcoming election, for that matter. Google’s own Pixel 8 ads are a great example of how easy it is, actually:
So! Do Pixel 8 photos edited with Best Take or photos edited with Magic Editor in Google Photos need to be labeled on YouTube? We asked, and YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon said the context will matter and offered some early guidance.
“The goal of this update is helping the viewer to be better informed about content that is realistic but altered — not punishing creators for using AI,” he says. “If you’re using Best Shot to pick an image where everyone’s eyes are open, that’s something you could have probably done yourself by taking more photos (and likely not something you need to disclose). But if you’re using tech to make it seem like you were in a place that you actually weren’t, or altering a photo of an historic event, you’ll probably need to disclose to your viewers that you used technology to alter the setting.”
This seems about right — although, “it might have happened if you just took more photos” is a very fuzzy standard to try to enforce. What’s more, this standard is very much in tension with YouTube’s decision to have its own generative AI tools always label synthetic content as such — photos edited with Magic Editor photos have metadata showing they were changed with AI, but Best Take photos do not.
Google is racing headlong into the AI
There are two types of people in this world: those who like Gremlins, and those who like Gremlins 2.
There are two types of people in
Abhishek and Aishwarya became parents to Aaradhya in November 2011. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the former Miss World and acclaimed actress, widely recognised and admired in the world of cinema has been making headlines since time immemorial. Aishwarya, along with her husband Abhishek Bachchan, forms one of Bollywood’s most beloved and powerful couples. They are also parents to their adorable daughter, Aaradhya, born in 2011. While there are many instances where Abhishek and Aishwarya had professed their admiration for one another, an interview of the Dasvi actor from 2017 where he called Aishwarya ‘Supermom’ remains prominent to this date. In the same interview, Abhishek Bachchan had also shared that he was upset with media’s scrutiny over Aishwarya Rai’s weight gain.
Abhishek Bachchan in an interaction with the news agency ANI explained, “When she became a mother her career took a backseat. Today, she does everything for Aaradhya. She is supermom. Soon after Aaradhya was born, the media went at her about her weight gain. Nasty things were written, which really upset me. Anyone who knows her would know that she has never spent a day in the gym. The only time was when we were shooting Dhoom 2 (2006), and Uday Chopra, Hrithik Roshan and I dragged her.”
He continued, “Till date people refer to her as the most beautiful woman in the world, and I know she is immensely grateful for the love. She values her fans and enjoys the adulation as well as the trappings of her career. Even with the hectic travel schedules and erratic work hours, I’ve never heard her complain about front or back of the plane, Maruti or Mercedes. Her focus isn’t on the trivial. It’s these things that leave me charmed.”
Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had a traditional south-Indian wedding in April 2007, in Mumbai after getting engaged in an intimate ceremony in January 2007. After their wedding, the couple appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where Abhishek shared the story of his proposal to Aishwarya.
During the interview, Abhishek reportedly revealed, “I was filming in New York for a movie, and I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that one day… ‘wouldn’t it be nice if I was together with her (Aishwarya), married?’” The actor further shared that he took Aishwarya to that same balcony and asked her to be his life partner and Aishwarya agreed.
Abhishek and Aishwarya became parents to
Tyla vows to become ‘the biggest pop star’ of her generation
Tyla vows to become ‘the biggest pop
With the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Deadpool 3 has resumed filming.
Like other big-budget films, especially those of the superhero variety, the film’s production has taken place under a microscope, with new information often leaking before it was intended to.
Photo: Marvel
After the inclusion of Liev Schreiber’s Sabertooth was leaked by reporters who took on-set photos, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds took to social media to ask that the media help preserve Deadpool’s secrets and not ruin the surprise for fans.
“Surprises are part of the magic of theatrical movies. It’s important for us to shoot the new ‘Deadpool’ film in real, natural environments, using practical effects as opposed to making the movie indoors and digitally. Telephoto lenses continue to spoil surprises and create a difficult situation for everyone,” Reynolds posted on his Instagram story Wednesday.
Even before the Sabertooth news was spoiled, the information had been leaking from Deadpool 3 at a consistent rate.
Earlier this year, for example, a photo of Hugh Jackman wearing Wolverine’s iconic yellow suit hit the internet.
Photo: Hugh Jackman on Instagram
“Here’s hoping some of the websites and social channels hold back showing images before they’re ready,” Reynolds continued. “The film is built for audience joy — and our highest hope is to preserve as much of that magic as possible for the finished film and the big screen. Part of the reason people post spoilers is because they’re excited. I realize these aren’t real world issues and it’s firmly in the ‘good problems’ bucket. I love making this movie.”
While it is unlikely that Reynolds’s plea will stop unscrupulous snoopers from spoiling what Deadpool 3 has in store, we would all be better off if they would.
Photo: Marvel
Deadpool 3 will hit theatres on July 26, 2024.
It’s never easy to choose just one favorite character from among the many we meet in our travels through fictional worlds. Even when we narrow the scope to just one year of television, movies, and more, defining what makes for a favorite or “best” character seems like a herculean task. And though we say this every year, this year, we truly were spoiled for choice when it came to nerdy offerings that graced our screens. From fantastical realms to multiverse shenanigans to spectacular season twos, spinoffs, and original stories, we received a veritable buffet of characters to love (or to love hating) in 2023. And so, despite the difficulty, the Nerdist team has set out to narrow down the greatest of them all. Here are Nerdist‘s picks for the best characters of 2023.
Selected by Rotem Rusak
I went into the live-action One Piece series as cold as possible for a franchise that’s been around for so long. And though I had no prior love or loyalty to the series, Iñaki Godoy’s Luffy immediately had me signing on to become a Straw Hat Pirate. How could anyone resist when Luffy just wants you to treasure your dreams and be the best you that you can be?
Having now watched some of the anime, I can confidently assess that Iñaki Godoy’s rendition captures all the hallmarks of the original Luffy: his unbounded joy, his intent enthusiasm, his determined love of his crew, and his sometimes overly excited tendencies. But above and beyond that, Godoy injects Luffy with a tremendous heart and warmth that is all his own, which deepens, rounds out, and evolves the character, taking him to new heights and pulling us all along for the ride.
With Iñaki Godoy’s Luffy as captain, it makes total sense that everyone he meets falls in love with him and decides to follow him to the ends of the earth, fans included. And that makes live-action One Piece‘s Monkey D. Luffy one of our best characters of 2023.
Selected by Amy Ratcliffe
We had to wait a couple of years, but The Wheel of Time season two finally happened. The adaptation of Robert Jordan’s books of the same name leveled up in a number of ways from season one, including character development. Egwene al’Vere was one of the MVPs, standing out as one of the best characters not just in The Wheel of Time, but in all the television I watched this year. Performed by Madeleine Madden, Egwene found herself pulled out of the White Tower in the worst way possible: betrayed by a member of the Black Ajah and given to the Seanchan to take as damane. Collared and enslaved by the Seanchan, Egwene faced horrors unknown to most Aes Sedai. The Seanchan controlled Egwene’s ability to use the One Power and used her as a weapon. They broke her.
But Egwene, powerful in every way that matters, fought back. She made a difficult choice, one that will impact her for years to come. But she made it. No one decided her fate for her. In season two, Egwene rose above pain. She showed her mettle and protected her friends. It was a moving, terrible, important step on her journey.
Selected by Eric Diaz
True horror icons come two, maybe three for decade. In 2023, it came in the form of a killer robot doll with a judgmental glare—and who has no time for your crap—going by the name of M3GAN. From the moment we saw M3GAN’s pre-murderbot rampage dance in the trailer for her big-screen debut, she was poised for star status. When Gerard Johnstone’s film was finally released in January of 2023, she earned that status. Screenwriter Akela Cooper created a true icon in M3GAN, and not one of us will ever hear the song “Titanium” the same way again. M3GAN is definitely one of 2023’s best characters.
Selected by Tai Gooden
A world full of superheroes seeped in debauchery, lies, and murder leads to a lot of blood. For Gen V’s Marie Moreau (played by the brilliant Jaz Sinclair), the constant spilling of this bodily fluid works to the advantage of her ever-expanding hemokinetic powers. Marie’s enthralling and tumultuous journey throughout season one spans from an orphan grieving her parents’ accidental demise to a self-assured young woman who confronts internal and external shaming and bravely redefines what it means to be a hero.
As she further steps into her personal power, her abilities expand and allow her to rewrite her destiny. Marie Moreau has heart, but she won’t completely sacrifice herself for the sake of others. She’s broken and resilient, passionate and terrified, and socially awkward yet keenly aware of her place and space within society on multiple levels as a Black woman. Watching her conjure blood from the soaked grassy quad and shoot it like daggers was perhaps the most empowering moment in this universe so far. She’s a true gem in a mine of new TV characters.
Selected by Mikey Walsh
The full depth of Bruce Greenwood’s incredible performance on The Fall of the House of Usher couldn’t be totally appreciated until it was over. Long before his final moments, we knew the pharmaceutical CEO was responsible for a massacre of untold millions. Roderick Usher’s body count had few equals in history. Worse, he amassed his empire by sacrificing his kids’ future to a supernatural entity. And yet, even knowing all of that, Greenwood made Roderick compelling by making it hard to fully hate him. Hadn’t Roderick started out with good intentions? Didn’t he want to end suffering rather than inflict more? And wasn’t his punishment more than anyone deserved? Didn’t his mistakes and remorse make his story a tragedy because he was a flawed person rather than a real monster?
No. His final confession wasn’t about the murders he’d committed or the deal he’d accepted. It was about the greatest lie he’d told. He’d always known exactly what Ligodone was and what it would do to the world. It was only then we knew the truth—he really was the Devil, and he had tricked us into thinking he’s not. That’s why Roderick Usher is among 2023’s best new characters.
Selected by Kyle Anderson
The John Wick series has always offered action movie fans a cadre of wild underworld characters and hardened assassins to go up against our favorite gun-fu fighter. John Wick: Chapter 4 is easily the best of the bunch in this field, and while offering a number of cool new characters, none were as great as Caine, played by Donnie Yen. The sightless assassin with a sword in his walking stick and a pocket full of sound grenades gives John his toughest battle yet, and the fact that Caine is a reluctant combatant, an anti-villain trapped in a tough spot, endears us to him all the more. And yes, he kicks the most amount of butt; it’s Donnie Yen! Why wouldn’t he?!
Selected by Mikey Walsh
This year proved it doesn’t matter which multiverse you find yourself watching, Ke Huy Quan is an absolute joy in all of them. The recent Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar-winner joined Loki in season two and promptly stole all of his scenes. (No small feat considering his costars.) His brilliant, way-too-literal, wonderfully straightforward O.B. was a constant source of both humor and information. What really made Ouroboros one of 2023’s best new characters, though, was the way Quan was able to also convey the inherent sadness of the O.B.’s life, even if the engineer himself wasn’t fully aware of his plight. That gave the TVA employee a depth that easily could have been lost with a lesser performance. We wanted to hang out and listen to Ouroboros while also giving him a big hug. Just like we’d love to do with Ke Huy Quan himself in every universe everywhere.
It’s never easy to choose just one
“The Montpellier-based (France) indie games publisher PID Games and Bangkok-based (Thailand) indie games developer FairPlay Studios Co. Ltd, today announced with great happiness and excitement that their turn-based rogue-lite dungeon crawler “The Land Beneath Us”, is coming to PC (via Steam) and consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X) via digital stores in 2024.” – Jonas Ek, TGG.
"The Montpellier-based (France) indie games publisher PID
When I brainstorm new ideas for movies, one of the things I work on right away is the tone of the story. To me, it informs so much more than even the genre.
The term ‘tone’ in screenwriting refers to the overall mood or atmosphere of a story.
It’s a crucial element that sets the stage for the narrative and guides the audience’s emotional response. Understanding and effectively using tone can greatly enhance a screenplay’s impact.
So today, we’re going to go over this together and make sure you’re thinking about it in your writing as well.
Let’s get started.
Tone Definition in Screenplays
Tone is the emotional coloring of a screenplay. It shapes the audience’s expectations and perceptions.
Unlike genre, which categorizes the story, tone conveys the writer’s attitude towards the subject and the audience. It can be consistent throughout the screenplay or vary to create dynamic shifts in the narrative.
When you write with the tone, you’re writing the attitude of the story, and you’re informing the reader how they should take in information and character.
Examples of Tone in Screenplays
‘Before Midnight’
Searchlight
Creating a comprehensive list of examples of tone in screenplays involves exploring various moods and atmospheres that can be conveyed in a film.
This is by no means all of them, but I tried to get most of them in there with examples. and I slipped some books in there too and adaptations.
This list represents a range of tones that screenwriters use to give their stories distinct moods and atmospheres, engaging the audience in various emotional experiences.
How to Craft Tone In Your Screenplay
‘Mean Girls’
Paramount
As I said up top, tone is very important when it comes to writing., It dictates how people interact with your work, and how you sell plot points ot the people reading.
Mastering tone in screenwriting is essential for crafting compelling stories. A well-defined tone can engage audiences, evoke emotions, and leave a lasting impression.
Aspiring screenwriters should study various screenplays to understand how tone is effectively used and practice implementing it in their own work.
Remember, the tone is more than just the story’s mood; it’s a powerful tool for storytelling.
So, put in your writing and get back to work!
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Earlier this week Glamour investigated whether side bangs are trending for 2024, and it seems our hunch was just confirmed by none other than Taylor Swift. The superstar and bangs enthusiast joined in on the controversial trend during her latest outing in New York City, where she wore her signature fringe clearly swept to the side. Gasp!
This is a new look for Swift—just two days ago she wore her usual straight-across style to her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football game (the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for sports enthusiasts). She also wore her bangs straight for various performances throughout the Eras Tour and for the premiere of the film of the same name.
Was Swift inspired by the slew of fellow celebrities who debuted their own take on the trend this past week? Or do great minds really just think alike? I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure: The side bang trend is trending.
Swift is in great company, of course: Dua Lipa, Keke Palmer, America Ferrara, Natasha Lyonne, Meryl Streep, and more all wore side-parted bangs to the Academy Museum Gala on December 3 (which was the same day Swift was at Kelce’s game, FWIW). So unless everyone’s in a group chat (and if they are, talk about FOMO), it’s clear that the power of the side bang transcends space, time, and possibly even logic.
Earlier this week Glamour investigated whether side
Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be in the past, but some sales are still hanging around (although maybe not for long). For more leftover deals we recommend across all categories, be sure to check out the rest of the Cyber Monday still available here.
If it feels like every streaming service received a price hike this year, it’s probably because most of them have. Netflix, Apple TV Plus, Discovery Plus, and Disney Plus are just a few recent examples, though there are still ways to weather the price increases. Many Cyber Monday sales are still live, after all, offering an excellent way to save on your monthly streaming bill.
In fact, some streaming services are offering deals that offset their recent price hikes — well, at least temporarily. Paramount Plus, for example, might have raised the price of its cheapest plan to $5.99 a month, but at the moment, it starts at just $1.99. What’s even better is that both new and returning subscribers are eligible for the deal, which is a bona fide rarity as far as streaming deals are concerned.
Paramount Plus is just one of many services offering discounts. From Hulu to Starz, we’ve rounded up the best streaming deals available.
Now until 11:59PM PT on November 28th, you can sign up for a year of Hulu’s ad-supported tier for $11.88, which works out to 99 cents a month. The subscription grants you access to over a thousand movies and shows, including Futurama, The Bear, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Abbott Elementary.
You can sign up for 12 months of Hulu’s ad-supported plan for just 99 cents a month until 11:59PM PT on November 28th. That essentially works out to a year of Hulu for $11.88, saving you about $68 on what is otherwise a $79.99 plan — or $85 if you pay the $7.99 monthly fee. Hulu is also offering an additional deal on the Starz add-on, allowing you to pay 99 cents a month as opposed to $9.99 for six months, saving you $54. Both new and returning subscribers who canceled their Hulu subscription at least a month ago can take advantage of the deal, along with existing Disney Plus and ESPN Plus standalone subscribers.
The ad-supported plan grants access to the same catalog of TV shows and movies as the ad-free plan, including forthcoming series like Sand Land and Marvel’s Echo and existing hits like Futurama and The Bear. However, you won’t be able to download content for offline viewing with the base tier, and multiple people can’t stream simultaneously.
New and returning subscribers can get three months of the ad-supported Paramount Plus Essential plan for $1.99 per month instead of $5.99 or three months of Paramount Plus with Showtime for $3.99 a month instead of $11.99. To take advantage of either deal, just use promo code BLACKFRIDAY before December 4th.
Both new and returning subscribers can get three months of the ad-supported Paramount Plus Essential plan for $1.99 per month instead of $5.99, which equates to a savings of $12. Alternatively, you can save $24 when you sign up for three months of the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan for $3.99 a month instead of $11.99. To get either deal, however, you must use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY before December 4th.
Both plans grant access to thousands of movies and shows, including Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Yellowstone spinoffs like 1883 and 1923. You can also watch live news on CBS, NFL on CBS (which includes Super Bowl LVII), and UEFA Champions League games. The Showtime plan also offers access to content like Billions and The Chi, along with live TV with CBS and college football. It’s also mostly ad-free and allows you to download content for offline viewing.
Sling TV is a live TV streaming service featuring live and on-demand TV channels like CNN, Fox, NBC, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and more.
If you’re more interested in live TV services, Sling is currently taking 50 percent off your first month of any plan if you’re a new subscriber. As a result, you can subscribe to Sling Orange for $20 a month, Sling Blue for $22.50 a month, or both packages for $30 a month instead of $60. No matter which package you choose, Sling will also throw in a free Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite.
All of the Sling TV plans offer live and on-demand channels, including everything from CNN to the History Channel. However, the Sling Orange plan is more sports-focused with access to ESPN channels as well as the Disney channel. Sling Blue, meanwhile, offers more news and entertainment channels, like Fox News, MSNBC, E!, Discovery, Bravo, and local NBC or Fox affiliates. It also lets you stream content on up to three devices, whereas Sling Orange limits you to a single device.
Now until December 3rd, Amazon Prime members can get 75 percent off a two-month subscription to select Amazon Prime Video channels, including Paramount Plus, Showtime, MGM Plus, Starz, AMC Plus, BritBox, Cinemax, and more.
Amazon Prime Video members can get 75 percent off a number of Prime Video Channels until December 3rd. Right now, for instance, you can get two months of Paramount Plus with Showtime for $3 a month instead of $11.99. Other channels that are a part of this two-month promotion include MGM Plus ($1.50 a month), Starz ($2.50 per month), AMC Plus ($2.25 per month), and BritBox ($2.25 a month). Keep in mind the deal is only available to Amazon Prime members, however.
Philo is a live and on-demand TV service that grants access to content from more than 70 channels, including AMC, Comedy Central, Paramount, Discovery, Nickelodeon, MTV, BBC World News, and more. It typically costs $25 per month; however, at the moment, new subscribers can get their first month for $12.50.
Live and on-demand TV streaming service Philo is currently offering new subscribers 50 percent off their first month until November 28th, in addition to the standard seven-day free trial. That means instead of paying $25 for your first month, you’ll be paying $12.50. To take advantage of the deal, click on this link, and a promo code will automatically be applied at checkout.
If you’re not familiar with Philo, the service provides access to content from more than 70 channels, including AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, MTV, VH1, BBC World News, IFC, Lifetime, and more. It includes unlimited DVR as well, along with the ability to stream on up to three devices at the same time.
An ad-free Starz subscription grants you access to shows and movies like Minx, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Outlander, and more, all of which you can download for offline viewing. For a limited time, new and returning subscribers can sign up for three months for $3 a month instead of $9.99 per month or six months for $20 ($26 off).
Speaking of Starz, new and returning subscribers can subscribe to the standalone service for just $3 a month for three months instead of $9.99 a month, saving you a total of $21. Alternatively, you can subscribe to a six-month plan for $20 instead of $46, which equates to $26 in savings — or $40 if you subscribe to the monthly plan. Both ad-free plans allow you to download content for offline viewing and provide access to films and shows like Outlander, John Wick: Chapter 4, Minx, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and more.
Update November 28th, 10:17AM ET: Updated with the latest details on all streaming deals and removed expired promos now that Cyber Monday is officially over.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be
Oscar and Emmy-winning make-up artist Michael Westmore will receive the Vanguard Award for contributions to the make-up and hairstyling industry during the 11th annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (IATSE Local 706) Awards.
Westmore won an Oscar in 1986 for the film Mask and earned three additional nominations. He also has received a record 45 Emmy nominations, bringing home nine statuettes. His credits include Rocky, Raging Bull and more than 600 episodes of Star Trek series work. Since 1917, almost every major studio has had a Westmore supervising their make-up departments, including his father, Monte Westmore, on Gone with the Wind, the Guild reports.
“IATSE Local 706 is excited and thrilled to honor Michael Westmore with the Vanguard Award,” said the Guild’s business rep, Karen J. Westerfield, in a statement. “His contributions and expertise to our industry are unparalleled. His unwavering encouragement and guidance to elevate our members, along with the Westmore legacy, will continue to inspire future generations of make-up artists and hair stylists. We are truly honored to celebrate his achievements and incredible talent. We recognize him as the man, the myth, the mentor … Michael Westmore.”
As previously announced, Oscar and Emmy-winning make-up artist Kevin Haney (Driving Miss Daisy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) and Emmy-nominated hair stylist Ora T. Green (Star Trek: Nemesis, Good Times) will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards during the Guild’s Feb. 18 awards ceremony.
Oscar and Emmy-winning make-up artist Michael Westmore
Watching Hayao Miyazaki’s un-retirement animated feature The Boy And The Heron is a little like watching Bob Dylan play the hits live: you have some idea of what you’ll get, even if it’s all jumbled up into a wholly new combination and style. Released in Japan under the title of How Do You Live, after a 1937 novel it’s mostly not based on, The Boy And The Heron neither had nor needed trailers there, or much promotion save a single poster design. Miyazaki-savvy audiences came with a degree of confidence in what they would get, as can American aficionados of Studio Ghibli.
For the significantly larger percentage of stateside audiences who don’t pay attention to animation directors’ names, there’s an all-star dub on the way, with Robert Pattinson, Dave Bautista, and Florence Pugh, among others, adding their familiar voices. Only the subtitled version was offered for advance screenings indicating, perhaps, a confidence by U.S. Distributor GKIDS that for critics, Miyazaki is the real star.
Fans will notice in the story a little Spirited Away, some The Wind Rises, a good amount of When Marnie Was There (not a Miyazaki film, but based on a favorite book of his), a touch of Howl’s Moving Castle, all through a very loose autobiographical framework of World War II-era relocation. There’s a father who works in the military aircraft industry, caricatured old people with huge heads, supercute and marketable magical spirits who show up in hordes, a fantasy realm accessible through an old building, and a spirit guide even more temperamental than No-Face in the form of the Heron (voiced by Masaki Suda in the original Japanese version and Robert Pattinson in the English dub). It would almost feel like a Miyazaki ripoff, but for the fact that the old master’s still good enough to spin his own recycled bits into gold.
Initially serving mostly to torment young Mahito (Soma Santoki in Japanese, Luca Padovan in English), a boy who recently lost his mother in a hospital fire, the Heron turns out to be a strange old man squeezed into a heron skin, and an almost compulsive liar who’s occasionally really helpful despite himself. The bird’s tongue is actually the man’s gin-blossomed nose, while its body is like a bigger-on-the-inside TARDIS that the fat man’s physique squeezes out of to reveal his true self. Miyazaki frequently develops his stories as the storyboards are drawn, which gives the adventures that ensue the episodic structure and semi-chaotic logic of classic children’s fantasies like Pinocchio or Alice In Wonderland, the latter of which also featured its share of senior-citizen caricatures with oversized craniums.
In this instance, the fantasy realm has touches of The Neverending Story, albeit more the book than the movie, as its very existence or non-existence is predicated on Mahito seriously sorting out his family issues. Like a dream that allows its creator to express emotions they could not in real-life polite company, Mahito’s journey with the Heron takes all sorts of fantastical tangents that aren’t necessarily metaphors, but in the end allows him to exorcise his traumas. The juxtaposition of cuteness and danger adds a pointed disorienting effect—who knew that parakeets in little chef hats could endanger one’s life so? That, in a way, is childhood, especially childhood in the immediate post-WWII Japan—the kids may be fed cuteness, but they’re aware of the lingering fear and despair underneath.
The dub casting is just bizarre. The Heron is an older man with a pointedly annoying voice, so GKIDS gets … Robert Pattinson? Even with the range the former heartthrob has shown post-Twilight, this is a role more suited to the late Gilbert Gottfried. In some cases, it’s clearly celebrity fans wanting to participate: Dan Stevens, Mamoudou Athie, and Tony Revolori are basically going to be extras as the voices of random parakeets. Better to experience the story without the distraction of “guess that voice,” with dialogue spoken the way Miyazaki originally directed it. The dub seems more like it’ll be akin to those charity readthroughs where different celebrities read for famous parts in classic movie scripts: more fun as contrast than an immersive story unto itself. Kids who don’t yet know their celebrities won’t care.
If The Boy And The Heron is indeed Miyazaki’s final film, it can serve as both a victory lap and a plea for a successor to arrive and take up the mantle of trying to make the world a better place through art. The story in its most literal reading implies the successor should be blood kin, which is a whole lot of pressure to put on the already legacy burdened Goro Miyazaki, but it also implies that even if that doesn’t work out there’s always a plan B, and things go as they should.
In the meantime, this particular style of dreamlike, transporting art continues to do the trick.
Watching Hayao Miyazaki’s un-retirement animated feature The
AWARD THIS 2023 NOMINEE! On the periphery of society, cataloged amongst the people nobody notices are the collectors, the folks who specialize in collecting a facet of geek culture. For some, it’s Star Wars paraphernalia. For other collectors, it’s Star Trek. For Darren Maxwell, his principal focus is Batman. Batman and Me, directed by Michael Wayne, is his story.
A loner looking for a community to belong to, Maxwell fell in with collectors of movie memorabilia. While he possesses smaller collections devoted to Dune and other science fiction properties, he realized in 1989 that no one he knew was collecting items from Tim Burton’s Batman, and that became his niche. Over the course of 10 years, Maxwell collected all manner of kitsch in support of all the Batman movies ending with 1997’s Batman and Robin. In this deeply personal and introspective documentary, he walks us through his vast array of toys, comics, and knick-knacks.
“…Maxwell collected all manner of kitsch in support of all the Batman movies…”
Since 2001, Maxwell has moved on from collecting Batman memorabilia to making Star Wars fan films. His collaborator in financing these shorts is Peter Sims, who is also a Batman collector. There is a sequence where Wayne visually compares and contrasts both men’s acquisitions. Sims is intent on seeing everything he has collected clearly. Every item has been removed from its box and placed in a display case. For Maxwell, collecting an item requires that it retains its pristine condition. The collectible must be in its Aristotelian purest form. Therefore, Maxwell never opens an item he has collected. To do so is to convert it from being a collectible to a “toy.” Interestingly, we learn that if he did not enjoy a film, he does not support it by acquiring its memorabilia.
There are some fascinating anecdotes along that trend spread throughout Batman and Me. One of Maxwell’s former girlfriends’ bought him a package of Batman cookies a week prior to dumping him. After she broke up with him, he opened the package out of spite and ate the cookies. Being a collector, he then replaced the cookies with a pristine, unopened package. In a moment of weakness, Maxwell opened the Batman Forever board game. To this day, he wants to replace it with a copy still contained within its mylar packaging. A particular item has a tear in it. This gnaws at Maxwell’s psyche. While he has hidden the tear from view, it still exists. This is a nightmare scenario for any collector.
While he is featured in a further documentary concerning Star Wars and its fans, The Phandom Menace, Maxwell and his room entirely devoted to Batman memorabilia is his claim to immortality. In the Melbourne collector community, he is truly known as the Batman collector. Batman and Me is a wonderful deep dive into one man’s obsession. I highly recommend it.
Batman and Me is a 2023 Award This! Pop Culture documentary nominee.
AWARD THIS 2023 NOMINEE! On the periphery of
Iranian security forces raped and sexually assaulted male and female protesters as young as 12, according to a damning new report.
Amnesty International found security forces used rape and sexual violence to torture, punish and traumatise protesters arrested as part of the Tehran regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted from September 2022.
The rights group said it had gathered testimonies from 12 women, 26 men, one girl and six boys who survived rape or other forms of sexual violence.
Its 120-page report details 45 cases of rape, gang rape or sexual violence against protesters, with six victims gang-raped by groups of up to ten men.
With cases in more than half of Iran‘s provinces, Amnesty expressed fear these documented violations appeared part of a ‘wider pattern’.
Iranian security forces raped and sexually assaulted male and female protesters as young as 12, according to a damning new report
Amnesty International found security forces used rape and sexual violence to torture, punish and traumatise protesters arrested as part of the Tehran regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted from September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini (pictured)
‘Our research exposes how intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12,’ Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard said.
The London-based organisation said it had shared its findings with the Iranian authorities on November 24 ‘but has thus far received no response’.
The protests began in Iran in September 2022 after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22. Her family says she was killed by a blow to the head but this has always been disputed by the Iranian authorities.
After rattling Iran’s clerical leadership, the movement lost momentum by the end of that year in the face of a fierce crackdown that left hundreds dead, according to rights activists, and thousands arrested, according to the United Nations.
Amnesty said 16 of the 45 cases documented in the report were of rape, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl, and two boys aged 16 and 17. Six of them – four women and two men – were gang raped by up to 10 male agents, it said.
It said the sexual assaults were carried out by members of the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary Basij force, agents of the intelligence ministry, as well as police officers as the Tehran regime rounded up protesters off the streets.
The rapes on women and men were carried out with ‘wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, hosepipes, and/or agents’ sexual organs and fingers’, it said.
As well as the 16 rape victims, Amnesty said it documented the cases of 29 victims of other forms of sexual violence such as the beating of breasts and genitals, enforced nudity, and inserting needles or applying ice to men’s testicles.
It said it collected the testimony through interviews with the victims and other witnesses, conducted remotely via secure communications platforms.
‘The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ armoury of repression of the protests and suppression of dissent to cling to power at all costs,’ said Callamard.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attend an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, October 17, 2022
Protesters chant slogans during a protest over the death of a woman who was detained by the morality police, in downtown Tehran, Iran on September 21, 2022
One woman, named only as Maryam, who was arrested and held for two months after removing her headscarf in a protest, told Amnesty she was raped by two agents during an interrogation.
‘He (the interrogator) called two others to come in and told them ‘It’s time’,’ she said.
‘They started ripping my clothes. I was screaming and begging them to stop.
‘They violently raped me in my vagina with their sexual organs and raped me anally with a drink bottle.
‘Even animals don’t do these things,’ she was quoted by the group as saying.
A man named as Farzad told Amnesty that plain clothes agents gang raped him and another male protester, Shahed, while they were inside a vehicle.
He said plainclothes agents made him and other detainees face the walls of the vehicle, where they were given electric shocks, before sexually assaulting them.
‘They pulled down my trousers and raped me,’ he said in his testimony.
‘I couldn’t scream out. I was really being ripped apart… I was throwing up a lot, and was bleeding from my rectum when I went to the toilet,’ said Farzad, who was released without charge a few days later.
Another woman, Sahar, also told Amnesty how she was assaulted, and how the experience has left her suicidal.
She said security forces removed her clothes and touched her in intimate parts while mocking her and threatening her with rape.
‘I used to be a fighter in life. Even when the Islamic Republic tried to break me down, I carried on,’ she told the rights group. ‘However, recently, I think about suicide a lot…I am like a person who waits all day for night-time so I can sleep.’
Zahra, a woman who was raped by an agent, also described the psychological toll.
‘I don’t think I will ever be the same person again,’ she told Amnesty.
‘You will not find anything that will bring me back to myself, to return my soul to me… I hope that my testimony will result in justice and not just for me’.
Other victims who spoke to The Guardian newspaper spoke of similar assaults.
Mahdi Yaghoubi, 31, who was arrested in November 2022 during protests in Tehran, told the publication that security officers sexually assaulted him to ‘confess’.
They touched and squeezed my genital parts to put me under pressure to confess,’ he said. ‘They didn’t do that to embarrass me, or rape me. They did that as a method of painful torture. They wanted me to suffer and feel the pain.’
Iranians protest a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini’s death after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, September 20, 2022
He added that the agents would insult him and other detainees, calling him ‘begheyrat’ (a man with no self-respect) to humiliate and degrade them.
Yaghoubi said he had managed to flee Iran with his sister on the back of a lorry.
Amnesty said most victims did not file complaints against the assault for fear of further consequences, and those who did tell prosecutors were ignored.
‘With no prospects for justice domestically, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and pursue justice,’ said Callamard.
Iranian security forces raped and sexually assaulted
Moonbug Entertainment, the studio behind “Cocomelon,” has set its first project in collaboration with game and toy company Toikido: animated preschool series “PeaKeeBoo.”
“PeaKeeBoo” focuses on sounds and visuals from nature and draws inspiration from the children’s game peek-a-boo. Season 1 will debut on the Moonbug Kids YouTube channel in 2024.
Similarly to “Piñata Smashlings,” Toikido’s first in-house developed IP which is now accompanied by a Roblox game and toy line, the “PeaKeeBoo” IP will become the basis for toys, playsets, physical games, apparel and books.
“There’s no hiding how thrilled we are to be partnering with Moonbug Entertainment, who have a spectacular ability to understand a brilliant and original concept and bring it to life onscreen,” discussing Toikido’s latest foray into the world of animation, founder and CEO Darran Garnham. “We are proud to be part of their outstanding portfolio of award-winning shows. ‘PeaKeeBoo’ will be no exception and we’re all looking forward to the smiles and laughter that it will bring to children and parents in 2024.”
“Working with Toikido has been a pleasure and we’re excited to share this new series that we know will resonate with families across the world,” says Moonbug’s head of global partnerships, Dan’l Hewitt, “We look forward to further exploring the ‘PeaKeeBoo’ world, and working with Tokido to encourage the future of childhood curiosity and play.”
The Toikido partnership comes after Moonbug recently set plans to work with “PAW Patrol” producer Spin Master Entertainment by issuing toy licenses for two pieces of Moonbug IP.
Moonbug Entertainment, the studio behind “Cocomelon,” has
Nvidia’s cut-down version of the RTX 4090 graphics card for the Chinese market is incoming and we’re told the GPU is on track for its purported release, likely early in 2024.
This new spin, supposedly called the RTX 4090 D (with the ‘D’ referring to Dragon, as 2024 is the Year of the Dragon in China), has had some of its specs leaked, as well.
Previously we weren’t told anything about the specs at all, save that it’ll apparently use an AD102-250 chip that’ll have a fair few CUDA cores disabled compared to the full loadout of the RTX 4090 flagship (using AD102-300 or 301).
But now we have clock speeds courtesy of a well-known leaker on X (formerly Twitter), MEGAsizeGPU.
4090D is on track, with no delay.More Spec：Base clock 2280 (higher than 4090)Boost clock 2520 (same as 4090)December 6, 2023
While the default boost clock of the RTX 4090 D will remain the same as the standard RTX 4090, we’re told the base clock will actually be notched up a bit to 2280MHz. That could be to at least partly offset some of the performance loss from dropping a chunk of graphics cores.
We aren’t told any other specs, and notably there’s no information on exactly how brutal Nvidia might be with its core cutting on this RTX 4090 D variant.
It’s likely that if the RTX 4090 D graphics card is real, it’s coming soon. As the leaker observes further in the thread of that tweet, they have all the specs – including the aforementioned core count – they just aren’t sharing them to protect their source.
Indeed, MEGAsizeGPU apparently has the box art – and if that’s ready, this again suggests that the RTX 4090 D could be on shelves soon. Given that the Year of the Dragon begins in February 2024, that seems the most likely launch date at this point – in terms of Nvidia getting this out sharpish, which it will surely want to do to tap into the profits to be made in China. (Some rumors even indicate a possible January launch).
The other thing we don’t know for sure is availability, and whether the RTX 4090 D will be exclusive to China. This seems likely given the name of the variant, and that it’s specifically designed to get around the US import ban, allowing Nvidia to benefit from a Chinese market desperate for these high-end Lovelace graphics cards. Demand for RTX 4090s has been so high, and so many have been shipped to Asia, that prices have even shot up in the US and elsewhere sadly.
Via VideoCardz
Nvidia’s cut-down version of the RTX 4090
After Donald Trump’s disturbing statement Tuesday that he intends to be a dictator if elected in 2024 ‘on day one,’ Jimmy Kimmel got exasperated not just with the multiply indicted ex-president, but also with the kids gloves treatment he receives from friendly media outlets.
“I’m tired of these fake questions like ‘will you become a dictator?’ Of course he’s going to because he said he’s going to,” Kimmel said during his monologue on Tuesday. “Basically inNovember we’re going to be voting on whether we will ever vote again.”
Watch the full monologue at the top of the page now.
What got Kimmel’s goat was that Trump said during a Fox News town hall hosted by Sean Hannity that he does in fact intend to act as a dictator if he’s elected again in 2024.
That’s not exaggeration. Hannity asked Trump, “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
“Except for day one,” Trump responded.
Hannity asked again, and Trump said, “‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’” Soon after this, Trump refused to promise that he won’t use the government to punish his political enemies.
Now, back to Kimmel, who during his monologue said, “Last night [Trump] had Town Hall on Fox News where scammy Sosa somehow managed to swing and miss at the softest of all balls.”
Kimmel played the footage of Trump’s comments then, imitating Trump, joked, “Yeah. I said no, no, no, other than that I want to only be a dictator on day one, as opposed to the rest of the time where there’s no tater, just dick.”
“All kidding aside, how about Sean Hannity having to squeeze him to say he won’t be a dictator?” Kimmel continued. “I mean, how clear does Trump have to make it? He’s like, ‘Hey, you want to take another stab at that one, bro?’”
“I’m tired of these fake questions, like ‘will you become a dictator?’ Of course he’s going to because he said he’s going to become a dictator. Basically in November we’re going to be voting on whether we will ever vote again.”
Kimmel then talked about Joe Biden, particularly recent polling that purports to show that Trump is now more liked by younger voters than Biden.
“Let me put this in terms maybe young voters will understand. Just because you think Alfred is too old to take care of Wayne Manor doesn’t mean you replace him with the Joker,” Kimmel joked.
Meanwhile, Trump has of course been threatening all sorts of dictatorial actions if he becomes president again, rhetoric that has become so alarming even outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post have begun sounding alarm bells.
That criticism angered Trump and his allies, who issued furious statements denying they said things they literally said in public, in an attempt to quell that talk. Hence the Hannity town hall, which didn’t go as planned.
After Donald Trump’s disturbing statement Tuesday that
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Dec. 4-10. Details and times are subject to change.
MURDER IN BOSTON 9 p.m. on HBO. On Oct. 23, 1989, the Boston Police Department received a panicked call from Charles Stuart saying that he and his pregnant wife, a white couple, had been shot in their car by a Black man. Later his wife died, and a manhunt around Boston led to the arrest of multiple Black men, even though Stuart’s brother would go on to name Charles as the murderer. Footage from the CBS docuseries “Rescue 911,” which happened to be shadowing the response to Stuart’s call that night, is used in this documentary, which casts the case as a microcosm of bigger problems in race relations in the city.
BARMAGEDDON: BLAKE SHELTON’S HOLIDAY BARTACULAR 10 p.m. on NBC. Blake Shelton is up to his usual bar game shenanigans, this time with a holiday flair. In this special, he will be going up against the rapper and actor Ice-T in games including “Merry Axe-Mas,” “Christmas Carol-okie” and “Little Drummer Boy (and Girl)” — your guess on what they entail is as good as mine.
DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 p.m. on ABC. The 32nd season of this Latin and ballroom dance competition show has been the first without former lead judge Len Goodman, who died early this year. Because of this, the winning couple will receive the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. Last week, in a gotcha-type twist, no couples were eliminated from the semifinals, meaning that for the first time, five couples will be competing for the trophy. There are some great competitors this year, so the winner will be a toss up, but my money is on the 17-year-old actress Xochitl Gomez and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
2024 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE 8 p.m. on The CW. This marks the fourth Republican primary debate of this election cycle — this time at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida; Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador; and Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy entrepreneur are expected to qualify. As has been his pattern this year, Donald J. Trump will skip the debate and instead attend a fund-raiser.
BACHELOR IN PARADISE 8 p.m. on ABC. It’s been a sweaty and tearful couple weeks on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, and finally we will see who gets engaged and who leaves solo. So far only one couple on the beach is of official boyfriend-girlfriend status, and after a bunch of people left last week, including Rachel and Blake, every couple seems a little mismatch. So maybe no bling will be thrown around in this episode.
CHRISTMAS AT THE OPRY 8 p.m. on NBC. This two-hour special hosted by Wynonna Judd is all things festive and all things country. Kelly Clarkson, Chrissy Metz and Lauren Alaina are just a few of the many singers set to perform.
FROZEN (2013) 8:20 p.m. on Freeform. It’s hard to believe that it was 10 years ago when my stepsister dragged me to what I thought was a children’s movie, and then I left the theater sobbing — and I haven’t gotten “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” out of my head since. Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell voice the sisters Elsa and Anna, who find themselves on an adventure with a snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) and the ice harvester Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) after things go awry at the palace.
FROZEN 2 (2019) 10:50 p.m. on Freeform. The sequel is set three years after Anna’s problematic fiancé tried to freeze her to death, and things are going pretty well — until Elsa feels unsettled, and the crew heads out to find an autumn-bound forest in an enchanted land. “The emphasis remains on the sisters,” Manohla Dargis wrote in her review for The New York Times. “It’s never surprising, yet its bursts of pictorial imagination — snowflakes that streak like shooting stars — keep you engaged, as do Elsa and Anna, who still aren’t waiting for life to happen.”
MEAN GIRLS (2004) 3:30 p.m. on VH1. If you want to prep for the new musical movie (whose trailer pretends it is not a musical) coming out in January, this is your moment. The original follows Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), who moves from Africa to the suburbs of Illinois and falls in with the popular girls known as the Plastics: Regina George (Rachel McAdams), Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) and Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert). So many zeitgeist-y quotes have come from this movie, it’s never a bad idea to brush up. (My favorite: “I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip flops, so I wore army pants and flip-flops.”)
A GRAMMY SALUTE TO 50 YEARS OF HIP HOP 8:30 p.m. on CBS. Taking place live on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif., some of the biggest names in hip-hop are gathering to continue their ode to 50 years of the genre, including Queen Latifah, Rick Ross, LL Cool J, Common and so many more.
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern
This documentary by Jennifer Baichwal recounts a legal battle in which a groundskeeper in California took on a multibillion-dollar company.
This documentary by Jennifer Baichwal recounts a
Norman Lear popped up on my computer screen at the designated time, wearing his signature bucket hat. I’d waited weeks for the interview and knew I had to think fast, because Lear was busy — as always — juggling projects.
That was the point of the interview. He was 98 in 2020 and still working like an ambitious upstart. I was 30 years younger than him, contemplating retirement and researching a book about how to know when it’s time to go.
I’ll admit to being more than a little nervous. Lear, who died Dec. 5 at age 101, was a legend, for one thing, a pioneer in the realm of prime-time TV shows that delivered social commentary along with entertainment. As a much younger guy, I half feared Lear might tell me to quit wasting his time.
I asked Lear if he ever thought about retiring. He appeared to be in his kitchen, snacking on something, but he didn’t hesitate.
“Not for a second,” he said with an exclamation point, making me feel like maybe I should go get my own bucket hat, pull it down to my ears and get to work.
I had already talked to another Hollywood legend and Lear contemporary, Mel Brooks. I wanted to know if working, for them, was oxygen. If you stop working, you suffocate.
“When I go to sleep at night,” Lear told me, “I have something that I’m thinking. Among other things, it’s about something I’m doing tomorrow … a day in which there are things I wish to do. So today is over, and we’re on to the next.”
Here I was, making the vagaries of human existence more complicated than they needed to be as I tried to make sense of where I’d been and where I was headed in a year, in five, in 10.
Lear obligingly played therapist, saying he lived in the moment, which really is all any of us can do. He said that he was certainly grateful for all the accolades and awards tossed his way in an epic career, but that he didn’t dwell on the past as much as what was in front of him right now. Imagine you’re in a hammock, he said, and you’re swinging.
From over, to next. Over, to next.
Norman Lear joins actor Marla Gibbs at a ceremony to award her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Gibbs was a cast member on Lear’s TV sitcom “The Jeffersons.”
(Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)
“So long as I am interested in the next, I’m moving,” Lear said. “And there have been, for 98 years, a lot of wonderful nexts.”
Lear had an insatiable intellectual and spiritual hunger, and that, along with the luck of physical health, is key to a long and happy life. Recently, I hiked Griffith Park with a 100-year-old gent, Pete Teti, who is all about embracing change. As one friend explained: “He’s made two violins, he does engraving, he’s a painter, he’s currently creating animation, he’s constantly learning about physics, geometry, fractiles.”
At age 93, Lear once asked, in a New York Times interview, “Aren’t you expected to grow, learn more about yourself, learn more about the world? Why would you be less expected to grow when you’re 80? The culture dictates how you behave, and maybe the elderly buy into it, the way they grow old. My role here now is to say wait a minute. That’s not all there is. There’s a good time to be had at this age.”
Marty Kaplan, director of USC’s Norman Lear Center — established in 2000 by the Lear family to study the impact of entertainment on society — said Lear was attending writers’ meetings and giving notes on current projects right up until the end. Kaplan said in a tribute on the center’s website that Lear “moved our hearts and minds to embrace our common humanity and live up to what is best in us.”
But there was more to the man than work.
“The list of things associated with longevity — with centenarians — all apply to him,” Kaplan told me. “Family and love in your life is paramount, and for him, it always has been. And then, purpose, an awfully important thing. The sense that you matter.”
Another critical ingredient in the Lear recipe for aging well was gratitude, Kaplan said, citing Lear’s wartime service as a radio operator and gunner on dozens of World War II combat missions.
“He wasn’t just swinging in the hammock. He was reveling in the pleasure of being alive, in existence, and the sheer miracle of anything existing,” Kaplan said.
In our conversation, Lear wondered why I’d be contemplating retirement, given how much I loved my job. Well, I told him, there might be other things I’d love, but I’ve never had time to try them. I’d like to travel more, and maybe live in different places.
Lear suggested the best of both worlds was within reach. Maybe I could travel more, have new experiences, and write about it.
“It’s not retirement,” he said. “It’s on to the next.”
I took inspiration from Lear’s zest. Work might well have kept him breathing, but it was all of life he embraced. He kept probing, shining a light, speaking out about ignorance and division. He once had a pen pal relationship with President Reagan because he thought it was important to hear the perspectives of political opponents.
Kaplan wrote that Lear “moved our hearts and minds to embrace our common humanity and live up to what is best in us.”
He said that in the hours after Lear’s death, he was looking through his biography, “Even This I Get to Experience,” and was struck by the epigraph. It was a quote from George Bernard Shaw.
“You haven’t overcome the fear of death until you delight in your own life, believing it to be the carrying out of universal purpose.”
steve.lopez@latimes.com
Norman Lear popped up on my
Photos from the set of Deadpool 3 revealed what appears to be the death of one major Marvel character.
The movie will star Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, the latter returning to the role for the first time since Logan.
With its July 26 release date, Deadpool 3 is the MCU’s only cinematic release set for 2024.
Photos shared by The Mirror on Dec. 3 spoil what looks like the death of Sabretooth, the iconic Wolverine villain.
The first of the two photos shows Deadpool holding Sabretooth’s severed head. He seems to be standing in the sandy plain seen in set photos from before the actor’s strike this past summer.
The second image features Wolverine in his iconic blue-and-yellow suit fighting the villain. Deadpool 3 marks the first time this suit will be worn in live-action.
Fans might recognize Sabretooth from 2000’s X-Men, as played by Tyler Mane. The long hair and recognizable angry expression in the movie look similar to the decapitated head Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool is holding up in the new photos.
Furthermore, the punch from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in the X-Men movie appears to be the same move being used in the set pictures for Deadpool 3.
These photos showing Sabretooth’s death add even more evidence to the theory that Deadpool 3 will be an adaptation of the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe comic by Cullen Bunn and Dalibor Talajić.
More specifically, the theory suggests that the third movie in the Deadpool franchise will feature Deadpool and Wolverine killing the 20th Century Fox Marvel Universe.
The fact that Fox Marvel actor Jennifer Garner is seemingly reprising her role as Elektra from the 2003 Daredevil movie and its 2005 Elektra spin-off supports this theory. Further, the movie’s director, Shawn Levy, confirmed that Deadpool 3 will pay homage to the Fox Marvel universe in some capacity.
While those pieces of evidence confirm that the Marvel universe of the early 2000s will have a role, it does not necessarily prove that the role would be destroyed.
The evidence that best solidifies this part of the theory is a set photo featuring the 20th Century Fox logo crumbling down. With Deadpool confirmed to be transitioning into the MCU with this movie, he could be severing ties with his original universe by destroying it.
Now, fans can add the death of Fox villain Sabretooth to the list as well, even more solidifying that this theory is very plausible.
Besides, it is always fun to see a fan-favorite comic come to life.
Deadpool 3 hits theaters on July 26, 2024.
DC’s forthcoming shared movie universe reboot – the DC Universe, can benefit from paying attention to the biggest mistakes made in older DC movie adaptations. The DCU’s predecessor, the DC Extended Universe, was a divisive franchise, for better or worse, having been created to compete with the game-changing Marvel Cinematic Universe and trying to mimic some of its aspects while distinguishing itself as a different franchise in other ways. Despite having a degree of loyal viewership, the DCEU movie timeline did not match the success of the MCU, and a string of critical and commercial failures, combined with new leadership, resulted in a now imminent soft-reboot.
DC’s earliest superhero films are considered classics, with 1978’s Superman and 1989’s Batman helping establish the superhero blockbuster. Superman broke new ground by being the first big-budget superhero epic, and Batman revolutionized the way films – superhero or otherwise – are marketed. Aside from Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy, however, DC’s history on film has had inconsistent success on film, with sequels to Superman and Batman disappointing viewers, and generating several unsuccessful attempts to revitalize old franchises or initiate new ones. Here are 10 mistakes from past DC films that the new DCU can learn from.
The DCEU is almost complete after 15 movies, but how does Blue Beetle compare to the likes of Justice League and The Flash?
2011’s Green Lantern was meant to be the start of a massive shared film universe for DC, but the movie was a critical and commercial failure. While the movie’s promotional campaign included the phenomenal Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the film failed to properly adapt the Green Lantern comic mythos. Although the Green Lantern comics have a rich lore that spans the cosmos of the DC Universe, their appeal has always been the characters. 2011’s Green Lantern did not properly intertwine the characters and the lore, meaning the lore was underused, and – worse still – the characters were not well-developed.
Ever since the overwhelming success of 1989’s Batman, Warner Bros. has tried to replicate its broad appeal and its gargantuan marketing campaign. This goal was taken a bit too far, however, in 1997’s Batman & Robin, providing a prime example for the DCU regarding both commercialization and how careful tonal shifts need to be.
While the vitriol directed at the film is certainly excessive, the movie was a huge contrast to what came before it that almost inevitably alienated those who’d loved what came prior, with director Joel Schumacher allegedly deeming the film a “cartoon” before each take, and Chris O’Donnell noting in an interview that the film felt like a “toy commercial.” While Batman & Robin’s director and actors were more than capable of making an authentic Batman film, the movie massively changing the tone of the franchise – seemingly in part to focus on marketability and merchandise – ended WB’s original Batman film franchise.
2004’s Catwoman is popularly considered one of the worst films in the superhero genre, failing both critically and commercially. The film has an infamously weak plot and stilted characters, and is not even faithful to the comic source material (though it does vaguely suggest a connection to Batman Returns). For a character as complex and multi-faceted as Catwoman, the film is a disappointing waste of Halle Berry’s talents, but it does prove that an award-winning lead actress and familiar intellectual property need to be matched by a proper narrative and character development, which is a valuable lesson for franchises like the DCU.
2006’s Superman Returns attempted to renew the original Superman movie franchise, serving as an alternate sequel to 1980s Superman II. The film goes to great lengths to replicate the look and feel of the Christopher Reeve movies, but this ended up being a double-edged sword. Returns’ emulation of the classic Superman films was successful, but it also prevented it from bringing the intellectual property to new territory on film. Moreover, a common criticism of Superman Returns is its slow pace and lack of action. The Superman comics are defined by not only their strong symbolism and political messages but also their exciting action sequences – with both hopefully being focal elements of the impending Superman: Legacy movie.
After the genre-redefining success of 2012’s The Avengers and the divisive reception to the DCEU’s first installment, Man of Steel, DC’s fledgling shared universe moved quickly to adapt their most famous superhero team, with Justice League being the DCEU’s fifth movie. Unfortunately, this prevented the DCEU from making another Superman solo film and introducing Ben Affleck’s Batman in a dedicated Batman outing. To make matters worse, Zack Snyder left the production of Justice League due to a family tragedy.
Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon of Avengers fame to complete the film, resulting in a disjointed and disappointing theatrical cut. Had the DCEU taken a slower approach, it might have avoided its soft reboot into the DCU – a detail those involved in crafting the DCU have seemingly noted, given the current DCU Chapter 1 slate appears more focused on establishing DC heroes and the world they inhabit.
The DCU is sure to adapt a significant portion of DC’s comics, so its approach regarding these stories is set to be a key factor in how successful it proves as a franchise. Although adhering to a comic adaptation’s source material is, more often than not, a beneficial quality, plenty of successful and beloved superhero films make major changes to the comics. 1988’s
Batman: The Killing Joke has inspired several Batman adaptations, including 1989’s Batman, and the graphic novel received a direct adaptation in the 2016 animated film of the same name. 2016’s Killing Joke movie is a serviceable recreation of the graphic novel whose strength lies largely in the performances of Mark Hamill and the late Kevin Conroy as Joker and Batman, respectively, yet the film’s opening adds unnecessary and highly controversial plot points that contributed to the animated movie’s poor reception.
While Tim Burton’s Batman movies were uninterested in including Batman’s iconic sidekick, Robin, Joel Schumacher brought the Boy Wonder to the big screen in 1995’s Batman Forever. This provides some helpful details regarding the character for the DCU to learn from, as the Robin mantle has largely been avoided in live-action adaptations.
Unlike his predecessor, Schumacher was knowledgeable about the Batman comics and recognized that Robin is one of the most crucial supporting characters in the Batman mythos. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were both well-realized characters in Forever, but the film makes the mistake of portraying Robin as a young adult rather than a teenager. A young adult Robin prevents Forever from having the found-family dynamic that the two have in the comics, which would have been far better in the film.
Can James Gunn break the Boy Wonder’s losing streak and bring a good live-action Robin to the DCU in The Brave and the Bold?
While Superman and Superman II are considered timeless classics their two sequels, Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace are generally dismissed as forgettable and disappointing follow-ups. The first two Christopher Reeve-led films notably balanced a degree of playful irreverence with the necessary grandiosity of Superman adaptations, making for films that were epic yet lighthearted. Superman III, unfortunately, is infamous for relying too heavily on comedy and losing the balance of its predecessors, providing some important lessons for Superman: Legacy.
In an effort to bring back Tim Burton and make lightning strike the same place twice in their Batman franchise, Warner Bros. offered Burton far more creative freedom in Batman Returns than he had in the 1989 film. Although Batman Returns has deservedly aged well among viewers, it caused significant controversy in 1992.
While 1989’s Batman had its fair share of violence, audiences were not prepared for the abundant innuendos and increased macabre qualities, resulting in an uproar from the parents of younger viewers. Plenty of recent DC films are as violent and explicit, if not more so, than Batman Returns, but the difference is that their mature content is expected. This strongly suggests the DCU needs to make its movie and show target demographics as explicitly clear as possible, especially given its first release is an adult cartoon, that could be misunderstood as child-appropriate by those who consider the medium synonymous with being child-friendly.
Tim Burton’s Batman Returns is a very unique Batman movie – we rundown 13 behind-the-scenes details of the making of Batman Returns you may not know.
All movies, DC Universe or otherwise, need to prioritize substance over style, but perhaps one of the worst examples of failing to do so is 2016’s Suicide Squad. The film attempts to replicate the success of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy by assembling a team of misfits – in this case, a squad of supervillains – and creating a black comedy/action romp with gratuitous needle-drops. Unfortunately, in its attempt to mimic Guardians, Suicide Squad forgot to properly develop its characters and story, resulting in a film that failed to please critics and viewers, and subsequently providing a focused look at what most alienates audiences.
Summary Green Lantern failed to
Electronic Arts has made a round of layoffs at UK-based racing games developer Codemasters.
The publisher confirmed the redundancies in a statement to IGN, although it didn’t say how many employees were impacted by the move.
“Our business is constantly changing as we strive to deliver amazing games and services that keep our players engaged, connected, and inspired,” an EA spokesperson said.
“At times, this requires the company to make small-scale organizational changes that align our teams and resources to meet evolving business needs and priorities.
“We continue to work closely with those affected by these changes, providing appropriate support throughout this process.”
EA acquired Codemasters for $1.2 billion in early 2021, having trumped a previously accepted offer to buy the company made by Rockstar owner Take-Two.
The acquisition brought Codemasters’ F1 and FIA World Rally Championship licenses, and its owned IPs Grid, Dirt and Project Cars, under the same roof as EA’s Need for Speed and Burnout franchises.
Discussing the strategic rationale behind the deal prior to its completion, EA said it would create “a global leader in racing entertainment” and enable it “to release new racing experiences annually”.
Last year, Codemasters’ Dirt 5 team in Cheshire was integrated into fellow UK-based EA studio Criterion Games “to create the future of Need for Speed”.
Codemasters’ two most recent releases, June’s F1 2023 and November’s EA Sports WRC, have reportedly struggled commercially.
EA restructured its studios into two organisations, EA Sports and EA Entertainment, earlier this year. Criterion subsequently switched divisions, from the former to the latter, to work on the Battlefield franchise.
The publisher said Criterion would also continue to work on the Need for Speed series under the stewardship of Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella, who now leads the studios responsible for Apex Legends, its Star Wars and Battlefield games.
Job losses across the games industry have been widespread in 2023. Companies impacted by layoffs this year include Embracer, Xbox Game Studios, Epic Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, CD Projekt, Unity, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, BioWare, Striking Distance, Team17, Frontier Developments, Telltale Games, Digital Extremes, Amazon and Digital Bros.
Electronic Arts has made a round of
EXCLUSIVE: Another two senior execs at The Apprentice UK producer Naked have exited – commercial boss Tamara Howe and Head of Formats Cam de la Huerta.
The depleted Fremantle label also saw its factual entertainment chief James Lessell leave earlier this year to set up an indie, while MD Fatima Salaria left at the start of 2023.
In an all-staff email, Naked MD Tom O’Brien said Howe “leaves Naked in a better place” after a three-year stint as Director of Commercial and Operations, while de la Huerta was thanked for “passion and hard work.”
Howe is an experienced and well-liked exec, who was previously MD of Vice TV EMEA. Prior to that, she spent 13 years in various senior roles for the BBC, including Controller of Business for the comedy and entertainment team.
She joined Naked on a three-month contract in 2020 following its merger with Fremantle stablemate Boundless “but became indispensable for us all and quickly became a part of our core team,” added O’Brien’s note. Howe worked across commercial and strategy while also focusing on supporting diverse talent within the company and centralizing welfare and casting teams. “We all owe her a debt of gratitude for her diligence, hard work and focus on the bigger picture,” added O’Brien.
De la Huerta worked on Naked’s Sky Max specials including The Unofficial Science of Home Alone along with a new reality series for a streamer. The former Circle exec only joined last year but leaves a few months after Lessell. “I’m looking forward to my next challenge but wish Tom and the senior team the very best for the future,” he said.
Naked produces BBC hits such as The Apprentice, The Rap Game UK and Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne. It is working on a Netflix reality development, Banned Camp, Amazon Prime Video’s Hot Mess Summer about Brits trying to run a pub in Zante and an untitled non-monogamous dating format for Peacock.
The label has seen plenty of change of late. Salaria left at the start of 2023 and was replaced by Creative Director O’Brien but his old post hasn’t been filled. Meanwhile at Naked-owner Fremantle UK, CEO Simon Andreae resigned after Deadline revealed he had faced complaints of workplace misconduct. His place was eventually taken by Amelia Brown, the head of Britain’s Got Talent label Thames, who had initially planned to leave to set up an indie.
EXCLUSIVE: Another two senior execs at The
Barbie star/producer Margot Robbie refused to move the film’s release date, standing up to the producer of Oppenheimer.
Barbenheimer was one of the top pop culture stories of 2023, an oddball situation where Greta Gerwig’s pink-plastered Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic Oppenheimer were released on the same day. Whether you were Team Mattel or Team Atomic Bomb — or both! — an astounding number of people turned up at the cinema to capture the many moods of the summer. And we may have Margot Robbie to thank.
As Barbie star Margot Robbie told J. Robert Oppenheimer portrayer Cillian Murphy in a recent sitdown, “One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects…And he was like, ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.’ And he’s like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving!’”
As such, both Barbie and Oppenheimer hit the big screen (some bigger than others…) on July 21st, eventually pushing the dueling movies to nearly $2.4 billion worldwide. On this front, only The Super Mario Bros. Movie came between them, helping make 2023 a wildly profitable year. As Murphy told Robbie, “That summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema, and I think [Barbenheimer] just connected in a way that you or I or the studios or anybody could never have predicted.”
The clashing aesthetics of Barbie and Oppenheimer no doubt made for plenty of fun for audiences, who took full advantage of this genuine lighting in a bottle. Sure, we could have tried to shoehorn in some Saw X / Paw Patrol memes back in September, but it wouldn’t have been organic. Barbenheimer was the sort of phenomenon that will make year-end recap lists of the biggest moments of 2023, entertainment or not. Didn’t see that happening when The Notebook and Fahrenheit 9/11 opened on the same day!
Thankfully we live in a world where both Barbie and Oppenheimer can co-exist, but if you had to pick, which side are you on? Let us know below!
Barbie star/producer Margot Robbie refused to move
The last time Nelson Peltz and his firm Trian Partners waged a proxy battle against Disney, less than a year ago, they laid out their concerns in a PowerPoint presentation. Disney needed to cut costs, Trian said. It needed to bring back its dividend and get its free cash flow back on track. Disney was “over-earning” at its theme parks, gouging guests and not investing enough.
Bob Iger’s return as CEO in November 2022 and the stock surge that followed ultimately called Peltz off. “This was a great win for all the shareholders. Management at Disney now plans to do everything that we wanted them to do,” Peltz told CNBC in February, announcing that he was dropping his proxy fight.
Indeed, Disney did tackle essentially all of Peltz’s concerns. The company has cut $7.5 billion in costs and laid off thousands of employees. It is bringing back its dividend, and says free cash flow will hit pre-COVID levels this fiscal year. The company announced a $60 billion investment in its theme parks business, suggesting that it wants to grow it by adding more, not by charging more.
And yet, months later, Peltz is back. And while he was looking for only one board seat last time, now he is looking for at least three, and possibly more, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The question on the mind of Iger and other Disney execs — not to mention much of Wall Street — is what Trian’s case will be. Exactly what argument Trian, whose stake in Disney is valued at roughly $3 billion, intends to make (beyond the activist track record of the 81-year-old Peltz) is unclear. Yes, Disney’s share price continues to lag, though it is hardly alone among media companies this year.
“I’m certain that the board will hear them out in terms of what their plans are, what their ideas are,” Iger said at the Dealbook Summit on Nov. 29, adding that he made it “very clear” to Disney’s board that “we have to obviously contend with them in some form, but don’t force me to take my eye off the ball and lose focus in terms of managing the company.”
Trian said in a statement that it was offered a chance to meet with the board, but that it was not proactively offered any seats, forcing it to take its case to shareholders. One of those Disney shareholders, investment firm Ancora Holdings Group, backed Trian Dec. 5, saying Peltz “would make a fantastic addition to Disney’s board.”
Iger said the company has high standards for its board members, which will number 12 at the next annual meeting, and that the board takes the process of adding members seriously, and doesn’t just offer them to any askers. Disney, for its part, named Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch to its board in November. Both will be up for election at the company’s next annual meeting.
Disney has long been willing to deal with activists. In fact, it is dealing with another one now: ValueAct. While the San Francisco-based investment firm has a reputation for being active, sources say its stake is based on what it sees as the intrinsic value of Disney’s theme parks, rather than a desire to shake things up. It is not expected to seek a board seat.
And the company dealt with Dan Loeb’s Third Point in 2020 and 2022. Sources noted that both times Loeb laid out “detailed” strategic plans, something Trian has thus far not done. In 2022, Disney added former Meta executive Carolyn Everson to its board at Third Point’s urging.
Another activist investor and Disney shareholder, Blackwells Capital, believes that defending against Peltz’s proxy fight will cost Disney shareholders “upwards of $50 million and serve only as a value-destructive fog for Disney’s leadership and board.”
“Mindless, drum-beating activism is not the right strategy for shareholders,” Blackwells chief investment officer Jason Aintabi says. “Disney’s Board is acting in the best interests of all shareholders and should be allowed the time to focus on driving value at one of America’s most iconic companies without this fatuous sideshow.
But Peltz’s effort does have its share of supporters. Bill Ackman, the influential hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, was seen at the Dealbook Summit carefully listening to Iger, Elon Musk and other interviewees. Iger’s remarks about Disney pulling its ads from Musk’s X (Twitter) seemed particularly troubling to Ackman, who has expressed disapproval of “Disney [caving] to public pressure” regarding X while investing heavily in TikTok.
“If Bob Iger would carefully examine the facts, he would likely continue to advertise on X, but Disney caves to public pressure rather than do the right thing,” Ackman wrote on X. “Meanwhile Disney invests heavily on TikTok, likely alongside videos of kids teaching other teenagers to be anorexic and worse. I am sure Nelson Peltz can fix this when he joins the Disney board.”
Looming over it all is Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter. Peltz’s friend and neighbor in Palm Beach, Perlmutter was “terminated” as chairman of Marvel by Disney this year, the company notes. Perlmutter has pledged his shares in Disney to Peltz, and they comprise nearly 80 percent of Trian’s stake, giving him more financial skin in the game than Peltz. On Nov. 30, Disney cited Perlmutter’s “personal agenda” against Iger, noting that his interests “may be different than that of all other shareholders.”
While a source close to Perlmutter previously told THR that the former Marvel chief was “not involved” in Peltz’s new effort beyond pledging his shares, an SEC filing from Trian confirms that Perlmutter is a “participant in the proxy solicitation.” In Trian’s last proxy fight, it only alluded to Perlmutter’s role (it referred to him as a “third party” known to both Disney and Peltz). Disney made some adjustments to its bylaws in November, which, while largely technical, could shine a light on just how involved Perlmutter is in Peltz’s board play, with enhanced disclosure requirements.
During his 14-year run at Disney, Perlmutter’s influence waned as the years went on, and by the time he was let go, his oversight was restricted largely to consumer products. The reclusive mogul, rarely photographed, was pictured with Donald Trump at the former president’s Florida retreat in 2016. In his 2019 memoir, Iger wrote that Perlmutter was opposed to Marvel projects like Black Panther and Captain Marvel (he allegedly didn’t think a Black or female superhero movie would sell toys), and later said that Perlmutter wanted to fire Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, forcing Iger to step in and move Marvel Studios under the larger theatrical umbrella.
It’s that meddling while leading Marvel that has some worried, should Trian’s endeavor succeed. “There is no silent partner in Ike,” one source warned of Perlmutter. “You’re inviting Trump onto the board. He has proxied his vote to Nelson. It’s so dangerous.”
Kim Masters contributed to this report.
This story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
The last time Nelson Peltz and his
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