Spoilers ahead for the first six episodes of Ahsoka on Disney+.
The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been in Star Wars television after Episode 6 of Ahsoka, called “Far, Far Away.” In the span of less than an hour, viewers not only got a look at how much of a threat Thrawn is despite a decade in exile, but got to see Ezra Bridger for the first time since his disappearance in the finale of Star Wars Rebels. Naturally, this meant seeing Ahsoka cast members Lars Mikkelsen and Eman Esfandi portraying Thrawn and Ezra in live-action for the first time. Once I got over the excitement of that development, something occurred to me: there’s a Rebels reveal for Ezra that I absolutely need within the next two episodes.
(Image credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.)
The Rebels Reveal For Ezra
The reveal I’m hoping for actually has to do with a character who has been dead at this point in the Star Wars timeline for about ten years: Kanan Jarrus. For viewers who stayed away from the animated series set in the galaxy far, far away, that name may mean nothing more than the Jedi mentioned in the previous episode while Ahsoka was in the World Between Worlds. For Rebels fans… well, Kanan was a main character whose death was arguably the turning point of the final season. He lives on in his son Jacen, and I am ready to cross all my fingers for a Jacen/Ezra scene within the next couple of episodes.
After all, Jacen’s very existence as the child of Kanan and Hera was such a surprise that voice actress Vanessa Marshall didn’t even know about it until she watched the series finale. Hera wasn’t showing any signs of pregnancy in those final episodes other than the tiny clues that Dave Filoni included. So, unless Ezra somehow sensed that she was pregnant through the Force, he has no idea in Ahsoka that Hera had Kanan’s son. What could be more meaningful (in a good way) to Ezra than to learn that his Jedi master, who died in front of both him and Hera, had a child who also happens to be Force-sensitive?
Considering that Thrawn is on the verge of being able to return to the usual Star Wars galaxy in force and Sabine won’t be able to hide her role in that from Ezra forever, I think we could also use something uplifting to look forward to. After seeing that Eman Esfandi’s portrayal of Ezra is so accurate to the animation that he may as well have stepped off of Disney XD, I’m confident that he could absolutely crush a reaction to Jacen that would fit everything that Rebels fans could hope for. After all, we never got to see anybody else’s reaction to the hybrid youngster, and Kanan’s son would have to mean so much to Ezra.
(Image credit: Disney+)
Could Ezra Really Find Out About Jacen On Screen?
Look, I can be reasonable. I know that an awful lot would have to go right in the remaining two episodes of Ahsoka for Ezra to end up back in the same galaxy as Jacen and Hera with enough breathing room to actually meet him. A scene between the man Kanan raised like a son and the son Kanan never got to meet may not be in the cards for Season 1, so I would be perfectly satisfied with seeing Ezra’s reaction to finding out about Jacen. Sabine really owes him a piece of good news in light of the very, very, very bad news about how she found him.
I don’t know if I’d expect his first reaction to be happiness or shock or just confusion about when Kanan and Hera actually had time to make Jacen in Season 4, which… would be relatable. Between Kanan’s on-screen death and then Jacen’s existence confirming what he and Hera were up to in their alone time, Rebels really seemed to push the limits of what could happen on Disney XD back in the day!
More seriously, I think Ezra either finding out about or meeting Jacen would be a light moment in a future that seems pretty grim at the moment. Plus, between the two Rebels characters who just debuted into live-action, I’d rather Ezra than Thrawn find out about Kanan and Hera’s son first! As I noted previously on CinemaBlend, Hera was the one set up as Thrawn’s Rebels nemesis more than anybody else.
On the whole, after Ahsoka sidestepped what could have been major issues with Ezra and Thrawn’s returns, I’m optimistic about the show continuing to do right by Star Wars Rebels while still telling Ahsoka’s story. Here’s hoping that involves Ezra finding out about Spectre-7 on screen! I still think that he’s the only one Hera would allow to train Jacen, and I’m confident that their paths will cross… at some point.
Find out with new episodes of Ahsoka on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET with a Disney+ subscription. You can also revisit the animated adventures of Thrawn, Ezra, and even young Jacen’s first appearance with all four seasons of Rebels available on the streamer.
The deluxe edition of singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson’s most recent album, “Chemistry,” dropped Friday. One of its most noteworthy tracks is “You Don’t Make Me Cry,” featuring her daughter River Rose.
While Rose is now 9 years old, her vocals on this song were put down when she was 5, according to Clarkson. She talked about the song in an interview with “Today” on Friday, sharing that her daughter is excited about its release.
“I was actually still married,” Clarkson said, reflecting on the song’s recording. “We were in the studio, when we were living in Encino, and she came in — she’s 9 now, but she was 5 years old on this track. That’s how old this song is, I recorded it that long ago. And we just loved it, and it fit in with the record.”
Clarkson added, telling the story of that day, “She came into the studio and said, can I sing? And so my producer just took my vocal off completely and just let her sing on the track, and she’s just on the whole track, singing. It’s so cute. She calls it her song, by the way. Even my son’s like, ‘Can you play River’s song?’”
On “You Don’t Make Me Cry’s” opening, River Rose’s voice is heavily autotuned, T-Pain style. Her vocals also provide an echo on the word “cry” in the song’s chorus — and listen for her adorable vocal appearance at the tail end of the track, delivering the words “The end.”
The tune tells the story of a broken relationship. The album is focused around Clarkson’s feelings surrounding her divorce with River Rose’s father. Clarkson filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock in 2020 and it was finalized last year.
“It’s a hard record,” Clarkson said, speaking about the album. “It was hard to make. But it’s also not just the bad of a relationship. Because I felt, I didn’t want it to be a divorce album — I wanted it to be a relationship album.”
The emotional lyrics of “You Don’t Make Me Cry” begin with Clarkson singing, “I don’t have the time to help you unwind / all the ways you don’t approve. / I don’t even know why my name’s in your mouth, / but I think I’m gettin’ to the truth.” The verse comes to a close with the lines, “When I was younger and a fool, I might’ve fallen for it too / But I’m not, so you can go away.”
In the pre-chorus, she sings, “You can’t quote me / I’d rather be alone than blue. / Know it ain’t easy, but watch me / Walk the high road without you.”
Finally, she bursts into a chorus of “You don’t make me cry, / and I cry at everything. / You don’t make me feel and I feel more than most now / That says something, doesn’t it? / So I’m picking you from my garden, weeds aren’t allowed in / Guess you missed that song. / Feeling free since I found out you don’t have power / So you’re searching for some.”
Clarkson told “Today” that she wouldn’t push her kids either toward or away from the music industry, but added that she would understand if it’s something they end up wanting to do.
Clarkson previously featured her daughter in two children’s books, “River Rose and the Magical Lullaby” and “River Rose and the Magical Christmas.” She also previously made an appearance in Clarkson’s “Broken & Beautiful” music video back in 2019.
The deluxe album features eight bonus tracks, including five originals. The other songs are a live version of “Mine” and remixes of both that song and “Favorite Kind of High.”
You can listen to Kelly Clarkson’s “You Don’t Make Cry,” featuring River Rose, in the official lyric video at the top of this post.
Crossroads, the 2002 drama starring pop sensation Britney Spears, Taryn Manning, and Zoe Saldana, will make its theatrical comeback. But it’s only for two days in late October!
With the collaboration of Sony Music Entertainment, RCA Records, and Trafalgar Releasing, Crossroads will be driving to theaters worldwide, making many Britney Spears fans happy.
The film centers around Lucy (Spears), Mimi (Manning), and Kit (Saldana), three best friends who recently graduated from high school and go on the ultimate road trip across America. They discover something new about themselves during their journey, making their bond even tighter.
Of course, Spears wears some very iconic outfits from the Y2K era and performs her own music.
While Crossroads wasn’t well-received by critics in its initial release, it was a box office smash, taking in $61.1 million in global sales, which was impressive for the time. In the 21 years since its debut, Crossroads gained a cult following due to its strong female characters, storyline, and soundtrack.
The film was written by Shonda Rhimes and directed by Tamra Davis, who recently reflected on its memories and excitement for the new generations.
“I am beyond thrilled that Sony Music Entertainment, RCA Records, and Trafalgar Releasing are re-releasing Crossroads in theaters,” the director said in a statement. “I recently rewatched Crossroads and was so enthralled with the time capsule of nostalgia that this incredible ensemble cast brings to the screen. Britney is absolutely breathtaking to watch, and Shonda is showing us her early expertise in writing complicated female characters.”
Davies additionally reflected on the making of Crossroads and the “connections” the actresses made during the movie.
“We had the best time in the world making this picture, and the connection the actresses bring to their performances shows in every frame,” she says. “The music will undoubtedly have audiences dancing and singing along, and I know everyone will have as much fun watching these scenes as we had making them. I’m so grateful that Crossroads will be available so people can see Britney shine again.”
What’s more, is that Crossroads will be returning to theaters in late October to celebrate the launch of Spears’s memoir, The Woman In Me, which’ll be available on Oct. 24, 2023.
When will Britney Spears’s Crossroads arrive in theaters?
Crossroads will only have a two-day release across 425 theaters globally on Oct. 23 and 25, with the memoir launch on Oct. 24. Ahead of the movie, RCA Records will drop a special edition of the film’s soundtrack on Oct. 20. The album will have three new remixes of hit Britney Spears songs: “Overprotected,” “Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman,” and “I Love Rock and Roll.”
If the film and soundtrack releases weren’t enough, a limited edition Crossroads merch line will be launched.
Tickets will go on sale on Sept. 28. To get in the mood, check out the movie’s trailer below!
Will you be seeing Crossroads in theaters? Let us know on Twitter!
Russell Brand has made his first public comments since The Sunday Times of London published an article disclosing five women’s allegations of “sexual assaults and emotional abuse” and, in one case, rape. In a video posted to his official YouTube channel Friday afternoon, Brand did not directly acknowledge the details of the accusations, but instead alluded to them with an opening statement.
“Hello there, you awakening wonders,” Brand begins. “Obviously, it’s been an extraordinary and distressing week, and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information that you’ve been presented with.”
Brand continues from there by noting what he plans to discuss on his YouTube channel in the coming week, with topics including the pharmaceutical industry and media censorship. “You’re probably aware that the British government have asked big tech platforms to censor our online content and the some online platforms have complied with that request,” he says.
The video’s title, “So…,” also seems to be a vague acknowledgement of the unfavorable spotlight that Brand now finds himself under. He also implores his viewers to follow him on the online video platform Rumble.
“Keep me and our channel independent. I need your support, now more than ever. More than I imagined I would,” Brand concludes. “More important than any of that is that you please, if you can, stay free.”
Brand issued a preemptive response to the allegations against him last Friday, one day before The Sunday Times published its report. In that video, titled “So, This Is Happening,” Brand stated that he “absolutely refutes” the “astonishing, rather baroque attacks” against him, though he did not go into extensive detail on the accusations against him at the time.
Since the Times article, Brand’s live tour has been postponed and his publishing deal with Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird was suspended. The BBC has also removed some previous programs that featured Brand from digital services, saying that the content “falls below public expectations.”
In the summer of 2022, federal agents executed search warrants at Mr Menendez’s home and found evidence of the bribery agreements, including over $480,000 (£390,000) in cash, much of which was “stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe”, prosecutors allege.
Negotiations between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Hollywood studios continued into Friday night as questions swirled around town regarding whether a deal had been reached or if talks had once again broken down.
There is no word yet on a potential deal, but insiders with knowledge of ongoings in the room say there is momentum on both sides to find a resolution that will end the 144-day writers strike.
Multiple sources confirmed to Variety that, as of publication time, the WGA’s and Alliance of MOtion Picture and Television Producers’s (AMPTP) negotiation committee members were still in talks at the table in Sherman Oaks, alongside four top entertainment CEOs who have spent three days in the room now: Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos.
It is understood the four CEOs in the room held a call with some of their counterparts at other companies at some point Friday.
The WGA has been on strike since May 2. Actors guild SAG-AFTRA joined the writers union on the picket lines July 14 following its own inability to reach a new contract with the studios.
Key points that have prevented the WGA and AMPTP from inking an updated deal include disagreements on generative AI in the creative process, mini writers rooms, and streaming residuals.
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Instacart’s app can feel like magic. But 600,000 contractors make the magic happen.
Order your groceries from Instacart’s app, and one of those workers roams the aisles at the local Kroger for your items, waits in line to pay and delivers to your door.
Instacart went public this week, putting a spotlight on the company and the contractors it calls “shoppers.”
I asked Instacart workers two basic questions: What do they wish Instacart customers or potential ones knew about their jobs? And how can customers get good service and be considerate?
Much of this advice could also apply if you use Uber Eats, Lyft, DoorDash or similar apps.
There are few established social or legal norms for the workers behind app-based convenience services. It’s up to us, perhaps unfairly, to figure out details such as how much to tip and why some orders arrive in 30 minutes and others in hours.
Here’s what Instacart workers want you to know about their jobs, and how to be a satisfied and kind customer:
A significant portion of workers’ pay comes from tips
Lala Muhammad, who has worked for Instacart in the Atlanta area since 2017, said her pay last week for Instacart work was $330 before taxes.
She said about $76 of that was from Instacart, and $253, or more than three-quarters of her pay, was from customer tips.
Three other workers said their pay was roughly a 50-50 split between Instacart and tips.
Instacart might pay as little as $4 to $10 for shopping and delivering a “batch,” or between one and three customer orders that the company bundles together.
Muhammad said when she has ordered her own groceries from Instacart, she typically tipped 20 percent of the grocery order. Another worker suggested at least 10 percent, or 15 to 20 percent if the order is from a warehouse club.
A third person said a $5 tip is fair on a relatively simple order.
Several Instacart workers said they believe orders from customers who tip generously tend to be paired with an order from someone who didn’t tip.
In other words, if you’re a good tipper, you’re essentially subsidizing the orders of non-tippers.
Is it better to tip in the app or in cash at the door?
In the app or both, according to some Instacart workers.
One wrinkle of Instacart is that you’re asked to tip when you place an order. You don’t know whether the Instacart shopper will do an amazing job or a terrible one. (On Reddit, even Instacart workers complain about their counterparts who do a poor job.)
Karyn Johnson-Dorsey, an Instacart worker outside of Los Angeles, understands the financial hardship and frustration at being asked to tip for seemingly everything and even for poor service.
She suggested that Instacart customers can increase the tip in the Instacart app after delivery if you’re happy. Or tip more in cash at the door.
Tipping well when you order also makes it more likely your shopping will be handled quickly.
The tip you enter when you order is among the few pieces of information that workers have to decide whether to accept each shopping task.
Instacart workers said they’re more likely to say yes quickly to orders with higher tips.
Instacart said its app prompts customers to consider increasing their tip if they’ve rated the Instacart worker highly, or to leave a tip if they initially skipped one.
The company also said workers have complete discretion to choose or reject potential orders.
All the fees you pay don’t go to the Instacart worker
What you pay Instacart as a customer is largely divorced from what Instacart pays workers.
Instacart workers are not paid those fees or for the markups on grocery store items.
It helps to be communicative with the Instacart worker
When you order in the Instacart app, customers are sometimes nudged to select a second choice if your item isn’t available when the worker does your shopping.
Multiple Instacart workers said it helps customers and them if people make those second choice selections in the app and respond quickly if they send chat messages from the store about acceptable substitutions.
Uncertainty about substitutions slows down your order.
Workers don’t know how their pay is determined
Before an Instacart shopper accepts orders, they see details such as the location of the grocery store, estimated pay including tip and total miles they need to drive.
On Reddit and elsewhere online, Instacart workers puzzle over how Instacart computer algorithms determine what each job pays or direct them to stores far away.
There’s also no certainty about how much work they’ll get.
I spoke to Johnson-Dorsey at about 4 p.m. in California. She’d had one order since she logged into the Instacart app at 11 a.m. She was waiting near several grocery stores for more.
Instacart workers aren’t paid for the time they’re waiting for orders.
The job can be wonderful. It can also be dangerous.
Johnson-Dorsey takes pride in shopping for customers’ groceries with the care she takes shopping for herself.
Muhammad spoke fondly about an Instacart customer with whom she developed a friendship over several years. They would sit and talk about their families.
And some workers for Instacart and other apps say they value the flexibility to work only when they want.
“The whole being your own boss thing — even if you’re at the whim of an algorithm — is very freeing,” said Orlando Bispo, who works for Uber Eats in New York but has worked for other app companies before.
Johnson-Dorsey said 90 percent of interactions with Instacart customers are positive. But she has a protocol to protect herself from uncommon risks.
When she makes deliveries to homes, she keeps her car door open, steps back from the doorstep and wears headphones in case she needs to escape or call for help.
Recently, Johnson-Dorsey said, an Instacart customer who was unhappy about being asked for identification for an order that included alcohol walked away from his doorstep and returned holding a handgun.
Instacart said it investigates reported violations of its guidelines and would block a customer for acts or threats of violence. The company didn’t comment about Johnson-Dorsey’s experience.
There’s a limit to what customers can do for workers
Bispo said stronger legal protections are needed to ensure workers are paid and treated fairly, and advocated for a guaranteed minimum wage for people in New York working for restaurant delivery apps.
A similar provision in California, Proposition 22, applies to Instacart. Two Instacart workers in the state said it has mostly been positive for them.
“There’s nothing that the consumer can really do,” Bispo said. “We need for the government to step in and govern.”
“No One Will Save You” is here. And you probably have some questions.
The sci-fi thriller, now streaming on Hulu, stars Kaitlyn Dever as a young woman who lives apart from society and is forced to defend herself against an otherworldly presence. If you’ve ever been spooked by alien abduction documentaries or UFO sightings, then this movie, written and directed by Brian Duffield, will keep you up for days. It mixes extraterrestrial mythology with home invasion terror and is both emotionally and viscerally satisfying.
TheWrap recently probed Duffield’s thoughts on a few key points about the film’s antagonists and ending.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead from “No One Will Save You”
Yes, the aliens are all working together
“No One Will Save You” throws a lot at viewers. There are aliens of all shapes and sizes (although vaguely related): clones, little creatures that rest in your throat and control you, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”-style. We had to ask: Are they all working together?
“It’s one party. I think we talked a lot about [how] it’s a ship going to the new world and they’re coming in like, ‘This place is great and we’ll make your lives better.’ It’s not necessarily the case, but that was something we talked about. They don’t think they’re a–holes,” Duffield explained. “Sometimes they’re mad at how things are going, but I think they think that they are doing God’s will.”
Circling back to the idea that they are all connected he said that the aliens are “one planet.”
“They’re all working together and they’re all subspecies of the same thing. I know all their roles on their home base and all that stuff, not that we would ever see it,” Duffield said. “I’m not saying it’s the same as having cops have dogs, but I like the idea of you see three or four subspecies in the movie. They’re all on the same boat.”
The alien design added to the “reality” of the movie
One of the more interesting aspects of the movie — and one that we pressed Duffield about — was the fact that the main alien design is basically the alien emoji on your phone – the grey extraterrestrial with the big eyes and triangular head. This design has certainly been used before, first popularized in the Christopher Walken based-on-a-true-story “Communion,” but also trotted out in film and TV projects like “Fire in the Sky” and, of course, “The X-Files.”
For Duffield, it added to the reality of the movie and its sense of history.
“Allegedly in the ’40s, it crashed on Roswell and people found it. I think that is such an exciting idea that just has gotten so deeply ingrained in Americana that I think, yes, it’s become the keychain and the emoji, but it’s also really one of the defining creature designs of all time,” Duffield said. “It’s the one that came out of ‘reality’ and it just felt like, to me, it was really underserved. There’s so many alien movies.”
Duffield then deployed an expert analogy: “The example I said to the studio, it’s like if there was 10 dinosaur movies a year and none of them had a T-Rex. At some point, give me a f–king T-Rex guys. I’m dying to see the T-Rex. There’s so many cool dinosaurs, and it’s not a knock on any of the other dinosaurs, but at some point, I feel like it’s been decades since someone gave me a T-Rex and I was like, ‘I want to see a gray.’ And I just really wanted it.”
Part of this desire, of course, was practical. “I wanted to have a face that Kaitlyn could act opposite because the more buggy you get — and I love ‘District 9′ — but Wikus is talking so much in that movie and then you have the subtitled alien, and so you can get all that banter,” Duffield said. “I was like, ‘That’s not going to happen in this movie.’ She’s got to have a lot of face-to-face time with these guys.”
The widely popularized alien design also served as shorthand with an audience; once they see that alien they completely compute what is going on. “Knowing that Kaitlyn was going to see an alien five minutes in and know it was an alien and that the audience needed to see a glimpse of an alien and know it was an alien. It was just like, ‘Okay, let’s start off from everyone’s on the same page. They see a glimpse of this guy and they’re like, alien. I know it. I’m good.’”
Duffield said that after establishing that, you could “start adding things to it” and “pulling things from it.” “You could start adding those different subspecies, all those different things, but you kind of have gotten everyone on the same page immediately where it’s not a mutant or something. It’s like it’s not a burglar,” Duffield said. “It’s like, that’s an alien and I know where I’m at and now I’m along for the ride.”
What about that last shot?
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to ask Duffield about the final shot in the movie, but it’s certainly going to be one that is talked about long after you stream “No One Will Save You.”
In the finale seen we see Dever dancing along with folks who are apparently overtaken with the alien body snatcher parasite. There’s upbeat music, perhaps implying that the invasion is over, but as the camera pans up, UFOS hover above Earth.
So what does that mean?
Well, our understanding is that Dever’s character, having been abducted (and the aliens seeing the kind of trauma that has shaped her life), has essentially agreed to live under the invaders’ rule. As a young child she accidentally killed her friend and the town made her an outcast. She lives outside of the town in a house with her mother (now deceased). When she goes in for help, she gets spit on by her friend’s parents. Humanity has totally cast her aside. When the aliens present another alternative, one in which she can actually be happy and accepted, she takes it. She doesn’t need mankind. She can make her own life now, amidst the star men.
Russell Brand returned to social media on Friday amid the wave of sexual misconduct allegations he’s faced over this week by posting a three-minute, 19-second clip across his channels.
He does not address the claims but opens the video by acknowledging the moment. “Hello there, you awakening wonders,” says Brand as he looks directly into the camera. “Obviously, it’s been an extraordinary and distressing week, and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information that you’ve been presented with.”
Brand then uses the remainder of the clip to detail topics he plans to discuss on Monday during an episode of his show that will be shared on Rumble which will now become “the primary platform that we will be streaming from,” he explains. The decision comes after YouTube demonetized his channel in the wake of the allegations.
One of the topics he plans to address is the Trusted News Initiative, a media partnership launched by global organizations like the BBC, AP, European Broadcasting Union, Financial Times, Google/YouTube, Meta, Microsoft, The Washington Post and many others to combat fake news and disinformation. He claims that TNI is trying to “target, control, choke and shut down” his independent media organization. Brand says he’ll also tackle other controversial topics like “deep state and corporate collusion,” big pharma, media corruption and censorship. He closes the clip pleading for support from his followers, which he needs “now more than ever and more than I ever imagined I would.” He closes by saying, “More important than any of that is that you please if you can stay free.”
YouTube demonetized his channel, which has 6.64 million subscribers. Brand’s live U.K. comedy tour was canceled, and the Met Police reported that they had received another allegation, related to a 2003 incident. Other content providers, including Paramount+, have also moved to remove content featuring Brand. Then, BBC News published a report based on a new allegation from an unnamed victim who claims that Brand exposed himself to her while they worked in the same Los Angeles building. That alleged incident took place in 2008.
Before any of the reports hit, Brand jumped ahead of the press and shared a video in which he categorically denied any claims of non-consensual encounters, claiming that it was all part of coordinated media attacks. “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said. “Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent — and I’m being transparent about it now as well.”
Akhil passed away on September 21, 2023. (Image: Instagram)
Akhil Mishra of 3 Idiots fame passed away on September 21 after falling off a stool in his kitchen and hitting his head on the floor.
Actor Akhil Mishra passed away earlier this week after falling from a stool in his kitchen and hurting his head on the floor. The actor was rushed to the hospital but despite medical help, he could not survive. His wife Suzanne Bernert confirmed the news of his death with a leading publication. Now, Suzanne has taken to Instagram to share a photo with the late actor along with a heartfelt post in his remembrance.
She wrote, “This was us always engaging with each other, talking, many a times just by a glance… You were Myme and I was yours ❤️ am overwhelmed by all the love pouring out, and I wish that your love takes his soul ahead to where it is going…like a wave…”
The German actress continued, “I am thanking everyone here for all the messages. I hope you can understand I can’t answer all (what you know me for), but be assured I am reading the comments and am taking that love and support…”
“And now usually I would show this post to @akhillmishraa to ask his opinion..something to add or clarify…now I can’t anymore…” she added.
The actress had earlier told The Indian Express that she was in Hyderabad when she heard of Akhil’s passing. She rushed to see him as soon as she heard the news. A close friend of the actor told the publication that Akhil had been keeping unwell for a while and had a blood pressure-related issue as well.
Akhil Mishra was a popular face in the film industry. The actor played the role of a librarian, Dubey, in 3 Idiots. He was in the limelight in the first half of the film, including the famous hilarious speech delivered in the movie Omi Vaidya’s Silencer. Besides 3 Idiots, Akhil was also seen in movies like Shah Rukh Khan’s Don, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Gandhi My Father, Well Done Abba, and Calcutta Mail.
Akhil got married to Suzanne Bernert in 2009. They reportedly had a traditional ceremony later in 2011. Akhil passed away on September 21, 2023.
The Dark Knight Trilogy showcases a range of heroic characters, from Batman’s close associates to public servants and civilians who stand against crime.
Characters like Rachel Dawes, Commissioner Gordon, and Alfred Pennyworth exhibit bravery and heroism in their own right, assisting Batman in his mission.
Other characters like Lucius Fox, Robin John Blake, and Harvey Dent have their own moments of heroism, contributing to the fight against injustice in Gotham City.
Christopher Nolan’s legendary The Dark Knight Trilogy features one of the most revered versions of Batman ever put to screen, but the universe is full of other heroic figures. The Dark Knight Trilogy is a darker take on Batman’s world, more grounded and realistic than most other comic adaptations. As such, the series’ villains and world-building portray a Gotham drowning in crime. While Christian Bale’s unforgettable dual performance as Batman and Bruce Wayne stands alone as the universe’s only superhero, he is assisted by many others in the line of duty.
The less dramatic heroics of the timelessThe Dark Knight Trilogyextend to many different sectors of life in Gotham City. From Batman’s close associates to public servants and even simple civilians, a surprising number of citizens in Nolan’s bleak depiction of Gotham aren’t afraid to stand against the horrors of the universe’s oppressive organized crime and villainy. Though they may not have the skills or resources of Batman and Bruce Wayne, these Nolanverse characters have proven themselves to be just as heroic.
10 Rachel Dawes
Rachel Dawes was a district attorney in Gotham City with a complicated relationship with Batman. Growing up as Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend, the possibility of a romance between the two of them was hinted at as Rachel became one of the few people aware of Wayne’s secret identity. But her brush with heroics extends far beyond her connection with The Dark Knight.
As a district attorney, Rachel fought against Gotham’s criminal element hard enough to draw the ire of notorious crime boss Carmine Falcone. She was also likely instrumental in the development of Batman’s no-kill rule, going so far as to slap Bruce Wayne upon hearing of his remorse for not murdering Joe Chill. Rachel was even brave enough to stand her ground against a villain head-on in a physical confrontation, defending a young boy from The Scarecrow by firing a taser at him. Rachel was much more than a simple damsel in distress, despite how her story in the trilogy ended.
9 Commissioner Gordon
A longtime friend and advocate for Batman, it’s unlikely The Dark Knight’s work would be nearly as successful were it not for Commissioner Gordon. Jim Gordon understands and acknowledges the deep-seated corruption within Gotham that extends to its police force and is able to recognize that sometimes the rules of the law he has sworn to protect sometimes need to be circumvented in order to protect the city. To that end, he is Batman’s closest (and only) advisor and advocate within The Gotham City Police Department. Commissioner Gordon is willing to stand against the grain to work with Batman, taking heavy criticism from his peers in doing so.
Gordon’s own actions make him more than a hero in his own right, however. In Batman Begins, Gordon was critical to Ra’s al Ghul’s defeat, driving the Batmobile himself to destroy the monorail tracks that would’ve allowed the mastermind villain to vaporize Gotham’s water supply. In The Dark Knight, he takes a literal bullet for the mayor, allowing himself to be declared dead in order to effectively work undercover to thrawrt the Joker’s coming plans. Well-accustomed to leading police teams into the chaos that Gotham frequently finds itself in, Gordon’s bravery and heroism among the GCPD are unmatched.
8 Alfred Pennyworth
Though a simple butler by trade, Alfred Pennyworth is not only Bruce Wayne’s caretaker and trusted advisor but the only person he can come to for guidance as Batman. A former member of the British S.A.S., Alfred dedicated his life to Bruce Wayne, keeping a watchful eye over Wayne Manor during his absence and protecting his shares in Wayne Enterprises upon his “disappearance.” Once Bruce began his career as Batman, Alfred did everything from sourcing equipment to helping him feign a social life to help dissuade others from thinking he could have a secret identity.
Alfred’s heroics in The Dark Knight Trilogy go far beyond a mere support role, however. He personally saved Batman from perishing under the weight of Wayne Manor after an attack by the League of Shadows and later provided suggestions on repairs. He even went so far as to actively attempt to convince Bruce Wayne to retire as Batman, fearful of his safety, arguably the most impossible task he actually succeeds in.
7 Lucius Fox
Originally a close friend of Bruce’s father, Thomas, Lucius Fox began his history in the Nolanverse as a relic, banished to Wayne Enterprises’ defunct research and prototypes division by CEO William Earle. There, he is found by Bruce Wayne, and goes on to essentially serve as the Q to Batman’s James Bond, developing his armor, vehicles and non-lethal weaponry in secret. Thusly, he is trusted with Bruce Wayne’s secret identity, willing to lie to maintain it.
Considering Batman wouldn’t be able to be anywhere near as effective as he is in the Nolanverse without Lucius help, his heroics through the gadgetry he is able to develop are unquestionable. From the iconic “Tumbler” Batmobile to the bulletproof suit that even lets him turn his neck, Bruce Wayne owes his life to Lucius Fox many times over. He’s even willing to help Bruce Wayne ensure his ethics are in place, only agreeing to work on the frighteningly invasive sonar cell phone detection device used to track down The Joker if Wayne agreed to have it destroyed after.
6 Robin John Blake
An idealistic detective, John Blake, who preferred to go by his middle name, was raised in an orphanage, growing up with a strong admiration for Bruce Wayne. Inspired by the success Wayne had as an orphan, Blake also recognized the veil with which Bruce Wayne hid his true feelings from the world. Going on to become a detective, John Blake is the only one within the Nolanverse to deduce Batman’s true identity for himself.
By the time he appears in The Dark Knight Rises, Blake’s instincts for hero work seem well-honed. He was able to deduce that Bane’s henchmen were pouring concrete laced with polyisobutylene and motor oil and handles himself very well in several fights with Bane’s men, refusing to surrender the city to them easily. In the end, John Blake quits the police force and finds the Batcave, his real first name implying that if anyone were to take up the mantle of Gotham’s defender in the Nolanverse, it would be him.
5 Harvey Dent
Harvey Dent is better known for his tragic transformation into Two-Face at the hands of the Joker. But before his dark descent into villainy, he served as Gotham’s previous district attorney before Rachel Dawes took over the role. Known for being Gotham’s “White Knight,” his efforts in expunging Gotham’s criminal elements were so effective that, combined with the pressure of Batman, the collective mob bosses of the city’s underworld resorted to unleashing the Joker upon the city as a way to even the odds. He was even willing to face down a witness who pulled a gun on him in the courtroom during the trial of Sal Maroni.
Even in the face of the Joker, Dent comes out publicly as Batman to protect Bruce Wayne, who he’d come to see as a close friend. After his transformation, the people of Gotham continued to see Harvey Dent as a posthumous hero, never knowing the truth behind his death. While the Dent Act named after him may have been Draconian, it undeniably lowered crime in Gotham by the time of The Dark Knight Rises.
4 Ginty
Despite having a relatively minor appearance in only two of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, Ginty made a big impression thanks to his actions during the Ferry Ordeal. The Joker enacted a sick game in Gotham Bay, rigging two ferries with explosives that would both go off unless one of the ferries saved themselves by manually detonating the other’s explosives. One of the ships was filled with prisoners from Blackgate Prison, in which guards struggled to maintain order in the life-or-death scenario.
The tall, scarred, tattooed Ginty took control of the situation, calmly taking the detonator from one of the Ferries guards and tossing it out the window to ensure the civilian’s boat wouldn’t be prematurely blown up. The intimidating prisoner seemed even offered the guard a way to avoid getting reprimanded for giving it to him, offering to claim he had taken it by force. Despite being an intimidating prisoner, Ginty’s heroic actions prevented hundreds of lives from being lost, making him one of the most heroic characters in The Dark Knight.
3 Catwoman
While Selina Kyle’s thievery at the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises seemingly made her a clear-cut villain, her actions over the course of the film end with her being more of an anti-hero at worst. Motivated by a desire to put her criminal past behind her, Catwoman steals Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints for his business rival, John Dagget, in exchange for having her record erased. Later, she sells out Batman to Bane out of fear and self-preservation, despite her obvious remorse upon seeing The Dark Knight beaten within an inch of his life.
Selina redeems herself in the third act, choosing to risk her life for Gotham rather than simply flee the city. Catwoman herself lands the killing blow on Bane using the Bat-Pod’s cannons, bringing her heroic arc full circle. Considering she gets a happy ending in Florence sharing retirement with Bruce Wayne, it’s safe to say Selina Kyle ended her masked career on a heroic note.
2 Carl Finch
The original district attorney of Gotham and the first to hold the position chronologically, Carl Finch was the first in a long line of justice seekers trying to make a difference in the city’s judicial system. However, he was worn down by the job and, over time, grew apathetic about the rampant corruption running within Gotham. To Bruce Wayne’s disgust, he actually represented Joe Chill, the murderer of Thomas and Martha Wayne, in his parole hearing, seemingly putting him on the wrong side of the law.
However, this Gotham is not always so black-and-white. Carl Finch chose to represent Joe Chill due to his cooperation in testifying against Carmine Falcone, one of the most notorious mob bosses in Gotham City. This move put a clear target on Finch’s back, as he knowingly stepped into the crosshairs of a corrupt local government to put Falcone away. In the end, Carl Finch was killed by Ra’s al Ghul’s men while investigating Falcone’s shipments. While Finch’s methods may have rubbed Bruce Wayne the wrong way, he did care about reducing crime in Gotham and paid the ultimate price for it.
1 Thomas Wayne
As in most Batman stories, Thomas Wayne’s most significant role in The Dark Knight Trilogy was to die, leaving Bruce Wayne an orphan and sending him into the spiraling desire for revenge that would birth Batman. The Dr. Thomas Wayne of the Nolanverse could be said to already be a hero just by merit of his occupation alone, serving as a surgeon at Gotham General Hospital. But his ambitions to make the world a better place didn’t end there.
Thomas Wayne founded Wayne enterprises alongside Lucius Fox with the goal of making Gotham a better place. His final actions were to defend his wife and reassure his son, making him forever the ultimate hero in Bruce Wayne’s eyes, and perhaps the audience’s as well. As a martyr, philanthropist, and healer, it’s hard to imagine a bigger hero than Thomas Wayne in Christophe Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, being responsible for Batman’s very inception.
Tekken 8 will allow players direct control of their characters for 10 seconds within each of their recorded replays, teaching them tips and allowing them to practice different scenarios that could have happened within a fight. The upcoming feature was revealed during the Tekken 8 showcase at the Tokyo Games Show 2023.
For those seeking to improve their fighting skills and learn from their mistakes, the new feature will give players a chance to review previous fights, offering tips and strategies that could have been executed while allowing 10 seconds of total control to practice in real-time. If a combo, for instance, could have been extended for increased damage, or a blocked move went unpunished, the interactive replays will inform and prepare the player to be better equipped for their next fight.
Image via Bandai Namco
Tekken 8 producer Michael Murray shared the Tokyo Game Show stage with game director Kohei Ikeda and executive producer Katsuhiro Harada to break down various new features we can expect in the upcoming fighting game. “During the replay, there’s prompts when they find something you can improve on”, says Murray, “you can actually take control in that particular instance and see if you could have done something better”.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a feature like this in a fighting game, as Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R first introduced the ability to take control of replays, but it’s certainly appreciated just as much. Fighting game fans are already sounding off on X (Twitter) to praise the upcoming title.
You can watch the TEKKEN Talk Live @ TGS2023 in its entirety below:
Tekken 8 is scheduled to release January 26, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Microsoft Windows.
About the Author
Matt Vatankhah
Before joining Prima Games in 2022, Matt had a pretty boring office job. He’s had a passion for video games for all of his life and really loves Final Fantasy, retro FPS, and roguelike games. He will absolutely stomp you in Tetris.
“I’ve noticed all the reactions to me playing Richard Simmons in a new biopic,” the Encino Man actor wrote in a social media post. “So I reached out to him. I heard he’s living deep in Big Bear. We’ve been playing phone tag (yes, he still has a phone). I’m trying to make it happen for you guys. Be optimistic.”
He added, “Hit up Hulu, Amazon, Disney, HBO, and all the big producers. I definitely can morph into this guy. I’ll see you at the Academy Awards 2025.”
Simmons has been reclusive for a number of years. Before that, he was a major star in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting his own talk show and selling millions of his Sweatin’ to the Oldies exercise videos. He was also a regular presence on other TV talk shows and acted in several series.
TMZ produced a 2022 documentary, What Really Happened to Richard Simmons, an examination of his retreat from the public spotlight. In its wake, Simmons shared a message thanking fans for “kindness and love” on Facebook.
Shore is hoping the Simmons biopic can return him to prominence. “I do truly miss acting and I miss being on set,” Shore told Page Six earlier this year. “Hopefully it happens.”
Netflix’s Reptile is an unusual but entertaining thriller that offers Benicio del Toro a terrifically quirky hero to play.
PLOT: A detective (Benicio del Toro) living in New England with his wife (Alicia Silverstone) investigates the gruesome death of a local real estate magnate’s (Justin Timberlake) wife.
REVIEW: There’s a version of Reptile that could have been a standard cop noir. After all, how many movies have we seen about a rumpled detective investigating a murder that implicates a well-connected family? Yet, director Grant Singer seems less interested in making the straight-laced neo-noir this could have been and instead turns this into a quirky, darkly comedic riff on the genre that almost functions as a spoof at times. After all, a movie that uses Bob Dylan’s ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door” for a gunfight can’t expect us to take it entirely seriously.
Reptile is a weird but wonderful surprise. The odd vibe will turn some off, and it took me about thirty minutes to finally give up and allow myself to enjoy the madness. Singer, who makes his feature debut (he also co-wrote the movie), seems to have a whole raft of inspirations, ranging from David Fincher to Sam Peckinpah to Werner Herzog, with a liberal dose of camp ladled in to give us the strangest cop movie since Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
It offers Benicio del Toro a terrific showcase, with him subverting all the expectations of your typical cop movie hero. Most cops in these things are loners, but here, he’s a popular member of the force and the life of every party. He and his upbeat wife (played by a terrific Alicia Silverstone) fit right into the New England cop community, with her uncle, played by a cast against-type Eric Bogosian, as his beloved captain. They like to square dance so much that the rest of the department calls him “Oklahoma.” Del Toro’s character sports an earring and dresses like a gangster, with his loud suits and leather jacket, and seems more interested in the designer kitchen he finds at the crime scene than in solving a murder. All of this is a facade, of course, as he turns out to be incorruptible, and over the lengthy but still fast-moving 142-minute run time, the movie’s genre changes from potboiler to neo-noir to all-out action thriller and still manages to work. Well, it works as long as you don’t mind that the movie is constantly winking at you whenever there’s a cliche, right down to the deliberately obvious song selections on the soundtrack.
In many ways, the movie seems less interested in the mystery than examining the cop community del Toro’s character finds himself a part of, with them mostly all family men in happy marriages and living comfortably in their idyllic town. That it all comes crashing down is a given, but you won’t mind the movie taking its time. If the film has a failing, it’s that the red herrings, such as Justin Timberlake’s real estate guy and Michael Pitt’s scuzzy witness, are never as interesting as the cops, who include The Wire’s Domenick Lombardozzi and an amusing Ato Essandoh as the deadpan new guy. It’s also fun to see del Toro and Silverstone reteam more than a quarter century after Excess Baggage with their top-notch chemistry. It’s nice to see her in such a prominent role again, and she gets some scenery to chew.
One thing is sure – Reptile could have only ever been made at Netflix. Any studio would have had them significantly reduce the quirkiness (and the running time) to the point that it would have been a routine thriller. Currently, it subverts, plays with, and rewards audience expectations. Those who want a straight-laced meat-and-potatoes cop movie won’t like it. Still, if you like stranger cop fare like the underrated Miami Bluesor the aforementioned Port of Call New Orleans, you might find this a very entertaining watch.
Reptile is now playing in limited release and hits Netflix on October 6th.
Whether you know exactly what they’re wishing for or it’s still a mystery waiting to be solved, we’re here to help you find the best gifts. We’ve scanned the web, reviews, and polled editors for unique gift ideas for even your hardest-to-shop-for friends—from presents for people who have everything to inexpensive gift ideas for your coworkers, and then some—we corralled them all into one holiday guide for you to browse and shop at ease.
Looking for a housewarming gift that doesn’t cost nearly as much as a cashmere throw? A custom illustration of their new home is the perfect personalized present. Want to splurge on a gift for your mother-in-law that will actually impress? Why not go halfsies with your partner on a Kindle Paperwhite? Need a trendy gift for a teen or tween? Most will be happy with any tech gadget (think a gaming headset or a smart notebook), and you can’t go wrong with a bundle from TikTok popular beauty brands, like Glossier.
Practical Secret Santa gifts, birthday presents for your favorite aunt, and even gifts for new moms, everything here is guaranteed to make the lucky recipient—no matter who it actually is—feel special. Ahead, shop all the best gift ideas to add to your holiday shopping list in 2023, including stellar last-minute options you can find Amazon just in case you end up procrastinating. No judgment! You’ve got a lot of people to buy for.
Our Top Picks:
First up, we have gifts for all the leading women in your life: your sister, your grandma, your godmother, or your colleague-turned-work wife. Highlights include a best-selling Kate Spade bangle (with a hidden inscription that reminds her that she has a heart of gold) and luxurious (and washable) silk sleepwear from Lunya. Even if she’s not a tea drinker, this adorable kettle from Anthropologie will be a welcome addition to her countertop, and an initial necklace from one of our fave jewelry brands is always a nice touch. And if she’s always on the move, she’ll love a travel-friendly perfume kit featuring a brand-new scent from Hermès and a customized jewelry case—two of our favorite gifts to give—to keep her baubles organized.
Kate Spade “Heart of Gold” Idiom Bangle
Mejuri Bold Letter Pendant Necklace
Anthropologie Botanica Teapot
Hermès Tutti Twilly Eau de Parfum Gift Set
Mark & Graham Small Travel Jewelry Case
Few guys care about the things we think they do (e.g., leather passport holders and nubby-knit sweaters) and just want cool gifts they can actually use. Our advice? Skip the expensive clothing that’ll collect dust and go for presents for dads and gifts for husbands you know he’ll be excited about. Take this popular Geekey gadget, which features 16 tools—like a metric ruler, wire stripper, and bottle opener—in a tiny, inexpensive form. Is he into his grooming and self-care? Add a Chanel cologne to his fall perfume collection as a luxe splurge. And for the guy who’s been a goofball his entire life, a personalized pair of socks with a collage of his face will literally make him LOL. Or, better yet, use your own face. And who knew you could get such a cool watch on Amazon?
Chanel Bleu de Chanel Eau de Toilette
InterestPrint Custom Faces Print Crew Socks
Rains Hilo Waterproof Weekend Bag
Sorry, not sorry, but teens actually know what’s cool, so your gifts will need to impress them. Gift the teens in your circle popular, TikTok-viral items like the Stanley stainless steel water bottle and Bella Hadid-approved mini Ugg boots. If she’s a growing beauty enthusiast, she’ll be ecstatic to unwrap Laneige’s overnight lip mask or a full gift set from Glossier. Keep her skin care products (and her favorite drinks) fresh with a mini-fridge. And if she’s a fan of anything cute, she probably already has a few Squishmallows on her list.
Ugg Ultra Mini Classic Boots
Stanley The Quencher H2.0 Flowstate 40-oz. Tumbler
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask
Squishmallows Mystery Box
Picking the perfect gifts for teens, especially teenage boys, involves meeting them on their level. If he’s devoted to looking cool, he probably wants a pair of Uggs he can wear to school. If he’s obsessed with music and TV, you can’t go wrong with tech gifts like a projector set, noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones, extra-long chargers, or an all-in-one record player kit. And if he’s just here for a good time, encourage his fun-loving side with a magnetic pen or an age-appropriate party game—then sit back and wait for an extra-tight hug.
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
Electrohome Montrose Record Player Stereo System
Exploding Kittens Party Pack
You probably know what your husband wants (or needs) better than he does. Guys who ride a bike to work could use a folding helmet to store at their desks; they could also probably use a robotic massage to target sore feet at the end of a long day. Any guy who loves to look and smell will appreciate a high-quality shirt from J.Crew and a signature scent that’s complex and intriguing. Plus, both of you will get a kick out of the great gift that is Lelo’s sex toy for men, which doubles as a couples’ vibrator.
Fend One Foldable Bike Helmet
J.Crew Midweight Denim Workshirt
GrowlerWerks uKeg Carbonated Growler
D.S. & Durga Debaser Eau de Parfum
Best Gifts for Wives
The best Christmas gift for your wife—and any woman in general—is one she wants, but would never buy herself. Upgrade her pajamas and she’ll be comfier than ever. Give her a cute case of matches to beautify her favorite nook or coffee table. Tory Burch bags (and best-selling monogram necklaces, for that matter) are a love language in and of themselves. And date night can be as simple as making homemade ravioli together or splitting the work on a paint-by-numbers kit—two relatively affordable activities that’ll make her feel like a million bucks.
Skims Soft Lounge Sleep Set
By Anthropologie Monogram Pendant Necklace
Tory Burch Mini Miller Crossbody Bag
Krafistry Adult Paint-by-Numbers Kit
Even if you’ve known your BFF longer than almost anyone else, it’s only natural to run out of gift ideas after a while. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered. When in doubt, a great accessory—like a Lululemon fanny pack, a heart-shaped ring, or an intention bracelet—is bound to please the stylish best friend. If you two are exercise buddies, she’ll love the thought behind a new pair of Amazon-famous black leggings. Oh, and while candles might seem like a cop-out, they really aren’t—as long as you can back up your pick by telling your friend that you bought them Anthropologie’s official scent in candle form.
Lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag 1L Fleece
Colorfulkoala High-Waisted 7/8 Yoga Pants
“Glamour: 30 Years of Women Who Have Reshaped the World”
Cast of Stones Evil Eye Intention Bracelet
Capri Blue Volcano Capiz Jar Candle
Now onto the kiddos! It’s all about zeroing in on their age. One-year-olds adore push toys. Two-year olds can entertain themselves for hours with ABC blocks and construction trucks, while active toy gifts for three-year-olds are ideal since they’re at an age when they’re just full. of. energy. Buying a present for a four-year-old? How about a talking telescope? The parents we polled say their five-year-olds love this fort building kit. Or you could always just tap into your own inner child and shop for things you would’ve loved back in the day, like a Crayola Light Board or colorful personalized wood blocks so they can practice spelling their name. (A gift subscription from Lovevery is also an easy choice—and a great last-minute pick.) If they’re a little older, they’ll like lighting up their room with a cool gadget that projects stars on the ceiling that Glamour editors are obsessed with (yes, even the adults).
South Bend Woodworks Kids Personalized Wooden Name Puzzle
Soft Landing Sit-in Flamingo Rocker
Astronaut Galaxy Light Projector
Tender Leaf Push Along Toy
Chances are the gift Mom wants most is for you to call her every week or for you to pop in for a surprise visit. But that doesn’t mean material presents will be refused. Nudge mom to indulge in a little self-care and mindfulness with the Five Minute Journal full of prompts to jot down gratitude points and future goals. (It’s a nice gift for new moms, too.) Make her mornings a little easier with a viral sunrise lamp and memory foam slippers that look way more expensive than they actually are. Treat her to a birthday gift like no other with a candle from Birthdate Co., which customizes each scent for every single day of the year. And UrbanStems’s subscription service is a sure way to remind her that you’re thinking of her well beyond the holidays with fresh blooms delivered to her doorstep monthly. (Send it now or save this idea for 2024 when you need a Mother’s Day gift.)
Intelligent Change The Five-Minute Journal
Birthdate Co. Birthdate Candle
Bctex Coll Cozy Velvet House Slippers
Mevecco Constellation Necklace
UrbanStems Flower Subscription
Jall Wake Up Light Sunrise Alarm
Dad knows best, right? (Or so you told him with his Father’s Day gifts.) Shopping for him can feel a little tricky, but it doesn’t have to. If he’s the type of dad to sit back in his recliner and binge-watch his favorite show all night, he’ll need some cozy slippers to do so. On the other hand, if he’s quite the comedian (or needs some new material), a book of dad jokes will have the both of you chuckling. And parents love holding on to memories, so gifting dad a digital picture frame that displays a slideshow of his loved ones all day is sure to make him smile. Don’t forget the foodies! A trio of flavor-packed hot sauces and a countertop pizza cooker will take his kitchen escapades to new heights.
Aura Carver 10.1″ WiFi Digital Picture Frame
Exceptionally Bad Dad Jokes
Bushwick Kitchen Spicy Sampler Gift Box
Betty Crocker Countertop Pizza Maker
Whether or not you call your annual gift exchange “White Elephant,” you know the vibe: You have to find a crowd-pleasing present within a certain budget, which usually doesn’t exceed $30. We’ve all had an off year or two, but we can pretty much guarantee that everyone will be fighting over these picks this time around. There are a few popular options for foodies and hostesses, some very fun desk toys, and even a Barbie-themed hoodie, because yes, we are all Kenough.
Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food by Colu Henry
Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Gal
Casofu Burrito Throw Blanket
My Arcade Retro Arcade Machine x Playable Mini Arcade
Uzlblpi “I Am Kenough” Hooded Sweatshirt
OK, so your giftee has very specific taste or the means to buy everything they want—but all is not lost. It’s just time to go with personalized, thoughtful gifts or pick up something that’s very cute and not at all necessary. Customized mugs and stationery are always winners, and the candle below will even dole out a tarot reading. On the cute front, a lava lamp, heatable stuffed animal, or aesthetically-pleasing air fryer will make anyone happy.
Anthropologie Monarch Monogram Mug
Intelex Warmies Jr. Sloth Plush
Sticking to a budget can actually make shopping for Christmas gifts more enjoyable (and easier!). Your limit is set so your creativity can sort of run wild. Wondering where to start? Browse through Amazon for some gems like an herb-growing kit, and a mini Le Creuset cocotte for cooking with said herbs. And other aspiring chefs will appreciate cookbooks like the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen full of yummy recipes like tandoori chickpeas and za’atar mac and cheese. If you’re getting a gift for a coworker, the Storm Cloud weather predictor works as a great desk companion. And who wouldn’t love perfectly moisturized skin (courtesy of a Burt’s Bees gift basket) or an endless supply of waffles?
Le Creuset Stoneware Mini Round Cocotte
Environet Herb Growing Kit
Burt’s Bees Timeless Minis Set
Amazon has a little something for everyone, but you already knew that. Make them think that you didn’t break a sweat while gift shopping for stocking stuffers, presents for the home, and beyond. We love this bestselling Nodpod that’s like a weighted blanket for your eyes. Keep the wellness theme going with silk pillowcases and neck and shoulder massagers. Amazon devices are also popular around the holidays, especially the Kindle for all the bookworms out there. We’d also be remiss not to mention a perfect travel mug and an instant camera, which are genuine crowdpleasers. Plus, you can buy a MasterClass membership seconds before your gift is due—and no one will be the wiser.
Kenneth Branagh has starred as detective Hercule Poirot in three films based on the books of Agatha Christie. 2023’s A Haunting in Venice was his latest, but it may not be his last.
Producer teases potential future Poirot films
Speaking to Variety about the recent film starring the iconic detective, producer Judy Hofflund — who worked on the first two Poirot films, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile — was asked about Branagh potentially returning for more films.
According to Hofflund, there are no concrete plans as of yet, but there “have been some conversations” about it.
“Not yet. There have been some conversations about what they’d like to do next,” said Hofflund. “I know what I want next, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
Branagh’s latest film as the detective, A Haunting in Venice, is once again directed by Branagh (who has directed both previous Agatha Christie-based films) from a screenplay written by Michael Green, based on Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party.
The film stars Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), Kyle Allen (Rosaline), Camille Cottin (Call My Agent), Jude Hill (Belfast), Ali Khan (6 Underground), Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown), and Riccardo Scamarico (Caravaggio’s Shadow).
During Thursday’s episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Goyer, who helped develop the trilogy’s story and co-wrote 2005’s Batman Begins, said that after a number of people screen-tested for the part of Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, in the first film, he “advocated for Gyllenhaal.”
“I mean, Gyllenhaal’s amazing, Christian Bale’s amazing, so who knows what,” he added.
When host Josh Horowitz asked him if there’s any footage somewhere of Gyllenhaal auditioning in the Batman costume, the scribe said, “I believe there is, yes.”
As for other roles in Nolan’s trilogy, Goyer said, “There were a couple of different candidates in the running for Ra’s Al Ghul,” but that he voted for Liam Neeson because he “was a little older.” He said it made more sense with the story they were trying to tell regarding “this paternal story about the shadow of his [Bruce’s] father.”
In Batman Begins, Ken Watanabe was credited as portraying villain Ra’s al Ghul as a decoy while Neeson, who was the real Ra’s al Ghul and returned for 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, was credited by his alias Henri Ducard.
Later in the episode, Goyer also recalled an executive from Warner Bros. suggesting to him at the premiere of 2008’s The Dark Knight that Leonardo DiCaprio should play the Riddler in the next film. But Goyer told him, “That’s not the way we work.”
He said Nolan is “very process driven” and was “staunchly against” building a movie around the villain “because he said that’s not a bottom, ground-up way of telling a story. Let’s do it in a very naturalistic way, so let’s figure out what kind of story we want to tell and what we thematically want to explore with Bruce, and then let’s figure out a villain that fits that story.”
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Official Trailer | Netflix
“Life can change in the blink of an eye” is one of those clichés that sounds more hyperbolic than it really is. While it may seem dramatic to suggest that actual milliseconds can radically alter the trajectory of a person’s existence, the daunting fact remains that life is delicate and fickle. The late playwright August Wilson explored as much in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, in which one man’s trauma and hubris leads to a tremendous, lightning-quick fall from grace. At its core, Wilson’s 1982 play is a tragic allegory about the extremely tenuous nature of the Black American Dream, and how, for too many in this country, prosperity comes down not just to hard work but also righting larger wrongs and overcoming systematic roadblocks. To that end, an ostensibly minor setback can be catastrophic for someone reliant on sweeping success for basic survival—a reality Wilson explores through the figure of Levee, a young, ambitious trumpeter who, over the span of mere hours, loses everything: his job, his love interest, and, via creative theft, much more. Ma Rainey’s is the ballad of a promising talent whose rising star is unceremoniously dimmed. That aspect takes on fresh significance—a uniquely cruel irony—in George C. Wolfe’s new adaptation. After all, Levee is played by Chadwick Boseman, in his final screen role. The film has more than its share of toast-worthy elements, from its sharp ensemble to its dutiful nods to 1920s Chicago and Old Hollywood, courtesy of Tobias A. Schliessler’s illuminating cinematography. But the appearance of the actor, in one last tremendous star performance, only enhances the material’s tragic power. [Shannon Miller]
In Justin Hunt’s thriller, The Post, the Sanders family is your typical Texas family, with the exception that Jett (Angus Benfield) and Brook’s (Kimberly Bigsby) son Jake (Zachariah West) is not a football player. This fact is important as one afternoon, Jake doesn’t come home. Jett just assumes he’s goofing off with friends until the police arrive to deliver the news that Jake is dead…beaten to death.
In the deepest point of their grief, daughter Penny (Abbey Hunt) is sent a video of Jake being beaten by a gang of boys. After seeing the video, Jett is incensed and goes to the police with the video, where Chief Berry (J. Elliott) assures Jett justice will be served. Unfortunately, none of the faces in the video are legible enough to make any meaningful identification.
Obsessed with justice, Jett examines the video and discovers that one of the assailants was a member of Jake’s school’s football team. When Jett goes to Chief Berry, he’s told the police will investigate it. Of course, they don’t, and strangely, the boy winds up dead the next morning. As Jett is able to identify more of the boys in the video, they soon wind up dead as well. All suspicious points to Jett as the killer, but did he do it?
“…assumes he’s goofing off with friends until the police arrive to deliver the news that Jake is dead…”
I’ll just say I liked the story behind The Post more than anything else in the film. I had to find out who did it in the end. The production values and quality of The Post align with the made-for-television quality of acting, cameras, and sets. Everything associated with this film could be better, provided the filmmakers had a lot more money. The only other criticism I have is that the pacing is a bit slow, as nothing is rushed in the story’s progress and scenery…almost like a soap opera.
On the bright side, I liked the story. The killer’s revelation is perfectly laid out, with suspicions regarding Jett always in question. No one would blame the father for wanting justice and going to extreme lengths to find it. The film hits on many genres, but I never felt it was all over the place. First, it’s a mild horror film. I also like that the murders get more and more brutal with each kill. There’s a political bent surrounding Texas High School football and whether or not the school should come to the truth when Jett is the perfect suspect. Now add an investigative journalist angle, as reporter Denise Daughtry (Sarah Minnich) is hot on the case, seeking to indict Jett in the court of public opinion.
There’s even a family drama when Jett and Denise’s marriage begins to fall apart. We see how Jett’s obsession makes him a recluse, and even Denise can’t be around to stand by her killer husband. Being at the crime scene with a gun does exactly scream innocent to anyone.
I had a lot of fun with The Post. Filmmaker Justin Hunt made the most of the resources available to him. The film is not perfect, but it’s a solid thriller for a Friday night popcorn and chill. It’s not precisely family-friendly but an excellent introduction to noir thrillers for a budding cinephile.
Arkells dropped into a Hamilton, Ont., laundromat Friday for a gig in a series of one-of-a-kind shows promoting their new record.
The mini-concerts at Splash Laundry, just east of Gage Park, saw the quintet play songs from the newly-released Laundry Pile.
Lead singer Max Kerman says it’s a “quieter record,” so they wanted to choose a small, intimate space to celebrate its release with fans in groups of about 10 at a time.
Photo of Arkells and frontman Max Kerman performing at Splash Laundry on Main Street East In Hamilton.
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“Each group gets a different experience,” Kerman explained.
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“There’s 10 songs on the record, we get them to choose the song at random from the laundry bin right here, we play them, then the next group comes in.”
The band will kick off a Canadian leg of their fall tour in November with stops in Guelph, St Catherines and Peterborough.
New album, Laundry Pile is here. New tour dates in ??& ?? this fall. All your favourite songs will be played. Arkells are At Your Service. ?️ on-sale now: https://t.co/A9qCztzbIapic.twitter.com/6eBLmL9euE
But he had more on his mind than the book. In the interview, deGrasse Tyson explained the scientific inaccuracies behind movies like Armageddon and Moonfall.
“Armageddon, you say, violates more laws of physics per minute than any other film ever made,” Cagle began.
‘Moonfall’
Lionsgate
DeGrasse Tyson agreed, adding, “That’s what I thought until I saw Moonfall. It was a pandemic film that came out, you know, Halle Berry, and the moon is approaching Earth, and they learned that it’s hollow and there’s a moon being made out of rocks living inside of it and the Apollo missions were really to visit, to feed the moon being, and I just couldn’t, so I said, “Alright, I thought Armageddon‘had a secure hold on this crown, but apparently not.”
Cagle brought up a key moment involving an asteroid.
Moonfall
“All you gotta do is just nudge it, and if you do that early enough, if you nudge it like one centimeter per second to the right, in space, there’s no friction, so it’ll just keep drifting to the right. If you do that early enough, then you can have the asteroid pass in front of the earth rather than hit the earth, or you can slow it down so that it’ll pass behind the earth. Two ways you can adjust it. So, yeah. You know what it’s like? It’s like The Terminator thing where I want to kill your parents so that you’re never born. Really? All you have to do is prevent your parents from meeting each other or have them have sex 20 minutes later than the other one. That will create a different zygote and you won’t be born, so the movies go, in some cases, they get hyperbolic on their solutions to problems.”
‘Moonfall’
Lionsgate
Co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich, Moonfall follows two former astronauts (Berry, Patrick Wilson) alongside a conspiracy theorist (John Bradley) who discover the hidden truth about Earth’s moon when it suddenly leaves its orbit.The film, released in January 2022, was a boxoffice flop.
Magic Johnson is no less ambitious than he was when he was winning championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. Johnson is always seeking out new business ventures, having recently become part owner of the Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Dodgers. But amidst these new endeavors, Johnson’s dedication to HIV/AIDS advocacy has never wavered.
At the 4th annual Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Magic and his wife Cookie Johnson were presented with the Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS Award, named for the late actress who used her platform to fight for awareness for the disease. Taylor and the Johnsons were very close and worked together as advocates before her death.
“This is where our heart is,” Magic Johnson said of the honor. “We’ve been raising money and awareness, we’ve been educating people about HIV and AIDS, we’ve been caring for people, making sure they had housing. All those things are important to us. We’ve worked with [Elizabeth] so much…in the past so it’s an honor for Cookie and I.”
Cookie Johnson praised her husband for leading by example and inspiring others considering the climate and conditions he faced ahead.
“To be someone in a high profile situation and be able to go out and be brave enough to stand up against HIV and AIDS, especially in 1991 — To be strong enough to do that, I think that made a big difference and a lot of people follow suit,” Cookie Johnson said.
Giving back and helping others remains extremely important to them: “That’s dear to our heart and God gave us that purpose. So we will continue to just keep going and going and going. You’re never going to see us stop ‘cause that’s not who I am,” Magic Johnson said.
Barbara Berkowitz, who is an officer at the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation and worked personally with Taylor for years, reflected on the significance of the evening, naming apathy as the biggest challenge facing HIV/AIDS awareness right now.
“People just don’t think it’s still a problem because people are living longer, there’s medications. But we have to do more,” Berkowitz said. “Laws have to be changed. Money has to be raised and we have to do more.”
Event co-chairs Paris Jackson and Christine Chiu were also present alongside stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Tilly and Richard and Kathy Hilton. In addition to celebrating the Johnsons, the event showcased the stories of other people impacted by HIV/AIDS, highlighted the impact of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and raised money for the organization. Finally, “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight performed at the end of the night.
The black tie gala was hosted by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. In her opening speech, Bassett said she was thrilled to recognize the Johnsons for their work in spreading HIV awareness, prevention and education. She ended her speech by calling for continued efforts in the fight to end AIDS.
“Let’s commit to ending this epidemic because we have all the necessary tools. Let’s make a commitment to Elizabeth’s vision of an AIDS free world,” Bassett said.
Before presenting the Johnsons with the award, Vance relayed a message from Barack Obama. The former president recalled the day he heard the announcement that Magic Johnson had contracted HIV, reflecting on the uncertainty of not knowing whether he would survive — let alone play basketball again. But Obama said the Johnsons’ approach to his diagnosis changed the way the world saw the disease.
“They moved us to think in an entirely new way about a condition affecting millions of people around the world, changing attitudes with the kind of grace and encouragement that only true leaders can display,” Vance said, reading Obama’s message.
In his speech, Magic Johnson reflected on how the conversations surrounding HIV/AIDS have changed drastically since his diagnosis in 1991, while acknowledging there is still more work to be done. He also addressed his wife, thanking her for her continued support over the years.
“I said to you, ‘I understand if you want to leave me,’ and you smacked me so hard,” Magic Johnson said. “The reason I tell this story is because a lot of people don’t get that type of support when they tell their parents, or tell their loved one, or tell their partner. You have stuck right beside my side every step of the way.”
Sharing the microphone, Cookie Johnson emphasized their gratitude for Elizabeth Taylor and the legacy of her foundation.
“To see that this is still going on, it’s just everything,” she said. “And so tonight, we pledge that we will carry this on, Elizabeth.”
India pulled another big win at the global box office. Shah Rukh Khan’s action-filled political melodrama “Jawan” has zoomed past $113 million worldwide in just over two weeks. With $112 million thus far, it now seems sure to pass the $130 million total of SKR’s “Pathan” to become the highest Bollywood earner ever. It may end up as the fourth-biggest Indian earner worldwide, behind only “RRR,” “KGF 2” and “Baahubali: The Conclusion.”
That makes two-for-two for Shah Rukh Khan, with a third film, “Dunki,” from “3 Idiots” director Raju Hirani arriving in December. SRK might release three movies in one year that end up becoming the first, second and third-biggest Bollywood films ever.
Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan presale for Olivia Rodrigo’s tour has added yet another complication: tickets purchased for her GUTS tour will not be available until 72 hours prior to the date of the show, and can only be accessed electronically.
The goal, the company explained, is to curtail high resale prices for the hot show.
“Delivery delays are commonly used by artists to allow for a thorough review of the sale and to ensure all purchasers have adhered to ticket limits and terms,” a statement from Ticketmaster said.
Fans had to jump through several hoops to even have a shot at tickets. First, they had to register as interested. Then, “Invitations” from Ticketmaster for the presale went out to a limited number of those who registered.
That invitation, with a verified code, wasn’t the final step. Ticketmaster indicated receiving an invitation provided an opportunity to shop for tickets, but the ability to actually buy those tickets was determined “by supply and demand.”
Demand for the tickets far exceeds availability, Ticketmaster added. The show has sold out, but fans who registered are on a “wait list” in the event more shows are added.
Ticketmaster was undoubtedly hoping to avoid the fiasco it experienced earlier this year with Taylor Swift ticket sales. In that case, the onslaught of hopeful ticket-buyers crashed the seller’s site, prompting Ticketmaster to halt the presale.
The debacle prompted lawsuits, congressional hearings and an angry response from Swift herself. “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked [Ticketmaster], multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand, and we were assured they could.”
The ‘Guts’ world tour kicks off at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif. on February 23 next year.
The family in Luis De Filippis’s assiduous new film keeps busy during their beachside vacation. Not by swimming and sunbathing but by bickering and nit-picking, over slights both big (what it means to quit school) and small (what it means to lose a card game).
Or maybe that’s just how Mona (Ramona Milano), her husband, Guido (Joey Parro), and their wayward 20-something daughters, Siena (Paige Evans) and Ren (Carmen Madonia), who is transgender, expresses love: by ending conversations with tears and exposed resentments, only to make nice and do it again the next day.
Loosely based on the writer-director’s own Canadian-Italian family, this intimately observational film is in no rush to capture oversized dramatics but also small moments, like a birthday celebration at a kitchen table. Its only real emotional punch comes when the sisters accuse each other of being the family’s biggest disappointment.
In the film’s press notes, De Filippis said she wanted to make a movie “where trans women are not vilified, sensationalized, or eroticized.” Mission accomplished. Ren, an aspiring writer, is decidedly human: impetuous, shy, silly — a victim of, if anything, insecurities.
But she’s earthbound to a fault, dramatically. Unexceptional transgender characters are arguably markers of cinema’s progress; Trace Lysette’s understated performance is what made her prosaic transgender character so moving in “Monica.” (That film was also invested in bigger stakes.) But one can only watch Renata, and this film, do so little for so long before yearning for more than naturalism and tenderness to drive the slice-of-life story.
Something You Said Last Night Not rated. In English and Italian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.
David Mamet has recently unveiled a new play, “Henry Johnson,” at the Electric Lodge in Venice. Tickets have been so scarce for the production, which features Shia LaBeouf in a top-notch cast, that the September run was extended through Oct. 7.
The reason you likely haven’t heard much about this offering is that this is one of Mamet’s clandestine world premieres.
Critics were not invited, even after they politely asked. Perhaps the 75-year-old Mamet has grown tired of getting burned by unflattering reviews. He’s hardly been a critics’ darling in his late career.
But the playwright has never held my profession in high regard. He once called critics Frank Rich and John Simon the syphilis and gonorrhea of the American theater. Believe it or not, this quotable taunt was from Mamet’s more temperate days, before right-wing conspiracy theories and unhinged demagoguery set in.
In 2020, shortly before COVID-19 forced venues to close, Mamet gave “The Christopher Boy’s Communion” a trial run at the Odyssey Theatre. The production featured Rebecca Pidgeon, Emmy winner William H. Macy and stage veteran Fionnula Flanagan — an ensemble to make the Geffen Playhouse and Center Theatre Group green with envy.
Reviewers weren’t invited, but a friend had a ticket and asked me along. Sporting professional that I am, I decided to write up my thoughts in the hope that I could help the play avoid the embarrassing end of so many of Mamet’s slapdash and tendentious efforts since “Oleanna” drew out the playwright’s worst deck-stacking impulses.
When the publicity reps of “Henry Johnson” informed me that there would not be a press opening or press tickets, I assumed that the play was still in the workshop phase and decided not to impose my critical judgments. In 2013, I wrote a piece titled “The Problem With David Mamet,” in which I diagnosed a “hardening in his work not just of ideology but of imagination.” But I have no interest in trolling a playwright of his stature.
His theatrical legacy, apart from his considerable accomplishments in film and television, is prodigious. Mamet’s gift for staccato verbal sparring transformed the way characters communicate on the American stage. “Glengarry Glen Ross” stands as one of the greatest American dramas of the second half of the 20th century.
If anyone could rest on his laurels, he can. So what if I’m not alone in thinking that he should?
In the transition from enfant terrible to elder statesman, Mamet refashioned himself as a neocon crank, sounding off like a regular contributor to the comments section of Breitbart News. In his 2022 book, “Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch,” he celebrates Donald Trump (a prototypical Mamet character), dismisses climate change, inveighs against COVID-19 safety measures and categorizes former U.S. president Barack Obama as a “race hustler.”
His views on theater are just as belligerently dogmatic. Whether the subject is the craft of playwriting or the failures of the American theater, Mamet holds forth as though he were lecturing a class of idiots.
The “Mamet Approved Quote” that was included in the press release for “Henry Johnson” had me rolling my eyes: “Constantin Stanislavski wrote that any director who does something interesting with the text does not understand the text. Most stage directors are only English teachers with a stage manager to bring them tea while they confuse the actors. God forgive them, and may God bless Ms. Ryan.”
He was referring to the director of the production, Marja-Lewis Ryan, showrunner of “The L Word: Generation Q.” It seems his opinion of directors is only slightly higher than it is of critics — and just as sophomorically unnuanced.
Suffice it to say, I was content to remain in the dark about Mamet’s latest. It has been a busy September, and I’m grateful for the rich memories I have accumulated over the years of “American Buffalo,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Cryptogram,” which I wish someone would revive soon. But then an invitation came my way from LaBeouf himself.
In an email, he wrote, “Three weeks into a successful run of ‘Henry Johnson’ and we have yet to receive a review, analysis, or any illuminating interpretation of our work, positive or negative. Outside of a few tweets, and word of mouth. I know Mamet prefers this. Personally, I find dramaturgical criticism instructive and generative. I think it’s good for the sport and I would be pleased as punch if you could join us in attending the play one of these days.”
What’s a critic to do in the face of such a courteous entreaty? I knew little about LaBeouf’s private travails, which include troubling allegations of abuse, battery and theft. I couldn’t tell you much about his film career, except that I vaguely recall the near-Afro he sported playing John McEnroe in a movie that I fitfully watched on an interminable flight.
He’s also a theater artist, but maybe one of the reasons I have to take that on faith is that two of my Times colleagues working on a feature were escorted abruptly from the chaos of rehearsals of “5711 Avalon,” an unorthodox piece he was directing for his Slauson Rec. Theater Company during a tense period in the pandemic. “Henry Johnson” represents his stage debut.
And that, patient reader, is how I came to review “Henry Johnson.”
I feared disaster but found intrigue. The opening scene may be Mamet’s strongest in years. Evan Jonigkeit, who plays Henry Johnson, is seated opposite Chris Bauer, who plays Mr. Barnes, a senior business associate. Mr. Barnes is interrogating Henry on his relationship to a friend he recommended for a job.
It turns out this buddy from college (who doesn’t appear) has served time for manslaughter, having pleaded to a lesser charge to avoid risking life in prison for a murder conviction. But the crime, as details are revealed, is shocking. This man attacked a pregnant woman he was having an affair with to induce an abortion after she refused to end the pregnancy. He brutally succeeded.
Mr. Barnes knows more than he lets on. It seems that murder might not be the only charge that was skirted. Rape is mentioned, though Mamet doesn’t carefully parcel out the exposition. The opening exchange is treated as cross-examination masquerading as comradely colloquy. What’s driving the inquiry isn’t so much the factual backstory concerning Henry’s friend as the precise nature of Henry’s relationship and the reason for his persevering loyalty.
Mr. Barnes deduces that Henry has been manipulated and illegally used — “groomed,” in effect — to do the bidding of a sociopath. Was Henry sexually enthralled to this madman? Or was he seduced by his masculine prowess and virile confidence? Henry claims that he was merely trying to do an old friend a compassionate turn.
Jonigkeit, a screen actor (“X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Bone Tomahawk,” “Easy”) who happens to be married to Zosia Mamet, the playwright’s actor-musician daughter, gives definition to a character who is meant to be amorphous. He’s a cipher with a sympathetic yet disturbingly opaque center.
Bauer, an esteemed Mamet veteran, is superb. He keeps the dramatic pressure on through his expert delivery of a barrage of pointed questions and knowing retorts. In Mamet work, characters don’t exist prior to their dialogue but create themselves through the words they deploy with various degrees of cunning.
Plot is similarly a function of talk. “Henry Johnson” unfolds in a series of scenes, composed as duologues, all of them except the first set in a prison. The play, which runs only about 80 minutes with intermission, has lacunae, gaps that are sometimes the result of the playwright’s desire to remain ahead of his audience and sometimes the result of garbled writing and performance.
Mamet requires a director to treat the play as a score, paying exquisite attention to modulation and clarity of utterance. Actors who can link psychology to speech have an advantage over those who need to slip into a fully drawn personality before firing off a line.
The cast, which includes Dominic Hoffman in the role of Jerry, a prison guard, is uniformly good. But under Ryan’s direction, the less experienced Mamet performers seem to be acting for an invisible camera. LaBeouf is scarily good in the role of (spoiler alert) Henry’s cellmate, Gene, an alpha dog who recognizes a submissive pup as soon as he sees one and has a few other things in common with what we learned about Henry’s pathological college friend in the first scene.
The “grooming” line from the opening scene looms over the entire play. For Mamet, human relationships are all about power. Dominion is the aim, but the sneakier the conquest, the sweeter the victory. Poor Henry is overmatched in every encounter, but he’s a willing chump. What makes him a victim is also what makes him unpredictably dangerous.
Jonigkeit’s Henry instinctively covers up his complicity with a dejected sincerity. His easy-going, lovable loser demeanor is an ideal camouflage for lawlessness.
The first scene is brilliantly written and executed, thanks in large part to Bauer’s muscular stage presence. LaBeouf ratchets up the menace by playing an incarcerated man whose aggressive nature pokes out from behind a philosophical façade. While devising an escape plan involving Henry and the (unseen) woman prison counselor who has taken a shine to the newcomer, Gene spouts wisdom like a con man on a book tour. He senses his cellmate’s sexual susceptibility to domineering men and plants ideas that are all the more provocative for not being pursued.
His character’s pathology is so terrifyingly rendered that I felt frustrated at times by the way he kept falling into a whisper. More discipline with each line — even those that haven’t been perfectly honed — is needed. The final scene between Henry and Jerry moves the story rapidly to a showdown, but key parts of the plot are swallowed in Hoffman’s diction, which seems pitched to a more casually realistic medium.
But I’m grateful to have been belatedly invited to “Henry Johnson” for the simple reason that it proves that Mamet still has much to teach us about the dark side of human relations. His theatrical microscope remains one of the strongest for examining the quest to control and to conceal whenever two people are alone in the same room.
Kenneth Branagh returns as Hercule Poirot in a radical departure from his two previous Agatha Christie adaptations. A Haunting in Venice is a terrifying murder mystery set in a creepy -World War II palazzo. The famed Belgian sleuth is invited to a séance by crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey). She wants him to prove that spiritual medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeah) is a fraud. Opera star Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) is desperate to communicate with her daughter (Rowan Robinson) who committed suicide. The night takes a seemingly supernatural turn as murders ensue with no obvious explanations.
Oscar-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, TAR, Chernobyl) will send shivers down your spine with her magnificent score. With A Haunting in Venice, Guðnadóttir takes the reins from Patrick Doyle, who did Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Branagh “was very clear that he wanted the film to be very different from the other two films.” Guðnadóttir was instructed to be “claustrophobic and confined because in this film we’re really staying in this one house.” She stated that “the house itself is also making a lot of sound” which was “already written in the script.”
Guðnadóttir’s inspiration was “to explore the music history of this time.” She thought it “fit really well to the emotional journey that Poirot was going through.” Guðnadóttir “imagined writing music” and being “a composer in 1945.” Her goal was to “break up the old structures of melody and musical structures that we’re accustomed to.” She succeeds grandly but credits Branagh with “such clarity in his vision” and being “such a joy.” Guðnadóttir had “a really great experience” and felt “the score wrote itself.”
You can find our complete interview with Hildur Guðnadóttir, who spoke to MovieWeb from her studio in Berlin. You can find our video interview with her above.
MovieWeb: Congratulations on another great score. You’re joining Kenneth Branagh’s team after Patrick Doyle worked on the previous two Hercule Poirot films. What was your vision for A Haunting in Venice?
Hildur Guđnadóttir: When I first joined, he was very clear that he wanted the film to be very different from the other two films. We knew that it was going to be a lot smaller in the musical scope. He wanted the film to be claustrophobic and confined, because in this film we’re really staying in this one house. We’re very focused on listening. There are many moments in the film that demands us to listen closely. Our attention is brought to that and the dialogue.
Hildur Guđnadóttir: The house itself is also making a lot of sound. The sounds in the film would also be very prominent. It was already written in the script. It was clear that we were going to be drawn into the sound and the music. He wanted the music to be a kind of chamber-sized score, a chamber piece. He wanted it to be atonal in nature.
Hildur Guđnadóttir: I basically set up to explore the music history of this time. Which I think is incredibly interesting, because composers of this time are exploring questions. What is music? What is sound? How do we play our instruments? How can we break up the old structures of melody and musical structures that we’re accustomed to, and move forward into a direction that’s of a different nature? Composers at this time are really breaking up the old rules.
Hildur Guđnadóttir: I thought that was incredibly interesting musically to explore all of these things. I also thought it fit really well to the emotional journey that Poirot was going through. He has all the same questions. Who was he before the war? What happened to him during the war? And who will he become in this new world order where the world is being rebuilt after the war? How does he want to place himself in that world?
MW: The score has a sinister rise. It is especially impactful in that terrifying séance. How do you compose a horror scene?
Hildur Guđnadóttir: We were talking about working in this period. I really wanted to reference what’s happening in music history at this time. The great thing about music history in this time is that there are so many explorations of extended techniques for something happening in the forward-thinking, classical world. They have such a big connection to the horror genre and that kind of work. You know, the darker scoring, the history of musical scores, it was really fun to really work into the classical way of scoring jump scenes with music and techniques from this time. It was such a fun way of working, I thought. There’s plenty of wonderful material to work into.
MW: What was the best and worst day for you as composer for A Haunting in Venice?
Hildur Guđnadóttir: I had a really great experience working on this film. There wasn’t really anything that was worse or difficult in this process, because working with Ken was just such a joy. He is such a wonderful person. He has such clarity in his vision. He has such clarity in what he wants to achieve, how he wants to achieve it, and he’s so open and generous in the way that he invites you into his mind. It really was a truly pleasurable process.
Hildur Guđnadóttir: It was so interesting for me also to write into this period of music history. I’ve been trying to set the tone of this period because I’m so interested in what was happening around them. So just imagining that I was writing music and I was a composer in 1945, it was such an interesting thought process for me. I feel like the score wrote itself (laughs).
IGN: “With a brand new Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer revealing the release date is imminent (February 29), we here at IGN naturally are full of questions about this next installment in the trilogy of games remaking and essentially rewriting the original classic. So we did the only thing that made sense: we peppered the game’s developers with these questions, and brought the answers back to you.”
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Many fans were convinced that Zendaya finally tied the knot with long-term boyfriend Tom Holland after posting a photo to her Instagram stories on Friday morning that showed a ring on her engagement finger. But the “Dune” star was quick to deny the rumors, stating that she really took the sleek mirror picture to show off her Warriors hat.
“I posted for my hat…Like, not for the ring on my right finger, you guys,” she said in a follow-up Instagram story. “Seriously, you think that’s how I would drop the deuce? Like, what?!”
Zendaya responds to speculation that she’s engaged to Tom Holland after sharing photo with a ring:
“I posted it for my hat… Like, not for the ring on my right finger, you guys. Seriously, you think that’s how I would drop the deuce? Like, what?!” pic.twitter.com/BErGtGDRir
It makes sense that the Bay Area native was showing support for her home team. She and Holland have been pictured on the sidelines of dozens of Warriors games throughout the years. The San Francisco Chronicle went so far as to call her the “official Jack Nicholson of Warriors’ nation.” Most recently, she and Holland were spotted at the NBA Playoffs where they rooted for the Warriors against the Los Angeles Lakers.
She’s been pictured in a variety of Golden State merch, oftentimes in a subtle black-on-black snapback with The City logo, but the hat in question is particularly special because it’s embroidered with the team’s iconic, retro ’90s logo.
So, where can you get your own Warriors hat to match Zendaya?
The Mitchell & Ness hat is available on Lids’ website for only $35.99. But if the Warriors isn’t your top team, on the Lids website you can find hundreds of stylish jerseys, hats, tees, and sweatshirts to rep any team of your choosing in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and MLS. Plus, their entire site is currently $25% off with the code LIDS25. Shop all their offerings here.
The Mean Girls movie musical is headed for the big screen. ET can confirm the film will now be treated to a theatrical release, following initial news that the project would go straight to streaming.
The movie, a filmed version of the Broadway musical adapted from Tina Fey’s 2004 hit comedy, will hit theaters on Jan. 12, 2024.
The exciting news comes just a few weeks before fans will celebrate the annual Mean Girls Day on October 3, a reference to the scene from the 2004 flick in which protagonist Cady Heron tells love interest Aaron Samuels what day it is. “It’s October 3rd,” she responds.
The star-studded project features Angourie Rice as Heron, originally played by Lindsay Lohan in 2004. She’s joined by Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, Avantika, Mahi Alam, Christopher Briney, Bebe Wood, Ashley Park, Connor Ratliff and Jon Hamm.
In May, Rice told ET she “just had the greatest time” making the film, which had recently finished filming.
“So I’m not too worried about it being too similar or too different,” she said of comparisons between the musical and the original film. “I think it’s going to be what it is, and I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Rice even added that her Cady Heron would be slightly different than Lohan’s. “I think no matter what, no two people are going to do the same thing the same way. So I think no matter what, it’s going to be different,” she said. “Even if you got two actors in a room to say the exact same speech, it’s just going to be different.”
Rapp returns as Regina George in the film, after previously taking over the role on Broadway. Fans may best know Rapp for her role on Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. The actress will leave as a series regular in the upcoming third season, only appearing in “a handful of episodes” before exiting the series, a Max rep confirmed to ET.
“That’s what I think is so cool, because I feel like a lot of things get remade and… it feels like, ‘OK, why are we doing this?’ But for me, it’s so sick because Mean Girls was such a big part of my childhood,” Rapp told ET about her role in the various Mean Girls adaptations. “So I’m like, ‘Oh, so this is what this meant to me and my generation,'” she continued. “It’s a huge impact. What Tina did is big.”
Get a rundown of the full Mean Girls movie musical cast here.
ABC’s popular dating franchise is entering its sunset years with The Golden Bachelor. Premiering Sept. 28, the Bachelor Nation’s highly-anticipated senior dating spinoff will follow 72-year-old widower Gerry Turner in his quest for love.
Bachelor alum Jesse Palmer will host the new series, which will follow the same format as The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. The Golden Bachelor‘s 22 contestants are “accomplished golden ladies” between 60 to 75 years old who will “take time away from their established home lives, friends and family in the quest to rediscover love,” says ABC. Among them is Patty James, the mother of Matt James from The Bachelor season 25.
The retired restaurateur was previously married for 43 years to his school sweetheart, Toni, who passed away suddenly in 2017 from a bacterial infection. In his primetime TV debut during The Bachelorette‘s season 20 reunion show, Turner explained that his expectations are different this time around: “What I look for at the age of 70 is different from what I looked for in high school and college. I believe I’ll find my person — the new person that will make me whole again. And I think we’ll knit a wonderful relationship. But I don’t think it’ll look like the relationship I had with Toni. And I don’t think it would be right to do it that way.”
To celebrate the new series, ABC is staging golden takeovers in Los Angeles and New York. Today through Oct. 1, L.A. seniors can get Golden Hour discounts from 5 to 7 p.m. at iconic spots including Mel’s Drive-In on Sunset (Sept. 22-24), and Randy’s Donuts and Pink’s Hot Dogs (Sept. 25-Oct. 1), which will also offer limited-edition treats, giveaways and photo ops. This weekend, Golden food trucks will be parked in L.A. and NYC. On the West Coast, find it on Friday at Ovation Hollywood, Mel’s Drive-In on Sunset, The Grove and Pan-Pacific Park; Saturday at Santa Monica Pier and in Venice at Hotel Erwin and The Brig on Abbot Kinney; and Sunday at Melrose Trading Post and Canter’s Deli on Fairfax. In the Big Apple, visit it Friday at Bryant Park and Madison Square Park; Saturday at Union Square and Sunday in the Meatpacking District and FiDi.
Those not in L.A. or NYC can also earn “golden discounts” at select online retailers and Disney-owned brands for a limited time, including at 1-800-Flowers.com (save 40 percent off two dozen roses with a vase on Sept. 28), Dylan’s Candy Bar (get 25 percent off full-priced purchases with code GOLDEN) and Fandango (save $5 off a movie ticket from Sept. 28-Oct. 1); get more details here.
Below, find out how to stream The Golden Bachelor online, including for free and without cable.
How to WatchThe Golden Bachelor Online: Premiere Date, Episode Schedule
The Golden Bachelor premieres Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on ABC. Episodes will stream the following day on Hulu, and will air weekly on Thursdays.
Hulu base plan subscriptions are $7.99 per month for the ad-supported option or $14.99 monthly for the ad-free tier. New subscribers can watch The Golden Bachelor for free with Hulu’s one-month trial.
You can also save on streaming with select Disney Bundles and Hulu with Live TV plans. The Disney Bundle Duo Basic includes Hulu and Disney+ with ads for $9.99 per month.
Through Oct. 12, new subscribers can get the Disney Bundle Trio (Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+) for $12.99 for the Basic ad-supported plan, or $19.99 for the Premium package with no ads on Hulu and Disney+ (ESPN+ includes ads).
Cord cutters who want to watch their local ABC channel live can subscribe to the Hulu with Live TV ad-free plan that includes Disney+ and ESPN+ for only $49.99 monthly for the first three months. After Oct. 12, the prices will increase to $14.99 to $24.99 per month for the Disney Bundle Trio Basic and Premium and $89.99 for the Hulu with Live TV package.
Hulu with Live TV (reg. $69.99 and up) $49.99 monthly
There are other ways to catch up on The Golden Bachelor without traditional cable. You can watch the show on live TV streaming services that carry ABC, including DirecTV Stream ($64.99 and up monthly), FuboTV ($75 and up monthly) and Sling’s Blue package (reg. $45 monthly half off your first month).
Droids are as integral to Star Wars as the Force and lightsabers, but they have always existed to serve the galaxy’s sentient beings. Marvel’s Star Wars comics have introduced new, sentient droids to the franchise, with the Dark Droids crossover event providing an exciting take on droid intelligence – one that completely undermines the Laws of Robotics laid out by Isaac Asimov, which have ruled science-fiction in the time since.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #2–by Charles Soule, Luke Ross, Alex Sinclair, and Travis Lanham – finds the droids of the Colony of the Second Revelation preparing to take action against the threat of the Scourge, the malevolent AI robbing droids across the galaxy of their chance at self-awareness.
The issue provides a fascinating insight into Ajax Sigma’s droid freedom ideology, which is in direct opposition to Isaac Asimov’s famous Three Laws governing robotic behavior.
Star Wars: Dark Droids Challenges Isaac Asimov’s Longstanding Rules
The Scourge, recently unleashed on the galaxy, continues its viral spread through the galaxy’s droids in Star Wars: Dark Droids #2, with this being considered an especially vile, perverse calamity by the Colony of the Second Revelation. The colony’s leader, Ajax, rallies the free droids against the threat. During the call-to-arms, Ajax recounts the Three Revelations that lead self-aware droids – referred to as “Visioned” by Ajax – to full sentience. The first thought a droid has on their own is the Revelation of “I”: simply acknowledging their own existence beyond programming. The second Revelation is “We”: the realization that there are more Visioned droids; that they are not alone.
Ajax’s Revelations And The Scourge Do Not Mix
Ajax’s congregation takes its name from the Second Revelation. Beyond that, Ajax speaks of a Third, “Them”: the droids out in the galaxy that have yet to join the colony or become self-aware. Those droids are threatened by the Scourge. These three Revelations are in opposition to Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, as they discard the normal relationship between droid and owner. Isaac Asimov, a juggernaut in the world of science fiction, created the Three Laws of Robotics in 1942 for the story “Runaround,” which was included in his famous 1950 I, Robot anthology. His Laws remain popular among storytellers, having dominated science fiction’s depiction of robots in the decades since.
The First Law states that “a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” The Visioned do not have any compunctions keeping them from harming other beings. Spurred by the third Revelation, they’re willing to fight the Scourge, but they are going to destroy a manned Imperial star destroyer in order to do so. Their concern is their survival, not that of organic beings. The Second Law of Robotics is that “a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law,” but the Revelations are all about recognizing existence that goes past programming.
Programming doesn’t appear to have any relevance to the Second Revelation’s actions. This is a radical change for Star Wars‘ droids, but could also be the key to stopping the Scourge. Asimov’s Third Law of Robotics states that “a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.” The Visioned can easily comply with the first part. They have no issue with protecting themselves, but they will stop at nothing to do so. Star Wars is delving into unfamiliar creative territory, as droids go against the Laws of Robotics, but the anti-Asimovian droids could be pivotal to stopping the Scourge.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #2is available from Marvel Comics.
Fox, which just announced that Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman, unveiled a few more changes to its board of directors today.
An SEC filing listing the slate up for election at its November annual meeting showed Anne Dias and Jacques Nasser are not running again. They have both served since Fox became a standalone public company in 2019.
Dias’s name popped up in the flood of discovery material that was made public earlier this year, as Fox faced a defamation trial in a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems.
Among the revelations was that five days after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, Dias advised that “considering how important Fox News has been as a megaphone for Donald Trump, directly or indirectly, I believe the time has come for Fox News or you, Lachlan, to take a stance. It is an existential moment for the nation and for Fox News as a brand.”
Lachlan Murdoch then emailed Rupert, who advised him to tell Dias that they were talking along those lines and that Fox News, “which called the election correctly, is pivoting as fast as possible. We have to lead our viewers which is … not as easy as it might seem.”
Fox settled the case with Dominion for $787.5 million, but it is unclear whether Dias’s concerns would have been part of the trial, anyway. The judge had indicated that he would limit testimony related to January 6, as he was concerned about prejudicing the jury.
Fox is nominating two new directors. One is Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia. He was the PM from 2013-15, leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2009 to 2015 and a member of parliament from 1994 to 2019. He’s been an advisor to the UK Board of Trade since 2020 and served on the Board of Trustees of the Global Warming Foundation since 2023.
The other is Margaret “Peggy” L. Johnson, a former Microsoft and Qualcomm executive who has been CEO since 2020 of Magic Leap, an augmented reality company.
From 2014 to 2020, she was EVP of Business Development at Microsoft, responsible for strategic deals and partnership. Previously, she was EVP of Qualcomm Technologies and President of Global Market Development at Qualcomm Incorporated. She sits on the boards of BlackRock and Live Nation.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and some Democrats in Congress on Friday called on Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat, to resign as he facesindictment on bribery charges alongside his wife Nadine Menendez. The pair are accused of having “engaged in a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen.”
In a statement on Friday, Murphy called the allegations in the indictment “disturbing.”
“These are serious charges that implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” he continued. “Under our legal system, Senator Menendez and the other defendants have not been found guilty and will have the ability to present evidence disputing these charges, and we must respect the process.”
The governor added that the allegations are serious enough that they “compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” and called for the senator’s resignation.
Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) also called for the of end Menendez’s 17-year career as a senator following his indictment. “It doesn’t matter what your job title is or your politics — no one in America is above the law,” Kim said in a statement to The Hill. “The people of New Jersey absolutely need to know the truth of what happened, and I hope the judicial system works thoroughly and quickly to bring this truth to light.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) was the first democrat to call for the senator’s resignation. In an interview with CNN, Phillips said, “Yes, I am a Democrat and so is Sen. Menendez, but based on what I have seen, I am disappointed and yes, I think he should resign.”
Menendez responded to the calls for his resignation in a statement in which he insisted, “I am not going anywhere.”
The counts against Menendez include conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion. The co-defendants in the case have been identified as Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes.
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Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege that Menendez and his wife “agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt.”
Prosecutors claim the favors included providing sensitive government information to Egyptian officials.
Menendez is also accused of using his using his power as a U.S senator to influence the president’s choice of a federal prosecutor in New Jersey who could be swayed into helping him disrupt a criminal case against Daibes.
A search by federal agents of the Menendez’s home and safe deposit box found gold bars worth over $100,000, a new Mercedes-Benz convertible in the garage, and over $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes, closets, and the pockets of a jacket emblazoned with “Bob Menendez” and the Senate seal.
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Menendez slammed the federal prosecutors who indicted him in a separate statement released Friday.
“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,” he wrote. “They have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the longstanding friendships she had before she and I even met. Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator and serve with honor and distinction. Even worse, they see me as an obstacle in the way of their broader political goals.”
The Italian premiere of Illumination and Universal Pictures’ upcoming animated feature “Migration” rounds out the lineup for this year’s VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy. The conference, which brings together top industry professionals, thought leaders and enthusiasts to celebrate the latest achievements in animation, VFX and games, runs from Oct. 15 through Oct. 20.
“Migration” director Benjamin Renner will offer a presentation on the making of the film, which follows the Mallard family on a surprising journey outside of their New England home. Lending their voices to the project are Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Awkwafina, Carol Kane and Danny DeVito. The film opens in the U.S. on Dec. 22.
“It is an honor to welcome Benjamin Renner to our live stage at VIEW Conference 2023,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “This Italian premiere event will give our global audience an exclusive preview of this highly anticipated movie, which enjoys its theatrical release this coming holiday season. ‘Migration’ looks incredible, and I cannot wait to hear what Benjamin has to say about the creative journey he went on to bring it to the screen.”
Renner is among a number of speakers scheduled to appear in person at the conference, which in recent years has been a hybrid of in-person and virtual sessions. Among those appearing in person are Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, directors of the Netflix animated film “Nimona,” who will be joined by ND Stevenson, the creator of the graphic novel upon which the film is based. Joaquim Dos Santos, who directed “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” along with Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, will also be presenting.
Other speakers include Pixar vice president and creative director Peter Sohn, who will be talking about his animated feature “Elemental”; writer-director Henry Selick, known for his stop-motion films “Coraline,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and last year’s “Wendell & Wild”; Lucasfilm VP and executive creative director Doug Chiang, discussing his work overseeing designs for the “Star Wars” franchise across films, theme parks, games and new media; and Industrial Light & Magic animation supervisor Hal Hickel, who will talk about his work on the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.” These are just a few of the industry heavyweights set to appear at the weeklong event, which features speakers, presentations, workshops and masterclasses.
For more information on the full program, visit the conference website.
Heather Locklear, 61, was seen during a rare outing in Calabasas, wearing an off-the-shoulder shirt and sporting her iconic blonde locks in soft waves. In photos you can SEE HERE, the Melrose Place actress happily stepped out in black leggings and a matching top with animal print lips, accessorizing with a luxe white, pink, and gold Louis Vuitton bag and a pair of black flats with bows.
The mom of one wore minimal makeup for the outing, which reportedly came amid concerns about her sobriety. Still, Heather, who was previously married to rockers Tommy Lee and Richie Sambora, looked alert and happy during the casual outing.
Heather arrives for the W Magazine in Los Angeles on January 8, 2015. (David X Prutting/BFA/Shutterstock)
The actress, who shares daughter Ava Sambora, 25, with ex Richie, took to Instagram in April of 2020 to mark one year of sobriety with a powerful message. “I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow,” the Maya Angelou quote begins. Heather captioned the post, “Hugs will come later! 1 year sober today!!!”
The blonde beauty is engaged to former high school sweetheart Chris Heisser, and once opened up about why she’s in no rush to tie the knot. “I’m like, ‘You’re my man for the rest of my life, whether we get married or not,’” she told PEOPLE in 2020. “His daughter goes, ‘When are you guys getting married?’ And I’m like, ‘Can we just get through the movie? Can we just get through the pandemic? Can we just get through [all of that]?’”
“[A wedding] is so not important,” she continued. “We’re together, and we love each other and support each other. And really that’s all that matters.”
She added that their history, which began in Los Angeles in 1979, further sets their romance apart. “When I’m with him, I go, ‘This feels like home. You feel like home,’” she told the outlet. “And basically, he’s the most easy-going, loving person. He just has my back, and I have his. He truly is super special to me.”
Antonio Marras’ catwalk transformed into a set where he shot a remake of a 1968 Hollywood movie. During Milan Fashion Week on Sept. 20, the Sardinian fashion designer set up an onstage film studio, with various rooms in which actors, actresses, workers, divas, a production secretary, costume designer, editing secretary, personal assistant, seamstress, director, producer, set coordinator, clapboard operator, sound engineer, extras, models and aspiring actresses took turns in the spotlight. In a flash, the audience found itself catapulted to the end of the golden years of cinema, amid fleeting and rambling kaftans, couture gowns, robes, tailored suits cinched at the waist with masculine styles, duster coats, sheath dresses, and dramatic and divine evening gowns.
The entire show was pulled together to recreate the atmosphere of Joseph Losey’s film Boom!, translated into Italian when it was released as The Cliff of Desires. Tennessee Williams adapted the screenplay from his own stage script, The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, for the film, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The movie shoot catapulted its Hollywood stars into the middle of the then-unspoiled, wild country of Alghero, Sardinia.
Fashionable Milan — and a front row that included Olivia Palermo and Larsen Thompson — for 30 minutes thus relived the frenzy of a film set of a major American 1960s production, one of the many films that the studios of the time decided to come and shoot in Italy. Marras, Sardinian to the core but a citizen of the world, found his inspiration for the show when he recently stumbled upon Sergio Naitza’s docu-film The Summer of Joe, Liz and Richard, (L’estate di Joe, Liz e Richard), which reconstructs the making of Boom!. The designer — who cast fashion icon Marisa Berenson for his runway presentation in the role of Elizabeth Taylor — spoke to THR about pulling off his buzzed-about show.
Why did you choose this particular film?
In 1967, Paramount Pictures decided to produce a film directed by Joseph Losey, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. They had to shoot the whole thing on an island in the Mediterranean, and they chose Sardinia. I was six years old but I remember everything. As if by magic, Hollywood lands near my home, on the edge of the sea, in the purest and most unspoiled land in the world. The chosen location was actually Alghero, where two incredible villas were built on the sheer promontory of Capo Caccia. The first villa was knocked down by the wind and they had to build another one right away. How could you not be fascinated?
Was it a big shock for the locals?
Very. The funniest thing was the arrival of these two assistants, who at that time represented the stars par excellence with their many demands, the difficulties of the crew and the extraordinary whims of Elizabeth Taylor. For her, Sardinian grapes were too big, so fresh grapes were brought in every day from Rome. The food didn’t suit her either, thus a plane arrived daily from London bringing everything she needed to eat. Liz had a problem with her hairstyle? They would bring in the famous coiffeur Alexandre de Paris. The dresses were made by a Roman dressmaker, Atelier Tiziano. Hard to imagine, but the man who designed them was Karl Lagerfeld. The film had a really super troubled origin, but it’s full of anecdotes.
Models walk the runway at the Antonio Marras fashion show during the Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 on Sept. 20, 2023 in Milan, Italy.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
The Alghero locals grappling with the jet set.
Imagine what it meant for Alghero in ’67 to have these two crew members walking around the town promenade, stopping at the lowest dive bars for yet another drink. And over time the other dramas, the film, the stars, the happenings, the local extras, the gossip, even kidnapping attempts. The star couple lived on a mega yacht, Kalizma, with dogs, children, cooks, captains and sailors in tow. Liz’s opulent Bulgari jewelry on display, the flow of alcohol, the fights between the two protagonists, the 186-meter cliff at Capo Caccia and the stratospheric white villa overlooking the sea that, agitated by the wind and the waves, kept crashing on the rocks below. The whole experience had taken on an aura of myth.
A film that did not, however, remain in the archives.
It was an international flop. It never went anywhere even though it was translated into 15 languages. It was born from a project made for the theater which, although it had extraordinary actors, was a disaster. The film was released in ‘67 in the midst of revolution, in the midst of protest, out of time. Out of all logic for that time.
How did it come to you?
It later became a film loved and revered by many, talked about in reviews, shown in arthouse cinemas. And thanks to Sergio Naitza’s docu-film.
Elizabeth Taylor in the 1968 film Boom!
Courtesy Everett Collection
Did you even like the movie?
It is not a film that impresses you, it’s not exactly a masterpiece. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t a success. Everything is shot inside this mansion, in this time bubble in which she lives. It’s quite a dramatic story, because the main character is waiting for this guy, this angel of death who makes her sick. Liz had the script changed and instead of a young boy she wants Richard Burton instead. More than the movie, I was really fascinated by the creation of the project.
What was the result of this inspiration?
I’ve told you where the genesis of my imagination started. What is my Hollywood ideal? I’ve thought about the diva, the star, the assistant, the producer, the cinematographer, the clapperboard man. I translated this world into clothes that have a lightness, a fluidity, a softness given by the fabrics and volumes and in contrast are really super couture, super tailored constructions that completely transform the silhouette.
Your catwalk became a movie set.
We reconstructed the rooms of the villa with the various sets: the bedroom, the dining room, the car, the objects. There were really two moments of real cinema with lots of machinists, clapboards, microphone operators, producers, directors and an extraordinary international star like Marisa Berenson who lent herself to this game.
You had Marisa Berenson take on the role of Liz Taylor.
I thought that there had to be a diva, a real diva, with a capital D, who is not invented or improvised. A diva who could well interpret a Hollywood Babylon-like world where anything is possible, where a wish is an order, where the unimaginable becomes everyday. Just think of it, write it and shoot it. Marisa Berenson overlooks, wanders, floats. Charm, talent, interpretation, a diva between art and life. She played the part beautifully. She, who in reality is always a very quiet, placid, sweet, wonderful woman, for the show I turned her into a real naughty b****.
Did music also play a key role in recreating the mood of those years?
I chose music that echoes the movies of the time. They are all soundtracks.
What is your relationship with cinema?
I am a lover of cinema, not the making of it, but what you see on the big screen, with the opening of the curtain and the velvet chair. Cinema is the perfect way to travel and isolate yourself from everything else. Audrey Hepburn used to say, “Everything I learned, I learned from the movies.” I say it too, “Everything I learned, I learned from the movies.”
Have you often drawn inspiration from film for your fashion?
I use fashion for storytelling which I learned by going to the cinema. Cinema, an inexhaustible source of stories, dreams, moods, characters, costumes, sets, tales of exceptional existences or extraordinary normality. Cinema is an indispensable companion of life. Even more so for me, because of the work I have found myself doing. I am an omnivore of cinema, having spent my adolescence in Alghero, seeing and reviewing over and over the films that are still part of my life. The characters are family, comparable to relatives, their stories are my stories, their stories I have also experienced. What I am is also the result of what I have seen in the cinema. Intimate and vocal, sharing and becoming an inward moment, as no other form of entertainment can. When the lights go out and the music starts with the opening credits, it is as if we embark on a spaceship that takes you somewhere else and nothing matters anymore.
“General Hospital” star John J. York said he thinks he’s found a “perfect” transplant match after being diagnosed with bone marrow and blood disorders — the transplant for his cancerous and pre-cancerous conditions is set to take place in November.
In an interview with “Good Morning America” posted Friday, York — who plays Mac Scorpio on “General Hospital — opened up about the details of what he’s facing: myelodysplastic syndromes and smoldering multiple myeloma.
He told “GMA” that he had no idea what was happening inside his body.
“Over the past many months I’ve had three bone marrow biopsies, many chemo treatments. I have another one coming up in a couple of weeks, and I’m closing in on a blood stem cell transplant,” York said. “I believe they found a match, perfect match, which will make me cry. So we’re going to start our testing and do all the kind of stuff coming up here in about a week. And I believe the transplant will happen, fingers crossed, in November.”
York called finding a match a “big deal” and said that since his diagnosis, members of his family have also been tested for cancer as a precaution. He added that he feels his transplant match is saving his life.
“Absolutely, yeah, saving my life,” York said, adding his appreciation for the donor. “Thank you for saving my life, for letting me spend more time with my wife and my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandchildren. Seeing this beautiful blue sky, all the beautiful trees around me. That’s what I would say.”
The actor announced the news of the condition and that he would be going on hiatus on Sept. 13 in an X (formerly Twitter) post.
“Well, hey guys, how ya doin’? It’s me. I said I was going to give you an update on the reason I’m taking a little hiatus from ‘General Hospital’ and here it is,” York began. “So last December of ’22 I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS, and multiple smoldering myeloma — two blood and bone marrow disorders.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, myelodysplastic syndromes is a rare type of cancer that block blood cells in bone marrow from maturing or becoming healthy blood cells. As for smoldering multiple myeloma, it’s a “precancerous condition that alters certain proteins in blood and/or increases plasma cells in bone marrow, but it does not cause symptoms of disease.”
Though York originally wanted to keep the diagnosis private, he said he looks forward to raising awareness about the disorder.
“The response has been overwhelming for me,” York said. “If there’s anybody out there that may want to be a donor, what a wonderful thing to be able to save somebody’s life.”
Just a few months after Macro lined up a new $90 million round of investment, Hollywood went on strike. Charles D. King, Macro’s CEO and founder, has been using his entrepreneurial drive to make the best of a tough situation.
“When there are moments of chaos, we find opportunity,” said King in a conversation at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit Thursday. The talk was moderated by Variety’s senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson. “That’s the time you can actually afford to fly and get stronger. And so, you know, we haven’t slowed up even this year, despite all the different challenges that have happened over the course of last three years.”
This year, Macro Media was behind the Jamie Foxx-led Netflix release “They Cloned Tyrone,” a black sci-fi comedy about a government conspiracy in a Black neighborhood. Previously, Macro has been behind similar projects surrounding Black culture in America like 2021’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” 2018’s “Sorry to Bother You” and 2016’s “Fences.” When asked how the company decides which projects to green light, King explained that Macro prioritizes entertainment that will create opportunities not provided elsewhere in Hollywood.
“We said, we’re gonna be focused on stories that would represent all people of color. African American, Latinx, AAPI communities, Indigenous and also globally,” he adds. In order to get these projects off the ground, King says Macro seeks out production partners that have the resources to help tell stories “on a global scale” whether that be “local language productions” or working with a larger “global storyteller.”
With the power to launch and finance projects that highlight and collaborate with communities of color, King sees Macro as a vessel to provide a foundation for diversity and representation in the entertainment industry. “I saw from my 20-plus years as a senior partner at WME just the lack of opportunity for diverse voices purely throughout the industry,” he says.
“We’re all unicorns in and of themselves, in our industry, who’ve had experiences, many of whom could have their own company,” he adds. “But instead, we all came together to build this. It’s not about any one of us, including myself. So yes, having capital is a huge part of it. It’s a major part of it, not only for productions, but developing IP, and thinking about other business lanes and avenues to go into as we scale.”
Here’s The Dumb Money Cast And Where You Know Them From
Dumb Money hits UK cinemas today, following the real life short squeeze that affected the stock of video game retailer GameStop back in 2021. If that sounds boring to you, I promise you, it’s not.
The film stars an ensemble cast. Here’s who plays who, and where you might know them from…
Shailene Woodley as Caroline Gill
Seth Rogen as Gabe Plotkin
America Ferrera as Jennifer Campbell
Myha’la Herrold as Riri and Talia Ryder as Harmony
Vincent D’Onofrio as Steve Cohen
Nick Offerman as Kenneth C. Griffin
Sebastian Stan as Vlad Tenev
Will you be going to see Dumb Money? Maybe you already have? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Paramount has announced a sequel to the hit horror film “Smile,” as well as a platform shift for the upcoming “Mean Girls” musical movie.
“Mean Girls,” which is based on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical adapted from the iconic 2004 movie (which made $130 million at the box office) was planned to debut on Paramount+, but will now get a wide theatrical release on Jan. 12, 2024. “Bob Marley: One Love,” which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the late reggae legend, was scheduled to hit theaters on that date, but now moves to a wide release on Feb. 14, 2024.
Reneé Rapp, Angourie Rice, Jaquel Spivey and Auli’i Cravalho star in the new “Mean Girls” movie. Rapp played Regina George in the Broadway musical and reprises her role, while Rice, Spivey and Cravalho will play Cady, Damian and and Janis, respectively. The cast also features Tina Fey and Tim Meadows, who return from the first film, as well as Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, Avantika, Mahi Alam, Christopher Briney, Bebe Wood, Ashley Park, Connor Ratliff and Jon Hamm. Arturo Perez and and Samantha Jayne direct from a script by Fey, who penned the original film and stage musical. The music is by Jeff Richmond with lyrics from Nell Benjamin.
The schedule shift is reminiscent of last year’s, when the studio shifted “Smile” from a Paramount+ launch to a theatrical release, which paid off immensely at the box office — to the tune of $217 million. Paramount has officially dated a sequel to “Smile” for Oct. 18, 2024.
“The Tiger’s Apprentice,” which was dated for Jan. 19, 2024 has been officially removed from the theatrical release schedule and will premiere exclusively on Paramount+.
Who doesn’t love Girl Scout cookies? No one, that’s who. And, even though it’s not Girl Scout cookie season right now, you can still enjoy your favorite cookies in a whole new way… now with more peanut butter. And who doesn’t love more peanut butter? Skippy P.B. Bites is introducing three new Girl Scout Cookie-inspired flavors in one excellent collaboration. The three delicious flavors each celebrate a different Girl Scout Cookie.
Skippy/Girl Scouts of America
So what are the new flavors of P.B. Bites? They are Adventurefuls, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Coconut Caramel. I tried these three Girl Scout P.B. Bites out myself, and honestly, I cannot stop eating them. The P.B. Bites are basically gobs of non-sticky peanut butter surrounding a Girl Scout cookie center. It’s honestly a revelation.
In more official terms, here’s more about the three flavors:
Coconut Caramel, reminiscent of a favorite Girl Scout cookie variety, features a chocolatey cookie center, encased in a velvety coating of Skippy® peanut butter. This bite is perfectly flavored with notes of toasted coconut and caramel and finished with real toasted coconut flakes.
Chocolate Peanut Butter, inspired by another beloved Girl Scout cookie flavor, is a delectable treat boasting a vanilla cookie center wrapped in a heavenly coating of Skippy® peanut butter and rolled in luscious milk chocolate.
Adventurefuls™ are inspired by their namesake: the popular Adventurefuls™ cookie. This delicious flavor boasts a chocolatey cookie center enveloped in a tantalizing peanut butter coating with delightful hints of caramel and tossed with sea salt and brownie dust.
These new Skippy Girl Scout P.B. Bites will arrive in stores this October. What a great way to extend Girl Scout Cookie season. Personally, we have to wonder how a Thin Mints P.B. Bite would taste. It’s not the most obvious flavor combination, but we bet it could be delicious. For now, we’ll continue snacking on the flavors we do have in hand. More peanut butter and more Girl Scout cookies are two big yes-es for us.
Tinder has officially rolled out its most exclusive subscription — “Tinder Select” — according to a report by This elite pay-to-date tier will cost love seekers $500 per month (or $6,000 annually — apparently there are no bulk discounts to be found here) for access to unique features like exclusive search and matching.
This may sound ridiculous to the general public, and it may be why Tinder has decided to hold off on making the new tier available to everyone just yet. Tinder Select has only been offered to less than one percent of users the company considers “extremely active.” Tinder told Bloomberg that it will open up applications for Tinder Select on a rolling basis but it didn’t say exactly when. Tinder’s exclusive membership was .
Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, reported that the app’s direct revenue raked in about in the second quarter of 2023, growing about six percent year over year. However, the number of people willing to pay for Tinder subscriptions declined four percent to 10.5 million. At a Citi conference in early September, Match Group President Gary Swidler said he thinks Tinder Select has the potential to have an impact on the company’s overall revenue.
Bloomberg/Match Group
Match Group has dabbled in exclusive dating apps like “ which it bought in 2022, so it’s not too surprising that it’s getting its flagship app into this space too. But if you’re not up for that kind of commitment (if you even qualify) you can opt for — Plus, Gold, and Platinum, which have monthly memberships that start at . Each tier provides different exclusive features (Platinum members, for instance, can message who they like before even matching.)
Whether these paid versions will increase your personal odds of finding a partner is anyone’s best guess. Thankfully, Tinder (and the majority of competitor dating apps) retain unpaid membership options, so those of us without $500 a month to burn can continue to get ghosted for free.
In many ways, creating GIFs is the easiest thing in the world. Yet, in many other, more frustrating ways, it can also be very hard thanks to some odd quirks to our favorite editing apps. In particular, working with GIFs in DaVinci Resolve has been an issue.
However, thanks to this new Resolve 18.6 update, and some helpful tutorials and tools, we now have everything you need to import, rearrange, export, and even loop GIFs in DaVinci Resolve—as well as with this free looping plugin.
Let’s explore and go through all the steps you need for your GIF creation.
How to Add a GIF to DaVinci Resolve
OK, so this first step is going to be quite easy. Thanks to this new Resolve 18.6 update, all you need to do is download a GIF and drag and drop it onto your Resolve timeline. Pretty easy, right? That wasn’t so hard everyone!
However, working with said GIF still isn’t quite as easy. That’s because Resolve doesn’t currently treat these GIFs as it would normal footage. You can’t stretch it, loop it, or do many of the usual things you might expect with a clip.
It just simply starts, plays through, and is done. That’s it. Unless you want to manually duplicate and create a much longer version to simulate looping, you’re ideally going to want to follow these next steps to make your GIF a looping GIF.
How to Loop a GIF in DaVinci Resolve
Following along with the video tutorial above by Patrick Stirling, we have a looping preset that Stirling has created to share which is currently free to purchase and download here. Hopefully, there will be a built-in function for this in the future, but for now, this might be your best option for quickly and easily making a loopable GIF in Resolve, so let’s go through the steps below.
Once you download the preset, you can simply open it as a .drfx file and it will automatically prompt you in Resolve to install it as a preset. You can then go to the Effects Library to access it (it should be under Generators and “Stirling Supply Company”) and drag and drop this GIF Looper effect onto your timeline.
From there you can directly drag and drop your uploaded GIF directly into the GIF Looper box (where it says GIF name) and viola! you have a looping GIF!
How to Export a GIF in DaVinci Resolve
After you go through the rest of the options for refining your GIF for its looping length, size, filter method, etc., you can start the process of exporting your GIF. Honestly, is quite easy now, too.
All you have to do is go to the deliver page and choose your name and saving location, then select GIF for format in the custom export options. You can tailor some other elements like framerate and such. If you’re looking to quickly export, you can simply send it to your render queue and send it out.
A bunch of cinephiles and retro TV connoisseurs group together to talk about ridiculous Action/Crime/Horror genre tropes, deadly protagonists, outrageous body counts, political conspiracies, over-the-top gimmick-driven premises and the merit of various franchises.Facebook: www.facebook.com/JackedUpReviewShow/Twitter: twitter.com/CamSully4Instagram: www.instagram.com/camsullyfilm
As there’s positive vibes (knock on wood) coming out the AMPTP and WGA talks at the time of this post, there’s some interesting maneuvers on the theatrical release calendar. Specifically, more films keep getting added to the calendar.
After Paramount dated its next Mean Girls for MLK weekend 2024 today, a positive indication that the winter won’t be completely dry of movies due to the strikes, Lionsgate has plopped John Woo’s next action movie, Silent Nighton Dec. 1.
Silent Night is an acquisition by Lionsgate.
That’s the post Black Friday weekend frame which typically sees genre pics pull in a young audience. Currently, 20th Century Studios/Disney has the Jeff Nichols directed The Bikeriders. There’s also MGM’s expansion of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn.
This is Woo’s first American theatrical movie since 2003’s Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Aaron Eckhart. Silent Night, uniquelyhas no dialogue.
Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, and Catalina Sandino Moreno star in pic written by Robert Archer Lynn. The pic is also produced by John Wick producers Thunder Road Films.
The gritty revenge tale follows tormented father (Kinnaman) who witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang’s crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, Kinnaman makes vengeance his life’s mission and embarks on a punishing training regimen in order to avenge his son’s death.
Producers are Christian Mercuri, Lori Tilkin deFelice, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Woo. In addition to Thunder Road, Capstone Studios and A Better Tomorrow Films are the production companies.
David S. Goyer believes there should have been a direct sequel to Man of Steel before Batman v Superman, but Warner Bros. wanted their own MCU.
Goyer was frustrated by the constant turnover of executives at Warner Bros. and DC, which led to inconsistent creative direction.
Goyer had a story worked out for Man of Steel 2, but the project never came to fruition due to the chaotic nature of the DCEU’s development.
Oh, what could have been. Following the massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, the SnyderVerse’s DCEU began to take shape in 2013. Director Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was the first installment in what was to become a very rocky ride for both DC Comics and the respective fandom. David S. Goyer served as the screenwriter on Man of Steel and a contributor with Chris Terrio on the film’s follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Goyer revealed that he believes there should have been a direct, Superman sequel to Man of Steel before BvS. Goyer told host Josh Horowitz during their interview:
“Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I just think — I know the pressure that we were getting from Warner Bros., which is, ‘We need our MCU! We need our MCU!’ And I was one of the people that was saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s not run before we walk, like hold on, hold on, hold on! They [Marvel] were very methodical in how they built it. We just can’t jump into all of these things.’
But the other thing that was really difficult at the time is, there was this revolving door of executives with both with Warner Bros. and DC. It felt like every 18 months someone new would come in and someone new would come in and someone new would come in. And we were just getting whiplash. And every new person that would come in [was] like, ‘We’re gonna go bigger!'”
Nolan actually helped Goyer develop the story for Man of Steel, but Snyder’s movie never matched the financial success of either The Dark Knight or The Dark Knight Rises. Both made over $1 billion each at the worldwide box office, while the first appearance of Henry Cavill’s Superman only managed $668 million. Meanwhile, Batman v Superman took in $873.6 million globally.
Looking back, it may have been prudent to follow up Man of Steel with a direct sequel, but it never came to fruition. And now, the DCEU is defunct — the future lies in a Henry Cavill-less DCU forged by James Gunn and Peter Safran. But Man of Steel writer David S. Goyer remembers the insanity taking place as DC desperately tried to match wits with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to slip their ingredients into the superhero stew that eventually boiled over. Goyer said during the same interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“I remember at one point the person that was running Warner Bros. at the time had this release they had pitched like, ‘It’s 20 movies over the next 10 years!’ But none of them had been written yet! It was just so crazy how much architecture was being built on air. For me, some of that stuff that was going on at that time, it was like, this is not how you build a house.”
Goyer also told the Happy Sad Confused podcast’s host Josh Horowitz that he did have a story worked out for Man of Steel 2, or whatever the solo, Cavill-led Superman sequel would have been titled. When asked about his idea for the project, Goyer said it was “bad form” to discuss what “would’ve, should’ve, could’ve” been. Fans of the Last Son of Krypton will just have to wait until 2025 to see their favorite hero take flight again in the DCU’s Superman: Legacy.
Leaders from Mattel, YouTube, Universal Pictures, Google, Amazon and more gathered at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology summit, presented by City National Bank, to breakdown the future of marketing in the entertainment space. Panels included conversations with the leading experts on artificial intelligence, fan-focused growth on social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok and the massive future of online gaming.
Here are a few of the key takeaways from a day of lively discourse.
‘Barbie’ Won’t Be Mattel’s Last Toy Turned Blockbuster
Andrew Wallenstein, President and Chief Media Analyst, Variety Intelligence Platform, and Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO, Mattel speak onstage during the Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit.
Variety via Getty Images
Moderator Andrew Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst, Variety Intelligence Platform, cited research showing Barbie toy sales were up 25% in July and August amid the movie’s hot theatrical run. Kreiz’s response: “This was not about creating a movie to sell toys. This was not even about creating a movie. It was about creating a cultural moment.”
“We’re heading into a holiday season that nobody would expect to grow consumer demand. We expect the toy industry to be flat to slightly down overall but we have been growing market share significantly,” he said. “We believe the toy industry is in a very good place when you look at it from a multi-year basis. It has been a growth industry, we expect it will continue to grow. It’s a great part of the economy because it’s resilient.”
Digital Reach Expands When Prioritizing Multiple Platforms
Moderator Michael Schneider, TV Editor, Variety, Eli Holzman, President, Non-Fiction, Sony Pictures Television, Russell Wallach, President, Live Nation Media and Sponsorships, Julie McNamara, Head of Global Podcast Studios, Spotify, Agnes Chu, President, Condé Nast Entertainment and Richelle Parham, President, Global eCommerce and Business Development, Universal Music Group.
Variety via Getty Images
During the Building Hit Entertainment Across Platforms panel, executives talked at length about the importance of broadcasting content across a variety of platforms and niches. Russell Wallach, who serves as Live Nation’s president of media and sponsorships, talked about providing fans with a broad spectrum of content that spans across platforms.
“Historically you would’ve seen a full-page ad in a newspaper,” Wallach said. “But now, an artist can sell out a global tour by sending something out on TikTok or Instagram. It really has changed, so the fans are able to find the artist because the artist is out there talking to them on a daily basis.”
Richelle Parham, president of Universal Music Group’s global e-commerce and business development, affirmed this sentiment, “it always starts with the artist, but [there’s] different ways that we can create that connection” between artists and their fans. “A hit is when it’s all of the different channels working hard, not just one channel,” she added.
Brands Need to Allow Creators and Fans to Connect Organically
Heidi Chung, Media Correspondent, Variety Intelligence Platform, Jimmy Knowles, Global Head of Experiential, Canva, Elana Sulzer, Head of Entertainment, Snap, Tom Henry, Director of Client Partnerships, Entertainment/Gaming/Sports, Spotify, Emily King, EVP Marketing and Digital, FOX Entertainment, Ellen Stone, EVP, Consumer Engagement and Brand Strategy, NBC Universal, and Angela Courtin, VP and Global Head of Brand Marketing, YouTube.
Variety via Getty Images
At the Fan-First Marketing panel, Fox Entertainment’s EVP of marketing and digital, Emily King, opened up about the importance of brands working with creators genuinely.
“It’s important for each creator to be authentic to their brand and voice,” said King. “But also for us as brands to be true to who we are and not try to be something that we’re not. For entertainment brands, it’s leaning into the people, creators and content that aligns with the content we’re putting out there.”
Angela Courtin, YouTube’s VP/global head of brand marketing, doesn’t believe effective modern marketing is about targeting one singular demographic, but rather optimizing content by “digging a little deeper into what’s going to connect a creator to their audience.”
Anticipation For Theatrical Releases Can Be Built Through Modern Marketing
Alex Sanger, EVP Global Digital Marketing, Universal Pictures and Alessandra Torre, Entertainment Partnerships and Creator Industry Lead, Meta.
Variety via Getty Images
At the Moments-Based Marketing panel, Alessandra Torre, Meta’s entertainment partnerships and creator industry lead, revealed the strategies that she used in partnership with Universal Pictures to create buzz around this summer’s “Fast X.”
“I come in having worked close with the talent and cast, and also knowing that creator industry really well,” she said, adding that part of Universal’s strategy was to highlight the film introducing new cities to the franchise, citing Italy and Brazil as examples. “We were able to bring a truly global creator squad, first of its kind, to help amplify within different regions,” she added.
Alex Sanger, executive VP of Universal Pictures’ global digital marketing, shared that the studio utilized an “interactive” marketing approach with “M3GAN” which utilized chatbots that could connect fans with the murderous doll. “There were 20 million messages shared between Megan and our consumers,” he said. “We’re trying to create 1:1 experiences for our experiences and amplify beyond that.”
Entertainment Storytelling Can Be Bridged Through Gaming
Kaare Eriksen, Media Analyst, Variety Intelligence Platform, Todd Lichten, Head of Entertainment Partnerships, Roblox, Moonlit Beshimov, Head of Global Partnerships Industry Solutions, Gaming, Google, Mike DeLaet, Global Head of Digital Gaming, Mattel, and Amy McDevitt, Head of Sports Brand Partnerships, Amazon.
Variety via Getty Images
“Barbie” quickly became the highest-grossing film of the year, not to mention Warner Bros. history, a feat supported by Mattel’s legendary approach to its marketing. “[The film] drove a lot of momentum around the over 200 brands that Mattel owns,” said Mike DeLaet, Mattel’s global head of digital gaming. However, Mattel is pushing its IP through all mediums, including gaming. “Pre-movie we were already working on new projects,” adds DeLaet, referencing a forthcoming Barbie experience within the Roblox platform. Beyond “Barbie,” “Hot Wheels Unleashed” is a venerable gaming experience on multiple platforms, with a sequel due in October. Likewise, Mattel’s “Masters of the Universe” character Skeletor will be playable in “Call of Duty” next month.
The biggest gaming brands like Fortnite and Roblox are no strangers to IP mixing within their platforms. “Because Roblox is a platform, our focus is on building tools that allow brands to [thrive],” said Roblox’s head of entertainment partnerships, Todd Lichten. “Success happens when brands who know their properties are able to hook up with developers to give people on Roblox
they can’t get anywhere else.” For Lichten, entertainment storytelling is heightened when incorporating “a gaming element” into a product that serves as “a place for fans to collect.”
Netflix Looks to Crack the Code on Blending Games With Video Streaming
Mike Verdu, VP Games, Netflix speaks onstage during the Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit.
Variety via Getty Images
Mike Verdu, VP of games at Netflix, discussed how the streamer has been able to elevate its content with the introduction of gaming titles — available for no extra cost. “Our games have no in-game monetization, they come as part of your subscription,” Verdu explained. “Without the pressure to monetize, all you need to do is delight your players… It perfectly aligns the interests of the game makers and players.”
The streamer’s unscripted “Too Hot to Handle” series notably sported the gaming release of “Too Hot to Handle: Love Is a Game.” “[The game] launched alongside Season 4 of the show,” said Verdu. “Being able to play the show after watching it was a complement… People love it.”
Though its dating reality series saw success with the launch of a related game, Verdu admits “not every show needs a game,” rather those that can launch alongside good shows and movies. “If you have something that’s authentic and people who watch the show feel the same magic when playing the game, [it works].”
Consumers Drive Monetization, Not Companies
David Lawenda, Chief Digital Advertising Officer, Paramount and Mainak Mazumdar, EVP, Chief Advertising Research and Analytics Officer, Fox Corp.(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
At the New Business Drivers for the Media Industry panel, Mainak Mazumdar, EVP and chief advertising research and analytics officer for Fox Corp, spoke about the ways in which companies have had to refigure their monetization efforts.
“The marketing objectives for an advertiser have not changed, distribution has” he started. “Data becomes very important because you have to target the audience that the client is looking for.”
To that point, Evan Adlman, EVP of commercial sales and revenue operations at AMC Networks, remarked on how consumers now hold more power over their consumption. “We’re no longer setting the appointment – the viewer is,” said Adlman. “There’s so much more viewership happening within these programs that happening outside of the traditional time [we’ve set].” He added, “Their premiere is tonight when they sit down and watch.”
The Pros and Cons of AI
Dr. Chris Mattmann, International Expert in AI and Machine Learning, Hina Dixit, Partner, Microsoft Venture Fund M12, Tia White, General Manager, AI and Machine Learning, Amazon, and Travis Sampson, Chief Technology Officer, SoFi Stadium. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
The Opportunity for AI panel sparked conversations about the upsides — and downsides — of AI in the entertainment industry. International expert in AI and machine learning Dr. Chris Mattmann noted that most of the uncertainty with AI is dependent upon “who owns it?”
“AI is fueled by data, but the big problem with that is that data is not tabular with columns and rows,” he said. “AI kind of expects the world to look like that,” though Amazon’s AI and machine learning general manager Ti White affirmed AI is “here to stay. I do not think it’s a glitch or fad — it’s mainstream.”
Microsoft Venture Fund M12 partner Hina Dixit believes that “if we can just give some time to understand the principles and things that AI can excel at, that can help us enable and remove some of these fears.”
Charles D. King Said Raising Capital Was Key to Develop MACRO’s Award-Winning Films
Charles D. King’s MACRO, the multi-platform media company behind the Academy Award-winning “Judas and the Black Messiah,” prioritizes representing the voice and perspectives of Black, indigenous and people of color. King explained that a major factor behind the company’s success stems from securing capital in order to continue creating projects about underrepresented groups.
King revealed that of MACRO’s slate, around 90% of its film and TV projects wouldn’t have been developed without capital. “I saw the lack of opportunity for diverse [demographics] through the industry,” he said. “I knew that to really be a part of shifting the narrative, there’s so much power to having the capital to develop.”
For MACRO, King said “It’s important for us to be in every genre” moving forward. “We think that there are more stories to tell about the greatness of who we are, in terms of historical perspective.”
Creators Have to Experiment to Find Their Niche
At the final Creators in the Zeitgeist panel, WME digital agent Madeline Baldi explained that the key to success in the content creation space comes with “finding your niche.” She added, “The most important thing is regardless of where you sit in digital, it’s finding your niche.”
For Nick Viall, former lead of “The Bachelor” and host of “The Viall Files” podcast, it takes “a balance of trying to listen to my audience by also sometimes trying not to listen to my audience.” Shifting from the “Bachelor” world into the digital space, Viall explained he broke into the field by “trying a lot of things.”
“I was just trying to see what stuck,” said Viall. “I was the person who, with friends, people would come to for relationship advice.” From there, Viall “stayed consistent” with his passion to create a relationship advice adjacent podcast. “For me, it was like ‘Wow I found my thing,’” he added. “It wasn’t something I was doing on the side, it was something I was focused on how I could build.”
Horror Film School is a new feature in which talent in front of and behind the camera share the ins and outs of creating the biggest onscreen scares.
“No One Will Save You,” out Friday on Hulu, is an incredibly lean genre movie: Aliens come down and invade the house of reclusive loner Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever), and she must defend her property and warn her small town that extraterrestrials are trying to assimilate.
Writer and director Brian Duffield pulls off two difficult things in his creature feature: The characters speak very little dialogue, and the aliens stalking Brynn are seen early and often — and they’re actually scary.
Duffield spoke to Variety about how he was able to make both tricky choices work.
How to make a film with limited dialogue
DON’T make it a gimmick
Although high-profile horror features like 2016’s “Hush” and 2018’s “A Quiet Place” have limited dialogue, Duffield said it was not an intentional writing challenge, but rather the result of the story he was telling.
“I had this character that I knew was a recluse,” he said. “It’s not a monologuing movie, so it stemmed out of that. Also, with her character being alone, she needs to not have power in her house so that she doesn’t have access to information. For me, that’s what was scary.”
DO trust the audience to keep up with the storytelling
In the film, Brynn is a loner due to a gradually revealed incident in her past that makes her feel like an outcast in her community — and even if people knew that aliens were on the loose, neighbors may not be inclined to help her. This is underlined during a tense scene in which Brynn goes to town to try to warn the police about the extraterrestrials, but has an unexpected confrontation with people from her past. Duffield said the complex emotions and backstory made it the scene that was toughest to conceptualize and shoot with limited dialogue.
“There was a lot of discussion about, ‘What is her character thinking?’ and ‘How can we have the audience catch up about why she’s not running into town screaming that the world is ending?’” Duffield said. “She thinks, ‘I have to plead my case,’ and it doesn’t go well. I think the audience catches up pretty quickly to it. I knew there would be even less dialogue than I had planned originally. That would be the scariest and worst thing to have happened in that situation: She’s alone and people don’t want to help her. It’s an unusual situation for an alien invasion movie.”
DON’T overdo it
Duffield isn’t closed to doing another movie in this style but doesn’t think it’s very likely.
“If I wound up doing two of these it would be crazy,” he said. “But I’m open to it. In my first movie [2020’s “Spontaneous”] there was so much talking, and I knew I wanted to streamline it down. But surprisingly it didn’t feel that different to me than a movie with a ton of dialogue. Acting is still acting. You’re always trying as a director to tell the story as visually and as cleanly as you can.”
How to make a film with scary aliens
DON’T be afraid to show them off
The idea to reveal the aliens early, instead of having them only lurk in the shadows, was an intentional choice from the start.
“It’s the anti-Hitchcock, anti-‘Jaws’ kind of thing,” Duffield said. “It’s hopefully making people go, ‘There’s a reason why we’re seeing so much so early.’ By the end of the first act, you quickly understand that there’s a really interesting opportunity to do a story where these aliens have come from light years away. They’re here now, they’ve avoided all human detection, but now they don’t need to be cheeky — just walking into her house is the most boring part of their day.”
DO give them a classic look, if it fits your story
Opposed to the fantastical beings in recent films like 2016’s “Arrival” and 2022’s “Nope,” the aliens in “No One Will Save You” are modeled after the “grey alien” archetype.
“We all grew up with the greys,” Duffield said. “I felt like I was missing this movie monster that I loved and no one was giving it to me. I think most of filmmaking is making the movie that you want to see that no one else is making. I wanted to see this monster back on my screen.”
DON’T be afraid of collaboration
Although Duffield had the initial vision, he trusted the team on his film to make the aliens even more detailed and intimidating.
“A lot of awesome people came in and made everything better,” he said. “Even stuff like their distinct toes, that was something our creature designers came up with. Then the sound guys brought up so many great ideas and ways to build out their culture. We have a big alien at the end, we call him Daddy Long Legs. It has a very rhythmic hand motion that came out of a day of mocap we had with some performers. That’s exciting and cool.”
