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In Spencer Zender’s film, What’s My Name Again? We are brought back to the mid-1980s to Southern California’s beach bum hippie culture, where Bo (Ryan Winn) finds out he needs to make a life-defining choice as he turns 18. This seemingly quintessential Southern California teen’s identity unravels as he’s forced to choose one of his three fathers’ last names. A coming-of-age film that might get lost in its marijuana smoke and endless beers, What’s My Name Again? makes a point of referring to a time when things were slightly different. The sun, palm trees, and waves at high tide were all good, and there were no cell phones, only answering machines with telephones that used chords.

Refreshing and simple as the past appears, this is not the case for Bo, who finds out he was never adopted by one of his fathers, which his mother Karen Humpton (Allison Byrnes) tells him before his 18th birthday. With street humor and quick wit, Karen anchors a film that is fun to watch but sometimes a bit challenging to follow. Bo holds a swimming record, which is his ticket to college. He dates a wealthy girl, Alea Kai (Talia Mychael Blaney), who enjoys his world, and his best friend, Griffin Nelson (Nick Schultz), who has to come to terms with his sexual identity. Bo’s dads are all an archetype for a type of man. Yet not one is an appealing father figure, even though Scott Baxter (Theodore Newton), Robert Olfasson (Lucas Coleman), and Jimmy Humpton (Daniel Abraham Stevens) try. Thus revealing another level of identity crisis.

“…quintessential Southern California teen’s identity unravels as he’s forced to choose one of his three fathers’ last names.”

All feel Bo’s frustration because it is a question of identity that has to be corrected while also deciding who he is as a person, regardless of his name. Bo has to overcome a great deal of personal anger when choosing who he wants to be. To say he has a father complex is an understatement, which is true for his girlfriend’s father.

At his 18th birthday party, Bo, Alea, and Griffin attend a pool party of bizarre characters with booze lockers for birthday shots, a bunch of twisted sisters, and redneck relatives, including his grandparents, who drink martinis with hotdogs. Many funny lines and comments include a card game for “tits only.” With all three fathers in one place, Bo reminisces and wonders while the drinks flow and punches go wild. Fast-forward to finding themselves drunk and in a Tijuana jail, Bo, Alea, and Griffin deal with all their issues while deciding to bond no matter what happens in the future. Being in another country also plays upon the identity theme that Zender constructs.

What might be considered a raunchy beach world does have some merit as Bo goes forth with all the exciting advisement, deciding upon a name and swimming for his future. A decent soundtrack sets the tone for What’s My Name Again? and some great filming in the water, the ocean, sunsets, and other spots makes his locations alluring. Zender has some interesting points on life and identity, as his characters are appealing. It could be interesting to see what Zender does next and if Bo’s natural curly hair will reappear—it’s a good look.

For more information about What’s My Name Again?, visit the Other Brother Productions official website.

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In Spencer Zender’s film, What’s My Name

Tech

The collapse in cryptocurrency prices last year forced a procession of major firms into bankruptcy, triggering a government crackdown and erasing the savings of millions of inexperienced investors.

But for a small group of corporate turnaround specialists, crypto’s implosion has become a financial bonanza.

Lawyers, accountants, consultants, cryptocurrency analysts and other professionals have racked up more than $700 million in fees since last year from the bankruptcies of five major crypto firms, including the digital currency exchange FTX, according to a New York Times analysis of court records. That sum is likely to grow significantly as the cases unfold over the coming months.

Large fees are common in corporate bankruptcies, which require complex and time-intensive legal work to untangle. But in the crypto world, the mounting fees have sparked widespread outrage because many of the people owed money are amateur traders who lost their personal savings, rather than corporations with the ability to weather a financial crisis. Every dollar in fees is deducted from the pool of funds that will be returned to creditors at the end of the bankruptcies.

The fees are “exorbitant and ridiculous,” said Daniel Frishberg, a 19-year-old investor who lost about $3,000 when the crypto company Celsius Network filed for bankruptcy last year. “At every hearing, they have an army of people there, and most of them don’t need to be there. You don’t need 20 people taking notes.”

To tally the overall fees, The Times analyzed more than 5,000 pages of billing statements and other court documents from the bankruptcies of the crypto firms FTX, Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, BlockFi and Genesis Global. The totals include fees that a bankruptcy judge has formally approved as well as some that are awaiting approval and could be reduced.

Among the biggest winners from the five cases are two major law firms. Sullivan & Cromwell, which is managing FTX’s bankruptcy, has charged more than $110 million in legal fees and recorded over $500,000 in expenses. Kirkland & Ellis has billed $101 million for its work on three of the crypto bankruptcies, with $2.5 million in expenses, according to The Times’s analysis.

More than 50 other professionals have also profited, including specialized start-ups that analyze crypto transactions as well as accountants, consultants and investment bankers, according to the analysis.

The ballooning costs reflect the broken promises of crypto, a renegade industry that was pitched to amateur traders as a force for equality in the ultra-stratified world of high finance. After months of rising prices and social media hype, the crypto market last year spiraled into a crisis that cost investors billions in savings and allowed lawyers, bankers and other traditional power brokers to reap immense profits.

As the industry has struggled to rebound, the bankruptcy fees have come under intense scrutiny from the hyper-online community of crypto obsessives, who have spent hundreds of hours analyzing billing statements that the companies are required to file publicly in court.

In FTX’s bankruptcy, creditors have raised concerns about the hourly rates charged by Sullivan & Cromwell, which reach as high as $595 for paralegals and $2,165 for partners. Last fall, creditors of Voyager filed a motion complaining that lawyers overseeing the bankruptcy were expensing thousands of dollars per person for hotel stays and billing $10,000 a month for catering.

Lawyers and other bankruptcy professionals argue that they are charging market rates for difficult work that will ultimately help recover the money that crypto investors lost. In the FTX case, Sullivan & Cromwell has said it has scraped together more than $7 billion in assets, though it’s unclear how much of that total will go back to creditors.

A spokesman for FTX’s new management said the bankruptcy was “extraordinary in almost every conceivable way,” requiring professionals to recreate records from scratch and track down missing funds. Andrew Dietderich, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, said in a statement that the lack of clear crypto regulations made the cases more complex and time-consuming, driving up costs.

A Kirkland & Ellis spokeswoman declined to comment.

Over the past few decades, corporate bankruptcy has become a big business. John J. Ray III, the executive whom Sullivan & Cromwell tapped to run FTX after its collapse, has made a career of managing distressed companies like Enron and Fruit of the Loom. He has billed $2.8 million for his work on the FTX bankruptcy, court records show.

Bankruptcy cases were not always so expensive. The average hourly rate for bankruptcy lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell rose to $2,000 this year from $1,300 in 2018, according to Reorg, a credit and bankruptcy data provider. And research by the legal experts Lynn LoPucki and Joseph Doherty shows that professional fees in bankruptcies grew about 10 percent a year between 1998 and 2007.

When the crypto market tumbled last year, Celsius and Voyager, which had styled themselves as experimental crypto banks, were the first to go under, costing investors more than $6 billion. FTX failed in November, erasing as much as $9 billion in user funds. That was followed by the demise of BlockFi and Genesis, which had also overseen billions of dollars.

Lawyers, accountants and consultants sprang into action. Kirkland & Ellis is managing the Celsius, Genesis and Voyager bankruptcies, while Alvarez & Marsal, a turnaround management firm, has charged more than $125 million for its work on FTX, Celsius and Genesis.

Alvarez & Marsal didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The fees drawing the most scrutiny have come in the bankruptcy of FTX, the largest and highest-profile of the crypto firms that failed. FTX’s case has cost more than $325 million so far, in the most expensive of the five bankruptcies, ahead of the roughly $200 million in fees that Celsius has generated.

In several of the cases, bankruptcy judges have appointed fee examiners — outside lawyers who monitor costs and work with the firms to eliminate unnecessary spending.

In June, Katherine Stadler, the FTX fee examiner, wrote that the bankruptcy was “on track to be very expensive by any measure.” She noted that the spending up to that point amounted to 10 percent of FTX’s remaining cash.

Ultimately, Ms. Stadler called for only modest reductions in spending. Fee examiners in the Celsius and Voyager cases have made similar recommendations.

Creditors have called for more aggressive cuts. In January, a group of Voyager customers filed a motion complaining about the tens of thousands of dollars in meal and hotel expenses filed by lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis. They argued that the lawyers were also duplicating one another’s efforts, repeatedly charging for the same work. In response, Kirkland & Ellis agreed to cap nightly hotel expenses at $550 and limit catering costs to $20 per person.

A few months later, Kirkland & Ellis angered investors when it billed nearly $100,000 for 77 hours spent considering a possible lawsuit against Tiffany Fong, a Celsius customer and social media influencer who had obtained leaked information about the bankruptcy process. No suit has been filed.

“They essentially used creditor funds in an attempt to sue me, a creditor,” Ms. Fong said. “It ended up being a complete waste.”

The fee debate has at times made the cases more expensive. The same month that Kirkland & Ellis pursued Ms. Fong, it billed $230,122 for work involving “fee matters.”

In the Celsius bankruptcy, Mr. Frishberg, the 19-year-old creditor, has filed a series of motions contesting various issues, including fees.

By Mr. Frishberg’s own calculations, Kirkland & Ellis billed nearly $50,000 responding to his filings last September and October — about 16 times the amount that he lost in the first place.

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The collapse in cryptocurrency prices last year

Video

Ruschell Boone, a respected and Emmy-winning journalist for New York’s NY1, died Sunday following a year long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 48.

The news was announced Tuesday by NY1 ancho Cheryl Wills, who in an on-air statement remembered Boone as “a member of our staff, as well as a friend and mentor to many.

After the news was made public, ABC reporter Cefaan Kim of WABC-TV, who worked with Boone for years at NY1, paid tribute to her on Instagram.

“Ruschell Boone was a tremendous human being. Always shining. I’ll never forget how when I got my first on air break at @Ny1 covering Queens and she was THE Queens reporter, how she supported me, guided me, mentored me. When so many others would have seen me stepping int their territory as a threat, Ruschell embraced and encouraged me. She was one of a king. Gone too soon. #f—cancer,” Kim wrote.


Born in Jamaica in 1975, Boone (nee West) moved with her family to New York when she was 11. Though she earned a degree in accounting from CUNY’s Baruch College, she discovered a passion for journalism as a senior and changed career paths.

She worked for CNBC in 1998 and soon after for CNN before joining NY1 in 2002, where she remained for the rest of her career.

“For someone who lived and breathed the five boroughs, NY1 was a perfect match,” the network said.

According to NY1, Boone learned she had pancreatic cancer in June, 2022. “Throughout a difficult process, Ruschell was open about her journey, sharing regular updates on social media. She made it back to the anchor desk and was joined by the mayor on her first day back,” the network said.

“She was devoted to raising awareness about cancer and other health issues. And while she was facing a constant fight of her own, Ruschell felt it was important to extend a hand and help others in their time of need,” the statement continued. “Wherever Ruschell was, she always made time to laugh, to dance, and to celebrate life.”


Nathan Louis Jackson

Boone’s accolades include Best Spot News Reporting from the New York Association of Black Journalists, a Best Feature Reporting award from the New York Press Club, and a New York Emmy Award for her series, “New York: Unfiltered.” She was nominated for New York Emmys 4 times.

According to NY1, Boone also had the distinction of being the only local news reporter to speak live to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and in fact was the person who informed the congresswoman of her underdog victory in the 2018 mid term election.

“Ruschell Boone was a legendary journalist who left an indelible impact on NYC. Ruschell was everywhere. She was often the first reporter on the scene across the city, and was the person who told me I had won my first election. A major loss for NYC. She will be deeply missed,” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday.

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Ruschell Boone, a respected and Emmy-winning journalist

Entertaintment

Drew Barrymore‘s alleged stalker, a man named Chad Michael Busto, now has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to show up to get a GPS monitor from authorities.

Southampton Town Justice Court Clerk Heather Drapal tells TMZ … a judge has issued a bench warrant for Busto in connection with last month’s case when Busto was arrested after cops say he showed up uninvited to her Hamptons home.

Chad Michael Busto

We’re told Busto was set to get fitted for a GPS monitor by cops but never showed … so now police are looking to apprehend him again.

As we reported, cops say Busto went house-to-house in her Hamptons neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, eventually finding her $6 million property and walking onto some steps outside before he was cuffed. We’re told Drew wasn’t home at the time.


Of course, that arrest came just 2 days after video showed Busto rushing the stage during a 92NY interview she was holding with singer/actress Reneé Rapp. You can hear him demanding to see Drew and claiming she knew who he was.

We were told there were no complaints from this incident and cops didn’t respond as a result … but they are certainly looking for him now.

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New Orleans rapper B.G., known for rapping alongside Lil Wayne and Juvenile in the 1990s group Hot Boys, was released from prison this week after more than a decade behind bars.

Among those first to greet B.G. — real name Christopher Dorsey — was rapper and hip-hop mogul Birdman, who recruited him and Lil Wayne as tween protégés at his Cash Money Records in the early 1990s. The two could be seen chatting with smiles on their faces while surrounded by other supporters before dapping it up and embracing, according to video from Birdman’s Instagram Live that was shared online Tuesday.

In July 2012, Dorsey was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a gun as a felon and obstruction of justice. For the last 11 years, Dorsey had been incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Herlong, Calif., a small, remote town along the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.

“It’s my last #Birthday being buried alive,” the 43-year-old wrote Monday on Instagram, teasing his release.

“The main focus, is to stay focused,” he continued. “I’m not letting nobody rob me of my productivity, prosperity, positivity and peace of mind. My dreams then got bigger and my vision is clearer. 13 years was more then [sic] enough time for me to change the reckless path I was on.”

Bureau of Prisons records suggest Dorsey’s release may have been ahead of schedule. His original release date was scheduled for July 2024. It was not immediately clear what led to his early release.

However, Dorsey, with the support of some high-profile names, including Birdman, had been working to get his sentence commuted in 2022, according to court documents obtained by The Times. Those who wrote the court in support of a reduced sentence include Birdman (real name Bryan Christopher Williams), NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton and former music executives and talent managers.

A federal judge ultimately denied Dorsey’s request for compassionate release, saying that the rapper had “not shown extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant a reduction in sentence.” In response to a later motion, documents show, the court said Dorsey hadn’t showed any “new evidence that would affect the Court’s prior decision.”

As news of B.G.’s release spread online Tuesday, many in the hip-hop community began to celebrate, including Houston rapper Bun B, one half of the rap duo UGK. The rapper shared a screenshot of a FaceTime call with B.G. and Birdman.

“The call we been waiting for!” Bun B wrote on Instagram, teasing a Hot Boys reunion. “@birdman hit me up to show me [B.G.] is a free man! This put a smile on my face! God is great! Hot Boys reunion coming soon!”

Hot Boys formed in the 1990s with B.G., Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Turk recording a platinum album together in 1999 with “Guerrilla Warfare.” After the group dissolved in the early 2000s, the artists went on to solo careers.

Though most of the group stayed attached to Birdman and Cash Money, some artists, most famously Lil Wayne, later had a falling out with Birdman, leading to a $51-million lawsuit in 2015.

Wayne alleged the label had withheld substantial payments for his serially delayed album, “Tha Carter V,” and that Birdman, whom he called “a surrogate father,” had also exploited other artists such as Drake and Nicki Minaj. Lil Wayne settled with the record label for an undisclosed sum in 2018.

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New Orleans rapper B.G., known for

MCU

Marvel Studios’ latest series set to be released on Disney+ just had all of its episode titles revealed online.

The MCU has two more Disney+ dropping this year; one of them is the highly anticipated return of Tom Hiddleston in Loki Season 2, releasing on October 6.

Unfortunately, Echo has been delayed to 2024, and several other Marvel series have had their release dates pushed back.

I Am Groot Season 2 Episodes Revealed

The entire episode descriptions and titles have been released for Marvel Studios’ second season of I Am Groot via an official press release.

I Am Groot is a selection of animated shorts following Baby Groot through a series of twig-sized adventures.

I Am Groot Season 2 consists of five episodes and was written and directed by Kirsten Lepore, as was the first season which was released on August 10, 2022.

Here’s a closer look at all five episodes of I Am Groot:

1.) Episode 1: “Are You My Groot?”

Marvel Studios

The first episode of Season 2 puts Groot on the planet Terma and features him adopting a small creature. Lepore says this episode “is very near and dear to [her]:”

Groot stumbles across a strange egg in a nest while exploring the alien planet of Terma. He instantly falls for the little creature that emerges when the egg cracks, adopting it as his own.

“This episode is very near and dear to me as the parent of a young kid… We had a blast designing our bird characters, especially perfecting their goofy movements. Additionally, we had the pleasure of recording the legendary voice talent Dee Bradley Baker who single-handedly created all of our bird sounds.”

2.) Episode 2: “Groot Noses Around”

Baby Groot with nose, I Am Groot Season 2
Marvel Studios

In Episode 2, Lepore was worried it would be too “out there” for Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige as “Groot Noses Around” gifts Groot with a sense of smell.

When Groot discovers a bionic nose-shaped device that grants him a sense of smell, he quickly learns not to stick his new nose where it doesn’t belong… 

“When we pitched this episode idea, I thought for sure it would be too ‘out there’ for Kevin Feige and our EPs (Executive Producers). I was thrilled when they picked it, mostly just to see what Groot would look like with a weird, cute nose on his face? The scene with the fragrant delights displayed across the banquet table is my favorite shot of this season.”

3.) Episode 3: “Groot’s Snow Day”

Baby Groot in snow, I Am Groot Season 2
Marvel Studios

On the planet of Falligar, Lepore says the creators “had too much fun making this episode” that features a chaotic snowman-robot.

After landing on the icy planet of Falligar, Groot fashions a snowman with scraps of junk, inadvertently creating an unstoppable snowman-robot that wreaks havoc. 

“We had too much fun making this episode—and creating our snowman! … This was one of the last episodes to have the scoring completed, and I wasn’t sure what the two songs for this episode would be. I was cheering and clapping the first time I got to hear them. Our music composer, Daniele Luppi, knocked it out of the park!”

4.) Episode 4: “Groot’s Sweet Treat”

Baby Groot in front of Space Ice Cream Truck Ship, I Am Groot Season 2
Marvel Studios

A crossover of the real world and galactic shenanigans in the MCU, Groot is set to get a sweet treat from an ice cream truck. Lepore said she can “very much relate to this as a kid growing up in the suburbs:”

“As an intergalactic ice cream truck approaches, Groot—desperate to get a treat— frantically scours the ship for coins. 

“I very much relate to this as a kid growing up in the suburbs, constantly chasing ice cream trucks… I’m really happy we got to use the classic ice cream ‘Entertainer’ theme—and then upgrade it into a ridiculous ’90s club banger. Fun Fact: That’s Mikky Ekko singing the final song that plays over the credits!”

5.) Episode 5: “Groot and the Great Prophecy”

The Watcher, The Benatar, I Am Groot Season 2
Marvel Studios

He’s back! It’s not Spider-Man, but Jeffrey Wright’s The Watcher. As previously reported, The Watcher returns in I Am Groot Season 2 as the narrator of Episode 5.

The stakes are high in “Groot and the Great Prophecy” as the young hero is in an ancient Drez-Lar temple with the destiny of the universe at his pricky fingertips.

“In this adventure narrated by The Watcher, Groot finds himself in the heart of an ancient Drez-Lar temple with a mythic prophecy he must fulfill to save the universe… 

“Absolutely loved recording Jeffrey Wright for this one—he was really incredible! The very last thing we did right before wrapping this season was to change up the ball-bouncing sound effects on the final mix stage. Felt good to add a whole new comedic layer in the 11th hour.”

How To Watch I Am Groot Season 2 

Premiering on Disney+ on Wednesday, September 6, all five episodes of I Am Groot Season 2 will be available to stream.

Marvel Studios is getting busy again on Disney+ following this summer’s Secret Invasion series release, which led to the worst critical reception of any MCU show.

Hopefully the I Am Groot shorts are better received, but some fans may be concerned because this is the first Guardians of the Galaxy project without any involvement from writer and director James Gunn.

However, Vin Diesel is back voicing the character, as he has since 2014 within the MCU. 

I Am Groot Season 2 will be available on Disney+ on Wednesday, September 6.

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DCU

Cinema has been home to countless valiant and adored movie heroes, with their real-life portrayers often developing a “good guy” reputation. While audiences know they can always depend on these stars to swoop in and save the day, it’s exciting when these performers decide to zig instead of zag and take on more odious, evil, or horrible characters. Not all actors can effectively make the on-screen transition from hero to antagonist, so when they do, it’s truly a triumph to appreciate.

Moviegoers can witness firsthand the incredible range and brilliance of these dynamic stars, who prove that even the most likable and charismatic performers can embrace their wicked sides. These are some of the best villain roles from actors who almost always play good heroes.

Updated on September 5th, 2023 by Federico Furzan: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.

13 Chris Hemsworth as Billy Lee

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

20th Century Fox

Adored for portraying Marvel’s hammer-wielding, muscular Asgardian god Thor, Chris Hemsworth is famous for playing good guys who battle it out for the well-being of mankind. Outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hemsworth frequently dons the white hat and stars as exciting and memorable heroes, such as the titular warrior in Snow White and the Huntsman, Agent H in Men in Black: International, and as a tough-as-nails black ops mercenary in Extraction.

The actor decided to switch lanes by appearing as the enigmatic and violent cult leader Billy Lee in the 2018 neo-noir thrillerBad Times at the El Royale, who wreaks havoc on a group of mysterious strangers at a rundown hotel in the 1960s. On portraying the villainous Billy Lee, Hemsworth said, “I desperately wanted to do something like this, and not just for the sake of being the villain… I’ve spent a lot of my career playing the hero, which becomes predictable, and so, to be unpredictable and turn left when you should turn right, and continually keep yourself guessing is great.”

12 John Goodman as Howard Stambler

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane cast
Paramount Pictures

Mostly known for playing comedic and dramatic characters, John Goodman is a veteran actor whose deep and unique voice feels like a comfort blanket whenever he shows up in films. Imagine Sulley from Monsters, Inc. having another voice. Exactly.

However, in 10 Cloverfield Lane, the science fiction thriller that takes place in the universe of ghouls from outer space, Goodman plays Howard Stambler, a horrible and despicable man who keeps people locked up in his end-of-the-world bunker. It doesn’t matter if Howard was right, and he was protecting Michelle. He still shoots Michelle’s partner Emmett in the face and tries to prevent her escape, even if the monsters outside are as lethal as Stambler.

11 Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kathryn Merteuil

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions
Sony Pictures Releasing

Saving the world from terrifying baddies every week while balancing high school and social life is no small feat, but Sarah Michelle Gellar kicked butt and looked good doing it during her reign as Buffy Summers in the smash hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She would carry that good guy persona to the silver screen beyond being a horror genre legend, with roles like Mystery Inc. member Daphne Blake in the live-action Scooby-Doo and as superheroine Teela in the Netflix fantasy series Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

Gellar’s performance as the scheming, diabolical Kathryn Merteuil in the 1999 cult classic Cruel Intentionsshowed off the actress’ dark side brilliantly and her ability to embrace her inner villainess. While not an all-out “bad guy,” Kathryn is not one to mess with. The actress won the Teen Choice Award for Best Movie Villain for her memorable portrayal.

10 Harrison Ford as Dr. Norman Spencer

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath
DreamWorks Distribution LLC / 20th Century Fox

Who would have thought that America’s favorite hero Harrison Ford could play a terrifying bad guy oh-so-well? The actor captured the hearts of fans across the world with his iconic portrayal of the cynical loner Han Solo in the groundbreaking Star Wars franchise by George Lucas, and as the fedora-wearing, snake-fearing iconic character Indiana Jones in the beloved series.

Though he has dabbled in the dark and mysterious from time to time, he fully took on the role of a villain in the 2000 supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath. In the frightening flick, the actor appears as Dr. Norman Spencer, a respected university research scientist and seemingly devoted husband who harbors a menacing and murderous secret side, later terrorizing his wife.

9 Elijah Wood as Frank Zito

Maniac (2012)

Elijah Wood in Maniac (2012)
Warner Bros. Pictures / IFC Midnight

In Maniac, 2012’s remake of the ’80s cult classic, someone very interesting plays Frank Zito, the serial killer with a taste for violence who’s heavily traumatized by childhood abuse and now kills and scalps women. Elijah Wood isn’t the first actor you would think about mentioning serial killers.

After all, he’s a scrawny little dude who saved humankind at some point in his life when he played Frodo. But after showing in Sin City as Kevin, a cannibal killer, he paved the way for more different roles. His performance in Maniac is undoubtedly one of the best and most disturbing of his entire career.

Related: The 12 Most Underrated Action Movie Performances of All Time

8 Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman

American Psycho (2000)

Christian Bale wields an ax in American Psycho
Lions Gate Films

Undeniably one of the greatest actors to ever don the famed bat-suit, Christian Bale was a force to be reckoned with as masked vigilante Batman protecting Gotham City in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. Bale is renowned for being a chameleon on the silver screen, with the actor impressively transforming for every role he’s in. The performer shines as a heroic characters, showcasing his noble and valiant side with roles in films of every genre.

However, Bale played the narcissistic serial killer Patrick Bateman in the 2000 horror flick American Psycho, riveting audiences with his unhinged, downright creepy performance as the homicidal maniac. American Psycho helped establish the actor as a leading man and remains one of his most buzzed-about portrayals.

7 Robin Williams as Seymour Parrish

One Hour Photo (2002)

One Hour Photo with Robin Williams
Fox Searchlight Pictures

Robin Williams is the actor that always makes people smile. But he must have been tired of playing the goofball in 2002 when he played not only one but two horrible characters. In Christopher Nolan’s version of Insomnia, he played the sketchy suspect chased by the police.

But in Mark Romanek’s very underrated thriller One Hour Photo, he plays Sy the Photo Guy, a convenience store photo technician with an obsession for living the life of one of his customers, who’s seemingly having the perfect life with a perfect family. But Sy realizes the man’s behavior isn’t… perfect. He starts a revenge journey to make him suffer because he wasted a great opportunity to live a life others would kill to have. This is one of Williams’ best roles.

6 Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris

Training Day (2001)

Denzel Washington in Training Day
Warner Bros. Pictures

One of Hollywood’s most respected and revered movie stars, Denzel Washington has been a constant cinematic presence for nearly 40 years. The esteemed performer has played a wide array of colorful and dynamic characters, with many of his finest being admirable heroes.

The actor won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the corrupt detective Alonzo Harris in the 2001 crime thriller Training Day, abandoning his noble champion identity in favor of the shady and nefarious Los Angeles cop. When describing his edgy and crooked character, Washington said, “I think in some ways he’s done his job too well. He’s learned how to manipulate, how to push the line further and further, and, in the process, he’s become more hardcore than some of the guys he’s chasing.”

5 Heath Ledger as The Joker

The Dark Knight (2008)

Joker in The Dark Knight heath ledger
Warner Bros. Pictures

During his very short career, Heath Ledger didn’t often participate in films that weren’t dramatic. And even when he did, he never played the bad guy. That’s until he landed the villain role for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

In the film, he played the Joker and left everyone feeling sick with his portrayal of such a vicious monster. There was no reference for him to play such a powerful antagonist to Batman, a character already pre-established by the first entry of Nolan’s trilogy. But he did it all the same, by playing a volatile villain who made everyone feel like they couldn’t predict his next act. We can only guess it’s the same way he made everyone feel on set during shooting. As many of you know, Ledger’s role landed him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

4 Tom Cruise as Vincent

Collateral (2004)

Tom Cruise in Collateral
DreamWorks Pictures / Paramount Pictures

Tinseltown’s favorite action megastar Tom Cruise has appeared in his fair share of courageous and honorable roles, having built a revered cinematic reputation for characters like Lieutenant “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun and IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the blockbuster hit movie franchise Mission: Impossible.

For Michael Mann’s 2004 neo-noir thriller Collateral, Cruise decided to bid adieu to be a hero and instead opted to play the chilling hitman Vincent, who takes an unsuspecting taxi driver hostage on a contract killing spree in Los Angeles. The actor is superb as the silent and menacing Vincent, putting viewers on edge with his calm yet nerve-wracking portrayal, receiving widespread praise and acclaim for his commanding and tense take as the antagonist.

Related: 15 Movie Villains Who Redeemed Themselves

3 Patrick Stewart as Darcy Banker

Green Room (2015)

Patrick Stewart in Green Room 2015
A24

Mostly known for his role as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series, Patrick Stewart feels like the kindest human to ever walk the Earth. We have no doubt he is.

Nevertheless, in Jeremy Saulnier’s insanely underrated thriller Green Room, Stewart had the opportunity to play someone very different. In the film about the punk band unknowingly falling prey to neonazis, Stewart plays Darcy Banker, the veteran leader of the skinheads who will stop at nothing before getting rid of the witnesses. We couldn’t call him evil, but a calculating leader with an unbreakable agenda.

2 Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie

Django Unchained (2012)

Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie in Django Unchained
The Weinstein Company / Columbia Pictures

Hollywood heavy hitter and acclaimed Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio is one of cinema’s most diverse and compelling performers. He achieved international stardom with Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, as well as for heroic performances as mercenary Danny Archer in Blood Diamond, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of New York, and fur trapper Hugh Glass in The Revenant.

For Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 revisionist Western Django Unchained, DiCaprio took on the villainous part of the barbaric, cold-blooded plantation owner Calvin Candie who enslaves the titular hero’s beloved wife. DiCaprio was initially concerned over tackling the racist antagonist, having expressed, “This was my first attempt at playing a character I had this much disdain for. It was an incredibly uncomfortable environment to be in… I’ve seen racism growing up but the degree I had to treat other people in this film was disturbing.”

1 Chris Evans as Ransom Drysdale

Knives Out (2019)

chris evans knives out
Lionsgate

Praised for his outstanding portrayal of World War II-era super soldier and Avengers leader Captain America, Chris Evans had been heroically saving the world as the famed superhero for over a decade. The actor had previously appeared as another notorious Marvel character, the Human Torch, in 2005’s Fantastic Four and its follow-up sequel. Outside the superhero world, Evans has been the good guy in the action films The Losers, Snowpiercer, and Push.

For the star-studded ensemble 2019 mystery Knives Out, Evans got a little less valiant and a lot more diabolical, appearing as the spoiled, cable-knit-wearing playboy Ransom Drysdale who vies for the inheritance of his wealthy mystery novelist grandfather. While none of the Drysdale clan are particularly likable, Ransom is downright deplorable, scheming and committing all kinds of nefarious deeds to obtain the estate.

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Cinema has been home to countless

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The original Path of Exile has a huge skill tree, and its sequel does not break that mold. Path of Exile 2 features many of the expansive systems that its predecessor did, including equipable gems and multiple classes, but in an effort to ease newcomers into the series, much of those systems have been streamlined. According to game director Jonathan Rogers, this effort to streamline parts of the game was done to ensure Path of Exile 2’s gameplay has depth without becoming overly complex.

I got to see what Rogers was talking about in a gameplay demo for Path of Exile 2 that showed off the new Druid class. Much like its counterparts in the likes of Diablo IV and Baldur’s Gate III, the Druid is a spellcaster with animal shapeshifting abilities. In Path of Exile 2’s case, a Druid is (sadly) limited to only changing into a bear (which makes them seem more like a werebear lycanthrope than a true druid but that’s neither here nor there). However, your spells include a range of lightning and volcanic fire abilities that pair well with the murderous rampages and ground pounds of your wild side.

Now Playing: Path of Exile 2 New Gameplay Trailer | Exilecon 2023

In the demo, Rogers showcased how the Druid’s unique abilities can be combined together. As a bear, the Druid can unleash mighty roars and claw at enemies, which charges up the necessary rage to unleash a rampage across the battlefield. And in their humanoid form, the Druid can create storms of lightning or small volcanoes that spurt little fireballs of lava. They can also summon a pack of wolves. Against the massive mobs of enemies in Path of Exile 2, you ideally want to keep all these abilities going simultaneously.

But that’s a lot to remember and set up–unleash a volcano, create a storm of lightning on that spot, create some wolves, transform into bear, build rage, rampage, repeat. So developer Grinding Gear Games implemented shortcuts the player can utilize to program combos into the game. For example, you can dictate that a wolf is summoned every time the Druid casts lightning storm or decide that the bear form unleashes a mighty area-of-effect roar upon immediately transforming into that form.

I got to see a few of these self-made combinations in action and it made Path of Exile 2 look far more approachable for someone like me, who has never played the original game and got a little scared looking at all the gems and skills that you need to keep track of. After the demo, I was able to play for a handful of minutes right as the preview was wrapping up–I tried out both the magic-flinging Sorcerer and hit-and-run specialist Huntress–and was quickly overwhelmed. I’m sure there’s a natural rhythm to playing games like Path of Exile 2, but I just don’t have that muscle memory yet. And having to track all the skills and know in what order to use them to be most effective would seem like a daunting prospect if not for the option to program certain combinations to just work for me without having to remember it on my own.

Whether Path of Exile 2 manages to balance this level of approachability across all its classes remains to be seen, and we still have a ways to wait to fully find out. A closed beta for Path of Exile 2 is set to launch on June 7, 2024.

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

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Festivals

Khaby Lame may be best known for wordless videos featuring his hyper-expressive face, but make no mistakes: he’s a gamer, too. The social media juggernaut, who’s the most popular person on TikTok with over 160 million followers, just wrapped one of his most ambitious projects yet: becoming a video game character.

Lame is featured in the newest season of Epic Games’ wildly popular battle royale game Fortnite, set around a high-stakes heist. Chapter 4: Season 4, dubbed “Last Resort,” allows players to break into vaults and sneak past security cameras as Lame, after they’ve unlocked his “icon series” skin via the Battle Pass system.

“I’ve been a big ‘Fortnite’ fan for a long time. I started playing five years ago and sometimes I posted videos on YouTube or tagged Fortnite in stories. I was thrilled about this game,” Lame tells Variety, adding that he’s most often played as Black Knight in the past.

“Epic noticed and reached out to me about a year ago and asked if I would be interested in collaborating with them. My reaction was pure excitement,” he recalls. “Who doesn’t want to be an action hero in a video game? It sounded so fun!”

Lame didn’t just sign off on his likeness, though. He collaborated closely with Epic Games on getting all the details just right. “I have to say that working with the ‘Fortnite’ team was great. It was important to me to have full input on my character’s outfits, look and role,” Lame says.

“I learned a lot from the creator process. Spending the time with the team, brainstorming and sharing ideas on the outfits… Filming and capturing my body movements for in-game play. It was a great process,” he adds.

Even after his journey in development, Lame still had a visceral reaction when his skin went live in the game: “On release day, I turned on the game and started playing. It was surreal. I just stared at my character for a good 15 minutes, to be honest. I am so blessed, and I just took some time to enjoy the game and the experience.”

Lame says the fan response has been overwhelmingly positive so far. “My favorite is when my fans send me screenshots and shout-outs of them playing my character. It has been great.”

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Khaby Lame may be best known for

Film

Thousands of stranded Burning Man attendees were finally headed home in hours-long lines on Monday and Tuesday as the Nevada desert finally dried up enough for the roads to reopen.

Organizers asked people to stagger their departures to prevent further delays, CBS reported. News footage showed thousands of vehicles end to end in what appears to be eight lanes of traffic slowly making their way out of the desert. A CBS reporter estimated that it might take some travelers 12 hours to make their exit.

One man told CBS it took him four hours to make his way out.

Some Burners stayed to see the Man finally set on fire, but thousands took to the road as soon as they were allowed to exit the mudbound site, Today reported on Tuesday.


Among those who hiked out early, despite the cement-like mud, were DJ Diplo and comedian Chris Rock. They were picked up by fans and shared their tale on social media.

One person died during the nine-day festival. His cause of death is still not known. On Monday, Pershing County Sheriff’s Office in Lovelock, Nevada, identified Leon Reece, 32 as the deceased. He was declared dead on the scene.

Sgt. Nathan Carmichael told NBC News that there were no obvious signs of trauma. “No indication it’s the weather,” he said,” dispelling the idea that Reece’s death was related to the torrential rain that hit the festival. Results of a toxicology report have not yet come back.

Three people have previously perished at Burning man, according to NBC News: In 2017, a man died after jumping into a bonfire; in 2014, a woman died after being hit by a bus. A friend of one of the fest’s founders had a fatal motorcycle accident in 1996, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.


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September 5, 2023 @ 5:13 PM Thousands of

TV

IYKYK: The best Amazon gifts for women are thoughtful and plentiful. When faced with a gifting scenario, you can always take the easy way out by getting a loved one a gift card or, you know, another mug, but where’s the fun in that? Amazon is hiding dozens of gems—and all you have to do is know where to look. That’s where this guide to the best gifts for everyone on your list comes in.

Are you looking to surprise your best friend with a trendy gift for her birthday? Some pickleball merch is probably high up on her wish list—and Amazon has plenty. How about a unique gift for Mom or a present for your coolest auntie in honor of Mother’s Day? The mega-retailer has heated neck massagers and skin care kits galore. New and expecting mothers will also appreciate anything self-care-related (another stacked category on the site), like a cozy pajama set; it’ll bring the spa to her, no reservations required.

No matter the situation or which of your loved ones you’re shopping for, it’s safe to say that the best gifts for women on Amazon will never steer you wrong. From budget-friendly presents (and teen-friendly gifts!) like hydrating lip balms to best-selling black leggings that’ll please everyone, we rounded up the absolute best Amazon gifts for women that will surprise, delight, and not get returned to their local Whole Foods drop-off.

Our top picks

All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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IYKYK: The best Amazon gifts for women

What to Watch

The director John Hillcoat and the musician-turned-screenwriter Nick Cave reunited after the triumph of “The Proposition” (2005) for this 1930s crime film with a phenomenal cast, including Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce and Mia Wasikowska. Cave’s story, adapted from the historical novel “The Wettest County in the World” by Matt Bondurant, concerns the bootlegging Bondurant brothers (Clarke, Hardy and LaBeouf), who find their business interests threatened by a crooked U.S. Marshal (Pearce) and a rival bootlegger (Oldman), among others. The period costumes and settings are stunning, and the sprawling cast meshes nicely; Hardy is especially strong as a man of few words but furious fists.

Stream it here.

This 1992 smash, directed by Penny Marshall, is based on the true story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed in 1943 to help keep the national pastime going while World War II pulled male ballplayers out of the majors. Geena Davis stars as Dottie Hinson, star catcher of the Rockford Peaches, and Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan, the former baseball star and current drunk who coaches the team when he’s sober (which is infrequent). With able support from Jon Lovitz, Madonna, Lori Petty, David Strathairn and many more, this one is smoothly assembled, sensitively acted and riotously funny.

Stream it here.

A decade after winning the Oscar for her screenplay adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility,” Emma Thompson returned to the typewriter to pen the film version of a slightly less venerated literary property: the “Nurse Matilda” children’s novels, by the British author Christianna Brand. But it doesn’t feel like slumming; Thompson invests her screenplay with all the winking wit you would expect, and she absolutely goes for broke in her performance of the title role, a kind of warts-and-all Mary Poppins. The director Kirk Jones orchestrates the chaos with a sure hand.

Stream it here.

The first five films of the Rocky franchise — starring, written and sometimes directed by Sylvester Stallone — vary wildly in style, quality and critical and commercial reception. But taken together, they create a fascinating portrait of mainstream American moviemaking from the late 1970s to the early ’90s, as the modest, character-driven drama of the 1976 original slowly but surely gave way to the montage-heavy, jingoistic bombast of “Rocky IV” from 1987. But for better or worse, each film offers its own pleasures, from the specificity of Stallone’s dialogue to the richly played supporting characters (particularly Talia Shire’s Adrian and Carl Weathers’s Apollo Creed) to the crowd-pleasing closing bouts.

Stream “Rocky” here, “Rocky II” here, “Rocky III” here, “Rocky IV” here and “Rocky V” here.

When J.J. Abrams was announced as the director of a newly rebooted series of “Star Trek” films, he was still best known for his television work. The decision smacked of some desperation; after several “Star Trek” television spinoffs and numerous big-screen resurrections, what could anyone (let alone a not-yet-proven filmmaker) add to the mythos of the original “Enterprise” crew? But Abrams’s inaugural 2009 entry was an absolute treat, a sleek, well-cast popcorn picture that reinvigorated the original characters and story while also playing appropriate tribute. The 2013 follow-up, “Into Darkness,” is less successful but still an entertaining diversion, particularly for Benedict Cumberbatch’s take on Ricardo Montalbán’s villainous “Khan.”

Stream “Star Trek” here and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” here.

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‘Lawless’ (Sept. 30)The director John Hillcoat and

Awards

Bob Barker’s cause of death has been made public. The TV legend and longtime host of “The Price Is Right” host, died from Alzheimer’s disease, according to media reports.

Barker, who passed away at age 99 in late August, suffered from Alzheimer’s, according to his death certificate. At the time his death was first announced on Aug. 26, Barker’s longtime publicist Roger Neal told TheWrap that Barker died of natural causes in his Hollywood Hills home.

Barker never publicly revealed nor acknowledged his diagnosis, and it’s unknown how long he had battled the disease.


“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” Neal said in a statement sent to TheWrap at the time, also sharing a statement on behalf of Barker’s longtime companion Nancy Burnet.

“I am so proud of the trailblazing work [Bob] Barker and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry, and working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” Burnet said in a statement. “We were great friends over these 40 years. He will be missed.”

Beginning his television career in 1956 hosting “Truth or Consequences,” Barker made a name for himself hosting game shows like Ralph Edwards’s “End of the Rainbow,” “The Family Game,” a pilot for “Simon Says” and series “That’s My Line.” It wasn’t until 1972 that Barker began hosting “The Price Is Right,” which he led until his retirement in 2007, when he passed the baton to Drew Carey. Following his departure from the show, Barker continued to return for special occasions alongside Carey, including Barker’s 9oth birthday and April Fool’s Day.

During his 35 years hosting the competition show, Barker was recognized with 14 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show Host as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1999 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Last week, CBS hosted a special edition of the show in honor of Barker, titled “The Price Is Right: A Tribute to Bob Barker.” The special, hosted by Carey, looked back at Barker’s remarkable career, showing glimpses of Barker’s first and last episodes hosting “The Price Is Right.”

TMZ first reported the news.


Bob Barker Adam Sandler

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September 5, 2023 @ 5:17 PM Bob Barker’s

Music

The Nun II
Photo: Warner Bros.

The Conjuring Universe has been quietly trucking along for a decade, reliably releasing a serviceable horror film every year or two and then going away before anyone gets particularly annoyed. There are no TV spin-offs and no Avengers crossovers, which is probably why the series has managed to stick around: You don’t really need to know what happens in any one of them to enjoy any other one of them. That being said, the movies do love their heavy-handed Easter egg moments, where the camera will hang on Annabelle’s glass case for a moment or Patrick WIlson will do a world-weary dad smile and say something like “yeah, I know a thing or two about scary nuns.”

Oliver Anthony reportedly stranded with the Rich Men Of Burning Man

Well, the formula apparently isn’t going to change any time soon, with The Nun II director Michael Chaves—in his third shot with the Conjuring franchise after The Curse Of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It—teasing some kind of big Easter egg-sounding thing in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The tease conveniently doesn’t come up until the very end of the chat, when PR people are rushing Chaves away, but apparently it involves “a pair of eyes that flash on the screen at a key moment in the movie.”

Chaves says he was wondering if anyone would notice it, and when THR’s Brian Davids asked what these eyes mean, the director said, “if you see what it is, the answer is there.” That’s cryptic! And a little hard to parse… but it seems like what he’s saying is that if you see these eyes and you know what they represent, then you’ll know what they mean. Or, as the kids say, IYKYK.

So what the hell is he talking about? Well, The Nun II takes place in the ‘50s, after the events of Annabelle: Creation, but at least a decade before anything else starts happening in the Conjuring universe, so… Annabelle? Something with Annabelle? Or maybe Chaves and series creator James Wan will go nuts and start looping in some other favorites from the New Line/Warner Bros./Atomic Monster family, like Gabriel the Malignant! Or Scorpion from Mortal Kombat! That’s not really the right vibe, but it would be awesome.

Luckily, we don’t have to wait too long to see these eyes: The Nun II is in theaters this Friday.

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The Nun IIPhoto: Warner Bros.The Conjuring Universe

Docs

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

OSCARS | EMMYS | GRAMMYS | TONYS

2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best Supporting Actress

Weekly Commentary (Updated Sept. 5, 2023): An Oscar nomination for Da’Vine Joy Randolph would be simply divine.

I was most enamored by Randolph’s heartbreaking turn as a grieving cafeteria manager out of Telluride. Representing the heart and soul of the Alexander Payne dramedy, she has the goods to enter a race that has seemed destined for Lily Gladstone to lose from “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Jodie Foster is the standout of Netflix’s “Nyad,” which puts her in the race for her fifth career nom. A two-time winner for “The Accused” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” the veteran is a popular figure among her colleagues and could find love for the sports drama.

Rosamund Pike was also a standout from Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” even from those who didn’t “love it.” A previous nominee for “Gone Girl,” she’d be an undoubtedly fun nominee if the Academy feels inspired.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

The submission deadline for general categories is Nov. 18, 2023. Preliminary shortlist voting will begin on Dec. 18, with the results announced on Dec. 21. The voting period will run from Jan. 11-16, 2024, with the official nominations announcement on Jan. 23. The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, Mar. 10.

***The list below is not final and will be updated throughout the awards season.

And the Predicted Nominees Are:

  1. Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  2. Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
  3. Penélope Cruz — “Ferrari” (Neon) **
  4. Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  5. America Ferrera — “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)

Next in Line

  1. Jodie Foster – “Nyad” (Netflix)
  2. Julianne Moore — “May December” (Netflix) **
  3. Viola Davis — “Air” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  4. Danielle Brooks – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.)
  5. Rosamund Pike — “Saltburn” (Amazon Studios)

Other Top-Tier Possibilities

  1. Juliette Binoche — “The Taste of Things” (IFC Films/Sapan Studios) **
  2. Sandra Hüller — “The Zone of Interest” (A24) **
  3. Taraji P. Henson – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.)
  4. Claire Foy – “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures)
  5. Maya Hawke — “Maestro” (Netflix)
  6. Rachel McAdams — “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate)
  7. Patricia Clarkson – “Monica” (IFC Films)
  8. Isabella Rossellini – “La Chimera” (Neon)
  9. Vanessa Kirby — “Napoleon” (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures) **
  10. Rhea Perlman – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)

Also In Contention

  1. Scarlett Johansson — “Asteroid City” (Focus Features) **
  2. America Ferrera — “Dumb Money” (Sony Pictures)
  3. Annie Gonzalez – “Flamin’ Hot” (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)
  4. Patti LuPone — “Beau is Afraid” (A24)
  5. Melissa McCarthy – “The Little Mermaid” (Walt Disney Pictures)
  6. Hong Chau – “Showing Up” (A24)
  7. Florence Pugh — “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  8. Kathryn Hunter – “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
  9. Celia Weston — “A Little Prayer” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  10. Maura Tierney — “The Iron Claw” (A24)
  11. Niousha Noor – “The Persian Version” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  12. Moon Seung-ah — “Past Lives” (A24)

All Eligible Titles (Alphabetized by Studio)**

  • Jodie Comer – “The Bikeriders” (20th Century Studios) **
  • Patti LuPone – “Beau is Afraid” (A24)
  • Parker Posey – “Beau is Afraid” (A24)
  • Amy Ryan – “Beau is Afraid” (A24)
  • Lily James – “The Iron Claw” (A24)
  • Maura Tierney — “The Iron Claw” (A24)
  • Moon Seung-ah – “Past Lives” (A24)
  • Dagmara Dominczyk – “Priscilla” (A24)
  • Hong Chau – “Showing Up” (A24)
  • Julianne Moore – “When You Finish Saving the World” (A24)
  • Sandra Hüller – “The Zone of Interest” (A24)
  • Viola Davis – “Air” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  • Jurnee Smollet – “The Burial” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  • Allison Oliver — “Saltburn” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  • Rosamund Pike – “Saltburn” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  • Annie Murphy – “Fingernails” (Apple Original Films)
  • Janae Collins – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  • Tantoo Cardinal – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  • Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures) **
  • Cara Jade Myers – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  • Vanessa Kirby – “Napoleon” (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures) **
  • Scarlett Johansson – “Asteroid City” (Focus Features)
  • Da’Vine Joy Randolph – “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
  • Patricia Clarkson – “Monica” (IFC Films)
  • Juliette Binoche — “The Taste of Things” (IFC Films/Sapan Studio) **
  • Annie Gonzalez – “Flamin’ Hot” (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)
  • Kathy Bates – “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate)
  • Rachel McAdams – “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate)
  • Stephanie Hsu – “Joy Ride” (Lionsgate)
  • Teyonah Parris – “The Marvels” (Marvel Studios)
  • Issa Rae – “American Fiction” (MGM)
  • Tracee Ellis Ross – “American Fiction” (MGM)
  • Tessa Thompson – “Creed III” (MGM)
  • Anne Hathaway – “Eileen” (Neon) **
  • Isabella Rossellini – “La Chimera” (Neon)
  • Jessica Chastain – “Mothers’ Instinct” (Neon) **
  • Anne Hathaway – “Mothers’ Instinct” (Neon) **
  • Tilda Swinton – “The Killer” (Netflix)
  • Myha’la Herrold – “Leave the World Behind” (Netflix)
  • Maya Hawke – “Maestro” (Netflix)
  • Carey Mulligan – “Maestro” (Netflix) **
  • Julianne Moore – “May December” (Netflix) **
  • Natalie Portman – “May December” (Netflix) **
  • Jodie Foster – “Nyad” (Netflix)
  • Audra McDonald – “Rustin” (Netflix)
  • CCH Pounder – “Rustin” (Netflix)
  • Vera Farmiga – “Caste” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Niecy Nash – “Caste” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Connie Nielsen – “Caste” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Marion Cotillard – “Lee” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Noémie Merlant – “Lee” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Andrea Riseborough – “Lee” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Lashana Lynch – “Bob Marley: One Love” (Paramount Pictures) **
  • Kathryn Hunter – “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
  • Margaret Qualley – “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
  • Claire Foy – “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures)
  • America Ferrera – “Dumb Money” (Sony Pictures)
  • Shailene Woodley – “Dumb Money” (Sony Pictures)
  • Celia Weston – “A Little Prayer” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  • Niousha Noor – “The Persian Version” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  • Penélope Cruz – “Ferrari” (Neon)
  • Emily Blunt – “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  • Florence Pugh – “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  • America Ferrera – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
  • Ariana Greenblatt – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
  • Kate McKinnon – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
  • Rhea Perlman – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
  • Issa Rae – “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
  • Adriana Barraza – “Blue Beetle” (Warner Bros.)
  • Belissa Escobedo – “Blue Beetle” (Warner Bros.)
  • Susan Sarandon – “Blue Beetle” (Warner Bros.)
  • Bruna Marquezine – “Blue Beetle” (Warner Bros.)
  • Halle Bailey – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.) **
  • Danielle Brooks – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.)
  • Taraji P. Henson – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.)
  • H.E.R. – “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.) **
  • Olivia Colman – “Wonka” (Warner Bros.)
  • Melissa McCarthy – “The Little Mermaid” (Walt Disney Pictures)

** This official list is incomplete, with all release dates not yet confirmed and subject to change.

2022 category winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)

Oscars Predictions Categories

BEST PICTURE | DIRECTOR | BEST ACTOR | BEST ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY | ADAPTED SCREENPLAY | ANIMATED FEATURE | PRODUCTION DESIGN | CINEMATOGRAPHY | COSTUME DESIGN | FILM EDITING | MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING | SOUND | VISUAL EFFECTS | ORIGINAL SCORE | ORIGINAL SONG | DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | INTERNATIONAL FEATURE | ANIMATED SHORT | DOCUMENTARY SHORT | LIVE ACTION SHORT

About the Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners have been selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Seventeen branches are represented within the nearly 10,000-person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members-at-large, members-at-large (artists’ representatives), music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.

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Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all

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Many Albertans are slowly heading back north across the Canadian border and returning home after a long, wet and muddy weekend in the Nevada desert.

Officials say about an inch of rain fell on attendees during the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert, located about three hours north of Reno.

“It would come and go, dried up once, and then the last few days was nothing but rain and mud,” says Calgary’s Trish Wilson.

Wilson returned home Sunday to send her kids off to school after spending the previous few days ankle-deep in mud. Her husband and some members of their group stayed behind to watch the burning of The Man and to tear down the camp.

She says despite officials calling for a shelter in place, and a wet and muddy mess, spirits amongst most attendees stayed dry.

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Click to play video: 'Burning Man exodus: Drone video shows thousands of vehicles trying to leave muddy desert festival'


Burning Man exodus: Drone video shows thousands of vehicles trying to leave muddy desert festival


“Nothing but smiles, and laughter, and playfulness and just surviving,” she says.

The festival first-timer says Burning Man is known to be a community that takes care of one another. She even told Global News about an instance where their group accepted a passerby into their camp until a dust storm settled.

She adds the group’s only concern as the rain fell was keeping the power on and if there was enough food to go around.

“There was not one person that would have gone without. If one person was stranded because of a dust storm, we took them into our camp until the storm ended and then they carried on their way,” she says.


Click to play video: '‘Never seen anything like this’: Burning Man attendees escape muddy mayhem'


‘Never seen anything like this’: Burning Man attendees escape muddy mayhem


Aleks Samarzija’s plane landed at Calgary International Airport Tuesday afternoon after attending his fifth Burning Man festival.

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However, his bags coming home were a little lighter than they were when he left for the United States, leaving anything muddy behind in the desert.

“The mud was a little difficult to get through,” he says.

“But you know what, we put some garbage bags on our feet, tied it up with duct tape and had a blast. The mud didn’t stop us from enjoying our burn.”

On Tuesday, the mass exodus continued as thousands of festival-goers, including Lethbridge’s Sabrina Burrows, made the long trek home.

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This year’s festival was Burrows’ first time, however she has attended regional Burning Man festivals including the Freezer Burn in the Parkland region of Central Alberta.


Click to play video: 'Burning Man festival turns into muddy nightmare'


Burning Man festival turns into muddy nightmare


She believes when it comes to attending outdoor festivals like Burning Man, experience and preparedness play an important role, referring to the campers next to their site who had to leave early after their site flooded.

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“And that’s understandable. like if your supplies are ruined and you don’t have the things to stay, you’re gonna have to go but for anyone who was prepared and kinda had an idea of what to expect we all had a great time and we made do with what there was,” says Burrows.

All three Albertans say despite the cold, wet and muddy conditions, they’re ready to do it all again next year.

However, given this year’s excitement, Samarzjia says it may be tough.

“The rain didn’t stop us; we had a fantastic time. I think people will be talking about it, bet you won’t be able to get a ticket next year,” he says.


Click to play video: '‘Never seen anything like this’: Burning Man attendees escape muddy mayhem'


‘Never seen anything like this’: Burning Man attendees escape muddy mayhem


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

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Marc Becker, CEO of the Tangent Agency and former Universal executive who worked on campaigns for films including “Despicable Me” and “Fast & Furious,” died Aug. 27 of cancer. He was 37.

“If you have worked with us over the years, you have no doubt gotten to experience the larger-than-life presence that was Marc,” Tangent said in a statement. “He was the life of the party, with a million-watt smile that could light up any room. So full of energy, passion and life — he had a genuine joy not only for the work he did but more so for the people he connected with.”

“Ever since joining the Tangent team and taking on the role of CEO, he poured his time, enthusiasm and heart into his work and his work family,” the agency continued. “He changed our lives forever, and we will never forget him.”

Becker first attended the University of Wisconsin where he would work as an intern with the Gersh Agency and Capmark. He would then go on to obtain his master’s in business administration from the USC Marshall School of Business in 2014. He began working with Universal in 2008 as its director of global brand marketing, developing campaigns for films including “Despicable Me” and “Fast & Furious” across their respective franchises. 

In 2015, Becker joined Tangent, an industry-leading creative advertising agency that uses “insight-driven strategy to build brands, run digital campaigns and creative innovative content.” Tangent’s portfolio of clients includes NBC, Disney, Netflix, Mattel, Pixar Animation Studios, Warner Music Group and Lionsgate. 

Donations in tribute to Becker can be made online as a tribute gift to the UCLA Brain Cancer Research fund in honor of Marc Becker by clicking the “Tribute Gift” check box under “Gift Options” and entering Becker’s name. Donations may be made via mail with a check payable to “UCLA Foundation.” On the memo line of the check, please include “Brain Cancer Research Fund; in memory of Marc Becker.” The address is: P.O. Box 7145, Pasadena, CA 91109-9903.

Becker is survived by his wife, Lindsay, and his son, Jett.

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Marc Becker, CEO of the Tangent Agency

Tech

It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s good fun, but also difficult.

What’s more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a new variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently. 

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you’ll probably need some for this game too. 

I’m a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who’s been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #590 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Quordle expert

Your Quordle expert

Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief and has been playing Wordle and Quordle for more than a year. He’s authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom’s Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in every position. His Wordle streak recently reached the 500 mark and he’ll be inconsolable if he loses it. Yes, he takes it all too seriously. 

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #1 – Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #2 – total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today’s Quordle answers is 6.

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #3 – repeated letters

Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #4 – total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 16.

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #5 – uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #6 – starting letters (1)

Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #590) – hint #7 – starting letters (2)

What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?

• P

• T

• M

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #590) – the answers

Quordle answers for game 590 on a yellow background

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle, game #590, are…

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #590) – the answers

Quordle daily sequence answers for game 590 on a yellow background

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #590, are…

Quordle answers: The past 20

  • Quordle #589, Tuesday 5 September: DRYLY, CURVY, MOSSY, TORUS
  • Quordle #588, Monday 4 September: RIPER, ROWER, RUMBA, FJORD
  • Quordle #587, Sunday 3 September: SLUMP, CROOK, REVUE, MUSKY
  • Quordle #586, Saturday 2 September: REVUE, FIGHT, BINGO, SERIF
  • Quordle #585, Friday 1 September: BLOCK, SULKY, VOCAL, IDEAL
  • Quordle #584, Thursday 31 August: FINAL, VOICE, HATCH, TWANG
  • Quordle #583, Wednesday 30 August: MOUNT, SLEET, SCAMP, SAVOY
  • Quordle #582, Tuesday 29 August: BRASS, PASTE, WIDER, PIXIE
  • Quordle #581, Monday 28 August: PAINT, ALLOY, FORTY, FIBER
  • Quordle #580, Sunday 27 August: VOWEL, BLUNT, STOKE, SHADY
  • Quordle #579, Saturday 26 August: LEASH, SMEAR, BASAL, BRIEF
  • Quordle #578, Friday 25 August: CHAMP, CLACK, PIVOT, BOOTH
  • Quordle #577, Thursday 24 August: TAWNY, JETTY, PESTO, PRUNE
  • Quordle #576, Wednesday 23 August: DITTY, BARGE, CANON, GOLLY
  • Quordle #575, Tuesday 22 August: COAST, AWOKE, CLOTH, ANNEX
  • Quordle #574, Monday 21 August: FILTH, TRACE, STONY, FOLIO
  • Quordle #573, Sunday 20 August: WIMPY, PLUNK, FORAY, SHAKE
  • Quordle #572, Saturday 19 August: STIFF, QUOTH, MUCKY, WEDGE
  • Quordle #571, Friday 18 August: EXPEL, ROGUE, PATCH, MINTY
  • Quordle #570, Thursday 17 August: OLDEN, HASTY, ADULT, OLIVE

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It’s played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode – which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! – and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements – specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it’s difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle’s Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Video

When NBC’s Magnum P.I. fifth season returns on October 4 at 9 p.m., the titular character is risking everything in the final episodes of the series. New episodes will air the following day on Peacock.

The series is a modern take on the classic series centering on Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), a decorated former Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator. A charming rogue, an American hero and a die-hard Detroit Tigers fan, Magnum lives in a guest cottage on Robin’s Nest, the luxurious estate where he works as a security consultant to supplement his P.I. business.

Magnum P.I. also stars Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Amy Hill and Tim Kang.

As Deadline revealed exclusively in June, Magnum P.I. will end following Season 5 Part 2 following only one season on NBC. The series previously aired on CBS for four seasons before it was canceled. June was a precarious time for the show’s cast whose options were up on June 30. At the moment, networks continue to be conservative with pickups amid the ongoing writers strike as it’s unclear when scripted series could go into production.

The show, which did well on CBS before being canceled, continues to be a strong draw. Magnum P.I.‘s Season 5 viewership was on par with some of the NBC scripted series, which were renewed for next season.

Watch the teaser in full above.

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When NBC’s Magnum P.I. fifth season returns

Entertaintment

A highlight of the first weekend of the 80th Venice International Film Festival was seeing Giorgio Armani appear on the catwalk, visibly excited, moved, smiling and proudly satisfied with his work. He then advanced graceful and happy, in his impeccable blue tuxedo holding hands with the model Agnese Zogla.

The moment was experienced by the more than 500 guests at Armani’s One Night Only event, where the world of cinema flocked to pay homage to King Giorgio, with guests including Sophia Loren, who has always been his beloved friend, accompanied by her son Edoardo Ponti, actor Benicio Del Toro, actress Jessica Chastain, and directors Ang Lee, Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore.

The standing ovation lasted several minutes from an audience composed of numerous couples from the Italian film star system: from Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini and Pierfrancesco Favino and Anna Ferzetti to Raul Bova and Rocio Munoz Morales to Kasia Smutniak and Domenico Procacci. Other stars and directors spotted in the crowd were Kerry Washington, Lucas Bravo, Lukas Gage, Sydney Sweeney, Sadie Sink, Louis Garrel, Regé-Jean Page, Shu Qi, Ava DuVernay, Luca Guadagnino and Ferzan Ozpetek. The night proved that fashion and cinema, meeting in the city of the festival, can generate an evening of absolute wonder, even if only for one night, as the sign at the entrance read, “Welcoming guests from all over.”

Nnamdi Asomugha, Kerry Washington, Jessica Chastain and Benicio del Toro attend Giorgio Armani “One Night In Venice” front row on September 02, 2023 in Venice, Italy.

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Sixty-five models walked the catwalk inside the Arsenale, the restored old complex of shipyards and workshops near the venues of the Venice Biennale. In the evocative setting of the Tese delle Nappe event venue, Giorgio Armani, 89 years young, presented a reinterpretation of Armani Privé’s last Paris fashion show, which had a harlequin theme. The runway also featured the addition of some precious Venice-inspired gowns, a tribute to the lagoon city much loved by the designer from Piacenza. Parading down the catwalk under the historic columns and arches were long evening gowns in various shades of color, from blue, green and turquoise to black, covered with crystals or with ruffs with geometric motifs to recall the world’s most famous mask in a stunning display of one-of-a-kind craftsmanship.

As singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini, one of the night’s guests, told THR, “The moment of the night was watching Mr. Armani himself take his lap around the runway getting showered with praise and respect — goosebumps,” adding that “the pieces were stunning.”

Model walks the runway of Giorgio Armani

Model walks the runway of Giorgio Armani “One Night In Venice” show on September 02, 2023 in Venice, Italy.

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Until now Armani’s “One Night Only” event had touched seven metropolises: London in 2006, Tokyo in 2007, Beijing in 2012, Rome and New York in 2013, Paris in 2014 and Dubai in 2021, this year it was Venice’s turn. What better time than during the Venice Film Festival, where Armani Beauty is a main sponsor? And who more appropriate than Armani, whose passion born was as a boy, then cultivated and meticulously consolidated over time by dressing celebrities on the world’s most prestigious red carpets and designing the costumes for films that have become iconic, among them American Gigolo. And who else can boast of a documentary dedicated to him, Made in Milan, by Martin Scorsese, which premiered at the fest back in 1990?

Venice also wished to honor him the day before the show by awarding him the Golden Lion in Murano glass received from the hands of the city’s mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who said, “I wanted to recognize the man, his commitment and his great passion for beauty, which he has been able to transform into a successful enterprise, the symbol of Made in Italy in the world.”

“I was very touched by the city’s gesture. The statue was not gold, but I was still quite happy,” joked Armani, in a touching pre-show lecture in Italian. “From my first visit, I was thunderstruck by Venice and all its colors. It is a dreamy paradise … with a decadent atmosphere. Yet it conveys a certain sense of unique elegance,” said the designer, who celebrated the occasion with a super party on Sept. 1 a yacht moored in Riva San Biasio.

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A highlight of the first weekend of

Movies

The film producer claimed he incurred a loss of 8 cr.

Vijay Deverakonda recently announced that he will donate 1 lakh rupees to 100 families to celebrate the release of his latest film, Kushi.

Actor Vijay Deverakonda, known for his generous nature, frequently engaged in charitable activities and surprises both fans and the public with unexpected gifts. He has previously received praise for his philanthropic efforts. Recently, the actor announced that he will donate 1 lakh rupees to 100 families to celebrate the release of his latest film, Kushi.

The success event was hosted in Visakhapatnam on Monday evening and at the event, Vijay revealed he will be donating the said sum to 100 families. He said he will identify families that are in need and donate Rs 1 lakh cheque to each.

“You are happy and I am happy. I am thinking of something and I don’t know if I can pull it off or whether its right or wrong. But, if I don’t do it, I’ll be sleepless. To spread joy with you guys, I will donate Rs 1 crore from my ‘Kushi’ salary to 100 families. I shall select 100 families in need and present them with Rs 1 lakh cheque each in the next 10 days. My success, my happiness and my salary should be shared with you all,” he said.

As Vijay was getting ready to launch this plan, he got a response from a well-known Tollywood producer and distributor. Abhishek Nama from Abhishek Pictures had bought the movie rights for Vijay Deverakonda’s World Famous Lover, released in 2020. Unfortunately, the film’s poor performance at the box office disappointed the audience. The distribution company claimed an eight crore loss because of the film World Famous Lover. Since Vijay is generously donating 1 crore to needy families, they now requested him to help compensate for their loss.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter),he wrote, Dear @TheDeverakonda, We lost 8 crs in the distribution of #WorldFamousLover, but no one responded over it!! Now as you are donating 1CR to the families with your big heart, Kindly requesting & Hoping for you to save us and our Exhibitors & Distributors families also ❤️ Thank you, Yours, Abhishek Pictures. #humanity #Love #empathy”

In its three days, Kushi has collected Rs 70.23 crores worldwide.

Shreyanka Mazumdar

Shreyanka Mazumdar is Chief Sub Editor of the entertainment team at News18. With an unbridled passion for all things Bollywood, music and fashion, she…Read More

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Latest News

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

OSCARS | EMMYS | GRAMMYS | TONYS

2023 Oscars Predictions:
Best Actor

Searchlight Pictures

Weekly Commentary (Updated Sept. 5, 2023): The best actor race will surely be a bloodbath, with every new contender dropping at a festival, living up to (or exceeding) expectations.

We already know that Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) will be two strong bets.

Telluride provided Colman Domingo’s transformative turn in “Rustin” alongside Paul Giamatti’s impeccable work in “The Holdovers.”

Andrew Scott broke the hearts of many with what he delivers in “All of Us Strangers” and Austin Butler shows us that his outstanding work in “Elvis” was no fluke. He’s just as mesmerizing in Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” but category placement will determine how far he goes.

Barry Keoghan leaves everything on the floor in Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” and coming off his first nom for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” an “afterglow” nom isn’t out of the question.

Venice has also added Adam Driver from “Ferrari,” and Bradley Cooper from “Maestro,” and TIFF is expected to get many excited for Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction” and Jamie Foxx in “The Burial.”

There aren’t enough spots for all this talent.

Plenty more movies can move in or shift out of the calendar year. It’s still early, but the chess pieces are being implemented, and this category already looks like a bloodbath of competition.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

***The list below is not final and will be updated throughout the awards season.

And the Predicted Nominees Are:

  1. Colman Domingo — “Rustin” (Netflix)
  2. Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  3. Leonardo DiCaprio — “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  4. Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
  5. Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction” (MGM)

Next in Line

  1. Andrew Scott — “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures)
  2. Bradley Cooper — “Maestro” (Netflix)
  3. Anthony Hopkins — “Freud’s Last Session” (Sony Pictures Classics) **
  4. Adam Driver — “Ferrari” (Neon)
  5. Austin Butler — “The Bikeriders” (20th Century Studios) **

Other Top-Tier Possibilities

  1. Barry Keoghan — “Saltburn” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  2. Gael García Bernal — “Cassandro” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  3. Matt Damon — “Air” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  4. Jamie Foxx — “The Burial” (Amazon MGM Studios)
  5. Kôji Yakusho — “Perfect Days” (Neon)
  6. David Strathairn — “A Little Prayer” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  7. Paul Dano — “Dumb Money” (Sony Pictures)
  8. Christian Friedel — “The Zone of Interest” (A24)
  9. Michael Fassbender — “The Killer” (Netflix)
  10. Jon Bernthal — “Origin” (Neon)

Also In Contention

  1. Zac Efron — “The Iron Claw” (A24)
  2. Teo Yoo — “Past Lives” (A24) **
  3. Joaquin Phoenix — “Napoleon” (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures)
  4. Jay Baruchel — “BlackBerry” (IFC Films)
  5. Benoît Magime — “The Taste of Things” (IFC Films/Sapan Studio)
  6. Josh O’Connor — “La Chimera” (Neon)
  7. Jesse Garcia — “Flamin’ Hot” (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)
  8. Paul Mescal — “Foe” (Amazon Studios)
  9. Nicolas Cage — “Dream Scenario” (A24)
  10. Alden Ehrenreich — “Fair Play” (Netflix)
  11. Kelvin Harrison Jr. — “Chevalier” (Searchlight Pictures)

All Eligible Titles (Alphabetized by Studio)**

  • Kenneth Branagh — “A Haunting in Venice” (20th Century Studios)
  • Austin Butler — “The Bikeriders” (20th Century Studios) **
  • Tom Hardy — “The Bikeriders” (20th Century Studios) **
  • Joaquin Phoenix — “Beau is Afraid” (A24)
  • Nicolas Cage — “Dream Scenario” (A24)
  • Zac Efron — “The Iron Claw” (A24) **
  • Tee Yoo — “Past Lives” (A24)
  • Jacob Elordi — “Priscilla” (A24) **
  • Jesse Eisenberg — “When You Finish Saving the World” (A24)
  • Christian Friedel — “The Zone of Interest” (A24)
  • Matt Damon — “Air” (Amazon Studios)
  • Jamie Foxx — “The Burial” (Amazon Studios)
  • Gael García Bernal — “Cassandro” (Amazon Studios)
  • Paul Mescal — “Foe” (Amazon Studios)
  • Barry Keoghan — “Saltburn” (Amazon Studios)
  • Riz Ahmed — “Fingernails” (Apple Original Films)
  • Orén Kinlan — “Flora and Son” (Apple Original Films) **
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt — “Flora and Son” (Apple Original Films) **
  • Leonardo DiCaprio — “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
  • Joaquin Phoenix — “Napoleon” (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures)
  • Liev Schreiber — “Across the River and Into the Trees” (Bleecker Street)
  • Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
  • Jay Baruchel — “BlackBerry” (IFC Films)
  • Benoît Magime — “The Taste of Things” (IFC Films/Sapan Studio)
  • Jesse Garcia — “Flamin’ Hot” (Hulu/Searchlight Pictures)
  • Keanu Reeves — “John Wick Chapter 4” (Lionsgate)
  • Joel Edgerton — “Master Gardener” (Magnolia Pictures)
  • Paul Rudd — “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quanumania” (Marvel Studios)
  • Bradley Cooper — “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Marvel Studios) **
  • Chris Pratt — “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Marvel Studios) **
  • Callum Turner — “The Boys in the Boat” (MGM)
  • Michael B. Jordan — “Creed III” (MGM)
  • Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction” (MGM)
  • Jaime Vadell — “El Conde” (Netflix)
  • Alden Ehrenreich — “Fair Play” (Netflix)
  • Josh O’Connor — “La Chimera” (Neon)
  • Jon Bernthal — “Origin” (Neon)
  • Kôji Yakusho — “Perfect Days” (Neon)
  • Michael Fassbender — “The Killer” (Netflix)
  • Bradley Cooper — “Maestro” (Netflix)
  • Colman Domingo — “Rustin” (Netflix)
  • Robert DeNiro — “Ezra” (No U.S. Distribution)
  • Peter Sarsgaard — “Memory” (No U.S Distribution)
  • Jon Bernthal – “Origin” (No U.S. Distribution) **
  • Kingsley Ben-Adir — “Bob Marley: One Love” (Paramount Pictures)
  • Tom Cruise — “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (Paramount Pictures)
  • Andrew Scott — “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures)
  • Kelvin Harrison Jr. — “Chevalier” (Searchlight Pictures)
  • Jonathan Majors — “Magazine Dreams” (Searchlight Pictures) **
  • Michael Fassbender — “Next Goal Wins” (Searchlight Pictures) **
  • Lakeith Stanfield — “The Book of Clarence” (Sony Pictures)
  • Paul Dano — “Dumb Money” (Sony Pictures)
  • Denzel Washington — “The Equalizer 3” (Sony Pictures)
  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson — “Kraven the Hunter” (Sony Pictures)
  • Shameik Moore — “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)
  • Anthony Hopkins — “Freud’s Last Session” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  • David Strathairn — “A Little Prayer” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  • Adam Driver — “Ferrari” (Neon)
  • Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
  • Jason Mamoa — “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (Warner Bros.)
  • Ryan Gosling — “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) **
  • Xolo Maridueña — “Blue Beetle” (Warner Bros.)
  • Timothée Chalamet — “Wonka” (Warner Bros.)
  • Harrison Ford — “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (Warner Bros.)
  • Jonah Hauer-King — “The Little Mermaid” (Walt Disney Pictures)

2022 category winner: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale” (A24)

** indicates an unconfirmed release date in 2023 or could campaign in the lead or supporting categories. All release dates are subject to change.

Oscars Predictions Categories

BEST PICTURE | DIRECTOR | BEST ACTOR | BEST ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY | ADAPTED SCREENPLAY | ANIMATED FEATURE | PRODUCTION DESIGN | CINEMATOGRAPHY | COSTUME DESIGN | FILM EDITING | MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING | SOUND | VISUAL EFFECTS | ORIGINAL SCORE | ORIGINAL SONG | DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | INTERNATIONAL FEATURE | ANIMATED SHORT | DOCUMENTARY SHORT | LIVE ACTION SHORT

About the Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners have been selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Seventeen branches are represented within the nearly 10,000-person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members-at-large, members-at-large (artists’ representatives), music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.

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Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all

MCU

Spider-Verse 2 is now available to watch from home, but when can fans expect it to be streaming for no extra cost?

Eager fans who want to scrub through every frame of Across the Spider-Verse have been able to purchase the film digitally since August 8.

In July, it was announced that Spider-Verse 2 would be available on Blu-ray and other physical copies in September, 95 days after its theatrical release on June 2.

Spider-Verse 2 Available on Digital & Blu-ray

Sony Pictures is officially celebrating the physical Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k Ultra HD release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

As the official Spider-Verse X (formerly Twitter) account stated, “We’ve got some good news swinging your way…”

The short promotional clip shows a lot of choppy action, including Miguel O’Hara jumping on Jessica Drew’s motorcycle.

Sony Pictures Animation

In the heat of battle, a colorful glimpse of Gwen Stacy is shown, swinging into a kick on the Vulture.

Spider-Gwen kicking Vulture through the air
Sony Pictures Animation

Watch the full trailer below:

When Will Spider-Verse 2 Hit Netflix?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s first streaming stop will be on Netflix, then Disney+.

Netflix holds the rights to all newly released Sony movies in the first 18 months of the pay-one window (the first streaming period after the theatrical release).

Sony has been fairly consistent in its theater-to-streaming window since the studio signed this deal that started in 2022.

Here’s a look at all the full theatrical-to-Netflix release windows from recent 2022-2023 Sony films:

  • Uncharted – February 18, 2022 – August 5, 2022 (168 days)
  • Morbius – April 1, 2022 – September 7, 2022 (159 days)
  • Father Stu – April 13, 2022 – September 16, 2022 (156 days)
  • Where the Crawdads Sing – July 15, 2022 – November 12, 2022 (120 days)
  • Bullet Train – August 5, 2022 – December 3, 2022 (120 days)
  • Lyle, Lyle Crocodile – October 7, 2022 – February 4, 2023 (120 days)
  • A Man Called Otto – December 29, 2022 – May 6, 2023 (129 days)
  • 65 – March 10, 2023 – July 8, 2023 (120 days)

While it could be obvious that Spider-Verse 2 will begin streaming 120 days after its theatrical release, its Blu-ray release could signal an even longer wait.

Fellow 2023 Sony Pictures films 65 and A Man Called Otto became available on physical 81 and 60 days after opening, respectively.

The 95-day window between theaters and Blu-ray may be a sign that Across the Spider-Verse will release closer to 130 days after opening in theaters.

Just as it did in theaters by grossing $689.3 million, Sony Pictures could give this film time to earn even more money through physical sales.

Following along with this prediction, Spider-Verse 2 would drop on Netflix beginning on October 10.

For now, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is available to purchase on digital platforms or on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4k Ultra HD copies.

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DCU

It doesn’t matter how many home invasion movies we watch in our lives. They will ALWAYS scare us. The same is true of alien invasion films. Each is an established horror movie trope for good reason. They play on the fear of seeing the place we feel safest turned into the scene of our worst nightmare. There’s something uniquely awful about having our personal sanctuary violated. Now Hulu is going to try and deliver something truly horrific by combining both in No One Will Save You, a film from 20th Century Studios called a “sci-fi psychological thriller.” We don’t know if we’ll be thrilled by something so unsettling, but the creepy first trailer for No One Will Save You proves it’ll certainly frighten us.

No. No, I don’t like that. By “that” I mean how upsetting this premise makes me feel. As for the No One Will Save You trailer and premise, I like both a lot. This feels like Signs crossed with a Jordan Peele movie, The Strangers, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That’s a pretty good recipe for a story that will have us cowering under our blanket the first time we hear a creak in the night.

This is the second film from writer-director Brian Duffield (Spontaneous). It stars Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as Brynn. In a press release Disney describes Brynn as a “formidable fighter when it comes to her unwelcome and unearthly intruders.” Her gumption standing up to supreme beings will confuse her new space enemies. But monsters from another world aren’t the only thing she’ll be battling. The film’s official synopsis says the horror movie “is an action-packed face-off between Brynn and a host of extraterrestrial beings who threaten her future while forcing her to deal with her past.”

20th Century Studios

Facing both intergalactic invaders and your regrets? Forget combining two classic horror tropes. Dealing with our past might be even scarier than an alien home invasion.

No One Will Save You arrives on Hulu in the US on September 22, 2023. That’s also when it debuts on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ everywhere else.











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It doesn’t matter how many home

Comics

Starfield is a game that takes a little while to start cooking. At first, things may feel slightly cumbersome and awkward, as do plenty of other Bethesda games on the market. But, as you slowly start to build the world around you together, things start clicking into place like an intricate puzzle. However, one piece of the puzzle never really finds its spot to be placed, and that’s the horrid menu system. It’s like Menuception in here, with a menu within a menu, and it feels like this could be elevated with ease.

That’s what makes this mock-up by Reddit user u/turbokacperel all the more impressive. Condensing the inventory screen into an easier-to-read, navigate, and overall manage experience sounds like something that will keep a lot of players engaged further than they may be already.

Reddit Post via r/Starfield by u/turbokacperel

Starfield is an incredibly ambitious game with plenty to love, but the menus are not one of those particular things. Less time spent in the menus and more time exploring would be ideal, as a lot of time could be spent navigating through the less-than-intuitive menu system in Starfield.

Users have already begun tagging Bethesda Softworks director Todd Howard in the Reddit thread, hoping that this is brought to his attention. Will we likely see a complete menu overhaul shortly? I can honestly hope so because I’m personally loving everything else that Starfield has brought to the table.

Reddit Comment via u/BudgetWar8

Only time will tell if this thread will gain the attention of the head of Bethesda, so make sure that you tag him in it as quickly as possible to express your interest. At least the Modding community has the back of the PC community, with console support coming in the future to hopefully bring this concept to life and give us the menu we all deserve.

About the Author

Shaun Cichacki

As a fan of RPGs, Action & Retro titles, Shaun has been gaming since he was a young boy. With an overwhelming obsession involving Metal Gear Solid and Pizza Tower, you know you’re in for a wild ride when it comes to things he’s writing about.

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Starfield is a game that takes a

Festivals

In the realm of cinematic storytelling, light isn’t just a tool to illuminate scenes; it’s a powerful storytelling device that can shape the mood, tone, and narrative of a film.

One of the most visually striking and evocative lighting techniques in filmmaking is chiaroscuro lighting. Derived from the Italian words “chiaro” (light) and “scuro” (dark), chiaroscuro is a technique that explores the interplay of light and shadow to create dramatic and visually compelling images.

In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of chiaroscuro lighting, uncovering its history, techniques, and its transformative role in cinema.

We work in a 2-dimensional medium, but we still want to create a three-dimensional look. Well, “look” no further than this time-tested method for accomplishing that goal. Chiaroscuro lighting.

Chiaroscuro Definition

Chiaroscuro is the use of contrast in light and shading across an entire image composition. It is a technique that creates a three-dimensional quality in images on a two-dimensional plane.

Chiaroscuro lighting was developed by Leonardo Davinci, Caravaggio, Vermeer, and Rembrandt. It is a signature quality in the works of their Renaissance art movement but is also well known today for its role in defining the film noir sub-genre of movies(among others) through low-key photography.

Chiaroscuro Lighting in Film and Art 

‘The Godfather’CREDIT: Paramount Pictures

Chiaroscuro lighting finds its roots in the art world, particularly in the paintings of the Italian Renaissance. Artists like Caravaggio and Rembrandt were masters of this technique, using it to achieve a sense of depth, drama, and emotional resonance in their works.

In cinema, chiaroscuro lighting was popularized by film noir in the 1940s and has since become a staple in various film genres, from horror to drama.

Long after Rembrandt and co. defined it. But still, before it was used to create the pools of darkness that slowly enveloped Michael Corleone and his soul in The Godfather, Chiaroscuro lighting was pioneered in film during a movement called German Expressionism.

The sparse, harsh technique created a sense of literal darkness and would soon work it’s way into American movies in prominent fashion with Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Film noir was born shortly after that and the style became ingrained in our national psyche.

Why Use Chiaroscuro lighting

Film Noir: A Comprehensive Guide‘The Maltese Falcon’CREDIT: Warner Bros.

Chiaroscuro lighting is a potent tool for conveying emotion in film. The interplay of light and shadow can emphasize a character’s inner turmoil, enhance the atmosphere of a scene, or even symbolize moral ambiguity.

By using chiaroscuro effectively, filmmakers can engage viewers on a subconscious level, drawing them deeper into the story.

Wo, why else do we use this kind of lighting?

  • Film Noir: Chiaroscuro lighting is synonymous with the film noir genre, known for its crime, intrigue, and moral ambiguity. The contrast between light and shadow in film noir is as much a character as the actors themselves.
  • Horror: In horror films, chiaroscuro lighting is employed to heighten tension and create terrifying visuals. Shadows hide the unknown, while light reveals the horrors lurking within.
  • Drama: Chiaroscuro can also be used in dramatic films to accentuate pivotal moments, heightening the emotional impact of key scenes.

​The Key Elements of Chiaroscuro Lighting

hard lighting kane‘Citizen Kane’Credit: Warner Bros.

There are many different ways to approach recreating the Chiaroscuro look. The classic method is to light half of someone’s face, and let the other half fall off into darkness.

But there are varying degrees beyond that.Do you want to set up a strong backlight, creating a sort of a low-key lighting halo effect? Obscuring the figures face in the process?

We referred to chiaroscuro as painting with light, but it’s also a kind of writing with light. The image and frame itself become the story.

What part of the story do you wish to reveal with light in this moment of your story?

Let’s take a look at some examples at using this in your own work.

  • High Contrast: At the heart of chiaroscuro lighting is a stark contrast between areas of light and shadow. This extreme contrast helps to create a sense of tension and intrigue in a scene.
  • Directional Light: Chiaroscuro lighting typically involves using a single, strong light source positioned at an angle to the subject. This directional light creates dramatic shadows and highlights.
  • Limited Fill Light: Fill light is minimal in chiaroscuro setups, allowing for deep shadows and areas of darkness that heighten the sense of mystery and suspense.
  • Light Placement: Experiment with the angle and position of your light source to achieve the desired level of contrast and shadow.
  • Modifiers: Use flags, diffusers, and gobos to shape and control the light, allowing you to craft intricate chiaroscuro effects.
  • Color Temperature: Consider the color temperature of your light source to add depth and dimension to your scenes.

How to Add Depth to Your Shots

The Taking of Christ

The Taking of Christ (Caravaggio, c. 1602))

There are lots of ways you can add depth to your shot — you can place objects in the foreground and background, use a shallow depth of field, or employ the parallax effect. But chiaroscuro is one method you should know and use every time your shoot involves lighting.

Let’s look back, since we’re on the topic of painting, at the chiaroscuro lighting technique as employed during the Baroque period (1600s) in which Vermeer, as well as my boy Caravaggio, were busy churning out the famed tronie Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Taking of Christ respectively.

Chiaroscuro Lighting Technique and How It Works

This video by Jordy Vandeput explains the details of this lighting technique (it’s more of a tenet really): how it works, how to light it, and how artists such as the great Vermeer used it in his own paintings.

In essence, this lighting technique seems simple enough — use dimmer and brighter lights in opposing succession to create contrast (light/dark), however you’ll soon find out, when handling such unwieldy things as lights, that it’s true what they say: cinematography is basically painting with light — and painting ain’t no easy task.

The reason I really enjoyed this video is because I’m a huge history nerd — if you mix film techniques with any amount of art history, I’ll go cuckoo bananas. (All Jordy had to do was mention Vermeer’s name.)

Chiaroscuro lighting is a timeless and visually captivating technique that has left an indelible mark on the world of cinema. Whether you’re a filmmaker aiming to evoke emotion, a cinematographer seeking to create striking visuals, or simply a film enthusiast interested in the art of storytelling, understanding chiaroscuro lighting is a valuable addition to your cinematic toolbox.

By mastering the interplay of light and shadow, you can elevate your filmmaking to new heights, crafting memorable and evocative stories that leave a lasting impact on your audience. Embrace the chiaroscuro, and let your creativity shine through the darkness.

How do you create depth in your compositions?

What’s your favorite Vermeer/Caravaggio painting?

Let us know in the comments below.

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In the realm of cinematic storytelling, light

Film

As the SAG-AFTRA strike continues on, Aaron Paul has become the latest actor to call out Netflix for its residual model. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada at a recent SAG rally, Paul suggested that he received zero compensation from the streamer for the performance of his hit series “Breaking Bad.”

“I don’t get a piece from Netflix on ‘Breaking Bad’ to be totally honest and that’s insane to me,” Paul told the publication (via Variety). “Shows live forever on these streamers and it goes through waves. And I just saw the other day that ‘Breaking Bad’ was trending on Netflix, and it’s just such common sense, and a lot of these streamers, they know they have been getting away with not paying people just fair wage and now it’s time to pony up.”

Paul, who reunited with his “Breaking Bad” costars Bryan Cranston and Jesse Plemons at the rally, played Jesse Pinkman in all five seasons of the AMC drama. The series, created by Vince Gilligan, ran from 2008 to 2013, and was decently successful ratings-wise on linear television. But the show proved wildly successful on Netflix when it was added to the platform prior to the Season 4 premiere, and became a top-performer for the streamer. In 2019, Paul reprised his role for a sequel film “El Camino,” which was released as a Netflix original.

Paul’s comments follow several other actors who have voiced dissatisfaction over Netflix’s compensation for their work. Kimiko Glenn, who starred in Netflix original “Orange is the New Black,” said in a TikTok video posted shortly after SAG went on strike that the ensemble cast of the series, which ran for seven seasons, needed to get second jobs during its run. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “Gilmore Girls” actor Sean Gunn said he received no compensation for the show’s performance on Netflix.

In July, Cranston gave a speech at SAG-AFTRA’s “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” rally in New York City, pointedly calling out Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger for calling SAG and the WGA’s demands “not realistic” and “very disturbing.”

“We’ve got a message for Mr. Iger,” Cranston said. “I know, sir, that you look [at] things through a different lens. We don’t expect you to understand who we are. But we ask you to hear us, and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living. And lastly, and most importantly, we will not allow you to take away our dignity! We are union through and through, all the way to the end!”

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As the SAG-AFTRA strike continues on, Aaron

TV

Marcia DeRousse, who came to the aid of the supernatural as Dr. Patricia Ludwig on the HBO drama True Blood, died Saturday in Altadena after a long illness, a publicist announced. She was 70.

She wrote on Facebook in April that a fall in her doctor’s office was going to “lead to my death,” adding that the spill “caused my hiatal hernia to move to an area where it is now dangerous.”

The 4-foot-4 DeRousse made her big-screen debut alongside fellow little person Billy Barty in the Warner Bros. film Under the Rainbow (1981), also starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher. She also was in the movies Tiptoes (2002) and D.J. Caruso’s The Disappointments Room (2016).

DeRousse appeared on episodes on the Alan Ball-created True Blood during its second, fourth and seventh seasons.

A native of Doniphan, Missouri, DeRousse graduated from the University of Missouri and came to Los Angeles with her mother in 1980. She became interested in a career as an actor while teaching in the Pasadena public school system.

A chance meeting with Barty led to her appearing as one of the hotel guests in Under the Rainbow, and she followed with guest-starring turns on ABC’s The Fall Guy and NBC’s St. Elsewhere.

DeRousse, who lived in Altadena, considered Poltergeist actress Zelda Rubinstein a mentor. She was described as “an outspoken dynamo with a distinct, sharp wit,” an advocate for opportunities for the senior disabled community and a lover of cats, especially strays.

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Marcia DeRousse, who came to the aid

What to Watch

Emma (Dakota Fanning) reports to Frank what is happening in Italy in Columbia Pictures ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo: Stefano Montesi.

We’ve all watched Dakota Fanning grow up on the big screen.

The talented actress began her career at just the age of five and quickly was starring opposite Sean Penn in the Oscar-nominated ‘I Am Sam.’ She would go on in her youth to appear in such films as ‘Man on Fire‘ opposite Denzel Washington, ‘War of the Worlds‘ opposite Tom Cruise, ‘Hide and Seek‘ opposite Robert De Niro and the big screen adaption of Dr. Seuss‘ ‘The Cat in the Hat.’

As an adult, Fanning has continued to appear in high profile movies like ‘The Runaways‘ with Kristen Stewart, ‘Ocean’s Eight,’ with Sandra Bullock, and Quentin Tarantino‘s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood‘ playing Squeaky Fromme, as well as having a role in ‘The Twilight Saga.’

Her new film, ‘The Equalizer 3,’ which reunites Fanning with her ‘Man on Fire’ co-star Denzel Washington, will open in theaters on September 1st. In honor of its release, Moviefone is counting down the 20 best movies of Dakota Fanning’s career, including her latest.

Let’s begin!

Bella (Kristen Stewart) once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward (Robert Pattinson) and her friendship with Jacob (Taylor Lautner), knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother’s past.

The Secret Life of Bees

“Bring Your Girlfriends, Sisters, Mothers and Daughters.”

75

PG-131 hr 54 minSep 17th, 2008

Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay) the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte (Julia Roberts), a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.

Charlotte's Web

“Something unexpected, unbelievable, unforgettable.”

62

G1 hr 37 minDec 15th, 2006

Showtimes & Tickets

Forks, Washington resident Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is reeling from the departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and finds comfort in her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a werewolf. But before she knows it, she’s thrust into a centuries-old conflict, and her desire to be with Edward at any cost leads her to take greater and greater risks.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

A newly married couple (Fanning and Theo James) are forced to navigate the all-consuming interest of a powerful, mysterious, and possessive philanthropist.

The Benefactor

“His help comes at a price.”

49

Not Yet Rated1 hr 30 minApr 17th, 2015

A scene from 2018's 'Ocean's 8.'

A scene from 2018’s ‘Ocean’s 8.’ Photo: Warner Bros.

Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), a criminal mastermind, gathers a crew of female thieves to pull off the heist of the century at New York’s annual Met Gala.

Ocean's Eight

After the birth of Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

Errol Flynn (Kevin Kline), the swashbuckling Hollywood star and notorious ladies man, flouted convention all his life, but never more brazenly than in his last years when, swimming in vodka and unwilling to face his mortality, he undertook a liaison with an aspiring actress, Beverly Aadland (Fanning). The two had a high-flying affair that spanned the globe and was enabled by the girl’s fame-obsessed mother, Florence. It all came crashing to an end in October 1959, when events forced the relationship into the open, sparking an avalanche of publicity castigating Beverly and her mother (Susan Sarandon) – which only fed Florence’s need to stay in the spotlight.

The Last of Robin Hood

“Beware Cupid’s arrow.”

57

R1 hr 32 minSep 5th, 2014

Set in postwar America, a man (Ewan McGregor) watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter’s (Fanning) new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.

American Pastoral

“A radically ordinary story.”

61

R1 hr 48 minOct 21st, 2016

Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy), the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny for precocious Ray (Fanning), the oft ignored daughter of a music executive she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.

Uptown Girls

“They’re about to teach each other how to act their age.”

66

PG-131 hr 32 minAug 15th, 2003

Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in director Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds.'

(L to R) Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in director Steven Spielberg’s ‘War of the Worlds.’ Photo: Dreamworks/Paramount.

Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband drop off his teenage son (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter (Fanning) for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.

War of the Worlds

“They’re already here.”

65

PG-131 hr 57 minJun 23rd, 2005

During a rainy day, and while their mother is out, Conrad (Spencer Breslin) and Sally (Fanning), and their pet fish, are visited by the mischievous Cat in the Hat (Mike Myers). Fun soon turns to mayhem, and the siblings must figure out how to rid themselves of the maniacal Cat.

The Cat in the Hat

“Don’t mess with the hat.”

53

PG1 hr 21 minNov 8th, 2003

8. ‘Push‘ (2009)

After his father, an assassin, is brutally murdered, Nick Gant (Chris Evans) vows revenge on Division, the covert government agency that dabbles in psychic warfare and experimental drugs. Hiding in Hong Kong’s underworld, Nick assembles a band of rogue psychics dedicated to destroying Division. Together with Cassie (Fanning), a teenage clairvoyant, Nick goes in search of a missing girl and a stolen suitcase that could be the key to accomplishing their mutual goal.

Push

“One push can change everything.”

61

PG-131 hr 51 minFeb 6th, 2009

David Callaway (Robert De Niro) tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife’s suicide and has been left to raise his nine-year-old daughter, Emily (Fanning) on his own. David is at first amused to discover that Emily has created an imaginary friend named ‘Charlie’, but it isn’t long before ‘Charlie’ develops a sinister and violent side, and as David struggles with his daughter’s growing emotional problems, he comes to the frightening realization that ‘Charlie’ isn’t just a figment of Emily’s imagination.

Hide and Seek

“Come out, come out, whatever you are.”

64

R1 hr 41 minJan 27th, 2005

A young girl (Fanning) discovers an idealized parallel universe behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that it contains a sinister secret.

Coraline

“Enter a world beyond your wildest dreams… and nightmares”

78

PG1 hr 40 minFeb 5th, 2009

Showtimes & Tickets

Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington on the set of 'The Equalizer 3.'

(L to R) Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington on the set of ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo: Stefano Cristiiano Montesi.

Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.

The Equalizer 3

“Justice knows no borders.”

Not Yet RatedSep 1st, 2023

Showtimes & Tickets

Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds… Read the Plot

Sam (Sean Penn), a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy (Fanning) on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam’s limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer) to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.

I Am Sam

“Love is all you need.”

76

PG-132 hr 12 minDec 3rd, 2001

Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Fanning), two rebellious teenagers from Southern California, become the frontwomen for the Runaways — the now-legendary group that paved the way for future generations of female rockers. Under the Svengali-like influence of impresario Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), the band becomes a huge success.

The Runaways

“It’s 1975 and they’re about to explode.”

64

R1 hr 46 minJan 24th, 2010

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Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha).

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington in director Tony Scott's 'Man on Fire.'

(L to R) Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington in director Tony Scott’s ‘Man on Fire.’

Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy (Washington) reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl (Fanning) in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she’s kidnapped he’s consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.

Man on Fire

“Creasy’s art is death, and he is about to paint his masterpiece.”

74

R2 hr 26 minApr 21st, 2004

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Emma (Dakota Fanning) reports to Frank what

Awards

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The coronavirus has made N95, KN95 and N94 masks a part of everyday life. Although mask mandates are generally no longer in effect in most places, many people continue to rely on respirator masks to protect their health where air quality is bad or to prevent exposure to airborne viruses and new COVID-19 variants. For those who need a restock, one Hollywood-loved brand has just restocked its popular KN95 face masks.

Evolvetogether’s KN95 face masks for adults and kids are back in stock in black, navy and burgundy colorways. The breathable and disposable masks cost $15 for a pack of five and have 95 percent particle and bacterial filtration efficiencies (PFE and BFE) and 98 percent viral filtration efficiency (VFE). Per the brand, its KN95 masks are made with medical-grade materials in an FDA-registered factory and meet all government-required standards (so you’ll see their GB number printed on the packaging).

The company’s KN95 kids face masks feature four layers (a non-woven water-resistant out layer, two meltblown filtration layers and a non-woven moisture-absorbing inner layer), comfortable ear loops and an adjustable nose bridge, and the fit most children between the ages of 3 to 8.

Evolvetogether’s stylish face masks have been seen on Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Dakota Johnson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Pete Davidson, Sarah Jessica Parker and many other Hollywood stars. The brand also offers personal care collection of deodorants, refillable hand sanitizers and hydrating hand creams and dissolvable hand soaps as well as biodegradable storage and tote bags.

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Music

Zach Bryan’s battle against Ticketmaster appears to be over.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the “I Remember Everything” singer announced on Tuesday that for his upcoming Quittin’ Time Tour, he will be using all ticketing sites — including Ticketmaster. The decision walks back his ticketing strategy for his recently completed Burn, Burn, Burn Tour, which largely cut out Ticketmaster in an effort to address fan frustrations regarding the company and the ticketing marketplace as a whole.

“Everyone complained about AXS last year. Using all ticketing sites this year,” Bryan, who topped Billboard’s Album and Hot 100 charts for the first time this week, wrote. “All my homies still do hate Ticketmaster but hard to realize one guy can’t change the whole system. It is intentionally broken and I’ll continue to feel absolutely horrible about the cost of tickets in an unfair market.”

Not long after the infamous controversy over Ticketmaster’s handling of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Bryan announced at the end of last year that he would avoid working with the company, and instead tickets were listed on AXS, owned by Live Nation’s largest competitor AEG. (He even titled his live album All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.)

“I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four-hundred bucks to be there and I’m done with it,” Bryan tweeted last December. It should be noted that artists typically set their own ticket prices, and it’s unclear whether Bryan was talking about prices on his official sale or from resellers. “I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show. I’m so tired of people saying things can’t be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money from working class people.”

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Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, had received far more than just Bryan’s scorn: It also faced a DOJ investigation over alleged anticompetitive practices. The company was grilled for hours during a Senate judiciary hearing earlier this year regarding competition in the live-music industry. Live Nation has repeatedly denied it operates as a monopoly and instead has pushed for ticketing reform focused on higher regulation of the secondary market and giving artists more power over their tickets.

Outside of issues on the primary market, to try and stop price gouging from scalpers on resale, Bryan opted to make his tickets non-transferable. Fans had to use a special fan-to-fan exchange hosted on AXS that only allowed customers to sell tickets at face value. (Some resale sites listed those tickets anyway.)

Bryan also didn’t appear to use so-called “dynamic pricing,” which often leads to significant price increases as ticket prices are modified to reflect demand.

Those strategies — which to be fair, are also available for artists on Ticketmaster — can give artists with fast-selling shows more control over keeping their ticket prices affordable; Bryan said in February that not one ticket was sold for more than $156, including fees and tax. But the strategy makes getting tickets outside of the official on-sale much harder, since tickets can’t be listed elsewhere. Many fans had voiced frustration after the on-sale earlier this year, though it’s unclear if those are the complaints Bryan referred to in his new tweet. (A rep for Bryan declined to comment further on the matter.)

Bryan isn’t the only artist who tried addressing the ticketing problems for their shows. Robert Smith and The Cure employed a similar strategy with Ticketmaster for their recent North American tour, making tickets non-transferable and opting out of platinum-ticket prices. They had some issues too: Fees on some purchases were greater than the ticket prices themselves. Smith was particularly vocal online about those problems, and Ticketmaster offered small refunds.

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Those problems aside, like Bryan, The Cure had instituted changes in their concerts hoping to make a deeply broken and frustrating system better for fans. As Bryan appears to have acknowledged today, even with all those efforts, that’s not enough to stop fans from being disappointed if they miss out.

Smith felt likewise. Before The Cure’s on-sale, he wrote: “The reality is that if there aren’t enough tickets on sale, a number of fans are going to miss out whatever system we use.”

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Zach Bryan’s battle against Ticketmaster appears

Docs

As the R.E.M song goes, it’s the end of the world as we know…but sadly, no one feels fine. Nina Romain looks at the more realistic post-apocalyptic movies.

Post apocalyptic movies should not really end well, but you might hope at least for a semi-hopeful ending. If not the typical Hollywood happy ending where everyone drives off into the sunset to find the day has been saved, maybe the survivors usually find out that they’re not alone after all and there is, perhaps, some glimmer of hope left?

They may discover there’s a cure for the fatal disease that’s destroyed most of the world, with a last-reel bunch of doctors/scientists/faith healers who are ready to save everyone. But some films prefer to focus on what happens when everything isn’t all right.

Classic post-apocalyptic I am Legend (2007) opens on the sole survivor of a post-apocalyptic nightmare, Robert Neville. He is managing to stay healthy and fairly sane, despite getting random flashbacks of his former life and (deceased) family, including a bizarre ringing in his ears. He barricades his home and stays busy playing golf in a deserted New York, and dreams of finding more survivors. With a sequel possibly on the way, we may find out Neville gets a happier ending.

Another end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it drama, again in the States, is Carriers (2009). This drama is set against the backdrop of a global plague which has wiped out nearly the entire population. It starts with four teens driving hell-for-leather down a (suspiciously empty) freeway, and the vehicle has a photo in the front seat of two young boys at a remote beach-side getaway.

Then the reasons for both become clear; it’s no carefree roadtrip to the beach for a weekend of fun. The road is empty because the teens are driving through a bleak landscape of deserted Americana, a desolate setting of empty, corpse-strewn towns, with body bags crammed into lorries.

The reason for the beach picture is that it is of the two brothers, Brian and Danny Green, who are driving in search of the beach house they used to stay at as children, in paradisal Turtle Beach, Texas. There they hope to find safety among the death toll and believe they can rebuild their lives.

The gang of survivors, headed by the unofficial leader Brian (Chris Pine in a pre-fame role) and his girlfriend Bobby, wander into an abandoned hospital to find it empty except for a few remaining dying kids. The last doctor is doling out fatal doses of drugs to end their pain, and telling the children in their last moments that they are “going to Paris” after they take their “medicine”. Horrified, the teens realise there’s nothing they can do to help, and just leave again.

Towards the end, the group discover that Bobby has been fatally infected after trying to help a sick child, and Brian orders her out of the car with a few supplies and leaves her to her fate before she can also infect them. The remaining three stare at Bobby, dumped terrified on the road like a discarded garment, as the car drives away. Brian later dies as they finally draw near the beach hideout that they’ve been looking for.

Carriers’ last few minutes sees the remaining two protagonists – at this point they probably don’t qualify as heroes, seeing as they’ve just had a hand in the other lead’s death – standing on the beach of the Greens’ childhood home. They thought it was a sanctuary, but it turned out to be another death trap, with nothing but tumbledown shacks and rotting food rather than vital supplies of tinned goods. Danny’s desolate voiceover adds: “I know I will die alone” in the film’s closing moments in the failed refuge. There’s no Final Girl or Boy.

Closer to home and shot in the last century, the UK war-drama horror Threads (1984) was once billed as “Britain’s bleakest film”. It is an unflinching look at the result of a nuclear attack on the UK, shot in semi-documentary style. Even though dated, it is devastating watching, shot in docu-style with close-ups of numbed parents still holding their charred babies.

There’s mocumentary shots of an aftermath which leaves the survivors, including pregnant Everygal Ruth, facing a nuclear winter, starving to death and drinking desperately from muddy puddles like animals due to the lack of clean water. The few survivors continue to face the threats of limited food after widespread looting, and increased risk of cancer due to the damage done to the ozone layer.

Fast forwarding to a decade or so later, Threads then depicts the post-apocalyptic new world now existing in a medieval-level of population, in a permanent state of hunger due to limited crops, and stone-age technology. Society forgets how to speak apart from basic dialogue, without the need for anything but syllables. In one horrific scene, Ruth dies with the heartless line delivered by her now tweenage daughter urging her to get back to work in order to survive: (“Ruth – work”). So if the end of the world draws near, be prepared to die alone as Danny predicts, and not feel fine at any point.

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As the R.E.M song goes, it’s the

Trending

Richard Linklater brought his Hit Man to the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, world premiering the comedy thriller out of competition to a six-minute ovation inside the Sala Grande.

The crowd’s response to the pic was notably enthusiastic, with one scene in particular between star Glen Powell and co-star Adria Arjona causing the audience to erupt in applause.

Hit Man is loosely based on a true crime article Linklater came across about 20 years ago in the Texas Monthly about Gary Johnson, who had helped Houston police catch would-be criminals seeking a hitman’s services. 

In the New Orleans-set film, this true tale is the jumping-off point for an escalating affair between Johnson (Powell) and a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to flee an abusive husband as Johnson finds himself becoming one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with turning into a criminal himself.

The cast including Powell and Arjona were not in Venice owing to the SAG-AFTRA strike about which Linklater earlier in the day told the Venice press corps “I think something’s gotta give.”

Speaking with Deadline’s Joe Utichi today, Linklater said that while he’d mused on the story for years, it wasn’t until Powell — with whom he’d previously worked — called him during the pandemic that it “really started to become a thing.” The two co-wrote the script based on Skip Hollandsworth’s article.

RELATED: Venice Film Festival 2023 Photos: Richard Linklater, ‘Hit Man’ & ‘Day of the Fight’ Premieres, Jack Huston

The story is partly “about the notion of self-identity,” Linklater told Deadline. “Gary becomes trapped by his own choices in a way. He’s trapped in an identity that he prefers. Doesn’t that feel like it’s something that’s in the air right now, that identity—the way we identify—is very unstable? It can be whatever you want it to be. Truth can be whatever. I don’t know if it’s the virtual-ness of our era, but we’re definitely in something new. Politically, sexually… everything’s kind of up for grabs. This isn’t that specifically, but it’s the idea of that.”

Hit Man is for sale here in Venice via AGC Studios and indications are that a deal for this accessible, hilarious and well-crafted larger-than-life tale feels inevitable.

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Richard Linklater brought his Hit Man to

Tech

Anderson Cooper discussed former CNN CEO Chris Licht’s ouster from the network, saying he’s still not entirely sure what his goal was. 

Licht was fired in June, just over a year after he assumed the top role at CNN. His tenure with the network was marred by poorly received programming decisions, plummeting advertising revenue, and a controversial live town hall with Donald Trump. 

Cooper, when asked in an interview with the The New York Times if Licht felt as though CNN needed a realignment to capture more viewers, replied that he doesn’t “have much confidence” that he actually knows what Licht was thinking at the time. 

Which according to Cooper was a “problem,” for the network. “I read things in the paper, but I’m not sure what the point of it all was,” the veteran CNN host said. 


“I met with Chris and had a general sense of what the concern was,” Cooper continued. “I don’t want to be unfair. I understood what the idea and the vision was.” 

As a part of CNN, Cooper wants the network to “do well” and be “respected,” however, he tries to “worry about stuff I actually have my hands on. For me, it’s the show that I work on.”

“My sense from Chris was there was not a lot we needed to hash out because I’m not an opinion host,” Cooper noted. “I’m talking to people from different sides and trying to be straight down the middle and represent things fairly and accurately.”

“I keep my head down,” Cooper said. 


mark thompson cnn ceo comments

According to the CNN host, he had a meeting with Licht when he first started his role as CEO for the network, and “touched base from time to time,” but did not have “a ton of communications.” 

When asked about CNN’s notorious town hall with Trump, Cooper said for the former president’s return to the network, he “wouldn’t have done a town hall.” However, Cooper noted that it was not his decision to make and he “wasn’t involved.” He did try to quell the backlash in the aftermath, however, addressing critics as people who “haven’t been paying attention since he left office” and who are “enjoying not hearing from him.” Critics of the town hall, Cooper said on air, are perhaps “thinking ‘it can’t happen again, some investigation is gonna stop him’? Well, it hasn’t so far.”

Last week, CNN announced their new CEO, former New York Times, and BBC chief, Mark Thompson, who is credited with turning the Times into a successful digital media company.

Ross A. Lincoln contributed to this report.


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September 5, 2023 @ 2:06 PM Anderson Cooper

Video

Everyone talks about peak streaming, but now the studios seem to be doing something about it.

So far in 2023, there’s been a slowdown in the number of new streaming original series. The recent high point for premieres came in the fourth quarter of 2022, which saw the fastest quarterly growth in output in the past three years. An 11% growth in the number of streaming original titles drove by a record number of premieres.  Since that high point, the pace of output has slowed for two consecutive quarters. 

After years of encouraging profligate budgets in the name of subscriber growth, Wall Street has been pressuring studios to curb content spending, leading to big writedowns, layoffs and cuts.

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Everyone talks about peak streaming, but now

Entertaintment

Liberty Strategic Capital, a private equity fund led by former Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, has acquired a hefty 5.5% stake in Lionsgate at a strategically sensitive moment for the company as it prepares to close the acquisition of eOne and plans to split up its studio and streaming businesses.

Lionsgate declined to comment on the news, revealed in an SEC filling this afternoon, that Liberty Capital purchased 4,594,863 shares of Lionsgate in several dozen transactions between Aug. 10 and Aug. 30 at a price ranging from just over $7 a share to $7.46.

The filng hints that the long-gestating separation of Lionsgate and Starz, which the company said last month it expects to complete in the first quarter of 2024, may have prompted the move. It noted that Lionsgate “has publicly proposed a spin-off of its studio business as a separate public company.”

The document said the new stakeholder may contact other shareholders, management and board members of Lionsgate with “suggestions or proposals” on a wide range of issues — “including a potential investment by the Reporting Persons in a spin-off of the Issuer’s studio business or other restructuring, assets and liabilities, business and financing alternatives, the composition of the board of directors and such other matters as the Reporting Persons may deem relevant to their investment in the Issuer.”

“The Issuer has publicly proposed a spin-off of its studio business as a separate public company, LG Orion Holdings Inc. (“SpinCo”). The Reporting Persons may engage in any of the activities described above with respect to SpinCo, prior to or following completion of the spin-off.”

More to come…

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Liberty Strategic Capital, a private equity fund

Movies

Long before it became a soundtrack nugget and an internet meme, it was just a rock band’s attempt to land a radio hit.

But the long path to evergreen status for “All Star,” the 1999 track by the California alternative band Smash Mouth, whose founding lead singer, Steve Harwell, died on Monday at age 56, is an illustration of how social media and fan-made content have transformed the music industry.

The song took shape while the group was working on its second album, “Astro Lounge,” after its first taste of success with the song “Walkin’ on the Sun” (1997). The group submitted a batch of songs to its record company and was told: “You’re not done. We don’t hear a single, so keep working,” Robert Hayes, the band’s manager, told Rolling Stone in 2019.

Greg Camp, Smash Mouth’s guitarist and primary songwriter, said the song’s lovable-loser theme (“I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed”) emerged from fan mail. “About 85 to 90 percent of the mail was from these kids who were being bullied” for being Smash Mouth fans, he told the website Songfacts. “So we were like, ‘We should write a song for fans.’”

“All Star” was quickly placed on film soundtracks, including “Inspector Gadget” and “Mystery Men,” in 1999. (The original music video had clips from “Mystery Men,” a superhero sendup starring Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo, among others.)

But the song’s immortality began with its placement in “Shrek,” the 2001 animated favorite starring Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, where the song plays in the opening credits. The film grossed a total of $484 million around the world, according to the site Box Office Mojo.

A decade or so later, generational nostalgia kicked off another level of success for “All Star,” when the children who grew up on “Shrek” began meme-ing on it relentlessly.

There was the version made up entirely of samples of Bill O’Reilly saying his name. And the one, from “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” with lyrics stitched together from “Star Wars” clips.

Perhaps the most popular take was “Mario, You’re a Plumber,” a Mario Bros.-theme adaptation — with actual effort taken to write new lyrics — that has garnered 1.6 million views on YouTube.

Those were all iterations of what has become a key avenue for artists to find wide success in a fragmented media environment, with user-generated content ricocheting through social media to propel a new song (see Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road”) or point younger listeners to an old one (Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams”).

In the case of “All Star,” this process kept an old track alive for years and led to gigs like the band performing a snippet of the song on a Progressive insurance ad in 2020. All of that activity tends to drive listeners back to streaming services, and “All Star” has garnered just under a billion streams on Spotify alone.

In an interview with the music site Stereogum in 2017, Harwell expressed the contrasting opinions artists sometimes have about such memes. On the one hand, it’s valuable exposure, and that can lead to money in their pocket. On the other … it’s not always fun to have one’s work flattened into a joke.

“It’s entertaining, I get it,” Harwell said. “It doesn’t bother me, but at the same time, I don’t love it.”

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MCU

Moreso than at any time in recent history, Hollywood seems to be at a crossroads. With the era of streaming now upon us, both studios and creative talent are re-evaluating how business as usual is done.

During this time of turmoil, perhaps no studio is a better representative for the inflection point that Hollywood finds itself at than Disney. Despite its recent uneven performance at the box office, Disney continues to be a driving force in film, television, and streaming.

Walt Disney Studios

As Hollywood remains shut down due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, many studio executives have looked to Bob Iger for leadership during this tumultuous time. Additionally, all eyes are on Disney to see how they transition their business from linear television to a streaming-first enterprise.

As Hollywood looks to Disney, however, the company is facing upheaval of its own. Iger has come under fire for his comments on the Hollywood strike. Meanwhile, Disney has yet to crack the problem of profitability in streaming. Then there is Marvel.

Marvel

Marvel Studios has long been Disney’s golden goose. Photo: Marvel.

The Marvel Problem

Formally Disney’s golden goose, in recent years, fans have begun to question if Marvel has been stretched too thin by Disney’s desire to create both feature films and streaming series based on the MCU.

She-Hulk

Photo: Marvel/Empire. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.

Meanwhile, Marvel VFX employees have been open about the fact that they feel overworked and underappreciated. As such, the special effects employees have taken steps to unionize and gain representation from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

VFX Artists Can’t Keep Up With Marvel’s Demands

In a recent interview with IGN, Mark Patch, IATSE visual effects organizer, told the publication that the ongoing Hollywood strikes served as motivation for his colleagues. Additionally, Patch pointed to the increase in output at Marvel and how it is impacting VFX workers.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

“When you’re turning a 90-minute movie into a 10-hour feature basically, you’re doing 10 times the amount of work within the same or even sometimes a shorter period of time. Particularly from Marvel. We certainly have seen since COVID and streaming the amount of demands on our time and mental and physical health just explode,” he said.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Photo: Empire. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

According to IGN’s calculations, Marvel’s Phase 4, which saw the introduction of streaming series as part of the MCU, had a total runtime of 60 hours. That number amounts to more hours than the studio’s first three phases combined. For his part, Patch said that he worked 18-hour days as a coordinator on WandaVision, a popular Disney+ series.

The McDonald’s Of Content

Recent Marvel releases such as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law have come under fire from fans and critics alike for their less-than-stellar VFX work. According to Marvel’s artists, they have simply been stretched too thin.

Secret Invasion Finale

Photo: Marvel. ‘Secret Invasion’.

“What you’re expected to do each day and how the shows are run, it definitely feels more like a conveyor belt nowadays than necessarily each project being given its own thought and time. As opposed to now where it’s like, ‘well, this is coming up and now we have to do this, and this is coming up, we have to do this.’ It really becomes like the McDonald’s of content,” said Gabrielle Levesque. She worked on Marvel titles both before and after the launch of streaming.

Luckily for VFX workers and fans, Bob Iger has publically stated that he believes Marvel has been oversaturated in recent years. Additionally, the studio has begun to slow down its release schedule.

Secret Invasion

Photo: Marvel. A Still from ‘Secret Invasion’.

By giving new releases more time to marinate, hopefully, Marvel can get back on track, for fans and employees alike.

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Moreso than at any

DCU

Summary

  • Blue Beetle’s positive reception and box office success marks a turning point for the DC Universe after a string of disappointing projects.
  • The connections established to weaker projects in the DC live-action franchise harmed the reception and box office performance of other 2023 films like Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
  • James Gunn’s announcement that Blue Beetle will continue in the new DC Universe shows that even DC Studios sees the potential in the film and acknowledges the disappointing reaction to other projects.


2023’s Blue Beetle could be on track to become DC Studios’ most successful film of the year, which reveals an unfortunate narrative for DC’s previous live-action projects. Blue Beetle released on August 18, 2023, introducing DC audiences to a new superhero in the shape of Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. the Blue Beetle. Despite releasing after several disappointing installments in Warner Bros.’ faltering DC shared universe, Blue Beetle was met with generally positive reviews and is currently heading towards being marked an actual success for DC Studios. Even so, Blue Beetle’s success casts a shadow over DC Studios’ other 2023 releases.

Throughout the development of the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros. and DC Studios (earlier DC Films) came under a huge amount of scrutiny. This was mostly attributed to the overly dark tone of the franchise, often lackluster visual effects, and repetitive and dull storylines. These criticisms saw a huge increase in 2022, which marked a period of major change at Warner Bros., which merged with Discovery Inc. and conceived the new DC Studios, placing James Gunn and Peter Safran in charge. With the franchise quickly confirmed to be rebooting, DC Studios’ 2023 projects suffered, so Blue Beetle’s success has proven to be something of a surprise.

Blue Beetle’s Box Office Beating Shazam! Fury Of The Gods Highlights The Sequel’s Problems

After its third weekend in theaters, Blue Beetle has grossed a total of $58.5 million at the domestic box office ($104.4 million globally), which means Blue Beetle has out-grossed Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ domestic box office over the entirety of its theatrical release. The sequel to 2019’s Shazam! released on March 17, 2023, but was quickly deemed inferior to its predecessor. The fact that Blue Beetle has already grossed more than Fury of the Gods did, domestically at least, proves that the connections established to weaker projects in DC’s live-action franchise harmed the 2023 film, as Fury of the Gods formed clear links to 2022’s reviled Black Adam.

While James Gunn’s announcement of the new DC Universe didn’t come with any mention of a sequel to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the DC Studios co-CEO has since revealed that Blue Beetle will continue in the franchise. This effectively proves that even DC Studios saw the potential in Blue Beetle, and saw the disappointing reaction to Fury of the Gods even before its release. With the futures of both Black Adam and Shazam effectively canceled, and the poor reception to The Flash perhaps constituting a re-evaluation, it seems Blue Beetle might be the only hopeful DC project of 2023 – unless Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom works some magic.

How Blue Beetle Can Break DC’s 2023 Movie Misfortune

Xolo Mariduena as Jaime Reyes in 2023's Blue Beetle

DC Studios had a string of disappointing projects prior to Blue Beetle’s release. Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad released during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an impact on their box office totals. However, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash could have restored the impressive box office figures of projects including Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Conversely, this failed as more viewers lost faith in DC’s ability to produce good quality stories, so the surprising success of Blue Beetle could mark a turning point for the DC Universe, though it still has a way to go to turn a profit.

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Summary Blue Beetle's positive reception

Festivals

                                                                    

 

 

Contact:

Rick Prickett, Competition Director

858-454-9787

TheIndieFEST.com

Info@TheIndieFEST.com

The IndieFEST is proud to announce the latest winners. Congratulations to all the filmmakers who participated in the current season!The awards go to those filmmakers who produce fresh, standout entertainment and compelling documentaries. The IndieFEST is a top-tier international awards competition. It honors professionals, established and emerging, who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity. The goal of The IndieFEST is to help the winners of this coveted award achieve the recognition they deserve. Additionally, each year IndieFEST also bestows a special award to productions that make significant contributions to social change or a humanitarian effort. Please visit www.TheIndieFEST.com to learn more about the IndieFEST Humanitarian Award.

 

~ Best of Show ~ 

 Sibel’s Silence – Aly Yeganeh

Aly Yeganeh (France), Sibel’s Silence (Le Silence de Sibel), Film Feature – A film that is both gritty and touching, Sibel’s Silence tells the story of 13-year-old Sibel, one of the many thousands of girls kidnapped by ISIS fighters in Iraq. After her entire family was murdered, Sibel was taken as a prisoner and forced into sexual slavery. Hana, an ophthalmologist cannot bear the atrocities committed against Yazidi women, pays a ransom, adopts Sibel and brings her to France. She tries to provide her with a normal life filled and finds it triggers traumas of her own. Sibel cannot shake the trauma, refuses to speak; her haunting memories are always present. Insightful direction by Yeganeh, he skillfully incorporates a poignant script, muted color palette and even the architecture itself to carefully craft the story and tone. Achingly authentic performances by a talented cast. An exceptional and highly nuanced character portrayal by Laëtitia Eïdo (Netflix’s Fauda, Apple TV’s Liaison) and a convincing depiction of complex trauma by Mélissa Boros. Also stars: Patrick Azam (The Last Panthers), Rusen Houssin, Kondwani Fernandes Mores, Sadettin Cecen (Si tu meurs, je te tue), Claire Gable, Marie-Bénédicte Cazeneuve (By the Grace of God), Melha Bossard (The Night Clerk), Valérie Théodore (Je vous prie de sortir). Screened at Cannes. T.B.Y. Productions. LOULL Production. Axxon Media..

~ Outstanding Achievement ~ 

(Im)Patient – Constanza Fernández

Constanza Fernández (Chile), (Im)Patient, Feature Film / Disability Issues – A doctor and expert in ethics, Sergio Graf has to fight the Chilean health system as a patient when he gets Guillain-Barré syndrome. It is a journey toward physical deterioration, a loss of safety, and returning to something that he has until now taken for granted: his family. An insightful look at both the helpful and damaged side of the healthcare system. With deft direction, an intelligent and poignant script and driven by a talented cast, Fernández delivers a film that is both memorable and relatable. Produced by Roberto Doveris, Nino Ninas Films. Stars: Héctor Noguera (Mr Kaplan), Amparo Noguera (Death Will Come, Shall Have Your Eyes), Naldy Hernandez (Dime con Quién Andas), Daniel Muñoz (Rara), Emilia Noguera (La Poseída), Diego Casanueva (Teresa: Crucificada), Paola Giannini (Gatas & Tuercas).

 

 ~ Award of Excellence Special Mention ~

Rob Margolies, Different Duck Films (USA), Bobcat Moretti, Film Feature – A heart-wrenching drama about an obese man with M.S. who takes up boxing to overcome personal tragedy and find inner peace guided by the strength of a wise coach. Stars Tim Realbuto (Yes), Vivica A Fox (Kill Bill), SAG winners Taryn Manning and Matt Peters with Emmy-nominee Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers), Oscar-nominee Sally Kirkland.

 

William Goins (USA), THE GREY SPACE, PSA – Oscar winner Liam Neeson voices this heart wrenching PSA about dramatic international rescues of families stranded behind the lines of war in Ukraine, an evacuation in Afghanistan and the carnage of a Cat 5 Hurricane IAN – through Project Dynamo a dedicated force of veterans that work in the “grey space” where the government does not have presence, access or cannot operate.

 

Dilip Harnarayan Dixit (India), Meera, Film Feature – An uplifting story of a woman from a poor village transcending her tragedies through love and dedication and lifting thousands of women out of poverty and dependence. Compassionate direction. Based on true events. Stars: Heena Varde (Ghar Ek Mandir), Maulik Chauhan (20 hours), Sanjay Parmar (Ek Villain Returns), Chetan Daiya (3 Ekka), Reeva Rachh (Oxygen).

 

Mike Hill (Australia), Live the Life You Please, Doc Feature – A powerful doc about end of life and shaping our present-day choices. With exceptionally crafted and inspiring stories, award winning Hill makes the case for the power of care choices – from urban hospitals to indigenous in-country settings. An emotional journey through the lives of a diverse range of people in their last chapter. A potent and inspirational doc.

 

Patrick Centurioni (Austria), Gentle Mountain – The Foothills of The Alps, Nature / Wildlife -Highlighting one of the most species-rich regions in Europe – the foothills of the Alps. Animals of all kinds meet along two worlds as their habitat is shockingly near human development. Wild deer, rain-dancing owls, and a battle of wits between jays and squirrels are some of the stories told with stunning cinematography and buoyant soundtrack.

 

Michael Houston King (USA), Townsend, TV Pilot Program – Celebrity TV therapist Patrick Townsend loses his career and must re-build his life. With counsel from a friend encouraging his truth and a type-A patient holding repressed trauma – he begins to find his groove. Smart insightful script and authentic performances. Daytime Emmy-nominee Matt Borlenghi (Cobra Kai), Cameron Arnett (Eleanor’s Bench), Wynn Everett (Palmer).

 

Jon Ryan Sugimoto (USA), Gut Punch, Film Short – Darkness rumbles beneath the floorboards of a Brooklyn bodega as three locals argue about pills, politics, and semantics. Perhaps the wittiest script ever written about Probiotics – it is amusingly delivered through creatively real yet comedic performances. Stars:  Joe List (Can I Help You), Greer Barnes (Joker), Radel Ortiz, Sabrina Piper (The Deuce).

 

Dennis Trombly (USA), Man in the Mountain, Film Short – A shocking youth camp alien encounter impacts the lives of two people reunite a decade to unravel secrets with the help of a mysterious scientist. Intriguing story with compelling VFX by Fernado Lupo. Stars Jay Disney (Hank), Debbie Gerber (The End of the World), Nimo Pinchart (Loud Voices, Silent Streets), Sam Bayaraa (Kingdom).

Julie Money (Australia), With Grace, Web Series – The third season following Grace since the death of her Dad when she was 10. Now 18-years old, she negotiates the last days of high school – guided by the wisdom of her late father and her loving mother. A bittersweet story about growing up, resilience and the importance of keeping stories and memories alive. Stars: Grace Truman, Ben Wood, Justine Clarke (Tangle).

 

~ Award of Excellence ~ 

Ali Keyvan (Iran), THE WINNER, Children / Family Programming
Aly Yeganeh (France), Sibel’s Silence, Direction, Actress: Leading (Laëtitia Eïdo as Hana), Actress: Supporting (Mélissa Boros as Sibel), Ensemble Cast
Bill Walker (USA), Whiskey Mountain Days—Proof of Concept, Film Short, Direction
Cal Scott (USA), MIDNIGHT DRIVE, The Movie (band: Scott, Bailey & Ross), Music Video, Original Song (Composed by Cal Scott, Bob Bailey and Dan Ross)
Christian Gerring and John Farrelly, Pancake Studios (United Kingdom), Never Alone, Film Short


Cindy Drukier (USA), The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told, Documentary Feature, Special Purpose Productions
Constanza Fernández (Chile), (Im)Patient, Disability Issues
David Naglieri (USA), In Solidarity with Ukraine, Christian, Documentary Short, Editing, Direction
David Schlussel (USA), EULOGY, Jewish, Script / Writer (David Schlussel)
Dennis Trombly (USA), Man in the Mountain, Direction
Dilip Harnarayan Dixit (India), Meera, Asian, Actress: Leading (Heena Varde as Meera), Viewer Impact: Motivational / Inspirational
Francisco Del Ryo (France), OUTSIDE FRANCISQUE, Script / Writer
Irina Vodar (USA), Anything You Lose, Documentary Feature, Viewer Impact: Content / Message Delivery, Reality Programming
Joel Umbaugh (USA), December Fades – “Sunrise”, Music Video, Original Song
John Vamvas and Olga Montes (Canada), Scarpedicemente, Actor: Leading (John Vamvas as Luigi), Actress: Leading (Olga Montes as Holly), Film Feature, (Olga Montes and John Vamvas), Script / Writer (John Vamvas and Olga Montes)
Jon Ryan Sugimoto (USA), Gut Punch, Ensemble Cast, Direction, Script / Writer
Julie Money (Australia), With Grace, Actress: Leading (Grace Truman as Grace), Actor: Supporting (Ben Wood as Dad), Women Filmmakers
Kate Johnston (USA), The Last Word, Actress: Leading (Barbara Niven as Jillian ), Ensemble Cast, Script / Writer, Actor: Supporting (Tom Katsis as Fred)
Kris Millgate (USA), On Grizzly Ground, Nature / Environment / Wildlife
Lawrence Staebler (USA), Days Away, Music Video
Lilton Stewart III (USA), The Burden of Guilt, Film Feature
Lukasz Wdowicz (Poland), Life Savers, Commercial / Infomercial
Mark Cline (USA), Checked Bags, Experimental, Dramatic Impact
Massimo Zompicchiatti (Italy), Dissolution, Sound Editing / Sound Mixing
Michael Houston King (USA), Townsend, Christian
Nicolas Dimopulos (Argentina), TELESCOPE, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Peter Williams (United Kingdom), LIDICE – THE VILLAGE THAT REFUSED TO DIE, Direction, Documentary Feature, History / Biographical
Rob Margolies, Different Duck Films (USA), Bobcat Moretti, Actor: Leading (Tim Realbuto as Bobby “Bobcat” Moretti), Actress: Leading (Vivica A. Fox as Jo Wallis), Actor: Supporting (Matt Peters as Charlie Moretti), Actress: Supporting (Sheria Irving as Lacey Harris)
Robin Greenberg (New Zealand), Grant Sheehan: Light, Ghosts & Dreams, Documentary Feature, Direction
Sierra Productions (USA), TRANSFORMATION, Documentary Feature, Original Score (Music composed by Patrick Rundblad. Orchestration, Arrangement, and Conducting by Salvatore Di Vittorio. Performed by Chamber Orchestra of New York.)
Thomas Michael Heinemann (Germany), PAULAS DAD and the Right Button in his Head, Children / Family Programming

 

 

 ~ Award of Merit Special Mention ~

4 A Films (USA), Five Questions, Actress: Leading (Amber Paul as Jill)
Antonio Zapiain Luna (USA), Bbcitos, Actress: Leading (MJ Garcia as Bbcita), Film Short, Cinematography (Antonio Zapiain Luna)
Ashley Mosher (USA), Goodboy, Documentary Short
Chris Frint, Michael Faner and Elvin Rey Magsino (USA), The Sound of Waves, Actor: Leading (Tom Phelan as Ethan), Actress: Leading (Alex Frnka as Jenna)
Collin Nelson (USA), The Last Liftoff, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Dirk Zekveld (Netherlands), A Brief History Of Jesus Messiah, Christian
Eric Luther Ingram (USA), Birth Of A Song, Film Short, African American
Gary Null and Valerie Van Cleve (USA), Manufacturing Madness, Documentary Feature
Jed Charles Parker (USA), Cine-Symphony Planet Earth, Nature / Environment / Wildlife
John L. Brooks II (USA), The Story Behind the Art, Documentary Short
Jude Ramirez (USA), Butterflies, Film Short, Contemporary Issues / Awareness Raising
KC Schulberg (USA), THE URGENCY OF NOW, Documentary Short
Meghan G. Graham (USA), Roadkill Jamboree, Animation (Student)
Patrick Rea (USA), The Last Butterflies, Film Short
Rick Walker (USA), Guardians, Actress: Leading (Mackenzie McIntyre as Anne)
Roman S. Koenig (USA), Red Blooded, Actress: Supporting (Laura Bohlin as Kate Baumann)
Sara Werner and Liesl Wilke (USA), Lines, Women Filmmakers
Talon Boggess (Canada), The Rose, Film Short, Creativity / Originality
Tane McClure (USA), Séance Games – METAXU, Film Feature
Zane (France), Je, Actress: Leading (Cassandre Anaya as Soul), Actress: Supporting (Sabrina Campilii as Young Woman), Film Short

 

~ Award of Merit ~

4 A Films (USA), Five Questions, Direction (David Arrow), Ensemble Cast (Kiera Allen, David Arrow, Andrew Arrow, Joyia D. Bradley, Donna Lynne Champlin, Elijah Guo, Amber Paul, Tom Alan Robbins and Eliza Simone), Editing (Joseph Huba), Film Short, Cinematography (Mark Raker), Makeup (Ashley DiSarro), Original Score (David Robbins), Sound Editing / Sound Mixing (Colin Barry-Jester), Production Design (Celina Arslanian)
Allen Kool (Canada), CRY OF SILENCE, Direction, Script / Writer (Robin E. Crozier)
Amanda Beardsley (USA), So Help Me, Television – Program / Series
Antoine Priou (France), Luke and Oscar, Children / Family Programming, Animation
Brennan Bunn (USA), Seeds, Film Short
Cecilia Tuttle (USA), The Big Picture, Disability Issues (Student)
Ceyda Aşar (Turkey), This Is Not A Place For You, Film Short
Chris Frint, Michael Faner and Elvin Rey Magsino (USA), The Sound of Waves, Direction (Chris Frint)
Christopher Martini (USA), Dear Mom, Music Video
Cindy Drukier (USA), The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told, Liberation / Social Justice / Protest, Women Filmmakers
Cornell Calhoun III (USA), Longwood, Script / Writer
Daryl Ferrara (USA), Ashen Realities, Film Short, Creativity / Originality
Dastan Khalili (USA), Day – 9, Direction, Film Short
Francesco Brunotti (USA), Adventures Of Samurai Bron, Animation
Francisco Del Ryo (France), OUTSIDE FRANCISQUE, Creativity / Originality
Grace Wijaya (USA), Singing in the Lifeboat, Film Short (Student), Women Filmmakers (Student)
Grant Clover and Michael Metzler Jr. (USA), I Walk With Ghosts, Film Short, Dramatic Impact
Harriet Dunning (United Kingdom), The Final Test, Women Filmmakers, Editing
Heath Ramsay and Duncan Ragg (Australia), Mine Mine Mine, Film Short
Ian Sciacaluga (United Kingdom), Imbroglio, Film Short, Direction
Jared Esteban (USA), Lift, Film Short (Student)
Jason Turchin, Sue Gilad, Larry Rogowsky, Nick Flatto and Jonathan Hogue (USA), Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical, Film Feature
Jay Coggeshall and Susan Henoch (USA), The Life You’re Given, Disability Issues
Jimmy Francis (Greece), Support Group Olympus, Actor: Supporting (Kostis Rampavilas as Dionysus)
Joe McInnis (Canada), Cry About It, Film Short (Student), Creativity / Originality (Student)
Joey 西侧龙 (China), EXODUS, Film Feature
John L. Brooks II (USA), The Story Behind the Art, Narration / Voice-Over Talent
Jonathan Backman (Malta), The Maestro, Film Short
Joshua Christoph (USA), Love, Angelica, Film Short (Student)
Jyoti Madnani Singh (India), I Am Not Down, Children / Family Programming
Kat Ferentchak (USA), Accessory, Film Short
Khaled Sultan (Ireland), Time’s Exchange, Script / Writer
Laura Gonzalez y Matute (Mexico), Murales en movimiento. José Clemente Orozco y las hermanas Campobello, Documentary Short
Leonard Eckhaus (USA), If I Were a Pony, Children / Family Programming
Liam Wan Lui Martin and Fiona Stirling Lui Martin (USA), Cry of the Yellow Moon, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Luca Campodifiori (United Kingdom), Dock Day, Film Short (Student)
Maria Collette Sundeen (USA), Lifeless, Film Short, Narration / Voiceover Talent
Mark Meisenheimer (USA), Quindaro Ruins-A Documentary Film, Documentary Feature
Martina Webster (USA), Christmas Witch, Script / Writer
Massimo Zompicchiatti (Italy), Dissolution, Music Video
Matthew Toffolo (USA), Dark Realities, Experimental
Michael McQuown (USA), The Night Slayer, Editing
Milad Khaleghimanesh (Iran), Fringe Fallen, Documentary Short
Nathan Porter (USA), Status: Retired, Actor: Leading (Nathan Porter as Retired Agent), Film Short
Nima Rahimpoor (Iran), PLAYTHING, Film Short
Nima Valibeigi (Iran), Zero Coordinates, Asian
Oliveira Tan (China), JUAN, Film Short
Paul Darrigo (USA), Summerville, Original Score (Composed by John Koutselin
Paul David Lisy (USA), The Reach, Documentary Feature, Contemporary Issues / Awareness Raising
Peter Parry (United Kingdom), Fete Accomplis, Film Short
Petri Puroaho (Finland), The Disassociate, Liberation / Social Justice / Protest, Contemporary Issues / Awareness Raising
Randy Michael Stoudt (USA), Woven the Documentary, Documentary Short
Reza Sobhani (Iran), The Rope, Film Short
Rick Walker (USA), Guardians, Actress: Supporting (Cherish Rodriguez as Emily), Christian, Direction, Film Feature
Roman S. Koenig (USA), Red Blooded, Actress: Leading (Denice Riddle as Lois Green), Direction (Roman S. Koenig), Film Short, Script / Writer (Roman S. Koenig), Editing (Roman S. Koenig), Cinematography (Garrett Glassell), Original Score (Rob Gironda)
Sahar Ghafurian (Iran), Daughters of Mamma Sea, Animation (Student)
Sajjad Abdollahi (Iran), The Archive, Liberation / Social Justice / Protest
Sean Breathnach (Ireland), Don’t Open The Box, Direction
Shane Connellan (Ireland), BULLY, Actor: Leading (Shane Connellan as Tommy)
Sierra Productions (USA), TRANSFORMATION, Ensemble Cast (Debra Smith (Aunt) and Children Actors), Makeup (Natasha Loudermilk)
Simantini Chakraborty (USA), Joyful, Documentary Short
Simon Nathan Feldman (USA), Revival, Documentary Feature
Stephen Folker (USA), Spiderweb, Jewish
Tane McClure (USA), Séance Games – METAXU, Direction, Editing, Ensemble Cast, Script / Writer
Vanessa M. H. Powers (USA), Sins of the Father, Film Feature
Yingna Wu, ArtCenter College of Design (USA), The Counseling, Film Short (Student), Creativity / Originality (Student)
Zane (France), Je, Direction, Cinematography

 ~ Award of Recognition ~

Aaron Phelps (USA), Slanted Perspectives: My Life with SMA, Disability Issues (Student)
Adeena Michelle Karasick (USA), Eicha: The Book of Lumenations, Experimental, Jewish, Women Filmmakers
Aidan Christopher Haughey (USA), The Bounty of Love, Film Short
Akinola Isaac Fowowe (Nigeria), Turning Point, Liberation / Social Justice / Protest
Annie Fleisch (USA), Home Coming, Film Short (Student), Contemporary Issues / Awareness Raising (Student)
Ashton K. Bracciodieta (USA), Stringout, Film Short
Bianca Sass (USA), Distance (The Further Mix), Music Video (Student)
Bob Spletzer (USA), SpaceWalk, Educational / Instructional / Training, Television – Program / Series
Caleb Jordan Voyles (USA), The Ballad of Rich and Champ, Film Short (Student), Movie Trailer (Student)
Charlotte Cuthbertson (USA), Gotaways, Reality Programming
Chop Mosley, Chelsea Scruggs and John Xavier Lambert (USA), Sci-Kids, Children / Family Programming
Craig Oty (USA), Psyche Obscura, Experimental
Cynthia Ellen Gall (USA), To the Rescue, Public Service Programming / PSA (Student), Viewer Impact: Content / Message Delivery (Student)
Darian Slattery (USA), INSPIRED, Disability Issues
David Anderson (USA), Blue Lucas, Experimental
Desmond Amir Bailey (USA), Night Clothes, Film Short (Student)
Devinaire Barnes (USA), Careying, Film Short (Student)
Emer OShea (Ireland), DRUID, Nature / Environment / Wildlife
Gil Rivera (USA), A Sudden Impact, Film Short
Greg Maksudyan (USA), Christmas Evil, Movie Trailer
Harry Waldman (USA), Enter the Room, Film Short
Heather Rose Lupex (USA), PAW, Experimental
Heidi Duckler (USA), The Tender Body Sings, Experimental
Hollin Haley (USA), Jackie & Marilyn, Film Short
Janelle Little (USA), all things must end., Experimental (Student)
Jeff Harder (USA), Carmilla Vive!, Film Feature
Jennifer Glee Foley (USA), Fellini Mastorna…a film of no return, Experimental
Jimmy Francis (Greece), Support Group Olympus, Actress: Supporting (Maria Karpathakis as Aphrodite)
Jingting Yang (China), Bad News, Women Filmmakers
Joe Tremain (United Kingdom), Stray Cat., Experimental, Direction
Jonathan Byrne Denechaud (USA), What It Takes, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Jordan Canning, Dani Pagliarello and Aisha Evelyna (Canada), The Drop, Web Series, Ensemble Cast, Actress: Leading (Dani Pagliarello as Zara)
Jorge Joseph Harrington (USA), Birdhouse, Actress: Leading (Carnessa Lynn as Meena), Film Short (Jorge Joseph Harrington and Sam Patzer)
Joshua Christoph (USA), Love, Angelica, Cinematography (Student)
Joshua Lucas Nelson (USA), Deprogrammed, Actress: Leading (Noelle Cappuzzo as Nancy)
Jude Peter Damian (India), SARAS, Film Short
Kayla Holsey (USA), Play Please, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Tanner Smith (USA), Reunion, LGBTQ+
Larry Guernsey (USA), Scary Story, Animation
Laurie Tieman (USA), Found, Women Filmmakers
Lee Steinbeck (USA), A Most Annoying Man, Actor: Leading (Tim Snoha as Emery Dodd), Editing
Li Zirui (China), An inescapable Chain, Actress: Leading (Student) (Li Zirui as Depressed Girl), Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger, Film Short (Student)
Mathias Magnason (USA), Leaving California: The Untold Story, Reality Programming
Michael McQuown (USA), The Night Slayer, Direction, Film Feature
Mike Baro (USA), Word of Mouth, Television – Pilot Program
Mogan Selvakannu (Malaysia), Don’t Rock the Boat, Documentary Feature
Nick Maltby (United Kingdom), Apache Rain, Film Short, Original Score
Nicole Vivien Watson and Tom White (United Kingdom), Shore, Sea, and Land – Lines, Disability Issues
Olive Juge (USA), Poppy Pop, Young Filmmaker – 17 and younger
Parviz Rajaei (Khazan) (Iran), The Imperceptible, Film Short
Paul Darrigo (USA), Summerville, Film Short
Pierre Moncel Tetrault (Canada), Travels In Schizophrenia, Documentary Feature
Porsha Brown (USA), BAB on 3!, Television – Pilot Program
Roman S. Koenig (USA), Red Blooded, Actor: Leading (Sean Dillingham as Don Green), Actor: Supporting (Cayden Dillingham as Benjamin Green)
Ronald L Sturgess and Jeanetta T Sturgess (USA), The Guardian: The Sandwich Generation, African American
Rose Collis (United Kingdom), One For The Books: The Maupin Marathon, Documentary Feature
Sabrina Dubner (USA), Liminality, Film Short (Student)
Sasha Shapiro (USA), The Crib, Film Short, Creativity / Originality, Humor / Humorist, Script / Writer
Sean Breathnach (Ireland), Don’t Open The Box, Actor: Leading (John Ryan Howard as Mike)
Shihyun Wang (USA), Cruising Alaska – Ketchinkan, Native Peoples
Tobias Elvhage and Liza Morberg (USA), Gender Transformation: The Untold Realities, Documentary Feature
Tom Sys and Erik Sopracasa (USA), Beyond The Curtain, Direction
Tristan M. Corrigan, Under_Score Productions (USA), TAP, Film Short, Editing
Vicky Vien, Fox Hughes and Braden Cloutier (USA), Ending It

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Film

Between Glass Onion, A Haunting in Venice, and Netflix’s cleverly titled Murder Mystery, there’s no doubt that the art of the kill (and the killer reveal) is as popular among filmmakers as ever. Bringing regional English energy and artistic flare to a classic premise is A24’s latest stab at the murder-mystery genre, Medusa Deluxe, a beauty-infused one-take film from first-time writer-director Thomas Hardiman. Though it may struggle to stick the narrative landing, Medusa Deluxe’s unrelenting pace, thoughtful production design, and breathtaking performances make it an unorthodox but much-welcome addition to the whodunit cannon.

Starring Clare Perkins, Harriet Webb, and Darrell D’Silva, Medusa Deluxe follows the participants of a regional English hairstyling competition, whose cutthroat rivalries take a decidedly morbid turn when a frontrunner turns up dead moments before judging is set to begin. As tensions rise and simmering resentments boil to the service, both the contestants and the audience are thrown headfirst into a tightly wound murder mystery, where discovering the identity of the killer at times comes second to figuring out who would’ve won, had judging commenced.

The most pervasively fascinating of Medusa Deluxe is its camerawork—shot by Robbie Ryan, Medusa Deluxe is (or at least, emulates the feeling of) a single continuous shot for its nearly two-hour runtime. Certainly, such an ambitious stylistic choice could make for an exhausting viewing experience or even an aimless one without the right variables in place, but for the most part, Medusa Deluxe can bend the one-shot style to its will, not the other way around.

Undoubtedly, one of the most crucial elements in pulling off the one-take is Medusa Deluxe’s keenly developed sense of space: the film follows its frantic gaggle of heroes through the winding corridors and dingy basements of a massive warehouse/performance space. Location manager Heather Gant struck gold with this building— the perfect balance between giving Ryan’s camera enough space to move and feel active, while at the same time maintaining the dark, menacing corners and narrow halls required for a true murder mystery.

Of course, though, a camera and a good location are nothing without characters to fill the frame, and that’s the other great strength of Medusa Deluxe: its cast. Made up of mostly unknown English actors, there is a camaraderie and truthfulness in the ensemble of Medusa Deluxe that makes the entire film feel that much more visceral and honest. It’s often easy to forget you’re watching actors—between the unrelenting proximity of the camera and the naturalistic dialogue and delivery, these characters come to life as very messy, fully realized people, not just potential suspects on a rap sheet.

Leading the charge is Clare Perkins as Cleve, an extraordinarily talented hairstylist with a hairpin trigger to her ferocious temper. The film opens with a mesmerizing monologue from Cleve in the early moments when another character calls her “volatile”, prompting her to spiral into a rant that remains one of the film’s most memorable moments. Perkins, of course, has all the requisite intensity and fury to make for a believably intimidating figure in the competition, but what’s more amazing is how quickly she’s able to flip it on and off—incensed one moment, laid back and joking the next.

There’s also a familiar vulnerability to Perkins’ performance that makes the character so relatable and affecting even in her most inelegant moments—the painful sincerity of an artist who has worked so hard on something for so long, and wants nothing more than to be recognized and acknowledged for her hard work and talent. If anything, Cleve’s greatest flaw in the film is how underused she is. Though her whopper of a rant opens the film, she becomes more of a tertiary player as the story begins to truly develop, and what a shame it is to sideline such an incredible performer.

Cleve is rivals with the no-nonsense Kendra (Webb), another hairstylist whose close ties to competition organizer Rene (D’Silva) land her in hot water once rumor begins to spread that she may be buying her way to a win. Kendra, like Cleve, has a backbone of steel, and watching these characters clash is endlessly fascinating. Still, when she’s not delivering stone-cold explanations of how easy it might be to scalp someone, Webb (like Perkins) also brings humanity and tenderness—through her, it comes in the forms of taking care of an infant who becomes a human hot potato heading into act three.

Rounding out the core trio of stylists is Kayla Meikle as Divine, a contestant whose recent part-time work assisting a mortician has steeled (or so she says) her nerves when it comes to seeing dead bodies. Her solution for strengthening her stomach in the face of death—a new and intense connection to religion— drives a wedge between her and the rest of the stylists, and as the film progresses, her status as the serene “voice of reason” is continually called into question. Though she may not be as quick on the draw as Cleve or Kendra, Divine is yet another deliciously complex character, brought to life by yet another wonderfully raw performance from Meikle.

It isn’t just the hairstylists that make up the cast, either—the other half of Medusa Deluxe’s sizable ensemble is comprised of the models on whom the stylists craft their whimsical hairdos. Anita Joy-Uwajeh holds court as Timba, the model of the deceased contestant and the first person to discover the body post-murder, and though she may not get a ton of screentime, she certainly makes the most of it. Model/wannabe sleuth Inez (Kae Alexander) gets her fair share of pulse-pounding moments as she gets close to unraveling the mystery, but it’s Lilit Lesser as the nervous, wide-eyed Angie who ends the emotional core among the models.

But while it has a bakers’ dozen of talented, complex women to draw from Medusa Deluxe’s greatest flaw is how uninterested it seems in exploring these characters in the back half of the film. Instead of finding ways to integrate the models and stylists more directly into the mystery element of murder mystery, they’re pushed aside in favor of a gaggle of men and their messy relationship drama. Heider Ali’s security guard Gac, D’Silva’s Rene, Luke Pasqualino’s Angel, and Nicholas Karimi’s Patricio all have some kind of romantic history with the deceased, and Medusa Deluxe’s third act clunkily exposits these winding relationships instead of making use of the previously introduced players we already know and care about.

When the credits roll (accompanied by a choreographed, disco-infused dance number featuring the entire cast), though, the narrative third-act flaws don’t stop Medusa Deluxe from being a vibrant, artfully crafted character study. From Perkins, Webb, and Meikle’s gripping performances to the stunning hair and makeup work from Chloe Dixon and Anne Little, Medusa Deluxe is a poignant murder mystery with a stellar cast and a killer sense of style.

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Between Glass Onion, A Haunting in

TV

This is Day 127 of the WGA strike and Day 54 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

After the long Labor Day weekend, the Writers Guild of America East had no pickets scheduled for Tuesday in New York City, and turnout was light on a hot and muggy morning at a pair of SAG-AFTRA pickets outside NBCUniversal and Netflix offices in Manhattan.

“We are small but mighty today,” voice actor, singer and SAG-AFTRA strike captain Sue Berch told about four dozen people in wrap-up remarks at the Netflix rally, where actors Susan Sarandon, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Cyril Creighton and Mike Doyle also walked the picket line.

Berch thanked everyone for coming out, then teed off on comments that talk show host Bill Maher made about the writers strike in the latest episode of his podcast, Club Random. 

The host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher expressed sympathy for writers and agreed with guest Jim Gaffigan that writers are getting “screwed” on residual income from streaming, but he also said that some of their demands are “kooky” and that “they kind of believe that you’re owed a living as a writer.”

“And you’re not,” Maher said. “This is show business. This is a make-or-miss league.”

Berch said watching video of Maher’s show left her “annoyed.”

“He’s sittin’ on an overstuffed chair, smoking a cigar, completely tone deaf, and he’s saying: ‘You know I really care about my writers. I’m one of my writers, and I get that there’s a strike but, you know, nobody promised these guys a career.’

“You know what? You’re right: No one promised us a career,” Berch said through a bullhorn. “But because we have careers, we should be able to make a decent wage. It’s not too much to ask for that.”

Berch also mentioned Tuesday’s SEC filing in which Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav said the actors and writers strikes would cost the company $300 million-$500 million. 

“I have a solution for them,” Berch said in the direction of the Warner Bros. Discovery offices down the block from Netflix. “Come back to the table. Negotiate a contract. The strike will be over. You won’t lose money, and we’ll all go back to work.”

Farther uptown, about two dozen picketers rallied outside NBCUniversal headquarters at Rockefeller Center. One of them was Margaret Owens, a background actor and SAG-AFTRA member who lives in Philadelphia and traveled to New York to join the march.  

“I’m part of the Philly local. I’m generally a background actor,” Owens told Deadline. “We are the majority of who makes up the union.” 

A former model and a SAG-AFTRA member since 2014, Owens now has an office job and enough background acting work on the side — most of it in New York — to remain in the union. She has no screen credits but has appeared briefly in projects ranging from M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass to episodes of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. 

She said that performers like her see 18-hour days on set translate into seconds on screen. “Blink and you miss me,” Owens said. 

“I haven’t yet got scanned,” Owens added, but she is worried that background actors are at risk of being digitally replicated and replaced by artificial intelligence without protections in the next contract.

“We’re fighting for the everyday actor, the ones that make this happen,” Owens said. “I seriously took a day off from my job and hoofed it up here on the hottest days of the summer because it’s important and it’s necessary. People need to get reminded we’re not all millionaires.” 

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This is Day 127 of the WGA strike and

What to Watch

The past few months have been filled to the brim with notable 2023 new movie releases, some of which have managed to make serious impressions at the box office. What’s arguably been the biggest BO story of the year is the dual success of Barbie and Oppenhimer, which opened on the same weekend. The double billing, dubbed “Barbenheimer” by fans, became a sensation and a massive boon for the film industry. As all that happened though, another notable flick fell short of expectations – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Director Chris McQuarrie is now speaking out about his and Tom Cruise’s latest M:I sequel being overtaken by the other two blockbusters. 

Some may remember that Christopher McQuarrie threw his support to Oppenheimer and Barbie earlier this summer. He and Tom Cruise hyped up the summer releases, with the actor sharing some sweet sentiments that garnered a response from Margot Robbie. Of course, that was all before the box office receipts came in. Don’t think, however, that McQuarrie is disappointed over his movie being passed financially. He spoke with the Empire Spoiler Specials podcast (via Screen Rant), expressing joy and sending some major kudos Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s way: 

I couldn’t be more delighted. We meant what we said when we went out and bought those tickets. I meant what I said when I went on Twitter – my last ever post on Twitter – and said, ‘Go pink or go home.’ Could not be more thrilled for Margot [Robbie], who I think is an extraordinary talent, a mega-star. And I’m delighted for the validation that the movie gives to that part of Margot that is that mega-star. And I hope the lessons learned from that are applied. Couldn’t be more thrilled for Greta.

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The past few months have been filled

Awards

Skydance Media CEO David Ellison called the creative process a “community” where “both sides of this disagreement actually need one another to move forward. So, my hope is that we can find a path to compromise so that everybody can get back to work and we can position ourselves for success going forward.”

“We are not a member of the AMPTP, and some of my closest friends are the writers and actors that we work with to create content. And, we literally work with every member on the AMPTP side,” he said during a Q&A at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia media conference in Las Vegas when asked about the strike – day 127 for the WGA and day 54 for SAG-AFTRA.

The annual investor event is mostly limited to public companies. At privately-held Skydance, “We want to always make sure we position ourselves to be able to be a publicly-traded company,” Ellison said. Major investors include the Ellison family, KKR, RedBird Capital Partners, CJ Entertainment and Tencent. He said he expects more consolidation in media and entertainment and that Skydance is positioned to take advantage of “appropriate” opportunities — no specifics.

He touted what he called strong organic growth at the company founded in 2010 as it’s expanded from film and television into animation, with former Pixar chief John Lasseter leading the charge, sports content under a venture with the NFL, and gaming. Skydance has 1,200 staffers globally across five divisions, including 800 in animation, he said, and has been “consistently profitable.”

In July, the company closed a new five-year, $1 billion credit facility led by J.P. Morgan, doubling the amount of a prior credit arrangement led by the bank.

Formed with a deal at Paramount, Skydance continues its collaboration there with franchises Mission: Impossible, Transformers, Star Trek and Top Gun: Maverick. It’s worked with Netflix (The Old Guard, The Adam Project); Amazon (Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher) and has a multi-year agreement with Apple for a slate of live-action movies.

Apple TV+ was the home of the first animated film for both, Luck, last year, to be followed by Spellbound. Skydance Animation has acquired the rights to Brad Bird’s (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) next film Ray Gunn, and has an overall deal with Rich Moore (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph). There’s a huge potential upside in animation where hits can “become a family heirloom that can be rewatched and re-watched,” Ellison said.

Interactive offerings include The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners and game deals with Marvel and Lucasfilms.

In 2022, Skydance launched a sports content joint venture with the NFL inaugurated by the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon film AIR in theaters and streaming on Amazon. Docuseries NFL Draft: The Pick Is In was just renewed for a second season on Roku. “I think sports is one of the true pieces of appointment television, and it has been underexploited and untapped for a long time,” Ellison said. “We saw a massive audience not being served.”

As the majors continue to pivot to steaming, “Some companies will emerge stronger than ever. Others will have a harder time,” he said. “We purposefully did not build distribution…We sit in the middle.”

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Skydance Media CEO David Ellison called the

Music

Editor’s note: Since this obituary was published, the cause of Mr. Buffett’s death was reported to be Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer that he had lived with for four years, according to a statement on his website. It also said he died at his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., on the East End of Long Island.

Jimmy Buffett, the singer, songwriter, author, sailor and entrepreneur whose roguish brand of island escapism on hits like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” made him something of a latter-day folk hero, especially among his devoted following of so-called Parrot Heads, died on Friday. He was 76.

His death was announced in a statement on his website. It did not say where he died or specify a cause. Mr. Buffett had rescheduled a series of concerts this spring, saying he had been hospitalized, although he offered no details.

Peopled with pirates, smugglers, beach bums and barflies, Mr. Buffett’s genial, self-deprecating songs conjured a world of sun, salt water and nonstop parties animated by the calypso country-rock of his limber Coral Reefer Band. His live shows abounded with singalong anthems and festive tropical iconography, making him a perennial draw on the summer concert circuit, where he built an ardent fan base akin to the Grateful Dead’s Deadheads.

Mr. Buffett found success primarily with albums. He enjoyed only a few years on the pop singles chart, and “Margaritaville,” his 1977 breakthrough hit, was his only single to reach the pop Top 10.

“I blew out my flip-flop/Stepped on a pop-top/Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,” he sang woozily to the song’s lilting Caribbean rhythms. “But there’s booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.”

Mr. Buffett’s music was often described as “Gulf and western” — a play on the name of the conglomerate Gulf & Western, the former parent of Paramount Pictures, as well as a nod to his fusion of laid-back twang and island-themed lyrics.

His songs tended to be of two main types: wistful ballads like “Come Monday” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty” and clever up-tempo numbers like “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Some were both, like “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” a 1978 homage to Mr. Buffett’s seafaring grandfather, written with the producer Norbert Putnam.

“I’m just a son of a son, son of a son/
Son of a son of a sailor,” he sang. “The sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains/I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer.”

The Caribbean and the Gulf Coast were Mr. Buffett’s muses, and no place was more important than Key West, Fla. He first visited the island at the urging of Jerry Jeff Walker, his sometime songwriting and drinking partner, after a gig fell through in Miami in the early 1970s.

“When I found Key West and the Caribbean, I wasn’t really successful yet,” Mr. Buffett said in a 1989 interview with The Washington Post. “But I found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.”

The locales provided Mr. Buffett with more than just a breezy sailing life and grist for his songwriting. They were also the impetus for the creation of a tropical-themed business empire that included a restaurant franchise, a hotel chain and boutique tequila, T-shirt and footwear lines, all of which made him a millionaire hundreds of times over.

“I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, and I’ve run my share of grass,” Mr. Buffett wrote in “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” sung in the voice of his friend Phillip Clark, a modern-day buccaneer — who inspired not just the song but also, to a lesser extent, Mr. Buffett’s own early entrepreneurial pursuits.

“I made enough money to buy Miami,” he went on, “But I pissed it away so fast/Never meant to last/Never meant to last.”

Mr. Clark may have squandered his wealth by the time he turned 40, but Mr. Buffett proved a shrewd manager of his considerable fortune; Forbes this year estimated his net worth at $1 billion.

“If Mr. Buffett is a pirate, to borrow one of his favorite images, it is hardly because of his days palling around with dope smugglers in the Caribbean,” the critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in a 1999 essay for The New York Times. “He is a pirate in the way that Bill Gates and Donald Trump have styled themselves, as plundering rebels, visionary artists of the deal, not bound by the societal restrictions meant for smaller, more careful men.”

(The comparison to Mr. Trump was strictly financial; Mr. Buffett was a Democrat.)

Mr. Buffett was also an accomplished author; he was one of only a few writers (the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and William Styron are among the others) to top both The Times’s fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists. By the time he wrote “Tales From Margaritaville” (1989), the first of his three No. 1 best sellers, he had abandoned the hedonistic lifestyle he once embraced.

“I could wind up like a lot of my friends did, burned out or dead, or redirect the energy,” he told The Washington Post in 1989. “I’m not old, but I’m getting older. That period of my life is over. It was fun — all that hard drinking, hard drugging. No apologies.”

“I still have a very happy life,” he went on. “I just don’t do the things I used to do.”

James William Buffett was born on Dec. 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Miss., one of three children of Mary Loraine (Peets) and James Delaney Buffett Jr. Both parents were longtime employees of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. His father was a manager of government contracts, and his mother, known simply as Peets, was an assistant director of industrial relations.

Jimmy was raised Roman Catholic in Mobile, Ala., where he took up the trombone at St. Ignatius Catholic School. He went to high school at another Catholic institution in Mobile, the McGill Institute.

In 1964, he enrolled in classes at Auburn University. He flunked out and later attended the University of Southern Mississippi. He also began performing in local nightclubs. He graduated with a degree in history in 1969 before moving to the French Quarter of New Orleans and playing in a cover band on Bourbon Street.

He moved to Nashville in 1970, hoping to make it as a country singer while working as a journalist for Billboard magazine. (Mr. Buffett was credited with breaking the story about the disbanding of the pioneering bluegrass duo Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.) “Down to Earth,” his debut album, was released on Andy Williams’s Barnaby label that year. It sold a reported 324 copies.

Mr. Buffett’s second album for Barnaby, “High Cumberland Jubilee,” went unreleased until 1976, long after he had signed with ABC-Dunhill and recorded “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean” (1973), which featured the debauched party anthem “Why Don’t We Get Drunk.”

Mr. Buffett had a fondness for puns. The title “A White Sport Coat” was inspired by the song “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation),” a 1957 pop hit for the country singer Marty Robbins. Another album was called “Last Mango in Paris.”

Mr. Buffett’s album “Living and Dying in ¾ Time,” released in 1974, included a version of the comedian Lord Buckley’s “God’s Own Drunk.” “Come Monday,” a lovelorn track from that record, became his first Top 40 hit.

“A1A,” also from 1974, was named for the oceanfront highway that runs along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. It was Mr. Buffett’s first album to contain references to Key West and maritime life. But it was his platinum-selling “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” (1977), which contained the blockbuster hit “Margaritaville,” that finally catapulted him to stardom. “Fins,” another hit single, was released in 1979.

A series of popular releases followed, culminating in 1985 with “Songs You Know by Heart,” a compilation of Mr. Buffett’s most beloved songs to date. It became the best selling album of his career.

Mr. Buffett also opened the first of his many Margaritaville stores in 1985. That was the year that the bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who is best known as a member of the Eagles but was then with the Coral Reefer Band, coined the term Parrot Heads to describe Mr. Buffett’s staunch legion of fans, the bulk of whom were baby boomers.

A supporter of conservationist causes, Mr. Buffett moved away from the Keys in the late 1970s because of the area’s increasing commercialization. He initially relocated to Aspen, Colo., before making his home on St. Barts in the Caribbean. He also had houses in Palm Beach, Fla., and Sag Harbor, N.Y., on eastern Long Island.

In addition to touring and recording, activities he pursued into the 2020s, Mr. Buffett wrote music for movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Urban Cowboy.” He also appeared in movies, including “Rancho Deluxe” and “Jurassic World,” and on television shows, including the “Hawaii Five-O” revival of the 2010s, on which he starred as the helicopter pilot Frank Bama, a character from his best-selling 1992 novel, “Where Is Joe Merchant?”

An avid pilot, Mr. Buffett owned several aircraft and often flew himself to his shows. In 1994, he crashed one of his airplanes in waters near Nantucket, Mass., while taking off. He survived the accident, swimming to safety with only minor injuries.

In 1996, another of his planes, Hemisphere Dancer, was shot at by the Jamaican police, who suspected the craft was being used to smuggle marijuana. Onboard the airplane, which sustained little damage, were Bono of U2; Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records; and Mr. Buffett’s wife and two daughters. The Jamaican authorities later admitted that the incident was a case of mistaken identity, inspiring Mr. Buffett to write the song “Jamaica Mistaica,” a droll sendup of the affair.

He is survived by his wife, Jane (Slagsvol) Buffett; two daughters, Savanah Jane Buffett and Sarah Buffett; a son, Cameron; two grandsons; and two sisters, Lucy and Laurie Buffett.

In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Mr. Buffett was asked about a previous remark in which he somewhat incongruously cited the wholesome choral director Mitch Miller and the marauding Gulf Coast pirate Jean Lafitte as two of his greatest inspirations.

“Mitch Miller, for sure,” Mr. Buffett said, doubtless in acknowledgment of the way his own fans sang along with him at concerts, as Mr. Miller’s television audiences were asked to. “In the old days: ‘Sing Along with Mitch’? Who didn’t?”

“But Jean Lafitte was my hero as a romantic character,” he continued. “I’m not sure he was a musical influence. His lifestyle influenced me, most definitely, ’cause I’m the very opposite of Mitch Miller.”

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

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Editor’s note: Since this obituary was published,