Jennette McCurdy’s has claimed that she turned down $300,000 from Nickelodeon to keep quiet about her experiences on set and with a man she refers to as “The Creator.” She turned it down.
In fact, it was Jennette McCurdy’s memoir that allowed Alexa’s allegations to be taken seriously overall: “Her book is really what drove me, as a mom, to Nickelodeon.”
Jennette McCurdy's has claimed that she turned
The 61st New York Film Festival will be revved up with Michael Mann’s long-awaited film “Ferrari,” starring Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley and Patrick Dempsey, which will close out the festivities this year.
The film, about the former Formula One racer Enzo Ferrari’s motorsports glory in the late 1960s, is the first Michael Mann-directed film to be released since 2015’s “Blackhat,” and was recently acquired by Neon for release at Christmas in 2023.
“Michael Mann has made many remarkable movies but perhaps never one as simultaneously thrilling and moving as Ferrari,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival. “Not just a feat of virtuosity, this is a grand and striking evolution of his career themes and his most deeply personal
work.”
The festival will mark the North American premiere of “Ferrari,” and the makers will undoubtedly hope for the kind of awards buzz generated by Mann’s most Oscar-nominated film, 1999’s “The Insider,” which also had a buzzy showing at Lincoln Center nearly 25 years ago.
Todd Haynes’ “May/December” will open the festival, which begins Sept. 30.
The 61st New York Film Festival will
If you’re seeking an unfiltered and compelling journey into the complexities of love and relationships, look no further than 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days. TLC boldly ventured into uncharted territory with their creation. This show challenges conventional notions of romance and provides an unforgettable, unscripted, and unpredictable glimpse into the nature of the human heart. What emerges is a riveting tale of love, sacrifice, and vulnerability as these individuals risk everything to find true love, only to discover that their journey is far from a fairytale. The show delves into the raw complexities of relationships forcing these brave souls to put their lives on hold in pursuit of understanding what it genuinely takes to make their love stand the test of time.
Photo: TLC
By Maeve Degan If you’re seeking an unfiltered and
On the incredibly star-studded Barbie set, Ariana Greenblatt had her pick of A-list stars to meet. But it was Michael Cera, who plays Barbieland’s Allan, with whom she was most excited to work.
“I didn’t know he was in the movie,” she remembers during an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike. “No one talked about him coming. I was like, ‘Is that real?’
“I love him more than anyone on that set that loves him,” she says with a laugh. “I watched Superbad for a week straight in my trailer for lunch just to cope.”
Cera and Greenblatt became pals, sharing a few scenes together in the film and playing Wordle in the mornings on set. “I tried to play it as cool as I possibly could,” admits the former Disney Channel actress.
In Greta Gerwig’s just-released film, Greenblatt plays Sasha, an angsty Gen Z tween who lost interest in Barbies long ago and is the daughter of Gloria (America Ferrera). “She is a very layered girl,” Greenblatt says of her character. “Greta loves exploring the relationship between a daughter and a mom, so she somehow managed to throw them in this movie, along with all the Barbie chaos.”
The film sees Barbie (Margot Robbie) struggle to reconcile the harsh realities of the real world with the perfection that is Barbieland. When Ken (Ryan Gosling) turns the Barbie utopia into a patriarchal Ken-dom, Sasha and Gloria help the Barbies deprogram themselves from the Kens’ control. In doing so, the mother-daughter duo rediscover their own connection. “I tried to at least make [Sasha] as relatable as possible,” says Greenblatt. “I wanted to represent teenage girls appropriately. No one understands a teenage girl unless you were one once in your life.”
From left: Margot Robbie, Alexandra Shipp, Michael Cera, Greenblatt and America Ferrera in Barbie.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Four years ago, Greenblatt had a major breakout role in Avengers: Infinity War as the younger version of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), which marked her first feature film ever. The actress, now 15, also recently starred alongside Adam Driver in Sony Pictures’ dinosaur thriller 65. Next, she’s set to appear in the starry sci-fi comedy Borderlands, based on the popular video game.
With a background in dance, the New York native began acting at just 6 years old. After auditioning for a trio of roles on a whim, Greenblatt scored all three, one of them landing her a series-regular part on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle, in which she starred alongside Jenna Ortega. “There was no way I was going to stop and go home back to dance,” she says.
Before Barbie, Greenblatt — who says getting the chance to observe Gerwig at work was a “master class” — remembers writing a list of people with whom she would love to work, a manifestation technique that ultimately came to fruition. “They’re all in Barbie and Borderlands,” the actress says of the people on her dream list. “Margot, Kevin [Hart], Kate [McKinnon], all of them have been my dream team,” she says. “I mean, Ryan Gosling? I don’t even know what my life is.”
As for the future, Greenblatt already has a plan: “I’ll have to make a new list and manifest that into reality.”
This story first appeared in the July 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
On the incredibly star-studded Barbie set, Ariana
Last summer, a Mississippi poet and author named Teresa La Dart filed a copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift, claiming that the pop star stole design details of La Dart’s 2010 poetry book Lover and used it for the book accompanying Swift’s 2019 album of the same name. Now, La Dart has permanently dropped her case against Swift, Billboard reports and Pitchfork can confirm. The motion, filed Thursday (July 27) in a Tennessee federal court, was the result of a voluntary dismissal, not a settlement.
In the initial complaint (obtained by Pitchfork), La Dart alleged that Swift’s Lover book—which came with the special edition CD release of her album—copied “a number of creative elements” from the cover of her self-published poetry book. At the time, La Dart’s lawyer claimed that Swift owed her in “excess of one million dollars” in damages as a result.
In detailing the elements Swift allegedly copied from her poetry book, La Dart pointed to the title Lover, as well as covers that use “pastel pinks and blues,” and images of the author “photographed in a downward pose.” La Dart also claimed that Swift infringed upon the format of her book, noting that Swift’s was also “a recollection of past years memorialized in a combination of written and pictorial components” that included “interspersed photographs and writings.”
In a filing from March of this year (viewed by Pitchfork), Swift’s attorneys requested a dismissal, referring to La Dart’s allegations as “entirely meritless” and “woefully deficient.”
Pitchfork has reached out to legal representatives for Swift and La Dart for additional information.
Last summer, a Mississippi poet and author
Bringing stories to life on the big screen is every aspiring filmmaker’s dream. But while talent, skill, and artistry are all essential for a flourishing film career, financial strategies are also crucial in navigating the creative path to success.
When making a movie, the budget is one of the first things to consider. It is the foundation upon which your entire project will stand. A reasonable budget requires thorough research, accurate estimates, an understanding of your market, and, most importantly, a clear idea of what success looks like. You can start by breaking down the production expenses you’d most likely encounter into two categories: fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs include equipment purchases or rental fees, while variable costs involve actors, crew, and location fees.
But how do you secure the finances you need to get your film off the ground?
One way aspiring filmmakers often start is by investing their own money into the project. This approach allows you to retain creative control but can also be incredibly risky, especially if the budget required is significant. Before taking this route, you must have a clear understanding of your personal finances. You should also be prepared for any potential setbacks.
This has become increasingly popular over the last few years. There are several online platforms where filmmakers can raise funds for their films by pitching their ideas to potential investors and the budget required to complete them. While creating a successful crowdfunding campaign may take some time and effort. But it can generate buzz for your projects and raise the funds you need to make your films.
Many organizations, foundations, and government agencies offer grants and film funds to support independent filmmakers. These opportunities may be region-specific, so research what is available in your country or area. Make sure you read the requirements carefully and submit a well-prepared application. The grant process can be highly competitive, but if your project aligns with their criteria, it can provide a major financial boost.
Many states and countries actually offer incentives to filmmakers to encourage them to shoot in their locations. These can include tax breaks, rebates, and credits. These incentives can be substantial, so doing your due diligence is absolutely essential. It’s also a good idea to hire a production accountant familiar with this type of funding to help you take advantage of all the available incentives.
It’s important to have someone who believes in your vision and is willing to invest in it. Whether it’s a family member, friend, or formal movie investor. This can be challenging, as you will need to create a thorough business plan and be able to pitch it effectively to potential investors.
This is great for bringing in additional funds. Many businesses are willing to pay for their products to be featured in movies. For example, a company that makes sports drinks may pay to have their product featured in a scene at a gym. You’ll need to find businesses that fit seamlessly into the storyline to get the most out of product placement.
While it’s a priority to build a solid financial foundation for your filmmaking endeavors, it’s also good to not forget about a few other factors – factors that may seem more personal but can help you eventually fulfill your goals. Here are some helpful tips we got for you:
Since you’re only starting out, your primary focus should be to create good movies rather than overly expensive ones. A low-budget film doesn’t mean it’s not a quality film. Work on making them as remarkable and captivating as possible. With the right concept and story, low-budget films can still make a big impact. After all, they are often more relatable and have a more authentic feel.
Learning new techniques, upgrading your equipment, and mastering editing software is always worth the investment. Enroll in classes, attend workshops, or even take online courses that work to your advantage. There are free resources available online that can help you enhance your skills.
Networking is paramount in the filmmaking industry – or any other industry, for that matter. You never know who you might meet on your journey which could offer valuable advice or even invest in your project. A solid network of contacts can also help you find work or open doors to new opportunities. Attend events, workshops, and screenings. Join local film associations and participate in online forums or discussion boards to connect with other filmmakers.
You must establish a personal brand to help you stand out in the crowded marketplace. Create an online portfolio and showreel and maintain an active online presence. Also, present your work at film festivals, organize screenings, and submit your work to online platforms.
Finally, for any filmmaker, staying disciplined is critical. It is a long and challenging journey, and it indeed takes time, effort, and determination to make your mark. But as long as you stay dedicated to your craft, nothing can stop you from reaching your full potential.
Financing films can be tricky, but hopefully, these strategies for aspiring filmmakers can help guide you toward success. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to these things. And yes, it may take some creativity and hard work to make your projects a reality. But hey, you gotta do your best to make sure the whole world gets to see and know the stories you want to tell.
Chatty is a freelance writer from Manila. She finds joy in inspiring and educating others through writing. That’s why aside from her job as a language evaluator for local and international students, she spends her leisure time writing about various topics such as lifestyle, technology, and business.
Bringing stories to life on the big
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Chilling video shows the moment a cheetah makes the fatal error of drinking from a watering hole and is snatched by a crocodile lurking just beneath the surface.
The mammal was no match for the hulking reptile, and was clearly not wary enough as it approached the water to take a drink.
Suspense builds as the cub appears to notice the croc, growling and baring its teeth at the water as it tentatively approaches the water and dips down.
The cat’s mother and her other cub can be seen in the background at a more cautious distance from the shoreline, leaving it alone and more vulnerable to attack.
As the cheetah bravely inches closer to the water to get a much-needed drink, the crocodile expertly springs out and snaps its jaws around the cub’s neck, with the animal leaping into the air and clawing at the beast in vain as it tries to escape.
The cheetah had very little chance of survival as the killer croc rapidly drags it down deep into the water and drowns it. Tragically, the cheetah’s mother and sibling can be heard calling out in despair for the lost cub.
The incredible footage, shot from a game vehicle at the &Beyond Phinda nature reserve in South Africa, reveals the cheetah’s terrifying final moments…
Footage shot in South Africa shows a cheetah tentatively approaching the shore of a watering hole
The cub, keen for a drink of water, edges towards the lagoon apparently unaware of the danger it faces
The cub appears to notice something in the water and growls and bares its teeth as the suspense builds
The water shifts and the crocodile laying wait beneath breaks cover after stalking its prey
The killer croc grabs the big cat by its neck, with the cheetah recoiling in a desperate attempt to escape
The cheetah claws at the beast in vain as the crocodile emerges on to land and secures its prey
The mammalian predator clearly did not stand a chance as the crocodile drags it into the lagoon
The cheetah cub tries to resist the strength of the hulking croc but it is clear its final moments are upon it
The big cat disappears under the water as the crocodile successfully secures its next meal
Ripples on the water show where the crocodile descended, as cries from the cub’s mother can be heard in the background
The cheetah cub disappears into the deep. Wildlife experts say its carcass will likely be buried at the bottom of the lagoon before the crocodile feasts on its rotting remains
The footage was captured by new safari channel WildEarth which broadcasts on Freeview Channel 91
Julianne Moore walked the picket line outside NBCUniversal headquarters at Rockefeller Center in NYC.
Julianne Moore walked the picket line outside
A team of scientists has extended the lives of old mice by connecting their blood vessels to young mice. The infusions of youthful blood led the older animals to live 6 to 9 percent longer, the study found, roughly equivalent to six extra years for an average human.
While the study does not point to an anti-aging treatment for people, it does hint that the blood of young mice contains compounds that promote longevity, the researchers said.
“I would guess it’s a useful cocktail,” said James White, a cell biologist at the Duke University School of Medicine and an author of the new study.
Joining animals together, known as parabiosis, has a long history in science. In the 19th century, French scientists connected the blood vessels of two rats. To prove that the rats shared a circulatory system, they injected belladonna, a compound from the deadly nightshade plant, into one of the animals. The pupils of both rats dilated.
In the 1950s, Clive McCay of Cornell University and his colleagues used parabiosis to explore aging. They joined young and old rats, stitching together their flanks so that the capillaries in their skin merged. Later, Dr. McCay and his colleagues examined the cartilage in the old rats and concluded it looked younger.
In the early 2000s, parabiosis went through a renaissance. Researchers used 21st century techniques to study what happened when animals of different ages shared the same bloodstream. They found the muscles and brains of old mice were rejuvenated, while younger mice showed signs of accelerated aging.
Some doctors jumped on these preliminary results and started offering injections of blood plasma from young people as a way to treat dementia and other diseases of old age. The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against such treatments in 2019, cautioning that they “have no proven clinical benefits for the uses for which these clinics are advertising them and are potentially harmful.”
For several years, Dr. White and his colleagues have been tweaking parabiosis procedures in mice to better understand the anti-aging effects. The scientists joined an old and young mouse together for about three months — twice as long as typical parabiosis experiments — before carefully detaching them. After the animals recovered, the scientists observed the animals to see how much longer they lived.
The researchers not only found that the old mice lived longer, but also that the course of their aging appeared to change.
After detaching the old mice, the scientists looked at molecular markers in their blood and liver that act like a clock for an animal’s biological age. These clocks seemed to have been paused: Two months later, these molecular markers showed the older animals as “younger” than untreated mice of the same age.
“We reset the trajectory of aging,” Dr. White said.
The young mice were also affected by the union. “The young mice rapidly become older, and when we separate the mice, it goes back,” said Vadim Gladyshev, an expert on biological clocks at Harvard Medical School and an author of the new study.
The study was published on Thursday in the journal Nature Aging.
“It’s a beautiful demonstration — it really shows that this effect is not transient,” said Tony Wyss-Coray, a parabiosis expert at Stanford University who was not involved in the study.
But Michael Conboy, a research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, cautioned that a similar experiment published last year by Ukrainian scientists did not show that old mice lived longer after parabiosis.
“But at least somebody is doing the experiments, which is brave, because they are not easy,” Dr. Conboy said.
Dr. David Glass, the vice president for research on age-related disorders at Regeneron, a pharmaceutical company, noted that the new report used a different strain of mice from the one in last year’s study. “So one should be cautious in generalizing the findings,” Dr. Glass said.
Now Dr. White and his colleagues are following up with experiments to understand what might be slowing down aging in the old mice. “We’re hunting the hows and whys,” he said.
The long-term effects of the experiment suggest to Dr. White that the cause can’t be pinned only to cells from the young mice rejuvenating the old ones. Once the surgeons separated the mice, the old mice lost their supply of young cells but did not return to their old state.
One possibility is that harmful compounds in the old animals get diluted by the blood from the young mice. The young blood may also contain molecules that reprogram cells in the old mice, so that they kept behaving like younger cells after the animals were detached.
Dr. Gladyshev did not see the new study as a justification for getting shots of young human serum. For one thing, he and his colleagues have no idea which factors make up the life-extending cocktail for mice, let alone people. For another, injections are a far cry from being joined up to another animal for months.
“To me, it’s just very strange to think it could work,” Dr. Gladyshev said.
A team of scientists has extended the
Season 3 of The Morning Show is calling the future of UBA into question.
AppleTV+ released a teaser for the new season on Thursday, which hints at the precarious position the network is in now that tech titan Paul Marks (Jon Hamm) has set his sights on it. It looks like the network shakeup might spill some secrets in the process — and not everyone is welcoming that with open arms.
“Let all the secrets come out. They didn’t protect me,” Jennifer Aniston’s character Alex Levy tells Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley Jackson. Witherspoon’s character icily replies: “They didn’t protect you, but I did.”
Watch the entire teaser above. Season 3 of The Morning Show premieres September 13 with the first two episodes, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through November 8.
According to the official logline, in Season 3, “the future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the brink when a tech titan takes an interest in UBA. Unexpected alliances form, private truths are weaponized, and everyone is forced to confront their core values both in and out of the newsroom.”
Along with Witherspoon and Aniston, Season 3 stars Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Jon Hamm, Nicole Beharie, and Julianna Margulies.
The series, which has already been renewed for Season 4, is directed and executive produced by Mimi Leder, with Charlotte Stoudt serving as showrunner and executive producer. The series is produced by the studio Media Res, and executive produced by Michael Ellenberg through Media Res, along with Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films; Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter through Hello Sunshine. Leder serves as executive producer and director.
Season 3 of The Morning Show is
Traditionally a strong performer in the fall and holiday TV season, Food Network is sizzling this summer, too.
From Memorial Day on May 27 through July 20, Food Network content has drawn more than 50.6 million total viewers across the linear TV channel, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamers Max and Discovery+.
The boost in viewership coincides with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood, work stoppages that affect scripted programming, which is not Food Network’s bread and butter.
Looking at linear alone, Food Network is among the Top 5 non-news/sports cable networks across total day ratings for adults aged 25-54 and women ages 25-54, behind Nick at Nite, TNT, USA Network and TBS.
Per Nielsen’s Live + 3 Day data, Food Network is currently averaging 113,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Additionally, Food Network has seen average weekly time spent viewing during primetime rise 4% year over year among the 25-54 group and 6% among all viewers.
Sunday primetime competition “The Great Food Truck Race” is leading the pack with more than 8.9 million total viewers across Food Network, Max and Discovery+. In linear, the season is currently averaging a 0.8 L+3 rating across all viewers and a 1.05 rating among women over 18.
Monday night show “BBQ Brawl” has been watched by more than 8 million viewers across linear and streaming through the first two weeks of its new season, while Network/Max/discovery+), while Tuesday’s “Supermarket Stakeout” has reached more than 11.4 million viewers, pacing 11% above its previous season.
Other shows bringing in more summer viewers than usual for Food Network include “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Outchef’d,” “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” “The Kitchen” and “Girl Meets Farm.”
To finish out the summer, Food Network will launch new seasons of “Worst Cooks in America” Aug. 6 and “Bobby’s Triple Threat” Aug. 22.
“When you look at Food Network this summer, with more than half a dozen series performing strongly in primetime and time spent viewing on the rise, they have good momentum going into the fall and holiday seasons,” said Warner Bros. Discovery’s executive vice president of ad sales Marybeth Strobel. “That’s a good thing because Q3 and Q4 are traditionally when the network sees an increase in audience.”
Traditionally a strong performer in the fall
Were they serving lewks?View Entire Post › Source
Jub Jub granted R10,000 bail on charges of rape, attempted murder and assault
Jub Jub granted R10,000 bail on charges
Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion has just concluded streaming on Disney+. With its end, we now know the full cast of Secret Invasion, who was a Skrull and who wasn’t.
Marvel Studios looks to bring one of Marvel Comics’ most epic sagas to life with Secret Invasion, highlighting the Skrulls’ quest to conquer Earth as they search for a new home in outer space.
The series will also feature one of the most star-filled casts in MCU history, most of which were put into the spotlight as soon as the show’s first episode made its long-awaited arrival on Disney+
Marvel Studios has so far confirmed 20 actors to play roles in the MCU’s newest Disney+ series, Secret Invasion.
Below is a list of all of the main stars appearing in this series along with the roles that many are confirmed to play.
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion.
Making his MCU-record 12th appearance, Samuel L. Jackson now takes on his first leading effort as the central character of Secret Invasion. This show will be first and foremost a Nick Fury adventure as the former SHIELD director returns to Earth looking to get to the bottom of the Skrull’s plan to take over his home planet.
At the start of the series, Fury is still finding his footing again as he steps foot on Earth for the first time in years, working to find out who he can trust and how he can get back to full strength.
At the end of the series, Fury leaves Earth to return to his space base, SABER Fury will next be seen in The Marvels.
Talos has been hiding out on Earth since before the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, returning to prominence in Secret Invasion as Ben Mendelsohn makes his third appearance in the MCU. The Skrull leader’s friendship with Fury is still very much intact, but along with losing his wife, Soren, he’s been kicked off the Skrull council and exiled by his people.
The shapeshifter looks to rebuild his own relationships with his friends and family as he helps Fury find out the secrets behind why his people are on Earth and taking over in a malicious fashion.
Talos meets his ends at the hands of Gravik in the 4th episode of Secret Invasion.
Cobie Smulders made her first appearance in the MCU since Spider-Man: Far From Home, with that movie revealing that Talos’ wife Soren had been posing as her through the whole affair. Unfortunately, however, Maria Hill’s reunion with Nick Fury in this series would seemingly be her last, as the veteran SHIELD agent was killed off at the end of Episode 1.
Smulders’ veteran spy bled out in the middle of Vossoyedineniye Square on Russia’s Unity Day, and unless a miracle comes through, the character’s time in the MCU appears to be at an end.
Maria Hill’s Secret Invasion journey did not last long, as she was killed by Gravik while he was shapeshifting to look like Nick Fury.
Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross only appeared in the opening scene of Secret Invasion, although he was quickly revealed to be a Skrull spy after falling off of a tall building and being shot by Talos.
Currently, it’s a complete mystery if the real Everett Ross is still alive and kicking in the MCU, leaving his place in the story after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a complete mystery for now.
It is revealed early on that there has been a Skrull pretending to be Ross for some time now, who is killed early in episode 1. The human Everett Ross is awoken from his pod at the conclusion of the show.
The main villain of Secret Invasion will come in the form of a Skrull named Gravik, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, who played a key role in the show’s first episode. Gravik leads a group of rogue Skrulls who have taken over a radioactive plant in Russia as a home base, with the aliens still in search of a new home as the group’s leader holds resentment against Talos and Fury for failing to do just that.
By the end of the episode, not only does he ignite the bomb that blows up Vossoyedineniye Square, but he then disguises himself as Fury and shoots Maria Hill to her death.
Gravik achieves his goal of acquiring The Harvest (a vial with DNA from the heroes and villains present at the final battle in Avengers: Endgame). Gravik meets his end at the hands of G’iah, who also becomes enhanced with the powers of The Harvest.
Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke makes her MCU debut in Secret Invasion Episode 1, playing a grown-up version of Talos’ daughter, G’iah, who was first seen in Captain Marvel. As an adult, however, G’iah has aligned herself with Gravik, but she later learns about her mother’s death and starts to have a change of heart.
While she can’t stop the bombing in time alongside Fury and Talos, it seems most likely that she’ll wind up working with her father again as she looks for a new way to help the Skrulls survive.
G’iah ends the series by taking in the powers in The Harvest, arguably becoming the most powerful person in the MCU. She is recruited by Sonya Falsworth to help identify rogue Skrulls who are left on Earth.
Joining the Marvel universe as Sonya Falsworth is Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, who only had a short bit of screen time in the first episode of this Disney+ series. Even though she boasts ties to the noted Howling Commando James Montgomery Falsworth from Captain America: The First Avenger, her intentions seem to be more malicious right now as her spy nature shone in this first episode.
Sonya and Fury discussed their past encounters with one another, although it’s clear that her villainous intentions will come through before too many more episodes pass by.
After helping Nick Fury out the Skrull that was pretending to be Coronel Rhodes, Sonya recruits G’iah to help her continue to out the Skrull invasion on Earth.
Don Cheadle returns for his second appearance in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga as James Rhodes/War Machine, serving as an advisor to the President of the United States in this first episode.
All fans see him do in this episode is let the President know that Fury has left SABER, a new intergalactic space defense organization, although he’s sure to make more of an impact on the plot as Secret Invasion moves forward.
It is revealed in Secret Invasion that a Skrull named Raava has been impersonating Rhodey for some time now, potentially since Captain America: Civil War.
The Skrull who is impersonating Rhodey is killed by Nick Fury in the Secret Invasion finale. The actual Rhodey is awoken from his stasis pod by G’iah.
Secret Invasion will give fans a first-ever look into Nick Fury’s home life as the story dives into his relationship with his wife, Priscilla, who will make her MCU debut.
While Priscilla Fury hasn’t appeared in the series yet, she’s confirmed to be played by Charlayne Woodard, with recent credits on her resume that include runs on Pose and Animal Kingdom.
At the end of episode 2, it is revealed that Nick Fury is married to a Skrull named Varra. She ends the series by saying goodbye to Fury as he boards his ship going back to SABER
As revealed exclusively by The Direct, Killian Scott will make his first appearance in the Marvel Universe as a Skrull character named Pagon, who was seen for a few scenes working as Gravik’s right-hand man.
Only seen for a few minutes in Episode 1 of Secret Invasion, Samuel Adewunmi portrayed a Skrull character named Beto, who found G’iah in New Skrullos as he looked to help his people in the fight for Earth.
Richard Dormer’s Agent Prescod met his end after only a few minutes of screentime at the start of Secret Invasion Episode 1, showing the research he had done on the Skrulls that have invaded Earth already.
He was killed by the Skrull that posed as Everett Ross, marking the first casualty for the heroes’ side of the fight.
Israeli star Uriel Emil enjoyed one tense scene as the Skrull arms dealer Poprishchin alongside Fury and Talos, although Fury caused a rift between himself and his friend when he took Poprishchin out with two bullets to the chest.
While USA politics in the MCU haven’t been explored often outside of President Ellis in Iron Man 3, Secret Invasion will add a new chapter to that legacy with Dermot Mulroney’s portrayal of President Ritson.
He took the spotlight in one scene from Episode 1 where he discussed Fury’s absence from SABER with James Rhodes, although fans are already waiting to see the transition of power between Ritson and Thunderbolt Ross before Captain America: Brave New World.
President Ritson ends Secret Invasion still the President of the United States. After being deceived by Raava, the Skrull pretending to be Rhodey, Ritson declares war on all extra-terrestrial beings living in the United States.
Tony Curran was only seen through secret camera footage during one scene in Episode 1, in which the MI6 agent discussed the Skrull invasion with Sonya Falsworth as Fury, Hill, and Talos listened in.
Bulgarian actress Irmena Chichikova embodied one of the Skrulls’ top-ranking leaders, Kreega, who was seen in New Skrullos working closely with G’iah as the aliens took new human forms and kept their body doubles as prisoners.
Ben Peel’s Brogan appeaed only for a few minutes in Episode 1, taking the form of one of the Skrulls’ human prisoners, which was seen in a moment used often during Secret Invasion‘s promotional tour before he helped with the bombing.
Michael Epp’s Ruben Steiner was seen only for a few moments working as part of President Ritson’s security detail at the White House while the USA leader spoke with Rhodey about Nick Fury going AWOL from SABER
Known for roles in classic movies like Happy Gilmore and Thelma & Louis, Christopher McDonald looks to take on a new pop culture franchise as he plays an original, yet undisclosed, character in the MCU.
While he wasn’t seen in Episode 1, McDonald’s character is rumored to be “doing a lot of stuff with Samuel [Nick Fury]” as he looks to make an impact on much more than just Secret Invasion.
Katie Finneran is confirmed to join Secret Invasion in an undisclosed MCU role, although she was nowhere to be seen in Episode 1.
Known for her role in the hit series Bloodline, she also had a role in 2020’s Freaky alongside fellow MCU newcomer Kathryn Newton from Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
Black Widow’s O-T Fagbenle makes a surprise appearance in the fifth episode of Secret Invasion, reprising his character Rick Mason.
Mason assists Nick Fury get passed the Finnish border with a new passport. He also gives Fury an iconic Black Widow gadget, the Widow’s Veil, allowing him to disguise his face while crossing the border.
All episodes of Secret Invasion are now streaming on Disney+.
New photos from The Flash unveiled an official look at Jason Momoa’s cameo as Arthur Curry (Aquaman).
The Flash is filled with cameos from DCEU mainstays, such as Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.
The surprise appearances didn’t stop there as the movie’s post-credits scene featured Momoa’s Atlantean hero.
As part of The Flash‘s digital release, high-definition (HD) looks at Jason Momoa’s appearance as Arthur Curry in the post-credits scene are now available.
In the scene, Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen helps Momoa’s Arthur out of a bar while also telling him about his Multiverse adventure.
The post-credits scene clearly didn’t set up much about a potential sequel or Aquaman 2 as it ended with Momoa’s Arthur passing out in a puddle while Barry ultimately left him.
It is unknown if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will reference the brief encounter between Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen and Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry.
In fact, it remains to be seen what world the upcoming sequel even takes place. What it the traditional DCEU universe, or the one where George Clooney is the new Batman as seen at the end of The Flash?
If the post-credits scene was indeed the final interaction between the DCEU’s Barry and Arthur, it’s quite unfortunate that the last moment of the pair ended on a disappointing note.
Hopefully, as DC heads into a reboot, more good news about Momoa’s superhero future will arrive sooner rather than later.
The Flash is now available for purchase on all major digital problems.
Pikmin 4‘s first week sales in Japan were more than those of the first three Pikmin games combined.
Famitsu has published the physical game sales chart for the week ending July 23, and Pikmin 4 is at number one with 401,853 copies sold.
By comparison, based on archived Famitsu chart information, the first Pikmin sold 101,299 in its first week, Pikmin 2 sold 161,930 and Pikmin 3 sold 92,720.
It should also be noted that these charts only count physical sales and Nintendo hasn’t shared information on how many digital copies of Pikmin 4 have been sold, meaning the actual first week total is likely significantly higher than 401,853.
Before the release of Pikmin 4, the best launch for a game in the series was the Switch re-release of Pikmin 3 (titled Pikmin 3 Deluxe), which sold 171,349 physical copies in its first week.
The sales are likely due in part to a widespread advertising campaign for the game which took place throughout Japan, something VGC can attest to having been in the country in the two weeks leading up to its release.
Last week Nintendo’s chief designer Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the historical performance of the Pikmin games and why he believed the series hadn’t “exploded” commercially like some of the company’s other franchises.
The Super Mario creator said he believed the series’ difficulty, specifically related to its controls and depth of gameplay, was the main factor, and that a lot of effort had gone into trying to “convey these points as ‘interesting’ rather than ‘difficult.’”
VGC’s Pikmin 4 review calls the game “a brilliant entry point for new players”, saying: “Pikmin 4 is a smart and content-packed refinement of one of Nintendo’s most underrated series, but long-time fans may be put off by how long its generous campaign takes to get going.”
Pikmin 4‘s first week sales in Japan
It was with an Austrian film ‘‘Alma and Oskar’’ directed by Dieter Berner that 53rd International Film Festival of India 2022 got off to a good start. It is a film about one of the greatest expressionist artists of the 20th century Oskar Kokoschka who dominated the world of painting in Austria during 1900s. In the history of IFFI, it was for the first time that an Austrian film was chosen as the opening film. Apart from the director Dieter Berner, the film’s producers Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz and lead actors Emily Cox and Valentin Postlmayr were present at INOX 1 during the screening.
By and large, film festivals are organized all over the world to promote serious cinema. It can also be said that film festivals promote the auteur cinema of the country where it is organized. For example: Cannes film festival and Berlin Film festival. Both these film festivals are conducted in such a manner that both French cinema and German cinema are able to get ample opportunities to be seen, appreciated and sold during these festivals. However, one encounters a different kind of a scenario during IFFI as India’s commercial cinema Bollywood takes precedence over local and regional cinema especially during the opening ceremony. It is hoped that this trend would be reversed in future editions of IFFI.
To the dismay of general public, film industry professionals and film critics, scheduling of films remains a major issue at IFFI and is considered to be a major drawback for cinéphiles and critics who come from all over India to Panaji to watch as many acclaimed films as possible. For this year’s edition Spanish master director Carlos Saura’s films were shown at an unapproachable venue Inox, Porvorim. Most film critics complained that they couldn’t manage to see 15 competition and Indian panorama films. However, there were some lucky world cinema enthusiasts who managed to see ten good films during the festival. This is considered to be a healthy sign of any good film festival.
For its 2022 edition, NFDC’s ‘‘Film Bazaar’’ held at Marriott resort, Miramar, Panaji somewhat lacked the vigor as delegates and critics were made to run helter-skelter to get their badges and media kits. Some of the media persons returned empty handed as badges and media kits weren’t given to them.
Apart from the critically acclaimed films, master classes and talk shows are real crowd pullers at IFFI. However, it should be mentioned that Maquinez Palace 1 is too small a venue to organize either a master class or a talk show with famous people from Indian film industry. A bigger venue with facilities for media persons is the need of the hour. In this regard, let us all hope that ‘‘Kala Academy’’ will be ready in time for 54th IFFI 2023.
It is with great displeasure and regret that everybody’s attention must be drawn towards ‘‘Nadav Lapid’’ controversy that has tarnished the image of IFFI. Some key questions need to be asked such as who were the people who took the decision of inviting him ? Why was this perverse Israeli filmmaker not interrupted when he was hell bent on unjustly calling a film chosen by preview committee members as a ‘‘propaganda film’’. It is hoped that festival authorities will learn some lessons from this nasty incident and will ensure that the trend of inviting mediocre or obscure filmmakers to IFFI as jury members must end.
Finally, a lot of serious discussions and reporting work is carried out at PIB media center. It is one major spot where media persons stay for most of the day either to draft reports or attend press conferences. Apart from packed cinema halls, PIB media center would attract huge crowds whenever Bollywood actors came for press conferences. Bollywood actors Anupam Kher and Jackie Shroff attended such popular press conferences. As vlogging is getting more and more popular, some interactive sessions for journalists are needed including a briefing for media persons about the directors and actors who would attend and whose films would be presented during IFFI. This would be helpful for all those media persons who prepare comprehensive festival reports for newspapers, magazines and online publications.
Top 10 films seen during 53rd International Film Festival of India 2022
Below is the list of Top 10 “World Cinema” films that film critic Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI) saw at INOX during 53rd International Film Festival of India IFFI Goa 2022.
1) When the Waves are Gone directed by Lav Diaz, Philippines 2022.
2) The Chambermaid directed by Mariana Cengel Solcanska, Slovakia 2021.
3) Close directed by Lukas Dhont, Belgium 2022.
4) Domingo and the mist directed by Ariel Escalante Meza, Costa Rica 2022.
5) The Novelist’s Film directed by Hong Sang Soo, South Korea 2022.
6) Decision to leave directed by Park Chan Wook, South Korea 2022.
7) Red Shoes directed by Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser, Mexico 2022.
8) Bulldog directed by André Szardenings, Germany 2022.
9) Perfect Number directed by Krzysztof Zanussi, Poland 2022.
10) Fairytale directed by Alexander Sokurov, Russia 2022
PS : Apart from this list of Top 10 films, Mr. Lalit Rao met and spoke about cinema with 3 directors who were present in Panaji for 53rd IFFI 2022 namely Lav Diaz (Philippines), Ariel Escalante Meza (Costa Rica) and Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland). It was good listening to their ideas and perspectives.
It was with an Austrian film
Months after the sequel to Shazam failed to capture the original’s success, Zachary Levi reflects on the ordeal from earlier this year.
While the fallout may not have been as colossal as The Flash, Shazam: Fury of the Gods was one of the earlier titles this year that has been the subject of underperformance. This came at a surprise due to its predecessor being one of the more breakout hits of the DC Extended Universe. The ingredients were gathered to further the series after 2019’s Shazam as it had been announced that Dwayne Johnson was slated to star in Black Adam, which most had assumed would be the precursor to an eventual battle between the comic book rivals in a crossover film.
Cut to a few months later and the DCEU is about to be rebooted after a series of unfortunate events including Shazam: Fury of the Gods failing to replicate the first’s success and Black Adam following suit without even a hint of Billy Batson’s future meeting with the anti-hero. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Zachary Levi recently appeared on The FilmUp Podcast where he admits he’s still confused on the negative reviews from critics this time around.
“I don’t know what the future holds for it all because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well received. The audience score is still quite good, but the critics score was very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind,” Levi stated. “I thought we made a, if not just as good, better version than the first movie.” He, then, elaborates, “I’ve been a part of things, and as much as I wish they were good, I know they’re OK. I know that they miss a lot. And I’m not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some perfect, you know, Orson Welles-like masterpiece, but it’s a good darn movie.”
Levi also addressed that he feels the change in the nature of social media factored into the movie’s underperformance, “I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much. Social media has shifted so much. Hate, online hate and haters and trolls, and factions and all that has just gotten more galvanized in its toxicity. I think there are people who genuinely, unfortunately, want to destroy certain projects because they don’t like them, or they don’t like me, or they don’t like other people involved in them or whatever.”
The actor doesn’t know where the franchise will go from here, but he holds out hope that it will find a second life, “I just hope that or believe that, you know, history will show. It will be one of those things that people will go back, people will watch Fury of the Gods on home streaming or on a plane or whatever, and it will be this movie that they heard so much shit about and then they will be like, ‘Well, wait a minute.’”
Months after the sequel to Shazam failed
When Greta Gerwig sent her longtime editing collaborator Nick Houy the script for “Barbie,” the first thing he texted her back was a question: “Are they going to let you do it?”
Indeed, inside the box of the “Barbie” movie is a bonkers melange of musical numbers, existential dread, slapstick visual comedy, gender politics, earnest yearning for connection, and a Snyder Cut joke that definitely feels like Warner Brothers should’ve killed it. That it exists in the form it does feels as unreal and miraculous as Barbie Land itself. But the film also has a momentum that was familiar to the challenges Gerwig and Houy have set for themselves in their previous collaborations, “Lady Bird,” and “Little Women.”
Just as “Little Women” alternates between past and present, “Barbie” manages transitions between worlds that are more or less heightened, but always at least a little, as Gerwig put it, “bananagrams.” The seriousness with which the film tackles a set of absurd situations that balloon well beyond the initial premise “Barbie” sets out for itself matches the whip-smart comedy pacing of “Lady Bird,” which speed-runs and compiles together the different beats of a love story, coming-of-age friendship, and mother-daughter relationship in ways designed to surprise and delight.
The three films each have an unconventional structure, one that demands real precision in placing the audience exactly where they need to be at every moment in the film. “We’re both big George Saunders fans,” Gerwig told IndieWire on the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast. “And we talked about his Russian short fiction book because, to me, it was one of the best books about filmmaking without being a book about filmmaking. He says, you have to keep your reader in the sidecar with you. As you’re writing and editing, you keep checking on them. Is the reader still in the sidecar or did I lose the reader on a turn?”
Houy agreed that the main challenge of editing “Barbie” was providing clarity over the course of a number of turns across the film — some of which hinge on expressive internal realizations of Barbie confronting the reality of women in the real world and some of which hinge on the Matchbox Twenty song “Push.”
“There’s always some person that has an issue with these structures. Getting it down to that one person instead of half the audience was a big challenge,” Houy told IndieWire. “But it’s worth it. We get excited by that. We’re always talking about Charlie Kaufman movies and trying to do [things like] that in a way that feels like our own voice,” Houy said.
Houy’s and Gerwig’s excitement to push beyond what might be the expected storylines of their films is what lets them jolt the audience in surprise moments of humor and/or real feeling. But it means they had to lay the track of the rollercoaster ride that is “Barbie” inch by inch; they worked very incrementally, always with an eye to how best to keep the audience in their sidecar, or in the back seat of Barbie’s convertible, as the case may be.
“[Finding the places] to really keep the pace as tight as possible and then where to let it breathe, I think, is so important,” Houy said. “It’s everything. I think we’ve definitely done versions of all of our films where we’re like, ‘That was too fast, throughout. Way too fast throughout.”
The challenge of rhythm and pacing becomes even more acute with a setting that is as intentionally arch and anarchic as “Barbie.” Since every joke had to count and had to work while the film is moving at speed, it was important for Houy to stress-test them over and over again.
“[‘Barbie’] was so much more a comedy than ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Little Women,’” Houy said. “So we were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react.’ Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.”
One of the casualties of that testing process on “Barbie” was the joke type that Houy and Gerwig have tried sneaking into all three of their collaborations but has always died about two-thirds through the edit. “We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it,” Gerwig said. “We had like a fart opera in the middle [of ‘Barbie’]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.”
“It was in the wrong place, too,” Houy said. “We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time.”
Checking and checking again on whether the audience is ready for the moment in front of them can potentially numb a filmmaker to the emotional impact they’re going for, whether comedic or dramatic. Houy described the editing process as a bit like playing whack-a-mole. “Even if you get a scene perfect, then if you’ve cut out all these other scenes or you’ve changed the order or you’ve done work to these other scenes, now you have to rework the scene that originally was great and you’re constantly playing whack-a-mole,” Houy said.
But Gerwig and Houy have found each other to be good whack-a-mole partners for their ability to remind each other of where their movie is ultimately going. “The first time [Houy] read ‘Lady Bird’ and we talked about it, I asked him, ‘Do you think I should cut this scene or cut this thing?’ And he wrote back this incredibly detailed response,” Gerwig said. “It was almost like he [understood] the reason that I had unconsciously [for writing the scene], he was able to articulate why it shouldn’t be cut. That’s what you’re always looking for, for me anyway, in collaborators is somebody who, when you, inevitably, in an effort to practically execute something, lose the song in your head, they say, ‘No, no. It goes like this.’ And then you hear it again and you’re like, ‘Right. That’s the song. You’re right.’”
The song of “Barbie,” or at least the song in the character’s heart, culminates in a moment of montage: As Barbie follows her creator Ruth Handler’s (Rhea Pearlman) instruction to “feel,” we see footage of women at different stages of life. It’s a moment where the rhythm of the edit and the placement of the footage have as much of an emotional impact on the audience as the look on Margot Robbie’s face. Arriving at that specifically filmic expression of what it is to be human was also something Gerwig and Houy had to really work on to get just right.
“We had so many different ideas for [the ending], We originally were shooting things for it. That was the original plan. And then we tried stock footage and we tried other things and we even tried personal films that involved kind of everything,” Houy said.
Houy and Gerwig even tried to find footage of the real Ruth Handler but ultimately decided to open up submissions of home movies from the people who worked on the film. “Once we decided that [the montage] should really be about women, that clicked it in,” Houy said.
“Even though we don’t have a sign up that says, ‘This is footage [of] the people who made the film. This is the fabric of their lives,’ I think in some unconscious way, it’s a reminder that films are only ever made by people,” Gerwig said. “And these were the people that made this one.”
When Greta Gerwig sent her longtime editing
Spider-Man/Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
Following the events of ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy reunite as the Spider-man universe expands further than either of them has ever anticipated.
The official synopsis for ‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse‘ is below:
“Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga, an epic adventure that will transport Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man across the Multiverse to join forces with Gwen Stacy and a new team of Spider-People to face off with a villain more powerful than anything they have ever encountered.”
‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse’ opened in theaters domestically on June 2, 2023. Initially, the movie was slated to release in April 2022 but shifted to a later release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ opened to $120.6 million domestically and so far has grossed $371.8 million since its release. Worldwide, the movie has earned $666.5 million. This film serves as part one, with part two slated for a 2024 release.
The first film not only received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, but it also won the Academy Award for “Best Animated Feature” in 2019. The highly anticipated sequel once again dazzled the audience and is certified Fresh on the Tomatometer.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.
(L to R) Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Issa Rae as Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’ Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Copyright: © 2022 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This movie further expands what we already know of the Spider-Verse through the lens of Miles Morales. The film’s protagonist, The Spot, figured out that his spots can be used as portals for dimension jumping, but also the reason why Miles Morales became Spider-Man in the first place. The Spot uses his portals to travel to universes with colliders by absorbing its power to further increase his power, making him quite formidable for the team of Spider-man and Spider-woman.
Gwen Stacy also gets some much needed attention in this movie as we dive into her past on how she became Spider-Woman, her struggle to keep her identity a secret from her father, and how losing her best friend catapulted her into the frenzied world the “Spider Society.”
For the first time on the big screen, we’re introduced to Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Punk, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, and Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-man India – all of them working together under the direction of Spider-Man 2099 to prevent catastrophic canon events.
Ben Reilly in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
We’ve already seen in the first film how many variants of Spider-people exist. We’ve met Spider-Ham, Spider-Noir, and Peni Parker in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, and the amount of cameo and easter eggs is dialed up in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’ Here are some of the easter eggs you can find in the movie:
It’s not easy to catch all the easter eggs and cameo while watching in the theaters, but once the movie arrives on digital or a streaming platform, the audience will have the ability to pause and rewind to spot all the references and appearances.
(L to R) Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’ Photo by: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Copyright: © 2022 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Sharp-eyed audience members begin to wonder if there were two versions of the film being shown in theaters The differences are subtle and do not affect the overall story. An example is when Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 speaks with Lyla – In one version, Lyla takes a selfie with a bunny ear filter that shows up on Miguel’s face, and one version shows Lyla giving a fist bump. The films’ associate editor Andy Leviton has confirmed this on Twitter. Which version did you see?
(L to R) Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and his daughter Mayday in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
The movie premiered on May 20, 2023, at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles and was released domestically on June 2, 2023. It is still playing in theaters, so be sure to check Moviefone below for showtimes in your area. ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’’ has a total runtime of 2 hours and 14 minutes.
Watch the official trailers for ‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse’ below:
Can’t make it out to the theater? The multi-Spider-Verse jumping movie will soon be available digitally on Prime Video. Currently, it is listed as available for pre-order for $19.99. As far as streaming goes, since Sony does not have its own streaming platform and currently has a deal with Netflix, it is likely to end up on the major streamer in the fall.
Spider-Man/Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
Spider-Man/Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures
Director, producer, and writer Steven Spielberg will be honored with the Eva Monley Award from the Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) at its 10th annual LMGI Awards on August 26, 2023 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage.
Spielberg’s influence has inspired generations of creatives, acknowledging that locations play an indispensable role in the filmmaking process and convey distinct narratives. The announcement was made by LMGI Awards Committee cochairs John Rakich and Robin Citrin. This year also marks the LMGI’s 20th anniversary.
“Steven Spielberg is a giant in our industry. His work has touched, inspired, and entertained millions of moviegoers and filmmakers from around the world. His films are timeless and his influence on the motion picture industry is immeasurable. We are so proud to be able to honor him as this year’s Eva Monley Award recipient,” said Rakich.
The Eva Monley Award is given to an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the art and craft of filmmaking through their commitment to the use of real locations. The LMGI Awards recognize outstanding achievement in filmmaking, television, and commercials production worldwide, as well as film commissions.
For a list of 2023 LMGI Awards nominees, click here.
As previously announced, Location Scout and LMGI founding member Beth Tate (Twilight, Beverly Hills 90210) will receive this year’s Trailblazer Award. Veteran Location Manager Dow Griffith (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,Jumanji, Proof of Life) will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and The Creative Coalition will receive the LMGI Humanitarian Award. This year’s awards are produced by Erick Weiss, Honeysweet Creative, and IngleDodd Media.
The LMGI was founded in 2003 as a 501(c)(6), non-profit corporation as the LMGA and rebranded in 2016 to reflect its growing international membership. The LMGI is not a labor union and does not represent Location Managers/Scouts in wage or working condition negotiations.
Director, producer, and writer Steven Spielberg will be
Alison Moyet, the chart-topping British singer and Yazoo co-founder, can add a fine art printmaking degree to her lengthy list of accomplishments.
Moyet this week graduated with a first in fine art printmaking BA (Hons) from Brighton University, England.
The multiple award-winning British star shared a picture in her cap and gown, remarking how, at 62 years of age, the achievement had come “a bit late doors”.
“Aged 16 I wanted to be a printer like my father, my grand-father and his father before him. I was met with a ‘No. Closed Shop. No women.’ 62 this month and I’ve just completed my first degree,” she tweeted. “Fine Art Printmaking. Born to make a mess and learnt to clean it up.” She signs off, #ItsNeverTooLate.
One of the outstanding singers of her generation, Moyet landed one of the land’s highest accolades in 2021, with an MBE for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Across a stellar recording career, the English singer scooped two solo U.K. No. 1 albums, including 1984’s Alf, and a brace of Brit Awards for best female artist.
In the late noughts, Moyet briefly reunited with Vince Clarke for a Yazoo tour, their short-lived but hugely influential ‘80s synth-pop outfit, which had hits with “Don’t Go,” “Only You,” “Nobody’s Diary” and others. Yazoo released two studio albums, 1982’s Upstairs at Eric’s, which peaked at No. 2 in the U.K., and 1983’s You & Me Both, which led the national chart.
Moyet’s ninth and latest solo LP, Other, dropped in 2017 and peaked at No. 12 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.
Alison Moyet, the chart-topping British singer and
Let’s address the elephant in the room. Li Ruijun’s 2022 film Return to Dust was promptly banned in China under suspicious circumstances after its relatively successful release. When a film like this is banned in its home country, perhaps that’s as good a sign as any that it has an impact — even if the message isn’t what the powers at be might necessarily prefer. Return to Dust is a tragic romance of the highest order, and if foreign censors are less than pleased with its grounded depiction of economic realities in rural China, then the loss is theirs alone. Imagine if classics like Bicycle Thieves weren’t available because of some ruffled feathers.
Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin), AKA “Fourth Brother,” is a humble farmer in the arid countryside of China. As his nickname would indicate, he is low on the family’s totem pole, but he is nevertheless assigned a wife to marry. She is Cao Guiying (Hai Qing), an incontinent woman suffering from a debilitating (and undiagnosed) illness. There’s no chemistry to speak of as they begin their lives together, but their efforts to improve their existence through manual labor start to kindle a flame neither has experienced before. Local politics quickly complicate their lives. Youtie, who carries an extremely rare blood type (called panda blood in China), is literally forced to give his blood for his country so a sick local Party official can receive necessary transfusions. To make matters worse, a new policy of beautifying the countryside forces the pair to leave their home so older buildings can be razed.
“…forced to give his blood for his country…”
The film’s heart is centered on the married couple’s efforts to construct a new home by hand. It’s grueling work, but through Li’s stunning visuals and mastery of pacing, we become engrossed by the details not only of the labor but by their burgeoning love. Seemingly small gestures of love like Cao bringing her Youtie a jar of hot water or Youtie helping Cao wash in a local stream speak volumes, much more than the exposition dumps we’re used to seeing in lesser films.
The two leads play in stark contrast to what we expect from romance films. One wets the bed, the other toils in the mud to make bricks. This is the furthest imaginable point from a Netflix original te can get, and that’s a win in my book. The seasons slowly pass, and the house grows exponentially in pace with their love for each other. Viewers will be shocked at how much they end up caring for these two pure-hearted individuals (and their lovable donkey, whose bell quickly becomes a sound one won’t forget anytime soon). s
I’m simply blown away by this film and stand confused that it didn’t take off after its 2022 Berlinale premiere. It’s a crying shame the future of Return to Dust is in doubt. The less-than-flattering representation of a destitute pair of rural laborers refusing to succumb to the pressures of urbanization was bound to stir up some controversy. The film was a surprise success with the Chinese public, though, evidence enough that it resonated with wide swaths of audiences. Art always wins, though, and I caution readers not to miss this new Chinese classic.
Let’s address the elephant in the room.
The explosion early on a June morning ignited a blaze that engulfed a New York City shop filled with motorized bicycles and their volatile lithium-ion batteries. Billowing smoke quickly killed four people asleep in apartments above the burning store.
As the ubiquity of e-bikes has grown, so has the frequency of fires and deaths blamed on the batteries that power them — sparking a push to better regulate how the batteries are manufactured, sold, reconditioned, charged and stored.
Consumer advocates and fire departments, particularly in New York City, are urging the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish national safety standards and confiscate imports that don’t comply with regulations at the border, so unsafe e-bikes and poorly manufactured batteries can be taken off the streets and out of homes.
The matter comes under discussion when the commission convenes a public hearing Thursday in Washington.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for months,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said a day after an exploding battery ignited the Chinatown e-bike shop fire last month. “We need real action, not only on the state level, but on the federal level.”
With some 65,000 e-bikes zipping through its streets — more than any other place in the U.S. — New York City is the epicenter of battery-related fires. There have been 100 such blazes so far this year, resulting in 13 deaths, already more than double the six fatalities last year.
Nationally, there were more than 200 battery-related fires reported to the commission — an obvious undercount — from 39 states over the past two years, including 19 deaths blamed on so-called micromobility devices that include battery-powered scooters, bicycles and hoverboards.
New York’s two U.S. Senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, introduced legislation last month that would set mandatory safety standards for e-bikes and the batteries that power them.
Because mandatory standards don’t exist, Schumer said, poorly made batteries have flooded the U.S., increasing the risk of fires.
Earlier this year, New York City urgently enacted a sweeping package of local laws intended to crack down on defective batteries, including a ban on the sale or rental of e-bikes and batteries that aren’t certified as meeting safety standards by an independent product testing lab.
The new rules also outlaw tampering with batteries or selling refurbished batteries made with lithium-ion cells scavenged from used units.
Meanwhile, New York City officials also announced they had received a $25 million federal grant for e-bike charging stations across the city — which fire marshals hope will reduce the risk of fires.
These aren’t typical fires, said New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. The batteries don’t smolder; they explode.
“When they fail, they fail quite spectacularly,” said Kavanagh, who will speak at Thursday’s forum and advocate for national safety standards and stronger measures against possibly dangerous devices. “Once one of these ignites, there is a huge volume of fire, often so much so that the person in their home can’t get out and the firefighters can’t get in to get them.”
Such was the case in April when two siblings, a 7-year-old boy and his 19-year-old sister, died when a scooter battery ignited a fire in Queens.
Because of the fire hazard, some residential buildings have banned e-bikes. Last summer, the New York City Housing Authority sought to prohibit tenants in all of its 335 developments from keeping or charging e-vehicles in their units, only to back down a few months later after protests from delivery workers.
Use of motorized bicycles grew dramatically in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic as homebound people turned more to food delivery workers for meals and groceries.
With the rash of fires, delivery workers like Lizandro Lopez say they are now more mindful about precautions.
“As soon as the battery is charged, I disconnect it. You shouldn’t leave it charging for too long,” Lopez told The Associated Press in Spanish, “because if you leave it on there too long, that’s when you can cause a fire.”
Los Deliveristas Unidos, which represents app-based delivery workers in the New York area, estimates that fewer than 10 per cent of e-bikes sold in the city have been deemed safe by a third-party evaluator, such as UL Solutions, a product testing company that certifies safety compliance for a host of electrical products, including Christmas lights and televisions.
E-bike batteries rely on the same chemistry to generate power as the lithium-ion batteries in cellphones, laptops and most electric vehicles — products that were initially prone to overheating.
Tighter regulations, safety standards and compliance testing drastically reduced the risk of fires in such devices, according to Robert Slone, the senior vice president and chief scientist for UL Solutions.
The same can happen with e-bike batteries, he said, if they are made to comply with established safety standards.
“We just need to make them safe, and there is a way to make them safe through testing and certification,” Slone said, “given the history that we’ve seen in terms of fires and injuries and unfortunately, deaths as well — not just in New York, but across the country and around the world.”
In London, the fire brigade says lithium batteries are the city’s fastest growing fire risk, with one fire erupting about every two days. Last year, there were a total of 116 fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters. At least one death has been attributed this year to an overheated battery.
In San Francisco, there have been at least 21 battery fires so far this year — compared with just 13 battery-related fires in 2017, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Last year, some 1.1 million e-bikes were imported into the U.S., according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association, an industry group. In 2021, more than 880,000 e-bikes came into the country — about double from the year before and triple the number in 2019.
Many of the batteries now on the road are aftermarket products that are cheaply made and popular with delivery workers because of their lower prices.
“But that product is so cheap because it hasn’t gone through those design and testing. … It doesn’t meet a standard, so that’s why they’re inexpensive,” said Matt Moore, the general and policy council for the PeopleForBikes Coalition, which will also take part in the forum. “Even if there was a regulation, there will still be the ability of foreign sellers and manufacturers to send these products into the United States.”
The explosion early on a June morning
Gianluca Matarrese’s “The Zola Experience,” which will have its world premiere at Venice Days, has been picked up for international sales by Syndicado. Cinecittà will distribute the film in Italy.
According to Matarrese, the film “explores the boundaries between fiction and documentary.” It centers on Anne, a theater director, who has separated from her husband and is moving house. Life for her is dull, and she feels no desire. She meets Ben, a helpful neighbor and jobless actor. He looks at her with passionate eyes, but she never wants to tie herself to a man again.
However, when she decides to embark on a stage production of Émile Zola’s novel “L’Assommoir,” it is to him that she proposes the role of Coupeau, casting herself as Gervaise. As the story unfolds, the boundary between real life and the play becomes increasingly blurred.
The film stars Anne Barbot and Benoît Dallongeville. The screenplay is by Matarrese, Barbot and Dallongeville.
Matarrese comments: “The structure of the film is an exchange, a dialogue between two narratives, the one of the play on stage, and the one of the actors, backstage. Offstage, the actors are caught in intimate conversations, immersed in their everyday element, in reflections or during preparations before sliding into fiction.
“The camera was the medium of immersion in the inner movements of the characters. The editing process created links between the moments of play in theatrical fiction and the real world, to the point of voluntarily losing the usual references and codes between the different registers.”
“The Zola Experience” is produced by Dominique Barneaud and Donatella Palermo for Bellota Films and Stemal Entertainment.
Paris-based Matarrese has made eight documentary films in the past five years, including “A Steady Job,” which world premiered at Visions du Réel film festival last year, and aired on Franco-German channel ARTE and German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk. He also directed “Fashion Babylon,” which world premiered last year at CPH:DOX film festival and was supported by France Télévisions.
Gianluca Matarrese’s “The Zola Experience,” which will
Paradox has confirmed that Life By You and its early access has been pushed back from September of this year to March 2024.
The new Sims-like game developed by Paradox is seen by many as the kick-up the butt the renowned The Sims series has needed for a long time. However, according to a recent press release, we won’t see this healthy competition come to fruition for some time.
Eager players will now be able to get their hands on this much-anticipated upcoming game on March 5, 2024. “The additional time gives the development studio, Paradox Tectonic, the ability to improve the game’s visuals and UI”, General Manager Rod Humble said. “These improvements will not only affect the overall look and feel of the game but will make it a more well-rounded experience for players.”
Paradox Tectonic will also use the extra time to fine-tune mod tools that will eventually be available for all players to create with.
Life By You is currently available to pre-order on the Epic Games store for $39.99/ £34.99/ AUD$66.75. It’ll also be available to pre-order on Steam for the same price once early access launches on March 5, 2024.
The pre-order did include The Life Begins pack, as well as the Jumpstart Fashion, Vehicle: Vintage Scooter, and Walls to Floors Decor packs. But now Paradox Tectonic has added an extra bonus for all players at the start of early access: the Nightclub Vibe pack. Those who have already purchased the pre-order must re-do their order before the new early access date to gain this pack. Fear not though, as you can still get your money back for the original purchase, as Epic will automatically refund that.
If you’re looking for new ways to experience different lives and can’t wait until the March release date for Life By You, check out our list of best simulation games for some of the most addictive and bizarre titles available.
Paradox has confirmed that Life By You
Peacock hit a total of 24 million subscribers during the second quarter of 2023 as Comcast beat Wall Street expectations.
The cable and media conglomerate reported adjusted net income of $4.7 billion on Thursday, or $1.13 per share. Total revenue grew 1.5% year over year to $30.5 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew 4.2% year over year to $10.2 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected the NBCUniversal parent to report earnings of 98 cents per share on revenue of $30.3 billion.
Peacock posted revenue of $820 million during the quarter, but an adjusted EBITDA loss of $651 million, compared to $444 million of revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $467 million in the prior year period. To help Peacock reach profitability, NBCUniversal is hiking prices on its Premium and Premium Plus subscription tiers to $5.99 and $11.99 per month respectively.
In Comcast’s Connectivity & Platforms segment, adjusted EBITDA grew 4.4% year over year to $8.3 billion and revenue grew 0.1% year over year to $20.36 billion. Residential connectivity and platforms revenue fell 0.5% year over year to 18.06 billion, while business services connectivity revenue rose 4% year over year to 2.29 billion.
Total customer relationships for the cable business decreased by 228,000 during the quarter to 52.3 million. Total domestic broadband customer decreased by 19,000 to 32.3 million and total domestic video customer dropped by 543,000 to 15 million. Meanwhile, total domestic wireless lines increased by 316,000 to 5.98 million.
In its Content & Experiences segment, adjusted EBITDA climbed 7.5% to $2.2 billion and revenue jumped 4% year over year to $10.87 billion. Adjusted EBITDA in the Media division dropped 18.2% year over year to $1.24 billion, while revenue grew 0.1% year over year to 6.2 billion. Domestic advertising revenue slid 4.9% year over year to $2.03 billion, domestic distribution revenue climbed 2.2% year over year to $2.6 million and international networks revenue surged 6.7% year over year to $1.04 billion.
In its Studios segment, adjusted EBITDA increased to $255 million, while revenue decreased 0.9% year over year to $3.08 billion. Theatrical revenue soared 65.9% year over year to $913 million, while content licensing revenue fell 19.8% year over year to $1.82 billion.
The latest quarterly results come as the cable giant and its competitors are contending with a historic double strike from SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Legacy media is also facing a secular decline in linear television as cord-cutting continues to accelerate among consumers.
Additionally, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh recently restructured the NBCUniversal leadership team, elevating Donna Langley to NBCUniversal Studio Group chairman and chief content officer and Mark Lazarus to NBCUniversal Media chairman. The promotions, which are designed to streamline the network’s operations, prompted the departure of top TV executive Susan Rovner and followed the abrupt firing of CEO Jeff Shell in April and the exit of NBCUniversal sales chief Linda Yaccarino in May.
Comcast shares are up 2.8% in pre-market trading on Thursday and 20.6% year to date following the earnings announcement.
More to come…
Peacock hit a total of 24 million
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For 2023, many people are going with a more natural, neutral nail look — including celebrities like Sofia Richie. We’re giving bold colors, long acrylics and bright sparkles a rest (at least here and there!) in favor of sheer pinks and nudes. It works perfectly with a “clean girl” aesthetic — and it means we get to save on nail salon costs!
But going for that more natural look isn’t always as easy as it sounds, especially if you’re taking a DIY approach. You need to make sure you have the perfect color, as well as a polish that applies nicely even if you’re not necessarily a pro at manis. For Richie, that color is Essie’s Skinny Dip!
Recently, Richie posted a photo on her Instagram Stories showing off her nails (and her stunning rings). “Loving a neutral nail,” she wrote on top of the image. “This [is] two coats of Essie Skinny Dip.” This color also closely resembled her wedding manicure!
Skinny Dip is a sheer, light peachy-pink shade that makes achieving a beautiful, soft wash of color easy. This polish also comes with Essie’s exclusive easy glide brush, which is designed to fit every nail size for “quick, streak-free, even and professional application at home.” This salon-quality find is such an essential for every beauty lover!
This nail polish is a quick and subtle way to add a clean, versatile sophistication to any look. Wear it as a bride or bridesmaid, wear it to work or out for a first date, wear it for taking timeless photos or simply to give yourself a mood boost when you’re just hanging around the house.
One reviewer noted how Skinny Dip specifically requires minimal effort and yet gives the appearance of a professional manicure. All you need is a couple of coats between a base and top coat for best results. So much more inexpensive than a trip to the nail salon — and the best part is, you don’t need to call to make any appointments. Obsessed!
Not your color? Shop more from Essie here and explore all nail polishes at Amazon here! Don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!
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Published By: Dishya Sharma
Last Updated: July 27, 2023, 17:15 IST
Kim Sejeong has starred in many Korean dramas. (Credits: Instagram)
Kim Sejeong, renowned for her performance in the popular Netflix series Business Proposal, is gearing up to return to the music scene. After a two-year hiatus since her last mini album, I’m, released in 2021, the multi-talented artist is set to make a grand comeback as a singer. The news was confirmed by her agency, Jellyfish Entertainment, which revealed that Kim will be releasing a new album in September. Fans are super delighted with the news and they’ll be eagerly awaiting the return of the talented artist.
Despite the confirmation, her agency has chosen to keep more details under wraps. As of now, no specific information about the album’s title, concept or tracklist has been disclosed. This decision has left fans in suspense.
Kim Sejeong has made a mark in the music industry with her previous releases, including hit songs like Flower Road, Tunnel, her first mini album Flower Pot and the digital single Whale. Given her previous successes, the expectations for her upcoming album is sky-high.
She initially gained recognition after she was declared as the runner up on the first season of Produce 101 in 2016. Following her impressive performance on the show, she debuted as a member of the project group I.O.I. She later joined the girl group Gugudan. However, all good things must come to an end, as her group disbandment at the end of 2020.
Other than singing, Kim Sejeong has also made her mark in the acting world. Her acting debut in the show School in 2017 showcased her potential and she continued to impress with her role as Shin Ha Ri in the popular Netflix series Business Proposal, which garnered her widespread attention. She was later seen in Today’s Webtoon and The Uncanny Counter.
She is set to appear in the second season of The Uncanny Counter, scheduled for release on July 29.
Earlier this month, Kim Sejeong found herself at the centre of attention after speculations about her secret trip to Japan with her co-star Ahn Hyo-seop, went viral. Even though no pictures featured both of them together, fans jumped to the conclusion that they were on a romantic couple’s trip.
In response to the rumours, Kim took to Weverse Live to set the record straight. The singer and actress questioned, “Why would I go to Japan with oppa?” She clarified that she actually went on the trip with her best friend and her older brother.
Published By: Dishya SharmaLast Updated: July
The trailer just dropped for a new Netflix documentary that examines how a defamation trial became a global fixation.
“Depp v. Heard” is a three-part series examining the infamous defamation case between “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp and his ex-wife “The Rum Diary” star Amber Heard. The trial captured the public’s attention and became the world’s first trial by TikTok.
Showing the testimony side-by-side for the first time, the docuseries explores the global media event, questioning the nature of truth and the role it plays in modern society.
When the court hearings began in April 2022, TikTok became a hot spot for seemingly endless pro-Depp and anti-Heard memes and videos about the trial, which was broadcast on CourtTV and other outlets. Numerous videos featuring the hashtag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp surpassed 2 million likes each.
Some posts featured audio clips from the trial, including Heard’s comment about her dog stepping on a bee. Singer Doja Cat seemed to mock the line in a TikTok that has since been deleted. More than 450 TikTok videos seemingly mocked Heard with a remix of her statement.
TikTok videos also praised Depp attorney Camille Vasquez, with some showing people cheering for Vasquez in public and others posting flattering video edits of the attorney. In another post, a TikTok user flaunted her Vasquez-inspired tattoo.
The dueling defamation cases between Depp and Heard came to a somewhat mixed end in the summer of 2022: The jury found she defamed him but also awarded her $2 million in her countersuit.
Depp’s courtroom victory over Heard was viewed by legal experts not just through the twists and turns of the courtroom drama but also for the wider implications the jury’s verdict would ultimately have in the larger world.
Several experts deemed the verdict a step back for the #MeToo movement. Some feared it could set back the cause of women who speak out about abuse by powerful men.
The Times’ Richard Winton and Alex Del Rosario contributed to this report.
The trailer just dropped for a
Secret Invasion‘s finale just became the worst-rated MCU episode in history on Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney+’s Secret Invasion has now come and gone, with a large contingent of the Marvel Studios’ fanbase disappointed in what they ultimately got.
After being branded as the franchise’s first “crossover event” series and a straight “espionage thriller,” the show did not live up to the hype in the eyes of many.
This has been reflected in the series’ Rotten Tomatoes scores as well, with Secret Invasion currently being the worst-reviewed overall MCU show on the platform.
The Secret Invasion finale has received the lowest-ever Rotten Tomatoes critic approval score for a single episode of a Marvel Studios-produced Disney+ series.
The list of the worst-reviewed MCU episodes on the platform is as follows:
She-Hulk Episode 6 (titled “Just Jen”) currently sits at 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. The episode saw Tatiana Maslany’s titular hero take a break from her heroic duties to take part in the wedding of a high school friend.
“Just Jen” was a critical low point of the Disney+ legal comedy for many, as it put aside the superhero antics for the most part and went all in on its divisive comedic elements.
Secret Invasion did not start off with a bang at least critically. The mini-series kicked things off with a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as Nick Fury discovers a clandestine invasion of the aliens known as Skrulls.
Episode 1, “Resurrection,” received criticisms for its ‘written by committee’ feel, as well as the controversial death of fan-favorite Avengers character Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders)
In the third place spot is a tie between Secret Invasion Episodes 2 and 5 (titled “Promises” and “Harvest” respectively). Episode 2 centered on Nick Fury being relieved of his position by the Skrull imitating James Rhodes, and Episode 5 followed Fury prepping to take on Gravik and the Skrull Rhodey in the wake of Talos’ death.
These two episodes suffer from very similar problems, with critics pointing to the potential being there for something great but the writing and generic plot getting in the way.
Another tie comes in the second spot with Secret Invasion Episodes 3 and 4. The pair of episodes sit at 38%, as Nick Fury further uncovered the details of Gravik’s Skrull plot, resulting in the death of his longtime friend and coconspirator Talos.
The lackluster writing seen throughout the series is another thing brought up in criticisms of these two. But the biggest sticking point comes in the unsatisfying twist in the death and immediate resurrection of Emilia Clarke’s G’iah.
Sitting at the bottom of the MCU streaming barrel is the Secret Invasion finale. Episode 6 currently sits at a 13% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It followed Nick Fury and G’iah thwarting the Skrull plot and saving the world from an all-out Skrull-human war.
After being teased by Samuel L. Jackson himself as “sooo good” before its debut, the Secret Invasion ultimately disappointed, opting for yet another CGI-fest final fight with little justification for why this series needed to exist in the first place.
Secret Invasion is available to stream now on Disney+.
Entertainment does not always mean nurturing the shock value or delivering the unexpected. Sometimes, movies that are utterly harmless and don’t demand your one hundred percent attention provide enough feels to keep you rooted to your seats. This does not mean the movies are necessarily bad or box office flops. There are action flicks, fantasy romances, animated adventures, and rib-tickling comedies that manage to bag the numbers and audiences’ affections.
Other times, you have simply watched a movie way too many times. You can quote the dialogues, reenact the scenes, as well as adapt the mannerisms of the characters and the films still do not lose their charm. The movies on this list are a combination of both. But either way, these silver screen wonders have the distinct quality of never asking for too much but always leaving you thrilled, joyful, and content with their stories.
You can call it a hilarious buddy cop action or a relatable high school flick but either way, 21 Jump Street knows just how to keep you entertained without demanding your full attention. Schmidt and Jenko are two underachieving cops who are given a task to go undercover as students at a high school and get to the bottom of a drug ring and arrest its leader. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill bring their signature brand of humor as best friends turned co-workers. The movie has a nostalgic element in its depiction of teen tropes but it also turns up on the ridicule with its straightforward premise. It also takes a lot of inspiration from several episodes from the ‘80s drama starring Johnny Depp.
Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston star in this incredibly entertaining romantic comedy that centers around a plastic surgeon who thinks he is done with relationships and pretends to be married to avoid any unnecessary entanglements. That is, until he finds “The One.” He enlists his assistant to be his soon-to-be ex-wife and accompany him on a trip with his future girlfriend. Despite the complicated premise, the movie fabricates a story that is equal parts relaxed and panicked. It has every segment that makes a movie about fake dating work. Sneaky romance? Check. Lingering glances? Check. Two extremely attractive people messing up because they are constantly on the verge of being discovered? Check. Overall, Just Go With It is one of those warm, harmless movies that will leave you laughing, and for no reason.
Now, don’t get us wrong. Mentioning Jennifer Aniston on a list of movies that don’t require paying much attention to may seem extreme, but Murder Mystery is not the usual whodunit. You won’t have to glue yourself to the screen looking for clues like in an Agatha Christie adaptation. The movie starts off smooth, following Nick and Aubrey Spitz, a New York cop and his wife, who feel the chemistry of their romance fading and decide to take a European vacation on a yacht to rekindle the magic.
However, when an elderly billionaire is murdered on the yacht, it’s Nick and Aubrey who are found accused. With lighthearted humor, witty remarks about the working class, and Adam Sandler’s nonchalant attitude, the movie has you grinning occasionally while the mystery unfolds itself.
Cher Horowitz may be the queen bee of Beverly Hills High School but she is far from evil. In fact, she’s so kind and gracious that she gives Tai, a new student, her much-needed makeover and helps elevate her popularity and social status. Clueless acts as a preservation of high school memories with its hierarchies, struggles of adolescence, balancing the expectations of a better future and the weight of the present. From the ‘90s pop culture references to the memorable characters, the movie remains endlessly rewatchable and wildly quotable. Alicia Silverstone shines as Cher, Paul Rudd is ever-so-charming as the annoyingly available step brother, and Stacey Dash is the best friend and personal cheerleader we all need in our lives.
Rarely do sequels live up to the standards set by their predecessors. Under David Leitch’s brilliant direction, the fan favorite, bad-mouthed Marvel Comics character returns to screen with a brand new mission. Wade Wilson is determined to protect Russell, a young boy who possesses supernatural abilities. Being hunted by a time-traveling mercenary does not make things easy for him and he seeks the help of a group of rogue mutants. Ryan Reynolds reprises his role as the titular superhero in this perfect blend of action, comedy, and drama. Deadpool 2 brings back its signature brand of raunchy humor, gory action sequences, and entertains the audience in a way few superhero flicks do.
The 2000s were a great decade for cinema and the pioneering film in Todd Phillips’ laugh-out-loud comedy trilogy is one of the reasons why. In The Hangover, we follow three best friends – Phil, Alan, and Stu – who enthusiastically accompany their best friend Doug to Las Vegas to celebrate his last few days as a bachelor. The boys had the nights planned how to the T, but what they didn’t expect was to wake up after a night of partying with the groom-to-be missing and the events of the night before a complete blur. The three best men are seen getting into ridiculously funny situations as they retrace their steps back into the night until a lost camera with random photos magically lands in their hands. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis get all the credits for making this an iconic comedy.
Harmless fun does not always have to include comedies. Sweeping romances filled with swashbuckling adventures find a place in the background as well. The Princess Bride is a fantasy film that centers around the story of two star-crossed lovers, Buttercup and Westley. Buttercup is a princess and Westley is the farm boy she is head-over-heels in love with. But womance comes with its own challenges because when Westley sets out in search for a better job and success, he is attacked by a pirate. What follows is a groundbreaking journey of strength, beauty, and fighting for what one believes in. Directed by Rob Reiner, who adapts William Goldman’s story with sheer authenticity, the movie lingers as an infectious one filled with joy and hope.
A movie that remains over watched and under-discussed, Twilight is the first film in an epic saga based on the vampire romance novels written by Stephenie Meyer. Bella Swan is a teenager who moves to the gloomy and mysterious town of Forks, Washington, to live with her father. On her first day of attending the Forks High School, she encounters the Cullens. Getting involved with Edward Cullen, a 108-year-old vampire, was the last thing she’d wanted, but the intrigue and charm circling around the family was hard to ignore.
Twilight started a phenomenon that may not have been appreciated at the time but is considered widely relevant today. The movie does not demand major focus until that very unexpected Radiohead needle drop when the credits roll, which is honestly pretty cool.
While the plot makes much more sense in the sequel and the dance only gets better, 2006’s Step Up deserves credit for kick-starting the series that fills its audience with exhilaration. Anne Fletcher’s directorial debut is a gripping story that comes alive through the eyes of Tyler, who works as a janitor at Maryland School of the Arts, and Nora, a professional dancer who spends her time perfecting the art. When the two meet, there is an instant chemistry that only escalates when Nora discovers Tyler’s talent and encourages him to chase his dreams. The conversations aren’t extraordinary and there is no conflict, but the dance sequences are truly breathtaking. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan bring their absolute best to the table, breaking out because of their performances. Overall, the movie may not have any great technical achievements, but it is still very enjoyable.
Based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a man who spent most part of his life living at the Paris terminal after being exiled from his country, The Terminal is a heartwarming film starring Tom Hanks. A political war breaks out in Krakozhia after Viktor Navorski lands in New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, leaving him stranded as a citizen of nowhere. The officials ban him from setting foot into the Big Apple so he makes a home out of the airport terminal, where he makes friends, falls in love, finds a job, and shares the very reason of his arrival to the city. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie has many quiet moments of subtle humor, touching human connections, and a spirit that never gives up. Moreover, it is anchored by an incredible supporting cast made of Stanley Tucci, Catharine Zeta-Jones, and Zoe Saldana.
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In a universe parallel to that of The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway is her own boss and is running a massive fashion website. As Jules Ostin, she’s opinionated, often skeptical, but highly professional. On the other hand, Ben Whittaker is a 70-year-old senior citizen with a penchant for corporate life, who, when the opportunity presents itself, joins Ostin’s business as her intern. What follows is a moving back-and-forth where Ostin radiates her pessimistic persona, fails at life, and breaks down, while Robert De Niro becomes her rock, extends his own philosophy of life and teaches her to look at life anew. Despite being predictable and containing one too many subplots, there is no denying that The Intern is a sweet and feel-good movie that perfectly balances comedy and drama.
We Bought A Zoo is a biographical family drama that will give you the feels, even when you are not paying any attention. The story goes as follows. Benjamin Mee is a recently widowed father of two. When moving out of the city that reminded him of his wife seemed like the right thing to do, he bought a house with a zoo attached to it and took responsibility of renovating and restarting it. Dartmoor Wildlife Park breathes life in the form of African lions, big brown European bears, short-clawed otters, flamingos, and several other animals. Director Cameron Crowe imbues the movie with enough sentimentality, mentions of grief, and moments of heart and humor to keep you invested. Matt Damon naturally delivers as outstanding performance as a father trying to keep his kids connected to nature. The movie also features Scarlett Johansson, Elle Fanning, and Colin Ford.
Finding Dory may not have had the same impact as Finding Nemo but it centers around one of our favorite animated characters of all time, Dory. And that’s enough. The iconic duo of the amnesiac blue tang fish, Dory, and the perpetually stressed-out clownfish Marlin returns in this Disney movie for another adventure, but this time, little Nemo joins them. Dory has faint memories about her parents, her past, learning to speak Whale, but now she’s determined to find the truth. So the trio sets sail to find Dory’s home and close every loop in her choppy head.
The visuals of the underwater are stunning, with the vibrant colors bursting into the frame in sheer detail. The voice cast, led by Ellen DeGeneres, adds to the overall emotion and the shattering finale, making this Pixar sequel admirable and watch-worthy.
Disaster epics or survival thrillers are usually compelling enough to have your eyes glued to the screen in anticipation, to marvel at the scope of destruction caused by a calamity. While Geostorm does have some spectacular scenes of collateral damage, the movie can be watched pretty casually, without really paying much attention to the plot or the characters. For years, the Dutch Boy Program has kept natural disasters at bay, but even so, the world cannot stay safe when Mother Nature unleashes her wrath. Caught up in the middle of an impending doom is Jake Lawson, a technology designer, who discovers that there is a mammothous Geostorm advancing the land. And it is up to him to save the world and warn people of the threat. With Gerard Butler as the protagonist, the movie packs some solid punches.
While the animated cartoon, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was exceptional in its own right, the year 2002 introduced fans with the live action version of Scooby-Doo. In the movie directed by Raja Gosnell, the Mystery Inc. gang have lost touch with one another for two years. But one day, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and their dog, Scooby-Doo, all receive an invitation to Spooky Island, where strange incidents in an amusement park pique their interest and they go about their mystery-solving business. Despite leaving behind the two-dimensional feel of its predecessor, the live action movie maintains the original campy fun, gives a distinct dynamic to every character, and imbues the storyline with suspense and scares that define the classic.
Entertainment does not always mean nurturing
Nintendo has added classic Zelda games Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages to Nintendo Switch Online, its $20 yearly retro game subscription service.
Originally released in 2001 for the Game Boy Color, Oracle of Seasons and Ages are twin Zelda games that see protagonist Link transported to different worlds to save captured Oracles Din and Nayru. Oracle of Seasons grants Link the Rod of Seasons, which allows him to change the seasons in order to solve puzzles and progress to new area, while Oracle of Ages requires the Harp of Ages to travel through time.
Oracle of Seasons is billed as the more combat-focused game, while Oracle of Ages has more of a focus on puzzles, though both games still contain a healthy mix of each. By completing both titles, players can unlock a secret linked ending that connects the Oracle games to the broader Zelda story.
Both Oracle titles are now available on the Nintendo Switch through a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, which costs just $20 a year. The Game Boy Color titles join other classic Zelda games on Nintendo Switch Online including the original Legend of Zelda and A Link To The Past, as well as N64 titles Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask for Expansion Pack subscribers.
For more, check out some of the best titles available on Nintendo Switch Online.
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.
EXCLUSIVE: UK broadcaster ITV will “closely monitor” productions from under-fire TV chief James Martin going forwards.
We understand the network will continue to work with Martin and his Blue Marlin Television production outfit after warning the chef about his behavior on set. Several accusations of bullying were uncovered in a Deadline investigation yesterday, including a formal complaint made earlier this year.
A source close to ITV said, in future, Blue Marlin’s productions would be “closely monitored.” It has already told the production company to ensure it had updated its processes to reflect “best practice” in regards to its staff and working environment.
Martin was alleged to have reduced crew members to tears during the filming of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure earlier this year. A formal complaint was made to ITV, which then investigated and directed Martin to change his behavior.
ITV was also made aware of an incident in 2018 in which Martin launched into foul-mouthed tirade against staff after a drain was blocked during the filming of James Martin’s Saturday Morning. The event was never made formal and ITV has no specific record of it.
Blue Marlin yesterday admitted that Martin had “responded emotionally” to the incident five years ago and the chef apologized for his behavior. The company added that “lessons have been learned” following the more recent complaint about events on James Martin’s Spanish Adventure. Martin did not deny allegations of bullying.
This morning, ITV posted group adjusted EBITA was down 52% at £152M ($197M) for the six months to June 30 — a result the broadcaster expected as the global advertising market continues to suffer. Total external revenues came in at £1.64B, down just 2% on the same six months in 2022.
EXCLUSIVE: UK broadcaster ITV will “closely monitor”
Blake Lively saw her own dress at a museum and crossed a line (figuratively speaking; it was actually a rope) to adjust it to her liking. I mean, if you’re Blake Lively, one assumes you get away with more than most.
On Tuesday, July 25, Lively visited the “Crown to Couture” exhibit at Kensington Palace in London, where her teal and copper Atelier Versace gown, which she wore to the “Gilded Glamour”–themed 2022 Met Gala, was on display. However, when she came upon the dress, she decided it needed a little zhuzhing, which she was happy to do herself. She documented the experience on Instagram Stories, writing, “When you’re the clown who hops over the rope at the museum to fix the exhibit.”
She added, “Happy almost Virgo season folx.” Hold your horses, Blake; Jennifer Lopez’s Leo season just started a few days ago.
Lively’s Versace dress is one of many designer gowns worn by celebs that are on display at the Kensington Palace exhibit; pieces once worn by Lizzo, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Kendall Jenner are also featured; however, we have no knowledge that any of the aforementioned celebrities have taken the initiative to fix their garments on their own. Which is probably for the best.
Blake Lively saw her own dress at
In recent years, cinematic universes have expanded beyond comic-book movies, with horror movie franchises gaining popularity; captivating audiences with chilling tales. From masked killers to sinister creatures, these franchises have left a mark on the genre and pop culture. As we delve into the dark recesses of horror history, we’ll uncover the best and worst aspects of some of the most iconic horror franchises ever spill blood on the silver screen.
Busting onto the scene in 2004, Saw, helmed by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, offered a fresh and twisted take on the genre and, for better or worse, ushered in the rise of the “torture porn” subgenre in the early 2000s.
Best Thing: The Innovative Puzzles – At the core of Saw‘s appeal were Jigsaw’s elaborate and mind-bending puzzles, challenging victims’ morals and pushing them to their limits, making the audience eagerly anticipate the next twisted puzzle and driving each movie to outdo itself with gruesome set pieces.
The Worst Thing: The Convoluted Mythology – As the series advanced, it grew more complex, particularly after John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell) died in the third film, causing writers to get creative to fit him into the narratives. The intricate backstory and interconnected plots created a convoluted mythology, challenging both new and longtime fans with confusing webs of characters and timelines. Bell is set to return (again) in the forthcoming Saw X.
The 1974 OG film, directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, and written by Hooper and Kim Henkel, is a low-budget slasher set in rural Texas, revolving around a family of cannibals who abduct gas station customers, and is considered one of the best ’70s movies and a great summer horror watch.
The Best Thing: The Sawyer Family – The series’ enduring legacy lies in the terrifying and deranged Sawyer family. Led by the iconic Leatherface, a chainsaw-wielding maniac with a penchant for human skin masks, the family’s grotesque and unpredictable nature made them standout in the horror pantheon.
The Worst Thing: Leatherface’s Character Inconsistency – While Leatherface remains a horror icon, the character’s portrayal suffered from inconsistency across the franchise. In some films, he was a mindless brute; in others, he showed signs of vulnerability and complexity.
Wes Craven’s 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street centers around Freddy Krueger, a vengeful apparition of a former child killer, terrorizing and killing Springwood, Ohio’s teenagers in their dreams after being burned alive by their parents.
The Best Thing: The Iconic Dreamscapes – Elm Street revolutionized horror with its dream-based terror, blurring the line between reality and nightmare. Freddy’s invasion of victims’ dreams resulted in unforgettable and imaginative horror sequences, and some incredibly gruesome kills.
The Worst Thing: The Evolution to a Comedic Tone – As the franchise wore on, it gradually shifted from bone-chilling horror to a more comedic approach. While Freddy’s dark humor initially added to his sinister charm, it eventually led to a tonal shift that diluted the terror and alienated some die-hard horror enthusiasts.
Created by Don Mancini, the Child’s Play franchise centers on a notorious serial killer who transferred his soul into a “Good Guy” doll named Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) using a voodoo ritual. Since the original film’s release on November 9, 1988, the franchise has expanded with six sequels, a successful television series, a remake, comic books, a video game, and tie-in merchandise.
The Best Thing: Writer/Creator Don Mancini – What makes Child’s Play one of best scary doll movies is the creative genius of Mancini, whose vision brought to life the possessed doll with a wicked sense of humor, and his ongoing stewardship of his creation keeps the franchise fresh and engaging.
The Worst Thing: The Shift in Focus to Chucky as a Lead – Chucky became a prominent lead character as the franchise evolved, losing some of the tension from earlier films. However, the fantastic recent TV series has found a more balanced tone.
In 1980, the Friday the 13th movies introduced Jason Voorhees and his vengeful mother, who targeted camp counselors for her son’s supposed drowning. Decades later, the “cursed” lake becomes the backdrop for a series of mass murders perpetrated by the resurrected Jason.
The Best Thing: The Iconic Villain, Jason – Though it took three movies to solidify the look, the hockey-masked killer with his signature machete became synonymous with the franchise and a pop culture icon.
The Worst Thing: Lack of Compelling Franchise Leads – The franchise struggled to create compelling lead characters that could match Jason’s fearsome presence, with Tommy Jarvis being the closest to a recurring lead. As a result, the focus often returned to the killer, leaving some films with lackluster protagonists.
Committed to a sanitarium as a child for murdering his sister, on Halloween 1978, the masked Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield to wreak havoc among the townspeople.
The Best Thing: John Carpenter’s Music – Director John Carpenter’s eerie piano melody became synonymous with the masked killer, setting the stage for one of history’s most influential slasher films. When the series was rebooted (again) 40 years later, he returned to provide a killer soundtrack.
The Worst Thing: The Many Differing Timelines – The series’ convoluted timeline, including reboots, sequels, a standalone, and alternate continuities, can be confusing and frustrating for casual and die-hard fans. So, no shame if you need a guide to the timeline.
Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) is one of the best sci-fi movies ever and tells the story of Sigourney Weaver’s warrant officer, Ellen Ripley, and her battles with the extraterrestrial lifeform known as the Xenomorph.
The Best Thing: The Xenomorph – Audiences were introduced to the perfect killing machine designed by the late H.R. Giger, with its sleek, biomechanical design and acidic blood, becoming a symbol of extraterrestrial horror and one of cinema’s most iconic creatures.
The Worst Thing: The Prequels (Prometheus and Covenant) – Criticism emerged for the prequels deviating from the original films’ horror roots and spending too much time on Xenomorph’s origins.
Oren Peli’s low-budget original found footage flick is set in October 2006 and follows a young couple, Katie and Micah, terrorized by a demon that has haunted Katie since childhood.
The Best Thing: The Low-Budget and Real-World Approach to Found Footage – Paranormal Activity revitalized the found footage subgenre, proving that a low-budget approach and a clever premise could achieve massive box office success and even become one of the best-haunted house movies of all time.
The Worst Thing: The Lack of Time Between Sequels – If you have watched the Paranormal Activity series in order, then you know quick turnaround between sequels led to diminishing returns.
Starting with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 original, the Psycho franchise revolves around the life of truly terrifying classic horror villain, Norman Bates, a deeply disturbed young man running the Bates Motel. His mentally unstable nature stems from a twisted split personality resulting from his domineering relationship with his mother, leading him to occasionally commit murders.
The Best Thing: Anthony Perkins’ Performance – Psycho‘s enduring legacy is largely attributed to Anthony Perkins’ iconic portrayal of the disturbed innkeeper. His unsettling and nuanced performance made Bates one of the most memorable villains in cinematic history.
The Worst Thing: The Gus Van Sant Remake – Gus Van Sant’s color shot-for-shot remake of the masterpiece faced skepticism and failed to capture the essence of the original, feeling like an unnecessary imitation lacking the tension and brilliance of the original film, with Vince Vaughn unable to match Perkins’ portrayal.
Beginning with James Wan‘s 2013 first entry, the films dramatize the real-life cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators linked to prominent yet controversial haunting cases.
The Best Thing: Strong Initial Core Films (Conjuring 1 & 2) – The first two flicks are pillars of the modern horror genre, renowned for expertly crafted scares, engaging characters, and Wan’s effective storytelling, setting the standard for the expanding universe. The clap sequence from the original remains memorable and chilling.
The Worst Thing: Weak Spinoffs of Varying Quality – While The Conjuring films thrived, some spinoffs, such as The Curse of La La Llorona, struggled to maintain the same quality and scares. The universe’s expansion led to some Conjuring movies not living up to standards set by the core entries.
Beginning in 2000, the Final Destination films revolve around a small group of people who escape the manifestation of death after one individual (the protagonist) has a sudden premonition and warns them about an impending disaster.
The Best Thing: The Memorable Kills – Final Destination‘s unique premise of death’s design led to inventive and memorable death sequences, some based on real-life accidents, captivating audiences with the Rube Goldberg-like chain of events leading to each character’s demise.
The Worst Thing: Lack of Story Innovation – As the franchise progressed, the formula became predictable, leading to a sense of repetition.
Sam Raimi’s 1981 debut film and subsequent series revolve around the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text (now three volumes) causing havoc among a group of cabin inhabitants in a wooded area in Tennessee.
The Best Thing: The Series’ Cinematic Evolution – The Evil Dead franchise has undergone a remarkable evolution, starting as a low-budget cult classic and transforming into a polished, action-packed horror-comedy series, back to its horror roots.
The Worst Thing: The Treatment of Female Characters Early in the Series – The first movie faced criticism for its treatment of female characters, subjecting them to brutal violence, degradation, and an unfortunate sexual assault scene involving a demonic tree.
In 1996, director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson jump-started a hip meta slasher whodunnit series that is still going strong nearly 30 years later.
The Best Thing: The Self-Aware Meta Tone – Scream revitalized the slasher genre with its self-referential and meta approach to horror. Characters in the film were well aware of the rules of horror movies, and the franchise’s clever writing and humor set it apart from traditional slashers.
The Worst Thing: Scream 3 – Rushed into production, Scream 3 is a definite low point for the series. This Hollywood-set outing faced criticism for its weaker plot, over-the-top moments, and weak villain reveal, leading some to feel it needed to live up to the standards set by the first two.
The Hellraiser series, starting in 1987 with Clive Barker’s film, centers around the Lament Configuration, a mysterious puzzle box that opens a gateway to a dimension ruled by sadistic beings known as Cenobites. Led by iconic character, Pinhead, the Cenobites bring unimaginable pain and pleasure to those who dare open the box.
The Best Thing: Clive Barker – Hellraiser owes its horrifying and twisted world to Barker, who created the novella “The Hellbound Heart,” on which the franchise is based.
The Worst Thing: Miramax/Dimension’s Involvement – From the ’90s to the 2010s, Miramax and Dimension Films held the rights and produced numerous direct-to-DVD sequels with questionable creative decisions, leading to lackluster entries and hindering the franchise’s potential for consistent quality.
Every major horror franchise has its successes and missteps, leaving lasting memories of fear and excitement. From Saw‘s innovative puzzles to Friday the 13th‘s iconic villains, these franchises have etched their names into horror history, tapping into our deepest fears and captivating audiences for generations to come.
In recent years, cinematic universes have expanded
The U.K. Film and TV has appointed Marcus Ryder as its new CEO and Claire Tavernier as the new chair of trustees.
Ryder, who will take up the role in the fall, replaces Alex Pumfrey who has joined U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV as director of strategic partnerships. Tavernier joins with immediate effect. Cameron Saunders and Andrew Wilson-Mouasher served as interim chairs of the charity over the last 12 months.
Most recently Ryder was head of external Consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, set up to explore and increase diversity across the media industry. During his 25-year career in the media industry he has worked around the world, including a stint at the BBC, winning awards from BAFTA, the Royal Television Society, and the Foreign Press Association. He is also the chair of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is currently a trustee of the Press Pad Charitable Foundation. In 2022, he was named in Variety‘s V500 index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry. This summer he is to be awarded the Percy Qoboza award in the U.S. by the National Association of Black Journalists as one of its Foreign Journalists of the Year. in 2020 he was awarded the MBE title by the late queen’s honors list for his services.
Tavernier was previously global head of digital at Fremantle, managing director of a multi-channel YouTube network, and CEO of media intervention NGO, Girl Effect. She is currently also chair of trustees at Charity Digital, an organization that has helped more than 400,000 charity workers embrace a digital-first approach, and is a non-executive director at the British Board of Film Classification and a trustee of the Institute of Imagination.
Ryder said: “The Film and TV Charity is an incredible source of support for people working behind the scenes across the film, TV, and cinema industry, acting as a vital enabler for those facing disadvantage, financial hardship and poor mental health. It is recognised throughout the sector for making a significant contribution to the health and happiness of people working across the industry, and to its future sustainability, and I have admired how, through its research work, it has done much to shape the debate about how we treat the brilliant people who form the bedrock of the U.K.’s creative sector. The organization and I also share a deep-seated understanding that the Charity will only be able to fulfil its core aims if it helps the industry address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. I cannot wait to get to work to shape and implement a shared, ambitious strategy to make further strides across all of these priorities.”
Tavernier added: “I have watched with admiration as the organization has tackled some of the industry’s most complex issues and constantly learnt and adapted in an ever-changing environment. There is still much more to be done, and the charity has an ambitious strategy to further the support it offers the industry. I am looking forward to working with the trustees and the charity’s brilliant team to continue their exceptional work. I’m also thrilled to welcome Marcus as our new CEO and work together as we prepare for our centenary year. I want to express my gratitude to the team at the Lenny Henry Centre for their grace and warmth during this transition.”
The U.K. Film and TV has appointed
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Sinéad O'Connor Addresses Tearing Photo of Pope
Prince Harry has gotten the go ahead in yet another legal battle, this time against British tabloid The Sun.
Harry first launched his legal claim against The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers in Sept. 2019 over what he claims is unlawful information gathering.
In April, lawyers for the publisher went before the London High Court to argue the prince’s complaint was time-barred, as many of the events he refers to took place in the later 1990s and early 2000s.
On Thursday Judge Timothy Fancourt ruled part of his damages claim could proceed to trial.
It will be the latest in a raft of legal actions Harry, the youngest son of Britain’s King Charles III, is pursuing against British newspapers.
Earlier this year he became the first British royal to enter the witness box in 130 years after he gave evidence in a similar lawsuit against publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.
He is also pursuing two claims against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Daily Mail. One for libel, regarding a story about his attempt to pay privately for police protection in the U.K., and another for unlawful information gathering.
All three publishers have denied Harry’s claims bar one incident that the Mirror Group has admitted and apologized for.
The prince has also attempt to bring two judicial reviews in London’s High Court regarding the government’s decision to prevent him from paying privately for police protection. He lost one of those legal challenges in May, when Mr Justice Chamberlain refused permission for a judicial review against Ravec, the committee that decides on police protection for royals and other public figures.
Ravec had argued that allowing Harry to pay privately for public police protection would open the floodgates to any wealthy individual who wanted to “buy” police security.
A judicial review does not look at the merits of a case but at a public body’s decision making process.
Prince Harry has gotten the go ahead
A BRIT dad has died after mysteriously falling from the second floor balcony of his holiday home in Bulgaria.
Paul Bond, 61, passed away in a local Bulgarian hospital on July 23 after suffering with severe head injuries.
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The devastated family had set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to airlift him back home to Bristol for treatment but he was soon put into a coma.
The donation page was widely shared online but Bond sadly died while still in Bulgaria.
Earlier this week, his daughter Abi Bond, shared the tragic news of his death on social media.
She said: “Dad passed away on Sunday afternoon. We just want to thank everyone for your kind words, prayers, support and donations, we will be forever grateful. We will be getting Dad home as soon as possible.”
Bond, who was described as “a hugely loved father, grandfather, son, brother and friend” had been renovating his holiday home when it appears he tumbled over the second floor balcony.
He was found by a friend on the morning of July 9, although it remains unclear when exactly he had fallen.
The dad was dashed to hospital in a coma due to severe brain injuries and he later underwent surgery.
His daughters Abi and Sophie rushed to Bulgaria to be at his bedside after he had been placed on life support.
His condition was described as stable, although he remained on life support and his head injuries were believed to be irreversible, according to the GoFundMe page.
The fundraising effort raised nearly £7,000 which will be used to bring him back to home to Bristol.
Family friend, Rebekah Richardson said: “We’re incredibly appreciative of all of those that have shared our story, the family story, all of those that have donated. It’s amazing what people have done so far.
“I just think it’s a time to pull together as a community. None of us imagine something like this happening to someone we love.
“We need to do everything that we can do to help them.”
A BRIT dad has died after mysteriously
When we dial Locarno chief Giona A. Nazzaro’s line, he’s in the process of slipping into an air-conditioned bar where he can escape the blistering heat that has consumed Southern Europe for much of July.
“It’s like living in a furnace,” he says. “It’s terrible, believe me.”
This year’s Locarno Film Festival is Nazzaro’s third edition as Artistic Director. He took charge in 2020, navigating the festival through the pandemic, and has now been tasked with pulling the event together amid dual US labor strikes.
“There hasn’t been a moment since I took the helm where I could switch to autopilot and cruise along,” he adds.
Mounted on the Italian-Swiss border, Locarno will be the first major international festival impacted by the strike, with an Aug 2 kick-off date. The fest runs until Aug 12. Locarno hosts an Official Competition, several sidebar sections, and an open-air screening program for local audiences. A large part of the festival’s program is also based around the presentation of its career achievement awards, which often attract high-profile names to the fest. This year Riz Ahmed was set to receive the Excellence Award Davide Campari at the opening night ceremony on the festival’s landmark Piazza Grande open-air cinema, while Stellan Skarsgård was set for the Honorary Career Leopard Award. It’s still unclear whether Ahmed and Skarsgård will attend with the strike ongoing. SAG regulations around appearances at festivals are complicated. The rules forbid members from promoting any work completed for a struck company. These parameters would, in theory, include career achievement awards where past struck work is discussed. Other names set to visit the festival this year include Cate Blanchett, Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, and Zar Amir Ebrahimi.
French directorial duo Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel’s The Falling Star will open the festival as part of the Piazza Grande program, which also features Justine Triet’s 2023 Cannes d’Or Winner Anatomy of a Fall, Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or contender The Old Oak and the world premiere of Luc Jacquet’s Antarctica Calling.
The festival’s main International Competition will showcase 17 films this year, 16 of them world premieres. Golden Leopard contenders include French director Quentin Dupieux’s secretly-shot film Yannick, which will be released simultaneously in France; Filipino director Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths Of The Lake and Greek director Sofia Exarchou’s Animal, her second film after San Sebastian New Directors Award winner Park.
Below, Nazzaro digs into how Locarno is navigating the strikes and whether the festival is still expecting to welcome any actors. He also discusses this year’s lineup, including the opening film Falling Stars and why he drafted Aftersun filmmaker Charlotte Wells in for Competition jury duty.
DEADLINE: This is your third year as artistic director. How are you feeling about your role?
GIONA A. NAZZARO: The stakes are the same. But obviously, the film industry environment — festivals, production, and distribution — is still in turmoil. We’ve seen what’s been happening since 2020. And now the SAG strike. These next few years will be when we redefine what the film industry is and can be. I never remotely thought that after 2020 things would go back to normal. This period also serves as a crucial moment in redefining where the industry stands politically — in terms of the films we are making and what kind of films we are showing. I know this sounds rather generic, but it’s a question that we have been tackling throughout our selection process. All these questions also inevitably become a public discussion point. In short, there hasn’t been a moment since I took the helm where I could switch to autopilot and cruise along.
DEADLINE: In the statement you released following the SAG vote, you said Locarno was monitoring the situation. Just to confirm, is the festival still 100% going ahead?
NAZZARO: The festival is going ahead. We are currently assessing how the strikes will impact us, but that does not undermine our support for the people that are striking for fair pay, share of profits, protection of intellectual creation, and to make sure the industry remains driven by human beings, not algorithms. I know this sounds idealistic, but ultimately if you think about it when we speak about the film industry, we think of those faces that pop up everywhere, but behind them are 1000s of talented individuals that have trouble paying rent, sending children to school, and surviving at the end of the month. Behind the word entertainment there is work and labor — this is crucial. We need to face the fact that if we go to watch even a tentpole movie, there are people behind it with skills and talent that make the tentpole possible, and these people need to be protected.
DEADLINE: Honorary awards are a central part of Locarno’s program. This year, Riz Ahmed was set to visit and receive an honor. Are you still expecting him?
NAZZARO: We are still evaluating how the strike will affect attendance. I hope that we can find an agreement or solution. But that said, if we don’t, we will still stand in solidarity with the SAG affiliates.
DEADLINE: Can you tell me a little about the opening film ‘Falling Stars.’ It seems to be very different from last year’s opener, Bullet Train.
NAZZARO: We fell in love with Falling Stars. Last year, we opened with Bullet Train, and this year I thought, let’s go a different route. I don’t want people coming to Locarno and feeling like they’ve figured out what we are doing. So when we saw Falling Stars, we said, wow, this kind of sweet, melancholic story floats somewhere in a universe where Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati meet. The film captured our eyes and so did the idea that you can be entertaining and extremely creative and personal. You don’t have to cater to common denominators to convince your audience and we thought that would be our declaration of intent that we are standing with non-conventional creativity. The film is also incredibly funny and poignant. It’s a true work of art.
DEADLINE: Can you tell me a little about this year’s lineup? There seems to be a lot of transgressive, politically engaged work here.
NAZZARO: We tried consciously to build a program that would reflect the possibilities of contemporary cinema. That doesn’t mean that we were simply thinking along the lines of eclecticism. Eclecticism isn’t interesting, it’s simply a mishmash of things, so we deliberately tried to stake out the entire scene. We have the new Lav Diaz, which is relatively short at three and a half hours. I say that without irony. It’s a tremendously powerful, visually striking, poetic, and politically motivated film. We also have the new film by Radu Jude, which is perhaps the most relevant film on how communication, media, and language have shaped images of labor.
DEADLINE: You’ve put together a very interesting jury this year. Compared to the other members, Charlotte Wells is pretty new to the scene. Why did you include her?
NAZZARO: First of all, I loved Aftersun. It’s one of those films I would have loved at Locarno. She has an extremely keen eye, and I admire her editorial choices. I love the finesse with which she portrayed the relationship between the father and the daughter without indulging in any easy decisions. I also thought that Charlotte would be the right person to evaluate the debuts we have in the main competition.
DEADLINE: You’ve been working within the European festival circuit for some time now. If the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes persist, how do you think the situation will affect festivals as we move across the calendar?
NAZZARO: Locarno is an independent festival. Locarno is the expression and stronghold of independent creativity, but this is not something that I’m boasting about. This is something that has been carved in our history for 76 years. Other festivals have different approaches for different reasons. I’m not saying we are better than others. If these strikes continue, I hope the nuances between the two can be understood. For example, an honorary award doesn’t mean infringing on demands for fair pay. If you have to promote a film, that’s another factor. I don’t think this will be over soon. I think this is just the beginning.
When we dial Locarno chief Giona A.
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Former CNN president Jeff Zucker has requested a retraction for a Variety report that characterized him as desperate to acquire the network, an individual close to Zucker told TheWrap.
Variety is facing intense backlash in response to a report published Tuesday by executive editor Tatiana Siegel that claimed Zucker has spent the last year courting billionaires to secure funding in an effort to purchase CNN.
A Zucker confidant noted that the former CNN chief is “more baffled than angry” with the claims made in the report.
Throughout the story, Siegel characterizes Zucker as deeply bitter about his departure from CNN in 2022 and hell-bent on finding a way back to the network. The piece alleges that Zucker intended to court billionaires at a Formula One race in Abu Dhabi to financially back a CNN acquisition. Siegel also detailed an alleged letter from Allied Turkish Bank IBU Northern Cyprus to Clifford Chance — who the letter refers to as Zucker’s representation in the “acquisition of CNN Worldwide.” According to the report, “Zucker was sitting on a $1 billion war chest,” when he was tapped to “lead joint venture RedBird IMI.”
Penske Media Corporation, the owner of Variety, has been contacted by Zucker’s team with a request to issue a retraction of the article, TheWrap has learned.
An individual close to Zucker said that he is “stunned” by the publication of the article and that the reporting about him was entirely “fabricated.” The individual also noted that the former CNN president has never met the people detailed throughout the article.
According to sources familiar, Zucker’s team denied the claims made in the report multiple times prior to its publication, but Variety chose to move forward with the article.
Zucker’s team had reached out to Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh in protest of the article, which they insisted contained numerous falsehoods. When that did not meet a response, they attempted to appeal to Variety’s other co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, who has a long-standing relationship with Zucker. Littleton referred his team back to Setoodeh, who said that they would have to take up their concerns with Siegel herself.
All of these allegations were firmly denied by Zucker’s spokeswoman Risa Heller, who gave a fiery response to the article in Tuesday’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter.
“There used to be a time when Variety held its content and its reporters to a high standard of truth and facts in journalism, but those days are clearly over,” Heller said. “It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false.”
Heller said it was made clear to Seigel prior to the article’s publication that the events detailed in it “never happened.”
“Variety stands by our investigative story about CNN written by one of the best journalists in the business,” a spokesperson from Variety told TheWrap when reached for comment.
Since the article was published on Tuesday, rumors have circulated that one of Siegel’s sources was former CNN CEO Chris Licht, who was pushed out of the network following a tumultuous tenure.
“It is abundantly clear that Chris Licht is trying to re-write history,” argued a Zucker confidant.
Siegel’s article is not only receiving backlash from Zucker’s camp but also from The Atlantic, which she invoked in relation to Tim Alberta’s damning profile of Licht that led to the CNN CEO’s ouster. The Variety article questioned Alberta and The Atlantic’s journalistic integrity while claiming that the 14,000-word takedown contained inaccurate reporting.
Alberta took to Twitter to reject Siegel’s claims while calling Variety’s “editorial standards” into question. “A retraction is probably in order,” said Alberta, “but I doubt they have the stomach for it.”
Sharon Waxman contributed to this report.
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Michael Cohen is pretty certain that his former boss Donald Trump isn’t in a good place when it comes to his myriad legal problems.
“I can assure you that he’s panicking,” Cohen told MSNBC host Katie Phang on Wednesday’s episode of “The Beat.”
The topic at hand was Rudy Giuliani, who on Tuesday admitted in a court filing Tuesday that made several “false” statements about election workers in Georgia as part of Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
That acknowledgment of lying comes as part of the defamation lawsuit filed against Giuliani by those Georgia election workers, but it only added to the ongoing speculation that he is now cooperating with the federal investigation into Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Cohen, who served a three-year prison term after pleading guilty to several crimes committed on Donald Trump’s behalf, is among those who think Giuliani is cooperating. But, he told Phang, the ex-New York mayor isn’t alone.
“There’s a lot of cooperation going on between a lot of people you know,” Katie, ” Cohen said. “I believe that Ivanka and Jared are cooperating I believe Mark Meadows is cooperating.”
Asked later about how Cohen thinks Trump is doing, Cohen said, “I can assure you that he’s panicking. He’s panicking inside they’ll never allow the public to see it, because he likes to give the appearance of strength and, you know, be the victim, which is what he’s going to continue to play.”
“I assure you he’s thinking about just how bad this is going to be,” Cohen continued, listing off all of Trump’s ongoing indictments, both federal and state. “Any one of these is overwhelming to any human being. So imagine now, with the full weight, the full power of prosecutors, and trust me when I tell you this… Prosecutors don’t play fair. Their sole goal is to convict, and Donald laid it out perfectly with everybody’s text messages with his own words. He’s laid it out perfectly for a prosecutorial conviction.”
You can watch the full interview above right now.
Michael Cohen is pretty certain that his
Though the hype for Barbie has revived with the highly acclaimed movie of Greta Gerwig, Millie Bobby Brown has always been the one. The actress channeled her inner Barbiecore when she was only 11. Fans might remember episode 4 of season 1 Stranger Things where Mike and his friends gave Eleven a makeover. Many failed to notice the actress took the avatar of Barbie donning a pink dress and the iconic golden hair. Now, years after that moment, she has jumped ship claiming the Ken-Ergy in a new post on social media.
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Millie Bobby Brown recently took to her Instagram to share a picture of herself. And it looks like the fever of Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie’s Barbie has taken over her. The actress wrote in the caption, “It’s giving ken-ergy” while sharing her mirror selfie with fans. In the post, the young superstar looked breathtaking, with her hair tied in a messy bun and her clean skin beaming on the camera. She sported a maroon top, pairing it with some aesthetic accessories.
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Brown wore golden round hoops and a tiny pendant on her neck, while her makeup brand commented, “slaying as usual ??”. This post has come only days after she went out with her sister Ava and fiance on an adventurous date. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old is not the only one who is inspired by Ken this season. Her beau Jake Bongiovi also shared a picture of the handsome Ken on his Instagram story.
From what we gather, these two have watched the movie and now they can not get enough of it. But this is not certainly the first time this couple became influenced by these hot Barbie vibes.
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In 2022, when Millie Bobby Brown turned 18, she celebrated this milestone with a theme party. For her birthday bash, she and her then-boyfriend dressed up as Barbie and Ken. Bongiovi posted a selfie showcasing their coordinated styles and blonde hair. The teen wore a long wig of light color and a corset-style floral Annie’s Ibiza dress. On the other hand, the Sweethearts star bleached his hair and sported a floral collared shirt.
Though the couple only did this once, they are indeed Barbie and Ken for life. They are inseparable and belong with each other, no matter what they want to do. Brown and Bongiovi are always together, especially since the 21-year-old went on his knees and asked for the actress’ hand a few months back.
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What do you think about this beauty’s ken-ergy? Drop your comments below.
Though the hype for Barbie has revived
You’d think that a science-fiction adventure featuring the “Star Wars” alums Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, as well as Portman’s “Thor” co-star Tessa Thompson, would have been a giant hit. But Paramount Pictures seemed baffled by how to market a sci-fi picture about ideas and creeping dread (rather then lasers and intergalactic dogfights), dumping it onto Netflix overseas and into theaters with a shrug in the United States. They fear what they don’t understand; the writer and director Alex Garland, adapting the novel by Jeff VanderMeer, crafts a thrilling yet thoughtful combination of head trip and hero’s journey that owes more to Tarkovsky than Lucas.
The feature directorial debut of the stand-up comic and sitcom star Jerrod Carmichael was one of many films all but disappeared by the pandemic; it premiered at the 2021, online-only edition of the Sundance Film Festival before quietly landing on Hulu more than a year later. But there’s much to recommend in “On the Count of Three,” the story of two longtime friends (played by Carmichael and Christopher Abbott) who vow to aid each other in ending their lives after a long day of cleaning up unfinished business. Its chief virtue is its leading actors — Abbott has been doing modest but devastating work on the indie scene for years, and Carmichael matches his co-star’s intensity and anguish — while Carmichael shows a sure hand for navigating the tonal shifts of Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch’s tricky screenplay.
The films of the director Gregg Araki have been so (rightly) celebrated in recent years for their wild stylistic choices and unapologetic queer themes that it’s tempting to overlook his more tempered, mainstream affairs. But this combination of sun-baked noir, coming-of-age drama and Sirkian melodrama remains one of his most fascinating concoctions. Shailene Woodley turns in one of her finest performances to date as young Kat, whose mother, Eve (Eva Green, vamping marvelously), disappears under mysterious circumstances. Kat tries to figure out what happened, but “White Bird” is less a detective story than an exploration of the tricky landscape of young adulthood, dramatized with a weary verisimilitude.
This tale of two teenage girl assassins (Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan) from the writer and director Geoffrey Fletcher (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Precious”) suffers a bit from post-Tarantino preciousness. The M.V.P. here is James Gandolfini, who co-stars as their would-be target, and plays the character with the weary melancholy of a man who knows his days are numbered, and has accepted it. He plays it as dry comedy, with just a touch of doomed inevitability, and that’s the right choice; the genuine tenderness and trust in his scenes with Ronan are a nice plus. “Violet & Daisy” hit theaters just 12 days before Gandolfini’s untimely death, and it serves as a poignant reminder of the wide range of roles he had yet to play.
Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Oscar-nominated turn in “The Power of the Dog” was not the actor’s first go-round in the Wild West; six years earlier, he co-starred with Michael Fassbender in this eccentric and affecting oater from the writer and director John Maclean. Smit-McPhee plays Jay, a teenage Scottish immigrant traveling the West in search of his sweetheart from back home, with Fassbender as Silas, a frontiersman who takes the innocent and clueless Jay under his wing. MacLean creates a credibly dangerous world of threats both natural and seemingly supernatural (Ben Mendelsohn, stealing the show as a menacing bounty hunter).
The writer and director Andrew Bujalski (“Funny Ha Ha,” “Computer Chess”) creates what looks, on its shiny surface, like a sunny workplace comedy along the lines of “Working …” or the Chotchkie’s scenes in “Office Space.” But he’s up to something much slyer, a smart examination of class and gender politics in one of their most pointed playgrounds: a Hooters-style sports bar and grill, where customers leer at scantily clad waitresses while the manager, Lisa (Regina Hall), tries to keep temperatures cool (and maintain her own sanity). It’s a wise, winning comedy, with a particularly sparkling supporting turn by Haley Lu Richardson, a “White Lotus” favorite.
The strange, twisted tale of the motel owner Gerald Foos (who claimed to have spied on his customers for decades) and the superstar journalist Gay Talese (who wrote about Foos in a controversial New Yorker article and book) is detailed by the directors Myles Kane and Josh Koury in this riveting documentary. Voyeurism aside, the most compelling passages are less about what Foos did than how Talese’s seemingly sturdy news judgment failed him so spectacularly. Ultimately, “Voyeur” is less a character study than a prescient examination of a faltering media landscape, where a story that’s too good to be true is too often told anyway.
Kenneth Powell and Thomas Edward Seymour’s first documentary on, per the secondary title, “Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media” is a bit too ambitious for its slender 72-minute running time, attempting to follow too many strands and chase too many gimmicks. But the most direct material, on the logistics of the video business — from its golden age to this waning period — is invaluable, as Seymour seemed to realize when solo-directing the more successful follow-up, a straight-ahead history of exploitation films, their exhibition and the kind of oddities we’ve lost in this all-streaming, all-the-time era. The sequel is the better film, but both are informative and enlightening, with copious commentary from the people who make these movies, and those who love them.
‘Annihilation’ (2018)Stream it on Netflix.You’d think that
Sound of Freedom, the indie action-drama film that has already earned over $125 million at the North American box office, will begin to move into international distribution from next month.
Angel Studios, the crowd-funded, Utah-based production and distribution firm behind the picture, says it has set releases in territories including the U.K., Australia and Latin America.
The company explained that it has arranged direct-to-theater distribution deals in Latin America, the U.K, and Ireland. In other territories it will take the more conventional route of partnering with distributors. No distribution alliances have been named.
It will first release in South Africa on Aug. 18, followed by Australia and New Zealand on Aug. 24. It ill reach the U.K. and Ireland on Sept. 1 and Spain on Oct. 11. A huge slew of South American territories, including Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, will receive the film from Aug. 31.
“Since ‘Sound of Freedom’ launched in the U.S., demand has been building around the world in dozens of regions and languages,” said Jared Geesey, senior VP of global distribution for Angel Studios. “Child trafficking is a global issue, and we hope to build on the incredible momentum here in the states and share the film’s powerful message worldwide.”
Starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, José Zúñiga and actor-producer Eduardo Verástegui, the film tells a fact-based story of a federal agent who rescues a boy from sex traffickers and then returns to the Colombian jungle to rescue his sister.
The film is written and directed by Alejandro Monteverde (Toronto winner “Bella” and “Little Boy”).
Angel says that the film “is the only film in history to achieve a second-week jump greater than 35% during the summer blockbuster season,” and reports that it is now the top grossing independent film since the pandemic.
In its fourth week of release, the film’s U.S. screen count is now some 3,285 theater locations. Released on July 4, it domestic gross now stands at $127 million.
Sound of Freedom, the indie action-drama film
Ever since Marvel pushed the MCU into Phase 4, one of the constant complaints from fans has been that there is “too much content.”
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel expanded into television, creating a slew of Disney+ series including WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Solider, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.
Photo:©Marvel Studios 2021.
For die-hard Marvel fans, this was a dream come true. It seemed as if every couple of weeks more Marvel content was dropping.
For more casual fans, however, the introduction of the streaming, combined with the advent of the multiverse, made Marvel less accessible and more confusing.
In a recent interview, Mark Guggenheim, who created the Arrowverse at DC, stated that the MCU may be in need of a reset.
“If I was suddenly in [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige’s role, basically I would do what Iger was saying, which is prune the tree. You know, there’s just too much content. I’m like the biggest Marvel nerd ever, and I haven’t seen Moon Knight. I just can’t keep up. There’s just too much content.”
Photo: THR
Reflecting back on the success of the MCU, Guggenheim noted that the franchise’s early films were “fundamentally something very simple.” He also referenced recent comments by Disney CEO Bob Iger that Marvel has become too diluted.
“And then of course like Iger was saying, there’s a question of how much content can you produce at quality. To me the difference between Phase 4 and Phases 1 through 3 is fundamentally something very simple, which is you could even be watching ‘Infinity War’ without having seen the prior X number of movies,” Guggenheim explained.
To reinforce his point, the Arrow creator referenced two of Marvel’s most popular films Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Panther.
“‘Winter Soldier’ was its own movie with a beginning, middle, and end. And yet, that movie set the foundation for things that, you know it didn’t deal with Infinity Stones, but it did deal with Hydra and SHEILD and Steve Rogers’ relationship with the government and the Winter Soldier. There were alot of pieces. And same thing with ‘Black Panther.’ ‘Black Panther’ works great as a movie beginning, middle, and end, even though it’s setting up this whole world of Wakanda that figures very large in ‘Infinity War.”
Photo: Marvel
By comparison, Guggenheim talked about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which audiences would likely not understand had they not seen WandaVision.
“Compare that with ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ where in order to understand the villain of the movie, you had to watch – not a movie – another TV show. A TV show that you had to spend money to subscribe to the service that aired it. That’s the problem. Each of these movies in Phases 1 through 3, they all stood on their own. Look I get it. ”
Image: Also Marvel Studios
With Avengers: Secret Wars set to bring the multiverse together, Marc Guggenheim sees an opportunity.
“And my guess is what they are building up with Phase 4 is – the ‘Secret Wars’ that they’ve announced is not the ‘Secret Wars’ of the 1980s, it’s Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Secret Wars’ which basically was sort of like a reset for the Marvel Universe. So, I think they are gonna, if they do what I expect them to do, they will end up pruning the tree, as I said.”
Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
As a longtime Marvel fan, I would hate to see the stories that the franchise has told be disregarded. With that being said, Marvel may have stretched itself too thin.
With Bob Iger continuing to say that the brand has become stretched too thin, I would expect to see a change in how quickly Marvel content is released.
Image: Marvel.com
Hopefully, the new pacing will give fans to catch up and follow along, without requiring an entire MCU reset.
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Ever since Marvel
The Wheel continues to turn at Prime Video with the second season of The Wheel of Time. Greenlit months before season one premiered, season two of the fantasy series has already filmed and wrapped (with season three in the works). The sprawling tale adapts Robert Jordan’s 14-book fantasy book epic of the same name. Key word there? Adapts. Season one brought many changes to the order of events in the books. For example, it left out characters and locations. But the heart of the story comes through, as do the characterizations of the primary ensemble—most of whom will return for more of the story.
Here’s everything we know about The Wheel of Time season two so far.
The first season of The Wheel of Time largely followed book one of Robert Jordan’s series, The Eye of the World. However, it did pull in elements from books two and three as well. And the TV series is different enough from the books that we should only look at the source material as a loose guide. All that said, most of season two will focus on book two, The Great Hunt.
Padan Fain took the Horn of Valere from Fal Dara, and surely our heroes will chase him to reacquire it. The artifact is too important to leave with a Darkfriend. And of course, the Seanchan made their first appearance at the very end of the season one finale. Their forces and invasion play a huge role in the books and introduce a truly nightmarish use of the One Power.
At New York Comic Con 2022, showrunner Rafe Judkins confirmed the Seanchan have a large role to play in the season ahead. He also noted that season two will take us through the end of book three, The Dragon Reborn. Judkins said those initial three books are kind of the first section of the series and set up the ensemble cast on their various paths. A continuing theme throughout the season will be characters dealing with loneliness. The trailer underscores that.
The official season two synopsis says:
In Season Two, threats new and very old seek out the young friends from the Two Rivers, now scattered over the world. The woman who found and guided them is now powerless to help, and so they must find other sources of strength. In each other, or themselves. In the Light … or the Dark
Rafe Judkins continues as showrunner. We know the first episode is called “A Taste of Solitude.” Amanda Kate Shuman wrote it. Interestingly, the episode name pulls its title from a chapter in book six of the series, Lord of Chaos. Judkins also recently shared that The Wheel of Time season two would have eight episodes, like season one. He also noted that The Wheel of Time season two’s episodes would be longer.
The primary cast from season one is mostly sticking around as far as we know. Basically, if the character is still alive, the actor is back—except for Mat Cauthon. Barney Harris portrayed the character in season one, but Dónal Finn will pick up the role in season two. Amazon has not shared the reason behind recasting.
New cast members include:
New recurring cast members include:
Season two of The Wheel of Time will premiere on September 1, 2023.
Originally published on December 28, 2021.
The Wheel continues to turn
Good Smile Company has just announced the most adorable Lamb figure from Cult of the Lamb. And if you’re a fan of the Devolver Digital title, you simply need it. Luckily for you, it’s up for preorder right now, with a planned December release.
Priced at $40.99 USD, the Lamb figurine is made of soft vinyl and stands at roughly 13cm (5.11in) in height. Unlike other Good Smile Company figurines like Nendoroid and figma, it isn’t poseable at all and is simply a static figure for you to display.
That doesn’t make it any less cute, though. In fact, I’m about to go bankrupt because I’m ordering 100 to form my own real life Lamb cult. Am I joking? Wait and see.
The Cult of the Lamb figure is set for release in Japan in December 2023. If you preorder from the Good Smile Company USA website, it will arrive a month later, in January 2024.
Related: Is Cult of the Lamb’s Cultist Pack DLC Worth It?
Preorders are open now until August 24, 2023, at 12:00 JST, on both Good Smile Company and Good Smile Company USA. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get your hands on the figure easily after this cutoff date, depending on demand. So if you want it, make sure you secure it as soon as possible.
If you’ve yet to play Cult of the Lamb, check out our review. Spoiler: the game is bloody fantastic, and you’re missing out!
Good Smile Company has just announced the
