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Adam DeVine flashed the peace sign to photographers as he arrived for his early-morning interview on “CBS Mornings.”
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Adam DeVine flashed the peace sign to
Adam DeVine flashed the peace sign to photographers as he arrived for his early-morning interview on “CBS Mornings.”
Adam DeVine flashed the peace sign to
In its broad outlines, Cold Copy is extremely topical. “Journalism isn’t a vocation,” Tracee Ellis Ross says in the opening scene, as high-powered television interviewer Diane Heger. “It’s a persona. It has to be.” She isn’t necessarily wrong. Look at some recent examples, such as Tucker Carlson’s leaked text messages disparaging his supposed hero Donald Trump, and it’s easy to see how Roxine Helberg’s first feature might touch a nerve. Her screenplay is fascinating in the themes it lays out at the start. The film has vivid performances from Ross, Bel Powley as Diane’s student, Mia Scott, and Jacob Tremblay as the subject and ultimately victim of Mia’s shoddy journalism. But Cold Copy is also exasperating in its lack of focus and in its missed opportunities.
Mia, a graduate student taking Diane’s class at an unnamed university, is the film’s focus, and at first she is a study in naïveté. We see who Diane is long before Mia does. She is sarcastic and abrasive with her students, hard on them possibly because they have to be tough to survive professionally. In a fierce performance, Ross doesn’t soften the character’s edges.
Cold Copy
The Bottom Line
Fascinating subject, scattershot results.
Powley conveys a wide-eyed intensity, as Mia makes some childish moves. She yells at Diane when she thinks she won’t be admitted to her class (improbably, that works), and confronts her when her roommate, Kim (Nesta Cooper), gets an internship on Diane’s show, angrily asking, “Why her?” For all her naïveté, though, Mia is also ruthless, revealing Kim’s confidential source to undermine her. It’s hard to know whether she was always ready to compromise on ethics or learned by watching Diane, whose approach is to make subjects squirm to get on-screen reactions, even if she’s trading in incendiary rumors. As the story wavers between a possible loss-of-innocence plot and one about dark tendencies that come to the surface, Mia seems like a muddled, fuzzily written character. Powley can’t overcome that.
As Igor Nowak, an adolescent who agrees to be the subject of Mia’s class assignment, Tremblay displays what a true talent he is. His role is secondary to the two stars’, but his character is the most nuanced, his performance beautifully enigmatic. At times Igor seems savvier than Mia about journalism, skeptical about her intentions. His mother was a famous children’s book writer, whose death years before put an unwelcome media glare on the family. But he is also vulnerable enough to eventually trust her.
Trusting her is a big mistake we can see coming, and as Mia puts together a story about the secret of Igor’s mother’s death, the film begins to go off the rails. Desperate to get a story, Mia surreptitiously uses Igor’s house keys, moves objects around to fake an explosive visual, and photographs a private letter to use in her piece. Fiction doesn’t have to get journalism right, but Cold Copy crosses the line between unrealistic and absurd. Never mind the unethical invasion of privacy. When Mia trespasses into the house, you have to ask, “Has she never seen an episode of Law & Order?”
Diane’s actions become ridiculous, too. She invites Mia out for a drink to push her to depict Igor in her report as a troubled youth. “If you act like Igor is fine, he’ll look fine,” Diane says. And if he’s okay, “where’s the story?” The disregard for truth is meant to be the point, but a smaller issue is very distracting here. Taking her student for a drink? Has she never had to take an HR anti-harassment course like everyone else who works at an American institution? That drink is presented as an occurrence no one would blink at, not transgressive on Diane’s part, and it’s one of many tiny missteps that amount to an increasingly unbelievable story.
Visually, the film is as straightforward and unremarkable as an ordinary news report. But at its best, it has some galvanizing moments that reveal how much it might have said about the media and that suggest Helberg’s genuine promise as a director. A sharply shot and edited flashback montage shows Igor, Mia and Kim dancing in Mia’s apartment, deftly filling us in on an innocent night that has brutal repercussions. Mia’s report is a pitch-perfect clone of a tacky, exploitative news story masquerading as something more earnest and high-minded. And Helberg constructs a well-played, killer ending. But ultimately, the film is less about the ostensible themes of journalism and truth that it starts with than an erratic drama about two out-of-control compromised people, anomalies who deserve each other.
In its broad outlines, Cold Copy is
This interview for the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast took place in April 2023, before the beginning of the Writers Guild of America Strike.
Terence Nance wanted to be clear: He doesn’t think there’s anything groundbreaking about “Random Acts of Flyness.”
The concept behind Season 1 came from Nance and his brother, Nelson, imagining what if they were handed the after-midnight programming duties at a local cable access channel. “Early mid-2000s, it mostly was just syndicated Black sitcoms,” said Nance on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “And, in our young minds, we thought we could essentially deploy whatever we wanted after midnight.”
This pitch to networks, including its eventual home at HBO, implied the ingredients of a sketch-comedy show, and Season 1 utilized a late-night cable access vibe to allow for different types of short material. According to Nance, the guiding principle internally was a concept album. Explained Nance, who is also a recording artist and writes the music for the show, “We thought of it as a place where we could express ourselves in cinema around a theme.”
In the four years between Season 1 and 2, the way Nance came to think of this flexible concept album-like structure of the series became less random — the Season 2 opening credits cross out the word “Random” from the title before adding the subtitle that became its principal structuring device: “The Parable of the Pirate and the King.”
“[The fable] became the container, and maybe most specifically a story about two characters,” explained Nance, “trying to figure out, or imagine, a way of loving each other that they haven’t seen before in culture, or in the sort of standard decorum of relationships, be they romantic, artistic, etcetera.”
That story of Terence (played by Nance) and Najja (Alicia Pilgrim), whose lives are creatively and romantically intertwined, was present in Season 1. “Whereas in the first season, you get a bit of that story, from a real estate perspective, it doesn’t take much [space],” said Nance. “And I think just knowing it needed space to be told created a mandate for engaging that storytelling in a more serialized way – focused on the spine of this story that fractals out in the way we like to do.”
While the story of Najja and Terence does supply more of a narrative arc to the six episodes of Season 2, the visual concept album-like approach allowed for the same, if not increased, level of cinematic playfulness. The language of the show mixes animation, live-action “Roger Rabbit”-like animation, musical performance, verite, surrealism, the discordant world of a commercial app that promises Black users a path to reparations, and archival documentary footage that supplies history lessons about the characters’ ancestors.
What unites these seemingly unrelated ingredients is Najja and Terence’s journey of healing and ritual. While on the podcast, Nance talked about how inspiration came from his friends and his own similar searches.
“I think the intervention of ‘Random Acts’ this season is to more explicitly bring up how Black people are finding rituals of our ancestors, specifically the indigenous communities and peoples, in those ways that are in our blood essentially, but that we have no access to or have been barred from by law until our parents’ generation,” said Nance.
It’s a heady concept that becomes almost cosmic in the way the season explores different dimensions (six in total) of consciousness, each expressed with a full-throated use of cinema designed to elicit viewers’ emotions rather than lose them in big ideas.
“The thing that the show should do is evolve the language of cinema and do something visually, sonically, in terms of expression that you haven’t seen before,” said Nance. “I think it created those sort of pieces of tapestry that allow for even those moments to be ecstatic in a way and not to feel didactic or weigh you down with information.”
The Filmmaker Toolkit podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and Stitcher. The music used in this podcast is from the “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present” score, courtesy of composer Nathan Halpern.
This interview for the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast
Are you ready? The official trailer for Paramount+’s Zoey 102 is here, and the gang’s (mostly) back together again.
The first look at the film sees Pacific Coast Academy alumni Zoey (Jamie Lynn Spears), Quinn (Erin Sanders), Logan (Matthew Underwood), Chase (Sean Flynn), Michael (Christopher Massey) and Stacey (Abby Wilde) reunite for Quinn and Logan’s wedding.
The trailer opens with a look at Zoey 15 years after Zoey 101 ended. She’s now 30, single and eager to know why everyone her age is obsessed with marriage, only to find out her best friend, Quinn, is set to be wed.
“Chase is gonna be there. It’ll be fine,” Quinn tells Zoey. “It’ll be the reunion we all need.” It’s a response that makes Zoey want to get another drink, hinting that the former high school couple may not be on the best of terms anymore after ending the Nickelodeon series together.
“I just hope she shows up,” Wilde’s Stacey tells one of Quinn’s bridesmaids while they’re dress shopping. “I think she’s still stuck on her ex, Chase, from high school. It’s sad, and I don’t think she’s had a relationship since.”
In an effort to not show up at Quinn and Logan’s wedding single, Zoey hires Dean Geyer’s Todd to pretend to not only be her boyfriend but also a Hemsworth brother.
“I would kill to go back to PCA,” Zoey tells Chase at another point in the first look at the movie. He agrees, “I’m sure we’d all like to go back.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, Zoey reflects on her life since graduating and how it’s not what she pictured it would be, only to be called out. “It’s really gross how often you talk about high school.”
The film is directed by Nancy Hower with Monica Sheer and Madeline Whitby co-writing the script. The duo also serve as executive producers alongside Spears and Alexis Fisher.
While much of the original Zoey 101 cast has returned, a few notable names — including Victoria Justice and Oscar nominee Austin Butler — will not appear in the film. New cast additions include Geyer, Thomas Lennon as Zoey’s boss and Owen Thiele as her friend Archer March.
The Nickelodeon sitcom, which ran from 2005 to 2008, followed Spears’ Zoey, her brother Dustin and their friends at the fictional Southern California boarding school Pacific Coast Academy. It was created by Dan Schiender, who was behind other popular Nickelodeon series like Victorious, iCarly, All That, and Drake & Josh, and who parted ways with the network in 2018 after allegations of misconduct and toxic work environments.
Zoey 102 hits Paramount+ July 27.
Are you ready? The official trailer for
Hollywood movie premieres usually don’t begin with the star admitting personal wrongdoing.
Yet that’s what happened last week at “The Flash” rollout in Los Angeles, when Ezra Miller came out of hiding to walk the red carpet outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Miller was emerging from near-career cancellation, a feat managed by few celebrities in today’s shame-and-shuck cultural climate.
Miller thanked Warner Bros. and DC Studios executives for making and releasing the superhero film — it opened wide in theatres last Friday — and “for your grace and discernment and care in the context of my life and in bringing this moment actually to fruition.”
The carefully worded statement by the actor, who is non-binary, acknowledged the allegations and/or charges they have drawn in recent years, including harassment, disorderly conduct and multiple incidents of assault and abuse. Miller, 30, is also accused of “brainwashing” and “cultlike behaviours and emotional abuse” involving an 18-year-old Indigenous activist.
This time last year, industry pundits were blowing taps for the once rising star’s career, predicting Warner Bros. would sever all ties with Miller and shelve “The Flash,” eating its $200-million production cost.
But in August 2022, the opposite happened after Miller issued an abject public apology, blaming their bad behaviour on “complex mental health issues” that are now being treated. “I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life,” they said.
Now, as the L.A. premiere demonstrated, “The Flash” and Miller’s acting career appear to be firmly back on track.
Miller’s fellow actor Johnny Depp has experienced a similarly unexpected career reprieve.
Last year, Depp seemed on the verge of total career collapse after his now ex-wife Amber Heard levelled serious allegations of spousal abuse against him. (Depp ultimately won a defamation lawsuit against Heard.) Last month, Depp, 60, walked the red carpet to open the Cannes Film Festival with his new movie “Jeanne du Barry.”
Not all of Hollywood’s fallen men are being welcomed back into the fold.
This year, Cannes passed on Woody Allen’s new film, “Coup de Chance,” the 87-year-old writer/director’s 50th movie and first one in French, due to decades-old allegations that he sexually assaulted his daughter.
“J’accuse,” the most recent film by director Roman Polanski, 89 — who, in 1977, pled guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old — wasn’t released in North America.
Actor Will Smith, 54, is still in the early stages of a 10-year ban from the Academy Awards, after slapping presenter Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars telecast. Smith’s most recent film, the slavery drama “Emancipation,” exploded on contact last year despite early Oscars buzz.
The context for all of this is, of course, the #MeToo movement that roiled Hollywood, revealing multiple accounts of sexual assault and harassment. It also sparked an important question: how much does the male-dominated movie industry aid and abet bad behaviour, mostly through silence and looking the other way?
A lot, according to Maureen Ryan, a veteran TV writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor. Ryan’s new book, “Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood” is based on her decades of experience and dozens of interviews with people in film and TV about toxic encounters and abusive behaviour they experienced on the job.
“Lots of unfortunate s–t from Hollywood’s past has come out in recent years, which is both essential and infuriating,” writes Ryan, herself a survivor of sexual assault.
“The industry trained so many of us to think that creative people are ‘temperamental,’ and that that word — along with ‘passionate,’ ‘driven’ and ‘difficult’ — automatically encompasses some terrible things. The not-so-subtle subtext is that those damaging ‘norms’ and processes are the price of creating memorable art.”
Some celebrities’ behaviour is worse than others, of course. But public reaction to alleged infractions isn’t always commensurate to the facts.
Jordan Foster, a PhD candidate in the University of Toronto’s department of sociology, said there are three reasons why one celebrity might face cancellation for violating societal norms while another star emerges relatively unscathed.
The first is “the degree to which these violations diverge from each star’s public persona,” said Foster. “Public personas are carefully contrived and fans are likely to experience fallout if stars act in a way that is perceived to be inconsistent with said persona.”
The second reason is that some celebrities are better than others at seeming contrite.
“Public apologies and/or public messaging around a star’s behaviour can make a big difference for whether or not they are forgiven, and the more sincere the apology is perceived to be the better,” said Foster.
“Ezra Miller has ‘sought treatment’ and made an apology for (their) recent public scandals, and this may account for some of the differences we’re seeing in how these stars have been treated,” said Foster. “Ezra’s apology, it is worth noting, calls on the language of mental health and this is an appeal that is broadly familiar to the public.”
The third and most subjective reason for cancellation has to do with “status characteristics like race, gender, sexuality and ability,” Foster said. “These characteristics tap into deeply seeded stereotypes and tropes that may advantage some stars over others.”
These factors may play a role in the case of actor Jonathan Majors.
Majors, 33, was supposed to be Hollywood’s next big star. He won critical kudos at the Sundance Film Festival last January for his starring role in “Magazine Dreams,” a film about a bodybuilder whose fitness obsession drives him near madness. There was talk of Best Actor nominations and an end-of-year release of the film to build on Oscar buzz.
This year, Majors also had significant roles in “Creed III” and the Marvel blockbuster “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” as Kang the Conqueror. There were plans for an “Ant-Man 3” movie and two “Avengers” films in the works.
Then on March 25, New York police answered a 911 call for a domestic dispute and found Majors with a distraught and injured 30-year-old woman, reportedly his girlfriend. Majors was charged with strangulation, misdemeanour assault and attempted assault, harassment and aggravated harassment. (The strangulation charge was later dropped.) Majors has denied all allegations.
Majors has since been fired by his public relations firm and his talent agency. He’s also reportedly been cut from a planned Otis Redding biopic, among other projects. His domestic violence trial is scheduled for Aug. 3.
How will Disney — and its Marvel Studios subsidiary — handle Majors in the future? Will they display the same patience Warner Bros. and DC Studios extended toward Ezra Miller, along with a carefully orchestrated career redemption campaign? Nobody is saying anything at the moment.
According to Sasha Stone, the Hollywood-watching founder and editor of the film/awards discussion website Awards Daily, it all comes down the brutal realities of human nature.
“People will care and pressure companies to take action if it boosts their status. If it doesn’t, they ignore it,” Stone said.
“If it boosts their status to take someone down and keep them down — Woody Allen — then they will make a fuss about it. If it doesn’t — Ezra Miller — then they ignore it. It’s selective outrage and self-serving. That’s why punishment is always better by due process rather than by mob.”
Harsh words, but the judgment of moviegoers may be the ultimate test for Miller and “The Flash.” The early box office results are disappointing: $55.7 million over three days, well below the movie’s projected $70 million.
That lukewarm response may ultimately owe more to overall superhero fatigue and the movie’s quality (it has a 67 per cent critic’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes) than to Miller’s behaviour. But, as the face of the franchise, it still likely means the actor’s career is on ice. In Tinseltown, after all, it always comes down to money.
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Hollywood movie premieres usually don’t begin with
Samuel L. Jackson stood up for his Marvel co-star Brie Larson during a recent interview with Rolling Stone in which the Nick Fury actor was asked about Larson being the target of toxic Marvel fans on social media. The two actors headlined 2019’s “Captain Marvel,” which was review bombed by trolls for featuring Larson’s female superhero in a leading role. Jackson called Larson a “stronger person than people give her credit for.”
Jackson and Larson first met during the making of “Kong: Skull Island,” and then she cast him in a supporting role in her feature directorial debut “Unicorn Store.” Their bond led her to consult with him when Marvel Studios and Disney offered her the role of Captain Marvel.
“We bonded through the election while we were doing her movie when Donald Trump won,” Jackson remembered. “She was broken and I was like, ‘Don’t let ‘em break you. You have to be strong now.’ Then, when she got ‘Captain Marvel,’ she called me and was like, ‘They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Let’s do it!’”
Addressing Larson’s online haters, Jackson said, “She’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.”
Jackson has been a stalwart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing Nick Fury since the post-credits scene in 2008’s “Iron Man.” It’s only with the upcoming Disney+ series “Secret Invasion” that Jackson has gotten the chance to be the lead of a Marvel project. Was Jackson clamoring to lead an MCU title after so many years? Not exactly.
“My biggest concern with Marvel was trying to keep them from killing me more than anything else,” Jackson said. “I kind of liked the gig! When they called me in to tell me what’s going on, I always thought they were trying to kill me. They didn’t let me go to Wakanda, which I was kind of upset about. How could Nick Fury not know about Wakanda? They said, ‘Well, you do know but you can’t go.’ I always wanted to tell the story about who Nick was before he had these superhero friends — when he lived in the shadow world as a spy, and how he connected with these people. ‘Secret Invasion’ is not a superhero movie. It’s gritty and dark.”
Jackson and Larson will be reuniting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year with the release of “The Marvels,” in theaters Nov. 10 from Disney. “Secret Invasion” premieres June 21 on Disney+.
Samuel L. Jackson stood up for his
Marvel Studios’ 2025 release slate just removed two MCU movies.
It’s been a long time since the MCU faced as much uncertainty in its plans as it does at this time. The franchise is at risk of having to replace one of its biggest stars in the Multiverse Saga, the studio faces more production challenges and backlash than ever, and now it has a writers’ strike to contender with.
All of these problems have led to a swarm of delays to the franchise’s release calendar, with significant changes already made since the Phase 5 slate was revealed at 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con.
As Disney made a massive line-up of adjustments to its theatrical release slate, including delaying six MCU movies, the superhero franchise just lost two blockbusters from its 2025 roster.
Firstly, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was shifted from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, with Fantastic Four taking over its release date. The debut of Marvel’s First Family vacated its February 14, 2025 date in favor of the summer slot, with Blade taking its place after being delayed out of September 2024.
On top of Avengers 5 vacating the 2025 roster, Disney updated two “Untitled Marvel” movies set to release on July 25 and November 7, 2025, to instead go by “Untitled Disney,” indicating the dates will now be used for non-superhero projects.
The MCU’s official 2025 release schedule now only includes Blade on February 14 followed by Fantastic Four on May 2. However, there may still be a third MCU movie coming that year as Sony has dated an untitled Marvel movie for June 27, 2025, which many have speculated will go to Spider-Man 4.
One reason Disney may have opted to remove its “Untitled Marvel” movies may come from a desire to avoid over-cramming the year. After all, the MCU still has Blade and Fantastic Four, potentially along with Spider-Man 4, set for 2025.
Looking at the next few years, the MCU currently has exactly three movies set to fall each year from 2023 to 2025. Perhaps under Marvel Studios’ new quality-over-quantity focus, three theatrical drops per year may be seen as the magic number.
Currently, 2026 appears busier, with Avengers 5 dated for May 1 along with “Untitled Marvel” releases on February 13, July 24, and November 6, making for a total of four movies – although this could still change.
On the topic of what movies exactly those mystery 2026 releases could be, some obvious choices may be Armor Wars, Shang-Chi 2, and Eternals 2, but there’s always a chance of some surprises with Marvel.
Marvel Studios will next return to theaters with The Marvels, which hits theaters on November 10 this year.
The original Justice League animated series is leaving Max, the home of countless DC shows and movies.
Warner Bros. Discovery just launch its new streamer, Max, on May 23, to take over for HBO Max. It combines content from Discovery+ (mainly unscripted programming), HBO, Max Originals, and a bevy of DC’s digital library.
Popular DC animated shows like Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, and Batman: The Animated Series all can be streamed on Max.
Originally a Saturday morning cartoon on ABC (1973-1985), Super Friends has been removed from Max.
The iconic series is the first full-length Justice League animated series that DC produced starting half a century ago.
Super Friends was added to HBO Max on June 18, 2021, which means a presumed two-year license with the streamer has seemingly expired.
As nostalgic as some Super Friends may be, WB’s streaming service is bursting with DC content.
The Batman character in particular is known for having popular, highly regarded content like Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Under the Red Hood, and Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm.
However, not all animated Batman content is headed for Max. Batman: Caped Crusader was picked up by a competitor streaming service: Amazon Prime Video.
The animated series is highly-anticipated with Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams serving as executive producers. DC Animation legend Bruce Timm will lead as showrunner, just as he did on Batman: The Animated Series.
Anyone looking for animated Justice League content now that Super Friends is gone can stream Justice League: War, Justice League: Doom, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and more on Max.
(MP1st) Hammerwatch 2 Hands-On Preview With great looks and gameplay ticking like clockwork, this old-school action RPG is full of promise.
(MP1st) Hammerwatch 2 Hands-On Preview With
After a golden age in the 1980s, Chinese filmmakers were quietly discouraged from dabbling in the sci-fi genre – it isn’t real science and authorities did not want youngsters to get confused. That stance changed during the last decade and the Shanghai International Film Festival has just hosted its first sci-fi week, comprising nearly a dozen film screenings and a trio of panel discussions featuring the new luminaries in the sector.
Reasons for the revised position of China’s authorities are not hard to understand. Not only was Hollywood getting away with dominating a genre that was popular with Chinese audiences, China in the 21st century has become a global technology powerhouse. Its space program, in particular, is now among the most advanced, capable of a normalized rocket launch schedule, international co-operation and lunar and interplanetary missions.
“A great sci-fi film can successfully arouse people’s curiosity to explore the universe and nature and induce people to think profoundly,” the Shanghai festival said in notes accompanying its event.
“Organizers want to innovate and promote Chinese sci-fi films to overseas audiences. This is in order to have the Chinese voice heard in the world and tell China’s unique sci-fi stories born in a unique cultural and aesthetic environment of China.”
China’s space prowess was recognized in Hollywood films including “2012,” “The Martian” and “Gravity,” but it was not until 2019 and “The Wandering Earth” that the Chinese-made version of the genre truly blasted off.
The picture, directed by Frant Gwo and adapted from a Liu Cixin novel, tells a tale of planet Earth being dragged to destruction by the gravitational pull of a giant red sun and by Jupiter, but being shifted to a safer orbit by the harnessing of thousands of thrusters. It was huge box office success in China – earning RMB4.69 billion ($660 million at current exchange rates), enjoyed more than tokenistic levels of interest overseas and provided a platform for Chinese values and perspectives that Hollywood had only rarely indulged.
(The SIFF sci-fi week coincided with Netflix’s long-awaited reveal of footage from “3 Body Problem,” its big-budget adaptation of another Liu Cixin novel.)
The Shanghai festival’s Sci-fi week curated its 11 titles in three categories: A Trip to the Mars, Retro and Forward. The Retro section played the 1980s films “Death Ray on Coral Island,” “Dislocation” and “Wonder Boy” as outdoor screenings at the drive-in theater of Shanghai’s Chenshan Botanical Garden.
Gwo spoke at one of the three sci-fi forums and emphasized story over technology. “The purpose of technology is not to satisfy curiosity, but to complete emotional narratives,” he said. “On top of that, we have to step back and build a complete worldview or advanced concept that helps us tell a story of emotional narrative.”
Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve dropped into the discussion virtually, with a video message. “As a filmmaker and science fiction fan, I want to say ‘thank you’ to SIFF and the Chinese audience for supporting ‘Dune’ and embracing this genre.”
After a golden age in the 1980s,
Turner Classic Movies general manager Pola Chagnon is leaving the company after more than 25 years, as Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs are underway across the conglomerate’s TV division.
In a memo to staff Tuesday, WBD chief content officer Kathleen Finch said that Michael Ouweleen, the president of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Discovery Family and Boomerang, will take oversight of TCM. Ouweleen previously ran TCM.
“While change is never easy and can create a sense of uncertainty, I want to assure you that we remain fully committed to this business, the TCM brand, and its purpose to protect and celebrate culture-defining movies,” Finch added. “As storytellers, that is our legacy, and we will continue bringing the history and impact of classic films to life on-air and in other ways.”
More to come…
Turner Classic Movies general manager Pola Chagnon
The final images appeared in my email inbox months later. My lips looked thin and I swear my ribcage looked wider than it did in real life. I showed them to my family and friends, anticipating an overcompensation of compliments. To them, I looked beautiful. But it wasn’t my version of beautiful.
Facetune became even more key to my gender identity when I started to pursue feminization surgery. Two years ago, I walked into a medical aesthetics clinic to get lip filler for the first time. I spent years augmenting my lips on Facetune and showed my injection nurse the edited photos for reference. The app let me experiment with physical feminization before I pursued it medically.
It turns out, I’m not alone in my experience. Lilah Gibney, an influencer and self-proclaimed Facetune expert, was still learning the ins-and-outs of feminine beauty when she first turned to the photo-editing app. “When I wore wigs early in my transition, I used Facetune to make the hair look like it was growing out of my head instead of lace,” she says. “I wanted long hair but didn’t know how to properly achieve the look. I used the smooth tool to disguise my lacefront.”
I also experimented with wigs to help with my gender dysphoria. I bought a 24-inch U-part wig, which covers the natural parting of your hair with wig lace, but it still didn’t look right. Facetune was the only way to go until my hair grew long enough to blend with extensions.
Athena Layna, a trans beauty creator, uses Facetune’s smoothing tool to “retouch any facial hair or razor bumps,” along with the reshape tool. “Especially since I plan to get facial feminization surgery in the near future, playing around with the reshape tool gives me a little glimpse of what’s to come,” she says.
Despite this, Facetune and similar apps have come under fire from cisgender celebrities who are against photo-editing. Some celebs have been called out for retouching their images on social media, while others have criticized the use of filters and apps, creating a stigma around altering your appearance. But for many trans people, Facetune is a means of translating our internal feelings into a tangible reality.
“We tweak little things, whether it be face or body features, to help portray ourselves in the way we feel,” says model and artist Jovel. “I want to see myself in my most feminine light. You can use photo-editing as an artistic medium to express yourself, like any other medium.”
Zaya Perysian, a transgender creator with nearly 5 million followers on TikTok, used Facetune during a time when she didn’t have access to trans-inclusive medical care. “Thanks to lifesaving gender-affirming care, like hormones and surgery, I use Facetune less than I did before,” she says. “Before I got my body feminized, I actually used Facetune to show my doctor what I wanted to achieve, like editing on hips and making my chin smaller.”
The final images appeared in my email
If you can believe it, it’s been over a year since we’ve seen a fresh Zendaya performance on our screens. In late 2021, the actress, of course, starred in Spider-Man: No Way Home with Tom Holland before reprising her role of Rue for another stellar season of Euphoria in early 2022. That’s about to change, though. A brand-new trailer for the actress’ latest flick, Challengers, dropped and movie-lovers are hyped, obviously.
Warner Bros Pictures dropped the first trailer for tennis drama Challengers, which you can watch above. The first look at the movie introduces Zendaya as a gifted athlete named Tashi Duncan, who becomes entangled with two best friends, Art and Patrick, played by West Side Story’s Mike Faist and The Crown’s Josh O’Connor. The bond between the three strikes up an intense rivalry which follows them for years. It ultimately leads up to a Challenger event where Art and Patrick must face off against each other in a cut-throat game of tennis.
With another one of the Dune alum’s upcoming movies being teased, the internet seems absolutely obsessed with already. As one tweet stated:
ZENDAYA’S WORLD DOMINATION pic.twitter.com/Eqj5emMCP2June 20, 2023
The two-minute trailer certainly showcases what looks to be another stunning performance from the A-lister. The movie, which comes out this September, is directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, who famously helmed Call Me By Your Name and last year’s critically-acclaimed cannibal romance, Bones And All. Zendaya fans can’t get over how amazing the actress looks in the fall release:
ZENDAYA ATE THAT UPPPPPP HOLY SHIT I CANT STOP WATCHING pic.twitter.com/nXeIHA0c2zJune 20, 2023
Not to mention the Space Jam: A New Legacy star must have to seriously practice how to be a tennis champ for the role. One fan spoke to the actress’ form based on what the trailer shows of her performance:
Zendaya’s forehand swing is immaculate pic.twitter.com/SHHwOYNUMMJune 20, 2023
What’s also especially exciting is the fact that we’ll see Zendaya in not one, but two new movies this fall. Zendaya is also set to star in the Dune sequel, which had its own first trailer come out last month. We do have to wonder if her Part Two cast mate Timothée Chalamet linked her up with, or at least introduced her to, his frequent collaborator, Luca Guadagnino for Challengers. Regardless, people can’t wait to get fed with her performances later this year:
ZENDAYA BEING THE LEAD IN BOTH CHALLENGERS AND DUNE 2 THIS YEAR LIKE WE TRULY ARE LIVING ON HER ERA pic.twitter.com/YD93pkugfhJune 20, 2023
And, aside from Challengers and Dune, Zendaya is also expected to return for Euphoria Season 3, where she has “hope for Rue,” following those first two emotionally taxing seasons. The following Twitter comment additionally brings up a good point about audiences getting to experience more of the actress’ talent this year:
no it’s something so crazy and spectacular watching Zendaya grow to become such an insanely talented actress in front our eyes like wowJune 20, 2023
If you pardon my pun, Challengers looks like an absolute serve! Here’s one more excellent reaction to cap off the roundup:
like you cannot be for real @Zendaya pic.twitter.com/cvHKsx1EOXJune 20, 2023
Oh, it’s for real! And y can see Zendaya in Challengers, only in theaters this September 15.
If you can believe it, it’s been
Kaitlan Collins, take note: Bill O’Reilly says he successfully deployed the same hand-signal command to rein in former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama as he interviewed them – and that it worked every time.
O’Reilly gave away his trick-of-the-trade on Tuesday’s edition of the syndicated “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton” radio show. Co-host Sexton asked O’Reilly, the former “O’Reilly Factor” host on Fox News and podcaster, what he thought of Bret Baier’s interview with Trump, largely viewed as both a legal and PR setback for the GOP front-runner and historic federal criminal defendant.
“There were some pretty contentious moments,” Sexton said. “I don’t think Bret was being contentious, but just the nature of the questions and responses seemed to be a little tense at some points. How do you view it?”
That’s when O’Reilly dished on the interviewer trick he successfully to rein in not one, but two infamously long-winded former commanders-in-chief.
“Well, I watched the interview,” O’Reilly began, “and Donald Trump is an extremely difficult man to chat with. I’ve done more interviews with Donald Trump than any human alive. I did the first interview when he announced for president in 2016, the escalator thing, I did the Super Bowl interview with him, I know him inside and out.
“My secret was, I would tell him before the interview, if my hand goes up, if you see my finger go up, I want to jump in. I don’t want to interrupt you and be rude, but when you see my finger, wrap it. And I said the same thing to Obma when I interviewed him three tiems. They could do five minutes on your socks, OK? They filibuster!”
O’Reilly, who has previously said on “Clay & Buck” that he thinks there’s no way Joe Biden is mounting a reelection bid, on Tuesday noted another interviewers’ tell – this time with Gavin Newsom appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“In a million years, Gavin Newsom would not have given an interview like that unless he believes he’s got some kind of shot to step into this presidential race,” O’Reilly said. “So these small indicators tell me – and I know this for a fact: the Democratic Party doesn’t want Joe Biden to run again. But you can’t go to Kamala Harris, she’s a disaster. So there kind of just going day-by-day.”
You can hear the entire segment over at “The Clay & Buck Show” website.
Kaitlan Collins, take note: Bill O’Reilly says
Jonathan Majors’ trial on domestic violence charges has been set for August 3, a Manhattan judge ruled Tuesday morning, per Variety. The actor faces up to a year in prison over his charges, which encompass multiple counts of assault and aggravated harassment.
At the June 20 hearing, Majors appeared in person in court for the first time, alongside his lawyers and girlfriend Meagan Good. Majors attended his last court hearing on May 9 virtually. Per the Associated Press, Majors’ time in court lasted all of three minutes. Majors has been charged with twisting a woman’s arm, striking her head, and shoving her into a vehicle in New York City on March 25—charges that his defense team denies he’s guilty of.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, Majors’ criminal defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry issued a statement claiming that the defense has provided evidence “proving” that the alleged victim actually assaulted Majors, and “not the other way around.”
“We strongly requested the District Attorney dismiss all charges against Mr. Majors immediately and initiate proceedings against Ms. Jabbari, holding her accountable for her crimes,” Chaudhry shared in a statement obtained by Variety. “While we are hopeful that the District Attorney is reviewing these materials in good faith and will do the right thing soon, to accelerate our case, we’ve requested a trial date ASAP.” (Chaudhry has previously publicly accused the case against Majors of being a “witch hunt” and “saturated with explicit and implicit bias.”)
If Majors does not appear in court on August 3 for the start of his trial, a warrant can be issued for his arrest within 48 hours. A judge reminded Majors of the requirement on Tuesday, to which Majors responded he heard “loud and clear.” Jabbari has had a temporary order of protection against Majors— which dictates that the two must have no contact, whether direct or through a third party—instituted since April.
s Jonathan Majors Photo: Derek White (Getty
Anyone can become a screenwriter, but being a successful screenwriter is not for everyone. In fact, research shows you’re more likely to get hit by lightning while winning the lottery before succeeding as a professional screenwriter. It’s a career, passion or delusional dream that takes dedication, persistence, thick skins, honing and crafting, hard grafting, talent, and luck.
You can learn your craft, immerse yourself in films and television, write consistently, read produced and unproduced screenplays, develop unique and brilliant concepts, evolve strong characters, network like a demon, shape industry relationships, work your way up from the post room, enter and possibly win writing competitions, and have the grind of Sisyphus and foolhardy zeal of Wile. E. Coyote by never ever giving in. One can have all this and still not achieve a modicum of success.
Yet, despite the litany of obstacles, people do actually make it. Successful writer and the ultra-talented Niceole Levy has worked on multiple shows and films and is now executive producing shows for Netflix. She has also created an effective guide for those writers who have won the golden ticket and managed to enter the hallowed grounds and well-paid realms of a television writer’s room. But all that glitters is certainly not gold.
In this expertly written (obviously), intelligent, dynamic, and witty work, Levy whips us through the personalities, staff, managers, hierarchy, politics, schedules, production ins and outs, room dos and don’ts, lingo, diversity matters and many more aspects of keeping your job, sanity and maybe even progressing in television. Thus, I really enjoyed Niceole Levy’s inspirational and honest inside look at Hollywood TV production. Especially the descriptions of those monstrous showrunners who should be avoided. Alas, names are withheld, for fear of litigation perhaps.
Ultimately, as an outsider NOT working in Hollywood, I could not fully engage empathetically with certain situations and anecdotes. There were a fair number of useful hints at improving my own writing and standing in the industry. However, there was a heavy leaning toward overcoming internal writing room politics rather than how to resolve creative issues during the making of successful television programmes. Nonetheless there are many entertaining and insightful experiences on record.
Lastly, the grass is always greener. If you think you’ve made it when you enter the privileged place of TV writer’s rooms, well, think again. According to Niceole Levy you’re either floating or sinking, waving, or drowning. So, get swimming and kick fast because the sharks are circling. Don’t forget to use this essential book as a float board!
Buy the book from here.
Publication from Michael Wiese Productions
Michael Wiese Productions (MWP) was launched in San Francisco in 1976 primarily to produce films. Today, the company is known worldwide having published some 200 books. Some of the bestsellers have been translated into 28 languages, are used in over 1000 film courses, in the Hollywood studios and by emerging filmmakers.
Paul Laight is a screenwriter, filmmaker and blogger. In 2005, he formed Fix Films and has written and produced many shorts and other promos. Many of his films have been screened all over the world at various film festivals. Paul is currently working on feature and short film scripts for future productions. His work can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/c/FixFilmsLtd and here https://thecinemafix.com/
Anyone can become a screenwriter, but being
TRISTAN Tate has claimed he is collateral damage in the “war” on Andrew, as the brothers face rape and organised crime charges.
The 34-year-old influencer said he does not regret for a second staying by his older brother and business partner, 36.
Tristan is quoted by Realitatea as saying: “I hate to say this but I’m fully aware that I wouldn’t have been banned (on social media) or probably gone to jail if I wasn’t Andrew’s brother.
“I’m not mad about it. I’m glad they said I was ‘guilty by association’, I’m glad they threw me in jail.
“And if they incriminate him for real and send him back, they better send me back too or I’ll be in jail myself. ”
Tristan added: “No one can emerge as a hero alone.
“Let’s say, hypothetically, that a charismatic billionaire came along and said ‘I want to become the leader of England!’. He has no chance.
“He needs to start his own political party, lose every single election in every constituency in the UK and you’ll never hear from him again.”
The comments come after the pair, who have dual US and British nationality, and two Romanian female suspects were formally charged.
The Tate brothers were released from the hellhole jail they had been held in for three months on March 31 under house arrest.
It is believed the trial will take several years – and it will not start immediately.
The indictment says the four defendants formed an organised criminal group in 2021 for human trafficking in Romania.
Prosecutors allege seven female victims were recruited by Andrew Tate through false promises of marriage or a relationship, known as the “loverboy method”.
Andrew has also been charged with rape and Tristan has been charged with instigating others to violence.
Under Romanian law, trafficking of adults carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The case has been sent to a court in Bucharest, where a judge has 60 days to inspect the case files to ensure legality.
Prosecutors have also ordered for 15 buildings, 15 supercars and other assets such as flash watches to be seized – as well as a cryptocurrency fortune.
All the accused, the Tate brothers and the two women, have denied the allegations made against them.
Andrew accused authorities of trying to “steal his wealth” after the indictment was published.
He wrote on Twitter: “I’m sure this case has absolutely nothing to do with stealing my wealth.”
A spokesman for the pair said: “The indictment of Andrew and Tristan Tate has been sent to the court… while this news is undoubtedly predictable, we embrace the opportunity it presents to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation.
“Our primary focus will be to establish the truth and ensure a fair and impartial examination of the evidence the legal team will submit.
“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations.”
It comes as Tate could be sued in the High Court after four British women accused him of rape and sexual assault.
Lawyers representing the alleged victims handed court papers to Tate last week at his compound in Bucharest.
The women say the sex attacks happened between 2013 and 2016 when Tate, was still living in the UK.
McCue Jury & Partners is crowdfunding to raise £50,000 to bring the case to a civil court in the hope it will prompt a criminal investigation.
Tate initially gained fame after a short-lived appearance on Big Brother.
He was dumped from the reality show after alleged footage of him beating a woman emerged online.
Tate then built up an image that appealed to teenage boys – creating an online empire that made him one of the most searched people on Google.
Masquerading as lifestyle advice, much of the content is considered highly sexist and is seen as promoting violence against women.
His influence has had a worrying spread amongst young men and boys, with one UK MP saying he is “brainwashing” children.
Andrew Tate has previously claimed he’s a “trillionaire” but his “real” empire has been exposed, with Romanian cops saying he is worth around £10million.
Romania’s organised crime-busting police unit – DIICOT – had been probing the brothers since arresting them last December.
Tate has previously bragged about his wealth – with suggestions of his fortune ranging from £100m to being the self-proclaimed “world’s first trillionaire”.
2
TRISTAN Tate has claimed he is collateral
Keri Russell broke out in the late ’90s as a young woman finding herself in New York City in her first awarding-winning role, Felicity. In the years since, her genre-spanning career led to her turn as a KGB spy on The Americans, which earned her three consecutive Emmy nominations. She’s now following that up with another political drama, The Diplomat, in which she plays the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, a woman who is trying to set the world right while dealing with her messy marriage situation. Russell discusses the mundane realities of the State Department and finding humanity in powerful people.
DEADLINE: What led you to follow up The Americans with this?
KERI RUSSELL: A lot of things, I guess. I mean, one, it has been enough time. There was a nice break in between. I think I just hadn’t read something quite like what Debora Cahn had created. It’s just such a messy mix of smart political jargon and then that whole world that is really interesting of the State Department and the Foreign Service, but mixed in with Debora’s really specific brand of humor involving the minutiae of everyday life. This character that she created, it’s just fun and good. It’s as simple as that. For me, signing on to TV shows, I already have three kids, so it’s like, I’m busy enough. It’s like having three more kids to sign on to a television show because it’s such an uphill climb. You have to be up for the sprint of it and know that you can take some time off after. So, you have to really love it. I just thought it was fun.
DEADLINE: She is a very specific character, and although she is in this position of power, she has no interest in being an inspiration for other women. How much of her character was written on the page versus what you brought to her?
RUSSELL: A lot of her specificity was written on the page. That first episode that I read, the discomfort and the sweating, and the social awkwardness at times, that was definitely implied, if not explicitly written. I think one of the more complicated things about this show, and I guess one could say we’re still figuring it out, is really the tone because it could go so many different ways. But to me, where the tone was, starting about episode 3, I think it is really where it lives. It’s not for everybody, but I find it very enjoyable. I like that it’s someone who can be really smart and know their sh*t and then also be a total train wreck in their own relationship, and be mean and be a baby and be wrong and all those things people are. I don’t think one disqualifies the other.
From left: Kenichiro Thomson, Ato Essandoh and Russell.
Alex Bailey/Netflix
DEADLINE: It also adds a bit of humanity to these people who are in huge positions of power.
RUSSELL: Completely. I don’t want to put words in Debora’s mouth, but I have heard her say it — this was her love letter to the State Department. Yes, these are incredibly powerful people managing governments throughout the world, but you can still have a sh*tty day or you can still be asked to make this monumental decision, but you haven’t eaten for 10 hours. So you’re cranky, and someone just needs to get you a granola bar, and things will look up. These people are so busy, like they just have so many people running their lives and their schedules on a daily basis. I personally hate that. I don’t like anyone around me. I just had my kid’s seventh birthday party, and I needed to go lay down after being around that. It’s stressful for some people, especially just being in such a public-facing position, where it matters, every single thing that you do and what you wear, especially for a woman. That stuff is hard. So it’s fun to get to play with that.
DEADLINE: Your work with Rufus Sewell is so specific. It feels like a roller coaster at times. How did the two of you nail that emotional turmoil in the onscreen relationship?
RUSSELL: There’s a great line that Rufus’ character Hal has, I think it’s the first episode, where Stewart’s questioning him like, “Are you getting divorced? The ambassador tells me that you’re getting divorced.” And then his response is, “Have you ever been married?” I think that’s the point. These people are insanely connected to each other and respect each other immensely and get each other going in every way. But they want to kill each other too, because it’s a lot of energy between them. It’s not always for the best. But how do we nail it? I don’t know. It’s really in the writing.
It either works or it doesn’t. I don’t think it’s something that you can work at. From day one, we were like, ‘Oh, this will be fine.’ He’s just a total pro and he’s good, and he’s there to work. He doesn’t bring extra bullsh*t to it. He is delighted in everything that I am delighted about the scripts. So, it’s just like a grown-up, great working relationship.
Russell with Rufus Sewell.
Alex Bailey/Netflix
DEADLINE: I have to ask about that scene where you tackle him in the gardens. I was shocked,
but I also was so satisfied.
RUSSELL: It definitely, at that point in episode 3, takes a real screwball turn. Much to my delight. It is bonkers in the best way to me. I love watching this person who is so on top of it… I feel like Kate’s entire job is to be in control and manage everyone. Get everyone into the dinner on time. Her whole job mom-ing everybody. She’s like the mom to the world. And you know what? Moms are calm until they’re not. And he broke her. And then she had to break.
DEADLINE: To be fair, I think we’ve all had moments where we wish we could tackle someone.
RUSSELL: What’s amazing is Rufus as a person, he’s a very big guy. I am not a big person. We just looked at each other and said, “Are we just gonna do this? OK, let’s just do it.” I felt like he was the big brother letting the little brother just go for it so that the little brother didn’t hurt themselves. I was just going crazy. We were laughing our heads off. They did have stunt doubles, and I’m sure they would have done it, but we just didn’t want it to look slick or rehearsed or choreographed. We wanted it to be very uncool, like slapping and ridiculous and desperate and stupid.
DEADLINE: Your characters in both The Diplomat and The Americans are a lot rougher around the edges than Felicity, which is where you started and it’s a role that so many people associate you with. Was that an intentional trajectory?
RUSSELL: I don’t think I plot it like that at all. I think it’s just whatever writing catches me. I really believe there are way better actors in the world than me. I tend to sit back and wait it out until there’s something that I really feel like I want to do, and I need to know that there’s some part of that character that I really understand and can do. I don’t go, “Oh my gosh, I’d love to be in that movie. Just give me any part.” There’s no f*cking way I’d do that. I have to really innately know something about the character or feel like I can move around in it. Otherwise, I would be bad. I’m positive. So for me, it’s the writing. I think every once in a while something just catches me and this time it was [The Diplomat].
Read the digital edition of Deadline’s Emmy drama issue here.
DEADLINE: The end of Season 1 is pretty insane. How did it feel leaving the audience in that place?
RUSSELL: Crazy. I was totally surprised too. But Debora is such a veteran. She’s been doing this forever. She’s such a pro. She knows what she’s doing. I’m assuming she had that plan for a while, but I was completely surprised.
DEADLINE: Since we know that The Diplomat has been renewed, what parts of that character are you excited to explore more in Season 2?
RUSSELL: To me, I just love all the simple stuff. I really love the human behavior stuff. That’s what I find the most interesting. A show needs the bigger sweeping plot point things, but that’s not what gets me going. To me, it’s a really good dramatic fight scene with Rufus or a really funny scene. There was some scene [in Season 1] where I walked off the plane and had to take Clorox wipes to wipe down myself because I was so hungover. I like that fun, weird stuff. I don’t know. I’m just getting to this really grateful point in my life and career where I haven’t always enjoyed being in this business. I didn’t grow up wanting to be an actor. I fell into it, and so I haven’t always loved it. I’m really enjoying myself on this one.
Keri Russell broke out in the late
In late March, Daniel Zhang unveiled what was called the “most significant” overhaul in the 24-year history of Alibaba, one of China’s original technology conglomerates, splitting the company into six separate units that would help them seek out investors from the public.
Now, Mr. Zhang, the tech giant’s chairman and chief executive, is out of the top job and will step down from Alibaba’s board of directors, and two of the company’s co-founders have moved up into the leadership positions.
Alibaba announced on Tuesday that Mr. Zhang, 51, would relinquish his top job in September. Instead, he would serve only as chief executive of Alibaba’s cloud computing division, a position he assumed in March when he unveiled the restructuring. Alibaba announced plans to spin off its cloud division in May, in preparation for a public listing.
Joseph Tsai, 59, an Alibaba veteran with roots to the company’s founding, will move up from executive vice chairman to chairman. Joining Mr. Tsai is another Alibaba co-founder, Eddie Yongming Wu, who will succeed Mr. Zhang as chief executive.
“This is like the oldest of the old guard,” said Duncan Clark, the chairman of the investment advisory firm BDA China in Beijing. “The trusted team, the old guard, is back in control.”
The reshuffle comes at a critical time for Alibaba. The company was the highest-profile target of a crackdown by Beijing on the power of China’s biggest tech companies. Its stock price has tumbled from its 2020 peak.
Alibaba’s founder, the billionaire Jack Ma, was driven out of the public eye in 2020 after criticizing Chinese regulators for stifling innovation at Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial technology sister company. After his remarks, Chinese officials suspended plans for Ant Group to sell stock in an initial public offering. In 2021 Chinese antitrust regulators fined Alibaba $2.8 billion for preventing merchants from selling their goods on other shopping platforms.
Mr. Ma, a popular figure in China and long the face of the company, made a publicized return to China earlier this year just as Alibaba announced its restructuring, which was seen in part as a response to tighter regulations by Beijing.
On Saturday, Mr. Ma made an appearance at a math competition sponsored by a research division of Alibaba, according to a post on the institute’s blog. Though he no longer holds a formal role at Alibaba, Mr. Ma remains one of its largest shareholders, with 4.5 percent of the company as of 2021, according to corporate filings.
In a letter to employees Tuesday, Mr. Zhang said that it was time for him to dedicate his “full attention” to the spinoff plans. He also cited the need for a clear separation between his roles at Alibaba and the cloud division.
Mr. Tsai, the new chairman, has a relationship to Mr. Ma that some former employees have described as inseparable. The two met in 1999, when Alibaba was still a free online portal, and Mr. Tsai joined the company that year. He helped Mr. Ma secure early investments from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank, and stewarded the company’s initial public offering in New York in 2014, then the largest in history.
Alibaba’s executive vice chairman since 2013, Mr. Tsai is the primary owner of the Brooklyn Nets, the National Basketball Association team.
The elevation of Mr. Wu, a longtime executive of Alibaba’s e-commerce division, signaled to analysts that Alibaba would continued to prioritize online shopping as a core pillar of its business.
Mr. Wu, who is in his late 40s, helped lead Alibaba’s transformation from an e-commerce giant to a mobile juggernaut, turning the digital payment app Alipay into one of the default forms of payment across China. He will continue to serve as the chairman of Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s two domestic e-commerce businesses.
Mr. Zhang told investors that Alibaba would become less centralized and more efficient by spinning off its components. But Alibaba has also recently announced the creation of a high-level committee to make decisions about distributing money to the new business groups, which some analysts took as a sign that the company was still keeping power in the hands of a few key people.
Mr. Zhang succeeded Mr. Ma as chairman of Alibaba in 2019. Then a rising star in the company, he was the architect behind Singles Day, Alibaba’s most successful shopping event. Known for his attention to detail and problem-solving abilities, Mr. Zhang was widely regarded as a complement to Mr. Ma, who was known inside the company for his visionary prowess.
Alibaba is synonymous with online shopping in China. But the company has since expanded into an array of businesses from digital payments to delivery services to entertainment. In recent years, it has expanded its e-commerce division and has served the A.I. boom with its cloud computing unit.
Jacob Cooke, chief executive of e-commerce consultancy WPIC, said the return of Mr. Tsai, who has extensive investments around the world, was a logical choice for Alibaba given its recent international focus.
Last year Alibaba poured $1.6 billion into its e-commerce business in Southeast Asia, according to corporate records in Singapore provided by VentureCap Insights, a research firm. And last week, it announced plans to start a local version of its e-commerce division, Tmall, in Europe.
In late March, Daniel Zhang unveiled what
Just when you thought Netflix’s “Black Mirror” references couldn’t get more real, Netflix has pulled a “Joan Is Awful” by including terrifying — and familiar — terms and conditions to its new show-based experience.
The “Black Mirror” experience, launched Tuesday following the release of Season 6 last week, enables fans to get the full “Joan Is Awful” treatment by seeing their own faces on the Streamberry streaming platform.
The website takes after the Season 6 episode “Joan Is Awful,” which centers on an ordinary woman named Joan (Annie Murphy) who is shocked to see her life depicted on a new show by the one and only Salma Hayek.
Netflix made a splash with the announcement, changing their Twitter name to “Streamberry US” (the streaming service referenced within the Season 6 installment) and drawing attention to their new profile picture, which features a red “S” à la Netflix’s “N.”
The streamer also included a link to “Streamberry,” whose Netflix-esque setting features “Black Mirror” references in its featured shows, including “Selling San Junipero,” “Five Stars at a Wedding,” “Finding Ritman” and “USS Callister,” among others.
As expected, the featured program is “You Are Awful,” and features a blank face, inviting users to allow the streamer to “Make Me Awful.” “Whether your name is Joan or not, you are the star of the show,” the description reads. “Take or upload a photo of yourself and you could be the next star of Streamberry!”
After entering into the “Make Me Awful” page, Streamberry prompts the user to enter their name and capture or upload a photo of yourself onto the site, warning that “You may even end up on a billboard!”
Upon uploading a photo, there are two boxes to tick, one reading,” I consent to Netflix’s use of my image for its marketing campaign,” while the other looks scarily similar to the same terms and conditions Joan faced in the episode.
Take a look at the “Name and Likeness” section on the nine-page terms and conditions below:
By interacting with this Experience, you grant the Netflix entity that provides you with this Experience, its affiliates and respective successors and assigns and anyone authorized by any of them (collectively, “Netflix”), the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive right to record, depict, and/or portray you and use, and grant to others the right, but not the obligation, to record, depict, and/or portray you and use, your actual or simulated likeness, name, photograph, voice, actions, etc. in connection with the development, production, distribution, exploitation, advertising, promotion and publicity of this Experience, in all media, now known and later devised, and all languages, formats, versions, and forms related to such Experience without compensation to you or any other individual, unless prohibited by law.
Netflix
Just when you thought Netflix’s “Black Mirror”
Audiences spent more time streaming in May, while broadcast and cable viewership took a bit of a nosedive, according to Nielsen’s monthly state of TV report, The Gauge.
Total TV usage was down about 4.4% versus April, declining for the fourth consecutive month. While Nielsen reports that this is fairly typical for the time of year, time spent watching TV only declined 2.7% over the same period in 2022.
Despite the downfall, streaming usage increase by 2.5% from April to May, and streaming’s share of overall TV usage jumped from 34.0% to 36.4%. Nielsen incorporated a technical enhancement into its measurements that allows it to account for streaming via cable set-top boxes, though the company says this only made up about half of the increase in streaming.
The other half was a reflection of viewing habits. Netflix and Prime Video were among the top streamers to gain momentum in May. Netflix posted a usage gain of 9.2%, led by Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (5.4B viewing minutes), A Man Called Otto (3.1B) and The Mother (3.0B). Prime Video managed a 5/1% uptick in usage, with help from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Citadel, which combined for 2.7B viewing minutes.
It’s unclear how viewership for Maisel and Citadel was distributed, though Citadel has failed to make it onto any of Nielsen’s streaming charts since it was released on April 28. Maisel did manage to make an appearance among the streaming originals.
FAST services are also continuing to gain favor among viewers. In May, the Roku Channel became the third FAST service to earn stand-alone recognition in Nielsen’s reporting with a 1.1% share of TV usage. The Roku Channel combined with Pluto TV and Tubi TV to make up 3.3% of TV time this month.
Things were not looking so great for broadcast and cable this month, which fell by 5.5% and 5.4%, respectively. Broadcast’s decline was led by a whopping 25% decrease in sports viewing, despite the Kentucky Derby managing to secure the top program for the month.
By contrast, cable sports viewing was actually up 12% in May, thanks to the NBA Finals on ESPN and TNT. However, cable news viewing was down 11%.
Audiences spent more time streaming in May,
The actor Jonathan Majors appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday morning at a brief hearing where a trial date for his misdemeanor assault case was set for August.
In a hearing that lasted less than five minutes, the judge, Rachel S. Pauley, set Mr. Majors’s trial date for Aug. 3 and reminded him that the order requiring him to stay away from the woman he is accused of assaulting remains in place.
Mr. Majors, who wore a brown suit and crisp white collared shirt, sat for a time toward the back of the courtroom with sunglasses on next to the actress Meagan Good, his girlfriend. He spoke very little during the hearing, which began around 9:39 a.m. He greeted the judge and acknowledged her instructions, but otherwise remained silent while standing before her.
Mr. Majors, 33, was arrested in March after what the police described as a “domestic dispute.” He was subsequently arraigned on a complaint that included several misdemeanor charges. In their initial reports, the authorities said the victim, described only as a 30-year-old woman, had told investigators that she had been assaulted and was taken to a hospital after suffering what the police said were minor injuries to her head and neck.
Lawyers for Mr. Majors have repeatedly denied the allegations. Priya Chaudhry, one of his lawyers, said in a statement Tuesday that “within a few weeks of these false allegations, we provided the district attorney with evidence of Mr. Majors’s innocence.”
She maintained that it was the woman who had attacked Mr. Majors, not the other way around. “While we are hopeful that the district attorney is reviewing these materials in good faith and will do the right thing soon, to accelerate our case, we’ve requested a trial date ASAP,” she said in the statement.
Mr. Majors is a rising star in Hollywood, who has delivered a string of performances that had marked him out as a potential Oscar contender. He co-starred in “Creed III,” which was released in March, and appeared in “Magazine Dreams,” delivering a performance that garnered buzz at the Sundance Film Festival. His character Kang, from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” was also emerging as a major part of Disney’s Marvel franchise.
But news of his arrest has raised questions about his future prospects. Soon after his arrest, the United States Army removed advertisements featuring Mr. Majors from its rotation. And it is not clear whether the allegations have imperiled his work with Disney.
The actor Jonathan Majors appeared in a
Trevor Noah set to host new Spotify original podcast
Trevor Noah set to host new Spotify
Jonathan Majors appeared in person in a lower Manhattan courtroom this morning, his first appearance as a part of his ongoing assault case.
In today’s brief proceedings, a judge set his trial date to begin on August 3.
Photo: AFP Also Getty Images
Majors was initially arrested on March 25 in Manhattan on domestic violence charges. He was later charged with several counts of assault and aggravated harassment.
At the center of the charges was an incident with a 30-year-old woman, who told officers that she was assaulted and taken to the hospital. According to reports the alleged victim had “minor injuries to her head and neck”.
In a statement released after Tuesday’s court appearance, Majors’ criminal defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry issued a statement saying that the team had delivered evidence to the District Attorney “proving Grace Jabbari’s assault on Jonathan Majors and not the other way around.”
“We strongly requested the District Attorney dismiss all charges against Mr. Majors immediately. And initiate proceedings against Ms. Jabbari, holding her accountable for her crimes,” Chaudhry wrote. “While we are hopeful that the District Attorney is reviewing these materials in good faith and will do the right thing soon. To accelerate our case, we’ve requested a trial date ASAP.”
Photo: Also Entertainment Weekly
Majors’ legal team has consistently denied any wrongdoing by the actor and released text messages and videos that they say prove the actor’s innocence.
In one text exchange, which has not been independently verified, the woman wrote, “I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone” and stressed that she told police “this was not an attack.”
Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. Also ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Since his March arrest, Majors has been dropped by his PR team and management company. Additionally, he was dropped from the upcoming feature film “The Man in My Basement” and advertising campaigns with the U.S. Army and MLB’s Texas Rangers.
Photo: Also Marvel
The future of Majors’ relationship with Marvel remains undetermined. The actor had been positioned to play a major role in upcoming Marvel films with his portrayal of Kang.
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Jonathan Majors appeared
In the past, the true crime fascination of most viewers would have been deemed as sick and most of them would have kept it hidden as a guilty pleasure. Luckily today there are countless explanations of why we like the genre so much. We won’t dig into those. You know who you are, and you should be proud of liking true crime. To the haters, we say: no, it isn’t dangerous, and it doesn’t represent dark desires or anything in that regard.
Yet sometimes, even we are shocked and disturbed by pieces of true crime. We probably feel we aren’t squeamish anymore, but on those occasions, we toy around with the idea of pressing stop and taking a break. Sometimes, we just can’t take it anymore.
These are the true crime films and TV shows that made us get too close to the reality where monsters thrive and humankind is conquered by darkness. These are the most disturbing true crime documentaries out there.
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade began his journey in 2001 when he decided to chronicle the trial of Michael Peterson who was accused of murdering his wife. This is how the documentary series The Staircase began its production. Originally released in 2004, The Staircase humanized a man whose image had been destroyed by American media in the past and yes, the documentary made everyone doubt. In 2018, the French director returned to the Peterson household and followed up on the case with more episodes.
It’s safe to say we will never know if Michael killed his wife or not. But the documentary was revealing enough to make us argue about his guilt or innocence. Our blood boiled upon seeing Peterson smiling during some situations, but that doesn’t make him a killer. Almost 20 years after the gruesome events, it’s impossible to say what happened, but Lestrade’s work is a great piece on the effect of ambiguity and demonization.
In 2022, Netflix released the shocking docuseries Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, a shocking look inside Mormonism and its most extreme branch. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was led by Warren Jeffs, a horrible man who set his own rules and basically formed a cult. The series is mostly based on testimonies by survivors who dared to speak about what took place inside the church.
If you think the testimonies aren’t enough, the series will also show you that Jeffs was recorded during his sessions in which he sexually assaulted minors. The effect goes beyond believing Jeffs or not; you will actually despise the monster he is, and you’re entitled to that feeling.
In Andrew Jarecki’s excellent documentary, Capturing the Friedmans, he takes us deep inside a family with too many secrets. When Arnold and Jesse Friedman are accused of having child pornography but also of sexual molestation, this caused the Friedman family to break down. Among doubts and absolute trust, one of Arnold’s sons started recording his family. What follows is Jarecki’s supercut of the perfect working-class image being torn down to pieces, as accusations of incest and sexual assault between the brothers start emerging. To capture these revealing dynamics is very difficult, but doing it from the inside out is a brutal blow that we’ll never recover from.
The Netflix documentary series Wild, Wild Country is an impressive account of the events that took place when the Rajneeshpuram community settled in a rural part of Oregon. Their leader, Osho, is seen as a visionary man whose spirituality was so invasive he had magic powers. But yeah, they were also a cult capable of crime. The series is very well-written and reveals enough about Osho to draw a picture of the legendary leader whose real intentions we’ll never know. What’s disturbing about this is the footage of cult members under the spell of Osho, but also the testimonies of those who still believe in his ideology.
The great documentary by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, Jesus Camp, is a raw testimony that we should feel grateful for. Without being partial to one side or the other, Jesus Camp simply shows what takes place on a summer camp in which children learn how to “bring America back to Christ.” They’re taught how to preach, how to stay away from demons that come in the shape of books and films, and how to fight the true enemies of the evangelical Christian church. We are impartial in terms of religion, but it’s shocking to see children being manipulated and subjected to techniques that make them wail for spiritual reasons.
This is the one we never saw coming and tore our hearts to pieces. Kurt Kuenne makes a documentary about his friend Andrew Bagby, who was murdered under suspicious circumstances. Bagby was a father, so Kuenne also addresses the film as a letter to the child. What we don’t know is that there’s a villain in this story, and Kuenne makes a very good point of why we should be very afraid of Bagby’s widow and mother to his son. We won’t spoil this one for you, but again, you should be prepared for this one. Seeing Andrew’s parents evolve in the documentary is just harrowing.
We will never know what happened that day when Diane Schuler drove almost 2 miles in the wrong direction and caused the deaths of 8 people, her daughter and 3 nieces among them, in a parkway near New York. The documentary is a disturbing dive into the events of that day and what led Diane to intoxicate herself with drugs and alcohol before willingly deciding to do something that wasn’t going to end well.
The film is a great document that tries to explain the reasons why Diane may have done this but also sheds light on why we should avoid prejudice in this case. The film has a very controversial image of Diane we wouldn’t dare show here. Again, we will never know why it happened.
What makes O.J.: Made in America so disturbing is how ominous it feels, considering we already know how everything happens and where it all ends. Ezra Edelman’s masterpiece sheds more light on facts that we weren’t familiar with in the beginning, and weren’t part of the media frenzy that was the trial back in the day.
When it comes to true crime, it doesn’t get any better than this one. Stick to the miniseries and not the theatrical cut.
The Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, is cut using a found-footage format that consists of real footage recorded when the Watts family murders were only a case of missing people. Using recreations of social media posts and text messages, we come to know the insides of a family that was sadly ended by a monster.
When everything is finally explained in the end, it’s shocking to think minutes prior we had seen an inconspicuous man saying he had no clue where his wife and daughters were.
Joshua Oppenheimer made The Act of Killing in 2012 and upset people from all over the world. In the film, Oppenheimer focuses on gangsters responsible for the murders of thousands of people during the Indonesian genocide of the mid-’60s. Anwar Congo is one of them, and he agrees with Oppenheimer to tell the stories using an artistic touch. What follows is a surreal rendering of death and torture under the mindset of a horrible man. In the very last scene, Oppenheimer is an unforgiving filmmaker who breaks the rules and submits the man, almost violently, to the gruesome details of his own acts.
Cleverly told in the Netflix style, Evil Genius tells the story behind the plot of the “pizza bomber” case. Brian Wells appears to be a victim of a much larger plot that Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong has many details about. The docuseries is a very insightful retelling that will make you question the very dynamics of true crime standards. The footage of the bombing, seen by many for the first time, is shocking, to say the least.
Regarding the case of the Blanchards, we still have many questions. Dee Dee was a monster alright. She subjected her daughter Gypsy Rose to unimaginable things, in the weirdest case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy in modern times. But how Gypsy reacted just ups the ante. The documentary by Erin Lee Carr is a fascinating dive into the case of a woman who decided enough was enough and stood up to her mother in the most violent manner.
We will never forget this one, and you probably won’t either. Using footage from one year, shot by more than ten cameras, Eric Steel puts together a film about the suicides that take place on the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Testimonies by those related to victims are shocking, but once you see live jumps, your stomach will drop. We don’t have to say why this is disturbing. There are many, many jumpers. But the case of a long-haired man works as a frame narrative because of how long the footage is. To see him finally do what he came to do will leave you in silence. For days.
When it comes to the very extensive catalog of true crime at Netflix, Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer is by far the best option you gave. The docuseries chronicling the very strange case of Luka Magnotta and his fascination with animal torture is impressively well-told using the testimonies of those who used the Internet to hunt him down. This one’s pretty disturbing because it allows you to go back in time and bear witness to the live events, where suddenly a notification about a horrible video you weren’t supposed to watch popped up.
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky made Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills in 1996 and immediately got the public’s attention. This was a case of a modern witch hunt in which three teenagers were tried and convicted for ritualistic murders in which three boys lost their lives. With this film, we already had concerns about the trial and the horrible mishandling of justice.
For more than ten years, the West Memphis Three were in our minds as boys accused of listening to heavy metal. When they were released, we felt justice arrived. But what makes this so disturbing is that after three films, we still don’t understand the police refusing to fully investigate the murders of three innocent kids whose lives ended much too early and very, very violently.
In the past, the true crime
Cruise has finally launched an Android app for ridehailing, giving potential customers in San Francisco the option to call one of its robotaxis even if they’re not iPhone users. The self-driving car company told Engadget that 20 percent of its waitlisters are on Android, and an app for the platform is one of people’s most-requested updates on social media. Cruise’s new Android app will come with all the upgrades the iOS app has received since it launched, including the ability to drop a moveable pin on the map by long pressing on the screen.
Cruise
The company recently started operating in all areas of San Francisco 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employees have been able to hail robotaxi rides from across the city at all hours for months, but Cruise opened daytime rides to public “power users” in specific portions of the city back in April. To note, when Cruise secured the first ever driverless deployment permit issued by the California Public Utilities Commission last year, it was only given permission to operate in select areas of San Francisco from 10PM to 6AM.
Passengers with Android phones who become power users, or customers who sign up to test beta features and to send feedback to Cruise for free rides, will be able to hail daytime rides. A spokesperson also told us that Cruise is continuing to expand the availability of daytime rides in San Francisco, so even paying customers will eventually be able to use the service. When the company announced its 24/7 operations, Kyle Vogt, its CEO, said that we’ll soon see Cruise “open up full operations in other cities.” He said “operating robotaxis in SF has become a litmus test for business viability,” and that if the technology can work there, “there’s little doubt it can work just about everywhere.”
Cruise has finally launched an Android app
He is known for his work on films such as Focus and Nacho Libre, and TV shows like Watchmen and WeCrashed. Xavier is also the cinematographer for the second season of the Emmy award-winning show, The White Lotus, which is available for streaming on Max.
In this episode, No Film School’s GG Hawkins and cinematographer Xavier Grobet discuss:
Growing up surrounded by photography
Different opportunities Grobet had when attending film school in Mexico City
Starting his film career as a camera assistant
Meeting director-producer Mike White on the set of Nacho Libre
All the elements that make a fun and great working environment
Creative differences between film and TV shows
Controlling the look of the show
How the gaffer and board operator hacked into the hotel server where they shot The White Lotus
How to pull off cross-shooting
Sharing inspiring stories of others in the film industry who never gave up
Subscribe to the No Film School Podcast on:
Get your question answered on the podcast by emailing podcast@nofilmschool.com.
Samuel L. Jackson is addressing the backlash to longtime co-star Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in the MCU.
The “Secret Invasion” actor told Rolling Stone that Oscar winner Larson is an unapologetically “feminist,” which is just something Marvel fans and “incel dudes” alike will have to live with.
“Brie’s a stronger person than people give her credit for,” Jackson said of his “Marvels” co-star. “She’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.”
Jackson reflected on how he and Larson first became friends while working on the 2017 King Kong iteration “Kong: Skull Island.”
“We had done ‘Kong’ together, which was not the most wonderful experience for either of us,” Jackson said. “We became great friends during that particular experience because we were having such a hard time.”
He continued, “Then, when she was doing her movie [‘Unicorn Store’] and trying to get a particular actor, I was in the makeup trailer with her and was like, ‘Why are you trying to hire this other actor and not trying to get me to do your movie?’ She said, ‘I didn’t think you’d ever do it…so, will you?’ And I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Jackson added, “Then, we bonded through the election while we were doing her movie when Donald Trump won. She was broken and I was like, ‘Don’t let ’em break you. You have to be strong now.’ Then, when she got Captain Marvel, she called me and was like, ‘They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Let’s do it!’”
Jackson and Larson appear together again in the upcoming film “The Marvels,” helmed by Nia DaCosta. The movie ties together “Captain Marvel” and Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel” with Larson’s Carol Danvers joining forces with Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan. Jackson reprises his MCU staple role of Nick Fury.
Jackson recently wondered why his Nick Fury has not appeared in any “Black Panther” films thus far, saying, “I’m still trying to figure out why I’ve never been to Wakanda.”
The “Jackie Brown” actor added, “Feels like I’ve been playing him forever. If I had it my way, I would’ve been in every Marvel movie because, I mean, he is Nick Fury, he knows everything that’s going on.”
Samuel L. Jackson is addressing the backlash
AT&T does not see cable companies’ mobile subscriber gains coming at its expense and sees a “pretty high” bar for a merger of DirecTV and Dish Network, CFO Pascal Desroches told an investor conference on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Bank of America C-Suite Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference in London in a session that was webcast, he also compared recent chatter that Amazon was looking at offering low-cost wireless services to its Prime members in partnership with a telecom firm to Seinfeld.
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, the three providers of nationwide U.S. networks, all said in statements in early June that they were not in talks for providing wireless at wholesale prices for such an offering, Desroches highlighted. Dish was also rumored to have been asked about such a service. Amazon later said it was not planning such a service at this time.
“Why would Amazon do this?” Desroches asked. “Amazon has high penetration, let’s say more than 80 percent of U.S. households. Would they really enter into a variable pricing construct for an incremental 10 percent. Also (how about) a player that is unproven and doesn’t have a built-out network at this stage? I’m just not sure that any of the players have the incentives to really lean into this at this stage.”
The AT&T CFO’s takeaway: “It’s sort of like those of you who watch Seinfeld. It’s a show about nothing. This was a rumor about nothing.”
Since AT&T in 2021 sold a 30 percent economic stake in DirecTV and its other video services, U-Verse and AT&T TV, to private equity firm TPG Capital, creating the new DirecTV, Wall Street has repeatedly discussed if a long-suggested Dish-DirecTV merger could be on the cards. The argument behind the much-discussed possible merger of Dish and DirecTV is that would help them better compete against cable companies and others in the streaming space.
Asked about that scenario and whether DirecTV could become a Dish buyer, the AT&T exec replied: “We separated from our satellite platform, and we have it in a construct where it’s been optimized by our partners at TPG. They do a really good job in optimizing that asset.”
Desroches added that AT&T has a good handle on upcoming equity cash flows from the DirecTV asset under TPG’s stewardship. “Before they would decide to do something with another party, whether it be Dish or somebody else, I think there is a fairly well-defined bar that we have,” the exec said. “Last year, it produced $4.5 billion for us. This year, we got it at around $3.5 billion. We have really good line of sight over the next several years as to what cash flows will come out of that business. And whatever we would do would have to be incrementally much better than that.” (AT&T uses the standalone DirecTV entity to help pay down debt.)
Concluded the AT&T exec: “So right now, we are in a really good position with the asset. Would we look at other opportunities? We always do, that’s our job. But the bar would be pretty high in order to do something to try to accelerate more value creation.”
How big an existential threat to AT&T is the cable industry offering wireless services? “Their share gains are not coming at our expense,” the ATT CFO said about AT&T, but suggested at least one big unnamed competitor was likely to be affected.
Desroches said though that Dallas-based AT&T sees phone subscriber additions for the current second quarter in the 300,000 range, below the 476,000 estimate by Wall Street analysts.
Desroches on Tuesday also touted record wireless industry revenue and profits, arguing the telecom sector was set up well and “incredibly healthy.”
He also emphasized that the company is following a strategy and focus that sounded similar to what streaming services operated by entertainment giants have been highlighting: “Let’s not chase subscribers for the sake of chasing subscribers.”
The conglomerate last year closed its sale of WarnerMedia, allowing Discovery to create entertainment powerhouse Warner Bros. Discovery.
AT&T does not see cable companies’ mobile
Director Oliver Stone recently shared some unfavorable comments about John Wick: Chapter 4.
Earlier this year, John Wick: Chapter 4 premiered in theaters to rave reviews from critics and audiences. The action thriller starred Keanu Reeves as the iconic hitman and features some of the most outlandish action sequences in the franchise. Wick has a car chase battle through the Arc de Triomphe, an incredible top-down shootout in a mansion, and he tumbles down a really long flight of stairs.
Stone, who directed films like Platoon and Natural Born Killers, recently shared negative comments about the new action movie. “I saw John Wick 4 on the plane,” said Stone to Variety. “Talk about volume. I think the film is disgusting beyond belief. Disgusting. I don’t know what people are thinking. Maybe I was watching G.I. Joe when I was a kid. But [Keanu Reeves] kills, what, three, four hundred people in the fucking movie. And as a combat veteran, I gotta tell you, not one of them is believable. I realize it’s a movie, but it’s become a video game more than a movie.”
“It’s lost touch with reality. The audience perhaps likes the video game. But I get bored by it. How many cars can crash? How many stunts can you do? What’s the difference between Fast and Furious and some other film? It’s just one thing after another. Whether it’s a super-human Marvel character or just a human being like John Wick, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s not believable.”
Yes, there is an end-credits scene in John Wick: Chapter 4. It involves Donnie Yen’s character Caine.
The film stars Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and Ian McShane.
Director Oliver Stone recently shared some unfavorable
An Aug. 3 trial date has been set in the court case against Jonathan Majors on misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment.
Majors appeared in-person in New York criminal court on Tuesday for a status conference in connection with the charges. The Marvel actor entered the courtroom wearing sunglasses and a brown linen suit. He later removed the sunglasses and approached the bench with a brown cup in hand and what appeared to be a Bible.
The Marvel actor was arrested on March 25 in New York when police responded to a 911 call in Chelsea. Police said a 30-year-old woman reported being assaulted by the actor and had sustained minor injuries to her head and neck. Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ criminal defense lawyer, has denied any wrongdoing on the part of her client and says he called 911 out of concern about the woman’s “mental health.”
Majors, who was released from police custody later in the day on March 25, faces misdemeanor charges of assault and aggravated harassment.
Since the alleged incident, a judge granted a full temporary order of protection for the woman involved in the case. The order was requested by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and granted with the consent of defense counsel, which called the move standard practice.
Judge Rachel S. Pauley informed Majors and Chaudhry Tuesday that the actor must continue to abide by the full stay-away order for protection, which includes no contact with the individual.
The counts and charges against Majors have remained the same, but new complaint language was introduced from the district attorney at the May 9 hearing, saying the woman also allegedly experienced injury to her right arm and was pushed into a car by Majors, in addition to the previously reported laceration to her right ear and finger (the complaint no longer includes reports of bruising and injury to the neck).
Chaudhry has claimed the woman involved was “lying” about the alleged incident and that Majors’ defense team had additional video to back up that claim (Chaudhry’s team had previously released video and texts between the woman and Majors). Chaudhry also claimed the treatment of Majors by the police and the criminal justice is an example of racial bias.
In April, Majors was dropped by his management company, Entertainment 360, and public relations team, The Lede Company. A day after his arrest, a representative of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office said that a U.S. Army ad campaign featuring Majors had been paused.
An Aug. 3 trial date has been
Elisapie, a Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter, plumbs new sadness in one of Metallica’s biggest, most emotional hits on her recording, “Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven).” Where the metal band drew inspiration from Ennio Morricone soundtracks, Spaghetti Westerns, and family trauma for the Black Album hit, Elisapie keeps things quiet, as she sings the lyrics in the indigenous Inuk language. The instrumentation includes banjo, traditional drums, bass saxophone, throat singing, and saw, in addition to guitar and synth.
A video for the track, which will appear on her upcoming Inuktitut album (out Sept. 15), focuses on the sun reflecting off water in her hometown of Salluit, Quebec, as a boat heads toward an upside-down horizon.
She chose the song because it held a personal meaning to her. She’d interviewed Metallica’s Kirk Hammett at age 15 for her village’s radio station, and it reminded her of her friends when she grew up. “As a teenager, I only wanted to hang around the gang of boys in my village,” she said in a statement. “We would all go to my big cousin’s house and smoke weed while listening to Metallica. The band’s music allowed us to delve into the darkness of our broken souls and feel good there. It felt like we were being told it’s OK to be sad. …
“When I was 14 years old, I applied for a job listing at TNI, the first Inuit TV-radio broadcaster, and I was thrilled when I was chosen for the position,” she continued. “Honestly, I was the only person who applied, but still! Everyone at the station dreamed big, and they put in a request for an interview with Metallica. The band was so loved in Salluit that we had to give it a shot. Metallica accepted only two interviews on their Québec tour, and TNI was chosen. The senior producer gave me the interview, and there is a high likelihood that this was the worst interview Kirk Hammett ever did with a ‘journalist.’ He must have been so confused to get on the line and find a 15-year-old, overly excited Inuk girl asking questions that made little sense. But in my boys’ eyes, I was the coolest, and that’s what matters.”
Inuktitut, her fourth album,features similar interpretations of songs by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Cyndi Lauper, and others, each with a personal story behind them. The album represents something akin to an emotional memoir for Elisapie, tied to specific times in her life; she also sought permission to translate each artist’s lyrics into Inuk for the album.
She’ll likely be performing some of the songs live this winter when at what she’s calling Uvattini, multimedia performances that will combine music, video, and storytelling that will take place in Montreal and Quebec City. She’s planning a more extensive tour next year.
Inuktitut Track List:
1. “Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven)”
2. “Sinnatuumait (Dreams)”
3. “Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)”
4. “Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free) “
5. “Qaisimalaurittuq (Wish You Were Here)” feat. the Westerlies
6. “Californiamut (Going to California)”
7. “Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass)”
8. “Inuuniaravit (Born to Be Alive)”
9. “Taimaa Qimatsiniungimat (Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye) “
10. “Qimmijuat (Wild Horses)”
Elisapie, a Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter, plumbs
Director-writer Holden Pollak’s R is an ultra-low-budget independent about making a B film in the late 1960s. The drama follows the efforts of a director named Gordon Flemyng (Brad Pollak) and his screenwriter friend Robert Sabaroff (Mark Baker) to make a heist film called The Split. They shop the script around, finding a producer in Irwin Winkler (Eric Roberts) and his son David (Oliver Cooper).
The production proceeds but hits a couple of wrinkles that doom it to get the first-ever newly minted MPAA R rating. One of these is that the main character is portrayed by NFL player-turned-actor Jim Brown (J’amore Ward). The other is the over-the-top violence. So far, this all seems like pretty standard indie movie fare. Flemyng and Sabaroff make their feature, and when it gets the R rating, the elder Winkler hits the roof. Flemyng makes changes to The Split that tests his friendship with Sabaroff. Then he spends much of the rest of the flick perseverating over whether it’s better to be true to one’s artistic impulses or to be successful in the biz. There’s also an out-there BDSM scene with porn actors at Lou Campa’s (Carl Nalbone) house. The real-life Campa was known for exploitation fare like Jail Bait and Mini-skirt Love.
The production value is at the no-budget level, as are the performances. The film’s best parts are the excellent soundtrack and cool vintage cars. The list of great pop songs featured is puzzling: how did a movie with so little a budget manage to get the rights to many well-known songs? But all that said, R is a strange artifact, to be sure. Let’s address what’s so weird about all this: a modicum of research turns up that The Split is a real feature produced by Irwin Winkler and directed by Gordon Flemyng. It did star Jim Brown and wildly enough Gene Hackman, and it really did get the R rating. This story addresses very little of the conflict around the rating and turns the focus on Flemyng and Sabaroff.
“…production proceeds but hits a couple of wrinkles that doom it to get the first-ever newly minted MPAA R rating.”
Some of the performances are noteworthy, but perhaps not for the usual reasons. The real-life Gordon Flemyng was British. Brad Pollak doesn’t even try the accent. Eric Roberts was a star at one time. He turned in an unforgettable performance in Star 80, but now he’s showing up in minor parts in low-budget cinema, a long fall from grace.
The real-life person he’s portraying, Irwin Winkler, is an authentic Hollywood villain: he’s the man, along with his son, who has been denying Sylvester Stallone’s requests to cut him in on the decades of profit from the Rocky franchise. Stallone was recently quoted saying, “After Irwin controlling Rocky for over 47 years, and now Creed, I really would like [to] have at least a little [of] WHAT’s LEFT of my RIGHTS back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN. I believe That would be a FAIR gesture from this 93-year-old gentleman.”
There’s a great story to be told around the making of The Split. A real docu-drama would be amazing, something that would address the R rating as well as the groundbreaking work of Diahann Carroll, Jim Brown, and his stunt double, all early examples of Black actors in primary roles in Hollywood. I’m not sure you can say that R is that movie, but it could whet the appetite for it. I can easily imagine a Tarantino-esque film telling this tale in grand style, like Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Or you could go the Damien Chazelle route and make it more like Babylon. For what it’s worth, watching this provides a hint of what that would be like.
Director-writer Holden Pollak’s R is an ultra-low-budget independent about
A desperate search is currently underway for a 22-foot-long deep-sea vessel that went missing with five people on board as it dove towards the wreck site of the Titanic, who are now cut off from the world in claustrophobic conditions.
The US Coast Guard is leading the search for the small craft, named Titan, in the North Atlantic Ocean where it vanished on Sunday. The remote area is where the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500.
Thanks to previous reports on the Titan’s deep-sea missions, we have a clear idea of what it is like for those trapped inside the submarine, where time is running out.
In addition to the dwindling 96-hour oxygen supply, the passengers could also be facing increasingly cold conditions, and could suffer from hypothermia.
There are also no seats and only one toilet – a small black box – with a black curtain drawn across for privacy. All passengers are barefoot and must sit on the floor.
Assuming that the vessel is still intact, they currently have no communication to the outside world, and so no knowledge if and when anyone will reach them.
A desperate search is currently underway for a 22-foot deep-sea vessel (shown in this graphic) that went missing with five people on board as it dove towards the wreck site of the Titanic, who are now cut off from the world in claustrophobic conditions
A desperate search is currently underway for a 22-foot deep-sea vessel that went missing with five people on board as it dove towards the wreck site of the Titanic, who are now cut off from the world in claustrophobic conditions
The submersible, a ‘Cyclops-2’ model named Titan, is the second Cyclops model built by OceanGate – after the Cyclops-1.
It is capable of diving to a depth of 2.4 miles ‘with a comfortable safety margin,’ OceanGate said in a filing by the company in April with a US District Court in Virginia that oversees Titanic matters.
Titan weighs 20,000 pounds in the air, but is ballasted to be neutrally buoyant once it reaches the seafloor, the company said.
It was revealed yesterday that tourists who pay $250,000 to descend almost 13,000 feet below sea level to view the wreck of the Titanic must sign a waiver saying they accept the submersible is not approved by any regulatory body,.
In a May 2021 court filing, OceanGate said the Titan had an ‘unparalleled safety feature’ that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive.
‘This onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface,’ the company explains on its website.
While it is therefore likely the submarine is still intact, the missing submersible is a small vessel only designed to hold five people for a single day.
Typically, journeys would involved a two-hour dive, several hours exploring the titanic, and then a two-hour return trip back to the surface.
In total, dives can last up to 10 hours each.
However, the craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.
It has now been lost for around two days.
Inside, the passengers will be contesting with cramped conditions. The craft measures 22 feet in length, with a width of 9.5 feet – and has the appearance from the outside of a shiny metal. It has two separate titanium hemispherical domes at each end, the front one featuring an integrated 380-mm-diameter acrylic viewport.
There is no ‘door’ to get in and out of the vessel.
Instead, the passengers are bolted in from the outside before their journey begins with 17 bolts, which begins with the Titan being launched from a recovery platform, which has tanks used to sink and resurface the vessel.
At the conclusion of each dive, the sub is then meant to land on the submerged platform again, and the entire system is brought to the surface in approximately two minutes by filling the ballast tanks with air.
Inside, there are no seats, and passengers sit cross-legged on the floor having left their shoes on the mothership before entering the sub.
Inside, the passengers will be contesting with cramped conditions. The craft measures 22 feet in length, with a width of 9.5 feet – and has the appearance from the outside of a shiny metal tube – with no ‘door’ to get in and out
Pictured: A file photo shows the cramped conditions faced by passengers inside the vessel
The state-of-the-art pressure vessel – a carbon-composite cylinder – is necessary for any submersible making a dive to the depths of the Titanic due to the water pressure. Here, Astronaut Scott Parazynski can be seen making a journey in the submarine (file photo)
CBS correspondent David Pogue is seen inside the submersible, which he described as very basic
The journalist holding up a modified Logitech games controller that is used to control the sub
While the craft features advanced technology, the space for passengers is mostly bare. There is just one button – to turn the sub on, screens on the wall and a small porthole window at the front for viewing the ocean depths and – should the mission be a success – the Titanic’s wreck outside.
The pilot operates the craft with a modified Logitech gaming controller – complete with twin thumbsticks and four colourful buttons, that allows the operator to direct the submarine up and down, left and right, and forwards and backwards.
According to the company, the Titan is also ‘outfitted with state-of-the-art lighting and sonar navigation systems plus internally and externally mounted 4K video and photographic equipment’.
The sub’s electronics and thruster control pods are housed outside the pressure hull to increase the space that is available for crew and equipment onboard.
As for the facilities, the submersible is limited. There is a single toilet (which is more of a one-foot square black box on the floor with plastic containers and zip-lock bags inside) situated at the front of the vessel, under the small window.
According to the OceanGate website – which is no longer accessible – the toilet ‘doubles as the best seat the house.’
It adds that a small black privacy curtain is installed when the toilet is in use, and that the other passengers ‘turn the music up loud.’
It was recommended that passengers limit their diet before setting off on an expedition ‘to reduce the likelihood that you will need the facilities.’
It was not immediately clear what was taken on board in terms of supplies.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine) a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are amongst the five people missing in the submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic, it was revealed today
Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition, along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition
Speaking to BBC news, CBS reporter David Pogue – who took a trip of the submarine himself – said he was had some doubts over getting in due to ‘improvised’ elements.
‘It’s a one-of-a-kind submersible, with five-inch thick carbon fiber,’ he explained.
‘I have to admit I had some qualms getting on that thing, because a lot of the components are off-the-shelf, improvised – for example you steer the sub with a game controller [like] an Xbox controller.
‘Some of the ballast is abandoned construction pipes that are sitting on shelves on the side of the thing, and the way you detach the ballast is you get everybody ob-board to lean to one side of the sub and they roll off,’ he explained.
Despite these more rudimentary elements, he said that the most important features of the sub, such as its shell, are state of the art.
‘The CEO and inventor of the sub, Stockton Rush, reassured me that all of that stuff might be a little improvised, but the part you care about – the capsule that contains people and Oxygen – was co-designed with NASA and the University of Washington, and it’s rock solid,’ Pogue explained.
When he spoke to Rush for a broadcast in November 2022, Pogue put it to the CEO that the vessel had the feel of a ‘MacGyver jerry-rigged’ invention.
This was after Rush had explained he had got some parts for the interior off-the-shelf, such as the LED overhead lighting, which he said was from ‘Camper World’.
However, Rush said that once you’re certain that the submarine isn’t going to ‘collapse on everybody, everything else can fail. It doesn’t matter. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go, you’re still going to be safe.’
The state-of-the-art pressure vessel – a carbon-composite cylinder – is necessary for any submersible making a dive to the depths of the Titanic.
Lying under 12,500 feet of war, the water pressure at the wreck site of the famous ocean liner is nearly 6,000 psi (pounds per square inch).
Any vessel not able to withstand the pressure would be crushed, allowing water to flood inside. No human body could survive such pressure without the protection of a submersible such as the Titan.
People inside a Titan taking photos of the wreckage on their smartphones through a round window at the front
A view of the famous wreck taken from one of OceanGate’s subs
At the conclusion of each dive, the sub is then meant to land on the submerged recovery platform (seen here carrying the submarine), and the entire system is brought to the surface in approximately two minutes by filling the ballast tanks with air
Visitors were warned that the sub ‘has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death’
Rescuers are now in a desperate race against time to reach the vessel before the oxygen runs out, which is expected to happen on Thursday.
However, due to the conditions, those on-board will also be facing dropping temperatures and risk hypothermia, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser for Strategic Initiatives, RMS Titanic.
Speaking to CNN, Gallo said hypothermia would be an issue ‘if the sub is still at the bottom, because in the deep ocean it is just above freezing cold.’
He said: ‘One of the biggest things is where is it? Is it on the bottom, is it floating, is it mid-water? That is something that has not been determined yet … We will have to wait and see and hope for the best.’
He said even if the vessel is located, any rescue team faces immense challenges – concurring with other rescuers who spoke on Monday.
‘The water is very deep – 2 miles plus. It’s like a visit to another planet, it’s not what people think it is. It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure,’ he explained.
He struck a hopeful note about whether or not the vessel could have moved at such a depth. ‘A sub will not go very far. If it has gotten into trouble on the surface it might drift a bit, but on the bottom motoring – 2 miles an hour, something like that.
‘So the search area should be small,’ Gallo told CNN.
The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died.
The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, some 13,000 feet underwater. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.
Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is ‘a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy.’
‘If there was a power failure and/or communication failure, this might have happened, and the submersible would then be bobbing about on the surface waiting to be found,’ Greig said.
Another scenario is a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, he said. ‘If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited,’ Greig said.
‘While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.’
Photos of the tiny underwater craft leaving the port in St. John’s in Canada with the five crew members on board were revealed (pictured)
The 22ft submarine was seen being towed by the mothership MV Polar Prince out to sea to the wreckage site of the Titanic
Even if they could go that deep, he doubts they could attach to the hatch of OceanGate’s submersible.
‘The clock is ticking, and any submariner/submersible deep divers know how unforgiving the Abyssal domain is: going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective,’ said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement.
CBS reporter Pogue, who went on the trip last year, noted his vessel got turned around looking for the Titanic.
‘There’s no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages,’ Pogue said in a segment aired on CBS. ‘But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.’
A desperate search is currently underway for
Russell Simmons has been one of the biggest names in hip hop, without being a rapper himself. After beginning his career as a producer, he later teamed up with Rick Rubin to co-found the iconic label Def Jam Recordings, which has been the home to tons of major artists like Jay Z, the Beastie Boys, DMX, and many more. He’s also been a major figure in the fashion world. While he’s had an undeniable impact on the history of rap, Russell was accused of sexual assault and harassment by multiple women in 2017 and eventually stepped down from his position at Def Jam. Russell, 65, has denied the allegations.
Russell married model Kimora Lee, 48, in December 1998. The pair had two daughters Aoki, 20, and Ming, 23, but the pair split up in 2006, and their divorce was finalized a few years later. Since the split, Russell has had a strained relationship with both his ex-wife and his daughters. Kimora accused him of “threatening” her and the kids as well as being “abusive” in her Instagram Story on June 18, 2023, per People. “This man has been threatening my kids’ lives. I’m hearing so much more now. We won’t be bullied threatened or afraid,” she wrote. “This narrative of attacking the only caregiver, the only parent in the home with the kids, the mom, AND the kids for one’s own shortcomings and embarrassments is dead.”
Kimora hasn’t been the only one to accuse the former record executive of acting inappropriately. Aoki shared screenshots of text exchanges with her dad and said that if she doesn’t respond, he’ll “harass” her boyfriend or college friends. “I’ve had enough,” she wrote in an Instagram Story. “He’s been awful to me for years and that’s just the truth.”
Find out more about Russell’s daughter here.
Russell and Kimora welcomed their elder daughter Ming in 2000. The older Simmons daughter was a student at New York University, graduating in 2023. She’s dabbled in modeling and being a social media personality, often sharing vlog-style videos on TikTok and posting gorgeous photos of herself on Instagram.
Ming has opened up about how her mom was a major influence in showing her how important hard work is in a 2023 interview with Hypebae. “It’s going to sound cliche, but my mom really does keep me grounded. She’s always hammered the value of a dollar into all of us and she’s done an amazing job of supporting us while also doing her best to make us aware of our privilege,” she said. “I know that I need to work hard and prove myself to be able to stand on my own.”
Amid the drama with her dad in 2023, Ming also dissed her dad with a Father’s Day Post, where she shared a photo of herself and her mom, essentially wishing Kimora a “Happy Father’s Day,” on her Instagram Story, per TMZ.
Kimora gave birth to her and Russell’s younger daughter Aoki in 2002. Like her mom, Aoki is also a model, but she’s also a graduate of Harvard University, having graduated as part of the Class of 2023. After graduating, Aoki also thanked her mom and sisters for supporting her in an interview with People. “I feel grateful, proud and relieved — in that order! It’s a surreal feeling to be done with something that was such a huge part of my life. Now, like every other graduate, I’m on to the next chapter,” she said. “My mom, my sister, my little brothers back at home. It took a whole tribe, trust me!”
Aside from being a student at Harvard, Aoki also made her New York Fashion Week debut while she was working on her degree, per HuffPost. She’s repped by Nomad Management, as her Instagram bio states.
While she’s clearly had some difficulties with her dad, as evidenced in the Father’s Day 2023 posts, she did have kind words to say about him in a 2023 HuffPost interview. “I live with my mom. My dad is like a fun uncle. My mom is my mom. That is my person. She’s not letting me fall, or mess up,” she said.
Weeks after that interview though was the fallout on her Instagram Stories, where she also shared a video of Russell seeming to yell at her on a FaceTime call. In another Story, she wrote that some people close to her dad thought that he was “mentally ill or experiencing something like dementia,” and she said that prior to the argument, she had a good relationship with him. “He was really the best dad ever and a great co parent. He and my mom were best friends. We all defended him against anything, and then he suddenly turned on ANYONE who will let him lash out,” she said.
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Image Credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock Russell Simmons is a pioneering
This year has already launched one of the world’s best video cameras in the form of the Sony ZV-E1, but that’s far from the end of its ambitions – with new rumors predicting it could release four more mirrorless cameras by the end of 2023.
Sony Alpha Rumors, which has a pretty strong track record for predictions, has laid out what it thinks will be the next four models from the tech giant. And they include the Sony A9 III, which the site has previously tipped to be the “fastest camera ever made”.
What would ‘fastest’ mean in this context? Traditionally, a camera’s ‘speed’ refers to its maximum frame-rate in burst mode – and the current Sony A9 II is still one of the best here, managing to shoot at 20fps blackout-free (which means you get no flickering in the viewfinder with each frame).
But the A9 II has since been matched and in some ways surpassed by the Nikon Z9 in this regard, with Nikon’s flagship even offering a 120fps mode (albeit one that only captures 11MP JPEGs, rather than raw files). So it seems it’s time for the Sony A9 III to again take the record, just in time for the Summer Olympics in 2024 – and Sony Alpha Rumors is predicting that it’ll be the fastest mirrorless camera around for burst mode, autofocus and sensor readout.
The rumors site has predicted that the A9 III will be announced sometime between November 2023 and January 2024, but what other cameras are on the cards? Fortunately, there appear to be some more affordable ones en route, including an intriguing “high-resolution” model. Here are the four rumored cameras, along with our early thoughts on them.
This is the camera that amateur photographers have been waiting years for – and it sounds like Sony is preparing to finally launch a Sony A6600 successor.
Earlier suggestions have predicted that the camera, rumored to be called the Sony A6700, will be an all-rounder that combines the 26MP APS-C sensor seen on the pro-friendly Sony FX30 with the AI-powered autofocus skills seen on the recent Sony ZV-E1.
If that’s true, it could be a fine new option for street and landscape shooters, given the wealth of lenses available for Sony’s E-mount – and a great option for everyday or family snapping.
Other rumored specs include seven stops of in-body image stabilization (which means you can leave the tripod at home) plus the ability to shoot 4K/120p slow motion video (albeit with a small 1.19x crop). There’s no rumored pricing yet, but the A6600 launched for £1,400 / £1,450 / AU$2,400 back in 2019.
The Sony A7C was the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera when it was announced back in September 2020 – and while we liked its travel-friendly size, our Sony A7C review was less keen on compromises such as its underwhelming viewfinder.
It looks like Sony is planning to fix some of those drawbacks with a sequel that could follow a few months after the rumored A6700. The rumored specs include a 33MP full-frame sensor paired with a Bionz XR and AI processing unit, like the combo we saw on the Sony A7R V.
Other improvements are expected to include a 4K/60p video mode, 10-bit color depth with the S-Cinetone grading profile, and an improved 3.69-million dot viewfinder with a 120fps refresh rate.
If the A7C II does include all of those new tricks with Sony’s class-leading autofocus, it could be an incredibly powerful little hybrid camera for those who are looking to keep their camera gear small and light.
This is definitely the most intriguing model of the four rumored Sony cameras – with Sony Alpha Rumors only sharing that it will be a full-frame camera with a high-resolution sensor.
The site also predicted that it will be the “first of its kind” and “not a replacement for any currently available E-mount camera”. So what could it be? There are three main possibilities.
One is a new play on the Sony RX1R II concept, which was a fixed-lens full-frame camera in a small body. That would make it a rival to the Fujifilm X100V, which is currently almost impossible to buy, and the Leica Q3.
Alternatively, Sony could be planning a rival to the Nikon Z8 – a Sony A8, perhaps – which would pack a high-megapixel sensor into a smaller and more affordable body than the Sony A7R V.
Or the other possibility is a high-resolution version of the rumored Sony A7C II, which would be ideal for travel and landscape photographers. Given that Sony Alpha Rumors has predicted that this mystery camera will likely launch at the same time as the A7C II, this seems the most likely scenario – but we’re looking forward to seeing more rumors and leaks.
The camera giants have traditionally used the Summer Olympics to duke it out with their new professional models – and it looks likely that the Sony A9 III will be Sony’s main ‘athlete’ at Paris 2024.
Apparently delayed due to chip shortages, the A9 III has been tipped to again take the record for mirrorless camera shooting speeds with a 30fps mode that effectively lets you shoot bursts of video, only with each frame being a full-frame raw photo. Great news for shooting sports, less so for your storage space.
Elsewhere we can apparently expect the A9 III to take some of the best bits from Sony’s recent cameras, including the AI-powered autofocus tracking of the Sony A7R V and the 9.44-million dot EVF from the Sony A1.
Naturally, you can expect a high price tag, with the A9 II giving us an idea with its launch price of $4,500 / £4,800 / AU$7,299. But that’s the price of Olympics-level performance.
This year has already launched one of
Brooke Shields has been approached many times from documentary filmmakers about putting her story on film, but the pitches never intrigued her enough to give a green light or even more importantly agree to participate. That is until ABC News and George Stephanopoulos and his wife Ali Wentworth (a BFF of Brooke’s) got involved. That all led to Emmy-winning filmmaker and documentarian Lana Wilson, who had a specific vision that cracked the code as far as Brooke was concerned. Thus, the two-part biodoc Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields was born.
To do a film on this scale of a star with Shields’ long and involved history in front of the camera, as well as behind, took a village. But Shields made it a lot easier by exhibiting true trust in Wilson and handing over the vast archive, an incredible treasure trove of material — photos, films, video, every TV appearance, home movies, etc., etc. — that had been meticulously compiled and collected by her mother Teri Shields since her career began as a child star.
Shields tells me they never left an appearance or talk show without leaving with a video copy on the spot, and Shields had it all digitized over the years. It is truly remarkable, and in fact was being used at one time for an unfinished docu, but now finally found the filmmaker who knew how to incorporate it into not just a typical show biz bio but one that goes much deeper and becomes a story with universal meaning and relevance for audiences today.
The docu runs about two and a half hours in total and Wilson really had to narrow it all down into a cohesive whole that gets to the heart of who Brooke Shields was, and more importantly is: now a happily married mother of two teenage girls, a star who is also a survivor, and among other things a dissection of her own relationship with her controlling mother and all the complexity that implies.
Brooke Shields and Lana Wilson join me for this edition of my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about their collaboration on this, and why now was the right time to do it. Although there is much revealed in the actual docu (now available on Hulu), Shields talks about things not in it — in particular a remarkable incident in her first marriage to Andre Agassi and a startling scene of rage in which he destroys all his many tennis trophies. She adds to that story, as well as so many others that make Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields and this episode of BTL must-sees.
To watch our conversation, click on the video above.
Join me every Monday and Friday during Emmy season for another edition of Behind the Lens.
Brooke Shields has been approached many times
Warner Bros.’ superhero film “The Flash” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £4.2 million ($5.4 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.
In second place, in its third weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung to £2.6 million for a total of £20.3 million. In third position in its fourth weekend, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” earned £1.3 million and now has a splashy £22 million total.
Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts” collected £1.1 million in fourth place in its second weekend for a total of £4.99 million. Elysian’s “Greatest Days” debuted in fifth position with £536,955.
There was one more debut in the top 10. AA Films U.K.’s “Adipurush,” the latest version of Indian mythological epic “Ramayana,” bowed in sixth position with £252,628.
There are two mid-week releases this week, on Wednesday, June 21. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, Studiocanal is releasing the final cut of cult British horror “The Wicker Man” in a 4K restoration and Sony is bowing sex comedy “No Hard Feelings,” starring Jennifer Lawrence.
On June 22 and 24, for two nights only, Trafalgar Releasing is bringing annual event “Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies.” This year’s screening is a concert film, where a year after Brent Mydland’s passing, the Grateful Dead returned to the summer stadium circuit, playing Chicago’s Soldier Field for the first time, with two keyboard players filling the seat Mydland left vacant.
The upcoming weekend the widest release is Wes Anderson’s Cannes title “Asteroid City,” with an all-star cast including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan and Jeff Goldblum. Universal is opening the film across more than 300 sites.
Netflix is giving animated title “Nimona,” featuring the voice talents of Riz Ahmed, Chloë Grace Moretz and RuPaul, which premiered at the Annecy festival, a limited theatrical release before it streams on the service. Dogwoof is opening Tour de France themed documentary “The Last Rider,” while Kova is bowing spiritual awakening drama “Jesus Revolution.”
Curzon is releasing Cannes 2022 documentary “The Super 8 Years.”
Warner Bros.’ superhero film “The Flash” debuted
Other times…the character’s death genuinely comes across as careless and cruel, like it’s an afterthought. And it’s genuinely infuriating. Here are 21 that bother me the most!
Also, I’m going to take this opportunity to complain about how many times I had to lighten all the images in this post to even make them visible. These character deaths were so unceremonious, they didn’t even bother making the scene light enough for us to see it happen.
Five years after Stan Lee’s death, a new Disney+ documentary gives the comic book legend his closeup, zooming in on the life of the man who became the face of Marvel Comics.
In “Stan Lee,” which was released Friday, Lee narrates his own story, with recordings that trace his career from his early days working as an assistant in comics publishing houses to the explosion of today’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It’s a depiction that doesn’t sit well with the son of Jack Kirby, a comic book artist who was one of Stan Lee’s closest collaborators. Kirby — both prolific and highly regarded — is widely credited with helping create some of Marvel’s most well-known superheroes, such as Captain America, Thor, the Eternals, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four.
Kirby’s son, Neal Kirby, issued a lengthy statement over the weekend, criticizing the new Disney+ documentary for not going far enough in giving his father his due. He accused the filmmakers of glossing over Kirby’s contributions in service of Lee’s image and ego, calling the documentary “Stan Lee’s greatest tribute to himself.”
Before his death in 1994, Jack Kirby publicly beefed with Lee over who deserved credit for creating certain characters. As his son rehashed the conflict in his recent statement, comic book fans hailed the elder Kirby in online tributes, echoing concerns of Marvel revisionism. Do they have a point?
Neal Kirby has become a spokesperson for his father’s legacy in recent years, appearing at premieres for some of Marvel’s biggest blockbusters, such as “Avengers: Endgame.” On red carpets, he’s been asked how his father might have felt if he’d been able to see his characters on the big screen. This time, he’s channeling some of his father’s old frustrations.
In his statement, Kirby said that after his father left Marvel in 1970, Lee used a “corporate megaphone and media” to “create his own mythos” on how Marvel’s main characters came to be. He accused Lee of repeatedly boosting himself by slapping his “co-creator” title on every character. “He made himself the voice of Marvel,” Kirby said, adding that the Disney+ documentary is an extension of this.
He homed in on scenes in the film that discuss the creation of the Fantastic Four, Marvel’s response to rival DC Comics’ Justice League characters. “Lee spends a fair amount of time,” he said, “talking about how and why he created the Fantastic Four, with only one fleeting reference to my father.” His father, he said, based the characters on a 1957 DC comic he created, going so far as to name the Thing, Ben Grimm, after his own father, Benjamin, and the Invisible Woman’s Susan Storm after daughter Susan.
Neal Kirby went on to lament that although Lee regularly made cameos in Marvel films, his father didn’t get his own film credit until the 2008 “Iron Man” film.
“The battle for creator’s rights has been around since the first inscribed Babylonian tablet,” Kirby wrote, ending his statement. “It’s way past time to at least get this one chapter of literary/art history right.”
Comic book historians have lauded Jack Kirby as a master illustrator who dictated a visual language of heroes that survived the transition to the big screen, playing a part in generating billions of dollars.
Among those heroes were the Fantastic Four. Historian Stephen Krensky described their creation as an equal collaboration, in which Kirby not only drew the heroes but also drafted the story and name of each character.
Lee and Kirby created the characters using a collaborative approach instituted by Lee in which the writer and artist would discuss story ideas together. The roles had previously been isolated, according to comic book writers Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman, who wrote Kirby’s biography for the Jack Kirby Museum. They credited Kirby with being “a competent artist, but also a good story-man.”
The pair went on to quote Lee, who in a 1968 interview, republished in the Comics Journal in 1995, described his working relationship with Kirby in which he’d give a raw idea and then Kirby “just about makes up the plots for these stories. All I do is a little editing.”
Kirby left Marvel, feeling that his contributions were underappreciated and that he lacked the space to experiment on his own characters, according to Evanier and Sherman. He went back to DC Comics to work as an editor — he had a prior stint there in the 1950s — before leaving the industry in 1980.
Although “Stan Lee” does mention Kirby as a collaborator with Lee in the creation of characters, such as Thor, the movie doesn’t give Kirby the same credit for the Fantastic Four that historians do.
Rather than the collaborative method described by historians, the film depicts Lee as the one who came up with the story ideas and character concepts for the Fantastic Four, with Kirby filling in the blanks with his drawings. “I came up with four superheroes I called the Fantastic Four,” Lee’s voice declares in the film.
Yet even though Lee’s voice, largely drawn from archived interviews, does fill most of the film’s hour and 20 minutes, director David Gelb, known for “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” ensures the movie doesn’t veer too far into hero worship.
Portions of the latter half of the film delve into Lee’s beefs with Steve Ditko over Spider-Man credit, as well as a more public feud over ownership with Jack Kirby. And although Neal Kirby complained the controversy “gets glanced over with little mention,” what does make it into the cut strikes a critical tone toward Lee.
After mentioning Kirby’s departure from Marvel, the film features portions of a radio interview from 1987 between host Warren Reece and Kirby to celebrate the illustrator’s 70th birthday. During the interview, Lee phones in, leading to an impromptu debate between the two over creative ownership.
Lee and Kirby begin by exchanging pleasant recollections of their time together at Marvel. But it devolves into conflict when Lee interjects: “Well I’ll say this: Every word of dialogue in those scripts was mine — every story.”
“Stan, I don’t want to get into controversy about that,” Reece says, trying to steer the conversation away from the debate.
“I can tell you that I wrote a few lines myself above every panel,” Kirby rebuts.
“They weren’t printed in the book,” Lee shoots back.
The segment continues with Lee attempting to soften the argument by saying the “ego problem” is “only cropping up now.”
“I think when Jack and I did the strips,” Lee says, “there was no ego problem — we were just doing the best we could at the time.”
But Kirby signs off from the radio interview by describing the on-air spat as an accurate depiction of “how things really were.”
Representatives for Disney and Lee’s estate did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment.
Five years after Stan Lee’s death,
Wondering who you can trust? Find out when Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion arrives on Disney+. But wondering what you should be watching before Secret Invasion arrives on Disney+? You’ve been cleared to receive that information now.
Ahead of the release of the new series, catch up on Nick Fury’s previous adventures across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s seen it all, done it all, managed it all, but the Skrull invasion is going to put his skills to the test. Set in the present-day MCU, Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill, and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.
You’re part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it. Though Fury only shows up at the very end of Iron Man, he changes the whole trajectory of the Marvel universe by telling Tony Stark he’s here to talk to him about the “Avengers Initiative.”
Can anyone keep Iron Man in like? Fury is going to try after dispatching S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff to watch over him.
When Loki steals the Tesseract, Fury decides to reactivate the Avengers Initiative and bring together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Hulk in hopes of stopping the rogue Asgardian.
Fury is eager to get Project Insight off the ground, much to Steve Roger’s disapproval of it. Things go sideways when Fury learns S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by HYDRA and is assumingly killed in a chase out of D.C. — but don’t worry, he lives to fight another day. Using his death as a cover, Fury begins his own mission to try and track down the rest of the HYDRA cells around the world.
When the Avengers need motivation, Fury once again steps in to lend a hand to help the group stop Ultron in Sakovia (he’s got a helicarrier!).
Though he only appears at the end of the film simply to be dusted, the Blip will have lasting complications for Fury.
This is where it all began for Nicholas J. Fury — but only his mom calls him Nicholas. After “Veers” crashlands on Earth, Fury joins forces with the woman destined to become Captain Marvel to untangle a growing Skrull (and Kree) web.
Fury plays a huge role in this Spidey movie…or does he? Turns out Fury’s been off-world this entire time leaving Talos to take on his duties, responsibilities, and appearance in his place.
Wondering who you can trust? Find out when
The last movie by our beloved Carrie Fisher now officially has a release date. According to Deadline, Wonderwell, a fantasy film, will get a limited run in AMC theaters on June 23 with a digital release afterward. It has been a long journey to this moment—seven years, to be exact. The Star Wars icon wrapped filming just six weeks prior to her death in 2016. And between Fisher’s demise, COVID, and the costly visual effects challenges of crafting a fantasy epic, the delay grew beyond what director Vlad Marsavin imagined. But things are thankfully in the clear now, and we will be able to see Carrie Fisher in her last role when Wonderwell hits theaters and digital platforms. And right now, we can have our first glimpse of Fisher in action in Wonderwell‘s trailer.
For those who aren’t familiar, here’s a quick Wonderwell synopsis:
Set between contemporary Italy and a fantastical realm, the coming-of-age story follows Violet (Kiera Milward), an inquisitive girl living in Italy with her American parents and her beautiful older sister, Savannah (Tiger Free). When Savannah is selected to be the face of world-renowned designer Yana’s (Rita Ora) fashion label, the family travels to an enchanting medieval village for a photo shoot. Neglected and bored, Violet wanders from the ancient Tuscan town into a nearby forest where she meets the enigmatic Hazel (Carrie Fisher), who warns her about Yana’s beleaguered stepson, Daniele (Sebastian Croft). Guided by Hazel to a mysterious portal, Violet is offered a glimpse of what her future might hold.
The movie itself sounds very good. And it seems that Carrie Fisher had a great experience while filming her last movie. Marsavin said she celebrated her 60th birthday with the cast and crew of Wonderwell in Italy, partying until the wee hours of the night. That’s the kind of energy that we know and love about her and what we will surely see in Wonderwell when the movie finally releases.
Originally published on June 15, 2023.
The last movie by our
Square Enix staff members have reportedly been asking Final Fantasy’s brand manager if a remake of Final Fantasy 6 is coming.
During an official roundtable discussion to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy brand manager and Final Fantasy 7 Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase addressed the topic of a potential Final Fantasy 6 Remake.
As translated by Genki_JPN, Kitase reportedly said: “I think Final Fantasy 6 Remake would be difficult.
“Final Fantasy 7 Remake is not yet finished, so I am not able to think about it. But there are many Final Fantasy 6 fans inside the company, and they often ask me ‘when are we making 6?’.”
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was also participating in the roundtable discussion, then reportedly explained that a remake of Final Fantasy 6 would be harder to do because, as a pixel-based game rather than a polygonal one, it would be more work to change the story and reimagine the game as a 3D experience.
However, he did then ask Kitase: “Won’t you release it a little sooner?” This caused Kitase to laugh, and say it isn’t easy.
Hironobu Sakaguchi also said that as FF6 is a pixel based game they would have to change the story and making it into CG would be very hard to do, but he then asked Kitase “Won’t you release it a little sooner?” lol
Kitase said it is not easy.Source: https://t.co/gd9slUjGYL
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) June 20, 2023
Final Fantasy 6 was originally released on the SNES in 1994, before being ported to the PlayStation in 1999 and the Game Boy Advance in 2006.
More recently, it was included as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection alongside remastered versions of Final Fantasy 1-5.
If reports are to be believed, a Final Fanasy 9 remake is more likely than a Final Fantasy 6 one.
Earlier this month Giant Bomb reporter Jeff Grubb claimed: “I will say I heard very recently, once again, Final Fantasy 9 remake is real, that is real and happening.”
Gematsu subsequently reported that a Final Fantasy 9 remake is currently in development too.
Square Enix staff members have reportedly been
Italian artist Marco Perego’s debut feature The Absence of Eden has set a picturesque world premiere at the upcoming edition of Italy’s 69th Taormina Film Festival, running from June 23 to July 1.
The festival will unveil the film in a screening at its landmark Ancient Greek amphitheatre with co-stars with Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona in attendance.
Hedlund plays an ICE Agent struggling with the moral dilemmas of his job who unites with an undocumented woman fighting to escape a ruthless cartel, played by Guardians of the Galaxy star and Perego’s wife Saldaña, to save the life of an innocent girl.
Perego, who co-wrote the original screenplay with Rick Rapoza, previously produced the short film Me + Her and also directed the short film Burn To Shine, alongside his career as an artist.
“I am so excited to be screening The Absence of Eden in the Teatro Antico,” said Barrett Wissman, who is pulling together his inaugural edition of the festival in his new role of Executive and Co-Artistic Director.
“Marco Perego’s direction is a work of beauty and the performances by the trio of actors Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona are without exception wonderful.”
The film is produced by Academy Award-nominated producer Julie Yorn and Perego, along with Robert Kravis and Karl Herrmann under their banner of Pioneer Pictures, and Academy Award-nominated producer Alexandra Milchan.
Academy Award-winning director and producer Martin Scorsese, and Rick Yorn serve as executive producers, alongside Zoe Saldaña’s Cinestar Pictures, Ingenious Media, Ashland Hill, and Sycuan Tribal.
The Exchange is handling international sales rights; CAA Media Finance is handling US rights.
Other highlights of this year’s edition of Taormina include the Italian premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny; the world premiere of Conor Allyn’s In The Fire, starring Amber Heard, Eduardo Noriega, and Lorenzo McGovern Zaini, and a gala evening entitled “The Influential Shorts” curated by actress and influencer Bella Thorne.
Italian artist Marco Perego’s debut feature The
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – JUNE 17: (L-R) Darren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Jaren Lewison speak during the Netflix’s Tudum: A Global Fan Event 2023 at Fundação Bienal de São Paulo on June 17, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images for NETFLIX)
Are you a Netflix fan? Well, you’re in luck! Over the weekend, on June 17, Netflix held its 3rd annual fan-event, TUDUM in São Paulo, Brazil. The streamer revealed new and renewed television and movie programming on its platform to the public. Through trailers, teasers, and cast appearances from the upcoming shows, TUDUM proved to be a not-to-miss event for entertainment fans!
TUDUM had previously been presented in a virtual-only format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now, with restrictions loosened, the fan-event for this year was held live with thousands of fans in the audience. Stars from some of Netflix’s most popular shows like Chase Stokes (Outer Banks), Jenna Ortega (Wednesday), Penn Badgley (You), and many more were present to give more insight into their shows and what to expect next in their series.
Are you wondering what was announced over the weekend? Read on to find out!
If you missed the 2-hour livestream, don’t worry! You can watch it in full below on Netflix’s official YouTube channel:
Are you excited for any of the announced programs? Let us know in the comments below! Keep up to date with Culturess for more television and movie news and coverage.
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - JUNE 17: (L-R)
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has struck a partnership with TikTok, with an initial focus on Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to uncover underrepresented independent authors and literary material from the #BookTok community.
Unveiled today at Cannes Lions, TikTok said it will “leverage Candle Media’s storytelling capabilities across its business units to launch new and inspiring premium content and branded entertainment.”
That will begin with the Candle-owned Hello Sunshine element of the partnership, as the pair mine TikTok for authors to support the development of premium film, TV and premium audio projects, thereby “elevating and amplifying underrepresented storytellers and bringing their stories to life,” Oscar-winner Witherspoon said.
#BookTok is one of the most prominent communities on TikTok and the Chinese-owned social platform will also sponsor the next chapter of Hello Sunshine’s LitUp Writer Fellowship program, giving underrepresented female storytellers funding, mentorship, and marketing.
Candle Media, which also owns Cocomelon maker Moonbug Entertainment, digital publisher ATTN and Latin-focused Exile Content Studio, said it has 600 million followers across social platforms and will become a TikTok Pulse Premiere publisher.
“TikTok continues to experience explosive growth, and has become a critical platform for storytelling and marketing,” said Mayer and Staggs. “We are thrilled to work with the TikTok team to create compelling branded content, and for Hello Sunshine to shine a light on the thriving #BookTok community, which is home to a new generation of storytellers.”
In 2020, former Disney exec Mayer briefly ran TikTok and was COO of Chinese parent Bytedance but he quit after just three months, with reports citing the impact of Donald Trump ordering Bytedance to sell its U.S. operations, which never came to fruition.
The Cannes Lions ad market is taking place in France this week, with talks from Kevin Hart, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Johnson.
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media
Thanks to social media, players have greater exposure to the development process when changes are made to games like Starfield, but contentious alterations to long-running series like Resident Evil are also frequently made – and usually for the better. Even with small things such as omitting a character to bigger issues with inclusivity, the ability to justify these controversial game changes is important to understanding by a dev team made them to begin with.
Many of these video game changes are necessary to improve the narrative, gameplay, functionality, or inclusivity. Whether big or small, a controversial change to a game can cause tension. In the case of Starfield or The Sims, the reasoning behind the controversial change is easily justified. But with some, such as Fortnite, players are left to guess as to why an update was made.
The highly anticipated space-themed RPG, Starfield, is set to release on September 6. While the game has generated a lot of anticipation, a new controversy has arisen surrounding the fact it will be locked at 30FPS on consoles. During the Xbox Showcase in June, an extended preview was shown revealing some of the game’s innovative features. Players were disappointed to discover that Starfield will be locked at 30FPS on consoles with no option to change the frame rate.
Todd Howard explains that Starfield will run at 4K output resolution on Xbox Series X and 2k on S, but the game will remain at 30FPS for consistency. Especially with the game’s premier at the Xbox Showcase showing the game dropping below 30FPS at times, it makes sense that Bethesda would add a cap to Starfield to ensure its quality on consoles, even if it means Xbox players won’t be getting the frame rate they were hoping for.
Known for its wholesome charm and lovable characters, it’s hard to imagine Animal Crossing being controversial. However, fans were taken aback when one of the game’s most beloved characters wasn’t initially in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Upon release, players noticed the Roost Cafe missing from the Museum. A later 2021 update fixed this issue, allowing players to unlock and build the shop. Even though this meant Brewster’s Roost was missing from ACNH originally, it makes sense for Nintendo to wait and add it in the Version 2.0 update, because it makes players interested in the game again – almost two years after New Horizons originally released.
The new Resident Evil 4 is a brilliant example of how a classic game should be remade. However, players were disappointed to find major changes to its once hilarious villain, Salazar. Capcom has openly admitted to wanting a more serious tone in RE4, and with most of his iconic one-liners gone from the RE4 remake, players feel that Capcom went too far in achieving this. As disappointing as it is to lose one of Resident Evil’s funniest characters, it does make sense for the new tone of the game, since a more comedic Salazar would feel out of place.
In May 2022, The Sims 4 introduced the widely anticipated feature that was the center of a global controversy. For a long-standing sandbox series such as The Sims, the ability to change pronouns was overdue. Although the majority of fans welcomed this new feature, the update was the center of criticism with anti-LGBTQIA+ groups. Regardless of the backlash, these changes have given players of The Sims 4 an excellent opportunity to express themselves within the game and have changed The Sims 4′s gameplay for the better.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the first game of the series that allowed players the option to pick between two playable characters. Although this was a welcomed addition, the Shadow Heritage DLC drew criticism for its portrayal of a heterosexual relationship, which some fans thought went against the inclusive message that Ubisoft was marketing for the game. Ubisoft listened to the audiences’ feedback and made changes to alter the DLC’s dialogue and in-game trophies.
Ubisoft received praise for listening to the LGBTQIA+ community and making changes to its game, but some people were left baffled as to why the change needed to happen in the first place. The newly added additions don’t impact the existing game all too much, but instead, open so many new opportunities in which to explore the story. Regardless of how the player chooses to interact with the narrative, the updates from Ubisoft finally allow the freedom of choice that was promised in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
An update from Epic Games has been the removal of trios from Fortnite leaving fans disheartened. Initially released in Chapter 2: Season 5, Trios allowed players to team up in teams of three to go up against 32 other groups for Battle Royale matches. Especially with the popularity of Trios, the reason Epic would get rid of this feature is unclear. The best theory at the moment is the removal of Trios reduces wait times while connecting to games, adding some justification for this change.
The Last Of Us Part 1 does a fantastic job of recreating the original without changing too many of its best-loved features. The remake was specifically made to run on newer PCs and consoles, so changes were bound to happen. Overall, the game was received well, but players still aren’t happy with the changes made to the character models. These changes aren’t surprising as when Naughty Dog released the TLOU in 2013, devs didn’t have a wider plan for the series, leaving a number of continuity issues between the original and the sequel.
Part 1 fixes some of these issues by updating the character models, such as using Abby’s father in Part 2 as the Doctor at the end of Part 1. The change makes sense with the character looking a lot more like their older counterpart. However, there are still some players outraged with the decision, believing the characters are nearly unrecognizable from their originals, especially in the case of characters like Tess and Joel, with players saying the latter’s new look has completely altered his perceived personality.
Over the last 20 years, Resident Evil has established itself as one of the best horror series in gaming history. While the remakes show that a franchise can be successfully rebooted and made even better, there’s still a lot of contempt surrounding Re7: Biohazard for its change in POV. Long-time fans are unhappy with the decision to switch from the classic third-person, over-the-shoulder gameplay to a more modern first-person horror experience.
This simple swap completely altered the gaming experience and aligns more with the recent trend of first-person horror narratives that are currently popular on the market. Although the frustration is justified, RE7 simply wouldn’t work as a third-person game due to the claustrophobic nature of the Baker’s house being more suited to first-person horror. While the change makes sense, it’s still disheartening to see the games veer away from the classic style fans have come to know and love.
The inclusion of the Whispers in Final Fantasy 7 Remake still remains controversial among players. The Whispers were added to FF7R as a way to ensure the events of the original game happen; whenever something occurs that diverts from the original timeline, the Whispers will appear to fix the error. FF7R tries to make sense of this in canon with Red XIII explaining that these Arbiters of Fate are drawn to those who attempt to alter Destiny. In a way, the inclusion of the Whispers to steer away from controversial game changes has become a controversy within itself – even if the idea behind them makes sense from a creative standpoint.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has seen changes to Link’s powers that players aren’t too pleased about. Trailers saw TOTK Link’s new arm replace the Sheikah Slate from Breath of The Wild. The Sheikah Slate was introduced at the beginning of Breath of The Wild and was primarily used for powers of Runes such as Cryonis, and Magnesis, along with access to the camera and other capabilities.
Warning: Story spoilers for Tears Of The Kingdom are below.
At the beginning of TOTK, Link saves Zelda from the Demon King as he unleashes his dark powers upon the pair. Link loses his arm but gains a new one through Rauru, thus giving him these new abilities. While TOTK moving away from the Sheikah Slate is controversial as many players worried about its implications on the story, Link’s new arm brings an interesting gameplay dynamic that makes Tears of the Kingdom feel different from BOTW.
Changes, such as those in Starfieldand Resident Evil 4, are integral to the playability of the game and how much people enjoy it. Being able tojustify controversial changes in video games is crucial in maintaining trust with players.
Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube
Thanks to social media, players have
Andrew Tate is to stand trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
According to Reuters, the controversial influencer and internet personality, his brother Tristan and two other Romanian female suspects have been ordered to trial by prosecutors in the nation in which he has lived for six years.
The Tate brothers and two suspects are under house arrest pending a criminal investigation for abuses committed against seven women, accusations they have all denied.
The 36-year-old Tate, whose real name is Emory Andrew Tate III, has amassed a huge following in recent years and was most recently interviewed on the BBC.
He was detained in Romania late last year, at which point prosecutors said the four suspects had “appeared to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost.”
Tate, who is banned from most social media platforms, is a hugely controversial figure due to his regular diatribes about women and masculinity, leading him to be dubbed ‘the King of toxic masculinity.’
Following his recent BBC interview, he blasted the broadcaster for turning the setpiece into a “hit job,” although, on the other hand, Romanian prosecutors were reported to have criticized the BBC for giving him “VIP treatment.”
Andrew Tate is to stand trial in
No family, or any relationship for that matter, is built the same. Our priorities and desires tend to change, and we may be expected to make life-altering decisions that shift the foundation of our relationships. In the delightfully crafted drama The Mattachine Family, director Andy Vallentine along with his husband, writer Danny Vallentine, explores the essence of family and the sturdiness of relationships.
Thomas (Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Juan Pablo Di Pace) are a married couple at a crossroads. Over the span of a few minutes through a briskly edited montage, Thomas, a middle-aged photographer, recalls the moment he knew he was gay, the moment he received his first camera, and the moment his father died. This lively sequence is accomplished through voice-over concurring with photographs, in addition to characterizing Thomas as sweet-natured and endearingly loquacious.
Thomas goes on to talk about his husband. Oscar was a famous child star who, after being outed, was pushed out of the industry. Thomas recalls the moment he met Oscar at a wedding, and they quickly fell in love. Oscar wanted to start a family, but Thomas wasn’t as eager. Nevertheless, they agreed to take in a foster kid named Arthur. Thomas and Oscar fell in love with Arthur, but after his mother was released from prison, she regained custody of Arthur. In the present, Thomas is mourning Arthur’s departure while Oscar is out of state filming for a show.
Heartbroken by Arthur’s departure and feeling suffocated by Oscar’s acting career, Thomas begins contemplating fatherhood. In the central role, Tortorella is impressive, possessing an undeniable charm and a comforting smile. Even during the emotional beats, Tortorella proficiently gives way to more mournful remarks and expressions, subtly revealing the hurt that still exists after losing Arthur. That said, the constant narration is too syrupy and turgid. After the opening sequence, viewers, and Tortorella as well, could’ve done without the narration.
“Thomas and Oscar fell in love with Arthur, but after his mother was released from prison, she regained custody…”
In need of direction, Thomas gets advice from his friends, Leah (Emily Hampshire) and Sonia (Cloie Wyatt Taylor), a couple trying to get pregnant. Hampshire establishes a good repartee with Tortorella’s Thomas; their friendship is immensely enjoyable. In fact, Tortorella has good chemistry with all the supporting characters, and no supporting character is wasted.
If Thomas wasn’t sure he wanted to be a father before, he is now. But just like how Thomas had a change of heart, so did Oscar, referencing his career as the primary reason why having a child is not the best idea. The conflict between Thomas and Oscar is understandable, and both deserve happiness. By putting these characters in this realistic predicament, the Vallentines provide critical insight into what happens when partners don’t put in the work to understand each other’s wants and needs and what happens when they do. Additionally, the fact that they had to say goodbye to Arthur influences how they’re behaving now, be it consciously or subconsciously, which makes for compelling drama.
The film’s title is inspired by the 1950s national gay rights organization, Mattachine Society. There’s a scene of Thomas describing the organization’s origins to Leah, but that’s as far as the history lesson goes. The Vallentines know the kind of film they’re making. Sure, there are lines here and there that feel out of place, and characters arrive at their point of happiness too easily. But as far as the depiction of queer relationships goes, the film delivers, showing how every relationship has stages of intense bliss, deep-seated intimacy, and conflict.
With The Mattachine Family, it’s clear that the married filmmakers understand queer relationships and the challenges associated with parenting. And yet, despite focusing on the joys and hardships of love and family, the film retains a warm tone. Vallentine’s drama is a pleasant gathering of friends and romantic partners as they share tender moments and form an unbreakable family.
No family, or any relationship for that
After a closely contested race that divided a rural southwestern Ontario riding, Conservative Party candidate Arpan Khanna has been declared the unofficial winner.
According to Elections Canada, with 220 of 267 polls accounted for at 1 a.m., Khanna garnered 42.4 per cent of the vote, with second place Liberal Party candidate David Hilderley receiving 36.7 per cent.
Speaking at the Woodstock Agriculture Hall after midnight, Khanna thanked his campaign staff, supporters and family to the cheering applause of the crowd.
Speaking for roughly five minutes to the excited crowd, Khanna said he could not wait to get to work as the MP for Oxford in Ottawa.
“For that single parent that has to choose between milk and cereal, for that farmer who is putting food on tables but is having trouble with his own table… we hear you and I’ll fight for you every single day,” said Khanna.
The byelection in Oxford was one of four held across Canada Monday, with the one in Quebec and the other two in Manitoba.
While the Conservative Party was able to hang on to a seat it has held since 2004, it was not without controversy in the riding that includes the communities of Woodstock and Ingersoll.
Oxford’s outgoing MP – Dave MacKenzie, who announced he was stepping down from the seat in December – called the race “the nastiest campaign that we’ve ever seen in our riding.”
“It’s divided our party and our community,” he said in an interview.
MacKenzie won in the 2021 federal election with nearly 47 per cent of the vote, a 27-point margin over the Liberal candidate.
But his surprise endorsement of Hilderley, a retired school teacher and principal whom he calls “an honest guy,” turned heads.
The issue at hand was MacKenzie and Hilderley’s assertion that Khanna, a lawyer, was a parachute candidate brought in through meddling by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and House Leader Andrew Scheer.
Khanna helped Poilievre’s campaign in Ontario during the leadership campaign and ran as a candidate for Scheer in a Brampton riding in 2019.
MacKenzie said Khanna’s nomination has led to people cancelling their Conservative memberships and clawing back donations.
Speaking after addressing the crowd, Khanna said he respected MacKenzie and hoped that he would get his support in the next election.
“I want to thank him for his service and wish him all the best,” added Khanna.
As of 1 a.m., NDP candidate Cody Groat took third place in the race with 10.2 per cent, with Christian Heritage Party candidate John Markus in fourth at 4.5 per cent.
The remaining candidates were Wendy Martin of the People’s Party of Canada, receiving 3.6 per cent, Cheryle Baker of the Green Party, getting 2.2 per cent and perennial Independent candidate John The Engineer Turmel finished last with less than one per cent of the vote.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
After a closely contested race that divided
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