“Generative artificial intelligence” is set to add up to $4.4 trillion of value to the global economy annually, according to a report from McKinsey Global Institute, in what is one of the rosier predictions about the economic effects of the rapidly evolving technology.
Generative A.I., which includes chatbots such as ChatGPT that can generate text in response to prompts, can potentially boost productivity by saving 60 to 70 percent of workers’ time through automation of their work, according to the 68-page report, which was published early Wednesday. Half of all work will be automated between 2030 and 2060, the report said.
McKinsey had previously predicted that A.I. would automate half of all work between 2035 and 2075, but the power of generative A.I. tools — which exploded onto the tech scene late last year — accelerated the company’s forecast.
“Generative A.I. has the potential to change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities,” the report said.
McKinsey’s report is one of the few so far to quantify the long-term impact of generative A.I. on the economy. The report arrives as Silicon Valley has been gripped by a fervor over generative A.I. tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, with tech companies and venture capitalists investing billions of dollars in the technology.
The tools — some of which can also generate images and video, and carry on a conversation — have started a debate over how they will affect jobs and the world economy. Some experts have predicted that the A.I. will displace people from their work, while others have said the tools can augment individual productivity.
Last week, Goldman Sachs released a report warning that A.I. could lead to worker disruption and that some companies would benefit more from the technology than others. In April, a Stanford researcher and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study showing that generative A.I. could boost the productivity of inexperienced call center operators by 35 percent.
Any conclusions about the technology’s effects may be premature. David Autor, a professor of economics at M.I.T. cautioned that generative A.I. was “not going to be as miraculous as people claim.”
“We are really, really in the early stage,” he added.
For the most part, economic studies of generative A.I. do not take into account other risks from the technology, such as whether it might spread misinformation and eventually escape the realm of human control.
The vast majority of generative A.I.’s economic value will most likely come from helping workers automate tasks in customer operations, sales, software engineering, and research and development, according to McKinsey’s report. Generative A.I. can create “superpowers” for high-skilled workers, said Lareina Yee, a McKinsey partner and an author of the report, because the technology can summarize and edit content.
“The most profound change we are going to see is the change to people, and that’s going to require far more innovation and leadership than the technology,” she said.
The report also outlined challenges that industry leaders and regulators would need to address with A.I., including concerns that the content generated by the tools can be misleading and inaccurate.
Ms. Yee acknowledged that the report was making prognostications about A.I.’s effects, but that “if you could capture even a third” of what the technology’s potential is, “it is pretty remarkable over the next five to 10 years.”
Disney and Pixar have unveiled the first teaser for Elio, the 28th animated feature from Pixar Animation, at the same time announcing that Jameela Jamil (Poker Face) and Brad Garrett (High Desert) have joined its voice cast.
The actors join an ensemble led by up-and-comer Yonas Kibreab that also includes America Ferrera, as previously announced.
Directed by Adrian Molina, the co-director and writer of Pixar’s Coco, Elio introduces viewers to Kibreab’s character of the same name. An underdog with an active imagination, Elio finds himself inadvertently beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador to the rest of the universe, and completely unprepared for that kind of pressure, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.
Ferrera voices Elio’s mom, Olga, with Jamil as Ambassador Questa and Garrett as Ambassador Grigon.
The film produced by Mary Alice Drumm, who associate produced Coco, is set for release in theaters on March 1, 2024 and will contend on its opening weekend with Universal Pictures’ stuntman actioner The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling, coming out just a couple of weeks after Columbia Pictures’ Madame Web starring Sydney Sweeney and Dakota Johnson.
Both Elio and the Peter Sohn-directed Elemental, which hits theaters June 16th after a Cannes bow, come at a time when Disney and Pixar are looking to rebound on the animation side. While Pixar had a hit last year in Domee Shi’s Oscar-nominated Turning Red, other recent titles from the studios like Pixar’s Lightyear and Disney’s Strange World have hit on more mixed reviews.
Best known for turns on series like The Good Place and in films like Marry Me, Jamil has most recently been seen on Peacock’s Poker Face, the hit murder mystery series from Rian Johnson which has been renewed for a second season. She is represented by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Three-time Emmy winner Garrett can currently be seen on Apple’s comedy series High Desert, having also been seen of late on Peacock’s Bupkis as well as in Cooper Raiff’s acclaimed Apple indie Cha Cha Real Smooth. He is repped by UTA, Entertainment 360 and Gendler & Kelly.
There is a lot riding on Vicky Jenson’s upcoming musical animation Spellbound about a princess on a mission to reverse a spell that has transformed her beloved king and queen parents into rampaging monsters.
The film is the third animated feature for Skydance Animation after Luck and Blush and its most ambitious production to date as it attempts to grow into a company rivaling its head of animation’s John Lasseter’s former home of Pixar.
The work also marks Jenson’s first major animation feature in two decades, after Shark Tale (2004) and Oscar-winning Shrek (2001).
Jenson and the film’s Head of Story Brian Pimental hit the Annecy International Film Festival on Tuesday to give a Work in Progress presentation.
“We’re really excited to finally bring you a peak into Spellbound. Sky Animation is a pretty cool place to work. One of the reasons is that they really want to do stories that resonate and really mean something. That’s what drew me,” said Jenson.
The bulk of the animation is being done out of Sky Animation’s Madrid-based unit, which has fed into look of the film’s fantasy kingdom backdrop of Lambria, inspired by the “architecture of ancient Spain with its Moorish arches and domed rooftops”, she revealed.
The high profile voice cast features Rachel Zegler as the princess and Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem as her parents as well as John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, and Nathan Lane in other key supporting roles.
Jenson revealed that the production had approached Zegler prior to her achieving fame in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
“I kind of like to think we discovered her because we saw her videos on YouTube around the same time that Steven Spielberg did and he cast her… But we were right there too”, she joked. “She is just fantastic. She’s a delight, she’s funny and such a pro.”
A highlight of the Annecy presentation was the unveiling of originql songs written by long-time collaborators composer Alan Menkel and lyricist Glen Slater, whose past cinematic credits include Oscar and Golden Globe nominated hit I See The Light hit from Tangled.
“You guys are going to be the very first to hear several of our songs,” said Jenson announced to applause. “They’re at the demo stage. Most of them are with the final singers, including Rachel Zegler. A couple of them are Alan Menkel’s actual voice which no-one ever gets to hear.”
“These are completely original songs. We haven’t heard anything from Alan Menkel and Glen Slater in a long time. A lot of great movies have come out recently but a lot of it’s a couple of decades old. I’m really excited we’re going to have brand new original music.”
The presentation unveiled a big opening number setting the scene for the story as well as a nostalgic ballad in which the princess laments the loss of her parents as she knew them and her old life.
The latter has the same heartstring pulling potential of I See The Light to break out as a hit in its own right, judging by the enthusiastic reponse from the presentation audience.
“After six years on the movie, it makes me want to cry,” said Jenson.
Spellbound will be distributed by Apple under its multi-year deal with Sky Animation but there is no news on launch date or on whether the will get a theatrical release as yet.
“The Blackening” is a slasher movie that’s also a slapdash enjoyable social satire. That the satire turns out to be sharper than the scares isn’t a problem — it’s all part of the film’s slovenly demonic party atmosphere. The set-up, which feels like a “Friday the 13th” sequel by way of “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” reunites nine old college chums to celebrate Juneteenth weekend in a big roomy house they’ve rented near the woods. (Yes, it’s a cabin-in-the-woods movie, but “cabin” doesn’t describe this place.)
As Tina Turner’s cover of “I Can’t Stand the Rain” spins on the turntable, the first two to arrive, Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharaoh), find their way to the basement game room, which has shelves of old board games, an ancient TV set, a Ouija board, and a prominently displayed game called The Blackening. Taking the box cover off, they discover, to their horror, that there’s a plastic Sambo head in the middle of the board, which asks questions like “What’s the first Black character to survive a horror movie?” For a few minutes, we’re in the terrain of “Scream” by way of “Get Out.”
When the others arrive, they go down to the game room, and the television set suddenly pops on. We see one of those ancient this-is-a-test-of-the-emergency-broadcast-system screens with another Sambo face in the middle of it, as “Camptown Races” plays on the banjo, and then the TV image shifts to black-and-white video of what happened to Morgan and Shawn. It’s not a pretty picture. For a moment, we seem to be in the realm of “Saw” — but as soon as we see the killer, hidden behind a bondage mask ascribed with a grotesque blackface caricature, the mood of racist hostility and anxiety begins to conjure, more than ever, a certain sunken place.
“Get Out” was a great horror movie and, in its way, a serious one that echoed the deep-dish paranoia of films like “Rosemary’s Baby.” “The Blackening” has no such pretensions. The script, cowritten by Tracy Oliver (“Girls Trip”) and Dewayne Perkins (who plays DeWayne, wide-eyed and fast-talking and gay), is full of dialogue that pops with comical tossed-off self-awareness. “The Blackening” is framed as a thriller, but the way that the veteran director Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Think Like a Man”) has staged it, the entire movie turns out to be a riff — a highly barbed and witty one — on Black in-jokes, Black pop-culture referentiality, and Blackness itself. This is the sort of movie that pivots around the inside intricacies of the card game Spades, and in which a character looks at Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls), the group’s tall and handsome player, and says, “You are an original African. You’re a still-in-its-original-packaging Black.” Or the Park Ranger shows up and is greeted with the line, “I’ve never been so happy to a see a white savior.”
This is funny-nasty stuff, all delivered in the spirit of characters who reveal themselves, the film implies, in a way they wouldn’t if white people were around. The actors make their presence felt, from Melvin Gregg as King, the arrogant ex-gangsta who feels he’s doing penance by having married a white woman, to Antoinette Robinson and Grace Byers as Lisa and Allison, who carry on conversations so rooted in the intensity of their Black sisterhood that they’re telepathic (a joke that feels like it could have come out of “Scary Movie”), to Jermaine Fowler as Clifton, the group nerd, who with his lopsided gawk and fixation on the superiority of the Android to the iPhone at first strikes us as an innocuous geek, but he turns out to be a geek from hell. There’s a surprise resonance to Fowler’s performance. This is a movie that culminates in the killer asking the group’s members to save themselves by sacrificing the one of them who’s “the Blackest.” But what does that mean? As our cliché definitions start to fall away, we realize that the very notion of being “the Blackest” is a self-destructive power trip.
The terrific ad tagline of “The Blackening” (“We can’t all die first”) is, of course, a reference to a long-standing trope and eye-rolling gripe: that the Black character in a horror film always dies first. But the real joke is how a perception like that one has become part of popular culture. The Blackening game keeps testing the characters’ knowledge of trivia, with brain-teasers like: Name the five Black actors who appeared on “Friends.” By the time they’re trying to answer that one, the movie is getting us to chortle at the bitter irony of it all — that though a renegade pop scholasticism binds these characters as surely at it does the horror geeks of the “Scream” films, in a way it carries more urgency here, since every piece of trivia channels issues of inclusion vs. being on the outside looking in. It’s a tribute to “The Blackening” that it invites everyone in the audience to feel included in its diabolically socially competitive, naughty-clever games.
Critics shared their early first reactions to the MCU’s newest Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, following the first official screenings.
Marvel Studios will finally deliver its first Disney+ series of 2023, highlighting a rogue group of Skrulls that look to infiltrate and take over Earth with Nick Fury, Talos, and a hoard of others standing in their way.
With the potential for thrilling intrigue and more cameos than any MCU streaming program to date, hype for Secret Invasion is through the Multiversal roof with so many secrets still being kept in the proverbial vault.
Following the worldwide premiere of Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, critics shared their first thoughts on the MCU’s upcoming streaming show.
Insider’s Eammon Jacobs enjoyed the “murky little direction” the show is taking, calling Olivia Colman the standout from the show’s massive cast:
“After seeing the first two episodes of ‘Secret Invasion’ I really like the murky little direction it’s going in. The espionage vibes are top notch (although the meandering plot does get in its own way at times). The standout for me is Olivia Colman’s cheeky scene-stealing spy.”
CinemaBlend’s Erik Swann praised the show as “a sweet conspiracy thriller” that uses the same vibe and tone as 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, seeing the series as “Nick Fury’s finest hour:”
“I’ve seen the first two episodes of ‘Secret Invasion,’ and as promised, it’s a sweet conspiracy thriller that quickly proves it’s the spiritual successor to ‘CA: The Winter Solider.’ The cast is great, and Samuel L. Jackson just shines. This could indeed be Nick Fury’s finest hour.
According to ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis, Secret Invasion is “Marvel’s most mature title for Disney+ yet,” and he saw a maturity in the writing that understands its audience well:
“‘Secret Invasion’ is definitely Marvel’s most mature title for Disney+ yet. The language and writing knows the audience has grown up and flashes of violence keep it feeling realistic while emphasizing the stakes. The Skrull invasion feels grounded and tense. I’m digging it.”
Davis also highlighted Samuel L. Jackson’s ability to “add depth and personality” to his role as Nick Fury while praising the show’s “constant tension” and the stakes the story brings:
“‘Secret Invaison”s first two episodes are the grounded thriller I was hoping for! Samuel L. Jackson gets to add depth & personality to Nick Fury. New cast members (especially Olivia Colman) are great. It has a constant tension and nicely character-driven stakes. I really enjoyed.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Brian Davids saw Secret Invasion as “one of Marvel’s boldest, heaviest stories to date,” even comparing it to the standard set by Star Wars’ hit series Andor:
“‘Secret Invasion’ is an international spy thriller and one of Marvel’s boldest, heaviest stories to date. Some will probably even call it the MCU’s ‘Andor.’ The ensemble cast is stellar, and Sam Jackson gets to do vintage Sam Jackson things. I’m intrigued and eager to see more.”
Gizmondo’s Germain Lussier described the series as “one of the most grounded looking and feeling” Marvel shows while also teasing “lots of huge ideas,” specifically mentioning Jackson’s return as Nick Fury as a highlight:
“Enjoyed the first two episodes of ‘Secret Invasion.’ It’s both one of the most grounded looking and feeling MCU shows yet while also being filled with lots of huge ideas. Bit of a slow burn but great to see Samuel L. Jackson back and very excited to see where this show goes.”
Decider’s Alex Zalben compared the vibe of this series to the Mission: Impossible movies with a touch of aliens, teasing “a massive moment” at the end of every episode that will get viewers excited:
“‘Secret Invasion’ doesn’t reinvent the ‘old spy pulled back for one last job’ story so much as stick it in the MCU. But at its best (based on 2 eps) the series leans into ‘Mission Impossible’ with aliens, and has a massive moment at the end of each ep that will get fans talking.”
The Direct’s own Russ Milheim pointed out that the show’s “slow pace will turn off a lot of people,” but praised Secret Invasion’s cast along with the “intriguing and organic MCU connections” it delivers:
“‘Secret Invasion’ is a solid show so far. Its slow pace will turn off a lot of people, and it won’t do much to sway anyone on the fence about the project. However, it still has a strong cast, intriguing and organic MCU connections, and an interesting exploration of Nick Fury.”
Fandom’s Eric Goldman also didn’t enjoy the show’s slow pacing in Episode 1, but noted that there was “major improvement” in the second episode along with a “pretty serious” tone overall:
“1st episode of ‘Secret Invasion’ isn’t great. Pacing’s very slow and it didn’t grab me. Major improvement in ep 2 with great scenes for Fury, Rhodey, and Olivia Colman’s character. Tone is pretty serious (and sometimes fairly brutal) for Marvel. By end of ep 2, I was much more sold”
The Reel Rejects’ Coy Jandreau was worried that Secret Invasion wouldn’t “give [him] that same peak MCU rush” as other projects, but was later convinced that it could reach the heights of Loki and WandaVision if it continues on its path:
“With how incredible ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’ is, I was slightly worried ‘Secret Invasion’ wouldn’t be able to give me that same peak MCU rush I did NOT need to worry, if this show stays THIS good and sticks the landing it’ll be up there with ‘Loki’ & ‘WandaVision’ as peak MCU TV”
ComicBook.com’s Charlie Ridgely enjoyed that Secret Invasion was “more adult oriented than other Marvel stuff,” but noted that some of it felt “lackluster and a little forced” as well:
“I think ‘Secret Invasion’ is okay so far. I like that it is a little more adult oriented than other Marvel stuff and I’m at least interested in where the story is going, but it all feels lackluster and a little forced. Definitely not the dark spy thriller they’ve been selling.”
Will Secret Invasion Win Over MCU Fans?
Considering the dark tone and feel that’s been teased in the material from Secret Invasion released thus far, these reactions indicate that Marvel seems to be going in the right direction with the way the studio made this show.
And with Samuel L. Jackson’s thrilling comeback as Nick Fury being combined with themes felt in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it’s almost no surprise to see that these reactions are so positive.
Taking into account how popular the Secret Invasion comic run was along with the Disney+ series’ massive star-studded cast, Marvel Studios could have the recipe for a series that becomes the MCU’s best streaming project to date.
The only question that remains now is whether fans will share the same reactions as the critics, particularly with this new outing largely focused on a more mature group of viewers.
James Gunn has a tough task ahead of him to bring the DCU back from the brink of disaster and make it a force to be reckoned with in the world of comic book movies and TV shows. Despite noting on multiple occasions that he does not see Marvel and DC as being in competition with each other, it is obvious that Gunn’s new slate of movies will have to compete with the well-established continuing story of the MCU, whether he likes it or not.
While appearing on the new edition of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Gunn explained in detail that he believes returning to the traditional world of hidden superheroes with secret identities, and the fictional cities of DC Comics they inhabit will set the DCU apart from the MCU.
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“If you look at the MCU, there are very few traditional superheroes. There was never a guy with a secret identity until Spider-Man in the MCU. Their Cap was turned into a soldier even though he wears a mask. Iron Man outed himself at the end of the first Iron Man because they don’t want to deal with the whole secret identity stuff. But there is a bit more of a fantasy element to DCU, because there are these larger-than-life superheroes and for me, there’s Superman and Clark Kent. They’re two different characters, and you have to find a way to deal with them that’s as grounded as possible within this world of DC. One of the things that I love about DC, that excites me about DC, is that in a way it’s another alternate history. It is Gotham City and Metropolis and Star City and Bludhaven, and all these different places in this other reality, and it makes it a little bit like Westeros in some ways. I love it in that way. I love that we get to create true worldbuilding in DC, it isn’t just ‘we’re throwing some superheroes on Earth.’ I think right now, that’s one of the key differences.”
James Gunn Says Blue Beetle is the First New DCU Superhero.
Warner Bros. Pictures
With the old DCEU giving way to the new DCU, there has been a lot of speculation over where Blue Beetle figures in the plans of James Gunn and Peter Safran. While The Flash and Aquaman have been well established in the old regime for a number of years, Blue Beetle is a completely new addition to the on-screen universe, and Gunn’s recent comments have not exactly clarified things. He noted of the character:
“The first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle, and the first DCU movie is Superman [Legacy].”
What this seems to suggest is that Blue Beetle will be a character that is part of the new DCU, but because Gunn didn’t personally have a hand in the movie then it is not officially a DCU movie. Clear as the murky conscience of a comic book anti-hero.
Some of the new missions for GTA Online will include you working with Carlie Reed in Project Overthrow. In these missions, you’ll be tasked with attacking Merryweather Security. The story will span over six missions and be playable with up to four people. To play Project Overthrow, upgrade the Mammoth Avenger and use the new Operations Terminal.
The Operations Terminal will also give you access to the Los Santos Angels missions. These missions will consist of three contracts that’ll reward you with outfits and cash. As you play through them, you’ll be doing various activities, such as “jumping out of a chopper and onto the deck of an aircraft carrier under cover of darkness,” using EMPs to “knock out a government installation,” and more.
As a part of the San Andreas Mercenaries expansions, you can upgrade your Hangar even more. When a Hangar is fully upgraded, you can store a custom Avenger and upgrade your loadout via the Mk II Weapons Workshop. In addition, you’ll be able to “recruit Rooster McCraw to source cargo for a small fee” and play four new Source Missions and Sell Missions that can be accessed from the Hangar Laptop.
Speaking of the Avenger, you’ll no longer need a Facility or Hangar to own or use one. They can now be called to your location via the Services section from the Interaction Menu, even if you’re on the ground. But if you own a Hangar with a Workshop, you can customize them with front-facing machine guns, missiles, Stealth Mode, or a Missile Lock-on Jammer.
With the expansion comes a variety of new vehicles too. You can drive the Grotti Itali GTO Stinger TT (Sports), which can be upgraded with Armor Plating, Slick Mines, Remote Control Unit, and a Missile Lock-On Jammer. You’ll also be able to drive the Maibatsu MonstroCiti’s (Off-Road) that can be modded with Remote Control Unit and a Missile Lock-On Jammer. There’ll even be a new Tactical SMG that’ll be available for players.
GTA + members will receive a new Maibatsu MonstroCiti Off-Road Vehicle, Avenger Operations Terminal, Cream Pearl and Blue-Green Flip Chameleon Wheel Paints, 1.5X GTA$ and RP on Project Overthrow Missions, 1.5X GTA$ and RP on Project Overthrow Missions, and a $500,000 monthly bonus. To see what else is being added, click here.
Below you’ll find the official patch notes for GTA Online: San Andreas Mercenaries expansion:
Los Santos Angels:
Players can purchase and install the new Operations Terminal inside their Mammoth Avenger to form the ‘Los Santos Angels’ group with Charlie Reed
Via the Operations Terminal, players can launch six new ‘Project Overthrow’ Story Missions and three new Freemode ‘LSA Operations’
LSA Operations can be launched in Freemode by calling Charlie Reed
The new Story Missions are 1-4 players
Avenger Updates:
In addition to the Operations Terminal, the Mammoth Avenger has received new updates and upgrades for purchase:
The Avenger can now be purchased without owning a Facility beforehand
The Avenger can now be stored inside an owned Hangar
The following upgrades for the Avenger can now be purchased inside an owned Hangar with a Workshop upgrade:
Pilot Operated Machine Guns
Pilot Operated Missiles
Stealth Module Autopilot Defense
Missile Lock-On Jammer Autopilot Defense
Mammoth Avenger Thruster – A Mammoth Thruster can now be stored inside the Avenger as a support vehicle and requested in Freemode
Smuggler Hangar Update:
Several updates have been made to the Smuggler Hangar:
New land-based Source and Sell Cargo Missions have been added. These can be selected via the Free Trade Shipping Co. website, allowing players to engage with their Smuggling business in an entirely land-based manner
A staff member has been added to Hangars that can be sent to source cargo for a small fee
Source Cargo Missions can now be launched in Freemode by calling Ron
The Smuggling business Setup Mission can now be bypassed for a small fee
The Mk II Weapon Workshop is now included with the Hangar’s Workshop upgrade
Additional weapon pickups have been added to the Hangar
Career Progress
A PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S exclusive Career Progress feature has been added. This gives access to a range of challenges across GTA Online and provides exclusive rewards for players to earn. Career Progress can be accessed via the Landing Page and Pause menu
Each section of Career Progress will have 4 tiers of challenges added, and a reward to be claimed for completing each tier
Some challenges will factor in progress made previously, while others will be started with a clean slate
Vehicles
Seven new vehicles have been added:
Grotti Itali GTO Stinger TT (Sports) – with HSW Upgrade (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only) and Imani Tech
Maibatsu MonstroCiti (Off-Road) – with HSW Upgrade (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only) and Imani Tech
Declasse Walton L35 (Off-Road)
Vapid Ratel (Off-Road)
Vapid Clique Wagon (Muscle)
F-160 Raiju (Plane)
Mammoth Streamer216 (Plane)
Returning Vehicles
Previously limited-time vehicles are now available for general purchase:
Weeny Issi Rally (SUV) – with HSW Upgrade (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only)
Toundra Panthere (Sports)
Karin Hotring Everon (Sports)
Willard Eudora (Muscle)
Weapons
One new Weapon has been added, which is available for purchase from the Gun Van
Tactical SMG
Cosmetics
160+ pieces of male clothing and accessories have been added to clothing stores
220+ pieces of female clothing and accessories have been added to clothing stores
2 new male hairstyles have been added
1 new female hairstyle has been added
RC Bandito Time Trials Update
Five new RC Bandito Time Trials have been added to the existing rotation. These Trials also now rotate daily, allowing players to claim the par time reward each day
Acid Lab Product Names
Players can now unlock and choose from a range of names for their Acid product, each of which will increase its sell value
Experience Improvements
An alternative settings option has been added that allows players to toggle sprint between a tap and hold when using a controller
Players can now claim all destroyed vehicles at one time when calling Mors Mutual Insurance
Taxi Work can now be launched while driving the Willard Eudora and Albany Classique Broadway when they have their respective Taxi Livery applied
Players can now add custom description tags to their garages when calling the Mechanic
If a player’s personal vehicle is destroyed during a Contact Mission, it can be claimed back from Mors Mutual Insurance for free
When requesting vehicles from the Eclipse Blvd Garage, vehicles are now split into their respective floors
The ‘SecuroServ’ and ‘Motorcycle Club’ Interaction Menu sections have been merged into one ‘Register as a Boss’ section
Players can now quickly register as a Boss at any owned business computer
Map blips for properties now only appear on the map at shorter ranges
Players can now re-request their Avenger, Mobile Operations Center, or Terrorbyte delivered closer to their location if it is already present in Freemode
The Cannons of the P-996 Lazer and Hydra jets have been adjusted.
The Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) activation button has been updated for all planes
The Stats – Content menu has been updated
Madrazo Dispatch Services Missions can now be launched with 1 player
The players’ Body Armor is restocked to the same level they had in the lobby upon using a quick restart
A ‘Buy All’ option has been added when purchasing Body Armor from Ammu-Nation
When using Body Armor via the weapon wheel, it will now equip the most suitable armor in the player’s inventory based on their current armor value
The Rank requirement for purchasing different tiers of Body Armor has been removed
The Rank requirement for unlocking Daily Objectives has been removed
Players can now join private takeovers at the LS Car Meet via a new option on the entry menu
Players can now filter for Open Wheel and Hao’s Special Works races in the Online – Races menu
Mors Mutual Insurance will now text new players and outline how to claim their destroyed personal vehicle
An additional entry point to the Flight School has been added to owned Hangars
English Dave and Tom Connors will no longer call the player while they are parachuting or freefalling
The Orbital Cannon can no longer be instantly reset or refunded to prevent players from being repeatedly targeted
The payouts for completing Gerald’s Last Play and A Superyacht life Contact Missions have been increased by 25%
The payouts on many Collectibles and Events have been increased
QR Code Sign In
To make signing in easier on consoles without having to rely on in-console web browsers, players can now choose to sign in via mobile or web browser by scanning a QR code and inputting a one-time code. This is also aimed to reduce the amount of time it takes for a user to create an account and enhance security on consoles.
GTA+ Updates
The Vinewood Car Club has been added to the Terminal area of Los Santos. This allows GTA+ Members to freely borrow from an exclusive stock of high-end vehicles and purchase them at discount prices
Vehicles will rotate, including the complimentary GTA+ vehicle that can now also be claimed directly from The Vinewood Car Club location
All vehicles currently present in The Vinewood Car Club can be driven in Freemode for an unlimited amount of time
The Vinewood Car Club vehicles can be requested in Freemode via the Interaction Menu
Creator Updates
Several updates have been added to the Creator as part of this update
General
Players can now set Snow Weather in the Deathmatch, Race, and Survival Creators
A selection of Arena War props have been added to all Creators
The Underwater Mine prop has been added to all Creators
The maximum number of enemy spawn points that can be placed in the Survival Creator has been doubled from 15 to 30
Deathmatch Creator
An option has been added to set a delay for when pickups respawn in Deathmatches
Outfit options have been added to Modifier Sets
The ‘Score to Check’ Modifier Set can now be incremented in smaller amounts
An option has been added to toggle the music score on or off
An option has been added to preview the audio score for your Deathmatch while in the creator
An option has been added to lock the time of day and weather, preventing other players from changing them while in a lobby
An option has been added to block players from climbing ladders
The Fixture Removal tool has been added to the Deathmatch Creators and the King of the Hill Creator
Health Drain options have been added to Modifier Sets
Win Bias options have been extended to allow greater control over winners and losers when time runs out or in the event of a draw
When changing a player’s loadout via a Modifier Set with the starting weapon set to ‘Current’, a comparable weapon to the original loadout will be selected
When using a Modifier Set with a preset name, the number of that Modifier Set will now appear next to the name
An option has been added to give players a bonus score when killing another player for the first time
A new option in Modifier Sets has been added to set a player to change teams on respawn, clearing their score when they do so
Blip options have been added, allowing the blips of other players to change based on different conditions and Modifier Sets
Domination Feed messages can now be disabled
New icons have been added to UI indicators
Game Stability and Performance
Fixed multiple crashes and issues affecting stability in GTAV
Matchmaking and Networking
Fixed multiple issues affecting network stability in GTA Online
Content
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to take Chop on a walk in Story Mode
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to purchase a Shotgun and flashlight mod during Story Mode Mission – The Long Stretch
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to launch VIP Contract – Studio Time
Fixed an issue that resulted in Luchadora dying during a cutscene in The Last Dose – FriedMind
Fixed an issue that resulted in Labrat not being rescued during The Last Dose – FriedMind
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to move after approaching the Hippy Boss in The Last Dose – Unusual Suspects
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to launch a Source Supplies Mission by calling Mutt
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to move past the ‘Take out the Lost MC’ objective during The First Dose – Welcome to the Troupe
Fixed an issue that resulted in the hint cam not triggering during The First Dose – Welcome to the Troupe
Fixed an issue that resulted in players encountering a black screen when entering The Freakshop after completing The First Dose – Fatal Incursion
Fixed an issue that resulted in packages being hard to see during The First Dose – Fatal Incursion
Fixed an issue that resulted in no players spawning as rabbits during The First Dose – Uncontrolled Substance
Fixed an issue that resulted in the ‘Leave the area’ objective appearing continuously during Acid Product Resupply – Chemical Spill
Fixed an issue that resulted in the fumigator outfit being lost after dying during Acid Product Resupply – Chemical Spill
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to reattach the supplies during Acid Product Resupply – Stealing Grain
Fixed an issue that resulted in the ‘Rescue Lil Dee’ objective not completing during The Prison Contract
Fixed an issue that resulted in The Agency Deal Mission ending prematurely
Fixed an issue that resulted in The Superdollar Deal Mission ending prematurely
Fixed an issue that resulted in The Lost Contract Mission ending prematurely
Fixed an issue that resulted in The ECU Job Mission ending prematurely
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to lose the cops during ULP – Counterintelligence
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to interact with new customers during Taxi Work
Fixed an issue that resulted in long Online IDs appearing truncated in the Cayo Perico Heist lobby
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Back It Up 2 Award not being awarded
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Gerald Contact Mission – No Hay Bronca failing upon completion
Fixed an issue that resulted in the note containing safe codes for Daily Stash Houses appearing inside tables
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to progress during Cayo Perico Heist – Scope Out
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Security Panel not having a blip and unable to be interacted with during Business Battle – Factory Raid
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to install the Remote Bomb in LS Customs during Fooligan Job – Working Remotely
Fixed an issue that resulted in textures flickering during Nightclub Management – Eliminate the Drug Operation
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to lose their Wanted Level after collecting the WM 29 Pistol from the top of Maze Bank
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to collect drone parts in The Diamond Casino Heist – Nano Drones
Fixed an issue that resulted in Motorcycle Club Prospects not receiving correct rewards after completing a Payphone Hit
Fixed an issue where players would lose ammo after changing sessions
Properties
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on the ‘Select Vehicle for Delivery’ menu after requesting a vehicle from the Eclipse Blvd Garage
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on a ‘Transaction Pending’ menu when purchasing a decoration from the Casino Store
Fixed an issue that resulted in a player’s Biker Clubhouse garage door not functioning
Fixed an issue that resulted in the screen shaking when joining another player’s session from a Biker Clubhouse
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being able to request and deliver vehicles they do not own from the Eclipse Blvd Garage despite not owning it
Fixed an issue that resulted in the ‘Exit via Helicopter’ option not working when leaving the Agency
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being able to trap others inside the Agency safe
Fixed an issue that resulted in Associates/Prospects not being given any rewards for helping their CEO/VIP/MC President deliver a vehicle from their Auto Shop
Vehicles
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to sell a vehicle after changing the license plate
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to move after jumping on the Kosatka just before it submerges
Fixed an issue that resulted in Crew emblems disappearing from vehicles
Fixed an issue that resulted in the headlights of vehicles requested from Agent 14 not functioning
Fixed an issue that resulted in the player being charged when swapping between already-owned Chaff and Flare mods for the Sparrow
Fixed an issue that resulted in the camera clipping while driving a Western Powersurge in first person
Fixed an issue that resulted in the camera clipping while riding a bicycle and aiming a weapon
Fixed an issue that resulted in user-generated Crew emblems being visible to restricted players when applied to non-personal vehicles
Fixed an issue that resulted in vehicles disappearing when sorting on in-game websites
Miscellaneous
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing GTA$ every time they used the ‘Mask Audio’ option after receiving the Horror Pumpkin Mask
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing all weapons and ammo when collecting pumpkins that contained peyote
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing ammo after changing sessions
Fixed an issue that resulted in an invisible wall being present in the Palmer-Taylor Power Station
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Lucky Wheel menu closing and the player not receiving a winning vehicle if they took too long selecting a Property
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to store the Service Carbine in a Gun Locker
Fixed an issue that resulted in the player’s torso disappearing for a short duration when swapping accessories
Fixed an issue that resulted in clothing clipping when worn with a Mini Dress
Fixed an issue that resulted in players not receiving a Knife when purchasing it from the Gun Van
Fixed an issue that resulted in Yung Ancestor being unable to be removed from the player’s Phone Contact Favorites
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to see the WM 29 Pistol in the Agency Armory after unlocking it
Fixed an issue that resulted in the hide ‘Map Blips’ option for Junk Energy Skydiving not functioning
Fixed an issue that resulted in players respawning outside of bounds during a Shrinking Bounds Deathmatch
Fixed an issue that resulted in players seeing incorrect score values on the post-match leaderboard after completing a Sumo Adversary mode
PlayStation Specific
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being presented with an unresponsive welcome message after resuming from Rest Mode on PlayStation 5
Fixed an issue that resulted in players with restricted user generated content accounts being able to see the initials left by other players on Arcade machines
Fixed an issue that resulted in the reflections on mirrors diminishing at certain times of day on PlayStation 5
Fixed an issue that resulted in halos being seen around the weapons of Ammu-Nation at certain times of day on PlayStation 5
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to access the PlayStation Store and purchase GTAV Story Mode following a lost internet connection
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to sign up for GTA+ when selecting a Tiger Shark Card for purchase
Xbox Specific
Improved the lighting fidelity seen through the windows during the Story Mode Mission Dead Man Walking on Xbox Series X|S
PC Specific
Fixed multiple issues relating to stability and security
PlayStation 5 / Xbox Series X|S Specific
Numerous improvements to raytracing performance have been implemented across multiple parts of the game on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to progress through the Gunrunning or Executive introductions after selecting them from the Career Builder
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Survival and Open Wheel Series missing from the Quick GPS list in the Interaction Menu
Improved the lighting fidelity seen around flames when firing incendiary ammo
Fixed multiple issues that resulted in improper text alignment on the landing page when playing on Asian language settings
Editor
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Jingle Bell Sound Effects not playing in the Replay Editor
Creator
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing functionality after exiting the lobby of a created Deathmatch
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being able to gain weapons in Freemode after using them in a Deathmatch
Fixed an issue that resulted in dynamic props and objects not spawning in Survival
Fixed an issue that resulted in a team not moving onto the next Modifier Set when checking if they have fallen below a percentage of their lives
Fixed an issue that resulted in the killstreak modifier not overwriting lower priority modifiers
Fixed an issue that resulted in players not receiving ammo on a kill despite using an ‘on kill’ Modifier Set to give ammo to the current weapon
Fixed an issue that resulted in an incorrect error message appearing when attempting to save/publish a Creator game mode that contains a forbidden title, description, or tag
Fixed an issue that resulted in the maximum players per team of a Deathmatch not updating with the set ratio
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Musket weapon incorrectly appearing in the Rifle weapon category of the Creator despite being a Shotgun
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
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Anita Baker will continue The Songstress Tour alone after announcing she will no longer have Babyface as a guest on her upcoming shows. The announcement comes after Baker claimed to have been cyberbullied by Babyface’s fans.
“After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest/Support Act,” she tweeted. “In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made. Blessings.”
Babyface released his own statement saying he was “saddened by the news.”
“It’s unfortunate and disheartening to see how things have played out via social media,” his statement read. “While I was looking forward to the rest of the dates, I have nothing but love and respect for Anita and I wish her the best for the remainder of her tour.”
It all started on May 10 when Babyface took to Twitter to announce he was not going to perform with Baker despite being confirmed to appear.
“I am truly sorry to my fans who have been waiting for us to hit the stage this evening at @PruCenter,” he tweeted. “I was asked not to perform in order to give Ms. Baker her space and time to perform her show in its entirety. My band and I are extremely saddened we didn’t get to perform for y’all tonight.”
Babyface’s fans were not thrilled with the last-minute change and seemingly started attacking Baker which led her to tweet the following: “Kenny’s Crazies are online Bullies. @Babyface Please call off, your fans. I have been Only Kind and Supportive, of You, as the Special Guest/Support, on My Tour.”
Baker would later follow up with another tweet to clarify that Babyface was only a supporting act.
“Dearest one. You are Not, privy to The Contracts. Yes, Babyface is Special Guest/Support Act, on My Tour. This False Narrative, of A Co-headliner is creating Unrealistic Expectations & Aggression, from his fans towards me. He should tell you guys, the Truth,” read the tweet.
See Baker’s statement below along with her next concert tour dates.
#AnitaBaker After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest❤️/Support Act. In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made. Blessings? ABXO? pic.twitter.com/P7OzVdiEPm
Zazie Beetz confirms that she won’t be reprising her role of Domino for Deadpool 3, but is excited to watch it.
Deadpool 3 will feature the return of a number of actors from the previous movies, but Zazie Beetz won’t be one of them.
While speaking with Decider at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her limited-series Full Circle, Zazie Beetz was asked if the ongoing WGA strike was affecting Ryan Reynolds’ ability to improvise on the Deadpool 3 set. “Well I’m actually not in Deadpool 3, so I don’t know what they’re doing [about improvisation],” Beetz said. “I’m assuming they’re probably taking a pause. […] I’m excited to watch it.” Beetz played Domino in Deadpool 2, a mutant mercenary with the ability to manipulate luck.
While the WGA strike has prompted many movies and TV shows to hit pause while a deal between screenwriters and the studios can be worked out, Deadpool 3 is apparently still trucking ahead. As Ryan Reynolds is a credited writer on the film, this has led some to report that the actor won’t “legally” be able to improvise on the film. I guess that’s what reshoots and ADR are for.
Although Zazie Beetz may not be back for Deadpool 3, the sequel will see the return of Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter.
Of course, the biggest addition to the cast is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who finally broke down after being pestered by Ryan Reynolds for so many years. Reynolds recently said that Deadpool 3 will present a new challenge for Jackman. “I think [Jackman] was excited and what we pitched him was enough of a divergence from the character that he knows and the character that he’s left behind,” Reynolds said, “that it gives him something completely new to play and something that he’s really excited to do.” Clearly, all that pestering paid off. “I mean, I never stopped,” Reynolds said. “I was just pestering him like a gnat over the last many years. I actually just think… I believe in timing … and I think he was ready.“
Deadpool 3 was originally set to hit theaters on November 8, 2024, but Disney recently bumped the movie up to a May 3, 2024 release. As nearly every other movie on Disney’s slate was pushed back, sometimes by years, it was interesting to see the Deadpool sequel move up.
With the writers strike into its second month and a potential actors strike looming, someone is going to have to find a middle ground. And on Tuesday, the head of CBSGeorge Cheeks outlined one way in which the writers and the studios could still find a compromise.
It has something to do with windowing and the licensing content. Streaming residuals has been one of the WGA’s key sticking points in negotiations with the AMPTP, namely because there aren’t enough of them. But if streamers started rethinking hoarding all their content exclusively and instead were open to windowing or licensing their shows and movies to other outlets, whether that’s putting them back on cable or broadcast, on other streamers, or on FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) services, suddenly there’s new opportunities to pay out residuals.
Cheeks said on Tuesday at the Banff World Media Festival in Alberta, Canada that they’re open to doing just that, including potentially putting Paramount+ shows onto linear to help expand their audience.
“The one positive there is that I actually think that will help us with our creative partners because one of the big issues they complain about is streaming residuals,” Cheeks said on Tuesday (via Variety). “But I think the more that we’re not locking the shows on one platform, [the more we] actually license out more revenue to the studios and get more residuals for our partners.”
“A year-plus ago, it was ‘figure your streaming out, build your [subscriber acquisition] at any cost, profits be damned.’ That was sort of the mandate. And then all of a sudden it became the opposite,” he said. “Now it’s ‘how fast can you get to profitability?’ And if you are profitable already, how do you enhance that profitability? It’s forcing all of us take a step back and really rationalize our contents spends and forcing streamers to ask is it really a sacrosanct view that we have to have everything on the platform exclusively.”
As the writers have made clear, solving streaming residuals isn’t the only issue that will get the guild to end this strike, but it’s a big one, and one that the directors have already made some progress on in their own negotiations. And in terms of what that means for how CBS plans moving forward into the fall, Cheeks is still “hopeful that we will all find compromises.”
“The DGA deal tentative agreement was helpful; let’s see what happens with SAG,” Cheeks said. “I would just say that, as opposed to broadcast where that series model is tight and works very well for our creative partners, I do think the way that the streaming series model is evolved poses serious challenges for creative partners that we have to figure out.”
Elsewhere in the conference, Cheeks revealed that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was extended for another three years, and he also confirmed that taking the place of “The Late Late Show with James Corden” will now be “@Midnight,” as was previously reported but never confirmed. The old Comedy Central game show/variety show featured comedians riffing and reacting to internet memes and viral videos in a series of different mini games. The show was hosted by Chris Hardwick and ran nightly for four seasons. The only reason it hasn’t been made formal until now though is that Cheeks said the writers strike prevented CBS from locking down a showrunner and head writer, but that will happen once the writers strike is over.
Equal parts hilarious, heartwarming, and heartbreaking, Falsettos on BroadwayHD is a great watch for Pride Month (or any month, really) and a great argument for why we need more filmed theater. Shot live during the musical’s acclaimed 2016 Broadway revival, Falsettos features an all-star musical theater cast that includes Christian Borle (Smash), Andrew Rannells (Girls), Stephanie J. Block, and newly minted Tony Award winner Brandon Uranowitz. Essentially, Falsettos is a complex web of love stories centered around Marvin (Borle), who left his “tight knit family” for a man, Whizzer. Initially conceived as two separate one act musicals, act one of the combined musical focuses on the new family dynamics as Marvin’s son Jason begins acting out and ex-wife Trina falls in love with Marvin’s psychiatrist, Mendel. The second act, which continues to look at the impact Marvin’s actions have as Jason prepares for his bar mitzvah, takes on a more somber tone as it’s set during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in 1981. Weaving together threads on masculinity, Judiasm, queerness, parenting, and more, this superbly acted rendition of Falsettos will stick with you for a long time after the curtain falls and the credits roll.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” promises to be a bigger, crazier, and much more musical addition to the “Joker” universe — but Lady Gaga did her best to stay grounded while transforming into the unhinged psychiatrist Harley Quinn. Her co-star Zazie Beetz has nothing but good things to say about Gaga’s performance in Todd Phillips’ follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2019 film.
“She’s super warm and kind,” Beetz told Variety of Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta. “I felt very welcome with her on set. She was doing her own character work and stuff, but she’s a very grounded person. She’s just Stefani.”
Beetz teased that fans will be “surprised” at how the musical sequel unfolds.
“I don’t think it’s going to be what they expect, around it being musical,” the “Atlanta” actress said. “We all sort of express musically and dancing in our lives day-to-day. I think it’s going to work really well.”
“Joker: Folie à Deux” sees Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role as tortured loner-turned-supervillain Arthur Fleck. Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawtey round out the cast. The film is rumored to primarily take place in Arkham Asylum, the famous psychiatric institute that houses villains in the “Batman” comic books. The film is set for an October 4, 2024 release.
Lady Gaga’s dramatic acting chops are unimpeachable at this point, and she’s had several opportunities to fine-tune her process. The Academy Award winner previously stayed in character for her roles in “A Star Is Born” and “House of Gucci.”
“I would actually say playing a character for me is like living one long song, one long song that lasts for months,” Gaga said in 2022. “For ‘A Star Is Born,’ it was years for me. When I’m in character, I don’t pretend we’re not filming. I get people who are like, ‘Why did you keep your accent the whole time?’ Can you imagine going in and out of that shit all the time, and I would only get three takes? I had to be ready.”
For all the details on “Joker: Folie à Deux,” click here.
Yahritza y Su Esencia are hitting the road for the very first time. After the trio’s viral success as Música Mexicana’s rising stars, Yahritza y Su Esencia will head on their Obsessed Tour later this year.
“We’ve been waiting for this for such a long time! We are so ready to finally get to give our fans a live show,” Yahiritza Martinez, the group’s front person and vocalist, tells Rolling Stone. “We have been blessed to get to join some of our favorite artists and collaborators on stage recently, and we loved the feeling so we can only imagine what our own show will be like!”
The group — comprising of siblings Yahritza, Mando, and Jairo — will kick off their tour in their home state of Washington on Aug. 15, before making their way down the West Coast, and stopping in cities such as Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Phoenix. The poster teases “more dates coming soon.”
Mando, the oldest of the Martinez siblings and the trio’s guitarist, says he looks forward to bringing their parents to some of their shows. “When we think about touring, one of our dreams has been to see our parents sitting in front row seats enjoying our show as we leave our hearts on the stage,” he says.
Also on the tour poster is the group’s previously announced appearance at the State Fair of Texas in late October.
Presale for the tour dates begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time by using the password “OBSESSED.”
The tour celebrates Yahritza y Su Esencia’s debut EP Obsessed, which they released last July. The project featured songs like “Siendo Sincero,” “Soy El Único” and “Esta Noche.” Since then, the group has dropped numerous one-off singles, and a collaboration with Grupo Frontera, “Frágil,” which has gone viral on TikTok in the last few months.
“We have new music that we will get to play for the fans,” adds bassist Jairo. “We’re so excited about this!”
Last year, the group was nominated for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammys. “My dream right now is to go on tour,” Yahritza told Rolling Stonefor a profile last year. “I want to see what it’s like.”
Trending
The Obsessed Tour dates
Aug. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre Aug. 16 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre Aug. 18 – Arcata, CA. @ Arcata Theatre Aug. 19 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Aug. 20 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theatre Aug. 22 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s Aug. 23 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park Aug. 25 – Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory Aug. 26 – Riverside, CA @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium Aug. 27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Oct. 22 – Dallas, TX @ State Fair of Texas
Firestick offers a hassle-free video streaming experience as it brings all your TV shows, movies, sports, and series in one place. It enables you to access your favorite content at your fingertips. Firestick comes with a giant library of streaming apps, but some of them require a subscription to watch content.
If you are fond of movies, we have compiled a list of the best Firestick apps. These apps allow you to watch free movies without paying for a subscription.
MovieBox Pro
MovieBox Pro comes with a Netflix-like interface that enables you to watch your favorite movies and TV shows in a single app. You can also download movies and TV shows. MovieBox Pro has all the elements you expect in a video streaming app. You can enjoy the latest movies in CAM quality with a few ads that are short and not annoying.
All the MovieBox Pro features bring you a reliable and smooth streaming experience. The app has content for viewers of all ages. In addition to movies, it also offers TV shows, anime, cartoons, and other shows. MovieBox Pro is easy to install on Firestick, Android, and iOS devices.
Kodi
Kodi is an open-source free media player that offers you to watch a wide range of movies on your Firestick TV. The application works by storing the repository files in Kodi. Users need to download the file in Kodi and install the add-on which takes a minute.
Once you complete the process, you can watch free movies, TV shows, and more videos. Kodi allows you to install more apps in the form of add-ons. If you find downloading the repository file and installing the add-ons challenging, you can watch video tutorials about the app available on YouTube.
Surfshark
Surfshark is at the top of the free video streaming apps and it comes with powerful features like unlimited device connections and a zero log policy. It works well with Amazon Prime and Netflix. Surfshark comes featured with the CleanWeb Ad Blocker that eliminates annoying and intrusive ads. It allows you to enjoy an ad-free video streaming experience on your Firestick.
Sony Crackle
Sony Crackle is a free streaming service that allows you to watch movies and TV shows online. Being a product of Sony Entertainment, it offers you a range of movies from Sony Pictures. It has a bundle of movies and has partnered with large production houses to offer a large library of video content to users.
As it allows you to stream movies and TV shows for free, it supports itself by running short ads while you view the videos. As it’s a product of Sony Entertainment, users can expect high-quality videos suitable to watch on big screens.
Bee TV
Bee TV is another app to stream free movies on Firestick. Although it’s a new app, it has loads of video content available that you can stream for free. It has a simple and easy-to-use interface that works well with Firestick TV. Bee TV is best for users looking for an easy-to-use video streaming application for their TV.
Vudu App
Vudu is another popular video streaming app that you can use for watching free movies and live TV. It offers movies in Full HD resolution and Dolby Atmos sound quality on supported devices. Vudu has a clean interface and presents movies in categories like action, family, kids, comedy, crime, and suspense. Although it has paid content, you can find free movies in the sections “New Movies” and “Movies on Us”.
Vudu offers movies in 4K resolution with fewer and shorter ads. However, you need to create an account to access the video content on the Vudu app. So, if you want to enjoy free movies in 4k quality and Dolby Atmos surround sound, you must try the Vudu app.
Syncler
Syncler is the clone of the once popular TVZion App that shut down its services in September 2020. The app has similar features to TVZion like the user interface, ease of navigation, and channels. The Syncler app operates in the same way as Kodi as it requires you to install outside providers to access the video content.
The process of installation can be tedious for new users. However, doing so will help them discover a range of streaming links for various categories and genres. To set up this app quickly, you can install the Syncler Provision App on your Firestick.
TeaTV
TeaTV is another popular video streaming app for Firestick. The app is being recently updated to version 10.0 which is superior to its previous versions. It has a dedicated section for free movies that you can access on the home screen. Tea TV has been a highly popular Firestick app for video streaming and continues to maintain its reputation till date.
In addition to movies, you can stream free TV shows with options for Live TV. Moreover, the latest update allows you to insert an M3U URL that makes it an all-in-one video streaming platform.
CyberFlix TV
CyberFlix TV has made its name for its wide range of HD movies and TV shows. It is an Android app that you can sideload on your Firestick easily. You can use it on your Firestick as well as on your Android devices.
If you experience buffering, you can download the movies to watch them buffer-free. The simple and user-friendly interface makes the app easy to use and navigate. The subtitles in CyberFlix allow you to view movies and TV shows in any language. With plenty of such useful features, the app is worth trying at least once.
Third Party Apps
Some apps may not be available on the Amazon Appstore, that are known as third party apps. You can download these apps from their official website or other sources. However, some of them may not be available to use in your location as they are geo restricted in some countries. If you want to use a geo restricted app, you need to use a VPN on your Firestick.
ExpressVPN is specially customized for Amazon Fire Stick that enables you to bypass geo restrictions and online surveillance. In addition it offers you enhanced privacy and protects your Fire Stick account information from hackers. You need to install ExpressVPN on your Firestick to stream restricted content.
The app is available on the Amazon store, and it takes only a few seconds to install it on the Firestick. Once installed you can start watching free movies and TV shows on your Firestick. You can check how to use ExpressVPN on FireStick guide for instructions at the time of installation.
Summing Up
Firestick provides plenty of options for entertainment for all ages when used with the right apps. All the apps in this post are free to use and you can enjoy TV shows, and other content in addition to movies. Install any of the above-mentioned apps on your Firestick and get ready to enjoy your favorite movies for free.
What is old is now new again as Instagram is updating its Notes status tool with a new music-sharing feature.
This information comes from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who shared the update via the Broadcast channel on his Instagram account (which is only viewable on mobile). He states that users will soon be able to post a short 30-second clip of a song they like directly to their Notes for all their friends to listen to. It’s reminiscent of how people would post music on their old MySpace account back in the day – though it’s unknown if the songs will autoplay the moment you enter your message or if people have to tap the message first. Hopefully, it’s the latter.
Adding a song is very easy to do. Looking at the Instagram Help Center, all you have to do is tap the music note icon before writing a note. Choose the track, publish, and you’re done. People can also type in a small caption to go with the song, if they so choose.
Besides the musical update, other online reports reveal that Instagram Notes will soon be able to translate non-English languages. Users will begin seeing a “See translation” notice below notes. As you can probably guess, tapping said notice will immediately translate the text into a language you can read.
This tool is already present in other parts of the platform from post descriptions to the comment section. Meta is essentially expanding a pre-existing function to yet another part of the app.
It’s unknown when either of these features will launch. At the time of this writing, the patch isn’t available yet. We did reach out to Meta for some clarification like whether or not the tracks will autoplay. This story will be updated at a later time.
Setting up the future
It is important to mention these new tools are coming at a very interesting time for Instagram. In the time since Notes launched back in December, the social media platform has been experimenting with more socially-centric features. To be more specific, the company is developing a secret project – “a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates” not unlike Twitter.
A company-wide meeting was recently held at Meta HQ where chief product officer Chris Cox showed off mock-ups to employees of a potential Twitter rival right on Instagram. Referred to as Threads, according to some internal documents, the future platform aims to be one “that is sanely run”, which is possibly a shot at Twitter’s current tumultuous era under Elon Musk’s ownership.
In our opinion, all of these recent additions are a part of Meta’s long-term plan to prepare both Instagram and its users for the massive upcoming shift; whenever that is. Chris Cox didn’t give any exact dates during the initial reveal.
Rotting from the inside. That’s how “Great Expectations” costume designer Verity Hawkes describes Olivia Colman’s Miss Havisham in Hulu’s six-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel.
The book has been adapted many times over, but its themes of “revenge, love, heartbreak, longing and jealousy were timeless,” says Hawkes.
An aging Miss Havisham still wears her wedding dress from the time she was jilted at the altar; she dwells in a world of grays to reflect the decay of the character. Hawkes was able to push the boundaries as far as her creations for the series, penned by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders,” “See”).
With the symbolic wedding dress a character unto itself, reflecting Miss Havisham’s state of mind, Hawkes went through different design ideas. The period pre-dated photography and she didn’t want it to look like “it was made in the 21st century.”
How did she crack it? “It came together once I found the floral fabric that would be used for the train. The dress was velvet and heavy. I didn’t want it to be perfect because I wanted it to have that sinking-in feeling.”
She also added in pinches and other distressed touches.
In contrast, Shalom Brune-Franklin, who portrays Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter, Estella, had a costume color arc that reflected a “flower in bloom.”
The high point is the burnt ochre dress Estella wears for a ballroom scene. Hawkes explains, “We wanted to make these big rose leaves — as sleeves.”
Such was the intricacy required just to get the sleeves right. “My assistants spent hours cutting, folding and creating those sleeves to look like roses,” Hawkes says.
Her biggest challenge aside from the sleeves was getting the rose structure right: “It was trial and error because you can’t cut a pattern.”
The ballroom scene is also a turning point for the character, who starts on a path to demise after learning Miss Havisham has an arranged marriage for her, and she has to travel to London. “She’s slowly dying. She doesn’t have a happy ending, so we wanted to show that through color,” says Hawkes. “It goes from pink Miya Mizuno/FX and dies off through browns and greens.”
Variety’s “Making A Scene” is presented by HBO, watch the full conversation above.
“Teen Wolf: The Movie,” Paramount+’s adaptation of the MTV supernatural-thriller series, has been submitted for the Primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding television movie, Variety has learned exclusively.
Moreover, the streamer also submitted the film in five other categories: lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie (Tyler Posey), directing (Russell Mulcahy), writing (Jeff Davis, Will Wallace, Joseph P. Genier, Russell Mulcahy), prosthetic makeup (Chris Gallaher, Adrien Morot, Erik Porn, Hailey Trifiro, Kyle Yaklin) and original music and lyrics (“Lemon” by Tyler Posey). This provides Posey, who plays the True Alpha werewolf Scott and produces the film, three chances for recognition.
An unlikely contender to receive recognition, primarily based on the Academy ignoring the MTV original series, it’s fun to see networks throw hail marys for its genre programming. This year, the TV movie race is expected to have an abundance of genre films such as comedies like Hulu’s “Fire Island” and Roku Channel’s “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” in addition to sci-fi flicks such as Peacock’s “Sick” and animated movies like another Paramount submission “Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe.” All this comes following the animated/live-action hybrid “Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers,” which won the category last year.
Further, Paramount’s other movie submissions include “Fantasy Football,” “Honor Society,” “Jerry & Marge Go Large,” “Secret Headquarters” and “Significant Other.”
In an interview with Variety, Posey spoke about returning to his role as Scott McCall, the True Alpha werewolf and leader of the pack, after five years of sobriety, saying: “The older you get – the more comfortable you get as a person, you settle into yourself more. And that’s what I brought to Scott McCall. I’m more present. I’m sober now, and it was the first time I was in ‘Teen Wolf’ sober. I was a pothead before. I was always high. So it’s nice to be present and fully aware.”
“Teen Wolf: The Movie” picks up in the present day, 15 years after the finale of the MTV series, with a new terror threatening to torment the small California town of Beacon Hills. Now an adult, Scott McCall answers the call to protect his hometown, building a team of new allies and trusted friends to ward off their deadly enemy.
Executive producers for the film include Jeff Davis, Russell Mulcahy, Joseph P. Genier, Karen Gorodetzky, Mark Burnett, Brad Gardner, Barry Poznick, Marty Adelstein, Rene Echevarria with Mike Elliott, Blaine Williams, Posey and Tyler Hoechlin listed as producers.
“Teen Wolf: The Movie” is now streaming on Paramount+.
The 27-year-old actor revealed that the decision came after starring in his latest project — the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room — took a large toll on him mentally, and said it “did break” him.
Well, during a recent appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark, Tom clarified that he has actually been on his hiatus for a while now and that his yearlong break from acting would be over soon.
Tom started by making it clear that reports saying he decided to take the year off because of negative reviews of The Crowded Room were false. He said, “It’s so funny. Obviously, The Crowded Room came out, we didn’t have very favorable reviews, so the press story was that I have taken this year off because of the reviews.”
He then went on to clarify that he has been on his hiatus for quite some time: “But I’m eight months into my year off. I’ve been chilling at home in London, going to Grand Prix, playing golf.”
Tom then added that he wanted to give a “massive thank-you” to his fans and that the show now had a “94% on Rotten Tomatoes.” He then went on to say, “I feel so grateful that I have a wonderful community of people that support me and are there for me. So I am honored and really excited for the rest of the show to come out.”
According to Deadline, the untitled third Deadpool movie will now be released on May 3rd, 2024 (it was previously slated for November 8th, 2024), while Captain America: Brave New World was just moved from that date to August 26th, 2024.
Image: Marvel
Blade moved from September 6th, 2024 to February 14th, 2025. Fantastic Four was moved from February 14th, 2025 to May 2nd, 2025.
Photo: Disney
Avengers: Kang Dynasty was moved from May 2nd, 2025 to May 1st, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars was moved from May 1st, 2026 to May 7th, 2027.
Source: screenrant.com
The Avatar movies are also being changed. Avatar 3 was moved from December 2024 to December 2025, Avatar 4 was moved from December 2026 to December 2029, and Avatar 5 was moved from December 2028 to December 2031.
Photo: D23
The Star Wars movies are moving as well. The first one is moving from December 2025 to May 2026 and another one has been added to December 18th, 2026.
Photo: Disney
The live-action Moana is actually moving UP by a week — it goes from July 2nd, 2025 to June 27th, 2025.
Photo: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
Disney also has reserved some dates for upcoming unknown films:
Sept 6th, 2024
March 21st, 2025 (previously April 11th, 2025)
An untitled Marvel movie on July 25th, 2025
August 8th, 2025 (previously of August 15th, 2025)
An untitled Marvel movie on November 7th, 2025
Also note that an untitled Disney movie for May 22nd, 2026 has been taken off of the schedule.
Photo: Collider
Stay tuned for more Disney news and updates.
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As the blue brand is set to welcome in a new dawn under the tutelage of newly-anointed DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, Affleck – and the entire Warner Bros. creative team – have been able to look back on the actor’s time playing the caped crusader.
Ben Affleck and His Final Batman Performance
DC
Speaking at The Flash‘s world premiere event in Los Angeles, California, Batman star Ben Affleck shared his feelings on suiting up as the DC hero for one last time.
In a conversation with The Movie Report, Affleck candidly revealed it was all “over too soon” and he had a “great time” playing the character:
“The tone is a difficult thing with these movies, trying to figure out how serious, how dark, how funny, how engaging it is. And people that have done it really well have struck a balance with that tone, and I feel like Andy really did that with this movie. And it was a lot of fun. I really had a great time and it was over too soon.”
The Batman actor went as far as to say this was “the most fun [he] had playing this part:”
“You know, I think this was the most fun I had playing this part. It wasn’t a lot of work. It was really a cameo. And I didn’t expect or anticipate to do this, but I love Andy [Muschietti], and I really was excited, and I had such a great experience with Ezra [Miller]. I really was thrilled to come back and do it and… I don’t want to give it away, but I loved the little idea that I got to do.”
He added, he “finally sort of figured out” how to play the Dark Knight in The Flash and “love[s] the movie:”
“And I felt like I finally sort of figured out what I really looked into about this part. And I really enjoyed it, had a wonderful time, and I love the movie, and it’s really fun, and it has a really good spirit of balance.”
“I finally figured out how to play the guy… I was like, ‘Hold on, am I– Is that– I quit, I know I quit, and I know came back, but I got it now.’ It’s like, you know when you do the audition, and you’re on your way home, you’re like, ’Ooh.’”
Reflecting on the End of Batfleck
So that is it, just about a decade after being first announced as the DCEU’s Dark Knight, Ben Affleck is finally done in the cape and cowl.
And despite middling reception to just about every movie his Bruce Wayne/Batman appeared in, some will look back fondly on the actor’s time as an older and more grizzled take on the iconic DC hero.
The actor himself has had a shaky relationship with his super-powered role, with many believing his time as the character was going to end even more prematurely than it did (especially after the announcement of Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’sThe Batman).
No, Batfleck was not a part of the next movies in comic book film history. No, audiences did not get the dream Affleck-directed Batman movie that was once promised.
But now that it is all said and done, it seems that Affleck and his fans can head out on a high note, in a project he deems “the most fun” he got to have in his time in the role.
Ben Affleck’s final performance as Batman can be seen when The Flash races into theaters on Friday, June 16.
EA SPORTS F1 23 delivers with enhanced on-track vehicle handling and the latest season’s content. Braking Point 2 continues the story with some mixed results, despite some brave topics, and F1 World is engaging if a little unnecessary.
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is the latest high-net-worth individual to get involved in the documentary business. As a producer on Waad Al-Kateab’s “We Dare to Dream,” about the refugee Olympic team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gebbia not only helped fund the project, he also played an active role in the film’s pre-production, production, and edit.
“We Dare to Dream” is Al-Kateab’s second feature docu. In her first film, “For Sama,” which was nominated for an Academy Award, the Syrian director used her camera to capture her daily life during the siege of Aleppo.
Gebbia produced “We Dare to Dream” alongside Violet Films’ Joanna Natasegara (“Virunga”) and Abigail Anketell-Jones (“The Edge of Democracy”) and XTR’s Bryn Mooser and Kathryn Everett. Angelina Jolie recently signed on as an executive producer on the project. Gebbia joins fellow philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs (Concordia Studio), Jeff Skoll (Participant Media) and Jim Swartz (Impact Partners) in the docu investment business.
Variety spoke with Gebbia and Al-Kateab about “We Dare to Dream,” which is debuted at Tribeca Festival on June 11, with more screenings June 16 and 17.
Joe, was your role as a producer on “We Dare to Dream” different from your role as an executive producer on Sam Osborn and Nick Capezzera’s 2020 docu “Universe”?
Gebbia: The answer is yes. With “We Dare to Dream,” I played a much more active role working closely with Waad, Joanna and XTR to help shape the film. It was a much closer collaboration on “We Dare to Dream.”
Joe, the doc was your idea. What made you think the refugee Olympic team would make a good film?
Gebbia: I remember watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. It was the introduction of the first-ever Olympic refugee team created by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). At that time, 65 million people were displaced worldwide, and of course (some were) professional athletes. Without being able to compete for their host country, the IOC created a team specifically to allow them to compete at the world’s highest state of sport. So, when I found out about the 2020 Olympic refugee team, I decided that I had to get behind this. I’ve had a long-standing commitment to the topic of refugees, going back many years to the origins of airbnb.org, where we use our platform to help house those who’ve been displaced, either from national disasters or, in the last couple of years, those seeking asylum. Through that work, I got deeply involved in becoming an advocate for those who’ve been displaced. It’s truly a global problem, and it’s only getting worse. I’ve always aspired to use storytelling to help bring the human aspect of the displacement and the refugee global crisis to people’s screens in their living rooms, and to do it in a really compelling way.
Waad, you used your own first-person video footage to construct “For Sama.” Was it daunting to take on this project, which follows five athletes and required more than one camera and one mic?
Al-Kateab: Being a refugee in the U.K. now, and living my life here with the same challenges that these athletes were going through in their personal life and professional life, their stories, to me, felt very intimate. That said, I was really scared and excited at the same time about this project. In “For Sama,” I was quite alone, and I was learning how to make a film. The learning process kept going with this project.
Joe, documentaries aren’t known for their box-office numbers. Why did you want to get into the business of nonfiction filmmaking?
Gebbia: “We Dare to Dream” is an extension of the advocacy and the work that I’m already doing in the space of refugee displacement.
Given the current landscape, how do you feel about selling the film out of Tribeca?
Gebbia: I’ll just say that the film is a great film for any distributor who wants an inspirational family-friendly story. I think that there’s a pretty big audience for that.
What impact are you hoping the doc makes?
Al-Kateab: This is a very important and very inspiring story for little kids around the world who are refugees and who are not refugees. It reminds us that we all have dreams. We all deserve to have dreams and to have opportunities. So, we need to uplift each other as human beings.
Joe as the founder of Studio Gebbia, are you looking to produce more docus?
Gebbia: Yes. This is the beginning of building a body of work and a library to tell really compelling stories like this one.
What kind of docs are you looking to get behind?
Gebbia: Ones with a great story that make people feel something.
“Your sexting partner isn’t there with you, so they only have your words and their imagination to figure out what’s going on,” Corrado says. “If you’re describing to them the ways that you’re touching yourself, make it a sensory experience.” According to Corrado, you want the person you’re sexting to feel as if they’re right there, seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, and tasting it all.
5. It can make for a great first date or foreplay.
Even if you’ve yet to meet IRL, a few rounds of sexting will give you an idea of what your “lover’s seduction learning style” is, according to O’Reilly. It’s in these cases that you can really cater to your partner and their exact desires by crafting “messages that make them feel sexy, desired, curious, excited, relaxed, challenged, loved, nervous, catered to, enticed, and more,” she says. “Take advantage of the variety of options including photos, videos, voice notes, text, GIFs, and live chats.”
It’s also ideal for foreplay with a partner if you want to get them all hot and bothered in anticipation for when you’ll see them next.
6. It creates and builds intimacy.
If we allow ourselves to be vulnerable in the way that’s necessary when sharing sexual fantasies, intimacy automatically comes with the territory.
“If done right, sexting can add intimacy to a trusting, committed relationship because it is based on communication, and the more you communicate, the closer you become,” says Cox. “When you sext, you naturally open up to your partner, sharing fantasies, listening to, and maybe acting, on their desires, making them feel wanted, trying new things together, and being vulnerable. It shows that you trust them with your innermost sexual thoughts and raw photos.”
7. It helps you embrace your own sexuality.
Although human sexuality is complicated, the fact remains that we’re sexual beings. But where things can get difficult for people is if they’ve yet to embrace that sexuality. Everyone hits their sexual bloom at different times; if we take a moment to look inside ourselves, dig around, and see what’s there, we’re likely to be surprised—in a good way. Sexting can help unlock the door to that.
We all have sexual fantasies. Even if you’ve yet to explore them, they’re there. So if you’re looking to dip your toes in those waters, sexting is a chance to do that. “It’s completely normal for all of us to have fantasies,” says Sinclair. “Sexting is the perfect opportunity to share that you want to be tied up, want to tie your partner up, experiment with role playing, or try double penetration.” Who knows—maybe after you’ve mastered sexting you’ll be more open to reading our guides on how to squirt, anal sex 101, or new sex positions if you weren’t before.
How much sexting is too much sexting?
Yes, it absolutely is possible to have too much of a good thing. It’s important to realize that you can overdo it on the sexting pics, the sexting emojis, the sexting ideas—basically, all the sexting. And you definitely don’t want that to happen.
Without a core Avengers team in play in the MCU these days, how are all these new heroes going to bond in time for the next big bad threatens the universe? Perhaps by holding an intense game of golf between Spider-Man actor Tom Holland and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s Kathryn Newton? Earlier this year, Marvel’s Cassie Lang actress did challenge the Brit by calling herself “the best golfer in the MCU,” and he’s now responded to the claim.
Back in February, when Newton was promoting her MCU debut, she boasted about her incredible golfing abilities before calling out Tom Holland while claiming she might be the best among the franchise’s cast. Here’s what Holland had to say:
I would love to play with her. I don’t know how good she is. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s better than me. I’m always looking for new friends to play golf with. So, if she wants to play, I would love to play, and I’m sure we’d have a lot of fun.
It sounds like Tom Holland is ready for the challenge! What he might not know is that Kathryn Newton has been playing in golf tournaments since she was eight years old and was even a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier back in 2012. Newton decided to halt her path to pro golf to pursue her passion for acting, and the rest is history. Now all we need is some sort of tournament between Newton, Holland and other Marvel actors who golf to really find out who’s the best of them all.
Holland reacted to Newton’s challenge while speaking with IMDB, which the outlet then made viral on TikTok. Check out the video:
As the viral moment has reached nearly two million viewers, fans got a little protective in the comment section with things like “Zendaya has entered the chat,” but hey, it seemed like it was just sparking some friendly competition between teammates in the incredible workplace that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland and Zendaya reportedly have a $3 million London home together, so we can all calm down about those two ending things at the drop of a hat.
Holland recently did press for his new Apple TV+ series, The Crowded Room. The miniseries has the actor playing a young man who gets arrested for a New York shooting. Since filming the series, Holland said he decided to take a year off acting to focus on his mental health. The actor is eight months into his personal break, so here’s hoping he won’t be shy to return to the MCU and perhaps par it up with Ms. Kathryn Newton.
While both actors are not officially signed on (to our knowledge) for the upcoming Marvel movies on the currently slate, there’s so much Marvel to go around, with Secret Invasion premiering on Disney+ this June and The Marvels coming to theaters this November.
Since “Jury Duty” debuted on Amazon Freevee in April, love has poured in for the hidden camera comedy — in particular for its do-gooder hero Ronald Gladden, who was the only person on the show not to know the whole court case was fake and the jurors were actors. Though Gladden was initially in shock when he learned the truth, he’s since said he would be interested in expanding his on-screen career to other projects — and castmate James Marsden has one in mind for his newfound friend.
“I’d like to see Ronald in a remake of the ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ franchise,” Marsden told TheWrap in a recent interview. “I’d love to see him grow a mustache and play the Burt Reynolds role. I think he’d be good in that.”
Beyond “Smokey and the Bandit,” Marsden mapped out the next steps for Gladden’s hypothetical foray into a Reynolds-esque career, seeing remakes for “The Cannonball Run” and “Deliverance” up next as films that would “really initiate him into the Hollywood world.”
While Marsden joked that Gladden might be receiving a little too much credit — with eager fans hoping to see him next as “The Bachelor” or the next President of the United States — it’s clear the series’ unknowing star made his way into Marsden’s heart, as well. The “27 Dresses” actor called him “the kindest, purest-heart, sweetheart of a guy.”
“[He] laughed off so many of the situations where another person might have just kind of gone off and put their headphones on and not engaged,” Marsden said. “He was kind of this positive glue that kept us all hanging out… He just had a nice, very welcoming spirit to him.”
Marsden became well aware of Gladden’s upstanding character from Day 1 of filming, when the jurors took a lengthy lunch break during jury selection. In an effort to get out of jury duty by showcasing that his presence as a public figure might distract from the trial, Marsden offered to buy everyone lunch from the local taco truck.
“They cut it out of the show, but I actually come back to pick up the bill, and I asked him to split it with me,” Marsden said. “He almost did… I was like, ‘Oh my God, this guy’s an angel.’”
It’s no surprise that filmmaker David Lynch’s fanbase has, for four decades, continually renewed itself among each new generation of cineastes. Something about the strange alchemy of the multidisciplinary Eagle Scout’s sensuous images, earnest perspective and intuitive storytelling perspective is intoxicating, buoyed onscreen by the talents of great creative collaborators like Mary Sweeney, Alan Splet and Angelo Badalamenti.
The films themselves are often dark but always honest, their perversions expressive and earned rather than bluntly hammered. As we follow the cosmic tendrils of Lynch’s brain backwards toward their origin, it’s only natural to ask: why does this guy see the world the way he sees it?
One answer may lay in Victor Fleming 1939 MGM classic, whose enchantments reach even further back, to its position as an early television staple for impressional baby boomers developing their imaginations and material predilections in the glow of the family’s suburban RCA console. That’s the supposition, at least, of Alexandre O. Philippe’s new project Lynch/Oz–now playing in theaters and on VOD.
Having previously tackled cinematic subjects including the Star Wars prequels (The People vs. George Lucas), Psycho’s infamous shower scene (78/52) and the birth of the xenomorph (Memory: The Origins of Alien) this time enlists the voices and perspectives of a who’s-who of marquee movie thinkers to present, in chapters, their theses around the subject of David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz. We recently spoke to Philippe about working with his Lynch/Oz co-authors–Amy Nicholson, John Waters, Karyn Kusama, Rodney Ascher and Justin Benson & Aaron Moorehead–David Lynch, collective dreaming, film criticism and more.
ALEXANDRE O. PHILIPPE
I want to open up with a sort of larger question. Over the past couple of years I’ve realized that I don’t really read much film criticism anymore, but I still ingest a ton of it. Primarily in the form of podcasts and video essays. What are your thoughts about where film criticism is at the moment, with regard to traditional written criticism versus the sort of work you’re doing?
Philippe: They’re completely different animals. I think the exercise of making a film about film, which is how I look at the films I make, they’re explorations into the mystery of cinema and the creative process. I don’t come from the academic world. I come from a dramatic writing background and a cinephile background. It’s extraordinarily important to me that the films I make are cinematic experiences in their own right, especially if I’m asking people to sit in a dark theater for two hours to watch them.
Yeah, I think about literary criticism sometimes and how tricky it must be for the people who do it well, to talk about an artist’s work using the same medium. But that’s essentially what you’ve been doing.
Philippe: It’s a tremendous amount of work; I can’t give enough credit to my whole team. To me there are many joys in what I do. The first is that I get to pick the brains of people who I admire and who are great thinkers, critics, writers and artists. I think if you look at my films as a body of work, they’re fundamentally about those movies that have transcended the medium of film to become cultural events. Like, why did Psycho become a cultural event but not Peeping Tom? Those are huge questions. And if they encourage people to then go read books and maybe get a degree in Film, that’s awesome. But it’s really important to me to debunk this notion that you have to read an 800-page book to consider yourself a cinephile.
‘Lynch/Oz’ (2023, dir. Alexandre O. Philippe)
In your projects you’re often talking about individual filmmakers and what sort of fetishes or preoccupations compel them towards the work they make. Which makes me wonder, what are your fetishes?
Philippe: I’m very interested in the idea of the collective experience of movie-watching and the collective unconscious. This idea of movies as collective dreams that move us in ways we can then have conversations about because we’ve all had the same dream, I think that’s my fetish. I keep going back to those movies that have had an impact that’s so immediately visceral, but that also lasts for decades–because at that point movies aren’t just movies, they’re super-important to crack open and understand.
For Lynch/Oz, how did you select the authors of each chapter? What was the process of working with them like?
Philippe: I wanted to give each participant the space to develop a thesis so that each chapter becomes a new rabbit hole to go down into. First and foremost, it was about finding people who completely understood when I said “Lynch/Oz” to the point where I literally didn’t have to explain it, they were just like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” The first half of the process was to do what I called a jazz interview: I’d call them and record them on my iPhone and just sort of fish for a thesis. We would riff on the themes of David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz and their ramifications and just discover so much stuff. My job in these conversations is to encourage the [participants] when I feel like they’re responding to an idea and push them in that direction. And then there’s a point in the interview where I intuitively feel like I have enough. At that moment I hang up. The longest of these conversations was about three hours; the shortest was about 90 minutes.
I didn’t realize it was so collaborative. So what happens next?
Philippe: I transcribe the interviews, writing down what I feel their thesis is. I send it back and at that point we usually do a little back-and-forth. I of course give them complete freedom to change things, add stuff, cut things. I might ask them to add something or go deeper. When we’re both happy with the script, we go back to the recording studio and re-do the voiceover, and that’s what you have in the film.
Are you thinking ahead to what your next project is going to be or developing any new ideas?
Philippe: Oh yeah, I’m always working on something. As a matter of fact, we’re about to start working on two big ones. One is essentially the 50th anniversary film of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I’m super-excited about. The other one is a true crime story revolving–again–around Psycho. It’s based on a book by Robert Greysmith called The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shower. It’s a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction type of thing, a very strange story that’s almost like entering a hall of mirrors, with a real life Norman Bates and body doubles and all kinds of weird stuff.
Is that one going to be a documentary or a narrative feature?
Philippe: We’re going to do a number of dramatizations in the film, so there’s going to be a little bit of a hybrid component to it. But it’s essentially going to be kind of a film noir told from the perspective of Marli Renfro, Janet Leigh’s body double in Psycho.
Looking forward to it!
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Two British victims on the Egyptian dive boat that caught fire in the Red Sea had decided to sleep in on the morning fire broke out, while the other Brit who died returned to his cabin to grab personal belongings, according to a report.
Sources told Al Arabiya.net that the three missing persons, a woman and two men, were inside their rooms on the boat at the moment that the fire broke out on Sunday morning, noting that one of them left the room in an attempt to escape, but then returned.
They also added that he may have wanted to take his phone, passport or some of his personal belongings from the room but he was then unable to leave.
The sources told the media outlet that the other two, the man and the woman, hated waking up early and were asleep when the fire started because they did not take part in the diving trip.
They also noted that their rooms were located near the fuel tank and that they may have died from suffocation or from their burns.
Three British tourists who were reported as missing have been confirmed dead after a boat caught fire during a diving trip
Scuba Travel, the company that chartered the boat, announced that the three Brits who ‘perished in the tragic incident’ off the coast of Marsa Alam had chosen not to go diving that day, leaving them unable to evacuate the boat quickly.
Investigators combing through the wreckage confirmed today that the three victims were found below deck in their cabins after failing to escape the intense fire.
Scuba Travel said that the three passengers were among 15 qualified diving enthusiasts who were on board the ‘Hurricane’ boat for a week-long trip when the fire broke out at around 6.30am UK time.
‘At the time the fire broke out, 12 divers were participating in a briefing on board, while those missing had apparently decided not to dive that morning,’ the company added.
Scuba Travel said that due to the severity of the blaze, 12 divers were evacuated immediately to a nearby craft, while the 14 crew members had to abandon the ship after trying to reach the missing guests.
Footage on social media showed the tour boat transform into a floating inferno as its stern was engulfed by flames, producing plumes of black smoke while it was off the Elphinstone Reef in the Red Sea.
A video showed terrified passengers jumping from the ship, which had 29 people on board at the time, to escape after a suspected electrical fault in the engine room.
This is the heart-stopping moment a passenger jumps from an Egyptian tourist boat engulfed by flames
Other passengers could be seen dropping down from the boat into nearby crafts in a bid to escape
A spokesman for Scuba Travel confirmed to MailOnline yesterday: ‘It is with great regret that we, as tour operator, with heavy hearts, must accept that three of our much-valued dive guests, perished in the tragic incident.
‘Our sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to their families and friends at this very sad time.’
In total, 26 passengers were rescued, 12 British and the other 14 are thought to be Egyptian. Local police said the people rescued had no injuries and were in good health.
They also said the crew rescued suffered no injuries and were taken to shore in good health.
The shocked group of survivors were today being offered trauma counselling following their ordeal, which was compounded by the devastating loss of the three people with whom they bonded closely during their week together.
The Britons have been moved to a hotel in Hurghada, 180 miles north of the tragedy, while emergency travel documents to allow them to return to the UK are arranged.
A spokesperson for Scuba Travel, Pat Adamson, said: ‘They lost everything on the boat. People will be searching under the sea, but if nothing reappears, then that’s it.
‘All of their credit cards, money, personal belongings, toothbrush, car keys, credit cards, everything gone – and their passports.
‘Their cars are at Gatwick, they don’t have their house keys.’
The group had been together for a week-long trip.
Mr Adamson added: ‘There’s a trauma counsellor with them now. Even though they’d only been together for a few days, it’s a small group and you get to know each other incredibly well.’
The wrecked Egyptian diving boat was seen lying on its side as it was brought to shore for an investigation
Rescue services were alerted to the fire after the blaze was said to have started in the engine room because of an electrical fault
A full investigation is set to be carried out by local authorities to determine what caused the fire. The wrecked boat has been pictured lying on its side with smoke still billowing out of it on the shore as it cools down.
The cruiser left Port Ghalib in the eastern city of Marsa Alam on June 6 and was meant to return on Sunday.
It was said to be one of the Tornado Marine Fleet tours, which offers ‘Luxury Red Sea Liveaboards’ for just under £1,500 per trip.
A Foreign Office spokesman said on Sunday: ‘We are in contact with local authorities following an incident aboard a dive boat near Marsa Alam, and are supporting British nationals involved.’
MailOnline has contacted the Foreign Office for an updated comment.
Shocking footage showed the boat’s stern being ravaged by the flames as black smoke erupted from the ship
The Red Sea Governorate said: ‘The initial examination resulted in an electrical short circuit in the engine room, and the investigation authorities went to conduct an inspection and investigation.’
It added: ‘[The Secretary General] pointed out that the crew and passengers were rescued by the boat named “Blue” and returned to central Marsa Alam, and a search is still underway for three British passengers by the concerned authorities and other boats, stressing that the Ambulance Authority and the Directorate of Health Affairs have been notified to raise the level of readiness and follow-up is underway.’
A diving enthusiast who was on the same ship in May, said the boat was plagued with problems and no one was surprised the blaze had occurred.
He told MailOnline: ‘[We had] recurring issues from the week of May 1 and 8. There was no nitrox on board. They should have had it but they never told us.
‘The toilets and the showers weren’t working properly.’
He added: ‘There was some issue below the decks. They were pumping something out but it was coming up my toilet.
Police said the crew rescued suffered no injuries and were taken to shore in good health
The scuba diving ship moored at Daedalus Reef in the Red Sea, Egypt, before the blaze
‘The crew work very hard – they don’t get paid a lot – but the boat has seen better days.
‘I was in cabin six in the bow so I wouldn’t have wanted to get out from there.
‘None of us are surprised that [the blaze] happened.’
Egypt’s Red Sea resorts harbour some of the country’s most renowned beach destinations and are popular with European holidaymakers.
The country has cemented its reputation as a dive destination with easy access to coral reefs from shores and dive sites offering diverse marine life.
The impact of the ongoing writers strike on the talent agencies continue. APA has laid off a number of assistants. Junior agents, primarily in the lit department, which is the most affected by the work stoppage, have been asked to share assistants, sources tell Deadline.
APA is the second major talent agency to cut staff since the start of the strike. Verve, whose core business is film and TV lit, laid off most of its assistants last month, 80% by some estimates. The numbers floated around are 40 assistants and three gents. APA, whose layoffs are said to be under 10, and Verve also are the two known agencies that have implemented temporary salary reductions for top agents and executives.
Assistants are always among the most vulnerable when companies look to cut costs. A number of assistants were also laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, which shut down Hollywood production for about six months in 2020. With some of those affected likely to move on and leave the business, industry sources predict a shortage of experienced Hollywood assistants when the strike is over.
As Deadline reported, APA was among agencies, alongside CAA, WME, Gersh, Paradigm, A3 and Innovative Artists, that started scaling back T&E and other expenses a couple of weeks into the WGA work stoppage. Like with layoffs, in many cases, film and scripted TV departments, which are most heavily impacted by the strike, are also the ones where the cost-cutting measures are focused.
Donald Trump’s CNN town hall might end up costing more than just the network’s ratings. On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York ruled that E. Jean Carroll can amend her defamation lawsuit against the disgraced former president to include comments he made about her during the May 10 CNN event.
The ruling comes on the same day Trump surrendered himself in a federal court in Miami to face charges stemming from the investigation into his unlawful possession and handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Paramount+’s “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” brings the charm of the iconic original musical to serialized streaming, with ’50s era style and elaborate musical numbers. But that nostalgic fantasy looks a lot different than it did in the 1978 film version of “Grease,” which made Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta international stars. This time, Black, Latinx, and Asian cast members are in the spotlight — telling stories that really happened then, but are only getting Hollywood attention now.
When designing costumes for this more diverse Rydell High, costume designer Samantha Hawkins went deep into research on the styles and looks of subcultures in the ’50s, in order to provide authenticity to the fizzy teen musical’s world.
“Mexican-Americans, Japanese-Americans, they all existed [in spaces like Rydell High] at the time,” Hawkins told Craft & Animation Editor Bill Desowitz at IndieWire’s Consider This Event on June 3. “It was just finding the photos of the time, and it’s a little bit harder and you have to go a little bit deeper. But it was a total honor to dress real greasers of the time who were a part of the Latinx community. They were the ones who started that look, and then it was popularized by James Dean … to dive into that research and get into the way they styled themselves, the way they rolled up their sleeves and wore those high-waisted pants, it was really amazing.”
Hawkins appeared at IndieWire’s spring Consider This Event at NeueHouse Hollywood with “Rise of the Pink Ladies” director and executive producer Alethea Jones, choreographer Jamal Sims, and hair department head Jaala Leis Wanless. In her interview with Desowitz, Hawkins further discussed some of the most memorable looks from the 10-episode musical series.
The first three episodes of “Rise of the Pink Ladies” featured costume designs from Angelina Kekich, before Hawkins joined the series ahead of its fourth episode. Hawkins wasn’t involved with some of the defining looks of the series, including the pink jackets that the members of the titular clique wear. But she still had a ton of opportunities to create outrageous looks, particularly for the character Nancy (Tricia Fukuhara), an aspiring fashion designer who wears, among other things, dresses with her face on them.
“Nancy I called my drag queen,” Hawskins told Desowitz. “Every look was on theme. You kind of have to suspend your disbelief a little bit because she knows the theme of the episode in a way. But every look she was in was taken to a campy degree, and we just went for it. Working with [series creator] Annabel [Oakes] and Alethea was amazing, because any time I had an idea they were like, ‘Go for it, and go farther!’”
Watch the complete interview with Hawkins above, and read more about the behind-the-scenes process of “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” here. Check out the other panels at IndieWire’s FYC — including for shows like “Yellowjackets,” “Wednesday,” “Beef,” “Stranger Things,” and “P-Valley” — here.
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is the latest high-net-worth individual to get involved in the documentary business. As a producer on Waad Al-Kateab’s “We Dare to Dream,” about the refugee Olympic team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gebbia not only helped fund the project, he also played an active role in the film’s pre-production, production, and edit.
“We Dare to Dream” is Al-Kateab’s second feature docu. In her first film, “For Sama,” which was nominated for an Academy Award, the Syrian director used her camera to capture her daily life during the siege of Aleppo.
Gebbia produced “We Dare to Dream” alongside Violet Films’ Joanna Natasegara (“Virunga”) and Abigail Anketell-Jones (“The Edge of Democracy”) and XTR’s Bryn Mooser and Kathryn Everett. Angelina Jolie recently signed on as an executive producer on the project. Gebbia joins fellow philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs (Concordia Studio), Jeff Skoll (Participant Media) and Jim Swartz (Impact Partners) in the docu investment business.
Variety spoke with Gebbia and Al-Kateab about “We Dare to Dream,” which is debuted at Tribeca Festival on June 11, with more screenings June 16 and 17.
Joe, was your role as a producer on “We Dare to Dream” different from your role as an executive producer on Sam Osborn and Nick Capezzera’s 2020 docu “Universe”?
Gebbia: The answer is yes. With “We Dare to Dream,” I played a much more active role working closely with Waad, Joanna and XTR to help shape the film. It was a much closer collaboration on “We Dare to Dream.”
Joe, the doc was your idea. What made you think the refugee Olympic team would make a good film?
Gebbia: I remember watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. It was the introduction of the first-ever Olympic refugee team created by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). At that time, 65 million people were displaced worldwide, and of course (some were) professional athletes. Without being able to compete for their host country, the IOC created a team specifically to allow them to compete at the world’s highest state of sport. So, when I found out about the 2020 Olympic refugee team, I decided that I had to get behind this. I’ve had a long-standing commitment to the topic of refugees, going back many years to the origins of airbnb.org, where we use our platform to help house those who’ve been displaced, either from national disasters or, in the last couple of years, those seeking asylum. Through that work, I got deeply involved in becoming an advocate for those who’ve been displaced. It’s truly a global problem, and it’s only getting worse. I’ve always aspired to use storytelling to help bring the human aspect of the displacement and the refugee global crisis to people’s screens in their living rooms, and to do it in a really compelling way.
Waad, you used your own first-person video footage to construct “For Sama.” Was it daunting to take on this project, which follows five athletes and required more than one camera and one mic?
Al-Kateab: Being a refugee in the U.K. now, and living my life here with the same challenges that these athletes were going through in their personal life and professional life, their stories, to me, felt very intimate. That said, I was really scared and excited at the same time about this project. In “For Sama,” I was quite alone, and I was learning how to make a film. The learning process kept going with this project.
Joe, documentaries aren’t known for their box-office numbers. Why did you want to get into the business of nonfiction filmmaking?
Gebbia: “We Dare to Dream” is an extension of the advocacy and the work that I’m already doing in the space of refugee displacement.
Given the current landscape, how do you feel about selling the film out of Tribeca?
Gebbia: I’ll just say that the film is a great film for any distributor who wants an inspirational family-friendly story. I think that there’s a pretty big audience for that.
What impact are you hoping the doc makes?
Al-Kateab: This is a very important and very inspiring story for little kids around the world who are refugees and who are not refugees. It reminds us that we all have dreams. We all deserve to have dreams and to have opportunities. So, we need to uplift each other as human beings.
Joe as the founder of Studio Gebbia, are you looking to produce more docus?
Gebbia: Yes. This is the beginning of building a body of work and a library to tell really compelling stories like this one.
What kind of docs are you looking to get behind?
Gebbia: Ones with a great story that make people feel something.
Maurh starring Amy Virk, Vikramjeet Virk and others saw a theatrical release on June 9
Maurh features Amy Virk, Vikramjeet Virk And Dev Kharoud and it was released on June 9.
The Indian film industry has seen many historical movies and an amazing add on to that list is ‘Maurh’ Produced By Rhythm Boyz & Naad Ssturios & Director By Jatinder Mauhar The movie with an outstanding storyline, a colossal budget and an incredible star cast, released on 9th June. The fans are happy with their theatrical experience because of ‘Maurh’ magnificent graphics. The starcast has done justice to their roles with their amazing performances. The music by Bunty Bains is winning hearts. The storyline keeps audiences glued to the screens in anticipation.
‘Maurh’ talks about the life of two brothers who are born in the colonial era of India in the state of Punjab. They are oppressed and made to suffer in the hands of powerful figures in the state. Jeona Maurh (Amy Virk) is a god fearing man who believes in doing right whereas Kishna Maurh (Dev Kharoud) refuses to surrender to the injustice and raises his voice against it by joining the group and becoming a dacoit. Later on you see Jeona Maurh following the footsteps of his brother by being a dacoit himself and seeking justice by taking things under his control. Kishna Maurh’s character gives depth and impact to the character of Chaudhary Ahmed Dogger played by Vikramjeet Virk.
Amy Virk shines in his role as Jeona Maurh. The emotional and the rebellious scenes played by Virk makes you feel the pain and anger that the character is expressing. Dev Kharoud as Kishna Maurh wins people’s hearts. His eyes portray what his heart wants to convey. Vikramjeet Virk on the screen as Ahmed Dogger is a treat to watch. Vikramjeet Virk is able to show the power and the influence that his character has. When he appears on the screen, his brilliant acting and dialogue delivery makes you wish that the villain should win instead of the hero. Vikramjeet Virk as Dogger is the best casting so far. All the other actors such as Ameik Virk, Kuljinder Sidhu, Marc Randhawa, Paramveer Singh, Richa Bhatt & Naiqra Kaur have played their parts beautifully as the story moves further.
‘Maurh’ is able to take people back in the later 19th century and feel the struggles of the people living in that era. Jatinder Mauhar has brilliantly showcased the story of ‘Maurh’ with an amazing direction. It will give an excellent experience to the people and one should definitely give it a watch.
Yatamanyu is a multi-disciplinary Journalist & Photographer who dabbles in Films, Poetry, Music, Politics, Pop-Culture and everything in between. …Read More
Southern California Public Radio, which runs local station LAist (formerly known as KPCC), said Tuesday that it would cut staff by more than 10% due to a revenue shortfall.
In a note to employees, President and Chief Executive Herb Scannell announced the elimination of 21 positions as part of a restructuring. Scannell said the cuts are also part of an effort to accelerate growth in digital media.
Scannell described the retrenchment as an effort to better deliver on its “cross-platform, public service mission.” SCPR owns and operates the LAist website, as well as its local radio station that broadcasts on the 89.3 FM frequency.
The shift was intended as a step toward creating “a sustainable business model for an increasingly digital future,” he wrote.
LAist’s report on the layoffs said cutbacks primarily involve administrative staff, producers and technicians. The shortfall had much to do with softness in the advertising business and a pullback of promotional efforts by Hollywood studios amid the writers’ strike. The report noted that the group is pulling back on podcasting, a business that has struggled recently.
LAist’s contraction comes amid a devastating economy for news organizations, which have been forced to cut hundreds of journalist jobs.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times announced that it was cutting 74 newsroom positions, also due to a budget gap. (The number of layoffs was reduced to 73 later after a team leader volunteered to depart.) On Monday, the New York Times announced that it was cutting 20 jobs from the Athletic, its sports news site, representing 4% of its staff.
“While we’ve managed to reduce spending and mitigate costs in the past year, that approach is no longer feasible in the new fiscal year,” Scannell wrote in his message. “We need to reallocate resources to maintain a consistent digital presence. This involves giving priority to digital-first reporting and strengthening our audience development efforts moving forward.”
A station spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
Staff members who lost their jobs will be offered severance packages and “other resources to support their transition,” Scannell’s memo said.
“While being able to balance the books is a fundamental requirement of our business, these changes optimally position us to succeed in a competitive digital landscape,” Scannell wrote. “To that end, we are posting several new roles in the coming days, and we anticipate adding new roles in the next fiscal year to accelerate our digital transition.”
A production list on the FTIA database lists a new start date for the Spider-Man spin-off film, with cameras set to roll starting on August 7 in Los Angeles.
This new kick-off to production is likely due to the Writers Guild of America strike that is currently affecting titles across the entertainment industry.
Seeing as another wall-crawling spin-off from Sony, Madame Web, is set to hit theaters in February of next year, a delay may make the most sense for Sony Pictures’ El Muerto.
When Will El Muerto Release?
While a release date delay has not been officially announced for El Muerto, a production start date of August 7 makes the film’s January 12 slot nearly impossible.
That means a push down the calendar seems almost guaranteed.
Looking at Sony’s 2024, one can start to get an idea when Bad Bunny’s oft-memed Spidey spin-off will grapple its way into theaters.
Right now, the first quarter of 2024 is rather jam-packed with Spider-Man projects with both MadameWeb and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse set to release before the end of Q1.
After that though, the field is fairly wide open. Beyond the long-rumored Olivia Wilde-directed Jessica Drew project, Venom 3, and the recently revealed live-action Miles Morales movie, El Muerto doesn’t have anything on the Sony Spider-Man Universe front to look out for.
Madame Web wrapped filming back in January, almost exactly one year before its theatrical release. That means if El Muerto were to follow suit it would debut sometime in either August or September of 2024 if/when a delay were to happen.
The only project in that vicinity for Sony is Venom 3, which is to release in October 2024. So, to give El Muerto its time to breathe, the studio may opt for a release date in early August for that new project.
The upcoming action crime thriller, Mob Land, directed by Nicholas Maggio, teases an electrifying narrative in its newly released official trailer and exclusive poster. The gripping film unfolds against the backdrop of a small country town, torn asunder by the merciless drug trade and the relentless kingpins that orchestrate it.
Saban Films
Mob Land will be led by John Travolta along with a versatile ensemble of cast that includes Kevin Dillon, Shiloh Fernandez, Stephen Dorff, and Ashley Benson. With a crew mentioned working behind the film, it is primed to deliver a potent cocktail of drama, action and suspense.
The story centers around John Travolta’s character. Here he plays a dedicated local sheriff who is fully devoted in upholding the peace and safety of his town amidst the violent chaos. Travolta, an accomplished actor with a robust portfolio of memorable roles, slips into the shoes of this dedicated lawman with apparent ease.
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Fans will remember his compelling performances in crime classics like Pulp Fiction, Gotti, and I Am Wrath, which make him a natural fit for this character. The exclusive poster released by Collider captures Travolta’s intensity, gun in hand and cowboy hat on. The words “Crime” and “Family” are strategically positioned next to his character, hinting at the internal and external conflicts that propel the film’s narrative.
The thriller is infused straight into the viewers at the onset of the trailer. It immediately puts them in the middle of a high-stakes heist. This audacious act is led by two brothers-in-law, Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez) and Trey (Kevin Dillon), whose daring robbery quickly descends into a deadly shootout. Their actions trigger a chain of events that extend far beyond their immediate circumstances. It will add in the fury of a mafia boss into the mix, consequently putting their families lives in danger.
A Deadly Dance of Power and Revenge Awaits the Audience
Complementing the main cast are Stephen Dorff and Ashley Benson, who bring their unique talents to this twisted crime saga. Dorff, who’s demonstrated his acting prowess in films like Blade, Public Enemies, and The Iceman, plays a vengeful mafioso, presenting a formidable obstacle for Travolta’s sheriff. Benson’s character, Shelby’s wife, finds herself unwillingly thrust into the heart of the conflict. Her life and her daughter’s become pawns in a dangerous game of power and revenge.
As these complex characters navigate a world fraught with danger and betrayal, audiences can anticipate a cinematic journey packed with tension and intrigue. The trailer and poster collectively offer a compelling preview of the high-octane action and emotional depth that Mob Land promises to deliver.
The release date for Mob Land, as of now, remains uncertain. However, fans and movie buffs should stay tuned for upcoming updates. The film promises to be a thrilling addition to the crime thriller genre thanks to its stellar cast and captivating storyline. The movie will explore what will happen when the theme of crime, family, vengeance, and survival are combined. With a mix of interesting elements set to be the core center of the movie, Mob Land will surely resonate among the viewers.
At the most basic level, the only kitchen equipment you really need are a knife, cutting board, a heatproof vessel of some kind and perhaps a utensil or two. But if you really want to take your cooking to the next level – and who doesn’t? – you’ll want to invest in a few key kitchen tools. From pressure cookers to toaster ovens, these are our favorite must-haves that will make cooking easier, faster and maybe even more enjoyable.
Best multi-cooker: Instant Pot Duo Plus
If you haven’t yet hopped on the bandwagon, a multi-cooker like the Instant Pot could become one of your favorite kitchen gadgets. This cult favorite can perform multiple tasks, including pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, rice cooking, yogurt making, steaming and warming. The combination of all these features make it easy to prepare stews, soups, braises and more. You can make cheesecake in it too! Our favorite model for most people is the Instant Pot Duo Plus because it’s simple to use, with several quick-cooking modes for soup, eggs, porridge and grains. It has sterilizing and sous vide cooking functions too.
Want a smarter Instant Pot instead? Consider the Instant Pot Pro Plus. It not only has updated features like a canning function and an oven-safe inner pot, but you also get WiFi connectivity and a companion app, which offers step-by-step guided instructions for over 800 recipes. Plus, you can use it to release the Instant Pot’s steam remotely. You can also use the app to set a timer to release the steam automatically.
Best thermometer: Thermapen One
Nobody wants to eat undercooked meat, but it’s pretty inedible when it’s overcooked as well. One way to avoid either extreme is to use a thermometer to monitor the temperature. Our favorite is the Thermapen One from ThermoWorks. It gives readings instantaneously, and the screen rotates automatically depending on how you’re holding it. The auto-wake and sleep feature is useful for quick temp checks, and its IP67 waterproofing rating means you don’t have to worry about accidentally dropping it in the sink.
The ThermoPop is a more affordable option in ThermoWorks’ lineup. It’s not quite as fast as the Thermapen One, and it doesn’t have the rotating display or backlight. But it still measures temperatures accurately and while it’s not waterproof, it is splash resistant.
Best food scale: Escali Primo
Bakers everywhere know that the most precise way to measure ingredients is with a scale. A “cup of flour” can be wildly different depending on how you scoop it, while a scale can tell you exactly if you have 120 grams. A digital scale is best for the most accurate measurements, and we especially like the Escali Primo. You can switch between grams and ounces with a single press, and importantly, there’s also a tare button that zeros out the weight so you can keep measuring in the same container. One reason we like the Escali Primo over other models is that it has a very long auto-off timer, allowing it to stay on for four minutes before shutting off. That’s important for when you need the extra time to chop up vegetables or gather other ingredients without having to worry about the scale resetting to zero.
Best air fryer: Instant Vortex Plus
The hottest kitchen gadget right now seems to be the air fryer, presumably because the idea of “frying” foods without the oily mess is an easy sell. Really, though, air fryers are just miniature convection ovens. They’re typically pod-shaped and often come with a removable basket. There are also toaster ovens with an air-frying function – see our recommendations below – if you prefer to have a multi-purpose appliance on your countertop.
Though both have their own merits, if you think you’re going to be air-frying a lot, we actually recommend a dedicated pod-shaped air fryer. These devices tend to result in crispier food, plus they’re easier to clean. One of our favorites is the Instant Vortex Plus with ClearCook and OdorErase. As the name suggests, it has a window so you can see what you’re cooking, as well as odor-eliminating filters that help reduce cooking smells – not many other air fryers have both. It also doesn’t take up as much space as a large toaster oven and it has easy to use controls.
Best stand mixer: KitchenAid Artisan series
Sure, you could probably mix together a batch of cookie dough by hand, but it’ll take time and quite a bit of upper body strength. That’s even truer if you want to knead bread dough or whip up a meringue. Save yourself the trouble by getting a stand mixer. The favorite among bakers and amateur cooks for years have been KitchenAid’s Artisan series. It’s durable, powerful and it comes with your choice of paddle, hook and whisk attachments to use with the mixing bowl. We also like that the KitchenAid mixers are compatible with a variety of accessories and attachments that can turn the machine into an ice cream maker, a meat grinder and a pasta machine just in case you want to expand your culinary horizons.
Best blender: Vitamix Explorian series
It’s hard to beat the Vitamix in this space. The high-performance blender brand makes machines that do more than just prep smoothies, but can also make salad dressing, sauces, batters and soups. It’s especially handy if you have a habit of adding tougher ingredients into your recipes – things like nuts, dried fruit and frozen produce. Whereas other, less powerful blenders may leave chunks once you introduce hardier ingredients, the Vitamix won’t, leaving you with a silky smooth final product.
Depending on the model you get, you can also buy different attachments to make the most of the blender’s powerful base. You can pick up 64-ounce containers for making smoothies for your whole family at once or a “dry grain” container that’s outfitted with a blade specifically for grinding up things like whole grains so you can make your own flour.
Vitamix currently has four series of blenders: the basic Vitamix One, which comes in at $250; the slightly more advanced Explorian series, which starts at $350 and is arguably best for most people; the Legacy series, starting at $400; and the advanced Ascent series, which will set you back at least $500. Yes, these are expensive machines, but it’s worth investing in if you do a lot of blending or like to experiment with making things from scratch.
Best toaster oven: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro
A toaster oven is a surprisingly versatile appliance. Yes, you can use it to toast bread, buns, and all manner of baked goods. But it’s also a great alternative when you don’t want to warm up your whole house with your full-size oven. It heats up far faster too, which makes it a more efficient choice for warming up leftovers.
We love the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro as it’s big enough to roast a chicken and it also has other functions like dehydrate, proof and air fry (thanks to a super convection mode). It also includes presets for baking pizzas and toasting bagels. A step up from that is the Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro, which adds WiFi connectivity so you can control it from your phone. The app has lots of recipes, too, and there’s an “autopilot” feature that automatically adjusts the temperature during cooking.
If you don’t want something quite so large, a smaller and more affordable alternative is the Panasonic Flash Express. It’s roomy enough to handle a slice of pizza but definitely won’t take up as much space as the Breville. It’s definitely a great option if all you want is a toaster oven for heating up frozen snacks or toasting several bread slices at once.
Best sous vide machine: Anova Precision Cooker 3.0
If you want to make sure your expensive steak is perfectly medium rare without having to constantly monitor its temperature, consider getting a sous vide cooker. These machines let you cook anything inside a temperature-controlled water bath so that it’s done to perfection. We’ve successfully made steak, chicken, burgers, eggs and even yogurt in a sous vide cooker, and the results have been perfect every time.
Our favorite model is the Anova Precision Cooker 3.0. The company added digital touch controls, a longer power cord and WiFi connectivity to an already stellar base product with the launch of the latest version. The companion app is thoughtfully designed as well, with hundreds of recipes and the option to control the machine remotely. And even though there’s an app component, you don’t have to use it; you can easily adjust the temperature with the on-board controls and the large digital display.
It can be quite tricky to pivot from one career path in the film industry to another path. What should you do when you start climbing one ladder and realize you want to jump onto another ladder?
In today’s episode, No Film School’s Charles Haine, GG Hawkins, and Jason Hellerman discuss:
Ladders – avoid getting on the wrong one
Not wanting to be put into a box
How having a gap in your resume is not a bad thing
The best ladder to jump on if you don’t know which ladder to climb
Building our identity on our craft
How you should market yourself if you are a “multi-hyphenate” professional
Why you should consider having multiple websites
Plus, we share a short conversation with Eva Longoria, who is a great example of someone who has climbed different ladders in the industry.
Longoria is not only a talented actor, but she is also a producer and director. She offers words of advice for new filmmakers and she describes what it was like to direct her recent film, Flamin’ Hot. The film is based on the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez, the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global pop culture phenomenon.
The film will be available for streaming on June 9, 2023.
The original comedy trio still resonates with all generations due to their sense of physical gags and charming likability but when did you, the viewer, first encounter them?
Wait until Tom, JJ & Cam detail why they are still the most important group of comedians with a bunch of setbacks along the way!
A day after winning the Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical, Some Like It Hot star J. Harrison Ghee headed to the White House.
Ghee made history at the Tony Awards on Sunday as one of the first openly nonbinary actors to win a Tony Award for performing. Alex Newell, a nonbinary actor who won for featured actor in a musical for their role in Shucked, became the first performer to reach that milestone, after winning the award earlier in the evening.
Ghee visited the White House, alongside Some Like Hot castmembers Adrianna Hicks, NaTasha Yvette Williams and Kevin Del Aguila after receiving an invitation from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as part of Pride month. The castmembers discussed the need for greater representation for trans and nonbinary individuals with Jean-Pierre and later met with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
In Some Like It Hot, Ghee plays Jerry/Daphne, a performer who begins the show identifying as Jerry, and then, after witnessing a crime, has to disguise himself as a woman named Daphne. Throughout the course of the show, the character realizes that Daphne is their most authentic self.
“I’m so humbled and honored to be here today at the White House after having just won my first Tony Award,” Ghee said in a video on the White House Instagram account. “This moment of visibility, of representation, it means everything, not just for the industry of entertainment and art and removing boundaries and labels and limits, but really for society. As an artist, Toni Morrison said our art can be effective and beautiful at the same time. And so with my art I hope to be intentionally walking in my purpose and doing it all with love and sharing that with audiences eight times a week and making a difference and making people leave the theater a little differently than when they came.”
Newell and Ghee had already made history earlier this season as the first openly nonbinary nominees in their respective categories. Both chose to be nominated within the best actor categories, as the Tony Awards did not have a non-gendered performance option.
Justin David Sullivan, a nonbinary actor who appeared in & Juliet, withdrew from nomination consideration due to the gendered categories. This follows a similar decision by Asia Kate Dillon, a nonbinary actor who appeared in Macbeth in the 2021-2022 season. Six co-creator Toby Marlow became the first openly nonbinary artist to win a Tony Award, after his co-win for best original score in 2022.
Johansson portrayed Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the MCU for over ten years. This began in 2010 with Iron Man 2, up to 2021’s Black Widow. Previously, it was announced Johansson would produce a Marvel Studios project unrelated to her character.
At the press junket for her new movie, Asteroid City, Johansson told ComicBook.com about the status of the project.
“It is still happening,” Johansson says. “It is still happening, [but] not currently because nothing is happening right now. We’re all sort of in this holding pattern as we wait out the writers’ strike and potentially our own guild strike, and so on and so forth.”
Johansson refers to the ongoing WGA strike and the looming possibility of a Screen Actors Guild strike as reasons why the project is not currently moving forward. “Right before the strike, we were in the middle of developing it, and now everything is at a simmer,” she adds.
Back in 1990, the downfall of European pop duo Milli Vanilli seemed like an open-and-shut case of disgrace.
They — Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus — were the lip-synching scofflaws, convicted in the court of public opinion of fraud against a generation of FM Top 40 radio listeners robbed of our precious sense that music and its artistic authorship were directly linked. The punishment? Permanent professional ostracism and punchline status — though when Pilatus died of an accidental drug overdose in 1998, the reality became even more punitive.
Milli Vanilli
The Bottom Line
Hovers intriguingly rather than landing decisively.
Luke Korem’s new documentary Milli Vanilli attempts to give the “Blame It on the Rain” non-singers 106 minutes of re-evaluation. Were they perpetrators or victims? If they were some gradation of the latter, who were the actual villains? If they were some gradation of the former, did the punishment fit the crime? What did Rob and Fab actually do, what was their actual sin and why did audiences respond the way they did?
Maybe Korem’s primary objective is simply to make you think more about Milli Vanilli than you ever have before. In that, it’s a total success. It’s more of a failure when it comes to trying to answer some of those big questions and engage in direct accountability, and I don’t know if I buy most of its cultural conclusions. But have I been thinking a weird amount about Milli Vanilli since watching this documentary?
Reader, you know it’s true.
To recap: In 1989 and 1990, a German-French pair took the American charts by storm. Their songs were hella catchy. Were they already kinda silly? Heavens yes, but when has anybody cared about that before? People began to care when Milli Vanilli won the best new artist Grammy in 1990, defeating Indigo Girls, Tone Loc, Neneh Cherry and Soul II Soul. This was an affront to our general decency, as no silly or disreputable artist had ever previously won a Grammy. I’m guessing.
Just months after that win, it was revealed that Rob and Fab did none of the singing on their breakout album. Horror ensued, and the name “Milli Vanilli” was never able to recover its former luster.
Told with more tonal sincerity that your average Behind the Music installment, but without a particular voice of its own other than “general seriousness” (which is to say that it’s neither sensationalistic nor mocking), Milli Vanilli boasts a solid assortment of talking heads.
Morvan is candid in a self-serving way. His play for sympathy includes a contested account of initial reservations when it was suggested that he and Pilatus would only be the frontmen in a charade, while his convoluted explanation for why they somewhat deserved their Grammy is thoroughly ridiculous. Generally, though, he presents Fab and Rob — so confident in their media presentation at the time — as inexperienced kids who got in over their heads and then, once success came, didn’t want to return to poverty. Who came blame them?
Insight into their earliest days comes courtesy of Ingrid Segieth, assistant to German producer Frank Farian and recounter of an origin story in which neither non-singer expressed any reservations at all, as well as Charles Shaw, Brad Howell, Linda Rocco and Jodie Rocco, actual vocalists on “Girl You Know It’s True” and more. In terms of their American breakout, we hear from an assistant manager, three threatening Arista Records executives, and, naturally enough, MTV’s “Downtown” Julie Brown.
If you accept Korem’s perspective that Rob and Fab were, at worst, the smallest of fish in this mendacious pond, the documentary suffers from an absence of the people powerful enough to be the actual villains. Farian didn’t do interviews for the documentary. Arista’s Clive Davis didn’t do interviews, and while at least one of the three Arista suits implies he generally must have known, nobody’s going to come out and accuse the titan of fraud. Former Musical Academy head Michael Greene, circuitously accused of a pay-for-play deal to let Milli Vanilli lip-sync at the Grammys, is absent, as is their late manager Sandy Gallin, who might have made the payment. Basically, Korem presents Milli Vanilli as puppets, but the most powerful of the people who might have pulled the strings aren’t here.
That’s frustrating because the smartest of the cultural observers featured in the documentary — critic Hanif Abdurraqib is an executive producer as well — want to make bigger points about exploitation in the music industry and Korem obviously would love to force a reckoning of some sort. But there are too many unconnected dots. It’s easy to make the right inferences about a scandal in which a group of Black performers were marginalized, erased or hung out to dry by a group of white executives who presumably got rich and faced no visible consequences themselves, but the documentary has to hover rather than land. That leaves Morvan as a victim worthy of empathy, but short of inherently deserving any triumphant redemption.
Morvan, it turns out, is a totally serviceable singer now and he’s able to capitalize on nostalgia to carve out something resembling a career. The documentary capitalizes on the same nostalgia to bring complexity to what felt, 30 years ago, like a simple story. It could have benefited from even more complexity.
The different performers onstage spoke to the diversity of Mitchell’s influence: Annie Lennox, Allison Russell, Wendy and Lisa from Prince’s Revolution. Since I still can’t get the concert off my mind, I thought I’d celebrate that spirit of musical community by offering a kind of who’s who of the Joni Jam. Some names you’ll probably recognize, others you might not — all the more reason to give them a listen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find some fresh apples before leaving town.
Earlier this year, when Mitchell received the Library of Congress’s prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the great Annie Lennox gave a performance of “Both Sides Now” that brought something entirely new out of that song. Seriously, just watch it. The dramatic finger-pointing! On Saturday night, Lennox honored Mitchell with a synthy, atmospheric cover of “Ladies of the Canyon,” similar to the version she recorded for a 2007 Mitchell tribute album. Lennox has long been a great, fluid interpreter of other people’s material: For the longest time, I didn’t even know that “No More ‘I Love You’s,’” the leadoff track from her 1995 album “Medusa,” was a cover. But it is, and Lennox lifted a wonderful 1986 song by the Lover Speaks out of semi-obscurity with this passionate rendition. As ever, she has taste. (Listen on YouTube)
2. Allison Russell: “The Returner”
Onstage, when she accompanied her for a rendition of “Young at Heart,” Mitchell called the Americana artist Allison Russell “the most beautiful clarinet player ever.” But she’s a heck of a singer and lyricist, too, as this uplifting title track from her upcoming second album “The Returner” attests. (Listen on YouTube)
3. Sarah McLachlan: “Sweet Surrender”
Just a very underrated single from Sarah McLachlan’s multiplatinum “Surfacing.” Put some respect on Sarah McLachlan’s name! (Listen on YouTube)
4. Blake Mills: “Skeleton Is Walking”
Mitchell’s Gorge performance of “Amelia,” from her singular 1976 album “Hejira,” was a highlight for me — not only for the lushness of her vocals, but because of the musician and producer Blake Mills’s faithful accompaniment, on Mitchell’s own guitar. There’s a precise kind of spaciousness to the guitar phrasings on “Hejira,” and Mills did an excellent job recreating them. You can hear more of his nimble guitar work on the ambling, psychedelic solo he noodles over the back half of “Skeleton Is Walking,” from his forthcoming solo album, “Jelly Road.” (Listen on YouTube)
Al Roker is tackling a subject that might not be at the center of his activities on NBC’s “Today.”
The morning-news veteran, through his Al Roker Entertainment production company, is releasing a new documentary underwritten by farming-equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. that examines the state of Black farming in the U.S. — and some of the struggles the farmers in question must often navigate.
“Gaining Ground: The Fight for Black Land,” was created in partnership with director Eternal Polk, and looks at how landowners are working to reclaim agricultural rights. Many Black farmers often work land that has been passed down over generations via inheritance, but without a clear title, leaving the landholders unable in many instances to qualify for government assistance, equipment financing or agriculture programs. Many of them have lost their land over the years, marking a loss of generational wealth.
“It’s one of those iceberg issues,” says Roker, in a recent interview. “There’s so much more under the surface.” The topic may be of heightened interest in an era when Americans are often pondering issues of equity and inequality.
The film will debut at the American Black Film Festival in Miami on June 15, 2023, and is expected to appear in screenings across the country this summer. Al Roker Entertainment is working to find a home for the film on a streaming service or cable network for next year.
Roker says the film was originally conceived as an hour-long project, but executives at Deere, after reviewing footage, asked if it could be extended to 90 minutes to tell more of the story.
While many TV viewers know Roker from his years spent forecasting weather for “Today” and other venues, fewer know that he has led a small TV-production company for more than two decades. His company has produced series like “Coast Guard Alaska” for Weather Channel and “DEA” for Spike TV.
There are new projects in the works, including an animated series for PBS Kids that may remind viewers of his main career. “Weather Hunters,” slated to debut in 2024 or 2025, Roker says, is centered on eight-year-old Lily Hunter, a weather detective who shares her investigations with her family, including dad Al Hunter, voiced by Roker. The three kids in the series have the same ages Roker’s children did when he first came up with the idea for the program
Roker likes to create new things, but he has no plans to leave “Today,” even as he enjoys some new activity at Al Roker Entertainment. “They are going to have to drag me off the train,” he says.
“Today” viewers have watched over the last few months as Roker has grappled with some health issues. He missed his regular appearance on NBC’s broadcast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November — the first time he has done so in 27 years — to deal with a blood clot. He ended up in the hospital for four weeks and had to spend some time rebuilding his strength. In recent weeks, he had to have his knee replaced (actually, he had to replace a replacement).
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Roker says of his medical issues. But he believes he is on the mend. An avid walker, he recently completed his first 10,000-step day in quite some time, a sign that his body is gaining strength. He credits his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, and his family, along with a healthy dose of positive thinking, for his rebound.
A review of the decision to move convicted teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison is underway and should be completed “within a few weeks,” the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) says.
In a statement sent to Global News on Tuesday, the CSC said a three-person review committee including “external representation” has begun its work.
“Specifically, the review will examine the appropriateness of his security classification and transfer to a medium-security facility, review victims considerations and notifications, and whether the legislative and policy framework was followed in this case,” the CSC said.
“It will also look at any other relevant considerations specific to this case.”
Poilievre demands Trudeau transfer Paul Bernardo back to maximum security, puts forward new bill
The CSC said its thoughts were with the victims and their families.
“We know that continued public attention of this case is very difficult for them and we regret any pain or concern this transfer has caused,” the CSC said.
The families of Bernardo’s victims didn’t learn that he was being transferred to a different prison until the day it happened.
The CSC said the decision to move Bernardo was due to a “reassessment of his security classification.”
“Security classification must be reviewed at least every two years (for context, Paul Bernardo has been incarcerated since 1993),” the statement said.
“A change to the security classification of offenders is based on the assessment of their risk related to institutional adjustment, escape risk, and risk to public safety, based on a consistent set of factors set out in law and policy. When transferring an offender, CSC selects the appropriate level of security by taking into account the degree and type of control they require to ensure the ongoing safety of the public, victims, offenders, and our staff.”
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The CSC said over 95 per cent of offenders in maximum security are there because they can’t be safely managed in a medium-security facility.
Killer Paul Bernardo’s move to medium-security prison prompts calls for answers: Trudeau, Poilievre
It was determined that Bernardo could be safely managed in a medium-security institution, the statement said.
“The fact that an offender is in medium security does not mean they are being ‘fast-tracked’ through the federal correctional system,” the CSC said.
“An offender can still be a high public safety risk, yet CSC can effectively and safely manage them in a medium-security setting.”
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the murders, kidnapping and torture of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s. He has admitted to sexually assaulting 14 other women and was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka, who died after being drugged and sexually assaulted.
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Tammy’s sister Karla Homolka, who was married to Bernardo at the time, was released in 2005 after completing a 12-year sentence for her role in the crimes committed against French and Mahaffy.
— With files from Jacquelyn LeBel, John Lawless and The Canadian Press
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sparked a relationship after filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith together in 2005.
They had six children together — three adopted and three biological — and got married in 2014.
Brad and Angelina split after an explosive argument in 2016 and have been battling over custody of their children and shared winery, Miraval, ever since.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have one of the most infamous Hollywood love stories. What started out as two of the most respected and beloved actors of their time working together laid the foundation for a love affair that would last over 10 years, include six children, and a number of collaborative projects. Unfortunately, since the two split in 2016, things have turned ugly between them, and it’s all been highly publicized.
Between a custody battle and a lawsuit over Chateau Miraval, a property they bought in France while together, Brad and Angelina have been warring for years. Catch up on everything to know about the pair’s history, as well as where they stand today, below.
When Did Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Meet?
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2005’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith [Everett Collection].
Back in 2005, a little movie came out that would become the catalyst for Brad and Angie’s relationship. In 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the future couple played husband and wife with a mission to try and assassinate the one another! Now, that wouldn’t instantly sound like a recipe for romance, but for Brad and Angie their time on set and working together really brought them closer.
At the time, Brad was still married to Friends starJennifer Aniston. But by the time the filmed had wrapped and speculation swirled around Brad and Angie, the actor’s five-year marriage to Jen was all but over. Soon, Jennifer filed for divorce from Brad, giving him the freedom to pursue Angie. The love triangle made headlines for months, with the public dying to know whether Brad had cheated on Jen with his new love interest.
“I would be a robot if I said I didn’t feel moments of anger, hurt, of embarrassment,” Jen admitted in a 2006 Vanity Fair interview, which took place as Brad and Angie were flaunting their new romance publicly. “I just don’t know what happened. There’s a lot I don’t understand, a lot I don’t know, and probably never will know, really.”
Brad and Angelina denied being involved while he was still married to Jen, and Jen said she had no choice but to believe that. “I choose to believe my husband,” she said. “At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything, but I would much rather choose to believe him.”
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Family
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attend the premiere of ‘Ocean’s 13’ in Los Angeles on June 5, 2007 one year after welcoming their first child, Shiloh [MEGA].
Before Angelina and Brad got together, the actress adopted a son, Maddox, now 21, from Cambodia in 2002 when he was seven months old. Angelina was with Billy Bob Thornton at the time, but took Maddox in as a single mother (she and Billy Bob split just months after the adoption was finalized). In July 2005, Angelina adopted a daughter, Zahara, now 18, from Ethiopia. Brad was with her at the time she picked Zahara up, and he legally adopted both Maddox and Zahara in 2006.
Just one year into their romance, Brad and Angie were expecting their first biological child together. In May 2006, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (now 17 years old) was born, making the clan a family of five. In March 2007, Angie adopted Pax, 19, from Vietnam and Brad became the young child’s legal, adoptive father in February 2008. The couple then went on to have twins, Vivienne and Knox, now 14, in July 2008. Angie famously announced her pregnancy with the twins by debuting her baby bump at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Marriage
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the 2008 Spirit Awards on Feb. 23, 2008.[MEGA].
In 2014, the former couple wed at the Château Miraval estate in Correns, France, which was a property they purchased as a hideout from the media’s scrutiny. It was such a beautiful, intimate ceremony that heavily involved the couple’s children. Maddox and Pax walked their mom down the aisle, with Knox and Shiloh serving as ring bearers and Zahara and Vivienne as flower girls.
Angelina wore a custom Atelier Versace dress for the wedding, which was attended by just 20 guests. The kids all helped design the gown, which Brad didn’t see until the moment Angie walked down the aisle, she told PEOPLE. The kids also helped out by writing their parents’ vows. “It was very sweet what they came up with,” Angie gushed.
Unfortunately, the marriage was quite short-lived. After just two years as a married couple, Brad and Angelina announced that they would be getting divorced in Sept. 2016. What followed were explosive claims about what happened that led to the messy split (see below).
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Custody Battle
Everything exploded between Brad and Angelina when they were on a private flight home from France back to the United States with the six kids. The aftermath was a years-long custody battle that remains to 2023, despite three of the pair’s children now being legal adults. Angelina was initially granted temporary full custody of the children, with Brad granted visitation. The agreement was put into place amidst claims that Brad had gotten physically violent with Maddox on the flight following an argument with Angelina. Specific details of the alleged altercation were not made public.
By November 2016, Brad was cleared of the abuse allegations by the Department of Child & Family Services and FBI. A temporary custody arrangement was put in place that allowed Brad unsupervised visits with the children, but only after approval from a court-appointed psychologist.
Brad requested to have all court documents relating to the custody case sealed in Jan. 2017. At first, Angelina argued this decision, and claimed that Brad was just “terrified that the public would learn the truth about him” if the documents weren’t kept private. They were able to reach an agreement to seal the documents by the end of that month.
Angie and Brad have been at war since 2016. (Shutterstock)
In June 2018, Brad scored a big win in the custody case when a judge ruled that Angelina wasn’t doing enough to ensure that the kids had a relationship with their father. Brad was granted an increase in custody over those summer months in a new temporary agreement. That August, they had a disagreement about child support, with her accusing him of not paying a “meaningful” amount.
Brad and Angelina were expected to go to trial for the custody hearing in Dec. 2018, but by November, they were able to come to an agreement out of court. The agreement stated that Brad would still have less than 50 percent custody, but said that his time with the kids would increase.
By April 2020, a judge ruled that Angelina and Brad would be declared “legally single,” but their divorce was not finalized. That summer, they had a new disagreement when Angelina tried to have the judge in their divorce case, John W. Oudenkirk, removed and replaced because of his relationship with Brad’s attorney. Her request was denied in Nov. 2020.
In March 2021, Angelina filed new court documents, where she alleged that she had proof to support claims of domestic violence against Brad. Angelina also claimed that, if her children were able to testify in the custody hearing, their statements would support her allegations. At the time, a source close to Brad told HollywoodLife that Angelina was simply trying to “target and tarnish” her ex with these allegations.
The judge ruled that the kids would not be allowed to testify in May 2021. Angelina blamed Judge Oudenkirk, claiming that he was not giving her a fair trial. That same month, Brad was finally awarded joint custody of the remaining minor children, but Angelina appealed the decision in June, insisting that Judge Oudenkirk was not acting impartial in his decisions. Lawyers for the stars appeared in court in July 2021.
Following that hearing, Angelina was granted the request to remove Judge Oudenkirk from the case, voiding the joint custody decision that he had made the previous month. At the time, a rep for Brad told HollywoodLife, “The appeals court ruling was based on a technical procedural issue, but the facts haven’t changed. There is an extraordinary amount of factual evidence which led the judge – and the many experts who testified – to reach their clear conclusion about what is in the children’s best interests. We will continue to do what’s necessary legally based on those detailed findings of what’s best for the children.” Brad went to court in Oct. 2021 to try and reinstate the decision that Judge Oudenkirk had made, but was denied.
At the end of summer and beginning of fall 2022, Brad and Angelina’s custody case made headlines once again when she went public with shocking allegations against him amidst another legal issue they were having (more info on that below). In court documents, Angelina finally shared her story about what allegedly happened on that Sept. 2016 plane ride between herself, Brad and the kids.
Angelina’s statement alleged that Brad had a confrontation with one of the kids (believed to be Maddox) before even getting on the plane. Then, during the flight, he allegedly accused Angie of being “too deferential” with the kids. More than an hour into the trip, he allegedly “grabbed [Angelina] by the head and shook her” before “[grabbing] her by the shoulders and [shaking her again],” according to the complaint. One of the kids reportedly tried to step in and defend Angelina, and she said that Brad allegedly “lunged” at the minor child.
“The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other,” Angelina’s statement alleged. “Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face. Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened. Many were crying.”
When the plane landed, Brad allegedly wouldn’t let Angelina and the kids off the aircraft. It wasn’t until he fell asleep that she was able to devise a plan to get the kids safely to a hotel, according to the documents. At the time, a source close to Brad confirmed that the actor had been drinking and said that he “acknowledged that he crossed a line,” but immediately worked towards making amends. After Angelina went public with her accusations in 2022, a rep for Brad added, ““(Jolie’s) story continues to evolve each time she tells it with new, unsubstantiated claims. Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn’t do. These new allegations are completely untrue.”
The War Over Miraval
The previously mentioned “other lawsuit” Brad and Angelina were dealing with had to do with their winery, Chateau Miraval. Brad and Angelina first visited Chateau Miraval in France in June 2007 when they were looking for private properties to bring their family. They bought the property from Tom Bove, who told Vanity Fair in a 2023 profile that Brad and Angie desperately wanted somewhere private to go before the birth of Vivienne and Knox. They purchased the property in May 2008 through individual holding companies, with Brad taking a 60 percent stake and Angelina taking 40 percent.
In addition to using the property as refuge, Brad also began to take an interest in making wine himself. He teamed up with wine producer Marc Perrin to create a rosé. Although Angelina was less involved with the wine production, the ‘Jolie-Pitt’ name was on all of the labels of the extremely successful wines. Brad and Angelina became equal partners in Miraval in 2013 when he transferred 10 percent of his stakes to Angelina for the price of one euro (which he later claimed that she never paid), according to the Vanity Fair article.
A bottle of wine from Chateau Miraval. (Shutterstock)
However, along with the divorce came big-time disagreements over what to do with the estate. Angelina wanted out of her business partnership with Brad, and she sent an email to him in Jan. 2021 to let him know, the Vanity Fair profile reveals. “I have tried to stay open to the business, to see it as something that could be positive for our family, and have therefore not walked away,” she reportedly wrote. “I see now how you have really wanted me out and will most likely be pleased to receive this email.”
At the time, Brad agreed to buy out Angelina’s portion of the winery, but the deal did not go through. Angelina later claimed that Brad would not agree to the deal because she wouldn’t sign an NDA that he had asked for. The alleged NDA “prohibited Jolie from discussing, outside of court, any of Pitt’s personal conduct toward her or the family,” according to Vanity Fair. However, a source close to Brad insisted that the NDA was strictly about Miraval.
In July 2021, Angie filed legal paperwork, accusing her ex of blocking her from selling her share of the winery to a third party. In Sept. 2021, Brad fired back with paperwork of his own, accusing Angelina of trying to cut him out of the potential sale.
He claimed that her decision to try and sell her stake in the winery went against an alleged previous deal that the two had made. “[Brad insisted] that he and Jolie made a pact agreeing never to “sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other’s consent.” It was a promise Jolie would deny, claiming “no such agreement ever existed,”” according to Vanity Fair. A source close to Brad also deemed Angelina’s behavior as “vindictive” at the time.
In October 2021, Angelina officially sold her 50 percent stake in Chateau Miraval to a company controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler. Then, in Feb. 2022, Brad sued her for not seeking his permission first. In his legal paperwork, he asked for damages, and said that he wanted to undo the deal with Shefler because he was making it difficult for Brad to run the winery in the way he wanted.
By June 2022, Brad amended his filing and accused Angelina of attempting to “inflict harm” on him by secretly making the sale to Shefler. He claimed that Shefler had “malicious intentions” for the winery. “Jolie knew and intended that Shefler and his affiliates would try to control the business Pitt had built and to undermine Pitt’s investment in Miraval,” Brad’s court docs stated. “And just as Jolie envisioned, that is exactly what Shefler has done.” Brad also claimed that Angelina purposely sold the winery to an “adversarial party” because he was granted 50/50 custody of the kids in a separate lawsuit. The actor’s lawsuit noted that he did not find out about the sale of the winery until it was in the press, as well.
That July, a judge granted Angelina and her lawyers the rights to subpoena documents from Brad’s team amidst the ongoing battle over Miraval. Once the team had the documents they needed, Angelina and her holding company, Nouvel, filed their countersuit in Sept. 2022. In the documents, Angelina accused Brad of “acting in a hostile, destructive and illegal manner.” Nouvel accused Brad of freezing them out of discussions about Miraval and sought financial damages based on claims that he “wasted its assets” with his projects at the Chateau over the years. “Sadly, this is yet another rehash and repackaging of old material to try and distract from [Angelina]’s own behavior,” a source close to Brad told HollywoodLife at the time.
Things really blew up in October 2022, though, when Angelina filed another cross complaint that featured bombshell allegations about her ex-husband. In the suit, Angie publicly came forward with her allegations about Brad being “violent” towards her and their children during the 2016 airplane incident, which preceded Angie’s divorce filing (remember, Brad was previously cleared by the Department of Children and Family Services). Angie had never openly discussed her allegations before, but claimed that Brad “forced” her to do so when he attempted to “reassert control over [her] financial life” by asking her to undo the Miraval sale and re-join him as a business partner.
The lawsuit featured Angelina’s allegations of Brad’s abuse (which we hashed out in the ‘custody battle’ section of this article). A rep for Brad denied the story, and pointed out that Brad previously “accepted responsibility” for what he did do on the plane. “These new allegations are completely untrue, [though],” the rep insisted. Angelina also claimed that she and Brad never had an agreement not to sell the winery without each other’s permission.
Where Angelina & Brad Stand Today
Angelina brings the kids to a red carpet event. (shutterstock)
Unfortunately, as of June 2023, things are still messy between Brad and Angelina. Brad filed a new complaint against Angelina in the Miraval battle on June 1. In the newest suit, Brad said that Angelina “intentionally” tried to damage him with the sale of Miraval to Shefler. He reiterated his claim that the two had an agreement about not selling the winery without each other’s consent before their split. Brad also continues to claim that Angelina only wanted to sell her share of the winery as retribution for him getting a win in their custody case.
Since splitting from Angelina, Brad has not been photographed publicly with any of his six children. He has opted to keep his relationship with the kids out of the public eye. However, Angelina is often seen with the kids, both out and about and on red carpets.
![Photo © 2007 RFJ/The Grosby Group New York, June 5, 2007 "Ocean's 13" Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals - Grauman's Chinese Theater In this picture: ANGELINA JOLIE & BRAD PITT (PGrfj) *** Local Caption *** . (Mega Agency TagID: MEGAR81124_1.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]](https://hollywoodlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-romance-timeline-2.jpg)
![©2008 NCNA PHOTO 310-828-3445(NO RAMEY CREDIT) February 23, 2008, Los Angeles, California BRAD PITT and ANGELINA JOLIE showed up at the 2008 Spirit Awards. Angelina didn't even try to disguise her baby bump like she did at the Screen Actors Guild Awards late last month. XYZ (Mega Agency TagID: MEGAR85364_02.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]](https://hollywoodlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-romance-timeline-3.jpg)
