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Tech

For decades, Silicon Valley anticipated the moment when a new technology would come along and change everything. It would unite human and machine, probably for the better but possibly for the worse, and split history into before and after.

The name for this milestone: the Singularity.

It could happen in several ways. One possibility is that people would add a computer’s processing power to their own innate intelligence, becoming supercharged versions of themselves. Or maybe computers would grow so complex that they could truly think, creating a global brain.

In either case, the resulting changes would be drastic, exponential and irreversible. A self-aware superhuman machine could design its own improvements faster than any group of scientists, setting off an explosion in intelligence. Centuries of progress could happen in years or even months. The Singularity is a slingshot into the future.

Artificial intelligence is roiling tech, business and politics like nothing in recent memory. Listen to the extravagant claims and wild assertions issuing from Silicon Valley, and it seems the long-promised virtual paradise is finally at hand.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s usually low-key chief executive, calls artificial intelligence “more profound than fire or electricity or anything we have done in the past.” Reid Hoffman, a billionaire investor, says, “The power to make positive change in the world is about to get the biggest boost it’s ever had.” And Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates proclaims A.I. “will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care and communicate with each other.”

A.I. is Silicon Valley’s ultimate new product rollout: transcendence on demand.

But there’s a dark twist. It’s as if tech companies introduced self-driving cars with the caveat that they could blow up before you got to Walmart.

“The advent of artificial general intelligence is called the Singularity because it is so hard to predict what will happen after that,” Elon Musk, who runs Twitter and Tesla, told CNBC last month. He said he thought “an age of abundance” would result but there was “some chance” that it “destroys humanity.”

The biggest cheerleader for A.I. in the tech community is Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, the start-up that prompted the current frenzy with its ChatGPT chatbot. He says A.I. will be “the greatest force for economic empowerment and a lot of people getting rich we have ever seen.”

But he also says Mr. Musk, a critic of A.I. who also started a company to develop brain-computer interfaces, might be right.

Apocalypse is familiar, even beloved territory for Silicon Valley. A few years ago, it seemed every tech executive had a fully stocked apocalypse bunker somewhere remote but reachable. In 2016, Mr. Altman said he was amassing “guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.” The coronavirus pandemic made tech preppers feel vindicated, for a while.

Now, they are prepping for the Singularity.

“They like to think they’re sensible people making sage comments, but they sound more like monks in the year 1000 talking about the Rapture,” said Baldur Bjarnason, author of “The Intelligence Illusion,” a critical examination of A.I. “It’s a bit frightening,” he said.

The Singularity’s intellectual roots go back to John von Neumann, a pioneering computer scientist who in the 1950s talked about how “the ever-accelerating progress of technology” would yield “some essential singularity in the history of the race.”

Irving John Good, a British mathematician who helped decode the German Enigma device at Bletchley Park during World War II, was also an influential proponent. “The survival of man depends on the early construction of an ultra-intelligent machine,” he wrote in 1964. The director Stanley Kubrick consulted Mr. Good on HAL, the benign-turned-malevolent computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey” — an early example of the porous borders between computer science and science fiction.

Hans Moravec, an adjunct professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, thought A.I. would be a boon not just for the living: The dead, too, would be reclaimed in the Singularity. “We would have the opportunity to recreate the past and to interact with it in a real and direct fashion,” he wrote in “Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence.”

In recent years, the entrepreneur and inventor Ray Kurzweil has been the biggest champion of the Singularity. Mr. Kurzweil wrote “The Age of Intelligent Machines” in 1990 and “The Singularity Is Near” in 2005, and is now writing “The Singularity Is Nearer.”

By the end of the decade, he expects computers to pass the Turing Test and be indistinguishable from humans. Fifteen years after that, he calculates, the true transcendence will come: the moment when “computation will be part of ourselves, and we will increase our intelligence a millionfold.”

By then, Mr. Kurzweil will be 97. With the help of vitamins and supplements, he plans to live to see it.

For some critics of the Singularity, it is an intellectually dubious attempt to replicate the belief system of organized religion in the kingdom of software.

“They all want eternal life without the inconvenience of having to believe in God,” said Rodney Brooks, the former director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The innovation that feeds today’s Singularity debate is the large language model, the type of A.I. system that powers chatbots. Start a conversation with one of these L.L.M.s and it can spit back answers speedily, coherently and often with a fair degree of illumination.

“When you ask a question, these models interpret what it means, determine what its response should mean, then translate that back into words — if that’s not a definition of general intelligence, what is?” said Jerry Kaplan, a longtime A.I. entrepreneur and the author of “Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

Mr. Kaplan said he was skeptical about such highly heralded wonders as self-driving cars and cryptocurrency. He approached the latest A.I. boom with the same doubts but said he had been won over.

“If this isn’t ‘the Singularity,’ it’s certainly a singularity: a transformative technological step that is going to broadly accelerate a whole bunch of art, science and human knowledge — and create some problems,” he said.

Critics counter that even the impressive results of L.L.M.s are a far cry from the enormous, global intelligence long promised by the Singularity. Part of the problem in accurately separating hype from reality is that the engines driving this technology are becoming hidden. OpenAI, which began as a nonprofit using open source code, is now a for-profit venture that critics say is effectively a black box. Google and Microsoft also offer limited visibility.

Much of the A.I. research is being done by the companies with much to gain from the results. Researchers at Microsoft, which invested $13 billion in OpenAI, published a paper in April concluding that a preliminary version of the latest OpenAI model “exhibits many traits of intelligence” including “abstraction, comprehension, vision, coding” and “understanding of human motives and emotions.”

Rylan Schaeffer, a doctoral student in computer science at Stanford, said some A.I. researchers had painted an inaccurate picture of how these large language models exhibit “emergent abilities” — unexplained capabilities that were not evident in smaller versions.

Along with two Stanford colleagues, Brando Miranda and Sanmi Koyejo, Mr. Schaeffer examined the question in a research paper published last month and concluded that emergent properties were “a mirage” caused by errors in measurement. In effect, researchers are seeing what they want to see.

In Washington, London and Brussels, lawmakers are stirring to the opportunities and problems of A.I. and starting to talk about regulation. Mr. Altman is on a road show, seeking to deflect early criticism and to promote OpenAI as the shepherd of the Singularity.

This includes an openness to regulation, but exactly what that would look like is fuzzy. Silicon Valley has generally held the view that government is too slow and stupid to oversee fast-breaking technological developments.

“There’s no one in the government who can get it right,” Eric Schmidt, Google’s former chief executive, said in an interview with “Meet the Press” last month, arguing the case for A.I. self-regulation. “But the industry can roughly get it right.”

A.I., just like the Singularity, is already being described as irreversible. “Stopping it would require something like a global surveillance regime, and even that isn’t guaranteed to work,” Mr. Altman and some of his colleagues wrote last month. If Silicon Valley doesn’t make it, they added, others will.

Less discussed are the vast profits to be made from uploading the world. Despite all the talk of A.I. being an unlimited wealth-generating machine, the people getting rich are pretty much the ones who are already rich.

Microsoft has seen its market capitalization soar by half a trillion dollars this year. Nvidia, a maker of chips that run A.I. systems, recently became one of the most valuable public U.S. companies when it said demand for those chips had skyrocketed.

“A.I. is the tech the world has always wanted,” Mr. Altman tweeted.

It certainly is the tech that the tech world has always wanted, arriving at the absolute best possible time. Last year, Silicon Valley was reeling from layoffs and rising interest rates. Crypto, the previous boom, was enmeshed in fraud and disappointment.

Follow the money, said Charles Stross, a co-author of the novel “The Rapture of the Nerds,” a comedic take on the Singularity, as well as the author of “Accelerando,” a more serious attempt to describe what life could soon be like.

“The real promise here is that corporations will be able to replace many of their flawed, expensive, slow, human information-processing sub units with bits of software, thereby speeding things up and reducing their overheads,” he said.

The Singularity has long been imagined as a cosmic event, literally mind-blowing. And it still may be.

But it might manifest first and foremost — thanks, in part, to the bottom-line obsession of today’s Silicon Valley — as a tool to slash corporate America’s head count. When you’re sprinting to add trillions to your market cap, Heaven can wait.

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For decades, Silicon Valley anticipated the moment

Video

In the latest episode of “Awards Circuit,” presented by Showtime, Variety TV editors Michael Schneider and Emily Longeretta weed through the hottest contenders for best drama series this Emmys season, from the ever-captivating “White Lotus” to the beloved “Succession.” 

Schneider and Longeretta discuss the dramas they estimate will earn nominations in the category, including series like HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and Netflix’s “The Crown.” Notably, the jump of HBO’s “The White Lotus” from the limited to the drama series category this season is at the top of their minds. 

“What’s interesting with ‘White Lotus’ is that it is moving to the drama category because you had some of those stars like Jennifer Coolidge sticking around for Season 2,” says Schneider. “Jennifer Coolidge is the person that has been the face of this show, and once again will probably be nominated,” Longeretta points out.

However, there were two series in particular that both Schneider and Longeretta believe will dominate Emmy nominations: HBO’s “The Last of Us” and “Succession.”

“Up until now, there really hasn’t been a breakout, hit television show based on a video game,” says Schneider of the post-apocalyptic drama starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. “The cast completely blew everyone away,” Longeretta says. 

While the concept of a zombie video game may be overworked, Schneider commends creator Craig Mazin for “coming up with something that was really special and felt original.”

Schneider, too, predicts that “Succession” will “steamroll the Emmy race, in many categories.” With 48 nominations and 13 wins under the show’s belt, Longeretta believes that this number will only grow due to its ability to create buzz following “every episode.”

“I think it’s only going to get even bigger this year because it’s what everyone is talking about,” said Schneider. 

Check out the full conversation above. Variety’s Awards Circuit is presented by Showtime.

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In the latest episode of “Awards Circuit,”

Entertaintment

Chinese moviegoers abiding love for the Transformers franchise was on full display over the weekend as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts opened to $40 million, the second-biggest start for a Hollywood film in the country this year. 

The new Paramount film, the seventh in the Transformers series, has earned solid social scores — 9.1 on Douban, 9.1 on Maoyan and 6.3 from Douban — setting it up for a respectable career run. Current projections in China see the film finishing with around $85 million. 

Sony’s Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse was pushed to second place and added $8.9 million in its second frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway. The film’s China total sits at $34.1, with Maoyan forecasting a finishing total of just over $45 million. 

Universal’s Fast X, which holds the crown for Hollywood’s biggest opening in China in 2023 ($51.1 million), added $3.4 million. After four weeks in cinemas, the movie has brought in $131.8 million. 

Both Rise of the Beasts and Fast X have performed strongly for the current, diminished release environment for U.S. movies in China, but their earnings are slim compared to what earlier installments in their franchises generated. Fate of the Furious earned $392 million in China in 2017, and Transformers spin-off Bumblebee brought in $171 million in 2019. Analysts in China say filmgoers have become far more discerning in recent years, and that U.S. tentpoles need to bring something truly sensational to get the local audience out to cinemas en masse — rather than just a “good enough” franchise sequel. 

Chinese road comedy Godspeed, in theaters for 45 days, scored fourth in China for the weekend with $3.1 million, taking its total to $157.6 million. And a re-release of Studio Ghibli’s anime classic Castle in the Sky rounded out the top five with a $2.5 million weekend haul. The film has earned $15.5 million in China to date — over 35 years after its original international release. 

Warner Bros.’ The Flash and Disney/Pixar’s Elemental open in China on Friday.  

At the U.S. domestic box office, Rise of the Beasts opened to a promising $60.5 million. It also did sizeable business in other international markets, earning $110 million offshore for an early global roar of $170.5 million

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Chinese moviegoers abiding love for the Transformers

Movies

Last Updated: June 12, 2023, 09:18 IST

Ileana D’Cruz shares a photo from her babymoon.

Ileana D’Cruz announced her pregnancy earlier this year in the month of April.

Mommy-to-be Ileana D’Cruz is currently pregnant with her first child. Time and again, the actress is sharing glimpses from her baby moon, where she is also seen flaunting her baby bump. Away from the frenetic pace and chaos of everyday life, Ileana is on a much-needed getaway. She recently uploaded a sun-kissed selfie of herself and captioned it ‘Pool Day’.

Ileana looked fresh as a daisy in a yellow bikini. She donned one of her brightest smiles. She covered her baby bump with her sarong. Black-tinted shades tied her whole look together. Have a look at the selfie.

Ileana D’Cruz Instagram story.

Earlier last week, the actress soft-launched her boyfriend on Instagram. Taking to Instagram, the pregnant actress shared a black-and-white photo of the couple. She also penned a heartwarming note, opening up about how he has been by her side since she got pregnant.

“Being pregnant is such a beautiful beautiful blessing… I didn’t think I’d be fortunate enough to ever experience this so I consider myself so incredibly lucky to be on this journey. I can’t even begin to describe how lovely it is to feel a life growing inside of you. Most days I’m just overwhelmed staring down at my bump going wow – I get to meet you soon,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

She added, “Then there’s some days that are so inexplicably hard. So trying. They’re overwhelming. All consuming. And things just feel hopeless. And there’s tears. Then follows the guilt. And this voice in my head puts me down. I should be thankful, not be crying over something so trivial. I should be stronger. What kind of mother will I be if I’m not strong enough? don’t know what kind of mother I will be. I really don’t. All I do know is that I love this little human so darned much already that I could explode. And for now – I think that’s enough.” 

Speaking about her boyfriend, Ileana wrote, “On the days I forget to be kind to myself, this lovely man has been my rock. He’s held me when he feels me starting to crack. And wipes the tears away. And cracks goofy jokes to make me smile. Or just offers a hug when he knows that’s exactly what I need in that moment. And everything doesn’t seem so hard anymore.”

Ileana announced her pregnancy earlier this year in the month of April.

Aditi Giri

Aditi Giri, Senior Sub-Editor at News18. She is a Bollywood and Biryani enthusiast. She loves talking to your favourite BTown celebrities, and brings …Read More

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Last Updated: June 12, 2023, 09:18 ISTIleana

Latest News

Garth Brooks has made a point of confirming that his new bar will “serve every brand of beer,” following a transphobic backlash to Bud Light’s recent partnership with Dylan Mulvaney.

While speaking with Billboard last week about his forthcoming bar and entertainment space, Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, the veteran country musician made it clear that hatred would not be tolerated there. The venue is scheduled to open soon in Nashville’s South Broadway District.

“I know this sounds corny,” he said, “I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks. … I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another.

“And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a—, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

Brooks’ Billboard interview arrived a couple of months after Mulvaney, a transgender influencer and activist, announced their collaboration with Bud Light. The brewing giant had previously gifted Mulvaney cans of beer with her face on them to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her TikTok series, “Days of Girlhood,” which has chronicled her gender-transition journey.

Mulvaney’s announcement sparked a wave of conservative outrage and prompted some — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — to call for a boycott of Bud Light over the brand deal. One of the beer company’s most prominent detractors, Kid Rock, posted a video of himself shooting up a stack of Bud Light cans in response to the collaboration.

Billboard also reported that Kid Rock’s and John Rich’s bars, located in the same area of Nashville as Brooks’, stopped selling Bud Light in the wake of the company’s partnership with Mulvaney.

Others have shown support for Mulvaney and shamed their haters for spreading transphobia.

Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, initially released a statement saying that it “works with hundreds of influencers … as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.” The corporation’s chief executive, Brendan Whitworth, later issued a separate statement saying, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

Meanwhile, Mulvaney responded by thanking those who “choose to see” her as a human being, even if they “don’t fully understand or relate” to her experience.

“What I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel,” the comedian and musical theater actor said at the time. “I don’t think that’s right. … Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history ever.”

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Garth Brooks has made a point

MCU

Kingpin actor Vincent D’Onofrio really wants to fight Tom Holland’s Spider-Man after his latest comments. 

D’Onofrio hasn’t been shy when it comes to expressing his hopes to fight the MCU’s web-slinger someday. The Wilson Fisk actor previously said that clashing with Spider-Man is one of his goals, noting the character’s ties with the villain in the comics. 

Moreover, D’Onofrio also responded to hopes of seeing his Kingpin against Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4, saying, “I want it as much as everybody does, so we’ll see.”

Vincent D’Onofrio Calls Out Tom Holland’s Spider-Man

Marvel

During an appearance at this year’s Fan Expo Philadelphia, via FandomWire, a fan dressed as Spider-Man was about to ask a question to Vincent D’Onofrio, but the actor chimed in mid-conversation to issue a warning to the MCU’s web-head. 

While the fan is introducing himself, D’Onofrio jokingly says that he’s going to get Spider-Man at some point in the MCU. 

The actor then said an NSFW threat, pointing out that Kingpin is “going to get [Spider-Man], motherf*cker:”

A fan wearing a Spider-Man costume: “Hi, my name is Steve. I’m a big fan of both of you guys…”

D’Onofrio: “I’m going to get you someday, Spider-Man…”

Fan: “We will see if that happens.”

D’Onofrio: “There may be a sea of people between us right now, but I’m going to get you, motherf*cker.”

In March 2023 during an appearance at Raleigh’s GalaxyCon, D’Onofrio offered a terrifying threat to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man by saying, “Eventually, I will beat Spider-Man’s ass.”

Moreover, in November 2022, the Daredevil: Born Again actor said that the true endgame for Kingpin is to fight Spider-Man. 

The full exchange can be seen below: 

When Will Kingpin Fight Spider-Man?

It remains to be seen when exactly Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin will go up against Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, but many have speculated that it will happen in Spider-Man 4. 

A past Daredevil: Born Again rumor may have teased that Wilson Fisk will run for the position of mayor in New York City. This led to another rumor claiming that this specific plot point will impact the events of Spider-Man 4, indicating that the MCU villain could show up in the upcoming web-slinger movie. 

Interestingly, a clash with Kingpin lines up with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s past tease about Spider-Man’s Phase 5 future, with the top-ranking executive noting that “Spidey [is] going into the street level heroes.”

It would be fitting to see Spider-Man fight Kingpin, considering their long history in the comics. Moreover, seeing D’Onofrio reprise his Marvel villain role on the big screen would mark a special moment for the actor who has cemented himself as the definitive version of Kingpin. 

Daredevil: Born Again has no exact release date yet on Disney+.

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DCU

We may be edging closer to finding out who will next sport the red cape and blue spandex of Superman in the upcoming reboot Superman: Legacy, with insiders close to production revealing that Nicholas Hoult (The Great), David Corenswet (Pearl), and Tom Brittney (Grantchester) are gearing up for in-person screen tests. According to Deadline, these tests “will take place around Father’s Day weekend,” with the trio trying out for the lead role of Clark Kent aka the DC icon Superman.


Not only that, but a trio of actresses will also be in-person testing for the equally iconic Lois Lane. Emma Mackey (Sex Education), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), and Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) will reportedly test for Lois, however Deadline adds that “some of the test deals are still being negotiated and haven’t all closed,” but “these are the names expected to participate in the auditions.”

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

While we await further updates, it certainly sounds like this collection of actors are the top-contenders for the roles of Superman and Lois in the DCU’s Superman: Legacy. There has been some confusion in the past over which role Hoult (who came second to Robert Pattinson for another DC outing, The Batman) is auditioning for, Superman or his archenemy Lex Luthor, but this update likely puts that to rest.

The news will come as good news for fans of David Corenswet. The actor, who is best known for the likes of Pearl, The Politician, and We Own This City, has been a fan-favorite for the role of Superman for some time, with the actor himself having previously expressed his passion for the comic book character. “My pie-in-the-sky ambition is definitely to play Superman,” the actor said back in 2019. “I would love to see somebody do an upbeat, throwback [take on Superman]. I love the Henry Cavill dark and gritty take, but I would love to see the next one be very bright and optimistic.”

RELATED: Rachel Brosnahan Says Joining Superman: Legacy Cast Would Be ‘Extraordinary’


Superman: Legacy Will Kick-Start the DCU in 2025

Warner Bros. Animation

Superman: Legacy will reboot the DC icon in 2025, kick-starting James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU, beginning with a young version of the beloved character early in his superhero career. “Superman: Legacy tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas,” the official synopsis reads. “He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.”

It has now been confirmed that Superman: Legacy will be written and directed by Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad filmmaker James Gunn, who recently explained the difficulties of crafting a Superman project. “It’s easier to take a character nobody knows, like the Guardians, or Peacemaker, and then do whatever you want with them. People in every single country in the world know the story of Superman,” he said, adding that it’s crucial he does something different with the Man of Steel. “How can I make it different from the Superman movies that have been made so far, but also have it respect all the Superman movies that have been made so far? So it just took me some time to try to figure it out,” Gunn explained.

The Superman reboot will be the beginning of the new DCU, with projects such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, a Swamp Thing reboot, and a Wonder Woman prequel series titled Paradise Lost to follow as part of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.

Superman: Legacy is scheduled for release on July 11, 2025.

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We may be edging closer to finding

Comics

Frostpunk 2 developer 11 Bit Studios has announced that the game will launch in 2024 for PC, and has debuted a new trailer for its city-building sequel. Set 30 years after the original game, which saw humanity almost wiped out by a new ice age, one of the last strongholds on the planet has managed to survive through the big freeze and a new era of expansion has begun.

Like the first game and its expansions, Frostpunk 2 will focus on taming a world covered in ice, as the drive to expand beyond the borders of The City will require vast supplies of oil to keep the fires going. People have changed, but the bonding instinct of survival has faded away, and there’ll be some hard decisions to make if you want to see your community grow and survive.

There haven’t been too many updates on Frostpunk 2 since it was first announced in 2021 with a chilling CG trailer, but at the time, the game’s co-director Jakub Stokalski did mention that 11 Bit Studios was aiming to create more than just a mere sequel. With a bigger team working on the sequel, Stokalski said that the studio is now able to focus on delivering a follow-up that has a grander scale and improved design.

“Our ambition is to do more than a straight-up sequel,” Stokalski said. “What we aim to deliver to players is an experience that goes vastly beyond that of the original Frostpunk.”

The first Frostpunk game was a big hit when it first launched in 2018 on PC, selling 3 million copies and making its way to console. The game received three DLC packs after launch, with its final expansion, On The Edge, being released in August 2020.

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

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Festivals

Missed last year’s filmmaking lab with acclaimed director Apichatpong Weerasethakul? Apply for this year’s lab by June 15th.

In August, fifty filmmakers will travel to Yucatan, Mexico to live and create films remotely for 10 days. With this lab, Weerasethakul (Memoria, Tropical Malady) is revisiting a workshop methodology originally created by Abbas Kiarostami and later adapted by Werner Herzog. Not only is this an opportunity to develop new work, but a chance to connect with a group of filmmakers from around the globe. Don’t miss the chance to apply!

Credit: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Lab in Yucatan, Mexico

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is recognized as one of the most relevant figures of world cinema, and the 2010 winner of the covetous Palme d’Or at Cannes for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. 

This year’s workshop takes you to Yucatán, Mexico to embark on an intimate filmmaking journey. In 2018, I attended a workshop from some of these same organizers—it’s a great model for a lab and, most importantly, it’s run with integrity. With 14 selections from the lab going on to recently screen at Cannes 2023, this is an excellent opportunity to push yourself, travel, create, and potentially showcase new work. On top of that, PlayLab Films will select 2 feature film projects to help continue production.

PlayLab Films Apichapong Weerasethakul Lab Selections at Cannes 2023
14 Selected films from Apichapong Weerasethakul’s lab in the Amazon at Cannes 2023

Details:
  • 50 Filmmakers were selected to travel to Yucatán, Mexico for 12 days
  • 10 days of experiential learning; Individual and group counseling sessions with Apichatpong
  • August 2nd-11th, 2023
  • Lodging in Shamblanté for 12 days, 11 nights
  • 10 of the short films were selected for exclusive distribution (last year’s batch went to Cannes!)
    • 10 selected films offered complete color correction by Moonlight
  • Two feature film projects selected for production
  • Application cost: € 5.600 eur (about $6,000)
  • Application Deadline: June 15th

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Film

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The Shorts Fast track

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The 29th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest announces 2023 line-up

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2023 PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL SHORTFEST ANNOUNCES LINE-UP  

  

Palm Springs, CA (June 1, 2023) – The 29th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest returns to the Camelot Theatres (Palm Springs Cultural Center) from June 20-26. The festival will screen 50 curated programs showcasing 299 films including 53 World Premieres, 10 International Premieres, 33 North American Premieres and 18 U.S. Premieres. Repeat screenings of the winners will be shown closing night and on June 26th. Additionally, a virtual Best of the Festival will run from July 7-13, featuring a collection of ShortFest’s juried award winners available to stream at a packaged price online. More than 6,000 short films from 129 countries were submitted. The complete line-up and schedule will be available on June 1st at www.psfilmfest.org and a list of films are included at the end of the release.   

  

“We are so thrilled to be bringing such incredible talent to Palm Springs to celebrate film and the craft of short filmmaking” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “We are honored to be sharing their work with our loyal Palm Spring audience and the world. We are looking forward to helping create the kind of experience only a film festival can provide.” 

 

“With such a large, high quality submission pool, the programming team had to make some difficult decisions but we think these films represent the vibrancy and immense creativity in short films from around the world.” said ShortFest Director of Programming Sudeep Sharma. “We can’t wait to host the films and filmmakers at Palm Springs and are honored to be part of their journey.”

 

Short films featuring celebrated film and TV actors include Ana Fabrega in Gold and Mud; Bobby Lee and Matt Jones in Death & Ramen; Catherine Curtin in Galapagos; Dana Delany and Dylan Baker in Troy; Edward Norton and John Turturro in High Noon on the Waterfront; Greta Lee in The Breakthrough; Hugo Weaving in Teacups; Jamie-Lynn Sigler in I’m On Fire; Judith Light as a producer on Aikāne; Ken Marino and Kate Flannery in Help Me Understand produced by Paul Feig; Margaret Cho in Gianna; Lio Mehiel in Smoking Kills; Michael Ironside in The Family Circus; Princess Nokia in Daughter of the Sea; Rachel Bloom and Pam Murphy in Heritage Day; Shannon Dang in Fanatic directed by Taran Killam; Tom Holland in Last Call; Wendi McLendon-Covey in Beautiful, FL; Wes Studi in The Roof; and Whoopi Goldberg in Three Trees.

  

Each year ShortFest reflects the evolving film industry and the world at large. As reported by the filmmakers themselves, 125 out of 299 films (nearly 42%) feature women Directors, and 139 films (47%) have filmmakers who identify as non-white. Further to its mandate to showcase film excellence worldwide, this year’s slate includes more than half of the lineup from foreign countries – Canada (26), China (7), France (30), India (7) and the United Kingdom (20) – along with films from Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine,Uruguay and Vietnam. 

 

Palm Springs International ShortFest is a bellwether for awards recognition, over the course of 29 years, the festival has presented over 100 films that have gone on to receive Academy Award® nominations. Juried award winners will be announced on Sunday, June 25 from the official selection presenting them with awards and cash prizes worth $25,000 including five Academy Award® qualifying awards. Best of the Fest shorts will screen on the final day, Monday, June 26. This year’s categories, which will have their own group of jury members, include: 

  

Oscar®Qualifying Awards: Best of the Festival Award, Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes and Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under 

  

Student Short Awards: Best Student Animated Short, Best Student Documentary Short, Best Student International Short, Best Student U.S. Short 

  

Special Jury Awards: Best International Short, Best U.S. Short, Best Comedy Short, Best LGBTQ+ Short, Best Midnight Short, Local Jury Award, Young Cineastes Award, Kids’ Choice Award, MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award

  

The ShortFest Forum will also take place from June 23-25, with in-person panels, roundtables, and interactive events featuring industry representatives, filmmakers and additional guests. ShortFest Jury members and Forum programs and participants will be announced on June 5. 

  

The 2023 Palm Springs ShortFest will screen the following films: 

 

Animation

  • Aikāne (USA), Directed by Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson 
  • Ashkasha (Spain/Argentina), Directed by Lara Maltz 
  • Boat People (Canada), Directed by Thao Lam & Kjell Boersma 
  • Canary (Canada), Directed by Pierre-Hugues Dallaire & Benoit Therriault
  • ChaCha (China/France), Directed by Chenghua Yang & Shang Zhang 
  • Christopher at Sea (France/USA/United Kingdom), Directed by Tom CJ Brown 
  • ‘Delta Airline Saftey Video (USA/France), Directed by Jordan Michael Blake 
  • Discussion animée entre entendeurs de voix (France), directed by Tristan Thil
  • Eeva (Croatia/Estonia), Directed by Lucija Mrzljak & Morten Tšinakov 
  • Epicenter (South Korea), Directed by HAHM Hee-yoon
  • The Flying Sailor (Canada), Directed by Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis 
  • fur (USA), Directed by Zhen Li 
  • ​​Ice Merchants (Portugal/France/United Kingdom), Directed by João Gonzalez 
  • La Pursé (Brazil), Directed by Gabriel Nóbrega & Lucas René
  • Luce and the Rock (Belgium/France/Netherlands), Directed by Britt Raes
  • Make or Break (Germany), Directed by Mike Plitt & Falk Schuster
  • Menagerie (USA), Directed by Jack Gray
  • Misaligned (Poland/Latvia), Directed by Marta Magnuska
  • Movement (Switzerland), Directed by Valentine Moser
  • Mushka (USA), Directed by Andreas Deja
  • Pipes (Switzerland), Directed by Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi & Sujanth Ravichandran
  • Pond (Switzerland), Directed by Lena von Döhren & Eva Rust
  • The Rainbow Dung Beetle (USA), Directed by Ellen Mowat & Cole Dupzyk
  • Red Rabbit (Ireland), Directed by Rory Kerr
  • The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns (South Korea), Directed by Hang Luong Jiwon
  • Shadow of the Butterflies (France/Portugal/Qatar), Directed by Sofia El Khyari
  • Slow Light (Poland/Portugal), Directed by Katarzyna Kijek & Przemysław Adamski
  • The Social Chameleon (USA/India/United Kingdom/Hungary), Directed by Alex Ross 
  • Spring Roll Dream (United Kingdom), Directed by Mai Vu
  • Sprout (USA), Directed by Zora Kovac
  • Stranding (USA), Directed by Ben Kadie
  • Sub Terra (Canada), Directed by Jeffrey Zablotny
  • Swing to the Moon (France), Directed by Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero & Solenne Moreau
  • Teacups (Australia/Ireland), Directed by Alec Green & Finbar Watson
  • Things that Disappear (South Korea), Directed by Kim Changsoo
  • Think Something Nice (Switzerland), Directed by Claudius Gentinetta
  • Three Trees (Canada), Directed by M.R. Horhager & Aaron Hong
  • Tomato Kitchen (China/USA), Directed by Junyi Xiao
  • Way Better (Lithuania), Directed by Skirmanta Jakaitė
  • Well Wishes My Love, Your Love (Sweden/Malaysia), Directed by Gabriel Gabriel Garble
  • Zeb’s Spider (Canada), Directed by Alicia Eisen & Sophie Jarvis

 

Documentary

  • 45th Parallel (United Kingdom), Directed by Lawrence Abu Hamdan
  • Alpha Kings (USA), Directed by Enrique Pedraza Botero & Faye Tsakas  
  • Amara and Ry’Shauna (USA), Directed by Kate Cohen & A.D. Freese
  • Away (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal), Directed by Ruslan Fedotov 
  • Birdsong (United Kingdom/Laos), Directed by Omi Zola Gupta & Sparsh Ahuja 
  • Black Strings (USA), Directed by Marquise Mays 
  • Border Conversations (Germany), Directed by Jonathan Brunner 
  • Breaking Silence (USA), Directed by Amy Bench & Annie Silverstein 
  • Call Me Mommy (Ireland), Directed by Tara Isidora O’Callaghan 
  • CANS Can’t Stand (USA), Directed by Matt Nadel & Megan Plotka 
  • Chicken Stories (USA), Directed by Jonathan Pickett 
  • Clean (Scotland/United Kingdom), Directed by Miranda Stern 
  • Daron, Daron Colbert (USA), Directed by Kevin Steen
  • Dicks That I Like (Germany), Directed by Johanna Gustin  
  • Echo (USA), Directed by Benjamin Wolin & Michael Minahan 
  • Eco-Hack! (USA), Directed by Josh Izenberg & Brett Marty 
  • Fata Morgana (Germany/Syria), Directed by Daood Alabdulaa 
  • Heart of an Astronaut (Sweden), Directed by Jennifer Rainsford 
  • High Noon on the Waterfront (USA), Directed by Billy Shebar & David Roberts 
  • How We Get Free (USA), Directed by Geeta Gandbhir & Samantha Knowles 
  • I Never Had Dreams of My Son (Ukraine/USA), Directed by Jason Blevins
  • Kaamoksen Valossa (Finland), Directed by Niko Väistö
  • Little to Big (Sweden), Directed by Ellinor Hallin & Ellen Fiske
  • Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles (USA/Ukraine), Directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
  • Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma) (USA), Directed by Sean Wang
  • Oasis (Canada), Directed by Justine Martin
  • Parker (USA), Directed by Sharon Liese & Catherine Hoffman
  • Powernapper’s Paradise (Sweden), Directed by Samir Arabzadeh
  • Ptitsa (Poland/Ukraine), Directed by Alina Maksimenko
  • Puffling (United Kingdom/Iceland), Directed by Jessica Bishopp
  • Sanctuary (USA), Directed by John Haley & Julia Szromba
  • Shirampari: Legacies of the River (Peru/Spain/USA), Directed by Lucia Florez
  • Still Waters (USA), Directed by Aurora Brachman
  • Under G-d (USA), Directed by Paula Eiselt
  • ur heinous habit (USA), Directed by Eugene Kolb
  • Waking Up in Silence (Germany/Ukraine), Directed by Mila Zhluktenko & Daniel Asadi Faezi
  • Will You Look At Me (China), Directed by Shuli Huang

 

Live Action

  • 100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu (USA), Directed by Gbenga Komolafe
  • 48 Hours (Iran), Directed by Azadeh Moussavi
  • 9-5 (Serbia), Directed by Maša Šarović 
  • Aban (Iran/France), Directed by Abbas Taheri & Mahdieh Toosi 
  • About Me (Netherlands), Directed by Ali Asgari
  • Accidentally Intentional (Indonesia), Directed by Kevin Rahardjo 
  • Agustina (Mexico), Directed by Luciana Herrera Caso
  • AirHostess-737 (Greece), Directed by Thanasis Neofotistos 
  • All Choked Up (USA), Directed by Allison Volk 
  • All I Know (Nigeria/USA), Directed by Obinna Onyeri 
  • All-inclusive (Colombia/France), Directed by Duván Duque Vargas
  • Almost Fall (France), Directed by Margot Pouppeville 
  • Animal Transport (Argentina), Directed by Iván Bustinduy 
  • Anthony’s (USA), Directed by Sabrina Greco 
  • Aphonia (Poland), Directed by Marta Z. Nowak 
  • Arava (Israel), Directed by Sarah Meital Benjamin 
  • Arnasa (Spain), Directed by Raúl Barreras 
  • The Arrival of Aliens (China), Directed by Tian Guan & Junjie Lam 
  • Astonishing Little Feet (USA), Directed by Maegan Houang 
  • At Dusk (Canada), Directed by Miryam Charles 
  • August Visitor (USA), Directed by Ifeyinwa Arinze
  • An Avocado Pit (Portugal), Directed by Ary Zara
  • À La Vie á L’amore (Canada), Directed by Emilie Mannering
  • Baba (Canada), Directed by Anya Chirkova & Meran Ismailsoy 
  • The Beads (Brazil), Directed by Rafaela Camelo & Emanuel Lavor 
  • Beautiful, FL (USA), Directed by Gabriela Ortega 
  • A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow (Poland), Directed by Emi Buchwald 
  • Before Madrid (Uruguay), Directed by Nicolás Botana & Ilén Juambeltz
  • Bergie (South Africa), Directed by Dian Weys 
  • Best Friends On A Summer Hike (USA), Directed by ​​Mario Furloni 
  • Between Her (Israel), Directed by Bar Cohen
  • Big Bang (Brazil/France), Directed by Carlos Segundo 
  • Bizarro World (USA), Directed by Jonathan Salmon & Abdi Ibrahim
  • Black the Sea (Colombia), Directed by Juan David Mejía Vásquez 
  • Blond Night (Canada), Directed by Gabrielle Demers 
  • Blue Veil (USA), Directed by Shireen Alihaji 
  • The Breakthrough (USA), Directed by Daniel Sinclair 
  • Bulldozer (Denmark), Directed by Mads Koudal 
  • Burial of Life as a Young Girl (France), Directed by Maïté Sonnet 
  • Calcutta 8:40 am (France/India), Directed by Adriano Valerio 
  • Call Me Mommy (USA), Directed by Haley Alea Erickson & Taylor Washington 
  • Chomp It! (Singapore), Directed by Mark Chua & Lam Li Shuen 
  • Claudio’s Song (United Kingdom/Ukraine), Directed by Andreas Nilsson 
  • Closing Dynasty (USA), Directed by Lloyd Lee Choi 
  • Colors of the Jungle (Peru/USA/Ecuador), Directed by Julio César Padilla 
  • Confessions (USA), Directed by Stephanie Kaznocha 
  • Coral (USA/Poland/France), Directed by Sonia Oleniak  
  • Crarylake Boats and Floats (USA), Directed by Spencer Thielmann & Emily Berge 
  • Creamy (Hungary), Directed by Bálint Dániel Sós 
  • Cry It Out (USA), Directed by Musa Syeed & Kamau Bilal 
  • D.O.D. (USA), Directed by Paul Davis 
  • Daughter of the Sea (USA/Puerto Rico), Directed by Alexis C. Garcia 
  • David Se Va (USA/Mexico), Directed by Joel Villegas Saldaña 
  • A Day In February (United Kingdom), Directed by Klaas Diersmann 
  • Dead Enders (USA), Directed by Fidel Ruiz-Healy & Tyler Walker 
  • A Dead Marriage (Poland), Directed by ​​Michał Toczek 
  • Death & Ramen (USA/Hong Kong), Directed by Tiger Ji 
  • Death Snot (USA), Directed by Charlie Schwan 
  • Death to the Bikini! (Canada), Directed by Justine Gauthier 
  • Diaspora (Canada), Directed by Tyler Mckenzie Evans
  • Donkey (USA), Directed by Matt Kazman 
  • Drifting (Switzerland), Directed by Marion Reymond 
  • Dún Laoghaire (USA/Ireland), Directed by William Lancaster
  • Ecstatic Thing (France), Directed by Benjamin Nuel 
  • Endless Sea (USA), Directed by Sam Shainberg  
  • Euridice, Euridice (Switzerland/France), Directed by Lora Mure-Ravaud 
  • The Fading (Canada), Directed by Rafaël Beauchamp 
  • The Family Circus (USA), Directed by Andrew Fitzgerald 
  • Fanatic (USA), Directed by Taran Killam 
  • File (Iran), Directed by Sonia K. Hadad 
  • First Chair (USA), Directed by Ethan Montgomery & Luke Montgomery 
  • Flail (USA), Directed by Ben Gauthier 
  • For Those Who Don’t Know How (USA), Directed by Brian Chamberlayne
  • Four Nights and a Fire (USA), Directed by Alex Nystrom  
  • Galapagos (USA), Directed by Kyle Sims 
  • Gertrude and Yvan Party Hard (France), Directed by Louise Groult 
  • Gianna (USA), Directed by Kait Schuster 
  • The Glasses (USA), Directed by Sarah Smith & Frances Chewning 
  • Gold and Mud (USA), Directed by Conor Dooley 
  • Good Girls Club: A Virginity Odyssey (Greece), Directed by Dimitris Tsakaleas & Lida Vartzioti
  • Goose Egg (USA), Directed by Madeline Leshner & Zach Stone  
  • Green Space (United Kingdom), Directed by Jamie Fraser 
  • Grown (USA), Directed by Jamila Meloche 
  • Guilty Pleasures (USA), Directed by George Oliver 
  • Halmoni’s Pot (Grandma’s Pot) (USA), Directed by A. Lauren Lee 
  • Happy Rakhi (USA), Directed by Ragini Bhasin 
  • Help Me Understand (USA), Directed by Aemilia Scott 
  • Heritage Day (USA), Directed by Lara Everly 
  • Hills and Mountains (Afghanistan/Canada), Directed by Salar Pashtoonyar 
  • Home (India), Directed by Aditi Sharma 
  • Honolulu (USA), Directed by Maya Tanaka 
  • Hot Rod (France), Directed by Juliette Gilot 
  • Idiot Fish (France), Directed by Hakim Mao 
  • I Have No Legs, and I Must Run (China), Directed by Yue Li 
  • I Have No Tears, and I Must Cry (USA), Directed by Luis Fernando Puente 
  • I’m Here (South Korea), Directed by Jeong Eun-uk
  • Immaculate (United Kingdom), Directed by Villo Krisztics 
  • I’m On Fire (USA/Australia), Directed by Michael Spiccia 
  • Incognito (India), Directed by Ravi Muppa 
  • Infantry (Brazil), Directed by Laís Santos Araújo 
  • Insta Gay (Canada), Directed by Simon Paluck 
  • In The Garden of Tulips (USA), Directed by Julia Elihu 
  • Invasive Species (USA), Directed by Annie Ning 
  • I Probably Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (USA), Directed by Emma Weinswig 
  • I See Them Bloom (Germany), Directed by Nikita Gibalenko
  • It Happened One Night at Melody Lanes (USA/Canada), Directed by Alex Fofonoff 
  • It’s A Date (Ukraine/United Kingdom), Directed by Nadia Parfan 
  • It Turns Blue (Iran/Greece), Directed by Shadi Karamroudi 
  • Ivalu (Greenland/Denmark), Directed by Anders Walter & Pipaluk K Jørgensen
  • Jammed (Netherlands), Directed by Isis Mihrimah Cabolet 
  • Junglefowl (Canada/India), Directed by Kalainithan Kalaichelvan 
  • The Key (Belgium/Palestine/Qatar/France), Directed by Rakan Mayasi 
  • The Kidnapping of the Bride (Germany), Directed by Sophia Mocorrea 
  • Killing Bagheera (Germany/Syria), Directed by Muschirf Shekh Zeyn
  • Klette (Belgium), Directed by Michael Abay
  • Last Call (United Kingdom), Directed by Harry Holland
  • The Launch (USA), Directed by KK Apple
  • Lay Me by the Shore (Canada), Directed by David Findlay
  • Leonetty (USA), Directed by Logan Jackson
  • Lot’s Wife (Israel), Directed by Ori Birger
  • Matapang (France/Belgium), Directed by Léa-Jade Horlier
  • Meantime (France), Directed by Guillaume Scaillet
  • Me & Aydarous (Saudi Arabia/USA), Directed by Sara Balghonaim
  • The Melting Creatures (Chile/France), Directed by Diego Céspedes
  • Merv (USA), Directed by Sam Roebling
  • Mirage (Iran), Directed by Atefeh Salehi
  • More Than Friends (Israel), Directed by Omri Laron
  • Mouthpiece (USA), Directed by Graham Goldstein
  • Mucho, Mucho Amor (USA), Directed by Mariano Dongo
  • Mulika (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Directed by Maisha Maene
  • Municipal Relaxation Module (Canada), Directed by Matthew Rankin
  • Mysore Magic (USA), Directed by Abijeet Achar
  • Mystic Tiger (Spain), Directed by Marc Martínez Jordán
  • Nanitic (Canada), Directed by Carol Nguyen
  • The Newt Congress (Switzerland/Germany), Directed by Matthias Sahli & Immanuel Esser
  • Nian (USA), Directed by Michelle Krusiec
  • No Bedroom (Canada), Directed by Ryan Leedu
  • Nocturnal Burger (USA/India), Directed by Reema Maya
  • Noodles Forever (USA), Directed by McKinley Carlin
  • Nude (Canada), Directed by Olivier Labonté LeMoyne
  • The Old Young Crow (Japan/USA), Directed by Liam LoPinto
  • On My Father’s Grave (France/Morocco), Directed by Jawahine Zentary
  • On Purpose (Lithuania), Directed by Adas Burkšaitis
  • Our Males and Females (Jordan), Directed by Ahmad Alyaseer
  • Out of Water (USA), Directed by Madi Stine
  • The Pass (USA), Directed by Pepi Ginsberg
  • Pennies from Heaven (USA), Directed by Sandy Honig
  • The Phone Booth (Germany), Directed by Lukas März & Kilian Bohnensack
  • Piece by Piece (Austria), Directed by Reza Rasouli
  • Please Hold the Line (Malaysia), Directed by Tan Ce Ding
  • Poolside Inn (USA), Directed by Remington Butler
  • Porter (Norway), Directed by Lisa Enes
  • Power Signal (USA), Directed by Oscar Boyson
  • Presto (Iran), Directed by Keyvan Ahmadi
  • Prom Car ’91 (USA), Directed by Brian Otting
  • Pruning (USA), Directed by Lola Blanc
  • Queen of Pain (France), Directed by Cyril Carbonne
  • Rabobesto – Or How I Saved a Monster (Finland), Directed by Mari Mantela
  • Re-record (Ukraine), Directed by Kyrylo Zemlyanyi
  • Rest Stop (USA), Directed by Crystal Kayiza
  • Ricky (USA), Directed by Rashad Frett
  • Romance Package For Two (USA), Directed by Carlen May-Mann
  • The Roof (USA), Directed by Alexander Bocchieri
  • Room For One More (Australia), Directed by Jesse Vogelaar
  • Science Around Us (Netherlands/Indonesia), Directed by Arif Abdillah
  • SCRED TBM (France), Directed by Kevin Le Dortz
  • Sèt Lam (France), Directed by Vincent Fontano
  • She Always Wins (United Kingdom/USA), Directed by Hazel McKibbin
  • Shoes Off (USA), Directed by Joel Jay Blacker
  • Sibling (Belgium), Directed by Laura Van Passel
  • Side Hustle (USA), Directed by Abby Harri
  • The Silent Whistle (China), Directed by Yingtong Li
  • Simo (Canada), Directed by Aziz Zoromba
  • Simone (USA), Directed by Aisha Amin
  • The Singles Retreat (USA), Directed by Jo Firestone
  • Sisters of the Rotation (Lebanon), Directed by Michel Zarazir & Gaby Zarazir
  • Smoking Kills (USA), Directed by Dulcinee DeGuere
  • Snail (Iran), Directed by Aminreza Alimohammadi
  • Snow in September (Mongolia), Directed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
  • Snow White (Croatia), Directed by Lana Barić
  • Soleil de nuit (Canada), Directed by Fernando Lopez Escriva & Maria Camila Arias
  • Soon-to-Be a Zombie (Japan), Directed by Yuki Saito
  • Sorry I Am Late I Was Masturbating (Germany), Directed by Alena Shevchenko
  • So They Say (Chile/USA), Directed by Natalia Luque
  • (spin) (United Kingdom), Directed by Precious Wura Alabi
  • Split Ends (Iran), Directed by Alireza Kazemipour
  • Step Into The Mattress (USA), Directed by Erin Vassilopoulos
  • The Story of This Life (China/USA), Directed by Alex Jiang
  • SULAM (Ladder) (USA), Directed by Noam Argov
  • The Summer I Got Tough (USA), Directed by Victoria Shan Wang
  • Sunless (USA), Directed by Boris Vesselinov
  • Supermarket Affairs (Vietnam/USA), Directed by Hang Luong Nguyen
  • Surprise (Sweden), Directed by Laerke Herthoni
  • The Swimmer (Denmark), Directed by Máté Boegi
  • Take Me Home (USA), Directed by Liz Sargent
  • Tall Dark and Handsome (United Kingdom), Directed by Sam Baron
  • Things Unheard Of (Turkey), Directed by Ramazan Kilic
  • Thirstygirl (USA), Directed by Alexandra Qin
  • Ticks (USA), Directed by Sam Max
  • Tremor (Germany), Directed by Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard
  • Troy (USA), Directed by Mike Donahue
  • Tskaltubo (Canada/Georgia), Directed by Toby Andris
  • Underdog (France), Directed by David Arslanian 
  • Untitled Floating Mom Short (USA), Directed by Aidan Guynes
  • Untitled Movie (USA), Directed by Annie Brennen
  • The Vacation (USA), Directed by Jarreau Carrillo
  • Vernissage (Sweden), Directed by Arvin Kananian
  • VHS Tape Replaced (Saudi Arabia), Directed by Maha Al-Saati
  • Vibrator Girl (USA), Directed by Kara Strait
  • Wading (USA), Directed by Nada Bedair
  • Walk of Shame (USA), Directed by Dane Ray
  • Walk Out Nice and Smooth (USA), Directed by Kerry O’Neill
  • Wank (United Kingdom), Directed by Yasmin Afifi
  • Weapons and Their Names (USA), Directed by Melina Valdez
  • We Were Meant To (USA), Directed by Tari Wariebi
  • When You Left Me on That Boulevard (USA), Directed by Kayla Abuda Galang
  • White Ant (United Kingdom/India), Directed by Shalini Adnani
  • Women Visiting a City (Spain/France), Directed by Enrique Buleo
  • Yellow (United Kingdom/Afghanistan), Directed by Elham Ehsas
  • Yokelan, 66 (USA), Directed by Tang Yi
  • You Know Where To Find Me (USA), Directed by Sam Davis 

 

About Palm Springs International ShortFest

Designated by AMPAS, BAFTA, BIFA and Goya Awards as an award-qualifying festival, and accredited by the International Short Film Conference, the Palm Springs International ShortFest & Short Film Market is one of the most acclaimed short film showcases in the world. The event is produced by the Palm Springs International Film Society, whose mission is to nurture and encourage new filmmaking talent, honoring the great masters of world cinema, and expanding audience horizons. Visit www.psfilmfest.org.  

 


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Like live theater itself, the Tony Awards has had ample opportunity of late to accustom itself to curve balls, upsets and all sorts of real-world intrusions onto Broadway’s rarified and beloved stages. Forget Covid – well, actually, don’t forget Covid, it’s still here one way or another – this year’s big potential disruption came with the WGA strike against the AMPTP.

RELATED: How To Watch The Tony Awards On Tv And Streaming

Though for a brief moment it seemed the Tony Awards might be canceled this year, an agreement was reached: WGA strikers and sympathetic members of other unions would not picket the the 76th Annual Tony Awards at the United Palace theater in New York City’s Washington Heights, allowing the show to proceed live live tonight at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and streaming/on demand on Paramount+.

RELATED: Every Best Play Tony Award Winner Since 1947: Photo Gallery

Same is true for the live, 90-minute pre-show, The Tony Awards: Act One, hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT tonight, available for free on Pluto TV via smart TVs, streaming devices, mobile apps and online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the “Pluto TV Celebrity” channel. No payment, registration or sign-in is required.

One caveat though (or maybe two, depending on how you look at it): WGA writers were not permitted to lift a pen for the show, meaning no pre-written interstitial bits, no pre-written musical number introductions or jokes or new musical numbers specially written for the show. The performances will come entirely from the nominated Broadway shows, plus maybe a few others included from Broadway offerings from years past (Funny Girl, with Lea Michele, has already been announced as a performer). Also: the WGA has asked its members not to attend the ceremony: Winning playwrights, if they belong to the WGA, can pre-tape an acceptance speech or have someone else pick up the award.

RELATED: Tony Award Nominations – The Complete List

Keep up with all the latest on Deadline’s Live Blog, below.

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What to Watch


By Nicole Gallucci

Get in, nerds. We’re going to watch Never Have I Ever’s leading lady Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) graduate Sherman Oaks High School. It’s been a chaotic few years for our girl, but all her hard work is about to pay off in the fourth and final season of Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s charming coming-of-age dramedy. Or is it? Will Devi go to prom? Get into college? And land the guy of her dreams? (Preferably Paxton or Ben!) All your burning questions will be answered by the end of Never Have I Ever‘s satisfying, heartwarming final chapter. With several new characters — including Ethan, Devi’s new love interest played by Michael Cimino — surprise celebrity cameos, emotional goodbyes, and more of the show’s sizzling pop culture references and one-liners, Never Have I Ever‘s final 10 episodes will make you laugh, cry, and cheer until the moment our trusty narrator John McEnroe signs off.

Photo: Lara Solanki/Netflix

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By Nicole Gallucci Get in, nerds. We’re going to

Awards

Here’s to some real-life New Directions! In one of the earliest awards handed out in the 76th Tony Awards telecast on CBS and Paramount+, history was made as Alex Newell became the first-ever openly non-binary actor to win a Tony award, in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical category, for their showstopping role as cornpone character Lulu in the musical comedy “Shucked.”

Newell burst onto TV screens as the vivacious Wade “Unique” Adams in the Fox smash “Glee,” a role they won after becoming a runner-up on the casting series “The Glee Project.” The Broadway revival of “Once on This Island” (which won the 2018 Best Musical Revival Tony) won Newell more acclaim, which led to a major featured role on NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” in which Newell could strut their stuff to the likes of tunes by Andra Day, Kelly Clarkson and Mary J. Blige among many.

Newell’s big “Shucked” number “Independently Owned” recently became the first Broadway number ever to be performed live on NBC’s “The Voice.”

Newell was the favorite to win this category, and in a fortuitous coincidence, Newell could actually become one of two non-binary actors to win Tony Awards on the very same night, as “Some Like It Hot” leading actor J. Harrison Ghee is also widely favored to win the Leading Actor in a Musical category.

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Here’s to some real-life New Directions! In

Music

The singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge’s theatrical memoir in which she weaves stories from her life will be staged on Broadway this fall, the production announced Sunday.

Called “My Window,” a reference to one of her hit songs, Etheridge’s show recounts the arc of her life and career, from growing up in Kansas to reaching rock fame and coming out as a lesbian in the ’90s.

The show, which had a brief Off Broadway run last fall, was written by Etheridge and her wife, Linda Wallem Etheridge, a television producer and actor who helped create the TV series “Nurse Jackie” and worked on “That ’70s Show.” The production plans to begin previews at Circle in the Square Theater on Sept. 14, with opening night scheduled for Sept. 28.

Etheridge, 62, has loved theater since childhood (“‘Godspell’ just set me on fire,” she said last week), and performed briefly in the rock musical “American Idiot” in 2011. She had long wanted to write for Broadway, she said, and so she was delighted to see the industry embrace Bruce Springsteen’s production, which she viewed as setting an example for productions by musicians that are part concert, part storytelling.

“I’ve been in front of audiences for 40 years, and I like to talk,” Etheridge said. “I enjoy story and drama, and I’ve always brought that into my music.”

Plus, she joked, “It saves on therapy.”

The show, directed by Amy Tinkham, verges into deeply personal territory for Etheridge, including when she discusses the death of her 21-year-old son from opioid addiction.

“It really helped me to just say it over and over,” Etheridge said. “I found it freeing, actually, to be very open about my life.”

In between the recollections, Etheridge plays her hits, such as “Come to My Window” and “Bring Me Some Water,” as well as snatches of more obscure titles, including the first songs she wrote as a child. Currently, Etheridge is figuring out what to cut; the Off Broadway show was three hours, including an intermission, and the singer said the Broadway version will most likely be about a half-hour shorter.

The production plans to run through Nov. 19.

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The singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge’s theatrical memoir in

Docs

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Director Sav Rodgers’ Chasing Chasing Amy is a love letter of gratitude to Kevin Smith’s 1997 film Chasing Amy. That’s how this begins, but as Rodgers digs deeper into the messy issues of sexual orientation, fluidity, homophobia, and the naïveté of the main characters, as well as the convoluted emotional history of the production, he inadvertently pulls the curtain back on unexpected revelations that color how he sees the film. The journey begins with a young Rodgers, pre-transition, trying to sort out his identity in the relatively backward culture of Kansas.

At age 12, as Rodgers struggled with this precarious time in his life, he was already a fan of Ben Affleck when he stumbled across Smith’s third feature. After a particularly egregious bullying attack at school, Rodgers is conflicted and suicidal and talks about how Chasing Amy was his balm, soon becoming an obsession. According to Rodgers, the film was critical to him because it depicts people with sexual orientations he could identify with at a time when media simply did not contain realistic representations of LGBTQ+ characters. He says the film saved his life. Once he decided to become a filmmaker, he chose to explore the legacy of that beloved cult favorite as an LGBTQ+ film. The experience of making the doc went far beyond this simple notion.

“…a love letter of gratitude to Kevin Smith’s 1997 film Chasing Amy.”

When Kevin Smith heard about Rodgers and saw his 2020 TED talk, he reached out. That was the genesis of Chasing Chasing Amy. Fans of the Smith film know it’s problematic. Thorny issues come nonstop in a movie meant to be a Rom-Com. Affleck plays comic book artist and regular guy Holden McNeil, with Jason Lee as his noisy sidekick Banky, an aggressive, unrepentant homophobe. Holden winds up befriending and falling in love with Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) and does so with full knowledge that she is gay.In the course of the documentary, Rodgers interviews Smith and most impactfully, Joey Lauren Adams.

All of the complexities in Chasing Amy come from lived experience. Smith, of course, was not at that time an enlightened, sophisticated filmmaker looking to put his stamp on the history of LGBTQ+ film. He was certainly not unsympathetic to the cause, as he’d had some exposure to the struggle because his brother is gay, but that’s not what drove him to make it. In an interview, he reveals that the story of Holden, Banky, and Alyssa was drawn from actual events in his life. The filmmaker wasn’t clever enough to make all this up, particularly at 26 years of age. Rather he wrote what he’d seen firsthand.

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TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Director Sav

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Citadel, the big-budget drama starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, was designed as a global franchise with a U.S. series and planned spinoffs set in countries including Italy and Mexico.

A few days after its launch in April, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke said it “attracted one of the largest global audiences in the history of Prime Video”.

But the show failed to make the recent Nielsen streaming charts since its launch.

Odetta Watkins, Head of Drama Series, Amazon Studios, backed up the show’s performance, calling it a “victory” for the streamer and revealed that the company has plans to develop similar global franchises, in other genres including YA and mystery.

Speaking on a panel at the Banff Media Festival, Watkins, “I think the show was conceived to be able to speak to the world and it has. Every show is not going to hit in every place on the same level. But as the franchise grows, I feel like the numbers will grow all over, including domestically. You’ll start to see the audience respond differently as it goes on.”

She added that audiences in the U.S. can be “jaded”.

The series, which comes from Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh and David Weil and is exec produced by the Russo Brothers, was recently renewed for a second season with Joe Russo set to direct every episode of season two.

Watkins called it “bold” and that it will be a “door opened” for others looking to do the same thing.

“[Jennifer Salke] wanted something that could speak to the world. The idea of franchise from its inception with different chapters around the world, I’ve never seen this before. It is the first of many to come,” she added.

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Citadel, the big-budget drama starring Priyanka Chopra

Tech

Ariana DeBose kicked off the 76th annual Tony Awards Sunday night with a rousing dance number and heartfelt salute of support to the writers’ strike — while also poking fun at the fact that this year’s ceremony will be historically without a script.

“I’m unscripted — as will every presenter who comes onstage tonight. We’re just making it up as we go along,” the “West Side Story Oscar winner said.

She also nodded to her hosting gig from last year’s ceremony: “To anyone who thought last year might’ve been a bit unhinged, to them I say: Darlings, buckle up.”

More to come…

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Ariana DeBose kicked off the 76th annual

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Life is, thankfully for us, full of second chances. Humans are forever figuring out how to get it right, but there’s no denying that the universe finds a way to be on our side when our hearts are in the right place. There lies the emotional core of Jeff Malmberg and Morgan Neville’s new Netflix documentary “The Saint of Second Chances.”

The film is a mirror for those of us who have ever had to pick up the pieces after massive failure, and with life being the way it is, it isn’t going to be very hard for this film to find people who develop a cathartic connection to it. “The Saint of Second Chances” is a once-in-a-lifetime documentary for sports that meshes the ordinary with the extraordinary in a way that only the messy hands of time can. And the best part about it? You don’t have to be a diehard sports lover to get invested in this story, because it’s so full of heart and truth that it’s infectious. 

“The Saint of Second Chances” chronicles the life of Mike Veeck, son of Hall of Fame baseball owner Bill Veeck. The baseball icon’s son followed in his father’s footsteps for many years by marching to the beat of his own drum and integrating all of the game-day fun we now know and love about going to the ballpark into the regular routine of the baseball season, like giveaways and theme nights. But in a crazy turn of events, Mike ends up totally imploding his father’s career and is made to start at square one to work his way back up the ladder. Through this redemption arc, he learns the value, meaning and glory of second chances. 

In recent years, a lot of prestige docs, including several from Netflix, have gone the big budget route and done something really flashy to garner interest, like casting a well-known actor to do reenactments in the picture. “The Saint of Second Chances” is guilty of this too, with comic Charlie Day taking on the role of Mike Veeck in a whole host of flashbacks that are sprinkled throughout the film. Day is just as charismatic as the real Mike Veeck, and actually does look like him a bit with the wig and fake mustache, so it’s pretty much the perfect alchemical match to create effective, engaging reenactments that both paints the pictures and leans into the feel-good laughter needed to entice non-sports viewers. 

Plus, the legendary Jeff Daniels narrates the film, which gives the whole thing a very lived-in and homey feel that likens you to the subject matter almost instantly. It definitely isn’t unique in that this isn’t the first documentary Daniels has narrated, but there’s something about this particular one that feels much more inspired than all the rest. Daniels’ narration feels like being cradled by a loved one and being told a story, and, like Day’s involvement, it’s a major asset in making this documentary stand out.

‘Cold Copy’ Review: A Journalism Drama That Can’t Find Its Own Story

But when it comes to the real-life portions of this picture, it is so damn easy to get invested in that element because everyone interviewed from the world of the White Sox is utterly delightful. The charm absolutely oozes out of every talking head and interview segment throughout the film, and because one becomes so connected to them through the delight their interviews bring, the emotional moments in the film’s last act become that much more weighty and cathartic despite their specificity within the baseball world. 

The connection the audience builds with Bill and Mike Veeck’s story is a testament to the humanity threaded within it. That humanity is what sets this documentary apart from others in the sports genre, and allows folks who otherwise may have no connection or interest in baseball to find an entry point. It was easy to do because of how authentic and true the subjects felt, and how easy it was to picture knowing the central people within the story.

‘The Listener’ Review: Tessa Thompson Anchors Contemplative Story of Loneliness

This wide-open entry point is also a beautiful testament to the directorial efforts of Malmberg and Neville, who are responsible for perfectly molding the overall tone and pacing of the film, especially considering Malmberg is also co-credited for editing on the project. The pair weave together a story that hits all the right emotional beats where and when necessary, and that engages as much as it informs and enlightens. 

Overall, “The Saint of Second Chances” is a heartfelt and unexpected journey through the comeback of a man with a good head on his shoulders and a good heart in his chest. It’s impossible not to completely fall in love with Mike Veeck throughout the course of the film, so much so that you’re rooting for him even in the moments where it isn’t easy to. He’s everything people love about underdogs, and, as highlighted in this delightful doc, his entrepreneurial spirit for doing things his way is the backbone of his legacy. This is one documentary you need to make time for, and when you do, it’s nearly guaranteed you’ll laugh, cry, and even yearn for a childhood day at the ballpark. It’s that good, but more importantly, it’s that genuine. 

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Life is, thankfully for us, full of

Entertaintment

EXCLUSIVE: A documentary maker involved in a car accident in Ukraine with presenter Clive Myrie has commenced legal action against the BBC and warned that the UK broadcaster is not doing enough to protect freelancers in warzones.

Nick Sturdee suffered a life-changing brain injury and had his spleen removed after a tire exploded on his armored vehicle, causing it to turn over four times and hit a tree. He was filming the BBC documentary Ukraine’s Musical Freedom Fighters With Clive Myrie.

Sturdee, a 53-year-old Russian-speaking journalist, has instructed personal injury lawyer Helen Clifford to lodge a particulars of claim with the BBC as he seeks compensation. His injuries have prevented him from working in Ukraine since the accident, but the BBC has provided some financial support and a contract on its Ukrainecast podcast.

“It is exactly a year since colleagues and I had a bad accident in Ukraine making a BBC doc about the superb Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra,” he said. “Police blamed the poorly maintained state of our vehicle. I had multiple injuries, including to my brain. A neurosurgeon recently said my brain injury is permanent, and I’ll have lifelong pre-disposition to seizures. My family has been through a lot. But we’re still here, grateful for what we have.”

Myrie, one of the BBC’s best-known news presenters, emerged from the accident relatively unscathed.

Nick Sturdee

Sturdee, who has made films for the BBC in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, said his accident raised concerns about the corporation’s insurance arrangements for freelancers working in some of the most dangerous places in the world. 

The journalist was shocked to discover that he was not fully insured by the BBC following his accident. The BBC has for decades offered emergency medical cover to staff and freelancers in the field, which the broadcaster argued is tantamount to insurance and similar to policies offered by rivals.

But Sturdee said that this does not cover him for loss of earnings after his injuries have limited his capacity to work. He believes that the BBC would have to acknowledge negligence to offer compensation, which may not have been the case had he been insured under a third-party policy.

The BBC’s insurance arrangements state that freelancers are “expected to have their own personal accident insurance,” but Sturdee said that the corporation had failed to communicate this effectively.

The BBC said it makes individual freelance journalists aware of the insurance position and directs them to its policies in contracts and during training. Sturdee said this was not the case for his Ukraine trip last year. 

“Insurance was never discussed in preparation for travel to a warzone or in training. In my experience, it is never even mentioned,” he said in comments to Deadline and The Times of London.

A second veteran BBC freelancer, who wished to remain anonymous, echoed Sturdee’s concerns. This journalist said the BBC had never proactively communicated its insurance arrangements.

“I was really shocked when the BBC said I wasn’t insured, they should have notified me before I went to Ukraine,” they said. “The BBC will think that it can continue to get away with this until something happens — and something has happened with Nick’s accident.”

BBC Has “Moral” Responsibility On Insurance

Clifford, Sturdee’s lawyer, said: “People would be horrified if they knew that the BBC is sending journalists into war zones without adequate insurance cover. The BBC is providing a public service by providing us with information and for freelancers to be at risk is unacceptable.”

“It’s hidden away and is not being brought to people’s attention. It’s certainly not checked. And no-one is telling them that they can’t get on a plane until they have produced an insurance certificate.”

Clothilde Redfern, a director for the Rory Peck Trust, which offers support to freelance journalists, said the BBC was within its rights not to offer cover, but she was alarmed by the poor communication. 

“There’s a difference between being legally responsible and being morally responsible. And being morally responsible for people that you are deploying into high-risk areas means you are incredibly transparent, and clear about the risks that people are taking on and who’s responsible for those,” said Redfern.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “The BBC has been supporting Nick Sturdee throughout his recovery, and we continue to do so. We remain in close touch with Nick.

“It’s incorrect to say the BBC doesn’t insure freelancers. The BBC provides emergency medical cover and a personal accident scheme for freelancers, and our schemes are comparable to those of our peers.

“The accident in which Nick was involved is the subject of a legal claim so it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

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EXCLUSIVE: A documentary maker involved in a

Movies

Jessie Maple, who built careers as a camerawoman and an independent filmmaker when Black women were almost nonexistent in those fields, and who then left meticulous instructions for later generations to follow in her footsteps, died on May 30 at her home in Atlanta. She was 86.

Her death was confirmed by E. Danielle Butler, her longtime assistant and the co-author of her self-published 2019 memoir, “The Maple Crew.”

Director and camerawoman were just two of Ms. Maple’s many jobs. She also worked as a bacteriologist; wrote a newspaper column; owned coffee shops; baked vegan cookies; and ran a 50-seat theater in the basement of her Harlem brownstone.

Ms. Maple had been writing a column called Jessie’s Grapevine for The New York Courier, a Harlem newspaper, when she moved to broadcast journalism from print in the early 1970s because she wanted to reach more people.

After studying film editing in programs at WNET, New York’s public television station, and Third World Cinema, the actor Ossie Davis’s film company, and working as an apprentice editor on the Gordon Parks films “Shaft’s Big Score!” (1972) and “The Super Cops” (1974), Ms. Maple realized that she yearned to be behind the camera.

In 1975 she became the first African American woman to join New York’s cinematographers union (now called the International Cinematographers Guild), according to Indiana University’s Black Film Center and Archive, which holds a collection of her papers and films. But, she said, the union banned her after she fought to change rules that required her to complete a lengthy apprenticeship.

“If I had waited, I never would have become a cameraperson,” Ms. Maple told The New York Times for a 2016 article about women who broke barriers to work on film crews. “So I took ’em to court.”

She sued several New York television stations for gender and racial discrimination in the mid-1970s, and she won a lawsuit against WCBS in 1977 that earned her a trial period with the station. That blossomed into a freelance career there and at the local ABC and NBC stations.

Ms. Maple wrote that she faced crew members who did not want to work with her and nasty whispers, sometimes quite audible, behind her back. But she persevered, even when she got assignments that felt especially difficult — for example, flying in a helicopter to get aerial footage on a near-daily basis even though she had motion sickness.

In 1977 Ms. Maple wrote about her experiences in “How to Become a Union Camerawoman,” a detailed guide to succeeding in a forbidding industry.

But as TV news moved from film to video, Ms. Maple decided that she would rather become an independent filmmaker, with complete control of her work. She made short documentaries with Leroy Patton, her husband, including “Methadone: Wonder Drug or Evil Spirit?,” before turning to features.

Ms. Maple said she wanted to shoot films about issues that were important to her community.

“I want to tell the stories about things that bother me which may not otherwise be told,” she wrote in her memoir. “I strive to use the resources that are around me. Most importantly, I work to give voice to my people and the challenges we face.”

According to the Black Film Center and Archive, Ms. Maple was the first known African American woman to produce, write and direct an independent feature film. That film, “Will” (1981), followed a former college basketball player struggling with addiction (played by Obaka Adedunyo) who takes in a 12-year-old boy to prevent him from developing a habit of his own. Loretta Devine, in her first film role, played Will’s significant other.

Ms. Maple’s second feature, “Twice as Nice” (1989), was the story of twin sisters, both college basketball standouts, who are preparing to take part in a professional draft. The movie starred Pamela and Paula McGee, twins who won back-to-back N.C.A.A. basketball championships at the University of Southern California but were not professional actors.

In 1982 Ms. Maple and Mr. Patton opened a theater to show “Will” and other independent films in the basement of their brownstone on 120th Street in Harlem. They called it 20 West, billed it as “the home of Black cinema” and featured movies by up-and-comers like Spike Lee. They closed it about a decade later — because, she said, she wanted to focus more on her own films.

Ms. Maple’s films have achieved greater recognition in recent years than they did when they were released. In 2015 the Museum of Modern Art screened “Will”; that same year, the Film Society of Lincoln Center (now Film at Lincoln Center) showed both her features as part of a series called “Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-1986.”

Ms. Maple was born on Feb. 14, 1937, in McComb, Miss., about 80 miles south of Jackson, the second oldest of 12 children. Her father was a farmer, her mother a teacher and dietitian.

Her father died when she was 13, and her mother sent her and many of her siblings to the Northeast, where she went to high school.

After high school she studied medical technology and then started working in bacteriology. She eventually ran a lab at the Hospital for Joint Diseases and Medical Center (now part of New York University’s hospital system) in Manhattan while the hospital administration searched for a permanent replacement because, she wrote, she did not have a Ph.D. She was credited with leading the preliminary identification of a new strain of bacteria; on her lunch breaks, she joined other, lower-paid workers who were trying to organize.

It was a steady, well-paying job, but Ms. Maple, who was married and had a young daughter, tired of the work and left bacteriology in 1968 to pursue journalism. She was on assignment for a magazine in Texas when she met Mr. Patton, a photographer for Jet and Ebony magazines who lived in Los Angeles, and they developed a bicoastal relationship.

Ms. Maple had separated from her husband; Mr. Patton was still living with his wife. In time they divorced their spouses and married, and Mr. Patton moved to Manhattan. (Ms. Maple was sometimes billed as Jessie Maple Patton in her film work.)

Ms. Maple is survived by her husband; her daughter, Audrey Snipes; five sisters, Lorrain Crosby, Peggy Lincoln, Debbie Reed, Camilla Clarke Doremus and Stephanie Robinson; and a grandson.

Ms. Maple worked relentlessly to accomplish her dreams. She supplemented her income through ventures including two Harlem coffee shops she ran with Mr. Patton and a line of vegan cookies she made in the 1990s, which were eventually available at retailers on the East Coast.

“I was too busy doing the work to slow down,” she wrote in her memoir. “I’d like to believe that my efforts have paved the way for the people behind me to work just as hard but struggle a little less.”

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Jessie Maple, who built careers as a

Latest News

A slow-burn Rocky Mountain noir set along the corridor between Billings, Mont., and the Canadian border — a cold, lonely stretch of highway shared by salesmen and smugglers alike — “Blood for Dust” establishes a ruthless sense of sangfroid from its opening shot. On a desk in a bland business office sits a family portrait, depicting a proud Marine and his family. Without warning, a shotgun goes off, splattering the photo and the wall behind it in blood and brain matter. The camera pulls back to reveal the same man, his face half-missing, a briefcase full of cash propped open on his desk.

It’s a jarring — and jarringly artificial — scene. Fortunately, it’s the only one that rings false in director Rod Blackhurst’s otherwise tense, no-nonsense thriller, a standout of the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival that merits comparison to “Breaking Bad” or “Hell or High Water,” but with snow instead of sand. Moments after that opening gun blast, “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harrington (sporting a sleazy handlebar mustache) and Scoot McNairy (as his hangdog accomplice) show up, too late to save the friend who offed himself. In taking his own life, the dead man saved theirs. The question that lingers is how long their luck may last.

Tipping its hat to “Fargo” immediately after this scene, the film serves up a sly nod to the Coen brothers’ sub-zero crime classic: a high-angle shot of a snowy parking lot, framed just as Roger Deakins might have done it. Set in the early ’90s, when the world was still analog, “Blood for Dust” trades on the same desperate-salesman energy, the way professional violence poisons the domestic sphere. But there are no cops sniffing around here, just men willing and ready to bend the law to their own advantage.

McNairy and Harrington are Cliff and Ricky, two low-level hustlers who split ways after the gory setback. Cliff tries to go straight, peddling defibrillators from the back of his Oldsmobile — a sign his career is on life support — whereas Ricky is a man without morals, running drugs and guns for the worst kind of clients. By the time the pair’s paths cross again a year and a half later, it’s clear that Blackhurst (reuniting with “Here Alone” screenwriter David Ebeltoft) doesn’t put much stock in the American dream, at least not in the ways a hardworking, churchgoing soul is supposed to provide for his family — what once was called “an honest living.”

Reading between the lines, it’s clear that Cliff and his unquestioningly supportive wife, Amy (Nora Zehetner), have experienced some kind of tragedy. What remains of the now-childless couple’s relationship is sustained by half-truths and hollow promises, spoken into pay phones along the road. All throughout — and up to the Bible verse that serves as an ominous sort of coda — it feels as if karma is catching up to Cliff, that past schemes could bring lethal consequences. To wit, Cliff loses his job after a suspicious customer recognizes him from an earlier con.

Instead of telling Amy, he pivots to another plan, trying to coax a favor from an old friend (Stephen Dorff), to no avail. Running out of options, Cliff has no choice but to reteam with Ricky on a reckless plan to double-cross a drug dealer who, as played by Josh Lucas (pitch-perfect in a small part), leaves little doubt that he’ll come after Cliff and everyone he loves should their ambitions get the better of them. Ricky is the wild card here, and Cliff figures out pretty quickly — after watching his pal put a bullet in the heads of a couple accomplices — that Ricky will plug him too as soon as he’s overstayed his utility.

Bolstered by a strong, poker-faced ensemble with the good sense to underplay whatever menace each brings to the table, “Blood for Dust” does a fine job of making a familiar gambit feel unpredictable. There’s no way Cliff’s new gig will go smoothly, and yet, Blackhurst keeps us guessing as the tension mounts — as in a scene when Slim (Ethan Suplee), the heavy sent to accompany Cliff on his maiden run, makes clear that he’s prepared to take out the driver who’s been tailing them since lunch: “Just be friendly, and don’t lean forward,” Slim instructs Cliff, cocking his pistol. In Blackhurst’s world, it’s better to shoot before the other guy gets a chance.

The helmer, better known for his nonfiction true-crime projects (namely, “Amanda Knox” and “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise”), treats action sequences with a startling sense of calm. When things eventually do erupt — as they inevitably do in not one, but two spectacular gun battles — Blackhurst and DP Justin Derry stage those scenes like hardboiled pros. The violence doesn’t seem to tweak their heart rates in the slightest, which makes the bloodshed all the more brutal. The movie looks terrific: shades of copper, set off by stark widescreen snowscapes and deep, dark shadows. There’s a consistency to it all that our weary-looking antihero would approve of. As Cliff himself sees it, the key to being a good salesman is keeping one’s story straight.

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A slow-burn Rocky Mountain noir set along

MCU

Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099 went through some important changes during the production of Sony Pictures’ latest movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Miguel O’Hara became one of the most intense and prominent figures in Across the Spider-Verse thanks to Isaac’s historic Marvel performance, with the character eventually becoming an antagonistic figure for Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy.

And while the sequel went through a number of last-minute changes before its eventual theatrical debut, Isaac’s portrayal of the other-worldly web-slinger may have gone through more adjustments than almost anybody.

Oscar Isaac’s Changes in Spider-Verse 2

Marvel

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller spoke with Rolling Stone about the adjustments made to Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara during production.

With Oscar Isaac having the condition that his character not be boring, Miller admitted that Spider-Man 2099, for a time, “was too big of an asshole.” This led to more insight into the character’s backstory, developing him further into a “three-dimensional character:”

“There’s 1,000 smart people working on this movie for a long time and continually adjusting and shifting. And for a while he was too big of an asshole. [Laughs] And we were trying to be elegant about implying his backstory and his reasoning. Then we figured out that we had to let the audience in on his story the way we did on Gwen’s and on everybody else’s. That allowed him to be a more three-dimensional character.”

Lord looked at Isaac’s character as a hardliner, which is a person in life that’s usually “most traumatized” in their own past, with Isaac even coming from “an exile community of Cubans” and bringing that same feeling to his character:

“One of the things we talked about with Oscar was like, we know people in our lives that are hardliners, right? And what makes them a hardliner is, they’re mostly traumatized. And the only way out is through a kind of orthodoxy. Because you can’t tolerate dissent, because dissent is to question whether your pain is legitimate or not. Oscar is from an exile community of Cubans, and that’s a lot of how people feel. And we were like, well, let’s expose the beginnings of that trauma, and so you’re sort of rooting for Miguel to find some other way. Because this was not working for him.”

How Did Changes to Spider-Man 2099 Help Spider-Verse 2?

While Jason Schwartzman’s The Spot wound up being the main villain for both this movie and next year’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the changes made to Isaac’s character made him an even more compelling secondary antagonist.

Seeing his backstory and motivations detailed during Spider-Verse 2 allowed him to evolve more fully as a character that fans cared about, especially since he was introduced so early in the story.

This was especially important after he was teased in the post-credits scene from 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, especially with dozens of other Variants that took the spotlight alongside him.

And with the producers going into detail on Miguel O’Hara and explaining how horrible he was earlier in production, the team realized that letting fans know more about him only helped make him so much more of a compelling figure.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters worldwide.

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DCU

A new report revealed six actors entering the next stage of casting for Superman and Lois Lane in Superman: Legacy.

DC Studios CEO James Gunn is set to kickstart the DCU in July 2025 as he writes and directs Superman: Legacy – an all-new reboot of the Man of Steel starring a whole new cast, taking over the DCEU leads of Henry Cavill and Amy Adams.

Production of the Superman reboot is set to begin in January 2024 under Gunn, who has already completed the script. And ahead of the start of filming, casting for Cavill and Adams’ replacements has been the subject of countless reports.

The filmmaker already noted they have “some really great choices” for the new Superman, also revealing the key traits he is looking for – kindness, comparison, humanity, and “somebody that you’d want to give you a hug.”

James Gunn’s Superman Reboot Casting Narrowed To 6 Actors

According to Deadline, James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casting process has entered a new stage with just six actors now lined up for the starring roles of Superman/Clark Kent and love interest Lois Lane.

After Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran scoured through audition tapes, the process has now reportedly progressed to in-person screen tests taking place over the Father’s Day weekend or the Monday or Tuesday following (June 16 – 20).

The screen tests are said to be taking place opposite DC Studios co-CEOs Gunn and Safran along with several Warner Bros. executives.

Deadline added that the casting decisions for Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen will likely be taken after the two co-leads of Kent and Lane are secured.

The full list of six actors reportedly taking place in these Superman: Legacy tests – pending certain deals closing – can be seen below:

1.) Nicholas Hoult

Searchlight Pictures

Nicholas Hoult is beyond familiar with superhero auditions, having starred as Hank McCoy/Beast in Fox’s X-Men movies and even been a runner-up to Robert Pattinson in Matt Reeves’ search for The Batman‘s Bruce Wayne.

The British actor’s name has been thrown around in Legacy casting rumors for a while, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming Hoult was tipped to play the DCU’s Lex Luthor while Deadline insisted the 33-year-old is in line for Superman.

2.) David Corenswet

David Corenswet
Netflix

Newcomer David Corenswet has been among the most popular fan casts for the DCU’s new Superman after his breakout performance in the horror flick Pearl.

The 29-year-old’s name originally started being mentioned due to his classically Clark Kent appearance, and some even say slight resemblance to Henry Cavill.

The Superman frontrunner just recently joined the cast of Twisters but as the storm-chasing thriller is expected to complete filming this summer, that shouldn’t interfere with his chances for Legacy – which begins production in January 2024.

3.) Tom Brittney

Tom Brittney
ITV

Lesser-known British actor Tom Brittney is the final actor reportedly set to screen test for the role of Superman, with his biggest role so far coming as Reverend William Davenport in the ITV detective drama Granchester.

Brittney clocks in as the oldest of the three reported Superman contenders at 32 years old, but still only three years older than the youngest (Corenswet, 29).

4.) Emma Mackey

Emma Mackey
Netflix

27-year-old French-British actress Emma Mackey found fame for her starring role in Netflix’s hit high-school drama Sex Education in which she plays the iconic Maeve Wiley.

Now, Mackey is the first of three names supposedly lined up to screen test for love interest and reporter Lois Lane, which comes just weeks ahead of her next big screen appearance in Margot Robbie’s Barbie.

5.) Rachel Brosnahan

Rachel Brosnahan
Amazon

Rachel Brosnahan may be the most seasoned and acclaimed actress on the Superman: Legacy casting rosters. At just 32 years old, the actress has already secured four Emmy nominations and one win for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

With the award-winning Amazon original series having just concluded its five-season run, now may be the perfect time for Brosnahan to make the jump to a starring big-screen DCU role.

Brosnahan has previously responded to rumors of her being in the running for Lois Lane, revealing she “would jump at the chance if it arose.”

6.) Phoebe Dynevor

Phoebe Dynevor
BBC

28-year-old Phoebe Dynevor comes into the Superman: Legacy casting search after a major role in the first two seasons of Bridgerton. 

However, the actress is not expected to return for the upcoming Season 3 on Netflix, opening up her schedule for a role as Lois Lane in the new DCU.

The actress has plenty of acting experience under her belt on British television with appearances in Waterloo Road, The Musketeers, and more.

What Comes Next for James Gunn’s Superman Casting?

Through the screen testing process, James Gunn, Peter Safran, and Warner Bros. will be looking to test different combinations of Clark Kents and Lois Lanes opposite each other to find the right match. After all, the chemistry between the leads will be essential to Superman: Legacy and the franchise going forward.

Based on the six actors reportedly progressing to the Superman screen testing process, Gunn seems to be looking at those in their late 20s and early 30s, with these names ranging from 27 to 32. There’s even a wide variety in experience levels here, from award winners to relative newcomers. 

So, neither fame nor familiarity seems to be a major criterion for Gunn in his casting process, with his focus instead on finding those who look the part, have the acting chops required, and fit these characters based on their initial audition tapes.

Only time will tell which actors land these major roles, but with screen tests taking place in late June, Warner Bros. and DC Studios may be looking for a Superman and Lois Lane to reveal at San Diego Comic-Con at the end of July. 

But with the search for Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen only getting underway after these roles are found, it seems unlikely they will be ready to announce at Comic-Con, as they will require an extended casting process of their own.

Superman: Legacy hits theaters on July 11, 2025.

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Comics

NoobFeed Editor Michael Nicolosi writes – Don’t Nod adds another solid entry to their line of narrative role-playing games. As their first attempt of this experience in visual novel form, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie should delight fans of the genre. Although you can replay a chapter as long as you didn’t finish it, the fact that you cannot replay other scenarios upon first-time game completion is a real bummer.

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NoobFeed Editor Michael Nicolosi writes - Don’t

Festivals

For his sophomore feature, the follow-up to 2004’s little-seen indie House of D, David Duchovny serves up a similarly niche confection, a sometimes-zany black comedy based on his 2016 novel of the same name. The elevator pitch is a tough one; though it’s funny in places, the tone is all over the place, one minute aspiring for the arch, stoner laughs of PTA’s Inherent Vice, the next veering into straightforward sentiment with a rambling final section that hits a similar highway to the 2006 Sundance hit Little Miss Sunshine. There’s also the f-word: the looming curse of American baseball movies that don’t have the word Field in the title, which could hamper its commercial prospects in the wider world.

The setting is 1978, and Yankee Stadium peanut vendor Ted Fullilove (Logan Marshall-Green) has finally finished his novel, the weighty Magnum Opie. He thinks it’s a masterpiece, but his agent (a very funny Pamela Adlon) is not impressed. “You’ve given me 756 pages of crickets,” she says. “It’s like fake French New Wave — you bashed me over the head with a baguette for three hours.” Ted, she concedes, is a very good writer, he just doesn’t have a story in him. “You need to commit a crime,” she  says, “then come back and show me genius in five years’ time.”

Sadly, this wonderful little scene sets the tone for a picaresque, Confederacy of Dunces-style satire that never materializes; in short order, Ted is summoned by his estranged father Marty (Duchovny), who is dying of cancer and being treated with palliative care. Marty used to be a big shot in advertising back in the day, but he’s happy to throw his portfolio onto the fire (“A bonfire of inanities”). When Marty isn’t looking, Ted pokes into the ashes and pulls out the manuscript for Marty’s unpublished novel, The Double-mint Man, which turns out to more autobiographical than it seems (“It’s not a novel — it’s a journal”) and which sets Ted off on a search for his father’s long-lost lover, Eva.

In the meantime, Marty’s complicated obsession with the majorly failing Red Sox is taking its toll on his health. All his life, Marty has worn his fandom like an albatross, as the team began its current losing streak began on the day he was born. Ted notes that the older man’s already precarious condition gets visibly worse when the sports results come in, so he hatches a plan with Marty’s friends to shield him from the truth, making up fake newspaper headlines, staging freak weather events so that games can be “rained off”, and paying the pre-teen newspaper boy to curse the team’s sudden change in fortune.

What all this comes down to is a father and son failing to communicate — Ted calls it “semi-broken people trying to heal”. Marty calls its “just a couple of assholes trying to talk to each other” — and the two actors have a definite odd-couple chemistry, even if Duchovny does seem a little too young for such a jaded role. But whatever you call it, Bucky F*cking Dent ends exactly the way you think it might, with a climactic ballgame of dubious importance that the pair may or may not get to in time, learning the inevitable lessons about life, love and family along the way. It’s a shame, because, up till then, there’s been some interesting filigree here, threaded through a plot that is every bit the “dead 19th century bourgeois convention” that Ted, AKA Edgar Allen Peanut, is seen complaining about at the start.

Title: Bucky F*cking Dent
Festival: Tribeca (Spotlight Narrative)
Director: David Duchovny
Screenwriter: David Duchovny
Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, David Duchovny, Stephanie Beatriz, Jason Beghe, Evan Handler, Pamela Adlon, Daphne Rubin-Vega
Running time: 1 hr 45 min
Sales agent:  Great Escape/CAA

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For his sophomore feature, the follow-up to

TV

The desert meets the ’70s meets the Western. That’s how “Poker Face” costume designer Trayce Gigi Field describes the vibe of Peacock’s whodunnit series starring Natasha Lyonne.

Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a casino worker with a knack for solving crimes as she goes on the run across the country. Field knew the first thing she had to do was create a look that was a departure from Lyonne’s previous series, “Russian Doll.” First rule: No black.

“We wanted a different color palette, so I put together mood boards, and some of those things like the buttery brown YSL jacket made it into the series,” says Field.

Charlie is a character who lives off the beaten path and “probably shops at thrift stores,” says Field. Furthermore, she wanted to ground Charlie in reality, and as someone who keeps her clothes in the car. “Natasha loved the black rickrack vest, so we repeated it,” she says. “You’ll see the same jeans, T-shirt and same jacket, and because she’s a real person. She wears the same things all the time.”

Their conversations about Charlie’s outfits continued throughout shooting: “We talked about what her character is doing and what the right pieces would be for that particular scene or episode.”

To craft each outfit, Field collected pieces from Urban Outfitters, antique malls, thrift shops and a few smaller brands. “I’m always trying to find clothes that are exclusive, but not too exclusive because you want people to be able to access them,” she says. “I liked smaller brands, too, because maybe it’s not too mass-produced, and that kept it special and fresh like our characters.”

“The Night Shift” episode of “Poker Face”
Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock

As for Charlie’s trucker hat, Field says it was the perfect accessory for the character. “It keeps the sun off her face and keeps her incognito. I feel she got that at a gas station,” she says. As for where Field found it? Amazon — made by Zipper. Stevie Nicks and Debbie Harry were among the music icons on Field’s vision boards to help infuse a ’70s vibe into Charlie’s outfits, as evident in her vintage T-shirts and short shorts.

Another rock star, Joan Jett, was the inspiration for Chloë Sevigny’s character, Ruby Ruin, the lead singer of metal group Doxxxology, who appear in episode 4.

“Chloë is a fashion icon, and you can put her in anything,” says Field. “I was going for rock realness — leather, a studded belt and a choker.” The look was completed with Alexander McQueen pumps.

Cherry Jones, who appears as Laura in episode 8, was inspired by Disney villain Cruella de Vil. To create the look, Field worked with hair department head Marcel Dagenais, who presented her with a white wig. “I said let’s go with that,” Field recalls. “I wanted her clothes — vintage Max Mara and Carolina Herrera — to feel mean with this sense of ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’”

“The Orpheus Syndrome” episode, with Cherry Jones as Laura
Peacock

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The desert meets the ’70s meets the

What to Watch

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ rolls out into theaters on June 9th.

The ‘Transformers‘ franchise has grossed over $4.5 billion at the box office!

With seven previous films including live-action and animated movies, as well as the spinoff ‘Bumblebee,’ Transformers is now the 14th most highest grossing franchise in film history.

The eight movie in the franchise, ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts‘ rolls into theaters on June 9th. In honor of the new film, Moviefone is counting down every Transformers movie ever made, including live-action, animation and spinoffs.

Let’s begin!

Returning to the action and spectacle that have captured moviegoers around the world, ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting adventure with the Autobots and introduce a whole new faction of Transformers – the Maximals – to join them as allies in the existing battle for earth. The movie is directed by Steven Caple Jr. (‘Creed II‘) and stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

“Unite or fall.”

76

PG-132 hr 7 minJun 5th, 2023

Showtimes & Tickets

Returning to the action and spectacle that have captured moviegoers around the world, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting… Read the Plot

Autobots and Decepticons are at war, with humans on the sidelines. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth.

Transformers: The Last Knight

“For one world to live, the other must die.”

61

PG-132 hr 34 minJun 21st, 2017

Showtimes & Tickets

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers’ war.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

“Revenge is coming.”

61

PG-132 hr 29 minJun 23rd, 2009

As humanity picks up the pieces, following the conclusion of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Autobots and Decepticons have all but vanished from the face of the planet. However, a group of powerful, ingenious businessman and scientists attempt to learn from past Transformer incursions and push the boundaries of technology beyond what they can control – all while an ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his cross-hairs.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

The Autobots continue to work for NEST, now no longer in secret. But after discovering a strange artifact during a mission in Chernobyl, it becomes apparent to Optimus Prime that the United States government has been less than forthright with them.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

“The invasion we always feared. An enemy we never expected.”

62

PG-132 hr 34 minJun 28th, 2011

Showtimes & Tickets

The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons in this animated feature film.

The Transformers: The Movie

“Beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination.”

72

PG1 hr 24 minAug 8th, 1986

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary yellow VW bug.

Bumblebee

“Every hero has a beginning.”

67

PG-131 hr 53 minDec 9th, 2018

Young teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) becomes involved in the ancient struggle between two extraterrestrial factions of transforming robots – the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Sam holds the clue to unimaginable power and the Decepticons will stop at nothing to retrieve it.

Transformers

“Their war. Our world.”

68

PG-132 hr 23 minJul 2nd, 2007

 

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‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ rolls out

Awards

Before portraying a criminal defense attorney on HBO’s Perry Mason (for which he was Emmy nominated in 2021 and is in the running again this year), Matthew Rhys played a man on the other side of the law on the FX drama The Americans.

The Welsh actor and Keri Russell were cast as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, Russian spies who are paired in an arranged marriage and, in the 1980s, sent to the Washington, D.C., suburbs, where they engage in espionage while raising their two kids. THR‘s review of the show’s January 2013 debut describes its leads as “superb, giving eye-popping performances in which they convince as both sublimely ordinary parents and dangerous spies.”

Rhys and Russell, who became a real-life couple in 2014, were required to speak in multiple accents and often engage in violent scenes and action sequences. Rhys told THR in 2014 that he would “be a horrible spy. There is just no way I could ever deal with that level of pressure.”

The series was nominated for 18 Primetime Emmys over its six seasons and won four, including a best actor statuette for Rhys in 2018. In his acceptance speech, he called out director Gavin O’Connor and casting director Leslee Feldman, who “not only gave me the part and the opportunity of a lifetime, but by default you also gave me a son,” referring to his child with Russell, and “the woman who truly got me this award … Thank you, Keri Lynn. More to come.”

This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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Before portraying a criminal defense attorney on

Music

Kristin Davis is getting honest about her complicated relationship with Botox and face fillers.

The And Just Like That… star recently sat down for an interview with The Telegraph, in which she described being “ridiculed relentlessly” for daring to age in the public eye. “It’s hard to be confronted with your younger self at all times,” Davis said, per Page Six. “And it’s a challenge to remember that you don’t have to look like that. The internet wants you to—but they also don’t want you to. They’re very conflicted.”

The 58-year-old actor, best known for playing Charlotte York in the Sex and the City universe, said she waited “a long time” to try fillers after first experimenting with Botox. “I have done fillers and it’s been good and I’ve done fillers and it’s been bad,” she explained. “I’ve had to get them dissolved and I’ve been ridiculed relentlessly. And I have shed tears about it. It’s very stressful.”

In her most recent interview, Davis also discussed her negative experience with lip fillers, saying, “No one told me it didn’t look good for the longest time.” She added, “Luckily I do have good friends who did say eventually—the thing is you don’t smile at yourself in the mirror. Who smiles at themselves in the mirror? Crazy people.”

Now, Kristin Davis says she’s a lot less determined to fight the natural signs of aging. “It’s whatever. I can’t keep it up,” she told The Telegraph, per People. “I don’t have time. You’re trusting doctors [but] people personally blame us when it goes wrong—[as if] I jabbed a needle in my face.”

Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Cynthia Nixon on the set of “And Just Like That…” on July 20, 2021.

James Devaney

Back in December 2021, Davis spoke out against misogynistic reactions to the Sex and the City reboot. “Everyone wants to comment, pro or nay or whatever, on our hair and our faces and our this and our that,” Davis told Sunday Times. “The level of intensity of it was a shock…. I feel angry and I don’t want to feel angry all the time, so I don’t look at it. I just know it’s there.”

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Kristin Davis is getting honest about her

Docs

In Netflix’s “The Saint of Second Chances,” Academy Award winner Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom”) and Jeff Malmberg (“Marwencol”) tell the story of Mike Veeck, the hard-not-to-love son of late Major League Baseball owner Bill Veeck, who gained infamy for his role cooking up the disastrous Disco Demolition Night promotion at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in the late 1970s.

The elder Veeck was known for introducing fun to ballparks via giveaways, theme nights, and fireworks. Mike followed in his father’s footsteps until July 12, 1979. On that fateful day 44 years ago, the younger Veeck organized a promotional event at the baseball stadium, home to the Chicago White Sox, that revolved around smashing disco records. The event turned into a riot that went down in the history books. It not only damaged Mike’s career, it hurt his father’s reputation. Neville and Malmberg, who co-directed the 2019 four-part docuseries “Shangri-La,” humorously tell the story of how Mike clawed his way back up from rock bottom — he has owned some minor league baseball clubs — via talking heads, narrator Jeff Daniels, colorful graphics, and actor Charlie Day, who plays a young Mike Veeck.

Variety spoke with Neville and Malmberg ahead of the Tribeca Festival premiere of “The Saint of Second Chances” on June 11.

Did Mike approach you two about making this doc, or was this film your idea?

Neville: Eighteen years ago, I was driving around the south shooting a film, and I heard an interview on the radio with this character talking about his minor league baseball teams. He was so incredibly entertaining that I pulled my car over and waited for (the interview) to finish and wrote down this character’s name, Mike Veeck. I sent him an email and just said, ‘Hey. I don’t know what it is, but I would love to meet you and maybe someday we could do something.’ We ended up meeting up in New York. Then I sent him some of my documentaries, and we stayed in touch over the years. We didn’t even talk about making a documentary then. It was just a mutual admiration society. But the thing I’ve responded to, which has not changed, is that Mike is just one of the all-time great characters in all the best ways.

When did you decide to make “The Saint of Second Chances”?

Neville: Maybe two, two and a half years ago, we reconnected, and Mike was like, “Now is the time for me to finally tell my story.”

Why did you want Charlie Day to act out certain parts of Mike’s story?

Malmberg: Having done “Shangri-La,” with Morgan, one thing we really enjoyed was playing with form. There was a quality to Mike that pushed us into that fun zone of how do you tell this story the best.

Neville: I want to add that Charlie Day was our first choice. He was so game. He had been turning down everything, and then he said (to his agents) I want to act in these recreations in this documentary. His agents were like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ I just saw him this week, and we were talking about it, and he’s like, I think I did more real acting in this documentary than I have in years.

As documentary filmmakers, what was it like to direct an actor?

Neville: I actually took acting classes, and I have directed a lot of commercials. So, I feel pretty confident about my chops with actors at this point. But the funny thing is I remember talking to an acting teacher about this, and she said, “Oh, you make documentaries. Documentarians make great actor directors.” It’s kind of what our job is – to sniff out the authentic in how people are talking all the time.

Malmberg: One thing Morgan and I always talk about is that the best narratives usually involve documentary elements. And the best documentaries usually involve narrative elements.

What made you want to bring “The Saint of Second Chances” to Tribeca ahead of the film’s Netflix premiere this September?

Neville: Everybody was on board that we wanted to do a festival run. We are also going to do a number of events and screenings, some with major league baseball and minor league baseball teams, this summer. That’s honestly because this film is a little bit of The Little Engine That Could. Maybe it seems big and splashy, but it’s such a quirky film that I think it needs to be discovered, and it’s the kind of film that, hopefully, the more people see, the more people will talk about it. There’s no household name as the subject of the film. It’s also not a niche film. So, we think of it like the little film that hopefully can gather steam as it rolls down also the hill.

 

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In Netflix’s “The Saint of Second Chances,”

Trending




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Britney Spears Authur Ashe Kids' Day, New York, USA - 27 Sep 1999


Britney Spears Rehearsing For Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at Usta National Tennis Center Flushing Ny On August 28 1999 Â VARIOUS


Britney Spears Britney Spears at Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida, USA - 15 Jun 1999

Image Credit: Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock

Britney Spears shot back at some nasty allegations from her family on Sunday, June 11. The pop princess, 41, took to her Instagram to defend herself after her ex Kevin Federline and her father Jamie Spears claimed she was under the influence of illegal drugs and close to death in a new interview with the Daily Mail. “The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad,” Britney wrote in her lengthy social media reply.

The “Toxic” singer appeared to be referencing the post where Kevin, Jamie and Britney’s 17-year-old son Sean Preston, whom she shares with Kevin, all appeared to co-sign the idea that Britney is going down a dark path. At one point, Sean Preston even said, “All we want is for her to listen to us, I hope she will – before it’s too late.” In Britney’s IG clap back, she addressed the comments, saying, “This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that…  With Preston saying ‘she needs to listen to us before it’s too late’”

Britney went on to deny a few other accusations in the interview, such as her bad parenting of Sean Preston and her and Kevin’s other child, son Jayden. The suspect mothering charge was alluded to by an anecdote from Kevin’s current wife Victoria, who said Britney had discouraged her sons from practicing the piano. “Do you remember every visit you came to my home, you went into your room and locked the door ???” Britney wrote in response. “I never saw you guys … Jayden played the piano and we made music together … But the day I told him I wanted to see you guys more, I never saw you again. It makes me sad because I tried so hard to make things nice for you and it was never good enough.”

Britney Spears shot back at claims that she is on drugs in June 2023. (Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock)

“So you guys go behind my back and talk about me … it breaks my heart,” she added. Ouch. After pondering about why she is expected to take the high road all the time, Britney ended her IG retort by telling her fans that she is a trooper and will be “just fine.”

The clap back comes a day after the interview was published, where Kevin suggested Britney may be under the influence of substances following the dissolution of her conservatorship in November 2021.  “I fear she’s on meth — I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up,” the former dancer, 45, said on Saturday. “It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys.”

Britney’s dad went so far as to liken the dire situation to that of Amy Winehouse, who died of substance abuse disorder in 2011. While speaking of the late songstress during the interview, Jamie said, “Yes, yes, exactly… Britney may die like Amy.” While he has gotten some serious slack for his role in her controlling conservatorship, he went on to say that he believes he was doing the right thing during it. “Compare her wellness then and how she is doing now,” Jamie added.

To make things even more upsetting, Sean Preston and Jayden claimed they have seen drugs delivered to their mother’s home in the interview. The boys also said they refuse to see Britney until she receives help. Kevin added, “Every time the telephone rings, I fear that there will be devastating news. I don’t want the boys to wake up one morning and find their mother has taken an overdose.”

The public slamming of Britney from her family must have been a bit of a surprise, as she had just given her blessing for Sean Preston, Jayden and their father to relocate to Hawaii at the end of the summer. Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, revealed that Sean Preston “will no longer be a minor” when he turns 18 in September, while Jayden is also “nearing the age of maturity.” In the court filing, Mathew also added, “To her credit, Britney Spears will not interfere with and consents to the relocation.”

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View gallery Image Credit: Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock Britney Spears shot

Tech

For the past eight years, Ashley Davis has spent about $150 every two weeks adding volume and length to her eyelashes with extensions. But a couple of weeks ago, instead of chatting with her usual eyelash technician, Davis fell asleep while a robot named Kate did the work. It cost her just $90.

LUUM, the beauty studio in Oakland, Calif., that Davis visited, has been operating since 2021. Unlike other studios, its primary eyelash techs are robots trained to see clients using an AI technology called computer vision. While one tweezer appendage isolates the natural eyelash, another picks up an extension, dips it in adhesive and lays it over the natural eyelash.

“Living in the Bay Area and working in tech, you’re used to seeing robots a lot,” Davis, who lives and works in the San Francisco area, told The Washington Post. “We have robots that deliver your food. There’s robotic cars that are driving around taking videos of everything. So this was just something else I wanted to try.”

The company behind the AI-guided robots says the technology makes eyelash extensions more affordable, while the appearance of the devices in viral TikTok videos has sparked questions about the safety and efficacy of robots performing such tasks, as well as the consequences of putting humans out of work.

Human lash artists have flooded online forums and discussion boards with concerns about potential job loss because of the robots, said Levi Shephard, the founder and president of the National Association of Lash Artists (NALA).

AI technology has been catapulted into popular discourse in recent months with the rise of natural language processing like ChatGPT. Computer vision, though, is even older. It is used in Roomba vacuums and surgical settings, according to Kris Hauser, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign whose research specializes in open-world robotics. But this is one of the first AI robots to be used in the consumer beauty space, Hauser said.

LUUM, a beauty studio in Oakland, Calif., uses robots to give clients false eyelash extensions using AI technology. Watch the process. (Video: LUUM)

LUUM says its robotic eyelash extensions are safe, cheaper and quicker to apply than traditional eyelash extensions performed by humans, which typically take 90 minutes to an hour to perform. LUUM’s CEO and co-founder, Nathan Harding, also said the robots don’t completely replace eyelash artists.

“We want this to be a labor saving device for large start-ups so that they can do three times the appointments in a day that they can do now,” Harding said.

Human eyelash artists are on-site at LUUM and set up clients in the station. They clean their lashes and place tape on their eyelids. After the robot does the majority of work, an artist will fill in any sparse eyelashes by hand. The company has three robots: named Farrah, Jacklyn and Kate.

NALA’s Shephard said she tells lash artists they don’t need to be afraid because humans can adjust their technique and tools as they work on a client.

“It seems right now that these machines are giving a bit more basic and simple results,” Shephard said.

Many people made a profession switch during the pandemic, Shephard noted, and membership to NALA, which regulates the safety standards and certification of eyelash artists, increased by 25 percent over the past three years.

After several videos of the robots went viral on TikTok, LUUM is now taking preorders to sell the machines for $60,000 to other studios, Harding added. Ulta Beauty is one of its investors.

“Our teams are incredibly interested in exploring more technologies that amplify beauty experiences for our consumers and, in funding Luum, we believe we are supporting yet another exciting industry advancement, Prama Bhatt, chief digital officer at Ulta, wrote in a statement to Beauty Independent last year.

Davis said there’s certainly demand. She told The Post that she was on LUUM’s waitlist for six months before being able to make an appointment.

The 32-year-old, who documented her experience on TikTok, said she was “super nervous” before the treatment, but those worries are now abated. “The robot was super gentle, it felt like feathers,” Davis said after her 50-minute appointment. The studio offers three natural looking eyelash styles for a set price of $90.

Hauser, the computer science professor, said this robot in particular has two sets of cameras that allow it to very precisely place the lash extensions. One camera is focused on the customer’s face, and another is focused on the station where the robot picks up the extension.

“Robots can help by making certain things better,” Hauser said. He said human lash artists may be less precise than robots and clients could end up with glue in their eyes. “Precision and repetition are the things the robots are really good for.”

Similar technology is also being used to perform hair transplants for people who suffer from alopecia and balding, Hauser added.

Shephard, the lash association president, said the robots are an exciting addition to the industry. “Robot services may be an option for those who currently don’t get lash extensions because of the time and cost of the human experience. And robots can target a different type of clientele, which may expand and help our industry grow even further,” Shephard said. “There’s space for both of us.”

Eyelash artists are constantly hunching over to work on clients. “You don’t see many lash artists with gray hair and that’s because it’s an extremely tough job. The robots kind of remove the drudgery,” said Harding, LUUM’s CEO.

Davis went back to LUUM during her one-hour lunch break recently to get a fill-in lash extension. “I’m busy and this is really convenient because I know I’ll be able to go in and out. I think it’s more effective,” she said.

These devices are only becoming more commonplace. Davis has another appointment to get a gel manicure from a San Francisco salon with robots that paint nails in 10 minutes.

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Miramax Presents The Film That Lit My Fuse is a Deadline video series that aims to provide an antidote to headlines about industry uncertainty by swinging the conversation back to the creative ambitions, formative influences and inspirations of some of today’s great screen artists.

Every installment asks the same five questions. Today’s subject is Diego Luna, who came out of Mexico with a breakout turn in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mama Tambien to become a major star in both English- and Spanish-language films. He is currently creating Emmy buzz for Andor, continuing the character he originated in the Star Wars blockbuster spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and reprised in the Disney+ series.

The son of a theater, film and opera set designer, Luna found his way to the stage by age 7, and followed with turns in telenovelas and films in Mexico. Films came next after he teamed with Gael García Bernal in the road-trip coming-of-age drama Y Tu Mama Tambien. His star has been rising since, not only for acting but also directing and producing, the latter through Canana Films, a company he launched with Bernal and Pablo Cruz. Canana has produced dozens of Mexican film and TV productions and also director Cary Fukunaga’s breakthrough Sin Nombre, as well as the acclaimed Miss Bala and other films. Here, Luna explains the formative influences that have helped him find his hyphenate path.

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Miramax Presents The Film That Lit My

Entertaintment

When readers and audiences hear Hello Sunshine has acquired a best-selling book, it’s likely the production company’s president of film and TV, Lauren Neustadter, has spearheaded the deal.

Before joining Reese Witherspoon’s production company in 2017, Neustadter spent over a decade working in film as an executive at such companies as Miramax and 20th Century Fox, eventually transitioning to TV and serving as a Fox network exec. Once she landed at Hello Sunshine — and before she developed a slew of book-inspired series, including “Big Little Lies,” “Little Fires Everywhere” and “Truth Be Told” — she had an early book-to-screen adaptation, “Americanized,” that made it to the final stages of thenetwork development pilot cycle.

Iranian immigrant Sara Saedi’s memoir of the same name aligned with Hello Sunshine’s mission to depict a series centered around women’s unique experiences. In October 2018, it was announced that Hello Sunshine was going to adapt “Americanized” as a half-hour comedy with ABC Studios. What motivated
Neustadter to acquire “Americanized” was its ability to provoke social commentary, while also serving as a show that “parents and kids could watch together.” “Americanized” allowed Hello Sunshine — which carefully curates women-centric projects — to fill that space.

Saedi’s memoir-turned-pilot resembled “The Wonder Years,” but was set during the author’s childhood during the 1990s.

“It really centered around an Iranian teenage girl who was in America, living near Silicon Valley. This character, Leila, clearly inspired by Sara, did not know that her family was in the country illegally. In the course of the pilot, hijinks ensue, and she realizes that they’re undocumented,” says Neustadter. “I
just thought it was such a wonderful, beautiful show that balanced something that felt really substantial, with a tone that felt really accessible and entertaining.”

Since the story was the author’s lived experience, it was filled with emotion and humor, Neustadter explains.

“I think there was a real buoyancy and humanity about it. She found the laughs, [even though] she didn’t know that they were undocumented,” she says. “I thought that the themes of it, like it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what matters is who you are, who you love and wherever your family is, that’s home. The truth is, Sara loved being American and it was a journey toward becoming a citizen. But it was really sort of the truth of that moment.”

Developing Saedi’s very personal story was no simple feat, but Neustadter says, “Everything really starts with the relationship with the author. We always talk about honoring the book, and that the first and most important thing is we honor the book,” she says. “It’s always sensitive when you’re working with someone who’s adapting something that they wrote, and even more so when it’s somebody adapting something that they wrote that’s so personal.”

Neustadter respects an author’s work and recognizes the intimate connection between a writer and reader — traits that have allowed her to develop a steady flow of book-to-screen adaptations within the past year, recently releasing four adapted series: “Daisy Jones and the Six,” “The Last Thing He Told Me,” “Tiny Beautiful Things” and “From Scratch.”

The Hello Sunshine exec is hopeful that the “Americanized” pilot will one day join her long list of produced adaptations. “I hope that someday it’ll come back around — never say never,” she says. “The great thing about these stories is that once they’re written down there’s always a possibility of them being told.”

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When readers and audiences hear Hello Sunshine

MCU



This past week, Captain America 4 got a new name, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse revealed some new secrets, and Apple wondered What If…?

We’ll discuss a curious mix of stories in the latest MarvelBlog News.

We’re Stuck with the Old World Order

Sam Wilson Captain America The Falcon and the Winter Solider

Source: Marvel Studios

When Marvel announced the fourth Captain America movie, it came with a catchy subtitle: New World Order.

Well, I guess someone at Marvel googled and discovered that Kevin Nash has had that name on lockdown since Bash at the Beach ’96.

A pro wrestling group famously used that moniker for years, and it includes a few other somewhat distasteful connotations as well.

Disney+ Captain America

Photo: Disney+

For this reason, Marvel finally and correctly changed the name of this project to Captain America: Brave New World.

First, that title is catchier. Second, it definitively establishes the story Marvel wants to tell here.

We live in an era that has moved beyond the idea of the Super Soldier, the Steve Rogers type.

Elijah Richardson and Carl Lumbly in Falcon and Winter Soldier

Photo: Marvel Studios

Now, the MCU will relish in its achievement of making the former Falcon, Sam Wilson, into a viable new Captain America.

Along the way, Wilson will encounter the former Super Soldier he encountered in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to prove this point.

Also, Wilson will run afoul of General Thunderbolt Ross, as so many superheroes have.

Source: Marvel Studios

Anthony Mackie, the actor portraying Wilson, gleefully posted this moment when he worked with screen legend Harrison Ford.

The elder actor will portray Thunderbolt Ross in this film, replacing the late William Hurt.

Marvel had previously announced that the character will also appear in Thunderbolts, as he should.

Source: Parade

Nobody knows yet whether Thunderbolts will adopt the idea that the group is named after the general, but we did receive second confirmation on the shoot.

I mentioned last week that Marvel had delayed the film due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

Ford himself has stated this. So, Marvel may need to push the release date, which is currently July 26th, 2024.

Let’s Talk about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Miles Morales swings around the Spider-Verse

Image: Marvel

As we all expected, the latest Spider-Man sequel once again dominated the box office this past weekend.

Other than Avatar, I don’t think another franchise currently rivals Spider-Man in terms of box office appeal.

Yes, I’m splitting the Spider-Man franchise into its own thing since it exists on the fringes of the MCU.

Spider-Man 2099 and Mile Morales have a difference of opinion

Image: Marvel

This past week, Across the Spider-Verse earned another $55 million domestically and $47 million internationally.

This performance brings its global box office take to $390 million, which surpasses Into the Spider-Verse’s entire run.

This feels like a good time to mention that the production cost for Across the Spider-Verse was $100 million. Cha-ching.

Miles Morales disappoints his parents at a party

Image: Marvel

While the glowing performance stands on its own, we discussed it in detail last week.

Now, we can talk about a few other aspects of the production. For example, we just learned about the post-credits scene we didn’t get.

Technically, there were two companion scenes that failed to make the final cut.

Miles Morales and his mother talk about life

Image: Marvel

In one, The Spot struggles to down a beer at a bar because, well, you know.

Later, The Spot returns as a more formidable character and isn’t as kind to strangers.

Why did the creative team cut these scenes? I suspect that you can guess, presuming you’ve seen the movie. If not, I won’t spoil it.

Jess Drew lays down the law

Image: Marvel

The writing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller has denied that the third Spider-Verse film be the longest to date.

They’re denying this BECAUSE THE MOVIE ISN’T FINISHED YET!!!

How could anyone know that nine months ahead of time???

Spider-Gwen swoops in to save the day

Image: Marvel

On the flip side of this discussion, Hailee Steinfeld reportedly stated that she has yet to record lines for the sequel.

That’s an unusual approach this late in the game for an animated film, but in Lord & Miller we trust!

The Next Big Thing…Maybe…But Probably Not

Photo: Apple

Image: Apple

Okay, here’s a weird topic to discuss on this blog. Apple just unveiled the Vision Pro, a headset that will include augmented reality functionality.

Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, appeared at this event and explained Marvel’s role in this…sort of.

There’s a video presentation you can watch here:

Disney wouldn’t confirm any specific details about its participation with this tech other than to say that Disney+ will play on it.

However, the What If…? inclusion here suggests that a line of Marvel-related products are coming.

Specifically, Disney has designed…something based on the What If…? Marvel series.

Source: Marvel

I’d presume the plan calls for an augmented reality kind of Choose Your Own Adventure involving What If…? stories.

Apple has priced the Vision Pro at NFL quarterback levels. So, the product won’t sell well at first, and it won’t even come out until early 2024.

Infinity Ultron

Infinity Ultron. Photo: Marvel Studios

Still, should this concept succeed, Marvel fans could suddenly enjoy a plethora of new digital experiences.

That’s a HUGE if, though, and I don’t mean of the What If…? variety.

Marvel Miscellany

Source: Marvel

One of the people on the set for Agatha: Coven of Chaos has confirmed that the production has wrapped.

That’s got to be a relief for all involved. After all, we’ve watched several Marvel titles suffer delays due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

The Agatha standalone series on Disney+ should avoid this fate, and Captain America: Brave New World possibly could as well.

Image: Marvel

Everything else that’s trying to film right now…well, go with God, my children!

Speaking of Disney+, Disney has apparently told Marvel producers that they can create TV-MA content for the service.

That’s probably good news for Daredevil: Born Again and his more violent antihero friend, Frank Castle.

Source: Marvel Studios

Finally, in well-timed news, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland has announced that he will take a one-year break from acting.

Since the Screen Actors Guild may go on strike at the end of this month as well, Hollywood is facing an extended shutdown anyway.

Source: Marvel Studios

Holland indicates that the Apple TV+ series, The Crowded Room, proved so grueling that he needs a vacation.

As a reminder, reports last week suggested that Spider-Man 4 faces a delay due to the writer strike.

I suspect Holland will suddenly feel refreshed right around the time Sony can film AND his bank account receives a new bag of money.

Thanks for visiting MarvelBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond-Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!

Featured image: Marvel




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DCU

Anime has taken the world by storm in recent years, with fans of all ages and backgrounds flocking to watch their favorite series and characters come to life on screen. From action-packed adventures and epic fantasy stories to heartwarming romance and gut-wrenching drama, anime has something for everyone.


But for some people, the idea of watching anime is just not their cup of tea. Maybe they’ve never been interested in the genre, or perhaps they’ve only watched a few series and didn’t enjoy them. Whatever the reason, there are still plenty of people out there who haven’t fully exposed themselves to the anime craze.

If you’re one of those people, don’t worry! You don’t have to be a hardcore anime fan to appreciate the art form. In fact, there are plenty of amazing anime series out there that are perfect for people who don’t typically enjoy anime. These series offer a great introduction to the genre and are sure to keep you entertained with their engaging storylines, lovable characters, and beautiful animation.

So if you’re ready to give anime another chance, or if you’re just looking for something new to watch, check out our list of the best anime series for people who don’t like anime. We’ve compiled a diverse range of recommendations catering to various interests and tastes, so there’s sure to be something on this list for you.

Updated June 2023: If you want to try watching anime, you’re in luck. This article has been updated with additional content and entries by Danilo Raúl.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

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20 Prison School

TBS Television

If you want to dwell in the world of waifus for the first time, it doesn’t get any better than Prison School. This raunchy anime is directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and produced by J.C. Staff. It’s a comedy story with tons of ecchi elements. We follow the misadventures of five boys enrolled in a formerly all-girls high school and suddenly forced to do hard time in a cell as the school disciplinary system works like a real-life prison.

Related: The Best Anime Movies Not From Studio Ghibli

Mizushima has a knack for blending over-the-top humor with some of the most unexpected twists to keep viewers on their toes. If you’re unfamiliar with anime’s multiple comedy tropes, you’ll likely find them all here. It’s a show that pushes the boundaries of taste with weirdly paced situations and outrageous comedy, the story, while unlikely and fantastic, serves as a great setup to illustrate numerous tropes of Japanese society and their weird sense of humor.

19 Terror in Resonance

AN_terror
MAPPA

Terror in Resonance is Shinichirō Watanabe’s masterpiece. This show, produced by MAPPA, offers a story loaded with elements of some of the best Western psychological thrillers, exploring the consequences of terrorism and the nature of absolute justice. The show is an open critique of capitalism, integrated seamlessly into the motives behind the so-called terrorist who act on more than justifiable actions.

A single season of 11 episodes is more than enough to contain the gripping storyline and multiple thought-provoking themes. The show is designed to keep viewers guessing until the very end. If you’re unfamiliar with the immense potential of anime to offer social commentary, this show is right up your alley. It’s a great story, built on a complex narrative, with a simple delivery that helps illustrate the world’s complexity.

18 Violet Evergarden

Violet Evergarden
Netflix

If you’re unfamiliar with anime as a medium to convey emotions, then Violet Evergarden is the anime for you. Directed by Taichi Ishidate and produced by Kyoto Animation, this visually stunning and emotionally resonant series is set in a post-war world. The story follows the journey of Violet, a former soldier who becomes an Auto Memory Doll, writing letters on behalf of others.

While the show explores the past of Violet and how she came to be the way she is, it’s the story of the people she helps, the one that’ll keep your feelings messing with your eyes. It’s a beautiful show exploring love, loss, and self-discovery themes. It’s likely the best offering in the ranking for the uninitiated, mainly because it combines powerful writing with enticing animation. The captivating narrative has 12 stellar episodes and a film.

17 Inuyashiki – Last Hero

ANI_Inuyashiki
MAPPA

Inuyashiki – Last Hero is the anime of choice for those who want to grasp just how weird the medium can get and how much it can get away with using the most outstanding premises. Directed by Keiichi Satou and produced by MAPPA, the story is a unique blend of science fiction and drama. We follow the life of an older man named Inuyashiki, who is suddenly transformed into a powerful cyborg after a mysterious incident.

Inuyashiki has always led a mediocre life; his newfound power helps him become something else. Unlike most shows with the same premise, we see a realistic depiction of the emotions someone conveys in such a situation. The plot explores themes of morality, humanity, and fulfillment. It’s an excellent watch for newcomers as it gets its message across in 11 episodes.

16 Legend of the Galactic Heroes

AN_LOGH
Kitty Films

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is the largest space opera ever told in the story of Anime. The show is directed by Noboru Ishiguro and produced by Artland and Kitty Films. The story explores the generational war that has been waged for centuries between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. The story begins with the war in a stalemate after 500 years, as the ruling class in the Galactic Empire is losing prestige, and the arrival of an upstart named Reinhard Von Lohengramm elevates the spirit of the Empire.

The tight pacing of the show leaves no room for fillers, and the animation is on point in the classic show. Pay no mind to the current remake, as the original show from 1988 offers the most accurate adaptation of the story. You won’t be feeling lost in a complicated sea of continuity, but you’ll soon learn how the stakes on this show are genuine, as they are no deus ex machina fixes here, and the people who die in this war stay dead for good. It’s a great offering to binge over a few weeks, as the show has 110 episodes and three films collecting the complete story.

15 Vinland Saga

Vinland Saga season 2 characters
Netflix/Crunchyroll

Vinland Saga tells the tale of a young warrior named Thorfinn, who is on a quest for revenge after the infamous mercenary, Askeladd, kills his father. As he travels across medieval Europe with Askeladd’s band of mercenaries, Thorfinn must confront his own violent nature and struggle to find a place in a world filled with betrayal and greed.

This epic historical fiction series features breathtaking action scenes and complex, well-developed characters. Thorfinn is a relatable and tragic hero, and the supporting cast is equally well-written and fleshed out. The series also delves into themes of morality, faith, and the cost of war, making it a thought-provoking watch as well as an entertaining one.

14 Cowboy Bebop

The Crew of Cowboy Bebop
Netflix
 

Cowboy Bebop follows a group of bounty hunters as they travel through space in search of their next big payday. Led by the laid-back, jazz-loving Spike Spiegel, the Bebop crew includes a diverse range of characters, including the intelligent and resourceful Faye Valentine, the loyal and skilled Jet Black, and the eccentric and unpredictable Edward.

This classic science fiction series is known for its stylish animation, memorable soundtrack, and compelling characters. Each member of the Bebop crew has their own complex backstory and motivations, and the series does an excellent job of exploring their relationships and development over the course of the show. With a mix of action, comedy, and drama, Cowboy Bebop is a must-watch for any fan of the genre.

13 Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo
Madman Entertainment

Samurai Champloo follows the journey of three unlikely companions – a brash and impulsive swordsman named Mugen, a calm and collected ronin named Jin, and a young, orphaned girl named Fuu — as they travel through feudal Japan in search of the “samurai who smells of sunflowers.” Along the way, they encounter a variety of colorful characters and get involved in all sorts of misadventures.

This stylish and unique series combines elements of action, comedy, and historical fiction to create a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. The animation is top-notch, and the music — which incorporates hip-hop and electronic elements — is just as memorable. The characters are also well-written and likable, with each of them having their own distinct personality and arc. Overall, Samurai Champloo is a must-watch for fans of action, adventure, and Samurai.

12 Cromartie High School

Cromartie High School
TV Tokyo

Cromartie High School follows the misadventures of a group of tough-looking high school students who are actually some of the dumbest, most absurd characters you’ll ever see on screen. From the school’s resident robot and talking monkey, to the delinquent who can’t even spell his own name, each episode is filled with bizarre and hilarious moments that will have you laughing out loud.

This surreal and absurd comedy series is a parody of the typical high school anime and manga genre, and it’s a must-watch for fans of offbeat humor. The characters are all memorable and ridiculous, and the series has a great sense of pacing and timing. With its unique blend of absurdity and heart, Cromartie High School is a must-watch for fans of comedy and absurdity.

11 Dragon Ball Z

Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z
Fuji TV

Dragon Ball Z follows the story of Goku, a powerful warrior with a kind heart and a mysterious past, as he battles to protect the earth from a variety of threats. Along the way, he meets a diverse cast of characters, including his friends and allies, as well as his enemies and rivals. With its intense action scenes, memorable characters, and epic story arc, Dragon Ball Z has become a classic of the anime genre.

Related: Dragon Ball Z: The Anime That Shaped The Entire Millennial Generation

This iconic series is known for its over-the-top action and larger-than-life characters, as well as its memorable and memorable moments. From Goku’s battles with powerful foes like Frieza and Cell to his relationships with his friends and family, Dragon Ball Z is a rollercoaster ride of emotion and excitement. The animation is top-notch, and the character designs are iconic. With its memorable characters, epic story arc, and intense action scenes, it’s a series that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

10 Rainbow

Rainbow Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin
Funimation

Rainbow is a heart-wrenching tale of hope, resilience, and the power of friendship. Set in a juvenile detention center, the series follows a group of young inmates as they struggle to survive the harsh realities of life behind bars. Despite their varied backgrounds and personal demons, these kids form a close bond as they work to overcome their pasts and find a way forward.

At the heart of the series is protagonist Kudo, a tough-as-nails teenager who has spent most of his life bouncing from foster home to foster home. Kudo is fiercely independent and doesn’t trust anyone, but as he spends more time with his fellow inmates, he begins to open up and confront his own troubled past. Alongside Kudo is a diverse cast of characters, each with their own unique struggles and strengths. From the resilient Hiroki to the kind-hearted Mitsuru, these characters will leave a lasting impression on viewers and make them root for their success.

Overall, Rainbow is a poignant and powerful series that explores some of the most pressing issues facing young people today. With its rich character development, emotionally charged plot, and beautiful animation, this is a series that will leave you inspired and moved.

9 Beastars

Beastars
Beastars

In a world where carnivorous and herbivorous animals live side-by-side, tensions are high and trust is hard to come by. This is the setting for Beastars, a thrilling and thought-provoking series that explores themes of identity, prejudice, and love.

At the center of the series is Legoshi, a timid wolf who is struggling to come to terms with his own nature. Despite his size and strength, Legoshi is a gentle soul who just wants to find his place in the world. Alongside Legoshi is a cast of diverse and complex characters, each with their own unique struggles and desires. From the ambitious rabbit Haru to the troubled red deer Louis, these characters will keep you invested in their stories and rooting for their success.

With its stylish animation, captivating plot, and well-developed characters, Beastars is a series that is sure to leave a lasting impression on viewers. Whether you’re a fan of animal-based stories or just love a good character-driven drama, this is a series that you won’t want to miss.

8 Welcome to the N.H.K.

Welcome To The N.H.K.
Chiba TV

Welcome to the N.H.K. is a thought-provoking and deeply moving series that explores the struggles of modern adulthood. Set in Japan, the series follows protagonist Tatsuhiro Satou, a young man who has become a shut-in and lost all hope for the future.

As Tatsuhiro navigates the challenges of daily life, he meets a diverse cast of characters who help him confront his own demons and find a way forward. From the kind-hearted Misaki to the eccentric Kaoru, these characters will keep you invested in their stories and rooting for their success. With its engaging plot, relatable characters, and thought-provoking themes, Welcome to the N.H.K. is a series that is sure to leave a lasting impression on viewers.

7 Monster

Monster
Nippon TV

Monster is a gripping and suspenseful series that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Set in a world where science and the supernatural collide, the series follows protagonist Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant young doctor who becomes embroiled in a web of mystery and intrigue.

As Tenma navigates the dangers of his profession and the dark forces that threaten him, he meets a diverse cast of characters who help him unravel the mystery of a serial killer and the dark secrets that lie within his own past. From the tough-as-nails Inspector Lunge to the enigmatic Johan Liebert, these characters will keep you invested in their stories and rooting for their success.

6 The Tatami Galaxy

The Tatami Galaxy
Madhouse

The Tatami Galaxy is a unique and captivating series that explores the twists and turns of fate and the many paths that life can take. Set in a surreal world of magic and mystery, the series follows protagonist Watashi, a young man who finds himself caught in a loop of time and fate.

As Watashi navigates the challenges of life and love, he meets a diverse cast of characters who help him confront his own demons and find a way forward. From the eccentric Ozu to the enigmatic Akashi, these characters will keep you hooked to their arcs. Whether you’re a fan of mind-bending stories or just love a good character-driven drama, this is a series that you won’t want to miss.

5 Death Note

death-note
Nippon TV

When it comes to psychological thrillers, few anime series can match the intensity of Death Note. The story follows a high school student named Light Yagami who discovers a mysterious notebook that allows him to kill anyone whose name he writes in it. As Light embarks on a killing spree, a cat-and-mouse game ensues between him and the brilliant detective tasked with catching him, known only as “L.”

What makes Death Note so compelling is its complex characters and moral dilemmas. Light is initially portrayed as a ruthless villain, but as the series progresses, the viewer is forced to question whether his actions are justified. Meanwhile, L is equally enigmatic, using his detective skills to track down Light while also grappling with his own sense of justice.

4 One Punch Man

one-punch-man-header-1
onepunchman-anime.net

If you’re in the mood for some superhero action, look no further than One Punch Man. The series follows the adventures of Saitama, a hero who can defeat any enemy with just one punch. Despite his godlike strength, Saitama is constantly overlooked and undervalued by the hero community, leading him to question whether he’s truly fulfilled his calling as a hero.

While One Punch Man may seem like a typical action series at first glance, it quickly subverts expectations with its comedic tone and self-aware humor. Saitama’s deadpan delivery and absurd powers make for some hilarious moments, and the series is packed with memorable characters and over-the-top action sequences. One Punch Man is a must-watch for fans of action and comedy, and it’s sure to leave you laughing and cheering as you follow Saitama’s journey to becoming the world’s greatest hero.

Fullmetal Alchemist
Yen Press

Fullmetal Alchemist is a classic anime series that has stood the test of time. The story follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who are on a quest to find the Philosopher’s Stone and restore their bodies after a failed alchemical experiment. Along the way, they encounter a variety of allies and enemies and must navigate a world filled with political intrigue and dangerous alchemical secrets.

Related: 10 Perfect Supporting Characters in Anime

What sets Fullmetal Alchemist apart is its rich world-building and complex characters. The series tackles themes of loss, regret, and the dangers of power, and its well-developed cast of characters each have their own unique motivations and desires. The action is top-notch as well, with thrilling alchemical battles and imaginative creatures.

2 Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki - Naruto
Mediatoon Distribution

If you’re a fan of shonen action, you can’t go wrong with Naruto. The series follows the adventures of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja with dreams of becoming the strongest ninja in his village. Along the way, he forms close bonds with his teammates and faces off against powerful foes as he trains to become a ninja worthy of recognition.

What sets Naruto apart is its well-developed cast of characters and heartwarming themes of friendship and perseverance. The series is packed with action-packed battles and heart-pumping moments, and its characters each have their own unique abilities and personalities that help make them stand out. Naruto’s epic journey and lovable cast of characters will keep you coming back for more.

1 Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon
Madhouse

Black Lagoon is a seinen action series about a group of mercenaries known as the Black Lagoon Company, who operate in the crime-ridden city of Roanapur. The series follows the adventures of the company’s members, including the main protagonist, Rokuro “Rock” Okajima, as they take on various jobs and battles.

The plot of Black Lagoon is fast-paced and action-packed, with a mix of drama, humor, and violence. The characters are complex and well-developed, and the world-building is impressive. The animation is top-notch, with some of the most impressive fight scenes in any anime.

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Anime has taken the world by

Comics

We got our first glimpse at gameplay from the newest entry in the long-running Payday game series during the Xbox Games Showcase at Summer Game Fest Sunday. Starbreeze Studios may have assumed the franchise’s helm from Overkill, but it looks like Payday 3 will deliver the same fraught and frenetic first person shooting that fans have come to expect. 

In the demo at Sunday’s showcase, a familiar-looking quartet of gunmen sets about taking over and looting a neighborhood bank through the application of aggressive intimidation tactics, a variety of high tech gadgets and a whole lot of downrange fire. Gameplay mechanics like hostage-taking (which previously allowed robbers to trade in captured civilians after for taking too much damage and being “arrested”) appear to still be very much a part of the new title. Payday 3 arrives on September 21st for Xbox X|S (and presumably other platforms as well). 

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

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We got our first glimpse at gameplay

Entertaintment

In the second film of the Oscar winning Spider-Verse saga “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse“, we see Miles Morales voiced by Shameik Moore return for the next chapter which takes him on an epic adventure that will transport Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man across the Multiverse to join forces with Gwen Stacy and a new team of Spider-People to face off with a villain more powerful than anything they have ever encountered.

Across the Spider-Verse which is an absolute masterpiece of art and storytelling contains one of the best and longest animated sequences in film history. Co-director Joaquim Dos Santos spoke about the entertaining and action packed sequence saying it took four years to animate that particular scene. “If you think about the Guggenheim sequence, that was the first thing that we storyboarded, that was the last thing that locked animation in the film.” He went on to say “So that was the entire four years that sequence was worked on.”

The scene shows Miles Morales being chased through a secret Spider-Man headquarters by a massive number of Spider-Man variants from different universes. “If you were to line up the hours worked on this film in a straight line, it’s like 792 hours straight, if it was one person who was doing it straight ahead. So the fact that all these things are happening in tandem, like side by side, that’s how these films get made. And it is, I’m telling you, thousands of people, it’s insane.” From realistic cartoon style to a Lego sequence, (which was animated by a 14 year old btw) to Japanese Manga, the amount of animation styles explored in this film is incredible.

After it’s release on June 2nd 2023, the sequel to 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse,  “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has been swinging to box office sucess domestically and internationally. The film is now the second-biggest opening of 2023 so far. Earning more than $208.5 million overseas, China ($17.3 million), Mexico ($11.6 million) and the United Kingdom ($11.5 million). The film’s budget was $100 million. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” went on to earn a total of over $384 million. Outperforming Into The Spider-Verse.

The music for Across The Spider-Verse, just like it’s first film did not disappoint. Composer Daniel Pemberton has made something really special that literally transcends universes with the score for this film. “You’re making a score that jumps around different worlds and characters, and everyone has got to have a theme and melody and sound, and yet, they’ve all got to interact with each other.” Says Pemberton. Each character and universe had their own unique themes and yet they all melded together seamlessly. For example, Miles Morales’ (Shameik Moore) sound is rooted in hip-hop, whereas Gwen Stacy (Hailey Steinfeld) was given a “‘90s, indie-synth, pop band sound”,  Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni) a.k.a. Spider-Man India was heavily influenced by Indian instruments, Pemberton called it “Insanely ahead of its time and was this futuristic Indian record.” and of course Hobie Brown (Daniel Kaluuya), a.k.a. Spider-Punk. He was given “guitars, heavy drums and distorted bass. It’s punk.”You can listen to the score here.

However Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is only half of the story. The movie ends with on a massive cliffhanger, one the size of which Marvel has not seen since “Avengers: Infinity War”. The next film, 2024’s “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” will take place directly after the events of the second film,

Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have promised that more new Spider-people will be coming in the next film. Beyond The Spider-Verse will release on March 29th 2024. It is confirmed to be the end of Miles Morales’ story, “That’s it for us. We’re so tired!,” says Chris Miller.

Across The Spider-Verse is a true cinematic masterpiece that should be experienced by everyone. Now playing in Theatres and releasing on demand soon.

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In the second film of the Oscar

Entertaintment, Film, MCU

Spider-Man Continues to Master the Multiverse.

In 2018, Spider-Man : Into the Spider-Verse made waves in the film industry.  Quickly becoming one of the most beloved films of recent years, it changed the game for animation, and set a new bar for so many films moving forward.  Now, in 2023, its sequel, Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse, finds itself in an interesting position.  The sequel is releasing in a post-COVID world, word of mouth spread on just how good its predecessor was.  Marvel Studios has been struggling since Phase 4 began, with only a few projects being praised as ‘good’ at least.  So, how does Across the Spider-Verse fair?

Short and to the point, Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse is another game changer.  The animation and soundtrack is somehow better than the original.  Despite the MCU focusing on the multiverse, Disney and Marvel Studios have been floundering at finding meaningful ways to implement it(outside of, ironically, another multiverse, web-slinging adventure).  This movie expertly ties the multiverse to its themes of what it really takes to be Spider-Man, predestination, canon, and so much more.  Simply put, Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse is another masterpiece which all Superhero films should look to learn from moving forward.

A Fundamental Understanding of Great Story-Telling

Movie Review: ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

Part of the reason why Into the Spider-Verse became as popular as it, outside of the animation, is the quality of its writing.  For the number of characters and references throughout Spider-Man history, the fact it manages to keep track of it all, while telling a heartfelt story about how anyone could be Spider-Man, is nothing short of masterful.  Of course, Across the Spider-Verse could have had a solid story, and the improvements to the soundtrack and animation would likely have left this movie seeing the same success it is seeing now.  But the team behind this movie aren’t just trying to make this a typical sequel.

The team has set out to tell another, more mature, and thought provoking story of the very nature of Spider-Man.  Miles and Gwen’s relationship, both to each other and to the role of Spider-Man/Woman is what this film is about.  Both are struggling with the baggage and trauma that comes with being Spider-Man, and when a threat comes along that challenges them and the fellow Spider-people, both find themselves on a journey to redefine what being an arachnid themed hero truly means.  The heart of this conflict really comes from the rivalry between Miles, and Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099.  O’Hara is no nonsense, and his approach to a multiverse threat is understandable, but one that seems at odds with what Spider-Man should do as a hero, with Gwen caught in the middle.

Every Character Steals the Show

Of course, there are more characters than this in the Spider-Verse.  Two new highlights include Spider-Man India and Spider-Punk.  India, while only present for a short time, is one of the most humorous characters of the film, with each of his jokes sticking the landing.  Punk meanwhile is less humorous, but many of his actions help push the story forward, and help Miles in his quest to rise against the more totalitarian aspects of the Spider Society. Peter B. Parker returns, alongside his infant daughter Mayday Parker.  While he still serves a purpose in trying to calm Miles down and progressing Gwen’s arc, his presence compared to the first film is minimal.

In addition, the main villain of the film, The Spot, is one of the more unique ones for the Spider-Man franchise as a whole.  One top of his unique abilities of creating dimensional rifts, the characterization of him as nothing more of a joke, villain of the week becoming an existential threat is both humorous as it is impressive.  His reasons for doing what he does are equal parts petty as they are relatable.

Of course, there are also tons of cameos and appearances from other fan favorites.  From the version of Parker from the fan favorite Spectacular Spider-Man television show, Ben Reilly, and a few other surprise cameos best left unmentioned.

To Be Concluded…

It of course should be mentioned that Across the Spider-Verse was originally marketed as the first part of a two-part narrative.  Still, Beyond the Spider-Verse isn’t far away, releasing in March of next year.  With high stakes set, the coming conclusion will have massive expectations to meet.  Still, if this team is two for two, then it’s safe to say Miles Morales may have one of, if not the best, trilogy in animation, superheroes, or film in general to his name.

RANKING – 10/10

Check out Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse in theaters.

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Spider-Man Continues to Master the Multiverse. In 2018, Spider-Man

Festivals

These days Jane Campion – Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning film director – is celebrated for a vein of heartfelt cinema that is aching and quirky, rather than gushing. She’s also an intelligent and determined female pioneer who has had to struggle for her present standing in a male-dominated industry.

The Sydney Film Festival this week is showcasing and contextualizing her body of work. Its screening program includes all nine of her feature works, from “Two Friends” to “The Power of the Dog,” and a selection of her short films.

“For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. There was no one more appropriate than Jane Campion,” said SFF director Nashen Moodley in notes ahead of the event.

On Saturday, the festival screened Julie Bertucelli’s 2022 documentary “Jane Campion, the Cinema Woman” ahead of an on-stage interview between Campion and critic and former SFF programmer David Stratton.

Conducted largely in chronological order, the interview quickly revealed that Campion’s broad-minded parents and Luis Bunuel, the master of surreal, had been early and significant influences. Campion recalled her mother taking her teenage daughter to Bunuel’s film about a housewife-prostitute “Belle de Jour.”

“[Bunuel] felt like a bolt of energy. Because he saw the world like I feel it too, It’s hard to be surreal and often apparently silly and funny. And, you know, of course, I take myself quite seriously,” Campion said.

Her theatre director father took the 16-year-old Campion to Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s controversial “Performance,” a crime drama involving the encounter between a rock star and a violent mobster that was banned in some countries, including Australia. “It felt like I was sort of stretching out beyond my capacity. And the film was inviting you to a new understanding of the world,” Campion said.

Both the stage interview and Bertucelli’s doc cited the uncomfortable Cannes response to Campion’s 1989 film “Sweetie,” a quirky tale of female best friends. Mass walkouts at the festival premiere left the director feeling “completely humiliated,” only for her to find crumbs of comfort from the divisive and domineering Cannes talent scout Pierre Rissient, who reassured her that “the right people liked it.”

“I (still) love that film. It’s really a film that you make before you know what you’re doing. And in a way …(reveal) some of your most intimate expressions,” said Campion.

If showing weakness and vulnerability exposes a creator to scorn and derision, building a defensive wall may be a natural response.

Even in Campion’s adopted hometown and surrounded by her friends, collaborators and admirers, the encounter with Stratton had a tinge of brittleness. Despite both living in Sydney and both being influential figures with global reputations, Campion and Stratton have seemingly only rarely interacted.

They appeared to have pre-arranged discussion of the relationship between filmmakers and film critics as one of their talking points. But they twanged each other’s strings over the event’s running order and quickly changed chord.

Among the chat’s carefully arranged melodies, the pair nevertheless hit upon some revealing refrains. These included how Campion had shied away from feature movies after “Sweetie” and conceived “An Angel at My Table” initially as a TV miniseries. (Campion’s more recent TV effort “Top of the Lake,” Stratton described as “bloated”). Discussion of the overseas filming of “The Portrait of a Lady” saw Campion admit, “I don’t know where my comfort zone is, actually.”

Campion described how Harvey Keitel (star of her “The Piano” and “Holy Smoke”) was “one of the first men that really opened up to me deeply and that I opened up to deeply. That’s really a gift. Across that gender separation,” she said.

The ditch between men and women was the recurring melody in much of the on-stage talk and throughout Bertocelli’s documentary.

On stage, Campion explained how producers at Pathe UK had obliged her to make the ending of her “In the Cut” film less tragic than the Susanna Moore novel it was based on. “It’s really moving to still want to please the man in her dying moments,” said Campion.

In “Cinema Woman” there are several ‘gender separation’ references, some understated, some quietly outrageous. One shows Campion at the Oscars numbering off the more than 300 men to have received best director nominations, while the tally of women nominees could be counted on a single hand.

In another, Campion is shown at Cannes’ sixtieth anniversary celebrations in the esteemed company of previous Palme d’Or winners. Campion is the only woman in the picture. And Bertucelli’s framing neatly captures the sneer of convicted sex offender Roman Polanski sitting just a few seats behind.

Further discussion with Stratton took in: relations with key collaborators (Campion admitted to being scared of cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh); the exceptional material she discovered in Thomas Savage’s book “The Power of the Dog”; and only partially controlling the outcome when president of a festival jury. “Sometimes you’re brokering deals to try and get the Palme d’Or and maybe the one that wins is actually not anybody’s first choice, but is everyone’s second choice,” Campion said after complimenting Cannes as “clean” and laudably free of backroom intrigue.

But questions from the audience inevitably returned to Campion as female film pioneer. Her finale was gamely positive.

“Lead by inspiration, by what’s positive, what you love. Make that the biggest thing in your life and it will give you the strength to do what you want to do. Don’t bother with the rest. Try the lens of ‘I love this idea. I want to do it’,” she said.

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These days Jane Campion – Palme d’Or

Film

It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts emerged victorious with $60.5 million.

In a battle that came down to the wire, it appears that the autobots have the edge over the multiverse as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has emerged victorious over Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse in its inaugural weekend with an estimated $60.5 million against Spider-Man’s $55.4 million. Essentially in line with our predictions from Thursday (if we flip flop the titles as I thought Spider-Man would edge out Transformers.)

Chalk that up as a pretty big win for the Transformers franchise after the last Transformers film The Last Knight opened with just $44.6 million while the prequel spin off film BumbleBee opened with just $21.6 million. The difference maker for Beasts over Spider-Man seems to be the premium theaters that Transformers took over this week as it is reported (by Box Office Tracking company EntTelligence) that both films saw similar ticket sales for the weekend (4.3 million each). That extra $5-$10-$15 really adds up. However, since this is the summer where we are playing catch up with the covid pandemic shut downs and back logs, it appears there is a new film taking over those premium screens every week, something that Tom Cruise is not a big fan of. Those other Transformer movies had solid oversea numbers that saved them from being complete box office bombs (with respect to their budgets.) With some pretty big competition in the coming weeks, this one may need big overseas numbers to be considered a profitable endeavor as its budget is reportedly in the $200 million range before marketing.

For Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, its second week gross represents a solid hold from its $120.6 million opening, with just a 54% drop off, not bad for the longest animated film ever made from a major studio (Two hours and twenty minutes.) Word of mouth on this one is fantastic with many predicting it will follow in the original’s foot steps and win the Oscar for Best Animated Film. 

Third place belongs to the live action update of The Little Mermaid with an additional $22.7 million, representing a strong 45% decline. The film is doing stellar business stateside, but in a rare occurrence, it just isn’t connecting with international audiences and will struggle to be profitable in the long run, which isn’t a referendum on the quality of the film as I found the update to be pretty good. Not as good as the original animated classic, but a properly epic live action update.

Coming in fourth place is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with an additional $7.02 million, showing yet again that if you make a good comic book movie, audiences will show up. We have become so used to these big comic book movies coming out and taking nose dives in subsequent weeks, but right now in the top five we have two of them that are showing that if you put out quality, people will show up.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Fifth place belongs to the Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman with an additional $6.9 million added to its $24.7 million domestic cume. Not a bad tally for a film that was originally meant to go directly to streaming. Sixth place will be the Family with Fast X pulling in $5.2 million to its four week total of $138.1 million, which is about $9 million less than Furious 7 made in its opening weekend.

Spots seven through nine belong to The Super Mario Bros. Movie with an additional $2.1 million added to its massive $570.1 domestic take, proving that people are still enjoying this one in theaters even though it is currently available to own on 4K Blu Ray while the battle of the comedians: Bert Kreischer and Sebastian Maniscalco continues this weekend with Maniscalco having the edge as his film About My Father took in $$845,000 against Kreischer’s The Machine’s $575,000. Tenth place belongs to the film with the best per screen average of the weekend (just over $20 thousand per screen) as A24 continues its domination of the independent market with the Asian film Past Lives which saw a $520,772 weekend after expanding to 26 theaters. The film has stellar reviews (currently at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes) and will continue its expansion in the coming weeks.

Did you make it to theaters this weekend? If so, let us know what you saw (and how you liked it) in the comments section and don’t forget to check out our weekly poll where we ask: What is your Favorite Transformers Film?

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It was a hard-fought battle, but in

TV

Elizabeth Olsen
Photo: Jon Kopaloff (Getty Images)

Even if you like the Marvel movies (a perfectly valid opinion, and don’t let anyone bully you into thinking otherwise!), it can be a lot of fun when a longtime Marvel actor has finished putting in their time and no longer feels beholden to the Disney machine and can just be a real person who says whatever they want. Mark Ruffalo earned that freedom through brute force and by playing a character so integral to the movies that he can apparently never be replaced, no matter what he says, even though it has happened to that specific character many times.

Owen Wilson isn’t quite as into jet skis as his Loki character, Mobius

WandaVision star and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness villain Elizabeth Olsen—a woman who has been through more for the MCU than most, if only because of the accent they made her do in Age Of Ultron—has officially reached the DGAF stage of her Marvel career. Late in May, she offered her very telling “just give them one” advice to aspiring mega-budget tentpole actors, and now she’s saying that she couldn’t especially care less if she never heard from Marvel again.

This came up during a chat with The White Lotus’ Meghann Fahy for Variety’s “Actors On Actors” series, when Fahy asked her if she missed playing Wanda:

No, I don’t. I think it’s been almost 10 years of playing her. And I’ve loved it. And I think the reason why I am not calling Kevin Feige every day with ideas is because I’m really proud of what we were able to do. I think WandaVision was a really surprising opportunity.

She also added that she would still be “proud of what we made” if someone called her up and told her she was “fired from Marvel movies.” These days, she says she’s more interested in trying to “load up other films and characters so it becomes less about the Marvel of it all.” In other words, she’d be fine never doing another Marvel movies, and she wants to do other things so people stop thinking of her as a Marvel actor first.

And hey, good for her. Everyone should just live their lives, even if that means making Marvel movies or not making Marvel movies or liking Marvel movies or not liking Marvel movies.

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Elizabeth OlsenPhoto: Jon Kopaloff (Getty Images)Even if

What to Watch

The rumors surrounding Britney Spears have been coming fast and furious over the past few months. They’ve centered on everything from her marriage to her caffeine habits to her alleged behavior at restaurants, but on the whole, these whispers and reports have largely only included quotes from unnamed insiders and people on the periphery of the pop star’s life. That changed this weekend, however, as a lengthy piece was published that included quotes from the singer’s estranged father and ex-husband, the latter of whom said he fears Spears is on meth.

The story in question was published by The Daily Mail and is written from the point of view of Daphne Barak, who claims to have spent time with the family as part of a documentary. In the story, she quotes from both Kevin Federline and Jamie Spears as part of a larger narrative about the singer being out of control and her family allegedly worrying about her behavior and possible drug usage. Here’s a quote that ran in the piece from Federline…

I fear she’s on meth – I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up. It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys.

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The rumors surrounding Britney Spears have been

Awards

Editor’s note: This interview was done outside of the FYC event as there was no cast or creatives panel.

“I think there’s a certain pace a noir allows, which at times can be an indulgent luxury,” says Perry Mason‘s Matthew Rhys of the 1930s-set HBO series from Team Downey. “But it really allows you the time for things to unfold. It’s a real luxury, I think, for actors to have that kind of time and space, and real estate.”

Chatting before Perry Mason was canceled by HBO on June 6 after a two-season run, Rhys certainly has a strong sense of time and space tacking the iconic character in the heart of the Great Depression and the rise of Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain. Having concluded its second season April 24, the series starring Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, Shea Whigham, Justin Kirk, Diarra Kilpatrick and Jee Young Han left viewers with Mason behind bars for hiding evidence.

“It’s not justice that’s an illusion; it’s the system,” he tells Rylance’s Della Street in the Michael Begler-penned Season 2 finale. “So, what are we supposed to do with that?” Mason’s legal firm partner responds. “We fight.”

To that end, Emmy winner and The Americans alum Rhys spoke about the power of Perry Mason’s ensemble, the necessary shifts from Season 1 to Season 2, and noir. Rhys also talked about the power of writers, as Begler and fellow The Knick creator Jack Amiel came aboard as showrunners for what turned out to be the show’s final season.

‘Perry Mason’

HBO

DEADLINE: The second season of Perry Mason really saw an evolution of the character. We saw him start to find his footing as a lawyer but also very unsteady as an individual — changing his life to selling his family home and of course at the very end we see him behind bars. For you, what was the arc of the season getting him from where we saw him at the beginning to where we see him at the end?

RHYS: I think what I was focusing on most, or what I was pushing, especially the writing team, is that I wanted to see the big difference between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2.  

We had the Charlie’s Angels moment with him at the end of Season 1. He was in the office. All in the garden is rosy and golden and you think everything is on ascent. What I really wanted at the beginning of Season 2 was that you find Mason in a very turbulent place where he’s suffering intensely from imposter syndrome. He realizes the judicial system isn’t what he thought it might have been. He realizes he’s not the lawyer that he thought he might have been or could be. His world is crumbling around him. I wanted to see how he deals with that.

DEADLINE: How did that manifest itself narratively for you, especially with Michael Begler and Jack Amiel coming on board as showrunners for Season 2?

RHYS: The after-effects of what he achieved in the first case with Emily Dodson in Season 1 really come back to haunt him in a way that he didn’t think would. That’s what I wanted to start Season 2 with, with this great unrest within him about A, who he was; B, what the system was; and C, how he can see a way forward and then obviously how he then climbs his way back up the ladder. It’s not so much an arc. It’s more of a vertical ascent, but that’s what I was interested in.

DEADLINE: Now, of course you play Perry Mason, and that’s what the show is called, but this past season was an ensemble effort by anyone’s definition, even more so as the series got darker and darker as the times it depicts did with the Great Depression and the rise of the Fascists in Europe. What has that been like?

HBO

RHYS: You know, we were just very blessed in the team of people, the cast, that the show has put together.

We’re all very likeminded, we all know that the work comes first. So, it was an incredibly focused set, and we all knew it was a bigger, especially Season 2, a bigger ensemble piece really  — and that’s where it really thrives I think as a show. Everyone is very accepting and very bracing as were the writers. And so, I think everyone strove for that. The work ethic for how we make the scenes the best they could possibly be was always the most present and prevalent for everyone which I just think always elevates television. We all know, you’re only as good as you scene partner. So, it’s all about hitting the ball back across the net to see what they do with it.

DEADLINE: Of course, there was the absence this season of John Lithgow, because of the death of his E.B. Jonathan character in Season 1. I know that working with him was a great treat for you. In many ways EB is still a character in Season 2, as he looms so large. What was John’s absence like for you?

RHYS: Honestly, there’s a part of me that wanted to keep him a little more, but you know you can’t do everything and it’s hard to juggle it all. You know, E.B.’s influence on Mason has been so profound and Mason is the lawyer he is solely because of E.B. He’s the lawyer that he listened to and followed and imitated and shadowed and as you say his presence is still very much present. For me, on a more personal note, Lithgow is just enormously missed because he had such an influence on Season 1, and so great to work with.

John Lithgow in ‘Perry Mason’

DEADLINE: From that, you’re playing a character who for many people is so iconic. But, unlike the past Perry Mason, this Perry Mason is much more a noir than a procedural and, in that it plays to your strengths. What do you think is the advantages of that in terms of a format?

RHYS: I think there’s a certain pace a noir allows, which at times can be an indulgent luxury. But, it really allows you the time for things to unfold. It’s a real luxury, I think, for actors to have that kind of time and space, and real estate.

DEADLINE: How?

RHYS: Well, you don’t feel rushed or burdened with the speed of narrative really. I always felt like as a genre, noir allowed us to really stretch out like a cat at times.

DEADLINE: You know, as you say that, it makes me think of the opening scene of Season 2.

RHYS: The milk bottle scene?

DEADLINE: Yes, there’s so much visual information in it. It harks back to Mason’s family dairy farm, the past, the life not lived, and then you come out looking like you’ve had like either the greatest night of your life and the worst morning. You look at the paper, you take that swig from the milk bottle. It set the stage, just like it was supposed to. It said, he’s here and this is happening now. You know what I mean?

RHYS: Oh yeah, yes. I think they always strive to do as much storytelling in any one scene that’s possible, and like you said I think that opening shot said so much about where Mason is and what he’s going through. That’s when I think we’re best is when we’re doing an incredible amount of storytelling in basically one shot. That for me is a measure of success.

DEADLINE: In that context, how did Michael and Jack joining the show change things, and the way the show worked for you?

RHYS: Dominic, I was very fortunate on this show.

Both sets of writers were incredibly open to anything I kind of had to say, and they were very much on board together to make this a great collaboration. I think the concern of coming back to Season 2 is you’re never quite sure whether you should repeat. If you are brought back, it means there’s a degree of success with the first season, so I think the temptation is to repeat what you did or to go completely the other direction. Both can be equally as dangerous.

DEADLINE: Well called …

RHYS: (Laughs) So, I did welcome fresh eyes and ears onto the project because obviously they can’t completely change the project or the characters, but what they can do is bring a new perspective to an audience and that I thought was very exciting. What they had to pitch I thought was great. Jack and Michael had an immense amount of layers that they want to build the conflict. Conflict not just within everyone, but with each other. There was a degree of humor they wanted to open up in Mason which I was both reticent and welcoming of as long as it was done properly. I think there was a great deal of gallows humor that could belong to Mason.

DEADLINE: It was highly effective actually.

RHYS: Yeah. I totally agree. There was a levity I think the show needed also because we deal with such at times dark materials. Yeah. It was executed very deftly and subtly in a way which I thought felt right. But, that’s what I think of the whole Perry Mason experience, you know.

To watch more videos from the Deadline FYC House + HBO Max event series, click here.

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Editor’s note: This interview was done outside

Music

On Saturday (June 10), Joni Mitchell returned to the stage for her first official, ticketed headline concert in over two decades, following her surprise set at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival. Last night’s Joni Jam took place at the sprawling Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington, where Mitchell was joined onstage by numerous guest performers such as Annie Lennox, Blake Mills, Lucius, Sarah McLachlan, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and others, according to reports by The Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. Fans have posted multiple videos from the concert to social media.

Brandi Carlile opened the show and performed with Mitchell, acting as host and emcee for the evening. Mitchell and the “Joni Jammers,” as Carlile referred to them, performed songs from across the songwriter’s catalog, including “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Night Ride Home,” Raised on Robbery,” “Sex Kills,” “A Case of You,” “Both Sides Now,” and more.

As The Los Angeles Times points out, Mitchell also covered standards like “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, “Love Potion No. 9,” Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?,” and “Young at Heart,” made famous by Frank Sinatra. In turn, a few Joni Jammers took on lead vocals for some of Mitchell’s most beloved songs. Lennox performed 1970’s “Ladies of the Canyon,” McLachlan sang “Blue,” and Mumford took on “California” with help from Blake Mills and backing vocals via Lucius.

Following her surprise appearance at last year’s Newport Folk Festival, Mitchell sat down with CBS Mornings for a rare interview to discuss the performance. The following month, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music. Berklee president Erica Muhl referred to her “a force for change in the industry, blazing the trail for women in music with an unwavering commitment to achieving the status rightfully due her as one of the world’s great musical artists.”

Upon accepting the accolade, Mitchell said: “I wish my parents were alive. My mother in particular would be really proud of this because she wanted me to go to college. I went to art school and I quit after a year. She thinks of me as a quitter. So to see this achievement would be really impressive to her. I wish I could share it with her.”

Mitchell was subsequently honored with the 2023 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. On July 28, she will release a new live album Joni Mitchell at Newport, which captures her 2022 set at the festival.

Joni Mitchell Is Still Singing “Both Sides Now”

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On Saturday (June 10), Joni Mitchell returned

Docs

Moon Garden is what would’ve happened if Terry Gilliam directed MirrorMask (we can all agree Tideland never happened, right?). The dramatic horror fantasy is the sophomore feature of writer-director Ryan Stevens Harris and his first in roughly a decade. That is a long gap, though he’s had a few shorts in that time span.

The film is about the trivials of Emma (Haven Lee Harris), a young girl whose father works all the time while her mom is prone to flights of fancy and overreactions. This dichotomy pits said parents, Sara (Augie Duke) and Alex (Brionne Davis), against each other seemingly every waking moment. One night, Emma overhears a particularly intense fight. In her attempt to retreat, she falls down the stairs and winds up in a coma.

Emma awakens in a strange industrial land filled with monstrous creatures and ill-mannered folks. As she wanders this frightening world, the girl sees glimpses of her parents distraught over her condition in the hospital. However, getting back seems to be impossible, especially since the horrific Teeth (Morgana Ignis) is chasing Emma. Then there’s the creepy-looking (undead?) Groom (Timothy Lee DePriest), who puts the literal child to work as a maid. Can Emma escape back to the real world, or will she succumb to the harshness of this fantastical yet eerie dreamland?

Moon Garden tells a simple story. Maybe too simple. Elements meant to give Sara and Alex more dimensions are woefully underutilized. Alex always has a deadline to meet, thus the constant working. But what exactly is that deadline for? Did he have this job when he and Sara first got together? Why is it coming to a head now? Sara is just as much a blank slate. Why is she opposed to potentially life-saving surgery for her daughter? Are her breaks from reality becoming more frequent, or has she always been like this? For that matter, what is Teeth’s ultimate goal surrounding Emma?

“Emma awakens in a strange industrial land filled with monstrous creatures…”

Bear in mind nothing just said is the fault of the actors. Davis is creepy but still comes across as a good father, which is a hard line to walk. Duke once again proves she’s one of the most versatile and compelling actors working in indies today. Ignis delivers a wonderfully eerie performance, moving very unnaturally, being all the creepier for it. DePriest is a bloody delight as the glammed-up, dance-happy Groom. Also, seeing Maria Olsen in a more heroic, non-horror role is cool.

But Moon Garden is Emma’s story, and in this regard, the film works. For starters, the young Harris is perfect in the role. She conveys the right amount of intrigue, fear, and wonder at all she sees around her. The character is also the only one with any real depth, which is appropriate for obvious reasons. The performance and character writing merge to create a compelling arc through a strange and hazardous world.

Speaking of, filmmaker Harris proves quite adept at realizing the fantasy land. Most of the effects are practical and look stunning. A lizard/dinosaur thing controlled by yarn is epic in size. The makeup bringing Teeth to life is jawdropping for any film, much less an independent production. The visuals are where the true power of any film lies, and in that regard, this does not disappoint at all.

Moon Garden tells a story that has been done in fantasies time and time again. Plus, the supporting characters need a bit more to them to be memorable beyond what the cast brings to the table. Still, the lead is perfectly acted and written, and the visuals, from the effects to the cinematography and lighting, are immaculate. As such, fans will have a good time with expectations properly adjusted.

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Moon Garden is what would’ve happened if