"It's very hard to explain to people
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
The desert meets the ’70s meets the
‘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.
“Unite or fall.”
76
2 hr 7 minJun 5th, 2023
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.
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.
“Revenge is coming.”
61
2 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.
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.
“The invasion we always feared. An enemy we never expected.”
62
2 hr 34 minJun 28th, 2011
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.
“Beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination.”
72
1 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.
“Every hero has a beginning.”
67
1 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.
“Their war. Our world.”
68
2 hr 23 minJul 2nd, 2007
‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ rolls out
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.
Before portraying a criminal defense attorney on
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.”
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.”
Kristin Davis is getting honest about her
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.
In Netflix’s “The Saint of Second Chances,”
View gallery
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.”
“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.”
Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter to get the hottest celeb news.
View gallery Image Credit: Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock Britney Spears shot
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 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.
Comment on this storyCommentFor the past eight
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.
Miramax Presents The Film That Lit My
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.”
When readers and audiences hear Hello Sunshine
"Must see TV" moment.View Entire Post › Source
Movie under the stars for pet lovers
Movie under the stars for pet lovers Source
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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???
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!
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. 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.
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.
Featured image: Marvel
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.
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.
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.
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.
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
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.
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.
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.
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.
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Anime has taken the world by
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!
We got our first glimpse at gameplay
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.
In the second film of the Oscar
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spider-Man Continues to Master the Multiverse. In 2018, Spider-Man
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.
These days Jane Campion – Palme d’Or
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.
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?
It was a hard-fought battle, but in
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.
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.
Elizabeth OlsenPhoto: Jon Kopaloff (Getty Images)Even if
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.
The back-up dancer and DJ who has been divorced from Spears since 2007 also allegedly said he gets worried whenever the phone rings because he doesn’t want the boys to wake up to discover their mother “has taken an overdose.” The piece also includes comments from Spears’ father Jamie, who she is currently in a lawsuit with. He compared the singer’s situation to that of Amy Winehouse and said she “may die.”
The entire article, which is quite long, doesn’t read like your standard hit piece against Britney Spears. There are some rather unflattering things in it about Federline such as questions about where child support money went and very negative descriptions of the conditions his family allegedly lives in. It also includes accusations against Spears’ father related to bullying and controlling her during the conservatorship. That gives it a bit more of a feeling of credibility, but there are still reasons to be cautious about rushing to judgment.
By all accounts, neither Federline nor Jamie Spears has much contact with Britney these days. Jamie is currently being sued by his daughter for his usage of money, her money, during the conservatorship, and by most accounts, the contact between Federline and Spears these days is mostly done through lawyers. Neither one of them is accusing her of being on drugs directly because neither of them would have had any opportunity to see her on drugs or even see her at all, really. So, any judgments they might be making or accusations are either based on stories they’re hearing from other people or social media posts they’re interpreting.
And there are plenty of people who have something to say about Britney Spears right now. Her words and actions are dissected by millions of fans and turned into stories by a variety of media outlets. The truth is there likely aren’t a ton of people who know exactly what is going on with Spears right now and where her head is at. Sure, sometimes she drops some concerning social media posts, but being very honest about your personal feelings and emotions on social media is okay. Plenty of people choose to share all parts of their lives, even if they’re messy or some people might have a problem with them.
Regardless, if Spears does have a problem, it’s not going to be solved by her ex-husband allegedly accusing her of being on meth to random journalists. Nor is it going to be solved by her father constantly dropping quotes about her behavior, usually as a contrast to how allegedly perfect her life was when he was in charge of her conservatorship. As a fan, all I want is the best for Spears. If that means she needs help, then I hope she gets it. If that means she’s totally fine and people are making things up, then I hope she’s able to find happiness even amidst all the unfair noise.
The rumors surrounding Britney Spears have been
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.
Editor’s note: This interview was done outside
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.
On Saturday (June 10), Joni Mitchell returned
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.
Moon Garden is what would’ve happened if
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says a public inquiry is not off the table following former governor general David Johnston’s resignation as foreign interference rapporteur.
But LeBlanc says opposition leaders cannot request such an inquiry without providing constructive suggestions, such as terms of reference and an individual to best lead the process.
LeBlanc told The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson that he will be consulting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, opposition parties, experts and retired jurists in the coming days, but said “simply demanding” a public inquiry does not serve in protecting democracy from foreign interference.
“Mr. Johnston has decided to leave to a large extent because of the toxic climate that was created around his appointment,” LeBlanc said. “So the opposition leaders can’t simply say, ‘OK, call a public inquiry.’”
The House of Commons called on the government to urgently establish a public inquiry in an NDP motion adopted on May 31, calling for it to be “led by an individual selected with unanimous support from all recognized parties in the House.”
The motion does not call for the opposition parties to draft a frame of reference, which lays out the scope of probes such inquiries and in most recent examples such as the Mass Casualty Commission, has been shaped through the executive orders that create the inquiry.
The Federal Inquiries Act lays out that the powers to establish inquiries and determine what documents or records may be needed lie with the government establishing an inquiry as well as the commissioner appointed to lead it.
“Why is that their job? You’re the government,” Stephenson asked LeBlanc when he said the opposition needs to put forward ideas.
“They all voted together last week, Mercedes, to say that the opposition leaders should suggest somebody to lead this inquiry. That was the NDP motion they all voted for last week. So tell us who it is,” he said.
“Tell us what the terms of reference would be … we’re not going to get somebody credible to come forward, we think, unless there’s a consensus on the kind of person and the terms of reference.”
In his resignation letter, Johnston reiterated his conclusion that public hearings should be held “both to educate the public and to consider necessary reforms to various aspects of the government’s systems and policies dealing with foreign interference,” rather than a public inquiry.
“A deep and comprehensive review of foreign interference, its effects, and how to prevent it, should be an urgent priority for your Government and our Parliament,” he wrote.
Johnston announced his resignation as special rapporteur Friday following weeks of scrutiny over what the opposition parties called a conflict of interest due to his ties to Trudeau’s family and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
The NDP motion adopted in the House of Commons last week also called for Johnston to step down over the “appearance of bias.”
At that time, Johnston said he would only take instructions on his work and his future from the Trudeau government, not Parliament.
“When I undertook the task of Independent Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference, my objective was to help build trust in our democratic institutions,” Johnston wrote in his resignation letter to Trudeau.
“I have concluded that, given the highly partisan atmosphere around my appointment and work, my leadership has had the opposite effect.”
Johnston said he will leave the role no later than the end of the month.
– with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says a public
Pride Vibes and sunny skies! A-Listers are all about celebrating this summer, whether it’s in honor of Pride Month or just an excuse to soak up the sun.
To stand out at a Pride celebration near you, take a page from So You Think You Can Dance alum Mark Kanemura and opt for a bold choice from Sea Dragon Studio’s Pride Vibes collection. The limited edition, holographic designs are featured on everything from singlets to shorts and more — perfect for wearing your heart (and pride!) on your sleeve.
If you want to keep the celebratory vibes going, look to power couples George and Amal Clooney and Nina Dobrev and Shaun White. Both pairs choose to get away from it all in vastly different locales, but both are luxurious in their own right.
When they’re not vacationing in Lake Como, the Clooneys like to head to Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in the South of France. In addition to stunning views of the French Riviera, the establishment cares about social causes. Per its website, the company is “guided by common values and objectives, especially in terms of social and environmental development.”
If you’re looking for a French feel but don’t have a Clooney budget, check out White and Dobrev’s go-to French Mediterranean restaurant in Las Vegas. Cathédrale is located at the ARIA Resort & Casino and promises delicious bites for a Sin City appetite.
Sign up for Us Weekly’s free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!
Keep scrolling to see these and more of what celebs are buzzing about this week:
Pride Vibes and sunny skies! A-Listers are
Roku expanded its board with the election of Jeff Blackburn, formerly Amazon’s top digital media and entertainment executive, at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday.
Blackburn served as Amazon’s senior VP of global media and entertainment from May 2021 to February 2023, where he oversaw content businesses including Prime Video, Amazon Studios, MGM, Music, Audible, Games and Twitch. Before that, he was the ecommerce company’s SVP of worldwide business development, advertising and entertainment from 2012-20. He had first joined Amazon in 1998 after advising the company on its IPO.
“Jeff’s extensive experience in digital media and technologies makes him a great addition to our board of directors,” Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood said in a statement. “I look forward to his contributions to Roku as we grow our leadership as the TV streaming platform of choice for more than 70 million households.”
Blackburn commented, “I’m thrilled to be joining Roku’s board of directors at such a pivotal time in the industry as more entertainment continues to move to TV streaming. I look forward to working with fellow board members and Roku’s leadership team to further the company’s mission of being the platform that truly connects the TV ecosystem around the world.”
Blackburn had left Amazon in February 2021 to join Bessemer Venture Partners, but returned a few months later to head up the company’s global media and entertainment organization. He then announced his plans to retire last December. “The last 18 months have been a thrill — working with all of you in [global media and entertainment] and launching some of our biggest, boldest projects ever in entertainment and sports,” Blackburn wrote in a memo to the Amazon team. “But I’ve decided to spend 2023 differently, giving more time to family, and feel strongly this is the right decision for me.”
Prior to joining Amazon, Blackburn was an investment banker, holding positions at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. He holds an MBA from Stanford Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dartmouth College.
Roku expanded its board with the election
“I had never worked in this capacity before, working in any costuming, in TV and film,” revealed fashion designer, and now costume designer, Phillip Lim, who recently ventured into the world of TV costuming after joining the “American Born Chinese” costume department.
Lim and fellow fashion designer, Prabal Gurung, joined lead costume designer Joy Cretton on the latest Disney+ series. The designers reunited for Variety’s Artisans, presented by HBO, to discuss how they created pieces that pulled inspiration from fashion’s biggest night, the Met Gala, and paid homage to Chinese mythology.
Cretton explained that Michelle Yeoh’s character, the Goddess of Mercy, fashions an entirely jade ensemble and that the color scheme was inspired by Chinese mythology. “We had all these different fabrics that we were testing and looking at it in different lights. But we made her own fabric, blended all the shades we tested and did an ombre of the fabric.”
While perfecting the jade for Yeoh, Lim explained why the team deviated from the Monkey King’s classic and “historical” red and gold and dressed the Monkey King in black. Lim said that this shift helped convey a “regal” persona that “commands respect and earns you the right to wear black.”
While Lim worked with Cretton to bring a new life to the Chinese myth of the Monkey King, Cretton and Gurung revitalized the mythology of heaven and the afterlife, to give it a bit of a Met Gala flair.
“We approached it sort of like the Met Ball. It was envisioned from the beginning, where we wanted it to be like a spectacular, colorful, very vibrant event. We wanted it to just be this more colorful party,” said Cretton.
“Of all the red carpets in the world, the Met Gala is where you can celebrate fashion and creativity and really go for it,” added Gurung.
All eight episodes of “American Born Chinese” are available to stream on Disney+.
Watch the full conversation above. Variety’s Artisans is presented by HBO.
“I had never worked in this capacity
The European Commission has given the greenlight for French conglom Vivendi’s acquisition of the Lagardère Group.
The acquisition will make the Paris-based group one of the biggest media and entertainment groups in Europe, on a par with Germany giant Bertelsmann.
Key Lagardère assets include the Hachette publishing group, prestigious weekly magazine Paris Match, the radio station Europe 1 and newspaper kiosk chain Relay.
The approval is contingent on the conglom honoring commitments to sell 100% of its share capital in French publishing house Editis as well as the full sale of celebrity magazine Gala, which currently published under the umbrella of Vivendi’s Prisma Group.
In its press release, Vivendi recalled it had entered into a put option agreement for Editis with Czech mogul Daniel Kretinsky’s International Media Invest on April 23 2023, and noted there was strong interest in Gala too.
Vivendi said it was confident that it would be able to finalize these two transactions by the end of October and that the operation would give it a “new dimension”.
“With the addition of the Lagardère group, Vivendi will now have some 66,000 employees compared to 38,000 at the end of December 2022, with a stronger presence in key markets such as France, the United Kingdom, Spain and the US. Annual revenues are projected to reach approximately €17 billion based on 2022 results, compared to around €10 billion today,” it said.
It added that the Lagardère group’s integrity would be preserved, and Arnaud Lagardère would continue to serve as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of the Vivendi Supervisory Board, said: “The European Commission’s decision is excellent news for Vivendi which will now be able to successfully carry out its ambitious development plan with the Lagardère group.”
“The transaction will align with our strategic ambition to internationalize our activities and our determination to be a leading global player in culture and entertainment.”
Vivendi’s bid to acquire Lagardère began in early 2020, at a time when the once powerful group was going through a financial crisis, which was then exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group took a 57% stake in Lagardère last year but had been waiting for the EC sign-off to finalize its takeover.
The European Commission has given the greenlight
Shraddha Kapoor’s Sunday post was a treat to her fans.
Shraddha Kapoor is currently enjoying the success of her recently released film Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar. The romantic drama also starred Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role. When she is not acting, Shraddha likes to take to her social media and tease titbits from her personal life. Maintaining that trajectory, the Aashiqui 2 actress gave a glimpse of how her Sunday unfolded.
Shradhha Kapoor dropped a slew of pictures on her timeline that aptly summed up her day. The album starts off with a cute selfie in her light yellow night shirt, an adorable picture with her pet dog, a snap of her lunch plate with rice, pulses, cauliflower and other condiments, a close-up of her pooch, some pictures of nature like a guava hanging from a tree and flowers and finally concludes with a blue sky. She wrote in the caption, “What’s your Sunday mood??? Mine is Jhalli “.
Meanwhile her fans were quick to compliment her on her ‘jhalli’ looks. One of them commented, “Shraddha I am obsessed with ur hair cut agar hair cut karungi thi mummy datengi”. Another one wrote, “Humara Sunday mood toh Kuch nhi tha pr apko photos ka intzaar jarur tha jo pura hua❤️” Someone else said, “Omg this short hair on you”. A fan also stated, “Aapke post ne humara din bana Diya ❤️”.
On the professional front Shraddha Kapoor will be seen in Stree 2, co-starring Rajkummar Rao. Pinkvilla exclusively reported that Amar Kaushik and Dinesh Vijan are gearing up to start Stree 2 in July 2023. She also has Nagin and Chalbaaz in London in the pipeline. She was previously seen with Ranbir Kapoor in Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar. Directed by Luv Ranjan, the film also starred Boney Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Anubhav Singh Bassi in pivotal roles. The film was recently released on the digital platform.
Shraddha Kapoor's Sunday post was a treat
In some other part of the multiverse, Ezra Miller may at this very moment be zipping around the globe to promote “The Flash,” talking up the upcoming superhero movie in press junkets, signing autographs at fan events and cracking jokes on late-night talk shows.
In this corner of reality, however, despite positive buzz for the film and Miller’s performance as the Scarlet Speedster, the actor has been absent from the publicity campaign for the costly, high-stakes DC Comics tentpole, which hits theaters June 16. When Miller walks the red carpet at the film’s low-key Los Angeles premiere on Monday, they will pose for photos but it’s unclear whether they will answer any questions from the press.
Following months of troubling headlines about Miller’s erratic and sometimes violent off-screen behavior, including multiple arrests, Warner Bros., which is releasing “The Flash,” has sidelined the actor in an effort to shield the film from any further PR damage. In a statement released in August, the 30-year-old Miller said they were suffering “complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment,” offering an apology to “everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior.”
Directed by Andy Muschietti (also of the horror blockbuster “It”), “The Flash” marks the first time Miller’s high-speed hero, who made supporting appearances in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League,” has been given his own big-screen vehicle. But for Warner Bros., which is in the midst of an ambitious and high-stakes effort to reinvigorate its oft-criticized DC cinematic universe, the actor’s troubles have created a volatile flash point. (Muschietti didn’t respond to multiple interview requests for this story; a representative for Warner Bros. said the studio had no comment on Miller’s off-screen issues or their future with the franchise.)
Superheroes the Flash (Ezra Miller, left) and Supergirl in “The Flash.”
(Warner Bros. / DC Comics)
“Every few years, you have one of these unfortunate situations where a star who is inextricably linked with a character or a movie has very public off-screen issues,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “This causes the studio publicity people nightmares because it takes one more thing out of their control. ‘The Flash’ will be a case study in what happens if you can’t have the main star doing publicity.”
It remains to be seen to what extent the controversy around Miller will affect the box-office performance of “The Flash,” which cost $195 million to produce and was reported as of late last month to be tracking toward a relatively soft opening of around $70 million. Critics and early audiences have largely praised the film, in which Miller’s Barry Allen traverses alternate realities, joining forces with a younger version of himself, along with an aging Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle), to try to prevent his mother’s death and save the world from the Kryptonian villain General Zod (Michael Shannon).
Miller, who earlier starred in 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, is hardly the first actor whose off-screen problems have cast a shadow over the release of a film. In February 2022, as Armie Hammer was embroiled in scandal over allegations of sexual misconduct, 20th Century Studios all but erased him from ads for its lavish Agatha Christie adaptation “Death on the Nile,” which ultimately flopped at the box office. More recently, Will Smith’s shocking, violent Oscar-night meltdown upended Apple’s plans for the period action thriller “Emancipation,” derailing its efforts to gain awards season traction.
Studios have far less leverage to manage such controversies than they did in decades past, according to Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s film school.
“In the golden era of Hollywood, stars could get away with all sorts of things and studios would hush things up,” Galloway says. “There was also a period where we sort of accepted some bad behavior from stars. Today, everybody’s hypersensitive to anything and, in the era of social media backlash, you can’t control the backlash. For Warner Bros., the question is, ‘How can we get the PR we want without Miller doing or saying something that creates a whole new flurry of bad press?’”
Ezra Miller attends the 15th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund event at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York in 2018.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
While Miller has long had a reputation for eccentricity, the actor underwent a chaotic downward spiral last year. In the spring of 2022, they were arrested twice in Hawaii, first for disorderly conduct and harassment following an altercation at a bar and then for second-degree assault after they reportedly threw a chair at a woman. In June, Miller was accused by the parents of an 18-year-old in North Dakota of using “emotional and psychological manipulation” and “cult-like behavior” to groom the girl starting when she was 12. In August, the actor was charged with a felony burglary, and reports emerged that Vermont’s child services agency was trying to find a mother and three children who allegedly had been residing at Miller’s farm.
Amid these disturbing headlines, rumors swirled last fall that Warner Bros. was considering shelving “The Flash,” as it had recently done with “Batgirl.” Ultimately, the studio decided to push ahead, banking that fans of superhero spectacle would be undeterred from seeing the film, which generated a wave of enthusiastic buzz when it was shown to exhibitors in April at CinemaCon.
Indeed, it’s unclear how much die-hard fans actually care about the drama swirling around Miller.
Joe Brady, who works at Pasadena’s Collector’s Paradise comic book shop, says he definitely plans to see “The Flash.” “In terms of whatever Ezra Miller is going through, if they are working on themselves, I think that everybody deserves a second chance — maybe a third,” says Brady, who notes that many fans seem more excited to see Keaton reprise his role as Batman than Miller’s turn as the Flash. “I try not to read too much into the tabloid-y nature of it all. Celebrities are under a microscope.”
Ryan Leibowitz, co-owner of Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood, shares that sentiment. “I’m sure [Miller] has some mental health issues, but who doesn’t these days, especially after the pandemic?” Leibowitz says. “This has been a roller coaster of emotions for fans, because everyone was really excited and then there was all that bad press for Miller. But the movie looks awesome, and I think hardcore fans will see it.”
But another comic-shop employee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid negative pushback from fellow fans, was more troubled by the allegations around Miller: “It amazes me that celebrities can be accused of the things that [they] did and be allowed to get away with it. As much as I want to see it, I can’t bring myself to give money to support that actor. I kind of hate putting shine on [their] name.”
“The Flash” features multiple superheroes, including Supergirl, center.
(Warner Bros. / DC Comics)
Beyond “The Flash,” Miller’s future remains an open question. The actor has a supporting role as a young Salvador Dalí in the new indie “Dalíland,” now in limited release, but Miller appears for just a few seconds in the trailer for the film, which has drawn largely negative reviews. At this point, Miller has no other greenlit projects in the pipeline.
Muschietti has publicly lavished praise on Miller, saying he would cast the actor in any potential sequel: “I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did,” the director said on a recent episode of the Discourse podcast. But from the studio’s perspective, Miller’s lack of a box-office track record, combined with the DC slate’s malleable multiverse conceit, could make it easier to simply swap in another actor with less baggage.
“Today [the studio reps] say, ‘We don’t have any problems, everything’s great,’” says Galloway. “But the public spin doesn’t mean that’s really what people are thinking. Behind the scenes they could be saying, ‘Quick, get me out of this.’ If you’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a movie that’s resting on one person’s shoulders and that person may not deliver the performance or be around for marketing, very few studios are going to want to make that investment.”
For the moment at least, some comic-book fans are only too happy to tune out all the drama around Miller.
“I’ve seen some allegations but I don’t know a ton about what they’ve done,” says Morgan Lashley Haines, who works at Collector’s Paradise. “I’m mostly excited to see Supergirl. That’s what I’m looking for.”
When it comes to superhero fandom, indifference, not controversy, may be the ultimate kryptonite.
Times staff writer Jevon Phillips contributed to this report.
In some other part of the
Josh Keaton, the voice actor behind Peter Parker in the fan-favorite Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, discussed his qualms over getting replaced as the character.
Spectacular Spider-Man, considered by many as the gold standard of Spider-Man animated series, was unceremoniously canceled after a legal snafu between Marvel (who had then-recently been acquired by Disney) and Sony (who owned the rights to Spectacular).
That was back in 2009, and a few years later, in 2012, the DisneyXD network debuted a new Spidey series called Ultimate Spider-Man which starred Drake Bell in the titular voice role.
Spectacular Spider-Man star John Keaton took to TikTok Live on June 4 to explain exactly what went down with his would-be guest appearance in the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes animated series over a decade ago.
Spider-Man made a guest appearance on a 2012 episode of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. There, he was voiced by Drake Bell, but according to Keaton, this was not always the case.
Keaton was the original voice of Peter Parker in that episode and had completed recording all his lines. It wasn’t until the episode aired, and Keaton was watching it, that he realized he had been recast after the fact:
“And then, the night that it aired and I was gonna watch it, I watched it, and I was like, ’Wow, that is not my voice. That is not my voice. He’s hitting all the same beats I’m hitting, ’cause the animation was probably already done, so they had to have him kind of listen, and repeat to what I did, and say, ‘Okay, now you do it.’”
Keaton continued, expressing his distaste over how the whole situation was handled:
“And then when I looked at the credits, it said, ‘Drake Bell.’ I was like, ‘Wow, okay.’ And then right around then is when they announced, ‘We’re coming out with Ultimate Spider-Man and Drake Bell’s going to play Ultimate Spider-Man.’ And I was like, ‘Man, that sucks. That sucks that they did that to me.’ Like, they could’ve at least called me, so I wouldn’t have gotten so excited and just said, ‘Hey, we’re replacing [the voice.]’”
Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that Josh Keaton’s Web-Slinger actually made a brief appearance in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He only has a line or two of dialogue (with Keaton indeed reprising the role), but he gets a very quick spotlight in the film among the hordes of other Spider-People.
This quick cameo begs the question: After the cancellation of Spectacular Spider-Man and the abrupt recasting of Keaton as the character, could this incarnation of Spidey get another chance to shine?
The die-hards have been asking for a revival of Spectacular for well over a decade and maybe with this version showing up in Spider-Verse, his series could be brought back.
It feels like the odds are slim though, with Disney and Marvel Studios currently developing Spider-Man: Freshman Year for Disney+. Having two concurrent Spider-Man animated shows risks over-saturation, or at least runs the chance of one show’s audience cannibalizing the other.
But the Spider-Verse movies still have at least one entry remaining. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse releases in 2024 and brings with it another opportunity for the Spectacular Spider-Man to swing onto the screen again. Perhaps with that catchy theme song of his in tow.
Look, nobody wants to be shipwrecked anywhere. If it’s a Cast Away situation, you end up talking to a volleyball. In a Swiss Family Robinson scenario, you have build treehouses and stuff. Who wants to do that! But if you end up on Skull Island, as the characters do in Skull Island, you have to contend with giant, bloodthirsty beasts. And you better hope Kong is in a benevolent mood that day. The new Netflix series from Powerhouse Animation will debut on June 22, but the streamer has just released a full-length trailer. Take a look!
The series takes viewers on a thrilling adventure as a group of kind-hearted explorers rescues Annie (Mae Whitman) from the ocean, unaware that their act of heroism will lead them to the treacherous Skull Island. This enigmatic place is home to bizarre creatures and terrifying monsters, including the mighty titan himself, Kong. As the trailer shows, the idea was always to go to Skull Island, but certainly not to strand themselves there. And it seems as though Annie isn’t as helpless as they initially feared.
Skull Island, from Legendary Television, is created, written, and produced by Brian Duffield. The series boasts an impressive ensemble cast, with Nicolas Cantu (Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky, The Fabelmans) lending his voice to the protagonist, Charlie. Joining him are talented voice actors Mae Whitman (Family Guy, DC Super Hero Girls) as Annie; Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles) as Mike; Benjamin Bratt (Poker Face, Coco) as Cap; and Betty Gilpin (Mrs. Davis, Glow) as Irene.
Skull Island‘s eight-episode first season will drop June 22 on Netflix.
Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
Look, nobody wants to be
The price and pre-order information for Cyberpunk 2077‘s upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC has been leaked.
According to billbil-kun, who has a long-running record of correctly leaking information, the expansion will be shown in a new trailer during the Xbox Games Showcase later today.
Immediately following the reveal, pre-orders will start for the DLC, billbil-kun claims.
They add that anyone who pre-orders will get access to a muscle car called the Quadra Vigilante, “before anyone else finds it in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty”.
It’s not clear whether billbil-kun means the car will be added to the base Cyberpunk 2077 game and immediately accessible, or whether it will be unlocked right at the start of Phantom Liberty.
They also leaked the price of the DLC, which they say will be $29.99 / €29,99 / £24.99.
EXCLUSIVE
? UPCOMING RELEASE ?Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty will be announced during #XboxShowcase 2023 !
Pre-orders will start right after, and as a bonus, you can get this stunning muscle car, before anyone else finds it in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty pic.twitter.com/0S0AL0sHqR
— billbil-kun (@billbil_kun) June 11, 2023
CD Projekt had previously said back in March that it planned to reveal more about Phantom Liberty in June.
Phantom Liberty is “a spy-thriller expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 set in an all-new district of Night City”, according to the publisher.
It will star Idris Elba as Solomon Reed, an FIA Agent for the New United States of America.
Sasha Grey will also star in the DLC. She will voice Ash, a radio DJ on the in-game station 89.7 Growl FM.
The expansion will also see the return of Johnny Silverhand, the character played by Keanu Reeves, alongside a new cast of characters.
CD Projekt said last September that Phantom Liberty was the only planned expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, though after its release the next Cyberpunk game, Project Orion, will begin development at a new US-based studio called CD Projekt Red North America.
The price and pre-order information for Cyberpunk
With WWDC now come and gone, there’s been a lot to unpack. From news of the new M2 Ultra, a new lineup of MacBook Air laptops, and of course this new VR/AR headset, we’ve been busy trying to fully explore each story thoroughly. However, even with plenty of news and hands-on reviews hitting the internet, there are still so many questions to be answered.
Most of the questions have to do with Apple Vision Pro and the bold new future it envisions, yet only lightly describes.
Luckily, at a recent developer session, Apple lifted the veil a bit more on how users will eventually be interacting with Vision Pro, most notably about how eyes and hands will be the primary way of using the headset with the support of both physical and virtual keyboards and other controls.
Let’s take a look at this new virtual workflow and see how it might be a future part of your own one day.
If you’d like to follow along at home, Apple has released the full video from their recent “Design for Spatial Input” session in which they go over how everything with the Vision Pro is going to work from an interaction perspective. With Apple’s usual intuitive flair, it’s no surprise that so much about the input flow is easy to follow and understand.
Designed really for just your eyes and hands, the majority of what you’ll be able to control with this new AR/VR headset will be as easy as a look and small hand movement. However, it still might be helpful to review the best practices for each input method as a way to create spatial experiences which are comfortable, intuitive, and satisfying.
Here are the different sections if you’d like to check those out as well:
A Virtual Keyboard Experience
Perhaps the most interesting piece of virtual technology to be introduced since the Tamagotchi, Apple Vision Pro’s virtual keyboard looks to be as crazy, but probably intuitive, as promised. Designed by Apple designer Eugene Krivoruchko, it’s going to potentially be an important part of a user’s virtual workflow, depending on which tasks they chose to do in the experience.
While you obviously won’t get the same tactile feedback as you would by jamming your fingers on a keyboard in real life, this virtual keyboard will utilize an array of visual and audio feedback to let you know what’s clicking and how your inputs are reading out. It’s odd to think about, but the differences between hovering over a key versus tapping one are indeed quite different.
The virtual experience will also support voice input, which can be coupled with any virtual keyboards or other controls too as a way to further engage the interface in a natural and meaningful way. With six microphones built into the Vision Pro, Apple is fast at work trying out new and innovative ways in which you’ll be able to use classic controls (like keyboards and mouse-like hand movements) with new ones we haven’t even thought of yet.
The big question for film professionals and video editors is going to have to do with how these new virtual tools and workflows might eventually help out with video. Will video editors choose to work on their projects by using Apple’s Vision Pro interface? There are certainly plenty of new possibilities to explore like endless multi-screen workflows and the ability to grab, drag, drop, or cut clips by hand—something we haven’t seen in video editing since the analog film days.
Or will video editors who do adopt virtual still want to have a keyboard to be able to use their preferred Final Cut Pro (or Premiere Pro if Apple allows it) shortcuts for editing as they usually would on an IRL computer or workstation?
This is where things get truly exciting and about as open-ended as anything we’ve ever seen in film or tech. While we’ll get more answers eventually, the questions are going to keep coming…
How do you feel about Apple’s Vision Pro virtual keyboard and other virtual workflow possibilities?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Let’s look a bit closer into
Frozen and Toy Story are two of the most significant movie franchises of all time, and both underwent the same significant villain change during the course of their production that saved their success. Both franchises are considered benchmarks in Disney animation, and are unmatched in the cultural impact that their characters have. However, it took a massive alteration early on in the production of both films for those characters to take shape.
Disney movies in particular have always thrived thanks to memorable villain characters. In fact, Disney has even had success with movies focused specifically on the villains, like Maleficent and Cruella. Both Frozen and Toy Story only became the classic movies that audiences know and love because they were able to avoid the same problem with their villains.
Early on in the production for both movies, the heroes of Toy Story and Frozen – Woody and Elsa respectively – were the evil villains. In the case of Frozen, it was a byproduct of the source material. Frozen is loosely based off “The Snow Queen,” the story by Hans Christian Andersen, which features the eponymous snow queen as the primary antagonist. The original version of the movie featured a completely different Elsa, who would have had dark, spiky hair and neutral-colored attire instead of the icy dress and white-blonde braids that audiences are now familiar with.
Unlike Frozen, Toy Story was an original story not based on any existing source material. Early drafts of Pixar’s first movie always had Woody as a cruel villain who ruled over the other toys in Andy’s room like a tyrant. He was originally supposed to be a ventriloquist dummy instead of a stuffed cowboy doll, which made his appearance much creepier (which is nodded to in Toy Story 4 with Gabby Gabby’s dummy henchmen). Some elements of his original antagonization of Buzz Lightyear carried over to the final version of the movie, like Woody throwing Buzz out the window to get rid of him for good.
Fortunately for both the Frozen and Toy Story franchises, the original plans were abandoned and both Elsa and Woody were changed into heroes. In the case of Frozen, Disney executives wanted to make the movie feel more like a traditional Disney princess movie, with John Lasseter in particular pushing to make Elsa a hero. Lasseter’s 10-year-old son Sam was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and his struggle to accept that part of himself was a direct inspiration for Elsa’s struggle to accept her ice powers. The uplifting message of Frozen evolved from there, with Elsa and Anna’s relationship as sisters moving to the foreground as well.
Toy Story, and Pixar in general, almost never got off the ground due to Woody’s dark origins. The storyboard reel of Toy Story in November 1993 received a devastatingly negative response, and forced Disney and Pixar executives to go back to the drawing board on the entire concept. They were given two weeks to fix the movie, and backed off the more adult tone that was originally outlined, which led to Woody’s transformation from villain to hero. Fortunately for both Frozen and Toy Story, executives had the good sense to make significant changes, otherwise neither franchise would even exist, much less occupy an influential place in American culture.
Frozen and Toy Story are two of
When Maya Kowalski was 10 years old, the once-vibrant Florida youngster started exhibiting a worrying array of ailments: Her feet began cramping and curling inward, she couldn’t stop coughing, headaches nearly incapacitated her, and lesions appeared on her limbs. Her doting parents, Jack and Beata, were desperate for not even a cure but simply a diagnosis of what was ailing their beloved firstborn. For Beata, a Polish immigrant and nurse known for her direct nature, it was yet another challenge to overcome, another medical mystery to unravel.
What would unfold over the next few years was a nightmare even the always-prepared Beata couldn’t possibly predict, a complicated story with a heartbreaking — and wholly unfinished — conclusion that should terrify everyone. First-time feature filmmaker Henry Roosevelt attempts to unpack what happened to the Kowalskis (and, as the film eventually alleges, what has happened to many other American families) in the documentary “Take Care of Maya,” a wrenching and ultimately incomplete look at an unbelievable true story.
If the shades of this story — sick kid, dedicated mom, a family tale with unexpectedly wide implications — sounds familiar, perhaps you’ve already read Dyan Neary’s excellent 2022 article in The Cut or one of Daphne Chen’s pieces from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and know where this story ends. And while Roosevelt doesn’t try to obscure the tragedy that consumes the documentary’s final act, the pains with which the filmmaker goes to unspool his film in a linear fashion, all the better to attempt to find the truth in a complex story, are a wise choice.
Less effective are the various perspectives Roosevelt dips in and out of while telling that story. What happened to Maya and Beata has (and will likely only continue to) inspire all kinds of controversy, with everything from Maya’s eventual diagnosis and the treatment the Kowalskis pursued to the actions of a local hospital and the Pinellas County child-protection team up for debate, but Roosevelt’s film wavers between taking a clear stance on any of the issues at hand.
Not that that’s necessary for a documentary — where, typically, objectivity would rule — but Roosevelt attempts to have things both ways, diving deep into the lives of the Kowalskis while also including surveillance footage from Maya’s many hospital stays that seems to slyly refute the family’s own experience. That means it’s up to viewers to draw their own conclusions, but “Take Care of Maya” doesn’t provide nearly enough information to allow for that. What it does provide, however, is heartbreaking and infuriating, a document of a bizarre tragedy that seems destined to never get full closure for anyone involved.
The facts, as slippery as that term may be in this instance, are as follows and are neatly laid out in Roosevelt’s film: After Maya started experiencing her ailments, few doctors could pinpoint a diagnosis until Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick offered one that came complete with a controversial “cure.” Kirkpatrick alleged that Maya had CRPS (“complex regional pain syndrome”), a rare form of chronic pain that tends to afflict young girls most often and is, much like chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, misunderstood often to the point of derision. To heal Maya, Kirkpatrick started her on a ketamine regime, eventually ending with a dose so intense that it was meant to put her into a five-day coma.
When Maya woke up, she felt better until she didn’t. Months after her coma, Beata and Jack took her to a local hospital for treatment, where the various doctors, nurses, and social workers eventually concluded that Maya was not sick and that meticulous and direct Beata was actually the ailing one, suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy (hello, “The Act”). For nearly three months, Maya stayed in the hospital — where her insurance company was, ironically, billed for her CRPS treatment — while her family, especially Beata, were kept away from her and ruthlessly investigated by the state of Florida.
Roosevelt has a wealth of material to work with in telling this story, thanks to Beata’s detailed notes and audio recordings, plus a number of interviews with various talking heads and even deposition material from the eventual lawsuits that are skin-crawling in about five different ways. At times, “Take Care of Maya” feels almost too personal, as Roosevelt follows the Kowalskis during some of their darkest days, burrowing inside a broken family and only being able to show us the pieces.
That sense of a story rendered incomplete, of answers we may never fully know, is at the heart of the Kowalskis’ story, but Roosevelt’s film is unable to square that with the constraints and demands of a feature film. Just as one story comes to a horrible close, others begin to spin outward, none of them able to find any sense of closure or completion, just more pain, no cure.
“Take Care of Maya” premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. It will start streaming on Netflix on Monday, June 19.
When Maya Kowalski was 10 years old,
“Barbie World” is coming. Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice confirmed a release date for their collab — with original “Barbie World” hitmakers Aqua — for the Barbie movie soundtrack. Saturday night (June 10), they announced that “Barbie World” will arrive on June 23.
“It’s BARBIE B!CH‼️‼️‼️ If you still in doubt,” Minaj teased on her post, while Ice Spice captioned hers “bad like da barbie.”
The Barbie track can be pre-saved here ahead of its release, and Aqua is credited alongside Minaj and Ice Spice. The two rappers previously collaborated on a remix of “Princess Diana,” which went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart in April. It was the first No. 1 by two co-billed women in the list’s 34-year history. It also reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart.
The Barbie film, directed by Greta Gerwig, is set to premiere in theaters nationwide on July 21, which is also when its full star-studded soundtrack will drop.
Earlier this week, Minaj also revealed her first album in five years is on the way. It’s expected on Oct. 20.
See the teasers for “Barbie World” below.
“Barbie World” is coming. Nicki Minaj and
For his feature debut film, Hong Sung-eun wrote, directed, and edited the South Korean drama Aloners. When we meet the main character, Jina (Gong Seung-Yeon), she is in the midst of a customer call who is trying to delete a charge from Titty Karaoke. Jina works at a credit card call center. She never misses a moment to assist and is on cue with all customer requests whose stories can only be imagined. Jina is a company gem. Chained to a headset and a computer, her life appears singular until she is requested to train a new associate named Sujin (Jeong Da-Eun). She’s an opposing and imposing figure.
Jina always walks alone. She is always wearing earphones or a headset unless tucked away inside her sparse apartment in a cement building complex, watching television in bed. Yet, with all the modern conveniences of keyless entry, no cashier noodle bars, and remote cameras, human existence perseveres like a flower trying to grow in the crack of a cement sidewalk.
As we follow Jina in her daily life routine, eating, working, taking off a coat, and smoking, her expression is a dominant detail in understanding the story and drama of Aloners. In the most creative yet straightforward execution, watching Jina is an art form—she rejects life but lives within it. Her mother died, and her father is still in mourning, yet he tries to be optimistic despite a few fallacies. He’s living a bizarre life, which Jina watches from afar without his knowledge, as this remote viewing was a set-up she used for her mother that she never terminated. She even keeps her mom as a phone ID, but it’s her father’s number.
“…we follow Jina in her daily life routine, eating, working, taking off a coat, and smoking…”
Director, writer, and editor Hong Sung-eun add a fascinating subplot. It is one of life, death, and the afterlife, which shows up in his metaphors of smoke and isolation in technology, offering a new understanding of things that will never change in life and death. It is in community where Jina must break from computer-headset existence, especially as she becomes more hardened at work due to Sujin, her trainee. This goes hand-in-hand with being a bitch, especially when a rather good-looking and interesting Seo Hyun Woo moves next door into the “haunted” apartment. It is observant and absorbing; even if not much seems to be happening, Sung-eun is saying a lot.
Aloners stays so engaging because of Gong Seung-yeon’s acting. Her eyes and head movements reveal much without the actor ever saying a word allowing the camera work to lead the story. The director chooses interesting angles to capture the action, always highlighting how isolated Jina is, despite being surrounded by people at work or walking or eating alone giving a life to the mundane.
Connecting all these elements with so little conversation and sparsity, the filmmaker offers a creative, modern tech tale of soul-saving. But, what is most attractive about Aloners is Gong Seung-yeon’s acting and the camera’s ability to provide an angle of serious interest in a world that is wired in but wildly estranged with a great deal of lassitude attitude. It’s a moving drama with an excellent central performance.
For his feature debut film, Hong Sung-eun
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Amid the WGA strike, the show will go on for Broadway’s biggest night. The 76th annual Tony Awards air Sunday, June 11 at United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights. A 90-minute pre-show will be hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin starting at 3:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. ET, while Ariana DeBose will return to host the unscripted main event. The three-hour ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ starting at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
The predictions are also in for theatre’s biggest night, and a mathematical model anticipates that the winners will include Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt for best play, A Doll’s House for best revival of a play, Sean Hayes for lead actor for his role in Good Night, Oscar and A Doll’s House‘s Jessica Chastain for lead actress, to name just a few forecasts. (See the full list of nominees here.)
If you don’t have cable and are ready to cut the cord, you can stream the 2023 Tony Awards live on Paramount+ or on live TV streaming platforms that offer CBS, including DirecTV, Fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV. You can also watch the Tonys pre-show live for free on Pluto.
Note that you’ll need a smart TV or a streaming device such as Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV Stick or Roku to watch the awards show; you can also watch on a smartphone, tablet or another mobile device. Read on to find out how to stream the 2023 Tony Awards without cable.
Previously AT&T TV, DirecTV lets you watch more than 65 other channels under its Entertainment package ($65 monthly), including CBS, BBC, CNN, CNBC and more. Other plans ($85 to $155 monthly) offer over 90 to 140 channels and subscribers can connect via DirecTV’s Gemini device (requires an existing internet connection) or satellite dish (Gemini device and HD DVR equipment included, existing internet connection required). For a limited time, new customers get a price guarantee for their first two years and a $200 Visa gift card.
Stream CBS and more than 100 entertainment, news and sports channels live and on-demand on Fubo, which offers plans starting at $65 per month.
Watch CBS and more than 75 other channels on Hulu with Live TV, which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu starting at $70 per month. The streamer also offers a seven-day trial, so new subscribers can watch the Tony Awards for free during their first week.
Paramount+ costs $5 per month for the ad-based Essential plan or $10 monthly for the Premium subscription with no ads (except for select shows and live TV). Both plans include NFL on CBS live, Champions League soccer and access to tens of thousands of episodes and movies in the Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) streamer’s library, including Emmy-nominated series such as RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Amazing Race; original content such as Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Rabbit Hole and the Yellowstone prequel 1883; the full Star Trek franchise; Paramount feature films (including Django Unchained, Scream and more); and more content from BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and the Smithsonian channel.
On top of minimal ads, Paramount+ Premium subscribers can access their local CBS station live, watch CBS sports (including March Madness, Champions League and NFL games), stream on up to three devices, create profiles for other family members and download select content for offline viewing.
The popular video platform’s live TV service offers access to over 85 channels. Monthly subscriptions start at $73, but new subscribers can get a deal right now for $65 per month for the first three months.
If you’re located outside of the U.S. and want to access your live TV streaming account, you can use a virtual private network (VPN) such as ExpressVPN to watch Corden’s final The Late Late Show internationally. The service costs $7 to $13 per month and lets you log into high-speed servers across more than 90 countries while keeping your data private and secure, and new subscribers get three free months; learn more here.
If you purchase an independently reviewed product
Donald Trump’s newest campaign video employs a familiar voice, but instead of using the echoes of the former president, it uses Matt Damon.
The video, which Trump unveiled on Truth Social Saturday, overlays images and videos of the former POTUS over the audio of Damon’s inspiration monologue from the recently released biopic drama “Air,” which documents Nike’s pivotal partnership with Michael Jordan.
The campaign video references Trump’s recent indictment, showcasing images from cable news coverage of that historic announcement paired with Damon’s statement that “once they’ve built you as high as they possibly can, they’re gonna tear you back down.” By the end, Damon says “everyone will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up, except for you; you’re gonna be remembered forever,” as clips of Trump come into focus.
The monologue, of course, references events within the 2023 sports drama, and not Trump’s recent legal woes or future trajectory.
According to Axios, Artists Equity, the production company behind “Air” that was co-founded by Damon and Ben Affleck, did not know nor consent to the “Air” audio being used in the campaign video.
“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement,” a spokesperson for Artists Equity said in a statement to Axios.
The Axios journalist also reported that the spokesperson amended the statement, saying “we hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from Air by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required, we do not grant such consent.”
When the Axios reporter sent the statement from Artists Equity to the Trump campaign, the spokesperson for Trump responded with an emoji. It remains to be seen if Trump’s team will remove the video from the social media platform.
TheWrap was unable to get reach a spokesperson for Artists Equity.
Donald Trump’s newest campaign video employs a
After The Karate Kid films, the spin-off show, Cobra Kai has achieved brilliant success. The spin-off has already won the hearts of fans with 5 seasons. Now, fans are waiting for the final season of the show to connect all the dots. However, while connecting the dots, the important thing to remember is the origin of the show. One of the showmakers, Jon Hurwitz, revealed the William Zabka project that inspired the fan-favorite show, Cobra Kai.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
When people like a certain character or a style in a show or film, they start to follow that. Even if you like a certain actor/actress, you start to follow his/her style and everything you can. This Cobra Kai creator’s trio was just the same in their high school days. Like any other teenager, films of their era affected these three minds as well. On the occasion of Hayden Schlossberg’s birthday, Jon Hurwitz posted a picture of the trio revealing the true inspiration behind the show.
Happy Birthday, @McSchlossberg! We’ve come a long way since I used to give you wedgies back in high school!
Fun Fact: This was the night of our high school graduation. I was wearing a fingerless glove pretending to be @WilliamZabka’s character Greg Tolan from Just One of the… pic.twitter.com/fnmo9qdn5j
— Jon Hurwitz (@jonhurwitz) June 9, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
On their high school graduation night, Hurwitz was wearing a fingerless glove trying to look like William Zabka’s character from his film, Just One of the Guys. As the man himself revealed, their obsession with the movie made a path for the creation of Cobra Kai. As surprising as it sounds, it is actually William Zabka who inspired the trio to create a spin-off show rather than the original movies. Nevertheless, the original Karate Kids films have their own charm and significance in their lives, too.
While fans are waiting for the final season, the creators of the show stopped working on the final season’s production to support the ongoing writers’ strike.
Because of the ongoing writers’ strike, many shows and films have been affected. Some of them even got canceled because of the same. However, the spin-off series creators willingly stopped the production of the sixth season to support the strike. Jon Hurwitz even posted a picture of the writers who eventually put their pencils down because of the strike. Ironically, just a few days before posting the message from the writers’ room, there were many people working on the show.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
We hate to strike, but if we must, we strike hard. Pencils down in the Cobra Kai writers room. No writers on set. These aren’t fun times, but it’s unfortunately necessary. The moment a fair deal is in place, we’ll get back to kicking ass. In the meantime, sending strength and… https://t.co/99UulF7HeW
— Jon Hurwitz (@jonhurwitz) May 2, 2023
Along with the picture, Hurwitz also sent a beautiful message to express support for the writers. Since then, while fans have been waiting patiently, the Cobra Kai creators are actively participating in the writers’ strike.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
As the creators along with the characters of the show often say, “Strike hard,” after the break, the creators would definitely do so. While waiting for the sixth season to finish filming, tell us how did you find the inspiration behind the creation of the show?
After The Karate Kid films, the spin-off
Like Marti Muth — my high school English teacher who slid a copy of “The Normal Heart” across my desk in 1986 and said “Read this” — International Male knew I was gay before I did.
My closeted teen behind devoured the company’s men’s wear catalog when it landed in my family’s mailbox in the 1980s. I was drawn to the fanciful clothing — things like rope-yarn tops and peekaboo rower shorts — that were a universe removed from my fat boy pants. Page through a copy of the catalog today and the clothes look queerly masculine, like something Lil Nas X would drape from his body.
According to the new documentary “All Man: The International Male Story,” available on streaming services, I wasn’t alone. Through interviews with celebrity fans, catalog models, company employees and Gene Burkard, the company’s gay founder, the film explores how for some 40 years a catalog of outré men’s wear became a generation-defining gay chef d’oeuvre.
In a recent interview, one of the film’s directors, Bryan Darling, told me he hopes audiences find the documentary to be an “empowering” discovery, or rediscovery, of the catalog’s peacocky fashion and pre-Instagram gay eroticism. It was for him: He’d never seen the catalog until Jesse Finley Reed, his co-director, showed him a copy.
“When I opened it, especially when I saw the stuff from the ’80s, it was like, why don’t we have as much fun now?” said Darling, who, like Reed, is gay.
The movie charts the catalog’s rise and fall, starting with the first issue in 1976 — a collection of European-inspired men’s wear curated by Burkard, a Wisconsin native — and ends when the last catalog was shipped around 2007. (Burkard died at 90 in 2020.) In the decades between, the catalog was a multimillion-dollar success, taking in around $100 million annually in the early 1990s.
Editorially, the catalog never billed itself as being for gays, but many buyers and art directors in the tight-knit company were gay men and straight women who knew how to appeal to gay taste. Some male models declined an International Male gig out of fear they’d look or be considered gay.
I never bought anything from International Male. But for many gay Gen Xers like me, the catalog was formative — the gay coming-of-age equivalent of my straight middle school friends drooling over a stolen copy of Playboy. Browsing it helped me discern, even if I didn’t fully understand, that I was into guys, a torturous realization in an era when the most I heard about gay men was that they were clowns and sickos.
I didn’t see myself in the men in the catalog — I was too young, round and fey — but I saw myself making out with them, one day, on that sandy Arcadia where I assumed they all lived. I studied the catalog alone and afraid but aroused, lingering over shirtless men with aspirational treasure trails that Jesus warned me were off limits.
But magazines you could “read” in the bathroom or hide under the bed — those were pretty much the only sexual-awakening materials boys like me had.
I recently reached out to friends to see if they had similar memories of the catalog and boy, did they. Benjamin remembered nervously buying it at a bookstore near his family’s home near Columbus, Ohio.
“Imagine the mental gymnastics involved in being so deeply closeted but convincing myself that, sure, I’m a 16-year-old who’s into fashion and wants to look good in a jockstrap — for his girlfriend,” he told me. “That’s not gay at all.”
Some friends actually did buy clothes. Carl said what looked good on the page made him appear in person like he was in “a very, very gay production of ‘Peter Pan.’” Patrick bought a wrestling singlet, of sorts, that served a singular purpose.
“If I wanted to speed up getting into bed with a guy,” he told me, “I’d put it on and it got things moving.”
What “All Man” doesn’t explain is how the catalog found me. I’m guessing someone typed my address into a database after I won a picnic basket of Calvin Klein Obsession products in a GQ fashion show raffle at a Cleveland mall around 1986. Or maybe someone at the Columbia House record club saw that my order of 11 albums for a penny included the “Godspell” and “Fame” soundtracks, and said: This queen will buy a man panty.
Or maybe the gay gods looked down on me and said, like the head angel to Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life”: “A man down on Earth needs our help.”
Like Marti Muth — my high school
While debates about the use of A.I. take center stage across the entertainment industry, the technology has been quietly assisting animation and visual effects crews for years. It had made some of the most astonishing visual images possible when artisans have been asked to do what was previously thought impossible.
When helmer Peter Sohn wanted characters based on the elements of fire, water, air and earth for his new film “Elemental,” VFX supervisor Sanjay Bakshi and his team at Pixar looked to A.I. to make the process smoother. The look of the characters depended on adjustments that would align them with Sohn’s vision.
“We used A.I. for a very specific kind of problem, and we used a machine learning algorithm called neural style transfer,” says Bakshi. “Our animation is so highly scrutinized. We go through so many review cycles for every shot and the animators are really handcrafting it and there’s not a lot of places where machine learning is applicable in the current form.
“But on ‘Elemental’ we have this one problem where we run these fire simulations on top of the characters to make them feel fiery. Then the flames themselves are going through a pyro simulation that is very realistic. It’s a fluid simulation, a real temperature simulation. So, the flames that it produces are very realistic. We needed a way to stylize those flames themselves. As you can imagine, stylizing a simulation isn’t an easy problem. It’s just so temporal. It’s changing constantly. And that’s the beauty of fire. It’s always so different, which is why it’s mesmerizing to look at. So there are not a lot of techniques out there to stylize flames, but we found one, which is called neural style transfer, and that’s the technique we used. It was really the only tractable solution.”
Gavin Kelly, a founding partner at the Dublin-based Piranha Bar, an animation and VFX house, also sees A.I. as a technology that will come to have more uses as animators and content creators look to push the limits of their visuals.
“At the far end, and we’re not quite there yet, you just film something and then just tell A.I. what you want to change it into in terms of performance capture,” says Kelly. “So, with performance capture, it’s very complex. You’re putting the animation thing together, getting face headset in place, talking to the software that will talk to the hands, the body and everything. Those are all different bits, getting everything to talk together. In order to create this pipeline, it’s very, very complicated. And there’s a lot of trouble-shooting along the way. So, currently, there’s no doubt that there are A.I. movement capture solutions in the past. We’ve looked at them before they’ve been awful and not production-ready. We are now very close to production-ready with being able to roll the camera and A.I. will work it out and it will be robust. And it won’t shake and it will look very convincing.”
For Bakshi and his team, A.I. still requires careful adjustments from artists and VFX crews to get the visuals where they want them to go. Nothing can be taken for granted.
“The person who worked with on us on A.I. was Jonathan Hoffman and he described it like throwing fish into a tornado, and hoping to get sushi out of these machine-learning algorithms,” laughs Bakshi. “So you can input what you want and you may get something really beautiful, but it still might not be what you wanted to get from the animation that comes back to you.”
While debates about the use of A.I.
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a hit and people are saying it could be the best Spider-Man movie ever made.
The Spider-Man situation between Sony and Marvel Studios is well documented amongst even the most general of audiences. Sony has the rights to the character and has no plans of letting go.
Other than a brief stint between contract negotiations, it has not impacted the webhead’s presence in the MCU. But as the Multiverse continues to be a dominating force in Hollywood, the lines between this universe and that universe are more blurred now than ever before.
In Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2099, played by Oscar Isaac, is in charge of protecting the Spider-Verse from collapsing by making sure certain events play out the way they are supposed to (sound familiar?). While explaining the Multiverse, Miguel mentions “Doctor Strange and that punk from Earth-199999″ did something to interfere with that goal.
This is a shoutout to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home when Strange and Spidey unintentionally disrupted the Multiversal balance by bringing different universes’ Spidey villains (and Spider-Men) into the MCU. This also set No Way Home as the precedent for any Multiversal mishap with villains getting thrown across different universes anytime there is a knot in the thread.
For MCU fans, this is without a doubt the biggest Easter egg in the movie. When Miguel explains the nature of the Spider-Verse, he first shows an example of the vast Multiverse and it is none other than the fractured Sacred Timeline from Loki.
This confirms too much for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Sony Spider-Man Universe. This Easter egg proves that not only is Sony allowing Marvel Studios to use its prized possession, but it is also willing to play ball.
As Avengers: Secret Wars approaches, the more universes tied to what is happening in the MCU, the bigger that movie is going to be.
While the Sacred Timeline is an MCU fan’s biggest Easter egg, Donald Glover’s return as The Prowler is the biggest cameo. After a brief appearance as Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Glover is seen in Across The Spider-Verse as a fully developed and captured Prowler.
So many things make this cameo great, and the reasons stretch beyond this movie. But with a new Spider-Man, a Mile Morales movie, and Spider-Verse 2 being a box office darling, look for Donald Glover to return once more as Aaron Davis to support whoever ends up being the live-action Miles Morales Spider-Man.
A role Glover surely would have been the favorite for in the 2010s.
In theaters, there have been four leading Spider-Men, four Aunt Mays, three Uncle Bens, and a plethora of Stan Lee cameos. But only one man can be trusted with one of the most iconic Spider-Man characters. That man is JK Simmons, and that character is J. Jonah Jameson.
In Across The Spider-Verse, Simmons can be heard voicing every instance of JJ Jameson in every universe. The same way he portrayed the MCUs JJJ, no questions need to be asked. He has perfected this craft for over 20 years now.
While these are not MCU Easter Eggs, the most recent appearance from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective Peter Parkers in No Way Home really ties Sony and Marvel Studios together with Across The Spider-Verse.
Footage from Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man was shown to highlight the canon events in a Spider-Man’s life. This helped fans feel that this animated spectacle is just as important and tied into the great Spider-Man movie universe.
These Easter eggs, cameos, and callbacks may seem like fun fanfare on the surface. And in a lot of ways they are. But these sorts of connective tissue strengthen the audience’s perception of what is connected and what isn’t.
There is going to be a moment just like December 2021 when audiences see their favorite characters from all different studios and franchises coming together on screen. These types of world-building moments are training their brains to be ready for it.
No matter how futile of a task that may be.
Across the DC Universe’s multiple Batman franchises over the years, there are characters who have missed the mark. While some deviated too far from the comics’ source material, others were far too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Additionally, some Gotham villains and heroes were never given a fair shot in the first place, making it hard to identify them as either failures or successes.
Currently, DC Studios is in a prime position to provide second chances for Batman characters needing redemption with more successful depictions on-screen. Not only does DC have Matt Reeves’ ongoing The Batman trilogy with spin-off series in its own universe, but it will soon have Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a new version of Batman and Gotham City that will be connected to the wider DCU envisioned by new heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. Here are 10 Batman characters from the movies who can be fixed in this new era.
In Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger played Victor Fries aka Mister Freeze. Despite retaining the core beats of the classic villain from the comics, Schwarzenegger’s role was widely criticized for his more goofy persona, a perfect example being his unending steam of ice-related puns. Each one is more groan-worthy than the last.
In truth, Mister Freeze is one of Batman’s most tragic and intimidating villains, having resorted to crime to save his dying wife he’s kept cryogenically frozen until he can find a cure. While this is also the case for Freeze in Batman & Robin, the intimidation factor was nowhere to be found. He’s much darker in the original DC Comics, his genius making him more than a match for Batman along with his incredibly sympathetic motivations. As such, a more dynamic and serious Mister Freeze has been a fan frontrunner to be the villain in The Batman-Part II.
The silly and campy themes of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin had a similar effect on Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy. While it’s important to note that there’s nothing inherently wrong with camp or goofier tones, Schumacher’s Batman & Robin and the preceding Batman Forever work better as homages to the 1966 Batman shows starring Adam West than they do as continuations of the Batman moves directed by Tim Burton. The inherent silliness of Schumacher’s Poison Ivy doesn’t mesh very well (and the same can be said for Freeze).
A woman with monstrous control over plant life who cares more about saving the planet than she does about humanity who constantly harms it, the Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin had her origins bizarrely intermingled with Bane’s (who’s already been fixed thanks to The Dark Knight Rises). Additionally, the overtly campy tone saw Ivy being depicted more as a seductress rather than one of Batman’s most powerful villains from the comics. While Ivy does use her looks and pheromones to attract and influence, it’s far more balanced on the page with her even greater powers as an avatar of The Green (like Swamp Thing).
It’s been quite a long time since Batman’s partner Robin has been seen on-screen. While a version of Robin was technically teased in The Dark Knight Rises, “Robin” was the actual first name of Detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who at that point was already positioned to become the next Batman. Likewise, the Robin belonging to Ben Affleck’s Batman in the DCEU had already been killed by Jared Leto’s Joker. Beyond the live-action Robins seen on the small screen with HBO’s Titans, the last movie Robin was played by Chris O’Donnell in the Schumacher Batman movies.
Thankfully, a new version of Robin will soon debut in the DCU’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Damian Wayne is confirmed to be joining Batman with the father and son joining forces for the first time on-screen. Hopefully, this also means that the previous three Robins will have already been established, allowing the DCU to epically make up for Robin’s years-long absence ever since the late 90s.
Another bizarre element of Batman & Robin was its inclusion of Batgirl. Rather than following the comics, this Batgirl was Alfred Pennyworth’s niece rather than Barbara Gordon from the comics, Commissioner Jim Gordon’s daughter. Regardless, the DCU was incredibly close to a Batgirl movie on HBO Max with Leslie Grace in the titular role. However, the movie was ultimately canceled before it could be released. As it stands, a movie version of Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl has yet to be featured. Hopefully, The Brave and the Bold can establish more of the Bat-Family beyond Robin, and perhaps this is how Grace’s Batgirl can finally debut.
Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul was excellent for the more grounded world envisioned by the Dark Knight trilogy’s director Christopher Nolan. However, this meant that many of the key supernatural elements of the Batman villain were omitted. In the comics, Ra’s al Ghul has lived for centuries as a warlord and leader of the League of Assassins and Shadows, achieving his immortality by bathing in the regenerative waters of the Lazarus Pit which can supernaturally resurrect the dead. Viewing Batman as his one true heir, the complex relationship between the villain and Gotham’s protector was touched on but only briefly explored in the Dark Knight trilogy.
Unfortunately, Marion Cotillard’s role as Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises was widely panned as one of the movie’s weakest elements. Everything that makes Talia so engaging in the comics wasn’t given any real depth, especially after she was reduced to being a two-dimensional villain in the film’s final act. On the page, Talia is a major love interest of Batman’s while often still serving her father and the League. She’s also Damian’s mother, further complicating her relationship with Batman even in her most villainous moments. A more accurate Talia al Ghul in the DCU’s future would be most welcome (perhaps in The Brave and the Bold).
Despite having been teased at the end of both the theatrical cut of Justice League and Zach Synder’s Justice League, Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke has yet to make any kind of full appearance in the DCEU. Likewise, it’s currently unknown if his version of Deathstroke will survive into the new DCU that’s about to emerge from DC Studios. Regardless, Deathstroke is an incredible villain for Batman as the world’s greatest mercenary and assassin. Any version of Slade Wilson deserves to be seen on the big screen as soon as possible.
Having only appeared in the first Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, it would be great to see reporter Vicki Vale make a return in a future DC movie. A seeker of the truth no matter the cost, Vicki was a very interesting love interest for Bruce Wayne who ended up learning he was the Caped Crusader. However, her role was written out of Batman Returns with a line saying she eventually couldn’t cope with Bruce’s double life as a vigilante.
That being said, it would be interesting to see how a new version of Vicki would be depicted in the DCU. Perhaps this Vicki doesn’t learn the truth about the Dark Knight right away. Instead, she’s constantly trying to discover Batman’s secret identity while also being with Bruce Wayne, creating a conflict within Bruce himself about all the secrets he constantly keeps from those he cares about (even those who’ve joined him in his crusade).
Clayface is rumored for The Batman-Part II, though he’s only had one live-action depiction on television. However, Gotham’s version of Clayface was not a giant monster made of mud. Instead, Clayface looked like a normal man who could shape-shift and impersonate others. While this is a power that’s been used by the Clayface in the comics, his default appearance is indeed a mud monster. However, a stronger balance between the two would be quite entertaining if the villain ends up in a movie. After all, Basil Karlo was an actor before he became Clayface.
While they’ve yet to make their movie debut, The Court of Owls has been seen in several DC projects in recent years. This includes video games, and they’ve also been featured in both the live-action Gotham and Gotham Knights television shows. A secret cabal of Gotham’s rich and elite who shape the city for their own ends, the members of the Court and their Talon assassins are some of the most dangerous Batman foes. However, continuity changes combined with television budgets have yet to provide a depiction of the Court that’s worthy of how they appear on the page. Perhaps a role in a Batman movie can change that.
Across the DC Universe's multiple Batman
