A few days after the MOVEit data breach hit the headlines, we’re now getting reports of different companies that were affected by the incident. According to a BBC report, the media powerhouse is among those affected, as well as British Airways, Boots, Aer Lingus, and Zellis.
MOVEit Transfer is a managed file transfer (MFT) solution built by Ipswitch, a subsidiary of a company called Progress. Companies usually use software such as this to securely transfer sensitive files, such as financial data, personally identifiable information, and more.
Last Friday, the company confirmed the discovery of a “critical” vulnerability and urged its users to apply a workaround immediately in anticipation of an official patch.
Notifying affected staff
Now, according to the BBC, the data that was stolen in the breach includes national insurance numbers, as well as bank details – depending on the affected software user. For the BBC, besides national insurance numbers, the hackers got away with staff ID numbers, dates of birth, and postal addresses.
British Airways is warning its staff that some may have had their bank details stolen. Zellis, a payroll service provider, said eight of its clients have had data compromised, and while it didn’t reveal the nature of these files, it said each client is notifying its staff.
No threat actor has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, or demanded ransom in exchange for the data. However, Microsoft says it believes the threat actor known as Clop was behind the incident. Clop is a Russia-linked threat actor, that recently gained infamy after successfully compromising GoAnywhere MFT.
GoAnywhere is another secure managed file transfer solution, used by countless companies to transfer sensitive files, securely, between endpoints. Multiple high-profile organizations were affected by the GoAnywhere breach, including Hitachi Energy, Hatch Bank, Health Systems, Investissement Quebec, Rubrik, AvicXchange, Saks Fifth Avenue, Galderma, and many, many others.
“The recent cyber breach at Zellis, a payroll provider for organizations such as the BBC and British Airways (BA), underscores the critical role comprehensive third-party risk management plays in today’s digital era,” said Alexander Heid, chief research and development officer with cybersecurity ratings and risk management company SecurityScorecard.
“This exploit leverages SQL injection, enabling attackers to interact with the server database, manipulate reading/writing permissions, and ultimately gain control through arbitrary code execution,” he added.
According to Heid, the researchers found thousands of exposed servers out there. “The research also uncovered over 2,500 exposed MOVEit servers across 790 organizations, several hundred of which exhibited the specific vulnerability. They noted that active scanning and attempted exploitation of the vulnerability continued through at least March 29th, 2023, which is when the exfiltration started for Zellis.”
Whether he’s on his way to work or just rolling through his hometown of London, England, James Corden always makes time for a good ole carpool karaoke.
Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” performances may be what he’s most know for, having had notable talents from Usher, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and more singing along in the passenger seat. “The Late Late Show with James Corden” host credits singer/songwriter George Michael as the inspiration behind the segment, as the late WHAM! singer as his first “Carpool Karaoke” guest when they appeared in the skit back in 2011 for a British charity. In the skit, Michael and Corden sang several songs, which eventually gave Corden the idea to turn it into a portion on his show when the talk show debuted on March 23, 2015.
However, Corden’s first official guest for “Carpool Karaoke” was actually Mariah Carey. The segment gained so much traction and support from fans that it became one of the program’s staples.
Here are the top six “Carpool Karaokes” in no particular order.
Who doesn’t love the today’s hottest Hip Hop group Migos singing and making up adlibs to Neil Diamond classic “Sweet Caroline” and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”? This karaoke session took place in November 2018, four years prior to Migos member Takeoff’s death in November 2022. The entire music group joined host James Corden, and rapped some of their biggest hits, including “Bad and Bougie” and “Motorsport.” They also took Corden on a trip shopping and broke down how they created the trendy viral dance “the dab.”
Adele on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”
The 16-time Grammy award winning singer-songwriter hopped in the car with her fellow U.K. native in January 2016 while the two were home in London for the holidays. Adele sang her hit track “Hello,” during which she revealed to Corden that she was the person playing the drums in the background of the song. Corden then told her that he’d always felt that she was the “female Phil Collins.” Adele went on to sing another one of her bops “Someone Like You,” and moved on to sing Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” and Nicki Minaj’s “Monster.”
Jennifer Lopez on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”
In March 2016, Jennifer Lopez joined Corden as his passenger, and they kicked their first karaoke song off with J. Lo’s 2001 hit “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” The two discussed the singer-actor’s myriad of nicknames, the rumor that Lopez insured her bottom. The moment transitioned into the Lopez and Iggy Azalea’s song entitled “Booty.” Between singing Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block” and Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” Corden grabbed Lopez’s phone, went through her list of celebrity contacts and texted Leonardo DiCaprio.
Michelle Obama and Missy Elliott on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”
Corden typically performed his carpool karaoke segments with musical artists, but every now again he invited influential figures. In July 2016, he pulled up to the White House and former First Lady Michelle Obama hopped in for a drive around the grounds. Together they sang Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and discussed the Obamas code names for security. (Corden shared how he couldn’t decide between whether he wanted Papa Smurf and Tiramisu as his code name). Obama later shared her reason for starting a Snapchat was to highlight her initiative “Let Girls Learn,” which focuses on promoting and fostering education for women around the world. Toward the end of their trip, Grammy-winner Missy Elliott joined the two and the group all sang Elliott’s longtime classic “Get Your Freak On.”
Michelle Obama and Missy Elliott on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”
Korean international super stars BTS packed into a van with James Corden, singing new songs off their album “Map of the Soul: 7,” including “On” and “Black Swan.” Namjoon discussed how he often served a translator for the music group and detailed how he learned English from the hit sitcom “Friends.” This led the car into singing the show’s theme song, but it quickly transitioned into Cardi B and Bruno Mars’ duet “Finesse.” The group went on to share which stars from the States they were most excited to meet, including Madonna, Nas and Post Malone. As their ride came to an end, Corden says he would quit his job to become the eighth member of BTS. The segment ended with Corden auditioning for the group through Corden’s personal dance class.
Mariah Carey on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”
What would this list be without Corden’s very first guest, Mariah Carey? The five-time Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter and record producer hopped into Corden’s passenger seat in March 2015. Together, they sang her hit song “Always Be My Baby.” After their duet, the American and Brit did their best attempts at swapping accents, with Corden even trying to pull off a New York American accent. Though their drive around Los Angeles only lasted less than six minutes, Corden made it to work with the help of the Hollywood songstress.
“The Late Late Show With James Corden” ended on April 27.
Through thick and thin. Summer House’s Carl Radke and Kyle Cooke’s reality TV bromance has been going strong since at least 2016 — but has it always been smooth sailing?
Fans met the duo when Summer House premiered in 2017 after filming the prior summer. As two of the original cast members of the Bravo show, the pair have grown both together and apart. They even started working together at Loverboy in 2019 after Kyle founded the business one year prior.
Kyle, meanwhile, had to face the consequences of cheating on his then-girlfriend, Amanda Batula, during season 3. The couple overcame their issues and tied the knot in September 2021.
Through it all, Carl and Kyle remained one of the strongest friendships in the house. In fact, when the Maryland native married Amanda, Carl served as their officiant.
Carl, meanwhile, alleged in the trailer that everything he was doing for the business was “not good enough” for Kyle.
Ahead of the season 7 premiere in February 2023, the Pennsylvania native exclusively told Us Weekly that he was trying to “find a healthy place” with Kyle as friends amid their recent struggles.
“I love being around Kyle. I care about him and I love him but it’s been hard. I’m not gonna lie. We’re gonna navigate it the best we can,” the salesman explained, noting that their business relationship had begun to affect their friendship. “I haven’t had a drink in, at that point, a year and a half, and working at an alcohol brand, it didn’t feel like it aligned authentically for me.”
That same month, Carl revealed that he was no longer working for Loverboy. “I’m still an investor, I’m very proud of that,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I’m fully supportive of the company.”
Summer House airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
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Scroll down to see what both Carl and Kyle have said about their friendship amid their work shakeup and beyond:
Russell Crowe was so offended when Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld asked him to audition for the role of Cable that he called him out on Twitter and got him in trouble with Fox.
The “Transformers” film franchise, spawned in 2007 with Michael Bay’s “Transformers,” was one of the first straight-faced blockbusters based on a toy (and an ‘80s cartoon series). It is now, astonishingly, seven films deep with the release of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” which is both a prequel to “Transformers” and a sequel to 2018’s “Bumblebee,” set in 1987. “Rise of the Beasts,” set in 1994 Brooklyn, is also based on the “Transformers: Beast Wars” media franchise of comic books and anime that introduced the Maximal characters, alien robots that look like giant animals, not shape-shifting cars.
Got all that? It’s OK if you don’t, because the screenplay, by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber, with a story by Harold, will repeat the pertinent information ad nauseam until you never want to hear the phrase “trans-warp key” ever again. The basics are as such: A giant, planet-eating dark god known as Unicron needs a gleaming key that has been hidden by the Maximals (reminder, those are the beastie bots) in order to gobble as many planets as he’d like, Earth included. What does the key do? Honestly, who knows, it’s just the necessary thingamajig over which the primary players can fight over for two hours.
Dominique Fishback, left, and Anthony Ramos star in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”
(Paramount Pictures)
When aspiring archaeologist Elena (Dominique Fishback) accidentally uncovers half of the key hidden in an ancient Incan bird statue and triggers the beacon, the benevolent Autobots, stranded on Earth and led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), send their new human friend Noah (Anthony Ramos) to retrieve it. Noah, an Army vet looking for work to support his sick younger brother, got caught up with the Autobots while trying to boost a snazzy Porsche, the Autobot Mirage, voiced by a surprisingly lively Pete Davidson. Thus, the two kids from Brooklyn have to team up with the Autobots to prevent Unicron and his minions the Terrorcons — including a particularly nasty one known as Scourge (Peter Dinklage) — from feasting on Earth and destroying the planet. Crashy-crashy action ensues.
The Michael Bay “Transformers” movies brought an almost fetishistic approach to auto bodies; he is a filmmaker who understands machines better than human beings. In the first couple of films (his five-film run suffered from wildly diminishing returns), there was a certain sensory satisfaction in all that was shiny and chrome, the clicks and whirs of metallic pieces sliding into place with an almost ASMR-like tingle. Though his camera’s gaze at star Megan Fox was icky and leering at best, his approach to the mechanic spectacle of the Autobots was undeniably sensual.
In “Bumblebee,” director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson went for cutesy and kiddish, riffing on ‘80s teen movies and turning the yellow Transformer into a cuddly golden retriever type, infusing the series with a sense of heart. Now, “Rise” director Steven Caple Jr., who has the gritty indie film “The Land,” and the boxing sequel “Creed II” under his belt, has to establish himself as an artist within this sprawling blockbuster franchise. He doesn’t go all in on tugging heartstrings or mechanophilia, as his strengths lie in establishing a sense of place and time. The best parts of “Rise of the Beasts” are Caple Jr.’s evocation of 1990s New York City, the soundtrack pumping with classic East Coast hip-hop including the Wu-Tang Clan, the Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J and Black Sheep.
Too bad the movie takes place predominantly in Peru, where Ramos and Fishback run around tracking down artifacts and codes in some half-baked Indiana Jones subplot and attempting to express real emotions about their new Transformers pals. Stoic Indigenous Peruvians look on while the Autobots, Terrorcons and Maximals face off on a dusty, gray volcano (thankfully, there’s only minimal damage done to Machu Picchu), in some of the most visually uninspired and shallow action sequences of the franchise.
Optimus Prime in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”
(Paramount Pictures)
All the while, Optimus Prime repeatedly intones some form of “protect the key,” “get the key,” “we need the key.” It took five screenwriters to come up with this utter nonsense that has all the dramatic intrigue and emotional depth of a “Transformers” Saturday morning cartoon. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” feels like a film that is at war with itself as Caple Jr. tries to balance character work with the profoundly silly Autobot lore, which talents such as Michelle Yeoh dutifully recite (she voices the eagle bot Airazor).
Unable to rise above this internal conflict, it’s a film that’s both dull and disposable. Though it sets up the opportunity for more interconnected franchise filmmaking, this is a beast that needs to be put down.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’
Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
In an interview with Variety, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson broke down some of the major changes to the film during development, including the mention of even more live-action than what fans got.
When asked about the snippets of live-action that popped up in the film, Thompson said “We had even bigger ambitions.” Powers chimed in, adding “There were times when we had huge live-action sequences in the film,” but they ultimately did not make the cut:
“There were times when we had huge live-action sequences in the film, and it just turned into a bad joke. Even we didn’t like it anymore. And we just said, ‘OK, enough, let’s make sure that it’s something precise that gets the most bang for the buck, and speaks to the story.’”
Powers joked these animated characters appearing in live-action universes “had the look of like a South Park character,” to which Johnson retorted, “We should do that as a character.”
The directing trio declined to elaborate further, only remarking that the sequences did not make it past the storyboard and animatic stage.
The Future of Live-Action in the Spider-Verse
Just because the live-action sequences the Spider-Verse 2 directors are describing here did not make it into their latest super-powered blockbuster, does not mean all hope is lost for fans eagerly anticipating such a thing.
Coming to theaters next March is Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, and surely even more live-action shenanigans have to be on the way in that film.
In an exclusive interview with The Direct during the production of Across the Spider-Verse, one of the animators who worked on the film mentioned the producers were “planning [some Avengers: Endgame]-esque stuff” in the Spider-Verse sequels.
While total speculation at this point, what would be more Avengers: Endgame than these animated characters coming face-to-face with some of (if not all) the live-action Spideys?
There were hints of live-action seen in Across the Spider-Verse. So, now that audiences have been given the appetizer, perhaps Beyond the Spider-Verse could be the main course on that front.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is playing in theaters now.
Superman’s new TV show, My Adventures with Superman, on Adult Swim received a new trailer and official release date.
The upcoming series will feature Jack Quaid’s DC debut as the titular Man of Steel. The exact plot details of the show are still being kept under wraps, but marketing revealed that it will focus on a younger version of Superman.
Warner Bros. Discovery released a new trailer for My Adventures with Superman, confirming that the first two episodes will premiere on Friday, July 6 on Adult Swim and on Max on the next day, July 7.
Warner Bros. Discovery
The trailer is filled with exciting new footage from Superman’s TV series, showing the titular hero saving civilians from danger:
Warner Bros. Discovery
The trailer also showed new looks at Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen:
Warner Bros. Discovery
The new footage then provided a glimpse at one of the show’s villains:
Warner Bros. Discovery
The full trailer can be seen below:
Will Lex Luthor Appear in Superman’s New TV Show?
The Superman TV show’s two-episode premiere on Adult Swim allows the series to fully introduce Jack Quaid’s version of the DC hero, its core storyline, and other key characters like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.
My Adventures with Superman is poised to give fans a new take on the titular Man of Steel. That said, given that the trailer is brief, there is no indication (yet) that Superman’s greatest foe, Lex Luthor, will appear in the series.
Still, Season 1 of the new Superman series could explore different villains first before ultimately showcasing Lex Luthor in the final batch of episodes.
Hopefully, My Adventures with Superman‘s fresh take on DC’s notable hero will be enough to warrant a sophomore season that would evolve the story further.
My Adventures with Superman will premiere on Adult Swim on Thursday, July 6.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom offers a plethora of ways to take down enemies, but recently, a player took that to a new level. A new 42-second clip from GameSpot’s own video producer Max Blumenthal went viral, depicting an absurd sequence of events.
The video starts with Blumenthal facing off against a Hinox and several smaller enemies. Then, the player utilizes the Rewind ability to freeze an incoming boulder in mid-air, before Ascending through it. Once at the top of the boulder (that’s still in mid-air), Blumenthal then proceeds to shoot all the enemies with arrows from above.
After taking down a few enemies with arrows, the player launches up into the air once again, this time with a rocket. Following a graceful landing, an explosion takes down several more enemies before Blumenthal is back in the air, shooting more arrows at the enemies. From there, the player uses a Boomerang, and then a Zonai device to surf around the area, before taking nearly everyone else down in a swift, fluid motion.
It’s an impressive sequence of events that is almost difficult to parse, proving that almost anything is possible in this game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched earlier in May and received critical acclaim. It’s also a commercial success, surpassing 10 million copies sold in just 10 days. It’s available exclusively for Nintendo Switch now.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
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“I chose to not go up for it when they would call me in because it was like, ‘I can’t relive this,’” Esposito recalls. “The only thing that used to make me crazy about the show when I did watch it was the character of Meadow because she was very nice. The girls I grew up around wanted to kill me, wanted to kill me every day. So it was PTSD.”
Esposito grew up among organized crime on Staten Island. “Staten Island is the same Staten Island from when I left when I was 18 years old,” says the 50-year-old actor, whose credits span from television’s “Spin City” and “Blue Bloods” to the Oscar-winning “Crash.” “It’s still the same place. You need to understand that nothing leaves this island. It’s a very strange time warp of a place.”
But now art imitates life for Esposito. She makes her writing and directorial debut with “Fresh Kills,” an indie drama set in the late 1980s and early 1990s about two sisters (Odessa A’zion and Emily Bader) whose mother (Esposito) tries to hold the family together when the girls’ mafia boss father (Domenick Lombardozzi) goes to prison. It’s a script that had been “percolating and marinating” since Esposito was 16, she says.
“And then I just got so frustrated with where my career had gone and where it was supposed to go — the way I feel it should have — and I thought, ‘Instead of complaining about the stuff that you’re not getting and not seeing, I can’t complain anymore,’” she says. “It was like you’re either quitting or you’re going to do something about it. I would say, without being dramatic, ‘I don’t think I’d be able to die unless I do this.’ It was something that needed to be done.”
“Fresh Kills” premieres during Tribeca Film Festival on June 16.
Jennifer Esposito (right) directing on the set of “Fresh Kills.”
Working on the movie has been therapeutic. Esposito says she lived with unexplained rage for much of her life. “I had partners who would always tell me, ‘You’re so angry,’” she says. “I’d be like, ‘I’m not angry.’ But I was. There was anger and rage.”
She points to the violence and fear that haunted her childhood, emotions that play out in one particular scene in the movie when the sisters get into a horrific brawl with a couple of other girls from the neighborhood because they insulted their dad. The fighting is savage and ends with faces bloodied from being hit with broken bottles and slammed against brick walls and concrete streets.
“I don’t think people understand unless you lived it. That’s what I saw. And they were in their Catholic school uniforms, and they’d pull a girl on a table in a diner and beat the hell out of her till her face is off,” Esposito says. “It’s that kind of stuff. I wanted to capture that. It’s unleashing a rage that they can’t acknowledge where it’s coming from, because as soon as you touch that button of the father, it’s a match — don’t touch it.”
She understands now that “The Sopranos” was only depicting a slice of Italian-American life. “They wanted me to come in a few times for certain things, and I was like, ‘No. The way you’re portraying Italian culture? Oh, get over yourself. Really?’” Esposito says. “It was an amazing show. But you’re a kid. You don’t see that. Of course I look back, and it’s like, ‘That was stupid.’”
Even so, this helped propel Esposito to become a director — a move she knew was right for her the moment she first called, “Action!”
“I could cry now. It was nerve-wracking and beautiful, but I knew I was right where I was supposed to be,” Esposito says. “I have to say, I feel so at home in this position. I don’t even care if I’m ever in front of the camera again. This? Every angle is me. Every piece of clothing, every lighting, every music cue, every sound is me. This movie is my heart.”
She can’t wait for the premiere party. She hopes the menu includes rainbow cookies and fried donut balls known as zeppolis, both of which are signatures of New York Italian bakeries and street fairs.
We laugh at my suggestion that Aqua Net host the festivities in honor of the movie’s big ’80s hair. Esposito smiles, “I want the party to smell like Aqua Net and zeppolis.”
The membership of SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike authorization, maximizing the guild’s leverage ahead of negotiations that begin on Wednesday.
The guild announced Monday night that 97.91% of the voting members supported the authorization. Turnout was 47.69%.
The vote comes as the Writers Guild of America strike enters its sixth week. Many SAG-AFTRA members have already joined WGA members walking the picket lines. The leaders of both guilds have expressed solidarity with each other several times this year.
The writers strike has caused a sharp downturn in production, especially in television. If SAG-AFTRA goes on strike, any remaining film and TV production would halt immediately. The union represents 160,000 performers.
SAG-AFTRA is pursuing an agenda that includes restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence, higher streaming residuals and limitations on self-taped auditions.
Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the vote sends a message of “strength and solidarity.” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s executive director, said it signals that “it’s time for an evolution in this contract.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, issued a terse response: “We are approaching these negotiations with the goal of achieving a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry overall.”
The vote comes two days after the Directors Guild of America announced a tentative agreement on its new three-year contract. The agreement includes wage hikes and a 76% increase in international residuals on the largest platforms, according to a DGA summary.
Crabtree-Ireland congratulated the DGA on reaching a deal, but added that the performers’ union will not be bound by the terms negotiated by the directors.
The vote is an unusually aggressive move from SAG-AFTRA, which typically resolves its contracts with the AMPTP without resorting to a strike threat. In 2017, the guild did threaten to hold a strike authorization vote in the closing days of talks, but held off as the deal was hammered out.
The union went on strike against the video game industry in 2016 through 2017, as well as against commercial producers in 2000. But it has not gone on strike against the film and TV industry since 1980. In that year, SAG and AFTRA — then separate unions — went on strike for 94 days over residuals for pay TV and videocassettes.
In 1986, the unions voted 86.8% in favor of a strike authorization on the AMPTP contract, but a deal was reached without a strike.
In 2008 and 2009, SAG — still a separate union — fractured internally over a plan to call a strike authorization vote. The executive director who pushed for it was ousted and a deal was eventually reached without resort to a strike vote. The two guilds merged in 2012.
Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Versehas a massive amount of Easter eggs and a literal army of different Spider-Men from multiple realities. As Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) enters the vast Spider-Verse for the first time, he meets several different Spider-People seen in the original comics, games, and more. Likewise, there are so many amazing and spectacular references Spider-Man fans of all ages will absolutely love.
In Across the Spider-Verse, Miles learns about his true place in the multiverse in a sea of countless versions of Spider-Man. Encouraged by his parents to forge his own path, Miles does exactly that when he ends up at odds with the vast majority of these Spider-Verse heroes who’ve formed a formidable Spider Society. Here are all of the most prominent new heroes, Easter eggs, and Spider-Cameos we’ve managed to spot in Across the Spider-Verse.
73 Coughing During Across The Spider-Verse Opening Logos
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice an audible cough paired with a visual “cough!” text at the very beginning of Across the Spider-Verse’s opening credits. As revealed in April of 2023, the cough belongs to writer/producer Chris Miller. Having originally coughed during the audio mix for Phil Lord and Miller’s 21 Jump St., the cough has been added to nearly every movie they’ve done since as a running gag. However, the visual cue seems to be a new addition for Across the Spider-Verse.
72 “Let’s Do Things Differently” (Spider-Gwen’s Story)
In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, every new version of Spider-Man was introduced with personal origin narration beginning with, “Let’s do this one last time”. However, Across the Spider-Verse shifts gears with a deeper dive into Spider-Gwen’s past and present with the opener: “Let’s do things differently”.
71 Spider-Gwen’s Trans Flag And Color Scheme
Featured in Gwen’s room on Earth-65 is the trans flag that says “Protect Trans Kids”. Combined with the similar color schemes of Gwen’s world, some have come to believe that Across the Spider-Verse is hinting that Spider-Gwen herself might be trans. While that hasn’t been confirmed, she’s at the very least confirmed to be an ally.
70 J.K Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Featured multiple times across a few different realities, J. Jonah Jameson was there to report on Spider-Man (or Spider-Woman) being a menace. Likewise, it’s wonderful that actor J.K Simmons playing and/or voicing JJJ is apparently a multiversal constant. While there was fresh dialogue from Simmons, the LEGO universe hilariously featured dialogue from Simmons’ first outing as Jameson in the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy.
69 Doctor Strange and the Nerdy Kid From Earth-199999 (MCU)
Confirming that Kingpin and his super collider created a massive hole in the multiverse, Spider-Man 2099 also referred to “Doctor Strange and that nerdy kid from Earth-199999″, a reference to the MCU and the events seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Unfortunately, this is the only reference to Tom Holland’s Webslinger, though perhaps there’s hope for an appearance in Beyond the Spider-Verse.
68 Hammerspace (Spider-Ham)
During Spider-Gwen’s battle with a Da Vinci-themed Vulture from another universe, she gets help from Spider-Man 2099 and Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman. When 2099 rips off one of the Vulture’s wings, the villain pulls a new wing from a pocket dimension which 2099 refers to as “Hammerspace”, a nod to John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham who was able to pull cartoon objects like hammers out of nowhere as seen in Into the Spider-Verse.
67 “I Think It’s A Banksy” (Post-Malone)
In Into the Spider-Verse, a passerby comments on a multiversally-warped lampost: “I think it’s a Banksy”, referring to the work of the iconic street artist. This was actually a line from rapper Post Malone, and it’s heard again in Across the Spider-Verse following the battle with the Da Vinci Vulture at the Guggenheim Art Museum, taking place in Spider-Gwen’s Earth-65.
66 “We Love and Accept You”- Miles Morales’ Parents
During Miles’ narration introducing himself and what he’s been up to since Into the Spider-Verse, he imagines a scenario where he tells his parents that he’s Spider-Man, believing that in some other universe they might be okay with his Webslinging. While Miles’ parents do know he’s Spider-Man in the comics, it wasn’t a walk in the park and led to some pretty significant family struggles. Likewise, Miles’ mom in the Insomniac game universe knows his secret as well.
65 Ganke Lee Is NOT Miles’ Guy In The Chair
Unlike the MCU’s Ned Leeds, the Ganke from the comics, or the Ganke from the Insomniac games, Across the Spider-Verses’s Ganke Lee has zero interest in being Miles Morales’ “guy in the chair”. He wants no part in Miles’ antics as Spider-Man, believing that even one act of helping Miles would be a slippery slope that would lead to him becoming “The Guy”.
64 Ganke Playing Spider-Man On A PS5
As Miles is rushing to get to his meeting with his parents and school counselor, he runs through his dorm room at Brooklyn Vision where Ganke is playing games on a PlayStation 5. Additionally, it definitely looks as though he’s playing a version of Insomniac’s Spider-Man (perhaps even the upcoming sequel).
63 Secret Tom Holland Spider-Man Reference In Miles Morales’ Room
Also featured in Miles and Ganke’s room is a poster of South Korean soccer legend Heung-min Son. In real-life, Son is a personal hero of actor Tom Holland’s, so the addition of the poster is likely very much intentional as Son is also a big Spider-Man fan himself. Apparently, Ganke’s a Son fan too.
A core motivation for The Spot is that he wants to be taken seriously as a true nemesis. However, he’s frequently referred to as a “Villain of the Week”. This is a common comic term referring to foes who aren’t very memorable and rarely show up beyond a handful of appearances. While this is largely accurate for The Spot in Marvel comics, it looks as though the villain is determined to fight back against this flippant label, seeking to become more dangerous than ever before.
61 Miles Morales’ Project 42 Is A Much Bigger Deal
While Project 42 was simply a reference to the Alchemax project that created the spider that bit Miles in the comics, Project 42 is far more significant as revealed in Across the Spider-Verse. Brought from another universe by The Spot when he was still a scientist working at Alchemax, it’s revealed that this spider was meant to bite and create a different Spider-Man, making Miles Morales a major multiversal anomaly which explains why he wasn’t invited to the Spider Society.
60 Venom Reality in Across the Spider-Verse
In addition to a brief visit to the LEGO universe, The Spot also visits Earth-688 which is home to Tom Hardy’s Venom. While the Lethal Protector is nowhere to be found, Spot does interact with Mrs. Chen in her convenience store, quite unimpressed seeing as how a symbiote and its host are her regular customers.
59 “The Palm of My Hand” (Doctor Octopus)
Upon realizing his true ability to travel the multiverse, Spot remarks that he has “the power of the multiverse in the palm of my hand”. This is very similar to Doctor Octopus and his fusion reactor in Spider-Man 2: “The power of the sun in the palm of my hand”.
58 Everything Everywhere All At Once Reference (Bagels)
When The Spot return to his apartment to build a miniature super collider, a billboard on the roof can be seen with a giant bagel on it. Not only is this a reference to Spot being the guy who got hit in the head by a bagel in Into the Spider-Verse, but the billboard says “All Of It Always All Over The Place”, a hilarious reference to A24’s Oscar-winning multiverse movie Everything Everywhere All At Once which has its own bagel significance.
57 Williamsburgh Bank Building
Just like Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland’s versions of Spider-Man, Miles Morales reveals his favorite thinking place, a spot to be alone and get away from his problems. For Miles, it’s the Williamsburgh Bank Building in Brooklyn while Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man has the Chrysler Building, Garfield prefers the Empire State Building, and Holland’s Peter Parker has the roof of the Midtown School of Science and Technology.
Just like Into the Spider-Verse which featured a comic cover every time a new Spider-Verse hero was introduced, covers are used to split up Across the Spider-Verse into different chapters. As such, it’s meant to mirror issues in a comic book run, a very cool framing device that’s incredibly unique for the animated superhero sequel.
55 Anomalies in Across the Spider-Verse
Once Miles finally makes it to the Spider Society headquarters on Earth-928, he learns that Spider-Man 2099 created the organization to capture multiversal anomalies, beings who end up getting shunted across universes and can create all kinds of disruptions, potentially breaking canon events critical to the stability of the multiverse itself and its heroes. As such, this helps explain Michael Keaton’s MCU Vulture who recently ended up on Earth-688, confirmed to be the home of Venom, Morbius, and likely more classic Spider-Man characters such as Kraven.
54 Live-Action Prowler From MCU (Donald Glover)
One of the Spider Society’s captured anomalies is none other than a live-action version of the Prowler played by Donald Glover. Glover made his first appearance as Aaron Davis in the MCU with Spider-Man: Homecoming. As such, it’s very fun to see his evolution as the Prowler (even if it’s just a cameo that might not go anywhere in the MCU).
At a certain point, watching a new “Transformers” movie becomes an exercise in expectation management. Since launching with a bang in 2007, the franchise first spearheaded by Michael Bay has spent 16 years sliding into a sludgy pit of CGI malaise many hold up as the epitome of Hollywood’s worst impulses. The well-received “Bumblebee” may be the exception that proves the rule. But in 2023 — when you have no one but yourself to blame for paying real, human money to a robot gorilla named Optimus Primal — it’s not unfair to wonder if the series has irreparably bottomed out.
Still, the temptation to let films like “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” off the hook via state-of-play victim blaming should be avoided. The Hasbro franchise has long benefitted from low expectations, but the latest entry doesn’t come close to a passing grade on the massive curve we’ve already agreed to score it on. Steven Caple Jr.’s 1990s-set prequel fails to provide either merit or escapism, seemingly begging you to turn your brain off while bombarding you with stimuli that keep you painfully awake and aware for an unusually long two hours and 16 minutes.
Our story begins centuries before the dawn of man, when a planet-devouring force of evil known as Unicron tries to devour a planet in a very evil way. A group of robotic animals, known as Maximals, who inhabit the planet are forced to flee — which is a fairly straightforward process because they have a doodad called the Transwarp key allowing them to open wormholes and travel through time and space. The ragtag gang led by Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) soon end up on a little rock called Earth.
Fast forward to 1994, where Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) is looking for a break. The unemployed Brooklynite desperately needs a job to help pay his adorable kid brother’s medical bills, but his reputation as an uncooperative soldier from his Army days is making work hard to come by. He reluctantly agrees to help his anti-capitalist friend steal luxury cars to get some much-needed cash, but the first Porsche he breaks into ends up being a Transformer who kidnaps him. When it rains, it pours.
The Porsche takes him on a harrowing police chase through New York, but none of the near-death experiences are as horrifying as the blue machine’s personality. Mirage (Pete Davidson) is an easygoing stoner robot whose language capabilities appear to be limited to “well that happened”-style one-liners. On a normal day, his insufferable running commentary would easily be the biggest problem facing our new “Transformers” hero. But there’s not much time for comedic analysis when the world is about to end.
Mirage and his Transformers friends, led by the infallible Optimus Prime, reveal that Unicron has sent a lackey named Scourge (Peter Dinklage) to Earth to retrieve the Transwarp key. If he gets it, our planet could easily be devoured. They convince Noah to break into a museum to steal an antique vase that it’s been hidden in — before revealing that the vase only contained half of the key. The other half is hidden with the Maximals in Peru, so Noah, Mirage, and a plucky museum intern named Elena (Dominique Fishback) head to the Southern Hemisphere to save the world before Scourge can get there.
Despite the misleading title, the first half of “Rise of the Beasts” is devoted to watching the regular non-beast Transformers hang out in Brooklyn. The Maximals don’t have a real impact until we get to Peru, and even then they spend most of their time standing around and lamenting that the world is going to end. Scourge seems dangerously close to destroying the planet on multiple occasions, only for Optimus Prime to reveal that he can’t end the world until he finds another McGuffin. (First he needs the key, then we learn there was a second half of the key, then he needs a code to operate the key that — you guessed it — is also split into two parts). By the time the Maximals team up with Optimus Prime for a half-assed final battle (which just so happens to result in the destruction of Machu Picchu?), audience emotions have been transparently manipulated so many times it’s impossible to muster any kind of investment.
The most tragic part of the entire debacle is the realization that Hasbro saw this movie as an opportunity to introduce grander storytelling ambitions. A final scene teases an “Avengers”-style team-up between the Transformers and another iconic toy franchise, presumably against a cosmic bad guy whose evil impulses are so generic that completely unrelated IPs can unite against them. It’s as if some executive saw Mattel and Greta Gerwig turning “Barbie” into genuine art, so they made a George Costanza-style decision to veer in the opposite direction purely out of spite.
Grade: D
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” opens in theaters on Friday, June 9.
As Denzel Washington playing Malcolm X would say, “America’s been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray” into thinking we could all be wealthy if we worked hard enough. At worst, everyone could become part of the middle class. In reality, far too many people are living paycheck to paycheck, aka the “working poor,” or living out on the streets. Where is the financial security that the generations before us once held? These are some of the central questions at the heart of the documentary Americonned by writer/director Sean Claffey and co-writers David Pederson and Christopher Seward.
In the U.S. alone, the movie says that “there has been an upward redistribution of over $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1% over the last 40 years.” This disparity has dramatically eroded the middle class and led to mass homelessness. Politicians and judges have paved the way for this with rulings such as Citizens United, where politicians do not have to disclose how much money they are being paid off and by whom. Unfortunately, the system is rigged, and normal people don’t have much of a chance.
Americonned follows everyday people such as Amazon worker turned activist Chris Smalls, who was fired for fighting to unionize workers at the mega-corporation. The documentary shows how important unions have been in providing workers with liveable wages and basic human rights throughout the history of the United States. It’s no surprise that in modern times unions have been getting crushed as the rich get richer.
“…dramatically eroded the middle class and led to mass homelessness.”
We are then introduced to working moms Ana and Christina. They are just trying to live day by day with what little means that they have to get by. Christina openly talks with her young son about the possibility of having a heart attack due to all the stress and how the family would have to fend for themselves in that scenario. Another family is shown sliding down from the middle class into poverty after the father loses his engineering job, so they must move away and be torn apart from the human connections they spent years building. It’s heartbreaking that the “American Dream” has become a nightmare to far too many people.
Jenny DePaul, the founder of Project Kind, is a prominent contributor to helping in the fight against homelessness. We witness her doing all she can by giving out food and necessities to those in need. She says the homeless problem has gotten so out of control in recent times that it’s difficult for her to keep up. Is this the kind of world we want for future generations?
Americonned shines a light on the grim reality we’re facing as a nation and tries to offer solutions. It reminds me of a book I read in a sociology class in college that left a considerable impact, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. She’s a journalist who took low-paying jobs nationwide and documented her struggles in the book. It was written 25 years ago, and things have only gotten much worse, as shown in this film.
Watching Americonned leaves you feeling like anchorman Howard Beale in Network, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Real change will not happen until enough influential people experience that feeling, but as the film shows, we can all play a part in helping our fellow humans.
The KKW Beauty founder, 43, took to social media on Sunday, June 4, to share a sweet TikTok video of herself and 9-year-old daughter North. “Hair time,” Kardashian captioned the clip of her and her eldest child dancing to Carlos Santana’s“Maria, Maria” while doing their daily coif routine. (In addition to North, The Kardashians star shares kids Saint, 7, Chicago, 5, and Psalm, 5, with ex-husband Kanye West.)
During the adorable video, eagle-eyed fans immediately noticed the Hulu personality’s choice of wardrobe, which included a black tee with the words “Kendall Starting Five” emblazoned on the front. The shirt also featured an image of Jenner, 27, surrounded by five of her rumored exes —Devin Booker, Ben Simmons, Blake Griffin,Jordan Clarkson, and Kyle Kuzma — who all play for the NBA.
Sunday’s video marks the second time Kardashian has sported the graphic. She was first seen rocking the look during a trailer for season 3 of The Kardashians, which premiered last month.
The T-shirt, which was designed by emaxwears, references a meme that originated in 2019 which claimed Jenner had dated five basketball players over the years. However, the model has since took to social media to shut down the rumors.
“2 out of 5 accurate, thanks,” she wrote via Twitter in 2019, referring to her relationships with Simmons, 26 — whom she dated from 2018 to 2020 — and Booker, also 26.
The 818 Tequila founder first met Booker while on a double date with the Brooklyn Nets player. The Michigan native, for his part, was linked to Kylie Jenner’s then-best friend Jordyn Woods at the time.
“A lot of the relationships have taught me more about myself, which is the most valuable,” Jenner said during a behind-the-scenes video for a Calvin Klein campaign at the time. “And like, what I want from a person or from a relationship.”
That April, the reality star was spotted out solo with Booker and the pair were together for over two years before their June 2022 split. While they briefly tried to rekindle their romance two months later, they called it quits for good in fall 2022.
Months after their split, a source exclusively toldUsthat the Phoenix Suns star was still harboring feelings for his ex. “Devin still thinks about Kendall on occasion and a piece of him still misses her. He has no idea what the future holds and although maybe their timing wasn’t right, [that] doesn’t mean it can’t happen at some point down the line,” the insider noted, explaining the athlete “is not completely over her.”
While the source explained that Bookerwasn’t “opposed to the idea” of getting back with the Keeping Up With the Kardashiansalum, Jenner, for her part, seemingly moved on when she sparked relationship speculation withBad Bunny in February.
“Things are going really well for Kendall and the Bad Bunny and she definitely sees long-term potential with him,” a source exclusively told Us in May. “She feels like he’s the complete package and he treats her like a total gentleman.”
The insider noted that the entrepreneur is “really attracted” to the 29-year-old “Party” rapper’s confidence and that they are “having a great time together.” The source added at the time: “They complement each other on so many levels and she’s enjoying getting to know him better every day.”
In a fiery video Monday night, Drew Barrymore called out media outlets like Fox News that misrepresented comments she made during a recent interview, in order to falsely claim that she wished her mother dead.
“You know what, to all you tabloids out there, you have been f—ing with my life since I was 13 years old. I have never said that I wished my mother was dead. How dare you put those words in my mouth,” the actress and talk show host said in the clip, posted to her Instagram account.
“I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive, and that, for those of us that have to figure this out in real time, ‘cannot wait,’ as in they cannot wait for the time that the parent is dead,” Barrymore elaborated.
“Do not twist my words around or ever say that I wished my mother was dead. I have never said that, I never would, and in fact, I go on to say that I wish that I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone. Because that is sick,” she concluded.
In an interview with Vulture published on Monday, Barrymore opened up about her struggle to come to terms with her childhood and with the abuse and neglect she experienced growing up, particularly from her mother, Jaid Barrymore. Famously, Barrymore, who rocketed to fame as a 7-year-old in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” was essentially raised to party alongside her mother while she was in elementary school. She developed a drug addiction and entered treatment when she was 13; she was legally emancipated from her mother the next year.
After speaking of fellow former child star Jennette McCurdy of “iCarly” —who wrote a book about her own abusive mother, “I’m Glad My Mom Died” — as well as Brooke Shields, Barrymore told Vulture’s E. Alex Jung, “All their moms are gone, and my mom’s not.”
Referring to the fact that the other women came to terms with their own struggles after their mothers died, she said, “I don’t have that luxury… I cannot wait. I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow. I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f—ing grow in spite of her being on this planet.”
Later in the same interview, she described her complex feelings about her mother and about speaking openly about that history, saying “I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good. I do care. I’ll never not care. I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”
The “Charlie’s Angels” star texted Jung, saying, “I was really excited I could tell you I’ve done some serious work and I do feel different. I forgive my mom. I forgive my dad. I’ve never forgiven myself, but I’d like to and I’m ready to.” Her father was John Drew Barrymore, who is described in the article as “an abusive drunk.”
Barrymore said she’s still grappling with being in the spotlight at such a young age, “I’ve been a circus bear my whole life. I swear to God, if the ringmaster left the tent, I would become the ringmaster and start, like, flagellating myself.”
After the interview was published, Fox News published an article about it with the headline, “Drew Barrymore ‘cannot wait’ until her mom is gone, says she can’t ‘grow’ while she is ‘on this planet’” which of course conveys the exact opposite of what Barrymore said.
“We are dealing with time in a different way,” says The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power costume designer Kate Hawley. “You have to understand where the characters are coming from, where they begin and how their paths eventuate.”
Based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of the book. During a time of relative peace in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the series covers all the major events of the period, from the creation of the Rings of Power to the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron.
“There’s a real shift in between the ages that you also have to understand,” says Hawley. “In The Lord of the Rings world, magic is fading and it’s the time of man and in this world it’s the opposite.” Since the world was so different from previous iterations, Hawley familiarized herself with The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s collection of myths and stories that influenced the world of The Lord of the Rings, which she says is “very different in tone to everything else.”
Since magic is still present in this world, the costumes of the magical beings needed to reflect that. “[The costumes for the Elves] had a lot to do with reflections of stars and water,” says Hawley. “There’s this beautiful description [Tolkien] has for elven cloaks… that they’re almost used as camouflage.” Silks and other materials that let light through were important for the clothing, as it matched their kind of magic. “The way he describes Elven magic is almost like illusions in some way, so it was all about reflections of light.”
The Dwarves used some of the same elements, since this takes place during the golden age of Dwarves and Elves, but Hawley also focused on the myth of their creation from the earth. “We used lots of jeweled stones and things that we sewed and pleating to give them a more sculptural look,” she says. Keeping in mind where the Dwarves live, she incorporated elements of gilding where they would have brushed up against the metal, or scorch marks where they would get too close to the forge.
As opposed to Hobbits, the Harfoots are a more nomadic people that blend into the background of the world. “We were trying to find a way of unifying this tribe who weren’t as fat and content as our lovely shire folk in the world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings,” she says. “It always comes back to the physicality, and we’re also dealing with scale in this case as we were with the Dwarves, and it was rooting their world in another kind of camouflage. They were in a dangerous world.”
Click the video above to watch the full interview.
For the past half-century, the adaptations of Stephen King’s written works have been as prolific as the legendary writer himself, and in her new documentary, King on Screen, Daphné Baiwir talks with the filmmakers behind these adaptations to explore the enduring appeal of bringing King’s prose to life on screen.
Ahead of the film’s August 11th theatrical release and September 8th On Demand and Blu-ray release, we have a look at the documentary’s official trailer, and in case you missed it, be sure to read Heather Wixson’s Fantastic Fest interview with Daphné Baiwir!
Directed by Daphné Baiwir, King on Screen features interviews with Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Mike Flanagan, Tom Holland, Vincenzo Natali, Greg Nicotero, Mark L. Lester, Dee Wallace, Tim Curry, and James Caan.
Synopsis: “1976, Brian de Palma directs Carrie, the first novel by Stephen King. Since then, more than 50 directors have adapted the master of horror’s books, in more than 80 films and series, making him the most adapted author alive in the world. What’s so fascinating about him that filmmakers cannot stop adapting his works? KING ON SCREEN reunites the filmmakers that have adapted Stephen King’s books for cinema and TV, including Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Walking Dead), Tom Holland (The Langoliers, Chucky), Mick Garris (The Stand, Sleepwalkers) and Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne, Ray). It is a movie made for the fans and with the fans, led by an international ambition.”
If you’re watching this movie, you’ll eventually be an accessory to a crime, as Ike Barinhotlz’s character Rick says in the trailer. “Maximum Truth” is a political mockumentary starring Ike Barinholtz and Dylan O’Brien from “The Maze Runner” francise.
Distributed by Momentum Pictures who picked up the film after the Cannes Sale. The story follows documentary crew as they follow Rick Klingmanan, an attorney and political consultant aka “political grifter” on a mission: to dig up some dirt against congressman Antonio. He teams up with his sketchy buddy Simon (O’Brien) to take down a the rival congressional candidate played by Max Minghella whom Dylan O’Brien previously worked with on “The Internship” directed by Shawn Levy. As much RIck wants to pretend that he’s not a “con artist, he is still determined to look for the dirt that can discredit the Congressman. We are in for a chaotic and hilarious film.
We have seen both actors take on comedy before and this film, is no doubt going to be a hilarious one. “The on-screen comedic chemistry between Ike and Dylan is nothing short of hilarious, and we are excited to partner with them to bring this film to audiences nationwide,” said Ian Goggins, Momentum’s executive VP of global home entertainment. From the first look at the trailer itself you can tell we are in for some classic humor and some and some physical comedy as well.
Check out the official poster below:
Courtesy of Momentum Pictures
The film also stars Tiya Sircar another star of The Internship, Kiernan Shipka from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Blake Anderson (Game Over, Man!), Brianna Baker (9-1-1: Lone Star), Beth Grant (Mayfair Witches), Mark Proksch (Dream Corp LLC), the iconic Seth Rogen and more.
David Stassen directed “Maximum Truth,” he has previously worked with Barinholtz before. Stassen, best known for “Central Intelligence,” “The Mindy Project” and the upcoming “History of the World: Part II,” also co-wrote the script with Barinholtz.
“This is a film about a couple of men who lack any semblance of shame,” Stassen said. “They will say, do and agree to anything for money and attention. It is not based on the current political landscape at all.”
Watch the official trailer below
The following is the Official Trailer for MAXIMUM TRUTH. By watching this trailer, you can be held as an accessory to a crime. #MaximumTruth – In Theaters And On Demand June 23 pic.twitter.com/REH5FSu9Dv
The Idol released in India on June 5, with the first episode premiering on Jio Cinema. The series stars Lily Rose-Depp and The Weeknd.
The Idol premiered its first episode on Sunday, June 4, (Monday, June 5 in India) and it has caused quite the stir. As the trailer had already revealed, The Idol was bound to be a scandalous show about a music artist and the dark alleys she ventures into. The new series stars The Weeknd and Lily Rose-Depp in the lead while BLACKPINK member Jennie makes her acting debut. The first episode already gave a hint of how bold the upcoming episodes are going to be.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead The first episode opened with viewers meeting Jocelyn (Lily Rose-Depp), a singer who is battling mental health issues while ensuring her public image is not affected. She is under immense pressure to make an impressive comeback. While her team is busy maintaining her stardom, she bumps into a club owner named Tedros (The Weeknd) and sparks fly. Soon enough, Jocelyn and Tedros are seen getting intimate with each other.
While the premiere of the episode had me believing that it could face censorship in India, it seems like the series is so far streaming sans any kind of censored content. The first episode was released on Jio Cinema in India. At the time of reporting, not only were the dialogues with the abuses not been beeped out but the semi-nude scenes featuring Lily and the steamy scenes featuring Lily and The Weeknd have not been blurred (yet). The subtitles also feature all lines, with no cuts and censoring so far.
The Idol premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Although it received a five-minute standing ovation, it was reported that many attendees dubbed the series as the ‘TV version of clickbait.’ The series has also not opened well with the audience. The Idol is rated at 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The series is created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson and it does have the shades of the Zendaya show as well.
Dishya Sharma, Chief Sub Editor, is part of the entertainment team at News18. She eats, sleeps, and drinks entertainment. While Indian films have fuel…Read More
Peter Meyer, beloved entertainment industry manager, died on May 14 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. after a five-year battle with sarcoma, his sister Patty K. Meyer shared. He wast 68.
Meyer was an agent and manager to numerous Hollywood industry professionals. Since 1990, he represented clients under his agency, Meyer Management.
“He was known and beloved by hundreds of industry pros,” Patty said. Most recently, he represented rights holders and producers on Denzel Washington’s “The Equalizer.”
Meyer attended Yale University where he wrote his senior thesis, “MGM and the Studio System in the Age of Mass Production.” The thesis was later published as an award-winning book and was also printed in Variety.
In his early agent days, Meyer trained at the desk of William Morris agent Stan Came, where he was promoted to talent agent in 1978. In this role, he represented clients such as Kevin Costner, Kathleen Turner, Tom Hanks, James Caan, Christopher Walken, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff and Sterling Hayden.
Meyer went on to start Meyer Management in 1989 where he represented writers, directors, producers and book authors. Here, his clients included Jeffrey Reiner, Michael Sloan, Joel Novoa, J.T. Allen, Deric Washburn, Tony Eldridge and Roger Frappier.
In 2021, Meyer’s son Chase was featured on “Fred Roggin’s Heroes Thanksgiving Special,” where he talked about his fight on the football field and his support for his dad. Before early morning practices, Chase would sit with his dad at the hospital until dawn.
Meyer said on the segment about his son, “The hardest part is that we can’t go to his games any longer. So, his brother Christopher and sister Sasha attend and FaceTime the games so we can watch Chase play on our phones.”
Meyer is survived by his wife, Anna Maria Sistare; his three children; his brothers, John and Michael; his sister, Patty; and nephew, Zachary.
Secret Invasion is right around the corner, and given how it will be over eight months since the last MCU series, fans are understandably itching for what comes next.
While audiences may be anxious for the show to arrive, it’s now been revealed that fans shouldn’t expect multiple episodes on day one.
Secret Invasion Will Premiere With a Single Episode
Marvel
A new official press release from Disney about its upcoming releases on Disney+ in June revealed that Secret Invasion will not be debuting with multiple episodes.
When June 21 rolls around, the show will only drop its first episode for fans to devour. Episode 2 will be released the following week on a normal weekly release schedule.
While a one-episode premiere is a norm these days, more than a handful of big Disney+ shows started their runs with multiple episodes; Kenobi, The Bad Batch Season 2 (which also had multiple episodes drop for its finale), Hawkeye, and WandaVision all debuted withtwo.
Secret Invasion’s Slow Burn on Disney+
There are multiple reasons why some shows might get multiple episode premieres while others don’t.
Often, it can be a choice the studios make due to scheduling. For example, if a studio has two different shows and wants to get them out in a certain amount of time without overlapping them.
Then there’s the reason the companies generally don’t admit: a choice made due to a lack of faith in the project’s quality.
Of course, those aren’t the only reasons why those choices can be made.
Schitt’s Creekis a feel-good, comfort show that follows the once-wealthy Rose family as they go from riches to rags, entertaining fans everywhere. Starring Eugene and Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Annie Murphy as the fortune-losing kooky clan, the sitcom experienced massive critical and commercial success during its six-season run and went on to win 9 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Golden Globes, and 18 Canadian Screen Awards.
The side-splitting comedy ran from 2015 to 2020, and after becoming available on Netflix for streaming following its third season skyrocketed in popularity and further established its devoted fan base. The sitcom featured a talented cast of many great up-and-comers and remains a wholesome, celebrated television staple with many fans hoping for a return of the Rose family. Here is a handy cast and character guide for Schitt’s Creek.
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11 Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose
CBC Television
Rose family patriarch Johnny (Eugene Levy) is the former CEO of Rose Video whose business dealings and
entrepreneurial skills helped amass the clan’s vast fortune (until they lost it in spectacular fashion). After having purchased the small, remote town of Schitt’s Creek as a gag gift for his son David back in the early ’90s, Johnny and the rest of the Roses relocate to the quaint community where they experience quite the culture shock. Johnny begins the series with a deep sense of entitlement that eventually subsides as he grows accustomed to his new life, and he is always trying to figure out a way to reclaim the prestige they once held.
Johnny tries to encourage his family to find their place in the titular town (something he himself struggles with), and he is constantly scrambling to put out the many fires his wild family keeps on setting. Deeply devoted to his eccentric wife Moira, Johnny becomes a central part of the community thanks to his partnering with motel clerk Stevie Budd as they eventually co-own the Rosebud Motel together.
Levy has an illustrious and highly-decorated career, having won a Grammy, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his exceptional work in television and film. His most memorable roles outside of Schitt’s Creek include the Canadian sketch series SCTV and movies like National Lampoon’s Vacation, Splash, and For Your Consideration, and as Noah Levenstein in the popularAmerican Pie franchise.
10 Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose
CBC Television
The delightfully kooky and extremely spoiled ex-soap star Moira Rose always remained steadfast in believing her family would regain their fortune and leave Schitt’s Creek, though she eventually goes fond of its residents. Known for her wild and over-the-top fashion and theatrical flair, Moira is constantly in performance mode and is famous for her strange accent and old-fashioned vocabulary, and she never gives up hope of returning to her former glory. Known for her grandiose demeanor and taste for the finer things in life, Moira struggles with connecting with her adult children David and Alexis, and is initially awkward when she attempts to nurture them, but she eventually learns to express her affections towards them.
Moira has a hard time connecting with her fellow community members but slowly grows close to Jocelyn Schitt and her Jazzagals ladies Ronnie Lee and Twyla Sands. Her larger-than-life persona is balanced out by her “straight man” Johnny’s more calm demeanor, and the pair remain devout to one another throughout the course of the series.
Catherine O’Harais no stranger to the big screen, having starred in smash hit films like Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone,and Best in Show. She appeared alongside Eugene Levy in SCTV and the duo would frequently collaborate over the years. For her role as Moira, O’Hara has won a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award and is undeniably one of the show’s major breakout characters.
9 Dan Levy as David Rose
CBC Television
The eldest of the Rose children, David lived a very sheltered and spoiled lifestyle before it all came tumbling down, with the pretentious character having previously worked as a gallerist in New York City where he became accustomed to an upscale lifestyle. David has one of the hardest times adjusting to his new circumstances, as he is frequently appalled by small-town living and the lack of luxurious amenities. He becomes close friends with Stevie after a brief romance and begins to show his knack for business when he ultimately opens up the local goods shop Rose Apothecary. His whole outlook on Schitt’s Creek changes when he meets and falls in love with his business partner Patrick Brewer.
Dan Levy co-created the award-winning series with his father Eugene, after watching reality TV and pondering what would happen to rich families if all their wealth was all of a sudden gone. His groundbreaking counterpart David became one of the small screen’s first openly pansexual characters, and for his work, he won four Emmys and a Golden Globe. He is set to appear in The Haunted Mansion and the romantic comedy Good Grief, the latter of which he also wrote and directed.
8 Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose
CBC Television
The fun-loving party girl and often self-absorbed socialite Alexis (Annie Murphy) is famous for traveling the world and her many romantic entanglements, and she arguably undergoes the biggest character transformation of the series. Though she starts out very conceited and as a dedicated “celebutante” with a ditzy demeanor, Alexis becomes intrigued by the small-town feel and inhabitants of Schitt’s Creek, striking up a relationship with both Mutt Schitt and vet Ted Mullens. Alexis attempts to make the most out of her situation and goes back to school to receive her diploma and later attends college, eventually establishing her own successful public relations company Alexis Rose Communications and finding a new direction and purpose for her life.
Murphy was lauded for her breakout role on the hilarious sitcom, winning both an Emmy and a Gracie Award for her endearing portrayal of Alexis. She found continued success on television when she was cast in the lead role in the dark comedy series Kevin Can F**k Himself, for which she starred in for two seasons. Murphy also nabbed prominent parts in Russian Doll and Fairfax,and will star in an upcoming episode of Black Mirror and the sci-fi flick Fingernails.
7 Emily Hampshire as Stevie Budd
CBC Television
The sarcastic and dry-witted Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire) begins the series as the motel clerk where the Rose family moves into and feels a deep kinship with the equally sardonic David after becoming disenchanted with the town after living in it all her life. Smart and savvy despite loathing social interactions and often coming off as aloof, Stevie is not afraid to mock the Roses and herself and helps keep the crazy clan in check. Stevie comes out of her shell over the series, even starring in the town’s production of Cabaretand partnering up with Johnny to form the Rosebud Motel Group, and establishing herself as a gifted businesswoman.
Hampshire had previously appeared in films including Boy Meets Girl, Snow Cake, Cosmopolis,and My Awkward Sexual Adventure, before landing the role of Stevie on Schitt’s Creek in 2015. During its run, the actress also starred in the SYFY series 12 Monkeys (based on the movie of the same name). She currently headlines the horror series Chapelwaite alongside Adrien Brody and the supernatural thriller The Rig.
6 Chris Elliot as Roland Schitt
CBC Television
Initially, the bane of Johnny’s existence, Roland Schitt is the meddling and extremely eccentric mayor of the town who takes great delight in driving the Rose patriarch nuts. Roland regards himself as the local law and is always expressing his opinions and what’s on his mind (even if he wasn’t asked to). He comes off as very incompetent when it comes to actually doing his job, but he cares deeply for the townspeople and tries to give the Roses the benefit of the doubt. Roland transforms from being combative and domineering to a sensitive and tolerant leader and develops a bond with Johnny and the family.
Comedy heavy hitter Chris Elliothas appeared in a slew of memorable television and film projects over the years, having had roles in Saturday Night Live, Get a Life, Everybody Loves Raymond, and How I Met Your Mother, and the movies Groundhog Day, There’s Something About Mary, and the Scary Movie franchise. His daughter Abby Elliot (a fellow SNL alum) had initially been cast as Alexis Rose before being forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
5 Jennifer Robertson as Jocelyn Schitt
CBC Television
The wife of Roland and a kind and nurturing high school teacher, Jocelyn Schitt is often the voice of reason when it comes to her zany husband, and she sets out to welcome Moira and the roses to the town. The leader of the all-girl a cappella group the Jazzagals, she is loved for her cheery demeanor and can-do attitude and makes it her mission to make the reluctant Moira one of her new pals. She is unwaveringly polite and compassionate and is a people-pleaser, but becomes more assertive as the series progresses, and is a devoted mother, wife, and town resident.
Jennifer Robertson won a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for her work on Schitt’s Creek, after having had major success in the sketch comedy series Comedy Inc. and the teen sitcom Wingin’ It. She has since gone on to star in the Netflix original films Single All the Way and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between, and she currently portrays Ellen Baker in the hit dramedy series Ginny & Georgia.
4 Noah Reid as Patrick Brewer
CBC Television
Patrick Brewer (Noah Reid) was introduced as a potential business partner for David and his new apothecary during Season 3 and quickly emerged as a major love interest for the lovably cynical character. After wondering what his sexuality was and if he cared for him romantically, David takes a chance and kisses Patrick, leading the two to begin a relationship. Patrick goes on to embrace his sexuality and becomes a prominent member of the community and David’s business associate, helping the apothecary thrive. He eventually is able to come out to his understanding parents and professes his love to David, with the fan-favorite couple marrying in the final season.
Reid was a successful musician and actor when he took on the role of Patrick in the comedy and also had an illustrious theatre career with performances in the plays Three Sisters, Creditors, The Aliens, and Hamlet. He made his Broadway debut in 2022 as Mr. Peel in The Minutes. Reid earned acclaim for his work in the short drama The Archivists, and currently stars as Billy Tillerson in the sci-fi neo-Western series Outer Range.
3 Dustin Milligan as Ted Mullens
CBC Television
Alexis’ sweet and straight-laced main love interest Ted Mullens is the town’s respected veterinarian who develops romantic feelings for the lively character after hiring her to work at his practice. Often deemed “too nice” by the women he dates, Ted will do anything for his friends and loved ones and cares deeply for Alexis, and is left devastated when she originally chooses Mutt over himself. The pair later reconnect and go on to share a mature and tender relationship, with Ted helping Alexis grow and the duo encouraging one another to go after their dreams and career pursuits.
Dustin Milligan starred as Ted throughout its complete run, having already risen to prominence as Ethan Ward on the teen drama series 90210. Since his time as the good doctor, Milligan appeared in the comedies Mack & Rita and The People We Hate at the Wedding, as well as in the sitcom Rutherford Falls. His most recent work was in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new Netflix original show FUBAR.
2 Sarah Levy as Twyla Sands
CBC Television
The ditzy but sweet waitress of the town’s favorite food hot spot Café Tropical, Twyla Sands is very friendly and sympathetic to her customer’s colorful plights, and she is always willing to offer an ear and listen to their troubles. Considered the white sheep of her family due to most of them being criminals and crooks, Twyla is innocent by nature and becomes fast friends with Alexis despite their very different backgrounds. The pair encourage one another and their friendship helps Alexis become more selfless and aware.
Sarah Levy portrayed Twyla and is the daughter of Eugene and the sister of Dan. She went on to have roles in episodes of All Rise and United We Fall and had a lead part in the 2021 comedy Distancing Socially. Levy currently stars on the Canadian paranormal series SurrealEstate, alongside her former co-star Tim Rozon.
1 Tim Rozon as Mutt Schitt
CBC Television
Resident bad boy and the son of Roland and Jocelyn, Mutt Schitt (Tim Rozon) is a man of few words who instantly catches the eye of Alexis when they do community service together. A big nature lover and farm boy, Mutt and Alexis have a passionate but short-lived romance due to their lack of sharing anything in common and Mutt’s reluctance to share his feelings and open up.
Rozon was a main character on the show for its first two seasons before having a recurring role in the third and fourth and has kept quite busy since his days romancing the fun-loving Alexis. He starred in the supernatural Western horror series Wynona Earp as Doc Holliday from 2016 to 2021 and subsequently had roles in Vagrant Queens and opposite Sarah Levy in SurrealEsate.
With longer days and—at some more progressive places of employment—Summer Fridays in full effect, daily agendas are now suddenly awash with temporal real estate. Should you use these extra hours to reconnect with family, go to museums or explore the natural world in all its holy wonders? No! You should be watching movies, and lots of ’em! Luckily, June is a rock-solid month with plenty of great Don’t-Miss Indies titles to enjoy.
PADRE PIO
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Director: Abel Ferrara
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Cristina Chiriac, Marco Leonardi
Why We’re Excited: A two-time Film Independent Spirit Award nominee for Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), indie veteran Abel Ferrara’s new biographical drama is based on the IRL story of Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar and priest Francesco Forgione, who was venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1999. It’s after the end of WWI and young Italian soldiers are returning from the war to the broken village of San Giovanni Rotondo, an impoverished and violent town under Church and landowner rule. It is in these tumultuous times that the titular padre—Spirit Award nominee Shia LaBeouf (Honey Boy, The Peanut Butter Falcon)—arrives to begin his ministry at a remote Capuchin monastery. Struggling with his own personal demons, Pio presides over the community as the first free elections in modern Italian history set the stage for an impending massacre.
DALÍLAND
When You Can Watch: June 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Director: Mary Harron
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Barbara Sukowa, Ezra Miller, Christopher Briney, Rupert Graves
Why We’re Excited: A Spirit Award Best First Feature nominee for her debut I Shot Andy Warhol, Canadian filmmaker Mary Harron is perhaps best known for 2000’s American Psycho and her television work on Fox’s The Following and Netflix’s Alias Grace. Based on a true story, her new film chronicles the tumultuous relationship between the eccentric and mercurial surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (Sir Ben Kingsley, Spirit Award nominated for House of Sand and Fog) and his wife Gala (German actress Barbara Sukowa, Gloria Bell.) The relationship is examined through the lens of Dalí’s assistant James (newcomer Christopher Briney), who helps the artist prepare for an upcoming gallery show amidst endless parties, procrastination, and creative block.
USERS
When You Can Watch: June 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Creator: Natalia Almada
Why We’re Excited: Winner of the U.S. Documentary Directing Award at Sundance two years ago, this sprawling visual odyssey by Mexican-American filmmaker Natalia Almada (Todo lo demás, El Velador, Al orto lado) examines the unintended consequences of unbridled technological domination in the present and future worlds, pondering how tech and the new era of global industrialization have impacted our society and the human experience. Examining these issues through the lens of a mother’s macro concern for her children, the project is a family affair: Almada’s husband Dave Cerf is on music and sound design, her brother-in-law Bennett Cerf is the cinematographer, and her two young boys providing a crucial element of the film.
BLUE JEAN
When You Can Watch: June 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Georgia Oakley
Cast: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday
Why We’re Excited: Winning four awards at last year’s British Independent Film Awards and scoring a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut, writer-director Georgia Oakley’s first feature is a queer drama set in 1988 England. Semi-closeted lesbian gym teacher Jean (McEwen from The Alienist) lives a double life with girlfriend Viv (Hayes, from UK TV series The English Game and The Frankenstein Chronicles) in Thatcher-era Newcastle. When new student Lois (Halliday, in her first movie) recognizes Jean at a gay bar, she threatens to expose her sexuality, forcing Jean to go to great lengths to maintain her livelihood and security.
THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER
When You Can Watch: June 9
Where You Can Watch: Theaters, VOD (June 23)
Director: Bomani J. Story
Cast: Laya DeLeon Hayes, Chad L. Coleman, Denzel Whitaker
Why We’re Excited: Filmmaker Bomani J. Story’s feature debut, this sci-fi horror is a loose reimagining of Mary Shelley’s immortal Frankenstein. Seventeen-year-old STEM prodigy Vicaria (Hayes, who also plays Queen Latifah’s daughter in the CBS procedural The Equalizer) lives in a world filled to the brim with violence, crime, and drug abuse. Having already lost her mother, Vicaria is sent over the edge when she loses her brother to murder. In shock, she begins to believe that death is a curable disease. Still reeling from grief, she decides to resurrect her brother from the dead… only to find him returning as a monster bent on revenge. The film premiered at SXSW in March.
ASTEROID CITY
When You Can Watch: June 16
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Liev Schreiber
Why We’re Excited: Five-time Spirit Awards nominee—and Best Director winner for 1998’s Rushmore—Wes Anderson’s 11th feature is a sci-fi dramedy, fresh from competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes two weeks ago. The all-star cast is also rife with Spirit Awards winners and nominees, including Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story and Manny & Lo), Liev Schreiber (Spotlight), and Tilda Swinton (Suspiria, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Deep End.) Also returning is Anderson’s frequent collaborator, composer Alexandre Desplat. The movie-within-a-movie conceit takes place at an annual Junior Stargazers/Space Cadet convention in 1955, where parents accompany their brainiac kids to the science competition in the fictional American desert town of Asteroid City. When an (un?)expected visitor descends from the skies, everyone is forced to quarantine together in the remote town as dramas both human and cosmic continue to unravel.
PAST LIVES
When You Can Watch: June 23
Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)
Director: Celine Song
Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
Why We’re Excited: One year after her episodic debut as one of the writers on Amazon’s big-budget fantasy epic The Wheel of Time, writer-director Celine Song has returned for her first feature. A Sundance hit and Berlinale nominee for Best Film earlier this year, the semi-autobiographical romantic drama follows Nora (Lee) and Hae Sung (Yoo), two very close childhood friends who years ago were torn apart when her family left Seoul for Canada. Two decades later, the star-crossed couple has an opportunity to reunite over one fateful weekend in New York, where Nora is now married to Arthur (Magaro) and Hae Sung purports to be on vacation. Aiming to be this generation’s Before Sunset as filtered through the perspective of the Korean diaspora, the wistful drama explores the enticing-yet-torturous romantic “what-if” that plagues all of us in our quietest moments. The producing team includes Film Independent Fellow and Emmy-nominated producer, Pamela Koffler (HBO’s Mildred Pierce and Todd Haynes’ upcoming May December.)
BLACK MIRROR (SEASON 6)
When You Can Watch: June 15
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Creator: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Aaron Paul, Anjana Vasan, Annie Murphy, Auden Thornton, Ben Barnes, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara
Why We’re Excited: After a four-year hiatus—the last season came out a lifetime ago in the pre-pandemic world of June 2019—the Emmy-winning British anthology series finally returns with its sixth season on Netflix. Widely acclaimed as one of the best television series to emerge from the 2010s, each episode is a standalone story set in alternate dystopian near-future worlds, presenting a myriad of nightmares, hallucinations and rabbit-holes in which to indulge. Inspired by Rod Serling’s classic sci-fi horror anthology series The Twilight Zone, Brooker’s dark vision often depicts the negative aspects of unrestrained technological advancement at the expense of humanity. Amongst the cast gracing this season include Spirit Award alums Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts), Kate Mara (ATeacher) and Auden Thornton (Beauty Mark.)
NEVER HAVE I EVER (SEASON 4)
When You Can Watch: June 8
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Creator: Mindy Kaling , Lang Fisher
Cast: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Darren Barnet, Jaren Lewison
Why We’re Excited: Despite being loosely based on creator Mindy Kaling’s own upbringing in the Boston area, this dramedy is set in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks, following the trials and tribulations of high school overachiever Devi (Ramakrishnan, a 2021 Spirit Award nominee for the show in the Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series category.) The series opener first found her immediately after the sudden death of her father, Mohan. In the intervening years, we’ve seen her contemplating a move to India with her mother and being torn between long-time crush Paxton (Barnet) and frenemy Ben (Lewison). Last season ended [SPOILERS!] with Devi finally hooking up with Ben. In this fourth and final season, we will follow her through all the requisite milestones of senior year—prom, graduation, and maybe even a potential new new romance…
*PROGRAMMER’S PICK* UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Juan Felipe Zuleta
Cast: Sarah Hay, Matthew Jeffers, Roy Abramsohn
Why We’re Excited: From Jenn Wilson, Film Independent Senior Programmer: “This unconventional road movie is Juan Felipe Zuleta’s feature debut, and it marks him as a new director to watch, for sure. In the film, Peter (Matthew Jeffers, absolutely wonderful in this role) is enlisted by his (unhinged?) neighbor Winona (Sarah Hay) to drive her cross-country to meet up with some aliens (?) that she claims have contacted her to join them. Yes, like the ones from outer space. Peter, an extremely bitter, gay little person with a boatload of his own sorrows isn’t really buying it, but he needs the money. And so the two embark on a hilarious, weird and surprisingly heartfelt trip that neither of them really wanted to be on. Will the two end up besties for life or mortal enemies? Ah, but you have to go to the movies and find out!” Additionally, Film Independent Members on the producing team include Story/Writer/Producer Leland Frankel and Executive Producer Chad Shields.
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Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A
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Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color
Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee
Female Filmmaker
LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters
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As the WGA writers’ strike barrels into its second month, with AMPTP continuing to tell studio employees, consumers, and investors that their workforce doesn’t deserve a fair wage or dignity, SAG-AFTRA has come through in the clutch. SAG-AFTRA members voted to approve of a strike authorization, with a whopping 97.9% in favor of a strike, per Variety. The news comes after a dismal showing from the Directors Guild of America, who seemingly used the WGA’s walkout to its benefit and secured a “historic” deal with studios and streamers.
If Jesse Armstrong wanted Jeremy Strong to jump in a river, he would have put it in the script
With 47% of the membership voting, roughly 65,000 members, the authorization marks a massive blow to the AMPTP, which continues to allow this strike to happen, delaying and disrupting productions and telling the entertainment community that billionaire CEOs are the most critical parts of the business. But as any Boston University graduate could tell you: These guys stink.
“The strike authorization votes have been tabulated and the membership joined their elected leadership and negotiating committee in favor of strength and solidarity. I’m proud of all of you who voted as well as those who were vocally supportive, even if unable to vote. Everyone played a part in this achievement,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. “Together we lock elbows and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions in this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings ALL our concerns for protections and benefits into the now! Bravo SAG-AFTRA, we are in it to win it.”
SAG-AFTRA represents 160,000 performers who will cease performing if demands are not met. Productions have already slowed on numerous high-profile projects, including Severance, the J. Lo movie Unstoppable, and Marvel’s much-hyped Blade reboot. Of course, the studios could get these projects back on track by paying their writers. That’s right. Corporate greed is the only thing between audiences and a new Blade movie. Every MCU fanatic in the world should be furious that Disney, of all companies, would allow this to happen.
Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP begin on Wednesday, with the union’s contract expiring at the end of the month. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher has expressed solidarity with the WGA, and the union’s executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said that they would not be bound by the deal struck with the DGA. So unless the studios want A.I.-generated movies in which all the characters have a disgusting number of fingers and teeth and the dialogue makes no sense because generative A.I. sucks at making art, they might want to bring the writers back to the bargaining table.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts continues the better narrative footing established by Bumblebee. The sequel of sorts again reshapes the franchise with an action-packed, throwback adventure loaded with exciting new characters. The 1994 New York City setting brilliantly recreates a vibrant period often shunned by Hollywood due to the 9/11 attacks. The Twin Towers stand tall and majestic over a robotic battle royale. An unmasked Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) meets his match in the badass Scourge (Peter Dinklage), a merciless villain who wears the emblems of his dead adversaries. The climax gets predictably melodramatic, but a whopper reveal will send audiences into a tizzy.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Thousands of years ago on a distant world, Apelinq (Kőrösi András) looks at the sky in utter disbelief. An apocalyptic evil long thought to be a myth makes its presence known. Unicron (Colman Domingo), the planet eater, dispatches his fierce minions to search for an important artifact. Scourge and the Terrorcons crush every impediment with ease. Apelinq summons the Maximals with a desperate plan.
Pete Davidson Voices Mirage
Paramount Pictures
In 1994 Brooklyn, Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) hacks cable boxes to help his struggling family. Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez) suffers from sickle cell anemia. Noah comforts his little brother with positive reinforcement. They’re in this fight together. But Noah needs a real job to help pay mounting medical bills.
Meanwhile, on Ellis Island, Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) watches in disgust as the museum’s manager takes credit for her work. The lab tech has a gift for identifying mysterious relics. Elena’s presented an African figurine with strange markings. Her tinkering triggers a beacon that humanity cannot see or detect. Optimus Prime radios the Autobots to immediately assemble — they may have discovered a way back to Cyberton. The signal also crosses the depths of space. Scourge’s hunt is over.
Optimus Primal
Paramount Pictures
Director Steven Caple Jr. (The Land, Creed II) takes Transformers in a different direction with urban themes and a racially diverse cast. Noah is a Hispanic protagonist fighting to get his brother affordable healthcare. He needs treatment not an emergency room. These humanistic scenes would never be in a vapid Michael Bay film. You also don’t get cheesy shots of beautiful women running in slow motion. There’s an effort to make the characters compassionate and relatable in times of distress. Elena’s reaction to Scourge’s nasty mechanized critters had me laughing out loud.
Not to worry folks. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has more heart than expected but isn’t a social commentary. The Maximals and Terrorcons deliver the robot carnage. Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) — golf clap to whoever coined that name — is a chest-thumping, tree-swinging behemoth. He and the Peregrine falcon Airazor (Michelle Yeoh) will have Hasbro stock skyrocketing from toy sales. Their CGI beatdowns look great in conjunction with practical effects. Noah shredding cop cars in Mirage (Pete Davidson), the chatty Porsche Autobot, tops the cartoonish racing of Fast X.
Unicron Unleashed
The opening takes a page from the classic 1986 animated film. We finally get to see Unicron unleashed. A previous iteration had flirted with Earth as Unicron, but that idiocy is conveniently forgotten. There aren’t many surprises, and it admittedly gets a bit sappy, but has a high entertainment value. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts smartly cherry-picks the best elements of franchise lore and repurposes them with better defined characters. Stick around during the credits.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a production of Skydance, Hasbro, New Republic Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, and Bay Films. It will have a June 9th theatrical release from Paramount Pictures.
Filling in for Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and former press secretary for President Joe Biden kicked off Monday’s episode of “All In” with a discussion of the latest legal difficulties faced by disgraced former President Donald Trump.
While Psaki admitted “we’re in unprecedented territory,” she said that the idea Trump will somehow benefit politically from being indicted over the classified documents he unlawfully took from the White House “sounds like a bit of wishful thinking.”
For those in need of a refresher, last year it came out that Trump left the White House with a large number of classified documents, many of them related to extremely sensitive matters. He then refused to return the documents despite multiple requests from the government, eventually leading to a raid of his Florida resort.
In the nearly one year since, it’s come out that Trump employees may have actively moved to conceal evidence that Trump knowingly took classified documents despite his unfounded claim that he “declassified” them. Trump’s lawyers met Monday with Justice Department officials, in an attempt to keep him from being indicted.
When the case became public, it soon also came out that President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence both had also taken a much smaller number of classified documents, however in both cases the matter was voluntarily disclosed and the officials cooperated fully with investigators. Meanwhile, as Trump has faced increasingly more serious legal problems, is supporters have been unwavering, leading to a conventional wisdom consensus that being indicted again might actually benefit Trump.
Now, back to Psaki
As she kicked she show off, Psaki touted her experience working for two different presidents — Barack Obama and Biden — and said “despite what Donald Trump’s lawyers are telling all of you, there is neither a magic wand a president has to retroactively declassify documents, nor is there some sort of special declassification process available only to the White House.”
“And the argument from Trump allies that knowingly taking classified documents about issues as sensitive as nuclear secrets, or a hypothetical war with Iran, say, and sharing them with others — which Donald Trump has reportedly done,” Psaki continued, “is the exact same thing as knowingly, that’s the key word there, retaining classified documents and then returning them — which President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence both did — is not exactly on the level.”
“And having worked on three presidential campaigns and in politics for 20 years, the argument, the political argument from Trump allies that more indictments will help Trump sounds like a bit of wishful thinking to me, a little spin there. especially when the next indictments could be about pretty popular issues like the protection of our democracy and our national security,” Psaki added.
“Traditionally, getting indicted isn’t a good thing, it’s not a good thing. But, we’re in unprecedented territory here. And even I have to admit, spending a lot of time in the political world, of all the time I have spent on campaign buses and in the Oval Office, I have never worked for a candidate under indictment, with additional charges likely on the way,” she said. “So this situation is new to me too, we’re all in it together.”
A’Ja Wilson sat down to talk on Podcast P with Paul George to discuss her path to the WNBA. As WNBA Champion and 2x MVP of the Las Vegas Aces, A’Ja Wilson is an exciting member of the basketball roster.
But, although she may have developed into a champion player, she A’Ja Wilson did not always love the sport,
“I was a late bloomer. I sucked, I was really bad at basketball and I couldn’t stand sweating. I just wanted to be a normal girly girl that was getting my nails done and going to the mall with my friends…I just couldn’t stand the sport, it was disgusting to me. So I probably didn’t start thinking about basketball for real until I was like 14 or 15 years old. My dad played overseas for 10 years in Sweden so he was like ‘You’re gonna hoop, it’s in your blood at this point.”
But, once A’Ja Wilson got into the game, becoming one of the best became one of her biggest priorities,
“When you’re talking GOATS of the W, I need my name to be up there, at least top three. Like that’s my goal…When you’re thinking of women’s basketball, when you’re thinking of the W I want my name to be on it. So whatever it takes, whatever it needs to get there, whether it’s the rings, whether it’s the accolades individually like I want to be up there in that kind of conversation. I need that in order for me to sleep at night.”
A’Ja Wilson not only attended the University of South Carolina, she also has a statue at the institution,
“Normally when people get a statue they’re either dead or knocking at the door…I was nervous when I had to go up there and they revealed it, I was like lord, somebody about to take me out…But when I get those tweets and I see those little kids bringing a basketball up to the statue and mimicking it, that’s why I play. Like I said in my speech, my grandmother couldn’t walk on that campus. My dad couldn’t even go to the University of South Carolina because they were black and now you have a statue of a black woman, right there in the front. I can’t beat that. That’s why I play.”
A’Ja Wilson and Paul George also took a moment to discuss if Lebron will retire,
“Do I think Bron’s gonna retire? No, I don’t think so but I do think he needs time to just chill. I feel like this season was a lot…So I think he just needs time to dissect it all and just really take it all in. But I don’t think he’s gonna retire.”
But, A’Ja Wilson and Paul George did not finish their conversation without talking about it the Aces are a “Superteam” using the Golden State Warriors to help make the comparison,
A’Ja: “I don’t believe in superteams…I just feel like we’re all coming together with the equal goal and we’re just trying to reach that goal. That doesn’t make us super because we have”
PG: “If you look to your left you have Kelsey Plum and you look to your right and you have Candace Parker…”
A’Ja: “We’re talented and skilled, yes. But when it comes to a super team, nah because I feel like that’s where the pressure come in. If we lose a game they’re like ‘oh this super team sucks’ and it’s like well no one told y’all to label us as a super team. I feel like everyone on the outside talks about a super team more than we do.”
PG: “It’s different for y’all because Kelsey’s [Plum] been there for a while you drafted Jackie [Young], you’ve been there and got drafted…so y’all did it organically and then Candace came over to join the team. I guess it’s not a super team because you all came together, similar to the Warriors.”
Catch up on the podcast to see A’Ja Wilson and Paul George choose their All-Time WNBA starting 5.
Podcast P with Paul George is presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment. New episodes can be found every Monday.
Think back to Hollywood during the 1990s, and certain names will undoubtedly come to mind: Nicolas Cage stands out. An icon from that era, many of his best films may have come out during this decade.
He gave many outstanding performances that have been universally lauded, garnering critical acclaim, with many still remembered today. But which role that he took during the 90s can be considered his finest performance ever? Here are five contenders!
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Nicolas Cage’s portrayal of Ben Sanderson is one of his most shocking and compelling performances. In Leaving Las Vegas, we see Cage play a self-destructive alcoholic who has lost everything, including his job and family. In a desperate attempt to end his life, he travels to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Cage’s performance as the lonely and broken man has an intensity that is unforgettable. It is a semi-autobiography of the 1990 novel that has the same name written by John O’Brien. Nowadays, gamblers are able to enjoy safer gaming experiences with a Las Vegas theme, as they can enjoy the very best that an online casino Canada platform has to offer.
Face/Off (1997)
In Face/Off, Nicolas Cage plays the role of Castor Troy, a sociopathic killer. The plot of the movie is centered on Cage and his nemesis, played by John Travolta (Sean Archer), who ends up taking Cage’s face in a revolutionary surgery. Cage’s character is charged with such wild abandon, and his coming back to life in the role of John Travolta is visceral. Cage’s performance in the movie is electrifying, and he manages to keep the audience engaged in his dual portrayal of these two roles.
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
Honeymoon in Vegas showcases Cage’s talent for comedy. Nicolas Cage plays the role of Jack, a private investigator whose girlfriend is Betsy, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. He ends up allowing Betsy to go on a weekend trip with Tommy (James Caan) after he borrows $65,000 and loses a crooked poker game. Throughout the film, Cage’s portrayal of Jack is humorous, quirky, and endearing, and we see his talent to pull off a comedy role exceptionally well.
Con Air (1997)
In Con Air, Nicolas Cage stars as Cameron Poe, a recently paroled convict who gets trapped on a transport plane with some of the most notorious criminals in the US. Cage’s performance as Cameron, a former US Army Ranger, is remarkable, and he brings about a sense of honor and bravery in his character. Cage’s performance is both physical and internal, showcasing a rare talent and skill.
The Rock (1996)
Nicolas Cage’s performance in The Rock is one of his most memorable and prominent roles. In the movie, Cage plays a biochemist named Stanley Goodspeed. His portrayal of the character was intense, humorous, and emotional, showcasing his diverse acting range. The memorable scene in the movie is his futile chase down the San Francisco Street, where he showcases both vulnerability and strength in the same scene.
Verdict
Nicolas Cage delivered some of the greatest performances of his career in the 90s, and these five roles showcase his extraordinary range and creativity. Nicolas Cage continues to generate impressive, striking and humorous performances, and he remains one of the iconic actors of our time. These five performances remain some of the most unforgettable moments in cinematic history.
An intrepid traveller who picked up a stray pup last year is making his way across the entire world with his adopted dog in tow – all on top of a tall bike which has a built in trailer for his furry friend.
Alex Sidney is currently ‘bikepacking’ his way across the Middle East and has clocked up almost 7,000 miles after setting off from southeast England in January last year.
The content creator has crossed a total of 20 countries so far, taking in the sights from Switzerland and Croatia, through to Kurdistan and Iran.
Now with Nova by his side, having picked up his new friend along the way, Alex has continued to document the pair’s incredible travels together.
Today marks the 400th day of their tour since leaving home in January 2022, and Alex and Nova have no intention of stopping now.
Alex Sidney, 20, and Nova (pictured together) are ‘bikepacking’ their way across the Middle East
Alex discovered his future companion Nova (pictured) on a bridge over the river Danube between Serbia and Romania
Alex and Nova relaxing in Turkey as they look out from their tent at a swarm of hot air balloons
Alex discovered his future companion on a bridge over the river Danube between Serbia and Romania six months after setting off on his travels.
The cyclist then tried to find her a new home before deciding to adopt her himself.
‘She was hungry and lonely and at risk where she was,’ Alex wrote on his social media at the time, ‘So I decided to take her on the tallbike, with the intention of getting her to the nearest town so that at least she could find food and not be at risk of falling off the bridge.
‘I didn’t expect her to make it across the border, being an undocumented stray, but by some miracle she did, after a bit of conversation.
After spending a bit of time with Nova, Alex fell in love with the sweet little pup and decided he couldn’t continue his journey without her.
‘We took her to the local vet and got her vaccinations, chip and passport, so I had to quickly think of a name – now I had to keep her,’ Alex explained.
‘So yes, Nova will be joining me on the tallbike, travelling across Europe towards Asia this year.
‘She is a devilish little dog, with tonnes of energy, and proves near to impossible to train, but after all she’s only a pup!’
The cyclist then tried to find Nova a new home before deciding to adopt her himself
After spending a bit of time with Nova (pictured), Alex fell in love with the sweet little pup and decided he couldn’t continue his journey without her
Alex has ventured on his travels all on top of a tall bike which has a built in trailer for his furry friend
The pair have travelled across Europe. Nova in pictured in front of a mosque in Itanbul, Turkey
Alex decided to combine this passion with his sense of adventure to travel across the world. Nova is pictured on the bike in Sofia, Bulgaria
Alex, a content creator, has documented his travels on social media. He is pictured camping
Nova has a built in trailer on Alex’s bike so she can either ride with him or trot alongside him
Nova, a stray mixed-breed dog, has her own basket on his tall bike’s cargo area, where she sits back and enjoys the views as the pair travel across the world together.
When she’s not sat back enjoying the ride, Nova is scampering along beside Alex and his bike, enjoying the best walkies a dog could ever ask for.
Some of Alex’s followers hit out at the content creator after he posted a video of Nova trotting along beside him and chained to the bike by a lead.
‘She has a trailer, it’s not very visible in this video but it is there.’ he explained.
‘She is trained to jump in or out whenever she wants… She is not being forced to run alongside the bike, she prefers to run because she is a puppy with too much energy.
‘She is not always chained to the bike like this. Usually she free roams, however when we are on a main road it’s best to have a leash so that she cannot mix with the other vehicles on the road if she chooses to run instead of stay inside the trailer.’
Alex originally from Italy grew up in the UK, and had always loved messing around with the mechanics of bikes. He decided to combine this passion with his sense of adventure to travel across the world.
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple just unveiled its first major new product in nearly a decade: interactive goggles called the Vision Pro.
The augmented-reality headset heralds the beginning of a new generation in personal technology, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a presentation at the company’s annual WWDC showcase. Strap it on, and you’ll see virtual worlds on a high-resolution screen that sits right next to your eyes. Adjust a dial and external cameras mix in the real world around you. A screen on its outside even lets other people peer inside at your eyes.
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the company’s long-rumored augmented reality glasses, Vision Pro at WWDC on June 5. The device goes on sale in 2024 for $3499. (Video: Monica Rodman/The Washington Post)
But after Apple’s launch hoopla fades, one critical question will remain: Why would you want to wear a computer on your face? Why would you choose to strap on a Vision Pro instead of grabbing your smartphone, tablet, laptop or the TV remote?
Oh, and one more thing: The Vision Pro will cost $3,499 when it arrives in stores early next year.
Rivals Google, Microsoft, Meta and others have all tried — and failed — to offer a satisfactorily broad answer to what it’s good for with their own virtual and augmented-reality devices. This technology, so far, has been a solution in search of a problem. And Apple’s slick launch presentation offered few magical new use cases for the technology that we haven’t already seen before.
Apple’s “what’s it good for” answer boils down to: This is an improved reality, not some soulless “metaverse.” It showed people using the device at home, walking around an office, lying in bed looking at stars and taking a new kind of “spatial photos” of children playing nearby.
In fact, Apple never used the term metaverse — associated with rival Meta’s Quest headsets — and instead described its technology as “spatial computing” to emphasize its focus on complementing the world around you, rather than just taking you away into a virtual world.
That’s a smart pitch, but it presumes Apple has overcome some major hurdles, including comfort, motion sickness and human-computer interfaces that have made existing devices hard to enjoy for more than short bursts.
What Apple says you’ll do in a Vision Pro: Work and watch
How will Apple get us to think differently about this type of technology? Its presentation focused most of its attention on two use cases: work and entertainment.
The initial spotlight on work is surprising for Apple, whose core business is consumers, but perhaps reflects the reality of the device’s price, which makes it out of reach for the vast majority of families.
Inside the headset, you can surround yourself with apps to operate by hand, project your Mac screen, and take FaceTime calls with a little avatar of yourself. You operate apps with your hands — flick your hand to scroll up and pinch to select. You can switch apps just by moving your eyes, which internal sensors keep track of.
But what would make you choose this over your Mac? And what’s it going to be like typing in there? Apple said you could type on a virtual keyboard, by talking out loud or by using an attached Bluetooth keyboard. But remember, your view of the real world is being mediated by cameras and screens, so its technology will have to work fast enough to make the typing experience not feel laggy. (Imagine typing through the camera on an iPhone.)
Apple’s second big use for the Vision Pro is entertainment. It showed people watching movies in a visually and sonically immersive space — a private showing in a top-end theater or even watching Star Wars in space. Perhaps the best use Apple showed for the device: Using it on an airplane to block out all the annoyances of flying.
But then more questions remain: Would you actually feel comfortable wearing this for the entire 3-hour, 14-minute running time of the movie “Titanic”? And can the device hold up against users’ desire for screen time? (The battery on the Vision pro lasts just two hours, though you can also use it plugged in.)
Weight is also a lingering question. In an improvement over its rivals, Apple moved the battery pack to a separate tethered brick, so you don’t have to wear it on your face. It said the device is made out of lightweight metal, glass and cloth. But so far Apple hasn’t said the overall weight of the headset, and the amount of pressure it places on the bridge of the nose will be a critical factor.
For entertainment use, however, Apple appears to have made inroads in another issue that has held back VR technology: feeling isolated and vulnerable because you’re cut off from the world. There’s a physical dial that lets the user bring their immediate surroundings in and out of view.
And when someone physically approaches you while you’re wearing the Vision Pro, they’ll materialize in front of you so you’re not taken off guard. A screen on the outside of the device shows people around you a view of your eyes and an indication of what you’re up to — so they don’t feel so left out either.
“As an actor to have people come up and say ‘I listened to your record,’ is very bizarre,” Riley Keough said at the recent Prime Video “Daisy Jones & the Six” FYC panel in Los Angeles.
Keough’s co-star, Sam Claflin elaborated on how the confusion often transferred to the audience too, “No one really understands or believes that it is us playing — and that we can.” Keough and Claflin shared how as actors they trained for months to become the fictional star-crossed musicians, Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, from the TV adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “Daisy Jones & the Six.”
The limited series follows the fictional 1970s rock band, Daisy Jones & the Six, as they wrestle with the tumult of Southern California rock ‘n roll, engage in vicious fights, complicated love triangles and affairs, all while they rise to meteoric fame that abruptly comes crashing down.
While fans — and the cast members’ friends and family — may not believe it’s really the actors-turned-singers performing each song, it was revealed they attended band camp for months in preparation. Before filming and outside their intimate rehearsals, the group had to perform for the first time as a band for the series’ executives; and Claflin cheekily remarked how it caused a wave of nerves to hit the performers, leading him to request music supervisor Frankie Pine to “run to the liquor store” before their official debut.
“Going up on stage and performing for people was a very different experience. We’d been playing for each other for months,” said Keough. “But to then do a real live performance for the first time was a whole different ballgame.”
But their first performance wasn’t possible without the help and direction from Pine, who insisted the actors partake in their very own “band camp.”
“The point of band camp was to make it feel that you guys saw each other every day, worked together every single day and that’s what an actual band does.”
“That’s why you see this incredible togetherness as a band. You know when somebody’s going to start playing that lick and when somebody’s going to come in and sing their line. Being in band camp was one of the main reasons why we brought everybody together and we did it for so long,” said Pine. “There was a reason behind all of it.”
Claflin, the series (and the band’s) leading man, also shared that all their preparation in band camp may allow fans to reap the benefits in person very soon, teasing at the possibility of touring as a band. “We would love to be able to prove that to you one day.”
With a live tour a promising possibility, Claflin and Keough expressed their preparation resembled that of Billy and Daisy’s, as strangers they were immediately thrust upon each other to intimately yell and sing together in close proximity. “Actually thinking back to the first time Riley and I have a singing lesson together, we were told to stare at each other in the eyes — really closely. The two of us could not get through it without laughing at each other mostly,” said Claflin.
Keough quickly added, “We had barely spoken and they had us start yelling at each other.”
While initially awkward early rehearsal sessions, their friendly dynamic quickly developed into on-screen chemistry. Camila Morrone, who stars as Billy’s wife, Camila Dunne, praised her cast mates for their palpable chemistry. “I wasn’t around for [filming] the Daisy and Bailey scenes, but you guys have so much chemistry. I was like ‘Maybe they should be together,’” said Morrone. “I never saw you guys act together, then I watched the show, and I was like ‘Wait, they are great together.’”
As a secret supporter of Daisy and Billy, Morrone explained to the FYC audience that although her first rehearsals — or any for that matter — didn’t involve singing, she and Claflin also had to navigate the awkward immediate intimacy. While they weren’t performing together, they were presented their own intimate sequences and were instantly “thrust into becoming a married couple, who are in love with a baby.”
“I wasn’t in band camp for a year and a half so I didn’t get to bond with them and the way that they all came in all buddy-buddy like they had done summer camp together,” joked Morrone. “I was like, ‘Hey, guys, I want to be in with the cool kids!’”
“But, there was a moment where [Sam and I] looked at each other and I was like, ‘Sam, anytime you need me to do something different, you just tell me what you need,’” added Morrone, “We just had a free range and promised that we would be there for each other, trust each other and hold each other.”
That trust wasn’t reserved exclusively for the cast, but the production crew members also facilitated an open and ongoing collaboration. Keough praised “Daisy Jones” costume designer Denise Wingate for welcoming recommendations and requests from the cast, including Keough’s idea for Daisy’s final performance costume.
“We couldn’t figure out what the dress should look like. I can honestly say every time we [had] a fitting [Riley] was like, ‘What am I going to wear in the last concert?’” said Wingate.
Keough recalled for the audience how she and Wingate selected and finalized that final showstopping ensemble. “I was sitting on set and then ‘Gold Dust Woman,’ the Fleetwood Mac song, came on, and it was playing quietly and I was like, ‘That’s it.’ I texted [Denise] and I was like, ‘It should be like what ‘Gold Dust Woman’ looks like.’”
Wingate chimed in, “You called and were like ‘Gold Dust Woman,’ that’s the final outfit.’ And I was like, ‘That’s it! Eureka!’ It was brilliant. Then we had the time to be able to find the perfect outfit.”
As Wingate and Keough, drew inspiration from Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, Nabiyah Be, who portrayed disco sensation and Daisy’s closest friend, Simone Jackson, researched and studied the 1970s’ disco pioneers Diana Ross, Donna Summer and Chaka Khan. Be noted she quickly discovered how American counterculture enabled disco to run concurrently with the rise of Southern California rock ‘n roll. “It was a whole universe getting to know the social political aspect and how that translated into the music as well.”
“I had to do a lot of work in making sure that I sounded like an American singer from the 70s,” added the Brazilian-born performer. “Making sure that I was respectful to both the history of those women and the way they sound and move.”
Creating and becoming Simone was reliant on Be’s keen ability to embrace her character’s love story with another woman of color, Bernie (Ayesha Harris). Be explained,“The most rewarding feedback that I’ve gotten is from the queer community, with people being, actually, surprised to have seen a joyous black sapphic couple owning their truth and putting new forms of art into the world. It’s really meaningful for us, because we don’t get to see that a lot.”
Morrone agreed, adding how she has been approached by women from different generations expressing their adoration. “I have 13-year-old girls that are diehard Daisy Jones fans and then women in their seventies who are like ‘This show reminds me of the 1970s’ or ‘It really took me back.’ It’s incredible the amount of people [at different ages] that this has touched. I’ve never quite seen a project have such a big, big reach.”
“I have a really sweet thing that’s weirdly happened four times now, girls come up to me and say that they watched it with their mothers,” said Keough. “I found that really touching that ‘Daisy Jones’ was this bonding moment for many young women and their mothers to watch together.”
All episodes of “Daisy Jones & the Six” are available on Amazon Prime Video.
Justin Anderson joined Realscreen as senior staff writer in 2021, reporting and writing stories for the newsletter and magazine. During his 20-year career he’s filled a variety of roles as a writer and editor at a number of media organizations, covering news and current affairs as well as business, tech, the film and music industries and plenty in between. He’s also spent time behind the scenes in television production, having written everything from voiceover scripts for documentaries to marketing copy. He has a degree in Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University).
If not for the unbridled drinking, it might easily have been a screwball comedy. Just look at them: Kirsten, blondly beautiful with a tolerant smile and a quick riposte; Joe, curly-haired cute but too arrogant to grasp that he’ll have to up his game to win this woman.
Within moments of their meeting in 1950 in New York City, he bursts suavely into song — some presumptuous romantic blather about the two of them together under “a chapel of stars.” Whereupon she teases him right back down to earth.
“Wow,” she says. “Who are you wooing? It can’t be me; you don’t know me.”
This is the addiction-canon classic “Days of Wine and Roses,” though, so some of us already know them. In JP Miller’s luridly frank 1958 teleplay, starring Piper Laurie and Cliff Robertson, and in Miller’s somewhat defanged 1962 film adaptation, starring Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon, Kirsten and Joe are the attractive pair who make a harrowing, hand-in-hand descent into self-destruction by way of alcohol.
In Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel’s jazzy, aching musical based on the teleplay and the film, Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James are an awfully glamorous Kirsten and Joe — O’Hara, in exquisite voice, singing 14 of the show’s 18 numbers, seven of them solos. Directed in its world premiere by Michael Greif for Atlantic Theater Company, this “Days of Wine and Roses” fills the old Gothic Revival parish house that is the Linda Gross Theater with glorious sound.
“Two people stranded at sea,” Kirsten and Joe sing sparely, hauntingly, in the brief and perfect prologue. “Two people stranded are we.”
So they are. But when they first meet, at a party on a yacht in the East River, Kirsten is a nondrinker primly uninterested in alcohol, while Joe is determined that she indulge, because then she can be his drinking buddy. That she acquiesces and then falls so far makes him her corruptor, or so her taciturn father (a wonderfully gruff Byron Jennings) will always believe.
“Get rid of him, Kirs,” he tells her when it is already too late. And anyway it’s the oceans of booze in their relationship that really need to go.
Lucas and Guettel, who mined the same midcentury period to great success in their 2005 Broadway musical, “The Light in the Piazza,” in which O’Hara also starred, have each spoken publicly of past personal struggles with substance abuse. Excising the heavy-handedness of previous versions of “Days of Wine and Roses,” and softening the details of Joe’s degradation, they go deeper into the heart-rending familial fallout of addiction.
Lucas (book) and Guettel (music and lyrics) occasionally presume the audience’s familiarity with the plot, or steer so far clear of melodrama that they veer into emotional aridity. But they also capture unmistakably the bliss that Kirsten and Joe feel inside their bubble of a threesome: just the two of them and alcohol, throwing a private party that goes on and on.
Not for these reveling lovers the swelling strings of Henry Mancini, who scored the film; in the cocktail-mixing song “Evanesce,” Guettel gives them bright, fast music, frenetic and danceable — and when they do a bit of soft-shoe in salt spilled on the floor, there’s a playful heedlessness to their sandpaper percussion. (Choreography is by Sergio Trujillo and Karla Puno Garcia.) This is the high that makes sobriety so unthinkable for Kirsten and Joe, even as their lives disintegrate.
Which they do, alarmingly, despite their love for each other and for their hyper-capable daughter, Lila (Ella Dane Morgan), who learns very young to look after herself, and to lie to cover for her parents. It’s Joe who finds the strength, eventually, to choose their child over alcohol, and Kirsten who feels abandoned by her husband, as she clings to what was their private world.
Affecting as O’Hara is, Kirsten is less fully drawn than Joe, whose back story makes him a recently returned veteran of the Korean War. (The combat flashback Joe suffers during one drunken binge feels gratuitous.)
Kirsten gets no such context, and consequently seems oddly contemporary, which makes the show, for all its ’50s design flourishes, feel unrooted in time. (Sets are by Lizzie Clachan, costumes by Dede Ayite.) Kirsten is aware of the sexism that pervades her era — she makes snappy reference to the minuscule number of female senators — but the show doesn’t entirely seem to be. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
There is no sense of the opprobrium that would greet a female alcoholic in the 1950s, let alone one who leaves her child, or the severe judgment that would be passed on a married woman who sleeps with strange men when she’s on a bender. Or how any of that would contribute to Kirsten’s own self-loathing.
Still, this “Days of Wine and Roses” has wells of compassion for her thrall to alcohol.
“Don’t give up on me,” Kirsten writes to her daughter. She might even mean it when she adds: “I’ll be home soon.”
Days of Wine and Roses Through July 16 at the Linda Gross Theater, Manhattan; atlantictheater.org. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.
The MCU’s last film of the year, The Marvels, just received a sneak peek into its music after the first performance showing off the movie’s theme song.
Captain Marvel 2 will bring a whole new round of exciting music upon its arrival, with What If…? composer Laura Karpman taking over the responsibilities of composing the score after Pinar Toprak developed the first movie’s theme songs.
While this marks her theatrical debut for an MCU film score, she’s also credited for writing the musical score for Ms. Marvel, taking the opportunity to continue her work for Kamala Khan’s solo show as she now teams up with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau.
Captain Marvel 2 Theme Song Performed Live
The Philadelphia Orchestra performed the official suite theme music from Marvel Studios’ The Marvels on Saturday, June 3 during a Pride Concert in Philadelphia, which was the first time this music was heard in public.
The full video of the performance can be seen below:
Additionally, composer Laura Karpman was in the audience for the show, sharing a picture on Instagram from the audience as she thanked the orchestra “for the electrifying premiere of The Marvels theme last night!”
Instagram
Along with her work on Captain Marvel 2, Karpman revealed in an exclusive interview with The Direct that she’s set to compose the music for What If…?’s upcoming second season as well.
The first trailer for the sequel highlighted some exciting and unexpected plot points with the film’s trio of powerful heroines all switching places in the universe when they use their powers.
How the music will play into the story is another mystery entirely, although Laura Karpman’s musical workings will help add to the experience as Marvel concludes its 2023 theatrical slate.
Apple’s WWDC 2023 keynote was today, and with it came the company’s long-awaited mixed reality headset. Apple Vision Pro is the company’s name for its much-hyped entrance into spatial computing. The headset runs a new operating system called visionOS and starts at $3,499 when it launches next year.
Vision Pro wasn’t Apple’s only new hardware for the day; it also launched several new Macs. The 15-inch MacBook Air is the biggest-ever version of that model, running the M2 chip and starting at $1,299. The company also launched a second-gen Mac Studio and the first-ever Mac Pro with Apple silicon. Of course, it also upgraded its software ecosystem, announcing iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10 and macOS Sonoma.
That’s a lot to catch up on, but we’ve made it easier by trimming the company’s announcements down to this 23 minute edit that focuses on the highlights while leaving out the filler and extra details.
Follow all of the news from Apple’s WWDC 2023 right here.
Can the Apple Vision Pro be a tool for content creators and filmmakers?
Virtual Reality, or VR, has been talked about as the next revolution of interaction and visual content. Sadly, only gaming has really embraced the format (and only somewhat), with narrative material following the same path as 3D.
It seems no one wants to wear a bulky headset.
But Apple’s latest innovation, the Apple Vision Pro, promises to revolutionize what VR and augmented reality can be.
The Vision Pro wasn’t introduced as an AR or VR headset, but a spatial computer seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, offering users an infinite canvas that is an extension of the entire Apple ecosystem.
Creativity with Spatial Computing
The Apple Vision Pro introduces a fully three-dimensional user interface similar to a standard virtual reality experience. Not only can it function as a standalone unit with its own unique operating system (visionOS), but it can be an extension of your traditional desktop.
visionOSCredit: Apple
Apple claims the headset can reproduce true 4K displays in the virtual space. This means you can connect it to your new Mac Studio and Mac Pro (or MacBook) and set up a virtual monitor with your existing peripherals. For editors who want to experience a new way of cutting their films or content, a Vision Pro headset could be an interesting way to spice things up in the editing bay.
Unlike a traditional VR headset, Vision Pro is a combination of both augmented reality and virtual reality. Cameras and sensors on the outside keep track of your fingers and hand movements to allow control without the need for additional input devices. This also allows for video pass-through that works for both. While you can see the world around you, your eyes are displayed on the outside using a unique display approach that accurately maps your eyes to the headset.
The eyeball display looks weird. But so did the iPad when it was first released.Credit: Apple
On the inside, eye tracking will be used in conjunction with hand gestures to control the user interface, and any key tracking information is hidden behind a similar layer of privacy, just like Face and Touch ID.
If you don’t want to see your room through the headset, you can dial in how much immersion you want. Literally. Users can switch between a full VR or AR space or a combination of both by using the Apple Watch-style dial on the side.
The watch-style dial. Credit: Apple
When in full VR mode, The two ultra-high-resolution displays (23 million pixels across for both) can create a 100-foot-wide screen that can be used to watch movies and TV shows or FaceTime your family. Or to edit. I’ve always wanted to edit my movie on a virtual IMAX screen.
For audio, the Spatial Audio system adds another layer of immersion, which matches the audio with the user’s surroundings. This is something that the Meta Quest 2 did really well, and I’m excited to see how Apple incorporates the tech.
A standalone device, but also an extension. Credit: Apple
Collaboration and Communication
But the coolest thing I’ve seen so far from the reveal is how the Vision Pro will allow me to collaborate and communicate with family, colleagues, and friends.
During FaceTime calls, this device is able to reflect participants in life-size tiles. These will be digitally generated using Vision Pro’s sensor suite, creating a digital persona that mimics face and hand movements in real time. While Apple hopes this feature will be used for watching movies, browsing photos, or working on projects together, I can’t wait to collaborate with different departments on a shoot by walking around my home and casually sharing my windows and assets.
Hardware and Performance
This is all powered by two separate different Apple Silicon chips. One is the M2, which is incredibly capable on its own, and the other is the new R1 SoC. The new chip processes input from all of the 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones. Apple claims that the R1 can streams new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds, which is 8x faster than you can blink.
But he’s one catch, the battery is all external. While you can run the headset plugged in, you can take it with you on the road by using an external battery that plugs in via a cable. Apple claims the batter will last up to two hours, but since you can swap it out with a fresh one, a user could theoretically run it indefinitely. If they had enough batteries.
It’s a laptop in the shape of a glasses.Credit: Apple
Do We Need This?
When I see the Vision Pro, I can’t help but be impressed by the refined technology Apple has created. But I also fail to see how I need this. However, I also thought the same thing about the iPad, and I use that thing almost every day for work and entertainment. Having used the HTC Vive, the Meta Quest, and currently owning the Quest 2, I’ve always wanted VR and AR technology to take off. But quality and limitations have always made it seem more like a gimmick than a tool.
How the Vision Pro will be utilized in the world, or if at all, remains to be seen.
At $3,499, the Vision Pro is a hefty investment that not everyone will be able to afford. But this is a new take on VR/AR tech that Apple is attempting to push into a future that’s not yet written.
We could wax poetic or throw shade on the Vision Pro all day, but we’ll never truly know how it’ll affect users in the long run. All we can do is hold on for the ride.
Hocus Pocus 2–which proved to be the No. 1 domestic film debut on Disney+ at the rime of its release last September–will lead to another sequel. When asked about the future of the series, Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Pictures, recently told The Times, “Yes, Hocus Pocus 3 is happening.” Terse and to the point.
The first two films have starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the witchy Sanderson Sisters and, even though nothing is known at this early stage about casting or production schedules, the odds are good that every effort will be made to reunite the trio.
Last year’s sequel–directed by Anne Fletcher from a screenplay by Jen D’Angelo–follows three high school students as they try to stop the witches “from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before midnight on All Hallow’s Eve.”
Keep reading Horror News Network for further updates on Hocus Pocus 3.
Status: Ended”Ben 10″ is a TV show produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The show was originally broadcast on Cartoon Network (United States) and premiered on December 27th 2005. “Ben 10” ended after 4 seasons and a total of 52 episodes. The final episode aired on April 15th 2008.
The feature from director Tyler Spindel (The Wrong Missy) centers on bank manager Owen (Devine), who finally meets the parents of his fiancée, Parker (Dobrev), and then comes to suspect that they may have robbed his bank during the week of the wedding. Michael Rooker, Poorna Jagannathan, Julie Hagerty, Richard Kind, Lil Rel Howery and Blake Anderson round out the cast for the movie that launches July 7.
“I think your parents robbed my bank,” Devine tells Dobrev. “They knew the voice-activation code to get in the vault, which I’m pretty sure I told your mom about when I was wasted.”
The footage later shows Brosnan and Barkin teaching Devine how to use firearms as the group is forced to team up in an effort to recover $5 million. “Just think of how many terrible decisions we had to make to get to this moment in time,” quips Billy (Brosnan) while watching Devine struggle to execute their plan.
Among the memorable moments from the trailer is Barkin and Brosnan comparing Devine to James Bond, the spy character that Brosnan famously played in four films for the storied franchise.
Spindel directed The Out-Laws from a script by Evan Turner and Ben Zazov. Barry Bernardi, Isaac Horne Brendan O’Brien and Ben Ormand executive produce. Devine and Adam Sandler are producers.
Eight months after the study group confirmed that the “and a movie” section of their “six seasons and a movie” promise would come to fruition, the Community movie has hit another setback: The WGA writers strike. Because AMPTP has decided to extend this strike indefinitely, refusing to share any of their stomach-churning profits with the people who wrote the Super Mario Bros. Movie, let alone the thousands of other entertainment professionals who make America’s greatest export possible, the Community movie has been delayed once again.
Comedian Chris Redd is attacked
As if all this wasn’t painful enough, Community’s own Jeff Winger, Joel McHale told Variety the production had “a shooting date coming up” this summer. “I think they were extremely close to—I mean, Dan is somebody that tweaks things, but, obviously, that’s all stopped,” he said. “I think it was pretty darn close.” Though it may have been “close,” McHale acknowledges that maybe there are more important things than a sitcom reunion movie, like ensuring people receive compensation for their labor. “It was close, the shoot date was coming up, and we were all excited to do it, and then the writers strike happened, which obviously put everything on hold, and rightfully so.”
“The writers are asking for very reasonable things,” he continued. “Writers need to be paid properly.” According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, writers being paid adequately, receiving streaming residuals, and ensuring that a generative algorithm mashing old bits of content together to create lousy art won’t take their jobs sits slightly below “the Community movie.”
Announced last year, the Community movie would reunite most of the original cast, including McHale, Alison Brie, Jim Rash, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, and Ken Jeong. However, the rest of the cast remains uncertain. Last November, Dan Harmon said Donald Glover was “down to clown” but that he wasn’t sure if it was “legal for [Chevy Chase] to come back.” As for Yvette Nicole Brown, who did not return for season six so she could care for her ailing father, she “literally [knows] nothing” about the movie. Nevertheless, Harmon has also said that there’s nothing official about who won’t be returning, so maybe there’s a chance that even James Brolin could pop in as Winger’s dad.
The Community movie was heading to Peacock before this latest setback, and they may have even picked a director; though, McHale is keeping a tight lip on that. “I know who wants to do it, and we’re talking to and is interested and engaged.” Community had quite a stable of then-up-and-coming directors, such as the Russo Brothers and longtime Fast And Furious series director Justin Lin, behind the camera across its six seasons. So we can only assume that Danny Pudi is directing the film, in character, as Abed Nadir under the “Cool Abed Films” imprint.
The phrase “new normal” comes to mind when watching Elhas Ehsas’ short film, Yellow. A young woman (Afsaneh Dehrouyeh) steps into a Chadari store in Kabul in Afghanistan to purchase a Hijab, a full-body veil. The young salesman (Elham Ehsas) is warned by the store owner (Ahmad Jan Mano) to stop playing his musical instrument so as not to draw the attention of the Taliban, who may be passing down the street.
If you were to read the dialogue of Yellow, you would essentially see a simple transaction between a customer shopping for a veil and trying to find one in the correct size. But filmmaker Ehsas tells a much bigger story in the quiet moments, the body language of the woman, and the look of sadness coming over a beautiful face.
“A young woman steps into a Chadari store in Kabul in Afghanistan to purchase a Hijab, a full-body veil.”
The story is set not more than two years ago, when the Taliban reclaimed rule over Afghanistan. For years, Afghan women were given great freedoms, education, elevated societal roles, and the ability to walk down the street unaccompanied by their husbands…I mean, guardians. In an instant, those freedoms were removed, and the progress women had made over the years vanished.
Elhas Ehsas’ Yellowpowerfully and heartbreakingly captures this transition to an archaic “new normal,” and I dare you not to feel the tragic nature of this change for millions of strangers living in a world far from our own.
Navneet Kaur is only 23 years old, but now, she has suddenly had to assume the role of mother to her two younger brothers and sister after their mother, 43-year-old Davinder Kaur, was fatally stabbed on May 19th in Sparrow Park in Brampton.
The children’s 44-year-old father Nav Nishan Singh has been charged with first-degree murder.
“We never thought this could happen,” Navneet said, with tears running down her face, sitting in the backyard of her uncle’s home, just blocks from the park where her mother was found bleeding and gasping for air.
Navneet, who described her mother as a hardworking role model, said her mother came to Canada to join her in 2018 but returned to India for a year to become a chef. She came back to Canada in 2019.
Stranded in Brampton due to COVID, she says Davinder never returned to India.
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Instead, Davinder’s husband, the children’s father, came to Canada last November on a visitor’s visa with Navneet’s two younger brothers, aged 16 and 18, to reunite the family. Her 20-year-old sister remained in India where she continues to study.
But Navneet says her father seemed different. She says he drank a lot, argued with her mother and at times, he made death threats. “He was making threats to kill me and my brother and my mom, but like, we don’t think he was actually do that thing,” she said. She said her mother used to tell her dad she would call police but she never did.
Davinder Kaur in a picture shared with Global News by her family.
Submitted
Finally, after just a couple of months in Canada, Navneet said her father walked out, leaving Davinder and her three children to live alone, in their basement apartment near Sparrow Park.
“He told my mom he cannot take the responsibility for the children, so he went. He leave home. So we don’t know where he was living. He don’t give his address. He blocked me and my brother,” Navneet said, explaining that her father continued to talk to her 16-year-old brother.
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Around 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon of May 19th, Navneet said Davinder returned from work at the Indian Sweet Master Restaurant where she worked as a cook and received a call from her estranged husband. She said her mom called her and asked for advice whether or not she should go meet him because he had called saying he wanted to sort things out between then.
“I asked her not to go,” Navneet said. But a short time later, she learned that her 18-year-old brother had gone looking for her mother when she failed to return home.
“He told me that mom was in her hand and he trying to save her, trying to keep her from the water,” because her mother was found in a creek near the park.
Navneet also received a video from her uncle, that he said he’d received from Navneet’s father.
“I think my dad took the video. He sent it to my uncle — I call him uncle; he’s my mom’s friend — and he (Singh) sent it to him,” Navneet explained.
The cellphone video which went later went viral on social media showed a woman bleeding on the banks of a creek, while a man’s voice can be heard yelling in Punjabi. Global News translated words from the video to the effect of, “You said you’d call the police on me, where are they now?”
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Navneet said she watched about half of it but couldn’t watch anymore.
“It’s horrible, like I even saw, I don’t have the courage to see the video again. He blocked me which is why maybe he didn’t send it to me, but he sent it to so many people,” she explained.
Navneet said she messaged a number of people to take it down, and while some did, others have not.
Peel Regional Police have confirmed to Global News that they are aware of a video being circulated related to a homicide investigation that occurred on Friday, May 19th.
“We have and continue to work with social media platforms to ensure that this video is removed and this matter is resolved as quickly as possible,” said Const. Sarah Patton in a statement to Global News.
Navneet has now started a GoFundMe to raise money for her mother’s funeral, but said the service will not be held until her 20-year-old sister can come to Canada from India, adding the Canadian consulate is helping her sister get an expedited visitor visa to come.
Her brothers are also here as visitors studying in high school and she is hopeful they can help them get permanent resident status so they don’t have to return home.
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