#which is all true but also - oscar is only 21

[etapereine]

read this piece on oscar onley and the list of very young riders i’m adopting just keeps growing doesn’t it

i mean look at him -

[cheriladycl01]

Pushed Down and Down - Grid x Driver! Reader

Plot: Suffering with mental health issues as a driver isn’t easy - but when people actively don’t help it can only get worse.

Based on that one tiktok edit sound.

A/N: as someone who struggles with her own mental health this was a true comfort for me to write and reread. Drivers who talk about their mental health and how they do struggle literally have my whole heart (Lando, Lewis etc)

Warnings: Talk of mental health, depression, anxiety, etc, all drivers are a little mean to Y/N

From a very young age you were told you wouldn’t be able to do karting, and you wouldn’t get very far as it was strictly a man’s sport.

Your mum tried to sway your opinion as you were clearly the athletic type and get you into gymnastics or dancing. But the smell of the petrol and the adrenaline you got from going round the tracks was like nothing else.

Your dad on the other hand fully supported you, he was a mechanic so he did struggle to afford decent gear for you but you made do with what you had.

This however never stopped you, and as a child going into a teenager and young adult it didn’t affect you too much. You took your wins as and when they came and you worked hard for them and you took your losses as opportunity to learn from.

Oh how you wish you could go back to those days.

You proceeded to be asked in 2016 if you wanted to compete in British F4, you had your License and it seemed like you were this up and coming British talent.

You came 1st in the British F4 championship in 2017 right after Lando Norris and Max Fewtrell won the years before you. The two behind you being Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant. You didn’t win a race for the whole season, just pure consistency.

You then came third in the UAE F4 Championship in the same year. Oscar and Logan were also in that series with you. Logan being right on your toes coming in second place. This season you were close to taking your first win, but Logan had crashed you out taking the win for himself and leaving you down in P8.

Both Oscar and Logan of course moved up to bigger and better things in 2018. Both of them moving up to doing Eurocup Formula Renault whereas you weren’t offered anything.

In 2018 you competed in Formula 4 United States and came second place again. Your team let your American team-mate pass you on the last race of the season through team orders even though you were on equal points.

You took the loss and moved on because that just the kind of race driver you WERE.

In 2019 you were promoted to F3 and got to drive with Max Fewtrell, Logan Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. You came second and you actually were insanely close to Robert, but it never felt like a win. You were with Prema, and you fought tooth and nail.

In 2020, Oscar and Logan rejoined you in the feeder series and were in the same team as you as you remained with Prema.

Prema, unfortunately for you and Logan prioritised Oscar and with an insanely dominant year for Prema Oscar won the championship through the help of team orders. There were many chances for you to take wins but you knew you couldn’t get promoted to F2 just get, even though you spend to years in Prema and come second both times.

This was when Red Bull noticed you and backed you paying for the rest of your career which was lucky really considering your dad wouldn’t have been able to afford another season for you in F3 with all the debt he was already in.

2021 came around and Red Bull helped you further your career getting lots of sponsor shops along the way and finally securing you an F2 seat for the 2022 season.

In 2021 you finally won a championship, but you didn’t feel like it was a win. Everyone had something to say about this achievement, that you’d only won thanks to the team, and that it wasn’t driver capability. As a young 21 year old these comments really affected you going into the F2 season.

Once you got into F2 in 2022, you were head to head with Felipe Drugovich. Red Bull also came forward asking for you to become a reserve driver for Red Bull alongside your F2 driver Liam Lawson. You were back in the standings with Logan too, Oscar having won back to back championships and now becoming the golden goose on his route to F1 with Alpine.

This year halfway though the season you had to experience the unfortunate passing of your dad, the only true supporter you ever had. It was utterly dismal for the few races that came afterwards.

The season was closing out and there were only 3 points between you and Felipe with Theo and Liam not far behind. With a dramatic qually in Abu Dabi that had most of you at the back of the pack when starting the race, you prevailed winning the race and taking the championship.

You got out of that car celebrating only to see your team not there for you. You awkwardly celebrated with the team of the drivers from 2nd and 3rd place but you couldn’t understand why they weren’t there for you.

But he was there for you…

Christian Horner in his Red Bull team gear, white envelope in his hand that he presented you in the quiet room.

He was the first person to truly believe in you and see see potential apart from your dad and it was refreshing getting the contract that was going to sign you on as a rookie along with Oscar and Logan in the 2023 season.

F1

Liked by y/user, f1mia and others

f1: BREAKING: RedBull announce Y/N Y/L/N to drive for them in 2023 meaning all seats for the season have now been filled.

#f1 #redbull #womeninthepaddock

View all comments

user1: oh Lord I’ve followed her since F3, so proud of her!

y/user: this is a dream come true! I can finally tell my mum I made it!

lewishamilton: so proud of everything you’ve done to get women this far in the sport @y/user

user2: god they just keep on ruining this sport

redbullracing: So excited to have Y/N join us on the team!

-> y/user: I’m so thankful to you guys to be given the opportunity!

user2: oh this year is gonna slap.

maxverstappen1: welcome to the RedBull Family!

First was the Bahrain Grand Prix, it was your 3rd time in and F1 car and you were obviously very nervous. It was your first race weekend and you didn’t know where to place yourself.

The whole weekend didn’t really feel like your debut it just felt glazed over with Sergio Perez leaving and no longer being in F1. A lot of the team had hushed whispers around the situation, and Max tried his best to make you feel welcome but his awkwardness made that hard.

“So like what do you do, you drink beer?” Max awkwardly asks as you’d both been sat in the hospitality together waiting for Christian or one of the engineers to come grab you.

“Oh erm, no I don’t drink at all actually” you smile with a little furrow in your brows.

“Oh … right” Max sighs and thankfully that conversation was cut short when Christian came round the corner to collect you both.

You both were racing and for a rookie you had incredible tyre management making the agreed one stop strategy seemingly start to work despite the temperature on track. You were very quick, maybe even more quick than Max.

However coming out the pits, your tires are already starting to complain and tyre marbles are going left right and center.

Y/N Radio: What happened guys, my tyres are degrading so quickly I thought we agreed on hards?

Static was all that was received back.

Y/N Radio: Guys did you put me on softs?

Race Engineer: Sorry Y/N mess up at the pits, pit in 5 laps.

And once word got out to the other teams that they’d fucked up your race strategy and that you were basically free game your race was pretty much over.

P4 wasn’t bad considering the mistakes made, but you knew you’d could have gotten a podium on your first race.

“Y/N amazing first race in F1 you really know how to make an entrance to the sport huh?” The interviewer says cheerfully happy that you’ve done as well as you did.

“Yeah” you say with a smile.

“Not happy with the result it seems?” She pushes and you sigh.

“I’m of course so happy, getting P4 was amazing and I know my team are happy and I’ve made eveyone at home really proud. Thank you dad and I hope you’re watching! But it’s always a little … disappointing? I don’t really know if that’s the right word for how I’m feeling right now, when the outlook of something is going so well and external forces out or your control tamper with that it’s not a nice feeling. I’m really proud of the team today and of course Max had a great win today so we collected a lot of points for the team and remain top in the constructors” you explain and she nods slightly shocked with how open and honest you had been.

Eventually you were taken away by your PR manager who was starting to worry about what you were saying, a little scolding that you weren’t sure what for afterwards.

People spoke too, Lando and Oscar shocked you most.

“Y/N was kinda dangerous on track today, can’t believe she was that ballsy as a rookie man” Oscar said having know you the best driving with you for as long as he had.

“She’s talented for sure but I can’t help but feel like she’s gonna wash out” Lando admits with a sigh.

Was he right, would you have one good season and then that was it?

Things went the same in Saudi this time you managed to place your car in pole position, leading the race while Max had an unfortunate start from P15.

However after team orders came in to let Max take over once he got to a close enough gap behind you made you obey the team, not wanting to get on their nerves and make them regret choosing you. After that a botched pit stop and Oscar driving like a lunatic and bumping into your side left you down from P2 to P6

“Y/N what an incredible drive despite all that happened and you’ve hauled some good points for the team! How are you feeling?” The interviewer asks pushing the mic closer to you.

“Hot, I’m so hot right now” you joke trying to lighten the mood, wiping the sweat away from your forehead.

“Yeah I can’t imagine with this heat and the fact that the car is incredibly warm here” she smiles back and you take a breath before answering the second question.

“Yeah I mean today didnt go as planned. I got pole, I was on track to win, I did everything right but I just don’t think it was meant to be today and you know I’m going to fight really hard in Australia and see where we can get us hopefully something better than what I’m doing now” you say with a polite tight lipped smile and nod before going to the call down room.

You sat against the cold plastic door of the room head against it as you held in your tears. You always told yourself to never cry over a loss as you can’t expect to win them all. But this was supposed to be your race and you can’t help but feel like if you had Max behind you defending the incidents with the pits stop wouldn’t have occurred as you wouldn’t have done that second pit stop that cost you time.

In debrief you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.

“Are you kidding?” You laugh looking towards Max and then back at Christian.

“You didn’t move out the way from Max quick enough and you should have caught up quicker! What were you even thinking out there colliding with Piastri like that!” Horner announces making your cheeks flush a little red from embarrassment.

You didn’t think the collision with Oscar was your fault, but maybe it was.

Then you’d heard Daniel talking to Carlos, and your thoughts continued to spiral.

“She’s a tricky one mate, can’t see her having that seat for long” Daniel admitted to Carlos at the restaurant they were at with some of the other drivers.

Y/N was sad when she didn’t get an invite seeing as many of them were there but she didn’t take it to heart having fun eating alone while people watching.

“Yeah, I wonder how many times they have to tell her team orders” Carlos had added.

The next race was Australia.

You had the faster car, better starts and you beat Max going into turn one. It was a ballsy move on your part but it was clean racing, no damage done.

Race Engineer: Y/N give back position now

Y/N Radio: But I have the faster car Zayn, I got fresher tyres and my deg is fine. I have the stats don’t tell me I’m wrong when I’m the one in the car

Race Engineer: Y/N Max is fighting for the championship, team orders slow down and give position back

And so you did, you gave Max his position back and trailed behind him creating a DRS train behind you, Hamilton and Alonso not being able to pass you to potentially overtake Max.

After this race you started to keep a mental health diary and your coach thought it would be a good idea to see a therapist to help with your quick thinking and decision making on track, of course not for your mental health and you start to struggle with coming to the terms that Max needs a second driver and that’s what Red Bull hired you for.

So you became his second driver.

Constantly being criticised by the team and Horner, constantly having Max tell you that you need to be a second driver for the season and that’s it. Nothing else. Having interviewers wondering why you keep having these near misses.

When your home Grand Prix the British Grand Prix came around you’d just about had enough of being called a second driver. You took matters into your own hands. You spend hours in the sim working out the best angle for the corners of Silverstone and seeing how much you could push the provisional car down the straights.

When it came to qualifying you smashed everyone out the park in all three sectors. The media were buzzing at your stone face for the duration of the weekend.

“Y/N what an amazing qualifying for you, you were really flying out there. And your starting on pole tomorrow with Max behind you, is there going to be team orders to let him through?” The interviewer asks smiling at you.

“I mean there have been the whole season no?” You laugh with less sparkle and glimmer in your eyes than the start of the season.

“Yes, so you’re saying Max will be let ahead tomorrow!” She asks and cock your head to one side.

“He’ll be asked yes” you nod before you leave.

Race day came and you did not listen to team orders.

Race Engineer: Y/N let Max through, then we’ll pit you first to defend the lead while Max pits.

Y/N: what about, no? Come on guys, I’ve done everything for the team you’ve wanted me for. Just let me race him.

Race Engineer: Max will race you too hard, you risk loosing both the cars Y/N let him through.

Y/N: im sorry, but i have to do this for me, to prove I’m as good a driver as i try to be.

Race Engineer: Y/N don’t do this.

And with that you celebrated your first race win. Max had ended up DNFing when he got a little caught behind and skidded onto the gravel trap trying to make up too much time to catch you.

It was a full Brit Podium, you Lando and Lewis. You were thankful you had both of them there to celebrate with you as your team didn’t show up again. Probably all consoling Max on his first DNF of the year. He wasn’t happy at all and you could tell.

“Are you okay?” Lewis had asked you as you guys had stepped away from the podium. The man wasn’t blind and could see the disappointment on your face when no one was there to congratulate you on your first win and celebrate with you.

“M’fine” you say shortly before leaving and going straight to your drivers room, tears following. You spend hours writing away in your self help book. But you couldn’t wallow it was time to take on the words of Taylor Swift in her Reputation Era.

You never thought something you loved so dearly could kill of your spirit so quickly and easily. But Max go tougher as the season went on. Only allowing you one more win in spa where you once again ignored team orders. Max was incredibly unhappy with you up there on the podium and you just knew the media would have something to say about the awful tension between you and Max. He didn’t celebrate with you in Spa only the third place podium which happened to be Charles.

The Red Bull team member immediately celebrated with Max and Charles, as much as you tried to join in however you weren’t able to get close enough. You were royally fucked off.

Singapore felt like a breath of fresh air for you when it happened, it was a new feeling that had your toes curling as you pressed on the brakes knowing that Carlos and Lando were leading with you hot on their tales and Max being nowhere in sight.

Celebrating with them felt different, but everyone could tell that the happy bubbly girl who they’d started the season with was no longer apparent.

The season closed, and honestly your team, Max and Christian all seemed like 2024 wasn’t worth sticking around for … as a great driver you owed it yourself to find your worth in F1 and that wasn’t with Red Bull

Taglist:

@littlebitchsposts @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[macknshift]

sadie rhode mackintosh . . . formula 1 driver dr.

THE BEST PART ABOUT SADIE MACKINTOSH IS THAT YOU'LL NEVER SEE HER COMING.

the then 21-year-old's second f1 win after fans believed she wouldn't even make it the rest of the season? in abysmal conditions in são paolo, brazil in 2024. the announcement that she would be the next red bull f1 driver? at the back-end of a season when we believed max verstappen would stay at red bull forever. that's her talent. a true star is born in formula 1 once in a millenium it feels like - the american did it in 2 seasons.

BORN TO INFAMOUS FERRARI ENGINEER jon and DAUGHTER OF FERRARI LEGEND CHARLES BELL marie, sadie mackintosh is TWO THINGS - born for this and ready for this.

driver for scuderia alphatauri, rookie class of '23, #29. 5 foot 10, darling of fashion house miu miu, part-time runway model. 20, only child, aquarius. monaco-based, austin-grown.

soundtrack of my life . . . 2 hands , tate mcrae. circus , britney spears. oh no! , marina. kiss it better , rihanna. vroom vroom , charli xcx. shut up and drive , rihanna.

STATS & THINGS . . .

scuderia alphatauri driver in 2023, oracle redbull driver in 2024-26, scuderia ferrari driver from 2027 forward.

winner of her first f2 season in 2022 with prema, sponsored by the redbull driver academy.

nicknamed 'speedy' for her aggressive attempts in overtaking & abnormal lack of hesitation. her other nickname, given first by will buxton 'drive to survive' is 'britney jr.' in her parallels with formula 1 champion and now monaco-based youtuber nico rosberg, (it's mainly the gorgeous locks lmfaoooo) as well as her apparent love for popstar britney spears.

races under #29, her grandfather, former f1 driver charles bell's old racing number. she is the only of his 5 grandchildren to race in any motorsport.

has been in 3 crashes as of the end of the 2024 season - twice in 2023 (saudi arabia w/ leo dempsey (#99, aston martin) & dutch gp w/ oscar piastri (#81, mclaren) and once in 2024 (silverstone w/ george russell (#63, mercedes))

as of the end of the 2024 season she has won 4 grand prix - united states (austin), brazilian, las vegas, and abu dhabi, all in 2024 within the last four races of the season.

is rumored to be in a relationship with aston martin driver leo dempsey. (allegedly they married after sadie's las vegas gp win.)

she has graced the cover of american vogue and modelled for several high fashion brands including miu miu (whom which she is an ambassador of), vivienne westwood, chanel, and most recently yves saint laurant. she is also the face of victoria's secret pink and has been gifted angel wings as a vs angel.

she and fellow f1 driver anna jones, as well as current head of f1 academy susie wolff, have received collector's barbie dolls as apart of the 'barbies in sports' collection by mattel (and none for danica nasty ass bitch)

⊹ ࣪ ˖₊˚⊹⋆ hiiiiiiiii (can y'all tell i love this dr) this is essentially my f1 dr intro!! i'm shifting to the beginning of 2023, right before my first f1 season begins! *side note if anyone wants the 'my first day' f1 template lmk! send me a dm or an ask and i'll gladly post it!* yes i stole hailey bieber's middle name. i thought being an f1 driver and having the middle name rhode would get me some aura points!!!! sue me!!!! the inspo to make this post obvi comes from tate mcrae's new song sports car (i looove tate & i actually scripted that i'm the stunt driver in her '2 hands' mv lol)

[mecachrome]

Hi k! Glad you’re back! I was wondering, now that Oscar has taken another step this year, what you think he will want to focus on/you think he should focus on in the future re improving as a driver? He’s the first driver that I’ve followed since their rookie season and it’s been exciting to see the momentum this year so far.

hi anon!!! sorry for the late reply >__< this is a wonderful thought exercise though hehehe oscar has been progressing at such a commendable rate and ia it's been wonderful to witness :') tbh in 2025 the sample size is still too small to make any sweeping arguments but we can take it race-by-race and attempt to lay out his weaknesses anecdotally...

back in the day i actually wrote up a 2023 retrospective to dissect how we approach rookie performances & specifically mclaren's expectations for him as a rookie, which i felt were important to contextualize relative to dr's woes and the under/overhype for him entering f1 thanks to the drama surrounding his contract:

i think this is still a decent way to frame the axes of development for a driver because it's easy to say that at the end of the day, pace and race craft are all that really matter (actionably true in many circumstances), but there are so many intangibles necessary to attain these targets. knowing this, i think oscar's always had really remarkable self-awareness and accountability, which in turn allows him to learn at a fast rate and rarely make the same mistake twice... which i think will always be the most impressive thing about him! just like, not only consistency at its face-value meaning, but also consistency in terms of continuous learning and maintaining a drive to keep improving linearly. the only problem is that f1 is such a variable sport that this alone isn't enough to get you up to speed with something as tricky as tyres in only a handful of races, due to the myriad of conditions that influence how you learn a track, so he really did need the entirety of 2023 to properly hone his weaknesses in tyre management and race pace...

anyway i feel like the big narratives for oscar were tyre management/race pace in 2023 and especially in 2024 quali pace... which is fun to see because i do believe that he improved majorly in management by 2024! so seeing those incremental gains over the seasons has been really rewarding. i have no delusions over his competitiveness vs. lando during this time (21-3 quali h2h in 2024), so i feel like for him a big thing really was just learning how to put together that proper quali lap—he's had the pace on different occasions but would always drop the ball when it really counted, so i wanted to see him improve on that. which... i think he has so far, but it's still too soon to make any sweeping statements! overall though i'm very very glad he finally got that first pole and successfully converted it too T__T

looking at it race-by-race:

australia: a really solid performance overall MINUS the grass moment, but you see this is a tricky one because i could be like "well i think he needs to be better in the wet and not make these mistakes" but it's also like... idk sometimes shit happens you know? like there's obviously a spectrum in evaluating Error Proneness, wherein there's crashing/causing a red flag/dnfing and then there's having 30+ consecutive finishes and one wet-weather incident that still ends in a p9 finish with an extremely committed last-lap overtake as the cherry on top. so obviously you wouldn't want these things to happen, but in the grand scheme of things is that something he needs to regularly focus on or improve? idk!

china: kind of impossible to have notes on this, just a solid weekend overall which is esp heartwarming after how much he struggled here in 2024!!! great quali with two laps strong enough for pole and then comfortably in the lead from start to finish... honestly couldn't ask for more.

japan: considering the nature of this track and its lack of raceability for the current gen of f1 cars, the finishing order was determined by quali which in turn was determined by oscar's middling s1. so i suppose if anything we can once again point to needing to maximize quali potential here—max is just suuuch a machine when given the opportunity and i think there's always that little bit more to eke out that oscar hasn't 100% optimized. this is obviously anecdotal though... but either way i'm sure he himself is like "well obviously i want to qualify on pole every race weekend" just as like, a base fundamental of competitiveness, although whether that's the driving mentality he actually practices with himself is another question. well tbh this is also a reflection of where the mclaren is as a car itself—because oscar's personal philosophy that he's mentioned before is he calibrates his expectations to the potential of the package and is appropriately celebratory of his achievements relative to their scope of possibility so NOW i do believe he comes in every weekend like this car should be on pole so i should put it on pole! Next! which means every time he loses out to lando or someone else he probably does on some base level think to himself well this is something i need to keep working on and get better at. obviously i don't think he's bad at quali and he's seemingly improved significantly in pace since 2023/24, but that's not the ceiling being set for mclaren right now. So!

bahrain: similar to china but with more general excitement 🧡

saudi arabia: honestly overall really impressed with oscar this weekend because this track was pretty favorable to rb and max's avg race pace was actually marginally better and like yes i think oscar could have/should have gotten pole but i appreciated that he showed off his strong race craft/commitment/ability to weather and overcome 1st lap fuckery... like genuinely quite touched by how he got through that first corner and didn't let himself get bullied by max's you-or-me attitude at the apex LOL.

thinking about all of this it's like... oscar's season has honestly been soooo good so far that anything he needs to work on is frankly anecdotal and marginal and likely dependent on what he and the team specifically pinpoint weekend by weekend. SO FAR THAT IS! i'm sure as the season progresses there'll be larger moments of weakness and insecurity that appear, and there'll probably be results much worse than we've seen atm... well i'd prefer if that weren't the case but i'm just saying that the sample size is simply too small for me personally to sit back comfortably. but otherwise i really really like everything i've seen over the past 5 races T__T sure, he could be putting together perfect pole laps but overall he's managed to get his glaring pace issues behind him while still remaining calm and collected and knowing when to take necessary risks and make Big Overtakes without jeopardizing his race. sob!!!

let's revisit this in a few months tho 😖

[coherentcats]

crossposted from cohost: transcript of james somerton thread (12/11/2023)

I did a twitter thread about james somerton (and nick herrgott) but twitter is blocking all the URLs for some reason. so here's a transcript of the whole thing (while correcting a couple typos) with the links, except for the tweets in the middle that are about how the links don't show up on twitter lol.

Edit: I have now created a transcript of the entire video, that also includes some fact-checking, including the fact-checking I originally did in the thread

Edit from 9/30/24: transcript of the video on github

I wasn't sure if I should say anything about james somerton since it's been over a week since the controversy broke and most everything in a general sense has been said. however, I haven't seen anyone bring this up so I figured I would.

it was live-streamed and archived on youtube and is probably the only publicly available video of james talking at length left. youtube link

first, I wanted to go over some of the strange things they said that I think are either made up or lies?

james claims that denis villeneuve wanted arrival (2016) to "take place in ontario" and "make it through the canadian system so that he could employ canadians" (13:29) but that the federal government turned him down, so it had to become an american-funded movie set in the usa?

I can't find anything supporting this and in fact, while the movie is set in montana, it's filmed in quebec and employed a lot of canadians. villeneuve is very proud of this.

"Denis Villeneuve says Arrival's Oscar nods recognize Quebec film scene" article link

he also claims james cameron wanted to get funding for titanic and avatar ("both avatar movies") from the canadian government (12:05).

also it just doesn't add up to me. why would he go to canada to fund avatar, which was extremely expensive at the time and required multiple investors, including his own money?

"A Movie’s Budget Pops From the Screen (Published 2009)" article link

somerton also talk about some scottish guy who immigrated to ontario during the 18th/19th century and had a "twinkie boyfriend" who was a werewolf who killed cops? and that the library of toronto was research this but the socttish government made them stop?

(sorry, timestamp for that is 19:21). I couldn't find anything and have no idea if this is just obscure or bullshit. feels like it would at least pull up some unsourced tumblr post if it was at all true.

there are other things he says that are true (such as canada decriminalizing homosexuality in the 1960s while it took the usa until the 2000s to do the same) and other ones I can't sort out clearly (such as margaret atwood having trouble getting published in canada initially).

anyway this video has less than 1000 views (it was under 500 when my partner first showed it to me). but I think it's worth flagging that he (and his co-writer) was not above just saying whatever outside of youtube.

I also think it's worth pointing out how an event hosted by a public institution like this can build social capital and an air of legitimacy for his self-appointed queer historian reputation.

it feels like at a minimum, they took a spot during a pride event that could've gone to someone else who has like. integrity and decency.

also there's a (very short) negative dig at forrest gump (!!) from nick lol? (1:15:30)

finally maybe my view is tainted, but doing a talk titled "canadian queer identity" and spending 70% of the time talking about the american cultural hegemony and how hard it is to get movies made in canada seems. odd!

neither of them bring up much historical or current canadian lgbtq+ media besides a mention of gingersnaps and "elliot page going around and doing his documentary" (edit here to add that that paraphrased quote is from the time stamp 32:15)

like this letterboxd list seems to do a better job of highlighting canadian queer identity

"LGBT Canada" letterboxd list link

I won't say the talk itself is bad (besides the stuff that is 100% not true) but it doesn't feel especially relevant to what it should be about. and it feels strange in retrospect when somerton himself never specifically focused on canadian queer media on his channel

even after gaining more subscribers and fames. (wow I wonder if he was just mining topics people made discourse about on twitter 🤔🤔🤔)

anyway kind of hope more people, especially canadians, see this video so they can better fact check it than me.

wait I forgot to add (edit: to this QRT of a thread tweet link) that the closest thing I could find about this was some merchant involved in a sodomy accusation sex scandal. wikipedia page for "alexander wood (merchant)"

I might come back and comb through more of the video for parts I missed (such as a lot of the canada-specific legal stuff) but if anyone else spots any weirdness, let me know.

wait, I also want to add this video by jessie gender. it's a good analysis of how somerton didn't really care about and exploited the lgbtq+ community and other marginalized people "James Somerton & Community Solidarity" youtube link

I think it contextualizes how slimy his presence at a local pride event is. he wanted to posture himself as an authority and trustworthy figure while doing all of that.

(I don't blame the library for this, I have no idea what their logistics were at the time and they obviously didn't know. I feel bad that they were associated with him.)

wait he just took that from a horror novel??? from a gay canadian writer??? QRT of a reply link

I checked out the ebook for "red x" from the library and this is definitely it. I don't have the knowledge or access to resources to say if this historical exposition is accurate (google turns up nothing), but weird that neither of them just don't mention this book at all!

I realized I could check this easily by just looking up her bibliography and verifying the publishing companies of her early books. which were all canadian (primarily mcclelland and stewart). this includes the handmaid's tale. QRT of a reply link

update: somerton did not do any intensive historical research and plagiarized the plot of red x and passed it off as obscure canadian folklore?

QRT of a previous tweet in the thread

it's both more devastating and predictable that he didn't just make some bullshit up, but just stole other people's writing. for the nth time.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

With friends like these: The Academy Museum Gala 2024 by u/Mickleborough

With friends like these: The Academy Museum Gala 2024 The Academy Museum Gala‘s the gala you never heard of. At least, I haven’t, but then I lead a sheltered life.The 4th gala was on 19 Oct 2024.The gala is an annual fundraiser to raise money for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures‘ exhihits, education, and public programming. Yes, it’s the Oscars people. So far, so Hollywood.(It’s also the gala where Meghan’s low neckline-high slit gown would look like a Victorian governess’s nightdress, but that’s another story: see photos in eg Daily Mail archived / unarchived).However, this isn’t a post about galas to which Meghan hasn’t been invited.Rather, it’s more: WHY hasn’t she been invited?The Host Committee isn’t headed by a dictator like Nuclear Wintour, who’ll let a Kardashian into the Met Gala but not a Meghantheduchessofsussex.Instead, the Host Committee seems to comprise about a hundred persons and companies: 2024 Gala Host CommitteeAnd of these 100 persons, a few stand out:Gabrielle Union.https://ift.tt/fQ8q6Kx shame, Gabrielle. I liked you in Bring It On.)WMEThey’re Meghan’s agents, for Chrissakes! Can the rumours - that they no longer represent her - be true?Ted Sarandos, Netflix.Not only is Sarandos well-regarded by Meghan’s (alleged) agent, Ari Emanuel, he also seems to have met the mighty Muggin: The Times, 14 September 2024 archivedhttps://preview.redd.it/osmip3lew5wd1.png?width=967&format=png&auto=webp&s=ec7cd6ba4f4a297e71b02720eab470a808db8e84(Although, in the absence of clarification, this could be snark.)Brian Robbins, ParamountIf he’d invite Meghan to fly to Jamaica on a private jet (allegedly) for a premiere, it wouldn’t be much to invite her to a local gala, no?https://ift.tt/B4Ygqvm are also other, more tenuous, connections:* Apple Original Films - Harry did ‘The Me You Can’t See’ for Apple.* Louis Vuitton - who designed Meghan‘s gown for the Ripple of Hope Awards in 2022. If they thought they could get good PR, they’d do it again in a flash.* JPMorganChase - at whose event in Miami Harry (and maybe Meghan) spoke in 2020 (apparently it was all about Harry’s mother, which wasn’t exactly what JPMC had paid for).* The Walt Disney Company - for whom Meghan cooed, I mean narrated, a documentary in 2020 (after Harry got her the gig in a very blatant, public manner) about elephants.* Orlando Bloom - supposedly good friends. Pics, or it never happened.So notionally Meghan has at least 4 ins to get into the Academy Museum Gala, but seemingly no cigar. We’ve all heard that Hollywood‘s kept Sussexes at a distance. Does that include their friends?EDIT: To add the date of the last gala, 19 Oct 2024. post link: https://ift.tt/G8NT1IS author: Mickleborough submitted: October 21, 2024 at 10:14PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[dystopyx-blog]

their unwilling mistress (2/4)

~Guys~

AUGUST

~ Delusional protective possessive obsessive. He qualifies for all of them except manipulative. Maybe manipulative.

~ Soft boi

~ Out of the guys, Ripley is closest to this one

~ He has been son-zoned

~ "Ripley, do you love me?" "Yes. Like a son."

~ That doesn't fuckin stop him

~ Dresses like a dapper lad, bow tie n all.

~ Good boi, a soft boi

~ "Auggie"

~ Only lets Ripley call him that, gets A N G Y when anyone else does

~ Incredibly silky soft pink hair and large coal black-brown eyes, like a cow's. Really more pupil than anything.

OSCAR

~ Protective.

~ Bitch boi abbsafbnj (Inspo: FOB)

~ Confident

~ Lil prick

~ Flirty bastard

~ You'd be lucky if he actually puts a shirt on

~ Fuckboi alert?

~ Calls August “Auggie”

~ Flirts with the other demons

~ Will say or do anything to get a reaction. Yeah. He's that bitch.

~ Messy wild unkempt pale hair and bright crimson eyes.

~ Could not give less of a shit when it comes to clothing because he thinks its stupid

~ This bastard would go naked if he could

~ (Secretly he and Rip had dated in the past)

ALISTAIR

~ Manipulative possessive.

~ Proud Prince (inspo: PATD/neg)

~ Also confident but less of a prick.

~ "I woke up like this" yeah, clearly

~ Tie undone, dress shirt's a mess and half undone, vest is falling off, shoes untied

~ Why tf is he so smug he looks like a gotdam mess

~ Still, unlike Oscar, he's a charmer

~ Even when he looks like shit.

~ Tho tbf he can't look like shit he's a gotdam demon so no matter what he looks perfect

~ "Here for a good time, not a long time." "You literally can't die wtf"

~ Drinks, smokes, and does a heccin drug even tho it won't do shit to him

~ Party demon

~ But simultaneously also shifty businessman

~ Like EXTREMELY business savvy, and is actually a pretty big deal, with his own corporation in the underworld

~ Don't make a deal with this devil -

~ Elaine and Alistair are a dangerous mix

DAMIEN

~ Protective

~ Gentleman (inspo: Tally Hall & Will Wood)

~ Always dressed to the fucking nines, tophat and all

~ A true gentleman

~ Seemingly uninterested in wooing his mistress?

~ Still refers to her as mistress tho

~ The type to kiss your hand

~ ....

~ Okay you can stop kissing my hand now, creep

~ Would make you dinner if he was allowed in the kitchen

~ Always offering to help.

~ Maybe he means it. Who knows. Ripley ain't gonna risk it

DANTE

~ Delusional

~ Charming troublemaker (inspo: 21 Pilots)

~ Always manages to break out of basement and pops up in public

~ It is as frustrating as it is baffling

~ Has the most chemistry with Ripley.

~ At least he seems to think so.

~ Casual looking clothes. T-shirt, baggy hooded sweater that loosely clings onto his body, torn jeans, combat boots, and big old headphones attached to seemingly nothing.

~ Hair and eyes are constantly shifting colors.

~ Acts pretty casual too, which is pretty fucking frustrating ngl

~ Similar to Saoirse, bit of a masochist; loves to be dominated

[back-and-totheleft]

An Epic That Gets Better as It Gets Longer

I had serious doubts before seeing a 3 hour 39 minute version of Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Emperor, thinking perhaps an already indolent film was to become absolutely, luxuriantly, corrupted.

How wrong I was. The director’s cut is surely a richer, rounder film, made to the true rhythm of another time and culture. Certainly many felt that the 2 hour 20 minute version of The Last Emperor was a good film when it was released in 1987; it went on, after all, to win Best Picture, Best Director and six other Oscars. But this bold new version, being released on Dec. 4, is a masterpiece — a fully shaped historical epic that allows us to understand the complex character of Henry Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, from his proud childhood in the early part of our century (when his excrement is sniffed daily by royal connoisseurs), through his loss of power, imprisonment and re-education, and finally to his destiny as a humble gardener during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960’s.

The literal-minded might argue that the narrative is insufficiently changed now to warrant this extra 80 minutes, and from a story point of view, they would be right. The new scenes expand on Pu Yi’s childhood years spent cloistered in Beijing’s Forbidden City, before Peter O’Toole shows up as a British tutor to change forever the way the Emperor thinks. There is a dance between the Empress (Joan Chen) and Official Consort (Vivian Wu), more on the Emperor’s meetings with the Japanese militarists, and an especially striking scene of peasant women being auditioned for the role of wet-nurse to the young Emperor.

But such cataloguing would be missing the true point of this release, which is to restore in its missing footage the real pace of Chinese Imperial life and by so doing reveal to us a treasure of subtlety and spectacle not seen in a long time in Western cinema. Mr. Bertolucci, it is clear, loves China. He sees it not only with an eye as empathetic as Marco Polo, who first discovered the secrets of the old Empire, but also with the wide eyes of a child gazing into a musty box to find a grasshopper, the Emperor’s pet, which has been living a lifetime in the dark. You find yourself very much floating in this film, there in China. By contrast, the shorter version, although well-edited and thematically sound, lacks the sheer sensuousness of experience in which the longer version enfolds us like a favorite old jacket. Perhaps not since Coppola gave us the restored version of Abel Gance’s 1927 Napoleon have moviegoers had a chance to share in such a visual feast.

Mr. Bertolucci cut his original film without any extraordinary pressure to do so. When asked why in a telephone conversation from Rome, he responded in a world-weary tone: ”Ahhh, I had been through the whole saga of 1900. It was five hours and I had to cut one hour. I didn’t want to go through this nightmare again. The cuts in The Last Emperor did not seem consequential to the story and I was quite happy with the shorter cut.” Has he watched the longer cut again? ”It is too hard to watch. My movies don’t belong to me any more.” Ten years after The Last Emperor and 21 years after 1900, having watched neither of them since, Mr. Bertolucci concludes, ”I have Buddhist distance now.”

Not the usual director’s defense of his cut. But then, nothing about Mr. Bertolucci is usual. To my knowledge, he is the first and last person, without being tarred and feathered, to release a 4 hour and 10 minute film (1900) in the United States. He was also the only director I know of to win a huge Western audience with a Western-financed film about Asia starring Asian actors.

What is so great about The Last Emperor? It is a true epic expressing the fate of the collective — in this case the Chinese empire — intertwined with the destiny of one individual. ”A journey from darkness to light,” as Mr. Bertolucci describes it. ”The dragon becomes man. Emperor becomes citizen.” He quotes Confucius, ”Men are born good, then society makes them bad.”

In that purity, John Lone’s Emperor is the classic confused romantic hero of the Bertolucci canon, an heir to Jean-Louis Trintignant in The Conformist, Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris and the under-appreciated Robert De Niro in 1900 — the boy-man who cannot even tie his own shoelaces. An innocent, he sells Manchuria out to the imperialistic Japanese, convincing himself this is an act of great patriotism. As a result, he is never forgiven by the Chinese and, when captured by the Russians at the end of World War II, he is sent to a re-education camp, where some of the film’s most humanistic scenes take place. There, he is taught to be a person by an interrogator played by the Chinese actor Ruocheng Ying (whom Mr. Bertolucci calls the ”Paul Scofield of Asia”). ”Confess that you are no better than anyone else,” the interrogator says. As with any Bertolucci film, irony comes full circle when the interrogator himself is interrogated and beaten with sticks by the young know-nothings of the Cultural Revolution. In the end, Mr. Bertolucci seems to be saying, all the world comes apart and all meaning is mocked by time.

Supported by his holy trinity of creative genius, Vittorio Storaro (cinematography), Nando Scarfiotti (production design) and James Acheson (costume design), and abetted by a grand international score from Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Brian Eno and others, Mr. Bertolucci creates a fantastical lost world for the young Emperor. The boy, who has no friends except his mouse and his grasshopper, yearns like the young Buddha to peer over the walls of his private kingdom into the ”city of sound” outside. It is a world he can join only by surrendering the power of his sacred person to become the playboy ruler of Manchuria. Moving from the warm childhood yellows to the coolest blues and stark whites of Manchuria to the final umber grace of old age during the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Bertolucci astounds us with tumbling images of sensuality: Mr. Lone singing Am I Blue as a sleek roue; playing tennis in his garden before being removed by Chang-Kai Chek in 1919; making love to his young Empress, as servants’ hands, faces unseen, undress them. In the cavernous halls of his Manchurian home, surrounded by Japanese and Chinese cronies, the young Emperor wonders aloud, ”Who are you?” A leering face replies, ”Your Minister of Defense, your Majesty.” This Emperor is impotent, and the deceitful murder of his newborn stepchild (sired by his chauffeur) at the Empress’s birthing bed is one of the most horrifying scenes in a movie often infused with tenderness. In all this imagery one feels the sophisticated sensibility of Andre Malraux’s novel Man’s Fate, which Mr. Bertolucci tried to bring to the screen for several years before making The Last Emperor.

Ms. Chen, as a modern, mannish Empress who must pay the price of her husband’s naivete, has never been better. She almost merges in my mind with Mr. Bertolucci’s quintessential heroine, the pristine and elegant Dominique Sanda, who appears in The Conformist and 1900. One of my favorite shots in Emperor comes late in the film, when the composer Mr. Sakamoto, playing a one-armed Japanese militarist and looking as cold as Godard himself, is filming with a 35-millimeter motion picture camera as Ms. Chen rises, ignoring him at her own peril, to walk the perimeter of a sumptuously lighted swingers’ party. Just watch her expression as she moves.

Finally, when Pu Yi comes to understand the price he has been made to pay for his birthright, Mr. Bertolucci’s detached perspective is beautifully served: at the end of the day, Pu Yi no longer seems to care about anything but his garden. A simple man at heart, he returns to innocence in a stunning shot of a crowd of bicyclists waiting for a traffic light to change in 1965 Beijing; as the bicycles shift forward en masse, the camera languidly seeks out the lonely gardener in the crush of humanity.

So what about the issue of length? Some bottles of wine age differently than others. Where would our culture be without Gone With the Wind (222 minutes, not counting the intermission), Spartacus (184 minutes), Ben Hur (212 minutes), Lawrence of Arabia (221 minutes), Titanic (194 minutes), The English Patient (162 minutes), Schindler’s List (195 minutes) and Dr. Zhivago (197 minutes), all of which have been financial and critical successes.

Yet it seems in the world of the multiplex and the media whining over any film over two hours, the ”event movie” of our youth is gone — and with it the marketing flair of the exhibitor. Swamped by huge marketing costs and vast hype, studios and theater owners have perhaps lost faith that movies can and should be something glorious, important and sacred.

I would estimate that four out of every five moviegoers are impatient with long films and will always say if asked, ”It was too slow.” But sometimes, I wonder, was the viewer quick enough to really understand what was being said on the screen? Sometimes being truly conscious while watching a movie takes us outside of literal time and into dreamtime. Al Pacino once told me in reference to the controversial length of The Godfather Part II (200 minutes) that the film had always seemed longer to him after it had been cut, and that when it had been longer it had seemed far shorter — the idea being that you must allow something to breathe in its right proportion in order for it to have the authenticity that allows time to flow through it and not gum it up; when you spike that sense of flow, the consequences may not be understood and may irritate and bore the viewer without his knowing why.

When asked about the length of his movies, Mr. Bertolucci says he has recently finished Besieged, a one-hour film for Italian television, which somehow ended up at feature-length and will be released by Fine Line Features next year (reminding me of Fellini’s Intervista and Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander, which also elevated television commitments into features). ”Cinema is going through a dramatic, fantastic mutation now,” he says. ”It is at the end of the first century of its life, it is tres fatigue. It has to be fed with new things: new approaches to character, to psychology, to structure. What makes me feel like going on? Since 1962 — 36 years now — I’d have been bored. The most important thing is the invention of cinema, of still trying to discover its secret.”

The man who has achieved ”Buddhist distance” is the first to know that editing is a fundamental enigma. ”Editing is going into an underground mine where you find incredible precious metals you didn’t know were there while shooting. You see things for the first time. It is magic.” Anyone who tells you that they go into that six-month to one-year maze without some kind of Theseus-like thread is either a fool or insane.

”Ars longa, vita brevis,” ”Art is long, life is short.” The essence, we are told philosophically, is the thing — and the hardest thing in editing is to find that ”thing,” to see ”the thing within the thing.” It takes time and refinement for the eye to understand what it is really seeing. Film is very much a looking-glass world because what works on paper doesn’t necessarily work on film, and vice versa. Film is endlessly supple; it can be cut dozens of different ways to reveal. Like music or painting, film is ultimately outside left-brain logic, closer to Eisenstein’s hyperwarp of the senses, long ago described by Hindus as a dreamscape. Cutting finally is not an issue of length, but of pace; not of time, but of truth. How do you cut a dream? And, who, finally, can judge a dream?

-Oliver Stone, The New York Times, Nov 29, 1998

[don-lichterman]

Now Playing is ‘Alone Together’ by the Oscar Peterson Trio from the J.A.T.P In Tokyo Album, Live At The Nichigeki Theatre 1953. The Improv Cafe Radio Station only plays live Jazz Music and New Weekly Shows Starting Soon!

by The Improv Cafe'

 Live JazzThe Improv Cafe

The Improv Cafe'The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five

We are thrilled to inform you that exciting new additions are being made to The Improv Cafe! In the near future, we will be presenting a captivating array of shows that will keep you glued to your seats. Amongst these highly anticipated treats are the Big Band Live Radio Show and the Vocal Jazz Radio Show. Our goal is to provide you with a unique and engaging listening experience that you won’t find anywhere else. Every week, we will be featuring a new Live Album to keep our audience engaged and entertained. Not only that, but we will also be hosting Live Concerts featuring legendary Jazz and Big Band Artists that will leave you mesmerized and longing for more. So come and enjoy the perfect blend of musical genius and engaging storytelling, only at The Improv Cafe!

Welcome to the All Live Jazz Radio Station, where we take pride in providing our listeners with only the best live jazz music.

Each and every song played on our station is guaranteed to be a live version, ensuring that you will always experience the true essence and energy of the jazz music genre. We understand the importance of authenticity and strive to bring you the most genuine performances by your favorite jazz musicians.

The commitment to providing the highest quality live jazz music makes us the ultimate destination for true jazz lovers. Tune in to our station and let us take you on a journey filled with soulful melodies and captivating rhythms that will leave you wanting more. Thank you for choosing The Improv Cafe’, the worlds first and only ‘All Live Jazz Radio Station’ as your go-to source for all things live jazz!

TOP Chart on The Improv Cafe'

The Improv Cafe'

1  Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington Introduces Ella Fitzgerald

2  Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington Introduces Ella Fitzgerald

3  Duke Ellington - The Old Circus Train Turn-Around Blues

4  Ella Fitzgerald - St. Louis Blues

5  Ella Fitzgerald - So Danco Samba (Jazz Samba)

6  Ella Fitzgerald - Happy Blues

7  Ella Fitzgerald - Satin Doll

8  Ella Fitzgerald - It's All Right With Me

9  Ella Fitzgerald - Wave

10  Ella Fitzgerald - Mack the Knife

NPR NEWS NOW

FOUR (4) Times Daily

The Improv Cafe Radio Station is not just any ordinary radio station but the premier hub for jazz enthusiasts all over the world.

For those who have a deep appreciation for live jazz performances, big band beats and vocal jazz music, this is the perfect station for you. We take pride in our carefully curated playlist that features a collection of the most legendary jazz artists of all time.

Our team of DJ’s is also excited to announce the launch of our new shows that will provide jazz fans up-to-date information on the latest trends, interviews with top performers and industry professionals. Furthermore, we are thrilled to announce our debut of the Big Band Live Show, which will showcase the best modern day jazz music. Not only that, we will also have shows hailing the top jazz clubs and record labels all over the world. Respected labels and jazz clubs such as Blue Note, Village Vanguard, Impulse, and Verve, among others will be featured.

So, stay tuned to the Improv Cafe Radio Station for all your jazz needs and be a part of our community of jazz enthusiasts who share the same passion as you do.

The Improv Cafe'

Wed, 20

Thu, 21

Fri, 22

Sat, 23

Sun, 24

Mon, 25

Tue, 26

17:42 The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five

17:36 J.A.T.P In Tokyo - Alone Together

17:32 Ella Fitzgerald - The Very Thought Of You

17:28 Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy (Live)

17:17 Art Pepper - Landscape (Live)

17:11 Jaco Pastorius - Dear Prudence

17:06 Ella Fitzgerald - Any Old Blues

17:02 Ella Fitzgerald - Teach Me Tonight

16:58 Ella Fitzgerald - Something To Live For

16:52 Greyboy Allstars - Jan Jan

16:48 Billie Holiday - My Man (Live At The Newport Jazz Festival/1957)

16:44 Ella Fitzgerald - Open Your Window

16:42 Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

16:29 Art Pepper - Body And Soul (Live)

16:14 Keith Jarrett - Köln, January 24, 1975, Part Ii a

16:01 Hans Zimmer - Inception Medley

15:57 Ella Fitzgerald - Just One Of Those Things

15:53 Keith Jarrett Trio - Wooden Flute Piece

15:49 Louis Armstrong and The All Stars - 'C' Jam Blues

15:43 Hans Zimmer - Journey To The Line

15:39 Ella Fitgerald - Spring Can Really Hang You Up

15:02 John Coltrane - Tonight's Live From The vault is Live At The Village Vanguard

14:55 Chris Botti - The Very Thought of You

14:45 Dave Brubeck - All The Things You Are (Live)

14:42 Ella Fitzgerald - Frim Fram Sauce

14:36 Louis Armstrong and The All Stars - Stars Fell On Alabama

14:30 Ella Fitzgerald - Fine And Mellow

14:27 Yanni/Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra/Shardad Rohani - One Man's Dream

14:19 Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington - The Old Circus Train Turn-Around Blues - Complete Rehearsal

14:11 Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington - Diminuendo In Blue And Blow By Blow

14:07 Ella Fitzgerald - Crazy Rhythm

14:03 Ella Fitgerald - What's Going On?

14:01 Ella Fitzgerald - Across The Alley From The Alamo

13:58 Ella Fitzgerald - Why Don't You Do Right

13:48 The Dave Brubeck Quartet - For All We Know

13:45 Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald - Jam With Sam

13:37 George Benson - Love Ballad (Live)

[kakzizkem]

15-year-old West Ham Youth GK who eventually passed away

Oscar Pearce has passed away after battling cancer. Noble said, "On behalf of everyone at West Ham United, we cannot help but be deeply saddened to 다파벳우회주소 confirm the tragic death of our U15 Academy goalkeeper, Oscar Pearce, after a brave battle with cancer. Oscar was not only a great goalkeeper, but also a true hammer and a fantastic young man, and will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him." He continued, "Renny and his teammates all loved Oscar, and I have wonderful memories of him playing in my garden. He was a kind, happy, civil young man, and he had a bright future ahead of him, which is such a shock to 해외배팅사이트순위 me that I cannot imagine letting go of my family and friends at this age." He also said, "In a show of respect, all academy games scheduled for this weekend have been postponed, including this evening's PL2 under-21 match against Stoke City. In due course, the club will also share information on their plans to pay tribute to Oscar, and make sure that his name will never be forgotten at West Ham United." Noble concluded by saying, "I respectfully ask Oscar's parents, Natalie, Russell, and his 메이저사이트 brother Harry, to express their sincere condolences to all members of the club, and to respect the privacy of the family at this very difficult time."

[crookedbirdwizard]

The Pros and Cons of kubet dv

The Joe Loss Orchestra 75 And Still In The Mood The Legend Lives On!

In 1930 a talented musician aged 21 decided to form a dance band, and hey presto, the countrys, if not the worlds, longest serving entertainment unit was born and has been doing jus that non-stop ever since! The Joe Loss Orchestra now directed by Todd Miller is still appearing countrywide to this day.

I say entertaining because Joe always said, although we are in the music business we are also entertainers. When Joe became ill in 1990 he asked Todd to take over the Orchestra and not one booking was cancelled. Todd himself joined the Orchestra in 1972 and is now regarded by many as one of the best front men in the business.

It was in 1969 that Joe decided, for financial reasons, that he would reduce the personnel to ten musicians and three vocalists. He felt that when the moment was right he would re-assemble the big band. Indeed to this day there are many musicians playing in present day big bands who appear in the Joe Loss Big Band whenever the band is booked.

On the subject of big bands and their leaders there is an amusing story relating to Joe and Billy Cotton. It appears that one morning just after the end of the war, Joe arrived home after a gig just before breakfast. Having had a quick cup of tea and still in pyjamas and dressing gown, who should be knocking at the front door other than Billy Cotton with a brand new motor car. He insisted on taking Joe for a spin and although the weather conditions were pretty grim, bitterly cold and with thick snow off they went into the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately, before too long the car ran out of petrol (it still being rationed that time didnt help) and Billy left Joe in the car whilst he set off in the quest for a garage. There sat Joe as cold as ice and with teeth chattering when along came the local trang kubet chính thức bobby. Pushing his bicycle, he enquired as to why Joe was sitting in the car in freezing weather wearing his pyjamas and dressing gown. Joe informed the police constable that he was Joe Loss and that Billy Cotton had gone off to try and get some petrol. By the look in his eye the constable was finding it hard to believe such a story, until Billy re-appeared with a can of petrol and convinced the sceptic that the story kubet osasuna was indeed true! The constable cycled away with a smile on his face with two prized autographs in his notebook!

But I digress. It was with an eight-piece band, playing in the style of Oscar Rabins Romany Band at the Astoria Ballroom, that Joe took the first steps to becoming well-known. His growing popularity brought him a job làm giàu từ kubet at the Kit Kat Club where he made many of the BBC outside broadcasts. During his time there he raised the personnel to 11 plus a young lady vocalist a croonette as they were known. She made her first broadcast singing Red Sails In The Sunset the top hit of the day in 1935. She was only 18 and in years to come became the Forces Favourite none other than Vera Lynn.

After a long residency in London Joe began to tour the music halls, as did many bands of the day. During the war he took the band to entertain the troops around the UK and eventually to France and Holland. In 1946 Joe began a regular residency in the Isle of Man from May until the end of September, which lasted until 1959. With the coming together of the ITV companies Joe and the orchestra became the house band for ABC and opened up all of the television regions throughout the UK during the period from 1956 to 1960. They were to be seen regularly on television often up to four times a week. This was followed by a long phần mềm hack kubet residency at the Hammersmith Palais until August 1969 broken only by an 18-week season at the Empire Leicester Square and 12months at the Lyceum in 1967. They then moved on to the Empire until November 1970 at which point Joe decided to retire. He told Sam Watmough, the current manager of the band, who joined in 1956 that during the meeting he was to inform the band of his decision.

Joe opened his speech saying Gentlemen, we shall be leaving the Empire and Mecca in 6 weeks time on November 30th. This brought Stan Pickstock, lead trumpet, to his feet, Stan had been with the band since 1961, who said, bloody great, now we can get back on the road, at which point the band applauded.

Joe however was taken aback and said, I didnt think you would want to go on the road again, but if you do thats fine. So the Joe Loss Orchestra was back on the road once again and had remained so ever since.

When Joe first became too ill to travel To0dd fronted the Orchestra until Joe eventually retired on January 31st 1990, two weeks before his 81st birthday. Joe passed away on 8th June, many thought that the Orchestra would not carry on without him, how wrong they were! They remain one of the most popular and busiest bands in the country. To quote Sam Watmough, who had been Joes manager phần mềm hack ku casino for 30 years, I knew what Joe wanted and we are still proud to be known as Todd Miller and the Joe Loss Orchestra. As Todd himself says, We must be doing something right!

[tenaciouspostfun]

Wednesday, February 21, 2024PRESENTED BYA MESSAGE FROM GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE:

The Gulfshore Playhouse Inaugural Season at the new Baker Theatre and Education Center! Two dazzling theatres. Seven fabulous productions. Anything Goes, Every Brilliant Thing, Dial “M” For Murder, The Lehman Trilogy, Noises Off, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and Sweet Charity. Learn more.Good morning, Robert!

Monday night the Briefing was at opening night of The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers at New World Stages. Part interactive game show, part memoir, the show stars Marc Summers and is written by Alex Brightman with music by Drew Gasparini. At curtain call, Marc gave a heartfelt speech thanking everyone who made the show possible and pointed out people in the audience who changed his life and career path (many of them mentioned in the show). Marc's genuine kindness was exemplified by the fact that all of those people from his past showed up to support him. Also in attendance were Mike O'Malley, Brad Oscar, Alex Timbers, Lena Hall, Robin Russo (Marc's Double Dare co-host) and Melissa d'Arabian (Food Network Star winner). Following the performance was a party at Bryant Park Grill. GOT A TIP?

SETTING THE STAGE TODAY

 

First there was harmony.

"The full story of the lost singing group that inspired Broadway’s ‘Harmony’" by Broadway News' Ruthie Fierberg - "When Bruce Sussman first started writing the musical that would become “Harmony,” in the 1990s, there was only one historical resource about the Comedian Harmonists: the 1976 Eberhardt Fechner documentary about the German singing group, which had sparked Sussman’s interest in the group in the first place. Given that the doc was the only available reference, it is remarkable how much Sussman got right in the final musical. But, as with any stage adaptation, Sussman had to condense his material, and he also dramatized moments.

The Comedian Harmonists did not start off with the exact six members that eventually rose to fame — the six that were depicted as the original and final sextet in “Harmony.” In reality, it took more than a year (and the incorporation and ousting of multiple early members) to get to the perfect combination of six musicians: buffo Harry Frommerman, bass Robert Biberti, first tenor Ari Leschnikoff, second tenor Erich Collin, baritone Josef Roman Cycowski and pianist Erwin Bootz."

Listen to the first episode of “Who Were the Comedian Harmonists? The True Story Behind Broadway’s ‘Harmony’”: https://bway.ly/tfum5u

NEWS AND NOTES

SPRING PREVIEW:

"What to Know About This Crazily Crowded Broadway Spring Season" by The New York Times' Michael Paulson - "Is this year more April-centric than most? What’s happening this year is a version of what happens every year — a lot of shows open in April, and a lot of industry insiders express concern." https://bway.ly/enib3t

"Live Performance in New York: Here’s What to See This Spring" by The New York Times - "“The Notebook” and “Cabaret” land on Broadway. Olivia Rodrigo’s tour stops in Manhattan. Plus: Herbie Hancock, Heartbeat Opera and Trisha Brown Dance Company." https://bway.ly/wovqwr

AT THE OFFICE:

-- "Eric Keen-Louie Named Artistic Producing Director at La Jolla Playhouse" by American Theatre - https://bway.ly/xpt8d3

-- "Nidia Medina Named Producing Director of INTAR" by American Theatre - https://bway.ly/3jefqu

-- "Artistic Director Brandon Carter to Leave American Shakespeare Center" by American Theatre - https://bway.ly/kmu6rz

-- "Khalia Davis Named Producing Artistic Director of Coterie Theater" by American Theatre - https://bway.ly/k4amlg

-- "Fountain Theatre Artistic Director Stephen Sachs to Retire" by American Theatre - https://bway.ly/1ww2ls

TIKTOK TECH WATCH: 

W4EMusical (Water for Elephants): “Tech at The Imperial Theatre” - https://bway.ly/17jz9h

-- Full series here: https://bway.ly/twgwa5

FIRST IN THE BRIEFING: 

Museum of Broadway announced upcoming February events.

-- On Saturday, February 24 at 12:00pm will be A History of Minstrelsy with Ben West. Join musical theatre artist and historian Ben West, author of the upcoming book The American Musical, for a journey into the history of minstrelsy, including its legacy of blackface on Broadway, its trailblazing Black artists, and its impact on the development of the American musical.

-- On Wednesday, February 28 at 12:00pm will be Mary & Ethel…And Mikey Who? Talkback and Book Signing with author Stephen Cole joined by Klea Blackhurst and special guest Anita Gillette.

-- On Thursday, February 29 at 10:30am will be Spotlight on Black Broadway Producers. In the Museum’s continued celebration of Black History Month, join Rashad Chambers, Sade Lythcott & Brian Anthony Moreland in-conversation with Merrily We Roll Along’s Krystal Joy Brown.

Nicole Ari Parker replaces the previously announced Audra McDonald, who withdrew due to a scheduling conflict, in the role of Cleopatra, opposite John Douglas Thompson as Antony in Red Bull Theater's upcoming Antony & Cleopatra, presented in association with The Acting Company, on March 25 at 7:30pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

BOX OFFICE:

"Broadway box office sees biggest Presidents Day weekend boost since 2017; nearly all shows increase in gross and attendance" by Broadway News’ Michael Abourizk - "In a week that encompassed both Presidents Day weekend and the promotional event Kids’ Night on Broadway, Broadway’s box office saw significant growth. Following the lowest-grossing week of the season to date, the 23 current Broadway productions took in $26,946,864, an increase of 27.2%. Attendance increased 7.3% from week ending Feb. 11, tallying 201,727 Main Stem admissions during week 39 of the 2023-2024 season. Theatergoers filled seats to 94.1%, up 8.1% from the week prior, and the highest capacity figure seen so far in calendar year 2024. This year’s 27.2% jump in gross marks the largest increase over a week which includes Presidents Day weekend since 2017, when the gross increased 29.1%. Additionally, this year’s increase is well above the ten-year average increase of 19.4%." https://bway.ly/o2ro38

View the Broadway Grosses Week Ending 2/18/2024: broadwaybusiness.com/grosses

CONGRATULOTIONS: "Stephen Schwartz will be inducted into Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame" by Broadway News' Michael Abourizk - "Composer Stephen Schwartz will be named to the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF). Schwartz, who grew up in Long Island’s Williston Park, will be inducted during a ceremony on March 23 at the LIMEHOF headquarters in Stony Brook, New York." https://bway.ly/ftjgny

UNIONS: "A Growing Movement Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theater Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Join IATSE" by IATSE - "In a historic move, 178 crewmembers of the Atlantic Theatre Company have voted to join The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), becoming the first group to unionize with IATSE in a major non-profit theater off-Broadway. The announcement comes only two weeks after workers at the off-Broadway musical “Titanique” voted unanimously in favor of IATSE representation." https://bway.ly/ok9p8y

TICKETING: "Water For Elephants On Broadway 'Ringside' Seating Now Available" by BroadwayWorld's A.A. Cristi - https://bway.ly/4qousa

OFF-BROADWAY:

"Kate Taney-Billingsley's American Rot Will Make World Premiere at La MaMa; Count Stovall to Lead Cast" by Playbill's Meg Masseron - "Kate Taney-Billingsley's American Rot will make its world premiere at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club next month. Estelle Parsons will direct the new play, which will run at the downtown theatre beginning March 14. An official opening night is slated for March 18." https://bway.ly/p3cudj

The New Group's The Seven Year Disappear has been extended through March 31 at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

REGIONAL: 

"Christian Borle, Krysta Rodriguez and Ephraim Sykes to Star in Bye Bye Birdie at the Kennedy Center" by Broadway.com's Darryn King - "Two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle, Krysta Rodriguez and Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes will star as Albert, Rosie and Conrad Birdie, respectively, in the classic Charles Strouse-Michael Stewart musical Bye Bye Birdie at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Part of the Broadway Center Stage series, the show will play 11 performances only, from June 7 through June 15, in the Eisenhower Theater." https://bway.ly/t8lguu

"Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Purpose to Have World Premiere" by TheaterMania's Linda Buchwald - "The Steppenwolf production, directed by Phylicia Rashad, will run March 14-April 21." https://bway.ly/g6v5ti

"Lora Lee Gayer, Adam Chanler-Berat, Judy Kuhn to Star in Unknown Soldier at Arena Stage" by TheaterMania's David Gordon - "The Michael Friedman-Daniel Goldstein musical will run March 29-May 5." https://bway.ly/x2ukh7

"Goodspeed’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood Announces Cast" by TheaterMania's Linda Buchwald - "The cast includes Lenny Wolpe, Liz McCartney, Mamie Parris, and more." https://bway.ly/p6l61a

"Anything Goes, Sweet Charity & More Set for Gulfshore Playhouse 2024-2025 Season" by BroadwayWorld's Chloe Rabinowitz - https://bway.ly/l3x7e1

ON THE ROAD: "'Back to the Future', '& Juliet' and more make debut at Fox Theatre for 2024-25 Broadway season" by Spectrum News St. Louis - "... Back to the Future Broadway ... A Beautiful Noise Musical ... Peter Pan the Broadway Musical ... Six U.S. Tour ... Shucked Musical ... Some Like It Hot ... Kimberly Akimbo ... & Juliet ..." https://bway.ly/6h21pq

ACROSS THE POND:

"Donny Osmond to Return to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Launch New UK Tour" by TheaterMania's David Gordon and Alex Wood - "Donny Osmond will return to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to launch a new UK tour this holiday season. Osmond, who played Joseph over 2,000 times, will graduate to the role of Pharaoh for a run at the Edinburgh Playhouse December 3-29." https://bway.ly/e0g0zr

"Mind Mangler to embark on tour after West End run" by WhatsOnStage's Alex Wood - "Playing first at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End from Thursday 14 March to Sunday 28 April, 2024, the piece will then run on tour from 15 May to 16 June." https://bway.ly/lg4skb

FILM: "Where to Stream the ‘Mean Girls’ Movie Musical Online" by The Hollywood Reporter's Danielle Directo-Meston - "... is available to buy or rent on digital at Prime Video, Apple TV and other on-demand video platforms, and it’s also expected to stream on Paramount+ soon." https://bway.ly/585xyc

AWARDS: "Amber Gray, More Win 2024 Bistro Awards" by Playbill's Logan Culwell-Block - "Winners of the 2024 Bistro Awards, recognizing the best in NYC cabaret performances, have been revealed, with the honors set to be handed out at an April 1 gala at Gotham Comedy Club. All awardees will perform at the special event, to be hosted by Bistro and MAC Award winner Steve Hayes." https://bway.ly/lqm4m0

IN DEVELOPMENT: 4 Times Entertainment announced JoAnn M. Hunter as the director of the Broadway bound Jo – The Little Women Musical. 

GALA: "New York Theatre Workshop's 2024 Gala Will Honor Director Liesl Tommy" by Playbill's Logan Culwell-Block - "New York Theatre Workshop's 2024 Gala will honor director Liesl Tommy, with an event planned for March 18 at Gotham Hall. Nicole Ari Parker will host the evening, which is set to include performances and appearances from Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon, Adrienne Warren, Tamika Lawrence, Eisa Davis, Joy Woods, Elizabeth Judd, John Manzari, and more to be announced." https://bway.ly/q4lmiw

CONCERT: "Linda Eder Returns to 54 Below This Spring" by BroadwayWorld's Stephi Wild - "Performances are on May 16, 19, & 27, June 21 & 25, and July 2 at 7pm." https://bway.ly/zljsud

JAQUES: "Chicago Is A Trailblazer Too" by Jaques' Gordon Cox - "Here's how the long-running revival played a lead role in bringing Broadway to the world" https://bway.ly/5c5drj

NORTH JERSEY: "This NJ theater keeps sending shows to Broadway. What is it doing right?" by North Jersey's Jim Beckerman - "[Paper Mill Playhouse] is now sending its fifth show to Broadway. "The Great Gatsby," ... is helping to cement Paper Mill's status as not just a Tony-winning regional playhouse, not just the official "State Theater of New Jersey" (as proclaimed by former governor William Cahill), but also as a new New Haven — a place where Broadway shows are born." https://bway.ly/da454c

BROOKLYN RAIL: "Ripping Off Your Skin: In Jordan Seavey’s Plays, Art Requires A Little Bloodletting" by Brooklyn Rail's Joey Sims - "His newest play, The Seven Year Disappear, explores the depths artists will plunge to mine their own life for art." https://bway.ly/52ci5d

HUFFPOST: "In Broadway’s ‘Spamalot,’ Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer Gets The Diva Moment She Deserves" by HuffPost's Curtis M. Wong - "“I never thought this would be a part that would come around for me because, historically, it’s been played by tall, glamorous women,” Kritzer told HuffPost in an interview. “But once we were rehearsing and performing it, it blew my mind. It’s great to be in a show where I have flexibility to create every night. It’s a nice freedom we don’t usually have in musical theater. I can really fly.”" https://bway.ly/jvvygl

NY TIMES: "‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ Returns, Bringing a Jazz Tale to a New Generation" by The New York Times' Marcus J. Moore - "Jason Michael Webb, the show’s guest music director, said he wants audiences at the musical about Jelly Roll Morton to experience “a time period that does not exist anymore.”" https://bway.ly/g5zg2y

A MESSAGE FROM GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE:

The Gulfshore Playhouse Inaugural Season at the new Baker Theatre and Education Center! Two dazzling theatres. Seven fabulous productions. Anything Goes, Every Brilliant Thing, Dial “M” For Murder, The Lehman Trilogy, Noises Off, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and Sweet Charity. Learn more.SPONSOR A BRIEFING

BROADWAY NEWS  ALL-ACCESS  [PREVIEW]

INSIGHTS: "Broadway Pipeline: February 21, 2024" by Theatrical Index - "Each week, Theatrical Index provides a pipeline of shows in development aiming for Broadway. ... 

In development ... 

Come Fall In Love - The DDLJ Musical

Yash Raj Films

Death Becomes Her

Universal Stage Productions

Ella: An American Musical

Steve J Scarduzio, John Hart

Empire Records

Bill Weiner, Hunter Arnold, Cody Lassen 

Farewell My Concubine

Rob Minkoff, Philip Lee ..." https://bway.ly/dzbhdw

That's just a sample of Broadway News' premium content for industry professionals.

Try BROADWAY NEWS  ALL-ACCESS  for just $1.TRY BROADWAY NEWS

CALLBOARD

CALL TIMES:

7:30 PM:  PREVIEWS  Teeth @ Playwrights Horizons

7:30 PM:  OPENING  Jelly's Last Jam @ City Center

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 2008, a revival of Sunday in the Park with George opened at Studio 54.

BROADWAY BIRTHDAYS: Tyne Daly, Corbin Bleu, Titus Burgess, Christine Ebersole, Andréa Burns, Kelsey Grammer, David Geffen, Rachel Hoffman, Kim Coates, John Shivers

STAGE DOOR

Grant Gustin talks about making his Broadway debut in ‘Water for Elephants’ on TODAY. Check it out: https://bway.ly/3wc323CONTACT USBROADWAYBRIEFING.COM

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[anotherrevue]

The Top Movies of 2023

Every year I feel like I write the same spiel about the truly concerning  number of movies that I compulsively watched, and then make false promises about being more intentional about my film-watching and my blog-writing. But fear not, there's no overwrought analysis of my film watching this year, just an assurance that, for once, I have stayed true to my word and reduced my annual total by a sizable chunk. It was, however, still a lot. 

Truth be told, I've been trying to write this wrap-up for weeks now, but I found myself enveloped in the gloom that sets in during the first few weeks of any year, except this time the fog seems denser than ever. This is not a reflection on the state of movies right now though. While everything else has either gone to shit or currently in the process, movies have not been this good in 4 years. We're lucky to have some incredible filmmakers return to peak form (Marty S) and others showcase their talent for the first time (Celine Song). 

But this was also the year where domestically (The Kerala Story) and internationally (The Sound of Freedom), we saw an uptick in the mainstream success of conservative films built on the premise that the right-wing needs to go save good innocent people who are being taken advantage of by the savages. And shamelessly, people bought into this mediocre (at best) pandering, simply because it reinforces their narrow world view. As someone who constantly whines about the death of big dumb cinema, if this is the future of spectacle film, I might just be out on it.

Apologies to American Fiction, Poor Things, Ferrari, You Hurt My Feelings, The Boy and the Heron, The Holdovers and All of Us Strangers (all of which I have not yet seen), to Showing Up, King of Kotha, Marlowe, Your Lucky Day, The Boys in the Boat and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (all of which I saw and desperately wanted to love) and to myself for deciding to watch Ghosted, Heart of Stone, White Men Can't Jump and Salaar against my better judgement. 

Here are my top 27 movies of 2023:

27. Bottoms 

26. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

25. Neelavelicham

24. A Man Called Otto

23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

22. Barbie

21. LOLA

20. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

19. Air

18. John Wick: Chapter 4

17. Sanctuary

16. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning

15. Oppenheimer 

14. Anatomy of a Fall

13. Rye Lane

12. Biosphere

11. Flora & Son

10. Evil Dead Rise

2023 was a spectacularly disappointing year for horror. The biggest hit of the year was Talk to Me, a movie that I liked but is so overwhelmingly despondent that it drowned out the scary aspects of it. Evil Dead Rise on the other hand harkens back to the classic horror franchise format, taking a tried and tested premise (cocky young person accidentally summons the dead) and putting it in an unpredictable new setting (a high rise building). It strikes the perfect balance between nightmarish, gruesome and goofy that makes you yelp and giggle all at once.

9. 2018

This is the type of peak Bruckheimer/Simpson disaster flick that just went away 10 years ago, only scaled down to fit the Malayalam film industry. Does that take away at all from the melodrama or spectacle? Not even a bit. It's incredibly well made and well-balanced emotionally, and the ingenuity of the production design ensures that it will continue to hold-up visually in years to come.

8. Maestro

If we put aside Bradley Cooper's obvious thirst for acknowledgement by the Academy and just look at Maestro on its own, you might get a glimpse of a movie that bends the classic Oscar bait biopic template to its own absurd ends. It's not a "cradle to grave" story nor does it limit its scope to a small, well-defined period in Leonard Bernstein's life. Instead it's much more impressionistic and formally inventive, giving the viewer a feel for who the man was in all aspects of his life. It's in direct conversation with the template of the "great man" biopic, starting down the path of each trope only to veer delightfully off course, whether that's by sidestepping into a dance sequence or literally running away just when a scene starts to feel too cliché.

7. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

As a person who cannot stand kid angst, I went into this movie expecting to like it with some reservations, which is very much how I felt about Kelly Fremon Craig's previous movie, The Edge of Seventeen. But Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. rises above the cringey uncomfortable moments we've come to expect from a coming of age story. It's wholesome and heartfelt, but with enough of a bite to it to overcome the usual allegations of saccharinity that are hurtled at a movie of this sort. It's finally perfect, with some great kid performances, and even greater showings from the adults. In particular, Rachel McAdams takes what could have been a put-upon harried mom role and adds just enough humour and sparkle to make her character feel fully fleshed out, without making the whole movie about her.

6. How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Every year there's a movie that feels like it's ripped from the inside of my skull. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is exactly that. It's not for everyone (people have been known to zone out in the first 15 minutes) because it's an intense, violent story about trying to spark a revolution. Here's the thing about this movie, it believes in the power of direct action against corporations. And so do I.

5. Afire

The latest film from Christian Petzold is on this list precisely for that reason. From the first time I watched Phoenix, I realised this was a director I'd want to be following closely. His movies are often strange and unpredictable, unfaltering in their portrayal of the weakest aspects of human nature while still somehow tying together and extremely compelling plot. Afire is to me the strangest of the lot, which is really saying something because his last movie was about a mermaid.

4. Polite Society

Nida Manzoor is not yet a household name, but I can't imagine that'll be the case for much longer. I was first introduced to her work in the excellent British punk rock comedy show We Are Lady Parts (which is about a group of British Muslim girls who start a punk band), and Manzoor brings that culture clash chaos into Polite Society. It manages to take a love of old-school film stunts, an iconic Bollywood number and quick-fire dialogue and roll all that up into an irresistibly charming story about sisterhood.

3. Kaathal: The Core

You might be able to argue that 2018 is on this list because of pure sentimentality and my personal attachment to Kerala. It's my list after all, my predispositions will be on display. Kaathal is not on here for those reasons. It's here because it's a heartfelt, earnest depiction of what being gay might mean in rural Kerala, and it somehow walk the tightrope between idealism and realism in a way that gives the audience hope that the unconditional acceptance of queer identities could be just around the corner. There's almost a straight line from Vijay Sethupathi’s role in Super Deluxe to this, but it's still a real pleasant surprise to see someone of Mammootty’s stature in an Indian film industry use that influence to make such a nuanced, emotional and ultimately hopeful film centred on a queer person. 

2. Past Lives

I could not for a long while explain why this movie hit home for me, but I think I'll give it a go. Past Lives depicts so clearly the struggle I've often felt to not let your present self erase your childhood memories and cultural identity, even if they're conflicting (as they often are). There is a familiar underlying fear in this movie that a happy memory you might have from a past life (if you will) would crumble under any amount of scrutiny, like an ancient paper suddenly exposed to sunlight. I've been told that I'm annoyingly sentimental about goodbyes (more so than usual, if you can imagine that) . After all, it's 2024 and very easy to stay in touch. But I know how easy it is to lose track of people that you loved deeply, like they were family even, simply because the physical and cultural distance was too wide to bridge through just social media. Past Lives made me think of them, and of all the different roads my life might have gone down and how, despite all that, I'd still choose to be where I am today. Schmaltzy, I know, but this is the movie to get in your feelings for.

1. Killers of the Flower Moon

Every year, my number one movie is about storytelling, and this year is no different. It's not a purposeful trend though; I just respond very strongly to movies that play around with the idea that film is the most objective medium for storytelling. Killers of the Flower Moon is a premier example of that sort of subversion, although that doesn't necessarily come through for most of the running time of the movie. Superbly paced and tonally immaculate, Scorsese delivers one of his best films in the seventh decade of his career, and it hinges almost entirely on a perfectly calibrated performance from Lily Gladstone. But this film wouldn't work nearly as well if not for the incredibly nuanced and insightful ending that ends up being a testament to the art of adapting true stories.

***

There were some other bits and bobs from this year that I wanted to share.

As far as TV goes, Lockwood & Co. is perhaps the best new show of the year, despite it getting cancelled after the first season. It's spooky fun designed to satisfy horror mavens without turning away those who are not fond of your usual scares.

Slow Horses continues to be just as clever and callous as ever - a breath of fresh air in a somewhat stale spy-fic landscape.

And if you're looking for a traditional sitcom, there was none better this year than Primo.

As I write this, Killer Mike's Michael just won a whole bunch of Grammys. I've been a fan of him since I first stumbled onto the first Run the Jewels album, and this was the first time in recent memory that the Grammys made the cool choice in the rap categories. The only cooler pick would have been Mick Jenkins' new album, The Promise.

Other albums that I loved from this year include Cracker Island from Gorillaz and Paranoia, Angels, True Love by Christine and the Queens, both excellent entries into the pop-rock category for the year.

***

Also I'm on a podcast now. It's called Stir Fry and it's more regular than this (low bar). Stay tuned to that feed and soon you'll hear me lose my mind about the Billie Eilish song potentially winning and other unhinged Oscar reactions. Stay tuned here, and (fingers crossed) there might be another article soon - lots to write about this year.

[new-sandrafilter]

How Timothée Chalamet Channeled The Blockbuster Pressure of Leading Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Back Into His Role – Venice Q&A

DEADLINE: In a few days Dune will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. You first met Denis Villeneuve about the role in May 2018 and started shooting in the early half of 2019. It was always going to be a long journey, but the pandemic stretched it even further. How does it feel to have finally arrived at this moment?

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET: You know, I like to think that with every film I’ve done, whether it’s Call Me by Your Name or Beautiful Boy, The King, or Little Women, the character you play is almost a piece of your flesh. And that’s always true, but simply from the perspective of how long the shoot for Dune was, and also the arc that Paul Atreides is on, as well as the huge love and almost biblical connection that so many people have for the book and the original film, it really felt… tectonic, if that’s the right word for it. Just getting to this finish line feels like: phew.

And independent of what the film is now, and what it has become, the experience of making it was I was put in such a safe environment, which you can never take for granted as a human, as an actor, but especially when you’re just starting your career, and when this is the first film of this size you’ve ever done.

To get to work with Denis on it, to get to work with someone of his caliber, let alone on a book that he considers the book of his youth and one of the things he has connected to the most… When he would have it in his hands on set, his body language would become that of a fan; of a kid who had fallen in love with the book at home in Montreal. And when all the kids around him were wearing hockey jerseys with their favorite players’ names on the back, this was a kid wearing a jersey that said ‘Spielberg’ on the back.

For it all to come together, especially with the added challenge of the pandemic, it has all combined to make this moment feel especially spicy [laughs].

DEADLINE: The entire ensemble will show up in Venice.

CHALAMET: Right. And I just can’t believe it; Jason Momoa has the number one film on Netflix right now with Sweet Girl, which I just watched. And since we shot, Zendaya has had all this success with Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. Just to be part of this cast, period, let alone as one of the title characters, it’s really the shit you dream of.

And let me not forget, too—and I know I’ve told you this before—that The Dark Knight was the movie that made me want to act. That movie had a score by Hans Zimmer, and he has done the score for Dune. And it’s almost not what you’d think. It’s totally appropriate and excellent for the movie, but he has somehow managed to do something subversive, in my opinion. It’s a pinch-me moment all over.

DEADLINE: So, take me back to the start. Is it true you had a Google alert set up to track the latest news on this project before you were ever cast?

CHALAMET: Yeah, it’s true [laughs]. Not right away—Legendary had the rights and was developing it—but as soon as Denis got involved, I set up a Google alert and that’s when I got the book.

In total honesty, I think my understanding of Dune at that point was from a graphic novel I’d seen at Midtown Comics when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards when I was about 10. The year you and I first met, when I was there at Deadline Contenders with Call Me by Your Name, that would have been 2017 or early 2018, and Denis was there with Blade Runner. I remember I was trying to put myself in front of him as much as possible and set up a meeting with him. We had a night at the BAFTA where one of my good friends, Stéphane Bak—who’s also an actor—saw Denis across the room and was like, “Hey buddy, he’s right over there.” So, we went over to talk to him. I kept trying to put myself in front of him, but I didn’t really get a sense of the possibility [of working with him].

I was about halfway through the book when I got the call that he was going to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was in London prepping The King. He asked me if I could come out there, so I quickly busted through the second half of the book as best I could. So, like, the first half of my copy is properly annotated and full of my thoughts, and then the second half I just raced through. And then I had that meeting with him, and it was such a joy.

I’m struggling with this even now, as I’m working with Paul King [on Wonka], because he’s another guy I have huge respect and admiration for, and it’s hard to feel on a level. Not that you ever are, because as an actor you’re a cog in the machine, and you’ve got to be humble to the vision of the director. But with Denis, he was pacing around the room, throwing ideas around, in some fancy suite in Cannes, and all I could think was that a year before I was just sat on a stoop on 9th Street in the East Village or something.

DEADLINE: Was that your first time in Cannes?

CHALAMET: Yeah. Well, bizarrely, my sister would do dance camps growing up. Ballet intensive programs in a town called Mougins, which is nearby Cannes, so I spent a lot of time there growing up, but never during the festival, and not on the Riviera. To get to be there for the festival was just nuts. I went to see the Romain Gavras movie, I think, and it was just a huge joy.

I got attached [to the role in Dune] a couple of months after that, and it was nerve-wracking from the announcement, because like I said before, the fans of the book, and the fans of David Lynch version, the computer game, and everything, there’s so much love and strength of feeling. And so much of our pop culture and films and books have been derived from Dune, and all the philosophy the book. I’ve been shocked to learn how many people have a next-level connection to the book. I compare it to how our generation grew up with Harry Potter, and that one makes sense to me. But it’s cool to see with Dune also, when you actually sit down and read it… It’s not that it’s a quote-unquote “hard read” or anything, but it’s not made to be consumed easily, I think that’s fair to say.

So, I was grateful to be working on something of this size not only with Denis Villeneuve leading it, who between Polytechnique, Incendies and Prisoners had nailed the smaller indie film across languages, and then had nailed Arrival and Blade Runner, but who, in his own words, he didn’t feel he’d made his greatest film yet. But also, to be working with this cast. I don’t know if there’s some nightmare version of a film where a young lead is not supported by the rest of his cast, where every one of them had been the leads in their own huge projects. But on this, everyone was there to support, and I think it’s because we all wanted to be foot soldiers for Denis, and I think we understood the potential, based on the script by Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis, that this could be something really special.

DEADLINE: I don’t have a connection to Dune; this movie is really my first experience of the story. What strikes me is this is clearly an enormous universe—a broad canvas being painted with various families and factions and politics and mythos—but that ultimately it comes down to very elemental, human themes, and we feel them through this character you play, Paul Atreides. Did those themes help ground the experience for you?

CHALAMET: Yes, and I would give the credit entirely to Denis. He would constantly say on set that he had some opposing drumbeat or something. In my diminished intellectual standing, I didn’t understand it, but it was like some vision for the movie based on how biblical the book is that tries to tackle so much that it doesn’t tackle anything. I think he felt the need to be close to a character in it, and Paul is that guy in the book. He’s a character that is still in formation, like a lump of clay, which makes him a great figure for the audience to mirror off.

It speaks, I think, to Denis’ premonition and his directing ability that there were times when we’d move on from a shot or move on from a scene, and I swear, literally, we’d go back because Denis wanted to get something over my shoulder, or push in on my reaction, just to make sure [it stayed on Paul].

And again, it’s something where I’m pinching myself. I had the best time on Interstellar, and that was one of my favorite films I’ve ever worked on, but it was very much something where I was aware of when I had the opportunity to do real acting. And on a movie like Dune, again, one could think it would get lost in the scale and scope. But I felt every day like my plate was full.

DEADLINE: One of those themes is fear, and Paul must overcome his to become the person he needs to be. When you are number one on the call sheet on a project of this scale, and the cast list reads like an address book of Hollywood in the 21st century, and Legendary has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into this production, and it’s all falling on your shoulders, I have to imagine fear is a theme you can readily relate to.

CHALAMET: Oh yeah, and they can bleed into each other for sure—not to diminish the other work that goes in. It’s great when your life experience can inform the role. That’s not at all to say I’m on some crusade in the universe or anything, but definitely… And I had that same good fortune with The King I think. My life is not nearly as significant or as exciting as Paul or Prince Hal, but we all share an unwitting needle in the haystack feeling. On The King that feeling was because I was so new to having a career. On Dune it’s because of, as you say, just feeling the pressure of the hugeness of the project in all those different ways. Those things can absolutely inform each other.

And then there are the moments of glee that come, too, like seeing Jason Momoa running at you at a hundred miles an hour, or just getting to shoot the shit with Josh Brolin, or getting to do a scene with Oscar Isaac. I felt so supported, whether it was Rebecca Fergusson or Charlotte Rampling. When Zendaya came, it was a total breath of fresh air, and she’s one of my favorite parts of the movie. I just got really lucky, and I can’t wait to see them all in Venice.

Denis split the book in half, and the hope is a second movie will get a greenlight. That’d expand Zendaya’s role in the story.

CHALAMET: Definitely, Chani will play a huge role in the next film. I don’t know if there’s a script yet, but just based on the book, along with Lady Jessica [Rebecca Fergusson], they have a lot to do together, let’s put it like that. And Zendaya was incredible in this movie; the moment she pulls the mask down, it felt properly showstopping and powerful. I was hiding behind the camera, counting my lucky starts, because I was there in month two of the shoot and here was a total powerhouse just coming in for the first time.

And as I said before, this was before I’d seen Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. She’s doing such incredible work and is just trailblazing her own path, and she’s so, so cool. She also happens to be in the most-watched trailer of the moment, too, for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I cannot wait for that movie, and I was there, by the way, with everybody else, clicking through the trailer frame by frame looking for clues [laughs].

[bisluthq]

Can you write a long post on why you think Jen law fucked her career/publicist role

Okay so after like the sitcom shit and whatnot, Jen started really strong with Winter’s Bone and X-Men First Class. Like she established herself as a STELLAR talent with the former and she had a franchise with a popular hot character. She also got The Hunger Games which was obviously MASSIVE.

But obviously it was right to keep her doing like art™️ movies because again with Winter’s Bone she had established herself a serious actress. And then her agent started putting her up for stuff she had no business being cast in. Like they were putting her up for parts clearly written for women in their mid 30s and pairing her with Bradley Cooper over and over again and it was like… unsustainable? And kinda weird? Like what’s she meant to play in her 30s when she’s been playing 30s since 21??

Like the character she plays in like Don’t Look Up is younger than what they had her playing in the O’Russells and obviously they were great performances but almost in like a student theatre way?

Also like her PR team overexposed her and let her talk too much. And like the thing is society loves to turn on its sweethearts so punting her as your everyday relatable girlie who’s fun and irreverent and whatnot was kinda true to her but limiting because people started hating her. The point at which she had two franchises and the Oscar movies going is the point she needed to be withdrawn and like reclusive and mysterious but she was fucking EVERYWHERE and people hate successful women so she started pissing them off.

Add to that like her relationship drama and the hack and like… idk man it was all mishandled.

Imo they should’ve taken the franchises and looked for more movies like Winter’s Bone where she plays her own age for the serious side of it. They also shouldn’t have hyper fixated on O’Russell and the Bradley Cooper pairing - like Serena shouldn’t have been made - and they should’ve been shopping her around to artiste directors.

They’re doing it again with McKay because she’s gonna be in two in a row. And like I get that’s easier than like building a varied resume but it’s legit less sustainable in the long run.

She had the star power and pull but they like never capitalized off it properly and now idk what they can do because if you were like… the biggest A++ list actress for a hot minute everything is gonna be compared to that era and everything else will look like a “flop”.

I think the only thing I really see as her like comeback vehicle is like a Sunset Boulevard type thing where she’s a washed up actress and plays into stuff that happened to her. I think people would LOVE that.

But that’s again not what they’re doing - they’ve hyper fixated on a new director for her to be muse to and they’re not the kinds of iconic roles that like require a muse. That’s like the other thing. It’s not like the parts she played in the O’Russells or now in the McKays NEED her.

I would say Emma Watson has a more sustainable career than Jen - like she can always do a movie and she’s always gonna get bums on seats and like her PR has been so careful and like inoffensive that like… ya. And she’s shown she can do an array of things with different people when she can. Saoirse has like the best and most like sustainable career of that like age group tbh - again, she’s worked with directors repeatedly but not as a muse and she always plays age appropriate and her PR being as reclusive as it is means like she pisses NO ONE off. She can’t land a franchise which she bitched about but like she’s never gonna be unemployed or legit struggling unless something goes very wrong.

Jen’s team did her very dirty, the media didn’t help, Nic and Darren didn’t help, and like society’s delight in the failure of successful women ultimately came through 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[aion-rsa]

Summer Movie Preview: From Black Widow to The Suicide Squad and Beyond

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The summer movie season has returned. Finally. Once something we all just took for granted, like handshakes and indoor dining, a summertime season stuffed with pricy Hollywood blockbusters and cinematic escapism suddenly feels like a long lost friend. But, rest assured, the summer movie season is genuinely and truly here. It’s maybe a little later than normal, yet it’s still in time for Memorial Day in the States.

This is of course happy news since many of the big screen events of this year have been 12 months or more in the offing. A Quiet Place Part II was supposed to open two Marches ago, and In the Heights is opening almost an exact year to the day from its original release. They’re here now, as is an impressive assortment of new films. There are genre fans’ long lost superhero spectacles, with Black Widow and The Suicide Squad leading the pack (and Shang-Chi closing out the season unusually late in time for Labor Day weekend), and there are also horror movies like The Conjuring 3 and M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, aforementioned musicals, family adventures in Jungle Cruise, psychedelic Arthurian legends via The Green Knight, and a few legitimately original projects like Stillwater and Reminiscence. Imagine that!

So sit back, put your feet in the pool, or up by the grill pit, and toast with us the summer movie’s resurrection.

A Quiet Place Part II

May 28 (June 3 in the UK)

Fourteen months after its original release date, the first movie delayed by the pandemic is finally coming to theaters for Memorial Day weekend. And despite what some critics say (even our own), most of us would argue it’s worth the wait. As a movie about a family enduring after a global crisis that has left their lives in tatters, and marred by personal tragedy, A Quiet Place Part II hits differently in 2021 than it would have a year ago. And it’s undeniably optimistic view of humanity feels like a warm balm now.

But beyond the meta context, writer-director John Krasinski (flying solo as screenwriter this time) has engineered a series of intelligent and highly suspenseful set pieces which puts Millicent Simmonds’ Regan front and center. Also buoyed by subtle and affecting work by Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy, here as a neighbor they knew a few years and a lifetime ago, this is one worth dipping your toe back into cinema for, especially if you liked the first movie.

Cruella

May 28

We’ll admit it, we had the same initial skepticism you’re probably feeling about a Cruella de Vil origin story set in punk rock’s 1970s London. But put your cynicism aside, Disney’s Cruella is a decadent blast and the rarest of things: a live-action Disney remake that both honors its source material and does something creative with it. Neither a soulless scene-by-scene remake of a better animated film, or a lazy Maleficent like re-imagining, Cruella more often than not rocks, thanks in large part to its lead performance by Emma Stone.

Also a producer on the picture, Stone takes on the role of Cruella de Vil like it’ll be on an awards reel and absolutely flaunts the character’s madness and devilish charm. She also finds an excellent sparring partner via Emma Thompson, young Cruella’s very own Miranda Priestly. Once these two start their verbal battle at the end of the first act, the movie is elevated into an electric period comedy (with plenty of heavy handed period music). It’s a pseudo-thriller for all ages, enjoying some very sharp elbows for a kids movie.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

June 4 (May 26 in the UK)

The latest big-screen adventure for real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) sees the two drawn into the unusual case of the first ever U.S. murder trial where the defendant claimed he was innocent because he was possessed by a demon. This is the eighth movie in The Conjuring expanded universe—director Michael Chaves has already made a foray into this supernatural world with The Curse of La Llorona—and as with all the main Conjuring films, the hook is that it’s (very loosely) based on a true case that the Warrens were involved with.

Peter Safran and James Wan are back on board as producers, although with this being the first time Wan isn’t directing one of the main Ed and Lorraine investigations, we’re a little cautious about this return to the haunted museum.

In the Heights

June 11 (June 18 in the UK)

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Tony award winning musical is getting the proper big screen treatment in In the Heights. A full-fledged movie musical—as opposed to a taped series of performances, a la Disney+’s Hamilton—In the Heights is like a sweet summer drink (or Piragua) and love letter to the Latino community of New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

Read more

Movies

Best Movie Musicals of the 21st Century

By David Crow

Movies

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and the Perils of Taking on a Real Life Murder

By Rosie Fletcher

Closer in spirit to the feel-good summertime joy of Grease than the narratively complex Hamilton, this is perfect multiplex escapism (which will also be on HBO Max if you’re so inclined). Directed by Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M. Chu, In the Heights has a euphoric sense of movement and dance as it transfers Miranda’s hybrid blend of freestyle rap, salsa rhythm, and Caribbean musical cues to the actual city blocks the show was written about. On one of those corners lives Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a bodega owner with big dreams. He’s about to have the summer of his life. You might too.

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

June 16 (June 21 in the UK)

You know Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is a throwback when even its trailer brings back the “trailer voice.” But then the appeal of the 2017 B-action comedy, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, was its very throwback nature: a violent, raunchy R-rated buddy comedy that starred Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds, who exchanged quips as much as bullets between some genuinely entertaining stunts.

Hopefully the sequel can also be as much lowbrow fun as it doubles down on the premise, with Reynolds’ Michael Bryce now guarding Samla Hayek’s Sonia, the wife of Jackson’s Darius. All three are on a road trip through Italy as they’re chased by Antonio Banderas in what is sure to be a series of bloody, explosive set pieces. Probably a few “motherf***ers” will be dropped too.

Luca

June 18

Pixar Studios’ hit rate is frankly incredible. With each new film seemingly comes a catchy song, an Oscar nomination, and a flood of tears from anyone with a heart—and there’s no reason to believe that its next offering will be any different. Luca is a coming-of-age tale set on the Italian Riviera about a pair of young lads who become best friends and have a terrific summer getting into adventures in the sun. The slight catch is that they’re both sea monsters.

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Movies

How Luca Became the First Pixar Movie Made at Home

By Don Kaye

Movies

Pixar, Italian Style: Why Luca is Set in 1950s Italy

By Don Kaye

This is the feature directorial debut of Enrico Casarosa, who says the movie is a celebration of friendship with nods to the work of Federico Fellini and Hayao Miyazaki. The writers are Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones—Andrews is new to Pixar but has experience with coming-of-agers, having penned Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, while Jones co-wrote Soul. Jacob Tremblay and Jack Dylan Grazer voice the young boys (sea monsters)—13-year-old Luca and his older teenager friend Alberto—with Maya Rudolph as Luca’s sea monster mom. After a year of lockdown, this could be the summer movie we all need.

F9

June 25

You better start firing up the grill, because the Fast and Furious crew is finally ready to have another summer barbecue. And this time, it’s not only the folks whom Dom Toretto calls “mi familia” in attendance. The big new addition to F9 is 

John Cena as Jakob Toretto. As the long-lost little brother we didn’t know Vin Diesel’s Dom had, Jakob is revealed to be a superspy, assassin, and performance driver working for Dom’s arch-nemesis, Cypher (Charlize Theron). Everything the Family does together, Jakob does alone, as a one-man wrecking crew, and he’s coming in hot.

Fans will probably be happier, though, to see Sung Kang back as Han Seoul-Oh, the wheelman who was murdered in Fast & Furious 6, and then pretty much forgotten in The Fate of the Furious when his killer got invited to the cookout. It’s an injustice that brought veteran series director Justin Lin back to  the franchise to resurrect the dead. So it’s safe to assume he won’t be asking Cypher to bring the potato salad.

The Forever Purge

July 2 (July 16 in the UK)

We know what you’re thinking: Didn’t The Purge: Election Year end the Purge forever? That or “are they really still making these?” The answer to both questions is yes. Nevertheless, here we are with The Forever Purge, a movie which asks what happens if Purgers just, you know, committed extravagant holiday crime on the other 364 days of the year? You get what is hopefully the grand finale of this increasingly tired concept.

The Tomorrow War

July 2

Hear me out: What if it’s like The Terminator but in reverse? That had to be the pitch for this one, right? In The Tomorrow War, instead of evil cyborgs time traveling to the past to kill our future savior, soldiers from the future time travel to the past to enlist our current best warrior and take him to a world on the brink 30 years from now.

It’s a crazy premise, and the kind of high-concept popcorn that one imagines Chris Pratt excels at. Hence Pratt’s casting as Dan, one of the best soldiers of the early 21st century who’ll go into the future to stop an alien invasion. The supporting cast, which includes Oscar winner J.K. Simmons and Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, and Sam Richardson, is also nothing to sneeze at.

Black Widow

July 9

The idea of making a Black Widow movie has been around since long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe first lifted into the sky on Tony Stark’s repulsors. The character has been onscreen for more than a decade now, and Marvel Studios has for too long danced around making a solo Widow, at least in part due to the machinations of Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter.

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Movies

How Black Widow Could Build The MCU’s Future

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Upcoming Marvel Movies Release Dates: MCU Phase 4 Schedule, Cast, and Story Details

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

But the standalone Black Widow adventure is here at last, and it now serves as a sort-of coda to the story of Natasha Romanoff, since we already know her tragic fate in Avengers: Endgame. Directed by Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome, Lore), the movie will spell out how Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) kept herself busy between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, primarily with a trip home to Russia to clear some of that red from her ledger.

There, she will reunite with figures from her dark past, including fellow Red Room alumnus Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Russian would-be superhero Alexei Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), another survivor of the Black Widow program and a maternal figure to Natasha and Yelena.

It’s a chance to say goodbye to Nat and see Johansson as the beloved Avengers one more time. But this being Marvel, we suspect that the studio has a few tricks up its sleeve and in this movie about the future of Phase 4.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

July 16

In the annals of synergistic branding, Space Jam: A New Legacy might be one for the record books. A sequel to an older millennials’ 1990s touchstones—the thoroughly mediocre Michael Jordan meets Bugs Bunny movie, Space Jam—this sequel sees LeBron James now trapped in Looney Tunes world… but wait, there’s more! Instead of only charmingly interacting with WB’s classic stable of cartoon characters, King James will also be in the larger “WB universe” where the studio will resurrect from the dead every property they own the copyright to, from MGM’s classic 1939 The Wizard of Oz to, uh, the murderous rapists in A Clockwork Orange.

… yay for easter eggs?

Old

July 23

Though he might be accused of being a little bit hit-and-miss in the past, the release of a new M. Night Shyamalan movie should always be cause for celebration. Especially one with such a deeply creepy premise. Based on the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, Old sees a family on vacation discover that the beach they are on causes them to age extremely rapidly and live out their entire lives in a day.

This is surely perfect fodder for Shyamalan, who does high-concept horror like no one else. The cast is absolute quality, featuring Gael García Bernal, Hereditary’s Alex Wolff, Jo Jo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie, Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps, Little Women’s Eliza Scanlen, and many more. The trailer is pleasingly disturbing too as children become teenagers, a young woman is suddenly full-term pregnant, and adults seem to be decaying in front of their own eyes. Harrowing in the best possible way.

Snake Eyes

July 23 (August 20 in the UK)

Snake Eyes will finally bring us the origin story of the G.I. Joe franchise’s most iconic and beloved member. Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) stars in the title role, with Warrior’s Andrew Koji as his nemesis—conflicted baddie (and similar fan fave) Storm Shadow. Expect a tale heavy on martial arts badassery, especially with The Raid’s Iko Uwais on board as the pair’s ninja master. Samara Weaving will play G.I. Joe staple Scarlett after her breakout a few years ago in Ready or Not, while Úrsula Corberó has been cast as Cobra’s Baroness. Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Red) directs.

Jungle Cruise

July 30

Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra is best known for making slightly dodgy actioners starring Liam Neeson (Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night) and half-decent horror movies (Orphan, The Shallows), so exactly which direction this family adventure based on a theme park ride will take remains to be seen.

Borrowing a page and premise from Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951), Jungle Cruise stars the ever-charismatic Dwayne Johnson as a riverboat captain taking Emily Blunt’s scientist and her brother (Jack Whitehall) to visit the fabled Tree of Life in the early 20th century. Like the ride, the gang will have to watch out for wild animals along the way.

Unlike the ride, they’re competing with a German expedition team who are heading for the same goal. A solid supporting cast (Jesse Plemons, Édgar Ramírez, Paul Giamatti, Andy Nyman) and a script with rewrites by Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) might mean Disney has another hit on its hands. Either way, a lovely boat trip with The Rock should be diverting at worst.

The Green Knight

July 30 (August 6 in the UK)

There have been several major Hollywood reimaginings of Arthurian legends in the 21st century. And every one of them has been thoroughly rotten for one reason or another. Luckily, David Lowery’s The Green Knight looks poised to break the trend with a trippy, but twistedly faithful, interpretation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain, a chivalrous knight in King Arthur’s court who takes up the challenge of the mysterious Green Knight (The Witch’s Ralph Ineson under mountains of makeup): He’ll swing a blow and risk receiving a returning strike in a year’s time. Gawain attempts to cheat the devil by cutting his head clean off, yet when the Green Knight lifts his severed head from Camelot’s floors, things start to get weird. As clearly one of A24’s biggest visual fever dreams to date, this is one we’re highly anticipating.

Stillwater

July 30 (August 6 in the UK)

The Oscar winning-writer director behind Spotlight, Tom McCarthy, returns to the big screen with a fictional story that feels awfully similar to real world events. In this film, Matt Damon plays Bill, a proud father who saw his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) go abroad to study in France. After she’s accused of murdering her roommate by local authorities, the deeply Southern and deeply Oklahoman father must travel to a foreign land to try and prove his daughter’s innocence.

It obviously has some parallels with the Amanda Knox story but it also looks like a potentially hard hitting original drama with a talented cast. Fingers crossed.

The Suicide Squad

August 6 (July 30 in the UK)

You might have seen a Suicide Squad movie in the past, but you’ve never seen James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. With a liberating R-rating and an old school vision from the Guardians of the Galaxy director—who likens this to 1960s war capers, such as The Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare—this Suicide Squad is absolutely stacked with talented actors wallowing in DC weirdness. One of the key players in this is Polka-Dot Man, another is a walking, talking Great White Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone. The villain is a Godzilla-sized starfish from space!

Read more

Movies

Margot Robbie Wants Poison Ivy to Join Harley Quinn in the DCEU

By Kayti Burt

Movies

What to Expect from the Candyman Reimagining

By David Crow

So like it’s namesake, there’s probably a lot of characters who aren’t going to pull through this one. Even so, we can rest easy knowing that Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will be as winsome than ever, and the likes of Idris Elba and John Cena will add some dynamic gravitas to the eccentric DC Extended Universe.

Free Guy

August 13

Perhaps pitched as The Truman Show for the video game age, Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds as an easygoing, happy-go-lucky “Guy” who discovers… he’s a video game NPC living inside the equivalent of a Grand Theft Auto video game. This might explain why the bank he works at keeps getting robbed all the time. But as a virtual sprite who’s developed sentiency, he just might be able to win over enough gamers to not shoot him, and make love not war.

It’s an amusing premise, and hopefully director Shawn Levy can bring to it the same level of charm he achieved with the very first Night at the Museum movie.

Respect

August 13 (September 10 in the UK)

Before her passing in 2018, Aretha Franklin gave her blessing to Jennifer Hudson to play the Queen of Soul. Now that musical biopic is here with Hudson hitting the same high notes of the legend who sang such standards as “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Think,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and of course “Respect.”

The film comes with a lot of expectation and a lot of pedigree, with Forest Whitaker and Audra McDonald in the cast. Most of all though, it comes with that rich musical library, which will surely take center stage. And if movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman have taught us anything, it’s that moviegoers love when you play the hits.

Reminiscence

August 20 (August 18 in the UK)

Lisa Joy is one of the most exciting voices on television today. One-half of the creative team behind Westworld, Joy steps into her own with her directorial debut (and as the solo writer) in Reminiscence, a science fiction film with a reliably knotty premise.

Hugh Jackman plays Nick Bannister, a man who lives in a dystopian future where the oceans have risen and the cities are crumbling. In a declining Miami, he sells a risky new technology that allows you to relive your past (and possibly change it, at least fancifully?). But when he discovers the lost love of his life (Rebecca Ferguson) is cropping up in other peoples’ memories, which seem to implicate her in a murder, well… things are bound to start getting weird. We don’t know a whole lot more, but we cannot wait to find out more.

Candyman

August 27

Announced back in 2018, this spiritual sequel to Bernard Rose’s 1992 original is one of the most exciting and anticipated movies on the calendar. Produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, the film takes place in the present day and about a decade after Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects have been torn down. Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays an up-and-coming visual artist who moves to the now-gentrified area with his partner and is inspired by the legend of Candyman, an apparition with a hook for a hand, to create new work about the subject. But in doing so, he risks unleashing a dark history and a new wave of violence.

Tony Todd, the star of the original movie, will also reprise his role in a reboot that aims to inspire fear for only the right reasons.

The Beatles: Get Back

August 27

Director Peter Jackson thinks folks have a poisoned idea about the Beatles in their final days. Often portrayed as divided and antagonistic toward one another during the recordings of their last albums, particularly Let It Be (which was their penultimate studio recording and final release), Jackson insists this misconception is influenced by Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary named after the album.

So, after going through the reams of footage Lindsay-Hogg shot but didn’t use, Jackson has crafted this new documentary about the album’s recording which is intended to paint a fuller (and more feel-good) portrait of the band which changed the world. Plus, the music’s going to be great… 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

September 3

The greatest fighter in Marvel history finally hits the big screen with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience) takes on the title role of a character destined for a bright future in the MCU. Marvel fans might note that the “Ten Rings” of the title is the same organization that first appeared all the way back in Iron Man, and Tony Leung will finally bring their villainous leader, The Mandarin, to life. Awkwafina of The Farewell and Crazy Rich Asians fame also stars. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12), this should deliver martial arts action unlike anything we’ve seen so far in the MCU.

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