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Tag: Animation and comics

  • What to stream this week: Taylor Swift, a new animated ‘Superman,’ ‘Biosphere’ and ‘Wham!’

    What to stream this week: Taylor Swift, a new animated ‘Superman,’ ‘Biosphere’ and ‘Wham!’

    Taylor Swift’s rerecording of her “Speak Now” and survivalist Bear Grylls taking Bradley Cooper and Rita Ora into the wild are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are the sci-fi comedy ”Biosphere” starring Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass, and a new spin-off series starring Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan from “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

    NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

    — Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass are the last two men on Earth in the not-too-distant-future sci-fi comedy ”Biosphere,” available in theaters and on demand on Friday, July 7 from IFC. John DeFore in The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it’s “a mysterious and hilarious pic that really can’t be discussed much without saying things a prospective viewer would be better off not hearing.” “Biosphere” is the directorial debut of Mel Elsyn, who co-wrote the script with Duplass.

    — If Paramount+ isn’t in your streaming bundle, “80 for Brady” will be available on Prime Video starting Tuesday. The movie, inspired by a true story, stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field as a quartet of best friends, and lifelong Patriots fans, who go to the super bowl to see Tom Brady play. Reviews weren’t great, but most singled out the legendary actors as reason enough to take a chance. Stephanie Zacherek, in Time, wrote it was “brassy, ridiculous and shameless” and also “irresistible,” while critic Katie Walsh singled out the “loose, absurdist” humor of the screenplay. Plus, it’s only 98 minutes.

    — Freddie (Park Ji-min) is a 25-year-old who was adopted as a child, raised in France and decides to return to South Korea, where she was born, for the first time in “Return to Seoul,” coming to Mubi on Friday, July 7. The critically acclaimed film, written and directed by Davy Chou, got a little lost in its theatrical run but made a handful of year-end best of lists. Richard Lawson, in Vanity Fair, wrote, “She’s a fascinating creation, prickly and mercurial and, for a spell, immoral. But Chou eventually rounds his film into something compassionate, a bittersweet collage of a young life in flux.”

    — AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

    NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

    — Taylor Swift has given us a chance to travel back in time after she re-recorded her sophomore country album, “Speak Now,” her third do-over after “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).” “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” has 22 songs, including six that were written during the album’s original era, but not recorded until recently. Fall Out Boy and Paramore’s Hayley Williams are among the guest appearances. Swift wrote on social media: “Since ‘Speak Now’ was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album.”

    — If PJ Harvey’s new album sounds fresh and inspired that’s because the new songs came out in about three weeks and they were recorded spontaneously. “I Inside the Old Year Dying” is Harvey’s 10th studio album and first since 2016’s Grammy-nominated “The Hope Six Demolition Project.” The album is produced by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish. Lead folkish single “A Child’s Question, August,” is filled with pastoral imagery, sparse instrumentation and the singer’s soprano.

    — Go to Netflix if you’re hoping to wake up before you go-go to celebrate a special pop duo in “Wham!” The 92-minute documentary about the musical pair — George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley — lands Wednesday and promises access to personal archives including never-before-seen footage, and previously unheard interviews. The doc, directed by Chris Smith, charts the duo’s four-year journey from teenage school friends to global superstars with hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Young Guns.” Michael died in 2016.

    — AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

    NEW SERIES TO STREAM

    — Part one of “The Lincoln Lawyer” season two drops Thursday on Netflix. If you haven’t watched the series based on the novels by Michael Connelly, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Mickey Haller. Haller is a well-known defense attorney in Los Angeles who has a keen ability to think outside the box in ways to help his clients. He’s also often chauffeured around town in a Lincoln while he does work from the back seat. Season one saw Haller return to law after several setbacks including addiction and a divorce. In season two, Haller is the It Lawyer in town. Season two is based on Connelly book’ “The Fifth Witness.”

    — David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan aren’t the only new Superman and Lois Lane in town. A new animated series, “My Adventures with Superman,” has Jack Quaid as the superhero’s voice along with Alice Lee as Lois Lane. Debuting Thursday on Adult Swim, the story follows Clark Kent as a reporter for the local paper in Metropolis who also happens to be a secret superhero.

    — Adventurist Bear Grylls has found more celebrities to take out of their comfort zone and be tested by the great outdoors. Watch Bradley Cooper venture out into the Wyoming Basin on a new season of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” premiering Sunday, July 9. Other stars featured include Troy Kotsur, Grylls’ first deaf guest whom he takes to the Scottish Highlands, “Doctor Strange” and “Sherlock” star Benedict Cumberbatch, Tatiana Maslany of “She-Hulk,” recording artist Rita Ora, and Tony Award-winners Daveed Diggs and Cynthia Erivo.

    — Bravo is sending two of its most iconic Bravo-lebrities, Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” and giving them the “Simple Life”-meets-“Schitt’s Creek” treatment in “Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.” Normally accustomed to trips to the Hamptons or St. Tropez, the pair jet off to Benton, Illinois, where the population is less than 7,000. The socialites check into a motel and are requested by the mayor to boost Benton’s morale. De Lesseps and Morgan revitalize a local theater with a variety show and build a new program. They also take part in activities like searching a nearby lake for crappie fish with their bare hands or going mudding with monster trucks. The show premieres Sunday, July 9, on Bravo and episodes will stream the following day on Peacock.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

    — In 2004, the Japanese developer Nihon Falcom launched one of the most ambitious video game franchises in history with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Ten titles later, the drama of the war-torn land of Zemuria shows no signs of slowing down, and it has been finding a wider Western audience since NIS America took over the English translations in 2019. The latest chapter, The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, is being pitched as the series’ midpoint, so it may be a good chance for newcomers to catch up and the story so far and brace themselves for the endgame. If you relish the turn-by-turn strategy and anime-influenced storytelling of old-school Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, you can pick up the trail Friday, July 7, on PlayStation 5/4 and Nintendo Switch.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.

    Source link

  • What to stream this week: Taylor Swift, a new animated ‘Superman,’ ‘Biosphere’ and ‘Wham!’

    What to stream this week: Taylor Swift, a new animated ‘Superman,’ ‘Biosphere’ and ‘Wham!’

    Taylor Swift’s rerecording of her “Speak Now” and survivalist Bear Grylls taking Bradley Cooper and Rita Ora into the wild are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are the sci-fi comedy ”Biosphere” starring Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass, and a new spin-off series starring Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan from “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

    NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

    — Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass are the last two men on Earth in the not-too-distant-future sci-fi comedy ”Biosphere,” available in theaters and on demand on Friday, July 7 from IFC. John DeFore in The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it’s “a mysterious and hilarious pic that really can’t be discussed much without saying things a prospective viewer would be better off not hearing.” “Biosphere” is the directorial debut of Mel Elsyn, who co-wrote the script with Duplass.

    — If Paramount+ isn’t in your streaming bundle, “80 for Brady” will be available on Prime Video starting Tuesday. The movie, inspired by a true story, stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field as a quartet of best friends, and lifelong Patriots fans, who go to the super bowl to see Tom Brady play. Reviews weren’t great, but most singled out the legendary actors as reason enough to take a chance. Stephanie Zacherek, in Time, wrote it was “brassy, ridiculous and shameless” and also “irresistible,” while critic Katie Walsh singled out the “loose, absurdist” humor of the screenplay. Plus, it’s only 98 minutes.

    — Freddie (Park Ji-min) is a 25-year-old who was adopted as a child, raised in France and decides to return to South Korea, where she was born, for the first time in “Return to Seoul,” coming to Mubi on Friday, July 7. The critically acclaimed film, written and directed by Davy Chou, got a little lost in its theatrical run but made a handful of year-end best of lists. Richard Lawson, in Vanity Fair, wrote, “She’s a fascinating creation, prickly and mercurial and, for a spell, immoral. But Chou eventually rounds his film into something compassionate, a bittersweet collage of a young life in flux.”

    — AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

    NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

    — Taylor Swift has given us a chance to travel back in time after she re-recorded her sophomore country album, “Speak Now,” her third do-over after “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).” “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” has 22 songs, including six that were written during the album’s original era, but not recorded until recently. Fall Out Boy and Paramore’s Hayley Williams are among the guest appearances. Swift wrote on social media: “Since ‘Speak Now’ was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album.”

    — If PJ Harvey’s new album sounds fresh and inspired that’s because the new songs came out in about three weeks and they were recorded spontaneously. “I Inside the Old Year Dying” is Harvey’s 10th studio album and first since 2016’s Grammy-nominated “The Hope Six Demolition Project.” The album is produced by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish. Lead folkish single “A Child’s Question, August,” is filled with pastoral imagery, sparse instrumentation and the singer’s soprano.

    — Go to Netflix if you’re hoping to wake up before you go-go to celebrate a special pop duo in “Wham!” The 92-minute documentary about the musical pair — George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley — lands Wednesday and promises access to personal archives including never-before-seen footage, and previously unheard interviews. The doc, directed by Chris Smith, charts the duo’s four-year journey from teenage school friends to global superstars with hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Young Guns.” Michael died in 2016.

    — AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

    NEW SERIES TO STREAM

    — Part one of “The Lincoln Lawyer” season two drops Thursday on Netflix. If you haven’t watched the series based on the novels by Michael Connelly, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Mickey Haller. Haller is a well-known defense attorney in Los Angeles who has a keen ability to think outside the box in ways to help his clients. He’s also often chauffeured around town in a Lincoln while he does work from the back seat. Season one saw Haller return to law after several setbacks including addiction and a divorce. In season two, Haller is the It Lawyer in town. Season two is based on Connelly book’ “The Fifth Witness.”

    — David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan aren’t the only new Superman and Lois Lane in town. A new animated series, “My Adventures with Superman,” has Jack Quaid as the superhero’s voice along with Alice Lee as Lois Lane. Debuting Thursday on Adult Swim, the story follows Clark Kent as a reporter for the local paper in Metropolis who also happens to be a secret superhero.

    — Adventurist Bear Grylls has found more celebrities to take out of their comfort zone and be tested by the great outdoors. Watch Bradley Cooper venture out into the Wyoming Basin on a new season of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” premiering Sunday, July 9. Other stars featured include Troy Kotsur, Grylls’ first deaf guest whom he takes to the Scottish Highlands, “Doctor Strange” and “Sherlock” star Benedict Cumberbatch, Tatiana Maslany of “She-Hulk,” recording artist Rita Ora, and Tony Award-winners Daveed Diggs and Cynthia Erivo.

    — Bravo is sending two of its most iconic Bravo-lebrities, Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” and giving them the “Simple Life”-meets-“Schitt’s Creek” treatment in “Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.” Normally accustomed to trips to the Hamptons or St. Tropez, the pair jet off to Benton, Illinois, where the population is less than 7,000. The socialites check into a motel and are requested by the mayor to boost Benton’s morale. De Lesseps and Morgan revitalize a local theater with a variety show and build a new program. They also take part in activities like searching a nearby lake for crappie fish with their bare hands or going mudding with monster trucks. The show premieres Sunday, July 9, on Bravo and episodes will stream the following day on Peacock.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

    — In 2004, the Japanese developer Nihon Falcom launched one of the most ambitious video game franchises in history with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Ten titles later, the drama of the war-torn land of Zemuria shows no signs of slowing down, and it has been finding a wider Western audience since NIS America took over the English translations in 2019. The latest chapter, The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, is being pitched as the series’ midpoint, so it may be a good chance for newcomers to catch up and the story so far and brace themselves for the endgame. If you relish the turn-by-turn strategy and anime-influenced storytelling of old-school Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, you can pick up the trail Friday, July 7, on PlayStation 5/4 and Nintendo Switch.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.

    Source link

  • ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ swings to massive $120.5 million opening

    ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ swings to massive $120.5 million opening

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” opened in U.S. and Canadian theaters with a massive $120.5 million, more than tripling the debut of the 2018 animated original and showing the kind of movie-to-movie box-office growth that would be the envy of even the mightiest of Hollywood franchises.

    Sony Pictures’ “Across the Spider-Verse,” the multi-verse spinning animated Spider-Man spinoff, sailed way past expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday, riding terrific reviews (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and strong buzz for the hotly anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

    In the sometimes formulaic realm of superhero movies, 2018’s “Into the Spider-Verse” offered a blast of originality, introducing a teenage webslinger from Brooklyn, Miles Morales ( Shameik Moore ), a punk-rock Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and a host of other Spider-People. It launched with $35.4 million on its way to $384.3 million worldwide.

    “Across the Spider-Verse,” which exponentially expands the film’s universe-skipping worlds, cost $100 million to make, about half the cost of the average live-action comic-book movie. So at even the forecast $80 million that “Spider-Verse” had been expected to open, “Across the Spider-Verse” would have been a hit.

    Instead, it has turned out to be a box-office sensation, and the second largest domestic opening of 2023, trailing only “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” “Across the Spider-Verse,” directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, even topped “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which debuted with $118 million, for best opening weekend of the summer so far.

    The film, shepherded by writer-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, is part two in a trilogy that will conclude with a third chapter to be released next year. “Across the Spider-Verse” over-performed abroad, too, with $88.1 million overseas.

    After few family offerings for much of the first half of 2023, theaters are suddenly flush with kid-friendly entertainment. Last week’s top film, the Walt Disney Co.’s live action remake “The Little Mermaid,” slid to second with $40.6 million in it second weekend.

    After launching with $95.5 million and $117.5 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, “The Little Mermaid” dipped 57%, partly due to the formidable competition from “Across the Spider-Verse.”

    Having cost a reported $250 million to make, “The Little Mermaid” was met with mixed reviews but more enthusiasm from audiences, which gave it an “A” CinemaScore. But overseas, where previous Disney live-action remakes have thrived, is proving harder territory this time. The film added $42.4 million internationally over the weekend.

    Disney also supplied the weekend’s top counter-programming option in “The Boogeyman,” a mostly well-received horror adaptation of a Stephen King short story. Director Rob Savage’s $35 million film, starring Sophie Thatcher and Chris Messina, had originally been intended to debut on Hulu before the studio pivoted. It opened with $12.3 million in ticket sales.

    In limited release, the Sundance breakout film “Past Lives” launched with an impressive $58,067 per-screen average on four screens. Celine Song’s directorial debut stars Greta Lee as a woman torn between a childhood friend from Korea (Teo Yoo) and her American husband (John Magaro).

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $120.5 million.

    2. “The Little Mermaid,” $40.6 million.

    3. “The Boogeyman,” $12.3 million.

    4. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $10.2 million.

    5. “Fast X,” $9.2 million.

    6. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $3.4 million.

    7. “About My Father,” $2.1 million.

    8. “The Machine,” $1.8 million.

    9. “Suga: Agust D Tour Live in Japan,” $1.2 million.

    10. “You Hurt My Feelings,” $770,000.

    ___

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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  • ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ swings to massive $120.5 million opening

    ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ swings to massive $120.5 million opening

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” opened in U.S. and Canadian theaters with a massive $120.5 million, more than tripling the debut of the 2018 animated original and showing the kind of movie-to-movie box-office growth that would be the envy of even the mightiest of Hollywood franchises.

    Sony Pictures’ “Across the Spider-Verse,” the multi-verse spinning animated Spider-Man spinoff, sailed way past expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday, riding terrific reviews (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and strong buzz for the hotly anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

    In the sometimes formulaic realm of superhero movies, 2018’s “Into the Spider-Verse” offered a blast of originality, introducing a teenage webslinger from Brooklyn, Miles Morales ( Shameik Moore ), a punk-rock Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and a host of other Spider-People. It launched with $35.4 million on its way to $384.3 million worldwide.

    “Across the Spider-Verse,” which exponentially expands the film’s universe-skipping worlds, cost $100 million to make, about half the cost of the average live-action comic-book movie. So at even the forecast $80 million that “Spider-Verse” had been expected to open, “Across the Spider-Verse” would have been a hit.

    Instead, it has turned out to be a box-office sensation, and the second largest domestic opening of 2023, trailing only “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” “Across the Spider-Verse,” directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, even topped “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which debuted with $118 million, for best opening weekend of the summer so far.

    The film, shepherded by writer-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, is part two in a trilogy that will conclude with a third chapter to be released next year. “Across the Spider-Verse” over-performed abroad, too, with $88.1 million overseas.

    After few family offerings for much of the first half of 2023, theaters are suddenly flush with kid-friendly entertainment. Last week’s top film, the Walt Disney Co.’s live action remake “The Little Mermaid,” slid to second with $40.6 million in it second weekend.

    After launching with $95.5 million and $117.5 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, “The Little Mermaid” dipped 57%, partly due to the formidable competition from “Across the Spider-Verse.”

    Having cost a reported $250 million to make, “The Little Mermaid” was met with mixed reviews but more enthusiasm from audiences, which gave it an “A” CinemaScore. But overseas, where previous Disney live-action remakes have thrived, is proving harder territory this time. The film added $42.4 million internationally over the weekend.

    Disney also supplied the weekend’s top counter-programming option in “The Boogeyman,” a mostly well-received horror adaptation of a Stephen King short story. Director Rob Savage’s $35 million film, starring Sophie Thatcher and Chris Messina, had originally been intended to debut on Hulu before the studio pivoted. It opened with $12.3 million in ticket sales.

    In limited release, the Sundance breakout film “Past Lives” launched with an impressive $58,067 per-screen average on four screens. Celine Song’s directorial debut stars Greta Lee as a woman torn between a childhood friend from Korea (Teo Yoo) and her American husband (John Magaro).

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $120.5 million.

    2. “The Little Mermaid,” $40.6 million.

    3. “The Boogeyman,” $12.3 million.

    4. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $10.2 million.

    5. “Fast X,” $9.2 million.

    6. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $3.4 million.

    7. “About My Father,” $2.1 million.

    8. “The Machine,” $1.8 million.

    9. “Suga: Agust D Tour Live in Japan,” $1.2 million.

    10. “You Hurt My Feelings,” $770,000.

    ___

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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  • Movie Review: The giddy splendor of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

    Movie Review: The giddy splendor of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

    Let’s get this upfront: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was the best comic-book film of the last decade.

    With an animation blizzard blown straight in from the pages of comics, “Into the Spider-Verse” took a supercollider to all the conventions of the superhero movie. Solemnity was out. Gone, too, was the idea of a chosen one. Spider-Man could be anyone, including a graffiti-tagging kid from Brooklyn, including a pig named Spider-Ham. The possibilities of the comic book movie were suddenly limitless. With Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” thumping, the vibes were, as they say, immaculate.

    So a lot to live up to. Yet five years later, the Spider-verse is still expanding in thrilling ways. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is the rare sequel that dazzles as much as the original did. It’s something to behold. Colors drip, invert and splatter in a shimmering pop-art swirl.

    If “Into the Spider-Verse” reveled in the head-spinning collision of universes, “Across the Spider-Verse” turns the multiverse blender up a notch, or 10. Worlds bump into each other like shoppers in a crowded bodega. Spider-Men and Spider-Women tumble forth like unloaded clown cars. In this frenetic, freewheeling thing that dares you keep up with its web-slinging pace, the sheer muchness of what’s in the frame can be almost overwhelming.

    But despite all that’s going on, “Across the Spider-Verse” is remarkably grounded as a coming-of-age tale. The masterful flair of writers-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who penned the script with David Callaham, lies in how they detonate convention and then assemble the leftover, splintered shards to build something deceptively sweet and simple.

    The directing team has been entirely swapped out. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson take the reins in this second chapter, which finds Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) now a 15-year-old with a better handle on his crime-fighting powers. He’s less adept, though, at communicating with his parents, Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) and Rio (Luna Lauren Vélez), who still don’t know their son’s secret identity and are growing increasingly concerned about his strange behavior.

    Similar issues bedevil Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), who by revealing to her police captain father (Shea Whigham) that she’s Spider-Woman has caused a huge rift in their relationship. (He blames her for Peter Parker’s death.)

    When Miles and Gwen, stuck in worlds apart, meet again and swing in tandem through New York, they’re less a romantically linked Spidey pair than they are a couple of teenagers whose parents just don’t understand. When they sit together, on the underside of a ledge on the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower, gazing at an upside down Manhattan, hazy and blue in the distance, the lingering image perfectly encapsulates an electrifyingly downside-up movie franchise.

    In its chaotic and jumbled way, “Across the Spider-Verse” keeps playing with these notions. Miles and Gwen, rightly, feel exceptional — that their problems are unique to being enormously gifted kids. But the movie again and again reinforced that, yes, they’re supremely talented, but, no, they’re far from alone. “I’m Spider-Woman,” Gwen says when a pregnant superhero (Issa Rae) peels in on a motorbike. “Me, too,” she replies.

    This being a “Spider-Verse” movie, though, there more than just a few Spider-Men lurking about. There are actually gobs of them, each from some parallel world. (Among those here are a Mumbai-like New York, a Lego land and a nightmarish alternate reality.) The portals start opening thanks to The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a supervillain-in-training who looks like a splotchy blank page with ink drops on him.

    But Spot’s powers grow, bringing the attention of the Spider-Society, a gaggle of Spider-People who guard over order in the multiverse. Some of them are pretty cool — most notably Daniel Kaluuya’s Spider-Punk, a British rocker who looks like he dropped out of The Clash. Others, like the leader Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), are more serious and haunted.

    When worlds start colliding, prescribed storylines get upset. Seemingly anything goes in these multiverse realms, but, Miguel informs us, there is Canon that needs to be obeyed. Certain foundational narrative beats must occur, in some form, for every Spider-Man, including the sacrifice of a loved one.

    When Miles tests these tenets, he brings about a cataclysmic battle across the Spider-Verse, and a movie series hellbent on deconstruction faces-off against formula. For Lord and Miller, the post-modern makers of “The Lego Movie” and “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” it’s a battle they’ve been girding for their whole lives.

    The danger in all these crisscrossing dimensions is that no reality seems to mean all that much. By exponentially multiplying worlds and Spider-Men, “Across the Spider-Verse” risks making itself dizzy. Yet it surprisingly, even movingly, stays true to the teenage emotions at its core and the parent-kid relationships driving all these multiverse convulsions.

    It’s the first Marvel movie that I felt in the theater a palpable disappointment that it was over. (“Across the Spider-Verse” is a sequel in two parts, and ends here in full-on cliffhanger fashion.) That “Across the Spider-Verse” earned that response is surely partly due to its giddy design just as it is to its conviction that we all contain multitudes. As Rachel Dratch’s principal says in the film: “Every person is a universe.”

    “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse,” a Sony Pictures Animation release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements. Running time: 117 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

    ___

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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  • Movie Review: Disenchantment under the sea in live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’

    Movie Review: Disenchantment under the sea in live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’

    It’s not Rob Marshall’s fault that Disney’s latest live-action retread doesn’t really sing. “The Little Mermaid,” a somewhat drab undertaking with sparks of bioluminescence, suffers from the same fundamental issues that plagued “The Lion King,” “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Halle Bailey might be a lovely presence and possesses a superb voice that is distinctly different from Jodi Benson’s, but photorealistic fins, animals and environments do not make Disney fairy tales more enchanting on their own.

    The essential problem is that the live-action films have prioritized nostalgia and familiarity over compelling visual storytelling. They try to recreate beats and shots from their animated predecessors, defiantly ignoring the possibility that certain musical sequences and choices were enchanting and vibrant because they were animated, not in spite of it.

    There was, in the 1989 film, a sparkling awe to everything. The underwater castle. The mermaids. Eric’s ship. Even Ariel’s bright red hair. Combined with the wonderful songs and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, it’s not hard to understand why it helped fuel a Disney Animation renaissance.

    Anyone who has gone through the recent Disney’s live-action library would be right to approach “The Little Mermaid” with caution. Still, there’s excitement as the camera takes us underwater to give us our first glimpse of the mermaids — even after a somewhat ominous quote from Hans Christian Anderson that begins the movie (“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers much more”). You can’t help but be hopeful. But the first mermaid that comes into focus doesn’t so much evoke wonder as it does a flashback of Ben Stiller’s merman in “Zoolander.” The technology is better, sure, but the result is about the same. Worse, as we spend more time with them, following Ariel’s multicultural sisters as they gather around their father King Triton (Javier Bardem), it’s hard to shake a distinctly uncanny valley feeling. It’s like gazing in on a roundtable of AI supermodels with fins.

    For all its pizazz, everything about this “Little Mermaid” is just more muted. Miranda’s new songs are odd, too, and don’t seem to fit. Prince Eric’s (Jonah Hauer-King) makes sense, maybe even Ariel’s in-her-head anthem after she gives her voice to Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula, but did Scuttle really need a song, too?

    Speaking of Scuttle, the cute cartoons that stood in for Ariel’s seagull, crab and fish friends have been replaced with horrifyingly accurate depictions of said animals. Awkwafina’s comedy charms can only go so far while looking like an actual seagull who might be after your chips at the beach. Close-ups of its beady blue eyes are unsettling, though it was probably a good call to go blue over gold, which looks a bit demonic even in the cartoon. Sometimes it seems as though the editor is trying to minimize the unpleasantness by quickly cutting away from Scuttle. Flounder (Jacob Tremblay, who also voiced Luca) doesn’t have this problem as much, mainly because once they go out of the water he’s essentially hidden under the surface. Daveed Digg’s Sebastian gets off easy, looking the most pleasantly cartoonish. But then there’s that Jamaican accent that they decided to carry over (and this in a movie that adds a line about consent to “Kiss the Girl”).

    Visibility is a problem for more than just Flounder, too. Sometimes “The Little Mermaid’s” underwater sequences just look too underwater. Things are cloudy and dull and hard to see, once again probably in the name of authenticity, but straining to see what Marshall and the scores of VFX teams have labored on for years is not a pleasant experience. This could be a projection issue — I wasn’t in an especially high-tech theater with color enhancing upgrades. But that also means anyone without access to things like Dolby Vision around the world will have this issue, too. When Sebastian brings out the most colorful fish he can find for the “Under the Sea” number, you even start to empathize with Ariel a little bit. It is the exact opposite of the “ Avatar: The Way of Water ” experience.

    “The Little Mermaid,” a Walt Disney Co. release in theaters Friday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for “action/peril, some scary images.” Running time: 135 minutes. Two stars out of four.

    —-

    MPA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested.

    —-

    Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

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  • What to stream this week: ‘American Born Chinese,’ John Wick,’SmartLess On the Road’ and dinosaurs

    What to stream this week: ‘American Born Chinese,’ John Wick,’SmartLess On the Road’ and dinosaurs

    Sure, lots of folks are eagerly anticipating this Sunday’s “Succession” finale. But what if you haven’t followed the Roy family drama? There’s plenty of don’t miss new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are streaming arrival of the latest “John Wick” film, the end of a long drought of new Matchbox Twenty music, a video game that lets you play one of Middle Earth’s most recognizable characters and a television adaptation of the graphic novel “American Born Chinese.”

    NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

    — It can be hard to believe when corporate folks make genuinely altruistic gestures, especially involving their fortunes, but neither Kris McDivitt Tompkins, the first CEO of Patagonia, nor her late husband, Doug Tompkins, the founder the North Face and Esprit, were ones to play by the rules. “Wild Life,” a new documentary from the Oscar-winning “Free Solo” filmmakers, tells the story of this couple, their love of the outdoors, their adventurous spirits and how they funneled their fortunes to “rewilding” conservation efforts by buying up roughly 2.2 million acres in Argentina and Chile. “Wild Life” starts streaming on Disney+ and Hulu on Friday, May 26.

    — It’s a robust week for Sundance documentaries on streaming as “Victim/Suspect” debuts on Netflix on Tuesday. This film from director Nancy Schwartzman follows reporter Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: That in the United States, women reporting sexual assaults often become suspects. The film delves into possible flaws and loopholes in the system that may be enabling the chilling trend.

    — For more escapism, Keanu Reeves’ tireless assassin John Wick returns for a fourth film, which makes its way to video on demand on Tuesday. This time, Wick goes to Paris. He’s still being hunted but has also gone on the offensive. AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote in his review that this installment elevates and expands the franchise. “The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself,” Kennedy said. It also serves as a bittersweet farewell to the Continental Hotel concierge Charon, played by Lance Reddick, who died shortly before the film came out.

    — AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

    NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

    — Pop-rockers Matchbox Twenty end over a decade away with their fifth studio album, “Where The Light Goes,” out Friday, May 26. It’s an upbeat collection, opening with a horn-drenched, sing-along “Friends” — the chorus goes “All my friends are here” and the song features the vocals from bandmember Paul Doucette’s son — and other highlights include singer-songwriter Amanda Shires’ duet with frontman Rob Thomas on the cheerful “No Other Love” and the single “Wild Dogs (Running In a Slow Dream),” which captures that time in your youth when you finally find your people.

    — Go to your local movie theater to catch Roger Waters live on his “This Is Not a Drill” tour from the Czech Republic on Thursday. The concert will include 20 Pink Floyd and Waters classics, including: “Us & Them,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Is This The Life We Really Want?” Waters will also debut his new song, “The Bar.” The show will be broadcast to 1,500 cinemas across more than 50 countries.

    — Celebrate the end of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” by singing along with an album of the fifth and final season’s music. The album features songs like “ Relax Max” by Dinah Washington, “I Love The Way You Say Goodnight” by Doris Day with The Page Cavanaugh Trio, Barbra Streisand’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and Tony Bennett’s ”I Wanna Be Around.” Fans will appreciate actor Hank Azaria doing “Nancy (With The Laughing Face)” and the cast belting out “Everything Grows!”

    — AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

    NEW SERIES TO STREAM

    — Dinosaurs once again come to life in the second season of “Prehistoric Planet” on Apple TV+. Executive produced by Jon Favreau and the team behind “Planet Earth,” the docuseries uses the latest technology to not only create dinosaurs that look real, but also to immerse viewers into their habitat. Sir David Attenborough returns to narrate. “Prehistoric Planet” season two is presented as an event series, debuting Monday followed by a new episode each day that week.

    — Each episode of the “SmartLess” podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett features an entertaining conversation with a guest, but one of the best parts about the trio is their banter with each other. These longtime friends bicker and rib one another like family. The guys took their show on the road in 2022 to six cities, hosting conversations in front of a live, sold-out audience with surprise guests. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to see them live, it turns out cameras were rolling. “Smartless: On the Road” debuts Tuesday on Max.

    — The new action-comedy series “American Born Chinese” is based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. It stars Ben Wang as a high schooler trying to survive the daily life as a first generation American in a Chinese family. He meets an exchange student from Taiwan and finds himself caught up in a war of ancient Chinese Gods. The series strikes a balance between a coming-of-age story and mythology with the spirit of the graphic novel. It also boasts a cast that includes Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Michele Yeoh, plus Chin Han and Daniel Wu. Recurring cast members include Stephanie Hsu, Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang. “American Born Chinese” premieres Wednesday on Disney+.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

    — You’re off to visit Middle-Earth. Which character do you want to be? Frodo? Gandalf? Legolas? Daedalic Entertainment is betting on a more conflicted protagonist with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Instead of wielding cool weapons and flashy spells, Gollum has to rely on stealth and spiderlike climbing skills to survive. He also has to put up with kibitzing from his alter ego, Smeagol, the kindhearted hobbit Gollum was before being corrupted by his “preciousss” One Ring. The German studio Daedalic is best known for story-heavy adventures like its Deponia series, so it could be interesting to see how it tackles a tale set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling world. Gollum’s journey begins Friday, May 26, on Xbox X/S/One, PlayStation 5/4 and PC.

    — In a typical post-apocalyptic video game like Fallout or The Last of Us, there are still plenty of people wandering the planet. Private Division’s After Us isn’t messing around — in its future, human beings have been wiped off the face of the Earth. You play as Gaia, the “spirit of life,” and your mission is to gather the lost souls of all the species that have been driven to extinction. Oil-drenched monsters called Devourers are out to stop any hope of revival. Despite the grim setting, After Us looks gorgeous, evoking the haunted wasteland of the 2012 classic Journey. And Barcelona-based Piccolo Studio says it’s a story of “sacrifice and hope,” so Earth may not be done just yet. It arrives Tuesday on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.

    Source link

  • What to stream this week: ‘American Born Chinese,’ John Wick,’SmartLess On the Road’ and dinosaurs

    What to stream this week: ‘American Born Chinese,’ John Wick,’SmartLess On the Road’ and dinosaurs

    Sure, lots of folks are eagerly anticipating this Sunday’s “Succession” finale. But what if you haven’t followed the Roy family drama? There’s plenty of don’t miss new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are streaming arrival of the latest “John Wick” film, the end of a long drought of new Matchbox Twenty music, a video game that lets you play one of Middle Earth’s most recognizable characters and a television adaptation of the graphic novel “American Born Chinese.”

    NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

    — It can be hard to believe when corporate folks make genuinely altruistic gestures, especially involving their fortunes, but neither Kris McDivitt Tompkins, the first CEO of Patagonia, nor her late husband, Doug Tompkins, the founder the North Face and Esprit, were ones to play by the rules. “Wild Life,” a new documentary from the Oscar-winning “Free Solo” filmmakers, tells the story of this couple, their love of the outdoors, their adventurous spirits and how they funneled their fortunes to “rewilding” conservation efforts by buying up roughly 2.2 million acres in Argentina and Chile. “Wild Life” starts streaming on Disney+ and Hulu on Friday, May 26.

    — It’s a robust week for Sundance documentaries on streaming as “Victim/Suspect” debuts on Netflix on Tuesday. This film from director Nancy Schwartzman follows reporter Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: That in the United States, women reporting sexual assaults often become suspects. The film delves into possible flaws and loopholes in the system that may be enabling the chilling trend.

    — For more escapism, Keanu Reeves’ tireless assassin John Wick returns for a fourth film, which makes its way to video on demand on Tuesday. This time, Wick goes to Paris. He’s still being hunted but has also gone on the offensive. AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote in his review that this installment elevates and expands the franchise. “The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself,” Kennedy said. It also serves as a bittersweet farewell to the Continental Hotel concierge Charon, played by Lance Reddick, who died shortly before the film came out.

    — AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

    NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

    — Pop-rockers Matchbox Twenty end over a decade away with their fifth studio album, “Where The Light Goes,” out Friday, May 26. It’s an upbeat collection, opening with a horn-drenched, sing-along “Friends” — the chorus goes “All my friends are here” and the song features the vocals from bandmember Paul Doucette’s son — and other highlights include singer-songwriter Amanda Shires’ duet with frontman Rob Thomas on the cheerful “No Other Love” and the single “Wild Dogs (Running In a Slow Dream),” which captures that time in your youth when you finally find your people.

    — Go to your local movie theater to catch Roger Waters live on his “This Is Not a Drill” tour from the Czech Republic on Thursday. The concert will include 20 Pink Floyd and Waters classics, including: “Us & Them,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Is This The Life We Really Want?” Waters will also debut his new song, “The Bar.” The show will be broadcast to 1,500 cinemas across more than 50 countries.

    — Celebrate the end of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” by singing along with an album of the fifth and final season’s music. The album features songs like “ Relax Max” by Dinah Washington, “I Love The Way You Say Goodnight” by Doris Day with The Page Cavanaugh Trio, Barbra Streisand’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and Tony Bennett’s ”I Wanna Be Around.” Fans will appreciate actor Hank Azaria doing “Nancy (With The Laughing Face)” and the cast belting out “Everything Grows!”

    — AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

    NEW SERIES TO STREAM

    — Dinosaurs once again come to life in the second season of “Prehistoric Planet” on Apple TV+. Executive produced by Jon Favreau and the team behind “Planet Earth,” the docuseries uses the latest technology to not only create dinosaurs that look real, but also to immerse viewers into their habitat. Sir David Attenborough returns to narrate. “Prehistoric Planet” season two is presented as an event series, debuting Monday followed by a new episode each day that week.

    — Each episode of the “SmartLess” podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett features an entertaining conversation with a guest, but one of the best parts about the trio is their banter with each other. These longtime friends bicker and rib one another like family. The guys took their show on the road in 2022 to six cities, hosting conversations in front of a live, sold-out audience with surprise guests. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to see them live, it turns out cameras were rolling. “Smartless: On the Road” debuts Tuesday on Max.

    — The new action-comedy series “American Born Chinese” is based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. It stars Ben Wang as a high schooler trying to survive the daily life as a first generation American in a Chinese family. He meets an exchange student from Taiwan and finds himself caught up in a war of ancient Chinese Gods. The series strikes a balance between a coming-of-age story and mythology with the spirit of the graphic novel. It also boasts a cast that includes Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Michele Yeoh, plus Chin Han and Daniel Wu. Recurring cast members include Stephanie Hsu, Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang. “American Born Chinese” premieres Wednesday on Disney+.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

    — You’re off to visit Middle-Earth. Which character do you want to be? Frodo? Gandalf? Legolas? Daedalic Entertainment is betting on a more conflicted protagonist with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Instead of wielding cool weapons and flashy spells, Gollum has to rely on stealth and spiderlike climbing skills to survive. He also has to put up with kibitzing from his alter ego, Smeagol, the kindhearted hobbit Gollum was before being corrupted by his “preciousss” One Ring. The German studio Daedalic is best known for story-heavy adventures like its Deponia series, so it could be interesting to see how it tackles a tale set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling world. Gollum’s journey begins Friday, May 26, on Xbox X/S/One, PlayStation 5/4 and PC.

    — In a typical post-apocalyptic video game like Fallout or The Last of Us, there are still plenty of people wandering the planet. Private Division’s After Us isn’t messing around — in its future, human beings have been wiped off the face of the Earth. You play as Gaia, the “spirit of life,” and your mission is to gather the lost souls of all the species that have been driven to extinction. Oil-drenched monsters called Devourers are out to stop any hope of revival. Despite the grim setting, After Us looks gorgeous, evoking the haunted wasteland of the 2012 classic Journey. And Barcelona-based Piccolo Studio says it’s a story of “sacrifice and hope,” so Earth may not be done just yet. It arrives Tuesday on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.

    Source link

  • Review: Tom Hanks’ novel shares inside look at moviemaking

    Review: Tom Hanks’ novel shares inside look at moviemaking

    There may be no one better suited to tell the tale of how a movie gets made than Hollywood icon and master of the motion picture Tom Hanks

    ByKIANA DOYLE Associated Press

    This image released by Knopf shows “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece” by Tom Hanks. (Knopf via AP)

    The Associated Press

    “The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece,” by Tom Hanks (Knopf)

    There may be no one better suited to tell the tale of how a movie gets made than Hollywood icon and master of the motion picture Tom Hanks.

    His debut novel follows the life of a story from its inspiration to when it hits the silver screen. The fictional tale captures the magic of the process, yes, but also the crawling, detail-packed moviemaking step, presented just so in the bulk of the novel.

    The first act takes place in the ’70s, introducing readers to Robby Anderson, a 5-year-old with a knack for drawing comic strips, and his hero and Marine veteran uncle, Bob Falls. When Uncle Bob exits Robby’s life as quickly as he entered it, all Robby has left of him is a comic likeness he drew of his uncle as a World War II flamethrower superhero.

    Robby grows up to create a fully fledged comic strip based on said character, and after fast-forwarding to present day, the strip is discovered in a collection of old comics by genius movie director Bill Johnson, who’s seeking inspiration for a Marvel-esque superhero movie he’s itching to make.

    From there, the novel takes readers by the hand through the ins and outs of moviemaking. Straying from the plot frequently to delve into the many, many characters involved, not a detail is spared. Readers leave each lengthy introduction knowing the character’s drink of choice, relationship history and sense of humor.

    Perhaps at its heart, this novel acts as a thank you to the unsung heroes of movie production. Drivers, makeup artists and personal assistants alike all get a shot in the spotlight, sometimes at the expense of some semblance of any story progression.

    At one point, Bill’s agent says his script has “too many scenes, too many characters, too many pages and not enough conflict.” The same could be said for this novel, but if you have the patience to sit back and get to know each lovingly crafted character as much as Hanks wants you to, you can learn some interesting aspects of moviemaking and get a glimpse of what it takes to make a motion picture masterpiece.

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  • ‘Mario’ tops charts again; ‘Beau is Afraid’ wins in limited

    ‘Mario’ tops charts again; ‘Beau is Afraid’ wins in limited

    “The Super Mario Bros

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  • Al Jaffee, longtime Mad magazine cartoonist, dead at 102

    Al Jaffee, longtime Mad magazine cartoonist, dead at 102

    NEW YORK — Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” has died. He was 102.

    Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99.

    Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected “Fold-Ins,” taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.

    Readers savored his Fold-Ins like dessert, turning to them on the inside back cover after looking through such other favorites as Antonio Prohías’ “Spy vs. Spy” and Dave Berg’s “The Lighter Side.” The premise, originally a spoof of the old Sports Illustrated and Playboy magazine foldouts, was that you started with a full-page drawing and question on top, folded two designated points toward the middle and produced a new and surprising image, along with the answer.

    The Fold-In was supposed to be a onetime gag, tried out in 1964 when Jaffee satirized the biggest celebrity news of the time: Elizabeth Taylor dumping her husband, Eddie Fisher, in favor of “Cleopatra” co-star Richard Burton. Jaffee first showed Taylor and Burton arm in arm on one side of the picture, and on the opposite side a young, handsome man being held back by a policeman.

    Fold the picture in and Taylor and the young man are kissing.

    The idea was so popular that Mad editor Al Feldstein wanted a follow-up. Jaffee devised a picture of 1964 GOP presidential contenders Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon.

    “That one really set the tone for what the cleverness of the Fold-Ins has to be,” Jaffee told the Boston Phoenix in 2010. “It couldn’t just be bringing someone from the left to kiss someone on the right.”

    Jaffee was also known for “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” which delivered exactly what the title promised. A comic from 1980 showed a man on a fishing boat with a noticeably bent reel. “Are you going to reel in the fish?” his wife asks. “No,” he says, “I’m going to jump into the water and marry the gorgeous thing.”

    Jaffee didn’t just satirize the culture; he helped change it. His parodies of advertisements included such future real-life products as automatic redialing for a telephone, a computer spell checker and graffiti-proof surfaces. He also anticipated peelable stamps, multiblade razors and self-extinguishing cigarettes.

    Jaffee’s admirers ranged from Charles M. Schulz of “Peanuts” fame and “Far Side” creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by featuring a Fold-In cake on “The Colbert Report.” When Stewart and “The Daily Show” writers put together the best-selling “America (The Book),” they asked Jaffee to contribute a Fold-In.

    “When I was done, I called up the producer who’d contacted me, and I said, ‘I’ve finished the Fold-In, where shall I send it?’ And he said — and this was a great compliment — ‘Oh, please Mr. Jaffee, could you deliver it in person? The whole crew wants to meet you,’” he told The Boston Phoenix.

    Jaffee received numerous awards, and in 2013 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the ceremony taking place at San Diego Comic-Con International. In 2010, he contributed illustrations to Mary-Lou Weisman’s “Al Jaffee’s Mad Life: A Biography.” The following year, Chronicle Books published “The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010.”

    Art was the saving presence of his childhood, which left him with permanent distrust of adults and authority. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but for years was torn between the U.S., where his father (a department store manager) preferred to live, and Lithuania, where his mother (a religious Jew) longed to return. In Lithuania, Jaffee endured poverty and bullying, but also developed his craft. With paper scarce and no school to attend, he learned to read and write through the comic strips mailed by his father.

    By his teens, he was settled in New York City and so obviously gifted that he was accepted into the High School of Music & Art. His schoolmates included Will Elder, a future Mad illustrator, and Harvey Kurtzmann, a future Mad editor. (His mother, meanwhile, remained in Lithuania and was apparently killed during the war).

    He had a long career before Mad. He drew for Timely Comics, which became Marvel Comics; and for several years sketched the “Tall Tales” panel for the New York Herald Tribune. Jaffee first contributed to Mad in the mid-1950s. He left when Kurtzmann quit the magazine, but came back in 1964.

    Mad lost much of its readership and edge after the 1970s, and Jaffee outlived virtually all of the magazine’s stars. But he rarely lacked for ideas even as his method, drawing by hand, remained mostly unchanged in the digital era.

    “I’m so used to being involved in drawing and knowing so many people that do it, that I don’t see the magic of it,” Jaffee told the publication Graphic NYC in 2009. “If you reflect and think about it, I’m sitting down and suddenly there’s a whole big illustration of people that appears. I’m astounded when I see magicians work; even though I know they’re all tricks. You can imagine what someone thinks when they see someone drawing freehand and it’s not a trick. It’s very impressive.”

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show that Antonio Prohías was the creator of the “Spy vs. Spy” comic strip.

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  • Graphic version of Anne Frank book removed by Florida school

    Graphic version of Anne Frank book removed by Florida school

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A high school along Florida’s Atlantic Coast has removed a graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank after a leader of a conservative advocacy group challenged it, claiming it minimized the Holocaust.

    “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed from a library at Vero Beach High School after a leader of Moms for Liberty in Indian River County raised an objection. The school’s principal agreed with the objection, and the book was removed last month.

    The book at one point shows the protagonist walking in a park, enchanted by female nude statues, and later proposing to a friend that they show each other their breasts.

    Under the school district’s policy, if anyone disagrees with the book’s removal, the decision can be appealed to a districtwide committee. But no one has challenged the removal, and there was no record of the book ever being checked out, Cristen Maddux, a spokeswoman for the School District of Indian River County, said Monday.

    Vero Beach is located 105 miles (169 kilometers) southeast of Orlando.

    Other books about Anne Frank and copies of the published diary she wrote chronicling her time hiding from the Nazis with her family and other Jews in German-occupied Amsterdam remain in the school systems’ libraries. The Jewish teenager’s diary was published in 1947, several years after she died in a concentration camp, and it has become a classic read by tens of millions of people around the world.

    By law, Florida schools are required to teach about the Holocaust, and nothing has changed in that respect, Maddux said.

    “The feedback that the Holocaust is being removed from the curriculum and students aren’t knowledgeable about what happened, that is not the case at all,” Maddux said. “It’s just a challenged book and the principal removed it.”

    Besides the Anne Frank graphic novel, Moms for Liberty in Indian River County objected to three books in the “Assassination Classroom” series, and they also were removed.

    Moms for Liberty leader Jennifer Pippin said the Anne Frank graphic novel violated state standards to teach the Holocaust accurately.

    “Even her version featured the editing out of the entries about sex,” Pippin said, referring to the original diary. “Even the publisher of the book calls it a ‘biography,’ meaning, it writes its own interpretive spin. It’s not the actual work. It quotes the work, but it’s not the diary in full. It chooses to offer a different view on the subject.”

    Published in 2018, the graphic novel was adapted from Anne Frank’s diary by Ari Folman, and David Polonsky provided the illustrations. Folman’s parents are Holocaust survivors.

    When contacted by email, the book’s publisher, Pantheon Graphic Library, forwarded the inquiry to Yves Kugelmann, a board member of a foundation set up by Anne Frank’s father, Otto, devoted to distributing Anne Frank’s diary and other matters. Kugelmann didn’t immediately respond to questions.

    The American Library Association reported last month that there were more than 1,200 demands to censor library books last year in the U.S., the highest number since the association began tracking more than 20 years ago.

    ___

    Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP

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  • ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is a box office smash

    ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is a box office smash

    Audiences said let’s go to the movie theater for “ The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” this weekend. The animated offering from Universal and Illumination powered up with $204.6 million in its first five days in 4,343 North American theaters, including $146.4 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

    With an estimated $173 million in international earnings and a global total of $377 million, “Mario” broke records for video game adaptations (passing “Warcraft’s” $210 million) and animated films (“Frozen 2’s” $358 million).

    Its global total makes it the biggest opening of 2023 and the second biggest three-day domestic animated opening (behind “Finding Dory”). It’s also a record for Illumination, the animation shop behind successful franchises like “Minions,” which has made over $5 billion from its 13 films.

    “This partnership between Nintendo and Illumination is just incredible and led to this extraordinary performance,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

    The PG-rated “Mario” is an origin story of Brooklyn plumbers Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, and Luigi (Charlie Day), who fall into a pipe and come out in another world full of Nintendo’s most famous characters, from Bowser (Jack Black) to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Critics were largely mixed. “Mario” currently has a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences were more favorable, giving it an A CinemaScore.

    Orr said that theater owners were surprised by just how broad the audiences were and reported seeing some ticket buyers decked out in character costumes for the movie. According to exit polls, 59% of the audience was male and 45% were between the ages of 18 and 34.

    “$377 million worldwide is just astounding and a testament to how important outside of the home activities are for families,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Kids and their parents collectively were able to go out, have an outside the home event for the whole family at a relatively bargain price compared to a trip or a sporting event.”

    Also, Dergarabedian noted, there is a long runway before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opens on May 5.

    “This was a perfect release date,” Dergarabedian said.

    “Mario” wasn’t the only movie based on a brand that opened in theaters this week. Ben Affleck’s “Air,” about the origins of Nike’s Air Jordan and how the corporation signed Michael Jordan, also debuted in 3,507 theaters Wednesday. The film, which marks Amazon Studios first global theatrical release, has grossed an estimated $20.2 million since opening Wednesday in North America, with $14.5 million coming from the weekend to give it a fourth place start.

    With an R-rating, “Air,” starring Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Affleck, was a bit of adult-targeted counter programming to the “Mario” juggernaut. Reviews were glowing (95% on Rotten Tomatoes) for the film which debuted as a surprise screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival last month, helping to bolster buzz. Audiences were 55% male and 39% over the age of 45.

    “’Air’ found its audience. It’s a solid gross,” Dergarabedian said. “This one is in it for the long haul.”

    “Air” is the first film from Affleck and Damon’s new company Artists Equity which was formed last year in partnership with RedBird Capital.

    Second place went to “John Wick Chapter 4” which made $14.6 million in its third weekend, bringing its total grosses to $147.1 million. Close behind was “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” which placed third with $14.5 million in its second weekend, while “Scream VI” rounded out the top 5 with $3.3 million.

    In limited release, Kelly Reichardt’s art-centric “ Showing Up,” with Michelle Williams and Hong Chau, also bowed on four screens, grossing $66,932.

    “This is such an important weekend for theaters, a home stretch heading into the summer movie season, and this is a perfect scenario,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s game on for movie theaters when a lot of people thought it was game over.”

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $146.4 million.

    2. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $14.6 million.

    3. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $14.5 million.

    4. “Air,” $14.5 million.

    5. “Scream VI,” $3.3 million.

    6. “His Only Son,” $3.3 million.

    7. “Creed III,” $2.8 million.

    8. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” $1.6 million.

    9. “Paint,” $750,000.

    10. “A Thousand and One,” $600,000.

    —-

    Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

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  • ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is a box office smash

    ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is a box office smash

    Audiences said let’s go to the movie theater for “ The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” this weekend. The animated offering from Universal and Illumination powered up with $204.6 million in its first five days in 4,343 North American theaters, including $146.4 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

    With an estimated $173 million in international earnings and a global total of $377 million, “Mario” broke records for video game adaptations (passing “Warcraft’s” $210 million) and animated films (“Frozen 2’s” $358 million).

    Its global total makes it the biggest opening of 2023 and the second biggest three-day domestic animated opening (behind “Finding Dory”). It’s also a record for Illumination, the animation shop behind successful franchises like “Minions,” which has made over $5 billion from its 13 films.

    “This partnership between Nintendo and Illumination is just incredible and led to this extraordinary performance,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

    The PG-rated “Mario” is an origin story of Brooklyn plumbers Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, and Luigi (Charlie Day), who fall into a pipe and come out in another world full of Nintendo’s most famous characters, from Bowser (Jack Black) to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Critics were largely mixed. “Mario” currently has a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences were more favorable, giving it an A CinemaScore.

    Orr said that theater owners were surprised by just how broad the audiences were and reported seeing some ticket buyers decked out in character costumes for the movie. According to exit polls, 59% of the audience was male and 45% were between the ages of 18 and 34.

    “$377 million worldwide is just astounding and a testament to how important outside of the home activities are for families,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Kids and their parents collectively were able to go out, have an outside the home event for the whole family at a relatively bargain price compared to a trip or a sporting event.”

    Also, Dergarabedian noted, there is a long runway before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opens on May 5.

    “This was a perfect release date,” Dergarabedian said.

    “Mario” wasn’t the only movie based on a brand that opened in theaters this week. Ben Affleck’s “Air,” about the origins of Nike’s Air Jordan and how the corporation signed Michael Jordan, also debuted in 3,507 theaters Wednesday. The film, which marks Amazon Studios first global theatrical release, has grossed an estimated $20.2 million since opening Wednesday in North America, with $14.5 million coming from the weekend to give it a fourth place start.

    With an R-rating, “Air,” starring Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Affleck, was a bit of adult-targeted counter programming to the “Mario” juggernaut. Reviews were glowing (95% on Rotten Tomatoes) for the film which debuted as a surprise screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival last month, helping to bolster buzz. Audiences were 55% male and 39% over the age of 45.

    “’Air’ found its audience. It’s a solid gross,” Dergarabedian said. “This one is in it for the long haul.”

    “Air” is the first film from Affleck and Damon’s new company Artists Equity which was formed last year in partnership with RedBird Capital.

    Second place went to “John Wick Chapter 4” which made $14.6 million in its third weekend, bringing its total grosses to $147.1 million. Close behind was “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” which placed third with $14.5 million in its second weekend, while “Scream VI” rounded out the top 5 with $3.3 million.

    In limited release, Kelly Reichardt’s art-centric “ Showing Up,” with Michelle Williams and Hong Chau, also bowed on four screens, grossing $66,932.

    “This is such an important weekend for theaters, a home stretch heading into the summer movie season, and this is a perfect scenario,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s game on for movie theaters when a lot of people thought it was game over.”

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $146.4 million.

    2. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $14.6 million.

    3. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $14.5 million.

    4. “Air,” $14.5 million.

    5. “Scream VI,” $3.3 million.

    6. “His Only Son,” $3.3 million.

    7. “Creed III,” $2.8 million.

    8. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” $1.6 million.

    9. “Paint,” $750,000.

    10. “A Thousand and One,” $600,000.

    —-

    Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

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  • Netflix making live-action ‘One Piece’ from popular manga

    Netflix making live-action ‘One Piece’ from popular manga

    TOKYO — Hit Japanese manga “One Piece” is coming to Netflix as a live-action series — a development that’s both exciting and worrisome for fans who have seen mixed success in a growing list of Hollywood adaptations.

    Chronicling the coming-of-age adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate with a heart of gold, the world’s bestselling manga series has already been adapted into an anime TV series with over 900 episodes. There are also 13 animated movies, “One Piece” video games and merchandise galore.

    Ready to give her verdict is Nina Oiki, a gender and politics researcher at Tokyo’s Waseda University who has been a “One Piece” fan since she was in elementary school. She read the manga created by Eiichiro Oda when it first came out in Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, and watched the animated show that followed shortly after.

    “I know some people are worried about what might happen with the Hollywood remake,” she said, noting how past American attempts at depicting Japanese comics and animated works have at times proved disappointing.

    The 2017 Netflix movie adaptation of “Death Note,” a manga and anime about a book that can kill people, was widely critiqued as a flop. In December 2021, Netflix canceled “Cowboy Bebop,” its live-action adaptation of the space Western manga and anime of the same name, after just one season.

    The cross-pollination of Hollywood and Japan goes back for decades. References to Japan, such as the image of a geisha on a screen, are plentiful in the 1982 sci-fi movie “Blade Runner,” directed by Ridley Scott.

    The film, in turn, influenced anime, including the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” anime that first aired in 2021.

    Japanese pop culture expert Roland Kelts says it’s a “stunning moment for anime,” in part due to streaming on platforms like Netflix, which has helped make entertainment borderless.

    Live-action “One Piece,” expected later this year, comes on the heels of the global success of “Demon Slayer,” another manga that got its start in Shonen Jump and was adapted into a movie and an anime series that was picked up by Netflix.

    In February, The Pokémon Company announced “Pokémon Concierge,” a stop-motion anime collaboration with Netflix. Pokémon is the world’s most valuable media franchise with estimated all-time sales of $100 billion, according to a 2021 Statista report. Followed by Hello Kitty, the two Japanese products outrank Western offerings like Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars. Hollywood live-action adaptations of other popular Japanese products — from Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 body-swap anime “Your Name” to the “Gundam” franchise of giant robots that started in 1979 — are also in progress.

    Anime has a low production cost compared to live-action films, and computer-generated heroes don’t get sick or injured or make offensive remarks offscreen like real-life actors sometimes do, making it a marketable medium, said Kelts, author of “Japanamerica,” which documents Japanese pop culture’s influence in the United States.

    “They are stylized and stateless characters. What I mean by that is that anime characters travel globally very, very well,” Kelts said. “The human celebrities don’t always travel so well.”

    Established bestsellers offer the advantage of a built-in fanbase, but they also come with strict scrutiny. Some, like “Ghost in the Shell,” have been criticized for “whitewashing” the Asian original. The 1995 animated movie was made into a Hollywood live-action in 2017 amid complaints about casting white American actor Scarlett Johansson as the main character — though Asia largely stayed out of the debate.

    Live-action “One Piece” will star Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy (“The Imperfects”) as Luffy — whose nationality is canonically a mystery — alongside American actor Emily Rudd (“The Romanoffs”) as Nami and Japanese-American actor Mackenyu (“Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation”) as Roronoa Zoro.

    The main character’s inclusive persona, drawing more and more companions to join his quest throughout the story, highlights the kind of school, office or workplace environment people crave in modern-day society, fan Oiki said.

    “Luffy is that leader we all want,” she said. “Luffy is a hero but not an extraordinary hero. He is one of us. He wants to be king of the pirates, but not so he can rule, but so everyone can be free.”

    ___

    Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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  • Dr. Seuss’ ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas!’ gets a sequel

    Dr. Seuss’ ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas!’ gets a sequel

    BOSTON (AP) — Dr. Seuss fans might find their hearts growing three sizes this coming holiday season with the release of a sequel to the 1957 classic children’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

    The new book picks up one year after the original, and like the first, teaches a valuable lesson about the true spirit of the holiday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children’s Books announced Thursday.

    The sequel entitled “How the Grinch Lost Christmas!” is not based on a newly discovered manuscript by Seuss — whose real name was Theodor Geisel — but was written and illustrated by an author and artist with previous experience in the Dr. Seuss universe.

    “One of the most asked questions we receive from Seuss fans of all ages is ’What do you think happened to the Grinch after he stole Christmas?” said Alice Jonaitis, executive editor at Random House Children’s Books, in a statement.

    The original Grinch book has sold nearly 10 million copies in North America alone and like other Seuss books has been translated into multiple languages. It was made into a 1966 animated TV special narrated by Boris Karloff, a 2000 live-action movie starring Jim Carrey and a computer-animated film in 2018 with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch.

    The new book, scheduled for release Sept. 5, is written by Alastair Heim and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz. Heim has written Seuss-themed books like “If I Ran Your School” and “I Am the Cat in the Hat.” Ruiz has illustrated the Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library books for more than two decades.

    “All throughout writing the story, I couldn’t fully believe that I was actually getting to play in the amazing creative sandbox Dr. Seuss created all those decades ago,” Heim said in an email.

    Working on the Grinch sequel was an awesome responsibility, Ruiz said via email.

    “When I heard of the opportunity to be a part of this project, I jumped at the chance only to find that it was difficult and daunting to approach adding to or expanding such an esteemed and treasured part of the American Christmas canon,” he said.

    In the original, the Grinch tries to ruin Christmas for the people of Who-ville by making off in the middle of the night with all the material trappings and sumptuous food of the holiday.

    When the Whos gather to sing on Christmas morning, the Grinch realizes that the holiday is not about toys and feasting, but about joyously celebrating with family and neighbors and as Seuss wrote, the Grinch’s “heart grew three sizes that day.”

    In the sequel, the Grinch wants to show how much he loves the holiday by winning Who-ville’s Christmas Crown with the most spectacular Christmas tree ever seen, according to Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

    But when his plan goes awry, the Grinch turns into his old, cold-hearted self, until his friend Cindy-Lou Who, reminds him that Christmas is not all about winning.

    Geisel, who died in 1991 at age 87, authored dozens of books, including “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat.”

    Some of his work has been criticized in recent years because of racist imagery that in 2021 prompted Dr. Seuss Enterprises to cease publication of six books, including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo.”

    But his work remains popular. Forbes magazine ranked him eighth on a 2022 list of the highest-paid dead celebrities, with $32 million in earnings.

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  • Rapid demise of ‘Dilbert’ is no surprise to those watching

    Rapid demise of ‘Dilbert’ is no surprise to those watching

    The comic strip “Dilbert” disappeared with lightning speed following racist remarks by creator Scott Adams, but it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has followed them both

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  • Dilbert distributor severs ties to creator over race remarks

    Dilbert distributor severs ties to creator over race remarks

    Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of his recent comments about race when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced Sunday it would no longer work with the cartoonist.

    Andrews McMeel Chairman Hugh Andrews and CEO and President Andy Sareyan said in a joint statement that the syndication company was “severing our relationship” with Adams.

    In the Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

    Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech, but the comments by the cartoonist were not compatible with the core values of the company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

    “We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” they said in the statement posted on the company website and Twitter.

    The creator of the long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture defended himself on social media against those whom he said “hate me and are canceling me.”

    The backlash against Adams arose following comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to reference a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.”

    Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure.

    The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.

    Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

    “Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.

    In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

    “But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

    Dilbert had already been dropped by several media outlets by the time of the announcement from its distributor.

    “We have decided to no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following racist comments by Scott Adams,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The New York Times who said Dilbert was published in the international print edition but not in the U.S. edition or online.

    The Washington Post said it would stop publishing Dilbert in light of “Scott Adams’s recent statements promoting segregation,” although the strip could not be prevented from running in some forthcoming print editions.

    The Los Angeles Times cited Adams’ “racist comments” while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics — which are printed in advance — will be March 12.

    The San Antonio Express-News, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

    The USA Today Network tweeted Friday that it will stop publishing Dilbert “due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”

    The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of media company Advance Local also announced they are dropping Dilbert.

    “This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote. ”We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

    Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

    “But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

    Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended Adams in posts on the platform, saying the media previously “was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians.”

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  • Cruise, “Everything Everywhere” honored at producers’ awards

    Cruise, “Everything Everywhere” honored at producers’ awards

    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Tom Cruise was honored for his nearly three decades of work as a producer, and “ Everything Everywhere All at Once ” solidified its status as the frontrunner for the best picture Oscar by taking the top prize at Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards.

    “We love you! We love you!” another Oscar favorite and one of the film’s stars, Ke Huy Quan, shouted gleefully from the stage as Jonathan Wang and the other producers of the multiversal dramedy accepted the award for best theatrical motion picture.

    The award has proven to be perhaps the best indicator for what will win the top honor at the Oscars, with four of the past five and 11 of the past 14 PGA winners going on to win best picture.

    PGA wins by “ CODA ” last year and “ Nomadland ” in 2021 set each apart as frontrunners before winning best picture.

    The strong possibility of a big night at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards could further mark “Everything Everywhere” as the film to beat at the March 12 Academy Awards.

    Cruise the actor caused a stir inside and outside with his presence at the show at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, but his producing career beginning in 1996 with “Mission: Impossible” earned him the David O. Selznick Award at the PGAs, a life achievement honor previously bestowed on Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, Mary Parent and Brian Grazer.

    “My whole life I wanted to make movies,” said Cruise, wearing a tuxedo with his hair grown out to the length he wore it in “Mission: Impossible 2.” “I wanted to travel the world, and have adventure.”

    Cruise talked about making his film debut in 1981’s “Taps” at age 18 and how producer Stanley Jaffe let him in on every part of the process.

    “I was certain this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

    Cruise thanked Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original 1986 “Top Gun” and his producing partner on last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which also was nominated for the top PGA award and is up for the best picture Oscar.

    “You opened the door for me,” Cruise told Bruckheimer. “You welcomed me in and I will be grateful forever.”

    Since the first “Mission: Impossible,” Cruise has regularly been a producer on the films in which he has starred, including “Vanilla Sky,” “The Last Samurai,” “Jack Reacher” and the other five films in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

    He paid tribute in his acceptance to many other mentors and partners including Spielberg and former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, who presented the award.

    “You’ve all enabled me the adventurous life that I wanted,” he said.

    Cruise gave a closing shout-out to “all the audiences, for whom I work first and foremost, thank you for letting me entertain you.”

    Other movies honored by the PGA included “Navalny,” which won for best documentary feature, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which took best animated film, and “Till,” which won the Stanley Kramer Award honoring a production or producer that illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.

    In the PGA’s television categories, “The Bear” won for best comedy, “The White Lotus” won for best drama, “Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls” won for best reality or competition series, “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” won for non-fiction series, “The Dropout” won best limited series and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” won best TV movie.

    Mindy Kaling received the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television for her work producing shows including “The Mindy Project,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Velma” and “The Office.”

    “I’m a child of immigrants and that unexpectedly became my secret weapon,” Kaling said.

    B.J. Novak, her former “Office” co-writer and co-star, presented Kaling with the award, saying she “cared about characters other people hadn’t cared about enough to put on TV, and they cared about things that other people on TV hadn’t cared about.”

    ___

    Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

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  • Media drop Dilbert after creator’s Black ‘hate group’ remark

    Media drop Dilbert after creator’s Black ‘hate group’ remark

    The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.”

    Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

    Andrews McMeel Syndication, which distributes Dilbert, did not immediately respond Saturday to requests for comment. But Adams defended himself on social media against those whom he said “hate me and are canceling me.”

    Dilbert is a long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture.

    The backlash began following an episode this past week of the YouTube show, “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams referenced a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.”

    Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure.

    The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.

    Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

    “Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.

    In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

    “But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

    The Los Angeles Times cited Adams’ “racist comments” while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics — which are printed in advance — will be March 12.

    The San Antonio Express-News, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

    The USA Today Network tweeted Friday that it also will stop publishing Dilbert “due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”

    The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of Advance Local media also announced that they are dropping Dilbert.

    “This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” wrote Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer. ”We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

    Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

    “But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

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