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  • Caught Stealing With a Hand in Pi: Darren Aronofsky’s Expertise in 1998

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    As Xan Brooks of The Guardian pointed out in an interview with Darren Aronofsky, his latest film, Caught Stealing, “could almost be his parallel-universe first movie, given that it’s set in 1998, around the time he was shooting his actual first film, Pi, on the same East Side streets.” But beyond just that full-circle kind of correlation, there are many marked similarities between Pi and Caught Stealing…even though Aronofsky didn’t write the script for the latter. No, instead, Charlie Huston adapted it from his own novel of the same name, originally released in 2004. A year that found the masses still coming off the “high” of the late 90s. Sobered instead by the new realities of the twenty-first century, which weren’t at all what they had been made out to be as the twentieth century came to a close. Or, as Aronofsky puts it, “People were looking forward to the new millennium. It was going to be The Jetsons. It was going to be sci-fi.” Turns out, it was just going to be a shitshow. And one that greased the wheels for the current horrors plaguing the globe (though the U.S. in particular). 

    Granted, many were still generally feeling plagued (and paranoid) in the late 90s, as Aronofsky shows only too well through his main character in Pi, Max Cohen (Sean Gullette). Although a number theorist, Max is what “the suits” would call “unemployed.” But that doesn’t mean his time isn’t constantly occupied, mainly by an obsession with finding the numerical pattern in everything, even a number as chaotic, as unknowable as pi. And, being the type of person who, the more he’s told something can’t be done, has to do it, it’s no wonder that 1) he thinks he can find a pattern in pi and 2) among the initial voiceovers the viewer hears from Max is that when he a child, his mother told him not to stare into the sun. “So once when I was six I did.” The result was temporary blindness and, in the present, randomly occurring, debilitating headaches. Even so, it seemed Max found it worth it to prove something to himself. More accurately, to find out something for himself. 

    At the same time, denial and avoidance are imperative to the way he lives, functions. The same can definitely be said of Caught Stealing’s anti-hero, Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler), who descended upon New York’s Lower East Side after running away from his dark past in California, where, once upon a time, he had a bright future ahead of him. For he was slated to become a professional baseball player. That is, until he, like Max, engaged in the kind of self-destructive behavior that was to doom his once-bright future. And, also like Max, Hank might be viewed as “barely getting by” on the financial front. This during one of the last eras in New York when it was possible to just “kind of be there” without an actual career.  Or at least a career goal. But Hank’s lone goal is to forget, able to do so in part thanks to the alcohol perks of being a bartender at a dive called Paul’s Bar. With Paul (Griffin Dunne) filling in for the sort-of mentor role that Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis) fulfills in Pi.

    Hank’s only other “distraction” is Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), a paramedic who increasingly wonders just how serious their relationship is (on a related side note regarding Hank’s “emotional distractions,” there’s also, of course, Bud, the cat he’s saddled with early on in the movie). But at least Hank doesn’t come across as asexual in the least, like Max, who clams up if his clearly interested neighbor, Devi (Samia Shoaib), so much as approaches his, er, peephole. And yes, the POV shot from the peephole is among the pivotal filming techniques that Aronofsky uses to assert a “unique style” for his debut. Even if it is the sort of style most commonly associated with debuts: deliberately “esoteric.” 

    Aronofsky’s directorial signatures have, needless to say, been quite fine-tuned since then, with Caught Stealing exemplifying his ease with “slickness.” But not the kind of slickness that was so aware of itself in the late 90s (see also: The Matrix, which seems to have borrowed certain elements of Pi, if for no other reason than modeling the apartment that Neo [Keanu Reeves] lives in after Max’s). And yet, part of what makes Pi such a distinctively “of its time” product is its highly postmodern sense of self-awareness (complete with the voiceover trope that was so popular in “edgy” 90s movies—case in point, Fight Club). 

    What’s more, the soundtrack of Pi is so authentically of the 90s that it would be impossible to fully entrench Caught Stealing’s sound in that way. Try as Aronofsky might with the inclusion of such signature alt-rock hits of the day (with Madonna’s “Ray of Light” also thrown in for some added “1998 musical clout”) as Garbage’s “I Think I’m Paranoid, Smash Mouth’s “Walkin’ on the Sun” and Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy.” But he also deliberately ties Pi and Caught Stealing together with a sonic thread. Namely, through Orbital. In Pi, it’s Orbital’s “P.E.T.R.O.L.” that helps add to the overarching feeling of paranoia Max is spreading to the viewer; in Caught Stealing, it’s Orbital’s “Satan” that gets used instead. This along with David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans,” which casually plays in the background while Hank is hanging out with Yvonne. Because Aronofsky likely couldn’t resist the inclusion of such a timely track. Even more timely than it actually was in 1998 (though the “techno version” of the song was released in ‘97).

    Then, obviously, there’s the inclusion of Semisonic’s “Closing Time,” a highly appropriate track for a movie about a bartender. Though, of course, it’s about so much more than that. However, at its core, like Pi, it’s about a character who’s at the wrong place at the wrong time (the concept of “time” perhaps even extending to the very year he exists in), therefore entangling that character into a nexus of people that ultimately mean to harm him. 

    Hank has a much worse go of it than Max in terms of that form of abuse. Because, whereas Max does most of the harm (physical and emotional) to himself, Hank is so roughed up by the multiple parties in search of his next-door neighbor Russ’ (Matt Smith) key that it costs him a kidney. To boot, an obsession with “the key” takes on a different meaning in Pi, but it still means that multiple parties are fixated on getting Max to give them the information—the “key”—they want, just as it is the case for Hank and the literal key he’s found himself in possession of. So desired that even the Hasidim are after it, specifically the Drucker brothers (played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio). And yes, Judaism is an instrumental aspect of Pi as well, with Max, like Hank, eventually turning to the Jews for help when he finds himself in painted into a corner with the other people who are after him. 

    Taken to the temple by Lenny Meyer (Ben Shenkman), who he’s been having frequent conversations with about the Torah at the local coffee shop they both frequent, Max is told by the head rabbi that the 216-digit number his computer has been spitting out is “the key to the Messianic Age,” for it can crack the code to the true name of God. The rabbi then continues, “[The high priest] walked into the flames. He took the key to the top of the burning building, the heavens opened and received the key from the priest’s outstretched hand. We have been looking for that key ever since.” Key, key, key, always with the key in these two Aronofsky movies. Not to mention Coney Island, which features prominently in each film for the purposes of Max and Hank’s proverbial “epiphany scenes” (well, one of them anyway).  

    With the tagline, “Faith is chaos,” Aronofsky taps into something similar, narrative motif-wise, with Caught Stealing. Though its own tagline—“Small town boy. Big city problems”—reveals how much more commercial Aronofsky has become in the twenty-seven years since Pi. And yet, it’s evident that the twenty-nine-year-old who, per The Guardian, “subsist[ed] on pizza and liv[ed] in a fifth-floor walk-up,” who “was anxious and ambitious” and who “had his eyes on the prize” still does have it trained on said prize. In this instance, proving that he can still go back to 1998 as if it were yesterday. As if no time had passed at all. For that’s what many people, based on the present circumstances, do wish. Maybe, with the right combination of numbers, the right pattern, a time machine can be created to get us all back there (or, more likely, those with money back there). 

    Until then, Caught Stealing will have to suffice for those seeking, like Cher, to turn back time. For, while Aronofsky might claim, “I don’t want to be one of those old men shouting at clouds. Or shouting at the TV set, ‘Elvis Presley’s moving his hips and he needs to be banned!’ The world is changing. I’m trying to lean into the excitement. It’s time to shut up, stop complaining and dance.” Or, better still, stop complaining and provide music in a movie set in 1998 so that at least the music is more compelling to dance to. 

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Caught Stealing: Darren Aronofsky Might Call It a “Love Letter” to New York, But It’s More Like a Requiem (Not for a Dream)

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    It’s been three years since Darren Aronofsky proceeded to break audiences’ hearts with The Whale (written by Samuel D. Hunter, and based on his 2012 play). In that time, of course, the world has only become a darker place. And so, with that in mind, perhaps there was a reason Aronofsky felt compelled to go “back in time” (that is, to “a simpler time”) via Charlie Huston’s screenplay adaptation of his own novel, Caught Stealing (released in 2004, ergo having a fresher perspective on the 90s after the decade had just ended). For yes, it appears that Aronofsky is actually at his best when directing someone else’s material (in other words, there aren’t many “fans,” per se, of Requiem for a Dream or mother!). Accordingly, Caught Stealing signals a marked tonal shift for Aronofsky.

    For, although the material is still quite, shall we say, heavy at times, Caught Stealing has “probably more jokes in the first ten minutes of this than in my entire body of work,” as Aronofsky told The Guardian. Plus, as a native New Yorker, Aronofsky has a certain kind of nostalgic slant to bring to the distinct period he’s depicting: late 90s on the Lower East Side. And, to immediately indicate this is “B911” (Before 9/11) epoch, a shot of the Twin Towers, in all of its romanticized glory, is proudly displayed at the beginning of the film. This being a seminal downtown view belying the seedy goings-on at a joint like Paul’s Bar (which is actually the Double Down Saloon on Avenue A, near the corner of Houston). The joint where Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler) makes his way in life as a bartender subjected to such jukebox picks of the day as Smash Mouth’s “Walkin’ on the Sun.” The type of bop (or is it the type of MMMBop, in this case?) that can now put the bar at risk thanks to Rudy Giuliani’s “quality of life” campaign that extended to outlawing dancing in bars without a cabaret license (and, of course, most bars weren’t trying to shell out for something like that). Yes, that’s right, Giuliani “Footloose’d” NYC bars starting in 1997—this being just one of many harbingers of doom that his mayorship heralded. Yet another portent of the unstoppable gentrification that Giuliani further aided in opening the floodgates for.

    To be sure, the late 90s was arguably the last time anyone can remember truly seeing some glimmer of what they call the “old” New York. This being why the fall (to put it mildly) of the Twin Towers in 2001 further demarcates a “before” and “after” period for the city and what it once used to “mean.” Thus, Aronofsky and Huston’s organic wielding of these types of details, like Hank telling customers to stop dancing (lest the bar get shut down and/or fined), lends further insight into this period. And it’s part of what makes Caught Stealing feel authentic to the time. 

    Indeed, this form of Giuliani shade-throwing was used even in the era when his “sweeping changes” (read: implementation of a police state) went into effect. One need look no further than the first season of Sex and the City for proof of that (with Miranda [Cynthia Nixon] being the most prone to insulting Giuliani). In fact, it could be said that the season one “look” (a.k.a. how it actually looked in New York at the time) of SATC served as a kind of “mood board” for cinematographer Matthew Libatique, another New Yorker on the crew who has been with Aronofsky since his 1998 debut, Pi. A film that, per The Guardian, “he says could almost be his parallel-universe first movie, given that it’s set in 1998, around the time he was shooting his actual first film on the same East Side streets” (back when Kim’s Video didn’t have to be added into the set design, because it was still there).

    Caught Stealing, instead, has a much greater sense of “levity,” even amidst all its darkness. That “dark aesthetic” of the city, however, is still there. And further aided by the fact that bartenders (and other assorted “shady” characters) live by night. But, more than anything, it seems that with this dark cinematography, Aronofsky aims to more than just subtly convey how much grittier the city used to be. And, as Caught Stealing makes quite clear, that grittiness was most palatable within the crime and corruption sector. With every “organization” from the Hasids (or Hasidim, if you prefer)—played by none other than Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio—to the Russian mob to the cops to Bad Bunny (playing the Russians’ “Puerto Rican associate,” Colorado) thrown into this blender of “antagonistic forces” who all suddenly have it out for Hank after his British, cantankerous punk rocker of a next-door neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), leaves for London in a hurry. And sticks Hank with his equally surly cat in the process. (On a side note, viewers detecting some major overtones of Quentin Tarantino-meets-Guy Ritchie [the latter being an obvious acolyte of the former] stylings wouldn’t be incorrect in making that comparison.)  

    Needless to say, the greater sense of levity in this particular Aronofsky film is supported almost entirely by the presence of this cat named Bud (played by a Siberian forest cat named Tonic). From the start, Hank makes it known he “prefers dogs for a reason.” Luckily for him, Siberian forest cats are described as having a “dog-like” temperament. But it takes his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), encouraging Bud’s stay for Hank to fully get on board with the unwanted task. As for Yvonne, a paramedic (hence, her and Hank’s work schedules being perfectly aligned), it’s obvious from the outset that, even apart from her profession, she has a thing for rescuing people.

    And no one is in more need of being saved from himself than Hank, who, much like Henry “Hank” Chinaski (a.k.a. Charles Bukowski), has an alcohol problem. Albeit one that stems from trying to outrun the demons of his past, which, at the time, seemed to foretell an impossibly bright future. Back then, when he was still in high school, Hank thought he would be a shoo-in to play for his favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants (because, as it should go without saying, the title Caught Stealing has a baseball meaning too). This very possibility marveled at as he drunkenly drove through some backwater roads of Stanislaus County while his friend and fellow ball player, Dale (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), rode shotgun, talking up this future before Hank swerved the car at the sight of a cow and wrapped the car around a pole, launching Dale through the windshield and killing him instantaneously. 

    Hank’s own fallout from the accident, apart from a guilty conscience, was injuring his knee so badly it was never going to be good enough for the major leagues. And so, what would a California boy running away from his problems and looking to forget about his past do but move to New York?—the antithesis of his home state on the other side of the country. The irony being, of course, that his beloved Giants moved from NYC to San Francisco (not unlike the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to LA). In any case, Hank runs as far as he can from the scene of the accidental crime (/car crash) without leaving the country entirely—that will come later. In the meantime, he thinks he’s going about his business, living his life as “minimally” (read: with a disaffected “90s slacker chic” aura) as possible, only to have every heavyweight of every crime organization on his ass in the wake of Russ’ departure. 

    With no one else to harass/beat to a pulp for answers, Hank is left holding the bag. Or rather, the key. A key he finds in a decoy piece of shit in Bud’s litterbox (this after dealing with another human’s shit in his own toilet since, again, the Sex and the City [de facto, And Just Like That…] connections to Caught Stealing abound). Considering his discovery occurs after two scary Russians (always the Russians, n’est-ce pas?) land him in the hospital for two days, Hank is unsure what to do with the newfound item. Worse still, while at the hospital, doctors removed his kidney because the Russians fucked him up so bad that it ruptured. Which means that, now, alcohol—the one thing that was getting him through it all, holding everything together and making New York seem like the nonstop party it really isn’t—must be off the menu. Otherwise, it’s at his own health risk to imbibe. And certainly a risk to do so with same intensity he did before. 

    Alas, all that resolve, all those promises to Yvonne (and the cat, for that matter) that he has it in him to quit cold turkey, go out the window when he walks into Paul’s Bar to show his boss, the eponymous Paul (played by a man considered a “New York institution,” Griffin Dunne) the key. Walking into the bar as Madonna’s “Ray of Light” resounds through the space (because it was the song of ’98), it’s apparent that Hank is doomed to go down a rabbit hole. The kind that happens after he experiences the adage, “One drink is too many and a thousand never enough.” From the looks of it, as the night goes on, Hank does seem to have very well close to a thousand, getting up on the pool table to sing along with another prime tune of the day: Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch.” This moment amounting to his version of Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) in 10 Things I Hate About You drunkenly dancing on the table at Bogey Lowenstein’s (Kyle Cease) party to Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize.” 

    Saddled with “picking him up” is Yvonne, who quickly loses her patience or sympathy for him when he starts drunkenly ranting about how everything in his life is garbage (by the way, yet another band that gets played on the soundtrack), and that he used to have it all. Everything ahead of him. So much promise, so much potential. The dramatic irony here is that the same can be said of New York, seeing it through the lens of the present as compared with the past. This late 90s past, so evocatively shown in Caught Stealing. 

    Of course, there are literally millions who will swear up and down that the New York of the present remains just as viable, as “vibrant.” More so than ever, they’ll insist. Take, for instance, when Taffy Brodesser-Akner told Vulture, in an article discussing the issues of filming Fleischman Is in Trouble in a manner that would make it look like 2016, “The New York you live in now is the best version of New York. You have to keep out the noise from people like me lest you come to think you missed the whole thing by arriving so late—either by being born or moving here more recently than the person you’re talking to.” But no, she’s wrong…and so are all the others who try to maintain their “positive outlook” (a.k.a. daily application of denial) about “the greatest city in the world.” The New York you live in now is patently not the best version at all. 

    And, perhaps as a testament to how effective a job it does as a “period piece,” Caught Stealing is sure to remind viewers who still cling to, er, live in New York (and even those who never have) that such a statement simply isn’t true. Sometimes, the reality is that it really was better before. This is one of those instances. Even so, it doesn’t stop Regina King (as a cop named Roman), meant to be existing in one of the city’s primes, the 90s, from delivering a beautifully bitter monologue that details how she won’t miss anything about New York other than the black and white cookies once she makes her escape. Because “escape from New York” isn’t just a movie, but a wise person’s motto. Besides (barring that traitor, Joan Didion), Californians like Hank never really commit to New York, eventually turning it into just another base stop on the way home.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Austin Butler Says Playing James Bond Would Be “Kind Of Sacrilegious”

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    As the 007 casting speculation reaches across the pond, Austin Butler is taking himself out of the running.

    The Oscar nominee admitted it “would be kind of sacrilegious” for him to play the British MI6 agent as a California-born-and-raised actor, despite his willingness to work with his Dune: Part Two (2024) director Denis Villeneuve again.

    “No calls as far as that goes, but I love that man,” he told Hits Radio UK. “Would I play James Bond? I don’t think that would be a good idea. Because I’m an American. I can do an accent but that would be kind of sacrilegious.

    Butler continued, “Those movies meant so much to me, but I think that it’s gotta be somebody who is from [England].”

    On the other hand, “Villain? That would be alright. I’d do that.”

    Glen Powell previously gave the same answer, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “A Texan should not play James Bond.”

    In June, Amazon MGM Studios officially tapped Villeneuve to direct the next installment, and last month, Steven Knight was announced to write the film amid the studio’s new 007 partnership with returning producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Tanya Lapointe will executive produce.

    After announcing that Amy Pascal and David Heyman will produce the next film in the franchise, Amazon MGM’s Courtenay Valenti and Sue Kroll said at CinemaCon in April that the pair of “filmmaking legends” is currently in London working on the film.

    “We are committed to honoring the legacy of this iconic character, while bringing a fresh, exhilarating new chapter to audiences around the world alongside Amy and David,” said Valenti, head of Film, Streaming and Theatrical. “They are both in London getting started and couldn’t be here tonight, but we wanted to thank them for what we know will be an incredible partnership. Thank you, Amy and David!”

    Daniel Craig played the iconic role in Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). Following previous Bond stars Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, Craig’s successor has not yet been chosen.

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    Glenn Garner

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  • Austin Butler Recalls How He “Almost Cracked” a Rib During ‘Caught Stealing’ Fight Scene

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    Austin Butler is always committed to his stunts in movies and he’ll “just deal with the bruises later.”

    During a recent interview with Men’s Health, the Oscar-nominated actor recalled how he “almost cracked” a rib while filming a fight scene for his new movie, Caught Stealing, directed by Darren Aronofsky.

    “He [Aronofsky] put me through the ringer on this film. It’s a lot of running away from people chasing me with cars and getting beaten up repeatedly,” he said. “I get beaten up by these two Russians in this film. This one — Nikita [Kukushkin], who’s a short king — he’s got so much power. When he was kicking me, he didn’t want to kick me very hard. He felt bad and I kept telling him, ‘Just kick me. Just kick me harder.’”

    However, after watching back some takes, Butler could tell his scene partner was still holding back as “it doesn’t look real.”

    “So he starts really laying into me and kicking me hard,” the Dune: Part Two actor continued. “But then he had this idea of headbutting me in the side like a little ram or something. And he did it so hard it almost cracked my rib with his head. I was very impressed.”

    Butler also recounted a scene where he was thrown on a table by his co-star, Bad Bunny, as well as the Russians.

    “They had made a soft table that was made of some sort of foam,” he said. “Every time they would hit me on it, the whole thing would bow. And I’m not wearing anything, so you can’t hide pads anywhere. And Darren was like, ‘It looks fake.’ And so they said, ‘Just bring the wooden table.’”

    That’s when “they just start slamming me onto this wooden table wearing nothing,” the Elvis actor continued. “It’s little things like that with the camera angles, you can’t use a stunt double. Did have an amazing stunt double, but for the most part, I’ll just say, ‘Yeah, let’s go. I’ll just deal with the bruises later.’”

    Butler later joked that he felt “ridiculous” talking about his stunt work “when you have Tom Cruise doing what he does. I’m talking about being slammed into a table. Tom Cruise is hanging off an airplane. … He’s the peak. I’m so silly.”

    Caught Stealing, which also stars Zoë Kravitz, follows former baseball player Hank Thompson, who unexpectedly finds himself entangled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City. The film hits theaters on Aug. 29.

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    Carly Thomas

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  • Celebrity birthdays for the week of Aug. 17-23

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    Celebrity birthdays for the week of Aug. 17-23:

    Aug. 17: Actor Robert De Niro is 82. Guitarist Gary Talley of The Box Tops is 78. “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes is 76. Actor Robert Joy (“CSI: NY”) is 74. Singer Kevin Rowland of Dexy’s Midnight Runners is 72. Bassist Colin Moulding of XTC is 70. Country singer-songwriter Kevin Welch is 70. Singer Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s is 67. Actor Sean Penn is 65. Jazz saxophonist Everette Harp is 64. Guitarist Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses) is 63. Singer Maria McKee (Lone Justice) is 61. Drummer Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) is 60. Singer-bassist Jill Cunniff (Luscious Jackson) is 59. Actor David Conrad (“Ghost Whisperer,” “Relativity”) is 58. Rapper Posdnuos of De La Soul is 56. Actor-singer Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block) is 56. TV personality Giuliana Rancic (“Fashion Police,” ″E! News”) is 51. Actor Bryton James (“Family Matters”) is 39. Actor Brady Corbet (“24,” “Thirteen”) is 37. Actor Austin Butler (“Dune: Part Two,” “Elvis”) is 34. Actor Taissa Farmiga (“American Horror Story”) is 31.

    Aug. 18: Actor Robert Redford is 89. Actor Henry G. Sanders (“Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”) is 83. Drummer Dennis Elliott (Foreigner) is 75. Comedian Elayne Boosler is 73. Country singer Steve Wilkinson of The Wilkinsons is 70. Comedian-actor Denis Leary is 68. Actor Madeleine Stowe is 67. TV news anchor Bob Woodruff is 64. Actor Adam Storke (“Mystic Pizza”) is 63. Actor Craig Bierko (“Sex and the City,” ″The Long Kiss Goodnight”) is 61. Singer Zac Maloy of The Nixons is 57. Musician Everlast (House of Pain) is 56. Rapper Masta Killa of Wu-Tang Clan is 56. Actor Edward Norton is 56. Actor Christian Slater is 56. Actor Kaitlin Olson (“The Mick,” ″It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) is 50. Comedian Andy Samberg (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” ″Saturday Night Live”) is 47. Guitarist Brad Tursi of Old Dominion is 46. Actor Maia Mitchell (“The Fosters”) is 32. Actor Madelaine Petsch (“Riverdale”) is 31. Actor Parker McKenna Posey (“My Wife and Kids”) is 30.

    Aug. 19: Actor Debra Paget (“The Ten Commandments,” “Love Me Tender”) is 92. Actor Diana Muldaur (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 87. Actor Jill St. John is 85. Singer Billy J. Kramer is 82. Country singer-songwriter Eddy Raven is 81. Singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple is 80. Actor Gerald McRaney is 78. Actor Jim Carter (“Downton Abbey”) is 77. Singer-guitarist Elliot Lurie of Looking Glass is 77. Bassist John Deacon of Queen is 74. Actor Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 73. Actor Peter Gallagher is 70. Actor Adam Arkin is 69. Singer-songwriter Gary Chapman is 68. Actor Martin Donovan is 68. Singer Ivan Neville is 66. Actor Eric Lutes (“Caroline in the City”) is 63. Actor John Stamos is 62. Actor Kyra Sedgwick is 60. Actor Kevin Dillon (“Entourage”) is 60. Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 59. Former MTV reporter Tabitha Soren is 58. Country singer Clay Walker is 56. Rapper Fat Joe is 55. Actor Tracie Thoms (“Cold Case”) is 50. Actor Erika Christensen (“Parenthood”) is 43. Actor Melissa Fumero (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) is 43. Actor Tammin Sursok (“Pretty Little Liars”) is 42. Singer Karli Osborn (SHeDaisy) is 41. Rapper Romeo (formerly Lil’ Romeo) is 36. Actor Ethan Cutkosky (TV’s “Shameless”) is 26.

    Aug. 20: News anchor Connie Chung is 79. Trombone player Jimmy Pankow of Chicago is 78. Actor Ray Wise (“Reaper,” ″Twin Peaks”) is 78. Actor John Noble (“Lord of the Rings” films) is 77. Singer Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) is 77. Singer Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers is 73. Singer-songwriter John Hiatt is 73. Actor-director Peter Horton (“thirtysomething”) is 72. “Today” show weatherman Al Roker is 71. Actor Jay Acovone (“Stargate SG-1”) is 70. Actor Joan Allen is 69. Director David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle”) is 67. Actor James Marsters (“Angel,” ″Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is 63. Rapper KRS-One is 60. Actor Colin Cunningham (“Falling Skies”) is 59. Actor Billy Gardell (“Mike and Molly”) is 56. Singer Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit is 55. Actor Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) is 55. Guitarist Brad Avery of Third Day is 54. Actor Misha Collins (“Supernatural”) is 51. Singer Monique Powell of Save Ferris is 50. Actor Ben Barnes (“Westworld,” ″Prince Caspian”) is 44. Actor Meghan Ory (“Once Upon a Time”) is 43. Actor Andrew Garfield (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) is 42. Actor Brant Daugherty (“Pretty Little Liars”) is 40. Singer-actor Demi Lovato is 33.

    Aug. 21: Guitarist James Burton (with Elvis Presley) is 86. Singer Jackie DeShannon is 84. Actor Patty McCormack (“Frost/Nixon,” “The Ropers”) is 80. Singer Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams is 78. Actor Loretta Devine (“Boston Public”) is 76. Newsman Harry Smith is 74. Singer Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath) is 73. Guitarist Nick Kane (The Mavericks) is 71. Actor Kim Cattrall (“Sex and the City”) is 69. Actor Cleo King (“Mike and Molly”) is 63. Singer Serj Tankian of System of a Down is 58. Actor Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix,” ″Chocolat”) is 55. Musician Liam Howlett of Prodigy is 54. Actor Alicia Witt (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” ″Cybill”) is 50. Singer-chef Kelis is 46. Actor Diego Klattenhoff (“The Blacklist”) is 46. TV personality Brody Jenner (“The Hills”) is 42. Singer Melissa Schuman of Dream is 41. Comedian Brooks Wheelan (“Saturday Night Live”) is 39. Actor Cody Kasch (“Desperate Housewives”) is 38. Musician Kacey Musgraves is 37. Actor Hayden Panettiere (“Nashville,” ″Heroes”) is 36. Actor RJ Mitte (“Breaking Bad”) is 33. Actor Maxim Knight (“Falling Skies”) is 26.

    Aug. 22: Newsman Morton Dean is 90. TV writer/producer David Chase (“The Sopranos”) is 80. Correspondent Steve Kroft (“60 Minutes”) is 80. Guitarist David Marks of The Beach Boys is 77. Guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour is 67. Country singer Collin Raye is 65. Actor Regina Taylor (“The Unit,” ″I’ll Fly Away”) is 65. Singer Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears is 64. Drummer Debbi Peterson of The Bangles is 64. Guitarist Gary Lee Conner of Screaming Trees is 63. Singer Tori Amos is 62. Keyboardist James DeBarge of DeBarge is 62. Country singer Mila Mason is 62. Rapper GZA (Wu-Tang Clan) is 59. Actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Oz,” “Lost”) is 58. Actor Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) is 58. Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is 55. Actor Melinda Page Hamilton (“Devious Maids,” ″Mad Men”) is 54. Actor Rick Yune (“Die Another Day,” “The Fast and the Furious”) is 54. Guitarist Paul Doucette of Matchbox Twenty is 53. Rapper Beenie Man is 52. Singer Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys is 52. Comedian Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids,” ″Saturday Night Live”) is 52. Actor Jenna Leigh Green (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) is 51. Keyboardist Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket is 51. Bassist Dean Back of Theory of a Deadman is 50. Actor and TV host James Corden is 47. Guitarist Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan is 47. Actor Brandon Adams (“The Mighty Ducks”) is 46. Actor Aya Sumika (“Numb3rs”) is 45. Actor Ari Stidham (TV’s “Scorpion”) is 33.

    Aug. 23: Actor Vera Miles is 95. Actor Barbara Eden is 94. Actor Richard Sanders (“WKRP In Cincinnati”) is 85. Country singer Rex Allen Jr. is 78. Actor David Robb (“Downton Abbey”) is 78. Singer Linda Thompson is 78. Actor Shelley Long is 76. Fiddler-singer Woody Paul of Riders in the Sky is 76. Singer-actor Rick Springfield is 76. Actor-producer Mark Hudson (The Hudson Brothers) is 74. Actor Skipp Sudduth (“The Good Wife”) is 69. Guitarist Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots is 64. Singer-bassist Ira Dean of Trick Pony is 56. Actor Jay Mohr is 55. Actor Ray Park (“X-Men,” ″The Phantom Menace”) is 51. Actor Scott Caan (“Hawaii Five-0”) is 49. Singer Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is 47. Actor Joanne Froggatt (“Downton Abbey”) is 45. Actor Jaime Lee Kirchner (“Bull”) is 44. Saxophonist Andy Wild of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is 44. Actor Annie Ilonzeh (“Chicago Fire”) is 42. Musician Sky Blu of LMFAO is 39. Actor Kimberly Matula (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 37.

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  • What to stream this week: Matt Damon on a heist, ‘Dance Moms’ jazz it up and J Balvin parties

    What to stream this week: Matt Damon on a heist, ‘Dance Moms’ jazz it up and J Balvin parties

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    Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” premieres its final season and a Boston heist movie starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: a new “Dance Moms” series, a “Yo Gabba Gabba” reboot for younger audiences and J Balvin promises an album that hits like a house party.

    NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

    — A poorly planned heist goes terribly wrong in “The Instigators” (Friday, Aug. 9, on Apple TV+), a loosely amiable Boston-set caper starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. The movie, directed by Doug Liman (“Go,” “The Bourne Identity”), returns Damon and Affleck to familiar hometown terrain. They play a despondent pair who try to steal money from a corrupt mayor (Ron Perlman) but end up on the run, with a therapist (Hong Chau) in tow. In my review, I called it “a rudderless but winningly shaggy action comedy.”

    — Jeff Nichols (“Mud,” “Take Shelter,” “Loving”) extends his survey of classically American dramas with “The Bikeriders,” a chronicle of a Chicago motorcycle club in the 1960s. In the film (Friday, Aug. 9, on Peacock), Austin Butler and Tom Hardy star as riders with an antiauthoritarian streak who help found the Vandals, but watch as their club grows beyond their control. In a male-populated film, though, Jodie Comer, as the heavily accented narrator, is closer to the main character. In my review, I called it “a vivid dramatization of the birth of an American subculture.”

    — This month, the Criterion Channel is running two overlapping series: one of movies directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, one of films starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman was a mainstay in Anderson’s films from the start (he steals “Hard Eight” with one scene) and a central presence in films like “Magnolia,” “Punch-Drunk Love” and “The Master.” The Hoffman series includes plenty other highlights, too; look especially for the exquisitely tender 2010 drama “Jack Goes Boating.” The Anderson series also includes an exclusive streaming of the director’s radiant 2021 coming-of-age tale “Licorice Pizza,” which poignantly starred Hoffman’s son, Cooper.

    — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

    NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

    — Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Opus” — the posthumous album and documentary of the same name — was captured while the Japanese film composer was dying of cancer. Across 20 songs, Sakamoto performs a collection of his biggest songs on piano, like the memorable themes for Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor” and “The Sheltering Sky.” The album also includes the first ever recorded version of “Tong Poo,” from his early days with techno-pop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra.

    — On Friday, Aug. 9, Colombian reggaetónero J Balvin will release a new full-length project, “Rayo.” Across 15 tracks, he’s promised an album that hits like a house party — just in time for the hottest summer month of the year. “Rayo” is stacked with good time collaborations — reggaetón superstar Fied, regional Mexican musician Carín León, Bad Gyal, Zion, Dei V, Ryan Castro, Blessd and Luar La L among them. The previously released singles, “Gaga” with SAIKO, “Polvo de tu Vida” with Chencho Corleono, and “En Alta” with Quevedo, Omar Courtz and YOVNGCHIMI, embody that spirit. At his party, everyone is invited.

    — Also on Friday, Aug. 9, “Not Not Jazz,” a documentary following the avant-garde, acid jazz-fusion band Medeski, Martin & Wood, becomes available to stream via video on demand. The film follows the improvisational trio as they endeavor to record a new album at the Allaire Studio in Woodstock, New York. It is a peek behind the curtain of their processes, and a celebration of music that is far too often underserved.

    — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

    NEW SHOWS TO STREAM

    — The dramatic world of “Dance Moms” returns with a new coach, dancers and, of course, invested moms. In “Dance Moms: A New Era,” mothers hover as eight girls are trained by instructor Glo Hampton, a.k.a. Miss Glo, to compete nationally. The original “Dance Moms” ran for eight seasons and featured breakout stars Jojo Siwa and Maddie Ziegler. It also introduced the world to coach Abby Lee Miller, who was often criticized for being too harsh on her students. Miller was sentenced to a year in prison in 2017 for bankruptcy fraud. “Dance Moms: A New Era” debuts Wednesday, Aug. 7.

    — Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” premieres its final season on Thursday, Aug. 8. The show follows a family of adopted superheroes — who were stripped of their powers in season three — who must work together to stop the apocalypse. Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman and David Cross are new faces in season four alongside regulars that include David Castañeda, Tom Hopper and Elliot Page.

    — The musical cartoon for preschoolers called “Yo Gabba Gabba!” is also getting a reboot called “Yo Gabba GabbaLand!” on Apple TV+. The 10-episode series premieres Friday, Aug. 9. It’s hosted by Kamryn Smith as Kammy Kam and brings back other characters from the original.

    — Michael Imperioli, who played Tony Soprano’s protégé Christopher on “The Sopranos,” can’t shake the mob. He’s the executive producer and narrator of a three-part docuseries on five Italian American families who were selected by Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1931 to rule the organized crime world. “American Godfathers: The Five Families” debuts Sunday, Aug. 11 on The History Channel. It will also stream on The History Channel app, history.com and major TV video on demand platforms.

    — A four-part docuseries adapts historian Donald Bogle’s 2019 book called “Hollywood Black” for MGM+. Executive produced by Forest Whitaker, the series examines the history of cinema through the Black perspective. Creatives including Ryan Coogler, Ava DuVernay, Issa Rae, LaKeith Stanfield, Gabrielle Union, Lena Waithe are interviewed. “Hollywood Black” premieres Sunday, Aug. 11.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

    — People who love collecting cute monsters and making them fight have long been drawn to Pokémon. This year’s Palworld upped the ante by adding guns to the mix. But what if you just want to cuddle? That’s where 11 Bit Studios’ Creatures of Ava comes in. You’re an explorer on a planet bustling with wildlife — but the creatures are being threatened by an infection called “the withering.” It’s your mission to tame the beasts with your magic flute and help them heal. It’s a cozier take on the old “gotta catch ’em all” formula, and it comes to Xbox X/S and PC on Wednesday.

    — Lou Kesten

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  • Kaia Gerber is the spitting image of mom Cindy Crawford for New York date night with Austin Butler

    Kaia Gerber is the spitting image of mom Cindy Crawford for New York date night with Austin Butler

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    Kaia Gerber enjoyed a rare date night with boyfriend Austin Butler on Thursday July 11, with the pair hitting Broadway for the opening night of the production of Oh Mary! 

    Kaia, 22, is the youngest daughter of Cindy Crawford and a blossoming actress, and she was the spitting image of her mom as she wore a cropped black top with flutter sleeves and a gray-stripe midi skirt paired with knee-high boots. Her long brunette hair was tousled and tossed over shoulders, recalling Cindy’s iconic looks of the 1990s.

    © Patricia Schlein/Star Max
    Kaia and Austin enjoy rare date night

    Oscar nominee Austin, 32, could be seen matching his girlfriend with a gray tee and black pants, and they kept a tight hold of each other’s hands as they left the theater.

    Oh Mary! is a dark comedy starring Cole Escola as Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865.

    Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler during the opening night curtain call for "Oh, Mary" on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre on July 11, 2024 © Bruce Glikas
    Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler during the opening night curtain call
    Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber arrive at the opening night of "Oh, Mary" on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre on July 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage)© Bruce Glikas
    Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber arrive at the opening night of “Oh, Mary”

    Kaia and Austin first sparked romance rumors in late 2021 and went public with their relationship in March 2022. They have kept things mostly private, with the Bottoms actress not walking the red carpet in June for Austin’s new movie The Bikeriders.

    But she was in attendance, and was seen cheering him on not far away nonetheless, with the pair caught sneaking in a quick kiss before heading into the theater. 

    Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler seen attending Dune Part II - world film premiere afterparty on February 15, 2024 in London, England© Getty
    Kaia and Austin seen attending Dune Part II world film premiere afterparty

    Austin and Kaia made their first major public appearance as a couple at W Magazine’s annual Best Performances party on March 24, 2022, and in May they attended that year’s Met Gala together. 

    She also went on to support Austin during his promotional campaign for the Baz Luhrmann Elvis biopic, including attending Cannes Film Festival. 

    Cindy crawford with daughter kaia gerber © Getty
    Cindy’s daughter Kaia is following in her mom’s footsteps with her successful modeling career

    Kaia’s career began as a model at the age of 10; she is also the first model born in the 2000s to have achieved ‘The Big Four’ of Vogue covers (American Vogue, British Vogue, Vogue France and Vogue Italia).

    She made the switch to acting at the age of 15 starring in her first show, Sister Cities. She has gone on to star in Apple TV+’s new comedy series Palm Royale, the 2023 comedy Bottoms, and American Horror Stories.

    Kaia’s brother Presley is also a model, and he made his runway debut at the age of 16 in Moschino’s 2017 Cruise show, and since has walked for the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana and Balmain. Their father is Rande Gerber.

    Sign up to HELLO Daily! for the best royal, celebrity and lifestyle coverage

    By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

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    Rebecca Lewis

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  • The Bikeriders Ending: Not Necessarily a “Happy” One

    The Bikeriders Ending: Not Necessarily a “Happy” One

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    Because The Bikeriders is filled with so much death and tragedy, it’s to be expected that writer-director Jeff Nichols might want to throw the audience “a bone.” Even if it’s a bone coated in a subtly bitter taste for audiences who know how to gauge the real meaning behind Benny (Austin Butler) and Kathy’s (Jodie Comer) so-called happy ending. One that, throughout the course of the film, doesn’t seem like it will actually happen (and, in a way, it doesn’t). This thanks to the storytelling method Nichols uses by way of Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) interviewing Kathy from a “present-day” perspective in 1973, after the numerous power struggles and shifts that took place within the Vandals Motorcycle Club since 1965 (on a side note: the photography book itself documents a period between 1963 and 1967).

    In the beginning, the motorcycle club was “governed” by Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy), who also founded it. The inspiration for doing so stemming from catching The Wild One starring Marlon Brando on TV. And yes, Hardy is very clearly mimicking the “Brando vibe” in this role, while Austin Butler as Benny, his protégé, of sorts, embodies the James Dean spirit instead. Which, one supposes, would make Kathy the Natalie Wood in the equation, with Benny and Kathy mirroring a certain Jim and Judy dynamic in Rebel Without A Cause. Except the fact that Judy was ultimately much more game to live a life of rebellion and uncertainty than Kathy, making a pact with Jim to never go home again (like the Shangri-Las said, “I can never go home anymore”). As for Johnny, he serves as the John “Plato” Crawford (Sal Mineo) of the situation in terms of feeling Benny pull away from him once he becomes romantically involved. Indeed, the running motif of The Bikeriders is the “competition” between Johnny and Kathy to maintain a hold over Benny and influence which direction he’ll be pulled toward in terms of a life path.

    While Johnny wants him to agree to take over the Vandals and lead the next generation of increasingly volatile men, Kathy wants him to “quit the gang” altogether and stop risking his life every single day. A risk that exists, more than anything, because of his stubborn nature. This stubbornness, of course, extends to an unwillingness to remove his “colors” whenever he walks into an out-of-town bar that doesn’t take kindly to “gang pride.” Which is precisely how The Bikeriders commences, with Johnny refusing to take off his jacket when a pair of regulars at the bar he’s drinking in ominously demand that he does just that. Johnny replies, “You’d have to kill me to get this jacket off.” They very nearly do, beating the shit out of him and almost taking his foot clean off with a shovel. And yes, if Johnny’s foot had been amputated, he might as well have died anyway, for his life means nothing to him without the ability to just ride. Which is exactly why he begs Kathy, while she visits him in the hospital, not to let them remove it. Fortunately for his sense of “manhood,” they don’t and Benny is instructed to avoid putting stress on his foot for at least six months while it starts to heal.

    Advice that seems to go way over Johnny’s head as he decides to show up to the hotel where Benny and Kathy are staying to invite him to attend the Vandals’ biggest motorcycle rally yet. Kathy is appalled by both Johnny’s suggestion and Benny’s eager willingness to accept despite his current physical state. Constantly fearful that he’s going to end up hurt because of how reckless he is with his body and in his actions, Kathy reaches a breaking point when her own life is put in jeopardy as a result of hanging around the Vandals for too long. Continuing to keep the company of these club members even as the club mutates into what someone from the sixties would call a “bad scene.” The infiltration of more cutthroat, sociopathic youths like “The Kid” (Toby Wallace), as well as new members fresh back from Vietnam, riddled with PTSD and correlating hard drug addictions, means that the Vandals is no longer the same entity that Johnny had envisioned when he initially founded it.

    The last straw for Kathy happens at another gathering of the members during which Benny ends up leaving in a rush to take one of the OG members, Cockroach (Emory Cohen), to the hospital after a group of new members beats the shit out of him for expressing the simple desire to leave the club and pursue a career as a motorcycle cop. With Benny gone, there’s no one around to protect Kathy from being attacked by another group that tries to force her into a room and gang rape her (this being, in part, a result of mistaken identity because she’s tried on the red dress of another girl at the party). Johnny manages to step in just in time to keep the man from harming her, but the emotional damage is done. Kathy can no longer live a life spent in constant fear and anxiety like this. Thus, she gives Benny an ultimatum: her or the club. In the end, Benny sort of chooses neither, running out on both Kathy and Johnny when each of them tries to strong-arm him into bending to their will.

    It is only after hearing news of Johnny’s murder (at the hands of The Kid, who pulls a dirty trick on Johnny that finds the latter bringing a knife to a gunfight) that Benny decides to go back to Chicago and seek out Kathy for something like comfort. For she’s the only one who will truly be able to understand this loss. In the final scene of the movie, Danny asks what happened with Benny after all that. She informs him that the two are now living happily together (having relocated to Florida, as Kathy had originally suggested), with Benny working as a mechanic at his cousin’s body shop. Even more happily, for her, is the fact that he’s given up riding motorcycles altogether. In short, “he don’t hang around with the gang no more.” This being one of many key lines from the Shangri-Las’ “Out in the Streets,” which is played frequently as a musical refrain throughout the film.

    That it also plays again at the end of the movie—an ending that, on the surface, seems “happy”—is telling of the larger truth: Benny has lost an essential piece of himself in choosing to give up riding. So, even though Kathy smiles at him through the window and he (sort of) smiles back, the playing of the song, paired with the distant sound of motorcycles in the distance as he stares wistfully into the abyss, makes it seem as though, like the rider of “Out in the Streets,” “His heart is [still] out in the streets.” However, in contrast to the woeful narrator of the song, Kathy isn’t one to acknowledge, “They’re waiting out there/I know I gotta set him free/(Send him back)/He’s gotta be/(Out in the street)/His heart is out in the streets.” Like most women, she would prefer to keep Benny inside their domestic cage, safe from harm. Safe, in effect, from truly living. For there is no purer freedom Benny feels than what he experiences on the open road.

    All of this isn’t to say that the ending isn’t “generally” happy. Though that perspective also depends on one’s values. And yes, The Bikeriders makes a grand statement about the sacrifices that are frequently necessary for a relationship to work (and also just to secure a little more lifespan longevity). In Benny’s case, it was giving up the essential core of his identity. Which begs the question: if that’s what it takes to make a relationship work, then can one really be all that happy? Judging from the “sunken place” look on Benny’s face, the answer is looking like a no. As Mary Weiss puts it, “I know that something’s missing inside/(Something’s gone)/Something’s died.” And in place of that is what society refers to as an “upright citizen.”

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • “Ride” and The Bikeriders: An Obvious Match

    “Ride” and The Bikeriders: An Obvious Match

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    Although Jeff Nichols’ latest film, The Bikeriders, is absolutely correct in wielding The Shangri-Las’ “Out in the Streets” as the constant musical refrain throughout the narrative, one song that feels as though it’s “missing” in many ways is Lana Del Rey’s “Ride.” However, since Sofia Coppola is typically the only director to condone using anachronistic music in a period piece, it makes sense that “Ride,” originally released in 2012, couldn’t be “accurately” used in The Bikeriders. And yet, even placing it in the credits would have been a compromising consolation to those who can’t unsee or unhear “Ride” within the context of a story like this.

    It’s possible that Del Rey herself, like Nichols, came across Danny Lyon’s seminal photography book (also called The Bikeriders) at some point before she hit the big time. After all, the book was released in 1968, a prime year within the decade that Del Rey is famously “inspired” by (complete with the Manson Family, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan and Woodstock). So it’s not unfathomable that Lyon’s work would have crossed her path. And since she describes “reading Slim Aarons” as though he were a writer instead of a photographer, it’s apparent that Del Rey does know how to “read” imagery and repurpose it. One of the key gifts of any postmodern artist. And oh, how Del Rey put her postmodern skills to use in the video (or “short film,” if you prefer) for “Ride.”

    Directed by Anthony Mandler, who had spent the better part of the 00s directing Rihanna videos, “Ride” opens with the now iconic image of Del Rey on a tire swing (that looks as though its rope extends all the way to the heavens), swaying back and forth (à la Mariah Carey in the “Always Be My Baby” video) with her dark curled hair billowing in the wind. As though to presage the idea that she would “go country” with Lasso, Del Rey also sports cowboy boots and a fringed denim jacket—emblems of her love for “the country America used to be.” Which, in her mind, was a country where a girl could be “fragile” and “delicate” without condemnation. Where rugged men like John Wayne still existed, and were idolized by other men, as well as sought after by women.

    This rugged archetype is present throughout “Ride” in the form of the rough-hewn, usually much older bikers that Del Rey rides with. Whether “playing” (a.k.a. languidly leaning over the machine) pinball while one of the bikers lecherously hovers behind her or letting another man brush her ribbon-bedecked hair, it’s clear that Del Rey yearns for a time when “men were still men,” as it is said. The kind of men that Lyon documented in those years from 1963 to 1967. Men that didn’t fit into mainstream society—whether because of the way they looked, dressed, thought or acted. The kind of men that find community only through “just riding,” as Del Rey would say.

    These are the bikeriders that Nichols brings to life onscreen, with Johnny (Tom Hardy) and Benny (Austin Butler) positioned as the embodiment of camaraderie (and yes, even a father-son sort of dynamic) within the outlaw motorcycle club niche. But it is Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) that acts as the true anchor of the story, with her character serving as the important feminine/outsider perspective needed. In some ways, Del Rey does mirror Kathy’s role, not merely aesthetically, but in terms of being “taken in” and glamored by this lifestyle she never knew before. At the same time, Del Rey asserts that she’s just as much a rider—therefore a true part of the gang as opposed to just a wifey—as any of the other boys. This is her tribe in ways beyond the romantic or sexual, something that separates her from Kathy, who ultimately finds that she just wants to settle down and lead a normal, quiet life. A task that’s impossible to achieve with a man like Benny. He who refuses to ever surrender to that oh so hideous word and concept: responsibility.

    An aversion that Del Rey, in this nomadic “persona,” can certainly identify with. And, in turn, identify with the type of men who pursue this life as the only thing they can really “commit” to. This much is evidenced by the opening of her monologue: “I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer.” Here, too, it’s interesting to note she says “winter of my life” rather than “winter of my youth,” as though she knows that those who embrace the transient, rebellious biker lifestyle are doomed to “live fast, die young.” A small tradeoff, in their eyes, for being able to experience pure freedom.

    That feeling is displayed in the “Ride” video as Del Rey sits on the back of a motorcycle with the wind whipping in her face (“I hear the birds on the summer breeze”). This kind of unbridled, undiluted liberty is also shown in a scene from The Bikeriders where Benny guns his bike down the streets and highways in a high-speed police chase. By cutting them off at a red light, he gains ground and takes to the open road, letting out a loud cry of joy as he passes by a signature silo of the Midwest. Of course, that sense of victory and liberation is soon counteracted by the realization that he’s out of gas, and will now have to surrender to the police when they catch up.

    For those who can’t fathom taking such risks for the “mere” sake of feeling free—from the pressures of society, family and even so-called friends—Del Rey addresses it best when she also mentions in her monologue, “When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I had been living, they asked me why. But there’s no use in talking to people who have a home. They have no idea what it’s like to seek safety in other people. For home to be wherever you lie your head.” Further explaining that she has “an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn’t even talk about. And pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me.”

    The same goes for Benny in The Bikeriders (and, to a lesser extent, Johnny and Kathy). He has to be free, no matter the cost. No matter if it means alienating others or alienating himself from anything resembling a “future.” Nothing else matters but the ability to cut and run, to take to the open road whenever he feels the call. Something Kathy can never quite grasp, which is exactly why “Out in the Streets” is so perfect for describing their relationship, for its lyrics speak directly to how stifled and repressed Benny feels now that “he don’t hang around with the gang no more.” As our woeful narrator, Mary Weiss, also describes in the song, “He don’t comb his hair like he did before/He don’t wear those dirty old black boots no more/But he’s not the same/There’s something ‘bout his kissing/That tells me he’s changed/I know that something’s missing inside/Something’s gone/Something’s died/It’s still in the streets/His heart is out in the streets.” A characterization that fits Benny to a tee by the end of the film.

    And yet, for as tailor-made as “Out in the Streets” is for The Bikeriders, so, too, is “Ride.” For Del Rey even speaks from a Kathy-esque perspective when she pleads, “Don’t leave me now/Don’t say goodbye/Don’t turn around/Leave me high and dry.” At the same time, she knows that, when you live this life, it’s filled with perpetual goodbyes and moving ons. From her own Benny-centric view of things, that’s exactly why she likes it, can’t get enough of it.

    As she says in the closing monologue of the “Ride” video, “Every night, I used to pray that I’d find my people. And I finally did, on the open road. We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore. Except to make our lives into a work of art. Live fast, die young, be wild and have fun.” This might as well be the Vandals’ mantra, too.

    At another moment, she declares, “I believe in the country America used to be.” This line unwittingly speaks to an overarching theme of The Bikeriders, which is an acknowledgement of an America in increasing decay, and one that is, accordingly, evermore morally bankrupt. Even so, Del Rey still insists, “I believe in the person I want to become. I believe in the freedom of the open road. And my motto is the same as ever. I believe in the kindness of strangers [as does Blanche DuBois]. And when I’m at war with myself, I ride. I just ride.” Much the same way Benny does. For, even though Kathy and many others outside/on the periphery of the motorcycle club might not understand it, it can best be summed up with the Del Reyism: “I am fucking crazy. But I am free.”

    Thus, while the baleful, sustained “ooooh” at the beginning of “Out in the Streets” is a perfect fit as a musical refrain for the film, it has to be said that Del Rey’s almost equally baleful “mmmm-mmmm-mmmm-mmmm-mmmm-mmmm-mmmm” (though some will say it’s an “ooooh” not an “mmmm” sound) opening to “Ride” is as well. Not to mention the fact that the plot of her “Ride” video is très The Bikeriders oriented (well, minus the part where she’s vibing out in a war bonnet a.k.a. “Native American headdress”). And so, it’s hard to say, within this ouroboros of being inspired by Danny Lyon’s photography, if maybe Nichols wasn’t in some way also inspired by “Ride.” Either way, the song’s absence in the film is partially what makes it simultaneously feel as though it’s there, out in the streets like a sonic specter.  

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The Bikeriders: America in Decay and Contentious Generational Divides Have Long Been a Motif of the Nation

    The Bikeriders: America in Decay and Contentious Generational Divides Have Long Been a Motif of the Nation

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    One wonders, sometimes, if there was ever truly a period in U.S. history that was “golden,” so much as the nation being in an ever-increasing state of decline from the moment it was roguely founded. For while the present set of circumstances befalling the United States has rightfully convinced many Americans that things can’t possibly get more dystopian/reach a new nadir, to some extent, that has been the story of America for most of its relatively brief existence. And yet, starting in the early sixties (circa 1962), it was apparent that the United States was already beginning to experience the symptoms of some major “growing pains” unlike any they had ever known. A seismic cultural shift was afoot, and perhaps one of the most notable signs was the increase in “outlaw” motorcycle clubs across the country.

    Such as the one created by Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy), leader of the Vandals Motorcycle Club. An “MC” based on the real-life Outlaws Motorcycle Club that Danny Lyon was a member of from 1963 to 1967 (two years before Easy Rider would enshrine “the culture”), becoming one for the purpose of being able to authentically photograph and generally document the life and times of this “fringe” society. It is Lyon’s book that serves as the basis for Jeff Nichols’ fifth film, The Bikeriders (the same name as Lyon’s photographic tome). And, although Johnny is the founder of the Vandals MC, it is Benny Cross (Austin Butler) who serves as the “true” representation of what it means to live the biker lifestyle: being aloof, mysterious (through muteness) and not at all concerned with or interested in settling down in any one place, with any one person. That is, until the anchor of the story and its telling, Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer, wielding her best impression of a Midwest accent), shows up one night in the bar where the Vandals hang out. As she retells it to the film version of Lyon, played by Challengers’ Mike Faist, a friend of hers called her up and told her to come by and meet her there.

    From the moment Kathy walked in, she said she had never felt more out of place in her entire life. This being further compounded by all the ogling aimed in her direction. Creeped out to the max, Kathy tells her friend she’s going to leave, but is stopped in her tracks by the sight of the muscular Benny standing in front of the pool table. She decides to go back to her chair, waiting for the inevitable moment when he’ll come over and talk to her. But before that happens, Johnny approaches her first, assuring that he’s not going to let anything happen to her. Kathy’s response is of an eye-rolling nature and, when she and Benny finally get to talking, she still tells him she has to go. And she does…but not without being pawed on the way out. So pawed, in fact, that when she makes it back onto the street, her white pants are covered with handprints. Alas, the pursuit isn’t over, with Benny casually walking outside, going over to his motorcycle and mounting it as Kathy watches, realizing that the hordes from the MC are coming out to essentially force her to take a ride with him so as to avoid their wolf-like, unsettling nature.

    From that night onward, Benny waits outside her house once he drops her off, sitting on his motorcycle with stoic determination. Which, yes, comes across as even more stalker-y than Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) showing up to Diane Court’s (Ione Skye) house in Say Anything… to hold a boombox over his head and play Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Even though Kathy already has a live-in boyfriend, Benny just keeps waiting. Irritating the shit out of the boyfriend with his presence until he finally splits in a huff, leaving the door open, so to speak, for Benny to make his move without Kathy being able to have any excuse to “resist” him. Although she starts out by telling Danny that her life has been nothing but trouble ever since she met Benny, with him constantly getting in brawls, being thrown in jail, etc. (indeed, it smacks of the sentiment behind Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please”), she admits that they got married just five months after meeting. Thus, her house effectively becomes another home away from home for many of the boys in the club. A hangout where motorcycles parked on the sidewalk vex Kathy to no end as she warns them that the neighbors will start to complain of a “bad element” in the vicinity.

    Ironically, of course, the main reason many of these boys chose to join up was because they were deemed a “bad element” based on their appearance alone. As Johnny’s right-hand man, Brucie (Damon Herriman), tells Danny, “You don’t belong nowhere else, so you belong together.” Basically, the misfits create their own “utopian” society where they can at last find acceptance in a world that has otherwise rejected them. As Johnny Stabler (Marlon Brando) puts it to Mildred (Peggy Maley) in 1954’s (or 1953, depending on who you ask) The Wild One, when she asks, “What are you rebelling against, Johnny?”: “Whaddaya got?” In short, these are the men rebelling against everything, including their own effective banishment from “polite” society. (And, needless to say, Johnny is inspired to form the club in the first place as a result of watching this movie.)

    While Lyon’s original book documents years going up to 1967, the film version of The Bikeriders goes up to the early seventies, with things taking a shift toward the decidedly sinister as the end of the sixties arrived, and more and more of the types of men joining up were drug users and/or recently returned from Vietnam with the PTSD to go with it. As Lyon himself remarked while still part of the club, “I was kind of horrified by the end. I remember I had a big disagreement with this guy who rolled out a huge Nazi flag as a picnic rug to put our beers on. By then I had realized that some of these guys were not so romantic after all.”

    To that point, many who had tried to remain in the “lavender haze” of America’s postwar “prosperity” in the 1950s were starting to realize that maybe capitalism and communist-centered witch hunts weren’t so romantic after all, either. The sixties, indeed, was a decade that shattered all illusions Americans had about “sense,” “morality” and “meaning.” This perhaps most famously immortalized by Joan Didion writing, “The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and vandals who misplaced even the four-letter words they scrawled. It was a country in which families routinely disappeared, trailing bad checks and repossession papers. Adolescents drifted from city to torn city, sloughing off both the past and the future as snakes shed their skins, children who were never taught and would never now learn the games that had held the society together. People were missing. Children were missing. Parents were missing. Those left behind filed desultory missing persons reports, then moved on themselves.”

    Like Didion, Lyon was also part of the New Journalism “movement” in news reporting. He, too, inserted himself into the situation, into the “narrative.” One ultimately shaped and experienced by his own outsider views (like Didion documenting the “dark side” of Haight-Ashbury hippies in 1967’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” quoted above). And what his photos and their accompanying interview transcriptions told the “squares” of America was this: their precious way of life was an illusion built on a house of cards. By a simple twist of fate, they, too, might find themselves as one of these “lost boys” or as one of the women who loved them. And oh, how Kathy loves Benny, even though it’s to her emotional detriment.

    With that in mind, it’s no wonder that the musical refrain of The Shangri-Las opening “oooh” in “Out in the Streets” keeps playing throughout the film (because who knows more about biker boys than the Shangri-Las?). A constant callback to remind viewers of the track’s resonant lyrics, including, “He don’t hang around with the gang no more/He don’t do the wild things that he did before/He used to act bad/Used to, but he quit it/It makes me so sad/‘Cause I know that he did it for me (can’t you see?)/And I can see (he’s still in the street)/His heart is out in the street.” This song foreshadowing what Benny will end up sacrificing for Kathy by the end of the film.

    Though, ultimately, the sacrifice is a result of knowing that the motorcycle club will never be what it was during its pure, carefree early years. Years that were untainted by vicious, violent power struggles—this most keenly represented in The Bikeriders by a young aspiring (and ruthless) rider billed as The Kid (Toby Wallace). It is his way of life, his lack of regard for anything resembling “tradition,” “integrity” or “honor among men” that most heartbreakingly speaks to how each subsequent generation of youth becomes more and more sociopathic. Whether in their bid to prove themselves as being “better” than the previous generation or merely exhibiting the results of being a product of their own numbed-out time. Either way, in The Bikeriders, the generational divide will prove to be the undoing of both sides, “old” and young.

    Incidentally, this might be most poetically exemplified by a scene of Kathy and Benny watching an episode of Bewitched where Dick York is still the one playing Darrin, not Dick Sargent. Obviously, York was the superior Darrin. Not just because he was the original, but because he exuded a sleek, effortless sort of class that Sargent didn’t (though, funnily enough, York ended up leaving the show because of his painkiller addiction, related to the health issues he had sustained from a back injury while filming a movie five years before Bewitched—a meta detail as Benny is also laid up in bed due to his own “work-associated” injuries). The same goes for the old versus new guard motorcycle club members in The Bikeriders.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • They Marketed “Dune: Part Two” Like “Barbie” — And It Worked

    They Marketed “Dune: Part Two” Like “Barbie” — And It Worked

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    The Dune: Part Two press tour has sadly come to an end — which is literally the only negative to come from the movie’s US release on March 1st. The film has garnered rave reviews for immersive cinematography, career-defining acting performances, and ushering in a new era for science fiction cinema and action movies across genres.

    Needless to say, the film is worth the three hour run time — and, we do need to have a conversation about these 3 hour movies. We need to start having intermissions or something. But, dare I say, all that time flies by. Immersed in the sands of Arrakis and blessed with constant close-ups of Timmy and Zendaya, who could complain?

    Perhaps that’s why I still can’t stop thinking about the Dune 2 press tour.

    Dune 2 Cast: Who is in Dune: Part Two?

    The Dune: Part Two press tour was one for the ages. It helps that the Dune 2 cast is legendary. The carpets and press junkets included Gen Z juggernauts such as Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya alongside Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Anya Taylor Joy. If that wasn’t enough, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, and Rebecca Ferguson also graced the press tour with their presence. The only thing missing was a cameo from Oscar Issac as the ghost of Duke Atreides past or something — a girl can dream.

    With such a stacked Dune cast and 166 minutes of frame by frame excellence, you’ll be surprised to hear that heavy cuts were made. Tim Blake Nelson has expressed being “heartbroken” that his scene was cut by Denis Villeneuve. Makes you wonder what else was left on the cutting room floor — maybe Zendaya’s scenes from Dune: Part One?

    The Dune: Part Two Press Tour Was Another Masterclass in Movie Marketing

    Of course, these seasoned Hollywood icons know how to act on a press tour. And I’m not just talking about the media training Renee Rapp lacks. I’m talking about using a press tour to really get people talking. From matching outfits to a budding bromance between Austin Butler and Timothee Chalamet (put me in, Coach!), every stop on the press tour garnered viral social media buzz.

    It might be too early to call it, but so far, the Dune: Part Two press tour is this year’s Barbie press tour. Though one was actively marketing products and collaborations, Dune had nothing to market but the cinema experience. Despite their differences, many of the tactics are surprisingly similar.

    Here’s what I mean:

    • The breakdown: Both movies wanted to fill seats and promote the moviegoing experience. They did that by parading their beautiful cast in front of our face and making us run to the theater to beg for more.
    • The clothing: Now, it’s commonplace for actors to make their mark by making a fashion statement. But no one does it like Timmy and Zendaya. Just like Margot Robbie became Barbie through the press tour outfits, the Dune 2 cast embodied the sci-fi spirit of the film. I mean, Zendaya’s Mugler robot suit? Say absolutely less.
    • The scale: Just like everyone talked about Barbie, everyone is talking about Dune: Part Two. The cast pulled off a heroic, worldwide press tour, many between other projects.
    • The impact: I mean … it worked. Seats are filled. The reviews are pouring in, and cinema is totally alive. Dune: Part Two opened with $81.5 million domestically and $178.5 million globally just in the first weekend. Cinema really is back. Dune: Part One grossed $434.8 million globally by the time it left theaters. We are so back.

    Dune 3 News: Will There Be A Dune: Part Three?

    People are asking: “Does Dune: Part Two end with a cliffhanger?” In Denis Villeneuve’s imagining of the franchise, Paul Atriedes is a more complex character than he first seems. Dune: Part Two begins to explore this but the story is not through — far from it.

    Villeneuve has been vocal about his eagerness to expand Paul’s story with an adaptation of Dune: Messiah to really explore Paul’s inner life. And who better to tackle a complex character than our very own Timothee Chalamet — more crying into a fireplace a la Call Me By Your Name, please!

    Just like the first film was a bid to get a sequel, the Dune 2 press tour was a bid to get greenlit for the third installment. And just like we were teased with Zendaya in the first film, they’re teasing us with Anya Taylor-Joy so we’re hungry for more in movie three.

    There is also a Dune prequel in the works, slated to release later this year via HBO. Entitled Dune: Prophecy, it promises to be a mini-series set about 10,000 years before Dune. While there will be no Paul, it will develop the lore of the sisterhood of Bene Gesserit, of which Rebecca Ferugson’s Lady Jessica Atreides and Charlotte Rampling’s Reverend Mother Mohiam from Denis Villeneuve’s Part One were members.

    What does Dune: Part Two’s box office success mean for movies?

    Famously, Timothee was given sage advice by none other than Leonardo DiCaprio to never do a superhero movie. However, I think Dune is pretty close. Timmy himself said that The Dark Knight was the movie that made him want to be an actor. So not all superhero movies are created equal. And indeed, though Dune boasts enough action to have made Timmy brolic, it’s still a prestige film at its heart.

    As Marvel and Sony come out with flop after flop — sorry to Sydney Sweeney and Dakota Johnson, but no one is watching Madame Web — people are tired of the fluffy, formulaic superhero movie.

    To make a movie worth going to the theaters for, it has to be worth the trip and the money. Formulaic and predictable doesn’t make the cut. But in the age of Oppenheimer and Dune, impressive and immersive films are bringing home the box office bacon. I expect the same from Paul Mescal’s Gladiator. With actors that talented, it’s a waste to obscure them with CGI and boring plotlines.

    But who knows, maybe when Deadpool comes out this summer, the Blockbuster superhero movie will be king again. But for now, it’s all about Dune.

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    LKC

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  • Timothée Chalamet Eyes ‘Musical Cinematic Universe’ With His Bob Dylan and Austin Butler’s Elvis

    Timothée Chalamet Eyes ‘Musical Cinematic Universe’ With His Bob Dylan and Austin Butler’s Elvis

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    Timothée Chalamet is ready to be a part of the MCU: the “musical cinematic universe.”

    In a recent interview with NME while promoting “Dune: Part Two,” Chalamet said he wants Austin Butler‘s Elvis Presley to appear in his and James Mangold’s upcoming Bob Dylan film, “A Complete Unknown.”

    “I can’t wait for that film,” Butler said of the Dylan project. “I wish I could be on set every day to just watch the magic happen.”

    “I wish you were in it!” Chalamet replied. “There’s an Elvis character in the Johnny Cash biopic [‘Walk the Line’]. It’s really brief, it’s very brief, but I was kind of wishing we could create a musical cinematic universe.”

    Butler nabbed a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for his performance as Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film. He also received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

    Chalamet will play Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” from “Ford v. Ferrari” and “Walk the Line” filmmaker Mangold. The upcoming film, originally titled “Going Electric,” was first announced in early 2020.

    “I’ve been picking Austin’s brain non-stop, but I feel — let’s let my film come out before I’m so lucky as to get included with Austin, he did such a phenomenal job,” Chalamet said, when asked if he and Butler have had conversations with each other about playing music legends. “But I do feel prideful about that too, because those are two artists that — I can’t speak from Elvis’ perspective, but deep in the Bob Dylan lore now, he had tremendous respect for Elvis and Sun Records.”

    Chalamet and Butler star in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two.” Chalamet reprises his role as Paul Atreides from Villeneuve’s 2021 “Dune,” while Butler portrays the villainous Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the sequel.

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    Michaela Zee

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  • Meet the Internet’s Award Season Boyfriends

    Meet the Internet’s Award Season Boyfriends

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    What is a white boy of the month? The term originated on the social media app formerly known as Twitter, as most ubiquitous pillars of stan culture do. The Twitter white boy of the month began as a joke poking fun at the cyclical nature of thirst on the internet. Almost every month, everyone’s feeds would erupt with photos and fancams of a new heartthrob — usually a young, white actor or musician with heartthrob hair — just to be replaced by the newest flavor of the month only weeks later.

    Then came the ranking system. Stan communities pitted their white boys against each other, ranking them according to whether they were hot or not. But soon, as the term entered the mainstream, the internet seemed to come to a consensus: these are all our parasocial boyfriends. We should all just get along.

    Thus, the internet boyfriend or the white boy of the month has become a fixture of being chronically online. The term has evolved so much that this flavor of the month doesn’t even have to be white. Often, his relevancy doesn’t even last an entire month in our minds. Blame our TikTok-addled brains but these heartthrobs are being cycled through like micro trends.

    However, during award season, we are inundated with content from the same fleet of internet boyfriends — keeping them in rotation and lodging their gorgeous faces in the centers of our brain for longer. Don’t mind if I do.

    We get red carpet content, heartwarming speeches, interviews, group photos — how can we choose just one white boy of the month under conditions like these? The sight of them keeps us entertained during peak Seasonal Affective Disorder months, and for that, I thank them for their service.

    @indiewire

    Callum Turner, Austin Butler, and Barry Keoghan at last night’s “Masters of The Air” premiere. Watch the series’ teaser at the link in our bio. #indiewire #fyp #austinbutler #barrykeoghan #callumturner #redcarpet #tvtok #tvtiktok

    No matter who gets awarded the most statues by various guilds and academies this season, I just hope all my internet boyfriends have fun.

    A Field Guide to Internet Boyfriends

    If you’re overwhelmed and hot under the collar, look no further than this field guide to internet boyfriends. As talented as they are beautiful, this year’s slate of award season hotties is serving up more than a few white boys of the month and we’re eating good.

    Callum Turner

    If you’ve been paying attention to the indie scene, you’ve likely had a crush on actor Callum Turner for a while. This year, Callum Turner — Masters of the Air and The Boys in the Boat under his belt — he’s made it into the mainstream and straight into the running for white boy of the month. It also doesn’t hurt that Callum Turner’s girlfriend is none other than Dua Lipa. I want to be them so bad.

    Notable Callum Turner Movies and TV Shows: Masters of the Air, The Boys in the Boat, The Only Living Boy in New York, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Emma

    Austin Butler

    If you’re an Austin Butler fan, he’s been your white boy of the month since Elvis — maybe even before if you remember him before his voice changed and took on the spirit of Elvis himself. Gorge yourself on Austin Butler photos because he’s been serving alongside Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, and Anya Taylor-Joy on the Dune 2 press tour. And if that’s not enough he’s also promoting Apple TV’s Masters of the Air alongside aforementioned white boy of the month, Callum Turner.

    Notable Austin Butler Movies and TV Shows: Elvis, Masters of the Air, Dune: Part Two, Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood, The Bikeriders, The Carrie Diaries

    ​Timothée Chalamet

    Timothée Chalamet’s personal life has been my Roman Empire lately. Did Timothée Chalamet dump Kylie Jenner? And what about the Selena Gomez and Kylie beef? It’s gag city, and I’m enthralled. But watching Dune 2 reminded me that I’m also enthralled by his work. The boy can act, which is why he’s been a white boy of the month since 2017.

    Notable Timothée Chalamet Movies and TV Shows: Wonka, Dune, Dune: Part Two, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, The French Dispatch, The King, Bones and All, Don’t Look Up, Interstellar, Little Women

    ​Charles Melton

    Charles Melton, known for May December (and that May December prosthetic), has truly done the impossible and transcended from Riverdale heartthrob to art house film darling. Though he was snubbed for this year’s Oscar, his career seems to be shooting up and I can’t wait for him to be an enduring award season internet boyfriend for years to come. He’s proven he’s more than just abs and a jawline — but what fantastic abs and what a fantastic jawline.

    Notable Charles Melton Movies and TV Shows: Riverdale, May December, The Sun Is Also A Star, Poker Face, American Horror Stories, Bad Boys for Life

    ​Barry Keoghan

    Short kings are so up. Barry Keoghan danced into our hearts to the tune of “Murder on the Dancefloor” in Saltburn alongside Jacob Elordi. After already being applauded for his performance in 2022’s Banshees of Inisherin, he’s finally become the leading man and heartthrob he deserved to be. Sabrina girl, I so see the vision.

    Notable Barry Keoghan Movies and TV Shows: Saltburn, Banshees of Inisherin, American Animals, Killing of the Sacred Deer, Eternals, Chernobyl, Dunkirk, Masters of the Air, Top Boy, The Green Knight

    ​Archie Madekwe

    One of the sleeper stars of Saltburn was Archie Madekwe, who also starred alongside David Harbour and Orlando Bloom in Gran Turismo. I hope we see more of this rising star on our screens for years to come.

    Notable Archie Madekwe Movies and TV Shows: Saltburn, Gran Turismo, Midsommar, Beau is Afraid

    Jeremy Allen White

    All I can say is: Yes, chef. Thanks to those abs, those biceps, and a particularly thirsty Calvin Klein ad, Jeremy Allen White is not going anywhere. Just the other day he was spotted buying heaps of flowers from a farmers market in Los Angeles. Peak internet boyfriend behavior. And after The Iron Claw and The Bear, he’s sweeping up awards and showing what a force he is as an actor. And a short king.

    Notable Jeremy Allen White Movies and TV Shows: The Iron Claw, The Bear, Shameless, Fingernails, Fremont, The Birthday Cake, Homecoming

    ​Paul Mescal

    Paul Mescal, park running menace of East London (IYKYK), has quickly emerged as one of Ireland’s premier heartthrobs. Thus far, all his roles have made me ugly cry. But he’s preparing for Gladiator 2 so some pure heartthrob fodder is on its way soon. But if you ever see Paul Mescal running, watch out.

    Notable Paul Mescal Movies and TV Shows: Aftersun, Normal People, All of Us Strangers, Foe, Carmen, The Lost Daughter

    ​Ayo Edebiri

    Okay hear me out. Though she’s neither white nor a boy, Ayo Edebiri has been receiving very white boy of the month flavored attention on social media during award season. She’s the people’s princess but she’s also giving heartthrob, especially whenever she steps out in menswear and proves she’s a menswear god. God bless the Irish.

    Notable Ayo Edebiri Movies and TV Shows: Bottoms, The Bear, The Sweet East, Theater Camp, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Abbott Elementary, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

    ​David Jonsson

    David Jonsson’s versatility is perhaps why he’s everywhere right now. From reinvigorating the romantic comedy in Rye Lane to taking a turn at Agatha Christie in Murder is Easy, he’s just showing off at this point — especially after being one of the most compelling characters in HBO’s Industry.

    Notable David Jonsson Movies and TV Shows: Rye Lane, Murder is Easy, Industry, Alien: Romulus, Deep State

    ​Dominic Sessa

    Imagine going from being a random theater kid to being Twitter’s white not of the month. He lived it! Dominic Sessa, Carnegie Mellon grad (or student???), has had a whirlwind year after he was plucked from his high school (Deerfield, the same one attended by former presidents and Connor Kennedy, Taylor Swift’s underage ex) theater department to star in this indie masterpiece alongside Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Good for him and theater kids everywhere.

    Notable Dominic Sessa Movies and TV Shows: The Holdovers

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    LKC

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  • Wait … Did Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner Break Up?

    Wait … Did Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner Break Up?

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    I’ll admit it here: I didn’t read Dune. But I’ll also swear on my life that I’ve had Frank Herbert’s massive odyssey of a novel on my TBR long before the new adaptation, Dune: Part One(let alone Dune: Part Two), was set in motion by Denis Villeneuve. I’m not new to this, but I’m also not true to this.

    It’s my father’s favorite book, so I grew up half-grateful, half-scornful he didn’t name me Chani. Now that Zendaya is playing that role, I’m still ambivalent about the choice.

    Which is to say, all these long years, I still haven’t even turned to the first page. Therefore, I don’t know how it ends — specifically if Prince Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) gets the girl in the end. I guess I’ll find out on March 1st, Dune: Part Two’s long-awaited release date (shoutout to the SAG strike). But until then, I have even hotter Dune tea to contemplate: Did Timothee dump Kylie Jenner?

    Where have these two been? No Kylie and Timothee Paparazzi Pictures, No Nothing.

    For a couple comprised of two of the hottest celebrities alive, their relationship has been so amorphous in the public eye. They haven’t been taking over tabloids with not-so-candid appearances. In fact, all the Kylie and Timothee pictures have been rare and somewhat tame. Yet, they also haven’t been completely hush-hush. This middle ground is somewhat unsatisfying. After Kylie and Timothee pictures broke the internet at Beyonce’s Renaissance tour and then again at the US Open, 2023’s odd couple have been fairly quiet. This year, they only came up for air to smooch on camera at the Golden Globes. Now, with radio silence persisting ad Timothee in his flop era, some wonder if this unlikely pair has run its course. I mean, even the famously private Tom Holland and Zendaya are more conspicuous than these two.

    Are Kylie and Timothee actually dating?

    I will say, I’m a hater. I never loved this pairing. Not because I have some parasocial claim on our generation’s Leonardo DiCaprio. Nor because I have some purist notion that he is somehow “too good” for Kylie Jenner just because his name is a little French. And, unlike my darling Aaron Taylor Johnson, the Kylie Jenner/Timothee Chalamet age difference is perfectly acceptable — only two years, even though she sometimes looks like his mom (sorry, Miss Girl!).

    When it comes to celebs, I think they all deserve each other. But since it’s become so ubiquitous that Kris Jenner orchestrates her daughters’ lives with the dexterity and precision of a chess grandmaster, nothing the KarJenner clan does surprises me. The most gossip these two ever gave was Selena Gomez Gate.

    Even if I believe it’s a real relationship — I mean, c’mon, who could resist either of them — there’s absolutely nothing charming about the fact that it probably had to be Kris-approved to come into the world and will have to be Kris-approved to come out of it.

    That’s not sexy. That’s not what I want from my Timothee Chalamet dating rumors. I miss when he was making out on boats in grainy pictures with Lily-Rose Depp and Eiza Gonzalez. I wish for him what Dua Lipa has with Callum Turner. What Sabrina Carpenter has with Barry Keoghan. Hell, even what the American Royal Couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have. Not this sanitized version of a surprise couple.

    So … Did Timothee Dump Kylie?

    If the rumors are true: I might get my wish after all. Reports (re: Deuxmoi and Reddit) say that Timothee was acting very single on a night out after the Dune: Part Two premiere in New York City. While his committed costars Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Zendaya slept, Timmy was allegedly out partying in SoHo like a singleton. Oh, to be young and hot in New York.

    Where was Kylie? Putting Stormi to bed, one can assume. But was she waiting for a call from her man? Or is that not her man anymore? If not, her recent paparazzi pics in her Khy bodycon dress might have to be reclassified as a revenge dress. We’ll have to wait and see if more Kylie and Timothee paparazzi pictures surface. Though Kris Jenner, I implore you: if there are more Kylie and Timothee pictures, please keep them to yourself.

    Take this all with a grain of salt, of course.

    I may not know much about Dune, but one thing I know for certain is who pulls the strings in this town. When Kris Jenner deems the timing right, and only then, will the news break (and the Kylie and Timothee pictures cease for good)— not with a bang, I fear, but a whimper. I can only hope Dune: PartTwo goes out with a grander finale than this controversial, but ultimately uninteresting. coupling.

    Anyway, watch the Dune: Part Two Trailer Here:

    See you all on March 1st.

    Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer 3www.youtube.com

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    LKC

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  • Austin Butler Dialed Back the Method Acting for ‘Dune: Part Two’ and We All Thank Him For It

    Austin Butler Dialed Back the Method Acting for ‘Dune: Part Two’ and We All Thank Him For It

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    Feb 26th, 2024, 12:57 pm

    Austin Butler as the villainous Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in

    No secret was ever made of the fact that Austin Butler went above and beyond to allow the spirit of Elvis Presley to possess his body for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. Fortunately, Butler realized that sort of all-immersive approach isn’t suited for every role.

    This time around, Butler’s shoring up the star-studded cast of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, and those of you even tangentially familiar with his character Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen know that, in this case, a Method acting approach would have been an unmitigated disaster.

    Speaking recently to the Los Angeles Times, Butler compared and contrasted the approach he took for Elvis and that of Feyd-Rautha, noting that immersing himself in the King of Rock is one thing, and Method acting a sadistic, bloodthirsty killer is quite another.

    I’ve definitely in the past, with ‘Elvis,’ explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night. With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends. So I made a conscious decision to have a boundary. That’s not to say that it doesn’t bleed into your life. But I knew that I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous outside of that boundary, and in a way that allowed me to go deeper.

    From the glimpses we’ve gotten of Butler’s vicious bald head in the Part Two trailers, it doesn’t seem like the actor’s reeled-in approach to the House Harkonnen successor harmed his performance whatsoever. Indeed, this on-screen iteration of Feyd-Rautha looks to be oozing ruthless tenacity in every frame, and judging by the number of jugulars he’s probably going to dice up across the film’s runtime, I daresay that taking a Method approach to this character would have actually been the biggest possible drawback to this performance, in that there would be no one left alive on set to make the movie in the first place.

    Dune: Part Two hits theaters on March 1.

    (featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures)

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    Charlotte Simmons

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  • Austin Butler Says ‘Dune 2’ Set Was ‘110 Degrees’ on His First Week and ‘There Were People Passing Out From Heat Stroke’: ‘It Became a Microwave’

    Austin Butler Says ‘Dune 2’ Set Was ‘110 Degrees’ on His First Week and ‘There Were People Passing Out From Heat Stroke’: ‘It Became a Microwave’

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    Austin Butler was hospitalized after he wrapped filming on Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” and it appears it was something of a miracle he avoided a similar fate on the set of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” The Oscar nominee joins the epic franchise as Feyd-Rautha, the cruel and sadistic younger nephew of and heir to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård). Butler told Entertainment Weekly that heat stroke impacted several people on set during his first week of shooting. How’s that for a welcome?

    “It was 110 degrees and so hot,” Butler said. “I had the bald cap on, and it was between two soundstages that were just these gray boxes of 200-foot walls and sand. It became like a microwave. There were people passing out from heat stroke. And that was just my first week.”

    “It really bonds the entire crew,” Butler added. “There’s something so humbling about being in such an uncomfortable environment.” 

    The first scene Butler shot for “Dune 2” was Feyd-Rautha’s gladiator match on the Harkonnen’s home planet as he battles fighters to prove he should be his uncle’s heir. During prep, Butler made sure to pay close attention to Skarsgård’s vocal performance in the original “Dune” movie as it held the key to bringing his version of Feyd-Rautha to life.

    “I felt that because he grew up with the Baron, the Baron would be a big influence on him in many ways,” Butler explained to Entertainment Weekly about nailing the voice. “So then I started thinking about the way that he speaks, and that being linked to the person that you see with the most power from the time that you’re a child, who you do end up emulating in some way.”

    Nearly all of the “Dune” cast had to endure hot temperatures while filming the space epic, which is one reason Villeneuve was grateful he didn’t go the usual Hollywood route and film both “Dune” films back-to-back with no break in productions.

    “Both movies were made in very harsh conditions, and it’s very physically taxing, so to have a break in between them was a blessing,” Villeneuve said. “My first thought was to shoot both movies back to back together, but now I think I would have died. It was really intense, and seeing how the world reacted to ‘Part One’ was a boost of positive energy to go back into the desert.” 

    “Dune: Part Two” opens in theaters March 1 from Warner Bros.

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    Zack Sharf

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  • Zendaya stuns at ‘Dune: Part Two’ world premiere in vintage silver cyborg suit by Mugler

    Zendaya stuns at ‘Dune: Part Two’ world premiere in vintage silver cyborg suit by Mugler

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    LONDON – Zendaya is on a fashion roll, in a cyborg “Dune: Part Two” kind of way.

    The co-star of the highly anticipated film sequel stunned Thursday at its world premiere when she hit the sand-strewn carpet in a silver robot suit straight from the archive of Mugler. It’s from the French fashion house’s fall/winter 1995 “Cirque d’hiver” 20th anniversary collection, according to a company statement.

    That translates to “Winter Circus,” not unlike the fanfare surrounding the March 1 release of Denis Villeneuve’s second half of his sci-fi epic.

    Zendaya’s body-hugging armor outfit with sheer plexiglass inserts has built-in gloves she paired with matching silver heels. Mugler gave special thanks to her stylist, Law Roach, in an email detailing the vintage look. While the runway version included a matching headpiece, Zendaya opted for a short sleek hairdo and a blue diamond necklace from Bulgari.

    She was joined on the carpet by fellow stars Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin and Rebecca Ferguson, along with new cast members Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Villeneuve.

    The new film picks up where 2021’s “Dune” left off. Chalamet’s Paul Atreides unites with Zendaya’s Chani and the Fremen in order to seek revenge against those who killed his family members. Pugh, a newcomer to the world of “Dune” as the Emperor’s daughter, plays Princess Irulan with Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha.

    Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Walken, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem round out the cast.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Associated Press

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  • We Know Who Anya Taylor-Joy Is Playing in Dune: Part Two (Probably)

    We Know Who Anya Taylor-Joy Is Playing in Dune: Part Two (Probably)

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    Dune: Part Two, the upcoming sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 sci-fi epic based on the Frank Herbert novels, is releasing in just two weeks, but somehow the team behind it kept one major star’s involvement a total secret. During the February 15 world premiere in London, The Queen’s Gambit actor Anya Taylor-Joy appeared on the red carpet to confirm that she is, indeed, a member of the sequel’s cast. This came after an eagle-eyed Letterboxd user noticed that Dune: Part Two was listed under Taylor-Joy’s credits on the review aggregation app.

    In Dune: Spice Wars The Spice Must Flow But Remember To Hydrate

    Variety confirmed that Taylor-Joy is a part of the cast, which includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha, and many more huge Hollywood stars. But, Variety refused to “spoil” who Taylor-Joy is playing, and it doesn’t appear that anyone else is willing to say who, either.

    Except me. Dune novel spoilers below, but let’s be real, the book came out in 1965.

    Anya Taylor-Joy is probably Alia Atreides in Dune: Part Two 

    First, an attempt at a brief Dune synopsis. In the far future, an interstellar society is comprised of noble houses whose fiefdoms are entire planets. The Atreides family, led by Duke Leto (played by Oscar Isaac in Dune: Part One), is ordered to take a harsh desert planet known as Arrakis as its new fief. Though the planet is virtually inhospitable, it is the only source of the highly sought after resource known as “spice,” a psychedelic drug that is used in space navigation. But as soon as the Atreides family arrives on Arrakis, it’s clear that they’ve walked into a trap set by the rival House Harkonnen, who wants to wipe them out entirely.

    Read More: The Dune Ornithopter Lego Set Is Almost Too Good To Be True

    As seen in Dune: Part One, the Harkonnens’ plan results in Leto’s death, and forces Paul and his mother, Jessica, to flee into the desert. It’s there that they come into contact withe the Fremen, Arrakis’ native people who have learned how to thrive (not just survive) on the harsh planet. There’s a whole messianic thing that I can’t even begin to get into, but what’s important here in regards to Taylor-Joy is this: Jessica is pregnant, and submits to the “spice agony,” a ritual where she takes a deadly amount of spice. Because she’s with child, the baby is exposed to the spice in utero, and is born possessing all the knowledge of a fully grown adult.

    Alia Atreides looks and sounds like a child, but is a full-blown Reverend Mother, the highest tier attainable amongst the Bene Gesserit (a matriarchal order that has religious and political power). In David Lynch’s Dune from 1984, Alia is played by a child actor, but I think (especially when seeing what Taylor-Joy wore to the premiere, and how it compares to what Alia wears in Lynch’s film) that Villeneuve has figured out a way to present Alia as an adult.

    I await confirmation that I am correct.

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    Alyssa Mercante

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  • Austin Butler Wanted to Respect Vanessa Hudgens’ Privacy When He Called Her a “Friend”

    Austin Butler Wanted to Respect Vanessa Hudgens’ Privacy When He Called Her a “Friend”

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    Austin Butler is clearing the air about the time he referred to his former longtime girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens as a “friend,” which many people felt minimized their nine-year-long relationship.

    During The Hollywood Reporter‘s 2023 actor roundtable — which featured last year’s award season’s leading men including Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan and Adam Sandler — the Elvis actor was asked if he always wanted to play the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He responded with an anecdote, saying his “friend” had told him he should do it one day.

    “The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend, and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio, and I was singing along, and my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis,’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film…’”

    At the time, social media was in a tizzy because it was clear he was talking about Hudgens, who posted on Instagram about him being cast as Elvis Presley when the news broke, and fans felt he was downgrading the role she played in his life. In a cover story for Esquire published online Monday, Butler explained why he referred to her that way at the time.

    “I felt that I was respecting her privacy in a way and not wanting to bring up a ton of things that would cause her to have to talk,” he told the publication. “I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything.” He added, “I value my own privacy so much. I didn’t want to give up anybody else’s privacy.”

    Elsewhere in the lengthy profile, Butler also opened up about how, when his mother died of cancer in 2014, he considered quitting acting because he “had a lot of turmoil” in his mind. Shortly after her funeral, he needed to fly to New Zealand for The Shannara Chronicles. He showed up, did his job and, every night after filming, would return to the hotel and sob. Once production ended, he decided to take a break for the first time in his career.

    Eventually, the Oscar nominee started to believe in his path again. “He realized his mom wouldn’t want him to stop,” his longtime friend Ashley Tisdale told Esquire. “His mom would want him to keep going. I think that was a driving force. And I believe she’s seeing all of these things and is there with him now.”

    Almost immediately after Butler wrapped production on Elvis, the actor was due in London to begin filming his new AppleTV+ series Masters of the Air. But the actor had spent so much time becoming Elvis Presley that it took a lot for him to come out of the person he embodied for years, despite already working on another project.

    When he wasn’t in front of the cameras, portraying Buck Cleven in the series, he was working to rediscover himself. “I was just trying to remember who I was,” he told the publication. Similar to the way he had a dialect coach to adopt the Memphis drawl of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, he had one on the Apple project whose main job was to help him stop talking like Elvis.

    Looking back at his time on the set of Masters of the Air, Butler admitted it all kind of feels like a blur at this point. “I hardly remember filming that,” he explained. “Almost the full year that I was in London.”

    In addition to the series that explores World War II through the eyes of the Mighty Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces, the actor also has Dune: Part Two coming out this year, in which he portrays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.

    Together, he and director Denis Villeneuve worked to create the ruthless and psychotic assassin’s look, which ended up being bald, with no eyebrows and teeth painted black. Butler also wanted an accent, and Villeneuve agreed to let him do one.

    When the cast — which includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Christopher Walken, Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem, among others — sat down for their first table read, Chalamet knew Butler was next-level.

    “He’s questioning everything. He’s on a mission. He’s on a search,” the Wonka star told the publication. He’s not pretending to be the guy with answers. He’s constantly tinkering.”

    Dune: Part Two hits theaters March 1.

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    Christy Pina

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  • What’s Leaving Streaming This Month: February 2024

    What’s Leaving Streaming This Month: February 2024

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    Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, and Timothee Chalamet (from left) in Dune. Ryan Stetz/HBO

    Whether you want surprisingly funny family dramas, international excellence, or a refresher on one of the decade’s biggest sci-fi franchises, you’re in luck. From indies to blockbusters, these are the titles you need to watch before they leave streaming this month.

    What’s leaving Netflix

    The Farewell 

    While Lulu Wang’s star-studded series Expats is still unfurling, why not watch the movie that catapulted the director into the mainstream? The Farewell stars Awkwafina as Billi, an aspiring writer who’s struggling to find work and her place as a Chinese American woman. When she hears that her beloved grandmother, Nai Nai, has been diagnosed with cancer, though, she drops everything to go see her in China. However, there’s another issue: the family is keeping Nai Nai’s diagnosis a secret from her, and a reluctant Billi must do so too. The Farewell will be available to stream until February 29th.

    Dune 

    After a lengthy, strike-related delay, Dune: Part Two is finally on the horizon. The second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic (out March 1st) features a sprawling cast (with new additions Austin Butler and Florence Pugh) on top of a dense mythos, so there’s no time like the present to catch up by watching Dune. Timothée Chalamet stars as Paul, heir to the House Atreides within the galactic empire, who must contend with political threats to his father (Oscar Isaac) and strange trials courtesy of his mother (Rebecca Ferguson). Along the way, he encounters friends and foes alike, played by Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Jason Momoa, and Josh Brolin. Dune streams through the end of the month.

    What’s leaving Hulu

    Paddington 

    As winter truly begins to wear on us all, it’s the perfect time to watch some of the coziest movies of the 21st century. Paddington and its sequel are the rare family movie franchise to truly appeal to all ages, from the title bear’s expertly animated cuddliness to the A-list actors who get to play cartoonish villains (Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, the latter in a BAFTA-nominated performance). Though sweet little Paddington gets himself into quite the precarious predicaments, his mantra of “if we’re kind and polite, the world will be right” always holds true. Paddington streams until the end of the month, while Paddington 2 is available through February 26th.

    What’s leaving Max

    Drive My Car 

    Layered, lengthy, and packed with a lot of languages, Drive My Car is one of the most daring dramas of the decade so far. The film follows a theater actor and director who discovers his wife’s infidelity before her untimely death. Bereft and unmoored, he decides to accept a theater residency that will have him directing a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya. Ultimately, it’s a movie about understanding, and how we may never be able to achieve it when it comes to those we love. Everything about the film is superb, and there’s a reason why the movie was nominated for four Oscars. Drive My Car streams through the end of the month.

    What’s leaving Peacock

    Five Nights at Freddy’s 

    One of last year’s biggest horror hits is departing streaming later this month. Five Nights at Freddy’s became a smash success when it was released in theaters and on Peacock last October, bringing the thrills from the beloved video game to screens both big and small. Josh Hutcherson stars as Mike, a man so desperate for a job that he takes on a gig as a nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a family pizzeria-slash-arcade with plenty of skeletons in its supply closets. Before long, things begin to go bump in the night, leaving Mike to solve a decades-old mystery. Five Nights at Freddy’s streams through February 25th.

    The Descendants 

    While The Holdovers currently stands as a favorite at the Oscars, it’s far from the first time that filmmaker Alexander Payne has seen success with the Academy. In fact, he won his second Oscar in 2012 for The Descendants, a complex family dramedy. George Clooney stars as Matt, a man who’s inherited and attained great wealth (including a large swath of land in Hawaii), but all of that stability vanishes when his wife gets in an accident that leaves her comatose. He must grapple with his role as a cousin, a husband and a father to his two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller). The Descendants streams through the end of the month.

    What to Watch is a regular endorsement of movies and TV worth your streaming time.

    What’s Leaving Streaming This Month: February 2024



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    Laura Babiak

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