film

Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.

If war films and talented actors are your genre of entertainment, we’ve got a movie recommendation that’ll be right up your alley.

Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.

Eye in the Sky is a 2016 war drama starring British acting royalty — and it’s currently available to stream for free on BBC iPlayer. The modern warfare thriller stars the late great British icon and acting legend Alan Rickman, and is considered his last live-action feature film — having released posthumously on April 15, 2016, just months after Rickman died on January 14 that same year. His last film overall though, is Alice Through the Looking Glass, which features him in a voice acting role only.

Eye in the Sky has been dedicated to the Harry Potter star, and while Rickman is definitely one of the highlights of the war drama, he’s far from being the only scene-stealer.

Directed by Gavin Hood with a screenplay penned by Guy Hibbert, Eye in the Sky stars the legendary Helen Mirren in the lead alongside Rickman. The pair are joined by Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Michael O’Keefe, Phoebe Fox and Iain Glen in supporting roles to round out a talented cast.

Speaking to Collider about her co-star Rickman, Mirren shared: “I think that Alan would have been incredibly proud that this was his last movie. It is what I love about it, which is that the Alan you see up on screen is much closer to the real Alan Rickman that we all knew and loved. You see his intelligence, you see his wit, and you see his authority. I think that that was very much the Alan that we knew.”

With an almost perfect 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Eye in the Sky seems to be loved by one and all.

One viewer was clear the film belonged to Rickman as they wrote on IMDB: “This is Alan Rickman’s movie. He is the star, the cast person who carries the movie. The movie itself is excellent. It tells a compelling story and succeeds in building dramatic tension without becoming contrived.

“The conflict is presented plainly. Every character plays an important role. Yet, Rickman drives this movie. His performance as the general in charge of the operation should earn him at least consideration for the highest official accolades.”

While another fan of the film said: “Excellent movie all around! I rarely give very high ratings, so take this 10 as solid approval. This is a very well-made movie. It’s dramatic (fitting the occasion), compelling, exciting, interesting, intriguing, well-paced, informative, insightful, well scripted, well acted, evocative, relevant, just, intuitive, comprehensive, and so on.

“All of these. I found it very enjoyable to watch, and I followed along and fully understood the situation presented and all of its challenges. It’s difficult to imagine any ways it could be improved.”

An audience review on Rotten Tomatoes states: “Genuinely one of the best films I have ever seen – could be a fantastic debating resource for schools, colleges and universities. Brilliantly communicated from every angle.”

While one viewer said in a glowing review: “I have to say: This film blows my mind. The combination of the suspense, the back-and-forth, and the frustration exceeds any out-of-the-world action sequences; not to mention Mirren and Rickman being superb as always.”

Critics were left equally impressed, with one writing: “It’s a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer.”

While another reviewer said: “Eye in the Sky is a disturbing, intelligent and very well crafted contemporary thriller with a solid screenplay by Guy Hibbert and seamless direction.”

A third critic added: “This is the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking mainstream film that’s in danger of becoming extinct. Eye in the Sky is miles above the average multiplex flick.”

Eye in the Sky is available to watch free of cost on BBC iPlayer.

The head of one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies warned state leaders that a new budget bill threatens job gains from California’s film and TV credit program.

Legislators earlier this year passed a provision in the state budget that extends limitations on corporate tax credits, including a $5-million state tax credit cap each year.

But film industry advocates say the corporate tax credit cap will hurt film producers and undercut the effectiveness of the state’s expanded film and TV tax credits.

Lawmakers more than doubled annual funding for the program last year to $750 million in an effort to boost jobs and stem the exodus of film work from California.

CAA Chief Executive Bryan Lourd called for state leaders to create an exemption for tax credits earned under the expanded film and TV program.

“Without this fix, we risk destabilizing a program that is critical to keeping film and television production in California and the thousands of jobs it supports,” Lourd wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara).

“California must make itself competitive with the rest of the country and the world if it hopes to have a thriving entertainment ecosystem,” Lourd wrote. “Honoring commitments that have already been made to the entertainment industry is an essential step in achieving that goal.”

Film industry advocates expected producers would be exempted from the tax credit cap.

“It’s a reversal of California economic policy as it relates to the entertainment industry in an unhelpful and uncompetitive direction,” said Hilary Krane, CAA’s chief legal officer, in an interview. . “It undermines people’s ability to plan for the economics of the program because they all counted on a certain amount coming in under the previous rules that they were entitled to and had, but now can’t use.”

Last month, more than three dozen California lawmakers signed a letter calling attention to the issue. Hollywood unions also have raised alarm.

“The result of the changes is that production companies will lose the full value of credits already earned in exchange for creating middle-class entertainment industry jobs and other economic benefits to the State,” the Entertainment Union Coalition said last month.

Nick Miller, Rivas’ spokesperson, said the state Assembly is taking a hard look at the issue.

“Our lawmakers strengthened California’s film and TV jobs program last year and will keep fighting for creative industry workers,” Miller said in an email.

Newsom’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Time is running out for a fix to happen this session, which ends in less than two weeks.

State Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) said state leaders are working on introducing legislation soon to address the issue.

Already, tens of thousands of jobs have come back to Southern California due to the modernization of the film and TV tax credit program, he said.

“We just saw the beginning of that resurgence and we don’t want to nip that in the bud,” Zbur said in an interview.

Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery could result in 4,500 jobs eliminated in Los Angeles over a three-year period, according to a new report.

Los Angeles County supervisors earlier this year wanted to explore the potential economic impact of David Ellison’s proposed union of two historic Hollywood studios. The report, completed this week by CVL Economics, paints a sobering picture of the potential aftermath of the debt-laden deal, including the prospect of an estimated $1.26 billion in lost wages.

“Los Angeles County’s film and television economy is already undergoing a significant structural contraction,” the report said. “The proposed merger of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance introduces an additional source of risk into that already changing market.”

California Atty. General Rob Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 states attempting to block the merger on antitrust grounds. A trial has been set for March. Paramount and other groups, including cinema chain owners and some Hollywood unions, have agitated for a settlement to curtail months of uncertainty over whether the deal will go through.

The proposed merger has been controversial in Hollywood due to fears of widespread layoffs. The Writers Guild of America has brought its own lawsuit to thwart the deal.

The goal of the county’s report was to provide “a comprehensive assessment of the merger’s production workforce implications,” amid the ongoing decline of L.A. based film and television production work. Los Angeles has witnessed the elimination of more than 50,000 entertainment jobs since 2022.

The 120-page report, from the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity and Film Office and requested by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, found that more than 15,000 corporate roles would be at risk, including an estimated 2,495 jobs based in Los Angeles County.

The two companies would have an overlapping workforce within its linear cable channel divisions, film and television studios, streaming operations and corporate functions, including marketing, technology and advertising sales.

“Effects on crews, crafts, post-production personnel, vendors, and production-serving small businesses,” could also be substantial, the report said.

Paramount, in a statement, said the report highlighted the industry’s troubles and made a case for the merger.

“LA County’s own economic report underscores what we have been saying all along: our industry is in decline, production is down and jobs are being lost — and lost for good if we don’t act,” Paramount said. “Our plan to invest $30 billion annually in production and release at least 30 films a year.”

That commitment, Paramount said, would lead to “more jobs over time, and ultimately, a stronger, more durable entertainment industry for generations to come.”

Paramount has received clearances from the U.S. Justice Department and 65 other regulators around the globe to complete the merger.

For now, Bonta’s lawsuit is standing in the way.

Paramount has promised investors the deal would lead to at least $6 billion in cost savings through the consolidation of operations. The company has said the merger would ultimately be good for consumers and workers because a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would have greater resources to compete with tech giants that are investing heavily in entertainment.

But the report pointed to the high level of debt that Paramount would have to take on — nearly $82 billion — to buy the stock of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to finalize the takeover.

“If revenues underperform or planned savings prove more difficult to achieve, pressure to identify additional cost reductions could increase,” the report said.

The two companies already are carrying substantial interest costs due to their existing debt structures. “In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, the two companies reported a combined $712 million in operating income and $737 million in net interest expense,” the report said, meaning that the companies were producing less profit than what was needed to support their debt obligations.

Despite Paramount predicting cost savings and reduction in debt over time, “those savings will take several years to fully realize,” the report said.

David Ellison was hoping to wrap up his $111-billion merger with Warner Bros. by September.

(PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Television production in Los Angeles could be especially vulnerable, in large part, because Paramount and Warner Bros. already have moved most of their feature film projects outside of L.A. High levels of TV production continues at Warner Bros. complex in Burbank and Paramount’s and CBS’ soundstages in Hollywood and Santa Clarita.

“The economic impact extends well beyond employment,” with an expected elimination of $547 million in tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes, the report said.

It noted that Warner Bros. and Paramount films were “particularly employment-intensive.”

“Their theatrical releases carry 2.74 times as many screen credits as the average theatrical release, while their streaming films carry twice as many,” the report found.

The document also highlighted a pre-existing pull-back in production at the two studios in recent years — something that Ellison plans to correct.

Paramount was struggling to remain solvent prior to the Ellison family’s purchase of the media company last year. Warner Bros. had scaled back offerings following Discovery’s $43-billion takeover of WarnerMedia in 2022 as it struggled to contain the debt from that deal.

“Between 2019 and 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount accounted for a net reduction of approximately 195 major U.S. releases,” the report said. At the same time, other major distributors combined “added about 67 projects.”

Ellison is looking to finalize his massive Hollywood deal — folding CNN, HBO, TBS, Food Network and the Warner Bros. film and television studios under Paramount — as quickly as possible. He must hold together Paramount’s coalition of financiers and manage rising expenses, primarily legal fees and escalating obligations to Warner shareholders.

The state attorneys general, including from Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and New York have argued that the blockbuster merger — the largest in Hollywood in decades — would violate the century-old Clayton Antitrust Act.

Paramount hoped the trial over Bonta’s lawsuit would begin in November but U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín set the trial for March 2.

If the deal goes forward, just four studios — a post-merger Paramount-Warner, Disney, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures — would control 86% of movies that are widely released (in more than 3,000 movie theaters), according to the attorneys general lawsuit. Paramount has argued that projects from Amazon MGM, Netflix and Apple should be included because they compete with the traditional companies for talent and audiences.

Paramount-Warner Bros. would also own more than 50 cable channels, including HGTV, Animal Planet, BET, MTV and Comedy Central.

Hayden Panettiere spent much of her life in front of a camera, beginning her acting career before she was even a year old, starring in commercials. At the tender age of 4, she landed her big break with a recurring role on the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live,” which led to a role on another soap opera, CBS’ “Guiding Light.” Over the years, she performed in a number of films and TV series, landing notable roles that made her a staple of network television. In addition to her onscreen work, she did voice acting for animated films like “A Bug’s Life” and “Dinosaur,” as well as the video game franchises “Kingdom Hearts” and “Until Dawn.”

The actor, who died Sunday at 36, was a versatile performer whose no-nonsense attitude and vocal range added depth to roles. Here is a guide to some of her notable work.

‘Remember the Titans’

Disney’s 2000 sports drama was based on the real story of Herman Boone, a Black football coach who was installed as head coach at the desegregated T.C. Williams High School in Arlington, Va., and led the team to a perfect season and state championship. In the film, Panettiere plays Sheryl Yoast, the young daughter of coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), whose job Boone is given by the school district to placate Black community members as racial tensions rise. Panettiere’s Sheryl makes an impression right away, with a fiery speech directed at an official who comes to tell Yoast that Boone will now be head football coach of T.C. Williams. “You can’t just walk in here and take my daddy’s job away,” she cries as she stomps away, but not before kicking said official in the back of the leg. Later, she understands the implications of the decision, even if it comes at the cost of her father’s selection into the high school football hall of fame, preferring to put the team and their teamwork first: “Bunch of old rednecks … Let’s knock ‘em dead at state, coach.” (Watch on Hulu and Disney+.) — Maira Garcia

‘Ice Princess’

In Disney’s 2005 film, Panettiere was a little too good at playing the popular mean girl. She was even better at playing the popular mean girl who lets her icy walls melt away to welcome in the new girl. As talented figure skater Gennifer Harwood, Panettiere faithfully portrayed the evolution of friendships — especially for young women — in highly competitive sports and the tension between young athletes and their well-intended, but overbearing parents. While Panettiere could stand on her own talents, her performance was even more memorable for the dynamic she shared with screen partner Michelle Trachtenberg. The latter played Casey, a student with Ivy League ambitions whose interest in physics brings her to the figure skating world. Trachtenberg died in 2025 at 39. (Watch on Disney+.) — Alexandra Del Rosario

‘Heroes’

Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) with her father Noah (Jack Coleman), also known as H.R.G., in NBC’s “Heroes.”

(Chris Haston / NBC)

This superhero series was a hit from the moment it debuted in 2006. An international cast fueled a show that featured people gifted with superpowers around the world that had a mysteriously ominous connection. At its heart was Panettiere’s Claire Bennet. An unbreakable high school cheerleader, she embraced the role of hero, facing pushback from a shadowy government group, serial killers and a twisted family dynamic. Panettiere became the face of NBC’s freshman ensemble success story, and despite an industry work stoppage and dwindling fan support afterward, the show’s viral campaign — “Save the cheerleader, save the world” — centered her, and her character’s courage, on a bona fide fandom-generating ride that ended way too soon in 2010, after four seasons. (Watch on Netflix and Tubi.) — Jevon Phillips

‘Scream’ franchise

Hayden Panettiere at the premiere of “Scream VI” in New York City in 2023.

(Nina Westervelt / Variety via Getty Images)

The actor joined the hit horror franchise in 2011’s “Scream 4” as Kirby Reed, a Woodsboro High student who is a horror film buff. One of that film’s memorable scenes featured Kirby in a tense trivia telephone showdown with the Ghostface killer, rushing through the titles of several slasher films while attempting to save one of her friends.

Although Kirby was seemingly killed off, she returned as an FBI agent in 2023‘s “Scream VI” when the franchise continued with younger characters and moved its setting to New York. “Scream” fans cheered during an early screening when Panettiere’s character appeared — she and Courtney Cox were one of the few “Scream” veterans to return for the new film.

Panettiere’s hair was longer and her role was expanded in the new “Scream.” Kirby explained that she had survived the Ghostface attack: “I was technically dead for four minutes. When I was revived, I got mad … I wanted the monsters to be afraid of me.”

Kirby also engaged in another trivia back-and-forth with Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) where they agreed on the best “Nightmare on Elm Street” (“the original”) and that “Psycho 2” was “underrated,” but disagreed on the best “Friday the 13th” sequel. Although she is investigating a new set of Ghostface killings, Kirby later becomes a prime suspect. (Watch all on Paramount+.) — Greg Braxton

‘Nashville’

In ABC’s “Nashville,” Juliette Barnes’ storyline was infused with personal struggles similar to Panettiere’s.

(Katherine Bomboy-Thornton / ABC)

Panettiere was noticeably more mature when she became a co-lead role in ABC’s “Nashville” as Juliette Barnes, a crossover singer with more than a few similarities to Taylor Swift. The music-flavored drama, which premiered in 2012, starred Connie Britton as country star Rayna Jaymes, whose career was on the downturn at the same time Barnes was climbing the charts.

The actor injects her “Nashville” character with a mix of sexiness, snark and edge as Barnes becomes rivals with Jaymes. When the two first meet in a dressing room during the pilot, Jaymes is gracious while Barnes is condescending.

Panettiere said in an interview that she was tense during that scene. particularly since it was the first time the two actors had met. She said she apologized to Britton repeatedly saying, “‘I am so sorry!’ Because it was our first experience together, and I didn’t want to step on toes. Sometimes it gets real, very real, you know?”

While filming the series, Panetierre gave birth to her daughter in 2014. She detailed her struggles with postpartum depression in interviews, saying the condition was “scary and needed to be talked about.” In the series, Barnes also suffered from postpartum depression during the show’s third and fourth seasons. (Watch on Pluto TV and Netflix.) — G.B.

‘Kingdom Hearts’

Square Enix’s beloved video game series was my personal introduction to Panettiere and her acting abilities. In the first two installments, Panettiere voiced the kind island kid turned princess Kairi for the games’ English dub. Before protagonist Sora’s (voiced by a young Haley Joel Osment) world descends into darkness, Panettiere’s Kairi is playful and tender early in “Kingdom Hearts 1.” In the slightly more complicated “Kingdom Hearts 2” Panettiere’s older Kairi is contemplative, defiant and desperate to help all her friends. Kairi’s scenes are often accompanied by the powerful score from composer Yoko Shimomura, amplifying the emotion that has driven the games’ fanbase for more than two decades.

“Don’t ever forget. Wherever you go, I’m always with you,” Panettiere’s Kairi says in a memorable cut scene. — A.D.R.

I’m confident that I’ll make my way through The Times’ best breakfast burrito list and devour another couple dozen worthy candidates before I’ll ever have the chance to ride on that chronically delayed LAX people mover.

“Ninety-nine percent done”? Sounds like the answer my kids would give me the night before a big homework assignment was due.

Maybe our next breakfast burrito list can be “Best breakfast burritos near John Wayne Airport.” Or Hollywood Burbank. Or Long Beach. The possibilities are endless. No doubt we have got time until that “one percent” gets checked off.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of the Envelope newsletter, and the guy pondering a “DTF Los Angeles” where the characters inch along the LAX horseshoe, kindling all manner of sinister thoughts.

Cover story: ‘DTF St. Louis’

(Erik Carter / For The Times)

Are TV viewers a little more judgmental when it comes to complicated women?

Linda Cardellini would always know where someone was on their “DTF St. Louis” viewing journey based on their vibe when they approached her.

“If they were halfway through the show, they usually weren’t warming up to Carol and you could feel that energy,” Cardellini says, talking with me for a recent Envelope cover story on the limited series. “But if they were through with the show, that energy changed. Sometimes you could tell they felt bad that they didn’t like her in the first place.”

Carol, as you know if you’ve watched “DTF,” the season’s best limited series, is an overworked suburban mother forced to umpire Little League games because her job at Purina doesn’t pay enough to cover the bills. She’s married to gentle giant Floyd (David Harbour), an ASL interpreter and a sensitive stepfather to her son. But it’s a sexless marriage, so she turns to local weatherman Clark (Jason Bateman), who possesses a vitality long absent in her husband.

“DTF St. Louis” is ostensibly a murder mystery. Floyd dies in the first episode. Writer-director Steven Conrad employs a fair bit of misdirection, pointing our suspicions first to Clark and then to Carol. Since money is tight and Floyd had an insurance policy, Carol is a logical enough person of interest. We learn that she has a criminal record. And she was cheating.

“When I was reading the episodes, I thought, ‘Oh, OK. It’s going to be Carol, even though there’s so many clues telling you that it’s not her,” Cardellini says. “But we’re conditioned to think that. Like, ‘She had to be after the money,’ even though she never accepts any gifts as she’s struggling financially. Everyone just believed the worst in her.”

Granted, Carol could be a little brusque with service workers, and her passive-aggressive approach to police questioning (“Can you speak up?”) was a master class in control and manipulation that I plan to use if I’m ever interrogated for some crime I’m sure I did not do. (Unless it’s somehow related to picking someone up at LAX. Then all bets are off.)

Reviews for “DTF” too often would note how it’s a poignant look at male loneliness in the suburbs when, in fact, Carol is the most isolated character on the show.

“Carol is immensely lonely, but she’s so burdened by the heavy demand of keeping this household afloat that she doesn’t have the luxury to notice that she doesn’t have a friend,” says Conrad. “The job of bailing water is hers alone.”

In that respect, Carol brings to mind Skyler White on “Breaking Bad” and Carmela Soprano from “The Sopranos,” forlorn women dealing with the man-child they married and getting flak from viewers for being a killjoy.

By the end of “DTF,” we find we should have been on Carol’s side all along.

“It’s a beautiful magic trick,” says co-star Bateman.

Just the latest feat of illusion from the talented Cardellini, one that could result in her first Emmy win next month.

This “true hidden gem” quietly stars singing icon David Bowie.

Christopher Nolan fans should be tuning into this “mindblowing” period drama based on a top-selling book.

Movie fanatics are queuing up to see Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Odyssey starring the likes of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.

Having already grossed a whopping $1.1 billion worldwide, smashing box office records, The Odyssey is director Nolan’s latest triumph following from The Dark Knight franchise, Inception and, of course, Oppenheimer.

But it’s another of his “underrated” creations that has been causing excitement since its release on Netflix with many labelling it his “best film”.

Adapted from Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel of the same name, The Prestige is a 2006 period drama thriller that also boasts an enviable cast.

The Prestige is led by two Hollywood heavyweights in The Greatest Showman star Hugh Jackman and The Dark Knight Rises’ Christian Bale who reunites with Nolan once again for this “mindblowing” film.

They are joined by other major stars like The Avengers’ Scarlett Johansson, Alfie legend Michael Caine and none other than singing legend David Bowie who is truly unrecognisable as real-life scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla.

The Prestige revolves two 19th Century London stage musicians Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale).

The pair have a lifelong bond until their friendship descends into a bitter rivalry following the accidental death of Angier’s wife, leaving both men dangerously consumed by their desire to outside one another.

The once-close bond between Robert Angier and Alfred Borden descends into a bitter, lifelong rivalry following a tragic accident that claimed Angier’s wife, leaving both men dangerously consumed by the need to outshine one another.

Twenty years may have passed since its release but fans cannot help but praise the period drama thriller on IMdB.

“What I found with The Prestige is perhaps one of the best films of this century and perhaps one of Nolan’s most underrated”, someone said.

“Because this film, this real film, is simply astonishing.”

A second agreed: “This movie was truly a masterpiece and kept me guessing the whole time” as a third stated: “I must say…one of the best films I’ve seen! 10/10.”

Another declared The Prestige to be “Nolan’s best film” as a fellow enthusiast hailed it “one of the best films of all time”.

The Prestige is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Mark Rydell, the Oscar-nominated director of the sentimental blockbuster “On Golden Pond” who worked with such Hollywood heavyweights as Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Steve McQueen and John Wayne, has died. He was 97.

His daughter, Amy Rydell, told the Hollywood Reporter that her father died Thursday of natural causes at a retirement community for the entertainment industry in Woodland Hills.

“Hard to put into words how much I loved my dad,” she posted Friday on her Instagram account. “He was truly one of a kind. Funniest and most talented person I’ve ever known.”

10 Oscar nominations

“On Golden Pond,” his 1981 film that teamed Fonda with Hepburn and his daughter, Jane Fonda, was nominated for 10 Oscars. Henry Fonda and Hepburn won leading acting honors, and the film won for screenplay, which Ernest Thompson adapted from his play of the same name. Rydell was nominated for directing but lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds.”

It earned more than $119 million at the box office, making it the second-highest-grossing film that year behind “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

“On Golden Pond” was Henry Fonda’s final movie role. He starred as Norman Thayer, an emotionally brittle and distant father who becomes more accessible at the end of his life after his teenage grandson spends the summer with him and his wife, Ethel (played by Hepburn), at their cottage in New England. The film’s story resembled Fonda’s real-life relationship with daughter Jane, who said working on the movie together helped resolve some of their issues. The elder Fonda, at 77, died months after winning his only Oscar.

Rydell’s other Oscar-nominated films were “The Fox” in 1967, “The Reivers” with McQueen in 1969, “Cinderella Liberty” with James Caan and Marsha Mason in 1973, “The Rose” with Bette Midler in 1979 and “The River” with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek in 1984.

Born Mortimer Harold Rydell on March 23, 1929 in New York City, he studied with legendary jazz pianist Teddy Wilson at the Julliard School of Music. During a stint in the Army, he spent two years in Japan developing entertainment for military personnel. He majored in English and philosophy at New York University.

Early acting career

He turned to acting when he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Among his early roles were parts on the CBS soap operas “The Edge of Night” and “As the World Turns.”

Rydell made his Broadway debut in “Seagulls Over Sorrento” with Rod Steiger. In 1956, he made his movie acting debut opposite John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Don Siegel’s “Crime in the Streets.”

Among his film acting credits were Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” in 1973 and Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending” in 2002.

Rydell moved into directing television, including episodes of “Mr. Novak,” “Ben Casey,” “I Spy,” “The Wild Wild West,” “The Long, Hot Summer,” “The Fugitive” and “Gunsmoke.”

He made his feature film directorial debut with 1967’s “The Fox” starring Sandy Dennis, and it was a hit.

Two years later, Rydell directed McQueen in the comedy-drama “The Reivers.”

Teaming with Sydney Pollack

Rydell and Sydney Pollack, who became friends during their acting days, formed Sanford Productions in 1971. Among their efforts were the films “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford and “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or.

Rydell directed Wayne in 1972’s “The Cowboys.” He reunited with Caan for the 1976 flop “Harry and Walter Go to New York.”

Rydell scored a major hit with 1979’s “The Rose,” with Midler in her Oscar-nominated role as a self-destructive rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin.

Rydell reteamed with Caan and Midler in “For the Boys” in 1991, but it wasn’t successful.

“He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on ‘The Rose’ and later on ‘For The Boys,’” Midler posted on Instagram. “Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.”

TV movies and series among his credits

Rydell directed the pilot of the hit ABC drama “Family” in 1976.

Among his TV movie directing credits were “McBride and Groom,” “Crime of the Century” with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea, and “James Dean,” which earned actor James Franco a Golden Globe award and in which Rydell also appeared, as Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner.

He directed the movies “Intersection” in 1994 and “Even Money” in 2006.

In 2009, Rydell, Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau and screenwriter Lyle Kessler taught a film workshop at UCLA. Rydell and Landau were co-artistic directors of the Actors Studio West, teaching and coaching actors, writers and directors.

“All great art rests on telling the truth,” Rydell told UCLA’s student newspaper the Daily Bruin. “The real pursuit of an artist is to tell the truth.”

Besides his daughter, he is survived by son Christopher. The siblings who went into acting were from his first marriage to actor Joanne Linville. He had another son, Alexander, from his second marriage to producer Esther Rydell.

Harris writes for the Associated Press.

For every actor, musician, writer and artist who has become a wealthy and enduring celebrity, exponentially more of them have enjoyed a brief, shining moment, never to be heard of again. What separates those who last from those who fade away? Is it luck, talent, drive, destiny? All of the above?

It’s an intriguing question that may have no definitive answer, but one that director Kent Jones (2018’s acclaimed “Diane”) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Samy Burch (“May December”) lovingly and lyrically consider in the often first-rate “Late Fame.” The film is based on an 1895 novella by Arthur Schnitzler (also author of the book that became “Eyes Wide Shut”), which went unpublished until 2014.

A quietly captivating Willem Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, a New York post office veteran of 37 years in a seemingly satisfying if decidedly low-key existence. For him, it’s work, then maybe a game of pool with his blue-collar buddies at a local bar (though he’s six years sober) and a solo return to his Greenwich Village walk-up.

That is, until one night, he’s approached outside his apartment building by a somewhat affected but seemingly earnest young man who goes by his last name, Meyers (Edmund Donovan). With his elevated speech, tony air and throwback attire, he’s like someone from another era; you could see him as one of Jay Gatsby’s pals or a bon vivant who drops by on “Downton Abbey.”

Meyers proceeds to tell an astonished Ed that he’s a huge fan of his long-forgotten 1979 poetry collection entitled “Way Past Go,” the postal worker’s fleeting brush with literary success. “They just slap you across the face with their style and with their relevancy,” extols Meyers of the poems. “They’re timeless.”

Really, what writer, no matter how detached from their past, could resist that kind of sweet talk?

A meet-up with Meyers’ “artistic community,” a circle of so-called intellectuals known as the Enthusiasm Society, leads Ed to humbly dip a toe back into his vanished creative side. He’s not unaware that Meyers’ mostly 20-something male friends have — like many — romanticized the gritty abandon of lower Manhattan’s bygone literary scene and perhaps Ed’s tenuous place in it. They might be poseurs tossing around references to Ginsberg and Bukowski, but the welcome mat the group offers Ed is enticing and inspiring.

Still, a visit to Meyers’ sleek apartment, admittedly paid for by his parents, confirms for Ed the kind of youthful privilege at play here, so unlike the scrappier downtown bohemia of his own artistic heyday.

The wild card in the Society is Gloria (Greta Lee, dazzlingly good), an impish sprite who’s hard to pin down. Is she really a working stage actor? Ed gets swept up in her performative antics and elusive, larger-than-life allure. (She’s older than her fellow Society members but decades younger than Ed.) When they develop a teasing flirtation, it’s one of the less credible turns here, given how authentic Ed is — and how dubious she appears (though some truth on that front will later unfold).

This tilt toward Gloria causes the film to lose its way a bit, pulling focus from the more potentially vital mentor-disciple dynamic between Ed and the anxious, navel-gazing Meyers. Plus, Donovan is excellent here, so less of him is, well, less.

That said, there’s a bravura second-act scene that finds Gloria performing an impassioned version of the 1929 Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill torch song “Surabaya Johnny” for an appreciative cabaret audience, one that includes a rapt Ed. It verifies Gloria’s singing talent and proves a perfect match for her showy, cagey persona: the love child of Marlene Dietrich and Sally Bowles.

If the story has a through line, it concerns the planning and execution of an evening of live readings from the Society’s works, with a new poem from Ed as its centerpiece. A few of the obstacles layered in — Ed’s struggle to write and some show-night personality conflicts — feel a tad obligatory. But the event itself has its high points, including the piece Ed finally reads.

In addition, an awkward meeting between Ed and a smooth literary agent (Jake Lacy), along with a mini-subplot involving phone calls from Ed’s frustrated sister about their dying brother, come off slightly wedged in. Not much payoff there.

No matter. There’s wisdom and depth to the film’s themes of growing old, dashed dreams and the magic of rediscovery, plus a deliciously ironic final twist. Jones manages his superb cast with aplomb and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield evocatively captures lower Manhattan’s wintry, burnished glow.

END OF OAK STREET

(12A) 99mins

★★★☆☆

SINCE the explosive success of Stranger Things, the style of Spielberg’s Eighties sci-fi films is trendy – and this film leans into that nostalgia.

You know — the American small town where kids play out on the street and strange goings-on happen while the parents are too busy to notice.

That is certainly the feel of this action-horror movie, which combines ET with Jurassic Park.

It follows the Platt family, who are living in American suburbia in the Eighties — a more innocent time when neighbours had street barbecues and teens spent hours on their Walkmans.

Dad Greg (Ewan McGregor) and mum Denise (Anne Hathaway) appear to be a perfect union, but behind closed doors they are discussing divorce.

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Their kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery) are concerned, but the foursome paper over the cracks by eating pizza and chatting about their naughty dog, Starbuck.

Soon though, their home life is thrown into disarray when a mysterious cosmic event rips through the neighbourhood and surrounds it with time before the Big Bang.

This brings tropical temperatures, terrifying water levels and lashings of really hungry dinosaurs that couldn’t care less if you own a gun.

The family have to stick together to work out how they can transport themselves out of this seemingly broken time machine — while avoiding being chomped on by a T-Rex.

There are a few jumpy moments early on and, like many “mysterious goings-on” films, it’s scarier when you don’t see the enemy.

But the build-up is intriguing and there are some nice, nostalgic Eighties moments thrown in for the millennials to enjoy.

Sadly, it’s a lacklustre performance from McGregor in a bad wig, who looks like he would rather become dino-feed than be in this film, as he has zero chemistry with the rest of the family.

While Hathaway is more watchable, she appears so distractingly young, she could swap roles with the actress playing her daughter.

Director David Robert Mitchell does a decent job showing his commitment to the genre and gives a few nods to Spielberg’s camera techniques for film geeks.

But, while perfectly entertaining, the story gets a ­little overcomplicated and the characters are not engaging enough for it to join the ranks of a truly great monster movie.

LADY

(15) 95mins

★★★★☆

KOOKY characters in film can quickly become tiresome, but not so in this bizarre and brilliant mockumentary about a flamboyant lady of the manor.

Lady Isabella (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford) rattles around with her housekeeper in the vast Ravenhyde Hall, until she becomes the subject of a documentary, allegedly for Netflix, calling herself “aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians”.

Going at high octane all the time, she is in truth achingly lonely – one companion is a raven called Ricky.

This changes with the arrival of a camera crew led by director Sam (Laurie Kynaston), a trendy filmmaker.

But he is soon put in his place by the hilarious Isabella, who ignores his directions, calls “cut” regularly and even tries to seduce him with some milk when he is lactose intolerant.

The madcap satire soon turns into a study filled with em­pathy and intriguing, unconventional relationships.

Clifford gives a cracking performance, never pushing into caricature, and Kynaston is the perfect juxtaposition as the seemingly sane but hugely insecure director.

Surreal, sweet and seriously funny.

TONY

(15) 106mins

★★☆☆☆

IT’S not easy to make movies about real-life figures who have a cult following, which puts pressure on this story of how celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain became a culinary icon.

So instead of getting into the film about Bourdain becoming the great man the world knew, it’s more of a coming-of-age story that could be about anyone.

Tony (Dominic Sessa) has flunked school and travels to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to chase Nancy (Emilia Jones), a crush he barely knows.

Skint and with nowhere to live, he soon finds himself washing dishes in the ­restaurant of a local chef (Antonio Banderas) and sleeping in his hammock.

Working alongside him is drug-loving ladies’ man Sal (Leo Woodall), who regularly vomits in a bin on shift. Tony apparently becomes inspired.

Tony spends a really long time staring at things in a daze and not saying much.

When he does speak, it’s pretty infuriating.

With no real direction, this becomes more of a buddy movie than an insight into how the now sadly deceased great man became such a hit around the world.

The importance of parental support goes meta in Julia Hart’s “Don’t Say Good Luck.” The YA musical drama, which premieres Friday, pays homage to musical theater, unconditional maternal love and the family-hour TV, er, Netflix movie. In a landscape littered with teenage dysfunction, “Don’t Say Good Luck” is a moving argument for aspirational television.

And with a star whose famous father serves as producer, it‘s an admonition to the term “nepo baby.”

We meet normal kid Sophie Birenbaum (Sunny Sandler) as she anxiously prepares for a day that will include auditioning for her high school’s production of “Waitress.” While her father, Ted (Max Greenfield, marvelously transformed by a beard), wrangles her rambunctious younger twin brothers, her mother, Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey), assures her that she is talented and beautiful and will do just great. These sentiments are echoed by Sophie’s best friend, Carolyn (Scarlett Estevez), who joins her at the audition where the director is the super-cool Ms. Parker (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” Stephanie Beatriz) and even theater department queen bee Mallory (Elyse Bell), who everyone knows is going to get the lead, is pretty nice.

It’s a high school experience that’s about as far from “Euphoria” or even “Glee” as one can get while still being situated on Earth. Still, all is not perfect in Sophie’s world. When Elizabeth learns that her cancer has returned, Sophie overhears her parents’ subsequent conversation via a butt-dial from her father’s phone. Her first impulse is to flee the audition; instead her emotional turmoil fuels a powerful performance that (spoiler alert?) lands her the lead role.

Determined to downplay the seriousness of her illness, Elizabeth insists that life continue on as normal — she and Ted own a local deli, which offers some nice bagel versus wrap shade and a Jon Lovitz cameo. Though Sophie is worried, she believes her mother who says she will beat cancer again. So she throws herself into the stomach-churning rigor of being the star of the show, which includes a painful separation from her bestie, a crush on her co-star and a struggle to find the confidence to let her obvious talent shine.

“Don’t Say Good Luck” is, obviously, a showcase for Sandler, whose parents, Adam and Jackie Sandler, serve as producers (which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi as Elizabeth’s parents). Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions have a long and lucrative partnership with Netflix, which recently debuted “Happy Gilmore 2” and announced “Grown Ups 3” as part of their deal. One could see this as yet another case of nepo-baby triumph — streaming is currently littered with the progeny of famous parents — or simply a living example of the film’s theme. Like the Birenbaum parents, the Sandlers want to help their daughter shine in her chosen career and that she certainly does.

Adam Sandler serves as a producer, which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Steve Buscemi as Sophie’s grandfather.

(Netflix)

Though Sophie is the only older daughter ever to escape the task of caring for her younger brothers (or doing any chores at all), Sandler makes her completely believable as a nice, self-conscious kid who just needs a push to trust her talent. If the tone of the film is 1970s-family-comedy aspirational (particularly in the mother-daughter scenes), that shouldn’t be construed as a low level of difficulty.

Indeed, it is almost revolutionary to see emotionally resonant teenage characters who aren’t mired in abuse, addiction or some kind of horror; leveraging dysfunction has become shorthand for “drama.” “Don’t Say Good Luck” is based on the real-life experience of co-writer Laura Hankin (collaborating here with Hart and Jordan Horowitz), and though the stakes are emotionally high, portraying a loving family doing their best to get through a devastating situation with minimal meltdowns is its own act of bravery.

It certainly helps that this family is firmly anchored by Lynskey, who proves, yet again, that she can do anything. Her Elizabeth is neither martyr nor saint, just a woman who wants to live as she’s always lived for as long as she can. Lynskey lifts what could have been a sappy (or even worse, guilt-inducing) cancer-mom tale into a quietly transcendent contemplation of motherhood. (A scene in which she flips through the calendar trying to figure out when to let the kids know what’s really going on drove the breath from this mother’s body.)

Does “Don’t Say Good Luck” skirt around the grim realities of cancer as cavalierly as it paints a Pinterest mood-board vision of high school? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean the message and the feelings (yes, you absolutely will cry) are not just as authentic. Love is the root of much pain, but it’s also what conquers it in the end.

Melanie Lynskey as Elizabeth, Max Greenfield as Ted and Jon Lovitz as Lenny in “Don’t Say Good Luck.”

(Netflix)

The last time I ate at McDonald’s was also the first time I tried a McGriddle.

Why am I thinking about a breakfast sandwich? Well, it’s morning, for starters. And my old friend Laurie Ochoa, who runs all things food at The Times, just had her own first encounter with a McGriddle, inspired by the item’s mention in the most recent season of “The Bear.”

Should McDonald’s have a Michelin star? “The Bear’s” pastry chef Luca thinks so. Laurie is a fan too. Me? Honestly, I ordered it by accident, hangry and delusional after driving too many miles on a road trip home. To this day, whenever my son, Sean, passes that Lost Hills McDonald’s, he snaps a picture and sends it to me, captioning it: “McGriddle?”

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. Does Rhea Seehorn dig McGriddles? She loves bread, so maybe the whole pancake-bun thing would put her off.

Cover story: Rhea Seehorn

(Ian Spanier / For The Times)

If you love great television, you know Seehorn from “Better Call Saul” and the new Apple TV series “Pluribus,” where she plays Carol, a sad woman forced to save the world from happiness and the hive mind.

But other than those two classics and a guest turn on the final season of “Veep,” I have not Seehorn in anything else. Which wasn’t for a lack of trying on her part, as I learned from talking with her for a recent Envelope cover story.

Seehorn moved to Los Angeles in 2003 after landing a lead role on the ABC sitcom “I’m With Her.” Seehorn played … well, I’ll let her describe the character.

“I was the naysaying, coattail-riding, bitchy, alcoholic little sister of Teri Polo’s character,” Seehorn says, laughing. “It was so much fun.”

The comedy ran for 23 episodes and was then summarily canceled, despite the season finale drawing about 11 million viewers. (“Can you imagine?” Seehorn says of the ratings. “You’d be a juggernaut now.”)

When she arrived in L.A., ABC put her up at the massive Oakwood apartment complex on Barham Boulevard, an (in)famous landing place for child actors, musicians and newcomers like Seehorn getting their start in Hollywood. On her way to work each day — she walked to the Warner Bros. lot because she didn’t have a car — Seehorn would pass older men wearing short bathrobes at 7 in the morning and “momagers” hustling their kids to an audition.

Says Seehorn: “It’s weird because you’ve landed a great job and you’re working, so, ‘Yay!’ But also, you’re staying in a one-room apartment that has a kitchenette and a Murphy bed that folds into the wall. When the bed’s folded down, it touches the couch and you can’t walk around. But when the bed is up, it’s a mirror, so you watch yourself have no friends, sitting there watching TV, eating a TV dinner. Then you’re like, is it less depressing to just sit in a bed all day, or should I watch myself sitting here?”

Needless to say, Seehorn moved as soon possible, landing in a fourplex apartment across from the Warner Bros. lot near the Taco Bell and Don Cuco on Riverside Drive. It was heaven. It had a second bedroom. And a window!

She lived there until the second season of “Better Call Saul.”

“The good news is, when you move to L.A. from New York, everything seems like a mansion,” Seehorn says, laughing.

Sitting on that Murphy bed at the Oakwood, was there ever a time when Seehorn wondered, “What am I doing?”

“I had come from supposedly being the receptionist at a construction office in Brooklyn, but what I was really doing was cleaning their bathrooms with like nine pairs of rubber gloves on because it was so disgusting,” Seehorn says. “That was my day job, and then I was working at Playwrights Horizons, a wonderful theater that I’d always wanted to work at, so I was thrilled. But theater doesn’t pay enough to live on. So life was always cobbling something together to pursue my passion, my dream.”

Read more of our ‘Pluribus’ coverage

“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is a witty, gory slasher-romance that feels so personal to writer-director Jane Schoenbrun that they’ve essentially sliced out their soul and smeared it on the screen.

“Hacks’” Hannah Einbinder plays a rising director named Kris, a Sundance darling and Schoenbrun avatar of sorts who wants to convince a long-forgotten scream queen named Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) to star in her next movie. It’s a resurrection of the fictitious “Camp Miasma” franchise, a hack-’em-up about hormonal camp counselors slaughtered by a gender-bending, spear-wielding killer called Little Death, who has an air-conditioning vent for a face. (The reason why sort of makes sense when you see his lair.) Billy played the final girl in the 1983 original film, then disappeared. And so Kris heads out to Billy’s snowbound hideaway — which just so happens to be where the movie was shot.

Young Billy (a riveting Amanda Fix) imprinted on Kris in a way she can’t articulate. Smoking weed with the real woman will hopefully help. Anderson’s Billy steps out of the shadows with a full face of femme fatale makeup and a syrupy Dolly Parton drawl, promptly serving Kris enough fried chicken to feed a bobsled team. Has Anderson ever had more fun onscreen? Her performance presents as camp, but her dynamic range of loud cackles and quiet glances is fabulous.

Acting in a film within a film, Fix’s version of teenage Billy is so nervous it seems impossible she’ll become Anderson’s diva. You can practically hear the girl’s heart beating so loud that it breaks your own. The two Billys almost snatch the movie from under its lead. But then toward the climax, Einbinder has a powerful close-up that puts the film back in her pocket. (Metaphorically, that is — by then, her character isn’t wearing any pants.)

Kris’ breakout movie was a high-concept inversion of “Psycho” told through the shower curtain’s POV. Yet she’s well aware that the studio hired her to rescue the “Camp Miasma” franchise not for her genius but because she’s queer and the internet has deemed Little Death “problematic.” The satirical scenes of Kris’ agent (Sarah Sherman) getting annoyed that her client can’t pitch a four-quadrant movie are hilarious while also ringing of truth.

Likewise, Schoenbrun specializes in zeitgeisty fables about 21st century isolation. Their own debut, the 2021 micro-budget internet thriller “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” was simultaneously mesmerizing and tedious, a mental breakdown that burrowed so deeply inside its own world that several COVID-era high schoolers I know felt like it had been made just for them.

A strange thing about Schoenbrun is that even when I haven’t liked their work, I’ve left the theater certain that I just watched what will be someone else’s favorite film of all time. (The affectless disassociation of 2024’s “I Saw the TV Glow” drove me bonkers.) Yet “Camp Miasma” finds Schoenbrun bravely opening up and getting vulnerable. It’s not just a lament about loneliness; it’s a challenge to change your perspective and maybe your life.

I suspect Schoenbrun could deliver a five-hour TED Talk on the pop cultural kitsch of “Friday the 13th’s” Jason Voorhees. They’re so fluent in how Hollywood squeezes the fun out of a franchise that they can convey “Camp Miasma’s” descent into schlock in a sprightly opening montage that sees Little Death become a trading card, a bobblehead, an 8-bit video game, an anti-drug spokesman and a novelty rapper. Over 13 sequels, the character’s trail of nubile corpses stretches from Manhattan to Mars to Quibi.

Kris pops in a disc of “Camp Miasma’s” tawdry 2008 reboot, which cinematographer Eric Yue makes look as flat as the discounted DVD. As that movie’s disposable bimbo strips off her top, the score cranks up a porno-chic song and Kris scribbles the word “desire” in her notebook in all caps. But the contrast between that sham seduction footage and a 35mm reel of the original “Camp Miasma” is like night and day — or rather, trash and art. Kris and Billy watch that one together in an intimate sleepover, sinking into the murky texture of a scene in which the virginal actor allowed a jerk to take off her clothes.

Schoenbrun loves the movie-ness of movies. You can see their devotion in outdoor backdrops that are deliriously false, in sight gags that reference Cronenberg and Carpenter or in production design that includes the perfect nostalgic ’90s video store carpet. Inside Billy’s private movie theater, the projector beams down on the back of Anderson’s head like that infamous Nicole Kidman AMC promo. Maybe I’m loopy, but I’d even swear the entrance to Billy’s screening room has a handmade mural of the Roku City screensaver. Watch for clues when the storyline we’re watching becomes its own nested narrative.

Horror fans waiting for jump scares will be thwarted. At least there are several sequences of macabre murder-comedy with blood geysers shooting up to the sky and a tracking shot through a killing spree that’s a riot. The soundtrack sets a more accurate tone right away with a gentle cover of R.E.M.’s “Nightswimming” that segues into Alex G’s dreamy synths. Yet Schoenbrun’s needle drops also seem to have been chosen to make the audience chuckle. A massacre set to the Counting Crows’ piano-and-accordion ballad “A Long December” is bizarre. (The only excuse I can think of is that Little Death hibernates at the bottom of a frozen lake?)

It feels like a magic trick when the film finally reveals where it’s going. “Teenage Sex and Death” is about climbing out of your head, admitting what you want and allowing yourself to enjoy it. Sexually, yes — that’s right in the title — and creatively, too, as Schoenbrun wants us to keep loving movies that make us squirm.

Lately, it’s been hard to talk about difficult art, with culture warriors deeming entire filmographies unworthy of enjoyment. People have gotten so used to preemptively apologizing for what they like that their mea culpas feel as reflexive as a sneeze. But Schoenbrun sticks up for the right to forgive a movie’s flaws. Here, when Kris anxiously whispers that a scene in the first “Camp Miasma” is transphobic, Billy gives her a shush.

We’ve all got our kinks, including ones for canceled flicks. (I still adore “Revenge of the Nerds” despite its god-awful rape joke.) Kris can intellectualize her “Camp Miasma” fandom all she wants. But Billy counters that the appeal of “Camp Miasma” is simple: “It’s flesh and fluids,” she says. And since she’s still living in it, we believe her.

Marvel’s new X-Men team appears to be coming together.

“Heartstopper” star Kit Connor is reportedly Marvel Studios’ pick to play Scott Summers, the mutant hero also known as Cyclops, in its upcoming “X-Men” reboot. According to Deadline, the film’s director, Jake Schreier, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had met with a number of candidates before landing on the British actor.

Marvel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Cyclops is one of the leaders and founding members of the X-Men. He needs to wear special eyewear — usually goggles or glasses — to control the beams of energy that blast from his eyes. The character was previously portrayed by James Marsden in Fox’s original “X-Men” film trilogy (2000, 2003, 2006) as well as in the 2014 crossover “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Tye Sheridan played a younger version of the character in “X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016) and “Dark Phoenix” (2019).

Marsden is among the original “X-Men” actors set to reprise their roles in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”

Connor’s casting follows recent reports that Samara Weaving has landed the role of Emma Frost in the upcoming “X-Men” film. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne for the comics, the mutant-villain-turned-hero is a powerful telepath also known as the White Queen. The character has previously appeared onscreen in “X-Men: First Class” (2011) portrayed by January Jones.

With his “X-Men” casting, Connor would join his fellow “Heartstopper” and “Heartstopper Forever” star Joe Locke in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Locke made his franchise debut as William Kaplan, a.k.a. Billy Maximoff, in the 2024 Disney+ series “Agatha All Along.”

These latest “X-Men” developments follow the debut of the MCU’s new Jean Grey, portrayed by Sadie Sink in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Although no official announcements have been made regarding Sink’s future Marvel projects, she is expected to appear in the “X-Men” reboot.

The “X-Men” reboot is expected to land some time after next year’s “Doomsday” follow-up, “Avengers: Secret Wars.” In 2024, Feige told Entertainment Weekly that “the whole story of ‘Secret Wars’ really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men.”

LOVE ME TENDER

(15) 134mins

★★★★☆

BREAK-UPS can be horribly complicated, especially when there are children involved.

This emotionally intelligent, exquisitely acted film shows the depths of despair warring couples can go to over a custody battle.

We meet Clémence (Vicky Krieps), a former lawyer, who has separated from her husband, Laurent (Antoine Reinartz). The split is amicable, and they are raising their young son, Paul, who lives with his dad.

But unbeknown to her ex, Clémence, who has quit her job to write, is now exploring her sexuality and having relationships with multiple women.

An awkward evening drink with Laurent reveals how he is clearly still in love with Clémence, while she makes it clear her desires lie in women.

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This suddenly changes everything between the pair, with Laurent claiming Paul doesn’t want to see her during her next visit.

The scenes are not overplayed with emotion, but are slowly devastating as Clémence struggles with the sudden change in a family arrangement that was so comfortable before.

Soon, authorities are brought in, and horrific claims are made against Clémence’s character.

She is only able to see Paul at supervised visits in a soulless social service office.

All this unfolds in a slow exhale on screen rather than an explosion, with Clémence juggling heartbreak and frustration with various relationships, her ill father and her career.

Adapted from Constance Debré’s 2020 novel, director Anna Cazenave Cambet allows this distressing story to show the huge problems that parents’ egos can cause for their child’s future.

Krieps is sensational in the role, allowing her face to portray so many emotions and carrying huge emotional strain.

While Clémence is the focal point of the audience’s sympathy, she, too, can be self-absorbed and a little cruel to lovers.

This shows she is human rather than just a victim. The story never gets bogged down in courtroom battles, but rather lingers on little moments Clémence feels as her time with her precious son slips away.

Running over two hours, these are perhaps overused, and the pace is unapologetically slow in many scenes.

But with stand-out acting from Krieps, it makes this film feel voyeuristic, as it is so natural, and while in emotional agony, we all still just carry on.

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

(12A) 101mins

★★★★★

IN celebration of its tenth anniversary, this charming offbeat comedy is being re-released in cinemas for a new generation to enjoy.

And, the bonus, of course, it also brings the recently deceased and hugely talented Sam Neill back to the big screen.

Set in the sweeping countryside of New Zealand, it is the story of “Uncle Hec” (Neill), a grumpy foster father who is delivered a troublesome child, Ricky (Julian Dennison), by the welfare services.

The pair soon spark a full-on search when they set off on a bizarre outback adventure.

Dennison’s performance is both comedy and tragedy, going from an offensive teen obsessed with being “gangster” to an abandoned child looking for emotional security.

And Neill manages to step away from caricature to make Hec layered and empathetic.

But there’s a refreshing lack of cliché and sentimentality, too. The characters don’t simply transform into different people just because they have experienced getting lost in the wilderness together.

Directed by Taika Waititi, it’s still the best buddy movie since Up in 2009.

NIMRODS

(15) 116mins

★★☆☆☆

THIS overly complicated coming-of-age film is somewhat based on punk-pop band Green Day.

Yet, while it features the US rockers, is full of their songs and has a storyline that revolves around getting to their gig, it lacks the ­confidence to be about them entirely, which is a shame.

School dropout Tommy (Mason Thames) is a huge fan and receives a phone call from his pranking older brother, inviting his garage grunge band to open for Green Day.

So he and his pals hit the road in a stolen taxi with barely a penny to their name, believing they are going to perform at a huge gig, with no prior experience, record agent or links to anyone in the industry. Just one prank phone call.

Inspired by the real band’s early days touring in vans before the release of breakout album Dookie in 1994, this film takes place in modern times but could easily be set in the Nineties.

And it probably should have been. With the great soundtrack and nostalgic footage of the real band at the end, it leaves you craving a documentary on Billie Joe Armstrong and co.

In cinemas from Tuesday.

The ongoing explosion of revival screenings in Los Angeles is an opportunity not just to revisit accepted classics, but also to give a spotlight to undersung oddball picks deserving of broader attention.

Take for example 1988’s “Tapeheads.” An offbeat comedy about two friends trying to break into the then-emergent world of music videos, the film stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins just as their careers were starting to take off. A snapshot of a specific moment in Los Angeles — some shots of downtown’s skyline at sundown have an unexpected beauty — the film has never been lost exactly, but it is deserving of renewed interest.

The movie will show on Monday as part of the American Cinematheque’s Cinematic Void program at Los Feliz Theatre, screening from a rare 35mm print provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Director and co-writer Bill Fishman will be there along with producer and co-writer Peter McCarthy, producer Eric Barrett and production designer (later turned director) Catherine Hardwicke.

Cusack and Robbins star as Ivan and Josh, friends since childhood now working as nighttime security guards until they figure out their future. Cusack’s Ivan has ambition and drive while Robbins’ Josh is sensitive and creative. Together they launch a music video business and take it upon themselves to revive the careers of their favorite soul singers, the fictional Swanky Modes (played by real-life soul legends Sam Moore and Junior Walker). Josh and Ivan soon find themselves accidentally wrapped up in a blackmail scheme involving a sex tape and a conservative politician, complicating everything.

“It was a hustler and an artist and the merging of the two, trying to get some sort of balance with your creative side and what you needed to do to make a living,” explains Fishman, now 68, during a recent video interview from Venice, Calif. “We came up with the credo ‘You do what you gotta till you can do what you wanna.’ And that was really where it came from.”

Before making his feature debut with “Tapeheads,” the native New Yorker had already found success in his 20s as a music video director himself, creating clips for songs such as Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” and the Georgia Satellites’ No. 2 hit “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.” Straddling the music scene and Hollywood, Fishman found that a satire of conservative politics came to him naturally.

“Music videos seemed to be an easy thing for me to do because I knew that world,” he says. “Even though the story was what we thought would be completely ludicrous, it ended up being much more realistic than we believed.”

John Cusack, left, and Tim Robbins in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

James Branscome, who programs the Cinematic Void series for the American Cinematheque, calls the rare chance to show the film a bucket-list experience.

“It was a weird movie that felt lost, especially when it stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins being zany in a way they don’t often get to be,” he says by phone. “It felt like this very organic, perfect movie, like: This checks so many boxes for me.”

Among the producers on the film is Michael Nesmith, a former member of the Monkees, and through him the project fell under the production umbrella of NBC. Fishman remembers being invited to the home of Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC Entertainment and a green-lighter of titles including “Miami Vice” and “Seinfeld.” What he thought was going to be a relatively brief meeting was instead hours of Tartikoff patiently going through the script page by page.

“I did not know anything,” remembers Fishman, whose most recent credit is the 2024 film “Waltzing With Brando,” starring Billy Zane. “I thought Hollywood was always going to be like this. But I didn’t realize that my best experience was my first and then we were going to have to fight and claw for the rest of it.”

It was young casting director Victoria Thomas (lately of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and “Michael”) who brought in Cusack and Robbins. Cusack, a Chicagoan, was in Los Angeles to appear onstage with Robbins’ theater group the Actors’ Gang and the two of them came in to audition together.

“They had really prepared,” says Fishman. “And after an hour or more of the interview, which went great, I said, ‘I want you guys to switch roles.’ And that freaked them out. They were like, ‘We can’t do that. We rehearsed. We can’t just throw this together for you.’ I said, ‘I really think you should.’ And they said, ‘OK, give us 15 minutes.’ And they walked out onto the street in Venice and they came back in as the other characters, redid the audition and that’s how they were cast.”

Mary Crosby and John Cusack in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

Fishman made sure to show Cusack the 1957 film “Sweet Smell of Success,” with Tony Curtis’ smarmy press agent an influence on his character. Fishman also says Cusack’s greased-back hair and pencil mustache were partly inspired by Eric Roberts in “Star 80.”

“Tapeheads” captures a specific moment in Los Angeles history, sure to be nostalgic for some, from a desolate downtown to a percolating music scene. Legendary local party band Fishbone provided music for the score and appears briefly as a country-and-western bar combo. Devo rerecorded a version of their song “Baby Doll” in Swedish to stand in for an international boy band’s hit. The film is also full of cameo appearances by real-life music figures, including “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius, MTV’s Martha Quinn, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, rapper Doug E. Fresh and musicians “Weird Al” Yankovic, Ted Nugent and Stiv Bators. (A then-largely unknown Courtney Love has an uncredited appearance as a dominatrix on a sex tape.)

“The soundtrack and the people we used in the film were reflective of the wide spectrum of what was unifying, I thought, for the counterculture in specifically L.A.,” says Fishman. “It wasn’t a film about punk rock, it wasn’t a film about rhythm and blues or hip-hop. It was a film about young people expressing themselves.

“When you would go out in Los Angeles at that time, you would go to nightclubs and all these bands would be playing in the same club,” he says. “If you were part of the counterculture you could play anything or dress any way and you were sort of accepted. It was a creative scene and that’s what the film was about.”

One highlight of the movie is a commercial Ivan and Josh make for local L.A. eatery Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles (still going strong), featuring a memorable rap by blues singer King Cotton and done with a bold yellow and black look.

“I grew up in New York City and chicken and waffles was not a thing,” says Fishman. “People here would go get it late night in Hollywood and when I was looking for some business that they could do a video for, it just struck me as an absurd combination, which was all about what the film was about: absurd combinations. And it happens to be delicious.”

“That Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle commercial is incredible,” says programmer Branscome. “Which is the most California thing because outside of L.A. no one knows what a Roscoe’s is unless you’ve been here. It’s full of very niche stuff that is elevated. It works on one level, but if you know exactly what it is, it gives it a different dynamic.”

Tim Robbins in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

When “Tapeheads” was released in October 1988 (after a berth at the film festival that would be later renamed Sundance), it struggled to find theaters. Moore and Walker performed on “Late Night With David Letterman” as the Swanky Modes. According to Fishman, Cusack and Robbins were both reluctant to do press for the film at the time “because they thought it was uncool.”

It was not until it hit the VHS market that the movie truly began to find its audience. That said, it has never been on Blu-ray and is available to stream from only a few scattered sites. Perhaps this sold-out L.A. screening, with the support of some of the key behind-scenes-team, will help spur the film toward a broader renaissance. It deserves to be seen as more than just a cult curio.

“As soon as people saw the film, they said, ‘Oh, this is a cult film’ and I always hated that,” says Fishman. “I was like, ‘No, it’s not a cult film — it’s a pop movie.’ We wrote it to play to everybody.”

Warner Bros. Discovery stumbled in the second quarter, demonstrating the hazard of depending heavily on blockbuster returns from its Burbank film studio.

Disappointing performances by “Supergirl” and “The Bride,” drove down quarterly theatrical revenue by 46%. The tepid showing illustrated how the Warner Bros. studio has fallen since last year when it was riding high at the box office with “Sinners,” and “A Minecraft Movie.”

Warner’s lackluster earnings, released Thursday, comes as tech scion David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance remains eager to complete its $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery to combine streaming operations and the storied film studio with Melrose Avenue’s Paramount Pictures.

Overall, profit for Warner Bros. Discovery, which also is the parent of HBO, CNN, TLC and HGTV, plummeted 91% to $149 million, or 6 cents per share, compared to $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025 amid the film studio’s blazing run.

The company also fell short of Wall Street expectations for revenue, which sank 11% to $8.7 billion, despite noteworthy gains in its HBO Max streaming business.

Warner missed having NBA games on its TNT channel, which contributed to a 27% drop in advertising to $1.4 billion. The NBA’s departure, and the absence of the NHL Stanley Cup finals, contributed to a 17% ratings decline at Warner’s cable networks.

Chief Executive David Zaslav opted not to renew the pricey basketball contract as Warner has been straining to pay down debt brought on by its last merger in 2022. Instead, NBCUniversal picked up the NBA arrangement.

Warner executives disclosed the company still is carrying about $30 billion in debt.

The company’s earnings revealed continued weakness in the cable television division amid consumer cord-cutting, which has slowed down in recent quarters.

Still, the channels remain a significant part of Warner’s overall revenue and profit picture.

Revenue to the global linear networks, which includes TNT, Discovery and international channels, declined 17% to $4 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in that division fell 4% to $1.4 billion.

Despite the gloomy results, Warner’s stock climbed more than 1% in early Thursday trading to $26.25. Investors seemed heartened by news that British authorities have cleared Ellison’s proposed takeover.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority found the Paramount-Warner combination would not restrict media competition in Britain.

Warner investors are expecting more than $31 a share should Paramount succeed in its proposed Warner Bros. purchase. The blockbuster acquisition has stalled amid an antitrust challenge filed last month by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys.

Bonta’s coalition, including prosecutors from New York, Colorado, Minnesota and Nevada, contends the deal violates U.S. antitrust law.

“We’re confident this transaction will close,” Zaslav told analysts on an early morning conference call.

Earlier this week, a federal judge scheduled a March 2, 2027 trial — months later than Paramount had hoped — to determine whether the deal should move forward.

Paramount faces a June 4 deadline to wrap up the purchase — or pay a $7 billion breakup fee to Warner.

Warner’s earnings bright spot came from its streaming segment, which includes HBO.

Streaming revenue grew 10% to $3 billion as the company continued its international rollout of HBO Max. The service benefits from Warner films, cartoons and HBO’s critically acclaimed original content including “Euphoria,” “Hacks,” “The Gilded Age” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which debuted earlier this year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the streaming division soared 75% to $512 million.

Streaming chief JB Perrette said his division was bullish about next year when HBO will introduce new seasons of “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us” and “The Pitt.”

Warner executives acknowledged their film studio’s struggles. The company does not break out theatrical revenue figures, but said total revenue for the film and television studios declined 39% to $2.3 billion.

The studios’ adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped 89% to $96 million.

Zaslav conceded Warner Bros. would release fewer films this year than it had initially anticipated because some weren’t ready for audiences. The studio should release 14 movies this year but plans to boost its output to 19 next year.

“We’re very confident that we’re going to be able to maintain that larger number,” Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said on the call.

The studio will rebound, Zaslav said.

“Next year, we’re going to have ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Batman,’ ‘Superman,’ [and] ‘Minecraft’ too,” Zaslav said. “Our overall philosophy [is] making sure that we bring the motion picture to the market when the film is ready.”

Ellison, in his bid for Warner Bros., has promised regulators that the combined studio would release 30 films a year — an amount that some experts believe is overly ambitious.

Late Wednesday, Regal Global Entertainment Chief Executive Eduardo Acuna cited Ellison’s commitment to a strong pipeline in announcing his theater chain’s support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.

“We need a thriving studio system to ensure that the industry has a platform from which to grow,” Acuna said in a statement. “I believe David is sincere in making these commitments, and he has offered to execute a consent decree to the State AGs. These are tangible and important commitments that will benefit the industry.”

Staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.

This time, it’s personal for Eric Goode.

The director’s first two docuseries — “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy” — were smash hits about larger-than-life characters engaging in questionable and illegal activity surrounding the care and ownership of animals. Both had an underlying conservation message but drew viewers in with the colorful and chaotic worlds they depicted.

Goode’s third, “Monsters of God,” premiering Thursday on HBO, is both a direct descendant and forges a new path. While it also features a hugely entertaining menagerie of criminals, who speak frankly about many of their illegal acts and how much they dislike each other, “Monsters” is largely a historical look at reptile smuggling going back more than half a century — unlike the contemporaneous stories in “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy.”

Goode had opportunities to bring in current events — one dealer was rearrested shortly after being filmed and there were major smuggling arrests in California in recent years — but realized he couldn’t keep piling on more stories. “We’re just setting the tone of this multibillion-dollar reptile-smuggling industry that you’ve probably never heard of,” says Goode’s producing partner Jeremy McBride.

But the other difference is that Goode has spent his entire life immersed in the world of reptiles, starting long before he even contemplated making a documentary. Goode had a pet tortoise when he was 6 and slept with a tegu lizard in his bed as a teen. He also saw the industry underbelly up close and personal. “In the ’70s and ’80s, I even bought reptiles from some of the very people that I chronicle in ’Monsters of God,’” he says.

“I had personal connections in these worlds, which helped us go much deeper than in my other stories,” he says. “I don’t know if it’ll be anywhere near as successful, but in terms of investigative journalism, we went much further.”

An archival photo of director Eric Goode with a southwestern pond turtle. In addition to filmmaking, he created the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai.

(A24 / Goode Films / HBO)

(He also acknowledges that his earlier series could tilt toward sensationalism and be exploitative. “I was naive when I started all this and learned a lot from ‘Tiger King,’” he says, adding that there was internal friction about what direction to go with the material. “Now we’ve refined the like-mindedness of what we were trying to do.”)

He credits his mother with opening his eyes to the larger issues when he was younger. “She struggled with me keeping things in captivity and would say, ‘You can’t play God, these animals belong in the wild.’”

That said, while he is proud the Big Cat Public Safety Act passed in the aftermath of “Tiger King” and believes people should be banned from raising chimps at home, he views reptiles differently. “Kids should be able to have a bearded dragon or a leopard gecko or ball python. It nurtures a love for nature and for reptiles,” he says, adding that he’s focused more on the harm caused by smuggling.

Despite his love of animals and a high school obsession with making Super 8 film, Goode was not, for much of his life, a likely candidate to be directing these documentaries. “My whole trajectory doesn’t make a lot of sense on paper,” he acknowledges.

After attending the School of Arts and Sciences, which his father founded in Marin County, Goode moved to New York. He worked as a production assistant on big films. “I hated it,” he recalls. “I hated being a cog in a wheel, just moving things around.” (Today, even as his productions have grown more elaborate, he still goes into the field with a small team. “I like that intimacy.”) He also went to art school but was largely bored there.

“I saw the creative energy in New York in the nightlife there,” he says. So while Goode was working as an artist, he also created Area, one of the city’s biggest nightclubs of the 1980s, where he brought in collaborators like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Hockney and Kenny Scharf, with rotating themes like a carnival or natural history (which featured snakes and lizards). “Everyone came from somewhere else or were misfits and I was bringing in these interesting characters, which is very similar to what I’m doing in these films,” he says. “I like lifting up the rocks and finding the eccentrics out there.”

Area’s success led to a big career in nightclubs, restaurants and hotels. Then 20 years ago, he took his profits, along with his passion for reptiles, and created the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai. “I realized that the two most endangered groups of vertebrates in the world were primates and turtles,” he says, adding that nearly half of the smuggled animals seized at LAX in the last three years were turtles. When officials recently confiscated 350 turtles there, they brought them to the conservancy to care for them. “I’m going to go feed them after this interview,” Goode says.

The conservancy now has a worldwide reach in protecting turtles and their habitats and has become a leader in trying to stave off extinction for the ploughshare tortoise, whose fate is a major storyline in “Monsters of God.”

Tom Crutchfield, one of the reptile smugglers featured in the docuseries, with a monitor lizard in a photo taken circa 1970s.

(Photograph by Bill Love. Courtesy of Goode Films / HBO)

As filming was finishing, the conservancy became home to the first ploughshare births in captivity. “It was such a coincidence but really meaningful,” McBride says. “It anchors the film’s purpose and gives a little bit of hope in what otherwise feels bleak.”

This docuseries has been in the works for nearly 20 years, since Goode read Brian Christy’s “The Lizard King” in 2008 and tried to option it. “I even filmed him badly back then — the sound was terrible and the camera fell off the tripod during the interview,” he recalls. (Christy appears in the docuseries.)

In 2014, he finally got started but it was always on and off again as other projects got in the way. In “Tiger King,” Goode shows he’s first drawn to that story when he sees a guy with a snow leopard in his van, which happens while he’s filming Tom Crutchfield, one of America’s most notorious reptile smugglers. “But while I was making these other stories, I was always opportunistically filming reptile people,” he says, adding that they interviewed not only the criminals but federal law enforcement and others, seeking a broader scope than his previous films. “It was critical for us to get all sides of the story. Part of the reason it took so long was it sometimes took years to get someone to agree to talk.”

McBride says they finished with 1,500 hours of footage and interviews with a hundred different people, including the most notorious smugglers (some of whom were also murderers and drug dealers) and the law enforcement officials who dedicated years of their life undercover to catch them.

It’s a true crime story on some level but Goode says the series is more layered and complex than his previous projects.

“I don’t want people to think we’re the animal police,” Goode says. “Law enforcement has good intentions but they sometimes backfire with unintended consequences. Often, the more laws you create to prevent people from having a reptile, the more they want them. But sometimes prohibition does work.” (In Asia’s wet markets, the most endangered animals sell for more money with their protected status used as a marketing tool.)

“Hopefully, people come away recognizing that we have to think about doing things differently than maintaining the status quo, because a lot of what we’re doing is not working,” Goode says. “It’s a messy story without easy answers.”

When I pulled into the parking lot near Long Beach’s F&M Bank Amphitheater with just 30 minutes until the opening of the show on a recent Friday, my heart raced.

“Do you think we’ll make it in time?” I asked my boyfriend, worried.

We were heading to Ice Cube and Mike Epps’ “Everyday’s Friday” concert and comedy show — a celebration of the cult classic “Friday” movie franchise — so a huge turnout was guaranteed. And ever since F&M Bank Amphitheater opened earlier this summer, my social media feeds have been flooded with complaints about Long Beach’s new temporary waterfront venue. Concertgoers have cited uncomfortable seating, sky-high parking rates and long shuttle wait times.

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Those comments swirled in my head as I hustled toward the shuttle pickup line near the Pike Outlets. But to my surprise and relief, a bus arrived within a few minutes. After a roughly 15-minute drive through mild traffic, we made it to the venue just in time to see Epps tease a few audience members during his opening comedy segment.

The 11,000-seat F&M Bank Amphitheater has gotten a lot of buzz in the two months it’s been open, with conversations surrounding its funding, noise concerns in the neighborhood and the purpose of the venue for the city of Long Beach. My mission was simply to see what it’s like to experience a show. The verdict? If you’re not expecting luxury and you arrive with a healthy dose of patience, it’s a treat.

Here’s a rundown, starting with getting to the amphitheater. Because the venue doesn’t have its own parking lot, the options are rideshare, the bus, e-scooters, bikes (with storage available at the venue), taking a water taxi ($5 per way) or paying $55 for reserved spaces, then taking the free shuttle.

Walking inside felt less like entering a temporary venue and more like stepping into a mini music festival. The pathway toward the security checkpoint was adorned with a bright abstract mural, hanging lights and swaying palm trees. A display of lowriders greeted us alongside a massive mural of iconic scenes from the film “Friday,” including Cube and Chris Tucker’s legendary “Dammnnnn” moment. Deeper into the grounds, fans delighted in interactive art installations — from a replica of Pinky’s Records & Discs to Craig’s front porch. Nearby were even more classic lowriders that drivers made bounce and dance for the crowd. The layout made the space feel more expansive and interactive than just watching a performance.

The spacious F&M Bank Amphitheater felt like a mini music festival with food trucks, art installations and more.

(Daniel Rojas)

Food trucks and bars were scattered throughout, serving up tacos, burgers, hot dogs and other hand-held bites. I ordered a smashburger with fries — which was decent though the line moved slowly — and paired it with a cocktail, which was moderately priced by L.A. standards ($19 for premium liquor). Grab-and-go beers and seltzers were easily accessible although I didn’t spot any refillable water stations around the venue.

And a major thing to note is the venue’s only restrooms are Porta Potties. I was instantly grateful that I’d brought hand sanitizer as there weren’t any hand-washing stations near the entrance. Fortunately, a second portable toilet area deeper inside the venue had working sinks and held up well throughout the show.

Thousands of fans attended the “Everyday’s Friday” event, which celebrated the “Friday” movie franchise.

(Daniel Rojas)

Much like shows at the Hollywood Bowl, the concert kicked off a few minutes after 7 p.m. With our burgers and margaritas in hand, my boyfriend and I nestled into our seats in the center 300 section, which gave us a clear, unobstructed view of the stage. Thanks to the tiered bleacher-style seating, almost every seat in the house offers a great vantage point. The actual seats were hard and mildly uncomfortable, but we didn’t mind this because we stood up for most of the show. Some attendees opted to hang out at one of the many picnic tables sprinkled around the venue.

By the time Houston rap legend Scarface — who’s known for his use of heavy bass — hit the stage I realized just how crisp the sound quality was. Even when we left our seats for a quick bathroom break, I could still hear the music clearly. The sound combined with lasers and immersive backdrop visuals of scenes from the films elevated the show experience.

Thanks to the tiered bleacher-style seating, almost every seat in the venue offers a great vantage point of the stage.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s difficult to ignore the picturesque views of the harbor and famed Queen Mary, particularly at sunset. (On certain concert days, the Queen Mary offers free admission.) It felt like the perfect setting for a show that celebrated the beloved film, its soundtrack and most importantly West Coast hip-hop culture.

About two-thirds into Ice Cube’s set, I noticed small groups of people sneaking toward the exit. Mindful of the online horror stories about post-show delays, my boyfriend and I decided to duck out early to beat the rush. By the time we made it outside, people were already power-walking toward an expanding line. Security seemed scrambled, first directing a large crowd of us to the far side of the pickup zone, which sparked confusion and frustration, then waving us back. Unlike the Hollywood Bowl, which has fleets of shuttles ready to go, F&M Bank Amphitheater’s shuttle operation felt a bit leaner. Still, a bus arrived within 10 minutes, and despite initially driving to the wrong drop-off spot, the driver quickly course-corrected and got us back on track.

V.I.P Records, a store that helped launch the careers of artists like Snoop Dogg and Warren G, had a booth at the event.

(Daniel Rojas)

As an avid concertgoer, I enjoyed the overall experience at the F&M Amphitheater. It delivered on all the key elements I look for in a show: pristine sound, engaging visuals and a seamless entry. While the venue still has some post-show shuttle kinks to smooth out — an expected growing pain for a new space — it successfully turns a temporary layout into a lively entertainment venue that could soon evolve into a permanent “Long Beach Bowl.” For music lovers and promoters alike, that’s worth celebrating.

The UK village has gone viral online for its stunning beauty. Visitors say it looks just like an Italian seaside town and “feels like wandering through a film set”

Many people will be jetting off to popular European destinations such as Spain, Italy or France this summer. However, a growing number of Brits are opting for staycations this year to avoid lengthy airport queues and make the most of the glorious weather the UK has been enjoying.

If that sounds like you, but you’ve yet to decide on a destination, then you’ll want to pay attention. One ‘enchanting’ UK village that will have you convinced you’re in Italy has taken the internet by storm. Portmeirion is a breathtaking, Italianate tourist village nestled in Gwynedd, North Wales. Perched on the cliffs of the Afon Dwyryd estuary, it was designed and constructed by Welsh architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1976.

His vision was to demonstrate that developing a naturally beautiful location need not come at the cost of its charm.

The village is owned by a charitable trust and is renowned for its vibrant, pastel-coloured Mediterranean architecture, picturesque woodlands, and its unique place in pop culture.

Key highlights of the village

The Architecture: Williams-Ellis built the village as a “post-modern bricolage”, incorporating salvaged fragments from demolished historic buildings across the UK. It features a central piazza, a giant human chessboard, a Riviera-inspired layout, and a lighthouse.

The Gwyllt (Wildwood): A 70-acre subtropical forest surrounding the village. It includes 19 miles of pathways, hidden gardens, a ghost garden, a dog cemetery, and exotic trees like giant redwoods and monkey puzzles.

The Prisoner TV Show: Portmeirion is recognised worldwide as the filming location for the cult 1960s psychological spy thriller, The Prisoner. Devoted fans regularly flock to the dedicated Prisoner Shop on-site.

Portmeirion Pottery: The world-renowned pottery brand was established in 1960 by the architect’s daughter, Susan Williams-Ellis, who drew on botanical motifs inspired by the village. Discounted earthenware is available to purchase at the local shops.

Where to stay and eat

While thousands descend on the village for day trips, it operates primarily as a hotel resort where guests can stay beyond opening hours.

Hotel Portmeirion: A Grade II listed, converted Victorian villa situated directly on the waterfront.

Castell Deudraeth: A grand, 19th-century castellated folly transformed into a contemporary hotel.

Cottages & Dining: There are 13 self-catering cottages dotted throughout the village alongside several cafes, an authentic Italian gelateria (Angel Ices), and formal dining rooms.

Visiting information

Admission: Day visitors are required to purchase an admission ticket to enter the grounds.

Accessibility: Owing to its cliffside, coastal setting, many paths within the village and leading back up from the estuary are steep, hilly, and may prove challenging for those with limited mobility. Getting there: The village is extremely well-connected by public transport.

It sits just a 1-mile walk or taxi ride from Minffordd Railway Station, which serves both local lines and heritage steam trains like the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways.

What people online are saying

One visitor known as Bec recently took to her Instagram page to share her experience of visiting Portmeirion.

Despite having just 3,000 followers, Bec’s post went viral – amassing more than 38,000 likes from fellow travel enthusiasts.

Although Bec called it “the weirdest UK village”, she went on to say that Portmeirion ‘looks like an Italian seaside town’, despite being nestled in North Wales.

She also claimed that once the tourists are gone for the day, you ‘have the whole village to yourself’.

Bec wrote: “Walking around after dark felt like wandering through a film set.”

She also showcased the village’s breathtaking views, exclaiming: “I’ve never been happier to wake up early.

“I think I said, ‘this is so pretty’, every thirty seconds.”

Bec also labelled Portmeirion a “must-visit for anyone who supports architectural whimsy”.

Adding further detail in the caption, she wrote: “It’s a little bit Disneyland for adults who enjoy cruises… (affectionately). I’ve wanted to visit Portmeirion for years and it lived up to every expectation.

“It’s unlike anywhere else in the UK, with colourful Mediterranean inspired buildings and baroque architecture and beautiful views across the estuary. During the day it’s very busy (understandably), and I found it a bit overwhelming… but then everyone went home.

“Walking around after dark and again before breakfast the next morning completely changed the experience. You could actually stop, look around and appreciate how strange and beautiful the place is.”

She rounded off by saying: “One I’ve wanted to tick off for years, and I’m so glad I finally did.”

One viewer responded: “Fantastic find,” while another added: “I’m so jealous, I love it there but never stayed!”.

A third chimed in: “Its very pretty and photogenic.”

However, one less impressed commenter wrote: “Don’t fall for the hype. Major tourist trap at £20 each to get in and only really cafes inside.”

In the spirit of Zeus’ law to be generous toward guests, I’m honored to welcome classics professor Emily Wilson to the land of film criticism. As she’s recently learned, it’s an adventure that sails smack into islands of musky internet trolls and clashes with cinematic and literary titans like Christopher Nolan and Joyce Carol Oates.

Nolan credits the opening line of Wilson’s 2017 translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” — “Tell me about a complicated man” — as partly inspiring his adaptation of the ancient epic, which, nearly a month into its release, is soldiering toward a billion-dollar box office gross. Symbiotically, Wilson’s edition is now the No. 2 bestselling book in the country. That Wilson’s incendiary essay in the London Review of Books revealed she doesn’t think much of Nolan’s blockbuster struck some as hubris, including Oates, who took to social media to decry the scholar’s “tone of dismissal” and “haughty superiority.”

If you haven’t been following the controversy, Wilson felt that Nolan had flattened the saga by mostly erasing the Greek gods and Odysseus’ wit, lust and thorny contradictions. Oates likened the tone of Wilson’s critique to the “crude language of MAGA folks.” In short: Wilson snuck a 2,700-year-old poem through the gates of mainstream taste — and after that victory, her arrogance left her marooned.

Sounds familiar if you’ve read Homer. Less so if you’ve only seen the film. Wilson is right that Nolan’s movie lacks Odysseus’ egomaniacal brilliance.

I’m here to play peacemaker. Wilson adores Odysseus so much that she has his bow tattooed on her right leg. Frankly, Nolan doesn’t seem to like the wily, libidinous and violent trickster-veteran of the poem — half Rhett Butler, half Rambo in “First Blood” — as much as Wilson or I do. Because if he did, that Odysseus would be onscreen.

But having seen his movie twice, it’s obvious that Nolan is less interested in Wilson’s first line than her fifth: “Tell the old story for our modern times.” That, he’s done. His take on Homer is, as I wrote in my original review, “a moralistic ‘Oppenheimer’ prequel.” For the record, I like it anyway.

Film critics and translators start work in the same place. Step one: What is the artist’s intent? Wilson considered the entirety of Homer’s tale and decided the right word for polytropos was “complicated.” I weighed what Nolan chose to protect, tweak and abandon in his own version and concluded that he wanted to make an action-tragedy about societal decline.

Movies must be measured against their own ambitions. A stoner comedy can’t be graded like a Shakespearean drama (and vice versa). Here’s where Wilson runs aground. She wants to allow Nolan creative freedom, knowing that the Greek playwrights rebooted figures like Odysseus and Medea just like Marvel treats Spider-Man. There’s even a spinoff of the original poem in which Odysseus has kids with Circe.

Yet, storytellers have to protect the core of their characters. Medea must be angry, Spider-Man must be helpful and Odysseus, dang it, must have swagger. Damon doesn’t.

This is why Wilson deserves empathy even if she can’t bring herself to grant Nolan the same grace. As a professor of classics at the University of Pennsylvania, she’ll be on the front line of academics condemned to unteach Nolan’s heavily altered screenplay to students who will arrive quoting it chapter and verse. For decades to come, high school kids — probably even a few high school teachers — are just going to pop in his Blu-ray and call it a day.

Nolan does hit his target, eventually. Yet his script wobbles. He’s made a movie about Odysseus’ remorse for inventing the Trojan horse without a crucial scene: the moment he invents it. We see Odysseus silently stroll the beach outside Troy, but not the pride he must have felt running back to base to pitch an idea that will finish the war and let his allies go home. The emotional arc Nolan wants to trace should start there. The beat’s absence is confounding since Odysseus also needs to appear clever (and never does).

This is what it means to measure a film against its ambitions. Only after we accept that Nolan is solely interested in human mistakes can we gauge his disregard for the Greek gods. I dig that choice — it’s bold — yet still think he flubs it by not replacing the magical powers of Charlize Theron’s Calypso and Zendaya’s Athena with, say, a personality. What a waste of two terrific actors. It’s no wonder Oates stuck up for him. Her novel “Blonde” also stripped the agency from love goddess Marilyn Monroe and its own 2022 movie adaptation launched a thousand hot takes.

There will never be a faithful modern film version of “The Odyssey.” No, not even whatever AI slop Elon Musk claims he’s green-lighted, a project I’m sure will come to fruition as fast as his any-year-now claim that he’s landing on Mars.

The issue isn’t just the poem’s length. It’s that today’s audiences have zero stomach for happy endings about horrible wrongs. We can barely rationalize the slaughter of the suitors. No one wants to watch Homer’s gory scene after that, when Telemachus cruelly orders a dozen enslaved girls to clean up the mess and then executes them too.

Only a seven-and-a-half hour Italian miniseries produced by Dino de Laurentiis in 1968 dares mention that second bloodbath and even in that, the women are hung offscreen after we’ve been assured (fictitiously) that the maids tried to kill them first. (Side note: Dino’s Penelope, played by the mighty Irene Papas, is my favorite.)

Previous movie adaptations of “The Odyssey” soft-pedal or ignore the hero’s postwar PTSD. You catch a glimpse of it in the two-part NBC special from 1997 in which Armand Assante’s Odysseus rescues a Trojan toddler. But mainly, he spends more time hot-tubbing with Vanessa Williams’ Calypso.

That’s not a knock. The ’90s “Odyssey” is as tacky as Caesars Palace but Assante’s smooth-talking horndog is closer to my ideal Odysseus than Damon’s neutered mope. He sleeps with both Calypso and Circe and still earns his tender reunion with Penelope by choosing her beloved wrinkles over those gods’ immortal perfection. (For what it’s worth, Oates is a fan of it too. Wilson has yet to comment.)

Only the two most recent versions — Nolan’s and Uberto Pasolini’s 2024 “The Return,” starring a sinewy Ralph Fiennes — center on Odysseus’ culpability for the carnage of the Trojan War. Damon’s Odysseus is numbed by the massacre of Troy’s civilians; Fiennes’ hates himself for leading the best men of Ithaca to their death, gutting his own community in the heedless destruction of another. I’m tempted to diagnose the current gloom as the result of our own post-9/11 forever wars.

The 21st century has seen enough genocide for Homer to compose a hundred sequels. Only those stubbornly ignorant to the human cost of actual combat would be psyched to bring on more of it. (Just ask the veterans in my family how they feel things are going in Iran.) At the end of “The Return,” when Fiennes stands entrail-smeared before his beloved Penelope, she recoils from the horror of the battlefield brought right into their home.

That interpretation has its flaws too. The middle stretch has a concocted outdoor chase sequence that feels like a clumsy campground slasher. Wilson applauded its “stylish sparseness.” Fair enough. I’d still love to invite her and Nolan and even Oates to a banquet of wine and roasted fowl and have a blast agreeing to disagree. No weapons allowed.

With great power comes great box office.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” swung to a record $360-million domestic debut, surpassing “Avengers: Endgame” to become the film with the biggest opening weekend in box office history.

The fourth installment of Tom Holland’s blockbuster series also set records for its Thursday preview gross. Paired with another film starring newlyweds Holland and Zendaya, the earnings of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” have helped give new meaning to the phrase “power couple.”

Here are the records “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has broken so far:

Top domestic opening weekend

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” surpassed “Avengers: Endgame” as the biggest opening weekend at the domestic box office. “Brand New Day” earned $360 million, exceeding the previous record set by Disney’s final movie in the Infinity Saga, which made $357 million.

Biggest debut in the ’Spider-Man’ franchise

The previous record belonged to the third film in the Holland era, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which earned $260 million domestically. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” reigns supreme over nine live-action movies and two animated features.

Highest-earning Thursday previews

Since midnight showings of movies were moved up due to safety concerns after the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, “Avengers: Endgame” earned the biggest preview opening with $60 million, a record broken by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” after it collected $72 million Thursday.

Biggest opening day (Friday)

The success continued into Friday. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” earned $169 million — 47% of its total gross — beating out the previous record set by “Avengers: Endgame,” according to Box Office Mojo.

Fastest to $250 million

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” became the fastest to reach $250 million domestically, hitting the milestone in two days, according to Box Office Mojo. The previous record was held by, you guessed it, “Avengers: Endgame.”

Top opening weekend of July

The buddy comedy “Deadpool & Wolverine” had its claws into July after it earned $211 million domestically in its opening weekend in 2024. It was overtaken by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s” $360 million.

Top opening weekend of summer

“Deadpool & Wolverine” also held the record for the best debut weekend of any summer film. That total was no match for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

The biggest collective weekend in box office history

Holland and Zendaya are taking their box office prowess to new heights after their two movies and other films currently in theaters earned roughly $430 million — the biggest collective weekend in box office history.

“The Odyssey,” which also stars Holland and Zendaya, made $51 million in its third weekend. Zendaya’s banner year will continue this winter when “Dune: Part Three” hits theaters Dec. 18 — the same day as “Avengers: Doomsday.”

It is unknown if Holland will appear in the upcoming “Avengers” film, but “Brand New Day” concludes with the message “Spider-Man will return.”

Do we still call it a “heat wave” if it never ends?

Maybe my Texas and Arizona friends can help me out here on proper nomenclature because, while everybody loves the sunshine, I’m starting to dream of the time when autumn leaves start to fall.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. My birthday’s still a few months away. Is it OK if I have a slice of this cake, anyway? Maybe the Television Academy can send it to the Emmy nominees who are no longer invited to the ceremony this year.

Read on for more …

Awards show adaptation or mere party foul?

What if you were invited to a party and then nine days later that invitation is rescinded? A party in your honor, no less, or at least one where you are among the honorees. How would you feel? Would you be tempted to take that birthday cake I just mentioned and smash it into the face of your host?

Maybe I’ve watched the pie fight in “Blazing Saddles” one too many times. (Happy 100th birthday, Mel Brooks!) Still, if I were among the Emmy nominees in the five categories that the Television Academy shuttled off the Primetime Emmy Awards to the untelevised Creative Arts Emmy Awards, I might be reaching for some baked goods and taking aim.

The five categories excised from the show include four from the limited series/movie group — supporting actor and actress, writing and directing. (Variety series writing was also cut.) When I wrote a few weeks ago that the limited series boom had gone bust, it wasn’t my intention that the TV Academy remove more than half of the categories from the show. It could have just been a down year, people! Television was pretty meh across the board the last 12 months. Why pick on one division?

In doing so, the Television Academy effectively disenfranchised HBO’s “DTF St. Louis,” the best limited series of the season, from the ceremony. Steven Conrad’s dark comedy about suburban loneliness earned 13 nominations, including supporting acting nods for each member of its stellar ensemble — Jason Bateman, David Harbour, Linda Cardellini, Richard Jenkins and Joy Sunday. Conrad was nominated for three — writing, directing and producing the series.

But now only Harbour, Bateman and Conrad will receive tickets to the show as executive producers of the nominated series. The other actors can attend the Creative Arts Emmys, held the weekend before the Primetime Emmys. And of course, HBO will be happy to buy them tickets if they want to go to the televised ceremony too.

The question is: Will they and other nominees, which include the likes of Nick Offerman (“Death by Lightning”), Charles Melton (“Beef”) and Dakota Fanning (“All Her Fault”), want to get dressed up two weekends in a row? (First-world problems, I know.)

“It really did manifest as a disinvite for all these people,” says one awards consultant who, like other sources for this story, requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about the move. “Had the Television Academy done it before nominations came out, then at least people’s expectations would have been managed. But now it’s sort of like you got invited to the party and now you can’t come. It’s not a very nice feeling.”

“Beef” star Charles Melton’s category, supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie, will be presented at the untelevised Creative Arts Emmys the weekend before the Primetime Emmys ceremony.

(Netflix)

Why did the TV Academy wait to shift the categories until after the nominations were announced? Why focus on limited series and not, say, spread the cuts across drama and comedy categories too? Are these changes permanent?

I asked these questions to the Television Academy and the answers were, basically: We announced as soon as possible. We’re going to sidestep that second query. And we’ll see how it goes!

What this comes down to is a desire to create a show that, in the words of a TV Academy spokesperson, is “driven by the need to innovate while delivering a three-hour broadcast, keeping audience expectations and the creative structure of the ceremony in mind.”

Translation: fewer awards, fewer speeches, more throwback segments that have a chance to go viral and get people talking.

The Oscars tried this in 2022, moving eight categories off the telecast, handing them out before the broadcast began. Members hated the idea and order was restored the following year with all 23 awards being presented during the live telecast. (In 2019, when the motion picture academy announced a similar move, saying that four categories would be handed out during commercial breaks, the blowback was so fierce that the decision was almost immediately reversed.)

Emmy ratings were up 8% last year, the highest since 2021. An average of 7.42 million viewers watched. Not NFL numbers, but a continued indication that the audience level for major awards ceremonies has stabilized after steep declines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, there is a feeling among some that awards shows need to adapt and pick up the pace in a time when viewers’ attention spans have shortened. Is there an appetite for a three-hour ceremony when you can simply watch the highlights the next day on social media platforms?

“If people don’t want to see actors winning awards, then the days of televised awards shows should just be over,” gripes another Emmy consultant.

One thing that might be over — or at least greatly diminished — will be submissions for the supporting acting categories for limited series/movie next year if the academy makes this revision permanent.

“I think everyone will be going lead,” one network executive joked, “even if they have just five minutes an episode.”