Arts Entertainments

On the Shelf Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live By Susan MorrisonRandom House: 656 pages, $36 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. There’s a chance you’ve heard this is the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” Sunday brought…

Aaron Korsh hates thinking about expectations. He sees it as a pointless mind game that he has no real control over. But when you’re the creator of a cable legal drama — in this case, “Suits” — that concluded nearly six years ago and became, to the surprise of many, the most-streamed show of 2023…

LONDON — An unusually wide-open Oscar race remains uncertain following the 78th annual EE British Academy Film Awards, where trophies were handed out with the blanket enthusiasm of Oprah Winfrey giving away cars. (You get a BAFTA! And you get a BAFTA!) Although Edward Berger’s “Conclave” took home four awards, including best film and outstanding British film,…

Google’s YouTube and Paramount Global have struck a new distribution contract, averting a threatened blackout of CBS and other television channels for nearly 8 million YouTube TV customers. The deal was clinched Saturday night, about 48 hours after the previous pact had expired. The two sides then extended a deadline to allow negotiations to continue,…

After performing most of his latest album, “Chromakopia,” just two months ago at his annual Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, Tyler, the Creator could’ve easily copied and pasted his well-received set list for his album tour, which rolled into Crypto.com Arena for a six-night stand in L.A. that kicked off on Valentine’s Day. But the veteran…

Our love of Stephen Sondheim is approaching the “Beatlemania” phase. One wonders what the Broadway maestro would have made of “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” which opened Thursday at the Ahmanson Theatre in preparation for its move to Broadway in the spring. A greatest-hits revue, devised by producer Cameron Mackintosh, the celebratory show is a true…

The feud between Elon Musk and rival Sam Altman took a new turn on Friday when OpenAI’s board rejected a $97.4-billion offer by an investment consortium led by the Tesla chief executive. “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” Bret Taylor, chair of…

If you want to ace your Oscar pool, you musn’t ignore the three short film categories — animation, live-action and documentary. But what cinephile would, anyway? The 15 nominees here have already won something, if you think of them as global ambassadors of all that cinema can do in a pinch of time. They will…

This story contains spoilers for “Captain America: Brave New World.” If you haven’t seen the movie yet, consider checking out our review instead. Is a movie really an installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if it doesn’t have at least one post-credits scene? Directed by Julius Onah, “Captain America: Brave New World,” out Friday, kicks…

A heaving red brute froths and seethes behind a podium marked with the Presidential seal before tearing through the Rose Garden and leaving a swath of wreckage through the White House. As he rips through the Washington Monument, the only person standing in his way is a winged Captain America — notably, the first Black…

Teddi Mellencamp was scheduled for brain surgery Wednesday only a day after learning that recent headaches were the result of multiple brain tumors. “For the last several weeks I’ve been dealing with severe and debilitating headaches. Yesterday the pain was unbearable and required hospitalization,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” veteran, who is also rocker…

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut has spoken out against claims that his famous 1972 photo of a terrified child running from a napalm bomb attack on her village during the Vietnam War was actually taken by someone else. “I took the photo of [Phan Thi] Kim Phuc,” Ut wrote in a statement Wednesday posted to…

Last July, San Diego resident Trisha Malone applied for a disability exemption at a booth just outside the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks. The Disability Access Service, or DAS, pass she wanted would have allowed her to avoid waiting in time-consuming lines for popular Disney rides. Malone met with personnel representing Disney for her…

Walt Disney Co. is changing some of its internal diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the latest move in the company’s slow pullback from such efforts. The Burbank media and entertainment giant will replace the “diversity and inclusion” performance factor for executive compensation planning with a “talent strategies” standard, according to a memo sent Tuesday to…

One person was killed and four injured after a private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil collided into another private plane when landing at an Arizona airport on Monday afternoon, authorities said. At 2:29 p.m., a Learjet aircraft flying in from Austin, Texas, veered off the runway while attempting to land at Scottsdale…

Ye, after a weekend of spewing more antisemitic and hateful comments on X, offered a message of praise for the app’s owner, Elon Musk. “I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent,” the controversial rapper formerly known as Kanye West tweeted Sunday evening, according to KTLA. “It has been very cathartic to use the world…

Has video killed the Super Bowl ad? If ever there were a Super Bowl that needed a bunch of surprising, cool and smartly written commercials, it was Super Bowl LIX. As Philadelphia systematically destroyed Kansas City, Eagles fans were no doubt too… ebullient to pay much attention to the ads, while Chiefs supporters no doubt…

Tony Roberts, a versatile, Tony Award-nominated theater performer at home in plays and musicals and who appeared in several Woody Allen movies — often as Allen’s best friend — has died. He was 85. Roberts’ death was announced to the New York Times on Friday by his daughter, Nicole Burley. Roberts had a genial stage…

An awards season notable for wild momentum swings saw another big shift Saturday night with Sean Baker’s “Anora” winning top honors from both the directors and producers guilds. Baker picked up the DGA’s award around 9 p.m. at the Beverly Hilton, delivered an emotional speech, posed for pictures and was then sped down Santa Monica…

President Trump left the arts world reeling with his social media announcement Friday that he intends to appoint himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and immediately terminate members of the board of trustees “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”…

Last month, award-winning Latino fashion designer Willy Chavarria brought his renegade sensibilities to the runway in France, finally making his long-awaited debut at Men’s Fashion Week in Paris with his fall collection, “Tarántula.” Chavarria tells the story of American fashion through a Chicano lens, creating now-distinctive oversize, sculptural silhouettes that pull from various eras of…

The title character of Halfdan Ullman Tøndel’s directorial debut is almost never seen, though he looms large in the drama that unfolds in a sprawling, empty elementary school over the course of a single afternoon. His name is uttered like a prayer, an oath, as his mother, Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve of “A Different Man”), speeds…

For Killer Mike, his arrest at the 2024 Grammy Awards has become more than just lyrical inspiration. The incident became lawsuit material this week. The Grammy-winning rapper, half of hip-hop duo Run the Jewels, sued a private security firm and its employees for alleged false arrest and imprisonment, assault, battery, negligence and other counts stemming…

The fourth and final person charged in connection with the 2020 killing of rising rap star Pop Smoke faces almost three decades in prison after pleading guilty to three counts this week, authorities said. Corey Walker, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of robbery with firearm and gang…

Joan Didion kept notes of her therapy sessions. In 46 entries dating back to December 1999, she discussed alcoholism, depression, anxiety and the complex relationship with her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. Addressed to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, these never-before-seen notes were found stashed in a filing cabinet beside Didion’s desk in her Manhattan apartment…

Last year’s acting winners are returning to the Oscars. Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Emma Stone will all present at the Academy Awards next month. Stone won the lead actress honor for her chilling performance as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” Stone was also victorious in the category in…

For some fans of “The Goonies,” star Ke Huy Quan’s hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Monday was a “Data” remember. The Oscar winner — who starred as gadget whiz Richard “Data” Wang in “The Goonies” — on Monday placed his prints in the renowned cement slabs, joining the ranks of…

The opening night movie at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival will be the world premiere of Paul Feig’s “Another Simple Favor,” starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick. The festival runs from March 7-14 in Austin, Texas. Although Lively has most recently been the subject of intense scrutiny for for her complicated legal…

British fantasy author Neil Gaiman has been accused of human trafficking, sexual abuse, assault and rape in a lawsuit filed against him and estranged wife Amanda Palmer by their former nanny. The nanny, Scarlett Pavlovich, alleges in a lawsuit filed in a Wisconsin federal court Monday that Gaiman brutally and repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted…

While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 67th Grammys on Sunday, Alicia Keys celebrated trailblazing female producers, her fellow musicians and the power of diversity. Keys, who won the award for musical theater album during the Grammys Premiere Ceremony held earlier in the day for “Hell’s Kitchen,” was described as “a global…

Half a century after he threw a small music-industry soirée to toast Barry Manilow’s first Grammy nomination for record of the year, 92-year-old Clive Davis on Saturday night celebrated the 50th anniversary of what quickly became his famous annual pre-Grammy gala. There were drinks. There were speeches. And there was Manilow, still trim and impeccably…

In a category dominated by the likes of Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, Jacob Collier is unquestionably the least famous musician nominated for album of the year at Sunday’s 67th Grammy Awards. Yet the English singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist is actually a familiar contender for the Grammys’ flagship prize: His dark-horse nod for…

Deadheads mixed with bigwigs Friday night at the annual MusiCares Persons of the Year gala, where the members of the Grateful Dead were honored by the Recording Academy for their philanthropy and cultural impact 60 years after the iconic jam band formed in 1965. “Longevity was never a major concern of ours,” the Dead’s Bobby…

Never fear, “Dog Man” is here — to save your families from the doldrums of January moviegoing. The popular children’s books by Dav Pilkey (a spinoff of the “Captain Underpants” series) are adapted with a silly, self-referential charm by writer-director Peter Hastings, resulting in a cutely frenetic but narratively somewhat flimsy animated feature. Hastings and…

CBS and its “60 Minutes” have long stood as shining beacons of broadcast news. The Sunday night newsmagazine, with its ubiquitous ticking clock, earned a reputation for not backing down from a fight. For a half-century, the show established the standard for TV investigative reporting with its no-holds-barred questioning of U.S. presidents and others in…

One of the casualties of an era centered on ring lights over stage lights is the marginalizing of the all-around “performer,” that blood-sweat-and-tears breed who could light up rooms and arenas alike with undeniable talent, passion and sparkling artifice. Anyone can call themselves an artist. But only the well-earned love of audiences makes someone a…

Greg Olsen was a key part of the second-most-watched TV broadcast of all time. On Feb. 12, 2023, more than 115 million people tuned in to Super Bowl LVII to see the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. The game was broadcast on Fox, with Kevin Burkhardt handling the play-by-play duties and Olsen…

I’m here to champion a work of art that centers a transgender woman in the lead role, to make the case for thought-provoking cinema that subverts tropes by radically embracing them. I could only be speaking, of course, of “Johanne Sacreblu,” the “Emilia Pérez” homage and the directorial debut of Mexican filmmaker Camila Aurora. In…

Rihanna made her first appearance in court during ASAP Rocky’s assault trial Wednesday, with the singer seated in the gallery as the downtown Los Angeles court heard key testimony about an alleged shooting that could send her rap star partner to prison for nearly 20 years. On the witness stand was Terell Ephron, a.k.a. ASAP…

As Sean “Diddy” Combs awaits his May trial on federal charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering, the disgraced hip-hop mogul’s rise and fall is being examined once again in another documentary. Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries “The Fall of Diddy,” which concludes Tuesday, depicts Combs as a man prone to violent outbursts who used his power…

PARK CITY, Utah —  The sword proves mightier than the pen in A24’s messy slasher “Opus,” one of the buzzier films at this year’s Sundance. The thin comedic stab-fest is the debut feature of former GQ staffer Mark Anthony Green, who started the script while profiling such artists as the Weeknd and Kid Cudi. “Opus” is…

Eslabon Armado, Cuco and DannyLux join the long list of acts performing at benefit concerts across the country to aid those impacted by the Los Angeles fires. The trio of balladeering acts will perform at the Glass House in Pomona on Friday, Jan. 31 as part of the “I Heart L.A.” benefit concert series organized…

PARK CITY, Utah —  It’s been nine months since the Sundance Film Festival announced it was exploring the potential of a new home beginning in 2027. For some longtime attendees, the idea of resettlement hits like a snowball to the back of the neck. Mastering Park City is like learning to juggle: The curve is steep,…

PARK CITY, Utah —  For those of us fortunate enough to avoid evacuation, much less life-altering destruction, during the recent L.A. wildfires, the past weeks have come with a certain numbness. What level of grief is appropriate, after all, if you are experiencing it secondhand? “Rebuilding,” from writer-director Max Walker-Silverman, provided the outlet I needed. Starring…

For the record, Morris Chestnut is not a real doctor. He just plays one on TV. To be precise, Chestnut has played multiple physicians in the last several years, scrubbing in as a trauma specialist in “Nurse Jackie” before moving on to pathology in Fox’s “Rosewood.” The last doctor he played, Barrett Cain in Fox’s…

In his third outing as “Saturday Night Live” host, Timothée Chalamet proved again he’s game for anything that “SNL” throws at him … sometimes to his detriment. Chalamet, who was just nominated for a lead actor Oscar this week for portraying Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” performed a few Dylan songs in his double…

Roughly two decades ago, as many television aficionados tell it, the story of a beleaguered Los Angeles police station and its renegade strike team, led by Det. Vic Mackey, not only helped establish FX as a top cable network but demonstrated that basic cable could be more than a graveyard for movies and network reruns…

On the night he allegedly shot a founding member of the New York rap crew that helped launch his career, ASAP Rocky was carrying only a “prop gun” from a music video shoot that couldn’t fire real bullets, his defense attorney said Friday. During opening arguments in the rap star’s Los Angeles assault trial, defense…

Morgan Wallen seems to be taking life one tour at a time: He just announced his new I’m the Problem Tour ahead of the release of his fourth studio album. The country superstar on Friday announced his 10-city North American tour that features guests Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Koe Wetzel, Gavin Adcock,…

On the day before his death in 2023, Paul Reubens, the children’s entertainer better known as Pee-wee Herman, recorded a rueful statement about being labeled a “pedophile” after his bombshell arrests on indecent exposure and obscenity charges in the 1990s and 2000s. “More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to…

With 13 Academy Award nominations, the — take a deep breath — French-made, Netflix-distributed, Mexican trans-narco musical “Emilia Pérez” made history Thursday morning. It’s the most-nominated non-English-language film ever, just the third Spanish-language production to receive a best picture nod and also surpassed the original “West Side Story” for most Academy Award nominations of any…

Doctor Strange is going on hiatus in the next Marvel sequel, “Avengers: Doomsday,” according to a spoiler-happy, secret-spilling Benedict Cumberbatch. “Is that a spoiler?” the actor asked Variety in a recent interview. “F— it!” Speaking of no effs to give, the Oscar-nominated “The Imitation Game” and “The Power of the Dog” star also helped explain…

The South by Southwest Film and TV Festival released the program for this year’s event, which will run March 7–14. The opening night’s TV selection will be the world premiere of “The Studio,” the anticipated new series from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who served as showrunners, directors and screenwriters. Starring Rogen as the newly…

The TV viewership for President Trump’s historic second inauguration fell far short of the audience for his first ceremony in 2017 and former President Biden’s 2021 event. Nielsen data showed Trump’s festivities averaged 24.6 million viewers across 15 networks from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern, a decline of 27% from four years ago. The…

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s new chief, Ravi Ahuja, is quickly putting his leadership team in place. The Culver City-based studio on Tuesday named longtime television executive Keith Le Goy chairman of Sony Pictures Television, with oversight of all U.S. and international productions, including Sony’s game show business behind “Jeopardy!,” “Wheel of Fortune” and the Game Show…

Whether you disliked or enjoyed “Emilia Pérez,” the French-produced, Netflix-distributed musical about a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender transition, the conversation around it should hopefully inspire you to seek a deeper understanding of the ongoing violence that afflicts Mexico. More than 110,000 people are still missing and thousands more have died as a result…

It’s a truism worth repeating: If you’ve done stellar costume design in a contemporary film, you may as well plan to stay home on Oscar night. It’s been 30 years since the academy has awarded a costume design statuette for work on a non-fantastical or non-period film — and that was for the fairly fantastical-if-contemporary…

As the devastating wildfires began to sweep across Los Angeles on Jan. 7, frightened residents were not turning to Netflix. Local TV news broadcasts were the video go-to for residents seeking immediate information on the crisis that engulfed the region. Anchors and correspondents have spent hours in the field and on the air providing life-saving…

At the stroke of midnight on Sunday, TikTok users in the United States were momentarily silenced, after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a new law, which requires the social media app’s Chinese owner to sell off TikTok’s U.S. business or face a nationwide ban. Within hours of the shutdown however, President-elect Donald Trump announced that…

At one time, comedian Dave Chappelle’s appearances as host on “Saturday Night Live” were events to be celebrated, most memorably when he hosted the first “SNL” after Donald Trump’s election to the presidency in 2016. In recent years, there’s been more reason to be wary, as the comic’s jokes about transgender communities have tarnished his…

The former human resources director of the Broad is suing the Los Angeles museum and its former chief operating officer, accusing them of discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment. In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, former HR director Darron Rezell Walker accuses former COO Alysa Gerlach of pressuring him to fire…

To be an artist, or not to be? That is the question of “Grand Theft Hamlet,” a guns-blazingly funny documentary about two out-of-work British actors who spent a chunk of their COVID-19 lockdown staging Shakespeare’s masterpiece on the mean streets of “Grand Theft Auto V.” That version of the car-jacking video game is set in…

Matthew Muller, the notorious kidnapper whose most infamous crime was detailed in the Netflix documentary “American Nightmare,” appeared Friday in court and pleaded guilty to two additional crimes. Wearing a brown Santa Clara County jail uniform, Muller, 47, replied with a taciturn series of “yes” answers as Superior Court Judge Cynthia A. Sevely confirmed he…

Wendy Williams is speaking out against her own legal guardian who stated last year that the former TV host is “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated.” The daytime talk personality, 60, asserted Thursday morning: “I am not cognitively impaired.” Williams and her niece Alex Finnie called into “The Breakfast Club” radio show, where they…

If you’re not familiar with the fantastically strange yet remarkably relatable premise of the sci-fi office series “Severance,” what I’m about to say may not make a whole lot of sense. Skip to paragraph three for a primer, then come back up here. Hopefully I won’t sound quite as unhinged after a bit of context,…

Decimated by fire season, it seems impossible that the Los Angeles area could even begin to think about awards season. As fires that have killed at least 25 and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses continue to burn, the idea of glitzy red carpets, brimming swag bags and arguments over who should have won best…

The ballots are starting to come in, but there’s still no clear front-runner in the awards race. “Conclave,” Edward Berger’s political thriller about a papal election, barely edged out “Emilia Pérez,” Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical about a trans cartel boss, in the nominations for the EE BAFTA Film Awards on Wednesday, 12 nods to 11….

Jimmy Kimmel is moved by community support and the commitment of first responders amid a dark period of L.A. history defined by devastating wildfires and immense loss. Returning Monday to his late-night TV slot, Kimmel delivered an emotional opening monologue about the “very scary, very stressful, very strange week here in L.A.” Several fires broke…

After battling cancer most of last year, Kate Middleton says she’s now in remission. Catherine, Princess of Wales, who confirmed last March that she had cancer after months of speculation about her health and well-being, said Tuesday that she is focused on recovery. “It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain…

After the original “Gidget” movie, in 1959, Hollywood churned out any number of sequels. “Gidget Grows Up.” “Gidget Goes to Rome.” “Gidget Gets Married.” And so on. Half a century later, the onetime real-life surfer girl heroine — who was the basis of a nonfiction book and the string of fictional movies — was not…

The Recording Academy announced Monday that its marquee event — the Grammy Awards — “will proceed as planned” on Feb. 2 despite the fires devastating large swaths of Los Angeles County. The music organization, in a letter to Recording Academy members obtained by The Times, said the 67th Grammy Awards ceremony, which is scheduled to…

Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season finale of “Landman.” Billy Bob Thornton had a hunch that his latest series, “Landman,” would strike a chord with viewers. Like the blockbuster hit “Yellowstone,” the Western-flavored drama about a fixer for a Texas oil company fits comfortably in the Taylor Sheridan universe, anchored by the writer-producer’s…

On the Shelf ‘Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old’ By Brooke ShieldsFlatiron Books: 256 pages, $30If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. “I was doing an Instagram Live and people were saying, ‘I really wish you looked like you…

Sam Moore, who as half of the 1960s R&B duo Sam & Dave sang gritty but hook-filled hits including “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Coming,” died Friday in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 89. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Jeremy Westby, who said the cause was complications from an unspecified surgery. Dave…

Los Angeles has Frank Gehry’s glorious Walt Disney Concert Hall, the space-age wonder of the LAX Theme Building and the stack-of-vinyl needle drop that is the Capitol Records building. For some design geeks, however, the heart and soul of L.A.’s architecture resides not just in its museums and office towers but also in its exalted,…

Pasadena Playhouse producing artistic director Danny Feldman first had the idea years ago: concert stagings of classic American musicals, each featuring an all-star cast and a full orchestra. The Tony-winning regional theater scheduled the shows for back-to-back weekends, three performances each, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium: Cole Porter’s 1934 comedy “Anything Goes,” starring Jinkx Monsoon,…

On Tuesday afternoon, Bob Clearmountain was driving back from Apogee Studios in Santa Monica to his home in Pacific Palisades. The revered producer and mixer has helmed records by such rock legends as Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Roxy Music and David Bowie, often out of his home studio, Mix This!, overlooking the Pacific Ocean….

Amid the devastation of downtown Pacific Palisades caused by this week’s firestorm, the Bay Theater has emerged relatively unscathed. While nearby buildings were reduced to ash, developer Rick Caruso, who owns the Palisades Village retail-restaurant-residential complex that includes the movie theater, confirmed in an email to The Times on Thursday, “The theater is fine.” Palisades…

NEW YORK  —  Betty Gilpin is not one to complain. She spent seven months in New Mexico making “American Primeval,” a gory western set in the treacherous Utah Territory in 1857. She filmed in the elements, often at night, with the most volatile co-stars of all: horses. The long shoot was nearing completion when Hollywood…

The wildfires that have torn through the Los Angeles area this week have led to numerous closures, cancellations and postponements — now including the Oscar nominations. Originally scheduled for Jan. 17, the announcement of nominees for the 97th Academy Awards has been delayed to Jan. 19, with nominations voting extended by two days to Jan….

The Warner Bros. film studio has shaken up its senior ranks after the under-performance of several movies last year, which has put pressure on the film team to increase its performance and profitability. Veteran marketing chief Josh Goldstine and international film distribution head Andrew Cripps announced their exits internally Wednesday morning. Neither of the executives…

For the past two and a half years, the battle for the future of L.A.’s Fairfax Avenue corridor has been raging between economic powerhouses. Hackman Capital Partners, which owns and operates nearly two dozen studio properties, has been seeking to expand and modernize the historic 25-acre site known as Television City, where “American Idol,” “All…

Peter Yarrow, who helped make folk music a pop phenomenon in the 1960s as one-third of the vocal trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died Tuesday at his home in New York. He was 86. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Ken Sunshine, who said the cause was bladder cancer. Yarrow was the tenor in…

Actor Aubrey Plaza broke her silence Monday on the recent death of her husband, Jeff Baena, saying it was an “unimaginable tragedy” and asking for privacy. Baena, an independent filmmaker, died Friday at his Los Feliz residence, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which determined the cause of death to be suicide. He…

It seems Zendaya and Tom Holland are gearing up to to web-sling down the aisle and into married life. The “Spider-Man” co-stars are reportedly engaged after more than three years of dating. TMZ reported Monday that Holland proposed to the “Challengers” and “Dune: Part Two” star during the holidays in a “very intimate setting in…

In the only real upset of the night, Fernanda Torres won for lead actress in a motion picture drama for her role in “I’m Still Here.” The Brazilian actress beat out higher-profile stars Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Tilda Swinton and Pamela Anderson. “My God, I didn’t prepare anything,” Torres said, scanning the audience…

Awards season is upon us once again, with this Sunday’s 82nd Golden Globe Awards kicking off the televised awards race that will consume Hollywood through the Academy Awards in March. Here’s what you need to know about the star-studded bash, which touts itself as Hollywood’s party of the year: What time is the show? Where…

I usually kick off every Jan. 1 with the Rose Parade broadcast on Channel 5, then college football in the afternoon and evening. It’s one of the few days I honestly, truly try to relax and do something that’s next to impossible for me: not work. Sadly, that’s not how I began my 2025. I…

Jeff Baena, an independent filmmaker who directed wife Aubrey Plaza in “The Little Hours” and co-wrote David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees,” has died at 47. Baena died Jan. 3 at his residence, according to the L.A. County Coroner’s office. The cause of death is deferred. Born June 29, 1977, Baena attended NYU film school…

In 1967, Brenton Wood looked as if he was on the cusp of mainstream success. The Compton crooner’s single “The Oogum Boogum Song” became a hit and ranked 34th and 19th on the Billboard’s Hot 100 and Top Selling R&B Singles charts, respectively. A few months later, Wood debuted his second hit, “Gimme Little Sign,”…

There was a moment during the filming of the “Abbott Elementary” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” crossover episode that blew Quinta Brunson’s mind. It was the first scene where the core casts of both shows were in the same room. “The initial moment of all of us on set just rocked me to my…

A federal appeals court on Thursday dealt a blow to President Biden’s Federal Communications Commission, striking down the agency’s hard-fought and long-debated open internet rules. The FCC had sought to reinstate a sweeping policy established under President Obama that was designed to treat internet service as an essential public service, similar to a water or…

A month before our December awards vote, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. launches a group email thread for members to advocate for their favorite films and standout work. The idea is to help everyone close any gaps in our viewing as we plow through screeners and links in a hopeless attempt to see everything…

Hardcover fiction 1. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” 41 2. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $29) A woman upends her domestic life in this irreverent and tender novel. 33 3. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Grove Press: $20) During the 1985…

For Latin music, 2024 was yet another year of significant expansion — both on the commercial front, and in the stylistic detours and avant-garde tendencies favored by artists across the Americas. Música mexicana continued gaining new fans around the world, and the field of neo-reggaetón — and urbano music in general — realized that stepping…

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have finally reached a divorce settlement more than eight years after announcing the end of their two-year marriage back in 2016. The fellow Oscar winners and former Hollywood power couple, who were together for 12 years before their split, signed off on a default declaration filed in Los Angeles County…

A notorious kidnapper whose 2015 crimes — and the subsequent flawed police investigation — were turned into a Netflix documentary has been charged in two new cases committed years ago in the San Francisco Bay Area. Matthew Muller, 47, appeared in a Santa Clara County courtroom Monday to face charges in a pair of home…

When “The Room Next Door” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September, the rapturous audience gave director Pedro Almodóvar and his two stars, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, a standing ovation that observers said was the longest at this year’s event. The response presaged the film’s Golden Lion victory at the festival. “It…

The legal drama surrounding “It Ends With Us” continued to mount over the weekend. On Dec. 20, Blake Lively filed a legal complaint against Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director on the film “It Ends With Us,” accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the Netflix drama and waging a retaliatory smear campaign…

It wasn’t good, but it could’ve been a lot worse. Given the lingering effects of last year’s Hollywood labor strikes, the relative lack of big movies and a dismal first half of the year at the box office, the film industry is breathing a collective sigh of relief as 2024 comes to a close. This…

Call it Fox & Fiancées: Fox News’ prime-time star Sean Hannity is engaged to “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt. The “Hannity” host popped the question at their home church at Christmas, according to Fox News. The couple’s children — he has two, she has one — “couldn’t be happier” about the engagement, giving their…

Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles — fiction and nonfiction — to consider for your January reading list. Each of us approaches a new year with a combination of worry and hope. What lies ahead? Might this be when I actually start exercising or cooking or writing a screenplay? If your own resolutions include…

On a recent Saturday night on Sunset Boulevard, a pair of black 1940s low-riders guided the diverse, sold-out crowd into the Comedy Store. Cypress Hill hung out in the green room. Los Angeles photographer and director Estevan Oriol oversaw six cameras and the taping of George Perez’s debut hour special, “Misunderstood,” presented by Foos Gone…

A family of country music sweethearts is adding another idol to the list. Emmy Russell, a 2024 “American Idol” finalist and granddaughter of country legend Loretta Lynn, announced she is expecting a baby girl with boyfriend and singer Tyler Ward. Russell, 25, and her mother, actor and sometime singer Patsy Lynn, spoke about family, music…

With two much anticipated NFL games and a big assist from Beyoncé, Netflix created a major cultural moment for the streaming industry, marking a significant milestone as the service pushes further into live sports. But the events couldn’t top the ratings for last year’s games on broadcast television. Netflix on Thursday said its two Christmas…

Hudson Meek, an actor who appeared in “Baby Driver” and voiced Bada in the preschool-age series “Badanamu Stories,” has died after falling from a moving car. He was 16. Meek fell “to the roadway from a motor vehicle in motion” in Vestavia Hills, Ala., on the night of Dec. 19, the Jefferson County coroner’s office…

Beyoncé brought her album “Cowboy Carter” to life for the first time in a halftime performance at an NFL game on Christmas Day in her hometown of Houston. The show, which came midway through the Baltimore Ravens’ rout of the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, was designed to entice viewers to Netflix as the streaming…

Hardcover fiction 1. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” 2. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $29) Two grieving brothers come to terms with their history and the people they love. 3. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $29) A woman upends her…

The fear factor behind great art Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Colman Domingo, Peter Sarsgaard, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong dive into their films, truth-telling and acting alongside your director. READ HERE Doubts, sure. Compromise? Never 6 directors on doubt, compromise and Timothée Chalamet. READ HERE

It’s been more than three years since college student Justin Lin binge-watched the first season of Netflix’s “Squid Game” in two days. Now, he can’t wait until Season 2 launches on Netflix on Dec. 26. Lin was so excited that he drove from the San Gabriel Valley to Hollywood to don a green tracksuit and…

This story contains spoilers about the Season 2 finale of Apple TV+’s“Bad Sisters.” When Season 1 of “Bad Sisters” ended in 2022, the story of the Garvey sisters seemed to have reached a tidy conclusion. The evil John Paul was dead, killed not by one of his four sisters-in-law — each of whom had a…

Ben Schwartz is sitting in the green room at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre with his shoes off, looking relaxed. The writer-actor-director-improvisor comedian appears to be far more zen than a man who spent the last two weeks traveling between Brazil, London, Los Angeles and soon New York City promoting his titular role in “Sonic…

The first season of “Dune: Prophecy” came to a close on Sunday with a few gasp-inducing revelations and a lot more questions. HBO’s prequel series, set 10,000 years before the events of Denis Villeneuve’s films “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two,” wove a complex web of storylines over six episodes, culminating in a lengthy finale that…

Dying to Know 4 mystery writers answer burning questions If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. Ring out the old year and bring in the new with four outstanding mysteries and discover each author’s lists of surefire, gift-worthy books. Pip Drysdale,…

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr hope you enjoyed the show. The surviving Beatles reunited onstage Thursday night at McCartney’s Got Back Tour finale in London to perform two of the band’s most iconic songs. As McCartney, 82, welcomed his surprise guest — “the mighty, the one and only, Ringo Starr” — thousands of fans filled…

The thing about the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies is that they continue to surprise — with how humorous, self-referential and even insightful they can be. Since the first movie defied expectations in 2020 (the creative team redesigned the character after online backlash to a first look), a third film now cruises into theaters and the…

The brawny, bloodlust howl of “Gladiator II” isn’t your only opportunity for sweeping period spectacle this season, thanks to the renewed allure that OG adventure author Alexandre Dumas has exerted over the French film industry of late. Last year’s hearty two-part “The Three Musketeers” (“D’Artagnan” and “Milady”) has now been followed up by an even…

Netflix on Friday said it will stream for the first time the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as the streamer continues to expand its library of live sports content. Netflix has the exclusive U.S. rights to stream the 2027 and 2031 tournaments in all languages. The company said it has plans to have a dual telecast…

When Colombian director Laura Mora was first approached about joining the team tasked with adapting Gabriel García Márquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” into a TV series, she was more than skeptical. “I first heard of the project back in 2018, and I remember saying, ‘What is this madness?’ ” Mora said in Spanish…

Neil Cavuto, the first anchor hired by Fox News in 1996, is leaving the network, another casualty of cost-cutting in the TV news business. Cavuto, 66, will make his final appearance on the network Thursday on “Your World,” his long-running daily business-oriented program. His current deal is up at the end of the month. Cavuto…

Megan Thee Stallion says even a jail cell can’t stop her convicted shooter Tory Lanez from tormenting her. The “Savage” rapper, born Megan Pete, on Tuesday filed a request for a new restraining order against Lanez, who is serving 10 years in state prison after his conviction on gun charges stemming from a 2020 incident…

Former “Vanderpump Rules” cast member James Kennedy says he will prioritize his personal health as he moves forward from a recent arrest. The DJ and longtime Bravo-lebrity said in an Instagram statement on Tuesday that he is “committed to making meaningful changes” in his life a week after he was arrested in Burbank on suspicion…

Lorraine O’Grady, a one-of-a-kind conceptual artist who examined racism and sexism through a multitude of mediums, has died at age 90. The artist’s groundbreaking works came after decades spent in other pursuits, including research economist and rock critic. The artist died Friday of natural causes in New York, her representatives at the Miriane Ibrahim Gallery…

Despite new parameters, UCLA’s latest TV diversity study has found that women and people of color remain underrepresented in key creative and lead roles in Hollywood even though they are a crucial demographic when it comes to viewership. Released on Tuesday, “UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report Presents: Streaming Television in 2023” marks a move away from…

Thoughts on the visual appeal of musical waveforms. Memories of the late Quincy Jones. Debate over the role of peer pressure in the popularity of New Kids on the Block. These were among the points of pre-roundtable chitchat on a recent afternoon in West Hollywood when The Times gathered five musicians nominated for prizes at…

“You sound like a poet.” When Nikki Giovanni uttered these words in January 2007 at the end of a two-hour interview, she shifted my life’s focus from covering the news to making art with it. Her matter-of-fact declaration offered me what she gave millions of readers, students and fellow artists for nearly 60 years: faith….

When I first heard the phrase “rape culture” years ago, it sounded so dystopian that I wanted to believe it was an exaggeration. But then came shocking revelations from all corners: the Catholic Church sex scandal, the Boy Scout sex scandal, the Fox News sex scandals, the Bill Cosby sex scandal and the numerous revelations…

Jay-Z is seeking to have a lawsuit accusing him of rape dismissed after the accuser recently admitted there are several inconsistencies in her recollection of the alleged incident, which took place 24 years ago. The lawsuit was initially filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs in October, and accused Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl at a…

Here we go again. In Hollywood’s ongoing cheerless attempts to contest the joy of music by cutting stellar classical musicians down to size, “Maria” joins the curt parade of “Tár” and “Maestro.” The new biopic of Maria Callas follows the takedowns of fictional conductor Lydia Tár and larger-than-life Leonard Bernstein with a dramatization of the…

Remember all that money you were going to save by canceling your cable TV subscription? Cord-cutters are again dealing with the reality of rising programming costs after YouTube TV told subscribers Thursday that their monthly fee will go up by 14% to $82.99 starting in January. Needless to say, many dissatisfied customers took to social…

I’ve never been to Bulgaria and mostly know it as a picturesque Balkan country, affordable as a location for action films, and the birthplace of tennis star Grigor Dimitrov and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova. But a movie that’s put me in mind of wanting to visit — if only to locate the scrappy sociability and…

Federal prosecutors said Thursday that rapper Lil Durk, who is accused of commissioning a murder two years ago in Los Angeles, may be linked to another killing in Chicago — allegations that helped convince a judge to order the Grammy Award winner to remain jailed as his case proceeds. During a detention hearing, U.S. Magistrate…

The 1972 Summer Olympics opened in Munich, West Germany with 4,000 journalists and 5,000 white doves. It was its first time hosting the Games since you-know-who and the you-know-whats back in 1936. The country hoped to broadcast a message of peace. Over in the ABC network control booth, however, Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), the president…

This story contains spoilers for “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” Episode 3. There’s more to At Attin than meets the eye. The peaceful and orderly planet introduced in “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is not just the suburban homeworld of Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and KB (Kyriana Kratter). The third…

Hardcover fiction 1. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” 2. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books: $40) The fifth book in the bestselling epic fantasy series Stormlight Archive. 3. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $29) Two grieving brothers come to terms…

Jamie Foxx is finally telling the whole story about his hospitalization last year in the language he knows best: comedy. In his new comedy special released Tuesday, the Oscar winner revealed that he suffered a stroke last April. At that time, Foxx’s family had released a since-deleted statement that he was receiving care for an…

Near the bottom of a list of things crime fiction writer Raymond Chandler hated was that ubiquitous Los Angeles demographic: “actors.” The list, simply titled “THINGS I HATE,” was one of dozens of Chandler’s rare personal items auctioned Friday at Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers in Manhattan. In pencil, Chandler — author of the acclaimed hard-boiled…

Nicko McBrain bid farewell over the weekend to the last crowd of metalheads he will ever perform for as a touring member of Iron Maiden. McBrain, 72, who has served as the British heavy metal band’s drummer for more than 40 years, announced his retirement from touring hours before the band’s Saturday show in Sao…

Lots of impressive art turned up in 2024 museum exhibitions, whether or not the entire show was any good. Here are 10 memorable examples from shows at seven area museums. Lots of impressive art turned up in 2024 museum exhibitions. Sometimes the full show was notable, and sometimes it was less so, but sensational individual…

The president of Tyler Perry Studios died in a single-passenger plane crash Friday evening in Florida, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office. Steve Mensch, 62, has been head of the film studio based in Atlanta since 2016. His death was initially reported by TMZ. According to sheriff’s officials, Mensch was the pilot and the…

As pointed out in the first proper Please Don’t Destroy sketch to air this season that wasn’t a commercial, serious actors don’t always do great on “Saturday Night Live.” Either they’re not actually funny, or they get too in their head about being perceived as funny as they think they are, and the result is…

On Nov. 25, Band Aid released the “ultimate remix” of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” the rock charity single from 40 years ago that, in addition to whatever good it has done, also broadcasts a narrative that undermines an entire continent’s dignity and agency. The recording has raised millions for humanitarian aid but has also…

Amber Heard is expecting her second child. The “Aquaman” actor’s pregnancy announcement comes two years after she settled her highly publicized defamation lawsuit with ex-husband Johnny Depp, after which she moved to Spain with her daughter, Oonagh Paige. People first reported the news Thursday. “It is still quite early in the pregnancy, so you will…

The stare burns hard and clean, with an undercurrent of malice that you’d be a fool to miss. And then there’s another man, also with cold eyes, who gives off the stink of unmet expectations, marital dysfunction and alcohol. The first character, the real-life white supremacist Robert Jay Mathews, is played by Nicholas Hoult, itself…

Uberto Pasolini tackles Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” with his intimate and muscular adaptation “The Return.” Despite the centuries-long significance of the text, not many films have tackled its events directly, and Pasolini focuses on Odysseus’ “nostos” or his return to the island of Ithaca after years fighting in the Trojan War and his long…

Disneyland is turning 70 next year, and the theme park has never missed an excuse to throw a nostalgia-fueled party. The coming months will be no different, and arguably the star of the festivities will be Walt Disney himself, albeit in robotic form. The Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary happenings launch May 16 and are expected…

Demi Moore has drawn the most focused awards attention of her career for her bold performance in “The Substance” as actor and fitness guru Elisabeth Sparkle, who takes an illicit drug in an attempt to retrieve her youth. But looking back, Moore is a veteran of the major awards circuit. 1991 Moore received a lead…

Theater director Martin Benson, who co-established the Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and served as its founding artistic director for 46 years, has died. He was 87. The theater’s current artistic director, David Ivers, and managing director, Suzanne Appel, announced Tuesday that Benson died Saturday of natural causes. “Martin was a shining light for South…

This year’s crop of Oscar international film submissions reminds us that danger is seemingly everywhere. It can be in the context of a reformed drug lord musical (“Emilia Pérez”), a globe-altering flood (“Flow”), or a family being torn apart by an authoritarian society (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”). The three films below prove that…

Daddy Yankee and his wife of nearly 30 years, Mireddys González, are getting divorced. The “Gasolina” rapper, who retired from performing last year to rededicate his life to his Christian faith, announced the split Monday on his Instagram story. “After more than two decades of marriage and after many months of trying to save my…

My mom died at the end of 2023, right after her 83rd birthday. Which doesn’t sound all that remarkable — until I mention that she had been a victim of domestic partner abuse up until the year before her death. Mom hadn’t exactly been lucky in love. She had already buried four husbands (cancer, heart…

Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence will soon be more than just comedy contemporaries: They’re going to be in-laws. Eric Murphy (son of “The Nutty Professor” star Murphy) and Jasmin Lawrence (daughter of “Bad Boys” comic Lawrence) are headed to the altar, they announced Saturday. “God truly blessed us with a love that feels like destiny,”…

For British director Steve McQueen, the past isn’t worth dramatizing unless it can illuminate the present, so when he makes films steeped in history — whether it’s “12 Years a Slave” or his World War II epic “Blitz” — he’s asking audiences to judge where we are now in relation to what’s happened before. “You…

Walt Disney Co.’s animated sequel “Moana 2” has navigated its way to No. 1 at the box office with a record-breaking domestic Thanksgiving weekend debut, a remarkable feat considering that this big-screen return to Motunui almost didn’t happen. Led again by actors Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, “Moana 2” scored $221 million domestically for the…

We’re heading into the early stretch of awards season where voters are about to embark on a long holiday weekend, give thanks and sift through a topsy-turvy world in which it’s the Dallas Cowboys and not the Detroit Lions who can be safely ignored on the Thanksgiving Day football schedule. And still … no best…

Hallmark Channel is leaning into its Kansas City roots — and the world-famous romance between music star Taylor Swift and football player Travis Kelce — to score during its lucrative Christmas TV movie season. For more than a decade, viewers have embraced the cable channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” themed programming — dozens of low-cost movies…

Earl Holliman, whose prolific acting career included a Golden Globe-winning role in “The Rainmaker” and TV series such as “Police Woman,” has died. He was 96. Holliman died Monday afternoon at his home in Studio City, his husband, Craig Curtis, told The Times. No cause of death was given. The actor, square-jawed and with a…

“Moana 2” is shaping up to be one of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest wave riders ever. The animated musical about the seafaring Polynesian princess delivered a domestic Thanksgiving Day haul of $28 million — the largest Turkey Day bounty ever, according to studio estimates released Friday. And the wave keeps building. “Moana 2,” which…

A few seasons into the run of Netflix’s Formula 1 docuseries “Drive to Survive,” the racing league’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), presented the platform with a deck containing evidence of “the Netflix effect.” Since the series premiered in 2019 as part of a concerted effort to expand the sport’s footprint in…

Reality seeps into “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in multiple ways, including ones that writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof couldn’t have imagined back when he shot this absorbing drama in secret. One of Iran’s signature filmmakers — and among those most often in the theocratic government’s crosshairs — the 52-year-old auteur, now living in exile in…

It seems like only the week before last that I was reviewing two thrillers — “Cross” and “Day of the Jackal” — in a single review. (Because it was.) And now I’m going to review three more, similarly grouped. I guess it’s a thing! And there are more on the way. Why so popular? Thrillers…

Maria Callas seized fame as the voice of Tosca, Medea and Carmen, opera’s eternally doomed heroines. If opera still commands audiences a century from now, perhaps it will sing of Callas, a fighter who survived the Nazi occupation of Greece, a heckling at La Scala, a media hazing on multiple continents and a humiliating public…

“Can I get a Chee Hoo?” It’s a question that the demigod Maui tunefully poses to the titular princess in “Moana 2.” But this seemingly simple request is steeped in cultural tradition, notable in narrative context and, given its catchy hook, likely to become Disney’s next inescapable earworm. The charismatic composition — performed with gusto…

Embattled rock icon Marilyn Manson has dropped his lawsuit against former fiancée Evan Rachel Wood and will pay her $327,000 in attorney fees, her lawyers confirmed Tuesday afternoon. Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, sued the “Westworld” actor in March 2022 for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The couple dated for three…

In adapting Renée Knight’s novel “Disclaimer” into the Apple TV+ limited series, writer-director Alfonso Cuarón enlisted fellow Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline to play its central arch-nemeses. Over seven “chapters,” the two share relatively little screen time. But their eventual pas de deux will send viewers scrambling to rewatch the smoke-and-mirrors mystery…

Cher always thought her real name was Cherilyn. Then she found out it was Cheryl. The end. The story could be summed up that simply, but the 78-year-old singer, actor and icon of all things fabulous devoted a little more time to it in her recently released book, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One.” “I believed…

Everyone is wondering if “Glicked,” the potentially record-breaking, industry-lifting pre-Thanksgiving combination of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” will be this year’s “Barbenheimer,” the record-breaking, industry-lifting summertime combination of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Could be. Hope so. But it’s hard not to think that everyone is missing the point. Because Hollywood’s future doesn’t depend on who’s going to…

Kendrick Lamar starts his exhilarating new album by complaining that someone vandalized a mural depicting his face — a mural depicting his face in triplicate, in fact — on the side of a Honduran restaurant in his Compton hometown. Never mind that somebody cared enough about Lamar to paint the mural in the first place….

Considering that the weather outside isn’t exactly frightful during the winter months in SoCal, our concert calendar manages to keep our social lives plenty warm in between all the extra meals and family gatherings scheduled to descend upon us in the coming days. It’s in that spirit of giving that we offer a brisk yet…

Director Todd Komarnicki’s simplified portrait of the WWII Christian resistance hero ups the ante, adding several action beats to what should have been a drama.

When BTS ended Justin Bieber’s reign by winning the Billboard Awards’ Top Social Artist in 2017, a year that also marked “the first big moment for K-pop on American television,” K-pop fans dared to hope. Wonder Girls had become the first Korean act to break into the American Hot 100 almost a decade earlier. Since…

For a third time, lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs urged a judge Friday to grant the hip-hop mogul $50 million bail, this time saying he should placed in home confinement in a three-bedroom New York City apartment on the Upper East Side with 24-hour surveillance. Federal prosecutors, however, said Combs violated the rules in a…

Growing up, Phil Weinstein, executive producer of “Mickey Mouse Funhouse,” celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah. “My uncle had a religiously blended family,” Weinstein says. “We would go to their house and they would have a Christmas tree and a Hanukkah menorah. It was kind of awesome.” That cherished childhood memory is present in “Hanukkah at…

Great American novelist Cormac McCarthy was defensively private and didn’t share much about the inspiration behind his books — or about himself. However, the author, who died in 2023, apparently lived out much of his bestseller “All the Pretty Horses” with a woman named Augusta Britt. She was 16 when she met the then 42-year-old…

Doesn’t it look like an anus? That question — posed in September 2023 by one of the 16,000 members of the Gay Men of Palm Springs CA Facebook group — ignited a firestorm over the initial design for the Palm Springs AIDS Memorial Task Force’s future sculpture in Downtown Park. Hundreds of likes and comments…

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi flippin’ love Montecito. They do. They love it so much they have reportedly owned and/or flipped at least 21 properties there. Nevertheless, they are ditching Santa Barbara County. The ex-Montecitans are now expats after the reelection of a certain ex-president, the Wrap reports. DeGeneres and De Rossi are now…

A New York stripper and the son of an absurdly rich Russian oligarch are living their best lives as they fall for each other in Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning film “Anora.” The love-bomb romance between Ani (Mikey Madison) and Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) is visually effervescent, an inspired frame that invites us in as if we…

For the third year in a row, Jay Leno is bouncing back after an ugly injury. This time around, the culprit was a steep hill that the 74-year-old comedian misjudged. Leno was stepping out for dinner a few hours before his Friday show at the Palace Theatre in Pittsburgh when he opted for a shortcut…

Kelsey Mann was scanning some old photos when he came to a series of pictures from his childhood birthdays and was struck by what he saw. “I was 5, and it’s my birthday, and I’m sitting there in front of my cake … I think it was the smile and the joy on my face…

The second day of Camp Flog Gnaw’s 10-year anniversary came roaring back into Dodger Stadium for fans of Tyler, the Creator’s universe of energized and eclectic hip-hop and R&B — with a dash of jazz flute. As fans swarmed the festival to see Mustard, Erykah Badu and Playboi Carti, the mindset of letting it all…

A secret center of the musical theater universe lies almost 3,000 miles from Broadway in a modestly grand house in Toluca Lake. On a late summer day, the home’s most striking feature was the figure of a white standard French poodle. Visible through one of the windows flanking the front door, she sat so still…

Thousands of Tyler, the Creator fans gathered Saturday night at Dodger Stadium to mark 10 years of the rapper’s taste-making festival, Camp Flog Gnaw. The two-day, L.A.-centric smorgasboard of hip-hop and R&B kicked off with a carnival of bold sounds from major groundbreaking artists like Doechii, Kaytranada, Sampha, Vince Staples, School Boy Q and many…

After a strange, dark turn last week, when Bill Burr hosted the post-presidential election episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the show bounced back by flexing its pop culture muscles. By touching on politics only in the Trump meets Biden cold open and in a sketch about podcaster bros who get assigned cabinet and ambassador positions…

In March 1998, Ben Decter drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana to get medicine for his 17-month-old daughter, Addie. She had “catastrophic childhood epilepsy,” the neurologist had told him, and a drug not yet available in the U.S. was their best bet to treat her nonstop seizures. That terrifying moment is currently revisited five times…

Decolonization gets the ultimate needle-drop treatment in the documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” from Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez. It’s a dazzling, tune-filled collage of images, words and sounds, recounting the moment during the Cold War when Congolese independence, hot jazz and geopolitical tensions made a sound heard around the world. But also, how that…

Martha Stewart thinks a second version of the buzzed-about Netflix documentary on her life needs to be made. The plainspoken lifestyle mogul, who has not held back on her criticism of R.J. Cutler’s film, conceded Thursday that the documentary was “fine” overall. But she has still has some issues with it. “It left out a…

The 2024 Latin Grammys proved to be a night full of heartfelt tributes and moments of camaraderie. From the sincere exchange between Carlos Vives and Jon Bon Jovi to the emotional tribute from Alejandro Fernandez to his father, Vicente, the 25th anniversary award show stands as a quarter-century of celebrating Latin music. Live from the…

Sydney Sweeney, since her breakout role in HBO’s “Euphoria,” has worked to prove she has much more to offer than just her looks. The “White Lotus” actor in recent years has diversified her portfolio to showcase her acting chops and flexed her muscles as a producer with films “Immaculate” and “Anyone but You.” Despite her…

Nov. 13, 2024 8:56 PM PT Jeremy Renner is already super (as in Marvel hero and survivor of a horrific snowplow accident) — now he’s also grand. The actor has been announced as the 92nd Hollywood Christmas Parade grand marshal, organizers said Wednesday. The two-time Oscar nominee, known for his roles as William James in…

There’s a moment in the middle of “Red One,” the Christmas-themed action-comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, where you witness the movie just roll over and die. Time of death? A slap contest during Krampusnacht, the alternative St. Nicholas Day, in which a bunch of extras wearing rubber monster masks foraged from the set…

The season finale of “American Sports Story” laid bare the tragic end for Aaron Hernandez, that once promising NFL player. Closing out the 10-episode season, the FX limited series dramatized the final days in prison of a young man haunted by ghosts and riddled with guilt, who saw death as the only possible release from…

Comedian Chloe Fineman says Space X owner Elon Musk made her cry when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2021. Fineman recalled working with the tech billionaire in a since-deleted TikTok, months after fellow cast member and writer Bowen Yang alluded to the behind-the-scenes drama during an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live!” Yang…

Veteran journalist Chris Wallace is exiting CNN three years after joining from Fox News. “Chris Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming,” CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Thompson said in a statement Monday. “We…

Judith Jamison, a renowned performer and choreographer who devoted most of her dance career to the trailblazing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has died. Jamison died Saturday after a brief illness, the company announced in a statement on social media. She was 81. “We remember and are grateful for her artistry, humanity and incredible light,…

This article contains spoilers for the finale of HBO’s “The Penguin.” Cristin Milioti gets self-conscious about sounding too “actor-y” in interviews, and explains that she usually cringes when she hears a performer referring to a character in the third person. But she can’t resist doing the same when talking about Sofia Gigante, née Falcone, her…

This postelection Veterans Day weekend saw two new films crack the top three box office slots, with “Venom: The Last Dance,” bringing in $16.2 million in its third weekend. The third installment of the Marvel series from Sony, starring Tom Hardy as journalist Eddie Brock and his “symbiote” sidekick, Venom, has to date earned $114.8…

Actor Tony Todd, known for his haunting portrayal of a killer in the horror film “Candyman” and roles in many other films and television shows, has died, his longtime manager confirmed. He was 69. Todd died Wednesday at his home in the Los Angeles area, manager Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement to the Associated…

The well-run 1984 Olympics transformed Los Angeles. Not through the Games, which thrillingly came and went, but through the Olympic Arts Festival, which taught us to dream and inspired us to do. Forty year later, we have added Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Opera, the Getty Center, the Soraya, the Geffen Playhouse, the Hammer…

Rapper Bhad Bhabie, hoping to silence the “worst narratives” about her appearance, has revealed she is battling cancer. The 21-year-old “Gucci Flip Flops” performer, whose real name is Danielle Bregoli, addressed critics Thursday on social media. “I’m sorry my cancer medicine made me loose [sic] weight,” she said in an Instagram story, reassuring fans she…

There’s no shortage of seasonal films that claim to extol the “true meaning of Christmas” and this year, the holiday comes early with Dallas Jenkins’ “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” based on the 1972 novel by Barbara Robinson. But whether you’ll be excited to receive this one under the tree may depend on your tolerance…