Entertainment
Devery Jacobs defends Marvel's Native American characters against criticism. The critic responds
Native American actor Devery Jacobs spoke out this week against a critic who questioned whether two Indigenous characters should exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the same time because they are too similar and “repetitive.” In turn, the critic tried to explain what she meant.
Jacobs, who is Mohawk and also stars in groundbreaking comedy “Reservation Dogs,” has played several Native American characters for Marvel. First she starred as the studio’s first Mohawk hero, Kahhori, in Season 2 of the animated series “What If…?” In Marvel’s latest live-action series, “Echo,” she plays Bonnie, the cousin of its title character, who is an antihero from the Choctaw tribe played by Menominee actor Alaqua Cox.
Recent criticism of “Echo,” which started streaming Tuesday on Disney+, came from YouTube movie critic Grace Randolph, who runs the popular channel Beyond the Trailer. She has long been a critic of the strategies Marvel Studios has used to add diverse characters to its universe. But in statements sent to The Times, Randolph clarified that she meant to add to the conversation around diversity, not detract from it.
During a series of videos reviewing “Echo,” Randolph questioned Marvel’s decision to introduce Jacobs’ character, Kahhori, in late December, less than a month before the launch of Cox’s character, Echo. In a December video she called the two characters “repetitive” because both are of Native American descent and have similar powers. While praising Jacobs’ and Cox’s performances in a separate video on Wednesday, Randolph doubled down on her remarks and said Marvel was “undercutting both these characters” by introducing them so close together.
Earlier this week, when asked about the criticism in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Jacobs dismissed Randolph’s take as a double standard, arguing that white actors would never be asked the same question.
“Would somebody go up to a white guy and say, ‘This is the one perspective for a white story that is out there’? Would somebody go and say that?” Jacobs told THR. “That’s egregious, that’s insane that anybody would say that.”
She continued: “I don’t even know if it’s justifiable for an answer, but I’ll give one anyway. I think that the story of Kahhori in ‘What If …?’ is astronomically different from that of Maya Lopez in ‘Echo.’”
Jacobs explained that her character Kahhori’s narrative “is talking about colonization and history and features Mohawk cultures and communities — the community that I come from,” and that Echo is more of “an antihero, kind of a villain, who is coming back to her Choctaw Nation and to her family, and it’s really a dark crime noir family drama.”
“And so, they’re both individual stories that absolutely deserve to be told,” she added.
In text messages sent to The Times, Randolph said her words were “twisted” over social media and during the THR interview in a way that “did not convey my positivity for the characters, including [Jacobs’] powerhouse performance.”
“These stories absolutely deserve to be told, and it’s important to do so,” Randolph said before adding that in her videos, she was “simply having a discussion about how to have the most successful representation in the MCU — which I’d love to see.”
She went on to continue pointing out similarities between Kahhori and Echo, such as a mythical pool of water featured in the first episode of “Echo” and a similar pool in “What If…?” But she acknowledged that “these details pale in comparison to the importance of telling these stories. I very much hope both characters continue.”
In an earlier November video, she decried the “Echo” rollout as a part of Marvel President Kevin Feige’s “misguided attempt to diversify the MCU.” She called it “a good goal” but said Feige went “about it in the worst way possible” and caused “insurmountable harm to the brand.” In another video, she decried recent Marvel releases as being too “female-centric” and said there was a “sameness” to them.
Randolph’s criticism fits within a subculture of comic book, sci-fi and fantasy fans who have scrutinized Hollywood studios’ attempts to diversify fictional worlds that have traditionally featured mostly white lead characters.
Outside the MCU, John Boyega, who is Black, and Kelly Marie Tran, who is Vietnamese American, weathered racist online attacks from fans who were displeased with their casting in recent “Star Wars” films. Moses Ingram faced similar vitriol for her role in “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” For her turn as Disney princess Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” remake, Halle Bailey has received racist hate from fans. “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” got similar backlash for casting actors of color as inhabitants of a typically white Middle-earth.
Though Randolph’s comments don’t call overtly for exclusion of actors of color, as some members of the “Star Wars” fan base did, Boyega, Tran and now Jacobs all have pointed out how such comments could inadvertently cause a narrowing of opportunities in a Hollywood industry that already undervalues nonwhite leads.
Jacobs also made headlines for her criticisms around diversity and representation in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which recounts the murders of the Osage people in the early 1900s by white settlers. While Jacobs praised the performance of Lily Gladstone and other Indigenous actors, she commented in a series of tweets, “If you look proportionally, each of the Osage characters felt painfully underwritten, while the white men were given way more courtesy and depth.”
She further blasted the movie for its portrayal of the murders of Native people, which she decried as not having “honor and dignity,” and said that “showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people.”
Pizza Movie (2026) Director: Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, Star: Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone
Somehow, I got through an hour of this movie. I was seconds away from turning off in the first fifteen minutes because of the juvenile humor. Pizza Movie is too silly, repetitive, and the characters are annoying. Stranger Things Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone star as college friends, Jack and Montgomery. College angles are rarely seen in films right now, and that’s the one saving grace of the film. Similar to high school, people are also trying to fit in. The story and visuals were too corny. You can only watch someone’s head exploding for so long without letting yours.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) Director: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, Stars: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy
I never saw the first Super Mario Brothers Movie when it was out, but I heard it got positive reviews. My brother always loved playing Super Mario video games as a kid, and I’d watch him. I tagged along with my friends to see Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it’s a cute and fun film. I like it when movies explore the video game world. The animation creates unique worlds and characters. The characters are split into their own storylines, and for me, I felt like it worked. It adds more action, especially for kids who are seeing the films.
Emily in Paris Season 5 (2025) Creator: Darren Star, Stars: Lily Collins and Ashley Park
After a bright spot in season 4, I thought season 5 of Emily in Paris would continue its growth in the story and its protagonist, but no, it’s all drained out in the usual Emily (Lily Collins) mishaps. Ashley Park (Mindy) has become too good for this show. Emily and Mindy waste several opportunities because of their love lives. The whole relationship angle is ruining it. I don’t understand why Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) is still in the show. I thought writers learned their lesson, but by the last episode, they’re continuing to bring the past into an apparent season 6.
Sarah’s Oil (2025) Director: Cyrus Nowrasteh, Stars: Naya Desir-Johnson and Zachary Levi
There’s always history lurking right beneath our noses. Sarah’s Oil (2025) tells the true story of Sarah Rector, an Oklahoma-born African American girl who became the first black female millionaire in the U.S. Naya Desir-Johnson is fierce and driven as Sarah. Zachary Levi is also along for the ride as Bert, a man who helps Sarah. Kate (Bridget Regan) was another favorite character as an intelligent woman. Cyrus Nowrasteh was drawn to the subject for its story and its themes. Nowrasteh’s direction is compelling as he unearths a hidden story from history. The film is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Jack Goes Boating (2014) Director and Star: Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan
Jack Goes Boating (2014) didn’t quite work for me, largely because of its slow pace and uneven storytelling. The film stars the late Seymour Hoffman as Jack, who also directed the film. This was Hoffman’s first and only time in the directing chair. Amy Ryan also stars in the film, giving a solid performance. This was also based on a play that Hoffman starred in. Jack wants to participate in a swim championship. That’s hardly what the film is about, tracking other characters’ stories. While the film aims for quiet intimacy, it ultimately drags, making it an underwhelming viewing experience.
You Kill Me (2016), Director: John Dahl, Stars: Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Luke Wilson
Meet You Kill Me (2016), yet another film that I found in the museum of underrated gems. The concept revolves around Frank (Ben Kingsley), a hitman, who is sent to an A.A. meeting to get his mind focused again. A different story happens, where Frank falls in love with Laurel (Tea Leoni). Leoni is one of my favorite actresses. It also stars the funny Luke Wilson. I liked the trio’s dynamics. You Kill Me is a mental health movie. It’s okay to make changes if you’re not happy. I recommended that you keep an eye out for this movie.
Entertainment
Review: Trigger warning? ‘For Want of a Horse’ gives new meaning to the term ‘animal lover’
“For Want of a Horse,” a play by Olivia Dufault receiving its world premiere in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre, wants to have a rational conversation about a taboo topic that can provoke instant outrage.
The subject is zoophilia, not to be confused with bestiality, though for many of us it will be a distinction without much of a difference.
Calvin (Joey Stromberg), a good-looking, mild-mannered married accountant, has harbored a secret for much of his life. He has a thing for horses. His erotic interest began at an early age, and all his efforts to lead a normal life have left him depressed and contemplating suicide.
His wife, Bonnie (Jenny Soo), is a permissive kindergarten teacher who’s having difficulty restraining a girl in her class who has discovered the joys of masturbation. Worried about her husband, she discovers through his browsing history that he’s once again visiting strange animal sites.
She suggests he keep a horse, explaining that she doesn’t want to end up a widow or divorcée. Calvin is taken aback by her generosity but has come to recognize that his preference is more than a kink. It’s part of his identity — and maybe the only part that makes his life seem worth living.
Joey Stromberg and Jenny Soo in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
A horse named Q-Tip (Griffin Kelly) enters the couple’s lives. A stable is secured, and the mare, who senses that something strange is going on, is indulged with apples and caresses.
Kelly, a statuesque presence in a dress, harness and boots, brings the horse to life with wild, unpredictable movements. The sheer size of the animal poses a threat to humans. One kick, as Q-Tip herself explains in one of her thought-bubble monologues, is capable of penetrating a steel wall. But controlling an animal’s food supply is an effective way of winning over its trust.
Calvin has found support in the online zoophilia community. PJ (Steven Culp), a man whose current inamorata is a bichon frise, is considering moving to a country where zoophilia isn’t illegal. He’s tired of the shame and the secrecy. He’s proud of his attachment to pooch, even if his thing for dogs has cost him contact with his daughter and ex-wife.
Dufault doesn’t shy away from sexual details. For PJ, intimacy depends on peanut butter. Calvin describes the physical signals that reveal Q-Tip’s erotic satisfaction. The play occasionally descends into sitcom humor. (PJ says he’s considering creating a human-dog dating app called Rin Tin Tinder.) But mostly the subdued tone steers clear of sensationalism.
The production, directed by Elana Luo, is scrupulously well-acted by the four-person cast. Stromberg makes Calvin seem not only reasonable but surprisingly sensitive. Soo’s Bonnie sweetly embodies the excesses of a kind of progressive piety. As PJ, Culp gruffly embraces his role as the play’s polemical fire-starter. And Kelly’s Q-Tip, in the production’s most physically demanding performance, straddles the human-animal divide with theatrical aplomb.
Steven Culp, left, and Joey Stromberg in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
The open-mindedness that Dufault, a trans playwright, brings to the play creates some dramatic slack. Possibly the same fear of making value judgments that has inhibited Bonnie from imposing common-sense discipline in her classroom has robbed “For Want of a Horse” of a propulsive point of view.
The play moves monotonously between Calvin and Bonnie’s bedroom and the stable. Scenic designer Alex Mollo has worked out an efficient way of shifting between these realms by employing the same set of wooden trunks. But the argument of the play doesn’t so much build as elapse.
Time takes its toll, and Calvin eventually has to make a decision. But the character who interested me most was Bonnie, whose reality is only glimpsed. The play tacitly uses her husband’s threat of suicide as a trump card. Zoophilia isn’t merely a fetish for Calvin but a nonnegotiable part of his identity.
This questionable assumption can be psychologically scrutinized not only from Calvin’s point of view but also from his wife’s. The play wants to have an intelligent debate, but it doesn’t want to interrogate certain political positions too skeptically.
At one point, Bonnie objects when Calvin compares his situation to that of homosexuality, but the conversation ends there. The reality is that the right wing has been making a similar claim, arguing that same-sex marriage opens the door to bestiality, polygamy and incest. “For Want of a Horse” inadvertently lends legitimacy to this line of reasoning.
Griffin Kelly in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
Not that extremist positions should be off limits, but they ought to be more rigorously addressed. Similarly, Bonnie’s concern about the issue of consent — how can a horse say yes to intercourse with a human — is introduced only to be dismissed in a shrug of mild-mannered bothsidesism.
While watching “For Want of a Horse,” I recalled a program on PBS called “My Wild Affair” that wasn’t about zoophilia but about the problematic nature of human bonds with untamed animals. Relationships with a seal, an elephant and a rhino, for example — obsessive, protective, loving friendships — all seemed to end if not in outright tragedy, then in shattering heartbreak.
Q-Tip is rightfully given the play’s last word, and Kelly, an actor (HBO’s “The Book of Queer”), writer and comedian, is the production’s driving force. We can never know what’s inside this mare’s mind because Q-Tip’s brain has evolved so differently from our own. Kelly plays the anthropomorphic game while retaining some of the inscrutability of a four-legged creature.
It is through language that we, as humans, traverse the chasm separating us from one another. That’s not possible with animals, even with our closest domestic companions. (Try explaining a necessary medical procedure to a cat.)
“For Want of a Horse” sets out to speak about the unspeakable, but its construction may be too tame for such a wild subject.
‘For Want of a Horse’
Where: Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 25
Tickets: $15-$42.75
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Info: echotheatercompany.com
Desert Warrior, 2026.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Starring Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila, Lamis Ammar, Géza Röhrig, Numan Acar, Nabil Elouahabi, Hakeem Jomah, Ramsey Faragallah, Saïd Boumazoughe, and Soheil Bostani.
SYNOPSIS:
An honorable and mysterious rogue, known as Hanzala, makes himself an enemy of the Emperor Kisra after he helps a fugitive king and princess in the desert.
With aspirations of being a historical epic harkening back to the sword and sandal blockbusters of yesteryear, Rupert Wyatt’s seventeenth-century Arabia tale is about as generic and epically dull as one would expect from a film plainly titled Desert Warrior. Yes, there appear to be real locations here, and there are some admittedly sweeping shots of various tribes storming into battle on horseback and camels, but it’s all in service of a mess that is both miscast and questionable as the work of a filmmaking team of mostly white creatives.
The story of Emperor Kisraa (Ben Kingsley, a distracting presence even with only one or two scenes) rounding up women from other tribes to be his concubines, which inevitably became the catalyst for a revolution led by Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart), uniting all the divided clans and strategizing battle plans for flanking and poisoning, is undeniably ripe for cinematic treatment. The problem is that what’s here from Rupert Wyatt (and screenwriters Erica Beeney, Gary Ross, and David Self) is less than nothing in the primary creative process; no one seems to have a connection to Arabic heritage or culture, but they have made a flat-out boring film that is often narratively incoherent.
Following the death of her father and escaping the clutches of oppression, the honorable Princess Hind joins forces with a troubled, nameless bandit played by Anthony Mackie (he totally belongs here…), who seems to be here solely to give the movie some star power boost without running the risk of white savior accusations. Whatever the case may be, it’s jarring, but not quite as disorienting as how little screen time he has despite being billed as the lead and how little characterization he has. It is, however, equally disorienting as some of the other names that show up along the way.
As for the other factions, Princess Hind talks to them one by one, giving the film an adventure feel that fails to capitalize on using beautiful scenery in striking or visually poignant ways at almost every turn; the leaders of these tribes also often have no character. There also isn’t much of an understanding of why these tribes are at odds with one another. This movie is filled with dialogue that consistently and shockingly amounts to vague nothingness. Nevertheless, each tribe doesn’t take much convincing to begin with, meaning that not only is the film repetitive, but it’s also lifeless when characters are in conversation.
That Desert Warrior does occasionally spring to life, and a bloated 2+ running time is a small miracle. This is typically accomplished through the occasional fight scene between factions that also serves to demonstrate Princess Hind coming into her own as a warrior. When the tribes are united in a massive-scale battle, and that plan is unfolding step by step, one certainly sees why someone would want to tell this story and pull it off with such spectacle. However, this film is as dry as the desert itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
-
Arkansas2 minutes agoEffort to cut former Arkansas corrections secretary’s position as adviser to governor fails – Arkansas Times
-
California8 minutes agoCalifornia sees lowest number of firearm-related deaths since 1968, new data shows
-
Colorado14 minutes agoSouthern Colorado farmers’ market season is here
-
Connecticut20 minutes agoAmtrak won’t close shoreline rail bridges during World Cup, reversing earlier proposal
-
Delaware26 minutes agoLucky Duck a new destination on the Delaware River waterfront
-
Georgia38 minutes ago2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report — Christen Miller, DT, Georgia
-
Hawaii44 minutes ago
Iran War Puts a Pause on Hawaii’s Housing Market Recovery
-
Idaho50 minutes agoIdaho Fish and Game reminds humans not to touch wild baby animals
