Entertainment
Biden, Obama raise at least $28 million at glitzy L.A. event
President Biden and former President Obama appeared on stage together Saturday night in Los Angeles with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — a conversation that included poking fun at former President Trump, touting the Democratic incumbent’s policy achievements and trying to motivate voters to head to the polls in November.
“I could have done nothing and done better than him,” Biden replied when asked about the former GOP president, whom Kimmel referred to as “Orange Julius Caesar,” before touting the strength of the nation’s economy, the low unemployment rate and other accomplishments. “We’re trying to give ordinary people a chance, just a chance.”
Obama added that Biden had built upon their policies when he was president and Biden was vice president, such as expanding access to the Affordable Care Act and increasing funding for efforts to stop climate change.
“At its best, the presidency is a relay race. You take the baton and you run the race” and then hand it your successor, Obama said. “I take great pride in what the Biden administration has accomplished. And it’s a reminder that we don’t have to just vote against something in this election. … But we can take pride in affirming the extraordinary work that Joe has done.”
The star-studded fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A. is expected to raise at least $28 million — the largest cash haul from a one-night event in Democratic history.
Obama, George Clooney and Julia Roberts were among the headliners. Thousands of Biden supporters paid between $250, for a seat far from the stage, and $500,000 — for a ticket package that includes prime seats, photos with both presidents and a VIP after-party — to attend what is likely to be one of the president’s last major L.A. fundraisers before the November election.
“This Saturday, we are going to see an unprecedented and record-setting turnout from the media and entertainment world,” said media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Democratic megadonor and the only nonelected official who is a co-chair of the president’s reelection campaign. “The enthusiasm and commitment for Biden-Harris couldn’t be stronger. We all understand this is the most important election of our lifetime.”
Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit, where he accused Biden of weakening the economy and stoking inflation, the Associated Press reported. Biden was fundraising “with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
While much of Saturday evening’s comedic moments were provided by Kimmel and celebrities such as Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Jack Black and Barbra Streisand, the president and the former president also got in a few jokes.
“Remember the pandemic, [Trump] said, ‘Don’t worry, just inject a little bleach,’ ” Biden said. “It worked for him, the color of his hair.”
Biden then turned serious, noting that more than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19.
“It has a profound negative impact on the economy. It had a profound negative impact on the attitudes of Americans,” Biden said. “One of the things I’m very proud that we did is we brought an end to pandemic.”
Kimmel recalled the toilet paper shortage in the initial weeks of the pandemic.
“He promised he would make America great again, and the next thing you know, we are wiping ourselves with envelopes,” Kimmel said, prompting Obama to laughingly interject, “Is that how you handled it Jimmy?”
Kimmel grew serious when discussing his young son Billy, who needed three open-heart surgeries because of a congenital birth defect, asking why Republicans would want to overturn the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.”
Biden said efforts to chip away at the healthcare policy enacted while Obama was president would significantly harm Americans, notably the millions who have preexisting conditions.
“Look, this guy started it. I expanded it,” he said. “Here’s the deal, the fact is these guys don’t seem to care. It’s saving the country money.”
He turned to Obama and noted, “It has your name on it.”
“I never minded that, I have to say. I am happy to call it Obamacare. Please do. I don’t really understand how that was an insult,” he said before adding that politics shouldn’t be about phony performative displays. “At its best, politics is how we come together to solve problems.”
Kimmel noted that after one of his son’s surgeries, Biden sent a card and a stuffed animal that looked like Biden’s German shepherd, Commander, who was moved out of the White House after repeatedly biting Secret Service agents.
“Unfortunately, little Commander bit Billy’s toe off, so he needs more healthcare,” Kimmel said, prompting Obama to say, “Fortunately, he’s covered!”
In a serious moment, Biden turned grave when he noted that the next president is likely to be able to nominate two Supreme Court justices.
“The idea that if he’s reelected he’s going to appoint two more flying flags upside down,” Biden said, referring to the recent controversy over an upside-down flag being flown outside of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s Virginia home.
The president added that the prospect of Trump picking new justices is among the “scariest parts” of the Republican winning in November, and recounted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ comments about other rights that could be threatened in the aftermath of Roe vs. Wade being overturned.
An audience member shouted “gay rights,” and Biden responded, “Not on my watch.”
First Lady Jill Biden told a story about punching a neighborhood bully who had “tormented” her younger sister when she was 13.
She said everyone was here tonight to show Trump “exactly how we deal with bullies. … We don’t cower, we don’t turn away. We show up. We speak up.”
She then presented the contrast of the election between her husband and Trump, as she sees it: “Joe, a man who has dedicated his life to serving his community. Who honors the rule of law instead of trying to bend it to his own will. And rallies the world to fight for democracy and freedom.”
Or, the first lady continued, “we can choose someone who wakes up every morning caring about one person and one person only. Himself.”
Other elected officials and celebrities who attended included Gov. Gavin Newsom; Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-San Pedro), Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk); and singer Paul Anka. Also spotted was Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León, whom Biden urged to resign in October 2022 after he was heard on a leaked audio with other council members that featured racist and derogatory remarks.
Public entrances to L.A. Live were fenced off throughout the afternoon with well-dressed attendees mixing with T-shirted tourists on the sidewalks. Private security and Los Angeles police officers stationed around the perimeter allowed diners to access the restaurants around the venue.
A pro-Palestinian protester holds a sign outside the Biden fundraiser.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Around 5 p.m., a few hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Crypto.com Arena and the adjacent JW Marriott hotel. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Biden, Biden can’t you see, Palestine will be free,” and other slogans.
A group blocked an entrance to the fundraiser near the hotel, sitting down in front of the gates. Confused attendees approached and wondered how they’d get inside. They were able to enter a gate near the arena as protesters screamed, “Shame on you!”
Protesters later blocked the street outside the hotel after they shut down the gate.
Jennifer Jajeh, a Palestinian and South L.A. resident, stood at the entrance to the fundraiser confronting those going inside.
“The people on the ground in Gaza are experiencing terror every moment of their lives,” Jajeh said. “I feel that the people who are supporting a candidate who is supporting a genocide should feel some discomfort. Kathy Griffin, you can be yelled at for two minutes.”
The crowd of protesters began to dissipate by 7 p.m. An LAPD spokesperson said there had been no arrests.
Law enforcement officers respond to protesters near the campaign event with President Biden outside the Peacock Theater.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
The event came at a critical time for Biden.
While the Democrat has outpaced Trump in dollars raised in California and nationally, the former president has seen a burst of donations since being convicted in late May of 34 felonies of falsifying business records about $130,000 in payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who alleges they had sex in Lake Tahoe during a golf tournament, in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s first fundraising swing after the convictions was in California this month.
National and swing-state polls show a razor’s-edge tight race. And voters, some of whom are apathetic about Biden and Trump partly because of their age, are anxious about domestic economic concerns as well as global tumult — the extended wars between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas.
Late Friday night, Biden left the Group of 7 summit — a gathering in Italy of leaders of Western nations focused on tackling global issues such as trade, the economy and security — as well as a private meeting with Pope Francis. After a refueling stop at an Air Force base in Maryland, the president landed in Los Angeles around dawn Saturday.
It’s unknown how Biden spent time after he landed; but his son Hunter, who was convicted of three felony gun charges this week, lives in Malibu. In February, Biden spent about 90 minutes with his son and his grandson at the Ivy restaurant on Hunter Biden’s 54th birthday. Hunter Biden was among the family members who attended Saturday’s fundraiser.
On the Peacock Theater stage, Kimmel asked what presidents have the power to do, noting that he had been making fun of Trump for years on television.
“Every hear of Delta Force? It’s not just a TV show,” Biden said, referring to an elite Army Special Forces unit. “The idea he’s threatening retribution. This is the United States of America. Did you ever think you would hear anything like this?”
Obama said this was among the reasons it was so important for Democrats to be active, from persuading young people to vote to having respectful discussions with family members and friends who have different political leanings.
“If those things happen, then Joe Biden will be reelected president of the United States, Kamala Harris will be reelected vice president of the United States and Jimmy Kimmel will be safe to do his show,” Obama said. “And I’ll be able to do what ex-presidents are supposed to do, which is not hang out with Jimmy Kimmel. Let’s get to work.”
Way back in 2017 I reviewed a film called Demon Hunter (which was recently rereleased as Taryn Barker Demon Hunter), a moody character driven horror action hybrid that I enjoyed very much. After a very long wait, a sequel, Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill, has finally been released in the world.
Read on for my thoughts on the film
Synopsis
Taryn Barker is just your average everyday monster slaying, wise-cracking, demon hunter on the hunt for two pieces of an ancient artifact, The Necrox. Standing in her way is Elysia Cronika, the CEO of Illumini Industries and a member of the Satanic sect The Stygian.
Cronika plans to obtain the Necrox to unleash Hell on Earth. The problem is Taryn is hard to kill and with every demon sent to eliminate the demon hunter getting wiped out, she gets closer to saving the day.
As a last resort, Cronika sends Taryn through time alongside a band of innocent teenagers to the year 1987 and now Taryn needs to protect the group from a notorious summer camp slasher Lucien Krull, whilst finding the Necrox and a way back home to the present
Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill was written and directed by Zoe Kavanagh. The film stars Niamh Hogan, Lisa Wilcox, Angel Nichole Bradford, Kevin O’Malley, Anthony Cespedes, CJ Dorsey, Valeria Arango Gomez, Jada Krueger and Desiree Xu.
After all these years, it was nice to see Taryn Barker return. She’s a little less moody and more grown up and she has a stronger sense of humor. One thing that hasn’t changed is that she’s an absolute badass. I was really impressed with the increased action, fight scenes and stunt work. Niamh Hogan does a great job as Taryn. She kills it at the fight scenes, she’s got great comedic timing and she’s just genuinely fun to watch.
I was really happy to see Kevin O’Malley return as Ethan, as I felt he was one of the strongest characters in the first film and I really enjoyed his chemistry with Taryn. He’s given a lot more to do here and that was exciting. The cast includes a lot of new additions and there was definitely some highlights.
Angel Nichole Bradford (one of my absolute favorite indie actresses) plays Deborah, a character who shares a sisterly energy with Taryn. I loved the way they looked out for each other and always had each other’s back. Enea Pagni’s Jay and Jacob Rainer’s Lawrence were 2 characters I was able to root for. I loved their friendship. Last but not least is Desiree Xu’s Azumi, a demonology expert who is also a ninja. She was definitely a badass and I loved seeing her work together with Ethan.
The story here is much different than the first film, including time travel and a strong slasher element, which I really enjoyed. It gave Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill a unique feel and set it apart from the first film. Given the slasher elements, it’s much gorier than the original film, which is sure to please those who enjoy that sort of thing. I loved how the film ended and am curious to potentially see where the series could go from here.
Final Thoughts
Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill is an excellent sequel that increases the action, has some well executed fight scenes and ups the body count. Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill is supernatural slasher/action film that is well worth a checking out. Highly recommended.
Don Iwerks, an Academy Award-winning special effects pioneer whose innovations transformed film and Disney theme parks, died peacefully Thursday at the age of 96, the Walt Disney Co. announced.
For Disney and his own studio, Iwerks Entertainment, Iwerks helped develop technologies and techniques like Circle-Vision, the 360-degree camera behind “America the Beautiful” and other early Disney attractions, and the 3-D effects used in attractions like Captain EO and the Star Tours ride.
“There was a ‘can-do’ attitude I learned from Walt and my father,” Iwerks said, according to a statement shared by the Disney Co. “Walt gave everyone a feeling that they were creating things that others had never thought of before, of being a part of history.”
Born July 24, 1929, Iwerks received his first camera at age 14 as a gift from his father, animator Ub Iwerks.
The elder Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney when both men were teenagers working at a Kansas City, Mo., art studio. They would go on to work together at the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, where Iwerks designed and animated “Plane Crazy,” the first Mickey Mouse cartoon.
After a stint at his own animation studio, Ub returned to Disney as a special effects engineer, pioneering techniques like the 360-degree motion-picture camera.
“He was absolutely my inspiration because he was technically minded. He made my childhood and formative years one of the greatest times of my life,” Don Iwerks told The Times in 1998.
The Iwerks family moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1936, where Don graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1947.
He served as a photographer in Germany during the Korean War and joined his father at Disney following his 1952 discharge from the U.S. Army. An allergic reaction to chemicals used to develop film led to his transfer to the company’s Studio Machine Shop, where he spent the next 34 years.
Don spent three months in the Bahamas manning underwater cameras for the 1954 Disney film “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” He then worked as the camera technician on “A Tour of the West,” an original Tomorrowland attraction at the soon-to-be opened Disneyland. The immersive 360-degree film was shot on the Circarama camera system his father invented.
Together, Don and Ub developed technologies like the “endless loop” system that enabled a single film print to run for up to 10,000 performances with minimal intervention and refinements to the photography processes used in “Mary Poppins” (his favorite of the Disney films) and other movies.
His own hands were used as the model for those of the Abraham Lincoln Audio-Animatronics figure in “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” which opened at Disneyland in 1965. The “Iwerks Hands” now appear on similar figures at Disney parks around the world, according to his family.
In 1998, Don Iwerks received the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Gordon E. Sawyer Award for “technical contributions” that “brought credit to the industry.” In 1999, he received an Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement.
(Iwerks Family)
In 1986, he co-founded Iwerks Entertainment, which soon became a major player in the film and theme park industries. The company specialized in large-format films and created the 3-D projection system used in the Terminator rides at Universal Studios parks in Hollywood and Florida.
His innovations were honored with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ honorary Gordon E. Sawyer Award and an Academy Scientific and Technical Award, among other prizes.
“It’s very obvious that computers are playing a big role in motion pictures today. The digital technology in film is able to put elements of scenes together on a film and have them look lifelike. It’s hard to know where that will go,” Iwerks said in a 1998 interview.
“My view is that technology should support a good story and add to it. Technology for technology’s sake?” he said with a shrug. “You still need good films.”
Iwerks is survived by his wife of 54 years, Betty; his sons, Larry and John; John’s wife, Chris; his daughter Leslie, and great-nephew,Mike, both of whom have also worked for Disney, according to an obituary shared by his family. His daughter Tamara preceded him in death.
“Like his father, he was a humble genius, a consummate problem solver, and delighted in sharing knowledge, encouraging others, and approaching every challenge with confidence and grace,” his family said in the statement from Conejo Mountain Funeral Home in Ventura.
Both Don and Ub Iwerks are commemorated in a storefront window on Main Street U.S.A. in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Located above the Main Street Bakery, the window is a lasting tribute to a family who made some of the park’s magic possible.
“Iwerks-Iwerks Stereoscopic Cameras,” the lettering reads. “No Two Exactly Alike.”
Earnest, preachy and melodramatic to a fault, “Mississippi Scholar” is exactly the sort of movie that the independent cinema was born to create.
Director and co-writer Marcus Bleecker’s film may traffic in tropes and cliches. But it has a vivid sense of place and a clear notion of the message it wants to send, and that message’s relevence.
Set in an unnamed small Mississippi city — it was filmed in Baldwyn, Saltillo and Fulton — the film is “a mind is a terrible thing to waste” in cinematic form. Our “Scholar” was born into a world of substance abuse, the racist legal traps of the country’s remaining marijuana laws and has a baby-mama-in-waiting and a drunken parent whom our teen hero is responsible for as his burdens.
But he has a world of promise that one dedicated teacher, his dead father (whom he still converses with) and even he himself can see if he can just “stay focused” and keep his eyes on this very personal prize — college and a better life beyond Ole Miss.
Shannon Brown is James, a kid with great grades and an ill-tempered mother (Gisla Stringer) who crawled into the bottle a long time ago and has no interest in crawling out.
But he’s got an ad hoc support system helping him through his senior year. His aunt (GiGi Marie Gaines) feeds him and keeps him advised of his mother’s latest tumbles. His dead dad (co-writer Obba Babatundé) passes on wisdom about his mother in fortune cookie-sized bites when father and son chat — at the cemetary or elsewhere.
“Hurt people hurt people.”
His English teacher, Mr. Keating (Sonny Marinelli) has high hopes for him, hopes he’s willing to nag the kid to achieve — “It takes only five seconds to get in trouble, and 25 years to get out of it!”
His school principal (Lance E. Nichols) expects greatness, but has learned to never get his hopes up over any Black boy at his integrated high school.
Even Ray-Ray (Jeremy Isaiah Earl), the ex-con drug dealer, takes a brotherly interest in the kid who is his “best distributor.” That money is what keeps a roof over James’ and his mother’s heads, and pays for his Jordans.
His white boy bestie (Dominic Arvielo) may act “Black,” but will he have James’ back when things get real?
And girlfriend Tammy (Aysa Branch) may be far and away the prettiest girl in school. But she’s taking the easy route, relying on her looks to achieve the limited goals the script sketches out for her.
“We’re gonna have ourselves a baby as soon as we graduate!”
Bleecker’s film covers all of the bases, all of the tropes and most of the cliches as James faces Big Choices with perils to his plan at every turn. Maybe taking him to visit the football-mad University of Mississippi isn’t the deal-maker his teacher hopes it is, as James doesn’t “see anybody who looks like me.”
Only a real civil rights hero (Dr. Donald Cole) can set him straight, relating the story of what James Meredith and generations before him did to give James this chance. Or can he?
“Mississippi Scholar” is well-crafted and an easy film to like, with relatable if “stock” characters and decent performances from all but the most amateurish (James’ classmates) cast members. But it’s entirely too predictable to surprise and too pre-digested to have an edge.
Worthy subject and novel setting aside, we’ve seen this story on the big screen and the small one too many times to count, seen this kid’s hand played out in every variation the cards have to offer.
But it makes a fine calling card for its cinematographer turned director, and let’s hope we see Bleecker’s name and hear his voice in another Deep South indie film, and soon.
Rating: TV-14, violence, profanity
Cast: Shannon Brown, Gisla Stringer, Sonny Marinelli, Jeremy Isiaah Earl, Aysa Branch and
Obba Babatundé
Credits: Directed by Marcus Bleecker, scripted by
Obba Babatundé, Marcus Bleecker and P.J. Leonard. A Narrative Distribution release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:24
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