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Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris on how ‘Man Who Fell To Earth’ hits home

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Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris on how ‘Man Who Fell To Earth’ hits home

The British actor portrays Faraday, an extraterrestrial who involves Earth as a part of a plan to save lots of each it and his residence planet within the Showtime collection, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”

He informed CNN it was a task he could not resist.

“I assumed that the character of Faraday was simply such an excellent alternative,” he stated. “As an actor to go on such a loopy however stunning form of arc and journey with this character, actually to search out one thing exceptional.”

If the title and storyline sound acquainted, it is as a result of it is billed as an “impressed continuation” of the 1976 science fiction movie starring David Bowie.

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However, this time, it is a collection with Black actors, Ejiofor and Naomie Harris, portraying the primary characters.

Harris stars as Justin Falls, an excellent scientist who Faraday enlists to assist him on his mission.

Jenny Lumet co-wrote and govt produced the collection with Alex Kurtzman and stated having actors of colour was purposeful.

“The primary character we understood was the character of Justin,” Lumet stated. “I consider that you could make the argument that girls of colour are essentially the most susceptible populous on this planet. If I had been coming and if I needed a real and clear image of this planet, these are the binoculars that I would want.”

Harris informed CNN her character reminded her of her personal mom and lots of the different girls who helped elevate her, particularly given the duty and stress concerned in Justin linking up with Faraday, who actually has to discover ways to talk along with her.

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“I feel that connection solely comes about after we recover from our worry of one another and after we are prepared to pay attention and to speak,” she stated. “And which means listening to folks whose views we do not essentially agree with as effectively, however we have now to be prepared to pay attention anyway.”

Co-writer Kurtzman famous that these are necessary classes coming at a time when many are “asking these huge questions on how we received to this explicit second in our timeline as a species.”

“And we might both ship that to you in a really ‘eat your greens’ form of manner, or we might use science fiction as a style and the prism of Fairday and Justin, each of whom actually are the final word outsiders, as a manner of our planet and a manner of who we are actually,” Kurtzman stated.

“The Man Who Fell to Earth” debuts on Showtime on April 24.

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Will Reeve of ABC News, Christopher Reeve's son, has a cameo in new 'Superman' movie

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Will Reeve of ABC News, Christopher Reeve's son, has a cameo in new 'Superman' movie

Will Reeve, son of the late “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, is set to make a cameo appearance in James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman: Legacy,” currently in production in Cleveland.

The 32-year-old ABC News correspondent was seen filming a scene for the movie on Tuesday morning, according to Cleveland.com.

Will Reeve plays a TV reporter, Deadline reported, which aligns well with his real-world career as a journalist for ABC News. He is the youngest of the actor’s three children and the only child of Christopher Reeve and widow Dana Reeve.

Christopher Reeve is remembered for his portrayal of Superman in Richard Donner’s 1978 “Superman: The Movie.” This marked the beginning of a legacy that saw Reeve don the iconic cape in three sequels: “Superman II” (1980), “Superman III” (1983) and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” (1987).

Gunn, known for his work on the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise, is directing the new movie from his own screenplay, which draws inspiration from characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The DC Studios movie is slated for release July 11, 2025.

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The Reeve family has maintained a strong connection to Christopher Reeve’s legacy, with Will Reeve actively involved on the board of directors for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, dedicated to spinal cord injury research. Christopher Reeve, who died in 2004 at the age of 52 after suffering a paralyzing injury in an accident on horseback in 1995 — left behind a lasting impact on both the entertainment industry and advocacy for disability rights.

The new “Superman” cast includes David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl. Milly Alcock, who played young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in six episodes of “House of the Dragon,” will play Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl.

Henry Cavill, who played the superhero in “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League” and gave up his role in “The Witcher” to return to the franchise, lost the Superman gig in 2022, months after Gunn and Peter Safran were named to lead DC Studios for Warner Bros. Discovery.

“After being told by the studio to announce my return back in October, prior to their hire, this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life,” Cavill said in a statement that December. “The changing of the guard is something that happens. I respect that. James and Peter have a universe to build. I wish them and all involved with the new universe the best of luck, and the happiest of fortunes.”

Times staff writer Christi Carras contributed to this report.

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Movie Review: 'The Bikeriders' is photography in motion

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Movie Review: 'The Bikeriders' is photography in motion

The Bikeriders starts in the middle of its own story. A man in a “Chicago Vandals” jacket, head hanging over the bar counter.

“You can’t be wearing no colors in this neighborhood,” someone threatens, to which he replies: “You’d have to kill me to get this jacket off of me.”

The man, Benny, approaches most things in his life with this same kind of fervor. His wife, Kathy, describes Benny camping out in her front yard until her boyfriend at the time packed up his car and left.

It’s through Kathy’s eyes that we come to know the Vandals: The leader, Johnny; his right hand, Brucie; and a menagerie of other club members — Cockroach, Zipco, Cal, Funny Sonny, Corky and Wahoo, to name a few. Kathy, with varying levels of exasperation, takes us through the club’s rise and fall over her interviews with Danny, the photojournalist meant to represent the author of “The Bikeriders,” the book on which the film is based.

Johnny’s vision for the club starts simply enough — just guys talking about bikes. But, as The Vandals grow, he realizes what he’s created might have become impossible to control.

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The first, most obvious thing to say about “The Bikeriders” is that it’s gorgeous.

The beauty and effectiveness of Danny Lyon’s photography translates perfectly to film. Although an article by the Smithsonian reports 70% of the film’s dialogue is taken from Lyon’s interviews, you could almost watch this movie with the sound off.

Color, light and framing are used so beautifully here it’s hard not to spend the whole review geeking out. Stoplights, bars and midwestern houses and parking lots become art pieces, dioramas of the tumultuous life of a “bikerider.”

Beyond the surface, though, I’m not sure how to feel about this movie.

When Kathy says Johnny got the idea for the club while watching TV, we cut to him staring, enraptured, as 1953’s “The Wild One” plays in his living room. “Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?” The girl in the movie asks. Marlon Brando replies, “Whaddaya got?”

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This listlessness, this sense that Johnny doesn’t have any purpose in mind, that the club doesn’t have much of a point, permeates the film. For me, it extended to the movie itself: At the beginning I thought life in a motorcycle gang would be exciting but dangerous, and by the end I thought the exact same thing.

Maybe it’s Kathy’s perspective leaking through the narration, but the deaths in this movie are, as a rule, abrupt and stupid. Once the shock wore off, I found myself wondering, “What was that all for?”

For all the glamor and power being a bikerider supposedly grants, they don’t die for great causes or in blazes of glory. The end is a car in reverse, an empty parking lot.

“The Bikeriders” is gorgeous and exciting, but doesn’t appear to say very much. Maybe that’s exactly what it’s saying.

Other stories by Caroline

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Caroline Julstrom, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or cjulstrom@brainerddispatch.com.

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Caroline Julstrom finished her second year at the University of Minnesota in May 2024, and started working as a summer intern for the Brainerd Dispatch in June.

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'Despicable Me 4': Mega Minions bring mega bucks to holiday box office

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'Despicable Me 4': Mega Minions bring mega bucks to holiday box office

Audiences are going bananas for Universal Pictures’ and Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4.”

The latest installment in the popular family film franchise opened to $27 million Wednesday at the domestic box office, according to estimates from a studio source and measurement firm Comscore. That number is expected to rise to roughly $120 million by the end of the Fourth of July weekend.

Other titles vying for moviegoers’ business this holiday stretch are Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” which grossed $7.3 million on Wednesday for a North American cumulative of $496.6 million; Paramount Pictures’ “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which scared up $4.4 million on Wednesday for a North American cumulative of $68.6 million; Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” which earned $1.2 million on Wednesday for a North American cumulative of $169.1 million; and Warner Bros.’ “Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1,” which made $1.1 million on Wednesday for a North American cumulative of $14.8 million.

The promising start for “Despicable Me 4” is good news for exhibitors as the 2024 box office appears to be turning a corner thanks to some much-needed breakout hits such as “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and “Inside Out 2.”

From directing team Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, “Despicable Me 4” follows the not-so-nefarious Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), his resourceful daughters and his wacky minions on another daring mission to escape from a new nemesis. Rounding out the main voice cast are Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Madison Polan, Will Ferrell and Sofía Vergara.

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The animated feature received a lackluster 55% rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, but pulled an A grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore — proving that fans still can’t get enough of Carell’s curmudgeonly antihero and his babbling yellow entourage.

Film critic Gary Goldstein was not so generous in his review for the Los Angeles Times, writing that “this latest installment of Illumination’s mega-grossing animated franchise jams in a grab-bag of physical and visual gags and anything-goes action, plus a barrage of narrative dead ends, subplots and characters, as it strains to fill its 90 or so minutes of eye-popping, brain-draining mayhem.”

“Despite a few chuckles, some capable voice work and plenty of splashy color,” he adds, “it proves a largely empty and exhausting ride.”

So what keeps audiences coming back to this critically soured saga?

The Times’ Samantha Masunaga has reported that a perfect storm of organic social media phenomena (calling all #Gentleminions), Facebook mom memes and multigenerational nostalgia has kept the franchise relevant and lucrative over the past 14 years. “Despicable Me” debuted at $56.4 million domestically in 2010, “Despicable Me 2” launched at $83.5 million in 2013 and “Despicable Me 3” opened to $72.4 million in 2017, according to Box Office Mojo.

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“I’ve been 25 to 28 years in the business. I can’t remember something that created that much excitement for the audiences,” Francisco Schlotterbeck, chief executive of theater chain Maya Cinemas, told The Times.

“The other thing I can compare it to is ‘Toy Story.’”

Coming to theaters Friday is the highly anticipated A24 horror flick “MaXXXine,” followed by the wide releases of Goldove Entertainment’s “Lumina,” Neon’s “Longlegs” and Columbia Pictures’ “Fly Me to the Moon” next weekend.

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