Entertainment
What’s on TV Saturday: ‘A Second Chance at Love; on Hallmark; March Madness continues on TBS
The prime-time TV grid is on hiatus in print. Yow will discover extra TV protection at: latimes.com/whats-on-tv.
SERIES
Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet Within the season premiere Dr. Jeff and his crew rework an deserted restaurant in an outdated mining city right into a clinic to serve the mountain group. Then, Dr. Baier treats a sneezing parrot and Dr. Jeff tries to avoid wasting a Yorkie’s damaged ankle from amputation. 8 p.m. Animal Planet
World’s Funniest Animals (N) 9 p.m. the CW
48 Hours (N) 10 p.m. CBS
SPORTS
Golf PGA Tour WGC: Spherical of 16, 7 a.m. Golf; quarterfinals, 11 a.m. NBC. PGA Tour Corales Puntacana Championship, third spherical, 11 a.m. Golf
NCAA Girls’s Basketball Match Regional semifinals: Notre Dame versus NC State, 8:30 a.m. ESPN; Indiana versus Connecticut, 11 a.m. ESPN; Tennessee versus Louisville, 1 p.m. ESPN2; South Dakota versus Michigan, 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Tennis ATP/WTA Miami Open: ladies’s third spherical and males’s second spherical, 10 a.m. BSSC
Faculty basketball NCAA Division II Championship, midday CBS
NHL hockey The Chicago Blackhawks go to the Vegas Golden Knights, midday ABC; the Geese go to the San Jose Sharks, 7:30 p.m. BSSC; the Seattle Kraken go to the Kings, 7:30 p.m. BSW
Determine skating ISU World Championships: males’s free skating, 1 p.m. USA; ice dance, 3 p.m. USA
NCAA Males’s Basketball Match Regional finals: 3 and 5:30 p.m. TBS
SATURDAY TALK SHOWS
Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC
Good Morning America Tory Johnson; Binge This! with Kelley Carter; chef George Duran. (N) 8 a.m. KABC
CBS Saturday Morning (N) 10 a.m. KCAL
Frank Buckley Interviews Creator Ali Noorani (“Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants”). (N) 11 a.m. KTLA and Sunday, 4:30 p.m. and 12:05 a.m. KTLA
MOVIES
A Second Probability at Love This new romantic drama — Launching Hallmark Channel’s “Spring Into Love” film collection — stars Alvina August (“Nancy Drew”) and Jarod Joseph (“The 100″) as a pair whose marriage seems idyllic, however bother is brewing. She distracts herself by meddling within the relationship lives of her divorced dad and mom (Gloria Reuben, Eriq La Salle). 8 p.m. Hallmark
Dune Director Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, whose father (Oscar Isaac) has simply been appointed to rule Arrakis, a harsh desert planet that’s the sole supply of a treasured substance often known as spice. Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard and Zendaya additionally star. 8 p.m. HBO
The Misplaced Ladies After escaping from a human sex-trafficking ring a young person tries to reconnect along with her household, whereas serving to police observe down the criminals operating the trafficking operation. Jane Widdop, Olivia d’Abo, Randall Batinkoff, Juliette Hanover and Dylan Sprayberry additionally star on this 2022 TV thriller. 8 p.m. Lifetime
Soiled Dancing (1987) 8 a.m. E!
What About Bob? (1991) 8 a.m. IFC
Casablanca (1942) 8 a.m. TCM
Matchstick Males (2003) 8:13 a.m. Cinemax
Surprise Girl (2017) 8:30 a.m. and 9:27 p.m. TBS
Vehicles (2006) 9 a.m. Freeform
Jacob’s Ladder (1990) 9:30 a.m. Epix
Little Girls (2019) 10 a.m. FX
Lawrence of Arabia: Director’s Minimize (1962) 10 a.m. TCM
Seabiscuit (2003) 10:35 a.m. Showtime
Alien (1979) 11:10 a.m. and seven p.m. TMC
Wreck-It Ralph (2012) 11:35 a.m. Freeform
Dying Turns into Her (1992) 11:39 a.m. and seven:13 p.m. Encore
Hellboy (2004) 12:15 p.m. HBO
Rocky Balboa (2006) 12:16 p.m. Cinemax
Hitch (2005) 12:30 p.m. E!
As soon as Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019) 1 p.m. FX
Males in Black (1997) 1 p.m. POP
Serpico (1973) 1 p.m. Showtime
Play Misty for Me (1971) 1:26 p.m. Encore
Again to Faculty (1986) 1:30 p.m. Sundance
Zootopia (2016) 1:40 p.m. Freeform
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 2 p.m. TCM
Flatliners (1990) 2:20 p.m. Epix
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) 2:28 p.m. TNT
Beetlejuice (1988) 2:30 p.m. CMT
Die Exhausting With a Vengeance (1995) 3:30 p.m. KVEA
Twins (1988) 3:30 p.m. Sundance
Roxanne (1987) 4 p.m. KCOP
Native Hero (1983) 4 p.m. KCET
Up (2009) 4:10 p.m. Freeform
The Omen (1976) 4:15 p.m. Epix
The Karate Child (1984) 4:30 p.m. CMT
Ford v Ferrari (2019) 4:30 p.m. FX
John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum (2019) 5 p.m. A&E
A Passage to India (1984) 5 p.m. TCM
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Again (1980) 5:13 p.m. TNT
La Bamba (1987) 5:21 p.m. Encore
Marriage ceremony Crashers (2005) 5:30 p.m. E!
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) 5:30 p.m. IFC
Transformers (2007) 5:35 p.m. Cinemax
Pacific Rim (2013) 5:39 p.m. HBO
Friday (1995) 5:50 p.m. VH1
Ratatouille (2007) 6:20 p.m. Freeform
The Godfather (1972) 7 p.m. Paramount
My Man Godfrey (1936) 8 p.m. KVCR
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) 8 p.m. A&E
My Cousin Vinny (1992) 8 p.m. Cinemax
Fairly Girl (1990) 8 p.m. E!
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) 8 p.m. FX
Good Will Searching (1997) 8 p.m. Ovation
Erin Brockovich (2000) 8 and 11 p.m. Sundance
The Final Emperor (1987) 8 p.m. TCM
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) 8 and 10:58 p.m. TNT
Moana (2016) 9 p.m. Freeform
World Conflict Z (2013) 9:35 p.m. Epix
The 40-12 months-Outdated Virgin (2005) 10 p.m. Cinemax
Ray (2004) 10:05 p.m. Starz
Ghost (1990) 10:30 p.m. BBC America
Neighbors (2014) 11 p.m. Comedy Central
Inexperienced Ebook (2018) 11 p.m. FX
The Godfather, Half II (1974) 11 p.m. Paramount
Harmful Liaisons (1988) 11 p.m. TCM
John Wick (2014) 11:04 p.m. A&E
TV NEXT WEEK
Movie Reviews
‘It Ends With Us’: What the Critics Are Saying
Following the New York premiere of It Ends With Us on Tuesday evening, the first reviews of the film from critics have been coming in, and they’ve been decidedly mixed.
The romantic drama, based on Colleen Hoover‘s 2016 best-selling novel of the same name, was directed by Justin Baldoni (who also plays Ryle). The film follows Lily (Blake Lively) as she overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life. But after getting romantically involved with neurosurgeon Ryle, she sees sides of him that remind her of her parents’ abusive relationship. And when someone from her past, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), reenters her life, it complicates things even more and Lily must learn to rely on her own strength to move forward.
The film has previously faced criticism for its depiction of domestic violence, with some fans claiming it romanticizes the subject. However, a common theme among the early reviews is that while the movie adaptation manages to treat the topic of domestic violence with care, the narrative appears to suffer.
As of Wednesday evening, It Ends With Us had a score of 60 percent from 44 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and clocked in at 52 percent on Metacritic from 21 reviews.
The film, from Sony Pictures, hits theaters on Friday. It also stars Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter.
Read on for key excerpts from some of the most prominent early reviews following the premiere of It Ends With Us.
The Hollywood Reporter‘s arts and culture critic Lovia Gyarkye wrote in her review, “The pat treatment of these characters ultimately does a disservice to the broader themes embedded in It Ends With Us. Without understanding more of Lily’s broader community or getting a stronger sense of how she navigates the relationship with Ryle, the film can feel too light and wispy to support the weight of its themes.”
The Guardian‘s Benjamin Lee wrote, “It’s a plot of hackneyed soap tropes but there’s a real maturity to how it unfolds, a story of abuse that’s far less obvious than we’ve grown accustomed to, the details far knottier than some might be comfortable with. There are expected cliches but there are also many that are mercifully avoided too, the story not always conforming to type.”
“The life lessons being taught here about self-acceptance, self-love and self-worth might be a little pat and some of the darker elements could have afforded a tad more darkness, but It Ends with Us leads with heart first, everything else later,” Lee added in his review. “It’s a film of huge, sometimes hugely unsubtle, emotion but it has an effectively forceful sweep to it.”
“It Ends With Us savors the trappings of a glossy love triangle: the banter, the flirting, the turbulence, the extravagant costumes,” Amy Nicholson of The Washington Post wrote. “The movie has to cheat a bit to get at the complexity of Hoover’s book. A child of domestic abuse, Hoover writes with painful intimacy about Lily’s struggle to claw free from her past. Baldoni shifts some of that turmoil to the audience, with editors Oona Flaherty and Robb Sullivan cutting key scenes so that, like Lily, we don’t know what to believe.”
Nicholson added that “even bouncing off male leads who are more pinball bumpers than dimensional characters,” Lively gave a “great performance as a headstrong, sensible woman who struggles to consider herself a victim.”
Critic Mark Kennedy wrote in his review for the Associated Press that “the uneven movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling 2016 novel” tries to “balance the realities of domestic violence inside a rom-com and a female-empowerment movie. All suffer in the process.”
“It veers too close to melodrama, with suicide, homelessness, generational trauma, child murder, unintended pregnancy and never-forgotten love all touched on and only half digested,” Kennedy continued. “Set in Boston, it never even pulls from that city’s flavor.”
Time film critic Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “The movie is accurate and effective in this sense: for so many abused women, you never know how bad it can get, until it gets really bad. Yet none of that is enough to make you fully buy what the movie’s selling.”
“The problem, maybe, is that It Ends With Us is all about what it’s about, and nothing more,” she added. “These characters exist to make points about the insidiousness of domestic violence, the way its effects can creep up invisibly even as those who are suffering cloak themselves in protective denial. Admittedly, that’s a lot for a movie to carry. But movies can’t just be efficient feeling-delivery systems; they have to work on us in subtler ways. It Ends With Us makes all its points, all right, but in a way that’s more edifying than moving.”
Proma Khosla wrote for IndieWire that the film “manages to sensitively handle its delicate subject matter, though largely at the cost of a more intricate narrative.”
“It Ends with Us does what it wants to (and what made Hoover’s book such a smash hit), highlighting the patterns of abuse, trauma, and silence at play in this specific story,” Khosla added in her review. “Baldoni and Hall handle Lily and everyone around her with empathy, downplaying unpleasantness or oversimplifying story elements ultimately to mitigate risk and protect viewers — with the opportunity to dig deeper in a potential sequel.”
Esther Zuckerman wrote in her review for Rolling Stone, “The movie is as frothy as it is melodramatic; as much concerned with romance as it is with trauma. Throughout its over-two-hour run time, It Ends With Us stays incredibly loyal to its beach-read, airport-paperback origins. The result is a mix of tones that doesn’t always work, but often feels like a throwback to a different era of movie-making, one where the mid-budget movie willing to delve into issues was a viable business model. (Think: White Oleander, Where the Heart Is.) In that way, it’s a successful endeavor, even if it at times may have some schmaltz-allergic audience members rolling their eyes at the emotional roller coaster of the plot.”
Entertainment
Connie Chiume, South African actor known for 'Black Panther' role, dies at 72
South African actor Connie Chiume, best known in the U.S. for her appearances in the Marvel “Black Panther” movies, has died at age 72.
Chiume’s family announced her death on Instagram, saying she died Tuesday at a Johannesburg hospital.
“The Chiume Family regrets to inform you of the passing of the internationally acclaimed award-winning actress Connie Chiume,” the statement read. “Connie Chiume, 72, passed on at Garden City Hospital. … The Family asks for privacy during this difficult period.”
Chiume was a longtime actor in South Africa, gaining fame, as apartheid ended, with the popular TV series “Inkom’ Edla Yodwa” and on the soap opera “Rhythm City.” She appeared in multiple TV shows and films, tackling drama as well as comedy. Her performances earned her top South African film and television awards.
Chiume was born in Welkom, South Africa, on June 5, 1952, the fifth of nine children. She reportedly trained as a nurse and worked as a teacher before becoming a performer. In the late 1970s, she moved to Greece to join the cast of the musical “Sola Sola.”
In 2022, she reflected on her career and changes to the South African film industry.
“When I started, there wasn’t even a TV station for Black people,” Chiume told News24. “There’s been progress in that aspect and the money that we were earning then, it’s much, much better now. But there’s still a lot we can do to change the landscape.”
The actor gained notoriety in Hollywood for her role as mining tribe elder Zawavari in Marvel’s “Black Panther.”
Chuime told South Africa’s Sunday Times that when she auditioned for “Black Panther,” she didn’t realize what she was getting into.
“I went to an audition not knowing what I was auditioning for,” Chuime said. “I went there and I was given a piece that I was supposed to do. I could see that this person is an African who was addressing the nation. I wore my African regalia, I learnt my lines. I did my best.”
The role was small, but she told News24 that starring alongside Michael B. Jordan, Angela Bassett and other Hollywood superstars, she’d earned dreamed-of recognition.
The movie, which premiered in 2018, went on to break several box-office records, becoming the highest-grossing picture directed by a Black filmmaker.
Chiume later reprised her role for the sequel, “Wakanda Forever,” in 2022.
The actor also appeared on Beyoncé’s visual album, “Black Is King,” based on “The Lion King,” in which she played Simba’s mother, Sarabi.
Her most recent roles were in South African Netflix productions, the film “Heart of the Hunter,” which was released earlier this year, and the series “Soon Comes Night” in February.
Chiume is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.
Movie Reviews
It Ends with Us (2024) – Movie Review
It Ends with Us, 2024.
Directed by Justin Baldoni.
Starring Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Amy Morton, Isabela Ferrer, Alex Neustaedter, Kevin McKidd, Robin S. Walker, Emily Baldoni, Robyn Lively, Megan Elyse Robinson, Caroline Siegrist, Adam Mondschein, and Robert Clohessy.
SYNOPSIS:
Adapted from the Colleen Hoover novel, Lily overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life. A chance meeting with a neurosurgeon sparks a connection but Lily begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents’ relationship.
Writer/director/co-lead Justin Baldoni’s directorial debut, It Ends with Us (based on the book by Colleen Hoover and adapted for the screen by Daddio writer/director Christy Hall), is a story about domestic abuse with an important message at the core, that becomes far too preoccupied with ridiculous soap opera love triangle nonsense. Also coming into question is how much of this relies on conveying that message through misleading visuals. Early on, our protagonist jokes that she is an unreliable narrator, which later on feels more like the film itself admitting it’s toying with perception disingenuously, albeit in a predictable way since there isn’t much doubt in where the story is headed.
Lily Blossom Bloom (Blake Lively with a wild hairstyle suggesting the film takes place in the 1980s rather than the present day) lives in Boston and has just opened up a, wait for it… flower shop. This comes following the sudden death of her father (played by Kevin McKidd in flashbacks), who routinely physically abused her mother (Amy Morton), making for an awkward funeral, to say the least. Lily walked out at the podium, unable to come up with anything positive to say about the man, still unsure of how her mom ever could have stayed with him. In that frustration, she also enters a nearby apartment to unwind, hanging out on the roof, where she has a meet-cute with the most handsome, buff neurosurgeon you have ever seen. His name is Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), and he is kicking a chair, upset that he was unable to save a life.
Perhaps he seems like a sweet guy. Well, within a few minutes, he is opening up “naked truths,” talking about being unfit for serious relationships and how he would casually like to have sex with Lily right there on this roof. To me (and maybe you), that’s pretty weird; it’s also far from the only case of Ryle getting a bit sexually sleazy, something that the film kind of lets him off the hook for. Lily also opens up about her first love and the first person she ever had sex with, a sensitive and kind homeless boy she gravitated to, with that relationship serving as the focal point of the flashbacks (a relationship we get a glimpse of in flashbacks, with the two played by Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter.) Since this is a movie, he immediately determines something is different about Lily and that he would like to give real love a shot.
Nevertheless, everything about this blossoming love between Lily and Ryle appears to be going well on the surface, even if it’s apparent to viewers his mask will come off (there wouldn’t be a movie, otherwise.) Again, that conflict (which takes roughly an hour to arrive finally) comes in the form of domestic abuse and, more specifically, how people perceive, rationalize, and chalk an incident up as an accident. That’s also something vital that should be explored, but the filmmakers seem more concerned with manifesting that drama in the most melodramatic, over-the-top manner possible while also inserting another guy into the equation (Brandon Sklenar), one who is fiercely protective over Lily.
Of course, there is also a lot of fortuity here, such as Ryle reconnecting with Lily after the initial meet-cute, all because his sister Allyssa (Jenny Slate) randomly stumbled into the flower shop looking for a job. She also has no idea that her brother is capable of some deplorable behavior, making for the scarily intriguing concept that not even some siblings know each other entirely. The problem is that the execution treats this entire story like a Lifetime film, charging headfirst into drama that never quite feels real. If anything, it’s often unintentionally hilarious, such as a restaurant fight between the two grown men battling over Lily. The specific reason that the fight occurs comes across as laughably dumb, something that could have been solved by two people talking to each other like adults. The thing is, people rarely feel real here.
There is also the feeling that anytime the film dares to become serious and dive into uncomfortable thematic material, it also pulls back as if it wants to be a sappy romantic love triangle above all else. And while I’m aware domestic abusers are capable of hiding that aspect of themselves well, here, there are constant jumps in times that leave one questioning the credulity of how long this man inexperienced with dating (presumably for good reason) would last without slipping up on his toxic side. The endless barrage of pop songs only serves to sanitize the material here. Even accounting for the flashbacks, there isn’t a single moment of actual conflict here until the one-hour mark, presumably because the romance is what sells to this demographic.
One possible read is that the filmmakers are aware of this, creating the usual cringe Hollywood love story playing into Lily’s oblivious nature that all is well in this relationship and that this is love. I would love to sit here and say that everything here is a stroke of subversive brilliance. However, even if that were the case, the execution isn’t there, often eliciting groans and laughs since the situations feel far-fetched. Coincidently, It Ends with Us does conclude with an emotional, believable exchange that needs to be heard by domestic abusers around the world. It’s a shame the rest of the film is outlandish and doesn’t cut nearly as deep.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
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