The man who loved women

Instead of spending his time addressing the rise of hate-based extremism or the baby formula shortage plaguing America — you know, things elected officials are expected to spend their time figuring out — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is keeping busy by wondering why so many female celebrities want to fuck Pete Davidson . In a segment on his Verdict With Ted Cruz podcast focused on “toxic femininity” (whatever that is), Cruz went full Nice Guy, wondering what Davidson has that other men don’t. “How come that dude gets all of these, like, hot women?” the senator asked. “Pete Davidson was dating Kate Beckinsale — I mean, you’re talking Underworld. You’re talking, like, super hot vampire in black leather trench coat, and you’re like, ‘Really? The SNL dude? Like, wow.” (Yes, Ted. It’s truly a mystery why women of this caliber are attracted to a young, charming comedian and aren’t flinging themselves at someone so determined to strip American women of their bodily autonomy. ) … [Read more...] about Ted Cruz Just Can’t Understand Why All These ‘Hot Women’ Love Pete Davidson

It’s a bizarre world, this (almost, more-or-less, maybe) post- Covid movie landscape. Pieces are falling into place: Production starts have been up for a year, box-office revenue continues to climb, though it’s still a long reach to pre-Covid highs. But so much is so different, and I don’t mean just the obvious shift toward streaming . Look closely at the Motion Picture Association ’s so-called “Theme Report” from two months ago—a statistical survey of the film business, compiled annually—and you can see the outlines of an industry that was leveled by disaster, and is growing back in ways that veteran observers might find unsettling, if not downright grotesque. Strangest for me is a near-obliteration of the older audience, a trend that finally be easing with the relative success of Downton Abbey: A New Era . Reasons for the wipe-out are clear enough: Those age 60 and above were deemed more vulnerable to coronavirus, so they abandoned theaters when the … [Read more...] about From Deep In The MPA’s ‘Theme Report,’ Markers Of A Weird New Movie World

The hard right’s takeover of the Supreme Court is real, and is having real consequences. But despite that leaked decision that would overturn Roe, this takeover isn’t just about abortion, and it’s not just about the Supreme Court. In fact, Trump-appointed judges at all levels of the judiciary are remaking nearly every aspect of American law, from voting rights to environmental regulations, police accountability to LGBTQ and women’s equality. There are also a lot of these judges. In four years, the Trump administration put a record 226 life-tenure federal judges on the bench. And while these judges don’t make the headlines like the Supreme Court does, they are already transforming our country, a little bit at a time. Perhaps most important, they will be there many, many years. Because Trump’s minions chose the youngest cohort of judges in recorded history, some of these people are in their thirties and forties. That means they could still be on the bench in 40, even 50 years — … [Read more...] about MAGA Law: How the Trump Judges Twist U.S. Justice

Donald Trump is on the precipice of achieving the most lasting and impactful part of his presidential legacy, as the justices he put on the Supreme Court prepare to help overturn Roe v. Wade and cement the former president’s status as a hero to social conservatives. But for a man who rarely opens his mouth without talking about his own (real or alleged) achievements, Trump has been near-silent on abortion since it became clear Roe was going under. Instead, Trump has been privately fretting about what the impending collapse of abortion rights will do for his own political prospects, telling those close to him that the issue could hurt him with “suburban women” should he try to retake the White House in 2024. “Suburban women have been a recurring concern for [former] President Trump, including during the 2020 campaign, when his smarter advisers were sounding the alarm to him about how he was losing suburbs. He is … worried women in the suburbs could punish him for this one day, … [Read more...] about Exclusive: Trump Is Telling Allies His Record on Abortion Could Hurt His 2024 Chances

A few years ago, as filmmaker Roger Ross Williams contemplated founding his own production company, he experienced a Field of Dreams kind of vision: “If you build it, they will come.” The revelation took place far from the Iowa cornfields of the movie. “I was actually walking by this big, empty office space in Brooklyn,” Williams recalled, “and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a great office space. I should rent it to start my company.’ I thought that renting the office space would force me to fill it.” Fill it he did, first with edit bays, then with staff. One Story Up has become a thriving enterprise and one of the industry’s few African American-owned production companies. The company name doesn’t refer to a physical location, but to an idea. “I loved the word ‘story’ being in the name and lifting ‘up’. The two things: lifting up filmmakers of color and telling stories,” Williams says. “I said to myself, I need to use the production company as a vehicle for helping … [Read more...] about Roger Ross William’s One Story Up Is A Powerhouse Production Company Giving Hope To BIPOC Talent — Deadline Disruptors

Jacky Eubanks is running for the Michigan legislature with a “wholehearted” endorsement from Donald Trump who calls her “an America First Patriot.” Her agenda? Banning contraception, gay marriage and imposing the “Christian moral order” on the nation. Eubanks, a Gen Z conservative who falsely claims Trump won the 2020 election in Michigan, disclosed her extreme views in an interview on “Church Militant,” a digital media service that has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-LGBTQ hate group.” Church Militant is run by Michael Voris , an ex-TV news reporter and formerly gay man who has been criticized as a leader of the “Catholic alt-right.” (Church Militant has strained relations with actual church leaders; it was originally known as RealCatholicTV until the Archdiocese of Detroit told Voris he was not “authorized” to use the word Catholic in his branding.) In the interview, posted to Eubank’s campaign Facebook page on Thursday, she … [Read more...] about Trump Endorsed Her. Now She Wants to Use State Power to ‘Crush’ the Left and Impose ‘God’s Moral Order’

Ethan Coen wasn’t exactly a scholar on Jerry Lee Lewis . You wouldn’t even have called him a fan, really. Sure, the Oscar-winning filmmaker — who, along with his brother Joel, has given the world The Big Lebowski and Barton Fink and Fargo and No Country for Old Men and a dozen other movies that have earned rabid cults and regularly show up on Greatest Movies Ever lists — knew “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On.” Everybody does. He could probably sing a few verses of “Great Balls of Fire” in a karaoke emergency if need be. Press him, and Coen might name you some of his other early hits, like “High School Confidential,” “Breathless,” or “High Heel Sneakers.” And like most folks, he knew about Lewis marrying his 13-year-old cousin and the scandal that ensued, derailing the Killer’s early career and stopping his chart-topping reign dead in his tracks. Coen had also, by his own admission, “left the movie business” and wasn’t necessarily looking to throw himself into another … [Read more...] about How Ethan Coen’s Documentary on Jerry Lee Lewis Brought Him Back to Filmmaking

A “video vixen” is a term first used to describe women who appeared as background dancers or love interests in hip-hop videos around the late-Nineties and early 2000s. She is presented to the audience as a modern-day goddess. The recipient of admiration from male artists who serenade her on camera — at times to the point of objectification. The viewer doesn’t always know her by name but knows the names of the male artists singing to and about her. The lack of identification means the vixen could be anyone everyone. We could all be a beautiful woman who is worth being sung about. Video vixens have a particular hold on today’s youth culture because of how they impacted the previous generation of young people, still hungry for more inclusive media figures. “I can identify with a video vixen because I know as a dark skin black woman my features are unique and I know I am beautiful,” influencer Mary Poppin tells Rolling Stone. “When I was a little girl, I used to stare in awe … [Read more...] about Why TikTok Sees Music Video Vixens as the Unsung Heroes of Y2K Fashion

When Donald Trump ’s stumbling campaign blew into Texas for a three-city tour last week, its literature described its second and last rally in the state as an event in Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the United States. But it wasn’t. Trump’s rally was held in The Woodlands, a too-clean and vaguely menacing compound of glass, steel and well-manicured lawns some 35 miles north of Houston’s downtown. Instead of a city council, The Woodlands, founded by George Mitchell, the pioneer of shale fracking, has an executive board. Residents of The Woodlands are more than 92 percent white. It’s easy to see why Trump went there: The few protesters who drove in from out-of-town were easily kept in check by the horse cops providing picket defense for oil company headquarters and chain restaurants. Trump’s rallies and fundraisers in the state were chock-a-block with the color we’ve come to expect. He didn’t make a lot of sense . He said some provocative things . He swore, and … [Read more...] about Trump’s Bigotry Is a Drug to Texas Republicans

Deadline’s annual group of Ones to Watch in Cannes is made up of actors and filmmakers who are all bringing something fresh to the festival. The distinction isn’t always reserved for brand new faces; rather, we’ve selected people who are branching out, or who find themselves in waters where they are liable to make waves. Cannes can be a place of reinvention, after all. Paapa Essiedu has a secret. “I’m in Rio de Janeiro,” confides the actor. “I’m on holiday, and I’m still coming to terms with that. I find it hard to ever justify taking my foot off the gas, but, I’m in Rio de Janeiro, I’m on holiday, and I’m owning it.” Essiedu left London at the insistence of his partner, who was rightly concerned about the amount of work the actor had been doing lately. It is also probably a suitable time to decompress before Essiedu dives into the madness of Cannes, where he can be seen in Alex Garland’s surreal psychological thriller Men , due to screen Out of Competition in Directors’ … [Read more...] about On The Road To Cannes, Paapa Essiedu Can’t Take His Foot Off The Gas — Ones To Watch