Aurelia Butler

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    You Talkin’ Like Him? A Convention Lets De Niro Fans Get in on the Act

    Participants at De Niro Con in Tribeca could talk like Travis Bickle, shadowbox like Jake LaMotta or get a tattoo like Max Cady. Yes, a real tattoo.Amy Cakes has dozens of tattoos, but the one she got on Friday would stand out simply because the ink was applied amid a celebration of all things Robert De Niro.As Cakes, 32, an operations coordinator at the Tribeca Festival, rolled up her sleeve, the eerie glow of the actor’s face played on a loop in the background, a sequence of shots of Max Cady, the character with cryptic, ominous tattoos De Niro played in “Cape Fear.” Participants could choose from five tattoos he sported in that 1991 drama, including a panther and the phrase “Time the avenger.” Cakes selected a clown with a gun, as De Niro’s mien scowled on the screen above.This was the inaugural tattoo of De Niro Con, a three-day series of events honoring the 80-year-old actor and coinciding with the final days of the 2024 Tribeca Festival, which he co-founded. The convention, held in Spring Studios in Tribeca, drew more than 1,000 fans to displays of movie memorabilia; a re-creation of the dingy bedroom of Travis Bickle, his unhinged title character in “Taxi Driver” (1976); and that tattoo parlor. For passes that ranged from $150 each to $3,500 for two, participants could make videos of themselves reciting lines from “Taxi Driver,” shadowbox as Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull” (1980), or sip complementary Starbucks energy drinks before emerging from the Rupert Pupkin Hall of Fan Experiences.Patrick McCartney administered (fake) lie-detector tests just as De Niro’s character did in “Meet the Parents.”Adam Powell for The New York TimesThe decorations included stills from “Goodfellas.”Adam Powell for The New York TimesThe Army jacket is a recreation of the one worn by Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.”Adam Powell for The New York TimesSome attendees arrived wearing De Niro shirts or bought them there. Others purchased $25 toddler onesies with “You talkin’ to me?” (Travis Bickle’s signature line) emblazoned on the front.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    NOFX to Retire After Final Tour Without Ever Having Had a Job

    After 40 years, the punk band NOFX is walking away with a farewell tour that is nothing short of a victory lap.When they were teenagers, the group developed an extreme do-it-yourself ethos. They had no interest in working for anyone else.As “the Grateful Dead of punk rock,” they played more than 3,000 shows, and sold more than seven million albums, without ever having a radio hit or much mainstream attention.And now they are ready to say goodbye — and unlike other bands they promise there will be no reunion tours.Can You Retire if You Never Had a Job? NOFX Will Try.The punk rock pioneers chose freedom — and chaos — over major labels. Pulling the plug while things are still working is one final act of rebellion.June 18, 2024“It’s like going to your own wake.”Mike Burkett, known exclusively in the punk rock world as Fat Mike, was talking about the farewell tour for his band, NOFX, during which the group is traveling to 40 cities, with 40 songs per concert, celebrating their 40 years as a band.The tour started a year ago in Barcelona and will end where it all began for them, in Los Angeles, with three shows from Oct. 4-6. Fat Mike, 57, along with Eric Melvin, Aaron Abeyta and Erik Sandlin are, collectively, experiencing the feels.“This is it,” Fat Mike, the band’s singer, songwriter and bassist, said of the prospect of touring again after this. “We aren’t Kiss, or Black Sabbath, or Mötley Crüe. This is the end.”“It’s kind of sad, saying goodbye,” said Mr. Abeyta, 58, the group’s guitarist and trumpet player, who goes by the nickname El Hefe. “We’re family. We’re basically brothers. We’ve lived on the road together, on a bus, sometimes in the same bed.”“It’s weird, it’s uncertain, it’s scary,” said Mr. Sandlin, 57, the group’s drummer who was nicknamed Smelly for the drug-fueled flatulence of his earlier days. (He’s been sober and clean for years.) “I feel like I’m losing a leg.”With an unmistakable style, NOFX was a mainstay at punk clubs for decades, typically playing to rooms packed with adoring fans.via Fat Wreck ChordsThe band’s core lineup consisted of Erik Sandlin, left, on drums, Fat Mike on bass and vocals, Eric Melvin on guitar and Aaron Abeyta on guitar and trumpet.via Fat Wreck ChordsWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution’ Review: Beyond the Punchline

    A new Netflix documentary showcases comedy as a source of queer liberation, featuring Margaret Cho, Tig Notaro, Joel Kim Booster and more.The director Page Hurwitz examines comedy’s place in the L.G.B.T.Q. movement in the new Netflix documentary “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution,” creating a rich, century-long timeline full of archival footage, behind-the-scenes glimpses and candid interviews with comedians. A standout subject is the 82-year-old trailblazer Robin Tyler, the first out lesbian on national TV.Throughout the film, Hurwitz showcases comedy as more than just a source of laughter, but of healing, catharsis and as an agent for queer liberation, particularly during the Stonewall riots in 1969 and, later, the AIDS epidemic.L.G.B.T.Q. comedians were already on hand for “Outstanding” — in 2022, many of them, including Lily Tomlin, Wanda Sykes and Billy Eichner, performed on the same stage during “Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration,” a Netflix standup special hosted by Eichner. The backstage footage from that special captured something that feels revolutionary, echoing Margaret Cho’s assertion that “queer comedy was really a solace” when she achieved fame in the 1990s.Many of the best moments in “Outstanding” occur when it draws connections between idols and admirers. A simple moment between Joel Kim Booster and Cho is made powerful through thoughtful editing: Cho, in a voice-over, describes the joy that queer comedy can evoke as we see Booster experiencing it among his peers.The film also addresses transphobic jokes by comedians like Dave Chappelle and Bill Maher, and ends with an acknowledgment of the anti-transgender bills being passed nationwide.“There’s no such thing as just kidding,” Tyler, the pioneering comedian, says. “So if anybody does homophobic jokes, they mean it.” The fight is still no laughing matter.Outstanding: A Comedy RevolutionNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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    Hozier Was Never a One-Hit Wonder. But Now He Has a Second Smash.

    He broke out in 2014 with “Take Me to Church.” Then listeners on TikTok found his passionate, dramatic songs and a new single made its way to No. 1.A decade ago, the Irish singer-songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who performs as Hozier, scored a surprise global hit with his debut single, “Take Me to Church,” thanks in large part to its black-and-white music video depicting an intimate relationship between two gay men, one of whom is attacked by a masked mob. The soulful, octave-hopping track, written as a rebuke to the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality, established Hozier as a serious, socially conscious artist. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for song of the year.Though Hozier hardly disappeared — his second album, “Wasteland, Baby!” from 2019, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and its 2023 follow-up, the concept record “Unreal Unearth,” became his first U.K. No. 1 — for years afterward he operated at a lower public profile, tagged by some as a one-hit wonder. But Hozier, now on the road with a nine-piece band, is once again having a moment, courtesy of a younger generation of fans and a new hit song.“We’re selling more tickets now than when I was in the charts with ‘Take Me to Church,’” Hozier, 34, said in an interview this month while onboard his tidy tour bus, which was parked on the grounds of Forest Hills Stadium, a 13,000-capacity amphitheater in Queens, N.Y. The 6-foot-5 artist — dressed in a brown corduroy jacket and Adidas track pants, his shoulder-length hair pulled back in a bun — was just a few hours from playing the third of four sold-out nights there, a record-breaking run at the venue. In August, he will co-headline the first day of Lollapalooza in Chicago, with Tyler, the Creator.In April, Hozier reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 with the bouncy “Too Sweet,” becoming the first Irish artist to claim the top spot since Sinead O’Connor, with “Nothing Compares 2 U,” in 1990. Sung from the vantage of the hard-partying half of a mismatched couple, “Too Sweet” is featured on Hozier’s “Unheard,” a recent EP of songs that didn’t make the cut for “Unreal Unearth,” which was inspired by Dante’s “Inferno.” The track was at No. 7 for a second consecutive week in mid-June.“Most of the songs that I always admired and hoped to capture the quality of in my work were not charting hits,” Hozier said.Brian Karlsson for The New York TimesBoth Hozier and his manager, Caroline Downey, who’s been with him since the beginning, noted that all four Forest Hills shows sold out well before the release of “Too Sweet” and credited his surge in popularity to Gen Z listeners who discovered his music on TikTok. Songs featuring acoustic instruments, passionate vocals and dramatic dynamic shifts are ripe for heartstring-tugging clips about weddings, bucket-list trips and beloved pets, and Hozier has more than a few in his arsenal, including “Would That I,” from his second LP.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Film Crew Veteran, Injured in an Accident, Faults Amazon for His Pain

    The visual effects supervisor, hurt in one of three recent accidents on Amazon film sets, has sued, but the company says it is not to blame.In March 2023, the producers of Amazon’s holiday movie “Candy Cane Lane,” starring Eddie Murphy, were determined to set a 15-foot fir aflame for a scene, according to court papers filed in a recent lawsuit.But the weather was not cooperating, the court documents say. Producers had already canceled the shoot on several occasions because of rain and winds.Yet, on this day, production would press forward amid winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour, the court papers say.One intense gust sent a tent on the set flying into Jon Farhat, a visual effects supervisor. In the lawsuit he filed last fall, Mr. Farhat said the tent speared him in the back and threw him into the air “as if he was caught in a tornado.” He landed on the ground, unconscious.A video animation created by Jon Farhat shows a simulation of how he says he was injured on the set of the film “Candy Cane Lane.”Jon FarhatCut to 15 months later, and Mr. Farhat, 66, is still primarily bedridden in his home, unable to sit, unable to stand for more than an hour. He broke five vertebrae and two ribs. An ambulance is required to transport him to medical appointments, he said. And his struggle to recover has been made all the more frustrating, he says, by what he describes as a jumble of workers’ compensation red tape that has left him dissatisfied with his doctors and his pain management plan.Share your experience on film and TV sets.If you have worked in film or TV production, we want to hear from you. We won’t publish any part of your response without following up with you first, verifying your information and hearing back from you. We won’t share your contact information outside our newsroom or use it for any reason other than to get in touch with you.

    We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Angela Bofill, R&B Hitmaker With a Silky Voice, Dies at 70

    Starting in the late 1970s, she scored multiple hit singles, including “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter” and “I Try,” but multiple strokes in the 2000s ended her career.Angela Bofill, a New York-bred singer whose sultry alto propelled a string of R&B hits in the late 1970s and early ’80s before strokes derailed her career in the 2000s, died on Thursday in Vallejo, Calif. She was 70.Her death, at the home of her daughter, Shauna Bofill Vincent, was announced in a social media post by her manager, Rich Engel. He did not specify a cause.With a silky blend of Latin, jazz, adult-contemporary and soul, Ms. Bofill is best remembered for jazzy love songs like “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter” and funk-inflected pop numbers like “Something About You.” Armed with a three-and-a-half-octave range, her voice was “as cool as sherbet, creamy, delicately colored, mildly flavored,” as Ariel Swartley wrote in Rolling Stone magazine in 1979.Starting in 1978, Ms. Bofill logged six albums in the Top 40 of the Billboard R&B charts, with five of them crossing over to the Top 100 of the pop charts. She also scored seven Top 40 R&B singles, including “Angel of the Night,” (1979) and “Too Tough” (1983).Angela Tomasa Bofill was born on May 2, 1954, in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father and grew up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, in Manhattan and in the West Bronx. She started writing songs as a child.By her teens, she was already showing off her vocal chops in a duo with her sister Sandra and a group called the Puerto Rican Supremes, and also as a member of the prestigious All-City Chorus, a group composed of top high-school singers in the city’s five boroughs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘The Promised Land,’ ‘Biosphere’ and More Streaming Gems

    Speculative science fiction, period drama and sly thrillers are among this month’s off-the-beaten-path recommendations from your subscription streamers.‘The Promised Land’ (2023)Stream it on Hulu.Mads Mikkelsen stars in this epic period drama as Capt. Ludvig Kahlen, described as “a presumptuous soldier in a flea-ridden uniform” — and that’s what they say to his face. The sneers and humiliation he is subjected to by the ruling class of mid-18th-century Denmark give the picture its juice; the potent narrative is as much a pointed class commentary as a historical drama, as the poor but dedicated Kahlen tries to build a workable manor out of a barren slab of heath, and discovers that his idealistic notions of honor and hard work won’t get him much of anywhere with these aristocrats. Chief among them is Simon Bennebjerg’s De Schinkel, the most loathsome movie villain in many a moon. And the director Nikolaj Arcel builds up a furious head of steam on the way to an utterly satisfying conclusion.‘A Simple Favor’ (2018)Stream it on Netflix.Paul Feig made his name directing such movies as “Bridesmaids” and “Spy,” uproarious comic gems that provided career-best showcases for their female stars. He shines a similarly flattering spotlight on Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively here, though with a surprising genre shift, eschewing the broad comedy of his earlier work for this stylish, semi-Sapphic neo-noir thriller. Kendrick is a typical suburban mom who finds herself dazzled by (and quietly attracted to) Lively’s sophisticated outlier; their children are schoolmates, but they may as well be from different planets. The twists and turns of Jessica Sharzer’s screenplay (from the Darcey Bell novel) are compelling, but Kendrick and Lively’s swoony relationship, and its spiky playfulness, are what make “A Simple Favor” sing.‘Dean’ (2017)Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Do You Recognize This Film (and Book) From a Movie Still?

    Can you identify a book title just by looking at a photo from its film adaptation? (Or maybe if you had just a little hint?) That’s the challenge in this week’s installment of Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about books and stories that have gone on to find new life in the form of movies, television shows, theatrical productions and other formats.Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their screen adaptations. More