Aurelia Butler

More stories

  • 125 Shares189 Views

    in Movies

    Inside Universal’s Big Bet on ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

    In an era of skepticism around live-action remakes, Universal believes audiences will take flight with Hiccup and Toothless again.In 2020, Dean DeBlois publicly blasted live-action remakes of animated films as “lazy” studio endeavors.The director who, along with Chris Sanders, had made the 2002 Disney animated “Lilo & Stitch” and the 2010 DreamWorks Animation release “How to Train Your Dragon,” said that he viewed such remakes as “a missed opportunity to put something original into the world.”Then, two years later, DeBlois received a call from the Universal Pictures president, Peter Cramer, asking if he’d be interested in directing a live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon.”“At the expense of seeming like a hypocrite, I thought, well, I’m either going to sit here and pout and watch somebody else do it,” DeBlois said in a video interview with The Times, “or I could jump in and shoulder the blame or help to change the narrative.”Now, as the live-action “Dragon” arrives in theaters on Friday, DeBlois is enthusiastically attached to the type of movie he formerly criticized.A lot could have gone wrong: DeBlois had never made a live-action feature before Universal put him in charge of the $150 million remake, and the genre as a whole is facing increased skepticism from audiences and studios alike. (Disney reportedly put its “Tangled” remake on hold indefinitely in the wake of underwhelming box office for “Snow White” this spring.)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

  • 150 Shares129 Views

    in Movies

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Busy Caring for a Pony, Pig, Donkey and Malamute

    The longtime actor, now starring in “FUBAR,” on his many animals, good cigars and wanting his kids to outshine him.Arnold Schwarzenegger was smoking a cigar on his patio in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood, lamenting all the things that he had decided to trim from his list of 10 essentials. Most of all his five kids.“I cannot live without my children,” he said on a video call as his pet pig, Schnelly, wandered around. “I need to be in touch daily.”Schwarzenegger was sounding a lot like Luke Brunner, his character in the Netflix series “FUBAR,” which just began streaming its second season. In it, he plays the world’s best spy, and perhaps its most overprotective father, who learns that his daughter is a C.I.A. operative with an ego, just like Dad is.“She says, ‘When they say Brunner, I don’t want them just to talk about you. I want them also to talk about me,’” he said. “It’s the same thing as it is in real life with Patrick, my son, being an actor now and being big time and doing fantastic shows,” including a star turn this year in Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”Was the elder Schwarzenegger feeling a bit competitive? “I hope and wish that he will do bigger things than I’ve ever done,” he said before elaborating on his love of chess and driving his M47 tank. “It’s fantastic when kids are performing better than their parents because that is largely because of them, and it’s also because of you. It’s upbringing.”These are edited excerpts from the conversation.ChessI learned to play chess with my father and did that pretty much every day. I have collected chess sets from all over the world, but now 99 percent of the time you play on an app with your friends in Austria or Germany or Hungary or Russia — wherever they are.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

  • 188 Shares189 Views

    in Music

    At Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Trial, Talk of Baby Oil, Guns and a Guest: Kanye West

    The rapper formerly known as Kanye West, one of the few celebrities to publicly defend Mr. Combs, was denied access to the courtroom and briefly watched on closed-circuit video.At about 11:20 a.m. on Friday, there was a commotion at the entrance to the Federal District courthouse in Lower Manhattan when Ye, the rapper and provocateur formerly known as Kanye West, entered the building where Sean Combs is standing trial.Ye, wearing sunglasses and a white denim jacket and pants, was accompanied by Mr. Combs’s son Christian. When he was asked by a reporter if he was there to support Mr. Combs, Ye said yes — though he stayed in the courthouse for only about 30 minutes, and was never seated in the courtroom.For months, Ye has been one of the only major celebrities to offer public support for Mr. Combs, who is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors have said that employees of Mr. Combs, including security staff, worked on his behalf as part of a “criminal enterprise” to commit a variety of crimes, including kidnapping, arson and obstruction of justice. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty.The presence of Ye — who has become a pariah in the music industry in recent years for issuing brazen antisemitic comments — was brief, but it electrified the building.When he tried to enter the 26th-floor courtroom where Mr. Combs’s trial was underway, Ye was told that he was not on the approved list for the day, which is held by court officers and includes reporters and members of the public who arrive early.So Ye was directed to a mostly empty overflow room three floors down. There, with Christian Combs and Charlucci Finney, a friend of Mr. Combs, Ye watched a closed-circuit video feed as the proceedings were set to resume after a break.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

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Music

    Foday Musa Suso, 75, Dies; Ambitious Ambassador for West African Music

    A master of the kora who worked with Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass, his career was powered as much by experimentation as by reverence for tradition.Foday Musa Suso, a griot, kora virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist and composer whose work with artists like Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass helped thrust West African musical traditions into conversation with the world, died on May 25 in his native Gambia. He was 75.The percussionist Stefan Monssen, a mentee of Mr. Suso’s, confirmed the death, in a hospital. He did not specify a cause, but said Mr. Suso had been in ill health in recent years after suffering a stroke.Mr. Suso was born into a long line of griots, the caste of musician-storytellers who are traditionally responsible for retaining oral histories in the areas of West Africa where the Mande languages are spoken. He traced his lineage back to Jeli Madi Wlen Suso, who is said to have invented the kora centuries ago by attaching 21 strings and a cowhide to a large calabash gourd.Mr. Suso was the rare musician who learned to play in the various regional styles of griots from around West Africa. In a tribute published in Gambia’s major newspaper, The Standard, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the country’s high court wrote, “Jali Foday was more than a musician, he was a living archive, a teacher, and a symbol of continuity in a rapidly changing world.” (The honorific “Jali” refers to Mr. Suso’s status as a griot.)And yet Mr. Suso’s career was powered as much by his will to expand as by reverence for tradition.He added three bass strings to his kora’s traditional 21, allowing him to hold a steady beat and make its sound more danceable — and therefore more appealing to young listeners in the 1970s.He wrote many of his own compositions. He also learned to play more than a dozen other instruments, including the balafon (an African predecessor of the xylophone), kalimba (also known as the thumb piano), nyanyer (a one-stringed violin-like instrument), ngoni (an early West African banjo) and talking drum. After moving to the United States, he began experimenting with electronic instruments as well.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

  • 163 Shares119 Views

    in Music

    Arthur Hamilton, Who Wrote the Enduring ‘Cry Me a River,’ Dies at 98

    A hit for Julie London in 1955, it was later recorded by — among many others — Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand and Michael Bublé, who praised it for its “darkness.”Arthur Hamilton, a composer best known for the enduring torch song “Cry Me a River,” which has been recorded by hundreds of artists, died on May 20 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 98.His death was announced this month by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the Society of Composers & LyricistsMr. Hamilton’s long career included an Oscar nomination for best original song. But his most famous composition by far was “Cry Me a River.”It was one of the three songs he wrote for the 1955 film “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” which starred Jack Webb as a jazz musician fighting mobsters in Prohibition-era Kansas City, Mo. At the time, Mr. Webb was also playing his most famous role, Sergeant Joe Friday, on the television series “Dragnet” (1951-59).Peggy Lee, who played an alcoholic performer in the film, sang Mr. Hamilton’s “Sing a Rainbow” and “He Needs Me.” Ella Fitzgerald, who was also in the film, sang “Cry Me a River,” but her rendition was cut by Mr. Webb, who was also the director and producer.“Arthur said to me that the irony was that when Ella recorded it” — years later, for her 1961 album “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!” — “he thought she made one of the greatest recordings of it ever,” Michael Feinstein, the singer and pianist, said in an interview. “But Jack felt she didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to do it justice.”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

  • 88 Shares179 Views

    in Music

    The Musical Mysteries Brian Wilson Left Behind

    The Beach Boys mastermind has been the subject of pop scholarship and major boxed sets, but some corners of his oeuvre remain unreleased.Though Brian Wilson was one of pop’s most studied artists, he largely remained an enigma. The Beach Boys leader, whose death at 82 was announced this week, made music for the masses with an artisan’s eye for detail. While his biography was well known, questions about what drove him to the top of the charts — and ultimately deep into darkness — could never definitively be answered.Since the start of the CD era, Wilson’s legacy has been burnished by a series of deep-dive archival efforts, including the 1993 “Good Vibrations” boxed set, the revelatory “Pet Sounds Sessions” collection from 1996, a series of early 2000s reissues focused on the band’s Brother label years, and ultimately the holy grail: the release of his abandoned mid-60s masterwork, “Smile,” in 2011.“Everything Brian created is worth hearing and it all has a kind of historical value in terms of understanding his life,” said David Leaf, the Beach Boys historian who published “Smile: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson” this spring.In more recent years, that effort has continued with sets focused on the Beach Boys’ overlooked and often deceptively strange 1970s work. “These projects continue to come out with all this new and unheard material,” said the author Peter Ames Carlin, who wrote a 2006 biography of Wilson, “Catch a Wave.” “It’s a testament to just how creative and prolific Brian was — despite the many ups and downs of his life.”Even with the consistent release of music from the vaults, there are fascinating corners of Wilson’s oeuvre that have yet to see the light of day. Here’s a rundown.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

  • 125 Shares169 Views

    in Movies

    Action Movies to Stream Now: ‘Exterritorial,’ ‘Fear Below’ and More

    This month’s picks include a gaslit mother, a hungry shark, vengeful French cops, and more.‘Exterritorial’Stream it on Netflix.Sara (Jeanne Goursaud), a German war veteran, is moving to the United States with her son, Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva), to accept a job when he is abducted in the consulate. Although Sara begs for help, the consulate’s smarmy security officer, Eric (Dougray Scott), claims her son was never with her.Like “Flightplan,” another film about a mother searching for her missing child, “Exterritorial,” written and directed by Christian Zübert, makes gaslighting a juicy subject for an action thriller. In her pursuit, which is often slowed by her post-traumatic stress disorder, Sara discovers a secret drug ring and an imprisoned whistle-blower (Lera Abova). An expert in hand-to-hand combat, Sara also engages in bone-rattling scrums with consulate personnel. The oppressively white and bright setting, the psychological angst felt by Sara, and Zübert’s insistence on long takes make “Exterritorial” succeed as a frustrating fight for recognition.‘Fear Below’Rent or buy on most major platforms.In the director Matthew Holmes’s striking shark movie “Fear Below,” a diving team — Clara (Hermione Corfield), Jimmy (Jacob Junior Nayinggul) and Ernie (Arthur Angel) — is hired by a rugged gangster named Dylan (Jake Ryan) to salvage boxes of gold bars trapped in a truck at the bottom of a deep and dirty river. It’s a simple job complicated by a deadly female bull shark circling the treasure.“Fear Below” is both politically conscious — using its 1940s Australian background to comment on the sexism and racism of the era — and downright thrilling. While the wrathful Dylan is an easy-to-hate heel, the shark is commandingly elusive. The dingy water means the bloodthirsty predator can appear anytime, and the extreme close-ups in the divers’ helmets adds to the limited visibility. The two angles combine for a shark movie that ends with a crunch.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

  • 100 Shares119 Views

    in Movies

    7 Father’s Day Movies to Watch in Theaters

    Whether you’re in the mood for dragons or a new Wes Anderson, theaters this weekend are filled with fatherly flicks.It’s tough being a dad, but you can at least be assured that you don’t have to contend with fire-breathing dragons, rooftop body slams or assassination attempts (we hope).Instead, you can enjoy watching other dads — and surrogate dads — confront those thrills this month in theaters.Here’s a roundup of what to watch with the father figure in your life.The Heartwarming‘How to Train Your Dragon’Hiccup isn’t like the other vikings. He can barely lift a battle ax, much less wield one; he’d rather tinker than trade insults with his peers, and he’s more clumsy than courageous. He is, in other words, tough for his manly-man village chief father (played by Gerard Butler), to love. But when he unexpectedly vaults to the top of his dragon-fighting training class — using mysterious means — his father is over the moon. However, when Hiccup suggests NOT killing dragons? Cue the shame. In theaters.‘Elio’Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) with Glordon (Remy Edgerly) in “Elio.”Pixar/Disney/Pixar, via Associated PressWhen your dad is a warlord, and you just want to make him proud — preferably without the need for intergalactic conquest — well, it’s not easy for either father or son. But that’s the case among Glordon, a sluglike purple alien with no eyelids, and his dad, the fearsome space ruler Lord Grigon, in the latest Pixar film “Elio.”When Glordon and the titular protagonist, 11-year-old Elio, who must negotiate with Lord Grigon to prevent him from destroying the universe, become fast friends, loyalties will be tested. Will Glordon’s dad come around when his son is kidnapped and agrees to be used as a bargaining chip? Or will he abandon the kid to fate? (Yes, this one isn’t quite out yet, but no one says you can’t buy your dad advance tickets!) In theaters June 20.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