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      In ‘La Máquina,’ Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna Get a Rematch

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      Sitting cross-legged on the floor at the Château Marmont in Los Angeles, Gael García Bernal stared with admiration at his lifelong friend and fellow actor Diego Luna. Just the night before, they had walked onstage at the Peacock Theater and, as expected, presented the Emmy for best director of a limited or anthology series or TV movie.Less expected, in a move they said wasn’t preapproved, they had given the award in Spanish.“We were just told that the Emmys are losing a big chunk of its audience,” García Bernal told the crowd and the nearly 7 million live TV viewers. “So me and Diego decided to do something to push the limits, to erase the boundaries.”Luna saluted the United States’ more than 50 million Spanish speakers. Then the award went to Steven Zaillian of “Ripley” — for “mejor dirección” in a limited series.Whatever its provocative qualities — in our interview, García Bernal cited Donald Trump’s divisive immigration rhetoric as motivation — the speech was also a canny bit of promotion. As much of the ensuing coverage noted, the two actors have their own limited series coming on Oct. 9, “La Máquina,” Hulu’s first original Spanish-language production.In “La Máquina,” Luna, left, plays the spray-tanned, plastic-surgery obsessed manager of a boxer played by García Bernal (with Eiza González as the boxer’s ex-wife).Cristian Salvatierra/HuluFriends since they were children in Mexico City, García Bernal, 45, and Luna, 44, are indelibly linked, not least because of their breakout roles in Alfonso Cuarón’s breakout film, “Y Tu Mamá También” (2002), in which they played best pals from different social classes on a life-changing road trip.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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      Late Night Heaps Scorn on Trump’s Latest Defense

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      Jimmy Kimmel said Donald Trump was “partially right” in denying interference in the 2020 election: “He tried to rig the election and failed to rig the election.’Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘Rignoramus’A newly unsealed court filing in the special counsel’s case against former President Donald Trump detailed attempts at election interference in 2020. Trump refuted those claims, saying that it wasn’t he who rigged the election, “they did.”“He’s actually right about some of that; he didn’t rig the election. He tried to rig the election and failed to rig the election. He’s a rignoramus, is what he is.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“What a baby. That’s just as bad as Jeffrey Dahmer’s famous defense, ‘No, you ate my neighbor!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I know this is going to sound controversial, but I’m just going to come out and say it: I think Trump might have done something wrong.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (October Surprise Edition)“A federal judge yesterday unsealed a 165-page motion detailing evidence against former President Trump in his election interference case. OK, well, there’s only one way he’s reading 165 pages, and it’s at the Cheesecake Factory.” — SETH MEYERS“According to the filing, Trump told the staff that he was going to declare victory regardless of the results. Vladimir Putin heard and was like, ‘[imitating Putin] My little man is growing up.’” — JIMMY FALLON“The news of Trump’s alleged crimes are being called an ‘October surprise,’ while most Americans were like, ‘Um, we’re not that surprised.’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingDemi Lovato and Jimmy Fallon shrieked their way through a new haunted house experience, “Tonightmares.”Also, Check This OutSaoirse Ronan in “The Outrun.”Martin Scott Powell/Sony Pictures ClassicsSaoirse Ronan delivers another stunning performance as an alcoholic desperately clinging to sobriety. More

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      When John Amos Had Enough of the ‘Good Times’

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      The actor, whose death was announced this week, made it known he didn’t like the direction the hit show was going. His character was then killed off.It was the role John Amos had worked toward his entire acting career. For three seasons, to many accolades and impressive ratings, Amos played the patriarch, James Evans Sr., on “Good Times.” The character was hardworking, earnest and serious-minded — traits largely unseen in Black television characters up to that point in the mid-1970s. And “Good Times” was a hit, part of a string of sitcom successes from the executive producer Norman Lear.But suddenly, Amos was no longer a part of the cast. The groundbreaking show explained the absence to viewers by having Evans die in an offscreen car accident while preparing the family for a move to Mississippi.“Damn! Damn! Damn!” the actress Esther Rolle, who played Evans’s wife, Florida, famously lamented while mourning his death.“Good Times” rumbled on for another three seasons without its fatherly anchor, and with diminishing viewership each season until it concluded in 1979.The actor’s actual death, at the age of 84, was made public on Tuesday although he died in August. The lag between his death and the announcement has widened a longstanding rift between his two children, Shannon Amos and K.C. Amos His daughter, Shannon, said that she had only learned of her father’s death through media reports.“This tragic news has left us in shock and heartache,” Shannon Amos said in a statement attributed to her, close friends and family members. “We are deeply concerned that our father may have been neglected and isolated during his final days.”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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      ‘Where’s Wanda?’ Is a Charming German Dramedy

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      A small-town European murder mystery but more stylish than most — and less miserable.Heike Makatsch and Axel Stein in a scene from “Where’s Wanda?”Apple TV+The Apple TV+ series “Where’s Wanda?” (in German, with subtitles, or dubbed) is another “suburbanites find themselves by committing mild crimes” dramedy, where the comfortably domestic are suddenly in close contact with the Bad Guys and discovering a bit about themselves along the way.But “Wanda” is set atilt because Carlotta (Heike Makatsch) and Dedo (Axel Stein) aren’t trying to make bank in the drug trade or expose white-collar crime. They’re searching for their missing teenage daughter, Wanda (Lea Drinda), and if they have to surveil every house in the neighborhood to achieve what the police can’t, they’ll do it.“Wanda” nails this tonal balance, braiding fish-out-of-water criminal ineptitude and the sexy warmth of a marital adventure with anguish and helplessness. This is not another miserable, high-end missing child drama set among the weepy wealthy. It’s a colorful, quirky caper.Carlotta and Dedo convince themselves they have 100 days to find their daughter, which sets the timer ticking. Their investigative skills are minimal, and the strategies they come up with don’t seem particularly effective — but that’s sort of the point. Of course they have no idea what they’re doing, and of course in a moment of crisis one’s creative problem-solving strategies would suffer. They think Wanda has to be nearby, in someone’s house, and with the eventual help of their son, Ole (Leo Simon), they wind up putting spy cams in their neighbors’ houses, hoping to hear or see something helpful.What they discover is mostly that their neighbors are all odd ducks, which they sort of knew already. Carlotta and Dedo fixate on other couples’ squabbles and compatibility, caving to the allure of voyeurism and jealousy. Even worse, everyone seems to be conducting business as usual — they just get to live their regular lives while Wanda’s family is turned inside out.Part of what keeps the show from being droopy and gloomy is its overt stylishness. Every dang top is textured and sculptural, each house an angular dream. Funky glass jugs and enviable art chairs fill each room, and everyone drives distinctive retro cars. Insular small towns are often murder bogs on European shows, but the citizens of Sundersheim are mostly the goofy kind of weirdos.There are eight episodes, all made available to critics in advance, and as with many contemporary mystery series, it could probably stand to be six. So far two are streaming, and new episodes arrive on Wednesdays. More

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      ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Finale Recap: Highs and Lows

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      The second season ended in a whirlwind of fire and steel, darkness and light, capping an eight-episode run with many ups and downs.Season 2, Episode 8: ‘Shadow and Flame’If you were to describe “The Rings of Power” in the simplest terms, the show would sound like a parody of prequels. An epic TV drama about how the rings in “The Lord of the Rings” were forged? What’s next? A detailed, multi-season history of Batman’s utility belt?So give the “Rings” creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay credit for finding a purpose for their premise — beyond trying to squeeze more money out of a popular I.P., that is. Through two seasons now, they have been telling a complex story about what Middle-earth was like in the years when Sauron was consolidating power. And they have been and exploring how tantalizing and corrupting Sauron’s vision could be to the elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, wizards and humans within his immediate reach. It’s a story similar to the one J.R.R. Tolkien told in “The Lord of the Rings” but set in a time when Sauron could still perhaps have been bested.Like Season 1, the second season has been a shaky ride, hampered by characters and story lines that never fully popped. But the underlying concept for the series remains strong; and the final two episodes of Season 2 are, on the whole, exciting television.Here are five takeaways and observations from the season finale:Darkness in NumenorIf “Rings of Power” is renewed for a third season — which seems likely, given how much has been invested in it — Numenor will probably have a major role to play in the next phase of the story. I won’t spoil what might happen, assuming that the writers continue to follow Middle-earth history as laid out by Tolkien. But let it suffice to say that Sauron’s plans very much include the island kingdom; and the schism between Pharazon and Elendil will become one of humankind’s defining divisions. This place matters. These people matter.Anyway, I hope you repeated those thoughts to yourself like a mantra as you were saying goodbye to Numenor for this season — after another round of middling political melodrama, of course. The main takeaway from the Numenor scenes this week was that Miriel’s showdown with the Sea Worm did nothing to slow Pharazon’s rise. Instead he has declared the Valar’s “faithful” to be traitors, in league with Sauron.In response, Miriel commands Elendil to leave her behind as a martyr to the cause and to regroup with the faithful outside the city; and she gifts him with a significant old sword called Narsil (“the white flame”). This exodus also gets Elendil away from his daughter, Earien, who now feels terrible about what her loyalty to Pharazon has wrought. (There is a lot of “maybe our great leader isn’t so great” hindsight in “The Lord of the Rings” stories, isn’t there?)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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      ‘Saturday Night Live’: 11 Defining Political Sketches

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      Since the 1970s, the late-night institution has offered up definitive impersonations of American presidents and other politicians. Here are its most memorable political sketches.Much like game-show parodies, fake commercials and the Weekend Update segment, comedic sendups of presidential politics have become a staple of “Saturday Night Live.”Look no further than the sketch that opened the 50th anniversary season last weekend, for which “S.N.L.” tapped its celebrated alumni Maya Rudolph to play Vice President Kamala Harris; Andy Samberg to play her husband, Douglas Emhoff; and Dana Carvey to play President Biden. Jim Gaffigan, the standup comic and actor, was also on hand as Tim Walz and — oh yes — the “S.N.L.” cast members James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang as Donald Trump and JD Vance.Over nearly half a century, “Saturday Night Live” has had an evolving relationship with the presidency and how to present it on the show. As “S.N.L.” has moved from counterculture to the mainstream, it has been pretty open, as an institution, about which commanders in chief it likes and which ones it doesn’t. Yet in every era of its history, “S.N.L.” has had talented cast members to embody presidents and the people fearless (and foolish) enough to want to seek the White House. (And even then, it still sometimes called on celebrities to play those parts.)Here’s a look back at 11 of the show’s most memorable political sketches.1975‘Christmas at the White House’Chevy Chase’s impersonation of Gerald Ford on “S.N.L.” was by no means definitive, or even all that accurate; he did not so much affect Ford’s mannerisms or voice as simply put on formal clothes. But it demonstrated the show’s immediate power to insinuate itself into the political discourse. Try to think of a distinct moment from Ford’s time in office: Do you hear him saying, “Our long national nightmare is over”? Or do you see Chase tumbling off a ladder onto a Christmas tree?1977‘Ask President Carter’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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      7 Books Like ‘Heartstopper’ to Read After You Binge Season 3 on Netflix

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      Earnest love stories by Rainbow Rowell, TJ Klune and Talia Hibbert will tug at your heartstrings while grappling with real, often dark, issues.Break out the heart eyes and rugby kits: The much-anticipated third season of the gushingly earnest teen romantic dramedy “Heartstopper” arrives on Netflix on Oct. 3.The show, based on the best-selling graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, follows Nick Nelson, a golden retriever of a rugby player, and Charlie Spring, a sensitive drummer, who meet-cute one day in homeroom. They and their friends cover every stripe of the L.G.B.T.Q. rainbow. They’re also goofy and anxious and smart and exuberant, all of the things teenagers are as they discover love and attraction for the first time. The show deals frequently with difficult issues — bullying, eating disorders, gender dysphoria, housing insecurity — while also painting an effervescent picture of adolescence that, in a homage to the comics, is sprinkled with hearts and fireworks.There are five volumes of “Heartstopper” — plus two spinoff novellas and a stand-alone novel, “Solitaire,” about Charlie’s prickly, fan-favorite older sister — available to read while you wait for a sixth book (and a potential fourth season). But if you’ve already blown through Oseman’s oeuvre and are craving more young adult love stories that grapple with darker themes, these books are for you.I’d like a grounded, heartfelt love storyAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the UniverseBy Benjamin Alire SáenzWhen we first meet Aristotle Mendoza, he is 15, bored and miserable, staring down another summer in El Paso. Then he meets Dante Quintana, who teaches Ari how to swim at the community pool. Their friendship blooms from there, growing out of comic books, bus rides and heated debates about the literary merits of Joseph Conrad.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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      Late Night Sums Up a Strangely Chill VP Debate

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      Jimmy Fallon said viewers “were expecting a horror movie, but instead, they got a Hallmark movie.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Debate and SwitchLate-night hosts continued to recap the vice-presidential debate on Wednesday.Jimmy Fallon called it “the craziest debate yet — they actually talked about policy.”“Yeah, this debate turned out to be polite, friendly and intimate — it was jarring. Basically, people were expecting a horror movie, but instead, they got a Hallmark movie.” — JIMMY FALLON“Most people felt that JD Vance had a solid debate. Republicans saw that and were, like, ‘Hey, could we pull a Biden and just go with this guy?’” — JIMMY FALLON“That’s right. Most polls found that JD Vance won the debate. However, all those polls were taken at a Sephora.” — JIMMY FALLON“Great, the entire debate was pointless and irrelevant. So, in a way, it really did prepare them to be vice president.” — MICHAEL KOSTA“In his closing statement at last night’s debate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz thanked viewers for missing ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ For those who are unfamiliar, it’s a reality competition show that will hopefully feature JD Vance next season.” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Trump Backs Out Edition)“Former President Trump broke a 50-year tradition for presidential candidates after he backed out of his scheduled interview with ‘60 Minutes’ because he was worried they’d fact-check him. So if you’re keeping track, Trump said that he’ll stand up to the president of China, but Lesley Stahl is a little too scary.” — JIMMY FALLON“You’d think these guys would be embarrassed to be so against fact-checking. You know, if you include some facts in your sentences when you speak, there’ll be nothing to check.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“He won’t do ‘60 Minutes,’ but if there is a group of doofuses in flat-brimmed hats with a podcast where they call him ‘Bro,’ he will be happy to plug your energy drink on that.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingIna Garten discussed her new memoir over cosmopolitans with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday’s “Late Show.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightPaul Reiser will pop by “Late Night” on Thursday to promote his new buddy comedy, “The Problem With People.”Also, Check This OutSarah Snook won an Olivier Award for “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” which ran in London this year.Marc BrennerThe “Succession” standout Sarah Snook will play all 26 characters in a one-woman stage production of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” More