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      The Golden Globes’ Biggest Winner May Be the Group That Hands Them Out

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonNetflix’s First Winner?Our Best Movie PicksStream Top Oscar ContendersOscar-Winning DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Golden Globes’ Biggest Winner May Be the Group That Hands Them OutMembers of the tax-exempt Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the ceremony, are courted by stars and studios, and sometimes paid.A Golden Globe win can boost careers, jack up box office earnings and foreshadow an Academy Award.Credit…Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesCara Buckley and Feb. 23, 2021Updated 4:32 p.m. ETThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been widely viewed as colorful, generally harmless, perhaps venal and not necessarily journalistically productive. But because the group puts on the Golden Globes, courting the favor of its members — there are only 87 — has become a ritualized Tinseltown pursuit.Celebrities send them handwritten holiday cards. Studios put them up at five-star hotels. Champagne, pricey wine, signed art, cashmere blankets, slippers, record players, cakes, headphones and speakers are among the gifts that have arrived at their doorsteps, recipients say.The suitors — studios, production companies, strategists and publicists — are all chasing the same thing: members’ votes. Every one counts. A Golden Globe nomination, and certainly a win, is a publicity boon that can boost careers, jack up box office earnings and foreshadow an Academy Award.Boozy, irreverent and generally jolly good fun, the Globes are the third most-watched awards show after the Grammys and the much more staid Academy Awards. The show occupies a curious place in the entertainment industry. Mocking the Globes, and their occasionally off-the-wall nominations and picks, as irrelevant has become an annual blood sport in the Hollywood press, which covers them anyway, and the association’s members, many of whom work for obscure outlets, are regularly painted as doddering, out of touch and faintly corrupt.“The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton,” Ricky Gervais, who has hosted them multiple times, said at the ceremony in 2012. “Bit louder. Bit trashier. Bit drunker. And more easily bought, allegedly. Nothing’s been proved.”But on the eve of the Feb. 28 show, a recent lawsuit and a series of interviews and financial records are providing a more unsparing look at the group, which does not publicly list its roster, admits very few applicants, and, despite being a media association, has some members who say they are fearful of speaking to the press. The group is also coming under increased scrutiny from news organizations, including The Los Angeles Times, which recently delved into their finances; one of its findings, that the group has no Black members, made headlines.Kjersti Flaa, a Norwegian reporter, sued when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association denied her entry. Most of her lawsuit was thrown out, but she recently amended it.Credit…Rozette Rago for The New York TimesThe latest re-examination began last year when Kjersti Flaa, a Norwegian reporter who has thrice been denied admittance to the group, and whose romantic partner is a member, sued the organization, saying that it acted as a monopoly, hogging prized interviews even though relatively few of its members actively worked as journalists. Studios went along to ingratiate themselves, she said, because of the value of the members’ votes.“It’s very obvious who’s important for the studios and who’s not,” Flaa said in an interview. “And the thing is, no one has said anything about this before. It’s just been accepted.”Members are territorial and loath to welcome competitors, she alleged, lobbying each other to accept or deny entry to new applicants, with little consideration for journalistic merits. Flaa pointed to a fracas involving a Russian member who in 2015 was accused of demanding that a Ukranian applicant not write for any Russian outlets and hand over her extra Golden Globes tickets — and guarantee her promise in a notarized letter — in exchange for being considered for admission.Flaa said outsiders had a nickname for the association: “The cartel.”The association would not comment specifically on the 2015 incident, but Gregory Goeckner, the organization’s chief operating officer and general counsel, said that such actions were prohibited, and that in 2018 its board approved a policy confirming any such letters as “void and unenforceable.” Goeckner also described Flaa’s allegations as “salacious,” and said it was studios, not the association, that made decisions about press access.A judge threw out the majority of Flaa’s suit, but she has recently amended it, and another journalist who also has been denied entry to the association has joined her complaint.Several current and former association members said Flaa’s accounts of the inner machinations were accurate, but requested anonymity because they said they feared retaliation from the group.The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was born in the ’40s, when foreign correspondents covering Hollywood banded together to gain access to movie stars. The Globes recognize movies and television, and is chockablock with stars, with nary a snoozy category — no sound editing prize here. As the awards industry complex mushroomed — it’s now a near year-round enterprise shaped by strategists and closely tracked by reporters — members’ relative power grew too.The association, which is sitting on millions of dollars in cash, is planning to upgrade its West Hollywood headquarters.Credit…Barry King/Alamy Stock PhotoAfter the show was picked up by television, it became a golden goose. In 2018, NBC agreed to pay $60 million a year for broadcast rights, about triple the previous licensing fee. While the Academy Awards and the Emmys have lost millions of viewers in recent years, the Golden Globes audience has held steady at 18 million to 20 million, which is why NBC was willing to fork up.“It’s a big-tent network television show, and as such, invaluable to film campaigns hoping to contend for Oscar nominations and wins,” said Tony Angellotti, a publicist who runs awards campaigns, in an email. “And the H.F.P.A. track record for identifying worthy films is indisputable. That’s not nothing.”To be able to vote for a Globe, members must publish at least six times a year, and attend 25 of the association’s news conferences, where celebrities and newsmakers are invited to appear, several members confirmed. If members want to travel to film festivals on the association’s dime, they have to attend even more news conferences, according to a copy of the travel policies reviewed by The New York Times. The rules say they don’t have to produce any press clippings related to their travels if they take five or fewer trips.Because the organization is a nonprofit, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is also tax-exempt. The filing from the tax year ending in June 2019 showed that the group was sitting on about $55 million in cash. It donated about $5 million to assorted causes, including $500,000 to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and $500,000 to the environmental site Inside Climate News.“The funding was enormously important,” David Sassoon, the founder and publisher of Inside Climate News, said in an email. “It solidified our finances and helped us get through the nightmares of 2020.”According to the tax filings, the tax-exempt nonprofit paid more than $3 million in salaries and other compensation to members and staff. The tax filing also showed $1.3 million in travel costs for that year; the association has said it typically pays the expenses of members who seek to travel to film festivals and the like.There is also compensation for performing duties that several members say used to be done for free. Being on the association’s TV Viewing Committee pays $1,000 a month, according to the treasurer’s report from the association’s January general meeting. Members of the Foreign Film Watching Committee pocket $3,465 apiece. Two dozen people sit on that committee, according to the minutes, which meant that the demands of watching international movies cost the association $83,160 in one month.The association also has an advisory committee, a history committee, a welfare committee, a travel committee, a film festival committee, a financial committee and an events committee — all of which come with stipends, according to the treasurer’s report.Some members said the number of paying committees has exploded in recent years, with members jockeying to nab multiple positions and loyalty rewarded with committee appointments. This has caused angst for some who want to see the association become less of a punchline around town. One member worried that the group will become overrun by members who draw most of their income from the organization and not from journalism.Ricky Gervais rolled out the red carpet at the Golden Globes last year.Credit…Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank, via, Getty ImagesGoeckner said the association only remunerates members when they do extra work and basically serve as employees, doing tasks that would constitute paid staff work elsewhere. The compensation, he said, was “orders of magnitude less” than what similar organizations pay. And he noted that the group was “not a charity,” and that its accumulated capital was earmarked for a planned upgrade of its West Hollywood headquarters.Still, there is debate over how much of its earnings the association should keep to itself.Flaa’s lawyer, David Quinto, said that by virtue of its tax-exempt status, the association should be benefiting foreign arts journalists more broadly, not just the ones in the group. He said the association “believes it is above the law” and called its conduct “blatantly improper.”But Ofer Lion, a Los Angeles lawyer with expertise on tax-exempt organizations, said that mutual benefit corporations like the association need only benefit a common purpose of its members, and as a 501(c) (6) tax-exempt organization, must only ensure they in some way benefit their industry overall. Payments to members for their work for the organization are legal, he said, as long as they are considered reasonable.“There are some healthy numbers on there,” Lion said, after reviewing the organization’s tax return, “but not really beyond the pale.”The group’s stated mission is essentially to help bolster ties between the United States and foreign countries by covering its culture and entertainment industry. But it has continuously come under scrutiny when puzzling award decisions have been handed down, most infamously in 1982, when Pia Zadora was named best new star over Kathleen Turner and Elizabeth McGovern. It was later revealed that Zadora’s producer, who also happened to be her husband, had flown the group to Las Vegas before the vote. CBS, which had been airing the show, dropped its broadcast, and it would be years before it returned to network television.In 2014, a former association president published a memoir in which he suggested that his colleagues could be swayed by favor trading.The association has tried to rehabilitate its image in recent years. In 1999, it sent back $400 Coach watches given to members by a film company and asked members in 2016 to return part of the Tom Ford-branded fragrance gift sent to each of them from the producers of “Nocturnal Animals.”Nowadays, members aren’t supposed to accept gifts in excess of $125. (The group says it has adopted a “more robust” gift policy.) Still, they can be wooed. For some, there was little surprise when the frothy series “Emily in Paris” — which got decidedly mixed reviews from critics — picked up two Golden Globe nominations this year. In September 2019, dozens of association members flew to Paris to visit the “Emily” set and were put up by the Paramount Network at the five-star Peninsula hotel.And although there purportedly has been a wave of reforms, the group’s eclectic membership list has remained largely the same for years.A review of a 2020 roster shows that its members include Yola Czaderska-Hayek, a woman known as the “Polish First Lady of Hollywood”; Alexander Nevsky, a former Mr. Universe and bodybuilder who has starred in movies like “Moscow Heat”; and Judy Solomon, an organization veteran of more than 60 years who has drawn attention for her role as what The Daily Beast called “The Golden Globes Seating Arbiter,” a job of no small importance when it comes to seating celebrities at the ceremony without ruffling feathers.In statements provided to The New York Times, two longtime members of the organization expressed pride in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and its work. One of the members, Meher Tatna, the current board chair, touted the group’s philanthropic initiatives, saying it received thank-you letters year-round.Czaderska-Hayek echoed that pride in a video posted on YouTube by the Polish government in 2010, but also noted that membership demands could be taxing.“It’s unbelievably hard work,” Czaderska-Hayek said, according to the video’s English subtitles. “We must see at least 300 U.S. films every year.”Alain Delaquérière and Kitty Bennett contributed research.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Late Night Blasts Ted Cruz’s Post-Cancún Photo Op

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBest of Late NightLate Night Blasts Ted Cruz’s Post-Cancún Photo Op“On Saturday, he posted photos of himself handing out bottled water with the hashtag ‘Texas strong.’ Sure, dude, we totally believe you,” Seth Meyers joked on Monday.Seth Meyers likened Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to a lazy husband lounging on the couch until his wife has unpacked all but the last bag of groceries.Credit…NBCFeb. 23, 2021, 2:21 a.m. ETWelcome 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. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Too Little, Too LateMost late-night hosts were off last week when Senator Ted Cruz of Texas took his untimely trip to Cancún, Mexico, after a brutal winter storm that left millions of people in the state without power or water. With the photo ops the senator staged back in Texas this weekend, there was even more Cruz content to work with.“Ted Cruz is the husband who sits on his couch watching football all day, then sees his wife unloading a car full of groceries, waits until there’s one bag left in the trunk, then goes outside and says, ‘Oh, can I help?’” Seth Meyers joked on Monday.“So now Ted Cruz is doing damage control after his estúpido trip to Mexico. He lent a helping hoof to those in need this weekend, and, of course, posted about it.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Then once he was shamed into coming back, Cruz tried to pretend he was actually interested in helping out. On Saturday, he posted photos of himself handing out bottled water with the hashtag ‘Texas strong.’ Sure, dude, we totally believe you.” — SETH MEYERS“Ted Cruz is like the friend who offers to help you move, but every time you see him, he’s just carrying the same box of pillows.” — JIMMY FALLON“People are also upset that Cruz tweeted those pictures himself. Even white people who only posted black squares on Instagram were like, ‘You gotta do more than that.’” — JIMMY FALLON“But Cruz tried to be helpful in other ways. Later, he showed Texans how to make frozen margs with the snow in their living rooms.” — JIMMY FALLON“Seriously, you know Cruz is having a rough 2021 when fueling a riot at the Capitol is nowhere near his biggest problem.” — JIMMY FALLON“Things are so bad for Cruz, he spent today thinking about the good old days, when people just thought he was the Zodiac Killer.” — JIMMY FALLON“Sorry, Cruz, this is not going to cut it, my man. See this right here? This is the politician version of coming home with flowers the day after Valentine’s Day. It’s not nothing, but your [expletive] is still sleeping on the couch.” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Empty Gestures Edition)“Like many of Ted Cruz’s attempts to mimic human behavior, this one was Ted on arrival.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Only Ted Cruz would think he can repair his image by touching a maskless constituent two days after getting off an international flight.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Also, we’re in a pandemic. Shaking hands, handing out water, serving food? Right now a Carnival Cruise is safer than a Ted Cruz.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, it seemed like an OK gesture until everyone noticed the label on the bottle said ‘Ritz Carlton Cancún.’ A little souvenir.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yup, the photo op didn’t work out too well. Most people just drove away when he tried showing them his vacation photos.” — JIMMY FALLON“Actually, Cruz wanted to do more, but he had a parasailing lesson at 3, so.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingJimmy Fallon suggested a few podcasts worth listening to, including Shaquille O’Neal reading love poems and the highly censored “Family Friendly True Crime Podcast.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightThe singer Billie Eilish will chat with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutCredit…Photo illustration by Bráulio AmadoAmy Poehler checks in before returning to (virtually) co-host the Golden Globes with Tina Fey this Sunday.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Fernando Hidalgo, Cuban-Born TV Host, Dies at 78

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesVaccine RolloutSee Your Local RiskNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThose We’ve LostFernando Hidalgo, Cuban-Born TV Host, Dies at 78For 14 years, “El Show de Fernando Hidalgo,” a racy variety show with a Cuban flair, was appointment viewing in Latino households across the United States.Fernando Hidalgo in Los Angeles last year. His Spanish-language variety show, “El Show de Fernando Hildago,” aired from 2000 to 2014.Credit…GP/Star Max, via GC ImagesFeb. 22, 2021Updated 3:22 p.m. ETThis obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.Every weeknight for 14 years, Fernando Hidalgo burst into the living rooms of Spanish-speaking households across the United States to lively Cuban fanfare, as dancers in colorful lingerie shimmied to bongos and trumpets and a theme song bearing his name.Broadcasting from a studio in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., just outside Miami, Mr. Hidalgo filled his show with interviews, monologues, skits with winking double entendres, scantily clad dancers who shocked abuelas and a generous helping of live Cuban music for nostalgic abuelos. At 7 p.m. or 11 p.m., “El Show de Fernando Hidalgo,” which aired on América TeVé and later on MegaTV, was appointment viewing in Latino households, particularly in South Florida, New York and Puerto Rico.Mr. Hidalgo produced and starred in an English-language film, “Ernesto’s Manifesto,” in 2019.Credit…Nereida DellanMr. Hidalgo died on Feb. 15 at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 78. His death was confirmed by his son Marlon Corona, 28, who said the cause was complications of Covid-19.América TeVé said in a statement that Mr. Hidalgo showed an “enormous talent for interpreting the sensibilities of our community, as well as his impressive capacity for improvisation and thematic renewal.”Fernando Corona was born in Marianao, Cuba, on Sept. 18, 1942, to Robert Corona, a Cuban soldier who later owned a flower business, and Concepción (Hidalgo) Corona, a homemaker, his son said.He was an adolescent when he moved with his family from Cuba to Chicago, where he got a job reading poems about Cuba on the radio, said Nereida Dellan, his former wife.As he established himself as a performer and a broadcaster, Mr. Hidalgo took his mother’s maiden name as a stage name, Ms. Dellan said.His career took him to Puerto Rico and Venezuela and back to the United States as he acted in and hosted shows, including a situation comedy, “Cómo Ser Feliz en el Matrimonio,” or “How to Be Happily Married.” He also hosted a game show similar to “The Newlywed Game” called “Los Casados Felices,” or “The Happy Married Couples.”The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      How Britain Is Reacting to ‘It’s a Sin’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHow Britain Is Reacting to ‘It’s a Sin’The show, which aired last month in the U.K., has broken a viewing record and revived conversations about how the country handled the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.From left, Omari Douglas, Lydia West, David Carlyle, Calum Scott Howells and Nathaniel Curtis in “It’s a Sin.”Credit… Ben Blackall/HBO MaxFeb. 22, 2021Updated 12:39 p.m. ETLONDON — In what may be a perfect formula for helping a well-made TV show go viral, all five episodes of “It’s a Sin” arrived on a British streaming service in late January, on the Friday before a snowy weekend, during a national lockdown.Since becoming available on HBO Max on Thursday, viewers in the U.S. have been binge watching the show, but in Britain, the show has dominated national conversations over recent weeks.The drama, created by Russell T Davies, tells the story of a group of friends navigating gay life in 1980s London, as AIDS moves from a whispered American illness to a defining aspect of their young lives. Episodes aired weekly on television on Channel 4, and the show broke records for the channel’s accompanying streaming service, with 16 million streams.Below is a roundup of how people in Britain have been reacting to “It’s a Sin,” including sharing their own experiences of the AIDS crisis, improving understanding of the H.I.V. treatments available today and lamenting the epidemic’s absence from school curriculums. This piece contains some spoilers.A critical successDavies has had a long and celebrated career in British television, including the relaunch of “Doctor Who” and making other hit L.G.B.T.Q. shows like “Queer as Folk” and “Cucumber.”“It’s a Sin” earned numerous five star reviews from British critics, along with praise for Davies’s writing. In The Telegraph, Anita Singh noted that he makes viewers “care about these characters from the first minute we see them,” adding that “as in so much of his work, he switches seamlessly between tragedy and humor.”In the show, activists stage a “die in” in London to protest the government’s handling of the AIDS crisis.Credit…Ben Blackall/HBO MaxWriting in The Times of London, Hugo Rifkind said, “It is a drama that could only have been made once stories of gay love and gay lives had become an uncontroversial fixture of mainstream popular culture, and it’s obviously thanks in large part to Davies that they have.”There was also praise for the actors’ performances, and how relatable many of the characters felt. In the TV magazine Radio Times, David Craig saw himself in multiple characters.“I remember feeling the same timidity as Colin (Callum Scott Howells) when I first attempted to explore my sexuality,” he wrote. “Likewise, I can recall making fraught phone calls home while still closeted, unable to discuss that which was truly weighing on my mind, similar to Ritchie (Olly Alexander).”Discussions of H.I.V. today“It’s a Sin” has also sparked a renewed public focus on H.I.V. prevention and treatment. The Terrence Higgins Trust, an H.I.V. and sexual health charity, said it had seen a huge boost in donations through its website, a boost to the number of H.I.V. tests requested at the start of H.I.V. Testing Week and a 30 percent increase in calls to its help line.“It’s genuinely been phenomenal,” Ian Green, the chief executive of the charity, said in a telephone interview. “It’s rekindled the narrative around H.I.V. in the United Kingdom.”On the popular daytime show “This Morning” a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Ranj, one of the show’s contributors, took an H.I.V. test live on air. Nathaniel J. Hall, who plays Donald in “It’s a Sin,” talked about living with H.I.V. on the chat show Lorraine. “I’m on medication and my viral load is what is known as undetectable,” he said. “That means I can’t transmit the virus on, so my partner, Sean, remains H.I.V. negative.”After concerns were raised that the drama could lead to misconceptions around contemporary H.I.V. treatments, Channel 4 now advises viewers after each episode on where to find further information.A celebration of ‘Jills’“It’s a Sin” has also sparked praise for the allies of people affected by the disease: friends who visit people in hospital when their families failed to turn up, march in protest and campaign on behalf of H.I.V.-positive people.The character of Jill (Lydia West) embodies these loyal friends, and is loosely based on a real woman, Jill Nalder, who lived in London in the ’80s and is a friend of Davies. On the show, Nalder plays the character of Jill’s mother. Remembering the period in the Metro newspaper, she wrote: “The L.G.B.T.Q. community ought to be remembered as trailblazers because not only were they fighting for their lives, they were medical guinea pigs — sometimes taking 30 pills a day just to survive.”Jill (Lydia West), right, is a loyal friend to Ritchie (Olly Alexander) throughout the years. Credit… Ben Blackall/HBO Max“If you are a gay man, I hope you have a Jill,” wrote Guy Pewsey in Grazia.However, some viewers have been frustrated at the lack of representation of women affected by AIDS in the show. Lizbeth Farooqi, a fictional Muslim lawyer played by Seyan Sarvan, is one example, but is a relatively minor character. “It infuriates me that a lot of coverage of the show has concentrated Jill as the avatar of good womanhood and being this lovely, soft, supportive person,” Lisa Power, a co-founder of the British L.G.B.T.Q. charity Stonewall, told The Guardian. “I want to hear more about the stroppy lesbian solicitor, who most people have not even managed to read as a lesbian.”Institutionalized stigmaThe drama also touches on legislation around the L.G.B.T.Q. community in Britain at the time. In particular, the consequences of Section 28, a 1988 law introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government banning teaching that promoted the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”In one scene, Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) is asked to check a school library’s books to make sure they comply with the law, only to find that they did. “I looked at all the vast halls of literature and culture and science and art,” he said. “There is nothing.”Section 28 was repealed in 2003, but some say its consequences are still being felt in Britain today. Speaking to The Telegraph, Howells, who plays Colin, lamented that the AIDS crisis was not taught in schools. “Why? How? How can this thing happen, literally kill millions of people, and yet they can’t even implement it in education?” he asked.Some people have also drawn parallels between the stigma that gay, lesbian and bisexual people received in the 1980s and the experience of trans people in Britain today. On Twitter Michael Cashman, another of Stonewall’s co-founders, wrote that some lesbian, gay and bisexual people who lived through that period “are now visiting the same stigmatization, misrepresentation and dehumanization of trans people particularly trans women.”The power of ‘La’During the first episode of the show, Ritchie steps in front of a crowd at a house party, dressed in drag, to sing just one syllable: “La!”“Is that it?” someone in the crowd shouts back. His friends react in hysterics. From that point onward, the characters say “La!” as a greeting and a goodbye. Speaking to “It’s a Sin: After Hours,” an accompanying Channel 4 show, Davies said that “La” was a joke among his friends when he was growing up in Swansea.Philip Normal, a London artist, decided to make and sell a T-shirt emblazoned with the word, with proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust. “For me, it really underpins the love the characters have in the show and the respect and love that I’ve experienced in the L.G.B.T. community when I moved to London as a young gay man,” he said in a telephone interview.He said he had now raised £200,000 for the charity, adding: “I didn’t think it was going to take off! I thought I would sell, like five.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Mr. Soul!’ and the Golden Globes

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat’s on TV This Week: ‘Mr. Soul!’ and the Golden GlobesA documentary on the pioneering variety show “Soul!” is on PBS. And the Golden Globes air on NBC from both coasts.A scene from the documentary “Mr. Soul!”Credit…Shoes in the Bed ProductionsFeb. 22, 2021, 1:00 a.m. ETBetween network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Feb. 22-28. Details and times are subject to change.MondayINDEPENDENT LENS: ‘MR. SOUL!’ (2020) 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). A documentary about the variety show “Soul!” which aired on PBS from 1968 to ’73. “Soul!” was created and hosted by theater producer Ellis Haizlip, and produced by a Black, women-led crew. In a New York Times interview, Felipe Luciano, who worked on the production team, explained, “‘Soul!’ gave viewers the first genuine sense of the expansiveness of Black culture.” This documentary, directed by Melissa Haizlip, the niece of the show’s creator, features Sidney Poitier, Blair Underwood and Patti LaBelle.AMERICAN GREED 8 p.m. on CNBC. This documentary series about scams reaches its season finale by exploring the world of social media scammers and crowdfunding. One of the schemes in the episode involves Katelyn McClure and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico, who made headlines for setting up a misleading GoFundMe campaign in 2017 along with Johnny Bobbitt, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran the couple claimed they were trying to help.TuesdayTHE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) 8 p.m. on AMC. Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne, a man suffering from amnesia and rescued by a fishing boat. He can’t recall details of his life, including his own name. Bourne begins to remember some, and realizes that he can speak French and German. He’s also an expert in hand-to-hand combat, which comes in handy once he begins to outrun authorities targeting him. “Mr. Damon at first seems too moody and cerebral to be an action hero, but he grasps Bourne’s predicament perfectly, and takes it seriously enough to make the film’s improbable conceit seem more interesting than it might otherwise have been,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times.WednesdayZac Efron, left, and Hugh Jackman in “The Greatest Showman.”Credit…Niko Tavernise/20th Century FoxTHE GREATEST SHOWMAN (2017) 7:40 p.m. on FXM. P.T. Barnum is a name synonymous with the long-running circus bearing his name. The circus took its final bow in 2017, but audiences can still experience it through “The Greatest Showman,” which introduces audiences to the man behind the show. The film is a rag-to-riches tale, starting in Barnum’s childhood as a penniless orphan full of ideas and imagination. He is drawn to wax museums, then live performance. “‘Showman’ has the ingredients of a splashy good time, since it has the perfect star in Hugh Jackman, the most charismatic Broadway leading man of his generation,” Jason Zinoman wrote in his review for The Times.A SOLDIER’S STORY (1984) 10 p.m. on TCM. Set during World War II, this Academy Award-nominated film, based on a play by Charles Fuller, takes place on an all-Black Louisiana military base. When a sergeant is murdered, his death is investigated by Capt. Richard Davenport, a lawyer and one of the few highly ranked Black officers in the entire United States military. As the captain investigates the tensions between Black soldiers and the white officers who run combat basic training are revealed. The original stage work, “A Soldier’s Play,” belatedly debuted on Broadway last year; in an interview at the time, Fuller explained why he chose World War II for a setting. “Whenever you think about World War II and World War I, you think about white people,” he said. “Aren’t we worth some kind of interest — all those deaths of Africans, African-Americans, Black people from all over the world?”ThursdayCharlize Theron in “Snow White and the Huntsman.”Credit…Alex Bailey/Universal PicturesSNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (2012) 8 p.m. on HBO. This retelling of the Snow White tale features Kristen Stewart in the title role and Charlize Theron as the queen, Ravenna. The film is a departure from the 1937 Disney version, with a much-darker approach. “Though it is an ambitious — at times mesmerizing — application of the latest cinematic technology, the movie tries to recapture some of the menace of the stories that used to be told to scare children rather than console them,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times. “Its mythic-medieval landscapes are heavily shadowed and austere, and its flights of magic are summoned from a zone of barely suppressed rage and dangerous power.”FridayMISS CONGENIALITY (2000) 7 p.m. on Bravo. Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), an F.B.I. agent, realizes a major terrorist’s next target is a Miss United States pageant. Since there are no other female agents, Hart is asked to go undercover and take part in the pageant to help prevent the attack. She’s a far cry from the traditional candidate, though. “The problem of course,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times, “is that in spite of her name, she’s spectacularly graceless, utterly lacking in the poised femininity that the pageant celebrates.”SaturdayCHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) 5:45 p.m. on TCM. The two men in this tale, set during the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, are sprinters representing Britain. But their similarities end there. One, Harold Abrahams, is the son of a Lithuanian Jew and works to navigate where exactly he fits in as part of British society. (Being athletic gives him an advantage.) The other, Eric Liddell, was born in China to Christian missionaries and sees running as a platform for him to spread the word of God.SundayTina Fey, left, and Amy Poehler hosting the Golden Globe Awards in 2015. The pair will return to host this year’s ceremony on Sunday.Credit…Paul Drinkwater/NBC, via Associated PressTHE 78TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 8 p.m. on NBC. The Golden Globes will be broadcast from both coasts. Tina Fey will host a portion from the Rainbow Room in New York, and Amy Poehler will host from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The nominees for best drama include “The Father,” “Mank,” “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” Netflix leads with 42 nominations, including for series like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “Ozark” and “The Crown.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 1 Recap: ‘Inappropriately Intense’ Behavior

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 1 Recap: ‘Inappropriately Intense’ BehaviorThe new HBO documentary series takes another look at Dylan Farrow’s sexual abuse allegations against her adoptive father, Woody Allen.Woody Allen, center, with Dylan Farrow, left, and Ronan Farrow, in a scene from the docuseries.Credit…HBOFeb. 21, 2021The first episode of the four-part HBO docuseries “Allen v. Farrow” debuted on Sunday night, providing a fresh examination of Dylan Farrow’s decades-old sexual abuse allegations against the filmmaker Woody Allen, her adoptive father.When Ms. Farrow was 7 years old, she accused Mr. Allen of sexually assaulting her at the family’s Connecticut country house on Aug. 4, 1992. Mr. Allen has long denied the allegations, which were front and center in a bitter custody battle between Mr. Allen and Mia Farrow, the Hollywood power couple who made 13 films together.Mr. Allen’s relationship with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, is also central to the series. About seven months before the day that Dylan Farrow says her father assaulted her, Mia Farrow discovered nude photographs of Ms. Previn, then a first-year college student, in Mr. Allen’s apartment.Starting in 1992, there were several years of concentrated media attention on the family amid the custody battle and investigations by the authorities in response to Dylan Farrow’s account. Mr. Allen has long argued that Mia Farrow had coached Dylan to make the allegations after learning about his relationship with Ms. Previn, whom he married in 1997. Although a state’s attorney in Connecticut declined to prosecute Mr. Allen, saying that he wanted to spare Dylan the trauma of a trial, he said he believed she had been molested.Nearly three decades have passed since the accusations surfaced, but the complicated saga has returned repeatedly and become the subject of debate — most recently during the #MeToo movement.This series, created by the documentary filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, includes extensive interviews with Dylan and Mia Farrow, as well as Dylan’s siblings and family friends. It includes footage of Dylan Farrow at age 7 recounting to her mother, who is behind the camera, what she says her father did to her in August 1992 — videotape that has never before been released publicly. Letty Aronson, Mr. Allen’s sister, who is currently handling publicity requests for him, declined to comment on the documentary.That footage does not appear in the first episode, which explores the beginnings of Ms. Farrow’s relationship with Mr. Allen and observations about how Dylan became the subject of her father’s “intense affection.” Here is a recap of what we saw on Sunday night.Mia Farrow, center, with, from left, her children Daisy, Fletcher, Soon-Yi and Lark.Credit…HBO‘Idyllic, most of the time’The series opens at a 1992 news conference at the Plaza Hotel in New York, during which Mr. Allen defends himself against the abuse allegations and accuses Mia Farrow of instigating them.But the episode quickly veers away from the account of Mr. Allen, who did not participate in the series but whose perspective is often captured through audio snippets of his recent memoir “Apropos of Nothing.” It turns to an adult Dylan Farrow, now 35, who is seen flipping through a family photo album.Dylan Farrow, who was born in Texas and adopted as a baby, recounts a childhood that was “idyllic, most of the time,” describing what it was like to be the child of a famous Hollywood actress and director: memories of stumbling around film sets as a child, being on private planes for family vacations, swimming at “posh” hotel pools — all of it illustrated by home-video footage shot by Ms. Farrow as her children were growing up.But below the surface of this bustling, unconventional family — nine children, taken care of by unmarried movie-star parents — things were complicated.The Hollywood power coupleThe episode rewinds to the early romance between Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, starting when they first met at Elaine’s, the Manhattan restaurant, in 1979. Ms. Farrow recalls how the couple would flash their lights at each other from their apartment windows, which were visible to each other from across Central Park. The signal was a way of saying “I love you,” she said. Hanging a red towel out the window meant, “Love you huge.”Despite the fact that Ms. Farrow already had seven children — three biologically with her husband at the time, André Previn, and four of them adopted — she said she accepted that Mr. Allen told her that he had “zero interest in kids.”But gradually, Mr. Allen began to spend more time with the children at the home in Connecticut and at his apartment in the city, establishing a particularly strong bond with Moses Farrow, whom Ms. Farrow adopted after her divorce from Mr. Previn.Mr. Allen (holding Dylan) and Ms. Farrow and the rest of the family. In the documentary, Dylan Farrow says her childhood was “idyllic, most of the time.” Credit…HBOGrowing the familyWhen Ms. Farrow wanted to expand the family even further, she said, Mr. Allen told her that he still didn’t want any responsibility for a child of his own but that he “might be more kindly disposed if it was a little blond girl.” Ms. Farrow ended up adopting Dylan, who quickly became the subject of Mr. Allen’s affections. Two years later, Ms. Farrow had a son, Ronan Farrow, who was initially called Satchel. (Ms. Farrow later suggested in a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair that Ronan may have been the child of Frank Sinatra, not Mr. Allen.)In 1991, Ms. Farrow agreed to a family dynamic that would shape the legal conflict in the years to come: Mr. Allen adopted Dylan Farrow and Moses Farrow.An ‘inappropriately intense’ relationshipThe heart of the first episode is a series of interviews with members of the Farrow family and friends, some of whom have never spoken publicly, who say that they witnessed behavior by Mr. Allen toward Dylan Farrow that seemed inappropriate or made them uncomfortable.Dylan Farrow said that she has memories of getting into bed with her father — both of them in their underwear — and he would wrap his body around her “very intimately.” A friend of the family, Priscilla Gilman, who became close with the family while dating Matthew Previn, one of Mia Farrow’s eldest sons, recalled that she witnessed Mr. Allen in that situation, getting out of the bed in his underwear. Ms. Gilman, who often spent time with the children, said that she also saw Dylan Farrow sucking Mr. Allen’s thumb. (Ms. Gilman said Mr. Allen told her that sucking his thumb calmed his daughter, but an adult Dylan Farrow now sees it as a violation, recalling that her father had directed her specifically on how to do so.)Mia Farrow’s sister Tisa Farrow said in an interview that she once saw Mr. Allen’s hand linger “suggestively” between Dylan Farrow’s buttocks when applying sunscreen.Mia Farrow, who recalled seeing Mr. Allen kneeling in front of their daughter or sitting next to her with his face in her lap, said that she had at one point confronted him about what she had been witnessing, saying that she was not “comfortable with the way that you’re handling her and looking at her.” She said that Mr. Allen became angry and that she ended up apologizing profusely. But then a respected psychiatrist in Ms. Farrow’s apartment building, Ethel Person, called to tell her that there was something “off” about the way Mr. Allen greeted Dylan Farrow. Mr. Allen then agreed to see a psychologist.The psychologist said she saw Mr. Allen being “inappropriately intense” with Dylan Farrow. But, Ms. Farrow tells the filmmakers, the therapist did not believe the behavior was sexual — even if onlookers or the child herself might perceive it as sexual.A young Dylan Farrow. Mr. Allen wrote in his memoir released last year, “I adored Dylan and spent as much time with her as possible from her infancy on.”Credit…HBODylan’s changing behaviorIn an interview with the filmmakers, Dylan Farrow says that she had loved her father but that she received “intense affection all the time”; the people around her, including Ms. Gilman and her brother Ronan, noticed that she would often scramble away or try to hide when Mr. Allen called her over or entered the room.“Over time, Dylan went from being outgoing and effervescent and talkative to her having this sadness and this withdrawn quality,” Mr. Farrow said in an interview with the filmmakers.Mr. Allen has denied having ever been sexually inappropriate or abusive toward Dylan Farrow, instead portraying himself in his own writing as an initially reluctant father who surprisingly became enamored with his daughter and enjoyed showering her with affection. In part of his memoir that was included in the episode, Mr. Allen wrote: “I adored Dylan and spent as much time with her as possible from her infancy on. I played with her, bought her endless toys, dolls, stuffed animals, My Little Ponies.”The turning pointThen, in January 1992, came the discovery that changed everything. Ms. Farrow said that she visited Mr. Allen’s apartment to retrieve a coat and discovered, next to the phone, racy Polaroid photos of her college-age daughter, Ms. Previn.Ms. Farrow said she remembered putting the photos in her pocket and leaving, in shock. When she returned home, she said that she confronted Ms. Previn. (Ms. Previn did not participate in this documentary.)Dylan Farrow’s therapist advised her mother to tell the children about the photos, Mia Farrow said. She was reluctant, but she did, and Dylan Farrow said it was the first time she realized that she was perhaps not the only one at the receiving end of her father’s behavior, saying that she thought to herself, “Oh, it’s not just me.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Settlement Reached in Suit Accusing James Franco of Sexual Misconduct

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySettlement Reached in Suit Accusing James Franco of Sexual MisconductTwo former students of Mr. Franco’s have agreed to drop their claims that he had intimidated them into performing explicit sex scenes. Mr. Franco has denied the allegations.James Franco. Two former students withdrew their allegations about him.Credit…Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 21, 2021Updated 4:57 p.m. ETTwo former students who filed a lawsuit in 2019 accusing the actor and filmmaker James Franco of subjecting them to sexually exploitative auditions and film shoots at an acting and film school that he founded have agreed to drop their claims against him as part of a settlement reached earlier this month.A joint status report that was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 11 said that the two women who brought the suit, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, had agreed to drop their individual claims against Mr. Franco Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.Details of the Feb. 11 filing were reported Saturday by The Associated Press. On Sunday, lawyers for the plaintiffs confirmed the settlement, which they said would be formalized in a court filing at a later date. They did not provide further details.Ms. Tither-Kaplan and Ms. Gaal said in a 2019 filing that Mr. Franco had intimidated them into performing gratuitous sex scenes while denying them the protections of nudity riders when they were students in a master class on sex scenes at his school, Studio 4, which operated from 2014 to 2017 and had branches in Los Angeles and New York.According to the suit, Mr. Franco “sought to create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education.” The two women said those who cooperated were led to believe that doing so would land them roles in Mr. Franco’s films.Lawyers for Mr. Franco did not respond to an email seeking comment on Sunday. Mr. Franco has previously denied the allegations.Mr. Franco’s production company, Rabbit Bandini, and his partners, who include Vince Jolivette and Jay Davis, are also named as defendants. The two parties had been discussing a settlement for several months, according to the filing, and the lawsuit’s progress had been paused while they did so. Lawyers for Mr. Jolivette did not respond to an email seeking comment.The claims of other plaintiffs in the class-action filing will be dismissed without prejudice under the terms of the settlement, according to the report, which means they could be refiled at a later date.Before she filed the 2019 lawsuit, Ms. Tither-Kaplan and several other women had accused Mr. Franco of sexual misconduct in a Los Angeles Times story after he won a Golden Globe for his performance in “The Disaster Artist” in January 2018. Other women discussed their experiences with Mr. Franco in social media posts they shared during and after the broadcast, which came amid the #MeToo movement.Mr. Franco continued to appear in public in the days following the allegations, in which he explained that he supported the rights of women to call out acts of sexual misconduct but said the specific claims about him were inaccurate.Mr. Franco denied the allegations in an appearance on “The Late Show,” but told the host, Stephen Colbert: “If there’s restitution to be made, I will make it. I’m here to listen and learn and change my perspective where it’s off.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ Predicted the Bat-Future

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Notebook‘Batman: The Animated Series’ Predicted the Bat-FutureThis Saturday morning cartoon, now streaming on HBO Max, redefined the caped crusader years before he became one of the world’s most popular and endlessly recycled characters.“Batman: The Animated Series,” which premiered in September 1992, was a departure from earlier TV incarnations of the superhero.Credit…DC ComicsFeb. 21, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ETBefore Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck and Christian Bale, there was Kevin Conroy and the Gotham City of “Batman: The Animated Series.” The Warner Bros. series, which ran from 1992-1995 on Fox Kids, arrived on HBO Max in January. A Saturday morning cartoon that was also a super-stylized foray into the noir genre, it brought the Dark Knight version of the caped crusader to television, redefining a formerly earnest, occasionally silly TV hero and foreshadowing the ever darker iterations to come.“Batman” was both timeless and incredibly specific, creating a sense of a fully filled-in world. Its wonderfully perplexing, anachronistic landscape combined Art Deco accents with sleek supermodern architecture. Cars that looked cribbed from the 1930s and ’40s shared a world with gadgetry that tiptoed into the realm of steampunk.Batman has been swinging around since 1939, when he first appeared in Detective Comics, but he shot to popularity in the 1960s with Adam West’s relentlessly campy “Batman.” (I personally adore that time capsule of a series). During the 1970s and ’80s, Batman appeared in animated shows like Hanna-Barbera’s “Super Friends,” “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” and the short-lived “The New Adventures of Batman,” from 1977. These Batmen, who were often voiced by West, were direct descendants of the 1960s series.The viewing public got its first look at a moody Batman when Tim Burton stamped the bat with his signature gothic style in “Batman” in 1989. But the haunted, violent version of the character that dominates pop culture now sprang largely from the comics writer Frank Miller, whose groundbreaking work in the 1980s, including the series “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” is an obvious influence on “Batman: The Animated Series.”Unlike his TV predecessors, the hero in “Batman: The Animated Series,” which debuted in September 1992, fought real crime and took himself seriously. The show featured mobsters with guns and knives and tackled difficult themes involving murder, revenge, poverty, greed, exploitation and more. Some episodes, like the stunner “Perchance to Dream,” in which Batman is trapped in a dream version of his life where he isn’t the dark hero, dive into the dark psyche of the character.(It could have skewed darker: One episode script, about the gun that killed Bruce Wayne’s parents, never made it to the drawing board because the network found it too bleak, according to the writer and producer Alan Burnett.)For years, Adam West’s campy Batman was the defining portrayal of the character (pictured with Burt Ward).Credit…20th Century Fox Film CorporationNot quite the typical Saturday morning cartoon fare. But it was that, too: Despite its adult themes, “Batman: The Animated Series” didn’t make the mistake many DC properties have made in overdoing the brooding antihero bit. Rather, the series held onto its sense of humor in the banter between Batman and his loyal butler, Alfred; in Batman’s many flirtations; and his deadpan interactions with his antagonists.As in most “Batman” iterations, the villains were what shined most. Mark Hamill’s rollicking laugh in his performance as the Joker became one of the character’s most definitive qualities. The series revamped some villains from the comics, like Mr. Freeze, who was given a sympathetic back story. (A few years later, Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a saccharine take on the character in the widely maligned “Batman and Robin,” from 1997.) It also introduced a villain that has become fundamental to the Batman mythology, Harley Quinn, who somersaulted her way into the canon and, decades later, into her own irreverent television series and film.Kevin Conroy’s voice work showed a range not every actor in the role has been able to replicate, distinguishing Conroy, for many, as the one and only true Batman. (He went on to voice the character in nearly every subsequent DC animated spinoff, including the beloved 1993 film “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” and the stylish cyberpunk sequel series, “Batman Beyond,” both on HBO Max.) Stately without being stiff, playful without being juvenile, Conroy’s performance captured the gravitas of the character without ever losing track of the fact that he’s a billionaire playboy who runs around in bat-tights at night.“Batman: The Animated Series” was canny about how it mined the hero’s lore. It adapted characters and plots from the comics, drew tonal inspiration from the Burton films and then went on to influence Batman properties that followed.Batman is an onscreen staple at this point: Pattinson’s “The Batman” arrives next year, but Affleck’s Justice League Batman and Bale’s Batman are hardly distant cultural memories (not to mention Will Arnett’s sidesplitting Lego Batman).But years before Disney and Warner Bros. executives even dreamed of streaming platforms and cinematic universes, “Batman: The Animated Series” pointed the way forward for what was to become one of world’s most ubiquitous franchises. While some bats will fly off into the caverns of pop culture past, forgotten and disregarded, this one will remain one of the best and most influential incarnations of everyone’s favorite emo bat hero.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More