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      ‘Deadpool’ Refresher: What to Know Before Seeing ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

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      The new installment draws on decades of Marvel and X-Men history. It helps to know the back stories ahead of time.In the new “Deadpool & Wolverine,” two beloved superhero franchises will finally come together in a frenzy of irreverent jokes, gory action and Easter eggs. Drawing on decades of movie history and featuring a dizzying array of characters and references to past plots, it’s the kind of film that rewards longtime fans. For those who haven’t seen the X-Men or Deadpool films in a while, here’s what you need to know before watching.What’s Deadpool’s back story?Before he got his own Deadpool movies, Ryan Reynolds debuted the character in the X-Men franchise, appearing in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” in 2009. The role didn’t go over well with fans — his mouth was sewn shut in the film — and Reynolds wanted a separate movie to explore the character more fully.Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.20th Century Fox“Deadpool” (2016), the first of three films in the franchise, introduces Wade Wilson, a foul-mouthed mercenary who falls in love with a woman named Vanessa. After getting a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Wilson volunteers for a shadowy program that promises to heal him. There, he is tortured by the villainous Ajax until his body mutates and receives self-healing powers, similar to those possessed by Wolverine. Aided by an elderly sightless woman, Blind Al, and two other X-Men, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Deadpool eventually hunts down Ajax and reconciles with Vanessa.His relationship with Vanessa is short-lived, however, as “Deadpool 2” (2018) opens with her being killed by one of Wilson’s old mercenary targets. Grieving her loss, he joins the X-Men and works to stop a time-traveling soldier named Cable from killing a young mutant. In that film’s mid-credits scene, Wade uses Cable’s time-traveling device to journey through the past, reversing the death of his friends and the murder of Vanessa.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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      In Shows Like ‘Love Island USA,’ the Setting Is Another Character

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      Reality TV staples like “Love Island” and “Bachelor in Paradise” often take place in luxury resorts to set the mood. But not all resorts love the attention.Last summer, while filming an episode during the fifth season of the hit reality TV show “Love Island USA,” the executive producer Simon Thomas had a stroke of luck that most reality show producers could only dream of. It was golden hour, and two of the contestants — attractive young singles looking for love — were sitting on the veranda of the souped-up luxury resort that was the “Love Island” set. Exquisitely framed, they shared a tender, passionate kiss.“Make no mistake: They did not stay together, and they did not even remain together for the duration of the show,” Thomas said in an interview. “But that moment was magic. You couldn’t have filmed it better for a scripted show.”Since its debut on British television in 2015, “Love Island” and its American remake, “Love Island USA,” have made a unique spectacle of their exotic island settings, from the all-inclusive resorts of Majorca (in the U.K. version) to the coastal villas of Fiji (in the U.S., since 2023). The locale is more than a mere backdrop to the action: To invoke an old movie cliché, the setting is like a character itself.“The whole point of this show isn’t to show some reality TV hopefuls in a box and produce them,” Thomas said. “It’s to find some reality TV hopefuls who want to find love and give them an environment in which they can authentically fall in love.”“What better way to fall in love,” he added, “than on a Fijian beach at sunset?”With its breezy tone and low-stakes drama, reality TV is typically designed to create a feeling of escapism already, and tropical settings can offer an additional layer of satisfying secondhand pleasure. Such locations are appealing particularly for dating shows, which have the added incentive of needing to kindle new relationships — an easier feat on a sun-kissed Caribbean island than on a network backlot. Programs like “Bachelor in Paradise,” “Love Island,” “Perfect Match,” “Too Hot to Handle” and many more have found a great deal of success by following this simple formula: Put men and women together on an island resort to flirt and fall in love.The creator of “90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradise” said the tropical settings give the show “a totally different personality” from the original.TLCWe 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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      Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump for Recycling His Old Insults

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      Colbert said the ex-president was “focused on the real issue gripping the country: desperately workshopping a new nickname for Kamala Harris.”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.Who’s the Boss?Former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday.Stephen Colbert said Trump spent most of the evening “focused on the real issue gripping the country: desperately workshopping a new nickname for Kamala Harris.”“[imitating Trump] K as in Kamala, A as in Amala, M as in Malala, A as in Ah, L as in Lyin’ Kamala — L-Y-I-N-apostrophe — oh God, I’m back at the beginning again.” — STEPHEN COLBERTColbert blasted Trump for resorting to his old “Apprentice” tagline, “You’re fired.” “That’s a 10-year-old reference!” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Biden Goes Live Edition)“Well guys, last night President Biden gave an Oval Office address and talked about his decision to drop out of the race. Things got off to a fun start when Biden said, ‘My fellow Americans, Kamala is brat.’” — JIMMY FALLON“That humility, that self-sacrifice, is so beautiful, truly patriotic and a refreshing change from the last guy.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Once the speech was done, Biden joined staff out in the Rose Garden for ice cream. Not only was there an ice cream party, sources say President Biden also had a great time in the bouncy castle.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“By the way, can you imagine all the cool [expletive] Biden’s going to take on his way out of the White House? You got your pens, your paper clips, maybe a couple of nuclear warheads.” — LAMORNE MORRIS, guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”The Bits Worth WatchingRob Lowe auditioned for the role of Kamala Harris’s running mate on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutDavid Bowie and Rosanna Arquette in “The Linguini Incident.”IsolarRichard Shepherd’s director’s cut of “The Linguini Incident,” his low-budget, hard-to-find ’90s rom-com starring David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette, is soon to be available on Blu-ray. More

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      ‘Playground’ Is Throwback Reality TV, in More Ways Than One

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      The new Hulu series, set at a prestigious Los Angeles dance studio, harks back to the vibes of an earlier age.Alexis Beauregard and Roman Royale in a scene from “Playground.”HuluTime-loop shows are everywhere these days, and now TV itself is looping back, scooping up folks from shows of yesteryear to bring their skills and wisdom to the present fight. “Playground,” which arrives Friday on Hulu, is ostensibly a new reality show set in a Los Angeles dance studio.But the series is also multiple throwbacks in one, a new team reassembled from the people and vibes of earlier reality programming. The second episode includes a 2000s-themed birthday party; meanwhile, “Playground” is itself a 2000s-style show.An awful lot of contemporary reality shows follow a Bravo model of contrivance and repetition, in which seasons use the same segments so many times they feel like reruns of themselves. Based on the two episodes available for review, “Playground” does not, to its tremendous credit, play like a descendant of “Vanderpump Rules” — its closer ancestor is “The Hills.” Oh, the testy al fresco lunches! Oh, the intriguing young women who debase themselves for the attentions of immature men!Long-term fans of dance shows will spot a few familiar faces immediately (in addition to Megan Thee Stallion, who is an executive producer, and Tinashe, among other stars). Robin Antin and Kenny Wormald not only run Playground LA; they’ve also both been on dance reality shows before — Antin on multiple Pussycat Dolls shows in the late aughts and Wormald on the single-season “Dancelife.” (Not to be confused with the recent Australian reality show “Dance Life,” which is also great.) Here, they’re the prickly mom and dad to a family bursting with talent and strife.Part of what makes “Playground” so perfect in its electric garbage way is the conflict between Alexis, the golden child, and Deanna, who proudly describes herself as “Satan’s daughter.” Those of us raised in the faith of days-long “Real World” marathons require angry people on TV shouting “Say it to my face!” in order to have a full life, and “Playground” delivers, largely via Deanna.For all its retro glory, “Playground” also feels refreshingly new in its editing and momentum. Many streaming reality shows mimic the pacing of basic cable (especially now that plenty of streamers also include commercials). But those filler recapitulations that come after each commercial break are tedious enough — and in a streaming context are vestigial at best. “Playground” doesn’t bother with them and is instead filled with real material: dancing, squabbling, vying, gossiping, all the essential food groups of a summer show. More

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      ‘The Decameron’ Review: They Take a Holiday. Death Doesn’t.

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      A loose Netflix adaptation turns Boccaccio’s story cycle into a gleeful satire of class war in plague times.TV audiences have an appetite for a good class-conscious satire of rich people on holiday in a fabulous location — say, a stunning Italian getaway — and the servants who attend them. The new Netflix series “The Decameron” draws on medieval literature to offer a raucous twist on this premise, heightened with the looming threat of bubonic plague.“The White Lotus,” meet the Black Death.In the 14th-century work by Giovanni Boccaccio, a precursor to Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” 10 young people flee to a rural estate from disease-ridden Florence, entertaining one another by telling stories both dramatic and raunchy. The 10 tales per refugee, as told over 10 days, makes for a cycle of 100 stories, proving that even before streaming media, creators know how to stretch out material to series length.The eight-episode Netflix series, arriving Thursday, is a loose adaptation — very loose, like a caftan. It borrows Boccaccio’s character names and setting, with some nods to the source stories. But the creator, Kathleen Jordan (of the gone-too-soon “Teenage Bounty Hunters”), reimagines it as a rollicking social comedy of striving and survival.Jordan introduces four sets of characters, offered respite at a villa in, as the invitation puts it, “the beautiful, not-infected countryside.”We meet Pampinea (Zosia Mamet), a noblewoman anxious about being unmarried as “a shriveled-up, 28-year-old maid,” and her perhaps-too-devoted servant, Misia (Saoirse-Monica Jackson); Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin), a sickly and pompous young noble attended by his quackish physician, Dioneo (Amar Chadha-Patel); the devout and secretly randy Neifile (Lou Gala) and her social-climbing husband, Panfilo (Karan Gill); and Licisca (Tanya Reynolds), the eccentric and put-upon handmaiden to the imperious Filomena (Jessica Plummer).The holiday offers a chance at life, solace and social advancement — especially for Pampinea, who has managed a sight-unseen engagement to the villa’s absent lord. But despite the estate’s gorgeous furnishings and manicured maze gardens, there are deceptions and dangers.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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      Stephen Colbert Wants a Kamala Harris-Glen Powell Ticket

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      “I guarantee he will attract suburban women, and I already have his slogan: ‘Yes, We Glen!’” Colbert said.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.Four More Abs!Vice President Kamala Harris raised more than $100 million ahead of her first campaign rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday.“That means that Kamala Harris had a bigger opening weekend than ‘Twisters,’” Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday’s “Late Show.”“Oh wait, hold on, hear me out, no more ideas, this is it: Glen Powell becomes Harris’s running mate. I guarantee — I guarantee he will attract suburban women, and I already have his slogan: ‘Yes, We Glen.’ Four more abs! Four more abs!” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I’ve got to say, it was refreshing to see a presidential rally without a single wrestler from the 1980s.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“In fact, the turnout was so large that organizers said they had to move the rally to a larger venue. Wow, needing a bigger space for your rally used to be Trump’s whole thing. Maybe she should take something else — maybe she should start selling her own celebrity Bible. But instead of Lee Greenwood, it’s Beyoncé — ‘The Beyble.’” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (The Switch Up Edition)“I’m a little worried because since Sunday afternoon, I haven’t been that worried, and that is deeply troubling. I personally blame our next president, Kamala Harris.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Earlier tonight, President Biden gave a prime-time address from the Oval Office about his decision to drop out of the race. Basically, on Sunday, he broke up with the country over text, and tonight, he met us for coffee to explain.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yep, Biden delivered the address, although it was hard for people to focus with Kamala’s interior designer in the background.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingMatt Damon and Jimmy Fallon led the “Tonight Show” audience in a singalong to “Sweet Caroline.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightThe comedian and actor Marlon Wayans will appear on Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutChappell Roan onstage at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle last Friday.Chappell Roan’s star has risen so quickly that the pop star scrambled to upgrade to larger venues on her summer tour. More

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      N.B.A. Announces Lucrative Rights Deals With Disney, Comcast and Amazon

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      The league rejected a bid by Warner Bros. Discovery to match Amazon’s offer.The National Basketball Association announced new rights agreements with Disney, Comcast and Amazon on Wednesday after rejecting a rival bid by Warner Bros. Discovery that would have kept games on its TNT network, which has broadcast the N.B.A. since the 1980s.The companies will collectively pay more than $76 billion over 11 years, according to four people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the financial details. That will substantially increase the league’s annual revenue and reflects the continued importance of live sports programming even as streaming has reconfigured the entertainment industry.In making the announcement, the league said it had rejected Warner Bros. Discovery’s bid this week to match Amazon’s offer for its share of the package.“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans,” the league said in a statement. “Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements.” (NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.)“All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience,” the statement added.The new deals, which include N.B.A. and some W.N.B.A. games, will take effect with the 2025-26 season and are more than two and a half times the average annual value of the league’s current rights agreements.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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      Lisa Kudrow Brings Her Daffy Charm to ‘Time Bandits’

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      The actress dialed up the zaniness in the TV reboot of a Terry Gilliam fantasy classic, created by the team behind “What We Do in the Shadows.”Lisa Kudrow doesn’t particularly like to travel. Raised and based in Los Angeles, she mostly hasn’t had to. Even the quintessential New York sitcom “Friends” was shot in Burbank.“I like L.A.,” she said in a video call from her home there. “I guess vacations are nice, but I feel like I live in a vacation spot so, where am I going? I can watch a video.”But when the filmmaker Taika Waititi sent her a message on Instagram asking if she would come to New Zealand to star in a series-length adaptation of the 1981 Terry Gilliam movie “Time Bandits,” she said yes. It was a six-month commitment, but in one of the few places on Earth Kudrow had always wanted to visit.And, as she said with a laugh, “No one’s putting me in a Hobbit movie.”Fair enough, though there are bigger departures from Middle-earth than “Time Bandits,” a 10-part adventure-fantasy based on a movie about time traveling dwarfs. The series, which debuted Wednesday on Apple TV+, puts a new spin on the beloved film — an ambitious task, given the movie’s bona fides and cult status. The original was written by Gilliam and his fellow Monty Python player Michael Palin, and it starred the likes of John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall and Ian Holm.The new version, created by Waititi and his frequent collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris, stars Kudrow as the makeshift leader of the bandits, Penelope, who is perturbed by the arrival of a new member, a history-obsessed boy named Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) who accidentally joins them after a portal opens up in his bedroom. Kudrow leads an ensemble cast; Waititi plays the ostensibly benevolent Supreme Being, from whom the bandits have stolen a map of the time portals, and Clement plays Pure Evil, who can’t even say his cosmic nemesis’ name without gagging.From left, Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Kudrow, Kal-El Tuck, Kiera Thompson and Rune Temte in “Time Bandits”; Kudrow plays the leader of the titular ragtag crew. Apple TV+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