‘A Quiet Place’ prequel box office speaks volumes, Costner’s Western gets bumpy start

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“ A Quiet Place: Day One ” is making noise at the box office. The prequel earned an estimated $53 million in its first weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It’s both a franchise best and significantly more than expected. Going into the weekend, prerelease tracking had “Day One” pegged for a $40 million debut, but audiences were clearly more enthusiastic to see the action-horror starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn and released by Paramount. The same could not be said for Kevin Costner’s “ Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1,” which opened to $11 million.

The ”Quiet Place” victory wasn’t quite enough to snag the coveted first place spot on the charts, though. That honor again went to Disney and Pixar’s juggernaut “ Inside Out 2,” which added an estimated $57.4 million in its third weekend in theaters, and crossed $1 billion globally.

There's a distant possibility that the places will shift when actuals are released Monday. But either way it’s good news for movie theaters in a summer season that’s finally heating up but still running far behind last year (down 19%) and pre-pandemic norms (down 36% from 2019).

“Inside Out 2” continues to be a box office phenomenon, the likes of which the industry hasn’t seen since “Barbie” almost a year ago. In just three weeks of release, it's earned nearly $470 million in North America and $545.5 million internationally, bringing its global total to $1.01 billion. The sequel is the only 2024 release to cross the billion dollar mark and it did it in just 19 days, a record for an animated film.

“The film’s stunning global success once again illustrates that audiences the world over will respond to compelling, entertaining movies, and that they want to enjoy them on the big screen,” said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, in a statement.

“A Quiet Place: Day One,” directed by Michael Sarnoski and rated PG-13, is also fast approaching an important threshold out of the gates. Including the $45.5 million from international showings in 59 markets, the $67 million production has already made $98.5 million.

“There's a lot of love for the ‘A Quiet Place’ franchise,” said Chris Aronson, the head of domestic distribution for Paramount. “We listened to the fans who wanted to expand the universe.”

In a rare feat for a third film, it opened higher than both “A Quiet Place” ($50.2 million opening in April 2018) and “ A Quiet Place: Part II ” ($47.5 million opening in May 2021). John Krasinski, who wrote and directed the first two, continued serving as a producer.

“It’s one of those rare horror franchises that has generated incredible goodwill with audiences and critics alike,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.

Playing on 3,708 screens in the U.S. and Canada, nearly 40% of its domestic earnings came from “premium screens” including IMAX and other large formats. It entered the marketplace with mostly positive reviews (84% on Rotten Tomatoes); Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore and four out of five stars on PostTrak.

“We put together a compelling package but also I think it shows people want to go to the movies,” Aronson said. “The marketplace really works when there are choices and there’s something for everybody.”

The start for “Horizon,” meanwhile, was sluggish. Though older audiences, the ones most likely to support a Western epic, don’t typically rush out to see films on opening weekend the way people often do for horrors and superheroes, the road ahead will not be easy: Reviews have not been great and it got an underwhelming B- CinemaScore.

The stakes are also a little different for “Horizon,” a $100 million production that Costner financed on his own and partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute. It opened in 3,334 locations. A decades-old passion project, he mortgaged property in Santa Barbara, Calif. to finance it and exited “Yellowstone” to see it through. In a bold, unconventional strategy, “Chapter 2” arrives in theaters later this summer, on Aug. 16. He also has plans for two more movies.

“The western genre is one of those that is very specific,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s going to be about the long game.”

A quick glance at the top 10 shows that audiences are largely favoring franchises and “known commoditites” over originals. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” was right behind “Horizon” on the charts, and it's been in theaters for four weeks already.

“Audiences in the summer want the tried and true, they want the familiar,” Dergarabedian said.

He was also struck by the diversity of genres in the top 10, including two Indian films: The Telugu language sci-fi “Kalki 2898 AD” in fifth place with $5.4 million and the Punjabi language “Jatt & Juliet 3” in ninth place with $1.5 million.

"If you can’t find something that appeals to you at the multiplex right now, you’re not looking hard enough," Dergarabedian said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Inside Out 2,” $57.4 million.

2. “A Quiet Place: Day One,” $53 million.

3. “Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1,” $11 million.

4. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $10.3 million.

5. “Kalki 2898 AD,” $5.4 million.

6. “The Bikeriders,” $3.3 million.

7. “The Garfield Movie,” $2 million.

8. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” $168.1 million.

9. “Jatt & Juliet 3,” $1.5 million.

10. “Kinds of Kindness,” $1.5 million.

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July 01, 2024 at 12:17AM

BET Awards return Sunday with performances from Lauryn Hill, Childish Gambino, Will Smith and more

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The BET Awards return Sunday night, with a performance-filled show that will kick off with a fiery set from Megan Thee Stallion, two days after the release of her third studio album.

The show, which takes place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, will be hosted by Oscar-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson for a third time.

Performers will include Lauryn Hill and her son YG Marley, Childish Gambino, Ice Spice, Tyla, Chlöe, Coco Jones, Keke Palmer, Marsha Ambrosius, Summer Walker, GloRilla, Latto, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey, and Victoria Monét. Will Smith will perform a new song, though no details were announced. The Grammy and Oscar winner is still emerging from the infamous Oscars slap two years ago, with the successful launch of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” helping boost his comeback. And country musician Tanner Adell will also perform on the BET Amplified stage.

The BET Awards will air live beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on BET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will be simulcast on Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Pop, TV Land, Nickelodeon at Nite and VH1.

Drake leads the nominations, just like he did last year. Those include an album of the year nod for his eighth studio album, “For All the Dogs.” One of the awards he’s up for is the music video for “First Person Shooter,” his collaboration with J. Cole that may have been a catalyst for his recent beef with rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Nicki Minaj follows with six, including for album of the year for her highly anticipated “Pink Friday 2” release. Two of her nominations were for her song with Ice Spice, “Barbie World,” part of the blockbuster “Barbie” soundtrack.

J. Cole, Sexyy Red, SZA and best new artist Grammy winner Victoria Monét tie with five nods; 21 Savage, Beyoncé, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Tyla and Usher boast four each.

Usher will take home the lifetime achievement award — one of the highest honors at the BET Awards, given to Busta Rhymes at last year’s ceremony and Sean “Diddy” Combs the year prior. The R&B superstar is an eight-time Grammy winner who recently ended a two-year Las Vegas residency, “Usher: My Way” at the Park MGM. In February, he released his first solo album in eight years, and in August is scheduled to kick off a 24-city U.S. tour titled “Past Present Future.”

Usher’s 2024 Super Bowl halftime performance drew acclaim and included guest appearances by such stars as Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris. His album “Confessions” has sold more than 10 million units in the U.S., ranking it among one of the best-selling music projects of all time. It launched No. 1 hits such as “Yeah!” with Ludacris and Lil Jon, “Burn” and “Confessions Part II.”

Presenters include Andra Day, Colman Domingo, DC Young Fly, Devale Ellis, Jay Ellis, Jessica Betts, Ms. Pat, Niecy Nash-Betts, Saucy Santana and more.

___

For more coverage of this year’s BET Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/bet-awards

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June 30, 2024 at 04:17PM

There are 4.8 billion reasons why other leagues are watching the fallout from 'Sunday Ticket' case

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LOS ANGELES -- Professional sports leagues have 4.8 billion reasons to review how they distribute out-of-market broadcasts after Thursday's judgement against the NFL in the “Sunday Ticket” case in U.S. District Court.

“It’s going to require other leagues to take a close look at their model and make sure that the means by which they’re providing consumer choice really does ensure true choice,” said Christine Bartholomew, vice dean and professor in the University of Buffalo's School of Law. “What happened here, at least according to the jury, was that the NFL had really suppressed consumer choice. Not only did they steer the consumers towards using satellite TV, it meant that they had to buy the whole package.”

The jury of five men and three women determined the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing Sunday afternoon games not aired locally on Fox or CBS on a premium subscription service that only had one distributor. That kept the cost of the package high and limited those who could subscribe so that it would not impact local ratings.

The class-action lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV.

The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.

Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League also offer out-of-market packages, but they are structured in a different manner compared to the NFL. All three are offered on cable and satellite providers as well as streaming.

With their digital packages, MLB and the NBA offer multiple options, including a team-by-team package. The NBA also offers a pay-by-game option.

The NHL's digital package in the U.S. is included in the subscription to the ESPN+ streaming service.

The MLB, NHL and NBA packages also come in at a lower subscriber fee than “NFL Sunday Ticket” despite having longer seasons.

Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, said the NFL will need to be more in line with consumer demands going forward.

“They need to understand different audiences in terms of where they exist, how fans interact and what they’re looking for,” he said. “They want things that fit and are personalized to their needs because anything in excess that they're paying for is unwanted stuff, which is the whole idea around bundling. ... The price point that they were offering on the ‘Sunday Ticket’ package was just a little bit extreme."

Some also remained surprised that the NFL allowed the case to go to court without settling. The league hasn't fared well in antitrust cases and has settled most before they got to court.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in American Needle's case against the NFL that the league was a collection of 32 teams and not a single entity. The cap maker sued the NFL in 2004 for violating antitrust laws for reaching an exclusive deal with Reebok, that began in 2001.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion that “Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand, they are still separate, profit-maximizing entities.”

The NFL and American Needle eventually settled the case in 2015.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.

The NFL has said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.

Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.

During closing arguments, the plaintiffs showed a 2017 memo where the NFL was exploring putting games not shown on Fox or CBS on cable channels.

The possibility also remains that somewhere down the line the NFL settles the case. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed two years later in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The 9th Circuit Court reinstated the case in 2019.

“ People were critical of the way the plaintiffs' case was put on because of the complicated nature of the evidence. Apparently it was the right strategy because they came out victorious," said Irwin Kishner, co-chair of the Sports Law Group with New York law firm Herrick. "And the NFL trying to bring up wealthy owners might not have the best strategy. Hindsight’s always 20/20.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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June 30, 2024 at 03:17AM

Martin Mull, beloved comedic actor who starred in 'Roseanne,' 'Arrested Development' and 'Fernwood 2 Night,' dies at 80

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Martin Mull, beloved comedic actor who starred in 'Roseanne,' 'Arrested Development' and 'Fernwood 2 Night,' dies at 80

LOS ANGELES -- Martin Mull, beloved comedic actor who starred in 'Roseanne,' 'Arrested Development' and 'Fernwood 2 Night,' dies at 80.

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June 29, 2024 at 02:47PM

Top 20 Global Concert Tours from Pollstar

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The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers. Week of July 1, 2024:

For free upcoming tour information, go to www.pollstar.com

___

TOP 20 GLOBAL CONCERT TOURS

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June 29, 2024 at 02:47AM

Jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws in 'Sunday Ticket' case, awards nearly $4.7 billion in damages

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Jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws in 'Sunday Ticket' case, awards nearly $4.7 billion in damages
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June 28, 2024 at 07:47AM

News nonprofit sues ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft for 'exploitative' copyright infringement

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LOS ANGELES -- The Center for Investigative Reporting said Thursday it has sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its closest business partner, Microsoft, marking a new front in the legal battle between news publications fighting against unauthorized use of their content on artificial intelligence platforms.

The nonprofit, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, said that OpenAI used its content without permission and without offering compensation, violating copyrights on the organization’s journalism. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, focuses on how AI-generated summaries of articles threaten publishers — a move CIR called exploitative.

“It’s immensely dangerous,” Monika Bauerlein, the nonprofit's CEO, told The Associated Press. “Our existence relies on users finding our work valuable and deciding to support it."

Bauerlein said that “when people can no longer develop that relationship with our work, when they no longer encounter Mother Jones or Reveal, then their relationship is with the AI tool.”

That, she said, could “cut the entire foundation of our existence as an independent newsroom out from under us" while also threatening the future of other news organizations.

OpenAI and Microsoft didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The lawsuit is the latest against OpenAI and Microsoft to land at Manhattan’s federal court, where the companies are already battling a series of other copyright lawsuits from The New York Times, other media outlets and bestselling authors such as John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin. The companies also face a separate case in San Francisco’s federal court brought by authors including comedian Sarah Silverman.

Some news organizations have chosen to collaborate rather than fight with OpenAI by signing deals to get compensated for sharing news content that can be used to train its AI systems. The latest to do so is Time, which announced Thursday that OpenAI will get access to its “extensive archives from the last 101 years.”

OpenAI and other major AI developers don’t disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law.

Last summer, more than 4,000 writers signed a letter to the CEOs of OpenAI and other tech companies accusing them of exploitative practices in building chatbots.

“It’s not a free resource for these AI companies to ingest and make money on,” Bauerlein said of news media. “They pay for office space, they pay for electricity, they pay salaries for their workers. Why would the content that they ingest be the only thing that they don’t (pay for)?”

The AP is among the news organizations that have made licensing deals over the past year with OpenAI; others include The Wall Street Journal and New York Post publisher News Corp., The Atlantic, Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, France’s Le Monde newspaper and the London-based Financial Times.

Mother Jones and CIR were both founded in the 1970s and merged earlier this year. Both are based in San Francisco, as is OpenAI.

——

O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

——

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

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June 28, 2024 at 12:17AM

At 61, ballerina Alessandra Ferri is giving her pointe shoes one last — maybe? — glorious whirl

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NEW YORK -- When Alessandra Ferri, one of the most celebrated dramatic ballerinas of this or any time, takes the stage Friday at the Metropolitan Opera House to channel Virginia Woolf, logic dictates it will be her last dance appearance.

It’s not merely that she’s now 61 — albeit dancing exquisitely — and sharing a stage with dancers one-third her age. It's also that she’s about to embark on an exciting new chapter as artistic director of the Vienna State Ballet, and plans to devote herself “200%” to the task.

But back to that logic thing: It hasn’t played much of a role in Ferri’s rather astounding career.

After all, she’s retired before — in 2007, from American Ballet Theater — with fanfare and glittery confetti and countless bouquets. Logic would have dictated she stay retired, but there she was in 2015, creating the Woolf role in Wayne McGregor’s “Woolf Works,” which she’s reprising this week with ABT. And there she was in 2016 dancing Juliet, her signature role, at ABT for a night, somehow making a lovesick teenager believable at age 53.

So it’s understandable if Ferri will not, even now, say “never again.”

“I’m not going to think about it!” the dancer said laughingly (but firmly) in an interview last week, taking a break between rehearsals. ”I mean, I do THINK this is it, because I know what’s coming next.” But life, she adds, can be very surprising.

Like that time she ran into choreographer Martha Clarke on the street, six years after retiring, feeling “like I was missing what I loved.” That led to a dance-theater piece called “Cheri” at New York’s Signature Theater, opposite soulful ABT principal Herman Cornejo (who rejoins her onstage this week.)

In the audience one day was choreographer Wayne McGregor, of the Royal Ballet in London, where Ferri began her career. He’d arrived with a major proposal about a new ballet he was mounting. “Will you please be my Virginia?” he asked.

“There’s always a little voice inside me who recognizes when I have to do something,” Ferri says. But still, she had to ask McGregor: “Wayne, are you really aware of how old I am?”

“And he said yes, that he needed a dancer who can embody (Woolf's) soul, her essence,” Ferri says. “So I thought, okay. We can lead each other in this."

In an interview, McGregor expressed wonder at how Ferri, a petite dancer, can project ripples of emotion across a vast opera house in such an effortless way.

“What’s amazing about the world’s greatest performers, of which Alessandra is one, is that they bring the audience to them, they don't need to project OUT,” McGregor said. “Alessandra is tiny, right? But there’s this ability, this magnetism, to be able to bring the audience to her.”

Both dancer and choreographer also note how rare it is for classical ballet, a world of fluttering swans and dainty princesses, to feature a fully fleshed-out female character of a certain age.

“Alessandra is about the age of Virginia Woolf was when she died,” McGregor notes (the writer took her own life, walking into a river at age 59.) “We're so accustomed to seeing or thinking about dance as a young person’s game. We’re not used to seeing the power and expressivity of older bodies, inhabiting roles that reflect much more clearly our living in a contemporary world.” Ferri can do that, he says, and people respond.

“Alessandra is still dancing so beautifully,” adds ABT artistic director Susan Jaffe, herself a former ABT principal of the same generation. “As well as her incredible dramatic ability — she knows how to make the moment so alive, so electric and so authentic. In a way, the movements become sort of an extended gesture of what she's doing emotionally.”

That phenomenon was clear at a recent studio rehearsal. Many young dancers there had never met Ferri in person. As she practiced the death scene, surrounded, lifted and carried by dancers representing waves, all eyes were on Ferri’s Virginia and the tortured yet determined look in her eyes. At the end of her duet with Cornejo, she lay down in watery death. The room erupted in applause.

Applause also, of course, rang through the opera house on Tuesday at Ferri’s first of two performances, with ballet regulars keenly aware that this might be the last time they see her in pointe shoes.

Ferri says one of the reasons she loves her role is that she's able to bring her lengthy past with her.

“I can be myself, at 60, with a path.” she says. “A path full of wonderful moments, joyful moments, sad moments, angry moments, frightening moments. I can bring all of that to this role.”

The audience sees it clearly. One thing it does not see: the incredible effort that goes into making it all look, well, effortless.

McGregor compares Ferri’s physical determination to that of elite athletes.

“You know how you see incredible athletes all of a sudden able to swim the channel in their 60s?” the choreographer asks. “It takes so much training. That is Alessandra, the amount of work she has to do to make it so effortless is way, way more than being able to rely on your body when you’re young."

This is also, now, why Ferri says she is ready to move on. Life running a ballet company, which she begins in 2025, will not allow for hours at the barre.

“I have a lot of energy,” she says. “But I will need it for the dancers. I really want to be there for them.”

Ferri wasn’t always ready. She was approached to run a company years ago, when she first retired. “It wasn’t the right time. This time I was approached, and I went (snaps fingers). I knew back then I wasn’t ready to dedicate myself to others 200%. Now I am.”

But still, rather like the Rolling Stones, Ferri will not say definitively that it’s the last time we see her dance. (Except for Juliet — that role is in the past.)

“I don’t know, because life, as I say, is full of surprises,” she says. “And sometimes — often — it’s turned out in a way that I didn’t expect, you know? So, who knows?”

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June 28, 2024 at 12:02AM

Nevada judge denies release of ex-gang leader ahead of trial in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

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LAS VEGAS -- An ailing former Los Angeles-area gang leader has been denied release from a Las Vegas jail ahead of his trial in the 1996 killing of music legend Tupac Shakur, despite a bid by a hip-hop music figure to underwrite his $750,000 bond.

A Nevada judge rejected house arrest with electronic monitoring for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 61, saying she wasn't satisfied with assurances that Davis and his would-be benefactor — Cash “Wack 100” Jones — weren't planning to reap profits from the sale of Davis' life story.

A Nevada law prohibits convicted killers from profiting from their crime.

Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny said in her ruling issued Wednesday that a review of Jones' financial records also did little to address her concerns that Jones might be a “'front' or ‘middleman’ for the true bond poster.”

Davis has sought to be released since shortly after his arrest last September made him the only person ever charged with a crime in the killing, which has drawn intense interest and speculation for 27 years.

Prosecutors allege the gunfire in Las Vegas that killed Shakur stemmed from competition between East Coast members of a Bloods gang sect and West Coast groups of a Crips sect, including Davis, for dominance in a musical genre known at the time as “gangsta rap.”

Davis has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 4. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

After a 45-minute hearing Tuesday, Kierny said she was left with more questions than answers after Davis' legal team tried to demonstrate the source of the funds.

Prosecutors have argued that Davis intends to benefit from retelling his story about the killing of Shakur and played a recording of a jailhouse phone call in which Jones describes to Davis a plan to produce “30 to 40 episodes” of a show based on his life story.

“It is an illegal benefit, profiting from this crime,” prosecutor Binu Palal told the judge. Palal didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday on the judge's decision.

Jones, a music record executive who has managed hip-hop artists including Johnathan “Blueface” Porter and Jayceon “The Game” Taylor, offered sworn testimony Tuesday by video from an unspecified place in California.

He said he paid 15% of the bail amount, or $112,500, as “a gift” from his business accounts to secure Davis’ release.

Davis' attorney, Carl Arnold, didn't respond to emails or phone calls left at his office Wednesday seeking comment. A spokesperson for Arnold didn't immediately have comment when reached by email.

The judge said in Wednesday's 2-page order she wasn't convinced the bail money was not being paid “out of profits from Mr. Davis discussing the killing of the victim in this case.”

While Jones testified he was bonding out Davis because Davis was fighting cancer and “had been a pillar of the community," previous interviews “suggested another motive," Kierney wrote.

She said Jones indicated there were “stipulations” on the bond and “that Mr. Davis would be signing a contract regarding the rights to his life story, ostensibly including the shooting of Mr. Shakur." She said that was supported by a recorded phone call at the jail when Jones “insisted that a contract be signed before the bond premium was paid.”

____

Sonner reported from Reno, Nevada. Associated Press journalists Rio Yamat and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas and Jonathan Landrum in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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June 27, 2024 at 12:11PM

Movie Review: Kevin Costner sets the table with overstuffed first take on epic 'Horizon'

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There's a scene deep into Kevin Costner's new Western when he and a woman are fleeing bad guys on horseback. They pause at a jaw-dropping vista and he turns to her: “You just gotta keep going,” he tells her.

That should be the slogan of “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” the initial three-hour salvo in what could morph into a four-part epic about the West that could tax even the biggest cowboy fan.

Give Costner — co-writer, director, producer — his due. This is a labor of love he's been thinking about since the 1980s and he has skin in the game: He took out a mortgage on his 10-acre home in Santa Barbara, California. Well, one of his homes, at least. He's not a total idiot.

“Chapter 1” — “Chapter 2” is to be released in August and parts three and four depend on if folks keep going — is a sprawling, often unwieldy placesetter, introducing dozens of characters in different parts of the West who, one has to assume, will interact at some point. If they survive, that is.

It’s a spectacularly unsubtle movie, from the opening moment when a group of ants on a hill of dirt are crushed by a surveyor’s wooden stake. If there's any doubt what we must feel, listen to John Debney’s ponderous, pretentious score, with its criminal overuse of cellos.

Costner scrambles the plot — crafted by him and Jon Baird — almost immediately by offering a climactic battle scene within the first half hour, one in which a small white settlement in Arizona’s San Pedro Valley (thanks, southern Utah!) is sneak-attacked by Apaches during an innocent dance.

It's a slaughter and it lasts way too long — savagery on one side, noble victims on the other. Mothers are struck by arrows while carrying their babes, unarmed musicians killed without a thought. “Ready son?" asks a dad to his teenage son, handing him a rifle and facing certain death. ”I think so, dad," comes the plucky reply. In the aftermath, a mother cradles the corpse of her son and talks to it.

This slaughter shoots off a few story strands — some survivors (like spunky new widow Sienna Miller and her daughter) find shelter at a U.S. Army camp led by an achingly honorable lieutenant, played by Sam Worthington. Another story arc sees bounty hunters go in search of the Apaches who attacked the settlement, seeking profit and revenge.

“Horizon” also shows the internal divisions within the Apaches, with the chief's hothead son and new father (Owen Crow Shoe) ready to keep fighting. “Their sons will hunt you," the chief warns. “I won't sing for your victory today.” We learn that the white settlement violated agreements meant to calm the West.

Costner’s universe is both fatalistic and inevitable. Both sides may be right and wrong, but there will always be another round of savagery. “There's no one on Earth going to stop these wagons from coming,” an exasperated Army officer says at one point.

After an hour, Costner himself arrives, a quiet, strong loner who enters a Wyoming Territory settlement with the hope of a nice drink and some lady company and yet who leaves on the run, protecting a sex worker (Abbey Lee) and a boy in her care from psychotic horsemen who wish them harm.

Two hours into the movie comes another whole set of characters, with Costner's menu now completely out of whack. It's a wagon train led by Luke Wilson (never a cowboy, ever) who is facing some class issues — a well-off, oblivious couple are among the working-class muscle — and some Peeping Toms. It's all too much, but add to it a dash of anti-Chinese xenophobia, some budding romances and horrific scalping.

Director of photography J. Michael Muro doesn't romanticize anything, grinding the action in the smoke, heat and chicken-pecked dust of the West, so much so that you might taste grit in your teeth at some points. It helps that Costner has positioned everyone on the top of a picturesque hillside, showing off their profiles.

Part of the problem of “Chapter 1” is that in addition to overstuffing it with too many characters, the editing is pretty bad. Viewers will struggle with some violent cuts in which Costner has jumped the action forward months within the same chapter without any clues.

Yet Costner is still an impressive director with a eye for the natural beauty of the American West and a soft spot for loners. Yes, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” is a huge swing that cannot really stand on its own. But we owe it to him to ride beside him a little more. Let's see if he can stick the landing.

“Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” a Warner Bros. release in theaters Friday, is rated R for “violence and some nudity and sexuality.” Running time: 180 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

___

MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

___

Online: https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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June 26, 2024 at 11:41PM

Movie Review: Taxicab confessions with Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn in ‘Daddio’

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It’s late at night when Dakota Johnson hops into a yellow taxicab at Kennedy airport in the new film “ Daddio.” She’s just going home to Manhattan, 44th Street, between 9th and 10th avenues. And her cab driver (Sean Penn) decides to strike up a conversation that will last the duration of this nearly 100-minute ride. There is no “quiet” setting cab.

This is not a horror movie, though for some a chatty driver on an unexpectedly long trip might be close. It’s not the beginning of a wild “Collateral”-style night either. No, these two people from different generations, different life experiences and different classes just talk about everything — life, mistakes, technology, human nature, what makes a New Yorker, absentee fathers, affairs, human nature and love.

“Daddio” was written and directed by Christy Hall, a playwright. Though we are also technically stuck in a cab with Girlie (Johnson) and Clark (Penn), Hall makes it feel rather cinematic, whether her camera is in close up on her actors, a rear-view mirror, a phone screen or letting us breathe for a moment with a shot outside of the cab, on the New York skyline. Claustrophobic it is not.

That’s not to say that some of the conversations won’t have you squirming in your skin a bit. The vast majority of those come from Clark, a Boomer with a heart of gold and some ideas about life that haven’t aged particularly well.

Taboo subjects and ideas that might get a person “cancelled” on social media are of course part of the point of this journey, in which two people who wouldn’t ever find themselves in an extended, soul-bearing conversation with each other under normal circumstances do.

Clark is one of those self-proclaimed truth-tellers who believes in his ability to read a person immediately, well-honed after 20 years of driving taxis in New York. He lures his passenger in with flattery about her New York savvy (giving cross streets instead of an address and not worrying about the meter) and shocks her when he’s able to immediately discern that the person she’s dating, and texting, is married. Her guard up a bit at the beginning with short, impersonal responses to Clark, who would ungenerously be described as a chronic mansplainer, but pretty soon they’re both in a therapy session (though mostly for her).

It’s an interesting and captivating pairing of actors, borne out of Johnson’s friendship with Penn (they’re neighbors in Malibu). He’s believable as this working class guy with no filter and she is as a woman with a lot on her mind. Movies like this and “AM I OK?,” are a nice reminder how Johnson thrives with material she connects with.

“Daddio,” in theaters Friday, is ultimately a fascinating and imperfect experiment in rich lineage of modest two-handers that take on an epic scope. There are dull moments and off-putting tangents that seem to exist only to provoke, but the message at its core is a nice one about connection and empathy and occasionally uncomfortable intergenerational conversations that don't end with someone being silenced. It might just have you thinking about starting a random chat with a stranger, too.

“Daddio,” a Sony Pictures Classics release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “language throughout, sexual material and brief graphic nudity.” Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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June 26, 2024 at 11:26PM

From DVF to Star Wars, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy charts her own path in Hollywood

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Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s oeuvre defies simple categorization.

She’s made documentaries about acid attack victims and child refugees. She’s focused her lens on the extraordinary life of designer Diane von Furstenberg. She’s spearheaded animated films for and about Pakistani children. She’s directed episodes of “Ms. Marvel” and is developing a Star Wars film. And she’s won two Oscars along the way.

It’s not a conventional resume or trajectory — nothing that anyone would teach or even think to advise in a film school or a masterclass about making it in Hollywood. But for Obaid-Chinoy , it’s working. And it’s made her one of the most interesting storytellers in the business.

“I’ve been able to follow my own yellow brick road to Hollywood,” Obaid-Chinoy said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Having Academy Awards has helped that, but most importantly so many young filmmakers around the world write to me and tell me how my unconventional choices ... make them believe that that yellow brick road can be walked on by many people.”

Her newest film is “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge," which is streaming on Hulu. With a co-directing credit shared with Trish Dalton, it’s an intimate portrait of the fashion tycoon, who is raw and honest about everything: death, dalliances, ambitions, love, failures and everything in between.

“I hope it’s inspiring to a lot of girls and women to know that they can be the women they want to be,” von Furstenberg said.

They met 12 years ago on stage at Carnegie Hall where von Furstenberg was presenting Obaid-Chinoy with a Glamour Woman of the Year Award and have kept in touch since. When von Furstenberg decided she was ready to tell her own story, she wanted Obaid-Chinoy to do it and gave her full access to herself, her family and her archives.

“I’ve always made films about women who are on the front lines, who are faced with extraordinary circumstances and who rise to that occasion,” she said. “Diane is very much in line with that.”

It's a busy time for the filmmaker, who is also in early development on Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel “Brilliance” and working with Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Knight on a “Star Wars” film about Daisy Ridley’s Rey at a jedi academy, both of which she’ll direct.

Obaid-Chinoy didn’t start out with filmmaking aspirations, however. Her entry to storytelling was as a teen journalist in Pakistan. The eldest of six, five of whom were girls, she was a naturally inquisitive young person who wanted to know about the world around her. She would pepper her mother with questions: Why did she get to go to school while other kids were begging on the street? Why was there inequality? Why were women forced to live a certain kind of life?

When she was around 14, her mother suggested she start putting these questions in writing. So, she did. Obaid-Chinoy wrote a letter to the local English language newspaper in Pakistan — the first of many letters that would open doors to new opportunities and career advancements. By 17, she was doing investigative reporting for the paper.

It wasn’t until October 2001, as she was nearing her graduation at Smith College, that she realized she wanted to do more visual storytelling. Her first idea was to go to Afghanistan and focus on the ordinary people living there. She sent her proposal out to about 80 organizations and finally got a response, from New York Times Television. With $7,500 from them and $7,500 from her school, she made “Terror’s Children,” which was broadcast on television and won several awards: Suddenly she was a documentary filmmaker to watch.

In 2012, at 33, she made Oscars history as the first Pakistani Academy Award winner for her documentary short “Saving Face,” an eye-opening film about women disfigured by acid attacks and the plastic surgeon trying to help them.

One of its fans was Angelina Jolie, who wrote in Time Magazine that Obaid-Chinoy, one of their 100 most influential people of 2012, was helping to shape the dialogue on Pakistan and inspire change in legislation.

“Giving voice to those who cannot be heard,” Jolie wrote, “she celebrates the strength and resilience of those fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds — and winning.”

A few years later, her film “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” about a teen who survives an “honor killing” attempt by her father and uncle, helped inform the repeal of a forgiveness loophole for perpetrators. It also won the Oscar.

After that, she felt an urge to create something more visual and set up an animation studio in Pakistan.

“I began to work more with actors and narrative work,” she said. “And out of this grew a need to do something that would take my experiences being embedded around the world as a filmmaker and create something that would give life to characters that would be loved around the world.”

So, she wrote another letter, this time to Marvel Studios, raising her hand to help with the Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel.” She directed episodes around the superhero’s trip to modern-day Pakistan and 1947 India.

This new phase of her career has put her in a bigger spotlight, with higher profile opportunities, but it also comes with its downsides — just ask anyone involved in “Acolyte” about toxic fandoms. But she’s unbothered by the noise: She learned long ago from her mother to drown out the voices that aren’t helpful.

The chasm between serious-minded documentaries and fantasies about jedi knights might seem vast from the outside, but for Obaid-Chinoy it’s not so.

“My protagonists ... go on these hero’s journey and that are faced with adversities and that sort of, you know, rise up out of the ashes of that adversity. And in many of my films, they change the trajectory of a country, the trajectory of the community,” she said. “At the heart of it, that is Star Wars. And I’ve been telling that story for the last 20 years.”

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June 26, 2024 at 11:11PM

The best albums of 2024 so far: AP's picks include Beyoncé, Chief Keef, Kali Uchis, Waxahatchee

Repost Ent dalamlima.blogspot.com

The sun is hot, but the tunes are hotter. We're only halfway through 2024, and some of the biggest names in music have already released albums.

That’s as good a reason as any to take stock of this year's releases. Here are The Associated Press' picks for the year’s best...so far.

It is rare for a pop album to function as a catchy body of work and an accessible masterclass on an underserved and undercelebrated history. But on “Act II: Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé’s epic 78-minute, 27-track release, she accomplishes just that. Across the release, B positions herself in opposition to country music’s rigid power structures and educates listeners on its origins in Black music.

Swift’s 11th album is an amalgamation of her moody synth-pop (as heard on 2022’s “Midnights” ) and literary folk compositions ( “evermore” and “folklore”) — the direct result of an artist who has spent the last few years re-recording her life’s work and touring its material. Storytelling is at the fore, delivered through an ascendant vocal run or an elegiac verse that highlight her narrative powers.

Eilish’s 10-track album is stacked with rewarding fake outs. Like in the opener “Skinny,” which launches into the saccharine falsetto of her award-winning “Barbie” ballad “What Was I Made For?” only to abandon the format for the pulsating pop and sapphic yearning of “Lunch.” There is techno and hyperpop, acoustic ballads and a return to her gothic vaudeville.

For Grande’s first album in four years, the pop singer teamed up with the mysterious Swedish hitmaker Max Martin for a collection of songs that range from earworm hooks filtered ’90s house music (“yes, and?”), wobbly ’00s R&B pop (“True Story”), Y2K revivalism (“The Boy Is Mine,” inspired by the Brandy and Monica classic) and Robyn-esque euro-pop (“we can’t be friends (wait for your love).”)

In the seven years since Shakira’s last album, she separated from soccer player Gerard Piqué, leading to what she’s called the “dissolution of my family," and she faced charges of tax evasion in Spain. But she transformed that pain into art on “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” from the bachata “Monotonía” to the electro-pop “Te Felicito” to the mega viral “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” and beyond.

HONORABLE MENTION: Dua Lipa’s “Radical Optimism,” Tyla, “Tyla,” Kacey Musgraves, “Deeper Well,” Usher’s “Coming Home”

Something shifted when Chief Keef released his “Almighty So” mixtape in 2013. The exemplar of Chicago drill, the rap subgenre that would define its moment, Chief Keef was a viral teenager whose sound would be heard round the world. Eleven years later, his long-teased sequel, “Almighty So 2” delivers with the immediacy of the first — but it is markedly different. Keef has never sounded more polished, more professional — but he stays true to himself.

On his sixth album, the LA rapper Schoolboy Q pushes himself to traverse new, unexpected territory — five years since 2019’s “Crash Talk,” and undeniably worth the wait. There are good time tracks (“THank god 4 me”) and songs of disruption (“Germany ’86”). It makes for an interesting tension – and room for discovery with each listen.

Last year’s “Hood Hottest Princess” introduced listeners everywhere to a young, hot new Midwest MC — a fearless, funny rapper by the name Sexyy Red. This year, she’s followed it up with a mixtape, “In Sexyy We Trust,” a not-safe-for-work collection of bright, horny rap records. If you thought she was going to settle for just one viral moment, guess again.

HONORABLE MENTION: Future and Metro Boomin, “We Don’t Trust You,” Young Miko, “Att.,” Flo Milli, “Fine Ho, Stay,” Vince Staples, “Dark Times”

English pop singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s sixth album oscillates between hedonism and anxiety — the euphoria of a late night on the dancefloor and the creeping disquietude of the morning after — as much as it does her in-between status as pop queen of the underground and sometimes mainstream success story. As “Brat” summer swings in full force, it seems like she’s leaning more and more to the latter.

On her fourth studio album, the largely Spanish-language “Orquídeas” (“Orchids” in English), Colombian American singer Kali Uchis’ ability to create lush, fluid sonic worlds reaches new heights. On “Orquídeas,” it is all sultry songs about love, loss and divination. These are self-possessed songs across a spectrum of heritages, made cohesive through her unique filter.

The thoughtful leader of BTS, RM is usually philosophical in his solo work, unafraid to take big sonic risks, sometimes with big rewards. On “Right Place, Wrong Person,” his second solo album, RM continues to ask the big questions atop elastic, genre-averse production, from the wet, funky bass of “Nuts,” the avant-garde “Around the world in a day” to the surprising shoegaze of “Heaven.”

HONORABLE MENTION: Carin León, “Boca Chueca, Vol. 1,” Brittney Spencer, “My Stupid Life,” Álvaro Díaz, “Sayonara,” Ayra Starr, “The Year I Turned 21,” Shaboozey, “Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going”

Where did “Diamond Jubilee” come from? Cindy Lee — the drag alter-ego of Women’s Patrick Flegel, a fixture of Canadian indie rock since the early 2010s — released this lo-fi gem as an unmarked YouTube link. It meant listeners had to sink into its psych and garage rock in full – all two hours and 32-minutes. It’s unusual that an album this surprising, expansive and beneath the mainstream manages to break out onto best of lists.

The indie artist Waxahatchee, known for her gut-wrenching alt-country, demonstrates mastery of her craft on her sixth studio album, “Tigers Blood.” Waxahatchee, the musical moniker of Katie Crutchfield, is at her most evocative when documenting everyday realities. “Tigers Blood” finds simple joys; gone are tortured emotions and self-doubt communicated through distorted riffs of her previous work. Start with “Right Back to It,” featuring guitarist MJ Lenderman, which moves from country to indie rock seamlessly. It’s about easing into the later years of a steady and reliable relationship – and it sounds exciting.

Philadelphia punk band Mannequin P---- have never been accused of being restrained. On their latest album, “I Got Heaven,” ferociousness, self-assurance and desire are one in the same. The band moves from lust and fear (“I Got Heaven”) to dominance (“Loud Bark”) and freedom (“Aching”), playing with Christian lyricism and sexuality in the same breath. It makes for a high-octane listen — not for the faint of heart, but certainly for anyone looking for an energizing record that moves from dreamy pop to abrasive hardcore with ease.

It may be the summer, but this sounds like spring. Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker’s fifth solo album is simple, sparse, and singular. Her folk-y vocal tone, immediately recognizable to her most devoted listeners, is time-honored – with little more than an acoustic guitar and a harmony, she composes elegant songs with a classic sensibility. Sometimes, the most thoughtful creations utilize the fewest tools.

HONORABLE MENTION: Kim Gordon, “The Collective,” Helado Negro, “Phasor,” Hurray for the Riff Raff, “The Past Is Still Alive,” Modu Moctar, “Funeral for Justice”

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June 26, 2024 at 10:11AM

Gena Rowlands has Alzheimer's, her son Nick Cassavetes says

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Celebrated actor and honorary Academy Award recipient Gena Rowlands is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, says her son, the filmmaker Nick Cassavetes

NEW YORK -- The celebrated actor and honorary Academy Award recipient Gena Rowlands is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, her son, the filmmaker Nick Cassavetes, has revealed.

Cassavetes, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Tuesday, said Rowlands has had Alzheimer's for five years. In the 2004 film “The Notebook,” Cassavetes directed his mother, who played the older version of the character played by Rachel McAdams, as a woman with dementia.

"We spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” Cassavetes said. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”

A representative for Rowlands confirmed that Cassavetes “speaks for the family.”

Rowlands, who received an honorary Oscar in 2015, made 10 films with her husband, John Cassavetes, including 1974's “A Woman Under the Influence” and 1980's “Gloria.” She was Oscar nominated for both performances. She also won four Emmy awards. Her last credited performance was the 2014 comedy “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.”

Rowlands's mother, actor Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer's. During the making of “The Notebook,” Gena Rowlands said she channeled her mother.

“I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed the film, I don’t think I would have gone for it — it’s just too hard,” Rowlands told O magazine in 2004. “It was a tough but wonderful movie.”

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June 26, 2024 at 12:11AM

Chanel goes to the opera in a gleaming but designer-less couture collection

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PARIS -- The show must go on, with aplomb. Chanel’s latest couture display Tuesday was a finely executed collection channeling theatricality.

Few Parisian fashion houses can fill the Paris Opera and gain applause from Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and other luminaries without even having a designer. It's a testament to Chanel’s enduring power and its world-renowned atelier following Virginie Viard's abrupt exit on June 5.

Here are some highlights of the fall couture displays:

Guests clutching Chanel opera glasses got happily lost as they explored marble staircases to find a stage in the Opera’s outer corridors, filled with red velvet opera boxes designed by French movie director Christophe Honoré. The stage was set with silhouettes evoking the opera and its heyday: dramatic capes, puffed sleeves and richly embroidered pieces.

The designs’ gleam rivaled only that of the sumptuous 19th-century atrium itself, with shimmering buttons and brilliant threads reflecting the light.

There were moments of drama, with guests reaching for their cameras to capture a black gown with puff sleeves whose feathers, beading and ribbons gleamed provocatively.

This season, there is a welcome move to less accessorizing, a departure from the hallmark of Viard. The focus was on the garments, highlighting the craftsmanship and luxurious materials. Feathers, tassels, embroidered flowers, precious braids, lacquered jersey, supple tweeds, silky velvet, illusion tulle, taffeta and duchesse satin adorned looks befitting the venue.

Although the necklines were a standout feature, the collection as a whole had a slightly disparate feel that sometimes seemed to lack a singular aesthetic anchor.

Chanel paid tribute to the ateliers of the “petites mains," or the dozens of artisans who work in six ateliers a stone’s throw from the venue.

Viard abruptly left after over 30 years with the brand. The overnight announcement of her departure was highly unorthodox, coming just weeks before the couture show.

Viard succeeded Karl Lagerfeld upon his death in 2019 and was his closest collaborator for almost 30 years. She had overseen record sales for Chanel, reaching a reported $19.7 billion last year. Ready-to-wear sales reportedly increased 23% during her tenure.

Yet in the fickle world of fashion, strong sales are not always enough. Viard’s tenure was dogged by controversy, most recently with criticism of her collections, including a poorly received mid-season show in Marseille. Viard faced backlash for runway shows that critics said lacked the grandiose flair defining Lagerfeld’s era, and she often received critiques for underwhelming design choices.

Though her appointment was initially seen as temporary, she was only the third creative director in Chanel’s over 100-year history after Lagerfeld and, of course, legendary founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

The fashion world speculates on her successor. Names like Hedi Slimane, Marine Serre and Simon Porte Jacquemus circulate, suggesting potential shifts in Chanel’s creative direction.

Bubbles are never far away from the effervescent couturier Alexis Mabille. Guests sipped champagne, with champagne-filled ice buckets even on the runway in a celebration of luxurious excess.

Unfurling, undressing, and plays on corsetry were on the drinks menu this season, starting with an opening number featuring a gleaming bustier that resembled an opening flower. The intimacy and ritual of getting dressed is a theme that pervades Mabille's work.

Varied looks sometimes surprised guests, such as a Bob Mackie-style feathered headdress that out-Cher-ed Cher. The extravagant piece had an almost equestrian flourish and was a real feat of couture execution, showcasing Mabille’s flair for Hollywood-inspired glamour.

A golden bullet creation, and a gleaming metallic power cape with an armor-like bustier, gave the collection a lot of attitude, if not always coherence. Mabille’s collections often embrace a wide array of silhouettes and themes, sometimes leading to a lack of unified narrative. However, the diversity is also part of his charm.

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June 25, 2024 at 09:26PM

Donald Sutherland, the towering Canadian actor whose career spanned 'M.A.S.H.' to 'The Hunger Games,' dies at 88

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Donald Sutherland, the towering Canadian actor whose career spanned 'M.A.S.H.' to 'The Hunger Games,' dies at 88
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June 21, 2024 at 01:02AM

Different versions of 'home' roost at the American Folk Art Museum

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NEW YORK -- What does “home” mean? Different things to all of us, of course.

A place of love, for some. One fraught with trouble, for others. An elusive concept for too many.

“Home isn’t always a place of comfort. Nor is it always a location, or a place. Home can be a state of mind," says Brooke Wyatt, curator of a show at the American Folk Art Museum called “Somewhere to Roost.”

The collection of 60 pieces explores artists' conceptions of home in paintings, illustrations, folk art objects, collages, blanket chests, quilts and family photographs.

The exhibition’s title piece, “‘Birds Gotta Have Somewhere to Roost” by Thornton Dial Sr., is a collage of weathered wood, burlap, carpet and tin. At first glance, it’s a scramble of tossed-away scraps. But consider the title and you imagine something else: birds gathering the bits to make a nest. Dial's work, including many such assemblages of found materials, are in museum collections around the U.S.

Birds are depicted in a pen-and ink drawing made in the 1800s by V.H. Furnier, an artist and penmanship teacher in Indiana, Pennsylvania. It includes the words “Home Sweet Home," and above it an avian pair, one of them carrying a sprig with the words “Spare the Birds.”

New Englander Joseph E. Clapp’s beautiful birdcage is another standout. Made of Peruvian mahogany and whalebone with petite brass pins, it’s a marvel of construction. Clapp was a master mariner who worked on whale boats in the 1850s. When he retired, he created a bird sanctuary in Peru. He finally returned to Nantucket, where he was often seen strolling the streets with his pets in their cages.

A drawing called “Devil House” conveys what it means when home is a literal prison cell. Incarcerated in a Huntsville, Alabama, prison, Frank Albert Jones started drawing with the red and blue pencil stubs discarded by inmate bookkeepers. A recurring theme is enclosed rooms surrounded by jagged wiry barbs he called “devil’s horns,” with grinning spirits. He frequently includes a clock; for many years, his cell faced the penitentiary’s clock tower.

Jones' signature on “Devil House” includes his neatly printed prison number, 11451.

Clementine Hunter grew up on Louisiana plantation and became an acclaimed self-taught artist. Starting in her 50s, she created a visual history of everyday life there — from laundry days to weekend parties — as she remembered it in the early 1900s. Two of her untitled works are in the exhibition; one shows people gathering at an outdoor funeral, while the other depicts a courtroom scene.

Another painting in the exhibit is of Roberta Flack, by the Jamaican artist Kapo, whose given name was Mallica Reynolds. Flack and Reynolds had become close in the 1970s after she saw his works on display in a hotel in Jamaica, and Flack set up a foundation for the artist so he could concentrate on his work without worrying about finances.

When Kapo's house burned down, it was Flack who helped him rebuild, and her support allowed him to stay in his hometown and continue his art. It was one of many obstacles that he overcame, said his daughter, Christine Reynolds, who came to see the exhibition.

“Seeing his painting on view in `Somewhere to Roost' is yet another signal that his work made it through," she said. "I feel pride, vindication and joy, and I only wish I had him at the museum next to me so that I could watch his reaction to seeing it.”

A photograph by Margaret Morton entitled “Mr. Lee’s Home” shows a makeshift dwelling that was part of a lower Manhattan homeless encampment in the 1980s and early '90s. It and some other shelters were destroyed by an arsonist in 1992; resident Yi-Po Lee died in the fire.

Morton chronicled the camp’s residents in her series “Fragile Dwelling.”

“These impoverished habitats are as diverse as the people who build them, and they bear witness to the profound human need to create a sense of place, no matter how extreme one’s circumstances," she wrote.

In one painting, a young boy is wearing some snazzy red slippers and a blue romper. He’s got a big book in one hand and an even bigger hat in the other. You get the impression he’s stopped only momentarily before running off to play in his room.

“Portrait of Frederick A. Gale” was painted by Ammi Phillips in 1815 and is one museum director Jason Busch's favorite pieces in the collection. It stands out, he said "because it’s representative of an art genre that, up till then, had been the purview of society’s upper crust.

“But around this time, more middle-class families were financially able to commission portraits."

Frederick wears a big smile and clothes that are less fussy and more childlike than those of kids in more traditional portraits.

Clarence and Grace Woolsey of Reinbeck, Iowa, had fun creating things out of the boxes of bottle caps that everyone had in the 1960s, before recycling programs became widespread. They strung together dozens of caps with baling wire, forming them into animals, objects and structures. The Museum has one of the small houses from the collection; the red-painted, tightly-packed caps with wavy edges resemble shingles, and the homey vibe epitomizes found-object craft art at its best.

—-

“Somewhere to Roost” runs until May 25, 2025, at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

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June 21, 2024 at 12:17AM

Judy Garland's hometown is raising funds to purchase stolen ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers

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GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. -- The Minnesota hometown of Judy Garland, the actress who wore a pair of ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” is raising money to purchase the prized footwear after it was stolen from a local museum and then later turned over to an auction company.

Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the late actress was born in 1922, is fundraising at its annual Judy Garland festival, which kicks off Thursday. The north Minnesota town is soliciting donations to bring the slippers back after an auction company takes them on an international tour before offering them up to prospective buyers in December.

“They could sell for $1 million, they could sell for $10 million. They’re priceless,” Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions executive vice president, told Minnesota Public Radio. “Once they’re gone, all the money in the world can’t buy them back.”

The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions received the slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the iconic shoes. Shaw had loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the sequins-and-beads-bedazzled slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after turning away from a life of crime. He was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health.

In March, a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, was charged in connection with the theft.

The ruby slippers were at the heart of “The Wizard of Oz,” a beloved 1939 musical. Garland’s character, Dorothy, danced down the Yellow Brick Road in her shiny shoes, joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.

Garland, who died in 1969, wore several pairs during filming. Only four remain.

Maddalena, with Heritage Auctions, says he sold two other pairs of ruby slippers. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and a group of the actor’s friends purchased one set for the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

Advance notice could help venues like the Judy Garland Museum secure the slippers that will be auctioned in December, he said. The museum which includes the house where Garland lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

“We wanted to enable places that might not normally be able to raise the funds so quickly to have plenty of time to think about it and work out ways to do that,” Maddalena said. “That’d be an amazing story. I mean, if they ended up back there, that’d be a fantastic story.”

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Judy Garland's hometown is raising funds to purchase stolen ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers
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June 21, 2024 at 12:02AM