Steve Pond's Blog, page 22

Bill Maher Jokes that Bullet Engravings Show Charlie Kirk Killer Believed ‘The Ends Justify the Memes’ | Video

Bill Maher started his monologue on Friday’s “Real Time” by talking about what he called “a very ugly week in America with violence of all kinds, political violence, regular violence. Lot of people talking about a civil war.”

He was referring, of course, to the murder of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk, by a 22-year-old man named Tyler Robinson who, evidence shows, may have shared similar right wing beliefs. And also, to the rippling effects, as right wing voices online assumed without evidence that the killer was a leftist.

“And then today in Congress, because Charlie Kirk got assassinated, Lauren Boebert stood up and said, We need to have a prayer. So they started to have a prayer, a silent prayer. And then she started screaming, ‘no, silent prayers get silent results,’ as if praying out loud gets big results,” Maher joked.

“So then the Democrats started screaming at her that there was a school shooting in her state,” Maher added, “I tell you, so far, the Civil War is not very civil.”

Maher then talked about Tyler Robinson, who he joked was “a stay-at-home son,” because he’s a “22 year old, white kid from Utah, living with mom and dad. They said he acted alone. I’m sure this is not the only thing he does alone.”

“And there’s a new wrinkle. Now the assassins are writing on the bullets. Have you seen this? This is not the first time he wrote on the bullet, ‘if you’re reading this, you’re gay, LMAO,’ because, you know, if you’re going to be an assassin, have fun with it,” Maher continued.

“Also, he wrote, you know, ‘hey, fascist, catch this.’ Gen Z, that’s so Gen Z. The ends justify the memes,” Maher joked.

To explain, while Robinson’s motives aren’t yet known — or, at least, public — his social media activity suggests affinity for the far right internet-based “Groyper” movement. More to the point, the engravings on the bullet casings were references to video games and internet memes that happen to be popular with the Groyper movement.

Meanwhile, Maher continued, “yesterday, the President weighed in on this. He said violence and murder are tragic consequences of demonizing those you disagree with day after day, year after year, and that goes double for dogs, fat pigs and terrible persons.”

“Today they asked the President, what are you going to do to bring the country together? And he said, ‘I know this is going to get me in trouble, but I could care less,'” Maher continued. “He’s a different kind of cat. His message is, ‘let the healing stop.”

Later in the monologue, Maher noted how in Brazil, unlike in the United States the president who attempted a coup in order to remain in power has been sentenced to 27 years in prison.

“This is also big news from the southern hemisphere, from Brazil. Bolsonaro, the president down there who was on trial for trying to steal the election, was convicted for trying to overturn the election that he lost. Trump is furious about this. He accused the entire government of being a functioning democracy,” Maher joked.

Then at the end of the show, Maher used his “New Rules” segment to defend freedom of speech. Watch that below:

The post Bill Maher Jokes that Bullet Engravings Show Charlie Kirk Killer Believed ‘The Ends Justify the Memes’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Military.Com ‘Effectively Dead’ After Valnet Forces Big Layoffs, Newsroom Union Says

The military news website Military.com is “effectively dead” due to sweeping layoffs forced by parent company Valnet earlier this week, the publication’s newsroom union said Friday.

According to the Military.com News Guild, on Wednesday, an unspecified number of journalists were “fired,” and an unspecified number were “pushed out.” Several of the affected staffers are veterans, the union said.

Representatives for Valnet didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap. The company acquired Military.Com in June, after previous owners Career Builder/Monster filed for bankruptcy.

In its statement Friday afternoon, posted on social media, the guild said that the team behind “the leading source of news on the military and veterans community is demolished. Meanwhile, Valnet, the new Canadian ownership, has begun to publish articles by freelancers who have little-to-no journalism experience.”

The work of these freelancers, the statement continues, “make clear” that the site “is moving away from hard news.” In addition, the guild said, staffers who were not pushed out or laid off were not informed that these freelancers had been contracted.

There remains a small contingent of dedicated staff continuing to work to the best of their ability and whom, despite Valnet’s union-busting efforts, are still part of the bargaining unit. The guild has not made unreasonable demands. We simply want to meet with management and work toward a fair labor agreement. We remain ready and willing to talk,” the statement concluded.

It’s only the latest series of brutal layoffs affecting websites recently purchased by Valnet. In May, the majority of staff at the video game website Polygon were laid off when Vox Media sold it to Valnet — these layoffs were conducted by Vox, after the sale was agreed upon.

At that time, referencing reporting by TheWrap that the company runs what a former employee referred to as a “sweatshop,” the National Writers Union condemned those layoffs, writing “Over the past decade, Valnet has made a business model out of buying up independently owned, fan-centric entertainment journalism sites, laying off large swaths of staff and replacing salaried labor with contract workers who are expected to produce large volumes of clickbait and copy work for little pay.”

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‘Driver’s Ed’ Review: Teenage Road Comedy Doesn’t Really Go Anywhere

Seven years ago, director Peter Farrelly used the Toronto International Film Festival as a springboard to glory: His road movie “Green Book” had a relatively low-profile premiere on the Tuesday of the festival’s second week, won the TIFF People’s Choice Award and went on to take down the favored “Roma” and win the Oscar for Best Picture. But that kind of Farrelly lightning isn’t likely to strike again this year with the road movie “Driver’s Ed,” directed by Farrelly’s brother and frequent co-director Bobby, which premiered on Friday, late in this year’s festival.

It’s not that “Driver’s Ed” has any ambitions to be another “Green Book.” In keeping with many of this year’s TIFF films, it’s an audience movie, not an awards movie. But it’s a pretty tepid audience movie, a coming-of-age high school comedy populated with characters who’ve been kicking around since before John Hughes: the kid who outsmarts the demanding but hapless principal, the super-smart but social awkward Asian student, the stoner who’s got more on the ball than you realize…

A director in his late 60s isn’t necessarily disqualified from making an effective teen comedy, but “Driver’s Ed” is mildly amusing at best. It’s a good-natured and good-hearted film without much of the edge or hilarity the Farrelly brothers brought to “Dumb and Dumber” or “There’s Something About Mary” – serviceable, but there’s a reason it’s being dropped at the end of the festival, several days after much of the non-Toronto-based audience has gone home.

And it’s not exactly a great next step for Sam Nivola, who had a key role as the youngest son of Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey in “The White Lotus” but went from one of the year’s most provocative TV shows to a film whose provocations don’t go much beyond a few drug jokes, a raucous frat party and a fair amount of profanity in lines that include Molly Shannon’s school principal telling driver’s ed teacher Kumail Nanjiani that he’s good at talking to kids because “you like them a f–k of a lot more than I do.”

Shannon and Nanjiani are two of the most notable adults (and goofiest characters of any age) in the film, but the story focuses on the kids: Nivola as Jeremy, a talented but lovestruck high school senior who can’t seem to grasp that his girlfriend is not quite as committed to their relationship now that she’s off to college; Sophie Telegadis as Evie, a voice of reason and the love interest that Jeremy is too blind to see; Mohana Krishnan as Aparna, the would-be valedictorian who’s petrified that she’s risking her scholarship to M.I.T. by going off in a borrowed driver’s ed car with her classmates; and Aidan Laprete as Yoshi, the class drug dealer who used to be a brain before his mom died. “I’m still smart, by the way,” he tells Aparna at one point, “I just don’t give a f–k about anything.”  

The four are thrown together in a driver’s ed class taught by Nanjiani, a lackadaisical kind of guy who also has both arms in casts and gives a series of different but equally implausible explanations for how he broke them. But Jeremy decides he has to save his relationship by borrowing the school’s car and heading to his girlfriend’s college, and the others go with him because … well, because there wouldn’t be a movie if they didn’t.

It’s a road movie full of, y’know, wacky escapades: accidentally dropping their cell phones in a river, tangling with a guy who robbed a hot dog stand, evading the school security guard who figures catching them will be his ticket back on the police force that kicked him out and eventually crashing a wild fraternity party when they get to the campus.

Meanwhile, Shannon and Nanjiani do their best to provide some energy, but they’re stuck in a classroom getting updates on the phone, which puts a damper on what they can actually do. Plus, Shannon wants to keep the whole thing quiet for fear that a stolen driver’s ed car will look bad on her permanent record. “I’m not letting three dips–ts and the valedictorian f–k me out of tenure,” she declares.

Is it a spoiler to say that that everybody learns and everybody grows? Probably not. It’s also not a surprise, and neither is anything else in this by-the-numbers teen comedy that finds some fresh new faces but doesn’t give them anything very new to do. Nivola creates a pleasantly clueless character while Telegadis makes the strongest impression among the teens, but it’d be nice if the vet in charge of it all had something that could challenge his cast more than this.

The fact that “Driver’s Ed” is an R-rated teen comedy may make it something of an anomaly these days, but it’s a fairly gentle and mostly goofy one that’s essentially spinning its wheels.

The post ‘Driver’s Ed’ Review: Teenage Road Comedy Doesn’t Really Go Anywhere appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’: Read Conrad’s Letters to Belly From Jenny Han’s Book

As “The Summer I Turned Pretty” goes off script from Jenny Han’s trilogy for its final three episodes, the Prime Video YA series took one element from “We’ll Always Have Summer”: Conrad’s letters to Belly.

It’s because of Conrad’s letters at the end of “We’ll Always Have Summer” that fans were prepared for Belly (Lola Tung) to have a fling with Benito (Fernando Cattori), and though the series has veered off course from the book with Belly’s Parisian adventure, the letters seem to be the way that Belly and Conrad (Christopher Briney) re-connect after Belly and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) called off their wedding.

Episode 10 even sees Conrad sending Belly Junior Mint and sour patch kids, just like he does in the book.

Check out Conrad’s five letters to Belly below, as well as Belly’s letter back to him.

Letter 1:

Dear Belly,

Firstly — I don’t even know if I should be writing you, if this is allowed. I hope it’s allowed. I hope you don’t throw this away without even opening the box — because if you do, you’ll miss out on something very important. Okay, fine, something that was once very important. To me.

I went over to your house to fix your mom’s computer. I went into your room to use the printer and I saw Junior Mint sitting on the bookshelf, looking incredibly pathetic. Remember him? Polar bear, wears glasses and a very stylish scarf? I won him for you at the ring toss? Do you remember how you used to go over to the ring toss and just stare at the polar bears because you wanted one so bad? I probably spent thirty or forty bucks trying to win you that damn bear.

Apparently, he misses you irrespective of that fact that you left him behind. He feels lost without you. I’m serious, that’s what he told me. Pathetic, right?

So here he is. Be nice to him, will you?

Conrad

Letter 2:

Dear Belly,

This is weird, writing to you like this. I think the last time I wrote someone an actual letter was a thank-you card to my grandma. For graduation money, I think. My mom was big on thank-you cards. Oh, by the way, you’re welcome for Junior Mint. Laur told me you said thanks. Geez, I was hoping for a thank-you card, but I guess we can’t all be as polite as me. Haha.

I should be working on biochem, but I’d rather be talking to you. Laurel says your Spanish is getting better. She told me you got lost the other day trying to hunt down a pack of Sour Patch Kids. Sour Patch Kids? Really? You’re too grown-up for Junior Mint, but not for Sour Patch Kids, huh?

Here’s the biggest bag I could find. It’s economy sized. The next time I see you, I’m sure you’ll be toothless. But happy. I really do hope you’re happy.

Conrad

Letter 3:

Dear Belly,

So far I’ve written you two letters and you’ve written me — well, none… Which is fine. Go ahead and feel free not to write me back. Seriously don’t feel obligated or anything. Even though I’ve sent you two handwritten letters and two gifts… But seriously, don’t write back. I’m serious. It’s better this way. I like hearing my news secondhand, from Laur.

Speaking of news, she told me you met some Spanish guy named Benito, and he rides around on a scooter. Really, Belly? A guy named Benito with a scooter? He probably wears leather pants and has a long stringy ponytail. I don’t even want to know. Don’t tell me. He probably looks like a model and weighs 100 pounds and writes you poetry in Spanish. I don’t know what you see in a guy like that, but I don’t know what you ever saw in me either, so I guess there’s no accounting for taste, right?

Don’t forget — don’t write me back.

Conrad

Letter 4:

Dear Belly,

You didn’t write back. I thought for sure you would, you used to be so bad at following directions, now look at you… Kidding. Actually, I’m not — remember that time you tried to make boxed potatoes au gratin and you forgot to put in the cheese?

Speaking of potatoes au gratin, your mom made some for Thanksgiving. Laurel invited us to dinner — my dad and Jere and me. I wasn’t sure if Jere would come, but he did. It was awkward as hell. But then Steven put on football and we all just sat and watched and it was better. During the half, Jere asked if I’d heard from you and I said no. He said you’ve been chatting online. He said you cut your hair shorter, that it makes you look older, more mature. Then Laur showed us pictures of when she came to visit you. I want to go there some day. I heard you aren’t hanging out with that guy Benito anymore. Don’t say I didn’t warn you …

By the way, it looks good. Your hair. I don’t think it makes you look older, though. Younger, if anything.

I might as well be completely honest here, because who even knows if you’re reading this… You might’ve thrown it out without opening it, which is your right. But I’ll go ahead and say it — it killed me a little that Jere’s seen you, talked to you. But I don’t think he hates me anymore, which is the important thing.

Also, in case I haven’t made it clear… I think about you a lot. You’re pretty much all I think about. Just so we’re clear.

Conrad

Letter 5:

Dear Belly,

It’s Christmas here. I guess it’s Christmas where you are too. I went to the summerhouse for a few days. I kept thinking I’d turn around and see you — stuffing your face with chocolate pretzels or sliding around the downstairs living room and those god-awful mistletoe pajama pants. I bet my mom bought them for you. She used to buy Jere and me matching Christmas sweaters. There’s one horrible family portrait of all of us in red button-downs and reindeer bowties. It’s basically a blight on humanity. I hid it in the attic one night and no one’s seen it since. If you’ve been a very good girl this year, maybe I’ll show you when you come back. My gift to you.

You know what you could give me? A letter back. Hell, I’ll even take a postcard. Or an e-mail. Anything. I just want to hear from you. I want to know how you’re doing. By the time you get this, Christmas will have passed — I hope it was a nice one.

Merry Christmas, Belly. Remember last year? Me and you at the summerhouse? Best Christmas of my life.

Love,

Conrad

Belly’s letter to Conrad:

Dear Conrad,

When I come home next spring, you’d better show me that family portrait. Don’t you dare try to get out of it. Oh, and I’ll be taking it with me, since it’s my gift and all.

And yes. I do remember. Of course I remember. It was my best Christmas, too.

Write back soon,

Belly

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” finale premieres Wednesday, Sept. 17, on Prime Video.

The post ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’: Read Conrad’s Letters to Belly From Jenny Han’s Book appeared first on TheWrap.

Charlie Kirk Widow Addresses Shooter in First Public Remarks: ‘You Have No Idea What You Have Unleashed’ | Video

Erika Kirk, widow to Charlie Kirk, made her first public statement to the press in a speech eulogizing her late husband Friday, which was streamed live from Turning Point USA’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

Erika tearfully thanked the Turning Point team and Utah DPS first responders and other medical personnel in her 16-minute address, while also calling on the continuation of her husband’s political mission to “make Heaven crowded” by bringing youth into the Church and into the Donald Trump ally’s ballooning conservative movement.

The most stirring moment of Kirk’s speech came, however, when she addressed the “evildoers” responsible for her husband’s death directly, without naming the apprehended suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. She warned: “You have no idea what you have unleashed.”

“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, in this world. You have no idea,” Kirk said. “You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry to everyone listening tonight across America. The movement my husband built will not die. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die. All of us will refuse to let that happen.”

She predicted that Turning Point USA’s conservative mission will only grow stronger in the aftermath of her husband’s death, echoing the organization’s own eulogy Thursday, which said he became “America’s greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored.”

“No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it,” Kirk said. “It will become stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever.”

She continued, saying she believed those behind the assassination killed him “because he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s merciful love.”

Watch the speech in full below:

Elsewhere in her speech, Kirk thanked Vice President JD Vance — “my husband’s dear friend” — and Trump. “Mr. President, my husband loved you, and he knew that you loved him too. He did,” she said. “Your friendship was amazing. You supported him so well as did he for you.”

Kirk then looked ahead to the future plans of Turning Point USA, assuring that its “The American Comeback Tour,” which kicked off Wednesday at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed, will continue as planned this fall. It’s planned AmericaFest in Phoenix will also move forward in December, and “there will be even more tours in the years to come.”

Kirk concluded by calling on youth nationwide to become involved with their local Turning Point USA chapter — “If you can’t find one, then start one” — and to engage in the Church to join her husband’s “battle” that is “not simply a political one.”

“Above all, it is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable,” Kirk said. “Charlie loved his savior with all of his heart, and he wanted every one of you to know him too … Nobody is ever too young to get involved with saving this beautiful country, this country my husband loved and still loves.”

The post Charlie Kirk Widow Addresses Shooter in First Public Remarks: ‘You Have No Idea What You Have Unleashed’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

WSJ Torched for False Report of ‘Trans Ideology’ on Charlie Kirk Shooter’s Bullets, Muted Retraction: ‘So Little Accountability’

The Wall Street Journal is being widely criticized for running a poorly sourced report, that was almost immediately debunked and ultimately proven false, that attempted to connect transgender people to Charlie Kirk’s murder.

On Thursday, the WSJ reported that an unnamed “source” from inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told them that bullets with inscriptions pertaining to unspecified “transgender ideology” had been linked to the shooting. The false report appears to have started with right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder, who posted a purported ATF memo with the claim.

Within an hour the New York Times, citing multiple AFT sources, reported that these claims were likely not true. Nevertheless, these false claims contributed to already increasingly violent rhetoric from right wing figures, including President Donald Trump, who were asserting without evidence that Kirk’s killer was from the political left.

But on Friday, Kirk’s killer was identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old white Mormon man unregistered to any political party, whose parents are both active Republicans.

And while Robinson’s motives aren’t yet known — or, at least, public — his social media activity suggests affinity for the far right internet-based “Groyper” movement. More to the point, the engravings on the bullet casings were references to video games and internet memes that happen to be popular with the Groyper movement.

They were: “Notices bulges OWO What’s this?” which makes fun of so-called “furries”; “Hey fascist! Catch!” followed by an arrow pointing up, one pointing right, and three pointing down, a reference to the video game “Helldivers”; lyrics to an Italian song called “Bella Ciao,” which is in Europe an anti-fascist song but is known in America for its ironic use in a popular video game; and “If you read this, you are gay. LMAO.”

WSJ posted one Editor’s Note on Thursday after the original story went live. where the ATF “urged caution” around reports of the transgender engravings. The added a follow up Editor’s Note Friday after the Utah Governor’s press conference.

“An earlier version of this article detailed how an internal law enforcement bulletin said that ammunition recovered following the Charlie Kirk shooting was engraved with expressions of ‘transgender and anti-fascist ideology,'” the note read. “Justice Department officials later urged caution about the bulletin by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying it may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition, and the article was updated Thursday to reflect that. This editor’s note was appended on Friday, Sept. 12, after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said the engravings included one that said ‘Hey fascist!’ along with other messages and symbols. He gave no indication that the ammunition included any transgender references.”

https://t.co/uUcGLPObPb pic.twitter.com/MYM4ekswsv

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) September 12, 2025

This led to an online uproar for how the WSJ handled the story and helped spread the misinformation.

I still can’t believe the WSJ published that the bullet casings had “transgender ideology” and it turned out to be a fucking HELLDIVERS REFERENCE

— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) September 12, 2025

Just un-fucking-believable that the Wall Street Journal ran that anti-trans story

— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) September 12, 2025

wsj has now appended this lengthy editor's note to the top of their report. it notably contains zero apology for spreading such incendiary misinformation https://t.co/QzmDj36Ikt https://t.co/1bN6Fln3KN pic.twitter.com/o5zMEijaLu

— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) September 12, 2025

the lie that the bullet that killed charlie kirk was engraved with “transgender ideology” was literally reported on by the fucking wall street journal. any “journalist” that spread this story and contributed to anti-trans panic plaguing this country should never work another day. https://t.co/swpKFuafYp

— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) September 12, 2025

There’s so little accountability in modern media, this outfit can misinform millions of people, stoking hatred towards the vulnerable transgender minority for a crime they didn’t do, and then go “whoopsie” in front of a fraction of the audience later on with no consequence. https://t.co/wjdKyVE9Ad

— serb your enthusiasm (@markocantdunk) September 12, 2025

The Wall Street Journal needs to issue a retraction with a push notification just like they did with the incorrect info about the “trans ideology” found on the casing. Journalistic malpractice

— benadryl bro (@benadrylnchill) September 11, 2025

The Wall Street Journal falsely reporters there was “trans ideology” on the bullet casings.

That was completely untrue.

— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) September 12, 2025

Masterclass on enflaming anti-trans rhetoric and violence by the WSJ: https://t.co/lYEOa7dPpk

— Jasmine (@garf1eldlasagna) September 12, 2025

The post WSJ Torched for False Report of ‘Trans Ideology’ on Charlie Kirk Shooter’s Bullets, Muted Retraction: ‘So Little Accountability’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Sean Astin Elected SAG-AFTRA President

SAG-AFTRA announced the results of its latest leadership and board elections on Friday evening, with longtime board and negotiating committee member Sean Astin elected as the new president of the actors’ union.

The “Lord of the Rings” actor will succeed outgoing president Fran Drescher, who led the union through the 2023 TV/Theatrical strike and 2024/25 interactive media strike. Drescher chose not to seek re-election.

Astin defeated New England local board member Chuck Slavin for the seat with 79% of votes received. Michelle Hurd was elected secretary-treasurer. Their terms begin immediately.

“Now is a time for optimism and creativity,” Astin said in a statement to press. “I am thrilled that the members have allowed me to lead our storied organization out of this challenging moment and into a future defined by confidence, progress and fierce advocacy.”

“The AMPTP congratulates Sean Astin on his election as President of SAG-AFTRA,” the organization said in a statement. “We look forward to working with President Astin to address the issues most important to SAG-AFTRA performers while promoting stability and opportunity across our industry.”

Astin will follow in the footsteps of his mother, Patty Duke, who served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988. He has served on five separate SAG-AFTRA negotiating committees, including the one for the 2023 TV/Theatrical contract, and served on both the guild’s national and Los Angeles local boards.

Friday also unveiled the results of the Los Angeles and New York local elections. In LA, Joely Fisher won her bid for local president with 67% of the vote against opponents Peter Antico and Brian Kruse. Lisa Ann Walter was elected first vice president and David Jolliffe was elected second vice president. Unopposed national board member candidate Dan Navarro also secured his seat.

In New York, Ezra Knight was elected local president with 73% of the vote against Kevin Cannon. Linda Powell was elected first vice president, Anthony Rapp second vice president, Jim Kerr third and Lizz Zazzi fourth. Janice Pendarvis, who ran unopposed, gets a New York national board member seat.

Astin and the rest of the union’s leadership have a long list of issues facing actors to address, including the next round of TV/Theatrical contract talks in the summer of 2026. Standing across the negotiating table as the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will be a familiar face: Gregory Hessinger, who previously served as national executive director of SAG and AFTRA in separate terms prior to the unions’ 2012 merger.

In both those contract talks and on other political and legal fronts, SAG-AFTRA has been pushing for protections for actors when it comes to how their likeness and performance is used to create AI-generated replicas. Further negotiations around the technology and how it has recently developed are expected.

Also expected to be a part of contract discussions is the ongoing issue of compensation for streaming shows and movies. While SAG-AFTRA, along with the Writers Guild of America, negotiated landmark compensation models for top performing streaming titles that led to the end of the 2023 strikes, the union has been opaque in the following years about the development of a planned “Robin Hood” fund that would withhold 25% of streaming residuals and distribute it among a larger swath of union members who have worked on streaming projects.

Outside contract issues, there’s also the matter of SAG-AFTRA’s health plan, which since the 2020 pandemic has seen thousands of members lose their coverage, starting with retirees who were no longer able to count residuals towards their qualifying threshold and had to turn to a Medicare Advantage marketplace to receive their benefits, leading to a lawsuit that the SAG-AFTRA health plan settled for $15 million.

Since then, the number of guild members who have lost their health plan has increased due to lost work both from the strike and the production exodus from the United States to other countries that has left thousands of actors with less opportunities to work and keep their union healthcare.

Over the past year, SAG-AFTRA has lobbied as part of the Entertainment Union Coalition for the expansion of the California Film and TV Tax Credit Program, which has led the number of applications for the first round of TV production tax credits to quadruple. But it will be at least a year before any substantial impacts can be fully measured.

The post Sean Astin Elected SAG-AFTRA President appeared first on TheWrap.

The 7 Best Psychological Thrillers on HBO Max Right Now

This month’s batch of psychological thriller picks on HBO Max is a diverse collection of films that spans multiple subgenres and decades. The streaming service has just about every kind of psychological thriller you could possibly want to watch, including a 1970s classic heist movie, a contemporary social thriller and even one of A24’s most underrated and oft-forgotten dramas.

Here are the seven best psychological thrillers on HBO Max in September.

“Dog Day Afternoon” (Warner Bros.)“Dog Day Afternoon” (1975)

“Dog Day Afternoon” may seem on the surface like little more than a straightforward heist movie, but it is so much more than that. The film is simultaneously a thriller about a reckless thief (Al Pacino, giving one of his greatest performances) whose attempt to rob a local Brooklyn bank goes terribly wrong and a searing, unflinching portrait of desperation and isolation — both social and personal.

Pacino’s sweaty performance is a live-wire act of intensity and vulnerability. He is a raw, exposed nerve in the film, and his lead turn in it only heightens the very same, underlying psychological edge that elevates “Dog Day Afternoon” above standard, B-movie genre fare and into all-time classic territory.

“Heretic” (A24)“Heretic” (2024)

A delightfully kooky, shockingly brutal psychological thriller, “Heretic” is a film that knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. Written and directed by “A Quiet Place” writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, the film follows a pair of young, female Mormon missionaries (Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher) who end up locked in the house of a mysterious man (Hugh Grant) who is hell bent on putting their faith to the ultimate test.

Propulsive and not a minute too long, “Heretic” is an intense battle of the wills. The film is super-charged at every turn by Grant’s pitch-perfect, against-type turn as its deranged villain, and the cinematography by Chung Chung-hoon keeps “Heretic” consistently, visually interesting, even as its story remains locked within the walls of its single, labyrinthine location. No other movie on this list knows how to wring as much suspense out of a simple monologue or conversation as “Heretic” does.

“Misery” (Columbia Pictures)“Misery” (1990)

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, “Misery” tells the story of every successful writer’s worst nightmare. It follows a King-esque literary figure who is tortured and held captive by an obsessed fan (Kathy Bates) who wants him to adhere to her own creative demands. The film marked a surprise detour for director Rob Reiner into the world of psychological horror, and the result is one of the most unsettling kidnapping thrillers ever made.

Bates won an Oscar for her terrifying supporting performance in the film, and rightly so. It is her unhinged turn as the crazed Annie Wilkes that makes the film’s exploration of obsession so impactful, and which also justifies the sense of paranoia permeating every moment and frame of “Misery.”

“It Comes At Night” (A24)“It Comes At Night” (2017)

This tragically forgotten drama from filmmaker Trey Edward Shults is a striking, disconcerting post-apocalyptic psychological thriller. The film is set in a world that has been ravaged by an unseen, deadly disease. It follows a father (Joel Edgerton), mother (Carmen Ejogo) and son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) whose quiet life together in the woods is disrupted by the arrival of another family.

While a tentative peace is struck, it is not long before paranoia begins to tear the two factions apart, paving the path for an upsetting and brutal final act. Seeped in darkness and dread, “It Comes At Night” is an unnerving exploration of life in a world that has been torn apart by death, violence and distrust. By telling its story from the perspective of Harrison Jr.’s Travis, the film also serves as a difficult portrait of what it is like to come of age in a world that has lost all sense of decency and reason.

“Se7en” (Credit: New Line Cinema)“Seven” (1995)

Crime thrillers do not get much better than “Seven.” Directed by “The Social Network” filmmaker David Fincher, this 1990s classic follows a retiring, disheartened police detective (Morgan Freeman) as he and his brash, young partner (Brad Pitt) find themselves on the trail of a serial killer whose victims’ deaths have been modeled after the seven deadly sins.

Unrelenting and almost entirely devoid of hope, “Seven” is one of the best films ever made about struggling to find reasons for optimism in a world that seems caught in a perpetual downpour of tragedy and heartbreak. It’s the film that saved the careers of both Fincher and Pitt, and its iconic status is due to far more than just its oft-quoted ending. It’s a masterpiece, a thriller that refuses to loosen its vice-like grip until the credits have already begun to roll.

“Get Out” (Universal)“Get Out” (2017)

Speaking of perfect thrillers, “Get Out” is the film that transformed writer-director Jordan Peele from a respected, beloved sketch comedian into one of the most revered artists working in Hollywood today. A pointed psychological thriller with a mean streak, the film follows a young Black man (Daniel Kaluuya) whose trip to meet his white girlfriend’s (Allison Williams) family goes haywire when he discovers the horrifying secrets they are hiding.

A film that keeps you on your toes right up until its very last moments, “Get Out” is the rare, mystery-driven thriller that actually manages to deliver a satisfying payoff. That, in turn, only makes the anxiety-riddled 90 minutes preceding to its climax all the more enjoyable — and impressive.

“La Piscine” (Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie)“La Piscine” (1969)

“La Piscine” is one of the best-looking feel-bad movies ever made. Directed by Jacques Deray, this sumptuous, sun-soaked psychological thriller follows an attractive couple (Alain Delon and Romy Schneider) whose lazy, idyllic summer holiday at their villa in France is disrupted when the woman’s ex-lover (Maurice Ronet) shows up with his daughter (Jane Birkin).

Every frame of “La Piscine” is stunning. Each image is blocked and lit in a way to make its already famously attractive stars look even more so. And yet there is a poisonous dread and unease lurking beneath every moment of “La Piscine,” which is fitting for a film about the destructive, corrosive powers of jealousy, sexual possessiveness and narcissism. Here is a psychological thriller that wisely opts to leave all of its ideas unspoken, lurking just beneath the surface of its images and the increasingly disturbing actions of its characters.

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Newsmax Doubles Down on Fox News Lawsuit, Refiles in Wisconsin After Florida Dismissal

Newsmax re-filed its lawsuit against Fox News in Wisconsin on Thursday, restating its allegations that the Murdoch-owned cable news network illegally conspired to block the younger competitor from cable packages.

The network restated its allegations in its initial lawsuit, which claimed Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., “engaged in an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for U.S. right-leaning pay TV news, resulting in suppression of competition in that market that harms consumers, competition, and Newsmax.”

The lawsuit had previously been filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, but Judge Aileen Cannon, a Donald Trump appointee, dismissed the claims last week and said Newsmax filed a “shotgun” complaint, or one that simply summarized its previous allegations in each count.

Cannon gave Newsmax a Sept. 11 deadline to submit an amended complaint, but instead it opted to withdraw the case from Florida and re-file it in Wisconsin. A Newsmax spokesperson said the network can “re-file its complaint in any jurisdiction in which it suffered harm as a result of Fox’s actions.”

The new complaint reiterates most of the same issues Newsmax accused Fox News of last week, though it also alleged Fox violated Wisconsin state law by “block-booking,” or forcing networks to carry Fox’s lesser-watched channels if they choose to carry Newsmax.

A Fox News spokesperson did not respond to TheWrap’s immediate request for comment. A spokesperson previously said that “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers,” a statement Newsmax’s CEO Christopher Ruddy disputed to TheWrap last week.

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Bento Box Entertainment Co-Founder Joel Kuwahara Steps Down After 16 Years

Bento Box Entertainment co-founder Joel Kuwahara is stepping down from his role as animation studio further integrates into Fox Entertainment Studios.

“While Joel Kuwahara steps away from his role, his vision as one of the founders of Bento Box and his dedication greatly contributed to its success,” Fox Entertainment Studios head Fernando Szew said in a statement. “We wish him well in his future pursuits.”

Bento Box was co-founded in 2009 by Kuwahara, Scott Greenberg and Mark McJimsey. The departure leaves Greenberg as the only remaining founder still at the company, with McJimsey previously exiting in 2016. Fox Entertainment Studios would acquire the company in 2019 amid the Disney-21st Century Fox merger.

The studio’s notable credits include “Bob’s Burgers,” “Duncanville,” “The Great North,” “Krapopolis,” “Universal Basic Guys,” “Grimsburg,” Prime Video’s “Hazbin Hotel,” Apple TV+’s “Central Park” and Netflix’s “Hoops.”

Prior to Bento Box, Kuwahara served as director of post-production at Sony Animation and Sony Pictures Entertainment, vice president of production at icebox.com, a producer at Warner Bros. Animation, and a supervising producer at Starz Animation.

His other credits include a line producer for “The Simpsons Movie,” a digital producer for “The Goode Family,” a supervising producer for “Bordertown,” “Murder Police,” “Brickleberry” and “Legends of Chamberlain Heights,” and an executive producer on “Alien News Desk,” “Paradise PD” and “Hoops.”

Variety was the first to report Kuwahara’s departure.

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