Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 25-31
May 25: Actor Ann Robinson ('War of the Worlds') is 96. Actor Ian McKellen ('Lord of the Rings') is 86. Country singer Jessi Colter is 82. Actor-singer Leslie Uggams is 82. Director-Muppetteer Frank Oz is 81. Actor Karen Valentine is 78. Actor Jacki Weaver ('Silver Linings Playbook') is 78. Singer Klaus Meine of Scorpions is 78. Actor Patti D'Arbanville ('New York Undercover') is 74. Actor Connie Sellecca is 70. Singer-guitarist Paul Weller of The Jam is 67. Actor-comedian Mike Myers is 62. Actor Joseph Reitman ('The Perfect Storm') is 57. Actors Sidney and Lindsay Greenbush ('Little House on the Prairie') are 55. Actor Jamie Kennedy ('Scream') is 55. Actor Octavia Spencer ('Hidden Figures,' 'The Help') is 55. Actor Justin Henry ('Kramer Vs. Kramer,' 'Sixteen Candles') is 54. Rapper Daz Dillinger of Tha Dogg Pound is 52. Actor Erinn Hayes ('Kevin Can Wait') is 49. Actor Cillian Murphy ('Oppenheimer,' 'The Dark Knight') is 49. Actor Ethan Suplee ('My Name Is Earl') is 49. Actor Lauren Frost ('Even Stevens') is 40. Actor Ebonée Noel (TV's 'FBI') is 35. Musician Guy Lawrence of Disclosure is 34.
May 26: Sportscaster Brent Musburger is 86. Drummer Garry Peterson of The Guess Who is 80. Singer Stevie Nicks is 77. Actor Pam Grier is 76. Actor Philip Michael Thomas ('Miami Vice') is 76. Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 76. Actor Margaret Colin is 67. Singer Dave Robbins (BlackHawk) is 66. Actor Doug Hutchison ('The Green Mile') is 65. Actor Genie Francis ('General Hospital') is 63. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 63. Singer Lenny Kravitz is 61. Actor Helena Bonham Carter is 59. Drummer Phillip Rhodes of The Gin Blossoms is 57. Actor Joseph Fiennes ('Shakespeare in Love') is 55. Singer Joey Kibble of Take 6 is 54. 'South Park' co-creator Matt Stone is 54. Singer Lauryn Hill is 50. Bassist Nathan Cochran of MercyMe is 47. Actor Elisabeth Harnois ('CSI') is 46. Actor Hrach Titizian ('Homeland') is 46.
May 27: Actor Lee Meriwether is 90. Actor Bruce Weitz is 82. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 80. Jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater is 75. Actor Richard Schiff ('The Good Doctor,' 'The West Wing') is 70. Singer Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees is 68. Singer-guitarist Neil Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz is 67. Actor Peri Gilpin ('Frasier') is 64. Actor Cathy Silvers ('Happy Days') is 64. Comedian Adam Carolla is 61. Actor Todd Bridges ('Diff'rent Strokes') is 60. Drummer Sean Kinney of Alice In Chains is 59. Actor Dondre' Whitfield ('Queen Sugar') is 56. Actor Paul Bettany ('The Da Vinci Code,' ″A Beautiful Mind') is 54. Singer-guitarist Brian Desveaux of Nine Days is 54. Actor Jack McBrayer ('30 Rock') is 52. Musician Andre 3000 of Outkast is 50. Rapper Jadakiss is 50. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 50. Actor Ben Feldman ('Mad Men') is 45. Actor Darin Brooks ('The Bold and the Beautiful') is 41. Actor Chris Colfer ('Glee') is 35. Actor Ethan Dampf ('American Dreams') is 31. Actor Desiree Ross ('Greenleaf') is 26.
May 28: Actor Carroll Baker is 94. Singer Gladys Knight is 81. Singer Billy Vera is 81. Singer John Fogerty is 80. Musician Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 69. Actor Louis Mustillo ('Mike and Molly') is 67. Actor Brandon Cruz ('The Courtship of Eddie's Father') is 63. Actor Christa Miller ('Scrubs,' ″The Drew Carey Show') is 61. Country singer Phil Vassar is 61. Singer Chris Ballew of Presidents of the United States of America is 60. Singer Kylie Minogue is 57. Rapper Chubb Rock is 57. Actor Justin Kirk ('Weeds') is 56. Talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck ('Fox and Friends,' ″The View') is 48. R&B singer Jaheim is 48. Actor Jake Johnson ('New Girl') is 47. Actor Monica Keena ('Dawson's Creek,' ″Undeclared') is 46. Actor Alexa Davalos ('Clash of the Titans' ″The Chronicles of Riddick') is 43. Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke ('24') is 43. Singer Colbie Caillat is 40. Actor Carey Mulligan ('The Great Gatsby') is 40.
May 29: Actor Anthony Geary ('General Hospital') is 78. Singer Rebbie Jackson is 75. Composer Danny Elfman (Oingo Boingo) is 72. Singer LaToya Jackson is 69. Actor Ted Levine ('Monk,' ″The Silence of the Lambs') is 68. Actor Annette Bening is 67. Actor Rupert Everett is 66. Actor Adrian Paul (TV's 'The Highlander') is 66. Singer Melissa Etheridge is 64. Actor Lisa Whelchel ('The Facts of Life') is 62. Guitarist Noel Gallagher (Oasis) is 58. Singer Jayski McGowan of Quad City DJ's is 58. Actor Anthony Azizi ('Threat Matrix,' ″Lost') is 56. Guitarist Chan Kinchla of Blues Traveler is 56. Actor Laverne Cox ('Doubt,' ″Orange Is the New Black') is 53. Guitarist Mark Lee of Third Day is 52. Cartoonist Aaron McGruder ('Boondocks') is 51. Singer Melanie Brown ('Scary Spice') of the Spice Girls is 50. Rapper Playa Poncho is 50. Singer Fonseca is 46. Actor Justin Chon ('Deception,' ″Dr. Ken') is 44. Actor Billy Flynn ('Days of Our Lives') is 40. Actor Blake Foster ('Power Rangers Turbo') is 40. Actor Riley Keough ('Daisy Jones and the Six') is 36. Actor Brandon Mychal Smith ('Sonny With a Chance') is 36. Actor Kristen Alderson ('General Hospital,' ″One Life To Live') is 34. Actor Lorelei Linklater ('Boyhood') is 32.
May 30: Actor Ruta Lee ('High Rollers,' 'What's My Line?') is 90. Actor Keir Dullea ('2001: A Space Odyssey') is 89. Guitarist Lenny Davidson of The Dave Clark Five is 81. Actor Stephen Tobolowsky ('Groundhog Day,' ″Sneakers') is 74. Actor Colm Meaney ('Star Trek: The Next Generation') is 72. Actor Ted McGinley ('Hope and Faith,' ″Married... With Children') is 67. Actor Ralph Carter ('Good Times') is 64. Actor-filmmaker Tonya Pinkins ('All My Children') is 63. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 61. Guitarist Tom Morello of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine is 61. Actor Mark Sheppard ('Supernatural') is 61. Film director Antoine Fuqua ('Training Day,' 'The Replacement Killers') is 60. Actor John Ross Bowie ('Speechless,' ″The Big Bang Theory') is 54. Guitarist Patrick Dahlheimer of Live is 54. Singer-actor Idina Menzel is 54. Singer Cee Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley, Goodie Mob) is 50. Rapper Remy Ma is 45. Guitarist James Smith of Underoath is 43. Actor Javicia Leslie ('God Friended Me') is 38. Actor Sean Giambrone ('The Goldbergs') is 26. Actor Jared Gilmore ('Once Upon a Time,' ″Mad Men') is 25.
May 31: Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 95. Keyboardist Augie Meyers of the Texas Tornadoes and the Sir Douglas Quintet is 85. Actor Sharon Gless ('Cagney and Lacey') is 82. Actor Tom Berenger is 75. Actor Gregory Harrison is 75. Actor Kyle Secor ('Homicide: Life on the Street') is 68. Actor Roma Maffia ('Nip/Tuck,' ″Profiler') is 67. Comedian Chris Elliott is 65. Actor Lea Thompson ('Caroline in the City,' ″Back to the Future') is 64. Singer Corey Hart is 63. Rapper DMC of Run-DMC is 61. Actor Brooke Shields is 60. Country bassist Ed Adkins of The Derailers is 58. 'The Amazing Race' host Phil Keoghan is 58. Jazz bassist Christian McBride is 53. Actor Archie Panjabi ('The Good Wife') is 53. Actor Merle Dandridge ('Greenleaf') is 50. Actor Colin Farrell is 49. Trumpet player Scott Klopfenstein of Reel Big Fish is 48. Actor Eric Christian Olsen ('NCIS: Los Angeles') is 48. Drummer Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy is 45. Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is 39. Actor Curtis Williams Jr. ('Parent'Hood') is 38. Singer Normani Hamilton of Fifth Harmony is 29.
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WIRED
5 hours ago
- WIRED
'War of the Worlds' Isn't Just Bad. It's Also Shameless Tech Propaganda
Aug 13, 2025 10:00 AM By making Big Tech the hero in a movie about government surveillance, the dismally rated remake feels more like an ad for Amazon than anything else. Still from War of the Worlds. Courtesy of Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection 'Here we go' is both the first line of the 2025 Amazon Prime movie War of the Worlds and exactly what I said when I chose to watch it after the shitstorm of reviews that warned me not to. Directed by Rich Lee and shot exclusively through online calls and surveillance feed POVs, War of the Worlds centers around domestic terror analyst William Radford, played by Ice Cube, who is on a mission to save his family and the country from alien cyborgs who are deadset on eating our data. Literally. At first glance, the film's three percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes—up from zero percent when it debuted—seems both impressive and predictable. While getting a rating below five percent seems like a difficult feat, remaking a classic (1953's The War of the Worlds has 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), is going to set some pretty high standards. Top that with setting an action film through the lens of Microsoft Teams meetings and poor CGI, and you're bound to make even the most tolerant viewer roll their eyes. But graphics and clearance issues aside (I mean seriously, what was with all of the blurred out faces?), the tech-based plotholes that bordered on propaganda took away from the film's message on the importance of human connection. The most jarring examples are the inconsistencies of technological availability after the data-hungry aliens take out Earth's satellites. Military weapons, vehicle GPS systems, and Facebook page outages wreak physical and emotional havoc across the world, but somehow news networks, Starlink satellites, X feeds, and Amazon purchase access remain unscathed just a few scenes later with little-to-no explanation. Radford's office is locked when he tries to leave to save his daughter, but is somehow open when he has to hack the data servers in the basement— after the building is put on an additional, air-sealed lockdown. Most ridiculously, a Prime Air drone is able to dodge through apocalyptic levels of destruction and mayhem to deliver a worldsaving thumbdrive to the DHS building. The shameless promotion of tech brands doesn't end there. Radford's daughter, Faith, a Georgetown-educated biochemist, somehow has the bright idea of removing a large chunk of debris from her leg—causing near-fatal bleeding. Thankfully, Mark Goodman, her Amazon delivery driver boyfriend, is able to make a tourniquet out of packaging tape because, according to him, he's a 'pro.' Even minor characters get caught up in the 'Amazon Savior' motif. When the worldsaving Amazon Prime Air drone overturns on the way to the DHS building, a houseless person only helps to fix it after being rewarded with a $1,000 Amazon gift card. These scenes in War of the Worlds would have been just outrageous enough to be chalked up to comedy, if it wasn't for the film's heightened focus on government surveillance without any mention of the tech industry's role in all this. From Anonymous-style livestreams featuring the US constitution, to Radford digitally stalking his children, and the secret data-stealing project that beacons the aliens to Earth, the true enemy is clear: the US government and its technology. In fact, the only time privacy is threatened as it relates to private businesses is when the government interferes with it. For example, Radford uses Guardian, the government's surveillance software system, to hack into a Tesla, and remotely take his hurt daughter to a safer location. In the beginning of the film, David, Radford's son, insults his father by saying his career consists of nothing more than spying on people's Amazon shopping carts. Most importantly, the secret government program Goliath, which is the ultimate reason why the alien cyborgs invaded, cyphons billions of dollars worth of private data conversations from the American people. There is zero mention of tech juggernauts like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk being linked to controversial data collection processes, from failing to protect personal data to staging a full blown digital coup in the US government. Hardly surprising, considering it's an Amazon movie, but it still feels like a glaring omission. If I had to say something nice about War of the Worlds , Lee took a risk remaking a beloved thriller through an internet-first POV. While risks can pay off—this didn't. The decision to demonize government surveillance while making Big Tech the passive victims ultimately water down the film's message—making it more of a near-90 minute commercial for brands like Amazon and Microsoft than food for thought. But hey, maybe all this promo means Amazon Air will finally be available in Washington, DC, at least.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
What does it take to get a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes? I watched 'War of the Worlds' to find out.
Ice Cube stars in a modern adaptation of the alien invasion story, which the internet turned into a meme. I wasn't planning on watching the straight-to-Prime-Video remake of War of the Worlds set entirely on the computer screen of a government security analyst until I saw footage of Ice Cube screaming at a young man via video call as he shakily records an alien invasion. It's so bad, it demands to be seen. The new movie, released July 30, debuted with a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that it had been panned by all of the critics who took the time to watch and review it. (It has since been elevated to 3% as of press time, thanks to a contrarian review from Entertainment Weekly.) Scoring in the single digits for any amount of time is not an easy feat on the review aggregation website, which considers critics of varying levels of prestige in its 'Tomatometer' scores. Without such widespread disdain, 2025's War of the Worlds might have been forgotten — slipping into the depths of Prime Video's expansive catalogue. Instead, it became a lightning rod on social media. There's something magical about a movie that tried to be good and ended up being bad in so many ways that thousands of people still took the time to investigate the extent of its failure. I myself was intrigued by the widespread condemnation of what seemed to be a real movie with a budget and familiar actors — surely, it can't be that bad! — so, for 89 unhinged minutes, I sat down on my couch and watched it for myself. So, what happens in this movie? Ice Cube stars as William Radford, a grizzly 'domestic terror analyst' who spends his days stalking his pregnant biologist daughter, Faith (Iman Benson), and underperforming video game streamer son, Dave (Henry Hunter Hall). As an employee of the Department of Homeland Security, he has access to seemingly every camera and technology in the Washington, D.C., area — he hacks his daughter's fridge to monitor what she consumes (too much soy milk, apparently) and frequently right-clicks on flashing targets on his computer to select a menu option that says 'Commandeer Drone.' Luckily, William was just starting his workday as aliens invaded, though he frequently declines calls from 'Sandra NASA' (Eva Longoria) and ignores Microsoft Teams messages from his DHS boss (Clark Gregg) in favor of yelling at his son for buying new video games and hacking his daughter's computer to see what her baby daddy, Mark (Devon Bostick), an Amazon delivery driver, is telling her about their upcoming shower that William is not invited to. I know that the goal of this movie is to show how, in the 2020s, the response to an alien invasion would be mostly online. Unlike the 2005 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, we wouldn't be fighting invaders on the ground as much as we'd be watching clips of the chaos unfold on X and Instagram. I did wonder, though, how aliens who initiated their invasion of Earth by blowing up NASA satellites so they couldn't be surveilled and immediately began destroying data centers as soon as they landed left our internet intact. The world may be ending as we know it, but because Microsoft Teams and Google Sheets were still operating, some people still had to work. Ridiculous alien movie logic aside, the fact that 2025's War of the Worlds anticipates that the apocalypse will be somewhat mundane feels appropriate for our dystopian times. Unfortunately for this movie, any new take on War of the Worlds — and there have been dozens since H.G. Wells's original novel was published in 1898 — would have to stand in the shadow of the most interesting adaptation: the 1938 radio drama that sparked nationwide hysteria after being misinterpreted as a real broadcast of an invasion. By standing out — though it's for being absurd, poorly acted and ridiculously edited — the 2025 version has accomplished something amazing. Is it actually bad? While watching the film, I made a list of the dialogue and plot points that made me laugh out loud. Here are a few: As the star of a movie about a guy sitting at his computer, I don't envy the work Ice Cube has to do here. God forbid a camera ever record my looking-at-my-laptop face, let alone amid an alien invasion. There are so many references to Amazon made throughout the film, it might as well be an ad. So bad it's good My list only scratches the surface of the chaos. To take a moment to jot down something that made me laugh meant tearing my eyes away from the screen, where ridiculous things were happening in such rapid succession that even three seconds of dwindling attention meant I might miss an editing failure or a bizarrely worded Teams message. Even though I was on my couch reading posts about it online, my viewing experience was less like watching a movie and more like attending an event. I'm grateful for the social media dogpile that inspired me to watch War of the Worlds in the first place, but because of the way social platforms seem to reward negative opinions, scoring a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes might not be a rare feat for much longer. Dan Green, director of the Master of Entertainment Industry Management program at Carnegie Mellon University, tells Yahoo that the collective panning of the film reveals how audience review websites like Rotten Tomatoes 'have been transformed into a competitive exercise in disdain, reflecting a gamified culture of online critique.' In other words, watching movies and making fun of them on social media and review sites now feels like a community activity. For a moment, people were so united by the intrigue of a 0% score that War of the Worlds reached the No. 2 spot on Prime Video's U.S. movie rankings. It's now part of Rotten Tomatoes' unofficial Hall of Shame, among the few dozen widely reviewed and panned films of all time, like 2018's Gotti starring John Travolta and 2014's Left Behind starring Nicolas Cage. After the fun I had watching this one, I think I'll make my way through the list.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ice Cube's Newest Movie ‘War of the Worlds' Receives 0 Percent on Rotten Tomatoes
Among the most interesting storylines around a new movie's release is how critics and fans feel right out of the gate. This is why the interest around early returns from sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic are always noteworthy. Unfortunately, for the newest Universal film starring Ice Cube, War of the Worlds, the returns are also not always necessarily a great thing. 'War of the Worlds,' Starring Ice Cube, Earns a 0 Percent Score From Critics While many great stores have debuted on Rotten Tomatoes in recent months, including two superhero films in Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps, it appears critics didn't find much to rave about in Ice Cube's new film. War of the Worlds was officially released on Amazon Prime Video on July 30 and currently holds a 0 percent critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, the reviews from fans haven't been much better, as the fan-focused Popcornmeter sits at just 12 percent with over 500 verified reviews. The review site describes the movie's storyline below: "A computer security analyst working for the U.S. government finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Accustomed to dealing with virtual threats, his struggle extends to secrets the government may be hiding." Ice Cube's Big 3 Basketball League Making Unique Move Although Ice Cube's new movie may not be a hit with critics or fans, it's far from all bad for the actor/entrepreneur. The co-founder of the Big 3 basketball league is in the midst of a noteworthy shift that features teams in the league being purchased as the structure shifts to a city-focused approach. As Forbes revealed in 2024, the Big 3 had sold four of its franchises for roughly $10 million each. This led to a new approach in 2025, as the Big 3 revealed on its website previously that there are now eight location-based teams, with hopes to expand that number to 12 in 2026. While Ice Cube is busy with both aspects of his career, as an actor and a businessman, it's fair to assume that he's probably worried about much more than just the reviews of a recent Cube's Newest Movie 'War of the Worlds' Receives 0 Percent on Rotten Tomatoes first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 5, 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
