Latest news with #neo-Western
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Who is Micheal Ward? Top Boy star charged with rape and sexual assault
Micheal Ward has been charged with rape and sexual assault, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Top Boy actor has been charged with three counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape, London's Metropolitan Police confirmed. The charges against the 27-year-old relate to one woman and the offences reportedly took place in January 2023, per the outlet. The actor, who was last seen in Ari Aster's film Eddington, will appear at London's Thames Magistrates Court on August 28. Micheal Ward charged with rape and sexual assault(Getty Images via AFP) Micheal Ward charged with rape: What police said? In a statement, Detective Superintendent Scott Ware, whose team is leading the investigation, confirmed that specialist officers continue to support the victim who has come forward, per the outlet. Catherine Baccas, CPS London South's deputy chief crown prosecutor, also commented on the matter. 'Having carefully reviewed a file of evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Micheal Ward, 27, with two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, and one count of sexual assault against a woman in January 2023,' she said. Also Read: Who is Harvey Weinstein? Disgraced producer found guilty of sexual assault again Baccas added that the suspect has the right to a fair trial and that the proceedings against him were active. She reminded that no information sharing online, reporting, or commentary should be done that could prejudice the proceedings. Who is Micheal Ward? The 27-year-old Jamaican-born star is best known for his role in Netflix's Top Boy. Ward was given the British Academy's rising star award in 2020. Two years later, the Cheshunt resident starred in Sam Mendes' Empire of Light, which earned him a BAFTA nomination for supporting actor. Ward was also part of Ari Aster's latest neo-Western black comedy Eddington. He played the role of a police officer. The 27-year-old had attended the Cannes red carpet for the premiere of the film alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler. FAQs: 1. What has Micheal Ward been charged with? He has been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of assault. 2. When will Micheal Ward appear before court? The Top Boy actor will appear in court on August 28. 3. What was Micheal Ward's last film? Ward was part of Ari Aster's Eddington alongside Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler.
Time Magazine
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Twists and Reveals in the Ending of Netflix's 'Untamed'
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Untamed. The temptation is strong to classify Untamed, the new series from screenwriter Mark L. Smith and his daughter Elle Smith, as Netflix's answer to Paramount's Yellowstone. In fact, it's not wrong to at least assume as much; when one studio makes a cool $2 billion from their neo-Western surprise smash, a non-zero number of competing studios will inevitably scramble to fund their own. But if Untamed is a product of the ongoing content arms race between cable networks and streaming services, it is nonetheless a better genetic match to Top of the Lake, Jane Campion's 2013 New Zealand mystery drama, whose skeletal structure reads like the unintended template for television's modern crop of regional detective dramas. Untamed, like Yellowstone, concerns itself with one of America's best ideas: its national parks. But it's also a trim limited series rooted in the stuff of parenthood, like Top of the Lake—the sins of the father (and the mother, for good measure), self-doubt, overwhelming powerlessness, and lots of grief. No conflict is had between the old ways and the new, so to speak, not even in context with white settlers' theft of Indigenous land. Instead, the show excavates the souls of its co-leads, Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), an Investigative Services Branch (ISB) agent for the National Park Service in Yosemite; and Naya Vasque (Lily Santiago), an L.A. transplant and NPS newbie, assigned to assist Turner in following the threads of a potential murder case in the park. What they unravel from that skein cuts not only to their cores as parents, but the story's supporting characters' cores, too, from Paul Souter (Sam Neill), Turner's friend, mentor, father figure, and boss as Yosemite's chief ranger, to Jill (Rosemary DeWitt), Turner's ex-wife, who can't resist the gravitational pull of his PTSD. She has her own emotional and moral baggage, too, some that's conventional, and some that's harder to spot, like sunlight glinting off a hunting rifle's scope. Jill takes the hit… Likewise, the reveal of one Sean Sanderson's fate lands one episode too late in Untamed to make an impression on the narrative; it's a missed opportunity by the Smiths to lend Jill necessary character depth. Sanderson (Mark Rankin in a walk-on role) went missing in Yosemite about five years ago in the show's timeline, but his name is brought up frequently in its present. His family is filing a wrongful death suit against the park, and their lawyer, Esther Avalos (Nicola Correia-Damude), visits Turner and Jill alike, sniffing around for information about his disappearance. DeWitt is one of our most casually gifted actors, in that whatever role she plays in whichever medium she chooses, she constitutionally reads as at-ease in her characters; they're lived-in and breathe life through the screen. Jill is no exception. But the guarantee of a good DeWitt performance can't offset Jill's meager profile on the page. She is, like Turner, figuratively haunted by the death of their young son, Caleb (Ezra Wilson), revealed in the series opener, 'A Celestial Event,' to have tragically died prior to Untamed's events–about five years, in fact. Turner is literally haunted, per his recurring conversations with Caleb; it isn't made explicit whether he's an apparition or just a hallucination, but there is nonetheless a ghostly quality to their dialogue together. In keeping with popular male balms for spiritual suffering, Turner turns to alcohol and functions as a mollusk, socially and professionally; his stoicism is an act, one his peers pick up on, and which some openly deride. 'Christ, here comes Gary Cooper,' grouses Milch (William Smillie) when Turner strides on horseback into the scene of the crime that spurs Untamed's A-plot: the murder of Lucy Cook (Ezra Franky), met in 'A Celestial Event' when she leaps off of El Capitan and into the ropes of two climbers ascending the granite monolith—a plunge she doesn't survive. The no-nonsense lawman routine is tired, within the text as well as without—if Milch and the rest of the park staff are done with Turner's schtick, then maybe television writ large should be, too—but at least it's normal. Jill, by contrast, responds to Caleb's death another way altogether. It turns out that Sanderson—he of the missing persons case—is Caleb's killer, whose crime was caught after the fact on motion cameras set up by Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel), Yosemite's Wildlife Management Officer and staff reprobate. Shane intended those cameras to document animal migration patterns; instead, they reflect Milch's words to Vasquez in the second episode, 'Jane Doe,' that when people trek into the wild, they assume no one's around to watch them, 'so they do whatever bad sh-t pops in their head.' Shane brings this information to Turner and Jill, and offers them revenge in the form of taking out Sanderson. Turner refuses; but Jill accepts. We spend most of the show assuming Turner's change in temperament, following Caleb's death, is the catalyst for his and Jill's divorce. It's a welcome change to the formula that Jill's decision to engage Shane's services is in fact what broke their marriage. If only the Smiths worked that twist into Untamed before the finale. Dropping that grenade on the audience with so little time left to feel the impact does Jill little justice, but DeWitt does, in fairness, invest great pathos in her. As much as it comes as a shock that someone so mild-mannered would turn that dark, the matter-of-factness in DeWitt's delivery reads as confrontational: given the opportunity, would you, fellow parents, make the same choice as her? …but Souter takes a fall There is, of course, another twist to accompany Jill's disclosure to her second husband, Scott (Josh Randall), as we are still awaiting resolution in the matter of Lucy Cook's death. After Turner cleverly unlocks Lucy's iPhone by applying formaldehyde to her corpse's cheeks to dupe its facial recognition biometrics, he discovers that Lucy's heretofore anonymous lover, Terces—'secret' spelled backwards—is actually Shane, and based on videos showcasing him abusing her, not to mention his pro-murder worldview, he looks like the culprit responsible for her ultimate plunge off of El Capitan. But looks are deceiving. Sure, they're not deceiving enough that we feel any kind of pity for Shane when Vasquez gets the drop on him and guns him down, saving Turner's life; unsurprisingly, Turner figures out Shane's involvement in a drug trafficking scheme in Yosemite, moving product in and out of the park through bygone mining tunnels; Shane takes the discovery badly, and nearly kills Turner in a drawn-out hunt over hill and dale. But if Shane is a monster who is guilty in the matter of how Lucy lived, as both her abusive partner and a participant in the drug ring, he is nonetheless innocent in the matter of her death. The real guilty party here is Paul Souter, who also happens to be her biological father, a truth only he and Lucy are privy to. In an abstract perspective, this makes thematic sense. Untamed is about parenthood on a molecular level: the lengths we'll go to protect our children, and the depths we plumb if we're so unfortunate as to mourn them. Vasquez' character arc involves Michael (JD Pardo), her ex-partner on the force and in life, and their son, Gael (Omi Fitzpatrick-Gonzales), whom she took with her to Yosemite for his safety; in flashbacks, we see Lucy with her mother, Maggie (Sarah Dawn Pledge), in happier times, learning about her Miwok ancestry; Paul looks after his granddaughter, Sadie (Julianna Alarcon), while his other, acknowledged daughter, who isn't seen in the show, struggles with personal demons of her own. None of this makes the screenwriting decision to put the burden of Lucy's death on Paul any more welcome or tasteful, though. It's another knife in Turner's back when he's just gotten off of bedrest, post-recovery after his grueling fight with Shane; when he connects a few stray dots that lead him to Nevada, where he meets Faith Gibbs (Hilary Jardine), whose parents fostered a slew of kids, including Lucy. Faith recalls Lucy talking about how her father, a policeman, would come for her one day, and arrest the Gibbs, who severely mistreated their various wards. The gears in Turner's head grind along as she dredges up this memory, and he confronts Paul first thing upon returning to Yosemite. All Paul can do is argue that he only meant the best by whisking her away to the Gibbses, far from her violent stepfather. It's a weak case for the character to make, given the abuse the Gibbses subjected Lucy to, and that when she comes back to the park as an adult to extort Paul, he reacts by accidentally chasing her to her death off of El Capitan–a revelation that feels quite like letting all the air out of a balloon. …and Turner moves on. Consequently, that makes a weaker conclusion for the narrative, one the series can only wrap up by having Paul use his pistol on himself and take a tumble into rushing river waters. Worse, that unceremonious and unearned end robs oxygen from Turner's own catharsis, a black flag at Untamed's last lap. Turner is the lead. His growth as a human being is what we're here for. Paul's increasingly bad decisions throw up a smoke screen around that growth, minutes before the story closes the arc of Turner's self-destructive bereavement. The pivot to Paul's complicity is especially frustrating given the wonderful foundation for Turner's ultimate closure laid out by his friend, former colleague, and Miwok community leader, Jay (Raoul Max Trujillo), in a monologue in the fifth episode, 'Terces,' about the connection he feels to his forebears through his connection to Yosemite's land. 'When it's my time to die, I will die here,' Jay says. 'But if I chose to die somewhere else, I would still have my ancestors with me, because the spirits in this valley are within each one of us.' Turner tearfully echoes the sentiment in 'All Trails Lead Here,' during a final farewell with Caleb's visage. 'No matter where I am, or where I go, you'll always be with me,' Turner chokes. When the credits roll, he's on his way out of Yosemite, the site of his anguish, for good, newly at peace and secure with the memories he has of his beloved son. Untamed incidentally reminds viewers just how vast our country is, at a moment when the world feels smaller than ever–an illusion we perform on ourselves with slavish devotion to our personal devices and social media. Paul's confession and suicide therefore strikes a sour chord on the series' driving motif. Emphasizing the bonds we hold with our loved ones, whether they're with us or not, makes a more fitting ending, for Jill, for Vasquez, and especially for Turner.
Forbes
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Luke Grimes Says ‘Eddington' Director Ari Aster Was On His Bucket List
Luke Grimes lays down the law in 'Eddington.' Richard Foreman/A24 "Ari Aster was on my bucket list ever since I'd seen Hereditary ," enthuses Eddington actor Luke Grimes as we discuss the neo-Western over Zoom. "Then I saw Midsommar , and I liked that even more. When I saw Beau Is Afraid , I had a panic attack. I don't know what that was. He's one of the most special filmmakers we have right now." Something he loves about the director, who also wrote and produced the satirical black comedy, is that "he's not picking a destination and getting himself there." "Ari is finding everything as organically as the movies feel, and for that reason, they stay in your head. Eddington is one of those films," he explains. "Just like with his other films, you watch it once, and then you go, 'I think I need to watch that again.'" Graves loved watching Aster work and found his process fascinating. "As far as the technical aspect of making a movie, Ari has the whole thing mapped out in his head. He has every shot, and he will storyboard everything. It's very old school," he muses. "It's like he knows what's going to be in the frame, how long each of these pieces of the film are going to be, and where he's cutting. He knows all of that beforehand. When it comes to character, allowing actors to act and even the words, sometimes it's more like, 'We're finding it as we go.' Usually, there's a script, and it serves as the blueprint that you can rely on. It was sort of the other way around, but you feel like you're in really good hands." "My actor friends were like, 'What was it like?' and all I could say was, 'Honestly, I had no clue what I was doing and I wasn't supposed to.' When you see the film, you're like, 'Wow, we got somewhere. That's a well-rounded character.'" Set during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Eddington stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross, a small-town sheriff who is locked in a standoff with the mayor, played by Pedro Pascal. That sparks a powder keg as neighbors are pitted against each other in this New Mexico pueblo. Grimes plays Guy Tooley, one of Cross' two police officers. Eddington is exclusively in theaters now. Forbes Expect More 'Final Destination' Movies After 'Bloodlines' Success By Simon Thompson Exploring the cop was a unique experience for Grimes. "I'd never had a director allow themselves to be so unsure of a character that they wrote," he recalls. "Him going, 'Look, we don't have to figure this guy out right away. We can figure this out over the process of making this movie,' made the character a lot more interesting than just pigeon-holing him and saying, 'Well, this is a bad guy.' You can feel that with every character in the movie. There are no villains, but there are also no heroes." "Everyone is trying to figure everything out at all times, and that's how it felt making the movie, and that's how it felt approaching Guy and these aspects of his personality that are a little unsavory. We were questioning it the whole time. I remember the first meeting we had, Ari said, 'Let's not reduce him too much. In every line and every scene, why don't we try to feel like we don't know what that is or where that comes from?' It was really interesting and something I'd never done before." (Left to right) Micheal Ward, Ari Aster, Joaquin Phoenix, Luke Grimes at the 'Eddington' Los Angeles ... More Premiere held at the DGA Theater on in Los Angeles, California. Variety via Getty Images 'Eddington' Examines The Pandemic But It Doesn't Judge Although Eddington is set during the pandemic, it neither takes a side nor makes a political statement. If anything, it pokes fun at both groups. "That was important to Ari when we were making the movie," Grimes explains. "He did not step into the realm of preaching or trying to give a lot of answers. The point of the movie is to raise a lot of questions. The point of this movie wasn't to go like, 'Ha! Look at them over there. We're in the right,' and that's what I liked about it. You don't see that very much. Everybody has an opinion, and I don't think this movie necessarily has one. It's just showing you the reality of what everybody was doing, what they were using, and the manipulation from every single side to try to get what they wanted, and trying to tell everyone else that they're wrong." He continues, "A lot of the characters in this film are using the situation at hand, which is this big scary thing, this virus, and this crazy time, to manipulate people and use that fear to get what they want. Guy is the only person in the movie who's not quite intelligent enough to know how to use anything to get what he wants. I don't even think he knows what he wants. I think he wants to impress Joe. I think he wants to be good at his job, and I don't think he necessarily knows how to do that." (Left to right) Micheal Ward, Joaquin Phoenix, and Luke Grimes in a scene from 'Eddington.' Richard Foreman/A24 Shot on location in New Mexico, the state where the fictional town of Eddington is located, the production created hundreds of local jobs, many appearing as extras. The places where they filmed, which included the town of Truths and Consequences, felt very familiar to Graves. "I'm very used to small-town America. I'm very comfortable there. I live in a town of 700 people in Montana. So for me, I get the mentality," the Fifty Shades actor reveals. "The only problem arose when we were doing these scenes where there's a bunch of people picketing, and they're starting to get what the movie is, and they're starting to wonder, 'Which side are these people on?' That was funny, because you could tell that they're starting to be a little bit afraid of what this movie is preaching." "Again, I think they'll realize now that it wasn't preaching. It's a satire on a very scary time for all of us. The town was amazing. They were happy that we were there and they couldn't have been kinder and more welcoming." Forbes 'Puppet Up!' Builds A New Future Away From The Jim Henson Company Lot By Simon Thompson Grimes, also known for Yellowstone and The Magnificent Seven , is more than aware that while this is a neo-western, he's no stranger to the broader genre. He's okay with that, but it was never intentional. "It's weird. I always make this joke that the cowboy hat found me," he laughs. "When I showed up in LA wanting to be in films and television, I wasn't thinking, 'I'm going to be the guy that's going to try to do all the Western stuff.' My father was a huge Western fan, so Westerns were always in our house growing up, and I watched a lot of the classic ones as a kid. Maybe just because of where I grew up and how I grew up, I had the sensibility for it." "There's a reason why you keep getting cast as a similar type of person, and maybe it's because that's closer to who I am than a lot of other things. I found that I enjoy it as well. There's something about shooting in the mountains versus shooting on a soundstage that I find much more enjoyable. I'm not complaining about it at all. I certainly love the genre and love doing it." (Left to right) Luke Grimes and Joaquin Phoenix attend the Los Angeles premiere of A24's 'Eddington' ... More at DGA Theater Complex on in Los Angeles, California. WireImage Luke Grimes Says 'No One Works Harder Than Joaquin Phoenix' Something else Grimes loves is having the opportunity to work with Eddington 's lead, the Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix. He was impressed by how he performed on set and how he remained laser-focused on the work at hand without slipping into the cliché of "going method." "The term' method acting' has become bastardized, and people don't know what that means," he says. "It has become code for actors who are difficult and acting like actors and being like, 'I'm just going to stay in this character all day,' so that you know how hard they're working. I've actually never seen someone work harder than Joaquin." The Eddington actor concludes, "He gives everything he has got, and he'll do anything he needs to do to get himself somewhere. When you're around Joaquin, the whole set knows that the only reason he's doing anything is to make a good product and to be good in the film. It never feels contrived or like he's being difficult. If he's being difficult to anyone, it's to himself. Beyond that, he's a generous, beautiful human being, and one of the kindest people I've ever met."
Economic Times
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
New movies releasing in July 2025: Here's full list
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A family movie outing on the weekend is a cherished tradition that brings everyone together for a few hours of laughter, emotion, and shared excitement. Whether it's a fun animated adventure for the kids, a heartwarming drama, or a lighthearted comedy that appeals to all ages, heading to the theater offers a chance to disconnect from daily routines and reconnect as a family. The experience of picking out a movie, grabbing popcorn, and settling into comfy seats creates lasting memories—often sparking post-movie conversations over dinner or on the ride home. It's a simple yet meaningful way to bond, unwind, and enjoy quality time return to the dino-universe stars Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, set in a quarantined island of genetically modified dinosaurs. It's being called one of the franchise's strongest entries, with its blend of awe-inspiring visuals and suspenseful Theron returns as Andy in this immortal-warrior sequel, alongside Uma Thurman. Dark, action-packed, and highly anticipated by fans since the original's action-comedy starring John Cena and Priyanka Chopra as world leaders forced to join forces. It's generating buzz for its star power and fun premise—though critics rate it around 60%.Directed by James Gunn, this reboot introduces David Corenswet as Clark Kent alongside Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).A neo-Western black comedy from Ari Aster starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, set amidst a COVID-era political standoff in New Mexico.A slasher sequel bringing back Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., with a new cast in a familiar deadly-accident Phase 6 begins here, featuring Pedro Pascal's Mr. Fantastic and a '60s-set storyline in a universe separate from the main MCU.A1. Jurassic World Rebirth can be watched in theatres.A2. "Heads of State" is streaming on Prime Video.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
‘Brokeback Mountain' co-writer admits: 'Knew we would not win' Best Picture Oscar after meeting Clint Eastwood
A writer for the 2005 gay neo-Western romance Brokeback Mountain recently recalled the film's Oscar snub as it makes its 20th anniversary comeback to theaters. After voting concluded, a few weeks prior to the awards ceremony, co-writer Diana Ossana recently recalled that Crash director Paul Haggis introduced her to Clint Eastwood at an Academy Award nominees' party. Ossana told The New York Times, "Paul started walking me over, and he goes, 'Diana, I have to tell you, he hasn't seen your movie.'" And I felt as though I had been kicked in the stomach. I realized then that we wouldn't win Best Picture. Brokeback Mountain famously lost the Oscar to Crash, even though it took home a record number of Best Picture honors during the awards season, including the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice Award, and Independent Spirit Award. Ossana continues to believe that the loss was caused in part by Hollywood's homophobia. 'People want to deny that, but what else could it have been? We'd won everything up until then," she remarked. Ossana told The Times, "I absolutely think that block of voters kept this movie from winning Best Picture," following the public remarks of famous Academy voters like Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis that they would not see the Ang Lee-directed film. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Lee had previously considered the rejection of Deadline. Last month, he declared, "Your guess is as good as mine." 'There are times when I feel like there's an unlimited willingness to watch the movie. There's so much love for it. Generally, you feel like it's a breakthrough, that it broke all barriers. People seem to melt down. And you cannot even define it as gay cinema. It's not gay cinema, right? It's a love story.' 'I'm nothing but grateful. I have no bitterness. It never occurred to me," Lee, the film's Best Director winner, continued. In addition, Ossana and Larry McMurtry's Brokeback Mountain won Best Adapted Screenplay. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Rodrigo Prieto, and Gustavo Santaolalla were nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score, respectively.
