8 mins read

Stephen Colbert’s long goodbye is coming to an end, leaving a void

NEW YORK | On his very first time hosting “The Late Show” back in 2015, Stephen Colbert ripped into Donald Trump while gorging on Oreos, likening his inability to resist the cookies to his inability to resist going after the then-presidential candidate. “Look, you don’t own me. I don’t need to play tape of you […]

8 mins read

Barney Frank, a liberal congressman and trailblazer for gay rights, dies. He was 86

WASHINGTON | Barney Frank, the longtime Democratic congressman and leading liberal who brought new visibility to gay rights and crafted the most significant reforms to the financial system in a generation, has died. He was 86. Frank died late Tuesday, according to Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend. After representing broad swaths […]

7 mins read

Don’t sleep on ‘Is God Is,’ a primal scream of a movie inspired by Westerns and Greek tragedy

Aleshea Harris wrote “Is God Is” with the assumption that it would never be performed as a play, let alone turned into a movie. It was simply a story she needed to get onto the page: A tale of rage and revenge, an ancient Greek tragedy melded with Spaghetti Western tropes centered on contemporary Black […]

6 mins read

In Cannes standout ‘Fatherland,’ Sandra Hüller stuns again

CANNES, France | For Sandra Hüller, eruptions of emotion don’t come naturally. She prefers to be quiet and calm, and often her screen presence radiates intensity when she’s simply watching. But when she explodes — whether in grief or karaoke — she can be magnificent. “It’s not something that I like to do, particularly,” Hüller […]

5 mins read

Jane Schoenbrun’s queer slasher movie ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ jolts Cannes

CANNES, France | “A good electric chair” is how Jane Schoenbrun describes their first Cannes Film Festival premiere. “I really felt like my body was in a state of convulsion,” says Schoenbrun. The day after the premiere of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” a bold, bloody queer slasher film starring Hannah Einbinder and […]

7 mins read

The UAE’s image as a Middle Eastern haven is tested by the Iran war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | The United Arab Emirates for decades has advertised itself as a haven for international business in a Middle East awash in violent upheaval. Those waves have now crashed into this nation, testing its economic model like never before. The UAE, a close ally of the United States and Israel, faced […]

2 mins read

Lettuce introduce you to the live frog found in this grocery store salad bag

MELBOURNE, Australia | When Australian farmer Rhys Smoker announced he’d found a live frog in a bag of lettuce, his housemates didn’t believe him. Smoker had been preparing a steak and salad dinner on Saturday for the three people who share his house in Esperance in Western Australia state when he spotted the frog among […]

2 mins read

Animal welfare groups say 3 South African zoo elephants are depressed and sue to move them

CAPE TOWN, South Africa | The mental well-being of three elephants in a zoo in South Africa is the subject of an unusual court case, with animal welfare groups saying they are depressed and should be moved to a larger conservation park where they can be happy. The case this week will ask a South […]

5 mins read

The breathless Korean sci-fi monster movie ‘Hope’ leaves the Cannes Film Festival floored

CANNES, France | Sprawling action movies with aliens do not generally compete for the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or. But Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” is not your average science fiction. Few movies were more anticipated in Cannes. It’s been 10 years since Na’s last film, the well-regarded 2016 thriller “The Wailing.” While some of Na’s fellow […]

7 mins read

What to Stream: John Krasinski, ‘Ladies First,’ Rod Stewart, Brooke Shields and a ‘Lego Batman’ game

John Krasinski returning as Jack Ryan in “Jack Ryan: Ghost War” for Prime Video and “Stranger Things” masterminds the Duffer Brothers producing a Netflix show in which a retirement community teams up to battle monsters are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming […]