Category: Entertainment

“Stoner R&B” is not an insult: It’s the opposite, a loose term to describe a sprawling genre of music that includes everything from Dijon and Frank Ocean to Brent Faiyaz and Jhene Aiko. It’s R&B that has smoked a strong blunt, with languid grooves, heavy bass, psychedelicized production and an unhurried vocal approach. Unlike the tight rhythms, choppy guitars and urgency of traditional R&B, it’s not in a hurry to get anywhere.

When Nick Hakim first emerged in 2014 with his “Where Will We Go” EPs and subsequent albums, he was a bright new voice in the genre, but as the years went by, his music sailed further and further out until, by 2022’s “Cometa,” conventional song structures had pretty much drifted off.

But his fourth and latest album, “I Can See,” is his most focused work to date — and despite the unhurried tempos and smoky vibes, it’s a very seriously structured set of songs, with multiple layers of his soft, soulful vocals and shimmering keyboards. “Real Here Now” is one of the most gorgeous R&B songs you’ll hear all year and is almost like an Usher song from a parallel universe, but as always his music has a crossover appeal that defies pigeonholing: The following song, “U Can Make It,” is a densely layered track built around a thudding electronic bass drum, echo-drenched piano and layers and layers of vocals.

The unusually hazy sound of this album is as vital as the songs — the vocals and instruments waft in and out of the mix like music from a passing car or sounds from the apartment next door; you’re not always sure exactly what you’re hearing, not that it matters. Equal parts electronic and organic, it pairs conventional snare and rimshot sounds with heavy digital bass, piano so heavily treated that it sounds like a warped calliope, and backing vocals that float in and out like a chorus of ghosts.

After the more-conventionally structured songs of the album’s first half, the last few continue “Cometa”’s journey toward the cosmos, growing murkier and piling on effects reminiscent of dub reggae. Indeed, “I Can See” is a realm beyond alternative R&B — it’s more like R&B from a different planet.

Guillermo del Toro had one rule when bringing “Pan’s Labyrinth” back to theaters for its 20th anniversary: “No goddamn AI.”

The filmmaker returned to San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the film’s 20th anniversary, which returns to theaters Oct. 9 in 3D and HDR for the first time.

The filmmaker said he converted “Pan’s Labyrinth” into 3D by hand and opted not to use AI.

“Obviously I said, ‘Absolutely no goddamn AI,’” he said, which was met with the audience’s applause. “What we’re protecting is the beauty and the redeeming power of art. It’s not about who gets the job. We are protecting a lineage of art. If we cut a generation of people from learning their craft, you’re cutting the rest of the history of that medium away from them for what?”

When doing the conversion, del Toro said he had two options: to do it quick, or to do it good.

“I chose good. You have to put in time. You have to do every element by hand. A human made a decision of depth,” he said.

During the panel, del Toro teased a documentary that explores the process of creating the original film, which features appearances and commentary from Jacob Elordi, Cate Blanchett and Charlie Day.

Also offered in 2D HDR, Cineverse and Fathom 4K will bring the re-release to the big screen, with each version being overseen by del Toro himself. Tickets will be available to purchase on Sept. 9.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” follows a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who travels into a fantasy world after fleeing the danger of 1944 Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. While there, she befriends a mysterious faun and navigates the realm of deadly beasts. Starring alongside Baquero are Doug Jones, Maribel Verdú and Sergi López.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” earned $83 million worldwide at the box office in 2006 and received six Oscar nominations and three wins for best makeup, cinematography and art direction.

Del Toro returned to Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to debut a 4K restoration of the film, which was met with several minutes of applause. Two decades ago, the film made Cannes history of the longest standing ovation, totaling 22 minutes.

President Donald Trump attended his first-ever White House Correspondents Association Dinner, with this year’s rescheduled gala held Friday evening in Washington, D.C., and delivered some pointed remarks to the assembled journalists in a rambling speech that stretched on for just over an hour — and personally insulted several journalists, politicians and celebs that he’s sparred with.

“I am delighted to be here at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Amazing people, a lot of people that I like,” Trump said. “Some I don’t like at all, but I respect most of them.”

At first Trump seemed unsure of the tone he wanted to impart, and suggested that — compared with barbs he was planning to deliver at the original WHCA dinner, which was disrupted by a gun-wielding attacker — he was pulling his punches. “I said, ‘What do we do here? Is this supposed to be fun? Am I supposed to be serious? Am I supposed to be a comedian?’ So I guess you said, maybe a little bit of everything.”

But Trump quickly started bashing the press. “This evening it’s really all about the fake news media and your handling of prizes — writing and producing and performing made-up stories like the Academy Awards,” Trump said. The Academy Awards “used to be the the epitome of ratings outside of the Super Bowl… Now it’s down in the dumps. Nobody wants to watch it anymore because they took on Trump. They hit me all night long.”

He told the journalists, “when I’m gone. You’re all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished. No, it’s true. When I’m not around, you’re going to be broke. There’s not going to be anybody to report on. Nobody gives a damn about anybody else.”

Trump said “mostly, I’ve given up on you and the media, so that now I just gave up on you, and I’m number one on TikTok. Did you see that?… I gave up on you, people. I gave up on traditional press, and it obviously worked because we did win in a landline” (by which he meant “landslide,” which is not true). Trump boasted that “I was able to get [TikTok] sold to a group of very wealthy people, mostly Americans.”

Trump said he did not attend past WHCA dinners because “I thought the press treated me very, very unfairly, and I don’t know. I think I made the right decision because they need to go where maybe you’re not wanted, but they did want me. They wanted me for ratings, and they wanted me for other reasons, but not for love. And I said, ‘You know, I’m not going to go.’ First time that ever happened… And I didn’t go for four years because I got treated terribly by the press.”

This year, Trump noted, the WHCA decided not to have a comedian. “They considered using Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon,” Trump said. “These guys — they’re terrible. They’re terrible. Stephen Colbert. These are people without talent… They have no talent, but they are not comedians. They’re not funny people. They’re angry people. They’re sick people.”

Trump held forth for about 64 minutes after he took the podium at 9:33 p.m.

Trump joked that Paramount CEO David Ellison, who is the owner of CBS News (“He bought it, spent a lot of money, and he’s going to make, I think, fantastic changes and keep some of the great stuff going”) next year will rename the WHCA dinner “the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” “He told me that, and I like that very much. We’re going to change the name of it, OK?” Trump said, alluding to his unsuccessful effort to add his name to the Kennedy Center.

He also said at another point in his talk, “I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She’s a wonderful woman,” which drew an audible murmur from the audience.

He said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt “may have one of the hardest jobs in the White House” because she has to “deal with all of you all the time, and you can be very difficult. You can be very, very difficult people. But I’m probably being a little bit oversensitive. Sometimes I really do think that some of you don’t like me.”

He quipped, “This place is the really the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time, I suspect,” eliciting a smattering of laughter.

Trump slammed some of his favorite perceived enemies. He said the winner of the lowest ratings and the “lowest IQ on television” was “actually Don Lemon,” who Trump called “the dumbest man on television. I said, you know, when you say some things, you never make a comeback. It’s not like, ‘Oh gee, hey Don, let’s have dinner some night.’”

Trump also took aim at CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. He said, “I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award” but said it “was all about me. It’s a fake. She shouldn’t get the award. It was a fake, but I didn’t mind.” (In a statement issued as Trump was still speaking, Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said: “We stand by our journalists and the integrity and fair mindedness with which the CNN team reports the news. Honest, accurate journalism may sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that reporting to the public without government interference is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right.”)

Trump then went on a weird tangent about Collins, calling her “a young, active woman” but that “she never smiles. I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position. You’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. Just smile, Kaitlan. Just smile.’” Then Trump tried to joke that Collins had signed “a major new sponsorship. But then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney,” Trump said, referring to transgender influencer who was enlisted by the beer company in 2023, a campaign that suffered a huge backlash. “Dylan Mulvaney cost Bud like $35 million in market cap. It was the worst commercial ever made, by the way. For those few people that want to hear that, most people don’t care, but I would. I wouldn’t want to hire Dylan anytime soon,” said Trump.

About another CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper, Trump said: “I like Anderson actually because he’s covered me well for many years, and he went bad as soon as I went for politics. But for years, he loved interviews. I did so many interviews with him, and he was great. But you know, he’s got a little different persuasion than me, in many ways actually.”

Trump also lashed out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, Rosie O’Donnell (a “sick older woman”), CNN’s Jake Tapper and Bruce Springsteen. About Springsteen, Trump said: “What the hell happened to that guy? He looks like hell… I’m sure he doesn’t like the way I look, but I don’t look so bad.” He complained that Springsteen made “four political speeches in his three-hour show,” leading Trump to joke, “The tour has been renamed ‘Bored in the USA,’ and his new song was so bad.”

Trump, of course, has had a hostile relationship with the press. He not only routinely complains that news outlets are “fake news” and insults individual journalists but he has also sued multiple news outlets over coverage he dislikes, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News and CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

At the WHCA dinner, the Wall Street Journal reporters behind the paper’s story about a birthday letter purportedly written by Trump to Jeffrey Epstein won the $10,000 Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability award. Trump, who has denied he penned the Epstein letter, filed a lawsuit over the story, demanding $20 billion in damages. A judge dismissed his original suit but Trump refiled the complaint in May 2026 and the matter is pending. The Journal’s lawyers called Trump’s lawsuit “an affront to the First Amendment.” At the dinner, Trump awkwardly shook the hands of the Journal reporters who were there to receive the prize, then threw up his hands in mock resignation and returned to his seat.

“This has not been an easy evening. All these awards… Do I get a say in those awards?” Trump joked during his remarks.

Near the end of his remarks, Trump joked that he would run for a fourth term — and he donned a “Trump 2028” hat — repeating his baseless claim that he actually won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. (He did not.) Trump said he plans to return to the correspondents’ dinner in 2027.

Meanwhile, Trump also made a joke at the expense of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his secretary of Health and Human Services. “Bobby Kennedy’s right here. He personally ran over the cow in his car… he brought it here for you to eat tonight,” Trump said. “So it’s very fresh. And Bobby also suggested an appetizer featuring his favorite cut of male raccoon roadkill. But we drew the line at that, Cheryl. We said, no, we’re not going to do that. We’re not doing that. We love Bobby.”

Friday’s WHCA dinner took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in D.C. It featured a performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman, whereas the association has traditionally invited a comedian to roast the sitting president.

The WHCA dinner was rescheduled after the first gathering, on April 25, was interrupted by an evident assassination attempt on Trump. The gunman who crashed through security at the Washington Hilton was apprehended and charged. Trump spent time discussing the April attack in his remarks, thanking the law enforcement personnel who subdued the suspect.

Outgoing WHCA president Weijia Jiang, senior White House correspondent for CBS News, delivered opening remarks at the start of the event. She then shared hosting duties with Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, who will serve as the organization’s president for the 2026-27 term.

Veteran TV director, writer and producer Ralph W. Hemecker, known for his work on shows including “The X-Files,” “Blue Bloods,” “Once Upon a Time” and “The Flash,” has died. He was 65.

According to an obituary notice, Hemecker died July 10 at his home in Glendale, Calif. Hemecker’s credits over the years also include “Millennium,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Numb3rs,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Nikita,” “V,” and many more. He directed the Fox pilot “Roar,” starring a then-unknown Heath Ledger, as well as pilots for “Lawless” and “Dead at 21.”

Ralph William Hemecker was born on June 12, 1961, and studied English at Bucknell University, where he was already making short films. He later took filmmaking classes at New York University.

Hemecker started his career in production and post-production, and early on was a director on Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted.” He also got early experience on the syndicated series “Silk Stalkings,” which he later directed episodes for, as well as Stephen J. Cannell’s “Renegade.”

Another big break came in 2000, when he directed the TNT TV movie adaptation of the comic “Witchblade,” executive produced by Dan Halsted and Oliver Stone. That turned into the “Witchblade” TV series, which he served as showrunner, executive producer and writer for two seasons, from 2001 to 2002.

Among his busiest gigs were directing 31 episodes of “Blue Bloods” and 28 episodes of “Once Upon a Time.”

“Some losses are impossible to put into words,” “Once Upon a Time” star Lana Parilla wrote on Instagram. “Ralph Hemecker was one of the kindest, most generous souls I’ve ever known. One of ‘Once Upon a Time’s’ defining directors. A truly passionate, beautiful man and my dear friend. I was lucky enough to shadow Ralph as a director as he knew ‘Once,’ behind the camera, best. He was always carrying a camera in hand, staying up all night in the director’s office putting his shots together, studying the scripts and endlessly visiting sets in preparation. His passion was infectious. We always knew if Ralph was directing, we were in good hands.”

Wrote “Once” exec producers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis: “Ralph Hemecker was a great friend, partner, and a true artist. His contribution to ‘Once Upon a Time’ was immeasurable and he will be missed more than words can express.”

Hemecker also directed feature films and television movies such as “Dead On,” “Blade Squad,” “Haunting Sarah,” “Fatal Desire,” “Nora Roberts’ Angels Fall,” “Nora Roberts’ Midnight Bayou” and “Skyrunners.” He launched Mythic Films in 2000.

Hemecker is survived by two stepdaughters, as well as his father, sister, brother, three nephews, one niece and a great-nephew. Services will be announced at a later date.

Norwegian director Vegard Dahle’s zombie comedy “Grandmonster” has won the top Outpost Award, and a prize of post-production services, at the Fantasia Festival’s prestigious Frontières Co-Production Market, which handed out six awards at its closing cocktail, July 25.

The film, about an American dropout who unintentionally triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing home while trying to save her grandmother from dementia, was presented with deadpan, self-deprecating humor by Dahle and producer Jon Vatne, who wore matching sweaters, at a day-long Frontières pitching event on July 22.

The project, one of the 20 titles in Frontières official selection, received a boisterous, laugh-inducing response from the packed Frontières audience of fellow pitchers and buyer and industry delegates. 300 delegates from 24 countries attended the market, including team members of projects in its official selection, Genre Lab, Shorts To Features, and Music strands.

Outpost Special Awards were presented to two titles in the Shorts to Features category. “Reset” is U.S. directors Celine Tien and Jerry Hsu’s sci-fi drama about a program that resets the elderly into children to remain economically useful; the short is screening in Fantasia’s official international short film competition. “Sea Spirits” is director Edson Jean’s Haiti-set gothic folk horror about a guilt-ridden mother haunted by her daughter, who is lost at sea and refuses to leave the country in search of her ghost.

The PurpleDOG Award for an official selection project, which comes with a prize of post-production services, went to “Cher,” the first project out of Thailand participating in Frontières, a supernatural folk horror about a vengeance-seeking forest spirit who emerges near a remote mining camp that is trespassing on sacred forestland.

The PurpleDOG Award for a project in the Gender Equity in Media Society (GEMS) section of the Genre Film Lab went to “Wifey,” Canadian director Cassidy Civiero’s horror thriller about an independent artist about to transition female-to-male who is is forced into a non-consensual marriage in which traditional gender norms are used as a violent weapon.

The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival Award, which comes with an invitation to pitch at the Sitges festival in October, went to “Eternal Valley,” U.K. director Jasmine De Silva’s dark comedy body horror, a feature project based on her proof-of-concept short film “Beauty Sleep,” which had its world premiere at Fantasia in 2025.

“The feedback we’ve received from participants about the projects pitched last Wednesday has been overwhelmingly positive,” Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert told Variety shortly before the award ceremony.

“People have praised not only the exceptional quality of the projects themselves, but also the filmmakers’ pitch presentations. Every year, the bar is raised even higher, and I believe that’s why decision-makers return year after year. They trust our curation.”

One-on-one meetings and industry seminars conclude on July 25.

Here is the full list of Frontières award winners and their prizes:

Outpost Award of CAD$15,000 (US$10,637) in post-production services: “Grandmonster”
Outpost Special Mention Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: “Reset”
Outpost Special Mention: Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: “Sea Spirits”

PurpleDOG award to Official Selection project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: “Cher”
PurpleDOG award to GEMS project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: “Wifey”
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival: an invitation to pitch at the Sitges Festival next October, “Eternal Valley”

Only a few days ago, the states’ antitrust challenge to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger still looked like a speed bump.

Now, it looks more like siege warfare — as Paramount has agreed to put the $111 million deal on hold for at least several months. In doing so, Paramount’s lawyers have effectively conceded that they were not likely to prevail in an upcoming fight over an injunction and will instead try to beat the states at trial.

“I think they saw the writing on the wall,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Variety on Friday. “They saw that the outcome of a motion for a preliminary injunction was a fait accompli. The die was cast. They were going to lose. Otherwise, why not challenge it?”

David Ellison, Paramount Skydance‘s chairman and CEO, had hoped to win a ruling denying the injunction by mid-September — allowing him to close the deal in time to avoid paying Warner Bros. shareholders millions of dollars a day. His lawyers pushed for a three-day evidentiary hearing in late August, where they could confront the states’ expert economist and undermine the states’ argument that the deal will result in illegal market concentration.

But in a ruling on Thursday, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin denied Paramount’s bid to speed up briefing on that request, signaling she was not inclined to go along with the multiday hearing. The judge had already granted a 28-day restraining order, finding that the states had made a “strong showing” that the merger was likely to harm competition, and the standard to get an injunction would be similar.

Paramount could have opted to wait for the ruling and then immediately appeal to the 9th Circuit. But Nexstar tried to do that after its merger with Tegna was enjoined in April — and is still stuck in limbo with no assurance of resolution anytime soon. Paramount would have faced a similar delay, likely pushing any appellate relief into early 2027.

So where does it go from here?

To trial, where Paramount still believes it has the upper hand against what it terms “one of the weakest merger challenges in modern antitrust history.” The company hopes to get there as soon as possible, ideally before the end of 2026.

Whenever a trial is held, it won’t come fast enough to avoid having to pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $7 million per day, starting on Sept. 30. But that is a cost that Paramount will have to bear to get the deal done.

The 12-state coalition will push for a later date, arguing that it needs additional time to prepare.

“We do think 2027 is appropriate,” Bonta said. “If the judge said April 2027, we would not disagree with that.”

Paramount has agreed not to close the transaction until five days after the trial ruling or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. Bonta argued that Paramount is pushing for a speedy resolution due to “business factors” and not due process considerations.

“I’m sure they want a fast trial,” he said. “That’s based on other reasons, not what’s appropriate for a case of this magnitude.”

The states will want extra time to obtain extensive discovery, including documents and depositions they were unable to get during their investigation.

“Paramount and Warner Bros. were dragging their feet. They didn’t give us everything we wanted,” Bonta said. “If they wanted to have a trial quicker, they could have given us the information we asked for in the pre-litigation discovery process.”

The trial will be held in Martinez-Olguin’s courtroom in Oakland, Calif., and could last two to three weeks or more.

In the meantime, Paramount could seek to reopen settlement talks with the states. So far, Bonta said, the company has not offered the sort of structural remedies — that is, divestitures of cable or film distribution assets — that would have to be part of a deal.

Bonta has said repeatedly that he is not interested in “behavioral” remedies, such as a consent decree guaranteeing a minimum number of film releases or 45-day theatrical windows, saying that those have proven ineffective in the past.

“We’ve never gotten anything that would come close to addressing the concerns we’ve raised,” Bonta said. “We’re focused on litigation. We’ve built momentum and we look forward to taking that momentum into trial.”

In its statement, Paramount argued that the strategic retreat was the best way to get to a decision on the merits of the deal as soon as possible.

“This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached,” the company said.

Bonta argued the opposite — and now it’s clear those arguments present more than a minor obstacle.

“This merger, if it is able to go through, will hurt Americans, will hurt Californians,” he said. “It will raise their prices. It shouldn’t break the bank to enjoy your favorite show on the couch.”