Category: Entertainment

There are sex-positive films, and then there is My Friend the Porn Star, a movie that’s about as pro-copulation as possible without being an actual work of pornography. German director-star Rosa Friedrich keeps things just on the exhibitable side of NC-17 in terms of explicitness for this goofy but quite winning documentary about how she tried to make one kind of film and ended up making another.

The original idea was to record her friend Timo as he attempts to fulfill his own exhibitionistic desire by getting Rosa to film him having sex with assorted women. But the two have different artistic visions. When he suddenly ghosts her in the middle of production and just goes AWOL, like many a frustrated woman before her she finishes the project to her own satisfaction. She partly achieves this by using very obvious deep-fake technology to graft an actor’s head onto Timo’s body for the footage she’s already shot, so that we can see the real Timo from the neck down but with a pixelated box where the head should be of the actor she chose. (It’s not clear whose voice we’re ultimately hearing, the actor’s or Timo’s.)

Plus, she gets a very diverse group of women — including a dominatrix, a non-binary food-porn maker, three trans women in a polycule, and several others — to make little shorts about what they find erotic. All in all this makes for a sweet, funny and, yes, horny little package that should be very bookable for future festivals after its Karlovy Vary debut.

Although the film skips around Germanophone countries Germany and Austria while toggling between different time frames, Friedrich manages to get across how it all went wrong and then so very right for the end product we’re watching. I may be wrong, but almost in passing near the beginning it’s mentioned that Rosa and Timo were a heterosexual couple at one point, but now they are mainly just friends who are at ease with watching each other have sex with other people. Ish. At least Timo likes watching porn and sex in general while Rosa’s not that interested in it herself. Timo, however, is excited by the idea of people watching him, and feels like this is one way to get in touch with his feminine side, although his intellectual justifications change constantly, just as he can’t commit to what he wants to do with the film.

In the end, Friedrich makes this equivocation and self-questioning — not just Timo’s but that of other people too — a theme about how much we choose to reveal or conceal ourselves. In the end, she’s probably succeeded in making a more interesting film than what Timo seems to want to have made, the latter sounding for all intents and purposes like an exercise in narcissistic self-indulgence.

At any rate, before Timo ankled the project, he shot some scenes with several of the women he and Friedrich recruited at events like the Venus Expo in Berlin, a fair for “erotic and lifestyle.” Timo and Friedrich talk with Adrineh Simonian, a former opera singer who now produces porn and who’s full of sensible advice. The duo travel to Hungary to meet Donna, a well-known porn actor, but she decides not to take part in the shoot, for reasons not explained on camera but seemingly to do with the production’s lack of script and general professionalism.

Regularly inserted into the Timo sections are clips from the seven short films Friedrich ended up shooting with some of the people she met in the process, which explore what turns them on personally. Some of the footage is endearingly vanilla, some a bit more fruity — quite literally in the case of non-binary participant Alice Eric BigClit, who gets into a bathtub naked and has slices of fruit and whipped cream arranged artfully over their body.

The full spectrum of sexuality is discussed, if not quite shown, from BDSM to play with assorted gadgets to water sports and the like, but with much attention to why it all turns the subjects on, a focus on psychology more than anatomy. In the end, they show the package of shorts at an erotic film festival and Friedrich just holds on the faces of her cast as they watch the films, delighting in seeing themselves being seen. It’s that joyousness that really makes this such a relatable, kooky-kinky delight, along with Friedrich and editor Melanie Schmidt’s natural comic timing.

It’s a different A Different World on Netflix. Mostly.

In the sequel series, still set at Hillman College, Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon), Whitley (Whitley Gilbert) and Dwayne’s (Kadeem Hardison) youngest daughter, must forge her own path. She won’t be on her own. The new A Different World cast includes Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai), a first‑generation criminal justice major; Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), a five‑star athlete; Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall), a psychlogy major with problems of his own; Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece), a church‑raised small‑town girl; and Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche), a Ghanaian‑Nigerian fashion entrepreneur.

In addition to Gilbert and Hardison, Cree Summer returns to the franchise as Freddie Brooks and Darryl M. Bell reprises his role of Ron Johnson. Netflix revealed first look photos of all of them on Monday:

The original A Different World, which aired on NBC in the late ’80s/early ’90s, was a spinoff of The Cosby Show. It first centered on Lisa Bonet as Cliff Huxtable’s (Billy Cosby) daughter Denise Huxtable, but shifted its focus to the ensemble cast after season one.

Set against the “rituals, humor, and contradictions of an HBCU,” Netflix’s A Different World is described as “a hopeful dramedy, full of heart and unapologetically centered on the richness and complexity of the Black experience,” per the streamer. Episodes are 30 minutes apiece, which is traditionally more reflective of a comedy than a drama.

This A Different World hails from showrunner, writer and executive producer Felicia Pride, executive producer and (pilot episode) director Debbie Allen, and executive producers Tom Werner, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Mandy Summers. Additional directors for season one include Tiffany Johnson (episodes 102, 105, 106), Angela Barnes (103, 104), Nefertite Nguvu (107, 108), and Bille Woodruff (109, 110).

The series’ 10 episodes premiere on Netflix on Sept. 24, 2026.

It’s more than a little daunting coming to the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise as a newbie. Purists would insist that if you want to fully appreciate the new feature-length animated film you need to immerse yourself in the original Nickelodeon series that ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008. Then you should check out the animated sequel series The Legend of Korra. Not to mention the myriad related comic books, video games, book adaptations and, of course, Netflix’s live-action series remake.

As for M. Night Shyamalan’s critically lambasted 2010 live-action movie version, eh, that you can probably skip.

All of this is to say that this review of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender — premiering on Paramount+ while simultaneously getting a limited theatrical release to qualify for Oscar consideration — should probably be ignored by the die-hard fans, many of whom have already seen the film due to internet leaks. They’ll be debating endlessly with each other as to whether the feature effort lives up to the canon, which is why Reddit was invented.

Taking place after the events of the original series, the film picks up with Aang (Eric Nam), the now grown-up and surprisingly hunky Avatar and last Airbender, reuniting with his old cohorts Katara (Jessica Matten), Sokka (Roman Zaragoza), Toph (Dionne Quan), and Zuko (Steven Yeun) after he learns of a magical staff that could save his people from extinction. Aang learns about the mystical object from Tagah (Dave Bautista), a fellow Airbender whom he discovers in a frozen state and frees. He soon discovers that Tagah, who hails from thousands of years earlier, has, shall we say, issues. Much violent mayhem ensues.

As if not to overwhelm those new to the franchise, the film provides a helpful recap of prior events before the opening titles, as well as an extended battle between Aang and The Denied, those pesky nonbenders still pissed off over the dominance of the benders who can manipulate the four elements with their cool martial arts moves.

Plotting and characterizations take a back seat to the action sequences, of which there are many, in this relentlessly fast-paced feature that seems designed to draw non-fans into the universe without burdening them with too much exposition. It all threatens to become wearisome long before the conclusion, but fortunately the combination of 2-D and 3-D animation proves consistently visually dazzling, bearing out the desperate entreaties of the fans to give the film a proper theatrical release.

Mostly new voice performers play the familiar characters, though there are also plenty of familiar names in the supporting cast, including Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan, whose often amusing vocal contributions generally outshine those of the bland leads.  

Screenwriters Tim Hedrick and Christopher Yost infuse the proceedings with plenty of humor, sometimes slyly satirical but much of it lapsing into silly jokiness. Some heavy themes are also injected into the mix, such as the corruptive effects of power. But mostly the film seems content to wow you with its visuals, feeling rushed in its narrative and lurching from one violent episode to another. The original series was highly acclaimed for its complexity and sophistication, but those qualities don’t really come across in this hyper-kinetic feature version.

Sylvia Bugg, PBS‘ chief programming executive and general manager for general audience programming, died “unexpectedly this weekend,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger announced on Sunday. Bugg was 55.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened to share that Sylvia Bugg, PBS’s Chief Programming Executive and General Manager for General Audience Programming, passed away unexpectedly this weekend,” Kerger said. “Over decades in public media, including her leadership at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and three chapters of service here at PBS, Sylvia shaped the programming that defines our service to the American people. She brought forward landmark films across history, science, and the arts, and guided our America @ 250 slate through a defining year.”

Bugg will be “gratefully remembered for her commitment to ensuring public media’s programming reflects a broad range of voices and perspectives,” Kerger’s statement continued. “She was a strong advocate for education, both in the programs she supported and in her own life, as shown by her multiple advanced degrees, including a recent doctorate.”

No cause of death was provided. Earlier this month, PBS received five Primetime Emmy nominations.

Bugg joined PBS for a third stint just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. Previously, she was vice president of diversity and television content at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bugg was PBS’ director of programming from April 2012-August 2014; her first turn came in the mid-to-late ’90s. Bugg worked at Discovery, Inc. for a dozen years following the turn of the century.

“Our thoughts are with Sylvia’s family, friends and colleagues across public media, who are all devastated by this loss,” Kerger said. “Many have noted her grace and kindness, shown every day. She will be deeply missed.”

Bugg has her doctorate in Education from USC and MBA from the University of Maryland. She did her underground at Georgetown.

Stephen Chow‘s perfectly timed return to soccer comedy kept on kicking in its second weekend at China‘s box office. Kung Fu Soccer, the comedy legend’s Shaolin Soccer spinoff, added $73.7 million (RMB 501.1 million) over the July 17-19 frame, lifting its total to $214.3 million (RMB 1.46 billion) in just nine days, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

In a market where second weekends routinely shed half their opening business, the film instead topped its two-day debut frame of $73.6 million (RMB 500.3 million), albeit spread across three days this time. Having crossed $147 million (RMB 1 billion) in its first week, the film has prompted ticketing giant Maoyan to raise its full-run forecast to $441 million (RMB 3 billion), up from the RMB 2.5 billion it projected on opening weekend. The film looks likely to finish just short of Chow’s personal box-office record of RMB 3.39 billion ($500 million-plus), set by the fantasy comedy The Mermaid in 2016.

Chow, 64, wrote and directed Kung Fu Soccer — his first feature behind the camera since 2019’s The New King of Comedy — but does not appear onscreen, having stepped away from acting after 2008’s CJ7. Released to mark the 25th anniversary of Shaolin Soccer, and to ride this summer’s FIFA World Cup fever, the film reworks the beloved original’s premise around an underdog, all-female squad whose players integrate martial arts into their game to make an improbable run at a tournament dubbed the Supreme Invincible Cup. Zhang Xiaofei (Hi, Mom) leads the cast as the team’s captain, with Dilraba Dilmurat as its star striker and Lay Zhang as its kung fu coach, plus guest turns from Hong Kong screen icon Carina Lau, Japanese star Takeru Satoh and U.S. comedian Jimmy O. Yang.

Chow’s singular blockbuster prowess has been demonstrated — yet again — by the way he released the movie with little to no conventional marketing campaign. He set the release date via a casual social media video on his birthday in late June, and the film hit theaters less than three weeks later with minimal advance marketing.

A North American theatrical release is expected later this year but remains undated. Singapore’s Encore Films, which handled the international rollout of China’s record-setting animation Ne Zha 2 last year, acquired worldwide rights to Kung Fu Soccer outside the mainland and is lining up territory-by-territory deals.

Kung Fu Soccer faced markedly stiffer competition in its sophomore weekend than its first in the form of All Wishes Come True, an animated tentpole from state-backed Pearl Studio, the Beijing outfit formerly known as Oriental DreamWorks, whose credits include Kung Fu Panda 3, Abominable and the Oscar-nominated Over the Moon. Written and directed by Mu Zhengyang, the comic fantasy reimagines the classic folk tale of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, following a group of ordinary individuals who outwit the gods to earn their legendary titles. It opened Saturday and brought in $30.6 million (RMB 207.8 million) over two days — a solid start — for an early total of $39.6 million (RMB 269 million) including previews. Pearl and partner CMC Pictures have set a global rollout beginning Aug. 13 in Australia and New Zealand, with the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and other markets to follow from Aug. 14.

The rest of the weekend’s top titles trailed the two blockbusters from afar. Enlight Pictures’ A Part of Me, a female-friendship tearjerker starring Zhang Ruonan and Jin Jing — a remake of the 2015 Toni Collette-Drew Barrymore dramedy Miss You Already — opened third with $13.6 million (RMB 92.4 million). Universal and Illumination’s Minions & Monsters held fourth in its third frame with $3.7 million (RMB 25.1 million), nudging its China total to $40.3 million (RMB 274 million). And Triangle, Christopher Smith’s 2009 time-loop thriller starring Melissa George — a curious cult favorite among Chinese movie lovers — took fifth with $3.7 million (RMB 25 million) after arriving in mainland theaters Friday, 17 years after its original release.

China’s 2026 box office now stands at $2.97 billion, down 35.3 percent from the same point last year — a comparison skewed by animated mega-blockbuster Ne Zha 2, which earned over $2 billion in China alone during the first half of 2025. The gap has nonetheless narrowed considerably from the nearly 56 percent deficit of early March, as Chow’s comeback hit has given the country’s summer moviegoing season a healthy kick-start.

Curry Barker’s horror phenomenon Obsession, which has grossed more than $400 million worldwide since its mid-May debut, opens in the country on Friday. The film will pose an interesting test of whether the wave of young, internet-bred filmmakers taking Hollywood by storm can help revive the studios’ fortunes in China, where filmgoers have long grown tired of U.S. franchise fare.