Three Oscars with zero chemistry

Nolen Kelly, Staff

Image Credit: HBO Max

“The Little Things” is the love child of “Drive” and “Se7en,” but none of the good parts of either of them. Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) and Joe “Deke” Deacon (Denzel Washington) are two Los Angeles detectives in the year 1990 who are tracking a serial killer that played a part in Deke’s secretive past. It is up to Baxter to help Deke get their prime suspect, a man named Albert Sparma (Jared Leto) and solve the case while also figuring out his veteran partner. I have quite a few issues with this movie, but I will go through all of the things I liked first just to show that even the messiest and limpest crime dramas can still have a silver lining.

This movie is visually stunning. There are so many shots of LA, the streets and various landscapes that just make this movie look so good. I say this film is like “Drive” because getting to know the city through unique cinematography is always a nice touch to a stylish film. Oh my God, “Drive” is such a great movie, but I have to move on. For many scenes, I was really pulled into the moment. In one scene, Baxter goes into a hotel and every ounce of green color on the walls inside and out was fantastic. I think many movies that focus on the city of Los Angeles really work when they put an emphasis on neon lighting, and while I do not particularly love this movie, it stuck the landing looks-wise and created a colorful and glowing city.

Alright, I’ve stretched it out as much as I could and beat around all the bushes. It is now time to talk about this masterclass of stupid. There are a few spoilers along the way, but I will try to keep it limited. I was actually pretty excited for this movie. I mean, it has Denzel, “Mr. Robot” and Jared “The Joker” Leto as the big names on the project. I figured at its worst the movie would just be okay but, unfortunately, it is a clunky, unfinished and messy product. The acting, story, writing and dialogue are all so awkward and bizarre. Having Malek, Leto and Washington in the same movie and having next-to-no chemistry amongst each other is not something I would think possible. 

I talked about how this movie is part “Drive,” but it is also part David Fincher’s “Se7en” with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. I say this because of the “veteran detective working a case with a younger detective as they track down a vicious serial killer” dynamic. Pitt and Freeman worked astoundingly; Denzel and Malek do not. The main suspect they follow is Leto’s character, Sparma, who simultaneously has a large beer gut and looks thin and sickly. Man, Leto was just weird in this movie. I refer to this as a “poop doo-doo” of a movie, which is a direct quote from Leto himself in this movie, which basically explains how most of his dialogue went. I probably would have laughed at that or enjoyed the line if it was not at the climax of the movie in one of the most crucial scenes for his character. Leto had a few moments where I thought he was going to save this movie and turn in a vile and creepy performance, but he was just so strange. In one scene a payphone rings and Baxter checks it out, picks it up and Leto appears behind him and says “boo” to scare him. It was pretty good; it spooked me a bit too, but then Baxter tells Sparma to get up against the fence, and as a response, Sparma starts singing “Jenny” by Tommy Tutone. It is so bizarre, but not in a creepy character moment; it is just weird. I blame the whacky performances on the script.

The trajectory of the story is pretty straightforward: two cops chase a bad guy and then the movie has an ending. My biggest gripe with the script is all the super obvious moments and opportunities the writers could’ve taken to explore the characters, but didn’t. By the end, I didn’t feel anything towards anyone because I had no reason to really care about any stakes or any character. Yes, Baxter has a family, but I never felt like he was actually in danger of not returning to them. The only stakes and motivation in this movie are that there are dead bodies and the detectives do not want that anymore. Even with Deke’s past connections to this case, he still just seems like he can easily walk away from this case and not feel anything. By the end, they try to do a clever twist and pull from the book of “Se7en” again. I won’t talk about it too much here, but they use the “villain gets in the hero’s mind and it doesn’t go so well” trope as the hook of the climax.

I finished this movie and had a few questions. The more I think about them, the more it makes me mad about this movie. There were so many loose ends and unanswered pieces that weaken the overall effect the movie has as a crime-thriller and as a psychological character piece. I wanted to like this movie, I really did, but man, it was so messy. Robot performances, cliché dialogue, zero chemistry, no direction and objectively wrong decision-making all drag this movie down. The funniest part is everything I just listed was everything that was wrong with just Rami Malek. I feel like I may be exploding on this movie way more than it warrants, but it just makes me mad how they fumbled this near surefire of a crime-drama. My official ranking of the HBO Max 2021 original film “The Little Things” on a scale of Awful to Perfection: Bad.

kellyf4@lasalle.edu

Jeriann Tripodi, Staff

Header Image: Giornale di Sicilia

Welcome to the wonderful world of entertainment. The following news includes highlights of celebrities, television, movies and music this week.

Halsey announces pregnancy

On Jan. 27, pop singer Halsey took to her Instagram to announce her pregnancy. In her post, the 26-year-old showed off her bump in three pictures that appear to be from a recent photoshoot. Along with rainbow and baby emojis, the caption stated, “surprise.” In addition, Halsey tagged her boyfriend, Alev Aydin, who is the father of her child. Aydin commented, “Heart so full, I love you, sweetness.”

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are dating

“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star Kourtney Kardashian and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker have recently started dating after years of friendship. According to ET, the two have been family friends for a long time, but have grown even closer since becoming neighbors in Calabasas. A source close to Kardashian and Barker claims that the Kardashian family approves of their relationship and enjoys having Barker around.

Pamela Anderson marries for the sixth time

Former “Baywatch” actress Pamela Anderson has recently announced that she secretly married her bodyguard, Dan Hayhurst, on Christmas Eve. According to DailyMail TV, after falling in love during the lockdown, the pair wed on her grandparents’ property in a private ceremony with no friends or family present. This is Anderson’s sixth marriage and fifth husband. One year ago, the actress married film producer Jon Peters, in a union which lasted for 12 days.

Cloris Leachman passes away at age 94 (1926-2021)

On Jan. 27, actress Cloris Leachman passed away at the age of 94. Leachman was an Academy and Emmy award-winning actress who was best known for playing the nosy neighbor Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Younger fans will likely remember the eight-time Emmy award-winner for her role in “Malcolm in the Middle,” in which she played Malcolm’s conniving grandmother. Leachman also competed on “Dancing with the Stars” when she was 82 years old, making her the oldest competitor to ever dance on the show. In addition, Leachman starred in the 1974 comedy film “Young Frankenstein” with La Salle alum, Peter Boyle.

Cicely Tyson passes away at age 96 (1924-2021)

On Jan. 28, pioneering actress Cicely Tyson passed away at the age of 96. The Emmy and Tony award-winner was the first Black actress to land a recurring role in a drama series, according to Fox News. Tyson was best known for starring in the 70s films, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “Sounder.” However, younger fans will likely remember Tyson from her starring role in “The Help” and from her guest role in “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Dustin Diamond passes away at age 44 (1977-2021)

On Feb. 1, actor Dustin Diamond passed away at the age of 44 after a short battle with stage four lung cancer. Diamond, who was best known for playing Screech in the hit 1990s sitcom “Saved By the Bell,” made headlines several weeks ago when it was announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer after being hospitalized due to pain throughout his body. The actor’s “Saved by the Bell” castmates have paid tribute to their friend. One such tribute was from co-star Mario Lopez, who shared an emotional statement on Access Hollywood hours after Diamond’s passing. Lopez referred to Diamond as his “little brother” and how they have remained in contact over the years.

Fans are pleased with season two of “Selena + Chef”

The second season of HBO Max’s “Selena + Chef” has premiered on Jan. 21, and its audience is just as pleased with this season as they were with the first one, according to Seventeen. Starring pop singer and actress Selena Gomez, this unscripted series shows Selena whipping up delicious recipes from her kitchen. Each episode is filmed socially distanced and features a different celebrity chef through video chat. Google users have shared overall high reviews for the season due to Gomez’s bubbly personality, as one user even gave the show an “11/10” recommendation.

Kevin Hart gets roasted by fans over role in “Borderlands”

Actor and comedian Kevin Hart has signed on to star in Lionsgate’s film adaptation of the popular video game, Borderlands. In this film, Hart will play one of the main characters, private military rogue Roland. Since the skilled soldier is rather tall and the Philly native is only 5’4, fans were confused about this casting choice and took their opinions to social media. One viral post stated, “So who’s playing the top half of Roland?” In addition, Hart’s followers asked him if he was sure he really wasn’t playing Claptrap, the small robot companion who follows the main characters around.

Number one on the Billboard charts: week of Feb. 2, 2021

According to “The Hot 100” on the charts, the number one song in the U.S. is “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo. This is the second week the pop song is number one on the charts. According to the “Billboard 200,” the number one album in the U.S. is “Dangerous: The Double Album” by Morgan Wallen. The country album is at the top spot for the third week straight.

Jakob Eiseman, Editor

Header Image: TechCrunch

Three weeks ago, the advisory board at the social media giant, Twitter, made the decision to permanently ban the user account of former U.S. President Donald Trump after he sent out several tweets that contained misinformation, inciting violence at the U.S. Capitol. Earlier this week, a program was opened up by Twitter’s board with hopes of stopping misinformation early on from any Twitter user, public or private. The move is being made with the hopes that it will stop any further crime from being committed by followers of those who spread misinformation on the platform.

🐦 Today we’re introducing @Birdwatch, a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information. And we want your help. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/aYJILZ7iKB

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 25, 2021

The program is called Birdwatch, a play on the company’s mountain bluebird logo. Birdwatch was ruled out to a small group of users this week in order to test both its effectiveness as well as the technology behind it. The 1,000 or so users with access to Birdwatch can leave notes on tweets to provide context or to correct tweets containing misinformation. As of right now, the test notes can only be observed by Twitter’s staff and other Birdwatch members, but the goal is to expand this program to more people and enable all public Twitter users to see the notes.

Notes can be rated on their effectiveness by other Birdwatch members. The final product will function similar to Wikipedia’s community edit system in which many Birdwatchers can leave notes on a single tweet, and negatively rate notes that do not add context or are in themselves misinformed. A press release from Twitter details that they conducted “more than 100 qualitative interviews with individuals across the political spectrum who use Twitter, and we received broad general support for Birdwatch.” The feedback given in these interviews helped shape the program and helped choose participants for the pilot program.

Twitter confirmed the existence of Birdwatch last year, but it was not expected to be released this quickly, which has many users skeptical  of the effectiveness of the program. Only time will tell how Birdwatch shapes out when it is ruled out to the public, but for now, the team wants to keep everything as transparent as possible, with Birdwatch data being available to the public on its website and the code for the ranking system being available for free on GitHub.

The executives at Twitter have been very public in their efforts to combat misinformation without coming off as a suppressor of free speech after the banning of former President Trump, and Birdwatch is their effort to put the battle against propaganda in the public’s hands. Some political commentators see Birdwatch as a tool for Twitter to censor its users, and hide themselves from criticism by putting the responsibility on users rather than administrators. Others see Birdwatch as a bright future for a social media platform that is infamous for becoming a megaphone for conspiracy theorists and those that wish to spread lies.

For those interested in becoming a Birdwatcher, applications are open on their website.

eisemanj1@lasalle.edu

Jeriann Tripodi, Staff

Header Image: Entertainment Tonight

Welcome to the wonderful world of entertainment. The following news includes highlights of celebrities, television, movies and music this week.

Larry King passes away at age 87 (1933-2021)

On Jan. 23, Larry King passed away at the age of 87 after a recent battle with COVID-19. King, who was the longtime host of CNN’s “Larry King Live,” has conducted over 50,000 interviews with celebrities, presidents, notorious criminals and everyday people throughout his career. The award-winning television host had a career that spanned over sixty years and was considered one of the greatest broadcast journalists of all time.

Betty White celebrates 99th birthday

On Jan. 17, “Golden Girls” actress Betty White turned 99 years old. Although White could not celebrate with the huge bash she desired due to COVID-19 restrictions, she still managed to have a fun day. According to the Associated Press, the award-winning actress spent her birthday by feeding two ducks that visit her everyday and enjoyed eating hotdogs and french fries. White shared on social media that she can now stay up as late as she wants without asking permission. 

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are no longer attending marriage counseling 

The news broke earlier this month that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West might be getting a divorce. Although neither the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star nor the rapper have spoken publicly about the split, it has been reported that the pair have completely stopped attending therapy to repair their marriage. Meanwhile, Kanye is talking to top divorce attorneys. According to People, Kardashian and West are at two different places in life.

Demi Lovato spots a UFO 

Pop singer Demi Lovato posted a video to Instagram of unusual bright lights bouncing around in the sky during daytime. In the video that is captioned “They’re coming,” Lovato tells her followers: “Another day, another UFO sighting.” Prior to this sighting, Lovato, who has had an ongoing fascination with paranormal activity, told Kesha in a recent podcast episode about her experience with a blue orb that was floating “20 or 30” feet away from her. 

 “The Bachelor” returns for its 25th season

A new season of “The Bachelor” is currently airing and the ladies are fighting for the heart of Matt James, a 29-year-old real estate broker. James, who has made history as the show’s first Black Bachelor, was originally set to be a contestant on “The Bachelorette” when he was selected to be the next Bachelor. With high ratings, fans have taken to social media to share their happiness with the leading man and his drama-filled season. “The Bachelor” airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence spotted on set of “Don’t Look Up”

Production continues in Boston for “Don’t Look Up,” the upcoming Netflix film which has a cast of many favorite celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Timothee Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Meryl Streep and Ariana Grande. The film’s two main stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, were spotted on set rocking their new looks for their roles. Lawrence was seen wearing bright red hair with thick bangs and a nose ring, while DiCaprio was seen wearing glasses. According to Netflix, Lawrence and DiCaprio are playing two astronomers who must warn mankind about a comet that will destroy Earth.

Number one on the Billboard charts: week of Jan. 24, 2021

According to “The Hot 100” on the charts, the number one song in the U.S. is “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo. This is the first week the pop song is on the charts. According to the “Billboard 200,” the number one album in the US is “Dangerous: The Double Album” by Morgan Wallen. The country album is at the top spot for the second week straight.

tripodij2@lasalle.edu