Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is confronting the most pointed political challenge of his tenure. On the heels of a recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump that accused the Smithsonian of promoting divisive ideologies and called for an end to exhibitions and programs that “degrade shared American values” or “divide Americans by race,” Bunch and the Smithsonian now stand at a politically fraught crossroads. Related Articles Speaking to the New York Times this week, Steven Cheung, the White House’s communications director, said, “Lonnie…
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Here at ScreenCrush we’ve really enjoyed a lot of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again so far. But Episode 7, “Art for Art’s Sake,” felt like a turning point for the series, and not necessarily a good one. (We’re going to get into SPOILERS here, so if you haven’t watched the episode yet, you might want to go do that first.)All season, Born Again has been building up Muse as this major new villain in Marvel’s version of New York City. Yet in this episode, he’s quickly and relatively easily killed. It all felt really anticlimactic, and it spoke to how, despite some very strong…
Hong Kong‘s international airport will have an art storage facility that will open later this year or early next year, reports the South China Morning Post. The temperature-controlled facility will be part of a “comprehensive system for family offices” in the city, according to Jason Fong, the global head of family office at InvestHK. InvestHK is a government department responsible for foreign direct investment. News of the art storage facility was first unveiled by Chief Executive John Le Ka-Chiu in October 2022, as part of eight measures meant to attract at least 200 large family offices by the end of…
Val Kilmer, the charismatic actor and artist best known for his roles in Top Gun and Batman Forever, died at 65 on April 1st. His daughter, Mercedes, confirmed that Kilmer passed due to complications from pneumonia. “If there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Val Kilmer should get it,” film critic Robert Ebert once wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. Kilmer showcased his eccentric charisma as a scene-stealing supporting actor in films such as Michael Mann’s crime thriller Heat or the gunslinging Western Tombstone, as well as appearances as a leading man in films such…
Some arts and cultural groups across the United States that were previously awarded federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities have received letters informing them that their funding has been canceled by the Trump administration. Rumors swirled earlier this week that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was recommending extreme cuts to NEH staff by as much as 70 to 80 percent. There was also talk of the possible cancelation of all outstanding grants made under the Biden administration. State humanities councils and other grant recipients started receiving “Notice of Grant Termination” emails informing them that their funding…
Horror is one of the most popular and lucrative genres out there, outlasting the eras of movie musicals, action flicks, and fantasy epics, and holding strong against a current era dominated by comic book blockbusters. Horror movies have always been here, and they’re here to stay, because, for the most part, they’re pretty great. Even the bad ones are still pretty fun, because scary movies have the ability to be at least entertaining even if they aren’t instant classics. When you’re in the mood for something fun, horror is always a good bet.Then again … because there’s a lot of…
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump announced new tariffs against all nations, with specific rates for 56 countries and the European Union. Beyond the confusing method used to calculate the rates (AI? Terrible math? Both?) and the several, uninhabited islands, it quickly became clear the US was implementing import taxes on a significant number of trading partners and a large portion of goods imported every year. Right before and immediately after the announcement, experts told ARTnews the impact of the tariffs and counter-tariffs—those currently in effect and possible future ones—will result in a broad range of impacts on the art…
Ice Cube will write and star in a new installment of the Friday franchise.Marking the first sequel in the series in over 20 years, the rapper and actor, 54, has reached an agreement with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema to develop Last Friday, which will be the fourth film in the comedy series.Ice Cube has long expressed interest in revisiting the Friday series.Speaking with Flavor Flav on his SiriusXM show Flavor of the Week in June 2024, Ice Cube said there was “traction” at Warner Bros. for the film under the studio’s new leadership, including co-chair Michael De Luca.He…
Elizabeth Olsen has admitted Marvel movies aren’t to her “personal taste.”The 36-year-old actress played Wanda Maximoff / the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe appearing in films such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and spinoff TV series WandaVision but she has since stepped away from the franchise and admits she’s trying to pick new projects which are more aligned with her interests.During an appearance on the Wild Card with Rachel Martin podcast, Olsen explained: “I think I haven’t always successfully made choices in my work that are aligned with my personal taste and that is something I feel like I’m…
ROGER EBERT: JUNE 18, 1942 – APRIL 4, 2013 Roger famously said that movies are a machine that generates empathy. What he found fascinating about the images unfolding on the screen is that they allowed us to stand in the shoes and circumstances of a person or group unlike ourselves for two hours at a time. Sometimes the images on the screen caused him moral anguish. Sometimes they contributed to an emotional uplift. Whether or not he/we agreed with that person or group, we were able to gain an understanding of the details of a life that sometimes resulted in…
