Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett will team up for Is This Thing On?, with Cooper directing from a script co-written by Arnett.
You learn something new every day. I had no idea that Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett were long-time friends, with Arnett even helping Cooper overcome an addiction to cocaine and alcohol twenty years ago. Deadline reports that the two friends will team up for Is This Thing On?, a new movie for Searchlight.
Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper will star in Is This Thing On?, but their involvement also goes behind the scenesl. Cooper will also direct the movie from a script Arnett wrote with Mark Chappell. A draft was turned in before the WGA strike, but Deadline says Cooper will likely want to add his own ideas but will only be able to once the strike concludes. The project is still in early development, so plot details remain under wraps. Bradley Cooper will also produce through his Lea Pictures banner, along with Will Arnett and Kris Thykier.
Bradley Cooper was recently seen reprising his role of Rocket Racoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and is currently in post-production on Maestro, a biopic about the life of famed conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper also co-wrote the script with Josh Singer and stars as Bernstein. The actor looked nearly unrecognizable in the part in a series of photos released last year. The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke, Matt Bomer, and Sarah Silverman, and will debut on Netflix later this year.
As for Will Arnett, he will provide the voice of Sweet Tooth for Peacock’s upcoming Twisted Metal TV series based on the video game franchise. The series stars Anthony Mackie as “a motor-mouthed outsider who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.” The series will debut on Peacock on July 27th. Arnett will also be seen in Taika Waititi’s biographical sports comedy Next Goal Wins. The film stars Michael Fassbender as a Dutch-American coach tasked with turning the infamously terrible American Samoa national team into an elite squad. The film will hit theaters on November 17th.
NEW YORK, June 14, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Credello: The student loan crisis has gotten out of control. As we wait for the Supreme Court's verdict on President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan at the end of June, let's look at the numbers to see how much debt students are taking on and how you can repay your loans.
What the data on student loans says
In total, there is $1.75 trillion in student loan debt between federal loans and private loans. On average, borrowers owe $28,950. The state you live in also tends to impact how much you owe. For example, residents of New Hampshire have the highest student loan debt average at $39,928 per borrow. Utah is the state with the lowest average at $18,344.
The vast majority of student loans are federal - 92%. The remaining 8% are private loans from providers like Sallie Mae. Public four-year institutions had a slightly lower rate of students taking on debt (55%) than private four-year institutions (57%).
Due to interest, the average balance of student loans is even higher than the average amount borrowed. The current average balance for federal loan borrowers is $35,210, and the state with the highest average is Washington, D.C., with an average balance of $54,708 per borrower.
Gender also plays a factor in debt, with women and people of color disproportionately impacted by student loan debt. 47% of women hold student debt compared to just 40% of men. 50% of Black adults have student debt compared to 44% of White adults and 37% of Hispanic/Latino adults. On top of that, Black adults carry a higher balance than White adults - $9,800 versus $8,700, respectively.
Student loan repayments on federal loans have paused for more than three years, since March 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments are expected to resume 60 days after the Supreme Court announces its ruling or 60 days after June 30, 2023, whichever comes first. Time will only tell how many people will default on their loans or struggle to keep up with payments in a time with high inflation and stagnant wages.
Using a personal loan for student loan consolidation
If you have multiple student loans with high-interest rates, you might be able to consolidate them into one personal loan with better interest rates. This saves you money and effort by focusing on one bill each month. The specific documents required for a personal loan can vary depending on the lender and the nature of the loan. However, here are some standard documents that are typically requested by lenders when applying for a personal loan:
1. Identification Proof
2. Proof of Income: Lenders often require income proof to assess repayment capacity. This can include documents such as:
Pay stubs
Tax returns
Bank statements
Employment letter
Self-employment documents
3. Proof of Address: documents such as utility bills (electricity, water, gas), rental agreement, or a recent bank statement or credit card statement that shows your address.
4. Credit History
5. Employment and Financial Stability: Some lenders may request additional documents to verify your employment and financial stability, such as:
Employment verification letter
Proof of assets
Debt obligations
6. Loan Application Form
If you have been denied a personal loan by lenders, you should first review the rejection letter or notice. Lenders are generally required to provide a reason for the loan denial. Common reasons include a low credit score, insufficient income, a high debt-to-income ratio, or a negative credit history.
You should also obtain a copy of your credit report to review for any errors, inaccuracies, or negative information impacting your creditworthiness. If you find any errors, dispute them with the credit bureaus to have them corrected. If your credit score was a factor in the loan denial, but there aren't any errors, take steps to improve it. This may include paying off existing debts, making timely payments, reducing credit card balances, and avoiding new credit applications.
Traditional banks and financial institutions have strict lending criteria. If they deny you, consider exploring alternative lenders like online lenders, credit unions, or peer-to-peer lending platforms. These lenders may have different approval standards and be more willing to work with borrowers with less-than-perfect credit.
Finally, you may want to find a co-signer if your credit or income is insufficient to qualify for a personal loan. This is someone with good credit and income who agrees to be equally responsible for repaying the loan. Having a cosigner can increase your chances of loan approval and may even help you secure a lower interest rate.
Other ways to manage student loan payments
Managing student loan payments can be challenging, but you can effectively handle them with careful planning and organization. Here are some steps to help you manage your student loan payments:
Understand your loans: Familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of your student loans. Identify the type of loans you have (federal or private), the interest rates, repayment options, and any specific benefits or protections associated with them.
Create a budget: Develop a budget that includes all your income and expenses. This will give you a clear picture of your financial situation and help you determine how much you can allocate toward your monthly student loan payments.
Explore repayment options: Federal student loans typically offer various repayment plans, such as Standard Repayment, Income-Driven Repayment (IDR), and Graduated Repayment. Research and compare these options to find the one that suits your financial circumstances best. Private loans may have different repayment options, so contact your lender to understand the available choices.
Prioritize high-interest loans: If you have multiple loans, focus on paying off the loans with the highest interest rates first. By doing so, you can minimize the overall interest you'll pay over the life of your loans.
Explore loan forgiveness and repayment assistance programs: Investigate if you qualify for any loan forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for those working in qualifying public service jobs. Additionally, some employers or professions offer loan repayment assistance programs. Research and take advantage of these opportunities if they align with your career goals.
Communicate with your loan servicer: Stay in touch with your loan servicer and inform them of any changes in your financial situation. They can provide guidance and assistance, such as helping you switch repayment plans or explore deferment or forbearance options if you're facing temporary financial hardship.
Bottom line
The dire state of student loan debt in 2023 emphasizes the need for effective management and repayment strategies. The pause on federal loan repayments due to the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to end soon, potentially leading to challenges for borrowers. Do not underestimate the importance of informed financial planning and proactive measures to effectively navigate the student loan crisis.
About Credello
Credello is a financial tech company offering a personal finance tool that simplifies financial decisions through personalized, on-demand recommendations — so users can borrow, save, or invest with confidence. Credello believes that finding the right financial product should be as easy and interactive as online shopping, and we are on a mission to make that possible. For more information, please visit https://www.credello.com.
Blue Beetle star Xolo Maridueña says that he’s down for a sequel, but that all comes down to how well the DC movie performs.
It remains to be seen whether Blue Beetle will have a place in the new DC Universe, but star Xolo Maridueña is already prepared to return for a sequel.
While speaking with Empire, Xolo Maridueña said that Blue Beetle may not simply be a leftover of the DCEU, but that all depends on how the movie performs. “If we get one movie or a trilogy and fucking fold this into the Justice League shit, we’re ready for the whole nine,” Maridueña said. “For me and Angel [Manuel Soto, director] and the team, we kicked ass with this movie. It just depends on numbers.“
It’s hard to tell if Blue Beetle will strike enough of a chord with audiences to warrant a sequel, but it is making history by bringing a major Latino hero to the big-screen. “The goal was to create a movie for a young me and a young Angel that said, ‘Hey, man, someone who looks like you or comes from a similar background can be a superhero,’” Xolo Maridueña said. “The second thing was to open more doors for people like us. As fun as it is to get into this superhero world where everything is [dialled up to] 110 per cent, [it’s] the characters… that I’ve [most] related to.“
“Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it,” reads the official Blue Beetle synopsis. “As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.“
In addition to Xolo Maridueña, the Blue Beetle movie also stars George Lopez (Beverly Hills Chihuahua), Adriana Barraza (Rambo: Last Blood), Elpidia Carrillo (Predator), Damián Alcázar (Miss Bala), Belissa Escobedo (American Horror Stories), Bruna Marquezine (God Save the King), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), and Raoul Max Trujillo (Mayans M.C.). Susan Sarandon (Monarch) also stars as Victoria Kord, the main villain of the film. It was also announced this morning that Becky G would be providing the voice of Khaji-Da, “the being that imbues and controls the Scarab attached to Jaime’s back.” Blue Beetle will hit theaters on August 18, 2023.
Christopher Nolan says that he wrote the script for the Oppenheimer movie in the first person.
In order to get into the head of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan did something he’s never done before — he wrote the script in the first person.
“I actually wrote in the first-person, which I’ve never done before,” Christopher Nolan told Empire. “I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it before. But the point of it is, with the colour sequences, which is the bulk of the film, everything is told from Oppenheimer’s point of view — you’re literally kind of looking through his eyes.” Nolan added that even the stage directions were told from the point of view of Oppenheimer, which he admits was an “odd thing to do, but it was a reminder to me of how to shoot the film. It was a reminder to everybody involved in the project, ‘Okay, this is the point of view of every scene.’“
Christopher Nolan continued, “I wanted to really go through this story with Oppenheimer; I didn’t want to sit by him and judge him. That seemed a pointless exercise. That’s more the stuff of documentary, or political theory, or history of science. This is a story that you experience with him — you don’t judge him. You are faced with these irreconcilable ethical dilemmas with him.“
Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. As one would expect with a Christopher Nolan movie, the cast is pretty packed. In addition to Murphy, the film also stars Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Gary Oldman, Rami Maleck, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, and more. The film recently received an R-rating, making it Christopher Nolan’s first R-rated movie in over twenty years.
As the film was shot on IMAX stock, it will be screened in the biggest format across the nation, with the prints said to be 11 miles worth of film weighing in at nearly 600 pounds. The IMAX screenings will range from 70mm to IMAX Digital, 35mm, Dolby Cinema, and more. Oppenheimer will hit theaters on July 21st.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts tries to take the series into a different direction from the Michael Bay movies. Does it succeed?
PLOT: The fate of the Earth, and potentially hundreds of other planets, once again hangs in the balance when an alien beacon in NY grabs the attention of both Autobots and Decepticons to its location. The beacon can either send the Autobots to their home planet or summon the evil Unicron, and the Autobots will need the help of new human friends and the animalistic Maximals to ensure order and peace are once again restored.
REVIEW: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a touch better than the other Transformers movies. The headache-inducing bombast of the Michael Bay films has been lessened some by director Steven Caple, Jr., and though the narrative is still filled with contrivances and unnecessary clutter, there’s a slightly more engaging atmosphere here than in the previous entries. For the Transformers fans out there, there are still a bevy of sequences where robots smash and wrestle with each other for minutes on end, but it’s a slightly more coherent spectacle this time around.
Perhaps getting away from the kinds of characters who populated the Bay movies is one reason Rise of the Beasts is a minor step up. Gone are the tedious leads played by Shia LaBeouf and Mark Walhberg; jettisoned too are boring army guys, shady human villains and dim-witted excuses for comic relief. Instead, our leads are two grounded New Yorkers, giving us a chance to see a different side of this world. Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) is a young man in Brooklyn struggling to get a proper job as to help out his single mother (Lauren Velez) and sick younger brother (Dean Scott Vasquez). Jilted at a job interview, Noah reluctantly turns to a local criminal who assigns him a car to boost. Wouldn’t you know it, said car turns out to be Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson), who immediately throws Noah into the galactic civil war between the Autobots and the planet-eating Unicron (voiced by Colman Domingo).
Noah accepts this fate relatively quickly, and soon we’re off to Peru to meet the Maximals – those are Transformers who resemble animals, for the uninitiated. The Maximals will be close allies for Noah, Optimus Prime and the rest of the gang as they square off against Unicron’s main henchman Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage) and his band of evil Decepticons – or Terrorcons, if you prefer.
Do the intricacies of the plot matter? Not at all. As with the other films in the series, there’s a MacGuffin everyone’s trying to get to that will decide Earth’s fate, this one being an alien beacon that calls forth both good and bad Transformers. For a movie with five credited writers, it’s not unreasonable to say much of Rise of the Beasts feels like it could have been written by A.I., especially the humdrum, by-the-numbers dialogue. Again, I’m fully aware that we don’t expect Eugene O’Neill from these movies, but I’d point to something like Across the Spider-Verse as an example of a film that manages to be smart and creative while having an equally outlandish storyline. Just because the plot is inherently silly doesn’t mean the end result has to be dumbed down.
But as far as these things go, Rise of the Beasts is not the numbing experience its predecessors were. Caple Jr. keeps things moving at a fairly solid pace, though the film’s first act might be a little on the slow side and light on Transformers action for some. What’s encouraging is that the movie takes a little time getting to know its human protagonists, as opposed to instantly throwing us into the clanking, blasting maelstrom of Transformer-on-Transformer violence. That said, there’s plenty of that to be found in the film’s second half, even though at this point if you’ve seen one fight between an Autobot and a Decepticon, you’ve seen them all. The Maximals bring the slightest bit of uniqueness to the proceedings, but the reality is there is very little novelty left in these beings. However, if the sight of a robot gorilla furiously chasing a robot eagle through the mountains of Peru is your kind of thing, then there’s no reason not to sit down for Rise of the Beasts.
Solid too is the voice cast. Much to my surprise, Pete Davidson makes for a moderately amusing sidekick who doesn’t wear out his welcome. Dinklage’s voice is a natural fit for a fearsome villain, and other highlights include Michelle Yeoh and Ron Perlman as soulful Maximals. Bumblebee is back doing his schtick as well, though he’s interestingly sidelined for a chunk of the picture, and often overshadowed by the bevy of new Autobots.
Ramos and Dominque Fishback (as a researcher who stumbles upon the alien beacon that helps summon Unicron) have a natural chemistry and end up being fairly effective leads. As mentioned, there’s a refreshingly low amount of human characters in this installment, with Ramos and Fishback being the only two notable flesh-and-blood people on board. Most importantly, the two actors look appropriately convincing while talking to their intergalactic companions.
The finale is predictably explosive and epic in scope, and more or less effective in execution. It’s actually nice that we’re not once again relying on the destruction of major cities to get a rise out of the audience, and on a purely visual level the conclusion boasts some attention-grabbing VFX. And the very end of the movie teases an interesting new direction for the series (it will probably be spoiled for you by the time this review is published), so maybe there’s hope yet that the franchise is willing to embrace new adventures. As far as Transformers movies go, Rise of the Beasts is an acceptable new start.
Michael Keaton has revealed the method behind his Batman voice, saying that the character’s “controlled psychosis” inspired the trademark.
As Michael Keaton gets ready to suit up as Batman once again in this month’s The Flash, many will be looking – and listening – for so much of what makes him the quintessential Caped Crusader for a generation. And yes, that includes the voice, which the trailer promised Michael Keaton will be bringing back when he returns as Batman.
Speaking with Empire, Michael Keaton said his Batman voice, which proved one of the defining characteristics of his interpretation, served a genuine function in differentiating the man and the bat. “He’s got two personalities. The guy is not psychotic but not far from it. Controlled psychosis…In order for me to justify all this, I can’t be changing the oil on the Batmobile and then saying, ‘well, I have to kill some people’ so he probably ends up going into some deep, deep trance, which is a scene that I don’t think ever made it in. How do you justify the voice? It’s cheesy but I figured once he’s in the trance, he doesn’t think like he does like Bruce Wayne, doesn’t act like he does. So the voice came out of that, it was a really practical thing.”
Whenever a new Bruce Wayne/Batman is cast, fans immediately want to know what the batsuit will look like. After that, surely they want to know what Batman will sound like, especially after Keaton redefined the voice in 1989. From there – and without going into everyone who portrayed him (with due respect to Val Kilmer and George Clooney) – Christian Bale took it to an easily mocked max, Ben Affleck got some aid from a voice modulator and Robert Pattinson attempted to be as unique as possible on the set of The Batman…which didn’t exactly work out. “Everyone does this kind of gruff, gravelly thing, and I’m like, ‘I’m going to do the opposite — I’m gonna go really whispery.’ And I tried to do it for the first two weeks, and it just looked absolutely atrocious, and they told me to stop doing it.” He would agree with Keaton, however, that the Batsuit does something to Bruce Wayne. “You can feel when it feels right…You put the suit on, and you have to speak in a certain way.”
Although Keaton’s hiring was initially far from a hit with fans (something that actually later inspired Mark Hamill to step out of his comfort zone when deciding to voice The Joker), he still remains to so many – myself included – the Batman.
Where does Michael Keaton’s Batman voice rank? Who did the animated voice the best? Let us know in the comments below!
A24 will be giving the Australian horror film Talk to Me, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (you can read our review at THIS LINK), a theatrical release on July 28th. The first trailer for the film arrived online a couple months ago, and with the film’s release now just over one month away, a new trailer has been unveiled. You can check it out in the embed above.
Talk to Me marks the feature directorial debut of brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who have a following of over 6 million subscribers on their YouTube channel RackaRacka. The film has the following synopsis: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
Sophia Wilde (You Don’t Know Me), Miranda Otto (Annabelle: Creation), Alexandra Jensen (Frayed), Joe Bird (First Day), Otis Djanji (Aquaman), and Zoe Terakes (Wentworth) star. As you can tell from our own Chris Bumbray’s 8/10 review, Talk to Me went over extremely well when making the festival rounds. The movie currently has a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fangoria has described it as “an absolute blast”, and our friends at Bloody Disgusting say it’s “an intense, nightmarish horror movie that’ll leave you breathless.” Apparently even the likes of Steven Spielberg and Jordan Peele have watched and loved the film.
What did you think of the new trailer for Talk to Me? Will you be heading out to see this movie on the big screen in July? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Since the movie is receiving such good word-of-mouth so far, I’ll definitely be taking a look at Talk to Me later this year.
A24 is one of the most well-regarded distributors of genre films out there these days. Their previous releases include X, Pearl, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Men, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Lamb, The Green Knight, Saint Maud, The Witch, The Lighthouse, Hereditary, Midsommar, It Comes at Night, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Tusk, Green Room, Ex Machina, Life After Beth, Under the Skin, and many more.
It’s a popular rumor that Tom Cruise was up for Iron Man once upon a time, but it would come down to Robert Downey Jr. or Timothy Olyphant.
It’s no secret that Iron Man was Robert Downey Jr.’s Hall-of-Fame comeback story. The actor was labeled a risky casting choice for movie studios prior to the Marvel film for his dodgy past with drugs and incarceration. Director Jon Favreau has been said to have convinced the newly forming Marvel Studios that Downey Jr. would be best for the role. And while most know Kevin Feige as the man behind the superheroes, Variety reports of another former Marvel Studio boss who was integral to putting Robert Downey Jr. in his iconic role.
The former president of Marvel Studios, David Maisel, recently told The New Yorker that Kevin Feige is getting the credit for making the MCU what it is, but none of this would have existed without his contribution. Feige would eventually take over for him as president, and it would cast a shadow over the work that Maisel had done. Or, as he puts it, “It’s like a Thanos snap.” One big factor that the Marvel-ous Mr. Maisel is responsible for is the casting of Robert Downey Jr. for Tony Stark when the board wanted Timothy Olyphant.
Maisel would state, “My board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict. I helped them understand how great he was for the role. We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.” According to Maisel, it was when he brought on Jon Favreau to direct, who had recently had a smash hit with Will Ferrell’s Elf, that the board seriously considered signing off on putting Robert Downey Jr. in the role of the genius/ billionaire/ playboy/ philanthropist.
Robert Downey Jr. had recently starred in a small, quirky action comedy called Kiss Kiss, BangBang for Shane Black, who would eventually helm Iron Man 3, and his charismatic, quick-witted performance in that film helped the studio to see that he was a great fit for the role. Downey Jr. would even star in a comedy the same year as Iron Man where he played an exaggerated method actor in Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder (which actually got him an Academy Award nomination). Maisel would eventually set up the sale of Marvel to Disney for $4 billion dollars. When the deal had gone through, Maisel stepped down and Feige took over as president and the rest became history.
