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Jennifer Lawrence's new movie is an ambitious look at today's world, but it falls short of delivering

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Mother Paramount Pictures

Darren Aronofsky has always been fascinated to delve into religion and the macabre in all his work. And his latest, "mother!" is no exception.

An ambitious project that explores the deepest nightmares about family and the world, like all things Aronofsky, you will leave the movie with more questions than answers. But he wouldn't want it any other way.

In the movie Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman (a name is never given in the movie, in fact, no names are given) who spends her days renovating the house she lives in with her husband (Javier Bardem), a poet who is struggling with writer's block. But things begin to get unsettling when a stranger (Ed Harris) comes to their door.

The husband says he can stay as long as he wants, to the surprise of his wife. And things only get more weird as the stranger's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) shows up the next day and then their sons (Brian and Domhnall Gleeson).

mother paramountThroughout this the woman is taking everything in stride, following her husband's lead and trying to cope with her guest's unusual behavior.

But when the strangers break a crystal ornament the husband holds dear, and the the older son of the strangers attacks his younger brother, the woman has enough and demands everyone leave.

Feeling her husband doesn't give her any attention, they get into a fight, which leads to them having sex and the next morning the woman says she's pregnant. And the husband suddenly loses his writer's block.

Still with me? It gets a lot stranger, but for the sake of spoilers let's stop right here.

The movie will bring comparisons of work from Roman Polanski like "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby", as well as Aronofsky's early film, "Requiem for a Dream." But as the movie evolves and you see the story Aronofsky is weaving, you can't help to appreciate what he's doing and how he's doing it (especially that a studio allowed him to make it), though the story gets frustrating at times.

Then there's the portrayal of Lawrence's mother character, which will likely be criticized by those who want to see stronger female leads in movies. The mother is passive and submissive to her husband.

But Aronofsky doesn't seem to be exploring positives here. Instead, he's meshing religion, obsessions, and the hunger to believe in something with the current unsettled nature of the world to present a portrait of how we are. And it's pretty ugly.

Sadly though, by the end of the movie you don't really care. Aronofsky has messed with you so much, giving you so little to hold onto that by the end, when he wraps it all up in a bow, it's too late.

"mother!" opens in theaters September 15.

SEE ALSO: Margot Robbie gives a career-defining performance playing Tonya Harding in her new movie

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NOW WATCH: Here's why people are afraid of clowns — and what you can do to get over it


18 movies coming out soon that are major Oscar contenders

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the shape of water fox searchlight

The Toronto International Film Festival starts on Thursday, which means it’s time for awards season to begin.

That’s right, with all of Hollywood heading to our neighbors in the north, it’s already time to start building the hype for those movies that we’ll be rooting for (or will be tired of hearing about) come Oscar night.

Some of those TIFF titles getting a lot of talk already include the Sundance hit “Call Me By Your Name,” Emma Stone as tennis legend Billy Jean King in “Battle of the Sexes,” and Guillermo del Toro’s latest unique fantasy, “The Shape of Water.”

Here are 18 movies playing at TIFF this year that will be contenders come Oscar time (and coming to a theater near you soon):

SEE ALSO: 34 movies you have to see this fall — including "Justice League," "It," and "Blade Runner 2049"

‘Battle of the Sexes’ (Release date: September 22)

Coming off a best actress win for “La La Land” at the most recent Oscars ceremony earlier this year, Emma Stone is looking to return to the big night for a second straight year with her portrayal of Billy Jean King. Stone plays the tennis legend in this look back at King’s historic match against male tennis pro Bobby Riggs (played by Steve Carell, who might get some Oscar buzz, too).



‘Breathe’ (Release date: October 13)

For the directorial debut of Andy Serkis (Caesar in “The Planet of the Apes” movies), he takes on the inspiring love story of Robin (played by Andrew Garfield) and Diana Cavendish (Claire Foy from Netflix's "The Crown"). At 28, Robin was diagnosed with polio and given only three months to live. However, he would go on to live into his 60s and become an advocate for the disabled. Garfield has had a knack, of late, for choosing movies that get award attention, and we’ll see if that continues with this one.



‘Call Me By Your Name’ (Release date: November 24)

An Oscar contender since having its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, this drama starring Armie Hammer as an American student who falls for the son of the teacher he’s staying with abroad in Italy, comes into TIFF with a lot of hype. That hype is likely to only build.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An exec who worked with Steve Jobs for 26 years says everyone got it wrong about him

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steve jobs

A legend surrounds Steve Jobs. He is described as brilliant and tone-deaf, dynamic but with a sharp tongue. A bunch of movies and books have sought to describe what made Jobs, who died in 2011, so special and so different.

I just finished reading "Creativity Inc.," the excellent book by Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar and Disney Animation, and Jobs features throughout the book. He bought what became Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986 and remained involved with the company until his death.

In an afterword titled "The Steve We Knew," Catmull addresses some of the popular depictions of Jobs, and he said many of them missed the mark.

"I worked closely with Steve Jobs for twenty-six years," Catmull wrote. "To this day, for all that has been written about him, I don't believe that any of it comes close to capturing the man I knew.

"I've been frustrated that the stories about him tend to focus so narrowly on his extreme traits and the negative, difficult aspects of his personality."

The book added:

"The word genius is used a lot these days — too much, I think — but with Steve, I actually think it was warranted. Still, when I first came to know him, he was frequently dismissive and brusque. This is the part of Steve that people love to write about ... To let them drive Steve's narrative, however, it so miss the more important story. In the time I worked with Steve, he didn't just gain the kind of practical experience you would expect to acquire while running two dynamic, successful businesses; he also got smarter about when to stop pushing people and how to keep pushing them, if necessary, without breaking them. He became fairer and wiser, and his understanding of partnership deepened — in large part because of his marriage to Laurene and his relationships with the children he loved so much."

One anecdote in the book is about Jobs' design for Pixar's new office building in the late 1990s. His first attempt "was based on some peculiar ideas he had about how to force interaction among people," according to Catmull. For example, there was a single women's and single men's restroom in the building. There was protest, and Jobs backed down from his plan.

Next, he suggested separate buildings for each movie in production, so each team could have its own space. Again, Catmull was less than keen, so he took Jobs to a Disney building known as Northside. There, he saw wide-open hallways, open floor plans, and "accidental mingling" under a single roof.

After the trip, he met again with his architects, and set down the principles for a single Pixar building. It would be designed to "encourage people to mingle, meet and communicate," Catmull said. Jobs presided over every detail of the building's construction, and Pixar workers came to call the building "Steve's movie."

"I worked with Steve for more than a quarter-century — longer, I believe, than anyone else — and I saw an arc to his life that does not accord with the one-note portraits of relentless perfectionism I've read in magazines, newspapers, and even his own authorized biography," Catmull said. "Relentless Steve — the boorish, brilliant, but emotionally tone-deaf guy that we first came to know — changed into a different man during the last two decades of his life."

SEE ALSO: Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks everyone can learn something from Pixar

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NOW WATCH: Why Pixar has been so successful

YouTube's biggest star, PewDiePie, used a racial slur in an expletive-laden outburst during a livestream

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YouTube's biggest star, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, used a racial epithet on Sunday in an expletive-laden outburst during one of his popular livestreams.

The Swedish web personality was broadcasting himself playing the survival game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" when he used a derogatory word for African-Americans.

"What a f-----g n-----!" Kjellberg said. "Jeez! Oh my god! What the f---? Sorry, but what the f---?"

Here's a clip of the moment:

Kjellberg was streaming the game on his YouTube channel, which has more than 57 million subscribers and is the platform's most popular by far. The livestream was being viewed by more than 30,000 people when he used the racial slur.

After Kjellberg uttered the slur, he said, "I don't mean that in a bad way," before trailing off and laughing again.

Though Kjellberg usually leaves his livestreams up as archived sessions after they're over, this one — titled "CALIFORNIA ROLL" — isn't available.

This isn't the first time Kjellberg has used stirred controversy. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal published a story detailing several instances of Kjellberg using anti-Semitic imagery and phrases in his videos.

Pewdiepie

As a result of that report, a deal with Disney and a produced YouTube show starring Kjellberg were canceled.

And already on Sunday evening, at least one prominent video game developer said his company's games won't be allowed for use in future PewDiePie videos.

"I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make," Sean Vanaman, co-founder of the game studio Campo Santo and co-director of the popular game "Firewatch," wrote on Twitter. "He's worse than a closeted racist: he's a propagator of despicable garbage that does real damage to the culture around this industry." 

Kjellberg's stream of "Firewatch," which Vanaman said had around 5.7 million views, has seemingly already been taken down.

"We're complicit," Vanaman wrote. "I'm sure we've made money off of the 5.7M views that video has and that's something for us to think about."

It's unclear how YouTube will respond, if at all. A request for comment was not immediately returned on Sunday.

SEE ALSO: YouTube's biggest star is in hot water over anti-Semitic 'jokes' — here's what's going on

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NOW WATCH: WATCH: An anti-Nazi film is going viral after the Charlottesville white-supremacist rally

Nintendo president on Super Nintendo fiasco: It was 'outside our control'

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Nintendo's Super NES Classic Edition — an $80 rerelease of the original Super Nintendo with 21 built-in games — will be impossible to find when it launches on September 29. It's an inexpensive, nostalgia-laced product that's being made for only a limited time.

Of course it will be impossible to find. Just look at this thing:

Super NES Classic Edition

We can't be sure, but that's a logical guess based on Nintendo's history with this kind of thing — particularly in the case of the Super NES Classic Edition.

When preorders went live for the console in late August, it was a mess. Nintendo's lack of communication about when preorders would go live, and where, resulted in a lot of frustrated consumers.

But Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aimé, re-directed that blame to retailers, telling the Financial Times that the preordering issues were "outside our control."

Specifically, Fils-Aimé said preorder problems did not indicate a supply issue, and he urged potential customers not to turn to third-party resellers to buy the device. "I would strongly urge you not to overbid on an SNES Classic on any of the auction sites," he said. "You shouldn't pay more than $79.99."

NES Classic Edition / Super NES Classic Edition

His words may do little to reassure customers, however, given what happened in 2016 with the NES Classic Edition, which quickly sold out before being discontinued, and again last month with the SNES Classic Edition preorder fiasco.

What's far more likely is there will be limited quantities of the hardware in stores, people will line up very early, and launch units will sell out immediately. Following that, units are likely to trickle out throughout the year, with the occasional retailer offering overpriced bundles featuring the console with a bunch of junk you otherwise wouldn't buy.

For what it's worth, Nintendo promises it will produce far more Super NES Classic Edition consoles that it did with last year's NES Classic Edition. A Nintendo representative provided the following statement back in June:

"We aren't providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition."

How it actually plays out remains to be seen. The Super NES Classic Edition goes on sale on September 29 for $80. Check out a video of it in action right here:

SEE ALSO: Nintendo's approach to selling the $80 Super Nintendo is an anti-consumer fiasco

DON'T MISS: Nintendo is about to release a miniature version of the original SNES — here's everything we know about it

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NOW WATCH: Nintendo dropped another trailer for 'Super Mario Odyssey' — and it looks amazing

Why it matters that YouTube's biggest star just said the n-word during a livestream

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YouTube's most popular star, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, is at the center of yet another controversy regarding something offensive he said during a video broadcast. No, he didn't pay another pair of random people to hold up a "joke" sign reading "Death to all Jews" — though that did really happen.

This time, what he did wasn't intentional. This time it was a slip of the tongue.

Here's Kjellberg during a livestream broadcast on Sunday: "What a f---ing ni---r! Jeez! Oh my god! What the f---? Sorry, but what the f---?"

Felix

That was Kjellberg's reaction during a moment of frustration while playing the popular PC survival game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." After saying the racial slur, he seemingly realizes what he said. "Jeez, oh my god" is his immediate reaction after realizing what came out of his mouth. He quickly laughs it off and moves on.

What's so striking about his use of the word isn't his hard R pronunciation — which, by itself, is striking and crazy — but that it accidentally slips out. Usually, words like that don't accidentally slip out if you don't use them. 

In other words: What's so particularly troubling about Kjellberg's slip up isn't just that he made it — it's that it was possible at all. It likely indicates that either Kjellberg is using the word "ni---r" in private, or he's around people who are.

His colleagues on YouTube, and many of his fans, seemingly miss that crucial point. Here's YouTube personality Daniel "Keemstar" Keem defending Kjellberg in a video he posted to Twitter on Sunday evening:

The point many of Kjellberg's fans are making, as well as what Keemstar is saying above, essentially breaks down to this: "What someone says in frustration isn't a reflection of who they are." That's true, and Kjellberg simply using a word with such a disgusting history doesn't make him a racist. 

That word coming out by accident in a moment of frustration does, however, likely make him someone who's comfortable with using that word. As one Twitter user concisely put it on Sunday evening: "PewDiePie wouldn't have accidentally said the n-word unless he comfortably says it when he's not on camera."

Another explanation being given is that, in the heat of a video game, gamers often use horrific language.

As someone who plays games online, I can confirm this is a fact. In fact, anyone who's ever played a game on Xbox Live, or PlayStation Network, or any other online gaming service with voice chat and matchmaking knows that the voice channel is full of toxic, profane language, including racial slurs like the one PewDiePie used. There is of course a major difference between swearing at someone and using a racial epithet, and many playing online video games have been able to separate the two.

While playing "Overwatch," I'm likely to shout profanity in response to what happened in the game. That profanity doesn't include racial epithets. It never has, and I doubt I'm alone in that.

Pewdiepie

What happens next is a huge unknown. YouTube has yet to respond to request for comment, and Kjellberg hasn't said anything on Twitter or on his YouTube since his livestream on Sunday afternoon. 

The last time Kjellberg did something controversial (seen above), he lost at least two major business deals: One with Disney, and another with YouTube. It also caused major problems for advertising on YouTube that hurt many other YouTube channels.

As such, some YouTubers are already bracing for impact:

The only impact thus far has been a handful of game developers issuing DMCA takedown requests — copyright infringement requests — that force Kjellberg's videos of their games to be removed.

Many of his fans, however, are standing by him regardless.

SEE ALSO: YouTube's biggest star, PewDiePie, used a racial slur in an expletive-laden outburst during a livestream

DON'T MISS: YouTube's biggest star is in hot water over anti-Semitic 'jokes' — here's what's going on

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WATCH: An anti-Nazi film is going viral after the Charlottesville white-supremacist rally

Melissa McCarthy just won an Emmy for her portrayal of Sean Spicer on 'SNL'

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melissa mccarthy sean spicer midtown

Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer was one of the highlights of "SNL" this past season. Between riding around New York City on a podium, and screaming at people, McCarthy made a lasting impression with her impression of the former White House Press Secretary.

McCarthy was awarded for her memorable performance Sunday night at the Creative Arts Awards for the 2017 Emmys. McCarthy won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy.

Other big winners at the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday include "Stranger Things" for Outstanding Casting, Alexis Bledel for Guest Actress in her role on Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale," and Dave Chappelle for Guest Actor on "SNL."

The 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards airs Sunday, September 17 on CBS. 

Watch one of McCarthy's performances as Spicer below:

SEE ALSO: Emmys 2017: Who will win, and who should win

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Morgan Spurlock on making a 'Super Size Me' sequel and why he's taking on 'Big Chicken'

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Super Size me 2 toronto international film festival

In 2004, then-unknown filmmaker Morgan Spurlock examined our obsession with fast food by going on a McDonald’s only diet for one month. The movie didn’t just make him an instant star, but also completely changed the fast food industry, as the chains suddenly provided healthier options on their menus.

Or did they?

13 years later Spurlock is making the sequel, “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” This time he’s not setting his sights on McDonald’s, but rather on one of the most popular items on the menu at any chain: the chicken sandwich.

“Super Size Me 2” shows Spurlock at his best: being a showman to bring focus to a cause. This time, it’s getting people to understand how the chicken industry, or “Big Chicken” (Tyson, Perdue, Pilgrim’s, Koch Foods), has suckered us into thinking we’re eating “natural,” and how the multibillion-dollar industry is destroying the lives of the farmers that raise its chickens.

In typical Spurlock fashion, there has to be a hook for the audience, and with “Super Size Me 2,” it’s the filmmaker getting into the chicken business. The movie follows Spurlock as he goes through the process of starting his own chicken franchise, called Holy Chicken! We see everything under the hood, from how he gets his chickens, to coming up with items on the menus and figuring out brand. This leads to Spurlock visiting all the chains to eat chicken sandwiches — yes, even McDonald’s, the first time he’s walked into one since filming the first “Super Size Me.”

“The first film is from a consumer perspective — the choices we make, why we make them — so we said what if we come from the corporate side,” Spurlock told Business Insider a day after the movie had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. “We show you how the corporations think, why they do the things they do, and how the food is raised and being sold to you.”

Super Size Me Roadside AttractionsSome of the process is shocking. From the “health halo” terms the chains use — you never see the word “fried” anymore, if a chicken sandwich is deep-fried it is now called “crispy” — to how some chains paint grill marks on their cooked chicken breasts to give the look that you’re eating a grilled chicken sandwich.

But the biggest part of the movie, and the most heartbreaking, is Spurlock’s look at the farmers.

Big Chicken has such a monopoly on the industry that it’s almost impossible for an independent to start up. Spurlock shows this as he’s constantly turned away by anyone in the industry he calls to get help to start his chain. And then the companies Spurlock called realized who he was, leading to an industry-wide letter to farmers to stay clear of him. Finally, Spurlock found Jonathan Buttram last summer, an Alabama chicken farmer who for the last decade has been trying to get the public to understand what Big Chicken has done to farmers.

Buttram admits he had no idea who Spurlock was when the director contacted him, but quickly realized they both wanted to accomplish the same thing.

“I set out ten years ago with a cause to help the consumer because all of them have been deceived,” Buttram told Business Insider at TIFF. “The chickens are being mistreated and the growers are definitely being mistreated.”

In the movie, we see that even though Big Chicken now uses words and phrases to make it seem like chickens are being treated humanely, that isn’t the case. For example, the term “free range chickens.” It's perceived to mean that on the farm chickens roam around open spaces all day. Not true. By definition of the FDA, "free range" only means that a space the size of a small closet is open to the chickens to go outside the barn. And the chickens get so big so fast, even if they wanted to walk outside they would have a heart attack and die.

The farmers are all competing in a “tournament system” for their pay, so if any of them complain about the conditions of their chickens, or anything related to the upkeep of the chicken barns they spent millions to build, it will hurt their standing. One month, a farmer working for a Big Chicken company (which provides the farmers the chickens to raise) may get a great selection of chickens  that will grow very big, which means more money. Big Chicken pays the farmers for not just the amount they have, but the sizes of chickens they produce. If a farmer hands over bigger birds versus another farmer, they get more money. Complain at all, the next month you’ll suddenly receive a poor group (sometimes the chickens are even sick), leading to smaller chickens and less money.

Many farmers are in debt millions of dollars because of the  tournament system, which led to a group of farmers in Kentucky filing a lawsuit against Tyson in 2015.

“You can’t live life scared,” Charles Morris, a farmer who's in the ongoing Kentucky lawsuit that's featured in “Super Size Me 2,” told Business Insider. “We need Morgan, we really do. What he’s done is instrumental in helping us.”

Holy Chicken TIFF.JPG“Super Size Me 2” ends with a pop-up opening of Holy Chicken! In four days, a closed-down Wendy’s restaurant was turned into a fully transparent chicken sandwich chain, displaying all the tricks Big Chicken uses on us. The reaction was so positive that on the final day of the pop-up, Spurlock was approached by a company that wanted to franchise it. Though the movie does not have distribution yet, Spurlock promises Holy Chicken food trucks will travel across the country to coincide with the movie’s opening. Happy news for Buttram, who will be providing the chickens.

But Spurlock hopes to have other tricks up his sleeve to get the word out about “Super Size Me 2,” maybe even enlisting the help of celebrity chefs he has in the movie to also stand up with him against Big Chicken. Exposure for a documentary has changed greatly since the first “Super Size Me,” as it seems a movie with a message now comes out weekly.

“When ‘Super Size Me’ came out that was at the tail end of the real independent film movement. That was the last hurrah movie, it got proper windowing — theatrical, subscription TV, regular TV — and all pre-Facebook, pre-YouTube, pre-Twitter,” Spurlock said. “So now the ability for people to support or trash talk a movie is in an instant. The time to give a film to find itself is gone. Luckily, we have the pedigree of the first film, we have a seal of approval that's coming along with it. Now we just have to win audiences over.”

SEE ALSO: Jennifer Lawrence's new movie us an ambitious look at today's world, but falls short of delivering

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NOW WATCH: 6 details you might have missed on season 7 episode 6 of 'Game of Thrones'


Miss Texas fired back at Trump's Charlottesville comments in a cool 15-second response

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miss texas

During the Miss America pageant Sunday night, Miss Texas Margana Wood choked up as she challenged the comments President Donald Trump made after the deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.

In the question-and-answer portion of the pageant, Wood was asked what she thought of Trump saying there were "very fine people" on both sides of the protest by white nationalists and white supremacists.

Wood had 20 seconds to deliver her response — but needed only 15.

Wood's response:

"I think that the white supremacist issue, it was very obvious that it was a terrorist attack. And I think that President Donald Trump should've made a statement earlier addressing the fact and in making sure all Americans feel safe in this country. That is the number one issue right now."

Wood's brief reply was met with a roar of applause from the crowd. She didn't win the crown Sunday, but she certainly won over the audience in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

You can watch Miss Texas' response here:

SEE ALSO: Here’s the controversial answer that won Miss America the crown

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NOW WATCH: Here's why people are afraid of clowns — and what you can do to get over it

Leonardo DiCaprio wants to star in a Stan Lee biopic, according to the Marvel icon

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stan lee leonardo dicaprio

Already rumored to be in consideration for the lead role in an origin movie about The Joker, Leonardo DiCaprio may also have his eyes set on a real-life origin story — that of Stan Lee, the 94-year-old Marvel comics icon.

Lee spoke on the topic at HASCON, a Hasbro convention, on Friday, saying that he had already discussed the possibility of a film about his life moving forward with DiCaprio, his neighbor, as its star (via AIPT!): 

"Believe it or not, I've already discussed it with Leonardo DiCaprio. He's a neighbor of mine and we were talking one day some months ago, and he said, 'Boy it'd be fun to do your story on the screen.' So I said, 'Well, I'll audition you.' Gotta make sure the guy can do it."

Lee also described the Oscar-winning actor as a big Marvel fan, saying that DiCaprio's home "has all the walls covered with big Marvel posters." 

Last year, Fox purchased the "life rights" to Lee's life story, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio planned to make "a period action-adventure movie" centered around Lee's career in the 1970s. 

DiCaprio's name has been associated with a few other origin story-like films in recent months. 

In August, Deadline confirmed that DiCaprio was set to star as Leonardo da Vinci in an upcoming biopic about the Renaissance artist and thinker. 

Early this month, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. will "make an ambitious attempt" to bring in Leonardo DiCaprio as the star of an origin film about the DC Comics villain The Joker, using the film's prospective producer and frequent-DiCaprio collaborator Martin Scorsese to bring the actor in.  

SEE ALSO: Warner Bros. reportedly wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play The Joker in the upcoming origin film

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NOW WATCH: A popular 'Game of Thrones' fan theory says Bran is the Night King — here's why

CEO Jeff Bezos has ordered big changes at Amazon's TV division — but he gave a sign he disagreed with its strategy months ago

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the last tycoon amazon

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has ordered a major TV strategy overhaul at Amazon Studios, according to Variety.

Over the past few days, two shows related to F. Scott Fitzgerald — “The Last Tycoon” and “Z: The Beginning of Everything” — abruptly got the ax. And Bezos reportedly wants the team to focus on getting a big-time drama hit like “Game of Thrones.”

While these cancellations might seem to come out of nowhere, there was actually a public sign earlier this year that Bezos personally disagreed with the execs running Amazon Studios. In a letter to shareholders in April, Bezos used an anecdote about the TV division to illustrate a point about a philosophy he called “disagree and commit.”

Here’s what Bezos wrote:

“We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren't that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with ‘I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we've ever made.’ Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.”

Bezos described the incident as a “genuine disagreement of opinion, a candid expression of my view, a chance for the team to weigh my view, and a quick, sincere commitment to go their way.” He ended that section of the letter by praising the team for bringing home “11 Emmys, 6 Golden Globes, and 3 Oscars,” and adding in a self-deprecating joke (“I'm just glad they let me in the room at all!”).

But now it seems Bezos might be taking a firmer stance, and perhaps is coming around to the position that maybe he was right all along.

Sources told Variety that there is some internal frustration with Amazon’s original TV output. While the tech giant has had success with the critics — with shows like Golden Globe winners “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” — it has yet to land a must-see drama like “Game of Thrones.”

“We’ve been looking at the data for some time, and as a team we’re increasingly focused on the impact of the biggest shows,” Amazon Studios head Roy Price told Variety. “It’s pretty evident that it takes big shows to move the needle.”

And Bezos is watching.

SEE ALSO: The 7 shows Amazon has canceled, including 'The Last Tycoon' and 'Z' that both got cut after 1 season

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NOW WATCH: Steve Bannon: Firing Comey was the biggest mistake in 'modern political history'

Amazon's new Apple TV competitor will moonlight as an Echo (AMZN)

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Amazon Echo

Amazon has a new Fire TV in the works that will double as an Echo smart speaker.

A new version of the Fire TV, which will look like a small cube, will have many of the same features of Amazon's Echo smart speaker built in, according to report by AFTVnews.com. It will have microphones (so you can speak with Alexa), a speaker (for music and responses), and even an LED light that mimics the top of the Echo, according to the report.

Like other Fire TVs, the new device will let you stream videos from Amazon and Netflix. Unlike previous models, though, it reportedly will allow you to interact with Amazon's Alexa smart assistant even when your TV isn't on.

The company will also be releasing a smaller version of the original Fire TV that will attach to your TV like a dongle, according to the report. For the first time for the Fire TV line, both new models reportedly will support high-dynamic-range videos. HDR offers a greater contrast between light and dark areas than standard videos, allowing them to see previously hidden details in scenes.

Both new boxes will also support ultra-high-definition 4K video, the next step up after high-definition, according to the report.

Here's a look at the new gadgets:

It's not clear when Amazon would begin selling the new devices or how much they would cost. Amazon representatives declined to comment.

The previous Fire TV box is unavailable through Amazon, which could indicate it has discontinued the device. According to the AFTVnews report, it plans to continue selling its Fire TV Stick, which is about the size of a piece of gum and plugs directly into a TV. But that model does not support 4K or HDR video.

Owners of the older Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick could interact with Alexa — but only by pressing a button on their remote controls, and only when those devices were connected to an external speaker that was turned on.

The new Fire TV devices' support for 4K and HDR and their Alexa capabilities could help them better compete with the new Apple TV.

SEE ALSO: The Apple TV will reportedly get a 4K revamp soon to take on Roku and Google in the living room

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NOW WATCH: Everything we know about the Apple iPhone 8 — which should be announced next week

These are the 10 'Star Trek' episodes people watch the most on Netflix

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Netflix looked at data from over 100 million subscribers, in 190 different countries, to see which episodes of "Star Trek" were the most popular.

The streaming site has all six iterations of the "Star Trek" series, but only two contained the most-watched episodes in the franchise: "Voyager" and "The Next Generation."

(Netflix choose to discount the first two episodes in the series as those always tend to be the most popular.)

In honor of "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" 30th anniversary (September 28), and the release of "Star Trek: Discovery," the franchise's newest series (September 24), here are the episodes people on Netflix love to watch the most. 

Here are the top 10:

SEE ALSO: How the rise of Trump and the election influenced the upcoming 'Star Trek' TV show, 'Star Trek: Discovery'

10. "Clues"

The crew learns that they were unconscious for longer than they were led to believe after passing through a wormhole. 



9. "Time and Again"

The crew finds a planet that has endured a cataclysmic event.



8. "Q Who?"

Q tries to prove that Captain Picard needs him by propelling the Enterprise 7,000 light years away — where they encounter a Borg.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Patty Jenkins will officially direct 'Wonder Woman 2,' and is the highest-paid female director of all time

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After negotiations that have been going on since the summer, when "Wonder Woman" became a global hit, director Patty Jenkins is officially attached to direct the sequel, a source within Warner Bros. told Business Insider.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jenkins has signed a high seven-figure deal to both write a direct the movie. That makes her the highest-paid female director of all time. To put it in perspective, at her height, rom-com queen Nancy Meyers was making around $5 million.

Jenkins was paid $1 million to direct the first movie, according to the trade, after she came on to replace director Michelle McLaren, who left over creative differences.

Jenkins was only signed on to direct one "Wonder Woman" movie, which led to a tough negotiating process between her reps and the studio as the box-office tally for the movie continued to soar throughout the summer, giving her massive leverage in the talks.

The movie would eventually go on to become the highest-grosser of the summer domestically with over $410 million. The movie made over $800 million globally.

Jenkins had already begun work on the script for a sequel before the official announcement that she would be directing it. The sequel is slated to open in December 2019.

SEE ALSO: Morgan Spurlock on making a "Super Size Me" sequel and why he's taking on "Big Chicken"

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NOW WATCH: A popular 'Game of Thrones' fan theory says Bran is the Night King — here's why

Guillermo del Toro's 'The Shape of Water' is a moving monster love story — and will definitely get Oscar attention

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There are some directors who have a special talent for building worlds all their own, without any source material, and Guillermo del Toro is one of the best doing it right now.

His latest movie, "The Shape of Water," followed up its grand prize win at the Venice Film Festival this past weekend by dazzling everyone here at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, the movie is set during the Space Race at a time when America isn't ready to put a man in a shuttle yet. In the film, there's a creature the government has captured in the Amazon that it thinks can be used as a test dummy on a launch. But that plan is quickly knocked down, as the military believes it makes more sense to kill and examine the creature to know more about its capabilities.

There's one problem: The creature has befriended a mute janitor named Eliza (Sally Hawkins), who is determined to see that doesn't happen. 

That's the real story of "The Shape of Water," the relationship between the creature and Eliza. She lives atop a run-down movie theater and spends her days going to work at an military base, where she cleans alongside chatty Zelda (Octavia Spencer), and at home hanging out with her gay neighbor, Giles (Richard Jenkins). Only able to communicate through signing, Eliza instantly has a connection with the creature as she sees them both as prisoners: literally for the creature and figuratively for Eliza, as she cannot find someone to love her.

After Eliza comes up with a daring escape from the lab with the creature, pulling a fast one on the head of security, Strickland (Michael Shannon), Eliza keeps the creature in the bath tub of her apartment until the rainy season comes when she'll bring him out into the ocean. In that time, a relationship between Eliza and the creature sparks.

Throughout all this, we're surrounded in a world del Toro has created that has the feel of an old Hollywood movie, from the set design to the wacky dream sequence when Eliza and the creature suddenly have a brief dance number. "The Shape of Water" combines a creature feature and a melodrama to tell a beautiful story that will thrill as much as get you emotional. 

As with every del Toro movie, there's a nice touch of gore in it, too. The major squirm moments come from the Strickland character, who early in the movie has two fingers sliced off by the creature. And let's just say the reattachment of the digits to the hand doesn't work out.

The creature is played by the always great Doug Jones, who del Toro fans will remember played Abe Sapien in his "Hellboy" movies, while Hawkins gives a wonderful performance as Eliza. And let's not forget two of the best Michaels working today: Shannon and Michael Stuhlbarg (as the good-natured scientist).

Expect a lot of talk about this movie as we get deeper into awards season.

"The Shape of Water" opens in theaters December 8:

SEE ALSO: Morgan Spurlock on making a "Super Size Me" sequel and why he's taking on "Big Chicken"

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NOW WATCH: 6 details you might have missed on season 7 episode 6 of 'Game of Thrones'


Cheddar, the CNBC for millennials, just made a key hire and plans to launch in Europe next year

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Cheddar, the business news network that's been called CNBC for millennials, just made a key hire and plans to open its first broadcast studio in the UK next year, CEO Jon Steinberg told Business Insider.

Anjali Kumar, a former Warby Parker exec and top Google lawyer, will be Cheddar's first general counsel and chief people officer. She'll be in charge of expanding Cheddar's rapidly growing list of distribution deals and overseeing its more than 85 employees.

"The company is a deal machine, and I worked with Jon before at Google, so look for us to move even faster in contracting distribution," Kumar said in a press release.

Launched in February 2016 with live business news coverage from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Cheddar has since opened multiple satellite studios in locations like Los Angeles, The Hamptons, and the Flatiron building in Manhattan.

Led by Jon Steinberg, the former president of BuzzFeed and CEO of Daily Mail US, Cheddar has raised $32 million in venture capital funding to date. The self-described "post cable network" expects to make $10 million in revenue this year from sponsorships with advertisers like Fidelity and its nearly two dozen deals with distributors like Twitter, Sling, and Amazon.

So far, the many deals are paying off: Cheddar saw 148 million views in August across all of its platforms, according to Steinberg. While initially focused on getting on digital platforms, Cheddar has recently expanded to more traditional cable deals by partnering with local TV stations in New York and California to distribute taped business news stories from Cheddar anchors.

"I never expected us to be this big or have this strong of a brand. It's a testimony to focusing on the content and the big interview gets," Steinberg told BI. "Delivering to all these places and producing 8 hours a day is a task only for the relentless and tireless."

SEE ALSO: This chart should send a shiver of fear through the cable TV industry

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NOW WATCH: RICHARD GREENFIELD: Voice technology will kill traditional cable networks

What millennials and Gen Xers have in common when it comes to watching TV — and how they are different

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Millennials and Gen X can agree on at least one thing: they love "Game of Thrones."

Rotten Tomatoes recently conducted a survey for Business Insider of over 7,500 television viewers to determine their viewing habits.

As video becomes more accessible and audiences are presented with more ways than ever to consume it, Rotten Tomatoes found some surprising similarities and differences between millennials (18-34) and Gen X (34-54).

Here's everything you should know about how millennials and Gen X watch TV:

SEE ALSO: Yes, the number of nude people on 'Game of Thrones' dropped a lot in season 7 — here are the stats

Both generations named "Game of Thrones" their favorite TV show over the past 20 years, and their favorite current TV show.



Both generations agree that Netflix has the best overall shows.



89% of millennials say they watch most of their "TV" on Netflix versus live TV. 78% of Gen X say the same. (This includes traditional TV shows Netflix has rights to, like "Breaking Bad.")

More Gen X viewers watch TV shows produced by networks, while nearly half of Millennials (48%) watch Netflix original shows. 



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RANKED: Netflix's 5 original Marvel superhero shows, from worst to best

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Netflix made a deal with Marvel Comics back in 2013 to produce four Marvel-universe shows and a mini-series.

The resulting five original programs have varied greatly in quality, at least in the eyes of critics. 

To find out which of the shows have fared the best, we turned to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes for the composite critical receptions of Marvel's "Daredevil," "Luke Cage, "Jessica Jones," "Iron Fist" and "The Defenders."

Here are Netflix's five original Marvel shows, ranked from worst to best, according to critics: 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: Netflix's 25 original comedy shows, from worst to best

5. "Iron Fist" — 17%

Critic score: 17%

Audience score: 77%

Netflix description: "Danny Rand resurfaces 15 years after being presumed dead. Now, with the power of the Iron Fist, he seeks to reclaim his past and fulfill his destiny."



4. "The Defenders" — 75%

Critic score: 75%

Audience score: 78%

Netflix description: "Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces to take on common enemies as a sinister conspiracy threatens New York City."



3. "Daredevil" — 86%

Critic score: 86%

Audience score: 95%

Netflix description: "Blinded as a young boy, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen, New York City."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

'The Disaster Artist' is the most fun you'll have at the movies this year, and James Franco should get Oscar attention

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When an actor gets Oscar consideration it means the person did a performance that was extraordinary, and challenged the audience as much as entertained them. It’s hard to think of anything that can be more of an effort by an actor than intentionally acting poorly. But James Franco’s transformation into Tommy Wiseau should not be ignored.

Who is Tommy Wiseau? He’s only the star, producer, writer, and director behind the cult hit, “The Room.” Released in 2003, the movie made for (legend has it) around $6 million of Wiseau’s money, has since been regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. But in Hollywood, a group of stars championed the movie, showing their appreciation for the effort that went into making the indie and applauding Wiseau’s unique filmmaking choices. That led to Franco having the idea to adapt the book recounting the making of “The Room,” written by Wiseau’s best friend and “The Room” costar Greg Sestero.

TheRoomMovie“The Disaster Artist” is an extremely entertaining look at two friends (Franco playing Wiseau and Dave Franco as Sestero) who decide to make their own movie after the constant rejection at acting auditions. With incredible detail by James Franco of not just playing Wiseau, but making the reenactments of “The Room” — from the crappy set design and costumes to how awful lines were delivered — is incredible. And you don’t have to be a superfan of “The Room” to appreciate it.

I’m not even going to attempt to explain the plot of “The Room,” or what the heck Wiseau was trying to accomplish with it. All I can tell you is that if you are a superfan, Franco gives you a movie that in no way makes fun of it, but cherishes what it has become: a piece of entertainment that people come together in groups so they can collectively enjoy.

And that’s how “The Disaster Artist” should be experienced. There’s no better example of a movie coming out this year that should be seen with a full theater audience. The energy of the room just heightens the experience. And it doesn’t hurt that Franco brought along the talents of his brother and friends like Seth Rogen and Alison Brie to also star in the movie.

I’m not saying “The Disaster Artist” is the best movie you’ll see this year, but it’s certainly the most fun.

“The Disaster Artist” opens in theaters December 8.

Here's the trailer:

SEE ALSO: Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" is a moving monster story — and will definitely get Oscar attention

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 6 details you might have missed on the season 7 finale of 'Game of Thrones'

Nintendo is about to release a miniature version of the original SNES — here's everything we know about it

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Super NES Classic Edition

That smell of teen spirit and Nickelodeon slime isn't just you — the '90s are cool again. Look no further than the adorably angular Super Nintendo console above for confirmation of that fact.

Nintendo isn't going so far as straight-up rereleasing the original SNES console, but it has instead created a new device called the Super NES Classic Edition. We're just a few weeks away from the console's release, so we compiled everything we know about it in our Trapper Keeper — then published our findings below.

SEE ALSO: You can finally buy Nintendo's new $80 mini Super Nintendo later this month

DON'T MISS: It looks as if Nintendo's making a miniature, inexpensive version of the original Nintendo 64 console

As hinted above, the Super NES Classic Edition is smaller than the original Super Nintendo. Here's the original SNES — the console is much larger than the gamepad.



By contrast, the Super NES Classic Edition is minuscule. The gamepad is far larger than the console, which is adorable and hilarious. The console fits in the palm of your hand.



Don't be fooled by the look of it, though. The SNES Classic Edition doesn't function anything like the original SNES. You can't put cartridges in it, nor can you plug original gamepads into the ports on the front.

Controllers plugged into the front ports of the original Super Nintendo console, and game cartridges went into the slot on top. The blue sliders controlled power and resetting the console, and the gray lever in the middle ejected games. It now seems pretty low-tech.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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