Matt Damon acts in better and more popular movies than his buddy Ben Affleck.
This new chart from Rody Zakovich says it all:
To be fair, Ben Affleck is now a star director, too.
SEE ALSO: Why Matt Damon barely talks in the Bourne movies
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NOW WATCH: Nobody wants to buy 50 Cent's massive $6 million mansion
While on a press tour for her book, "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo," Amy Schumer has had to address the comments about rape made by one of her "Inside Amy Schumer" writers.
And now she's talking about the controversy in more detail with Charlie Rose, and why she thinks people should be more focused on the larger issue: the alleged rape.
Earlier this week, comedian Kurt Metzger posted comments on his Facebook page (he's since deleted it) defending an alleged rapist. Metzger has starred in episodes of Schumer's Comedy Central show "Inside Amy Schumer" and has writing credits on the show.
Fans of Schumer contacted her on social media asking her to fire Metzger. Schumer responded with this tweet:
I didn't fire Kurt. He isn't a writer for my show because we aren't making the show anymore. There are no writers for it.
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016This led many to think Schumer was saying the show was done for good, but she cleared that up with another tweet:
#InsideAmySchumer is not cancelled. @ComedyCentral has provided us with a wonderful home and we couldn't be happier there. I am just touring
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016An excerpt of her interview with Rose, which will air on Friday night, is online, and it shows her talking about why Metzger has been an important part of her show, and she points out that she's asked him to stop with his Facebook rants.
"Kurt's my friend," she told Rose. "I love him. I'm not on Facebook, so I don't read his crazy rants. Like he just — he gets something from going after people, making them mad. That is not representative of me at all. I — and, you know, I've asked him, just, 'Can you just stop?' Because it comes back to me."
Schumer objected to the fact that "the focus is on him rather than on ... the real main problem."
"You mean a smart understanding of what rape has become," Rose said.
That is indeed what she meant.
"To focus your energy on online trolling, if I did that, I wouldn't get anything done," Schumer said. "Let's focus on actually getting the problem done."
Watch the Charlie Rose clip:
SEE ALSO: The 18 most memorable times Donald Trump made a cameo in movies and TV
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Warning: Spoilers ahead if you're somehow not caught up with "Game of Thrones."
Kit Harington was holding one of the biggest secrets in "Game of Thrones" history, and he was terrible at it.
Harington's character Jon Snow was seemingly killed off at the end of the season-five finale, but after much waiting, Jon was resurrected in the second episode of season six.
Harington revealed in an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that he had told his parents, girlfriend, and even a policeman about his character's fate, but had to keep up the lie to his coworkers on the show.
Yet Harington now tells The Wrap that he wasn't at all convincing with his costars.
"It wasn’t one of my proudest moments as an actor, either. I wasn’t convincing at all," Harington told The Wrap. "I didn’t want to do a big speech and start crying, because I knew I’d be seeing these people next year. So I did a bit of a hash job on it, and I could tell a lot of them didn’t buy it."
Somehow, Harington said he deceived costar Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, the longest.
"I let her in on the secret last of anyone, really, and she was so sweet. She wrote me a letter about my leaving the show, and she bought that I wouldn’t be coming back," Harington told The Wrap. "We’re all very pally with each other on our set, we’re like family, and she genuinely feels like a little sister to me. So I guess I kind of played tricks on her like an older brother would."
SEE ALSO: Kit Harington was initially 'disappointed' with Jon Snow's resurrection on 'Game of Thrones'
DON'T MISS: The 10 best and worst TV shows this summer
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NOW WATCH: 7 things you missed in the new Star Wars Rogue One trailer
Warning: Major spoilers ahead if you haven't finished the first season of Netflix's "Stranger Things."
You can now silence the cheers to save Barb.
The creators of Netflix's "Stranger Things" have chimed in on the breakout character's fate, and it's not what we hoped.
"I can't see it happening," Matt Duffer told IGN. "But Barb will not be forgotten. We'll make sure there's some justice for Barb."
Good thing, because Barb's (Shannon Purser) best friend, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), seemed to be the only one who cared about the character's initial disappearance and eventual death.
"People get very frustrated, understandably, that the town doesn't seem to be really dealing with Barb," Duffer said. "That stuff is all happening. We're just not spending any screen time on it. It's not like her parents are like, 'Oh, Barb left. She died!'
"Season one actually takes place over the course of six or seven days — it's a really short period of time. So part of what we want to do with hypothetical season two is to explore the repercussions of everything that happened."
But while we shed more tears over Barb, the series' villain Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) might live on. Duffer says "there's a possibility of seeing him again."
Netflix has not yet officially announced a second season for "Stranger Things," but the creators have all but confirmed it.
SEE ALSO: This breakout 'Stranger Things' star explains why her character is so beloved
DON'T MISS: Here are the references to '80s movies in Netflix's great new show 'Stranger Things'
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NOW WATCH: 7 things you missed in the new Star Wars Rogue One trailer
Now that new music comes out every Friday — though not always on every streaming service — it can be hard to know where to find the next great song.
To help you out, Business Insider compiles this rundown of the best new music you can stream right now.
This week, Frank Ocean returned from a four-year hiatus with a new "visual album" on Apple Music, and Earl Sweatshirt released a single for Adult Swim's annual music list.
Check out the best new songs:
MORE HERE: Here's the most popular music artist in every state, according to Pandora
Among the 18 tracks on "Endless," Frank Ocean's striking new visual album, the meandering, acoustic-guitar song "Rushes To" stands out as Ocean's most powerful vocal performance.
The song starts at the 32:47 mark on the "Endless" video, below, which you can watch with an Apple Music subscription.
Electronic duo Phantogram's new single "Cruel World" begins with a simple piano arrangement and pensive vocals from singer Sarah Barthel. Then the track takes a wild, trap-inspired left turn with a dynamic vocal-sample chorus.
Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow started his career making traditional folk music, but over the years — much like his contemporary Justin Vernon of Bon Iver — he's edged his way into more captivating and experimental territory.
His compelling new single, "Get Low," mixes acoustic guitar with ethereal vocals and killer electric guitar solos with synthesizer flourishes.
Alyson Shontell, Business Insider's US editor-in-chief, recently sat down with LeBron James to talk about life after winning the NBA Finals.
James made headlines when he was seen coming off of the team plane wearing a shirt featuring The Ultimate Warrior, the late WWE wrestler. Many perceived it as a dig at the Golden State Warriors, whom LeBron and his Cleveland Cavaliers had just beaten in game seven of the NBA Finals.
We asked James to talk about why he chose to wear the shirt, and whether or not he really was trolling the Warriors.
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Google's music streaming apps are a bit of a mystery.
Despite having a robust app in Play Music—in my opinion the best streaming app there is—and a hot new thing in YouTube Music, Google has released zero subscriber data and therefore is often left out in comparisons with Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and the rest.
We gathered some outside data for a closer look.
First, a survey of Android users from 7Park Data shows that Play Music is neck-in-neck with Spotify for daily active users in the US:
Meanwhile, YouTube Music's current daily active user rate is a mere 0.2%, according to 7Park Data.
Play Music isn’t doing quite as well among international Android users:
It helps that Google, which makes Android, has started putting Play Music on most devices:
Next, predictive data from Sensor Tower shows that Play Music downloads are growing slow but steady on iOS, while YouTube Music downloads are on fire. That said, Spotify and Pandora are still in the lead.
Also: Remember Tidal?
SEE ALSO: I've finally found the perfect music app
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NOW WATCH: How different camera lenses affect how you appear in photos
The original Nintendo Game Boy was the size of a hotel bible, required four AA batteries, and only played games in black and white.
Beautiful, isn't it?
But one ambitious gentleman thought he could make it even more beautiful. Behold: The updated Nintendo Game Boy, with the ability to play games from the original Nintendo through to the Game Boy Advance, including Sega's consoles, the Super Nintendo, and some old arcade games!
Not a bad look, right? Being able to play "Super Mario World" — arguably the best "Super Mario" game ever made— on the go is fantastic. So what makes this thing tick? Check it out.
SEE ALSO: The world's most popular game is incredibly complex — here's how to play it
Daniel Radcliffe will make you give terrorism and white supremacy another thought. Really.
The actor everyone (still) knows as Harry Potter gives a surprisingly nuanced performance while playing a young FBI agent who goes undercover as a white supremacist in his new film "Imperium," in theaters Friday — sporting an American accent and a shaved head.
Just when you think the white supremacists, who often literally tower over Radcliffe, are about to discover his plan, Radcliffe's Nate steers them the other way or talks his way out of a boiling situation.
Director Daniel Ragussis says he spent three years on the project, from research to conception, while filming only took 25 days. Ragussis cowrote the film with Michael German, a former FBI agent on whom the story is based.
Business Insider sat down with Radcliffe and Ragussis before a TimesTalks to discuss the problem with the label terrorism, what it takes to be a good undercover agent, and trying to talk to white supremacists.
I grew up with an awareness that terrorists come from everywhere.
Meryl Gottlieb: I saw the movie, and it’s pretty intense.
Daniel Radcliffe: Yes, absolutely. I know "enjoy" is not quite the right word but I hope you got something out of it.
Gottlieb: I did, but I’m curious what drew you to the role since it is so heavy?
Radcliffe: I’ve read a lot of scripts where they set the character up as being smart and that’s how he solves problems and then in the last third of the movie they just give up on that and give him a gun and it becomes all action and you think, "Oh just go and bloody stick to it," and this film actually stuck to that the whole way through. And then once I’d spoken to Dan Ragussis about the world and to Mike German, it became even more fascinating and felt like something that was really worth talking about and portraying.
When I first read it, it was around the time that Dylann Roof happened and there was a real reticence on the part of FBI officialdom to refer to that as terrorism... My dad’s from northern Ireland, he grew up during the troubles, I grew up with an awareness that terrorists come from everywhere and have all sorts of motivations and so it seemed like that was a very relevant thing, but I don’t think either of us envisaged that white supremacy might take this sort of bizarre jag towards the mainstream or rather that the mainstream might jag toward that by the time it came out.
Gottlieb: How do you think this movie affected the way you see terrorism then?
Daniel Ragussis: The main thing that I learned in terms of working with Mike is that it seems to be, at least in the way that it’s applied, a very subjective definition and one that’s often unfortunately politically motivated, and I say unfortunately because there probably should be a lot more consistency in terms of how we look at those things. Whether we call something terrorism or not has a great impact as to the way the law enforcement community approaches it, the way that the media approaches it, public policy approaches it and so unfortunately the choice of words becomes an incredibly important thing in terms of how our society deals with and views the issue.
Radcliffe: [Homicides] are not all politically motivated but it instills terror and in that sense it is. Any kind of murder with any sort of political or religious ideology could be defined as terrorism but as you [points to Ragussis] say, that has so much sway over how people deal with stuff and actually it might be much more useful to just start referring to all gun crimes as a form of terrorism
It might be much more useful to just start referring to all gun crimes as a form of terrorism.
, because at this point it does always almost feel like a political statement of some kind.
Ragussis: It can cut both ways because on the one hand, certain crimes probably are not getting a certain kind of attention — like the Dylann Roof example — because they’re not labeled as terrorism. Certain crimes that are labeled as terrorism are getting such undue attention and attention that really affects the political discourse in such a way as to do all sorts of things: create laws that invade our civil liberties, which is a topic that [gestures to Radcliffe]...
Radcliffe: I’m in a play about that, yeah ["Privacy" at The Public Theater].
Ragussis: Yeah exactly, so it has this massive outsize impact upon our government, our laws, the nature of our society, so it's a tricky thing because it’s sort of a very selective attention that can work both towards good or bad for the society.
Gottlieb: To me, going undercover seems like acting.
Radcliffe: I made the same assumption... but actually what you do, you have to be able to maintain all the time, so it’s much easier to just be yourself — be a version of yourself that also happens to hold these views. Mike just went in and was very much him. I think he gained almost a reputation or nickname of being called something like the "Hippie Nazi" because he was so chill and would never engage with people. That was his whole thing.
Ragussis: You want to have good relationships and be friends with everyone. You don’t want to be alienating one particular person or group both for your own safety and also for the purposes of the investigation. You don’t know which of those eight guys is actually going to be the guy that you want to foster a relationship with and follow deeper into and all the rest of it. So you actually have to use charm, social skills — you have to be the guy that everybody likes.
Radcliffe: And he said he was just incredibly helpful.
Ragussis: Yeah like he would do the dishes.
Radcliffe: Also I would like to say, Mike was doing this at a very different time than we’ve set the movie in, so Mike was doing it with like a big Casio cassette player strapped to his ankle the whole time and he had to go and flip the tape every 90 minutes.
Gottlieb: That’s a lot more pressure than the wristwatch [which Nate wears to secrety record his meetings with the white supremacists].
Radcliffe: I’m wondering if the advent of the internet and social media has made it almost impossible for an undercover to go undercover more than once because Mike did multiple things for like 12-15 years.
Ragussis: Right because it’s spread so rapidly.
Gottlieb: You’d be outed on forums and other online resources.
Ragussis: Exactly, and then you also have to appear at the trial, so once you’re outed in that way, I don’t know how you repeat. That is a good question.
Radcliffe: Yeah, we should ask him [laughs].
Gottlieb: If you are playing a version of yourself who has these values, with something so extreme as white supremacy, how do you incorporate that into yourself?
Radcliffe: I don’t. As an actor, I don’t believe that I have to try and live this the whole time at all... Also, I think it’s fair to say, Mike is much smarter than the average person at this, so Mike’s ability and Nate’s, my character’s, ability to read and digest all of this — the world of information and all of that stuff — and to parrot it. Most of these guys, as long as you’re agreeing with them, no one’s going to question how much you believe in it.
Ragussis: There’s also a reason that these ideologies are appealing to people. There’s a certain sense of simplicity and consistency about them and once you accept a few basic premises, then you’re able to construct a worldview that’s very coherent and consistent... These are ideologies that were appealing to masses of people back in Nazi Germany all the time.
Radcliffe: I think my biggest takeaway from this film is that as much as we want to demonize these people and in a way demonize their views, we should try and find a way of getting them into this conversation
As much as we want to demonize these people and in a way demonize their views, we should try and find a way of getting them into this conversation.
unfortunately, as awful as that sounds, because the more you ostracize them and aggressively dismiss them, the more it just plays into their worldview that everything is a conspiracy against them... I think we have to try and believe that there are some people out there that in the right circumstances could have their minds change and recount this terrifying belief system.
Ragussis: And as with anything else, I don’t really know how you confront it or deal with it unless there’s some level of understanding of what it is that you’re dealing with. The problem with terms like “monster” is they don’t give you any understanding. They don’t give you any access as to the mechanism that’s going on there and why the people are behaving the way they are. I think if you’re going to try to dismantle that or change it, you have to understand what’s going on and what’s happening
Radcliffe: Absolutely, you have to engage with it.
Gottlieb: The idea of leader-less resistance, that plays into that. It’s not just one uniform group.
Radcliffe: Leader-less resistance should be called out for what it is, which is a mechanism for the higher-ups of these organizations to not get their hands dirty. That’s why this exists. It’s not like a lone-wolf phenomenon. They encourage this lone-wolf phenomenon because it means that people enacting their worldview without them ever having to actually commit a crime — people like Tracy Letts’ character in the film.
Ragussis: It’s very convenient for the ideological leadership. They’re basically able to sit there and write pamphlets and make speeches and do all sorts of other things
Gottlieb: Host radio shows…
Ragussis: Exactly. And get a great deal of affirmation and approbation and even money and all the rest of it without actually committing crimes or putting themselves at risk or anything else. In some ways it’s a very cynical viewpoint from the leadership.
Radcliffe: Weird to think of these guys as being cynical [laughs].
Ragussis: [laughing] They’re not all true idealists.
Radcliffe: But that is a point that the film makes as well. This world is a mix of true believers and opportunists who are capitalizing on other people’s fears.
For more from Radcliffe and Ragussis, watch the full TimesTalks:
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Business Insider's US Editor-In-Chief, Alyson Shontell, sat down with the greatest athlete of our time, Lebron James. He discusses the latest rumors surrounding the highly-anticipated sequel to "Space Jam".
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ESPN built a dominance in sports media by dictating what everyone was talking about.
Throughout the 90s and into the 2000s, ESPN ruled the storylines, Bleacher Report CEO Dave Finocchio tells Business Insider.
“[ESPN owned] a huge percentage of the actual game consumption, but there were others — Turner is a big player, CBS is a big player, Fox, NBC," he says. "[ESPN had] competition there at least. But sports narratives, and what SportsCenter used to represent in the United States, they just owned all of the storylines. If ESPN wanted to make something a storyline in sports, it was a national storyline."
That power has started to slip with the rise of phones and the internet, Finocchio says. He claims ESPN had its heyday of influence in the mid to late 90s.
What accounts for the loss of power?
One reason is that SportsCenter, its iconic show, derived a benefit from people needing a place to see highlights. SportsCenter gave them these, and while they were there, ESPN dazzled them with “brilliant anchors, and incredible writing,” Finocchio says. “It was almost like MTV in the 80s and 90s. It was just one of those special cultural type of media outlets that was almost impossible to replicate.”
But when you lose the easy core utility of a product, you open yourself up to competition from various angles, especially online outlets like Finocchio’s own. Highlight clips were online and blogs were churning out takes, sometimes before the game was even finished.
SportsCenter started to feel less relevant, Finocchio says.
That line of thinking puts NBC's Rio Olympic struggles into perspective. Olympics primetime coverage for Rio is down 17%. Here's a simple explanation: It doesn't make as much sense to wait hours for the TV when you can just whip out your phone.
ESPN itself has even admitted everything isn't peachy.
Earlier this year, ESPN president John Skipper said his company had been hurt by people ditching cable. Others, like BTIG’s Rich Greenfield, have questioned the value of ESPN in the evolving TV landscape.
As of the end of 2015, ESPN had lost about 7 million subscribers in the previous two years. That means ESPN left an estimated $1.3 billion in subscriber revenue on the table in 2015, compared with what it would have made with steady cable company growth.
In some ways, Finocchio thinks that ESPN's iconic stature, position of power, and wide audience have actually hurt it.
“Today, what a 60-year-old man expects out of sports — which is probably still the local newspaper and SportsCenter on ESPN — is really different than what the 16-year-old expects. Which is probably behind-the-scenes, authentic views into an athlete’s life on Snapchat, plus using Team Stream to get news and content, plus using Instagram to get really cool social stuff to share with friends. I think ESPN has had a hard time. It’s tough to cater to both audiences and I think they’ve gotten stuck in the middle a little on that.”
ESPN isn't alone in struggling to snag millennials. Many companies in digital media and TV have found it difficult to effectively monetize younger audiences. And if ESPN were to start drastically shifting its product to appeal to younger viewers, it could drive older subscribers away, leaving short-term money on the table.
“It’s really, really tricky for [ESPN],” Finocchio says. “Sometimes it’s easier to start from a smaller base.”
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NOW WATCH: REPORT: Lochte's teammates told police he 'fabricated' the robbery story
This Sunday, WWE returns to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for Summerslam, one of the company's biggest pay-per-view events of the year.
One of the show's most anticipated matches will be the company's most popular superstar John Cena taking on AJ Styles, the 39 year-old industry veteran who signed with WWE in January.
Last year at Summerslam, Cena's match was interrupted by former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, who shocked the crowd when he assaulted Cena with a folding chair, allowing Seth Rollins to win the match.
WWE already announced that Stewart will be a part of the show on Sunday, which suggests that he could potentially play a part in another match. I got a chance to talk to AJ Styles on the phone ahead of his match with Cena on at Summerslam, and I asked if he knew of any plans Stewart might have to interfere with Cena for the second year in a row.
"I don't know the guy," Styles said of Stewart. "And hopefully he doesn't stick his nose where it doesn't belong, because I've got business to take care of."
We'll have to wait and see if Stewart's role in the show will impact Cena, who got even with Stewart after Summerslam on the next night's episode of "Monday Night Raw" when he hit the comedian with his "Attitude Adjustment" finishing move.
Along his upcoming match at Summerslam, I spoke to Styles about many other topics, including the differences between Japanese and American wrestling fans, how he deals with the real pain suffered from in-ring combat, and what WWE chairman Vince McMahon is like in real life.
Listen to my entire interview with AJ Styles here:
SEE ALSO: This video will change the way you watch the WWE
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NOW WATCH: Donald Trump’s history with WWE explains a lot about his persona
Netflix's new show "Stranger Things" is a smash hit, and if you are one of its likely millions of fans, the internet has a few treats for you.
A web tool made by Nelson Cash, and pointed out by Product Hunt's Ryan Hoover, lets you make you own nameplate in the show's awesome typeface. Here is what mine looks like:
And it doesn't have to be your name — you can use any two words.
The second tool called Stranger Gif lets you make your own message in the Christmas lights, in gif format. Here is my version with the test script, "Put any message." It has to be 20 characters or less.
If you haven't seen "Stranger Things," it's a supernatural sci-fi thriller that draws heavily from '80s movies and TV. It's a nostalgia play, done to perfection.
It currently has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating, a 96% audience rating, and it has sent the internet abuzz since it was released in mid-July. It also drew a reported 8.2 million viewers in its first 16 days, according to SymphonyAM data provided to Business Insider.
SEE ALSO: Millions of people have already watched 'Stranger Things,' and it's one of Netflix's biggest hits
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NOW WATCH: Check out the new Apple Store that just opened at the World Trade Center
2016 marks the 30th anniversary of "The Legend of Zelda," a flagship Nintendo game that has ushered in more than its fair share of industry-changing innovations in the decades since. Each game tantalizes the fanbase with the promise of memorable characters, puzzling adventures, and iconic moments.
With the hotly-anticipated "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" coming in March, take a look at how the series has evolved over time on home consoles:
SEE ALSO: Here are some of the biggest fan projects that Nintendo has shut down
Everything started with 1986's "The Legend of Zelda" for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto drew inspiration from his experiences exploring the wilderness near his childhood home to create a game where players are free to go wherever they want, whenever they want, from a top-down perspective.
You play as Link, who has to conquer nine dungeons full of puzzles and bosses in order to assemble the magical Triforce, defeat the evil Ganon and save Princess Zelda. It was the first console game that allowed players to save their progress, meaning this was a real quest, not something you played just to get a high score.
Less than a year later, the game's sequel hit store shelves. "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" changes things up dramatically, adopting a side-view perspective and focusing more on action and platforming than puzzle solving as Link tries to awake Princess Zelda from eternal slumber.
Due to its radical differences and extreme difficulty, "Zelda II" is considered by some to be a black sheep of the series. However, it introduced a special meter for magic abilities and enemies that would guard high or low, requiring the player to change their attack stance. Both features would return in future games.
After four years and a shift to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the next entry in the series came in the form of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past." This game went back to the series' roots with a top-down perspective and a focus on puzzle-solving, but with seriously upgraded visuals, a deeper story, and a bigger world to explore.
While the first game had a freeform design, "A Link to the Past" had a more guided structure that most future games in the series would emulate. It also introduced Link's iconic weapon, the Master Sword.
Depending on who you ask, "A Link to the Past" is the best game in the series. The most common alternative answer is...
For me the world is divided between before I discovered hip-hop and after it.
One day my mom gave me a vinyl record that said Sugar Hill on it. The next thing I knew, the whole world lit up with new vibrant colors and the music and style were everywhere.
Dozens of shows have tried to capture the essence of the art form. Some, like "Krush Groove," "8 Mile," and "Straight Outta Compton," have gotten it right.
Most, unfortunately, just have not been that good. This is where the new Netflix original series "The Get Down" nails it.
"The Get Down" is a mixture of imaginative storytelling and historically pronounced themes. Set in the nostalgia of the Bronx, the show takes place during a time when disco was the commercial sound and hip-hop was being born.
The story is based as much around the scenery as it is the main characters. The two main characters, Ezekiel "Books" Figuero and Mylene Cruz, adequately display the youthful spirit of a young couple learning about the world around them, the players involved, and the music that drives their passions.
There are heavy nods and nuances inside "The Get Down" that could best be described as "hip-hop Easter eggs." The Easter eggs are all over the place. Clearly Mylene is inspired by famed disco singer Donna Summer. Les Inferno is like the Studio 54 of the Bronx, just like the very real Disco Fever. The name of the series is literally the birth of sampling.
The Easter eggs are probably in the dozens when all is said and done. The only one missing is Crazy Legs from the Rock Steady Crew.
It's a story many of us know, much like a myth, that hip-hop was invented to curb the violence in the streets. Never has any major series or movie attempted to actually show, not only how this was being done, but by Kool Herc himself — brilliant. Likewise, the scene in which Shaolin Fantastic stands on the roof of a likely condemned building, looking out at the Bronx from an aerial view and defining the territories by DJ, brings back a special feeling.
Most of the movies, series, and shows that involve hip-hop come from a perspective outside of the culture, or they're made by someone with an extremely narrow scope on what part of the culture is being displayed. That's wack.
"The Get Down" is a fun ride with its fair share of topical interactions that make it just complex enough to be interesting and entertaining and not so complex that you can't share it with your close friends. It's smart but not convoluted, funny but not corny, youthful but there's an old soul in there.
It also helps enjoyment of the show that hip-hop is the backdrop of the series, and not the series itself. That's what makes "The Get Down" an instant classic.
Jimmy Smits, Jaden Smith, and Giancarlo Esposito are clearly the most recognizable faces on the screen, but they are side characters, part of the swirld around the core of the main characters' storyline.
At points, I thought Books somewhat represented the eloquent aggression of hip-hop while Mylene represented the feminine wiles of disco.
So much of the series' authenticity is thanks to the scholars and historians that the show's producers utilized.
For example, the real-life Grandmaster Flash, a pioneer of hip-hop DJing, was employed to train the young actor who played him on the show. I wonder if someone from the Koch family assisted in making sure Mayor Koch was played correctly, because Frank Wood did an excellent job.
Netflix was right to greenlight this project with this crew, however expensive. "The Get Down" artistically rides the line between original storytelling and raw, lifelike historical narrative, and that's refreshing to see. Like it or not, hip-hop is a culturally dominating global force. Yet still it's Made in America, right there in the Bronx. "The Get Down" gets that just right.
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When sketches on "Saturday Night Live" are funny (or falling apart) enough to make the actors in the scene crack up, the show takes on a riotous style of humor that few programs on television can match.
Whereas Jimmy Fallon — who often could not get through a scene without breaking character — tended to take things too far, other "SNL" stars like Bill Hader turned the "crackup" bit into an art form.
In a new supercut video, YouTube user Kate McKinnon TV has compiled a number of great moments of "SNL" character-breaking, dating from present-day Kate McKinnon to the early 2000s, when Will Ferrell was consistently making Jimmy Fallon struggle to get through a scene without laughing.
Some sketches, like the Rachel Dratch-led "Debbie Downer" and the bizarre but hilarious "The Californians," were so prone to character-breaking that the actors' laughter eventually became the funniest thing about them.
SEE ALSO: 15 stars you didn't know used to be on 'Saturday Night Live'
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NOW WATCH: Watch Christie beg to be Trump’s vice president on 'Saturday Night Live'
With all the major releases having hit the big screen, the 2016 summer movie season has come to a close, and that means it's time to look back on what worked — and what didn't.
Though the lack of success by sequels was a big takeaway from this summer season, Disney was responsible for two that worked the best, "Finding Dory" and "Captain America: Civil War."
Then there were the titles that shocked us with surprising success and failure. "Cafe Society": good. "Suicide Squad": bad.
We broke down the five big winners and losers at the box office this summer:
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In a summer where long-gestated sequels turned out to be box office poison for studios (more on that below), the 13-year wait for the sequel to "Finding Nemo" didn't seem to hurt Disney/Pixar.
"Finding Dory" isn't just the top earner of the summer at the domestic box office, with over $476 million— it's the top earner of the entire year (so far).
It's sad to say, but no one wanted to see the comedy group The Lonely Island make a "This Is Spinal Tap" for millennials. Andy Samberg and his partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone created a hilarious look at a pop star's rise and fall, but the movie is one of the biggest bombs of the summer; "Popstar" took in a minuscule $9.5 million.
Mark my words: I expect this movie to become a cult hit in the years to come, just like The Lonely Island's "Hot Rod."
Though not every title has been a hit this summer for Disney (remember "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and "The BFG"?), the big ones performed as they should.
Along with the success of "Finding Dory," "Captain America: Civil War" took in over $407 million domestically (over $1 billion worldwide), continuing the dominance that Disney's property Marvel has over the superhero genre.
We've watched Natalie Portman grow up before our eyes for over two decades.
From playing the 12-year-old who's taken in by a hitman in "Léon: The Professional" to the "Star Wars" prequels and, most recently, her Oscar-winning performance as a ballerina driven to her breaking point in "Black Swan," she's undergone a very public evolution.
Now Portman, 35, is moving behind the camera in her directorial feature debut, "A Tale of Love and Darkness," an adaptation of the moving autobiographical novel by Israeli author Amos Oz.
The ambitious film (in theaters Friday), told in Hebrew, looks back on Oz's childhood in the early years of the state of Israel. Portman was born in Israel and moved to the US when she was three. Her fascination with her home country is evident in her tender adaptation, in which she also stars as Oz's mother, whose personal struggles lead to her to overdose on sedatives.
Business Insider sat down with Portman in New York City to talk about what led to her making the movie, the legendary directors she called on for help, why she's not on social media, and how she plans to introduce "Star Wars" to her 5-year-old son.
Jason Guerrasio: How did you end up reading "A Tale of Love and Darkness"?
Natalie Portman: I was just reading it as I would normally pick up a book, and then all of a sudden, as I was reading, I just started seeing the film. I think that's a testament to Amos Oz's writing, but also has to do with the fact that this time period and these kinds of stories I've been imagining my whole life because of the family stories I've heard growing up. It felt a very clear thing for me to direct.
Guerrasio: So you got into producer mode — seeing shots and wondering if it could work for the screen.
Portman: Yes. I just enjoyed it and then couldn't stop thinking about it and imagining it, and so I contacted Amos Oz and asked his permission to make the film.
Guerrasio: How was selling him on that?
Portman: I was introduced to him through my agents and then got to meet with him in Israel, and he was really immediately so generous, considering that I had never directed anything before and at that time I was 27.
Guerrasio: So you hadn't even made any of your short films yet?
Portman: I think I had done one short, but I don't even think he saw it. He knew me as an actress a little bit. But he was really generous with it, and he asked me to make my own thing. "The book exists, so just don't try to film the book. Make your own piece," which was very freeing.
Guerrasio: Had he been approached before about making the book into a movie?
Portman: He had been approached by a few filmmakers in Israel to make the film, and the thing he told me that he didn't like when they adapted the scripts was that they tried to explain why his mother did what she did. He said, "Don't try to give an easy explanation. It is a mystery to me still, and I'm still trying to figure it out." It's not something that you can give some kind of pop-psychology.
Guerrasio: Did you seek his notes when you wrote the script?
Portman: At every stage I sent him the script any time I got to a draft that I felt good with. And he would send me notes back, but it was interesting because they were never creative notes. It was just, "This was actually December '47, not February '48," those kinds of things.
Guerrasio: He was the fact-checker for you.
Portman: Right, which was great because he was the most accurate fact-checker of all — it's his life.
Guerrasio: I read that you reached out to some of your former directors: Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky, Terrence Malick. What were you seeking from them?
Portman: All of them really influenced me just by working with them and getting the great luck of observing them in action, but I really leaned on them most, I think, during the editing process, where I got to show them the film and get their feedback.
It was really helpful mainly because they are such different filmmakers and they were all very encouraging of me making my own thing. They would say, "Obviously I would do this this way, but you need to do it your way." Especially Terry, he always said to me, "Paint from life. You paint from your perception of the world."
Guerrasio: Would it get overwhelming if they critiqued the same scene differently?
Portman: Absolutely. You have to be careful when you're getting feedback because people will give you conflicting feedback all the time, but ultimately you end up following your own inner guide. Darren, in one scene where there are gunshots, I had the boy running before the shots and he was like, "If you put it after, it ups the tension by a thousand," and I was like, "Oh, obviously." [Laughs.] He said it and immediately it became obvious and clear and was so much better.
Sometimes people say something to you and you're like, "I respect you so much, I love what you do, but I disagree. I don't think that's right for the way I see it."
Guerrasio: And that's part of being a director.
Portman: Yeah. And I think that was actually something that I saw with Darren a lot when he worked. He was totally open to anyone's suggestions, and if they were good he would take it, and if they were not good he would say, "No, I disagree." It's the best way to be, because there's no ego about who the idea comes from, it's just using the best one.
Guerrasio: How hard was it to see yourself on-screen constantly throughout this whole process?
Portman: It's hard. And I think it was good for me because normally I can't watch myself at all, and watching myself makes me cringe, and I cover my face, and it's very hard to watch. I think people who aren't in film experience that when they hear their voice on an answering machine or something. So to have to watch myself in a way that was constructively critical was really good for me because it made me a little bit more easy on myself because I wasn't allowed to walk away screaming.
Guerrasio: But that doesn't mean you're going to go out tomorrow and binge all of your movies.
Portman: No. That will never happen. [Laughs.] But as a director you have to — you don't have the option of saying, "I'm not watching this."
Guerrasio: Will you direct again?
Portman: I would love to. I don't have a particular plan right now because I've been so focused of getting this into the world that I feel now that it's coming out that I can really think about that more.
Guerrasio: You've spent a lot of time in France recently. What have you observed about how female artists are portrayed there compared to here in the US?
Portman: It's really interesting because the issue we have with female directors here is not the case in France at all. Especially with the young generation, there are even more women than men making movies right now.
And I don't know exactly what it is, but you can see how cultural the phenomenon is because I think part of it has to do with there being socialized child care and a great support system for working women there that's government-supported. And also because of government funding for films, there's probably more regulation on what percentage of money goes to each gender as opposed to it being privatized here.
Guerrasio: It's still news when a female director makes a big movie like "Wonder Woman" or a smaller movie that gets a lot of attention, but over there —
Portman: It's commonplace because it's mainstream, which is great. I can't wait for it to get that way here.
Guerrasio: Do you feel it's moving that way here?
Portman: I think the press is doing a wonderful job of putting the pressure on the decision-makers in Hollywood to support more female directors. I hear, more than ever, people actively searching for women to direct, actively wanting to finance women's films, which is not to say it is easy, but I think it's been a great instance of how journalism has put pressure on business to be more fair between genders.
Guerrasio: Can you find it yet in the scripts coming your way? Characters that are outside the box of the typical female characters in Hollywood?
Portman: I don't know if the scripts are changing so much. I mean, I've been working for almost 25 years and made over 40 films and I worked with my first female director, on a feature, last year ["Planetarium"]. And it's still the only one. But now I feel like in the past year I'd say I got three or four offers for films that had female directors, so in my career I haven't had that opportunity before. That's exciting.
Guerrasio: You're doing something else completely different for you, playing Jackie Kennedy in "Jackie." What was the prep for that?
Portman: I read every biography I could get my hands on. There were, like, 20 of them, which was interesting because they are not exactly high literature — they are pulpy.
But the [Arthur] Schlesinger transcripts ended up being the most useful of anything. But it's interesting because she edited them herself, so there are gaps in there. The tapes are released, so you can listen to them, not just read it. That was really helpful to get the accent, which is very particular.
And we recreated a lot of the White House tour for the film, so that was helpful to see how she walks and how she moves and her facial expressions.
And then there's the public versus the private voice. When she was doing interviews, it was a lot more girly and soft, and then when you hear her talking to Schlesinger at home, you hear the ice in the glass clinking and the voice is a little deeper and her wit comes out more. So you get this real sense of the two sides.
Guerrasio: You mention how long you've been in this business, and you've kept your private life just that. Are you surprised how much celebrities have to put themselves out there in social media now? I've noticed you've kept yourself off of it.
Portman: It is interesting just generationally that you see that people are much more comfortable, and that's part of life now for this next generation of actors and just people in the world. But for those of us who were living when it didn't exist, it feels like the last thing you want to do. [Laughs.] It's so much unwanted interest in your privacy that you don't want to invite anymore.
Guerrasio: I can only imagine how social media would have handled the lead-up to the "Star Wars" movies you starred in.
Portman: Oh, yeah. And you see the amount of bullying and negativity that goes on that is really, really intense, and I feel lucky that I came of age before all of that came on.
Guerrasio: So you visited the "Rogue One" and "Episode VIII" sets, right?
Portman: Yes.
Guerrasio: With your son?
Portman: Yes.
Guerrasio: What was it like being back on a set of that size? Would you ever do something that big again?
Portman: It was so fun to get to visit as, I guess, a tourist. It's fun to get to try all different things, and it's fun to get to go back and forth. I think the important thing is who you work with that makes the experience amazing, no matter if it's big or small.
Guerrasio: Has your son seen any of the "Star Wars" movies yet?
Portman: No.
Guerrasio: This is a conversation I have with parents a lot: Do you start with "Episode IV" or do you start with "Episode I" when you introduce your children to the "Star Wars" saga?
Portman: [Laughs.] I talked about this with a friend of mine. I feel you have to start with "IV" because then all of the revelations — like Darth Vader's the father — are surprises.
Guerrasio: I think you're right, but the argument is then, "Well, 'Episode I' is so much tamer."
Portman: Well, you know, the thing is "I" is very much for kids, but I think for the story you have to start with "IV."
Guerrasio: Does your son even know you're in the movies?
Portman: Yes. Other children make that clear. [Laughs.]
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NOW WATCH: 7 things you missed in the new Star Wars Rogue One trailer
Summer TV used to be a barren wasteland. Those days are long gone, but the season is still trying to prove itself.
Fans have showed that they'll tune in to great content no matter what time of year it is. And in the face of declining ratings and more competition from online and streaming video providers, TV programmers are looking for viewers whenever and wherever they can find them.
From the resurgence of game shows to the return of last year's big drama hits, which shows stayed on top and which ones sunk?
Here's a look at what worked and what didn't from TV this summer:
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Whether by luck or by genius planning, ESPN tapped into the renewed public interest in the OJ Simpson murders. While FX's "The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story" successfully stoked those fires, ESPN's series delved deeper into the flames. It satisfied the public's interest for more and delivered aspects of Simpson's alleged crimes and motivations beyond what we thought we wanted.
With M. Night Shyamalan attached to the series, we prepared ourselves for the unfounded twist he's so known for in his movies, which became increasingly clumsy after "Unbreakable." Instead, season one was an intricately woven and entertaining experience.
All that fell away with its second season. Story holes and expedient character demises littered the series. Gone was the careful elegance of it first season. In its place was a terrible 10-hour version of the third act from his later movies.
Leave it to HBO to give us something to really sink our teeth into as TV hits its slower months. "The Night Of" has become an addictive part of the summer for many viewers, and its examination of the American criminal justice system couldn't be more timely.
Most Americans recognize it within a second or two of hearing it: The trumps blasting BUM—BUM—ba-ba-ba-BAH-BAH.
It's the Olympic theme song that plays on endless loop during the NBC broadcasting of the games in the US and has been for decades. (In other countries, different music is used.)
But the person who's actually behind the most recognizable part of the song hasn't been getting his due.
John Williams is usually credited with the NBC Olympic theme song, which is only partially true.
While Williams recorded the song that is now used in the NBC Olympics broadcasts, the part most people recognize in the very beginning is actually the "Star Wars" composer's arrangement of another tune.
The main notes everyone knows come from "Bugler’s Dream," part of a 1958 musical suite by Frenchman Leo Arnaud, a composer who much like Williams worked in Hollywood, as the Chicago Tribune points out. This song is the true Olympic theme song that has stood the test of time (and many, many commercial breaks).
"Bugler’s Dream" has been used in Olympics telecasts since 1968, when ABC carried the games. Williams, meanwhile, wrote "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. His piece incorporates "Bugler’s Dream" in the beginning — the part NBC now plays ad nauseum. While you hear Williams' own composed music later in the song, people aren't nearly as familiar with that section.
When NBC started broadcasting the Olympics in 1988, it tested out other music, but eventually reverted back to the melody we all know.
Listen to the John Williams Olympic song and the original "Bugler's Dream" below:
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