‘I’m a Virgo’ Is Another Surrealist Delight From Boots Riley: TV Review

, , and —plus pretty much everything under the sun—without going overboard. Who doesn’t love a healthy dose of moderation?First, some housekeeping: takes place July 11 and 12 and includes tens of thousands of discounts exclusively for Amazon Prime members.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic Each episode of the new season of “Project Greenlight” begins with a worthy mission statement. “We’re choosing a woman director,” executive producer Issa Rae tells us, “because ‘Project Greenlight’ has never had one before.” Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of films including “The Woman King” and also an executive producer here, adds, “It’s about time the world sees how many dope women directors there are just waiting to get their shot.” These are statements that are hard to argue with — “Project Greenlight,” this season, did choose a woman director, the first-time filmmaker Meko Winbush, to pull together a feature film, the sci-fi family drama “Gray Matter,” in just 18 days of shooting. And Winbush, who is Black, is one of many who deserve a chance of the sort the industry doesn’t tend to hand out freely to women of color, something both “Insecure” creator Rae and Prince-Bythewood surely understand well. (They’re two of three putative “mentors” for Winbush on the show, along with actor Kumail Nanjiani, who also co-wrote “The Big Sick.”) And yet the show is purpose-built not to elevate or to celebrate Winbush but to somewhat ruthlessly pull apart the ways in which she might be made to look unready for the job and unsteady on her feet. It’s a shockingly watchable series that evinces that sickly feeling of humiliation from a past, crueler era of reality TV — “The Comeback,” but make it indie.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The current backlash against queer and trans people, led by a vivified cultural right, may have come as a surprise to younger people who assumed their rights and protections wouldn’t backslide. For this potential audience most of all, “Last Call,” a rigorous yet emotionally vivid documentary series on HBO, will come as a startling depiction of all-too-recent history, and a call to stand united in the face of a world’s worth of threats. Produced by, among others, recent Oscar nominee Howard Gertler (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”) and directed by Anthony Caronna, “Last Call” tells a set of stories that tend to begin at a piano bar. In the early 1990s, a cohort of gay men, often in culturally forced heterosexual marriages and living their true lives only after dark, frequented various drinking establishments in New York City; time and again, one of this set would turn up not merely dead but dismembered, in a sort of brutal testament to antigay feeling. 

Lupita Nyong’o and Kendrick Lamar pose for photos together while attending the Chanel Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2023/2024 show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday (July 4) in Paris, France.

resigned from office in 2017 after several women accused him of sexual misconduct — is trying to help an ex-top staffer get elected to Congress in New York.Franken is sending numerous fundraising pitches to boost Josh Riley — who served as Franken’s general counsel — in a likely rematch against first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro in the 19th congressional district that takes in the mid-Hudson Valley and Southern Tier.Democrats on fundraising lists have been hit with 16 e-letters from Franken since May via several groups backing Riley — including one missive Sunday.“Here’s why I support Josh — and why you should too!” Franken writes.“Josh knows policy issues backward and forward.

Lizzy Caplan and Tom Riley have offered glimpses into their marriage after falling in love on set.

bizarre presents.While singing her hit song “F–kin’ Perfect” at one of her BST Hyde Park shows over the weekend, a fan casually handed her a huge wheel of Brie cheese.Pink accepted the round block of Brie de Meaux and mouthed, “Thank you. I love you,” in response, according to a fan video posted on TikTok.But this wasn’t even the weirdest item someone in the crowd gave the “TRUSTFALL” singer.During her headlining set at the British Summer Time festival, Pink was performing “Just Like a Pill” when someone threw a clear, plastic bag with a powder-like substance inside — which reportedly turned out to contain their dead mother’s ashes.#pink #bst #bsthydepark In a video posted to Twitter, the shocked Grammy winner can be seen picking up the bag as she asks the fan, “Is this your mom?”“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Pink admitted before placing the ashes on the edge of the stage.“I have to say that was a first,” she added.The Post has reached out to Pink’s representatives for comment.e um doido que jogou as cinzas da mãe dele de presente pra @Pink ? kkkkkkkkk #BSTHydePark #SummerCarnivalTour pic.twitter.com/UMABzaayXjPeople on social media couldn’t believe what they were seeing.“do y’all not know boundaries anymore when it comes to artists and how to behave at concerts….?” one person tweeted.“Someone’s ashes and now cheese? What is wrong with her fans?” another questioned.“y’all need to get a handle on ur parasocial relationships bc??? she doesn’t know you?? what were you thinking??” someone else said.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic It’s been more than 20 years since “24” first aired on Fox; its real-time conceit, with a relentless ticking clock moving characters toward collision, made it the kind of hit that’s difficult to duplicate. “Hijack,” a new drama on Apple TV+, doesn’t precisely aim for the sort of thrills and chills “24” generated, but it is indeed another real-time drama about a terrorist plot. Unfortunately, the central device doesn’t quite work, and “Hijack” ends up feeling like a flight to nowhere in particular. Here, Idris Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate type who finds himself at the center of international drama when his return flight from Dubai to London on the fictional Kingdom Air gets taken over by a group of armed criminals. They eventually gain control of the cockpit through blackmailing the pilot, proving their craftiness and the extent of their preparation; it falls to Sam to play quick-thinking action hero.

Selome Hailu At the end of Boots Riley’s 2018 debut feature, “Sorry to Bother You,” Cassius (LaKeith Stanfield) gets stretched and mutilated beyond recognition until he becomes a horse — all in service of the film’s cutting narrative about how capitalism is crushing us all. In “I’m a Virgo,” Riley’s new Amazon Prime Video series, that stretching comes before the story begins: 19-year-old Cootie (Jharrel Jerome) is 13 feet tall, and he ends up under attack when the city of Oakland learns about the giant living in its backyard — again, all in service of a cutting narrative about how capitalism is crushing us all. “I believe that people should democratically control the wealth that we create with our labor,” says Riley, 52. The writer-director has identified as a communist since before he gained recognition for founding the political hip-hop group the Coup in 1991. “How do you get the working class to organize together? Through them understanding where their power is, and under capitalism, our power is in the withholding of labor. There needs to be a mass, militant, radical labor movement that turns more radical as it goes on, until the people actually take over the places that they work and change the nature of society.”

“Atlanta” to Terence Nance’s thought-provoking “Random Acts of Flyness” and Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed films “Get Out” and “Nope,” this formerly niche genre seems to be thriving in mainstream entertainment.Writer, producer and musician Boots Riley, whose 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You” catapulted him to prominence as a filmmaker, returns with his latest project: “I’m A Virgo” on Prime Video. This highly anticipated series solidifies his position among the pioneers of the Afro-surrealist genre.Afrofuturism and Afro-surrealism, often seen as interchangeable, are different.

I’m A Virgo is a triumph of imagination and ideology.

The WGA Strong March and Rally for a Fair Contract has kicked off in LA with thousands of members of the guild including Damon Lindelof and Boots Riley taking to the parks and streets.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic On a standout episode of the new season of “And Just Like That,” Max’s continuation of the “Sex and the City” franchise, Carrie faces a conundrum. She’s been roped into recording the audiobook of her memoir — a retelling of the past year or so of her life as a new widow. A character beloved for her say-everything ethos, from her frank talk with friends to her newspaper columns that we once heard in voiceover, finds herself unable to speak. It’s a moving moment, one that leverages both the deep connection viewers feel with the character, and Sarah Jessica Parker’s somehow still-underrated winsomeness as a performer. And it represents the promise of the ungainly, odd show “And Just Like That” has shaped up to be. On this series, an often-frustrating clunkiness not only coexists with moments of real power, it burnishes them: The strangeness and sublimity of “And Just Like That” lies in how its flaws feel predictable and knowable, like the contours of a friendship.

“Follow my every move:” Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by David Chariandy, “Brother,” the latest film from Clement Virgo, is a sweeping and mesmerizing story about familial bonds, the power of music, and the resilience of community. Set against the backdrop of the early days of the Toronto hip-hop scene, a movement fueled by the children of Caribbean immigrants, brothers Francis (Lamar Johnson, “The Last of Us“) and Michael (Aaron Pierre, “Old“) find themselves amidst sweltering temperatures and rising tensions, setting off a series of events that change their lives forever.

When the time comes to write about the 2020s in film, COVID will undoubtedly be viewed as the defining event of the decade. But as the pandemic becomes part of our new normal, one aspect of COVID continues to inspire filmmakers: quarantine.

Priscilla Presley is spending time with her granddaughters. On Friday, the 78-year-old former wife of the late Elvis Presley took to Instagram to celebrate Harper and Finley Lockwood’s middle school graduation.

After Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough settled their messy estate battle over the late Lisa Marie Presley’s trust, they have reunited for a special occasion.

Peace for the Presleys!

Priscilla Presley is spending time with her granddaughters. On Friday, the 78-year-old former wife of the late Elvis Presley took to Instagram to celebrate Harper and Finley Lockwood's middle school graduation. Harper and Finley, both 14, are the twin daughters of Michael Lockwood and Priscilla's late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January at age 54. Riley Keough, who Lisa Marie shared with Danny Keough, was also on hand for the celebration.In Priscilla's pic, she stands arm-in-arm with Riley as they celebrate Harper and Finley's accomplishment.«Happy Graduation girls!» Priscilla captioned her post.

Priscilla Presley says all is well in her family.