'That’s equivalent of, like, Hitler drink water, so if you drink water, you’re Hitler'

News Star Wars Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Shares Star Wars Movie Updates Ahead of Her Retirement Star Wars movie musical chairs will continue until morale improves By Molly Templeton | Published on January 16, 2026 Credit: Lucasfilm Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Lucasfilm As has been rumored for a long time now, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is retiring—though only from Lucasfilm, not from the business of making movies. (Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan will take over running the company.) Her exit interview with Deadline is full of enthusiasm about returning to producing films (and some questionable enthusiasm about “new technology”). The interview is also somewhat full of tidbits about the various Star Wars films we’ve heard about over the last decade or so, and their status. It has been somewhat difficult to keep track of exactly who is and isn’t making a Star Wars film since The Rise of Skywalker. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron was happening, and then it wasn’t, and then it was again—but there’s no mention of it in Kennedy’s rundown. Notably, there’s also no mention of the Rey-centered film set to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, which last got an update in early 2025. Kennedy doesn’t say much about Star Wars TV series, other than that Dave Filoni “just finished directing some of Season 2, and writing all the episodes” of Ahsoka’s second season. The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter (pictured above) are definitely happening. The Mando movie is mere months away, somehow. Filming on Starfighter has wrapped (in her interview, Kennedy repeatedly says that Starfighter is a standalone, but hedges about it just enough that one might begin to suspect that it will not stay that way if it’s successful). “I’ve got to tread a bit carefully here,” Kennedy says when asked about the progress on the many Star Wars films that have been announced. Here’s what’s what: Taika Waititi, whose Star Wars film was announced in 2020, has turned in a script that Kennedy calls “hilarious and great.” Donald Glover has turned in a script. Kennedy does not offer any details on that one. James Mangold and Beau Willimon “wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold and it’s on hold.” This may be the most frustrating bit of news; Mangold’s Star Wars film was announced in 2023 and was expected to be set years and years before any existing Star Wars movies, in the early days of the Jedi. Willimon, a writer on Andor, came on board the project in 2024. “It was just great,” Kennedy says of the Scott Burns script turned in by Steven Soderbergh and Adam Driver. That would be The Hunt for Ben Solo, a script which reportedly was greenlit by Lucasfilm before getting canned by parent company Disney. Star Wars Rebels co-creator Simon Kinberg, whose potential Star Wars trilogy was announced in late 2024, is working. Kennedy says, “He wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.” When asked about Rian Johnson, who was at one point expected to direct an entire Star Wars trilogy, Kennedy evades the question pretty neatly. “Once he made the Netflix deal and went off to start doing the Knives Out films, that has occupied a huge amount of his time,” she says, adding that she thinks Johnson was “spooked by the online negativity.” (She also says that he “made one of the best Star Wars movies.”) Kennedy’s main point—that Knives Out took over Johnson’s time—lines up with what the director himself has said. Last summer, he told Rolling Stone of the potential trilogy, “Nothing really happened with it. … The short version is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries. It’s the sort of thing if, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy.” In summary, Kennedy says, “Mangold’s is really on the back burner as is Soderbergh’s. I think the ones by Taika and Donald are still somewhat alive. That’s going to really be up to the new team to figure out. Dave, I know that Dave and Lynwen are very much on board with what Simon’s doing, and that would be a new trilogy. In the timeline of things, that takes you well into 2030 plus. So that’s really what’s up next.”[end-mark] The post Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Shares <i>Star Wars</i> Movie Updates Ahead of Her Retirement appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is Wild, Brutal, and a Perfect Middle Child in the Trilogy And might just feature the best performance of Ralph Fiennes’ career? By Leah Schnelbach | Published on January 16, 2026 Credit: Sony Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Sony Pictures I wasn’t expecting the new 28 Days Later trilogy to become one of my favorite things in 2025 and 2026, but here we are. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a tense, brutal, fantastic follow-up to last year’s 28 Years Later. Director Nia DaCosta and screenwriter Alex Garland add to that film’s worldbuilding, deepen a couple of characters we already know, and tee up a third film in a way that left me satisfied with the story so far, and extremely excited for what’s coming next. In order to talk about this movie I’ll need to spoil a few things from the last movie, as it picks up immediately after the previous one ends, so if you still need to see 28 Years Later, and want to, maybe skip this review until after you’ve watched it. For now, I’ll just say that both films are emotionally gripping works of post-apocalyptic worldbuilding—but also that The Bone Temple is often brutal and truly horrific in a way that 28 Years Later was not. We pick back up with 28 Years Later’s young lead, Spike (Alfie Williams), as he’s undergoing an initiation ceremony with the Jimmys—the unhinged Teletubbies-meets-Power Rangers parkour cult we met in the last two minutes of 28 Years Later. From there we follow the Jimmys as they rampage across what used to be England. In lighter moment, we check back in with Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson, still tending his cathedral-sized memento mori, the Bone Temple, and now actively working to forge a relationship with the “alpha” Infected whom he dubbed Samson. Credit: Sony Pictures What can I say without spoiling anything? You know how the previous film was dotted with moments of surprising warmth, kindness, and empathy, that were almost shocking given the post-apocalyptic genre of the film? Wellllll, this movie… isn’t like that. At least not as often. The Jimmys are a Satanic cult that doesn’t see much value in empathy, and The Bone Temple becomes a story of how to survive the Jimmys as much as anything else. But I will say that the moments of humanity, when they come, glow all the brighter for being in a harsher story. The cast are all amazing. This thing only works if everyone commits, and boy do they. Alfie Williams continues to be an incredibly impressive newer actor in a role that basically requires him to radiate terror and grief unceasingly for two hours. Ralph Fiennes has one extraordinary, showy scene that might be the coolest thing he’s ever done—I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was seeing. But he also, always, finds Dr. Kelson’s humanity, the moral core he’s held onto despite everything, and that core is backbone of the movie. But also also, that one scene, by itself, justifies the cost of a ticket to the theater with the best sound design in your area, and I really really need people to go see it so I can yell about it. Samson was treated as the final boss of the Infected in the previous film, and of course became the star of a lot of “28 inches later” jokes due to his prosthetic bodysuit that Chi Lewis-Parry wears as the character. But here Samson also becomes a real person—a human being, not a joke or a monster—and watching Lewis-Parry bring more and more of Samson’s personality into his face is a gorgeous experience. (It also throws an interesting light back across the whole series, if all of the Infected have been people the entire time.) Finally, I kind of want to found a church so I can hang Jack O’Connell’s picture in it? Between his take on Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal and his work as Remmick he’s rapidly becoming my favorite actor. He veers between terrifying and hilarious as naturally as breathing, and it’s easy to understand why people are entranced by him, and follow him no matter how violent his demands are. He could have easily been a cartoon villain, but, as with his turn in Sinners, you always know there’s a person under all the theatricality. Credit: Sony Pictures As I mentioned, The Bone Temple is often a brutal watch—but there is a point to it. Rather than focusing on the Infected as the main antagonist, Nia DaCosta and Alex Garland make it clear that the Jimmys are the biggest danger people face now. Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal and his followers rampage across the land, casually taking out Infected as they go, but also targeting regular people for torture and murder. These acts are framed as “charity” by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal—because he claims to be working the will of his dad, Old Nick, on a world that was abandoned by God and plagued with demons. But does he actually believe that? Or is he just a savvy cult leader spreading fear to hold onto power? Obviously that question doesn’t mean a whole lot if you’re the one hanging upside-down in a barn, but for those of us watching the movie from a safe distance, it’s the heart of the film. What the 28 Days/Years movies are really about is how people respond to catastrophe. Do you respond by building a new kind of community, by seeking power, by giving into your basest instincts, by playing on the fear of weaker people? I was pleasantly surprised to see how much this post-apocalyptic horror film became a conversation about faith, science, reason, zealotry—Wake Up Infected Man?—because it takes its world so seriously, and really grapples with what sorts of beliefs and communities would spring up among the surviors of the Rage Virus. Like a lot of other films that have come out recently (Wake Up Dead Man, Marty Supreme, The Running Man, HIM, One Battle After Another, The Long Walk, The Secret Agent, Superman, even The Phoenician Scheme, kind of) The Bone Temple is about toxic leaders and cults of personality, and the lengths people will go to submit their own wills to a powerful person. We don’t see how Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal fought his way to the top, but we see how he stays there, and it’s the classic tactic of creating an in-group, making that in-group fight all outsiders, and constantly threatening members of the in-group with being cast out—although in the world of the Jimmys, “being cast out” means fighting a new potential Jimmy to the death. Why don’t the newer Jimmys rise up? Because they believe that Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal really is the son of the Devil, and he gives them no reason to doubt that. Or course, the fact that his followers are all quite young, and have only known this brutal, terrifying world, goes a long way toward explaining their complicity. Credit: Sony Pictures While The Bone Temple is much more insular in its worldbuilding than 28 Years Later, we do get to see an alternative Britain that’s completely cut off from the outside world, but because we’re following two characters with real power and agency this time, we’re able to see how that plays out. The Jimmys all follow Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s lead, and he was about 8 when the Rage Virus killed everyone he loved, seemingly in the early 2000s. So he and his cultists dance like Teletubbies, fight like Power Rangers, and dress like Jimmy Savile, the popular British DJ and television host—who turned out to be a worse monster than any of the Infected. (What they reminded me of most were Alex and his Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, but presumably none of the Jimmys got to see that before they lost electricity forever.) Meanwhile when we see more of Dr. Kelson’s life, he’s singing Duran Duran and Radiohead to himself while he pores over medical texts that are at least 30 years out of date, because that was the music of his 20s and 30s, before the world ended. One of my favorite films of recent years is Tim Mielants’ and Enda Walsh’s adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These. I mention it not just because Cillian Murphy is a producer and actor in both that film and the 28 Days/Years series, but because that film turns on the story of a man living an impossibility: he witnesses a situation that he knows is wrong, everything in him tells him it’s wrong, but his entire life is built upon ignoring that wrong. What does he do? Does he risk his entire life to try to right the wrong? Or does he duck his head, turn his eyes away, provide for his family, remain an upstanding member of his community? The reason I love the film is that it never pretends the choice is easy. I’m thinking of it now because, as weird as it might seem, The Bone Temple is also about that. There are a few moments when characters are faced with terrible choices, and those choices change the world. What I love about 28 Years Later, and now The Bone Temple, is that both films seem to say that the collapse of society is no excuse for ducking your head and turning your eyes away.[end-mark] The post <em>28 Years Later: The Bone Temple</em> is Wild, Brutal, and a Perfect Middle Child in the Trilogy appeared first on Reactor.

Recent remarks by the Trump administration about Greenland have sparked a crisis with America’s NATO allies. And, of course, European states have exasperated Trump, and many conservatives, with their demands for indefinite U.S. support of Ukraine in its stalemated conflict with Russia. It’s time to get creative. A grand bargain could solve both problems together, with NATO members helping secure American interests in our hemisphere, in exchange for greater American help in theirs. Trump has good reason to want Greenland, and countering Russia’s expansionism is among them, as Moscow builds its capabilities in the Arctic. Greenland’s strategic position makes it difficult for the U.S. to countenance its continued administration by a small European state. Copenhagen has also foolishly said that it’s open to Greenlandic independence, which would simply put it up for grabs by China or Russia. Aside from strategic and resource considerations, Trump’s enthusiasm for the island is likely supported by inchoate considerations of the kind largely ignored by Western strategists in recent decades. Territorial expansion had long been a part of American greatness, resulting in its present size and far-flung states and territories. But the U.S. has only been giving away its possessions since 1970s, when President Carter diagnosed the country with malaise. This does not mean Denmark or other European allies should be happy with the U.S. reversing this retreat. The kingdom has been a consistently reliable ally and model NATO member. Amid the cultural rot of northern Europe, Denmark is a relatively conservative, pro-U.S. government. It speaks well of them that they do not jump to sunder their realm. Grabbing Greenland will not produce a lasting legacy. As President Trump seeks to reorient policy to confront China, we need to be able to count on our allies. Moreover, Congress will likely resist passing any governing statutes if they chafe at how U.S. control came about. A Democratic administration would be delighted to have a chance at participating in “decolonization” by giving up the territory. Under the Constitution, an act of Congress is required to cede territory, but a liberal president would surely determine Greenland was not “belonging to the United States” and thus outside the scope of the Territories clause. Russia’s immediate proximity and ongoing belligerence further complicates the equation. European allies within NATO urgently desire heightened American engagement to contain Moscow’s designs in Ukraine; yet appreciable portions of the Republican electoral coalition regard additional commitments as subsidizing European strategic miscalculations without commensurate returns. The current administration, for its part, has manifested increasing exasperation with Russian inflexibility amid stalled diplomatic efforts. Of course, NATO wants things from America too. Europe fears Russia won’t stop with Ukraine, Denmark’s Baltic location puts it close to the front line, and Russia has already been harassing it with drones, cyberattacks, and naval incidents. But the way to make Ukraine’s war a priority for the U.S. is by ensuring that the U.S. gets tangible benefits for its support. The United States could ramp up its support for Ukraine through expanded provision of advanced weaponry, enhanced intelligence cooperation, and rejecting diplomatic settlements that reward Putin’s aggression. In return, NATO, acting in concerted fashion, could pressure Denmark to grant the United States enduring rights in Greenland, framing the arrangement as essential to transatlantic security in the High North. A variety of solutions could address Danish sensitivities about ceding territory. A renewable long-term lease over the largely uninhabited northern expanses—reminiscent of the British experience in Hong Kong or the American administration of the Panama Canal Zone—could suffice. Washington is reportedly contemplating a Compact of Free Association with Greenland, similar to those with various Pacific islands. One could have a trilateral compact, with both Denmark and the U.S. as partners in the deal. This is known in international law as a condominium—and this would be the Biggest Condominium Ever. Given the need for durable congressional support for an acquisition, making it win-win is the art of the deal. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post It’s Time To Get Creative With Greenland appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Beginning February 1, 2026, travelers flying within the United States without a REAL ID or another accepted form of identification will face a new $45 charge. The Transportation Security Administration’s newly finalized ConfirmID system creates a process where passengers who cannot show proper ID must pay to verify their identity before passing through security. Feature: A $45 Fee and Three Ways to Lose Your Privacy Before You Fly The agency has presented the program as a backup option for those who forget their identification, but in effect, it attaches a price to the right to travel and requires travelers to surrender personal data in order to continue their journey. According to the Federal Register, the ConfirmID fee applies per individual and is valid for ten days. The payment covers both outbound and return flights within that window if the traveler completes TSA’s verification steps. Passengers can pay online in advance or at the checkpoint, but TSA advises arriving early since the process can take 30 minutes or more. TSA emphasizes that the $45 charge does not guarantee success. “Registering for the TSA Confirm.ID program and payment of the non-refundable fee does not guarantee that an individual’s identity will be verified,” the agency stated. Even with a receipt, travelers may still be turned away if TSA cannot confirm who they are. The agency says the fee reflects updated cost projections and expected participation levels. It also plans to release additional information online, but its public ConfirmID page already lists February 1, 2026, as the effective date. The Identity Project (IDP), which defends the right to travel without constant identification demands, has condemned ConfirmID as “flagrantly illegal.” The group also said, “even the payment platform for the $45 fee is in flagrant violation of multiple Federal laws.” IDP argues that TSA launched the program without filing the required Privacy Act notice, without securing approval from the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and without disclosing where the personal or biometric information will be stored. Operating such a system without public notice, the group notes, is a criminal violation of the Privacy Act. The Pay.gov payment page used for ConfirmID also lacks the mandatory OMB control number. Federal policy states that agencies cannot collect information from the public without displaying this number and without including a clear notice about data handling and time burden. The Treasury Department, which manages Pay.gov, explicitly says that any form missing a valid OMB control number can be ignored. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post TSA’s $45 ConfirmID Fee Ties Air Travel Access to Paid Identity Verification appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Too Weird to Check: From Senator to ... House-Wrecker?

These birds will serve as a rewilding proxy for the now extinct Arabian ostrich.

If we can teach math to bees, maybe we can chat across galaxies, suggests a new thought experiment.

POLL: What was the worst media take of the week? (Vote below)     NOMINEES:    Keith Olbermann: Trump’s “Gestapo” Committed Terrorist Act to “Feed” His “Sadistic, Blood-Lusting, Psychotic” Base  “This is Trump’s terrorism. This is the Kent State of our time. The peaceful, unarmed protestor murdered by Trump’s ICE. While Trump’s lie-factory and Trump personally smeared her, blamed her. Made up a story or a threat where there was no threat. Altered images, lied about her, lied about what the Gestapo did. The Gestapo they sent to kill Americans in American cities, in order to make videos to feed the sadistic, blood-lusting psychotics who support Trump. And if you support this, if you support Trump, if you countenance this on our streets against citizens or non-citizens or police or anybody, you are a sadistic blood-lusting psychotic! That is Donald Trump’s base!”— Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann on his Countdown podcast, January 8.    Don Lemon to ICE Agents: F**k Off, You Dumb Jack-Booted Nazis!  “F**k off, ICE! F**k all the way off! You are low-life losers. And you feel empowered by your dear leader, Donald Trump….You are treating people in an inhumane way and you don’t even understand why because you’re too dumb to figure it out. You are the poorly educated that Donald Trump loves….You’re out there doing his bidding, doing things that are illegal, doing things that are unconstitutional, doing things that are inhumane, like killing someone….You are fat fuck losers who just crawled out of a trailer park from some Proud Boy meeting….You are thugs, jack-booted thugs….You stupid, dumb, ignorant, poorly educated, Proud Boys, Nazis marching through.”— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon on The Don Lemon Show podcast, January 9.   Jimmy Kimmel: “Maniac” Trump Is Killing People Overseas and in Minneapolis  “They’re trying out a new slogan: ‘Donald J. Trump is gonna kill you!’ Pretty good, right? This maniac, he isn’t just killing people overseas. An ICE agent today shot and killed an unarmed 37-year-old woman during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, who were there under the guise of protecting us….Now that is the shirt I want to see, to ICE, ‘Get the [bleep] out of Minneapolis.” Get the [bleep] out of all these cities.”— Host Jimmy Kimmel on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, January 7.          Sponsored by James P. Jimirro