When I was in my early to mid 20s I had a thing for “older women”…30somethings, early to mid 40somethings. I stuck to the same appetites when I reached my 30s. Brief episodic affairs with women of a certain age, etc. Moms, older librarian types, curvy women with gray-streaked hair.

Today’s 20something males are reportedly in a similar place.

In Matt Donnelly’s 4.16 Variety story about Michael B. Jordan‘s forthcoming The Thomas Crown Affair (Amazon, 3.5.27), a remake of a remake of Norman Jewison’s 1968 original, there’s a Jordan quote that suggests some kind of righteous, score-settling reparation angle may be in the works.

Besides directing, producing and starring as the slickly felonious lead character (i.e., more or less the same wealthy, sexy smoothie played by Steve McQueen in ’68 and Pierce Brosnan in John McTiernan’s 1999 refresh), Jordan’s Thomas Crown, according to Donnelly, “wants to retrieve precious artifacts misappropriated, stolen from their rightful creators [and] sold over the centuries…the 1% monsters who buy and trade history and human lives.”

Jordan is referring, of course, to the usual demonic racist white-guy baddies, represented in this instance by Kenneth Branagh. Branagh’s shithead will either suffer a grievous financial loss or perhaps be murdered as payback for heinous crimes. Remember the machine-gun-brandishing Jordan mowing down those overweight KKK crackers in Sinners? Same basic revenge deal, I’m presuming, in next year’s Crown.

“I didn’t want a reboot,” Jordan told Variety last November. “I wanted a reimagination. The first two films were about rich white guys stealing for fun. That doesn’t land today. Ours is more personal. The stakes are higher. [But our film] still got the fashion, romance.”

McQueen’s Crown was into the thrill of stealing and getting away with it, sure, but Jewison’s film presented him as a kind of romantic, super-rich, three-piece-suit-wearing Clyde Barrow, a quietly rebellious loner striking a symbolic blow against the establishment and straightlaced bourgeois values.

Considering the repeated emphasis on cunnilingus in Sinners and Faye Dunaway‘s notorious simulation of sex with chess pieces in the ’68 version, it’s pretty much guaranteed that Jordan and costar Adria Arjona (in the Dunaway role) will indulge in some kind of heated activity, symbolic or otherwise.

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Focker-in-Law (Universal, 11.25.26) will obviously be serving that good old fuck-all Focker formula on a big silver platter with shrimp and salad on the side. Fat paychecks for all concerned.

The only difference is that the first Fockers flick (i.e., Meet The Parents) was 26 years ago, and the original cast members have since moved into the realm of grandparenting and beyond.

Thank God Arianna Grande is finally free of her Wicked obligations.

I have to be honest about Skyler Gisondo — he’s weird looking. I certainly wouldn’t want him to date, much less marry, my granddaughter.

…in the context of a film.

Either way she sounds sincere in a “I really don’t give a shit” sort of way.

Woman who lived in Hollywood for a decade claims Will Smith is gay.

“He’s always been gay. I lived in Hollywood for a decade. My boss was his agent at CAA for 8 years- would help him shuffle men in and out of their mansions.” pic.twitter.com/KNYviJwgSe

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 15, 2026

Brutal.

Just brutal. pic.twitter.com/BE70RCntjv

— Rich Baris THE PEOPLE'S PUNDIT (@Peoples_Pundit) April 15, 2026

Day late, dollar short: If I’d been in Richard Rushfield‘s Ankler shoes, I probably would’ve thought twice about registering my discomfort over the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger (i.e., passing around “Block the Merger” buttons).

A couple of days ago Rushfield decided to bond with “more than 1,000 actors, directors and writers” who signed a letter protesting Paramount’s buying WBD. Paramount not only saw red but has reportedly declared it won’t be throwing The Ankler any ad money during the forthcoming 2026-2027 Oscar season.

Rushfield: “Both the Wrap and Page Six pieces are accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I’m not directly involved in sales stuff and am also [at Cinemacon] so missing out on much of the fuss.”

Quote given to Page Six: “[Paramount] obviously has an issue with Richard’s reporting and him signing the letter. It’s reached a bit of a boiling point. Their reaction is now one of the main storylines, which is so counter to what they were aiming for — now we’re all taking about these buttons.”

2026 has been a slumping, slumbering, soporific year so far…three and a half months of “who really cares?” Except, that is, for two excellent foreign-made flicks I’ve seen, reviewed and derived significant pleasure from: Hasan Hadi‘s The President’s Cake and Francois Ozon‘s The Stranger

Otherwise things have basically been bad, droopy and debilitating, although the pace will start to perk up during April’s second half — Kirk Jones‘ I Swear (4.24), Antoine Fuqua‘s Michael (4.24), Peter Farrelly‘s Balls Up (debuting today on Amazon…4.15…Mark Wahlberg, Paul Walter Hauser, Sacha Baron Cohen), David Frankel‘s The Devil Wears Prada 2 (5.1)…what else?

I hated the idea of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie existing as a feature. I spat upon it. Emerald Fennell‘s Wuthering Heights…nope. Gore Verbinski‘s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die…never saw it, don’t care. (Maybe I should have.) I didn’t “hate” Project Hail Mary but it made me feel badly…it brought me down, left me feeling alienated, vaguely put off. I thought Maggie Gylllenhaal‘s The Bride! was mostly appalling. Nothing got to me except for Cake and Stranger. Everything else either stunk or meh’ed me to death.

I still haven’t seen Steven Soderbergh‘s The Christophers.

I actually quite loved Season #2 of The Pitt….forgot to mention that.

With season #4 of Mike White‘s The White Lotus having begun lensing in France, THR‘s Nick Porter is reporting that Variety critic Guy Lodge will play himself in a cameo during the show’s Cannes Film Festival lensing.

Kidding!…kidding!…false alarm, joke, please.

What I’m really saying is that if and when White’s HBO series shoots during the forthcoming 2026 festival (5.12 through 5.23), White should not cast Lodge or N.Y. Times correspondent Kyle Buchanan or IndieWire‘s Anne Thompson…none of the usual suspects. White should instead consider one or two outspoken, rebel-spirit journos…perhaps some loner type who, let’s say, rides a rented rumblehog and maybe wears saddle shoes, Kooples shirts and tinted glasses. Someone who vaguely resembles Jeff Goldblum‘s character in Nashville, say.

Or, better yet, White should use the Oscar Expert and Brother Bro….twins Cole and Justin Jaeger. White would probably like to use some kind of youngish, good-looking journos, right?

Porter (no bullshit) is reporting that (a) the HBO series will be set during the Cannes Film Festival (presumably the 79th annual gathering), and that (b) the show will use two hotels as a dramatic base or ground zero. The Airelles Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez will portray the White Lotus du Cap, and the historic Hotel Martinez on the Croisette will stand in as the White Lotus Cannes.

Two or three days ago Jeff “Insneider” Sneider posted an “uh-oh” reaction to a research screening of Alejandro G. Inarritu and Tom Cruise‘s Digger (Warner Bros., 10.2.26).

I don’t think it’s fair to post research screening opinions unless you have at least two (2) sources or reports, and even then you should always advise that said opinions are hardly absolute or definitive.

That said, the Sneider reaction suggested that (a) the film may not be quite what it needs to be or (b) the person who coughed up this reaction may not be an especially sharp or perceptive person…who knows?

But when I read the Andreas Weisman Deadline report that planted a notion that Digger isn’t likely to debut at any of the early fall film festivals (Venice. Telluride, Toronto)…when I read this on top of the Sneider thing, I went “aahh, okay, I see…maybe.”

There was a slight prayer that Ink might possibly premiere next month in Cannes, and then that went south. Then it was speculated that Boyle’s period journalism drama might debut at the Venice Film Festival five months hence. Nope! Now comes a report that Ink has been bumped into 2027. Translation: Boyle probably doesn’t feel confident about the way Ink has been shaping up in editing, and is probably planning upon much more editing, possibly some extra shooting…something in that vein.