Entertainment
How Men Were Enslaved By A Movie That Tried To Save Them
By Joshua Tyler
| Updated
Noted cartoonist and persuasion expert Scott Adams pioneered the concept of two movies on one screen. Two Movies On One Screen is a term used to describe a phenomenon in which two people or groups witness the same events, facts, video, or information yet perceive and interpret them as two entirely different, often contradictory narratives or “movies.”
It’s exactly as if there are two movies playing on the same screen at the same time.
This kind of disagreement over the nature of reality is common, but rarely has it been more literally true than it was in Falling Down, one of the most controversial movies of the 1990s. To make its point, the film tried to use Two Movies On One Screen to persuade its audience to stand up for themselves, only to have the technique turned against it by the news media and used to destroy it.
This is the story of how Falling Down tried and failed to screenwash men into fighting back against the corruption and rot of the modern world.
Falling Down Is About Two Men, Not One
Others have tried to analyze this movie, but they limit their scope to scrutinizing the actions of its most violent character. That kind of analysis fails because Falling Down isn’t the story of one man; it’s the story of two, and unless you understand how those two characters fit together, you can’t understand the persuasion being attempted by the film.
Falling Down begins with those two men, stuck in the same LA traffic jam. The first looks around at the city’s accumulated filth and feels hatred, frustration, and disgust. The second looks at the same scene of rot and chuckles.
Two movies on one screen, and only one of those screens is showing the truth. Which one is it? By the end of the movie, one of these men will realize he’s wrong, and the other will be dead.
With those points of view established, Falling Down follows both through a world of heaped-on humiliation and contrasts their reactions. Its true intent is hidden behind the trappings of a police manhunt, but that’s not what matters. In reality, Falling Down is a carefully constructed Identification Reversal.
Constructing An Identification Reversal
An Identification Reversal is a psychological technique in which an audience is initially encouraged to identify with one character, viewpoint, or emotional response, only for that identification to gradually shift to an opposing or contrasting figure as the story progresses. It’s frequently used in film, propaganda, and persuasive storytelling to redirect audience sympathy, values, or self-perception over time.
An Identification Reversal is not necessarily evil. Used right, it’s a valid way to tell a story or make a point. Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on what ideas you’re trying to sell with it. Follow along as I explain how it’s done in Falling Down.
Step One: Bond The Audience To A Character
Falling Down begins with the audience viewing the world from the perspective of a man played by Michael Douglas. He has a name in the movie, but he’s listed in the credits only by the name on his car’s vanity plate, which reads “D-Fens.”
The movie spends the first five minutes with D-Fens, sitting in his car, growing increasingly unhappy with the world around him. His air conditioning stops working, and his engine starts to overheat.
The street he’s stuck on looks terrible. The behavior of other motorists around him is base and appalling. He’s growing increasingly angry, and so is the audience, since we’re seeing it all from his tainted perspective
Fed up with the traffic and the trash, D-Fens abandons his car in the middle of the road and stomps off into the city. It’s framed as a heroic act, a refusal to continue complying with something so obviously and totally broken. We’re fully on the side of D-Fens as he walks through a neighborhood to a grungy convenience store, in search of relief from the heat.
Inside the local Quick E Mart, he finds things as broken as they are outside. The prices are out of control, and the newly immigrated Korean store owner behind the register is rude and speaks only broken English. We feel his frustration fully.
It’s here that D-Fens first snaps. He lashes out, ranting about the unfairness of immigrants who can’t speak proper English, somehow taking over all the small businesses in his neighborhood.
D-Fens takes his frustration too far, and while to modern audiences it probably feels like the moment when viewers would no longer be on his side, to 1990s viewers it didn’t cross that line. Tuned carefully to the limits of 1990s sensibilities, it goes right up to that line and taps it with a baseball bat.
D-Fens continues down that path from there. He encounters menacing gangbangers and other frustrations, raging against them and becoming increasingly murderous and unhinged, but only against targets that the audience may feel deserve it. His most violent act in the film is the murder of a Nazi who tries to assault him, and when it comes to hurting Nazis, audiences are always all in.
Step Two: Corrupt The Bond
With the audience bonded to D-Fens and cheering on his rampage, Falling Down begins working to destroy our affection for him. D-Fens begins to behave in a way that’s increasingly out of bounds. He targets and endangers people who don’t deserve it. He begins making threatening phone calls to his ex-wife and obsessing over his past with her. His own mother is afraid of him.
Gradually, we’re turned against the character we started out rooting for, as he’s revealed to be something far worse than we initially suspected. D-Fens isn’t just an average guy fed up with the world; he’s a mentally ill lunatic who’s been menacing the people he loves for years and probably needs to be put down.
Step Three: Redirect Emotional Energy To The Place Of Your Choosing
With the audience now turning against D-Fens, they need somewhere else to put the positive energy invested in their bond with him. The movie provides a place in the form of an alternate main character who’s been acting as a counterweight from the beginning. His name is Martin Prendergast, and he’s a cop played by Robert Duvall. Martin was in that same traffic jam with D-Fens, and the movie’s been priming us to hate him.
When the Korean store owner, roughed up by D-Fens, reports the incident to the police, Martin asks a Japanese officer to interpret. The officer immediately berates him and accuses Martin of being racist for assuming a Japanese man can speak Korean.
Unlike D-Fens, who pushed back when faced with racism accusations, Martin bows, scrapes, and apologizes like a pathetic, loathsome worm. To rub salt in the wound of Martin’s patheticness, after his apology for assuming his partner speaks Korean, that same partner then says to the Korean store owner, “gamsahamnida,” which is Korean for “thank you.” He spoke Korean all along, but Martin, fully cowed, does not react.
Despite being mocked by his colleagues for caring, Martin is hot on the trail of D-Fens. In the process of doing good police work, he’s abused, harangued, and humiliated by everyone around him.
His boss treats him like garbage; his wife yells at him like he’s her slave; his incompetent, incurious co-workers treat him with derision and scorn. Martin chuckles dumbly and takes all of it. He’s a human punching bag. A natural doormat unaffected by the constant disrespect and cruelty being heaped upon him.
By the time D-Fens begins turning towards clear evil, the audience has grown to hate Martin. And so that’s exactly when the movie changes him.
Martin begins standing up for himself. He demands respect and dinner from his wife. He punches an abusive co-worker. Tells off his psychotic boss. He grabs his coat, hits the street, and decides to do what’s right, rather than continuing to chuckle and listen to his inferiors.
In the end, Martin guns down D-Fens, rescuing his terrified wife and daughter, saving the day against the objections of the entire corrupt, broken LA police force. With that act, all the energy and attachment invested in D-Fens is transferred directly to Martin Prendergast.
As the credits roll, the audience suddenly has a model for resistance against the creeping rot of modernity. The reign of terror created by D-Fens is discredited and replaced by Martin’s measured response.
You started out the movie rooting for D-Fens; you end it wanting to be this newly awakened version of Martin.
Falling Down Discredits Extremism By Advocating For Measured Action
It’s hard to say exactly what motivated director Joel Schumacher to make Falling Down. He’s the guy who would, just a few years later, put nipples on the Batsuit when he took over the Batman franchise from Tim Burton. His sensibilities are questionable.
Interviews conducted with Schumacher around the time suggest he may have felt that degrading conditions in America meant a rise in right-wing extremism was inevitable, and so, rather than stop it, he’d hoped to channel that energy somewhere more constructive and less destructive. So Falling Down subtly works to inspire its audience towards action, rather than dissuade them from it, favoring measured action over extremism.
That should have been viewed as a positive message. Falling Down discredits extremist violence while laying out a path for healthy, positive anger to improve a failing culture.
The Dishonest Media Attack On Falling Down
That kind of real-world response might have worked, too, which is why the entire establishment, the same one that might have had its plans upset if people had listened, set out to destroy the movie advocating for it.
One of Falling Down’s early defenders was legendary film critic Roger Ebert. Writing at the time, he said of other critics’ reaction to Falling Down: “Some will find it racist because the targets of the film’s hero are African-American, Latino and Korean – with a few whites thrown in for balance. Both of these approaches represent a facile reading of the film.”
Ebert was right in his prediction and in his disdain for their shallow views.
When Falling Down hit theaters in 1993, the mainstream backlash started almost immediately. Many critics and commentators treated the movie less like a thriller and more like a political threat. Talking heads accused the movie of encouraging vigilantism and resentment toward minorities, immigrants, and the urban poor.
The LA Times, for instance, called Falling Down, “the howl of a scared, white, urban middle-class man.” It then suggested vilifying anyone who liked the movie, saying, “We know who the real bad guys are.”
Others called it the story of “white men flailing self-righteously.” Several think pieces from the time framed the film as dangerous because audiences in theaters were reportedly cheering during the D-Fens character’s outbursts. To these critics, that reaction proved the movie was tapping into something volatile and evil.
All of those attacks were based on pretending that the movie somehow endorsed D-Fens and his actions, even though it carefully and intentionally does exactly the opposite so that it can clearly endorse the moment when Martin Prendergast finally stands up for himself. However, the attacks directed at the movie tended to gloss over the fact that Robert Duvall’s character is even in the film, despite the fact that Martin gets more screen time than Douglas’s D-Fens.
The film’s attackers painted a picture of a movie that wasn’t on the screen, almost as if there were two movies playing at once. The one they watched, and the one that was actually made.
How Card Stacking Is Used To Control Your Perception
Some in the media were being honest, and in their delusion, really did see that other, non-existent movie on the screen. Many, though, were likely just card stacking to score social points for their political group.
Card stacking is a propaganda technique in which information is selectively presented to favor a particular viewpoint, while relevant facts, context, or evidence that would challenge or contradict that viewpoint are deliberately omitted, creating a misleading or one-sided narrative.
So Martin Prendergast was ignored, and a non-existent movie, which is only about D-Fens, was implanted in the minds of people who hadn’t seen Falling Down and wouldn’t know any better. Despite a lot of initial excitement and positive buzz for the movie driven by its trailers, “responsible” commentators encouraged people to avoid the film and condemn it as dangerous.
That didn’t totally work. Falling Down still made a low-level profit, but was largely relegated to the cultural fringe as mainstream forces worked to shame its defenders. More importantly, it became a cudgel used to silence any objection by white men to the way the world was heading.
Falling Down, a movie that I believe was designed to motivate men to speak up, was molded by the establishment media into their weapon. And so Falling Down achieved the opposite of its intent. Rather than empowering real-world Martin Prendergasts it finished the job of silencing them.
Jon Hamm Is A Modern Day Martin Prendergast, Who Never Stands Up For Himself
If you’re looking for proof of the news media’s total victory over Falling Down’s message, take a moment to check out AppleTV’s new prestige streaming show Your Friends & Neighbors. It has Jon Hamm playing what I’d call a modern-day equivalent of Martin Prendergast. Only unlike Martin, he never stands up for himself.
Instead, the character’s constant humiliation is treated as both appropriate and normal. Rather than following in Martin’s footsteps and fighting back against his abusers, he further debases himself by spending his off-hours robbing other equally tormented men.
Congratulations, culturally irrelevant men, you’ve been Screenwashed.
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General Hospital fans, we have got another leak from our inside source for you about what Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) does to try and save Rocco Falconeri (Finn Carr). And no, it is not Britt getting on a flight out of Port Charles. The villains are never going to let her just walk away like that.
So, we’re going to talk about how Rocco is about to be in serious danger because of Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) and the lengths that Britt is going to go to so she can save Rocco. And recently, we got this leak and they are a reliable source. They have a pretty solid track record.
General Hospital Leaker Says Britt is on the Brink of Death
Again though, I always like to say this is a leak so it’s more like a rumor. It’s not a spoiler. So, it’s not confirmed, but a lot of these come true, and I love to share. So, this one about Britt seems really plausible and likely to happen soon if it is going to work out. Our source says that she puts her life on the line to save Rocco’s life. And our source says Britt winds up on the verge of death.
And that’s likely not from her Huntington’s meds or losing access to them. So, not her disease, not the meds. She may be in immediate peril, life-ending danger trying to save Rocco and it could come during some sort of confrontation with a bad guy with a gun.
Cullum Realizes Rocco Shot Him on GH
Recently, we saw Cullum eavesdropping on Britt and Rocco as they were talking at GH when they were leaving. And up until then, Cullum was so certain that Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn) was the one who shot him. And to Cullum, that made perfect sense because Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) would obviously cover for his son Danny. But now, Cullum has realized it’s Rocco that shot him.
And Britt doesn’t know it yet, but Rocco is in grave danger because Cullum’s not going to let his shooting go unpunished. So, Britt needs to take action right away or the boy she gave birth to could die at Cullum’s hands. So, I have a theory that’s based on this leak. And basically, because Britt was on the pier when Cullum was shot, you know, and our leaker says she’s going to protect Rocco at the cost of almost losing her own life. Here’s what I think Britt may do next.
Britt May Spill Some Harsh Truths to Sidwell on General Hospital
She may go see Sidwell and spill some harsh truths. If you remember, Lucas Jones (Van Hansis) and Britt were talking and then they got drunk the other day. They were bonding. She and Lucas have been trying to figure out how to tell Sidwell that Cullum is the one who killed Marco Rios (Adrian Anchando). And Britt and Lucas couldn’t figure out how to tell Sidwell the truth without getting themselves killed.
But if Britt thinks Cullum is going to murder Rocco, I think she’d say hell with it and put her life on the line and spill to Sidwell. Britt could approach Sidwell and tell him that Cullum was about to kill her and Jason on the pier the night he was shot and she might say that he had just come from murdering Marco. So from there, Britt may count on Sidwell killing Cullum because obviously Sidwell is not going to let Marco’s murder go unavenged.
And obviously Britt relies on Cullum for her Huntington’s meds. But surely, Sidwell can get the drugs from the same source because he’s supplying Willow Corinthos (Katelyn MacMullen) with that paralytic she uses on Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison). And even if he can’t, I think Britt’s willing to risk it.
General Hospital: Britt May Come Clean to Sidwell
So, I’m sure that Sidwell would ask, “Okay, but who shot Cullum?” And Britt may refuse to tell him at first, but the real kicker is if she goes to Sidwell, he would question more specifically, why would Cullum murder Marco? And then Britt would have to come clean. She could try and leave Lucas out of it, though.
Britt could just tell Sidwell that she begged Marco to help her. And Britt could say that Sidwell’s son was a kind soul. And Marco stole some doses of her meds so she could try and reverse engineer them. Also that Cullum found out and he killed Marco because of it.
And that right there puts Britt’s life at risk because she would be admitting to playing a role in Marco’s murder even though she didn’t do any of the stabbing. Of course, Sidwell would probably believe that. He knows that Marco was inherently a good man. So, I think Sidwell would believe that Marco felt bad for Britt and wanted to help her.
Britt Could Wind Up Facing Death
You know, right now she’s planning to leave town thinking that Rocco and Lucas and others will be safer if she is gone. Plus, the prototype is some sort of weapon, and Britt really doesn’t want to finish it. But obviously, she’s going to get grabbed up by Cullum or by Sidwell. And I could see Cullum using Britt as bait to lure and trap Rocco so he could punish him for shooting him.
So, Britt may wind up facing death if Cullum holds her at gunpoint as bait. Or Sidwell might hold her at gunpoint and terrify her into telling him the whole truth, and she might because she watched Sidwell kill Dalton in cold blood right there in the living room. So, there’s a lot of ways Britt could wind up in jeopardy and facing death while trying to save Rocco on General Hospital.
Cullum May Exit GH
Plus, we shared in our last rumor roundup another leak we got recently that said Cullum was going to be killed off in June. Right now, we are what, six episodes away from June. So, if our leaker is right, Cullum could be pushing up daisies pretty soon, and it may be thanks to Britt. The leak about Cullum being killed already had me thinking, who would kill him?
You know, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) might kill him trying to escape. Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) might kill him for what he did to Anna Devane (Finola Hughes). Britt won’t do it. She lacks the killer instinct. She couldn’t do it while he was at GH, you know, flat on his back, but Joss was about to do it. Ethan Lovett (Nathan Dean) and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) seem more focused on Sidwell, even though they know that Cullum is bad, too. But I could definitely see Sidwell as the one most likely to kill Colum because it would be in vengeance for Marco’s stabbing.
General Hospital: Britt Tells Sidwell the Truth
And let’s face it, Britt’s already on borrowed time. Cullum has said she’s more trouble than she’s worth. He already tried to kill her once, has threatened to kill her more times than that. Meanwhile, Sidwell has also threatened her, but hasn’t personally tried to kill her. He just likes to scare her into being productive. And if Britt is forced to tell Sidwell that Rocco shot Cullum, figuring that the bad guy might tell Sidwell anyway, that could actually help her because Cullum was ready to haul Danny and Charlotte off god knows where this week.
And Sidwell stopped him. He doesn’t want to target kids. But Cullum has no issue killing kids. So, I could see Sidwell telling Britt that he’ll keep the secret of what Rocco did because Britt came to him with this information. He wants the identity of Marco’s killer. That’s something that Sidwell’s been desperate to find out for quite a while now. And Britt would be risking her life just going to have that conversation with Sidwell. But I think she would sacrifice herself for Rocco in a heartbeat.
General Hospital: Britt May Be a Goner after she Finishes the Prototype
But I also bet Sidwell would demand that Britt has to stick around and complete the prototype. And since it’s likely a weapon, that could put her at risk as well, because you know, Sidwell plans to use it. Plus, he might kill Britt once her work is done.
So, she can’t reveal to anybody that Sidwell had her make a weapon from Faison’s final research, or he might kill Britt simply because he blames her for talking Marco into taking that medication and that’s why Cullum killed him.
Either way, whether it’s the Huntington’s or the lack of meds or working for dangerous men like Sidwell and Cullum, Britt obviously knows she’s on borrowed time and I think she would agree to give it up to save Rocco. She loves him like a son, even though that whole storyline is so weird and creepy.
So, we’ll have to wait and see if our leaker is right. And Britt winds up sticking her neck out and putting her life literally on the line to save Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening) and Dante Falconeri‘s (Dominic Zamprogna) son.
Then of course, we’re waiting to see if the other leak comes to fruition. And Cullum finally gets what’s coming to him. So, I think Sidwell taking him out would be fantastic, but we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.
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Jason Lewis played sexy waiter-turned-actor Jerry “Smith” Jerrod on HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
Summer House stars West Wilson and Amanda Batula’s relationship is still going strong — even with the public backlash.
“West and Amanda are still dating,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly, revealing that “the cast doesn’t think they’re going to last.”
Despite their costars’ doubts about the romance, West, 31, and Amanda, 34, are moving forward together.
“West took Amanda to meet his parents already in May,” the insider says. “So they are getting serious.”
West and Amanda caused a stir in March when they confirmed their platonic relationship had turned into something more.
The timing of their relationship raised eyebrows as it came just months after Amanda and now-estranged husband Kyle Cooke announced in January that they are getting divorced after four years of marriage.
West’s past relationship with Summer House castmate Ciara Miller, who was once one of Amanda’s best friends, also made many fans do a double take.
West and Ciara, 30, dated in 2023, and although their relationship ended badly, they remained flirty with one another. In fact, throughout season 10 of Summer House, which filmed in summer 2025, West and Ciara appeared to be rekindling their romance and even made out during the season finale.
West Wilson made an eyebrow-raising comment about Amanda Batula and Ciara Miller’s friendship weeks before news of their love triangle broke. During the February 17 episode of his “Show Me Something” podcast, West broke down the dynamic between Amanda and estranged husband Kyle Cooke that fans are seeing as Summer House season 10 continues to […]
After West and Amanda went public with their romance, a source exclusively told Us that Ciara was “heartbroken” and felt “betrayed” by the pair’s actions.
A separate insider told Us in April that West and Ciara had been hooking up as recently as “about three to four weeks ago,” and she had no idea about his relationship with Amanda.
West, meanwhile, denied in April that there was any “overlap” between his relationships.
Kyle, for his part, confronted Amanda about her and West’s timeline during the In the City premiere, which premiered on Tuesday, May 19.
“Can you honestly say though, right through Thanksgiving [2025], for that matter, even if it was an emotional affair with West?” Kyle asked Amanda in a scene filmed on April 9. “I hear things.”
Amanda Batula, West Wilson. Courtesy of Amanda Batula/Instagram
Amanda was shocked by the insinuation that she had any type of affair, telling Kyle, “Nothing was happening!”
She then screamed at her estranged spouse, “I was so committed to you. All I wanted was to make it work.”
While the timeline of when Amanda and West officially got together is unknown, fans will get a front row seat to the couple’s first conversations with their castmates during the three-part Summer House season 10 reunion, which begins airing on May 26.
In the official trailer for the reunion, which was released on Tuesday, West clapped back at the idea that his relationship with Amanda was considered such a big issue.
Ciara Miller is still sorting through her feelings after longtime friend Amanda Batula started seeing her ex-boyfriend, and their Summer House costar, West Wilson, earlier this spring. “Ciara has told friends that if they really are in love, she will accept it,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly, noting that if West, 31, and Amanda, […]
“This isn’t like a sex scandal. It was, like, hanging out,” West explained after host Andy Cohen asked whether he and Amanda are “in love.”
Ciara, for her part, didn’t mince words in the trailer when she addressed her ex and former BFF Amanda, who were seated across from her on the couches.
“Over the past six years, I have been your f***ing champion,” Ciara told Amanda. “I couldn’t fathom that I would be sitting here pissed that you’re f***ing my ex.”
Ciara went on to claim that West “wants to embarrass me. He wants to get his last little word. And I hope it works because he’s with you to spite me.”
Summer House’s three-part reunion begins on Bravo Tuesday, May 26, at 8 p.m. ET.
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Recently, Marvel Studios released The Punisher: One Last Kill on Disney+. At the same time, the show was seen as something of a gamble. The Punisher hadn’t had his own show in over seven years, and he hadn’t even popped back up in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. Between this and the growing amount of superhero fatigue among audiences, a new Punisher project seemed like something of a risk. Making it a one-off event rather than a new series? That seemed even riskier. However, that gamble paid off, and The Punisher: One Last Kill ended up being one of the most talked-about Marvel productions in recent memory.
How do we know the gamble has paid off? According to reliable Marvel scooper Daniel Richtman, Marvel has given the green light to a new project that follows up on The Punisher: One Last Kill. He doesn’t yet know what that will look like, but things are clearly looking up for Punisher actor Jon Bernthal. Between the success of One Last Kill, this new mystery project, and a prominent appearance in this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s clear that Disney is ready to go all-in on Frank Castle.
What Will The Next Punisher Project Be?
Though he confirmed the development of another Punisher project, Daniel Richtman did not have any insight as to what the project could look like. There’s a possibility that Disney wants to create another special event like One Last Kill to see if they can replicate the earlier specials’ success. Should a follow-up be successful, we might see more one-offs featuring various Marvel characters (personally, I’d kill for a Jessica Jones special) that Disney isn’t ready to devote an entire season to. On the more ambitious end, Disney might want to give Punisher his own movie, hoping audiences who dig his appearance in Brand New Day will enjoy seeing him headline his own solo film.
The most likely scenario, though, is that we’ll get a new Punisher series (either a solo series or the rumored Heroes For Hire series) picking up where One Last Kill left off. Some fans were frustrated by that special event because it left some major plot threads unresolved: Ma Gnucci was still alive, Punisher’s neighborhood was still a warzone, and he was still being hunted by a small army of thugs chasing Gnucci’s reward money. While it was obviously annoying to see One Last Kill end right when it was getting good, it’s smart money that this special was basically a secret pilot gauging fans’ interest in a solo Punisher series.
The Personal Touch
While some fans have mocked the actor’s range (like, half of the guy’s dialogue is just muttering “no” repeatedly), Jon Bernthal is the primary reason for the Punisher’s success in the MCU. The actor perfectly captures both the roaring rage and hidden vulnerabilities of the character. Plus, he seems personally committed to bringing the character’s story to life, which is why he was co-writer for The Punisher: One Last Kill. Now, it seems, the actor wants to continue applying the personal touch to all of his future Marvel appearances.
In a recent interview with Esquire, the actor laid out a fairly clear stipulation: “I’m really down to keep doing more. But I think I have to be the one that’s making it.” In other words, he would like to continue writing, producing, and generally shaping the future for the character who helped make him famous. Only time will tell if Punisher really comes back and if Bernthal is allowed creative input, but, as with Ryan Reynolds’ love of all things Deadpool, it’s always refreshing to see an actor so invested in their most famous character.
Assuming Daniel Richtman is correct that we’ll be getting more Punisher content after Brand New Day, there’s not much else to say. Except, of course, the obvious: “Welcome back, Frank!”
Video game fans have a lot to be excited about this year, and it all starts next week with the release of 007 First Light. The new James Bond video game stars Patrick Gibson (Dexter: Original Sin) as a young James Bond, and it will follow the iconic spy in his earliest days, fresh out of MI6 academy and eager to make a name for himself. The game is launching around the world next week on May 27, or May 26 for those who have pre-ordered and upgraded to the deluxe edition. Another big video game coming down the pipe later this year is Marvel’s Wolverine, which is dropping exclusively on PS5 on September 15. The game is being developed by Insomniac, the same studio that delivered Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Spider-Man 2.
If recent years have taught fans anything, it’s that live-service games are a massive gamble. However, one of the longest-running success stories in the live-service game genre has been Destiny 2, which has been full of players, life, and new updates for years now. Unfortunately, though, all good things must come to an end. The official Destiny X account confirmed in a heartfelt post this afternoon that the game will release its final update on June 9. Following the release of the final update, the development team will move on to focus on other projects, but the post makes it clear that there will be a select team who stick around to make sure the game is playable for years to come, like Destiny still is today. This is truly the end of an era for one of the most iconic fantasy franchises in modern history — almost every gamer who has picked up a controller in the last 10 years has played Destiny at some point or another.
What Was Nathan Fillion’s Role in ‘Destiny’?
Since the first Destiny, Nathan Fillion has provided the voice work for Cayde-6, who has been one of the franchise’s key characters for years now. Fillion made his debut as Cayde-6 all the way back in 2014, and he lent his voice to the character as recently as 2024. Destiny 2 has seen plenty of big stars come and go over the years, including the late Lance Reddick (John Wick: Chapter 4), Nolan North (Uncharted), and even Bill Nighy (Lazarus).
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of the Destiny franchise.
Love Is Blind alum Alexa Lemieux and estranged husband Brennon Lemieux are trying to keep their dynamic cordial amid their divorce.
“I feel like I’m in a really great place in my life,” Alexa, 31, said on the Thursday, May 21, episode of the “He Said G Said” podcast. “Obviously, divorce is tough and while things are happening it’s tough. We were still living together in the same house up until two months ago.”
Alexa and Brennon, 35, got married in 2021 after meeting sight unseen on Love Is Blind season 3. The pair welcomed daughter Vienna in 2024, one year before Alexa announced their separation in December 2025. (Brennon filed for divorce one month earlier.)
“You’re living under the same roof, and it’s a very different dynamic [while] going through a divorce,” Alexa said. “You’re going to things and then you’re coming back under the same roof, then you’re also dealing with s*** online and people saying things, and you’re still in the same house.”
Love Is Blind season 3 couple Alexa and Brennon Lemieux were married for four years before going their separate ways. “After much reflection and many heartfelt conversations, we have made the difficult decision to end our marriage,” Alexa wrote via Instagram in December 2025. “This choice was not made lightly, and it comes with a […]
Despite any awkwardness, Alexa believes that she and Brennon “are doing pretty well” maintaining an amicable relationship.
“[We’re] trying to have dinner together still and trying to find a friendly dynamic … and trying to get a healthy [relationship] and you have to coparent,” the Netflix reality star added. “Like, [we] have a child who still gets up in the middle of the night, that’s already hard when you’re more of a team. I think we try to keep things as normal as possible.”
According to Alexa, it is “much easier” now that they no longer live in the same house.
“I can just speak for myself, but I am doing really well,” she stated. “I’m really happy and grateful that I get a second chance at life. I’m excited to start dating again, like, my marriage was the first serious relationship I’d ever been in. I never dated seriously before that. … I’m excited to go on a date and get flowers, just like, be wooed a little bit.”
Alexa Alfia and Brennon Lemieux got engaged and married during Love Is Blind season 3, but went their separate ways years later. “I’m head over heels in love with her, I was absolute in the way that I felt,” Brennon exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2022, noting it was “nerve-wracking” thinking about the possibility […]
She continued, “I’m excited to go from there and just talk to people. It’s been fun to be a little flirty.”
Before Alexa dives back into the dating scene, she acknowledges that she and Brennon are “still figuring [their dynamic] out.”
“We’re texting right now while I’m here,” she added. “That’s someone who’s going to be in my life for the rest of my life, and I commend myself for how much I’ve seen [the] big picture of this entire situation. It’s so easy to get caught up.”
Alexa continued, “All I need from him is to be a good parent, and he does that, so I’m good. … I wish him all the happiness.”
More than a week into the credentials controversy surrounding Cheyenne Bryant, Dr. Umar Johnson is weighing in. His name has been mentioned amid Bryant doubling down on having a doctorate. Despite her refusal to show receipts, Dr. Umar is standing by Cheyenne. He claims, “She hasn’t hurt anybody.” Adding that Black women, specifically, are attacking Bryant over her looks and career.
RELATED: Aht! Aht! Cheyenne Bryant’s Comment Section Is Split After She Shares Message About “Miserable People”(VIDEO)
Dr. Umar Johnson Says He Hasn’t “Seen Any Wrongdoing” From Cheyenne Bryant
On Wednesday (May 20), ‘The Art of Dialogue’ podcast released a sit-down with Dr. Umar Johnson about Bryant. In the nine-minute clip, Umar began with a direct message, addressing Cheyenne as doctor. “She says she is. That’s enough for me,” he said of using the title. He then clarified that he has a real doctorate before explaining his credentials. He recapped his brief following of her career, the transcript issue she experienced with the university she attended, and her best-selling book, ‘Live Your Promise.’ He also touched on the media rounds she’s been making, before saying she’s been “the butt of everyone’s joke” for the last two weeks.
“Cheyenne Bryant having or not having a doctorate does nothing to my doctorate. It does nothing to my career, it does nothing to my profession. I don’t have a need to investigate her, I don’t have a need to slander her, to belittle her, to malign her, to assault her. I don’t have no need to do anything against that black woman because she hasn’t hurt anybody. She is a life coach, and you don’t have to be certified, have a doctorate, or have a license to be a life coach. She ain’t misdiagnose nobody, she ain’t done no clinic work without a license. I haven’t seen any wrongdoing from Dr. Cheyenne Bryant.”
Dr. Umar then said that he believes “mostly Black women are attacking her out of jealousy.” Johnson added that women are jealous of Cheyenne Bryant’s look, her life coach career and her podcast success. “They wish they were in her position and because they are not, they are trying to destroy that woman,” Umar said. He later added that Black women’s problems with each other exceeds those of Black men.
“What they are doing to Dr. Cheyenne Bryant is absolutely unacceptable. They are destroying this woman more than Donald Trump…Candace Owens…Erika Kirk…The enemies of African people have not received the type of vitriol that Dr. Cheyenne Bryant is receiving. If y’all want to expose it, expose it and be done with it.”
Umar said he can relate to Bryant because he’s previously had to defend his credentials. Watch the full interview below.
Social Media Sounds Off Over Umar’s Take
In The Shade Room’s Instagram comment section, over 4,200 reactions appeared to be divided. While some roommates seemed to side with Umar, others saw through his stance and called out the singling of Black women. A few others likened Umar and Bryant’s hustle, implying they’re two peas in a pod.
To clarify, Johnson does have a Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology) degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. However, he is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Pennsylvania. His dissertation can be found HERE.
@ashleybrittany commented, “N*ggas is pick mes too. It’s simple she is a life coach and that is fine not a Dr and shouldn’t have branded herself as someone who can legally give medical advice. Let’s wrap this up by tomorrow.”
“Maya Angelou was brilliant even though she never earned a formal college degree. She also didn’t go around lying about it,” @thecoreyshow wrote.
“Saying she’s receiving hate because of her looks and not the fact that she lied about her credentials really blew me lol cause what,” @just_octavia added.
“He not lying,” @motorcity.smiitty said.
“I’m about to be a Dr too then, since it don’t matter fr ! Call me Dr. DRE,” @slaywithdre weighed in.
“He had me up until he said Black women are each other’s biggest enemies, because for me, my biggest supporters, allies, advocates, mentors are BLACK WOMEN….and I love us,” @layo_g wrote.
“We love tearing each other apart & down… that shyt crazy to me,” @droppsofhoney commented.
“She received a doctorate from the school he built,” @talk_yo_tihs_mas joked.
“He don’t see no wrong doing, because he wrong doing 🤦🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️ They got the same hustle 😂😂,” @qshaw2989 said.
“If women were jealous, she wouldn’t have gotten to the heights she got to in the first place. People feel deceived and dismissed. Period,” @crecentimaninovell added.
“As a Black woman WITH a doctorate, this absolutely harms US. We are already constantly looked down on, disrespected, and have our credentials questioned when we are in our professional settings. Unfortunately, this will set US back even further. So it is that serious, just because she looks good doesn’t mean that WE won’t be harmed by this & looks won’t save us when our validity is questioned,” @tiaramarlise wrote.
@constav said, “It’s not an Attack when you ask for Accountability.”
“Destroying her by asking her to show her credentials? Y’all will do anything but hold people accountable. If she cannot show her credentials, she should not be calling herself a doctor,” @victorskyes added.
“The takes have been overkill. You would’ve thought she was performing surgery without the proper credentials,” @_dosesofdee commented.
“That woman never said anything that wasn’t true and she displayed complete emotionally intelligence in all them sessions she had.. you won’t get me to bash a woman who looked cam newton in the face and told him about himself,” @dominiquedaniell3 said.
SEE ADDITIONAL REACTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW.
What’s Going On With Dr. Cheyenne Bryant?
In one week, Cheyenne Bryant twice defended her credentials as a “doctor.” Her press runs were meant to focus on her book, but social media users have instead demanded answers about her qualifications. In a Fox5 DC interview, she defended on her “doctor” title, but flat out refused to provide proof of her doctorate.
“…I’ve earned the title, I have multiple degrees and I’m not going to prove anything to anybody and we’re going to leave it just as that,” told journalist Marissa Mitchell.
Earlier this week, Bryant appeared unbothered in an Instagram video, which she captioned with a message about “miserable people” resenting what they lack.
RELATED: Sheesh! Brooke Bailey Reportedly Throws Jabs At Cheyenne Bryant With Message About “Honesty” In The Mental Health Community
What Do You Think Roomies?
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Taylor Swift clearly knows the power of a neutral sandal. The star often favors heeled versions when going out, and her latest versatile style — block-heeled sandals in classic black — is one you can wear over and over again. That kind of versatility is what drew Us to find a nearly identical version of the summer-ready shoes with a price tag that’s under $25.
While out in New York City, Swift wore a pair of open-toed sandals with two front straps and thick block heels. Aside from its secure, height-boosting base, the shoe’s dark tone and ventilated silhouette made it a practical choice for the warm summer season. Similarly, this budget-friendly version (currently on sale for $23!) features thick heels, wide front straps and thin toe straps, creating a modern cutout look.
Get the Pennysue Block Heel Square Toe Mules for $23 (originally $27) at Walmart! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.
Taylor Swift and the color red go together like peanut butter and jelly. The showgirl is known for her signature red lipstick and frequently integrates the bold hue into her wardrobe. Case in point, she just stepped out in buckle-style sandals for a stroll through Manhattan, and the romantic pair had burning red details we […]
This backless style is easy to wear, as it can be slid on and off, no extra straps or laces required. The affordable pair is also instantly elevated by its subtly transparent front straps, which provide a dash of slick, glossy texture. Like Swift’s sandals, the chunky heels and neutral color can be dressed up or down, and since its heels aren’t toweringly tall, they can be effortlessly worn from day to night, too.
As Swift showed, this summer-ready shoe looks especially chic when paired with other neutral colors. During her evening at the members’ club Zero Bond, the singer coordinated her footwear with a small black handbag, beige trousers, and a white button-down shirt cinched with a thin black belt. The affordable version would look equally sharp in an all-neutral outfit with similar shades, such as a shirtdress or lightweight trousers and a silky blouse. For date nights or cocktail hour, a midi or mini-length dress with subtle accessories would also create a breezy, effortless look.
The practical shoe’s adaptable features also make it approachable for daytime wear. The combination of textures and height would bring a polished touch to a casual top or T-shirt with jeans. If you work in an office, they’d also create a clean base for a printed blouse and skirt or trousers while on the job.
The warm-weather-friendly shoe is a hit with customers as well. One shopper with narrow feet shared that the silhouette is “comfortable yet stylish,” and “goes with everything.” Another noted that the footwear, which they originally bought for a bridal shower, can be worn with “jeans or a dress” and is “perfect [for] daytime or a night out.”
When it comes to footwear, this effortless sandal style’s practical, polished details make it an MVP you’ll reach for time and time again. The pair’s versatile color and shape are easy to wear from day to night, with a bonus height boost from thick, walkable heels. Plus, with Swift’s stamp of approval, the summertime sandal is a style that’s fit for any occasion — no paparazzi required.
Get the Pennysue Block Heel Square Toe Mules for $23 (originally $27) at Walmart! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.
We’re always looking to Taylor Swift for outfit inspiration — and her latest might just include her most approachable shoe style yet. During a recent outing, the pop star wore eye-catching heeled sandals that retail for over $1,000, but we found a nearly identical version at a price that’s 98% lower. While out in the […]
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