Minority Mindset

Honestly, the plot of the final episode of *The Summer I Turned Pretty* doesn’t really need to make sense. It quickly jumps to Jeremiah becoming a successful chef in Boston after only seven months, complete with a pop-up event he’s running. Before you can even wonder how any of this is funded, the event is magically moved to the Cousins’ beach house – just to give us one last look at the property. The important thing is that Jeremiah is doing well, both personally and professionally. We see him happily kissing Denise, and even his usually critical father shows up to express his pride. Meanwhile, Denise and Steven manage to secure funding for their business, setting them up for a move to Silicon Valley, and Taylor joins them to handle PR. Everyone’s problems are neatly wrapped up, and the show can move on to more interesting things.

Simu Liu is preparing to reprise his role as Shang-Chi in *Avengers: Doomsday*, marking only his second time playing the character in a live-action film. He recently told the Japanese publication The River that he’s feeling nervous about filming alongside so many talented actors. He shared his thoughts (translated from Japanese using Google Translate)…

Season 3 of Tulsa King finds Dwight Manfredi setting his sights on a new business: a local distillery in Oklahoma. This venture gets complicated because the distillery owner’s daughter, Cleo, is someone Mitch Keller, one of Manfredi’s men, used to date. Manfredi’s attempt to buy the distillery quickly leads to conflict with Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), a powerful and unscrupulous businessman with many connections.

Kathy was showering when the doorbell rang. Joe, in the kitchen, saw the postman through the front window. He told the carrier Kathy wasn’t home and asked him to leave the package on the porch. When the postman asked for a signature, Joe went outside. The postman’s pen didn’t work, so Joe went back inside to find another one. A quick glance at the man’s shoes – tan suede with racing stripes, a style postmen didn’t wear in the 70s – saved Joe’s life. As the camera focuses on the man, we see Joe quickly realize something is terribly wrong. The scene cuts to the man pulling a machine gun from his bag, followed by Joe throwing a pot of hot coffee at him, starting a violent fight that destroys the kitchen. Despite the speed of the action, the actor conveys the shift in Joe’s understanding – from a vague unease to the realization that this isn’t a postman, and he’s in danger – in just three seconds and four steps.

The new film, *One Battle After Another*, pits Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary, against his longtime rival, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, portrayed by Sean Penn. Critics are calling this their strongest work in years. Newcomer Chase Infiniti shines as Bob’s daughter Willa, alongside compelling performances from Teyana Taylor as Willa’s mother Perfidia, and Regina Hall and Benicio del Toro as former allies. However, the most praised aspect is director Anderson’s ability to capture the current cultural climate. As Vulture’s Alison Willmore notes, he’s successfully updated the story from the Reagan era for a modern audience. Read the best reviews of *One Battle After Another* below.