Minority Mindset

2006 was a fantastic year for movies, offering everything from visually stunning films to compelling crime dramas and biographical stories. Featuring stars like Will Smith, Christian Bale, and Clive Owen, it’s hard to find a bad movie from that year. Now, twenty years later, these films still prove just how strong cinema was during that decade.

According to data from FlixPatrol, NCIS is currently more popular than Marshals, the newest show in the Yellowstone universe. Marshals is the fourth most-watched series on Paramount+ in the US and will finish its first season on May 24th. NCIS is in second place, two spots ahead.

Okay, so director Kyle Balda, who you probably know from the Minions movies, has done something really interesting with The Sheep Detectives. He’s moved away from fully computer-generated animation and blended it with live-action – it’s roughly half and half. The sheep themselves are animated, but they feel surprisingly real, both in how they look and how they act. They’ve actually given these fluffy investigators some genuine emotional weight, which is a nice surprise. Here’s the buzz – or should I say, the bleating – from other critics about the film.

This whole thing started back in February when the FCC Chairman, Carr, announced he was looking into The View because they interviewed James Talarico, a candidate running for Senate in Texas. He argued that The View isn’t a real news show, so they should have given Talarico’s opponents, like Jasmine Crockett, the same opportunity to be interviewed. Now, ABC is saying the FCC is violating the First Amendment by trying to force them to follow this “equal time” rule. They’re worried this could set a dangerous precedent and stifle free speech, not just for The View, but for everyone. What’s really frustrating is that he didn’t seem to have a problem with interviews leaning the other way – like when Texas Republicans were on The Glenn Beck Program. It feels like he’s singling out The View unfairly.

Everyone’s talking about two popular series on Paramount+ this week, plus an exciting crime drama that’s almost at the end of its current season. If you’re looking for something shorter to watch over the weekend, check out original series like Coldwater and Girl Taken, or other shows by Sheridan such as Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown. However, only a few Paramount+ shows are truly global hits right now, and these three are leading the way.

I remember being blown away by Clint Eastwood when I first saw him as the Man With No Name back in ’64. He really revitalized the Western, and that mysterious, incredibly skilled bounty hunter became the blueprint for so many cool, flawed heroes we see in movies today – not just in action films, but even in sci-fi like Boba Fett! Honestly, cinema’s been richer ever since. As much as I admire Eastwood, especially for the Dollars Trilogy, I think one of his co-stars actually shone a little brighter. It’s not a knock against his talent at all; it’s just that the kind of character he played – that stoic, enigmatic figure – allowed another actor to really steal some scenes.