Entertainment

The Wizard of the Kremlin’ Review: The New Rasputin

History is littered with stories of the man behind the man — the one who was pulling the strings, orchestrating the movements, watching it all happen. Though text at the start of “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” directed by Olivier Assayas, informs us that this film is a “work of fiction with artistic intent,” it is based, in part, on the story of such a man: Vladislav Surkov, a Russian politician and businessman who was a close aide to the Russian president Vladimir Putin until being abruptly dismissed in 2020. Surkov was considered by some to be both an éminence grise in the Kremlin and a spin doctor, manipulating the media to maintain control.

His avatar in this movie is Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), a man with a gentle demeanor and sophisticated taste in art and literature. The screenplay, which Assayas wrote with Emmanuel Carrère based on Giuliano da Empoli’s 2022 novel, introduces us to Baranov via an American journalist and scholar of Russia named Lawrence Rowland (Jeffrey Wright). Rowland has written an article about Baranov in Foreign Affairs magazine — “Vadim Baranov and the

Invention of Fake Democracy” — and it seems to have attracted the attention of Baranov himself. While in Moscow in 2019, Rowland exchanges messages over social media regarding the 1924 proto-Orwellian novel “We,” by the Bolshevik writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, with a person he does not know. Accepting his correspondent’s invitation to talk in person, he travels to their country home, and discovers that it is Baranov himself.

From there, “The Wizard of the Kremlin” largely takes the form of a story within a story. Baranov walks Rowland through his life, explaining what Rowland got right and what he got wrong in his article, though it feels as if Baranov is rummaging back over his life looking for the answer to a question he can’t quite articulate to himself.

It begins with Baranov’s student days in the early 1990s, in the heady “new Russia,” just after Soviet communism had collapsed. Everything felt possible and money flowed freely. As Baranov recalls it, those days felt like a never-ending bash, or maybe an orgy, where you might watch a naked man on a leash follow a punk rock singer around at a house party. As an avant-garde theater student and then director, Baranov lived a life of art and poetry with his girlfriend, Ksenia (Alicia Vikander). When the vulgar but fun Dmitri Sidorov (Tom Sturridge), the inventor of Russia’s first commercial bank, enters their lives, things grow brighter, then more sour.

But Baranov moves on, taking a job in trashy reality television production, and this is where the historical tale begins to take shape. “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is really a movie about how Russia went from those heady post-Soviet days to the rise of the oligarchy to, eventually, the establishment of Vladimir Putin (a mostly chilling Jude Law) as president, a former K.G.B. officer who valued power over money. The oligarchs who choose Putin as Boris Yeltsin’s successor realize too late that this man will not be their pawn. “What interests me is restoring integrity to the Russian Federation,” he tells Baranov. And that means consolidating power — in himself.

Baranov, with his talent for weaving a story, is useful to Putin, and at this point he has little idealism left. As he grows nihilistic, believing that truth is whatever he wishes to make of it, so does his country. A background in theater and reality TV proves useful: He turns out to be a communications genius, figuring out how to manipulate political theater to not just represent reality, but invent it. They call him “the new Rasputin.”

As you may already have surmised from the casting, “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is not in Russian; the actors speak in English, which suggests this is an account of Russian history intended for non-Russian audiences. Even with its 136-minute running time, that’s a lot of ground to cover, so it moves at a good clip. This has an interesting dramatizing effect: We see history progress through Baranov’s eyes in broad arcs, and figures like Putin, who often occupy daily headlines, become more like characters in a play.

And while that can result in the oversimplification of a person, it can also be useful when trying to figure out why a person does the things they do. In a play or a movie, people have roles, psychological traits and motivations that drive their character arcs. Here, the lightly fictionalized version of an authoritarian is driven not by the desire for something like money, like the oligarchs, but by the desire for power. Projecting an image of strength is part of that desire; propaganda is the means by which one does this.

It’s a useful framework for understanding leaders around the world, and Baranov is the ideal cipher, someone who intimately understands how easily people’s minds are swayed and molded. That peek behind the curtain is the greatest strength of “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” and also its scariest element: The notion that in an age where truth can be manufactured, the people doing the manufacturing hold so much of reality in their hands. But even they can also be tossed aside when they stop being useful to the powerful. And then what was the point of all that wizardry?

The New York times

Entertainment

JENNIFER LOPEZ IS LOVING HER POST-DIVORCE LIFE

After her most recent short-lived marriage, Jennifer Lopez has taken sly digs at ex-husband Ben Affleck more than once. The “Kiss of the Spider Woman” star appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in May 2026, where she was asked about her post-divorce love life. “You’re single right now,” Jimmy Kimmel noted, and Lopez gave an enthusiastic reply. “I should have done it sooner! I’ve been doing it all wrong!” she exclaimed while laughing. Kimmel had a recommendation for how Lopez could find her next beau, and playfully suggested she should sign up for “The Bachelorette.” The “Hustlers” star shot down that idea and explained that she enjoyed being single too much. “Are you crazy? I’m not doing anything to ruin how I feel right now,” she told Kimmel. Even though she seemed opposed to the idea of settling down again, Lopez didn’t completely rule out the idea of future romance. “I’ll meet somebody, somewhere, one day,” she said.

In 2025, rumors swirled that Lopez had potentially met her next somebody while filming the rom-com “Office Romance” with co-star Brett Goldstein. Lopez and Goldstein reportedly had terrific chemistry both on and off camera. “They’re both professional … when the cameras are rolling, but in between, it’s a flirt fest,” an inside source told InTouch in April 2025. Another insider claimed that while Goldstein seemed very into her, Lopez wasn’t interested in pursuing him as a proper boyfriend. “She had fun with him … but it was never going to turn into anything serious for her,” the source told InTouch in April 2026.

Jennifer Lopez has actually been quite frank about how her past husbands and partners fell short. While appearing on “The Howard Stern Show” in October 2025, Jennifer Lopez gave the inside story on her four divorces. Howard Stern asked her if she had ever “truly been loved,” and the actor didn’t mince words, responding, “No.” Going into further detail, Jennifer Lopez not-so-subtly confirmed that Ben Affleck was always the problem. “When I got divorced this last time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. Her divorce from Affleck drove her to find various therapists to get to the root of why she had been married and divorced so many times. “What I learned, it’s not that I’m not lovable — it’s that they’re not capable,” Lopez said of her past partners’ ability to give true love. Though she said her past partners were very generous with material things, when it came to love and real intimacy, she said, “they don’t have it in them.”

It would seem that calling it quits with Affleck was the right decision for Lopez, and she has reportedly been thriving since finalizing her divorce in January 2025. “She’s been having the time of her life this summer,” a source told People in August 2025. Besides all the self-reflection that Lopez mentioned, the actor-singer also found joy performing throughout her “Up All Night” music tour. “It’s been a great focus for her. She’s been doing what she really enjoys,” the insider added. Given how happy and fulfilled she seems now, perhaps it may actually be a while until we hear that Lopez is set to walk down the aisle again.

Nicki Swift

Entertainment

Can Gen Z revive moviegoing?

Hollywood can breathe a sigh of relief: Generation Z is not only going to the movies, it’s driving box office growth.

During the pandemic, when theaters shut down and streaming became a dominant force in the media landscape, fears rose that this young cohort would shun the big screen as they matured into more engaged consumers.

However, this generation, which ranges from around 14 to 29 years old, is one of the most active moviegoing demographics and attends more films per year than some older generations, according to data from Fandango.

In 2025, members of Gen Z saw an average of seven movies in theaters — matching average viewership among millennials — while members of Generation X and baby boomers saw around six movies on average, Fandango found.

“Gen Z is driving moviegoer trends today, and I think people are shocked,” said Jason Dorsey, president and co-founder of The Center for Generational Kinetics and co-author of “Zconomy.” “They’re like, ‘Oh, Gen Z doesn’t want to leave their house.’ That’s not true. Gen Z absolutely wants to leave their house — probably more than you know.”

Gen Z accounted for nearly 40% of all movie audiences in North America in 2025, according to data from Comscore.

As teens and 20-somethings become the dominant generation at the box office, they’re also shaping the future of moviegoing — and studios and movie theaters are taking note.

“Not only are we seeing a bigger and bigger percentage of Gen Z make up our overall audience, but their frequency is increasing year over year,” Carrie Trotter, senior vice president of marketing at AMC, told CNBC. “So they have become one of the most important audiences for us, and I see that in the future, it may become the absolute most important audience for us.”

Building loyalty among Gen Z

Helping to fuel Gen Z’s affinity for the movies is the fact that it remains one of the more inexpensive forms of entertainment.

“Ticket pricing has gone up, as it does, but when you compare it to the year-over-year inflation rate, it’s on par, if not less,” said Steve Buck of EntTelligence, a movie data firm. “When you think about Gen Z, they are cost-conscious, but they’re opening up their wallet.”

Gen Zers came of age around the time of Covid, which Dorsey called a “generation-defining experience.” This cohort doesn’t know a time without social media or smartphones and is incredibly cost-conscious, having grown up in a time of great uncertainty, he said.

“Covid uprooted all of their plans,” Dorsey said. “They were going to school, going to college … everything got turned upside down and it lasted for a long period of time. So, we see them much more fiscally conscious. I’ll say it generally, like they’re really conservative with their money in general, much more thrifty than we would expect for somebody at their age.”

This has led a significant portion of Gen Z to opt for loyalty programs at movie theaters, like AMC’s A-list, Regal Unlimited and Cinemark’s Movie Club, that reward them for money spent or allow them to see multiple films a month for a subscription fee.

“Gen Z over-indexes in the AMC A-List tier, and their participation has grown triple since the pandemic,” Trotter said, noting that AMC’s program also allows customers to book tickets for other loyalty members that are part of their friend group.

“We’re trying to make it as frictionless as possible so we can encourage as much moviegoing and this social atmosphere,” she said.

At Rutgers Cinema in Piscataway, New Jersey, general manager Alex DelVecchio is keeping ticket prices low for the the students at nearby Rutgers University. Students who show a school ID pay just $5 for matinee screenings and $9.50 for all other general admissions. That’s quite a bit cheaper than the nationwide average of nearly $13.50, according to EntTelligence.

“We try to keep it as cheap as we can,” DelVecchio said.

But it’s not all about affordability. DelVecchio said he also runs promos like free slushies on Wednesdays and looks for ways to engage his predominantly college-age consumer.

For the release of Warner Bros.′ “It: Chapter One” in 2017, DelVecchio said the company put a clown in every theater, posted red balloons all over campus and had a staff member wear a yellow jacket and play with a paper boat outside to mimic iconic scenes from the movie.

“We started selling everything out,” he said. “And, then, once you get the momentum you can keep it as long as you keep playing what they want.”

While Gen Zers are selective about their spending, they are willing to shell out for experiences, particularly social activities they can do with their friends that give them an excuse to disconnect from their phones.

“This is a way for them to come and spend time with their friends and their family, and that social experience really outweighs the movie itself that they’re seeing,” Trotter said. “But also there’s a little bit of FOMO [fear of missing out], like they want to be part of the excitement and their fandom of that fuels their desire to be the first to see these movies and be part of the conversation as it’s happening.”

And while Gen Z enjoys staying off their phones during the movie, they still use social media to share their thoughts on films and see what others think of new and old titles.

Letterboxd, an online platform where moviegoers can track movies they’ve watched and post reviews, has become so ubiquitous with this generation that Hollywood has come to refer to Gen Z interchangeably as the Letterboxd generation.

The site currently has more than 29 million users, with more than half of that base under the age of 35. Through Letterboxd, Gen Z is relying more on community reviews than those of official movie critics when choosing what movies to see in theaters.

What Gen Z wants to watch

Of course, Gen Z has some genre-specific preferences, and Hollywood appears to be playing to them.

Similar to their elders, this age group often flocks to cinemas for horror films and R-rated fare. But they diverge from previous generations in their interest in anime and video game adaptations based on games they played growing up. Gen Zers have also shown a penchant for older, rereleased titles, leaning into the nostalgia of moviegoing.

In 2025, “A Minecraft Movie,” based on the popular online game, was the most attended film by Gen Z, according to data from EntTelligence. The Warner Bros. film generated more than $424 million domestically during its theatrical run, the second-highest take of the year, and tallied $960 million globally.

Meanwhile Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle” saw the largest percentage of Gen Z in its audiences, with 42% of tickets being sold to this members of the generation.

So far in 2026, Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is the most attended film by Gen Z. It’s secured $425 million domestically, the highest-grossing film of the year so far, and $982 million globally.

Box office analysts expect films like Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Universal’s “Minions & Monsters,” Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” to see a significant portion of ticket sales from Gen Z audiences.

“I think theaters have a real opening right now to be that in-person social experience for Gen Z,” Dorsey said. “It’s still fragile, the generation is still finicky, but there’s a massive opportunity for them to be able to build on the fact that they can create these wonderful in-person experiences and in a more affordable way.”

CNBC

Entertainment

Kylie Jenner would ‘say yes’ if Timothée Chalamet proposed

Kylie Jenner is reportedly in a very happy and stable phase of her relationship with actor Timothée Chalamet, according to new comments attributed to a source speaking to Entertainment Tonight (ET).

The insider described Jenner as being emotionally invested in the relationship, claiming, ‘Kylie is so in love with Timothée. She’s told Kris she would say yes if he proposed.’

According to the same source, the dynamic between the pair is grounded in ease and compatibility rather than pressure or expectation. The insider noted that Chalamet’s personality plays a key role in the relationship’s balance, saying, ‘Timothée lets Kylie be herself and likes that she can be silly with him. They feel like they’re best friends and their personalities are a perfect fit.’

The source also highlighted Chalamet’s appreciation for Jenner’s role as a mother, adding, ‘Timothée is always telling Kylie what a great mom she is and how incredible she is with her kids.’ Jenner shares two children with rapper Travis Scott.

Adding to recent public interest in the couple, Jenner and Chalamet were also recently seen on a double date with Kendall Jenner and actor Jacob Elordi. The outing further fuelled online conversation around the group’s growing closeness, with fans noting the relaxed and social dynamic between the four during the evening.

The couple, who have been publicly linked since 2023, have increasingly stepped into the spotlight in 2026, frequently appearing together at high-profile events including NBA games and awards shows. Their courtside appearances at New York Knicks playoff matches have drawn attention recently with the pair often seen being affectionate.