‘Wonder Woman’ director slams Cameron’s criticism

‘Wonder Woman’ director slams Cameron’s criticism

LOS ANGELES

The director of “Wonder Woman” says James Cameron’s criticism of the film is “unsurprising” because he can’t understand it.

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Cameron called “the self-congratulatory back-patting” Hollywood’s been doing over the film “misguided.” Cameron says Wonder Woman is “an objectified icon.” He points to Sarah Connor, the gritty protagonist from his Terminator films, as a better role model.

“Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins fired back in a tweet Thursday night, writing that Cameron can’t understand the character because he’s not a woman. She adds that “if women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong ... then we haven’t come very far.”

“Wonder Woman” has made a global total of more than $800 million at the box office since its release in June.

Taylor Swift releases new song ‘Look What You Made Me Do’

NEW YORK

You can finally shake it off: Taylor Swift has released her new single.

The 27-year-old singer dropped the upbeat song “Look What You Made Me Do” – which uses an interpolation from Right Said Fred’s 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” – late Thursday to streaming platforms and iTunes. The song, featuring elements of pop, dance and house, includes sharp lyrics like: “Honey, I rose up from the dead I do it all the time/I got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined I check it once/Then I check it twice.”

The track ends with a voice message of Swift saying, “I’m sorry, but the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead.”

The video will premiere Sunday night on the MTV Video Music Awards. A clip of the video aired Friday on “Good Morning America.”

Some felt the song was a diss toward Kanye West, whom Swift has had issues with in the past. Last year their feud hit a new height when West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, released audio recordings that she said proved Swift gave West the go ahead for a Swift reference in the song “Famous.”

Swift’s voice message on her new song could be a reference to the audio Kardashian leaked. Others felt the opening lines of “Look What You Made Me Do” – “I don’t like your little games/Don’t like your tilted stage” – was a reference to West’s recent tour, which featured a floating stage.

The anticipation of “Look What You Made Me Do” helped Swift trend heavily on social media. The song is the first single from her sixth album, “reputation,” to be released Nov. 10.

Swift wiped her social media pages clean last week and caused a frenzy online with video snippets of slithery snake parts. Fans dissected the clues in hopes it would reveal details about her new music, and the pop star finally announced Wednesday that a new song would come this week followed by an album three months later.

Baldwin revives Trump impression

NEW YORK

Alec Baldwin has donned his blond wig to reprise his impression of President Donald Trump for NBC’s summer spinoff of “Saturday Night Live.”

Baldwin opened Thursday’s episode of “Weekend Update: Summer Edition” by satirizing Trump’s rally in Phoenix on Tuesday. In the skit , Baldwin’s Trump gave a send-off to former presidential adviser Steve Bannon, who left the administration last week. Bannon was shown as the Grim Reaper, as he has been in earlier “SNL” episodes.

“SNL” announced on Twitter on Thursday night that it will kick off its 43rd season Sept. 30 with Ryan Gosling hosting and Jay Z as musical guest.

Associated Press