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Thursday, June 29, 2023

11 VCs reveal how hard it was for their startups to fundraise in H1 2023 - TechCrunch

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Everyone knows that raising venture capital has been harder for startups lately — unless you are building an AI startup, of course. But instead of only talking to founders, we’re flipping the script today.

We wanted to hear from investors how their portcos are handling a cash-light environment. To that end, TechCrunch+ recently asked 11 VCs how the first half of 2023 bore out for their investments.

From their answers, it appears a startup’s ability to fundraise in today’s climate is based on several key factors, including capital efficiency, the market and its needs.

How bad was H1 2023?

Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy was succinct when we asked how 2023 was shaping up for his firm’s portfolio companies: “Fundraising is challenging, full stop.”

“Challenging” is a good descriptor. So is “quiet,” which is how Jason Lemkin of SaaStr Fund put it. For Kaitlyn Doyle of TechNexus Venture Collaborative, the year has been mostly “flat rounds with companies trying to delay the valuation discussion.” She added that the second quarter felt a lot like the first, with investors and startups taking a “wait and see” stance.

Other investors had slightly brighter perspectives on H1 2023. Rex Salisbury of Cambrian Ventures felt the narrative that “this is a terrible time to raise” is simply not true, especially at the early stage. That sentiment matches what we’ve seen thus far in the data: The earlier a startup goes out to raise a round, the better its chances of landing a strong valuation. Indeed, the massive repricings of the public market are yet to trickle down to seed and pre-seed deals.

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June 30, 2023 at 03:31AM
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11 VCs reveal how hard it was for their startups to fundraise in H1 2023 - TechCrunch

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Desmond Roberts not afraid of hard work as a preferred walk-on for UVA basketball - NBC 29

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Desmond Roberts was a senior starter this past season for a St. Anne’s Belfield team that won the prep league championship and made it all the way to the state finals.

Roberts is an athletic guard who had interest from a handful of Division 1 college basketball programs, but he has chosen to stay in Charlottesville to be a preferred walk-on for Tony Bennett at UVA.

“This is an elite program and I thought I could develop. Just being in this program and being able to improve the best way I could. I’m a high energy dude, got a high motor. Just want to do whatever I can to help the team win,” Roberts said.

Roberts grew up a UVA basketball fan attending games with his dad. He says it was always his goal to play at UVA.

“I used to sit in the nosebleed section as a fan, me and my dad used to come to every game. Watched guys like Isaiah Wilkins, who’s on the staff right now, play.

UVA Associate Head Coach Jason Williford saw Roberts play a bunch and knew the 6′4″ guard would be a good fit in Virginia’s program.

“He brings a lot of athleticism. Great kid, high character kid, enthusiasm. He is a team-first guy and he defended extremely well, just plays hard,” Williford said.

Roberts is in his second week of practice with UVA at John Paul Jones Arena.

“I’ve gotten better every day just being around these elite guys. Coaches are great, energy is great in the gym. Everybody is super cool and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Roberts said.

As for his expectations? ”Just play really hard in practice and do whatever I can to make the team better. Just pick everything up and be a sponge and work on my self as well.”

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.

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June 30, 2023 at 02:47AM
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Desmond Roberts ‘not afraid of hard work’ as a preferred walk-on for UVA basketball - NBC 29

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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Hard Knocks could place stress on relationship between Jets Aaron Rodgers - NBC Sports

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There are plenty of reasons for any team to not want to be the subject of the preseason Hard Knocks series. There’s one specific additional reason for the Jets to be leery about being the focal point of the show in 2023.

The team that gets the Hard Knocks assignment has final say over the footage that makes it onto HBO. But this doesn’t mean the authority over the official content is always properly exercised. The last time the Jets did the show, in 2010, the Jets authorized the use of a clip in which cornerback Antonio Cromartie struggled to recite the names of his children . (Cromartie claimed producers asked him to pause .) In 2018, the Browns included footage of a tense exchange between coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley regarding whether to give veteran players rest during practice. Jackson thought it made him look good. It did not.

For the Jets, new quarterback Aaron Rodgers would become a focal point of the cameras and microphones, if the Jets receive the assignment to do the show. And if the Jets make a bad decision regarding a Rodgers-related snippet that gets included, the Jets might have to answer to Rodgers for it.

Presumably, the Jets will know the things Rodgers does and doesn’t want to be included in the broadcast. But what if they guess wrong? Rodgers could end up being unnecessarily miffed, over something that was completely avoidable.

The best move, if the Jets end up being the Hard Knocks team, could be for the Jets to let Rodgers watch the rough cut — and to exercise full veto power directly over anything he has said that social media could and would use against him.

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June 29, 2023 at 07:21AM
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Hard Knocks could place stress on relationship between Jets, Aaron Rodgers - NBC Sports

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Baldelli lays into Twins says it's time to 'answer pretty hard questions' - Sports Illustrated

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Baldelli lays into Twins, says it's time to 'answer pretty hard questions'  Sports Illustrated The Link Lonk


June 29, 2023 at 04:15AM
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Baldelli lays into Twins, says it's time to 'answer pretty hard questions' - Sports Illustrated

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How Similar Is 'Die Hard' to the Book 'Nothing Lasts Forever'? - Collider

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June 28, 2023 at 11:45PM
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How Similar Is 'Die Hard' to the Book 'Nothing Lasts Forever'? - Collider

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No Hard Feelings Team Responds to Controversy Around Premise of Parents Hiring Someone to Date Their Son - Hollywood Reporter

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In Sony’s new comedy No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence’s 32-year-old character is hired by a couple of helicopter parents to “date” their 19-year-old son, played by Andrew Barth Feldman.

Yes, in both the ad the parents post on Craigslist and in the awkward in-person meeting of Lawrence’s Maddie with the mother and father played by Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick, date, in quotes, appears to be a euphemism.

“Do you mean date him or date him?” Maddie pointedly asks when she meets the parents.

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“Date him hard,” Broderick’s Laird blurts out.

“I’ll date his brains out,” Maddie chimes in.

It’s this initial premise, included in the film’s trailer and based on a real ad from a decade ago unearthed by the film’s producers and shared with writer-director Gene Stupnitsky, that has sparked a social media backlash to what seems like a creepy concept, with internet critics also taking issue with Lawrence’s character’s efforts to seduce a much younger character.

And Benanti agrees what the parents are asking is “insane,” but she and others associated with the film explain that it’s precisely this extreme helicopter parenting that the movie is satirizing with her and Broderick’s characters.

“It’s a cautionary tale,” she told The Hollywood Reporter at Tuesday’s premiere. “If you are a helicopter parent who puts your child in such a bubble, they do not know how to exist outside of that bubble, you are going to make the exact opposite and insane choice, which is what they are doing here. I feel like it is a very satirical look at what can happen if you do not give your children a longer leash to figure things out for themselves. Otherwise, you’re going to end up curating their life forever.”

Broderick added, “I guess what happens is when a kid goes off to school, it’s so frightening that they’ll be happy and they’ll make friends and they’ll take care of themselves that some parents go to any length to make that transition work. And it’s a hard time. I’ve been through it. But you really have to let them make it on their own. But these parents decide to mess with nature.”

The film, producer Marc Provissiero explained, grew out of his attempt to make a movie about helicopter parenting, initially wanting Stupnitsky to adapt the book How to Raise an Adult. The writer-director thought it was a great idea but didn’t know what the story was. Then, fellow producer Naomi Odenkirk made him aware of the Craigslist ad that inspired the film.

“I had drinks with Gene about six months later,” Provissiero recalled. “At dinner, he said, ‘I’m looking for something for someone like a Jennifer Lawrence.’ Halfway through the dinner, I remembered this Craigslist ad that Naomi brought in six months earlier. And he didn’t believe me, and he made me dig it up and show it to him on my phone. And, he said, ‘I’ll write this for you on spec.'”

As for what the mom and dad in the ad and the movie are offering, Odenkirk said, “It’s parents overstepping their bounds, for sure.”

But, Provissiero said, “It’s not that far removed from actual parenting choices. You want to do everything you can for your kid. Where’s the line?”

Though the ad was real, Stupnitsky didn’t try to look into who posted it or what happened, but he and the producers thought it was a great jumping-off point for a story.

“It didn’t really matter what happened and if anyone answered it,” Stupnitsky said. “It was just, who are these parents, these helicopter parents who are putting this ad out, and who’s their son, what’s going on there? And who answers this?”

And he assured that those who’d seen the movie wouldn’t think they’d just seen something creepy.

“If you feel that way when you come out of the movie, I would be surprised,” he told THR on the red carpet at the New York screening. “We took great pains to be careful about the ick factor because it could go that way. … We took a humanist approach and I think that’s all you can ask for.”

And both he and castmember Natalie Morales, who plays Lawrence’s character’s friend, have a swift counterargument for those upset about the age difference between the two main characters.

“Have you seen The Graduate?” she said. “[Lawrence is] supposed to be playing an older woman. There are so many movies where the male lead is much older than the female lead, and TV shows especially, and nobody bats an eye. So what’s the difference?”

And Stupnitsky points out there’s a 15-year age difference between Lawrence and her Silver Linings Playbook co-star Bradley Cooper: “It goes the other way, too.”

When asked about the controversy, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch, who long championed the film, simply said, “It’s just a really funny movie.”

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group CEO Tom Rothman said he knew he had a winner when he saw the script.

“When you’ve done this as long as I have, you know it when you read it,” he told THR. “And it was not only very very funny, it was very kindhearted and very sweet, and I thought the combination of the wit and the heart was very special. And I’m a huge fan of Jennifer’s.”

Broderick, meanwhile, said of the screenplay, “It was just really fun to read, as silly as it sounds, that’s a lot. Often I’ll read something, and it’s a little hard to read it. This was just a pleasure.”

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June 25, 2023 at 11:02AM
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‘No Hard Feelings’ Team Responds to Controversy Around Premise of Parents Hiring Someone to “Date” Their Son - Hollywood Reporter

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Paul McCartney Says Bruce Springsteen Makes Him Work Too Hard - Ultimate Classic Rock

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Paul McCartney jokingly blamed Bruce Springsteen for making him work harder in his 80s than he did in his 20s. The Beatles icon reflected on how it’s become common to deliver three-hour concerts, like the one he performed at Glastonbury last year, where Springsteen was one of his guests.

“These days, pretty much there’s a main act and there might be a warm-up act,” he told Conan O’Brien on the podcast series Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. He added that, in the 1960s, “it was a lot of people on the bill … nobody did long [sets]. Now people will do three or four hours.

“I blame Bruce Springsteen – I’ve told him so! I said, ’It’s your fault, man!’” When O’Brien suggested Springsteen “ruined it for everyone,” McCartney replied, “He did! You can’t [even just] do an hour. We used to do a half-hour. That was the Beatles’ thing: half an hour and we got paid for it!”

He said he’s often thought about why the shows were so short. "There were a lot of people on the bill," McCartney noted. "If you were a comedian the promoter would say, ‘How long can you do? Four minutes?’ The guy would say yes, so he would do four. And so we thought, ‘Well, half an hour, that’s like, epic! … It didn’t seem strange.”

In the same interview, McCartney discussed his new photo book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, containing pictures taken during the Beatles’ rise to fame, including their first U.S. visit. The images were lost for decades before being recently rediscovered.

The Best Song From Every Beatles Album

Consensus can be difficult to reach on which Beatles album is best – much less which song.

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June 28, 2023 at 07:31PM
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Paul McCartney Says Bruce Springsteen Makes Him Work Too Hard - Ultimate Classic Rock

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Sudoku Hard: June 28 2023 - The Week

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Sudoku Hard: June 28, 2023 | The Week

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June 28, 2023 at 05:05PM
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Sudoku Hard: June 28, 2023 - The Week

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Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Wagner Group's Rebellion Took a Heavy Toll on Russia's Air Force - Popular Mechanics

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Last Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman-turned-warlord controlling Russia’s globe-spanning Wagner private military company and its tens of thousands of mercenaries, launched an armed mutiny aimed not so much at overthrowing President Vladimir Putin but, rather, the leadership of Russia’s defense ministry.

While Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s military had intentionally shelled his mercenaries, the underlying conflict was due to plans by Russia’s ministry of defense to convert much of his manpower into regular army service, as well as Prigozhin’s increasingly open personal attacks against unpopular Russian defense minister, Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu.

Prigozhin himself joined a mechanized force—including T-80BV and T-90s tanks—which surrounded and seized control of the Russian military headquarters in Rostov, a city of one million that serves as the logistical base for Russian forces invading southeastern Ukraine.

Separately, a column of Wagner troops counting over one hundred trucks went barreling down the M4 highway towards Moscow.



Twenty-four hours later—after Putin promised to “brutally” deal with a henchman he now described as a back-stabbing traitor in a public address—the relationship was patched over in a deal supposedly proposed by Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukaschenko. Charges of armed rebellion against Prigozhin were dropped, he would move to Belarus, and some of his troops would still be absorbed by Russia’s military while others may be transferred to Wagner’s extensive overseas deployments, particularly in Africa.

Never mind the seven Russian military aircraft reportedly shot down and 13 Russian air force (VKS) pilots killed by Wagner anti-aircraft fire, as reported by pro-Russian military sources. The full claimed count includes:

  • 2 attack helicopters (Ka-52 and Mi-35)
  • 1 armed transport helicopter (Mi-8)
  • 3 electronic warfare helicopters (Mi-8MTPR-1)
  • 1 Il-22M airborne command post/comms relay plane

Indeed, the mutiny led the VKS to lose more in 24 hours than it had in several days of frontline combat against Ukraine’s counter offensive.

Two-way Ground Vs. Air Warfare

Russian armed forces on the ground—including army, Rosgvardia national guard and other internal security troops—evidently failed to shoot at, or even to simply obstruct, Wagner forces. So, it seems that all of the violence during the Wagner revolt occurred between VKS and Wagner’s ground troops.

Prigozhin’s column entering Rostov appears to have elicited an exchange fire late Friday evening. Prigozhin later claimed his troops opened fire because Russian helicopters mistakenly targeted civilian roadsters. His forces seized the airbase of Millerovo, but allowed personnel there to continue combat missions over Ukraine as long as a Wagner observer was onboard to prevent movement against Wagner forces—an inverted throwback to Soviet commisars (political officers).

topshot russia ukraine conflict wagner

A Wagner T-90S import tank damaged its front fenders trying to squeeze through an alley.

Stringer//Getty Images

But a more lethal imbroglio occurred on the M4 highway to Moscow as the Wagner column approached the city of Voronezh in the oblast of the same name.



This column was composed of over 100 vehicles—mostly military and civilian trucks, but also several MRAPS, T-72s, and T-80s mounted on tank transporters. Air defense included at least two truck-based Pantsir-S1 short-range air defense systems armed with both missiles and 30-millimeter cannons, as well as at least one less capable Strela-10 tracked armored air defense vehicle. (These systems are codenamed SA-22 Greyhound and SA-13 Gopher respectively.)

It was here (and nowhere else) that Russian aviation seems to have knocked out at least five Wagner light vehicles: two 6x6 trucks, an MRAP, two machine-gun armed pickup trucks, and a mine-resistant MRAP style vehicle. Some strikes also apparently targeted infrastructure such as bridges to slow down the column.

russia wagner crisis

Russian military airstrike aimed at destroying an overpass bridge to block Wagner convoy headed towards Moscow on June 22 on the M4 highway near Voronezh.

Anadolu Agency//Getty Images

Some of the attacks appear to have involved large gravity bombs, normally (but not exclusively) employed by fixed-wing jets. Though no jets are visible on video, one account claims that relatively modern Su-34 ‘Fullback’ bombers were employed.

One Russian Tiktok post shows a massive blast falling on a Wagner column.

Another video recorded from within a civilian car shows a bomb detonating nearby, its shockwave flipping the car over. It’s unclear whether missing the road and bridge was intentional or accidental.

A Russian Ka-52 Alligator helicopter—an advanced type know for its shark-like nose and double rotors—was also alleged to have destroyed a fuel storage depot on the eastern side of Voronezh, presumably in hopes of denying it uses by the column.

This attack was filmed from other angles too, including from a construction platform. Geolocation suggests that this incident took place at a major four-way intersection/overpass on the M4 highway at the eastern outskirts of Voronezh city.

One video shot by civilians at a nearby lineup of car dealerships shows both a Wagner Strela-10 air defense vehicle on the ground and a nearby flying Ka-52. Two surface-to-air missile launches are seen or heard, followed by the sound of an explosion.

In the same area, perhaps this very same Ka-52 was recorded narrowly escaping a Wagner missile, thanks to its flare decoy.

There is an alternate theory, therefore, that the Strela-10’s 9K35 missiles or the Ka-52’s helicopter flares accidentally landed on the depot and caused the explosion, rather than it being a deliberate attack.

One way or another, at some point, Ka-52 Yellow 72 (serial number RF-13418) was shot down near Talovaya (southeast of Voronezh), killing the pilot.

An older Mi-35 Hind gunship helicopter was also downed near Rostov after attacking the Wagner column (recorded here), but its two crew survived.

There are also reports of downing of an Mi-8 ‘Hip’ transport helicopter—which can be armed with rockets for ground attack missions—and damaging of an Mi-28 Havoc helicopter allegedly “holed” by Wagner fire.

But most puzzlingly, early in the mutiny, Fighter Bomber reported that Wagner downed two highly valuable Mi-8MTPR Rychag electronic warfare helicopters flying as a pair near Rostov/Millerovo. All of the crew survived, though one of the lost helicopters was consumed in flames.

The blog later reported the loss of a third Mi-8MTPR during the mutiny over Luhansk in Ukraine, near where Wagner’s Voronezh column had begun. The crash, pictured here, gave time for only one of the four crew members to parachute out.



Russia began the war with just 15 Mi-8MTPRs, which employ long-range jammers to drown out Ukrainian air defenses, degrading detection time and accuracy during Russian missile, drone and bombing attacks. Combined with two Mi-8MTPRs lost over Russian airspace nearly simultaneously in May to an ambush likely involving a forward-deployed Patriot missile battery, Russia has lot one-third of its heliborne jamming fleet.

Possibly as devastating was the downing of a large plane near Kantemirovka—likely a rare, specialized type fitted with advanced sensors and communications equipment.

Multiple sources report that this was an IL-22M airborne command post plane often used to relay communications —possibly with serial numbers RF-75917—with eight crew aboard, none of whom survived. The Il-22M has neither weapons nor ejection seats. However, it could have been used to track and direct attacks against the Wagner column. Earlier in 2018, the Russian Air Force lost an Il-22M over Syria to friendly fire following an Israeli air strike.

However, the plane seen falling in the video appears to have only two engines, not the four of an Il-22. That could mean that the aircraft seen in the video may have been an An-24, an An-26, or An-140-100 transports.

How Did This Happen?

That VKS losses were so high led some to wonder why Ukraine’s air defenses have had less verifiable success during their counter offensives. Could Wagner’s prowess or equipment somehow explain the difference?

Wagner forces were seen disposing of four types of anti-aircraft weapons: heavy 12.7mm and 14.5mm anti-air machine guns (effective out to 1 miles), man-portable air defense systems (presumably Igla-S or Verbas, effective out to 3 or 4 miles), the Strela-10 tracked vehicle (with a range of 3 miles) and, most potently, the Pantsir-S1. The Pantsir uses 57E6 missiles with a max range of 9-11 miles, and relies on radio commands from the radar- and electro-optical sensor equipped truck for guidance.

russian pantsir air defence systems

Rear aspect of Pantsir S1s on a Moscow parade in 2020, affording good view of radar and launch tubes for its 57E6 radio command guided missiles.

Anadolu Agency//Getty Images

Ukraine doesn’t have its own Pantsirs, but there are better explanations for the differences in counter offensive success. After heavy early-war losses, Russian combat helicopters ordinarily try to stay outside of—or dart only briefly within—the 2-4 mile range of portable air defense systems donated to Ukraine. The preferred weapons are unguided rockets fired in an arc and Vikhr long-distance anti-tank guided missiles that can target specific vehicles or fortifications.



However, those cautious tactics weren’t viable against the two Wagner columns advancing down Russian highways full of civilian traffic—the pilots needed to get closer to ID targets if they wanted to not accidentally blow up civilian buses or fellow Russian regular military vehicles. But that, in turn, exposed them to Wagner’s short-range missiles and heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. The Fighter Bomber blog, commenting on the video of the near miss of a civilian car, remarked that the convoys “were mixed with civilians, the air defense systems were deployed amongst car parks and busy stores.”

It’s still unclear why the valuable Mi-8MTPRs and the Il-22M—neither designed for direct combat—would have been dispatched to close within visual range of Prigozhin’s forces. The MTPR model even has the regular model’s armor removed. Presumably, they came under fire performing either a show of force or a reconnaissance mission, perhaps not realizing the kinetic escalation of the confrontation.

What's Next for the VKS and Wagner?

Several Kremlin-aligned Western propagandists have sought to cast doubt on the losses, whether out of denial rooted in motivated thinking (nobody likes to admit their preferred side suffered heavy losses), or as a deliberate deception tactic to muddy the waters and to maintain the laughable official line that Russia is “now more unified than ever” following what was humiliating and damaging mutiny.

But the reports of losses come from pro-war Russian sources—notably, the prominent Fighter Bomber social media account run by a former Russian pilot, and the Rybar telegram account. The videos and photos posted to social media come from horrified Russian civilians.



The losses to Russian pilots mean Wagner may face an even harder time calling for air support from the VKS. Historically, the VKS had actually loaned older ground attack jets—including A-10-like Su-25 Frogfoots and supersonic Su-24 Fencers—for use by former military pilots in Wagner’s employ. Prigozhin, as a stunt, flew a mission on an Su-24. Furthermore, Kanamat Botashev, a 63-year-old retired major general who died in May of 2022 when his Su-25 was downed by a Stinger missile over Ukraine, is believed to have been in Wagner’s employ.

That said, post-mutiny, the Wagner organization’s role in the Ukraine fighting seems set to dwindle rapidly. But, despite the de-escalation of the mutiny, it seems distinctly possible that Russia’s military and security services may look for means of retaliation against Prigozhin that won’t involve a major battle against Wagner fighters on Russian soil.

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Contributor

SĂ©bastien Roblin has written on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including 19FortyFive, The National Interest, MSNBC, Forbes.com, Inside Unmanned Systems and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter

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June 28, 2023 at 01:39AM
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Wagner Group's Rebellion Took a Heavy Toll on Russia's Air Force - Popular Mechanics

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No Hard Feelings Actor Laura Benanti Gushes Over Funny and Silly Jennifer Lawrence: Shes Not a Princess - Variety

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Jennifer Lawrence may be an Oscar-winning actor, but she hasn’t let all that fame and fortune go to her head.

“You immediately forget she’s a movie star when you meet her,” says Laura Benanti, who appears opposite Lawrence in the new R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings.” “She’s so down to earth.”

Lawrence stars in “No Hard Feelings” as an Uber driver who agrees to date a wealthy couple’s (Benanti and Matthew Broderick) socially awkward 19-year-old son (Andrew Barth Feldman) in exchange for a car.

“Sure, at first I was nervous because it’s like, ‘How are you so beautiful?’” Benanti said of Lawrence. “But then I was immediately laughing with her. She’s so funny, silly and a hard worker. She’s not a princess. She is comfortable being uncomfortable.”

In one much-buzzed-about scene, Lawrence is completely naked during an epic fight on the beach. “She’s hilarious and she’s a Dior model who is like a full dummy in the best possible way,” Benanti says. “During a break, she’d be like, ‘I’m going to get grilled cheese. You want one?’ I was like, ‘If that’s how you look by eating grilled cheese, yes, I’ll some, please.’”

While the film is R-rated, Benanti’s character doesn’t take part in the movie’s raunchy moments. Even so, the Tony-winner said, “My parents absolutely are not allowed to see it. I would die immediately. I would crumble to dust.”

Benanti spoke with Variety just a couple of weeks after an exclusive report that she and Sterling K. Brown starred in a reading of “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Brown took on the role of Randle P. McMurphy while Benanti played the infamous Nurse Ratched. While producers hope to bring the production to Broadway, Benanti says she is not attached.

“For that piece to work now, Nurse Ratched can’t be the villain,” Benanti says. “At least in the play, not necessarily the movie, the amount of misogyny and sexual violence toward women, I cannot root for those men completely. It’s like everyone is a protagonist and every one is antagonist.”

“When you really look at the amount that this woman has to endure in this facility from these men, it’s not like she’s just out of nowhere being awful,” she continued. “What’s interesting to me is a version of her where she thinks she is doing the right thing and she’s not just being a punitive monster. It would be de-villainizing her and humanizing her and finding a way for it to be less black and white.”

“No Hard Feelings” is in theaters now.

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June 27, 2023 at 06:21AM
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‘No Hard Feelings’ Actor Laura Benanti Gushes Over ‘Funny’ and ‘Silly’ Jennifer Lawrence: ‘She’s Not a Princess’ - Variety

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Monday, June 26, 2023

DeSantis Details Hard-Right Immigration Proposals - The New York Times

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DeSantis Details Hard-Right Immigration Proposals  The New York Times The Link Lonk


June 27, 2023 at 07:25AM
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DeSantis Details Hard-Right Immigration Proposals - The New York Times

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Jets are bracing for an involuntary Hard Knocks assignment - NBC Sports

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The NFL apparently will not be listening to the preferences of the HC of the NYJ .

Per a league source, the Jets are bracing for the preseason Hard Knocks assignment, despite making known publicly (and privately) their lack of interest in serving as the focal point of this year’s show.

The Jets, Saints, Bears, and Commanders fit the criteria for being required to do the show in the 2023 preseason. Under a formula developed several years ago, the teams that can be compelled to do it include those without a new head coach, those who have not been to the playoffs in either of the last two years, and those that have not been the subject of the show for the last ten years.

The Jets, Saints, and Bears have made it clear that they don’t want to do it this year. The Commanders, we’re told, would do it, if assigned . (We’re also told the league prefers to wait until after the sale of the team is finalized, and that the Commanders could be this year’s in-season option.)

The league had commenced talking to some of the other 28 teams, hopeful to find a volunteer. The Lions were approached about a second straight appearance. They declined.

The Jets technically can’t decline, although the NFL typically does not make a team submit to Hard Knocks when it doesn’t want to.

Most fans would prefer the Jets. With high expectations, the presence of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and the memories of a successful run in 2010 (when coach Rex Ryan had the Jets eating goddamn snacks), the Jets are definitely the most interesting of the four teams that can be required to do it — and more interesting than most if not all of the other 28 teams.

If the Jets get the short straw, it could actually make for a more compelling presentation, with a possible attitude emanating from the coaching staff and the rest of the team that they don’t want the cameras and microphones there. Now that would be a reality show.

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June 26, 2023 at 11:55PM
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Jets are bracing for an involuntary Hard Knocks assignment - NBC Sports

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Bartlett Wolfchase areas hit hard by storm - WREG NewsChannel 3

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Bartlett, Wolfchase areas hit hard by storm  WREG NewsChannel 3 The Link Lonk


June 27, 2023 at 12:03AM
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Bartlett, Wolfchase areas hit hard by storm - WREG NewsChannel 3

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Ryan Blaney crashes hard into wall at Nashville Superspeedway - Fox News

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Ryan Blaney’s night at Nashville Superspeedway ended early Sunday when he crashed hard into the wall on lap 146.

Blaney said he got tapped from behind and could not straighten his car out when he spun into the grass and crashed into the wall near the exit to pit road. He hit the wall head-on into one of the only portions of the track without the SAFER barrier.

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Ryan Blaney races through Turn 2 during the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 on June 25, 2023, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"I don’t know why there’s no SAFER barrier there. It’s pretty ridiculous," he told reporters after the crash. "Hardest hit I’ve ever had in my life. Happy to be all right just sucks for the Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Stinks going home early."

Blaney went to the infield care center to be checked out and was released. He raised alarm bells after taking the hit as he called for help on the radio once he bounced off the wall.

He said he was sure NASCAR would put the SAFER barrier up after what occurred o his wreck.

NASCAR GREAT DALE EARNHARDT JR. FEARS DAD ON 'BLUEY' SETTING 'UNREALISTIC' EXPECTATIONS

"I'm sure they will put one on it after this," he told NBC Sports. "It sucks that things like that have to happen and someone hit the wall head on like that. Then they are like we'll put a SAFER barrier on it now."

Ryan Blaney looks on prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 on June 25, 2023, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

NASCAR released a statement on the barrier after Blaney’s wreck.

"NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements," NASCAR said, via The Tennessean.

Blaney finished 36th and was the only vehicle that did not finish.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney, #12, is helped after crashing on the first turn during the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, Sunday, June 25, 2023. (Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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Ross Chastain picked up the third win of his career.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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June 26, 2023 at 06:31PM
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Ryan Blaney crashes hard into wall at Nashville Superspeedway - Fox News

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Jennifer Lawrence 'didn't have a second thought' about performing nude scene in No Hard Feelings - Daily Mail

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Jennifer Lawrence 'didn't have a second thought' about performing nude scene in No Hard Feelings: 'It was hilarious to me'

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has no regrets about performing her first fully nude scene in Sony Pictures' R-rated raunchy movie, No Hard Feelings, which took a day to film on a beach following 'a lot of rehearsal.'

'Everyone in my life and my team is doing the right thing and going, "Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?"' the Kentucky-born 32-year-old told Variety last Friday.

'I didn't even have a second thought. It was hilarious to me.'

Jennifer executive produced and stars as a Craigslist escort paid by helicopter parents to date their Princeton-bound virginal 19-year-old son (Andrew Barth Feldman).

Lawrence's former Uber driver character Maggie is lured into the unseemly deal in order to save her mother's home and replace her repossessed car with a Buick Regal.

Spoiler alert! Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence (R) has no regrets about performing her first fully nude scene in Sony Pictures' R-rated raunchy movie, No Hard Feelings, which took a day to film on a beach following 'a lot of rehearsal'
The Kentucky-born 32-year-old (pictured last Tuesday) told Variety last Friday: 'Everyone in my life and my team is doing the right thing and going, "Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?" I didn't even have a second thought. It was hilarious to me'

'Every situation that these characters end up in, you're laughing your butt off,' the 21-year-old Dear Evan Hansen thespian explained.

'We became so close instantly that nothing ever felt weird or unsafe. It was entirely professional.'

At that, The Causeway producer-star responded: 'Even when I put my T-shirt over your head and motor-boated you? You felt safe?'

Andrew replied: 'I felt it was an exclusively sterile and professional environment.'

And while filmmaker Gene Stupnitsky wrote the character of Maddie with Jennifer in mind, she scoffed: 'I think I have better judgement than Maddie.'

No Hard Feelings opened in fourth place at the domestic box office this weekend - earning approximately $15.1M from 3,208 US theaters and another $9.5M from 48 international markets for a grand total of $24.6M.

The $45M-budget, 103-minute coming-of-age sex comedy currently has a 68% critic approval rating (out of 146 reviews) and an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Hasan Minhaj, and Kyle Mooney are also featured in No Hard Feelings.

Premise: Jennifer executive produced and stars as a Craigslist escort paid by helicopter parents to date their Princeton-bound virginal 19-year-old son (L, Andrew Barth Feldman)
Controversial: Lawrence's former Uber driver character Maggie is lured into the unseemly deal in order to save her mother's home and replace her repossessed car with a Buick Regal
The 21-year-old Dear Evan Hansen thespian (R) explained: 'Every situation that these characters end up in, you're laughing your butt off. We became so close instantly that nothing ever felt weird or unsafe. It was entirely professional'
At that, The Causeway producer-star (L) responded: 'Even when I put my T-shirt over your head and motor-boated you? You felt safe?'
Andrew replied: 'I felt it was an exclusively sterile and professional environment'
And while filmmaker Gene Stupnitsky wrote the character of Maddie with Jennifer in mind, she scoffed: 'I think I have better judgement than Maddie'
Strong start! No Hard Feelings opened in fourth place at the domestic box office this weekend - earning approximately $15.1M from 3,208 US theaters and another $9.5M from 48 international markets for a grand total of $24.6M
Divided: The $45M-budget, 103-minute coming-of-age sex comedy currently has a 68% critic approval rating (out of 146 reviews) and an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes
Ensemble: Laura Benanti (L), Matthew Broderick (R), Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Hasan Minhaj, and Kyle Mooney are also featured in No Hard Feelings

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June 26, 2023 at 01:38PM
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Jennifer Lawrence 'didn't have a second thought' about performing nude scene in No Hard Feelings - Daily Mail

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No Hard Feelings filmmakers defend premise even though it's just a movie calm down - The A.V. Club

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No Hard Feelings
Photo: Sony Pictures

Jennifer Lawrence’s new comedy No Hard Feelings is in theaters and doing okay, which is mostly good news for the future of R-rated comedies, but The Hollywood Reporter felt the need to double-check with everyone who worked on it to make sure that they don’t actually think the film’s premise is a good idea that people should do in real life. For those who missed it, the movie stars Lawrence as a 32-year-old woman who responds to a Craigslist ad from a couple who wants someone to (ahem) “date” their shy and awkward 19-year-old son—a clearly comical premise for a sex comedy that makes it pretty clear even in the trailer that A.) the plan isn’t going to work out like that and B.) everyone is going to learn something along the way.

But won’t somebody puhlease think of the children! Luckily, THR caught up with a bunch of people at the film’s premiere last week and got multiple assurances that, no, the film is not advocating for parents to start paying adults to have sex with their teenage children (whew!). As Laura Benanti, who plays one of the parents, points out, the film is “a very satirical look at what can happen if you do not give your children a longer leash to figure things out for themselves.” Matthew Broderick, the other parents, also notes that their characters are in the wrong here, saying it’s important to let kids go off and figure out how to live their lives, but “these parents decide to mess with nature.”

The producers and writer/director Gene Stupnitsky also told THR that, even though the film is based on a real Craigslist ad, they didn’t try to track down what happened (if anything) with the real example. It’s not a movie about what would happen if this were real, it’s an exaggeration of this kind of helicopter parenting and the societal pressures of living your life a certain way. Stupnitsky also says that he’d “be surprised” if anyone came out of No Hard Feelings thinking it was creepy, explaining, “we took great pains to be careful about the ick factor” and that they tried to take a “humanist approach” to the story.

Really, it doesn’t take a ton of media literacy to see a trailer for a movie and make the assumption that it’s not ultimately going to be about how cool it is to pay someone to trick your introverted child into having sex with them—assuming that’s a concern that anyone actually had and not just something that everyone making the movie felt compelled to weigh in on, which is not a given. The point is, not everything that happens in a movie is fully endorsed by the people who made it, especially if the thing that happens is plainly ridiculous and they’re making a comedy out of the fact that it’s plainly ridiculous! 

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June 26, 2023 at 05:02AM
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No Hard Feelings filmmakers defend premise even though it's just a movie, calm down - The A.V. Club

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Sunday, June 25, 2023

Movie Review: No Hard Feelings With Jennifer Lawrence - Vulture

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No Hard Feelings. Photo: Macall Polay/Sony Pictures

Too earnest perhaps to qualify as a sex comedy, and not quite romantic enough to count as a romantic comedy, No Hard Feelings is a perfect example of how the best kind of onscreen chemistry is fundamentally unquantifiable. The premise is simple, raunchy, maybe even transgressive for our oh-so-prudish times: Jennifer Lawrence plays Maddie Barker, a 32-year-old Montauk bartender and Uber driver who accepts a paid gig to have sex with Percy Becker (Andrew Barth Feldman), the painfully shy, Princeton-bound 19-year-old son of a wealthy couple who want him to come out of his shell and gain confidence before heading off to college. A Montauk native, Maddie can’t stand the rich, gentrifying jagoffs who spend only part of the year in her hometown, buying up property and pushing locals out of the area. But she takes the job because there’s a Buick Regal at the end of it, and her car was just repossessed ahead of the busy (and lucrative) summer season. Besides, as one of Maddie’s friends puts it: “These people use us. So why don’t we use them?”

There’s a light dusting of class warfare across No Hard Feelings, though it’s of the mild, informational kind, serving primarily to give Maddie some dimension. She could sell the house she lives in for a lot of money, but it belonged to her late mother and Maddie remains attached to it. She has contempt for Percy’s parents (played with wonderfully decorous smugness by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) but is always on her best behavior around them. Percy, of course, has no idea that his mom and dad are doing this for him, the same way that so many helicopter-parented kids never quite realize how much of the world they live in is a constructed safe space.

What makes the movie is the give-and-take between the polite, confused zoomer and this increasingly desperate woman who comes on so strongly that she can’t even keep up with herself. Maddie first approaches Percy at the animal shelter where he works and attempts to adopt a dog from him, while delivering a litany of double entendres and other uncomfortable come-ons. Asked why she wants to adopt a dog, she replies, “Because I can’t have dogs of my own,” and her subtle grimace at the idiocy of her own words is maybe the best two seconds of acting I’ve seen this year.

Maddie’s ridiculously aggressive, mile-a-minute faux horniness collides perfectly with Percy’s tense befuddlement. When she tries to seduce him in a borrowed, windowless green van filled with machetes and harpoons, he naturally assumes he’s being kidnapped and maces her. “Why couldn’t you have used your rape whistle?” she cries, cowering in pain on the ground. “Why would I have a rape whistle?” he yells. “Why do you fucking have mace?” she shrieks back. This might sound like a totally inappropriate thing to be joking about, and it probably is, but the accelerating energy of the two actors lends the scene a delirious, discomfiting screwball quality. A similarly twisted alchemy occurs during a skinny-dipping excursion gone wrong, one that ends with a nighttime beach smackdown in which Lawrence goes full naked Long Island Terminatrix on a bunch of hapless young pranksters.

No Hard Feelings isn’t really about sex. It’s about two people who can’t move on with their lives — one because she refuses to, the other because he’s not allowed to. Circumstances have reduced Maddie to a state of pure aggression, and we feel the foulmouthed, physical freedom of Lawrence’s performance. So much so that when the film does inevitably settle down for some sincere, quiet moments, it can seem like we’re suddenly watching a different movie. The director, Gene Stupnitsky, previously directed Good Boys (2019) and wrote Bad Teacher (2011), so he’s already mastered the art of raunch. It’s understandable that he might want to put a bit more “heart” into this one, though it’s always preferable when said heart emerges organically from the lunacy onscreen and doesn’t feel so compartmentalized. One reason the more sentimental scenes don’t quite work is because the movie’s themes don’t need the obligatory spelling out.

These types of pictures tend to run on predictable rails. (That’s not always a bad thing; mainstream comedies need formulas to let us know, subconsciously, that it’s okay to laugh.) In the case of No Hard Feelings, the actors make both the complexity and the comedy look easy. It’s hard at times to figure out just what exactly Feldman’s Percy is thinking, but this actually gives the movie its punch. He’s a lot more centered than he first seems; in some ways, he’s more in control of his world than the adult woman running circles around him. We see the boy’s loneliness, but we also see that he lives in a world where solitude and alienation are rampant. At one point, Maddie wanders around a big house party looking in all the rooms, filled with college-bound teens on phones and virtual headsets. “Doesn’t anyone fuck anymore?” she yells.

This woman is perpetually out of place, while the boy simply refuses to make a place for himself, which is probably true of a lot of his peers. As a result, we never quite know where their relationship is headed — their real relationship, not the carnal MacGuffin of whether they’re gonna get it on or not — and we care for them not because of their backstories but because they seem bound to each other, like a yin-yang of emotional restlessness. For all its breeziness, No Hard Feelings stays with you because its central dynamic feels so surprisingly honest.

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June 23, 2023 at 11:50PM
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Movie Review: No Hard Feelings, With Jennifer Lawrence - Vulture

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Jennifer Lawrence's Take On Why No Hard Feelings Went To Theaters Instead Of Streaming Is LOL - Yahoo Entertainment

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 Jennifer Lawrence starring in Sony Pictures 'No Hard Feelings'
Jennifer Lawrence starring in Sony Pictures 'No Hard Feelings'

Jennifer Lawrence, who's a versatile actress, has captivated audiences across various genres and earned widespread acclaim. She's had action-packed performances in the X-Men franchise, given an Oscar award-winning turn in Silver Linings Playbook and provided powerhouse perfomances in Winter's Bone, American Hustle and more. However, one noticeable absence from her repertoire has been a full-fledged raunchy, R-rated comedy. That is until now. Her latest film, No Hard Feelings, premiered in theaters this weekend and defied the streaming trend in the process. In a world where fewer broad comedies head to the big screen, the Dark Phoenix star shares her unique perspective on why this hard-R flick chose the theatrical route. Rest assured, her take will surely bring a smile to your face.

No Hard Feelings seems perfectly suited for the 32-year-old star's charm. The Academy Award winner recently discussed the film during a chat with the Associated Press . Talk eventually turned to the decision to release the bawdy movie in theaters rather than through streaming services. The Hunger Games alum, known for her candid nature, shared her hilarious take on the subject, jokingly stating:

I look much better 12 feet high.

Well, that's an honest and funny response if there ever was one. As the cheeky actress states, she's simply more appealing to the eye when she's seen on a massive screen. Most would probably disagree with this jokey take, as the star looked good amid her recent streaming ventures, including Don't Look Up and Causeway. Still, you can't help but love that self-deprecating sense of humor she has.

The inspiration for her new movie came from a real Craigslist ad posted by parents who sought a woman to "date" their son in an attempt to help him come out of his shell before college. The ad's premise was amusing enough to catch the attention of several producers and writer-director Gene Stupnitsky, who's known for his work on The Office and another adults-only comedy, Good Boys. Stupnitsky shared the idea with Jennifer Lawrence during a dinner with friends, and she immediately embraced the project, not only joining the talented No Hard Feelings cast but also taking on the role of producer. Having known each other for over a decade and been friends, the Bill Engvall Show alum felt indebted to Stupnitsky since he had introduced her to her husband:

I owed him one. That’s why I did this film.

Co-written by Gene Stupnitsky and John Phillips, the story revolves around Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence), a self-sufficient young woman living in Montauk, New York. Facing the threat of losing her inherited home due to unpaid taxes, her plan to earn money as an Uber driver during the bustling tourist season falls apart when her ex-boyfriend arrives to repossess her car. Desperate to save her house, she turns to Craigslist and stumbles upon a listing by anxious parents (Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick) seeking assistance for their son (Andrew Barth Feldman). Faced with the opportunity, Maddie agrees to the arrangement, and hilarity ensues.

Though early reactions to the “blue” flick mostly skewed positive, CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg’s review was as such. He highlighted the Winter’s Bone actress’ bold performance while ultimately concluding that her charm can’t save the movie from feeling “dull” and “generic.” Still, after 133 reviews, the film currently has a 67% critical rating on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and an even higher audience score of 88% after more than 250 verified scores.

How the film's success at the box office compares to The Hangover's box office dominance remains to be seen, but it does seem to be mostly earning solid buzz. So there may be at least a solid chance that audiences will flock to see Jennifer Lawrence's face where she humorously says it looks best -- on the big screen. We'll see if the decision to forgo streaming and head to cinemas works out for Lawrence and co.

No Hard Feelings is now playing in theaters as part of the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.

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June 25, 2023 at 02:09AM
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Jennifer Lawrence's Take On Why No Hard Feelings Went To Theaters Instead Of Streaming Is LOL - Yahoo Entertainment

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