Brian Truitt

1 week ago | usatoday.com | Brian Truitt

Ben Wang, star of “Karate Kid: Legends,” was turned on to the original “Karate Kid” as a youngster because it was his aunt’s favorite movie. Wang's on-screen rival, Aramis Knight (both 25), had never experienced it until he was cast in the new film. And “Legends” director Jonathan Entwistle – born in 1984, the year the first "Kid" came out – got into the mythology thanks only to the Netflix spinoff series “Cobra Kai.”Then there’s Ralph Macchio, the OG karate kid.

1 week ago | usatoday.com | Brian Truitt

Since the 1980s, a comfort-food formula has worked well for the “Karate Kid” films: one martial-arts youngster, one wise old master, at least one villainous bully (a whole evil dojo is preferred), one bad-guy sensei and a karate tournament involving a cool kick. “Karate Kid: Legends” (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters May 30) dares to mess with these sports movie tropes in an effort to bring together the disparate components of the Miyagi-verse.

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Brian Truitt

2 hours agoBrand new books: Stephen King's latest, plus tales of a tired mom and a scary stalkerFor plenty of folks, the first Tuesday after Memorial Day marks the first "true" day of summer: Sun! Sand! Baseball! Indigestion! Sunburn! Heatstroke? Reckless whales?! OK, you're right, what were we thinking — it's way too dangerous out there. Much safer to stay indoors, close the blinds and wait …NowA New Stephen King Novel Asks, Does the World Have Heroes Anymore?

1 week ago | usatoday.com | Brian Truitt

Imagine Jimi Hendrix also being a tuba virtuoso, or Andy Warhol also excelling on an Etch-A-Sketch. The artistic greats, the geniuses, are often really, really good at one thing. Then there’s Stephen King. For decades, his horror stories – on the page and on the screen – have scared the bejeezus out of generations of people.

1 week ago | usatoday.com | Brian Truitt

All it took was a photo of Tramell Tillman to hook Tom Cruise. “Mission: Impossible” franchise director Christopher McQuarrie was an early adopter of the hit Apple TV+ series “Severance,” which features Tillman as mercurial office boss Seth Milchick. So when casting the new “Mission” installment “The Final Reckoning,” McQuarrie called Cruise to tell him “there’s something special” about Tillman and showed the A-lister his picture.