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What happened to Russia’s seized superyachts?

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Miles Johnson

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On the morning of March 29 2022, Captain Guy Booth was working aboard Phi, a 192ft aquamarine superyacht moored in London’s Canary Wharf, when he heard a commotion below. Down on the pier a car had pulled up and Grant Shapps, then the UK’s transport secretary, emerged from the vehicle, followed by a retinue of aides.

“The first thing we saw was his entourage, several men and women carrying clipboards and make-up and hairbrushes,” says Booth. 

Shapps and his team then began to shoot a video for the social media network TikTok, where the government minister announced that Phi — built in 2021 by the famed Dutch luxury shipbuilder Royal Huisman and worth an estimated £38mn — “belongs to a Russian oligarch, friends of Putin”.

Booth watched in amazement as several television crews who’d been tipped off about the news arrived at the scene. “Shapps was positioning himself like a big game hunter, checking his best angle,” says Booth. “They took several takes.”

Next, a black cab arrived and three officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency got out. They climbed aboard and handed Booth a brown envelope. Inside was a government order: the boat he captained was now detained for being “owned by persons connected with Russia”.

Video description

A video shot by Grant Shapps in Canary Wharf, which shows the yacht Phi after the order to detain it in London

Today, Phi is still moored in the same spot in Canary Wharf outside an Indian restaurant, and with a small skeleton crew aboard. Each day, Booth, along with two engineers, a chief officer, a crew cook and two deck hands wake up on board and dutifully service the vessel.

Its once feted “infinite wine cellar” and seven-metre swimming pool lie unused. A lonely sun lounger sits out on deck, and the yacht’s Maltese maritime flag droops. Pink paint has been applied to its roof to protect it from the risk of dust from nearby building sites. 

Paul Dickie, a lawyer at Jaffa & Co who has represented Phi, claims the boat has been targeted by squatters. A notice on its side warns any would-be trespassers that they will be prosecuted “to the full extent of the law”.

For western nations, the yachts’ fate is a high-stakes test of the effectiveness of sanctions. For the lawyers who work for the owners, these seizures are acts of modern piracy

Phi’s owner, a Russian businessman called Sergei Naumenko, has repeatedly denied any connection to Vladimir Putin or the Russian state, and has twice unsuccessfully appealed to the English courts to have the yacht released. 

In May 2023 an English High Court judge said Shapps’s TikTok video claims that the owner had “close connections to Putin” were “excusable political hyperbole”. The Court of Appeal in March this year said it was “troubled” by Shapps’s “incorrect” statements. Both courts, however, upheld the UK detention order for the vessel.

After Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted western governments to unleash an avalanche of economic sanctions against Russian oligarchs, there are now multiple superyachts like Phi trapped in ports around the world. Several are stuck in seemingly never-ending legal quagmires, with vastly expensive lawyers hired by often opaque offshore owners battling for their release.

Although tens of billions of dollars of Russian-owned luxury assets, including mansions, luxury cars and private jets, have been frozen, it was the symbolism of the seizure of the oligarch superyachts — vast, floating Versailles palaces often worth hundreds of millions of dollars — that captured the public’s imagination. Anti-corruption campaigners hoped at the time that these vessels would be auctioned off and the proceeds could be donated to Ukraine.

Yet more than two years on from the start of the war, the future of these superyachts remains unresolved. Once prized trophies in the west’s co-ordinated response to Russia’s aggression, some have racked up vast maintenance costs for taxpayers, had their angry crews turn fire hoses and drones on snooping reporters, and been the target of sabotage plots by anti-war activists. 

For western governments, resolving the fate of these superyachts will be a high-stakes test of the effectiveness of economic sanctions. For lawyers working for the oligarchs who own them, the seizures are acts of modern piracy.

Perhaps no single vessel exemplifies the array of headaches that seized superyachts have caused western governments more than the Amadea — a $300mn, 348ft boat detained by the US authorities in Fiji in 2022.

Such is its gaudy opulence that the Amadea could be a pastiche of an oligarch’s fantasies. According to a 2021 profile in Boat International, it boasts a Pleyel piano with 24-carat gold pedals, a swimming pool that converts into a stage for DJs, hand-painted Michelangelo clouds on the dining-room ceiling, a lobster tank and a helipad. 

When the US Department of Justice seized the Amadea, it claimed that it was owned by the sanctioned Dagestan-born gold magnate Suleiman Kerimov. The DoJ said he was “part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe”.

Deputy US attorney-general Lisa Monaco announced at the time that the seizure “should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide”. Not long after Amadea was seized in Fiji, she told the Aspen Security Forum that investigators had even discovered an “alleged Fabergé egg” aboard. It was later found to be an imitation.

The Amadea was then moved by the US authorities from Fiji to San Diego, where it is currently moored. The US government last October brought a civil forfeiture case against the superyacht based on its claim that it was owned by Kerimov. 

We have 60,000 litres of diesel on board. If there are problems with fire detection, that could be very dangerous. You can’t get a fire engine in here’ Captain Guy Booth

During the time the Amadea has been stuck in San Diego, it has racked up maintenance bills of $740,000 a month, or almost $9mn a year, to be paid by the US government. Because of this, the Department of Justice moved to try to sell the boat, arguing that the costs it was incurring were “excessive”. 

Superyachts require constant maintenance and upkeep to keep their seaworthiness, let alone their value. Crew salaries and vast mooring fees must be paid. Hulls must be scraped, engines must be cleaned.

“The water here is brackish, half freshwater and half seawater, so things grow in it,” Booth says about Phi. “We are constantly having to remove biological marine growth from the filters. The teak decks require constant daily attention.”

Sabotage is also a risk. Lady Anastasia, a yacht seized in Mallorca and owned by the CEO of the Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev, in February 2022 was almost destroyed by a Ukrainian mechanic working on the boat who tried to intentionally sink it.

Some boats have simply disappeared. In the summer of 2022, two yachts owned by Dmitry Mazepin, another sanctioned Russian billionaire, vanished from the Sardinian port of Olbia. An investigation by Italy’s financial police, which had seized both yachts shortly after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, found that one had made a stopover in Tunisia before vanishing, while the other was spotted sailing towards Turkey. In response, Italy has hit Mazepin with fines, which remain unpaid.

Booth says he believes Phi has suffered significant damage, as well as lost charter earnings, as a result of being stuck in Canary Wharf. “I am not at liberty to discuss the exact figure,” he says, “but it is huge. We are talking tens of millions of pounds.” 

Because of the freezing order, Phi’s Dutch manufacturer is unable to perform warranty work on the yacht. One of many issues, Booth says, is that he has been unable to fix faulty fire protection systems.

“We have 60,000 litres of diesel on board. If there are problems with the fire detection systems, that could be very dangerous. Exceptionally dangerous. You could have an ecological disaster in central London. You can’t get a fire engine in here.”

In Phi’s case, the costs are all borne by its Russian owner, who — unlike many other owners of frozen yachts — is not sanctioned and has not been proven to have any meaningful connection to the Russian state. He will be able to get this money back from the UK government only if the restriction order is overturned and he can then win a successful damages claim.

For other superyachts, the burden of paying for upkeep falls on the countries where they are being held. Lady M, a yacht owned by the sanctioned Russian steel and mining magnate Alexei Mordashov, has been blocked from leaving the Italian port of Imperia as one of seven yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs in the country.

Another, Sailing Yacht A, designed by Philippe Starck and, at 468ft long, one of the largest private sail-assisted motor yachts in the world, is currently impounded in the port of Trieste. Alleged by the Italian state to be owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, the boat is estimated to have cost the Italian taxpayer more than €18mn in upkeep, according to the local newspaper Il Piccolo. Lawyers for Melnichenko have said he does not personally own the yacht, and instead it is controlled by a trust that has no connection to him.

Costs aside, seizing a superyacht is simple enough, provided it is in the right place. At the time of the invasion, the only way for sanctioned Russian oligarchs to protect their yachts was to be lucky or shrewd enough to not have them in territories or waters where they could be captured. In March 2022, two superyachts belonging to Roman Abramovich, one of them featuring an onboard missile defence system and anti-paparazzi “laser shield”, sailed away from Europe towards Turkey and remain free to this day.

But in an industry where it is common to own vessels through cascades of offshore companies and anonymous trusts, a far trickier task for investigators can be to prove in court who really owns a superyacht once it has been detained.

Legal tussles over the ownership of government-seized assets are common. The difference with the superyachts is the owners’ legal resources, the value of the assets and the cost to the taxpayer

In the case of the Amadea, the US government has been battling in court to prove that Kerimov is its true owner before it can be allowed to sell the yacht and stop paying the vast costs of its upkeep.

The Department of Justice appeared to have strong evidence to back up its claims, including records showing that Kerimov’s family spent large amounts of time on the Amadea, and that his children had requested structural modifications to the superyacht.

However, Kerimov denied ownership. Instead, a different wealthy Russian, Eduard Khudainatov, a former chief executive of the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, stepped forward to claim that he, in fact, was the true owner of the Amadea and the seizure was unlawful.

“When you need records from overseas, when you are dealing with shell companies in secrecy jurisdictions, or people are hiding behind nominee owners, it’s going to take a long time,” says Stefan Cassella, a former federal prosecutor who served 30 years in the US Department of Justice specialising in asset forfeiture.

Cassella says these sorts of legal tussles over who owns an asset that has been seized by a government are common. The difference in the case of oligarch-owned superyachts is the legal resources available to the owners fighting the seizures, the size and value of the assets, and the cost to the taxpayer of keeping them afloat.

“We litigate this all the time,” Cassella tells me. “Say a drug agent sees a dealer dealing from a Mercedes car and they want to seize it. He claims it’s not his car, that his mother or sister owns it. We then need to litigate with that person to see if they are really the owner. Who pays the insurance? Who brought it in to get oil changed? Whose garage is it sitting in? This is the same, just on a much larger scale.”

The US responded in a court filing to Khudainatov’s claim to own the Amadea by accusing him of being a “clean, unsanctioned straw owner” serving as a front for Kerimov. Khudainatov’s lawyers have denied he is a straw owner and say he is the legal owner of the yacht.

The picture was further muddied when it was alleged by the US in court documents that Khudainatov, who in June 2022 was placed under EU sanctions, was the fake owner of another, even more valuable and mysterious super yacht, the Scheherazade — which he has denied.

The Scheherazade, one of the longest yachts in the world, worth an estimated $700mn, was seized by the Italian authorities in the Tuscan port of Marina di Carrara in May 2022 because of its suspected “meaningful economic and business connections with prominent elements of the Russian government subject to EU sanctions”.

In 2022 the now deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation published an investigation that claimed that the Scheherazade was in fact owned by Putin himself, based on the fact that many of its crew were agents of the Federal Protective Service, a state security unit responsible for the Russian president’s personal safety.

The US authorities have argued it is impossible that one man could own so many yachts, writing in court documents that “there is no reason to believe [Khudainatov] has the financial resources to purchase the Amadea and the Scheherazade, or is there any apparent reason why a single individual would own multiple superyachts of their size”.

Whoever is the true owner of the Scheherazade, they have not let its seizure dim their ambitions. During the time it has been held in Tuscany, the Italian government has allowed the owner to pay for an expensive refurbishment. It is a decoration job that the owner clearly wants to conduct in privacy. When reporters from Radio Free Europe tried to get close to the vessel earlier this year the Scheherazade’s crew turned on fire hoses, and deployed a drone to follow them.

Meanwhile, last month a New York court ruled that the US government was not allowed to sell the Amadea, meaning that US taxpayers will have to continue for now to foot the bill for its upkeep. 

Even if governments are able to establish ownership and get court permission to sell a superyacht, further legal complexities can make finding a buyer difficult. In June 2023 the Alfa Nero, a yacht alleged to be owned by the US-sanctioned phosphate billionaire Andrey Guryev, which has been impounded in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua, was sold at auction for $67mn to former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.

The deal later fell apart, with the US ambassador to Antigua announcing that Schmidt backed out of the purchase because he was worried about future legal problems if he bought it.

Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, Guryev’s daughter, this year launched a challenge to the Antiguan government’s decision to seize and sell the Alfa Nero, claiming that she is the sole beneficiary of the trust that owns the yacht, rather than her father. The case is expected to be heard in September.

Back in the UK, Booth, the captain of Phi, believes that the yacht and its owner have been unfairly caught up in events outside of their control. “He’s not a billionaire, he’s never met Putin,” Booth says of Phi’s owner Sergei Naumenko. “He’s against the war. He’s just a private Russian gentleman who likes boats.” 

Phi will make another bid to be freed in the UK’s Supreme Court, in an appeal to be heard next January.

Captain Booth says he will not desert his ship. “My team and I have remained on board, remained loyal. I’ve won numerous awards for what I do in my industry. I could have left almost straight away, and said, ‘This is not my bag, I’m off to captain another superyacht in the Med’ . . . I would not sleep well at night if I abandoned this owner.”

But Booth and his crew may be waiting a long time. Cassella, the forfeiture lawyer, says he expects many cases to drag on for as long as a decade. “I thought two years ago when all the superyachts were seized that 10 years was an appropriate timeframe,” he says. “This is not going to be resolved any time soon.”

Miles Johnson is an investigative reporter for the FT. His book ‘Chasing Shadows: A True Story of Drugs, War and The Secret World of International Crime’ is now out in paperback

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Chinese magnate with a red Lamborghini and superyacht convicted for bilking $1 billion from investors

Exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui, whose crusade against the Communist Party attracted allies including Donald Trump associate Steve Bannon, was convicted for duping investors out of $1 billion to fund his luxury lifestyle.

After a trial in Manhattan that lasted almost two months, Guo was found guilty on Tuesday of fraud and racketeering conspiracy. Convicted on nine of the 12 counts against him, he faces as many as 20 years in prison on the most serious charges when he is sentenced on Nov. 19. 

Guo “brazenly operated several interrelated fraud schemes, all designed to fleece his loyal followers out of their hard-earned money so that Guo could spend his days in his 50,000-square-foot mansion, driving his $1 million Lamborghini, or lounging on his $37 million yacht,” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the verdict.

A lawyer for Guo declined to comment, but Guo is almost certain to appeal the verdict.

Guo smiled at his lawyers as the jury walked out, hugged attorney Sabrina Shroff and shook the hands of other members of the defense team. The outspoken businessman, also known as Ho Wan Kwok or Miles Guo, was tried before jurors whose names were kept secret — an unusual move designed to shield them in a case that has drawn intense interest. 

Appealing to a huge online following, Guo raised money from investors for seemingly legitimate businesses but diverted the funds to spend on himself and his family. The trial involved weeks of testimony from investors drawn to Guo through his public critique of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as from luxury car dealers who sold him rare vehicles and a managing director at Kyle Bass’ hedge fund Hayman Capital Management, which ran a hedge fund that the government said Guo invested $100 million of the stolen funds in. 

Neither Bass, Hayman nor Bannon was accused of wrongdoing in the case.

Videos From His Superyacht

Guo amassed his social media following through videos recorded from his penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland hotel overlooking New York’s Central Park or from the deck of his 152-foot superyacht. Guo claimed his fortune came from his wealthy real estate developer family in China. But a portion of his wealth, federal prosecutors said, also came from stealing $1 billion through bogus investment opportunities he hawked online. 

The jury began its deliberations Thursday but was forced to start over with an alternate juror after a member of the panel admitted to Googling the name of a co-defendant, who is still at large. 

The defense urged the jurors not to let Guo’s expensive tastes cloud their judgment, claiming he flaunted his wealth as a form of protest against the Communist Party. 

The prosecution had its own framing. “Is Miles Guo a real political activist?” Assistant US Attorney Juliana Murray said Thursday during closing arguments. “I don’t know and I don’t care, because that’s not what this trial is about.”

Mysterious Background

The case explored Guo’s mysterious background, including fleeing persecution in China, his ties to Bannon and how he came to pour millions into Hayman Capital’s high-risk wager against the Hong Kong dollar. 

Bannon was on Guo’s yacht off the coast of Connecticut in 2020 when the political adviser was arrested on charges he conspired to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars from a campaign to finance a wall on the US southern border. Trump pardoned Bannon just before leaving office.

In 2020, Guo transfered $100 million raised through an illicit stock offering in his GTV Media Group to the Hayman Hong Kong Opportunities Fund, which held a position that the country’s currency peg to the US dollar would collapse, according to prosecutors. Bannon introduced Guo and Bass, a longtime China skeptic. Bannon himself was paid $1 million as a consultant to GTV’s parent company Saraca Media Group, evidence presented at the trial showed. 

After Hayman received the investment, Bannon emailed Bass. 

‘Congrats on Miles Deal’

“Congrats on miles deal,” Bannon wrote, according to an email presented as evidence. “He thinks u r biggest superstar in finance.” 

A month later, the US Securities and Exchange Commission contacted Hayman to inquire about the source of the funds. When Bass asked Guo’s financial adviser for an explanation, he got no reply, evidence showed. By that point, close to $30 million had been lost in the unsuccessful currency wager. 

The remaining $70 million was eventually handed over to authorities.

Guo was acquitted on Tuesday of fraud related to the stock offering in GTV and of unlawful monetary transaction in connection with the $100 million transfer to the Hayman hedge fund.

$539 Million SEC Settlement

In 2021, three Guo-linked companies, including GTV, agreed to pay  $539 million  to settle the SEC’s investigation into unregistered stock offerings. 

According to prosecutors, other Guo scams involved an exclusive private members-only club with a minimum $10,000 buy-in, a crypto platform called the Himalaya Exchange and a farm loan program. 

The government alleged Guo also peeled off investor funds to spend on luxuries including a red Lamborghini, a $4 million Ferrari for his son and a $26 million New Jersey mansion.

The case is US v. Guo, 23-cr-00118, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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Magic Johnson ‘Excited’ to Have Kids EJ, Andre, Elisa and Their Families Join for Yacht Vacation

The family is currently cruising the Mediterranean aboard a super yacht called the Phoenix II

It’s family time onboard Magic Johnson ’s super yacht!

On Instagram Sunday , the NBA legend and his wife Cookie welcomed their children and grandchildren on their chartered boat, the Phoenix II, as the Johnsons continue their epic tour of Mediterranean ports.

”Cookie and I are excited to have our kids Andre, EJ, Elisa, our daughter-in-law Lisa and grandkids Gigi and Avery join us on the yacht!” Magic, 63, wrote alongside a photo of the happy group, posed on the deck, in front of a dramatic backdrop of seaside cliffs.

In another photo, Magic and Cookie smile for the camera, with the basketball icon donning slacks and loafers and his wife wearing a sleeveless Prada dress.

Instagram/magicjohnson

Also on Sunday, Magic shared in another post that the crew on their yacht threw them a 70’s-themed party.

“The other night, the Phoenix II crew did an amazing job of throwing us a 70s party!” Magic wrote, alongside a group shot that featured friends including Samuel L. Jackson , who sported pleated flared pants. “We all dressed up and had a blast!!"

Earvin "Magic" Johnson/Instagram

For the past few weeks, the Hall of Famer has been sharing glimpses of his annual European vacation — which has featured famous faces this year, as it has in the past.

Last week, Jackson, Michael Jordan , Judge Greg Mathis and their wives joined in on the fun on the 296-foot boat, which features seven cabins including a split-level master apartment accessed by its own staircase, and a private terrace with a Jacuzzi,  according to its website .

In many of the excursions off the boat, the group indulged at some of the region’s finest restaurants.

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“Tonight we enjoyed an incredible dinner at the world-famous Da Paolino Ristorante aka the lemon tree restaurant in Capri, Italy!” Johnson wrote. “AND I got to hang out with my great friend and the greatest basketball player to ever live, Michael Jordan, and his wife Yvette, Sam and LaTanya Jackson, Judge Greg and Linda Mathis, and John and Vicki Palmer.”

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Roma communities in Perm Krai: historical and ethnical aspects

Two large groups of Roma are settled in the territory of Perm Krai, the Ruska Roma and Kalderari. Roma live both in cities and countryside. Roma living in the countryside keeps elements of traditional culture. In Perm Krai we can find different families of the Ruska [Russian] Roma: Gorbovichi, Nemzengery, Bashnengery, Polyaki, Sapuny, Gubany. In contrast to the Kalderari the community of Ruska Roma is based not only on family-territorial principle. Sometimes community is based on ethnic-territorial ground when the Ruska Roma living in an urban area despite family ties can be a part of the community. Traditional activity of Ruska Roma living in countryside is a seasonal grazing of livestock. One of the main sectors of activity is trading. Roma sell cars and jewelry. Kelderari live in compact groupings in Perm. They call themselves Moldavska Roma and consider themselves to be part of Ruvoni [wolf in Romani language] family. Traditional activity of Kelderari is metal work (especially tin-smith’s work) which impact also their modern business. The main work activity of men till now is working with metals such as base metal trading and metal items repair. Traditional women activity is fortune-telling. Bilingualism, traditional way of living, ethnic isolation, unique and particular material and spiritual culture are common for all of Roma. The main problems for Roma nowadays are safeguarding of ethnicity and as well as some educational and social issues.

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5 great Netflix rom-coms to watch in the summer

Ah, summer. The leaves are green, the sun is shining, and the weather is warm. Is there any better time of year to watch some great rom-coms? They complement summer’s fun, carefree vibes and are great for anyone dreaming of a summer fling (or anyone who already has one).

If you’re looking for the perfect summer rom-com, Netflix is stocked with great options, including its own original films, as well as both modern and classic favorites. From globetrotting lovers to hilariously mismatched couples and more, check out these great rom-coms streaming on Netflix right now, all perfect for a warm summer evening.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

One of the best parts about summer is taking a vacation, so why not watch a rom-com that takes you on a journey? In Crazy Rich Asians , Rachel (Constance Wu) is invited to Singapore by her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to meet his family. But when they board the plane, she discovers he’s booked them in first class… and is actually one of the richest heirs in all of Singapore.

Making the movie an even better fit for summer is its lush colors and beautiful setting. Singapore is hot, tropical, and loaded with stunningly modern architecture. Combined, that all creates a super-saturated landscape for the film that almost looks too perfect to be real. On top of that, Crazy Rich Asians is loaded with a home-run cast that includes Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Ronny Chieng, and Michelle Yeoh .

The Wedding Planner (2001)

The late ’90s and early 2000s were a golden era for rom-coms. Tons of them were released and became box office hits, and they all had an unmistakable vibe that was filled with cheesy scenarios, bad acting, and too-good-to-be-true happy endings. Basically, they were everything we secretly crave from a good rom-com.

J-Lo found herself starring in numerous rom-coms of the era, with one of her biggest hits being The Wedding Planner . In the movie, she plays a San Francisco wedding planner who thinks she’ll never fall in love. But one day, a hunky doctor (Matthew McConaughey) saves her from almost being hit by a car, and sparks fly. It feels like the spiritual precursor to the 2008 hit 27 Dresses , and ironically both films star Judy Greer in a supporting role.

Eat Pray Love (2010)

Sure, go ahead. Roll your eyes, groan, and moan all you want. I know that these days Eat Pray Love is often seen as a joke, but that’s only because it was such a massive hit (and it’s actually pretty good). EPL has encouraged millions to go on their own pilgrimages and almost singlehandedly turned Bali into the global hotspot it is today. To date, the book has sold over 12 million copies, making it one of the bestselling memoirs in history. Naturally, its success led to a film adaptation starring Julia Roberts.

The story follows author Elizabeth Gilbert (Roberts), who leaves her unhappy marriage and decides to travel around the globe hoping to find herself. She starts in Italy, then heads to an ashram in India, and finally lands in Bali where she unexpectedly falls in love with a man who would later become her husband. Eat Pray Love feels like the sappiest, cheesiest rom-com ever, but it’s actually a true story, making it all even more unbelievable. Plus, nothing says summer quite like a globetrotting adventure, and EPL absolutely delivers.

A Family Affair (2024)

Netflix’s A Family Affair takes rom-com’s two biggest tropes — the enemies-to-lovers and mismatched couple cliches — and blends them together, creating a surprisingly enjoyable movie that involves a lot of shirtless Zac Efron. In the film, Joey King plays an overworked and underappreciated assistant to an egotistical Hollywood actor (Efron). But everything gets even worse when she finds out he’s falling in love with her mom (Nicole Kidman).

Like all proper rom-coms, A Family Affair was completely blasted by critics but loved by audiences, with Deadline reporting the movie garnered a massive 26.8 million views in its first week alone. The critics can whine all they want, but nothing beats Kidman’s acting talent and Efron’s pecs.

Murder Mystery (2019)

Murder Mystery is anything but your typical rom-com. While most focus on new lovers meeting for the first time, Murder Mystery centers on an unhappy couple (Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler) who have been stuck in a monotonous marriage for 15 years. In an attempt to spice up their lives, they take a trip to Europe and are invited to spend some time on a yacht by a mysterious man. Soon after, a murder takes place, and the couple are forced to find the real killer before they’re blamed for the crime. Can the daring life-or-death adventure reignite passion between the two? (If you’ve ever seen a rom-com before, I’m sure you can guess.)

Murder Mystery has a similar feel to hits like Date Night and Game Night, and is great for anyone who needs a break from the standard rom-com formula. Plus, with most of the movie taking place in and around the Mediterranean Sea, it’s perfect for summer.

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Netflix subscribers may feel a bit put out that the streamer that invented the binge model is now doling out the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai in bite-sized parts. It's not ideal, but at least this way we don't have to wait until 2025 before checking back in with the characters from The Karate Kid and the next generation of fighters. Cobra Kai isn't only Netflix original launching its final season this week. Vikings: Valhalla has debuted its last season in its entirety, which brings the long-running saga to an end.

There are plenty of other series that you can watch among the best shows on Netflix. And you can find all of our selections below. Keep checking back every week, as we update this list on Friday mornings so you can always know what's new and where you can find your next favorite show.

We should all stop being surprised when an action film comes out of nowhere to hit it big on Netflix. This week's new addition, Land of Bad, barely made an impression in theaters earlier this year. And yet, it's likely to be one of the most popular movies on Netflix by the end of the weekend. Clearly, Netflix subscribers love their action flicks, especially when they haven't seen them before.

The other prominent arrival on Netflix is Bone Tomahawk, a Western that will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. Between that film and Land of Bad, you should have all of the excitement that you need this weekend. But if you need more, just check out the rest of the best movies on Netflix right now.

If you've ever perused the selection of movies available on Max, you know that the streamer has one of the deepest libraries of titles available. The only issue is that the interface makes it difficult to actually find the movies you might be looking for, leaving you with just the algorithm's recommendations.

If you're looking for great action movies, though, we've got you covered with three titles that speak to the wide array of content available on the service. These are three action movies on Max you should definitely make time for in July. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Mel Gibson Post-Apocalypse Movie HD

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Long Holes Look Intimidating, but It’s the Short Ones That Often Befuddle Golfers

At the British Open at Royal Troon, a short hole called the Postage Stamp has ended many title runs.

By Paul Sullivan

The British Open at Royal Troon in Scotland this week might help answer a question vexing professional golf. Is the antidote to golfers hitting increasingly long drives creating holes that are even longer? Or is it the opposite: incredible shortness?

Troon, which is hosting its 10th Open this week, is famous for the Postage Stamp , the name given to its par-3 eighth hole, which is 123 yards on the card but may play under 100 yards this week if the tees are moved up and the pin is put in the front of the green. A tiny green surrounded by five bunkers, the hole has been a feature of the course since 1909.

It’s also a hole length that any golfer can hit. But under pressure, with the wind blowing and a tricky pin position, it’s a length that tests the skill of the most elite golfers.

This year, Troon will also have its opposite. It will have the longest hole in Open history , the par-5 sixth hole that will measure 623 yards. It beats by three yards the 15th hole at Royal Liverpool in last year’s Open.

In some ways, lengthening holes for top pros is akin to billionaires competing to have the longest yacht: It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Pros hit the ball so far that length alone doesn’t deter them.

What does is the strategy inherent in the design of the hole. This is where these two opposites at Troon open up a robust debate among top architects as to which matters more today: extreme length or extreme shortness?

“Short holes just fascinate me,” said Ben Crenshaw , a two-time major champion turned golf course architect with his partner Bill Coore. “Some of the great short holes in the world provide a test of accuracy and bravery in a way that a lot of other holes don’t. The Postage Stamp at Troon has been the scene of a lot of carnage and bravery.”

“The long holes are always a test over there because of the conditions,” Crenshaw added. “You only hope that you don’t reach a long hole that’s into the wind. Then it becomes a very difficult proposition. It’s a test that you will see over there.”

There was a time not so long ago when some par-5s were considered unreachable in two shots. (Hitting a par-5 in two, instead of three, is an advantage for players looking to make up ground on the rest of the field, with a birdie or maybe an eagle.)

In 1991, John Daly captivated the golfing world with how far he hit the ball in winning the P.G.A. Championship as a rookie. Two years later, when the U.S. Open was played at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course, Daly electrified the crowd when he reached the 630-yard 17th in two shots, then the only person to have done that in a tournament.

Some clubs have gone to extreme lengths to protect their holes. The 12th hole at Oakmont Country Club is one. Oakmont, which has hosted nine United States Opens and three P.G.A. Championships, is considered among the toughest golf courses in the United States. And the par-5 12th, always over 600 yards, was considered unreachable in two shots — until it wasn’t. So the last time the club hosted the U.S. Open in 2016, that hole was stretched to 684 yards, making it the longest U.S. Open hole ever.

Not everyone is a fan of that strategy.

“It’s almost impossible now to build a hole that’s unreachable in two, short of making it 700 yards, and I wouldn’t want to do that anyway,” said Tom Doak, who designed the Renaissance Club where the Scottish Open was played last week. “It’s better when the long hitter thinks he can get there, so he will risk getting in trouble to do it.”

Michael Hurdzan, a designer of Erin Hills, the longest course to ever host a U.S. Open at 7,845 yards, said being uncertain or uncomfortable is a better way to challenge elite players.

“If one were silly enough to play the maximum yardage on every hole, Erin Hills would total over 8,500 yards,” he said. “Legend has it that Patrick Reed did that on a practice day and shot 73. Length is not a strong deterrent to scoring among the elite players of today, but making them think is, and that is what a short hole can do.”

The ninth at Erin Hills is just 135 yards with bunkers surrounding it; it made many players at the 2017 U.S. Open unsure.

“The thing about Troon that I love is the capriciousness of the fairways,” Hurdzan said. “That ball can land and scoot one way or the other. They’re trying to hit it hard but now they have to hit it hard and true.”

While holes that are too long can open up a player to shooting many shots over par, they can also have the opposite effect in: removing the temptation to make a heroic shot.

So what needs to be done to keep these championship courses challenging?

Doak had several suggestions. One was a tee-shot hazard so challenging — say a deep, high-walled bunker — that it almost certainly costs players a stroke. Another is to penalize pros with a shot even they don’t like.

“My preference is to have the green bunkered more loosely on a par-5, so the player trying to hit driver off the deck might leave himself a 40-yard bunker shot,” he said. “Even pros hate those. That same bunker shouldn’t bother the guy playing three careful shots.”

A common feature is to put water near the green to claim any errant shots, but Hurdzan criticized that idea as uncreative.

“You want to reduce the margin of error as much as you can at the green, and you can do it with slopes,” he said. “We saw it at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open with all those roll offs. We’re going to see some of that at Troon because those greens have a lot of roll off. You want to design the Saturday and Sunday pin placements with small margins for error.”

Crenshaw, who restored Pinehurst No. 2 in 2011, said those sloping greens were what Donald Ross, the original designer who came from the links of Dornoch in Scotland, intended for championship golf even 100 years ago.

“Those greens defend it so well in so many different ways,” Crenshaw said. “An honest shot has to pull into that green with the proper strength. There are so many [curved] false fronts, if you don’t get the ball up into the green it will roll back on you. You have to play a conservative shot and not go for as many flagsticks. And when you do miss the greens, you’re faced with many delicate shots.”

This is where Crenshaw, a two-time winner of the Masters Tournament, said short befuddled great players more than long.

“Think of the 12th hole at Augusta.,” he said. “That will test you no matter what. It’s the shortest hole on that golf course. And it gets all the attention.”

Of course, at a championship venue like Troon, sometimes both short and long, can be problematic.

In 1982, Bobby Clampett playing in his first Open Championship at age 22 led by five after two rounds. He was off to a solid start with a few more birdies in the third round.

Then at the sixth, the longest hole back then at 577 yards, he carded a triple-bogey 8 that sent him reeling.

In 1997, Tiger Woods, who had turned professional the year before, was in contention at Troon until he took a 6 on the par-3 Postage Stamp hole. “That eighth hole at Troon tests you in all conditions,” Crenshaw said, “because the target is so small.”

And that may make it the better defense to today’s length debate.

Paul Sullivan, the  Wealth Matters  columnist from 2008 to 2021, is the founder of  The Company of Dads , a work and parenting site aimed at fathers. He is also the author of  The Thin Green Line : The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy and  Clutch : Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t.  @sullivanpaul More about Paul Sullivan

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Annecy Winner ‘Memoir of a Snail’ Gets U.S. Release Date From IFC Films (EXCLUSIVE)

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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IFC Films has announced the U.S. release date for the animated feature “ Memoir of a Snail ,” directed by Academy Award winner Adam Elliot. This charming stop-motion adult drama took nearly a decade to create and will open in limited release on Oct. 25, with a wider expansion throughout November.

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The film premiered in June at the Annecy Film Festival, where it received rave reviews and won the top prize, the Cristal Award for best feature. Elliot became the first two-time winner of this prestigious award.

Peter Debruge, Variety’s chief film critic, praised the movie’s “dark and surprisingly moving brand of storytelling,” writing: “Like Edward Gorey’s, his palette is nearly monochromatic; his characters tend to face the camera, à la Wes Anderson, as if posing for gloomy school photos; and his John Waters-esque humor is irreverent enough to encompass everything from disabilities to weird sexual kinks.”

With humor, heart and meticulous attention to detail in its worldbuilding, Elliot and his stellar voice cast deliver a vivid portrayal of an outsider finding her confidence.

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