There are always people who ignore mandatory evacuation orders when a massive storm or other natural disaster is coming, and sometimes they die. Other times, people die because they have no chance or means to leave. Hurricane Matthew, an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm, has already killed more than 280 people, mostly in Haiti, and as it starts to batter Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) warned the 1.5 million people who live along the Florida coast: "This storm will kill you." President Obama has already issued emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Matt Drudge, the conservative web link curator, lives in Florida and, as the outer part of the storm started hitting his state, he suggested Thursday afternoon that maybe these dire warnings are a government conspiracy.

And it isn't just "deplorables" who planned to ride out the storm:

Among the attaboys Vanilla Ice received for his Darwin Award application, there were the head shakes, both dark — "Authorities ask that you write your social security number on your body with permanent marker to facilitate ID," tweeted David Kroll — and darkly funny: "Stop. Evacuate and listen." But this isn't a joke, Weather Channel senior hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross emphasized Thursday evening. "This is like no storm in the record books," he said, specifically to his "friends in Florida." "We are concerned about reports of people deciding to stay in areas under emergency evacuation orders. This is a mistake. This is not hype, this is not hyperbole, and I am not kidding. I cannot overstate the danger of this storm."

"If you live in a Florida evacuation zone, you need to head for a safe spot, now," Norcross concluded. "Do not assume you can survive if you decide to stay. There will be overwhelming damage, and likely, a heartbreaking loss of life. Based on everything we know, Matthew will make history. The Weather Channel does not want you to be part of that history." Peter Weber

Is it too soon to bring the Wall Street GameStop drama to a theater near you? Apparently not, according to Hollywood, where executives are wasting absolutely no time getting to work on the story.

Just within the past day, three separate Hollywood projects based on the recent GameStop chaos on Wall Street, involving Reddit users rallying behind the company's heavily-shorted stock to the chagrin of hedge funds who have bet against it, have been reported to be in development.

Word of the first project came on Sunday, when Deadline revealed MGM has acquired the rights to a book proposal about the GameStop drama called The Antisocial Network from author Ben Mezrich. Mezrich previously wrote The Accidental Billionaires, the story of Facebook's founding that was turned into David Fincher's 2010 movie The Social Network. It's not clear who might write or direct a movie version of The Antisocial Network, but Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are reportedly producing.

Then, Deadline reported on Monday that Netflix is in talks to make its own movie about the GameStop drama, with The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal in negotiations to write this one and To All The Boys I've Loved Before star Noah Centineo expected to star. But wait, there's more! Hours later, Deadline followed up to reveal yet another GameStop project is in the works, this one a limited series called To The Moon that follows "two roommates laid off from their jobs at GameStop and AMC, who turn COVID into lemonade by using their stimulus checks to dip into the world of day trading." All of this comes as the story continues to unfold and just days after it began to generate widespread attention.

Given the pace at which these project announcements have been coming, it wouldn't be surprising if more are on the way — perhaps eventually leaving critics forced to compile separate top 10 lists for "best GameStop movies of the year." Brendan Morrow

President Biden may be willing to listen to the GOP when it comes to passing a COVID-19 stimulus bill, but the rest of his party is moving on without him.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed a joint budget resolution for the 2021 Fiscal Year. It's the first step toward Congress introducing a Budget Reconciliation bill, which will allow the party to pass Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan without any support from the GOP.

The announcement came not long before Biden was set to meet with 10 Republican senators who have worked out a $618 billion stimulus plan of their own. It lacks local government funding and would distribute smaller, more targeted stimulus checks than the Democrats' proposal. Find a side-by-side comparison of the two bills at The Week. Kathryn Krawczyk

Last week. the Biden administration announced it was restoring relations with Palestine after the Trump administration slashed financial assistance for Palestinians, effectively shut down their diplomatic mission to the United States, and recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. And on Monday, officials from both sides publicly engaged for the first time in three years when the Palestinian Authority's Minister for Civilian Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh spoke over the phone with Hady Amr, the Biden administration's sssistant secretary of state for Israel-Palestine.

It sounds like the call mostly covered the basics involved with re-establishing the relationship, but it appears to have been well-received.

The Biden administration is reportedly looking to take a more even-handed approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Washington will reportedly seek to both strengthen ties with Palestine and "maintain its steadfast support for Israel" en route to what it hopes will be a peaceful, two-state solution. Tim O'Donnell

In the almost year since movie theaters shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic, many worried cinephiles have waxed lyrical about what we lose if we lose theaters. Despite the doomsaying, though, movie culture didn't significantly suffer in 2020. Most movies are fine being watched on your TV! But there are also films like The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, showing this week as part of the virtual Sundance Film Festival, where it becomes obvious how exhibition alters the way we watch certain movies.

This year, Sundance moved almost entirely online, a decision that not only makes it safe for the industry professionals whose year revolves around the film festival, but accessible to fans for whom traveling to Park City is usually prohibitive. There is much to celebrate about what Sundance has accomplished in 2021, in terms of their top-notch programming, seamless technical transition, and tools like offering closed captions on every film (seriously: thank you).

But watching The Most Beautiful Boy in the World reveals limitations outside the scope of what Sundance can control this year. The documentary is about Björn Andrésen, whose life unraveled after being cast by Italian director Luchino Visconti in Death in Venice at the age of 15, a result of Visconti's worldwide search for "the most beautiful boy." Watching at home on my couch, on TV, I kept thinking how the documentary would be a good fit for something like Hulu or Netflix: even the trailer plays like a teaser for a lurid, cheaply-made "where are they now" special, with its grainy archival footage of Visconti licking his lips, sensational voice-overs, overly-dramatic music, and tacky negative images.

Over the runtime of The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, though, I realized my perception of the movie was all off. Far from sensational, the documentary is a much quieter and more artful examination of a life warped by grief and loneliness. Moody original camerawork by cinematographer Erik Vallsten extends the story beyond the true-crime-like archival footage, finding Andrésen, now in his 60s, retracing the scars of his past. A letter, which is effectively a suicide note, gives the film a poetic frame for its conclusion. They're details I'd never have overlooked in the setting of a film festival's theater, which invites a higher artistic expectation; on my couch, where I've previously queued up Tiger King and Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, I have, alas, a much different eye.

Juno Films, a boutique distributor, acquired The Most Beautiful Boy in the World just ahead of its Sundance premiere, and Variety reports that the plan is to "release the film in theaters in May 2021." Still, it seems risky, at this point, to hope theaters are reopened by the spring. Ideally, Juno pushes back the theatrical premiere rather than releasing it online. Not every viewer will make my mistake of underestimating The Most Beautiful Boy in the World on the small screen, but every one who does is a preventable shame. Give it a prestige documentary rollout — on the big screen alone. Jeva Lange

Former President Donald Trump may be stripped of a big privilege usually afforded to former presidents like him.

When U.S. presidents leave office, they continue to receive classified intelligence briefings, albeit more infrequently than the current president. But as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, the Biden administration is still weighing whether it will allow Trump to access those reports.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain had said last week that the administration would hear from intelligence officials before deciding on Trump's access.

Intelligence officials reportedly worried about Trump continuing to receive intelligence briefings once he left office, as well as whether he'd leak state secrets, perhaps to a foreign adversary. Still, some were reportedly reassured because Trump never seemed to pay much attention to that classified information anyway.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff last week called on Biden to strip Trump of his intelligence privileges, saying "he certainly can't be trusted" with the information, as did Trump’s former principal deputy director of national intelligence Susan Gordon. Kathryn Krawczyk

The new coronavirus variants are cause for concern, and early indications are that at least the one in South Africa could be more resistant to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.'s top infectious disease expert, said Monday that those worries have prompted a lot of questions about whether people should wait to get their shots until the "next generation" of vaccines that are updated to specifically fight the variants. The answer? For Fauci, it's a resounding no.

For starters, while vaccines appear to be less successful at stopping the spread of the South Africa variant, there's still a strong possibility they'll prevent severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths. But Fauci raised another crucial point — getting vaccinated will prevent other variants from emerging in the first place. "Viruses cannot mutate if they don't replicate," Fauci said. "And if you stop their replication by vaccinating widely and not giving the virus an open playing field to continue to respond to the pressures that you put on it, you will not get mutations." Tim O'Donnell