It’s hard to quit Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The duo first paired for the 1995 Michael Bay-directed action-comedy “Bad Boys” and are a joy from the opening sequence of the franchise’s more-entertaining-than-not fourth entry, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” which speeds into theaters this week.

As veteran Miami police detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, respectively, Smith and Lawrence pick right up with their characters’ signature bickering, Marcus insisting to the fast-driving Mike that he’s going to be sick if he doesn’t get some ginger ale. Mike agrees to stop the car, giving Marcus 90 seconds to run into a store to buy the ginger ale — and ONLY the ginger ale — with the snack-loving Marcus, upon grabbing the soda, housing a pack of Skittles and ordering a day-old hotdog at the counter. He may have gotten away with it, too, had it not been for the stickup man who slows him down and with whom the cops quickly deal. (By this point, Mike is highly displeased with both the criminal and his longtime partner.)

Perhaps you are trying to quit Smith in light of “the slap heard around the world,” Smith’s infamous introduction of his hand to presenter Chris Rock’s face during the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony. It’s been pretty easy until now, as Smith was last in theaters later in 2022, briefly, with the so-so slavery action-drama “Emancipation.”

How, if at all, would this movie — like its 2020 processor, “Bad Boys for Life, directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, aka Adil & Bilall — handle the slap? Well, late in the affair, an enlightened Marcus literally slaps some sense into Mike at a climactic moment. That’s not going to make the whole thing go away, of course, but it’s probably as well as the production could do.

In this tale, after suffering a heart attack at Mike’s wedding, Marcus is chock full of said enlightenment, however questionable some of it may be.

While unconscious, he experiences a vision in which the pair’s late boss, Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), informs him it’s not his time. Marcus awakens with a wide smile on his face, pulls out the tubes stuck to him and promptly exits the room where Mike sleeps slouched in a chair. Soon, on the hospital roof, where he gives Miami a show in his hospital gown, Marcus tells Mike that he, Mike, soon will face a great test but that he is up to it.

“Just know: You’re good,” Marcus says.

(This all might sound more prophetic to Mike were Marcus not soon talking about his discovery that they are, in fact, soulmates, that this is only one of many existences they’ve shared. In one for which Marcus apologizes, Mike was a disobedient donkey and Marcus his cruel owner, he insists. “Hey, how long you think your brain was without oxygen?” Mike responds.)

Mike will be tested, of course, after he and Marcus set about clearing the aforementioned Howard’s name after the deceased is framed for being in bed with the drug trade.

The flick’s formidable villain is James McGrath (Eric Dane of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria”), but it’s clear someone within the department is involved, as well. That makes it hard for our heroes to trust even their current boss (and Mike’s ex), Rita Secada (Paola Nuñez), if not their young former colleagues in the Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO) team — Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens) and Dorn (Alexander Ludwig).

Another returning character is Mike’s estranged son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), who’s been imprisoned for his actions while working for a drug cartel. He is the one person who can identify McGrath, so he is set to be transferred to Miami.

Will Smith appears in a scene from “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” (Frank Masi/Sony/TNS)

To this point, less than halfway through the affair and despite the high stakes, “Ride or Die” is an easy-breezy joy ride fueled by its humor. However, Adil & Bilall shift gears, leaning more heavily on the action half of the action-comedy formula. And while a sequence set aboard the prisoner-transport helicopter in which Mike and Marcus are accompanying Amando to Miami mostly has the goods, Adil & Bilall and their moviemaking collaborators generally lean way too heavily on tilted cameras and quick cuts in an attempt to ratchet up the excitement whenever bullets are flying and things are exploding. They use drone shots. They use first-person video game-like shots.

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Most of it is more distracting than it is effective.

Worse, the screenplay from Chris Bremner, also a co-writer on “Bad Boys for Life,” and Will Beall (“Aquaman”) leans too heavily on the never-compelling father-son dynamic between Smith and Armando. (Interestingly, a heart attack Beall suffered inspired the Marcus storyline, but that monumental life event is mostly played for laughs.)

It doesn’t matter all that much, but it must be noted the talents of Rhea Seehorn — typically terrific on “Better Call Saul” — are wasted on a one-dimentional character, Howard’s daughter, a U.S. Marshall agent longing to kill Amando for his role in her father’s death.

Ultimately at least a slight improvement over the underwhelming “Bad Boys for Life,” “Ride or Die” largely plays to its sophomoric strengths, right down to the site of those all-but-obligatory slaps: an abandoned alligator-themed amusement park where a big ol’ gator named Duke is rumored to still roam.

Its greatest strength is Smith and Lawrence together. Quit them if you can, but our guess is this isn’t the last time the “Bad Boys” come for you.

‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’

Where: Theaters.

When: June 7.

Rated: R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references.

Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.

 

Summertime, and the listening is easy, songs are rockin’ and the volume is high. Which is to say, it’s time to talk about songs of summers past.

Songs of the summer anchor us in a time and place. You remember who your friends were, what you did, and where you went.

There are absolutely people this summer who will always remember their love for Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” or Billie Eilish’s “Lunch,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” or Post Malone and Morgan Wallen‘s “I Had Some Help.”

It’s too early to evaluate those, though. Come back in 40 or 50 years when I, or some AI simulation, will tell you how the summer and history turned out for those songs.

This, though, we know: The Summer of ’74 was wild, man, with classic songs alongside some ‘what-were-we-thinking?’ tunes. The Summer of ’84 was much better, with breakthroughs by a number of artists still relevant today.

(And what of 1994? Check out our piece on the classic albums of that year celebrating their anniversary in 2024 here: https://bit.ly/3VjWROD.)

Summer songs are in the ears of the beholder. I picked 10 songs for each year, and yes, your list might differ. But I did try to cast a wide net and survey as much as personal memory and online research turned up.

So tune in, and drop out of 2024 for the spin of the dial through summers past.

Summer songs of ’74

“Band on the Run,” Paul McCartney & Wings / Released in April, peaked at No. 1 in June

“Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash, as we fell into the sun!” Oh my, what a terrific song this is. A suite in miniature, it opens with our heroes in the band sorrowful for their confinement, shifts into a second movement making plans for breaking out, and then, pow! Two minutes and 22 seconds into the song’s 5:13 run time, they’re off, and we’re off too, singing, “And the first one said to the second one there, I hope you’re having fun. Ba-a-nd on the run!”

“Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods / Released in April, peaked at No. 1 in June

“Billy, don’t be a hero, don’t be a fool with your life!” There was a time when I would, uninvited, entertain a party with my rendition of this classic. (I never did figure out why everyone’s drinks needed refilling just then.) There’s no rule, you know, that a summer song has to be good. It just to be memorable, and that’s what we had here. “Billy, don’t be a hero, come back and make me your wife!”

“Rock The Boat,” the Hues Corporation / Released in May, peaked at No. 1 in July

“So I’d like to know where you got the notion …”. Not only was this a call to the dance floor the moment the needle dropped, it’s also considered by some to be the first disco song to top the charts. A perennial favorite at weddings and parties in Ireland, it’s so beloved there’s a dance fans do, as seen on Netflix’s “Derry Girls,” that includes sitting on the floor to rock an imaginary boat. “Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat, baby.”

“Annie’s Song,” John Denver / Released in June, peaked at No. 1 in July and August

“You fill up my senses, like a night in a forest …’: We’ll confess we considered making up a rule that a summer song had to have more oomph than this limp little love song has. It’s just so … weak. But according to Billboard, this baby was the biggest cumulative hit of the summer of ’74. Maybe it was the come-down from the Vietnam War, Watergate and all needed something soft on the ears. “You fill up my senses, come fill me again.”

“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” by Elton John / Released in May, peaked at No. 2 in July

“I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free.” Exhibit A in the case against “Annie’s Song”: It blocked this Elton John classic at No. 2 in the summer of ’74. It’s a beautiful, melancholy song with some of John and lyricist Bernie Taupin‘s most poetic work of the period. Gorgeous piano, glorious harmonies, it remained a staple of John’s sets thereafter. “But losin’ everything is like the sun goin’ down on me”

“Feel Like Makin’ Love,” by Roberta Flack / Released  in June, peaked at No. 1 in August

“Strollin’ in the park, watchin’ winter turn to spring.” Now this is how you do a soft summer song. Flack’s mellow vibes are as cool as a summer breeze, and the love song here is something you’d play at a party or for your special lady or dude in the mood. It was also No. 1 for five weeks on the Hot Soul Singles, so, yeah, it was huge that summer. “Ooh-oo-oo, that’s the time, I feel like makin’ dreams come true.”

“The Night Chicago Died,” by Paper Lace / Released in June, peaked at No. 1 in August

“In the heat of the summer night, in the land of the dollar bill.” A fitting bookend to ‘Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” both as guilty pleasures but also authorship: Paper Lace wrote and recorded “Billy,” which flopped, only for Bo Donaldson to take it No. 1. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was not a fan, his rep suggesting that the band “jump in the Chicago River, placing your heads under water three times and surfacing twice.” “Brother what a night it really was.”

“Tell Me Something Good,” by Rufus / Released in April, peaked at No. 3 in August

“You ain’t got no feeling insi-i-de …”. Stevie Wonder wrote this and gave it to Rufus for his friend Chaka Khan to sing, and man, does she sing it. After this hit, the band changed its name to Rufus and Chaka Khan. The funky wah-wah guitar, one of the very uses of a guitar talk box, and just a groove that lasts all day long. “Tell me something good, tell me that you like it, yeah.”

‘Waterloo,’ by ABBA / Released in March, peaked at No. 6 in August

“Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war.” The breakout single from ABBA, “Waterloo” uses Napoleon’s fateful defeat as a metaphor for a love affair. They’re Swedish, they knew their European history, and, smartly, that might have helped win the Eurovision Contest in 1974. To American audiences, that didn’t matter as much as the bouncy run of the up-tempo ballad. “Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore.”

*(You’re) Having My Baby,” by Paul Anka and Odia Coates / Released in June, peaked at No. 1 in August and September

“What a lovely way of saying how much you love me.” People loved this song, and yes, I can sing this at your party, too. There’s no defense for how bad it is other than that Anka really loved his wife and their four daughters, all of whom it was inspired. Interesting side note: One of Anka’s daughters Amanda is married to actor Jason Bateman. “I’m a woman in love, and I love what it’s doing to me.”

Also on the Summer of ’74 jukebox: “Sundown,” by Gordon Lightfoot; “Rock Your Baby,” by George McCrae; “Hollywood Swinging,” by Kool and the Gang; “I Shot the Sheriff,” by Eric Clapton; “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” Barry White

Summer songs of ’84

“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” by Phil Collins / Released in February, peaked at No. 1 in April and May

“How can I just let you walk away? Just let you leave without a trace.” Phil Collins’ moody ballad from the film of the same name connected deeply listeners, in part due to the massive clout the still-new MTV had on the pop chart then. The song became Collins’ first U.S. No. 1, bumping Kenny Loggins’ springtime hit “Footloose” off the top spot. “And you comin’ back to me is against all odds, It’s the chance I’ve gotta take.”

“Relax,” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood / Released in March, peaked at No. 67 in May, but …

“Relax, don’t do it, when you want to go to it.” The English duo’s innuendo-filled single didn’t make it far up the Billboard 100, but listeners to KROQ-FM in Southern California heard it in heavy rotation. It was voted the alternative rock station’s No. 1 song of 1984 in a year-end listeners poll. And if there were a poll of popular T-shirts that summer, those white “Frankie Say Relax” tees were pretty popular. “Got to hit me (hit me!), hit me with those laser beams.”

“Time After Time,” by Cyndi Lauper / Released in March, peaked at No. 1 in June

“Lyin’ in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you.” Cyndi Lauper‘s debut single, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” climbed to No. 2 at the end of 1983 and start of 1984. This ballad, which Lauper co-wrote, not only did that one better, one better being all there was to do, it’s also become her signature song even more than its predecessor. (Even jazz legend Miles Davis covered it.) “If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me. Time after time.”

“The Reflex,” by Duran Duran / Released in April, peaked at No. 1 in June

“Oh, why-y-y-y don’t you use it? Try not to bruise it.” The glamourous synth-fueled rock of Duran Duran was at its peak in the early ’80s, but it was “The Reflex,” not songs such as “Hungry Like the Wolf” or “Rio,” to achieve their first No. 1 in the U.S. Simon Le Bon’s vocals sparkle as the rest of the band race to the finish in fine form. “The reflex is a lonely child who’s waiting by the park / The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark.”

Bruce Springsteen watches Clarence Clemons play the saxophone during a Dec. 11, 1984, concert before 23,000 fans in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. (Charles Bertram/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS)

“Dancing in the Dark,” by Bruce Springsteen / Released in May, peaked at No. 2 in July

“You can’t start a fire. You can’t start a fire without a spark.” The debut single from “Born In The USA” lit the fuse for Bruce Springsteen‘s rocket into superstardom. It was blocked from No. 1 by “The Reflex” and the next song on this list. In this classic age of MTV, the music video was directed by filmmaker Brian De Palma with an unknown Courteney Cox featured. “This gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”

“When Doves Cry,” by Prince / Released in May, peaked at No. 1 in July and August

“Dig, if you will, the picture, of you and I engaged in a kiss.” Even more than “Born in the USA” boosted Springsteen’s fame, the release of the film and soundtrack to Prince‘s “Purple Rain” transformed him into a global superstar. This song, written in one night to fit a scene in the movie, is classic Prince, funky, sexy, and cool as cool can be. “Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry.”

“Eyes Without a Face,” by Billy Idol / Released in May, peaked at No. 4 in July

“I’m all out of hope. One more bad break could bring a fall.” Billy Idol‘s first single off “Rebel Yell” was its title track, a hard rocking number like “Dancing With Myself” and “White Wedding” before it. Here, though, he slowed things down with a ballad that still finds space for some meaty guitar riffing by his musical partner Steve Stevens. “Eyes without a face, got no human grace, your eyes without a face.”

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“State of Shock,” by the Jacksons with Mick Jagger / Released in June, peaked at No. 3 in August

“She looks so great every time I see her face.” Two things you must know about this song. First, when it was released on June 5, 1984, DJs at KIQQ (100.3 FM) decided it would be fun to play it over and over again. And they did, for 22 consecutive hours. Second, the Insane Clown Posse has covered it. Juggalos! Can I get a “Whoop Whoop”? “She put me in a state, a state of shock.”

“People Are People,” by Depeche Mode / Released in March, peaked at No. 13 in August

“People are people, so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully?” Here’s another one that Southern Californians surely heard more than the rest of the nation thanks to KROQ’s alternative rock programming. The British electronic band Depeche Mode uses everything in its toolbox – melancholy vocals, clanging percussion – as well as ever it did. “I can’t understand what makes a man hate a man, help me understand.”

“What’s Love Got to Do with It,” by Tina Turner / Released in May, peaked at No. 1 in September

“What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion?” Tina Turner‘s well-deserved comeback started with the 1984 album “Private Dancer,” and this single from the record was a large part of her success. Sultry and sleek, the modern pop instrumentation behind Turner’s powerhouse vocals still thrills. “What’s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

Also on the Summer of ’84 jukebox: “Cruel Summer;” by Bananarama, “Hello,” by Lionel Richie; “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” by Deniece Williams; “Drive,” by the Cars; “The Longest Time,” by Billy Joel; “Sister Christian,” by Night Ranger; “Jump (For My Love),” by the Pointer Sisters; “The Warrior,” by Scandal featuring Patti Smyth; and, because bustin’ makes me feel good, “Ghostbusters,” by Ray Parker Jr.

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By DAVID KLEPPER (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — YouTube is changing its policies about firearm videos in an effort to keep potentially dangerous content from reaching underage users.

The video sharing platform owned by Google said Wednesday it will prohibit any videos demonstrating how to remove firearm safety devices. In addition, videos showing homemade guns, automatic weapons and certain firearm accessories like silencers will be restricted to users 18 and older.

The changes take effect June 18 and come after gun safety advocates have repeatedly called on the platform to do more to ensure gun videos aren’t making their way to the site’s youngest users, potentially traumatizing children or sending them down dark paths of extremism and violence.

Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, said the change was welcome news and a step in the right direction. But she questioned why the platform took so long to issue a new policy, and said her group will look to see how effectively YouTube enforces its new rule.

“Firearms are the number one cause of death for children and teens in America,” said Paul, whose group has long sought stronger age controls on online gun videos. “As always with YouTube, the real proof of change is whether the company enforces the policies it has on the books. Until YouTube takes real action to prevent videos about guns and gun violence from reaching minors, its policies remain empty words.”

Last year, researchers at Paul’s group created YouTube accounts that mimicked the behavior of 9-year-old American boys with a stated interest in video games. The researchers found that YouTube’s recommendations system forwarded these accounts graphic videos of school shootings, tactical gun training videos and how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic.

One video featured an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50 caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood and brains. Many of the videos violated YouTube’s own policies against violent or gory content.

YouTube said the policy changes were designed as an update to reflect new developments, like 3D printed guns, which have become more available in recent years. YouTube requires users under 17 to get their parent’s permission before using their site; accounts for users younger than 13 are linked to the parental account.

“We regularly review our guidelines and consult with outside experts to make sure we are drawing the line at the right place,” said company spokesman Javier Hernandez.

Along with TikTok, YouTube is one of the most popular sites for children and teens. Both sites have been questioned in the past for hosting, and in some cases promoting, videos that encourage gun violence, eating disorders and self-harm.

Several perpetrators of recent mass shootings have usedsocial media and video streaming platforms to glorify violence, foreshadow or even livestream their attacks.