The coronavirus has caused a number of music festivals to either cancel or reschedule for late summer or fall. Lovers And Friends recently announced their festival would be moved to August 9 while Coachella, also under the Goldenvoice umbrella, will now unfold in mid-October. And now Primavera Sound while join in on the late-summer fun, announcing a new date for the Barcelona leg of their festival.
The heads of Primavera Sound, which originally scheduled for June 3-7, released a statement on their website, breaking the news.
There are things that only happen once in a lifetime. The current global COVID-19 health crisis is, unfortunately, one of them. But it won’t be the only one… Faced with this constantly changing scenario, the restrictions imposed by the authorities on the celebration of public shows and on the free movement of people (making the participation of the announced artists difficult and in many cases impossible) and in coordination with the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council and the Sant Adrià de Besòs City Council, we are forced to postpone the upcoming edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona for reasons of force majeure known to us all.
It remains to be seen whether the new dates, August 26-30, will result in any changes to the lineup. Back in January, Primavera Sound announced that Tyler The Creator, Lana Del Rey, and The Strokes would headline, while Beck, Bad Bunny, Brockhampton, Young Thug, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Kim Petras, Koffee, and many more are also set to perform as well.
To read Primavera’s statement on the new festival date, click here.
Previously on the Best and Worst of Smackdown: Rob Gronkowski danced a jig, humped the ring post, and humiliated a wrestler to call WWE Celebrity Guest Bingo. Plus, Otis made a HAM sandwich out of any heel willing to show to to work during a global pandemic.
One more thing: Hit those share buttons! Spread the word about the column on Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you use. Be sure to leave us a comment in our comment section below as well. I know we always ask this, and that this part is copy and pasted in every week, but we appreciate it every week.
Here’s the Best and Worst of WWE Friday Night Smackdown for March 27, 2020.
Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain
WWE
This column contains some reported WrestleMania news spoilers. Just wanted to let you know. No match results or anything, but if for some reason you’re reading about Smackdown on a wrestling blog and haven’t been inundated with OH NO WRESTLEMANIA news, I don’t necessarily want to be the one to break it to you.
Watching this week’s Friday Night Smackdown felt like two hours of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Per multiple reports, Roman Reigns opted to back out of his Universal Championship main event match against clown killer Bill Goldberg due to, well, you know, being immunocompromised after two battles with leukemia and not wanting to catch a virus that could kill him. That match has already been taped, too, with Roman being replaced by just the worst possible backup option. They could’ve shoehorned the Constable King in there or whatever, I guess, but WrestleMania, your main event, woof. I can’t WAIT to see what THAT Jackhammer looks like. I bet they did five takes and took a three hour nap break before it looked right.
Roman dropping out was reportedly due in part to The Miz showing up to the taping sick and getting sent home. So what is this week’s Smackdown mostly centered around? Promoting the Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg match like it’s still happening, and having The Miz set up a Smackdown Tag Team Championship match for WrestleMania. So … pretty depressing. The show was taped before all of this went down and there’s still another episode next week to explain the card changes, but it’s awfully carny of them to keep promoting matches they know aren’t going to happen not because of on-screen storylines, but because of real-world fear. I’m trying to give WWE the benefit of the doubt as they keep blindly marching toward oblivion while every other major sports organization and entertainment property has shut down, but man, at this point why are you even doing this show at all?
In other words,
K.C. Green / Gunshow
Oh well, at least we’ve still got the Boneyard Match, which is called a “boneyard match” instead of a “graveyard” or “cemetery match” because they don’t want a world full of people scared about dying to hear words that make them think about dying. It’s not a graveyard, it’s a boneyard. Just a yard with some bones in it. Due to circumstances, not the “global pandemic” or the “coronavirus.” It’s not a disease, pal, it’s a championship!
Worst: Words Matter!
On last week’s show, Not General Manager Paige (with help from “her friends at Fox,” who I guess are booking matches now) announced that Bayley would be defending her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke. Bayley responded with, “oh you wanna add like, Tamina in there? Does she even work here anymore? I haven’t seen her in years.” It was such an accurate burn that WWE edited out the second half of it in their YouTube clip of the segment. This week, Tamina shows up and they treat her like she’s scary and dominant. It’s almost like what WWE says and what WWE does are two different things, and that heels are the ones who tell the truth because WWE wants to equate reasonable criticism and basic deductive reasoning to villainy and unpopularity in the eyes of their audience!
Also, Dana Brooke’s no longer in the match because she’s under quarantine, and Lacey Evans is calling Bayley and Sasha Banks “nasties” again in a really shitty tone only a few weeks after jokingly explaining to fellow affluent white lady Renee Young that “nasty” is actually a term of affection in the south. Narrator: It is not. Things are just great all over.
Best: Bye, Felicia
I’ll be straight with you, the only real highlight from this week’s episode for me is King Corbin sceptering Elias off the Cathy Kelley Memorial Juliette Balcony at the Performance Center and apparently murdering him in cold blood for singing another song about how Corbin’s a turd. Couldn’t have happened to a spoonier bard.
WWE
talk shit get hit
It’s the second best WWE moment of the year, right behind Elias singing a song about Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble and Brock leaving the ring to beat the piss out of him in the aisle. I hope the only interaction these two get at WrestleMania is Corbin nonchalantly filling a grave plot with dirt in the background during the Boneyard Match and making a cross out of a broken guitar neck.
This Week In Fine But Underwhelming And Flat Wrestling Matches In An Empty Gym
Two weeks ago, Daniel Bryan defeated Cesaro with a roll-up. Last week, Daniel Bryan teamed up with Drew Gulak against Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and defeated Cesaro with a roll-up. So it only makes sense that this week, Drew Gulak would defeat Shinsuke Nakamura with a roll-up. There’s something truly Monkey Pawish about there being a lengthy Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak versus Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura WrestleMania feud over the Intercontinental Championship, but it being performed exclusively through half-assed Smackdown matches in front of nobody. Imagine Savage/Steamboat, but the WWF spent 18 months telling you over and over that Randy Savage is a helpless coward, George Steele pinned him like six times in a row, and then Savage wrestled Steamboat in an abandoned warehouse.
In other Smackdown news to make you go, “for fuck’s sake what??” here’s Alexa Bliss beating Asuka clean with a DDT. Michael Cole trying to deal with Nikki Cross on commentary was pretty funny, though. Welcome to a strange new world where the best part of an Asuka match is Michael Cole.
As mentioned earlier, the main event of the show is The New Day and The Usos doing their best and trying to set up a WrestleMania match with that old booking chestnut of, “champion watches a number one contender match, thinks that if he attacks both contenders to ruin the match he won’t have to face anybody, and is then shocked to find out that since he ruined the match he’ll actually have to face BOTH of them in a TRIPLE THREAT MATCH!” Miz and Morrison on commentary doing a bunch of WWE fan chants and not really meaning it is the best part, but even that’s hurt by the knowledge that Miz isn’t actually doing anything at WrestleMania, and that the triple threat for the Tag Team Championship isn’t a triple threat and doesn’t involve any tag teams.
As a quick side note, New Day is maybe the worst example of WWE Superstars having to do their entire bit and animations without paying attention to context. Big E doing the pre-entrance New Day declaration to an empty building was sad, man. Miz and Morrison were right to make fun of Kofi for spending 80% of the match clapping out of habit with nobody there to clap along. Read the room, y’all, damn. The people at home will understand.
Also In “WrestleMania” News
Otis is still infuriated about Instagram’s run-in from last week, and ends up getting challenged by Dolph Ziggler to a match at WrestleMania. Otis accepts, Ziggler says Mandy Rose is going to be in his corner (although she helpfully notes in a later segment that she’s not a “prize” to be awarded to the winner), and Tucky is like, “okay, guess I’ll die.” Just kidding, he’ll almost certainly be in Otis’ corner and either end the match by professing his love, or by swerving him to become Ziggler’s latest attempt at a Diesel.
Such a shame that the Otis and Mandy Rose story is going to come to a head at WrestleMania and nobody will be there to react to it. It’s like the romance novel equivalent of Gargano and Ciampa.
Bray Wyatt challenges John Cena to a “Firefly Funhouse Match” at WrestleMania, which I’m guessing is House of Horrors but with puppets hanging from the ceiling instead of creepy dolls. I hope they have the Vince McMahon doll driving the ghost tractor. Wyatt punctuates this challenge by murdering Ramblin’ Rabbit in a blender and drinking his corpse. In all seriousness, I am so excited to watch John Cena wrestle a clown on a bootleg Pee-wee’s Playhouse set and avenge the liquefying of the rabbit puppet who loved him. I bet he loves that he put Hollywood and his spot in a bad Instagram cover of ‘Imagine’ on hold for WrestleMania and ended up here.
And In Case You Weren’t Bored Enough
This week’s match from the archives shown in full is Triple H vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32, which is the worst possible thing to show if you’re trying to get people hyped for a Roman Reigns WrestleMania main event. They should’ve followed it with the match from 34 just to see if we’d put our heads through the TV. This is one of the best examples of an aging Triple H muddling through 30 minutes of an “epic match” formula to prove he’s the best worker in the world or something, despite never, ever being that. It’s the same thought process that leads to WWE revisionist history saying Triple H, “ruled the Attitude Era with an iron fist.” The man spent a decade doing matches like this over and over and over, hoping we’d think ANY of them were as good as Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, or Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker. None of them were.
And I’m not saying Roman Reigns needs to keep his matches at Goldberg length, but whoever keeps asking him to go 25 minutes needs to take a Xanax.
Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week
SHough610
Vince: Hey, Roman! You should check out Goldberg’s last few matches to get a feel for Mania.
Roman: Sounds good, boss!
:Roman watches Goldberg’s matches against the Fiend and the Undertaker:
Roman: Uh, hey Vince, it’s Roman. I’m not really comfortable risking my health by wrestling Goldberg at the Mania tapings.
Vince: Oh, you mean because you’re immunocompromised?
Roman: Yeah, let’s go with that.
notJames
Miz: “All my movies are dynamite to watch!”
Vince (in headset): “Stop… saying… DYNAMITE…!”
AshBlue
Throwing pancakes all over an empty arena?
The Real Birdman
Me: “Nothing could possibly be worse than WrestleMania 32”
The World: “Hold my beer I just coughed on”
Harry Longabaugh
BRYAN: Thankfully, my wrestling has improved thanks to Sensei Drew teaching me grappling, catch as catch can, and karate.
GULAK: Kara-TAY.
BVR
Sarcastic Song!
Bad Photoshops!
Current Topic Reference!
Condescension!
Poop Reference!
Elias has hit WWE Babyface BINGO!
Mark12
Lots of recent orders of the “I wasn’t at WrestleMania 36” clothing line from WWE Shop…
… from current talent.
LUNI_TUNZ
Ramblin Rabbit, WILL IT BLEND!
GLOSS
If an Elias falls and no one’s around to see/hear it, does anyone care?
Dave M J
You know we’ve made wishes on Monkey’s Paws before. It’s an easy joke.
But GOOD LORD, what did we wish on for this match between Daniel Bryan and Sami Zayn? A Babboon Ass that breaks wind when you wish on it?
WWE
That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of Smackdown. As always, thanks for getting through this with us and checking out the column, especially during this pandemic. I’m trying, I promise. There’s just not much WWE can do if they won’t shut down for a few weeks, and not much I can write about them putting their heads down and trying to push through it. We appreciate you, as well as your comments in our comments section below, and your social media shares. It’s hard to stay employed and paid in new media without my country’s lifespan hinging on how nice certain governors are to the guy who shaved Vince McMahon’s head at WrestleMania 23.
See you next week, when Roman Reigns and Goldberg come face to face only hours before “their” match at WrestleMania, and John Cena responds to Bray Wyatt’s challenge for a Public Access Television For Haunted Children Brawl.
After Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s epic beat battle from earlier this week, many wondered which two producers would give us the next entertaining rap battle. After a bit of instigating from Joe Budden, Boi-1da and Hit-Boy agreed to bring their talents to Instagram Live for a beat battle. The two producers went head-to-head last night and, to put it mildly, fans were greatly satisfied with what the battle entailed.
Boi-1da and Hit-Boy reached deep into their catalogs to show off some of their best work, but it was the songs that haven’t yet been officially added to their catalogs that became the true talk of the show. The two then started teasing those tracks online.
Hit-Boy previewed unreleased music from Benny The Butcher and Nas, as well as a collaboration between Big Sean and the late Nipsey Hussle. He last produced for Nas on “Royalty,” from his 2019 The Lost Tapes II, while he also recently worked with Benny The Butcher earlier this year on “All Business,” from his The Chauncey Hollis Project. As for the track between Big Sean and Nipsey, that song is set to appear on the former’s upcoming Detroit 2 album. The track would also be Hussle’s fifth posthumous release, a list that includes work with DJ Khaled, Mustard, Rick Ross, and The Game.
— Ajayi and Rique Podcast (@AjayiRiquePod_) March 28, 2020
As for Boi-1da, Drak’es longtime-producer previewed a new collaboration between the Toronto star and Roddy Ricch, one that could very well wind up on his upcoming album. In addition to the collaboration, Boi-1da played another unreleased track from Drake, one that finds him switching up the flow a bit.
As for the battle itself, Drake’s “Duppy Freestyle” and “Controlla,” Rihanna’s “Work” and “Sex With Me,” Nicki Minaj’s “Chiraq,” and more were heard from Boi-1da while Hit-Boy played Kendrick Lamar’s “Backstreet Freestyle,” GOOD Music’s “Clique,” Drake’s “Trophies,” Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” and Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “N****s In Paris.”
You can hear snippets from the tracks in the above video.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Amazon Prime is way more than just a way to get your electronics and books in two days or less. There’s a wide breadth of good movies and TV shows out there to choose from if you know what you’re looking for.
To help you out, we’ve rounded the 30 best movies on Amazon Prime right now. From new Oscar winners to classic titles, you might be surprised as to what the service has available.
Awkwafina stars in this dramedy from director Lulu Wang that got a fair amount of Oscar buzz this season. The story follows a Chinese family, who discovers their beloved grandmother has only a short time to live. Instead of telling her, they keep the news to themselves, planning a wedding so that everyone can gather to say their goodbyes. It’s a dark comedy to be sure, but it’s given heart by some brilliant performances including Shuzhen Zhao as the central Nai Nai.
Nauseating. Disturbing. A total mindf*ck. Those are all fitting descriptions of Ari Aster’s Hereditary follow-up, a sophomore outing that gleefully embraces the very worst of humanity and shines an unforgiving light on those universal flaws. It’s a horror story, sure, but it’s a relationship drama at its core, flavored with pagan rituals, brutal killings, unsettling imagery, and all-consuming grief. Florence Pugh gives a career-defining performance as Dani, a young woman reeling from a terrible familial tragedy who accompanies her distant, disinterested boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his college bros to a small Swedish village to celebrate the summer solstice.
An early work of director Sofia Coppola, this film based on a 1993 novel of the same name, follows the story of the Lisbon sisters, five girls aged 13-17 who make a suicide pact after their youngest sibling kills herself. A sense of mystery and aloofness adds to the girls’ appeal when it comes to the neighborhood boys, through whom much of the story is told. Confined to their house after the death of their sister, the girls find ways of communicating with the outside world through secret phone calls and late-night trysts. Eventually, the sisters make good on their pact, but Coppola chooses to find a sense of freedom and validation in their decision to commit suicide, one that paints the end of the film in a strangely victorious light.
John Krasinski’s breakout horror flick has made its way to Hulu. The film stars Krasinski and his wife, Emily Blunt, as a couple trying their best to raise their family in the middle of an apocalypse where the slightest sound might attract other-worldly creatures intent on hunting them down and killing them. It’s a thrilling turn for both actors, with twists you don’t see coming and a satisfying ending.
The mind-boggling success of the Marvel Universe this decade makes it easy to forget it’s humble, fantastically-written origins. We’re talking about the first Avengers team-up, a modest affair in comparison to the universe-spanning, dimension-hopping Endgame, but one that still holds up as a worthy outing for our O.G. heroes. This film marked the first time Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Clint Barton shared any real screentime and while most of the fighting is done in-house, the team pulls it together to take on a scheming Loki and his invading army of earth-destroying space monsters in the end.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars in this sci-fi thriller about a woman on the run who must return home to the family she abandoned once word of her supernatural abilities spreads. Mbatha-Raw plays Ruth, a woman whose seizures trigger earthquakes. Her mother and young daughter also have telekinetic abilities and when Ruth comes home to escape a dogged scientist determined to experiment on her, she begins trying to understand her powers with their help while also staying under the radar.
Jimmie Fails plays himself in this semi-autobiographical drama about a young man’s attempts to reclaim his childhood home. Fails and his best friend, Mont (Jonathan Majors), visit the old Victorian house where Fails grew up, only to find it in disarray. When the current tenants find themselves embroiled in a fight for ownership, forced to move out while the battle plays out in court, Jimmy and Mont move in, fixing up the place and fighting to restore some of the neighborhood’s old school charm.
Chris Hemsworth stars in this Whedon creation directed by Drew Goddard that’ll make you wary of ever going on a mountain retreat again. Hemsworth plays one of a group of five friends who head to the woods for some R&R. The remote cabin they stay at quickly becomes a hellish prison they struggle to escape from.
James Stewart stars in this holiday flick about a down-on-his-luck businessman who laments his suburban life. George Bailey wishes for a different, more successful life, one unencumbered by a wife and kids but when his wish is granted and an angel shows him what life would be like without him, Bailey must figure out how to make the most of the present. Stewart is magnetic in the role and though it’s thought of as a Christmas classic, this film can and should be enjoyed year-round.
This film by Destin Daniel Cretton (the guy Marvel’s tapped to direct Shang-Chi) marks the first leading role for Brie Larson. Long before her Captain Marvel days, Larson was playing Grace Howard, a young woman navigating life as a supervisor of a group home for troubled teens. Other soon-to-be stars like Lakeith Stanfield and Rami Malek also have a role in this thing but it’s Larson’s vehicle and she’s in full command of it.
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is a nostalgic ode to growing up in the 90s. The film follows a 13-year-old kid named Stevie who spends one summer in L.A. navigating between his troubled home life and a new group of friends that push to him to test his own boundaries. The movie is heavy in skater culture, a scene L.A. was known for at the time, but it’s also an introspective look on making the transition from boyhood to adulthood, and how perilous that time can be.
Greta Gerwig’s love letter to her hometown of Sacramento, California follows Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as they navigate the often-frustrating relationship between mother and daughter. Ronan plays “Ladybird,” a young woman attending Catholic school who longs for the culture and change of scenery that New York City promises. Her mother, Metcalf, is overbearing and overprotective, and the family’s lack of money and social standing contributes to a rift between the two. Some hard truths are explored in this film, but watching Ronan manage teenage angst, first love, and everything in between will give you all kinds of nostalgia.
Toni Collette stars in this terrifying nightmare by first-time director Ari Aster. The film charts the grief and shared trauma of the Graham family. Annie (Collette) is mourning the loss of her secretive mother, worrying over her inherited mental health issues and her children. When her son Peter accidentally kills his sister, hauntings begin happenings. Malevolent spirits, possessions, a seance gone wrong — this is pure nightmare fuel people.
A dark, morose examination on everything from faith and fidelity to climate change, grief, and mental health issues, Paul Schrader’s drama about a Protestant minister struggling to reconcile his beliefs with the changing world around him is a poignant, if heavy-handed, commentary on some pretty complicated universal themes. Ethan Hawke gives a stand-out performance as Reverend Toller, a man mourning the loss of his son, facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, and grappling with the reality of his dwindling church membership. He counsels a young woman named Mary (Amanda Seyfried) about her husband, who’s entered a dangerous state of depression over the very real issue of climate change; and through his relationship with her, Toller confronts his own demons and his community’s narrow-minded views. It’s by no means a fun watch, but Hawke is such an underrated actor that being surprised by his stroke of genius in this role is reason enough to stream.
When filmmaker Kurt Kuenne’s childhood friend Andrew Bagby is killed and his suspected killer/ex-girlfriend reveals she’s pregnant, Kurt decides to make a documentary chronicling Andrew’s life. While largely a love letter to a man who touched the lives of many for Zachary, the son he never met, Dear Zachary also tells the starkly bitter side of a broken Canadian legal system that directly endangered a baby. We follow the drawn-out custody battle between Andrew’s parents and Zachary’s mother, interspersed with loving snapshots into the Bagby family. The story sucks you in, but it’s also the at times comedic, fast-paced, and downright enraging documentary style of the film that breaks up the emotional tale.
Natalie Portman leads this cast of badass women investigating a natural phenomenon that is slowly invading Earth. Portman plays Lena, a biologist who leads a team of women consisting of a psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a scientist (Tessa Thompson), and a paramedic (Gina Rodriguez) into “The Shimmer,” a quarantined zone mutated by alien DNA that seems to be transforming matter at will and spreading further each day. Past teams, including one led by Lena’s husband (Oscar Isaac), have disappeared in The Shimmer and Lena goes searching for a clue as to what happened to them and how she can save her husband — who returned changed from his mission. The entire journey is filled with bizarre happenings tied to meta-commentary about evolution and the human condition but honestly, the coolest thing about this movie is its cast and the kick-ass characters they play
Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson team up for this comedy that imagines the grit and humor it takes to lead a late-night talk show as a woman. Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, an accomplished TV personality who fears she may lose her talk show because of declining ratings and competition from a younger, male comedian. She hires Molly (Kaling) a comedy writer with little experience to diversify her team, and the two women weather hilarious mishaps and a few scandals to bring the show back on track.
Comedian Bo Burnham’s directorial debut looks at the social anxieties of a young girl on the cusp of her high school career. Elsie Fisher plays Kayla, a pre-teen in her final week of eighth grade. She’s virtually friendless, choosing to spend her time creating inspiring Youtube videos that no one sees. When she decides to venture from her computer screen, attending pool parties and hanging out with older kids, she’s thrust into situations she’s not entirely ready for. The film is a painfully honest look at the pressure of growing up, the loss of innocence, and how social media can contribute to feelings of anxiety and isolation in teens, especially young girls who are forced to grow up much more quickly than their male counterparts.
Shia LaBeouf writes and stars in this semi-autobiographical tale of his time as a child star. Noah Jupe plays the younger version of himself while LaBeouf plays his controlling, often abusive father. The two live in motel rooms in L.A. while Otis (Jupe) works on a popular kids TV show. Their relationship becomes strained as Otis ages, and his dad James (LaBeouf) grows resentful of his son’s success. Lucas Hedges plays an elder Otis, who struggles with all kinds of addictions because of his rough, unconventional upbringing. It’s a tough watch but one that feels refreshingly honest, and you can’t deny LaBeouf’s talent and courage in telling such a raw, intimate story.
Based on a historical crime novel set in Victoria-Era England, Park Chan-wook’s lavish, mesmerizing thriller focuses on two young women fighting to escape oppression by the men in their lives. Chan-woo has traded the stuffy British countryside for Japanese-occupied Korea, telling the stories of Lady Hideko and her handmaiden Sook-hee in three parts, weaving a tale of passion, betrayal, dark secrets, and revenge with grander themes of imperialism, colonial rule, and patriarchal corruption. The two women are the draw of the film with both resorting to illicit, illegal, morally compromising schemes in order to gain their freedom, but love is an unintended consequence that leaves the third act — one you might think you have figured out halfway through the film — completely unpredictable.
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon drew from their own unusual love story for their script about a Chicago comic named Kumail (Nanjiani) who falls in love with Emily, a woman (Zoe Kazan) who falls into a coma while in the midst of a rift in their relationship created by the expectations of Kumail’s traditional parents. The funny, moving romantic comedy also features strong supporting work from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as Emily’s parents, who form an awkward bond with Kumail as they wait for Emily’s recovery.
Joaquin Phoenix stars as a troubled hitman with a dark past in this thrilling crime flick from Lynne Ramsay. Phoenix plays Joe, a gun for hire, former military man and FBI agent, who spends most of his time rescuing victims of sex trafficking. He’s recruited to save a Senator’s daughter from a brothel that caters to high-end clientele, but the job thrusts him into the center of a conspiracy that costs him everything and ends in blood and tragedy. It’s a relentless slog to be sure, but it works because Ramsay is more interested in profiling the man, not the hits he makes.
This family drama based on an NY Times bestseller stars Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson as parents to a truly remarkable little boy named Auggie. Auggie has a facial deformity that affects his social life as he begins going to school for the first time. Since we’re nearing the holidays, and this is a time that’s all about families, it makes sense Amazon added this to their library. The kids will love it (and, hopefully, learn from it).
Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet star in this heartbreaking drama about a father trying to save his son from a drug addiction that’s slowly eating away at his family. Carell plays David, a New York Times writer who struggles to help his son Nic (Chalamet) after he falls victim to a worrying drug habit. He has moments of sobriety, attending college, living with his mother in L.A., and working at a drug clinic to help others battling the disease. Yet eventually, his addiction returns, and Nic is powerless to fight it. David is forced to choose between sacrificing his family and his own sanity or continuing to help his son. Both Carell and Chalamet give powerful performances that elevate what essentially is an emotionally restrained look at father-son relationships and the landmines they navigate.
A portrait of a particular moment in music history, when the folk revival found young musicians discovering their voices in old styles and old songs, Inside Llewyn Davis stars Oscar Isaac as a singer/songwriter who can never quite translate his talent into professional success. Joel and Ethan Coen both exactingly recreate early ‘60s New York and use it as the site of one of an affecting tale of the clash between artistic impulses and the needs of the material world, a theme they’d previously explored with Barton Fink and would pick up again with Hail, Caesar!.
Dwayne Johnson and Lena Headey star in this family drama about a pair of siblings with dreams of making it in the WWE. Only one, Florence Pugh’s Saraya, actually makes it, but the road to wrestling stardom is riddled with fake friends, sexism, parental drama, and self-doubt. There’s plenty of great matchups here — body slams, cage matches and the like — but the real draw is Pugh, who completely disappears in the role.
Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), who’s unwilling and unable to properly care for her troubled son Kevin, watches her life unravel as her husband (John C. Reilly) ignores their problems and Kevin grows more and more sociopathic and violent. The story jumps around in time, showing Swinton’s character as both a new mother who blames her son for ruining her life and as a woman who eventually blames herself for what becomes of her son. Swinton proves once again that she’s the actress that indie movies need for complex characters that live their lives in grey areas. At its core, We Need To Talk is about the importance of proper parenting, communication, and probably therapy. And it’s not for the faint of heart.
Ten years after his last Ocean‘s entry, Steven Soderbergh revisits the heist genre, this time centering on a pair of unlucky brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) working a scheme to rip off a big NASCAR race. Memorable side characters, rapid-fire dialogue, and charismatic performances keep the story from becoming too predictable even for a twist-filled heist tale. Soderbergh was even able to cut out major studios and keep complete creative control over the movie, thanks to streaming services and international distribution. It’s a largely light-hearted movie, and frankly, that’s necessary sometimes.
A mysterious pawnshop owner (Won Bin), whose only friend is a child that lives next door, tears the local criminal presence apart after she’s kidnapped. This South Korean thriller from Lee Jeong-beom follows a similar format to such films as Léon: The Professional and Man On Fire of “guy with a shady past protects little girl”, but The Man From Nowhere still crafts an original tale of a heartbroken man out to save the only thing he has left in this world. The action sequences are bloody and intense, and Bin’s stoic performance brings a painful depth to the brutal savior.
Coherence is one of those low-budget sci-fi stories that is extremely tough to explain without either giving too much away or requiring an extended entry. Essentially, a group of friends sifts through their own issues and insecurities during a mind-bending paradoxical experience. Taking place almost entirely in the same room on a single night, the characters struggle to find answers just as much as the viewer. It’s a challenging yet enthralling film, perfect for those who love to overthink things.
Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE Friday Night Smackdown results for March 27, 2020. This week’s show featured Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka, King Corbin trying to kill Elias, the grand return of Tamina, and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the complete Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown column.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown Results:
– The show opened with Bayley and Sasha Banks arguing with Lacey Evans and Naomi about the Smackdown Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania. Tamina Snuka showed up and attacked Evans and Naomi. Bayley and Banks tried to join in, but Tamina scared them away.
1. Drew Gulak defeated Shinsuke Nakamura with a roll-up to earn Daniel Bryan an Intercontinental Championship match against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania.
– Otis overheard Dolph Ziggler making fun of him, and Dolph challenged him to a match at WrestleMania. Mandy Rose made sure to clarify that they will not be fighting over her like she’s some kind of prize.
– Elias sang a song about King Corbin and called him a turd, so Corbin showed up and apparently murdered him by knocking him off a balcony.
– Roman Reigns vs. Triple H from WrestleMania 32 was shown in full.
– Bray Wyatt showed us the “recipe” for defeating John Cena, which included killing Ramblin’ Rabbit in a blender and drinking him. Wyatt challenged Cena to a “Firefly Funhouse Match” at WrestleMania.
3. The Usos vs. The New Day for a shot at the Smackdown Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania ended when The Miz and John Morrison, who were on commentary, attacked both teams. Michael Cole then announced that Miz and Morrison will have to face both teams in a triple threat ladder match at the show.
Rye whiskey is the spicy cousin of bourbon whiskey. Where bourbon needs at least 51 percent corn or maize in its mash bill, rye needs at least 51 percent of rye in its mash bill. Bourbon often has a lot of rye making up that other 49 percent of its recipe. Rye, on the other hand, often leans more purely into rye grains (you don’t get a lot of corn-heavy ryes, though they exist).
Many of the U.S.’s rye expressions come from MGP in Indiana which uses a 95 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley mash bill. Most of the rest of the U.S.’s rye comes from Alberta Distillers in Calgary, which produces a massive range of mash bills but most commonly a 100 percent rye. Of course, there are small-time distillers mixing up the game with every iteration of rye mash bill you can image. And sometimes, you’ll have bottlers like WhistlePig mixing and matching from both Alberta and MGP on some expressions. And, just to be clear, a lot of the ryes in this price range (and even extending much higher) are distilled and aged in Indiana or Alberta and then blended, finished, and bottled in Kentucky or Vermont or wherever. As with all of the whiskey world, there’s a lot of variation is what we’re saying.
The ten bottles below are all ryes that clock in at under $30 per bottle. Each of these bottles has that rye-spice kick, is very accessible, and can be delivered straight to your door during the quarantine.
ABV: 45% Distillery: MGP Indiana, Lawrenceburg, IN (Luxco) Average Price:$16.99
The Whiskey:
Where Ezra Brook’s bourbon is distilled by Luxco at the Heaven Hill Distillery in Kentucky, their rye is sourced from the rickhouses of MGP. Don’t let that hold you back, MGP knows what it’s doing. The juice is aged for 24 months in charred new American oak and charcoal filtered.
Tasting Notes:
Big whiffs of caramel and vanilla are cut by a lemon zest brightness. That caramel and vanilla create a foundation that lets the rye pepperiness build on the palate with a hint of grassiness. The warm spice builds to a peak as the sweetness from the caramel fades out entirely on the end.
Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 40% Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY Average Price:$18.41
The Whiskey:
Old Overholt is an interesting rye whiskey. It takes the high-rye idea of bourbon and flips it on its head by adding a high-corn edge to its mash bill. Hailing from Jim Beam’s “The Olds” line, this whiskey is a three-year-old expression that works wonders in a Manhattan or old fashioned.
Tasting Notes:
Mild notes of apples stewed in cinnamon mingle with a hint of corn-fueled caramel. Vanilla kicks in with a rush of sharp and almost dusty brown spices as the apple starts to feel more like a spring orchard in full bloom. But in the end, it’s the sharp rye spice that carries through to the warming finish.
Jim Beam Rye Pre-Prohibition Style
ABV: 40% Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY Average Price:$21.99
The Whiskey:
Whisky Bible author Jim Murray named this his favorite rye aged under ten years back in 2010. The juice is a throwback to a “Pre-Prohibition” recipe that’s very rye forward with little muss nor fuss. That makes this expression a bit like a time machine.
Tasting Notes:
Red berries mix with big notes of black and red pepper rye spice with a clear sense of candied cherries. Nutmeg, cloves, and allspice join the pepper as subtle caramel and vanilla help deliver those sweet red berries to the palate. There’s a light sense of dried flowers, fresh mint, and a hint of licorice as the spice climaxes on the hot finish of this sip.
Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky
ABV: 40% Distillery: Alberta Distillers, Calgary, AB (Bottled in Walkerville, ON by Beam Suntory) Average Price:$21.99
The Whiskey:
This Alberta Distillers juice is worth tracking down. The 100 percent rye mash bill offers a chance to taste what a pure rye whiskey really is. That makes this a great whiskey to use as a baseline by which all other ryes at this price point can be measured against.
Tasting Notes:
Clear notes of rye spice mingle with wisps of wildflowers, fruit orchards, chocolate, and vanilla. That vanilla mingles with sweet grain bread, rich caramel, a slight fruit tartness, and a clear sense of Christmas spices cut with orange zest. The oak makes a late appearance as the spices, fruit, and florals drive this one home to a warm embrace of a finish.
Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 40.5% Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Campari) Average Price:$24.99
The Whiskey:
This rye from Wild Turkey’s rickhouses is a blending of four and five-year-old barrels. The mash bill leans heavily into the rye and lets that aspect shine, similarly to their high-rye bourbons. Overall, this is another great gateway rye that’s very affordable for the quality.
Tasting Notes:
Sourdough rye toast dripping with honey meets sharp rye spice with a note of Granny Smith apples. That crack of tart apple provides a nice counterpoint to the peppery nature of the rye spice with a wisp of mint, more honey, and a touch of spring fruit. The end edges the spice into cinnamon territory as the oak helps bring about a big rye spice finish.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 45% Distillery: Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, TN (Brown–Forman) Average Price:$25.32
The Whiskey:
This was a big step for the classic Tennessee whiskey distillery. In 2017, Jack Daniel’s released their first new expression since Prohibition with this rye. The juice has a mash bill of 70 percent rye, 18 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. After distillation, the hot juice goes through the Lincoln County Process of sugar maple charcoal filtration, giving this rye an extra edge of smoothness compared to other ryes on the list.
Tasting Notes:
Bananas Foster, dark chocolate with a note of cream, toasted rye grains, oak, vanilla, and a whisper of smoke greet you. Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg arrive as more dark and creamy chocolate drives towards a splash of spicy stewed apples. Finally, the rye takes over with peppery sharpness that leads towards the warm embrace of charred oak.
George Dickel Rye Whisky
ABV: 45% Distillery: MGP Indiana, Lawrenceburg, IN (Diageo) Average Price:$26.99
The Whiskey:
This is another Tennessee whiskey version of rye. The juice is 95 percent rye and five percent malted barley and is aged for five years in Lawrenceburg before heading to Tennessee where George Dickel filters the juice through their sugar maple charcoal and bottles it, making it a Tennessee rye.
Tasting Notes:
This is a spicy and herbal matrix with hints of clove sitting next to a hint of mint with a sense of wildflowers, hazelnuts, and plenty of rye spice. The herbal notes carry on as the rye spice peaks with a nice sense of sharp pepper before a slight savory herbal nature kicks in that will remind you of oily rosemary. The pepper, fruit, herbs, and oak all carry on towards a warming finish with a wisp of smoke.
Old Forester Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 50% Distillery: Brown-Forman Distillery, Shively, KY Average Price:$25.99
The Whiskey:
This expression is a bit of a throwback to the WWII era. The spirit’s mash bill is 65 percent rye, 20 percent malted barley, and 15 percent corn. The higher-than-usual malted barley adds an interesting ripple compared to other ryes and brings a nice edge to this dram.
Tasting Notes:
This expression leans heavily into the dark spices with clove leading the way alongside hints of vanilla, oak, and caramel. There’s a sense of maple syrup next to fruitwoods like cherry and apple which lead to a tiny thought of smoke. A herbaceous flourish comes in late as the rye spiciness marries the oak on the warming end.
Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky Bottled-In-Bond
ABV: 50% Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY Average Price:$27.99
The Whiskey:
This American rye relishes in a high-rye mash bill that honors the old-school whiskey distillers of Pennsylvania. The juice is aged for four years under strict bottled-in-bond guidelines and bottled at a higher proof, giving you more bang for your buck.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet and crisp peppers mix with dried grapes, cherries, and apples with a nice hit of rich and buttery toffee. The spice leans into nutmeg and cinnamon as a clear dose of vanilla arrives with dark chocolate before a slash of citrus cuts through the whole sip. The velvet mouthfeel lends to a peppery finish with a sweetness akin to maple syrup.
Alberta Premium Canadian Rye Whisky
ABV: 40% Distillery: Alberta Distillers, Calgary, AB (Beam Suntory) Average Price:$21.91 ($33.36 for a 1.14l bottle)
The Whiskey:
This is the 100 percent rye whiskey from Canada that’s mostly shipped to the U.S. to places like WhistlePig. So, if you’ve had rye in the U.S., you’ve likely already tasted this classic rye. The bonus with this bottle is that you’re not paying for WhistlePig-levels of branding with every bottle (while getting the exact same thing). The actual whiskey in the bottle is a blend of two different ryes, one aged in new oak and one aged in used bourbon oak for at least four years that’s then aged together for another year.
Tasting Notes:
Crisp and tart apples dance with a sense of dark chocolate, dark rye spices, and charred oak. Slight notes of fresh herbs sit next to vanilla, caramel, more fruit, and a note of bright florals. The dram carries the sharp spiciness with a hint of caramel sweetness towards a big and warm end with an echo of smoke in the background.
Tonight on the WWE Friday Night Smackdown open discussion thread:
Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania destiny is now in the hands of Drew Gulak.
Bryan is eyeing an Intercontinental Title opportunity against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, but The Great Liberator is evading at every turn. Zayn backed Bryan into a corner by proposing that if The “Yes!” Man is so confident in his new partner of sorts, then Bryan should put his fate in Gulak’s hands. Hence, Gulak will take on Shinsuke Nakamura this Friday on the blue brand, and if Gulak is victorious, Bryan will challenge Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship at The Show of Shows.
Will Gulak come through in the clutch? Or will Zayn craft yet another brilliant scheme? (via WWE.com)
As always, give a thumbs up to any comments from tonight’s open thread you enjoy and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown on Fox report. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!
The best news to come out of ESPN NBA broadcaster Doris Burke’s announcement on Friday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 was that she is recovering and working her way back to full health. As she’s getting back to 100 percent, Burke wants to use her experience fighting the virus to help those who are going through their own battles.
Using a cool bit of science that could represent a path toward recovery for patients hit hardest by COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Burke is interested by a process that would extract healthy antibodies from her blood and use them to treat others who have been infected. Those antibodies do the work in recovered patients’ immune systems to build up immunity after having COVID-19. The thought is that antibodies can be taken from the blood of recovered folks like Burke and given to patients in more dire situations.
The idea came to Burke indirectly from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Her colleague, ESPN play-by-play man Ryan Ruocco, brought up a radio interview with Fauci on Bernard McGuirk’s morning drive show on WABC in New York, when he heard of her diagnosis.
“One of the things Dr. Fauci said and one other infectious disease doctor had said, basically, we believe you now have immunity,” Burke said on the Woj Pod. “So what I would like to know is, should I go donate blood or plasma so that if in some way this could help people, if it can help find some sort of vaccine. So that is on my docket to do, is to research and discover should I go donate blood or plasma in the hopes it can help somebody down the line.”
Doctors in New York, quickly becoming a coronavirus epicenter of its own, will soon begin testing treatment using antibodies from recovered patients’ blood on hospitalized people in the city, according to the New York Times. Anecdotal evidence of the procedure’s efficacy has come from China in recent weeks, but doctors and researchers will need to properly test it in a controlled environment to understand if and how it works as treatment. In the event this becomes a plausible path forward, it seems like Burke will do everything she can to be among those who lend a hand.
Social distancing measures in the United States have shuttered most breweries as places to gather and socialize, but Netflix’s Brews Brothers appears ready to serve as a comedic substitute while we all stay at home.
The show, which saw its first trailer hit on Friday, is set to stream on April 10 and centers around two estranged brothers forced to run a brewery together and settle their many, many differences. The show is set at Rodman’s, a Van Nuys brewery run by Mike Castle’s Adam and Alan Aisenberg’s Wilhelm.
“Beer is about bringing people together,”Aisenberg, as Wilhelm, says. “And Rodman’s is the perfect hang.”
But that’s quickly undone by the rest of the trailer, which includes some unsanitary conditions to say the least. There’s a monk fight, some gross-out humor and a lot of questionable business practices. The League co-creator Jeff Schaffer teamed up his brother, Greg (That ’70s Show), on the show, the latter of which will serve as showrunner.
One set piece revealed in the trailer is an IPA brewed with a hallucinogen in it, which should make for a pretty trippy episode to say the least. There’s some sex toy humor and other bits of grossness, but the interpersonal drama seems to drive the show forward. The brother-owned brewery will certainly have some tension, as the show makes it clear the siblings are very different characters.
“Usually two opposites complete each other,” a character played by Silicon Valley alum Carmen Flood. “You two don’t even make a normal person.”
The League star Steve Rannazzisi also makes an appearance in the trailer, though it seems to be in a guest staring role. We’ll see what else the show has in store in early April, but maybe check the health and safety records of the brewery you get your beverages from when you sit down to watch this one.
Until the last few years, Hulu was only known as the best place to find current shows from elsewhere on television. But now, with more and more acclaimed series under its belt, Hulu has proved it can compete with the other streaming services’ original programming. If you’re trying to figure out exactly which original show to watch next on Hulu, here’s a great place to start with a look at the 20 best Hulu original series right now.
Based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian future run by a fundamentalist government renamed Gilead. The fertility rate has bottomed out, women have been deprived of their rights, and the men have turned them into reproductive vessels. This future, however, is so recently removed from the present that the misery of the women — forced to be submissive through electroshock and other forms of torture — is compounded by haunting memories of their most recent past. Top-lined by the exceptional performance of Elizabeth Moss, the series also boasts strong supporting turns from Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Joseph Fiennes, and Alexis Bledel, whose character attempts to rebel against the autocratic government and suffers excruciating consequences. It’s a harrowing series, often so bleak that it’s difficult to watch, but in our current political climate, the themes of The Handmaid’s Tale resonate loudly, and the second season is even darker and more powerful.
Stephen King experienced a bit of a renaissance this year, at least on TV, but out of all of the adaptations from different streaming platforms, Hulu’s Castle Rock felt like the most realized, and most terrifying, of the lot. The show, which stars Sissy Spacek, Andre Holland, and Bill Skarsgard, follows the story of Henry (Holland) a death row attorney summoned home after a young man is found imprisoned beneath Shawshank prison. Henry’s got a murky past too, one that involves the unsolved murder of his father –- an event he has no memory of — and the strange happenings around town intensify as The Kid (Skarsgard) is set free and must figure out how he’s connected to Henry, his family, and the history of the town. It’s equal parts brilliant and terrifying, all you could ask for in a King adaptation. The show’s second run feels just as compelling, with Lizzy Caplan stepping into the orthopedic shoes of nurse Annie Wilkes, before her Misery days. She still troubled and causing trouble for the town of Castle Rock while trying to keep to the shadows with her daughter played by Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher.
Michaela Watkins stars as Valerie, a forty-something Mom whose husband just left her for a grad student in one of his classes (it’s a cliche for a reason). She and her daughter move in with her layabout brother, Alex (Tommy Dewey), an independently wealthy co-creator of a dating website. Alex is caddish but intensely likable, especially once viewers realize that his womanizing is a pretense, that he’s simply too afraid to reveal his true self for fear of rejection. Like Transparent, with which Casual shares some DNA, there’s an organic, improvised feel to the series, which alternates between funny and heartbreaking as it seeks to find the humor in the devastation of loss and the awkward challenges of finding someone new. It’s a tremendously good show that only gets better in its later seasons.
Patricia Arquette and Joey King star in this painfully measured series that follows the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Gypsy Rose was a young woman living with her mother, Dee Dee, in a small town in Missouri when police found her mother murdered in their home, and Gypsy nowhere to be found. The mystery surrounding the case soon spiraled into a story about the complicated bonds between mother and daughter, chronicling one woman’s descent into madness. Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a condition that caused her to fake many of Gypsy’s “illnesses” — from cancer to brain damage. When Gypsy finally realized the truth, she concocted a plan so outrageous and heinous, it had to be given the TV treatment.
Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle write, direct, and star in this cringe-worthy coming-of-age comedy about two preteens entering the 7th grade. The twist here is that both Erskine and Konkle, actresses in their 30s, play their middle-school-aged characters alongside actual 13-year-olds, elevating their comedy about awkward firsts and embarrassing pubescent mishaps to new heights. The show is full of humor while also covering some relatable, real-life issues that normally don’t make it to the small screen.
Comedian Ramy Youssef stars in this semi-autobiographical dramedy, playing a version of himself, a character named Ramy Hassan. Ramy navigates life growing up in New Jersey while straddling the line between the millennial generation he’s a part of and the Muslim community he belongs to. He wrestles with the constraints of his religion and his upbringing, while searching for meaning in more modern pursuits — drinking, partying, and hooking up. It’s heartwarming, eye-opening, and never takes itself too seriously.
You’ve probably found yourself asking, “What the hell is Letterkenny?” That question has probably come after yet another friend/co-worker/stranger on the street has stopped you to demand you watch the Hulu original. Well, here’s the answer: Letterkenny is a snappy comedy about a group of small-town folk just trying to get by. It mainly centers on two bros, Wayne and Darryl, and the schemes they come up with to make a buck, have a good time, and stir up their boring old town.
George Clooney, Kyle Chandler, and Christopher Abbott star in this re-telling of Joseph Heller’s classic novel. Abbot plays young recruit, Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier in World War II. Yossarian hopes to dodge having to serve in combat after the military ups the number of missions required before one’s service can be considered complete. He’s forced to face off against a truly sadistic colonel while fighting for his life on the front line. It’s ridiculous that Abbott isn’t a bigger name than he is, but he leads this farcical troupe with A-list swagger, and Chandler is surprisingly wonderful playing against his normal, lovable-dad typecasting.
The cult teen drama returns after a years-long hiatus and a successful Kickstarter-funded film to re-open the case. This time, Veronica (Kristen Bell) is investigating a catastrophic bombing of a popular spring break destination for college kids: Neptune, her hometown. She’s also struggling to balance her career and her tumultuous relationship with Logan (Jason Dohring) while pushing her ailing father to come clean about his health issues. This season, which is intended to be a continuance — so you should definitely check out Rob Thomas’ original work, also available on Hulu — marks a return to the show’s noir crime roots, and it’s so much better for it.
This historical drama starring Jeff Daniels and Peter Sarsgaard charts the build-up to 9/11 as seen through the eyes of agents in both the FBI and CIA. Daniels plays John O’Neill, the chief of the New York FBI’s Counterterrorism Center in the 1990s, who is convinced that a terrorist attack on the U.S. is imminent. He butts heads with Martin Schmidt (Sarsgaard), the CIA head of counterterrorism, who believes his agency is better equipped to deal with the threat of Al Qaeda and keeps valuable intel from the FBI. The action in this comes from watching Daniels and Sarsgaard, two incredibly talented actors, go head-to-head, chewing up every scene they’re in and obviously having fun doing it.
SNL breakout Aidy Bryant headlines this comedy series based on the best-selling book by Lindy West. Bryant plays Annie, a young writer living on the West Coast who struggles with body image issues, a floundering career as a journalist, and a family health crisis. Over the course of six episodes, she manages a toxic relationship with her sometimes-hookup, confronts an abusive boss, and takes on internet trolls, all while learning how to love her size. Bryant shines here and though there’s not as much in-your-face comedy from her as SNL fans might be used to, her quiet, reserved style better serves the story, which is a refreshing one.
Adapted by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage from Adrian Alphona and Brian K. Vaughan’s Marvel comic, Runaways is a slick, briskly paced teen soap featuring high school students discovering and coming to terms with their burgeoning superpowers. Runaways finds that happy space between the heaviness of Marvel’s Netflix dramas and the more lightweight nature of their network series (Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter). It’s a potent combination of compelling mystery and coming of age tale. The teen characters here are fantastic as they grapple with their own powers while investigating the dark history of their parents. Runaways takes a lot of cues from Schwartz and Savage’s The O.C. and Gossip Girl, respectively, although the series is not half as interesting when it’s exploring the conspiracy surrounding the parent characters, who are essentially the series’ supervillains. That storytelling deficit, however, is more than made up for by the existence of a dinosaur!
From creators Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir and executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the team behind Sausage Party), Future Man is basically a mash-up of The Last Starfighter, Back to the Future, and The Terminator. Josh Hutcherson stars as Josh Futterman, a loser-ish janitor at a science lab who becomes the first person ever to finish a nearly impossible-to-beat video game. The game, it turns out, is a training application sent back from the future to find humanity’s savior. Characters from the video game recruit Josh to travel back into the past to kill the head of the science lab (Keith David) where Josh works in the present to prevent his boss from developing a cure for herpes that somehow ends up wiping out humanity in the future. There’s a lot to unpack in its premise, but once Future Man gets to its feet and finds its heart, the character evolves into more than mouthpieces for quick-fire pop-culture riffs. Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) is fantastic as a fast-talking badass with an arsenic-laced “rathole” and a fondness for hand-to-hand combat. It’s Preacher’s Derek Wilson, however, who proves to be the scene stealer. He’s basically Firefly’s Jayne Cobb plus an obsession with ’80s pop culture, cooking, and two-hit wonder Corey Hart, who also makes a cameo appearance. It’s a fast-paced, filthy, and hilarious homage to time-travel movies that boasts a hysterical hatred for James Cameron, who is the target of a lot of the series’ best jokes. What Future Man lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in laughs and season two of the series doubles down on that philosophy, thrusting characters in even more bizarre situations and tighter spandex costumes.
Co-produced by Hulu and the BBC, The Wrong Mans stars the current host of The Late Show, James Corden, as well as his fellow Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Baynton. It’s an exuberantly zippy series that combines office-comedy with action movie tropes as it sees two co-workers involve themselves in a complicated criminal conspiracy in an effort to enliven their humdrum lives and, more importantly, make heroes out of themselves. It’s a quick binge (the two seasons are only 8 half-hour episodes in all) and immensely entertaining. It’s light, unpredictable, surprisingly suspenseful and funny — often times hysterically so — as it mashes up and pokes fun of a number of different tropes, doing for the office comedy what Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz did for the buddy-cop film.
Written and directed by women (Moira Buffini and Coky Giedroyc, respectively), Harlots is set in 1763 England where one in every five women is a prostitute. The story concerns two competing brothels operated by Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) and Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), the latter of whom reluctantly pimps out her two daughters, one of whom is a popular courtesan (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) and another whose maidenhead is being auctioned off at a hefty price. There’s plenty of sex in Harlots, as one might expect from a series about competing brothels, but it’s not a sexy show. It’s more of a serious family drama about hardscrabble women using the only card they have in their 18th-century deck in an effort to maintain some sense of control over their lives. There’s power in sex, but as Harlots reveals, it only gets them so far. The series is a thoughtful costume drama that can be bleak at times (the corpse of a prostitute is used as a gruesome prop in the ongoing war between the brothels), but there are moments of crackling wit and a few stand-out performances, particularly that of Samantha Morton. Unfortunately, as the series’ first season progresses, it loses some of its momentum as it gets bogged down in its more soapy elements.
Produced by J.J. Abrams and created by Bridget Carpenter (a writer on Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), 11.22.63 is adapted from a Stephen King novel and stars James Franco as newly divorced high school teacher, Jake Epping, who finds a portal that takes him back to October 1960. There, Jake decides to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though doing so will upend the life he has made for himself. It’s an exhilarating premise, and it’s nearly impossible not to get hooked by the pilot. Unfortunately, once Epping finds himself in the 1960s, the series drops many of the time-travel elements and settles into a more conventional — and often tiresome — conspiracy thriller. Franco is solid in the lead role, but the series is derailed by its devotion to the source material. It’s not one of King’s best books, and while it does provide viewers with a satisfying, heartfelt pay-off, the slow pace makes the journey more of a chore than the destination ultimately warrants.
Based on the Kem Nunn novel of the same name, Chance stars Hugh Laurie as a forensic neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Eldon Chance. Chance — who is going through a divorce — becomes romantically involved with a patient named Lucy (Greta Lee). Pulled into her troubled life, Chance finds himself embroiled in a dispute between the femme fatale and her abusive husband, a violently jealous police officer who has his sights set on Chance. It’s a moody, psychological noir with heavy doses of intrigue and mystery, but the pacing here suggest that it would have been better told in half the number of episodes. The series too often drifts and seems more preoccupied with mood setting than telling a story. Hugh Laurie’s compelling performance keeps it afloat, while Ethan Suplee — who plays a street-smart assistant in an antique shop — steals every scene he’s in, delivering occasional bursts of violence to stir viewers awake.
Set in upstate New York, The Path concerns members of a fictional spiritual moment (or cult) called Meyerism. The series primarily revolves around Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul), who has a revelation while on a retreat that leads him to question his faith. Eddie, however, won’t confess his doubts to his devout wife, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), who believes her husband is hiding an affair from her. Things are further complicated by Cal (Hugh Dancy), the charismatic and corrupt leader of the Meyerist Movement, whose ambitions are often at odds with the more altruistic motives of the movement. While featuring strong performances from its leads, The Path is an achingly slow burn that doesn’t catch fire until near the end of the first season only to fizzle out again when the second season kicks off. There’s a fascinating story being told on The Path, but it’s not currently one that warrants 10 episodes a season, and the series often labors to spread its thin story across a canvass that is too large. The magical realist elements of the series only exacerbate its problems. It’s not a bad show thanks to the strong efforts of its leads, but it is one that struggles to figure out what it wants to say. Unfortunately, it got the ax after three seasons.
Zoe Kravitz produces and stars in this departure from Nick Hornby’s beloved 1995 novel, playing a young record store owner who fights against the gentrification of her Brooklyn neighborhood while replaying a string of failed relationships to the tune of indie hits. The story feels like a more mellow version of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, and the soundtrack is fire.
The brains behind sci-fi thrillers like Ex Machina and Annihilation gives us another mind-bending drama, this time for the small screen. Devs focuses on a young software engineer named Lily Chan who begins digging into a secret division of the cutting-edge tech company she works for in Silicon Valley because, get this, they probably murdered her boyfriend.
Recent Changes Through March 2020:
Added: Devs, High Fidelity
Removed: Four Weddings And A Funeral, Difficult People
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