Month: July 2020

One of the best things about a new Tom Hanks movie on the horizon — besides the actual movie, and Apple TV+’s The Greyhound is a non-stop ride — is all the dad-like advice coming from the star himself. Sadly, the dominant subject right now is also unavoidable, but Hanks is still bringing his wisdom. And he definitely knows his stuff here, given that he and Rita Wilson were the first U.S. celebrities to reveal their COVID-19 diagnoses. He’s already declared his intent to come for people who won’t wear masks, and his mission is not complete yet.

While appearing Tuesday morning on TODAY, Hanks struggled to wrap his head around how “there’s a darkness on the edge of town here,” but people are still refusing to step up and take the not-so-difficult steps of wearing masks, social distancing, and so on. In an exceedingly self-aware way, he contrasted the way that people are refusing to cooperate today with how they behaved during WWII:

“What has lingered here is this societal question really of doing our part. Not everything I say has to be tied to somehow the war effort back during World War II, but there was a sensibility that permeated all of society, which was do your part, we’re all in this together.”

He continued, stressing how perplexed he feels about people declining to strive toward the betterment of society, and he laments that this “should be engrained in the behavior of us all,” but very clearly, that’s no longer the case in the United States. Well, Hanks also popped over on his Zoom machine to speak with AP Entertainment and further spread his message about people who go maskless: “I got no respect for you, man. I don’t buy your argument.”

Watch the interview clips below, and also watch Apple TV+’s The Greyhound on July 10.

Although Netflix’s stash of prestige movies grows with every awards season, the still-dominant streaming service hasn’t concentrated as heavily upon comparable TV series. Given that those entries into the library are rarer, it’s worth discussing when one pops into view, and Netflix squarely aims for prestige territory with its acquisition of Stateless, a series co-created by Cate Blanchett, who also portrays a flashy cult leader. Intriguing, for sure. Does the show deliver, though? Yes, but in an unexpected way, while filling itself to the brim with both horror and hope.

Stateless is an expansive, although harrowingly dramatic, show which manages to be gripping — it’s a bit like if Orange Is The New Black wasn’t a dramedy and contained a more sympathetic protagonist — even though it’s not exactly the kind of subject that one can imagine tucking into voluntarily. There’s a lot going on here, far beyond Blanchett’s name, although her character plays a pivotal role in the mental breakdown of a white woman, who later finds herself behind a razor-wife fence at an Australian immigration detention center. What unfolds at the fictional Barton center gets twisty and non-linear, and what emerges is a portrait of various players woven into a vivid tapestry, which shall duly entrap any viewer that finishes the first episode.

Through a story that’s set down under but unavoidably mirrors much of what we’re seeing in the U.S. today, Stateless exposes many faces of twisted bureaucracy. If you guessed that this show was inspired by a real-life story, you’d be correct, with that inspiration coming from Cornelia Rau, a permanent Australia resident who somehow (about 15 years ago) ended up in a detention center like the one we see onscreen. Her identity’s switched up, so that Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale) plays Sofie, who we first meet in her polished flight attendant capacity. The first episode’s quite a whirlwind, following Sofie’s flight from her frustrating job and family to her embroilment in the cult (co-headed by a slippery Dominic West, along with Blanchett’s manipulative showwoman) and her subsequent deterioration, followed by her illegal imprisonment.

It’s a nightmarish scenario in a show that digs not only into mental illness but the plight of the disenfranchised and, most importantly, anti-immigrant sentiment around the globe. That hasn’t gone away, not even for a moment, despite all of the other headlining atrocities taking place on a near-daily basis. The show invests a significant chunk on Sofie’s plight, but she’s meant to help us see into the hellish facilities inhabited to those who often remain unseen. And her fractured psyche’s a window, through which we can glimpse more layers, including a conflicted, rookie facility guard (Jai Courtney), who begins the show with a seemingly unshakable moral compass but slowly descends into his own survival mode while losing his grip on right and wrong.

A particularly tragic arc follows an Afghan refugee, Ameer (Fayssal Bazzi), and his family, who are entrapped within heart-wrenching circumstances. He’ll do anything to keep his daughters from falling into the clutches of the Taliban, and his fear is something that we can barely fathom from the other side of the screen.

This dizzying array of stories finds no soothing anchor, and although Blanchett doesn’t claim a huge amount of screentime, what we do see from her is sufficiently unsettling. She and West portray the only characters of note who aren’t desperately hanging onto their own pants, but they’re instrumental in the dismantling of Sofie’s identity and propelling her into the unfathomable next situation where she finds herself.

Stateless is one of those series where a viewer benefits by not knowing more than the bare necessities beforehand. It’s a ride that should be taken while realizing that unpleasant things will go down, but the journey’s still worth taking. Both Strahovski and Bazzi deliver stellar performances to sell their character’s plights to the audience without diving into maudlin territory, which would have been dreadfully easy for the writers to insert in the neverending quest for drama. Yet these characters are strong despite their tragic nature. They’ve both seen some sh*t, and they’re both outsiders in their own ways, even if Sofie’s suffering wasn’t always apparent to those who once knew her. Courtney, too, turns in a fine presence in a nuanced role that he must have relished.

This is a show full of natural-feeling momentum. Vital stories — the kind that could very well be considered seat-arm grippers if this was a feature-length picture, and if we could actually watch movies in theaters right now — shall be told as the episodes steadily tick off. When our current situation ends (and at some point, it will), the difficult situations portrayed in Stateless shall continue, and like no show that I’ve seen recently, the first episode’s intent upon convincing those on the fence to click on the next episode. You may not think Stateless is something you’d want to watch in these stressful times, but it’s compelling enough that it might prove you wrong.

Netflix’s ‘Stateless’ streams on July 8.

Pop Smoke’s posthumous album, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, dropped last week. In a less official capacity, so too did a Smoke collaboration with Young Thug, Pusha T, and Gunna. The song, “Paranoia,” leaked, and on it, Pusha appears to reignite his feud with Drake. Genius notes that on the track, Pusha seems to reference Drake’s use of a patois accent and locations near Drake’s home of Toronto, among other things.

When Thug realized what was going on with the leak, he expressed his disapproval of Pusha’s lyrics. In a message posted on his Instagram Story last night, Thug said he doesn’t “respect” the verse because he isn’t involved in the beef. He wrote, “I don’t respect the pusha t verse on the song with me and gunna cause I don’t have nun to do with y’all beef nor does Gunna, and if I knew that was about him I would’ve made changes on our behalf.. this rapper sh*t so gay.”

There could be more posthumous Smoke music coming soon, and not just in the form of leaks. Recently, one of the late rapper’s friends suggested that a deluxe edition of the album could drop soon, on one condition.

Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon is out now via Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records. Get it here.

Mission: Impossible is, first and foremost, an excuse for Tom Cruise to get paid to snowboard down Shanghai Tower, or whatever, but the longer the action franchise has gone on, the more it’s become an ensemble. Ving Rhames is to M:I as John Ratzenberger is to Pixar, of course, but Simon Pegg has been around since Mission: Impossible III, while Michelle Monaghan, Rebecca Ferguson, and Alec Baldwin have appeared in multiple films, and Vanessa Kirby is returning for M:I VII after making her debut in Fallout. One of the few one-and-done, never-again-mentioned non-villains is professional thief/love interest Nyah Nordoff-Hall, played by Thandie Newton in Mission: Impossible 2, generally considered the worst Mission: Impossible movie. That’s not Newton’s fault, though; the Westworld actress is very good in the extremely John Woo-directed film, which, as she revealed to Vulture, sounded like a difficult experience.

“I was so scared of Tom. He was a very dominant individual. He tries super hard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done,” Newton said before telling a story about a scene, with “so many extras” and pyrotechnics, she and Cruise were in together:

“Tom was not happy with what I was doing because I had the sh*ttiest lines. And he gets so frustrated with having to try and explain that he goes, ‘Let me just — let’s just go do it. Let’s just rehearse on-camera.’ So we rehearsed and they recorded it, and then he goes, ‘I’ll be you. You be me.’ So we filmed the entire scene with me being him — because, believe me, I knew the lines by then — and him playing me. And it was the most unhelpful. I can’t think of anything less revealing. It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was a real shame. And bless him. And I really do mean bless him, because he was trying his damnedest.”

Newton doesn’t think Cruise is “horrible” (“It was just… he was really stressed”) but he does give horrible Christmas presents. “He was very generous and open about sharing Scientological stuff. Christmas gifts would be something to do with Scientology,” she said. “Like a book with the greatest hits of Scientology, a bit like a Bible kind of thing. I was curious, because it’s like, ‘Wow, if it’s going to attract people, powerful, high-profile people, there’s got to be some glue that sticks this sh*t together.’ Didn’t find any.”

Tom Cruise is a maniac and very bad at Secret Santa? Sounds about right.

(Via Vulture)

Netflix’s comedy coffers unfurl a new stand-up special almost every Tuesday. This week, Jim Jefferies latest, Intolerant, arrives… and the timing, to use one of his favorite words, is “sh*t.” No comedian could possibly enjoy following up on Eric Andre’s immensely well-received Netflix special, Legalize Everything. Both specials obviously wrapped filming long ago, and while Andre’s special contains brilliance for which he should be credited (his Cops bit went viral for solid reason: it’s gut-bustingly funny while resonating amid recent Black Lives Matter protests), Netflix’s release strategy there was impeccable. Oh, and prior to Andre’s special, Dave Chappelle hot-dropped his police brutality-focused 8:46. Chappelle’s special was timed as a reaction to George Floyd’s death, but Andre’s special feels prescient, which puts Jefferies in an awkward lineup position.

Both Andre and Chappelle’s specials shall continue to reverberate, as they should. Yet with Jefferies apparently attempting to move away from his own hot-button reputation, this moment isn’t spectacular for that kind of shift. He (arguably) risks being seen as lacking the sharp wit (and bite) for which he’s become known onstage.

Look, Jefferies knows what it’s like to be that guy onstage — the comedian who, despite an extensive body of work, has one bit that overrides his entire reputation, partially down to the bit’s spectacular nature lining up with current events — too. I’m talking, of course, about his 2014 Bare comedy special, in which the Aussie comedian aired his opinion on gun control. That bit grew more notorious with each U.S. mass shooting to follow, and as Jefferies later stated in 2016’s Freedumb special, being the comedian that gets mentioned whenever there’s a massacre isn’t as fun as one might imagine. He received nearly 800 pieces of hate mail in one day following the Paris Attacks. In his 2018 special, This Is Me Now, he further revealed that Mariah Carey invited him to perform at Aussie billionaire James Packer’s birthday party specifically because of the gun-control bit.

One can see how such sudden notoriety (and the venom that followed) could wear on him. With This Is Me Now, Jefferies began to shift gears, to become less focused on issues, and with Intolerant, it feels like he’s pulled a 180 from where he was five years ago. It’s a little discombobulating. Some people might not like it. I still found value for a few reasons, including how it’s sometimes calming to slide into absurd comedy (with no serious issues discussed) for 70 minutes. Jefferies does get incredibly banal in this special, but beyond that (which I’ll touch on later), he makes two solid points:

(1) Stand-up comedy’s in a strange place: As Jefferies puts it, “Comedians are enemy #1.” Not only has he been fielding hatred from the pro-gun crowd, but jokes that went over well a decade ago often don’t work anymore. What’s socially acceptable now isn’t the same as it was back then. We know that already, but there’s an excellent bit (better than any I’ve seen before) in Intolerant that explains how “the line” has shifted. All of this puts comedians in a tough spot when it’s their job to be edgy. This got me thinking… guess who wasn’t edgy onstage, but turned out to be a monster in real life? Bill Cosby (although that 1969 Spanish Fly joke came back with a vengeance). Yeah, no one is trying to pull any sort of Cosby here, and it’s important to note that Jefferies isn’t totally shying away from edginess. He’s actually more hyperbolic now, but the material’s borderline preposterous. I’m not confident that it will translate well in 2020.

(2) One doesn’t have to love every joke in a stand-up set: Jefferies makes an interesting point. People are quick to trash an entire special if they don’t like every joke, but he hopes that people can squish that tendency. As an example, he refers back to Chappelle’s 2019 special, Sticks & Stones, in which Chappelle made clear that he does not believe Michael Jackson’s accusers. That didn’t sit well with many people, including Jefferies, who eviscerated Cosby in Freedumb. As Jefferies now puts it in Intolerant, Chappelle “said that he thought that Michael Jackson didn’t f*ck kids… I think Michael Jackson did f*ck kids… that’s how me and Dave differ.” Yet he’s still able to enjoy the rest of Chappelle’s 2019 special. One might wonder how Jefferies can look past such a massive disagreement with Chappelle, but, for real, it’s happening right now with everyone who’s thoroughly enjoying the 8:46 special.

The overriding theme of Intolerant — which is otherwise practically about nothing (he airs many seemingly arbitrary grievances and frames them within a story about his most disastrous night with lactose intolerance) — is that Jefferies is moving on from being the gun-control fellow. In doing so, he pointedly fires off an array of jokes that aren’t too consequential but are bound to rile up a lot of people. He comes for pretentious waiters and people with peanut allergies and selfie addicts and the inconsistency in which society spreads “shame” around to various addictions (that last subject will likely be the most incendiary). There’s a ton of bodily function humor, although to be fair, Eric Andre’s new special goes there, too (can’t say I’m a fan of that rimming/Nutella bit).

Jefferies remains a master of framing his sets, although I’m sure that a blow-by-blow of the lactose catastrophe will be viewed as frivolous right now. Again, the timing may be awful for a previously hot-button guy to drop a 100% un-serious special. And never, not even if I was Eddie Murphy, would I want to be the comedian who dropped a Netflix special two weeks after Eric Andre’s Cops bit. Intolerant might be a palate (and intestinal tract) cleanser in many ways, but only time will tell if it can push Jim Jefferies into a new phase — one that he so pointedly desires.

Jim Jefferies’ ‘Intolerant’ stand-up comedy special streams via Netflix on July 7.

Billie Eilish’s love of The Office is well-documented at this point, from when she sampled the show on her debut album to when she got quizzed on show trivia by star Rainn Wilson. Now she is taking her relationship with the program even further: Brian Baumgartner (aka Kevin Malone) is hosting a new podcast called An Oral History Of The Office, and among the program’s guests will be Eilish.

The 12-episode series will kick off on July 14, when the first three episodes will be made available exclusively on Spotify. After its debut, the series will continue to release one episode weekly on Tuesdays.

Beyond Baumgartner and Eilish, a lot of the show’s cast members are set to make appearances on the podcast, including Steve Carell (Michael Scott), John Krasinski (Jim Halpert), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly), and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin), along with other actors from the core cast and beyond.

EW notes the show “will start from the very beginning of the show’s inception, when co-creator Ben Silverman met with UK’s The Office creator Ricky Gervais at a Starbucks in SoHo about adapting the popular workplace mockumentary sitcom,” and that it “will discuss everything from the search of a network home, to the casting, assembling the talent behind the camera, and memorable storylines and major moments from the show.”

Listen to a teaser for the podcast below.

Not to be outdone by Jamie Foxx’s transformation into Mike Tyson, Chris Hemsworth is bulking up to play Hulk Hogan. It was revealed last year that the Thor: Ragnarok star would portray the Hulkster (not this one) in a biopic from Joker director Todd Phillips that will not delve into Hogan’s recent years; instead, it focuses on “Hogan’s rise and is described as an origin story of Hulkamania,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. That’s like making a Harvey Dent movie without getting into the Two-Face years, but OK, sure.

Hemsworth is preparing to sculpt his already impressively-chiseled body for the biopic, and as he recently told Total Film, his Hogan will be even more buff than an actual god.

“This movie is going to be a really fun project,” he said. “As you can imagine, the preparation for the role will be insanely physical. I will have to put on more size than I ever have before, even more than I put on for Thor. There is the accent as well as the physicality and the attitude.” Hemsworth, who will dye his hair blonde and grow a mustache to resemble the WWE Hall of Famer, added that he’ll “also have to do a deep dive into the rabbit hole of the wrestling world, which I’m really looking forward to doing.”

The still-untitled movie does not have a release date. But at least we have this.

It’s gonna be tough for Hemsworth to one-up those acting skills.

(Via CinemaBlend and Total Film)

The 22 NBA teams heading to Orlando will do so in the near future, as the league’s 2019-20 restart is still a go. Before the organizations arrive in Florida, however, discussions are ongoing as to which players may choose to opt out of the proceedings. The Los Angeles Lakers will proceed without veteran guard Avery Bradley and, as of Monday, the status of another key player was up in the air with future Hall of Fame center Dwight Howard mulling his options. Ultimately, though, it appears that Howard will join the Lakers in Orlando, participate in the season, and donate his salary to a non-profit campaign.

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1280347501350883328

Throughout the process, Howard has been vocal in supporting players voicing concerns about the process. In addition, the 34-year-old did not return to Los Angeles alongside his teammates, adding to the speculation that he may choose to pass on the bubble entirely.

From a basketball standpoint, Howard’s decision is significant for the Lakers, as the team is already set to operate without a key piece in Bradley. Los Angeles does have JaVale McGee as its starting center but, in many ways, Howard played a critical role to the team’s success during the regular season, and he has been rejuvenated since joining the Lakers.

In the lead up to the official start of games, other players could make the decision to avoid heading to Orlando. In this case, however, a legitimate NBA title contender will have an integral piece, and Howard will use this platform effectively to promote positive change.

In 2020, we are more conscious than ever about the importance of representation, particularly when casting certain performers to play certain roles. For instance, while once upon a time it wouldn’t have caused much controversy to have a cis thespian play a transgender character — it was only four years ago Eddie Redmayne received an Oscar nomination for The Danish Girl, and that was despite a pronounced backlash — that would not be the case today. Sure enough, when Halle Berry revealed Friday she was considering taking a transgender role, the pushback was so quick and vicious that by end of day Monday the actress had officially backtracked.

This comes from Variety, who reported that Berry had pulled out of the role and issued an apology, saying “the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.”

Mere days earlier she was excited about the project during an Instagram live chat. “[It’s] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man. She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing,” Berry said. “Who this woman was is so interesting to me, and that will probably be my next project.” She spoke about wanting to take a “deep dive” into “that world.”

But that won’t be happening, although perhaps the Oscar-winning actress will still take that “dive,” during which she’ll very quickly learn, if she hasn’t already, that she was misgendering someone who’d transitioned into being a man.

(Via Variety)

As face masks have become mandatory in many places to limit the spread of coronavirus, it’s also become an increasingly politicized thing. As we know, anything that involves political polarization also involves vast amounts of misinformation and disinformation. Whose idea was the internet again?

No one I know loves wearing a mask. We all wish we didn’t have to. But there are an awful lot of people saying they can’t wear one, or they refuse to wear one because they’ve been led to believe that masks are somehow more dangerous than not wearing one. I’ve seen and read “information” on everything from masks depriving people of oxygen to masks causing CO2 build up to masks creating fungus problems.

Dr. Gloria Guptill/Facebook

We have to be wary of where we get our information from. Thankfully, there are true experts out there to set the record straight.

Like many physicians, Dr. Gloria Guptill has been fighting COVID-19 myths on social media. Recently, she did an experiment with three masks at once to dispel the myth that masks deprive people of oxygen.

Dr. Guptill wrote on Facebook:

“Need a medical excuse not to wear a mask? You can’t breathe with it?

Actually, YOU CAN breathe. As an experiment, I wore a cloth mask, surgical mask AND N95 mask, one on top of the other, for the first thirty minutes of my day today. And guess what… my oxygen level is 99%, same as without it. Yes, it was hot and a tad uncomfortable but I survived. I wear a mask ALL day and I am just fine. You can do it too.

I have heard every excuse under the sun why some people don’t want to wear masks. I have gotten requests to write notes excusing patients from wearing masks to work, on a plane or wherever because they ‘can’t breathe.’ I get it- it’s summer and it’s hot. They are uncomfortable. We aren’t use to it. I don’t disagree. Wearing a mask is about you protecting others. I get it- you feel fine but as we all know, you can spread the virus while feeling just fine and the person(s) you give it to may not have it so easy. There isn’t a medical condition that excuses you from wearing a mask. If you truly feel that your condition limits your ability to wear one, please call your doctor. If you have asthma or COPD, you should really be staying home as much as possible and these conditions are all the more reason TO wear a mask. Pick a comfortable mask that is fit well for you and wear it correctly. A mask that doesn’t correctly fit your face can be more uncomfortable then it needs to be. Find a mask made from moisture wicking and breathable fabric. A three layer cloth mask is best for being out and about. They work. When you breathe, droplets from your mouth and nose spread about 6 feet. The mask contains these droplets.

Unless you are under 2 years old, are unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without help, you need to wear a mask.

Surgical and fabric masks do not add resistance while inhaling. They simply decrease droplet spread. Mask do not effect respiratory mechanics. If you feel you can’t breathe, you need a new mask. If you truly can’t find one that is comfortable and you MUST go out, wear a face shield that drops down below your chin. Theoretically, since the mask is acting as a shield not a filter (only N95 can also filter), the shield should also stop the droplets from being dispersed. There isn’t any data on shield vs. mask currently. Masks should contain the droplets better though.

The bottom line: Wear your mask, you can breathe. Sorry it’s not as comfortable as without it, but a ventilator is a whole lot more uncomfortable. Do it for others. We have to.
Have a great day!
Gloria Guptill, M.D.”

The good doctor also answered some questions in the comments and added some additional information. This is about CO2 build-up:

“Carbon dioxide molecules freely diffuse through the masks, allowing normal gas exchange while breathing. Ask ANY board certified physician in America and they will tell you rebreathing tiny amounts of CO2 from wearing either properly fitted N95 respirators or more loosely fitted cloth or surgical masks is of no concern. Way before the conspiracy theorists, medical providers have worn surgical or cloth masks for 12 hour surgeries without retaining CO2. The CO2 molecule is so small it doesn’t accumulate behind the mask AND EVEN IF IT DID, it is easily eliminated by both the respiratory and metabolic systems in the body. Read a Human physiology textbook for more information. We learned this the first year of med school.”

A commenter claimed that they had blood work done while wearing a mask and that it showed elevated CO2 levels. She responded by saying: “CO2 is often/usually elevated on blood work because most people hold their breath a little when it is being drawn. This isn’t due to the mask.”

One commenter claimed that his O2 level went from 92 without a mask to 49 with a mask, to which Dr. Guptill pointed out that he would be comatose if his blood oxygen really got that low. So probably a broken pulse oximeter (or a broken sense of reality—but that’s my take, not the doctors).

She also clarified what each mask actually does.

“N95 masks are the only masks that can protect you from Aerosolization, which is why physicians intubating COVID-19 patients need to wear them. Cloth masks contain your droplets inside the mask so you wearing one protects others. The cloth mask you wear doesn’t protect you. Your mask protects others and their masks protect you…”

Just like if two little boys are running around naked and they pee, their pee is going to get on each other. If they’re both wearing pants, the pee stays contained to their pants. Wearing pants keeps pee from going on other people, but doesn’t keep non-pants-wearing-people’s pee from getting on them. We’re only all protected if we all wear pants. Same idea with masks. It only really works if all of us do it.

Some people feel like they can’t breathe because of claustrophobia or anxiety, but that can be remedied by practicing wearing masks for a few minutes at a time and building up a tolerance.

If you truly have a breathing condition that makes it impossible for you to wear a mask, then wear a face shield—but also consider not going places if possible, because if you can’t breathe in a mask, you definitely don’t want to get COVID-19.