The streaming giant just picked up a time travel movie from Reynolds that will reunite the actor with his Free Guy director Shawn Levy. While the untitled film was originally at Paramount, it was being developed by Skydance who recently delivered the Charlize Theron hit The Old Guard for Netflix, so snatching up the Reynolds movie seems like a no-brainer, especially with its production still on track. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
Skydance and Netflix aren’t letting the lack of novel coronavirus control in the U.S. halt movement on the project, with production on track to begin in November in Vancouver.
Reynolds will star as a man who must travel back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they encounter their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds’ character.
At this stage, it’s getting hard to keep track of how many movies Reynolds has cooking for Netflix after bringing in huge audience numbers with 6 Underground. He’s set to star in the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Gal Gadot action flick Red Notice, and the Deadpool actor is also in talks for a live-action Dragon’s Lair movie based on the infamous, quarter-sucking arcade game from the ’80s. Both projects will be Netflix Originals.
However, Reynolds has shown a willingness to explore other streaming platforms. A day before the time travel movie was picked up by Netflix, Quibi announced that the actor would be reteaming with Samuel L. Jackson for the oddly-premised Futha Mucka. We don’t think Netflix has anything to be jealous about, but if Reynolds starts popping up on Hulu, maybe sit him down and ask him where he sees this relationship going. Just so no one’s feelings are hurt.
Baseball is back, offering a welcome distraction and a lot of questions about how, exactly, the brevity and uniqueness of this season will impact the on-field product. From new rules like the three batter minimum and the universal DH; to a schedule that leaves no room for a sluggish start; and the return to full health by Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and others; the 2020 baseball season’s quirk may also be its salvation.
This quirkiness means that no one really knows how everything is going to play out. The best guesses, however, will come from experts who eat, drink, and sleep baseball, which is why we reached out to MLB Central (airing 10 a.m. EST weekdays on MLB Network) hosts Lauren Shehadi, Robert Flores, and Mark DeRosa.
The trio come together to deliver a morning shot of context for everything going on in the world of baseball. It’s an overall package that, according to Shehadi, stands out against a crowded field thanks in part to their level of prep and the uniqueness of their takes, with her adding, “you can get highlights and scores anywhere, but can you compare Clayton Kershaw to Bob Ross? On Central, you can. That’s what we do. And we do it with a smile.”
Naturally, we wanted to steal some of that for our own baseball preview, so on a group Zoom call earlier this week, we asked about the trio to weigh in on which teams are best prepared to make some noise in 2020, the impact of COVID and labor strife on the game, playing without fans, and whether baseball is ready to step up and speak out on social issues.
On which team is best prepared for this 60-game mad dash and which team could be a dark horse.
Lauren Shehadi: I immediately think of the Yankees. I think 103 wins, and then you add Gerrit Cole. We always say if Judge and Stanton can get going at the same time, it’ll just be a spectacle, because it has not happened yet. Especially with that entire Yankees lineup, it would just be crazy.
Mark DeRosa: The Dodgers come to my mind, just because they’re so interchangeable. They’re so deep. So many guys can do so many different things. You’ve got a guy like A.J. Pollock, who people don’t even know is on the roster but he was an All-Star a couple of years ago. They’re the team for me that just screams that they could win a sprint or a marathon.
Robert Flores: It’s like the Dodgers have two or three different teams that they can throw at you, and all those arms in the bullpen. I think the bullpen is always important, but I think now it’s going to be even more important. So, I think it’s the Dodgers and Yankees as clearcut favorites. But with the nature of the schedule, maybe it lends itself to us seeing a dark horse or a surprise team in the mix. The Rays… I don’t know how much of a dark horse they are. They’re a known commodity, but I think if outside of the Yankees and the Dodgers winning it as the two heavy favorites, I would put the Rays as a team that could win.
Shehadi: For me, it’s the Reds. I just feel like in the NL Central, there’s not just one clear cut dominant team. Nicholas Castellanos, the pitching staff, I feel like they could nickel and dime you for a couple of wins. And that’s all you need. You need to get off to a hot start. We talk about it all the time. It’s just such a different season and it’s such a different experience. So, if you can rattle off seven wins in the beginning, you’re gold.
DeRosa: Sixty games, 240 at-bats. I used to say, my season didn’t start until I had about 150 at-bats under my belt. Now it’s like, that’s not an option. So, Bryce Harper is the guy that comes to mind. He always gets off to big starts. If he puts the Phillies on his back for a couple of weeks, that could catapult them.
On the uniqueness of this season.
Shehadi: I always tell the guys this, my favorite game in all of baseball is the Wild Card game. That’s my favorite. There’s so much strategy. You never know what’s going to happen. The innings take forever, but it’s beautiful chaos. And this season, to me, resembles a Wild Card game. Like pitchers aren’t going to go eight. It’s not going to be the same. It’s so much strategy. You’re going to have to use your bullpen constantly. I believe that is so exciting to me. I get a Wild Card game, basically every game of the season. I couldn’t be more excited.
Flores: Sometimes there is a perception of a lack of urgency, at least in the early stages of the regular season. But that’s not going to be the case. If you lose, there’s a stretch where if you lose seven of 10, or something like that, it could knock you out depending on what the rest of your division looks like. So, I think it’s going to be very important that teams get off to a fast start. And as crazy as it sounds, whichever team manages the COVID virus and practicing social distancing and hygiene, whichever team’s going to avoid having their players get the virus, [that] might be the determining factor on who wins this thing, which is just amazing. It’s crazy. But here we are.
MLB Network
On whether this year’s eventual World Series winner deserves to have an asterisk next to their name.
DeRosa: I don’t think you should put an asterisk next to it, because once you get into the postseason, you’ve got to get hot. Look what the Washington Nationals did. If we have eight teams get in that nobody thought were going to get in, okay, I get it. It got a little quirky, got a little away from us. But I guarantee you, outside of maybe one or two surprises, you’re going to see, yes, the Dodgers, essentially the Astros, Minnesota. You’re going to see who we normally think we’d see.
Shehadi: If there are 15 kids playing baseball in the yard, down the street, and one team wins and they get all excited, do they say it’s not valid? No, it’s perfectly real for that situation. They won that game. You win this season. This is a season, and you win it. And there’s no asterisk next to it.
Flores: I think that when we look back on whoever wins, of course, we’re going to put it in the context of, “man, 2020 was so crazy and so weird.” Just basically a trash year. “Oh, hey, team X won, and that was weird.” But hey, everyone had to play under the same conditions and rules, and they just happened to be the last team standing.
Shehadi: Through all the hardship and all the adversity of this year, it might be even sweeter.
On whether this abbreviated season demands that teams rush prospects like Joey Bart and Gavin Lux.
Shehadi: It’s funny, I heard [Angels manager] Joe Maddon talking about Jo Adell the other day and he was like, “We’re not going to rush him. We need to take our time with him.” And I’m like, “Why? Let’s go. Let’s go.” Right? He could come out, get hot right away for you.
DeRosa: You look at a team like San Diego. They’ve got a guy like MacKenzie Gore, who’s not going to break camp with them. But if they’re rolling and you bring him up and throw him in the middle of it, yeah. We’ve seen that so many times a young guy comes up; Buster Posey comes to mind. Bryce Harper. These kinds of superstars come into the game and change your entire reflection.
Getty Image
On the psychological burden of playing in an empty stadium, the effect of artificial crowd noise and cardboard cutouts, and the prospect of putting a mic on players like Pete Alonso.
DeRosa: Sixty games with no fans. How, psychologically, are guys going to react to that? Who’s going to do well with it, and who really uses the crowd to their advantage? Case in point, is it the young guys because it’s a sprint? Are they more equipped? Or does it give the old guys a chance, “Hey, I only need to be great for 60. I don’t need to get to 162.”
Flores: I would have to constantly remind myself that these games count. Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, the crowd is a factor. It just is. And who knows what the world is going to look like, what conditions we’ll be living under or guidelines we’ll be following come October or the fall. I think that’s going to be very interesting to see what difference the lack of fans make.
DeRosa: I don’t think it [artificial crowd noise] is going to make a huge impact, but I definitely think it will get the players pumped and take their minds off the fact that the stadium’s going to be empty. If it was just dead quiet, then I don’t think guys would truly be themselves, because there’s a lot of screaming from the dugouts that goes on that no one really hears. So now, guys are going to be less aggressive and bug out in that form or fashion. So, I do think it gives you some sense of the idea of people watching.
Flores: When they [mic up players] in spring training, it’s cool, and I love it. And as a fan, I would love if they were miked up all the time. But the game is just so freaking hard. It would be hard if you’re playing shortstop and someone in the booth is trying to ask you questions. There’s just stuff that I wouldn’t think you could say. I just don’t see how they could get it to work. There are just so many negative ramifications.
Shehadi: I want all of it. I want DeRosa and Derek Jeter at second base. I want that conversation.
DeRosa: I don’t want you to hear what we’re saying.
Shehadi: I want to hear it.
On whether labor strife did long term damage to the game.
Shehadi: We’ll get the sport back, it will all fade away the second someone comes to the plate and baseball’s back. If you’re a fan, you’re a fan for life, in my opinion.
DeRosa: I’m going to speak from the heart. If you love the game, you’re going to love the game. Bottom line. Could they have won some more fans over? Yes, if they got back on the field a little early. That didn’t happen. I’m moving forward with it. The thing that hurt my soul and what I’m dealing with now, is the youth, what happened with the draft.
Flores: I think if you want to attract or grow the game or grow the fan base, then it starts at the grassroots level, you have to make sure that in communities across this country and around the world, there are kids that are getting exposed to the game at the earliest ages. And that has nothing to do with any labor strife or anything. That’s a whole cultural thing. And that’s something that has to be refined and definitely formulated going forward.
On whether baseball is turning a corner when it comes to speaking out on social justice issues such as #BLM.
Shehadi: I was reading an article the other day and Bruce Maxwell (who, in 2017, was the first baseball player to kneel during the anthem) said, “Now everyone’s more open.” I do think that baseball is seeing a change and reacting as such. I think there are more people who are planning on educating themselves and others in baseball moving forward, for sure.
DeRosa: I think for me, I got to know every one of my teammates. I tried to get to know them as closely as I could, and I’m sure the same thing’s going on. And if it’s coming from a great place, I would have my teammate’s back, if I knew his heart was in it. So yeah, I think you will see players kneel and express their feelings toward the Black Lives Matter movement. I do. And I think they should.
Fear City: New York vs The Mafia (Netflix docuseries) — The “Five Familes” of the New York Mafia (Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luccese) get the deep-dive treatment, all the way back to the 1970s and ’80s when the mob was essentially the law in New York. Organized crime was a multi-billion dollar industry at that point, and this series is here to shed light on exactly how deep the mafia’s influence extended. Come for the interviews with law enforcement and ex-mafia associates, and stay for the shocking portrait that’s bolstered by surveillance recordings and reenactments.
Blindspot (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) — After five seasons, the 100th and last episode of this crazy tattoo show has arrived. The episode’s synopsis reads, “Turn off your mind relax and float down stream, it is not dying. It is not dying,” which is mildly unsettling, but they’re going with it.
Killer Camp (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Alliances are forged between campmates as they attempt to recover from a shocking killing, and things are also getting competitive with cash contests and mud pits.
Cake (FXX, 10:00 p.m.) — A showcase featuring both live-action and animated comedy programs of varied length that are equal parts thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, artistic, authentic and raw.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Ava DuVernay, Ben Folds
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Will Arnett, Michaela Coel, H.E.R.
When Simon Pegg and Nick Frost get together, hilarity tends to ensue. We’re talking Spaced, we’re talking Shaun of the Dead, we’re talking Hot Fuzz, we’re talking The World’s End, we’re talking… Paul, I guess? I remember laughing once or twice. But everything else? Very good to great, including the pair’s recent Shaun of the Dead-inspired coronavirus PSA, which is why I’m excited for their new show, Truth Seekers.
Amazon Prime Video’s comedy-horror series follows a group of part-time paranormal investigators who “are on the cusp of something here, a gateway between worlds,” as Frost says in the trailer above. Interestingly, we see a lot of his character, but not much of Pegg. He was probably busy thinking about going into space with Tom Cruise.
[The supernatural team] stakes out haunted churches, underground bunkers, and abandoned hospitals using an array of homemade ghost-detecting gizmos and share their adventures on an online channel. Their supernatural experiences grow more frequent, terrifying, and even deadly as the pair begin to uncover a conspiracy that could threaten the entire human race.
Truth Seekers, which also stars Samson Kayo, Malcolm McDowell, Emma D’Arcy, and Susan Wokoma, premieres on Amazon Prime Video later this year. The poster is below.
There has been a drastic change in public opinion over homosexuality in the past thirty years, especially when it comes to parents accepting their gay children.
According to Pew Research, in 1985, 89% of parents said they’d be upset if their child came out as homosexual and just 9% said they would not be.
In 2015, 37% of parents said they’d be upset and 57% said they wouldn’t be.
While public opinion is clearly going in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to be done. A recent story that popped up on Reddit shows having a LGBT child can still divide a home. However, in this case, it seems like it was a good thing.
A mother needed to vent about the horrific way her husband treated her 15-year-old son after he came out of the closet, so she created a Reddit account under the name CountryMamaLynn and posted her story on the LGBT forum.
Unfortunately, the post has since been deleted.
“My husband kicked him out while I was at work… I left work early and drove over to my house where I saw my baby boy sitting on the curb with his clothes and shit all across the damn lawn,” she wrote.
She then said that Mark her, “soon-to-be ex-husband,” was “not the man she thought she married” and she didn’t mince words with how she felt about the way he treated her son.
“I gave that bastard a piece of my mind and told him that if he can’t be a man and support his son then he can kiss my ass and find someone else to pay his bills,” she continued.
So she took her son and and some belongings and booked a hotel room.
Although CountryMamaLynn isn’t very familiar with the LGBT community, she did her best to become an ally and support her son by purchasing him a “a bunch of Pride stuff” and “knitting him a rainbow blanket.”
Her son had kept his boyfriend of seven months a secret and and CountryMamaLynn was over the moon to meet him. “I’m getting to meet him over FaceTime tomorrow and I’m so excited! I’m doing everything I can to make him feel loved,” she wrote.
She pulled no punches when talking about her husband. “I don’t have to put up with this crap,” CountryMamaLynn wrote. “So I told him to haul ass before I make him.” She drove the point home by holding a camouflaged baseball bat duing the confrontation.
CountryMamaLynn’s life changed over night after her son came out and it’s had a big impact on how she sees herself, too.
“I was talking to my son… and found out my not be just a straight ally!” she wrote.
“I assumed all straight ladies were also just as attracted to other ladies as they were [to] men and I never really thought about it until now but turns out I might be bi?
“Is that the right word?” Yes, it is the right word, CountryMamaLynn.
You never know what you might get with each episode of UPROXX Sessions. Maybe a rapper will admit to light larceny, as Idontknowjeffery did during his “Ask About Me” performance. Guapdad 4000 got autobiographical with his flexes during his “Greedy” set to kick off the latest round of sessions. Dana Dentata brought a shovel and a corpse to really hammer home the horror-themed “D In The D.”
The latest guest, Seattle rapper David Shawty, brought his wildest, raunchiest bars and a marker. After traipsing his way through a woozy performance of his new song “GOODMORNING *hickys*,” he whipped out his writing implement to sign the sink in the Sessions bathroom set, leaving his mark on the show in more ways than one. Seriously, if there are any adults or supervisors around, consider plugging in your headphones, because Shawty’s bars may leave you having to make some awkward explanations.
Watch David Shawty’s woozy performance of “GOODMORNING *hickys*” above.
UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
LeBron James will take the floor in the bubble for a scrimmage against the Mavs on Thursday night as the Lakers get their first live, non-practice action in four months. When he does so, he will debut the new Nike LeBron 18, as his latest signature sneaker is finally nearing its wide release.
Nike offered some details on the LeBron 18 on Thursday leading into James putting it on foot in a game for the first time — he has been wearing it some in practice — and it will look to bridge James’ power and speed in a way that they haven’t ever done before. The sneaker looks similar to his recent models, as they’ve clearly found a silhouette and fit that James really likes, but this edition will combine some of the technology from recent versions of his shoe into one — plus a first in terms of combining an Air Max heel cushion and full length Zoom Air throughout the shoe.
“At this point, LeBron has spent half his life with Nike,” says designer Jason Petrie. “We wanted to make him a shoe that played with this idea of two halves. How could we keep improvising on the Max Air value that LeBron loves, but use the forefoot half to sharpen the low-to-the-ground, micro-shifts that LeBron needs to cut and transition down the floor? We’ve gotten near-surgically detailed on these features so that the sum of the shoe’s parts come together for LeBron, and for every kind of player.”
Paul George’s PG3 was the first to introduce a full length Zoom Air pocket, and the LeBron 18 will add in what looks very similar to the Air Max 270 heel cushion — at least based on the initial sketch. The sneaker looks almost like two shoes pieced together, with a knit upper and lightweight front, but a very sturdy back half. The knit upper also combines the technology from the 15, 16, and 17 into one in an effort to offer the most stability while also providing a lightweight, comfortable fit.
There’s also an updated traction pattern on the outsole to continue that effort of creating more stability, and while there’s not an official release date, we do know the sneaker will hit the market at some point in September — which LeBron the Lakers hope will be in the midst of a championship run. More images and details are sure to come between now and then, including price point and a specific drop date.
Jimmy Butler knows exactly what you think he is, and he’s not afraid to have some fun with that perception. As an NBA player, Butler has never been afraid to vocalize his point of view on something, or have some fun on the court. This week we learned that as a spokesperson, Butler’s not afraid to let his personality come through, either.
Michelob Ultra celebrated the restart of the NBA season with a commercial geared around Butler packing for Orlando, pacing through his house getting his bags ready and prepped for the long haul he and Miami face at the Wide World of Sports complex. Pumping through the speakers is “You Make My Dreams,” by the pop group Hall and Oates.
While he tosses his cowboy boots and t-shirts into his suitcase, Butler sings along like an absolute champion, getting down to what is undeniably a classic American pop jam. The ad, titled “Welcome Back, Basketball,” encapsulates everything we love about Butler.
Throughout his career, we know Butler, a Texas native, has turned off teammates with his love for country music. It’s not exactly the type of thing you typically hear in an NBA locker room, but Butler is not exactly the type of guy to care about that. And while “You Make My Dreams” certainly isn’t country music, it does qualify as something you wouldn’t expect to hear in an NBA locker room.
Travelers have been abusing the excuse “but I have a medical condition” to flout airline face mask policies the same way people use allergies to justify sending food back that they ordered wrong, and American and Southwest Airlines are sick of it. Both airlines announced on Wednesday that they’d be further strengthening their face mask policies — requiring all passengers over the age of 2 to wear a face mask from the moment they arrive at the airport until the moment they depart.
And they mean “everyone,” this time. Even if you have a legitimate medical condition.
The Southwest and American Airlines beefed-up new policies will go into effect on July 27th and July 29th respectively, and both outright state that non-compliant passengers will be denied transportation services. Southwest doesn’t even care if you came with a doctor’s note, the policy states, “If a Customer is unable to wear a face-covering for any reason (even a verifiable medical condition), we regret that we are unable to transport the Customer at this time, due to safety risk of asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission by Customers without face coverings.” Southwest acknowledges that face coverings will need to be removed when eating or drinking, “however, we expect these instances to be very brief.”
Similarly, American Airlines only allows masks to be removed while eating and drinking, with zero-tolerance for those who try to defy the new rule, “Those unwilling to comply with this face-covering requirement at any time during their journey with American may debarred from future travel for the duration of this face-covering requirement.” So if you’re an anti-masker who needs to fly American or Southwest in the near future, you going to have to just swallow your pride on this one, or you know, walk.
According to the CDC, “The spread of COVID-19 can be reduced when cloth face coverings are used along with other preventative measures, including social distancing, frequent hand washing, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.” Our panel of epidemiologists concluded the same. Wear a mask, that’s all there is to say!
2020 is shaping up to be another big year for Ric Wilson. The breakout rapper and Chicago activist teamed up with musician/producer Terrace Martin for the upbeat EP They Call Me Disco. The duo has now joined once again to share the joyful video accompanying their track “Don’t Kill The Vibe,” which recently named one of the 50 Best Songs of Summer 2020 by The Oprah Magazine.
For the feel-good video, Wilson tapped several of his close friends for a living room dance party. Wilson leads the group in a Soul Train line, showing off his best moves between two rows of the party’s attendees. The visual stays true to the positive energy of the track, which Wilson said was made for “dance floors at the block party, the cookout, the weddings, the rallies, the covid19 living room clubbbbbbbbs.”
In recent months, Wilson has spent time organizing for activist groups like We Charge Genocide, Black Youth Project 100, Chicago Freedom School, and many more. In a statement about his music, Wilson says he’s inspired by Black women freedom fighters like Ida B. Wells and Marsha P. Johnson: “I hear people quoting a lot of black men who were freedom fighters, which is valid. But when I think about next level courage to ball your fist up and look bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia right in the eye and fight against it, I feel like blk women like Ida B. Wells and non-binary folks like Marsha P. Johnson are of the bravest of us all and if ima fight any injustice I wanna have the courage of freedom fighters like them. The liberation of black womxn and black trans womxn lead to the liberation of all black people.”
Watch Wilson’s “Don’t Kill The Wave” video above.
They Call Me Disco is out now via Empire. Get it here.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
