Month: October 2020

Jeff Goldblum made a promise to his Instagram followers: if 1,000 of them signed up to vote, he would reenact a “classic” scene from Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur masterpiece Jurassic Park (I have always wanted to use the phrase “dinosaur masterpiece”). Which classic scene? It didn’t matter, because every Jurassic Park scene is a classic scene.

“This election is wildly important, and you have the power to really make a difference,” the actor wrote. “But first, you’ve got to get Good to Vote! If 1,000 of you register to vote, or check your registration status, or request a mail-in ballot… I will recreate a classic Dr. Ian Malcolm moment from Jurassic Park.” Less than two days later, at least 1,000 people registered to vote, and Goldblum enlisted Sam Neill (and a drop-in from Laura Dern) to recreate the moment where Ian explains chaos theory to Ellie. Goldblum wrote:

That was fast! We’ve already hit 1,000 voting actions. As a reward, please enjoy this re-enactment of the “Chaos Theory” scene with my original costars @samneilltheprop and @lauradern! AND! If we get 1,000 more voting actions through @headcountorg (link in bio), I will post another classic Jurassic Park reenactment…

They should have done Nedry’s death scene, with Neill as Newman and Goldblum as the spitting dinosaur, but this is good, too. Anyway, here’s the original scene.

And here’s the reenactment.

Goldlbum, Dern, and Neill (who has the only good Twitter account) will reprise their characters in Jurassic World: Dominion, out on June 11, 2021.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

When Travis Scott appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night to talk about the McDonald’s meal named after him, the conversation took an unexpected turn. Scott wound up answering questions about his time as a Houston Rockets ballboy growing up — and the rules he broke when he got autographs from superstars Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant.

“We wasn’t too much of a star-studded team at that time,” Scott admitted. “We weren’t supposed to talk to star athletes, but one day, Melo gave me his headband, signed his headband.” Travis downplayed his time working for the organization, telling Kimmel he doesn’t talk about it much now that he’s got friends in the NBA, but that he does have some exciting mementos. “I met Kobe there and he signed a ball for me.”

Scott refused to answer questions about the sorts of errands ballboys would run for players, or which players tipped the best, citing the “player/ballboy code of honor.” “Shout out all my ballboys out there,” he joked. “Y’all know what’s going down, man. Hold it down for the team players… We never tell.”

Scott also answered questions about his action figure collection (Kimmel is now the proud owner of Travis’ collaborative figure with McDonald’s), how his McDonald’s collaboration came about, and whether he had to get tested for coronavirus after being swarmed by fans at the oldest McDonald’s in the country (yes, he did).

Watch Travis Scott’s full interview with Jimmy Kimmel above.

Amazon Prime’s super-cynical take on superhero culture, The Boys, roared back to life in August with a deeper (and still graphic) second season based upon Garth Ennis’ comic book series. One plot point involves Vought International pushing the “Girls Get It Done” campaign to publicly champion its female heroes. Meanwhile, their leader (Antony Starr’s Homelander) is still corrupt as hell while feeling rootless. That’s all the better for Aya Cash’s Stormfront to swoop into the power vacuum, even as Erin Moriarty’s Starlight works behind the scenes to expose Vought’s misdeeds to the world.

Elsewhere, The Boys vigilantes continue to churn towards vengeance, and that includes Karen Fukuhara’s Kimiko coming into her own power. In the season finale (airing on October 9), Starlight and Kimiko both throw down in a climactic scene that should roundly please fans. Hopefully, the finale will also result in showrunner Eric Kripke feeling less pushback against this season’s weekly format (that also includes an aftershow led by Aisha Tyler). And we’re gonna get a spinoff, so that’s cause for celebration.

We chatted with Erin Moriarty (Jessica Jones) and Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad) amid their characters’ conflict-filled season. In particular, Starlight puts up with a lot of garbage: the sexy-costume thing, and attempting to dodge Homelander’s threats on the regular, all after last season’s sexual assault by The Deep. Whereas Kimiko finally gets to step out of the shadows this year to gain more of the spotlight. Not only does she seek vengeance for her brother’s death, but she’s also connecting more with her fellow vigilantes. Both Erin and Karen get to kick a lot more ass nowadays, and they also have a reaction to that weekly-episode controversy.

This isn’t the first superpowered rodeo for either of you, but if Starlight and Kimiko could visit any superhero movie, where would you want them to show up?

Erin: Oh gosh!

Karen: There are so many!

Erin: Uh… uh… okay, I feel like it would just have to be with my favorite superhero films. Honestly, I can’t lie, it would be the first Iron Man film. I think that Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark is maybe the best superhero portrayal we’ve had, and just to be in that world, and I just want to work with him, if I can, while not even being Starlight. I love that character, and I wanna be in that world with him.

Karen: Ahhhhh, that would be amazing. Me too, I love Heath Ledger’s Joker, and I love the Iron Man movie overall, but I think if Kimiko were to take a side, it would be way more fun to team up with the Joker. And selfishly, I know that it’s not possible anymore, but to work with Heath Ledger would have been amazing, so it would be interesting to see how Kimiko interacts with the Joker.

Erin: Oh, that’s a good answer!

The Boys still skewers superhero culture, and it even roasts the “Girls Get It Done” soundbite, so what does that slogan mean to you?

Erin: In terms of the show, the point of the slogan is, I think, to highlight the irony of Vought’s intention to empower women when they just will always, as a corporation, objectify them, and also there’s a parallel between Vought’s “Girls Get It Done” promotion with the real world, where there are a lot of superficial efforts being made to empower women, but it feels like it’s just for optics of me. And it feels like it’s just for the sake of corporations or, you know, companies who, on the surface, appear as supporters of gender equality when, underneath the surface, I think we still have a lot of work to do. So, the show highlighted that, and that’s what it means to me. Of course, in real life, with gender equality and the way that women are portrayed in movies and the media and TV, it’s a priority for me to be part of the projects that do that in the most empowered way possible. But I think the “Girls Get It Done” promotion ultimately is about the irony of optics of female support nowadays that is lacking of substance and true support.

Karen: That was really well said, and I just want to add a tiny bit. I agree with everything that Erin said, but I think that Vought is only using “Girls Get It Done,” and that slogan and that idea, to benefit them, and it’s a financial thing. It’s a marketing thing, and they don’t actually believe in female empowerment because we’ve seen before, especially with Starlight’s costume and the treatment of women in the company, even when they knew about the sexual harassment, they didn’t do anything about it until they really had to take action. So, we know that Vought doesn’t really care about that. But now that it’s a popular way of thinking, and it’s kind-of taboo not to be feminist, they’re using that. And as Erin said, it’s not quite real. That’s what makes it funny because we’re playing that.

So, we’re not gonna spoil the finale, but you guys finally get an action scene together, and it’s kickass. What was the experience like?

Karen: It was freezing cold!

Erin: So cold! We’ve gotta be careful about spoilers, but that’s one of my favorite scenes, and I want it to be a very first-time experience when people see it, but it was so cold, but I gotta say that it was so fun. Especially because Karen’s so good at the fight choreography, so to watch her seize this choreography and make it her own and nail it? I was just watching from the sidelines, just feeling like a cheerleader. It was a freaking delight.

Karen: Yeah, that whole sequence was really fun because I think we’ve seen glimpses of Starlight coming into The Boys this season, but I never got to shoot with Erin in Season 1. So, with Season 2, being on set with her and being cold together and miserable together, but we’re making something beautiful, it was just really fun to be on set with her and kind-of go through everything together, the whole process.

You and the rest of the cast are also going through something else together: the shift to a weekly format. I’m enjoying that different pace…

Karen: [Victoriously punches the air]

… but some people are not fans of that format. What is your reaction to that pushback?

Karen: I think it’s great! I’m not sure how the rest of the world is taking it, but I love being able to talk to fans on a weekly basis about certain scenes or posting pictures on social media pertaining to that episode. A lot of us have been doing that, and looking at the fan art too, it keeps rolling in. Last year, we had that, but it dissipated quickly because it all came out at once. This time, it’s kind-of prolonged the process, so selfishly, as someone on the show, I really love that it’s a constant conversation with the fans.

Erin: Yeah, I really think that with the past few years, we’ve gotten so used to binging and the instant gratification of that. But kind-of pulling back to the standard way of releasing, especially for our show, which has a lot of cliffhangers, I think that it’s great. The opportunity to kind-of ingest, in-depth, one-at-a-time, as well as catalyze a bit of excitement in between, it just mixes things up. And there’s really something to be said: even though it’s frustrated some people, I think it comes from a place of wanting to see more episodes. And I think there’s something really good about pacing ourselves when it comes to binging all sorts of things, and our show included.

Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ streams episodes each Friday with the season finale coming on October 9.

Since releasing her shimmering debut album Isolation in 2018, fans have been anxious for more music from Kali Uchis. When the singer released her first bilingual track “Solita” back in late December, fans were hoping an album was soon to follow. However, the track proved to be a standalone single. Uchis instead lent her voice on collaborations with other artists like Kaytranada and Little Dragon before sharing an EP of quarantine-recorded demos in April. Now, Uchis points to new music on the horizon with the steamy track “La Luz” with Puerto Rican singer Jhay Cortez.

With “La Luz,” Uchis serves up another Tainy-produced track, her latest following the Rico Nasty collaboration “Aquí Yo Mando” in August. “La Luz” further previews her upcoming sophomore album, which has yet to be announced, though press materials indicate is her first Spanish language project. Indeed, the song is mostly sung in Spanish, and on it, they sing of intimate affairs, with a chorus that translates to, “We’re going to turn the lights off / And we’re going to do everything / We’re going to do everything, baby.”

In a statement alongside the single’s release, Uchis thanked her fans for their continued support: “To my fans & new listeners; I pray this song makes you feel tasty & powerful, thank you!”

Listen to Uchis’ “La Luz” with Jhay Cortez above.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Back in June and amid ongoing Black Lives matter protests against police brutality, Paramount Network cancelled the highly-rated Cops after thirty-two seasons. A&E soon followed suit with Live PD, which ran for four highly-rated seasons. Paramount Network had also removed all mentions of the Cops series from its website following the death of George Floyd during his fatal apprehension by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin (who pushed his knee into Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes). Now, Hollywood Reporter has reported that the long-running law enforcement reality show is in production again. Don’t expect to see the new episodes on Paramount Network, though, or anywhere in the U.S.

Langley Productions has “quietly” fired up production again in Washington State in order to fulfill contractual commitments within overseas territories. According to a press release, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has stated that “[w]e have a longstanding relationship with Cops and [series producer] Langley Productions, and we are pleased they have decided to return, highlighting the outstanding work our deputies provide to all of you.” Filming is currently scheduled to run through November on the show that ran for six years on Paramount Network following a twenty-five-year marathon on Fox.

The resumed production has not arrived without controversy. Here’s a local news video snippet to that effect from CBS affiliate KREM.

(Via Hollywood Reporter & KREM)

Dua Lipa fans have not been lacking in Future Nostalgia content. Aside from the album itself, Lipa has given a ton of TV performances in support of it, and she also released a completely remixed version, Club Future Nostalgia. Now she’s back with even more, and this time, it’s a remix of “Levitating” featuring DaBaby.

The rapper contributes a new verse to the track, beginning, “I’m one of the greatest, ain’t no debatin’ on it / I’m still levitating, I’m heavily medicated / Ironic I gave ’em love and they end up hatin’ on me / She told me love me and she been waitin’.” He and Lipa also appear together in a new video for the track, which was made in collaboration with TikTok and, like most other things from Future Nostalgia, is appropriately disco-inspired.

Lipa previously credited a social media break for helping her make Future Nostalgia, saying, “In all honesty, I don’t think I could have done my second record if I hadn’t taken a step back from social media. When you first start, when I first started putting new music out, everything was super positive and I had lots of nice messages. I think the more stuff you do, then there is criticism and comments and it all comes in thick and fast, and for a while it was really getting to me. I just felt like people had nothing but mean things to say or I was being picked on. It did upset me, it made me feel I didn’t deserve to do certain things.”

Watch the “Levitate” video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In his first movie since welcoming us to Marwen (and everyone responded, “Nah, we’re good”), director Robert Zemeckis adapted Roald Dahl’s novel The Witches, one of the author’s later and weirder works. The fantasy-comedy film, which stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock, and Kristin Chenoweth, and was written by Zemeckis, Guillermo del Toro, and Kenya Barris, was originally supposed to be released on October 9, but it was taken off the schedule due to the pandemic. But in a surprise move, it’s still coming out in October, just in time for Halloween.

The Witches will debut on HBO Max on October 22 and “head into theaters internationally beginning October 28,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. “The movie is described as a reimagining of Dahl’s story for modern audiences.” Here’s more:

[The Witches is a] darkly humorous and heartwarming tale of a young orphaned boy who, in late 1967, goes to live with his loving Grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks our young hero away to an opulent seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world’s Grand High Witch has gathered her fellow cronies from around the globe—undercover—to carry out her nefarious plans.”

Zemeckis’ movies are best viewed on the big screen — think: Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Back to the Future Part II (which all came out within four years of each other, which is nuts to think about), and later works like The Walk — but we’ll take any Bobby Z (pair it with the Blank Check podcast miniseries) we can get.

Also, Roger Rabbit still rules.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Earlier today, news broke out that that former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus just days after flying with President Donald Trump to his recent debate with former Vice President Joe Biden. Presumably, after getting a test done, the President returned to Twitter to confirmed that he and his wife Melania also tested positive for coronavirus. Considering the fact that Trump has repeatedly downplayed the virus and wearing masks, even going as far as to mock Biden for frequently wearing a mask, some didn’t have a lot of sympathy for the president, especially on the music side of things.

After reading Trump’s tweet, Guapdad 4000 re-posted it and said, “Yes !! God is good !! call this man home satan.” Cardi B replied and used the opportunity to promote her new single with Blackpink saying, “‘BET YOU WANNA’ wear a mask now.” Charlamagne The God also weighed in, tweeting, “If you thought Trump saying “Covid is 99% harmless” was bad wait until you hear what he says after “surviving” Covid at 74 years old and 244 pounds…..”

Check out some more tweets from music figures in response to Trump’s positive test below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19, just as The Simpsons predicted?

OK, only half of that sentence is true. The president and First Lady Melania have contracted the coronavirus — after months of saying it would “disappear” and that “it affects virtually nobody” and generally downplaying a pandemic that has killed over one million people and 203,000 Americans, including Trump rally-attender Herman Cain. But The Simpsons did not foresee it happening, despite the image that you’ve probably seen on Twitter, the one of Trump’s lifeless body in a coffin. Simpsons did it? It did not.

As backed by Snopes (and confirmed by any halfway-informed Simpsons fan), that image is a fake. It’s not from an episode or even one of the web shorts with Dan Castellaneta as the voice of the president. The image “first appeared in a thread on a 4chan.org forum,” because of course it did, and has been around since early 2017:

The image was frequently shared along with messages stating that The Simpsons were foretelling President Trump’s death, since the show has reportedly predicted so many other major events: “The Simpsons have shown impressive ability to predict the future, we have witnessed horrifying events that have come true and that without doubt have passed into history… Recently, The Simpsons have brought to light a new prediction that could undoubtedly mark the world and Is the death of the current president.”

The Simpsons did accurately predict that Trump would become president, but the long-running animated series did not anticipate September 11 or, uh, the coronavirus. As writer Bill Oakley told the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, “I don’t like [The Simpsons] being used for nefarious purposes. The idea that anyone misappropriates it to make coronavirus seem like an Asian plot is terrible. In terms of trying to place blame on Asia, I think that is gross.” The Disney-Fox thing, though? That’s a real one.

Rihanna’s annual Savage X Fenty fashion shows have become a big deal after last year’s was made available on Amazon Prime Video. That was the case for this year’s event as well, and the show went live when the clock struck midnight on October 2. Performing during this year’s event were Travis Scott, Roddy Ricch, Rosalia, Miguel, Bad Bunny, Ella Mai, and Mustard, along with special appearances from Bella Hadid, Big Sean, Cara Delevingne, Christian Combs, Demi Moore, Irina Shayk, Laura Harrier, Normani, Paloma Elsesser, Paris Hilton, Rico Nasty, Willow Smith, and Lizzo.

Lizzo, for one, was pretty excited about being involved, as she showed of her enthusiasm in a video shared to her Instagram Story last night. She posted a clip of she and some friends watching the show, specifically the part where she takes the stage and dances. Throughout the video, Lizzo’s pals were shouting and cheering as they watched Lizzo flash her seductive moves on stage.

This year’s show proved to be incredible popular. Upon trying to watch, some viewers were placed in a queue due to high traffic and greeted with a message that read, “Due to extremele high traffic from the Savage X Fenty Show, you’ve been placed in our online queue and will be granted access as soon as possible.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.