Month: February 2021

Ted Cruz is getting roasted for a weirdly inaccurate take on Avengers: Endgame and Watchmen that’s so bad, the creative teams behind the film and HBO series are crawling out of the woodwork to basically ask, “Ted, what the hell are you talking about?” While trying to make some point about liberal Democrats and the Left telling people how to live their lives, Cruz went on a strange tangent about movie villains. “Have you noticed in how many movies how often rabid environmentalists are the bad guys?” the Florida senator said on his Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast. “Whether it’s Thanos or go to ‘Watchmen.’ The view of the Left is people are a disease.”

While there’s so many things wrong with Cruz’s hot take, starting with the fact that the demonstrably wrong villains hate humanity, not the heroes, Gunn would like to focus on Cruz pronouncing Thanos as “Thonnos” during his weird rant. “Maybe he can start with pronouncing Thanos correctly & then work his way up to making sense,” Gunn tweeted.

The Thanos take is just the most recent in a long line of bad takes that has seen Cruz roasted by everyone from Seth Rogen to Alexander Ocasio-Cortez, who delivered the most brutal burn last week during the GameStop meme stocks fiasco. After Cruz agreed with an AOC tweet calling for a hearing on the Robinhood investment app blocking users from buying GameStop stock, AOC fired back that she’ll gladly reach across the aisle with anyone but Cruz who stoked the flames of the assault on the Capitol building.

“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out,” AOC tweeted at Cruz. “Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)

The realms of TV and film have undoubtedly been affected by the pandemic. Obviously, TV holds a strong advantage because the distribution method (your living room) is much friendlier to the process of avoiding a virus. Still, yes, production halted on all shows for awhile and for many shows for longer than awhile. Things got moving again last fall, and now, we’re seeing the resurgence begin. Yet this won’t be an overnight process. The schedule will really get rolling this spring with new endeavors like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and many returning shows, and heck, even Zack Snyder’s Justice League will technically be a miniseries, not a movie, but February is coming in with some early signs that TV will come roaring back full strength.

So, we’ve dug through the schedule and found the must-see selections for you. These might be, in some cases, “must-try” shows because, who knows, the charisma of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson might only go so far for some viewers. Admit it, though, you are curious about how that show will turn out. That intrigue goes a long way, so here are the TV shows that you should at least consider putting on your list.

For All Mankind: Season 2 (Apple TV+, February 18)

Astronaut-Joel Kinnaman returns for what is is easily one of the streaming era’s best space-themed series, which brings alternate-theory twists aplenty, including a version of events where Russia beat America to the Moon. This batch of episodes goes down at the height of the Cold War while space exploration becomes ground central for the U.S. and Soviets as they race to stake claims upon resource-rich areas of the Moon. The characters must also maneuver through the militarization of NASA, which of course will cause tons of space-drama, which I reckon is the #3 most intense type of drama.

Tell Me Your Secrets (Amazon Prime, February 19)

Lily Rabe and Amy Brenneman star in this psychological thriller series about a trio of characters who each harbor a troubling past. There’s a woman who stared into the eyes of a killer, a serial predator who wants redemption, and a grieving mother who believes that she can still find her missing daughter. The series aims to explore the murky lines between victims and perpetrators, and it will need to thread a fine needle to pull off that feat while solving the show’s mysteries. This show has a Gone Girl vibe and promises to be as bingeworthy as HBO’s The Undoing (the presence of Lily Rabe, who played Nicole Kidman’s greatest ally in that show, helps that vibe), so get ready to hear a lot of buzz.

The Walking Dead: Season 10B (AMC, February 28)

Fans of this franchise haven’t seen an episode of the flagship series since last April, and even though Fear the Walking Dead picked up a lot of praise during the gap, there’s nothing like the original with crafty Negan and steadfast Daryl keeping the anti-zombie fires burning. The bad news is that the show will conclude with a super-sized Season 11 in 2022, but the good news is that Daryl and Carol are getting a spinoff, and there will be plenty more of this franchise to fuel Rick Grimes movies and the like. Here, we’ll see the extension of Season 10 with the return of Maggie and Negan’s late wife appearing in his backstory. Real life is colliding with fiction there, since Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s wife, Hilarie, will play Lucille, so that should be a good time.

Canine Intervention (Netflix, February 24)

Bridgerton, this ain’t, and it certainly differs from most of Netflix’s other offerings of late. I didn’t even expect to be reeled in by this series about a California-based K9 dog trainer, Jas Leverette, as he helps owners with their “problem dogs.” Instead, I imagined that this would be an unbearable watch that would make me weepy while wishing that I’d never clicked, but something about this trailer made me suspect differently, and I’m glad to have given it a chance. The charismatic Jas transforms the lives of several dogs, beginning with Lady MacBeth, a three-legged survivor who suffered a gunshot and stood as the very essence of Jas’ motto, “It’s never the dog’s fault, it’s always human error.” These are uplifting journeys for this dog and many others, who received their second chances and worked tirelessly to achieve stunning transformations in the process. Jas’ holistic approach to training works surprising benefits for the humans involved in these stories, too.

Young Rock (NBC, February 17)

Dwayne Johnson’s gotten very real in interviews while discussing his difficult adolescence and young adulthood, but this show will take a comedic stance while focusing on how he hustled his way into wrestling superstardom. Soon enough, he became a household name and rollercoaster-ed toward Hollywood stardom and earned that Franchise Viagra nickname. This series will focus on all of that, but also! Expect to see exploration of The Rock’s presidential semi-ambitions when his character decides to run for office in 2032 with the help of Rosario Dawson and Randall Park.

It’s A Sin (HBO Max, February 18)

This doesn’t promise to be the easiest watch, given that this is an account of the early-1980s AIDS health crisis in London. Still, the series not only examines the horror of the epidemic in an overall sense but, more specifically, upon two gay young men who left home with hope and joy in their hearts, only to confront terrible losses. Their families, friends, and lovers help galvanize the duo as they come together to fight against not only the virus itself but also the prejudices of society at large. It’s a series full of terrible happenings and wonderful people who come together to celebrate the lives of those lost.

Kenan (NBC, February 17)

The longest-tenured cast member on SNL (and he’s not leaving) now breaks into the family comedy business where he plays a character named Kenan, who’s attempting to do what we all do: balance every aspect of life (and usually, to some degree, make a mess while doing it). Luckily for Kenan, he’s so much funnier than the rest of us. It’ll be something to watch him dodge an overbearing father-in-law while staying sane with his family and work, so this should be quite the stress-relieving watch for anyone who wants to see Kenan Thompson painting everyday experiences in an absurd light.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (Netflix, February 10)

The Ted Bundy-obsessed Joe Berlinger — he directed Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and created Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes — brings us a new docuseries that tackles a new mythology. Crime Scene is actually the launch of a documentary franchise that will dive into mysteries surrounding locations where infamous crimes took place. In this first season, the Cecil Hotel in Downtown LA becomes ground central for many untimely deaths and the housing of serial killers. In particular, this series digs into the 2013 disappearance of a college student, Elisa Lam, at the notorious hotel. Internet sleuths helped to mobilize and stir up a media frenzy, and what’s even more chilling is that this is only one of the hotel’s countless sinister happenings over the years.

Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine (Showtime, February 21)

This three-part documentary series tracks hip-hop artist Tekashi 6ix9ine’s rise to notoriety. The centerpiece of the series happens to be an exclusive interview with the rapper after his 2020 release from prison, and the show also hopes to provide a unique perspective on the artist’s mastery of social media and the culture of manufactured celebrity. One thing is certain: it won’t be boring.

Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready: Season 2 (Netflix, February 2)

Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready: Season 2 (Netflix series) — Netflix’s stellar run of stand-up comedy specials took a bit of a breather in late 2020, but there’s some excellent news on the horizon. Girl’s Trip star Tiffany Haddish will return with a fresh collection of half-hour specials and a diverse crop of comedians who are near and dear to Haddish. These players include Chaunté Wayans (Wild n’ Out), April Macie (Last Comic Standing), Tracey Ashley (The Last O.G.), Aida Rodriguez (Comedy Central’s This Week at the Comedy Cellar), Flame Monroe (Def Comedy Jam), and Marlo Williams (BET’s Comicview). This season won’t drop a moment too soon because we could really use the laughs.

Beartown: Season 1 (HBO Max, February 22)

This one looks terrifying. The story’s based upon Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel of the same name, and it follows the domination of a junior ice-hockey team upon a small community. Given the show’s color palette on display in the trailer, I’m sure having a difficult time resisting Twilight jokes, but this looks more substantially chilling. The show promises to explore hope and secrets and courage to go against the grain.

Punky Brewster: Season 1 (Peacock, February 25)

Hear me out here on this one. Reboot madness won’t stop (no matter what we do), and after NBCU’s streaming service did the Saved By The Bell thing (which is already renewed for a second season), the progression toward Punky Power shouldn’t be too surprising. In this series, Punky’s a single mom who finds herself inspired by meeting a young orphan who possesses of all her old spunk. Both Soleil Moon Frye and Cherie Johnson reprise their roles, and Freddie Prinze Jr. plays Punky’s ex-husband. Did she go by “Punky” or “Penelope” while taking wedding vows? I kind-of need to know, and I also want some depth here. Of course, I’m not expecting this to be a crowd favorite like Cobra Kai, but there’s room here for Peacock to go a lot deeper than the original. Peacock is also making a lot of unexpectedly strong moves with content, so let’s just say that (as with The Rock’s TV show) curiosity is enough to make me check this show out, at least for a few episodes.

LeBron James has had quite the 7-game Eastern Conference road trip, leading the Lakers to a 5-2 record capped off with a win over the Hawks in Atlanta on Monday night. In the fourth quarter of that game, James found himself once again dealing with some courtside hecklers (after saying a Cavs front office member’s taunts fueled his monster fourth quarter in Cleveland), who ended up getting kicked out after yelling at LeBron with their masks pulled down.

James spoke after the game about the incident and said he didn’t think they should’ve been thrown out for anything they said, noting he and the guy both said their piece and moved on when his wife got involved as well and was the one tossed. The woman, Juliana Carlos aka Courtside Karen, posted a lot of Instagram stories from the night, including of the incident but also afterwards where she had all the bravado of someone with some added liquid encouragement yelling at a 6’8 giant of a human. In her explanation of what happened, she said she and LeBron exchanged profanities after she told him she’d “f*ck him up” and told him to “sit the f*ck down, bitch,” which are equally hilarious.

However, her claim that LeBron joined in cursing her out was looked into by Chris Kirschner and Jovan Buha of The Athletic and from all the videos of the incident from courtside, from Carlos and others, they could only find one thing LeBron said.

The Athletic reviewed courtside video from Juliana Carlos and others in close vicinity, and the only comment that is audible from James is him saying “Ol’ steroid ass.”

It is always great when folks embellish a story right after publishing video of what actually happened, and it’s also a hysterical response from LeBron to Carlos who, well, I mean, look at him.

The Hawks are investigating the incident and have pushed back on there being an issue with having fans seated courtside during a pandemic, saying they are given a rapid test that has to come back negative before the games and have a mask mandate — which seems to be the chief reason for their ejection from the game.

Despite being a relative newcomer to the “international pop star” gig, Lil Nas X has already proven scarily adept at the whole project rollout aspect of his career. Not only are his singles generally theme-appropriate, but he’s also mastered ensuring some sort of corporate synergy with each to ensure maximum outreach. With “Holiday,” he dropped right around the holidays, dressed like a futuristic Santa, and appeared in ads for Amazon and on late-night TV to hype the single and his look.

For his next single, named for the Timothy Chalamet star vehicle “Call Me By Your Name,” he partnered with Logitech for the song to appear in a Super Bowl ad, which he also narrates. He had previously teased the song on social media, driving up fans’ anticipation for its release, and now, they’re in an all-out frenzy in his Twitter replies demanding the official release. Knowing him, he’s probably waiting for just the right time to drop a music video. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chalamet makes a cameo in it — Lil Nas loves cameos.

As fans await the release of Lil Nas X’s debut album, the rapper himself has become a bestselling children’s author and received his Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award blimp trophy in the mail. He’s been juggling multiple responsibilities, but if he’s doing Super Bowl ads, it seems like he’s handling it well.

Evan Rachel Wood came forward this week to name ex-partner Marilyn Manson as her alleged abuser following years of advocacy as the survivor of abuse and rape. The two went public with their relationship in 2007, when she was 19 years old, and he was 38. They became engaged in 2010 and later split, and over the course of years, Wood testified in front of Congress and California lawmakers about her experiences as an abuse survivor to help pass multiple statutes to expand abuse and rape survivors’ rights. However, her statement this week was the first time the Westworld star publicly identified Manson, who she accused of “grooming” and “horrifically abusing” her over the course of their relationship.

In response to Wood’s Monday Instagram post, four other women came forward against Manson with allegations of abuse against him. Hours later, his record label, Loma Vista Recordings, announced that they’d dropped him from their roster. Now, two TV shows — AMC’s Creepshow anthology series and Starz’s ongoing American Gods — that filmed appearances by Manson for their new seasons have declared that they’re following suit. In a statement to Deadline, Shudder confirmed that the Creepshow episode starring Manson will not air. Starz is on board with that sentiment.

“Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse,” Starz tweeted. “Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season.”

Following the decision from his record label, Manson issued a statement to deny any wrongdoing. “Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” he wrote. “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”

The objective of every Super Bowl commercial is to stop people from talking, going to the bathroom, or getting another beer during breaks in the game. One effective way of keeping Chiefs and Bucs fans glued to the television is is to have Michael B. Jordan take his shirt off. The Black Panther star, who was named 2020’s Sexiest Man Alive, plays a physical manifestation of Alexa in Amazon’s Super Bowl commercial, “Alexa’s Body.”

Instead of a circular device that definitely isn’t listening to everything you say and sending that data to Jeff Bezos’ underground lair when you’re asleep, Alexa takes the form of Michael B. Jordan. He’ll help you cook, turn on the sprinklers (and get wet in the process), dim the lights, add bath oil to your shopping lists, and assist with all kinds of household tasks. Leaving aside the creepy implications of having your robot butler made flesh and blood, the ad also serves as a promo for Jordan’s new movie, Without Remorse. The thriller, based on author Tom Clancy’s second most famous character John Clark, is about a “Navy SEAL who goes on a path to avenge his wife’s murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.” But does he get shirtless?

Without Remorse comes out on Amazon Prime Video later this year.

For recent late-night television appearances, Post Malone has sat down for interviews in his Utah home, and it was revealed in 2019 that the building will have an underground bunker added to it. Progress may be being made on that space right now, as Malone discussed on Late Night yesterday.

As Seth Meyers and Malone started their conversation, Malone apologized for construction noises in the background, which prompted Meyers to pivot the direction of the chat and ask if the construction was related to the bunker. Malone tentatively confirmed Meyers’ suspicion while noting that he’s taking his beer pong game up a level, saying, “You know, it might be part of it. We’re doing some fun stuff over here, like marble beer pong tables. The bunker’s coming. Things take a little bit, but we’re figuring everything out. Hopefully I can keep my Grammys in there.”

Malone also discussed why he enjoys spending time in Utah as opposed to California, saying, “LA was just a lot, especially working on music. In LA, there’s always something to do, there’s always some place to be, and there’s always people around you. Here, it feels good to be kind of secluded and relaxed and I can just take my time and take it easy and work on being a better artist.”

Watch clips from the interview above.

The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime show is only a few days away, and now we’re starting to get a better idea of what the performance will entail. Here’s a new tidbit: Despite the pandemic presumably presenting more challenges from the production side of things, the show will still be performed completely live.

The show’s producer, Jesse Collins, spoke about it with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “It’s all happening in that stadium, in that moment. We’re not bouncing off to another stadium and then cutting in, like some people have had to do. We are fortunate enough in this situation that we are able to do a live, live show. It’s gotta be about entertainment from a truthful perspective. Get away from the massive sets, all the hoopla, the flying this and that, and get to the core of what makes an artist special.”

He also added, “I think there’s a lot of stuff happening in the show that people aren’t going to expect. It’s just going to be fun. It’s so perfect. We started creating this thing back in September, and the message of it really worked out. The world worked out for the message that The Weeknd wants to communicate in this performance… It’s definitely a very special show.”

Of the show, The Weeknd himself recently said, “We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl.”

Ted Cruz recently revealed that the first movie he saw in theaters was Fantasia. “It was playing at a film revival. It scared me; I cried — I was 4. My Mom had to take me out. Good times,” he tweeted, to which Seth Rogen, who delights in mocking the senator more than anything else (with the exception of pot and pottery), replied, “Everyone who made that film would hate you.” This is true of everyone who made Watchmen, too.

In a recent episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz, the world’s least enjoyable podcast, Cruz was ranting about Democrats and virtue signaling and his other favorite buzzwords (it’s shocking he left out “cancel culture”). “Look, if you actually respect people, you say, you ought to be able to choose what you want to do with your life,” he said. “Listen, I’m not a steelworker… but I’m not going to presume to tell you that what you chose to do is somehow illegitimate and should be eliminated.” Cruz has told many people that abortion should be eliminated, but go on. He then brought up Avengers: Endgame and something he found “curious” about the highest-grossing movie ever. “Have you noticed in how many movies how often rabid environmentalists are the bad guys?” he asked. “Whether it’s Thanos or go to Watchmen. The view of the Left is people are a disease.”

I think Lila Byock, a writer for HBO’s Watchmen, put it best:

Cruz, who once named Rorscach as one of five favorite superheroes (meaning he missed the point of Watchmen), should check out the HBO series, which tackles systemic racism, police brutality, and white supremacists. He could learn something.

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez recently breathed fire at Ted Cruz when he revealed that he agreed with her statement that a hearing should be held over Robinhood’s role in blocking investors from purchasing Gamestop, AMC, and other Redditor-fueled stocks while hedge funders could continue to do whatever they pleased. In doing so, AOC tweeted that she was perfectly willing to work with Republican lawmakers but only those members who “aren’t trying to get me killed.”

AOC was referencing Cruz’s role in helping to incite the MAGA coup, which ended with five deaths (including two Capitol Hill cops) while rioters made it their mission to halt the Senate’s sealing of the Electoral College vote. To somehow make matters even worse, one MAGA rioter was revealed to have made it his personal mission to assassinate AOC, and she has now spoken about what she endured that day via an Instagram Live video. Things got emotionally charged with AOC describing how she felt when she heard a man (who she believed was an insurrectionist) pounding on the doors to her office, within which she initially took refuge. On January 6, she genuinely believed that she was going to be killed, and this was a perfectly valid fear, given what we’ve learned about the rioters’ zip-tie-fueled behavior.

AOC described the trauma of the event, which she likened to being trapped in a zombie movie, and she heard a man yell, “Where is she?” She peered through a door hinge at the man as he kept yelling, and “I thought I was going to die.” That portion of AOC’s Instagram Live session can be seen here:

Even more chilling, as AOC revealed, was her eventual realization that this man was a Capitol Police officer, although as she stated, he approached here with a “tremendous amount of anger and hostility.” At that point, she had no idea whether he was a friend or a foe, or whether he meant to help or hurt her, and although he yelled at her to move toward safety (and following the news that a rioter intended to kill her), it’s apparent that Congressional members’ lives were in danger on January 6. As AOC progressed into discussing how certain Republicans kept asking Congress to “forget” the attack, she described how “these are the same tactics of abusers.”

While speaking, AOC described how time had frozen while the officer pounded on her door, and she grew tearful during this next revelation:

“The reason I’m getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it’s no big, that we should forget what happened, even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers. And I’m a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven’t told many people that in my life, but when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other… as a survivor, I struggle with the idea of being believed.”

AOC eventually hid in the the office of Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who revealed (also on Monday night) on MSNBC that AOC stated, “I just hope I get to be a mom. I hope I don’t die today.”

Likewise, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) also revealed on MSNBC that he was concerned about being locked in a room with GOP colleagues (who included Rep. Lauren Boebert) who live-tweeted their location during the insurrection. He called for those members to be expelled from Congress.

You can watch AOC’s full Instagram Live video below.