Month: February 2021

One of the captains for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game will not play in the game itself. Kevin Durant, who has not played since Feb. 13 because of a hamstring injury, will sit out through the All-Star break in an attempt to nurse the injury and get back to 100 percent. The Brooklyn Nets announced this news on Friday afternoon.

Durant has missed the last six games due to the ailment, and with there being no indication that this is anything major, it’d be understandable if Brooklyn tried to get him back as soon as possible. Still, it’s hard to fault the team for option for a better safe than sorry approach when it comes to the health of one of the best players in the league.

As for the All-Star Game, this causes a bit of housekeeping to occur. Durant’s place in the starting lineup will be filled by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, while the open spot on the roster will end up going to Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers.

A number of players in the East have really good cases for that final spot, but Sabonis, who has been magnificent for the fourth place Pacers this season, is a deserving selection. Now a two-time All-Star selection, Sabonis is averaging 21.5 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in 36.5 minutes a night.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu Original film) — Directed by Lee Daniels and starring Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Andra Day, this film follows the legendary jazz musician who was targeted in the 1940s by the federal government. This was all part of an effort to radicalize the war on drugs, which led to the feds attempting to stop Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” ballad from happening. It’s an at-times heart-wrenching portrait of a powerful civil rights activist and musical icon whose work still resonates, 80 years later and beyond.

The Golden Globes (Sunday, NBC 8:00 p.m.) — Nothing is normal about this past year, and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are undoubtedly going to embrace that sentiment as co-hosts (from separate coasts) of this year’s ceremony. Check out all of the nominees here and then consider all of the snubs and the shenanigans afoot before the big night. Please join us for live coverage of this event.

The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — Expect the beginning of the end to arrive for this long-running flagship series of AMC’s expanding zombie-apocalyptic universe. Maggie is back and toughened up by what she’s gone through since leaving, and Negan’s not happy about it. Well, Negan might have it coming, for real this time?

Wandavision: Episode 7 (Disney+ series) — This week’s emotionally charged penultimate episode had one heck of a post-credits scene that points toward some possible Paul Bettany trolling of the Marvel-loving audience. One thing is clear, though: Kathryn Hahn does not miss.

Tom And Jerry (Warner Bros. film) — This live-action/CGI-animation hybrid follows the continuing legendary rivalry between the title cat and mouse. They’re taking a New York City hotel by storm and launching mayhem-filled adventures as a massive, high-profile wedding looms. Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a wedding planner who’s there to wrangle them, and I believe we can all guess how well that goes. Godspeed.

Punky Brewster: Season 1 (Peacock reboot series) — 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.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Hip Hop Uncovered (Friday, FX 9:00 & 10:19 p.m.) — This six-part docuseries will air two episodes again tonight. This week, the OG’s must choose between keeping with their existing code of the street or joining the establishment. They also move toward becoming modern-day Robin Hoods while hoping to transform their communities to ensure a better future for all.

Saturday Night Live (Saturday, NBC 11:29 p.m.) — Nick Jonas doubles as both host and musical guest.

Supermarket Sweep (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — Leslie Jones and every bit of her enthusiasm will host contestants in this revival of the grocery-shopping game show.

Batwoman (Sunday, CW 8:00 p.m.) — Batwoman finds her ability to protect Gotham hindered by Ryan Wilder’s Kryptonite wound, but there might be a serum that can fix things up.

Charmed (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — New nemeses in the human and magical world plague the Charmed Ones, and Macy learns of a shocking inheritance.

Allen V. Farrow (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — This four part documentary series continues this weekend to dig into a notorious and still-raging scandal of what, exactly, happened with Woody Allen and his family. That includes daughter Dylan Farrow’s allegations of sexual abuse against her father along with Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s daughter, Soon-Yi, and the custody trial that grew especially ugly. In the aftermath, a sprawling family fractured, and that divide continues to this day with continuing disputes that revolve around the allegations.

Shameless (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — This week’s Hall Of Shame edition zeroes in on Frank Gallagher, who has so much to be ashamed about that I’m surprised this isn’t a feature-length film.

Last Week Tonight: Season 8 Premiere (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — Everyone’s favorite sarcastic and satiric late-night host returned a few weeks ago, and not a moment too soon.

Here are a few more recent streaming picks:

Crazy About Her (Netflix film) — An enigmatic woman has a “magical one night stand” (those are Netflix’s words, and they’re impossible to make better in this context), and she lives in a mental institution. That’s not the strangest thing that happens here. Rather, her one-night-stand partner is so taken with this lady that he decides to admit himself too. Ain’t love grand? Naturally, the dude gets a lot more than he bargained for after making his decision, so enjoy the romantic hijinks.

Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures film on Hulu) — Frances McDormand stars this tribute to the American West as a widow (Fern) who loses her house and travels (nomadically, naturally) in her van. Freedom and danger abound, and one of the goals here is to figure out what Fern’s looking for, and whether she can possibly find it, or whether wandering is an escape or a solution, or whether the virtue is in the journey itself.

I Care A Lot (Netflix film) — Rosamund Pike’s got the Gone Girl hair again, which sends out some palpable vibes to be certain. She portrays a court-appointed guardian for elderly wards, and she’s siphoning their assets in an elaborate racket. However, she meets her match in a gangster played by Peter Dinklage, who’s got his own game while representing a mark (Dianne Wiest), who has no living heirs or family but has ruthless designs of her own. Dinklage has got a stare that can bore straight into your soul, and Pike can be as cold as they come, so this movie should be a deliciously dark treat for all.

Tell Me Your Secrets: Season 1 (Amazon Prime series) — Viewers of The Undoing are gonna dig this series for a few reasons, including the presence of Lily Rabe (who portrayed Grace’s best friend, Sylvia) as Emma, who’s a very Gillian Flynn-esque character with a mysterious and troubling past. Two other mysterious and troubling characters — John (Hamish Linklater), a former serial predator and Mary (Amy Brenneman) is a grieving mother of a missing daughter — make up one neck of a mysterious and troubling triangle. The motives of all involved grow murkier as the season wears on, and this show is bingeable as heck.

The internet is full of nostalgia, from classic Jim Henson commercials to bowlers creating celebratory memes with nonsense phrases. But Charlie Sheen has made it clear he isn’t exactly thrilled to relive his bit of internet infamy. The actor said in a new interview that he regrets throwing his career into turmoil as part of an internet-fueled flameout that started with a bizarre interview.

Sheen made “winning” and “tiger blood” tired cliches in record time, and also made him something of a pariah in Hollywood in the process. It’s not exactly fumbling the bag by posting anti-Semitic messages on social media, mind you, but Sheen’s fall from Two And A Half Men fame was a huge story not too long ago.

And in an interview with Yahoo, Sheen said he’s not thrilled that the “tiger blood” interviews are what often come up first with people, even a decade later.

Sheen himself is not amused by people continuing to bring up his infamous 2011 interviews, but he’s also not offended they’re still talking about what was an intensely difficult time in his life.

“People have [said to] me, ’Hey, man, that was so cool, that was so fun to watch. That was so cool to be a part of and support and all that energy and, you know, we stuck it to the man,” Sheen tells Yahoo Entertainment. “My thought behind that is, ‘Oh, yeah, great. I’m so glad that I traded early retirement for a f***ing hashtag.’”

There are many things Sheen could be primarily known for in his career, starting with Major League. The fact that this moment, even a decade later, often comes up first when interacting with fans is certainly not an ideal thing. A good lesson to learn for all the other potential tiger blood enthusiasts out there.

No one’s perfect, and Pat Sajak certainly knows that better than anyone on the Wheel of Fortune stage. But an interaction with a player has gotten the longtime host of the show into trouble with a number of people who were shocked he appeared to make fun of a contestant’s speech impediment.

The incident happened on Monday’s episode, as Sajak was talking to a contestant named Chris, who had a somewhat audible lisp. Sajak seems to punctuate the conversational aside about his job with a quick “I see” that sounded like he added a lisp to the word “see” as well.

Chris didn’t react to Sajak’s quick joke, and the show continued on as normal. And it didn’t come up anywhere else in the broadcast. Interestingly, the show posted on Twitter a clip of Sajak addressing something else the contestant said during the interview segment, that he’s “technically” still a newlywed.

In the past, Sajak has used that time to clear up any issues with interactions he’s had that may be taken the wrong way, like when he jokingly apologized for scolding a contestant for being “ungrateful.” That would at least, in theory, mean that Sajak didn’t see a problem with apparently joking about the contestant’s speech impediment. But fans certainly noticed, and as the week progressed more people expressed their outrage about the matter.

Sajak, who has a handful of tweets that are mostly jokes trapped in late 2000s Twitter, has not addressed the incident just yet. But another Tweet he sent out did get some attention in light of the incident that aired on Monday.

Sajak has said he doesn’t care who replaces him on Wheel once he leaves, but for many this week it became clear that he should be replaced sooner rather than later.

The 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicked off in Orlando, Florida on Friday. It’s three days of panels and speakers with former President Donald Trump delivering the keynote speech on Sunday night.

It’s believed that during the speech Trump will declare himself the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 nomination.

So far, the event has made headlines for a speech by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas who tried his hand at stand-up comedy. “I’ve got to say, Orlando is awesome,” Cruz told the cheering crowd. “It’s not as nice as Cancun. But it’s nice.”

It was also marked by anti-mask protests. Early on Friday organizers were booed and met with chants of “Freedom!” when they asked that attendees abide by the Hyatt’s policies and wear masks.

“I know this might sound like a little bit of a downer, but we also believe in property rights, and this is a private hotel,” said Dan Schneider, executive director of the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC. “And we believe in the rule of law, so we need to comply with the laws of this county that we’re in. But a private hotel, just like your house, gets to set its own rules.”

But the image that best sums up the conference, and the state of the Republican party in 2021, was the unveiling of a massive golden Donald Trump statue featured in one of the ballrooms. The golden statue depicts Trump in a suit with his trademark red tie, American flag swimsuit, and sandals. Classy.

Many have said the Republican Party has essentially become a cult of personality revolving around Trump over the past four years. But spelling it out with a golden idol of the man really puts a button on things.

According to a January poll, 74% of Republicans want Trump to stay active in the party in some way, including 48% who want him to remain its head.

It’s amazing that he still garners such support after being impeached for the second time for inciting a violent mob that ransacked the Capitol building. Clearly, these people favor party over country.

The blind loyalty is also questionable being that even though he won the presidency in 2016, over the next four years, the GOP would lose the House, Senate, and the presidency.

After the insurgency at the Capitol building over 30,000 U.S. voters who were registered as Republicans changed their party affiliation.

The image of the golden Trump also drew many comparisons to the biblical story of the Golden Calf.

As the parable goes, the Israelites lost faith in Moses when he left them for 40 days and 40 nights. So, they pooled their gold to create a golden calf to worship. When Moses returned to the group, he burnt the golden calf in a fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on water, and forced the Israelites to drink it.

Could it be that the Republicans lost their faith in their beliefs and, instead, were led astray by the Golden Calf that is Trump?

Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation has partnered with the city of Houston to provide aid to 50,000+ residents who were impacted by the recent winter storm that knocked out power and left Texans in freezing conditions with no heat or water. In a press release announcing the aid program, it’s noted that the Cactus Jack Foundation worked with local agencies including The National Association of Christian Churches, The Black Service Chamber, and even local restaurant owners to identify the most vulnerable people in need of assistance.

The program is using trucks loaded with hot food and clean water to deliver these needed goods directly to people with disabilities, families with children under the age of 18, senior citizens and homebound adults, and unemployed or low-income individuals who may not have access to transportation and other resources.

Travis isn’t the only Houston resident pitching in. After Texas Senator Ted Cruz basically bailed on his constituents for a family vacation in Mexico (build that wall, right?), Houstonians looked out for one another. Beyonce teamed with her Ivy Park partners at Adidas to provide financial aid to individuals, while Megan Thee Stallion and Ellen DeGeneres gave a donation of $50,000 to a local nurse who moved from Mississippi to help with coronavirus treatment efforts and got stuck in a hotel with five kids.

Even former residents like James Harden, who was traded to Brooklyn Nets earlier this year, is giving back to his former adopted city, giving away hot food from his restaurant last weekend. This week he also told reporters postgame after defeating my Clippers that he’s been on calls with Houston’s mayor, local plumbers, and his sponsors at BodyArmor to provide water to the city and more.

K-pop fans are more than familiar with CL (born Lee Chae-rin), one of the rising stars in the genre. But today the pop star is opening up her personal life a bit more to show fans what she’s been going through recently. Today marks CL’s 30th birthday and she marked the occasion by releasing a song she wrote about her mother’s passing. The emotional new track, aptly titled “Wish You Were Here,” is a tribute to the love and tenderness her mother shared when they were together, and expresses how much CL misses the relationship. It’s in the realm of slow jam territory, with beautiful synths and quiet percussion.

With a subtle nod to what they used to listen to together — “the playlist we made / A bit of old school jazz and our favorite Stevie” — CL also released her own playlist so fans can listen along if they’d like right here.

In the clip, old footage from CL’s childhood is incorporated with newer shots of where she’s at today. The K-Pop star was infamously part of one of the most successful girl groups in the world, 2NE1, and has released a number of solo singles that broke global records. Her 2015 single “Lifted” made her the first female Korean solo artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and since her 2019 EP In The Name Of Love she’s been readying her debut album. Reportedly titled Alpha, the album is slated for release sometime this year.

It’s unclear if “Wish You Were Here” will be part of the release or is just intended as emotional catharsis. Either way, it’s a beautiful homage to a loving relationship. Watch above.

Jeremy Lin, in a lengthy post on his Instagram account, spoke out against the racism experienced by those in the Asian-American community. As Lin noted in one of the images used in the post, hate crimes against Asian Americans have skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, something Lin noted has impacted him personally, as he alleged that he has been called “coronavirus” during basketball games.

“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans,” Lin wrote. “We are tired of being told that we don’t experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble. We are tired of Asian American kids growing up and being asked where they’re REALLY from, of having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we’re inherently unattractive. We are tired of the stereotypes in Hollywood affecting our psyche and limiting who we think we can be. We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren’t as real.”

Lin, who spent last season with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association but recently returned to the States to join the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, went on to discuss his commitment to making things better for everyone in the Asian American community, from “my elders,” to “my niece and nephew and future children,” to “the next generation of Asian American athletes.”

From there, Lin went on to talk about the various things that define him (and others in the Asian American community) do not necessarily mean he, and others, are not capable of experiencing things in certain ways.

Being an Asian American doesn’t mean we don’t experience poverty and racism.
Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn’t protect me from being called “coronavirus” on the court.
Being a man of faith doesn’t mean I don’t fight for justice, for myself and for others.

“So here we are again, sharing how we feel,” Lin wrote before concluding with a question. “IS ANYONE LISTENING??”

This is hardly the first time that Lin has spoken out about the racism experienced by the Asian American community in relation to the pandemic. Back in March of last year, Lin used his Twitter account to excoriate then-president Donald Trump for the racist verbiage he used to refer to COVID-19, writing “I wish you would powerfully support the vulnerable people that will suffer due to our mismanagement of this virus, including those that will be affected by the racism you’re empowering.”

In his quest to become America’s longest running punchline, Ted Cruz decided to end his CPAC speech by screaming one of Mel Gibson’s iconic lines from the movie Braveheart. After opening things up by awkwardly joking about his Cancun trip, Cruz definitely didn’t stick the landing by attempting to pull off the epic battle cry. Before exiting the stage, Cruz decided to quote “the immortal words of William Wallace” by screaming “Freedom!” into the mic in an attempt to rally conservatives who have grown weary of following COVID-19 restrictions. (Plus the usual Republican concerns of living under a Democratic administration.)

But instead of leading a throng of courageous warriors into battle against a tyrannical government, Cruz mostly just got dunked on as people couldn’t help but notice that he clearly missed the point of Braveheart. Folks also pointed out how unfair it is that Howard Dean‘s presidential ambitions ended in 2004 for a yelp that was nowhere near Cruz’s odd Mel Gibson impersonation.

Of course, the Braveheart scream is just one of a growing list of embarrassing moments coming out of CPAC. While Cruz is clearly the winner with his awkward yell and Cancun joke, the conservative event was already off to a bad start when a golden statue of Donald Trump was spotted being wheeled around the premises. The situation didn’t improve when the CPAC organizers found themselves being booed for asking people to wear a mask. Turns out conservatives aren’t that concerned with the rule of law after all, and it probably doesn’t help things when a United States senator starts screaming “Freedom!” into a mic.

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter)

With its limited settings, intimate cast, and fractal structure, The Father seems almost specifically designed to drive a quarantined audience insane. Anthony Hopkins plays Anthony, a charming old London pensioner just barely holding onto reality as his mind deteriorates from dementia. The film is hallucinatory, constantly remixing a kaleidoscope of domestic scenes, putting you firmly inside the mind of this sad, disintegrating old man. It’s staggeringly brilliant and I can’t imagine why anyone would enjoy it.

Anthony lives alone in his apartment, or maybe with his daughter Anne, or possibly in a nursing home. Anne is mostly played by Olivia Colman from The Favourite, but sometimes Olivia Williams from Rushmore. (Now that I’m writing this I do appreciate on a conceptual level them both being named Olivia). Anne has a boyfriend, or possibly a husband, played by Mark Gatiss or Rufus Sewell depending on the scene, with whom she’s either living unhappily in London or going off to see in Paris. “Paris? They don’t even speak English there!” Anthony scoffs.

Dementia, or Alzheimer’s, which my own grandmother died from some years back, is a disease that turns loved ones into strangers and vice versa, in which the sufferer gets trapped in a time-loop of their own obsessions. They repeat the same stories, ask the same questions, get confused and angry, and usually end up taking that anger out on the ones who love them the most — those are invariably the ones nearby, trying to help them through it. Occasionally, their disconnect from cold reality allows them to regress into some hopeful, energetic younger incarnation. For Anthony, his obsessions include his other daughter, Lucy, who he says over and over was always his favorite, believing it to be a genuine revelation he’s having in that moment. There’s also a lost wristwatch, a nurse who looks like Lucy, and Anne’s hard-to-keep-track-of love and work life. The Father repeatedly evokes that grinding embarrassment of hearing a loved one about to launch into a familiar story that will only affirm their worst qualities.

Anthony Hopkins is perfect in the role, vacillating between dreamy, confused, sad, angry, suspicious, and lonely. He expresses so much with his pale, blue eyes. Likewise, Olivia Colman is the same generational talent she’s been in all of her recent roles (the film was nominated for four Golden Globes including best picture, best screenplay, best actor for Hopkins, and supporting actor for Colman). The features of dementia are eerily accurate and cleverly conveyed — how better to simulate the feeling of your loved ones becoming strangers than to have the actors constantly switching roles? The film, directed by Florian Zeller from his own play, repeats entire scenes and snippets of conversation, like the choruses of a song, to the point that you’re almost humming along by the third or fourth repetition. “Paris? They don’t even speak English there!” It’s almost a call-and-response gag.

It’s elegant, intelligent, inventive — and yet all in the service of realistically putting us in the shoes of a lonely old man trapped inside a non-descript apartment while he slowly loses his mind. I can’t imagine anything worse. Or any life I’d less rather experience vicariously right now that someone else stuck inside the same few interiors seeing the same three or four people.

I want to appreciate the artistry of The Father but I can’t quite fathom the gesture. It’s a showcase for the storyteller but what does the audience get out of vicariously blubbering into our nurse’s shoulder? It’s like watching someone pull the wings off of a fly, but not gratuitous enough.

Dick Johnson Is Dead remains one of the only good movies about dementia, probably because it offers a framework for magical thinking. Despite ostensibly being a documentary, it attacks the inherent claustrophobic loneliness of dementia by being expansive, by being fantastical, with stimulating and inventive scenes that are just as emotionally accurate, but also insightful and life-affirming. The Father is brilliantly structured and executed, but in the end it’s just a cleverly constructed way to depict the mundane. It never finds that level of the fantastic or allows for the kind of magical thinking necessary to escape its dreary reality. Ultimately it wallows in the pathetic. Who needs this?

‘The Father’ is now in theaters and streaming via VOD. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.