Month: March 2021

Netflix has dropped its most detailed look yet at its upcoming superhero epic, Jupiter’s Legacy, ahead of the series’ premiere. Based on the comic book series from Kick-Ass and Kingsman creator Mark Millar, Jupiter’s Legacy is the first project coming out of the potentially game-changing purchase of Millar’s indie publishing company Millarworld all the way back in 2017. While Millarworld has several titles that could easily be breakout hits for Netflix, the streamer went for the most ambitious one to get things going. Here’s the official synopsis for Jupiter’s Legacy:

After nearly a century of keeping mankind safe, the world’s first generation of superheroes must look to their children to continue the legacy. But tensions rise as the young superheroes, hungry to prove their worth, struggle to live up to their parents’ legendary public reputations — and exacting personal standards.

In the First Look promo video shared by Netflix, we see the characters from Millar’s epic transform from drawing to real life starting with the villainous Blackstar (Tyler Mane) and his son Hutch (Ian Quinlan). From there, we get a look at the heroic side with a glimpse of Chloe Sampson (Elena Kampouris), the daughter of the world’s greatest superheroes, and her father Sheldon Sampson (Josh Duhamel) as a young man in 1929. Next up is Paragon (Andrew Horton), Chloe’s brother, and finally we see their parents as Grace Sampson (Leslie Bibb) joins her husband Sheldon and his brother Walter, as the aging heroes Lady Liberty, The Utopian, and Brainwave.

Jupiter’s Legacy starts streaming May 7 on Netflix

John Oliver has been beefing off-and-on with Geraldo Rivera’s mustache for years, and he felt that the time was right to reignite that feud with this week’s Last Week Tonight deep dive into armed police raids. In particular, the host wished to pinpoint the monstrous toll that these raids continue to have in the U.S. (including the horrible instance of cops killing a sleeping Breonna Taylor in her own home); and when Oliver dug back into the history of these raids, which became “supercharged” during the 1980s heyday of the War On Drugs, he noted that Rivera was a key figure in popularizing them.

With that said, this segment was obviously a very serious one, but in true John Oliver fashion, he couldn’t resist including some biting humor. Oliver showed footage (at around the 12:00 minute mark above) from a Rivera-hosted-and-produced special (American Vice: The Doping Of A Nation from 1986) that showed raids happening in real-time. After witnessing officers running by Geraldo, who was showing off his own “guns” while narrating about apparent crack houses in San Diego, Oliver delighted in firing some shots about Geraldo’s undercover look and his current one:

“Wow! They all seem to be having a lot of fun there. From officers’ mad dash like it’s Walmart Black Friday, and there’s a sale on marijuana to Geraldo’s ridiculous disguise, which is like the Pringles Guy auditioned for Miami Vice, although I will say that it’s still better than his current look, which is ‘What if every single Batman Joker were rolled into one?’”

Here’s that undercover look, which is pretty bad.

Here’s the fantastic gathering of all of the Jokers.

And here’s the comparison shot of Geraldo’s current look. Brutal.

Oliver also look a few swipes at the short-lived 1990s musical cop series, Cop Rock (from Hill Street Blues‘ Steven Bochco), during the deep dive segment, which you can watch in full above. The host described the show as being like “if Pitch Perfect crashed into The Wire, and there were absolutely no survivors.”

Taylor Swift has become a ubiquitous pop culture figure over the years, so it’s not too surprising to see her referenced in movies and TV shows. On the new Netflix series Ginny & Georgia, there’s a scene where a character quips, “Who do you care? You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” The show premiered on February 24, but Swift fans have just noticed the reference over the weekend and they’re not too pleased. Swift herself took notice as well and she also seems peeved.

“RESPECT TAYLOR SWIFT” became a trending topic on Twitter and fans attached the phrase to tweets making a number of points about the situation. Some compared the joke to shows that made more tasteful Swift references, like Brooklyn 99 and The Good Place. Others highlighted different moments from the show that they didn’t exactly find empowering to women. Elsewhere, it was pointed out that people, presumably Swift fans, have flooded review sites with overwhelmingly negative ratings for the show.

Swift herself chimed in this morning, sharing a screenshot of the line and writing, “Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse sh*t as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you. [broken heart emoji] Happy Women’s History Month I guess.”

Check out some more tweets about the moment below.

January Jones was not up for any Golden Globes on Sunday, but she still dressed up for the occasion. The two-time nominee put on the same red dress that she wore to the 2011 award show while watching the 2021 ceremony at home. “10yrs later and it still, (sorta), fits,” Jones wrote on Instagram, adding in an Instagram Story, “Squeezed into this beauty today. 10 years ago Versace made my dream dress.” She also posted another photo where she’s holding a pink-frosted donut. “Part of the problem,” Jones quipped. “Also I had a child.” Meanwhile, I can barely fit into my pre-pandemic clothes:

Just like tonight, January made a major splash at the 2011 Golden Globes when she first donned the crimson-colored gown. The design’s plunging neckline and extreme cut-outs were considered deliciously risqué for the red carpet at the time.

Jones wasn’t the only Mad Men star to break out an old dress. In response to her post, Kiernan Shipka, who played Jones’ on-screen daughter on the AMC series, wore her same dress from the 2011 ceremony. “hey [January Jones] I heard we’re putting on our Golden Globes looks from 10 years ago,” the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actress wrote, along with a photo of her in the same outfit she wore as an 11-year-old (!), posing “in the velvet babydoll dress with white lace collar while sitting in her backyard.”

I wonder what Jason Sudeikis’ hoodie will look in 10 years. Check out the looks below.

(Via People)

The worlds of TV and film are poised to come roaring back during what we hope is the tail end of the pandemic. Certainly, TV’s done better over the past year than film, but get ready because March will see some highly anticipated movies (Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Godzilla vs. Kong from HBO Max, Cherry on Apple TV+) land on streaming services. Those blockbusters shall hit your living room, but when you’re done watching two monsters beat the stuffing out of each other, and Jared Leto’s Joker loses his shock value, you’re gonna need some March TV shows.

Fortunately, the small screen is rallying. Production got back underway on many shows months ago, and we can now reap the benefits of those efforts, even more so than last month’s respectable turnout, all things considered. We’ll see superheroes of the conventional and not-so-conventional senses, warring bikers, mesmerizing docuseries, a horror show, a beloved returning animation series, and plenty more. We’ve dug through the schedule and found these must-see (or at least, “must try”) selections for you.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: Season 1 (Disney+ series streaming on March 19)

After WandaVision proved that Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige could still bring their A+ game, even on the small screen, we’re getting the (begrudging) buddy comedy that fans of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes have wanted since they bickered over a back seat in Captain America: Civil War. The dudes will spend a good chunk of the season taking down Baron Helmut Zemo (the big bad portrayed by Daniel Brühl), but what Marvel viewers will truly love to see is the return of Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), who’s kicking ass in the above trailer and making her aunt’s Peggy’s spirit proud. “Who will be the next Cap?” might be the question on everyone’s mind, but I’d like to know the answer to this inquiry, too: “What does Sharon really think of Steve Rogers going back in time to be with Peggy?” I want to reply to that one, and the rest of this goodness will be gravy.

Mayans M.C.: Season 3 (FX series on March 16, next-day streaming on Hulu)

This biker drama’s second-season finale aired in late 2019, and we’ve been waiting all this time to find out the identity of the SAMCRO member who was killed at the Vatos Malditos party. EZ is now a fully-patched member, so he can stress out even more this season, and basically, the whole club starts this season a few months after that party (and the purposeful killing of Dita) in a rough place. Fortunately, this season looks to be a lot less about personal conflict and more about club maneuvering that could lead to war. Not only are the two rival M.C.s coming no closer to peacefully coexisting, but the Galindo cartel is essentially f*cked in multiple ways, and real-world issues intrude to make a fine mess for all characters. Showrunner Elgin James is officially taking the show into the post-Kurt Sutter era of the Sons Of Anarchy franchise, and he’s promised plenty of fallout involving one of my favorite words, “reckoning.” Let’s ride.

Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist: Season 2 back from hiatus (NBC series on 3/28, next-day streaming on Hulu)

At first glance, this series might seem a little too twee to check out, but if you fall into that assumption, you’re missing a real treat. A luminous Jane Levy plays a computer coder who finds that she can suddenly hear the thoughts of those around her. However, there’s a twist: those thoughts materialize through popular songs. This leads Levy to believe that she might be losing it, but nope, she’s gaining everything. Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist is a refreshing series (with fine emotional pacing) that more than lives up to its high concept while also tackling the heavy cultural issues of our times on an occasional basis. The show might also make you forget that Levy became a household name as a scream queen because she’s clearly capable of so much more, and this series should put her on the map as one to watch for the rest of her career.

Invincible: Season 1 (Amazon Prime series streaming on 3/26)

The Walking Dead creator and comic book writer Robert Kirkman is finally getting a chance to shine on TV outside of the post-apocalyptic, zombie-fueled realm. Well, the same streaming service that brought us The Boys pulls no punches here, either. This show is bloody and brutal with an all-star voice cast, including Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Zachary Quinto, and the one and only Mahershala Ali. Also, there’s a little TWD flavor with Steven Yeun voicing 17-year-old Mark, whose father happens to be Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), the greatest superhero on the planet. As Mark begins to come into and develop his own powers, he discovers some shady sh*t about dad, and expect the first three episodes to arrive at debut with weekly installments following from there until April 30.

Mr. Mercedes: Season 3 (Peacock exclusive series streaming 3/4)

The crime-thriller series that’s based upon Stephen King’s best-selling Bill Hodges Trilogy continues from executive producer David E. Kelley and director Jack Bender. Viewers know that this series brings us a very different Holly Gibney (as portrayed by Justine Lupe) than the one we witnessed on HBO’s The Outsider (as played by Cynthia Erivo), and this season was co-written by Kelley and King. Settle in as the murder of a beloved local author (and American icon) becomes the focus of Hodges, Holly, and Jerome, who find that this case is much more complex than mere cold-blooded killing. Unpublished novels have gone missing from the author’s home, and the principal trio learns that Brady Hartsfield’s depraved legacy is continuing long after he’s gone.

Q: Into the Storm (HBO series streaming on HBO Max on March 21)

You’ve seen all the recent headlines about the QAnon Shaman and wacky conspiracy-theory-loving Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and here’s a six-part documentary series that digs deep in an effort to unmask the actual “Q” behind the cult-like mind hive that helped organize a right-wing, MAGA-shouting insurrection upon the U.S. Capitol. Is Q an actual mastermind, given that this entity has managed to unleash informational warfare upon the foundations of democracy in the United States? That answer remains to be seen, and this weekly series is the culmination of a three-year investigation, all aimed at tracking the “Q” evolution (“devolution” is probably a more accurate term) of hijacking politics and manipulating minds to devastating effect.

The Irregulars: Season 1 (Netflix series streaming 3/26)

This series is set in 19th century London, where Dr. Watson and the elusive Sherlock Holmes enlist a group of misfits to solve supernatural crimes. Watson is said to be sinister in this series, and Holmes is simply mysterious, so this group is probably on their own to fight a dark power to save humanity, both in London and around the globe. Even though (as with the recent Enola Holmes) there’s no Millie Bobbie Brown, Henry Cavill, or Sam Claflin to be seen here, Netflix could launch a franchise with this very British series, so we’ll see how the viewing numbers and the social media interest shake out.

Solar Opposites: Season 2 (Hulu series streaming on 3/26)

This is arguably Hulu’s best animated series, coming back to us from co-creators Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan of Rick & Morty fame. The good news is that the show’s returning while many of us have had it with humanity, and the team of four-strong aliens aren’t feeling too differently. After crash-landing on earth and find themselves trapped in suburban America, the group can’t decide whether or not Earth is all that it’s cracked up to be. Roiland, Thomas Middleditch, Sean Giambrone, and Mary Mack voice these players, who can’t decide whether or not junk food and TV are worth the hassle of pollution and, well, people. It’s a tough call to make, but fortunately, clicking play will never be a tough decision for viewers of this show.

Murder Among the Mormons (Netflix documentary limited series streaming 3/3)

Salt Lake City is struck by a series of fatal pipe bombs in 1985, and it’s easily one of the most shocking happenings in the history of the Mormon community. A criminal mastermind is to blame, and clues spring from early Mormon documents and diaries found scattered amid a rare document collection that’s in possession of one of the victims. This is a three-part miniseries and a true-crime documentary that digs into territory seldom seen for a genre that tends to focus on spooks and serial killers. Here, the main crimes in question went down in broad daylight, but as the episodes unfold, the darkness of what sparked these stunning killings slowly rises to the surface.

City on a Hill: Season 2 (Showtime series streaming 3/28)

This underrated Boston-set crime drama is back with Kevin Bacon as a corrupt ex-FBI agent and Aldis Hodge opposite Bacon as an assistant district attorney. Both men are still circling each other’s orbits with an antagonistic bite that could turn into all-out war, and no one is immune from feeling the collateral damage. It’s not the most originally conceived series out there, but the leading turns are compelling, and Bacon appears as though he never feels more alive than when he’s playing a baddie onscreen.

The composing duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have earned themselves a handful of Golden Globe nominations over the past decade-plus, but for the first time this year, they were nominated twice in the same category: Their work on both Soul (on which they collaborated with John Batiste) and Mank was nominated for Best Original Score – Motion Picture. That gave them a 2 out of 5 chance of winning, and when the awards were announced yesterday, Soul took home the trophy.

This is Reznor and Ross’ second Golden Globes victory, with their previous one being the score for 2010’s The Social Network. The duo were also nominated for their work on 2011’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and 2014’s Gone Girl, giving the pair five total nominations in the category.

Elsewhere, some other music-related folks and works picked up nominations but did not come away with victories. Sia’s Music was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy and star Kate Hudson was nominated for Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy. Hamilton was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy, while Lin-Manuel Miranda was nominated for Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy.

Check out the full list of this year’s Golden Globe nominees and winners here.

The Walking Dead returned this week with only its second episode in nearly a year, while Lauren Cohan’s Maggie also returned to the series as a full-time cast member (she also appeared briefly in Episode 16 of the tenth season last October). It’s Lauren Cohan’s first extended appearance since November 2018, but for Maggie, it’s her first time to interact with Daryl, Carol, and other Alexandrians and Hilltoppers in seven or eight years. It’s been so long that her and Glenn’s son, Hershel, is now seven or eight years old, and completely adorable.

The reason Lauren Cohan left the show was to pursue work on another series, but the reason that Maggie left Alexandria was to get away from Negan, the man who brutally murdered her husband and the father of her child. The last time we saw Maggie, back in 2018, her effort to kill Negan was interrupted by the events that led to Rick Grimes’ departure, but the desire to end his life had not faded. In fact, when Maggie returned, one of the first things she told Daryl was how she had explained to her son that the person who killed his father was a “bad man” who deserved to die.

Meanwhile, since Maggie left, Negan himself has been on an extended (and successful) redemption arc. He’s become close with Judith Grimes. He’s tolerated by Carol and Daryl. Carol even put her trust in Negan to kill Alpha, and Negan followed through. Alexandria has begrudgingly accepted him. Maggie, however, has not, which makes their first encounter a very awkward one. “Hey Maggie,” Negan says, before noting, “I didn’t escape if that’s what you’re thinking.” (Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a remarkable job here of being sympathetic while also maintaining the essence of Negan).

Maggie, for her part, seems almost too shocked to say anything. In quick succession, she looks surprised, hurt, and betrayed that Negan — the man who brutally killed her husband with a baseball bat — would have been let free. Negan looks at Maggie as though he completely understands why she would feel that way, although he’s at a loss to try and explain the last eight years to her. Maggie walks away, and all Negan can utter is an exasperated, “Well, sh*t.”

There’s one more moment in the episode in which Maggie and Negan’s paths cross. After discovering that The Hilltop had been destroyed, Maggie, Elijah, and Cole return to Alexandria, where Negan is among those rebuilding the community. When Maggie walks in, however, the way she struts among them, and the way that Negan shrinks away says only one thing: Maggie is back, and despite all the gains he might have made, Negan is the odd man out again.

Maggie is clearly uninterested in Negan, and Negan is probably eager to keep his distance. How can they possibly co-exist?

This issue wasn’t really dealt with in the comics, because while Negan was allowed to live, he was exiled from Alexandria, so Negan and Maggie did not have to co-exist in the source material. That is not likely a possibility here, because Negan and Maggie are expected to be the two anchors — along with Daryl and Carol — of the final season of The Walking Dead. They don’t have to like each other, but it’s clear that they will probably need to work together.

How? The easy (and perhaps lazy) answer is to simply give Negan an opportunity to earn Maggie’s trust by, for instance, rescuing Hershel from danger (as he has done with Judith), or by saving Maggie’s life. The more interesting approach, and the one that I hope the series takes, is a two-pronged strategy: First of all, Negan needs to explain to Maggie what motivated him to be the unmerciful, cruel Negan, Leader of the Saviors, and I expect that we will see that in the season’s final episode, “Here’s Negan,” which will explore Negan’s origins.

That’s only one side of the equation, however. Secondly and for Maggie to fully understand Negan and begrudgingly relate to him, we may need to learn that Maggie resorted to tactics that are similar to those of Negan in order to survive while she was out on her own. Where is Georgie? Why are the Reapers really coming for Maggie? Is it possible that Maggie (a hero in Alexandria) might have been a villain in someone else’s life? If the show can pull off that trick — make Maggie understand Negan’s motivations, which she may be able to understand, though not necessarily agree with — why Negan killed her husband. After that, maybe the two can co-exist together in the future.

Otherwise, it may just be another 29 episodes of Maggie and Negan tiptoeing around each other until someone finally deals with the tension by killing the other.

One of the cool (?) things about being a sports fan is that no matter how bad your favorite team is or how long they have been bad, they can always find new ways to infuriate you with incompetence. Every time you think you’ve seen it all, they manage to do something different to lose that, despite your insistence that you’re numb to the pain, makes you mad all over again.

Kings fans are well versed in all things pain when it comes to how their team has treated them for the better part of their entire existence in Sacramento, and this season has once again been a rollercoaster ride with some fun highs and miserable lows. On Sunday, they reached a new low point in a 127-126 loss at home to the Charlotte Hornets, a game they led by eight points with a minute to play thanks to this awesome Harrison Barnes dunk.

How did they manage to blow an eight-point lead to the Hornets so quickly? Well, let’s explore the final minute together.

First, you should know that the only reason Charlotte was in this game late was because P.J. Washington went off for a new career-high of 42 points, obliterating his previous high of 27, set last year.

With 1:09 to play, De’Aaron Fox stole the ball and picked up a flagrant foul on LaMelo Ball on the other end. Fox, a 68.4 percent free throw shooter this season, missed both. Terry Rozier then hit a three to cut the lead to five, which, again, still should’ve been fine. Marvin Bagley III then had his turn at the free throw line with 44 seconds to play, and he missed both. Terry Rozier then got fouled on a three-pointer by Barnes, and proceeded to make all three of his free throws, making it a two-point game.

Fox finally ended Sacramento’s drought with a floater to make it a four-point game again, with Buddy Hield rolling his ankle away from the play. Washington answered that with a three to get over 40 on the night and, again, make it a one-point game. Hield was re-inserted into the game, specifically to shoot free throws, and they managed to get it to him on the inbound where he was fouled. He would split his two free throws, to go up one. And then, this happened.

That is Malik Monk, known much more for his shooting than his on-ball creation, hitting Cory Joseph with a hesi and then absorbing a foul from Richaun Holmes while calmly laying the ball up for an and-1, go-ahead bucket. The Kings, out of timeouts because of the timeout they took to insert Hield for free throws that he split with 17 seconds left, could only get a Hield halfcourt heave (that hit the front of the rim) for their effort to answer.

So, to recap: the Kings missed five of six free throws in the final minute of a game they once led by eight, allowed Charlotte to hit two three-pointers, fouled another three-point shooter, and with Monk driving, where the worst case should’ve been overtime once he entered the paint, fouled him but not hard enough to keep him from making the layup, letting him win the game at the foul line himself.

There are always new depths to be found.

There are many excuses that fighters have used over the years to explain poor performances in big fights. Sometimes, it’s issues out of their control that they say lead to losses, with illness or injury that they fight through frequently cited for struggles.

However, on occasion, we get an excuse that, even if true, doesn’t really help their effort to look better than they did in the ring or octagon. Take Deontay Wilder’s complaint that his pre-fight armor he wore for his ring walk against Tyson Fury was too heavy and made his legs weak for the fight. That is, probably, a thing that happened, but is also the fault of Wilder for choosing a 45-pound set of armor for his ring walk rather than, say, getting carried to the ring like Fury.

In that same vein, Paulo Costa revealed on Saturday night in a video on his YouTube channel, that a big reason why he performed so poorly in his second round TKO loss to Israel Adesanya back at UFC 253 in September was because he drank a whole bottle of wine the night before the fight because he couldn’t sleep due to leg cramps. Because it was on Fight Island, the fight was at 9 a.m. local with a 5 a.m. wake up time, and he was still either drunk or hungover when it was time to fight.

Translation from Portuguese via MMA Fighting:

“I was kind of drunk [when] I fought, maybe, on hangover,” Costa said in Portuguese. “I couldn’t sleep because of the [leg] cramps. Keep in mind that the fight happens at 9 a.m. [local time], we have to wake up at 5 to get ready, stretch, wrap the hands. The UFC told us to wake up at 5 in the morning to go to the arena to fight. I hadn’t slept until 2:30.

“It was my mistake and I don’t blame anyone else, it was something I chose [to do], but, in order to try to sleep, because I had to sleep since I was awake for 24 hours, I had wine, too much wine, a bottle [of wine] to try to black out. I had a glass and didn’t work. Two glasses, it didn’t work. Half bottle, didn’t work. I had it all.”

Leg cramps sound miserable and it wouldn’t be surprising if that was an effect of cutting weight for weigh-in and struggling to get rehydrated. If that was the case, I don’t think a bottle of wine is the right answer for cramping problems, but hey, I guess in the moment he was thinking “this will knock me out.” Unfortunately, the next morning Adesanya also knocked him out and the lesson here is, if you’re battling leg cramps the night before the biggest fight of your life, a bottle of wine isn’t the answer. A tough performance because you’re dealing with leg cramps would fall under the “acceptable” category of excuses. Losing because you were either still drunk or hungover, unfortunately, isn’t.

Kaley Cuoco was nominated for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes for her performance in HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, one of the more entertaining TV shows of 2020 that was also up for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. She lost both awards to Schitt’s Creek, but Cuoco is still winning the night. Her husband, Karl Cook, surprised her by coming home early from a work trip ahead of the ceremony. “Most of you know [Karl] has been away at WEF for many weeks and has many more weeks of travel so I knew he wouldn’t be back to celebrate the Globes with me,” Cuoco wrote on Instagram. “I knew he had a crazy schedule. Well, I just answered the door and he came back!” It was very cute.

Cuoco was also busy on Instagram. How it started on Golden Globes night:

… and how it’s going.

I would like to thank…never mind!!” she wrote, surrounded by Golden Globes-themed cupcakes, champagne, pizza, and a “good luck Kaley” cake. “I don’t want anything to change because of all these labels I have. SAG nominee, [Golden] Globe nominee, Critics [Choice],” Cuoco joked last week before the Globes. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or that anything has changed. I am the same person that I always have been. So, if you could just update my name in your phones as ‘Golden Globe nominee Kaley Cuoco’ that would probably be best. I’m just asking family and friends and work associates.” Here’s an idea: Golden Globe nominee and Harley Quinn star Kaley Cuoco.