It’s good to be Tiffany Haddish. In addition to recently winning a Grammy for Best Comedy Album, the comedian/actress has been rumored to be a top choice to replace Ellen DeGeneres when she steps away from her talk show in 2022. In the meantime, Haddish is about to prove that she’s adept at much more than just being funny when she takes on the role of Olympian Florence Griffith Joyner in a new biopic, which Haddish will also produce.
The “Girls Trip” actress will star as Florence Griffith Joyner, known as “Flo-Jo” to her fans, who helped popularize track and field with her record-breaking Olympic run and flashy personality and style (she originated the “one-legger” look with her running suits). Many of the records that Joyner set in the 1988 Olympics, including those in the 100 m and 200 m, have yet to be broken. Joyner died in 1998 at the age of 38 of an epileptic seizure.
Al Joyner, Flo-Jo’s widower and her former coach, is also helping to produce the film and serving as a creative consultant. According to Variety, he has already started working with Haddish to train her for the role, using the same methods he used with his late wife.
It’s a befitting role for Haddish, who has said that Joyner was one of her childhood heroes. “I am looking forward to telling Flo-Jo’s story the way it should be told,” she said in a press release. “My goal with this film is making sure that younger generations know my ‘she-ro’ Flo-Jo, the fastest woman in the world to this day, existed.”
John Wick: Chapter 4 will resume filming in France soon. To paraphrase Keanu Reeves, that is excellent news. Also excellent: Donnie Yen has joined the cast.
The Ip Man and Rogue One star “will play an old friend (of Reeves’ super assassin John Wick), who shares his same history and many of the same enemies,” according to Deadline. Director Chad Stahelski, who also helmed the first three installments of the action franchise (which also added Rina Sawayama), said that he’s “very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise. I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role.” Producer Basil Iwanyk added, “Donnie Yen will bring a vibrant and powerful energy to the franchise. We were determined to bring him on board to John Wick 4 and are thrilled for the opportunity to have such a major talent to collaborate with Keanu.”
I’m glad Yen is playing John Wick’s friend. I would not buy Keanu beating this:
As for the French connection (put Gene Hackman in John Wick: Chapter 5), Chapter 4 will “film exteriors in Paris, notably by the Seine, and will include scenes at an iconic bridge that was previously featured in Steven Spielberg’s Munich,” according to Variety, as well as Berlin, Germany. Well, great, now I want a John Wick travel show.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is scheduled to come out on May 27, 2022.
Somehow, 2021 is already nearly halfway over. With the world getting ready to emerge from our collective cocoon, here’s to hoping that the second half of the year will bring more joy IRL than the first half. Despite the lack of in-person interactions over the last six months, one thing that hasn’t been lacking is the release of exceptional new music. On this week’s episode of Indiecast, Steve and Ian are digging into some of the year’s best albums that might have flown under the radar.
Ranging from punk and punk-adjacent efforts like Fiddlehead’s Between The Richness and Field Music’s Flat White Moon, to the good vibes of Jimmy Montague’s Casual Use or Sunburned Hand Of The Man’s Pick A Day To Die, Steve and Ian cover a lot of sonic ground in their picks.
With much of this episode dedicated to music you might not have heard before, there is no Recommendation Corner this week.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 42 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
All is not well in Jackassville. For months, Jackass star/parents’ worst nightmare Bam Margera has been very publicly airing his grievances about being fired from the upcoming Jackass 4. But behind the scenes, Margera’s complaints have allegedly exploded into a series of death threats against Jeff Tremaine—co-creator of the original Jackass TV series and director of all their small and big-screen adventures. The harassment has gotten so bad that Tremaine recently petitioned for, and was granted, a restraining order against his longtime collaborator.
According to Page Six, which obtained some of the court documents relating to the case, Margera’s campaign of intimidation began back in February, when he was officially fired from Jackass 4. Since then, he has issued a series of threatening missives both via text and social media directed against Tremaine as well as the director’s wife and children.
Page Six writes:
Jeff Tremaine claims Margera harassed him with disturbing messages, such as “I’m gonna kill you in one mother f*cking punch” and “keep it up fat boy and I will continue,” according to court documents obtained by Page Six on Thursday.
“Look at your children and grab your pocket book and write a check, if you are greedy, and cheap, look at your children again. If you don‘t sign the paper, look at your children,” one of the text messages allegedly read. “Sign your stupid f*cking contract before your [sic] not safe anywhere.”
According to court records, Margera also contacted at least one of Tremaine’s professional colleagues to complain about the director’s behavior and, during a phone call, told this individual that he has wizardly powers and “can create and strike lightning.” At times, Margera reportedly spoke in numbers instead of words.
The catalyst for all of this is Margera’s exclusion from the upcoming Jackass movie, reportedly for being unable to remain sober while filming. In April, Margera gave an interview to TMZ in which he claimed that the Jackass crew forced him to go to rehab, which he described as “torture” and said left him with suicidal thoughts. He then posted a video to Instagram in which he called for fans to boycott Jackass 4.
As part of his petition for a restraining order, Tremaine told the court that Margera “has encountered significant challenges with mental health stabilization, substance abuse, and maintaining his sobriety” in the 20 years that the two have known each other. But that “it was not until Mr. Margera began threatening my safety and that of my children did I become in great fear that he may follow through on his threats.”
As a result, Margera has been barred from making any contact with members of the Tremaine family and has been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from Tremaine, his wife, and their son and daughter.
When asked about Margera in a recent interview with GQ, Jackass co-creator/star Johnny Knoxville said: “We want Bam to be happy and healthy and get the help he needs. We tried to push that along. I think that’s all I really want to say about it.”
In recent days, John Mayer has been teasing his new album Sob Rock, which he officially announced earlier this week. So far, all the promotional imagery has had a decidedly throwback look, and it turns out that’s reflective of the music it was made to represent. Today, Mayer has shared a new single called “Last Train Home,” and it indeed has a retro sound.
Mayer has adopted older aesthetics for his music before, and this time, he seems to be going full ’80s. The new song isn’t synth-driven, but definitely synth-supported. Take the bongos into account and it’s easy to draw similarities between “Last Train Home” and Toto’s beloved hit “Africa.”
One thing “Africa” doesn’t have that Mayer’s latest does, though, is some backing vocals from Maren Morris. This isn’t the first link-up between Mayer and Morris in recent months: Back in March, Mayer supported Morris on guitar for her Grammys performance of “The Bones.”
So far, “Last Train Home” is the only song confirmed to appear on Sob Rock. Mayer has yet to share a tracklist for the album, so it’s currently unknown if his recent non-album singles — “New Light,” “I Guess I Just Feel Like,” and “Carry Me Away” — will be included on the release.
Watch the “Last Train Home” video above.
Sob Rock is out 7/16 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence may never fully rekindle their romance, but they’re working on their issues. Months after the “Orange Overlord” was reportedly furious at his former-vice president for recognizing Joe Biden’s election win, Pence said in a speech that he doesn’t see “eye-to-eye” with Trump about the failed coup at the Capitol Building, while still praising all the good work they did together. Like the time the big man called him a “p*ssy” while MAGA rioters were chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
“January 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol,” Pence said at the Hillsborough County GOP’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday. “But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled, the Capitol was secured. And that same day we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States.” He added, “President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day. But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.”
There was a “palpable shock” in the room when Pence brought up January 6:
The speech was a tacit signal to other Republicans who may feel conflicted about supporting Trump after January 6 that it could be okay to do so. Pence, at least, seemed comfortable straddling that line as he spent nearly 40 minutes Thursday lauding Trump and their administration’s accomplishments and criticizing President Biden’s first several months in office.
Pence continuing to side with Trump after everything that happened on January 6, other than his half-baked “eye to eye” remark, is not sitting well with people.
Mike Pence downplayed the “most significant disagreement you would ever possibly have,” George Conway says about the former Vice President’s speech on Thursday.
Trump has continued to trash Pence to various people, and to RNC donors, for not exceeding his legal authority that day, growing louder after Pence’s book deal was announced. https://t.co/9vVAqe9BDZ
It’s extraordinarily weak, @Mike_Pence, if the best you can do is to say that you don’t “see eye to eye” with someone who was inciting his supporters to kill you.
“The privilege of serving alongside President Donald Trump, it’s the greatest honor of my life” – Mike Pence Apparently not even an attempt on his life deters the kissing of the ring……#Truth2Voice
Wow: Mike Pence says about Jan 6 Terrorist attack: “I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.” That’s like a person almost killed on 9/11 saying “I don’t know if I’ll ever see eye to eye” with Bin Laden about 9/11. GOP’s #1 goal is normalizing Trump’s TERRORISM
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) June 4, 2021
When Mike Pence says January 6th was a dark day he leaves out that the days leading up to it, from Nov elections until the BS vote after the Capitol attack were also dark days. With a POTUS inciting violence and confusion in an attempt to stay in power. Many dark days.
If my coworker had people trying to hang me because he was talking shit about me, and then did nothing about it, I wouldn’t be calling it the “greatest honor of my life” to serve with him.
Mike Pence says he doesn’t know if he and Trump will ever see eye to eye about the events of Jan. 6. Of course they can’t see eye to eye, if Pence doesn’t take his lips off Trump’s ass. It’s not possible.
— Paula Poundstone (@paulapoundstone) June 4, 2021
When Pence talks with the Former Guy does he ask him why he sent a mob to murder him?
Seems like it would be hard to talk about anything else.
In a March teaser for the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, there was a clip of Kim Kardashian crying and saying, “I feel like a f*cking loser.” There wasn’t much context for the tearful moment, but regardless, it led to speculation that Kardashian was talking about her dissolving marriage with Kanye West. (It should be noted that neither Kardashian nor West have publicly confirmed or discussed their reported divorce.) It turns out that speculation was correct, though, as last night’s episode shows more from that vulnerable moment.
In a video recapping the episode, Kim and her sisters have a dispute about some cookies, which leads to a talking head shot of Khloé, who attributes Kim’s frustration with the situation to her struggling relationship with West. She also notes that Kim and West had a big fight before before a trip to Lake Tahoe. Then, in a flashback shot, Kim tearfully says:
“I think he deserves someone that can go support his every move, and go follow him all over the place, and move to Wyoming. I can’t do that. He should have a wife that supports his every move and travels with him and does everything, and I can’t. I feel like a f*cking failure, that it’s like, a third f*cking marriage. Yeah, I feel like a f*cking loser. But I can’t even think about that. Like, I want to be happy.”
BuzzFeed News notes that in the full flashback clip from the episode, before the segment that’s featured in the teaser video, Kim says, “I honestly can’t do this anymore. I’m still in this place where I’ve been stuck for years. He goes and moves to a different state every year, and I have to be together so I can raise the kids. He’s an amazing dad, and he’s done an amazing job.”
Ahead of the flashback clip, Khloé asked Kim how things are with her and West and she responded, “There’s no fighting. Like, now, it’s like all calm. So I just… I just roll with it, you know?”
The series finale airs on June 10 and it looks like it may reveal more about Kim and West’s marriage: A TV Guide summary of the episode reads, “The family buries a time capsule to commemorate their years on Keeping Up. Kim updates the family on her future, Khloé must decide whether to move to Boston to be with Tristan, and Kourtney finally gives Scott some clarity about their romantic future.”
Moff Gideon may be a bit biased here, but the actor behind some of television’s biggest bad guys says the pandemic actually helped make for better TV for viewers. The acclaimed actor behind Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and the big bad from The Mandalorian certainly knows his craft, and in a recent interview he laid out why he thinks TV actually got better despite the difficulties of lockdown.
In an interview with The Wrap, Esposito explained why he thinks people viewing TV in lockdown may have actually improved. Asked how viewers saw their relationship change with TV during the pandemic, Esposito initially joked that people “finally learned how to use” their remotes. But he also had a very eloquent answer to the question, saying that though TV “used to be free” the plethora of options people now have mean viewers can narrow their focus to find things they truly love.
“You know what your taste is and you can find intelligent, incredible programming — the relationship has changed because you’re able to focus your appetite in a new, delightful way,” Esposito said.
He then gave some very specific examples that sound a lot like the work he’s done in the past on camera.
“You can follow your appetite to go completely into a fantasy world, to a universe that still needs to be tamed. Or you can go into the desert following a guy who had made a decision to be a shyster lawyer to work through his pain. Or you can follow a dysfunctional family who make light of themselves and the world around them, but have an incredible family bond. All these different shows are changing the dynamic of how we’re able to access the things that are appealing to us. People have really discovered that there’s quality going on that is worthy of their time.”
If that sounds like Better Call Saul and The Mandalorian, well, you’re been paying attention to Esposito’s career. But he’s right about the fact that sheer variety that comes with modern streaming options means that everyone can find something they truly love to watch. What often gets talked about in all the options and new streaming channels is the cost and confusion that comes with properties moving around and going behind walled gardens. But Espositio offers a nice reminder here that, if you’re willing to do some digging, you’re bound to find something you truly enjoy.
Somehow, we’ve made it to June, and Netflix is still providing plentiful content to welcome some early summer vibes. Genre fans should feel particularly satisfied this week because Sweet Tooth is here with not only a dystopian fantasy (that feels much less bleak than most dystopian tales) but also a comic-book adaptation that isn’t about superpowered beings. Robert Downey Jr.’s producing, too, which is a bonus, and anime lovers will be very pleased to see a double-dose film of one of the biggest breakthrough “mainstream” anime series of all time. There’s more too, so dig into the top picks that we’ve earmarked for you.
Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.
Sweet Tooth: Season 1 (Netflix series streaming on 6/4)
Team Downey (Robert Jr. and Susan) brings us this awe-inspiring story based upon a comic-book (that ran under DC’s Vertigo imprint) by creator Jeff Lemire, who whipped up a post-apocalyptic fairytale about what happens when a great sickness (which is poorly dealt with by humans) ends with a miracle. In this case, this would be the appearance of “hybrids,” babies who are born half-human and half-animal, and we’ll meet a young deer-boy, Gus, (Christian Convery), who teams up with a reluctant protector, Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), for a cross-country quest. The comic has been described as “Mad Max Meets Bambi,” and Will Forte also plays a pivotal role. You’re in for a real (sweet) treat if you surrender to this adventure.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie: Season 1 (Netflix film streaming on 6/2)
This double-dose anime film takes place with the scattered Sailor Guardians attempting to bring light back after a total solar eclipse gives way to a dark power. All of this takes place when Tokyo’s seeing the annual cherry blossom bloom, so the visuals should be extra magical.
Breaking Boundaries: The Science Of Our Planet (Netflix film streaming on 6/4)
Sir David Attenborough apparently hasn’t narrated enough new projects over the past year, so here he is with the latest from the team who made the Our Planet series and David Attenborough – A Life On Our Planet. The film takes us through the journey to achieve humanity’s greatest scientific discovery, and how we must preserve and not exceed planetary thresholds to secure humanity’s future.
This follows a 20-something young woman (with dancing aspirations) who begins cleaning a drag club called Queens. There, her talent is discovered, and as the synopsis teases, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” I think we can guess where the story goes from there.
A digital influencer is devastated when her boyfriend not only cheats, but video evidence of the betrayal goes viral. In the aftermath, she uses her connections to snag an all-inclusive trip for her best-friends group to take a Salvador trip to Carnival.
Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:
Avail. 5/28/29 Dog Gone Trouble
Lucifer: Season 5 Part 2 The Kominsky Method: Season 3
Avail. 5/31 Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story
Avail. 6/1 Super Monsters: Once Upon a Rhyme
Abduction
American Outlaws
Bad Teacher
Black Holes | The Edge of All We Know
CoComelon: A Sunny Day for Play
Cradle 2 the Grave
Flipped
Fools Rush In
Happy Endings: Season 1 Happy Endings: Season 2 Happy Endings: Season 3 I Am Sam
Love Jones
Million Dollar Baby
Ninja Assassin
Seven Souls in the Skull Castle: Season Moon Jogen
Seven Souls in the Skull Castle: Season Moon Kagen
Stand by Me
Starsky & Hutch
Streets of Fire
Swordfish
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Season 1 The Best Man
The Big Lebowski
The Wedding Guest
The Wind
What Women Want
Avail. 6/2 2 Hearts
Alone: Season 7 Carnaval
Kim’s Convenience: Season 5
Avail. 6/3 Alan Saldaña: Locked Up.
Creator’s File: GOLD
Dancing Queens
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie: Part 1 / Part 2
Summertime: Season 2
Avail. 6/4 Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet
Feel Good: Season 2 Sweet Tooth
Trippin’ with the Kandasamys
Xtreme
Avail. 6/5 Kitty Love: An Homage to Cats
And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:
Shazam! landed at #7 in our list of Best Comic Book Movies Of The 2010s for several good reasons, not the least of which was that it lightened up the DCEU with (as our own Vince Mancini wrote) “wonder and mischief that’s so often lacking from the format. It’ the rare superhero movie told at human scale.” If you would have told me several years ago that Zachary Levi would front an entirely enjoyable superhero movie, I would have questioned how much sleep you got during the previous night. Yet Levi sure pulled off a pitch-perfect Billy Batson, and now, the sequel is finally making production progress.
Director David Sandberg previously joked around by “leaking” a fake ending for the sequel, but this time, he’s serious, even if this upgraded costume is shown in bits-and-pieces with the teenage-in-side-an-adult-body Batson commenting upon how everything is too damn dark. That kind of (justified) attitude: you love to see it, as the kids say.
This might also be some amusing, inner-franchise meta-commentary on how The Rock was recently (and intentionally) hulking-around in the dark while teasing his own anti-hero costume from Shazam! spinoff Black Adam.
Last week, Zachary Levi showed off some dazzling new themed-kicks, too.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will arrive on June 2, 2023.
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Rowan Moon
