Month: November 2021

The spooky season might be over, but that hasn’t stopped Drake from leaning heavily into some Hitchcockian slasher vibes in the video for “Knife Talk” featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat. Leave it to October’s Very Own to hang on to the last vestiges of Halloween with his latest Certified Lover Boy single. As the trio of rappers spit menacing, razor-tipped verses, the video splices in clips from various black-and-white thrillers, using technology to get the characters to lip-sync the rhymes.

The rappers also have some fun with their Ring cameras, evoking chilling flicks like The Strangers and The Purge as they stand outside with huge kitchen knives just… staring. The effect is probably a little less unnerving than it is in the films they evoke but mostly because we’ve all seen 21 Savage singing car karaoke to R&B classics and Drake is… well… Drake. It’s still a pretty cool and creative video, even if it is five days too late.

Fortunately, Drake’s tardiness doesn’t seem to be affecting the popularity of his new album. It recently went No. 1 on Billboard‘s album chart for the fifth non-consecutive week behind singles like the tongue-in-cheek “Way 2 Sexy.”

Watch Drake’s ‘Knife Talk’ Video featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat above.

The Cleveland Browns are 4-4 and tied for the final playoff spot in the AFC at the midway point of the season. Typically, that would be cause for celebration in Cleveland, but after finally breaking through with not just a postseason appearance but a playoff win last year in Pittsburgh, the Browns entered 2021 with real expectations to be a Super Bowl contender for the first time in a long time.

As such, the 4-4 start has felt like a letdown and with injuries piling up, including to quarterback Baker Mayfield, there hasn’t been a lot of cause for optimism that this season will meet those preseason expectations. Adding fuel to the fire has been the return of Odell Beckham Jr. to the lineup this season and, with it, the ever present question of whether the Browns are using him properly or if Mayfield is targeting him enough. With just 17 catches for 262 yards in six appearances, many have questioned why Mayfield won’t do more to get OBJ the ball.

Among those to do so this week was Beckham’s father, who shared a video a Browns/Beckham fan made that is 11 minutes of OBJ being open and either not getting a target or Baker missing him. It caused quite the stir in Cleveland ahead of the trade deadline and after the Browns failed to deal Beckham on Tuesday, he’s been excused from practice the last two days. Finally, on Friday, a resolution was met and the Browns granted OBJ his release, allowing him to hit the waiver wire and, one would assume, ultimately free agency.

Given his salary, it seems unlikely that Beckham will be claimed on waivers, which means that he’s going to be one of the most fascinating in-season free agents in recent memory. There will be plenty of teams interested in adding the former All-Pro, and one would expect him to be choosing a contender to go to — which, of course, sets up the possibility for an OBJ revenge game down the line agains the Browns.

For Cleveland, they seem ready to move on which might be best for all parties, but no matter what happens from here with Baker and the passing offense, the discussion will still circle back to OBJ. If the Browns hit their stride offensively without him, it’ll be a referendum on how Beckham was the problem. If they continue to flounder, it’ll be about how he was right and Baker’s the issue.

After a rough stretch, times have been joyful among fans of Mark Hoppus and Blink-182. Hoppus recently revealed that he’s officially cancer-free, and a few days ago, he performed live for the first time since sharing that news. Hoppus’ former Blink-182 bandmate Tom DeLonge noted recently that his and Hoppus’ relationship has improved in recent months, and on The Late Late Show last night, DeLonge spoke with James Corden about how well Hoppus is doing now. He also talked about the possibility of reuniting with Blink-182.

DeLonge, who was on hand in part because Angels & Airwaves performed Lifeforms single “Rebel Girl” on the show, said of Hoppus:

“He’s doing super good. He’s healing. He’s got a long journey of getting his strength back, but I think, miraculously, to have all of the cancer gone from him… he was stage 4. And then it wasn’t just remission: It was complete remission. So obviously, he was emotional, I was emotional, everyone’s emotional. The fans are excited and happy. I just think everyone’s good energy really kind of cured him. So it’s a big deal, we’re really excited for him.”

Corden then asked if this whole situation has prompted talks of DeLonge linking back up with Blink-182, and he said, “It’s so funny: Blink, it’s like, we’re there and then we’re gone and then we’re there and then we’re gone. I feel like I’m always talking about some kind of reunion. We always talk about playing together again and I think that that’s definitely something we’re all interested in. Finding the time to do it where it lines up with everybody’s priorities is really all that’s needed, and getting Mark healthy again, getting him strong again. But yeah, I’m down, I think those guys are down. I think just finding the time to do it and when is really what we just got to figure out.”

Watch DeLonge’s interview above and catch Angels & Airwaves’ performance below.

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

Sometimes you are wrong. Sometimes you are right. Sometimes you are befuddled. Week 8 of the 2021 NFL fell under the befuddled banner in this space, opening with two wins and closing with three straight losses to end the weekend. Can I explain how the Vikings lost to Cooper Rush in prime time? No, I cannot. Can I explain how the Colts blew a 14-point lead to Tennessee? No, I cannot. Alas, we avoided disaster and we’ll live to play another day with Week 9 and beyond.

Before we get to the Week 9 card of NFL selections, let’s take a look at where we are for the season.

• Last Week: 2-3
• 2021 Season: 22-17-1

Come get these winners.

Denver Broncos (+10) over Dallas Cowboys

Dak Prescott projects to return for the Cowboys. Von Miller is headed from Denver to Los Angeles. The line moved toward Dallas and the world will be on the Cowboys as usual. At 10, Denver is the side. I think the Broncos are better on defense than they’ve shown this season, and Teddy Bridgewater is a covering machine as an underdog in his career.

New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers UNDER 20.5 points in the first half

Both teams are willing and eager to run the ball. The Patriots are also quite strong defensively, with the Panthers putting enough together on that side of the ball to be respectable. All signs point to kind of a slugfest and, while it would’ve been better to get this number at 21 earlier in the week, 20.5 is still a buy point for us.

Atlanta Falcons (+6.5) over New Orleans Saints

The Saints have flown under the radar, at least until last week. New Orleans has played well, particularly on defense, and their offense held up even after the Jameis Winston injury last week. No matter who is at quarterback for the Saints in this game, though, this is too many points for the Falcons. Atlanta is always “up” for this rivalry matchup and, if nothing else, the backdoor should be swinging wide open down the stretch.

Los Angeles Chargers (-1.5) over Philadelphia Eagles

I don’t usually like road favorites or public sides. This is both, so I kind of hate it. Still, I generally like to take the Chargers in favorable road spots (after all, they don’t have any home-field advantage) and this is largely a fade of the Eagles. Los Angeles has dropped two straight, but this is a nice “get right” spot against a vulnerable opponent.

San Francisco 49ers (-1.5) over Arizona Cardinals

This is going to be a sharp vs. public game. The Cardinals finally lost, so the narrative will shift to a bounce back. The Niners have largely disappointed, and this is a tiny number. However, Arizona is banged-up offensively, and the Niners are the only side I can take at home.

When Taylor Swift announced Red (Taylor’s Version) in June, she noted that one of the songs on the new expanded album is ten minutes long. Now, it appears we know exactly what she was talking about: Today, Swift announced she is releasing a short film for the ten-minute version of “All Too Well,” which she wrote and directed and in which she stars alongside Sadie Sink (known for her role as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things) and Dylan O’Brien (known for Teen Wolf, The Maze Runner, and Bumblebee).

Swift made the announcement with a simple teaser clip, which premiered on Good Morning America before she shared it on social media. The 30-second music-free video is a single, stationary shot of a car driving through an autumnal scene as key information about the clip, including its November 12 release date, appears on screen.

During a concert that was recorded for her 2018 concert film Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour, Swift noted of her changing relationship with “All Too Well,” “I feel like this song has two lives in my brain. There’s the life of this song where this song was born out of catharsis and venting, and trying to get over something, and trying to understand it and process it. And then there’s the life where it went out into the world and you [fans] turned this song into something completely different for me. You turned this song into a collage of memories of watching you scream the words to this song, or seeing pictures that you post to me of you having written the words to this song in your diary, or you showing me your wrist and you have a tattoo of the lyrics to this song underneath your skin. And that is how you’ve changed the song ‘All Too Well’ for me.”

Watch the “All Too Well” short film teaser above.

Red (Taylor’s Version) is out 11/19 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

Donald Trump has sold and/or endorsed a number of seemingly odd products in his time. Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice bottled water, Trump mattresses, Trump coffee, and Success by Trump cologne (which may or may not have smelled of Diet Coke, McDonald’s burgers, and old man farts) are just a few of them. And on Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel announced the former president’s newest branded product: Trump wrapping paper!

That’s right, the man who demands that everyone say “Merry Christmas,” regardless of whether or not you celebrate the day, is getting into the holiday spirit early by hawking wrapping paper.

“Chunk E. Cheese sent this email to supporters today saying:

Friend,

President Trump asked us to personally reach out to you because he wants to make sure you get our NEW Trump gift wrapping paper in time for Christmas.

He requested that we give PRIORITY ACCESS to a small group of his BEST SUPPORTERS, like YOU.

We haven’t released this to the general public yet—just like his taxes—so for today ONLY you can get our iconic Trump Gift Wrapping Paper before ANYONE ELSE. Please donate $35 or more IMMEDIATELY to claim your Trump Gift Wrapping Paper.”

ABC

Kimmel then shared just what that $35 or more would get you:

According to the American Bar Association, “A lawyer has two main duties: to uphold the law while also protecting a client’s rights. To carry out these duties, a lawyer should understand the law and be an effective communicator.” But during Rudy Giuliani’s time working as the personal lawyer to then-president Donald Trump, his main jobs seemed to be: Shut up and do what you’re told, no questions asked. And if you want to make a total ass out of yourself along the way, go for it—but don’t expect to get paid for any of it.

In the past year, the man once known as America’s Mayor and Time’s Person of the Year has stood still while his career, and legacy, have crumbled around him. All because of his absurdly fierce commitment to swearing up and down, sometimes from the parking lot of a landscaping business, that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that Team Trump had the receipts to prove it. Well, as it turns out, Rudy never even bothered to check those receipts.

On Thursday, CNN shared some exclusive video it had obtained of both Rudy and fellow Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s depositions given as part of the $1.3 billion defamation suit that Dominion Voting Systems has filed against Giuliani over the “Big Lie” “and his repeated claims that the voting machine company had rigged its devices to help Joe Biden win.

When asked about why he was so convinced that Dominion had actively participated in voter fraud, Giuliani stumbled through an answer in which he explained that, “We had a report that the heads of Dominion and Smartmatic, somewhere in the mid-tweens, you know 2013, 2014, whatever, went down to Venezuela for a get-to-know meeting with [President Nicolás] Maduro so they could demonstrate to Maduro the kind of vote fixing they did for [former President Hugo] Chavez.” When pressed further about this “report,” Giuliani explained that, “Before the press conference I was told about it. Sometimes I go and look myself—when stuff comes up. This time I didn’t have the time to do it.”

To recap so far: The lawyer for the sitting president of the United States, who is about to tell the world that a presidential election was rigged by one of the world’s biggest voting machine manufacturers, got his “proof” of this claim just before he stood next to a sex shop and shouted it out, but “didn’t have the time” to fully examine this proof himself.

Giuliani went on to claim that figuring out whether the information he was being fed is legit isn’t really something he thinks is necessary in his capacity. “It’s not my job, in a fast-moving case, to go out and investigate every piece of evidence that was given to me,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re never going to write a story. You’ll never come to a conclusion.”

You can watch Chris Cuomo’s full report on the tapes above.

(Via CNN)

[Light spoiler for Eternals]

It took 26 movies, but Eternals has the first sex scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No, this scene from Iron Man doesn’t count.

“You can’t tell a mature love story if you’re not gonna do some kind of…” director Chloé Zhao told Variety about the tender moment between Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Ikaris (Richard Madden) before trailing off. “It’s lovely to see two people show physical affection for each other — a kiss, make love.” The Best Director winner praised Chan and Madden for doing “such a great job… It’s very tasteful. You can feel the genuine love they have for each other.” I’m not sure if “tasteful” is what people want from a sex scene, but then I remind myself it’s a Disney movie and put on Disobedience again.

As you might expect, there’s been a mixed reception to the scene. If you Google “eternals sex scene,” the first result is a Daily Beast article with the headline, “Marvel Finally Made a Sex Scene in Eternals. It’s So Bad You’ll Wish They Hadn’t.” But now that Eternals is out after a year-long pandemic delay, let’s see what others are saying.

There’s the hot camp:

And there’s the amused and/or making jokes and/or awkward fraction:

Have fun watching Eternals with your parents this weekend.

(Via Variety)

During Donald Trump’s time in the White House, Ye (then known as Kanye West) received a lot of flak for his support of the president. Now, it turns out he still has positive feelings about the much-maligned former POTUS.

In an eventful new interview on the Drink Champs podcast, Ye’s support of Trump, which hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN thought was a thing of the past, was mentioned, and Ye said, “I still got a red hat on today, I’ll let y’all know that. I might not got it on, but I’ll let y’all know where I stand.”

This comes after Ye’s own (failed) campaign for president, during which he distanced himself from Trump. In a July 2020 interview, he said, “I am taking the red hat off, with this interview.” In that same conversation, he offered praise for Trump, saying, “Trump is the closest president we’ve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation.” He also said of his reasoning for wearing the red hat, “One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the Black community. Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby.”

Watch the full Drink Champs episode with Ye below.

Fall TV is in full swing with the holiday season approaching faster than anyone would want to believe. Fortunately, November on Netflix roars in louder than March with plenty of returning TV and new offerings to keep you satisfied while the crisp fall air settles in across the United States. This week, the fledgling War on Drugs returns to the small screen with Narcos: Mexico‘s final season putting a bow on the franchise with a bit of a return from Pablo Escobar, at least in spirit. The best news there is that Scoot McNairy’s mustache is back to confront all of the baddies (and there are plenty) where, elsewhere, hormone monsters return aplenty in Big Mouth, which represents all that is blissfully unholy about adult animation series.

In addition, The Harder They Fall brings together an impossibly stacked cast for a Western that’s being simultaneously released in theaters. And there’s some historical drama along with something to park your kids’ butts in front of while you get some stuff done around the house. If that’s not enough, classic fan-favorite movies like Snakes on a Plane and Stripes are onboard this week, too. In other words, there’s more than anyone could possibly swallow in these selections.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

Narcos: Mexico: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

Drug lord extraordinaire Félix Gallardo warned Agent Walt Breslin that he’d freed a circus of animals within the drug war, and he wasn’t joking. The cartels are poppin’ in what will be the final season of the spinoff to the Pablo Escobar-centered beginnings of Narcos. Fortunately, the spirit of Pablo is still around, sort-of, given that actor Wagner Moura has returned to direct, and Breslin and the fledgling DEA sure have their work cut out for them with hydra heads springing up everywhere. That includes El Chapo, who’s all up in the Sinaloa business, and the tagline for this season is absolutely magnificent: “THE FINAL BLOW.” No subtlety there.

Big Mouth: Season 5 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

The hormone monsters are back for another round with an all-star voice cast that includes Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Rannells, Jordan Peele, and Richard Kind. Oh, and Kumail Nanjiani will be starring as himself, somehow, while shirtless. Settle in as hate spirals and a hate worm and all kinds of other amorphous creatures take over eighth grade. Man, middle school was the worst, right? One might as well vent some angst by seeing how these bizarro creatures (including a love bug) navigate the hurdles.

The Harder They Fall (Netflix film streaming 11/3)

Idris Elba, Regina King, Zazie Beez, Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield, and more join forces in this Western that’s also playing in selected theaters. The story involves the coldest revenge possible, which is the goal of outlaw Nat Love (Majors) upon Rufus Buck (Elba), who only wants to enjoy life after prison. Yet enemies will do their thing, so expect Elba to gather his crew (played by King and Stanfield), who don’t do the losing thing well.

Ridley Jones: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

This one will keep the kids entertained while following a six-year-old child who transforms into a hero who can protect the museum exhibits inside of her own home. In the process, she learns the value of family and the importance of respecting other humans, despite all of our differences.

The Claus Family (Netflix film streaming 11/2)

Yep, Halloween is over, so that means one thing: it’s time for Christmas movies to begin. Young Jules Claus feels like he’s done with holiday cheer, and so he hangs in grandpa’s toy shop simply for the toys. However, he realizes that grandpa is the true Santa Claus, which means that it’s time for magic and reindeer and all that jazz.

Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis (Netflix film streaming 11/2)

This short-and-not-so-sweet story retells now WWII vets discovered a secret U.S. military camp where Jewish soldiers did the interrogating upon Nazi POWs near Washington, D.C.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 11/1
The Claus Family
21 Jump Street
60 Days In: Season 6
A River Runs Through It
Addams Family Values
American Gangster
An Elf’s Story: The Elf on the Shelf
Angry Birds: Season 4 – Slingshot Stories
Bella and the Bulldogs: Season 2
The Big Wedding
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Elf Pets: Santa’s St. Bernards Save Christmas
First Knight
Forged in Fire: Season 7
Gather
The General’s Daughter
It Follows
Johnny Mnemonic
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Last Action Hero
Moneyball
Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher
My Dad’s Christmas Date
The Nightingale
Total Recall
Snakes on a Plane
Stripes
Tagged
Te Ata
Texas Rangers

Avail. 11/2
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis
Ridley Jones: Season 2

Avail. 11/3
The Harder They Fall
Lords of Scam

Avail. 11/4
Catching Killers

Avail. 11/5
A Cop Movie
Big Mouth: Season 5
The Club
Glória
Love Hard
Meenakshi Sundareshwar
Narcos: Mexico: Season 3
The Unlikely Murderer
We Couldn’t Become Adults
Yara
Zero to Hero

Avail. 11/6
Arcane

Avail. 11/7
Father Christmas is Back

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 11/7
Sleepless

Leaving 11/10
A Single Man

Leaving 11/11
Fruitvale Station

Leaving 11/14
America’s Next Top Model: Season 19
America’s Next Top Model: Season 20
K-on! the movie
K-On!: Seasons 1-2
Survivor: Season 20: Heroes vs Villains
Survivor: Season 28: Cagayan

Leaving 11/15
Safe House

Leaving 11/17
Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List