He wasn’t the biggest cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home (that honor belongs to Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, which no longer counts as a spoiler), but Charlie Cox showing up as Matt Murdock / Daredevil still got a big pop in the opening night screening I went to. That was not the case in the theater he was in, however.
“It’s funny, I got so many text messages and so many calls about that moment in the cinema. My nephew sent me a recording of everyone cheering. So I snuck into a movie theater near where I live and literally stood in the corridor… and, sadly, my experience was it was dead f*cking quiet,” Cox told Radio Times. He continued:
“I was so disappointed. My wife was with me and she was recording me, because it’d be fun to have that moment of everyone cheering, and then… tumbleweed.”
Here’s a dramatic reenactment of Cox thinking the crowd would go wild for him:
Universal Pictures
Millions of Daredevil fans were happy to see the Man Without Fear, however, and Cox confirmed that he’ll appear again in a future project. “I know something,” he teased. “I don’t know much, but I know there will be something else.” That’s great and all, but I would rather see the footage of Cox expecting a roar and instead hearing crickets. Put it on the No Way Home Blu-ray.
Despite his character sporting a trademark cigarette holder in the comics — and in 1992’s Batman Returns — Colin Farrell‘s version of The Penguin was banned from smoking in The Batman. In a new interview with Jake’s Takes, Farrell reveals that he put up a fight with Warner Bros. to at least let his character hold a cigar, but the studio wasn’t budging. Cigarette smoking has become a sensitive subject in films and even more so when you’re dealing with a billion-dollar franchise that would very much like to sell toys to young kids.
“Big studios make big decisions around such things as the presence of cigarettes in films,” Farrell said. “I fought valiantly for a cigar. At one stage I said, ‘I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.’ They were like, ‘No.’ [As if] a bunch of 12-year-olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars because [the Penguin is smoking cigars in a movie.]”
Of course, Farrell might have a chance to add a little more comic accuracy in his Penguin spinoff series for HBO Max where things tend to skew a little more mature. In the meantime, Farrell seems to have had a blast with the role, which buried him underneath a sizable amount of prosthetics that he was virtually unrecognizable to his co-stars. The actor recently revealed that before he started filming The Batman, he took his new look for a “spin” at a Starbucks in Burbank, where he got a few strange looks.
Saweetie fans have been patiently waiting for her debut album, Pretty Bitch Music, for what might seem like forever after she delayed the album multiple times despite having huge hits in “My Type,” “Tap In,” and “Best Friend.” To hold them over, she initially planned to release an EP, Icy Season, in the first quarter of 2022, but now it seems even that plan has changed — but for a good reason. In a new interview with Billboard, the Bay Area rapper explained that she nixed the EP to lock in on finishing the album, which she now says should be out by summer.
She also explains why putting out her debut album has at times seemed such a halting, laborious process. “Sometimes our hit song is bigger than us and we’re just thrown into the game,” she says. “When you get signed, the label wants a hit. They want a return on their investment, which I understand. But it’s important for artists to understand themselves before they start seeking for hits. Because if you don’t know yourself, you don’t know your music.” She also doesn’t want to rush the process, as she feels she did with 2018’s High Maintenance and 2019’s Icy, and doesn’t “want to be safe anymore. Now it’s time to experiment.”
Considering she’s reportedly got a song in Tagalog, as well as Latin collab according to Billboard, it sounds like she’s expanding what the expectations of her album should be. Hopefully, she’s able to meet her own self-imposed deadline and live up to the potential she’s shown over the past few years.
Despite being banned from the platform in 2018, episodes of Alex Jones podcast have reportedly been streaming on Spotify for the better part of a week. Considering the streaming service has been embroiled in enough controversy thanks to Joe Rogan, it appears to have remedied the Jones’ problem with a quickness. The situation escalated on Wednesday when Media Matters reported on episodes of The Alex Jones Show recently being available to stream on Spotify:
Full-length episodes of The Alex Jones Show have been uploaded daily on Spotify since February 20 and remain undetected by the platform moderators. The Alex Jones Show is the first result that appears when searching ‘infowars’ on Spotify. This oversight speaks to a larger problem of Spotify’s shoddy enforcement of its own rules and poor ability to detect extremist content.
By Thursday morning, Spotify “appeared” to have pulled The Alex Jones Show, according to update on Media Matters’ initial report. If someone was trying to stealthily upload episodes to the platform, their plan was no doubt thwarted by the attention Marjorie Taylor Greene brought to the program. During a recent appearance, Greene flat-out called for vigilante justice against trans people in public, and went so far to endorse using physical violence by saying, if her daughter had a trans summer camp counselor, her husband would “beat them into the ground.”
Less than 24 hours after Greene went viral for her abhorrent remarks, Spotify pulled The Alex Jones Show episodes that somehow made it past its moderators.
Kanye West may very well be hoping to reconcile with Kim Kardashian but his soon-to-be ex-wife’s latest appeal to the court strikes the odds of that happening down from “highly unlikely” to “probably impossible.” Rolling Stone reports that on Wednesday, Kardashian filed a request to have their divorce expedited, citing Kanye’s social media antics over the past few weeks and cutting down his insistence on delaying finalizing the divorce to protect his assets.
“I very much desire to be divorced,” the statement reads. “I have asked Kanye to keep our divorce private, but he has not done so. Kanye has been putting out a lot of misinformation regarding our private family matters and co-parenting on social media which has created emotional distress. I believe that the court terminating our marital status will help Kanye to accept that our marital relationship is over and to move forward on a better path which will assist us in peacefully co-parenting our children.”
She also says that his claims that he needs to protect his assets lack “a scintilla of evidence,” and that their finances are safely separate. Her lawyers added, “No additional conditions are necessary to ‘protect Mr. West’s property interests because there is nothing to protect. There is no community property. There are no jointly titled assets. Ms. Kardashian’s assets, all titled in her name or in the name of her revocable and irrevocable trusts and entities, are her separate property, as agreed by the parties in their prenuptial agreement. The same is true for Mr. West’s assets. Mr. West does not deny any of this in his responsive papers.”
“While I wish our marriage would have succeeded, I have come to the realization that there is no way to repair our marriage,” Kim’s statement concludes. “Kanye does not agree but at least it appears that he has come to the realization that I want to end our marriage, even if he does not. I ask that the court restore me to the status of a single person so that I can begin the healing process and so that our family can begin the healing process and move forward in this new chapter in our lives.”
Nearly a decade had passed since 2012’s Breaking Dawn: Part 2 officially ended The Twilight Saga‘s multiplex domination, and a lot has happened since then for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. They’ve both gone onto star in other blockbuster projects and quieter awards fare, as with her Clouds of Sils Maria turn and now an Oscar nomination for Spencer. And Pattinson did that limousine-bound Cronenberg movie (Cosmopolis) before shining in movies like Good Time and The Lighthouse. Now, he’s freaking Batman. Who would have thought any of this was possible? Don’t be a hater.
Speaking of which, Zoe Kravitz technically does not count herself as a Twilight hater, but she didn’t pay much attention to it. While promoting The Batman (the two also attended the London premiere, above, with Pattinson wearing a roomy Jil Sander suit, and Kravitz in a Saint Laurent dress, both of which may have been in comic book homage), the Stephenie Meyer adaptations popped into conversation.
While speaking with PEOPLE on TikTok, Pattinson ribbed his co-star: “It’s not even cool to be a [Twilight] hater anymore. That’s so 2010.”
Zoë Kravitz says to Robert Pattinson that she didn’t watch Twilight.
Yup, the destroyer of microwaves and master of reinvention has steadfastly remained loyal to the franchise that put him on the map. A few years ago while promoting High Life, he declared, “Whenever anyone says [‘Twilight’]’s their guilty pleasure, it’s like, ‘You say guilty, what you really mean is just pleasure.’” And I wanna see him watching Eclipse next to Kravitz now, just to see what she thinks of those CGI wolves.
When Lil Durk announced his original 7220 release date was the same as Kanye West’s projected release date for Donda 2, many fans took it as a sign that Durk was challenging his fellow Chicagoan in the same way Kanye once challenged 50 Cent over a shared release date. However, February 22 has come and gone without a new album from either rapper; Durk instead released his “AHHH HA” video and announced he’d pushed by his album’s release, while Kanye only put out the first four tracks from Donda 2 through his stem player site.
Still, once a rumor has begun to spread, it’s hard to stop fans from speculating over something they consider at least possible (Twitter is the ultimate game of Telephone), so it wasn’t long before they began to posit nefarious motives for Durk’s date change. When one fan account suggested that Durk had acquired a feature from Pete Davidson for his album — which would antagonize Kanye, as Davidson is dating the rapper’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, something Kanye has repeatedly expressed his displeasure over — Durk stepped in to shut down the speculation.
“This a lie I don’t even play like that,” he wrote on Instagram, before revealing an even more intriguing proposition. “Plus Ye want to do a album together.”
The two Windy City rappers have certainly had opportunities to build chemistry. Durk, who recreated several of Kanye’s music videos in his own “Kanye Krazy” video last year, featured on the track “Jonah” from West’s original Donda with newcomer Vory after nearly missing out due to a missed flight. Meanwhile, both rappers are well-versed in the joint project format; Kanye famously helped kick off the trend with Watch The Throne with Jay-Z, while last year, Durk carried the torch alongside Lil Baby with Voice Of The Heroes.
Earlier this month, Foo Fighters revealed a song called “March Of The Insane” from Studio 666‘s soundtrack, recorded under the alias Dream Widow. The song contains elements of death metal, with Grohl screaming much of the vocals. Corden then asked Grohl how he manages to scream on those kinds of tracks without destroying his vocal cords.
“I am seriously genetically predisposed to just scream my balls of for three hours a night,” Grohl said, before knocking on the wooden table and proceeding to describe his warm-up routine:
“My warm-up starts one hour before the show. I open a beer, and then within 10 to 15 minutes, I do a shot of whiskey. At that point, the beer is probably gone. So I grab another beer and then have one more shot. Now it’s 15 minutes before I go on, so I finish the beer, because I want to make sure I get on stage with a cold one. Then I take one more shot of whiskey, and then I go scream for three hours, and then I order pizza.”
Grohl says he wouldn’t recommend this pre-show ritual to other musicians, “but f*ck it, it works for me.”
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Jack Reacher is back once again, this time not on the page or in a feature film starring Tom Cruise (yes, it was weird that Jack Reacher, a character whose defining characteristic is his massive size, was played by… Tom Cruise), but on the small screen. Or your laptop. Or your phone. This time the role is filled by Alan Ritchson, who takes the character to hell and back trying to clear his name after a wrongful murder accusation. Does he break some limbs and smash some heads in the process? Well, let’s just say that is a pretty safe assumption. Watch it on Amazon.
Amber Ruffin is here, once again, thank God, to make the news and the rest of the world a little more palatable. The Late Night With Seth Meyers all-star brings her unique brand of silliness to Peacock for a second season. Will there be jokes? Of course. Will there be goofy faces? You know it. Will there be smart critiques of world leaders and world events that are occasionally punctuated by ridiculous guest appearances and/or catchy songs? Buddy, let’s hope so. We need it. Amber Ruffin is the best. Watch it on Peacock.
One of The Suicide Squad‘s characters who seemed least likely (well, there actually were a lot of them, including poor Boomerang) to make it out alive has his own spinoff series. That would be John Cena’s horribly patriotic bro, and it’s still hellaciously funny that this is happening because James Gunn got bored during quarantine and decided to write this TV show. Never fear, though. He Of the Butthole Jokes is still as worthy of contempt as always. There’s no telling whether we’ll see another Squad movie, so soak up as much of this end of the DCEU while it’s hot. Watch it on HBO Max.
“Am I livestock?” Who among us hasn’t asked ourselves that question while grazing amongst the cubicles at work? But the workplace in Severance (a new Adam Scott starring and Ben Stiller produced Apple TV+ series) is a little different, running workers through a process that effectively breaks people in two with zero crossovers between their work life and non-work life. Sound ideal in a world where work stresses bleed into home life and Sunday scarys seem to always kneecap your weekend? Perhaps in some respects. Susan from HR probably LOVES the idea, seeing it as the ultimate NDA, but as the show is set to explore, it’s a less tidy experience that raises all kinds of questions about what happens when people are severed from the awful things they might be asked to do at work. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
Following the semi-triumphant return of Elliot Stabler to the Law & Order universe, Dick Wolf and the other Powers That Be decided there was no time like the present for a revival of the franchise’s flagship series. Expect to see the return of Sam Waterston and Anthony Anderson and the addition of Hugh Dancy as the O.G. show continues to live in syndication while SVU continues to go strong. The real question here is this: will we see Ice-T make a cameo? C’mon. Watch it on Peacock.
Look at this. We’ve got a murder mystery from a genius (Christopher Miller of Lord and Miller) that stars all your favorite comedic scene stealers (Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Tiffany Haddish, Ilana Glazer, John Early, Ike Barinholz, Dave Franco, and more) as suspects/victims/detectives, with each episode told from a different characters’ perspective in a different film style (rom-com, action, musical, psychological thriller, etc.). It is… really good. It’s really good. And really fun. You are probably going to love it. Get in there and check it out. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
What starts as a weirdly quirky caper story mixed with the reckless abandon of Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee’s courtship soon transforms into a needed indictment on the wild west nature of the internet and the way Anderson was packaged, sold, and diminished regardless of her feelings on the matter. But with the actress not signing off on this very intimate look at a painful period of her life, is she still being turned into a product and where is the line when it comes to a public figure and events that largely happened in front our eyes… because we couldn’t help but invade her privacy in the first place? Entertaining, shocking, thought-provoking — there is more to meets the eye in this show that is about a lot more than a stolen sex tape. Watch it on Hulu.
As you are probably aware, Kanye West’s personal life has overshadowed his professional life lately, and much of this is his own doing, but he’s also got this documentary on Netflix that promises to chart his formative days as an artist and ascension to being a brand. The name of the project, of course, is a play on words on how he considers himself a “genius.” One thing is certain: this won’t be boring. Watch it on Netflix.
As if Julia Garner didn’t already rule the small screen in Ozark, we’re getting another heaping helping of her. This time, though, the tight corkscrew curls are hidden while Garner portrays Anna Delvey, a real-life Instagram “legend” and fake German heiress. In reality, Delvey was a master con artist who captivated New York’s social elite and ended up dragging the hell out of the American dream in the process. This Shondaland limited series follows the investigation into Anna’s misdeeds, along with how she stares down trial and keeps those lies alive, all as inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article that will get you primed. Watch it on Netflix.
It’s boom times for selling stories about the pirates of tech and Super Pumped sells it well, illuminating the rise and relative fall (he’s doing alright for money, don’t worry) of Uber’s brash former CEO Travis Kalanick. At the center of that ride (sorry) is a strained mentor/mentee relationship between Kalanick (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Bill Gurley, a more cautious and weathered money man played by Kyle Chandler. Led by David Levian, Brian Koppelman, and Beth Schacter, the minds behind Billions (another show featuring a high powered and twisty battle between two titans), Super Pumped offers a lot of commentary on the culture of win and the fallacy of rules as a shield against bad behavior while leaning into the dangerous magnetism of Kalanick across the first season of a new anthology series that’s already been renewed for a second go. Watch it on Showtime.
Last season ended with winners and losers aplenty. And c’mon, you didn’t think that Villanelle and Eve would be able to get along in the long term, right? Imagine what domestic life would be like for these two. A former MI6 officer and an assassin who can’t give up the life (or the luxury trappings) are as ill-equipped for reality as Westley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Yet there’s no reason why they’ll be able to resist each other forever, but Eve is hellbent upon revenge this season while Villanelle desperately wants to prove that she’s not a “monster.” Good luck to both of them. Watch it on AMC Plus.
Righteous Gemstones is back, building on its God-squaded Succession vibes with more in-fighting, corruption, and largesse. Simply put, the Gemstones are in the dynasty business, looking to upsize, let loose, and steer clear of the claw of consequences that keeps grabbing at them. As hilarious as it is compelling, the show has somehow found a way to bring the thunder yet again with its stand-out cast, adding Eric Andre, Jason Schwartzman, and a spectacular Eric Roberts to the mix beside Danny McBride, John Goodman, Walton Goggins, Edi Patterson, and company. Dream Team ’92 level comedy casting, folks. Watch it on HBO.
Euphoria’s first season was a glitter bomb of teenage angst, drug-fueled spirals, and social media-splattered heartbreak. It’s been two years since Jules left Rue on that train platform and the show’s return promises some kind of resolution to their romance, the return of some familiar faces, and new additions that pressure the group to get their sh*t figured out. They won’t, of course, but the mayhem, bathroom fights, drug busts, and masterclass in acting Zendaya will surely give us will still be worth it. Watch it on HBO.
In early January, Third Man Records announced a pressing of a 1973 Carole King concert, recorded live in New York City’s Central Park. If that wasn’t enticing enough, the package also contains singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus recording two King classics, “Home Again” and “It’s Too Late.” Dacus is no stranger to covers: In 2019, she commemorated various holidays with standalone singles, including a hushed version of Phil Collins‘ “In the Air Tonight,” an urgent take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” and a rocked-up spin on Wham!’s “Last Christmas.”
These covers illustrate the Virginia native’s acumen as an interpreter; she’s never afraid of bold reinventions. But much like King, Dacus is also a singular songwriter — a once-in-a-generation talent who crafts nuanced songs driven by thoughtful, observational lyrics. Across her three studio albums are songs about yearning to shed old perceptions (“I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore”), navigating through a rough breakup (“Night Shift”), or trying desperately to let someone see their self-worth (“Please Stay”). These are common themes, to be sure — but Dacus’ approach to lyrics makes even familiar ground seem fresh.
First off, Dacus has an incisive eye for detail — unsurprising, given that she studied film in college before deciding to leave. This means a song like “Night Shift” feels more like the setup for a rich rom-com more than anything. “The first time I tasted somebody else’s spit / I had a coughing fit” is a vivid enough image to start a song just on its own. But then the embarrassing situation is complicated by the next lines: “I mistakenly called them by your name / I was let down, it wasn’t the same.” This is the reality of trying to move on from a relationship: Things feel awkward and uncomfortable, deeply imperfect, and you likely are going to have missteps.
Yet the quiet brilliance of “Night Shift” is its subtle shift to optimism. Later in the song, Dacus sings: “In five years, I hope the songs feel like covers / Dedicated to new lovers.” Even though things seem messy and wrong now, she can see a future where things are better. In a 2018 Fader interview, Dacus spoke about the song and noted the way it helped her move on. “It feels so good to sing that song because I honestly am not entirely past that relationship. It was really toxic, but singing the song was such a step towards waking up from many years of being blind to my own needs.”
Songs aren’t always autobiographical, of course. But Dacus excels at making her personal songs feel universal. And not only is she willing to be vulnerable, but she’s thought very deeply about how to best present this vulnerability onstage, which makes her shows a riveting communal experience. This open presence stems from the time Dacus spent acting in theater productions growing up. “It took it some time to separate music from theater for me, to realize music is a different type of sharing,” she told The Fader in 2016. “But it is so much different because you make it yourself, and you’re talking to the audience as yourself. You’re not pretending to be a character.”
Dacus is in tune with her stage self no doubt due to her love of journaling, a habit she’s done since she was a kid. When she had some of her more recent journals stolen in 2016, she noted it shifted the way she chronicled her own life. “Now journaling is different because I feel like I have to go back, and have those memories come back to me,” Dacus told The Fader. “I have to quickly put them down, and try to be as true to what happened as I can. I don’t know why I do that, it’s an impulse that I just follow.”
It’s easy to see how many of her songs are informed by a need to document things that happen around her. The song “Historians,” the de facto title track to her 2018 album Historian, speaks to a desire to document a romance: “You said, ‘Don’t go changing / I’ll rearrange to let you in / And I’ll be your historian / And you’ll be mine / And I’ll fill pages of scribbled ink / Hoping the words carry meaning.” It’s as if a relationship doesn’t exist if it’s not written down — and the only way to make sense of things is viewing it through a filtered lens. Yet Dacus also realizes the perils of over-documentation. Historian‘s “The Shell” wrestles with the idea of trying to force inspiration (“You don’t wanna be a creator / Doesn’t mean you’ve got nothing to say”) while lamenting songwriting pigeonholes (“You don’t have to be sad to make something worth hearing”).
Of course, emotional clarity can sometimes be hard to achieve. By nature, memory and identity are slippery things, and just because a story exists doesn’t mean it’s the whole truth. That thought was clearly on Dacus’ mind as she discussed the songs on her newest album, 2021’s stunning Home Video. Her source material ended up being the journals she kept during childhood and adolescence — the ones that weren’t stolen, but ones that documented a far different time in her life.
“It was intentional that I talk plainly on this album about things that actually happened because I hadn’t done that yet,” she told The New York Times. Surveying her private writings as an adult was an illuminating experience. “Almost reliably the perspective is true, and the entry is not, and I’m pissed about that because I would really like to know what I thought in the moment,” she added. “Who’s to know which one I should trust more?” To NPR, she explained, “It really shows you how memory is just like a fiction that you come up with. I’d like, write what I wanted to remember and leave out the details that I wouldn’t.”
The fact that Dacus had space to fill in details goes a long way to explaining why Home Video is even more detailed than her previous albums. “Thumbs” details how she and a friend met the latter’s absent father in a bar. He hasn’t been in her life for years, and the meeting is excruciating (“Your nails are digging into my knee / I don’t know how you keep smiling”). An angry Dacus longs to tell her friend she doesn’t need to indulge her father, but the complex nature of familial relationships is painfully on the surface throughout.
“VBS,” meanwhile, is a true story about her first boyfriend, a church camp bad boy who snorted nutmeg and loved Slayer. This simple story is complicated by what’s not mentioned: On the periphery of the song are references to secrets (“Your dad keeps his sleeves down through the summer for a reason / Your mother wears her makeup extra thick for a reason”) and how heavy these can be — they’re “sedentary secrets like peach pits in your gut.”
The album is about learning to be comfortable with ambiguity, while realizing the truth is blurry. On “Hot & Heavy,” she says, “You used to be so sweet / Now you’re a firecracker on a crowded street / Couldn’t look away even if I wanted.” Depending on perspective, a firecracker is welcome or a nuisance — and that perspective. And as she told Genius about the song’s meaning: “I realized along the way that it was just about me outgrowing past versions of myself.”
Above all, Dacus’ songs are about searching for your true self, and trying to pinpoint the molding moments along the way. In early 2022, she released “Kissing Lessons,” a song dating from 2017 that resurfaced during the Home Video sessions. The song details dalliances with a best friend. “Kissing Lessons” is a remembrance of childhood innocence and the way intense friendships ebb and flow — but also foreshadows (and legitimizes) future queer awakenings. “But I still wear a letter R charm on my bracelet / And wonder if she thinks of me as her first kiss.” With the benefit of time, Dacus can see things more clearly — although the pieces of the puzzle aren’t quite yet in place.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
