Month: February 2022

The scope of Darius Garland’s duties have multiplied at various intervals this season. First, he was asked to assume a broader scoring load when Collin Sexton went down for the year in early November. Then, his playmaking duties heightened when Ricky Rubio suffered a season-ending injury in late December. At both turns, Garland has seamlessly answered the call for the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to his first of many All-Star berths.

Before Sexton’s injury, Garland was averaging 15.4 points per game and jacking up a meager 11.7 shots. Since the injury, he’s averaged 21.4 points on 17.4 shots per game. Once Rubio went down, his assist output leapt from 7.3 to 9.3 a night.

Few players are more indispensable to a team than Garland this season. Cleveland is 11.2 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor. Its offense craters when he’s resting — 7-foot rookie Evan Mobley often spearheads possessions sans Garland.

That’s not really an indictment on Mobley. His potential as an initiator is tantalizing, but not so tangible the playoff-bound Cavs should lean on it to the extent they currently do at times. This is how vital Garland is to their success.

Embers of this breakout began last season. In 26 games following the All-Star break, he averaged 18.8 points and 6.3 assists on 57 percent true shooting. He was more aggressive hunting triples and more effective inside the arc. This season, he’s averaging 20.3 points on 58.4 percent true shooting, sporting a career-high three-point rate and career-best 54.7 percent clip on twos.

The third-year guard is one of the league’s most marvelous passers. He’ll sling skip passes off a live dribble, rifle dimes to cutters, and expertly mask the difference between his silky floater and a lob to Mobley or Jarrett Allen. As a scorer, he dances around screens, bounces into step-back jumpers and operates like the ball is naturally an extension of his body that he doesn’t even have to account for while maneuvering.

He yo-yos crossovers into space. He’ll swirl an in-and-out dribble to dust defenders. Rejecting screens after wielding his dexterous handle to set them up is a go-to pastime. All the skills that made him an enticing prospect in 2019 are amplified by his shot-making development.

He’s shooting 38 percent on pull-up triples and ranks fourth league-wide in assists per game. His true shooting percentage is 2.4 points above league average, the first time it’s been above average in his abbreviated, three-year career. The jump from promising, wide-eyed initiator to full-fledged star ball-handler has occurred, and it has Cleveland within range of the East’s No. 1 seed.

When Sunday’s All-Star Game tips off, the Cavs will have two stars featured — Garland and Allen. Mobley is also part of the weekend’s earlier festivities. All of it feels fitting because the story of the 2021-22 NBA season cannot be written without Cleveland’s surprise run. And Cleveland’s surprise run cannot be explained without Garland at the core.

He’s the heartbeat of an offense that does just enough to complement an elite, long-limbed defense. He amplifies Mobley and Allen’s offensive skill-sets. He undertakes every responsibility with nary a hiccup.

More simply, though, he’s a 2022 All-Star.

(Plentiful spoilers from Netflix’s Ozark will be found below.)

Ozark‘s most recent batch of episodes landed precisely at the halfway point of the final season. We’ve talked about when the finale will be on Netflix, but there’s a very morbid set of details that must also be considered: Who will die when the show comes back for the final seven episodes?

Clearly, the bloodshed could not end with the deaths of Helen and Tom (in Season 3) or with the murders of Darlene and Wyatt (in Season 4). This isn’t the type of show that will let anyone walk away with too happy of an ending, and some universe-bound justice must be served. So, who could die before all is said and done?

The Byrde Family, But Especially Marty: Alright, so we need to talk about that car crash. It’s very clearly supposed to be a mystery and incredibly important, given that the season’s trailer put it on display (while interspersing sins from the past, like this was retribution), and it’s the season’s first scene. It’s all ambiguous and purposely so, but we do know that the entire Byrde quartet (Marty, Wendy, Charlotte, and Jonah) is looking relatively relaxed (well, other than Jonah, who’s had enough of this family sh*t) in family driving mode. Wendy’s practically humming, and Marty declares, “We’re all set for the FBI tomorrow.” He’s called the moving company (to head back toward Chicago), and they’re joking around about stacks of hundreds, etc. All of a sudden, a semi truck that’s carrying several cars heads straight toward them, and Marty veers off the road, where the car starts rolling and lands upside down like this:

I’m not sure that anyone could survive this crash, but if there’s anyone here that should go, it’s Marty. He’s the one who got his family into this money-laundering mess. Was this an accident or a hit? Gotta be the latter, and the show will surely follow up on the details rather than leaving everyone hanging.

Javi Elizonndro: The dude killed Wyatt, and that’s set Ruth on a course of vengeance, which she unleashed upon Marty in Episode 7. In all likelihood, Ruth (who’s dominating the show) will not heed Marty’s weak warnings and will set a plan in motion to kill the Navarro successor. Does Javi deserve to die? Obviously, the answer is yes. He didn’t even know who Wyatt was (and even admitted as much) before killing him, simply because Wyatt was there when Javi came for the reckless, arrogant Darlene. Now, what I wonder is whether Ruth will likewise be reckless and actually take her shotgun and come for Javi, or if she’ll simply pull strings and have someone else do the dirty work. Clearly, Jonah will do anything for her, and it would be a believable end (sorry, Jonah) for Marty to see that his ridiculous, show-long screwup led to one of his children’s deaths. It’d be fitting, really, but heck, they might all die in the car crash.

And Who Should Not Die…

Ruth Langmore: Look, I know that Ruth’s a lot smarter than anyone expected her to be back when she was cleaning rooms at the motel where she initially encountered the Byrde fam. And I know she sometimes does not-so-smart things and has had the holy hell beaten out of her, by Frank Jr., no less. But she should and needs to live. She’s the soul of the show, and this is her domain, and I’d be very upset if Ruth dies and Marty lives. I’d be very upset if she ended up Jesse Pinkman-ed at the end of this series, all to set up some movie down the line. And I don’t need to see a Frank Jr.-Ruth spinoff as suggested by actor Joseph Sikora (who has a whole lot going on with Power Book IV: Force). No, I want Ruth to end this thing while litrally jumping from a casino boat to her own yacht. She needs to fully run this town, so to speak.

‘Ozark’ is currently streaming (Season 4, Part 1) on Netflix.

Sometimes, it’s hard being rich and powerful, because when you break up with your former co-star, they will sell their stake in your $164 million estate, which is currently happening with Brad Pitt.

Pitt claims that his ex-wife Angelia Jolie has sold her stake she had in their fancy French estate without asking him. Pitt also has a stake in the property, and the duo allegedly agreed they wouldn’t sell without explicit permission from each other. The couple bought the property in 2008 for $28.4 million when they wanted to build a family wine business, as one does. They split over a decade later in 2019. Perhaps understandably, Jolie sold her own stake in the estate, and he’s pissed.

The actor, known for his role in the iconic children’s animated feature Megamind, among a list of other little-known films, is suing Jolie, saying she didn’t ask him for his permission to sell her stake in the 35-room mansion. In October 2021, The Stoli Group announced it purchased Jolie’s 50 percent stake in the estate and the vineyard that Pitt allegedly spent millions to bring to life. Pitt claims Jolie is depriving him of his property and potential wine business the two had reportedly been planning.

According to the suit, “The purported sale deprives Pitt of his right to enjoy his private home and to oversee the business he developed from scratch.” Pitt was also planning on using the property as a recording studio. It’s a shame he may have to settle for his private island instead.

Jolie has yet to comment on the matter, only mentioning last year that the decision to sell was “heartbreaking” for her, as she once planned on growing old with Pitt on the property.

When most people do an impression of somebody else, they change their voice in an effort to mimic them. An underrated aspect of impersonation, though, is the physicality of it, and getting somebody’s mannerisms or facial quirks correct can make or break an impression. That’s the aspect Doja Cat focused on in a new video, in which she fires off a bunch of celebrity impressions, mostly without saying a word.

In a TikTok video, an overlay above Doja’s head randomly selects impersonation prompts. When the first one lands on Drew Barrymore, Doja contorts her mouth in a distinctly Barrymore-ian way. Some of Doja’s impressions are better than others: for Oprah, she just sported a big smile. When Samuel L. Jackson’s name popped up, Doja let out a loud “What?!,” which isn’t a bad approach to take.

Elsewhere in the clip, Doja did her best Kevin Hart, Elvis Presley, Al Pacino, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj, the latter of which came in last and saw Doja just letting out an emphatic scream.

This comes after Doja popped up during the Super Bowl with a different sort of impression, channeling Hole to cover “Celebrity Skin” for a Taco Bell ad.

Check out Doja’s impressions video above.

With the Peacemaker Season 1 finale now out in the wild, series creator James Gunn has continued his knack for being an open book when it comes to his creative process. While The Suicide Squad director has previously talked about how he created the Peacemaker out of boredom during the early pandemic lockdown, he’s never fully revealed what made him decide to go big on the John Cena character, who Gunn has often described as “the biggest douchebag in the world.”

In a new interview, Gunn explains that the creative inspiration hit him after watching Cena display some surprising acting chops while filming a scene for The Suicide Squad. Via Vulture:

There’s one really specific moment with me and John that I can trace the origin of this show back to. It’s the moment in The Suicide Squad where Peacemaker is holding his gun on Ratcatcher 2 and he’s about to kill her. I went into this tight closeup of his eyes. On set, I’m always on the microphone talking over everything while we’re shooting. So I’m talking to John on the God Mic about what he’s feeling, and I see his eyes switch. I see him go to this incredibly sad, vulnerable place. We realize this character is a guy who’s doing something he doesn’t want to do at all, but that he’s going to do anyway, which is shoot a young girl.

As Gunn explains, that’s when he realized Cena had the goods and wanted to keep working with him. “I knew John was not just a performer who was funny, which is why I hired him, but a guy who had this other layer,” Gunn said. “At that moment, I knew John had that thing. It’s a thing a lot of big actors don’t have, and that most wrestlers turned actors don’t have.”

Considering the two have worked together on Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn is quick to mention that Dave Bautista also has the same thing as Cena. As far other wrestlers turned actors, Gunn notably doesn’t mention anyone else having serious acting chops — like, say, someone recently joining the DCEU — and we’ll just leave it at that. No further comment.

Peacemaker Season 1 is available for streaming on HBO Max.

(Via Vulture)

One of the many (we do mean many) Game Of Thrones spin-offs that nobody really asked for has finally wrapped filming, according to author George R. R. Martin, who confirmed on his blog, titled “Not A Blog.” Martin has seen “rough cuts” of House Of The Dragon, which is aiming to be released later this year on HBO.

“I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I’m loving them. Of course, a lot more work needs to be done,” the author added. “Special effects, color timing, score, all the post-production work.” So, it looks like 90% of the show still needs to be done.

“But the writing, the directing, the acting all look terrific,” Martin continued, “I hope you will like them as much as I do. My hat is off to Ryan and Miguel and their team, and to our amazing cast.” The cast features Doctor Who alum Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans. and Olivia Cooke.

While there is no confirmed premiere date, Martin insists he is “excited” and will let the fans know as soon as he knows. “When will the dragons dance? I wish I could tell you. Lots of work remains to be done, as I said, and COVID makes planning difficult. This spring? Unlikely. Maybe summer? Could be. Fall? Who knows?” Basically, in true Game of Thrones fashion nobody knows what’s going on.

Jordan Klepper has rarely witnessed a right-wing protest he didn’t want to infiltrate. So for his latest episode of “Fingers the Pulse,” The Daily Show correspondent headed to Ottawa to get to the bottom of the Great Canadian Trucker Convoy of 2022—yep, the same protestors that Russell Brand is for some reason praising. Among the questions Klepper wanted answered: How long do you plan to stay here? (Two years was one man’s answer.) Are you smoking a lot of weed to pass the time? (Yes, the same man said.) And have you seen the end table Klepper ordered from Wayfair several weeks ago and has yet to receive (no luck there)?

As Klepper attempted to make his way around the streets of what he called “Canada’s eighth-best city,” he couldn’t help but wonder: How had it come to this? What began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers entering Canada has morphed into an all-out war against vaccine mandates in general and the kind of thing Tomi Lahren and Ted Cruz are on board with (which is never a good thing). Yet the results of this ‘Freedom Convoy’ have meant a further disruption to the already challenging supply chain in America, plus higher prices for American consumers. None of which really hits Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau where it hurts, which seems to be their primary goal… if they even have one.

When one protestor told Klepper that the demonstrations were “about our freedoms,” he asked if she could “be any more generic?” It turns out, she could: “You know, if you are vaccinated, you get to do certain things. If you’re not vaccinated, you don’t. I don’t think people should be divided. We should all be together, united.”

Klepper, ever the professional, wanted to make sure he had the protestors’ side of the story right, so he clarified: “We’re setting up, essentially, a truck barrier to keep everybody together so they can be united,” and was told “yes,” exactly that. “Gotcha,” he replied. “We might as well lock them in. Sort of like a parent who locks the door and says, ‘You guys are in here until the water runs out, you become friends, or democracy crumbles.’” Again, he was met with two nodding heads of agreement.

Klepper learned a lot more during his north of the border adventure, including that Canadians love to appropriate American culture by comparing vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany, pushing QAnon conspiracy theories, and stealing the line that Donald Trump stole from Adolf Hitler by declaring that we should “Make North America Great Again.” He also learned about Agenda 2030, which one protestor described as the world being headed toward “one government” that will “sterilize us [so] that only certain people can have kids.” (Though he also guessed that he might be sterile already.)

You can watch the full segment above.

Would you believe that the filthy-mouthed Bob Saget, who tricked the world into believing him to be a wholesome Dad on Full House, put a final bow on his legacy in a rap video with a pornstar? Heck yes he did. Bob Saget’s last role before he tragically died of a fatal head injury was as a bacon-frying and cash-grabbing chef in Desiigner’s latest video for “Bakin.”

Saget was featured in the video alongside Snoop Dogg, Jay Pharoah, pornstar Kendra Sunderland, and the track’s artists Desiigner, DJ Whoo Kid, and Slushii. “Please believe me when I tell you this: Get Bob on the job,” Snoop Dogg says to Desiigner as the hilarious and raunchy video begins. Shot in the Hollywood Hills a few weeks before his death, Rolling Stone reports that Whoo Kid corralled Saget, whom he already knew, after Willie Nelson wasn’t available.

A minute of outtakes plays after the video clip (above) in remembrance of the late comedian and in them, he’s funny as hell. “I’m just here to have bacon,” he says, before noting that “Bakin”/bacon is “a supreme pun. It’s like the best Dad joke ever.”

“You don’t expect him to be sitting around here with all these bad models, and booties-a-clapping and racks being thrown and Desiigner being there doing his thing,” Pharaoh told Rolling Stone. “But it works because that’s what Bob’s whole spirit was. It was different. It was, ‘Put me in an odd place that you wouldn’t expect for me to be and watch me shine.’”

There was nary a room that Saget walked into that he didn’t light up. And he somehow manages to steal the show in a video featuring rappers, pornstars, money, and bacon. “Full House, Nick At Nite, Bob Saget used to rock me to sleep at night, man,” Desiigner added.

Watch the video for “Bakin” above.

Every so often, a plucky indie will get nominated for Best Picture. Think: Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Lady Bird. This year’s contender is CODA, a charming coming-of-age film about a teenager (played by Emilia Jones) who is the sole hearing member of a deaf family (including Best Supporting Actor contender Troy Kotsur). Apple acquired the distribution rights to CODA (which stands for Children of Deaf Adults) for $25 million, and it was released in select theaters and on Apple TV+ last August.

Following the Oscar nominations, CODA is being re-released “for free in theaters from Friday, February 25 through Sunday, February 27,” Deadline reports. “All free screenings to feature open captions to be fully accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.”

You can find out where the closest first-come, first-serve screening is to you here.

“I just wanted to make a film,” CODA writer and director Sian Heder told Uproxx‘s Mike Ryan after she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. “I think I never want to make a film that’s messaging something to people. You just want to tell a great story about characters that people fall in love with and I think the subversive part of this film is that the reason it feels like a step forward in terms of representation is because these characters are relatable and funny.”

You can watch the CODA trailer below.

(Via Deadline)

WARNING: Spoilers for Peacemaker below.

With the Peacemaker finale now available for streaming, fans of the John Cena series no doubt have lingering questions as the show wrapped up its Season 1 story with a bang and one heck of a surprise cameo. Fortunately, creator James Gunn has already started to explain some of the choices made in the finale, and for the other big moments, well, we’ll do our best to tackle what they might mean.

Why did Peacemaker turn down Goff’s offer?

While controlling the body of Officer Song (Annie Chang), Goff reveals the Butterflies’ plan in the hopes that Peacemaker — real name: Christopher Smith — will join them in their cause. Like him, the Butterflies want peace. Their goal is not invasion but instead, to steer humanity away from destroying the planet. However, that plan will involve killing some people and taking over the world’s government, but ultimately, it will be in humanity’s best interest.

Despite claiming to love peace so much that he’ll kill every man, woman, and child to get it, Peacemaker turns down the offer and destroys the Cow, the Butterflies’ sole source of food. At the end of the episode, he tells Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) that he couldn’t take Goff’s offer because he knew it would result in his friends being hurt. As Gunn explains in a new interview, this represents a significant change in Peacemaker’s development after previously murdering Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) in The Suicide Squad to complete his mission. Via Vulture:

She makes a lot of sense. But what’s more important for our story is that Chris has disconnected himself from other human beings by making every person an object to fulfill his goal. He did it in The Suicide Squad, and all through this story he had to fight the urge to do exactly the same thing. In that moment in the end, he takes a different path.

However, it’s clearly a difficult choice as Gunn himself admits he’s “not even sure if Chris is doing the right thing.”

Why did Peacemaker let Goff live and stay at his house?

This questions a trickier one because there isn’t a clear answer from Gunn yet. Although, going by what he’s said about Goff’s offer, it’s easy to see why Peacemaker would be reluctant to kill the Butterfly leader. There’s also the bond they formed when he previously kept her in a jar in his house, which led to her making the offer in the first place. She knew how to connect to Peacemaker and his mission to bring about peace no matter what the cost. However, it’s clearly shown that Peacemaker only has a very small amount of the alien goo left from the Cow, so there’s a good chance that Goff might not be around for long.

What does the Justice League cameo mean?

After Peacemaker and his ARGUS team basically did all the work and stopped the Butterfly invasion, the Justice League made a surprise appearance at the end. True to character, Peacemaker called them “d*ckheads” and made a joke to Aquaman’s face about him “f*cking fish” before walking off to take a wounded Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) to the hospital. As for the greater implications of the Justice League showing up, the cameo firmly plants Peacemaker in the DC Extended Universe that started being built in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Peacemaker is now officially part of that cinematic universe, and on the Justice League’s radar, which could have some interesting effects on Season 2.

What happens to Task Force X now that Adebayo revealed its existence?

After completing their mission, Adebayo goes public with the ARGUS team’s actions and reveals the existence of Task Force X (a.k.a. The Suicide Squad) in an effort to cement Peacemaker’s status as an American hero. With the covert group now exposed and Adebayo’s mother, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), none too pleased about it, Task Force X’s future is now in serious jeopardy. Considering Waller is not a person to be messed with, even by her own daughter, there is sure to be blowback from Adebayo’s press conference.

Is Peacemaker’s dad going to haunt him in Season 2?

In the final moments of the finale, Peacemaker is seen sitting on his porch after feeding Goff and watching Eagly fly off to hunt possums. However, Peacemaker’s deceased father (Robert Patrick) appears on the porch to haunt his son for what is now a second time. Judging by his silent laughter and Peacemaker’s visibly frightened face, it certainly seems like this will be a lingering issue going into Season 2. Particularly after Harcourt saw Peacemaker talking to the vision in his head earlier in the episode. If his teammates start to question his sanity, that can only spell trouble for Peacemaker down the road.

Peacemaker Season 1 is available for streaming on HBO Max.