Month: May 2022

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies 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.

10. (tie) Marry Me (Peacock)

Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson star as a preposterously attractive couple who get together after her character — one half of a global sensation pop duo — discovers her lover and music partner has been stepping out. That’s right, it is rom-com time over here. Will they? Won’t they? Whose hair will look better in the pivotal scene that will probably take place in the driving rain? There’s one way to find out: Grab some popcorn and comfy pajamas and set up shop on the couch. Watch it on Peacock.

10. (tie) Kimi (HBO Max)

Zoe Kravitz plays a stay-at-home digital detective in this latest thriller from Steven Soderbergh who — with the help of her friendly A.I. sidekick Kimi — uncovers a string of murders she traces back to the company she works for. She then must venture out into a pandemic-ridden Seattle in search of the reason why. Honestly, we can’t relate. But, Kravitz is quickly becoming a bonafide action star and a Soderbergh script rarely disappoints. Watch it on HBO Max.

10. (tie) West Side Story (Disney Plus)

Steven Spielberg brings the classic musical to the big and/or small screen, to the delight of both older fans and newer ones who get to experience it all for the first time. Get in there. Really let the experience wash over you. Sing along. Dance around your living room. Get in a knife fight with your sworn enemy. Okay, maybe not that last one. But the other ones, definitely. Watch it on Disney Plus.

10. (tie)Turning Red (Disney Plus)

In Domee Shi’s Turning Red, a boy band-loving teenage girl turns into a red panda whenever she experiences strong emotions, which as every parent of a teenager knows all too well, is often. Too often. It’s all the time, really. Turning Red is being called Pixar’s best movie in years, as it should. It’s about time red pandas got the cinematic showcase they deserve. Watch it on Disney Plus.

9. Deep Water (Hulu)

Deep Water is an erotic thriller that stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas as… honestly, what more do you need? It’s a “weird, wild mess” of a movie from the director of Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful, with a murder mystery, duplicitous characters, and Affleck as an alpha cuck. Deep Water is the kind of sleazy mainstream movie that rarely gets made anymore, so it feels like a sexy treat that it even exists (from Disney, no less). Break out your Ana de Armas cardboard cutout and make it a double feature with Basic Instinct. Watch it on Hulu.

8. Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off (HBO Max)

It is wild to think about how long Tony Hawk has been a figure in American pop culture. It is also wild to watch a full-length documentary about it, which is good and notable here because HBO made one. The whole thing is fascinating, the way the guy whose name is synonymous with skateboarding at this point is still doing it and does not plan to stop, and the way he’s built a career and lifestyle out of the thing he loved doing as a kid. It’s cool. And a good watch. Crank up “Superman” by Goldfinger and give it a run. Watch it on HBO Max.

7. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space-Aged Childhood (Netflix)

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood is loosely inspired by director Richard Linklater’s childhood in Texas. The coming-of-age animated film (think: Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, but more nostalgic) is set during the summer of the Moon landing, and features performances from Glen Powell, Zachary Levi, and Jack Black. Linklater brings out the best in Black (he’s fantastic in both School of Rock and Bernie), and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood looks to be no exception. Watch it on Netflix.

6. The Bubble (Netflix)

Judd Apatow’s The Bubble is a pandemic-era movie about making a movie during the pandemic. We’re through the looking glass, people. The comedy, which stars Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Pedro Pascal, and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm breakout Maria Bakalova, was produced like a “two-hour Simpsons episode,” according to Apatow, and reportedly inspired by the production of Jurassic World Dominion. If enough people watch it on Netflix, maybe we’ll get a full-length Cliff Beasts 6: The Battle For Everest movie. Watch it on Netflix.

5. Metal Lords (Netflix)

Game Of Thrones HBO co-creator D.B. Weiss wrote this little ditty while teaming up with Rage Against The Machine axeman Tom Morello as a love letter to the metal genre. The story revolves around two high-schoolers who seek the ultimate glory and win contests and be gods, and so on. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a bassist when Black Sabbath isn’t as popular with the kids as Justin Bieber is. The struggle is real.

4. The Takedown (Netflix)

What we have here is a French-language buddy action-comedy about two mismatched cops attempting to solve a mystery that starts with a simple drug deal and spins into a massive international conspiracy. We do not, in a typical week, recommend French-language buddy action-comedies to our largely English speaking audience, but we make an exception here for three reasons: One, it is directed by Louis Leterrier, who was hired to replace Justin Lin as the director of the upcoming 10th Fast & Furious movie and is therefore in the news; two, it stars Omar Sy from Lupin, which rules; three, expand your horizons a little bit, geez. Watch it on Netflix.

3. The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes (Netflix)

Netflix continues its push into true(…ish) crime with this look at the death of Marilyn Monroe. While the title and general tone seem to imply some sort of new potential conspiracy at play, most of it appears to be a rehashing/reheating of things that have bubbled up in the past. Still, for a new generation of Marilyn fans, and with a new movie about her starring Ana de Armas, it could be a useful look at the strange final days of an American icon. Or a decent refresher. Or a decent way to kill a couple hours. It can be a lot of things, really. Watch it on Netflix.

2. White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (Netflix)

The chokehold that Abercrombie & Fitch had on an entire generation of impressionable teens is just one of the many reasons watching the company’s disastrous fall in documentary form is so damn fun. This is a retail store that sold infant-sized clothes to fully-grown adults at the price of a life-time’s worth of body image issues. But if that’s just too dark to think about, it’s also a place where bare-chested men and heavy cologne assaulted you at every turn. In short, it was a hellscape disguised a shopping destination and this doc from Netflix peels back the curtains to paint a really interesting picture on discrimination in the workplace and the cost of cool. Watch it on Netflix.

1. The Batman (HBO Max)

What if Seven but with way more leather and punching? In a lot of ways, that could serve as a very simple synopsis of what Matt Reeves has done with the crown jewel of DC Comics lore, placing his take beside The Joker on the highest shelf (both in terms of artistry, societal commentary, and other adult themes) in the DCEU film library. Does it work? In some ways, absolutely, providing a grim but intriguing vision of the Batman as a detective with the mother of all chips on his shoulder as he wrestles with his thirst for vengeance and a vicious villain in Paul Dano’s Riddler, who is always seemingly one step ahead of him and Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon (a buddy cop pairing that is as awkward as it is rewarding). Throw in Zoe Kravitz’s tremendous turn as Selina Kyle/Catwoman (who also connects so well with Robert Pattinson’s Batman that you wish Reeves would have allowed for even more of their on-screen back and forth) and Gotham City’s usual mix of criminal underworld string-pulling and civic corruption and you’ve got a very full meal. Overfull? Too mature? Let’s just say The Batman can seem so grown up and dense at times that you may forget that it’s a superhero movie, for better or worse. Watch it on HBO Max.

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.

Get more streaming recommendations with our weekly What To Watch newsletter.

10. (tie) Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO)

If you think about it, Winning Time (HBO’s new Adam McKay-produced series about the 1980s LA Lakers) has all the elements of a classic heist movie. Assembled by a larger than life fast talker with equally big ambitions (in this case, former Lakers owner Jerry Buss), a rag-tag group comes together, leaning on their exceptional and unique talents to paper over any personality conflicts that might arise while taking the thing (a whole mess of gold trophies) no one thought they’d ever get their hands on. This while having some wild misadventures along the way. We’re simplifying, of course, but the point is this should appeal to basketball fans and non-basketball fans alike, earning the right to be the most buzzed-about piece of basketball culture crossover content since The Last Dance helped us all stave off boredom for a few months by telling the story of another mismatched group of big personalities and champions. Watch it on HBO.

10. (tie) Moon Knight (Disney Plus)

Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke are in the MCU now, but don’t expect either of them to be the typical Marvel superhero or villain. This show is sheer chaos (and joyous to behold) with Isaac’s character plagued with dissociative identity disorder and tormented with mockery by an Egyptian god. He’s a gift-shop employee, a mercenary, and a hero? Sure. Hawke plays a David Koresh-esque cult leader. Hold on tight. Watch it on Disney Plus.

10. (tie) I Love That For You (Showtime)

Vanessa Bayer was one of the best things about Saturday Night Live during her seven-year run and while nothing beats her awards-worthy work in the sketch comedy’s Totino’s trilogy, this definitely comes close. Based on Bayer’s own experience with childhood cancer (and her ongoing love affair with the home shopping channel) the show follows a yet-to-fully-mature woman who lies about her cancer diagnosis to keep her dream job. Everyone from Molly Shannon to Jenifer Lewis helps out here but it’s some of the lesser known members of the cast that really shine. Watch it on Showtime.

9. Under the Banner of Heaven (Hulu)

Does Andrew Garfield have a kink for playing spiritually tortured characters on screen? Maybe, but we’re not complaining. Especially when he’s serving up some of the best work of his career in this FX true-crime series that’s everything it should be: gritty, introspective, with edge-of-your-seat thrills and the kind of theological world-building normally reserved for fantasy fare. The timeline hopping can be a bit jarring, but Garfield and the rest of the cast (Daisy Edgar-Jones and Gil Birmingham in particular) help ground things. Watch it on Hulu.

8. The Pentaverate (Netflix)

Mike Myers wasn’t content to play a few characters in this series, so he decided to portray eight different personalities. Take that, Bridgerton netball prop. The show revolves around the centuries-long aftermath of a global catastrophe, after which a secret society came together to make sure that humanity’s sh*t doesn’t go off the rails again. Since there (probably) won’t be an Austin Powers 4, we can all relax and enjoy Myers while feeling grateful that this isn’t a Love Guru sequel. Watch it on Netflix.

7. Girls5Eva (Peacock)

Prepare to have the Girls5eva theme song stuck in your head again, assuming you haven’t still been humming it every day since season one. Peacock’s comedy about a reunited 1990s girl group, played by Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and the great Paula Pell, is a fine addition to the Tina Fey and Robert Carlock canon (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). The jokes fly fast, there’s pop culture references a-plenty, and gonna be famous 5eva, ’cause forever’s too short. It begins. Watch it on Peacock.

6. The Staircase (HBO Max)

The original true-crime docuseries (originally on Sundance TV) captivated enough people on Netflix that HBO Max decided to dramatize the story, and lo and behold, it works. Colin Firth plays Michael Peterson, who served prison time after the death of his wife, Kathleen (portrayed by Toni Collette) under mysterious circumstances. Sophie Turner and Parker Posey are on hand, and there’s a (SPOILER ALERT) certain theory that won’t be overlooked. This shall be an eight-part adaptation that explores the nature of fact and fiction and goes to some unexpected places. Watch it on HBO Max.

5. The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)

The first season of The Flight Attendant was a blast, just fizzy chaos and murder from the opening scene to the very end, with Kaley Cuoco carrying the action as a party girl airline employee who finds herself wrapped up in about eight layers of international flim-flammery. It’s back for a second season, thank God, with her character, Cassie, now assisting the CIA. That probably sounds like an insane twist to you if you didn’t watch the first season. And it is. But more importantly… why haven’t you watched the first season yet. Good Lord. Get in there. You deserve a good time. Watch it on HBO Max.

4. Barry (HBO Max)

It should not be possible to enjoy watching a sweet man like Bill Hader destroy his life and the lives of those around him, and yet, here we all are, ready for season three of Barry, one of the best shows on television. It’s a dilemma, honestly. Not as much of a dilemma as, say, being a hitman who stumbles into an acting career and has to occasionally kill more people to prevent other people from learning that he has a history of killing people, but still. There’s an embarassment of riches at play here. Find another show that features Henry Winkler and Stephen Root and D’Arcy Carden where none of them are the funniest character, somehow, against incredible odds. This is the power of NoHo Hank. You either know what that sentence means or you desperately need to binge Barry as soon as possible. Watch it on HBO Max.

3. Atlanta (FX/Hulu)

Well, guess what: Atlanta is back, four years since its second season and just as ready and willing to throw you for a loop. Earn and Paper Boi and Darius are still off in Europe on that tour they were en route to way back then, but there are detours and flights of fancy and all the other weird, stunning, inventive stuff that made (and makes) this one of our greatest shows. Donald Glover and this crew are pretty good at this stuff. It’s great to have them back. Watch it on Hulu.

2. Better Call Saul (Netflix, AMC)

Better Call Saul is back, soon, finally, after an extended layoff. It remains one of our greatest shows, a ball of tension and comedy, the former of which is amped up even more as it heads into its final season. What will happen to Kim? What will happen to Nacho and Lalo? The Breaking Bad timeline is rapidly approaching and it’s time to answer these questions once and for all. It’s okay to be nervous. We’re nervous, too. Take some time for a quick Season 5 rewatch on Netflix and then strap in for the new episodes on AMC Plus

1. Ozark (Netflix)

Alright, one thing is certain: this season is gonna be violent, and that could land right on top of Ruth Langmore and the Byrde family. Marty desperately wants to leave his money-laundering hellscape and go back to Chicagoan suburbia. Also, Ruth is hellaciously angry about losing almost everything. We’ll see if she can finally rise above that “cursed Langmore” status that she keeps clinging onto. There’s more cursed cookie jar, too, so we’ll see if she can rise above those ashes as the show careens to an end. Watch it on Netflix.

We love when rappers share their picks for the top five rappers. It gives us insights into their influences and creative processes. It often vindicates some of our most deeply held beliefs about the culture and genre. It puts newer or younger fans (sometimes older) onto a broader range of artists to check out. And, of course, it gives us an endless well of fuel for our most cherished Twitter debate, ensuring that we’ll have enough fat to chew on until the sun burns out.

The latest rapper to contribute to the long-running tradition is Lil Wayne, whose list is quite a doozy, containing both the expected picks and some left-field surprises that actually make sense when you consider his own unique approach to the art of rap. Wayne gave his answer in a special edition of What’s Wright? With Nick Wright, a podcast version of the Fox Sports personality’s popular show.

Almost as well known for his affinity for hip-hop as Wayne is for his sports referencing raps, Wright offers his own list (a pretty humdrum collection including the usual picks: Jay-Z, Tupac, Wayne himself, Kanye West, and T.I.), which Wayne says he respects. Then Wayne starts off his own list with a pick that far too few people include for my taste, Missy Elliott. Vindication!

Missy is a pick that makes perfect sense for Wayne — a quirky writer and performer who outright avoids convention and whose influence resonates throughout the industry, even if she rarely gets credit for it. Good one on Wayne for including her. Of course, Jay-Z enters his list (he’s repeatedly said that the Brooklyn rapper is his favorite MC ever). He also credits Biggie and Gucci Mane — another interesting pick, although not wholly unexpected from a Southerner like Wayne. Guwop’s influence throughout the bottom half of the States is undeniable and inextricable. His last pick is pretty mind-blowing though.

He cheats a little by picking a group, but rather than a well-worn, oft-tapped collective like Wu-Tang Clan, Wayne once again shows his Southern roots by choosing Atlanta mainstays Goodie Mob, a four-man band that includes Big Gipp, CeeLo Green, Khujo, and T-Mo. Their debut album, Soul Food,
is considered a classic and as part of the Dungeon Family, they worked extensively with Outkast and Organized Noise, two of the most pivotal groups in Southern rap.

Not a bad list, all things considered. And like I said before, pretty telling when you compare Wayne’s influences to his output. It’s easy to see why he goes against the grain so much and the results so often turn out so well.

Check out Lil Wayne’s full interview with Nick Wright above.

Of all the bad takes to come from the leaking of Justice Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court draft opinion about overturning Roe v. Wade, and setting America and women’s health care back by a half-century, Trevor Noah believes that Newsmax might have the worst take of all.

Like many sane and logical people, The Daily Show host finds it kind of bizarre that so many people seem more concerned with the actual leaking of the document than the fact that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn a basic right to health care that women have had for 50 years. “It’s weird,” said Noah. “It’s like running around the deck of the Titanic trying to find out who yelled, ‘We’re sinking!’ instead of focusing on the iceberg.”

But if he had to pick one clear winner in the quest to determine who could come up with the most offensive and racist response to the leak, that award would go to Newsmax. Because while the rest of the talking heads at Fox News were busy playing the world’s most boring game of Clue, Noah claims that “Newsmax had already closed the case: It was the Black woman!”

Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield told viewers that he “found it suspect that the first leak coming out of the Supreme Court, in history, comes shortly after Judge Jackson is confirmed. She would be my first suspect when it comes to the leak.”

Noah’s response couldn’t have been more on-point: “And my first suspect for a**hole is YOU! Is YOU! Bravo, detective, bravo. Look at you, using the tried-and-true investigative technique of ‘the Black person did it.’”

You can watch the full clip above.

You would think that the president of Brazil would have better things to do than feud with the star of Titanic (and that’s coming from an American). But Jair Bolsonaro told Leonardo DiCaprio to “keep your mouth shut” after the actor called on Brazilians to vote for environmentalist candidates. “Brazil is home to the Amazon and other ecosystems critical to climate change. What happens there matters to us all and youth voting is key in driving change for a healthy planet,” he tweeted, along with a link to register to vote.

In response, Bolsonaro said, “DiCaprio has to know that it was the very president of the World Trade Organization who said that without Brazilian agribusiness, the world would be hungry. So, DiCaprio better keep his mouth shut instead of talking nonsense.”

Destruction of the world’s largest rainforest has surged since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 and weakened environmental protections, arguing that they hinder economic development that could reduce poverty in the Amazon region. In October, a group of climate lawyers urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Bolsonaro for his alleged attacks on the Amazon, which they said amount to “crimes against humanity.”

There’s two kinds of crimes against humanity: there’s actual crimes against humanity, like destroying the rainforest, and there’s the crime against humanity that is “Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar.” One is a slightly bigger crime than the other.

(Via CNN)

Geraldo Rivera and Greg Gutfeld (!) are like the Statler and Waldorf of Fox News, if Statler and Waldorf were devoid of any charm and both regularly made asses of themselves on live television (Al Capone’s vault included). The Five co-hosts regularly get fiery and butt heads on the talk show, and occasionally make up in the end. Yesterday was not one of those days.

On Wednesday, as The Daily Beast reports, the pair had yet another showdown—this time over, yep, you guessed it: abortion.

While the conversation was largely about Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion, it turned into something much more juvenile—at least for Gutfield, who truly is a king of dumb takes or just likes to play the role for ratings. Whatever the case, he clearly got bored listening to Rivera lament the possible upheaval of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. “What am I going to tell my daughters now?” Rivera wondered. “That they don’t have control over their body? That they can’t make those choices for themselves?”

When Gutfeld ultimately decided to chime in, it was basically to say that pro-lifers have it easy because they have the better elevator pitch on their viewpoint. “This is why pro-lifers win,” he said. “Because they can state their case so plainly. You ask somebody why they’re pro-life and they’ll say: ‘Because abortion takes a life, and we believe that life is sacred.’ You can disagree with that, but you can’t disagree with the simplicity of it, right? But the problem with the pro-choicers is that they don’t have the balls to state their cases plainly. Just say, like, ‘I prefer freedom over fetuses.’”

When Geraldo interjected with “My Body, My Choice: How much simpler can you get?,” Gutfeld was not ready to hand over the spotlight. And he went in pretty hard by determining that while abortion used to be considered “a necessary evil… Now, when you go anywhere on social media, it’s something to celebrate, to cherish,” which is something only a person lacking a vagina would say. And Geraldo called “baloney!” on him (yes, he actually said “baloney”). And he didn’t stop there.

A now pissed-off Geraldo told Gutfeld that he was “arrogant” and an “insulting punk”—who description Gutfeld seemed to relish.

You can watch the full exchange above.

(Via The Daily Beast)

On Wednesday, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame announced its class of 2022: Dolly Parton, Eminem, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Eurythmics, and Pat Benatar. The New York Times called it as “a musically diverse array of inductees,” which is certainly true. Taken on their own merits, each new Hall Of Famer is … fine. Totally, totally … fine! But these things are never taken solely “on their own merits.” Anyone who cares — and caring about the Rock Hall qualifies as questionable behavior, I acknowledge — can’t help but note who’s not yet in.

I started voting for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2021, after spending much of my professional career blowing raspberries at the institution. But for all of my criticisms of the Rock Hall, I figured that if this thing is going to exist, I want to have a (very small) say in who gets in. Though as a voter, you only have so much power. Each year, the nominating committee picks in the neighborhood of 20 acts for consideration, and voters pick up to five of those nominees on their ballots. Write-ins are not allowed. (If they were, I would have put WARREN ZEVON in big block letters on all of my ballots.)

It’s no secret that a great number of worthy artists are not in the Rock Hall. In many cases, I understand why, sort of. I suppose John Prine doesn’t seem “rock” enough for the voters? Kate Bush probably isn’t famous enough in America? Most people only know Thin Lizzy for one song, I guess? But there is one glaring bias that I really don’t understand. For all of the focus on producing “a musically diverse array of inductees” — an important goal, for sure — the Rock Hall historically has shown little to no apparent interest in honoring much of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful rock music of the last 40 (!) years.

I’m not one of those people who complains about non-rock artists making it in the Rock Hall. I lean toward defining “rock ‘n’ roll” as loosely as possible, given that the most important artists of the genre have always been magpies who take from all kinds of music, from country to jazz to hip-hop, and everything in between. The Rock Hall should reflect that. (Congrats, Dolly!) At the same time, however, I do find it very odd that a lot of actual rock music often isn’t even considered for the Rock Hall. Sometimes, I think there’s a misconception that all of the notable rock bands have already been inducted. This could not be farther from the truth.

Now, I could be referring to any number of overlooked metal and hard rock acts from the ’70s onward, but let’s focus on one egregious oversight at a time. (Shout-out to Judas Priest for making it in this year as a “Musical Excellence” inductee. Now do Iron Maiden!) Instead, I want to talk about the Rock Hall’s weird bias against alt and indie bands.

This year, former residents of Alternative Nation Beck and Rage Against The Machine were up for induction, and passed on. Reasonable people can disagree about whether these acts are more or less important than Lionel Richie or Carly Simon. But there’s no question that the average Rock Hall voter tends to prefer pop and soft-rock stars of the ’70s and ’80s over artists who appealed to teens and young adults in the ’80s and ’90s. And that hasn’t really changed over time, even as our most iconic alt and indie legends have moved well into middle age.

So far only the highest echelon of ’90s alternative’s one percent have made it into the Rock Hall: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Foo Fighters. (Don’t forget that Radiohead, embarrassingly, was passed over on their first year of eligibility.) Now consider this partial list of notables who are not in: Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Hole, Blink-182, Blur, Ween, Tori Amos, Stone Temple Pilots, and Tool. (I could also note bands that aren’t strictly alt-rock but are alt-adjacent, like Phish, the Dave Matthews Band, Massive Attack, and the Black Crowes.)

On the ’90s indie side, you have Pavement — once described as “the finest rock band of the ’90s” by The Village Voice — on the outside looking in, along with luminaries such as PJ Harvey, Björk, Fugazi, Wilco, Liz Phair, Guided By Voices, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate, Flaming Lips, Built To Spill, and Yo La Tengo.

Maybe you like these artists, and maybe you don’t. But this is not obscure music! They all were either popular or critically adored in their time (or both), and in many cases they continue to be relevant today as legacy acts or respected brands. In terms of music history, they are obviously significant to the continuum of rock music. But the museum that purports to honor that continuum seems to think — outside of the most obvious heavy hitters — that rock music mostly ended after the Eagles broke up.

Earlier this week, Vulture ran an illuminating (by which I mean extremely irritating) interview with two unidentified Rock Hall voters, in which they candidly divulged their reasoning for who they did and didn’t vote for. Based on their responses, I assume these voters are Boomers or on the very gray end of Generation X. (One voter described themselves as “an old person in training.”) Neither of them voted for Beck or Rage Against The Machine. On the latter act, one voter remarked, “It’s too early for Rage Against the Machine. Their music holds up very well, but there are too many bands that are decades older than them that need to be inducted first. Jane’s Addiction isn’t in. Fishbone isn’t in. Get those guys in their first; then we talk about Rage Against the Machine.”

Consider that Rage Against The Machine’s landmark self-titled debut will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November. We’ve had six different presidents since that album dropped! And yet this is what passes for “too early” in the mind of at least one Rock Hall voter. Rage guitarist Tom Morello turns 58 later this month, which means he was eligible to join AARP back in 2014. But by Rock Hall standards, he’s still an inexperienced whippersnapper. Still! In 2022! And you wonder why he continues to rage against machines!

All of that aside, I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea that Fishbone or Jane’s Addiction deserve to get in before Rage Against The Machine. I’m not even that big of a Rage fan, though I did vote for them this year, because they are legitimately important as a bridge between heavy rock and hip-hop, and also because I suspected Boomer voters would ignore them. (Like Tom Morello, I’m young by Rock Hall standards. Thank you, Rock Hall!)

Here’s the thing: The Rock Hall’s record of honoring the icons of ’80s indie and alt rock is even worse than it is for the ’90s. According to the essential Future Rock Legends website, Jane’s Addiction has been nominated just once, in 2012, and was passed over, while Fishbone has never even been nominated. But wait! It gets so much worse! Let me put it this way: Not a single band from Michael Azerrad’s classic 2001 book about ’80s American indie rock, Our Band Could Be Your Life, is in the Rock Hall. Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission Of Burma, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Mudhoney, Beat Happening — it’s a big 0-for-13.

Look again at all those names! How in the hell can you tell the story of rock ‘n’ roll without including a single one of them? As for the ’80s American indie acts not in Azerrad’s book, The B-52’s, Pixies, Bad Brains, and X are also skunked. You might as well add Devo, another 2022 nominee that was passed over, to this pile as well. Expanding beyond America, the list grows even more shameful: The Smiths, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Joy Division/New Order, My Bloody Valentine, Echo And The Bunnymen, the Pet Shop Boys, and the Jesus And Mary Chain all have to wait their turn before Eurythmics.

Again, reasonable people can argue over whether some or even most of these acts are worthy of induction. But the collective neglect of this era is appalling to the point of being inexcusable, especially given how Rock Hall voters seem intent at the point on delving deep into the second and third tiers of ’70s and ’80s corporate rock and pop, while throwing an occasional bone to a multi-platinum rapper. What compounds the shoddy treatment of ’80s and ’90s alt and indie acts is that it will make it even harder for future alt and indie acts to be considered. Following the logic of that anonymous voter from the Vulture article, how can a future voter induct The National or Vampire Weekend if a band as foundational to the genre as Sonic Youth isn’t even in the Rock Hall?

To be clear, the Rock Hall is the one most hurt by this. Many of the acts I’ve listed have been the subjects of well-regarded books and documentaries. Thankfully, musical historians have given them the proper appreciation. They will all be fine without the Rock Hall. It’s the Rock Hall that is severely diminished without them.

As Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gets ready to shatter the very fabric of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reality even further, the film’s writer Michael Waldron is now regretting setting up so many multiverse rules in last year’s Loki series for Disney+. Obviously, Waldron had a blast making the show, which was the MCU’s first foray into the multiverse, but he quickly realized maybe he didn’t have to be so precise in setting up how the cinematic multiverse works.

“We worked pretty hard on Loki to make it as airtight as possible,” Waldron told Digital Spy. “But there were times when I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t, I wish I hadn’t have defined that so clearly. I don’t know why I had to be so specific in my time-travel television show about the rules of the multiverse.’”

Despite writing himself into a couple of tight spots, the rules ultimately helped Waldron and the Doctor Strange creative theme stay on same page. “You have to all have a shared language of all this stuff, otherwise it can get pretty confusing,” Waldron said before teasing a connection between the sorcerer film and Loki Season 2:

“Well, I mean, look, everything leads into everything, right?” he said. “We’ve hired a couple of great directors. [Justin] Benson and [Aaron] Moorhead [Loki season two directors] are brilliant. And Eric Martin has taken over as head writer for season 2.

“So the creative team is fantastic. As Tom [Hiddleston, who plays Loki] once said, there’s plenty more mischief to come.”

In the meantime, Marvel has dropped another jam-packed preview for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which is already making its way into theaters on Thursday night. You can watch it below:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness goes wide on May 6.

(Via Digital Spy)

It was announced yesterday that Dolly Parton will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame after she initially rejected the nomination before later changing her mind. After the news broke, Parton offered a statement in which she noted she was “honored and humbled” by being voted into the Hall Of Fame.

Now, she has spoken more about it in a new Billboard interview and during the conversation, she revealed she’s not sure if she’s going to attend the induction ceremony.

When asked if she would, she responded, “I don’t know. If I do, I’m going to sing the hardest style rock ‘n’ roll song I could ever muster up just to show that I can do it.” She added, “I don’t know what I’ll do. […] But I’ll do something to make it fun and to be forgiven for my mistake. To earn my title.”

She also declared that some day, she will make a rock album, saying, “I had actually thought about that before I even got nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve always wanted to do a great rock album, and I’m going to do that. I don’t know when, but I will do one.”

Check out the interview here.

Just when it seems like Anderson .Paak can’t get any better, he adds a new gift to his repertoire. The eight-time Grammy Award winner will make his feature directorial debut with dramatic comedy K-POPS!, which he will also star in, Deadline reports. It will be a special treat for the multi-hyphenate as his son, Soul Rasheed, will join him on the big screen.

The film follows a washed-up musician taking his talents to Korea to write for K-pop stars, learning along the way that his estranged son is the leader of one of the most popular groups within the genre. The father sees the opportunity as a way to push himself forward, but realizes connecting with his son is much more gratifying.

The film’s premise uniquely parallels the 36-year-old’s life in certain ways, though calling him washed may be a stretch. Alongside Silk Sonic member Bruno Mars, .Paak brought home four awards at the most recent Grammys as they now prepare for their Vegas residency in May.

The Ventura artist stated, “My mom is from Korea but she was adopted so I never knew anything about my heritage until I met my wife. This movie is a reflection on learning about this part of myself alongside my wife and son — and spending even more time with them!”

The film, released under Stampede Ventures, includes contributions from rapper Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park and writing from Khaila Amazan, responsible for A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea And Tomorrow.

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