Month: October 2022

The White Lotus returns on Sunday, giving HBO another strong Sunday night viewing option now that the House of the Dragon has wrapped its first season. Given how well the first season of the Mike White-led show was received, there was always going to be some skepticism that the show would be able to match the tension and intrigue that Season One delivered.

The major changes for the show’s second season start with a location switch: from a tropical Hawaiian paradise to the Sicilian coast. And while Jennifer Coolidge returns from Season One, the show largely sports a new cast with Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham and Theo James playing major roles. That’s a lot of turnover, of course, and another introspective look at the wealthy having a bad time in a beautiful place may be a bit tired these days.

Monday, however, brought us the first reviews of the show’s second season, and the early returns are that we’re in for a lot of fun overseas this fall. And, well, some very steamy TV. As our very own Carrie Wittmer wrote, the show continues to showcase great acting and improve on a story arc that paid off big in Season One:

Season two of HBO’s The White Lotus wasn’t supposed to exist, yet it feels more essential and intentional than anything else on television this year. The excellent, biting first season was a sharp, uncomfortable by-design analysis of class dynamics in America. Rather than doing the same thing twice, White took his perfect formula and made something new with it. Season two is still about class, but within that, it is also about relationships both professional, familial, platonic, and romantic. But more than anything it is a study of the human impulse.

The Guardian‘s Nick Hilton says there’s “nothing more enjoyable to watch on television right now” and raved about the show’s comedic and dramatic tension alike:

It’s a brilliant cast, one that mixes undoubted comedic clout with dramatic chops. The highest possible compliment to offer The White Lotus is that it never matters to the viewer which of these threads is on-screen. Whether it’s under-sexed Harper and Ethan (“What’s with the boner?”), Bert talking about geriatric intimacy (“It’s a penis, it’s not a sunset”), or Valentina chasing Lucia through the hotel (“She’s one fast slut!”), the show is a sheer joy.

Angie Han of the Hollywood Reporter praised White’s ability to write interesting, if not still awful, characters:

Thankfully, the season is no less lucid in its observations or its sense of empathy. As a creator, White has a special talent for mining the gap between the people his characters want to see themselves as and the people they can’t help being. Here, he uses it to tap into a nebulous anxiety over whether it’s even possible to know what we truly want when we’ve spent our whole lives being told what to want.

Variety‘s Caroline Framke called the show “meandering” at times but also made it clear that “sex lies thick and heavy in the air” basically at all times during the first five hours of TV critics got to screen:

Making any prediction beyond “an orgy, probably?” seems unwise, so I won’t bother. Instead, I’ll just say that “The White Lotus” remains one of TV’s most purely visceral, evocative shows as it digs each of its guests up by their roots, and leave it to the rest of the season to reveal what lies beneath.

Missing from all these reviews, of course, is the final two episodes of the season. So right now few people know if Season Two can reach the finish line still triumphant. But given what we’ve heard on Monday, there’s a lot to like over the next few weeks as the newest ‘Lotus’ story unfolds.

Following the very poorly kept secret that his Superman appears in an end-credits scene for Black Adam, Henry Cavill has officially confirmed that he is returning to the role that he first started all the way back in 2013’s Man of Steel. With his Black Adam scene out in the wild, Cavill posted an Instagram video on Monday where he thanked the fans for their support and teased more Superman to come. He also shared a new character poster for the character’s return in Black Adam.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“I wanted to make it official — I am back as Superman,” Cavill said in a video. He thanked the fans, “most of all. Thank you for your support and for your patience.” He added that what audiences saw in Black Adam is a “very small taste” of things to come.

Cavill confirming his Superman return arrives on the heels of reports that Warner Bros. Discovery is aggressively looking to get Man of Steel 2 off the ground as the newly-merged conglomerate undergoes a reshuffling of the DC Comics franchise that will emphasize theatrical releases over streaming titles.

As for the fan reactions, they are overwhelmingly positive. Despite the divisive reception to Zack Snyder‘s attempt to build a DC Cinematic Universe (or DCEU as it was more commonly called), Cavill’s casting as the Man of Steel was never an issue. The actor has always received a ton of goodwill from DC Comics fans, even those who aren’t fans of the Snyderverse.

You can see some of the reactions below as the actor quickly started to trend on Twitter despite some stiff competition from the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania trailer:

And, of course, there was a shoutout to The Rock, who used every big of his significant clout to make Cavill’s return happen. Mostly so Black Adam can punch Superman in the face, but still.

(Via Henry Cavill on Instagram)

Regardless of what the Emmys said, this fall is Selena Gomez SZN. The upcoming 400th episode of Family Guy was partially inspired by her. She squashed any (falsely) perceived beef between her and Hailey Bieber. And today (October 24), she announced she has a new single on the way.

“My Mind & Me,” leading the soundtrack of her documentary of the same name, will arrive November 3. The documentary hits Apple TV+ on November 4.

Gomez shared her documentary’s trailer earlier this month. “Every breath, a breakthrough,” the 30-year-old actress and singer tweeted. “In honor of World Mental Health Day I wanted to share the trailer for my documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.” In a reply to her own tweet, Gomez encouraged her fans to “presave my new song” from the doc. She promised it was “coming soon!!” It’s probably safe to assume that song is “My Mind & Me,” which presumably soundtracked the trailer.

The two-minute, 20-second video is narrated by Gomez’s inner monologue, laid atop spliced footage from her childhood and ups and downs of stardom, including her lupus diagnosis and public mental health struggles. She says, “Just be who you are, Selena. No one cares about what you’re doing. It’s about who I am. Being OK with where I am. I am grateful to be alive. Let me make a promise. I am going to stop living like this. How do I learn to breathe my own breath again?”

In May, Gomez told Deadline she was “in LA working on my album now” and shared a since-deleted TikTok in July that showed her in a recording studio. There’s reason to wonder whether “My Mind & Me” is the beginning of a larger album rollout beyond her documentary. But for now, watch the My Mind & Me trailer below.

Every fan base in every sport shares one belief, and that is that the referees are out to get them.

Smaller market teams are convinced there’s a grand conspiracy against them to help the big guys, while big market teams think the refs hate them like the majority of other fans. It is one of the main roles of officials, to be the scapegoats because it’s easier to blame outside undue influence rather than the truth, which is usually that your favorite team wasn’t as good.

However, because of this, officials have to be very careful about doing anything that could lead to the belief that they would be bias on the field or court. That’s why video of a pair of officials appearing to ask Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans for his autograph after the Bucs dismal loss to the Panthers on Sunday raised some eyebrows and also sparked an NFL investigation into the matter.

We’ll learn the exact context of all of this after the investigation concludes, but it’s safe to say this isn’t a good look no matter what — and is why the “no asking for autographs” rule is in place. Now, given the Bucs lost in rather spectacular fashion to the Panthers as 13-point favorites, it’s pretty clear there wasn’t a lot of referee influence on the game, but you can’t have officials chasing down players in the tunnel to get them to sign something.

Lil Uzi Vert hasn’t been on tour since 2018, but that’s apparently soon to change, according to Complex. The genre-bending rapper, who recently came out as non-binary, announced that they are going on a 20-city headlining tour produced by Live Nation beginning in March 2023. The dates and venues will be announced soon; fans took the announcement as a promising sign that Uzi’s long-awaited third major-label album, The Pink Tape is also on the way after they delayed it in October 2021 to make sure “it won’t suck.”

Uzi’s last album, Eternal Atake, was released in 2020, but they were unable to tour after its release due to the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting industry shutdown. The shutdown was since rescinded but Uzi was already hard at work on the follow-up. To tide fans over in the meantime, Uzi shared the Red & White EP in July of this year, rolling it out piecemeal on their SoundCloud. Since then, Uzi’s been mostly radio silent until earlier this month, when they returned with a new single, “Just Wanna Rock.” The song sees Uzi taking a stab at a new sound, Jersey Club, and could foretell what to expect whenever The Pink Tape does drop.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The first trailer for the latest installment in the MCU is here, featuring everyone’s favorite snack-sized superhero, Ant-Man! Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will hit theaters in February 2023 with Paul Rudd back to reprise his role of the tiny guy who takes on the world’s most prominent villains. Maybe Thor is too busy or something?

The highly-anticipated installment will feature the infamous Marvel villain Kang, who is gearing up to shuffle in a new phase of the Marvel universe. Jonathan Majors has been portraying Kang in the MCU since last year when he appeared in Disney+’s Loki. We already know that Majors is set to reprise his role of Kang in The Avenger: Kang Dynasty in 2025, so this looks like it will be the beginning of a whole new era of villains. With the new trailer comes a daunting new poster that features Kang as the puppet master.

Fans might remember from Loki that there are different iterations of He Who Remains, and one of them is the powerful Kang (much like there are handfuls of Lokis running around in other universes), so it’s likely that there will be a lot of layers to the character during the next phase, which is why Majors was so interested in Kang. “It was the character and dimensions of Kang,” Majors recently revealed. “And the potential that it had. I thought I’ll take a chance on that.”

Now that Thanos and Gorr are out, Kang seems like he will be the next guy showing up all over the MCU and wreaking havoc. But Jonathan Majors is definitely ready for that! We just might be seeing Majors popping up in other Marvel shows in the future.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released in theaters on February 17th, 2023.

In The Eye, music’s best up-and-coming artists take to an intimate and minimal studio space to perform highlights from their discography, with only one microphone and one take. This time, in the studio is Pheelz, who you’ve probably heard while scrolling on your phone.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian Afrobeats singer had a moment on TikTok: Well before it was actually released, his and BNXN’s “Finesse” went viral on the platform, and after it came out, it continued to do well, racking up over 66 million streams on Spotify. The tune even landed him a record deal with Warner UK.

His career actually started long before that, though. He first made his name as an in-demand producer and was declared one of Nigeria’s best in 2013. At The Headies 2020 (a Nigerian music awards show), he picked up the Producer Of The Year award for his work on Teniola Apata’s “Billionaire.”

Then came “Finesse.” Aside from the aforementioned accolades, it was his first song to appear and go No. 1 on the Nigerian charts. It also got him his first Billboard chart placement when it landed on the Billboard Global 200.

Now, Pheelz finds himself in The Eye, for performances of his two biggest songs: “Finesse” and “Electricity.” On both renditions, he maintains the original feel of the songs, singing over a pre-recorded backing track. This setup lets both his original production and his smooth live vocals really shine.

Watch Pheelz perform “Finesse” and “Electricity” for The Eye above.

Pheelz is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As one of the top Latin artists in the world, Shakira is looking to collaborate with another Latin superstar soon. On Sunday (October 23), the Colombian singer revealed that she wants to work with Bad Bunny next.

Shakira is no stranger to working with Bad Bunny. In 2020, during her co-headlining set with Jennifer Lopez at the Super Bowl Halftime show, she brought out Bad Bunny as a surprise guest. The Puerto Rican singer performed “I Like It” with Shakira along with a salsa version of her hit “Chantaje.” Lopez brought out Colombian artist J Balvin as her surprise guest.

It’s been two years since Shakira and Bad Bunny hit the stage together and she revealed that she’s waiting for him to reach out for a collaboration. On JaviFerrariTV’s reaction video to her single “Monotonía” where he called for them to work together, she left a surprising comment.

Shakira wrote in Spanish, “I’m waiting for Bunny to call me. Yes! How did you know?”

A Shakira and Bad Bunny collaboration would be epic and sure to break records. With “Monotonía,” Shakira recently surpassed Bad Bunny for the Latin video with the most views on YouTube within its first 24 hours this year. Bad Bunny previously held that record with “Moscow Mule” video from his Un Verano Sin Ti album.

If you weren’t already jealous enough of Blue Ivy Carter, you might have another reason to be.

While attending the 2022 Wearable Art Gala in Los Angeles — an annual benefit founded by her grandparents, Tina Knowles-Lawson and husband Richard Lawson — the 10-year-old ended up placing an $80,000 bid over diamond earrings, leading to a very entertaining bidding war, according to TMZ.

Tons of celebrities and entertainers, such as Keke Palmer and Quinta Brunson, were in attendance for the lavish “Harlem Nights”-themed affair.

After a pair of Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings made their way to the auction block, Blue Ivy shot her paddle board up, to the surprise of not only the guests in attendance but the auctioneers, Palmer and her grandmother Tina.

But it looks like even Jay-Z and Beyoncé kid’s allowance has limits — Blue Ivy would eventually be outbid by Monique Rodriguez, the founder of the beauty company Mielle Organics, via her husband, Melvin, TMZ reports.

The two went back and forth over the jewelry until the price reached six figures and Blue Ivy bowed out.

This isn’t the first time the celebrity child found herself spending an exorbitant amount of her parent’s money. In 2018, Blue Ivy got into another hilarious bidding war with Tyler Perry over a painting of Sidney Poitier, bidding nearly $20,000.

Ahead of the House of the Dragon season finale, HBO premiered the first teaser trailer for its other show about a rich family arguing over who gets to rule.

The Succession season four teaser kicks off with Logan Roy (Brian Cox) complaining that “everything I try to do, people turn against me. I’m a hundred feet tall. These people are pygmies.” We then cut to a shot of the Roy kids — Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin) — in the aftermath of the season three finale, when they unsuccessfully tried to oust their aging father from the company. “Here they are, the rebel alliance,” Connor calls his siblings (the Conheads are gonna love this).

Later, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) asks Shiv if she wants to talk about what happened. No, Tom, your wife probably doesn’t want to talk about you ratting her out to her dad. Save that kind of talk for Greg (Nicholas Braun). Here’s more on season four:

In season four, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) moves ever closer. The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is complete. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.

Succession returns in spring 2023, possibly after The Last of Us (?).