Avatar: The Way of Water will finally arrive (on December 16), 13 years after the first movie ignited a box-office storm and prompted discussions of whether motion-capture-and-CGI-boosted performances should be Oscar eligible. This event will have followed several years of head-scratching reactions about why one of the reported sequel titles happens to be The Seed Bearer, but here we are. Cameron has long-promised that Avatar II will blow audiences away to the point where they will “sh*t yourself with your mouth wide open,” so that’s something to look forward to experiencing. In 3D, no less.
There’s more to anticipate with Cameron’s return to Pandora. The cast (which includes several lead returning members) stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, along with Kate Winslet, Jemaine Clement, Edie Falco, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, and CCH Pounder. Also expect plenty of breath-holding action, given that Saldana competed with her fellow cast members in a relevant competition and only landed in third place after maintaining a five-minute stint. That’s nuts, but Kate Winslet actually bested Tom Cruise with her record. No thank you.
The movie promises more stunning visuals, which you can see in the below trailer.
Be warned that this film arrives with a reported runtime of over 3 hours. Audiences may grumble if this is an accurate factoid, given that the first movie remains the highest grossing movie in cinematic history. And as with the first film, characters will plop their consciousness into an Avatar, meaning that they’ll be maneuvering from within a Na’vi body. Here are more details via the film’s synopsis:
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie pushed his Me Vs. Myself album release to December to avoid stacking up against Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss, but A Boogie’s competitive spirit is alive and well in “Ballin,” his vibey new single that first debuted yesterday in NBA 2K23and officially released today (November 3).
“I’m a gamer. I spend way too much time playing 2K, it’s my favorite game,” A Boogie said in a press statement. “With this single, I wanted to give my fans a chance to first hear ‘Ballin’ in NBA2K. To be featured on the soundtrack for this season is big for me. I hope my fans enjoy it and all the gamers out there who play NBA2K everyday like me also enjoy listening to the song in the game.”
A Boogie’s flow is as buttery as a Steph Curry jump shot. And, of course, the track features a Curry name-drop in the first verse: “Got my hoodie on like / Melo in the garden / Got my money up / I’m ballin’ like LeBron son / They want me to lose my breath / So I got to watch my step / Two 30s on my hip / I call ’em Steph and Seth.”
“Ballin” follows fellow Me Vs. Myself singles “Take Shots” featuring Tory Lanez and “BRO (Better Ride Out)” featuring Roddy Ricch.
Watch the visualizer above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Philadelphia 76ers have struggled out of the gate during the 2022-23 NBA season, as the team sits at 4-5 after being a popular pick during the preseason to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. One of the brightest spots through the first nine games has been the play of James Harden, who has showed signs of getting back to form after underwhelming after the team pulled off a deal at the trade deadline to acquire this services.
But according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the All-NBA guard is headed to the sidelines for a spell. Wojnarowski reports that Harden suffered a right foot tendon sprain, and as a result, he will be relegated to the bench for the next month or so.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden has suffered right foot tendon strain and is expected to miss a month. pic.twitter.com/LHEIucfbFj
It is unclear when Harden suffered the injury. On Wednesday night, Harden played 35 minutes in Philadelphia’s 121-111 loss to the Washington Wizards. He has appeared in every game the Sixers have played this season, and has led the team with 22 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds in 36.8 minutes a night — he is the team’s leader in assists, is second to Joel Embiid in rebounding, and sits in third behind Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in scoring.
James Corden was already accused of stealing from Ricky Gervais this week, and though he admitted his fault there the Late Late Show host isn’t out of the woods on joke controversies just yet. In light of the accusations he took a punchline from a Gervais special, apparently inadvertently at least, another joke from years earlier has been given new light thanks to some fans of comedian Noel Fielding’s work.
As The Independent detailed on Thursday, Corden’s late-night catalog has faced some deeper investigation in the wake of Monday’s episode of The Late Late Show, in which Corden made a joke about Elon Musk buying Twitter that had the same guitar lesson-based plot Gervais had used in the past. Corden was quick to admit the joke was Gervais’s, and the latter speculated that a Late Late Show writer was likely influenced by his work. But it’s not the only time a joke has appeared very similar to another comedian’s material.
Corden, who at one point was banned from a restaurant for being mean to its staff, is now accused of borrowing material of Noel Fielding who, depending on what you watch on TV, is either most notable as a host of the Great British Baking Show or one of the unhinged lunatics behind A Mighty Boosh. The controversy dates back to a joke Fielding made in 2010, which can be found on YouTube.
During his set, Fielding had joked that the best way to stop someone from mugging you was to whisper, “Oi, mate,” which he suggested would make the attacker put down their knife and ask, “What is it?”
In 2017, Corden said during an interview on The Late Late Show that he finds the best way to avoid being mugged is to whisper to the robber, “You’re never going to believe what’s happened.” He said the culprit would put down their weapon and say, “What?”
At the time, Fielding replied to a fan who accused Corden of stealing his joke, writing: “I believe this is my material x.”
Fielding’s joke starts around the 4:30 mark of this video, from the 2010 Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. The setup is much longer than Corden’s quip, as the whisper material becomes central to Fielding’s stand-up routine at Just For Laughs. And while it’s not as word-for-word as Corden’s mishap with Gervais, it’s hard to argue against the jokes being very similar.
Unlike Monday’s controversy over Gervais, which drew a swift apology from Corden via the show’s Twitter account, the Late Late Show host has yet to address Fielding’s material just yet. Which is kind of ironic, as his show actually did a Great British Baking Show parody on Halloween night, the same day Corden’s first joke controversy was sparked.
GBBO HALLOWEEN EDITION with Freddy Kreuger, Pinhead (played by Fred Armisen), Regan MacNeil from “The Exorcist” and @joshgad! pic.twitter.com/uI0Q27oOvz
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) November 1, 2022
We’ll have to wait and see what Corden says about this one, but it’s yet another weird controversy for the host to deal with in what’s becoming a very long year for him online.
Well, today is the day! After months of Netflix teasing and threatening that it would be introducing ads for a lower price point, this week, Netflix added their ad-supported tier for $6.99 a month… even though they said for years they would never have ads, but hey, people change! So do million-dollar companies too, evidently.
The only problem (well, there are a few problems but we don’t have time to dissect all of them) is that the shiny new plan doesn’t work for anyone with an Apple TV. They really tried though, and you have to give them credit for rushing to get ads on there instead of spending all that money churning out another season of Stranger Things before the cast is old enough to collect social security checks.
Apple TV owners who might have been itching to try out the new cheaper plan will have to wait a little longer. In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson said, “Basic with ads plan support on tvOS is not available at launch but coming soon.” We all know that when Netflix says “soon” it could mean anything from a few months to years, so that’s fun.
The fumble isn’t a huge surprise, since the ad-supported subscription was originally supposed to launch in 2023, and Netflix scrambled to get it out in time for the holidays when their main competitor Disney+ is also introducing ads. Ads! For everyone! All the time!
As of right now, Apple TV users who wish to try out the new plan will either have to use it on a different device or upgrade to a more expensive plan with no ads. Maybe this was their plan all along–to get people to pay for more plans! How many times can YOU use the word “plan” in a sentence?!
Anderson Valley/Elysian/Rogue/East Brother/istock/Uproxx
If you’re at all familiar with the craft beer world, you’ve probably seen the term “oatmeal stout” before. It’s a common designation that simply means that, on top of the usual barley, the style includes a large percentage of oats in its mash. While that doesn’t necessarily make it taste like the oatmeal porridge you had for breakfast, it does create a creamier, smoother stout, which also has the roasted barley, coffee, and chocolate flavors you’d expect from a stout.
Popular in the 1800s and then largely gone by the mid-1900s, it wasn’t until Samuel Smith released an oatmeal stout back in 1978 that the style began to (re)gain popularity. Since then, the oatmeal stout has become popular enough that you could probably find a hundred or more if you looked hard enough.
Whatever your beer preference, November is a great time of year to dive into this historical style — hearty, warming, full-flavored and probably not as filling as most people imagine. To help get you started, this week I chose eight great oatmeal stouts (including the aforementioned Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout) and ranked them based on flavor and balance. Keep reading to see them all.
Brewed with Nugget hops as well as 2-row, Chocolate malts, Vienna malts, roasted barley, and of course oats, Oatis is known for its roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and light hops. This 7% ABV oatmeal stout is available year-round but shines in the fall.
Tasting Notes:
Coffee, chocolate, raisins, and roasted malts, but not much else. The palate continues this trend with more roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, and the addition of slightly herbal, earthy hops. Overall, not a bad beer by any means, just not very exciting. Fairly simple.
Bottom Line:
This beer isn’t lacking anything specifically. It’s just a little lighter in flavor than I’d hope for an oatmeal stout. A little watery for my liking.
You might wonder why a beer from Oregon named itself after William Shakespeare. Well, Rogue Ales was originally founded in Ashland, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. One of the first beers ever brewed by Rogue, this beer has been available since 1988.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of dark chocolate, coffee beans, roasted malts, light smoke, and pine needles greet your nostrils. The palate is all vanilla, roasted malts, coffee, and dark chocolate. It’s flavorful, but a little one-dimensional. It could use a little more balance between malts and hops.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a smooth, roasted malt, coffee-filled beer without any other major distinguishable flavors, this is the beer for you. Otherwise, keep looking.
Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is the OG oatmeal stout, having its genesis in the late 1970s. This 5% ABV stout is made with traditional ingredients including well water, cane sugar, malted barley, hops, roasted malts, and oatmeal.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of dark chocolate, coffee, burnt sugar, roasted malts, and sweet oats draw you in. Drinking it reveals more coffee, bitter chocolate, roasted malts, and dried fruits. It’s creamy, silky, and easy to drink. Its only downfall is that it’s a little thin.
Bottom Line:
Perhaps it’s because of the low ABV, but Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is a bit muted and thin for a fall beer.
You might not have ever heard of Oliver Brewing BMore Breakfast, but you definitely should. This Baltimore-based brewery makes a variety of high-quality beers and one of its best is its 6% ABV oatmeal stout, loaded with coffee, chocolate, and roasted malts.
Tasting Notes:
The nose centers on roasted malts, caramel, dark chocolate, and a ton of freshly-brewed coffee aromas. The bittersweet flavor profile is filled with more roasty, toasty malts, toffee, very light coffee, bitter chocolate, and some licorice. Great beer but could definitely use more coffee flavor as it’s listed as a breakfast beer.
Bottom Line:
This is a creamy, chocolate, and roasted malt-filled stout. The only downfall is that while it starts off with a big coffee aroma, the palate doesn’t continue that trend.
This bold, 8.1% ABV imperial oatmeal stout is brewed with Pale, Munich, Chocolate, and C-77 malts as well as roasted barley and roasted oats. It gets its floral, slightly bitter flavor from the addition of Magnum, Cascade, and Centennial hops.
Tasting Notes:
Roasted malts, caramel, bready malts, and lightly floral hops are prevalent on the nose. While there isn’t a ton going on with the nose, the palate makes up for it with sweet malts, freshly-baked bread, roasted malts, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, dried fruits, all with a gentle, semi-sweet bitterness at the very end that leaves you craving more.
Bottom Line:
Elysian Dragonstooth Stout is a beer that proves that less is more. It’s very simple on the nose and palate, but that totally works for this beer. It’s bold, rich, robust, and heavily warming on a cool fall night.
If you’re a fan of Great Lakes Brewing, you probably enjoy its Edmund Fitzgerald porter and its wintry Christmas Ale, but we suggest starting fall right with its Ohio City oatmeal stout. This roasty, warming seasonal beer is brewed with 2-row, Crystal 77, Chocolate, and Black malts as well as flaked oats. It gets its hoppy bitterness from the addition of Willamette hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find bitter chocolate, butterscotch, wintry spices, coffee, and roasted malts. The palate is a symphony of roasted coffee beans, toasted malts, caramel, vanilla, and lightly bitter hops. The finish is creamy and semi-sweet.
Bottom Line:
Great Lakes Ohio City is a great example of an oatmeal stout done right. It’s slightly sweet, slightly bitter, and effortlessly creamy.
While Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is available year-round, it drinks the best in the fall. Brewed with oats and a variety of malts, it gets its bitter, earthy, herbal flavor from the addition of Chinook and Northern Brewer hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of dried fruits, freshly baked bread, roasted malts, coffee beans, and rich chocolate. The palate follows suit with candied cherries, sticky toffee, bitter chocolate, and lightly floral, bitter hops tying everything together. The finish is a velvety creamy mix of sweetness and bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This award-winning beer is sublimely well-balanced with roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, and dried fruits pairing nicely with Northwest hops.
Richmond, California’s East Brother is a brewery you should know about. They don’t rely on flashy labels, they rely on well-made, flavorful beer. This is especially true with its award-winning East Brother Oatmeal Stout. This English-style oatmeal stout is known for its mix of roasted malts, chocolate, and coffee.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of sweet oats, dried fruits, chocolate, coffee beans, toffee, and floral hops greet you before your first sip. Chocolate, coffee, and roasted malts continue into the palate with raisins, bready malts, licorice, and oats making an appearance as well. The finish is creamy, sweet, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
Nobody will fault you for grabbing a sixer of oatmeal stout made by a big-name brand, but we challenge you to try beer from a smaller brewery like East Brother from time to time instead. You’ll be happy you did.
Netflix is in such need of money after losing subscribers by the millisecond that the streaming service — which has already made moves to prevent people from sharing passwords — is introducing an ad-supported tier, which launches today (Thursday, November 3) in eight extremely unlucky countries including the United States. Deadlinereports that starting 9 a.m. Pacific time, the Basic With Ads plan goes live in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and South Korea.
The Basic With Ads plan has already launched in Canada and Mexico (what did they do to deserve this before everyone else?) and Spain will get the ads starting November 10. Per Deadline, pricing for Basic With Ads can vary depending on location, but it is $6.99 in the U.S., while a basic plan without ads is $9.99. Netflix chief operating officer and product chief Greg Peters called Basic With Ads plan “a pro-consumer model” that will bring in “a lot more members.”
Basic With Ads will include about four to five minutes of ads per hour. Ads will be included in both television and films, but a special exception will be made for new films coming to the service, such as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Out of respect for the movies (hahaha) Netflix will “just have a pre-roll” of ads before its major original film releases start so you can watch the whole thing uninterrupted. “We’ll try to preserve that sort of cinematic model there,” Peters said.
A couple of minutes of ads before a movie in the comfort of your very own home? No one has shown more respect to cinema than this!
Once it became clear that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was still moving forward despite the death of Chadwick Boseman, Marvel made the surprising, yet respectful decision to not recast the role of T’Challa for the sequel. When the decision was made back in December 2020, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige simply said that Boseman’s portrayal of the Black Panther is “iconic and transcends iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel’s past.” Only in recent months has Feige elaborated on the recasting decision by explaining that it was “much too soon.”
“The world is still processing the loss of Chad,” Feige told Empire. “And Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story.”
Turns out, Marvel was not messing around with its commitment to the recasting decision. Black Panther producer Nate Moore shared with io9 that “Marvel probably would have canceled the movie entirely before actually recasting Boseman’s role as T’Challa.”
“[Chadwick’s] passing was sudden. It hit us really hard,” Moore told io9. “And you do have the thought of maybe we should just stop. Certainly, sequels aren’t a mandate. Many movies have existed as one-offs and they’re fantastic. Maybe Black Panther just lives on its own bubble. And then you start to have the other conversation, which is it did mean so much to people. And… even Chad, I think, knew it could mean as much as it did to people while we were making the first one.”
As writer/director Ryan Coogler recently shared, Wakanda Forever had one advantage that helped deal with the challenge of moving forward without Boseman. The story was already about grief. According to Coogler, the original script would’ve focused on T’Challa grappling with his five year absence during the events of Avengers: Endgame.
“He was grieving time he couldn’t get back,” Coogler told Inverse. “Grief was a big part of it.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.
Now that House of the Dragon is over, Sunday nights just aren’t the same. The Last of Us, an apocalyptic drama adapted from the critically acclaimed and universally beloved video game series of the same name is coming to HBO in January 2023 though, so you will have something addicting to bide the time until Succession returns for season four.
The Last of Us includes an all-star cast including some of Hollywood’s best such as international treasure Melanie Lynskey, comes from the Emmy-winning writer ofChernobyl, and from the looks of the powerful trailer at the top, it will be a good, if somewhat depressing, time.
Here’s everything you need to know about HBO’s The Last of Us, from the premiere date to the cast to the creatives behind the camera:
What’s It About?
The Last of Us is based on the video game series of the same name that is set 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a fatal virus. The story follows a teenage girl Ellie and a hired hand Joel who helps her travel across the United States. Here’s the official synopsis from HBO:
“Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”
Do I Know Anyone In It?
You’ve definitely heard of some of these people, yes. Pedro Pascal, who rose to prominence for his performance as Oberyn Martell in season four of HBO’s Game of Thrones, stars as Joel Miller, a hardened survivor who is tormented by his traumatic past. Joel is hired to smuggle a teenage girl out of a quarantine zone and across the United States. Bella Ramsey, another Game of Thrones alum (she played the fierce and memorable little Lady Lyanna Mormont) plays Ellie, the 14-year-old girl who might be the key to creating a vaccine for the infection that changed the world.
A few other notable cast members include Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Murray Bartlett, and Storm Reid. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who portrayed Ellie and Joel respectively in the video games, are reportedly appearing in the show in undisclosed roles.
Who Wrote This Thing?
The series was adapted by (former Ted Cruz roommate) Craig Mazin, and he co-wrote The Last of Us with Neil Druckmann. This isn’t Mazin’s first venture with HBO: he was the mastermind behind the incredible but very dark 2019 miniseries Chernobyl. Druckmann co-wrote and produced the video games the series is based on.
“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming, said in a statement in 2020. “With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of ‘The LastofUs’ games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga.”
Who’s Directing?
Rather than sticking to one director for the entire series, a few directors worked on season one of The Last of Us. Kantemir Balagov, who directed the 2019 film Beanpole, directed the pilot and episode two. Jasmila Žbanić, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, and Peter Hoar also directed episodes from the first season.
Okay, Sold! When Does It Come Out?
The Last of Uspremieres its first episode on HBO Sunday, January 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Episodes will air weekly, with ten episodes in total.
Ed Sheeran flooded his fans with updates last month. He’s headed to North America in 2023 to continue his Mathematics Tourand is currently filming a documentary. He popped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he discussed gifting Elton John a marble penis status and performed “Shivers.” And this week, he celebrated a “Shivers” milestone while adding more to next year’s slate.
“So, ‘Shivers’ has just hit a billion streams on Spotify, which makes it my 11th song as an artist and 15th song as a writer. I’m over the moon about it. Thank you everyone who’s been streaming that song,” Sheeran said in an Instagram video. “I’m gonna celebrate by shooting a music video for my brand new album, which will be out next year. See you in a bit.”
Sheeran became the first artist to eclipse 100 million Spotify followers this summer. The four-time Grammy winner explained the long-held vision for his discography on the November 1, 2021 episode of Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, shortly after the arrival of his = (Equals)album. He was inspired by Coldplay to follow a mathematical title cadence (2011’s Plus, 2014’s Multiply, 2017’s Divide, 2021’s Equals).
“Very, very young, I was like 18 or 19, I just decided — I was like, ‘Right, I’m gonna do five math symbols as my albums. One’s gonna be orange, one’s gonna be green, one’s gonna be blue, one’s gonna be red, one’s gonna be yellow. And you’re gonna just see a poster, and the poster’s gonna have an equals sign on the on it, and you’ll know what it is.’” Sheeran said.
He added that the Mathematics Tour is his version of a greatest hits tour without needing to be billed as a greatest hits tour, and his plan was for Equals to be “the end of the equation” but noted that he’ll probably do a No. 7 Collaborations project between Equals and the next math-related album. “I’m gonna make 10 symbol records, but the next five won’t be maths,” he clarified.
So, the question is no longer when Sheeran’s next project will drop but whether 2023 will bring Subtractor No. 7 Collaborations. In the meantime, fans can listen to Sheeran’s Pokémon track “Celestial.”
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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