Month: January 2023

There’s a lot going on in Elijah Bynum’s Magazine Dreams, which premiered this wee at the Sundance Film Festival. Probably too much. And it doesn’t all work. But in the end it doesn’t really matter because Jonathan Majors is such a force in this movie, it’s impossible to take your eyes off of him. Honestly, he kind of reminds me of a great quarterback in this movie. You know, when maybe things around him just aren’t clicking the way they should and he decides, fellas, climb on my back, I’m going to win this one anyway. By sheer willpower alone Majors makes Magazine Dreams something to behold. This movie exists as a vessel in which to watch Jonathan Majors act his ass off.

Majors plays Killian Maddox (a name we hear a lot over the course of the movie), an aspiring bodybuilder (Majors went all out on that aspect, too) who comes from a pretty disturbing background. His parents are dead after a murder-suicide and he now lives with his grandfather. He eats multiple meals a day to maintain a 6000 calorie-a-day diet and also injects himself with enough steroids that he has tumors on his liver he won’t have removed because he can’t have a scar. He can be temperamental and aggressive (I am told steroids can have that affect), but he’s also sad and shy. He basically spends his day working out, eating, making videos of himself flexing, and writing letters to his idol, a bodybuilder named Brad Vanderhorn. (At one point on a date Killian references Brad Vanderhorn and is absolutely stunned his date has no idea who Brad Vanderhorn is.)

So, look, everything I just described seems enough for a character. Already, this is pretty heavy. But the movie then takes us down multiple other roads with Killian and none of them really have any resolution. And no resolution can be fine, but there are just so many of them. Here’s one example. Killian has a crush on his coworker at the grocery store, Jessie (Haley Bennett), and a lot of effort is put into showing us how much he likes her, so it’s established he’s straight. Later in the movie, kind of out of the blue, Killian sleeps with a man. And then we get a couple of scenes of Killian wrestling with what happened, then that aspect is just kind of dropped. Killian then buys a semiautomatic rifle. We spend a lot of time watching him learn how to use it. Oh no, he’s going to do something horrifying. And then nothing really comes out of that either. If there’s an issue in society today, well Killian is at least going to deal with it for a little bit in this movie before he moves on to something else.

Which is to say, it feels like all these scenarios were put in here so Majors could have all these situations to just act his pants off. And he does. But the movie kind of feel more like Major’s personal demo reel. And what’s weird is I kind of mean that as a compliment. I was transfixed! Majors is just this force of nature in this movie who can’t be stopped.

And it’s interesting Magazine Dreams had its festival premiere just a few weeks before Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is released, where Majors kicks off his run as the new MCU big bad, Kang the Conqueror. ANd then a couple weeks later he’s back in Creed III. It’s going to be the year of Jonathan Majors. And who knows what he’ll get to show off in those two huge franchise movie, so it’s like Magazine Dreams is here just to point out, hey, yes, he’s a really great actor.

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Portugal appears to be the next big festival destination. The same day Rolling Loud announced the lineup for its return to the Iberian Peninsula, Afro Nation — the yin to RL’s yang, truly — has also announced its own lineup featuring headliners Burna Boy, 50 Cent, and Booba (for the uninitiated, the latter is a French rapper from Paris).

In addition to those names, rising acts diaspora like Asake, Fireboy DML, Black Sherif, and Ms. Banks are billed to appear, along with an impressive variety of sounds from Aya Nakamura, Tayc, Oxlade, Tyla, and Camidoh. South African DJ Uncle Waffles will also play a set ahead of Scorpion Kings’ headlining dance set on the amapiano-dedicated Piano People stage including Musa Keys, Daliwonga, Sha Sha, and Nicky Summers.

According to a press release, this is only phase one of the announcements so it’ll be interesting to see who all gets added ahead of the festival’s June 28-30 dates at The Algarve in Portimão. Last year’s show included Megan Thee Stallion, Wizkid, and more, so the possibilities seem endless. Tickets go on sale January 26 at noon, with a limited pre-sale at 9. You can get more information at afronation.com.

If you can’t make it all the way to Europe for the festival, have no fear; the first-ever US show has been set for a May 27-28 festival in Miami, headlined by Burna Boy and Wizkid.

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

Kim Kardashian recently attracted negative attention for her arguably distasteful collection of artifacts that once belonged to dead celebrities. On that same wavelength, younger sister Kylie Jenner is receiving criticism due to an “artifact” of her own. The monstrosity in question (fashion mishaps may run in the family) just so happens to be a faux, although still questionable, lion head on a Schiaparelli gown at the French fashion house’s Haute Couture show at Paris Fashion Week (also attended by Doja Cat, who was covered from head to toe in Swarovski crystals).

Surely, attention was the name of someone’s game here, and here’s a full-on view of the dress as it materialized for cameras.

The look on Kylie’s face seems slightly awkward, but she did make clear that she dug the dress. Kylie thanked designer Daniel Roseberry and Schiaparelli with a “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”-themed caption on Instagram: “wow i loved wearing this faux art creation constructed by hand using manmade materials. beautiful beautiful.”

Obviously, this dress did not include a real lion’s head, but it’s as realistic-looking as plush can possibly be. One wonders what the point of the dress was as conceived, or why the lion’s head is necessary at all. After Vogue posted by-the-runway footage on an Instagram reel, the comments were not kind.

“You guys relax, this is a promo for the new Zoolander!!!” appeared to be the nicest of the top comments. Otherwise, one user asked, “Why why why even imitate this. I’m thankful it’s faux but the imagery is still disturbing.” Some chimed in to call the dress “horrifying” and “devastating,” and others declared, “[G]lorifying poaching is not fashion” and “Stop cruelty to the animals!!” Still another user wrote, “As a South African, This is wrong on so many levels, The king of our jungle is not a fashion statement, like WTF.”

“WTF” sums this one up pretty well. It’s hard to imagine that anyone thought this was a great idea. #Fashion

The Los Angeles Lakers are making a move ahead of the trade deadline. According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the Lakers and the Washington Wizards are in the final stages of a deal that will give former top-10 pick Rui Hachimura a change of scenery.

The report was confirmed by Shams Charania of The Athletic, who brought word that the Lakers will send a collection of second-round Draft picks and one of the players who has long been mentioned as a potential piece in a trade, Kendrick Nunn, to the nation’s capital.

The reported trade comes amid speculation that Hachimura was on the trade block in the lead-up to next month’s deadline. On Saturday night, Hachimura gave a no comment to the press when asked if he requested a trade before saying, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic, “I just want to be somewhere that wants me as a basketball player, and I want to be somewhere that likes my game, you know? … I just want to be somewhere that trusts (and) believes in me and just (where) I can be myself. That’s my goal.”

Both teams are on the outside looking in on the play-in tournaments in their respective conferences. Washington is 20-26 and a game and a half back of the 10-seed in the East, while the Lakers are 22-25 and one game back of the final play-in spot in the West. On the year, Hachimura is averaging 13 points in 24.3 minutes per game while connecting on 48.8 percent of his attempts from the field and 33.7 percent of his attempts from behind the three-point line.

The feel-good of “Spotify Wrapped” was left in 2022. Spotify announced today, January 23, that it is “reducing our employee base by about 6% across the company” through an open letter from CEO Daniel Ek posted here. It’s brutal, but at least Spotify didn’t compound the salt in the layoff wound by hosting a private Sting performance like Microsoft reportedly did.

The lengthy note from Ek additionally announced that Chief Content & Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff “has decided to depart Spotify,” while Chief Product Officer Gustav Söderström and Chief Freemium Business Officer Alex Norström will be leading their respective teams “as co-presidents, effectively helping me run the company day-to-day.”

“In the near term, Dawn will assume the role of senior advisor to help facilitate this transition,” Ek wrote. “Alex will take on the responsibility for the content, advertising and licensing work going forward and you’ll hear more from him on that.”

Ek explained that the approximately six percent cut in workforce is due to him being “too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth” and because he had “hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us.”

Beyond Spotify and Microsoft, big companies like Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet, and Salesforce have also recently announced layoffs.

See some of the reactions to the news below.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw the much-hyped return of Boygenius and Ice Spice continue her rapid ascent. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Boygenius — “Emily I’m Sorry”

In 2018, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker dropped their self-titled debut EP as Boygenius. Ever since then, fans have been yearning for a reunion, and now it’s happening. They announced The Record, their debut album, last week and dropped off a three-pack of songs, one led by each of the trio. Among them is “Emily I’m Sorry,” a Bridgers-sung track that a vulnerable piece of storytelling.

Kim Petras — “Brrr”

A No. 1 single (“Unholy“) is tough to follow, but Petras is doing an admirable job with “Brrr.” The predictably icy tune is a wintry pop banger, featuring synthy and industrial production to both contrast and play nice with Petras’ airy vocals.

Ice Spice and Lil Tjay — “Gangsta Boo”

Ice Spice started breaking out last year and after a run of singles, she’s finally dropped her first project, an EP dubbed Like..?. It includes some of those aforementioned loosies as well as some new cuts, like the jaunty Lil Tjay collaboration “Gangsta Boo.”

The Kid LAROI — “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro)”

LAROI has quickly become a star over the past couple years and now he’s prepping for further domination with a new album, The First Time. He prefaced it last week with “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro),” the project’s opening track that sets the table with tales of personal struggle and the difficulty of life.

Skrillex and Bobby Raps — “Leave Me Like This”

Skrillex is in the midst of a productive run right now and he continued it last week by linking up with Bobby Raps for “Leave Me Like This.” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzales notes the track “delivers a groovy, house-inspired beat” and has “exciting drops and thumping bass.”

Arlo Parks — “Weightless”

Last week was big for album announcements, thanks in part to Arlo Parks revealing My Soft Machine. The first taste of the forthcoming LP is “Weightless,” a reflective and upbeat synth-pop tune. Phoebe Bridgers, by the way, is also involved with this project, as well as the next one on this list.

The National — “Tropic Morning News”

The National have been doing some mysterious things lately, and now we know why: The group has a new album, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, on the way. Along with sharing the tracklist, tour dates, and other details, they also dropped “Tropic Morning News,” a driving new tune that they previously debuted live in 2022.

NLE Choppa — “23”

We’re still in prime New Years’ resolutions season and that’s the energy NLE Choppa is bringing on “23.” On the track, he raps about the personal improvements he envisions for himself here in 2023: “The old sh*t ain’t goin’ forward, this a newer me / Probably knew me last year, but you don’t know me.”

ASAP Rocky — “Same Problems?”

It would seem ASAP Rocky is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a new album. While that’s forthcoming, what we have now is a fresh song, “Same Problems?.” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez describes the tune, “The song features minimalist production, allowing listeners to focus on Rocky’s soft vocals, as he sings in a forlorn, crestfallen manner.”

Wednesday — “Chosen To Deserve”

We’re in a peak mid-week era: Wednesday is one of the biggest TV shows and Wednesday the band has a new album on the way. The group announced Rat Saw God last week and launched it with “Chosen To Deserve,” which began as an attempt to re-create a Drive-By Truckers song and ended up as a sunny and delightful country-inspired tune.

Rosalía was in Paris on January 19 to perform her hits at Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall-Winter 2023 Fashion Show. The Spanish pop star became the first woman to perform live at the event during Paris Fashion Week.

Rosalía served as musical curator for Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall-Winter 2023 Fashion Show. Dressed in menswear from Louis Vuitton, she performed many of the songs from her Motomami album from the roof of a yellow lowrider car. From her recent album, she sang the remix of “Candy” that featured Chencho Corleone, “Saoko,” and “Cuuuuuuuuuute.” Rosalía also performed music from her breakthrough album, 2018’s El Mal Querer.

DJ Clara3000 was the house DJ during Rosalía’s performance. Rosalía also made sure to highlight emerging artists and genres. DJ Clara3000 played the Brazilian funk banger “Sento No Bico Da Glock” by DJ Gabriel Do Borel, MC Lucy, and MC Rogê and Dominican rapper Angel Dior’s song “AIO.” Rosalía also performed a Brazilian funk remix of her smash hit “Despechá” by Nusar3000.

Rosalía is already getting ready to release new music. Her next single, “LLYLM,” which stands for “Lie Like You Love Me,” will be released on January 27. From the lyrics she teased on social media, Rosalía is singing the new song in English.

Here’s some stunning news: Future is not headlining Rolling Loud in Portugal this year. It’ll be the first Rolling Loud to not feature Future as a headliner since the 2021 New York show, as he was billed on every event in 2022 and the upcoming return to Los Angeles this March. Instead, the Portugal show this year will be headlined by returning RL mainstay Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, and Meek Mill. It’ll take place the weekend of July 5-7 at Portimão, Praia Da Rocha Beach.

Also included on the lineup are such names as Central Cee, GloRilla, JID, Joey Badass, Kodak Black, Latto, Lil Durk, Lil Uzi Vert, NLE Choppa, Ski Mask The Slump God, Soulja Boy, and YG. Local acts like Wet Bed Gang (no comment) are also included, and a bunch of the lineup is dominated by British rap standouts like Aitch, Digga D, Sainté, Tion Wayne, and more.

Rolling Loud’s last event in Portugal took place July 6-8, 2022 and was headlined by ASAP Rocky, Future, and J. Cole. Clearly, it went well enough that the festival is returning to the Iberian Peninsula, with many of the same acts returning.

Presale for Rolling Loud Portugal begins January 26 at 10 am, while general sale begins at 1 pm. As usual, more info can be found on RollingLoud.com.

It’s that time again to celebrate those iconic movie performances from 2022 by awarding actors with tiny statues that are worth a lot of money and even more industry clout. Of course, we are talking about The Razzies, the awards that celebrate the worst movies that came out last year and shame everyone involved.

Yes, a lot of these movies were made during a pandemic, and times are tough and all of that, but the Razzies aren’t about to stop their tradition. This year, there is a tight matchup between the best actors of the last 50 years: Tom Hanks and Pete Davidson.

Davidson gave multiple legendary performances last year, including playing the “guy who f*cks” in Bodies Bodies Bodies and snagging the leading role in a Hellman’s mayo commercial. But not all of them can be winners, which is why he is nominated for both worst actor and worst supporting actor at this year’s Razzies, for his voice role in Marmaduke and his cameo in Good Mourning, two things you probably did not see.

Up against Davidson is Hanks, nominated for his roles in both Elvis and Pinocchio. But given Hanks many, many stellar performances, he’s allowed to phone it in every once in a while. Also securing nominations is Ana de Armas in Blonde and Jared Leto in Morbius, which is still going down as one of the most confusing movies ever.

The Razzies are awarded yearly to actors, though they have been a little kinder as of late. Last year, they rescinded Bruce Willis’s Razzie award for Worst Performance after it was revealed that the actor was suffering from a rare brain disorder. So, maybe they do have hearts after all! But not for Blonde. You can check out the rest of the nominations here.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

After revealing the first footage for Rebel Moon earlier this month, Netflix has confirmed that the Zack Snyder space epic will now be split into two films that are being shot back-to-back. The film was born out of a Star Wars pitch that Snyder made to Lucasfilm in 2012, which ultimately never came to be. However, the writer/director kept the story in his back pocket, and over the years, he realized the potential to turn it into a standalone sci-fi series of his own.

After working with Snyder on Army of the Dead, Netflix jumped at the chance to develop Rebel Moon, which has unsurprisingly ballooned into two films because we’re talking about the guy who made a four-hour long Justice League movie. Via Variety:

Zack came in with so much passion. This is a film that he’s had in mind for decades. As you know, he’s spent so much time working on other people’s IP at other studios. We worked with him on “Army of the Dead” and we did things that others couldn’t do. We made a film and then a prequel and launched a live experience. With “Rebel Moon” he wanted to push the envelope again. When we saw how big the world he created was, we thought it would be better served as two pieces versus one film. It’s the kind of story that can continue to grow. He thinks of it as his take on making something like “Star Wars.”

At the time of this writing, little is known about Rebel Moon except a broad plot synopsis that definitely has a Star Wars bent to it. A young woman named Kora (Sofia Boutella) is tasked with putting together a band of warriors from nearby planets to mount a stand against Regent Balisarius (Ed Skrein) an invading interplanetary warlord. Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, Djimon Honsou, Anthony Hopkins, Jena Malone, Cory Stoll, and Cary Elwes round out the cast of the sci-fi epic.

Rebel Moon premieres December 22, 2023.

(Via Variety)