Month: January 2023

March 1 this year will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most celebrated albums in the history of recorded music. Pink Floyd‘s The Dark Side Of The Moon is not only one of rock’s most critically hailed collections of music, it’s also one of the most commercially successful rock album ever.

It’s been certified 14x platinum in the English rock band’s home country, preserved in the US National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, and basically laid the blueprint for psych/prog rock. The album’s cover even graces t-shirts widely available at every Target in the country. Which is why a new kerfuffle regarding the band’s anniversary imagery is so… I’m gonna go with “baffling,” although “concerning,” “infuriating,” and “hilarious” also came to mind.

Over on Facebook, the band changed its profile pic to a minimalist representation of the prism from the cover with a 50 inside of it. The zero is filled with the spectrum of light, which of course, presents as a rainbow. But somehow, conservative followers of the band (presumably, they could just be trolls on the prowl) have misinterpreted it as the rainbow flag of the gay pride movement and they are big mad in the comments.

Considering the popularity of The Dark Side Of The Moon — again, I am the hip-hop editor of Uproxx.com and I still know that album back to front, to say nothing of its nearly ubiquitous cover art — this may very well be the worst case of Fox News brain poisoning we’ve seen yet. And that’s saying something, considering these people’s sociopathic rejection of basic safety measures in a pandemic that we’re still in.

Maybe these people are just doing a bit and we all missed the joke, but all that says is we’ve reached the point where parody is practically impossible. Thankfully, the band themselves won’t let a little thing like a public backlash stop them from staying true to their beliefs. Even if, in this case, the only belief is that prisms, spectrums, and the wonders of the physical world are pretty damn cool and fun to look at.

In what’s becoming a recurring theme, Congressman George Santos saw his past come back to haunt him this week following a report that he allegedly stole the proceeds from a GoFundMe account meant for a homeless veteran’s dying dog. Santos, who now sits on two House committees, reportedly pulled off the dastardly deed back in 2016 when he was running an animal charity, Friends of Pets United, while operating under the name Anthony Devolder.

According to Patch, US Navy veteran Richard Osthoff’s dog Sapphire developed a stomach tumor, but he didn’t have $3,000 to cover the cost of surgery. Osthoff was put in contact with Santos, who set up a GoFundMe to cover the bill. However, when the campaign reached its goal, Santos allegedly vanished and Sapphire died from not receiving the surgery. To add insult to injury, Osthoff was reportedly forced to panhandle to pay for the dog’s euthanasia and cremation.

Of all the allegations against Santos, this was the most damning (so far). However, on Thursday, the congressman took to Twitter to deny the report.

“The reports that I would let a dog die is shocking & insane,” Santos tweeted. “My work in animal advocacy was the labor of love & hard work. Over the past 24hr I have received pictures of dogs I helped rescue throughout the years along with supportive messages. These distractions won’t stop me!”

Like his attempt to shoot very convincing photo evidence that he used to be a Brazilian drag queen, Santos’ denial did not go over well. In addition to his credibility being completely shot, people on Twitter couldn’t help but notice that he never denied making off with the GoFundMe proceeds for Sapphire.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via George Santos on Twitter)

Today Mac DeMarco releases an album of instrumentals called Five Easy Hot Dogs. How good is it? Well, it’s an instrumental album called Five Easy Hot Dogs — you do the math. At the very least, the record was a good excuse to talk about the career and legacy of one of modern indie’s most influential artists. I’m a fan though I consider myself more of a “liker” than a “lover” of his music. My co-host Ian Cohen, however, has been a vocal critic. What are Ian’s beefs? Was I able to talk him into re-considering Mac?

In our opening banter segment, we covered two of the biggest indie album announcements of the week — Boygenius’ The Record and The National’s First Two Pages of Frankenstein. First of all, we covered the most important aspects of these albums: Their covers! What’s up with that weird National album cover? Why is the Boygenius album cover already meme-able? Eventually, we get around to the music — I am higher on both acts than Ian, and I explain how digging into the bootleg tapes from The National’s 2022 tour helped set up for their very good single, “Tropic Morning News.”

In Recommendation Corner, Ian stumps for an actual book! It’s Status And Culture by W. David Marx, which explains how the titular subjects are shaped and formulated. As for me, I shouted out Mercy by octogenarian musical legend John Cale, which includes cameos by Weyes Blood, Animal Collective, and Sylvan Esso.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 122 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Cocaine bear is no normal bear.

For one thing, the bear has consumed cocaine, which isn’t great. For the humans who stand in the bear’s way of eating more cocaine, but mostly for the bear. There are other differences between a cocaine bear and a normal bear, however.

A normal American black bear can smell up to a mile away, climb four feet a second, and run 30 MPH, as the video below informed me. That’s impressive! But a cocaine bear smells everything, climbs 100 feet a second, and runs 75 MPH. That’s faster than any land animal — but not as fast as this cute-looking bat. Cocaine Bear 2: Heroin Bat?

Here’s the plot synopsis, in case the title wasn’t enough:

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500- pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow… and blood.

Cocaine Bear, which stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery-Jennings, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kristofer Hivju, Character Actress Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta (RIP), as well as a CGI bear that can’t stop doing coke, opens in theaters on February 24.

Anna Kendrick has been recovering from a difficult run in her personal life after ending an abusive relationship while her career goes full steam ahead. That includes Alice, Darling, in theaters now. The film hits close to home for Kendrick, given that the story sees her character embark upon a weekend away with friends, who fully begin to realize that something is amiss regarding her controlling boyfriend. From there, Kendrick will make her directorial debut with The Dating Game, which happens to be about a serial killer infiltrating the one-time popular set-up show.

That’s a lot, and it doesn’t help much, as Kendrick revealed, when a rapid-fire press junket left her feeling “sh*tty” due to talking about emotional abuse with 30 different journalists over the course of a few hours. Not fantastic! Also not too pleasant: grappling with the not-so-fun condition of anemia. The exhausting, potentially life-altering condition can develop over time, and then there’s the matter of rebuilding one’s iron levels, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Iron absorption can be complicated, and to make matters less palatable, supplements can taste dreadful going down. Some of us know that they taste bad, well, coming up as well. Anna Kendrick revealed that she at least knows about the initial taste while seeking advice on Twitter.

“As an anemic little rodent,” the Pitch Perfect star asked. “[C]an I just ask: are there iron supplements that don’t taste like I’m swallowing a dirty penny?”

Soon, Kendrick’s replies were flooded with well-meaning recommendations for capsules and gummies that aren’t too disgusting. However, it was Russell Crowe’s advice that made the biggest splash: a pint of Guinness, which the Gladiator great describes as the “[b]est iron supplement on the market.”

Granted, yes, Guinness has a slight amount of iron. Maybe 3 milligrams per pint? The jury remains out there on whether it’s “good for you” like all those retro posters have claimed. Drinking one’s own weight each day wouldn’t even reach the threshold needed to rebuild sufficient iron levels, but hey, I think it’s time for a Kendrick-Crowe Super Bowl ad for this tasty beer anyway.

Netflix’s content library is filled with blockbusters and indie darlings, but a good amount of those come courtesy of the streamer itself. The platform’s original slate is stacked — with sci-fi action epics and sports comedies, and Oscar-winning aueteur entries. So, to whittle down the smorgasbord of choices, we’ve rounded up the best Netflix feature-length creations that deserve to be added to your queue.

25. The Luckiest Girl Alive

Year: 2022
Cast: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton, Scoot McNairy
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Rating: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Mike Barker
Trailer: Watch here

None of us are who we were in high school, but that’s especially true for Ani Fanelli, a New York City journalist on the cusp of having it all. Mila Kunis plays Ani as tough, street-smart, and a bit of a black sheep amongst the Manhattan elite whose circles she now navigates while trying to keep a lock on her troubled and violent past. But, when a documentary crew comes knocking, hoping to get Ani’s take on an infamous school shooting incident that she survived during her teenage years, old ghosts rise to the surface, threatening her carefully cultivated persona in ways she could never expect.

Watch it on Netflix

24. The Old Guard

Year: 2020
Cast: Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Rating: R
Runtime: 125 minutes
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Trailer: Watch here

Charlize Theron leads the cast of this inventive take on the traditional comic book movie. She plays an ancient, immortal warrior named Andy who leads a group of mercenaries that have been operating in the shadows for centuries. When the head of a Big Pharma company learns of their existence, he tries to weaponize their ability to cheat death, which causes big problems for the group and its newest member, a former Marine questioning her unique gifts.

Watch it on Netflix

23. Set It Up

Year: 2018
Cast: Glen Powell, Zoey Deutch
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Claire Scanlon
Trailer: Watch here

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell star in this office rom-com with a bit of a twist. Instead of the two young co-stars falling in love, it’s Deutch and Powell who try to set up their overbearing, workaholic bosses with each other so that they can get a break from their demanding jobs. Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs play the employers from hell, and Deutch and Powell put themselves through the paces to make the pair fall in love, and to make us laugh. It’s superficial, it’s cute, and it’s proof that Glen Powell has always been charming.

Watch it on Netflix

22. Eurovision Song Contest: A Song of Ice and Fire

Year: 2020
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Will Ferrell, Dan Stevens
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 123 minutes
Director: David Dobkin
Trailer: Watch here

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams take on the planet’s most-watched singing competition with this campy comedy about an Icelandic duo named Fire Saga, who are set on achieving glory on the world’s biggest stage. Ferrell and McAdams play Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, artists chosen to represent their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, a real competition that features musicians from all over the world, who are often performing in wild get-ups. Dan Stevens almost steals the show while Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato make appearances. We’re calling it now: “Volcano Man” is going to be a bop for the ages.

Watch it on Netflix

21. The White Tiger

Year: 2021
Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 125 minutes
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Trailer: Watch here

Priyanka Chopra stars in this crime drama based on a NY Times bestselling book. Adarsh Gourav plays Balram, an academically gifted young man hailing from one of the lowest castes in Indian society. He longs to break free of the poverty and systemic oppression that prevent him from going to school and bettering his station, so he becomes a driver for a very wealthy family. Chopra plays the wife of Balram’s employer and over the course of the film, their lives become intertwined in extreme ways as Balram does whatever he must in order to rise through the ranks and earn a better life.

Watch it on Netflix

20. The Wonder

Year: 2022
Cast: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kila Lord Cassidy
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 108 minutes
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Trailer: Watch here

Florence Pugh delivers a devastating-yet-subtle performance in this period drama that deep dives into the superstition and oppression that surrounds religion in a small hamlet in the Irish Midlands. Pugh plays Lib, a young nurse with a dark past who’s hired to investigate whether a young girl who claims to be touched by God is a miracle or a fraud. It’s a tense, slow-plotting thriller, one that gives Pugh ample space to show off her skills amidst a gorgeous backdrop of rainy, rolling hills.

Watch it on Netflix

19. Do Revenge

Year: 2022
Cast: Maya Hawke, Camila Mendes, Austin Abrams
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Trailer: Watch here

Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes star in this teen comedy filled with cheeky winks to the genre’s early aughts classics. Mendes plays Drea, a popular student at an elite private school whose reputation is trashed after her boyfriend (Euphoria’s Austin Abrams) leaks an intimate video of her. She seeks revenge and enlists the help of the school’s new girl Eleanor (Hawke) who undergoes a makeover to infiltrate the popular clique Drea once belonged to and destroy them from the inside. Come for the “Glenn-ergy” of it all, stay for the plot twist near the film’s end.

Watch it on Netflix

18. Matilda The Musical

Year: 2022
Cast: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: PG
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Matthew Warchus
Trailer: Watch here

An adaptation of a Tony Award-winning musical, itself an adaptation of a Roald Dahl children’s book, this exquisitely-directed adventure is one of the best Netflix has delivered in quite a while. Most of that is thanks to the choreography, the music, and the dizzyingly-colorful sets, but newcomer Alisha Weir does excellent work as Matilda, a young, misunderstood girl with brains and gumption and parents who fail her time and time again. Emma Thompson is deliciously evil as Miss Trunchbull, and Lashana Lynch proves she’s an on-screen chameleon, following up her Woman King role with a heartbreaking, inspiring turn as Ms. Honey (the teacher we all wish we’d had).

Watch it on Netflix

17. The Lost Daughter

Year: 2021
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 121 minutes
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Trailer: Watch here

Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman star in this tense drama from first-time director Maggie Gyllenhaal. Colman plays Leda, a woman on vacation in Greece who’s forced to confront her own shortcomings as a mother when she befriends Nina (Johnson) a new mom struggling to keep her head above water. The film teeters between the past, with Jessie Buckley playing Leda as a young, overwhelmed, absentee mom, and Colman, who makes increasingly problematic choices in her attempt to get closer to Nina and find some kind of redemption.

Watch it on Netflix

16. The Platform

Year: 2019
Cast: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 94 minutes
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Trailer: Watch here

This Spanish-language sci-fi flick is all kinds of f*cked up, but in the best way. The film is set in a large, tower-style “Vertical Self-Management Center” where the residents, who are periodically switched at random between floors, are fed by a platform, initially filled with food, that gradually descends through the levels. Conflicts arise when inmates at the top begin eating all the food, leaving the people lower down to fight for survival.

Watch it on Netflix

15. Mudbound

Year: 2017
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke
Genre: War, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 134 minutes
Director: Dee Rees
Trailer: Watch here

Dee Rees’ story of two families — one white and one black — sharing the same Mississippi land in the years before and after World War II remain one of the strongest original stories to come from Netflix’s feature-length push. Rees combines stunning images, compelling storytelling, and the work of a fine cast (that includes Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Garett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Mary J. Blige) to unspool a complex tale about the forces the connect black and white Americans and the slow-to-die injustices that keep them apart. It’s gritty and gripping and beautifully-shot.

Watch it on Netflix

14. The Devil All The Time

Year: 2020
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan,
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 138 minutes
Director: Antonio Campos
Trailer: Watch here

This time-hopping drama set in the backwoods of West Virginia is basically an excuse for director Antonio Campos to assemble his own Avengers-style squad of Hollywood A-listers. Seriously, everyone’s in this movie: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Haley Bennett, that kid who played Dudley in the Harry Potter franchise. The whole gang’s living in shacks and picking up hitchhikers, only to murder them later and speaking in tongues and falling victim to generational trauma. It’s a heavy watch, and there’s not really a happy ending, but boy does Pattinson deliver a batsh*t crazy turn as a perverted preacher.

Watch it on Netflix

13. The Harder They Fall

Year: 2021
Cast: Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield
Genre: Western, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 139 minutes
Director: Jeymes Samuel
Trailer: Watch here

Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Zazie Beetz, and LaKeith Stanfield star in this slick, stylish Western from relative newcomer Jeymes Samuel. Majors plays a vengeful outlaw who decides to track down his longtime enemy (Elba) when he learns he’s been busted out of prison. The two men assemble their respective gangs for a dusty, lawless cat-and-mouse game set to a soundtrack from Jay-Z. It’s probably the coolest entry in the genre in quite a while.

Watch it on Netflix

12. Okja

Year: 2017
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 120 minutes
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Trailer: Watch here

Bong Joon-Ho’s send-up of corporate farming and environmental abuses isn’t subtle. Tilda Swinton goes all-out as the CEO of an evil corporation only to be outdone by Jake Gyllenhaal’s broad turn as an unstable TV host. But its tale of an endearing, genetically modified “super pig” and the girl who loves him is effective and contains both some terrific action set pieces and the most affecting child/strange beast relationship this side of E.T.

Watch it on Netflix

11. Hustle

Year: 2022
Cast: Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Juancho Hernangómez
Genre: Sports, Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
Trailer: Watch here

Adam Sandler has plenty of comedy favorites housed on Netflix, but we’re highlighting this one because Sandler gets to channel his everyman charm in a sports story that lets his comedic sensibilities control the game. He plays Stanley Sugerman, an aging 76ers scout, who discovers a potential NBA star during a pick-up game in Spain. Stanley risks his career and his family’s future to back the unknown player, eventually squaring off against his old boss and confronting his own troubled past to help someone else achieve their dreams on the court.

Watch it on Netflix

10. Tick Tick Boom!

Year: 2021
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Vanessa Hudgens, Robin de Jesus
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 120 minutes
Director: Lin Manuel-Miranda
Trailer: Watch here

Lin Manuel-Miranda hops into the director’s chair for the first time with this musical biopic about famed Broadway composer Jonathan Larson. Andrew Garfield completely transforms himself to play the tortured artist who would one day give us Rent. In this outing, Larson is still searching for inspiration for his next play while battling grief and a debilitating awareness of life’s deadline. The supporting cast (Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp) are all good, but this is Garfield’s moment and he proves his multifaceted talent extends beyond his Marvel superhero contributions.

Watch it on Netflix

9. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Year: 2020
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis, Toni Collette
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 134 minutes
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Trailer: Watch here

Charlie Kaufman’s latest film is based on a book of the same name and stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley as a young woman meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time — which normally would be a happy event except she’s secretly been planning to break up the with the guy. That guy is Jesse Plemons, who seems to be in everything these days, and along with Toni Collette and David Thewlis who play his parents, they make for hellish dinner mates. There’s a sinister vibe permeating everything about this straightforward plot so if you think you know how this ends, let us be the first to tell you: You don’t have a clue.

Watch it on Netflix

8. Bo Burnham: Inside

Year: 2021
Cast: Bo Burnham
Genre: Comedy, Music
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Bo Burnham
Trailer: Watch here

Bo Burnham distills our collective quarantined experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, directing, starring in, composing, and editing this bleak-yet-hilarious bit of performance art that might be the most exciting, inventive thing we’ve seen yet. Is it a movie, a stand-up routine, or a comedy special? We really don’t know, but it’s damn funny so we’re putting it on this list. The self-deprecating humor and catchy tunes are here of course, but Burnham goes darker, crafting complete bangers about everything from the white savior complex to cancel culture, toxic masculinity, depression, and global economic inequality.

Watch it on Netflix

7. The Pale Blue Eye

Year: 2022
Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Rating: R
Runtime: 128 minutes
Director: Scott Cooper
Trailer: Watch here

Yes, Rian Johnson’s crime mystery is more fun than this dreary period thriller. But, if you like some jump scares and Victorian-era horror elements in your murder investigations then this is the whodunnit for you. Christian Bale commands as Augustus Landor, a weary and hardened detective called to investigate the death of a young West Point cadet and Harry Melling plays his assistant of sorts, a curious young soldier the world would one-day know as Edgar Allan Poe.

Watch it on Netflix

6. Da 5 Bloods

Year: 2020
Cast: Delroy Lindo, Chadwick Boseman, Jonathan Majors
Genre: War, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 154 minutes
Director: Spike Lee
Trailer: Watch here

Any Spike Lee joint is worth a watch, but this genre-bending thriller about a group of black Vietnam War vets returning to the battlefield decades later feels especially timely. That’s because Lee manages to shed light on a little-known part of our shared history: the way our country treated Black soldiers returning from the war, but he also raises the stakes with a subplot that includes a buried treasure hunt and a heartwrenching mission to retrieve the remains of a fallen comrade. The cast, which includes Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles, is brilliant, the story is gripping, and the direction is top notch.

Watch it on Netflix

5. Pinocchio

Year: 2022
Cast: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Cate Blanchett
Genre: Animation, Family
Rating: PG
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Trailer: Watch here

Guillermo del Toro brings his trademark whimsy and love for dark fantasy to this adaptation of a beloved childhood fairytale, told this time in stop-motion animation form. Of the two Pinocchio retellings fans were given this year, del Toro’s is undoubtedly the superior work, rehashing the familiar plotline — a wooden puppet brought to life as the son of his carver — and setting it amidst the backdrop of Fascist Italy before and during the Second World War. It’s grim and mesmerizing and surprisingly moving, even if you can predict most of its trajectory.

Watch it on Netflix

4. Roma

Year: 2018
Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 135 minutes
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Trailer: Watch here

Oscar-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in Mexico City named Cleo, the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest.

Watch it on Netflix

3. Glass Onion

Year: 2022
Cast: Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista, Edward Norton
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Crime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 140 minutes
Director: Rian Johnson
Trailer: Watch here

Rian Johnson delivers a deliriously fun follow-up to his breakout 2019 murder mystery with Daniel Craig returning to play famed detective Benoit Blanc. This time around, Blanc, equipped with a colorful new wardrobe and his same slow, Southern drawl, heads to Greece to investigate a murder amongst a group of friends reuniting for an island holiday. Most of the culprits are out-of-touch elites — to the nth degree — with stars like Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Edward Norton playing supermodels, Twitch streamers, politicians, and tech moguls who are as ridiculous as they are corrupt.

Watch it on Netflix

2. The Irishman

Year: 2019
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
Genre: Biography, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 209 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Trailer: Watch here

Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion project to be, with some interesting de-aging CGI that does its best to show the scope of Scorsese’s storytelling.

Watch it on Netflix

1. All Quiet on the Western Front

Year: 2022
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch
Genre: War, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 148 minutes
Director: Edward Berger
Trailer: Watch here

Sometimes the best argument against war is to show it fully, in all its brutality and heartbreak, and inevitable devastation. That’s what this film does well, following the story of a young, idealistic German boy who enlists to serve his country during World War I. Instead of finding glory and honor on the battlefield, he and his friends witness unimaginable horrors while struggling to survive in a wasteland created by man’s greed and insatiable appetite for violence.

Watch it on Netflix

It was revealed yesterday (January 19) that David Crosby had died at 81 years old. Naturally, admirers are now looking back on the music legend’s career, including Jason Isbell, who was part of what is now a major Crosby moment: On February 26, 2022, Crosby made a guest appearance during Isbell’s show at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. It was Crosby’s first concert performance since 2019 and it ended up being his final one ever. During his time on stage, Crosby harmonized on Isbell’s “What’ve I Done To Help” and performed Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Ohio.”

Isbell spoke about the moment with Rolling Stone, saying:

“What got him out of the house and to the show was that he wanted to come see his buddies. And it would have been silly for him to come and not sing. […] That was the last time I saw him. At that time, he didn’t think he was going to be able to do any more touring. He was having trouble with his hands for a long time and getting to the point where it was hard for him to play. I think that had caused him to resign himself to not be able to do any more live shows, but recently I think he was feeling a little more optimistic about it. He was still writing and recording a whole lot and finished another record from what I understand.”

He also spoke about Crosby more generally: “Rule No. 1 for David was to be honest. So if he complimented you, it wasn’t bullsh*t. He was somebody who would challenge even the greatest of his peers, be it Neil [Young] or Joni [Mitchell]. He would challenge them to go somewhere that wasn’t comfortable for them musically. If he got bored with the way a guitar sounded, he’d tune a different tuning that nobody had ever tried before. If he got bored with a harmony part, he’d sing a note nobody expected. He’d sing and if he was out of tune, he’d fix it as quickly as possible, but he trusted his ability to react. He did that on a personal, human level, too. He’d just tell the truth and deal with the outcome of it later.”

Watch Crosby, Isbell, and company perform “Ohio” above.

Yung Miami’s podcast Caresha Please has already become a lightning rod for hot takes and salacious confessions. Thanks to the free-flowing alcohol and the host’s free-wheeling approach to interviews, along with a “safe space” presentation that lowers guests’ guard, artists on the show don’t mind addressing the “smoke” that clouds their careers.

The same goes for Caresha herself, who isn’t afraid to play along with her own drinking games — even if the resulting confessions reveal some bedroom kinks (or bathroom ones, I guess). During her interview with fellow Miami rapper Trina, Caresha pulled a card that read, “Take a shot if you like golden showers.” She wound up taking the shot as the intrigued Trina pumped her for more info (Trina said she never got one but she gives them).

Of course, as with all things Yung Miami these days, fans on Twitter immediately made the connection to her long-rumored beau, Sean “Diddy” Combs. An older version of his nickname, P. Diddy, was perfectly repurposed, and sure enough, “Pee Diddy” was trending on Twitter within hours of the episode’s premiere.

Miami and Diddy’s seemingly open relationship has been a subject of fascination on Twitter for the better part of a year. Things got especially smoky in late 2022 when Diddy announced the birth of a baby daughter by another woman but both posted photos from a family yacht trip for New Year’s Day, so it seems they’ve got an understanding. If fans are right, it seems like a lot of things go in this relationship.

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are just weeks away. Many of the biggest names in music gather for a week full of events across Los Angeles, California ending with the coveted ceremony on February 5, 2023, hosted by Trevor Noah. The estate of Whitney Houston is looking to add to the Grammy Week festivities with the launch of the Whitney Houston Hotel.

Noted as one of music’s greatest voices, the multiple Grammy Award winner tragically passed in 2012 while celebrating the event. Houston’s estate by way of the Whitney Houston Hotel is looking to honor not only her illustrious career seen in her recent biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody but her life and impact in entertainment, including film (Cinderella and The Bodyguard).

Partnering with Primary Wave and presented by Sony, the Whitney Houston Hotel, held inside of the W Hotel in Hollywood, will host a week full of events, including live musical performances by Michelle Williams (of Destiny’s Child), Amber Riley, Baby Tate, Teddy Swims, Coco Jones, Georgia Ku, Kiana Ledé, Natalie Jane, a memorabilia exhibit, a pop-up shop, and more. See below for the full schedule.

Wednesday, February 1

• The official unveiling of the Whitney Houston Hotel
• Opening of the Sony’s 360 Reality Audio Immersive Listening Lounge
• Opening of the Whitney Houston Pop-Up Retail Shop
• Opening of the Whitney Houston Gallery featuring rare and iconic photos, as well as several gowns worn by Whitney throughout her career

Thursday, February 2

• Sony’s 360 Reality Audio Immersive Listening Lounge Artist Showcases

Friday, February 3

• Sony’s 360 Reality Audio Immersive Listening Lounge Whitney Houston Brunch and Panel Discussion Panel hosted by Kevin Frazier
• Artist Showcases

Saturday, February 4

• Primary Wave 16th Annual Pre-Grammy Carpet & Party

The Whitney Houston Hotel is sponsored by MAC Cosmetics, Proflowers, and City National Bank.