Month: February 2023

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang will be forced to tangle with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest big bad, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). However, in the real world, Scott will take on another seemingly insurmountable foe: The cutthroat world of publishing. While Scott is a best-selling author in the film, Marvel will test out whether that skill translates to our universe where MCU fans will get a chance to own a real-life copy of Ant-Man’s memoir, Look Out for the Little Guy.

With an assist from Rudd, Marvel announced the totally real book will arrive in September, and just to prove its existence, you can actually pre-order a copy on Amazon starting today. It’s seriously legit. Paul Rudd wouldn’t lie to you.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In Look Out for the Little Guy, Scott Lang shares with the world a bracingly honest account of his struggles and triumphs, from serving time to being a divorced dad to becoming Ant-Man and joining The Avengers. These are stories of epic battles won and lost, as this everyman turned Super Hero finally tells all—from the official account of what really happened between The Avengers and Thanos to how shrinking down to ant-size really feels to the challenges of balancing the roles of hero and dad.

Across his many adventures big and small, Scott has gathered the wisdom of countless amazing experiences into this, the first memoir from a real-life Avenger. Once you learn the unforgettable details of his epic journey, you won’t need to be reminded … to look out for the little guy.

Look Out For The Little Guy hits bookshelves on September 5, 2023.

(Via Disney Books)

For the second time in two days, one of the biggest names in the WNBA’s free agent pool has decided to make their way to the New York Liberty. Breanna Stewart announced on her social media channels on Wednesday that she’ll join forces with Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones in the Big Apple, and on Thursday, Courtney Vandersloot tweeted that she will likewise head to the Liberty after spending the first 12 years of her WNBA career with the Chicago Sky.

Vandersloot, who plays alongside Stewart during the WNBA’s offseason as a member of the Turkish side Fenerbahçe, was a 4-time All-Star as a member of the Sky, but announced earlier this week that she would not return to the team after hitting free agency.

“Although I never planned for this day to come, I have decided it is time for me to pursue a new beginning,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram account. “I will forever be grateful for the memories I have made during my time here. As I look ahead to a new chapter, with a new team, in a new city, know that Chicago, its fans, and the Sky organization will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s goodbye for now, but thank you forever.”

Vandersloot, a critical member of the Sky team that won the first WNBA championship in franchise history in 2021, appeared in 32 games last season for Chicago, averaging 11.8 points and 6.5 assists in 26.5 minutes a night.

Unless they want to commit some sort of OSHA violation, most of the time, movies and shows are not actually using real drugs on set. You didn’t really think that they were giving cocaine bear actual cocaine, right? Not on purpose, anyway. The same goes for Breaking Bad, a show where meth is basically its own starring character.

Bryan Cranston recently spilled some Breaking Bad secrets after being tortured by spicy sauces on Hot Ones (the hot sauces are presumably real and not props, but who knows). Host Sean Evans asked about the infamous blue crystal meth shown in the AMC series, and Cranston confirmed that it was actually cotton candy-flavored rock candy, which is exactly what it looks like, but it was nice to get some confirmation.

But despite working around the stuff for years, Cranston said he avoided trying the fake drug candy until one night when Aaron Paul offered him an on-set snack. He explained:

The flavor was cotton candy rock candy. I never tasted it until one night, we were working, it was probably the 16th or 17th hour in our lab down there, and Gus Fring is making sure we’re working. And I see Aaron Paul reach into our product, a handful of our product. And starts shoving the methamphetamine in his mouth. I go, ‘what are you doing? You can’t eat the product.’ “He goes, ‘Im getting so tired, I’m eating.” I go, ‘you’re really getting a high off this? It’s sugar’ And he goes ‘you’ve tasted it,’ I go ‘no I’ve never tasted it.’ He goes, ‘Oh, you should taste it.’ I go, ‘No, I don’t think so.’

I guess I was still in character because Walter White wouldn’t. And he goes, ‘You gotta have one. [In Jesse’s voice] Yo, have one,’ is what he would say. And so, ‘All right, to shut you up…’ I tasted one and it was like, ‘That’s pretty good.’ And so they rolled the camera and he and I are just eating all the methamphetamine.

Out of context, this quote would sound potentially harmful, but the “product” in this instance is really just rock candy. It’s important that you know that. He is not actually talking about eating methamphetamine. Please do not give any ideas to Mr. Cocaine Bear.

You can watch the full episode here.

It’s never been much of a secret that Bill Murray is supposedly a mercurial sort of guy. And while some of his former collaborators have had only wonderful things to say about the comedian, others have had less-kind opinions about the Oscar nominee.

Beginning with 1979’s Meatballs, which Harold Ramis co-wrote and Murray starred in, the two would go on to collaborate a half-dozen times over the years. Their final film together, 1993’s Groundhog Day, is a bona fide comedy classic which even Ramis understood was his “masterpiece.” Yet while the final version of the film was comedy perfection, the mood behind the scenes was a lot less jovial — due to a rift that began brewing between Murray and Ramis, and wasn’t rectified until it was almost too late.
In honor of Groundhog Day’s 30th anniversary, The Hollywood Reporter’s Ryan Gajewski spoke with several of the people involved in the making of the movie, and learned that for as many laughs as the movie continues to provide us with, the vibe was much different when the cameras weren’t rolling.

While screenwriter Danny Rubin was pushing for Tom Hanks to star as cranky weatherman Phil Connors, as he was afraid that hiring a straight comedian for the part might lead the actor to “fall into their schtick,” Ramis considered a number of names, including Michael Keaton. Eventually, as we all know, the role went to Murray — who is undeniably perfect in the part — but the energy between Ramis and Murray was off from the beginning.

The way producer Trevor Albert recalled it to THR, Murray appeared to be dealing with some issues from the get-go, which eventually led to a falling out between the director and his star.

“It was a tense shoot for a number of reasons,” Albert told The Hollywood Reporter of the feeling on the set. “It was unfortunate and probably made the movie considerably less fun to make.”

But if anything, Groundhog Day — and the legacy it has left behind, even 30 years later — is a testament to how well a film can turn out, even if there is discord behind the scenes. “You can still make a very good movie when people are not in perfect harmony,” Albert said. Groundhog Day is certainly proof of that.

There’s something in the Florida water. From the City Girls to Kodak Black, with a long list of others, the Sunshine State has been the stomping ground for hip-hop’s culture shifters. Rapper Lil $o$o is looking to keep that tradition alive. Despite being native to Chicago, since moving to Miami in her early childhood, she’s proudly claimed it as her musical home.

For her latest appearance on UPROXX Sessions, she puts that hometown pride on the line performing her single, “Florida Girl.” If you’re a fan of Issa Rae’s HBO Max show, Rap Sh!t starring fellow Florida rapper KaMillion, you might have heard that track.

When asked about the inspiration behind the track, Lil $o$o replied, “I’m a true Florida girl, so I’m glad I got to share my experiences with people who also represent Florida like I do. Having my song on TV makes me feel like my hard work is paying off and also encourages me to work harder and become a better artist.”

Watch Lil $o$o’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Florida Girl” above. To watch her performance of “Catch A Trick,” click here.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

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

The current Cobra Kai series will go out on a high note at Netflix. At least, that’s the plan as announced by showrunners Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, who penned a letter “on their own terms” to explain, “Our day one goal with Cobra Kai has always been to end it on our own terms, leaving the Valley in the time and place we’ve always imagined.” So, we’ll get to see Hawk hopefully win an international competition, and there are plenty of other stories to tie up, of course. Getting the ensemble cast together for one more round of filming might be quite the feat, especially considering that the younger actors will have aged years since their last shoot.

Still, that ball is in motion, and the showrunners previously reasserted, “Because we all know, Cobra Kai Never Dies.” What’s next, though? We previously heard about a nebulously described Cobra Kai-focused movie (with a different cast) from Sony. And this week, Sony Pictures TV chief Katherine Pope spoke with Deadline on numerous projects, including Cobra Kai and how the Miyagiverse will be expanding, both on TV and in film. Details haven’t yet been expressed as solidified, but Pope did confirm that Cobra Kai will still live in on some form(s):

They have some ideas in terms of expanding Cobra Kai and coming at the Karate Kid legacy in different ways. But yes, the movie is a good example too. It’s all of these. I think we’ve all learned these worlds can exist together and they can feel cohesive and they can feel additive, especially for the fans, and feel like big, big worlds that exist on lots of different levels, they don’t necessarily all exist in the same plane.

Audiences are so savvy now and accepting multiple levels of the IP so the Cobra Kai universe lives on, that’s for sure.

There you have it. This universe will keep rising like zombies that one can get behind, and Ralph Macchio previously told us that he always wants to be invited along as a guest. And that needs to happen because Daniel-San keeps the spirit of Miyagi-do alive. There’s no set release date for Cobra Kai yet, but we could use that news soon.

Cobra Kai is currently streaming the first five seasons on Netflix.

(Via Deadline)

Anyone who has ever dealt with a small child who has yet to learn the art of subtlety and nuance knows there’s a tell-tale sign that the kid did something bad: they keep talking about it. Donald Trump is a lot like that, as Seth Meyers know all too well from years of covering — and imitating — the gaudy reality TV host-turned-president of the United States. And Meyers has a sneaking suspicion that the McDonald’s connoisseur may have killed a bald eagle.

Why would Meyers think such a random thing as that? Because Trump seems to suddenly be obsessed with what the repercussions are from killing a bald eagle.

During Wednesday’s “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers shared that the Manhattan DA’s office is contemplating filing criminal charges against the former POTUS for the hush money he gave to Stormy Daniels. But in the midst of this investigation — one of many at which the 45th president is the center of — Trump seems blissfully ignorant of the charges he could be facing and more concerned with the fact that the punishment for killing a bald eagle is five years imprisonment.

If you’re thinking that Trump has traded in his windmill obsession for a bald eagle fetish, think again: he’s combined the two. While in Columbia, South Carolina over the weekend, Donald went off on one of his predictable windmill rants, but added a twist this time. As he told the crowd:

We demand windmills be built on our oceans, our prairies, our mountains, and our plains, only to realize that they’re killing all our eagles and our birds. If you kill a bald eagle, they put you in jail for five years. But the windmills knock out thousands of them. Nothing happens.

But Meyers has a theory about why Trump would know such a random fact: Back in 2015, you might recall that the then-aspiring president did a photoshoot with a bald eagle. And the bird, perhaps hoping to save us all from what the next four years (and then some) would bring, essentially tried to maul Donald. More than once.

“I like how he tells everyone in the audience if you kill a bald eagle you go to jail for five years,” Meyers commented. Which definitely means that after [the above] happened, Trump said, ‘I’m gonna kill that bald eagle!’ And someone told him not to because he’d go to jail for five years.”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 1:40 mark.

Rita Ora is back after releasing the new single “You Only Love Me” and discussing her new album: “With ‘You Only Love Me’ and my upcoming album, I wanted to capture the vulnerability I’ve experienced as I opened myself up to love and entered a new phase of life,” she said. It came with a wedding-themed video to celebrate her recent marriage to director Taika Waititi.

She brought the new song to life in a thrilling performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon yesterday (February 1) full of exuberant dance choreography and beautiful pink dresses. She also sat down for an interview with Fallon and talked about her marriage.

“Because I love you so much, I have actually never shown anyone my ring,” she told the host before flaunting the gorgeous jewelry. “It’s my first time showing my ring because I love you and I feel like you’re part of our relationship weirdly because we watch you every night.”

She confirmed that her new album is arriving later this year, and said she’s excited because, as she said, “I feel like the journey it took me to get to this point and the past two years — my life has changed so drastically.” She continued, “Making a decision to really spend the rest of your life is kind of a big decision. It got me writing again and I just really got inspired by love. Even though it sounds cheesy, all those phases of meeting somebody, and then do you really like them, do they like me, do I say that we’re together, can we be exclusive, like what is going on… You know that little bit in the beginning? That’s what I wrote all my feelings about.”

Watch her performance above; watch her interview below.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

The artwork for Gloria, Sam Smith’s fourth studio album, recalls elements from their past album covers; the green hues of Love Goes provide a backdrop for the visage-centric photography that constituted the covers for In the Lonely Hour and The Thrill of It All. The cover for Gloria finds Smith staring directly into the camera for the very first time. Glimmers of a smirk color the expression of contentment and peace on the four-time Grammy winner’s face. They are finally ready to address their audience as their most full and honest self, just as the genre-spanning music of the record indicates.

Led by the transitional “Love Me More” and the historic No. 1 single “Unholy,” Gloria is Sam Smith’s self-described “coming-of-age” album. Although we can’t put much stock in how pop stars describe their new records, after all they have a product to sell and tour seats to fill, Smith’s characterization of their latest album could not be more apt. Like any good piece of coming-of-age art, Gloria is equal parts reflective and forward-thinking. The lovelorn balladry that lifted them to international superstardom remains intact, but they also punctuate the album’s more somber moments with pulsating post-disco synths and forays into country-pop, dancehall-inflected rhythms, and hyperpop flirtations. To track the evolution of their own understanding of their queerness, Smith looks to pop divas and queer icons of the past and present. From samples of RuPaul and Judy Garland’s version of “Over The Rainbow” to soundbites from Sylvia Rivera and Lilli Vincenz, Gloria’s narrative thread is punctuated by pillars queer popular culture and a rich history of LGBTQIA+ activism.

While the imagery of their recent stage shows has leaned more into the Boy George school of pop, the influence of George Michael grounds the delightfully campy disco chants of “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” — a song where Smith unabashedly proclaims exactly what they want out of a given relationship. The Sam Smith of Gloria is no longer yearning for a casual lover to stay the night, they’re now reveling in the freedom of sexual exploration outside of the confines of society’s gender and body expectations.

Sex informs a large part of Gloria. For an artist who has so often leaned on tropes of unrequited love, it’s refreshing to hear Smith get physical and direct. “Gimme,” which features contributions from Jessie Reyez and Koffee, may suffer from a derivative trop-pop beat, but its sensual cooing hook prevents the song from falling in on itself. “Six Shots” is a much stronger stab at a sex jam simply because it is more nuanced than “Gimme.” Smith elevates a dreadfully overdone whiskey metaphor into the stormy reality of loving someone who is still working through their own insecurities. Of course, there’s the Kim Petras-assisted “Unholy,” which turns up the dial to a sort of self-aware maximalist transgression that marks pop music at its most ridiculous and freeing.

Religion, the other grounding theme of Gloria, works in tandem with, not in opposition to, sex. A Catholic school alum, the Euro-Christian musical cues of Smith’s formative years are subverted throughout Gloria. “No God,” with its intricate harmonies that nod to Full Moon-era Brandy, is a slick takedown of destructive god complexes. Melodically, the song is reminiscent of “HIM,” a standout from Smith’s sophomore album, and that musical throughline is bolstered by the track’s histrionic live strings and pristine vocal performance. “HIM” tracked a conversation between Smith and God, while “No God” transitions that conversation to one between Smith and those who fancy themselves as God. “Gloria,” the album’s title track and most memorable interlude, features some of Smith’s strongest songwriting to date. They riff and run across a haunting choir that sings, “Demons on my shoulder / Monsters in my head / Shadow in the water / Will you be my friend?” Named after Smith’s “fighter voice,” the song is a moment of resilient catharsis in an album that often struggles to commit to its more left-field bouts of experimentation. Sam Smith’s spell-binding voice has been the anchor of their career, and, on Gloria, their routinely despondent tone finds a space to transform into a defiant tone, if only for a single song.

For all of the bold sonic leaps Smith takes on Gloria, they regress when they fall into pockets of the more drab tracks in their discography. “How to Cry” offers a sharp contrast to the bombast of “Unholy,” but maudlin lyrics and a forgettable melody prevent the song from standing out amongst the scores of ballads that Smith has already gifted us. Similarly, “Who We Love,” the Ed Sheeran duet that closes the album, is a drowsy ”love is love” track that’s almost corporate in how predictable and stale it feels. Nonetheless, the downcast Robyn-esque dance-pop of “Lose You” and “Perfect,” which pulls from both trap-pop and Rated R-era Rihanna, make for high points that keep the album from sinking under the weight of its weaker tracks.

Gloria is not Smith’s most consistent album, but it is unquestionably the album on which they sound the most alive. At once, an admirable step forward and a hodgepodge of somewhat half-hearted cross-genre experimentations, Gloria is Sam Smith’s most singular body of work to date.

Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic Rumours is one of the all-time great albums and a tough one to replicate. Prince wanted to try, though, and he wanted Shania Twain to help him out. When he asked her, however, she actually rejected him.

She explained her reasoning in a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, saying:

”I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced. We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumours album with you.’ And that was the weirdest thing he could have ever have said, because his standard of what he thought, where I could live as a standard was that album, Rumours album. And he said that to me. So when Prince said that to me, I’m like, oh man, I’m not even divorced yet. I’m just like, I’ve been dumped, but I’m not, obviously, divorced yet. I’m like, this is way too ironic what you’re saying. Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan. And then on top of it, I hadn’t found my voice yet, I was still working on it. I was so far from finding it still. I was writing, but I was too insecure to go and get with Prince in the studio. I was too insecure, in every way.”

The comment about not having found her voice yet was in reference to her battle with Lyme disease, which compromised her singing ability and forced her to go on a musical hiatus in the mid 2000s.

She continued, “Plus, I’m on the phone with him and I’m swearing like I always do. I mean, because I’m just at home and it’s … He said to me, ‘Well, if you do decide to come to Paisley Park, there’s no swearing allowed here.’ So that was another strike. I’m like, oh no, I love you so much, but I don’t think I could get through writing and recording an album without swearing, somewhere along the way! What are you going to do to me if I swear? I might have to stand in the corner or something. I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died.”

Watch the interview above.