Thanks to the pandemic, the first Extraction film became an instant hit for Netflix as the streaming giant delivered a brutal action extravaganza that perfectly paired star Chris Hemsworth with stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrave. Now, the duo is back with a sequel, Extraction 2, that once again tasks Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake with plowing through a gauntlet of adversaries in spectacular fashion.
Topping the visceral energy of the first film is no easy task, but based on the first round of reviews, Extraction 2 surprisingly gets the job done. The Tyler Rake sequel is racking up overwhelmingly positive reviews thanks to Hargrave leaning on his stuntman experience to deliver a fitting new entry in the burgeoning action franchise.
Three years later and armed with a far better, bloody and bruising quest for the laconic hero, Hargrave, star Chris Hemsworth and screenwriter Joe Russo return to the burgeoning franchise with “Extraction 2”. (The graphic novel “Ciudad,” upon which the first film was based, was written by Ande Parks from a story by Parks and the Russo brothers.) The filmmakers’ renewed vigor is our reward as, similar to its unfussy title, this sequel deals in clean-lined action and suspense, removing much of the excessive weight that bogged down the original.
“Extraction 2” feels meatier in its action-packed set pieces than its predecessor, with Chris Hemsworth’s approachable and brawny Rake giving puppy avenger John Wick a genuine run for his money when it comes to high-kicks and knockouts. (Speaking of puppies, let’s not forget to mention that Rake’s sweet dog and pet chickens make it through this new mayhem in one piece.)
Stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrove clearly made it his mission here to not only turn up the voltage even further but also to register a significant greater body count than he did the first time around. He also pulls off staggering long-take action shots that are blatantly show-offy but jaw-dropping nonetheless, unmatched in their seamless creation. Even seen-it-all violence geeks and gamers will be humbled, impressed and mightily turned on.
As in Extraction, the action sequences are the whole game here, and they do not disappoint. There’s a helicopter landing on a train, lengthy car chases, some North By Northwest-inspired dangling from a ledge, and innumerable room-full-of-killers mano a mano fight scenes. Most of these are done in what appear to be impossibly long single shots. The prior film had an 11-minute take; this time, one shot nearly doubles that.
There is a glorious feel to Extraction 2 that likens momentum and on-screen action to shooter gameplay, whether the camera is positioned right behind Rake or the way he spits in death’s face like he’s got regenerating health and unlimited lives. This approach can be extremely entertaining – there’s a divisive long take (with hidden edits) people seem to find either enthralling or distracting as Rake escorts his precious cargo out of danger that’s right out of a Modern Warfare campaign.
Hargrave, a stuntman turned director, knows where to put his camera for maximum impact, and genuinely disturbing foley work showcases sounds of crunching bones and splattering blood. You feel every punch land.
Sometimes action movies can earn a good reputation based on the strength of one particularly well-executed scene and Extraction 2‘s prison heist may be enough to keep the film on the right side of genre history. The film also deserves props for elevating [Golshifteh] Farahani to a level where she’s positioned almost as an equal to the still-very-good Hemsworth, as opposed to just a briefly cool side character.
When this thing moves — and, wow, does it ever — it offers one of the best examples yet of what Netflix bucks can buy. It even makes off with upped emotion (including that engendered by shining a brighter spotlight on the wonderful Farahani and Bessa), a new dimension to the always-evolving Hemsworth, and proof that the action franchise can capture old thrills with new stories. It won’t look as good on your TV or your computer, but that’s a mission for another day.
Tate McRae went from a dance icon to a pop star real quick. Her 2021 debut I Used To Think I Could Fly brought the spotlight onto her. Since then, she’s teamed up with Tiësto for the track “10:35.” Now she’s back now with the exciting announcement of a North American tour, happening this fall.
The Are We Flying Tour kicks off in September and ends in October with the opener charlieonnafriday. It’ll stop by New York City, Nashville, Toronto, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, and more. There will be advance registration to help prevent scalpers.
Find ticket information here and check the full tour dates below.
09/05 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
09/06 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore Minneapolis
09/08 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
09/10 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
09/12 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
09/14 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
09/16 — Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
09/18 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
09/20 — New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
09/23 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
09/25 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
09/27 — Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09/29 — Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
09/30 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live – Moody Theater
10/02 — Denver, CO @ Summit
10/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
10/07 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
10/09 — San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
10/11 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
10/13 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
The 10-track LP arrives tomorrow, June 16, across all digital platforms before enjoying a physical release on September 1. All pre-ordering options are available here.
This week welcomed the atmospheric lead single, “Blóðberg,” which was also their first original single in seven years.
“As you hear on Átta, there’s a new compulsion and drive to the band that comes with the new formation of the line up. Multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson is back in the fold – having left the band in 2012 — to join frontman Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm,” a press release explained.
Sveinsson offered perspective on where the band is coming from, saying in a statement, “We wanted to allow ourselves to be a bit dramatic and go far with these arrangements. The world needs that right now. It’s hard to describe, but for me, everything is always open to interpretation. People can think and feel how they want.”
Holm added, “This record sounds like a Sigur Rós album, but it’s more introverted than before. It’s very expansive with this sound of strings, but it looks within more than outside.”
Sigur Rós plans to commemorate Átta‘s surprise arrival with sold-out live shows this summer backed by a 41-piece orchestra.
Check the Átta tracklist and the band’s upcoming tour dates below.
06/16 — London, UK @ Royal Festival Hall
06/17 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Concertgebouw
06/18 — Hamburg, Germany @ Elbphilharmonie
07/03 — Paris, France @ Philharmonie Main Hall
08/14 — Toronto, ON @ Roy Thomson Hall
08/16 — New York City, NY @ Beacon Theatre
08/18 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
08/19 — Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre
08/21 — Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
08/24 — Seattle, WA @ The Paramount Theatre
08/26 — Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
08/27 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
There’s a glut of good TV at the moment so even a modern remake of a bit of classic David Cronenberg-ian body horror needs some buzzwords to cut through the noise. Luckily, Dead Ringers has that. And we’ll list them out for you now: Rachel Weisz. Evil twins. Surrealist sci-fi. Fertility clinic. Power struggles. A shocking finale. And Rachel Weisz (again). Helmed by Alice Birch (Normal People) with a few episodes directed by horror maestro Karyn Kusama, this show takes Cronenberg’s central idea and gender-flips it, giving us twin obstetricians Beverly and Elliot Mantle whose day job sees them playing god at a cutting-edge fertility clinic. But, when their toxic relationship dynamics are threatened by both their professional success and personal entanglements, their bond reaches disturbing new depths.
Authorized celebrity documentaries often lack bite and feel like an extension of a PR campaign, but Still goes deeper than most, telling the story of Michael J. Fox’s life from his origins to his ’80s pop culture takeover, the courtship of his wife Tracy Pollan, his Parkinson’s diagnosis/decision to tell the word, and the aftershocks of that. It’s not just a linear unfolding of an icon’s life and the depth and care that’s used to paint a portrait of him now as he takes stock and counts his blessings while being challenged by the progressive and debilitating disease, it’s the way in which Guggenheim chooses to highlight key moments. As we see with Fox himself, there’s a lot of light and joy running through this as it weaves together re-enactments, voiceovers, archival footage, Fox interviews, and needle drops to give new life to familiar stories and creates montages so exhilarating you’ll think you’re watching the ’80s pop culture version of The Last Dance. Pair all that with Fox’s charm and candor, and Still feels special.
Primo has three big things going for it. One, it is loosely based on the life of bestselling author Shea Serrano, who is cool and funny. Two, it comes from Michael Schur, creator of Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, who is also cool and funny in addition to being good at making shows. Three, it’s, well, free, as it’s airing on Amazon’s FreeVee channel instead of on Prime. Tough to beat all of that on paper, you know?
The is a lot going on here. Let’s start at the top: American Born Chinese is a coming-of-age story based on a popular graphic novel about a teenager named Jin who attempts to navigate high school while keeping a big secret about superpowers under wraps. Spider-man vibes abound, with crushes on biology partners and angry demons and magical amulets aplenty, which is by no means a complaint. Nor is the thing where the show reunites a big chunk of the cast from Everything Everywhere All At Once. More shows should have Michelle Yeoh in them. Most of them, really. This is not an unreasonable request.
God only knows how Elle Fanning’s Catherine the Great and Nicholas Hoult’s Emperor Peter III somehow haven’t killed each other yet, but there’s still time for that to happen. Their arranged marriage has slid deeper into misery, but they must get their sh*t together to stay in power. History tells us that Catherine was Russia’s longest-reigning female empress and that she overthrew her husband, but god only knows where this show will actually go. Conventional history went out the door a long time ago.
The first season of Clone High aired 20 years ago on Canadian television and then, later, on MTV. It was a weird little show about famous historical figures — JFK, Abe Lincoln, Cleopatra — getting brought back to the present day as high school students, kind of like if you littered 90210 or some other teen melodrama with fictional depictions of real people from the part. It was fun. And good. And it got canceled after that one season. And now it’s back, with the original braintrust — Bill Lawrence, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, who have done okay for themselves in the 20 years between seasons — at the helm. Get in there for the nostalgia but also get in there for the good jokes about history.
Finally, an inventor biopic we actually care about. No offense to the Steve Job origin stories and and World War dramas about geniuses who saved the world. You keep the Michael Fassbenders and Benedict Cumberbatches of the world employed and for that, we thank you. But it’s about damn time we learn of the genesis of the crunchy, spicy snack that saved America’s tastebuds. Eva Longoria directs this dramedy that follows a Frito-Lay janitor who claimed he created Flaming Hot Cheetos. Sure, it’s a movie about the mouthwatering alchemy of enriched corn meal, cayenne pepper, and red food dye, but it’s also an underdog story that just so happens to align with a capitalist turning point in our country. And yes, it burns … good.
It’s the 16th season of It’s Always Sunny and if you’re not already endlessly in love with this gang of moronic miscreants and their low-rent misadventures I don’t know that you can be saved. For those who have fallen off a little over the years, though, please allow us to reassure you that the show is as good, chaotic, vile, silly, and subtly smart as ever, trading international hijinks in Ireland during part of last season for a back to basics approach. In just the first two episodes we’ve seen Mac, Charlie, Dee, Dennis, and Frank giving us a cliffs notes understanding of inflation and crypto (as only Always Sunny can), revelations about Charlie and Frank’s cramped apartment, a crazy family road trip, and a whole lot of casual gunplay. And that’s just the first two episodes. We can’t wait to see the rest.
From the outside, you may think that you know where this series is going, but the show promises to be even more chaotic than you expect. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen play old friends who reunite after people grow apart (as they do), and it soon grows apparent that he shakes up her little world. Fortunately, she does appear to be happily married, and her husband approves of (and, in fact, encourages) this rekindled friendship — at least, until the horse tranquilizers come into play. It happens.
Reality gives us Euphoria breakout Sydney Sweeney in an entirely different kind of role. She plays real-life military intelligence specialist Reality Winner, the woman who leaked classified intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 United States election to the press and was questioned by the FBI and sentenced to a prison term under the Espionage Act. The movie focuses on her interrogation, with Sweeney and the agents circling each other like cobras as the… well, as the reality of Reality’s situation sinks in. It’s a heavy watch, but an important one, both to shine a light on a notable situation from real-life and to remind everyone that Sydney Sweeney has some serious acting chops.
Back in 2015, Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly set to star in a much earlier (and different) version of this story in which he would have played a defendant who invoked a legal defense that had never been successfully used before. The crimes in question (tied to a real-life case) included a 1970s robbery and more. Apple TV+ has now adapted this story as a fictionalized, inspired-by-real-life series, and Tom Holland now portrays “Danny Sullivan,” who is arrested in connection with a late 1970s shooting. It certainly takes Holland out of the Marvel mindset.
Kaley Cuoco has already proven that audiences and critics underestimated her sheer level of talent, and not only that, but she’s been working her butt off ever since the Big Bang Theory wrapped up. Cuoco has now turned to the true crime-esque realm to portray a woman who’s obsessed with the genre to such a degree that she is excited about a serial killer on the loose. This series arrives from producers of The Boys and Ozark, if that tells you anything about how darkly comedic things will soon get for this show, and it’s not as fun as The Flight Attendant, but it’s fizzy enough to be a hit.
The internet’s favorite sick and deranged sketch series is back for a third season. Expect to see your various social media feeds flooded with screencaps and GIFs in the coming weeks, most of them featuring creator and star Tim Robinson with a pained expression on his face. Maybe double back and watch the first two seasons again, too. There’s probably something in there you missed or forgot anyway. And hey, it’s never a bad weekend to yell at strangers about how they have no good car ideas. Maybe they get mad, sure. But maybe you’re right. And maybe they look at you and reply “I’m doing the best at this” and you make a friend for life.
Dystopian sci-fi has never been done quite like this before. In Apple TV+’s newest drama, a ruined and toxic future that forces humanity to dwell in underground silos hundreds of stories deep isn’t the antagonist of the story, it’s merely the setting. The real problem lies in a murderous cover-up whose unraveling threads reveal a bigger conspiracy when a scrappy mechanic (Rebecca Ferguson) and a disillusioned sheriff (David Oyelowo) start tugging in earnest. What is truth and who decides it are the questions this show is asking but even if the answers don’t come readily, the insane worldbuilding and thrilling action will leave you happy to keep guessing.
The Full Monty was a 1997 movie about a group of steelworkers who faced a troubling economic future and chose to address it by becoming strippers. It was a whole thing. People still use “the full Monty” as code for male nudity, which is kind of wild. And now it’s back, 25 years later. Again, kind of. It’s a television series now and it follows the same characters but this time they keep their clothes on, choosing new and somehow weirder ways to alleviate their financial struggles. There’s a lot going on here. Curiosity might be enough to reel you in.
All hail the never-ending franchise’s new spinoffs, which begin with Manhattan-bound misadventure to reinforce what a bad idea it is to head into cities with zombies afoot. Fortunately, this is a thrilling throwback, in which Maggie pretty much forces Negan to help her rescue Hershel Rhees, son of Glenn and Maggie, obviously. Hey, Negan owes her one, so let the walker variants roll
What we have here is a spinoff of one show (Star Trek: Discovery) that was itself a prequel to another show (the original Star Trek), now in its second season. We are deep into the lore here. But that’s okay. It’s a fun little ride, good for both diehard fans of the franchise and newbies trying to dip their toes in a little. You could use a little galactic escape sometimes. We all can.
Here’s what we know about Extraction 2: It sees Chris Hemsworth returning to action as the left-for-dead mercenary-turned-hero Tyler Rake (still a terrific name) who’s tasked with saving more people in peril. Here’s what we don’t know about Extraction 2: How the hell this movie got made. The stunt list alone should’ve had insurance companies running for the hills. There’s talk that Hemsworth is lit on fire at one point. There are dizzying car chases filmed on a continuous loop. Just 20-minute-long car chases, people! Helicopters are out here landing on moving trains. Who let these men do this?
Can the bleak freaky award-winning anthology series and buzz machine from a few years ago still scare the piss out of audiences now that the world has been brought closer to some of its popular themes about metaverses, AI everywhere, neural implants, evaporating privacy protections, and the malignancy of loneliness and hollowness of digital interactions? We’re about to find out with five new star-studded episodes that beg for our attention while it’s still ours to control.
The super-rich mega-church proprietors are back and they’re ready to step into a new chapter that sees patriarch Eli Gemstone ceding control to his kids. Shades of Succession? In some surface ways, sure, but Gemstones is its own swirl of chaos and genius, and this new season goes all in on family feuds while adding monster trucks, romantic entanglements, backwoods survivalists doing that thing they do, and an all-new Baby Billy scheme.
It’s hard to name many better shows than What We Do in the Shadows. The FX vampire comedy has TV’s best collection of recurring weirdos, and I can no longer hear the words “New York City” without thinking of the way Matt Berry pronounces it. What shenanigans will Guillermo (who got his wish of being bitten by a vampire last season), Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja, and Colin Robinson get up to in season five? We’ll find out soon enough: What We Do in the Shadows returns on July 13th, and FX released a new trailer for the season.
You can watch it above.
In season five, according to the official plot description, “Nandor feels his familiar (and sometimes friend) Guillermo slipping away as he seems to be spending much more time with Laszlo, whose skills as a gentleman scientist are put to the test as he tries to solve the mystery of the strange and very secret changes Guillermo is going through.” Here’s more:
“Nadja, suffering the effects of a previously-undiagnosed supernatural hex, reconnects with her family — or at least, a family — from the Old Country, Colin pursues the path of so many energy vampires before him by running for political office and The Guide tries to figure out where she fits in as the relative newcomer to this tightly-knit group who’ve known each other for centuries.”
Also, Colin Robinson tries to seduce Nadja in a scene that puts the horror in horror-comedy and there’s a sneaky Ted Lasso reference.
fx
I “believe” that What We Do in the Shadows is a great show.
If you’re going to preview a new song, a commercial for headphones might be the perfect place to do it. Singer Normani joins the likes of Diddy, Saweetie, and Vince Staples in using a business partnership to prime a new music release. In this case, it’s “Candy Paint,” Normani’s first single in a year, which she previewed in a clip promoting Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II and QuietComfort 45 Headphones.
In the clip, Normani practices dance moves and scribbles in a notebook while surrounded by magazine clippings and other inspirational, mood board-esque trappings. In a voiceover, she addresses some of the criticisms against her, saying, “People sometimes confuse my commitment to the craft with perfectionism.” However, she rebuts, “I don’t strive for perfection… I strive to be the most authentic version of myself… I strive to create work that moves my spirit.”
Meanwhile, in a Billboard interview about the new song and commercial, Normani revealed her inspirations for “Candy Paint.” “I really wanted to create a record that allowed me to show my personality,” she said. “I feel like there’s a misconception; it probably has everything to do with my social media. [Laughs] I think that people think I’m so serious, which is the complete opposite [of me]. Anybody that really knows me knows that I’m really funny. I’m a goofball! I love to twerk. [Laughs] I’m just regular. I really wanted to create a record that encompassed that and allowed my personality to shine. It’s a performance record first, which I know my fans have been waiting for, for a very long time. It’s fun, energetic, bossy. It’s bold. It’s sassy but assertive, and yeah, I’m really excited to shoot the music video.”
Normani previously rebutted her online critics in a blunt tweet after one commenter accused her of being “comfortable” and asserted “you’re not HUNGRY anymore.” “Just shut the f*ck up,” Normani replied, cutting straight to the chase. It’s not like she hasn’t been working, after all; earlier this year, she voiced a character much like herself on The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder and partnered with Fabletics (which also produces Lizzo’s Yitty line) for a limited-edition clothing line of performance wear.
Meanwhile, the description for the Bose ad — which you can watch above — says Normani’s debut album is “finally on the cusp,” so it looks like fans’ patience will pay off soon enough.
Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune since 1983, a full 40 years now, announced this week that he will step down at the end of the current season. This means two things, primarily. The first is that we have now pretty much completed our longtime game show host turnover, with Drew Carey in at The Price Is Right for Bob Barker and the Jenning/Bialik team in at Jeopardy for Alex Trebek. It truly is the end of an era there. It’s a little weird to think about.
This brings us to the second thing: We, uh, need a new host for Wheel of Fortune. And I have some ideas. Are they good ideas? I mean… kind of. To me. Maybe not to you or the people actually conducting the search, but still. You guys should get your own pop culture column and write about it if you think you’re so great.
I’m sorry for snapping. I get excited. Here we go…
Ryan Seacrest
Fox
Seacrest is the oddsmakers’ favorite so far. He has hosting experience galore and a big hole in his schedule after leaving Kelly Ripa to handle the mornings herself and he had a long history with Merv Griffin, whose company owns the whole show. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to picture him doing it, either. Close your eyes now and imagine him standing in Sajak’s spot, with a suit on and some cards in his hands. It plays. Maybe not the most exciting option on the board, but I don’t think “excitement” is what the Wheel crowd is looking for anyway.
Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Ryan is an option to replace Pat and he’s been talking to Sony about potentially taking over for the retiring host. We’re told Ryan has some time in his schedule now to possibly make this work, as he’s no longer on “LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.”
Which is, like, fine. I don’t know. There’s not really too much to add here beyond what is already in front of our faces, so let’s just go ahead and post the tweet where Sylvester Stallone implied Seacrest can beat up Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Why would I put JCVD , and I do like him, in EXPENDABLES when I know SEACREST could destroy the one time great . ASK STEVE AUSTIN, he knows.
The ending of this tweet — “ASK STEVE AUSTIN, he knows” — is maybe the most fascinating collection of words I have ever seen.
Whoopi Goldberg
ABC
Seacrest might be the favorite because of his credentials hosting big events and competitions, but Whoopi is arguably more qualified just on the basis of being an EGOT winner. I like to think that’s her whole application for the gig. Just a picture of her holding all four statues. And make no mistake: Whoopi wants this job. You can tell because she literally said “I want that job” on an episode of The View earlier this week.
When the women asked him for his thoughts on Sajak’s retirement — having stepped into the shoes of an equally iconic host when Alex Trebek died — Jennings joked that “hopefully ‘Wheel’s’ got an envelope somewhere that says ‘What to Do When Pat Packs It In.’”
At that, host Joy Behar chimed in that “Whoopi wants the job,” and the moderator was quick to piggyback on it.
“I want that job,” she confirmed. “I think it would be tons of fun.”
Whoopi would be more fun than Seacrest and it opens the door to one of the other ladies from The View — Joy Behar, let’s say — replacing Vanna White, which would really just be very funny and confusing for the home viewers. Plus, if it happens, the announcement could result in more celebrities accidentally mangling her name via autocorrect, which would be a blast for me.
Btw….forgot to inform everyone I’ve been asked to Co-Host “The View” once again. I’m co-hosting with Whoops Goldberg on July 15th.
Guy Fieri pulling up to the wheel in a classic convertible at the beginning of every episode.
Vanna White in the passenger seat, hair blowing.
Lots of food-based puzzles now, like “BACON DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER” and “DISCO FRIES.”
He does every show in a bowling shirt and cargo shorts.
The prize puzzles now are trips to various diners around the country.
It could work.
Sam Richardson
I do not actually want this because I prefer having Sam Richardson free to do a slew of other projects (The Afterparty, various sketches where he plays a game show host on I Think You Should Leave, etc.), but I don’t think there is any denying that the man would be incredible at it. Get him in there with Patti Harrison turning the letters. Go full chaos. Let’s have some fun.
Me
My qualifications are as follows:
I know all of the letters
I am very good at the kind of small talk the host does at the beginning of each segment, and please take a short elevator ride with me sometime if you doubt that
One time in Atlantic City, a lady sitting next to me won like $500 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine
I like it when things spin and/or light up
I love bloopers (see above)
Please consider.
Joe Tessitore and Rob Riggle
ABC
A few small changes…
The wheel is now surrounded by water
The contestants have to putt a golf ball onto it as it spins and get whatever prize or dollar amount it lands on
When they want to solve the puzzle, they have to try to run across the spinning wheel without splashing into the moat around it
I realize this is basically just Holey Moley but with puzzles. I know that. But, in my defense… I really do want to see it.
Joe Pera
Joe Pera is a very sweet and very funny man who has a wholesome face and desert-dry delivery and I think it would be a lot of fun to watch the nanas of the world react to him hosting their favorite game show.
The Muppets
DISNEY
Any Muppet will do, really. Kermit as host with an increasingly cranky Miss Piggy turning the letters and doing the little bouncy thing she does when she walks. Gonzo in a little suit grabbing the wheel to give it a final spin and getting stuck in the pegs and whipping around at 1000 miles per hour until he flies off and into the studio audience. Statler and Waldorf up in the balcony mocking the contestants when they get a wrong answer. These are all good ideas.
The funniest would be the Swedish Chef, though, just ARGLE-BARGLING his way through the hosting duties, making no sense, causing mass confusion. Animal is Vanna now. Sometimes we cut to the board and it’s just on fire. You would watch.
Beyonce
Getty Image
I don’t know. I just think it would be funny if we all woke up tomorrow and saw a headline like “Beyonce Agrees To Be The New Host Of Wheel Of Fortune.” That would be wild. People would lose their minds a little bit.
Maybe we do Guy Fieri and Beyonce, where she hosts and he turns the letters. That could work. Let’s not rule it out.
Lindsey Graham stopped by Fox News on Wednesday night to do what he does best lately: get emotional about Donald Trump. The South Carolina has made a habit of growing teary-eyed about the former president’s growing legal problems, and Graham’s appearance on Hannity was no exception.
“They’re trying to destroy his life, it’s not going to work,” Graham said before raising concerns that Trump could be facing an indictment for the January 6 attack on top of the federal charges for mishandling classified documents.
Watch for an indictment in Washington, D.C. You could convict any Republican in America of anything in Washington, D.C. He got 5% of the vote. Here’s what I worry about – that [Special Counsel Jack] Smith will indict President Trump for January 6th activity in Washington, D.C. If he does that, that means he has no confidence in the Florida case. I hope and pray that Mr. Smith will not do that, because that will tear this country apart.
After setting the stage with the threat of another indictment for Trump, Graham was near tears as he whined about the treatment of the former president. However, Graham’s performance only earned him a tepid round of applause from the Fox News studio:
it’s the Trump pity party with Lindsey Graham (how awkward is the applause? lol) pic.twitter.com/dINscUvkHT
“President Trump has been treated unlike anybody I’ve known in this business and I’ve been around since 1995. What they hate about him the most, he’s broken through to working people,” Graham ranted as he called Trump “a threat to the left unlike anybody since Ronald Reagan.”
“Mr. President, President Trump, talk about the future, pal,” Graham said. “We’ve got your back.”
Miguel always knew he was destined for greatness. Amid shoddy record deals, less-than-perfect auditions, and false starts, he was always willing to place bets on himself. And now, nearly 20 years since he made his debut as an artist in his own right, he continues to set records with his songs that have proven to stand the test of time. But with four albums under his belt, and even more new music on the way, one of his earliest songs always seems to come back around.
At the time of writing, Miguel’s breakthrough single “Sure Thing” sits at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached this peak back in May, nearly 13 years after the song’s proper release, though many fans remember hearing the song earlier than 2010.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Miguel first shared “Sure Thing” with the world. A version credited to Miguel Jontel with a slightly different mix can be found on YouTube, with a posting date of 2008. In a recent interview with NME, Miguel revealed that he wrote the song in 2007, for consideration for Usher’s 2008 album, Here I Stand.
“I was a struggling artist here in LA, not making any money but trying to get on however I could,” he said. “Writing was one of the things allowing me to get into rooms and to start writing for artists but I had no real placements at the time.”
He shared the song with Mark Pitts, who, instead of giving the song to Usher, flew Miguel out to New York and signed him to Jive.
Around that same time, the song surfaced on MySpace, however, tracking the metrics would prove rather difficult. In 2019, it was reported that over 50 million songs that were uploaded to MySpace before 2015 were lost. But according to a 2014 Vibe article, “Sure Thing” had “over 4.5 million hits when it came out.”
But before “Sure Thing” was conceptualized, Miguel’s sound and aesthetic was completely different. In 2004, he auditioned to be part of R&B and hip-hop group Fatty Koo, however, was not chosen as a member. Shortly after, he signed a deal with independent label Black Ice Records. One of his earliest singles dates back to 2006, in the form of the rhythmic “Getcha Hands Up.” A video was shot, and premiered on BET’s 106 & Park video countdown program, and features Miguel rocking a baggy shirt and jeans.
Upon signing the deal with Jive in 2007, Miguel was sued by Black Ice Records for breach of contract, which would delay the release of his debut album All I Want Is You until 2010, when the case was eventually settled.
When All I Want Is You finally arrived — on November 30, 2010 — “Sure Thing” still sounded fresh and made Miguel one of the pioneers of the alt-R&B wave popularized by artists like himself, and his contemporaries, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean.
All I Want Is You also arrived around the time of the “blog era,” during which time, blogs like 2DopeBoyz, DJBooth, and HotNewHipHop were key players in highlighting new artists. Artists like J.Cole, Wale, Wiz Khalifa – all of whom, Miguel collaborated with – were some of the rappers to emerge during that time. With these collaborations, Miguel garnered much attention for music of his own.
Through the summer of 2011, “Sure Thing” was a hit on hip-hop and R&B radio. Though All I Want Is You had only been out for a few months, the song was about four years old when it was breaking through. In an interview with YouKnowIGotSoul conducted during that summer, Miguel said he felt that “Sure Thing” was a “dated record,” but was overjoyed that people were discovering it and loving it.
“Now that it’s on the radio, it’s just cool to know that the music stood the test of time,” he said.
Migue’s story, of course, did not end there. Over the course of the following decade, each of his following albums would offer equally considerable, if not surpassing, hits. 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream boasted “Adorn” and “How Many Drinks?”, while 2015’s Wildheart included “Coffee” and “Simple Things.” And his most recent album, 2017’s War & Leisure featured the Travis Scott-assisted “Sky Walker.”
And even when Miguel isn’t on an album cycle, most superfans know that he will toy around with a song multiple times for years until he gets it right. The version of “Candles In The Sun” on Miguel’s Art Dealer Chic, Vol. 3 EP features a John Lennon audio soundbite that isn’t on the Kaleidoscope Dream version. The first iteration of “Simple Things,” which appeared on the second soundtrack for HBO’s Girls has a different drum pattern than the final version that appears on Wildheart. Three versions of “Coffee” exist — one featuring Wale, one that replaces the references to coffee with the word “f*cking,” and the solo version that served as Wildheart‘s lead single.
There’s no particular challenge or dance routine for “Sure Thing” as it lives its third life via TikTok, however, a sped-up version of the song is often used in video montages of couples on date nights, makeup influencers’ “get ready with me” videos, and therapeutic home cleaning clips. This particular version marks “Sure Thing’s” third known mix, and has over 3.8 million loops on the video-sharing platform.
As “Sure Thing” has held up during nearly all of the vital eras of modern music – the MySpace era, the blog era, and now, the content era – the song’s newfound success comes as a full circle moment for Miguel. In an interview with Apple Music 1’s The Chart Show, he expressed gratitude for the fans who helped grow “Sure Thing” from an underground staple to a pop culture phenomenon.
“I think it’s an opportunity for people to, hopefully for anyone who likes that song specifically, just get into the journey of it,” he said. “I think there’s something dope about that, that we don’t really get to do, especially because my career started as social media began as well.”
The Fast And Furious franchise couldn’t end without another contribution from Puth.
On Thursday, June 15, Puth teamed with BTS’ Jimin, JVKE, and Muni Long for “Angel Pt. 2” for the Fast X soundtrack. Yet again, it’s a ballad meant to tug at the heartstrings, building on the original “Angel Pt. 1” from BTS’ Jimin, JVKE, Kodak Black, NLE Choppa, and Muni Long, which came out with the film in May.
The chorus paints a visceral picture: “Angel, don’t fly so close to me / I’ll pull you down eventually / You don’t wanna lose those wings / People like me break beautiful things.”
“I owe so much to this franchise and have always been so proud to be a part of the Fast Family,” Puth said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to come back and collaborate with all of these fantastic artists on ‘Angel Pt. 2.’”
On Wednesday, June 14, Puth took to TikTok (his favorite hobby) to tease the single.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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