In a recent NME interview, Homme was asked, “On ‘Paper Machete,’ you sing about your separation from your wife. Did it feel exposing to write about a topic that’s clearly still so raw?” He replied, “I’m supposed to write about my life. It’s supposed to be real and honest. Am I supposed to write about the mating call of the upchuck swallow? All it’s really supposed to be is as real, honest, and vulnerable as it can be, because that’s my job. How many songs have been written about break-ups, or get-togethers? That’s what they’re for, right? ‘One is the loneliest number…’ It goes on and on. So I don’t worry about that. What would be the possible worry about speaking from an honest spot in yourself?”
On the song, Homme doesn’t hold back with lyrics like, “The truth is just a peace of clay / You sculpt, you change, you hide, then you erase / You think you’re brave? / All the plans you made / Behind my back and from far away? / Truth is, face to face, you’re a coward / Sharp as a paper machete.”
Listen to “Paper Machete” above. Yesterday, the band released a video for recent single “Carnavoyeur,” so find that below.
In Times New Roman… is out 6/16 via Matador. Find more information here.
Marvel hasn’t released a new Disney+ series since last year’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, so the anticipation is high for Secret Invasion. The new show features the return of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury as the weary spymaster grapples with his failure to protect the Earth from Thanos and the chaos that ensued. However, Fury doesn’t have time to sulk as the shape-shifting Skrulls move from friend to enemy in this espionage thriller.
While only the first two episodes were provided to critics, there seems to be an overwhelming consensus that Secret Invasion leans into the political vibes that made Captain America: The Winter Soldier one of the best MCU films of all time. That said, some critics were feeling the show more than others, but there’s almost universal agreement that the surprisingly stacked cast elevates the series.
Secret Invasion, created by Kyle Bradstreet, is not a superhero show. This may surprise those familiar with the 2008 comic storyline from Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu, which saw nearly every costumed hero and villain mix it up with the alien intruders; the Disney+ series ditches The Avengers in favor of cold, hard espionage. It’s an area the Marvel Cinematic Universe has played in before, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Widow being notable examples. But even then, we were still firmly in the world of heroes. In Secret Invasion, spies cannot be heroes by their very nature, and the murky moral waters they must wade through are anything but the expected Marvel method.
There’s a reason that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is still one of the most beloved of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s rooted in our love for mystery. Right out the gate, Secret Invasion has you on the edge of your seat just given the simple nature of its presence. We don’t know who to trust. Any time a character acts slightly different than we’re used to, you’ll feel an overwhelming need to scream “SKRULL” on your coach.
Where the series shines exceptionally well is when it lets Samuel L. Jackson be himself. Though the episodes reviewed are without Jackson’s trademark “motherf-cker,” his wit and charm are still put on full display. Secret Invasion is very much the show of Nick Fury, and that might be its saving grace. After 15 years of playing the character, viewers get to see what makes the former SHIELD boss tick, finally providing some storylines that peel back the layers of the walking enigma. It’s an examination of the character in only a way Jackson could accomplish, and it’s something that’s long past due.
In its early going, “Secret Invasion” stands out for its willingness to go places, and its reticence to call attention to itself. Consider that, in the two-and-a-half years since Marvel began its project of airing series that explicitly complement what’s happening in their film universe on Disney+, its TV shows have looked for all the world like segmented feature films, albeit with a little less major-scale action and with franchise stars like Chris Hemsworth and Paul Rudd juuuust out of view. Ever since “WandaVision,” the show that started this period for Marvel, wound up ditching its novel episodic premise in time for a big climactic fight, these shows have often struggled to make the case for themselves as shows. These two episodes, by contrast, work.
However, other critics were not so intrigued by Marvel’s return to the spy genre. Despite the stellar cast, the first two episodes of Secret Invasion is not the MCU’s version of Andor that some fans were hoping for:
Through two episodes, the series itself is a disappointment. A tremendous cast, led by Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman and Don Cheadle, keeps things generally watchable and, when they’re given the opportunity to interact, you can spot the best version of the show. But for the most part, Secret Invasion is more dour and even dull than one might expect from its John le Carré/Graham Greene trappings.
Jackson, Mendelsohn, and Colman will likely keep the whole thing watchable, and if Kingsley-Adir and Clarke get more to do as it progresses, maybe it’ll become more than that. At first, though, anyone hoping for the MCU equivalent of “Andor” that Jackson seems up for – a dark espionage drama with some fantasy trimmings – will likely be disappointed.
To say the first two episodes are suspense-free wouldn’t be entirely fair. The premiere’s climax works well enough, and the hourlong entries move along without the obvious bloat of past MCU TV shows. Still, “Secret Invasion” proves as tepid as it is inert. The cast, featuring multiple Oscar winners and future recipient Ben Mendelsohn, is barely given room to do anything — even Jackson, who has the most screen time, barely fits in a raised eyebrow or trademark shout. Colman and Ben-Adir fare best, unleashing their wild sides in all-too-brief spurts, and it’s exciting to see Mendelsohn play a good guy for once. But like with most Marvel entries, these dynamic talents are conscripted to spout blunt exposition, rote dialogue, and forced quips.
Secret Invasion‘s first two episodes introduce an intriguing concept. Nick Fury really did create a galactic crisis through his own inattention. Can he fix it before it’s too late? The irony is that the bar has been raised so high in terms of what genre fans should expect from streaming shows that Secret Invasion itself feels a little late. The scripts are flabby, the visuals uninspired. Five years ago, Secret Invasion would have been top-tier genre entertainment. Now it feels, like Fury, a few important steps behind the competition.
Marvel’s Secret Invasion premieres June 21 on Disney+.
Bradley Beal‘s name has seemingly popped up in trade rumors for years, and even though he just finished up the first year of a 5-year, $251 million contract extension, a potential Beal deal is back in the rumor mill. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Washington’s front office and Beal’s representation are reportedly keeping in touch as teams are reaching out to gauge his availability.
ESPN Sources: As rivals begin reaching out to the Wizards to explore possibility of trading for All-Star guard Bradley Beal, president Michael Winger and Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports are staying in close contact to discuss scenarios presented to franchise.
After completing first season of a five-year, $251M contract, Beal’s unique standing as NBA’s only current player to have a no-trade clause negotiated into his deal gives him the ability to control not only possible destinations, but how a potential package to acquire Beal… https://t.co/KxVnTQHdlW
Shams Charania and Josh Robbin of The Athletic confirmed the news, saying that both sides will work together on finding Beal a new team in the event the Wizards opt to rebuild.
Just In: The Washington Wizards and Bradley Beal will work together to find a trade for the three-time All-Star if the team elects to reset the roster in the near future, league sources tell me and @JoshuaBRobbins.
The Athletic noted that while no decisions have been made yet on the long-term future of the Wizards, “the Miami Heat are expected to be prominent suitors for Beal if he reaches the market.” Beal is one of the more unique contracts in the NBA, because beyond the fact that his deal is gigantic — he’ll make an average of $50.2 million over the life of the deal and has a player option in 2026-27 worth $57.1 million — he has a full no-trade clause and has the ability to veto any deal.
Beal, who turns 30 at the end of June, is a three-time All-Star and has only suited up for the Wizards over the course of his NBA career. Last season, he appeared in 50 games and averaged 23.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game while Washington went 35-47 and finished in 12th place in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row.
Carrie Fisher‘s last movie is finally coming out, seven years after her death.
In Wonderwell, which is described as a “coming-of-age fairy tale set between modern-day Italy and an imaginary realm just beyond,” the Star Wars legend plays the “enigmatic” Hazel, who helps guide the main character.
“The journey we have taken as filmmakers with this movie, has been as perilous as that of the movie itself,” director Vlad Marsavin told Deadline about the delayed release. “From filming to screen it has taken us seven years. The visual effects on a movie of this magnitude takes time, but we were challenged with COVID lockdowns and of course the passing of our wonderful Carrie Fisher. Now is the perfect time to share her magical on screen moments as Hazel.”
Marsavin also shared a delightful story about how Fisher was always the life of the party.
“Carrie was full of energy during filming and even celebrated her 60th birthday with us in Italy where we shot the movie. After a night shoot, which went on until 2am, she invited the whole team to celebrate with her and the party ended up being shut down by the police because it was deemed a little too loud. Her passing was very emotional for the whole team.”
Wonderwell, which also stars Rita Ora, Nell Tiger Free, Sebastian Croft, and Kiera Milward, will have a limited theatrical run via AMC followed by a digital release from June 23, 2023.
Doja Cat fans are thirsty for new music, which is arriving soon. Today (June 14), she finally gave fans a taste of what to expect from her impending new era.
Her new single, “Attention,” drops this Friday, and is believed to be the lead single from her upcoming fourth album. In a clip shared on social media, Doja is seen arriving to a red carpet, which is filled with fans and photographers. She is seen sporting a shorter hairdo, which she began rocking last summer, and it looks like she will maintain this aesthetic over the course of the album cycle.
Though a snippet of new music can be heard for only a few seconds, it sounds like Doja may be taking on a more rock-influenced sound. Over rattling percussion, Doja raps “Look at me, look at me / You lookin’?”
Doja has been teasing the follow-up to Planet Her for the past few months now, but it’s not clear what the sound will consist of. She’s previously suggested that her fourth album will have a punk sound, as well as a pure rap sound, and even an EDM sound, so it could go in any direction at this point.
You can check out the “Attention” teaser clip above.
Fear The Walking Dead is finishing a final run on AMC, and next up, the first in a new crop of spinoffs will arrive. The Walking Dead: Dead City will reunite unlikely team Maggie and Negan for a Manhattan adventure that proves to be a thrilling throwback and should please fans of the more action-oriented parts of the original city.
The series does leave plenty of room open for a second season, if that does materialize, but how many episodes will we see for this spinoff’s first season? This will be a stark contrast of a series with a more narrow focus and a much less bloated total runtime. Season 1 contains six grime-soaked episodes, and once those finish rolling out, at least two other spinoffs (including a solo Daryl Dixon and the Rick Grimes/Michonne repairing) will eventually arrive.
Overall, Dead City is a leaner and meaner product with shades of the former Negan coming into view while he and Maggie search for Hershel, the son of Glenn and Maggie. However, these two newfound companions are anything but friends. That’s only to be expected.
Will see see any crossover action, though? Morgan previously declared that “the door is open” for overlap between spinoffs “because we are all on the same timeline.” Fingers crossed.
AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 18.
50 Cent‘s Sire Spirits brand and E. Rémy Martin & Co. have reached a settlement in Rémy Martin’s lawsuit over a copied bottled design. According to Billboard, the two companies reached a “confidential” settlement agreement on June 1 to drop the suit; details about payments or rebranding requirements have not been made public.
E. Rémy Martin & Co. sued Sire Spirits in 2021, claiming that the bottle design for the Sire cognac brand Branson had illegally imitated Rémy’s XO bottle, infringing on patent and trade dress rights. Sire’s response was to call the case “meritless” and accuse the legacy brand of trying to “destroy a competitor.” The Branson bottle was accused of being a deliberate effort to confuse consumers with its similar design.
However, US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein denied Sire’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying, “This is not a case in which the claimed and accused designs are so plainly dissimilar that it is implausible that an ordinary observer would confuse them.”
A Rémy spokesperson told Billboard, “Rémy appreciates and respects Mr. Jackson’s entry into the Cognac market and the parties share a common vision for the future of this exceptional and precious spirit. The parties are gratified that this matter could be resolved amicably.”
Although a settlement might not be the outcome 50 Cent hoped for, he’s already been on a bit of a winning streak in court and probably didn’t want to push his luck — or pay out more legal fees. In February, he reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against The Shade Room, while in March, he won a lawsuit against a former employee who allegedly embezzled millions from Sire Spirits.
Last month it had been reported they had agreed, but details of it had not been revealed, as they had to file a motion by June 12.
Keough will pay a max of $400,000 in legal fees to Priscilla, who had previously petitioned a California judge to reportedly reject a supposed 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s trust as “invalid.”
Allegedly, this specific amendment wanted to remove Priscilla and a former business manager, Barry Siegel, as co-trustees. Instead, Keough and her late brother, Benjamin, would’ve taken their place of being in charge of Lisa Marie’s Promenade Trust.
In the settled agreement, Priscilla will still be a “special advisor” and will be paid a private, undisclosed amount for ten years (unless she passes) for her participation. Keough, overall though, is now Lisa Marie’s only trustee.
“The families are happy,” Priscilla’s lawyer, Ronson J. Shamoun, previously shared. “Everyone is happy, unified, together and excited for the future.”
There will be an additional follow-up hearing on August 4.
As The Flash prepares to zoom into theaters this week, the film will be DC Studios’ first stab at tapping its own multiverse of characters following a similar move by Marvel with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Much like that film brought back former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, The Flash will reportedly pull from various incarnations of DC Comics heroes from across the decades.
Obviously, the return of Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck as their versions of Batman are in the mix. The two have been prominently featured in trailers, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Flash will reportedly feature even more Batmen and the same goes for Superman. Here’s what we know so far:
BATMAN
— According to reports, George Clooney’s Batman will have a cameo in the post-credit scene that has been left out of advance screenings to prevent leaks. (Clearly, that didn’t work.) The actor has repeatedly joked about never putting on his Batsuit with its infamous Bat-nipples again after starring in the critically derided Batman and Robin, but it looks like Clooney is well-versed in the art of superhero movie secrecy.
— In a more controversial move, Adam West’s Batman is also reportedly shown in the film but only briefly. We’d like to say West is the only deceased actor who makes a cameo, but well, hold that thought.
SUPERMAN
— Director Andy Muschietti already let this one out of the bag. Nicolas Cage has a cameo in the film as his live-action version of Superman that never came to be after Warner Bros. infamously pulled the plug on Superman Lives, which was set to be directed by Tim Burton. Cage would’ve been the first actor play Superman in a motion picture after Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance of the beloved character. Speaking of…
— Yup, they did it. In another controversial move, Christopher Reeve’s Superman is apparently seen several times in The Flash despite the beloved actor passing away in 2004.
— George Reeves’ Superman from the classic TV series also isn’t safe, but like West’s Batman, he’s only shown briefly in The Flash.
Justice League
— On top of the various Supermen, The Flash will also feature Helen Slater’s Supergirl from the 1984 film, and both Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot will reportedly have cameos as Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
Pop culture has become a neverending intermingling of media formats and personalities. What was once indie is now pop and what once existed in just a song has found new avenues in which to manifest itself. We’re living in a world where The National’s Aaron Dessner is now Taylor Swift’s go-to producer; deepening the indie and pop Venn diagram. And the spheres are increasingly extending beyond musical collaborations.
Indie artists like Dessner, Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, and Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never are routinely being pegged to score the soundtracks to notable films. And while films they’ve scored like Cyrano, Queen & Slim, and Uncut Gems, respectively, have found varying levels of success, Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear composed the score to director Celine Song’s A24-released Past Lives, a film that has become 2023’s first Oscar favorite.
“It still is a little bit of a mystery how it all came together,” Bear, Grizzly Bear’s drummer, jokes on a Zoom call. ”Grizzly Bear’s music was licensed in the past for films, but we’d never scored anything together, that’s for sure,” Rossen, the band’s guitarist and co-lead vocalist, adds.
Rossen says he’d never scored anything himself — at all — before this, and relished modestly in the new experience, especially given Grizzly Bear’s standstill since their last album, Painted Ruins, came out in 2017. Bear had helped Rossen “in a pretty involved way” on his 2022 solo album, You Belong There, providing drums and percussion for it. And while that laid a foundation for this newfound partnership, scoring a movie together was a new frontier.
“It’s been a while since we had worked on anything together so it was an exploratory thing to see what that would mean for both of us, given our separate studio setups for me in Santa Fe and Chris in LA,” Rossen says. ”I felt like it was a bit of a rediscovery process for us too, figuring out the scoring.”
While Rossen is new to scoring, Bear had scored the HBO series High Maintenance, where Past Lives star Greta Lee was briefly featured as far back as 2012. They said there was initial interest in some of Grizzly Bear’s music for the film, but the how and why of their involvement stops there. When you consider that Past Lives marks Song’s directorial debut, she’s clearly establishing her aesthetic across the board and the errr…grizzly pair, is a part of that. It’s likely that her film will help boost Rossen and Bear to be the next indie musicians in line to make a concerted push into Hollywood. And it’s one heck of a start.
Past Lives was a standout at Sundance in January as well as at the Berlin Film Festival the following month. It’s already out in LA in New York and will have its widespread release in theaters nationwide on June 23. It currently has a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 93 on Metacritic, where it’s marked as a “must-see.” Out now, the soundtrack features Rossen and Bear’s grounding 15-track score, plus Sharon Van Etten’s Zach Dawes-produced “Quiet Eyes.”
The romantic drama tells the story of a Korean ex-pat (Lee) who moved to Canada in her youth and then eventually to New York City. She cultivates an online relationship of sorts with her childhood sweetheart (played by Teo Yoo), which fizzles in the long distance. She then eventually meets and marries a New Yorker (played by John Magaro) until one day Yoo comes to visit them in New York and she has to confront her past and present feelings for both men. It’s a story that’s a very real one for a number of immigrant Americans, packed with emotional nuance that hasn’t been told with this much candor on the big screen; an amazing and brutal reminder of the past and an essential story in today’s America.
All the while, Bear and Rossen manage to capture the passage of time beautifully with their music. As Song’s film jumps from time periods and cities with an incredible flow, the composers find ways to stitch senses and memories together. Big cellos and wistful keys guide a scene during a montage of the characters communicating intercontinentally. Shots of New York City and Seoul seesaw along with the evocative strings and gentle synths of “Crossing II” and “Why Are You Going To New York.” It’s a gorgeous score that captures love, longing, nostalgia, whimsy, hope, coincidence, and anxiety in its many forms, and then some. Through it all, the music transcends whatever the language being spoken is and builds the artfulness of Past Lives’ scenes and locales.
Bear explains that while working remotely in their respective studio spaces, he and Rossen built a sort of matrix of emotions for plotting out sounds. A visual that they could use to keep things focused throughout the film’s many arcs.
“In the end, we had started developing those thoughts and where those themes would reappear into a color-coded graph where we’d say, ‘these three things are related because they’re telling this story,’” Bear says. “And then there’d be certain cues mainly focused on one of the themes in the film but maybe more of a theme related to Nora (Lee) and Arthur’s (Magaro) relationship, but then also still leaving in hints from her childhood relationship. We’d figure out interesting ways of intermingling those while simultaneously trying to do that so it’s not overbearing or bonking over the head…to let the viewer have their own feeling and have their own emotional interaction.”
It’s just Rossen and Bear playing every single instrument on the score. There’s no backing orchestra in a grand studio to support them. Bear played piano and applied different synth textures, while Rossen played guitar and piano while adding more acoustics “around the edges,” including cello, an upright bass, and “little horn parts.” Bear dipped into expansive synth arrangements, percussion, and vibraphone, angling to assign each instrumental “a character that was unique.”
“Chris really took a strong lead in a lot of the score,” Rossen says. “Not that he didn’t do that in Grizzly Bear, but we had slightly more set roles in the band and this was a lot more open.”
As for the state of the band, they contend that Grizzly Bear is in the same place it has been for the past six years: Not split up and just up in the air. “The band exists as an idea dislodged from time,” Rossen jokes. I semi-seriously suggest to them that it’s only a matter of time before a certain corporate promoter approaches them about a band reunion for a nostalgic festival appearance. Rossen takes that in stride and chides that, “I always say eventually we’ll get desperate and do our Vegas casino tour.”
But they give off the sense that a reunion is far from imminent. Bassist/producer Chris Taylor lives in Spain, while singer Ed Droste has been pursuing a new career as a therapist. Meanwhile both Rossen and Bear have put out solo projects in recent years and now this score. But if the attention that Past Lives is getting continues to grow as the film reaches its widespread release date later this month, there might be a lot more film composing gigs in the future for them.
“This felt like a big one, like an important role,” Bear says. Before Rossen adds, “I think we’d be into doing something like this again, yeah.”
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