Month: June 2023

The Paddington movies have been a salve in trying times, proof that the world has a soul that shines through in the darkest of moments. Fortunately, hope has been renewed once again as Oscar winner Olivia Colman has joined the cast of Paddington in Peru as the woman running the Home for Retired Bears.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the plot hasn’t been revealed beyond knowing that the lovable bear voiced by Ben Whishaw will travel from London back home to Peru. Almost assuredly, Aunt Lucy will be there in the mix of whatever wacky pratfalling hijinks he gets up to. Aunt Lucy showed up in London at the very end of Paddington 2, voiced by Imelda Staunton and cutting a very jovial 100 years old.

The film marks the feature-directing debut of commercial and music video helmer Dougal Wilson, but there’s some heartening continuity with writers Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and Simon Farnaby, who have all been involved to varying degrees with previous Paddington films.

After attracting some legit talent for the first two, snagging Colman is an unsurprising win for the franchise and continues its hot streak of getting prestige actors to get silly in the name of keeping all humans around the world joyous. Obviously, Colman rules, so Paddington in Peru seems on track to rule as well. There was also concern earlier this year that the production wasn’t getting off the ground, so this is a stellar sign that the wheels are turning.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

The Milwaukee Bucks face a pair of gigantic decisions in free agency this summer. One involves the future of Khris Middleton, as the team’s All-Star wing and the longtime running mate for Giannis Antetokounmpo declined the player option in his contract earlier this week and is going to hit unrestricted free agency.

The other involves Brook Lopez, as the veteran big man is likewise an unrestricted free agent. While Middleton has been the All-Star alongside Antetokounmpo, Lopez’s importance to the Bucks in recent years cannot be overstated, as his ability to shoot and defend at an elite level have been crucial to their success. Unsurprisingly, this means that he is a name that’s attracting interest elsewhere, and during the 2023 NBA Draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Houston Rockets want to bring him on board, going as far as to call the team a “real threat” to sign him.

For a team as young as the Rockets, which selected Overtime Elite’s Amen Thompson with the No. 4 overall pick in the Draft and got a potential steal in Villanova’s Cam Whitmore at No. 20, it would make sense to bring on board a steady veteran hand like Lopez who can provide a calming presence on both ends of the floor. Last season, the 35-year-old averaged 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 30.4 minutes per game while connecting on 37.4 percent of his attempts from three.

James Cameron, who only made Titanic so he could underwrite his submarining hobby, has weighed in on the Titan submersible tragedy over the past few days. Now that it’s confirmed that the submersible imploded, killing all five passengers inside, Cameron told ABC News that he could see clear parallels with the original launching and sinking of the Titanic.

“Many people in the community were concerned about this sub and even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental and what they were doing needed to be certified,” Cameron said. “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many died as a result. It’s a very similar tragedy at the exact same site. It’s astonishing and really quite surreal.”

Cameron has long banged the drum for safety in submarining, going above and beyond in caution back in 2012 when he visited the Mariana Trench in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER sub. At the time, he told National Geographic, “Yeah, of course I’m worried,” Worry is a good thing when you’re an explorer. I think when you’re cavalier, when you take risk for granted—that’s when you’re going to get bitten.”

It turns out he learned some powerful lessons from telling the story of the Titanic.

(via ABC News)

Lindsey Graham has been one of Donald Trump‘s most die-hard supporters for years now. The South Carolina senator can always be counted on for a Fox News appearance where he gets all teary-eyed about whatever consequences the former president is facing this time.

Graham’s deference to Trump is also remarkable considering one of Trump’s biggest detractors in the Republican Party was the late Senator John McCain. Graham and McCain were inseparable friends, so watching Graham latch onto Trump has been a sight to behold.

On Friday’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough went to town on Graham’s seemingly endless displays of cowardice. For a brief moment, Graham actually turned against Trump following the January 6 attack, but then he went running back to the former president after being confronted by MAGA supporters at an airport. When Mika Brzezinski suggested there’s more to it than that, Scarborough wasn’t having it.

Via Raw Story:

“No, it’s not,” Scarborough protested. “Everybody says it is more than that. It’s not. It’s not more than that. They’re not scared of Donald Trump — they’re scared of their base. They’re scared to be leaders. They’re scared to stand up in a town hall meeting and tell people something that people may not want to hear; keep their head down and continue telling them that. They’ll be surprised if they do that, what happens, but they never take that chance.”

Scarborough also revealed that he’s still surprised to see Graham embrace Trump. The Morning Joe host and Graham were in the same freshman class of congressman in 1994, and Scarborough considered Graham to be a “friend of mine.” However, the Morning Joe crew was stunned seeing Graham support Trump when “he wanted his attorney general to arrest Joe Biden and Joe Biden’s family two weeks before the election.”

“Supported him through all of that,” Scarborough said in disbelief.

(Via Raw Story)

During her X-Men and Hunger Games era, a lot was made about Jennifer Lawrence being one of the most “relatable” celebrities. I wasn’t sure whether to believe it (have you been in a TBS sitcom starring a Blue Collar Comedy Tour member — or, y’know, been nominated for an Oscar?), but I do now after watching the actress have a breakdown while tasting hot sauce. Been there.

Lawrence dropped by Hot Ones to discuss her new movie, No Hard Feelings, and Method acting. “I would be nervous to work with somebody who is Method,” she said. “I would have no idea how to talk to them. Do I have to be in character? That would make me nervous. I haven’t seen another [acting] process that I’ve been curious about. You don’t know about them all the time.”

Between anecdotes, she ate chicken wings slathered in hot sauces, including Da Bomb Beyond Insanity. Let’s see how that went.

Celebs… they’re just like us! You can watch the full Hot Ones interview above.

Lawrence also recently spoke to Cameron Diaz, and showed her appreciation for one of the actress’ most underrated comedies. “When my best friend was going through a bad breakup many years ago, she wanted to watch Pride and Prejudice, which is her favorite movie. I was like, ‘Justine, trust me on this one. We’re going to watch The Sweetest Thing, and you’re going to thank me.’ She was so hesitant. I put it on, and it totally fixed her,” she said. Good thing there was no hot sauce involved during the “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” scene.

(Via Interview)

WARNING: Spoilers for the Secret Invasion premiere below.

Secret Invasion burst onto Disney+ this week, and the new Marvel series kicked off things with a shocking death right out of the gate. After returning to Earth following the events of Avengers: Endgame, a beaten and worn-down Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) re-teams with his must trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) to stop an intricate global conspiracy put into place by a splinter cell of shape-shifting Skrulls.

However, as the first episode reaches its final moments, Fury learns that he has severely underestimated his opponents. Not only do the Skrulls pull off a deadly terrorist attack right in front of Fury’s face, but the Skrull resistance leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) shoots Hill in cold blood. Even worse, Gravik does it while disguised as Fury, leaving Hill to think she’d been betrayed as she slumps to the ground.

Of course, this is Marvel we’re talking about, so it’s completely reasonable to question whether Smulders’ character is really dead. However, in a new interview, Smulders confirms that Maria Hill is dead.

Via Vanity Fair:

“There is a multiverse now, so anything is possible. But I’m pretty sure this is it.” (As for rumors that she appears in this fall’s The Marvels, Smulders denies them: “I don’t know anything about that.”) During our conversation, Smulders speaks of Hill’s fate with a certain finality, having made peace with the fact that this is likely the end. “It felt and it feels strange,” she says. “Maria Hill’s passing is very real, and it’s shocking, and it feels very human.” She adds, “It was a sad day.”

While Smulders is said to see Hill go, she trusts that “Marvel is doing the storyline that they think is best.” In fact, she specifically cited the tragic pain of thinking Nick Fury shot her as she died in his arms. However, in Smulders’ mind, she put it all together before fading out.

“I like to think that she, by the time she passed, knew it wasn’t him,” Smulders told Vanity Fair. “Initially, it’s terrifying and so confusing. But I’d like to think she got there.”

New episodes of Secret Invasion stream Wednesday on Disney+.

(Via Vanity Fair)

B*tch better have some free time. Rihanna has made work-life balance look easy as she’s juggled her many business ventures with motherhood. But with a second baby on the way, the “Work” singer seems to be looking to lighten up her load. According to Vogue, the mogul has stepped down from her position as Savage X Fenty’s CEO.

In conversation with the outlet, Rihanna shared that she was proud of what she accomplished as the head honcho. “It’s been beautiful to see our vision for Savage X Fenty impact the industry at such an incredible magnitude over the last five years. This is just the beginning for us, and we’re going to continue to expand in ways that always connect with the consumer,” said the star.

Although she will be hanging up her satin robe, she’s confident that her replacement, Hillary Super, will only continue to push the company further, saying, “I’m so grateful and excited to welcome Hillary Super as our new CEO – she is a strong leader and is focused on taking the business to an even higher level.”

Super also shared a comment with the publisher, saying, “I’m thrilled to join the Savage X Fenty family. The brand is a major powerhouse in the lingerie and apparel industry, and its unwavering commitment to celebrating inclusivity and fearlessness is inspiring.”

GloRilla has had a stellar year. After following up her breakout hit “FNF” with a record deal, a string of equally solid singles like “Lick Or Sum,” “Internet Trolls,” and “No More Love,” and lucrative brand partnerships with the NBA and Sprite, she landed this week on XXL‘s 2023 Freshman Class cover. Today, she takes a victory lap — figuratively and literally — in the video for her freestyle to Latto’s latest hit, “Put It On Da Floor (GloMix).”

In the video, Glo and her ratchet-ass friends — you know the ones — throw a house party, flash money, and do donuts in a Lamborghini, all to celebrate the breakout year the Memphis rapper has had. Meanwhile, Glo spits cheeky lines like, “I know a lotta’ hoes don’t like me, I don’t like them either / But they respect me when they see me, I feel like Aretha.”

Glo taking Latto’s new hit for a spin is a nice way for her to salute one of her biggest benefactors. As she spent the last year blowing up, Latto helped her out multiple times, adding a verse to the remix of “FNF” and recruiting her to appear on “FTCU” with Gangsta Boo. The two Southern stars have had very similar come-ups, so it’s no surprise they get along, or sound so good on each other’s tracks.

Watch GloRilla’s “Put It On Da Floor (GloMix)” video above.

OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein learned during a televised interview that debris had been found from the missing Titan submersible that contained five passengers, all of whom died when the vessel imploded.

“News has just reached me in the past minute or so that I believe some debris has been found,” the BBC reporter informed a shocked Sohnlein. “I’m sorry, some what has been found?” he replied. After the reporter repeated himself, Sohnlein said, “I’m not sure, obviously because I’m hearing this for the first time now, but I know that the protocol for lost comms is for the pilot to surface the sub. From the beginning I always thought that’s probably what [OceanGate co-CEO Stockton Rush, who was on board the Titan] would have done.”

Sohnlein continued, “In which case it becomes very difficult to find the sub because the surface ship wouldn’t have known it was coming up and wouldn’t have known where to look. My biggest fear through this whole thing watching the operations unfold is that they’re floating around on the surface and they’re just very difficult to find.” The world would later learn that even if the Titan had been found before oxygen ran out, it wouldn’t have mattered; the “catastrophic implosion” likely occurred during its descent prior days before.

You can watch the moment below.

(Via the Daily Mail)

The Chicago Bulls are heading into the 2023-24 season with a number of question marks. Unfortunately, the Bulls are preparing for one of their biggest question marks being answered before the year even begins, and it involves the availability of Lonzo Ball.

Artūras Karnišovas, the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations, spoke to the media in the aftermath of the 2023 NBA Draft and got asked about Ball, the team’s standout guard who missed the entirety of last season sidelined with knee problems. According to Karnišovas, the expectation in Chicago is that Ball won’t be able to recover from those issues in time to suit up next year.

Ball has not appeared in a game for the Bulls since Jan. 14, 2022. Prior to a collection of knee surgeries that have sidelined him ever since, Ball was a crucial piece of the puzzle for Chicago, as he partnered with Alex Caruso to form one of the NBA’s stingiest defensive backcourts and helped the team have one of the league’s most dynamic offenses.

But over the years, Ball has had multiple procedures performed on his left knee, including one this part March that was expected to put his 2023-24 season in jeopardy. Prior to his most recent procedure, the Bulls announced that Ball would not be able to play at all last season.