Month: August 2023

One nice thing about Oppenheimer (other than a three-hour long drama for adults cleaning up at the box office) is how it reminded everyone that Alden Ehrenreich is a very good actor. He took too much of the blame for the commercial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story when, in fact, his performance a Han Solo is one of the best things about the movie. But Ehrenreich is having a big 2023, with roles in Cocaine Bear, Oppenheimer, and Sundance hit Fair Play, alongside Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor.

Written and directed by Chloe Domont, the psychological thriller follows a couple, Emily (Dynevor) and Luke (Ehrenreich), who are deeply in love. But “when a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition,” according to the official plot synopsis.

Fair Play was acquired by Netflix for $20 million after premiering at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was called an “expertly calibrated urban thriller that kicks off with a sexy bloodbath” and a “sexy, intelligent thriller for an adult audience.” You can watch the trailer above.

Fair Play premieres in selected theaters on September 29th before debuting on Netflix on October 13th.

Ole Pudding Fingers Ron DeSantis has wreaked quite a bit of chaos lately in his own way. Shakespeare (The Bard!) is somehow forbidden in Florida schools, and the Sunshine State’s governor hopelessly made his slavery remarks even worse over the weekend. Not only that, but the emboldened and confused meatball extraordinaire has been waving some harsh, Mafia-like rhetoric around the U.S. in an attempt to outdo his primary rival.

I think we all know who that is, and it ain’t Mike Pence. However, whereas 44 can say horrible things and still somehow charm his MAGA legion, DeSantis simply comes across attempting to be as offensive as possible. That’s especially the case while he’s duking it out in Iowa, and now, a Florida-based newspaper is waving the red flag as far as it can reach across the U.S.

Via Raw Story, the Miami Herald‘s editorial board is loud and clear with their message, which goes something like… we are stuck with him, and you don’t want this. After an ominous “America, you’ve been warned,” the publication goes on to trounce DeSantis “Florida Blueprint” and determines that, as I suggested above, DeSantis might be slightly worse than Trump because DeSantis presumably knows how to behave, rather than shifting into “autocratic strongman” mode:

Unlike thrice-indicted Trump, whom [Harvard University political scientist Steven] Levitsky describes as an “innate” authoritarian, DeSantis is an Ivy League-educated lawyer who understands the U.S. Constitution. In other words, he probably knows better.

That’s not all, of course. The paper outlines several ways that DeSantis has been doing Florida (and possibly his own actual principles) dirty. Those would include “quashing dissent,” “consolidating power,” “demonizing minorities,” and more. It’s certainly not an endorsement, but DeSantis might also be doing himself in with no additional help needed. On that note, USA Today reports that billionaire donors are dumping the Meatball because of his war on “woke.” This includes billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin, who decided to pull further campaign contributions over DeSantis silly war on Disney.

That meatball is simply rolling down the hill right about now.

(Via Miami Herald, Raw Story & USA Today)

In the latest segment following The 1975’s incident at Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival last month, the band’s lead singer, Matty Healy, spoke about it once again during their show in Hawaii over the weekend. As expected, he did not hold back.

“All I’ll say is that I don’t give a f*ck about any white savior complex bullsh*t,” he told the crowd. “What I’ll say is that doing the right thing often requires quite a lot of sacrifice and very little reward. And being seen to do the right thing requires very little sacrifice, and that’s when you get all the rewards. And me and Ross [MacDonald] nearly shaved our heads because we thought we were going to prison for being f**s.”

For those who might have missed it, during The 1975’s festival set, Healy and MacDonald (and the rest of the band) protested the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws on stage — both by speaking out and making out with each other.

“When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the f*cking point, right, I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy said at Good Vibes.

This resulted in the remainder of the festival being canceled. Since then, local activists have also criticized the move, pointing out it pushed back their efforts — as Malaysia is now examining bands touring there with a closer lens. (The 1975 are still banned.)

Check out The 1975’s recent speech during their Hawaii show above.

DJ Casper, the creative mastermind behind the international dance hit “Cha Cha Slide,” has died at the age of 58. The Chicago music pioneer, real name Willie Perry Jr., was one of the most prominent figures in the city’s line dance community. According to the local ABC 7 station, Perry’s wife Kim confirmed yesterday (August 7) that the musician’s cause of date was tied to his longtime battle with cancer.

Perry sat down with the station in May to discuss his health condition. “They diagnosed me in 2016 with two kinds of cancer, which is renal and Neuroendocrine, which is kidney and liver,” said Perry.

He added, “They went in to try to do surgery, and they found out the kidney was connected to the main artery, so they decided not to do it and just treat it.”

Perry remained optimistic about his chances at recovery. He even offered words of encouragement for others fighting the disease, saying, “Anybody that’s going through cancer know that you have cancer, and cancer does not have you. So, keep on doing the ‘Cha Cha Slide.’”

Before Chicago birthed drill music and its innovators such as Lil Durk, Chief Keef, and G Herbo, the Windy City had long since had a musical legacy in dance genres, including house music.

Between June and August 2023, only a handful comedies (not comedy-dramas or rom-coms, but straight up comedies) were or will be released into theaters, including No Hard Feelings, Joy Ride, and Bottoms. Twenty years ago, that list was much longer. Movie studios are hesitant to give a coveted blockbuster season slot to a comedy, which usually don’t do well overseas.

Adam Devine pins the blame for the death of big-screen comedies on superhero movies.

“You watch comedies nowadays and you’re like, this is not a f*cking comedy. Where are the jokes? Where are the bits?” The Righteous Gemstones and Workaholics star said on an episode of the This Past Weekend podcast. “There’s still good [comedy] shows and stuff, but movie comedy… it’s hard.”

Devine’s theory? “I think Marvel ruined it. I feel like superhero movies ruined comedies because you go to the theater and you expect to watch something that cost $200 million to make, and comedy movies aren’t that. So you’re like, ‘Why would I spend the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in the theater if I can spend that and see something that is worth $200 million?’”

As someone who’s heard that (flawed) rationale from friends, he’s not wrong. Something like No Hard Feelings doesn’t have the flash of, well, The Flash, but watching a comedy in a packed theater sure beats laughing at Jennifer Lawrence’s nude fight scene at home by yourself.

Devine took another shot at Marvel, saying, “And they still make those movies kind of funny, like, ‘Oh my god, is that raccoon talking? This is hilarious!’ Which it is, but it’s not like a real comedy.” You can listen to the podcast below.

(Via EW)

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi have been married for a little over a year now, and on their anniversary, they spoke with Vogue about how the ceremony went down.

The two first met at a 2018 barbecue that Waititi hosted at his Los Angeles home. They started dating in 2021, when they were both filming in Australia. Then, when they were on a Palm Springs vacation in the summer of 2022, Ora popped the question.

“She proposed to me, and I said yes instantly,” Waititi noted.

They planned an impromptu wedding in Los Angeles for August 4, despite reports indicating otherwise.

“It wasn’t in London or in France like everyone reported,” Waititi said. “It was in LA with a small group of friends.”

Ora was amused by the misinformation, though, saying, “It’s actually been quite entertaining for us to see the different stories people made up and all the while getting to keep it to ourselves. And, I love that we now get to share what really happened — and to do it on our one-year anniversary, no less!”

As for the ceremony, it was intimate. Waititi explained, “Just having close friends and not having it too big. We didn’t have table settings or any of the stressful things that go along with weddings, and it was nice to just have it super simple. My daughters were there, and they made everything really fun and easy: I think just because we didn’t have the pressure of having caterers and all of these things, you know, people turning up late, and all of the different moving parts.”

Read more about the wedding here.

A big year is on the horizon for Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. After the team’s Western Conference Semifinal exit to the Los Angeles Lakers last season, the Dubs went out and turned Jordan Poole into Chris Paul, with the thought being that the team relies a little too much on Curry. That, of course, isn’t necessarily a bad idea, as Curry is still one of the best basketball players on the planet, but as Steve Kerr explained, getting Paul allows them to be a little less one-dimensional on offense.

As for Curry, he’s coming off of a year where he was his usual brilliant self, but only appeared in 56 regular season games due to injuries. Understandably, he’s taken some time away from the game this offseason by doing things like making a hole-in-one and winning a celebrity golf tournament, and now, showing that he’s a Paramore fan.

The band had a show at the Chase Center on Monday night, and throughout this tour, they’ve brought folks on stage to sing the bridge of their 2007 classic, “Misery Business.” With the band in the Bay Area, Curry was the pick, so he went up on stage and knocked this out of the park.

I am going to be honest with all of you: I did not expect that I would wake up this morning to a video of Wardell Stephen Curry II joining Hayley Williams on stage to sing “Misery Business.” (In fairness, I have never, ever expected to wake up to a video of this.) Steph, if you are reading this, you are formally invited to come onto Dime to talk about this.

Tory Lanez’s sentencing in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial was set to be delivered yesterday (August 7), but it was ultimately postponed to today. One interesting note from yesterday, though, was the fact that Iggy Azalea was one of many people who wrote a letter on Lanez’ behalf. Now, she has clarified what’s going on with that.

An X (aka Twitter) user wrote, “I’m trying to find an issue with this. What is the big deal with Iggy showing support to her friend? Anyone who followed the case would know there was inconclusiveness and lies throughout the whole thing. Even Megan tried to protect Tory, so what is the big deal with Iggy comforting her friend with a PRIVATE letter? @MeghannCuniff stated there were over 70+ letters sent, yet she only name-drops Iggy? Weird. Iggy sending a letter doesn’t mean she condones what Tory allegedly did. It is simply her being there for her friend; many of you would do the same.”

To that, Azalea responded:

“For the record:

1. I have not been in touch with tory for months, I have no reason to be, but I do wish him well.

2. I don’t ‘support’ anyone.
the whole thing is full of oddities. My letter never mentioned anything in regard to what happened that night.

3. I was told this was for a judge only, yet it’s being discussed in public? I never intended to publicly comment.

4. Iam not in support of throwing away ANY ones life if we can give reasonable punishments that are rehabilitative instead.
I support prison reform. Period.

5. I was asked to write about my genuine experience and the type of punishment I think he deserves: I did.

It’s not really that interesting but I understand why it’s being sensationalized. . . [shrugging emoji]

See ya next week to discuss pizza toppings I suppose. Lol.”

Another user responded, “people really get on this app and say anything for a few clicks you shouldn’t even have to address this.” Azalea replied, “I really hate that this is todays discourse online because it’s not really an explosive revelation. Yes: he should be held accountable. No: the charges don’t warrant 5plus in prison. Most agree with that sentiment because it’s a reasonable take. This is not news worthy. [shrugging emoji].”

Find the tweets below.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Karol G made both charting and streaming history with the release of her album, Mañana Será Bonito back in February. The Latin music star told our very own contributing writer Lucas Villa that the project served as an emotional outlet to guide her out of a dark time in her life. Now, she’s ready to breath new life into the project with the release of Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) on Friday (August 11).

Yesterday (August 7), Karol G took to her Instagram Stories to reveal the upcoming project’s full tracklist. On the first installment, Karol G tapped Shakira, Maldy, Ovy, Romeo Santos, and more for guest verses across the album. In the screenshot from the clip captured by Pop Crave, Karol G revealed that on Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) Peso Pluma, Kali Uchis, Dei V, and Young Miko will make featured appearances. Although her Barbie movie track, “Watati,” with Aldo Ranks didn’t make the cut there are a told of ten tracks for fans to dive into.

Continue below to view the full tracklist.

1. “Bichota G”
2. “Oki Doki”
3. “Mi Ex Tenía Razón”
4. “S91”
5. “Qlona” feat. Peso Pluma
6. “Una Noche en Medellin RMX”
7. “Me Tengo Que Ir” feat. Kali Uchis
8. “Gatita Gangster” feat. Dei V
9. “Dispo” feat. Young Miko
10. “Provenza (Tiesto RMX)”

Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) is out 8/11 on Universal Music Latino. Find more information here.

Hardcore punk’s self-proclaimed world’s greatest band, The Armed, is back with a new genre-bending single off their forthcoming album, Perfect Saviors. The group warmed fans’ palates with their tracks “Sport Of Form” and “Everything’s Glitter.” With the release of their latest record, “Liar 2,” The Armed’s experimental sound and blunt storytelling, fans have a well-rounded understanding of what the project will entail.

The dance-heavy record is a blunt examination of the age-old saying ignorance is bliss. In “Liar 2,” The Armed attempt to uncover what extreme lengths people are willing to travel to for a slice of happiness. The stanza, “Please talk so I don’t just give up / Keep talking I don’t give a f*ck / Lemme hear those lies / Snake, pray tell / Are we close to hell? / As I long for the light / I see the water splash / Oh my god / It’s a reflection / Am I where I will die,” paints the grim picture.

On the other hand, the official video starring the ever-so-elusive band member Dan Greene and Crystal Robinson takes a much more lively approach. The visual, which frontman Tony Wolski directed, is a chaotic clusterf*ck of moving parts so beautiful that you won’t want to look away. Greene takes to the streets to dance his pain away as clueless pedestrians try to wrap their minds around what is happening. By the time Greene finds solace in what has happened, he’s already had a friend join him in his impromptu choreography.

As the co-producer of the group’s forthcoming album and one of the vocalists, Tony Wolski detailed the track’s creative direction in a note, saying, “We tend to be drawn to juxtaposition and trying to make disparate things fit in new ways to discover some novel aesthetic resonance or emotional response. Some push and pull. This is a dancey, happy track about being in the deepest pits of despair and giving way to lies and delusion as your only means of survival. It is a chocolate cake full of broken glass—the sonics of the track itself, seemingly in denial of the lyrical content.”

Watch the full video for “Liar 2” above.

Perfect Saviors is out on 8/25 via Sargent House. Find more information here.