Recording artists worldwide continue to pay their respects to late musician Shane MacGowan. Over the weekend, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, and Nick Cave took to their social media platforms to share a few kind words about the The Pogues singer after his death on November 30. The praise didn’t stop there.
U2 carved out a section of their Las Vegas residency show on December 1 to drive home just how much MacGowan’s artistry meant to them. In front of The Sphere crowd, the group performed a cover of The Pogues’ 1991 song “A Rainy Night In Soho.” The emotional rendition moved the crowd as they swayed along with the band from their seats.
U2’s first tribute to MacGowan came by way of a short yet heartfelt note online. “Shane MacGowan’s songs were perfect, so he or we his fans didn’t have to be…,” wrote the band on their official X (formerly Twitter) page.
The post included an illustration of MacGowan with lyrics, “I’ve been loving you a long time / Down all the years, down all the days / And I’ve cried for all your troubles / Smiled at your funny little ways,” which are from “A Rainy Night In Soho.”
Listen to U2’s cover of “A Rainy Night In Soho” below.
The final College Football Playoff rankings announcement on Sunday was always going to lead to anger and frustration, as the committee was going to have to do one of three things: leave the SEC out entirely, leave Texas out for an Alabama team it beat, or leave out an undefeated Florida State team that won the ACC because its quarterback got hurt.
Ultimately, they chose leaving Florida State out, citing their offensive struggles in the ACC title game as they had to start their third-stringer in a 16-6 win over Louisville. That set up a very enticing semifinals of Michigan-Alabama and Washington-Texas, but it certainly didn’t feel fair to leave an undefeated Power Five conference champ out for a pair of one-loss teams. With this being the final year of the four-team playoff, with expansion coming to bring 12 teams in, it felt like the committee almost had cover to make the best television decision rather than the fairest decision, because they wouldn’t be setting a precedent.
On the ESPN selection show, Greg McElroy and Kirk Herbstreit felt it was the right move, even if a surprising and even difficult one, but Booger McFarland was furious with the choice. McFarland lit up the committee, calling FSU being left out a “travesty to the sport.”
Booger McFarland is not happy that Alabama got into the CFP over an undefeated Florida State team.
“To me, this is a travesty to the sport…One team has a loss, and that’s Alabama. One doesn’t in Florida State.” pic.twitter.com/3rhBvvpT1D
There was never going to be an easy decision with the way things fell, but I can’t blame anyone for feeling the way McFarland does. There’s literally nothing else Florida State could have done, they managed to still win their conference title game despite being on their third string quarterback to finish off an undefeated season, and now they won’t get a chance to try and compete for a national title. Even if I think Michigan-Alabama will be a better game, I also can’t know for sure FSU wouldn’t figure it out over the next month to make it competitive, and that will make it all the more painful for the Noles.
In the final year of the four-team College Football Playoff, there was some real drama surrounding what teams would make it into the semifinals and have a chance at the national championship. After a conference championship weekend that saw the true chaos scenario play out for the Playoff Committee, with Alabama beating Georgia, Texas beating Oklahoma State, and Florida State beating Louisville.
That meant Alabama, Georgia, and Texas all finished the season one loss — with Texas beating Alabama on the road earlier in the year, while Florida State became an undefeated conference champion now playing with their third-string quarterback. That led to some serious consternation about what teams should be selected behind Michigan and Washington, who cemented their spot in the Playoff by completing undefeated, conference title winning seasons.
Florida State, obviously, will point to them being the only other undefeated conference champ in the Power 5 as reason they belong. Texas, meanwhile, has one of the best wins of the season with a road win in Tuscaloosa, which makes it extremely difficult for the committee to justify keeping Bama ahead of the Longhorns. Alabama and Georgia’s case is, effectively, that the SEC is the consensus best conference and they each believe they’re one of the four best teams in the country, with the Tide boasting the only win over Georgia in three years.
Ultimately, the committee rolled with the Tide over the Noles, with Texas landing at No. 3 setting up these matchups for the semifinals on New Year’s Day.
Rose Bowl: 1. Michigan vs. 4. Alabama
Sugar Bowl: 2. Washington vs. 3. Texas
Florida State finished at No. 5 and Georgia finished at No. 6, meaning the committee chose to decide that an undefeated Power 5 conference champion was not deserving of a spot because of an injury situation. The Florida State team and its fans will be understandably furious at the decision. What makes it all the more interesting is that Alabama wasn’t a juggernaut following their loss to Texas, needing a miracle to beat a 6-win Auburn team just a week ago. And yet, the win over Georgia, which hadn’t lost in three years, was enough to get them in over the Noles, largely because of Florida State’s injury situation that had them very limited offensively against Louisville in the ACC title game.
Just as the concert experience sold out in cities worldwide, so did the film showings. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Renaissance is on track to set a record as the North American box office numbers are crunched, with a projected gross of nearly $22 million domestically. If true, the film could become one of the biggest early December box office openings in two decades.
Beyoncé has a proven record of drawing in tons of viewers. Back in 2019, Forbes revealed that the singer’s 2019 Netflix documentary Homecoming pulled in 1.1 million U.S. viewers and an average minute audience of 828,000 viewers on internet-connected TV devices on its premiere date, which was backed by Nielsen’s SVOD Content Ratings system.
Movies made a huge comeback this year, with several musicians partnering with AMC to distribute their films. Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus was shown at select theaters in July. Russ’ Santiago followed in September. Both Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance concert films dominated the theaters. So, who runs the world? Girls.
On Friday George Santos’ D.C. misadventures came to an end: The fabulist lawmaker was expelled from Congress in a landslide vote — the first time that’s happened in 20 years. What’s next for the guy who lied about his mother dying in the September 11 attacks? Will he pull a no-brainer and wind up on Dancing with the Stars? Whatever he does, he’s already getting a movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO Films has optioned the rights to Mark Chiusano’s The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos. The book came out on November 28, a mere three days before the guy who claimed to have produced one of Broadway’s biggest bombs was booted from the job he lied to get. Perhaps the paperback edition will include a coda covering that and whatever other tomfoolery he gets up to in the ensuing months.
The movie, though, sounds like it will take a more narrow focus, telling, per THR:
“the story of a seemingly minor local race that wound up a battle for the soul of Long Island, and unexpectedly carved the path for the world’s most famous (and now disgraced) congressman. The Gatsby-esque journey of a man from nowhere who exploited the system, waged war on truth and swindled one of the wealthiest districts in the country to achieve his American Dream.”
The film comes from Succession executive producer Frank Rich and will be written by Bad Education’s Mike Makowsky. As it turns out, Hollywood has already made a film that sounds an awful lot like Santos’ shady rise. It starred Eddie Murphy.
It’s a big time for movies about far right demons. Last week many were appalled when they learned hot chameleon Sebastian Stan had been cast as no less than non-hot Donald Trump.
The last year has seen artificial intelligence evolve at an alarming rate. Luckily right now it’s still terrible — terrible enough that on the most recent SNL, the pre-taped sketch boys of Please Don’t Destroy milked it for an entire sketch.
Host Emma Stone teamed up with the gang — that is, Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy — for a bit where they sit down to ostensibly discuss sketch ideas. Instead, she has some news: Stone and Herlihy have fallen in love. (Note: In real life, the five-time host wound up marrying an SNL writer-director, Dave McCary, she met on the show.)
Alas, there’s a problem: Some of Stone’s video footage was corrupted and she didn’t have time to do reshoots. But that’s okay because there’s always AI — awful, awful AI used to fill in the gaps. In Stone’s place is Punkie Johnson, with Stone’s visage awkwardly, unconvincingly grafted upon hers. And so the rest of the sketch toggles between the real Emma Stone and the AI Emma Stone who’s really someone else entirely.
Eventually more problems arise, including some Marshall footage crapping out, requiring more deplorable AI, and Higgins deciding he didn’t look up to snuff and wanting to be Yassified.
You can watch the latest Please Don’t Destroy sketch in the video above.
The Lakers cruised to a 107-97 win over the Rockets on Saturday night in Los Angeles, but the focal point after the game was on an unusual exchange between LeBron James and Rockets head coach Ime Udoka on the sidelines that led to both getting technicals, with Udoka getting tossed.
The best part of the whole thing is the facial reactions of the fans behind Udoka on the sideline who heard the conversation, as clearly something was said between the two that went beyond a normal conversation. The referee standing between them even gave them a little “are you guys sure you want to keep going?” look, and the answer was they did and the result was a T for LeBron and an ejection for Udoka.
After the game, LeBron was asked about what was said in that conversation and, unsurprisingly, James was not willing to divulge whatever was actually said, instead choosing to say he and Udoka were simply talking about how much they enjoyed Thanksgiving.
LeBron James on his exchange with Ime Udoka before Udoka’s ejection
I would never expect LeBron to go into detail about what was actually said there, but it’s also the question that must be asked. It would be funny if they were just in a heated debate over Thanksgiving sides or pies that crossed the line.
Emma Stone has been hosting SNL since 2010, and her most recent stint marked a milestone: It was her fifth time. You know what that means: She’s now an official member of the “Five-Timers Club,” the elite group of celebs who’ve hosted that many times or more. Only about two dozen people have hit that mark, and it’s always a cause for celebration. She even made sure to slip in some jokes to the last person who was admitted: Her Zombieland costar Woody Harrelson.
Stone was welcomed to the club by two fellow Five-Timers: Tina Fey, who’s returned to the show as host six times since leaving as a cast member, and Candice Bergen, who was both the first woman to host SNL and its first to do so five times.
The Oscar-winning Poor Things actress said SNL has “always been my favorite show and since I started hosting it’s also become just a huge part of my life. I have made so many memories here and so many friends. And I even met my husband at SNL.”
Stone said her spouse, filmmaker Dave McCary, is “camera shy,” but asked the show to cut to a shot of him. They then cut to Lorne Michaels.
Fey and Bergen soon joined her, with Fey telling Stone, “At 35 years old, you are officially the youngest member. I am the second youngest at 53.”
Eventually the two handed Stone her official Five-Timers jacket, but it appeared to belong to someone else: When she reached into its pockets, she pulled out a joint.
“That must be Woody Harrelson’s jacket,” said Bergen.
Stone then pulled out a vaccine card, prompting Fey to say, “Oh, then it’s definitely not Woody’s” — an apparent reference to Harrelson’s vax-skeptic monologue from the last time he hosted the show.
You can watch Stone join the SNL Five-Timers Club in the video above.
Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.
TIE: 10. Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures movie for purchase on Amazon Prime)
Cillian Murphy’s eyes truly carry the weight of the world in this film with an endless array of marvelous supporting players including Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon. And don’t forget about Alden Ehrenreich, who is still the most underrated MVP-type of the year with Cocaine Bear and Fair Play netting him additional quadrants. Of course, Christopher Nolan’s cinematic return to brilliance isn’t available as part of a streaming service package yet (it will likely end up on on Peacock), but you can go the VOD route and even enjoy the Barbenheimer phenomenon at home. As one might expect in a film about the father of the atomic bomb, this is not light and frothy viewing, but Nolan hopes that it will serve an ultimate purpose.
TIE: 10. The Curse (Showtime series streaming on Paramount+)
Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie teamed up to mock HGTV-style shows (suck it, Property Brothers), and the results are not quite as awkward as Fielder’s usual fare. This genre-bending series co-stars Emma Stone, whose character isn’t thrilled when her husband (Fielder) invites a curse upon them in a way that makes Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell look slightly less stressful than it did back when Alison Lohman was coughing up flies in that 2009 horror flick. You’ll never watch House Hunters or Fixer Upper the same way again.
Adam Sandler cannot miss with the Netflix audience, so it’s no wonder that they allow him to crank out at least a few films per year on this streaming service. Are these Uncut Gems-worthy followups? Well, of course not, but Sandler also knows what the people want, and that somehow included Hubie Halloween. Here, The Sandman voices a terrarium-weary lizard who’s about had it up to here with life in a classroom with his best pal being a turtle voiced by Bill Burr. It’s a bucket-list tale and harmless fun for the whole family.
Godzilla stans are having a fantastic few months with three separate nuke-awoken-lizard projects surfacing almost in tandem. However, the other projects do not have Kurt Russell teaming up with freaking Godzilla, so that’s worth a few points. Wyatt Russell also stars with both Russells portraying Army officer Lee Shaw, and if you’d like to see more of him outside of the MCU, think about putting Hulu’s Under The Banner Of Heaven on your watchlist.
Jon Hamm and his harms on display, need we say more? Alright, we will. This season stars Hamm and his enormous belt buckle as this season’s most eccentric lawman. He’s having the time of his life, and there are nipple rings on display in addition to the hamms. Hey, it’s Fargo, so you knew it was gonna be weird. The season co-stars Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris, Joe Keery, Richa Moorjani, Jessica Pohl, Nick Gomez, David Rysdahl, and Sam Spruell — all as characters bearing names even more flowery than the actors themselves.
If you enjoy Gary Oldman farts, then this series has something for you. Beyond that highlight, this series showcases the failed spymastering of Jackson Lamb (Oldman) and his group full of British intelligence f*ck-ups. Olivia Cooke and Jack Lowden co-star, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll move past their collective “slow horse” reputation while conquering more messes. Yet mainly, it’s nice to see an espionage-focused dark comedy show that puts a fresh and bumbling spin on the profession that James Bond turned into a sexy thing, but much credit (of course) goes to Mick Herronthe’s series of novels.
Michael Fassbender, David Fincher, and The Smiths (you gotta watch to find out) make an unholy but undeniably compelling trio in this series about an assassin who not only does yoga but also ends up getting too self-involved with one of his projects. Could this be a fatal flaw? Still, this movie nails its target with a little bit of Tilda Swinton for good measure. Fincher loves to roll around in pulpy projects, and it’s good to have him back in that saddle.
4. Freelance (Relativity Film movie on VOD & Amazon Prime)
Well, this film’s critic reviews are pretty dismal, but nonetheless, people are here for John Cena’s latest foray into the acting realm. Here, he portrays an ex-special forces operative who misses his glory days, and he seizes a chance to go there again when a journalist (Alison Brie) could use a strong pair of arms to accompany her into dangerous territory to profile a dictator.
A ton of attempts at nostalgia are found on every streaming service (and network) these days, but sometimes, a swing hits the target. Paramount+ scored by streaming this return to Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell’s earliest days of making us laugh. These days, Kenan is the longest-running SNL cast member of all time, but it’s good to see him in his old stomping grounds. The twist here is that Ed (Mitchell) is the one to embrace his old pal who ends up back at Good Burger by no choice of his own. The rest of the crew is all new, as are the scrapes that the pair finds themselves juggling.
2. Lawmen: Bass Reeves: Season 1 (Paramount+ series)
And speaking of saddles: Taylor Sheridan currently has 6666 in the works on the Yellowstone side, but first, he’s taking viewers back to the real Old West. David Oyelowo portrays the legendary Black U.S. Deputy Marshal. This series harkens back to the Post-Reconstruction era, in which Bass Reeves became a notorious frontier hero by capturing thousands of the most frightening criminals in the land. Oyelowo is accompanied by Dennis Quaid, Garrett Hedlund, and Donald Sutherland, thereby proving that everyone wants a piece of what Sheridan is selling.
Despite Squid Game being a smash, global, runaway hit, something about a reality show did not sound so wise. Still, Netflix decided that they were up to The Challenge, and sure enough, some unfortunate allegations have surfaced. Viewers remain transfixed by this imitation-reality-show taking a stab at the real deal, and the recently aired “Marbles” challenge seems to be hitting an audience nerve, too.
Last week ended with a bang: George Santos, one of the more creatively truth-averse members of Congress, lost his job. The New York representative managed to spend nearly a year in office, despite reporters uncovering one creative fib after another. Santos scored the Cold Open, but he’s so infamous that he also nabbed the first couple jokes at the top of this week’s Weekend Update.
“This week we said goodbye to a former First Lady, a former secretary of state, and the Supreme Court’s first female justice,” co-host Colin Jost told the crowd, referring to Rosalynn Carter, Henry Kissinger, and Sandra Day O’Connor. Then he added, “And a guy who claims to be all three of those things,” prompting a picture of George Santos.
Jost went on to note that Santos was expelled in a landslide, “by a vote of 114 Shantay You Stays to 311 Sashay Aways.”
Rosalynn Carter, the late wife of ex-president Jimmy Carter, came up again when Michael Che noted that another former First Lady, Melania Trump, made a rare public appearance at her funeral.
“Melania said that she was deeply saddened to be reminded that your partner can live that long,” Che said, prompting one of many photos of her and husband Donald Trump looking unhappy together.
Che also took on Elon Musk, who’s not been doing a terrible job atoning for agreeing with an anti-Semitic Twitter/X post, thus driving advertisers from his floundering service. While he’s had harsh words for said companies, he has tried to make amends by visiting Israel and saying Hamas must be destroyed.
“And I think Musk could destroy Hamas almost instantly by becoming their CEO,” Che cracked.
You can watch a portion of SNL Weekend Update in the video above.
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