Month: April 2024

Netflix scored a home run when they decided to revive The Lincoln Lawyer following the 2011 movie starring Matthew McConaughey. The Mickey Haller character, of course, is based upon the leading man of Michael Connelly’s book series of the same name. Those books also happened to give birth to Detective Harry Bosch, who has been inhabiting his own rapidly expanding universe on Amazon. It must be noted that technically is no connection between the Amazon and Netflix productions, although both half-brothers remain popular with viewers who are aching for more.

With that said, The Lincoln Lawyer‘s third season had cameras rolling for months, and Mickey (portrayed by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo on Netflix) would probably still prefer running his law practice from his car’s back seat. However, Mickey had to put down office roots in the Netflix production, but what hasn’t changed during the show is that Manuel Garcia-Rulfo has come into his own as Mickey Haller. McConaughwho? Before we get too cheeky, let’s get down to business on what to expect next from the legal iconoclastic-idealist.

Plot

This third season will be based upon Connelly’s fifth The Lincoln Lawyer book, The Gods of Guilt. Many new characters (and corresponding actors, as we will discuss momentarily) will be on the scene, but the book begins with Mickey receiving a text message of “187” referring to California’s penal code for murder. Mickey is tied to the murder victim, who is a former client and an ex-prostitute who fell back into habits despite Mickey having helped her escape.

Yet it was also, as the book revealed, “the ghosts of [Mickey’s] past” that contributed to the danger, and as such, he could also be damned or redeemed, depending on how well he handles the mess. This chain of events lines up with the second season finale, in which Mickey learned of Glory Days’ death, and of course he leaps right into the action, which turns out to be “the toughest case he’s ever had,” according to executive producer Ross Fineman.

Beyond the central storyline, the series found a way to bring back Neve Campbell for the third season despite her character, Maggie (who is Mickey’s ex), having moved to another city. How shall this happen? Flashbacks, baby. This will be used to give some necessary backstory about Mickey’s inner life, including “the husband, the father, and the man that he would come to be” to inform viewers about why he handles the Glory Days situation in the way that he does.

Cast

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo has fully supplanted McConaughey as Mickey Haller, so no changes shall be made there.

Recently announced additions to the cast (according to Deadline) include Michael Kirby (Mayans M.C.) as DEA Agent James De Marco, who might be going to the dark side, so to speak. Mickey doesn’t feel too fantastic about him, at least. Wolé Parks (Superman and Lois) will portray murder defendant David Lyons, and Maisie Klompus (Good Trouble) picks up the role of witness Annabeth Stephens. New roles will also be portrayed by Allyn Moriyon, John Pirruccello, Merrin Dungey, and Philip Anthony-Rodriguez.

Further, Jon Tenney will be back as Mickey Haller, Sr, and Neve Campbell will indeed return as Maggie with more repeat turns by Becki Newton (Lorna), Yaya DaCosta (Andrea), Jazz Raycole (Izzy), and Angus Sampson (Cisco). Recurring actors include Elliott Gould (Legal Siegal), Krista Warner (Hayley), Fiona Rene (Glory Days), and Devon Graye (Julian La Cosse).

Release Date

Netflix managed a fairly quick turnaround between the first season (May 2022) and the show’s sophomore outing (July 2023). As a result, not even strikes could keep this show from returning before long, so bet on late 2024.

Trailer

An announcement teaser will have to do for the moment, but before too long, we should see some actual footage.

Caitlin Clark is heading to the pros on Monday, as it’s widely assumed that the now-former University of Iowa standout will be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. But before she does that, she had a quick pitstop to make on the set of Saturday Night Live, as Clark has a bit of a bone to pick with Weekend Update host Michael Che.

After making a joke about Clark getting her jersey retired by Iowa, Che introduced Clark onto the set and she took him to task for his previous jokes about women’s sports — she was assisted in this endeavor by Colin Jost, who made a supercut that made Che look pretty bad. And then, Che read a collection of jokes that Clark wrote for him, which was unsurprisingly pretty great.

Once Che was done making fun of himself and wished Clark the best of luck in her next endeavor, Clark took a moment to thank some of the “women that kicked down the door so I could walk inside” like Dawn Staley and Maya Moore, then presented Che with an autographed apron.

“Thank you,” Che told Clark. “I can’t wait to give this to my girlfriend.”

“You don’t have a girlfriend, Michael,” Clark replied.

The 2024 WNBA Draft will begin on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

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.

10. 3 Body Problem (Netflix series)

As viewers and readers of the book await renewal, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are out there revealing their multi-season intentions after revealing how mankind cannot resist f*cking with aliens. The creatures do bite back, and the first round of episodes showed what happens when extraterrestrial life forecasts their unfriendly arrival on Earth, where they intend to destroy every scrap of humanity. Those aliens also figured out how to monitor conversations at their destination, so the planning movement for the resistance takes place in a very strange way, but people are digging the setup.

9. Palm Royale (Apple TV+ series)

This ain’t The White Lotus, but it might be Apple TV+’s most recent answer (besides Acapulco) to the hit HBO satire. However, this new series is actually based upon Juliet McDaniel’s Mr. and Mrs. American Pie as adapted by Kristen Wiig. This 1969-set saga follows a woman’s quest to become part of Palm Beach’s most exclusive social set, and the show co-stars Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin, Carol Burnett, and Kaia Gerber.

8. Sugar (Apple TV+ series)

Colin Farrell has been lighting up the big screen in recent years with a bit of a comeback, and now, that extension of himself is starring in his suave Apple TV+ playground. The soon-to-be Penguin star portrays private detective John Sugar, who is digging up family secrets on the way to tracking down why a Hollywood producer’s granddaughter evaporated into noir-thin air. Yes, the protagonist must also confront has own personal demons, but he’s got charisma with some Bogart swagger and Hitchcock vibes while giving the world a new gumshoe to root for. If only Cillian Murphy, Ayo Edebiri, and Barry Keoghan could have made this a full-on Irish affair.

7. Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures film streaming on Hulu)

Ahead of Emma Stone’s next Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration, Kinds of Kindness, her Oscar-winning performance can be streamed to your heart’s content. She gives a fearless performance as Bella after being Frankenstein-ed into life, as it were. The film’s more “adult” scenes raised eyebrows, but Stone and her co-stars (Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo) sang praises to the director, who took Bella on a crusade of liberation as she learned how to live even harder than her human counterparts.

6. Scoop (Netflix film)

Those who haven’t caught up on royal gossip into infinity can dive behind the curtain of how Newsnight ended up with that notorious Prince Andrew interview that essentially ended the the career of Andrew, known as the most prized son of Queen Elizabeth II, as a “working royal.” The cast includes Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell, who demonstrate how that family will not stay out of scandalous territory. Some, including Andrew, are clearly much worse than several who came before him.

5. Shōgun (FX series streaming on Hulu)

This show is so over that “Christian nonsense,” and those meme-able moments will last long after FX probably puts this epic story to bed. That’s likely what shall happen regarding future seasons, even though the ratings have been pouring in since this show began. Even with none of John Blackthorne’s famous dong, the masses have flocked to see this new adaptation, and FX’s epic rendering of the lushly layered character and story will be regarded fondly for many years to come. A second season is up to FX.

4. Road House (Amazon Prime film)

Hollywood shall seemingly never tire of “reimagining” old favorites, and this movie attempts to repackage a throwback era-flick starring Patrick Swayze busting skulls. In this remake, Jake Gyllenhaal portrays the central bouncer, and he also happens to be a UFC champion, so how about that? The 1980s would never. The cast includes Jessica Williams, Billy Magnussen, Conor McGregor, J.D. Pardo, Jessica Williams, and Lukas Gage, who is absolutely everywhere these days. This film isn’t really meant to be taken seriously, nor does it aim to erase the legacy of Swayze, thank goodness.

3. Ripley (Netflix series)

Bye bye, “Hot Priest” from Fleabag. Andrew Scott picks up the same Patricia Highsmith character portrayed by Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Will Netflix keep biting? Only time will tell, but in this adaptation, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow are not caught up in that web, yet the title character ends does still end up on a 1960s-lined path of murder, deceit, and the rest of the dastardly deeds that will leave Highsmith devotees clamoring for more.

2. Parasyte: The Grey (Netflix series)

Netflix has cranked up their South Korean production following the Squid Game phenomenon, and this live-action manga adaptation — which differs starkly from its source material although it appears to remain loyal to the same universe — pulls out the sci-fi stops as well. The series follows mysterious parasites who begin falling from the sky to inhabit hosts and start rampantly committing murder, yet the potentially greater threat to humanity is whether they can come together to react. An infected young woman seems to react differently, but she has actually retained control of her mind and humanity. Thus, she now coexists alongside the parasite, but that doesn’t stop her from being a government target.

1. Fallout (Amazon Prime series)

The endlessly charismatic Walton Goggins picks up his first no-nose character, The Ghoul, in this adaptation that is keeping gamers binge-happy and already hoping for more. The entire first season of this adaptation (which picks up two centuries following the apocalypse) is already available, and this freakishly fun live-action project leaps onto the wagon of beloved properties that have been pouring out of the streaming services these days.

Alex Pereira needed less than a full round to knock out Jamahal Hill and retain his light heavyweight championship at UFC 300.

Pereira’s night in the Octagon was a short one, with him going toe to toe with the former champion, Hill. Pereira took a few shots from Hill, looked to have taken a kick below the belt, waived off the referee and proceeded to knock him out clean with a short left upper cut followed by a slew of shots on the ground.

In three years, Pereira has run through two divisions. He entered Madison Square Garden in November seeking his second UFC title after moving from middleweight to light heavyweight in July of last year. Pereira won the middleweight title in a knockout over Israel Adesanya before dropping the belt in their UFC rematch.

He was open about how difficult the weight cut was ahead of their rematch, leading to the jump to a more manageable weight class. In his light heavyweight debut, he earned a decision victory over Jan Blachowicz as part of UFC 291’s co-main event before facing off against Procházka and winning the belt. On Saturday, he made easy work of Hill, who had previously relinquished the belt after rupturing his Achilles in July 2023.

Tyler The Creator pulled out all the stops for his high-flying headlining set at Coachella 2024, opening with an explosive stage entrance and bringing out a slew of surprise guests, including ASAP Rocky, Charlie Wilson, Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover), and Kali Uchis. During the set, he reminisced about his first playing Coachella back in 2011 with Odd Future and how chaotic that set was in comparison. In his own words: “I didn’t even know what Coachella was.”

On Saturday night, he fulfilled a decade-long dream of headlining (which included an undercard performance in 2018 that presaged his eventual top billing), incorporating a park ranger motif with a set designed to look like a desert mesa. Over the course of the show, he brought flames, fireworks, and a UFO that hovered over him and Rocky as they performed “Who Dat Boy” from Flower Boy and the standalone “Potato Salad.” Meanwhile, Glover popped out to perform a smooth rendition of his 3.15.20 track “Time.” Kali Uchis naturally showed up to sing hre chorus from their collaboration “See You Again,” while Wilson sat at a piano with Tyler to sing his part from “Earfquake.”

Tyler’s set certainly lived up to the hype. Then, near the end, he was blown off one of the buttes surrounding him and yanked off stage in another masterfully crafted stunt. And just like that, in the words of his Call Me When You Get Lost collaborator DJ Drama, he was gone.

The ladies of Saturday Night Live are giving a go at country music. Tonight (April 12), Chloe Troast, Chloe Fineman, and Ego Nwodim starred in “Get That Boy Back,” a new country bop in which the three get back at their men, who they believe are cheating.

As the age-old adage holds, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But these women have some tricks up there sleeves.

“He’s playing with my heart, baby, he’s no good, so I took my lipstick, wrote my name on his hood,” sings Nwodim.

Fineman comes in, revealing how she vandalized her man’s truck.

“Mess with me, I’ma mess you up, so I took my keys to his Chevy pickup. My man left and he didn’t dream he kind, y ‘all the mess with his truck, I’ll destroy his mind,” she sings.

Troast may have the most insidious prank of them all, which entails her sneaking into her ex’s mother’s home, and convincing her she’s losing her mind. “He’s got a new chick and he thinks she rocks, but I’ll get him back with my break-up bod. I’m in his parents’ house, painted just like their wall, whispering, ‘get out’ in the middle of the night. Get out!,” she sings.

Elsewhere in the video, we see the ladies have made a big mistake. Chris Stapleton, who plays the alleged villain in the video, shares that he wasn’t actually cheating, and reveals what exactly caused such confusion.

You can see the video above.

In his second performance of the night, Chris Stapleton laid it all out on the table. Taking to the Saturday Night Live stage once again, Stapleton performed “Mountain Of My Mind” from his fifth studio album, Higher.

This time, Stapleton was all alone on stage — just him and his guitar. The solo aspect of the performance allowed for viewers to visualize the feeling Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, were feeling when they wrote the song together.

Stapleton previously opened up about the songwriting process for “Mountain Of My Mind” in an interview with GQ.

“Everybody has some version of that. Just ‘I want to get the f*ck out of here. I’ve had enough,” said Stapleton. “I don’t want to be whoever I’m supposed to be today.’ Whether it’s a mother raising kids or somebody getting older and lonely. And anybody who’s been in the position we’re in has some kind of impostor syndrome. You start to not feel like a real person, you know what I’m saying? You start to understand when you see guys talk about themselves in the third person. The reason they do that, I believe, is that they’re not really talking about themselves. They’re talking about whatever the thing is of themselves that people want to purchase or go see.”

You can see a clip of the “Mountain Of My Mind” performance above.

Coachella has been full of surprises this weekend. During this year’s festival, fans have been eager to see No Doubt perform with its classic line-up for the first time in years.

During No Doubt’s performance, the Gwen Stefani-fronted band performed several fan favorites, including “Don’t Speak,” “Hey Baby,” “Hella Good,” and more. As the band performed “Bath Water” a special guest made a surprise appearance on stage. Joining the band was pop hitmaker Olivia Rodrigo.

While with the band, Rodrigo matched Stefani’s energy as they rocked about the stage, like two rock icons representing different generations.

This comes as a full-circle moment to Rodrigo, who has often cited No Doubt and Stefani among her favorite artists. In a recent profile on Stefani for Nylon, Rodrigo praised Stefani’s versatility and how her craft has evolved throughout her three-decade spanning career.

“Gwen’s ability to evolve and explore different styles of music, songwriting and aesthetic while still remaining true to herself is incredibly inspiring,” said Rodrigo. “To me, she’s a prime example of an artist who defies stereotypes and preconceived boundaries and just makes stuff that she thinks is cool. If that’s not a true artist, I don’t know what is.”

You can see a clip of the “Bath Water” performance above.

Tonight (April 13), country hitmaker Chris Stapleton made a return to the Saturday Night Live stage. Still riding the high from the release of his fifth album, Higher, which was released last November, Stapleton crushed it in a performance of “White Horse,” a favorite from the album.

While on stage, Stapleton was joined by a full country band. Dressed in a stylish cowboy hat and fresh western wear, Stapleton delivered strong vocals, showcasing the emotional rawness of this particular song.

“If you want a cowboy on a white horse / Ridin’ off into the sunset / If that’s the kind of love you wanna wait for / Hold on tight, girl, I ain’t there yet,” sings Stapleton on the song’s chorus.

Tonight marks Stapleton’s third time on SNL — his first being in 2016 and his most recent being in 2018. Over the years, he’s become one of the biggest names in country music. While Stapleton is certainly a household name, he revealed in an interview with GQ that he never anticipated becoming as famous as he is now.

“I’d be lying if I said that I don’t like going out and playing a show to a full house of people. Especially when you’ve played for no people. That’s the drug,” he says. “But to be famous for the sake of being famous…. That was never the main want.”

You can see a clip of the performance above.

Max Holloway (26-7) knocked out Justin Gaethje (25-5) with one second remaining at UFC 300 from Las Vegas before UFC veteran Mark Coleman wrapped the BFM title around his waist.

Holloway’s leg was peppered throughout the fight, as a brutal blister developed behind his lead calf. Gaethje went after the calf from the opening bell and the two exchanged big strikes throughout the first. Holloway stunned him with a spinning back kick as the first round ended.

Through the second and third, Gaethje remained committed to the leg kicks, while Holloway spoke with his hands. Holloway pieced together combos up top and into the body, but couldn’t find a breakthrough. Gaethje appeared to get some momentum in the fourth round, landing a strike that sent Holloway on his back momentarily. In the fifth and final round, Holloway and Gaethje emptied the tank, with Holloway temporarily hurting the champ and appearing close to a finish.

Gaethje fought off of the cage and the fight appeared destined to go the distance until, with 10 seconds remaining, Holloway stood in the middle of the Octagon, pointed at the mat, and demanded a war to end the fight. As the two tossed hands, Holloway slipped a strike and countered with a right hook that sent Gaethje to sleep.

Holloway was on a two-fight win streak at featherweight before moving up to lightweight Saturday night.