Month: May 2024

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. Evil (Paramount+ series)

Some The X-Files flavor is on display here, this time with a skeptical psychologist joining a Catholic priest-in-training while they dive into alleged demonic possessions and other such unexplained mysteries inside the church. It’s the fourth and last season of this streaming series, and if you are so inclined, hop on board before you miss catching any “live” discussions. Can logic or the supernatural eventually prevail as official explanations, or why not both? It’s a dynamic that never gets dull.

9. Challengers (Warner Bros. movie on VOD & Amazon)

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers quickly became known as Zendaya’s “threesome” movie even though the movie does not actually deliver on that suggestion, which makes the movie somehow even sexier. Z stars as Tashi, a tennis dynamo who suffers a career-ending injury. She later coaches her husband, Art (Mike Faist), whose rivalry with Patrick (Josh O’Connor), reignites on the court. Cue explosive potential and Tashi as a force of controlling nature.

8. Bodkin (Netflix series)

A little bit of Only Murders In The Building surfaces in this at-first overlooked series (created by Jez Scharf) about podcasters going into detective mode in an Irish town that harbors secrets. Will Forte stars alongside Siobhán Cullen and Robyn Cara, and here’s an unexpected development: this is the first Netflix-produced drama series from Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground production house.

7. Madame Web (Sony movie streaming on Netflix)

No Marvel movie wants to be compared to Morbius, but that’s precisely what happened here as soon as Dakota Johnson was heard uttering that line about researching spiders in the Amazon. It’s safe to say that this show will not receive a hopeful re-release in theaters like its Jared Leto-starring Sony predecessor, but there are still enough people that either want to watch ironically or simply see what the anti-hype was all about. Quite handily, Netflix has the movie as part of its streaming package.

6. Late Night With The Devil (IFC Films movie streaming on Shudder)

If it feels like David Dastmalchian is low-key everywhere these days, well, that’s kind-of true. The Oppenheimer and The Suicide Squad actor is popping up in a zillion projects, but here, he gives a masterful leading man performance as TV host Jack Delroy, whose quest to fix his ratings takes a turn into Hell. This movie is a rare found-footage project that does that gimmick right, and whether Delroy is speaking to his TV audience (such as it is), or Dastmalchian is winking and nodding to those of us in our real homes, this film is riveting while playfully batting around the horror tropes of yesteryear.

5. Baby Reindeer (Netflix series)

This show simply will not stop riding the top of Netflix’s charts, and surely, creator, writer, and star Richard Gadd never expected to land on the all-time Top 10 list, which is due to happen pretty damn soon. In other words, watch out Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gadd is moving past the trauma of his past to work on his next project, Lions, in which he will not star but will still no doubt compel viewers. If you haven’t caught Baby Reindeer yet, know that it’s an intense and stressful watch, and it’s not exactly a true-crime series, but the public’s fascination with the based-on-real-life story could arguably qualify it as such.

4. The Idea Of You (Prime Video/Amazon movie)

This story is totally not based on Harry Styles but is, yes, pretty much based on Harry Styles in his One Direction days. Nicholas Galitzine portrays the pop singer who falls for a cool Coachella mom because, c’mon, she looks exactly like Anne Hathaway. Readers of Robinne Lee’s May-December novel have been pleased by the leading pair’s chemistry and the escapism while romance seems to be ruling in May like it’s February or something.

3. Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner Bros. movie streaming on Max)

With Furiosa (starring Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth) out there in theaters now, there’s no time like yesterday to refresh on the action extravaganza starring Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and Nicholas Hoult. Enjoy watching Charlize in total badass mode and Tom Hardy hopping aboard with Imperator Furiosa while they zoom around the Wasteland in the War Rig and attempt to evade Immortan Joe.

2. Outer Range (Prime Video (Amazon) series)

Now that Josh Brolin’s Royal Abbott has put his true “time traveler” identity out there, get ready for this neo-Western series that remains the most mesmerizing and bizarre show currently on TV. As viewers recall, the reappearance of “the void” coincided with the arrival of the mysterious Autumn (Imogen Poots), and the chess (and poker) game that followed kept everyone on their toes. This season, Autumn’s true identity is now under the microscope. We also we learn whether Cecilia will continue to put up with Royal’s long-standing BS and whether she (or Autumn) will push Royal right back where he came from.

1. Bridgerton (Netflix series)

The wait for the final four episodes of the season is on, but for now, viewers are content to relive their favorite moments so far of the Penelope-Colin story, which reached the halfway point with a rocking’ Carriage Ride that lived up to the expectations of Julia Quinn’s readership. Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton must now go forth to stumble into the reality of her alter ego becoming public. This promises to be a giddy and possibly heartbreaking endeavor, but surely, Shondaland will not disappoint viewers who want these two together, so that the fourth season can revisit them as newlyweds. This show has persisted marvelously after some predicted that The Duke’s departure would not bode well. Fortunately, Anthony and Kate dispelled that myth, and Queen Charlotte kept the franchise fires hot in the interim.

This weekend was a tough one for music festivals, as two major events ended up getting cut short due to extreme weather conditions.

Jack Harlow’s two-day Gazebo Festival started on Saturday, May 25, but the second day was canceled before it even began. The area of the Louisville, Kentucky festival was put on a tornado watch, and ultimately, Day 2 was called off.

A statement from organizers said in part, “The safety of our patrons, artists and staff is paramount. Due to continuing hazardous conditions throughout the early afternoon and a second wave of weather expected this evening, we have made the very difficult decision to cancel the remainder of Gazebo Festival.”

Chicago’s Sueños Festival suffered a similar fate. The city faced rain and thunderstorms on Sunday the 26th, enough to delay the festival’s start. Doors ended up opening at 4 p.m. local time, instead of at noon as initially scheduled. At about 8 p.m., minutes after Maluma had taken the stage, the festival was evacuated.

It wasn’t just those two parts of the country, either: CenTex Country Music Fest — which was set to go down in Temple, Texas on June 1 — has also been canceled due to damage a May 22 storm caused to the festival grounds.

This all comes after this year’s Lovers & Friends Festival was canceled earlier this month, also for weather-related reasons.

It can be tough for artists to find something that’s distinctly theirs, something unique that artist and fan alike can enjoy as a special sort of in joke. Sabrina Carpenter has something, though: When she performs her song “Nonsense” live, she routinely switches up the lyrics in the song’s outro, modifying them to be some sort of joke and/or reference to where she’s performing.

One of the most (in)famous examples was her BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge performance of the song in 2023, in which she sang, “How quickly can you take your clothes off, pop quiz / I’m American I am not British, so BBC: it stands for something different / This Live Lunge is so lit because I’m in it, innit.”

As for what Carpenter’s talking about, we’ll let Urban Dictionary explain. Scroll past the silly definitions, though. You’ll know the right one when you see it.

BBC didn’t seem too thrilled about that, as they removed the quip from the YouTube upload of the performance. Well, Carpenter graced a BBC stage again this weekend, this time at Radio 1 Big Weekend. Of course, she came through with another BBC joke.

This time, she sang during “Nonsense,” “BBC said I should keep it PG / BBC, I wish I had it in me / There’s a double meaning if you dig deep.”

Check out the clip below.

Mercedes Mone defeated Willow Nightingale to win the TBS Championship in her AEW debut at Double or Nothing on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Mone used a callback to her ankle injury from the opening bell, attacking Nightingale’s ankle and chopping the champion down.

After a back and forth match, Nightingale found an opening, landing her gutwrench powerbomb in the middle of the ring, but Stokley Hathaway and Kris Statlander distracted the referee. Back on her feet, Mone reversed a second attempt and got Nightingale in position before landing the Mone Maker for the three count.

Following the loss, Statlander shoved Hathaway as he berated Nightingale before ultimately turning on her. Statlander slammed Nightingale into the entrance ramp, hit a clothesline on her, and tosser her friendship bracelet at her.

Mone debuted her post-Sasha Banks persona as part of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 last year from the Tokyo Dome when she became a free agent from WWE. She then showed up at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, and wrestled four times in NJPW before ultimately suffering a leg injury toward the end of May and missing the rest of the year.

Recovered from what she said could have been a career-ending injury, Mone is back in wrestling ready to reshape the women’s division in AEW, and is already holding gold.

Adam Copeland defeated Malakai Black in a barbed wire steel cage match with a little help from Gangrel to retain the TNT Championship at AEW Double or Nothing in Las Vegas Sunday night.

Copeland turned back the clock on Wednesday night Dynamite, giving Black a bloodbath following his win over Kyle O’Reilly and ahead of their showdown on Sunday. It was a sign of things to come, in a match that saw plenty of barbed wire and blood.

Both opponents were busted open after taking barbed wire shots to the face before Copeland got slammed through a table. Copeland then flung himself from the top of the cage to put Black through a table of his own.

After Black sent Copeland through the cage door, the House of Black came to the ring and teased aligning themselves with the champ. Instead, they turned on him, sent him into the ring, and prepared to triple team him before Copeland’s Brood leader climbed through the ring. Gangrel took out the House of Black and ultimately helped Copeland retain his championship.

Copeland saw his run in WWE begin along with Gangrel and Christian as The Brood before ultimately breaking off as a tag team, and eventually as singles stars.

We are now on the precipice of seeing two conference finals sweeps in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, as the Dallas Mavericks joined the Boston Celtics in taking a 3-0 series lead with another incredible late game performance on Sunday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In the first half, the Mavs took control thanks to their star backcourt, as Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic combined for 29 in the first half to lift Dallas to an 8-point halftime lead.

They would suffer a big loss in the second quarter, when their impactful rookie center, Dereck Lively II, left and did not return after being kneed in the back of the head by Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Dallas lead would expand to double digits in the third, but Anthony Edwards finally came to life in the series to lead a Wolves charge to tie it going to the fourth.

The two teams would trade one-possession leads throughout the fourth, but neither could take full control in a tense, back-and-forth affair, and it looked like we might get another frantic finish at the buzzer.

That changed in the final few minutes, as the Mavericks once again turned to their stars and let them carry them home with incredible shot-making performances.

On the other side, the Wolves simply could not match them, as Karl-Anthony Towns’ nightmare series continued with an 0-of-8 night from three-point range, including a pair of misses on clean looks down the stretch that were desperately needed.

The final dagger of the night was put in by Daniel Gafford off a lob from Doncic, as they put Game 3 to bed in style with an unbelievable alley-oop combination.

Doncic and Irving finished with a combined 66 points, with Doncic adding seven boards, five assists, and five steals, as the Mavs stars were simply better than their counterparts from Minnesota for the third straight game. Edwards was more aggressive in Game 3, finishing with 26 points on 11-of-24 shooting with nine assists and nine rebounds. Jaden McDaniels (15 points) and Naz Reid (14 points) were terrific once again, but McDaniels struggled with foul trouble and Reid only played 29 minutes. Towns continues to be a non-factor, but rather than benching him down the stretch like they did in Game 2, he played and missed some key shots, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but going 5-of-18 from the field and missing all eight of his three-point attempts.

While there are always many factors that play a role in a series outcome, in this one it’s fairly simple. One team’s stars have shined and the other team’s have simply not been good enough.

Now the Wolves are one game away from the offseason, and will need to dig deep to find something for Game 4 even as their fate seems etched in stone. The Mavs, meanwhile, will look to close out a sweep on Tuesday night at home to avoid having to make a return trip to Minnesota — and ensure they get an equal rest before the Finals as the Celtics, who are heavy favorites to make it a sweep in the East on Monday night in Indiana.

Anthony Edwards has not had his A-game in the Western Conference Finals, as the Wolves star struggled with his shot in the first two games and looked oddly lethargic as the Mavs took a 2-0 series lead in Minnesota.

With the series shifting to Dallas and the Wolves facing a virtual must-win situation in Game 3, Edwards proclaimed he would be more aggressive looking for his shot after his sluggish performances in the first two games. He certainly proved that to be true, taking 20 shots in the first three quarters of Game 3, but the shot wasn’t falling until the mid-third quarter when he woke himself up by throwing down what is probably his second-best dunk of the season on Daniel Gafford.

It’s not quite at the level of his poster on John Collins from earlier in the year, but it was the most lively he’s looked in the conference finals and seemed to be what he needed to feel like his normal self. Edwards would hit a pair of tough midrange jumpers immediately after that dunk, as the Wolves turned what had been a double-digit deficit into a brief third quarter lead thanks to their star’s sudden burst.

We’ll see if the rest of the Wolves can feed off of that energy and turn this into a series, but if nothing else, Edwards finally showed the guy that dominated the first two rounds in this third quarter flurry.

Go big or go home. For Drake, these two are mutually exclusive. The “Taylor Made Freestyle” rapper has amassed an enormous fortune throughout his career.

While he doesn’t mind splurging on flashy pieces of jewelry (most notably a few from Pharrell’s collection), that isn’t the only place he has spent big bucks. According to Texas Monthly, Drake is now a resident of The Lone Star State after purchasing a $15 million estate.

Drake has publicly declared his love for several major cities in the state, including Austin, Dallas, and of course Houston. However, the musician’s latest home is reportedly located on the outskirts of Brenham. The 313-acre will afford Drake an invaluable level of privacy due to its former purpose. Prior to becoming the home of the rap superstar, the estate served as a retreat, known publicly as The Inn at Dos Brisas.

Despite the recent listing of his Beverly Hills mansion , the publication claims his seven figure purchase in Texas closed last fall. Initially, the details surrounding the estate’s sell were anonymous.

The publication listed the amenities of the property as a bar-equipped lounge area, fireside dining room, large swimming pool, spa with an expansive sundeck, five haciendas, and four casitas. It is unclear if Drake plans on living in Texas full-time, but should he choose to, this home will surely fit his needs.

Dereck Lively II has been a godsend for the Dallas Mavericks, as the rookie center has given the Mavs exactly what they’ve needed out of the five spot on both ends of the floor.

Since the Daniel Gafford trade, the Mavs have been able to rotate Gafford and Lively in order to keep an elite shot-blocker on the floor at all times, while also providing Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving with a hard rolling lob threat. This postseason, Lively has been huge for Dallas, averaging 8.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game off the bench, but his impact goes beyond the boxscore, as Dallas has been a juggernaut on both ends in his minutes.

Lively continued his strong play early in Game 3 against Minnesota, scoring 6 points (on 3-of-3 from the field) with three rebounds, two assists, and one block in his first nine minutes of action. However, his night got cut suddenly short after a scary collision with Karl-Anthony Towns, as Lively fell to the floor going for a rebound and took a Towns knee to the back of his head.

Lively stayed down for a few minutes getting tended to and needed a teammate’s assistance as he walked back to the locker room looking very unsteady. We will await an official status update on Lively from the Mavericks, but for now Dallas will have to adjust their rotations with one of their key frontcourt contributors missing.

UPDATE: After halftime, the Mavs announced Lively was questionable to return with a neck sprain, indicating he had not exhibited concussion-like symptoms in the first half hour of evaluation. They would later announce he was out for the game with that neck sprain.

Jaylen Brown has been arguably the best player on the Boston Celtics during the 2024 NBA playoffs. While Jayson Tatum has been great in his own right, Brown has been incredibly efficient against the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers, averaging 24.7 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting from the field and 35.3 percent shooting from three.

If there’s been a downside to all of this, it has meant that the discourse around Brown has gotten weird, because the Celtics are rolling through a bunch of super injured teams in the Eastern Conference and there’s not much else to talk about with them as a result. As such, on an episode of First Take this week, Stephen A. Smith read a text from someone that claimed Brown’s attitude isn’t very good, and as a result, he’s not especially “marketable.”

The clip came across the desk of Isiah Thomas, who tweeted on Sunday morning that he’s close with Brown, finds this report ridiculous, and wants the source to be named.

Eventually, Brown saw the clip and decided to respond, simply telling Smith that he wants to know who said this about him.

If you’d like to watch Brown play basketball, the Celtics will look to wrap up a sweep of the Pacers and earn a spot in the NBA Finals on Monday night.