Month: August 2024

There she is! The birthday girl!!! That’s You! If you were born on the 14th, of course.

If you haven’t seen Longlegs yet, and you just so happened to be born on the 14th of the month, then it’s your lucky day. If you have seen the movie, then hopefully you have been meeting with a good therapist since then.

As part of a new promotion, From August 1st to August 4th, fans born on the 14th of any month can head to Atom Tickets to secure one free ticket to Longlegs per customer, while supplies last.

Longlegs follows Maika Monroe as a rookie agent tasked with hunting down a very eerie serial killer, played by Nicolas Cage. One of the things his victims has in common is their birthdate: all of them were born on the 14th of the month.

The movie managed to bring in an impressive $22.6 million during its opening weekend last month, a record for its distributor, Neon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to overpower Bob, Stuart, and Kevin of Despicable Me 4, who secured the number one spot. But Neon was a good sport, and celebrated being the “#1 movie in America”….after Despicable Me 4. If any of the minions were born on the 14th, they can go see their competitor for free! Hail Minions!

The USA women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the knockout round of the 2024 Olympics tournament on Thursday with a 87-74 win over Belgium, but it was a far more tense game than most anticipated.

Belgium was able to keep things level after the first 10 minutes, as it was tied at 23-23 going into the second quarter. There, the American defense flexed its muscle, holding Belgium to just 13 points to give Team USA a 10-point edge going into halftime, and the expectation was they’d stretch that out and cruise to a win. However, Belgium had other ideas, as they kept things within reach for much of the second half, winning the third quarter 15-14 and making Team USA keep their foot on the gas all the way to the end. Emma Meesseman led the way for Belgium with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, while Antonia Delaere added 16 points, pouring in four threes.

Those two were able to keep Belgium in touch throughout, but ultimately, the American star bigs proved too much for Belgium to handle. While Team USA struggled shooting the ball on the evening (5-of-14 from three), Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson were absolutely dominant. The two MVPs combined for 49 of Team USA’s 87 points, leading them to a win and clinching a knockout round appearance with one more game left in the group stage.

Stewart finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Wilson had 23 points and 13 rebounds. There just aren’t answers on many rosters for those two, and even with Team USA’s guards struggling to provide much support, their effort was enough to get the win.

The question now is whether we see any lineup changes going forward to Cheryl Reeve’s rotation, as veteran starters Chelsea Gray and Diana Taurasi both were held scoreless and saw their time on the floor limited to 9 minutes and 14 minutes, respectively. Team USA seems to have a bit more offensive juice with Jewell Loyd and Sabrina Ionescu on the floor, and we’ll see if there are any shakeups for their final group game against Germany on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. ET (USA Network).

When it comes to Zack Snyder’s movies, you’re going to see them the way he wants you to see them. Even if it’s not the first viewing or the theatrical cut, eventually, he will get your eyes in front of his final vision.

Snyder’s latest project has been the Rebel Moon franchise, which might only have a modest fan base thanks to negative reviews, but that won’t stop Snyder from releasing what he wants. Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire had a short theatrical release in December 2023, and its followup, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, landed on Netflix in April.

Now, the R-rated directors cut of both films will land on Netflix this week on August 2nd at 3 am EST/ 12 am PST. And they are going to be pretty long!

Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice Of Blood clocks in at 3 hours 21 minutes, while Rebel Moon – Chapter Two: Curse Of Forgiveness runs for 2 hours 50 minutes. He essentially added in a whole new movie’s worth of footage. Snyder told Cinema Blend: “There was a conversation around the rating and the runtime, where they felt like we could make a slightly more commercial version of this movie if we kept the rating to PG 13, and the runtime to right around two hours. That was a conversation. They felt like, based on their data, that that would be more viewable. And so I was like, ‘Okay.’ That was part of the negotiation. I had definitely written an R-rated movie,” Snyder revealed.

After the initial release, Snyder pushed for another cut. “We were in a negotiation, and we came up with this idea of having these director’s cuts in addition to the PG-13 (version). Because I absolutely felt like the movie that I wrote and the movie that I wanted to make, of course, is this longer R-rated movie that you’ll see.”

Check out the trailer below:

It’s hard to keep track of all the Yellowstone spin-offs. There’s the one with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren; the one without Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren; Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which is actually its own thing even though it’s created by Taylor Sheridan. There’s a few more in there, too, including 2024, which was originally going to star Matthew McCoughney, but he’s reportedly since left the project, which has been retitled to The Madison.

TVLine reports that Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, and Patrick J. Adams are “nearing deals” to star in The Madison, which is “rumored to follow wealthy matriarch Stacy Clyburn and her family as they leave New York City and head to Montana in the wake of her husband and brother-in-law’s tragic deaths in a plane crash.” Yup, sounds like a Taylor Sheridan show.

Here’s more:

Last fall, Paramount Network ordered to series the then-titled 2024, a Yellowstone sequel that was to star Matthew McConaughey and possibly feature Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and Luke Grimes reprising their roles of Beth Dutton, Rip Wheeler, and Kayce Dutton, respectively. It’s unclear whether Russell will be assuming the role that McConaughey was supposed to play or taking on a new character entirely.

It was only last year that McCoughney referred to starring in a Yellowstone spinoff as “an awesome vacation,” but it sounds like things might have gone sour between the Oscar winner and Sheridan. “Matthew doesn’t particularly like behind-the-scenes drama,” an insider said. Another possible explanation is that McCoughney wanted too much money.

Will we ever know? Maybe not. But hey, Kurt Russell!

(Via TVLine)

In every relationship we’ll ever have, there’s going to be a final conversation. Before the digital age, these interactions were usually face-to-face or over the telephone and could only be recorded in our memories. But now, just about every relationship leaves a paper trail of text messages, social media interactions, and voice messages. Sometimes the final communication is a heated breakup, and other times, it’s a casual interaction shortly before a person’s death.

Now, there’s a blog that collects these haunting final messages. The Last Message Received contains submissions of the last messages people received from ex-friends or ex-significant others as well as from deceased friends and relatives. Here are some of the blog’s most haunting posts.

“My good friend’s dad died around Thanksgiving. Two weeks later he drank himself to death.”

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“This is the last text I got from my mom before she died of Stage IV brain cancer at the age of 53. It left her completely paralyzed on the left side of her body, hence the typos in the texts. What she was saying was, ‘You’re missing music therapy.’ Almost as good as Good Friday church giggles.’ A few years prior to this, we went to the Good Friday service at our church. The choir was absolutely horrendous and couldn’t sing whatsoever. She and I sat there, in the most serious, somber church service of all, laughing hysterically, unable to stop for the life of us. She sent me this text while she was in hospice and I was at school.”

“This happened a few months back. He was my best friend and my boyfriend of 7 years. He stuck with me when I fell pregnant at 16 after I was raped. He became an actual dad to my son. He was my everything. A few months before this message, things started to change, we drifted apart and he was telling my 5 year old son to lie to me about his whereabouts. One night he beat me, I ended up in hospital for a few days. He begged for forgiveness, I stayed. It happened again a few days later, he was at work when I text him. I took my son and left. This is the last text I received from him. I heard last week that he’s just been sent to prison for crimes involving violence and drugs. I hope he gets the help he needs.”

“My dad died 6 weeks later flying the plane in this picture.”

“The last text he sent me. The next day I got a call from his daughter that he was still very much with his wife and I wasn’t the only one he was cheating on her with.”

“She had sent me a message earlier asking me not to contact her anymore. I woke up to one last message. We’d dated for 3.5 years and when I came out as trans, the relationship fell apart. I still think about and miss her every day.”

“I sent this to my grandpa on thanksgiving. Two days later he unexpectedly had a heart attack and passed. He was my favorite person in the world and nothing has been the same since. I refuse to delete this message.”

“I would have fallen in love with her if distance and timing hadn’t gotten in the way. I’m ignoring her because I need to let her move on.”

This article originally appeared on 05.25.19

The hottest ticket in Paris on Thursday was the women’s gymnastics all-around competition, as everyone wanted to see Simone Biles return to the Olympics all-around after withdrawing in Tokyo. Biles delivered for the sold-out crowd, earning gold after huge scores on vault, beam, and floor mitigated a brief bobble on the uneven bars. She beat out Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who authored an incredible performance of her own to win a second straight Olympic silver in the all-around, with 2021 gold medalist Suni Lee taking bronze.

Among the many stars and celebrities in attendance on Thursday at the gymnastics arena were members of the USA men’s basketball team, who took advantage of their day off in Paris to watch the GOAT in action.

Like everyone who watches Biles, they were blown away by the power and athleticism of her routines, with Kevin Durant coming away with the belief that Biles could absolutely finish an alley-oop lob with her bounce.

Biles routinely gets 12 feet off the ground during her floor exercise, which is aided by the springy floor, but her power in getting off the ground is truly remarkable. Whether she could get to the rim 10 feet off the ground jumping off a basketball court instead of a gymnastics floor, well, we’d have to see her try it, but I wouldn’t put anything past the GOAT.

For the past day, it sure has looked like Charli XCX and Billie Eilish are linking up on a collaboration. Specifically, Charli teased a remix of her Brat song “Guess,” and while the featured artist wasn’t revealed, the clues pointed to Eilish. Now we know for sure, as Charli made the Eilish reveal in a new teaser video shared today (August 1).

In the 12-second video, Charli says, “Hey Billie, you there?” Then there’s a clip of Charli striking poses in a disheveled, dimly lit room before the video ends on a shot of Charli and Eilish falling onto a bed of bras. The song is set to premiere tonight at 6 p.m. ET.

As an Eilish fan account on X (formerly Twitter) points out, Eilish and Finneas seemingly spoke about the “Guess” remix in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in May. Eilish said, “I did a session with another artist for the first time in six years […] a couple weeks ago. And it was really fun, and I was really nervous ’cause I haven’t worked with anyone but Finneas in six years. And I hated it back in the day. I really, really hated it. I hated studios, I hated collaborating. I’ve never done a feature.”

Finneas also offered more details about how the meet-up came to be, saying, “This was, to me, such a fun part of being in the music business. Billie was sitting and telling me why she loved this one artist. We were watching their music videos together, and I know them, and I was texting them, and I was like, ‘We’re sitting here watching your stuff. It’s so good.’ They were like, ‘I’m in LA.’ I was like, ‘Do you want to do a day?’” Finneas then added through laughter, “Billie tried to get out of it like three times.”

Check out the teaser above.

Tinashe’s “Nasty” became an Uproxx “Song Of The Summer” candidate, and now, she’s coming for Album Of The Summer.

Quantum Baby is due out on August 16. When Tinashe dropped “Getting No Sleep” in late June, she described the album as “exploring who I am as a person and who I am as an artist. I’ve never been one to be put into a box, so the name Quantum Baby encompasses all the different parts that make up who I am as a creative.”

On Thursday, August 1, Tinashe revealed the album’s tracklist, as seen below.

1. “Tina.Sh3 / No Simulation”
2. “Getting No Sleep”
3. “Thirsty”
4. “Red Flags”
5. “Cross That Line”
6. “When I Get You Alone”
7. “No Broke Boys”
8. “Nasty”

Quantum Baby will arrive just short of a year since Tinashe released BB/ANG3L, her sixth studio album. This spring, Tinashe told Paper that “BB/ANG3L was always intended to be a trilogy, with Quantum Baby serving as the part two.

“I wanted to release it in three parts just to give people a real sense of what every section meant and really allow them all to marinate,” she told the publication. “Sometimes, you create music, and it just gets consumed so quickly. You spend years working on this art. And so, I wanted to pace myself in how I was releasing and drop it in three parts. I think, initially, people were kind of confused as to why the first part of the project was seven songs and didn’t understand that there was more coming. So I’m excited to release part two coming up.”

Quantum Baby is out 8/16 via Nice Life. Find more information here.

Keanu Reeves is a spiritual man. Despite his roles in very violent movies and his rock and roll lifestyle, the actor always finds time to quietly offer some grounding wisdom and knowledge. So a play about the existence of God and the afterlife is actually right up his alley! Add in his buddy Alex Winter, and we finally have Bill and Ted’s Existentialist Adventure.

The Bill and Ted co-stars are set to reunite for next year’s Broadway adaption of Waiting for Godot, based on Samuel Beckett’s 1953 play which follows two men engaging in discussions and reflections on life while waiting for the titular Godot. Reeves will play Estragon and Winter will play Vladimir in this play, which is set to open at an ATG theater in fall 2025. This will be Reeves’ Broadway debut, while Winter has been on the stage numerous times over the years.

“We’re incredibly excited to be on stage together and work with the great Jamie Lloyd in one of our favorite plays,” the two Bill and Ted stars said in a statement. Reeves and Winter last teamed up in 2020 for Bill & Ted Face The Music, the third installment in the Bill & Ted universe.

Jamie Lloyd also released a statement: “It is a real honor to be collaborating with the brilliant Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on Samuel Beckett’s sublime masterpiece — one of the greatest plays of all time.” Further details, including the dates, are set to be announced soon.

The good news about Waiting for Godot is that there are no potentially violent stunts, so Keanu should be safe from any potential injuries.

(Via Variety)

A group of 105 homeless people gathered at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Each of them was given a disposable camera and told to take pictures that represent “my London.”

The photos were entered in an annual contest run by London-based nonprofit Cafe Art, which gives homeless artists the chance to have their work displayed around the city and, for some of the photographers who participate in the yearly challenge, in a print calendar.

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“Some people have had experience, and others have never picked up a camera before,” said Paul Ryan, co-director of Cafe Art.

The program, Ryan explained, includes mentorship and training from professional volunteers at the Royal Photographic Society, including winners of the contest from previous years, many of whom are ultimately inducted into the society.

The goal of the challenge is to help participants gain the confidence to get back on the job market, search for housing, re-engage with their social circles, or even activate dormant skills.

“I really enjoyed it. And I started to get involved in my art again, which I’d left for years,” a 2015 participant said in a video for the organization’s Kickstarter campaign.

These are 11 of the top vote-getters from this year’s contest:

1. Ella Sullivan — “Heart Bike Rack”

2. Alana Del Valle — “London Bus with Sculpture”

3. Beatrice — “Out of the Blue”

4. Laz Ozerden — “What Now?”

5. Leo Shaul — “The Coffee Roaster”

6. Christopher McTavish — “St. Paul’s in Reflection”

7. Hugh Gary — “London Calling”

8. Keith Norris — “Watching Mannequin”

9. Siliana — “After the Rain”

10. Saffron Saidi — “Graffiti Area”

11. Jackie Cook — “Underground Exit”

Ryan, who has been developing the program for seven years, said that while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for individuals who are homeless, for some who are too used to being “knocked back,” the experience of seeing their work on display or in print — and of success — can be invaluable.

“Everyone is helped in a different way, to get up to the next step in whatever way they need to.”

This article originally appeared on 08.17.16