Madonna tried to get into the holiday spirit at her recent show in DC earlier this week, but things did not go so well.
What happened was, the pop star brought out a man dressed as Santa Claus, with the intent of giving him a lap dance. After he sat down in his big red suit, one of Madonna’s dancers tried to climb onto his lap, and both went falling off.
In the video, Santa Claus fell forward on top of Madonna’s backup dancer, before getting up and stepping away to take a breather.
The dancer still kept the show going, showcasing moves from the floor. As for Santa, he was understandably embarrassed, and the moment for any sort of flirty gifts from the dancer passed.
Madonna also kept performing throughout the whole incident, putting her decades of stage training to good use, as she didn’t seem affected at all by what had happened — and kept the concert going for those in attendance.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt by the spicy attempt.
As for Madonna, hopefully she is able to treat the crowd to this choreography (and Santa to his rightfully-earned presents) without any trouble at a future show.
Check out the video of Santa Claus failing to get a lap dance below.
It’s not a good look to brag about your own work. Unfortunately, I am about to have a bad look. I can’t help myself. I wrote the hell out of the following columns and I would like to re-share them for your holiday season reading enjoyment.
1. I really like writing about great albums. But I love writing about bad albums. And one of the most enjoyable reviews I wrote in 2023 was about Måneskin’s ultra-skanky sleaze-rock opus Rush.
2. My favorite concert of 2023 was Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in March. I wrote about the show and the various emotions and controversies associated with it.
3. I have found that people enjoy my paragraphs more if I put numbers next to them. So, I write a lot of columns in the form of lists. The most popular column of this sort in 2023 was the one I wrote about the best debut albums.
5. A truly bonkers and wonderful movie starring Bob Dylan and called Masked & Anonymous turned 20 this year. I was thrilled to track down the film’s director and co-writer (with Bob), the legendary Larry Charles, and he told me lots of wonderful stories about making it.
6. The National put out two albums this year that were just okay. Then I put together a compilation of the best tracks from those albums and it was awesome. I wrote about it here.
7. The second best concert I saw this year was U2 at the Sphere. (Sorry, I mean just Sphere.) It was quite an experience and I had a blast writing about it.
8. Garth Brooks put out a new album this year that was available only at Bass Pro Shops. My editor asked me to be the first music critic in the world to buy the Garth Brooks album from the Bass Pro Shops. I followed his orders and then wrote about it.
The new romantic comedy, Anyone But You, has two incredibly hot aces up its sleeve: Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. Both rising stars have been turning heads over the years, but they unfortunately can’t work magic on the predictable plot in their latest romp from Easy A director Will Gluck.
While some critics found Anyone But You to be a serviceable rom-com as the genre seems to be slowly coming back to life, others just couldn’t feel the spark between two of the most beautiful people working in Hollywood today.
Anyone who’s seen Glen Powell in Richard Linklater’s terrifically enjoyable Hit Man will know he’s a bona fide movie star with charisma to burn. If you were paying attention, that was evident even in Top Gun: Maverick. And Sydney Sweeney has shown impressive range, serving delicious mean-girl snark in season one of The White Lotus, tracing a self-destructive spiral on Euphoria and demonstrating serious dramatic chops in Reality. But neither screen chemistry nor laughs can be manufactured, especially not with the kind of pedestrian writing in Will Gluck’s Anyone But You, which does nothing to reanimate the moribund studio rom-com.
Neither character is scrappy, neither is an underdog, neither is believable in their insecurity. They are golden gods playing at being regular people—even when, yes, Powell’s physique is constantly commented on and Sweeney is given a variety of shape-hugging outfits to wear. The movie has to acknowledge that these are hot people, but it also wants us to find them relatable. Anyone but You struggles mightily in that task.
While Anyone But You grazes the allure of Ryan and Hanks’ collaborations, the film lacks the proper push and pull between comedic beats and dramatic stakes that make those movies so watchable (and rewatchable). And even when it hits a pleasant middle ground to stride upon, Sweeney’s bizarre turn as a flighty law student in a romantic rut pulls the audience out of their momentary stupor. Though her performance is as discombobulated as her character seems to be, Sweeney’s distinct chemistry with Powell—along with Powell’s completely irresistible leading man charms—keep Anyone But You perfectly palatable, even if it won’t trigger a proper rom-com renaissance anytime soon.
“Anyone but You” may not be funny or memorable enough to single-handedly make rom-coms matter again, but it might just inch us closer towards that goal precisely because it doesn’t burden itself with any such cross to bear. This is nothing more than an old-fashioned frivolity with newly minted stars and a killer supporting cast. Gluck and Ilana Wolpert’s toothless script is redeemed by its fine attention to detail, the movie’s confined story is splashed across a series of gorgeous locations, and cinematographer Danny Ruhlmann shoots them with the dramatic flair of someone who knows that people might actually have their phones off for long enough to appreciate his work.
On the enemies to lovers scale, “Anyone But You” most closely resembles “Ticket to Paradise,” which reunited George Clooney and Julia Roberts. No one would mistake Powell and Sweeney for those charismatic A-listers. Yet both destination wedding tales share the strain of trying too hard to make the audience believe the frenemies hate each other, while their ultimate reunion is so inevitable there’s no narrative tension. At the very least, it’s not Shakespeare. It’s not even “10 Things I Hate About You.”
Even if incredibly formulaic, director Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends With Benefits) is never winking. Yes, the plot of Anyone But You hits exactly every beat when you think it would, grand romantic gestures and all. But it is content—thrilled, in fact—to be a boilerplate rom-com. It doesn’t seek to get ahead of any criticism leveled at it. Formulas exist for a reason, and they can still be executed well. Sparks fly, even if there aren’t enough of them to give the film a jolt of electricity. Anyone But You doesn’t reinvent any wheels, but the wheels will get you to your destination on time.
Pink Friday 2 debuted at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200, so Nicki Minaj has an excuse to rest, but that is not the Nicki Minaj that Barbz have come to know and love.
“Honestly, y’all, I only had two seconds to make this up, so it’s only two lines,” Minaj told the in-studio audience. “But there’s a song on my called ‘F The Club Up’ [‘FTCU‘], and instead, I changed it to ‘F The Colbert Up,’ right? And so, the first the two lines, I changed it for him in Gag City, when he arrives. It goes, ‘High heels on for Stevie / If I marry Stevie, he ain’t ever gon’ leave me.”
Minaj repeated the bar, but this time, she challenged him to tack his own bars to “end the rap” with “the first thing that pops into your mind that rhymes.” Colbert jumped in with, “High heels or not, Nicki / You better hope you never meet my wife, Evie.”
Minaj’s mouth dropped in shock at Colbert’s mic drop, and I agree: The round goes to Colbert.
Rudy Giuliani is really broke. (How broke is he?) He’s reportedly so broke that he can’t afford a new car to fart in — and that was before a judge ordered him to immediately pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers who he falsely accused of manipulating ballots after the 2020 election. He’s also being sued by one of his former lawyers, Robert Costello, for lack of payment,” not to mention that whole messy election interference case in Georgia.
To make some quick cash, Giuliani is hawking FDA-unapproved supplements on his America’s Mayor Live show.
The Daily Beast reports that after ranting about how America has turned into “fascist territory,” Giuliani read promotions for Balance of Nature supplements, which have received warnings from the Food and Drug Administration over the “the company’s claims that its products could be used to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, asthma, and COVID-19.”
Giuliani, apparently getting into the holiday spirit despite the staggering financial judgment against him, urged followers not only to take the supplements every day but also to use the empty bottles to decorate their Christmas trees. “Last night I showed you how to put one together,” he said on Wednesday’s show, holding up a Balance of Nature bottle with a wire hook inserted into the top. “This one’s going on the tree now. I’m going to have two on my tree!”
I’ll give him this: he keeps finding new ways to hit rock bottom.
First of all, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is a movie in which Aquaman gets peed in his mouth three times. I just want to get that part out there first.
Soooo … this run of DC movies had to end eventually, one way or another. And, frankly, it was probably always going to be like this: an overwhelming spectacle of a thing, with a plot that doesn’t really approach coherent, that I’m pretty sure isn’t even finished, in a movie Aquaman gets peed into his mouth three times.
But, you know, this is how all these franchises will end … puttering out. It’s never going to end on some celebratory note. No corporation can resist the urge to over-saturate the market to the point no one cares anymore. Which is, partly, why the MCU is where it is now. When the MCU eventually ends, it won’t end on an Avengers: Endgame. It will end when no one goes to see the Hobgoblin solo movie, or whatever.
This is a strange one, because I usually really like James Wan movies. I don’t know if he just wasn’t given the time or resources to finish this thing, the the result is pretty mind-boggling. There are scenes that, like the first movie, just honestly rip in a hilarious, nonsensical way. Then there are scenes in which Randall Park’s Dr. Stephen Shin just does a voiceover explaining the plot and what they all did next, because the scene doesn’t exist. Randall Park is always a welcome addition to any cast, but his job here seems to be to just explain what’s happening. And even with this helpful footnote reader of a character, I was still pretty confused.
(I’ll be honest, I’m not a “watch movies high” person. But this is a movie I would actually recommend such a thing. Maybe an Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom and Heavy Metal double feature.)
I’ve been filibustering a bit because I don’t want to write about the plot. I’m really dreading writing about the plot because I’m not sure I understand it completely. Oh, you know what, I’m going to delay it just a little bit longer. Remember Challenge of the Superfriends? If not, you probably know Superfriends. For 16 glorious episodes in 1978 (I saw the episodes in syndication), it was rebranded Challenge of the Superfriends and it features a sort of full on Justice League of America (hey we got The Flash and Green Lantern) versus The Legion of Doom, which was my introduction to Black Manta. And in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta is awesome. And the suit, like in the first movie, looks dynamite. Every time Black Manta was on screen, I was transfixed.
Okay, enough dillydallying, here we go: Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is bored of being king of Atlantis. It’s much more bureaucratic than he expected and nothing gets done. While this is going on, Black Manta is searching for an ancient, and also very harmful, energy source called orichalcum. (Yes, the way it’s pronounced is probably the way you think it is – and it got a laugh every single time that last three letter syllable was, strangely, emphasized.) Why? Who’s to say. But while searching he finds an ancient trident, broken in two. Once the two sides are reunited, Black Manta is possessed by an ancient leader of the Lost Kingdom (the one in the title) who wants Black Manta to release all the orichalcum into the Earth’s atmosphere so it will melt the glaciers and free the Lost Kingdom from its icy grave.
To do this, Arthur has to free his brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), from prison so the two can begrudgingly team up to stop this. You see, Orm knows people who run the black market who can tell them how to find Black Manta. The creature they have to negotiate with is kind of a cross between Boss Nass from The Phantom Menace and Dexter Jettster from Attack of the Clones. Also this character is voiced by Martin Short, who I had no idea was in this movie. Along the way, the two learn to like each other and learn about themselves a bit. Also, Arthur tricks Orm into eating a cockroach.
I think by the end I found myself having a good time even though I was watching a movie that wasn’t very good. But, also, it’s the holidays, I knew this was the last thing I’d be writing for a couple weeks, so I was in a pretty good mood. But, good grief, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is overwhelming. It just keeps coming AT YOU until you submit to its buffoonery. And I think that’s what happened to me. Hey, but fun is fun, right?
The DCEU started ten years ago with Man of Steel, which begins with Russell Crowe’s Jor-El sending his only son, Kal-El, off in a spacecraft towards Earth before their planet dies. As I was walking out, I overheard someone say, “The DCEU ends with Patrick Wilson eating a roach.” RIP, DCEU.
If you are a Bob Dylan fan in Europe, you just might need to go on a scavenger hunt now. Some internet users have discovered that Dylan secretly released a 50th Anniversary Collection 1973 CD in record stores all over the continent, without any promotion. According to NME, the CD spans 28 tracks that are outtakes from 1973’s Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid soundtrack sessions.
For those who aren’t in Europe and can find a copy, some are reportedly popping up on eBay but will cost at least a few hundred dollars. Some fans have sparked bids on one to $500, as it does feel like a pretty exclusive find.
One UK record store, Badlands, listed it on their website, but it has since sold out. However, they did post photos of the front and back cover, and other spots could follow suit by making it available for online purchase.
As for why Dylan released the CD, NME notes, “The release of the CD was due to a stipulation within European copyrights which states that all sound recordings will be sent into the public domain if they aren’t released 50 years after their creation. This stipulation has led to the tradition for artists to share studio rarities to avoid having them enter the public domain.”
See Dylan‘s 50th Anniversary Collection 1973 CD tracklist below.
“I don’t hate Christmas,” Don Draper once said on Mad Men. “I hate this Christmas.” The actor who played Don has merrier thoughts on the holiday.
Jon Hamm, who portrayed Santa in a World Cup commercial, dropped by The Tonight Show on Wednesday to sing Christmas carols in the most dramatic way possible with host Jimmy Fallon. He started with “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” before moving on to “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” “Let It Snow” and an anxious performance of “Must Be Santa.” Like everything else he’s done lately, including a sex scene with Jennifer Aniston on The Morning Show, Hamm crushed it.
You can watch The Tonight Show video above.
Hamm was nominated for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film at the Golden Globes for his performance as a right-wing sheriff on Fargo. “I’m thrilled to be able to act in all aspects of what we get to do comedy and drama, dark and light, and play all the 64 colors in the Crayola box,” he told Variety about the FX series. “I’m glad people are responding to it and I think once the season goes on, and people start seeing it, they’ll be even more surprised.”
In September, The Rolling Stones announced their new album, Hackney Diamonds, with a Sydney Sweeney-starring video for “Angry.” In the visual, vintage imagery of the band performing can be seen on billboards as Sweeney, wearing chaps and a corset, dances and sings along, driven down Sunset Boulevard in a convertible. Some thought the video sexually objectified Sweeney, and now she has responded in a new Glamour interview.
Of starring in the video, Sweeney said, “I felt hot. I picked my own outfit out of racks and racks of clothes. I felt so good in it.”
When asked about the claims of sexual objectification, Sweeney responded:
“One of the questions I get is, ‘Are you a feminist?’ I find empowerment through embracing the body that I have. That’s sexy and strong, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I’m in a Rolling Stones video. How cool and iconic is that? I felt so good. All the moves, everything I was doing was all freestyle. I mean, who else gets to roll around on the top of a convertible driving down Sunset Boulevard with police escorts? It’s the cool things in this career that I had no idea I’d get to do.”
This comes after Blur and Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn shared some criticism of the video, saying, “I listened to their new song and watched this horrible music video showing them at different stages of their lives on billboards. And this young woman objectified. What the hell is this? There’s something completely disconnected.”
Check out the “Angry” video below.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Cameron Diaz retired from acting almost a decade ago, and for some reason she came back. Not that her return isn’t welcome; it’s just, like, why would one un-retire if they didn’t have to? Besides, she seemed pretty happy not having to do that whole Hollywood grind thing. She’s been back doing press recently, although her comeback film, the action comedy Back in Action, with Jamie Foxx, isn’t due on Netflix for a while still. And now that she’s back she has some interesting, outside-the-box ideas about life.
Per People, Diaz joined Molly Sims and her best friend Emese Gormley for their podcast Lipstick on the Rim, where the two talked about health and, eventually, life partners. One of them confessed that her husband snores. That prompted Diaz to reveal why she doesn’t have to worry about that.
“We should normalize separate bedrooms,” Diaz said. “To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours. We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I’m fine.”
She added, “And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations.”
Diaz, who’s been married to Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden since 2015, has spoken about this before. Still, she clarified that she doesn’t actually do that herself.
“By the way,” she said. “I don’t feel that way now because my husband is so wonderful. I said that before I got married.”
Still, is that such an awful idea? Does a couple constantly have to sleep together? Maybe even having the option to take a night off, just for some alone sleep time, shouldn’t be grounds for divorce. We’re just spitballing here.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
