Category: News

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

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10. (tie) Wednesday (Netflix)

Yes, Rob Zombie and Tim Burton are all up in the goth-nostalgia resurrection this fall, but while Zombie veers into wild kitsch, Burton decided to reinvent his character’s mission a bit while creating a “eight-hour Tim Burton movie.” Call it a passion project, of course, while Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán step in as Morticia and Gomez, respectively, and Jenna Ortega slides into view as the title character. Don’t expect a typical reboot feel. Rather, Wednesday is on some missions here, and the show justifies its existence as a separate entity.

Watch it on Netflix

10. (tie) Dead To Me (Netflix)

How do you end a show the “right” way? Do you try to say something profound, pay off longtime viewers with fan service, or end with a shocking twist? For Dead To Me‘s just-released final season, the answer is an emphatic yes to all of the above as creator Liz Feldman delivers a triumphant close, leaning on the otherworldly onscreen chemistry of stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as they lead us through the twisty chaos of the show’s central story while dealing with heavy matters of life, family. love, and death before ending on high with a tear and a tease.

Watch it on Netflix

10. Slow Horses (Apple TV Plus)

The first season of this spy drama was a trip. There were twists and turns and Emma Corrin from House of the Dragon and at one point Gary Oldman’s character farted himself awake. It was a pretty good time, even if it got dark at times. If you worked your way through season one, it’s time to dive in again. If not, it’s a great time for a binge. You have lots of options, is the point.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

9. Gossip Girl (HBO Max)

Surprisingly enough, reboot fatigue didn’t happen here. This series sparked enough interest to generate another season of a show that doesn’t have Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, or Sebastian Stan, but it’s still got scandal. Gossip Girl’s pulling plenty of strings, of course, while soaring through Manhattan’s most elite circles. As well, the show manages to stand apart from the original with plenty of rightful drama revolving around the new gang. Even if this series doesn’t seem like your type of show, you might not be able to resist getting caught up in the glossy-trash vibe.

Watch it on HBO Max

8. Harry & Meghan (Netflix)

The Royal family can’t be thrilled about this docuseries that follows not too long after The Crown (fictionally) made Prince Charles look like the pettiest of future kings. This Netflix project follows up on Meghan Markle’s allegations of not-so-great treatment from the Windsors and Prince Harry’s decision to essentially put half a world between all of them. So get ready for all of the controversy to spill forth and for Piers Morgan to probably blow a few fuses in the aftermath.

Watch it on Netflix

7. Welcome to Chippendale’s (Hulu)

The downside of ambition is explored as sleights move from fuel to an acid rotting the man behind Chippendales to his core even as his creation — clubs featuring all-male strip shows — approaches the apex of its popularity. Starring Kumail Nanjiani in arguably his best work, this 8-episode event series leans into the debauchery of the ’80s as it tells a (true) story about an awkward, hard-working immigrant who dreamt of becoming the next Hugh Hefner before self-destructing.

Watch it on Hulu

6. Doom Patrol (HBO Max)

Brendan Fraser’s back as the eternally frustrated disembodied brain inside of a robotic body. It is his finest performance (yes yes, we know there’s Oscar chatter elsewhere), and he’s backed up by Diane Guerrero as many iterations of Crazy Jane, along with Matt Bomer as Negative Man, April Bowlby as Elasi-Girl, and Jovian Wade as Cyborg. DC’s misfit superheroes are facing what might be certain doom, but at least some of them other than Fraser’s Cliff got to have a collective orgasm already.

Watch it on HBO Max

5. Kindred (Hulu)

Okay, here’s what we have going on: FX and Hulu have made a live-action series based on Olivia Butler’s 1979 science fiction novel, and it follows a woman who has dreams of writing and uproots her entire life to move to Los Angeles to follow that dream, and then things happen and she ends up getting ripped back and forth through time for various terrifying adventures. It’s a lot, and it’s definitely an ambitious undertaking, which is always to be applauded. Fans of Butler’s writing and science fiction and the general concept of time travel could do way worse than to give this one a shot.

Watch it on Hulu

4. 1923 (Paramount Plus)

As wild as it feels to say “there’s now a cowboy show that stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren that serves as a prequel to a massively popular Kevin Costner show where he runs a ranch and sometimes murders happen there,” that is really what is happening here. We swear. It’s going to be on television and on the internet and everything. The future is a lot weirder than any of us expected, less so in a “flying cars and robots” way than, like… this. It’s not a bad thing. Just really wild

Watch it on Paramount Plus

3. Mythic Quest (Apple TV Plus)

It’s easy to think of Mythic Quest, now in its third season, as Rob McElhenney’s “other” show, but that would be a mistake. Yes, sure, he’s best known for the incredibly long-running Always Sunny, which is fair because that show rules. But this one is great, too. It’s sweet and mean and funny and everything a workplace comedy — this time in a video game studio — should be. No television show did a better job of grasping the pandemic while it was still new and really scary, too. Do not miss this because you relegate it to second-tier Mac status. This is the good stuff, too.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

2. Fleishman Is In Trouble (Hulu)

I hear what you’re thinking here. The title of this show doesn’t sound particularly fascinating. Maybe it even sounds a little bit pretentious. Yet this show’s actually a satiric little jaunt that turns marriage-divorce drama on its head. Jesse Eisenberg plays the dude whose wife, played by Claire Danes, leaves him and then quite literally leaves the building. He’s suddenly in the midst of parenting and awful dating experiences, and all of this wouldn’t be as fascinating if Eisenberg wasn’t so good at being awkward. He’s flanked by Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody (there are worse companions out there) while trying to find his way.

Watch it on Hulu

1. Abbott Elementary (Hulu)

The first season of Abbott Elementary was a feel-good network sitcom that caught a massive wave of popularity and won a bunch of Emmys in a time when feel-good network sitcoms are kind of not supposed to do that. Credit for this goes to creator and star Quinta Brunson, who realized that an underfunded inner-city public school was exactly the right place to show us people with good hearts working inside a system that can be cold. Kind of like Parks and Recreation but in Philadelphia. The second season is underway and does not appear to be missing a beat. This is basically a miracle, all around.

Watch it on Hulu

The last couple months of 2022 have not been easy for Offset: On November 1, cousin fellow Migos member Takeoff was fatally shot. Understandably, it appears that Offset has had a hard time coping with the loss. A few weeks after Takeoff’s passing, Cardi B wrote of Offset, “We living our life normally, but deep down inside, our hearts have been so heavy. […] I have been feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy.”

Offset did have some reason to celebrate yesterday (December 14), though, as it was his birthday. To mark the occasion, Cardi came though with a touching message for her husband. Sharing a gallery of photos on Instagram, Cardi wrote, “Happy birthday my love.I pray silently and I pray loudly on this post that God bless you & protect you.Thank you for your love to me.I love your 4ever & beyond [heart emoji].”

To celebrate, the two decided to get away and take a trip to Jamaica. As TMZ notes, the pair and others enjoyed a lobster dinner, took shots, and did a lot of dancing. Cardi also responded to a Jamaican fan’s video detailing an interaction they had with Cardi, writing, “Awwww I did ask her where the after party at …she was so pretty.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The college football world suffered a gigantic loss earlier this week when Mike Leach, the ultra-innovative head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, passed away at 61 after a heart attack. There have been numerous tributes to Leach since his death, one of which came from Gardner Minshew, the backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles who blossomed into a star signal caller in Leach’s pass-happy air raid system at Washington State.

“And he always made me believe that, and made me feel that I was special, and that I could succeed,” Minshew said. “And man, that means so much to me and I’ll always be grateful for him for that.”

Minshew went on to say that transferring to Wazzu to play under Leach is the reason he is in his current position.

“I’d be coaching right now, getting my ass ripped by Nick Saban probably twice a day,” Minshew said. “So I’ll tell ya, couldn’t be more in debt to him and the impact he’s had on my life, my family’s life. Really just can’t put into words just how grateful I am for him.”

Minshew had quite the path to playing under Leach, starting his collegiate career at Troy before going to Northwest Mississippi Community College and, eventually, East Carolina. He headed to Pullman as a graduate transfer in 2018 and earned the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year award during his one year with the team, completing 70.7 percent of his passes for 4,776 yards, 38 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. The Cougars finished the season 11-2 and ranked No. 10 in the country before Minshew became a sixth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Like Don’t Worry Darling before it, Emancipation was one of those films where the pre-release drama over its promotion vastly overshadowed the movie it was meant to promote. The early talk was all about Will Smith’s Oscars slap, whether the Academy would accept him again (after barring him from the ceremony for 10 years) and whether his “apology tour,” with stops at The Daily Show for an intense sit down with Trevor Noah, would work on awards voters. All those questions seem irrelevant in light of the actual movie, which feels more like a cheapo February streamer than a $120 million awards contender.

My personal take on “The Slap” is that it wasn’t some isolated moment when a beloved star did something so beyond the pale that we’re all now struggling with what contrition should look like (as some truly deranged editorials, comparing the incident to gun violence, would have you believe). It was just the moment when the general public realized Will Smith’s whole act was getting kind of stale. Stardom is a bit like a magic spell, and you never know what’s going to break it. The Slap itself is hard to separate from Smith coming back an hour later to call himself “a river to my people” while collecting an award for his hammy, goofily accented performance in King Richard. Him going on talk shows to apologize for it now feels like more of same; he’d been performing introspection for so long that it had begun to look more like image management.

So now that Smith is back, playing another heroic patriarch with another conspicuous(ly bad) accent (his character, Peter, grew up in Haiti), it’s once again hard to separate character choices from career choices. When Peter makes a big speech and Will Smith’s lip quivers portentously, you mostly just think Boy, Will Smith sure is trying hard to win that second Oscar, isn’t he?

I’m not saying actors can’t be careerist or want to be recognized for their work (they obviously are and do, just like most of the rest of us), it’s just that the bond between performer and audience is fickle. The audience wants to buy into the illusion, but if the performer doesn’t change up the shtick every so often all we’ll see is the levers and pulleys. Peter’s quavery lips and resolute speeches seem… familiar? A lot like Dr. Bennett Omalu saying “Tell the truth!” in the Concussion trailer. What do we make of this guy who refuses to play anything but courageous fathers, anyway?

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Bill Collage, Emancipation is an origin story for “Whipped Peter,” aka Gordon, aka The Scourged Back, a famous photo of a slave with a scarred back that Fuqua described as “the first viral image of the brutality of slavery that the world saw.” (Producer Joey McFarland brought his original print of the photo to the red carpet premiere, which people thought was a little weird, him carrying around that thing like it was a Honus Wagner baseball card).

One look at the resumes of the respective principals might’ve told McFarland that this would be a weird fit. The writer of Assassin’s Creed, The Transporter Refueled, and Exodus: Gods And Kings writing a triumphant, escaped slave story (weirdly compared to George Floyd in multiple stories of its acquisition) for the Oscar-winning star of King Richard sounds a little off, and it is. Fuqua, director of Training Day and Infinite, last year’s reincarnated samurai Mark Wahlberg movie (which I actually loved), seems to do great with heels and unabashed genre movies — things that Will Smith, the ultimate babyface, never makes.

Fuqua’s confusion comes through even in Emancipation‘s color scheme, which is shot in black and white for some reason, or at least a highly desaturated brown filter that might as well be black and white. These days, black and white signifies to the viewer that the content is meant to be artistic, historical, or both, or maybe just that it’s awards season.

In any case, Emancipation ends up being what movie people used to call “a feathered fish,” a project that doesn’t quite know what it is or who it’s for. In this case, about two-thirds semi-successful chase movie, one-third failed Oscar bait, and a dash of Jesus. Peter starts out as a slave on a Confederate captain’s plantation. After running afoul of the overseers, he seizes the moment to try to escape through the swamp to find Lincoln’s Army at Baton Rouge (“Leeng con,” Peter sometimes mutters to himself like a mantra). Hot on Peter’s heels is the menacing slave catcher, Jim, played by Ben Foster in a straw hat and beard with no mustache that make him look like an Amish Bond villain. In order to find leeng con, Peter must dodge dogs, bugs, mud, bogs, traitors, and gators, fleeing for his life and scrounging for food, chewing up wild onions to try to keep the dogs off his scent.

Easily Emancipation‘s strongest bit is this The Revenant chunk, which aims at schlocky watchability and hits the mark. Inevitably though, Will Smith has to talk again and you remember that too-conspicuous accent; his stock acting faces. Fuqua is notably great at shooting Peter’s feats of survival. There’s a moment when Peter steals water from a nice southern mansion, where an adorable freckle-faced little girl is on the porch having a nice birthday party. She catches a glimpse of Peter skulking around the edges of the grounds and immediately turns Body Snatchers on him, shrieking “RUNNER!”

You can imagine a white director maybe softening that bit. It’s better that Fuqua doesn’t. Yet for as good as he is in those lean, genre moments, he’s equally bad at expansive Civil War battle scenes, which lack any spatial awareness let alone coherent tactics, and are so poorly staged that they just end up looking sort of cheap. And you can’t just “yadda yadda” what’s meant to be a climactic battle scene.

Throughout, Peter urges his fellows to have faith, prays over the dying, and generally reminds his family that the God he knows is good; his source of strength and not his tormentor. So… is this a genre movie, an arthouse release, or a faith-based allegory? I don’t think the team behind Emancipation quite figured that out.

‘Emancipation’ is available now, only on AppleTV. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read more of his reviews here.

GloRilla stirred up the internet when she posted a personal assistant job listing to her Facebook on Wednesday (December 14). The Grammy-nominated CMG signee probably expected loads of eager applicants, and surely there were plenty, but she also had to field criticism over the weekly $550 rate.

The role’s responsibilities include managing Glo’s calendar and scheduling meetings (personal and professional), handling travel logistics, running “various errands during the week and some weekends, attending GloRilla’s business and personal events, and attending weekly meetings.” GloRilla noted in the comments that she prefers “somebody with no kids” and thinks this is “literally da most easiest job in da world.” The on-fire Memphis rapper then posted two videos from her couch.

“Let me tell you motherf*ckers something, talkin’ about $550 too low. B*tch, it really needs to be $500! Nah, I’m just playin’,” GloRilla said. “But for real, first of all, your flights get paid for. Your flights and your travel. If you want a higher pay, then pay for your own flights and your own travel and see how much them $500-ass flight tickets be. B*tch, you think I’m finna pay $1,200 a week and pay — I take flights every day. You think I’m finna pay $500 for you a flight every day, plus pay? No. It don’t work like that.”

“Half the sh*t on that list, you don’t gotta do for real,” the “Tomorrow 2” hitmaker continued. “If it comes down to it, you might have to do it, but it’s literally the easiest sh*t in the world. You really don’t gotta do sh*t but be with me every day and go pick up my clothes for me, and all my outfits I gotta wear, you gotta have all my sh*t with you.”

The second video featured GloRilla continuing to outline what the job actually demands.

“You’re really my errand-runner,” she said. “If I need you to go to the store, go to the store. Pick up with I need. Because I can’t go in the store, b*tch, you know. Run all my errands for me, and I really don’t have much of them to run. I be hungry all the time. You really gotta know all my sizes and sh*t. […] What I eat, what I drink and sh*t, so you can have my little sh*t ready. … Remind me of sh*t I gotta do. It’s not that hard. Super simple. Literally.”

Comedian Lil Duval agreed with GloRilla, tweeting that people shouldn’t be expecting a “CEO salary for an entry level position.”

Whoever gets the job will likely accompany GloRilla on her first-ever headlining tour to start 2023. Announced in November, her 16-date Anyways, Life’s Great Tour in support of her major-label debut EP of the same name will kick off on January 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina and finish in her hometown Memphis on a to-be-determined date. See all dates and ticket information here.

Making fun of Charles Barkley for never winning a championship ring during his NBA career is nothing new. Despite that, Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces certainly had one of the more effective trolls of Barkley that we’ve seen during a recent appearance on “The Steam Room” podcast, as Barkley asked if Plum would guarantee a repeat for the 2023 campaign and the reigning WNBA All-Star Game MVP got off a very good joke at his expense.

“You know, for someone that’s never won a championship, I’ll give you some advice: That’s really not what you do,” Plum said with a laugh.

Barkley and Ernie Johnson both thought this one was pretty funny, while Barkley went along with the bit and expressed that he couldn’t believe this happened in December, of all months.

“Oh my goodness, it’s the Christmas season!” Barkley said. “Everybody’s nice around Christmas, oh my goodness. The bad thing about it, we can’t even cut that out of the damn interview.”

Plum and the Aces won the first WNBA title in franchise history this past year. After finishing the regular season tied for the best record in the W, the Aces only lost twice during their run to the title and knocked off the Connecticut Sun in four games in the WNBA Finals.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Whenever British rapper Little Simz felt like dropping the follow-up to her critical and commercial breakthrough, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, she would have had the world’s attention with every pre-album single and Instagram snippet teasing new music. Instead, she went the surprise release route, sneaking up on the music world with the thrilling NO THANK YOU, which sounds vital and fresh on the heels of Simz’s big breakthrough – a real-time reflection of an artist coming to terms with just how popular they are.

Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, which took home the Mercury Prize on October 18, introduced the wider rap world to the MC born Simbiatu Ajikawo in 1994. That the album exists at all is a bit of a miracle in Simz’s mind. During her acceptance speech, she said, “There was times in the studio I didn’t know if I was gonna finish this record, I was going through all the emotions.” Alongside producer Inflo – celebrated for his work in Sault, among other efforts – Simz pushed that record over the finish line and into the arms of an adoring audience obsessed with her vulnerable, honest examinations of life in the spotlight, and the unending quest to line up ones desires with a life of authenticity. On NO THANK YOU, it’s unclear if she’s squared the image of who she wants to be with the one she presents on record, but she’s more comfortable than ever expressing her discomfort and joys – the highs, lows, and crushing mids of life in the public eye.

A lot of what you need to know about NO THANK YOU goes down in the mesmerizing, down-tempo leaning minimalist headbanger of an opener, “Angel.” Inflo once again handles production, crafting crisp drums and hollowed-out synths that do their best to stay out of Simz’s way. She raps, “I can see how an artist can get tainted, frustrated / They don’t care if your mental is on the brink of somethin’ dark / As long as you’re cuttin’ somebody’s payslip / And sendin’ their kids to private school in a spaceship.” On a purely technical level, Simz is at her sharpest on the project. The quick internal rhyme of “tainted” and “frustrated” emphasizes the claustrophobia she feels as fans, label heads, and everyone in between pesters her to keep churning out music. She then expands the bar outwards, cleverly juxtaposing her career with those that profit off her. It’s worth remembering that it was only earlier this year that Simz postponed a North American tour because it didn’t make sense financially.

But what makes Simz one of the most exciting and daring artists in the rap game is that empathy is one of the chief motivating factors in her songwriting. Take the way she talks about label bosses on “Angel” and juxtapose it with her thoughts on “Broken.” Over a looped melodic sample and hi-hats that hint at chaos but never introduce it, Simz raps, “There’s a reason why the doves will never fly with the crows / Chapters eventually close, your friends will turn into foes / Everybody’s so obsessed with the CEO / She probably got the most troubles that she’ll never disclose.” Simz’ ability to not only show differing perspectives but imbue them with equal urgency is a talent that makes her stand apart from virtually anyone else in the game.

On both Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and NO THANK YOU, Little Simz surfs between joy and pain, trauma and triumph, isolation and community. On the former, she posited these feelings we perceive as negative as a bad thing to qualify. On NO THANK YOU, she owns each moment she encounters, finding positivity when she can, and refusing to apologize when she’s left needing more.

On Wednesday, CBS News reported that after hours of testimony and evidence — including police body cam footage and audio recording of 911 calls — David DePape, the 42-year old carpenter charged with attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul in their San Francisco home, was ordered to stand trial for his actions. A judge decided that there was more than enough evidence to support a litany of charges against DePape, including attempted murder.

And while it was Nancy Pelosi, not her husband, who had allegedly been the original target of DePape’s attack, The Daily Beast is reporting that the outgoing Speaker of the House was just one on a long list of names that the perpetrator had planned to confront, which also included Hunter Biden, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and — for some reason — beloved actor Tom Hanks.

While being interrogated, DePape told San Francisco Police Department Lt. Carla Hurley that he was on a “suicide mission” with the goal of ridding Congress of all its “corruption and lies,” no matter what the cost.

So where does Forrest Gump fit into all of this?

As the Daily Kos noted, Hanks has recently become a target of several QAnon pedophilia conspiracy theories, which likely explains how the two-time Oscar winner found his name on DePape’s list.

According to The Daily Beast, DePape — who was in court for Wednesday’s hearing — is facing an array of charges, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, and threats to a public official and their family. (He has pleaded not guilty to all of them). If he does indeed go to trial and is found guilty, he faces up to 13 years in prison.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The crisis of the unhoused is so widespread in Los Angeles that the city’s new mayor, Karen Bass, declared a state of emergency on her first day in office. And while millions of dollars are being thrown at this crisis trying to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem, the biggest difference is being made by individuals who are willing to walk the streets and meet face-to-face with the people in need.

On the latest episode of Show Up, we’re introduced to two such individuals, Sade Kammen, the founder of Atlas, a nonprofit aimed at identifying and bridging service gaps in LA’s Skid Row, and Kevin Call, a community organizer, and employee at Catch 21, a seafood spot that tackles and supports the unhoused community with compassion and dignity.

Without a doubt, the city of Los Angeles faces a gargantuan issue, and solving the unhoused crisis isn’t going to be easy, won’t happen overnight, and no matter how well-intentioned, cannot simply be solved by waving a pen to provide more funding. It takes individuals on the ground floor like Kammen and Call, who are willing to show up and meet the people’s needs with compassion and understanding.

To learn more about how organizations like Atlas and restaurants like Catch 21 are making a real difference in the lives of the unhoused, watch the latest episode of Show Up in the video above.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards are set to premiere on February 5, 2023, and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah is scheduled to host the annual award show again.

The South African comedian and TV show host has become a mainstay for the yearly award show. Noah first hosted the program in 2021 before returning to host in 2022. Now for the third year in a row, the Recording Academy has tasked Noah with the coveted position.

In a recent Billboard interview, Noah revealed how he prepares for the award show, saying he likes to “get a sense of the vibe” of what’s happening in music and pop culture.

“First of all, I listen to absolutely everything that’s going to be on the show just to get a sense of the vibe,” Noah told Billboard. “I want to get into the feeling of what’s going to be happening on the night. I spend a lot of time writing and preparing for what will or won’t happen. I try to think about what’s happening in music and pop culture. Then obviously, I’m paying attention to what’s happening on the night. I try to craft my performance so that it is most complementary for what is happening from one performance to the next. We rehearse a lot, and we need to because it’s life, and, as I said, anything can happen.”