Category: News

Things aren’t looking so hot over at HBO Max. On Wednesday, rumors swirled about how the semi-newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery may be coming for one of the world’s most popular streamers. There’s talk of mass layoffs. Original scripted content may come to an end. That’s got lots of people worried about their favorite HBO Max shows, including The Flight Attendant, Our Flag Means Death, and Hacks. But one show, at least, is said to be safe — for now.

As caught by Deadline, amidst the furor, a fan of Peacemaker, the spin-off show about John Cena’s Suicide Squad member, sought answers from the show’s creator himself. They asked James Gunn, director of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and last year’s super-gory, confusingly titled sequel The Suicide Squad, if the show was safe. Gunn wrote back, simply, “Yes, guys, calm down.”

Of course, Gunn only confirmed that Season 2 is fine. If HBO Max is no longer producing original shows — or if it has morphed into something else entirely — then it might have to find another home, if it can.

It’s understandable that people are freaked out. The day before the HBO Max death talks began, Warner Bros. Discovery announced they were shelving two films that were either already done or near completion: Batgirl and Scoob!: Haunted Holiday. It was a shocking — and unprecedented — move, and it got many worried about what other drastic changes were en route. In the meantime, keep the streamer that has it all — from good original shows to classic cinema to delightful garbage ‘90s thrillers — in your thoughts.

(Via Deadline)

Most people have dreams but may not be fortunate enough to pursue them. Instead they live a life they don’t enjoy but feel obliged to keep. Idles displays this vividly in their new video for “Stockholm Syndrome.”

Directed by Charlotte Gosch and Idles’s own Lee Kiernan, it opens with two kids walking through the streets. They appear optimistic before encountering their impending future, but the scene then shifts to a horde of masked people in black jumpsuits performing manual labor as the British band riffs in the background. The two kids walk in the middle of the group, quickly becoming afraid as the masked workers encircle them and the video comes to a close.

The video serves as a metaphor for being drowned in the realities of life and perhaps not being able to escape. It’s a powerful statement conveyed through a layered narrative.

Idles have been riding high since the release of their fall 2021 album Crawler. As the group prepares for their North American tour, this will serve as a nice reminder of how impactful their music can be in any setting.

Check out the video for “Stockholm Syndrome” above.

Crawler is out now via Partisan Records. Listen to it here.

There’s a big shake-up afoot at the semi-newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery. Details have yet to be made public, but the rumor is that new CEO David Zaslav is planning on dramatically altering their popular streamer HBO Max, gutting the scripted division and jettisoning some of its vast and diverse shows and movies. (Already subscribers can no longer watch An American Pickle.) But the changes may go even deeper still.

In a Rolling Stone piece about the shocking, unprecedented shelving of Batgirl and Scoob!: Haunted Holiday, there’s one alarming aside (caught by Discussing Film) about one of the more high-profile HBO Max releases: the fabled “Snyder Cut” of Justice League. The company forked over a small fortune so that Zack Snyder, who left the 2017 all-star DCEU film while it was still in production due to family issues, could rehab a version of his original, ambitious vision. Thing is, apparently company brass are trying to pretend it doesn’t exist:

In a telling sign of how far the studio is looking to distance itself from Snyder, a source says documentary filmmaker Leslie Iwerks recently asked to license clips from the 2021 Justice League for a film on the history of DC and was told there is only one Justice League: the 2017 incarnation.

Whereas the “Snyder cut” received strong reviews, the suspiciously short 2017 version that hit theaters did not, leading to an underwhelming box office haul. Will Snyder’s four-hour version last much longer on the platform? Will the rumors prove true and a “Red Wedding”-level streaming bloodbath is near? Who’s to say? Perhaps the company is just peeved that so many of those calling for a new, pricey version of a movie that didn’t make much money anyway were reportedly Twitter bots.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Bbymutha has not been hard to find. In 2020 alone she dropped the albums Muthaleficent and Muthaland, followed by The Bastard Tapes, Vol. 3 in 2021 and Cherrytape earlier this year. After sharing “Yaya” back in June of this year, the Chattanooga lyricist is back with another EP, Muthalefic3nt. This is special not only for the frequency at which she has released but also because the project is fully produced by Fly Anakin.

Bbymutha uses this almost featureless endeavor (Anakin spits on track two, “Blink!”) to expose more about herself and doesn’t hide the fact it isn’t pretty. The project is centered around darker, grimier sounds and subjects that may not be easily digestible for all. However, in true, enigmatic Bbymutha fashion, she puts a 32-year-old spin on “Ring Around The Rosie,” rhyming it with “Cocaine for my nosey” on “Blkdeath:(.”

Bbymutha displays his lyrical and melodic flexibility over the EP’s seven tracks, putting a major stamp on a strong last few years for the rapper. Though there is no news about a forthcoming album, it surely would not come as a shock if she released one before 2022 comes to a close.

Bbymutha’s Muthaleficent is out now via Lion Babe. Listen to it here.

If you’ve been on the fence about downloading a meditation app, now might be the right time. You’ll need the extra zen in your life as NBC moves Days Of Our Lives to its streaming site Peacock, and you’re enlisted to help explain to your parents and grandparents how to sign up, log in, and/or stream the show from the TV. Is it on the internet or on the TV? Yes. Hopefully no dongles will be harmed in the process.

After 57 years on the network, the soap opera has avoided cancellation yet again by making the shift. Or maybe the Peacock version is its evil twin? Hard to say.

According to Vulture, NBC is banking on diehard fans of the 14,000-episode series to boost Peacock membership numbers. Boomer jokes aside, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Mark Lazarus said that most fans of Days of Our Lives (DOOL if you’re nasty) already watch the show online, so “this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fan base on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.” In other words, the legacy series is stepping aside to make way for another show and to test whether an established, dedicated fanbase can help NBC navigate a shifting media landscape.

The show replacing it at the network will be NBC News Daily, which is quite the tonal shift from the dramatics of the Bradys and Hortons.

Even though the show continues on, it’s still the end of an era. Like sands through the hourglass, right?

(via Vulture)

Marvel is in the spotlight again after several VFX artists are speaking out about terrible working conditions. The complaints are industry-wide, but Marvel is one of the major villains. The biggest problem seems to be video game-style crunch, where artists are asked to do an unbearable amount of work with an excruciatingly tight turnaround.

And fans aren’t always impressed with the finished product. The first She-Hulk: Attorney At Law trailer included some wonky, cartoonish vibes from the big green menace, but it’s also a rare TV show that would feature such a massive, movie-sized amount of CGI. The question is whether Marvel and its VFX team are up to that task, and whether Marvel can treat those employees and contractors fairly.

According to Variety, She-Hulk herself is speaking up on the workers’ behalf. At a recent press event, she said “I feel incredibly deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work, obviously, like much quicker than probably should be given to them, in terms of churning these things out. . . I do think that we have to be super conscious of how the work conditions aren’t always optimal and that they’ve made these amazing strides in this industry. I watch it and it doesn’t look like a cutscene from a video game. I can see the character’s thoughts. I feel very in awe of what they do.”

Head writer Jessica Gao added, “I think everybody on this panel stands in solidarity with all workers and is very pro-good working conditions,” and director Kat Coiro said “we stand with them.”

These are valuable statements, but it’s unclear how far that support can stretch given the scope and power of Marvel (read: Disney) to steer the process. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law premieres August 18th on Disney+, and the Marvel slate currently includes a Halloween Special, a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, What If…, Loki, Echo, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guaridans of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, The Marvels, and Blade.

That’s just through 2023.

(via Variety)

Things aren’t going great for Alex Jones. The InfoWars host and conspiracy theorist is in the midst of one of the most chaotic trials in recent memory, which is saying something. On Wednesday, the unthinkable happened: The lawyer representing Sandy Hook parents informed Jones that his own lawyers accidentally sent him a digital copy of his entire cellphone, incriminating messages and all. Whoops! Jones hasn’t had much luck with other trials either, and he’s reportedly trying to find someone(s) to blame.

As per The Daily Beast, Jones and InfoWars brass have been considering suing some of the former lawyers who’ve failed to win him cases, accusing them of legal malpractice. In a deposition from February, one lawyer, Brittany Paz, for the conspiracy forum revealed they had “concerns” about certain previous representatives.

Paz didn’t named names, but she did single out three former InfoWars attorneys for criticism: Marc Randazza, Brad Reeves, and Robert Barnes. One of her claims was that they had badly botched document delivery, prompting accusations that they had deliberately sabotaged Jones and InfoWars’ defense.

Both Randazza and Reeves expressed incredulity when asked about these claims by The Daily Beast. The former even charged that other, “utterly terrible” lawyers are simply “deflecting attention from their incompetence” to “competent” lawyers like himself. Barnes, meanwhile, may not actually be on Jones’ bad side. After all, he appeared on InfoWars only a few weeks back.

It would be an odd move for Jones to sue former lawyers while he’s still in the middle of a trial. In the meantime, Jones could probably use the scratch. Should he be found guilty of defamation over his Sandy Hook claims, including that it was a “false flag” operation and that the dead children were actors, he may be out over $150 million.

(Via The Daily Beast)

It is tough enough navigating one’s own personal journey, but looking at the way the world has been spinning on its axis for the last two years, it is very understandable why it may be hard for anyone to have hope. What is the right way to battle both internal strife and external pressure? Which should be defeated first? It seems Maxo and Pink Siifu are looking to lead that fight by example in the video for “48.”

The Madlib-produced track isn’t too instrumentally layered, allowing Maxo and Siifu an open canvas to outline the highs and lows. The Los Angeles artist raps about having a heart full of fear but preferring that to dying from an unwillingness to live. Later, Pink Siifu raps about leftover trauma from his father and how quickly life can turn upside down.

“48” is the first offering from Maxo’s upcoming album Even God Has A Sense Of Humor, coming soon via Def Jam. This will be his first release since his 2019 debut LP Lil Big Man. Since then, he has doled out sparse features, including an appearance on Pink Siifu’s “Call The Bro (Tapped In)” and Remy Banks’s “Tomorrow.”

Check out the greyscale video for “48” above.

The Amazon-owned MGM had until May 1st to start filming a new installment of Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander or lose the rights to the property. They…did not start filming.

That’s what is known in the higher echelons of the entertainment business world as a “whoopsie.” As a result, MGM no longer has the rights to the property, and a bidding war has broken out among pretty much every major company to snatch them up from Square Enix to make their own version. That includes Warner Bros., Netflix, and, you guessed it because you love irony, Amazon. It will be the best twist of all if Amazon buys back the thing it just lost.

According to blame game fans talking to The Wrap, the delay was either due to an inflated budget and disagreements between Vikander and writer/director Misha Green, or the profound lack of urgency on MGM’s part. One person familiar with the situation said, “They had a window they missed… Theoretically, this was an MGM fuck up.”

For over a decade, in an age before CGI, the makers of the Incredible Hulk TV show and its subsequent TV movies created the green giant the only way they could: by hiring a bodybuilder, Lou Ferrigno, and painting him green. Technology has evolved considerably since then, but not all computerized imagery is of the same quality. One of the complaints about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law involves the rushed-looking design of its title character. But the show’s team, including its star, are now on the defensive.

As per Variety, Tatiana Maslany — who plays the cousin of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, who, too, has the ability to turn into a hulking green menace when angry — stood up for the CGI team, who she suggests are a bit over-worked.

“I feel incredibly, like, deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work, obviously, like much quicker than probably should be given to them, in terms of like churning these things out,” Maslany said during a virtual panel at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.

The show’s head writer, Jessica Gao, agreed. “It’s terrible that a lot of artists feel rushed and feel that the the workload is too massive,” she said. “I mean, I think everybody on this panel stands in solidarity with all workers and is very pro-good working conditions.”

Marvel, who produced the series (which will air on Disney+), has come under fire for alleged mistreatment of the CGI houses they employ. Anonymous posts on Reddit claim the studio has a habit of demanding overwhelming last-minute changes and paying poorly for them as well. One artist complained about Marvel on Twitter, claiming that they’re “what pushed me to leave the VFX industry,” calling them “a horrible client” and that colleagues sometimes “break down after being over worked, while Marvel tightens the purse strings.”

Whatever the case, Maslany doesn’t think the CGI on her show is bad. “I watch it and it doesn’t look like a cutscene from a video game. I can see the character’s thoughts,” she said. “I feel very in awe of what they do.”

Anyway, at least the She-Hulk CGI has nothing on Cats.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres on Disney+ on August 18.

(Via Variety)