Category: News

It’s not always feasible to put a weekend aside and get out to a major music festival, but now three of the biggest will be more accessible than ever, at least for the next couple years: It was announced today Hulu will be the streaming home of Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits (all events put on by C3 Presents) for the 2022 and 2023 events, in partnership with Live Nation.

The next of those festivals is Bonnaroo, which is set to go down from June 16 to 19. Then it’s Lollapalooza from July 28 to 31, followed by two weekends of ACL, from October 7 to 9 and 14 to 16.

Hulu president Joe Earley in a statement, “Hulu and Live Nation are both committed to delivering exceptional entertainment to fans, so we are thrilled to be collaborating with them, again, as we expand our offering to include these three legendary festivals. Each event is unique, but all three bring people together for incredible music, artistry, and experiences, which we are fortunate to be able to share with Hulu subscribers.”

C3 Presents’ Charlie Walker also noted, “The demand for live music is at an all-time high and the live experience has never been more connected to digital. By expanding our partnership with Hulu, even more fans will be able to tune into each of these incredible festival experiences in real-time and enjoy live performances from their favorite artists with the fans on-site.”

There are only two episodes of Better Call Saul left… at least until the show with the most fascinating character on TV comes back in July. AMC decided to split the final season in two, which is both good and bad. Good, because now Rhea Seehorn has double the chances of winning a long-overdue Emmy. Bad, because I need to know what happens to Kim (and Howard, and Lalo, and Cinnabon Gene) NOW. A Saul-less June is going to be painful, especially with the cliffhanger that the writers have in store.

Co-creator Peter Gould told TVLine that they didn’t know about the split season when they were writing the episodes, but the midseason finale “is a big [cliffhanger]. I think this is going to be a painful few weeks for a few people to find out what happens. Hopefully, people will enjoy the pain and not come after us with torches.”

Deal. Unless something happens to Kim, then all bets are off.

The next episode of Better Call Saul, “Axe and Grind,” is directed by Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring himself) with a script from Ariel Levine, while the midseason finale, “Plan and Execution,” is helmed and written by long-time Breaking Bad and Saul writer and director Thomas Schnauz. It airs May 23.

(Via TVLine)

Unfortunately for fans of the Battlefield franchise, Battlefield 2042 was a dud. It launched with numerous bugs, including some that made it impossible to hit your opponent, and generally felt unfinished at launch. While this franchise of games launching with bugs is nothing new, Battlefield 2042 also launched with a shocking lack of features such as a voice chat system or a scoreboard option which only added to the feeling of it not being a game that was ready at launch.

Since the game came out, the devs over at DICE have been working to update the game and fix many of these issues. While it’s definitely in a better state than it was at launch the damage has unfortunately already been done and excitement around the game is pretty low. This has led to investors at EA asking the CEO of the company, Andrew Wilson, about the plans for the game in the future. In a recent earnings call, Wilson said that EA is playing the long game when it comes to Battlefield, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to continue the same approach they’ve always had with it.

This is one of the great franchises in our industry, built by one of the great teams in our industry. And our expectation is that we’ll continue to grow and be a really important part of our portfolio for many, many years to come. We’ve got incredible leadership over that team now. They’re rethinking the development process from the ground up and really using kind of the Vince Zampella/Respawn model of get to the fun as quickly as possible.

The Zampella/Respawn model that Wilson is referring to is in reference to Respawn Entertainment’s hit game, Apex Legends, and one of its founders Vince Zampella. Back in December, Zampella reportedly took over as head of the franchise. His resume of first-person shooters is strong including games like Titanfall and Call of Duty. With a history like that, it makes sense why Wilson would want to follow that kind of model when restructuring the Battlefield franchise.

Joey Badass made his name with multisyllabic, throwback rhymes over ’90s rap instrumentals, so it’s only right that he utilizes one in a new freestyle for Funkmaster Flex. Stopping by the Hot 97 studio to promote his upcoming album, 2000, Joey taps into the classic rap vein that first got him so much attention over the beat from Mobb Deep’s 1995 track “Give Up the Goods (Just Step).”

“I’m back, I’m better than I ever been,” he boasts. “I took five years off, still somehow I’m relevant.”

Of course, he’s referring to the fact that his last full-length album, All-Amerikkan Badass, dropped in 2017. Since then, he has focused mainly on building his acting resume, taking roles in shows such as Mr. Robot, Grown-ish, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, and Power Book III: Raising Kanan. His most notable role to date, though, was his starring turn in the Netflix short film Two Distant Strangers, which won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

However, also in 2020, he dipped his toe back into rap, releasing the three-track EP, The Light Pack, featuring on Russ’ Chomp 2 in 2021, and kicking off 2022 with “The Revenge” and an appearance on A Colors Show to debut “Head High.” On Wednesday this week, he announced the release date for 2000 as well as the tour dates.

Watch Joey Badass’ Funk Flex freestyle above.

“Time flies.” That’s what Adele wrote on her latest Instagram post featuring a series of photos of her and boyfriend Rich Paul, beginning with the two of them holding up keys in front of a large new mansion. By all accounts, pop music and sports’ sweetest crossover couple has moved in together. Paul, of course, co-founded Klutch Sports with his childhood friend LeBron James and also represents other stars like Anthony Davis and Ben Simmons. Together, Adele and Paul are nothing short of the pop culture power couple and after saying in February on The Graham Norton Show that she wants to have another baby this year, they appear to be taking the next step towards that by moving in together.

Among the other photos that Adele shared in the Instagram post, is a shot of Paul visiting her at a McDonald’s where she was promoting the release of 30, a pic of the pair kissing backstage, and Adele holding up a fortune from a cookie that reads, “You have found good company — enjoy.” Adele, who recently turned 34, expressed last week, “I’ve never been happier!”

She and Paul also appear to be engaged, as Adele has been seen sporting a large engagement ring. She dodged a point-blank question about the engagement on The Graham Norton Show show, however, saying, “If I was, would I ever tell anyone if I was or wasn’t?” Meanwhile, she’s set to move her previously cancelled Las Vegas residency to a new venue.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will head into the 2022 season with someone other than Ben Roethlisberger slated to serve as the team’s starting quarterback for the first time in quite a while. Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 NFL season, marking the end of an 18-year career that very well could lead to him getting enshrined in Canton somewhere in the not-too-distant future.

As it turns out, Roethlisberger might not have been all that on board with the idea of calling it a career. During a chat with readers earlier this week, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was asked about the circumstances of Roethlisberger’s retirement, and apparently, there some tension between the player and the only team for which he suited up in his NFL career.

Billy Bob: Is there bad blood between the Steelers and Big Ben with how his career ended. Was he ready to retire or was it a Troy [Polamalu] type situation where he was forced into it?

Gerry Dulac: I would say it’s very very safe to assume that.

Roethlisberger, who just turned 40, was very obviously a shell of his former self during the final few years of his career, as age and injuries both looked like they caught up with him. The two-time Super Bowl winner completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 3,740 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, but his mobility and ability to throw down the field just did not exist. As a result, his career is over, while the Steelers will turn to one of Mason Rudolph, free agent signing Mitchell Trubisky, or first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett with the hopes that one will become his successor.

As far as “an older man with a powerful voice and a daunting stare” goes, Christopher Walken is definitely one of the greats. He gives off a vibe that he has for sure seen some sh*t, so having him play a Padishah Emperor in the upcoming Dune: Part Two just makes sense.

Walken is the latest actor to join the cast of the highly-anticipated (and even higher-budgeted) Dune installment, which is slated to hit theaters next fall. He will act alongside Florence Pugh and Elvis impersonator Austin Butler who joined the project earlier this year.

In case you have been living under a rock or a pile of sand, Dune is the futuristic space epic that stars Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, and Josh Brolin as they go to war on their desert planet. Also, there are a bunch of sandworms. Filming for Part Two is expected to begin production this fall so there is still time to add Kyle MacLachlan to the cast so he can redeem himself after starring in the failed 1984 adaptation of the same name.

Walken is known for being in over 100 movies (take that, Timothee) including Pulp Fiction, Annie Hall, and, most importantly, Antz. Most recently, he starred in Apple TV+’s hit sci-fi show Severance which was just renewed for a second season. Not bad for a guy who doesn’t own a computer!

Rob Reiner went “he’s on fire” mode in the 1980s. That decade, he directed This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally… That’s four stone-cold classics and one underrated comedy (The Sure Thing) that Roger Ebert called a “small miracle.” Reiner’s recent efforts haven’t been able to match his 1980s (or early 1990s, with Misery and A Few Good Men) output, but he’s going back to his first movie in an attempt to turn his directorial career back to 11.

Deadline reports that Reiner will direct Spinal Tap II, a sequel to 1980’s cult classic This is Spinal Tap. Comedy legends Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer will reprise their roles as Spinal Tap members David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls, while Reiner will again play documentarian Marty DiBergi.

Here’s how Reiner described the film:

“They haven’t spent any time together recently, and that became the premise. The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away. In reality, Tony Hendra passed away. Ian’s widow inherited a contract that said Spinal Tap owed them one more concert. She was going to sue them if they didn’t. All these years and a lot of bad blood we’ll get into and they’re thrown back together and forced to deal with each other and play this concert.”

Paul McCartney is still out there playing “Helter Skelter” at 79 years old. What’s stopping Spinal Tap (combined age: 226) from doing the same with “Sex Farm”?

(Via Deadline)

Despite Netflix’s declining numbers and general lack of self-awareness, the streamer is continuing to do what they do best: make things people didn’t really ask for, instead of renewing actually good shows. Next up is a series based on the massive franchise Resident Evil.

The upcoming series will be an ambitious tale of a young woman trying to survive amongst a sea of zombie-like humanoids. So, your basic run-of-the-mill zombie story, but they added the word “bad-ass” to make it relate to the Current Times. According to the official description:

Year 2036 – 14 years after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and insane creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade (Ella Balinska and Tamara Smart) is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s (Lance Reddick) chilling connections to the Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie. The series is from showrunner Andrew Dabb and promises to have “the best of the Resident Evil Universe DNA – bad-ass heroines, insane creatures (some new/some familiar), a battle for survival, questions about what it means to be family, Umbrella Corporation’s greed and corruption; and of course, a deep mystery to unravel.

The series will be based on the hit video game and movie franchise which debuted in the 90s, though fans on Twitter aren’t super pumped about it, with many fans concluding that it just simply does not work as a television show, and makes very little sense that it would take place in that universe. We all know Netflix doesn’t really take user feedback very well, though.

The series will debut on July 14th. Check out the spooky trailer above.

Francis Ford Coppola is gearing up to drop almost $100 million of his own cash on his passion project, Megalopolis, and the legendary director of The Godfather is definitely getting his money’s worth when it comes to the cast. Coppola has been touting the epic scope of the project for years now, and he’s bringing in some A-Listers to get the job done, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight will star in the project that is written and directed by The Godfather filmmaker. The logline for the film reads: “The fate of Rome haunts a modern world unable to solve its own social problems in this epic story of political ambition, genius, and conflicted love.”

As for why Coppola is putting up so much of his own money, the filmmaker says Megalopolis is the film he’s always wanted to make. Much like he did with Apocalypse Now, Coppola is willing to gamble on himself because he knows no studio will touch the ambitious project that he describes as something like It’s a Wonderful Life that people watch once a year.

“The more personal I make it, and the more like a dream in me that I do it, the harder it will be to finance,” Coppola recently told GQ. “And the longer it will earn money because people will be spending the next 50 years trying to think: What’s really in Megalopolis? What is he saying? My God, what does that mean when that happens?”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)