It’s hard to imagine a less sympathetic human being than George Zimmerman—the man who, on the night of February 26, 2012, shot and killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in what he claimed was an act of self-defense, and got away with it. Zimmerman’s 2013 acquittal was met with outrage, and sparked a larger conversation about gun violence and racism. Though he walked out of court a free man, Zimmerman has hardly attempted to stay out of the spotlight.
In 2019, Zimmerman filed a more than $100 million suit against Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s parents, their lawyer Ben Crump, and others, claiming, according to NPR, that “he was the victim of a conspiracy, along with malicious prosecution and defamation.” Reminder: He was acquitted. Of killing an unarmed teen!
Shortly after Zimmerman filed suit, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson claimed in an op-ed that “George Zimmerman’s lawsuit doesn’t stand a chance.” Fortunately, as Florida Politics reports, Jackson was right. Earlier this month, Judge John Cooper dismissed Zimmerman’s suit, claiming that the former neighborhood night watch coordinator had failed to show “any fraudulent representation,” making any further arguments on the matter moot. “There can be no claim for conspiracy to defraud if there is no adequately stated claim for fraud,” Cooper wrote.
According to Florida Politics, “The lawsuit claimed that Trayvon Martin’s parents, along with Crump, participated in the conspiracy in an effort to get charges filed against Zimmerman, have him tried and ‘destroy his good will and reputation in the community.’”
If anyone has actively worked to “destroy” Zimmerman’s reputation, it would probably be George Zimmerman himself. Rather than attempt to quietly blend back into society following his trial, Zimmerman has continued to make headlines over the past decade—and for all the wrong reasons. Between 2013 and 2015, Zimmerman faced domestic violence charges on three separate occasions (in two of the incidents, he had allegedly threatened someone with a gun); he was never charged in the first incident, and the charges in the latter two cases were dropped.
In September 2014, a road rage incident turned into a months-long battle, which eventually ended when Matthew Apperson—the driver with whom Zimmerman had originally engaged—reportedly shot at Zimmerman in 2015, and claiming self-defense.
Many other tasteless incidents and behaviors followed, including Zimmerman’s turn as an artist painting Confederate flags, and his 2016 attempt to profit off the death of Martin by selling the gun he used to kill Martin and dubbing it “an American Firearm icon.” If history is any indication, this won’t be the last time we hear Zimmerman’s name.
Almost exactly two years ago, Rage Against The Machine announced a massive reunion tour with Run The Jewels called “The Public Service Announcement Tour,” that, like everything announced in early 2020, did not happen. In April of last year, it was postponed to this spring, set to run from March 31 to August 14; so we named it one of our most anticipated tours of 2022. Last month, however, the band announced a postponement for the West Coast swing without yet offering rescheduled dates. Today, they’ve posted the new dates, moving that first half, from March 31 to May 23, to next year, running from February 22 to April 2 instead.
“All tickets for the moved dates will be honored. Fans who would like a refund have until March 15th, 2022 and should contact your point of purchase,” the statement said.
02/22 – Las Cruces, NM @ Pan American Center
02/24 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
02/26 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
02/28 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
03/03 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
03/05 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
03/07 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
03/09 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
03/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum
03/13 – Calgary, AL @ Scotiabank Saddledome
03/15 – Edmonton, AL @ Rogers Place
03/17 – Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre
03/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
03/20 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
03/22 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
03/28 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
03/30 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
04/01 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesar’s Arena
04/02 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesar’s Arena
07/9 – East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre
07/11 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/12 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/15 – Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Bluesfest
07/16 – Quebec City, QC @ Festival D’Ete De Quebec
07/19 – Hamilton, ON @ First Ontario Centre
07/21 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
07/23 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
07/25 – Buffalo, NY @ Keybank Center
07/27 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
07/29 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
07/31 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
08/02 – Washington, DC @ Capitol One Arena
08/03 – Washington, DC @ Capitol One Arena
08/08 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/09 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/11 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/12 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/14 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
In early January, the Boston Celtics were a mess. The Celtics were 18-21 through the first 39 games of the season, and tensions were seemingly running high within Boston’s infrastructure. Since that point, however, Boston has played at an elite level, reeling off five wins in six games to set the tone and putting together a 15-4 overall mark since Jan. 8.
That 15-4 mark includes an active eight-game winning streak for Boston, a streak that is the longest in the NBA as of Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t a murderer’s row from a scheduling perspective, but the Celtics did knock off the Hawks, Nuggets, Heat and Nets, and Boston’s numbers over the last 19 games paint an appealing picture.
The Celtics have the best net rating (+13.3) and the best defensive rating (99.4) in the NBA, pushing the team’s overall net rating to +4.8 points per 100 possessions for the season. The wins helped to thrust Boston into the top six of the East, but the Celtics are beginning to look the part of a real contender, headlined by the NBA’s No. 2 defense. The Celtics made a shrewd investment in Derrick White at the trade deadline, fortifying the backcourt and providing much-needed support in shot creation. White isn’t the perfect player in that he is an inconsistent shooter, but his defensive chops are unquestioned, and Boston is truly terrifying on that end of the floor.
Furthermore, the Celtics have been very good when their key pieces are available on the floor. Boston’s top four players — Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams — each sport a net rating of +8.0 or better when on the floor this season. Things are even scarier for the opposition when that quartet is deployed together, with Boston posting an obscene +20.2 net rating in 558 minutes. That kind of success likely isn’t sustainable, but with those four players paired with either White, Al Horford or Grant Williams, the defensive versatility speaks for itself and the Celtics project to be effective in a playoff setting.
It must be noted that nothing is assured for Boston at this stage, with only a slim margin between the Celtics and the play-in race in the East. Still, a lot has changed for the Celtics in about six weeks, and optimism now reigns in Boston.
Where do the Celtics stack up in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s dive in.
1. Phoenix Suns (46-10, Last week — 1st)
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There is some real separation between Phoenix and everyone else. The Suns have a five-game lead on the field in the standings, and Phoenix’s statistical profile indicates that isn’t a fluke. They made minor moves at the deadline to improve depth and, barring something unforeseen, Phoenix is a true force.
2. Golden State Warriors (42-16, Last week — 2nd)
Golden State’s 1-3 week was nearly enough to drop them out of this spot. The Warriors still have the second-best overall profile, but Golden State got blasted in Utah last week and then dropped a game to the Clippers by double-digits on Monday. Let’s just say they’re going to need Draymond Green to be healthy.
3. Memphis Grizzlies (40-18, Last week — 3rd)
The Grizz could be No. 2 in this week without issue. Memphis is 8-1 in the last nine games, and the Grizzlies are 5-0 in February. Memphis has been making waves with athleticism and physicality all season, but the Grizzlies are scoring well over 1.2 points per possession during this winning streak. If they can even pretend to maintain that offensive pace, the Grizzlies are terrifying.
4. Boston Celtics (33-25, Last week — 9th)
Boston has a showcase road game in Philadelphia on Tuesday, and the 76ers won’t have James Harden. If they can steal that game, only a home date with Detroit stands in the way of a 10-game winning streak before the All-Star break.
5. Miami Heat (37-20, Last week — 7th)
The schedule wasn’t difficult at all, but Miami is on a five-game winning spree. That makes up for a three-game hiccup at the end of January and the start of February, and the Heat lead the East by a half-game.
6. Utah Jazz (36-21, Last week — 14th)
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All is well in Salt Lake City again. After a disastrous stretch that tanked Utah’s place in the standings, the Jazz have won six in a row. Beyond that, Rudy Gobert returned from a three-week absence on Monday, and the Jazz have outscored opponents by 18.5 points per 100 possessions in those six games.
7. Chicago Bulls (37-21, Last week — 12th)
DeMar DeRozan has scored 30 points or more in seven straight games, becoming the first Bulls player since Michael Jordan to accomplish that feat. From there, DeRozan has at least 35 points in six straight, all on over 50 percent shooting from the field matching a record only Wilt has accomplished, and he was masterful in leading Chicago to a win over San Antonio on Monday without Zach LaVine.
8. Philadelphia 76ers (34-22, Last week — 6th)
Philadelphia has a pair of TNT games before the break, and they are both real tests against Boston and Milwaukee. The Sixers won’t have James Harden just yet, but Joel Embiid put up a 40-14-10 in a win over Cleveland on Saturday that sent quite a message.
9. Milwaukee Bucks (35-23, Last week — 5th)
There is no shame in getting smoked in Phoenix, because that seems to happen to everyone, and Milwaukee lost on Monday without Giannis to a depleted but scrappy Blazers team. Still, those are double-digit losses in succession, and there is a power rankings penalty to that kind of hiccup. Alas, no one should be worried about Milwaukee.
10. Cleveland Cavaliers (35-22, Last week — 4th)
The Cavs lost by double digits in Philly on Saturday, but that result shouldn’t overshadow a tremendous run, their drop here is more about leaps taken by those ahead of them. Cleveland is still 13-4 in the last 17 games, and the Cavs now have two All-Stars with Jarrett Allen getting the call. A road test in Atlanta on Tuesday will be quite interesting as a measuring stick.
11. Denver Nuggets (32-25, Last week — 11th)
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Nikola Jokic is from another planet. The Nuggets have a +10.2 (!!) net rating when he’s on the floor this season, even with the absences of Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray. When he heads to the bench, Denver plays at a rock-bottom level, posting a -10.4 net rating. That pretty much tells the story.
12. Dallas Mavericks (33-24, Last week — 10th)
Dallas was two points shy of a five-game winning streak to close the week, and Luka Doncic has 96 points in the last two games. That doesn’t paper over the bizarre nature of the Kristaps Porzingis trade and the fact that Dallas doesn’t have a clear path to a long-term No. 2, but they are still pretty good.
13. Toronto Raptors (31-25, Last week — 8th)
The Raptors weren’t going to win every game the rest of the way, but they did win eight in a row. The streak was snapped with a one-point loss to Denver, which is a perfectly acceptable result, but the Raptors then got blitzed by 30 in New Orleans on Monday. That wasn’t great.
14. L.A. Clippers (29-30, Last week — 17th)
This isn’t “the year” for the Clippers, simply due to the injuries for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. It is worth nothing that the Clippers are basically playing .500 ball without two superstars, though, and that is pretty impressive. A win over the Warriors on Monday also helps to justify this boost in the rankings.
15. Minnesota Timberwolves (30-27, Last week — 13th)
Minnesota dips a bit this week, but it wasn’t a disaster by any means. The Wolves went 2-2, but both losses came by double figures. Quietly, Minnesota’s offense has unsurprisingly improved from the beginning of the season, but the defense has also unsurprisingly regressed. Finding the water level will be interesting here.
16. Brooklyn Nets (30-27, Last week — 15th)
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The long national nightmare is over, with the Nets finally winning a game on Monday. That snapped a comical 11-game losing streak for Brooklyn, but the Nets are still in the play-in mix. Ben Simmons might play pretty soon, which would help in theory, but Kevin Durant is who the Nets really need.
17. Atlanta Hawks (26-30, Last week — 16th)
Atlanta still has the feel of a team that is better than its record, but the results just aren’t consistently matching up. The Hawks won seven games in a row in late January, but Atlanta gave most of that back with five losses in seven games. There’s a chance this is just what this team is, which would be an enormous disappointment following a conference finals appearance.
18. Charlotte Hornets (29-29, Last week — 20th)
For the first time since early January, the Hornets are back to .500. Charlotte is 1-7 in the last eight games and, in a shocking twist, it is the offense letting the Hornets down. They have scored only 1.04 points per possession during that stretch, and that won’t be enough to sustain prosperity alongside a spotty defense.
19. San Antonio Spurs (22-36, Last week — 21st)
San Antonio likely got worse with the Derrick White trade, but they stocked the cupboard for the future with an unexpected flurry of pre-deadline activity. The Spurs’ long-term goals remain at least slightly unclear, but they followed up the deadline with nice road wins over Atlanta and New Orleans before competing valiantly in Chicago on Monday.
20. New Orleans Pelicans (23-34, Last week — 19th)
The Pelicans are behind the Spurs due to a home loss to San Antonio this week. Other than that, it’s been really positive for New Orleans with five wins in the last seven games. The Pels are a half-game out of the play-in, and New Orleans is exactly .500 since the hideous 1-12 start. CJ McCollum’s addition gives them some more scoring juice next to Brandon Ingram and there’s reason for optimism in the Big Easy.
21. Portland Trail Blazers (24-34, Last week — 25th)
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The Blazers are riding a three-game winning streak, including a very positive road win in Milwaukee on Monday. Granted, Giannis Antetokounmpo was unavailable in that spot, but Portland was still a significant betting underdog and played quite well. The Anfernee Simons breakout continues and, for now, they still cling to the last play-in spot out West.
22. Los Angeles Lakers (26-31, Last week — 18th)
Los Angeles is 5-12 in the last 17 games. It’s really ugly, especially when remembering the Lakers didn’t do anything at the trade deadline and will seemingly rely on the buyout market for an infusion of talent. Los Angeles also has one of the more difficult schedules remaining in the NBA, in part due to the backloaded nature of the league’s national television contract.
23. Sacramento Kings (22-37, Last week — 24th)
The Kings were nearly in line for a big rise in this space. Then, Sacramento got walloped by the Nets on Monday to take some of the fuel out of the plane. Still, the Domantas Sabonis era seems to be reinvigorating De’Aaron Fox, and that is a positive takeaway in the early going.
24. Washington Wizards (26-30, Last week — 23rd)
It was actually a winning week for the Wizards at 2-1. Those victories came at home against the shorthanded Nets and Pistons, though, and the loss came by 13 points to the Kings. That’s not exactly fantastic.
25. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-39, Last week — 27th)
From a full-season perspective, there is no argument for the Thunder over the Knicks. Oklahoma City upset New York on the road on Monday, though, so they get a bump here. Also, the Thunder currently have a top-10 defense in the NBA. That is fairly wild.
26. New York Knicks (25-33, Last week — 22nd)
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A month ago, the Knicks were 22-21 and coming off a three-game winning streak. New York is 3-12 since then, including six losses in the last seven games. Monday night was particularly brutal, with the Knicks giving one away (at home) against the Thunder in memorable fashion.
27. Orlando Magic (13-45, Last week — 28th)
A road win in Portland this week helps the Magic to climb a spot. The rest of the week didn’t go well with three double-digit road losses, but Orlando will take progress as it comes. One example is the recent play of Wendell Carter Jr., who has scored in double figures in 17 of his last 18 games.
28. Indiana Pacers (19-39, Last week — 26th)
The early returns on Tyrese Haliburton in a Pacers uniform are strong. That’s the positive takeaway. On the floor, Indiana is clearly scuffling with six straight losses and, for the first time in a very long time, the Pacers are likely to pick in the top half of the lottery.
29. Houston Rockets (15-41, Last week — 29th)
Houston is on a five-game losing skid with nine losses in the last ten games. The Rockets’ last eight losses have been by double digits, and there isn’t a lot of competitiveness happening right now, as evidenced by a bloodbath in Utah on Monday. It’s also a bit weird to hang on to both Eric Gordon and Dennis Schroder, but Houston also isn’t winning games to provide any urgency to clear the decks.
30. Detroit Pistons (12-45, Last week — 30th)
With the Nets finally winning a basketball game on Monday, the Pistons now hold the NBA’s longest active losing streak at eight games. Detroit also has the worst record in the league and the worst net rating in the league. The Pistons ended up holding on to Jerami Grant, which is a curious decision, but losses aren’t so bad for Detroit with the team’s current incentives.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the live-action/CGI hybrid adaptation of the Disney animated series from director Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) is going for the same pop culture-mashing vibe as Roger Rabbit, with references to Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Cats. There’s no Christopher Lloyd terrorizing a poor shoe, but there is John Mulaney and Andy Samberg as the voice of the chipmunks, and Seth Rogen as a early-2010s character from a video game cut scene.
Here’s the official plot summary:
In Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Chip and Dale are living amongst cartoons and humans in modern-day Los Angeles, but their lives are quite different now. It has been decades since their successful television series was canceled, and Chip (Mulaney) has succumbed to a life of suburban domesticity as an insurance salesman. Dale (Sandberg), meanwhile, has had CGI surgery and works the nostalgia convention circuit, desperate to relive his glory days. When a former cast mate mysteriously disappears, Chip and Dale must repair their broken friendship and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend’s life.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, which also features the voices of KiKi Layne, Will Arnett, Eric Bana, Flula Borg, Dennis Haysbert, Keegan-Michael Key, Tress MacNeille, Tim Robinson, J.K. Simmons, and Chris Parnell, premieres on Disney+ on May 20.
When Jimmy Kimmel sees a chance to dunk on Matt Damon, you know the late night host is going to take it. During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel went to town on Damon for sporting a new mustache while attending the Super Bowl showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. If you were watching at home, Damon was shown several times in the stands, and Kimmel couldn’t help but notice something on The Last Duel star’s upper lip early on in the game. Naturally, the late-night comedian had some thoughts.
Commenting on the actor’s fair fuzz, Kimmel joked, “Finding his spot… finding his spot in the bad moustache hall of fame. I mean, come on now. What is that? That’s a moustache — Justin Bieber laughs at that moustache. My God.”
Kimmel also threw in a jab at Damon’s latest commercial for Crypto.com, which has been getting dragged ever since the internet caught wind of it. Even South Park got in on the action by spending in its Season 25 premiere repeatedly dunking on Damon for pushing Bitcoin.
“Did you know Matt Damon gave all that money he made from the crypto commercial to charity?” Kimmel quipped. “You know why he did it? Because no one likes him. It’s the only way he can get anyone to like him.”
Netflix’s latest true-crime sensation dug up a few tawdry fake diamonds in the form of Inventing Anna (from Shondaland and starring Julia Garner) and The Tinder Swindler. The latter’s a documentary that appeals to (as well as frightens) both true crime fans and online daters, who are already aware that there a lot of bad people out there, but oh boy. Faux millionaire playboy Simon Leviev (not his real name, that’s Shimon Hayut) might be one of the worst of them. As the film revealed, Simon left a trail of bewildered women in his wake after introducing himself as the “Prince of Diamonds” and pretending to be the son of actual multi-millionaire Lev Leviev.
Before the women knew what had hit them, they’d lent him money that they’d never see again. One woman, Londoner Cecilie Fjellhoy, ended up losing $200,000, which Simon apparently used to finance his next con on another woman. Well, Simon thinks that all of this proves that he has what it takes to be a mega star. According to TMZ, Simon would like to be a dating guru. Maybe a podcast or a book or even a TV show? Yep, he totally wants that career, from TMZ:
Sources close to Simon tell TMZ … he’s already signed with a talent manager, and wants to write a book, star on a dating show and host a dating podcast. Yeah, no shocker … the guy’s got big plans.
Simon’s new Hollywood manager is Gina Rodriguez with Gitoni Inc, and we’re told they’ve already discussed a bunch of plans to parlay his newfound Netflix fame into profit and an entertainment career.
TMZ also adds that Simon wants women to compete for the honor of “his love” on a TV show, and yikes. This has shades of fallen Tiger King all over it, and you know what happened there. In the meantime, Simon is awaiting trial on various charges related to fraud in Israel, where he was extradited a few years ago. Kinda puts a cramp on those Hollywood stardom plans.
Further down the flyer, the resurgent Jazmine Sullivan, jazz revivalist Kamasi Washington, and a pair of jam sessions — one led by J Period, with Black Thought, Benny The Butcher, and Rick Ross, the other featuring Keyshia Cole, SWV, and Musiq Soulchild — fill out the top-line acts. Other big draws include sax-rapper Masego, urban gospel OG Kirk Franklin, Chicago drill pioneer G Herbo, the quirky Tierra Whack, tough-guy rapper Freddie Gibbs, country star Mickey Guyton (who also sang the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl), Yebba, and Chief Keef.
There will also be a live podcast stage with Rory & Mal, Questlove Supreme, Jemele Hill, and more. Ticket presale began today at 10 am EST, while general sale starts Friday, February 18 at 10 am. You can get more information here.
After absolutely crushing the box office and winning over audiences and critics with Spider-Man: No Way Home just before the holidays, Tom Holland is back with Uncharted, a live-action adaptation of the award-winning video game series. However, this time around, the critical reception isn’t so warm. As the first reviews for Uncharted roll in, there’s an immediate sense that the film attempts to do exactly what it showed in the trailers: Put a modern spin on films like Indiana Jones and National Treasure.
Unfortunately, just like in the games, sometimes you don’t always stick the landing, and that appears to be the case as Holland and co-star Mark Wahlberg struggle to make Uncharted work despite the games being loaded with cinematic moments to pull from.
While not all of the Uncharted reviews are harsh, the majority aren’t exactly feeling the film. Here’s what the critics are saying:
“Uncharted” is a lively but thinly scripted and overlong mad-dash caper movie, propelled by actors you wish, after a while, had more interesting things to say and do.
Perhaps the film’s Walmart approach to its action would’ve been more forgivable if the “Uncharted” games weren’t so frequently suffused with Spielbergian flair, just as the film’s archetypal characters may have been less underwhelming had the games not managed to establish 10 times the pathos with none of the same flesh and blood.
Uncharted is a simple, safe, but ultimately pretty effective introduction to treasure hunter Nathan Drake. Fans of the beloved PlayStation games might be surprised to see how much has changed to fit an Uncharted story in a single movie’s runtime – it squeezes in a new origin story while reenacting action sequences from multiple games – but it all makes for a decently fun sampling of what Nate and Sully have to offer on the big screen.
It’s not perfect and there are moments where the movie lags but not even Mark Wahlberg could stop me from having fun while watching Tom Holland come into his own in this take on Nathan Drake’s origin story.
Far from the great heights of the classic “Indiana Jones” movies, “Uncharted” is closer to “National Treasure” without the weirdo energy of Nicolas Cage, mixed with “The Goonies” without the childlike irreverence of Amblin. It’s glossy, witty, and franchise-ready. Which would be fine if the jokes were good!
It would have been nice if screenwriters Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had come up with something more interesting than this generic adventure in which Nate and Sully team up to first commit a robbery at a high-end auction house and then head to exotic locales in search of Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure of gold. Or more interesting villains than the ruthless Santiago Moncada, played by Antonio Banderas in a performance that can best be described as detached.
The film’s script, the product of six credited writers, feels like a “frankensteined” effort of unrealized sequels to series such as “Indiana Jones” or “National Treasure.” Like the figures portrayed on screen, there’s a grail just evading their grasp. But unlike the characters, the film itself never recaptures that elusive glory.
The only thing [Tom] Holland seemingly cannot do is generate chemistry with Wahlberg as Sully, a counterpart and proxy brother with whom Nathan should be irresistibly clashing; instead, he limps through their interactions like scripted awards-show presentation banter.
Secretly Canadian signee Hatchie, the hypnotic project of Australia’s Harriette Pilbeam, has been rolling out her sophomore album Giving The World Away, unleashing haunted synth-pop singles like “Quicksand” and “This Enchanted.” The title track has arrived today, and it’s an existential, atmospheric journey with vibrant vocals.
She contemplates in a captivating deadpan: “What is it that makes us feel so invincible, like life is by design? / Could you regenerate all you’d hoped for yourself?” It comes with a disorienting, acid trip-like lyric video with a disembodied mouth lip syncing the words.
“‘Giving The World Away’ is about being gentle with yourself in the throes of depression,” Hatchie said about the track. “We made a simple lyric video with analogue effects to let the lyrics of the song speak for themselves.”
Similar to “Quicksand,” which she said was about finding happiness in the present and learning to stop fixating on the past and future, this song is focused on overcoming internal obstacles and searching for peace within herself. The sound, meanwhile, reverberates with an undeniable sense of hope and forward movement that resembles progress.
Watch the video for “Giving The World Away” above.
Giving The World Away is out 4/22 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.
Nobody in Hollywood has had a career like the one Eric Roberts has had.
It doesn’t even seem like he’s had a career. It’s more like several. In the 1980s, he was a hybrid of handsome leading man and quirky character actor, known for roles like the real-life killer Paul Snider in Bob Fosse’s Star 80, low-level criminal Paulie in The Pope Of Greenwich Village, and escaped convict Buck McGeehy in Runaway Train, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. By the end of the decade, he transitioned to muscular action star in films such as The Best Of The Best and The Specialist. After that, he became one of the most prolific actors to ever work in cinema, appearing in everything from The Dark Knight and Inherent Vice to Lifetime’s Stalked By My Doctor franchise, among his more than 600 acting credits. Oh, and there’s also his appearance in the iconic video for The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” which has been streamed on YouTube more than 464 million times.
Roberts’ latest role is that of Junior, a shady low-life who re-emerges from the past to haunt Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) in season two of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. In the most recent episode, a battalion of Dixie Mafia cycle ninjas — presumably sent on Junior’s behalf — failed once again to assassinate the Gemstones’ patriarch.
Junior is a role perfectly suited for Roberts’ skillset — the character is an enormous creep who also happens to have a weird, unsettling charisma. He radiates danger even he’s at his most affable. Nobody plays that as well as the 65-year-old Roberts, who considers HBO’sThe Righteous Gemstones one of his favorite projects ever.
“Dude, I have never had a job I liked more,” he told me last week in a Zoom interview. “And I’m not just saying that as a nice thing to say. I’ve never had a job I liked more. The acting, the crew, the cast, my scripts, my dialogue, my costumes — everything about it is heaven, dude.”
Over the course of two interviews, Roberts talked about playing Junior as well as the other notable roles from his career.
So you’ve really emerged as the villain of this season.
God man, that’s so narrow-minded of you. [Laughs.]
The tone of the show fits well with your overall oeuvre. It’s funny, but it can turn really dark rather quickly.
It’s got some dark spots, dude.
How did you get involved with The Righteous Gemstones?
Breakdowns are a thing that tells you everything that’s casting, and it said there was an audition for a character in this great show, Righteous Gemstones. Junior grew up with John Goodman and was a badass. And suddenly he reappears after John Goodman has turned over a new leaf, and he shows up and says, “Let’s get together.” And John’s like, “No, I’m staying away from you.” So it’s kind of an instant conflict. John can’t complain too much, or I will expose him for all that we did. The audience doesn’t really know what we did, but it wasn’t savory.
So you auditioned for the role?
Yes, I did. My wife, who’s also my coach, Eliza Roberts — I’m very proud of my wife — she got me ready for this audition. She shot it. We sent it in and I got the part. Who knew?
Did Danny McBride or any of the other people in charge of the show mention any of the roles you played in the past as a reason for casting you?
All I heard about any of it was from Danny, and he said, “I love that little character you sent me.” That’s what he said.
Did you know John Goodman before doing this show?
I never worked with John before. My only image of John was from Roseanne. And of course, all the stories that we all heard through TV Guide and what have you about all the insanity. So that’s all I knew of John.
John is an old-school pro. It’s such a pleasure. He shows up ready to work, has a sense of humor, and is just a cool cat. I made so many movies in the past 15 years with kids. There’s a brand new generation. And they’re not old school. So it’s a lot of fun for me. And it’s a lot of comfort for me. I just love working with him. He is also one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known. He’s a great dude.
Seeing you on The Righteous Gemstones inspired me to revisit your past work. I’ve long been a fan of your performances in ’80s films like Star 80and The Pope Of Greenwich Village. In my mind, you’re most associated with either dramas like the films I just mentioned, or action flicks like Best Of The Best and The Expendables. I don’t really associate you with comedy. But when I rewatched some of your films, I noticed that even your dramatic parts have some sort of comic element. Even Paul Snider, your character from Star 80 — one of the bleakest films I’ve ever seen — is kind of goofy at times. How conscious are you of finding humor even in the darkest characters?
It’s a conscious choice every time, buddy. Especially when you’re playing heavy stuff. You have to find a way to relieve the audience. They have to be relieved from the constant bang, bang, bang. This is serious. This has meaning. Yeah, sure. And that’s great. But you also have to give them relief. LikeRunaway Train, for instance. When I got the script, my character was a tough, stupid thug. He was in prison for statutory rape. There is nothing that’s savory to the appetite about any of that. So what do you do? You have to make him a child. You have to make him lost. You have to make it a mistake, you have to make it, “Well, I didn’t know she was 16.” You have to do that kind of thing.
So it’s wrong, but it’s not unforgivable. You have to make him forgivable. So, that’s what I did with of him. I took him and I made his voice talk up here, with a southern accent. [affects accent] “Well, I didn’t know. Okay?” So suddenly it’s not as big a crime. He’s not as bad a guy.
You did something similar with The Pope Of Greenwich Village, right?
Well, he was also written as a thug. But the problem with that is, it’s been done to death. So I just found another way in.
Another interesting aspect of your career is that you’re in a lot of things for only a scene or two, like The Dark Knight or Inherent Vice. Or you might appear for 30 seconds in a music video for The Killers, Mariah Carey, or Rihanna. But you always find a way to stand out. Is your approach different when you know you only have a scene or two to kill it? Is that a different energy you have to bring?
You are so nice to me! All these compliments in these questions, dude. I wish I thought as much of myself as you do. And I’m my biggest fan.
I’ll have some more compliments later.
Okay. So, I am an actor and we are very shallow people, basically, I’m sorry to say. I speak for myself. I shouldn’t speak for actors. But everything I’m in, I’m starring in even if I’m only on for 30 seconds. I’m the star of that 30 seconds and I move in like I feel it. Because people are like that. People star in their moments, whatever their moment is.
Sophie Mueller called me for my first music video. Will you come be in The Killers’ video? And I said no. And then I told my family and they said, “What is wrong with you? Eric, you idiot. Man, that’s The Killers!” They gave me such a bad time. So I called Sophie back.
I had no idea who I was playing, what I was playing, why I was playing, or what the song meant. I finally said, “What am I in this?”And somebody said, “You’re a pimp.” Who said that? I never knew. I guess I’m a pimp. But the music videos gave me a whole new audience I didn’t have. They all don’t have hair under their arms yet. I didn’t have that audience.
How did you end up in Inherent Vice?
Well, my wife can answer that better than I can. I don’t know how the offer came in. How’d the offer come in, honey?
Eliza Roberts: They never mentioned any of the main roles. They had these Breakdowns for one line, under five, almost like glorified extra. I talked to Eric’s reps: “Submit him, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson.” And they were like, “No, no, no, we can’t do that.” And I was like, “Just do it. I have a feeling,” and they did. What ended up happening was all the names that came across Paul’s desk, he just kind of figured out where to fit them. And he explained when he offered the role to Eric, it’s going to be a lot about you, more about you than you actually in it. But you don’t say no to him.
How was working with PTA?
It’s like he has brought you into this little club that belongs to him. This is his club and now you’re a member. He talks to you as if you’re very special, as if you’re the only person who can do what he’s asking of you. And here’s what it is and go. He’s just very, very kind, thorough, complete. And he doesn’t laugh a lot, but he smiles. He knows. He’s, like, spooky, because he is so calm and comfortable.
I’ve read that you auditioned for Quentin Tarantino several times. What was your impression of him?
I’ve auditioned for every movie he’s ever made except Pulp Fiction. What’s the one around Pulp time?
Reservoir Dogs.
All the others I’ve auditioned for and I haven’t gotten them.
I just auditioned for him. I don’t know where you get that from, that he’s obviously a fan of mine, but I love hearing it.
It seems like people like Paul Thomas Anderson and The Killers were leaning on your screen persona as this dangerous and — as you put it — unsavory character. And that’s also true of The Righteous Gemstones. When I saw you appear in the first episode of this season, my immediate thought was, “This means trouble for John Goodman.” This is true of all veteran character actors, surely, but to what degree are you aware of the baggage from the past that you bring to every role?
It never occurs to me. In fact, I take that as a compliment, because I remember whenever I would see certain actors as a kid, in movies, I would have the same thought: “Ooh, this is going to been dangerous.” I love being one of those guys. Being the skinny kid from Atlanta, I would never have thought that I would grow up to be one of the premier bad guys in the industry. But that was Bob Fosse’s fault in Star 80. That’s what started all that.
I’m glad you brought that up, because I wanted to talk about Star 80. You’ve said that’s your best film.
Let me be real clear: That’s not my film, that is Bob Fosse’s film that I am in, and it’s the best film I was ever in. But I’m not responsible for that movie or my performance, really. He is. He was an incredibly overwhelming driving force, and he was an overused and abused word — he was a genius. Once you work for one of those guys you realize two things: That you’re not one of them, and that they are unusual. They’re just a whole other species. Once you’re with them you don’t ever get over it.
I sat, artistically, in his lap and said, “I am your puppet. Let’s go.” And he handled me beautifully, as you saw. I was responsible for almost none of it. I would just turn, “What do I do?” He would tell me and I’d go do it. It was really like that.
I totally understand what you’re saying, but I think you’re selling yourself short. It strikes me as an incredibly courageous performance, to be that extreme and unlikable on screen. Based on what I’ve read, in books like Sam Wasson’s 2013 biography Fosse, it seems like the experience of making the film was pretty miserable for you, since you were so locked into playing this miserable character, on and off screen.
I had really cool, intelligent, gifted people around me. The main person around me at that time was Sandy Dennis, and I had that as my reality, so I never got lost. I never got lost in who I was portraying. I did get overwhelmed with the fact that Paul Snider is a common person. He’s two out of five men. He’s not unusual. And when I came to those terms, that was what I found upsetting. . His life, his involvement with her, and the death is unusual. But he’s a common loser, dude. It was heartbreaking to understand that finally, that I meet eight or 10 of them every day.
I’m curious if you saw that New Yorker article about Jeremy Strong from Succession, in which the implication is that his method style of acting has impacted his mental health. When you look back at your younger self, do you feel like you ever did that to yourself as an actor?
Before you do it, you don’t know the pathway to getting it done. And every role is a different pathway to getting it done. You can have a technique, but you’re still going to find a different pathway from the last time. It’s going to always be a different pathway because it’s a different role, it’s a different story, it’s a different emotional content for you to portray. I have taken myself a little too seriously at times as an actor, but I haven’t ever lied about the seriousness, and also the casualness, the casualness of acting. They’re both side by side, and they’re both as important as the other, and to have one and to balance it with the other, you almost have to understand what you’re doing, which means you’re not lost.
I have gotten lost in moments, of course, but as far as the whole project or whole character, no. Because you don’t shoot in order, you shoot out of order. So you have to be conscious of where you should be at emotionally and intellectually at that moment, compared to the moment before or after, blah, blah, blah. A lot of it’s so mechanical in movies, but you can get lost in moments. I don’t give much credence to being lost for three months in 18 locations, and 30 costume changes, and 40 different drivers.
A film of yours I’ve watched a few times just in the past month — it’s currently streaming on HBO Max, by the way — is The Pope Of Greenwich Village. You have great chemistry with Mickey Rourke in that film. At the time, you were both these young hotshot actors. What was your relationship like? Was it ever competitive?
When we first met there was a real competitive vibe from him that just crushed me. We had known each other for about three days, and we were hanging out together at the Mayflower Hotel, where our base camp was. And he says to me, “Let’s run lines.” Great. Now, I got that role in January. It was now August. I had all that time to drop the weight, learn my lines, and curl my hair. So I was ready to go.
Okay, let’s run lines. Blah, blah, blah. Your line. He goes, “Can’t say it.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Because you’re not making me feel it. And if I don’t get that from you, I can’t respond.” Oh my God. From that moment on I hid behind the character of Paulie whenever I was hanging out with Mickey. I was always Paulie, because he could bully Paulie and Paulie had to deal with it. But if you bullied Eric it would break his heart and it would get in the way. So I only let him bully Paulie. And he did.
We have a great relationship. He’s the hardest actor I ever had to ever work with, who I also loved. And I do love him. He’s miraculous. He also gave one of my favorite performances ever given by anybody in a film called Barfly. See that movie.
Oh yeah, I love Barfly.
Take your breath away, dude. He’s incredible. But he shows up an hour and a half late every morning. And he says, “What are we shooting?” Scene 87. “I know the number, what happens?” But that’s working with Mickey, and that’s what you get. And you also get a performance that’s perfect.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that you had the choice of the two male leads.
When they sent me the script in January they said, “Pick a part, Paulie or Charlie.” And I picked Paulie, and they said, “We wanted you to pick Charlie.” I said, “Why?” They said, “Because he’s all dapper and cool. He’s you.” I said, “No, no. The other part’s better.”
Picking the “less cool” character seems to always be your preference.
But all that great dialogue I had, dude! It was fantastic.
I have to ask you about the “Charlie, they took my thumb!” scene, which is one of the most bonkers scenes in any movie ever. Basically, you have lost your thumb to some mobsters, and Mickey Rourke’s girlfriend (played by Daryl Hannah) has just left him. So you and Mickey are at this incredibly high emotional pitch for what feels like 10 minutes. What was shooting that scene like?
Well, that scene coming closer every day in the schedule was like watching an oncoming train. Literally. And it finally arrived. Okay, it’s going to take me out. And we got it in two takes.
Wow.
Bam, bam, bam, bam. We were done. It went perfectly. The only thing that went awry was I had lots of tears, and I kept wiping my eyes, and I scratched my cornea. So I had an eye infection for three days afterwards, blah, blah, blah. That’s the only thing that was bumpy about it was my scratched cornea, because the whole latter half the day was, “Ah, shit.” But besides that, it was an artistically mechanically perfect day.
My favorite part of that scene is when you’re going crazy about your lost thumb, and then suddenly you stop on a dime and notice that Mickey Rourke has trashed his apartment. It cracks me up every time.
But that’s life. And also, you only have an hour and a half. You don’t have a person’s whole life. You have an hour and a half for their life. So stuff has to be abbreviated. Sometimes you make stuff funnier than it would be in life, but you have to let the audience breathe. One of my favorite improvisations of my life is, “White bread? No wonder these WASPs got no color.”
In your early films, you played a lot of scrawny and sort of weasel-y guys. But by the end of the ’80s, you were super ripped in the martial arts movie Best Of The Best. Did you get in shape for that role, or were you already doing that in your personal life?
Well, I became an international movie star in 1978, and I was a kid. I was 21 years old. I didn’t know anything. And I was also kind of like a country bumpkin, so I was stupid. I was kind of ignorant in a lot of categories about life, about place, about my career, everything. So I just let it rip. It just happened. I didn’t calculate, I didn’t plan, I had no agenda. I’m an actor who loves acting, and they let me do it.
My favorite body on the planet was Bruce Lee. So I decided I was going to have that body. What I didn’t realize is the guy had an eating disorder. He never ate so he was just muscle and skin. But I was going for it. I went after that body, and you have to carb deplete to have that body. And to carb deplete, it makes you very unhappy and cranky. I don’t recommend it.
You’ve made so many films in your career. What is it about acting that you love so much?
I’ve seen the whole planet. I’ve seen the whole thing. All of the Arctics. I’ve seen everything. I’ve seen everybody. We have the best jobs on the planet, dude. To be an actor, to work with a crew that understands what it all is, and to be on location, and to have actual police protecting you. Everything’s all cordoned off. And we’re acting! It’s just the best job there is. Especially if you have a great script, a great story, and a great leader, a great director. You’re in heaven, dude. It’s like what school was supposed to be like. Always a learning process, always a growing process. That’s what my job is. I’m always learning, I’m always growing, I’m always getting. I have a blast, dude.
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