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Chris Pratt And One Of The ‘Doughboys’ Kill Aliens From The Future In ‘The Tomorrow War’ Trailer

The Tomorrow War is the rare summer blockbuster that’s not a sequel or based on an existing property. It’s an original idea from the director of The Lego Batman Movie with a talented cast, including Chris Pratt, J.K. Simmons, Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Doughboys co-host Mike Mitchell, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. There’s a lot to like there! The Tomorrow War is being released straight to Amazon Prime Video, and while it would be nice to see a high-concept science-fiction action movie on the biggest screen possible, I’m take watching Splett and the Spoonman kill aliens any way I can.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

In The Tomorrow War, the world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.

The Tomorrow War hits Amazon Prime Video on July 2.

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All The Best New Pop Music From This Week

This week in the best new pop music saw the return of several major pop stars. Lorde shared her first new single in four years, Doja Cat ushered in her Planet Her era, and Ava Max dropped her first track of 2021.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Lorde — “Solar Power”

Four years following the release of her previous album, Lorde made a comeback with “Solar Power.” The semi-acoustic track is Lorde’s ode to the carefree sunny summer days, filled with sand, warm rays, and your best friends. It kicks off with a playfully strummed guitar before building up to a euphoric crescendo at the bridge, which features background vocals from Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.

Doja Cat — “Need To Know”

Following up on her silky SZA collaboration “Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat gives her fans a look at the universe she built around her Planet Her album. With her new single “Need To Know,” Doja Cat fires off sultry lyrics which detail her fantasies about a crush over a skittering beat.

Ava Max — “Everytime I Cry”

It’s been less than a year since Ava Max released her anticipated debut album Heaven & Hell, and the singer is still giving fans some more music from the era. Sharing her electrifying “Everytime I Cry” track, the singer finds power in tears and vulnerability. “After every struggle you go through you become a little bit stronger,” Max says of the song. “And every tear you shed is not wasted, but becomes your river of hope.”

Clairo — “Blouse”

Following up on her breakout Rostam-produced debut album Immunity, Clairo finally issues an update about the status of new music. Introducing her sophomore album, the singer shared the tender acoustic ballad “Blouse,” a gleaming track that showcases the singers moving vocals. About the song, Clairo says she was heavily inspired by the domesticity that came with taking care of her dog, Joanie.

Bebe Rexha, Topic — “Chain My Heart”

Bebe Rexha is on the heels of releasing her vulnerable album Better Mistakes, but she’s not done sharing new music. This week, the renowned singer teamed up with producer Topic for “Chain My Heart,” a vibrant effort featuring biting synths and a thumping, quick-tempoed beat. On the track, Bebe Rexha sings of the euphoric feeling of finally surrendering to love and Topic provides perfectly-timed beat drops.

Bleachers — “How Dare You Want More”

It’s been a few weeks since Bleacher officially ushered in a new era of music with their joyous single “Stop Making This Hurt.” Now, they’re back with another jangling tune, “How Dare You Want More.” It features heavily layered production that combines bombastic brass instruments and sputtering guitar riffs, with Jack Antonoff’s vocal delivery reminiscent of early Talking Heads’ drowned-out sound.

Marina — “Venus Fly Trap”

This week, Marina officially released her highly anticipated album Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land. The album is an ode to womanhood and the pitfalls of climate change, but it also features the self-love anthem “Venus Fly Trap.” The empowering single speaks to the importance of putting yourself out there over dizzying instrumentals. “Why be a wallflower when you could be a venus fly trap?” Marina belts.

Tones And I — “Cloudy Day”

Tones And I returned to announce her debut album Welcome To The Madhouse with the triumphant track “Cloudy Day.” The song speaks to an optimistic outlook, preaching the importance of living life to the fullest. About the album as a whole, Tones And I says: “Some songs make me laugh and some make me cry but there is no running theme or vibe to the album – the songs are unique to how I was feeling the day I wrote them.”

HER — “We Made It”

On the heels of her Song Of The Year Grammy win, HER returns to share “We Made It” to announce the upcoming LP Back Of My Mind. The song sees her firing off some well-deserved flexes over a shimmering beat, detailing her accolades and luxurious lifestyle that remind her of her successes.

Jessie J — “I Want Love”

Following a brief hiatus, Jessie J is back with the euphoric tune “I Want Love.” A driving guitar riff kicks off the track before leading into a groovy big band chorus where Jessie J belts lyrics about fully committing to her partner. The song was purposefully dancefloor-ready and Jessie J says she hopes it inspires listeners to get up and dance. “I wanted to come back with a song that felt classic but modern,” she said. “Big vocals and get everyone on the dance floor. I cannot wait for the world to hear this song and to dance and sing along loud.”

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda Apologized After Critics Called Out ‘In The Heights’ For Its Lack Of Afro-Latino Representation

While In The Heights was warmly received during its first opening weekend, the stage-to-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical has sparked a controversy that its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has tackled head on. At issue is a notable lack of Afro-Latino representation in In The Heights that caused a social media uproar following director John M. Chu’s interview with The Root where he admitted he needed to be educated more on the subject. In essence, the film predominantly featured light-skinned Latinos in lead roles while darker-skinned Afro-Latinos were mostly in the background if they were present at all.

For his part, Miranda agrees that the In The Heights adaptation failed to be fully inclusive, and he issued a lengthy apology on Monday where he let the Afro-Latino community know that he heard their concerns.

I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback.
I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy.
In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short.
I’m truly sorry.
I’m learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I’m listening.

While acknowledging that he’s trying to be both proud of In The Heights and aware of its shortcomings, Miranda promised to do better in his future projects.

You can see his full statement below:

(Via Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter)

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Piers Morgan Is Yapping About How Sick He Is Of Meghan Markle’s ‘Yapping,’ And He Left Himself Wide Open

Piers Morgan apparently doesn’t realize that every time he complains about Meghan Markle, his evident obsession only grows. The former Good Morning Britain host got super upset last month and threw down a rager of an article about Meghan daring to write a Father’s Day-themed book that happens to be inspired by Prince Harry’s relationship with their son, Archie. This week, he’s sick and tired of Meghan and Prince Harry “yapping,” as he declared on Fox News (via the above Sky News clip).

“We’re hearing too much of your yapping,” Piers declared, because he believes the couple should not speak after giving up their royal titles. “Too much of your whining. It’s time to pipe down.” Prior to this, he revealed that he was still quite salty about being called out for not believing Meghan’s claims of racist remarks from the British Royal Family. On Fox News, he called the situation a “farcical” one. He can’t believe that “the cancel culture Twitter mob comes for you and says if you don’t believe Meghan Markle you are a racist, to which I say I’ve never said a racist thing about Meghan Markle or anybody else.”

Piers doesn’t seem to realize that by calling Meghan a liar about racism, he’s sweeping her claims under the rug. Yet this is even more of the same from him, since he made a big deal about “ghosting” him after a pub date several years ago. We can be sure about one thing, though. With the release of Meghan’s book, The Bench (which he has “laughed out loud” about, especially for her label of the book being “through an inclusive lens”), Piers won’t be done talking anytime soon.

And frankly, people are tired of hearing Piers’ “yapping.”

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Migos Take A Tropical Vacation In The Laid-Back ‘Why Not’ Video

Offset, Quavo, and Takeoff share a tropical getaway in the new video for “Why Not” from Migos’ recently released album, Culture III. The album, which arrived this past Friday, dropped after a year-long delay caused by the pandemic and resulting industry shutdown. The group used that time to work on improving the album from its predecessor, which dropped in 2018, resulting in the Jay-Z approved, Temptations-sampling banger “Avalanche” and singles like “Straightenin” and “Modern Day.”

However, after all that hard work, the boys took a well-deserved vacation, turning the footage into the video for “Why Not.” Shot in a theme-fitting, home movie style, the video follows the North Atlanta trio as they roam the beach on a four-wheeler, throw a hotel party with their extended crew, and soak up the sun as they show off their stacks of cash and chunky, diamond-crusted chains.

In addition to the video rollout for their new album, Migos also stormed the media as Quavo appeared on Hot Ones (tapping out after eight wings) and First Take to address the new album, as well as the group’s long-standing, “funny” feud with former NBA star Kendrick Perkins.

Watch Migos’ “Why Not” video above.

Culture III is out now via Quality Control Music. Get it here.

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Dave Grohl Thought ‘It Seemed Totally Implausible’ That Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ Would Be A Popular Album

Nevermind is one of the biggest albums of Nirvana’s discography, of the ’90s, and of all time. Dave Grohl says now that before it came out, though, he was in disbelief when friends told him the album would be popular.

In a new interview with Uncut (as NME notes), Grohl said:

“[Friends would say,] ‘Oh my God. You guys are going to be f*cking huge! We would go, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ Donita [Sparks] from L7 came by and said we were going to be f*cking huge. My old friend Barrett Jones — who I had grown up with in Virginia, who was a musician and a producer himself — heard ‘Lithium’ and said we were going to be f*cking huge. He thought ‘Lithium’ should be the first single. Everyone had these lofty opinions and I thought, ‘Well, it’s nice of you to say so, but there is no f*cking way that is ever going to happen.’”

He went on to explain why he felt that way, saying that it was because what Nirvana was doing was so against the grain of the then-popular musical styles:

“You also have to remember what was popular [in music] at the time. It was Wilson Phillips, it was Mariah Carey and f*cking Bon Jovi. It was not bands like us. So it seemed totally implausible that we would ever even get close to that kind of success. But, you know, it all sounded great: the drum sound at [recording studio] Sound City, Butch Vig’s production. The band was tight and [Kurt Cobain’s] songs were f*cking great. We would do one or two takes and maybe do an overdub here and there, Kurt would go in and do the vocal and it was crystal clear and so f*cking powerful, melodic and beautiful that you’re proud of [it] — and we were definitely proud of it.”

Meanwhile, the surviving members of the band have actually been recording new music, although it may never be heard by anybody but them.

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Indie-Rockers Bachelor Plot A Headlining Tour For This Fall

Remember at the beginning of the lockdowns when people were sharing memes about how “Shakespeare wrote King Lear during a plague” to inspire us to look on the bright side of our mind prisons? Well, Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner did one better: creating an amazing rock album King Lear would’ve been obsessed with (Bard scholars: see “Sick Of Spiraling.”)

The new indie power-duo is called Bachelor. Their debut album, Doomin’ Sun, is full of bruising yet blazingly catchy songs about relationships, suffering, and isolation. Kempner and Duterte brought one of these gems, the searing “Back Of My Hand,” to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, before announcing a brief headlining tour this September (in addition to their previously-released dates supporting Lucy Dacus).

For more background on how Bachelor came to be, read our story about how musicians Kempner and Duterte became friends and created their brilliant new album during the pandemic.

Check out Bachelor’s tour dates below. Tickets are available on Friday, June 18 at 10 a.m. local time on the band’s website.

09/09 — Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry
09/10 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
09/13 — Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
09/14 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
09/15 — Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
09/17 — Dallas, TX @ Trees
09/18 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall- Downstairs
09/19 — Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
09/20 — San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
09/22 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
09/24 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel
09/26 — New York City @ Governor’s Ball
09/27 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
10/02 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
10/03 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
10/05 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Atrium
10/06 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Soho Music Club
10/08 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriets

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Jimmy Kimmel Had A Field Day With Mike Lindell’s Awkward MAGA Event And Its Failed Fighter Jet Flyover

On Saturday, Mike Lindell, a.k.a. the MyPillow Guy, held a weird and awkward event in New Hampshire called the “MAGA Frank Free Speech Rally” that continued to push the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. And like all things Trump, it was a disaster. Lindell had reportedly forked over big bucks for fighter jets to fly over the event, but they didn’t arrive until an hour later, leading to hilarious footage of a sweaty, nervous Lindell standing around swearing they’re going to be here any minute now.

Never one to miss an opportunity to dunk on Lindell, Jimmy Kimmel spent the last half of his Monday night monologue going to town on the MyPillow MAGA rally, which also got trolled by online pranksters. Lindell had touted that the event would have over 30,000 attendees, but the turnout was close to 1,000 thanks to a jokester who registered for tickets under the name of “Jack Meoff.”

“I guess that didn’t send up any red flags,” Kimmel quipped before launching into a sketch where he interviewed Lindell impersonator James Adomian who’s practically become a regular on the late night show. During the sketch, a frantic Lindell is waiting for an astronaut to fly a space shuttle over his latest event, but he hasn’t showed up yet even after being paid $2 million. After some back and forth, Kimmel finally gets to see a photo of this supposed astronaut that Lindell found on Craigslist. The photo ends up being Buzz Lightyear who Lindell swears is a real “space ranger,” as he screams his name out of his hotel window.

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Trump Reportedly Can’t Score A Book Deal Because It Would Be A ‘Fact-Checking Nightmare’

Donald Trump has “written” several books, including Trump: The Art of the Deal, The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received (the advice was “cheat”), and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again. That one was published in 2015, a year before he was elected president. It may also be his last book, at least from a reputable publisher.

Politico reports that Trump has been unable to score a post-presidency book deal, something that is unheard of. Even Mike Pence is getting seven figures to write about his love of Garfield, or whatever. “[I]t would be too hard to get a book that was factually accurate, actually,” a book publishing industry insider told Politico. “That would be the problem. If he can’t even admit that he lost the election, then how do you publish that?” Keith Urbahn, president and founding partner of the Javelin literary and creative agency, added that any Trump memoir would be a “fact-checking nightmare”:

Politico reached out to top publishers and editors at the “Big Five” publishing houses — Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, and Simon & Schuster — to see if they had heard anything about any such deals Trump had been offered. None of the sources said they had heard about such potential book offers, and most said they wouldn’t touch a Trump project when he does start shopping a book around.

Naturally, Trump claims he’s received offers from “two of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses,” but he did “not want to do such a deal right now… That doesn’t mean I won’t accept them sometime in the future, as I have started writing the book. If my book will be the biggest of them all, and with 39 books written or being written about me, does anybody really believe that they are above making a lot of money? Some of the biggest sleezebags [sic] on Earth run these companies.”

If Trump doesn’t get a major book deal, maybe he can tweet out the pages he’s already written. Oh wait.

(Via Politico)

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Is A Time Jump On ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Even Plausible Now?

Leading up to the sixth season finale of Fear the Walking Dead, there was a lot of speculation that it would set up a lengthy time jump. It followed that the jump might align the spinoff with the timelines of The Walking Dead and The World Beyond as both of those series head into their final seasons (ahead of the eventual Rick Grimes movie). But after watching the season six finale, is that still the case?

The answer is: Maybe. A time jump would only be plausible by bending the rules of logic beyond their breaking point.

In episode 14 of season six, Teddy — a former serial killer turned cult leader hellbent on world destruction — locks Alicia away in a fallout shelter with the expectation that she would ride out a nuclear bomb and resurface years later to lead an effort to rebuild the world. Teddy had at his disposal enough nuclear missiles to blow up a continent, but ultimately, he only manages to get one missile off, although it lands in Texas and successfully wreaks immense destruction.

That would seemingly set up a season seven that begins years into the future after Alicia resurfaces from the fallout shelter. That may still happen, and so yet may a time jump, but the rules of logic make that situation far-fetched, not that Fear the Walking Dead always abides by logic.

In the season six finale, almost everyone survives the immediate nuclear blast, save for Dakota, who is incinerated, and Teddy, who is shot to death by Dakota before the bomb detonates. However, none of the “good guys” die in the finale, which is a problem because, by my count, there are 15 regulars on the show not including Wendell (who has been MIA) or all the kids who vanished in season six (likely due to shooting protocols during a pandemic). On a series that found a new life by centering its stories on a limited number of characters in each episode, this creates a problem, mostly in that a lot of characters are given very little screen time and often go four or five episodes without being seen.

That, however, is beside the point. The point is that they all survive, but aside from Alicia, only John Dorie, Sr. and June survive in a legitimate underground bunker. Given the circumstances, how would a time jump even work?

Daniel, Charlie, Althea, Sarah, Wes, the Rabbi, and Luciana would be fairly easy to situate. They are rescued by Althea and Isabel in a CRM helicopter. They could obviously explain away their seven-year absence by attributing it to the CRM, which would make for an interesting storyline. It might also explain why they have been absent for so much of the season if, perhaps, they were in Virginia shooting episodes for the second (and final) season of The World Beyond, which largely concerns the CRM. Such a situation, however, might be difficult to square with this TikTok video of Colmon Domingo, Alexa Nisenson, and Colby Hollman, presumably in Texas.

They’re all together, and shooting for the seventh season began in April in Texas. Strand is still in Texas, and if Charlie and Wes were with CRM, would this mean they’ve already wrapped up their CRM storyline. (The World Beyond is shot in Virginia).

But putting that aside, we also see in the finale that Sherry and Dwight survive the initial blast by jumping into a regular storm cellar attached to a house, which is obliterated by the bomb. How do they survive under there for the years it would require for a time jump merging the timelines of Fear and The Walking Dead? Likewise, Strand is in a building, which he will presumably have to leave. How does he survive the radiation fallout out in the world? How do Grace, Morgan, and baby Morgan survive since they are apparently immediately exposed to radiation? There is no cure for radiation poisoning. In fact, it’s why Morgan and Grace nearly kill themselves in the finale before the bomb blows up. They want to dodge the lethal and painful effects of the nuclear bomb.

Realistically, how do Morgan, Grace, Dwight, Sherry, and Strand survive a time jump of seven or eight years? A time jump would only make sense if it happened later in the season, and only after the series necessarily killed off three of its most popular characters: Morgan, Strand, and Dwight.

All of which brings us to the most likely and yet most implausible scenario: Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg will simply ignore the real-world consequences of a nuclear blast. They will dismiss the very radiation Grace warned Morgan about before the bomb detonated. Somehow, Sherry and Dwight will survive in a storm cellar, and while Strand, Morgan, and Grace will continue to live despite clearly being exposed to it. In such a scenario, perhaps they will all quickly find a safe haven underground, reasoning that they were somehow able to find a space before they were exposed to enough radiation to sicken them.

It would not, however, make a lot of sense, but then again, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to start the seventh season where the sixth left off with Alicia simply walking out of the fallout shelter and joining everyone else above ground, as they essentially swim in an amount of radiation similar to what killed the father of Grace’s stillborn baby. How would that even be possible?

In an interview with EW after the finale aired, the showrunners did seemingly address this issue.

We did a lot of research into the reality of it, and spoke to people who are involved in planning for disasters of this nature. It led to a lot of interesting things that we learned. There are actually ways that you could survive in a world like this. It may not be pleasant, and it may not be fun, but it’s not necessarily a death sentence, it’s just a whole new set of challenges on top of the zombie apocalypse.

Interesting, because my research about radiation fallout concluded otherwise: That is basically is a death sentence. It might not be immediate, but as Grace herself says in the finale, there will be a lot of suffering involved. Recall that Grace herself was on death’s door until her stillborn baby absorbed all of the radiation in her body. That’s not going to be a possibility for Morgan, baby Morgan, or Strand. The “new challenges,” therefore, may not be for the characters, but for the writers, who will be left to figure out how to work around deadly radiation poisoning. Then again, Daniel has survived being engulfed in flames and being shot in the face.

We’ll find what happens when the seventh season of Fear the Walking Dead officially kicks off in the fall.