Category: News

After slightly opened the door to returning to Star Wars in the wake of his comments calling out the franchise for failing its POC characters in the sequel trilogy, John Boyega is now signaling that he’d come back for another live-action film if the proper people are involved. In a new Twitter video posted by the user Palpamemes, Boyega reveals his conditions for reprising the role of Finn, which would require the involvement of the head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams. Boyega also mentions the “team,” and it’s open to debate whether he’s referring to Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac reprising their roles as Rey and Poe, or the overall creative team from the sequel trilogy.

“Whichever way, I am open to the conversation as long as it is Kathleen, J.J., and maybe someone else and the team, it’s a no-brainer,” Boyega said via Entertainment Weekly.

It’s notable that Boyega mentions Kennedy because shortly after he criticized Star Wars for failing the characters of Finn and Rose, Boyega revealed that he had a “very honest” and “transparent” discussion with a top Disney exec. That exec was later revealed to be Kennedy, so it’s significant that Boyega says he’d be open to returning to Star Wars if she’s involved. Clearly, their conversation was as productive as Boyega described.

Of course, Star Wars fans are sure to latch onto the fact that Boyega specifically mentioned coming back to work with Abrams and not Rian Johnson. However, this development isn’t entirely surprising. Back in 2019, Boyega shared his honest feelings on The Last Jedi and said it felt “a bit iffy for me.” In an interview with Hypebeast, the actor said he personally told Johnson, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character.” So this latest slight by Boyega could end up being more fuel for the online flame war that continues to rage over Star Wars.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Seven children survived a car crash in El Centro, California in 2018, but tragically, their parents did not. It was another devastating moment in the lives of the children who had been raised in and out of homeless shelters because their parents were addicts.

A few months later, a ray of hope shone in their lives when they were the focus of a segment on foster children on CBS 8 News in San Diego. The emotional segment went viral and Pam Willis, 50, watched it several times on Facebook.

“I can’t explain it — I just knew I was supposed to be their mom,” Pam told Today Parents.

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She even tagged her husband in the comments.

via Facebook

At the time, the Willis’ fifth and youngest child was a senior in high school and the couple were about to be empty-nesters. “I saw seven and thought ‘oh my goodness.’ The first thing I thought of was, ‘No one’s going to have room for them.’ And the second thing I thought was ‘I have room for them,” she told CBS.

“I thought Gary was going to tell me I was wacko — we were getting ready to retire,” Pam admitted. But, after seeing the video, Gary felt the same way.

7 siblings who survived a crash which killed their parents celebrate first Mother’s Day

www.youtube.com

Pam called the adoption agency and it said they had already received thousands of requests to foster the children. Two months later, Pam and Gay were matched with Adelino, 15, Ruby, 13, Aleecia, 9, Anthony, 8, Aubriella, 7, Leo, 5, and Xander, 4.

During the screening process, the Willis family learned the children had endured a lot of trauma during their chaotic upbringing and still had psychological and physical scars from the accident.

The older children were reluctant to form a bond initially.

“It was easy to connect with the little ones. They were just desperately craving permanency,” Pam said. “The older two were a little trickier.”

“I think they didn’t quite trust that we were real. Like maybe we were going to go away,” Pam said. “I think it’s so hard to trust when so much has been taken from your life. Ruby didn’t know how to be a kid. She had to be a mother figure at a very young age.”

But last August, the adoption was final and the seven children had a virtual adoption ceremony with their new siblings, Matthew, 32, Andrew, 30, Alexa, 27, Sophia, 23, and Sam, 20.

The oldest child, Adelino, is grateful for his new parents.

“Thank you for everything,” he said. “You took us out of a really difficult, difficult time and honestly, I probably wouldn’t have been here now if it weren’t for you guys. Thank you.”

After the adoption, Pam and Gary’s oldest daughter made an Instagram video about the couple that went viral, even catching the attention of actor Kristen Bell who shared it on her page.

Pam hopes that her story will inspire others to foster and adopt children, too.

“There are so many children in need of homes – as you know from doing your stories – and I feel this huge responsibility to make people aware of that,” Pam said. “I think it’s a whole world people don’t understand or know, but if they did – would have a heart for it.”

The internet can be a complicated place, but when you dig beneath social media’s problematic elements, there are so many gems of joy to be found. From personal triumphs to adorable animal encounters to delightful moments caught on film, here are 10 things guaranteed to bring a smile to your face this week.

1. Woman celebrates becoming a published author at age 83.

Mary V. Macauley said she couldn’t even send an email a short time ago, and now she’s officially a published author in her ninth decade of life. It’s never too late to follow your dreams, kids. (You can find her book “Free to Be Me” here.)

I am now a published author at 83.

Not too long ago, I couldn’t even send an email.

Very proud of myself!

— Mary V. Macauley (author at 83) (@MaryVMacauley)
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2. Daughter surprises her parents with her optometry school acceptance letter, and their reaction is priceless.

Her dad reading “Dear Gurjiv, COMMA” is just pure delight. So much joy in this family.

so i told my parents we were making a video for extra credit but what they actually read was my first acceptance in… https://t.co/sMfUVsnO8o

— ਗ (@jeeeverz)
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(Read the whole story here.)

3. Dog insists on joining a couple’s first dance as a married couple.

Doggo doesn’t want to be left out of the lovefest! Equally impressive and adorable.

Hey, don’t forget me. 😊❤️ https://t.co/UUPbiF7DYf

— Fred Schultz (@fred035schultz)
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4. Groom swats his bride’s face mid-wedding ceremony, and it’s actually hilariously sweet.

He was saving her from a bee! His expression after the instinctual swat is precious, their mutual laughter is adorable, and the officiant’s “There was a bee” clarification for the people in the back is just perfectly timed.

5. Woman shared a sweet story of beloved children’s author Eric Carle’s unexpected response to her missing cat poster.

Eric Carle, the creator of more than 70 children’s books including “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” didn’t just help a stranger look for her cat, but also supported her emotionally through the whole ordeal. She didn’t find out until afterward that the kind man who had helped her was famous children’s author. (Read the whole story here.)

Lara B. Sharp

6. The same judge who gave a drug dealer a second chance swears him in as a lawyer 16 years later.

Judge Todd Russell Perkins saw something in Edward Martell when he showed up to his court as a drug dealer 16 years ago. Martell got his life together and became a lawyer this month—a beautiful story of second chances and redemption. (Read the whole story here.)

7. Disabled man celebrates overcoming obstacles to achieve independent living

Reddit user u/A-a-ron98 shared his celebratory announcement that he’d moved into his own place, living 100% independently. “Adulting” is hard for many, but for people with disabilities, being able to live independently can be a significant challenge. The support on Reddit for this win was beautiful to see (in addition to the education of folks who didn’t understand that a disabled person can have a job.)

8. A woman who died at age 97 had her fudge recipe engraved on her tombstone.

There are people who take their secret recipes to their graves, and then there’s Kathryn Andrews, who had her fudge recipe engraved on hers. “She really loved people,” her family said. “She would take fudge whenever people got together.” Gonna have to try out this recipe now! (Read the whole story here.)

via Find a Grave

9. Donkey recognizes the girl who raised it and holy moly the reunion is beautiful.

Who says animals don’t have memories or emotions? Watch this donkey snuggle up to the girl who raised it and try not to smile. (Sound up.)

This donkey is reunited with the girl who raised it.. https://t.co/SAWNOhqESr

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_)
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10. Microscopic image shows that grass is always happy to see us.

Okay, so they’re actually “vascular bundles” that look like they’re smiling at us, but still. How fun is this? The image originally came from naturalist Phil Gates, who shares wonders of the microscopic world on his blog “Beyond the Human Eye,” and was shared by computational biologist Dr. Bethany Nichols on Twitter. Amazing.

This is what a blade of grass looks like under a microscope. Next time you take a walk outside, know that the grass… https://t.co/pSbS4QW4ua

— Bethany Nichols 🌿 Fronds with Benefits (@DrBethNichols)
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As we work on our individual and collective challenges, let’s also remember to celebrate the best of humanity wherever we see it. Joy is energizing, and the more we focus on what’s good in the world, the more vitality and strength we’ll have to confront the problems that need fixing to make it a better place for everyone.

We’re almost exactly two months away from the release of Billie Eilish’s highly anticipated second album, Happier Than Ever, which is set to drop on July 30. She has offered some previews of it so far and now Eilish has revealed that next week, we’re getting another advance look with a new song.

This afternoon, Eilish took to Instagram to share a silent five-second video of herself looking off-camera. She wrote in the caption, “new song out next week,” followed by four flushed face emojis. Finneas confirmed the news as well, tweeting after his sister’s announcement, “New billie song coming very soon.”

There’s no indication from Eilish or Finneas about which song she’ll be dropping. However, fans have speculated that Eilish shared what may be new lyrics in another Instagram post from a few days back, which she captioned, “if they listen through the wall.”

So far, Eilish has released “My Future,” “Therefore I Am,” and “Your Power” from Happier Than Ever. So, that leaves “Getting Older,” “I Didn’t Change My Number,” “Billie Bossa Nova,” “Oxytocin,” “Goldwing,” “Lost Cause,” “Halley’s Comet,” “Not My Responsibility,” “Over Heated,” “Everybody Dies,” “NDA,” “Happier Than Ever,” and “Male Fantasy” as Happier Than Ever songs that could be revealed next week. Of course, it’s also possible (albeit unlikely) that her new song isn’t from the upcoming album at all.

Happier Than Ever is out 7/30 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.

This weekend is unofficially the start of summer 2021. You know what the last 15 months have been like. So let’s skip rehashing that and get to the drinks. This summer calls for a serious drink to, well, party your face off with. And there’s really no better highball on earth to truly let loose with than the Long Island Iced Tea.

Much like “Hawaiian” Pizza hailing from Canada. The Long Island Iced Tea is from Tennessee. Moonshiner and barman Charlie “Old Man” Bishop devised the drink back during Prohibition to pack a punch and goddamn did he succeed. Though Bishop’s original recipe is slightly different from the bar standard of today, it’s undeniably a classic through and through.

We’ll make Charlie’s classic Long Island Iced Tea another time. Today, we’re making the standard, make-it-in-the-glass Long Island Iced Tea you can get at every bar from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It’s a powerful concoction of white rum, blanco tequila, dry gin, vodka, triple sec, simple syrup, lemon juice, and Coca-Cola. It’s… a lot and it’ll get you ready for dancing under the full moon all night, hell, all summer long.

Let’s get mixing!

Uproxx’s 2021 “Drink Of Summer” — Long Island Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 0.75-oz. white rum
• 0.75-oz. blanco tequila
• 0.75-oz. dry gin
• 0.75-oz. vodka
• 0.75-oz. triple sec
• 0.75-oz. simple syrup
• 0.75-oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1-oz. Coca-Cola
• Lemon wedge
• Ice

Use the bottles you have on hand. I just pulled what was at the front on my shelf and that ended up being Absolut Vodka, Havana Club 3 Anos Cubano Rum, Artingsall’s London Dry Gin, and Sierra Blanco Tequila. It really doesn’t matter beyond using spirits you actually like drinking. This is a mish-mash of flavors that somehow work a special sort of alchemy in the glass to really pop.

Other than that, I’m using classic Coke. You can use Coke Zero if you want. It’s perfectly fine. I actually used to love these with Cherry Coke Zero. But that was another time. You can also use Jarritos Mexican Cola or any bespoke cola you have in your area.

The last note I’d like to point out: Measure this out. Don’t be overly generous. This is already a powerful highball with a lot of booze. There are over three ounces of alcohol in this drink, making it a strong double. Add in the sugar high you get, and you have a drink that can put you on your ass pretty quick.

What You’ll Need:

• Highball glass (pre-chilled)
• Paring Knife
• Hand juicer
• Jigger
• Straw

Method:

• Cut a thin lemon wedge and cut the lemon in half.
• Grab your glass from the freezer.
• Fill with ice.
• Add the rum, tequila, gin, vodka, triple sec, syrup, and lemon juice.
• Drop in a straw and gently stir two or three times.
• Top with Coca-Cola and give it another gentle stir.
• Garnish with a lemon wedge.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

Ah-ha!

There’s that summer “let’s get f*cking crazy…” vibe I was looking for. This used to be my go-to drink when I got off work in the summers after busting my ass during double shifts at a Neapolitan pizzeria in D.C. Those were the sort of summers where the temperature was 90 degrees and the humidity was 100 percent and I was working next to an insanely hot, wood-fired pizza oven. But I knew I could head out after tip out and drink $4 Long Island Iced Teas in Adam’s Morgan ’til the sun came up. Good times.

This drink pulls off a crazy balancing act of marrying all the alcohols into a slightly citrus-forward base that’s countered by the sweetness of the cola and syrup with a touch of that Coke fizz keeping it light. It’s bold-yet-bright and yet you still know you’re drinking a strong drink.

Does this go down too easily? Of course. That’s the rep it has and it deserves that claim. Should you make a batch every weekend this summer? I think you know the answer to that.

Summer 2021 is officially ON!

Over the years, Russ and Rexx Life Raj have developed an easygoing and prolific creative chemistry, with Rexx appearing on Russ’s “On 10” and Russ returning the favor to appear on Rexx’s Father Figure 3 track “Falling.” Now, it’s back to Russ on the newly released “Private,” which Russ initially planned to release back in 2019 or 2020. However, the breakout success of his song “Best On Earth” with Bia — which caught the attention of Rihanna, among others — meant pivoting to work that record instead. Fortunately, as an independent artist, Russ is completely in control of his own release schedule.

The previously shelved song has a light melody, employing soft organs and keys as the backdrop for a romantic entreaty on which Russ raps and Raj sings, wisely splitting their shared talents between them to avoid cluttering up the track. It works as their prior collaborations have because it plays to both artists’ major strength: Emotive storytelling that doesn’t feel forced or corny — as seen on Russ tracks like “Hard For Me” and “Bankrupt” and Rexx Life singles “Built For Everything” and “Your Way” with Kehlani.

While Russ hasn’t mentioned any new projects in the works, he’s clearly got a backlog of strong songs just waiting for a home — even if he’s never truly embraced a traditional release format. Meanwhile, Rexx just released a three-song set of his own, which you can check out here.

Listen to “Private” above.

I’m still not entirely convinced Jim from The Office is directing these movies, but let’s say for the sake of argument that he is: John Krasinski is doing a solid job bringing back pulp filmmaking.

Certainly, A Quiet Place is a “gimmick” series, about aliens who can’t see but have acute hearing — the invention of writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, whose spec script Krasinski read in 2016. Krasinski, Woods, and Beck apply this basic conceit in service of an alien invasion movie that’s shot more like a horror movie than an action blockbuster. The scale is intimate, the CGI minimal, big battle scenes non-existent. It’s a popcorn movie shot at human scale, and in cutting out all the superfluous bullshit it manages to remind us that going to the movies can be fun.

At a time when imagery is more mundane and dime-a-million than ever, A Quiet Place provokes rapt attention to every frame, creating old-school Hitchcock suspense where the crunch of a leaf or the tumble of a pebble take on life-or-death importance. Gimmick or not, forcing the viewer to pay close attention to every frame is about the greatest trick a movie can play. It helps that Polly Morgan’s cinematography is lucid and captivating — you have to look, but you want to, too.

Picking up where A Quiet Place left off (I assume, I actually never saw it), A Quiet Place Part II follows Emily Blunt’s Evelyn, her deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe), and baby, whose name isn’t really important, as they set out from their woodsy home in search of… like, stuff to help them survive in the post-apocalyptic alienscape and whatnot (again, honestly, not that important). Regan has one weird trick that aliens hate — sticking her cochlear implant next to an amplifier to create shrieking feedback (good thing she never saw A Sound Of Metal, which would’ve almost certainly dissuaded her from getting a cochlear implant. And then where would this movie be?).

The family eventually finds a family friend, Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who helps them hide inside a mostly sound-proof furnace under three feet of concrete in an old factory. One day while fiddling with the dial on a transistor radio, Marcus comes across a radio station that only plays one song — “Across The Sea,” which Regan thinks might be a clue to where it’s broadcasting from. If she can get to the station, they can maybe find new people to chill with, and she might be able to do her feedback thingy on a massive scale, turning all transistor radios into potential stun guns and thus democratizing the means of killing bad guys.

And with that, I’ve described basically the entire movie. The fact that the story is straightforward is part of what makes A Quiet Place II work so well. Even the title is a clue to the film’s sensibilities. Before the film, I saw trailers for countless sequels, from Top Gun: Maverick to The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, and if you asked me to put the MCU movies in chronological order I’d probably have a nervous breakdown. How refreshing, how retro, how gloriously logical it is, then, for a sequel to just be called “Part II.”

The plot, which is essentially just a slightly less dumb version of Signs, is a basic framework into which Krasinski (allegedly) and Polly Morgan stuff all kinds of formalistically classical vignettes. The film is far more about the suspense of individual scenes than exactly where the characters are going and why. Shot vividly on 35mm film, A Quiet Place II is never not a master class in composition. It creates always a fully realized awareness of whatever space in which each scene takes place, with clear perspective and a dynamic range of different shots. The plot makes you study each frame intently, and the execution of each shot is so effective that your eyes never get bored. It’s just fundamentally sound, meat-and-potatoes filmmaking.

With its edge-of-your-seat suspense and ever-present tension, A Quiet Place II is the perfect movie to see in a theater, totally immersed and not checking your phone (though I will admit, there was a disgusting, round-bellied slob a few seats behind me open-mouthed chewing his popcorn more loudly than I’d previously thought possible during my screening).

With its lack of explosions, CGI, and giant battle scenes, perhaps the most important thing A Quiet Place II does is understand that the future of theatrical spectacle isn’t in trying to make movies “big,” it’s in making them small. It shrinks the alien invasion movie down to a human scale. Did I mention that the run time is 97 minutes? More of this, please.

A Quiet Place II is in theaters now. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Tucked inside The Hollywood Reporter‘s mammoth feature on “Hollywood’s Top 100 Attorneys” is an interesting nugget for fans of 2019’s controversial, yet highly lucrative Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix. In a blurb on power lawyer Warren Dern, THR reports that he inked a deal with Warner Bros. for Todd Phillips to “co-write the next Joker installment.” While this is exciting news for Joker fans who have been itching for a follow-up movie, there are no further details and Phillips has stepped in and denied overzealous reports of a sequel in the past.

Following Joker‘s surprising billion-dollar success at the box office, Phillips spoke candidly about the chance of a sequel, and he’s made it clear that there are two major hurdles that have to be cleared: First and foremost, Phoenix’s involvement, which is in no way guaranteed, and a story that can match the “resonance” of the first film. Via Deadline:

“When a movie does $1 billion and cost $60 million to make, of course it comes up,” he laughed. “But Joaquin and I haven’t really decided on it. We’re open. I mean, I’d love to work with him on anything, quite frankly. So who knows? But it would have to have a real thematic resonance the way this one did, ultimately being about childhood trauma and the lack of love, and the loss of empathy. All those things are really what made this movie work for us, so we’d have to have something that had an equal thematic resonance.”

Of course, having a story that can get Phoenix on board is key, and if Warner Bros. is eager to get a Joker sequel going, we may be witnessing the beginning steps of that process by commissioning Phillips to co-write a compelling script for the actor.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Elton John has achieved a lot during his lengthy and illustrious career, so he was a natural choice to be given the iHeartRadio Icon Award at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards last night. iHeartRadio went all out with honoring the legend, too, as they pulled out all the stops.

The award was presented to John by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who ran through some comedic fake facts about John. Lil Nas X then joined in to pay tribute. After the award presentation, there was a tribute performance from Demi Lovato, HER, and Brandi Carlile. HER started by playing “Bennie And The Jets’ at a piano, when then segued into Carlile performing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.” Lovato wrapped things up with a rendition of “I’m Still Standing,” and John himself even joined in during the song’s climax.

Ahead of the performances, John also gave an acceptance speech and thanked the aforementioned artists for paying tribute to him. He also spoke about how stunned he was by American radio early in his career, saying, “When I first came to Los Angeles in 1970, radio was so important. I’d never heard radio in America before because I had never been here before, but it was just incredible to me. In England, we had one station. Over here, you’d have music coming out of the radio in all sorts of formats, all sorts of styles… I was a pig in sh*t, basically.”

Watch some clips from the show below.

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

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the the best new R&B jams that fans should hear.

This week, Tone Stith released another slow jam titled “Like The First Time” in anticipation of his upcoming EP FWM, Justine Skye dropped off her song “Twisted Fantasy” featuring Rema, and JoJo shared her latest “Creature Of Habit.”

Tone Stith — “Like The First Time”

Tone Stith is coming into his own and the sensual “Like The First Time,” is an example of that. It’s the third single off his upcoming project FWM and is a great representation of the potential the talented singer-songwriter holds (as if his essentially perfect vocals aren’t enough) for the future of R&B.

Justine Skye — “Twisted Fantasy” Feat. Rema

Justine Skye‘s Space & Time with Timbaland is on the way and ahead of its release, she shares her visual for “Twisted Fantasy” featuring Nigerian star Rema. Space & Time is the follow-up to 2020’s Bare With Me: The Album and created over Instagram Live with Timbo during the pandemic. “My story and my sound finally unite,” she said in a statement. “I’ve never been as vulnerable or as candid as I am on this album. I’m really laying it all out, having fun, talking sh*t, and being me.”

JoJo — “Creature Of Habit”

JoJo‘s latest release “Creature Of Habit” is a relatable song that finds JoJo surrounding to the vulnerabilities one can have when dealing with a passionate yet toxic situation when the red flags can look like Six Flags. “‘Creature Of Habit’ is about someone who feels addicted to the habit of a relationship, even though they’re not truly happy in it,” JoJo explained in a statement. “Having experienced my own cycles of habits allowed me to find aspects of myself in the lyrics.”

Mereba — AZEB

Mereba’s AZEB features seven songs that live in a world where futuristic R&B reigns supreme. It’s a powerful project intertwined with an equally powerful message submerged in Black excellence. “This year has shown us that that is actually more of us than many people thought,” she said in a statement. “I want to remind people of love, too. The very thing we deserve the right to do and to be.”

Asiahn — “OMW”

Following The Interlude EP, Asiahn arrives with something fresh in the form of “OMW.” It’s an introspective slow jam that’s both comforting and motivating.

PxRRY — “Misbehaving” Feat. Eric Bellinger

Summer is here and it sounds like Pxrry and Eric Bellinger have the perfect summertime track with “Misbehaving.” Press play and find out why “Misbehaving” is a fan favorite.

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