Category: News

Netflix’s The Kissing Booth managed to be both objectively bad and insanely popular, and that combination made it one of the most watched (and re-watched) titles of 2018. So of course a sequel was bound to happen, and the film’s viewers will see The Kissing Booth 2 land later this month. If you’re wondering what the fuss is all about, this trailer can be absorbed without watching the original, and essentially, Joey King’s character got the guy (played by Jacob Elordi) last time around, and now, viewers will wonder how long it will take before all the clichés about cheating come true.

It doesn’t seem to be taking too long! This followup, which is also based upon Beth Reekles’ The Kissing Booth books, sees Jacob’s Noah flying off to college, where he’s (naturally) surrounded by beautiful women. Meanwhile, Joey King’s Elle is still stuck in high school, where a new handsome guy shows up. Also, her best friend’s mad at her, and parents (probably) just don’t understand, and you know how it all goes. If the sequel goes the way of the first film, all formulas and tropes shall stay intact, but fans will nonetheless watch it happen.

From the synopsis:

Elle Evans (Joey King) just had the most romantic summer of her life with her reformed bad-boy boyfriend Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi). But now Noah is off to Harvard, and Elle heads back to high school for her senior year. She’ll have to juggle a long-distance relationship, getting into her dream college with her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney), and the complications brought on by a close friendship with a handsome, charismatic new classmate named Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez). When Noah grows close to a seemingly-perfect college girl (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Elle will have to decide how much she trusts him and to whom her heart truly belongs.

The Kissing Booth 2 arrives on July 24.

It’s nice to know that some things stay the same, all the time, no matter what else is happening around them. The sun, for example. For the foreseeable future, you can bank on the sun rising every morning and burning yellow and hot in the sky. You can bank on pizza being delicious, too, even when it’s kind of bad, because pizza is tougher to destroy than any superhero, including Wolverine, a character whose whole gimmick is being impossible to destroy. And, if you’re the type of person who enjoys fancy but stressful period dramas that involve a murder or many murders, you can also bank on seeing Matthew Rhys looking just as miserable as hell on your television every couple years.

It’s happening again right now, every Sunday night, on HBO’s reimagined prequel-y version of Perry Mason. This version of the famous Raymond Burr character is not a lawyer, not yet, but an extremely hard-boiled private investigator instead, one who is usually drunk or hungover, one whose family farm is failing, one who manages to maintain a perfect “I’m not sleeping enough because of my demons, which I do not want to talk about, please pour the whiskey and leave the bottle” length of stubble on his face. He is also, as you probably know or have guessed by now, played by Matthew Rhys. Here are a few screencaps of Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason.

Have you ever in your entire life seen a more miserable looking sack of meat than this Perry Mason? Look at that face. He looks like he just found out his dog died, in every picture, multiple times in every episode, as though he keeps forgetting his beloved dog died and finds out again every couple hours, or as though he has a number of dogs that are getting systematically murdered by some deranged monster. The man has not had a good day in a number of days. Months. Years. I’m not entirely sure he’s ever had a good day, now that I think about it. It looks like it would physically hurt him to smile, just because the muscles that curl the edges up his lips out and up are probably so atrophied that they can’t bear the weight of the skin and tissue they’re trying to lift. He’s not a happy man. This is what I’m getting at.

Here are some more images of him looking hopelessly despondent.

I should note here that I’m bringing this up only because it’s true and because it fascinates me, not because it’s something that needs to be changed. Matthew Rhys plays a sad loser better than anyone on the planet. I don’t think it’s even all that close, really. A lot of it has to do with him being a terrific actor, which he is, and we’ll be discussing this with more depth shortly. Some of it is just the things he can do with his face. Look at his eyes in those pictures. Look at how sad and empty they are. His mouth dives into a frown so deep you’d need a submersible to retrieve it. Even his cheeks seem to hang off of his face whenever he wills them to, like he suddenly channeled a bulldog through sorcery. We all have gifts. This is his. He is not wasting it even a little.

In fact, let’s back up a bit, in two ways. Remember a few paragraphs ago when I said, “Have you ever in your entire life seen a more miserable looking sack of meat than this Perry Mason?” Well, you might have, provided you watched The Americans. The Americans was great. It was a show about two married Russian spies posing as an American family in the Beltway during the Cold War. It was also a show about the struggle between family and work and how sometimes doing what you think is right can make your life impossible. But primarily, it was about Matthew Rhys looking like a guy who had the will to live removed from his body every morning with some sort of giant, painful suction system.

Here are some screencaps of Matthew Rhys as Russian spy Philip Jennings in The Americans.

This doesn’t do it justice, but it’s a start. Philip Jennings was a defeated man in every way. It got to the point that I started doing a series of recap-style posts for the show titled “The Americans Anxiety Report,” in which I ranked characters and things from the show that made me anxious that week, and the entry for Philip Jennings was always just screencaps of his frowning face. I finally broke down and wrote an entire article titled “Philip Jennings Is The Saddest Man On Television.” No one argued with me about that article. Do you understand? I posted an article with a bold claim for a headline, on the internet, and no one argued with me about it. It might be the only thing the internet has ever agreed on.

And how could anyone disagree with it? Look at this series of screencaps from a conversation he had on the show.

The combination of face and dialogue is one of the most heartbreaking things you’ll ever see. There’s almost no way to make it sadder. The key word in that sentence, for the record, is “almost,” because this is where I inform you that he was saying those words to — and making that face at — his son, Henry, a sweet boy who just wanted to play hockey and tinker with computers. Devastating in every way.

Sometimes he was even sad in a disguise.

I don’t know why, but this bummed me out even more than when he was sad with his regular face. Kind of like seeing someone turn into a puddle of tears at the end of their own Halloween party. It happened a lot, too. He was sad in dozens of wigs and fake mustaches and outfits. The only time I can remember him being happy was when he put on cowboy boots and went line dancing with the employees of the travel agency he operated as a front. Think about that one. The only true joy he — a Russian spy trapped in a life he hated more and more every day — experienced in his whole tragic life was doing the single most stereotypically American thing possible. Even his joy is layered in sadness. Are you seeing my point yet?

It’s started crossing into movies, too, from the small screen to the big. He recently starred in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood as a reporter whose life is changed while working on a story about Mr. Rogers, played by Tom Hanks. Sounds great, right? It is! But his road to happiness has to start somewhere, and in this movie, it starts… here.

Do you want to know the craziest part of all this? The part that turns this whole exercise on its head a little bit? Matthew Rhys, King of the Hangdog Character, Undisputed Champion of Prestige Television Misery, is… a delightful man. An absolute giggly, silly goofball. I know this because I’ve seen The Wine Show, a European food and travel series that is available on Hulu in which he and countryman Matthew Goode gallivant all over the continent to learn about wine from a series of experts. It is, I promise, lovely. My favorite segment involves the two of them learning about ridiculous wine gizmos while doing awful James Bond accents. It happens every episode.

I don’t think my words are getting this across very well. I think the season one blooper reel will do a much better job.

My working theory is that the beard makes him happy.

A big part of me wants to see Matthew Rhys in the wackiest comedy you can imagine, a modern-day Dumb and Dumber, just to watch him cut loose for a couple hours. Another part of me — the wiser, more rational, much smaller part — isn’t so sure. Maybe if you do something better than anyone else in the world you should do that thing whenever you have the chance. There’s a brilliance here that the world deserves to see. Even if that brilliance is pure misery.

It’s settled. The king stays the king. A hug every now and then wouldn’t hurt, though.

Both Microsoft and Sony have offered glimpses at what their upcoming next generation consoles — the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 — will deliver to gamers later this year. Back in May, Xbox held a gameplay showcase that introduced some of the titles coming to the Series X — albeit with not a ton of actual gameplay — and PlayStation held a similar event in June that gave a look at a new Spiderman title and more.

As we roll towards what would have been E3 season, we will be getting even more online events to show off new games and the next-gen consoles, starting with an Xbox Game Showcase on Thursday, July 23 at 9 a.m. PT. There will be plenty of anticipation for big announcements at this event, but we can already check off one big name that will have a prime spot, as the Halo account teased Halo Infinite gameplay will be part of the showcase.

The cinematic trailer for the game was part of the last Xbox showcase, and the gameplay offered up of Halo Infinite figures to be one of the centerpieces of this month’s event.

We’ll surely be getting more announcements on dates for various developer events in the near future, but for now you can go ahead and mark July 23 on your calendar.

Pharrell if officially linking up with Netflix for a new docuseries. The singer is the mastermind behind the upcoming series, Voices Of Fire, which will take an unscripted look at the rich community of gospel singers in his Virginia Beach hometown.

The new docuseries will center around Pharrell’s uncle, Bishop Ezekiel Williams, who is a well-respected musician and singer in Virginia. Voices Of Fire will follow Bishop Williams and a core team of influential gospel leaders as they seek out a group of the area’s most talented voices. Throughout the series, Bishop Williams and his fellow musicians aim to build an inspiring team of singers by finding those with diverse backstories of all ages and ethnicities.

Pharrell will serve as the Voices Of Fire executive producer through his media company, I Am Other. Along with working behind-the-scenes Pharrell will also briefly appear in front of the camera to assist his uncle’s search for talent. According to Variety, those close to Pharrell say the project inspires and is “just what we need right now.”

Pharrell announced Voices Of Fire Sunday alongside Bishop Williams. The announcement arrived during their digital appearance at this year’s Essence Festival as they discussed the intersection of art and faith.

Ever since starting his Young Money Radio podcast, Lil Wayne has gotten accustomed to being the interviewer rather than the subject, but gladly switched chairs for a new interview about the podcast with Variety magazine. While much of the exchange focuses on the podcast itself, Wayne does find a few moments to talk about other things important to him, including his charitable donations, teasing a potential new Carter album, and soul legend Betty Wright, who was a personal friend and inspiration to him.

Wayne goes so far as to call Wright “a mother” to him and describes how he came to know her music and its effect on him. “Ms. Betty was like a mom,” he said. “I became a fan as a kid because my mom would listen to her sh*t loud as f*ck in the crib while she’d be getting dressed. What stuck out was the talking on the records that Ms. B would so famously do. Another interesting and consistent fact about it all is that whoever played her songs knew every word of the talking part! As a kid, you’d have to sit there and have them try to act like Ms. B and talk to you like that. It obviously stuck with me. I met her when I moved to Miami, she was nothing but a mother ever since. Not only to me but my friends and my daughter as well. She’s more than missed by myself and a world of others. I have a lot to thank her for but I thank her most for my musical confidence! I can do anything.”

Of that possible new Carter entry, Wayne responds to a question about his favorite Carter album by hinting, “My favorite Carter album is the next one.”

Read Lil Wayne’s full interview with Variety here.

Hip-hop heads love to rank rappers, and the rappers themselves have been getting in on the fun lately. Over the past few months, rappers like Drake and Eminem have shared who their favorites are, and now so too has Freddie Gibbs.

Guesting on a recent episode of the Bootleg Kev podcast, Gibbs was asked to name his five favorite rappers who are active today, and he obliged. He started the list with Kendrick Lamar and himself before mentioning Pusha T and Drake. After taking a minute to think about it, he threw Black Thought from The Roots on the list in the final spot. Kev then added Benny The Butcher and Killer Mike as his runners up, with which Gibbs agreed.

Before that part of the conversation, Gibbs discussed his appreciation for Lamar, saying, “I look at him and I be like, ‘Yeah, he’s sharp,’ you know what I mean? I wanna just be sharp like that. He’s one of the only n****s that I look at like that. Him and Black Thought. I be like, ‘Damn.’ I damn near don’t like doing songs with Black Thought.”

Watch Gibbs discuss Lamar and his other favorite rappers above.

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

The WNBA is preparing to begin a 22-game season in Bradenton, Florida at IMG Academy later this month, although a number of big names from Liz Cambage to Natasha Cloud to Jonquel Jones have all opted out of the restart. On Monday, the league announced the overall results of the first round of COVID-19 testing, indicating that seven of the 137 players tested came back positive.

As the release notes, the Indiana Fever have delayed their arrival to IMG Academy due to self-quarantine protocol, which would seem to indicate they had at least one of the players that tested positive after having interacted with others on the team. The good news is that, per Howard Megdal, none of the league’s staff or coaches headed to the IMG bubble tested positive in the first round of testing.

As for how the WNBA will handle testing on site, Arielle Chambers offered some clarification on that process, noting players will arrive in Bradenton, be tested, and then quarantine for four days before testing again and beginning practicing.

Like with the NBA’s first round of testing, positive results were expected — and having no staff test positive is indeed a rare bit of good news right now. The question, like every other bubble league, is whether they can successfully keep an outbreak from occurring once in Florida, particularly with players traveling commercial into a hotzone. That will be the big hurdle they must clear, and it remains to be seen if the four-day isolation period is long enough to detect any cases that may have been contracted during travel.

Hopefully it is and the league can begin its season as planned, but this coming week will be critical to whether that happens.

While speaking at a Black Lives Matter rally last month, John Boyega expressed concern that speaking out against racism might end his career, but “f*ck that,” as the Star Wars actor put it. “Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting,” he said. The speech was met with support from many filmmakers, including Oscar winners Matthew A. Cherry and Jordan Peele and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and thankfully, Boyega’s career isn’t over: on Monday, it was announced that he joined the cast of Borderland, alongside Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Felicity Jones (Rogue One), and Jack Reynor (Midsommar).

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Borderland, directed by the Guard Brothers (The Uninvited), follows “Irish paramilitary Michael (Reynor), who, after a border ambush goes wrong, witnesses the shooting of his pregnant wife at the hands of an SAS sergeant Tempest (Boyega). When Tempest is sent back to London to lead a covert counter-terrorist operation, Michael joins a ruthless active service unit (ASU) wreaking havoc in the capitol. For Michael, the mission is personal — to hunt down Tempest — and he’ll stop at nothing to avenge his wife’s death.” Borderland should not be confused with Borderlands, although if Boyega wants to join Cate Blanchett, that would be cool, too:

“Borderland is a vengeance-fueled chase movie, fusing some pulse ticking action with a powerful message for our times,” said the Guard Brothers. “We’re thrilled that the script, driven as much by character as it is by plot, has attracted such a first-rate cast.”

Boyega is also set to star in Rebel Ridge, from Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Dreamville‘s Revenge Of The Dreamers III is officially a year old, and in celebration, the label’s president, Ibrahim Hamad, shared a new video of more behind-the-scenes footage from the vaunted Atlanta recording sessions for the album. The sessions included 100 artists and producers who were invited to collaborate on songs for a week, with the album — and its deluxe version — eventually bringing many of those participants their first platinum plaques.

“One year ago today we released Revenge of the Dreamers III,” he wrote. “Today in honor of that we put together some unreleased footage from those legendary sessions. Love to everyone who was a part of this album, and to the fans that always support Dreamville. Enjoy.”

The ten-minute video features more footage of the recording process from the sessions, as well as an impromptu J. Cole freestyle. The end results of the sessions included a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, as well as the singles, “Down Bad,” “Sacrifices,” “Under The Sun,” “LamboTruck,” and the recently released single “Don’t Hit Me Right Now.”

Watch Dreamville’s behind-the-scenes footage of their Revenge Of The Dreamers III recording sessions.

Typically this time of year, Kenny “The Jet” Smith is traversing the world and helping young hoopers hone their craft. With most of the world on lockdown and kids losing out on valuable chances to get better, Smith sprung into action with the Jet Academy, a live virtual basketball camp stacked with NBA and WNBA All-Stars who will give real-time advice and constructive criticism to kids from all over the globe.

Though other initiatives from the Jr. NBA and National Academy of Athletics have sprouted up during the pandemic, Smith knew his connections in pro basketball and his investment had the chance to take this program over the top. With kids of his own, Smith noticed there was no interest in popping into a video from months ago and watching for minutes on end, no matter how helpful the information.

“The one thing that separates from what everyone else is doing is, our kids consume and produce information differently, so I thought it had to be live,” Smith told Dime. “Our kids don’t consume information like that. They’ve been going to Zoom school and every social media site that has a live aspect to it, that’s what’s been the most popular, so they consume information live.”

Smith partnered up with some of the biggest names in basketball in order to turn this into a reality. All-Stars and MVPs from the NBA and WNBA will broadcast live on a daily basis, with many broadcasting straight from bubble leagues in Florida. The list so far includes Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Kemba Walker, Trae Young, Brittney Griner, and Victor Oladipo, with more to come.

The decision to incorporate WNBA stars was deliberate, Smith said. Too many camps overlook the fact that young women will participate and want individualized attention and to see themselves represented by their mentors.

“That was a very conscious thought, to say not only that I’m going to have them in the program, but have just as many,” Smith said. “In terms of women’s sports, a lot of moms, a lot of dads even realize (how many) less opportunities women get in sports. We all know how the association of team sports helps you develop as a person. I would have been remiss not to have that equal opportunity.”

The camp was created with inclusion and modern technology at the front of Smith’s mind, helping to manifest what Smith believes is true: Winter is where teams are made, but summer is when players are made. It may not be a substitute for AAU or in-person training, but at $29 per month, it’s a cost-effective semblance of summer workouts, with some of the most talented teachers on the planet.

When Smith asked the pro stars to help out, he made sure to tell Walker to teach the campers his trusty step-back crossover move. Walker might have to show modifications for younger campers, Smith admitted, but it’s impossible to measure how cool it will be for young girls and boys to hear directly from someone like the Boston Celtics’ star about one of the most iconic moves in basketball. He did, however, have one reservation.

“If I see Patrick Beverley online,” Smith recalled Walker saying, “I’m going to stop the session.”

Despite the majority of attention focused on the pros, great athletes understand what’s being lost if kids miss extended time in their childhood to work on their game and just be active and be on teams. Smith said in conversations with youth and college coaches, the belief is eyes will be turned toward the NBA restart to determine the viability of future on-court work and competition.

Until then, he wants to give them the chance to learn from the best. Smith himself is set to begin work on Inside the NBA again this month, so campers are effectively in line to be taught by a pro analyst on the biggest NBA show on television, as well as multiple pro All-Stars, from their bubble bunkers. It’s a symbol of Smith’s dedication, as well as the bizarre realities of summer 2020. The current situation of right now, however, is temporary, and on the other side, life will hopefully get to some sense of normalcy.

When that day comes, Smith wants to make sure that hoopers all over the world are prepared to get back into the gym and compete, asking Dime, “Why should kids who want to make their junior high school team, their high school team or play well in college stop because of social distancing?”