Category: Trending

While the real Will Smith is still working to rehab his Hollywood image following his hand connecting with Chris Rock’s face — a.k.a. the slap heard ‘round the world — at the 2022 Oscars, the fake Will Smith (Jabari Banks) is still living with fictional auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.

Following on the heels of Cobra Kai and other small-screen nostalgia plays, Bel-Air — a reimagined and definitely darker and more dramatic version of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the goofy sitcom that helped turn (the real) Smith into a Hollywood powerhouse — premiered in 2022 to generally positive reviews. Yes, even without a Carlton Dance to lean back on whenever the storylines seemed sluggish. Of course, it didn’t take long for Peacock to order a second season of the series, which is executive produced by Smith himself. Bel-Air season 2 made its triumphant return on February 23, 2023, when the first three of the season’s 10 episodes dropped.

If you haven’t given the gritty reboot a chance yet, you can stream all of season 1 on Peacock now. Since the first season, too, consists of just 10 hour-long episodes, that should give you plenty of time to catch up to the show’s existing fan base, who are turning into Peacock each week to watch new episodes once they drop Thursdays at 5:01 am EST/ 2:01 am PST.

Latto’s “Genius Of Love”-sampling 2021 single “Big Energy” has been her biggest hit to date. As it turns out, though, the song almost went to another artist, Cardi B. However, according to songwriter Theron Thomas, when the opportunity to put it into Latto’s capable hands arose, the original plans for the song changed quickly.

As a guest on the podcast See, The Thing Is… Thomas recounted how “Big Energy” wound up delivering a smash for Latto instead of Cardi B, its intended recipient. “We went to Hawaii, I wrote it to that beat, and met Latto, and she was like, ‘Yeah man, you know, I want to do some crossover sh*t,’” he recalled.

“When I meet an artist and they tell me they want to do something, it’s like, okay cool. Cardi never got to hear it. We didn’t get it to her.”

After premiering the song at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, Latto officially released it in September 2021. As it rose on the Billboard charts over the next six months, she was able to tap Mariah Carey, whose 1995 hit “Fantasy” also sampled “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, to appear on the remix. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance.

It was also the basis of Latto’s feud with Nicki Minaj after Nicki argued that “Big Energy” should be nominated for a pop award instead. Nicki’s own song, “Super Freaky Girl,” was shortlisted as a pop song, and she compared the two songs on Twitter. Latto responded, “Damn I can’t win for losing… all these awards/noms I can’t even celebrate,” leading to open hostilities between the two rappers that apparently even continued into a new song Latto debuted at Coachella. Just imagine if the song had gone to Cardi; that feud might have been even worse than it is already.

Watch the full episode of See, The Thing Is… above.

Foo Fighters are back. Today (April 19), the band announced their new album, But Here We Are, which is set to arrive this summer. Ahead of the album, the band has dropped the lead single, “Rescued.”

Fans have several questions about the album, including whether or not the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins, will be featured on it.

According to a press release, But Here We Are follows “a year of staggering losses, personal introspection, and bittersweet remembrances,” so it’s possible that Hawkins’ work isn’t featured on the album. But there’s also a chance some of his previously unreleased recordings could’ve been used for new material.

While these details seem to be kept under wraps for the time being, we’ve put together a guide of what we know about But Here We Are.

Release date

But Here We Are is out 6/2 via Roswell Records and RCA. Find more information here.

Singles

The album’s first single, “Rescued,” is available for streaming now.

Tracklist

You can see the tracklist below.

1. “Rescued”
2. “Under You”
3. “Hearing Voices”
4. “But Here We Are”
5. “The Glass”
6. “Nothing At All”
7. “Show Me How”
8. “Beyond Me”
9. “The Teacher”
10. “Rest”

Features

The shared track list does not appear to have any featured collaborators.

Artwork

You can see the artwork below — we promise, it’s there.

While Love is Blind was busy causing chaos and catastrophe on Netflix, one of the streamer’s original shows has continued to quietly dominate the top spot with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

The Night Agent has been climbing up the Netflix Global Top 10 since premiering last month, with over 90 million hours viewed in the last week. The series stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a young FBI agent who is thrown into the world of wide-scale political conspiracies while working as a (you guessed it) night agent in The White House.

The series, based on the novel of the same name, was created by Shawn Ryan, who recently took to Twitter to share his appreciation for the fans of the series. “A continued thanks to all our #TheNightAgent fans who keep watching the show and spreading the word,” he tweeted, adding that it can be hard to work on a show like this without knowing if it will land with viewers. “You make these shows in a vacuum and don’t know if people will ever watch or appreciate, so to hit #6 on @Netflix all time list is thrilling and humbling.”

Season one also landed at No. 6 on Netflix’s Top 10 of all time, which is based on hours viewed in their first 28 days on Netflix. The series was watched over 605 million hours in the first month, beating out Stranger Things season 3. Luckily, season two of the series has already been greenlit, and Ryan confirmed that it’s being written at the moment.

As the series keeps climbing, we might have to see The Night Agent battle it out against Wednesday and Stranger Things 4. Who would win in a fight: demon Vecna, a teenage goth, or a government agent? It’s impossible to know.

(Via Twitter)

WARNING: Spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3 finale below.

With The Mandalorian Season 3 finally coming to a close, Star Wars fans are having a hard time hiding their emotions over the finale’s surprisingly heartwarming conclusion. There was a feeling of dread going into Chapter 24 as online chatter and words from the creative team seemed to suggest that that a brutal gut punch was coming. (Mando dying was the prominent theory.) Instead, the Season 3 finale hit in a different way: Right in the feels.

After a daring assault on Moff Gideon’s secret base, which saw Mando and Grogu fight side-by-side to defeat a deadly group of Praetorian Guards, the Imperial warlord is finally vanquished after a showdown with Bo-Katan. With Gideon’s forces destroyed, the Mandalorians can finally resume life on Mandalorian after being run off by the Empire. More importantly, The Armorer now has access to the legendary Living Waters where she can now baptize new members into her covert.

However, there’s a small hitch when Mando attempts to have Grogu moved from foundling to apprentice after his heroic actions. The little guy still cannot speak the creed and would need permission from his parents to partake in the ceremony. Since he has no parents, Mando steps up and cements the relationship that The Mandalorian has been building towards since audience’s saw Grogu little finger for the first time: Mando will adopt him as his son.

With The Armorer’s blessing, Grogu is now named “Din Grogu” and must now travel the galaxy learning from his father. Even better, the episode ends with the duo living peacefully in a space cabin, awaiting their next adventure. The Mandalorian fans didn’t even know how to react. This was not the emotional ending they were expecting for this season, and they could barely contain their feelings at seeing Mando and Grogu officially become father and son.

You can see some of the reactions below:

The Mandalorian Seasons 1-3 are available for streaming on Disney+.

Yesterday, Netflix announced that it will stop sending DVDs through the mail at the end of September. So you’ll have to look elsewhere for one of the worst movies of the 2010s — like the Netflix top 10.

The Snowman is a famously terrible film. The “grim, dim, snowbound thriller” from 2017 has a six percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and even the film’s director, Tomas Alfredson, had a miserable time making it. “Our shoot time in Norway was way too short, we didn’t get the whole story with us and when we started cutting we discovered that a lot was missing,” he told the Norwegian Broadcast Corporation. “It’s like when you’re making a big jigsaw puzzle and a few pieces are missing, so you don’t see the whole picture.”

The Snowman had been retired to the meme bargain bin, but it’s currently — and bizarrely — the most-watched movie on Netflix in the United States. Tens of thousands of subscribers decided, all at once, that instead of Phantom Thread or Lord of the Rings or The Irishman, they would prefer to watch a movie where Michael Fassbender plays a sad detective named Harry Hole.

This is a case not even Mister Police could solve.

This is what Netflix should actually apologize for.

Today, Foo Fighters unveiled “Rescued,” the first single from their newly-announced album, But Here We Are. Following last year’s death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, fans are also wondering if he had recorded anything that will be included on the LP.

According to Billboard, at the time they published the article, it was not determined who plays drums on “Rescued” or who will assist Foo Fighters at their forthcoming shows. The band’s spokesperson also did not return any requests for comment from the publication, adding to the mystery.

The Spotify credits for the song also don’t offer much insight, as it is listed solely as performed and written by the Foo Fighters, with co-production by Greg Kurstin.

“A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year, But Here We Are is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family,” a press release describes, which appears to suggest the album was all written after Hawkins’ passing.

It also notes that they’ll be channeling an energy similar to their 1995 debut album as a way of healing through the sound and “a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life.”

Check out “Rescued” above.

But Here We Are is out 6/2 via Roswell Records/RCA Records. Find more information here.

After a vibrant performance at Coachella last weekend, Blackpink has shared their much-anticipated “Carpool Karaoke” segment. The ladies stopped by The Late Late Show With James Corden for one of the show’s final episodes and sang some tunes with the show’s host.

Corden and the ladies kicked things off with “Pink Venom,” the lead single from Blackpink’s second album, Born Pink. Shortly after, they recall training on how to dance a decade prior, and challenge Corden to show off his best krumping moves.

They then take it back to one of their earlier hits, “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” dancing and grooving throughout.

The girls then explained their training routines, and recalled growing up with their goals in mind. They reminisced fondly over the music of their fellow girl group, TLC.

“They had vocals, they had raps, and they had a bit of hip-hop,” said Jennie.

Corden then asked if they wanted to sing some TLC, to which they responded with an enthusiastic, unanimous “Yes!”

Corden and Blackpink belted out “No Scrubs,” taking us back to the ’90s.

Shortly after, Corden ran down the girls’ accolades, noting that they were the most subscribed-to act on YouTube, globally, and that they were the first K-pop group with a number-one album on the Billboard 200. He then challenged them to break even more records, like the fastest time to assemble a Mr. Potato Head toy, the most handclaps in one minute, and the most Jenga blocks removed from a tower in one minute.

Check out the clip above.

Netflix has been teasing an expanded game section for long enough that fans started doubting it would ever happen. But, as with most Netflix features, it just took them a little while to follow through with it. We all know the streamer has a bit of a commitment problem.

The streamer confirmed in its 2023 Q1 earnings call that a handful of new games are on the way. And by “handful” they mean “truckload” since there are quite a few of them. Without providing too many details, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters announced that 40 (!) new games will be added to the service throughout the rest of the year.

Even though there are already 50+ games on Netflix’s mobile app that are included with a user’s monthly subscription fee, a whopping 99% of users had yet to try out the feature as of last summer. It’s not like there aren’t exclusives on there either: the existing library includes three Stranger Things-inspired games, an interactive thriller game (featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe) and, perhaps the best title of all, Hello Kitty and Friends Happiness Parade. There is truly something for everyone, here.

While none of the new titles have been confirmed, the streamer loves to incorporate their original shows into games. Some other existing titles include a game based on Narcos, Nailed it! and, somehow, the dating reality show Too Hot To Handle. Does this mean we will get a Wednesday-inspired mobile game in the future? It’s seeming more and more likely. Now people just have to actually play them.

(Via ComicBook)

George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh stopped by this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival to reminisce about the Ocean’s Eleven series, which just celebrated the 15th anniversary of Ocean’s Thirteen hitting theaters.

While regaling the audience with how the iconic first film came together, Clooney revealed the A-listers who turned down the heist movie, but not before getting in a good Batman quip after the crowd surprisingly went wild at the mention of Batman and Robin, which the actor had just noted was a low point in his career.

“I know you like that movie,” Clooney joked. “I know you like the bat nipples.”

According to Clooney, Julia Roberts was easy to lock down thanks to a charming note from the actor and her previous working relationship with Soderbergh on Erin Brockovich. But other big names didn’t hesitate to shoot down a part in the Ocean’s Eleven remake.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

That doesn’t mean it was all smooth sailing though. Clooney confirmed reports that both Mark Wahlberg and Johnny Depp were approached for Damon’s role as Linus. “Steven had just done Erin Brockovich and Traffic, and he was nominated for directing both films,” Clooney said. “So, people really wanted to work with Steven.”

“That said, some people did say no to us,” interjected Soderbergh.

“They did,” agreed Clooney. “Some very famous people told us to f— right off. Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp. There were others.”

“They regret it now,” Clooney noted before making it clear that he knows the feeling all too well. “I regret doing f—ing Batman.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)