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On this week’s episode Ian and I covered a wide range of topics, like we always do. But we also acknowledged an obvious fact at the start: Neither one of us is as good at music criticism as Jamie Lee Curtis. Her idea to have more matinee concerts is brilliant. (At least I think so — Ian disagrees.)

In our mailbag, we address the state of bands performing on late night television. Doesn’t it seem like that golden era of a band killing it and then going viral with a late-night performance is over? It’s been a while since it happened, right? We also counted down some of our favorite performances, which I also recounted in this column from 2021.

Then we delved into the meat of the episode, which included a discussion about my recent Bruce Springsteen live experience; the controversy over The Weeknd’s new HBO show and whether he’s too big to cancel; the rumors about a possible reunion tour by The Hotelier; and the recent wave of dance-punk bands inspired by the mid-aughts, including Model/Actriz and The Dare.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian recommends the latest album by Slowthai, Ugly, while I give props to the brand new EP by Manchester Orchestra, The Valley Of Vision and the excellent new single by Ratboys, “Black Earth, WI.”

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 129 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Scream VI stabbed its way into theaters today and is already terrifying audiences by unleashing a wildly brutal and aggressive new Ghostface in Manhattan. This one’s hellbent on hunting down Jenna Ortega and it’s not about to let a sprawling metropolis get in the way. In another new twist for the horror series, Scream VI has also bucked tradition by including the franchise’s first post-credits scene.

However, in a very on-brand move for the Scream films, which started out by having Jamie Kennedy’s Randy Meeks pick apart predictable horror movie cliches, the Scream VI post-credits scene mocks the cinematic trend that’s become a recurring staple for Marvel, the Fast & Furious films, and whatever the heck is going on with the DC Universe.

As summed up by Inverse:

The post-credits scene is a single line of dialogue spoken by Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), who looks right into the camera and says: “Not every movie needs a post-credits scene.” That’s it. End of movie.

The clip appears to come from a scene earlier in the movie where Mindy breaks down the rules of surviving a horror franchise, which according to her is what the story has now become.

So there you have it. Yes, there is a post-credits scene in Scream VI, but be prepared to get mocked for sticking around to see it.

Scream VI is now playing in theaters.

(Via Inverse)

Vladimir Putin quickly realized that his Russian army (now chock full of inexperienced troops after cycling through massive deaths and subsequent drafts) wasn’t able to get things done on its own in Ukraine. That would be the sole reason why he reeled in the Wagner Group to be his private army of mercenaries against Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces. Recently, however, reports indicated that those hired guns were apparently being ground to pieces (in vast numbers), too, and they also began desperate recruiting tactics to replenish forces as the second year of Putin’s war gets started.

Surprise, plans appear to have changed on behalf of Putin. What’s even more bizarre, though, is that those plans seem to have changed without anyone informing the Wagner Group. CNN has published audio footage, in which Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is complaining that the Kremlin won’t take his calls. Putin is now allegedly giving him the cold soldier and leaving Wagner soldiers to twist in the wind in Ukraine. All of this is happening while Prigozhin claims that the group has been cut off from ammunition supplies, and he asserts that the situation is seriously messed up:

“To get me to stop asking for ammunition, all the hotlines to offices, to departments, etc., have been cut off from me, but the real humdinger is that they’ve also blocked agencies from making decisions [related to Wagner].”

Not ideal! The Wagner Group reportedly dropped around 50,000 soldiers into Ukraine over the course of a year, and they’ve paid the price in blood (with up to 30,000 casualties) during this military conflict. And yet, dead silence is coming from Putin, according to Prigozhin, who declared, “I’m knocking on all doors, sounding the alarm with ammunition and reinforcements, as well as covering our flanks.” An artillery unit representative is heard adding, “At the moment, we are completely cut off from from the ammunition supply.”

Where is Putin lately? Somewhere freaking out about cabbage. Priorities.

(Via CNN)

The dream duo is back at it again: Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding have teamed up for a new collaborative track called “Miracle.” On the new track, Harris plays around with a more trance-like EDM sound, while Goulding delivers her signature, soft-tinged vocals.

“Are you too cynical / To believe in a miracle / That just slipped through my hands / But could you take a chance on me? / Can you forgive it all / To believe in a miracle?,” sings Goulding on the song’s chorus.

“Miracle” marks Harris and Goulding’s third collaboration, their first being 2012’s “I Need Your Love” and their second 2014’s “Outside.” In a recent interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Harris revealed what its like to work with Goulding and how the song came together rather quickly.

“She knocks it out the park, then goes home,” Harris said. “And I’m just like, ‘Well, that was obviously very easy for you,’ but it’s like absolute gold, the best vocal I’ve heard in years of on a dance song. So I don’t know. I definitely have very defined sort of likes and dislikes for music and artists. And one of my likes is an Ellie Goulding angelic vocal. One of a kind. You’re not going to get this from anyone else. Ellie can do a lot of different things, for me, this is my absolute favorite thing that she does, and only she can do it, in my opinion.”

Listen to “Miracle” above.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is just a month away from hitting theaters and the Nintendo/Illumination PR team is going all-out to promote it. In addition to crafting an interactive website for a hypothetical Mario Bros. plumbing business and releasing a new, final trailer yesterday showing off even more of its Mad Max-inspired Rainbow Road sequence.

The cast and crew weren’t done yet, though. The film’s voice actors — consisting of Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, and Charlie Day — stopped by The Tonight Show for a musical sketch in which they sing the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game theme song acapella alongside the show’s host Jimmy Fallon and house band The Roots.

In a Brady Bunch-like sequence, each singer appears in their own squares, which slide and shift across the screen while scenes from both the video game and the movie scroll by. Jack Black appears to be having an utter blast, especially when the game’s underground theme kicks in. Then, as they all reach the “end” of the level, they’re joined by a few more special guests: Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (who gets vocal backup from the Minions, naturally).

It’s a cute bit, which is to be expected from The Tonight Show, but it’s also a testament to how truly iconic and generational the Mario brand has been for the past four decades.

Watch the clip above.

Last week, Lady Gaga expressed her concerns about the difficulty the arts and culture sectors are experiencing as it relates to the public appreciation of the expression. However, there’s one visual arts company that the public can’t get enough of, and that’s Madame Tussauds, where Lady Gaga is a beloved fixture. Today (March 10), the company’s Hollywood location revealed its latest wax figure of the singer.

With a total of twenty figures of the performer featured at various locations around the world, fans are losing their minds (or as Gaga sang in her award-winning song “Shallow” featuring Bradley Cooper, diving off the deep end) over just how accurate the newest figure is.

Instead of opting for one of Gaga’s famous red-carpet looks or concert costuming, the sculpturist chose to immortalize the entertainer’s 2019 Oscars look. Wearing a custom strapless all-black Alexander McQueen ballgown with matching gloves as her bleach blonde hair elegantly tucked away into a sleek updo, it is currently a tamer look for the musician but gorgeous overall.

The only problem with the wax figure is the jewelry featured around the sculpture’s neck. In 2019, Gaga wore the infamous Tiffany & Co.’s 128.54-carat diamond Yellow Diamond to which a representative for her told People, “She was proud to wear the pieces and connect with their legacy.” But following an investigative piece produced by The Times, it was revealed that the necklace has a dark past.

Fans didn’t seem to care about a replica of the necklace being featured instead praising it for its authenticity.

Sam Smith confessed to forging a note to skip school to see Lady Gaga perform live, we wonder if others will do the same to see her latest wax figure. For more information and how to visit Madame Tussauds Hollywood, click here.

[This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us season finale]

Throughout season one, HBO’s The Last of Us has cast performers from the Naughty Dog video games in key parts. Good! The acting in The Last of Us Part I, as it’s now known, and The Last of Us Part II is top notch. And Troy Baker, who plays Joel in the games and David’s right-hand man James on the show, and Merle Dandridge, who is Marlene in both, deserve the live action roles.

The season finale will also feature an actress from the video games in a big role. The Last of Us Twitter account shared a photo of a pregnant woman in the woods. “Anna,” the tweet reads. Mini spoiler alert, but Anna is Ellie’s mom, and she’s played by Ashley Johnson, who provided the voice and motion capture for Ellie in the games. It’s like she’s giving birth… to herself? Weird.

“There are other stories that were written since the game had come out for different projects that, for one reason or another, didn’t happen,” The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann told Rotten Tomatoes about adding Anna to the show (she’s never seen, only mentioned, in the games).

He continued, “When Craig [Mazin] and I started talking about the story and breaking it down, I mentioned some of those to him, and he was wide-eyed like a fan and said, ‘Oh my God, we got to put these on the screen, we’ve got to get them on the show.’ Ashley Johnson plays Ellie’s mom, and that was one of those stories that were near and dear to my heart, and I’m so glad that it gets to live.”

The Last of Us season one wraps up this Sunday, at the same time as the Oscars.

After working with Tim Burton on the hit Netflix series, Wednesday, rising star Jenna Ortega is reportedly on track to re-team with the director for his next project: Beetlejuice 2, a direct sequel to the 1998 cult classic. Michael Keaton, who hasn’t been shy about reprising his most iconic roles, is set to come back as the foul-mouthed spirit. As for Ortega, she’s reportedly in talks to play the daughter of Winona Ryder’s character from the original film.

Via Variety:

The sequel has been in the works at Warner Bros. for some time before Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B officially boarded it in February of last year. The original “Beetlejuice” centers on Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Lydia Deetz (Ryder), who inhabit a home previously occupied by the Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis). The Maitlands died in a car accident, but their ghost selves want to re-inhabit their former house, recruiting Beetlejuice (Keaton), a “bio-exorcist,” to scare away the Deetzes.

Ortega working with Burton again comes at an interesting time. She recently gave an interview where she claimed to have rewritten her lines for Wednesday because they were “boring.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set the way I had to on Wednesday,” Ortega said on the Armchair Expert podcast. “It’s so easy to fall into that category, especially in this type of show. Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all.”

Clearly, Ortega’s words didn’t affect her relationship with Burton one bit.

(Via Variety)

Miley Cyrus’ new album Endless Summer Vacation is gearing up to be one of the buzziest releases of the year. On her most cohesive effort to date, Cyrus details the events leading up to her divorce, as well as the subsequent heartbreak. A song on the album called “Thousand Miles,” which features Brandi Carlile, has become an instant fan-favorite.

On this collaboration, Cyrus seems to have finally let go of what she had with her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth and is ready for the next chapter of her life — albeit unsure where it will lead her. At this point in her grieving process, she’s simply ready to get the hell out here.

“I’m not always right, but still, I ain’t got time for what went wrong / Where I end up, I don’t really care / I’m out of my mind, but still, I’m holding on like a rolling stone / A thousand miles from anywhere,” Cyrus and Carlile sing on the song’s chorus.

Though much of Carlile’s vocals beautifully accentuate Cyrus’ in the background, fans will immediately recognize Carlile’s signature guitar stylings throughout the song, as well as her harmonica sounds near the song’s bridge.

Listen to “Thousand Miles” above.

Endless Summer Vacation is out now via Columbia. Find more information here.

I remember worrying that last year’s Oscars would be uneventful (because that’s how they generally went during the pandemic), and as everyone now knows, that broadcast did not fail to deliver drama. No matter how Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith’s reflections on the cause of the slap differ — he believes that Will Smith was releasing pent-up frustration over being ridiculed for Jada’s cuckolding, and she asserts that Rock is “obsessed” with her — it’s apparent that some very personal feelings spilled into the broadcast.

One year later, and Chris Rock has released a well-timed standup special, Selective Outrage, to make his feelings clear on the subject. And will the Oscars also note the (approximate) one-year mark, too?

No matter what The Academy chooses to do on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, there are bound to be detractors. Bringing up the incident could surface complaints that people are tired of hearing about The Slap, yet ignoring that figurative elephant doesn’t seem possible. Jimmy Kimmel has already joked that he’s ready to throw down if someone pulls a repeat. And it seems that the Oscars plan to keep that same vibe going. The broadcast’s executive producer, Molly McNearny (also wife to Kimmel), revealed that the subject will be handled briefly and with humor. Via Variety:

“We’re going to acknowledge it, and then we’re gonna move on.” She added, “We don’t want to make this year about last year. It’s certainly something we can and will address in a comedic fashion.””

One thing that we definitely won’t see during the broadcast will be a live reaction shot of Will Smith following whatever this mention turns out to be. The Emancipation star (who also won last year for King Richard) was banned from the event for a decade. As well, Smith has reportedly declared that he would really like for Chris Rock to move on, so it’s safe to say that he probably won’t be a fan of the subject surfacing again from The Academy.

We’ll find out how this comedic reference will go down when the Oscars arrive on March 12, 8:00pm EST on ABC.

(Via Variety)